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New wristband could predict aggressive outbursts in people with autism
Researchers are hoping a new wearable wristband will help predict aggressive outbursts in people with autism. The device monitors heart rate, sweat production, skin surface temperature and arm movements. It can predict outbursts 60 seconds ahead of time with 84 percent accuracy. While that might not seem like much time, it could give caretakers an opportunity to relax the individual wearing the wristband and make sure everyone is safe.
Gaming cooperatively makes you more sociable, say scientists
Gaming has well known dark sides, but it can also improve spatial skills, reduce stress and even bring families together. Two new studies may further confuse you about the benefits, with one concluding that gaming makes you friendlier in the real world, and another implying it could ruin your brain. First the plus side: Texas Tech researchers think that cooperative gameplay, whether in violent or non-violent games, makes people nicer. "We found that playing with a helpful partner increases the expectation of others to reciprocate that pro-social behavior," said author John Velez. He added that teaming up even makes you "nicer to the other team... that just tried to beat you."
Final Fantasy XIV covers the basics of healing and fighting
The toothy fellow heading the page might seem rather unfriendly, or he might just seem in need of a good joke or two. But rest assured that if you see him in Final Fantasy XIV, any jokes you tell will feature him consuming your flesh as a punchline. The newest dispatch covering game basics has just gone live on the official player site, this time discussing combat, engaging targets, and the difference between active and passive modes. Along with a discussion of just what advantages active mode offers when you're not in combat (slower TP decay), the dispatch also includes a small visual guide to some of the game's aggressive inhabitants. Some of them wouldn't be immediately recognizable as aggressive at first glance, making it useful to any players who haven't ventured too far from their starting city of choice. If you're still unclear about some of the basics of Final Fantasy XIV, take a look at the guide... and if you're quite clear on all of them, you can simply cross your fingers that tonight's maintenance might include a patch going live.
Starting out in Vana'diel: See no evil, hear no evil, smell... no evil?
Hola mi amigos! Hoy es la dia de Vana'diel! *clears throat* Ahem, sorry about that. Hello adventurers, and welcome to another edition of Starting out in Vana'diel! Today's topic is actually one that I find quite cool about Final Fantasy XI, especially when you compare it to other MMOs. It's the mechanic that puts the fear of Promathia into every adventurer's step.Today's column is all about the different monster aggro types -- yes, there are different types. You want to find out more? Come, follow me, and let's find out more!
Defensive pets a little more jumpy
A guildie of mine discovered this last night, and reader Theronis sent us a note today about it -- after patch 3.0.2, defensive pets act a little differently. Before the patch, they would only attack an enemy automatically if they attacked you first, which made things a little tough with casters -- pets in defensive mode wouldn't actually move to attack until the first spell actually hit you. But after the patch, pets are a little bit quicker: now, they'll move to attack as soon as you attack something, so you won't have to wait around until you get hit before your pet springs into action.However, this can be a drawback as well -- while Theronis says it's a good change and that his pets are smarter, my guildie had a problem: whenever he wanted to pull one mob out of a group, the pet would run in and pull them all. Anything you attack will get pounced on by your pet in defensive, and that might bring some unintended adds along for the ride.Personally, I always keep my pets in passive -- it only takes a split second to hit CTRL-1 to send them attacking, and I can much better control, both soloing and in instances, what my pet is up to at any given moment. It can hurt my DPS a bit if I'm not careful (since I'm a BM Hunter, my pet is a big part of my DPS, so if I forget to send him, that's a bigger loss), but the tradeoff is that I can be careful about pulling adds and I have control of my pet all the time. If the "smarter" defensive works great for you, good, but if you find your pet springing in a little too early, you might try switching back to passive and just staying there most of the time.
