Stuart Brown, founder and director of the National Institute for Play in Carmel, Calif., tells the story of what happened between a hungry, 1,200-pound polar bear and a husky tied up at a camp near Hudson Bay, late one October day. The bear approached the group of dogs with his eyes fixed in a predatory stare. Amazingly, one of the huskies greets him in a "play bow," wagging her tail. Dr. Brown, a … [Read more...] about The power of play: Cyberbullying solution?
gaming
Microsoft: Forget the controller
Is it a trend, or is Microsoft just trying to leapfrog Nintendo as it goes for more family videogame players? Maybe both. First, with the Wii, Nintendo turned the videogame controller into "a simple swing-and-swivel device. Now Microsoft wants to ditch the controller entirely and leave the swinging and swiveling to you," USATODAY reports. With the help of none other than Steven Spielberg, … [Read more...] about Microsoft: Forget the controller
Games’ popularity: Computer-security tipping point?
Online games and virtual worlds - more than social networking or any technology before it - could be where computer-security ed really hits home with users. Why? Because online games and worlds like World of Warcraft and Second Life have whole economies in which users buy and sell virtual goods "to the tune of $1 billion a year" industry-wide, CNET reports, citing game security experts speaking at … [Read more...] about Games’ popularity: Computer-security tipping point?
Sony’s new virtual world & parent guide
Is Sony's Free Realms, now in beta testing, a virtual world or a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG)? The latter is what Sony calls it, but I think it's both. Available online through a Web browser, the free version is more virtual world (with eight environments to choose from) which includes mini games in 14 categories (e.g., cooking, kart racing, mining, demolition derby, and … [Read more...] about Sony’s new virtual world & parent guide
Key US study on youth videogame addiction
In what's being described as the US's first nationally representative study on videogame addiction, an Iowa State University researcher found that 88% of the US's 45 million 8-to-18-year-olds play videogames, and 8.5% of them show "multiple signs of behavioral addiction," the Washington Post reports. That means that 3 million young people are either addicted or "'at least have problems of the … [Read more...] about Key US study on youth videogame addiction