Power Up! Playing Video Games May Boost Your Brain

Video game players who don't want to put down the controller may have a new excuse to keep the game going: A small new study finds that gaming may boost the amount of gray matter in parts of a person's brain, indicating that the brain may have better control over small movements in the body.


In the study, researchers found that video game players had more gray matter in two areas of the brain associated with learning motor skills, compared with people who did not play video games.
In addition, the video game players in the study had quicker reaction times, according to the study, conducted by researchers in Poland.


Previous studies have found differences in certain cognitive functions in people who play video games versus those who don't, the researchers said. For example, video game players have been able to perform more complex tasks with less effort compared to non-video-game players.
However, very little is known about how playing video games may affect the shape of the brain, said Natalia Kowalczyk, a graduate student in neuropsychology at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw, Poland, and lead author of the study, which has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.


To study this, the researchers compared 31 video game players to 29 non-video-game players, Kowalczyk told Live Science. All of the people in the study were men, and their average age was 25, she said. The researchers chose players who had played the game StarCraft II for at least 6 hours a week for the past six months, she said. The non-video-game players, on the other hand, had not played video games for more than 10 hours over the past six months, she said.
The researchers used a type of brain scan called magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look for structural differences in the participants' brains. In addition, the participants did a reaction-time test while being scanned, Kowalczyk said.


The researchers found that the video game players had more gray matter in two areas of the brain — the right putamen and the globus pallidus — compared with the non-video-game players. These parts of the brain help control, among other things, movements in the body — for example, pressing a video game controller, Kowalczyk said. [9 Odd Ways Your Tech Devices May Injure You]
It isn't clear whether this greater amount of gray matter existed in these men before they began gaming, or whether it is the result of their gaming. But it's possible that this change may make it easier for video game players to complete simple movements, so that they may dedicate more brainpower to more demanding aspects of the game, such as strategy, Kowalczyk said.


The researchers also found that the video game players had quicker reaction times than the non-video-game players, Kowalczyk said. To test reaction time, the participants were shown a flashing box on a screen. The box moved to different positions, and the participants were asked whether it had appeared in the same place one or two flashes earlier, she said. Although the video game players responded more quickly on the test, there was no difference in accuracy between the two groups, she said.
By Sara G. Miller, Staff Writer  
Follow Sara G. Miller on Twitter @SaraGMiller. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on Live Science
http://www.livescience.com

Review: Trippy 'Quantum Break' marred by tiresome gunplay

What would you do if you could control time? Visit the future and grab an iPhone 50? Kill a despised historical figure while he's still a baby? Carve out some time to catch up on your Netflix queue?

Will Joyce, the genius who discovers time travel in "Quantum Break" (Microsoft, for the Xbox One, PC, $59.95), wants none of that. He's the kind of quirky brainiac who just wants to unlock the secrets of the universe. Unfortunately, his tinkering has busted the time-space continuum so badly the whole thing's about to collapse.

You play Jack Joyce, Will's brother, who's dragged into the whole mess by an old friend named Paul Serene. Paul is head of Monarch Solutions, one of those mysterious corporations that's so powerful it needs its own military — and he has his own ideas about how to harness time travel. Is Paul insane? Can Will be saved? It's up to Jack to find the answers.

Fortunately, he's the kind of average-Joe who turns out to be ridiculously skilled with firearms. Unfortunately, saving the world is going to require him to kill hundreds of people who made the mistake of signing on with Monarch. So what could have been a brain-bending time-travel romp turns into yet another trigger-happy orgy of violence. Sigh.

At least Jack's exposure to Will's device gives him some unique talents. He can dodge bullets, freeze enemies and unleash "time blasts" that hurl opponents into the air. Occasionally, Jack needs to use his powers to solve rudimentary puzzles — like, say, reversing time to restore a broken bridge.

What's most distinctive about "Quantum Break" is the way it's presented. Most of the time you're controlling Jack in computer-generated scenarios, like you would in a typical video game. But on occasion you're invited to put down your controller and watch what Paul and the other characters are up to.

These non-interactive episodes are shot on full-motion video, with human actors in real-life settings. The quality is decent — about on the level of an episode of "24" — and the cast has some familiar faces, like "The Wire" veterans Aiden Gillen and Lance Reddick. Jack is played by Shawn Ashmore, best known for "The Following," and it's a little disconcerting to switch from watching the real actor to controlling a computerized version.

The combination feels like binge-watching a season of a middling TV thriller, except you have some control over the outcome. The video segments you see are determined by some of the choices you make in-game, enough so that you'll want to play through "Quantum Break" a few times to see all the variations.

That makes it all the more disappointing when the drama wraps with an exasperating firefight that depends more on old-fashioned ballistics than trippy quantum physics. "Quantum Break" pulls off some neat tricks with its overall presentation — I just wish its separate elements were cleverer. Two stars out of four.

By: Lou Kesten The Associated Press

Online:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/quantum-break

Follow Lou Kesten on Twitter @lkesten

http://www.metronews.ca

Hardcore Henry is a let-down for its target audience

I sometimes wonder what would’ve happened if the movies they’re making for 13-year-olds now came out when I was 13. I think part of the reason I became attracted to cinema in the first place was that the films aimed at me were shit like Wild Wild West; they were so obviously terrible that even undiscerning preteens hated them. They forced me to look elsewhere and, while that took me to the most predictable avenues (Scorsese, Kevin Smith, Boondock Saints etc.), I made the move from video games to a much more affordable film obsession.
Most big-budget movies made these days are aimed at teenage boys; hell, many of them appear to be made by teenage boys or at least have been in mental gestation since the director’s teens. I know for a fact that if Hardcore Henry had come out in 1999, I would have lost my shit in a downright embarrassing manner. You see, Hardcore Henry is a film the likes of which have rarely, if ever, been seen before. Sure, there have been first-person movies before, but a first-person action movie is a whole other thing. It’s kind of a monumental undertaking in a lot of ways — it has pretty strict constraints and brings to the fore a litany of issues that don’t necessarily come up in a regular action movie. It feels weird to call a movie where the protagonist is constantly finding new ways to turn his opponents into disparate bits of meat “experimental,” but there you have it.
Henry wakes up in a highly sophisticated plane/laboratory being doted on by a woman (Haley Bennett) who says he’s his wife. She explains that he was terribly mangled at war, but thankfully advances in science have turned him into a half-man, half-robot supersoldier. The relief is short-lived, however, as the ship is attacked by Akan (Danila Kozlovsky), a psychic brat who seems to have it out for Henry. Before he can fully comprehend what his new lot in life is, Henry is catapulted out of the plane, separated from his wife and forced to fend for himself in a world where seemingly everyone is out to get him. He befriends a shapeshifting, seemingly immortal soldier of fortune named Jimmy (Sharlto Copley) and sets about trying to save his wife and get himself out of this carnage-ridden pickle.
The goal of Hardcore Henry is total immersion — much like a video game, the audience here is meant to “be” Henry. Henry does not speak and we never see what he looks like; he’s a blank canvas for us to project our own emotions on, or at least our own reactions to the mile-a-minute carnage he seems incapable of avoiding. It’s a big gamble to take in the film world. While we’ve seen things like this in the recent remake of Maniac starring Elijah Wood or considerably more sedate examples like the 1947 film noir Lady in the Lake or The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (which employs the same tactic for a diametrically opposite purpose), it’s never been applied to as ambitious and relentless a purpose. Unfortunately, Hardcore Henry fails for a very simple reason: control — or lack thereof.
Control is the fundamental difference between video games and film. Anyone who has had to wait their turn patiently while their sibling/friend/relative plays a video game and has so much fun knows that the experience loses almost all of its luster if you have to sit there passively. Unfortunately, no amount of gore, explosions and other folderol thrown at us by director Ilya Naishuller will ever replace the experience of actually making the decision to jump over a thing or shoot a dude. Hardcore Henry very faithfully recreates the first-person shooter experience, down to the sometimes wonky physics, generic locations and the way the information is dumped into the player — so faithfully that after about 20 minutes, it feels unmistakably like waiting for your turn.
It’s undeniable that Hardcore Henry represents an ambitious and technically impressive attempt at something — it simply has such a fundamental misunderstanding of what qualities video games and film have in common. Its plot is generic and derivative, just like the plot of a video game; its one relatable character (Jimmy) holds so very little stakes because it becomes obvious that he’s a non-player character who can die an endless amount of times with no repercussions. Hardcore Henry is slickly, emptily cool, so technically impressive that it all washes away and turns into a rainy Sunday afternoon at your neighbour’s house where he’s hogging the controller.
That’s one kind of immersion, I guess. ■
By ALEX ROSE
http://cultmontreal.com

Spacebat, a Space Shooter-Inspired Game, Announces its Launch

The Game, Which is an Ode to the Two-Dimensional Space Shooter Games of the 90's, Wants to Resurrect and Advance the Style
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 7, 2016 / Misunderstood Creature Entertainment (M.C.E.), a young gaming company dedicated to producing new video games, recently announced the launch of its latest project, SpaceBat. The new game pays homage to traditional Space Shooter and arcade games that were popular in the 1990s.
According to a M.C.E. spokesperson, Spacebat will offer a number of elements such as evolving weapons and a point system. The makers of Spacebat want to bring multiple play styles to the game as well as two types of infinite enemies and boss rushes. At this time, Spacebat includes a main game play--which looks a lot like traditional 2D dog fights--as well as eight levels of adventures, including castle raids, ship battles, and forests on fire.
M.C.E.'s goal is for Spacebat to be the fully animated, artistic, and fun game that any player needs for their library. Spacebat will also serve as the game that advances the genre, especially because the game's team has already been assembled and is ready to take on the challenge.
"This genre really hasn't seen much advancement compared to all the other genres of gaming so prevalent in today's design world," stated a representative of M.C.E. "While it is great to have good consistent designs, M.C.E. came up with the idea to take the initiative. Instead of waiting for that next great game to come, we're actually going out and making it."
At this time, M.C.E. has taken their video game campaign to Indiegogo, where they seek the funds to bring the company's vision to life. In exchange for contributions, M.C.E. is offering its donors a number of different perks, such as posters, soundtracks, and early copies of the game.
Individuals interested in learning more about Misunderstood Creature Entertainment and Spacebat can visit the game's Indiegogo page for additional information.
About Meep the Legendary Spacebat:
Meep the Legendary SpaceBat introduces elements such as evolving weapons and uses points like some M.O.B.A.s use gold or coins. Meep's game play offers two types-infinite enemy and boss rushes like Meeppocolapse. Additionally, the main game play--which is more like the traditional 2D dog fights--follows the story though around eight levels, including but not exclusive to: Castle Raids, Ship Battles, Forest on fire, Duels with Magic wielding heroes that mistake players for intruders, Epic fights involving Meepvs an automatic Vacuum Cleaner that has a laser gatling gun security protocol. For more information, please visit https://goo.gl/YfKagz.
Contact:
Jan Leonard
admin@rocketfactor.com
(949) 555-2861
SOURCE: Misunderstood Creature Entertainment
http://www.baystreet.ca

Twitter to stream Thursday night NFL games

Twitter beat out other contenders to reach a deal with the National Football League to stream Thursday Night Football games, a fresh effort by the struggling social media company to increase engagement and advertising revenue as growth among users has slowed.
Twitter reportedly paid less than $10 million for the 10-game package. Twitter spokesman Jim Prosser declined to comment on the financial terms of the deal. Twitter's investor relations' Twitter account says the company included the expense in 2016 guidance for investors.
Twitter controls some of the advertising inventory for the games, Chief Operating Officer Adam Bain said in a tweet.
Twitter has more than 300 million users, among them pop stars, Hollywood glitterati and world leaders. But it's far smaller than other social media services — it's one-fifth the size of Facebook and smaller even than Facebook-owned photo-sharing service Instagram.
Revenue is growing quickly, but not as quickly as it used to, and analysts expect that trend to continue. Research firm eMarketer recently slashed forecasts for the 10-year-old company, saying it now expects Twitter to generate $2.61 billion in global advertising revenue in 2016, down from the $2.95 billion it predicted in October of 2015, as Twitter struggles to compete with market leaders Google and Facebook.
Scott Kessler, analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said the NFL deal is "a way for Twitter to attract and engage Twitter and Periscope users, and generate advertising revenues."
Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter downplayed the significance of the deal, calling it "a prestige move, not necessarily a sound business move."
"Not many people watch TNF, fewer will watch via Twitter," he said. "Breakeven at best, and other than the media attention, not really all that meaningful."
In a statement released Tuesday, the NFL says the streams will be free, and won't require viewers to authenticate through a cable subscription to watch. The NFL is trying to cross the generational divide to reach younger fans and other households who don't own televisions and mostly watch sports on the Internet while boosting revenue by selling streaming rights to games separately.
The NFL has streamed individual games, but this marks the first season streaming deal. CBS and NBC pay $450 million for the rights to broadcast the Thursday night games. Verizon has the mobile rights.
"Twitter is where live events unfold and is the right partner for the NFL as we take the latest step in serving fans around the world live NFL football," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in a statement.
According to Bloomberg, which first reported the deal, Twitter was competing with big names in tech, including Amazon, Facebook and Yahoo, which streamed last year's game between the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars in London.
As part of the deal, Twitter will host in-game highlights from the Thursday night games as well as pre-game broadcast through Twitter's live streaming app Periscope.
"People watch NFL games with Twitter today," said Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in a statement. "Now they'll be able to watch right on Twitter Thursday nights."
Twitter has worked with the NFL since 2013, partnering on the social network's Amplify program, where the NFL can capture key moments from games and quickly share them on Twitter. Last year, the NFL reached a multi-year deal with Twitter to include more content, including archival video, game recaps and top plays.
This isn't the first time the NFL has experimented with unique approaches to delivering highlights or other football content to fans. Last year, the league partnered with Snapchat to let users participate in a global Live Story, sharing their experiences from NFL stadiums.
Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.

By Brett Molina and Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY
ttp://www.usatoday.com

Question Of The Month: What Video Game Character Would Make The Best President?

In issue 275, we asked readers what video game character they would elect as president, if such an absurd thing were possible. Now it's time to cast your vote.
Magazine readers delivered a landslide victory to Earth's last hope against the Reapers, Mass Effect's Commander Shepard. Other readers chose more unconventional candidates, like Sackboy (he is a builder after all), and Max Caulfield from Life is Strange (a little young, perhaps, but being able to rewind time would certainly come in handy).
Now it's your turn. Cast your ballot by sharing your pick in the comments below, and be sure to make your case for why you're not wasting your vote – this is important business! The winner will be the first candidate to receive a super majority of electoral votes, assuming he or she first attains enough delegates to win their party's nomination during the lengthy primary process, or successfully registers as an independent candidate by submitting the required amount of signatures before each state's registration deadline. So get to it – our democracy hangs in the balance!

By Jeff Marchiafava
http://www.gameinformer.com

Video games affect us all in different ways. Some get a competitive thrill as they demolish all who stand in their way, others explore and immerse themselves in strange and wonderful worlds, and, thankfully for us, some decide to write songs about their experiences. From rock to chiptunes, from metal to orchestral, from kick-ass to every damn bit as kick-ass, here are the top 10 musicians inspired by video games.

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10. Lindsey Stirling

When I think of video game inspired music, I think of Lindsey Stirling. Her violin talent is as powerful as it is beautiful. From Halo to The Legend of Zelda, she’s covered a wide range of video game music with a multitude of different artists. Stirling doesn’t just stop at video games though; she writes her own whimsical melodies. She’s definitely made a name for herself outside of the gaming community, too. You can find her original music and covers on Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, and maybe even your local venue.

~ Laura Chandler

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9. ANAMANAGUCHI

Anamanaguchi is all about that 8-bit. Their fun, “dancey” tunes are reminiscent of early blips and blops of NES  music. While they don’t directly reference video games, they use video game hardware, mostly the NES and Gameboy, to make their dynamic dance tunes. Their songs bring you back to the early days of gaming, where video game death meant starting at the beginning of the whole damn level and not at your last obsessively-saved checkpoint. Next time you host a party, don’t forget to have the DJ throw on some Anamanaguchi for some off-console DDR.

~ Laura Chandler

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8. I Fight Dragons

I Fight Dragons isn’t as inspired by specific video games as most of the artists on this list. Rather, they deal in chiptunes, the bits and bytes of sound made by old video game consoles, and rock and roll. The former isn’t just an accompaniment to the latter either: the chiptunes are melded into IFD’s natural Green-Day-Meets-All-Time-Low sound and becomes its own unique style. Their songs vary from slow, measured melodies to high-paced, head-banging tunes to even a rock opera. IFD’s songs tend to center around life and human nature in some form or another, simultaneously singing its praises and delivering biting commentary on its pitfalls. Their work has been featured in TV shows like The Hills and The Goldbergs, as well as on Nintendo Video and even our own site’s official podcast. I Fight Dragons manages to take the old and combine it seamlessly with the new, and that’s perhaps the biggest thing they take from the video games that inspired them.

~ Donovan Bertch

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7. Daniel Tidwell

Metal is probably the last genre you think of when you play video games, well, unless you count Brütal Legend. But, Daniel Tidwell and his electric guitar bring heavy video game riffs and lightning quick melodies. Of course, Tidwell takes on songs from Skyrim, DooM, and Silent Hill, but he also puts a metallic twist on games like Zelda, Portal, and Pokémon. It seems more common to cover these types of songs in electronic or classical genres, but metal brings a new kind of beauty to the songs. If you’re faced with an impossible boss, put on some of Tidwell’s covers and channel your inner badass.

~ Laura Chandler

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6. Famikoto

Though being perhaps one of the more unorthodox entries in this list, anyone who listens to the music of Famikoto will be immediately enamored. Their name combines the Japanese games system Famicom, and the Koto, which is just one of many Japanese instruments the band uses to recreate music from Nintendo games. Not only is there a sense of authenticity to the music, but it’s absolutely beautiful and surprisingly intimate for how large and unwieldy some of the instruments actually look. Songs such as “To Zanarkand” are as graceful as one might expect, but even tunes like the Super Mario Bros theme are made to be sweeping and rapturous (not that the original isn’t, of course!)

~ Connor O’Malley

http://www.bitcultures.com