News

As you've already seen if you've read this CoN news article on the healing potential of video games, we have hired Phoenix as a new News Editor. Phoenix will be the third news staffer, working in conjunction with Administrator Elena99 and Moderator SSJ_Cloud.

Phoenix, as noted in his staff biography, is currently a freshman in Uni, having finished high school early. He has a good writing style, has been willing to help whenever possible in the months since his return to the site, and is an all-around good guy.

Everyone, please join me and the staff in welcoming Phoenix to his new position at Caves of Narshe. We're all looking forward to working more directly with him!

Common video games have the potential to treat and cure phobias, according to a study published in the CyberPsychology and Behavior Journal on October 17.

The study was conducted in Quebec, Canada at the Universite du Quebec en Outaouais. It involved several patients diagnosed with phobias, each treated through exposure therapy.

(Exposure therapy utilizes gradual exposure to a fear. For example, an arachnophobe undergoing exposure therapy might initially be seated in a room with a tarantula at the room’s opposite end; as the patient became more comfortable with the spider’s presence, the therapist would move the spider closer and closer to the patient until finally, the patient would ideally be able to sit next to or hold the spider in his or her hand without fear. Early exposure therapy often involves virtual reality equipment.)

One test group in the study received their initial treatment via expensive virtual reality equipment commonly used for exposure therapy in medical labs, while another test group began their treatment through use of inexpensive, low-end personal computers, head-mounted displays, and common first-person video game software, such as Half-Life and Unreal Tournament.

Surprisingly, the study indicated that PCs running video game software produced similar therapeutic results in patients to the standard medical equipment.

The full study can be read at Ingenta Select.

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I’m glad to see this bit of news; video games don’t get enough credit for their potential uses and benefits, in my opinion.
For one thing, I believe they can teach young kids all kinds of useful things. I’m quite convinced that Final Fantasy VI supported my basic math skills in elementary school and first taught me how to spell "ghost," for example. I also distinctly remember looking up the word "maintain" in the family dictionary because of that game. (Yet I still don’t know exactly how that dang Dispel thing works.)
So, it’s nice to read about a concrete scientific study being performed and indicating practical benefits of video game software.

Gamestop and Electronics are offering a $100 dollar rebate on Nokia's handheld unit until November 2nd.

The rebate is an instant one, not mail-in as well. Because of this, it is not known whether Nokia is behind this price cut, or if it is the two retailers trying to unload their massive inventories. Interestingly, the N-Gage rebate is not mentioned on the official N-Gage website If it is mentioned, it is very well hidden. This tends to point to the latter that pushed for the cut.

Is the N-Gage heading the way of the Jaguar?

Source: Gamespot

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This is still not enough to save the system in my eyes. One can still get both a Gameboy SP AND a Gamecube for that price. This is just a company and some retailers trying to spare what little they can of their investment before it becomes another E.T. from the Atari 2600 age.

Sony has announced that their profits for this quarter will be about 25% lower than initially projected.

There are two main reasons for this. The first is the relative strength of the Yen right now when compared to the currencies of other nations. Since Sony exports so many products, they do not receive as much of a profit as they should because of these nations' weaker currencies (This is just a quick and dirty explanation of it. I'm just a history major so I know almost nothing about global economics). The second reason is Playstation 2 sales are starting to slow. Europe is the only major market were sales are continuing to grow. Last year for this quarter, Sony's game division had sales of 250 billion Yen. For the quarter this year, the division has only had sales of 161 billion Yen. Sony contributes part of this to a dock worker strike on the US West Coast.

Source: Games_Are_Fun

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I wonder if PS3 news will start picking up because of this...

Sony Computer Entertainment America, Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games, and Wal-Mart are facing a $246 million dollar lawsuit from the families of two victims who claim their son and daughter were shot as the result of Grand Theft Auto 3 and its influence.

Aaron Hamel, 45, was killed and Kimberly Bede, 19, was seriously wounded after their car was fired upon by two step brothers, age 16 and 14. While in custody, the boys said they had taken rifles that were in their house and shot at cars like one can do in GTA3. The teens plead guilty to reckless homicide, endangerment, and assault in juvenile court and are now serving an indefinite term. The families claim that the game inspires and trains one how to shoot at people and vehicles.

In other GTA 3 news, the title has sold 192,000 copies in its first three weeks of availability in Japan, and has stayed in the country's top 5 for these weeks.

Source: Gamespot

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I feel much sympathy for the two families, but I don't know if this suit wants to make me roll my eyes or agree with it. There are a numerous reasons for the eye roll. Firstly, the game does not teach someone how to use a rifle. Secondly, the game is rated "Mature." If the kids were not able to handle it, they should not have been playing it. If anybody should be sued, it should be the parents for not taking greater interest in what their children were up to (and I'm not saying they should be, necessarily). Thirdly, not one of the companies being named in the suit put the gun in the childrens' hands.

On the other hand, if one is able to sue over the slightest little things in the US (the people who wanted to sue the fast food businesses "for making them fat," I'm looking at you), a person who lost a love one should definitely be allowed as well.

What does everyone else think? I'm especially interested in the non-US members' point of view because I'm not aware of many lawsuits in other countries and how the legal systems handle them.

It appears Pilotwings, Nintendo's popular air-stunt franchise, may not see life on the Gamecube after all. Factor 5, the company developing it, has fallen behind in its production schedule and the title is not expected to be ready until 2005 now.

The "Gamecube 2" may be ready by this time and Nintendo may choose to use Pilotwings as one of its launch titles for the system.


Source: ComputerandVideoGames.com

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I have never played the SNES or N64 versions of this game, but I have heard many good things about them. I'm sure this will disappoint many Gamecube owners.