While gaming can provide analgesic benefits, you can't say the same for the legions of villains, henchmen, and fauna (yes, fauna) that our virtual escapades waste.
News Blips:
Study suggests video games could be a deterrent to condition of acute and chronic pain. The Times of India reports that the immersion in virtual realities engages portions of the brain responsible for attention, distraction, and emotion while simultaneously providing a reduction in anxiety and feelings of pain that are often the result of demanding medical procedures. Predictably, the tolerance for pain is proportional to the degree of immersion into games — subjects who wore video helmets exhibited a heightened tolerance for pain, as opposed to those who simply viewed games on a screen. You heard it here first, folks: Science confirms that video games are a big fat distraction.
U.S. gamers split their budget nearly halfway between used and new games in 2009. Out of a total budget of $25.3 billion, consumers spent 46 percent on used video games, with the rest — 54 percent — going to new game purchases. The U.S. remains cleanly on top in aggregate money spent and player count (183.5 million); on the other hand, Europe shows a stronger predilection for new boxed game purchases: 78 percent of games bought in France are new, for example. While console platforms typically steal the spotlight, I'm rather pleased about one thing — namely, that PC gaming is still alive and kicking according to these pie charts. [Gamasutra]
Speaking with CVG, Starcraft 2 Lead Designer Chris Sigaty imparts the possibility of seeing a console version of the real-time strategy game. Although a console-ized Starcraft 2 "is not on the radar for us right now," Sigaty doesn't discount the "interesting moves in [taking RTS games to consoles]," most notably in remapping the suitably intuitive mouse and keyboard commands for console controllers. "I still think that at least from our perspective, it feels like the mouse and keyboard just lends itself to this style — but you know we're getting closer and closer all the time," said Sigaty. "So when we see that optimum moment, I think it's certainly possible that we'll explore that junction as well." I cringe at the prospect of moving units with a Wii-mote.
President Barack Obama rues the informational quagmire that exists in contemporary society. At a commencement speech for students at Virginia's Hampton University, the president remarked on a "media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t rank all that high on the truth meter." Gaming couldn't escape the president's scope of devices that provide a digital version of the barrage, with "iPads, Xboxes and PlayStations" transforming the power of information into "a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment." While some of the president's words contain a valid point, the fickle mistress of hypocrisy also lurks in the shadows via this video-game ad campaign for then-Senator Obama. [GamePolitics]
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