Video+Game+Update+2

=Apple TV to Support Games= By: Bradley Tamura February 17, 2011



Recently Engadget reported that Apple is working on making their Apple TV support video game play. The Apple TV currently only streams movies and television shows, but if Apple follows through with this idea the Apple TV could become their first gaming console. There have been glimpses of this video game play on the Apple TV over the past few months with people being able to use "AirPlay" which allows users to control games from their iPhone, iPad or other Apple device and view the game on the Apple TV. The idea of gaming for the Apple TV was bound to happen because all other Apple devices have gaming capability on them. Link to [|Article] = =

=**Sony Looks to Enter Tablet Market With “PlayStation” Tablet**= By: Jeremy Los February 17, 2011

It is being reported that Sony - one of the companies without a tablet to compete with the Ipad – is working on a 9.4 inch gaming-oriented tablet. The tablet, tentatively titled S1, will come with PS One games already preloaded on the device, as well as PlayStation integration enabling it to play PlayStation games as well as giving it other multimedia capabilities. It will be focused on Sony's music, games, ebooks, and video on demand service called Qriocity. The tablet is reported to Google Android 3.0 has been tagged as the operating for the device. A quirk of the device is the potential look, the S1 will be made to look like a magazine that is folded over, and will house imbedded cameras on both sides of the device. The device is said to be hitting the market as soon as September 2011. The full article could be found at [|Engadget.com]

A mockup of what the tablet is reported to look like.

=Casual Games Ease Anxiety and Depression?=

By: Erin Moran
February 17, 2011

A recent study conducted at East Carolina University found that playing casual video games might actually be good for you especially if you are suffering from clinical depression. The study followed 60 subjects with clinical depression and found that after playing three non-violent games there was an average of 57% reduction in depression symptoms. Of the 60 subjects, half played PopCap’s Bejeweled, Peggle, and Bookworm Adventures games, while the other half were in a control group. The video-game group saw "across-the-board" reduction in depression and anxiety. The subjects are said to have demonstrated both short and long-term benefits from playing the games. The study claims to be the first to measure the effect of video games and reduction of depression and anxiety. I felt this study was interesting because it seems that video games have been linked to many other behavioral studies such as violence and causing depression. The full article for this study can be found at:

[|Study: Causal Games Ease Anxiety and Depression] = = =**Hackers of Kinect are making house hold chores a little easier**= By: Whitney Porter February 16, 2011 For many people Microsofts kinect games have brought a new form of entertainment home. In the hackers world it has brought an entirely new type of "hack". There have been so many hacks on these kinect games people are starting to put web sites together to show the different uses for them. An article in the New York Times,by Nick Bilton, explains how one man used the kinect gaming system to control a Roomba vacume. With a slight motion of his hands he is able to control the direction of the vacume. This hacking has made a simple task of cleaning the house a little more entertaining. There are many more examples, all over the internet, of people changing the way this game system was intended to be used. Perhaps this will bring more advanced technology throughout the household and change the way the games are used? Original article can be found at http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/video-hacking-microsoft-kinect-and-a-roomba/?ref=technology

media type="youtube" key="Dxzoomerowo" height="390" width="480"

**Using Video Games to Help Update The National Library of Finland** By Alex Pegnato February 16, 2011 The National Library of Finland is attempting to update its library by loading all of its archive onto a computer database. The National Library of Finland is one of the largest scholarly libraries in Finland. A majority of what they are responsible for is Finland's national heritage. One problem they are having is that their computers are having difficulty in recognizing the text on some of the documents due to their condition. In conjunction with Microtask, the library has created a project called Digitalkoot. With Digitalkoot people can play word video games to help correct misspelled and hard to read words that have already been downloaded into the archives. I think not only is this great idea for the Library of Finland but also an awesome project for the video game world. This brings together the fun activity of playing video games and adds and educational twist. Not only will this benefit those playing the games by learning new words, it also helps to create an easier accessibility for the public to the cultural heritage of Finland. The success of this project may lead to similar projects all over the world.
 * //Below is a photo of what inside The National Library of Finland looked like in the 1950s//**

=PlayStation pirates face permanent ban= By Trenton Villanueva 2/17/2011

According to mcvuk.com, Sony has released a statement that anyone using a USB-device to hack, pirate, or modify PlayStation 3 software will receive a permanent ban from the PlayStation Network. According to Sony's statement, "Consumers using circumvention devices or running unauthorised or pirated software will have access to the PlayStation Network and access to Qriocity services through PlayStation 3 system terminated permanently. This life-time ban applies to both those who play pirated video games, as as well anyone who has ever used pirating devices or software. So far, there has been no indication by Sony as to how it would ban violators from their PSN accounts. Sony's ultimatum to hackers and pirates seems to be directly related to the recent release of the PSJailBreak, a USB-device that can supersede the PlayStation 3's security software. According to afterdawn.com, the PSJailBreak allows its users to modify PlayStation software without harming the console or games. It also makes it possible to download back-ups for PS3 games directly to the console's hard drive. On one hand, the PSJailBreak provides a unique opportunity for "homebrew" software programmers (and pirates) to create and modify their own video game software. On the other hand, such a device also makes it easy for the illegal copying and pirating of video games. This conflict between technology users and producers is a clear example of Michel de Certeau's theory of Tactics and Strategies (The tactic being users modifying video games, the strategy being Sony's threat to ban those who do so).

<<Back to home