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April 11th, 2019, 18:27 Posted By: wraggster
Gaming trade groups like to tout the effectiveness of their ratings systems and parental control options, but on at least one platform, there's an easy workaround that lets developers target games with inappropriate content at children.
Wired recently found dozens of games on the Google Play store carrying all-ages ratings that featured violence, gore, gambling, and other content that commonly earns more restrictive ratings on other storefronts. The site traced the issue to the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC), a group of six international ratings authorities which came together in 2013 to create a worldwide rating system. The heart of the system is a questionnaire developers fill out about their games, with their answers then determining the appropriate regional rating for each of those six authorities, plus a seventh generic IARC rating for the rest of the world.
"Given the high volume of published games and apps, participating rating authorities are not able to monitor every single release," an IARC representative told Wired, while a spokesperson with the UK Video Standards Council said local ratings board PEGI focuses its efforts on the most downloaded titles.
That leaves it up to the platforms to review the ratings on releases, and many of them do. However, Google Play doesn't seem to have any mechanism to keep inappropriately rated titles from releasing on its storefront, instead taking them down after others flag them.
"When we find that an app has violated our policies, we remove it from Google Play," a Google spokesperson told Wired. "We want children to be safe online and we work hard to help protect them."
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...iendly-ratings
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April 29th, 2019, 18:05 Posted By: wraggster
A new study has shown that a virtual reality game designed to identify those genetically at higher risk of Alzheimer's is producing significant and valuable data.
Sea Hero Quest is a mobile VR game developed by Glitchers in partnership with Deutsche Telekom, Alzheimer's Research UK, University College London and the University of East Anglia.
The latter has published results of its research in journal PNAS, with a press release claiming they were able to translate every 0.5 seconds of gameplay into useful data. And every two minutes is reportedly equal to five hours of lab-based research.
With more than three million people downloading and playing the game since it launched three years ago, Sea Hero Quest has generated more than 1,700 years' worth of lab-based research.
One of the first symptoms of Alzheimer's is loss of navigational skills, so much of Sea Hero Quest is spent challenging players to follows charts and directions, and later remember those without the use of a map.
The UEA team focused on data from 27,108 UK players aged between 50 and 75, which is the age group most vulnerable to the degenerative condition. This was compared with a smaller group of 60 people undergoing lab-based genetic testing.
In the lab group, 31 participants carried the APOE4 gene -- which makes people three times more likely to be affected by Alzheimer's and potentially develop the disease at younger ages.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...nto-alzheimers
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April 29th, 2019, 18:12 Posted By: wraggster
Mario Kart Tour has moved a step closer to launch, with a closed beta test scheduled for next month.
Nintendo is now taking applications for the beta test from Android users in North America and Japan. At this point, there are no announced plans for the beta to expand to iOS or to other global territories.
The beta will run from May 22 until June 4, with Nintendo seeking to "to improve the quality of the game" as a result.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...osed-beta-test
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April 29th, 2019, 18:37 Posted By: wraggster
Apple has invested a reported $500 million in signing games to its new Arcade subscription service.
According to the Financial Times, which cited multiple sources familiar with the deals, Apple paid "several million dollars each" on the majority of the games that will be included with Arcade at launch.
There is also an additional incentive for developers willing to delay launching on Google Play and other rival services, giving Apple Arcade a period of timed exclusivity.
Apple declined to comment on the story, but it stated that it would "[contribute] to the development costs" of its partners when it announced the service in March.
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...e-partnerships
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