I have heard many PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 fanboys say this over and over. These relatively new video game consoles just keep getting better and better, and for some, you have not experienced gaming unless you have used these consoles. Indeed, I know some people who would not play on anything than their favorite gaming console.

But what about the good old personal computer? Back in the day, the PC was all I played on. From Minesweeper to Hearts to The Sims to Counterstrike – the PC also has continued to evolve as a mean gaming machine. If we were to believe some people though, it would seem as if the PC as a gaming machine is all but dead. But is it, really?

Apparently NOT. A recent study by Interpret shows that 23% of gamers use their PCs as the main means of gaming. Their reason? The computer provides a far better experience than the PS3, the Xbox 360, or even the Nintendo Wii.

This is because with the PC, you can use the keyboard and the mouse for more complex controls. These peripherals also provide better means of communication, which is quite vital for online MMOs and strategy games.

You may be wondering about the sales of PC games. It is true that PC games are selling less and less – that is why video game stores are devoting less shelf space to them. However, the sales of downloadable games continue to rise.

The bottom line? PC gaming is not dead, and I don’t think it will ever be

Sunny day, chasing the clouds away…

I am pretty sure that those of you who are around 30 years old remember those lines very well. Go back to your childhood and I am sure that you will remember days of sitting in front of the TV set, watching Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and all the other awesome characters on Sesame Street. If there is one thing that I am sure of, it is that Sesame Street and the people behind it know a lot about children and know what is good for them.

Thus, when I read about Sesame Workshop’s latest report, I was quite happy! The Joan Ganz Clooney Center recently published a report which discusses the positive effects of video games on children. I like how the report encourages everyone – from educators to parents – to look beyond the stereotype of video games and examine how they can actually be advantageous to the development of children.

Among some of these advantages are:

• Content (from rich vocabulary to science to history)
• Skills (from literacy to math to complex problem-solving)
• Creation of artifacts (from videos to software code)
• Systems thinking (how changing one element affects relationships as a whole)

Indeed, if you think about it, video games can be harnessed to make the learning experience an even better one. While the report does not make conclusive claims, the mere fact that a reliable entity has acknowledged video games as positive is enough to make my day!

Video game enthusiasts in Lakeland, FL, here is your chance to prove just how good you are. This coming Saturday, you can participate in an event sponsored by renowned Best Buy. Here is the news from The Ledger:

The Best Buy Video Classic, a competitive video game event in Lakeland, kicks off Saturday with registration, game and technology exhibits and video game skills assessments.

The event will be at the Freedom Center at 635 W. Fifth St. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The games will begin on July 18, continue to July 25 and take place every third Saturday of the month thereafter with trophies and cash prizes.

Games included in the competition are 2009 NFL Madden, 2009 NCAA (college football), Fight Night (boxing) and 2009 NBA on the XBOX 360 and Play Station 3.

The cost to enter is $10 if you bring your own game controller and $15 if you do not.

The event is presented by Game Time Entertainment and will partner with the Education and Enlightenment Group to raise money for youth scholarships. For more information, contact Greg Simpkins at 863-660-9381.

I find it a bit funny that you have to pay more for the entrance fee if you do not have your own controller. Then again, if I lived in that area and were to join, I would definitely want to bring my own controller. You never know what a new controller might do to make your playing different, right? Anyhow, for those of you in Lakeland, go dial that number up there and plan your weekend!

Oh my. I honestly do not know how to react to this. People of the younger generation are probably cringing and wondering what is going on. Truth be told, I do not think that anyone younger than myself can remember that Michael Jackson used to be COOL. Yes, I remember when we were still in grade school, and everyone was trying to do the moves that Michael Jackson did. Well, those were the days.

Anyhow, rumor has it that the King of Pop is looking into the video game sector to make another comeback. You all know that he is going to have a concert at London’s O2 Arena pretty soon. Well, the additional news is that he is also going to have a video game released. I am not sure as to the truth in these rumors but Ben Dutka at PSX Extreme writes:

According to Euro website 9Lives, the King of Pop will attempt to rock London’s O2 Arena, and a game will follow this effort. All we know is that it will be available for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, and Wii and it should be ready for the holiday season. Now, I would like to see Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker 2, but I’m relatively certain that isn’t going to happen. The first game was a cult classic that actually shipped with the Sega Genesis for a brief time, but it was hardly the epitome of quality and/or technical achievement. We can be nostalgic all we want…the game really wasn’t that good. But damn, it brings us all back, doesn’t it? Anyway, we’ll let you know whenever Jackson chooses to make this project public, and if it may follow in the footsteps of blockbuster franchises like Guitar Hero and SingStar.

Okay, I am not a fan but I don’t dislike the guy either. Let me say that I’ll sit the fence on this one and share my thoughts when and IF the game is released.

You are no stranger to the Fold@Home set up, I presume. If you are a proud owner of a PlayStation 3, then you are probably participating in this awesome project right now. Even if you do not have a PS3, you might have heard of this project, which makes use of spare computing power of individuals who have PS3s. The project’s aim is to utilize all the computing power that researchers can lay their hands on. When PS3s are running online, they can be hooked up to the network and be used to continuously do research on cures for diseases such as cancer.

Now how about taking this concept one step further, and actually throwing in human brain power into the equation? This is the idea that the people behind the video game Foldit have in mind. On the surface, Foldit is just like any other 3D puzzle game. Video game players have to work out these puzzles to score points. The more complex the puzzles and the faster you solve them, the more points you get.

But it doesn’t stop there! Underneath the surface, you can get so much more; say, a cure to cancer? Or maybe AIDS? That explanation is simplified to the bare essentials, but that is the main idea. By working out these puzzles, scientists may be able to gain more insight on protein folding, which is essential to understanding how diseases such as cancer and AIDS work. And if they actually glean these insights, a cure may be on the horizon. Exciting, to say the least, eh?

What made the Wii so popular? Before Nintendo came out with this gaming console, the “war” was practically between Sony’s PlayStation units and Microsoft’s Xbox units. Then the Wii came into the picture. Now, it is undoubtedly at the head of the race. So what made it so popular? There are probably a lot of answers to this question but the Wii-mote is definitely going to be one of the most common answers. To make the long story short, the Wii-mote has made revolutionary changes in the way we play games.

Now what would happen if the PlayStation or the Xbox had a controller much like the Wii-mote? Would it boost the sales of either gaming console? I cannot give a definitive answer BUT I am pretty sure that the people at Sony have thought about it. A lot.

In fact, the rumor is that they are releasing a PS3 controller which bears a striking resemblance to the Wii-mote, but with new developments. Yahoo Games has the story:

While Sony’s current Sixaxis PS3 controller already detects motion, its functionality is severely limited compared to the Nintendo Wii remote. According to the article, the new device will one-up the Wii controller by using tiny LED lights and a small webcam to track movement, which will apparently make for much more accurate motion-detection. This bears a striking similarity to a patent application filed by Sony in 2006, lending an air of credibility to the claim.

Can you imagine playing God of War 3 using this controller? Now all we need are 3D effects….

How long have you waited for a game to arrive since you preordered it? A month? Several months? A year? Truth be told, I hate preordering games. Perhaps I am an impatient person, more than most, but I would rather buy the game the moment it comes out. This way, I am not bound by expectations, which are most probably going to be unmet. Let’s face it, game developers have a way of not meeting first, or even second, deadlines.

The story of Slash000 is something else, however. Way back in 2001, he placed a preorder for the first-person shooter game Duke Nukem Forever. Back then, it was slated to be one of the biggest games in the history of video gaming. Slash000, self-proclaimed to be one of the most patient people in the world, placed his order while the game was still in development.

Eight years later, Slash000’s wait has come to an end, but not in the way he envisioned it. Last week, 3D Realms, the company behind the game folded. Yes, it ran out of money and has declared bankruptcy, bringing down with it the dreams of people like Slash000.

This is story is ridiculous at best. While Slash000 only paid $10 for his deposit, the mental and emotional stress that he has been put through is probably indescribable! I cannot imagine waiting for a game for more than a year, much less almost 10 years! Incompetence is the word that keeps running in my mind…the people at 3D Realms should never be allowed to work in the video game industry again. Ever.

Apple is a company whose name has graced the lips of many technophiles. Indeed, there are countless people who would swear by Apple products. Who could ignore the craze that they started with the iPod? How about the iPhone? Not to mention the constant stream of new computing machines that are released in the market?

But have you ever thought of Apple being part of the gaming world? It is true that mobile gaming has already felt the influence of Apple. After all, a lot of mobile games can be played on the iPhone and the iPod Touch. In fact, a lot of what people download on a regular basis include mobile games.

The rumor that has been circulating is somewhat of a different nature, however. Someone has released news that Apple is out to get its hands on Electronic Arts, the second biggest game development company today. EA is known to gamers for bringing forth games such as the Madden Franchise, Need For Speed, Skate, Fight Night, and many more. There is no doubt about it, EA is big fish in the gaming world.

Now why in the world would Apple want to buy EA, aside from the fact that it is BIG? It seems that Apple has already started to move in on the gaming industry. In the recent weeks, they have hired a major Xbox strategist – luring him away from the other tech giant.

There are so many possibilities here, the least of which is that Apple will start developing games. Ever thought of an Apple gaming console?

My initial reaction to the slew of articles and reports on a recent study stating that about 10 percent of young American video gamers are addicted to video games: you think? Seriously, we know how attached children are these days on video games. We do not really need a study to tell us this!

Still, researchers somehow deemed it important to actually conduct a formal study on the subject. This is what they discovered:

• Spent 24 hours a week playing video games: about twice as much time as non-pathological gamers.
• Were more likely to have video game systems in their bedrooms.
• Were more likely to report having problems paying attention at school.
• Were more likely to have received a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
• Received poorer school grades.
• Had poorer health.
• Were more likely to say they felt “addicted” to their habit.
• Stole to support their habit.

How exactly did they conduct the study?

Using clinical-style criteria similar to that for measuring gambling behaviour, a new study confirmed what many parents already believe, that not only is it possible for children to become “addicted” to video games but nearly 10 per cent of American youngsters actually are.

The study was the work of Iowa State University’s Assistant Professor of Psychology, Dr Douglas Gentile, and was published online on 13 April in the journal Psychological Science.

I’d say that we already knew this. The more important question is how we can address the issue. What do you think?

You’ve heard of smello-vision. It’s a really old joke; but have you ever thought that you could one day play video games and experience the various odors that different scenarios can offer?

This is what Professor Bob Stone is working on. Together with other scientists, Stone is working on a project that may one day bring smell to video games. They are developing technology that will release relevant odors in specific video game scenarios. As of the moment, their research is being conducted at Birmingham University and is being funded by the Ministry of Defence. As such, they are focusing on games of the more “serious” nature; you know, those that are used as simulation exercises by the military.

Dubbed the scent delivery system, or SDS, this technology is made of eight chambers, all of which are sealed. Each chamber contains wax of a distinct odor. The wax is actually available from an educational supplies company for $25 each. Anyhow, at a click of a button, odor can be released by hot air blowing through the relevant chamber.

It is easy to see how, coupled with other effects such as sound and vision, the released odor can make any video game more realistic. Furthermore, we can see how important this is for military simulation exercises. As for “for fun” video games, the added dimension of smell will definitely make the experience all the more fun.

My only question is this: will eight scents be enough to cover all the possible smells? I doubt it, but I am sure they will find a way to deal with this.