“Video games have often been portrayed as violence-ridden vehicles for teen angst. But after 10 people in South Korea died last year from game-addiction causes, including one man who collapsed in an Internet cafe after playing an online game for 50 hours with few breaks, some began to see a new technological threat.”

This article written in the Washington Post takes a very detailed and interesting look at some highly popular video games which ‘seem’ to be stealing people’s lives away from them. One of the most popular MMORPG’s on the PC ‘World of Warcraft’ is a huge culprit draining countless hours of otherwise productive time from the millions of otherwise sociable gamers.

Take a look at the article “Lost in an Online Fantasy World” by Olga Khazan on the Washington post website. It is a very interesting read.

Personally, I have known so many people who just loves games such as World of Warcraft, Dungeon’s and Dragons Online, StarWars Galaxies, EverQuest, etc which just seem to steal people away from their friends and family.

I’d love to start playing a few of these games, but I know that if I ever do, I’ll be totally sucked in just like so many others have been and totally loose my very fulfilling social life.

Take a look, read through the article and enjoy.

Sierra Entertainment has made the multiplayer component from the award winning PC title F.E.A.R (First Encounter Assault Recon), has been renamed F.E.A.R Combat, and is available for download Today, Thursday August 17th.

F.E.A.R Comat is the latest release of the Fear multiplayer game which can be downloaded for free via the link below ‘Read More’. This game has been highly popular amongst a huge gaming population throughout the world.

I’m not exactly 100% sure if you can play F.E.A.R combat online but definately sure about local network (LAN) support. Visiting the link, you will need to register to obtain your unique registration key, but once you’re all done you can download a multiplayer release of F.E.A.R absolutely free.

read more | digg story

No need for 360 fanboys to waste energy mocking the “revolutionary” PS3 controller for being sadly inferior to a 7 year-old product that worked with Warhawk on the PS1 when Playstation Magazine is producing humiliating videos like this.

For those who are unaware, The original Playstation and then the Playstation 2 used ‘Dual-Shock’ controllers which not only provided the player with analog control sticks, but also include force feedback vibration which was a huge hit and I personally think this new ‘revolution’ in its time made the Playstation as popular as it is today.

But, this proven controller has been ‘redesigned’ and ‘revolutionized’ some more by the genius creative team at Sony. The Playstation 3 controller will still provide analog control sticks but no more force feedback. Instead sony has opted for motion sensing functionality in place of force feedback which has proven to be a very unpopular move.

This article (follow the ‘Read More’ link below) at XBOX 360 fanboy talk about in great depth why this move was such a crummy move and includes a hilliarous video of what sony apparently released as a gamer playing warhawk (or something) with the new (motion sensing) controller.

This guy looks like he just found video games for the first time and moving the control with his character. The thing is, it is this behaviour when playing ‘motion sensitive’ games that sony have encouraged? eh? Take a look for yourselves, what are you doing sony?

read more | digg story

New Super Mario Bros for the Nintendo DS is a game I am so looking forward to, and have been for most of the year. If you ever played any of the Super Mario Bros games on the gameboy, NES, SNES you will know how addictive the side scrolling adventure with our favourite plumber can be. Well, that sidescrolling concept has been given new life with new 3D graphics on a 2D plane. Here are some picks to get you excited:

New Super Mario Bros releases in the US on May 15th and in Japan May 30th. Australian/New Zealand & Euro gamers won't see mario until mid June I think, so I'll definately be importing my copy in on the 15th for sure. My fellow Aussies, I use a site called DVD Crave to import my games, they have such great prices and they will ship your goods to you usually within 2-3 days which is nice.

A great game worth checking out I think if you own a Nintendo DS, It will be responsible for many nights awake I think! lol.

It has been confirmed (finally!). The controller that legions of Playstation fans detested ever since day one has finally officially been scrapped and Sony Computer Entertainment’s worldwide division has gone back to the drawing board.

The ‘boomerang – cresent moon’ design in my opinion was one of the worst designed devices that sony had ever created, and I am so glad that they too have see this and chopped it. The redesign has yet to be revealed, but all signs are pointing to an unveilling at this year’s E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo in May.

I wonder what they will come up with? I (and the millions of other playstation gamers) was very very happy with the PSX and PS2 controller’s (both more or less the same case) as they were both easy to use and fairly comfortable to hold for long periods. Hopefully this new design will be based around that similar concept which made the original controllers to popular, but I hope they don’t try anything too drastic.

I can’t say this enough Sony…“MAKE SURE USER TESTING IS PRIORITY NO #1”. If I’ve learnt anything in my User Interface design and Interaction design classes at Uni is that the user should definately be involved in the project as much as possible, becuase user feedback is the best indicator of a good product (im sure you guys @ sony know this :)).

Really looking forward to the redesign, and and unanimous “THANK YOU” on behalf of all playstation gamers!

Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings (Avaliable: NOW)

The Age of Empires series ever since its introduction back in 1997 has always pushed the envelope of Real time strategy games on the PC, and now the series is back for its next installment paving the way for newer advances in gameplay, storytelling and a totally new system for starters.

Age of Empires 2: The age of kings released was released mid last month (Feb 14th) with high critical acclaim from a number of trusted sources such as IGN, Gamespot and Gamespy just to name a few all scoring the game in the low 80 percentile:

• IGN: 8.2 / 10 = 82%
• Gamespot: 8.2 / 10 = 82%
• Gamespy: 4/5 stars = 80%

For those who are familiar with Advanced Wars on the Nintendo DS will be familiar with the gameplay mechanics and styling of Age of Kings (AOK) in that it is a turn based strategy game instead of the classic PC style ‘real time’ strategy. Having a turn based approach makes it more interesting and adds a new level of strategic complexity to the game well suited for a handheld. The Graphics look sharp and clear, and some of the battle animations look just like they did on AOE 2 back on the PC in 2000.

I don’t currently own the game, but I’m definitely going to run out and pick myself up a copy of AOE2: Age of Kings. I’m sure it won’t dissapoint.

Tetris DS (Avaliable US: March 20, JAP: April 30, EUR: May 6)

Tetris DS is a game I have been waiting quite a while for and so glad its coming out Next week (March 20), I think I’ll have to import it as here in Australia, we seem to get DS games around the same time as Europe (PS2 games we get the same time as US which is nice). Anyone who is a fan of the original Tetris game on the Gameboy will surely love coming back and giving it another spin.

Graphics of course have been improved significantly, along with a whole heap of new game modes which will be kinda cool. So looking forward to this game.

Metroid Prime: Hunters (Avaliable US: March 20)

Metroid Prime Hunters on the DS is a game I have been waiting so long for, ever since we all played the demo we got with our Nintendo DS’s way back in Jan 05′. Pretty much the first ‘first person shooter’ to release for the Nintendo DS, any fans of the original metroid games, or even the newer metroid prime games on the gamecube will definately love this, and best part of all….Its Nintendo WIFI Connection compatible.

I am also really looking forward to New Super Mario Bros for the Nintendo DS but won’t be out until May or something, so I’m sure i’ll be talking about that game closer to the release date. So can’t wait, there are alot of really great games currently avaliable and coming soon on the Nintendo DS (far more than our PSP friends 🙂 lol) so get to it, keep an eye out for some of these games, I know I am.