Column: 'The Esoteric Beat: Disapprove Is In The Heart'

In this week's edition of The Esoteric Beat, Gamasutra's news report that provides new and unusual ways to think about games and culture, regular columnist Jim Rossignol discusses virtual reality heart illness simulator The Heart FX Pod, Marvin the Paranoid Android's meddling in Lindenlab's online virtual world, Second Life, and more. In the following extract, Rossignol responds to The Heart FX Pod, whose main function is to educate medical professionals on heart conditions in a personal, interactive way: "Right now the VR pod is touring US medical facilities, hospitals and universities giving insight to medical professionals and their trainees, but we can't help wondering whether it would actually be better off touring high-schools and teaching kids just how looking after themselves might pay off when they're older. It might put a few cardiologists out of work, but hey, maybe that would be a good thing." You can read the full Gamasutra column, including news on a serious campaign to launch fighting robots into space (no registration required, please feel free to link to this column from external websites).