While many in the UK are pointing fingers at the gaming industry for rising obesity rates, researchers are exploring the potential of games to narrow waistlines. Casual gaming site Popcap Games launched a pilot study which tested the potential for casual games to be used as a dieting tool.

The participants took part in a a month long trial during January of this year where they played Bejeweled Twist as a tool for controlling their appetite. Presumably they were instructed to sit down and play whenever they felt a craving for a snack. Unfortunately a large number of participants failed to complete the study and removed any statistical validity to their results, but what we can take away from it still seems promising.

It was reported that those who completed the trial experienced 100% success in lifting their mood and beating cravings when they played the game. Distraction has often been used as a diet aid and video games are especially helpful since they engage not only the mind but also the hands, helping to prevent from reaching for another bag of chips. Though it’s wonderful to see gaming getting some good press, it’s also a rather silly thing to study, because the results are pretty common sense. Many overweight people eat as a comfort; whether they’re sad, stressed out or just feeling uncomfortable, the sensation of eating reassures them. Video games are just as good at relieving stress and boosting spirits (get 100% on a Guitar Hero song and tell me you don’t jump for joy). Despite the limited success of the study, PopCap say they’re excited and plan on commissioning more studies into the health benefits of casual gaming.

Zeemote Ready Developers Contest 2009
Wii getting 65nm CPU/GPU this summer?
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Game Review–Not What I Had In Mind
50 Cent’s Blood On the Sand Game Review–Gritty, Uncomfortable and Annoying
Sony updates PS3 dev kit, lowers prices
Former Icognito staff form new game studio
Assassin’s Creed on Steam for $10
A Vampyre Story Sequel Announced
Left 4 Dead Survival Pack DLC Dated
Gears of War 2 DLC Priced, Halo 3 DLC Dated
NFS Shift Dated
Max Payne 3 Announced
Chronicles of Riddick Gone Gold

Game developers have been challenged and given a chance to show off their wares as Zeemote Inc., has announced the Zeemote Ready Developers Contest 2009. Beginning today and running through July 15, 2009, established and independent publishers and developers are encouraged to submit Zeemote Ready mobile game titles to win cash prizes in total of $10,000 as well as the opportunity to have their games delivered to customers around the world via leading handset manufacturer and operator partners that are offering the Zeemote JS1.

To qualify for the contest, developers-publishers can use the Zeemote Ready SDK to create a new game or modify an existing game title to feature either full Analogue Joystick Game Control or Simultaneous Multiplayer Gaming, Both are unique features offered by the Zeemote JS1 Controller.

The Zeemote Ready Developers Contest is designed to further support and reward the growing Zeemote developer community, which has been instrumental in helping establish the Zeemote JS1 Controller. The contest is being launched on the heels of a breakout year that saw Zeemote establish partnerships with handset manufacturers Nokia, Sony Ericsson and RIM, game publishers including EA, Gameloft, Glu, and network operators, T-Mobile, Orange, Telcel, Vodafone, and Telefonica Movil. Building on the Zeemote JS1’s availability in Europe and Latin America, Zeemote is continuing its momentum in 2009 with product rollouts globally planned in markets such as the UK, South America, Asia, the United States, Asia and additional geographies in Europe.

(Source) Zeemote

We got a word from a tipster (who frequently tips off Chinese trade paper Digitimes), that Nintendo will be refreshing Wii internal hardware this summer, with 65nm versions of both its CPU and graphics chips, while clock rates would stay the same.

Currently, the IBM PowerPC based CPU is made on a 90nm process and the ATI “Hollywood” GPU is likewise 90nm. Both companies have been making 65nm chips for over a year, while ATI also has 55nm working technology as well.

Furthermore, thanks to the new chips, the Wii is said to be “passively-cooled”, meaning it won’t require any fans.

Considering how cheap flash memory is these days, it would be easy to assume that Nintendo would increase the 512 MB internal flash storage as well. However, according to the source, the new version of the Wii would have no other hardware changes besides 65nm technology and new heat sinks for cooling.

It makes perfect sense for Nintendo to go 65nm, as both Sony and Microsoft have updated their CPUs to 65nm (in Microsoft’s case, the GPU as well) and are currently working towards 45nm. Compared to 90nm, the 65nm manufacturing process not only brings lower power consumption and cooler processors, but substantially reduces manufacturing costs as well. However, as usual, there is no official word from Nintendo. Considering that the company still hasn’t released the official Wii specs, it’s unlikely that they’ll share the news of 65nm parts.

We’ll only know when someone dissects their new Wii this summer.

I admit, that while on Kongregate, I found a game that turned out to be a whole lot different from what I expected.  When you walk in on a game that calls itself Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (WTF for those of you who don’t know radio lingo), you don’t exactly know what to expect out of it.  So when I got a mild Space Invaders clone, I was somewhat relieved if a bit disappointed.

In Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, the White House is under attack, and you’ll take command of what might be a tank and what might be a column to fire random blobs at threats that fall from the sky, everything from paratroopers to UFOs to bombs and all the way up to enormous cruise missiles.  You’ll go up in rank for every wave you survive (I personally got as high as major), and every enemy you miss adds to your threat level, which will end the game upon reaching a certain height.
Certain things could have improved the game vastly–different weapons, various other threats besides the standard four that I’ve already listed, even a way to lower the threat level as you proceed would’ve made for a deeper gameplay experience.  But no, we’re stuck with a fairly bare-bones shooter that doesn’t bring in a whole lot of fun.

It’s not exactly a bit of long term fun, but I don’t necessarily regret giving it a try.  I’d likely never go back so I really can’t recommend it, but if you do feel like giving it a try, you might not be terribly disappointed.

Today’s piece, covering 50 Cent’s newest foray into gaming, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, is going to be downright entertaining.  Because frankly, I hate this game for a lot of good reasons, most of which I’m going to go into at length and some of which will probably get me firebombed.

First, it’s safe to say that just about everybody was looking at this game with baited breath, considering the floptacular lack of success that was his first installment, 50 Cent: Bulletproof.  Most were afraid that this one was going to turn out like the first, only possibly MORE so, and that amount of suck probably would’ve caused the universe to collapse in on itself.  I saw the X-Play review on that one and I’ve yet to hear Sessler sound so absolutely horrified by what he’s playing on an Xbox 360.  Well, most of us needn’t have worried–indeed, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand will prove superior to 50 Cent: Bulletproof, but frankly, this isn’t saying much.  I’ve had prostate exams that I preferred to 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, if for no other reason than they didn’t take near as long to finish and actually cost slightly less.  Though, I do confess to a similar feeling of violation afterward from both the exam and the game.

Anyway, in this game, you play 50 Cent, who apparently travels everywhere armed and even performs concerts in Arab countries while wearing hand grenades and a bulletproof vest.  Meanwhile, waiting backstage is a guy who owes Fifty a whole lot of money for reasons that we don’t even have to bother with (I had to read the Wiki to discover it was pay for doing the concert. Seriously, I don’t even remember the game MENTIONING this!) –just know that this guy owes Fifty a lot of money. In an attempt to save his life from several growled, almost-audible threats from Fifty, punctuated with gun barrels placed directly in his face (this happened like THREE TIMES.  I think we get the point–you’re threatening a random Arab man who owes you money with a gun.) he offers Fifty a priceless treasure, a human skull covered in diamonds.  Now, right there, Fifty probably should have been insulted–what, you can buy off a ten million dollar debt (yes, ten million) with a piece of gigantic bling.  Yes, that’s nice.  What’s next, Random Arab Man?  Offer him some of Dave Chappelle’s vaunted “purple drank”? For crying out loud, I’m not even black and I’M offended by this.

Of course, it’s not long, seeing as how we’re in some random Arabic country, before Fifty’s magnificent new diamond-encrusted human skull is stolen from him by a busty acrobatic Arabic woman who’s apparently the henchman of one of the area’s biggest heroin dealers. Now, Fifty’s got to recover his wonderful new piece of medical waste and try not to get killed.  This will involve him running from place to place and shooting everything that moves.

I’m amazed that Fifty hasn’t gotten sued into OBLIVION by now by some PC group.  Seriously–this should be AMAZINGLY offensive to at least THREE different anti-defamation leagues that I can think of.  The women’s groups should be torqued beyond imagining because Fifty refers to pretty much every woman he sees as “bitch”, and none of them, as far as I can tell, have anything resembling a speaking part.  The Arab groups, meanwhile, should be enraged at being portrayed as barely literate gun-toting thugs.  And don’t even get me started from how the various black groups should be feeling–for crying out loud, this whole game is Fifty Cent committing a massive murder spree in a desperate pursuit to recover his JEWELRY.

I’m a straight white male and even I’M offended.

The gameplay itself, meanwhile, is nothing really that bad, but nothing that particularly special, either.  It’s the kind of action shooter game I’ve played several times before, just with different scenery and different weapons and such.  You’ll also get to look for posters and shoot targets to add to your score for no conceivable reason.

Let’s make one thing perfectly clear—50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is vastly, VASTLY improved over the original.  But frankly, that’s still not saying much.  Fifty’s games have gone from unplayable to average, and while in terms of the mean this jacks up the score phenomenally it’s still a pretty low score in toto.  I can’t recommend this one in any good conscience, mostly because I’d rather see this kind of low-rent pointlessness removed from the market.

At this years GDC, Sony has revealed an update for its PS3 development kits and at the same time, lowered prices in an effort to attract more developers to the PlayStation 3 platform.

The new dev kit, model DECR-1400A, will cost developers only $2000 (1700 Euro in Europe). Sony has also updated the PS3 rendering engine, PhyreEngine to 2.40, which includes a new foliage rendering system for trees etc.

Dylan Jobe, former Icognito developer who worked on WarHawk, has left the company to form his own studio. The new studio, called LightBox Interactive, will focus exclusively on PlayStation 3 games.

The new studio comprises of several of the former staff of Icognito, which is rumored to be in the process of shutting down. Jobe has expressed interest in keeping the WarHawk franchise alive through the new studio.

Ubisoft and Valve are running a Steam promotion on some Ubi games, and the first one of those is the “Director’s Cut” edition of Assassin’s Creed, which will retail for only $9.99 for the next 24 hours.

The new Ubisoft promotion deal will see one of the publisher’s titles getting a 50% discount for a 24 hour period each day of this week.

Assassin’s Creed was originally released back in 2007 on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. A sequel is rumored to be in development as well, with further details to be released at the upcoming E3.

Though the Ghostbusters were a team, if they’d been a band Bill Murray’s Peter Venkman would have been the frontman. Our first view of him saw him leveraging an experiment to get a date. Later on in the film he devoted much of his energy to the seduction of Ms. Dana Barrett as played by Sigourney Weaver. He romanced her again in the sequel, but her character won’t be in Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

Instead Atari is introducing Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn, expert in Sumerian and pre-Sumerian cultures as both a plot-driving character and the love interest of the roguish Venkman. She comes into the world of the Ghostbusters as the guest curator of the Natural History museum’s ‘World of Gozer’ exhibit. The night before the opening a ‘cataclysmic force’ is released which summons an ancient evil and launches the main storyline.

Dr. Selwyn will be voiced by Alyssa Milano of “Charmed” and most recently “My Name is Earl”. Her aid will be essential in discovering what Sumerian force is bedeviling the city of New York this time, though the press release hints that she might be concealing some secrets of a possible more sinister nature.