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June 2009
- Wii Sports Cause Real Injuries
  
  Washington Times | Jun 17, 09 4:10 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Nintendo Wii players may find themselves saddled with the same sprains and fractures that haunt athletes, often because they don't treat the virtual games like real sports, doctors tell the Washington Times . Sprains are the most common injury because Wii Sports don't provide the same resistance that actual tennis, bowling, baseball, golf, and boxing do, which typically prevents joints from being overextended. More »
- Fallujah Video Game Sparks Vet Family Fury
  
  ABC News | Jun 11, 09 3:59 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A realistic video game featuring a historic Fallujah battle involving US forces in Iraq has incensed vets and their families, reports ABC News. Six Days in Fallujah is due out next year, and involves Marine consultants to ensure accuracy of the action. "It's upsetting," said a mom who lost a son in Iraq. "I have this image of guys sitting around laughing because they got killed or didn't, and starting over. My son didn't have that choice." More »
- Rendition: Gitmo Joins Shunned Video Games
  
  ABC News | Jun 4, 09 3:28 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A storm of bad publicity about Rendition: Guantanamo —a video game about falsely-accused Gitmo detainees trying to escape—forced the game makers to can it this week. It's far from the only game to test the boundaries, ABC reports: Atomic Games dumped development of Six Days in Fallujah amid protests from vets and others; it would have portrayed the real 2004 battle for the city. Faith Fighter had leaders of the world religion's duking it out until it was deemed too incendiary. More »
- How Tetris Fell Into Place
  
  Guardian (UK) | Jun 2, 09 10:19 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Alexey Pajitnov was supposed to be an artificial intelligence researcher for the Soviet Academy of Sciences, but when he got his first computer 25 years ago, he used it to write games. He tweaked and translated mathematical puzzles he’d always loved, and one stood out right away. “The program wasn’t complicated,” he tells the Guardian. “But I started playing and I couldn’t stop. That was it.” That was the birth of Tetris. More »
- Twitter and Facebook Come to Xbox 360
  
  Ars Technica | Jun 1, 09 4:20 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - In a bid to make its Xbox 360 more interactive, Microsoft is bringing Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm, a lightning-speed video service, and—brace yourself—a motion-sensing camera that knows who you are just by reading your face to the console, Ars Technica reports. The company even brought in Steven Spielberg to demonstrate the camera today at a conference in Los Angeles. More »
May 2009
- Guitar Hero Spin-Off Lands Jay-Z, Eminem
  
  USA Today | May 29, 09 3:46 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Two of the biggest names in rap are on board with Guitar Hero ’s latest spin-off, USA Today reports. When DJ Hero launches this fall, its celebrity lineup will include Jay-Z and Eminem. Both are working with manufacturer Activision and developer FreeStyleGames to finalize their playlists. “I have a ton of content, I just need the pipeline,” says Jay-Z, whose contributions will include Dirt Off Your Shoulder . More »
- Game, Aykroyd Bring Ghostbusters Back From Dead
  
  New York Times | May 28, 09 12:45 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Dan Aykroyd has been trying to get the Ghostbusters to cross streams again for 15 years, and now it’s finally happening—in video-game form. Unlike most movie tie-in games, Ghostbusters isn’t an afterthought—Atari’s giving it blockbuster treatment, complete with voices from Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson. Aykroyd chatted with the New York Times to talk about his love of the franchise he created. More »
- An Addict Warns: Beware iPhone Game Apps
  
  Slate | May 22, 09 11:42 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - You don’t have to be a gamer to become an iPhone-game addict, writes Farhad Manjoo for Slate. The apps follow an established recipe for great games: “They're easy to learn but difficult to master.” As a gaming system, the gadget doesn't have the sophistication of a Nintendo DS, but “you carry it everywhere, and it's always connected to a vast storehouse of cheap, addictive games.” More »
- Microsoft May Unveil Wii-Like Remote in June
  
  BBC | May 19, 09 5:55 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Just-released patent applications suggest Microsoft has indeed created a so-called “Magic Wand” to rival the Wii remote, the BBC reports. It could come out at next month's industry expo in Los Angeles. The applications say the wand has "biometric sensors" that would detect "fingerprint, hand geometry, hand vein pattern, palm pattern, and grip configuration," and would have a "facial thermogram, a facial feature, a retinal feature, or an iris feature.” More »
- New Punch-Out!! Is Classic Fun
  
  Wired | May 19, 09 3:50 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! , on the original Nintendo Entertainment System, was a “perfect combination of addictive gameplay and technological impressiveness,” Chris Kohler writes in Wired . In a new version for Wii, happily, the company has figured out "what made the original so compelling” and recreated it “in spades.” Sometimes, Kohler writes, “they do make ’em like they used to.” More »
- Iowa Town Wants Video Game Hall of Fame
  
  MSNBC | May 18, 09 5:30 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Video game lovers in Ottumwa, Iowa, are ready to see the world's gaming hall of fame on their front doorstep, MSNBC reports. Forget Silicon Valley, home to Atari. And Kyoto, Japan, where Ninentdo was born. No, the town that hosted the first world championship 26 years ago “was the beginning,” Donkey Kong champion Billy Mitchell said. “It was the birth of organized video game play.” More »
- Redstone Sued Over Midway Games Sale
  
  Chicago Tribune | May 14, 09 11:26 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Creditors of the video-game company behind the Mortal Kombat series are suing Sumner Redstone and board members after Redstone, Midway’s former majority owner, sold the company in a “fraudulent transfer,” the Chicago Tribune reports. Creditors say the media mogul sold his 87% stake for just $100,000 in order to allow him to claim a $700 million tax loss while the company was driven to bankruptcy. More »
- Why Good Movies Make Bad Video Games
  
  More Intelligent Life | May 7, 09 8:36 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Movie buffs likely don’t remember The Chronicles of Riddick , a trundling sci-fi clunker from 2004. But for gamers, the title is hallowed because of its spin-off video game—a rare success for a movie tie-in. Too often, such games are rushed to coincide with the film, resulting in crappy graphics and stringy plots, Tom Standage writes for More Intelligent Life . More »
April 2009
- Why Game Boy, at 20, Still Rules
  
  Ars Technica | Apr 21, 09 3:51 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Nintendo's Game Boy portable gaming system has been around for 20 years today, and even has a spiritual successor in the DS. Benj Edwards takes a look at why the franchise is a lasting one on Ars Technica. Tetris: "Every new hardware platform needs a 'killer app,'" and that was as true in 1989 as it is now. The addictive game perfectly fit the capabilities of the tiny console that could. Battery life: The Game Boy could run at least 10 hours on 4 AAs, propelling the relatively crude monochrome system past its energy-guzzling color competition. More »
- iPhone Tilts Gaming Industry
  
  Los Angeles Times | Apr 13, 09 9:43 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The videogame industry, recently geared toward churning out bigger and bigger blockbusters, is shrinking its ambitions down to iPhone size, the Los Angeles Times reports. Thanks to Apple’s App Store, the iPhone and iPod Touch have become surprisingly popular gaming devices—and developers have taken notice. Electronic Arts, for example, will release 14 iPhone games this year. More »
- Sims Creator Leaving EA for Think Tank
  
  San Francisco Chronicle | Apr 9, 09 7:14 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The creator of The Sims is departing Electronic Arts to focus on "strange products and ideas," the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Will Wright plans to work full-time at his Stupid Fun Club think tank, which develops ideas for film, games, and TV. Wright says he has already cooked up some ideas for toys and TV shows and is looking for ways to commercialize them. More »
- Wii Muscles Up With 'Sports Resort'
  
  Reuters | Apr 9, 09 3:50 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Get ready to pull a muscle as Wii expands its offering of audience participation sports to Frisbee (with a dog), fencing and jetskiing, reports Reuters. Sports Resort is scheduled to be released in June, said Nintendo executives. The company hopes the new activities will boost flagging sales of Wii game consoles. Wii console sales far outstrip XBox and Playstation 3 globally. But Playstation 3 recently pulled ahead of Wii in Japan with the introduction of new games. More »
March 2009
- Study Links Video Games to Improved Vision
  
  CNET | Mar 30, 09 4:03 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Adults can apparently improve their eyesight by playing action video games, a treatment less painful—for some, at least—than corrective lenses or eye surgery, according to researchers. Scientists compared study subjects who played the action games Call of Duty and Unreal Tournament 2004 to a group who played the more sedate Sims 2. The Call of Duty players improved their eyes' sensitivity to contrast by nearly 58%, CNET reports. More »
- Wii Becomes Fastest-Selling Console Ever
  
  BBC | Mar 26, 09 1:42 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Nintendo Wii has passed the 50 million milestone to beat out Playstation 2 as the fastest-selling game console, the BBC reports. The massive sales were beyond expectations, Nintendo boss Saturo Iwata said yesterday at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. He credited Wii's success to gaming's solid move into the mainstream. More »
- Coming Soon: On-Demand Video Game Service
  
  Wall Street Journal | Mar 24, 09 1:57 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - If Steve Perlman—the veteran entrepreneur behind WebTV—has his way, console gaming’s days are numbered. Today, Perlman and his partners unveiled OnLive, an on-demand video game service that offers the tantalizing prospect of playing any game, as soon as it’s released, on any computer or TV. The games would run on a remote server, and stream via broadband, the Wall Street Journal reports. More »