I’d like to point out that the APA has rejected to add “video game addiction” to the new DSM in 2012 (unless further research permits it). It looks like this guy is just escaping his situation through WoW… that or he’s gettin some serious loot in those raids.. (is that what it’s called? hah).

All these documentaries looking at gaming in a very bad light are becoming an increasing issue, because people are starting to believe them. With these “video game addiction clinics” opening up and stories like this one being aired, it’s really no wonder that people really believe gaming is a serious addiction, perhaps instead of looking at the underlying problems (if any) that may cause someone to want to play games for hours a day.

To couple video gaming with a word like “addiction” always puts a negative spin on it, because anything you can get “addicted” to can’t be good for you, right?

Despite this guy being a tool for ditching his wife in labour, it did sound like he made it back in time for the birth!

If you want to know more about the popularity of the game World of Warcraft, check out the infographic below:

Click to Zoom In

Brilliant! I love how you can find nerds like myself talented gamers all over the globe. Anyway, after making an interview with the guy, we kept in touch and he’s now uploaded a bunch of his music on youtube.

For you guys who love yourself some killer video game music, check out this rendition of the Super Mario Overworld theme:

Like it? Feel free to check out the rest at Fabian Gulde.

The contestants need to create a video reenactment of the most memorable gaming scene in their life. They need to think about what is the most memorable gaming scene they have witnessed and reenact it on video. This challenge has two parts. Part one is the creation and publication of the reenactment and part two is a seperate blog explaining their choice and methods used.

I did Diablo:

To read how I made this masterpiece awful clip, click here.

Finally it seems like people are realizing the coverage they’re able to get by streaming things for people to watch from home (such as keynotes). I was lucky enough to attend E3 before they decided that booth babes were out of control downsized and it is a fantastic yearly event with mouth-watering previews and the chance to meet your favourite developers.

If you’re interested in the latest games, you can follow along with the events at E3 by visiting E3Feed.

Now there’s one game that people claim simply take it too far:

The game begins with a teenage girl on a subway platform. She notices you are looking at her and asks, “Can I help you with something?”

That is when you, the player, can choose your method of assault.

With the click of your mouse, you can grope her and lift her skirt. Then you can follow her aboard the train, assaulting her sister and her mother.

As you continue to play, “friends” join in and in a series of graphic, interactive scenes, you can corner the women, rape them again and again.

The game allows you to even impregnate a girl and urge her to have an abortion. The reason behind your assault, explains the game, is that the teenage girl has accused you of molesting her on the train. The motive is revenge.

Is it OK to replay such fantasies in a virtual world? This debate has been raging for a long time with things like FPS games being blamed for school shootings. What do you think? Will it cause people to go out and rape? Leave a comment below or tweet your thoughts @HelloLiefje

Source: CNN

After the wedding the happy groom had a few words to say:

Now that the ceremony is over, I feel like I’ve been able to achieve a major milestone in my life. Some people have expressed doubts about my actions, but at the end of the day, this is really just about us as husband and wife. As long as the two of us can go on to create a happy household, I’m sure any misgivings about us will be resolved.

I’m not too sure how you can create a household with a virtual character (virtual household?) but hey, whatever tickles your pickle I guess!

Images via BoingBoing

My worse better half has spent countless hours on this game and totally loves it. He tried to introduce me to it too so perhaps we could play together. I’ve never played Defense of the Ancients [DotA] before but I thought it’d be a piece of cake anyway since everyone was saying that this game is MUCH better and easier than DotA.

It feels like studying for an exam

The game is still in closed beta but basically all my e-friends are playing it so it wasn’t hard to get an invite. Before even playing the game, it was already becoming quite a task. I’m not one of those great tacticians in games and I hate to have to do a lot of reading before playing. Usually when I get games I like to tear into them right away without even opening the manual.

No one would have any of that in HoN. I had to spend time watching youtube tutorials and reading forums about the correct way to build characters. This would be totally fine if I was playing something like Diablo and I would be investing days into a character, but we’re talking about a 30 – 90 minute game here. Too much research for just one battle.

A melee character

So I spent time doing the research and 6 days later I got to open the game and pick my starting character. I picked a melee character (the panda bear) because it was a panda they have more hit points. Usually they’re pretty newbie friendly. It started out well and I was “laning” like I was supposed to.

But I wans’t aware that I was staying too far away from the fighting to get XP. So I soon found myself levels behind. Because of this, of course the other team would start to pick on me. Then my team would start whining. Then i’d go to the forest to kill the neutral creeps but that would make them whine even more, since they would want a melee character when they were trying to gank the other team.

Understandable, but what do you want from me?! I made a mistake in the beginning, I was trying to correct it but if you can’t correct it instantly, it’s not good enough.

A spellcaster

After a somewhat close game, we ended up losing the first map and since i’m a sore loser I decided to try again but with a spellcaster (the Pollywog Priest) instead for the benefit of ranged attacks. My reasoning behind this was that I wanted to be able to get more creep kills (for gold) and to be able to deny enemy creep kills better. I knew the dangers of a spellcaster (less HP, people will tend to pick on you etc) but I figured i’d be ok.

The game starts and of course, people are totally picking on me. All of a sudden my team starts flaming like crazy because i’m “feeding” (dying unnecessarily to the other team causing them to gain gold and experience at a much faster rate). Well no shit i’m feeding, it’s the 2nd time i’ve ever played the game and I guess my map awareness is garbage. Whoever I was laning with always just ran when I would get bound (trapped in one place with a spell) and I could never do anything by myself vs 2 heroes. Obviously i’d bitten off more than I could chew with a spellcaster.

The whole concept of “fog of war” and hiding in trees was totally new to me so obviously I wasn’t the best escape artist. I probably should have stuck to melee characters until I learned this better. But the pressure from the other players was on. My boyfriend told me that if I don’t have good stats (even after 2 games) people will kick me from games and refuse to play with me.

We pretty much lost  my second game quickly.

Giving up

I didn’t even bother trying an agility based character, even though everyone seems to think they’re the easiest to play. It just seemed like too much hassle with a bunch of elitist pricks guys who couldn’t accept that some people just wanted to learn. How are you supposed to get better at a game if people aren’t even going to give you the opportunity to learn?

Are you a n00b-hating fan of HoN? Has anyone else shared the same experiences of the game? Let me know below or tweet your story @HelloLiefje

The new ruling imposes a fine and 2-5 years in prison on the import, production, distribution, sale, hiring and use of video games and toys inciting violent behaviour.

This legislation defines as aggressive every audiovisual material promoting and inciting violence, the use of weapons and toys imitating weapons or stimulating violence and hate.

26-year-old Guido Núñez-Mujica, a Venezuelan gamer, has written a heartfelt piece about this new law over on BoingBoing.net. Click here to read it.

Wow that’s crazy! Not only are most of the fun games banned, but I guess it means no more G.I. Joe, no more water pistols, pirate costumes (I guess hooks and plastic daggers would be seen as violent right?) and a lot of the other fun toys.

First of all, I would like to apologize. The interview was made at 2 – 3 am. I had just got home from a party and I didn’t know what I was saying. Normally I wouldn’t be so rude and I aplogize a lot. Everybody is free to do what they want and I didn’t have to say anything. I don’t understand why people didn’t ask themselves ‘why is Strenx so mad, there must be a problem’. Nobody asked themselves ‘how could he write this, he must not have been thinking straight’. Everybody just said ‘he’s a stupid kid’. I can’t blame you guys for thinking this, that’s normal. But I apologize for everything. To DaHanG, I hope you like it that I think you’re Buzz Lightyear.