The not-not-so-lazy activity after all!

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about a new scientific study that was trumping previous studies that proved that cognition may not be improved by playing games. Today I bring you a study that may prove that playing games may help with improving eyes. Lazy eyes to be exact.

At this years annual American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting, a study was introduced that was conducted in India that may hold the key to treating amblyopia, or lazy eye as it is commonly known. Over the course of a year 100 participants were followed with different treatments. Those who were giving electronic games and were able to see great improvements while the other 60 found average improvements with the standard treatments. Most improvements were seen in patients under 14 as opposed to those who were 14 and older.

Dr. Somen Ghosh separated the patients into 4 groups. Each person was given a special pair of eyeglasses that block the stronger eye and must be worn at least for 2 hours a day whole they exercised their weak eye. Group 1 followed the basic treatments and was used as the control group. Group 2 took a supplement that contained micronutrients considered important to good vision. Group 3 played at least one hour of video games daily using only the weaker eye. Group 4 took the supplement citicoline, which is associated with improved brain function.

The games that group 3 used were common shooter games for PC. Playing these with just minimal vision quality forced the eye to focus more on the movement on the screen and allow the eye to strengthen over time. This is similar to strengthening muscle motor skills after injuries. The forced pressure on the eye improved the muscles in the region and allowed faster activity in the receptors.

One of the 16 year olds who participated in the study is now able to experience good vision after a great decline in vision quality the previous three years. After being told he was too old to have his vision corrected he was told to partake in the study and was assigned to group 3. Along with vision improvement he experienced improvement in academic performance overall.

 "Playing the shooting games while using just my weaker eye was hard at first, but after a few months I could win all game levels easily," said Sen. "I'm very happy that I stuck with the program. My vision has improved a lot, so that I now have no trouble studying or taking exams. My tennis game also improved, and of course I'm now a pro PC gamer."

"The cooperation of the patient is very important, maybe even crucial, to successful treatment of amblyopia," said Dr. Ghosh. "We should never give up on our patients, even the older children, but instead offer them hope and treatment designed to help them achieve better vision."

Glad to see so many advances in the science fields that video games are helping break ground in.

The war begins today

The war between Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare officially starts today with the release of the most anticipated Battlefield 3. After watching all the video demos for in-game play and multiple cinematics it really all comes down to how well the games will play in the hands of all the gamers in the wild.

Last week we were shown the launch trailers for both games and I must say the Battlefield 3 trailer gave me the chills watching it. Modern Warfare 3 was not so fortunate in getting me excited. There's just something about the trailers that hold a huge importance as to what games people will pick up and which others may just skip but in the case of these two heavyweight shooters it may still not sway votes because of their superstar names. It will be a tough choice for those who have to choose. Good luck to all those people. It's going to be a nail biter!

Battlefield 3 Launch Trailer


Modern Warfare 3 Launch Trailer

No love for the Wii U. Sorry...

I know I haven't had enough time spent on what all Nintendo fans have been buzzing around but I can't say that I'm too thrilled about the new Wii U. It doesn't seem like a next generation console to me. Apparently, I'm not alone in thinking this way either. Don't get me wrong, the console does look amazing and it gives us a very different look on how interactive the controllers can be to a console. It does have a lot of options that the Wii does not but it also doesn't go that far beyond today's consoles. The graphics and processing power are just about on the same level as both the PS3 and the Xbox 360. On top of that Microsoft may be debuting a possible next-gen console next year at E3! So why all the fuss?

I guess what we should be looking at are the other tidbits that the Wii U is bringing us. Hardware wise it is offering some great changes besides the new control scheme. This time around Nintendo decided to have HD graphics viewable up to 1080p. This has been a long time coming as the Wii was never able to offer this for us. Something about playing Mario or Metroid on standard definition always left me feeling like I was missing something in my life. The graphics give us something we have never seen on a Nintendo console with water textures and the details to how sunlight is distributed through out the environment. Even though the Wii U will be backwards compatible with Wii games it will not upscale the graphics to HD. This is a poor decision on the part of Nintendo. It's understandable seeing that Wii games were written for hardware that was vastly different than the Wii U but surely Nintendo could have foreseen this years ago. HD was the future. Microsoft and Sony were able to see this and made sure that Xbox 360 and PS3 games would be able to handle all resolutions.

The new design on the controller has been what everyone has their eyes on. It's more of a tablet than anything else. It sports a 6.2 inch 16x9 touch screen smack dab in the middle of it. The design is definitely interesting as it streams visual information from the Wii U but doesn't actually do any processing on it at all. It's handled by the unit itself and the controller is just the display with minor touch sensor abilities. It has a built-in rechargeable battery so no need to replace those AA's anymore. The layout looks kind of like an upside down PlayStation controller with an LCD in the middle. There are added buttons meaning that there will be more control over some games.

On a plus side, the Wii U will be able to use all your current Wii peripherals and devices. All controllers will be usable that are available for the Wii and so will the balance board. Gamecube compatibility is although gone. But this is to be expected as you can only support so much before it just gets ridiculous.

It just feels that Nintendo is too late to this caliber of gaming consoles and to early to bring about a next-gen console. Sorry almighty Nintendo but I just feel that you failed us here. Hopefully you can find a way to blow me away before launch.

Science Says: Playing Games Does Not Improve Cognition

Here's something interesting I stumbled upon last night. I read an article that explains that playing video games does not boost cognition as many have believed it should over the last 3 decades. While I was ready to begin debating over the validity of this article by the title alone I started thinking about this in a new light - if games do not help improve puzzle solving, problem solving, memory, or heavy decision making then perhaps people who play games that have great cognition skills to begin with gravitate towards gaming to challenge their skills and adept problem solving. Then I finished reading and found that this is definitely one of the possibilities brought to light.

An assistant professor at Florida State University, Walter Boot, has began re-evaluating claims that playing certain genres of games such as first-person shooters and puzzle solvers would help improve your brain's abilities with critical thinking and attention to detail. Boot brings up an interesting argument that any study that has been conducted over the last 10 years that shows benefits of gaming to be flawed. Many of those studies compared the cognitive skills of frequent gamers to non-gamers and found gamers to be superior. However, Boot and his coauthors point out that this doesn't necessarily mean that their game experience caused better perceptual and cognitive abilities. It could be that individuals who have the abilities required to be successful gamers are simply drawn to gaming.

"Despite the hype, in reality, there is little solid evidence that games enhance cognition at all" he says.

When the original studies were being conducted researchers were looking for those who "excelled" in playing games. This is already suggesting that those who casually play games need not apply because there is a demand for more of an expert. This raises the bar and will not allow the kids who play once or twice a week to believe that they are as good as someone who plays every day. Even studies that featured non-gamers that trained to play action games had their own problems with games.

Boot grew up playing video games and was indeed interested in research that could prove that gamers held higher cognitive skills so naturally he and fellow researchers from FSU and the University of Illinois conducted their own video-game training study to find if any other abilities would improve after game playing but were not able to bring about the same benefits that other studies have been able to.

Thanks to their research they were able to create a new outline for future studies that are looking to prove if there are any benefits from playing games. They also have not written off the possibility of some type of improvement from playing video games. Boot does leave us with advice that is very important for everyone to take.

"Play games because you enjoy them, not because they could boost your brain power."

Rapid Fire: On

When was the last time you used a controller that had a Rapid Fire option built-in? Mine was back during the great Sega Genesis days. Made it so much easier on those Mortal Kombat challenges when trying to break the diamond! Before that was the NES Advantage controller. But there was something that just kept telling me that there really is no reason to get a rapid fire controller after the Genesis. Now I have seen a controller that is making me want one all over again: The Turbo Fire EVO Wireless controller for the Xbox 360. Available by Code Junkies, this controller has evolved the normal conventions of any rapid fire controller that has been on the market.

The controller has a built-in LCD for one and is fully customizable down to the button mappings! The 1.7" LCD allows you to set up custom rapid fire settings and profiles such as sniper mode, mission specifc mappings, and a combo mapping setup for you to be able to setup different super combos for games like Street Fighter 4 or Marvel vs, Capcom 3 with the touch of a button. This is something I've only seen with specific trainers for PC but never on a console controller.

Even rapid fire is customizable. You can adjust the rapid fire option so that you gain more control over just how fast you want the option to react. Instead of spitting 50 shots a second you can adjust it to just a few shots allowing better accuracy and more controlled shots. Or even better, create a profile for COD and one for Battlefield and switch back and forth without having to overwrite either one. The EVO can also be connected to your PC via USB to setup your profiles and save them back and forth so you don't have to lose one. Swap them and load them when you want to use them.

Rapid fire has definitely come a long way. This is definitely an evolution that is most welcome. The next time you're trying to figure out how someone got 5 shots out so fast from their pistol on multi-player before you got 2 off, wonder if they're running with one of these in their hands.

Live Arcade feature: Sideway: New York

Today, arcade has a different meaning. It's now the lesser known games offered by Xbox Live or PSN. I'm not one to have played many arcade titles but I do own a few. So today I will feature one that has caught my eye - Sideway: New York.

Sideway is not your typical platformer. While your character is 2D, the game adds depth and a 3D feel while navigating around walls and other surfaces around a New York setting as a graffiti artist named Nox transformed into a graffiti character by graffiti monsters. It's up to you now to save yourself and your friends from these monsters that attack the city's urban art.


While in this graffiti mode you travel along walls spraying graffiti to create platforms to help get around and in some cases to be able to grab various power ups scattered through out the levels. The power ups allow you to gain special abilities to battle graffiti "baddies" that have now become your enemies. Navigating the environment can become a little confusing because of all the turning and spinning it does but it's not enough to frustrate you or make you want to stop playing. Think of ilomilo. You can travel along side of the wall on a building and then turn the corner and the environment spins to keep you centered and in front of camera view. The same happens when jumping onto rooftops. There are also obstacles along the way such as thorned vines painted on the walls and major gaps. Remember, just because your a painting doesn't mean you can't get hurt!

The art is has great color schemes and is very animated. The graffiti is not over the top and allows you to focus on the purpose of the graffiti. The 3D elements have great depth. The artists have definitely done a great job of not allowing the 3D environment confuse you while playing a 2D character.

The music through out the game is very hip hop oriented. The soundtrack definitely fits the part. And it isn't your normal Top 40 hip hop and it has a more underground feel to it. Its a definite welcome to the scene.

This game is a great pick up for something new and refreshing. The game drops on 10/11/11 for $9.99 exclusively on PSN for the PS3. Xbox fans will just have to be envious