With the App Store open for business, games are finally headed to Apple's iPhone, and the unit's multitouch interface, accelerometer, and built-in mic and speaker make it perfect for gaming. THQ Wireless is one of the many companies getting ready to try and cash in on the first generation of the App Store -- after making games for a lot of other mobile devices, Director of Global Production Brad Pitser is excited about finally releasing software for the iPhone.

Joystiq got to play two different games in THQ's demo at E3. De Blob is a handheld adaptation of the Wii game, and uses the accelerometer in the iPhone and iPod touch to do a little light platform puzzling. And Force Unleashed attempts to recreate the upcoming Star Wars action title, by using a touchscreen gesture system to try and make you feel like a Jedi. impressions of both are after the break.

If there's one thing we here at Joystiq constantly find ourselves thinking while playing Tomb Raider games, it's "Man, if only this experience could be translated into an online video slot machine." Well someone at Belle Rock Entertainment must have had a window into our souls, because the group has just unveiled Tomb Raider: The Secret of the Sword, a new video slot for their online casinos.

The machine isn't based directly on the games, unfortunately. Instead, it promises to "faithfully capture the gripping excitement and suspense of the original movie" with "a glossy 5 reel 30 pay-line multi-faceted package." Fans of the movie will be happy to know that the "randomly triggered Super Mode" and "Global Adventure Bonus" have been faithfully captured here. The Secret of the Sword joins a similar Hitman slot machine in the annals of lame cross-marketing ideas for Eidos products impressive and engaging Eidos slot machine ports.

There's usually not that much overlap between the gaming industry (the gambling one) and the gaming industry (the one you actually are about). That seems poised to change, though, as the New York Times reports slot machine manufacturers are adding skill-based gaming elements to the one-armed bandits in an effort to attract new players. "We can't just make a slot thinking about the 55-year-old lady who comes to the casino a few times a month," said Rob Bone, marketing director for WMS Gaming. "We need to appeal to new buckets of players, or we'll die."

To that end, Bally Technologies has signed a deal with Atari to make machines based on Pong and Breakout, which let you play simplified versions of the games during a bonus round. Don't get too excited, though -- your gaming skills won't let you break the bank at Vegas. As the Times points out, "skill will take a player only so far as these machines are still calibrated to pay out less money than they take in." That's OK though ... back in the '80s we put money into these games without expecting to get any money back.

[Thanks Vlad]

If you ask rich people how they got rich, we doubt most of them will say it was by playing a lot of video games. Nevertheless, a new book promises to show you the path to untold riches for doing just that.

Get Rich Playing Games is the brainchild of the ridiculously busy industry consultant, journalist and author Scott Steinberg (full disclosure: I worked with Scott on the Videogame Style Guide and Reference Manual). The book details three main paths to gaming mega-bucks: developer, executive and journalist. Wait, journalist? Doesn't he realize what the average game journalist gets paid? Trust us, you'd have better chances getting rich trawling for change in your local fountain.

The 177-page book is available as a $17.95 paperback or a free PDF eBook because, let's face it, no one ever got rich by paying for stuff.

Nickelodeon, former network of You Can't Do That on Television and Double Dare, announced they will be spending -- keeping the zeros in for effect -- $100,000,000 to become the top provider of casual games and master of casual game sites. Oh, and that $100 million isn't over many rotations around the sun either, that's just in the next two years for "development, distribution and creation."

If you're attempting to put two and two together at the moment on why Nickelodeon ... remember how obsessed you were with Nickelodeon as a child? Well, things haven't changed much, so by investing in games for their 8 -14 demographic, MTV networks can gateway drug potential casual gamers into other divisions of their vast media empire. This MTV gaming focus is nothing new, they have been gobbling up many gaming properties in recent years like Xfire, GameTrailers and the purchase of Harmonix, creators of potential mega-hit Rock Band. Nickelodeon should begin showing signs of this master plan later next year.

As states pass legislation to curb the distractions of drivers, we can't help but agree with one bit of anti-gaming legislation: gaming and driving laws. Considering the number of people that have either come close to, or have fully experienced, the fun of somebody hitting your car because they are on their cell phone -- we're cool with many states attempting to pass gaming and driving laws. If they try to pass coffee drinking and gaming laws there'll be some drama though.

Approximately 12 states are trying to forbid drivers from playing video games or using computers and/or fax machines while they drive. Pity the person who still faxes and fear the fool who does it driving. The New York Senate, although having a slew of crazy video game bills, did recently pass S634-C, which should stop gaming and driving. But having a law and enforcing it are two separate worlds. It is expected to be finalized when the Assembly Codes Committee comes back from summer recess.

[Via GamePolitics]

The latest scientific study of gamers is kind of a wash for the image of our favorite hobby. On the plus side, adolescents who play games were shown to spend just as much time socializing with family and friends as non-gamers. On the downside, adolescent gamers were found to spend less time reading and doing homework than non-gamers.

The University of Michigan study asked nearly 1,500 10- to 19-year-olds across the country to report how they spent their time during the 2002-03 school year. The roughly 36 percent of the sample that played games spent 30 percent less time reading and 34 percent less time doing homework than their non-gaming peers. Interestingly, the reading deficit came mostly from male gamers while the homework deficit was caused mostly by female gamers, according to a Reuters story on the study. It's not all bad news though; the study also concluded that "gamers and nongamers did not differ in the amount of time they spent interacting with family and friends."

Before you go off believing that gamers are more likely to be lazy ignoramuses, understand that reading and homework time are not direct measures of intelligence. The study author herself admitted to Reuters that "there have been some studies that show that high academic achievers spend less time doing homework." In other words, perhaps gamers have just been trained to work smarter, not harder.

There's an alarming epidemic facing high school graduates in this country. No, we're not talking about literacy or obesity or anything so unimportant. We're talking about video games. Get your priorities straight, people!

According to a shocking report in the Dayton Daily News, the graduating class of 2007 is being distracted from important game-playing time by attention-stealing activities like "homework, jobs and extracurricular activities." That's right ... the promise of our future would rather do their homework than put in the important gaming time that will help them grow into mature and active adult gamers.

What's worse, some of today's graduating seniors have a hard time envisioning a future that included normative social gaming. "If some guy was like 'You want to go on a date? We could play Guitar Hero,' and I'm 30, I'd be, like, 'No!,' " said one such lost youth. It's enough to make you long for the good old days when students knew how important a Pac-Man high score was to their future.

[Via Gaming Today]

The Christian Science Monitor along with the National Wildlife Federation reports that videogames are one of the reasons (along with cell phones, TV, and gas prices) national parks in North America have seen a sharp decline in attendance over the last few years. More kids are becoming couch potatoes and developing a "nature deficit disorder", and parks are suffering as a result. The NWF is launching programs around the country to fight the indooredness of these sun-deprived folk whose only interaction with trees is in World of Warcraft.

We love gaming, but we also love nature. While you can't do both at the same time (waterfall hikes with gaming gear in tow can get messy), we can't help but feel there's a deeper reason behind the decline. Maybe Nature just needs a better marketing team to jazz things up, make it more exciting? It's time for Nature 2.0.

[Via Gaming Today]

For an industry that has been purported to be "dying" in some form or another for the past two decades or so, PC gaming has remained a remarkably consistent niche in the overall games business. The New York Times today takes a look at a recent upturn in the PC games market, partially fueled by the phenomenal success of World of Warcraft and the imitators it has spawned.

Don't cancel your console development plans yet, though. While domestic PC game sales were up 48 percent to $203 million in the first two months of 2007, the PC market was still dwarfed by the $990 million spent on console games during the same period. And while efforts like Games for Windows and HP's gaming initiative are likely to help attract attention to computer games, it's hard to match the focused marketing muscle of the big three console makers. So while PC gaming may not be dying, it's not exactly threatening to take over the country, either. The rest of the world, on the other hand ...

We know that those serving in Iraq tend to be big on first-person shooters like Halo and Star Wars: Dark Forces, but what about Army gamers whose tastes run a little more cerebral? For them, Ziggurat Con will provide the opportunity to blow off some steam with a day of good, old-fashioned tabletop role-playing.

Described as "the very first D&D convention/game day ever held in a war zone," Ziggurat Con will give soldiers "a place where we can go somewhere far away from the IED's, mortar attacks, and gunfire, without ever leaving the safety of our camp," said Con organizer David Amberson. The Camp Adder/Tallil Airbase Community Activity Center will become a role-playing and anime-watching paradise for nine hours on June 9, with the blessing of the Army's Morale, Welfare and Recreation Department.

Many game manufacturers have agreed to donate materials for the gamers, but the scarcity of gaming stores in the greater Iraqi area may force attendees to share dice. It's true what they say ... war is hell.

Tournament.com is looking for a few good beta testers and giving the participants $1 credit for every match they complete before the official launch later this spring. Tournament.com is looking to become a skill-based tournament environment where players compete for real money. Co-founder Marcus Pearcey says, "Much like golfers or chess players can compete against each other in tournaments, Tournament.com users can prove their skills and make some cash in secure, fair, competitive matches that reward winners with more than just bragging rights." Tournament.com has received the rights to use Valve games Counter Strike and Half-Life 2 for the beta, they plan to announce more titles after the beta.

Of course, this sounds just a tad bit like gambling, but Tournament.com insists this is skill-based competition. There is a list of locations that believe this is gambling and won't allow you to play. Competitors are only allowed to place $150 USD into their account every month to wager $1 to $10 on their competitions -- you must also be 18 or older to participate. The beta testers who receive the $1 credit per round need to use up their credit value before they can cash out. For gamers into competition, the stakes just got real. The $150 cap prevents us from saying that this is just begging for intervention. Tournament.com doesn't sound any different than bars that hold gaming competitions with buy-ins. Just make sure to check that the software is legal to download in your location before you go trying to pwn n00bs for cash.

How many times have you read a video game magazine or web site and thought, "I could write better than that." Oh yeah, tough guy? You think it's easy writing this stuff? Well, now is your chance to prove it.

Launched Tuesday, Gaming.wikia is part of a group of "open-source magazines" that "allow people to blog, rate content and freely contribute news and information on topics they are passionate about," according to the press release. In other words, it's the collaborative power of Wikipedia mixed with the democratic organization of Digg.

Or maybe not. When we loaded up the site, the top story of the moment was "Motorstorm is Awesome," which included the cogent commentary "I love racing games, but this is just FREAKING AWESOME!" Is this supposed to be an online magazine or a glorified message board?

The problem with letting everyone contribute is that you have to let everyone contribute. Without a large, well-organized community to moderate out the crap, an open-source project like this can go from controlled chaos to just plain chaos rather quickly. If Gaming.wikia can attract this sort of self-policing community, more power to them. If not, there are plenty of satisfactory sources for game news out there already. Like the fine, closed-source site you're reading right now, for instance.

[Via Game|Life]