"We need to take more seriously the possibility that a positive emotional style is a major player in disease risk," Cohen says.

Those who displayed generally positive outlooks, including feelings of liveliness, cheerfulness, and being at ease, were least likely to develop cold symptoms. Unlike the negatively inclined participants, they reported fewer cold symptoms than were detected in medical exams.

The new study, which appears in the November/December Psychosomatic Medicine, replicates those results and rules out the possibility that psychological traits related to a positive emotional style, rather than the emotions themselves, guard against cold symptoms. Those traits include high self-esteem, extroversion, optimism, and a feeling of mastery over one's life."

It's part of the fabric of this business. The site has 3.5 million readers worldwide while the spin-off PAX live event attracted 20,000 people this year. Penny Arcade has partnered with the ESRB in creating an advertising campaign to increase awareness and the duo topped MTV's Most Influential Gamers list in June. It also launched the Penny Arcade Scholarship, a $10,000 annual grant to financially assist a future member of the game industry. Perhaps most importantly, its work for charity Child's Play has raised more than $495,000 worth of toys, games and books on the wish lists of more than 35 participating children's hospitals.