Ready for your regular Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning fix? EA Mythic was at the last Games Day 2008 in Baltimore where they released more information about this upcoming MMO such as details on the population and level caps. For more on this, head on over to the full article.

A new survey from the American Lung Association has revealed the most polluted cities in America. Which cities topped the list? Pittsburgh ranked the highest in short-term pollution, but Los Angeles proved to be the most polluted on a year-round basis, as well as in terms of smog or ozone. Time to whip out the gas mask? If you want to know whether your city made the list, follow the "read more" link below.

Games have so much more potential than just fun; in fact we've known for a while now that games can be used to improve our health - mentally and physically. This is the goal of the Games for Health project which will be holding its fourth annual conference next year. Registration is currently open at their website. Check the full article for more details on the event.

2K Sports has just sent out word that they've kicked off their annual Bounce Tour. This month-long event's set to showcase some of 2K Sports' upcoming titles, such as College Hoops 2K8 (Xbox 360, PS3, PS2), and All-Pro Football 2K8 (PS3, Xbox 360). The event will be traveling from one major city to another and will end on December 8. Further event and venue details are up ahead in the full article.

It's around 200 light years from the nearest McDonald's restaurant, but it might be our best bet to find an alien civilization out there in the cosmos. Called HIP 56948, this distant star is most similar to our own sun in size, mass, temperature, and chemical makeup as reported by astronomers at the McDonald Observatory in Texas.

Despite the fact that other stars have been observed being similar to our sun, the major difference with this one is the identical levels of lithium between the two stars. This is important because less lithium means less activity from the stars which may cause solar flares that can bathe planets in deadly radiation.

Margaret Turnbull of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland has help draw up an existing list of about 17,000 possible targets for the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) project called the HabCat. While it may not be a sure thing, the study of stars similar to our sun might still be the best bet to search for alien life. Peter Backus has included the new star in the HabCat list and explains the upcoming search they will be heading using the new Allen Telescope Array:

It's on the list, but I don't think it will be given any special treatment. It's still a matter of speculation on just what range of stars could host habitable planets. We will eventually get around to observing all of the stars [on the list].

What makes the scientists hopeful is the fact that HP 56948 is around one billion years older than our own sun. This gives possible alien life time to mature and produce advanced civilization compared to our own. Observations will begin in November and concentrate more on a wider scale than individually focusing on each star in the HabCat list.

Straight from this year's GC come eight brand new screenshots of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii), the latest iteration of the popular video game franchise.

Tony Hawk's Proving Ground is being touted as the largest and deepest game in the franchise to date. The action is set in the streets of Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., where players can choose to become Career Athletes, Hardcore Skaters or Riggers depending on the choices they make.

The game also features deeper customization than ever before. New customization features include a full-featured video editor and a completely customizable online Skate Lounge. Here's hoping that the game's skater customization feature itself will also be deeper than the one in Project 8 (PlayStation 3, Xbox360).

Neversoft is currently working on the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Tony Hawk's Proving Ground. The game should make it to retail this fall. Click on the Full Article link for the screenshots.

Check out all the PS3 and Xbox 360 screenshots behind the Full Article link!

More evidence that consoles aren't just about overweight couch potatoes. Sony is announcing their presence for this year's upcoming Dew Action Sports Tour (aka AST Dew), via the PlayStation Experience, which is expected to be one of the tour's highlights. The PlayStation Experience will give visitors a chance to see some of the latest wares Sony has to offer for the PS3, PS2, and PSP.

Another event that's expected to make it big in the AST Dew tour is the PlayStation Trick of the Week. Here, fans select their favorite stunt/trick from the skateboard, BMX, and FMX sports categories via recorded footage, after which they're invited to vote online. This event kicks in at noon on the Monday following after each tour, and will last for an entire week. Each of the four Trick of the Week winning athletes will receive US$ 5,000. Winners for the Tour's of Trick of the Year will be awarded US$ 10,000 in cash, plus PlayStation-related loot.

Now, in case the guys here are wondering where AST Dew Tour 2007 is expected to take place, here's the list - new locations for this year include Baltimore, Cleveland, and Salt Lake City:  

• June 21 to 24: Panasonic Open (Baltimore, MD)
• July 19 to 22: Right Guard Open (Cleveland, OH)
• August 16 to 19: Vans Invitational (Portland, OR)
• September 20 to 23: Toyota Challenge (Salt Lake City, UT)
• October 18 to 21: PlayStation Pro (Orlando, FL)
  

As always, we advise the readership to keep posted in case this event gets updates.

Here's a new batch of magazine scans depicting the latest title in the Tony Hawk series in all its gritty, road-rashed glory. While we can't really tell you what the magazine article actually says, the screens inside are quite telling in the sense that you'll be tussling quite a bit with the law as you roll through the urban jungles of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington.

Judging from the scans, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground looks like it has some player-archetype thing going on, with examples such as Carrier, Rigger, and Hardcore. While we don't know yet just how large of an impact choosing one over the other would have on your gameplay, a safe guess would be each type would have his or her own move set, or even a different skating style entirely.

Could it even be the factor of just how much the police are keeping tabs on you and your moves? Well, trying to circumvent the language barrier aside, Activision's Tony Hawk's Proving Ground looks to be one interesting skate.

Keep it locked right here for any and all updates regarding The Hawk's latest multiplatform game (PS3, Wii, 360).

   

Customization is the name of the game with the latest Tony Hawk game in the pipeline, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground from Activision (PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, Wii, DS). A complete first for the series, the game gives you complete and total freedom with your character's story, appearance and skating style based on the choices you yourself will make - and the only way to do that is to skate, grind and manual your way through the streets of Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington DC.

Skating's not the only thing you can do in Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, however. Get into Skater's Nirvana with more Nail The Trick moves to challenge even those with the hardest of cores. Show the world you've got what it takes by making an "Epic Skate Video", courtesy of the game's easy-to-use video recording and editing features. There's also a fully-customizable online Skate Lounge to chill out and tear it up with buddies for online street cred.

With all these new features, as well as a new gameplay mechanic that promises to alter and build the skateable environment around you as you skate - it's not a surprise that many are eagerly awaiting the title's multi-platform release. Keep it locked right here for any and all developments about Tony Hawk's Proving Ground.

The Post Online reports that game developers at Ohio University's GRID Lab were challenged this weekend during the inaugural Ohio Game Jam to develop a game within 24 hours. The GRID Lab is located on Court Street, and the 24 hour challenge started at 4:30 pm Saturday.

The Official Event Overlord (nice title), event host, event organizer, and OU instructor, Ian Screiber had this to say about the competition: " You don’t end up with Shakespeare, but you have some high levels of creativity because of the time constraints. ...The point is not for prizes and competition, but to have an informal and friendly environment for people to make games."

The competition had seventeen participants in six teams of students from the University of Baltimore, Columbus College of Art and Design, and of course, Ohio University. Games created ranged from hippies who traveled through time to thwart technology, and god games wherein you grow cities.

The three games that tied for second place are Brows of the Martian Landscape, Zomborgs and Hydroponic Hyperbole. The winning game was I can't Breathe by John Herbert and surprisingly took only two hours to develop. The said game involved dodging spore balls in an enclosed space, and having the option to release more spore balls to increase your score. Wow! A dynamic, player chosen difficulty setting in a game! Cool.

Such was the competitive and creative spirit in the contest that Ohio University Junior, Josh Ende notes: "Between 1 and 2 a.m. I was modifying a picture of Chuck Norris’s head and shooting it at things"

Well, what about you homebrew folks? What game would you come up with given one day?