In a kind of augmented reality / virtual reality mix, Marc Owens’ Avatar Machine puts the user into the center of a video game-like experience.

OneBigGame is altering the model for video game production by publishing games for charity.

Microsoft’s first flagship store features print on-demand-video games.

Playstation3 game Uncharted 2: Among Thieves will feature Twitter integration.

Brightmind Labs is about to release their first video game, but it isn’t just any ordinary game. Targeted at kids aged 6 to 12 who suffer from depression, anxiety or post traumatic stress disorder, this computer game will fuse together immersive gaming principles with cognitive behavioural therapy.

Styli for touchscreen devices are usually a kind of throw-away accessory. Not a lot of personality or design customization go into the little things.
Stephen Yurkevitch has usurped this bland legacy, and created a line of unique 3D printed styli, most of which feature decorative elements from video game worlds. His designs inspired Shapeways to make a Stylus Creator, where you can develop your own custom stylus.
[via The Shapeways Blog]

We’re running a contest over the next 48 hours to win a limited-edition Rock Band guitar controller customized by PSFK friend Matt W. Moore. All you have to do is re-tweet a link to a post from PSFK (even a link to this contest page) with the hash tag #psfkrb – and we’ll send the guitar anywhere in the world to a randomly drawn winner from everyone who RTs by 4.30pm EST Friday June 12.

Traditionally, It has been thought that staring at screens for too long will harm your vision in some way. Parents admonish their children to get away from the TV, and ergonomic studies have shown that long stretches of computer work are not kind on the eyes.
However, contrary to past experience, there may be a certain kind of screen-time that’s good for you. A new study from the University of Rochester has found that playing fast-paced, high action video games can actually increase real-world vision. Daphne Bavelier, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences says that these types of games train [...]

Onlive is a video game on demand service that could kill the console-based gaming system as we know it. With no-lag gameplay, high quality graphics, a potentially unlimited catalog and host of bonus features Onlive looks like a real game changer.
GameDaily reports:

What’s so revolutionary about the OnLive Game Service? As long as you have a decent broadband connection, you can play essentially any game, no matter how complex. This editor, quite frankly, has shied away from PC gaming for the majority of his life because of the large investment needed in high-spec computer equipment and continual upgrades to graphics cards. [...]

Though the results are far from conclusive,  a noteworthy recent study is showing just how effective in-game video advertising can be.
TechCruch explains:
Preliminary results of the study, which will conclude at the end of this month, seem to indicate online gaming audiences are more inclined to remember and positively percieve brands who experiment with pre, mid and post-roll video advertisements inside Web-based games.
…According to Vicki Cohen, Executive Vice-President at Frank Magid Associates, the preliminary results show a 5x increase in unaided brand awareness over TV advertising where a game included a Zappos.com ad. Other key findings according to the release: over [...]

This week game creators from all over the world are gathering in San Francisco for the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC). Popular themes this year will be casual gaming, which consists of games like Guitar Hero, Rock Band and SingStar, social gaming, which are run on social networks like Facebook or MySpace, and  mobile games (like Mobster) that are played on mobile devices such as the iPhone.
One of the busiest game developers right now is Swedish studio Grin with three upcoming games within the next two months – Bionic Commando, Terminator Salvation and Wanted: Weapons of Fate.
The video game industry [...]

Frantz Lasome is working on an augmented reality toy concept that takes make-believe and lays it out in front of your eyes. His project lets kids use their old toys as game pieces and controls in an virtual world. Players battle it out, assigning weapon functions to their real world toys, and can watch the virtual action through special glasses. Though it seems like a fantastic toy, you have to wonder how immersion in an augmented world will effect kid’s developing minds.
Augmented Reality Toys (Work in progress) from Frantz Lasorne on Vimeo.
Like the “is Google making us stupid argument”, [...]

According to the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), video game sales in the UK has hit an all time record high of 82.8 million in sales.  Consumers spent over £4 billion in total on video game related items and many are pointing to the incredible success of blockbuster titles like Grand Theft Auto 4 and World of Warcraft.  Another reason for growth is the expansion of the marketplace to casual gamers and the ability for each console appeal to different types of gamers.  The Nintendo Wii, DS, Microsoft Xbox 360 and even the Sony Playstation 3 all reported [...]

Core77 points us to this video from Kyle Downes, a recent graduate from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. put together this animated 3D piece as part of his motion graphics portfolio. The piece covers the history of videogame consoles from 1972 when Ralph Baer invented the Odyssey to the launch of the current generation of consoles and beyond.

Kyle Downes Blog

Artist, film maker and game designer Michael Highland discusses the significant impact video games have in programming the brain in his film As Real as Your Life:
The beauty and reality of video games today lies not in the lifelike graphics, the vibrating joysticks or the virtual surround sound, it lies in that these games are beginning to make me emotional.  What is sadder is that my inability to understand and decipher the real world I live in makes these simple, virtual emotions even sweeter.  The people that make these games are smart, They know what makes me tick.  What makes [...]