Owens’ built his “Avatar Machine” costume to “[replicate] the aesthetics and visuals of third person gaming, allowing the user to view themselves as a virtual character in real space via a head mounted interface.”

Which means… yeah, you guessed it. “The system potentially allows for a diminished sense of social responsibility, and could lead the user to demonstrate behaviours normally reserved for the gaming environment.”

That’s all well and good, but we just want to know one thing: Can you make us one, Marc?

Avatar Machine [Marc Owens, via GameSetWatch]

The Nintendo-funded study, led by the National Institute of Health and Nutrition in Tokyo, measured the metabolic equivalent values (METs) generated by participating in Wii Fit and Wii Sports activities. METs are a standard way of measuring energy expenditure, with moderate intensity exercise defined as any activity with METs of 3.0 or above.

By far the most effective exercise in the study was Wii Fit’s single-arm stand, which at 5.6 EMTs was just under the AHA’s definition of vigorous activity, which kicks in at 6.0.

The loser? Wii Sports Golf didn’t make the cut, falling in at 2.0 METs, which isn’t really surprising when you consider that most of your exercise in golf comes from walking and drinking.

Here are the results as they stand:

Wii Fit Single-Arm Stand: 5.6 METs
Wii Sports Boxing: 4.5 METs
Wii Sports Tennis: 3.0 METs
Wii Sports Baseball: 3.0 METs
Wii Sports Golf: 2.0 METs

So aside from single-arm standing, the study proves that hitting imaginary people is a healthy way to spend your day. Good to know!

Nintendo Wii may provide actual exercise: study [Reuters]

The study’s results imply that video games draw on physiological mechanisms in ways similar to warfare, where testosterone-fuelled aggression provides a strong advantage. Researchers had tried studying it on subjects in sports, but the natural production of testosterone by physical exertion clouded the results of the study.

In this one, researchers pitted 14 three-player teams against one another in Unreal Tournament 2004’s Onslaught—a capture-the-flag mode—and laid a $US45 bounty for winning team players vs. $US15 for losers. To make sure they knew what they were doing, they let the teams practice for a week.

Afterward, they found that winning teams’ testosterone levels spiked immediately after the tournament, especially in those who contributed most to the win. When team members played one another, in death matches with similar cash incentives, the best performing males typically produced less testosterone than those they defeated.

“In a serious out-group competition you can kill all your rivals and you’re better for it,” said David Geary, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Missouri. But when competing against others in order establish a social hierarchy, annihilation doesn’t make sense. “You can’t alienate your in-group partners, because you need them,” he said.

Gamers Are More Aggressive to Strangers [New Scientist]

The centres for Disease Control examined 500 adults across all majority ages (18 and up) in Seattle, because its Internet usage is highest in the United States and it’s one of the largest media markets. Forty-five percent of respondents reported playing video games. Of them, CDC found that gamers’ average age has gone up to a what-am-I-doing-with-my-life 35, and body condition, health and emotional state have followed suit.

All is not lost; girl gamers my age have it worse. CDC found they reported “greater depression and lower health status than female non players.” Unsurprisingly, “male gamers reported a higher BMI and a greater reliance on the Internet than non-gamers.

“Health risk factors, specifically a higher BMI and a larger number of poor mental-health days, differentiated adult video game players from non-gamers,” he said.

“Video game players also reported lower extraversion, consistent with research on adolescents that linked video-game playing to a sedentary lifestyle and overweight status.”

Feel like crap yet? You should, according to this study.

Video Gamers ‘Older Than Thought’ [BBC]

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Congress says that eight percent of those who play video games – one in 12 – show signs of addiction. However, the study noted that “video game addiction” is not itself a disorder but “an expression of deeper issues” in those involved in the study.

An earlier study, later criticised for how it selected its participants, found about 8.5 percent of players aged 8 to 18 were “pathological gamers.” The study from Down Under covered all ages.

“Their whole lives revolve around this activity and there certainly seems to be a problem there – there is an addiction,” said Vladan Starcevic, an associate producer on the study. “And it seems to us that these people seem to … have other mental health issues, and it seems excessive video game playing is a manifestation of these underlying problems.”

Again, 8 percent doesn’t sound like a bad number, until you consider the whole numbers. If eight percent of U.S. kids were addicted to anything, there would be treatment centres – or someone trying to make money off it.

Analyze That: Only 8% of Gamers Can Be Considered Addicted [Softpedia News]

A prof supplies data showing exposure to violent video games has “no significant relationship” to mass shootings. In other news, exposure to “Dancing with the Stars” has no significant relationship to train robberies.

Before you go all “No shit, professor, I could have told you that,” realise the guy is trying to answer the question credibly and completely and with empirical data, which is a hell of a lot more intellectually honest than people who immediately connect those dots on talking head shows in the news.

Anyway, Christopher Ferguson of Texas A&M International University, published in the latest Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, says despite more than a decade’s worth of information there is no link between violent crimes and violent games, even though every time a perp’s game habit is brought up it’s taken for granted.

Instead, Ferguson looks at the conditions that create a moral panic and often drag video games in for the ritual beating. And he implies that this outrage is more than a little goosed by researchers seeking that next grant check.

“It has been observed that a small group of researchers have been most vocal in promoting the anti-game message, oftentimes ignoring research from other researchers, or failing to disclose problems with their own research. As some researchers have staked their professional reputation on anti-game activism, it may be difficult for these researchers to maintain scientific objectivity regarding the subject of their study. Similarly, it may be argued that granting agencies are more likely to provide grant money when a potential problem is identified, rather than for studying a topic with the possibility that the outcome may reveal that there is nothing to worry about.”

Researcher: No Link Between Violent Games & School Shootings [GamePolitics via Gamasutra]

Put on your tinfoil hats boys and girls, it’s time for another study that proves something about video games and the people who play them.

A new study shows that regular gamers are more likely to drink alcohol or use drugs than others, and that gaming deteriorates relationships and that the people who play them to suffer low self-esteem issues.

Oh, did I mention that the study was done by four professors at Brigham Young University by researching the habits of 800 students through an online survey?

Why should that matter?

BYU is a private university owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which requires that their students adhere to a strict honour code which mandates behaviour in line with Mormon teachings. That means no extra-marital sex, or use of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, tea or coffee.

The fact that the study comes out of a university with such a strict code of conduct doesn’t mean that the findings or interpretation of the survey results are skewed, but it is certainly something that should be kept in mind.

I’m also not a big fan of what appears to be their surveying method: Having people fill out a form online after receiving an invitation or reading a newspaper ad.

Computer game players ‘more likely to drink, ignore family and have low self-esteem’ [Telegraph]

MTV decided to find out. Using the Wii’s Nintendo Channel – which tracks the playing habits of 1.6 million Americans – they’ve yanked out some data on what games you’re playing, and for how long.

The most-played game on the console (at least among those 1.6 million)? That one’s easy. It’s Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the average player (just the average player!) putting in 64 hours and 51 minutes. Or, in layman’s terms, more than a lot of people put into Oblivion.

Second is Guitar Hero III, at an average of 58 hours & 41 minutes, while Twilight Princess came in third at 46 hours, 29 minutes. Perhaps the most interesting (and sad) of the lot, though, is #13 on the list: Okami. It says the average time spent playing Okami has been a relatively paltry 19 hours & 43 minutes, meaning that’s a hell of a lot of people who don’t even get halfway through the game before calling it quits.

Shame.

Wii Software Stats January Update: ‘Animal Crossing’ Is A Beast, ‘Sonic’ Whimpers [MTV]

The study, which had a focus group of elderly men and women playing Big Huge Games’ 2003 RTS Rise of Nations, found that the participants showed improvements in several mental tests after spending time playing the game. Areas significantly improved included the ability to switch between different tasks, working memory, and general reasoning ability. Short term memory of visual cues and the ability to identify rotated objects were also enhanced, albeit to a lesser extent.

As the child of two parents falling within the study’s age group, I now know exactly what to get my parents for Christmas.

Video game improves seniors’ mental skills [Times of the Internet]

The study goes on to conclude that the $20 billion dollar PC gaming market, predicted to rise to $US34 billion by 2011, was bigger, worth more money, was growing faster and had better tech than the console market could provide. Okay then! PC gamers in one corner, console gamers in the other. Ready, fight!

Study Claims PC Market is the Largest [Edge]