The iPad launches tomorrow, but you probably already knew that. If you’re getting one, you may be looking around for games you’ll be able to play right when you get your hands on it. Well, we recently showed you Geometry Wars for the iPad, but what about EA titles? Well, the company has just announced that versions of Need for Speed Shift, Mirror’s Edge, Scrabble, Tetris and Command & Conquer Red Alert are now available for the platform.

I personally am most excited about Command & Conquer because and RTS on the iPad would be beyond badass.

Tetris has been around for over 25 years, and has since sold over 100,000,000 (that’s 100 million) units on mobile devices since, ranging from the original GameBoy, to other mobile consoles and cell phones of every kind. The news was confirmed by EA Mobile and license holder Blue Planet Software. Congrats, Tetris!

There’s no denying that Tetris is close to the heart for many people, the brick-puzzle game has inspired artists for decades, including Mexican industrial designer Gabriel Canas, who designed the Tetris chair you see above. It’s not available for purchase anywhere, as it’s still a concept, with the only specimen planted at Canas’ own home.

During these busy E3 times, let’s not forget what happened 25 years ago, when Alexey Pajitnov created Tetris, which instantly took the world by storm. The game has sold hundreds of millions of copes in various forms, and even the Guinness Book of Records lists Tetris as the record holder of the “Most Ported Video Game” and “Game With the Most Official and Unofficial Variants”, among a dozen other records.

Picking up from the success that they had from their Nintendo DS version, Meteos Wars focuses on a different game console in the Xbox 360. Gameplay is simple. If you are familiar with Tetris, they are practically similar.

Blocks fall from the sky ala Tetris, and in turn must be matched in vertical or horizontal lines of three. Once a match is made, the triplet will be boosted back into space where it belongs. However, it’s not always that simple; as gravity is your enemy. If your group of blocks is too heavy to make its way back into the heavens, it will steadily descend back into your original pile of blocks. That’s when you will need to match more in order to keep it aloft.

However, the correct blocks will not always be available to match. You can accelerate the speed of the falling squares, but beware – if one line reaches the top of the game board, an alarm will sound. If you cannot reduce the line’s height in a timely fashion, it’s game over! Paired with these harrowing rules, you’re also in a close match with an AI (or human, if you’re in multiplayer) opponent who is trying to clear their board in the same manner.

(Source) Video Game Generation

Came across distressing images lately? Want to forget? Play Tetris. At least, thats what a new study conducted by Oxford University has found: patients with symptoms of post-traumatic stress had fewer flashbacks after playing a round of Tetris.

The experiment was carried out on a group of 40 volunteers who were shown distressing images of injuries. Some of them were then made to play Tetris for 30 minutes. The Tetris-playing sample was found to have recorded significantly fewerflashbacks of the images than the non-playing group.

“Tetris may work by competing for the brain’s resources for sensory information,” said Oxford’s Dr. Emily Holmes. “We suggest it specifically interferes with the way sensory memories are laid down in the period after trauma and thus reduces the number of flashbacks that are experienced afterwards.”

However, researchers admit that the tests are inconclusive as they do not compare to actual real-life traumatic events and that games have a real effect on human memory.