Have you ever sucked at a game? And whatever you did, or do, you continued to suck? (Yeah, me too.) But, there’s a theory behind the madness. In a study published in The Journal of the Cerebral Cortex, it revealed that the size of your brain can actually have an affect on your gaming skills.

Scientists at the University of Illinois have studied specific parts of the Striatum, a collection of tissues deep inside your cerebral cortex, and it revealed that brain size can influence a gamers ability to “refine his or her motor skills, learn new procedures, develop useful strategies and adapt to a quickly changing environments,” or in other words, playing games.

“This is the first time that we’ve been able to take a real world task like a video game and show that the size of specific brain regions is predictive of performance and learning rates on this video game,” said Kirk Erickson, professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh and the author on the study.

“Playing a game which requires very fast deployment of visual attention and motor movement could prime a strategy of speed over accuracy,” explained Nelson, “while playing a game which emphasizes a slower, more thoughtful pace could prime the opposite pattern. The main point is that different kinds of video games engage different cognitive and perceptual skills, and there are measurable differences in their effects, even in the short term.”

However, it does not work in reverse; you can’t play a bunch of video games and grow those structures in your brain — you’re stuck with the equipment you’re given from birth.

During Microsoft‘s E3 ’09 keynote, they revealed the long awaited and rumored sequel, Crackdown 2. However, it isn’t until now – the Tokyo Game Show – that we’re getting to see the first pair of screenshots, and, well, they’re freaking amazing.

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This game looks better and better every time we talk about it. Crackdown’s 2 product page on Xbox.com has some details not revealed during Microsoft’s E3 Keynote. And these details are juicy.

The sequel is to have four-player co-op and competitive multiplayer for up to 16 people.

The games developer said earlier this week that it “takes multiplayer gaming to unprecedented levels for the ultimate co-op and competitive multiplayer experience”.

In case you missed the pure amazement that was the Microsoft keynote, Gametrailers has just posted the Crackdown 2 debut trailer that was shown during the conference this morning. There isn’t anything new about the trailer because, once again, its the same trailer from this morning.

Coming exclusively to Xbox 360 in 2010, Crackdown 2 will take multiplayer2 gaming to unprecedented levels for the ultimate cooperative and competitive multiplayer experience, providing you and your friends with the complete freedom to explore, destroy and play as you return to restore justice and peace to Pacific City — by any means necessary.

Beside reports stating that the game is an on going discussion, during the Microsoft keynote, Microsoft unveiled Crackdown 2 via a trailer.

Coming exclusively to Xbox 360 in 2010, Crackdown 2 will take multiplayer2 gaming to unprecedented levels for the ultimate cooperative and competitive multiplayer experience, providing you and your friends with the complete freedom to explore, destroy and play as you return to restore justice and peace to Pacific City — by any means necessary.

Lets state the obvious, we all know that developers are working on more games then they have announced, but with a developer like Realtime Worlds you can’t help but wonder what have the been working on the low, low?

Anyway, with a game like Crackdown under his belt, ex-Realtime Worlds developer Ross Nicoll revealed the projects that he has spent time working on at Realtime Worlds. And one of the games he spent time working on was an “unannounced project” for Realtime Worlds.

Here’s his work bio via his LinkedIn: “Started out At VIS Entertainment in 2003. Moved to Realtime Worlds in 2005. Member of the Crackdown audio team that won the 2007 “Best Use of Audio” BAFTA award. After Crackdown, I worked on APB, and another unannounced project. Left Realtime in Feb 2009 to take on the role of Audio Design Lead at Ruffian Games – www.ruffiangames.com.”

Another interesting point: Rumors have been floating about that Ruffian Games was formed to work on Crackdown 2. So, what is the “unannounced project”. We know that they are still working on it.

[APB Devs Working On Another Game? via Kotaku]

Possessively one of the most rumored games in the passed year, or so, it seems that the sequel to the hit 360 exclusive, Crackdown, maybe coming to reality very soon. It was apparently brought back in to rumor when the all-but-official arrival of Scottish developer Ruffian Games.

The team at Ruffian Games is composed of some of the key members of the original Crackdown development group, which brought up the Crackdown 2 rumor because the company is funded Microsoft.

Now, VideoGaming24/7 is reporting that Realtime Worlds studio head Colin MacDonald has confirmed the developer is in “ongoing” discussions with Microsoft regarding a another Crackdown game, Crackdown 2.

MacDonald said that while an offer to develop a second game hadn’t been made to Realtime Worlds, he “very much” doubts “that Microsoft would harm an otherwise fruitful existing development relationship by gambling on funding Crackdown 2 with a startup on RTW’s doorstep, for obvious reasons.”