Blog Posts by AFP

New videogames give civil uprising tips
By AFP
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By AFP | Plugged In – Tue, Dec 6, 2011 12:21 PM EST
By Leila Macor

LOS ANGELES — The Arab Spring uprisings and Occupy-style US protests have inspired a new genre of serious videogames designed to help activists develop strategy -- all in the safety of cyberspace.

People Power (York Zimmerman)Games like "People Power (The Game of Civil Resistance)" allow would-be protest leaders to build and test their plans for peacefully opposing the police or the government without actually hitting the streets.

The game, which promises "an opportunity to join a community of others who want to learn about civil resistance and nonviolent strategies," was created by York Zimmerman Inc, along with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.
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Iran bans US video game showing Tehran invasion
By AFP
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By AFP | Plugged In – Tue, Nov 29, 2011 2:29 PM EST
By Mohammad Davari

TEHRAN — Iran has banned a popular computer game, "Battlefield 3", depicting US armour and aircraft launching an assault on Tehran, an Iranian IT magazine reported.

Battlefield 3 (EA)"All computer stores are prohibited from selling this illegal game," an unnamed deputy with the security and intelligence division of Iran's police said in a statement carried by the Asr-e Ertebat weekly.

A Tehran-based IT union warned all shops to abide by the ban.

"Battlefield 3", made by US videogame company Electronic Arts (EA), is based on a fictional near-future in which players take on the role of US Marines tackling shoot-em-up missions in Paris, New York and Tehran.
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Online gamers crack AIDS enzyme puzzle
By AFP
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By AFP | Plugged In – Mon, Sep 19, 2011 12:19 PM EDT
Online gamers have achieved a feat beyond the realm of Second Life or Dungeons and Dragons: they have deciphered the structure of an enzyme of an AIDS-like virus that had thwarted scientists for a decade.

Photo by AFPThe exploit is published on Sunday in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, where -- exceptionally in scientific publishing -- both gamers and researchers are honoured as co-authors.

Their target was a monomeric protease enzyme, a cutting agent in the complex molecular tailoring of retroviruses, a family that includes HIV.

Figuring out the structure of proteins is vital for understanding the causes of many diseases and developing drugs to block them.

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Xbox addict ‘dies from blood clot’
By AFP
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By AFP | Plugged In – Mon, Aug 1, 2011 5:28 PM EDT
AFP

The family of a budding computer programmer have on Saturday launched a campaign to raise awareness about the health risks of playing online computer games after their son died following a marathon session on his Xbox.

Xbox 360 controller

A post-mortem revealed that 20-year-old Chris Staniforth -- who was offered a place to study Game Design at Leicester University -- was killed by a pulmonary embolism, which can occur if someone sits in the same position for several hours.

Deep vein thrombosis normally affects passengers on long-haul flights, but medical experts fear youngsters who spend hours glued to their consoles might also be at risk and have urged them to take regular breaks.

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