Ever since Pac Man and Donkey Kong populated dingy arcades, governments and videogames have had a rough relationship. It seems many governments would have liked the videogame 'fad' to end years ago. So to hear of a government embracing the potential of games is quite refreshing. According to a statement on their website, the Scottish Government has bought in-game advertising space on Xbox Live to promote their latest drink driving campaign. The ads will appear on virtual billboards within certain games as part of Microsoft's in-game advertising revenue driver.
Stewart Stevenson, Scotland's Transport Minister explained "With statistics showing that road deaths, particularly among young people, are continuing to rise, it is clear we must look at new ways of getting road safety messages across." The promotion will initially be for a trial period, cost the government £10,000, and the results will be monitored. Stevenson continued "I hope it can be a success. With Christmas approaching, and many young people unwrapping new consoles, this initiative has the opportunity to save lives across Scotland."
Games that will carry the ads include Need for Speed: Carbon, Need for Speed: ProStreet, Project Gotham Racing 4, Pro Evolution Soccor 2008 and NBA Live.
The British Medical Journal has found that the Wii's more active form of input does not provide enough activity to fight childhood obesity.
According to a BBC News article on the study, Professor Gareth Stratton and a team at John Moore’s University in Liverpool took six boys and five girls aged 13 to 15 and compared the number of calories they burned playing Xbox 360 versus playing the Wii.
The result showed that the youths burned 60 calories (in nutrition terms) more an hour playing Wii, a 2% increase in the amount of energy burned versus the Xbox 360 players. The study is quoted as saying that "these increases were of insufficient intensity to contribute towards recommendations for children's daily exercise,” and that active gaming using the Wii is no replacement for actual sports.
The study did concede that while the actual calorie-burning benefits of the Wii were trivial, the activity that the Wii inspires could aid in weight management programs by encouraging general activity and positive behavior.
With Warmest Holiday Wishes From Our Family To Yours.. Merry Xmas from the HQ Family.
Hi HQ'ers,
We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our members and guests a safe, merry xmas and a great 2008! From all the guys and girls on the HQ Network we wish you a Merry Christmas and hope that the fat guy (santa) brings you the games and gadgets that you have all been wanting.
We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, or whatever holiday you choose to celebrate.
Feel free to leave your own xmas msg's in our forums.
Here's my nightmare scenario: I convince my mom to fork over a big chunk of her paycheck on the shiny new Xbox 360 I want. Christmas morning, I unwrap it, set it up and bask in the glow of HD video, savoring that "new console box smell". A few hours into my first game I feel a crazy amount of heat radiating from the machine. It gets warmer and warmer until the green circle on the front of the console fades into the sickening red of hardware failure. Instead of a game box I now have a worthless brick.
Am I paranoid, or should I really be worried about this scenario I've heard so much about?
Here are the results of my research.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 has weathered an incessant battery of bad PR due to its high failure rate. Their initial policy was to ignore the problem (always a bad move!). Gizmodo reports that retailers estimate Xbox 360 failure rates could be as high as thirty percent. Private surveys from game fansites find even higher failure rates climbing as high as sixty percent! As customer dissatisfaction reached embarrassing levels, Microsoft finally admitted in July that there was indeed a widespread problem with their machine.
Here's the short-list of the major problems that can kill your machine:
But nothing captures the scale of the problem like reading about the personal horror stories out there. For instance:
One Xbox devotee went through a whopping seven consoles before finally giving up.
A single UK repair center has been flooded with thousands of faulty Xbox 360's every day.
This guy had to deal with dozens of unhelpful outsourced tech support reps.
This poor game journalist waited six weeks for his refurbbed Xbox.
One poor sap's Xbox actually exploded, and this was one of eleven that he burned through. Eleven!
A condolences card for someone who lost their XBox to the Ring of Death
Gamestop has now stopped offering extended warrantees on all Xbox 360 consoles. This is a telling sign. After all, if a game retail giant doesn't trust the Xbox's quality, why should I? This vote of no-confidence alone is enough to scare me away.
But wait, Microsoft is no stranger to poor product performance (Blue Screen of Death anyone?) and has extended the Xbox 360's warranty to a full 3 years. Microsoft has also beefed up its service policy. If you experience problems with your Xbox, you will most likely get it repaired or replaced within a short period of time. Then again, you'll probably get a refurbbed unit that is almost as likely to conk out.
Microsoft still refuses to inform the public as to the root causes of these varying malfunctions. In mass failures like these, honesty is always the best policy. Consumers are right to be wary of such high failure rates, especially when their causes remain shrouded in speculation. What's the deal, Microsoft? When rumors are flying around that more than half of Xbox's are bricks, don't you think that's a good time for full disclosure?
Contrast this behavior with Nintendo's handling of the Wii Remote strap issue. They immediately warned consumers of the flaw and subsequently changed production to provide for thicker straps and sent out free new and improved straps to all users. If that weren't enough, they released a slip cover to provide better "grip and cushioning". That's customer service. Nintendo didn't have to wait for lawsuits or even grumbling in the blogosphere. "We screwed up, here's what went wrong, and here's how we're going to fix it."
Microsoft is now manufacturing all Xbox 360s with an updated "Falcon" chip. Yet, even these new and improved models are suffering from a similar ring of death, this time with Christmas cheer. Just in time for the holidays! A buddy of mine told me recently that every single Xbox 360 owner he knew had experienced technical problems of some sort with his/her console. "The red ring of death is the Xbox's puberty," he said. "They all have to go through it."
Such high failure rates, coupled with Microsoft's consistent inability to address the issue head-on make them the Firestone of videogames. Those who would prefer to avoid the hassle are better off waiting until Microsoft releases an updated version of the hardware (that actually fixes the problem) or simply buy a Wii instead.
PS: In the middle of writing this post, my friend told me that his Xbox had bitten the dust. He was almost in tears.
Alleged ghost sightings and related supernatural occurrences have been reported across all formats.
Well, it didn’t look like the third movie was happening anytime soon. Under cross-platform development from Terminal Reality and Red Fly Studio, Ghostbusters is a return for the original cast and writers after more than two decades, and a new canonical entry in one of the finest supernatural comedies ever made.
The game sees you cast as a new recruit to the classic Ghostbusters team, who are capitalizing on their knack of saving the world in the nick of time by expanding the business. From here, the game seems to go back over significant old ground as well some new backstories and scenarios.
Several monsters are associated with Gozer, the first film’s head ghost, and have a design inspired by that particular cod-Aztec symbolism, and of course the ghosts will be the real stars of the show. As well as the aforementioned, familiar faces like the Librarian, Slimer and Stay Puft return, and new nasties include ghosts forming themselves out of books, neon blue tubes of teeth roaming the streets, sinister gargoyles, and dog-like apparitions.
Just in time for the holidays, Microsoft has announced that Microsoft Points can now be given as a gift to anyone with a Windows LIVE ID.
The giver must also a Windows LIVE ID, and the generous party must also know the recipient’s LIVE ID. According to Xbox Live’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb, the ability to give the gift of points via Xbox LIVE Gamertag only has been asked for but is not currently available.
The new gift points feature is available only for US-based Windows LIVE accounts. It can be accessed via the : Microsoft Points website.
Dune: Awakening Shows Off Stunning Unreal Engine 5 Gameplay & More Funcom (@Funcom) revealed a stunning new gameplay trailer and featurette for Dune: Awakening, the first episode of the new Dune: Awakening Direct series. Embark on a breathtaking journey across Arraki..
HQ Network: 8,986 | 
Guests: 5493 |
Members: 2
Stewart Stevenson, Scotland's Transport Minister explained "With statistics showing that road deaths, particularly among young people, are continuing to rise, it is clear we must look at new ways of getting road safety messages across." The promotion will initially be for a trial period, cost the government £10,000, and the results will be monitored. Stevenson continued "I hope it can be a success. With Christmas approaching, and many young people unwrapping new consoles, this initiative has the opportunity to save lives across Scotland."
The result showed that the youths burned 60 calories (in nutrition terms) more an hour playing Wii, a 2% increase in the amount of energy burned versus the Xbox 360 players. The study is quoted as saying that "these increases were of insufficient intensity to contribute towards recommendations for children's daily exercise,” and that active gaming using the Wii is no replacement for actual sports.
The game sees you cast as a new recruit to the classic Ghostbusters team, who are capitalizing on their knack of saving the world in the nick of time by expanding the business. From here, the game seems to go back over significant old ground as well some new backstories and scenarios.
The new gift points feature is available only for US-based Windows LIVE accounts. It can be accessed via the : 
