A Chinese study reveals that individuals addicted to the web have similar brain scans to drug abusers and other addicts. Moreover, these scans correlate with British scientists’ findings on those addicted to videogames. Special MRI scans revealed that white matter in the brains of web addicts, speci
So the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is this week, and a lot of new and impressive types of interactive technology have been wowing techies the world over. While many developers did their best to impress with all sorts TVs and gaming gadgets, a humbler app inadvertently stole the show: Though Sam
This response to his first fan-mail written by an American, dated 1967, proves it. I’ve been waiting for some reaction to the album from American listeners. There were reviews in Billboard and Cash Box, but they were by professional critics and they rarely reflect the opinions of the public. The cri
We love videogames and the fun they bring to us, but reports surrounding the conditions in which our favorite consoles are manufactured are no laughing matter. Kotaku have reported issues of labor mistreatment in Chinese factories, which are now responsible for manufacturing consoles from Sony, Mic
What is it, exactly, that stops us from being completely seduced by the increasingly impressive modeling of virtual faces in videogames? A new study from MIT says that wariness toward facial recognition might be caused by competing impulses on different sides of the brain: The neuroscientists found
Ludum Dare, the irregular contest that dares hobbyist game developers to make the best game possible in one weekend, has posted its results. This time, the theme was “Alone,” spurring more entries than ever. While Minicraft, Notch’s spoof of his own game Minecraft, didn’t make it, a lot of other gam
Last year’s Superbrothers: Sword and Sorcery EP allowed players to send realtime tweets about their character. A new and suspiciously fatalistic Facebook app titled “If I Die” suggests Facebook app developers are thinking alike: If I Die lets “you” post a final message to your wall and loved one wh
DJ Shadow, the West Coast hip-hop artist best known for his breakthrough album Endtroducing….., but who has fallen off the map ever since, recently spoke with Edge about his favorite videogames. Smash TV was one of the last games I obsessively pumped money into. It was funny because I grew up with a
In its (allegedly) last Consumer Electronics Show presentation ever this week, Microsoft unveiled this gem produced in partnership with the Sesame Workshop, a proposed “two-way television” to create interactive episodes of Sesame Street: A demonstration involved a girl throwing pretend coconuts at a
An Iranian-American man has been handed a death sentence in Iran. His crime: developing videogames. Amir Mizra Hekmati made a series of web games in which players killed extremist militants, such as Osama bin Laden. The studio even released a KumaWar episode titled “Assault on Iran,” speculating on
If the disturbing Black Friday violence that takes place in the United States has taught me anything, it’s that people really love their TVs. Luckily for all Samsung fans (violent or otherwise), the tech giant has come up with a new way to get closer to your TV than you ever could before: A built-in
These wonderful photographs of a Russian missile plant were taken by photographer who snuck in. There are around 50 of these on her site. [Lana Sator] -Jason Johnson
Want to prove to friends and family that your obsession with Apple has become unhealthy. This incredibly lifelike 12-inch figure of founder Steve Jobs will do the trick. The figure comes dressed in Jobs’ trademark black turtleneck, relax-fit jeans, and New Balance sneakers—all of which can be remove
The Independent Games Festival has announced the finalists for its main competition, which will be held on March 7-9th in San Francisco as part of the annual Independent Games Summit. What’s super cool is they’ve signed a multi-year agreement with Xbox Live Arcade to create a new competition, the wi
According to The Economist, Several lines of inquiry (see article) are converging on the idea that the neurological activity of the brain can be decoded directly, and people’s thoughts revealed without being spoken. So telepathy? Mind-reading? We could be mentally messaging our friends and playing g
Pepsi Co. recently let loose with the startling revelation that if you’re drinking a can of Mountain Dew, you don’t have to worry about finding a dead mouse in it, because they claim, “The mouse would have dissolved in the soda” into a “jelly-like substance.” Weirder still they’re claiming this as a
We interrupt our bite-sized game reportage to report on a national emergency that you probably didn’t realize even existed. Someone made scotch in a can and called it Scottish Spirits. Each can costs five dollars and contains about eight shots of liquor. About ten minutes after the product made its
This is a weird one. A group of Swedish copyright pirates have founded Kopimism, a strange new religion that holds copying data as their highest sacrament. Like me, you’re probably thinking, “Is this real?” Yes, it seems to be. The Swedish government recognizes Kopimism as a religion, and the church
I don’t know about you, but I simply can’t get enough of Best of the Year lists. I found the New Yorker’s list of best apps of 2011 amusing, not because the games on it were enlightening, but because the premise is this: here are the games that best pacify screaming children. I particularly enjoyed
Rather than make flash cards, Mark Twain measured out an 817-foot boardgame on his front lawn so they could memorize the complete history of the British monarchy. “When you think of Henry III. do you see a great long stretch of straight road? I do; and just at the end where it joins on to Edward I.
So your grandparents’ idea of gaming is Sunday night Bingo at the community center? Don’t knock it: This may be important for their mental health. ScienceDaily recently ran an article on how playing Bingo aids those who are aging, particularly individuals with dementia, Alzheimer’s, or Parkinson’s
It makes sense that, in an age of LCDs, we find ourselves able to mold light much like we would clay. Tim Barribeau writes: PRISMA 1666 is an installation named after and inspired by Sir Isaac Newton’s famous experiments in 1666 on the refraction of light through crystals. First exhibited at the Int
Ever notice how old games couldn’t quite match the visual flair of their covers? Mighty God King uses Photoshop to make these old Atari games tell the truth. My personal favorite is the Tim Curry poster. His role in Toonstruck just wasn’t enough. – Josiah Harrist [news and image via Mighty God King]
Worried that late nights with Left 4 Dead hasn’t properly prepared you for a zombie outbreak, should a The Walking Dead uprising go down? Nothing screams safety like a semi-automatic rifle and these gory zombie targets, which according to the seller BLEEDS when you shoot it!!! [and] can be shot more
Feeling weighed down by the bulk of Skyrim’s clunky inventory system? Do you find yourself wishing that the system would get out of your way and just let you play? SkyUI, a new Skyrim user interface mod, lets you get closer to what makes the game special: the moments… when you are walking on a cobb
