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Konami details new DS and Wii titles from Hudson Soft for Europe
Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced the next three titles to emerge from its distribution agreement with Hudson Soft.

The three games will be released in Q1 2009 across Europe, and mark the welcome return of Hudson’s ever popular Bomberman character to Nintendo DS, plus two original Wii releases entitled Hard Working People (Working Title) and Kororinpa 2 (Working Title).

The provisionally-titled Bomberman 2 (Working Title) will see the veteran bomb-slinger undergoing a new look, with players invited to customize their Bomberman to their own taste. Hudson has also extended the gameplay, with the familiar setting of planting bombs to destroy encroaching enemies and clear levels extended into a more open format. Players are faced with varied missions and can customize their Bomberman character in more than 160,000 ways. In addition to the single-player mission, Bomberman 2 (Working Title), will also boast a Versus mode for up to four players using Wi-Fi connection or eight players using Wireless versus.

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Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH reveals original DS title wherein a whole world of magic awaits…

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced a magical new title for Nintendo DS entitled Enchanted Folk and the School of Wizardry, due for release Q1 2009 across Europe.

Set in a magic school, the game entails mastering a series of spells and incantations in order to achieve a Magician Licence and become Master Wizard. To this end, the player enrolls in a special school where alongside over 100 fully interactive pupils, they must learn and implement key spells and use them wisely. During the course of a term, however, the player is asked to solve a series of puzzles by mysterious beings that appear once a week throughout the game. Doing so will reward the user with extra items for use in their magic, and contribute towards the player’s advancement.

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“When you make a game based on a license you really are playing roulette – you don’t know how the film is going play out in the market. When we …
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BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) — Parents, don’t put away those video games just yet — today’s gamer may be tomorrow’s top surgeon. Researchers who gathered in Boston for the American Psychological Association convention detailed a series of studies suggesting video games can be powerful learning tools — from increasing younger students’ problem-solving potential to improving the suturing skills of laparoscopic surgeons.

One study even looked at whether playing “World of Warcraft,” the world’s biggest multiplayer online game, can improve scientific thinking.

The conclusion? Certain types of video games can have benefits beyond the virtual thrills of blowing up demons.

In one Fordham University study, 122 students in fifth, sixth and seventh grades were asked to think out loud for 20 minutes while playing a game they had never seen before. Researchers studied the children’s statements to see if playing the game improved cognitive and perceptual skills.

While older children seemed more interested in just playing the game, younger children showed more interest in setting up a series of short-term goals needed to help them learn the game.
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“The younger kids are focusing more on their planning and problem solving while they are actually playing the game, while adolescents are focusing less on their planning and strategizing and more on the here and now,” said Fordham psychologist Fran Blumberg, who conducted the research last year and plans to submit it for publication. “They’re thinking less strategically than the younger kids.”

Studies by Iowa State University psychologist Douglas Gentile and Dr. James Rosser, head of minimally invasive surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, compared surgeons who play video games to those who don’t.

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Holy crap! Is that the hannah montana game behind them? I can not wait to get my hands on that game! ; )

I was out doing my thing at my local Wal-Mart today, and I spotted this sign in the electronics deportment. It really is not anything new or big, but I …
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