When it comes to computer games, the numbers are astounding: the world's top professional gamer has won over half a million dollars shooting virtual monsters on-screen; online games claim literally millions of subscribers; while worldwide spending on computer gaming will top £24 billion by 2011. From techno-toddlers to silver surfers, everyone's playing games on their PCs, Wiis, Xboxes and phones. How are we responding to this onslaught of brain-training, entertaining, potentially addicting, time-consuming, myth-spawning games? In Powering Up, Rebecca Mileham looks at the facts behind the headlines to see what effect this epidemic of game-playing is really having on us and the society we live in. Is it making us obese, anti-social, violent and addicted or just giving us different ways of getting cleverer, fitter and more skilled? She examines the evidence, from experts and gamers alike, and asks some controversial and thought-provoking questions: Is there a hidden plague of game addiction in our society? Can computer games improve your vocabulary? Are car-driving games turning us into boy racers? Could games help patients fight cancer? Should you feel guilty for killing pixel people? If you're part of the gaming revolution yourself, or are just curious to know what's fact and what's fiction in the media coverage of this topic, then this is the book for you.