move

Not impressing her with your slick smartphone and intimate knowledge of the Duke Nukem Forever release schedule? Scientists in England say they've identified the key dance moves that make men irresistible to the ladies. And no, the King Tut isn't one of them.

Not surprisingly, the dance moves considered "good" signal health, vigor, or strength--and, by association, a man's reproductive prowess, say the researchers at Northumbria University in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Their findings are published Wednesday in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

The researchers, led by psychologist Nick Neave and researcher Kristofor McCarty, filmed 19 male volunteers aged 18 to 35 with a 3D motion capture camera system as they boogied to a basic rhythm. Their real-life movements were then mapped onto feature-less, look-alike avatars so heterosexual women could rate their steps without being prejudiced by dimples or come-hither baby blues.

The results showed that eight movement variables made the difference between a Patrick Swayze and a male Elaine Benes. These included the size of movement of the neck, trunk, left shoulder, and wrist; the variability of movement size of the neck, trunk, and left wrist; and the speed of movement of the right knee. Yes, the right knee.

And in case you're taking notes, fellas, the women apparently appreciated large and varied neck and trunk movements. Which could bode well for The Sprinkler (assuming it's executed with some degree of rhythm and grace).

"We now know which area of the body females are looking at when they are making a judgment about male dance attractiveness," Neave said. "If a man knows what the key moves are, he can get some training and improve his chances of attracting a female through his dance style."

The team plans to carry out further research to hone its theories about dance and mating. In the meantime, men wishing to impress the gals at the nightclub might do well to study the below videos demonstrating "good" and "bad" moves. And wear red. … Read more

Today on preGame, we demo a gorgeous point-and-click adventure-puzzle game for the PC and Mac as well as slice up some baddies in the latest 2D side-scrolling beat-'em-up title for the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

As promised, today we finally demo the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network title Shank. The game is heavily influenced by graphic novels and edgy, campy movies that feature over-the-top action. We'll play the first few minutes of the game and show off some of its unique art style.

We'll also take a look at Drawn II, the highly anticipated … Read more

In an effort to curb the temptation to text while behind the wheel, State Farm Insurance Company is updating its Pocket Agent application for Android with a widget that will do your texting for you, sort of. The On the Move widget is essentially an SMS auto-responder that will intercept incoming text messages and automatically reply with a canned response.

After loading the app, users are able to compose and save their automated responses. Although the widget is primarily designed for use while in a moving vehicle, multiple responses can be saved and used for different situations or moods. For … Read more

Today on preGame we pick out a nice suit and get our hands dirty with a live demo of Mafia II.

But first, we'll take an in-depth look at the trailer to last week's announcement of a brand-new BioShock game, BioShock Infinite. Does the game take place in the same universe as the original? Will there be Big Daddies in Infinite? Join us as we tackle some of the big questions raised from the thrilling video.

A ton of gaming news to hit today, so we round up the major stories including Mass Effect 2 coming to the … Read more

Designer David Graham has created a kit called Move-it that transforms any cardboard box into a trolley. This lets the user easily move large packages (up to 44 pounds) even without a dedicated trolley.

The kit is quite simple, with handle and wheel parts that stick onto the box. The adhesive is secure but easily removable so the parts (including the wheel, axle, and chassis) can be reused or recycled. The system is designed to hold up on wet pavement. Watch the video below to see how it works.

In some places, retailers give out flimsy trolleys to those who … Read more

Nintendo has sold 30 million units of its Wii console in the United States, the game company announced Tuesday.

Nintendo reached 30 million units in 45 months since the release of the Wii in November 2006. It hit the milestone 15 months sooner than the world's best-selling console of all time, the Sony PlayStation 2.

Of course, just because Nintendo got to 30 millions units sooner than the PlayStation 2, doesn't mean that the hardware will become the best-selling console of all time. Sony has sold over 145 million PS2 units since the console's release in 2000. … Read more

Nyko had another solid showing at last month's E3 2010 expo in Los Angeles, but we're really intrigued by its debut of a wireless controller with an analog stick configuration similar to that found on the Xbox 360 controller.

The Raven wireless PS3 controller will come in two styles. The first will emulate the PS3's conventional side-by-side thumbstick design, while the other swaps the D-pad with the left stick--just like Microsoft's Xbox 360 controller layout.

While the never-ending debate over which system has the superior input device will go on forever, this will be the best chance PS3 owners will have to get an idea of what it's like using the Xbox's configuration on their own console. We'll be sure to update this post with a price tag when we get one.

A deeper look at the Nyko fall lineup includes a few PlayStation Move charging solutions and an inexpensive wired PS3 "core" controller. We've got pictures of the rest of these products after the jump.… Read more

E3 is finished, wacky motion controllers and all, but the summer is just starting. In a few months, the holiday season will begin--and with it, companies will release an avalanche of games. While E3 presents a heck of a lot of glitz, promises, and hype, a handful of games always manage to emerge that excite us and give us hope for the gaming year ahead.

Could we have done with a lot fewer sequels? Most definitely. Do we wish Microsoft and Sony hadn't spent so much time hawking motion technology at the show? Undoubtedly. But we still found ourselves … Read more

Each year, after E3 comes to a close and financial analysts have a chance to sift through all the news from the gaming industry show, those analysts share their opinions on which companies did well and which left something to be desired. This year, a few analysts, speaking to Gamasutra in an interview, contend that it was Nintendo that did the best job of building hype for its products.

"Nintendo 3DS stole the show," Panoptic Management Consultants analyst Adam H. Kraus told Gamasutra.

His sentiments were echoed by another Panoptic analyst, Asif A. Khan, who told the gaming … Read more