And you thought that women are shopaholics. A recent study by mobile social network site MocoSpace revealed that, in terms of virtual goods, male social gamers outspend female social gamers nine to one. In fact, not only do male social gamers spend more on virtual goods, but that most of the virtual goods bought in-game were from men.

Our giveaway contest for codes for Turbine Points officially ended on May 15, 2011, and we have chosen our lucky winners.

A few weeks ago we spoke with Turbine as they celebrated the four-year anniversary of Lord of the Rings Online. During that interview, we also discussed the results of adding a free-to-play (F2P) format to their existing subscription business model and of what we can expect from E3.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum will have an exhibit called The Art of Video Games. It will feature a selected group of games that best represents the history and evolution of video games over the last forty years. The kicker was that the Smithsonian left the selecting of games up to the public, who were encouraged to vote for the games they felt were worthy enough to be displayed in the museum. Here are the games that voters have selected to appear in the exhibit.

The book provides a fun, fascinating look at fifty years of video games written in a way that both gamers and non-gamers can enjoy.

Turbine has kindly given Gamertell eight (8) codes for Turbine Points, worth about $5 each. These Turbine Points are used in LOTRO to purchase in-game items that include cosmetic clothing, quest packs, stat boosters, and even mounts. Gamertell in turn will be giving away these codes to eight readers.

It’s not too surprising that in the midst of the PSN debacle, that George Hotz’s (AKA Geohot) name would come up at least once. After all, the hacker has been embroiled in a legal battle with Sony for the last several months. However, on his personal blog, Hotz strongly denies that he had anything to do with the PSN security breach.

This week Turbine revealed to Gamertell on what to expect in the coming months from Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) . The game had just released a massive free content update about a month ago (March 2011), so I was surprised to hear that there are plans to release another content update in May 2011. Although the update will not be as large as the previous one, it still sounds like players will be kept mighty busy from now until the expected Fall 2011 release of Rise of Isengard, a full-on expansion.

A few days ago I wrote an opinion article on an political ad I found in the paper sponsored by pro-cannabis organization MorePot. The ad encouraged “Stoners, Potheads, and Gamers” to vote and support the legalization of marijuana. I wondered why the ad specifically included gamers in their ad and got in further contact with MorePot’s Dave Hodges, who kindly answered my questions via email.

This weekend marks the four-year anniversary of developer Turbine’s The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO). Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic novels, this MMORPG players follow a few steps behind the journeys of Frodo, Gandalf, and the rest of the Fellowship. I had the opportunity to speak in a conference call with Communications Director Adam Mersky and Producer Aaron Campbell on what it’s like to have lived and breathed the world of Middle-earth for the last four years and what may be in store for the next four. Also, we get a sneak peak at what to expect from Rise of Isengard, the upcoming and highly anticipated next expansion.