The Army is remaking its basic training for the first time in 30 years to cope with a generation that, as the general in charge says, has a courage and physique shaped by, you guessed it, video games.

Speaking to National Public Radio this weekend, Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling didn't single games out specifically, but when he talks about raw recruits' preternatural grasp of technology, combined with an "across-the-board decline" in "physical capacity," we can connect the dots.

"This isn't a decline in our recruits; this is a decline in our American society in terms of their physical capacity. It's just a softer generation," he says.

It's a generation of young men and women "who are advanced in terms of the use of technology and maybe not as advanced in their physical capabilities, or ability to go into a fight."

What's more, what's upstairs needs a lot of polish, too. It's "a generation that is not as disciplined when they enter the military.

"They team differently; they have loyalty," Hertling offers, but "whereas they might have what they believe is a form of courage or discipline, it's not what we expect of a soldier in very tense and difficult situations." I suppose we can blame that on the relatively late arrival of cover-based first-person combat.

Hertling does praise the current generation for its intelligence and, again, familiarity with technology. And also their critical thinking skills, "They certainly ask a lot more difficult questions," he said. But that's not really a virtue in a high pressure job where orders are given and expected to be followed.

New Basic Training Hardens 'Softer Generation' [NPR]

To: Bash
From: Crecente
Re: How To Make Cheap, Fake Fatty Tuna

I'm on my second day with the considerably less then 5-foot sandwich. I gave about half of it away to a family we're friends with and Tristan and I ate on it for a chunk of yesterday. What we're left with is maybe three foot of sub. Sub I am, by the way, gnawing on as I write this little note to you.

Yesterday Trish told me there was no way I was going to finish it. That's a challenge right? Or did I misinterpret what she said?

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From Productive Writer To Cocaine Addict, Just Add Grand Theft Auto

PlayStation 3 owners with a deep, deep appreciation for the art of the Japanese role-playing game will be delighted to learn that NIS America will bring Trinity Universe to North America and Europe this summer.

If you're a casual fan of the JRPG—and somehow missed the original announcement of Trinity Universe—that's the crossover game co-developed by Nippon Ichi Software, Gust, and Idea Factory, bringing together characters from the Disgaea and Atelier series.

Here's the set up from publisher NIS America: "For generations, Kanata's ancestors have protected the Netheruniverse by transmogrifying into a Demon God Gem. However, Demon God King Kanata refused to become the gem and instead became a Demon Dog King. Since then, he has enjoyed a carefree life in hiding, but he eventually began thinking about the toll of his decision. Accepting the title of Demon God King and becoming the gemstone will stop space debris from crashing into his world. If he could get to the source of the space debris and solve the problem, everybody will be happy. Determined, Kanata goes on a journey to save his world."

Sound good? Trinity Universe hits North American and European PlayStation 3s in June.

You know those short hook routes where your receiver stands three yards in front of the first down? Or those swing routes where the halfback runs straight out of bounds? They're supposedly a thing of the past in Madden 11.

Giving the first details of the upcoming game to IGN, the game's developers are going for improved wide receiver intelligence through a development tool they've built and named the Catch Debugging Tool. Basically, it makes the receiver more aware of his position on the field. So on curls, he knows the yard-line he has to make, improving that route's usefulness in third-down situations. They'll also be programmed to wait on the ball, not motor back to it and get clocked behind the line of scrimmage.

That's not to say receivers won't come steaming back to the ball if the situation calls for it. They'll lose yardage if it means returning to an underthrown ball to grab it and prevent an interception. Additionally, the wideouts will know more of where they are when it comes to sidelines and the back line in the end zone, with the intent of making those breathtaking pinpoint throws you see in the real NFL come more to life in the game.

For a first taste of what to expect in the next edition, this isn't so bad. Last year they slowed down the pacing and added the gang-tackling mechanic, which fleshed out the running game. It only follows that EA Sports would buff up the receiving, which seems like it hasn't seen a major AI upgrade in forever.

First Madden NFL 11 Details and Screens [IGN]

Datel helps PSP users hop on the motion control bandwagon with the Tilt FX PSP, a device that adds accelerometer controls to your favorite games.

The Tilt FX PSP, available now for the PSP-1000 through 3000 (sorry, PSPgo, but no one loves you), is a device that plugs into the bottom of your handheld gaming machine, granting you accelerometer functions via software patches, effectively making your PSP a touchless iPod Touch, with buttons.

From what I am reading on the device's website, the Tilt FX requires custom profiles in order to work with your games, with new profiles promised as games are released. Profiles are added to your PSP via a special software program that requires you connect the handheld to your PC, which seems like a complicated way to add functionality to a game that may or may not enhance the experience.

Though, speaking of enhancing the experience, the software patching allows the device to make changes to how games function with it, meaning that some titles will allow the device to say, make jumps higher, or affect gravity to the player's benefit.

Let's just say it - it lets you cheat.

The Tilt FX PSP accelerometer/cheat device is now available for purchase for $19.99 at the Codejunkies website, where you can also find videos and pictures of it in action.

If anything it seems like a fun toy to play with, as well as a good way to taunt your PSPgo-owning friends. *sighs and pokes his PSPgo with a stick*

The next Metal Gear Solid game gets its most unexpected preview clip yet with the sugary sweet pop stylings of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker's Paz, singing the character theme "Love Deterrence." Can't say we saw this one coming.

No, it's not that kind of pop, but it's just as cloyingly sweet, feeling a little more appropriate for Konami's Dance Dance Revolution series than a Metal Gear game. But, hey, this is Hideo Kojima's production and he can do whatever he wants.

If this is your cup of tea, musically, you can grab singer Nana Mizuki's "Love Deterrence" on the Heaven's Divide maxi-single CD.

Thanks for the heads up, Witz!

Tom Bissell was a productive, healthy, and somewhat disciplined young award-winning author, before his passion for Grand Theft Auto helped transform him into a cocaine-addled gaming addict.

As a travel writer with an eye for politics and history, Tom Bissell has visited Uzbekistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan, but it wasn't until his first forays into Vice City that he found himself lost. In his article "Video games: the addiction," published Sunday in The Observer, Bissell discusses at length how his life changed with the introduction of the Grand Theft Auto series.

The article begins with Bissell giving an account of how he used to productively spend his time.

Once upon a time I wrote in the morning, jogged in the late afternoon and spent most of my evenings reading. Once upon a time I wrote off as unproductive those days in which I had managed to put down "only" a thousand words. Once upon a time I played video games almost exclusively with friends. Once upon a time I did occasionally binge on games, but these binges rarely had less than a fortnight between them. Once upon a time I was, more or less, content.

That all began to change in 2002, when a friend convinced him to pick up Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Bissell found the freedom offered in the game compelling; almost intoxicating.

Never has a game felt so awesomely gratuitous. Never has a game felt so narcotic. When you stopped playing Vice City, its leash-snapped world somehow seemed to go on without you.

The insight that Bissell lends to each successive game in the series is quite enthralling. It's obvious to the reader that these games were much more to him than simple diversions, and his observations on everything from the simple pleasures of picking up a new set of clothes to darker fare - cop killing, prostitution - definitely bear reading.

It wasn't until Grand Theft Auto IV, however, that things took a turn for the worse.

When I was walking home from my neighbourhood game store with my reserved copy of GTA IV in hand, I called my friend to tell him. He let me know that, to celebrate the occasion, he was bringing over some "extra sweetener". My friend's taste in recreational drug abuse vastly exceeded my own, and this extra sweetener turned out to be an alarming quantity of cocaine, a substance with which I had one prior and unexpectedly amiable experience, though I had not seen a frangible white nugget of the stuff since.

Perhaps it was the combination of the drugs and the increased production values of this new iteration of the series, but something in Grand Theft Auto IV struck a chord in Bissell, travelling with him wherever he went. He moved several times over the course of the three years since GTA IV was released, each time promising himself he would leave the consoles behind; each time failing to live up to that promise. As for the cocaine, it almost seems as if cocaine was his co-pilot...his friend on the sofa next to him, laughing at his exploits and giving them some sort of greater meaning.

Soon I began to wonder why the only thing I seemed to like to do while on cocaine was play video games. And soon I realised what video games have in common with cocaine: video games, you see, have no edge. You have to appreciate them. They do not come to you.

There are times when I think GTA IV is the most colossal creative achievement of the last 25 years, times when I think of it as an unsurpassable example of what games can do, and times when I think of it as misguided and a failure. No matter what I think about GTA IV, or however I am currently regarding it, my throat gets a little drier, my head a little heavier, and I know I am also thinking about cocaine.

Now Bissell has put the cocaine and Grand Theft Auto both behind him, but the attachment he felt for the game's star, Niko Bellic, will always remain.

Niko was not my friend, but I felt for him, deeply. He was clearly having a hard go of it and did not always understand why. He was in a new place that did not make a lot of sense. He was trying, he was doing his best, but he was falling into habits and ways of being that did not reflect his best self. By the end of his long journey, Niko and I had been through a lot together.

Video games: the addiction [Guardian.co.uk]

Today I added two more people to the list of individuals imploring me via e-mail to develop Dark Cloud 3. I'm sorry, folks ,but I'm not going to do it.

Since the fall, I've received nine e-mails from people imploring me to make a sequel to Sony's Dark Cloud role-playing game series.

Here's a typical e-mail: "Can you please make a Dark Cloud 3? I have very good memories of that game and its sequel. Many other fans and I would love it if you'd make one. I would preferably ask you to make it for Xbox 360 as well, since I only have a 360 and not a PS3. Thank you."

Another e-mail was even more emphatic. I will quote it in full. Subject line: "Dark Cloud 3." Body text: "Make it."

Some people included the word "please" in their e-mails. Others did not. But I must admit, no words will sway me. I refuse to make Dark Cloud 3.

Perhaps these nine people think I have untapped game development potential. Alternate theory, they have misinterpreted a post I wrote in October: Level 5: More People Need To Ask For A Dark Cloud Sequel. Let's be clear. Level 5 makes Dark Cloud games. I just interview people who work at Level 5, from time to time.

So, no, I will not make Dark Cloud 3, no matter how you ask. But I do agree that Dark Cloud 2 was pretty good.

[PIC]

The first add-on for zombie apocalypse shooter Left 4 Dead 2 may be more expansive than Valve originally lead us to believe. A new update on the downloadable campaign "The Passing" promises new "game modes."

Buried at the bottom of an announcement about a midweek deal on the full version of Left 4 Dead 2—it's just $24.99 USD on Steam, $33.99 USD for Xbox 360 on Amazon, by the way—is a rundown of The Passing's features, including more than one new game mode. The rest of the new additions—new weapons, the new Fallen Survivor uncommon common infected, a run in with some of the original Left 4 Dead survivors—are already known. New gameplay modes, presumably adding to Survival, Scavenge, and Versus, have not yet been specified by Valve.

The Passing is planned for "spring," but we're not sure if Valve is still on schedule for the "late March" release it was aiming for at X10. We've reached out to Valve to get an updated release date, but have not yet heard back.

Passing the Savings on to You [Steam - thanks, Kowl Slaw!]

World of Warcraft patch 3.3.3 is now live, giving players an all-new, all-random way to queue up for the game's popular player-versus-player battlegrounds.

Much like the previously implemented Random Dungeon system, the Random Battleground system, live today in World of Warcraft, allows solo players and parties of up to five characters join a queue to be inserted in a randomly chosen battleground scenario. Players won't know what battleground they are participating in until they zone in, adding a little bit of variety of the game's end-game fare.

I say end-game fare, because the feature is currently available to level 80 characters or higher, which should be pretty much everyone at this point anyway.

The Random Battleground feature replaces Daily Battleground quests, with the new feature awarding players additional Honor to spend on all that shiny equipment they so crave.

Head over to the World of Warcraft patch notes page for more information on the changes instituted in patch 3.3.3, or just log in and see for yourself.

I'd give it a go, but I've a sneaking suspicion that 'random' means 'doomed to Arathi Basin for all eternity' in my case.