scope: 12 action video games made from 1996 to 2006

The UK video game industry was ecstatic today after the Chancellor of the Exchequer (akin to the US Secretary of the Treasury) announced that the government would make tax credits available to UK video game developers in the next budget.

CAMBRIDGE, MA, Mar 22, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- "The gaming industry is a harsh environment in which to start and to grow a business. It's risky, hits-driven, and traditionally receives minimal support from governments, banks, incubators, and most modern institutions devoted to nurturing new companies. How then does one survive and, ultimately, thrive? Thursday, April 5, 2012, the 4th Annual MIT Sloan Business and Gaming (BiG) Conference will gather industry insiders, independent developers, gaming enthusiasts, venture capitalists, attorneys, academics, and students from across MIT and other top-tier colleges for a day-long exploration into the business side of the gaming industry." MIT BiG is being held on the MIT Sloan campus in Cambridge, MA the day before PAX East -- one of the country's largest events celebrating gaming culture -- which takes place in Boston, making it convenient for participants to attend both conferences.

A sequel to a popular game crowdfunded via Kickstarter

"Jane McGonigal's Super Better: A game for your health (video) The renowned game designer sits down with SmartPlanet's Sumi Das to talk about her new online social game, which debuts today and promises to help people build their personal resilience against health ailments."

Largest public study of video game playing conducted by University of Vancouver researcher

"For the University of Pennsylvania, the 2011-2012 academic year has been dubbed "The Year of the Game." The University's various departments are all encouraged to weave games into curricula. The folks at Penn Nursing School, however, are taking it to a whole other level." Call for healthcare related games.

Posted in News, Business, Government & Regulation, Transplant PITTSBURGH-A new video game called "Doctor Transplant" will go live and be available as a free download on the Apple App store in April, and Facebook shortly after. Developed by a professor at University of Pittsburgh's school of Public Health to encourage organ donations.

Review of John Radoff's lecture at Becker College, February 2012

Whether copying of game ideas has become ubiquitous especially in the mobile app environment

SAN FRANCISCO, March 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- UBM TechWeb Game Network's 2012 Game Developers Conference® (GDC), the world's largest and longest-running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games, hosted a record-breaking 22,500 game industry professionals last week at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, a 17% increase in attendance over the previous year's event.

"HTML5 is the new shiny thing, and there's a lot of evangelism going on about it. The improvement process is rapid (too much so? that's another blog post), and browser vendors are trying to get the game makers in bed with them, some with means of money, some with fame."

Her name is Angelina: she runs on a heavy-duty Mac server and she's building some addictive computer games for you. Angelina (a tail-recursive acronym for "A Novel Game-Evolving Labrat I've Named ANGELINA") is a project in evolutionary computing by Michael Cook, a PhD candidate at Imperial College in the UK.

"Scaleform 4.1 for all aspects of video game development"

The University of Utah's latest prototype of a new kind of video game controller features typical thumb joysticks (white) but also has a round, red "tactor" in the center of each joystick to tug gently at the thumb tips.

Michael Merzenich has a plan for how to convince sceptics of the worth of his brain-training video games: prove that the software can help people with schizophrenia.

Game that teaches you how to code games, among other uses. Received significant Kickstarter funding. "Code Hero is a co-op first-person science shooter where you use the code gun to manipulate code. Your code gun can copy code like new items and fire it like ammunition to do new things. You can edit new code to do anything you can imagine."

"Wake Forest - Science researchers, inspired by the graphics used to create video games, have used the technology to create advanced imaging systems to examine cancerous cells. The research may pave the way for new "designer drugs" to combat certain forms of cancer."

Game review."Full disclosure: I fell asleep about a half hour into my first attempt to play Journey, the latest experience from Flower creators thatgamecompany. I'm not entirely sure this wasn't the intended effect of the endless stretches of lonely desert sands and dirge-like music that characterize the beginning of the game."

"Gamers don't just play Nicholas Graham's new video game, Liberi Live – they design it. While one player is rolling and bouncing a ball over obstacles and collecting coins another player can control the course design. The two interact together and with a touch of a button, obstacles or ramps can be added to completely change the game."