Sports bars are 
no longer the sole domains of football and basketball fans.
A new breed of patron is on the rise — and while they may have minimal interest in the NBA playoffs or the World Series, they get pretty rowdy when the Zerg battle the Protoss.
Don Vito Corleone 
is about to make social network game fans an offer. Think they’re going to refuse it?
Kabam, the company behind Global Warfare and Kingdoms of Camelot, and Paramount, the studio behind “The Godfather” film series, are working together to bring the classic crime saga to social network sites.
The first regular season 
kickoff won’t take place until a few minutes past 8:30 pm on Sept. 8, but for gamers, the NFL season really gets underway on Aug. 30.
That’s the day Madden NFL 12 hits store shelves. It’s also the day HR departments hate, as a disproportionate number of workers will curiously call in sick after staying up to buy the game at midnight. But as the venerable football series enters its 23rd year, how does publisher Electronic Arts plan to keep it fresh?
Video games have been 
blamed for a lot of bad things, but new research from a trio of institutions indicates that crime isn’t one of them.
Research from the Centre for European Economic Research (also known as ZEW), Baylor University and the University of Texas at Arlington showed games reduce the number of criminal incidents by keeping potential assailants, thieves and other ne’er-do-wells occupied.
A video game 
isn’t usually considered a particularly romantic form of expression.
But when Gary Hudston’s girlfriend Stephy celebrated her 21stbirthday this week, he relied on a game to help express his feelings — and what resulted is one of the best video game marriage proposals of all time.
Educational games get a 
bad rap, but occasionally you’ll find a game that manages to teach you something without becoming a snoozefest. Learn a thing or two with these 10 terrific educational titles.
If video games and 
traditional toys were to have a secret love child, it might look a lot like the Sifteo cube.
Introduced as a prototype at a TED conference in 2009, the gadget/toys are a fusion of classic building blocks and cutting-edge tech. And while it’s a bit early to label the Sifteo this year’s frenzy-inducing hot holiday toy, don’t be surprised if it ends up on a lot of gamer wish lists.
Matthew Eshelman found 
himself on the receiving end of a three-year suspension from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Disciplinary board last week. The reason? Video games.
The Pennsylvania attorney says a video game addiction is to blame for his sloppy legal work over the past four years that resulted in 17 complaints about mishandled cases.
Regardless of how effective
it might be at combating PC game piracy, Ubisoft’s DRM (digital rights management) program is quickly growing into a public relations disaster.
Just a few weeks after proclaiming it would require owners of its upcoming Driver: San Francisco to remain online as they played the game, the company has backtracked, bowing to a flood of protests and catcalls from gamers who view the piracy protection system as being intrusive.
Madden 12 won’t be 
the only football being played on the PlayStation 3 this fall.
Sony and DirectTV have teamed up to bring the satellite company’s hit NFL Sunday Ticket service to the game console, marking the first time people who don’t subscribe to DirecTV will be able to get access to the subscription service.
Chris Morris: Journalist 