A recent study shows that violent video games threaten even Saudi Arabia's society, with piracy allowing children to get a hold of these interactive forms of entertainment that contain evil scenarios of combating security forces, destroying state property, and violating people in various ways. More on this at the full article.

Is the US Department of Defense collaborating with the games industry to create an entire generation of perfect soldiers who crave for war like it's something good? The latest statement coming from activist lawyer Jack Thompson seems to indicate that. He also linked this theory to recent shooting incidents in Columbine and Virginia Tech. Does that sound similar to something characters went through in a Metal Gear Solid game? Read on and tell us what you think.

We've plugged Headplay before on some of the hottest game consoles, but this time, we're putting it to the ultimate PC stress test. The PC scene loves shooters, RPGs and racers, so we took Crysis, Sega Rally Revo, and old favorite Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and gave them the Headplay treatment. Which worked well and which doesn't suit the peripheral? Find out in the full article!

 

The 2007 Online Game Development Conference is now in full swing, as the agenda for the conference happening this May is now up, live on the official OGDC website. After the announcement of Speaker Force 8...err...the first eight confirmed speakers for the Online Game Development Conference, an official press release also previewed a few more speakers of the 80 speakers to attend the event:

• Herb Sutter - Software Architect, Microsoft
• Mike Goslin - Vice President, Virtual Reality Studio, Disney Online
• Diana Li - Vice President, Shanda
• Charles Manning - President/CEO, PLAYXPERT
• Robert Mitchell - Senior Programmer, Sony Online Entertainment
• Tony Park - Vice President, The9
• Michael Goodman - Director, Digital Entertainment, Yankee Group
• Christian Force - Director of Engineering, +7 Systems

Organized by Evergreen Events, the conference will be delivering "world-class content" to "everyone in the business of making online games." The work and preparation behind the conference soon brought forward a list of sessions and panels including, but not limited to:

• Automating Online Game Balance
• Xbox LIVE on Windows and 360: Are Your Games Dead or LIVE?
• The Chinese Game Market: Latest Developments and Trends
• Casual Games Go Global
• Dirty Secrets of Episodic Video Games
• User Research for Online Game Development
• Adapting your Online Games to the Mobile Platform
• Designing worlds - future directions of tools and technology in MMOs

Peter Freese, chairman of the OGDC, is proud to have finalized the conference's agenda, stating, "It's been a long and involved road to reach this point, but I am very proud of what we've accomplished to assemble this truly impressive slate of speakers and sessions." The 2007 OGDC will start on May 10, 2007 at the Fairmont Olympic, Seattle and will go on for two days. Click on the "Read" link below to hop over to the Agenda page.

Next Generation alerts all of us that during the GDC session entitled Censorship of Video Game Content: Time to Fight Back, attorney Lawrence G. Walters said that "It’s the blurring between reality and virtual reality that worries people, and brings lawmakers to action."

While he cites examples of failed legislation that emphasize the recognition of videogames as a protected form of expression, he warns that missteps from the industry might mess things up in the long-run.

To counter further research and studies that look for the connection of videogames to violence, Walters suggests that the games industry invest in research of their own. As he says: "Arm yourself with evidence."

He says that a research bank of positive studies and positive relationships with parents - the folks ultimately responsible for enforcing ratings - can aid the industry in the fight against games legislation.

While regulators and "ace attorneys" claim that their game legislation is in the best interest of children, that anti-game laws will protect youth, Walters argues: "We don’t want to protect them so much that they have no rights when they become adults."

Yeah, nice idea. We for one would like to hear reports concerning scientific studies that look into the effects of strategy/simulation/planning games like SimCity on children's organizational skills and creative talents. It should be a safe hypothesis that the Master of Orion geek will have an advantage when it comes to socio-economic subjects, right?

Who else is dropping by at the much-coveted GDC this year? Guess no more, 'cause we have the updated list right here. As of the current press time, there are now 35 speakers confirmed to show up to share their expertise. Here's the new list of the who's whos:

• Kevin Bjorke - Art & Technology Evangelist for the NVIDIA Corporation
• Ramon Axelrod - CTO for AIseek
• Bart House - Development Lead - Windows Server Performance Team for Microsoft
• Robert Mitchell - Senior Programmer for Sony Online Entertainment
• Mike Goslin - Vice President, Virtual Reality Studio for Disney Online
• Scott Brown - President and CEO of NetDevil
• Joseph Ybarra - Vice President of Product Development Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment

If you're interested to go, but still has not registered for it, then you'd be glad to know that you still have time to do so. In fact, this may be your last chance to get it at a deal as this is their final week of offering over 40% off on-site registration rates. Hurry, 'cause March 1 marks the price hike from US$ 195 to US$ 345.

Remember the old Aura Interactor "virtual reality vest?" It didn't really take off, but the concept was a good one. Showing that you can't really put a good concept down, a company named ForceWear">TNGames is looking to take current rumble technology one step forward with the ForceWear vest.

PSU recently had a sit-down with TNGames CEO Mark Ombrellaro and got some details regarding the ForceWear.

In development for roughly six years now, the ForceWear vest is basically a wearable force generation system equipped with eight pressure areas. According to Ombrellaro, the ForceWear vest actually imparts tactile events and impact within the game to the user. This is done through the vest's eight contact points (four in front, four in back) which can generate up to 10 pound of force each.

The whole thing is also directional, so players who get shot in the back will "actually feel the gunfire in their back while they may not be otherwise aware of this using standard visual display cues." It's not just for FPS and fighting games, too. Ombrellaro says that ForceWear can also be used to impart G-force effects for driving/racing or aerial flight content.

ForceWear is first being introduced on the PC platform. Ombrellaro says that TNGames is currently working on having the technology enabled on all of the various console platforms. The ForceWear's controlling code has also been made available to game developers. This will let them integrate ForceWear support into their videogames and control the functionality of the Forcewear vest.

There are no price details yet, but Ombrellaro says that the ForceWear vest is slated for a November 2007 release.

Here's something that you can tell your mom the next time she tells you to stop playing all them darn action videogames. A recent study conducted by the University of Rochester produced results that show some action-based videogames may actually improve eyesight.

The study went like this: A group of students were divided into control groups and given a crowding test where the students in each group were asked to identify the orientation of the letter T on a page full of other distracting symbols and letters. The students' response times were recorded for later comparison. The test groups were then given games to play for a month. One group got Tetris while the other was given Unreal Tournament.

A month of near-daily gaming later (which according to the article translates to about 30 hours' worth. Hmm. These must be pretty serious students.), both groups were given another crowding test. While the students who were given Tetris showed no improvement in their test results, it turned out that those who played Unreal Tournament were able to discern the orientation of the T more easily during the crowding test.

The conclusion? The University of Rochester research team believes that fast-paced action video games push our visual system to the limit, the brain adapts and creates new pathways to process visual information. They are currently constructing a 360-degree virtual reality computer gaming lab in order to further advance the study. If you're interested in the results, their findings will be published in next week's Psychological Science journal.

Tom Fronczak, a contributor to The Last Boss, and a bloke who's a semester away from a degree in game design, profiles a VR studio at the University of Pittsburgh's Medical Virtual Reality Center.

Why? Well, Fronczack and classmates intend to develop an acrophobia (fear of heights) simulator to be used in therapy sessions.

Fronczak's group will be using Unreal Engine (1) to develop a design a level that resembles an unfinished skyscraper. Patients will slowly ascend the floors of the building, eventually emerging in open air, where they will have to navigate up scaffolding to reach to top of the stage.

The time-frame for development has been limited to ten weeks. Fronczak notes that he's eager to get feedback on his project. To read Fronczak's updates feel free to use our read-link below.

 

A few days ago we reported on the different launch parties that were going on around the world to celebrate the release of what's set to be the world's next most popular Operating System, and today we bring you coverage from the Vista launch at the British library in the UK.

Windows is everywhere: from your home, to work, to entertainment; you just can't get away from it. Windows Vista is the successor to Windows XP and is supposed to be more efficient, more secure and more reliable than it's predecessor. But according to Bill Gates himself at the London shindig, we can expect much more from Vista that will shape the future of gaming.

Mr. Gates said, "Today is a big day, and it's really the start of something different," proceeding to comment on the future of games in Vista, the Operating System which will allow us to "play games that are of a whole new level of realism and connecting up with other people around the world". He talked about the developer tools which will be available for Vista will 'empower' the software industry, giving them the ability to create high quality software at low prices. He concluded by saying "We're unleashing people's creativity and we're excited about what can happen."

This speech appears to have been made in response to the Vista compatibility questions that have sprouted up all around the internet, but if Microsoft get this right it could be the sale of the century. Developer tools in Vista are going to be one of the huge factors in the development of games in the future.

Developers are only as good as the tools they can use to create their games, and with the use of extensive information and documents Gates has promised devs, we should be seeing more huge games with amazing graphics that challenge the boundaries between reality and virtual reality. We could even see a game better than World of Warcraft.