Men Love Video Games Because They Love to Win

File this as another one of those studies that probably didn't need to be done to come to the conclusion they did. According to a study, gaming activates parts of the male brain which are linked to rewarding feelings and addiction. It does so to a much lesser extent among women (no!).

Professor Allan Reiss of the Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research at Stanford University led the research, published recently in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. He said that while women understood computer games as well as men, they did not have the same neurological drive to win.

Like we said, did we really need this study? We guess it validates what most wives and girlfriends probably already know.

• Professor Reiss told the Telegraph:

"These gender differences may help explain why males are more attracted to, and more likely to become 'hooked' on video games than females. I think it's fair to say that males tend to be more intrinsically territorial. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who historically are the conquerors and tyrants of our species – they're the males. Most of the computer games that are really popular with males are territory and aggression-type games."

Interesting that Reiss would say that one of the parts of the brain most stimulated by games affects addiction; after all, last year the AMA backed off calling video game addiction a disorder akin to alcoholism.