Indeed, the numbers are tanking for both major games in this space, and hard, although analyst Michael Pachter says they should level off at a "healthy" $500 million/year.

Reports Reuters, the recently released and much ballyhooed The Beatles game moved 800,000 units to date, which is 200,000 short of what analysts expected it would sell. Guitar Hero 5, on the other hand, sold just 500,000 this year. The number pales in comparison to the 1.4 million pieces of plastic Guitar Hero III managed to sell during its first month on store shelves. DJ Hero, the latest in the pseudo-instrument series, also disappointed.

Come to think of it, that drum set, when viewed the right way, kind of reminds me of sad face. How apt. And how timely! Mark's latest shooting challenge is all about finding faces in strange places.

In other news, landfills report they'll be very busy in 2010. [Reuters via CrunchGear]

Wired summarizes the study, found in the December Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Lead author and research Sapna Cheryan had an interesting question - if people can base their perceptions of another person on the items found in their bedroom, would the same type of reasoning apply in a classroom setting? Cheryan and her team quickly set up an experiment:

Cheryan and colleagues tested this idea by alternately decorating a computer science classroom with objects that earlier surveys pegged as stereotypically geeky-Star Trek posters, videogames and comic books - or with objects that the surveys found to be neutral- coffee mugs, plants and art posters. Thirty-nine college students spent a few minutes in the room, then filled out a questionnaire on their attitudes toward computer science.

Women who spent time in the geeky room reported less interest in computer science than women who saw the neutral room. For male students, however, the room's décor made no difference.

In follow-up tests, a total of 215 students were asked to imagine they were joining either a geekily decorated or a neutrally decorated company after graduation. For every possible scenario, women preferred the non-geeky space.

"It's a consistent effect," Cheryan says. "The environment can communicate a sense of belonging, but it also communicates a sense of exclusion, or a sense that this is not a place where I would fit in."

Cheryan and co-researchers believe that by creating more neutral appearing spaces will help combat stereotypes and improve diversity in the computer science field.

Cheryan is correct in thinking perception matters in how people place themselves in different roles. But as a geeky girl gamer, I think that focusing on the internal motivations for why women avoid stereotypical or gendered areas (i.e., "I just don't think I belong") obscures the nature of societal norms to influence women away from engaging in the maths and sciences, especially as they are considered male dominated spaces.

Some of the most fascinating explorations of this dynamic are found in Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming. The collection of research findings and games theory, published in 2008, reveal a lot more than barriers to entry for women who want to play games or work in the industry - it reveals how gender norms often influence how "permitted" women are to access certain spaces, and how those limitations function to maintain the low numbers of women entering fields like computer science or game design.

Some of the research upholds Cheryan's ideas. In "Becoming a Player," T.L. Taylor uses the marketing strategies and environments of gaming stores to illustrate the belonging dynamic:

Part of the work of any leisure activity is coming to understand - practically and symbolically - that this is something you can do, that it is not at odds with your sense of self or your social world. The game industry (and, I would argue, the larger game community) knows this at some level and is constantly working to give players information about new games, where to get them, why they are fun, and how to play them. Just as powerfully, it is always mirroring back to boys and men that "this is your and your friends' play space" and "you belong here. Rarely are women gamers given this kind of attention. (p. 55)

Two other studies explain how the idea that some people "belong" and some do not take shape and manifest themselves in physical space. "Getting Girls into the Game," a joint study by Tracy Fullerton, Janine Fron, Celia Pearce, and Jacki Morie, explored a variety of reasons why more women don't pursue careers in gaming. After concluding that early experiences with video games impact how girls perceive the space, they note:

These early experiences pave the way to an interest in game development, but male-dominated environments can limit girls' involvement. In fact, computer labs in schools or clubhouses are often dominated by boys, who tend to elbow out the girls and take control of the equipment. (p. 168)

In "Gender Identity, Play Style, and the Design of Games for Classroom Learning," researchers Carrie Heeter and Brian Winn also talk about some of the gendered norms that come into play when there are limitations on availability of equipment:

When boys play games (or use computers), when there are fewer machines than people, girls step aside. It is difficult to determine whether it is the girls' "stepping aside" from their opportunity… or the boys "crowding out" the girls…. Nonetheless, this chemistry seems to exist between males and females pervasively when it comes to using gaming machines. (p.282)

The most comprehensive (and damning) research comes from Holin Lin, who invested countless hours into her research in Taiwan. Seeking answers to women's exclusion from the larger gaming world, Lin decides to look into home life, societal messaging, school and peer groups in her groundbreaking study "Body, Space, and Gendered Gaming Experiences: A Cultural Geography of Homes, Cybercafés and Dormitories." I devoted a substantial portion of my review of Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat to Lin's research, because the connections drawn are mindblowing:

Deftly weaving connections between the threat of violence, gendered socialization, and the internalized expectations of the women themselves, Lin paints a scenario familiar to any woman who moves into a heavily gendered space. Taiwanese youth frequent cybercafés to increase their skills, use upgraded machines, and hang out with their friends. However, women gamers looking to participate in the fun have to contend with real-world harassment:

The layouts of some cybercafés serve as gender barriers: girls must pass through a room full of pool tables to access the back spaces that are reserved for computers. Most girls are not willing to subject themselves to the scrutiny of and comments made by the pool players, and therefore only enter when accompanied by male friends.

This parallels one of Lin's observations of cybercafés in Taiwan… most girls are unwilling to enter a cybercafé unless accompanied by a male friend. Together, these stories imply that physical and social barriers to entry for women become misinterpreted as a lack of desire to play video games.

Despite the limits of online, virtual communities, however, they are often more appealing to female gamers than actual, physical cybercafés, as Lin points out:

Women's fear and perceptions of risk are deeply rooted in their bodies, and avoiding dangerous places is a common practice for managing the fear of male violence. In contrast, no threat of physical harm exists for players wearing either female or male avatar bodies.

Outside of the dynamics of the cybercafe scene, Lin also looks at women at home, from growing up with their parents to their play dynamics in college dormitories. Lin notes that college-aged male gamers tend to see gaming as a way to bond, while female gamers are often ostracized and made into a minority. In addition, family pressures tend to place pressure on girls to do more help with household tasks, as well as to work on social relationships. Males, however, were often left to their own devices when it came to interacting with technology. This functions to increase discomfort with technologies as women are socialized to spend less time understanding and getting familiar with these types of systems. Over time, this casual discouragement on so many fronts presents girls with a disincentive to continue working with or playing with game systems - and this dynamic is also evident with most other technologies, including computers.

Lin concludes that "[c]ultural constructions of gender are ubiquitous and therefore hard to remove from any analytical interpretation of gender issues in computer gaming." And indeed, while Cheryan has the right idea with looking at how spaces can be perceived as hospitable and inhospitable, solving the issue of gender gaps in technology will require looking at encouragement to get into the maths and sciences plays strongly into societal idea of what girls are "supposed" to do and where they "belong." And I'm afraid it will be a bit more complex than redesigning classrooms.

Star Trek Stops Women From Becoming Computer Scientists [Wired]
Beyond Barbie® and Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming (Hardcover) [Amazon]

Related: Gamer Girls Rising [Women's Review of Books]

(Click image for full-size pop-out.)

A number of notables are missing, from 3DO to the Jaguar to even the infamous Virtual Boy. But you should gain some perspective all the same while we wait for the inevitable Failed Video Game Timeline follow-up. [Online Education via GoNintendo]

Dead Space 2: Multiplayer, Bigger World, Space-Floating
This could be both fun and nauseating!

Ever Wonder How Much Money Has Been Sunk Into America's Army?
You don't want to know.

Five Steps to Total Pwnage of a Gamer Girl's Heart
In case you didn't have the attention span to take all 10 prerequisite steps.

Xbox 360 Game Helps You Talk To Girls
No it doesn't.

Pokemon Teaches Your Children To Worship Satan
No no, Pokemon IS Satan.

Blizzard Patches Diablo II, Beta Test It Now
My old discs are about 5 feet away...

PlayStation Home Director Wants "Mini-MMOs" On The Service
Interesting idea.

Frankenreview: The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Spoiler: the reviews deem it excellent.

EA CEO: "I Think Of Pirates As A Marketplace"
A marketplace that's just been robbed.

Disney, who is probably the most IP-protective company in the entertainment industry, realizes that I'm a lot more likely to buy their Monsters, Inc. Blu-ray for a small price premium if it includes every other format I could possibly want.

So why isn't the video games industry offering me the same choice with multi-platform titles like Call of Duty? Or, put differently, why is it that buying Call of Duty on the 360 doesn't give me a portable version for the DS or my iPhone?

I know, how ignorant of me to ask such a question! Porting a Call of Duty title from the Xbox 360 to PS3 is an expensive endeavor—we're talking huge development teams costing millions of dollars. For the DS or Wii, it's likely that game is designed again from the ground up to accommodate the unique hardware and lower processor specs. If I own an Xbox and a DS, they can't just give me the DS version for cheap or free!

Or could they?

Let's use Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's numbers as an example. According to data from VGChartz, 4,890,348 discs sold of Xbox 360 version alone in the first week. Imagine, for a moment, that $5 extra would buy you Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox 360 alongside a bonus version for the DS. If only 10% of buyers were tempted into this upsell, that's 489,000 additional DS version sold, or an extra $2,445,170 in DS-related revenue for Activision.

And for all of you think this would just cannibalize DS sales, I respond, what sales? Only 12,000 units of the DS's Modern Warfare 2 sold over the same period of time. (More figures on Kotaku.) Plus, by using digital downloads tied to existing PSN, Xbox Live and Nintendo accounts, software companies could greatly limit sharing/resale of these extra versions.

Assuming my rough numbers aren't too nuts (actually, I believe they are quite conservative), why isn't the games industry following the movie industry's lead? Why can't buying a game on one platform allow you to play it on many?

The real limitation isn't development costs, it's that the video games industry is fundamentally designed to ignore competing formats and charge developers licensing fees that would cripple such a model. Nintendo doesn't want to acknowledge that a gamer might want to play Call of Duty on the Wii for motion controls, on Xbox 360 for networking and on an iPhone for the road. Nintendo wants Nintendo gamers to live in a digital bubble. And the same can be said for Sony and Microsoft.

We're not supposed to want to play games on more systems than one. But you know what? We already do. According to the NPD, 42% of Xbox 360 and PS3 owners also own a Wii. And if those same numbers were run in relation to mobile devices, including cellphones, the number would skyrocket to nearly 100%.

Nintendo, with the Wii and DS, and Sony, with the PS3 and PSP, are both advantageously positioned to make such a model work. But ideally, software companies and retailers could take such promotions cross-platform, cross-company.

I don't live in a Utopian dream state, believing that the next generation of games will play on one uniform platform. And in fact, I think diversity and competition within the market is key to innovation. So let's leverage these differences to a more consumer-centric model that will probably, ultimately, make all involved companies more money while offering shoppers more choice.

Yes, it's just an Epson viral-ish video, but that doesn't make the clip any less wonderful, as a gamer walks the streets, choosing any convenient building for his giant canvas (while surely getting paid for it). Eventually, as pico projectors become more popular and powerful, it'll be interesting to see how many of us torture the landscape with Tekken 6 matches, and just how authorities choose to respond. [Epson via RegHardware via Engadget]

Real Girlfriend Gallery of Horrors
Serves those pervs right.

What's In The Star Trek Online Collector's Edition?
If there's no Picard Maneuver, count me out.

Star Trek Online "Belly Of The Beast" Trailer Contains No Bellies Or Beasts
Still good though!

Star in Your Own N64 Freakout Kid Video
Just when we thought the N64 kid was done, he pulls us back in.

Mass Effect 2 Expands To 2 Discs, Sometimes 3
Cannot wait.

Mass Effect 2's New Blue Girl Kicks Ass
Cannot wait.

Split/Second Trailer Is About The Only Thing Not Exploding
It's like Burnout crossed with 2012.

Scandal or No, EA Sports Stands by Its Man
EA does not care who Tiger Woods sleeps with as long as he's in bed with EA.

DSi XL Makes Jubblie Bouncing Extra Large [Slightly NSFW]
It was bound to happen.

Price

$250 with mixamp needed to combine chatting and surround sound.

Verdict

I still vastly prefer the convenience of Turtle Beach's wireless X41 headset, but I have to admit, the Astro A40 sounds better.
Playing Borderlands, everything from the growls of skaggs to the cadence of machine gun fire sounded richer and rounder on the A40s than my X41s. Maybe the sounds weren't always as distinct, but especially when cranking the volume on each headset, I realized the general listenability—the whole package of sound—was more pleasant with Atro's product, making me long for hearing loss. It's a difference in mid range that, while not absolutely Earth-shattering, will probably be noticeable to most in a side-by-side test.

Both headsets have extremely similar sound localization. And chatting, on both, is an equal joy.

But there's one, huge, horrible, despicable Achilles' heel to the Astro A40s. To connect the headset to an Xbox 360 (or PS3/PC), wires will invade your entire living room because the console needs to plug twice into a mixamp (the big, retro box you see in the lead photo), then the mixamp connects your headphones and controller. That's confusing, I know. Here's the full workflow:

Xbox 360 optical out and USB cord => A40 Mixamp => Headphones/Mic and Xbox 360 controller.
Ultimately, not only are you negotiating four wires for this one headset, but you'll still be tethered close to your console because of one, generally short/inflexible wire: the optical cord from your Xbox to the Mixamp (you can always opt for stereo plugs, but that sort of spoils the fun).

So while I knew the A40s sounded a bit better than my X41s, I couldn't kick back and enjoy the game in the same way. For one long cord or tight quarters PC gaming, I might opt for the A40s. For four cords sprawled across my living room, I'm sticking with the X41s—especially since they're $50+ less.

Maybe you'll feel differently.

Excellent sound

Headphones work with any 3.5mm source, too

Wiring gets obnoxious

The kid hung up mid-call, but officers went to his house and told him to listen to his parents. They didn't ask why the little shit was in trouble in the first place, but I'm pretty sure annoying emergency services won't get him back to MW2 any faster.

At least he didn't go crazy like that Japanese guy who doused himself with kerosene and torched his house after his mom threw away his Gundam action figures. [Chicago Tribune via Obscure Store]

The two were married when a man brought his DS along with a copy of Love Plus to a church in Guam. There's no word on honeymoon plans, but the two will be holding a small reception for family, close friends and the internet on November 22nd. (Seriously, there will be a webcam and stuff.)

It just goes to show, the power of Woman has no bounds. Stick her in a digital fortress, simplify her beauty to Nintendo DS rendering limits and give her a shrill, anime voice. Woman will triumph all the same. [Tiny Cartridge via technabob]

BTW, if you hate the gallery format as much as the Grinch hated Christmas, click here.

Modern Warfare 2 Controllers: These controllers add mappable buttons on its back, allowing you to do things like jump and reload without taking your thumb off a stick. And as anyone who's been thoroughly humiliated by 13-year-olds online knows, every little advantage helps. $50 [Link; Amazon (PS3), Amazon (Xbox 360)]

Nyko Charge Base IC: This thing make charging up your Wiimotes as painless as humanly possible. Just place them on the tray, that's it. No plugging in, no swapping batteries, no nothing. Now you'll never sit down to play and find a dead controller again. $35 [Link]

Ear Force X41 Headset: It's pretty amazing how much of an advantage spatial audio can give you. These awesome headphones will let you hear people sneaking up on you from all sides with excellent audio quality. They're also wireless, which ditches the annoying cable between the headset and your controller. $180 [Link]

Xbox Live Points/Wii Points/PlayStation Network Cards: All three current-gen consoles have virtual stores that let you buy games, game add-ons, movies, shows and all sorts of other stuff. The Wii and Xbox 360 use a proprietary points system, while the PS3 lets you pay in dollars. All three will let you buy gift cards that will work specifically on their systems, however, and no gamer will be upset to get those in their stocking. Price Varies [Amazon: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii]

Mad Catz Street Fighter IV FightSticks: Any fighting game aficionado will tell you that playing with a normal controller is for suckers. An arcade stick gives you much more control over your moves and combos, allowing you to thoroughly destroy the competition. And while this particular stick is branded with Street Fighter IV graphics, it'll work with any game. $70 [Link]

Microsoft Sidewinder X8: For PC gamers, the mouse is an important accessory. For years, wireless mice have been ignored thanks to lag, but the current crop of mice finally has the goods to hang with their wired cousins. The Sidewinder X8 is one of the best, offering up speedy response time, long battery life and comfy ergonomics. $75 [Link]

Arkeg: The Arkeg is an arcade cabinet with a kegorator inside. Yes, arcade games and beers. If you can swing the pricetag on this bad boy, I'm pretty sure you'll make anybody with a pulse really happy. $4,000 [Arkeg; Link] Thanks to the people who mentioned the correct Arkeg link!

DON'T BUY Ultimate Game Chair: A chair with speakers is a stupid idea. No self-respecting adult would have this in their home, and kids would get bored with the gimmick quickly. If you're going to clutter up your living room with video game related crap, it might as well be plastic instruments and skateboards. $570 [Target]

All Giz Wants is our annual round-up of favorite gift ideas, including amazing attainable objects and a few far-out fantasies. We'll be popping guides catered to different interests several times per day for the next week, so keep checking back.

Cell Phones
Verizon Samsung SCH-u350 Prepaid Cell Phone - $9.99 *

Computers
Buy a HP Mini 1020 or 1030 Netbook, Get 1 Neoprene Sleeve and Microsoft Wireless 3000 Mouse Free - $0.00 *
HP Mini 1020 Netbook - 10.1", Windows XP, 160GB HDD - $299.99 *

Digital Cameras
Kodak EasyShare Digital Camera Bundle (M340) - $99.99 *
Vivitar V8025 Digital Camera - 8.1MP, 8x Zoom - $49.99 *

Digital Media Cards
Dane-Elec 4GB Micro SD Memory Card with 3-in-1 Reader - $8.99 *

DVD Players
GFM Progressive Scan DVD Player - $19.99 *
GPX 10.2" Portable DVD Player - $99.99 *
Sylvania Blu-ray Disc Player - $89.00 *

Electronics
Deluxe V-Rocker SE Wireless Video Rocker - $49.99 *
iLive Home Dock for iPod - $19.99 *
Meijer PowerCell Pack Batteries (AA/AAA 12-pk, C/D 6-pk, 9V 3-pk) - $3.99 *
Sony Fashion Earbuds - $4.99 *
Sungale 7" Digital Frame - $29.99 *

GPS Navigation Systems
Magellian RoadMate 1440 GPS - $119.99 *

Hard Drives
Seagate 1TB Desktop Hard Drive - $79.00 *

Timex Watches - 35% Off *

Kitchen & Housewares
Magic Bullet Express Blender - $34.99 *
T-Fail Performance Stainless Steel Copper Bottom Cookware Set 10-pc. (After Rebate) - $79.99 *

Miscellaneous
One General Merchandise Item 15% OFF with Coupon, Excludes Doorbusters, Good only on 11/27 5AM to Noon, Exclusions Apply - $0.00 *

Movies
Blu-ray Movies - Over 24 Title to Choose From - (Live Free or Die Hard, Die Another Day, Speed and more) - $9.00 *
DVD Movies - 13 Titles to Choose From (Marly and Me, Mall Cop, Coraline, Fast & Furious and more) - $8.00 *
DVD Movies - Over 50 Titles to Choose From (Meet the Fockers, Friday Night Lights, Underworld, Leatherheads and more) - $3.00 *

MP3 Players
Apple iPod touch 8GB w/ $50 Meijer Coupon - $199.00 *

Networking & Wireless
D-Link Wireless N Router - $19.99 *

Portable USB Storage
SanDisk USB Flash Drive - 4GB - $9.00 *
SanDisk USB Flash Drive - 8GB - $14.00 *

Sports & Fitness
Koolaroo 8 Pc. Kids' 5x3 Tent Combo - $19.99 *
Lake & Train 2.5lb. Ontario Sleeping Bag - $9.99 *
Top Flite XL5000 Super Long Super Straight and Super Soft 15 Pack Golf Balls - $8.50

Television
Sylvania 19" Class LCD HDTV - $129.99 *
Sylvania 42" 1080p LCD HDTV - $499.99 *

Tools & Hardware
Stanley 8 Gallon Stainless Steel Shop Vac with Accessories - $39.99 *
Stanley Squidbrite Flexible Work Light - $19.99 *

Toys
Action Figures - Ben 10, Bakugan, G.I. Joe, Star Wars or Transformers Action Figures - $5.50 *
Arsenal X 6mm 2 Pistol Kit or Full Auto Electric Kit - $14.99 *
Barbie and Disney Princess Dolls (Various) - $5.50 *
Board Games (Various Titles) - $6.00 *
Disney Storybooks - 8 Titles to Choose From - $6.00 *
ESPN 6-in-1 Game Center - $29.99 *
Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Puppy, Purse, Tools, Cookie Jar, Piggy Bank, Tea Pot, CD Player or Counting Phone - $9.99 *
Leap Frog Learning Toys - $14.99 *
Lego - B2G1 *
Littlest Pet Shop Pairs or Postcard Pets - $3.00 *
Mongoose 20" Boys' Streak Bike or 20" Girls' Ethereal Bike - $49.99 *
Single Pack Hot Wheels or Matchbox Basic Cars, Monster Jam Vehicles or Disney Cars - B1G1 *

Video Games
All Video Games Priced $19.99 or Less - 50% Off *
Buy Any Xbox 360 Game System or Bundle, Get Grand Theft Auto IV and Halo 3 FREE - $0.00 *
Buy a PS3 120GB Slim Console, Get 2 Buy-ray Movies and 2 Video Games (Exclusions Apply) - $0.00 *
Nintendo DSi Video Game System w/ FREE $30 Meijer Coupon Good For Your Next Purchase - $169.99 *
Nintendo Wii Console w/ $50 OFF Your Next Meijer Purchase Coupon - $199.99 * [Black Friday]

For nearly the first year of her life, her parents and doctors were unaware of the NF, and the brittleness had contributed to multiple bone fractures of the lower leg, unbeknownst to anyone. These early bone breaks resulted in her left leg being seven centimeters shorter than the other, and as a bright, precocious and athletic child, she adapted to her leg imbalance incredibly well. I felt like I could have been looking at myself as a 5 year old. Unlike me, however, who didn't have a clue about an aesthetic style in outward appearance until college, she already had been bitten by the fashion bug, and was particularly excited by the prospect of a new holiday dress or her first day of school outfit. Her source of distress lay in the fact that the vast majority of little girls' shoes were off-limits for her, as there were only a few companies that made shoes that could be adapted with a special lift to even out her walking planes. These shoes had to work within the structure of the external leg brace she grew up wearing.

Her parents were impressive in their own right, first by not imposing labels or limits on her, and then making this medical journey of decisions for their child a collaborative process that included her, appraising her of new options in technology that had arisen as they became aware of them. Unfortunately, technology in her case—a successive series of operations to try and stretch the brittle leg using internal rods and pins to fuse the bone—hadn't progressed as fast they would have hoped. After the first two of what they knew would be many surgeries, her parents and doctors had made the decision to proceed with this rod approach until she reached five years of age. Then they would re-evaluate the process, considering any advancements in technology. If it hadn't advanced past this type of treatment, they would consider "other options."

Amazingly, because of technological progress in prosthetics, amputation was now an attractive option for this family. Amputation and subsequent fittings with prosthetics was simply seen as liberation from a leg that didn't function. Shortly after her sixth birthday, her mother told me, "She downloaded all these images of you off of the internet, and she's always asking ‘when, when can I get rid of my bad leg, when can I get a new leg?'" She even did her show-and-tell at school about prosthetics!

That is decidedly not what I would have expected a six-year-old to do.

After a few months, the child's mother called me, telling me that she, her spouse, and the doctors collectively made the decision to amputate, and that they would be telling the child this news that very night. My reaction was visceral and very surprising to me: I felt my breath grow short and my heart pounded, and I felt ill as waves of stress and worry pummeled me. I panicked at what role I might have played in this chain of events, and how I couldn't guarantee that this child would have anywhere near the same experiences I had had as an amputee. I found myself having doubts I had never had about myself or, indeed, most any amputee: "Would she be okay? Would her life be happy and full of opportunity?"

I spoke to the mother one last time before the surgery, and she informed me of the surgeon's decision to do an amputation through the ankle, the common thinking to be to "save as much of the flesh and bone leg" as possible. I couldn't be sure about this and hesitated even mentioning it, but I asked the mother if she had consulted with the child's would-be prosthetist about this "Syme's" style amputation, because I had heard reports of resulting limitations in people being able to obtain the latest prosthetic technology.

Ironically, by keeping more of the residual limb, you negate more options for different prosthetics, as there is no physical room to put the components (think of the shock-absorber and spring leg). An incredible facet of this story for me was learning that, at no time before this rather momentous surgery of this child, did the pediatric surgeon and the prosthetist ever have even one conversation.

Her mother investigated with the prosthetist who confirmed that, by leaving as much of the limb as possible, the child wouldn't be able to get any of the legs in the images she downloaded from the web. The surgeon was shocked to learn this, and had never considered that it might actually be better to amputate a few inches higher, increasing the future mobility options of the child.

This past April, while walking through a street fair hosted by the Tribeca Film Festival, I felt a tug on my shirt. It was this little girl, 6 months after her amputation, with colored paints on her face and in her hair, and a plastic tee-ball bat in her hand. She was jumping up and down (post-cotton candy) and she wanted to show me her new High School Musical 3 "tattooed" leg. She asked me if I knew Zac Efron and "could I get him to autograph her leg?" (I don't, but I'm working on hooking this up.)

She pulled me a few meters over to the batting cage stand, where she deftly used her prosthetic leg to press the foot pedal, launching a whiffle ball pitch that she smacked as hard as she could. On her feet, she proudly sported Mary Janes covered with red sequins. Seven months ago, she was as active as a child could be with a leg brace and tremendous pain; here, she ran and jumped and cartwheeled and tackled her little brother, who tackled her back. Even I, who rarely doubts the incredible ability of human beings to adapt to their adversity, was awe-struck.

I wondered how her childhood, her adolescence, her college years would collude to shape how she saw herself. Would she struggle through various identities, wanting to be "normal" as I did, only to find eventual freedom of self-expression in the absence of normalcy? Barring puberty, which is probably awful for everyone, I think this girl is going to skip over ever wanting to be "normal." Why be normal when you can have Zac Efron and Friends staring up at you everyday from your ankle?

The generation of children growing up today has a distinct advantage in this realm of identity, thanks to their daily interaction with the internet and video games. It's commonplace for them to create avatars and parallel representations of themselves, and they see their ability to change, transform, and augment those bodies to best suit their surroundings as beneficial.
That kind of fluid thinking was once solely the domain of those whose imaginations were heavily influenced by both technology and science fiction. Talk about seeing evolution speed up before your eyes. My being able to embrace the art in my artifice, to change my identities—how I perceive myself and how others respond to that perception — has profoundly changed the way I see the world and my opportunities in it. But I didn't possess that ability at age six.

I keep thinking of how long it takes for most of us to go through the process of first accepting ourselves as we are, strengths and weaknesses, then celebrating that self and starting to have fun with your strengths and weaknesses, then transforming ourselves as architects of own our identities, redefining what our strengths and weaknesses actually are. I think kids today are able to do this faster than previous generations.

I've noticed a progression from how kids used to respond to my wooden legs to responses toward a prosthetic limb today. Quite simply, the fear-as-first-response has all but disappeared; I do not experience children who are afraid to meet me and in fact, I haven't recently met any child who, when I'm sporting obvious prosthetics like the RoboCop legs, wasn't drawn like a magnet to them, accompanied by a list of very astute questions.

For the most part, it's adults who rein kids in, in an attempt to not have them stare or offend with their natural curiosity.

But curiosity is necessary; it is the foundation of imagination and innovation. It's tremendously important to allow children to see the diversities of human experience and understand how their own lives relate to it, so we can acknowledge how much more similar we are as human beings than different…even if what makes us different is where we discover and engage our rare and valuable qualities, offering them to society.

When I was a child, I watched plenty of episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Where some see Professor Xavier, I secretly know he's Captain Jean-Luc Picard. And thanks to airport security, I admit that I often daydream of being able to be molecularly transported around the world. I think about that other little girl and wonder to what extent her ability—and that of her peers—to google the word "prosthetic" and come up with tons of imagery to inspire their imaginations marks a marvelous shift in our society.

There's plenty of evidence that connects our visualization of what we dream to be possible to what we eventually create as a new reality. Gene Rodenberry's imagination in Star Trek and that of Arthur Clarke's, Marvin Minsky's and Stanley Kubrick's in 2001: A Space Odyssey had a direct impact on funding certain projects at NASA because scientists and researchers had "seen" this whole imaginary world, and they sought to make it real.

For my own childhood inspiration, I had the Bionic Woman and Six Million Dollar Man (to this day, the somber phrase "we can rebuild him" makes my heart pound wildly!), and even Inspector Gadget cartoons made me draw third grade pictures of legs with rocket jet packs flaming from the heels.
This "entertainment" not only asks questions but encourages more of them, replete with inherent timelines for answers: "When are we going to do molecular transport? We've been seeing it for forty years on Star Trek!" It's within the scope of our imagination.

I remember in high school seeing Forrest Gump when they convincingly transformed Lt. Dan—Gary Sinise, an actor with two flesh and bone legs—into an amputee. A budding actress, I thought "Oh my God, if they can do this with CGI, couldn't they do the opposite? Could they create an image of me on screen with full flesh and bone legs?" I was intrigued by the imaginary visual of a different version of myself, and I suspect it provided something tangible when asked if now, at this point in my life, I would trade my prosthetics for flesh and bone legs. (I wouldn't.)

The transformative power of films lay in engaging how I imagined myself and my "realities," giving me license to re-imagine them as I desire. Now that many people, starting from an early age, are creating and choosing their own identities in a virtual world—or in multiple virtual worlds—this self-malleable perspective has a lot of power. People can align themselves with global groups of their own choosing, and see themselves as their ideal selves without many of the social constraints present just a generation ago.

Although it took surviving junior high, I evolved myself to the point where I decided against measuring myself to "normalcy," deciding instead to self-determine what was cool, who was cool, and the transformation subsequently happened in how other people treated me. "Cogito, ergo sum." It's one of the simplest truths we revealed for ourselves, right? "I think, therefore I am." If you think you can pull it off, you can. Or as Henry Ford put it, "whether you think you ‘can' or you think you ‘can't': either way, you're right."

I'd postulate that technology is innately teaching today's children that very same lesson, and they're learning it much earlier.

This confident perspective, one perpetually shifting from imagination to invention—be it a personality, a human figure or a new technology—would not have happened a hundred years ago. If I had been born back then, I doubt I would have been enabled by society to do much, even with a self-ignited fire of human spirit, as being a woman was as much of a disability as anything.

Today, I'm grateful for all of my strengths and weaknesses, changing and morphing as they are, and I'm especially grateful for technology's advancements to prosthetics, as my life has been successful because of having had them, not in spite of having had them.

Aimee Mullins is an athlete, speaker, actress and model we met at TEDMED. She's also the guest editor for our theme week This Cyborg Life. Read her bio here.

[Lead Image:
Matthew Barney
CREMASTER 3, 2002
©2002 Matthew Barney
Photo: Chris Winget
Courtesy Gladstone Gallery]

Even More Star Trek Online Screens
Confession: I downloaded these off Atari's press site, just for my own personal "use."

Star Trek Online Preview: Ignoring Regulation
Btw, Jason Chen and I are also very actively begging our way into a press beta. Wish us luck.

LEGO Rock Band Review: Redefining The Rock Block
Spoiler: It's like every other Rock Band title, but with LEGO.

Avatar: The Navi Side Of The Story
Which will lose more money, the movie or the game?

StarCraft II Expansions, Diablo III Coming in "Next Few Years"
Just like I predicted, Diablo III won't be here until 2011...at the earliest. Being right can suck.

Diabloriffic Torchlight Coming To Retail
So since Diablo III will take so long, feel free to sleep around a bit.

Modern Warfare 2 Sells Nearly Five Million Copies In A Day
That's a launch of over $300 million in revenue.

Borderlands Sequel A "No-Brainer"
My siren is level 28. Frucci's hunter is like level bajillion.

They Made The Wii Bowling Ball, And They're Not Done Yet
There's plenty more plastic crap where that came from!

Oh...and as a little bonus, the worst lines in the history of video games:

[Today's Big Thing]

Loading stock discs from a wickedly exposed spinning disc drive on the back of the device, this "Gamecube" is ironically constructed from almost everything but the charming purple box. Inside this body, you'll find a Datamax Kid's Delight, Dreamcast Quantam Fighterpad, Wii Classic controller (3rd Party), and most of the components from the PSOne portable screen.

It's all fun and games until one particularly dexterous jump in Super Mario Sunshine costs someone a finger. [benheck forums via Engadget]

And Sonic. And Pac-Man. Even President Obama makes an appearance, although I don't think Hope: The Video Game is out just yet.

For reference, artist John Quigley says the Obama one took about 20 hours to complete. That time, since I'm a self-deprecating kind of guy, puts my personal Rubik's Cube record—which will remain undisclosed—to shame. [Technabob via CrunchGear]

The new sticker, found under the faceplate (just like the old one), looks a bit bigger and features both a code and a mysterious black bar.

Maxconsole forum members already came up with some interesting/believable theories: Could this code be tracked to your serial number, in case you open the machine and want to seal it back up with a fraudulent sticker? Could this black bar be heat-sensitive tape that would change color should you try the classic hot box trick to repair an RRoD? Could this sticker contain a tiny capsule of cyanide meant to crack under duress, eradicating the modding community one lonely guy at a time?

We don't know. But what seems obvious is that Microsoft is taking their warranty stickers a bit more seriously.

For reference, here's what the old sticker looked like:

Go nuts with accusations in the comments while we wait for Microsoft to give us an official answer. [Logic-Sunrise via Maxconsole]

"My Boyfriend Is the President" is a risque video game (or eroge) out of Japan. Of course, the game has its own trailer and whiny theme song, seen here:

Naturally, dating a president is a rich theme full of narrative weight—anyone who's seen Rob Reiner's The American President can attest to that. So the clip featuring Obama, Hilary, Hatoyama, the Putinator and Kim Jong-il is a fan-made remix of a video game that explores the excitement and turmoil of porking a president. And in that context, it almost begins to reach a semblance of sense. [Yamatologic via Japan Probe via CrunchGear]