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Games improve your memory. Research has proven that people who play games have higher levels of concentration than those who don’t. Games help develop strategic thinking. Games help surgeons improve hand-eye coordination skills. Managers leverage games to help build and develop team dynamics at work.

BULLSHIT!

This one believes claims like these hold about as much water as the allegations that games inspire violent and psychotic acts. It’s a simple fact, that the roles games play in our lives are the roles we choose to assign to them, just like the roles movies, books or music play! Games are a means of entertainment, a story-telling medium, and by their own right, works of art in the interactive space. Analyzing their contribution to society from a utilitarian perspective is just a vain attempt to hook the nay-sayers in, and dispel (VERY widely held) notions that games are “a waste of time” and “meant for kids”. Honorable intentions for sure, but this just ain’t the right way to go about it!

Hit the jump for more of this drivel.

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Chuck. Ex-Stanford. 20-something. Doesn’t have a girlfriend. Supervisor of the “Nerd Herd” at a Buy More by day. Gears of War pwner by night. Sounds familiar? Dive right in.

Oh, also a US national security “asset”.

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Ever had an Archimedean moment when you were on the seat, only to find out - when you pop back into the real world - that someone else has screamed “Eureka!” with their towels on? For this author, Masq is one such no-one-could-have-thought-of-this (other than flying cars, Star Wars-esque holographic communication, reusable space planes and oh, apple doused in cheese) that kept rolling around noisily in his head till good old Krishnan pointed out that someone more industrious had taken care of it already. When we learnt she had made it to PC Gamer’s list of 100 Best Games Ever, we were even more jea…intrigued!

Masq is - to oversimplify - an interactive graphic novel played in the first-person and follows the trials of The Nameless You, head of a fashion firm about to unveil a new line called - well - Masq. The show’s up in a few days, and you have to secure a good bit of money to make sure your work is seen on TV. It starts off as a simple matter of either securing a bank loan, or working out a deal with your wife’s boss. But just like in real life, something as simple and momentary as sipping coffee for a while longer can have dire (and we mean DIRE) consequences; among other things like if you bought cookies or not, are you dipping that cookie in the coffee or munching it straight, how much sugar you put in it, how noisily are you sipping on that cup…. hey STOP it already!

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The episodic experiment began in mid-2006 with Half-Life 2: Episode One and SiN: Episodes - Emergence. Grand stories were told about how episodic gaming would mark a major shift in the way games are developed and delivered. All fine and dandy, but a year and a half since all the grand posing, where exactly do we stand?

WARNING (and Disclaimer): Personal opinions, long sentences and an abrupt ending to follow!

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Now if you’re done collecting your jaw…

With the madness of September and October behind us, one would have hoped to find some time to sit down and breathe. But do the folks at Crytek love to prove us wrong! Crysis is due out November 16, while the single-player demo was supposed to flood gamers’ desktops with happiness way back on the-day-nothing-happened. Fortunately, the demo finally found its way to the light, on the 26th of October.

The Multiplayer demo had slipped out with much less fanfare a few weeks ago. Concerns were raised over graphics and performance, and dark clouds were beginning to gather in gamers’ minds: Was the game over-hyped? Will the factors of the Valenzetti Equation never change? Are we all doomed to die and burn in hell?! The answers lie ahead… Some of them, at least.

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Yes, yes, we know we’re a bit late, but we just couldn’t stop playing the accursed thing. Here then, is the first part of a series of reviews on the greatest gaming package 2007 has to offer, starting with Half-Life 2: Episode Two. Our second biggest Half-Life fan(atic) here, Dev, gets down and dirty with the flagship game in the Orange Box, as he takes a nice little drive through White Forest and saves the day all over again. Hit the jump for the official review and some absolutely droolable screenshots.

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