The power of games: Insights

Videogames are all over tech news these days, as we enter the holiday shopping season; as Microsoft unveils games for its next-generation Xbox 360, due to be released next month; as the sixth Grand Theft Auto first-person-shooter game is about to hit store shelves; and as Halo goes mobile and into film (produced by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings). For this week's issue of my newsletter, I interviewed experienced gamer David, 16, in Washington State for his view on what makes these alternate-world games so compelling.