Before, we've seen a handful of studies on video games and their varied effects on kids, teens, and even adults. Usually, the studies have to do with violence or sex or stress relief and whatnot. This new study is the first I've actually seen linking video games to civic development and political awareness. Check out the full article for an outline of findings that the research team has gathered. It's a treasure trove of interesting little snippets of gaming goodness.

Homebrew developer Sylus101 has released a new update for the Nintendo DS GIF/CARD viewer for Magic: The Gathering. To find out more about this application, head on over to the full article by clicking on the "read more" link below.

Download: GIF/CARD Magic: the Gathering DS Card Viewer (6-6-08)

Looking for the perfect gift for your videogame-playing loved one? Then look no further as we give you the titles hitting store shelves this week, and this time it's mostly about the portables. So sit back and relax as we show you some options on just what sort of videogame happy you'll be having gift-wrapped in this season of giving (even though Christmas itself is still a few weeks away).

Homebrew developer Alex has released PuzzleManiak v3.1 for the Nintendo DS. For those unfamiliar with this application, it is a partial port of Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection for the Nintendo DS.

It contains 27 different puzzle games such as Sudoku, Pattern (Picross), and Mastermind. This latest version reinstates the hall of fame feature which displays the global rankings for players and fixes some of the bugs that were found in version 3.0. More information and the download link can be found in the full article.

Spider Solitaire DS 3.0.2 from jt0.org is basically the Spider Solitaire game on Microsoft Windows made available on the Nintendo DS.

Jess Telford (aka Jess T, JessTicular, Teddy) has added a DS twist to the homebrew game: you use the stylus to select menu items and to move cards around. For example, you use the touch screen to select "1 Suit," "2 Suits," or "4 Suits." You also use the stylus to drag cards (a ghosted version of your selection will automatically snap to the nearest card pile).

Spider Solitaire DS also has cheat and undo features (for those who find the game too difficult at higher settings).

Here's what's new in Spider Solitaire DS 3.0.2:

• Fixed M3 compatibility bug (pressing Hint when no possible moves would freeze the game)
• Fixed bug where if there was only one card on a pile and Hint was pressed it would freeze the game

As always, be sure to read the readme before you install the game. The full instructions and the full changelogs are there.

Download: Spider Solitaire DS 3.0.2
Download: Spider Solitaire DS 3.0.2 source code

Midway Games announced today that Touchmaster, their new title for the Nintendo DS handheld system, has now shipped to retailers nationwide. This DS exclusive carries a suggested price tag of US$ 29.99.

Touchmaster is a collection of 23 classic tabletop games that use the DS's unique touch screen. These touch-screen games are separated into six categories: Cards (nine games including Solitaire and Power Cell), Skill (Trivia, Word Search and five other games) and Puzzle (seven puzzle games including Mah Jongg Pairs and Crystal Balls).

Midway is also bringing back the Midway Tournament Network as part of the launch of Touchmaster. Through the Midway Tournament Network, gamers will be able to use their Nintendo DS wireless connection to compete in tournaments, post their high scores, and compare personal bests with their friends.

Currently brewing in EA Canada's labs is Pogo Island, which compiles five of the most popular games found over at Pogo.com - Word Whomp, Poppit!, Phlinx, Tri-Peaks Solitaire, and Squelchies.

• Word Whomp - kinda like Text Twist, requires you to guess the word by unscrambling the letters
• Phlinx - you have to group together stones of the same color
• Poppit! - good old balloon-popping fun
• Squelchies - nah, contrary to what this writer thought, you won't be using the DS's mic and letting out loud squelches (awwww. haha!). Instead, you'll get to manipulate three same colored aquatic creatures to make way for more creatures as they advance downward
• Tri-Peake Solitaire - (need we explain this one, folks?)
  

But in addition to all these, there's also reportedly a meta game that'll require players to look for Pogo mascots found scattered all over the backdrops of Pogo Island. Kinduva healthy distraction, if ya ask me.*winks*

So anyway, another cool thing about Pogo Island is that you'll get to collect tokens while playing the game which you can then transfer to Pogo.com and earn bragging rights. Hahaha. Pogo Island is set to bounce your way on March 26 and will sell for an SRP of US$ 29.99.

More screens await in the full article!

  

Despite Midway's slow move out of the coin-op arcade business, their Touchmaster machines are still a huge moneymaker for the publisher. Now, the publisher is set to bring those simple, yet fun, pub games to Nintendo DS. This summer, Midway will release Touchmaster.

Touchmaster is a collection of 23 games that include: Gem Slide, Crystal Balls, Hot Hoops, MahKi, Mah Jonng Pairs, Double Take, Go Wild, Up Lift, Times Square, Word Search, and Wordz. The games sound and play just like their Saloon brothers and the touch screen controls of the Nintendo DS just makes the experience feel more authentic.

The game is set to take advantage of the handheld's Wi-Fi connection service so player's can submit high scores as well as participate in tournaments. The game will also support local networking and hot-seat, one-system mutliplayer. Finally, a set of DS games where we could play reasonably well while we're drunk.

   

Electronic Arts' web-based casual gaming site Pogo.com features a whole lot of games playable right from the get-go, as long as you have a browser with Flash support and some time to kill.

EA though is wrapping up a collection of five Pogo games and slapping "For the DS" onto them. Yep, you heard that right the first time: the DS is getting some Pogo love, from Word Whomp to Phlinx, under the packaged name Pogo Island.

Word Whomp is pretty much your Text Twist buddy with a whole tropical feel. Poppit is similar to Bejeweled only this comes with balloons and some good popping.  Tri-Peake Solitaire gives all those who just can't seem to find a complete deck anymore a chance to play the old Solitaire again. Squelchies is a game where three same colored aquatic creatures paves way for more creatures to advance downward. And Phlinx, last but not the least, is the old-time Puzzle Bobble favorite, firing colored balls from a launcher from the bottom of the screen to match colors on top of the screen. This time around, there are two other launcher locations, giving more angles to clear a shot.

A quick-play option in Pogo Island is available so DS gamers in a rush could get right into the puzzle bits, although it also sports a story-mode where you can access the other five games through some short microgames.

Better yet, by playing well you can even earn tokens for your account at Pogo.com if you play the games pretty well, which is pretty much the Pogo.com standard currency. If you wanna check out the games, hop on your pogo and click the "Read" link below.

Pack your DS with oodles of card, board and party games with Nintendo's Clubhouse Games. Play Solitaire, Old Maid and Texas Hold 'Em without fussing around with stacks of cards. Play Darts, Snooker, Chess and Backgammon while you're in the middle of the road. With a roster of 42 games, Clubhouse Games will certainly keep you busy for hours.

Clubhouse Games also enables you to challenge other people via Wi-Fi, and psyche out your opponents with the "Picto chat" function. With the user-friendly interface, it's surely going to keep both kids and adults entertained, minus the hassle of bringing cards and boards and what-not.

Clubhouse Games will be available on September 29, for £20 (around $38). While waiting for its release, enjoy this bunch of new screenshots to give you an idea how the game looks like.