Gaming

Sony on Tuesday admitted that a hacker has successfully infiltrated its PlayStation Network (PSN) online gaming platform and obtained customer data, including credit card information. Nearly 77 million people around the world have PlayStation ... Network accounts, which are used in conjunction with Sony's popular PlayStation 3 video game console. PSN allows gamers to download movies, chat with friends, and play games with PlayStation gamers through an Internet connection. PlayStation Network Hack Made Between April 17, 19 Sony says it will inform all of its PlayStation Network customers that ... (view more)

Just when it looked as though Sony's PlayStation 3 was getting ready to eclipse sales of Microsoft's Xbox 360, it appears the latter's controller-free peripheral, Kinect, has revived the flagging MS video game console. According to a recent report, ... January sales of the game system climbed 15 per cent over the same period last year. The findings come from industry analysts NPD Group, which note that about 8 million units of Kinect have now sold. In January 2011 alone Kinect helped ship 381,000 Xbox 360 units, a 15 per cent increase over January 2010. (Source: punchjump.com ) Kinect Popularity ... (view more)

The American Optometrist Association (AOA) says there's no need to worry about children playing the new 3D version of Nintendo's DS console. But Nintendo is sticking by its warnings that very young children should steer clear. Yes, you did read that ... right. Medical experts say it's okay to use the device, while Nintendo says it could be dangerous. As we noted last week, Nintendo officially warned that children aged under six should not use the 3DS , and suggested the device might damage the development of their vision. Now the AOA is reported to have said that the device should be safe for ... (view more)

Are your kids excited about the new Nintendo 3DS, the upcoming portable 3D gaming system? Well, if they're under six, it may be time to break some bad news to the little tykes. The Nintendo DS is Nintendo's very popular portable gaming system and to ... date, the best-selling gaming system in the industry's history. It is particularly popular amongst young children, who love the DS' family-friendly titles. Traditional 2D games are presented on two touchscreens, allowing for a variety of different gameplay styles. U.S. Release Date Unknown, Price About $300 The 3DS is a bit different. Without ... (view more)

The ongoing recession doesn't seem to be having any impact on the video game industry. Recent reports have shown Microsoft's Kinect peripheral achieving strong sales in its first weeks on the market, and now a new study finds that Activision's ... popular First Person Shooter (FPS) Call of Duty: Black Ops has already surpassed the $1 billion sales marker. Call of Duty is an action game franchise dating back to 2003. The original titles all involved World War II campaigns, but in recent years the series has moved to more familiar conflict areas in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year's Call of Duty: ... (view more)

According to a new study, post-traumatic stress disorder can be significantly alleviated by playing the classic puzzle video game Tetris. The game's visually-oriented design reportedly makes it easier for sufferers to avoid flashbacks by keeping ... their brains occupied. The study comes from world-renowned Oxford University, where researchers recently conducted a study comprised of two individual experiments. In the first experiment, sixty participants were asked to watch a film containing shocking violence. They were then provided a 30-minute rest, before they were broken into three distinct ... (view more)

Faced with mounting pressure from competitors Sony and Nintendo, Microsoft will soon offer Xbox Live users redeemable points for their activity on the popular online gaming portal. Xbox Live is the online video game network for the Xbox 360 console. ... Those who subscribe to a membership can not only game with their friends, but also gain access to downloadable movies, music and TV shows. It costs about $60 for a one-year membership to Xbox Live. Dubbed Xbox Live Rewards (XLR), the program offers a system whereby credits are either accumulated through gaming or purchased online. Xbox Live ... (view more)

The company behind the upcoming Medal of Honor video game has renamed an option which previously let gamers play as the Taliban. Danger Close Games says the renaming of the game is controversial and is the result of older people not understanding ... current trends in gaming. Video Game Medal of Honor Popular Amongst Gamers The main gameplay of Medal of Honor involves playing as a United States soldier fighting in Afghanistan. However, the multiplayer option, in which players form two teams to compete with one another, had one set of players controlling Taliban characters. The developers said at ... (view more)

Can playing video games make you smarter? While there may not be oodles of benefits for those who spend hours in front of the television regularly, a new study suggests gaming may actually help to improve the way we process information. According to ... researchers at the University of Rochester, video gamers are very good at probabilistic inference, which in layman's terms simply means that they're better at making rapid, quality decisions based on evidence around them. In essence, educated researchers (many of whom may be gamers) found that gamers make for good researchers. (Source: cnet.com ... (view more)

Multinational video game producer Electronic Arts (EA) has defended its decision to allow game players to use Taliban characters in its new video game, stating that such role-playing is an inevitable part of modern multiplayer gaming. The game is ... Medal of Honor, a name most will recognize given that EA has made several of these first-person-shooters in the last decade. All previous editions have been based around Second World War campaigns, with the player controlling a United States soldier aiming to defeat Axis characters. The new edition is set in modern-day Afghanistan. There had been ... (view more)