Here's a win for the video gaming industry: a judge from the US Court of Appeals issued a ruling to block a Minnesota video game law that was passed way back in 2006. The law proposed a bill that calls for US$ 25 fine every time a minor below 17 is caught renting or buying a Mature or Adults Only game. Read more about it in the full article.

Life from death: scientists have successfully created a beating heart in a lab from the protein "skeleton" of a dead heart. The breakthrough raises hopes that someday, other organs could be built in the same way. This bypasses the need for organ transplant candidates to have to wait for a donor. Details in the full article.

We know that you are already proud of the Cell Broadband Engine that can be found in PlayStation 3 units. Aside from providing you with the most exciting gameplay experience, the chip is also responsible for bringing about medical breakthroughs.

Today, we learned that Mayo Clinic and IBM decided to collaborate yet again to help improve medical imaging technology. At the heart of this project is the unassuming chip. Know more after the jump!

Even though video games have always gotten a bad rap for turning kids into couch potatoes, a group of physical therapists are using a video game console to help people get back on their feet.

According to Minnesota's WCCO-TV, physical therapists at the the Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis are using Nintendo's Wii home video game console in an experiment aimed at helping stroke victims recover.

"It is not designed to be used in therapy per se, but some of the games are very useful to activate the patient, then it is a matter of, from a research point of view, to try to develop these concepts to something that is dedicated, specialized for research... for rehab," said Sister Kenny Research Center director Lars Oddsson.

There are only a few hospitals around the U.S. trying this kind of therapy, but Oddsson says that the experiment's promising results could lead to a clinical study of the Wii's helpfulness as a physical therapy tool. WCCO-TV also noted that the Army has also started using the Wii for physical therapy.

EA Sports is taking its Madden NFL series off the cyber grass and into the real world with its "Ring of a Champion" promo in cooperation with Minnesota jeweler Jostens to award elite players a chance to get tokens that will show off their accomplishments.

Jostens has created roughly half the championship rings given out in the history of the Super Bowl. Now, players of the video game version can have the honor of wearing a ring from the same maker by accomplishing virtual achievements of cyber-athleticism. That and a little sum for the piece, of course.

Users will have to pass through three skill levels to prove that they've got game in them. Once the challenges are conquered, a code is given in order to unlock the Madden "Ring of a Champion" promo on the Jostens website. You can then choose a design you want and decide whether you want it in white or yellow gold. Those go for US$ 495, while the ones with real diamonds sell for a higher, undisclosed amount. Basic ones go for US$ 149.

Madden NFL 08 ships on August 11 for a wide array of platforms that include the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo DS, and PC.

2k Sports second annual Hit-n-Run Tour for Major League Baseball 2k7 will be arriving to your college campus for a video game batting showdown pitting your school's best virtual bat hurlers for a chance to win a trophy and prizes. Starting April 9, the public will be invited to compete in the Home Run Derby mode of Major League Baseball 2k7 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

Coming from the Take Two Interactive's official press release, all participants will be receiving a gift bag loaded with select 2k Sports games, 2k Sports soundtrack CDs, ISO50-designed t-shirts, limited edition Rawling baseball mitts, retro style baseball jerseys, and a whole lot more.

While waiting for your turn to swing at the home mound, you can listen to the antics and arrangements to be brought to you by Shade 45's DJ Statik Selektah.

And because Major League Baseball 2k7 is redefining the the musical repertoire of sports games today, following the tourney will be XL Records' Tapes 'n Tapes to deliver rocking alternative tunes to your campus grounds. Starting April 16, The band hailing from Minneapolis, Minnesota will be performing select songs from their album, including MLB 2k7-featured "Insistor," to present the new face of MLB 2k7 to the musically inclined public.

After all the puke-inducing ray guns and whatnot, here's a little piece of military technology that's actually being put to a decidedly productive and important non-military use.

The Native American Times reports that in Red Wing, Minnesota, tribal elders from the Prairie Island Indian Community have begun learning how to use an advanced piece of military technology called the Phraselator P2 to help teach their traditional Dakota language to future generations.

"The Phraselator technology is allowing us to preserve an integral piece of our native culture that we are in danger of losing," said Tribal Council President Audrey Bennett. "Traditionally, the Dakota Language was passed down from generation to generation but fewer tribal members know how to speak the language well enough to teach it to our young people. Now we have a way to preserve the language and teach it to our children, and future generations."

Prairie Island tribal elders will use the Phraselator to record the Dakota language, and once that's done, the Phraselator technology will be used to teach the language at the Prairie Island Language Center.

Developed by defense contractor Voxtec International, the Phraselator is a handheld tool that allows the user to instantly translate spoken English words and phrases into any native language. Kind of like those translators we see all the time in "Star Trek" and similar shows.

The Phraselator is currently being used by the military in Iraqi combat zones to allow communication between American soldiers and Iraqis.

According to the Native American Times, Thornton Media, Inc., a California-based language tool company devoted to Native languages, worked for more than a year to get Voxtec's approval to use the Phraselator as a tool in revitalizing Native languages.

TMI is currently hard at work coordinating with more than 35 tribes across the country to learn how to use the Phraselator. Kudos to all these people for a good job.

Just because GDC is hot right now, doesn't mean that that's all we'll inform you folks about. Let's talk legislation. If you're a follower of gaming related politics, you may recall that in 2006, the state of Oklahoma was one of the three (Louisiana, Minnesota, and Oklahoma) that saw video game legislation signed into law.

That law of course was eventually blocked from taking effect, but what's this? Even more video game laws?

Gamespolitics reports that a new video game bill is under consideration. The said bill, HB2031, introduced by Rep. Mike Shelton, requires game retailers to provide game buyers written notice that the product they are buying may contain violence which may be harmful to minors. Here's an excerpt:

Every retailer engaged in the business of selling or renting video games to the general public shall distribute to any customer who is purchasing or renting a video game, a written notification that the video game may contain violent content and that said content may be harmful to minors.

This means that Oklahoma's Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services will have to prepare written warnings for games. What's difficult with this bill though is that - it doesn't differentiate between violent bloodfests and addictive detrimental-to-study-time yet kid friendly DS games.

Well this isn't as harsh and certainly more interesting than outright bans. If this does push through, Oklahoma may need to advertise it or something. A lot of folks just tend to throw away written stuff that comes with the products they purchased.

Honestly, how many of you have read the f-in manual? The effectiveness/sensibility of this bill may be debatable (don't the ratings warnings cover this already?), however, judging from the way it's made, it does seem to have good intentions, and it looks like it's trying to not step on the gamer community's toes.

We never expected to make another article that had people making such weird decisions because of a game console. The truth is stranger than fiction, however, so we can safely say this is the second You Decide article. This can also safely fall into one of our "you make bunny cry" series of articles, simply because of the nature of the discussion.

We learned from Kotaku about a bit of coverage made on Fox News. Unlike our earlier article where Taco Bell was offering "tacos for life" in exchange for a PS3, a radio station jokingly asked people if they would trade their kid for one of Sony's next-gen consoles.

Minnesota station 101.3's host Dave Ryan asked the listeners of his morning show if they'd be willing to trade in their baby for 24 hours for a new PS3. While some got the joke other people, it seems, were dead serious, as calls kept on coming in.

You know, that's just the kind of thinking from supposedly sensible adults that makes Bill O'Reilly's assertions about gamers seem valid. We're not even really going to ask the question that lets you decide, because we're pretty sure no one wants to find out their parents traded them in for a game console, right? Exactly.

For those who are thinking that the term "freedom of expression" has been wearing thin, think again. A law against selling violent video games to minors has been struck down by the Louisiana district court yesterday, as it was "deemed unconstitutional and a violation of the video game makers' and retailers' rights to free speech."

The law firm Jenner and Block are the champs in this fight, and they aren't neophytes in this war, either.

Since 2003, they have been defending video game makers in various states such as Oklahoma, Minnesota, Michigan, California, Illinois, Washington, and St. Louis.

The court said that "the government has no authority to limit minors' access to creative works based on the general belief that those works might be 'psychologically harmful.'"