There is no denying that technology has forever altered the way people communicate and learn. Acknowledging this, the White House has launched Digital Promise. Digital Promise is a partnership aimed at incorporating technology into the classroom. In a statement about Digital Promise, President Obama said, “Digital Promise is a unique partnership that will bring everyone together — educators, entrepreneurs and researchers — to use technology to help students learn and teachers teach. There’s no silver bullet when it comes to education, but technology can be a powerful tool, and Digital Promise will help us make the most of it.” You can learn more about Digital Promise and its goals here.

A new Mahjong game is usually not very news-worthy. Mahjong has been done and redone on just about every platform and smart phone in existence. Atlus is trying to change the familiar formula of classic Mahjong with upcoming 3DS title Mahjong Cub3d. Cub3d uses the 3D capabilities of the 3DS to display a Mahjong board that extends in all directions: up, down, side-to-side, and front-to-back. Mahjong Cub3d will be available on October 11.

EA has confirmed that they are already developing the next Dead Space game, and they’ll be taking the gamer back down to the ground. In Dead Space 3, Isaac crash lands on a new planet and will need to survive alone on this frozen world. It’s also reported that he will find survivors, and Ellie will be among them. New character Jennifer rounds out the threesome, as they trek across the ice and snow struggling for survival. One of the great things about Dead Space was the claustrophobic ship settings. Will EA be able to transfer this experience to an outdoor environment?

Indie developer Rampant Games has announced the release of its role-playing game, Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon. According to Rampant, the title embraces the style and mechanics of role-playing games that have been largely abandoned by major publishers. It features a first-person perspective, turn-based combat, a statistics-heavy game system, a party of four characters, and thousands of lines of unvoiced dialogue presented in comic-book style word balloons.

Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon is now available as a digital download, and while unrated, the folks at Rampant believe that it should be content-appropriate for most teens and adults.

Today we have the new Afterfall: InSanity trailer.

Following a World War II with an inconclusive outcome, the world’s most powerful superpowers signed a series of treats, that were thought to secure long lasting peace for mankind. Despite all the assurances of friendship and cooperation, past grudges remained. The dawn of the Twenty-first Century saw the world seemingly united under the banner of organizations like NATO, but at heart they remained divided. A Global Cold War lasted for 67 years, resulting in an unprecedented arms race and the development of such advanced defensive measures as Project Afterfall in the Polish Republic.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic takes place in a vast universe filled with planets. Navigating such a large area can be daunting to the unprepared, so BioWare has released a Galaxy Map featuring the various planets and stars of The Old Republic. The Galaxy Map, found here, makes traveling to a galaxy far, far away as easy as the click of a mouse.

Sony Online Entertainment is holding a contest looking for the most villainous characters players have created in DC Universe Online. The winning villain will be featured in an upcoming issue of DC Universe Online Legends, which is a monthly comic based on the MMO. Players looking to enter their villains into the contest can find all of the rules here. Heroes, like Hurlacher, my Brian Urlacher-themed champion of jusice, will have to wait for another contest to be involved.

THQ’s WWE ’12 promises the most fluid wrestling combat ever when it releases on November 22 of this year. Along with the updated combat mechanics, the visuals have received a huge overhaul, as seen in this intro video. Wrestling fans can find more introduction and finishing move videos here.

In the upcoming NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, basketball is an extreme sport. When the game releases later this week on the PSN and XBLA, it’ll bring three new characters with it. SSX‘s Elise, Kaori, and Mac trade in their snowboards for backboards. See how their skills translate onto the basketball court in this new trailer.

Atlus has released a new trailer for The Cursed Crusade that focuses on the action adventure’s story. Alas, this shiny new video also came with the news that we’ll have to wait an additional two weeks to get our paws on it. A new release date has been set for October 25, and a demo is slated to arrive a couple of weeks prior to launch.

The demo will take players through the fortress siege mission Assault on Castle Biron. Under a barrage of flaming arrows and faced with a full armament of defending soldiers, the player, as Templar Denz de Bayle, must fight alongside partner Esteban Noviembre to break through the castle defenses, defeat the enemy forces, and ultimately confront a de Bayle family friend, Martin d’Algais.

Today, Ubisoft announced that I Am Alive, a post-apocalyptic action/adventure game, is coming to the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network this winter. Developed by Ubisoft Shanghai, the game was engineered with the intent to “create a convincing, post-disaster world in which players are faced with thought-provoking choices.”

I Am Alive follows one man’s journey to find his wife and daughter, who were lost during The Event. A year later, he finds Haventon, his hometown, in shambles. Buildings are destroyed, toxic ash fills the streets, and society has collapsed to the point where its inhabitants struggle for survival.

Players will be challenged by both their environment and their enemies. Stamina and resource management are key when being exposed to deadly atmospheres and scaling enormous buildings in search of supplies. The combat system requires the use of intimidation. Cowards are easily swayed by an empty gun, but other enemies should prove much more difficult to dispatch.

Browser-based MMO Magic Campus has completed its weeks-long beta. The game, which features turn-based battles against monsters and other players, lets players capture and train beasts and is set in a colorful, anime world. Magic Campus is free-to-play and you can check it out here.

The Bitmap Brothers, Tower Studios, and Vivid Games joined forces create a Sony Minis version of popular iOS game Speedball 2 Evolution. The game, which is kind of a cross between American Gladiators and Rollerball with a little bit of Running Man‘s flair, will feature nine game modes, twenty-eight Speedball teams, six arenas spanning four planets, and tons of power-ups. Speedball 2 Evolution will be available on October 18.

Majesco Entertainment wants to get you pumped up for their upcoming exercise game Zumba Fitness 2. The game features 32 new dance tracks and covers 20 international dance styles. Game modes inclide Single Song, Full Class, or the four-player Zumba Party. Zumba Fitness 2 will be out on November 15 for the Nintendo Wii.

Raptr, a social network for gamers, has released a report about gaming habits that may surprise some people. According to Raptr’s report, “casual” games by Facebook juggernaut Zynga are beginning to rival “core” games in total play time and franchise strength. Raptr pooled its data from the gameplay habits of its 10 million users.

While conducting its research, Raptr found a few things out that may startle people who believe “casual” gamers are lesser gamers. For instance, players of the Ville-series, including games like FarmVille and CityVille, log in as much cumulative playtime as the top core gaming franchises. These “casual” gamers average eight quick play sessions a day, while “core” gamers play fewer but longer sessions. Zynga also saw a 50% increase in the number of Xbox 360 users that have played one of their games. To see the full report, and check out Raptr’s fancy graphs, follow this link.