Future Spider-Man Games in Capable Hands

There will be no more bouncing from one studio to the next when it comes to Spider-Man game development, as Activision announced today they've officially tasked Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions developer Beenox with guiding the web-slinger's videogame franchise going forward."Beenox's creative vision reinvigorated the Spider-Man gaming experience among critics and fans in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions," said Activision Studios senior VP Patrick Kelly in a statement. "We can't wait to see where this talented studio will take this franchise in the future." Also pleased with the announcement (if you could believe it!) is Beenox itself, with studio head Dee Brown saying, "being able to map out Spider-Man's interactive future gives us the creative freedom to really craft the best gaming experience for the fans."
This isn't exactly confirmation of a direct sequel to Shattered Dimensions, but it does obviously confirm Beenox will be making whatever Spider-Man game comes out next. Last year creative director Thomas Wilson hintedthat Beenox had a lot more ideas for future Spider-Man games, saying, "I think our first date with Spider-Man went well, and we want to build it into a strong relationship."

Pac-Man Reality Show Coming to TV

Into the annals of bizarre ideas, we can soon enter an upcoming reality TV show based on Pac-Man. Deadline reports that Merv Griffin Entertainment is partnering with Namco Bandai to create an unscripted series where contestants will play Pac-Man in real life.
That is to say, human beings will presumably be inside a giant Pac-Man maze. The show is envisioned as a "big, crazy Wipeout-type event with a lot of energy," said Merv Griffin's president of TV Roy Bank. "The idea we have is to take what Pac-Man is and bring it to life, to bring what is essentially the world's biggest game of tag to television."
That's as much detail on the show as was divulged, so for now we'll just have to use our imaginations to fill in the rest. Our imaginations, and also the video below, which we hope represents how America's average TV viewer will react when they see the Pac-Man reality show for the first time.

What Your Brain Says About Your Videogame Abilities

Researchers now say they can predict how well a person will perform playing a videogame by looking directly at their brains.
According to an announcement made Thursday, a recent study found that a look at the signals given off in the basal ganglia region of a human brain can predict with "unprecedented accuracy" how well the subject will perform a complex task.

Active Time Babble XXIX: The New Year in RPGs

It's a new year, and Active Time Babble has a new home! Okay, that new home is technically the News (And Opinion) page, but it still counts. The Grind is regrettably being shut down, but 1UP's RPG discourse lives on via ATB.For the first episode of the year, I decided to try something a little far out and go solo for the first segment. Here's my thinking: you might not believe it, but it can actually be pretty tough to find people who can talk about the more obscure RPGs. So to give the Niers, Resonance of Fates (and in this case, Super Robot Taisen Z2s) of the world, I decided to try something new while taking questions.
I covered Kingdom Hearts Recoded and SRW Z2 this week, but I may knock it down to one game going forward. Or I may not do it all! It's up to you really. Tell me what you think in the comments.