Questions tagged [videogames]
A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device.
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Was the AI Of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl good enough to beat the game on its own?
I have heard the claim from various sources that the AI of S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl, a Ukrainian FPS RPG-ish thing from 2007, had beta AI that was so good that an AI character could be given ...
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Did Minecraft sell 600 million copies?
According to this website and this one, Minecraft has sold over 600 million copies. However, in a 2021 Gamespot article it says that only 238 million copies had been sold at that point. Have there ...
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Can video games cause seizures?
It's very common in the USA for video games to come with a health warning that playing them can cause seizures. For example, the 2010 release of Sega's Sonic Colors for Nintendo Wii contains the ...
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Do video games lead to increased depression, anxiety and aggression?
Nicholas Kardaras is a addiction expert who was a professor at Stony Brook Medicine. In his 2016 NY Post article he claims that screen time is extremely harmful to children. The article intermingles ...
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Do video gamers tend to be conservative and have a large voter turnout?
I found this pdf referencing a study done on video gamers. Among other claims it states that "80% of those surveyed will vote in the 2016 election". It also has a pie chart claiming the following ...
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Did Wario say a swear? [closed]
Ok, this would have been in like 2004-5 or so. I had some disk for gamecube with a set of bonus features including trailers, and there was one for WarioWorld, and I remember clearly hearing him say "...
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In 1982 did then President Ronald Reagan send a letter to an 8-year-old kid congratulating him on getting a Pac-Man high score?
According to multiple online sources (an DidYouKnowGaming?! forum post here and an AtariAge forum post) Jeffrey R. Yee of San Fransisco set a worldwide record for the high score on Pac-Man by scoring ...
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Has Pokémon Go caused hundreds of deaths?
This article in The Register claims that Pokémon Go may have a bad side effect on road safety. The headline is:
Pokémon GO caused hundreds of deaths, increased crashes
And the article summarises ...
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Did a woman go blind after playing a mobile game?
The article Chinese woman blinded in one eye after playing game likened to electronic heroin stats:
The 21-year-old woman suddenly lost sight in her right eye after playing the game for the whole day ...
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Was Pac-man originally named "Puck-man"?
I always thought this quote from Scott Pilgrim to be right, since I had no reason to think otherwise:
Did you know that the original name for Pac-Man was Puck-Man? You'd
think it was because he ...
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Can Doom run on a car's infotainment system?
In this youtube video a hacker claims it is easily possible to mod the infotainment system in his Porsche to run the game Doom using the controls of his car to control the game.
This Gizmodo/Sploid ...
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Who coined "gamification" term?
According to wikipedia Nick Pelling coined the term "Gamification" in 2002/2003 as part of his bussiness model Conundra.
Though the term "gamification" was coined in 2002 by Nick Pelling,[77] a ...
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Are most gamers unable to complete the first level of Super Mario Bros.?
Wired Magazine reported this in 2013:
During a Q&A session, Satoru Iwata revealed why Nintendo’s newer games are easier. Nintendo conducted a test with many gamers and found that most of them ...
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Do some game developers use tests to measure dopamine and adrenaline levels?
A Vice article attributes a claim to psychologist and book author, Dr Nicholas Kardaras:
game developers use tests to measure dopamine and adrenaline levels in order to make video games as ...
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Does playing electronic games interfere with a child's healthy dopamine response?
In this August 2015 Psychology Today blog article, a child psychiatrist and author, Dr Victoria Dunckley makes a number of claims about how screen time is causing symptoms of mental health problems.
I ...
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Is measuring the size of a nuclear cloud with your thumb an approximate indication of whether you're in the radiation zone?
Due to the upcoming release of Fallout 4, I've stumbled upon several claims about the stance of the iconic Vault Boy:
Basically, those stated that the Vault Boy was doing the following:
If you see ...
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Is Tetris by Electronic Arts the best selling video game on mobile?
According to Wikipedia, Tetris by Electronic Arts is the best selling video game ever made.
With 100 million downloads, it sold 17.46 million copies more than the next best selling game, Wii Sports ...
user25258
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Do video games improve reflexes & reaction time?
Yesterday, I went to my friend's house and as usual he was glued to his PS4 playin' video games. When I asked him about it, he said that playing video games is a nice thing as it improves your ...
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Did Nintendo own Love Hotels?
Is this claim accurate?
Before developing video games, Nintendo owned 'Love Hotels.' Private short-stay rooms that were used for sexual encounters.
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Are perpetrators in mass killings more likely to play violent video games?
To be clear: I am not asking if violent video games cause violent behavior. That is covered here.
I am more interested if there is any correlation between violent video games and mass killings. I ...
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Is there a "sweet spot" of secondary engagement that makes driving safer?
From Playing games while driving? BrightDriver's challenging proposition (emphasis added):
At first blush, playing games while driving sounds like the kind of thing only the accident-prone would ...
user792
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Does blowing on an NES cartridge help the system play it?
It is commonly believed that, if your Nintendo cannot read the cartridge, often removing the cartridge, blowing into it and putting it back in your NES will help to fix the problem.
Is there any ...
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Was the number of injuries happening to the Madden cover players unusually high?
I came across this claim in the wikipedia entry of EA Sport's Madden NFL Football series:
While appearing on the cover has become an honor akin to appearing on the Wheaties box,[1] much like the ...
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Was there a peak in suicides associated with the release of Pokémon red and green?
My 13-year-old stepson just told me this story: When Pokémon Red and Green was first released in 1996, there were dozens or hundreds of suicides of children caused by high-frequency sounds in the ...
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Does playing popular video games improve a child's IQ?
This article claims a study shows that the cognitive abilities of 60-77 year olds can be helped by playing two weeks of World of Warcraft.
This article quotes a navy researcher as saying adults ...
user4951
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Are PC-based players generally superior to console-based players in first-person shooters?
I have heard that the reason that the XBox live games cannot be played with friends on Windows machines is that when MS tried it out, the keyboard-based players were so dominant that Microsoft decided ...
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Did GamePro make up the story of the arcade game Polybius?
The story goes that an arcade game called Polybius was market tested around Portland in 1981, but it was pulled because it had adverse psychological effects on those children who played it. Even ...
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Do any brain training games make you smarter?
What are the benefits over just playing a normal game? Sites such as Lumosity claim they are training your brain and making you smarter using "what seems like games".
Is there any scientific evidence ...
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Do violent video games cause violent behavior?
I have been following this question casually over the past couple of years, and it seemed to me that there was no strong consensus either way on the subject. However, I recently read an editorial from ...
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