Gamertell

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Just when you thought the world was turning an evil eye towards video games, accusing it of converting children into violent thugs, rotting their brains and making them fat. Consoles like the Nintendo Wii have opened up a new way for the medical field to use the games to their advantage. With games being integrated into physical therapies that can not only improve a person’s hand-eye-coordination it may just help shed some pounds in childhood obesity.

According to an article published by the UK Press Association video games that engage children in any form of physical activity “may be an effective answer to childhood obesity…“

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With sports fanatics watching the 2008 Beijing Olympics to cheer their favorite teams, gamers can partake in the games via the Beijing 2008 Olympics Video Game for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.

Released on July 8, 2008, for $49.99, the official game of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games promised players the ability to play online with other fans of the Olympics games.

But not everyone was thrilled with the game.

Throughout the years the Olympics have always managed to make it in the gaming world. Some of the official Olympic games that have hit the stands in the past years include…

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You’ve heard of the “uncanny valley” that is, the fact that the more realistic computer-generated graphics become, the more disturbing their flaws (i.e. the best animated humans look very creepy and weird). Now, an excellent editorial at Gamasutra examines the “graphics plateau” - the point where graphics are basically “good enough” and all anyone cares about is gameplay. Writer Brandon Sheffield thinks we’re there already. He cites the crazy popularity of underpowered machines (like the Wii and even the DS), and the PS2’s continued success, along with the ubiquity of mobile gaming in Japan, as reasons supporting this.

What do you think? Are graphics now at the point where we no longer need the uber-machines to be satisfied? Or are simpler games just in fashion due to demographic reasons? An argument could certainly be made either way, but Sheffield’s piece is well worth a look whichever side you’re on.

Read [Gamasutra]

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Sick of dropping several hundred dollars on new consoles every couple of years? Well, this generation you might be in luck, since several industry leaders are predicting that the current crop of hardware will still be dominant for the next eight years. According to a post at GameDaily, Microsoft and Sony appear to have relatively similar game plans, with powerful systems - so powerful that even the most talented developers have barely scratched the surface of the technology. Nintendo has certainly taken a different path and company president Satoru Iwata made a few…

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Much like the movie industry started the season with the release of Iron Man, the game industry has already started off Summer 2008 on the sunny side with Grand Theft Auto 4 and Mario Kart Wii.

Typically this is the time of year when gamers have to sort through stacks of games lacking in quality and originality. Summer 2007 was a particularly low point in what was otherwise the most profitable gaming year in history. For Summer 2008, however, many high-profile titles should help make this am unusually more enjoyable season..

Click through for a look at some of Summer 2008’s best-looking games…

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Adults Only-rated games have been despised by major retailers and console manufacturers. But there is a very distant possibility of console manufacturers giving the green signal to AO-rated games if they see any merit in the argument that AO-rated games are a form of free speech. Adam Thierer, director of The Progress & Freedom Foundation and a proponent of free speech, has addressed the possibility of AO games appearing on consoles on his blog.

Thierer feels that AO games should be accommodated into the mainstream but disagrees with a suggestion that…

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As with all of its previous consoles, Sony has promised a 10-year life cycle for the PS3. Although many have dismissed it, the history of previous Playstation consoles suggests that Sony has at least made an earnest effort to elongate the life of its consoles. If Pacific Crest Securities’ analyst Evan Wilson is to be believed, however, Nintendo and Microsoft might not follow suit.

Wilson shared his beliefs in an investor note sent to Gamespot. According to him, there is very little likelihood of Nintendo and Microsoft extending the life cycle of their current generation offerings beyond the…

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Canadian-based Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) has invested the sum of $1 million dollars in Silicon Knights, the creators of the upcoming Too Human  or the development of a videogame prototype.

So far the only words coming out of Silicon Knights is that they have described the unknown projects as a third-person action/psychological thriller. This brief description could point to a possibly sequel to Eternal Darkness, which was developed by Silicon Knights for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002. However, there is no conformation on this as of yet.  Silicon Knights is expected to begin work on its next title after the May 2008 release of Too Human and be completed in 2010 for all next-gen consoles.

The OMDC is an agency of the Ontario Ministry of Culture that facilitates economic development opportunities for Ontario’s cultural media industries including book publishing, film and television, interactive digital media, magazine publishing, and music industries is now looking towards the multi-billion dollar industry of video games. Silicon Knights, which is based out of Ontario, Canada, is one of two companies to be supported by the OMDC. The other company to receive the exploratory funding was Digital Extreme; the makers of the upcoming title Dark Sector.

The funding by the OMDC is meant to help developers showcase their new ideas and attract additional funding from publishers. It is hoped that by providing critical support at the prototyping stage of development, that OMDC can help Ontario based developers retain a larger share of their intellectual property and to demand higher royalty payments.

Read [IGN] Also Read [News Wire] Site [OMDC] Site [Silicon Knights]

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Apple has existed as a niche computer brand for a long time, while tasting amazing amounts of success with its forays into the MP3 player and cellphone markets. Now it might just be nurturing ambitions of expanding into other areas like video gaming. Trademork has unearthed a trademark extension request asking for the extension of Apple’s trademark into game devices.

The trademark extension request was filed with the US Patent and Trademark office on Feb 5, 2008. This application will secure Apple’s trademark from being illegally used in the videogaming market. The company has formally requested…

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