Upon request from a group of academic researchers, Sony forked over 60 TB of behavior data from its MMORPG Everquest 2. The nearly overwhelming amount of information spans four years and 400,000 players and was followed with a demographic survey. Researchers found the average player was 31 years old, and while most players enjoyed the game for entertainment, roughly 5 percent used Everquest 2 as a coping mechanism, often because they were minorities in race, ethnicity or sexual orientation and faced societal issues in real life. Another interesting find: Older women, many of whom logged serious hours with the game, tended to understate the amount of time they played. This casts doubt on other behavioral studies that rely on self-reporting. As for actual social interactions in the game, those are harder to quantify. Figures like “monster composite difficulty index” and “experience rate measure,” as one researcher is working with, don’t translate easily into the real world. [Ars Technica]

If you’ve got a Nintendo DS and about $20 bucks to spare, this could be a mod worth doing. With four 60 mm x 60 mm solar panels, each providing a maximum of 3 volts at 40 ma power output, modder “dark sponge” made his DS self-sustaining. There’s a bit soldering and wiring required, but nothing that demands a master electrician. The trickle charger completely does away with the need for a charger, sponge claims, but that obviously depends on how frequently you game and how much sunlight is around. At least you’ll look a little bit cooler playing video games in the park. [Instructables via SlashGear]

We all know that Xbox Live Gamertags with extraneous symbols and numbers are lame, so the chance to have the handle “Hitman” instead of “@@XHITMAN69XX@” is something special. That’s why 16 year-old Chris Graziano’s original “Hitman” was reportedly going for more than $200 on Ebay. “Don’t bid on this item if you don’t want to be the center of attention of every game lobby you’re in,” he wrote in the auction notes. Sadly, in the time since Dvice posted about this, the auction has been removed. In its place, Graziano is billing the item as the “Hitman Memory Unit.” He writes that he’s not selling the Hitman name “since Microsoft owns the rights to it,” but it does happen to exist on the memory card, and it’s good until February 2010. Hooray for Ebay’s legal loopholes. [Ebay via CNet]

The white-knuckle first-person shooter F.E.A.R.2: Project Origin drops this week. Recall that we said it would be one of this year’s 10 biggest gaming letdowns, but it’s either this or the assuredly horrible T&A shooter X-Blades. PSP owners can get their hands on LocoRoco2, which looks like fun.

In news, Killzone 2 reviews are piling in, and they’re overwhelmingly positive. The first-person shooter, five years in the making, is supposed to be the reason you own a Playstation 3, so it better be good. Interestingly enough, the only black sheep in the critical family was Edge — perhaps gaming’s most respected magazine — which bestowed a seven out of 10 and called the game  “a testament to craft and imagination,? ?if only because one is so immaculate while the other barely exists.” Wrath of scorned PS3 fanboys follows.

Quoting some “people hanging around the Sony booth” at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, The Inquirer reports with questionable certainty that the Intel Larrabee will star as the graphics processing unit in Sony’s next console. Reporter Charlie Demerjian further says that ATI will probably work with Microsoft in the next generation, leaving Nvidia out of the picture. The article lacks official company statements, but Ars Technica got one from Sony: “PS3 is still in its third year from launch and it is too premature to talk about the next-generation home platform,” a representative said. “At this time, nothing concrete has been decided.” Let the rampant speculation and accompanying flame wars begin. [The Inquirer via Ars Technica]

Those GearCravers who loved the Mini-Mote we covered the other day might find this to be an easier (yet less aesthetically-pleasing) option.  Logic3′s new Nunchuck Minis are light, no-frills Wii ”Funchucks” that’re sure to brighten up your game room. The controllers feature a comfortable, ergonomic design, 8-way analog stick and 2 buttons right where you need them for quick fire. They come in 6 color options and are set to retail for around $20. [Engadget]

A writer for the Official Xbox Magazine, pictured above in the passenger seat, (I know, looks just like I thought too) recently got to take a spin in a replica Warthog based on the vehicle from the popular game Halo. Halo fans should live vicariously through this geeky compadre– it’s their moment. Despite being a pants-wettingly exciting opportunity to get inside the game, the Warthog was apparently drastically lacking as time negated the possibility of designing the independent shock system for each wheel, as experienced in the game. The Warthog was produced by Peter Jackson’s Weta special effects studio in New Zealand for the Halo movie which sadly (read: thankfully) will never be.  [DVICE]

They say “you get what you pay for”, but we’ve found that in many cases, “the best things in life are free”.  In contrast with next year’s blockbuster title, these open source games are totally free, banged out over many years by developers who do it strictly for the love. And thanks to the endless collaboration that open source invites, they’re always getting better with patches, updates and new content. Of course, not every free game achieves greatness– so here’s our guide to 10 of the best:

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It’s not a spectacular week for new games, but there is Tenchu: Shadow Assassins for the Wii. The latest iteration of this long-running franchise contains much of the same stealth ninjaing as before, but with motion controls. I’ve never hopped on board the series previously, but perhaps now’s the time, as it’s been a while since I’ve ninja’ed anything.  Crappy dialog aside, it should please original Tenchu fans (like our editor!).

If you’ll be in the L.A. area from June 2-4, you may have a decent shot a sneaking in to E3. The once epic game industry trade show, which downsized significantly for the last two years, is trying to restore its former glory. Registration will no longer be invite-only — though it’s still limited to industry professionals, analysts and journalists — and the number of vendors should more than double over last year. Oh yes, and booth babes will be back, because you just can’t have a bl0w-out trade show without them.