The US Army is ramping up the development of technology that previously could have been classified as X-Files, "making science fiction into reality" as Dr. John Parmentola, Director of their Research and Laboratory Management. The list of things currently in the works is amazing: regenerating body parts on "nano-scaffolding", telepathy through electronic impulses in the scalp, and self-aware virtual photorealistic soldiers that can be deployed in the battlefield through "quantum ghost imaging". To test these they want to use them into a massively multi-player online games like World of Warcraft or Eve online:

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World of Warcraft player/dorkmaster supreme Prepared has caved to his smack addiction-like dependence on WoW and created 36 separate accounts that he plays simultaneously on an epically ridiculous rig. He claims to spend over $US5700 per year just on the game, and plans to pick up 36 copies of the new expansion pack Wrath of the Lich King when it's released.

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SteelSeries' World of Warcraft MMO mouse is officially the most ridiculous gaming mouse I have ever seen. Designed with Blizzard just for WoW gamers (just in time for Wrath of the Lich King), it has 15 programmable buttons. You don't even have that many fingers. And it has flashing disco lights. In 16 million colours. Of course, this much nerd doesn't come cheap—it'll be $US90 when it drops next month, but SteelSeries gear is tank-like, so you'll be stuck with it for a long time. Which is good, since you're going to be very lonely if you buy one.

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Terrorism. It could be all around you. It could be in the air you breathe, the food you eat, the loved one you kiss goodnight and even the MMO you play. Yes, friends, according to a recent presentation by Dr. Dwight Toavs, professor at the Pentagon's National Defence University, virtual worlds could easily hide a real terrorist plot. And to illustrate his point, Toavs supplied this example screen from World of Warcraft. It looks innocent enough, just documenting a good old dragon fire spell on the south gates of the Keep. Unless...wait...what could they really be referring to?

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Most avid World of Warcraft players don't wonder too much about what it would be like to truly run as often and as far as their avatars, because a.) that sounds hard and b.) they're too busy wondering would it would be like to run at all. Nonetheless, some crafty young WoWers managed to hook up a couple of treadmills and joysticks to their computers in such a way as to simulate actually running across Azeroth. Even when some handicaps were programmed into the system, the (sort of) reality was clear: WoW characters are FAST.

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The hacking and account stealing has gotten so bad on World of Warcraft that Blizzard has decided to release a hardware authenticator to make sure when you log in, you're actually not some dude in China who looks like me. (Unless you are.) The authenticator costs US$6.50, and will spit out a six-digit code--much like the Paypal security key--that you enter into your account when you log in. You can use that one authenticator to any number of accounts, so if your whole family plays, you'll only have to pay once. [Blizzard via Wow Insider - Photo of Consumerist's Popken]

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The Germans who hacked a Wii Balance Board from Wii Fit to surf Google Earth have found a much more fun use for the peripheral - running around World of Warcraft. In this follow up video, Simon and Mattieu control a low level gnome exploring Ironforge, avoiding wolves and slamming into tree trunks. Now all they need to do is hack the Wiimote and Nunchuck to understand macros and I will be the fittest WoW player EVER. [Technabob]

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When I was talking with the SteelSeries guys about their gear, one thing they were serious about was that gaming is a sport. I scoffed. But, we've shown you how to work out with nothing but gaming gear and now PC Mag catalogs eight ways to hurt yourself gaming—like any other athletic activity. Besides sore limbs via Wiitis, there's Rock Band Hand from too much drumming/strumming, WASD wrist for hardcore PC gamers (and bloggers), Burning Bladder for WoWites, and um, something that vaguely resembles epilepsy for puzzle gamers. Not featured, however, is the most notorious of Wiinjuries:

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Taking into account that WoW has over 100.4 gazillion subscribers at last count, we surmise that a drink based on mana potions in the game should sell incredibly well. It's hard to tell how this thing will taste without actually drinking and subsequently puking it up, but it's supposed to give you 5-8 hours of uninterrupted "jitter-free energy".

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