the scoop

the scoop

just do something

DoSomething.org, an organization dedicated to empowering young people to take action in their communities, is partnering with Participant Media for a nationwide social action campaign to combat hunger in connection with the upcoming film release “The Soloist.” The goal is to “Feed The Need” with an entirely youth-led food drive and collect one million pounds of food for America’s hungry by Dec. 15. Jamie Foxx, the Oscar-winning star of “The Soloist,” and “High School Musical 3” star Corbin Bleu have signed on to help promote the program by taping public service announcements that are currently airing in schools around the country and online.

“Young people are very concerned about the state of our economy. It is suddenly a ‘top five’ issue to them,” says Do Something CEO Nancy Lublin. “Our role is to help teens tackle projects—like stocking America’s food pantries.”

To get involved with the campaign and for tools for creating a successful food drive, go to www.dosomething.org/feedtheneed.

sat help

It’s that time of the year when you and all of your friends spend your time with your noses in SAT prep books. Or at least your parents wish you did.

If books are just too archaic for you, try “My SAT Coach” ($27.99, Amazon.com) from Princeton Review. It’s a game exclusively for Nintendo DS, and its preparation techniques are similar to those found in all of those prep books: 2,000 practice questions and two full sample exams.

There are mini-game drills to test your time, recommendations to boost scores based on your progress and training programs in both math and vocabulary, depending on your weaknesses.

feed the habit

Your avatar is looking a little plain, but you don’t have the points to buy that bling you want to really show your personality. If you’re a Gaia user, there’s another way to personalize your visits. Gaia is an online hangout (part virtual world, part social network, part gaming site) for teens, where you can create an avatar (an online self) and interact with other members.

There are two ways to accumulate things for your avatar or virtual home or car — gold from playing and interacting on the site, or cash. This holiday season you can add Gaia gift cards to your wish lists. They come in either $10 or $25 and you can find them at major retailers like Target, Wal-Mart, CVS, 7-11 and Best Buy.

video game awards

It’s almost winter, which in show biz means: Award Season! The video-game biz gets things rolling Dec. 14, with Spike TV’s imaginatively titled Video Game Awards.

“Grand Theft Auto IV” leads the pack with eight nominations; “Metal Gear Solid 4” got seven.

Both titles are competing with “Fallout 3,” “LittleBigPlanet” and “Gears of War 2” for game of the year honors.

Will Wright, the legendary creator of “The Sims” and “Spore” will receive Spike’s first-ever Gamer God award.

pump you up

The success of Nintendo’s “Wii Fit” certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed by other software publishers. Even Electronic Arts, whose EA Sports titles (like “Madden NFL” and “NBA Live”) let couch potatoes pretend they are superstar athletes, is trying to get gamers on their feet.

EA isn’t the only publisher catching the fitness bug.

Majesco has brought out “Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum 2009,” while Ubisoft is pumping up “My Fitness Coach.” And if you want a really fun workout, there’s always our old favorite, Konami’s “Dance Dance Revolution” series.

goal line stand

EA Sports’ “Madden NFL” franchise is in the middle of a fight between the NFL Players Association and retired pro football players. A federal jury in San Francisco ordered the NFLPA to pay $28.1 million to the retirees for failing to include them in marketing deals with EA.

For years, “Madden” has featured classic teams of the past in its annual updates, but the games used look-alike characters in place of the veteran players. Only active players received a cut of the union’s lucrative deal with EA, so the publisher didn’t have the rights to the images of the retirees.

Hall of Fame cornerback Herb Adderley, who filed the lawsuit last year on behalf of 2,056 retired players, said after the verdict, “I won three Super Bowls and this feels better than all of them combined.” NFLPA lawyer Jeffrey Kessler responded, “It’s an unjust verdict and we are confident it will be overturned.”