gamer-IQ power up your mind

Pay Someone to be Your Avatar

2006-10-13T20:05:00.000-07:00

This is an amazing development. In just a couple of years, outsourcing has come to games. Busy people with money are paying other less busy people to accumulate points - that can be traded for benefits, prestige, and sometimes real money. They are hiring people in China and elsewhere to operate their avatar or digital persona
while they pursue their career or other interests.

Digital serfs thus work to advance the interest of their liege lord, or employer. If many are hired, the digital organization takes on the appearance of a gang, or perhaps a medieval guild.

Casual Games for Women Exceed other gaming Experiences

2006-10-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

Online Casual Game play becomes largest part of the game universe....also please note that 64% of those players are female.

Of the 117 million active gamers in the U.S., 56 percent play games online. Sixty-four percent of those online gamers are female, according to results of the survey, released by Nielsen Entertainment on Thursday.

The survey defined active gamers as those who are 13 years or older, own at least one game device, and play at least one hour of video games a week. Game devices include game consoles, personal computers and handhelds. Nielsen surveyed 2,200 active gamers online in July.

"The expansion of next-generation hardware and technology in the marketplace is simultaneously delivering new ecosystems of social exchange, interactive entertainment, media experiences and advertising models," Emily Della Maggiora, a senior vice president of Nielsen Interactive Entertainment, said in a statement.

The survey found that while the casual game segment is growing, casual gamers tend to jump from one free demo to another with little sense of brand loyalty. While banner advertising provides a good revenue stream for the online game providers, gaining brand loyalty and getting people to spend money for subscriptions or downloads will be the key to growing the market, Nielsen researchers found.

Currently, casual gamers spend $9 a month on games. Those playing multiplayer online role-playing games spend an average of $26 a month, while Microsoft Xbox 360 gamers spend $35 a month, the survey found.

Futuristic Door Hugs the Body

2006-09-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this futuristic door that hugs the body

Gaming Golden Age?

2006-09-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

A golden age of gaming....according to a poster in slashdot.

Nintendo Projects Wii System will Find Success with Women and Seniors (Bloomberg)

2006-09-18T23:08:00.000-07:00

Nintendo Says Women, Elderly Key to Wii Game Player
By Kyoko Suzuki and Kanoko Matsuyama

Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Nintendo Co. (PK: NTDOY) said its new Wii game console, an easy-to-use player that can also trawl the Internet, may win over millions of first-time video gamers, helping the company reclaim the market lead from Sony Corp.

``We want to appeal to mothers who don't want consoles in their living rooms, and to the elderly and to young women,'' President Satoru Iwata said in an interview. ``It's a challenge, like trying to sell cosmetics to men.''

Nintendo's Wii will compete with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 for a bigger share of the $20 billion global game-console market, which the Kyoto, Japan-based company hasn't led since 1994. The Wii features a TV-remote-size controller that players can brandish like a sword or swing like a racket, with the movements replicated onscreen.

``Wii definitely could become the most popular console of all time,'' said Hirokazu Hamamura, president of Tokyo-based video-game researcher Enterbrain Inc. ``Non-gamers can see how fun it is just by looking at people playing it, and that's very different from the PS3 or Xbox 360.''

The features may help the company win customers faster than its current offering, the Nintendo DS portable player, Iwata said on Sept. 14 in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. ``If we can do this, the Wii could break all the boundaries in terms of user rates for game consoles,'' he said.

Shares of Nintendo, the world's biggest maker of handheld game players, gained 0.5 percent to 22,460 yen at the 11 a.m. break in Tokyo. The stock rose 58 percent this year, beating Sony's 2.5 percent gain. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 0.9 percent in the same period.

Male Players

Some 62 percent of game players are male, the U.S.-based Entertainment Software Association said on its Web site. About 26 percent, or 31 million people, in Japan play video games, according to the country's Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association.

Nintendo will start selling the Wii, pronounced ``we,'' on Nov. 19 in the U.S. and on Dec. 2 in Japan. It will sell for $249.99, half the $499 Sony plans to charge for the cheapest PlayStation 3, which goes on sale in Japan on Nov. 11.

Microsoft's Xbox 360, released last November, retails for no more than $399 for a version with a hard disk. The company will begin selling a cheaper model without a hard disk in Japan for 29,800 yen ($252) from Nov. 2.

``We are not battling Sony or Microsoft,'' Iwata said. ``Our enemy is consumer indifference to games.''

Next-Generation TV

Nintendo has included a raft of features, including software that allows buyers to create characters resembling themselves by tapping a database of facial features. The player will provide weather information, news and an Internet browser, all of which may attract non-gamers to use the console, Iwata said.

"Wii is the first machine that has the potential to truly prompt people to use the Internet on their television," said Tokyo-based Nomura Securities Co. analyst Eiichi Katayama, who rates Sony "neutral" and doesn't have a rating on Nintendo. "It could turn into the next-generation television."

Nintendo lost the top position in the global gaming industry after Sony started selling the PlayStation in 1994, and its market share fell further with the debut of Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox in 2002.

The PlayStation 2, introduced in March 2000, is the world's leading game machine, with 106 million units sold.

Still, Nintendo's DS and the slimmer DS Lite accounted for 63 percent of Japanese computer gaming sales in the six months to June 25, according to researcher Enterbrain. New varieties of software, including "Nintendogs," through which users own a virtual puppy, and the quiz challenge, "Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!" prompted non-gamers to pick up the DS, Iwata said.

Declining Market

The new offerings from Nintendo and Sony may help revive the Japanese market for game machines, which fell for three straight years until 2004, when the DS and Sony's first handheld players were released. Japan is Nintendo's largest market.

Games for Girls a New Market

2006-09-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

No girls allowed in gaming worldBy MIKE STEERE

They come packed with violence, guns, cars, and killing but are video games strictly a hobby for men?

A senior executive of video gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) has said games are too focused towards men and the female market is being neglected.

Speaking at a conference in London recently, EA's chief operating officer David Gardner said the video games industry was failing to provide for women and missing out on billions of dollars by doing so.

"We are only reaching a small proportion, not only geographically but also genetically."

Gardner felt that the gaming industry needed to look at the film industry example.

"The movie industry doesn't just make films for boys ... Star Wars was the biggest film of all time until Titanic came along. Titanic became the biggest because women went to see it ... multiple times," he said.

If EA managed to break into the female market it "could add a billion dollars to its sales", he said.

Microsoft to Let Anyone Become a Game Developer

2006-09-13T09:01:00.000-07:00

In a quest to create a community of games, uses, and gamer developers around the XBOX, Microsoft is releasing software that will enable almost anyone to develop games. According to Microsoft, "new blood" and "new ideas" are needed to create the next generation of games....(Seattle-Times)

More on Casual Gaming from the the NY Times

2006-09-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

New York Times Writes about Casual Gaming....Biggest with those from 35-64

Asteroids:Kick and get a free game

2006-09-08T13:23:00.000-07:00

Here is new version of asteroids - engulfed in a void. As a college freshman at Berkeley, there was an antique asteroids arcade game in the empty game room, except for a scratched up pool table.

Get this: the game was so beat-up, the language option was permanently set to German.

At the end of your game, it would say 'Spielende'

If you kicked the machine, you'd get a free game. So everybody kicked the machine.

Here, you don't have to kick the machine.
If you have any stories about this game, share it if you like

Casual Game Update: Cognitive Labs in National Geographic Kids'

2006-09-07T09:14:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting overview of casual games.

The majority of casual game players play for free. Sometimes a premium offer is available. Mobile represents a substantial opportunity, possibly also, TV represents another oppotunity vis-a-vis the set top boxes that support Flash.

Cognitive Labs in National Geographic Kids:

This should be out soon (October issue) I talk about games for your brain, some of the benefits of gaming and give a quick synopsis of BrainAge from Nintendo, among others. If you are interested in getting some information on how experienced Halo2 players did on test 4 in a controlled setting, with observation let us know. It's interesting in relation to the overall performance curve.

Last month we grew at a 50% rate over July; September looks like 50% growth over August so far.

21st Century Artisans...

2006-09-03T21:34:00.000-07:00

A take on video game artisty from down under.

girl gaming

2006-09-03T10:52:00.000-07:00

Companies such as Mobisoft of France are creating efforts to developGirl gaming and end stereotypes

Powering Your Mind into 6 Categories

2006-08-30T20:47:00.000-07:00

Online Gaming, that is the kinds of games you are playing here, for the most part, is expected to become a $4.4 billion business by the year 2010. Last year, total sales for online gaming were estimated at about $1 billion.

Casual Gaming itself, a somehwat amorphous category, can be subdivided into six segments from sporadic play to daily intensive play.

Why play? For some it is an activity to fill time, for many, it is a way to interact with others and stay focused.

What's certain is that there is solid growth ahead

How Fast Can you Grok?

2006-08-25T14:18:00.000-07:00

Introducing the New nanosecond test series from Cognitive Labs. The N-1000 series is faster than last year's model...much faster.

You will be able to get a quick read of your brain in just a few seconds. It's a 40 yard dash for the brain.

No endurance is necessary, just speed.

Coming soon.

Social Gaming is Socially Redeeming

2006-08-21T22:29:00.000-07:00

Social gaming, researchers assert, has replaced the group games and activities of yore.

Games, specifically MMOs, have replaced whatever 'hangouts' used to exist.... ergo, they are playing a more fundamental role in today's society.

abstract:

This article examines the form and function of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) in terms of social engagement. Combining conclusions from media effects research informed by the communication effects literature with those from ethnographic research informed by a sociocultural perspective on cognition and learning, we present a shared theoretical framework for understanding (a) the extent to which such virtual worlds are structurally similar to "third places" (Oldenburg, 1999) for informal sociability, and (b) their potential function in terms of social capital (Coleman, 1988; Putnam, 2000). Our conclusion is that by providing spaces for social interaction and relationships beyond the workplace and home, MMOs have the capacity to function as one form of a new "third place" for informal sociability. Participation in such virtual "third places" appears particularly well suited to the formation of bridging social capital—social relationships that, while not usually providing deep emotional support, typically function to expose the individual to a diversity of worldviews.

full article

New MindMelds

2006-08-21T15:49:00.000-07:00

New inbound links....

The History Channel, Jammit (Belgium)

Check out the boards on the History Channel for the dicussions of Poland and Pear Harbor......

HAL's Brainspeed challenge

2006-08-12T17:07:00.000-07:00

HAL could process info in less than 100 milliseconds. Would you have beaten HAL? You can post your score in comments...
Find Out
more tests here

How Fast....Friday

2006-08-11T08:28:00.000-07:00

A friendly site:

http://neurogamer.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-fast-is-your-brain.html

Archaeologists to Prove that Conan Existed

2006-08-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

Start here...or maybe check in Sacramento. You can see why Gray Davis was outmuscled...

Zipped.org, Datalounge, MySpace

2006-08-09T20:34:00.000-07:00

Cognitive Labs is getting lots of people today from...

a) zipped.org b) datalounge c) myspace.com d) all of these

The answer is D

Million Dollar Bed Uses Magnetism to stay aloft

2006-08-07T21:33:00.000-07:00

Forget water-beds. Here's a lifestyle accessory that fits the Cognitive Labs ethos. After you try search engine memories why not float above the ground in this comfy bed:

Designed by Janjaap Ruijssenaars, a Dutch architect, the bed floats above the ground due to magnetic repulsion. Ruijssenaars' inspiration for the bed was the plinth from Stanley Kubrick's 1968 cult film "2001: A Space Odyssey."

"No matter where you live all architecture is dictated by gravity. I wondered whether you could make an object, a building or a piece of furniture where this is not the case -- where another power actually dictates the image," Ruijssenaars said.

Asking price for the bed? U.S. $1.55 million. This is perhaps the ultimate in minimalist expression.

What kind of test is this?

2006-08-03T00:17:00.000-07:00

The Voight-Kampff test.
Neuropsychological tests (and other tests) are sometimes in films, in this case building on the work of Philip K. Dick.

Try a test now and see how quickly you can react. in this test

Nintendo Shares Jump on "Grey Matter" Games

2006-07-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

Bloomberg reports today on the 85% sales increases at Kyoto-based Nintendo. (OTC:NTDOY) The Guardian touches on the eightfold increase in quarterly profits based on games targeted the middle-aged and 'greying' plus the hit game Nintendogs (TM)....

What's in google anagram

2006-07-19T16:23:00.001-07:00

More on anagrams as we boil again in California. It's the global warming kicking in, or maybe just the fact that it is summer and there are only 3 kinds of weather here in the Bay Area. (1) cold and foggy - like Mark Twain called it (2) sunny, but with a cool nearby marine layer of air that has just moved off the water, with a temperature of 56-58 degrees (it does not vary much at all, day or night from 56-58 degrees) or (3) high pressure zone in which case it's just like Redding or Sacramento, which without the ocean nearby it would be.

Let's look at Google.

What words could have been inside Google and built its brand awareness without our realizing it?

1. Lego
2. Go Lego! (a perfect match)
3. Eggo, like leggo my eggo
4. ole, like OLE at a bull fight or the technical term
5. goo
6. egg
7. O, egg
8. Leg
9. Oleg
10. logo
11. log, like captain's log, stardate...
12. geo

that's all we can think of for now. But the puzzling richness of the word may be part of its appeal and meaning in math

Aging Brain Test

2006-07-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

Aging Brain Test.

What is the Age of Your Brain?

This is the kind of exercise - combining IQ, reaction, and memory - that can create wonderful self-knowledge.

Look for this exercise - in the near future....for now, try the straight reaction time test