The roads have been frozen over where I live, so the last couple days, I've been holed up in my house, playing my old Nintendo 64. I thought I was just killing time, but apparently I was satisfying a deep psychological need. Who knew?

Researchers at a Florida-based virtual environment think tank recently discovered that the more a game fulfills a player's sense of independence, achievement and connectedness to others, the better it makes them feel.

"Video games we think have tremendous potential to impact people, particularly today's video games which are incredibly rich and complex," said researcher Dr. Scott Rigby. "This creates very fertile ground psychologically."

Now, before you buy a Nintendo Wii and fire your psychiatrist, this study isn't saying "video games are good for you." It does, however, give us an idea of why people play them, and helps understand how they effect us emotionally.

Mario Kart, anyone?