Yes! Finally, we can put aside little misdemeanors like the Atomic Bomb and Global Warming — science is A-Ok! New research from the University of Hong Kong claims to show that playing video games is a form of exercise.

Not just physical games like Wii Fit, mind you — even regular thumb-based gaming can help you fight the flab.

Before you all rush off and cancel your gym memberships, bear in mind that this report was in UK tabloid The Sun as opposed to, say, New Scientist or Nature.

The key may lie with this quote -

Tests showed holding a control and moving your arms to navigate characters burned 40 per cent more calories than doing nothing.

Well, ok. Calorie-Count.com estimates that you burn 68 calories an hour just sitting around breathing and growing hair. An extra 40% of that comes to around 95 calories an hour. A short walk will burn around 275 calories - around the amount found in a Snickers - which might explain why you see so few games consoles in your local gym.

Computer Games Can Help You Stay Slim [The Sun]

The debate over RMT (real money transactions, or real money trade, or “Hey Mom! Can I borrow the credit card? I need ten gold and a mount!”) has been going on for quite some time, with both sides firmly entrenched in the foxholes of their position. I’m not here to attempt to change anyone’s mind, but this has to be the most interesting (and ridiculous) thing I’ve seen so far…interesting and ridiculous enough to make me break a long-standing rule on this site, and actually link to a gold-seller’s website. I’m going to do this only because you’re not going to believe me until you see this.

A gold-seller is giving away open beta keys for Warhammer Online.

Now, normally this would provoke a few cries of “What th’?!?,” a few comments along the lines of “They just bought 50 copies of the game to use for their ‘business’, and are giving away the beta key part,” or “Cool! Where do I sign up?”.

I’ve seen all three.

However, even that isn’t what I’m in complete amazement about here. No, the fact that’s caused my brain to melt is the fact that this gold seller is also selling open beta keys for $23.99.

Yes, that was enough to make me link to their site.

Now, the page linked to is somewhat unclear; I can’t tell if you’re actually buying a pre-order, or just a beta key. However, either one would be odd in the extreme:

• If you’re buying a pre-order, you’re getting a $50USD game for $23.99USD
• If you’re buying a beta key only, then EA Mythic is going to have their guts for garters.

My theory is that they’re basically buying a full pre-order for everyone that places a $23.99USD order, but only giving them the beta key. Then, they can use the “live” account to grind their gold for resale, having basically gotten it for half-price. Of course, it could just simply be a pre-order payment for a legitimate purchase of the game, like the $1 you can pay for a preorder at Target, or the $5 at Gamestop, etc.

Yeah, ri-i-i-i-i-g-h-h-h-t.

I sent an email to their customer support asking just that question…does the $23.99 get you the entire game, or just the beta key? If you need me, I’ll be over in the corner holding my breath until I turn greenskin.

Scalpel... (beep) ...swab... (beep) ...WiiMote... (beeeeeeeeeeeep)

The next time someone gives you grief about gaming rotting your mind and turning you into a gormless automaton, send them the link below with a dexterous flick of your wrist.

Research presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association shows that playing video games can have a positive effect on manual dexterity. In a study of 33 surgeons specialising in Laparoscopy those who played games performed surgical procedures around 27% faster, with 37% fewer errors than non-gamers.

Get that stitched, Jack Thompson. Preferably by a nurse who enjoys gaming.

Video games not all bad, psychologists say [Yahoo news]

I’d like to throw something out for fun, so just hang with me for a minute; we’ll return to MMO-land momentarily. Recently, we’ve had a spate of “cryptological discoveries” in the news:

• The Montauk Monster
• A Texas deputy filming what some think is a chupacabra
• A press conference this Friday to annouce that a bigfoot carcass was discovered in Georgia (the state, not the country at war with Russia)

Of course, it’s not that cut-and-dried:

• A film director claimed credit for the Montauk Monster (and of course, there’s no proof that’s true) as a viral marketing scheme for his new movie, Splinterheads, which makes sense only if you believe a movie about carnies would feature a bloated, naked animal carcass as a star. (Although, Rosie O’Donnell has been in a few movies, so anything’s possible.)
• A previous chupacabra sighting was theorized by animal experts to be a mix-breed wolf with mange.
• The Bigfoot carcass shows a striking similarity to this.

However, I had an odd thought…what if all three of these stories are in fact part of a viral marketing campaign…for Funcom’s The Secret World?

As I have said before, Age of Conan hasn’t been the only child of Funcom for the few years or so, it’s just been the only child that Poppa has talked about. The “black ops sheep” of the family has been The Secret World, but it hasn’t been shame that’s kept Funcom from discussing it.

Far from it.

The company (and rightly so) decided to devote their resources to AoC as the game drew closer to launch, with a promise from Lead Developer Ragnar Tornquist that the game would take center stage at some point after AoC had it’s feet under it.

This game has been shrouded in mystery since it first appeared in the Funcom financial statements (in the third quarter of 2005), from the cryptologically-based websites that initially announced the project on May 6, 2007, to a lack any specific details of the game itself, other than a few things:

• The game has been in development for three years.
• The game world has some connection to various myths and beliefs, such as the Illuminati, the Knights Templar and the “day the world ends on the Mayan calendar“.
• The Secret World team was diverted to the final crunch for AoC, so there’s been little news for months.

Beyond that…nothing. However, the fact that we don’t know a darn thing about this game leaves open the possibility (however small) that crypto-creatures play some part in the game, including things like Bigfoot and the chupacabra.

No, it’s not likely, but it is fun to think about. And let’s face it…this sounds right up Tornquist’s alley, since TSW started with a cryptological viral marketing campaign to begin with.

(By the way, the Montauk Monster is a dead raccoon carcass, the chupacabra is a deformed wolf-coyote hybrid with a skin disorder and an enormous freakin’ head, and the Bigfoot carcass is a stuffed costume in a Kenmore chest freezer. Or possibly not. Paris Hilton still has a career, so nothing is too weird for reality on this planet as far as I’m concerned.)

In my gaming career, I’ve belonged to more guilds than you can shake a gnome at, which is a lot of fun, and an activity I heartily recommend. I’ve formed more than my share, including the gang over at Alliance of Heroes, a group I formed in City of Heroes beta that is still going today (editor’s note: Hey guys!), and I’ve joined quite a few others when I didn’t feel the desire to form my own but still felt my dominant “social player” gene twanging.

This is the first time in my MMO career I’ve decided to play a game because of the formation of a new guild, however.

Heartless_ (over at Heartless_Gamer), Genda (The Groucy Gamer), JoBildo (he of the Hammer of Ten Tons and the Ramblings ), Rick (from /random) and Hud (from Hud’s Hideout), probably while drunkenly IM’ing each other one night, decided that the slurred suggestion “Hey, why don’ we form a blogg’rs guild for WAR?” was a great idea…

And thus, the Casualties of WAR were born.

It’s not limited to bloggers, however…if you’d like to laugh until you accidentally bio break, have a ball in WAR, and always wanted to play an MMO with me (and lord knows, that’s a hot ticket), we could be the group for you. And the best part is this…if you’re reading this, you’re invited!

Head over to the official forums, don’t break anything (or Genda will go mental…again), read the directions and follow them. That’s all it takes.

Now, thanks to this bunch, I have to go pre-order WAR. However, it’s not all rainbows out of puppy dogs’ asses in CoW land…Blackguard’s a Casuality, too. WAR-gankage because I keep misspelling his last name here coming in three…two…

Sanya Weathers has an interesting post up over at Eating Bees about the way some MMORPG developers interacting with their game’s community on forums. (Her “25 Point Drama” is both true and hilarious.)

As I’ve said before, I’m a 20+year veteran of broadcast radio, and the entire “devs should post too” argument has a parallel in our business.

To set up my credentials, I’ve won over twenty state and national awards for radio copywriting and commercial production; I’ve been published in various trade magazines on the subject of how to create effective radio ads; I’ve had a long, successful career…I’ve learned quite a bit about how to create an effective radio commercial.

I’ve also lost count of the number of “Mom and Pop” clients that have come into our station, purchased an advertising schedule, and then present the copy they’ve written and say “I’m a-gonna record this!”

Mind you, there are no absolutes, and sometimes they have in their hands an excellent piece of copy, and then do a fantastic job of recording that copy.

And then there’s the other 99.9999%.

When a client buys advertising with us, my goal is to make sure their ad is as effective as it can be for them. Notice I didn’t say “sounds the best,” “is really funny” or “has rockin’ music,” I said “as effective as it can be“. This is because my employment depends on repeat business, and if the first commercial I produce for a client doesn’t give them visible results in their business, they’ll spend their advertising budget somewhere else.

I have had more than one client look me in the eye while I’m trying to help them with their ad and say “I know my business better than you do; I built it from the ground up. I know what should be said about it better than you ever will, so we’ll do it my way.”

Well, in this particular situation, no, you don’t.

You definitely know more about YOUR business than I do, yes. But I know more about MY business than you, for the same reasons.

If a community manager tried to tell a development team how to design a game, write code or manage a server, they’d be treated to a hearty chorus of “What do you know about it? Shut up.”, and rightly so. They haven’t put the time, the effort, the blood, sweat and tears into learning those things that it takes to have an opinion on the subject.

However, because dealing with a community looks simple, for some reason some developers tend to think they know how to do a community manager’s job as well (if not better) than someone who’s put five, ten, even fifteen years of their life into learning how to do it properly.

Does this mean that developers shouldn’t interact with the community? Of course not. Devs should be active in their community, but you know what? In my opinion, they should take direction from their community manager on how best to do that, and actually follow the advice they’re given.

I’ve had five calls from the same member of my radio station’s “community” this week, lodging a complaint about the classic country music we play that mentions drinking (which, if you’re familiar with country music, you know is pretty much the entire playlist). He actually suggested I edit the drinking references out of various songs by Merle Haggard, George Jones and Waylon Jennings, so we can stop “giving kids the wrong idea.”

The first time he called, he spoke with a salesperson at our company, who told him “Well, that’s just country music, and that’s what we play,” which is the broadcasting version of “Working as intended.” That didn’t help, and the complaints continued.

Finally, I got to speak with the gentleman, discussed it with him, and found out that the root of the problem was that he was a member of Al-Anon (an alcoholic support group), and was upset that we seemed to promote drinking, yet didn’t do enough in his opinion to discuss the negative aspects of alcohol.

So, I invited him in for an interview on the morning show, we talked about his experience on the air, he was thrilled, and he’s sent two new clients our way who have bought advertising.

The salesperson knows our business backward and forward…from his side of it. However, he doesn’t understand the “dealing with the public” aspect of it.

When you don’t understand how to deal with your community, it leads to “Working as intended,” which doesn’t solve anything.

Do me a favor and head over to Sanya’s blog and weigh in on the “Jellybeans Community Project“…I’ll be interested in the results.

Cue “Another One Bites The Dust”…Auran announced on their official servers today that their PvP-centric MMORPG “Fury” will be shutting down in 48 hours. Fury had a somewhat unique approach to the MMO market, with a focus on the PvP side of the genré, almost continuous tournaments and real-life cash prizes for those that won said tournaments.

This turned out to be a recipé for failure, apparently.

Unlike single-player games, in my mind a community makes or breaks an MMO. Period. And when you design a game for a group that, by definition, almost exclusively likes to kill other players for fun…well, let’s just say they’re not going to be a sedate, “work with you” kind of group when taken as a whole. This is even true with a successful PvP-centric game such as EVE Online, but by and large CCP seems to have figured out how to keep their customers happy…for now. (And yes, that “…for now” is a nod to their incoming nano nerfs, which is a topic for another time.)

I’ll give you an example; Ryzom. When Saga of Ryzom closed its doors (with little advance notice of the final closure), how did the community react? By mourning their lost world, commiserating with one another on various forums, and by longing for the return of their game. How did the Fury community react to today’s announcement? Well, let’s take a peek at the official forums and find out, shall we?

Hello development team of Fury,
I want to first say thank you for the fun pvp experiences I had with my old Fury account.

Second…don’t ever try to make an MMORPG again. This game was a disaster. This concept was never meant to be put into an MMORPG and if you wanted more customers you should have launched with a much better product and with more social and long lasting features.

Good luck with your future development and from one developer to another - you gave it your best to accomplish your dream and that is a success.

And then there’s this one:

You f*ckers ruined everything. You could have made time for this game. YOu could have listened to the countles feedback about how to fix the broken to hell PvP system. YOu should have thought about GAMEPLAY, NOT PROFIT.

Basically, the entire team behind Fury got money hungry and as result they are shutting down.

I can taste their tears and it is sweet.

F*ck you Fury developer team you bunch of good for nothing rejects. You had a chance to make this right but look at you now.

I am laughing.

I am laughins o hard at how hard your project that you supposed “care” about has been allowed to fall to pieces.

Are you proud?

Are you proud of the shitty f*cking job you’ve done?

f*ck. F*CK YOU.

(Obviously, I cut and pasted these from the forums without any changes save the occasionally well-placed asterisk…at least, I hope you could tell that.)

Believe it or not, I think there’s a lesson here…it’s a fairly obvious one, but this situation gives us a unique look at it…if you’re developing an MMO, the one thing that will make or break you is…your community. Yes, you have to have a good game. Yes, you have to introduce new content, fix bugs, and address issues…but those are all aspects of dealing with your community. If you have put the effort into building a good community, one that feels that they’re part of your world, not a subscriber to it, then they’ll be with you through thick and thin.

Just ask the folks at Saga of Ryzom, which is now starting up again after a near-death experience. Would it have returned without the community it had built?

Possibly, but not probably.

Would Fury still be here if it had spent a little less time focusing on “huge cash prizes!” and “non-stop PvP excitement”, and spent a little more on fostering a sense of community?

Possibly. Notice the line in that first forum comment I quoted above: “you should have launched with a much better product and with more social and long lasting features.” It’s not enough to just hire a crackerjack community manager…they have to have the tools to work with, or they’ll never succeed. Design for community, develop for community…and then take the community paycheck to the bank.

Fury hath no hell like a playerbase scorned.

I have to warn you…I am now about to geek out for a few, so bear with me.

Okay, I’ll start with a confession…in the never-ending turf wars between Marvel and DC fans, I come down squarely on the side of DC every time, which is why I’ve been looking forward to SOE’s DC Universe Online.

I have played more than my share of City of Heroes, and am looking forward to Cryptic’s Champions Online, but this is something different…and that could be good or bad. With both CoH and Champions, there isn’t really an established world that they’re trying to adapt.

With DCUO, it could be argued that the world IS the game.

And that means that writing, voice acting and terrain design will take on a different level of importance, because most folks have a mental image of what Superman or Batman look like, act like and sound like, and if SOE misses that mark…it’ll be trouble.

Sony’s job with DCUO is something akin to turning a popular novel into a movie; there’s not a lot of room for error; usually, a novel-to-movie translation is either really good or it stinks. There’s not a lot of middle ground. And that’s what’s staring SOE in the face on this project. (Although if this screen shot of Green Lantern from the E3 demo is any indication, they should be able to pull the visuals off with no problem.)

The developers spent their E3 time promoting the fact that this game is not going to be a typical MMO; they want you to feel that you’re stepping into the DC Universe. Great…that’s what I want. But while we get promo after promo featuring DC’s “big guns” (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, etc.), to me what will make or break this game will be the little things…the characters that most folks would say “Who the heck is THAT?!?”

With that being said, here’s my list of the Top Ten Characters that should be in DC Universe Online, even if only as a cameo.

10. Wildfire - Not saying that I’m a huge fan of this guy, but my son’s name is Drake. No, really. Wildfire is a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, and his body is composed of “anti-energy”, which is what I usually have before noon each workday. The only thing that gives him human form is his containment suit; if it’s punctured/destroyed, his energy floats around griping to itself. Powers: flight, anti-energy blasts, and at one point the powers of the entire Legion.

9. Booster Gold - I’ve always had a soft-spot for this guy for some reason. He has the power to fly (thanks to a Legion flight-ring), and various other powers including a force shield, force blasts, and a knowledge of the future, since that’s where he came from. He also has the innate ability to be a complete screw-up…at least until lately. However, as much as I’d like to see him in the game, it just wouldn’t be the same if Blue Beetle wasn’t there to join him in a rousing “Bwa-haa-haa!” And since hints have been given that continuity between the comics and MMO universes will tie together somewhat, that means no “Blue & Gold”. Sigh.

8. The Spectre - Oh, c’mon…I would completely LOVE to watch the “Nerf the Spectre!!11!!” flamewars on the official forums after launch. The Spectre is a longtime staple of the mystical side of the DC Universe, who fills the role of “The Vengence of God”. He’s nearly omnipotent, and has a habit of turning up when you don’t want to see him, and being off screaming at a comet in some higher plane when you really DO want to see him. (Sorry…Crisis on Infinite Earths flashback there) I have no idea how you would balance “omnipotent,” but WoW seems to have done a good job with warlocks in that situation.

7. Blue Devil - Dan Cassidy deserves his time in the game world, especially if SOE plans on delving into the mystical side of the DC Universe. Dan started out as a Hollywood stuntman that designed his own devil suit for a movie he was working on. An actual demon was on the island where they were doing location shooting however, and fused Cassidy into his suit, which boosts his strength and speed. It has recently been revealed that he’s an actual demon, which leads me to believe that DC and SOE wouldn’t touch Danny boy with a ten-foot trident for the MMO.

6. Metamorpho - Okay, devs…let’s see just how good you really are. (insert evil laugh here) Rex Mason was an “Indiana Jones” type before Indiana Jones existed, working for his girlfriend’s father. However, when his potential father-in-law left him for dead in an Egyptian pyramid, the mystical Orb of Ra changed him. Now, Rex is a cross between Plastic Man and your high school chemistry teacher, able to change into any of the elements that are contained inside the human body, and alter his shape as well. That could be a hard power to pull off in a game.

5. Major Disaster - The list of cool things they could do with this guy is practically endless…as long as they’re going to have weather effects in the game. A former villain that reformed (and eventually joined the Justice League), MD has the ability to…well, to create natural disasters, any natural disasters, at will. Since reforming, he’s put out forest fires by causing a flood, he’s attacked a monster by causing a direct meteor strike on it, he’s…you get the idea. He has a fairly underrated power, and it could be used to cool effect in DCUO…especially if they use the old “evil” Disaster…now this guy would be a raid boss!

4. Firestorm - Imagine a teammate freezing a foe in a block of ice, and then Firestorm molecularly restructuring it into titanium steel before you throw it, and you’ll see what this guy can do. Also, Firestorm is actually composed of two humans fused together, which could make for an interesting in-game experience…what if Jason was looking for someone to fuse with, and your character walked up just at that point? An interesting, non-typical mission, to say the least.

3. Dr. Fate - C’mon…mystical power…good color scheme…nice helmet. What’s not to like? I don’t even care if it’s Kent Nelson, that Jared idiot or Hector Hall taking orders from Nabu under the helmet, it will not be the DC Universe if this guy doesn’t make an appearance. (And yes, I know Jared didn’t wear the helmet as “Fate”…work with me here.)

2. Plastic Man - Again, I say - devs? How good are you? A former crook,”Eel” O’Brien was doused by a bizarre chemical, right in the ol’ fresh bullet wound, which gave him the ability to…well, bend, stretch and shape himself in any way he wants. It was also learned during his time with the Justice League that he may, in fact, be immortal, and Batman holds the opinion that Plas is one of the most powerful heroes in the DCU. No, really.

And the one I absolutely would have to see in the virtual analogue of the DC Universe:

1. Ambush Bug. Whoop, I say…whoop! Yes, I’m serious. And apparently, he may very well actually be in the game, since Jim Lee referred to having to find reference art for him while working on DCUO during an interview with Massively. And I quote, “There are definitely a lot of characters where you’re concepting it out for the first time and you go, “You know, I don’t really have something to draw on.” No source of inspiration. Ambush Bug, right? I dunno what Ambush Bug should look like.” So if he’s looking at Bug, my other top nine don’t look too stupid, now do they?)

Okay…I’m done. Who’d I miss?