Can the new Nintendo computer games for the over40s really improve brain power?

Computer gaming is undergoing a transformation. It’s no longer the preserve of solitary geeks in their bedrooms. It is being adopted by 40-year-olds, embraced by 60-year-olds and even has devotees who are centenarians – and all in the pursuit of health and fitness. But surely, you might think, gaming is the ultimate in unhealthy, sedentary pursuits? You’d be wrong.

The stereotypical games player is indeed a black-clad male teenager in his bedroom, locked in the multiple levels of Mortal Kombat, or any of those other shoot-’em-up/fantasy/ race games. And, yes, games playing is cited as the cause of everything from obesity to acne, although with precious little evidence to support such claims. But I suspect that much of its bad-health press has been generated because older adults are excluded from it, both by gaming’s complexity and by the level of skill that is needed to trash stroppy teenage offspring.

So, first of all, is there any evidence that gaming has any physiological effects on the body? Dr Simon Moore, a leader in psychology at London Metropolitan University, is emphatic. “Definitely,” he says. His department is known for its work exploring the link between computer games and health and is involved in an experiment at the Science Museum.

He is speaking about this work at In the Game, an event at the Science Museum’s Dana Centre next week. He wanted to find out whether games were relaxing or, especially given the way that players become immersed in often violent games, whether they were stressful.

Volunteers taking part provided a saliva sample before and after playing a simple go-kart racing game for five minutes at the museum. The volunteers believed that they were playing against a specified type of opponent: male, female, experienced, inexperienced. The samples were then analysed to measure how the game and the knowledge about their opponent affected stress-hormone levels and immune activity. The results were fascinating.

Like most activities that humans engage in, gaming raises the heartbeat and breathing rate. The more novel the game, the greater the effect. Whether people find a game stressful depends on how well they think they are doing and who they think they are playing. The saliva of a red-hot male gamer, who lost to an inexperienced woman, indicated that a drop in immune activity had taken place (therefore the subject was more stressed); whereas there was an opposite effect in an 82-year-old man who did better than he expected. There is a general effect, too. “Games that are thought to be too hard, or where the learning curve is too steep, are experienced as stressful,” says Dr Moore.

This takes us back to the alienated over40s, who are stressed out by complex games but who make up a lucrative and largely untapped three quarters of the population. Add to this the fact that the market for gaming is in long-term decline and you can see why the Japanese company Nintendo decided that it was time to widen the base, which meant going back to the drawing board and starting over.

Nintendo is marketing to the over50s

Part of the solution was Nintendo DS (£99.99), a portable handheld console with a double screen, which was introduced in 2004. It works with a stylus and, if you can write your name, you can use it. Initial applications for the DS were familiar Nintendo favourites. But now there are a whole range of new applications, including Brain Training, which was launched just as Sudoku was taking off. It was a big hit and even Nintendo was surprised by its popularity. So Nintendo is marketing like mad to the over50s, exploiting the fact that video games can teach and train. They’re already widely used in adult training and education, with great success.

The key to the Nintendo approach is the constant psychological reward that is offered. Margaret Robertson, the former editor of the video game magazine Edge, says: “It’s very good at positive reinforcement. You engage and try hard and it gives you the sort of pat on the head that you don’t usually get in adult life.”

New to the Nintendo fold is Sight Training, which is out next week. It promises to train your vision in a few minutes a day. Like Brain Training, it was developed by an academic (the vision specialist Professor Hisao Ishigaki of the Aichi Institute of Technology). I tried this out and found it compelling. It exercises five aspects of vision – hand-eye coordination, peripheral vision, eye movement, momentary visions and dynamic visual acuity – with games from baseball simulations to puzzles. The first time I tried it, I confess, it told me that I had the sight of an 80-year-old. Three further tries and I was beaming, as my eye age got down to the thirties.

“These are not exercises that will cure eye problems or let you throw away your glasses,” says Gail Stephenson, a senior lecturer in orthoptics (the study of eye muscles) at the University of Liverpool. “But they can make your eyes work better.” She gives the analogy of your lungs before and after training for a marathon; the same lungs before and after, but training can make a big difference to their function. She thinks that Sight Training players will notice that their eyes tire less quickly and that they’ll notice things faster. Using it every day simply works eye muscles a bit harder, making it easier, for instance, to follow lines of print or to spot things in our peripheral visual field. For those who have the Brain Training Nintendo programme, Sight Training will be familiar, with its graded exercises, and the ability to chart your progress. It’s a tiptop Christmas present. Give it to your least favour-ite uncle and you will find Christmas afternoon will be blissfully peaceful.

The Wii gives you a physical workout

The other platform developed by Nintendo was Wii (£179.97). If “everyone knows how to use a pencil” is the basis of the DS, then “everyone knows how to use a TV remote” is the foundation of Wii. In addition to a console, the Wii (pronounced Wee) has a remote device. This uses a combination of built-in gadgets to sense its position in 3-D space, when used with the console, which can be hooked up to the TV or another screen. It means that the remote’s activity is translated to the screen, so you can actually wield that sword, golf club or tennis racket shown on the screen, or indeed anything else that Nintendo might devise. Physical activity and all without going outside or, if you are 65 and finding tennis a bit hard on the knees, injuring yourself. It is becoming hugely popular with older people, even being used in the US as therapy for those recovering from strokes.

Clearly the Wii has many attractions for the housebound and there are already reports of it being used in old people’s homes.In terms of health benefits, the DS may simply be the modern equivalent of crossword puzzles, a way to keep your brain actively engaged. When I visited Japan earlier this year there were an amazing number of applications for DS on sale, including Face Training, which is where you gurn away to your console’s instructions to keep your jawline taut. It hasn’t yet got a launch date here, unlike Wii Fit, a home fitness programme for Wii, which promises tautness for everywhere else on your body. There are no prizes for predicting that it will take the market by storm when it launches next year. I think it’s time to stop viewing video games as time-wasting devil’s spawn and embrace them and acknowledge that they can be good for your health, mental and physical. Prescribe them to yourself soon.

Meet the granny who's hooked to computer games!

A 72-year-old Chinese woman has gotten so hooked to computer games that she starts playing them at 9 am every day.

Grandmom Liu Zhi's gaming addiction began 20 years ago when she visited a colleague and found her son playing games on the computer.

Intrigued by the novel activity, she purchased a player for herself and has been hooked ever since.

In fact, Zhi is so addicted to the games, that her son bought her a computer so she could kill time playing games on it.

However, all that time spent in front of the monitor has taken its toll, for Zhi has been complaining of pain in her back and wrist from sitting too long, reveals China Daily.

Her concerned family members have now had to pry her away from the console to get her to appreciate more healthy activities like Peking Opera.

Video games boost America's love for Japanese sportcars

America's love for Japanese sportscars is getting a boost from video games that allow driver-players to "virtually" experience new models before they get behind the actual wheel.

No fewer than three "supercars" this week made their North American debut at a car show in Los Angeles that opened to the public Friday after two days of media-only access.

The unveiling of the GT-R coupe on Wednesday sent a crush of onlookers to the Nissan stand, where the brand's president Carlos Ghosn came to boast about the latest heir to the "Skyline" dynasty, synonymous with high performance in Japan since 1969.

The sharply defined car has until now only been manufactured with its steering wheel on the right side, making it suitable for countries where cars drive on the left and therefore preventing its export to the United States and continental Europe.

But Americans have been driving virtual "Skyline" cars for years.

They feature in the wildly popular Gran Turismo video game, originating from Japan, which for the past decade has been sold worldwide for Sony Playstation.

A demonstration for the next version, Gran Turismo 5, already features the new GT-R.

Sold for around $70,000 before tax, the GT-R is "no longer an out-of-reach desire in a video game or movie," said Ghosn of the Japanese sportscars that also features in the third installment of the movie "Fast and Furious," released in 2006.

Under the hood of the GT-R lies a 480 horsepower engine that can make it go from 0 to 60 miles per hour (0 to 100 kilometers per hour) in 3.5 seconds, and reach a top speed of 193 miles per hour (311 kilometers per hour).

In a nod to the video game, it also has an on-deck computer that lets the driver analyze his or her dexterity at the wheel.

Another example of a car which owes a great deal to virutal drivers is the Subaru Impeza, whose amped-up version the WRX STI made its US debut in 2004 even though it had been a regular on the gamers' circuit since 1992.

"The video game phenomenon, with Gran Turismo, I think drew lot of demand," said Tim Colbeck, vice president of sales for Subaru of America, who was showing a new 305-horsepower version of the sportscar in Los Angeles.

"It got to a point when it made absolute sense to bring this car in, and when we did, it's been a great car for us, very popular."

Subaru's main competitor is the Mitsubishi Evolution, an agile four-door saloon car that metamorphoses into a rally car. The newest Evolution, its 10th incarnation since 1992, also made an appearance in Los Angeles, this time with a 291-horsepower engine.

"We didn't bring it in till number eight," said Janis Little, director of product and brand communications for Mitsubishi Motors North America.

"So those people who played videogames, and of course the ones who were aware of Gran Turismo, helped to build the base for Evolution. They became acquainted with us in video games and so Mitsubishi has enjoyed a nice relationship with the people of Gran Turismo."

Beowulf Movie Is Like A Video Game

You can talk about Ray Harryhausen and how Beowulf is a nod to the master special effects artist. But when I saw Beowulf at a 3-D IMAX last night, all I could think about was how the movie was influenced by video games. This may herald a sea change in the movie industry when it comes to making action scenes in epic, animated movies. For in Beowulf’s action sequences, I saw everything from the monster battles in Sony’s God of War to the infected townspeople in Resident Evil 4 (Grendel looks like a skinless video game zombie in the movie).

Now, you can say that I play too many video games and that movie special effects are influenced by other movies, not games. But I don’t see it that way. Sure, the scenes in God of War aren’t as graphically detailed as in Beowulf. But the guys that make the effects: I’d be quite surprised if they aren’t playing games and becoming influenced by games. Now let me say this about the video game, which I don’t have in the house yet. Since I’ve seen the movie in 3-D IMAX, I don’t know if I can even play the game. The experience was so gigantic in the theater with the 3-D dragon and Grendel, Ubisoft’ll really have to add some new story lines and levels that include plot beyond the movie for me to get really enthused. Such is the conundrum when movie technology, however inspired by game technology, trumps what can be done in a video game.

Beowulf Movie

Ubisoft

Ghostbusters game announced

Next month's issue of Game Informer has a big, familiar symbol on its cover. On their website, they tease the announcement of a brand-new Ghostbusters video game.

This isn't some knock-off, either:
"Harold Ramis, Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd are getting back together and revisiting their roles to make a sequel to Ghostbusters 1 and 2 - in video-game form, and we've got the first details. Both Aykroyd and Ramis are teaming up for scriptwriting duties and are going far beyond just the typical licensed add-your-voice-to-the-game-you-had-nothing-to-do-with formula"

GameInformer

WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2008 Review (Xbox 360)

Love him or hate him, Vince McMahon is modern-day studio wrestling.

While calling the WWE the greatest spectacle in sports entertainment is pompous, you’ve got to hand it to Vinny. Although aided by his father owning the biz in the early years, McMahon had his hand in turning the World Wrestling Entertainment into a mega-dollar company, despite “inter-office” turmoil and the fact that wrestling is fake. No really, it is.

Helping McMahon and company achieve such a success with their fake sport is a very lucrative pull-through with merchandising. Everything from toys, air fresheners and clothing, to theme music CD’s and classic WWF DVD’s (with all of the logos blurred out to stave off any more lawsuits from the World Wildlife Fund) help to fill those arenas each and every week, not to mention their part in boosting Pay PerView sales.

And then there’s the video game. Video games have played their part in the WWF’s and WWE’s success throughout the years, dating back to the days when McMahon was a simple announcer and non-heel. There was even an old-school coin-op produced, not to mention a slew of titles during SEGA’s and Nintendo’s early-bit heydays. The wrestlers (Big Boss Man FTW!) changed from year-to-year of course, as did the fighting systems and graphics, but the one constant was the Japanese developer’s fascination with the sport, and their penchant for making spot-on recreations of McMahon’s flashy universe.

Yuke’s out of Japan was one of those developers caught up in the wrestling boom. Their mid-90’s Power Move grapplers earned them acclaim, which eventually led to myriad WWE games in the 2000’s for the Dreamcast, Playstation One and Two, the Gamecube and yes, even Microsoft’s original big, black box.

WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 saw Yuke’s move their wrestling game prowess onto the Xbox 360, and for the most part it was a success. Obviously the anticipation is high for today’s subject WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, as it usually takes developers at least one title to feel out the new hardware and figure out exactly what it can and can’t do. A year later, it’s still obvious that Yuke’s knows how to concoct a good WWE game, but we’re still a little unclear if they have the whole progress concept down yet.

Before we get into what Yuke’s should have done for WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, let’s look at what they did, in fact, do, and do well. In a word- graphics. WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008’s predecessor was a pretty solid game visually, but Yuke’s somehow managed to make their latest work the graphical equivalent of an Atomic Drop. The character models are even better than last year (still a tad greasy though, although maybe that was by design since most of these brutes are sweaty and Nair’d beyond belief), and the new characters brought over from the ECW look spot-on as well. There’s a greater amount of aesthetic fluidity to the entire production now; from ring entrances to just about every interaction the wrestler has with an opponent (some of the bigger moves still get choppy though). There’s also a greater sense of overall realism due to the reworked animations that lessen the “robot” factor that often plagues sports (well, entertainment) game characters. The new running dynamic is actually pretty realistic-looking too, not to mention it being a valuable tool that keeps the pacing of each match more realistic-feeling. Close-up facial expressions add to the visceral feel of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 as well, especially when foes are involved in a Struggle Submission- the new interactive pain delivery system that adds a touch more skill to moves like the Figure 4 or the STF-U (parents - we’ll let your kids figure out what that stands for). What we see this year, we like for sure.

The entire visual presentation WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 is unquestionably impressive, which at first gave us a sense of hope that the gameplay would follow suit. But it seems as though Yuke’s wanted to add additional features to the same basic engine they had in place in SmackDown vs. Raw 2007, instead of fixing the anomalies that kept last year’s game from being great.

We like the work that Yuke’s put in to WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 to create clear fighting styles for each character. This is a great feature for the casual wrestling fan that may not realize that Mr. Hardy is an aerial master or that Batista is essentially an immovable object. But for the true wrestling and wrestling game fan, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008’s Fighting Style system presents a problem….

More here...

Singapore Bans XBox 360 Game for Lesbian Content

Gamers in Singapore won’t be seeing the new XBox 360 offering Mass Effect, it was announced Thursday. The reason: a scene showing two women in a lesbian encounter.

posted today cited a statement from Singapore’s Board of Film Censors, in which it was announced that because of "a scene of lesbian intimacy," the Board has determined that "the game has been disallowed" for consumption by Singapore residents.

Mass Effect is scheduled to the worldwide market next week, the AFP article said.

The statement was made by the deputy director of the Board, which operates under Singapore’s Media Development Authority. Singapore is known for its close censorship of media.

Mass Effect is not the video game to be banned there. The statement reference precedents: a game called God of War II was barred from Singapore because of depictions of nudity, while another title, The Darkness, ran afoul of censors for its level of violent action, as well as for foul and religiously disrespectful language, the AFP article said.

The deputy director said that games for sale in Singapore are not allowed to "feature exploitative or gratuitous sex and violence, or denigrate any race or religion."

Microsoft, which manufactures the X Box gaming platform, answered AFP’s query via email, the story said.

Read the note from the US firm, "We strictly adhere to the laws, regulations and norms of the markets we operate in."

Besides its strong censorship, Singapore is known for its anti-gay legislation. Just last month, oral and anal sexual contact between heterosexuals was decriminalized, but sexual contact between gays remains illegal, AFP reported.

PS3 outsells Wii in Japan

Sony's console more than trebles its numbers as DS continues to dominate

The PlayStation 3 has overtaken the Nintendo Wii in the Japanese hardware sales chart, notching up 38 per cent more sales for the week ending November 11.

The Nintendo DS continued to sit atop the chart, selling 78,884 units while the PlayStation Portable also remained largely unchanged selling 58,964 according to Media Create.

But the PlayStation 3 more than trebled its previous week's sales, shifting 55,924 consoles.

By contrast the Wii continued to slide, falling just under 10 per cent to 34,456 units, despite the recent release of major title Super Mario Galaxy.

Meanwhile the PlayStation 2 dropped below the 10,000 mark, while the Xbox 360 also fell back to more normal sales levels after some software-related bursts in the past month.

The full sales list is as follows:

1. Nintendo DS: 78,884
2. PlayStation Portable: 58,964
3. PlayStation 3: 55,924
4. Nintendo Wii: 34,456
5. PlayStation 2: 9043
6. Xbox 360: 5817

rFactor - Racing into stores this week

Genre: Racing Simulation
Developed by: Image Space Incorporated
Published by: Sniper Entertainment
Website: www.rfactor.net, www.rfactorcentral.com
Release date: 16th November 2007
SRP: £24.99
PEGI: 3+
Platform: PC DVD

Sniper and Image Space Incorporated are pleased to announce that, from today, rFactor is available in UK stores.

rFactor offers the latest in vehicle and race customization, advanced graphics, and the height of racing realism. Developed by the creators of EA's Formula 1 and NASCAR Thunder series, and also Sports Car GT (SCGT), rFactor provides unprecedented flexibility, allowing the series to grow and evolve with mod community involvement, race club formation, and feedback from users worldwide.

The new boxed version of rFactor includes a completely new multiplayer engine, built-in race statistics and friends list, dedicated server, and built-in IRC chat. Developer Pete Knepley says "Factor is built to last. People still play SCGT and F1C, they will still be playing rFactor for years, I want them to be able to have internet matchmaking forever… My solution to matchmaking was to write a lightweight application that could be easily deployed. It runs the server listings and friends listings with minimal processor, memory and bandwidth usage. … This was a hardcore multithreaded server app that is the cornerstone to internet play for possibly thousands of players at once. It took several prototypes and a couple full rewrites to get it to production quality."

The rFactor series features mixed class road racing with ultra realistic dynamics, an immersive sound environment and stunning graphics. rFactor is the racing game you want to play, and will be available on DVD-ROM from the 16th November 2007.

Condor, the Competition Soaring Simulator, has landed in the UK

Genre: Flight Simulation
Developed by: Condor Soaring
Published by: Sniper Entertainment
Website: www.condorsoaring.com
Release date: 16th November 2007
SRP: £29.99
PEGI: 3+
Platform: PC CD-ROM

The boxed version of the critically acclaimed simulation Condor, from Sniper Entertainment and Condor Soaring, is now available in the UK.

Designed to recreate the ultimate experience of competition soaring on your PC, Condor, allows you to play with the atmosphere, riding the air currents, searching for that elusive lift. It's all about reading an environment that constantly changes, learning to see the detail in the clouds.

Condor is aimed at all levels with the excellent flight school for beginners and competition mode for more experienced players. Save flights and analyse them afterwards to improve your skills. Condor is great for learning, or for playing alone. It also incorporates a multiplayer feature so you can compete with other simmers around the world.

After critical acclaim as a downloadable game, Condor will be available from retail stores from 16th November 2007.