Shortly after the launch of the Wii dozens of websites were showcasing tragedies that happened as a result of poorly handled Wiimotes. Brand new flats creen tvs were cracked, windows broken and all manner of other home furnishings damaged by over enthusiastic gamers. After the chuckles died down another group came forth talking about the negative effects of the WIi: doctors.

Some people were playing their WIi too vigorously or for two long and were straining muscles and joints unaccustomed to exercise. This of course led to dozens of jokes about out of shape gamers, but in truth for the most part it’s been older Wii owners that have reported problems and it seems to still be an issue. Just yesterday I read an article from the New York Times that reported doctors seeing the expected arm issues, but leg problems such as sprained ankles and twisted knees as well. The doctors attributed this mostly to over playing and some users not understanding how little motion is needed to play.

This would have been pretty yawn-worthy, but it got me thinking: if people are hurting themselves now, is it going to get worse when WIi MotionPlus comes out? I’m sure the flood of golf games won’t be too taxing, though we might see more broken electronics due to hurled Wiimotes. What about all the games that will actually require fast-paced, multi-directional flailing? Are we going to see a new wave of strained muscles and over-worked joints? I certainly hope all the companies that create games which support the peripheral put in a notice at the start warning about the risk of swinging your arms around like a caffeinated monkey for hours on end else we’ll be seeing a wave of ridiculous lawsuits.

Don’t look now but one game is going to make PSP owner’s lives a living hell! The new game is Dante’s Inferno. Based on part one of Dante Alighieri’s classic, “The Divine Comedy,” EA’s Dante’s Inferno will also take players on an epic adventure through Dante’s famously mapped nine circles of hell.

Dante’s Inferno will be available simultaneously for the PSP, the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system next year.Dante’s Inferno for the PSP is being developed by EA’s award-winning EA Redwood Shores studio and Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M), based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Alighieri’s “Dante’s Inferno” is widely credited for being the work that has defined the western world’s contemporary conception of hell and purgatory. Just like the poem, players of EA’s 3rd person action adventure game will descend through all nine circles of hell: limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery, playing as Dante as they battle through a gauntlet of unimaginable evils, fighting to recapture the soul of his beloved Beatrice.

Dante’s Inferno has not yet been rated by the ESRB or PEGI.

(Source) Press

Fallout 3 ‘Broken Steel’ DLC dated
Wii MotionPlus Debuting With EA Games
Study Claims One In Twelve Children Showing Signs Of Gaming Addiction
Spider-Man: Friend or Foe Game Review–Cartoony Brawler With A Dash of Humor
Death Tank Game Review–A Little Goes A Long Way
Halo Wars “Strategic Options” DLC Announced
Broken Steel Screenshots Give More Content Info
Leaked Achievement List Hints at Marvel Vs. Capcom 2
L4D Survival Pack DLC Gets Release Hour, PC Gamers Forgotten
Guitar Hero: Van Halen Rated, Activision Still Silent
Your Face and Voice Coming to Age of Conan Soon
Shadowbane Shutting Down
NWN Mysteries of Westgate Finally Resolved

While originally slated for an April release, Bethesda has recently announced that the Broken Steel DLC pack for Fallout 3 will hit Xbox Live on May 5th for 800 Microsoft Points.

Broken Steel will add a whole slew of new content as well as raising the level cap to 30. The whole plot of the pack is based around the Brotherhood of Steel and their ongoing efforts to eliminate the Enclave forces. And, to go along with the updated plot line, there will be an all new ending for players to experience.

So remember everyone, May 5th Broken Steel for Fallout 3.

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It seems like just the other day I was scratching my head in confusion with the announcement that the Wii MotionPlus would be released a full month ahead of Wii Sports Resort, one of the only titles I’d heard of so far that was boasting MotionPlus support. Letting an exciting peripheral sit on the shelves with nothing to play it with seemed like a ridiculously bad decision.

Now it makes sense however as EA must have cut an amazing deal with Nintendo for instead of putting forth a first-party option on the market with the initial launch of the Wii MotionPlus, they’re going to let EA bundle some games along with the peripheral. If you were looking for this announcement to take you in a new and exciting direction you’re not going to be too happy. There are two different bundles being planned, one for North America and one for Europe. Once again the USA’s love of video games is shooting us in the foot as the North American bundle only comes with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 while the European bundle also includes Grand Slam Tennis. The bundles will only be available for a limited time but the games will be available on their own afterwards as well as three others games EA is working on for the Wii MotionPlus.

A new study conducted by Iowa State University suggests that video games might be a little too popular amongst youngsters. According to their results, one in twelve children between the ages of eight and eighteen show signs of being addicted to video gaming. Unfortunately for the anti-video game camp there’s not much going on in this study that can’t be explained by the simple fact that children and teenagers are generally impulsive and hedonistic.

The study used a survey method and since the majority of other research is laboratory based there are few pre-existing sets of survey so they simply used a set of criteria used to assess gambling addiction. The study goes on to assess the two behaviors via the same rubric although the two behaviors are quite different, especially when one considers that gambling is a behavior restricted to adults and is generally engaged in with the ultimate purpose of winning money.

Many of the more commonly manifested symptoms of the ‘addiction’ the study points to are simply common traits of children and adolescents. They did find that there was a correlation between greater signs of video game addiction and poor school performance, but there have always been kids more interested in working on cars, playing sports, listening to music or a dozen activities other than studying for tests.

Some of the other ‘signs’ of addiction are laughable: ignoring chores in favor of games, suffering on an assignment or test because of excessive game playing, using video games to escape from problems or bad feelings. While it’s not commendable to spend time playing games instead of studying, the development of self control and good work habits is a crucial part of the adolescents development and is often not truly achieved until college or later in ones adult life.

When one takes into account the permissiveness of many parents nowadays combined with the self-gratifying focus of American society and the pleasure-focused existence of most teenagers, it’s not surprising that kids are playing more games than some might consider healthy.

There have been a lot of Spider-Man games over the years, and it’s never really much of a surprise to me when a new one shows up on the shelves.  In fact, it’s such a non-surprise that pretty much every time I DO see one, I end up sighing piteously before wondering if I should give it a try.  I mean, it’s not like I haven’t found good Spider-Man games before, and it’s not like I haven’t played the most godawful crap with that red and blue freak of nature stamped boldly across the front of the box.

And when I took a run at Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, now available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC, as well as for scads of handhelds and last-gen systems, I was downright surprised.  See, the basic plot of the game looks like your normal run of the mill class X beat-em-up.  And when you actually sit down to play it, that’s exactly what you get.  But it’s the little things that make all the difference.

See, in Spider Man: Friend or Foe, you’re going to be taking on a series of villains in the standard Spider-Man vein.  You’ll be going to Tokyo, Egypt, Nepal, and even Transylvania in pursuit of what are called Phantoms, beings that are a combination of hard-light holographic projects (think Star Trek: The Next Generation’s holodeck technology) combined with, of all things, the Venom symbiote.  But these symbiote / hologram hybrids aren’t here on vacation–they seem to be interested in taking over the planet.  And to do so, they’re taking over the minds of some of Spider-Man’s most feared villains, including Doc Ock, the Green Goblin, and even, somehow, Venom himself.

Interestingly, you can probably figure out who’s behind all this, if you know anything about the Spider-Man universe: who’s the only villain you’ve ever seen who handles holography as both weapon and method of disguise?  Yeah, I know–really only obvious in retrospect, but still kinda obvious when you think about it.

Aside from that, you’ve really got to hand it to Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, because while they did make a fairly derivative sort of game, they infused it with a cartoony charm and a sense of humor that’s all its own.  Yes, of course, Spider-Man himself will crack wise throughout the WHOLE GAME, almost nonstop…but he won’t be the only source of humor in this game.  For instance,  the SHIELD helicarrier’s computer will have a really choice line about how, while Venom is a pretty nasty way to die, there are worse—including wasps with laser-guided missiles.  See?  Funny!  It’s fantastic to know that games can still introduce humor into otherwise lackadaisical brawlers.

It’s not a huge game, nor is there a whole lot to do, but a couple days’ rental will be terribly entertaining.  If you like your games packed to the gills with action, and not a whole lot else, then you’ll have an absolute ball with Spider Man: Friend or Foe.  But if you like complex and thrilling titles, well, the vicarious thrill you’ll get from this won’t be near enough.

When you introduce a game called Death Tank into the world, you have certain expectations to live up to.  You expect lots of firepower and lots of vicious weapons and lots of awesome explosions.  You don’t, however, expect an old friend to come back and surprise you, and that’s just what happened for me.

Death Tank, recently released to Xbox Live Arcade, allows you to take control of tanks with a small arsenal of weapons, including cannon, machine gun and guided missiles to take on a series of other tanks.  Defeating your opponents allows you a cash budget to upgrade your own tank and improve the chance of killing everyone else.

When I said “an old friend”, I meant it.  There was a game a while back, in which you were required to input the angle and velocity of shots and fire on other cannons.  Death Tank is a lot like that game, only with a lot more movement and a lot less deliberation.

Death Tank is a surprisingly fun title, even if it doesn’t have a lot of replay value unless you get a group game going, then you’ll probably have even more fun with it.  But anyway, it’s a nice little title from Xbox Live and should give you occasional bits of fun for a long time, especially if you spread them out.  A little of this game goes a long way.

The real drawback to RTS games when it comes to fulfilling the armchair general fantasy is that it’s all based on pre-programmed systems and mathematics. There’s little chance for the kind of real heroics or surprising victories that pepper human history and inspire books and films. Usually someone comes up with a dominating strategy and this becomes the generally accepted tactic, which can spoil the fun for less hardcore gamers.

Microsoft is seeking to keep people on their toes and interested in the console RTS Halo Wars. They’ve just announced a new Xbox 360 exclusive downloadable content pack called “Strategic Options”. It adds three new multiplayer modes to the mix. The first is ‘Keepaway Mode’ which is inspire by classic capture the flag gameplay. Players seek to capture free-roaming Forerunner sentinels, the first to capture three wins. ‘Tug of War Mode’ is a little more straightforward with the decimation of your opponent’s army being the ultimate goal but in the end your remaining units, resources and buildings will all be considered in whether or not you’ve succeeded.

Finally ‘Reinforcement Mode’ provides you with active battle units in successive waves, forcing you to alter your tactics to fit the newest wave of units that have come your way. Thus far there’s no pricing or release date, but it says it’ll be out in the ‘next few weeks’ and for just a few extra gameplay modes and a handful of achievements I certainly hope they won’t try to charge more than $5.

Though Bethesda is already turning their sights onto other projects in the Fallout universe we’re still awaiting the last DLC pack for Fallout 3, Broken Steel. Today some screenshots hit the net which should whet your appetite, especially since the content pack removes the ending of the game, allowing you to resume your questing after you’ve completed the main storyline.

The content pack also adds the ‘Broken Steel’ quest which lets you aid the Brotherhood of Steel in their goal of eradicating the remnants of the Enclave. As you might expect there’s some new content, including a huge energy weapon called the Tesla Cannon and a new mutant enemy called the Overlord who wields a gatling laser. You’ll also be able to walk by the Jefferson Monument and see Project Purity in action and take on the Enclave’s vertibirds.