Via ArsTechnica - New Zealand studies video game violence.

Its interesting that this research is supported by the Royal Society of NZ via their Marsden Grant program.

Coincidentally one of my best friends ('Hi!' Shaun) is also a recipient of a Marsden Grant for this - "How small is a liquid? Precursors to melting in nanoparticles".

I can't claim to understand it but I can fully appreciate the importance of having your work acknowledged by New Zealands most prestegious research awards.

I'm a huge fan of the Homeworld series - Homeworld 2 is a work of godlike genius.

From the same creator (Relic) comes Dawn of War. If you fancy playing at armchair general in a futuristic setting then its definitely for you. The single player scenarios are pretty rudimentary - minimal tactics required. Most of the fun is tool-ing up your troops with heavy weaponry and then setting them on the opposition - then watch the sparks fly in glorious 3D.

Some additional information on Real Time Games head over to RTSC (Real Time Strategic Carnage).

From the ever brilliant Arstechnica comes a definitive History of gaming through the various genres. Pretty interesting stuff. Whats amazing is that fundementally little has changed in each genre apart from snazzier graphics and added complexity. I also have to take issue with the ommission of Mule (in the Real Time Strategy section) and Boulderdash (in the Platform section). Or Wizball, Sentinal or Mercenary - each of which would need to go into a final 'Truly Original' category.

And just for the sake of nostaligia - check out these remakes - Paradroidz (Paradroid in 3D Java), Head Over Heels via Retro-Remakes. For those of us that remember gaming on an Apple II, Spectrum or Commodore64.

And I've just discovered Wikipedia has articles on most of them too (try finding that in Brittanica) - Boulderdash, Mercenary, M.U.L.E., Elite, Wizball.

The official Sony PSP site is up. Sony still have the best design/ergonomics even if Nintendor did beat them to the market with the Nintendo DS.