Boston Globe Discovers Video Game Addiction

The Boston Globe has an intriguing question and answer session up with Dr. Jerald Block, who specializes in online video game addiction.

Block, a psychiatrist in Portland, Ore., recently wrote an editorial in the American Journal of Psychiatry arguing that Internet Addiction should become a new diagnostic term.

It's interesting to read his thoughts and them to compare it to the things being said by the psychiatrists I interviewed back in 1999 when I wrote a story about how researchers think that Internet and Sex addiction are very similar. Back then a David Greenfield, director for the Center of Internet Studies, told me that the Internet was addictive and that that particular form of addiction was nearing a national epidemic... yet somehow we survived.

Unlike the Globe's story, my 1999 story has at least one well-known psychology researcher arguing that obsessive use of the internet isn't really about addiction, but curiosity of a new technology.

Block, who has some genuinely interesting ideas, also talks about the tie between school shooters and compulsive computer use, making sure not to say that computers cause violence.

BLOCK: With these shooters, their last act was to turn against their own computers. As a psychiatrist, I think that's relevant.

'Craft Addicts: Do online games trigger a new psychiatric disorder? [Boston Globe]

Justify Your Mario Kart Wii

As you probably noticed, I went by the Denver stop of the Mario Kart Wii Driving School this weekend. I didn't spend as much time as I would have liked to with it, because I was busy doing interviews and such, but I got a chance to sit down with the game for a few minutes.

The game was set up with the wheel, and while I refuse to rescind my right to mock the Wii Wheel for being a silly peripheral and getting way too much face time at last E3, the thing actually works quite well.

The game is a solid racer with everything you'd want and expect out of a Mario Kart racer, including plenty of tributes to past tracks. Tristan loved the game, and the wheel, and the two friends he brought with him said they were going to start saving immediately to buy a copy.

Now if only they could fix the whole Friend's Code thing...

[Special Thanks to Patrick Lewis for the photos and faux Mario Kart Wii Pwnage]

The Kartokumentary

Mario Kart Wii Across America

Kaplan Using Nintendo DS For SAT Prepping

Kaplan, the makers of all those test preparation books, is teaming with Aspyr Media to create an SAT prep program for the Nintendo DS. Sure, the same title will also be made available for the PC and Mac (probably just like the stuff we've seen for years), but the flashcard form factor of the DS version makes it incredibly appealing.

If high school didn't represent some of the most stressful and awkward years of my life, I'd go back in a flash to play this SAT game on my DS! Think of it as Brain Age with a real tangible result. Would you be more likely to prep for the SATs on your DS than through a book or browser?

SAT Prep Game Coming to DS [GamelLife]

This weekend Nintendo's 24-foot Mario Kart Wii truck will be pulling into Denver to give the city's residents a chance to check out the game and earn their own personalized Kart driver's license.

The Mario Kart Wii Driving School has been slowly, quietly making its way across the country, allowing gamers to check out the game in the confines of a glass display truck.

The truck hits Denver (across from Skyline Park on the corner of 16th and Arapahoe streets) this Friday at 11 a.m. and is open for business till 8 p.m. It will also be around Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The gamers who swing by to check out the courses and vehicles walk away with an official Mario Kart driver's license that includes their photo, nickname and vehicle of choice.

I think Tristan and I are going to try and make that, sounds like fun.

The Week in Games: You Are the Music (and DS Game) in Me

You can expect this out of me if I'm running TWIG from now on — the WTF drop of the week is the lede, and this one is for High School Musical 2 (Two): Work This Out. A Disney press release spends reams of copy talking about the franchise's marketing chops and about a paragraph explaining why the game is worth playing. To wit:

• It's "the only musical adventure game allowing fans to immerse themselves in the world of "High School Musical 2." And thank God for that.

• You can play as one of six characters and "go on various adventures at the resort, compete in time-based challenges and play different rhythm games, all while listening to the hit songs from "High School Musical 2." Something tells me the last part of that is what Disney considers most important.

Here's the rest of your roster of new releases. Tell us in the comments if you're picking any of these up.

Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis (PC)
Major League Baseball 2K8 Fantasy All Stars (DS)
AMF Bowling Pinbusters! (DS)
Rondo of Swords (DS)
Okami (Wii)
Jack Keane (PC)
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (PS3)
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (PC)
Turok (PC)
Europa Universalis: Rome (PC)
High School Musical 2: Work This Out! (DS)
Cory in the House (DS)
The Sims 2: Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff (PC)
Summer Sports: Paradise Island (Wii)
Teenage Zombies: Invasion of the Alien Brain Thingys! (DS)
Emergency Mayhem (Wii)
Final Fantasy XI: Vana'diel Collection 2008 (PC)

New Releases, Week of April 13 [Gamestop]

The Challenges of Designing in an Academic Context

Presidential Candidates As Classic Video Games

The presidential race can be pretty hard to follow at times, especially when many of us are too busy playing in virtual bands or keeping the world safe from demons to keep track of what is going on with the whole leader of the free world dealie. Luckily Game With A Brain has us covered, matching up the four most likely with the classic video game that best represents them. For instance, John McCain is Desert Bus, the minigame from the sadly unreleased Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors for the Sega CD.

Desert Bus tasked you with driving a bus from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada in eight hours of real time. The game could not be paused, and the bus occasionally would veer to the right. So, like the Arizona senator you set out on a grueling long journey (to your party's nomination) and occasionally veer off to the right (frightening potential independent voters). Uncanny.

Presidential candidates and their video game alter-egos [Game With A Brain via Game Politics]

A teenage boy has been arrested on suspected arson charges for burning down a Palmyra, MO church. What makes this game related you may ask? It seems that GameFaqs forum poster "Jediknight12345" (original, eh?) made a post in the "Current Events" page asking readers if he should burn down a school and a church. The post was quickly removed by forum administrators and then a few days later another post showed up from the same person. This time, Jediknight12345 bragged that he had in fact burned a church/school down, described how he did it and even went so far as to post pictures of the event for posterity. Fellow forum posters immediately alerted local news station WGEM and authorities leading to the teenager's arrest. According to recent reports, the arrested suspect was a member of the church and its attached school.

Kid Arrested for Church Fire After Posting About it Online [YouTube - WGEM Report]

Good news and bad news from the retail front. The recently released and uncharacteristically edgy Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is sold out at at least one Target store, which is a good thing for sales. The bad news? Target is suggesting to unsuspecting gamers—or God forbid, their parents, friends and loved ones—that an acceptable substitution for the game is the Game Boy Advance version of High School Musical. Proof that Target is run by sadists.

Reader William was there to capture the tragedy, for this we thank him.

The Unofficial Crecente Fanclub Patch

I never thought that our own commander and chief Brian Crecente resembled Kenji Harima from the anime series School Rumble (granted, I'd never seen the show before this post), but at least one patch-maker feels differently. Because this "School Rumble Harima Patch" from Great Eastern Entertainment might as well be renamed "Offical Badge of the Crecenteteers" and come along with quarterly newsletters with updates on the big BC himself (what are his dreams, tastes in music and biggest pet peeves on a first date?)

If only the little sewn man were wearing a bird on his shirt, Crecente could have some sort of a case during litigation. As for now he'll have to settle for something like unlimited anime patches that look like him, which while not a bad prize (hell, sounds great to me), won't put little Tristen through four years at Harvard.

SCHOOL RUMBLE HARIMA PATCH [gee] Thanks Mooseferatu!

School Offering Game Time as Reward

Selly Oak School in Birmingham is trying a new technique to motivate students. The top 180 out of the 410 pupils receive "platinum award cards" that grant them special access to a game room featuring a Wii and other consoles. Plus, the top 20 students get to wear special uniforms (OK, this part actually has nothing to do with gaming, but we just wanted to mention that we totally don't care at all that they get to wear those stupid uniforms when we don't). And apparently the reward system works, since teachers are now spending half the time they used to on discipline.

So wait, these kids get to play Nintendo Wii in school? All I got for finishing my work quickly was first dibs on Carmen Sandiego and Oregon Trail. Actually, never mind. I didn't have it so bad after all.

Brit's School Mantra [via opposablethumbs]

Call of Duty 4 Threat Shuts Down University

A Frostburg State University student was charged with two misdemeanor counts of disrupting a school operation after allegedly speaking a threat about "shooting up the school" on Xbox LIVE. Evidently he was playing Call of Duty 4 at the time when another player reported the statement to the Frostburg Police Department. The school was placed on lock-down while Microsoft located the Xbox's location (through address on-hand with the student's internet provider).

After the student's arrest, around 40 police officers patrolled the campus. When police searched the student's room, they found no weapons. Court documents have since shown that the student claimed "he was joking and had no intention of following through with the threats."

Misdemeanor charges filed against FSU gamer [via theinquirer]

"GTA For Girls" A Game Of Sex, Drugs & Shoplifting

Yazkuza 3 Kicking It Old School

Does it bother anyone else that his bicep is nearly bigger than his head? On a side note, Tecmo has announced three Survival Mode expansions for Ninja Gaiden Sigma—the first of which will hit for about $3—and we're guessing the rest will go for a similar price.

8/30: Weapons Master Mission, five weapon limit September: Speed Master Mission, quick fights on a time budget October: Rachel Master Mission, different character with five survival tests