Friday, March 16, 2007

How Can Video Games Be Good For Kids!?

Video games received a lot of negative press since they have become so popular. They have a reputation of creating killers kids, teenagers, and sometimes even grown adults.

While they may have influence in the mainstream society, it's time for video games to get some positive credit for their good aspects. Gamers are happily voicing the positive and exciting ways that video games are helping people.

It’s said that the skills needed to play games are similar to the skills needed to perform an examination surgery of the internal organs of the abdomen using a laparoscope aka laparoscopic surgery.

In a relatively unheard of study recently published within the medical community, surgeons who at one time in their lives played up to 3 hours of video games a week made 37% fewer errors in the simulated laparoscopic surgeries performed during the study.

They were faster and better overall than the other surgeons who played less than 3 hours or none at all. This is not a perfect study but it is definitely an exciting development that will be followed by researchers for further possibilities.

Another study which is currently being performed is using Virtual Reality Therapy with soldiers that suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is estimated that more than 20% of American soldiers who have returned from Iraq suffer with PTSD.

A game that has been created and modified from the Xbox game, Full Spectrum Warrior, is being used to help soldiers face their fears with similar landscapes, scenes, and even smells that resemble what they experienced in the Middle East. One female soldier that has completed this form of therapy has continued to see improvements three months after receiving the therapy. The psychologist that has created this therapy is not making any grand claims at this point but is very hopeful for continued future success.

Another way that video games are beneficial is in fitness. A Canadian fitness company is now hooking interactive games up to exercise machines.

This facility is geared specifically toward teens. You can pedal and steer your way into victory against friends through playing the game on your stationary bike. The bike is connected to a biking PlayStation game and the pedals and handlebars give you movement and steering in the game. This is a truly inventive way to merge teenagers' love for video games with physical activity.

The resistance to video games is nothing but the continuing conflict between generations. In the 1940’s to 1950’s, rock ’n’ roll was thought to have a clearly negative influence. Parents, preachers and politicians all thought it changed young people in to lazy mindless zombies. According to one U.S. preacher, rock and roll turned kids into “devil worshippers” who defied both the law and common decency. Elvis’s dancing was considered sacrilegious to the human movement.

Jazz, novels, comic books, movies and even the waltz were criticized as corrupting influences that would dull the minds of young people. However, I think we can all agree those influences weren’t so bad.

When used with a want of positive results, Video games can allow for creativity and individualism. A game can allow a player to see how events can happen differently and for what reasons.

Children and teenagers use popular culture to deal with escalating stress at school and home. Advertisers constantly focus what many people consider inappropriate ads to young consumers, yet they receive less than half the grief that video games do.

It doesn’t take a lot of insight to recognize that the modern public educational system is crumbling. Fresh ideas and computer involvement is needed. Video games is a talent that could be fully developed using traditional textbooks and instructions. More and more studies are showing that video games can have positive effects. Some public school have already begun experimental programs utilizing computers with instant success. Therefore, the advance of video games into classroom education, is not only unavoidable; it is necessary.

Video Game Tester Jobs

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Thursday, March 15, 2007

PS3 - The Trojan Horse For Blu-Ray's Success?

All games are now formatted in Blu-ray technology which was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association. Blu-ray is a group of 170 entertainment and technology companies that came together to develop Blu-ray technology (some of the big guys include: Disney, Fox, Sony, Samsung, Warner Brothers, HP, Dell & Apple.)

Supposedly, gamers love the PS3's new high-def graphics and capacity, but are annoyed that the console costs over $500, roughly $100 to $200 more than the XBox 360. The perception is that the console is more expensive because Sony included the Blu-ray player.

Was it necessary?

Sony is dangerously trying to give Blu-ray a boost as it battles the Toshiba-supported HD-DVD format in the new high-def disc category.

The biggest complaint among gamers is the price. A lot of people don't have HDTV's yet, and haven't any need for Blu-ray, and wireless internet is only a marginal deal. Until Blu-ray becomes mainstream, Blu-ray technology in gaming is meaningless, in the future they won't be.

When the PlayStation 2 and Xbox launched in the '90s, analysts speculated that the consoles might be in home gaming Trojan horses for DVD players and home computers. While this helped build awareness for the DVD format, the takeover predictions didn't develop. Sales of PCs and standalone DVD players continued to attract consumers.

“PS3 will live and die by the games it plays. The fact it's a DVD player is a bonus, but not why people bought it," says John Davison, editorial director of IUp Network, a gaming network.

Video Game Tester Jobs

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

At Home With Games

Yahoo News

More than one-third of U.S. adults who go online own a video game console and 16 percent own a portable gaming device. Among the top three gaming heavyweights -- Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft -- Nintendo leads the pack of the most Web traffic growth over the past year, likely due to the success of Nintendo's new Wii console.

Unique visitors to Nintendo.com increased 91 percent, from February 2006 to February 2007. Xbox.com also saw significant year-over-year growth in February, increasing 47 percent. The numbers show a shift that will most likely position the gaming console against the PC and TV as the entertainment source for the entire family. Both Microsoft and Sony are pushing their Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles as multimedia hubs for gaming, watching movies, and viewing pictures.

IBM announced on Monday that it is beginning production of a 65-nanometer version of its Cell Broadband Engine, the multicore chip that powers the graphics processing of the Sony PlayStation 3. Among other things, the chip has nine processors with a top clock speed of over 4 GHz, and can operate multiple operating systems at the same time. The announcement this week by IBM that it is shrinking the size of the Cell chip by more than 25 percent raises the possibility that the cost of the PlayStation 3 might come down. The smaller Cell will use less power than its 90-nanometer predecessor and should cost less.

Microsoft announced that its Live online service will be extended to PC users in May, broadening its reach beyond the Xbox 360 console gamers now using Live. The PC version of Live will launch with a version of "Halo 2," a popular game featuring alien battles, and will be geared for Windows Vista.

A few months later, Microsoft Game Studios is scheduled to release a title, called "Shadowrun," that will encourage competition between Xbox 360 and PC players.

Product Development

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Video Game Tester Jobs

Full Time Company Game Tester - The nirvana of video game testing. Here is a look at the different types of video game tester jobs that are available.

Monday, March 12, 2007

Movie Theater Offer Interactive Video Games To Fight Declining Ticket Sales?

Edited by Danielle Shriver

Let’s face it. Movie theaters aren’t as appealing now that prices are so unreasonably high. Combined with low quality films the reasons to attend a movie theater have hit an all-time low. Movie theaters have made subtle changes to theaters in an effort to entice audiences. Such as larger screens, comfortable chairs, and surround sound. There is also dining available in the lobby of some theaters. But the cons outweigh the pros and patrons walk away feeling like the experience was unsatisfactory. What else could they offer people to increase attendance?

Video games! CineGames in Spain has created a new concept of pre-movie entertainment by bringing gaming into theaters with black lights, flashing green lasers, vibrating seats, and 17- inch screens attached to individual chairs. There is a hybrid theater in Madrid, Spain has all the excitement of an arcade and the classic feel of the true cinema experience. Enrique Martinez of CineGames developed the idea as part of an executive MBA program at the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid. "We see the future with multiplexes with five screens, one for the traditional Hollywood spectaculars and the others for screens for video halls and 3-D. That’s the next step." The Yelmo Cineplex aims to expand the concept throughout Europe and into North America by allowing other theater companies to use the system. CinemaxX, one of the top movie exhibition chains in Germany, carried out a four-month trial with this innovative idea on one of its screens in Essen last year with success.

Time Play Entertainment in Toronto, Canada is also developing theater technology that would allow moviegoers to play up to twenty minutes of interactive, ad-sponsored games before the start of movies. They will offer packages that allow movie theaters to retrofit their screens so patrons can bide their time before a movie starts. With the new video game system, moviegoers can play on small individual touch-screen devices that will allow audience members to interact with one another, or individually. Ultimately, Time Play Entertainment wants to develop a system that opens up screens for a wide variety of uses, from popular games as basic as bingo to online computer role-playing games in a virtual world. We can only wait in anticipation for the day when it is available at our local Cineplex’s in the States.

Yelmo Cineplex is now trying to develop an educational arm that would rent out the hall to schools that could use the system for learning and testing. In addition to pre movie entertainment the theater is busily organizing game tournaments for Manga video games and Pro Evolution Soccer, a popular soccer game produced by Electronic Arts. This should not only help boost ticket sales, but also make us, the moviegoers, and a happy bunch.

If movie executives and shareholders want to return customers they need to pick up a similar technique, and fast. Especially since ticket prices have continued rising while movie quality has been going down. Remember Snakes On a Plane? Video games could be incorporated into the movie experience to entice audiences to come back for the whopping fourteen-dollar entrance price. American movie theaters should upgrade the movie experience with more than leather seats and cup holders. It’s only a matter of time until we see theaters remodeling their spots with snazzy pre-movie entertainment like Spain and Canada.

Be proactive - take responsibility for your own success