Editorials

Virtual reality for the blind

By Brandon Erickson on April 16, 2008 - 6:23pm.
For most people, the idea of "virtual reality" probably conjures up images like those from The Lawnmower Man or The Matrix, with a heavy emphasis on visual realism. The upcoming May issue of Computers in Human Behavior, however, looks at the rather foreign concept of virtual reality for the blind.
» read more | Brandon Erickson's blog | 2 comments |

EEDAR research states the obvious

By Brad Gallaway on April 9, 2008 - 11:00pm.
A few days ago, GameDaily ran a short story from EEDAR (Electronic Entertainment Design And Research.) In this piece, the gist was that one in five games becomes a “success”, and that games which do not have playable demos before release sell better than games that do.
» read more | Brad Gallaway's blog | 1 comment |

Is there a "critical period" for videogame skill acquisition?

By Brandon Erickson on April 9, 2008 - 3:38pm.
I can't count the number of times I've heard people talk about getting bested at a videogame by a kid. These stories typically involve people in their thirties playing games with their kids and getting totally dominated, which then leads them to talk to their friends about how they can't believe how good this kid is at playing videogames. We've all heard some version of this, or perhaps experienced it firsthand.
» read more | Brandon Erickson's blog | 12 comments |

Will GTA IV DLC make a difference?

By Brad Gallaway on April 5, 2008 - 11:00pm.
In other news, Sony’s Scott Steinberg was recently quoted at GameDaily Biz as saying that the 360-exclusive downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto IV wasn’t going to be a big deal. My first inclination was to say that the man was smoking crack, but after further thought... I’m not too sure.
» read more | Brad Gallaway's blog | 23 comments |

"Wiiitis" documented by magnetic resonance imaging

By Brandon Erickson on April 2, 2008 - 6:07pm.
Despite all the attention that has been given to so-called "wiiitis," there has yet to be any detailed description of the condition in the scientific literature. That's all about to change, however, with an article in the forthcoming May issue of the journal Skeletal Radiology that closely examines a case of acute "wiiitis" with the help of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
» read more | Brandon Erickson's blog | 6 comments |

The debate over videogame "addiction"

By Brandon Erickson on March 26, 2008 - 5:03am.
The April issue of the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction contains a fascinating series of articles on the topic of videogame addiction, and in particular, on the question of whether such a thing as videogame addiction even exists. These writings make for an interesting discourse on a highly controversial subject.
» read more | Brandon Erickson's blog | 7 comments |

Study: Violent crime caused by family violence, not videogames

By Brandon Erickson on March 19, 2008 - 12:11pm.
The debate over videogames and violence shows no signs of abating, and despite having grown a little weary of the topic, I'll admit that there's a part of me that remains ever intrigued by the latest research in this area. So in that spirit, here's another scientific article to further fuel the discussion.
» read more | Brandon Erickson's blog | 6 comments |

Adventures in Marketing: Condemned 2: Bloodshot

By Daniel Weissenberger on March 18, 2008 - 3:40am.
» Daniel Weissenberger's blog | add new comment |

Dialectical realism: How Assassin's Creed killed its own potential

By Brandon Erickson on March 12, 2008 - 6:45pm.
Videogames are filled with absurd contradictions; and one of the most pervasive of these by far has to be the inability of game characters to interact realistically with their environments. It's precisely the inclusion of environmental interaction that makes Assassin's Creed so special. It's also a terrible shame that, having created such a remarkably realistic and tactile world, the game goes to such great lengths to undermine that very realism.
» read more | Brandon Erickson's blog | 17 comments |

Vibration enhances emotional impact of videogames, Swedish study suggests

By Brandon Erickson on March 5, 2008 - 12:06pm.
Despite former Sony exec Phil Harrison's ridiculous assertion that rumble is a "last generation feature," most gamers never really doubted the relevance of force feedback to videogames. As if Sony's recent flip-flop with the DualShock 3 wasn't confirmation enough of this fact, we can now point to science as well.
» read more | Brandon Erickson's blog | add new comment |

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