Gaming and Culture

They may not realize it or admit to it, but women who play Everquest II log in more hours than men or teenagers, are less likely to quit, and report being not only healthier but happier than their male counterparts, according to new research out of the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism.

A new study unveils surprising details about the health, age, sexuality, honesty, and commitment level of the 20 percent of Everquest II players who are female.

(Credit: Sony Online Entertainment)

The data reveals that while 80 percent of players in the study of 7,000 are male, and averaged 25 hours of play a week, the 20 percent who are female averaged 29 hours a week. And that's not all. Women underestimated their playing time more than men did.

"The women play more intensely than the guys do," says Dmitri Williams, assistant professor at the school for communications who led the study, "Looking for Gender" (PDF here). "They're less likely to quit, and they're happier playing...They [also] play more than they admit."

All you guys out there getting excited about these results need know that five times as many women who play Everquest II report being bisexual (15 percent) than women in the general population (3 percent). They also weigh less and exercise more than males and females in the general population. I know, I know, they're starting to sound perfect in that glistening, avatar kind of way.

But anyone up for some matchmaking should note that more than 60 percent of women who play do so with a "romantic partner," compared to only 25 percent of men. (The average age of all players in the study, by the way, was 31.)

I asked Williams, who reports that men are happier playing without their partners than women, whether it's possible that men simply have a harder time finding someone to play with than women. (Sounds rather like Life Beyond EQ2, too.) He replied by e-mail:

The happiness measures were questions about life in general, rather than happiness with game play or something more specific. They asked things such as, "How many days in the past week would you say that you were happy?" The men who answered that question reported more happy days when they were not playing with a partner, and fewer if they were. The women answered more happy days if they were playing with a partner, and fewer if they were not.

With a correlation, you can't make a strong causal claim, but you can speculate with logic. I think this is a case where some speculation (and it's clearly labeled as speculation) is warranted since the opposite explanation isn't likely. Women do get into the game through a partner far more than men do. Men are often introducers/gatekeepers. In that sense, it may be that males end up regretting sharing this activity while females enjoy the togetherness.

Ouch. Conclusion: Be careful with whom you share EQ2.

In what is being hailed as a first for online game research, Sony Online Entertainment agreed to let Williams' team, including Nick Yee of the Palo Alto Research Center and Scott Caplan of the University of Delaware, access anonymous game data. This means they were able to compare a player's reported activity with actual activity; the resulting discrepancies call into question 30 years of game research that have been based on self-reported data.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 had a huge November, selling more than 6 million units for the month. But in a recent interview with G4TV, Microsoft Xbox 360 Product Manager Aaron Greenberg said that it would have been a much different month without Infinity Ward's blockbuster hit.

"November without Modern Warfare 2 would have looked very different," Greenberg told G4TV, responding to a question about what the month would have been like.

But just how different is up for debate. Modern Warfare 2 was a major hit. It was a title that doesn't come along very often and it likely helped the game industry buoy its sales figures for the month. Greenberg agrees.

"There's titles that appeal within the inner circle of the core, but this is that title everyone that owns a video game console buys," he said in the interview. "If they buy two games a year, this was one of those games."

Greenberg went on to say that without Modern Warfare 2, "software numbers would have looked dramatically different, I don't think that people would have spent that money on another game."

Microsoft's product manager went so far as to say that Modern Warfare 2 stopped people from buying other tech gadgets.

"I think people actually said 'I'm choosing to buy Modern Warfare 2 instead of buying an iPod or instead of going to a movie or instead of doing something else. This is going to deliver its entertainment value for me.'"

Consumers bought far more Xbox 360 versions of the game (4.2 million) than PlayStation 3 versions (1.8 million). Without that help, Greenberg asserted that Xbox 360 software sales would have slipped. But he also believed that the company would have sold less hardware.

"My guess is we would have probably sold less consoles, too, to be honest," he told G4TV. "I think it was that kind of blockbuster, just like a new blockbuster movie--it's an event, people knew about it."

Greenberg's points were interesting, to say the least. I've always said that software sells hardware. And so far, that has likely helped the Xbox 360 stay ahead of the PlayStation 3. But with few blockbuster titles on the horizon, how will that affect sales going forward?

For now, we don't know. But we can speculate about a November without Modern Warfare 2. Would it have been as huge? Let us know in the comments below.

This WebGL demo shows 3D Collada files--in this case a Spore video game creature.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

If you want to see the scale of browser makers' ambition to remake not just the Web but computing itself, look no farther than a new 3D technology called WebGL.

The WebGL vision is simple. You're running around in a video game universe, blasting radioactive aliens--but you got there by visiting a Web site, not by installing the game on your PC.

This sort of computationally demanding chore contrasts sharply to with today's Web, whose top-notch programmers strain to reproduce bare-bones versions of the rich capabilities open to applications running natively on a computer.

WebGL, while only a nascent attempt to catch up, is real. WebGL now is a draft standard for bringing hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the Web. It got its start with Firefox backer Mozilla and the Khronos Group, which oversees the OpenGL graphics interface, but now the programmers behind browsers from Apple, Google, and Opera Software are also involved.

Perhaps more significant than formal standards work, though, is WebGL support in three precursors of today's browsers--Minefield for Mozilla's Firefox, WebKit for Apple's Safari, and Chromium for Google's Chrome. Opera has started implementing WebGL, too, said Tim Johansson, Opera's lead graphics developer.

With a little tinkering--check the instructions and caveats below--you can give it a whirl, too. Overall, I was favorably impressed with the technology.

Its performance certainly isn't enough for a competitive first-person shooter, but it's approaching utility for casual gaming. And because of how WebGL elements can be integrated with the rest of a Web site's code, it's got some advantages.

What is WebGL?
WebGL is one of a handful of efforts under way to boost the processing power available to Web applications. It marries two existing technologies.

First is JavaScript, the programming language widely used to give Web pages intelligence and interactivity. Although JavaScript performance is improving relatively quickly these days in many browsers, programs written in the language are relatively pokey and limited compared with those that run natively on a computer.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a hardcore gamer. I play games as often as possible. But for the most part, I play those games on consoles. But over the past couple days, I've started playing some Twitter-based games on the Web. Many of them aren't very good, but I found three titles that I really enjoyed playing.

Because of that, I've decided to share those with you in this roundup. Each title is offered on its own site, but requires your Twitter credentials to work. Whenever you achieve things within a game, it notifies your Twitter followers. The experience is fantastic. Let's check them out.

Twitter-based gaming

140 Mafia: If you're a fan of "The Godfather," you might be attracted to 140 Mafia. Although it doesn't follow that movie closely, it does a great job of keeping you engaged in the title.

When you sign up for 140 Mafia, the game gives you the option of choosing what can be sent to your followers from the title and what cannot. I liked having that option. From there, you find out that you've been asked by "The Godfather" to start your own mafia crime family. You need to recruit other Twitter users into your family, while engaging in criminal activities to build your coffers and notoriety.

140 Mafia determines your effectiveness based on your attack ability, your energy, your ability to defend yourself, and a few other metrics. To build those up, you'll need to go on missions that involve illegal activities, like burglary or theft. The point of the game is to build a big, strong mafia family that you can control. It's no simple task and it will take a while. I should also note that the more followers you have, the greater the chances that you'll be able to succeed at this game, since a key component is to recruit other Twitter users.

Overall, 140 Mafia is a really fun game. It won't get your blood pumping like Grand Theft Auto, but it should help you pass the time.

140 Mafia allows you to create a mafia family and run it.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

For gamers, Christmas can, indeed, come early.

Because here is every gamer's dream wrapped up in a Christmas paper so beautiful that you might never play Guitar Hero in a living room ever again.

Please hail Ric Turner, who realized the holiday season was upon him and it was time not to keep up with the Joneses, but with the Brian Jones Massacre's. So, according to Make, he created this astonishing Guitar Hero Christmas lights extravaganza, which he calls Christmas Light Hero.

If you are not utterly entranced by the skill and wonderment of this technological exercise, then your fingers are pork sausages and your emotions are boiled semolina.

I know you are going to ask me how he did it. Thankfully, he explained to Make in some detail.

Here is just the first part of his explanation: "Christmas Light Hero is using 7 light controllers from Light-O-Rama built from kits to control 21,268 lights and LEDs. Each controller has 16 outputs and 2-3 TTL level control inputs that are used by the game system to fire different programmed light sequences depending on what happens in the game."

He continued: "It relies on the fact that the game sequence is very consistent. If the game and the lighting sequences start together, they will stay in very good sync through the length of the song."

For the full explanation--it goes on for some paragraphs--please enjoy the Make link.

Turner is so wonderfully talented (Oh, did I mention that he used to be a special effects guy at Disney Imagineering?) that he even thought about not disturbing the neighbors with renditions of Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover".

He said: "When you play, you watch only the Christmas lights, but the audio you hear is from the Wii, so your flubs are broadcast for all to hear (people in cars can tune 99.1 and crank it up as loud as they want.)"

If you happen to be passing Turner's house (a commenter on Daily What says it's somewhere near Disney in Burbank, Calif.), please know that it isn't so easy to get on the high score list.

He said on his YouTube posting: "Optional TV screen is available if you get in trouble, but if you use the screen, you don't get your name in the high score list."

I know some of you will be wondering how many bulbs are being put to such good use here. The Daily What reveals that it is 21,268.

May your neighbors be even one tenth as imaginative this holiday season.

Got a case of information overload? You're not alone.

A study released Wednesday from the University of California, San Diego, reports that the average American consumes a whopping 34GB of data and 100,000 words of information per day.

Over the course of 2008, Americans as a group gobbled up 3.6 zettabytes of data. (In case you missed the definition of "zettabyte" in your daily data binging, that's a million million gigabytes.) For all you visual learners out there, the researchers helpfully point out that 3.6 zettabytes is equal to the "information in thick paperback novels stacked seven feet high over the entire United States, including Alaska."

Between 1980 and 2008, the number of bytes consumed by Americans increased 350 percent. The average annual growth rate was calculated at 5.4 percent.

Here's how TV and the Internet stack up in the "How Much Information? 2009 Report on American Consumers."

(Credit: University of California, San Diego)

Dubbed the How Much Information? project, the study measured data consumption both at home and away from home. It includes several information sources, "including going to the movies, listening to the radio, talking on the cell phone, playing video games, surfing the Internet, and reading the newspaper."

Besides bytes and words, the study also noted the number of hours spent consuming information.

In terms of time, traditional media still has a strong hold on the U.S. The study reported that "a large chunk of the average American's day is spent watching television." On average, 41 percent of an American's day is given over to watching television shows, viewing recorded TV, or watching DVDs.

Noncomputer sources, the study says, account for more than three-quarters of U.S. households' information time.

But if bytes are the standard by which American days are judged, it's the video game that takes the top prize. Researchers found that the average American consumes 18.5GB of gaming data per day, representing 67 percent of all bytes they consume daily.

"Games are almost universal, but most of the gaming bytes come from graphically intensive games on high-powered computers and consoles, which have the equivalent of special-purpose supercomputers from five years ago," report author Roger Bohn, director of the Global Information Industry Center at UC San Diego's School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, said in a statement. "Games today generate their bytes inside the home, rather than having to transmit them over cables into the house, but gaming is increasingly moving online."

The study found that 16 percent of daily information consumption comes from the Internet. A staggering 79 percent of all American two-way communications is done through the Internet.

If you want to see what else UC San Diego found in its study, click here.

Although everyone knows that Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is a major hit, I'm not quite convinced that the impact it has had on the video game industry has been felt quite yet. Perhaps that will change with the expected release Thursday of NPD's gaming sales figures.

According to market-analyst Evan Wilson from Pacific Crest, November video game software sales should come in at about $1.45 billion. Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said he expected November sales to be a bit higher, tallying $1.55 billion in sales.

But it was Modern Warfare 2 that captured the spotlight of both analysts' predictions for November game sales. Wilson said the game's developer Infinity Ward likely sold 5 million units in the U.S. alone during November. Pachter expected NPD to report 6 million units were sold during the month.

Pachter went on to say in his report that Modern Warfare 2 would make up a whopping 22 percent of the industry's video game sales for November. He expects it to be followed by Super Mario Bros. Wii, Assassins Creed II, and Left 4 Dead 2, in a distant second-, third-, and fourth-place, respectively.

Wilson was a little more optimistic about the importance of Modern Warfare 2 to the industry's sales figures. He said that he expects the new Call of Duty game to make up 25 percent of all sales during the month.

"Modern Warfare 2 comprises an estimated 25 percent of this month's industry sales," Wilson wrote. "While this is not out of the ordinary for a tent-pole title in a non-holiday month, it is impressive given our forecast that this November's sales will match the month's highest historical total on record. For comparison, Halo 2 reached 20 percent of industry sales in November 2004. The next highest share taker was Guitar Hero III at 12 percent in November 2007."

That's some awfully nice company to be in for any game. And if the analysts' estimates are correct, it could be a record-breaking month for one of 2009's biggest releases.

(Credit: Kotaku)

If you find many of Wii remote's attachments (such as fishing rods and tennis rackets) unconventional, wait till you check out what Sony Computer Entertainment has detailed in its latest patent. The application documents an "expandable control device via hardware attachment" with the unmistakable square, triangle, circle, and cross buttons unique to all PlayStation game consoles. What makes this wand-like controller special, though, is its modular design for various configurations illustrated above.

These include side-by-side piggybacks in figure 7A and 7B, plus possibly a sponge ball add-on for figure 7C. Other options range from a baseball bat to end-to-end connection to form a longer stick in figure 6B.

Lastly, there's a diagram that illustrates vibration capability, with further mention of wireless connectivity, accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer included in the lengthy write-up. I guess Sony is still game for a physical controller, while Microsoft goes high-tech with its "Project Natal" motion-gesturing technology.

If you're patient enough to read the details, head here to see the online U.S. patent filing.

(Source: Crave Asia via Kotaku)

The N64Mini.

(Credit: Zenloc)

The modding community has been quite active improving old game consoles. I'm such a fan of the Nintendo 64 that the latest mod of the venerable console was just too cool to pass up.

Dubbed the N64Mini, the portable Nintendo 64 device from modder Zenloc features the familiar Nintendo 64 controller buttons (minus the D-pad, unfortunately) in a nicely compact package. Users can place their Nintendo 64 cartridges in the back of the device to play some of their favorite games.

According to the device's developer, the N64Mini runs on a 4-cell battery and comes with a charger. It also features a headphone jack and an A/V out port for those who want to play the title on a display that's a little larger. It even comes with built-in brightness controls.

But here's the best part: the N64Mini is available now on eBay. Bidding ends in five days, but so far, 26 bids have been placed. The price is at $205 at the time of this writing. I obviously haven't been able to get my hands on the device, but based on the video below, it might be something worth considering if you plan to spend some cash this holiday season.

Check out a video of the N64Mini in action below.

[Via Engadget]