Folding@Home is a project that has been undergoing some massive distribution on PCs and now on Sony\'s PS3. It\'s also had success with the program in understanding proteins. A clever use of the human element here, by distributing the program Scientists at Stanford University are trying to get everyone involved in the unravelling of human proteins.

While originally criticized by parental groups for having scenes of extreme violence even before those scenes were made (seriously people - did former Sen Joseph McCarthy teach us nothing?), Bully by Rockstar is turning out to be a very different game than once thought.

Systems like the original Xbox and Sony\'s PSP are praiseworthy on their own, but they can be made even better through the creative application of homebrew software. Enthusiast developed software has helped shape the console industry since the days of the Sega Saturn and the original PlayStation. This posting on the DCEmu forums takes a brief, but informed look at the state of homebrew development on today\'s and yesterday\'s systems. Included in the list are common consoles, like the Xbox, as well as older systems, like the DreamCast. It\'s an interesting read if you\'ve dabbled on the fringe of the community and are curious to hear an overview of how things stand.

Jake Ludington from MediaBlab sent word of his recent posting, which details how to segment your wireless network to optimize Xbox Live performance. The tutorial focuses on Xbox 360 optimization, but we imagine it will work just as well for improving online gaming on any Xbox. And you could apply the network segmentation approach to virtually any computer on your wireless network to optimize performance. The instructions are good and the advice is sound. Check it out.

Age of Conan - Hyborian Adventures has been generating some good interest from gamers, and with a cool franchise that definitely lends itself to action RPG gameplay, and some unique online components, Conan could be a very popular title. Funcom has now opened their community site where interested parties can get the lowdown on the game direct from the developers. Get the details here.

Ubicom, who made the Stream Engine chip that is used to shape your broadband traffic in the D-Link DGL4300 Gamer Lounge router, has now released a free utility to check your online playability. The OPScore utility is a quick way to get a more robust fix on your online connection speed than most bandwidth testers, but it still runs in-browser (even if that browser is IE because of the ActiveX requirements, which is whack). George has a more complete summary of what OPScore offers, plus links to the free software.

People talk about photo-realistic environments, but we rarely come close to seeing it. Well, at least from a distance, it\'s pretty clear that Project Gotham Racing 3 on the Xbox 360 comes very, very close. Evilgamerz.com has posted some photos comparing in-game locations to their real-life counterparts, and the result is very cool. We only wish we had thought of doing it first. While we\'re not savvy enough to know exactly where each one of these locations are (besides being in Japan), it\'s clear that PGR3 shows them off with near photo-realistic accuracy. Very impressive.

The website for the Xbox 360 modchip known as LiThIuM I.C.E. went live in the early hours of January 7th, 2006. While there\'s nothing there yet to cast much additional light on the chip or its creators, one comment on the site does include a date: January 31st, 2006. Is this the release date, or an extension of the two-week pre-order date mentioned on InfinityMods.com? It\'s hard to say. The site also includes information on the chip\'s development time-line, and reseller policies. We\'re all holding our breaths waiting for the site to finish launching, and we\'ll keep you posted.

Via Major Nelson (the Xbox Live Director of Programming), we discovered Sean Alexander\'s blog posting about how to keep track of recent Xbox 360 shipments. Alexander describes a method of using the Ben\'s Bargains Xbox 360 Shipment Tracker along with URLy Warning, a program that allows you to monitor web pages for any changes. By following the simple instructions outlined on Alexander\'s blog, you can be sure to find the Xbox 360s as soon as they arrive in your neighborhood. Check it out.

The Movies has disappointed a lot of people by being a great sim game, but a less than flexible Machinima tool. The sandbox mode, instead of being an unlimited playground for creative use, is limited in some respects by what you\'ve unlocked in the campaign mode. In an attempt to highlight the fan community\'s use of their game as a way to express themselves, Activision is bringing attention to one fan created movie called, \"The French Democracy.\" And they\'ve chosen well. Retelling the events of the French riots in October of 2005, it\'s easily one of the most interesting examples of using The Movies as a creative tool we\'ve seen.