Pharma firm Bayer has created a DS plug-in built on the idea that diabetic kids typically lose track of no-fun things like glucose meters, but rarely lose fun things like gaming handhelds.

No, the "Didget" isn't a kind of Vitality Sensor; it goes into the DS/DS Lite's Slot-2 and rewards players giving consistent readings with points in a game that can be used to buy items or unlock levels. It doesn't sound like the game itself has anything to do with diabetes or testing, it's just the vessel through which the Didget rewards a player's consistent monitoring.

I'm not in a household with a diabetic child, but I was in one with a recently diagnosed adult; I can testify that testing yourself can be a real bitch, and doing it consistently requires some discipline, which younger kids may not have. The Didget sounds like a helpful peripheral, although some might think buying a video game attachment rewards, rather than corrects, a kid not taking responsibility for himself. I guess it depends on the age. One thing, however, since this requires Slot-2, it's not DSi compatible.

http://kotaku.com/5307759/ds-plugin-...stent-readings ...

It may have been a staple of game design since the industry began, but BioWare's founders believe that soon mainstream blockbuster games could drop the reliance on combat and violence to attract players.

As the audience for games expands and becomes more mainstream, even more players can be attracted to gaming for its storytelling rather than combat thrills, said Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka in an interview published today.

"We talk a certain amount internally about whether you need to have combat as part of the experience. Are there possibilities to actually start separating pieces of the game and actually tailor it to the audience?" said Zeschuk, creative officer of BioWare. "Certainly the core gaming experience, folks that are used to playing games over the last ten years, they want to have those battle moments, and the fighting. But there are different audiences that would maybe just enjoy the story.

"I think it's actually possible. I think the interesting thing about it too is I don't know if it's even necessarily a technology thing. I think once we've got the breadth of audience available to us, there could be really good opportunities created by different people coming to games that are story-driven."

Co-founder of the studio Ray Muzyka agrees with Zeschuk, adding that the industry is now confidently maturing and opening up to multiple possibilities in a similar evolution to the movie industry.

"I think you look at the last 20, 30 years of the industry, saying the videogame industry took off in the 80s, where we are now is almost like the mid-point of maturation of the industry. It's almost like we finally got our camera built in the movie sense.

"It took a long time, decades in the movie industry, where we went from black and white to talkies to the point where we actually started to get rich acting and direction and the subtle moves of camera and things like that that are now accepted practices.

"From that point on the industry just flourished, and I think the videogame industry is at that point now where you're going to start to see this blossoming of all kinds of really cool, multiple dimensions of different kinds of settings and genres and kinds of characterisation as the gaming industry moves from early adopters to early mainstream, to the mainstream who are now embracing games as their main form of entertainment.

He added: "It's exciting to be in the industry at this time particularly with something as compelling as emotion and engaging narrative. For BioWare that's our vision, to really create these stories and characters that people believe in and they get emotional reactions to. They feel something. We're excited about it."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...nce-from-games ...

Wii Fit, Wii Play and Mario Kart Wii are the UK's best selling games of 2009 so far, according to GfK Chart-Track figures distributed by ELSPA.

With combined sales of 1.65 million units, the three titles make up 72 per cent of the sales volume of the top five best sellers. They're followed by Professor Layton and the Curious Village at number four, and the Sony first party title Killzone 2 at number five.

Cross platform titles Resident Evil 5 and Call of Duty: World At War take the number six and number nine places respectively, while EA gets one PC-exclusive title - The Sims 3, which was only released one month ago - into the number eight position.

ELSPA uses the latest data as evidence family-orientated and educational games have become the most popular genres with UK consumers, pointing to the sales figures for Wii Fit and Wii Play, as well as the continued success of Dr Kawashima's Brain Training, to illustrate its point.

Dr Kawashima sits at number seven in the chart and this year's sales now make it the most popular game in the UK ever, having sold over three million units.

"These figures are clear evidence that gaming is now mainstream in the UK," said Michael Rawlinson, director general of ELSPA. "The demographic has changed, so it’s time we did away with the misperception that videogames are merely the preserve of teenage boys shooting zombies. Innovation in the industry means the social and educational benefits of gaming are now enjoyed by players of both sexes and of all ages."

Overall, the performance figures for 2009 so far are the second best the UK has seen to date. Year-on-year sales are down 5.7 per cent however, with 29.7 million units sold compared to 31.5 million units for the same period in 2008. The results should still encourage the UK games industry though, according to Dorian Bloch, business group director of GfK Chart-Track, who commented:

"The videogame entertainment markets show that across software, hardware and accessories, the first half of 2009 is a solid platform for retailers, manufacturers and publishers to build momentum into the last quarter of 2009. The widening demographic and the growing trend in physical-motion gaming, means the industry is well positioned to see further growth."

The overall UK console installed base now stands at 24.2 million units - which is around the same number as there are UK households. The full install figures for each console as of June 27, 2009 can be found here.

This growth in popularity for gaming is further underlined in a report by the Neilsen Research for the Interactive Software Federation of Europe which shows that 33 per cent of the UK population between the ages of 30 and 49 describe themselves as 'active gamers' and 82 per cent say they play videogames with their children.

The full chart of UK best-selling software for the first half of 2009 follows.

01 Wii Fit
02 Wii Play
03 Mario Kart Wii
04 Professor Layton and the Curious Village
05 Killzone 2
06 Resident Evil 5
07 Dr Kawashima's Brain Training
08 The Sims 3
09 Call of Duty: World At War
10 Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...e-pack-in-2009 ...

US retailer Best Buy is set to offer a new PlayStation 3 bundle made up of the 80GB console and best-sellers Metal Gear Sold 4 and Killzone 2 for just USD 400 - the same price the PlayStation 3 hardware alone would normally retail for.

The bundle will go on sale this Sunday, according to several Best Buy employees talking to Kotaku, and could put Sony in a better position to compete with the Xbox 360 over the US holiday season.

Best Buy currently sells the Xbox 360 Elite game of the year bundle - the 120GB console with Fable II and Halo 3 - for USD 399.99, and the Xbox 360 Elite bundle - the same hardware with Lego Indiana Jones and Kung Fu Panda - also for USD 399.99.

The move seems to tie-in with recent speculation that Sony could be planning to sell through its stocks of the 80GB PlayStation 3 using bundles as incentives in order to replace it with the 160GB model.

Some sources have predicted Sony will then drop the price of the PlayStation 3 towards the end of the year prior to the release of new slimmer hardware.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...-bundle-report ...

via engadget

Depending in your level of geekness, an extravagant mod can be pretty cool. And arcade consoles are damn near always really cool. But making a stand-up console game out of your beloved Nintendo DS? That is pretty amazing. And throwing in a Sony PSP for good measure -- well, that might just elevate your project to a work of art. We don't have too many technical details on this bad boy (after all, the hacker is in Japan -- and there is a bit of a language barrier) but you we think the video of the thing really says it all -- if not in so many words. Peep it for yourself after the break.

http://tinycartridge.com/post/135564...ndo-ds-cabinet ...

Images of Sony’s 8 megapixel camera, full touchscreen device reportedly leaked
Though Sony has kept its first ever android-based mobile device a well-guarded secret, news site mobile.nu claims to have acquired info and images of the smartphone.
The device, given the codename ‘Rachael’, is allegedly powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, allowing it to run at 1 GHz.
It is also said that the phone will use hi-def video decoding and what is believed to be an 8 megapixel camera with auto-focus and flash.
Allegedly pictured above, the unit will also feature a large touch-screen which will be pressure-sensitive.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/31914...legedly-leaked ...

Images of Sony’s 8 megapixel camera, full touchscreen device reportedly leaked
Though Sony has kept its first ever android-based mobile device a well-guarded secret, news site mobile.nu claims to have acquired info and images of the smartphone.
The device, given the codename ‘Rachael’, is allegedly powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, allowing it to run at 1 GHz.
It is also said that the phone will use hi-def video decoding and what is believed to be an 8 megapixel camera with auto-focus and flash.
Allegedly pictured above, the unit will also feature a large touch-screen which will be pressure-sensitive.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/31914...legedly-leaked ...

Publisher Activision hopes to be part of the new playground sensation Bakugan with its upcoming video game tie-in. Entitled Bakugan: Battle Brawlers, the game is based both on the Spin Master-developed card game and Nelvana Enterprises’ cartoon series, and features a story mode with a plot devised by the TV show’s writers.
And Activision producer Donna Johnston is optimistic that Bakugan can become a major games franchise for the publisher and developer Now Productions.
“The strategic card game has been out six months in the UK, and it was the number one new product in Q4 last year,” she said.

“There are more than 55 million Bakugan users out there worldwide, which is incredible.
“We all know Pokémon has been around for years, but Bakugan has already turned into this new playground phenomenon. We hope to be a part of that phenomenon with the game.
“Ten year-old boys are the absolute centre of this new demographic, so we’ve been working hard with Spin Master and the creators of the cartoon to find out what kids love about Bakugan.
“The overall goal is to capture the universe, the appealing characters, the great writing and this world that has been built for us.
“This is one of our key focus titles of the year. In terms of future titles, we will be seeing how this title develops and how the brand grows.”
Bakugan is set to hit Xbox 360, Wii, DS, PS2 and PS3 before the end of the year.

http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/288...gan-phenomenon ...

Tecmo Koei president Kenji Matsubara doubts the hardcore appeal of Sony's new motion controllers and Microsoft's Project Natal technology, saying they will be "more suited to casual games".

"We are very excited about the future with Project Natal and Sony's motion controllers. At the same time, we have some concerns over the fact that we specialise in making action games, so we have to explore whether we can achieve real-time response from a controller-free system," Matsubara told CVG.

"We understand that, for casual gamers playing dance games or some sort of fishing game, this controller-free system can be popular. But for hardcore gamers who like actions games, we have to research and develop games that satisfy our core gamers," he added.

"I expect that, from the beginning, both these types of controls will be more suited to casual games, and later go into more hardcore oriented experiences. That's how, in my understanding, most companies' strategies will apply."

Sony confirmed it will show more of its motion tech at the Develop Conference, which runs from July 14-16.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com....php?id=218876 ...