How Video Games Help Fuel Space Exploration

Having traveled to other worlds in his game creations such as 'Ultima,' Richard Garriott de Cayeux is now doing the real thing. He flew to the International Space Station in 2008 (on a reported $30 million ticket). And his company, Space Adventures, has organized flights on Soyuz craft for about a dozen other moguls.

At the South by Southwest conference in Austin this week, Garriott de Cayeux explained why he thinks that private companies can make spaceflight radically cheaper and more common. Ideas include having NASA contract with private rocket companies for human spaceflight instead of building all its own craft (which it already does to launch robots such as the Mars Rover Curiosity). Garriott de Cayeux also promotes reusable spacecraft, which he claims offer tenfold to hundredfold cost savings.

Elon Musk of SpaceX, the most successful extraterrestrial entrepreneur so far, is testing reusable technology called Grasshopper. And so is John Carmack, creator of blockbuster video game franchises 'Doom' and 'Quake.' His company, Armadillo Aerospace, is focused on building reusable craft.

TechNewsDaily asked Garriott de Cayeux why game creators are attracted to spaceflight.

'If there was something specific to the games industry, it would have to be from exploring virtual worlds,' he said. 'It would have to be . creating experiences that let people go into the unknown. Noting his many adventures, including into space, to Antarctica and to the bottom of the ocean, he said, 'I find my drive to go explore is identical and very closely linked with my personal drive to create things for people to explore.'

But the images in many games may not be the best thing to motivate future generations of explorers, said astronaut Mae Jemison. In a panel session, she spoke about the 100 Year Starship Project she leads, which aims to kick-start the technologies to make interstellar spaceflight possible within a century.

Many of the most popular video games over the years, including 'Doom' and 'Quake,' are also very violent. 'I'm struck by the fact that we have all the slasher, blood-and-guts, shoot-'em-up movies and stuff like that,' Jemison said. 'It doesn't make you very hopeful for the future.'

Jemison's fellow panelist Jill Tarter of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) said that games could be helpful, 'to the extent that people can . build interactive experiences that aren't always shooting and competitive.'

LeVar Burton of 'Star Trek' fame, also on the panel, told TechNewsDaily that he was excited about the use of biofeedback in games. 'I can certainly imagine games that are . first-person experience, where you really have to be in a calm and imaginative state in order to advance in the gameplay,' he said. 'And I think that's a lot more productive in terms of entrainment than . the first-person shooter.' [See also: Video Games Improve Surgeons' Skills]

Jemison also sees games as a way to study how people interact, which is critical to creating livable conditions for a space mission that will span entire lifetimes. Games, she said, could help to, 'ferret out some information about human behavior.'

Burton agreed: 'Using gameplay to problem-solve - fantastic use of the technology.'

This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, sister site to SPACE.com.

• The 10 Most Stunning Video Games
• What to Wear on a 100-Year Starship Voyage
• 9 Things That Are Better Made in Space

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Xbox 360 racks up 26th consecutive month as top console

Does Microsoft (MSFT) even need to launch a new Xbox? Despite Nintendo's (NTDOY) recent release of its next-generation home video game console, the Xbox 360 racked up its twenty-sixth consecutive month as the top-selling console in the world in February. U.S. sales totalled 302,000 units according to The NPD Group's February data, placing the Xbox ahead of Sony's (SNE) PlayStation 4 and both the Wii and Wii U. The Xbox 360 holds an estimated 41% share of the current-generation console market in the U.S.

[More from BGR: Samsung Galaxy S 4 preview: The king is dead, long live the king]


This article was originally published on BGR.com

Wii U could be Nintendo's first flop

Sales of Nintendo's (NTDOY) Wii U gaming console continue to falter, according to the latest retail figures. The NPD Group on Thursday released its U.S. video game sales figures for the month of February, which shows that overall sales of new hardware, software and accessories declined 25% year-over-year. Individual hardware sales were hit the hardest, dropping a whopping 36% from February 2012 as consumers wait for the "Xbox 720? and PlayStation 4.

[More from BGR: Samsung Galaxy S 4 preview: The king is dead, long live the king]

All eyes were on Nintendo, however, following the company's disastrous January performance. Wii U sales were estimated to have only reached between 45,000 and 59,000 units during the first month of this year, marking one of the worst months for Nintendo in recent years.

[More from BGR: Apple bull says Galaxy S 4 'NOT a game changer,' will be dominated by iPhone 5S]

Gamesultra reports that February sales were affected negatively by holiday returns when consumers couldn't resell the system at a profit as they could with the original Wii. But in its third month on shelves, sales of the Wii U improved slightly. NPD Group revealed that weekly sales on average increased around 40% in February, which Gamesultra estimates to mean that monthly sales of around 64,000 units.

Although sales increased, the Wii U continues to fall behind previous-generation consoles such as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.


This article was originally published on BGR.com

What's Going On with Nintendo's Wii U?

Last night, as part of its time-honored monthly ritual, retail-tracker NPD Group released its estimates of February's video game hardware and software sales. As usual, the company excluded specific console numbers. NPD backpedaled from showing us this data a few years ago, I've always assumed, because of pressure from the various players to frame their numbers in the best possible light. Recall all the years the Wii decimated the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in monthly units sold, or more recently, the unbroken stretch Microsoft's Xbox 360 has been lapping everyone: blogs and message boards flock to make hay of this stuff, and "systems wars" wonks then complete the feedback loop.

These days you have to dig to find anything really construable as bad news about a specific company in NPD's figures, with its analysts doing their best to give each player an attaboy. At worst, you'll find bits of overall industry gloom - inescapable, really, since the recession finally caught up to the industry (albeit belatedly, and after years of unprecedented growth).

And so this month's look back at February was another barrel of disappointment from a retail standpoint, with year-on-year declines in hardware sales (-36%), software (-27%) and accessories (-3%) for an overall 25% decline.

But wait, what about digital? NPD says that if you add $90 million for used game sales and rentals, plus digital sales (full games, add-ons, microtransactions, subscriptions, mobile apps and social network games) of $319 million, the total consumer spend for February would be just under $1.2 billion. NPD's tracking of these newer markets has been incremental as it works with industry players to reveal this stuff, so you can't really compare February 2013 with February 2012's total consumer spend of $1.09 billion, but - assuming online transactions have only increased over the past 12 months - it seems reasonable to wonder, as we've been for years now, whether the downturn (if indeed it still is a downturn) is less than it seems. After all, NPD says its "new physical retail sales" figures only account for about 50% of total consumer spend at this point.

Where's Nintendo's Wii U in all this? We know Nintendo's new console didn't do so hot in January, moving just 57,000 units (well, unless you buy this theory involving holiday speculators, though it'd be only marginally better news numbers-wise). Putting a positive spin on Nintendo's February numbers, NPD noted they increased 40% (on an average per week basis) over January, meaning Nintendo probably moved around 64,000 units (note that January was a five-week month). That's still a paucity compared to the Wii's extremely strong post-launch sales, and a fraction what Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 have been selling in their waning days.

Speaking of, Microsoft says it sold 302,000 units in February and that this marks the Xbox 360's "26th consecutive month as the number-one selling console in the U.S." (NPD says it's actually the 19th straight month - I don't have the numbers in front of me so I don't know who's correct.)

When I spoke with Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto last week, I didn't bug him about Wii U sales - not because I couldn't have, but because Miyamoto's a designer, not a bean counter. And yet we'd be foolish to ignore the criticality of sales when it comes to questions like "Will X company develop Y game(s) for system Z?" You can't ignore the bottom line. If a system fails to catch fire, well, I know a lot of people who loved Sega's Dreamcast. Love and wonderful ideas alone won't see you through.

Does that mean it's time for a Wii U price cut? It's the conventional wisdom when a console's in trouble (or seems to be) - like Nintendo's 3DS, which surged from the gate, then stumbled for months before Nintendo's price cut put it back on track. After all, the Wii U's target demographic isn't the 300,000+ that bought Xbox 360s last month - the same group, I suspect, fond of bashing the system for not raising the computational bar as Sony's forthcoming PlayStation 4 appears to be. In any case, $350 is asking a lot from that other, ostensibly broader demographic - the one that paid just $250 years ago for the Wii with Wii Sports, and that can nowadays pick up a Wii for as little as $130 (or significantly less still used).

Buying a game console early in its lifecycle is an investment, a sign of good faith, an indication that you believe in a company's vision as well as its ability to deliver the kinds of games you want to play. But you have to move systems to stir developers. For all the Wii U's promise - and I still see plenty - I can't imagine the water cooler conversations at third-party game developers are exactly uplifting just now.

Review: 'Lego City' builds fun for Wii U

Over the past eight years, those cute little Lego people - minifigs, as they're known - have virtually traveled to Middle-earth, Hogwarts, Gotham City and a galaxy far, far away in video games developed by TT Games. The minifigs are finally coming home in their latest adventure, an open-world action game created exclusively for Nintendo's Wii U.

'Lego City Undercover' forgoes the wizardry and intergalactic wonder of big-budget franchises for something much more simple: a good old-fashioned police romp set in sprawling Lego City, a diverse metropolis where cars are made out of colorful plastic bricks and residents have interchangeable heads.

As undercover officer Chase McCain, players must seamlessly switch between multiple disguises with different abilities to hunt down Lego City lawbreakers. For example, when dressed as a farmer, McCain can water plants that blossom into vines that can be climbed. If he's imitating a burglar, his crowbar can crack open doors. There's even an astronaut suit.

The game's zany writing and voice acting alternate between corny and hilarious. ('I'll come back and give you my insurance details later!' McCain yells after smashing into other cars.) While youngsters might enjoy 'Lego City' the most, there's plenty here for adults who grew up with 'Grand Theft Auto,' including sendups of 'Goodfellas' and 'The Shawshank Redemption.'

McCain can get behind the wheel of more than 100 vehicles: cars, trucks, boats and helicopters. He can also ride horses, pigs and, at one point, a dinosaur. Outside of the story missions that take McCain inside such Lego City locales as the museum and prison, there are enough side pursuits for even the most obsessive gamers, from capturing aliens to painting bricks.

There are also lots and lots of bricks to pick up.

Just like the 'Lego' games that have come before 'Lego City,' there are millions of studs spread across the world that can be traded in for customizable characters and vehicles. 'Lego City' adds superbricks to the mix. These collectibles can be cashed in to craft superbuilds like helipads and stunt ramps.

'Lego City' employs the touch screen of the Wii U GamePad as a police scanner and communicator. It's mostly used to pinpoint locations on the interactive map, but it can also do stuff like spot bad guys through walls, listen in on conversations and snap photos of crimes. It's a neat touch but ultimately feels gimmicky and not integral to the overall experience.

The game's biggest flaw is its mind-numbingly long loading screens that feature nothing more than a spinning police badge and some funky wah-chickah-wah-wah background music. It was a blockheaded decision not to extend the game's charms with some title cards, images or anything - ANYTHING! - other than just a rotating graphic.

Despite that annoyance and a complete lack of any multiplayer mode, there's still a load of fun to be had with 'Lego City.' It's a must-own for Wii U owners and Lego fans. The developers at TT Games have created a fantastical toy world that proves there's really no place like home. Three stars out of four.

___

Online:

http://legocityu.nintendo.com/

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang

U.S. jury finds Nintendo liable for patent infringement

By Bernard Vaughan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal jury in New York on Wednesday found that video game company Nintendo Co infringed an inventor's 3-D display technology patent with its handheld 3DS videogame system.

The jury awarded the inventor, Seijiro Tomita, $30.2 million in compensatory damages.

The patent relates to technology that Tomita developed for providing 3-D images without the need for 3-D glasses.

In opening arguments last month, Tomita's attorney, Joe Diamante, told the jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that Nintendo used technology that Tomita developed for its 3DS. Tomita is a former longtime Sony Corp employee.

But Scott Lindvall, a defense attorney for the Super Mario Bros franchise creator, argued that the 3DS doesn't use key aspects of Tomita's patent.

Lindvall also said a 2003 meeting with Nintendo officials that Tomita cited in his argument was merely one of several the company held with vendors selling 3-D display technology.

Tomita, 58, sued Nintendo and its U.S. unit in 2011 for patent infringement. Tomita was not present in the courtroom on Wednesday.

'We are thankful to the jurors for their diligence and hard work,' Diamante said in an e-mail after the verdict. 'It has been a honor to represent Mr. Tomita and to protect his invention.'

Lindvall declined to comment following the verdict. Nintendo officials were not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Bernard Vaughan; Editing by Richard Chang)

Microsoft's next Xbox predicted to dominate next-gen consoles

Microsoft (MSFT) is the only major vendor that hasn't yet announced any details surrounding its new console, but some industry watchers are already convinced that the new Xbox will dominate the next generation of video game consoles. Among them is Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, who believes Microsoft is set to win the next console generation - and his reasoning has little to do with video games.

[More from BGR: Google's most exciting mobile service is coming to the iPhone before most Android phones]

In a South by Southwest presentation covered by Forbes, Pachter said that features like Skype integration and TV service integration will secure the next Xbox's position as the winner of the next-generation console war. The current Xbox 360 features a number of great home entertainment features, but Microsoft's "Xbox 720" is expected to push entertainment to the next level with Kinect 2 integration, DVR features and possibly even set-top box functionality.

[More from BGR: Galaxy S IV reportedly won't have eye-scrolling technology or an eight-core processor in the U.S.]

Sony's (SNE) PlayStation 4 may improve over time, but the analyst believes Microsoft's early edge will be maintained for the lifetime of this console generation - and that could be quite a long time, as Patcher believes the Wii U, PlayStation 4 and next-gen Xbox could represent the last generation of home video game consoles.




This article was originally published on BGR.com

Controversy spurs Pentagon's Hagel to review new 'Nintendo' medal

Since its debut last month, the new Distinguished Warfare Medal - promptly dubbed the "Nintendo" medal by troops - has been a magnet for controversy. Now, new Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is apparently reconsidering whether such a medal - which could be awarded to cyber specialists, say, or remote operators of Predator or Reaper drones that kill enemy forces threatening the lives of troops on the ground - should retain its high ranking in the medal pecking order.

Pentagon officials are expected to announce Tuesday afternoon that the medal - created to award US troops for "extraordinary achievements directly impacting combat operations" - is under review.

The medal is meant to acknowledge contributions of troops "regardless of the member's physical location or domain," according to Pentagon background papers. Many pilots of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or drones, operate their aircraft in Afghanistan from bases in Nevada.

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The Distinguished Warfare Medal (DWM) is the first new Defense Department-wide medal to be established since 1944. The award, these officials stress, is not to be awarded for acts of valor in combat.

Few have a problem with recognizing the contributions of UAV pilots whose achievements, officials note, "have in some cases dramatically changed how we conduct and support combat and other military operations."

The problem is that the DWM was placed in order of precedence ahead of the Bronze Star, and even above the Bronze Star with a "V" device for valorous conduct in combat.

Want your top political issues explained? Get customized DC Decoder updates.

Since 9/11, only 2.5 percent of the more than 167,000 Bronze Stars meted out have been awarded with a "V," according to Pentagon figures.

This point in particular - that the DWM would rank above a Bronze Star with "V" - prompted an outcry among veterans groups and, in a rare show of bipartisan unity, members of Congress on both sides of the political aisle.

On Friday, 22 senators signed a letter to Secretary Hagel, citing their chief complaint: "We believe that medals earned in combat, or in dangerous conditions, should maintain their precedence above non-combat awards," they wrote. "Placing the Distinguished Warfare Medal above the Bronze Star and Purple Heart diminishes the significance of awards earned by risking one's life in direct combat or through acts of heroism."

What's more, the DWM "diminishes the precedence given to acts of individual gallantry in circumstances other than combat," they argued in the letter.

The American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars have also weighed in against the medal.

Some in veterans groups express a hope that Hagel will be receptive to their complaints.

"This isn't a knock on Leon Panetta, but unlike Chuck Hagel, Panetta was never a grunt, an enlisted man," Jon Soltz, co-founder of VoteVets.org and an Iraq war veteran, wrote in a recent blog for the Huffington Post. "In Hagel, we have someone who brings that unique experience to the table."

Hagel served as an infantry squad leader during the height of the war in Vietnam.

In this hope, they were not disappointed. "In light of concerns about the medal's place in the order of precedence raised by veterans organizations and a number of members of Congress" - including the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee - "Secretary Hagel is going to work with the chairman, service secretaries, and chiefs to review the order of precedence of the medal," a senior defense official said Tuesday.

In the meantime, says a defense official, the production of the medal, which some have joked should include a video game joystick, has been halted.

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3G PlayStation Vita Prices Are Falling

Something funny's going on with Sony's PlayStation Vita handheld.

As Joystiq reports, several Sony stores around the United States are selling the 3G Vita for $200, which is $50 less than the Wi-Fi-only model. Some other stores told Joystiq that Sony is discontinuing the 3G model altogether.

Meanwhile, Sony's online store has dropped the price of the 3G PS Vita down to $250 - same as its Wi-Fi counterpart. That 3G bundle also comes with an 8 GB memory card and a free PSN game.

It gets weirder. If you go to GameStop's PS Vita landing page right now, the retailer only lists refurbished units and a $300 bundle of games and hardware. If you want to buy a new, standalone Vita from GameStop, you can't; the full list of Vita hardware on GameStop's website shows that all models are out of stock, both Wi-Fi and 3G, with the exception of that $300 bundle. Best Buy is still selling the 3G Vita for $300, but only for in-store pickups.

I've reached out to Sony to find out what's going on, and will update if I get a response.

In the meantime, consider that Sony recently dropped the price of the PS Vita in Japan - a move that reportedly quadrupled sales. It's not crazy to think that a U.S. price cut for the PS Vita is imminent, despite the insistence to the contrary by Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida.

The other possibility is that Sony is preparing a 4G LTE version of the Vita, which would of course greatly improve data speeds on the handheld. But the only evidence I can find on that front is one pretty sketchy rumor.

As my colleague Matt Peckham wrote back in August, the Vita's $250-and-up price tag is just too high compared to what people expect for a handheld, and sales have been predictably slow. This creates a vicious cycle where software makers become afraid to invest in the platform, as Gamasutra has pointed out. It's possible that "remote play" features on the PlayStation 4 will spark interest, but that won't happen until at least the end of the year. A Vita price cut, however painful for Sony in the short term, would at least help get the handheld on track, just as it did for Nintendo's 3DS in 2011.

For now, $200 seems like a good deal for the Vita - 3G or otherwise - if only for the included 8 GB memory card that usually sells for $30 on its own. If you actually have a Sony Store in your area and have been considering a Vita, it could be worth investigating. Otherwise I'd hang tight and see if any official price cuts or new bundles are on the way.

Angry Birds cartoons head for TV screens

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The makers of Angry Birds are launching a cartoon series this weekend, expanding further beyond its highly addictive games in a bid to expand entertainment and merchandising.

Rovio, the company behind the popular mobile app game Angry Birds, said the cartoons will feature adventures of birds that appear in its games.

Angry Birds Toons can be downloaded through on-demand services, and will also air on television channels such as FOX8 in Australia, ANTV in Indonesia, Cartoon Network in India, and MTV3 Juniori and MTV3 in Finland, it said.

Rovio has expanded into merchandising and licensing in the past few years and its colorful, round bird characters are sold as stuffed animals and appear on everything from T-shirts to soda cans.

It announced in December that it hired Hollywood executive David Maisel as executive producer of a 3D animated film planned for release in 2016.

(Reporting by Ritsuko Ando, editing by Paul Casciato)

Research In Motion, Zynga, Barnes are big movers

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Monday on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market:

NYSE

Dick's Sporting Goods Inc., down $5.49 at $45.11

The sporting goods retailer said that its fourth-quarter net income rose 17 percent, but results still missed Wall Street expectations.

Barnes Group Inc., up $1.05 at $28.88

A KeyBanc analyst upgraded the aerospace parts maker to 'Buy,' due to its decision to sell one of its businesses.

Genworth Financial Inc., up 66 cents at $10.50

Barron's predicted that the insurer and mortgage backer's shares will get a boost from a rebound in the housing industry.

The Walt Disney Co., up 27 cents at $57.66

The media company's film, 'Oz the Great and Powerful,' debuted this weekend and earned $80.3 million at the U.S. box office.

Nasdaq

Research In Motion Ltd., up $1.84 at $14.90

The Blackberry maker said it will launch its new touchscreen smartphone in the U.S. with wireless carrier AT&T on March 22.

Canadian Solar Inc., down 58 cents at $3.15

The solar company said its fiscal fourth-quarter loss widened compared to a year ago, as solar module shipments fell and costs rose.

Zynga Inc., up 36 cents at $3.93

A Wunderlich analyst said Internet company Yahoo Inc. should consider buying the maker of games for Facebook and smartphones.

Denny's Corp., down 3 cents at $5.78

The restaurant operator said it canceled plans with a franchise partner to develop 50 restaurants in southern China.

Zynga shares up on takeover speculation

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Zynga Inc., which makes games for Facebook and smartphones, jumped Monday to their highest level since July, after the company was mentioned as a possible candidate for takeover by Yahoo.

THE SPARK: In a research note Monday, Wunderlich Securities analyst Blake Harper said that while last week's speculation about Yahoo acquisitions focused on the reviews site Yelp Inc. and reservations service OpenTable Inc., Zynga could make sense as a target, along with companies like the blogging service Tumblr and location app FourSquare.

THE ANALYSIS: Harper says Yelp is the most attractive candidate. Its market capitalization is half that of Zynga. Larger deals would be discouraged by Yahoo's shareholders who want the company to focus on improving its core business, Harper said.

San Francisco-based Zynga's fortunes have declined with the popularity of its games, which include FarmVille. It's revenue has flattened, and it is cutting jobs.

SHARE ACTION: Zynga shares rose 35 cents, or 9.8 percent, to $3.92 in afternoon trading. The shares hit $2.09 in November. That was the lowest level since the company went public in Dec. 2011, for $10 per share.

How to Hack the Video-Game Industry's Male Domination

Everyone likes a butt-kicking heroine, but the gaming industry is never going to give in - male-centric titles sell way better, and Katniss fever isn't going to stop that. So Mike Mika, a programmer and, importantly, father, decided to build a workaround for his 3-year-old daughter so she could 'play as a girl.' The result - well, for starters, it's about time Mario got saved in the end, but here's Mika's female-friendly version of Donkey Kong that's going viral to start off the week:

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In the accompanying YouTube description, Mika explains how the hero-for-heroine swap came to be in this very geeky but very equal opportunity family:

Two days ago, she asked me if she could play as the girl and save Mario. She's played as Princess Toadstool in Super Mario Bros. 2 and naturally just assumed she could do the same in Donkey Kong. I told her we couldn't in that particular Mario game, she seemed really bummed out by that. So what else am I supposed to do? Now I'm up at midnight hacking the ROM, replacing Mario with Pauline.

Forget, if you will, the new standard in awesome parenting set by this Mike Mika character, and remember that video-game publishers don't exactly support games with female main characters. Penny Arcade's Ben Kuchera pointed out in November that a study examining 669 titles found that,'Games that allow you to choose your gender are reviewed better than games that offer male-only heroes, but the games with male only heroes sold better.' Kuchera added some context: 'If you're funding a large-budget game and you see these numbers, you see that you lose sales by adding the capability to choose a female hero, and you lose significant sales by releasing a game with a female hero.' Essentially, numbers trump quality and a hard-to-break self-fulfilling prophecy. The video-game industry ignores female characters for the bottom line.

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Faced with that, Mika delivered to his daughter the only other option available with an ignorant industry: re-code a popular game for his daughter. This isn't unlike what father Mike Hoye did back in November, when he coded a version of The Legend of Zelda to swap the male pronouns for his daughter. But Mika's solution - having his daughter play as Pauline, the damsel in distress and Mario ex-girlfriend who always gets kidnapped by Donkey Kong, and actually saving Mario - is pretty much the best geek-dad move of the year so far... and a good segue until the little one's old enough to get into Metroid.

7 health benefits of playing video games

Your parents may have tried to kick you off your Super Nintendo just about every time you sat down in front of it because they were concerned about how it might affect your long-term health. Plenty of studies have shown that games that don't require a lot of physical movement can have an adverse effect on children as they grow older. But perhaps counter-intuitively, there have also been several studies touting the health benefits of gaming.

1. Video games are therapeutic for children with chronic illnesses
The University of Utah released a study last year that examined the effects of regular gaming on children diagnosed with illnesses like autism, depression, and Parkinson's disease. Kids who played certain games, including one designed just for the study, showed signs of improvement in 'resilience, empowerment, and a 'fighting spirit.'' Researchers believe the games' ability to act on 'neuronal mechanisms that activate positive emotions and the reward system' helped improve kids' demeanors as they faced the daily challenges of their illnesses.

2. Video games improve preschoolers' motor skills
Letting a 4-year-old sit in front of a TV with a game controller might not seem like the most productive use of her time. But researchers from Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, would disagree. Their study examined the development of 53 preschool-aged children, and found that those who played 'interactive games' had better 'object control motor skills' than those who didn't. It's not clear, though, whether children with better-than-average motor skills tend to gravitate toward video games in the first place.

3. Video games reduce stress and depression
2009's Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine included a study that found that gamers who suffered from mental health issues such as stress and depression were able to vent their frustration and aggression by playing video games - and showed a noted improvement. The study hypothesized that games gave certain 'Type A' personalities time to relax in 'a state of relative mindlessness' that allowed them to avoid reaching 'a certain level of stressful arousal' as they tried to relax.

4. Video games provide pain relief
Video games don't just provide relief from emotional pain. They can also help those who are suffering from physical pain. Psychologists at the University of Washington developed a game that helps hospital patients suffering from immense physical pain by using an age-old mental trick: distraction. The virtual reality game 'Snow World' put patients in an arctic wonderland in which they throw an endless arsenal of snowballs at a series of targets, such as penguins and snowmen. Military hospitals found the experience helped soldiers recovering from their battlefield wounds. The soldiers who played 'Snow World' required less pain medicine during their recuperation.

5. Video games can improve your vision
Mom may have warned you that sitting in front of the TV wasn't good for your eyes. But one developmental psychologist found it could actually be beneficial to your vision. Dr. Daphen Maurer of the Visual Development Lab of Ontario's McMaster University made a surprising discovery: People suffering from cataracts can improve their vision by playing first-person shooter games like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty. She believes these games are so fast-paced that they require an extreme amount of attention, training the visually impaired to view things more sharply. They can also produce higher levels of dopamine and adrenaline that 'potentially may make the brain more plastic,' she said.

6. Video games improve your decision-making skills
Most video games require fast reactions and split-second decisions that can mean the difference between virtual life and virtual death. Cognitive neuroscientists at the University of Rochester in New York found these games give players' brains plenty of practice for making decisions in the real world. Researchers suggest that action-oriented games act as a simulator for the decision-making process by giving players several chances to infer information from their surroundings and forcing them to react accordingly.

7. Video games keep you happy in old age
Researchers from North Carolina State University looked closely at our aging population to see if there was a link between playing video games and mental well-being - i.e. 'happiness.' They found that senior citizens who said they played video games - even occasionally - reported 'higher levels of happiness, or well-being,' says Rick Nauert at PsychCentral. 'Those who did not play video games reported more negative emotions' and were more likely to be depressed. It's unclear what exactly is behind this link - or if the relationship is even causal.View this article on TheWeek.com Get 4 Free Issues of The Week

Other stories from this section:

• 7 gross-sounding foods that might help you live longer
• 'Stroke Belt': The public health menace of the deep-fried Southern diet
• How stem cells could lead to 3D-printed organs

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Original Angry Birds now free for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

Rovio has made one its classic mobile games available on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch available for free by slashing the prices of Angry Birds and Angry Birds HD to nothing for iOS users in both the United States and United Kingdom. It is unclear if this is a permanent move or just a limited-time offer, however Rovio also removed the free demo versions of the apps, which were limited to only a few levels. Since debuting in 2009, the Angry Birds franchise has found great success and the games have been downloaded more than 1 billion times.

[More from BGR: Apple may have finally found a way to dump Samsung once and for all]


This article was originally published on BGR.com

'The Nintendo Medal'? New Military Award for Drone Pilots Draws Hill Protest

The Pentagon's newest military honor, symbolized by a two-inch bronze medallion, has sparked fierce debate over the nation's growing corps of drone pilots and cyberwarriors and how to commend their service, which happens far from an actual battlefield.

The Distinguished Warfare Medal, approved by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta last month, is the military's first new combat-related medal in nearly 70 years. It is intended to recognize extraordinary contributions to combat operations by a service member from afar and will rank as the eighth highest individual award behind the Medal of Honor.

But placement of the new medal in ahead of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, which are given for valor in the line of fire, has created significant stir.

Critics have panned it as the 'Chair-borne Medal,' 'the Nintendo Medal,' 'Distant Warfare Medal' and 'the Purple Buttocks,' alluding to fact that computer-based warriors do their work from a chair, among other names.

Top veterans groups and a rare bipartisan alliance on Capitol Hill are intensely lobbying the Pentagon and President Obama to downgrade the award.

'We are supportive of recognizing and rewarding such extraordinary service, but in the absence of the service member exposing him or herself to imminent mortal danger, we cannot support the DWM taking precedence above the Bronze Star and Purple Heart,' a bipartisan group of 48 lawmakers wrote new Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday.

'Possibility of death or grievous bodily harm' are key factors that should elevate recipients of those awards above others who didn't face those risks, the group wrote.

The letter was penned by 34 Republicans and 14 Democrats, including Republican Reps. Joe Wilson of South Carolina and Darrell Isa of California and Democratic Reps. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Susan Davis of California.

Officials with the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars said they have already been pressing the administration to downgrade the award, saying that bestowing a higher-ranked medal to service members who fought from 'behind a desk' is disrespectful to those serving in harm's way.

So far the administration has shown no sign of backing down.

Last month, in one of his final public events before retiring, Secretary Panetta hailed creation of the new medal as a reflection of an evolution in modern warfare and of the growing importance of the drones and cyberwarfare strategies.

'The medal provides distinct, department-wide recognition for the extraordinary achievements that directly impact on combat operations, but that do not involve acts of valor or physical risk that combat entails,' Panetta said.

'I've always felt - having seen the great work that they do, day in and day out - that those who performed in an outstanding manner should be recognized,' he said. 'Unfortunately, medals that they otherwise might be eligible for simply did not recognize that kind of contribution.'

A White House official declined to comment on the criticism. Obama, who has significantly increased drone warfare during his administration, on Tuesday awarded two purple hearts to wounded service members at Walter Reed military medical center in Washington.

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