Dr. Tanya Byron has raided airwaves again with her latest endeavor with video games. After her six-month review of game violence, she was able to write and front a BBC TV show wherein she linked playing video games to heroin addiction. More details can be found in the full article.

Playlogic Entertainment Inc. has a new International Sales Director: Pierre Thiercelin, a games industialist with over 8 years of experience in European and UK sales working for such publishers as Novalogic, Ignition and Midway.

Playlogic VP Stefan Layer speaks of Thiercelin's appoinment thus;

We are glad to welcome Pierre in our team in Amsterdam and we are looking forward to working with him. His presence will help strengthen our relationships with distribution partners, especially with regards to our forthcoming line-up.

We know Playlogic as an independent publisher of entertainment software for consoles, PCs, handhelds, mobile devices, and other digital media. The company distributes products worldwide through online and offline channels. So far, it's produced the following titles; Infernal, Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales, World Racing 2, Knights of the Temple 2 and Gene Troopers.

Pierre Thiercelin sounds excited about working for Playlogic, saying that he is delighted to join Playlogic, especially since their upcoming line-up promises quality, quantity and variety. He will be handling the extension of Playlogic's sales activities towards local distribution partners.

You guys are probably too busy playing multiplayer on Gears, but just in case you care, here's the news: Andries Smit from the Netherlands emerged victorious from the FIFA Interactive World Cup 2006, after beating Austrian Wolfgang Meier in a grueling Grand Final that had its final score pegged at 6:4.

Here's what Smit had to say after receiving the prize money of $20,000:

I’m absolutely amazed, stunned and delighted! I thought that it was just great to be in the Grand Final, but here I am leaving with the title and a trip to Zurich to the FIFA World Player Gala! I can’t believe it! The whole tournament was just brilliant

Even though the football was all virtual (they were playing FIFA 07), Amsterdam's Westergasfabriek was tightly packed with 1,500 spectators. What's nice about this year is that this years' Cup can truly be called a global event. In addition to the qualifying events that took place around the world, players from 25 countries competed on Xbox Live for their place in the Grand Final. This year’s finalists also met the 16 final contestants from the two previous FIWC tournaments.

Too bad last year's winner didn't get as much as this year's did.

There may be some people expecting the Xbox Live Arcade treat, Hoopworld, to come out this year; unfortunately, that won't be happening. Recently, Amsterdam-based indy developer Streamline Studios said that it is collaborating with Spanish dev, Virtual Toys to bring Hoopworld to the XBLA some time in 2007.

The Unreal Engine-powered game was recently showed off last May at E3. In case you have forgotten about this game, why don't you let Streamline refresh your memories. According to them the game is an "over-the-top, three-on-three multiplayer trick-game" that  has the weird mix of arcade-style basketball and the ancient Mesoamerican game of tlachtli. Features of the game will include a combination of stylized multi-ethnic characters, multiple hoops, interactive locations, and a unique points system based on collaborative ‘tricking’.

Hopefully, the delay in release will work wonders for the game and will open doors to independent developers like Streamline Studios and Virtual Toys.