FragDolls

FragDolls

CNET

Programmers Win EA Overtime Settlement, EA_Spouse Revealed

Programmers Win EA Overtime Settlement, EA_Spouse Revealed
Software engineers have won a $14.9 million settlement from Electronic Arts, in a settlement of a California class-action lawsuit over unpaid overtime, following a similar $15.6 million settlement reached in October with graphic artists.

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This was in the news a while, and thought I would follow up on it. read more

Oklahoma Politicians Decide Some Videogames are "Harmful to Minors"

Oklahoma Politicians Decide Some Videogames are "Harmful to Minors"
Why is it that Republican lawmakers are gung-ho for personal responsibility and government abstinence when it comes to healthcare, welfare, and minimum-wage laws, but they can't vote "aye" fast enough when it comes to intrusively legislating morality? read more

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I hate stupid people, and at this point.. the Oklahoma Politicians have just proved they are among the dumbest people on the planet.

Violence in Video Games...

Violence in Video Games...

I just got off a HUGE debate with a group of people from a Yahoo group. We where talking about if violent video games like GTA, Halo, and UT cause kids to be violent when they grow up. I don't believe that for a moment. Seems people have always looked for excuses to get into and out of trouble. "Jesus made me do it", "Ozzy told me to kill myself", "I saw it in a movie (jackass)", "I saw it in a game", etc..etc..etc.Why must people blame TV, Radio, Movies, Books, Music, Video Games, Peers for there own stupid choices? Why can't people stand up and say. "Yeah, I did it.. and here's why..."and not hide behind an excuse of "Yeah, but I didn't want to. I saw it on a game and it looked cool" Are there really that many people out there with IQ's lower then my shoe size? What do you think? Do you think video games cause Violence in people or do people cause violence in people?

eToychest - Square Enix Gets Brave, Forms New Company

eToychest - Square Enix Gets Brave, Forms New Company: "Square Enix Gets Brave, Forms New CompanyWritten by Robyn DobsonAccording to Gamasutra, Square Enix, along with recent acquisition Taito and digital content provider Faith Inc. have jointly invested ¥80 million ($683,000) in order to form a new media company called Brave. Initially positioned as a provider for mobile content, the new company is also working to fund large projects and user communities. The news comes on the tail of Square Enix reporting lower than expected revenue for FY2005. My prediction? I bet the companies somehow leverage off of this new venue to help the struggling MMO sector within Square Enix, which is seeing dismal sales and user subscripts from all products save for Final Fantasy XI"

Techdirt: Violent Video Games, Weak Statistics And Sensationalistic Headlines

Techdirt: Violent Video Games, Weak Statistics And Sensationalistic Headlines:

"Violent Video Games, Weak Statistics And Sensationalistic HeadlinesIt seems one of the more controversial areas of study lately surrounds violent video games. It seems like every few months a new study comes out, and the results are always sensationalized, even if the details of the study usually don't add up to very much. Much more telling is the fact that as graphically violent video games have become more popular, incidents of youth violence continue to drop when you would expect it to go the other way. Obviously, this is an area that could use more research -- but so much of it seems to have serious problems. The latest "research" has come out on violent video games, and it's grabbing lots of headlines, claiming that violent video games are linked to "risky behaviors" and increase paranoia. Other headlines point out the "major public health issue" and the "negative impact on youth". Of course, the most sensationalistic claim is that somehow this study suggests violent video games make young males more likely to smoke marijuana. Of course, given that the effects of marijuana are supposed to make people less likely to go out and do stuff, it would seem to go against the view that violent video games lead to actual violence. Either way, it would seem that the press covering this story might want to dig a bit deeper into the facts. The study involves a fairly small sample size (100 young men) to start. Also, the fact that playing such games increases your blood pressure seems sort of obvious. People who are engaged in a video game are likely to have their blood pressure rise. That just means they're really engaged in the game. As for the "leads to pot smoking" claim, this one deserves the most investigation -- and one person who claims to have seen the study (if anyone has a copy, we'd love to check it out) says that what the study actually showed was that both the violent video gaming group and the control group said that marijuana was bad for your health on a six point scale. It's just that the violent video game play group found it slightly less bad. To suggest that this means violent video gamers are more likely to actually engage in such things seems like a huge stretch -- but it sure makes for good headlines.

New Scientist SPACE - Breaking News - Childhood TV and gaming is 'major public health issue'

New Scientist SPACE - Breaking News - Childhood TV and gaming is 'major public health issue':
Childhood TV and gaming is 'major public health issue - 08:21 04 April 2006
NewScientist.com news service by Alison Motluk
Child Health Institute, University of Washington in Seattle Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine Childhood exposure to TV and video games should be viewed as a major public health issue and, like cigarettes, these media should come with a health warning. So argue researchers writing in a special issue of the journal Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.Research shows that exposure " [read more at the link]

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Health warning? Why? Shouldn't parents already know, if their kid is playing games for 8 hours a day, plus school, and they are getting fat. Shouldn't you (as a PARENT) stop your kid from playing video games and make them play outside for a while? Honestly, how stupid are people getting that they can't figure out something as simple as that? Really, do we NEED 'health warnings' on video games now? "WARNING: Use of this product may cause you to get fat, and want to jump on peoples heads for coins." ANYTHING that stops a person from being active is 'bad' in large amounts of course, being over active is just as bad. Moderation is the key to EVERYTHING in life. Come home, do you homework, go outside for a while, come home for dinner, THEN play your games. Simple.

GamerSpells
... and THAT'S how a GAMER plays a game.. =)