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30
Oct

Soldiers who grew up in the burbs playing video games instead of shooting varmints in the country, or avoiding trouble in a bad neighborhood, are singled out by Army research as particularly poor at spotting roadside bombs.

Writes the Los Angeles Times:

Military researchers have found that two groups of personnel are particularly good at spotting anomalies: those with hunting backgrounds, who traipsed through the woods as youths looking to bag a deer or turkey; and those who grew up in tough urban neighborhoods, where it is often important to know what gang controls which block.

Personnel who fit neither category, often young men who grew up in the suburbs and developed a liking for video games, do not seem to have the depth perception and peripheral vision of the others, even if their eyesight is 20/20.

Note, this isn’t explosive ordnance disposal, they’re talking about riding in a humvee and picking up details that someone might have buried explosives in the road. This is important because, of bombs discovered before they went off, like 90 percent of them were found because someone’s spidey-sense went off.

The story quotes a sergeant major who finds the research fits with his own observations. “The gamers are very focused on the screen rather than the whole surrounding,” he said. Country boys and hood rats have a more finely-tuned radar – that head on a swivel mentality when you’re potentially in a dangerous situation.

Some Troops Have a Sixth Sense for Bombs [Los Angeles Times via Game Politics]


30
Oct

There have been numerous complaints about the body proportions for the character Bayonetta. Just look at her, some say! Her head is too small, her back is too bendy, her torso is too long.

Website The Zeonic Front decided to do something about it! Behold, “fixed” Bayonetta:

I don’t want to play Bayonetta [The Zeonic Front]


30
Oct

The 18-song Walmart exclusive AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack, which went out a year ago, will be available at GameStop beginning next month, and for less than the disc’s original full price.

GameStop lists it for shipment Nov. 4 at $19.99 – of course, less than the $29.99 to $39.99 it sold for when it debuted a year ago. The tracks can be transferred to your hard drive for Rock Band or Rock Band 2, but just for the 360 and PS3 version; not the PS2 or Wii.

Rock Band: AC/DC Pack to Hit non-Walmart Shelves Soon [Destructoid via VG247]


30
Oct

Speaking at the London Games Conference yesterday, Sony’s director of PlayStation Home in Europe said the virtual world accrues users who spend money and stick around for long stretches, but Home is nonetheless “not a priority right now.”

“It’s been a long road,” Pete Edwards said, according to Edge Online. ” We’ve proved there is a market out there and we’ve got a lot of people that spend a lot of time in [Home]. It’s not a priority right now but there is a business model there.”

Edge Online noted that Edwards himself said European users spent an average of 56 minutes in Home per session. So it’s not like Sony’s shelving or shutting down Home; he’s just saying that investing further in its business model is not part of the strategy right now. Still, publicly deprioritizing PlayStation Home speaks loudly enough about how Sony feels about this project a year later.

PlayStation Home Not A Business Priority [Edge Online via Game Stooge]


30
Oct

Only two days left to get me your pumpkins if you want ‘em posted. Today’s patch features more Mario Bros., Aliens vs. Predator, Dead Space, Brütal Legend and Final Fantasy VII.

Thanks for sharing, Dave Brown, Jonathan Barrett, Adam Olson and gyophry (who did both Brütal Legend and Final Fantasy VII).