Health risks in adults linked to Gaming.

18 September 2009

Study confirms gaming is bad for you.
The October 2009 edition of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine has published an article which claims tests have shown that there are "measurable correlations" between playing video games and increased health risks.

Participants from the Seattle–Tacoma area (claimed to be the 13th biggest media market in the USA and the nation’s largest user of the internet) provided details to the researchers on their gaming and lifestyle habits which included “self-assessments of depression, personality, health status, physical and mental health, body mass index (BMI), and poor quality of life.”

45.1% of those that took part in the study were gamers. According to the research, female gamers were more likely to be depressed than those that did not participate in the hobby. Male gamers were reported to have a higher BMI than those that did not play games. Both sexes of gamers also reported a higher reliance on the internet for social support.

“As hypothesized, health-risk factors – specifically, a higher BMI and a greater number of poor mental-health days – differentiated adult video-game players from non-players. Video-game players also reported lower extraversion, consistent with research on adolescents that linked video-game playing to a sedentary lifestyle and overweight status, and to mental-health concerns.

Internet community support and time spent online distinguished adult video-game players from non-players, a finding consistent with prior research pointing to the willingness of adult video-game enthusiasts to sacrifice real-world social activities to play video games. The data illustrate the need for further research among adults to clarify how to use digital opportunities more effectively to promote health and prevent disease."


You can read more about the study at Science Daily but the question remains; are we all really harming ourselves by participating in our hobby? Let me know your thoughts; in the meantime I’m off to discuss this with my friends on Facebook…

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Konami's Zombie Apocalypse lands on XBLA and PSN next week.

Zombie Apocalypse
If there are two things we like here at Paradox; its shooters and Zombies! So the news that Konami's twin stick shooter Zombie Apocalypse hits both PSN and XBLA next week (September 23rd) has left us scurrying for our wallets in anticipation of yet more undead extermination.

Developed by Nihilistic, the overhead twin stick shooter (yes, another one!) promises plenty of frantic action in what looks to be Left 4 Dead meets Smash TV, and lets face it, how can that be anything other than great!

The game will be priced at 800 MS points and £7.99 on PSN ($9.99 for US customers) and can be played by up to four players.

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Left 4 Dead: Counter Strike favourite Dust 2 arrives in some style.

17 September 2009

Left 4 Dead Dust 2 Poster
Counter Strike map favourite Dust 2 has now been ported over to Left for Dead by talented community mapper Sin. Other mapper's have already tried to port Dust 2 over to Left 4 Dead, but none have been as successful as this stunning effort.

The map is currently at beta 4.1 but it’s fully playable and is designed for Survival mode although a Versus release is also in the works.

You can download the map by heading over to L4Dmaps.com.

More pictures after the jump.

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PS3's new motion controller will make Wii ports possible.

Sony PS3 Motion Control
According to Capcom producer Jun Takeuchi, developers in Japan are extremely impressed with Sony's new motion controller; so much so that they feel it will be quite easy to port over existing titles from Nintendo's Wii.

This could mean that come the launch of the new controller, we will see an influx of Wii ports to the PS3. Of course this could be a double edged sword for Sony; on the one hand they will gain an extended software library and be able to boast that there’s no longer anything unique about the Wii.

However does Sony really want a load of ports from the Wii which potentially could have sub-standard graphics even if they are spruced up? And is there really anything that good on the Wii (motion control wise) that doesn't come from Nintendo itself?

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Has the Wii doomed Nintendo’s next console to failure?

16 September 2009

Is Wii 2 doomed to fail?
At the time of writing there is little doubt that the Nintendo Wii leads the current generation of home consoles in terms of hardware sales by some margin.

The console sits comfortably in its lofty throne; peering down on the ongoing tit for tat battle between Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s Playstation 3, its competitors almost dismissive of its success and perhaps already resigned to achieving no more than second place.

But whilst Nintendo’s current position on the console summit may have originally been unexpected and somewhat unprecedented; have the company scored an own goal in the long term? Could the success of the Wii actually doom its future successor to obscurity?

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Mario invades Left 4 Dead in Mushroom Massacre.

15 September 2009

Left 4 Dead Mario Map
I guess it was inevitable given the various amount of Mario styled maps fans already make for other games; but somehow seeing Valve's undead horde wandering through the Mushroom Kingdom (Super Mario 64) is rather unsettling!

Currently 25% complete, you can follow the progress of Mushroom Massacre on l4dmaps.com. The first part of the campaign is already there for you to download along with full installation instructions.

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Playing the greatest adventure of all.

14 September 2009


It’s late Sunday morning. The better half is at work on a training day, the dog has been fed and is now lazily mooching round the garden looking for sticks and bugs to eat. I’ve successfully handled the kids breakfast without incident and the youngest (Lily, who’s just over a year old) has been changed and dressed.

The eldest of the two children who are here today (there can be up to 4 some weekends!) is unbelievably sitting quietly and playing with her sibling. The madness that is the morning is over and the television is unusually free.

As I sit down in the armchair I quickly do a final scan of the room; it’s still calm, the jobs really are done and the TV really is available. Opportunities like this don’t come along often so I pick up the SIXAXIS pad and turn on our Playstation 3.

” Are you one, are you two, are you three, are you four?”

“Are you five, six, seven, or maybe more?”

“CBeebies wishes you a happy birthday with lots of birthday cards through your door.”

“Happy Birthday!”


It takes a moment for the reality to sink in and when it does I laugh out loud as I see Lily sitting next to me with the remote, a big grin etched on her face! I give her a kiss and laugh even more when I realise she’s switched the TV’s source input with the cable remote, something no one in the household even knows how to do (we all use the actual TV remote).

I flick the source back over but of course I know the outcome already; the Princess has destroyed him, his fearsome arsenal no match for the power of Cbeebies.

Ands that’s what it’s like when you get older. Some say your hand eye co-ordination goes but I retaliate with the fruit that is experience, experience born in real arcades and eventually nurtured at home. Ultimately it’s really all about time.

When you’re older you have less time to play, less time to practice and too many games to fill into too few slots. You ultimately become a digital whore; pimping yourself out to many whilst committing to none.

But I don’t envy those who look down on me from the height of the global scoreboards. My points may be less but in many ways they were harder to achieve and required a skill they have yet to need or learn.

Everyday I play and I fight and I strive to be the best Dad I can be. I’ve rescued the Princess more than them and I’ve unlocked far better achievements. Because every time my kids smile or laugh and every time I pick them back up I know I’m in the best adventure of them all.




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Red Mesa: Half Life style Crysis Mod.

You can now download and play Red Mesa; a Half Life inspired level for Crysis.

FPSBanana are now hosting it so what are you waiting for, grab your download here! You can also see some more screenshots by hitting read more below.





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Team Fortress 2 Beta Update Leaked on You Tube

One of Valve's beta testers has recently released footage of a beta update on You Tube. Guess that's the NDA broken then. Perhaps a Spy really is sapping Valve's sentry!

!

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