Halo Reach Video c/o computerandvideogames.com

http://www.edge-online.com/news/halo-reach-%E2%80%9Cbending-the-xbox-as-far-as-itll-bend%E2%80%9D

Jeff Bertolucci, PC World

Who among us hasn’t played Tetris? This simple yet addictive video game, the creation of Russian computer engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984, celebrated its 25th anniversary last June. And now it’s reached a new achievement: 100 million paid mobile phone downloads since 2005.

The ubiquitous Tetris is a puzzle game where players manipulate a random sequence of falling, four-block tetrominos to create a horizontal line of blocks without gaps. Versions for desktop computers appeared in the 1980s, and the first handheld edition for the Nintendo Game Boy debuted in 1989.

The Game Boy version proved wildly successful, selling over 35 million units, according to the official Tetris site. EA Mobile released Tetris for the iPhone and iPod touch in 2008.

EA Mobile, which licenses Tetris from Blue Planet Software, says the game is available on some 64,000 handsets in 60 countries, according to an Associated Press report.

What makes Tetris so appealing? Is it the shallow learning curve? The lack of gratuitous sex and violence? (Yeah, right.) Or perhaps there’s something strangely spiritual about the game that few of us comprehend.

This brief prayer from the Church of Tetris says it best:

Oh, Tetris, thy Glory great,
Give us today our daily blocks,
So that we may clear them.
And give us strength,
Through our gaps and mistakes,
To obtain a tetris.
Start.

Whatever hold Tetris has over us, its popularity doesn’t appear to be waning. In fact, it’s the best-selling mobile game ever. Human Tetris, anyone?

http://www.pcworld.com/article/187423/tetris_100_million_mobile_downloads_and_counting.html

Certain regions of striatum were larger in best players, study found.

By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter
Lifestyle

HealthDay/ScoutNews LLC

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 20 (HealthDay News) — How adeptly you play a video game may indicate how big some parts of your brain are, the authors of a new study report.

Researchers found that certain regions of the brain are larger in young people who do a better job of playing a specially designed video game.

In other words, all those people who devote their days to their Wiis and XBoxes may be packing some cerebral heat, at least when it comes to the sheer size of what’s inside their skulls.

The findings “can help us understand how individual differences contribute to cognitive differences and how we can enhance brain function by increasing the volume of these regions,” said study co-author Arthur F. Kramer, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Scientists have long wondered if big brains translate into extra intelligence, but that’s not always true in the animal kingdom. Small birds, for example, have huge brains for their physical size, but they aren’t the sharpest critters around.

In the new study, researchers turned to a decades-old video game called Space Fortress. Scientists developed the game, akin to a flight simulator and the classic Space Invaders, to study learning. According to Kramer, it takes about 20 hours for undergraduate students to learn how to become good at the game.

Using MRIs, the study authors measured the size of specific brain regions of 42 participants (aged 18 to 28) before they began playing the video game.

Then the researchers tried to find links between the sizes of different brain regions and how well people played the game. “We wanted to know if individual differences are important in how well people can learn a complex new skill over a limited period of time,” Kramer said. “We decided to look into these areas because we’ve learned an awful lot about the neural circuits that contribute to learning new skills.”

The findings are scheduled to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Cerebral Cortex.

The researchers found that certain regions of the brain, the striatum in particular, were indeed bigger in the most successful players. “Bigger is better in this case, at least among healthy tissue,” Kramer said.

The findings seem to confirm that parts of the striatum, which is nestled deep inside the cerebral cortex, determine a person’s ability to learn both motor skills and new concepts, and also to adapt to changing situations, the researchers wrote.

The size of another region, the hippocampus, wasn’t larger in those people, suggesting that the researchers are onto something regarding the importance of the other regions when it comes to learning skills.

Joe Verghese, director of the Division of Cognitive & Motor Aging at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, said the study is preliminary, but it’s “an important step.”

Verghese said it would have been interesting to know if the video game training itself changed the sizes of those brain regions or boosted their activity.

As for the future, researchers are trying to figure out how to help people boost their brain power by boosting the size of regions of the brain, Kramer said.

For now, another approach works well: Exercise. It helps make the brain larger, he said, because “as you become more physically fit, the brain changes.”

Learning new skills also seems to have the same effect, he noted.

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/635135.html

By Aharon Etengoff

Electronic Arts has reportedly shuttered Pandemic Studios and laid off 200 employees. Although a “core” IP team was shiftted to EA’s Los Angeles office, a number of top employees were let go, including former CEO Andrew Goldman, Josh Resnick and Greg Borrud.

Electronic Arts closes Pandemic Studios

“I want to make it clear that the Pandemic brand and franchises will live on,” Nick Earl, EA Games Label Senior Vice President, wrote in an internal memo obtained by Kotaku. “This type of change can be difficult. But the situation calls for us to act decisively, to take control of our destiny and to run a stronger, more focused development operation. That’s how we will continue to make great games in our LA studios.”

However, Earl emphasized that EA would continue to “announce plans” for new games based on the Pandemic franchise.

Pandemic – formed in 1998 – was later acquired by Electronic Arts in 2007. The studio designed numerous popular action games, including Full Spectrum Warrior, Mercenaries and Star Wars: Battlefront.

Unfortunately, EA’s decision to close Pandemic Studios was not entirely unexpected. As TG Daily previously reported, senior EA producer Richard Hilleman recently stated that the video game industry has experienced a significant demographic shift, with casual and social gamers outnumbering their hard core counterparts.

Hilleman – who made his remarks at Hot Chips 2009 – explained that platforms such as the iPhone and Wii have contributed to the rise of the casual gamer. Various MMOS’s, including World of Warcraft (WoW) have also impacted the playing field.

According to Hilleman, casual gamers have little interest in spending huge sums of money on custom rigs and instead choose to purchase netbooks or notebooks.

http://www.tgdaily.com/games-and-entertainment-features/44702-electronic-arts-closes-pandemic-studios

by Daniel Terdiman

So much for the supposedly unbreakable first-day sales record set last year by Grand Theft Auto IV.

On Thursday, Activision said that its brand-new Call of Duty 2: Modern Warfare, which hit store shelves on Tuesday, had “shattered” the previous record for opening-day sales by an entertainment property, earning $310 million in North America and the U.K. alone. That equates to 4.7 million copies of the new game sold in those regions, and, if true, would eclipse the previous first-day sales record of $310 million globally, which GTA IV set in May of 2008.

Given that GTA IV had nearly doubled the previous record of $170 million, set by Halo 3, I wondered at the time whether its new mark was unassailable. Clearly, the new Call of Duty has answered that question, and loudly.

Now, we have to ask once again whether there could be another challenger for the crown. It would be foolish, it seems, to conclude that there won’t be, given the dominance of franchises like Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Grand Theft Auto itself, and, of course, Call of Duty.

A bigger question could be: Why do we care? That’s especially true given how frequently these mega-records are broken. Still, it’s hard not to get worked up about what it means for a single video game title to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in a single 24-hour period, particularly while we’re still mired in a fairly deep recession.

There are all kinds of arguments to be made about why video games do well in tough economic times, and I’ve trotted a number of them out in this space. But most games don’t come anywhere near selling $310 million worth of product in their entire lifetime, let alone on their first day, so Activision–and its Infinity Ward studio, which actually developed the new Call of Duty–seem entitled to a little bit of attention.

But at the rate these records are falling, I’m going to have to start thinking twice every time a new game sends me one of these announcements about breaking records. Sooner or later, it’s not going to be all that noteworthy, no matter how much money is earned in a single day. Until then, though, watch this space for word on which game will be next in line for the throne.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10396593-52.html

• By Dave Rudden

According to a recent report, Microsoft has banned a sizable amount of its Xbox Live members, under suspicion that they are playing pirated software.

Information Week released a story earlier today revealing that Microsoft has banned around 1 million Xbox Live members the company believes are playing pirated games via modified hardware. This round of reported banning comes as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the year’s biggest release, torrent target, and likely Xbox Live phenomenon, has just been released.

While Microsoft has been banning users for years, and has done so en masse before as we’ve reported, this latest round would be, by far, the largest batch ever. Banned consoles are unable to engage in online gameplay over Xbox Live and also have their warranties revoked, but players are still able to play games offline. Anyone here get banned? Don’t worry, we won’t tell Microsoft.

http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/212935/report-1-mil-xbox-live-members-banned-for-piracy/

By YUKARI IWATANI KANE

Ben Schefers bought his first Microsoft Corp. Xbox 360 console four months ago to play games remotely with his friends. But the 33-year-old database manager now spends more time using it to play movies, television shows and documentaries.

The new Facebook feature on Microsoft’s Xbox 360, part of a push to make game consoles all-in-one devices.

“It’s something that my wife and I can both agree on,” he says, adding that he plays Xbox 360 games only a few times a week—and often only after his wife is asleep. Each night, he and his wife, who live in Berkeley, Calif., spend an hour or two catching up on TV shows with the console. “It’s kind of taken over from our DVD player,” says Mr. Schefers.

Videogame consoles like the Xbox 360 and Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3 were designed primarily to play games, but the gadgets are increasingly evolving into multimedia home-entertainment devices as manufacturers add nongame features.

Last year, Microsoft and Sony began offering console owners video-watching services—Microsoft through a partnership with Netflix Inc. and Sony through its own service. Later this month, Microsoft plans to launch new features on its Xbox Live online service for premium members to stream music from Last.fm Ltd., download high-definition movies from its Zune Marketplace store, and easily access Facebook and Twitter’s social-networking sites. Sony, which tried and failed to market the PS3 as an all-in-one entertainment device when it was introduced three years ago, is giving it another go. The company has also begun offering access to Netflix through the PS3.

Microsoft has said that one million of its premium Xbox Live Gold members activated the Netflix application within the first three months of its launch a year ago and watched 1.5 billion minutes of movies and TV episodes. Sony, which lets all users surf the Web and manage digital media such as music and photos through the PS3, says those features have become important factors in purchasing decisions by consumers.

Nintendo Co. has been slower to integrate Internet technology and video-downloading services into its Wii console, though it allows all users to surf the Web, share photos and check out news and weather information. In Japan, the company is experimenting with limited video downloading through the Wii. Many analysts expect Nintendo to also offer streaming video through Netflix in the future. The company declined to comment.

Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey says his company’s goal is “to be ubiquitous on any device that you watch movies on.”
Waiting It Out

While many game players seem open to the idea of doing more with their consoles, they also say they are still figuring it out. Ruven Chu, a 22-year-old Stanford University graduate student and Xbox 360 owner in Palo Alto, Calif., says he is interested in trying the console’s Facebook and Twitter features. But he expects them to be integrated into the videogame experience in a way that’s not possible through his PC—allowing users to find friends on Facebook that they can play games with, for example. “I think it all depends on how it’s been implemented,” he says.

Console prices have fallen dramatically, providing an added incentive for consumers. An entry-level Xbox 360, for example, now starts at $199.99, down from $299.99 four years ago. Sony’s PS3 starts at $299 for a model with a 120-gigabyte hard drive and a Blu-ray player and Wi-Fi wireless connectivity. In 2006, a model with a 20-gigabyte hard drive debuted for $499.

To stream movies and access other media content, console makers have created miniature keyboards that can be attached to the game controllers. Consumers can also type Web addresses and text messages by hooking up a computer keyboard to the console or punching in letters on a virtual keyboard on the screen.

Companies such as Intel Corp. and Apple Inc. have spent years trying to come up with a product that brings the Internet into the living room. Many of the devices have been slow to take hold because they were awkward to use and had little attractive content available. They also required the purchase of additional devices.

Now, as technology has advanced and more content has come online, more device makers are vying to be the top living-room gadget. Research firm iSuppli Corp. estimates there are over 50 Internet-enabled TV models from the top five manufacturers on sale now, more than double the number last year. Blu-ray players from companies like LG Electronics Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. let people stream video from Netflix. And Apple, TiVo Inc., Digeo Inc. and Roku Inc. make specialized set-top boxes that people can use to download or stream TV shows and movies over the Internet, as well as manage other content such as music or photos.
Go-To Devices

For many consumers, though, videogame consoles appear to be the go-to living-room device—particularly for those who already own one of them. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have already sold over 45 million units collectively, according to the companies. That compares with the 5.3 million networked TVs, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes estimated to be sold by the end of this year, according to consulting firm Envisioneering Group.

“Active game consoles have a lot of momentum because they’re already attached to televisions,” says Envisioneering analyst Richard Doherty. “They are a part of the family.”

Analysts also say that part of the reason why consoles have become such a popular way of viewing streaming video from the Internet is that cable and satellite companies have been slow to embrace such services.

Fred Potter, a 27-year-old software developer in Los Altos, Calif., splits most of his TV viewing between Netflix on his Xbox 360 and the Hulu streaming video service on his laptop computer. “The only thing we use basic cable for is for watching shows the day they air,” he says.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704328104574516240890098438.html

August 23, 2:57 PMOrlando Console Game ExaminerPhill Bowser

Hot on the heels of the Walmart ad showcasing the discounted Xbox 360 Elite, someone has found an even better offer….and it’s in Canada!

Earlier today someone snapped a photo of a Xbox 360 Elite bundle which includes a copy of Halo 3 and a Wi-Fi network adapter. That’s a good deal considering the network adapter itself is usually $70 – $100 dollars.

The website “The Source”, is a Canadian based Circuit City kind of store, which has the bundle for $329.99. The street date for this bundle is August 28th.