Posted by dw2003 on 04 July 2005 - 13:50 · 27 comments & 3140 views
The 12 teenagers and young adults, some in ripped jeans and baggy T-shirts, sit in a circle, chewing gum and fidgeting as they shyly introduce themselves. "I'm 12 years old," one boy announces with a smile. "I love playing computer games. That's it." "It's been good to sleep" says another, a 17-year-old with spiky hair, now that he's no longer on the computer all day.

The youths are patients at China's first officially licensed clinic for internet addiction, a downside of the online frenzy that has accompanied the nation's breathtaking economic boom.

News source: Wired News


Cont...

It's not clear whether Famitsu is simply basing an assumption on the inclusion of the drive on Kutaragi's previous comments, or if the magazine actually has new information about Sony's thinking on the matter.

If PS3 doesn't ship with a hard drive, it will give an edge to the Xbox 360, particularly in terms of massively multiplayer games - an increasingly popular genre which currently requires significant amounts of storage on the client side. Sony may be hoping, however, that the PS3's superior capabilities for removable storage, which includes slots for Memory Stick and other types of high-capacity memory cards, will allow MMOGs to be played on the console even without a drive.

It's also possible that Sony may adopt the approach which many commentators expected Microsoft to follow with the Xbox 360, by launching two versions of the PS3 - one without a hard drive and with limited media capabilities, and a more expensive model with a hard drive and full media functionality.




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Quote this comment Reply to this comment #1 Posted by jpgodlew on 04 Jul 2005 - 13:57
What is the world coming to?
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #2 Posted by Ely on 04 Jul 2005 - 14:24
lol they should open up a few of those here in America too. but hey I agree its crazy the point where its coming up to.
Quote this comment #2.1 Posted by toadeater on 04 Jul 2005 - 22:09
If these kids were making $$$ off of it, it wouldn't be called an "addiction" anymore, it would be a career--like pro sports.

Game developers and hardware vendors need to think of ways to better support hardcore gamers. There is potentially a massive market in "pro gaming." Maybe not one with people watching tournaments on TV, but at least following the stats, trading in items and real estate from MMORPGs, and participating in tournaments along with the "pros."

Better think of ways now, because gaming isn't going away, it's only going to get more sophisticated and addictive.

You haven't even seen photorealistic VR yet, the army is already using it for some forms of training. Now imagine a VR version of a game like Doom 3. People will be getting heart attacks or winding up in mental institutions from those games.
Quote this comment #2.2 Posted by NeoReader on 05 Jul 2005 - 18:06
I think, you can do that now with Xbox live... you can track how well others are doing in all kinds of games. They also did pretty good with the Ninja gaiden tournament.
(4 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #3 Posted by emel on 04 Jul 2005 - 14:26
maybe they get "education" not to search for words democracy and freedom..when they learn that.. they are addiction free.
Quote this comment #3.1 Posted by rob.derosa on 04 Jul 2005 - 14:39
its not illegal to search for those words, they just dont come up with any results, or the results are blocked, in china.
Quote this comment #3.2 Posted by leojei on 04 Jul 2005 - 17:38
I dont think internet addiction is in anyway relates to their refuse of media rights. As the article mentioned, internet addiction is a problem to other countries (including US) too.
Quote this comment #3.3 Posted by Knight' on 04 Jul 2005 - 20:57
You put democracy and freedom in the same sentance.... please.
Quote this comment #3.4 Posted by shao on 05 Jul 2005 - 12:07
it always makes me laugh how some righteous american decides to speak up about the poltical system of another country, when the story has next to nothing to do with politics, but just happens to come from a different country.

maybe that would be okay, if the political system in america was perfect. Alas, it's anything but. next time stay on topic.
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #4 Posted by kronik on 04 Jul 2005 - 14:51
Damn. Beijing is too far, ill just stay addicted for now.
Quote this comment #4.1 Posted by neotool on 04 Jul 2005 - 18:08
They might have a chat room set up.
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #5 Posted by altermind on 04 Jul 2005 - 15:11
mmmm once again.. more people lack the ability to get bored with something.. I'm sure there will be a new group formed to ban all games and entertainment ever created for the computer.....

don't mind me

wish those kids luck kicking the habbit of staring at a screen all day

*goes outside* MY EYES>> >MY FREAKING EYES
Quote this comment #5.1 Posted by leojei on 04 Jul 2005 - 17:40
I doubt if any government, including China, would do that nowadays.
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #6 Posted by AJCrowley Esq on 04 Jul 2005 - 17:27
Blah, call that an addiction? It's not, it's a compulsion. Load all of these so called "addicts" full of crack and morphine for a few months, then they'll know the meaning of the word addiction.
Quote this comment #6.1 Posted by chicken-royal on 04 Jul 2005 - 18:07
it'd also keep them off the computers if they were addicted to drugs.
Quote this comment #6.2 Posted by Corporal_Clegg on 04 Jul 2005 - 19:55
i second that... get these kids some drugs... brb getting san andreas withdrawrals
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #7 Posted by djesteban on 04 Jul 2005 - 19:02
for them... the transformer cartoon slogan is real:
mooooooore than meets the eyes
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #8 Posted by Sage_Override on 05 Jul 2005 - 00:00
Haha, god DAMN.....
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #9 Posted by Help on 05 Jul 2005 - 01:37

QUOTE
A 12-year-old boy receives electric shock treatment for his Internet addiction at the Beijing Military Region Central Hospital in Beijing.


Yikes...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8430811/
Quote this comment #9.1 Posted by TheSarge on 05 Jul 2005 - 01:59
Gengis Khan would be proud. He would then kill you and your entire village.
Quote this comment #9.2 Posted by C-Fu on 05 Jul 2005 - 12:00
Bush's doing that so don't worry bout it
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #10 Posted by Ji@nBing on 05 Jul 2005 - 02:05
Not surprising. My girlfriend has her brother in from her villiage staying in our place in Beijing for the month to take care of our cat and ALL he has been doing is sitting on PC playing games 24/7.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #11 Posted by mr_skrilla on 05 Jul 2005 - 04:25
I think I need some internet help myself
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #12 Posted by Sil9 on 05 Jul 2005 - 10:18
Where's Dr. Phil when you need him?
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #13 Posted by nouhad on 05 Jul 2005 - 12:13
hahah this is so damn funny. man how they overreact HAHAHAHAHAHHA
OWNED
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #14 Posted by Adequate on 05 Jul 2005 - 14:59
If those kids wouldn't have had an AMD CPU in their machine, this would never have happenned.

That's a good initiative that China took, even though the USA should have been the first ones in that field... but that's okay, we'll just nuke the crap out of that country to make it up...

But let's get back to the point: AMD CPUs corrupt, and Athlon64s corrupt absolutely!
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #15 Posted by Thorpe on 06 Jul 2005 - 16:19
I am 15 and rather addicted. Will it be available in the UK?
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