Gaming enthusiasts nationwide now have more reasons to shop Best Buy as their gaming destination. Launching in close to 600 Best Buy stores this week, with additional stores to soon follow, the new Best Buy Trade-In program offers customers an opportunity to sell pre-owned video games.

Gator Publishing Service announced the formation of its video game division Collective Mindz, designed for independent video game publishers and developers who desire the support of a full-service North American publishing presence without exposing their companies to the risk or overhead inherent in establishing an office and building a staff.

Guinness World Records traveled to the Electronic Entertainment Expo to recognize the best of the video game industry where top interactive companies were officially honored for their record-breaking achievements by Guinness World Records 2010 Gamer's Edition Editor Gaz Deaves.

PopCap Games announced that preliminary results of a new study being conducted by East Carolina University's Psychophysiology Lab have identified improvements in cognitive function through the playing of "casual" video games

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the the nominees for its Video Games Awards, with the winners to be revealed on Friday, March 19, 2010.

On the eve of the TV Festival and the closing day of Edinburgh Interactive, the two will host the first ever creative industries event for television and games, providing an insight into technologies, but more importantly bringing the decision makers from games and television together for the first time.

According to the ESA, computer and video games prove to be effective tools for simulating and training emergency responders for real-life disaster situations, but as the technology advances and the number of players expand, games may eventually play an even larger role in emergency response and preparedness.

Now through Dec. 26, Target is offering $10 off on 20 top video game titles, including Uncharted 2 (PS3), Madden 2010 (Xbox 360 and PS3), WWE 2010 Smackdown V. Raw (Xbox 360 and PS3) and many more.

Many museums have explored art inspired by video games, but The Art of Video Games will be the first to examine comprehensively the evolution of video games themselves as an artistic medium.

A 16-week comprehensive research study conducted by Academic researchers at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) concluded that educational video games positively influence student achievement and significantly affect student attitudes and self-efficacy toward the study of mathematics.

In a vast open world environment, Assassin's Creed II invites players to incarnate Ezio, a privileged young noble in Renaissance Italy who's been betrayed by the rival ruling families of Italy, and seeking vengeance.

Ahh, weekend, I'm always glad to see ya. Slept in way late but then had to rush to get our errands done because the wife and I wanted to watch the women's semifinals of the U.S. Open. Of course, we were rooting for Kim Clijsters, who played a great match even though victory came in a somewhat awkward way. Onto the finals!

We also watched "Inkheart" with Brandon Frasier, which turned out the be much better than we anticipated. It's more geared toward the younger crowd but not a bad flick at all.

Also received my latest Gears of War comic books (thanks Dana) so I quickly shredded through those, but I am still amazed at how thin comics are these days, and they're filled to the brim with ads. I used to be an avid X-Men and Sgt. Rock reader 15 years ago, so it seems things have changed quite a bit. It's been a while, so maybe I'll have to dig up my old issues and reminisce.

Video Games Live announced the addition of 30 new performances to its tour, including a 2 evening performance in Tokyo (taking place during the TGS), an invitation by the Chinese government to perform all across China, the return to Broadway in NYC, and first ever game music performances in locations such as Ireland, Poland, Shanghai, Oregon, Salvador, Barcelona and others.

Nielsen Research data released this week shows that gamers are playing more this summer than last. June 2009's total video game console usage minutes went up 21% from the previous June with the average gamer logging 768 minutes, led by Microsoft's X360.

Video Games Live, recently enshrined in the Guinness Book of World Records, announces 12 performances throughout the month of July. Each show will be unique and many will be highlighted by special performances, conventions and/or special guests.

A new research from the Entertainment Software Association 68% of American households play computer or video games, a 3% increase over 2008, illustrating the expanding use of entertainment software across all demographics.

MarketResearch.com's Packaged Facts report gives a detailed analysis of the consumer attitudes and behavior of 114 million American adults who play video games, representing more than half of the adult population with an aggregate income of $4 trillion.

A new study by Dr Souvik Mukherjee, a researcher and computer game narrative expert from the School of Arts & Humanities at Nottingham Trent University, concludes that computer games can be read like books and should be regarded with the same value as literary texts.

Starting April 19, Target will roll out a new reservation program that offers customers a chance to reserve top video game titles for $1, and when they come pick up their game they'll receive a $5 Target GiftCard to put toward a future purchase.

Video Games Live will return to Los Angeles, CA on Thursday, June 4th at 8:00pm, as it will be performing at the historic Greek Theatre as the closing ceremony of E3. A lot of new material has been incorporated into the 2009 show and partnered with the E3 convention, there will be a variety of very special guests from Japan and Europe in town for this performance.

A new study found that adults who play a lot of action video games may be improving their eyesight. A group of 22 students was divided in two, one playing shooters Call of Duty 2 and Unreal Tournament 2004, while the second played The Sims 2, a sim game. At the end of the 50-hour trial, the action game players showed an average of 43% improvement in their ability to discern close shades of gray, while the Sims players showed none.

A new study conducted by Nottingham Trent University, the Department of Health and Nottingham University Hospital, set out to investigate the levels of energy expended when playing video games indicates videogaming could form part of recommended daily physical activity.

After having just performed the opening of the Taiwan International Music Festival last weekend in Taipei to an endless sea of tens of thousands, and having sold out every show so far this year, Video Games Live is proud to announce 45 new shows for 2009.

In 2005, the California State Assembly approved legislation to limit the access of extremely violent video games to minors (anyone under 18), which was signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger but immediately appealed by the VSDA and ESA, and has now finally been overturned by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which deemed it unconstitutional.

The Academy announced the nominations for the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards which this year feature 39 different games, lead by Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's seven BAFTA nominations, Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV) garners six, Fable II and LittleBigPlanet follow with five each, Steven Spielberg wins his first video games nomination for Boom Blox.