Average gamer is 37 years old, still knows how to play Pac Man (Yahoo! News)

It’s not just kids playing video games, adults get in on the action, too

The Entertainment Software Association has released some interesting new statistics about the demographics of video game players. The average gamer age is 37; 18% of video game players are under 18, 53% are 18 - 49 years, and 29% are 50 years or older.

What does this mean? It means that more adults are playing video games. Those that grew up playing early Nintendo games or Pac Man arcade games have carried their interest into adulthood. The numbers from the ESA even tell us while there is a gender gap amongst gamers, it's not as much as some would expect: 58% of gamers are male, while 42% are female.

The ESA numbers also indicate that video games are a mainstream form of entertainment, with 72% of households playing them. Those households spent $25.1 billion in 2011 on video games, generating more than 120,000 jobs in 34 states. Such jobs include making the video games, providing customer support for them, and marketing the games to consumers.

Post by Adam Holisky

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Concept bike lets you shift gears with your mind, pedaling still required (Yahoo! News)

A special helmet and advanced engineering make thought-controlled shifting is a reality

Controlling objects simply by thinking about them was once just a dream, but more and more, scientists are beginning to learn how to turn thoughts into actions. One such example is a new cycle concept created with the help of Toyota Prius Projects. Built by bike maker Parlee, the cycling gurus from Prolly is not Probably are creating a super aerodynamic road bike called the PXP that sports an interesting addition: mind-controlled shifting.

The team initially used a smartphone interface to control the PXP's electronic shifting mechanism, but a recent update revealed that their plans are much more futuristic. With the know-how of engineers from Deeplocal, the job of shifting the bike was moved from the hands to the brain. After calibrating a helmet jam-packed with neurosensors to a specific rider's brain waves, the bike can be shifted up or down simply by thinking about it.

Prius Projects highlights interesting and inventive new concepts that small teams are attempting all over the world. The energy-saving aerodynamic properties of the PXP, coupled with brain-bending features like mind control, make the project's progress worth following. We can only hope that the end result has the potential to spawn a consumer-level product somewhere down the line.

(Source)

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