4. Xbox 360 failure rate at 16 percent?

Warranty seller SquareTrade, sampling from a pool of over 1,000 claims, says that it's seeing an Xbox 360 failure rate at around 16 percent. Most Xbox 360 owners -- at least the early adopters -- don't just fear the RRoD, they've come to expect it, and compared to projected failure rates of 3% for the Wii and PS3 (a stat Microsoft claimed initially), it's obvious that this continues to be a spendy problem for Microsoft and a headache for its customers. As 1UP points out, the 16% stat might be a little high, since the type of user that would seek out a separate warranty is probably more of a power user, and the majority of problems are heat-related, but whatever the true number is, it'll probably continue to rise in the immediate future as we all CoD4 our gen one 360s to death, and then eventually fall as the 65nm and eventually 45nm Xboxes fill the market.

3. Video gaming affecting children mentally.

In countless homes and classrooms we see children: with more impulsive behaviors, less willing and able to persevere through challenging mental tasks, hyperactive, reactive, with little or no impulse control. Research confirms that children who watch TV or play video games for more than two hours daily will most likely exhibit one or more of these characteristics.

2. Gaming is changing the world around it.

Video game addiction, also called video game overuse, is a proposed form of psychological addiction composed of a compulsive use of computer and video games. While game critics may praise a game as "addictive", this article shall focus only on the perceived negative consequences of the phenomenon.
Most notable are massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), and related to the also-debated Internet addiction disorder. Instances have been reported in which users play compulsively, isolating themselves from social contact and focusing almost entirely on in-game achievements rather than life events.

1. Advancement in online gaming causing more expensive hardware

Alienware Gains Online Gaming Edge with the Killer NIC The Killer™ K1 gaming network card, from Bigfoot Networks, Inc., is now a recommended upgrade featured in all Alienware desktop gaming PCs, including the Area-51, Aurora, and ALX systems. A significant advancement in online gaming technology, Killer is the industry's first network interface card designed specifically for online gaming. Killer is designed to accelerate game data and reduce lag for a smoother, more responsive online gaming experience.

My NMT Area

My choice of area, after a lot of deep consideration and though, is going to be Gaming. I have chosen gaming, as I spend a lot of my free time gaming, at a very high level, and I have won several competitions playing compter games, so it is obviously of deep interest to me.

Technology- How consoles and computers have advanced over the last few years, for example improvements in graphics cards, and the transition from Xbox to Xbox 360, and Playstation 2 to Playstation 3.

Institutions- The different companies who specialise in gaming, for example Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.

Audience- How portable gaming and online gaming has integrated and widened the audience.

Issues- The argument that children who play games to much are becoming unsociable.

Future- Motions sensors, virtual reality etc.