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What makes games addictive?
(Hint: It's not the taste!) Video game addiction is a topic that tends to occupy the attention of the mainstream media any time there's a slow news day, and even sometimes (like yesterday, for instance) when it's not. Videogames; how they're making junkies of your kids, news at 11! It's an issue that we here at Massively are quite sensitive to, and we've written about it it again and again and again.So imagine our delight when MSNBC, being the paragons of gaming wisdom that they are, took a crack at the subject, trying to to discern what combination of elven temptresses and subliminal messages will get people hooked on games, and MMOs in particular. Their answer, not surprisingly, is that MMOs offer an extremely gratifying system of toil and reward that keep players coming back for that next achievement. And when people are bereft of strong social ties in their work-a-day lives, they're susceptible to becoming addicted. Excuse us if we don't recoil in shock and surprise.
Ken Levine loves World of Warcraft
MSNBC asked Ken Levine, creator of last year's underwater masterpiece, Bioshock, to list his five favorite games of all-time, and right there on the list, between Civ IV and Heroes of Might and Magic 2, is our favorite MMORPG. Yup, the World of Warcraft makes it into the top five of all-time, according to the guy that created the city that Andrew Ryan created.Of course, instead of saying he enjoyed the game for its endless replayability, its pitch-perfect reward system, or its effective graphics and design style, he compares his love of Blizzard's game to alcoholism, and calls it his "always-reliable secret shame." Next time you talk about World of Warcraft in the media, Mr. Levine, would you kindly try praising the game instead of your addiction to it?[Via Joystiq]
Ken Levine's favorite games of all time
MSNBC asked 2K Boston's Ken Levine, creator of BioShock, what his top five games of all time are. Levine gets double bonus points for picking cult favorite Beyond Good and Evil, which he says "managed to combine whimsy and dystopia in one unforgettable package." Levine's other picks are: Civilization IV World of Warcraft Heroes of Might and Magic 2 Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Beyond Good and Evil The best part of the bite-sized feature is when Levine admits that World of Warcraft is his "always-reliable secret shame." If Ken Levine can admit it, maybe others will find the strength to do it as well.
MSNBC: video games an 'easy scapegoat'
In the wake of the NIU shooting and various pundits finding ways to link violent video games to the tragedy, MSNBC has decided to defend video games, specifically calling out infamous attorney Jack Thompson for his self promotion during school shootings. (They have done this once before during the Virginia Tech massacre.)In a piece entitled "Playing the blame game: Why search our souls when video games make such an easy scapegoat?" MSNBC's Winda Benedetti writes, "Faster than you can say wild speculation and reckless sensationalism, [Thompson] leapt in front of Fox News cameras and suggested that video games were to blame." Later, Benedetti adds, "The fact is, one would be hard pressed to find a young man of Kazmierczak's age who has not played video games." Thompson is, unsurprisingly, a bit put out. In an email to MSNBC legal department forwarded to us by Thompson, the Miami attorney asserted his intention to "bring a civil action in state court in Flordia for libel." Thompson further called the two articles "hit pieces" and "crazed and libelous screed" and mentions that NBC did not mind having him on the Today Show / NBC Nightly news about ten times. "But once my criticism began to inconvenience Bill Gates' NBC partner, Microsoft, (MSNBC.com is a 50/50 partnership) then all of a sudden I'm the Anti-Christ," said Thompson.
NCsoft: has the focus shifted?
NCsoft -- known for such stunningly beautiful games as Guild Wars and Lineage/Lineage II -- is slowly expanding its focus in Korea into the non-game sector. Working with in-house studio Openmaru, the company is building a series of online services to aid in comforting investors. Admittedly, the South Korean Won (KRW) is trading in a slightly stronger position against the United States Dollar (USD) now than it was in October, but that doesn't stop their concern over seeing NCsoft's stock slowly spiral downward from 86,4000 KRW in October (approximately $94.43/share) to 45,000 KRW ($48.27/share) as of Friday's market close. As a result of this move, CEO Kim Taek-jin has promised that the company will increase its investment in online applications, including data and schedule management programs and social-networking services.
NBC celebrates opening of new world headquarters
We already knew that CBS was giving its New York studios a major overhaul, but for those clocking in at NBC, you can look forward to a freshened workplace right now. After six months of work, NBC News and MSNBC will finally be under one roof when it opens the doors to its new world headquarters on October 22nd. The facility itself has 8,500-square feet of space and packs such niceties as "280 high-definition monitors and 6 HD projectors," which reminds us -- we should really see when Engadget HQ is due for an upgrade of its own.[Via BroadcastingCable]
Catch the headlines with Newsbreaker advergame
Tired of wasting time reading the news when you could be playing games? Wait, don't leave! OK, fine, go. We understand we can't compete with the games we cover. But at least promise us you'll go play a game like Newsbreaker so you can keep up with the headlines as you get your game on.At first glance, Newsbreaker seems to be just the latest in a line of extremely generic Breakout clones, this time in the form of an MSNBC advergame. What's makes the game special is what is quite possibly the first recorded use of live news headlines as powerups. That's right, headlines pulled from MSNBC feeds slowly fall from some busted bricks, and catching 25 of them gets you an extra life. What's more, each caught headline is saved so you can read the full story once you're done playing.We feel this combination of games and news is a good first step to combating the growing media illiteracy epidemic, but why stop there? How about giving Achievement Points for reading the newspaper every morning? Hiding secret codes for today's hottest games in the nightly news broadcast? Offering Gamestop gift certificates for listening to NPR? The game industry could single-handedly save the news business!
How many iPods is too many?
You may think it's strange that I own eight iPods, but this MSNBC story tells me I'm not alone in thinking that there's no such thing as "too many iPods."As the story points out, different iPods are better suited for different purposes - much like shoes.My iPod (video) is more useful to me as a portable, digital photo album and video device, as well as for backup of my whole iTunes library, but less useful for every day music listening since it's bulkier than my iPod nano. While my iPod shuffle is better suited for the gym and my iPod photo is best for road trips since most of my car accessories work with it. What do I do with the rest of my iPods? I received my Crystalmini as a gift, and it only leaves the house for special occasions. My original 5GB iPod has a 20hr battery in it, but the scrollwheel is a bit wonky so it doesn't get much use. My 20GB 3rd Gen iPod never brought me much joy and it now used mostly as a portable hard drive. My other iPod shuffle is now on permanent loan to hubby. And honestly, other iPods come and go all the time. When a new iPod comes out, I buy it and try it out and yes - even take it apart. I have to. It's my job to know what's inside so I can better support them when my clients buy them.But enough about my own iPod menagerie... as iPods become more and more ubiquitous, I bet many of you have more than one and probably have even more of them in your future. So tell me, how many iPods do you currently have, and what are you using them for?
MSNBC: Mac Pro is the ultimate desktop
MSNBC's Gary Krakow got his journalistic hands on a Mac Pro, and it is safe to say that he was impressed. Why else would he proclaim it the 'ultimate desktop'? Krakow appreciates the use of real metal in the Mac Pro's case (though the case is largely unchanged from the PowerMac G5, metal and all) and the sexy design (if it ain't broke, I suppose) of the case both inside and out.After going over all the specs of the machine, and mentioning that if you get two optical drives you can either read from one and write to the other directly, or write to both at the same time (which is kinda cool) he falls head over heels for the Intel chips in this monster. Finally, he also does the obligatory, 'Go to Apple.com and configure the most expensive Mac Pro possible,' which comes to about $12,000.[via MacDailyNews]
MSNBC launches free mobile applet
MSNBC.com and Microsoft have teamed up to provide an Action Engine-powered standalone application for mobile devices that allows for quick access to news stories, videos, and photo slideshows without to need to launch a browser. Initially available as a download for a handful of Windows Mobile devices, with support for Java/BREW-enabled phones promised in the coming months, the free applet and corresponding service are ad-supported -- with the first ad spots purchased by, you guessed it, Microsoft. We took the video component through a quick run through on our PPC-6700 (shhh, don't tell Sprint!), and found the viewing experience to be quite pleasant over EV-DO, with smooth frame rates and tinny-but-acceptable audio throughout. That's not to say we'll give up streaming real MSNBC and other unedited content over Orb (again, shhh!), but this mobile app will at least retain a place on our storage card for quick access to headlines and "Today Show" clips.[Via Business Wire]
MSNBC declares DTV transition in 2006, not 2009
Please tell us this is a mistake or an outdated story that was accidentally republished. Actually, how can it be since MSNBC is a major news source? Seems that nobody told Gary Krakow that the DTV transition is February 17, 2009, so he's figuratively "breaking the law" by telling folks that all analog TV is shutting down on December 31, 2006. This came about on "Krakow's Corner" when a reader asked if he'll have to trash his TV set because of the switchover. Luckily, the rest of the answer is correct as Gary provides options to either purchase a DTV set or a converter box.The article mentions the 85-percent rule, meaning that the transition won't occur until 85% of households can receive a digital signal (not an HDTV-signal as stated). That's all moot now that we have the DTV legislation signed into law and folks are unlikely to read that far. Gary, we love your tech coverage and we're all for speeding up the DTV transition, but misinformation isn't the way to do it dude!
