Picking the right college affects everything. It decides whether you get a good job, good money, get married, and now, whether you’ll beat BioShock before the summer.

The Global Gaming League ranked the top 10 best colleges for video gaming. They ranked schools based on student population, techiness, and the quality of internet connections. Surprisingly, no Ivy Leagues made it in to the top 10 which I can only blame on prejudice against rich, white kids.

Ironically, Digipen Institute of Technology, with one of the best video game programs in the country, was number five. Other schools like UCLA (#4) and University of Southern California (#6) are also very well regarded academic schools. So I say this is proof video games is good for education. Yes, is. (For the full list, check after the jump).

Compared to further research by Anderson Analytics and Pew Research, half of students surveyed admit gaming cuts into their studying. Only nine percent use games to avoid schoolwork, and 83 percent play less than six hours a week. Not surprisingly, male students played for fun while female students played cause of boredom.

For now, I doubt schools will be advertising their attractiveness to gamers. But I wonder if, much like party schools, students will care about which schools care about its student’s tech geekiness. Just always remember. Independent studies are your best friend. Study the history of Grand Theft Auto. Your homework: beat Grand Theft Auto III over the weekend. Complete 100 taxi missions and get extra credit.

Continue reading…

Four months ago I wrote about Techdirt.com’s offer to give up to $1 million to anyone who could prove the Business Software Alliance was really giving out their own reward of $1 million for people who turned in software pirates.

Basically, the BSA made headlines back in June for promising up to $1 million for snitching on companies for using pirated software. The BSA’s fine print allowed them and only them to decide how much money to pay out and a CNET reporter found the BSA hasn’t paid out more than $5,000 to a single person.

So since Techdirt apparently has money to burn, they’re offering their own up to $1 million prize and wanted to remind everyone the prize it still up for grabs. So everyone, snitch on your company. It might make you a couple of bucks.

Will I get a reward for turning myself in for steal gum when I was five?

Bionic Woman has barely flexed her new limbs and already spin-off speculation whirls. Isaiah Washington, who plays mentor and former Special Forces solider Antonio Pope, told the New York Post NBC was already considering a spin-off for his character. Fast work for a guy who only a few months ago got fired off of Grey’s Anatomy for homophobic comments.

While this is idle speculation by a guy who might just be looking raise his own stock, it’s hilarious to think about any legitimate spin-off when the second episode of the parent series hasn’t even aired yet. It’s not like Bionic Woman really burned up the ratings. In fact, Bionic Woman’s first episode lost its time slot to a spin-off of, yes, Grey’s Anatomy.

I’ll write this off to shameless self-promotion on the part of Washington. Of course, I’ve helped propagate the rumor by blogging about it, so I’m part to blame. So don’t tell anyone else about this, okay? It’s just between us.

Sometimes there’s too many insults to spew in one conversation. So Yahtzee, with a pleasing British accent, provides scathing video commentary on the popular topics of the week. Working for Escapist Magazine, Yahtzee’s Zero Punctuation video column is a highlight of my week, even when I don’t agree with him (he found criticisms of BioShock, the meanie). This week he bashes Halo 3 (see after the jump). Check out his other videos too if you want some of the best and most hilariously scathing video game video commentary.
Continue reading…

In a wonderful example of corporate synergy, everyone’s favorite tomb raider will give up Earth ruins for a time long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away.

This November, the two hilarious Lego Star Wars games get collected into one next-gen edition with new levels, characters, and a bonus from the next Lego video game series. Indiana Jones, who will appear in his own Lego game next year, is an unlockable character in Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. Can say this is a demanded edition, but it’s awesome nonetheless. Now if only we can get Lego Batman in this game, I’d be all set.

While I still get carded buying mature rated video games, I am far from ready to have kids of my own, but nevertheless Geekalicio.us has a humorous and valid list about why geeks would be good fathers. I am angry though that “spreading the language of the Klingons” was not #1.

So all that talk about Apple beating the iPhone hackers. Well, that didn’t last long. Already a method for downgrading the new firmware has been released, showing users a way to return their iPhone to the original firmware. Now it’s not perfect since you can’t use the iPhone as a phone, but come on, one step at a time. It might be harder to get phone functions back for a while, but Wi-Fi still works as well as all the third-party apps.

Though this would all be easier if Apple just let third-party companies easily create applications for the iPhone. People are doing it for free already. Why fight something that only makes your product worth more.

In between marathon Halo 3 bouts, some nit-picky pixel counters discovered Halo 3 only runs in 640p natively, upscaling to 720p. Only two other Xbox 360 games have lowered their resolution below 720p, Perfect Dark Zero and Project Gotham Racing 3, in order to maintain acceptable frame rates. Halo 3 is a true disappointment since the marquee name on the Xbox 360 can’t even maintain the base standards for the 360. And Halo 3 doesn’t even have the best graphics. Bungie, the makers of Halo 3, confirmed the lower resolution claiming this was required to support the HDR lighting effects and a high frame rate.

To me, this is embarrassing for the Xbox 360. 640p versus 720p is almost impossible to discern, but forecasts problems in the 360’s future. Here only in the console’s second year, a game with far from the best graphics for the system is taxing the system. The Playstation 3 has dealt with frame rate controversy blamed on development time, not system limitations.

Bungie’s response to the pixel controversy isn’t without rebuttal.

We would ignore it entirely were it not for the internet’s propensity for drama where none exists. In fact the reason we haven’t mentioned this before in weekly updates, is the simple fact that it would have distracted conversation away from more important aspects of the game, and given tinfoil hats some new gristle to chew on as they catalogued their toenail clippings.

Not the nicest way of saying 80p doesn’t matter. But I’m sure this won’t stop anyone from buying Halo 4.

Cracked.com has an uplifting sort of top 10 list of the best cartoons for kids. These cartoons, filled with cuddly animals and exciting superheroes, teach kids valuable lessons as well as entertain. But not all cartoons are so innocent. This top 10 list looks at the animated movies that will traumatize kids. And while there are some animated staples on this list, you will never guess what number one is. And after you see it, well, words cannot describe it.

Continue reading…

Within days hackers cracked the iPhone like the glass touch screen rolled over by car tires. Apple released a new firmware that freezes hacked or modded iPhones preventing users from accessing programs or services, possibly permanently.

The mainstream press has followed the thus far short give-and-take between Apple and iPhone hackers, and this sudden firmware update looks like a powerful win for Apple. But this is only because the mainstream hasn’t seen hackers battle and beat corporate America over and over again.

Video game consoles have been fighting a back-and-forth war between hackers freeing up console firmware. The console maker than updates the firmware, often for the sole purpose of blocking the hackers. But within a few weeks, a new hacked firmware gets released. Nothing is perfect.

Apple will discover the same painful challenge. In a few weeks or less, this new iPhone firmware will be cracked and people will once again be able to customize their iPhone until the next firmware gets released.

But as Between the Lines points out, Apple’s battle with hackers might cause more bad than good:

We do know none of these hacks to unlock the iPhone would be necessary if we had carrier choice. What’s the cost differential between adding a few carriers to the iPhone and wasting time developing software to outflank hackers?

Even with an extremely successful launch for the iPhone, Apple has started seeing their power getting the better of them. The mass of attention on their products, from the media to the early adopters to the general public, means little information can hide. Most people will never know or care that Sony blocks PSP hackers every chance it gets. But Apple battling hackers will get attention and at some point, the once sweet Apple might get too many sour stories affecting the taste. Apple thrives on rapid evangelical early adopters. After forcing users into one phone service, announcing a major price cut early, and now freezing people’s phone, there might not be enough of a good thing left to adopt.