Video games reduce blood flow to the brain!!!!

People who spend too much time playing video games, especially violent video games, may risk damaging brain function and affect their learning and emotional control, a study released yesterday showed.

Chou Yuan-hua, a doctor in the Department of Psychiatry at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, enlisted 30 youngsters -- all aged 25 -- as research subjects for the study.

They were given physical examinations to monitor changes in blood circulation in their brains before and after each played a video game for 30 minutes.

The study found that the act of playing video games obviously caused decreased blood flow to the brain, and that the effect is even more pronounced in those playing violent video games.

Source: Taipei Times

Glasgow Scientists say Silicon Chips are holding back Game Development

According to researchers at Glasgow University and the US Semiconductor Research Corporation, silicon chips are restricting the advancement of videogames.

Because the chips have reached their limits of speed and performance, say the scientists, progress in game design is being held back.

Professor Iain Thayne is leading the team that's researching a new breed of "super chips," that could theoretically allow designers to "develop games that make you feel as though you are part of the synthesised world.

"Thayne says that many current games "still feel very unrealistic and flat."

In addition to increasing the speed of computers, these new chips could lengthen battery life for cell phones and digital cameras.

Source: Wired

From the Yorkshire Post...

Super chips to boost computer games

A new generation of "super chips" is being designed to make computer games more lifelike.
Scientists say silicon chips that power computers and games consoles have reached their peak in terms of speed and ability.

Now an international team of experts is working on a new breed that will allow game designers to create more complex, lifelike graphics.

The new chips could also lengthen battery life for mobile phones and digital cameras and increase the speed of computers.

The project, supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, is the result of a £1.2m partnership between electronics specialists at Glasgow University and the US Semiconductor Research Corporation.

Lead researcher Professor Iain Thayne said: "A lot of computer games still feel very unrealistic and flat. What gamers want is to develop games that make you feel as though you are part of the synthesised world.

"It is the silicon chips installed in games consoles which are holding this development back and so by increasing the power of chips a whole new generation of computer games can be launched."

Games makers could get them within three years.

Top ten games of 2007 - Number One : The Orange Box on PC XBox 360 PlayStation 3

It had to be, didn’t it? Whether you look at The Orange Box as one game, three games or five games – whether you’re a newcomer to the series who wants to play it in his living room on a console or a hardened fan who wants the PC experience, there’s still no faulting The Orange Box. If nothing else there’s still just an enormous feeling of value.

Half-Life 2: Episode 2 is perhaps the most perfect and appreciable of the Half-Life experience yet. The meaty part of the story, Episode 2 picks up directly after Episode 1 and sees Alyx Vance and Gordon Freeman desperately trying to make it to White Forest Base to deliver a message of the utmost importance to the resistance.

The story is brilliantly told and the pace is kept fast so that players are constantly moving, barging through obstacles and knocking foes and trials aside. There is no pause, no relief save those shared between characters at pivotal moments of the plot.


There is always something to overcome and, if nothing else, Episode 2 generates a fantastic sensation of motion – of constantly striving closer to a goal. By the end you’ll be collapsed over your desk, feeling like you’ve just managed to accomplish something for the first time in your life. It always, honestly feels like the characters are real, that they depend on you and that you are Gordon Freeman, their salvation.

At times the story will move you to tears, at others to laughter but, for the vast majority of the time you won’t have time to think. You’ll be stuck on the edge of your seat like an indecisive emo on a clifftop and you’ll be concerned only with doing what you can to save the characters which have become your friends and unveil more of the slowly revealed nature of the GMan.

Then there’s Portal, which tells the story of Chell and GlaDOS – the test subject and examiner of Aperture Science respectively. Portal takes an entirely different tack, slowing players down and giving them a relaxing and oddly romantic story which ties directly in to the events of Episode 2.

Using the brand new game mechanic of the portal gun, players can progress the story at a mostly leisurely pace, savouring a truly dry sense of excellently written humour.

Then Team Fortress 2, the much delayed sequel and office multiplayer game of choice. Streamlined to perfection in a way not seen in any game before, players get a chance to frag their friends in style by hopping around in a cel-shaded arena of death.

No matter what style of play you prefer – sneaky spies like Tim, saw-toting medics like Rich or slippery scope-eyed snipers like me – there’s just something for everyone. And that’s what makes The Orange Box so great as a whole – there’s something for everyone and, to be honest, each and every one of the games in the box could stand to be in the top three on its own.

For the first time we don't have one game which tries to be a jack of all trades, cramming in multiplayer modes which are clearly unsuitable or puzzles which don't mesh with the game world at all. Instead, we have three games each of which is dedicated to a single purpose and then honed to a brilliant edge. You've got Episode 2 for your story-loving action heroes, Portal for your humorous case-crackers and Team Fortress 2 for when you haven't got anybody else at all.

Put them all together and you've got our Game of the Year.

Source: Bit-Tech

Top ten games of 2007 - Number Two : BioShock on PC XBox 360

“L-L-look at you, Hacker…” Whoops, sorry – wrong game. This isn’t the seminal System Shock 2, this is its spiritual successor, BioShock.

In development since time out of mind, BioShock was originally about exploring a Nazi bunker filled with zombies and mutants left behind from the dreadful experiments of WWII. The game would have had a firm horror feel to it and was more heavily targeted at the RPG end of the FPS/RPG genre.

My, how things changed...

BioShock ended up as something with much more of a sophisticated and unique feel. The player takes the role of an anonymous character who is aboard a plane when it crashes over the Atlantic. The only survivor, you swim to what you think is a lighthouse – only to find it’s actually the entrance to an extensive underwater city called Rapture, a place in dire need of a hero.

Founded by a man called Andrew Ryan, Rapture was intended to be a capitalist paradise where the best minds of the world retreated to live in harmony and peace, away from governmental pressures. Instead, Ryan dug too deep into the world and discovered a new type of animal which, when... um, processed... allowed the creation of new technology called Plasmids. The Plasmids allow genetic code of users to be re-written, granting new powers and abilities.


The Plasmids carry a high price though and drove substantial portions of Rapture to madness while, at the same time, a civil revolt was in progress against Ryan and his followers.

The story to BioShock is a rarity in itself – something dark and powerful, but also intelligent and well-presented. In a industry littered with simple run and gun shooters, BioShock stands head and shoulders above the rest, marking itself as truly the Thinking Man’s Shooter.

Rapture is a haunting, ruined city littered with audio diaries, posters and the trinkets of those now dead...or worse. It’s a gory place, splattered with blood and littered with corpses. Deformed, crazed denizens lurk in the shadows and every time you kill one you feel a pang of guilt – you know that the person you just killed may have been somebody important. For them to even be in Rapture to start with they must have been a scientist, artist or doctor. It makes every fight vaguely repugnant and uncomfortable.

At the same time though, Rapture is a beautiful place. 1950s jazz floats down the hallways and the art-deco architecture of the building means that it is staggeringly gorgeous to look at. That’s the brilliance of BioShock – the fusion of sweets and sours to form a delicious whole which is perfectly balanced.

At every point in the game there is a choice to be made, be it moral or tactical, and every time the game makes sure you know the full ramifications of your actions. In fact the only action you can be sure you'll feel good about is actually picking BioShock up in the first place!

Source: Bit-Tech

Top ten games of 2007 - Number Three : Super Mario Galaxy on Nintendo Wii

Mario is back (again) and even though this must be the hundredth game to bear his name, it still manages to feel fresh and inventive – grasping hold of the brilliance of Super Mario 64 and slipstreaming past it, towards excellence.

Super Mario Galaxy is a simple premise – the Princess has been kidnapped again and there’s only one plumber in the world with the guts to get her back. Unfortunately, that plumber ends up getting a bit lost and comes to on the Cosmic Observatory, a travelling telescope which runs on Power Stars. The rest of the game is then spent collecting Power Stars to charge the Observatory so that Mario can search for Peach and bring her back to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Super Mario Galaxy is one of those games that is as much evolution as it is revolution. Sure, it’s yet another Mario game and yes, it is pretty much just Super Mario 64 in space and with different abilities – but that’s no bad thing!


Super Mario Galaxy is a perfect singleplayer adventure-platformer, with all the chaff and crud blasted off and the game reduced to just the core fun-making components. It’s pretty much the only thing the Wii can run anyway.

Miyamoto’s little Italian pal has come a long way since he first started out under the name of ‘Jumpman’ and never is that more clear than in Super Mario Galaxy, which sees Mario exploring strange new worlds and ways of playing. Sometimes you’ll be rolling around on top of balls, tilting the Wiimote to control speed and direction. The rest of the time you’ll be flying around as a bee, drifting through walls as a ghost or bouncing around as a spring.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Mario game if it didn’t have an adorable child-like appearance and array of characters too. Super Mario Galaxy has these both in spades – cutesy little Star creatures who demand you stuff them with delicious star bits so they can “TRRAANSFOOOOOORM!” into brand new planets. There’s even a storybook section to the game which lets you learn more and more of the back story.

There are admittedly a few flaws in the game, but the fact that they are so incredibly few is a testament to the quality of the game. Who cares if there’s no really decent co-op?

Stuffed with reasons to play and with a control system and presentation which is easy to pick up, Super Mario Galaxy appeals to kids and adults alike and is the type of game which will keep couples and families playing together for months.

Source: Bit-Tech

Top ten games of 2007 - Number Four : Crysis on PC

Crysis was almost a hype-machine unto itself this year, gathering accolades and fanboys even before the first demos and previews were out. The game tells the story of a US soldier fighting aliens and Koreans on a small island with the aid of a nanosuit which enhances his butt-kicking ability.

The first part of a trilogy, Crysis doesn’t sell on the story at all though and, to be honest, that’s a pretty good thing. It forms nothing more than a context for the violence.


What makes Crysis great though is the open design and, of course, the graphics. The bleeding-edge beauty of the game is so intense that even running the game with three top-end graphics cards at once we still couldn’t get perfect performance.

Some view that type of hardware-hogging as a bad point and to some extent they're correct – very few people will be able to play the game as it should be played. However, it does mean that the game is going to scale very well onto future hardware, meaning that Crysis is a game for the future and one that you'll be able to return to time and again in the years to come.

The beautiful graphics are then accentuated by the custom physics engine which lets pretty much everything be demolished. Pick up chickens and throw them around, punch your fists through walls and grab enemies or just vault yourself over tanks and minefields – Crysis is a game that lets players handle each and every battle their own way.

A disappointment to some, who expected the game to revolutionise the industry and were dismayed to find essentially a prettier version of Far Cry, Crysis is a fantastic game in its own right despite the heritage and frequent faltering of individual aspects.

Source: Bit-Tech

Top ten games of 2007 - Number Five : World in Conflict on PC

Real-time strategy games split the bit-tech offices pretty much down the middle and, while Tim is a massive fan of the genre, Rich prefers his violence to be viewed a little bit more up-close.

One thing we all agree on though is that World in Conflict is an exception to the rule – we all love the game.

World in Conflict is accessible in a way which few other RTS games are and tells a compelling story which knocks even classics like Command and Conquer out of the water for some of us. The game uses proper characters with tangible back stories and very human faults and fears to tell a story that is realistically put together and carefully sculpted – that’s something few other RTSs since Red Alert can claim.

The gameplay too is new and involving. There are no resources to gather or cash to scrounge – merely limits on what can be airlifted in at one time and what units are available to the player. That forces the game to take on a freshly realistic feel, making you value each individual unit and want to use it to the most of its abilities.


In fact, the only resource which does exist is TPs, or tactical points, which are given to you by your superiors for sensible use of your units. Pitting infantry against tanks won’t get you anywhere fast, but using artillery to rout them is a more sensible choice and will net you points which can be saved towards special nuclear, germ and napalm attacks.

The multiplayer is by far the most interesting and appealing part of the game though and takes this sense of realism further. Instead of simply giving each player an army of their own, a base to build and resources to gather players are separated only in to two teams. From there players are forced to specialise in specific branches of the military – artillery, infantry, airborne and armour. Each one has strengths and weaknesses and players must learn to work together in a brand new way if they want to accomplish their objectives.

And they’d better learn that lesson fast – before the other team saves up enough tactical points and drops a triple-nuke on you, sending plumes of thick, choking black smoke rippling out all over the map. It's a favoured move of ours and, even though it's something which takes the co-ordination of three or four very skilled players, it's definitely worth the wait just so you can hear your opponents scream abbreviated prayers in terror before you swarm in with a fleet of infantry and artillery.

Source: Bit-Tech

Top ten games of 2007 - Number Six : Call of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare on PC XBox 360 PlayStation3

Call of Duty 4 was a radical departure for the series, bringing players out of the hedgerows and trenches of World War II and into the modern day. It could have gone horribly wrong and resulted in the death of the series, halting the growth of period shooter series for years.

Thankfully, it didn’t. Call of Duty 4 is arguably the best in the series to date and uses a Clancy-esque plot filled with Russian megalomaniacs and crazed terrorists as players hop about to experience the best of the action.

It kicks off to a hell of a start too. The first level sees players form part of a crack SAS squad conducting a raid on a cargo freighter to salvage a nuclear missile in the middle of a typhoon. Rain hammers down, waves crash on the deck and players silently creep from room to room, killing bad guys in their sleep. When it all goes wrong and the ship starts to sink the whole world starts to turn upside down quite literally there’s a terrifying moment when you think you might not make it back to the helicopter in time.


Then the credits roll and you realise that you’re only five minutes in and that that level was just the introduction; a sign of things to come.

From there things get better in spades and players get to experience a regime change first hand, fighting on both flanks as the battle starts to build. The singleplayer campaign isn’t massively long—in fact it’s pretty damn short—but at the end there’s still plenty of intelligence to track down, an arcade mode to try and, of course the glorious multiplayer which is superbly put together.

The multiplayer mode alone is plenty praiseworthy too, using ranks and levelled unlockable attacks to create a multiplayer tactical FPS game with a distinct RPG feel at times so that the game is almost universally appealing.

The game may not be everyone’s cup of tea and there are plenty of people who will argue that the Call of Duty 2 was the high point of the series, but whether that's true or not doesn't detract from the fact that Call of Duty 4 is still one of the most involving and dramatic war-shooters we've played in a long time.

Source: Bit-Tech

Top ten games of 2007 - Number Seven : STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl 0n PC

For a game which was so massively delayed and annoyingly named though, S.T.A.L.K.E.R was fantastically enjoyable and used a surprisingly intricate plot which draws from modern Russian literature, notably Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strigatsky.

The game sets players off in the forbidden zone around the radiation-filled Chernobyl and tasks them only with the task of discovering their own identity – the main character wakes up amnesiac, only carrying a note which reads ‘Kill Strelok’.

From there, it’s a huge open-ended adventure with a dozen endings and a smoothly integrated RPG and FPS combo.


S.T.A.L.K.E.R falls down on a number of levels. The game is a little clunky to play and the story is very difficult to follow owing to translation problems and a frustrating design. Many of the available endings are disappointing and the entire RPG system is massively scaled back from the original design.

Still, when S.T.A.L.K.E.R gets it right then it does it very, very well. The combat is beautifully put together and the level of difficulty is honed to a razor edge so that although it is often frustrating and challenging, it is never unfair. Bullet physics are excellently integrated to the game and as you progress further towards the end-game and learn how to make the best use of your arsenal it becomes almost impossible not to appreciate the fine-tuning of the combat model.

To be praised for ambition and scope if nothing else, S.T.A.L.K.E.R didn’t just break the mould; it shattered it completely and sent the pieces back to its mother in hundreds of separate envelopes. There are some obvious holes in the formula and you can complete the game without ever realising that you messed up the main quest and have wasted twenty hours of your life, but as a whole S.T.A.L.K.E.R still manages to succeed thanks to a grimly realistic world which is consistently engaging and brilliant.

Source: Bit-Tech

Top ten games of 2007 - Number Eight : Unreal Tournament 3 on PC

Towards the end of this year, gamers were spoiled for choice when it came to multiplayer-centric first-person shooters and many of the big names found themselves directly competing. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Team Fortress 2 and Unreal Tournament 3 all ended up going head to head.

When the dust cleared, Quake Wars was left dead and bleeding, while UT3 managed to walk calmly out, secure in the knowledge that its delicate balance of complex mechanics and streamlined game design made it the most superior multiplayer shooter on the market.


If Halo 3 was the multiplayer game of the year for consoles, then Unreal Tournament 3 was its grossly superior, PC-orientated older brother. Gorgeous to look at and with a nice simple selection of mutators and modes, this was Unreal Tournament taken back to basics in many ways. There's only a handful of different game types in the vanilla install, but this is compensated for in the superior map design which manages to spew buckets of complexity into even the simplest CTF level.

Every time Epic had scaled back though it had also added on so that, while there is an initially simple set of available game types, it’s complemented by a huge array of vehicles and as good a singleplayer campaign as you’ll ever find in a game like this.

The strength of UT3 lies in two places – the longevity and alterability of the Unreal Engine 3, and the passion of the team behind it. We had a chance to chat to Mark Rein at the UT3 launch and his passion for the game was almost tangible at points.

The whole team at Epic has worked to create an engine which is not only used by several games in this list, but which continues to fully support the mod community – securing Unreal Tournament 3 a solid future for years to come.

Source: Bit-Tech