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gamers

UK Gets its First Gamer Rehab Clinic – 12 Steps in Somerset

by Jay Garrett on November 4, 2009

online-gamerAfter reporting about the internet addiction clinic opening in the States in August it’s the turn of the Brits.

Yup – we are now the proud owners of our first rehab clinic targeting addicted gamers.

The Broadway Lodge, a residential rehabilitation unit in Weston-super-Mare, treats around 400 addicts a year for a range of issues and will adapt the Minnesota Method Twelve-Step programme, normally used to treat people addicted to drugs, drink and gambling, in order to treat gamers that exhibit similar behaviour.

Patients at the clinic will take part in group therapy, video sessions and therapeutic tasks including vacuuming and washing up – surely that’s more shock therapy for most hard-core gamers!!??!!

The Chief Exec of the centre, Brian Dudley, says that between 5-10% of the nation knows someone addicted to an online game.

Dudley believes that the rise and rise of online games such as World of Warcraft, which requires players to invest large amounts of time to progress, has triggered this new addiction.

The Telegraph reports: “Sufferers spend days at a time glued to their computer screens – going without food, sleep, or any social interaction. As a result they suffer malnutrition, relationship-breakdown and postural problems.”

With the recent release of Championship Manager, there are sure to be bleary-eyed, pale-skinned addicts across the country that don’t know what day it is. If this sounds like you, contact the centre now.

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MMORPGamers Targetted by Worms – World of Warcraft Virus

by Jay Garrett on November 3, 2009

lan-party-764022There’s been plenty of press regarding the health issues of gamers that spend most their waking lives playing these Massively Multiplayer Online games but here’s a new health scare.

The health of your secure details held on USB’s, external hard-drives and the like.

Microsoft has published a report pointing out that virus writers are getting hip to the fact that, with so many people hooked up to games such as WoW and Legend of Mir, this is an ideal way of transmitting virii.

The Microsoft Security Intelligence Report discovered that there has been a 156% increase in cases of the Taterf worm, which scans USB-sticks, external hard-drives and shared folders of infected PCs.

MMORPGamers are more at risk as the Taterf worm will slink around their computer looking for login details to subscription-based online games, this then opens a can-of-worms (sorry) as it can then grab personal details like the bank accounts used to pay for the game – these can then be sold on by basta….hackers to third-party mother-fu…. criminals.

The report says that this is a warning to gamers and those who operate gaming services: “Taterf’s impressive growth underscores the need for organisations to develop guidelines for removable drives and evaluate how connections are made to outside machines.”

So, like any group activity where you connect and share everything – stay protected out there! ;)

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1 in 4 Gamers Pay and Download Instead of Leaving Their Gaming Chairs – What’s a High Street Again?

October 28, 2009 Click to read more →
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Gamers love to have the latest and bestest and it shows that 25% of gamers surveyed said that paying for and downloading the digital only version is the way forward.
The International Gamers Survey, conducted by Today’s Gamers took in the opinion of 13,000 gamers across Europe and the United States and found that, on average, [...]

Asus ROG OC Station – On The Fly Overclocking For Gamers

May 25, 2009 Click to read more →
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ASUS and the Republic of Gamers have done something pretty neat again – remember the XG Station?
Now they’re doing what they can to bump up its gaming cred a few notches with its Republic of Gamers (ROG) OC Station.
The bay-mounted overclock assistant lets you tweak parameters on the fly – even in the middle [...]

300 LAN Gamers Break World Record in Malaysia

April 14, 2009 Click to read more →
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A lot of us have dragged our machines around for some LAN party action.
But to join another 299 like-minded souls – surely that would be some kinda record?
Yup, these 300 gamers all got together in a single room (a darn site larger than any living room I’ve been in) playing games such as Quake and [...]

World’s Fastest Gaming Desktop – YoYo Tech Fi7epower MLK1610

November 3, 2008 Click to read more →

A mighty big claim that, Mr YoYoTech Fi7epower MLK1610 - You up for the task?
Challenging something like the official record for the World’s Fastest Desktop isn’t something to take lightly – you’re gonna need something a little special.
Let’s say: something like a new Intel chip…………
The Intel Core i7 to be precise - but not just any Core i7.
It happens to be packing [...]

Top 10 UK Favourite Gaming Characters – Sonic Boom!

October 22, 2008 Click to read more →

The results of a poll conducted by The London Games Festival of 500 gamers shows that Sega’s blue hedgehog is the most loved character and Nintendo’s Mario had to settle for second.
As you read through the full top ten below you’ll probably recognise that most of these iconic characters have been showing up in games for a decade or more.
The [...]