Hottest Stories

Robocop (Credit: MGM)Wish you had your own personal robot housemaid? Hope you like your roomba, because George Jetson’s Rosie the Robot has yet to hit the mass market.

But while robots might not be doing our laundry and keeping the kids in line just yet, they’re already among us -- and outperforming us in a worrying number of areas. Are you ready to feel obsolete? Read on to meet a few robots make us soft, fleshy humans look positively outdated.

Boy Scout Game Design badge (Credit: Boy Scouts of America)Camping? First Aid? Swimming? Today's Boy Scouts are looking for a bigger challenge.

The organization, perhaps in a bid to stay in tune with more technologically-minded youngsters, has announced a new merit badge for scouts, one that's specifically centered on games.

Earning one isn't quite as easy as simply grabbing some coins as Mario, though. To acquire the new Game Design merit badge, scouts will have to put their creativity to the test conceiving, testing, and building a game prototype.

(Credit: Kotaku Australia)SimCity's requirement for an always-on Internet connection is backfiring, as the game servers are currently going up and down like a yo-yo. How quickly can EA solve this problem?

by Christopher MacManus, CNET

Good luck trying to move into the new SimCity.

Ever since the city management game launched on Tuesday, countless gamers have found themselves battling error messages and random disconnections that prevent them from experiencing what SimCity was supposed to deliver in the first place -- fun. In response, publisher Electronic Arts says it's working around the clock to try to fix the problems and add more servers so people can play without worry.

(Credit: Getty Images)Want to keep grandma happy? Hand her a Wiimote!

A study out of North Carolina State has found a link between elderly people who play video games and not only improved happiness, but better overall health.

"The research published here suggests that there a link between gaming and better well-being and emotional functioning," Dr. Jason Allaire, lead author of a paper describing the study and an associate professor of psychology at NC State, said in a press release. "We are currently planning studies to determine whether playing digital games actually improves mental health in older adults."

Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed games star lethal killers tasked with bringing down a powerful organization obsessed with taking over the world. Players dispose of their foes in countless ways. They're assassins, after all.

But to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Ubisoft’s top-selling franchise didn’t really cross the line until it went after whales.

The animal rights group has come out in force against Ubisoft for its inclusion of whaling in the upcoming Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, announced earlier this week. Set in 1713, the pirate-themed game includes the ability to hunt whales on the open sea.

To PETA, that’s simply not fair game.

A twister wreaks havoc in SimCity (Credit: EA)Want to play the new SimCity? We can’t blame you -- it looks terrific. But good luck getting it working.

In what’s becoming a familiar tune to early players of eagerly-anticipated titles that require an Internet connection, the game's servers were completely overwhelmed when it launched Tuesday, preventing users from playing and angering the long-running franchise's legions of fans.

Hubble spies with its little eye, something that starts with "S." (Credit: NASA)The Hubble Space Telescope takes a gander at a faraway cluster of galaxies and snaps a picture that looks suspiciously like a Space Invaders villain.

By Amanda Kooser, CNET

Humans have long looked up into space and assigned objects like lions, bears, and hunters to shapes made by the stars. Now the Hubble Space Telescope has looked up into space and discovered an object that looks an awful lot like a classic game creature from Space Invaders.

(Credit: http://www.etsy.com/shop/JamesBit)Most people think video games and reading don’t mix, but it turns out a little Halo here and there might actually be effective in treating dyslexia.

So says a group of neurologists from Italy's University of Padua, who found a correlation between a dyslexic child's visual attention span and their ability to read. The results of their study, published in the most recent edition of Current Biology, indicate that playing video games for just 12 hours is more beneficial than a full year of intense therapy.