My buddy Cary used to be a tank commander in the US Army and had noted that the soldiers with games consoles in thier barracks tended to make the best Abrams gunners. Strategypage has a story with the (slightly cheesy) title of Video Games Can Save Your Life, which makes a similar observation. This time the weapon system in question is CROWS (Common Remotely Operated Weapons System) which I gather is a remotely operated (duh) 50 cal turret commonly mounted on a hummer. While is may be obvious that skills such as hand-eye coordination and reaction time would transfer, what really struck me was this quote.

experienced video gamers are skilled at whipping that screen view around, and picking up any signs of danger

Now they only need a system that makes circle strafing and bunny-hopping a real world tactic.

[via Engadget]

HD vs DVD comparisons have been done before, but this one is the most effective I’ve seen. Using some of the most details shots from Fellowship of the Rings and doing the comparisons with mouseovers really brings it home.

Hmmm, aparently the google toolbar spell checker doesn’t play nice with the WordPress WYSIWYG editor. It ended up leaving junks divs in the post that don’t display, but do get included in the RSS. Spellbound doesn’t seem to work with 1.5.x either. Any one have other options?

UPDATE: I’ve found out by simply editing the max version numbers Spellbound will work with 1.5.x.  You can find the files already edited here.