EA donates SimCity

Electronic Arts will donate the original SimCity game to each computer in the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative, according to BusinessWire.

OLPC is a not-for-profit humanitarian effort to design, manufacture and distribute inexpensive laptops with the goal of giving every child in the world access to modern education.

By gifting SimCity onto each OLPC laptop, EA provides users with an entertaining way to engage with computers as well as help develop decision-making skills while honing creativity.

The Xbox 360 will now have a feature called `Family Timer` to help parents manage their kids` interactive media use, says TechTree.

Microsoft has teamed-up with the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and Super Bowl champion, Jerry Rice, for the Xbox 360 `Family Timer`, marking the first time that a parental control feature has been introduced by the video game industry.

An addition to the console`s existing set of parental controls, called `Family Settings`, the `Family Timer` will enable parents to set an appropriate amount of gaming and entertainment time on the Xbox 360 for their kids, on a daily or weekly basis.

Trend Micro Web Security will supply security software for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) gaming console, according to Al Bawaba.

Trend Micro Web Security for PS3 will be free of charge until the end of April 2008, and is the first globally supported Web security service for a home game system.

The service provision started on 8 November as part of PS3`s system software update version 2.00 for PS3s, sold worldwide with the user interface in 16 languages.