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AMA voting on legitimacy of video game addiction
The American Medical Association will decide later this month whether "Internet/video game addiction" will be added to the Bible of crazy: The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). The proposal comes in a 10-page document prepared by the AMA's Council on Science suggesting that video game addiction is similar to the pattern of behavior observed in pathological gambling.Now remember, they aren't saying that all video game players are addicts. They're merely saying that video game addiction, like gambling addiction, does affect some members of the gaming population and they need help. The armchair psychologist might say that if you know well enough to eat, sleep, go to work/school, kiss your significant other and/or children goodnight, chances are you aren't an addict. Then again, you could just be in denial. After the AMA votes on the matter, it'll still be up to the American Psychiatric Association to decide whether it goes in the DSM. So, for those who think people dying in front of their computers playing games are crazy, this decision by the AMA at the end of the month would put that on the record.
Big Brother-equipped straight jacket further proves you're crazy
While the Virtual Hallucinating goggles and Brain Machine can certainly give you a taste of the erratic, a new behavioral-pattern monitor at the University of California, San Diego will reportedly be used to "study the behavior of patients with mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia." The LifeShirt, "a computerized vest that continuously monitors the patient's movements," sports integrated sensors to monitor hyperactive and repetitive movements and record data on "respiration, heart rate, and other physiological measures." Notably, the padded room wearers are presumably crammed into sports a ceiling-mounted webcam that films their exploratory behavior in order to better analyze movement patterns associated with certain disorders. Eventually, of course, researchers are hoping that data collected from the sensor-laden straight jacket could be used to create new drugs to help combat the behavioral abnormalities, but for all of our sakes, let's hope this thing doesn't fall into the wrong hands.[Via MedGadget, photo courtesy of TechnologyReview]
Analyst says PS3 needs $200 price cut to recover
An analyst at Bank of America believes for Sony to make up the ground they've lost this console generation they don't just need the expected $100 price cut, but a $200 price cut. The analyst who made these remarks to GameDaily.biz, Michael Savner, believes this is unlikely, but believes it is the way to recovery.Savner says, "While Sony could cut the price by $150 - $200, we view that as less likely given that it is already losing approximately $200 per console at $599, based on our estimates ... Offsetting a potential price cut are decreasing production costs, which should improve significantly this year. We estimate that the loss per console could decline to about $50, assuming Sony does not cut its wholesale prices. Bottom line, we don't expect Sony to make up meaningful ground against the Wii this year."So, according to Bank of America, Sony's gotta drop the price, take the loss, lose the year, and maybe they'll recover in the long run. But wait, there's more. Savner says that the success of the Wii is hurting the industry. That publishers have invested research and development in next-gen graphics and tech, so if the Wii is successful that money spent is useless. He also notes that Nintendo doesn't play very well with third party publishers so that'll hurt the entire industry. There's a lot of jargon in there, Savner simply could have laid it out in geek-speak we could understand: Save the PS3, save the industry.
If you shoved a giant TV through a wall ... you might be a redneck
GamerDeals shows off a pimped out redneck flat screen system that shows the wonders you can work in small spaces with just a little bit of ingenuity, some know-how, and a lot of muscle. This adheres to the old DIY adage, "If it don't fit, just give it a good shove." The real question here though is ... what makes that house redneckish? Other than the guy who submitted it calling it redneck-style, it looks fairly decent to us, although we're not talking about the giant hole in the wall. Hopefully he didn't have to go through anything load-bearing.[Thanks, Fargo]
Get a cheap Wiimote at Gamecrazy, maybe
Some bargain hunters at CAG have sniffed out a pretty cool deal on Wiimotes for US gamers: apparently, when Hollywood Video stores put Wii Play out for rent, they didn't feel the need to offer the included Wiimotes for rental. So they shipped them over to their game-retail satellite, Gamecrazy (and by "shipped" we mean "walked across the room"). Gamecrazy, in turn, is selling these brand-new, out-of-the-package Wiimotes for $29.99.Don't get your hopes up too much: the number of Wiimotes in stock at any store depends on how many rental copies of Wii Play were received by the attached Hollywood Video store ... and on how many CAGs live in your town. [Via Siliconera]
Schizophrenic man kills, says GTA told him to do it
Ezekiel Maxwell, a 17-year-old paranoid schizophrenic on "skunk cannabis," stabbed a woman to death because the "gangster voices" from Grand Theft Auto told him to do it. Although this incident is just being reported now as part of Britain's supposed "skunk cannabis" epidemic, the murder actually occurred last September. Maxwell believed he was Carl Johnson from GTA: San Andreas when he committed the murder and believed the game was telling him to "stab a woman for seven days, it had to be a black Afro-Caribbean woman." The voices took over his thoughts and "made him do things." According to reports he was playing GTA and smoking skunk cannabis for months to the exclusion of everything else before the killing. Maxwell has since been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Yesterday he was detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act after pleading guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Will it blend? If it's an iPod, you betcha
Considering the recent console launches, we've seen plenty of bizarre episodes of folks demolishing their precious goods just to get a few laughs, a bit of hate mail, and their 15 minutes of fame. But ole Tom Dickson over at WillItBlend.com added a touch of kitchen know-how to his rendition by squaring up various items with the oh-so-sharp blades of a Blendtec blender. Needless to say, the iPod didn't stand much of a chance, as it was thoroughly devoured in a matter of seconds, turning a once useful DAP into nothing more than shrapnel and dust. While we're fairly certain this isn't what Apple had in mind when it patented a blended display / interface, maybe all those metallic chunks wouldn't be too bad mixed in with your choice of fruity goodness -- click on for the delectable vid.[Via digg]
Live feed: watch someone play the Wii for a week
If you've been unable to score yourself a Wii yet, we'll give you the next best thing: a live video feed of someone playing the Wii for a week straight. Gamer Yoshi Madness will be playing the Wii using these guidelines: He will only be sleeping four hours a day (usually from 2:00AM until 6:00AM, he claims) He'll update the blog on his site every four hours He will only be leaving his room to a) use the bathroom (thank god -- although he goes on to say "if it's a deuce then it might take 15 minutes, classy) or b) if his dad needs something (parents and relatives might be over for Thanksgiving). While this is pretty ambitious, it's also a bit over the edge ... one week straight with only four hours sleep a night? That's a recipe for insanity. Still, the feed is more informative than most in-game videos you'll find online, and it gives you some real insight. If you're wondering about a game you want to pick up for the Wii, watch the video for awhile and then make your decision. Heck, watch it all week and see if you can keep up.Just be sure to allow yourself ample time for deucing.[Thanks, BB]
Found humor: "Jobs just doesn't care anymore"
Crazy Apple Rumors Site is quickly rising up the ranks of my OPML, as they are consistently cranking out spot-on humor. John Gruber linked this earlier in the week, but I'm afraid I've been a bit buried under my daily activities until now to mention it: Jobs Just Doesn't Care Anymore is a great piece of tongue-in-cheek humor about Mr. J simply giving up on fighting the good Apple fight: "Screw it," Jobs said. "I work my ass off trying to make something nice for everyone and all the rumor sites do is piss all over it."Unfortunately, Crazy Apple Rumors seems to have declined posting a link to Steve Jobs' .Mac account.
Breakfast Topic: The crazy things we do
I've been having fun with sheep recently. Admittedly, I am Welsh, but I'm talking WoW -- and odd behaviour. While skilling up in Engineering I made several mechanical sheep; I tried making them attack nearby Horde players, who were thankfully laughing too much to retaliate. There's nothing like an angry sheep in the morning to get your blood boiling.I also wasted valuable minutes of my life repeatedly polymorphing a sheep, just to see what would happen. No prizes for guessing the result! So, what are some of the weirdest things you've found yourself doing in WoW -- with or without farm animals?
Wall o' 30-inchers
We rarely take the time to highlight someone's rig -- and when we do, it's usually not their rig, per se, but their heads. Well, step aside, oh masterful 24 display Virginia Tech workstation, you're old news with your 31,457,280 pixel array of twenty four 1280 x 1024 displays. No, the new crown goes to a man known only to us as Crazy Jon (trust us, that's no misnomer). Dude cobbled six NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB video cards and three 1,000-watt power supplies to take on a wall o' what appears to be Dell 30-inch 3007WFPs. Twelve, to be exact. By our math that's 49,152,000 pixels -- and about $26,400 just for the displays alone. Oh, and did we mention that Crazy Jon already had five Apple 30-inchers on his desk? We love you, Jon. Seriously though, can we come over sometime?[Via Make]
U.K.'s 3 helped Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" top the charts
In a completely shocking and unprecedented move, a corporate entity is trying to latch on to the latest "big thing" by taking partial credit for the phenomenon's success, which in this case is the first song to top the U.K. singles charts without ever having been sold in stores. Wireless carrier 3 is claiming that its network was responsible for up to 20% of the total downloads of "Crazy," the first single by Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo collaborative Gnarls Barkley (no relation to the Round Mound of Rebound), which sold 31,000 digital copies and 0 CDs in the week ending April 2nd. 3 offers songs for 99 pence apiece and also allows a copy of the track to be downloaded to a user's PC, which would seem to make it a strong competitor in not only the mobile arena but the traditional online music market as well.
Putting the 'hardcore' into 'hardcore gamer'
Sex and games combine in a strange new direction: the creators of Consolevania are offering a prize to gamers willing to bare all (literally) for their new show. By sending in "erotic photographs or video clips of themselves in gaming situations, with www.consolevania.com written on their naked, willing flesh", one lucky winner will receive the (almost) famous coathanger microphone, pictured right.A bizarre competition from a bizarre show. There's also a second series of videoGaiden on the way, in case there wasn't already enough Scottish gaming madness in the world.[Via KG]
