A 12-year-old boy in Washington State got stuck in a particular level of the PlayStation 2 game Ratchet and Clank, so he called the tipline printed on the game disk and found he’d called a phone sex line, KNDO TV reports. “The number appears on multiple games, including top sellers like Hot Shots Golf, and a similar number on other games leads to the same service.” When the boy’s mom called Sony, … [Read more...] about Phone-sex number on game disk
gaming
Parent videogamers
I love the parenting message in this Associated Press story, and I think it applies to teen social networking as well as videogaming. Across the US, according to the AP, many parents say hanging out with their children in the virtual worlds of videogames brings kids closer “by providing a safe, convenient way to stay in touch and talk to their children on their own terms.” Eighty percent of the … [Read more...] about Parent videogamers
Peaceful videogames?!
Yup. The New York Times reports that the focus of videogame makers around the world is shifting away from “violent killer videogames” to the sort of game that promotes exercise, vocabulary-building, and nutrition. “The strategic shifts in the game industry come as critics and government authorities are growing impatient with violence in video games,” according to the Times. “The justice ministers … [Read more...] about Peaceful videogames?!
Professional videogame league
Videogaming competition will soon be on DirecTV. There are six teams in the new Championship Gaming Series league, CNET reports: “the San Francisco OPTX, the Los Angeles Complexity, the Chicago Chimera, the Dallas Venom, the Carolina Core, and 3DNY from New York. Each team has a general manager and 10 players [or “thumb jockeys”].” You may have heard of some of the games they’ll play: … [Read more...] about Professional videogame league
AMA on ‘game addiction’
The American Medical Association is looking into whether videogame play can become an “addiction.” The AMA has released “an extremely readable” but “cautious” report summarizing the current “state of knowledge” on the subject, ArsTechnica reports. “In terms of ‘gaming addiction,’ the report suggests that it is likely to be a subset of internet addiction, as it most frequently occurs in players of … [Read more...] about AMA on ‘game addiction’