MROC simulates a journey on the Stockholm Metro, trying to keep interested by observing your fellow passengers (ooh! a scarf!) WITHOUT MAKING EYE CONTACT.

Eye contact is bad, looking at interesting things is good. Perform well and you will be awarded an underwhelming certificate. And no, I have no idea why you groan “Grow!” whenever you accidentally catch your neighbours gaze. Maybe its a Swedish thing.

[Metro Rules Of Conduct]

As well as the expected ‘bonding’ (e.g. using America’s Army to learn about teamwork) one company issues staff with tokens for performing their jobs that can be exchanged for time playing videogames. Personally, in these uncertain times, I would prefer money. Perhaps that’s just me.

At Kotaku towers, of course, we are the exceptions that may prove the rule. Our jobs here involve a lot of gaming and the systematic absorption of gaming culture via machines like the ones they use in A Clockwork Orange. You could probably issue us with tokens that we could exchange for some time operating a photocopier or doing some filing.

How about you lot? Does a bit of causal gaming help you through the working day? Can you sharpen your boardroom skills in a first person shooter? Answers in the comments, if you please.

Does Gaming at Work Improve Productivity? [PC World]

Kidding! We are just kidding! No, the news that Ubisoft has decided to avoid Digital Rights Management (DRM) for the PC release has to be good news. Based on what has happened with every single DRM-locked game ever made any anti-copying countermeasures would have been cracked within nanoseconds of release and the resulting warez plastered all over the intertubes in bittorrent form before you can say 0-day.

Meanwhile legitimate users would have to suffer tedious ‘protection’ measures that are only a hair’s breadth away from being malware.

So, nice one Ubisoft. Hope it works out for you.

Prince of Persia Retail Copies DRM-free, Says Ubisoft [Shacknews]

We were pretty certain the fully functional calculator was the most complex LittleBigPlanet mod around. Surely nobody could top that for sheer intricacy, could they?

Oh Internet, you spoil us. PSN user ‘Cristel’ has gone and implemented a basic Tic Tac Toe engine, armed only with the LBP level creator, a lot of free time and a catering sized carton of WIN.

Unless we are very much mistaken that counts as actual artificial intelligence – albeit of a simple variety. Hell, in a global thermonuclear war situation this mod could save the world, which translates as some serious modding chops.

[Thanks to Laurens Simonis for the tip]

The problem is in the ‘Casual’ bit. The scores of newly minted gamers attracted to shorter, shallower games are more likely to ditch them when the going gets expensive, says Piers Harding-Rolls of Screen Digest, “We are not sure how the recession will affect the buying habits of these new, more casual mainstream consumers. [They] are more likely to view gaming as a discretionary luxury.”

Equally, though, once they are hooked on videogames might we expect the casual crowd to seek out games with a bit more depth and longevity, just in terms of bangs per buck? Maybe a shift from Solitaire to Final Fantasy will be the downturn’s lasting legacy for gaming.

Analysts Fear For Nintendo [Escapist]

Billed as a ‘real life treasure hunt’, Treasure Troves will scan the area around your DS and alerts you to the presence of ‘treasures’ either by on screen display or an audio alert if the DS is closed – allowing ‘passive’ play when you are just wandering around.

Leingang says that testing the game has actually changed the way he experiences his home town.

“I take walks frequently,” he explains, “and all of a sudden I’m doing stupid things, just laughing at myself because I’m walking ten more feet to the left this time, or turning down this different street, or walking down the opposite side of the road. Even though I’m going down the same street, I’m on a different side now, facing a different direction. It’s so funny how much more I do actually see.”

Aspyr’s Treasure Troves To Use DS As ‘Real-Life Treasure Hunt’ [Gamasutra]

The food remains a mystery – if any readers want to translate the menu please do – but there do seem to be PCs there so we suspect a slight LAN party ambience. Maybe not the ideal venue for that anniversary dinner you promised your significant other.

There is a video clip from CCTV news, but that is currently being pounded by thousands of curious WoW fans – in the meantime you can see some pics via Dianping Reviews.

Warcraft restaurant opens in Beijing [WoW Insider]

No, not for Xmas – for reals. Connie Talbot: Over the Rainbow is some kind of musical karaoke game for the Nintendo Wii. Players will be able to sing along with Connie as well as.. do other stuff. It’s unclear at this stage.

As Kotaku’s token Brit I feel I ought to take some responsibility for this but I am happy to pass this particular buck to the American public. You bought her cover version of Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds, America – this whirlwind is yours to reap.

CONNIE TALBOT

No.1 Hot Single in the American Billboard Charts…..Nintendo Wii video game to follow this success..

December 2008, Stourbridge, England. Data Design Interactive – developers of the video game “Connie Talbot: Over the Rainbow” would like to congratulate Connie in breaking that most incredible barrier for British artists – the American Billboard charts – with her single ‘Three Little Birds’. It charted at No1, knocking Coldplay off the top spot.

The international stage now beckons for this young starlet who has had an astronomic rise to fame since featuring on the ITV “Britain’s Got Talent” TV show. She has already appeared on major US TV shows such as Oprah Winfrey and Ellen, touching the hearts of all that hear her sing.

This awareness in Connie has prompted an unprecedented demand for information about the soon to be released video game “Connie Talbot: Over the Rainbow” available on Nintendo Wii. The video game features 15 tracks, including stunning renditions of John Lennon’s “Imagine”, “Any Dream Will Do”, “What a Wonderful World” and Bob Marley’s reggae classic “Three Little Birds”. Players will be able to sing along with Connie in the fantastic karaoke mode, or with other friends or family members in multiplayer fun.

The public first met Connie in 2007 when she came 2nd in the Britains got talent show. Since then, Connie’s popularity has grown – after success in the UK of her debut album ‘Over The Rainbow’, she stormed Asia going gold in four countries and Platinum in S Korea. European tours are underway, and a US deal is already under her belt – Connie is taking the world by storm! Connie takes everything in her stride. She has already claimed 2 World records (according to the Guinness Book of Records) for the youngest artist ever in the charts, and the youngest artist ever to receive a Gold disc.

Data Design Interactive is part of Green Solutions Ltd (GSL) which manages the production of interactive products for the entertainment industry. From game design, development and publishing on PC and Console. GSL owns the popular MYTH MAKERS and KIDZ SPORTS brands and the publishing rights to the GODS development system. We control a number of studios which specialize in key areas. Data Design Interactive develops and publishes, and is a licensed publisher for Sony Playstation, Nintendo and Microsoft, Artworld Studios for computer animation and Advergaming is the market leader for in game advertising and custom games. Popcorn Arcade www.popcorn-arcade.com is the brand name for our family friendly, value priced Wii range.

Thanks to French developers Eversim, PC gamers will be able to play along with the new Prez in Commander in Chief – a geo-political sim that launches on Inauguration Day (January 20th)

The game promises to model the economy, energy, national security, terrorism, and “all things politics”. You can even assemble a Cabinet by ‘building’ politicians from a collection of personality types and attitudes – not unlike the way focus groups mould our real political masters, one supposes.

“Inaugural” Video Game Puts Players in Obama’s Shoes [Appscout]

The main reason, though? World of Warcraft, obviously. At least, that’s the opinion of Federal Communications Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate. In a speech to the Practicing Law Institute last week she cited a recent FCC survey,

“You might find it alarming that one of the top reasons for college drop-outs in the U.S. is online gaming addiction – such as World of Warcraft – which is played by 11 million individuals worldwide”

FCC Commissioner Terms WoW a Leading Cause of College Dropouts [Game Politics]