The Supreme Court is about to hear an important case that involves the restriction or banning of the sale of video games to minors because they are “violent in nature”.  This will be the first time that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on any of the state laws attempting to restrict or ban sales of certain video games. Until now, all such laws have been struck down by lower federal courts as unconstitutional restrictions on Free Speech protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

The attention the case will receive will undoubtedly be amplified since the suit was brought by none other than Governor Schwarzenegger and the State of California.  Recall that before his governorship Schwarzenegger was no stranger to violence in media.

For more on the case, follow Schwarzenegger v. EMA (Entertainment Merchants Association) here on MediaCoalition.org. For more updates, you can also follow on the Electronic Consumers Association's (ECA) website, which lists briefs submitted by a number of gaming associations (including the ECA - an association that represents gamers interests).

Do like your music loud? Anyone who has ever sat next to a school-bound teen armed with an iPod on the bus, subway or in the car can attest to the fact that teenagers – for whom music is a central aspect of their identity – sure do. And it’s no surprise that music pumped directly into the ear at high volume can cause damage, as recent research by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHNES) in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) shows.

NHNES’s research shows that hearing loss among US teens ages 12 to 19 is up 30% from the late 1980s and early 1990s, and even more (70%) when minor or worst cases are included. The research does not note a particular cause, but does state that risk factors, to include loud music, “may be of particular importance”.

Organizations like “Listen To Your Buds” are creating educational programs aimed at reducing childhood and adolescent hearing loss due to pumped-up headphone volumes. To get the message across it relies on parent and child education, podcasts, and even a Listen To Your Buds concert series featuring popular and up-and-coming kid-friendly music artists.  Parents can take an online pledge where they promise to not let their kids listen to music too loud or too long and to share the importance of hearing health with family and friends.

Add cell phones and touch screens to the list of germaphobe nightmares. New studies are placing shared touch screens right up there with pens, hairbrushes and grocery carts.  And for good reason – touch screens are as ubiquitous as (just-as-germy) doorknobs these days, and many otherwise clean freaks are reluctant to clean expensive touch screens as part of the daily routine.

According to these studies, disease causing organisms can live on your touch screen as long as a month – that can mean anything from transmitting the common cold to a serious bacterium such as staphylococcus.  Monster, longtime leader in all sorts of audio/video cables is now in the cleaning business, promising that its CleanTouch Kit will sanitize and clean your touch screen. The Clean Touch Kit comes with a TSA-approved 20ml bottle of cleanser and a wiping cloth infused with antimicrobial agents .  Monster’s not alone – new products like Sweet Talk Wipes – disposable antimicrobial wipes – are available, too.

The Hygiene Council put cell phones and touch screens right on the list with other home offenders.  And while you’re on a germ killing spree, note that they also suggest sanitizing TV remotes on a regular basis; disinfecting light switches twice a week, or daily if someone is sick; washing pet dishes; and if one has a baby, frequently cleaning the changing table.  Truly, I’m waiting for the touch screen with built in antimicrobial powers, or maybe even a germ-fighting app.

You may think that's your sweet little girl, sitting on the couch, playing with her Barbie Doll.  A closer look and you realize she's a little Mata Hari wannabe. 

 Barbie's got a new look and this one's from the inside out. Look closely at her neck. Yup. that's an embedded video camera hidden in her pendant. 
Dressed in snazzy denim Capri pants and a zebra-print hoodie, Barbie VideoGirl also has a small LED monitor on her back.  The monitor displays what the video camera, er, Barbie, sees, similar to a small digital camera or camera phone display. Kids walk the doll around whatever fabulous play world they have set up, and film a Barbie-eye-view of interactions with other dolls and playthings.

Once the footage has been captured (Barbie’s internal memory can store up to about 30 minutes of video), kids then plug the Barbie into the computer via a supplied USB cable to upload the video to the PC. Very Barbie meets Maxwell Smart. Once kids have uploaded their video, Mattel has some nifty, easy-to-use editing software called Magic Movie Maker for kids to make a proper movie production of their Barbie footage.  Kids can cut film, add music, make transitions, write a script using speech bubbles, and then save their movie. An obvious downside is that while the camera is compatible with Windows/PC/Mac, the software is only compatible with Windows/PC.

Barbie VideoGirl is powered by two AAA batteries installed in her legs (batteries are not included, legs are), and retails for $49.99 on shop.mattel.com. For a Barbie demo and further subjective information, check out this hilarious product comparison video (Barbie VideoGirl vs. Canon 7D) on geek.com. And remember, no arguing with the spouse when the kids are playing Barbie.  It could be held against you. 

Jim Bower, Founder of Numedeon (creators of Whyville)  and University of Texas San Antonio Professor of Computational Neurobiology, spoke at the Kids@Play conference last January about the future of virtual games.  Check out this video clip from SXSW 2010 where he chats about using simulation-type video games to get children interested in science.

At a press gathering today, with tongue firmly implanted in cheek, Intel warned of the Hourglass Syndrome. It hits when you’re expected to keep up with everything – email, facebook, twitter – but instead you find yourself staring at the endlessly spinning hourglass icon on your screen – your technology is failing you in a time of desperate need.  The feeling of loss of control, helplessness and despair – yup, you’ve got Hourglass Syndrome.

To honor the infamous hourglass they created a mock ad where doctors diagnose and cure Hourglass Syndrome (hint: take two Core processors and call me in the morning).  To back up the premise that watching an hourglass frustrates the heck out of us, Intel hired Harris Interactive to conduct a study that found 8 of 10 surveyed frustrated by waiting for technology.  Nearly half of those claimed to have “done something out of character” at one point or another which ranged from cursing to smacking their computers.

The conversation was a bit exasperating because most of us know that bottlenecks in performance are only partly due to a processor, and often compounded by a slow ISP, a bloated OS, or software application.  Intel has also been at the forefront of the “go faster” movement.  Far be it from a processor company to tell you to chill out, think more and mouse less.

That being said, the new Intel Core family of processors really is quite spiffy.  Thanks to what the company calls “Turbo Boost Technology”, the processor actually takes note of what sort of thing you’re doing on the computer (editing photos, playing games, watching YouTube videos) and adjusts performance accordingly.

Watch Intel’s humorous Hourglass Syndrome video – if you have a fast processor you’ll enjoy the show. Then bop over to play Intel’s version of Whack-A-Mole (aptly named Smash-A-Glass) where you can take your frustrations out on some hapless hourglass icons instead of your CPU.

Recently at the Nintendo store in NYC I got a chance to doodle around with uDraw, a new drawing tablet/software package designed to interface with the Nintendo Wii.
uDraw is sort of a mashup of several good ideas.  The drawing tablet has a pocket that accommodates the Wii Remote (a la Guitar Hero guitar controller).  The Wii’s buttons become the navigation buttons used with the tablet.  It also has the Wii Remote’s accelerometer capabilities, a plus for some of the games.

Most important, the tablet is equipped with a pressure sensitive “pen” that allows you to draw with a robust collection of tools.  The tablet ships with uDraw Studio, a basic drawing package that’s easy enough for a 5 year old to use.  It might remind you of KidPix and other early kid’s paint programs with the twist of being able to draw on a tablet – instead of awkwardly maneuvering a mouse.  Kids can choose the texture of their paper (canvas, cardboard, concrete) and their media (pen, ink, spraypaint), and then adjust for color, size, opacity, and background. They can even use stamp art. The bundle sells for $68.

THQ also showed two other uDraw programs that will be sold separately.  One is Pictionary, in which, as you might guess, you draw the word clues on the tablet. The other is a simple action game called Dood’s Big Adventure.  You guide the Dood character through a side-action game where you control the movement by drawing trampoline-like platforms, which he bounces off.

So what do you get when you cross a Wacom-like drawing tablet, the gaming brains of the Nintendo Wii, and a well-stocked paint program? Welcome to uDraw.

Lane Merrifield, the creator of Club Penguin, is now overseeing Disney’s virtual world kingdom. ToonTown was the first of Disney’s virtual lands, followed by Pirates of the Caribbean Online, Pixie Hollow, and Club Penguin. Making it an even five is the newly launched World of Cars, based on characters from the 2006 Disney/Pixar animated movie "Cars". It’s Disney’s richest yet, and may be the first gender neutral car game I’ve seen.  Even I had fun designing and racing my automotive creations.  Disney, by sheer size and scope, has created an impressive backend to its virtual worlds that I expect we’ll be seeing more of in the near future.  Check out this LA Times article interviewing the World of Cars product director Rachel DiPaola, as well as this recent interview with Lane Merrifield.

Somewhere between a Pet Rock and a Hard Rock lies a new fad waiting to be born.  WowWee is betting on the fad factor with its new PaperJamz product line.  Best known for whimsical toy robotics, WowWee recently released a guitar, drums and amplifier band set. Each instruments is about as thick as a piece of cardboard.  The guitars come in 6 hot-looking designs, The drum kit has 6 pieces. You play them using Active Graphics, WowWee technology that uses capacitive touch built into the paper thin instrument. When your finger makes contact with the fretboard or drums you’re jammin’.   The amplifier is also paper thin, looks a lot like an old Peavey amp, and serves as a real-life speaker for your iPod or PC,  too.
For the money ($25 for the instruments and $15 for the amplifier) you can have a lot of fun.  Each instrument comes with three embedded songs.  You can’t download any new songs but you do have 4 different modes of play.  The first, Perfect Play, is foolproof.  You jam to the music without a mistake, regardless of what you do.  The second is a Rhythm mode that wants you to strum in time with the music.  Next you progress to the Freestyle mode.  Using the included chord-book, you can actually make music in this mode, though having any real knowledge of guitar chords will hurt you. (The chords are all made my putting your finger  over one fret on the fretboard. And then there’s a clever Karoke mode where the lyrics are muted and you sget to ing along.
As a guitar player I found the guitar less than satisfying, but the drums were kind of cool.  Think about playing a big mousepad emblazoned with a drum set.  You control snares, cymbals, bass drum etc. and the sounds are quite realistic. 
The song selection will  not be everyone’s cup of tea.  The two songs that resonated with me were It’s the End of the World (As we Know It) and The Kink’s You’ve Really Got Me.  I’d take a pass on Take it to the Limit and Woman.  I’d only find Sweet Home Alabama and Blitzkreig Rock amusing for five minutes. Still , PaperJamz is an interesting, low cost way of having silly/portable fun without breaking the budge. Rocking out on a paper thin instrument from PaperJamz is just the sort of thing that  fads are made of.

To see the trailer.

Everyone and their brother has tried to tap into kids’ love of nurturing things.  Tamagotchi, WebKinz, Neopets ... move over. Sony takes it to a new dimension with the PlayStation Move and its game EyePet  (no relation to iPet).  That’s how I found myself oohing, cooing and down on my hands and knees to make Sony’s EyePet jump onto my lap.   That’s right. My lap.
See, using the Sony’s patented EyeCamera, I’m in the game with Fin Fin, an adorable 3D character that looks like a cross between Topo Gigio  and a Zhu Zhu Pet. Inexplicably cute, the little guy on screen will come to you as you pat your hand on the floor by your side.  The experience is remarkably lifelike from the instant Fin Fin hatches from its egg and you are responsible for keeping him snug and warm - you’ll find yourself interacting with the screen and feeding, playing catch, cuddling, and more - and all while the game is monitoring your caretaking efforts.  Here’s the official trailer.  EyePet won’t be ready until the holidays, and you'll need the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Move (the wand), and PlayStation EyeCamera to play, but it sure is a triumph of technology.
 EA’s new Create does cute and then some.  Designed for a slighter older child, the game is a cross between the classic Gertrude’s Secrets and the acclaimed Scribblenauts.  The official site  explains how you use the game’s tools to create a background scene that you then proceed to use as your virtual playground.  As you solve creative and challenging puzzles, you unlock more tools to build your creation. Puzzles are physics-like brain teasers that include pulleys, ramps, mazes, and more. Create will be available this November on Playstation Move, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox, PC and Mac platforms.