Video Gamers- Your Future Surgeons?

With all the scapegoating of the correlation between video game violence and real life violence in the past couple years, even more recently with Grand Theft Auto 4, I thought we needed some good news for you video gamers out there.

Don't stop- you could be a surgeon when you grow up.

According to AJC.com, researchers from the American Psychological Association have concluded that some types of video games can help improve kid's problem solving potential and even improve the skills needed to be laparoscopic surgeons. One of the games they studied was "World of Warcraft" to see if it improved young mind's scientific thinking.

In a study done with 122 fifth, sixth, and seventh graders, kids were told to think out loud while they played video games. What was concluded? The younger kids were more strategical and analytical in their thought processes than the older children.

"The younger kids are focusing more on their planning and problem-solving where are actually playing the game, while adolescents are focusing less on their planning and strategizing more on the here and now," Fran Blumberg, Fordham psychologist, said in an interview. 

Not only will surgeons will be asked "how many surgeries have you performed" but they may also be asked "are you a video gamer?" One of the studies concluded that out 33 laparoscopic surgeons, those who played video games regularly were 27% faster at advance surgical procedures and made 37% fewer errors than those who didn't.

I've been a proud supporter of video games and their educational qualities in more aspects than just science. Most RPG's (Role-Playing Games) feature a butt-load of text to go along with amazing stories that could rival anything on the New York Times Best Sellers. Of course, this facilitates reading and problem-solving. I'm really glad a study like this one featured in the AJC was made because it's time that the public started to see video games in a better light. Video games are good for kids. It's the parent's job to regulate what their child plays- but that's a whole 'nother can of worms.

Since I am sort of biased on the subject, I guess I do have to give some bad news. Children who played video games tended to be more hostile and believed violence to be normal. Also kids are more likely to perform poorer in school and more likely to be obese. 

Eh, who cares?

;)

The Olympics Are Over = Life Sucks Again

If you had the opportunity to train for any sport for a full year, would you be able to become a world-class athlete?

I could. 

Maybe? Now that the Olympics are over, I think I may be delusional and having withdrawals. What am I going to watch when I get home now? I've watched all 4 seasons of LOST and Heroes doesn't start until next month! Yeesh.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics came to a beautiful conclusion last night with the closing ceremonies. Not only was this a particularly special year for the Olympics to the Chinese and their world resurgence, but this 29th Olympiad was also special for the world of digital entertainment. NBC Universal, the official sponsor of the Olympics, made ambitious plans to provide thousands of hours of live and on-demand broadcasts of all the athletic events this summer, but they needed some help. MSN's work with Control Room providing comprehensive online coverage of last year's Live Earth concerts caught NBC's attention enough to form a partnership with MSN. The ending result was the largest online broadcasting event in history.

For the first time in Olympic history, viewers could watch their favorite games anytime and any where they had access to the internet. In an interview with Billboard, Perkins Miller (NBC Sports and Olympics senior VP of digital media) said that "if you spend any time hanging out in a room of 25-year-olds on the weekend, you'll find laptops all over the place," and that it's important for the network to "deliver the content to them where they want it."

With more people watching TV shows online (me included!), NBC chose wisely to use the internet to broadcast the Olympics. Now more than ever, people have more opportunities to watch the Olympics, root on their home country, and in my case, feed a growing addiction. It's going to be interesting how this will affect other sports coverages now that the Olympics are done and future Olympic games. 

So, Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals, eh? Puh-leeze, I got that. Excuse me while I start my year-long training.

Major Labels Team Up With Myspace

It's coming...

It was announced last April, but in just about a month, Myspace Music will officially be open. Myspace Music is a partnership with Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group- three of the major record labels in the industry. For those of you that haven't heard, this partnership will allow Myspace users to purchase DRM-free music digitally, offer free streaming music, and offer a place to buy music-related products like tickets and merch. It'll basically be your "one-stop source for all music, in all its various digital incarnations," according to The New York Times.

Looks like the major labels are finally catching up with the rest of the world and embracing the digital music age. But with digital downloading powerhouses like iTunes, are they too late?

Major labels have been feeling the harsh decline of physical CD sales for the past couple years, so this deal with Myspace comes to no surprise. Probably the most interesting piece of news is a proposed subscription-based downloading service. Would you pay a flat rate per month for all the music your happy finger can click? It's definitely an awesome feature that sets it apart from other music downloading services. Unfortunately, not many details have been released about it, including a price.

I think they are taking good steps in covering all their paths with the deal too. Not only is the deal going to offer digital downloads, but users will be able to buy tickets to concerts, buy merch from bands, and eventually watch live concerts online.

Myspace Music has a lot of potential to be an actual threat to iTunes when it opens up later this year.  Unfortunately, this is just another nail in the coffin for the life of albums... but I'll leave that subject for another blog post.

Olympics Ratings Kicking Some Ass!

I have something to confess. I have a bad case of Olympic Fever. My eyes have been glued to the tube for the past 5 days rooting for various countries in a variety of sports. Who knew badminton could be an exciting sport? 

Seems like America has caught the sickness too.

According to Yahoo! News, during the first two days of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, an average audience of 29.1 million tuned in, making it the most highly rated broadcast of the Summer Olympic Games held outside of the United States since 1976.

NBC Universal paid an unbelievable $900 million for the exclusive rights to broadcast the Summer Games, which will consist of 3,600 hours of coverage between August 8 through August 24.  

Before the Olympics started, many critics predicted that Americans would be to consumed with other entertainment like music, movies, and video games (three of my specialties;). How wrong they were! They also criticized NBC for taping the Opening Ceremonies and broadcasting it during prime-time, which was 12 hours after the actual event. I don't blame them- they promised a lot of sponsors air-time, and more viewers would be able to tune in at night rather than the morning. 

The Opening Ceremonies pulled in an average of 34.2 million American viewers, so NBC made a wise decision. If you were not able to watch the opening, you definitely missed out. The four hour performance was absolutely beautiful. It featured many performers displaying the rich Chinese culture and also an enormous LCD screen that sprawled the field and another screen that wrapped around the stadium ceiling. 

Right now, USA is in the lead with the most medals, adding to 22. China is not far behind with 20, but has 13 gold medals while USA has only 7.  It's going to be a close match!

And who can't resist the adorable Pokemon-like mascot... things?

SEE?!

Two Entertainment Icons Dead This Weekend

While most of us have been glued to our TV's watching the 2008 Olympic Games, we may have missed the sad news of the deaths of two great entertainment icons: Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes.

One of the "Original Kings of Comedy," Bernie Mac passed away Saturday at the age of 50 after a struggle with pneumonia, according to CNN.com. 

The comedian-turned-actor was most famous for his "tell it like it is" comedic style. He won a Peabody award for his hit sit-com, "The Bernie Mac Show," which was on air from 2001 to 2006. Later in life, he decided to concentrate solely on acting, starring in "Oceans" films,  "Charlie's Angels," and "Transformers." Other movies scheduled to be released this year featuring the late actor are "Soul Men" with Samuel L. Jackson, "Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa," and "Old Dogs," with Robin Williams next year.

Grammy Award winning soul singer, Isaac Hayes, who is famous for his Oscar winning theme from the 1971 movie "Shaft," has died at the age of 65, according to CNN.com. He was found unconscious laying next to his still-running treadmill in his home. Paramedics tried to revive him and took him to a Memphis, Tennessee hospital where he was pronounced dead about 2 p.m. 

Hayes was greatly known for his soulful crooning which won him many awards and many weeks on the Billboard charts. He was more recently reintroduced to a newer generation as the voice of "Chef" on Comedy Central's hilarious animated TV show, "South Park." He was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

I can't think of anything recent where we lost two very important entertainment icons in a weekend. Bernie Mac was one of my personal favorite comedians and I'm very sad to hear about both of their deaths. They will surely be missed and their contributions to the entertainment industry will never be forgotten. 

I'll forget about Hayes' Scientology thing for today, though.