The National Institute on Media & the Family (NIMF) released its 13th-annual videogame report card this week , and the "grades" are better, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. "In the past, the report has criticized video-gamemakers and given grades - often low - on how their products affect children. But this year, the grades are up and the tone is conciliatory." The reason, says the Institute, … [Read more...] about 2008 videogame ‘Report Card’
gaming
Tragic end to Canada’s search for a boy
In a deeply sad follow-up to last week's feature, hunters this week stumbled upon the body of a boy believed to be 15-year-old Brandon Crisp of Barrie, Ontario, the Toronto Globe & Mail reported. An autopsy is being performed today (Friday), but police said they believed the cause of death to be hypothermia. Brandon had left home weeks ago on his bike, angry after a family argument about videogame … [Read more...] about Tragic end to Canada’s search for a boy
Videogamers and/or future composers?
The latest edition of Guitar Hero, "World Tour," is not more of the same, Mike Musgrove at the Washington Post reports. In it, you can go into "studio" mode, lay down your own tracks, then "click a button and 'publish' the song online so that any other player with a Web-connected game console can download and play your song, just as they would play any other song in the game. If other players like … [Read more...] about Videogamers and/or future composers?
Videogame for SAT prep
This makes sense: Up nationwide test scores by trying to make preparing for SATs fun! "Two of the country's largest test-prep course providers are pairing with video game companies for the first time, to give students another way to practice," the Akron [Ohio] Beacon Journal reports. One of the games, designed with the help of Kaplan, helps students with "simple math, reading, and writing games." … [Read more...] about Videogame for SAT prep
Videogames & aggression: New study
A just-published article in Pediatrics looked at three studies - one in the US and two in Japan - which found that "playing violent videogames is a significant risk factor for later physically aggressive behavior and that this violent videogame effect on youth generalizes across very different cultures." The authors added that the research "strongly suggests reducing the exposure of youth to this … [Read more...] about Videogames & aggression: New study