Things We May Not Have Known- Or did We?

Apparently playing games online can increase productivity at work and help you kick your bad habits!

Now, I am not one to rain on parades (ok I am) but these two items are both research work sponsored by games companies. It seems to me that both Popcap.com (makers of Bejeweled 2, Zuma and Peggle) and Real.com (owners of GameHouse Games) are trying to get the rest of the world involved in what anyone who plays games already knows. What does everyone know? That online games are fun and they can help you take your mind off of things. It's really a no-brainer and the fact that people are just getting this is not news to me or any of the people who play games on Games.com.

I bring this up because I am a bit of a contrarian and hope that people will question when they see reports like these. Question the source of where information comes from and why they are putting it out there. For Popcap and Real it is about letting people know that they make games and their games can make you better worker or help you kick bad habits.

What do you think about these sorts of news items? Do you think games can really help people? I'd love to hear your thoughts.