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Direct from the We Could Have Told You That department, a recent study determined that introducing young boys to video games has a direct effect on their academic performance. Introducing a major distraction interferes with learning? Who'd have thought? More »
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Savannah College of Art and Design grad student Daniel Floyd has put together this flash movie on the subject of video games and sex for his media theory course. Good job of summing stuff up. Loved the kicker. More »
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Slate contributor Sudhir Venkatesh is a Columbia sociology professor who has written a book about street gangs, even going so far as to run with one in Chicago for a book. So, naturally, Grand Theft Auto IV would intrigue him. His verdict on the game's realism? It "actually offered a less sensational portrait of gangland and ghetto streets than the one put out by most cops, politicians, policymakers, and even academics." More »
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Or at least a better at math - so says a small study conducted with primary school students in the Scottish city of Dundee. The wee kidlets were divided into three groups of 30 for the ten week study: one group played More Brain Training every morning for 15 minutes prior to lessons; another group used 'Brain Gym,' which is a series of physical exercises designed to stimulate brain activity; and the final group did nothing. Based on the math test given at the beginning and end of the project, the researchers found the Brain Training group made gains across the board, while neither of the other two groups showed such gains. And there were more benefits to some quality time with the DS in the morning: More »
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If you're interested in the issues surrounding the metaverse (especially in terms of economics and policy), Metaversed is pairing up with the Cornell Johnson School of Management to offer a series of speakers and a website to discuss issues within the metaverse: economics, law, policy, technology .... Robert Bloomfield explains the goal and scope of the series over at Terra Nova: More »
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Academic Gamers has a note about a new media conference taking place at the University of California - Irvine campus Feb. 17 and 18. The three main themes? Media archaeology, digital humanities and gaming. I wish I lived in the area, I'd definitely check it out. Anyone from UC-I planning on going? More »
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Calling Canadians and Americans: the world's first MSc in computer games design and technology is opening up to the Normericas. More »
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Gamasutra reports on research results just released by the WJU in West Virginia: certain types of video games can significantly distract patients or subjects from feeling pain. More »
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The Paddington Academy is a new London-based school offering media and performing arts to kids of all backgrounds and capabilities — and best of all, it's free. More »
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A college buddy of mine gave me a heads up on NYU professor, Alexander R. Galloway. An artist and a programmer, Galloway examines the relationship between art, videogames and society. What keeps Galloway from being simply another pouncy academic is not only his experience (dude created networked surveillance tool for the F.B.I.), but his ability to make scholarly riffs on war games actually readable. "Today," he says in an interview, "gaming is the vanguard of culture—all the interesting work on interactivity, narrative, immersion, virtual spaces and networking is all being done in the gaming community. I predict a coming golden age for video games into the next decade not unlike what the cinema experienced in the late 1930s and 1940s." That prediction we've heard before, but I do feel this is a guy with something to say. His next book Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture will be out next year. More »
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