science posts

It turns out that for all its fancy graphics, Command & Conquer 3 is quite primitive. That is to say, the challenge of the gameplay appeals to a primitive drive to conquer present in the male brain.

According to The Daily Mail, researchers studied men and women playing a video game with a territorial conquest aspect. They found that while women would play the game and perform well in it, they did not feel as compelled to play or win. The male subjects, on the other hand, were more likely to become hooked on the game. This was because the game stimulated the parts of the brain "traditionally associated with reward and addiction" more for men than for women, because of a primal drive to acquire and defend territory inherent in the male brain.

We'll note that there are some men who have no interest in such games, and some women who are passionate about them, but the article is intriguing anyway. If you're a man and you have a girlfriend or wife who's annoyed with you because you spend too much time fighting for control points in Team Fortress 2, you can just say "it's biology!" But it probably won't help. Ah, well.

There's a lot to discuss about a game like Spore and science as a general topic is bound to come up sooner or later when somebody brings the game up. This is no coincidence, as Maxis has purposely infused plenty of actual science into their whimsical-looking life simulator. In fact, Will Wright says himself -- in the most recent video to come from the Spore camp -- that the story of spore is about taking an empty galaxy and dropping life into it.

We will freely admit that being able to tinker with the planetary biosphere to see what kinds of worlds we can create makes us incredibly excited every time we think about it. Also, did we mention you'll be able to explore the galaxy and find all sorts of celestial landmarks such as black holes? Oh boy, we'd better sit down and find ourselves a paper bag now. It's just too much Spore at once, we can't take the madness!

Download the Spore Science Trailer at Big Download