According to a recent study from non-profit organization Common Sense Media, more than half of the children in the United States ages 8 and under have played console video games. The study states that 51% of children in the U.S. ages 8 and under have had one console gaming experience, including 44 percent of children more »

Roku officially announced the updated Roku 2 streaming box back towards the end of July and at that time it was confirmed to be coming with support for games. More specifically, it was announced with Angry Birds. Of course, we also knew that Roku was planning to release more games in time, and as of more »

The Supreme Court on Monday refused the state of California to prevent the sale or rental of violent video games to children. Despite claiming that new video games promote violence and aggressive behavior in youth, the court stated that governments lack the authority to “restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed.” The 9th more »

Science fiction turns real life with the Force Trainer by Uncle Milton. With it, players manipulate a sphere inside a 10-inch-tall clear training tower by using a headset that actually uses brain waves. No…I’m not kidding. The headset reads your brain waves using EEG technology, and allows the movement of the sphere depending on how more »

Microsoft has certainly been the charmer at E3 this year. People went gaga over their new Project Natal (as well they should!), they announced a way to deliver movies in 1080p format…no disks and no waiting for download. And also, they worked with the uber-social networking site of the time, Facebook, to have it work more »

Weirdness and technology go together like peanut butter and jelly. President Obama’s not the only powerful person using social networking. Pope Benedict XVI is down with the kids and is now has a presence on Facebook. You know what he’ll find there? Environmental groups who will be talking about a plan to save the earth using paint. He might even find groups dedicated to the new Punch-Out!! game for the Nintendo Wii that are baffled by Nintendo’s chocolate venture.

It looks like Netflix, who has taken flak in the past based on the fact that its name does not stir up images of DVDs by-mail, is finally moving into position to live up to its name. Right now Netflix users pay their subscription for access to Netflix’s tremendous library of DVDs by mail, with the bonus feature of access to streaming content thrown in. However since the launch of its partnership with Microsoft, which brought streaming content to the Xbox 360, Netflix has experienced unprecedented growth.

Many people generally associate Black Friday as a time to buy big electronics such as HDTVs, GPSs, gaming consoles, computers, etc. But, it is also a time to buy interesting little gadgets to make your children, or even yourself, happy. I decided to take a look at a lesser-known store, KB Toys, and see what they were offering this Black Friday. I didn’t go straight for their big stuff, but rather their smaller gadgets, and here’s what I found pretty interesting.

If you have a gamer on your shopping list, you just may want to check out this sale at Newegg.com. They have the Logitech MX518 on sale for only $29.99 (after mail in rebate) with free shipping.

The MX518 utilizes the award-winning MX Optical Engine. This Engine gives you a major dpi-resolution at 1600. Because of this resolution, you get pixel-by-pixel accuracy in your positioning, which obviously does wonders for your game. More stats after the break.

Not only is Microsoft wanting to be one of the new boys in town in the social networking arena, with their new Microsoft Live platform; they are also planning to muscle in on the digitally distributed PC gaming market.

General manager for Windows Live, Chris Early, confirmed in an interview with ShackNews that Microsoft does indeed have concrete plans to dole out full PC titles. They will be doing this through their Marketplace application, and with this move, will be attempting to play with the big boy in the PC gaming realm, Steam. Read about Microsoft’s plans after the break.

If you didn’t already know, the Mars Phoenix mission came to a close yesterday. You may remember the Mars Phoenix as the robot that found water on Mars over the summer. When the Phoenix outlived the original estimates, those in charge pushed it a little further until it finally stopped communicating with Earth yesterday. Normally this might make an interesting story about the fact that it died, but would really only depress those that were involved.

This time was a bit different, though. The Mars Phoenix was giving updates through its time through Twitter. Through Twitter the Phoenix told us how its mission was going, when he went into safe mode, instances when its solar panels were blocked by a sandstorm, and even answered questions that other users posed. Continued after the break.

You don’t even have to be illegally sharing your files to have the gaming firms after you apparently. Just ask Gill and Ken Murdoch.

They’re senior citizens who don’t even play computer games and had never even heard the term “peer-to-peer” until they got a letter in the mail telling them they were being accused of sharing the game Race07 by makers Atari. Their case was eventually dropped, but there are still hundreds of people this is happening to according to a Which? Computing magazine investigation. More details after the break.