Cody Taylor

Anonymous writes “A non-government study in the Netherlands found that 4.7 million Dutch Internet users 15 years and older downloaded hacked and pirated DVDs, games, and music in the last 12 months — or, about 25 percent of the Dutch population. But there may be an upside to this unauthorized sharing/distribution: ‘The average [Dutch] downloader buys more DVDs, music, and games than people who never download,’ with illegal downloaders representing 45 percent of consumers who purchase content legally, according to the Institute For Information Law, which administered the study.”

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Olly Moss has drawn up a few examples of what it would look like if classic games shared the same cover art as classic books. Specifically, Penguin’s old classics range.If the children of the 21st century do indeed go on to study the “classics” while at school, we can only hope they’re handed out looking like this.

Researchers are now finding so many negative links between gaming and your physical and mental health – from self-esteem to dementia, anger to bladder control %u2013 that they’re stopping just shy of outright blaming Halo for erectile dysfunction and Tomb Raider for the sudden surge in autism.

doug141 writes “Lessons learned in video games may transcend computers, PlayStations and Wiis. New research suggests that virtual worlds sway real-life choices. Twenty-two volunteers who played a cycling game learned to associate one team’s jersey with a good flavored drink and another team’s jersey with a bad flavored drink. Days later, 3/4 of the subjects avoided the same jersey in a real-world test. Marketers and lawyers will take note.”

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