Author: Gaming Is Mature And Helps Us "Pursue Our Passions"

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Most adult gamers view video games as a mature mass medium, one that can go toe-to-toe with other entertainment venues like movies, music, and books. And in fact, the benefits often go beyond mere entertainment.
However, we usually don't get a lot of support from the academic community, as we can all find countless studies concerning the negative effects of the hobby. It gets a little tiresome after awhile.
And so, in the spirit of feeling better about ourselves, we turn your attention to Ian Bogost, a "leading videogame scholar and award-winning game designer." He says games "are increasingly used for purposes other than entertainment, yet they often get entangled within debates about their benefits or dangers." ...yeah, so we've noticed.
Bogost has penned a book- "How To Do Things With Videogames," in which he cites the limitless possibilities offered by interactive simulated realities. Bogost is also a professor of digital media at Georgia Institute of Technology and a founding partner at Persuasive Games LLC, and his goals include:

• Documenting important historical and cultural events
• Educating both children and adults
• Promoting commercial products
• And serving as platforms for art, pornography, exercise, relaxation, pranks, and politics.

Interestingly enough, Bogost claims games can actually be motivational and inspirational. He says that a diverse array of titles can help people "pursue a variety of goals and passions." And the more we utilize games "in various aspects of human activity," the less ammunition the naysayers will have.
From our standpoint, we firmly believe that those who say gaming has no benefit haven't played a video game since 1976.

MW3 Hardened Edition Details?

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We still don't have any official information on the Hardened Edition of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, but maybe this will help.
It seems Wired has stumbled across an image that shows off the contents of that special edition. Apparently, this is for the European version, and it includes a one-year premium membership in the Call of Duty Elite initiative, which in turn grants you a "Founder" status label. This comes with an emblem, player card, camo, an an XP boost for your Elite clan.
Other standard bonuses apply: the steelbook case, new disc art, a PSN-exclusive theme or Xbox 360-exclusive "Special Ops Juggernaut" avatar outfit, and a field journal that stretches 100 pages in length. Now, this may be bogus or US gamers could get something very different, but it's always nice to check out the possibilities...

MW3 Hardened Edition Details?

Uncharted 1 and 2 bundle available September 6

Sony has announced a new game bundle that includes Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Game of the Year Edition, a mess of extra content and DLC for Uncharted 3 -- all for 40 bucks. The company is calling it the Uncharted Greatest Hits DualPack, but we've officially dubbed it the PlayStation 3 Post-Price Cut Starter Pack.

The Starter Pack comes out next Tuesday, giving new PS3 adopters plenty of time to catch up on all things Uncharted before Drake's third adventure is released this November. This is required playing, new PS3 owners, and it will be on the exam.

Sony shares price and details on PlayStation certified Tablets S and P, coming later this year

Sony has confirmed prices and dates for its two PlayStation certified tablet computers, both coming out later this fall. The Tablet S is the more traditional tablet, with one screen and 16 or 32GB of storage, and will be out in September starting at $499. But the Tablet P is the more interesting option, offering two 5.5" display screens hinged together. Both tablets will use the Nvidia Tegra 2 chip architecture, sport dual cameras, and run Android-based software.

They'll also be fully compatible with Sony's services, including Video Unlimited and Music Unlimited, and they'll both play games from the Android Marketplace as well as run PSOne titles released for PlayStation-certified hardware. Both will come standard with Pinball Heroes and Crash Bandicoot ready to go, though the P will put controls on the bottom screen, leaving gameplay up on top.

The Tablet P will hit European shelves in November – North American details haven't been announced just yet. You can get a closer look at both devices in the gallery below and head over to Engadget for hands-on impressions of the Tablet S.

Move-enhanced Gal Gun ready to humiliate PS3 owners

If you want to play Gal Gun, Inti Creates' light gun game about shooting pheromones at crazed high school girls -- and we're not judging -- it's about to get easier to do so. This winter, according to a report from Famitsu, publisher Alchemist will release a PS3 port of the formerly Xbox 360 exclusive game. PS3 games are region free, so it's no problem to play it on your system!

In addition to that perk, the PS3 release will have improved visuals, a new character, a new gameplay mode, and -- most importantly -- PlayStation Move support. The downside there is that you'll be waving a glowing ball around, making it even easier for others to notice you playing Gal Gun.

Vessel preview: Don't forget to hydrate

You know how they say that water is the essence of life? In Vessel, water takes it one more step: It literally becomes life. Inventor Arkwright has invented what he calls Fluros, little creatures that attract any liquid around them and build them into a body. They're pretty great for doing work around his factory, especially because of their seemingly bottomless desire to step on buttons. Handily, Arkwright's entire factory seems to run on those little buttons.

Relying on the little guys probably isn't the best idea, though. If Fantasia taught us anything, it's that employing vaguely magical automatons to do your dirty work always goes awry. Soon, the Fluros have taken over the factory and start wreaking havoc, breaking down a variety of large machines that the good inventor needs to keep things running smoothly. So, obviously, he must go on a 2D-platformer adventure to solve that not-so-little issue.

'Onechanbara Z: Kagura' to make a bloody mess on Xbox

D3 Publisher is reportedly working on yet another Onechanbara game, the second for Xbox 360. Onechanbara Z: Kagura replaces the familiar cast of characters (bikini-clad, katana-wielding Aya, her sister Saki, and cloned Reiko) with vampires named Kagura and Saaya. Don't worry; we're sure they'll be inappropriately dressed as well. We're sure the rest of the game will match up with what we know from the series: thousands of easily-killed zombies surrounding you at all times.

The Xbox-exclusive game will be released in Japan this winter. An "Onechanbara 2" listing was found earlier this summer on Play.com, suggesting that D3 is planning a western release as well. D3 is likely crunching to get it done as soon as possible, as it'll face competition from another "cute girl slashing zombies" game – one that has the potential to actually be good, instead of "so bad it's good."

'Onechanbara Z: Kagura' to make a bloody mess on Xbox