Video Games: Innovative or Addictive Entertainment?

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From video gaming to hand-held computers, we have become a nation of addicts to small-screen games, Internet browsing, and email messages. Video games are the fastest growing segment of the entertainment industry with an estimated 50% of Americans playing, both on-line and on consoles in our homes. Some 74% of those players state they would rather play video games than watch television. How is the video age affecting today's youth? While there are advantages to time spent on computers, there are also reasons to be alarmed at what a priority these games and online activities have become. Are they the new release mechanism of our culture, a way for us to play anonymously and endlessly in a virtual world, or are they part and parcel of our growing list of unhealthy addictions? Guest host Diana Nyad discusses our addiction to the newest art form of the 21st century.Making News: Chaos a Month Away from Palestinian ElectionsWith Palestinian parliamentary elections less than a month away, The ruling Fatah Party had split, with Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti leading a young faction in a breakaway. The two sides are now reuniting, in part to keep the militant Hamas from gaining strength at the polls on January 25. Dan Ephron is in Jerusalem for Newsweek.Reporter's Notebook: Attacks Slow US Army Corps of Engineers' Iraq ReconstructionThe US Army Corps of Engineers is increasingly turning to Iraqi contractors and engineers to design and complete projects to restore basic services, but it's not easy. The Christian Science Monitor reports that hundreds of Iraqi contractors have been killed and that a fifth of US reconstruction funds have been spent on security. Nonetheless, the Corps says its progress has been understated. Warren Olney speaks with Colonel Bjarne Iverson, Director of the National Reconstruction Operations Center in Baghdad.
From video gaming to hand-held computers, we have become a nation of addicts to small-screen games, Internet browsing, and email messages. Video games are the fastest growing segment of the entertainment industry with an estimated 50% of Americans playing, both on-line and on consoles in our homes. Some 74% of those players state they would rather play video games than watch television. How is the video age affecting today's youth? While there are advantages to time spent on computers, there are also reasons to be alarmed at what a priority these games and online activities have become. Are they the new release mechanism of our culture, a way for us to play anonymously and endlessly in a virtual world, or are they part and parcel of our growing list of unhealthy addictions? Guest host Diana Nyad discusses our addiction to the newest art form of the 21st century.
  • Making News: Chaos a Month Away from Palestinian Elections
    With Palestinian parliamentary elections less than a month away, The ruling Fatah Party had split, with Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti leading a young faction in a breakaway. The two sides are now reuniting, in part to keep the militant Hamas from gaining strength at the polls on January 25. Dan Ephron is in Jerusalem for Newsweek.
  • Reporter's Notebook: Attacks Slow US Army Corps of Engineers' Iraq Reconstruction
    The US Army Corps of Engineers is increasingly turning to Iraqi contractors and engineers to design and complete projects to restore basic services, but it's not easy. The Christian Science Monitor reports that hundreds of Iraqi contractors have been killed and that a fifth of US reconstruction funds have been spent on security. Nonetheless, the Corps says its progress has been understated. Warren Olney speaks with Colonel Bjarne Iverson, Director of the National Reconstruction Operations Center in Baghdad.
Guest host Diana Nyad, 2002 inductee into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, is a business sports columnist for Marketplace, senior sports correspondent for Fox News, and has hosted her own show on CNBC. She's also the author of three books.

Marwan Barghouti, BBC profile on

US Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region

Iraq Reconstruction, Department of Defense news on

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Warren Olney