Geekonomics

Norton just sent me this on one of my newfound FAVOURITE topics, internet safety and parental control :

Computers, Wii, Playstation, and Xbox. What do all of these have in common? They can connect to the internet and kids love to play games on them.

But what kind of games are your kids playing? Do they contain violence and pornography?

And are they at risk of being infected by viruses, malware, and other online threats?

There are various steps parents can take can be taken to make the gaming environment safer for your kids. Read more to learn about the parental controls that can help provide the protection that you want.

• How to check which games are appropriate for your child
• Parental controls
• Tips to broach the subject with you child
• How you can supply the parental wisdom, judgment, rules, and oversight

For more details, check out Ask Marian, Norton’s family-oriented blog here.

Driven by record sales at retail along with an 84 percent jump in online consumer spending; global install base lead over PlayStation 3 expands to more than 8 million units.

SINGAPORE — Jan. 7, 2009 — Despite a tough economy, the gaming industry held strong in 2008 and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system recorded the biggest year in Xbox history, with more consoles, games and online entertainment experiences sold than any previous year. It was a year in which life-to-date unit sales of Xbox 360 systems climbed to 28 million consoles worldwide — expanding the product’s lead over Sony PlayStation 3 to more than 8 million units. The Xbox LIVE community also grew to more than 17 million active members, as online consumer spending increased 84 percent from last year. Since the launch of the Xbox 360 three years ago, more than $1 billion has been spent on Xbox LIVE. This amazing growth was fuelled by the launch of the New Xbox Experience[1]; the broadest selection of hit games, TV shows, and movies available; and mass-market price points, starting at $199.

Xbox 360 is experiencing record-setting sales Read more…

Yesterday, I was just hammering a buddy over his buying a nice Jaguar. Why? He doesn’t have a driving license.

Reason for buying a Jaguar? To motivate himself to get a license.

Anyways, he was asking me if driving was really that simple, coz he feels kinda lost when sitting behind the steering. In the same breath, he was also telling me what a good driver he was, on his Sony PSP.

A funny thought came to me, what if we replaced all the driving controls in the car with console gaming controls? Read more…