Science: This Is Your Brain on Videogames | Newsweek Scope

The Battle Over the Battle of Fallujah
Dan Ephron 6/6/2009 12:00:00 AM
Peter Tamte was months away from completing his dream project—turning the largest urban battle of the Iraq War into a videogame—when it all seemed to fall apart. The 75 employees of one of his companies, Atomic Games, had worked on the endeavor for nearly four years. They'd toiled to make Six Days in Fallujah as realistic as possible, weaving in real war footage and interviews with Marines who had fought there. But now relatives of dead Marines were angry, and the game's distributor and partial underwriter had pulled out of Tamte's project. On May 26, he got on the phone to Tracy Miller, whose son was killed by a sniper in Fallujah, and tried to win her over by arguing that the game honors the Marines. Miller listened politely, but remained skeptical. "By making it something people play for fun, they are trivializing the battle," she told NEWSWEEK.
Videogames
Whatcha Gonna Play?
Nick Summers 4/10/2009 12:00:00 AM
Twenty-five years after the theatrical release of "Ghostbusters," the franchise—much like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man—is blowing up. The original film will be issued on Blu-ray for the first time in June, a third movie is in the works, and Atari will soon release Ghostbusters: The Videogame on multiple platforms. Gamers play the role of a new cadet teaming up with the familiar crew of Raymond Stantz, Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler and Winston Zeddmore—Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson, respectively, who all contributed voice work. Aykroyd, who co-wrote the original film and its sequel with Ramis, spoke to NEWSWEEK's Nick Summers about "Ghostbusters III," morphing into a purely digital character and why you shouldn't expect to see Sigourney Weaver in the videogame version. Excerpts:
TECHTONIC SHIFTS
Shoot First, Feel Bad Later
Christopher Werth 1/10/2009 12:00:00 AM
Videogames get a bad rap. Parents' groups condemn them as a raucous cocktail of guns, murder, sex and prostitution—reminiscent of the drubbing comic books received in the 1940s. Sen. Hillary Clinton, now soon to be U.S. secretary of state, once listed them as part of a SARS-like "silent epidemic" infecting an entire generation of impressionable youngsters. "We are conducting an experiment," Clinton said in 2005, "and we have no idea what the outcomes are going to be." Now that the market is awash in violent videogames, the industry may be belatedly getting a social conscience. For the past several years a small coterie of passionate game developers have been incorporating social issues, politics and moral choices into gameplay. Lately, big-name game developers have picked up these themes and begun to incorporate them into the blockbusters that make up the bulk of the U.S. industry's $9.5 billion a year in sales.
BY THE NUMBERS
Four Ways to Get Physical—Digitally
Tina Peng 10/17/2008 12:00:00 AM
There's nothing like a little competition to get you motivated—even if it's only with yourself. That's the principle behind a whole new array of digital tools that help you get fit, keep fit, or track exactly how you're doing—whether it's calorie intake or energy output. The simplest tools, like a pedometer, are always popular. But just tracking the number of steps might become passé if fitness trends continue. Now there are ways to not only count the steps you take daily or hourly, but to compare those numbers over time and share them with others. And that's just the start. Here are some of the best gadgets in a whole new wave of digital fitness products that use computer games, iPods and social networking applications to help you in your quest for a healthier physique:
FAST CHAT
Swing and a Miss Woods
Matthew Philips 9/13/2008 12:00:00 AM
As he recovers from knee surgery, Tiger Woods has been spending time with his 14-month-old daughter and logging hours on his new videogame, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09. He spoke with NEWSWEEK's Matthew Philips.
FAST CHAT
Swing And a Miss Woods
Matthew Philips
If Tiger Woods had to have knee surgery, he picked an ideal time: while he recovers, he gets to spend all day with his 14-month-old daughter, Sam—and his new videogame, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09. He spoke with NEWSWEEK's Matthew Philips.