Computer games linked to brain damage (ZDnet) is a report offering an ominous message (thanks 9bears). Are these researchers on the ball or brain damaged themselves? Only time will tell. Here's a clip:

Scientists working at Tohoku University in Japan have discovered that computer games only stimulate those parts of the brain that are devoted to vision and movement, and do not aid the development of other important areas of the brain. The researchers are particularly concerned that by spending many hours playing games some children will not develop their frontal lobes--which play a crucial role in controlling behaviour, and developing memory, emotion and learning.

In contract (sic), tasks such as arithmetic will stimulate brain activity in the frontal lobe, which is thought to continue developing until adulthood.