tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71717639595297740242024-03-12T20:01:56.152-07:00Fun On Gaming WorldMelodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-21290229792751857362014-11-22T01:29:00.000-08:002014-11-22T01:29:00.409-08:00Video Game Trading Equals Big Business<div style="text-align: justify;">
Video game trading is a matter of taking your old games, be them for
old gaming consoles such as the Nintendo classic or first version of the
PlayStation to the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, and exchanging them for
either cash or more games. This practice has been around for quite some
time starting back when we were kids and would take the games in our
collections that were older and played a lot and traded them to our
friends for the games they no longer required the ownership of. This
prevented us from having to spend a small fortune on new games when they
came out and if you owned multiple systems it really bolstered our
possible selections.Money is very important. It's even more important to
big companies.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Corporations thrive on the little guy needing
exactly what it is they want. Companies who are in the business of
retail operations are left with surplus merchandise, the stock that just
doesn't seem to go anywhere. It takes up space on the shelves where
other product, product that could very well sell, could be sitting. This
is stagnant money flow and keeps it tied up in product instead of being
inside the cash register. The gaming stores are tough businesses to be
in. There are many avenues that sell video games and video game systems
as well as peripherals including Target, Wal-Mart and hundreds of stores
in between. But if you walk into any of those stores with a game in
your hand and make your way back to the electronics department and ask
the guy behind the counter to kindly give you a game in the case in
exchange for the game in your hand he'd laugh at you and you'd wind up
thrown out of the store. Video game trading isn't much of a science. You
have a game or games that you do not want.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Someone you know has a
game you do want and, lucky for you, they happen to want the game that
you no longer have a use for. So you trade and everyone is happy. This
is the same thing that stores like GameStop, EB Games and Game Crazy do.
They have all these old games they procured from the inevitable sources
such as game store closings, warehouse closings and buying useless back
stock. The games are pretty much useless. A lot of them no longer work
so they spend a little time cleaning up and deoxidizing the chips inside
the plastic. Now they have a veritable license to print money. The
games are originally purchased for pennies on the dollar. Old
accessories and peripherals round out their used goods. They also carry
the usual full line of new games and accessories as trading is only part
of their game giving the buyer an opportunity to purchase larger ticket
items.Your game isn't worth much really. They usually will allow you to
trade in two to five games at a time for store credit, $1.00 or $2.00 a
title depending on the system and condition. They've just increased
their inventory of trade and sell stock while losing about 1% of the
profit off a new item.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
You get more money for trade-in value than
discounts on new. It's the same principles that the car dealers use.
With new cars they make maybe $400.00, but if you've traded in your
Cherokee, blue booked at $4,900.00 for roughly $2,500 they'll lose
$800.00-$1,000.00 on the new car but will sell the traded-in car for
around $6,800.00 making them nearly $5,000.00 and if you decided to
finance they make more off of interest.So when you take your old games
into a corporate branded store you best be prepared to be saddened by
the lack of exchange you'll get for the game. Instead look on-line in
message boards or other sites for video game trading. I'm sure you'll do
much better not going toward the corporate gaming community. </div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Credit to original author </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/696000</span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-6815701196378104482014-11-21T01:26:00.000-08:002014-11-21T01:26:00.121-08:00Paparazzi Game Review- What A Ride<div id="article-content">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Get Ready To Be Addicted To Paparazzi Game</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Paparazzi
is an amazingly addictive fun puzzle game Ever since the launch of the
Paparazzi game, over 5,000,000 folks just like you have downloaded
game Paparazzi. With 3 various and different game modes, such as spot
the item, find the difference, and also quick shot.
<br />Download game Paparazzi will have you digging up dirt on celebrities like you've never done before.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Paparazzi Game - The Competition Abounds</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The
game Paparazzi is even more fun and wildly entertaining. The paparazzi
game is also extremely competitive, but one never does hear about the
paparazzi getting pounded on by anyone but the celebrities that they
harass. The original Paparazzi game was a great success and was also
played by almost three million people. The Game Paparazzi allows you
play against friends and family members to ascertain who may be the best
at avoiding the spotlight or snapping a photo that is worthy of the
tabloid's.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Game Paparazzi - Earn Money</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This Flash
game will allow the player to actually be the Paparazzi and take photos
of all kinds of celebrities whether they're being good or bad at the
time. The better shots that you take the more money you can earn and the
quicker you can advance to the ensuing level.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Paparazzi Game - Hot On The Trail</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
You
will chase the trail to all of the hot gossip and ridiculous news in
Game Paparazzi. This game Paparazzi has the It has the capacity to be a
great puzzle game, and it is extremely obvious that mountains of work
went into the game's development process. I am waiting anxiously to see
Paparazzi expand and improve and become an even greater game.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Paparazzi Game Full Version Is A Must Have</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The
full version of Game Paparazzi offers an unlimited amount of play time.
Game Paparazzi full version also offers 10 different photo assignments,
and 15 distinct and unique locations. Game Paparazzi is one of those
ever enthralling and addictive games where you may find yourself still
sitting at the keyboard after several hours of play.
<br />I definitely suggest downloading game Paparazzi or purchasing the full version to ensure plenty of playing time.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Paparazzi Game - Incredible Graphics and Effects</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Paparazzi
game features incredible graphics, funny characters, and strange and
wildly bizarre adventures. Game Paparazzi is a great game for the whole
family. In actuality, it is a lot of fun even if you have never thought
of being an actual paparazzi.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Paparazzi Game - You Are The Paparazzi</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Game
Paparazzi allows you to experience the adrenaline occupied existence of
a tabloid photographer. The paparazzi game gossip celebrity
perspective of Paparazzi game does put a radically cool spin on proven
game formats that have already been proven to be highly effective and
popular in various games.</div>
<br />
</div>
<div style="overflow: hidden;">
</div>
<div style="overflow: hidden;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Credit to the original author<br />
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/635038</span></div>
Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-25818640944153185352014-11-20T01:24:00.000-08:002014-11-20T01:24:00.707-08:00So You Want to Get A Video Game Tester Job<div id="article-content">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So you want to find out about video game tester jobs. To be able
to get a job as a video game beta tester you will need to be persistent.
Believe it or not, the competition is high for such lucrative and
enjoyable employment. Who wouldn't want to do it. From teenagers to old
farts like me. But, I suppose, after thousands of hours of sitting on
your butt playing games, it could easily start feeling like a job. Oh
but what a job...until that happens.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A great game tester can be
the game programmer's worst enemy. The best game tester's will find the
bugs and program errors that nobody else can, almost nobody anyway. The
job of the video game tester is to scour the game to find bugs and
programming errors before the game is released to the public and to
assist the programmer's in fixing these bugs.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Most successful
video game tester's have worked their way up through the ranks from just
game testing to a earning a lucrative position with game designer's.
You could also look at being a video game tester as one rung in the
ladder toward a career in the game design industry. Who knows where you
could go after this.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Video game tester's are a necessity to game
manufacturers, these nationwide companies cannot produce and release
games to the public that contain programming errors and bugs. Games that
customers would return in droves would cost the manufacturers millions
in losses, and untold millions in the loss of customer "goodwill".</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
These
multi million dollar game manufacturing companies invest millions of
dollars in just the development of one game. All this could be undone
with just one unnoticed glitch in the game's programming code. Now you
see why there are plenty of opportunities in video game tester jobs.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Video game testing will normally be on a personal computer, a PlayStation with the most current technology, Xbox, etc...
<br />To be a game tester, you need to have a fairly in depth knowledge of
the equipment you will be testing with, for example, consoles and
operating systems of the platform you will be using for video game
testing.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A video game tester's main responsibilities will include
reporting, bug testing, game features and game balance. As a video game
tester you may be required to work at a local testing center, while some
work may be sent in the mail for completion from your location.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If
you are a top video game tester, you can expect to earn in excess of
$80.00 per hour, which will mean over $200,000.00 per year in salary.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The
video gaming industry will continue to grow year after year for decades
to come. Every year will require more and more video game tester job's
to meet the demand of the video game manufacturers. If you are
interested in a video game tester job. Just know that the competition
for these positions is fierce, after all who wouldn't want a job as a
video game tester. Use your resources wisely in locating
<br />these positions, they are worth their weight in gold. Good Luck.</div>
<br />
</div>
<div style="overflow: hidden;">
</div>
<div style="overflow: hidden;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Credit to the original author<br />
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/635004</span></div>
Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-32870247694481281272014-11-19T01:22:00.000-08:002014-11-19T01:22:00.763-08:00Online Games-Fragging On The Net<div style="text-align: justify;">
Online games - spoken casually or formally - normally refer to video
games that are played on a computer using an Internet connection. There
are video games that are played online using devices such as video
consoles (Playstation, X-Box) and mobile phones, but online games
generally mean PC games that can be played only when you are connected
to the Internet. These games kicked off in the 1980s even as Internet
connectivity was slow and expensive. The earliest versions of these
games were simple multiplayer text-based games. In the 1990s these games
started getting popular, and today they feature high-end graphics,
virtual communities, and lots more.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Types Of Online Games</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Online
games can be of the following types - (1) First-person shooters: Here
the players battle with each other head-to-head. In most first-person
shooters games, there are online components that allow deathmatch/arena
style play. In these games the view you see in the gameplay is the one
seen from your character's eyes. (2) Real-time strategy games: These are
games where you have to develop a combat strategy or gameplan by
building resources and making a strong army so that you are able to
fight with other Internet players. (3) Browser games: These are simple,
small, and quick pastime games that can be played on your browser. They
are developed using the popular Shockwave or Java technologies. (4)
Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG): These are
online games that can support thousands of players from all over the
world simultaneously, playing with or against each other in a giant
virtual world and also interacting with each other. Here a person has to
keep leveling up till he reaches the maximum possible level written for
the game. These games can keep a gamer engaged for months or even
years!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
How Online Games Make Money</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Today, every game is
playable online. The question before the company that is making these
games is how to make money. Most companies make single-player games that
can be played at home. In these games the player has to overcome the
artificially intelligent enemies. These games feature an online
multiplayer gameplay model, using which a user can play with or against
other Internet players. These companies make their money by selling
their game CDs/DVDs [Examples: Warcraft 3, Counter Strike]. The browser
game companies survive by revenues generated from advertising and
promotions. Many MMORPG companies keep adding content by developing new
patches in their games and they charge a monthly fee from the players
[Example: Everquest 2, World of Warcraft]. Some of them do not, and
survive because of their CD/DVD sales [Example: Guild Wars].</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
One
last thing about the title: "Fragging" in game jargon stands for
finishing off a player or an artificially intelligent enemy.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="overflow: hidden; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Credit to the original author<br />
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/440654</span></div>
Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-51504897474200665822014-11-18T01:19:00.000-08:002014-11-18T01:19:00.196-08:00What Makes a Good Game, and Where Will it Lead Us From Here?<div id="article-content">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Considering the variety of different games available to us, let
alone the type of games; flash, Internet, computer, video game, it's
really hard to be able to say what makes a good game a good game.
However, no matter how hard of a question this is, many people are still
asking it. I'm sure I could list a few games I love in the console
world such as Need For Speed and the ever popular Tom Clancy trilogies,
but just because I may like these games, doesn't mean everyone else
does! Examples of good games are out there but, they don't really answer
the question at hand. All in all I think for everyone, the question;
what is a good game? Comes down to a few major attributes. These
attributes are included in the following paragraphs, these are of course
generalizations and don't count towards or include game titles, there
are merely categorical opinions.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Game Design - In some
instances you may hear people talking about the design of the game, and
how it does or doesn't "work" with the game. Usually when people are
talking about the design they are speaking in specifics of how the game
was set up, and the rules of the game or the rules of engagement so to
speak. The phrase is also expended to distinguish both the game design
embodied in an actual game as well as software documentation that
identifies such a design. Other attributes of the gaming design include;
narrative, mechanics, visual arts, programming and audio.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Game
Play - This includes all player experience during the interaction with
gaming systems, particularly formal games. Appropriate utilization is
coupled with acknowledgment to "what the player does". Arising alongside
game evolution in the 1980s, game play was applied exclusively within
the context of video or computer games, though now its popularity has
begun to see use in the description of other more traditional game
forms. Broadly Speaking, the phrase game play in video game language is
used to identify the overall experience of playing the game omitting
factors like artwork and sound!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Graphics - Back in the days of the
original Nintendo and even flash based games like Asteroids, the
graphics were very "blocky" of course most of didn't even realize it at
the time until newer consoles like SNES and particularly XBOX and XBOX
360 came out. I think the important of graphics is more steadily sought
after nowadays because people want to the best. It's been argued that
the differences between XBOX and XBOX 360 are different or aren't
different. Just the same, more people have bought XBOX 360 than XBOX,
maybe for this reasoning alone.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Game Engine - This is a software
system designed for the creation and development of computer and video
games. There are many game engines that are contrived to work on video
game consoles and desktop operating systems such as Linux, Mac OS X, and
Windows. The core functionality typically provided by a game engine
includes a rendering engine ("renderer") for 2D or 3D graphics, a
physical science engine or collision detection (and collision reaction),
sound, scripting, animation, AI, networking, streaming, memory
management, threading, and a scene graph. The procedure of game
maturation is oftentimes economised by in large part reusing the same
game engine to create different games.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Character Creation - Also
known as Character generation is the procedure of defining a pretend
character for a game. Usually, a character's individual strengths and
weaknesses are presented by a set of stats. Games that have a mostly
fictional circumstance may include traits such as race and class. Games
with a more contemporary or narrower setting may limit customization to
physical and personality traits.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Some people play games because of
the attributes listed above, and they simply won't play or won't enjoy a
game if the graphics are less than perfect or if the characters are
annoying or if the game play is buggy, but others, play games simply
because it's a way to take a break from the real world, it's a way to
get away from the ordinary humdrum of our regular lives, and some of us
though sometimes anal about the specifics of a console game, don't use
those same criticism when playing something like an online flash based
game because we know they aren't made the same way (not really anyway).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Since
Asteroids in the 80s, there have been several million different flash
based games released, some of these are by big whig companies and others
are developed by individuals that simply enjoy making games. These
games have come a long way from Asteroids and the like, and now you have
all sorts of categories to choose from.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In reality, flash based
games can only get better from here on in, but I think that's the same
with any type of games or gaming simply because of the technological
innovations that keep being created! In the end, it really depends on
the user playing the game, as to what makes a good game. You be the
judge!</div>
<br />
</div>
<div style="overflow: hidden;">
</div>
<div style="overflow: hidden;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Credit to the original author<br />
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1774492</span></div>
Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-37828372753142306732014-11-17T01:06:00.000-08:002014-11-17T01:06:00.711-08:00How to Pick Video Games Both Parents and Their Kids Will Love<div id="article-content">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
To hear parents tell it, the perfect video game is educational,
provides small life lessons, strengthens hand eye coordination, and
keeps the kids entertained for roughly 30 minutes at a time. Listening
to kids, however, it appears that educational qualities rank far below
the needs for speed, action, rad moves, and great weapons. It is hard to
believe that there are games which fulfill the requirements hoped for
by both parents and kids.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Parents should always make the time to
play the games alongside their kids; the only problem with using this
approach to picking video games is the fact that the game is already in
the house and the money spent. Opened games are rarely returnable and
once they are in the house and their hot little hands, kids will not let
go of games without a lot of arguing, complaining, and upset. Thus,
making an informed decision prior to bringing the games home is a must!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So
how does a parent go about picking out a video game for the children to
play? Reading the back of the cover is unlikely to present a lot of
information whereas the buzz on the Internet can be so forbiddingly
filled with insider lingo that it is hard to discern if the game is
appropriate, too violent, or perhaps even contains content that is
objectionable.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
At the same time, simply because a game is very
popular and the evening news shows long lines of consumers waiting
outside the stores for them to go on sale, does not mean that it offers
the kind of game play the parent wants to invite into the home.
Fortunately, there are five simple steps to picking video games both
parents and their kids will love. These steps are not complicated,
require a minimum of effort, and are rather reliable.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>1. Check the ESRB Rating</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The
Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) developed a rating system
that ranks game content according to age appropriateness. The ratings
are "EC," "E," "E 10+," "T," "M," "AO," and "RP."</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Games designated
with an "EC" are educational and fun for preschoolers and young
grade-schoolers. An "E" notes that the games are appropriate for all
players, and while preschoolers might have more of a learning curve to
get the game-play right, there is no objectionable content. Look out for
games rated with an "E 10+" since these games are reserved for kids
older than 10. Some mild language is usually incorporated into the game.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A
game rated "T" is reserved for teens, and parents should know that
violence, sexual innuendo, partial nudity, and also curse words are par
for the course. "M" for mature indicates games for those over the age of
17 and the blood, guts, gore, and sex are legendary in these games.
Upping the ante are games marked "AO" or adults only, as they are "M"
squared. An "RP" rating simply means that a rating is pending, and
parents should hold off on buying the game until the rating has been
apportioned.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>2. Read the ESRB Content Descriptors</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Since
preschoolers and grade-schoolers cannot simply be pigeonholed into age
brackets, but should be much further differentiated by their maturity
levels, parents will be wise to read the ESRB content descriptions on
the backs of the video game packets. They list potentially objectionable
content.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For example, "animated blood" refers to purple, green,
or other kinds of unrealistic blood that may be shown during game play,
while a listing of "blood" is an indicator that realistically depicted
blood is part of the game play. Children highly sensitive to blood may
not enjoy playing these games, even if they are rated for their age
brackets.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>3. Understand the Classifications When Shopping For Older Kids</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Parents
who have braved the age appropriate ratings, and also made it through
reading the descriptions may now be stumped by a further classification:
the kind of game-play their kids may expect.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Older kids may like
"FPS" (First Person Shooter) games that put them into the action from a
first person perspective, rather than seeing the character they are
controlling doing the actions -- which is the case in "TPS" (Third
Person Shooter) games. In addition, some games are classified by the
kinds of content that provides the storyline, such as vehicle simulation
games, strategy games, or sports and puzzle games.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Shooter games
are the most violent while strategy games are perhaps the most
educational. Puzzle games require strategic thinking but do not offer a
lot of action moves that appeal to teens.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>4. Visit the Game Platform Manufacturer Website</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Parents
may visit the website for the gadget that will ultimately allow the
kids to play the video games. This may be the website for PlayStation,
GameCube, Nintendo, Xbox, and a host of sub-platforms. The companies
list the video games made for them, their ratings, and more often than
not also post trailers, screen shots, and brief outlines of the actual
game itself.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Although such a website does not offer an in depth
and unbiased analysis of the game, it is a rather useful tool for
getting a good feel about game play and content without having to rely
solely on a rating, the back of a package, or the marketing efforts.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>5. Check with Organizations That Offer Independent Game Evaluations</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
There
are various organizations that are not tied in with the video game
industry and still offer advice to parents. Some groups focus on the
educational aspects while others are faith based and review the games
from this angle. Find a group that meets your personal criteria and
peruse the reviews on various games you are considering for your kids.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
One
of the most well known groups is the Entertainment Consumers
Association that offers insight into the industry as well as the games.
Parents who want more detailed information about the games they are
considering will do well to visit the forums and websites of such groups
and learn from other parents whose kids might already be playing these
games.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Since these are interactive forums, parents have the unique
ability to actually ask questions of other parents, and if there is a
particular concern about a game, this is the venue where to get more
information.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong>If All Else Fails</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Of course,
if all else fails, there is the old fallback on the classic games and
characters. Crash Bandicoot, Mario, Spyro, and Pokémon are game
characters which have been around for a while and in a host of
incarnations. Even as the educational value of some of these games is
debatable, they do offer rip-roaring fun, rad moves, and most certainly
the entertainment value the kids appreciate most. At the same time, they
eschew foul language, nudity, and explicit violence parents object to.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Parents
in a time crunch or those who simply cannot find a game that meets
their standards will usually find a winner in these genres. Moreover,
since they are part and parcel of a popular series, parents and kids can
make the buying decisions together. For example, the popular Mario
games offer offshoots like "Luigi's Mansion" that offers the exploration
of a haunted house, while other offshoots are cart racing games.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Completely
different game play -- yet the same reassuring characters and the same
level of appropriateness -- make this a premier opportunity for parents
and children to agree on the game play the kids would like to try out,
while staying away from potentially objectionable games that offer
similar game play.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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Credit to the original author<br />
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1489347</div>
Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-13908582327446961072014-11-16T01:04:00.002-08:002014-11-16T01:04:24.578-08:00Custom Gaming Laptops - Five Things You Must Consider When Building a Gaming Laptop<div id="article-content">
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Gone are the days when you would have been laughed at if you
walked into an all-night LAN party carrying your trusty laptop and
expecting to hang with the giant computer towers standing at everyone's
feet. The gaming laptop computers of today sport huge, crisp LCD
screens, cutting-edge video cards and full-size keyboards. Not only can
these gaming laptop computers hang with the standard clunky computer
tower, but they can also be ordered fully custom to meet the exact
specifications of any gamer.</div>
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Since there are so many customizable
components in these laptops, a standard practice has been to create what
some call a "system builder." This is the page where you get to add
and subtract components through drop-down menus in order to create the
best gaming laptop computer for your needs and your budget. This type
of page can be overwhelming to someone just starting the gaming laptop
shopping process, but it is very manageable if you take it just one
component at a time.</div>
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<b>The Gaming Laptop GPU</b></div>
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This is
the heart of a gaming laptop computer. The GPU (graphics processing
unit) is a component that will make or break your gaming experience. If
your GPU isn't up to snuff, your games won't play.</div>
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Without
getting into specific models since they change all the time, the key is
that the graphics card not share resources with the computer. A gaming
laptop video card must have its own memory on board. Generally
speaking, standard off-the-shelf laptops will not have this feature.
The two current makers of laptop video cards are nVIDIA and ATI.</div>
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<b>Without the Screen, You Don't Have Much</b></div>
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What
good is a gaming laptop without a screen that can actually render your
games? Now certainly, you can connect an external monitor, but if you
can't actually play on your gaming laptop without that external monitor,
then your laptop isn't all that mobile.</div>
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While the technology and
terminology for LCDs (liquid crystal displays) could take up an entire
article in itself, there are a few key points to keep in mind when
choosing from available LCD options for your new gaming laptop computer:
native resolution, aspect ratio, rise and fall time, contrast, viewing
angle, and size.</div>
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<b>Native Resolution.</b> The native resolution
is simply the setting at which your screen will render the clearest
images. Since games are constantly in motion, slightly soft edges may
not bother most gamers, but keep in mind that while this is your gaming
laptop, you will likely also use it for other things like surfing the
Internet. If the resolution isn't comfortable, you aren't going to
enjoy using it.</div>
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<b>Aspect Ratio.</b> As you probably know, a
movie theater screen and a TV screen have different proportions.
Likewise, there are widescreen format gaming laptops and there are
laptops that have a standard aspect ratio -- like that of a TV. A
widescreen format gaming laptop (a 16:10 ratio) has advantages and
disadvantages. Many games today do not have a widescreen mode. This
means that the game may stretch across the screen and become distorted
or you may run it with black bars that fill in the sides. There are
ways to get around this, but if you want an out of the box perfect
experience, the widescreen format may not be for you.</div>
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That said, a
widescreen LCD does offer plenty of screen real estate for web surfing
and other type of computer activities, and a game played in a wide
format setting offers an expansive field of view. For this reason,
there are some very loyal widescreen-loving gamers out there.</div>
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Do
your best to find a balance between current and future technology and
what your computer habits are beyond gaming. Even with its limitations,
the widescreen format is found on most of the best gaming laptop
computers.</div>
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<b>Rise and Fall.</b> The phrase 'rise and fall time'
is used to describe how fast the LCD can respond to changes. In the
past, LCDs have been plagued with the inability to render images as fast
as computer games can spit them out. This presents a major problem for
laptop gamers because if they can't see the images properly, they can't
play the game properly. This lag can mean the difference between
playing to win and barely playing.</div>
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Fortunately, gaming laptop LCDs
have come a long way and they are only getting better. While once it
was impossible to game on a laptop screen, the gaming laptop LCDs of
today offer 25 milliseconds or less rise and fall time while generally
off-the-shelf laptops have 40 milliseconds or less rise and fall time.</div>
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<b>Contrast.</b>
If a gaming laptop LCD has poor contrast, that means that the black
areas aren't quite as black as they should be and the white areas aren't
quite as white. This is important to a laptop gamer because you have
to see the game properly -- as it was intended to be seen -- in order to
compete effectively. Look for a contrast ratio of 400:1 or higher in a
custom gaming laptop computer.</div>
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<b>Viewing Angle.</b> This is an
often-overlooked LCD feature, but it must be considered if you are
building a gaming laptop computer. Many high quality LCDs on the market
are difficult to see clearly at any angle other than straight on and at
the right height. This can be a big drawback to gaming on a LCD screen
because a screen with poor viewing angles won't allow others to watch
the screen as you play and also hurts your view when doing something as
simple as adjusting your seating, which can require you to then adjust
to position of your laptop screen to see it properly again.</div>
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But
gaming on a laptop does not mean that you are doomed to have poor
viewing angles. There are LCDs on the market that have amazing viewing
angles -- up to 120 degrees. These screens not only allow gaming
onlookers, but they also allow you to use that giant, crisp screen to do
things like play movies and even make presentations.</div>
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<b>Size.</b>
In a gaming laptop computer, size is everything. Most gaming laptops
are large, robust pieces of electronics. Having a machine of this
stature means you also get to have a large screen. The best gaming
laptop computer LCD screens out there are at least 15 inches. A crowd
favorite is a 17 inch widescreen (even with the challenges that
widescreens present). Largr 19 inch laptop screens are just starting to
be talked about with consumers expecting to see 19 inch or even large
models on the market in the near future.</div>
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The best way to really
get a feel for what laptop LCDs are all about is to take a trip to a
local box store and play with the LCDs on the display laptops while
keeping in mind what you have read here. While these laptops are not
custom gaming laptops, you can see what the sizes really look like, what
different resolutions look like, and what the viewing angles truly are
so you can start to develop your own preferences.</div>
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<b>The RAM - What Type and How Much?</b></div>
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The
RAM (random access memory) found in laptops is called SODIMM (small
outline dual inline memory module). The RAM is responsible for your
processing power. If you are shopping for a custom gaming laptop, you
will generally be offered DDR2 RAM with the choice of how much you want
in your computer. Most high-end games being released today need 1GB of
RAM for optimum, lag-free game play. Some people are going with 2GB to
ensure that they can run multiple applications along with the game and
not experience any slow down in response time. This is a large
investment and you want to be able to use this gaming laptop for some
time in the future. Most custom laptops are user upgradeable, but this
should be left up to professionals.</div>
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<b>The CPU - Not Just Mobile Technology</b></div>
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The
CPUs (central processing units) found in many custom gaming laptops are
identical to those found in desktops. These chips require a great deal
of cooling power, which in turn can make your laptop louder than light
weight, lower power ultra portables when the fans kick on and it can
become somewhat warm to the touch. Don't be alarmed by this -- it is
normal. And with these desktop processors comes screaming power! Don't
waste your money on the latest CPU release that likely has an inflated
price tag (and that price will likely come down before long). Stick
with a current CPU speed that is offered by a reputable custom gaming
laptop reseller, and you really can't go wrong.</div>
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<b>The Gaming Laptop Hard Drive</b></div>
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This
is the final component to consider when building a gaming laptop.
Laptop hard drives come in a variety of speeds and capacities ranging
from 4200 to 7200 RPMs and 40 to over 100 GBs. For the most part, this
is user preference. Whenever possible, go for a 7200 RPM hard drive,
but if you need a capacity not offered in this speed, it's okay to go
for the 5400 RPM drive. Take a look at your current computer, and buy
your capacity based on this. Also keep in mind that with many custom
gaming laptop manufacturers, you have the ability to upgrade or add
another hard drive at a later date.</div>
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At the end of the day, gaming
laptop computers are all about power. Don't expect a twelve-pound
notebook with a desktop processor, numerous fans, a giant heatsink, and
independent video card to last on battery power all that long. But do
make sure to enjoy the jawdrops that you'll get as you walk into your
regular LAN party location with your new, screaming-fast gaming laptop
computer. Crack that puppy open, fire it up, and stand clear of the
drool as you take on your favorite game with fellow gamers gathered
around to take in the action. Gaming is not just for desktops anymore!</div>
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Credit to the original author<br />
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/73074</div>
Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-60366240318924105622014-11-09T03:23:00.000-08:002014-11-09T03:23:00.087-08:00Fun For Everyone and Great Basketball Shooting Drills<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: white;">Games that employ basketballs and a basketball backboard and rim without the constraints of a time clock are varied and plentiful. The wonderful sense of accomplishment we receive from shooting basketballs through a basket and the friendly competition we experience make these games fun. These contests are more about shooting skill and less about athletic ability which explains, in part, their wide appeal. Whether you see them as basketball shooting drills (like many coaches do) or just plain fun, here are some of the most familiar ones:</span></div>
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<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><strong>H-O-R-S-E</strong> Next to traditional basketball, H-O-R-S-E is probably the best known game played with a basketball hoop system. It can be played by two or more participants with the order of play determined by free throw shooting (or any other method the players prefer). Player #1 decides on the kind of shot he or she is going to take from anywhere on the court, announces it and then takes the shot. There are no rules regarding length or type of shot. Player #2 (and every other player involved) must then duplicate the shot. If the shot is made, the player moves on to the next round without penalty. If Player #2 misses, he or she gets assigned the letter "H." This procedure continues for all players. If a participant misses a second shot, he or she gets an "O", and then an "R", "S", and finally an "E." Once any player gets all five letters, he or she is eliminated from competition. The last player to remain in the game is the winner. Longer or shorter versions of H-O-R-S-E, with names like P-I-G, are also played.</span></li>
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<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><strong>Around The World </strong>In this game, 2 or more players take shots from pre-determined locations on a court (or driveway). In one version, the positions outline the area of the court known popularly as "the paint." It is the zone bordered by the free throw line and out of bounds line and the 2 perpendicular lines that complete the rectangular box. In another version, the shot locations roughly follow the perimeter of the 3-point shooting line. Player #1 starts the game with a right-handed lay-up. If the shot is made, he or she shoots from the far right location. If that shot is made, he or she proceeds clockwise to the far left position "around the world" and then must make a left-handed lay-up before reversing direction back to the initial location. Making a shot from a position allows a player to advance to the next position and he or she keeps advancing until a shot is missed. When a shot is missed, a player must decide whether to save his position and pass the ball to the next player or elect to take another "chance" shot. If the chance shot is made, the player advances as normal. If the player misses, his or her turn ends and he or she pays a penalty. This may involve going back one position and waiting until the next turn or even starting over, which carries an ever higher risk the farther along the player is in the game. When a player makes a successful shot from the final position, the game enters the last stage. Generally, those players who hadn't yet taken their final turn get a chance to tie, which cancels any advantage of going first. There are variations on the rules that make the game more difficult including requiring the shots to bank off the backboard, shooting with the non-dominant arm or shooting with alternating arms.</span></li>
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<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><strong>Firing Squad </strong>This game is very similar to <strong>Around The World</strong> but there's one significant difference: each player has his or her own ball and no one waits to shoot. All players start shooting from the #1 spot in the far right location, rebound their own shots and continue shooting non-stop. When a shot is made, each player advances to the next spot. If the shot is missed, the player keeps shooting until the shot is made. The first player to make the shot from the #7 spot (far left location) is the winner. While Around The World is purely a shooting game, Firing Squad adds the component of quickness. The player who quickly tracks down a rebound and gets the next shot off as soon as possible gives him or her self an advantage.</span></li>
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<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><strong>Knockout </strong>This game can be played with two or more players. A line is formed, usually at the free throw line, and each player must follow in order the player in front of him or her throughout the game. Two basketballs are needed and are given to Player #1 and Player #2. Player #1 shoots. If Player #1 makes the shot, he or she passes the ball to Player #3 and goes to the end of the line. Player #2 shoots right after Player #1shoots. If Player #1 misses the shot, he or she must immediately get the rebound and try to score from anywhere on the court <em>before</em> Player #2 scores. If Player #2 scores before Player #1, either at the foul line or elsewhere, Player #1 is "knocked-out" of the game. If Player #3 scores before Player #2, then #2 is eliminated and so on. The last player left is the winner.<strong></strong></span></li>
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<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><strong>Fives </strong>Players form a line at the top of the key (or free-throw line for younger kids). Player #1 shoots. If the shot is missed, the player gets the rebound and shoots from where he or she retrieved the ball. He or she keeps shooting until a shot is made up to a maximum of 5 shots. If the player fails to make a basket within those 5 shots, he or she gets 1 point and goes to the end of the line. Then Player #2 shoots. If Player #2 takes more shots to make a basket than Player #1, he or she gets a point. Player #2 could actually incur an additional point if he or she also fails to score within the 5-shot maximum. Player #3 must then score in the same or lower number of shots that Player #2 required or he or she is assessed a point. When a player reaches 5 points, he or she is eliminated. When that happens, the next following player in line has the shot requirement reset to 5. The last player to not get 5 points is the winner.</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: white;">There are several more basketball shooting games than the 5 I have discussed here but these are some of the most popular ones. They require little more than an ability to shoot basketballs. Some games, like Fives and H-O-R-S-E, are allowed to proceed at a pace chosen by the players. As a result, they are very popular activities for those who like the sport of basketball but don't want the pressure of a time clock or the requirement of having to score quickly. They allow players of varying levels of athletic ability to be competitive with each other. The games also act as basketball shooting drills while masquerading as just plain fun activities. For that reason, they are favorite practice tools of coaches. There are several more games to cover and I hope to do so in (an) upcoming article(s). In the meantime, why not play one on a court near you!</span></div>
<span style="background-color: #dddddd; color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /><br />Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7735596</span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-78330404907981727072014-11-08T03:20:00.000-08:002014-11-08T03:20:00.151-08:00Keeping Gaming Fun For Everyone<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: white;">The motto of LiTi-4 is "keeping gaming fun for everyone". While people love to find hints, tips and even cheat codes to help them excel in their favorite games, we often forget the purpose of a game, which is to have fun. We get so caught up in objectives, scoreboards and reputation that we forget the whole point is entertainment.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">To understand how to keep gaming fun for everyone, you have to take a closer look at what gaming really is.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The term <i>game</i> is defined as "an amusement or pastime".</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The term <i>video game </i>is defined as "A style of game existing as and controlled by software, usually run by a video game console or a computer, and played on a video terminal or television screen."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Gaming has and still continues to evolve daily. More and more people are playing video games and there is not longer a restriction based on age, race or where you come from in life. Whether you play seriously or casually, free games or paid games, it's important to get the most from your experience.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">It's easy to get into a game that's very intense and find that your emotions are affected as well. If you've ever sat on the edge of a seat gripping your controller until your fingers turned purple, you know what we mean.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">If you've ever smashed a keyboard or yelled at your computer monitor, you also know what we're talking about. But it's not just feelings of anger that can ruin a good game. Sometimes just playing too long at one time, playing the same game too often or playing multi-player games with other people can stress you out. Trying too hard to beat that super-difficult boss or focusing too hard on completing that next puzzle level can be stressful on the body and mind.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">This is why in the spirit of keeping gaming fun for everyone, we encourage regular breaks. This means taking a break from gaming altogether, getting up, walking around, doing something else as well as taking a break from specific games that you play all the time. Here are some tips to help:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">- Take a break from the computer or console once every hour. Walk around, get a snack, stretch, etc.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">- Try a new game you've never played before.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">- Try a new genre or style of game.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">- If players are getting to you, try a single player game.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">- If you normally play solo, try a multiplayer.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">- Walk away if you start to get upset.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">- Don't take the game too seriously.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">- Look up hints, guides and walk-throughs if you get stuck.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">With these tips, we encourage you to have more fun in your gaming experiences and remember that's what it's all supposed to be about anyway. If you're not having fun, you're doing something wrong!</span></div>
<span style="background-color: #dddddd; color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /><br />Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2708148</span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-12686227406697641682014-11-07T21:41:00.000-08:002014-11-07T21:41:00.432-08:00Family Card Games For Fun TimeFamily bonding is fair and identical way to have a quality time is to have family card games at home. This card games are for family entertainment period and it's coming in different types of games and it can be played consistent if your children are younger. This is a healthy game and others are even educational games. There might be some issues when you play or buy a family card games today, other games might encourage you or even your children to be involved in gambling. So make sure that when you buy one it will not involve gambling or betting to avoid this unpleasant habit in the future.<br />
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These are some few tips in buying; make sure that it does not involve gaming or playing cards like in the casino, read the instruction on how to play the games to know how to engage in betting or close to gambling types game. Check if the cards games are educational and informative, multi-player is also a nice choice, games that involve more than four people. If you probably have a quiz game card or games that engage in knowing your country's history or even the world history for that matter.<br />
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You should be very careful in buying a family card games since this involves your children's participation. If you try to check online gaming, most of the games encourage gambling, and this is not a good thing for children. That is why most of the parents should have a parental control on your children's personal computer to keep away from this terrible attraction. These online games are bad influence for the grown ups, much more damaging for the young kids.<br />
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Remember this, the child's mind is not yet polluted by the world and make sure to make it as pure as possible and prepare their mind for the different types of games that they might know on how to put themselves in the right position if things go bad. This might be just family card games for others but if not careful, this will cause more trouble than solution. It is not that you are trying to restrict your children from the world; you are just trying to protect them from the bad influence of it. Besides, the best time to train your children in their younger years where they obey and listen to their parent.<br />
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Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-75678201203861998842014-11-05T21:49:00.000-08:002014-11-05T21:49:00.054-08:00Play Car Racing Game for Fun and Frolic<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: white;">Car racing games are more popular among adults and youngsters because of the reason that they include a lot of special effects and animation which are appreciated by people. Car races are popular among boys mainly as they relate to them and have the same feeling as that of the real car races. The developers of gaming industry are coming up with new and amazing games everyday which players are able to access on the internet. A lot of graphics and stunts are used in these games to make them more exciting. They are mainly popular among boys as they like to fast paced games and have thrill and excitement.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">There are thousands of the games on the internet and you can choose the one which give you more fun and enjoyment. You do not have to go anywhere to spend a quality of time. This is because of the fact that you can invite the friends at your home and enjoy the game in front of your computer and at the comfort of your living room. You can also involve your parents and siblings as they are available for all kind of people. This is one of the best ways to have fun without going out and spending money as most of these games are available on the websites that allow free games.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">One of the most important factors is that on such websites, you will be able to find an opportunity to interact with people with the help of chat rooms. You can share your ideas and opinions with them and can even learn how to play games. This is the great opportunity to socialize with people from various parts of the world. You will be able to learn about cheats of these games and make your own winning strategies.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: #dddddd; color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /><br />Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5400156</span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-59088407637683334132014-11-03T19:46:00.000-08:002014-11-03T19:46:00.177-08:00Secrets to an Amazing Role-Playing Game<div style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Role-playing games are a very specialist type of game that really need a far greater attention to detail than other less immersive genres. As the computerized version of the genre took off there were a lot of money hungry companies who decided to storm into the genre without really trying to understand what the vital elements of a role-playing game are. In some cases, these companies have actually had the audacity to buy out smaller companies who did know the genre and they destroyed long-held legacies of great traditional games.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Considering that this may have an impact on the future of computerized role-playing games I have felt it to be of importance to educate these gaming giants in an effort to help them understand the only thing that matters to them. In order to sell role-playing games you need an audience willing to buy the product and if a company consistently puts out dodgy shooters in the guise of apparent role-playing games they'll only destroy their reputation and go bankrupt. I know that the word bankrupt is a word that these money hungry companies recognises and so I emphasise one point, try to sell dodgy shooters to role-playing fans and you will go bankrupt!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Personally, I have been a role-playing gamer for about thirty years and I fell in love with only two systems that I probably can't name because of article writing guidelines. What I can say is that very few game producing companies have come even close to the pen and paper versions of the best role-playing games on the market, you know, the ones that people actually enjoy playing. I will say that I rejoiced when role-playing games became computerized as it meant I could do my role-playing without the need to hunt for people with similar tastes and even though some games have risen to become great role-playing games, they are sadly few and far between. On that note, of the styles of role-playing games that include pen and paper, computerized games and online games, there is only one type that can meet the fully immersive needs of a role-player and I'll reveal why later.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Okay, what are the elements of a great role-playing game then? I'll give you one at a time but the very most important piece of advice to keep in mind during this whole discussion is immersion. To be a truly great role-playing game, it has to grab the players attention and not deliver diversions that allow the player to slip back into the reality of the real world. The player must be kept in the fictional world if they are to feel that they have experienced a great role-playing game.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the most vital elements of immersion is a storyline; a really believable and yet gripping storyline. A role player doesn't want to load up the newest game and find to their dismay that storyline consists of the flimsy idea that they have to kill heaps of things to get enough experience to kill the apparent bad guy. Who wants to play a game where the bad guy is designated the bad guy without good reason? Have you played a game where you are part of one group of people and you've been chosen to defeat the other group of people but there's no actual evidence that shows why the other group is bad? The worst of these are the recent thug games where one criminal organisation wants to defeat another criminal organisation and you're the hitman. Who is really that stupid to fall for such a terrible storyline? It's certainly not for intelligent role-players.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A good storyline can't be a shallow excuse for a war and it has to be something you'd want to be a part of. The storyline also has to be included in the gameplay itself and delivered in a way that doesn't interrupt the reality of the gameplay either. There's nothing worse than a big cut-scene that drops into the middle of the game and makes you sit idle for more than a minute or two. For role-play gamers, the immersion of the game comes from being the character, not from watching the cut-scenes as if you were watching television. What's next... advertisements?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another part of a great game play experience is being aware that you have been a part of the fictional world since you were born. This is conveyed by knowing where things are in the world and knowing who the current leaders are, along with knowing current events. This can be done cleverly by feeding snippets of information in a natural manner during conversations with non-player characters. Some extremely vital information can be revealed in otherwise meaningless banter, just like in the world you're immersed in right now.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One thing that will jolt a role player out of a game is a sudden unwanted conversation with a hastily introduced character who explains where the next local town is and that you have to be careful because there's a war on or some such thing. This is only done in games where the maps are updated as you discover places of interest. Making a major city that lies not ten miles from your current position something that you have to discover is ridiculous at best and only suits scenarios where you've been teleported into a new reality or you've lost your memory although the latter should be used sparingly as there are already too many games out there that rely on the character having amnesia. Discovery can be implemented in far more subtle ways by having secret areas within already well-known places and it is this that gives a role-player a sense of discovery.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another immersion problem is the introduction of a love interest in a game without any participation on your part. You're playing away, minding your own business and then all of a sudden, one of the infatuated characters that you never knew existed, has an impact on gameplay because of a supposed vital role they play in the group you're a part of. They should, at the least, allow a bit of flirting in the conversation paths before a love interest is thrust into the mix. For me, someone suddenly having that kind of interest is an immersion breaker because there was nothing at all that prompted a relationship. If there is a love interest possibility in the game, then it needs to be introduced in a believable way and shouldn't be out of the characters control.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There was one game in which this happened and the involvement of two love interests was the excuse for one of the non-player characters to do worse at being a support while the other became a great support. Sure, the idea was novel but it was also very childish because it assumed that these two love interests were so enamoured with the player that neither could do without him. It was worse than watching Baywatch or Desperate Housewives.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm only going to add one more element to the mix because I just wouldn't reach a conclusion if I allowed myself to point out every requirement of the best role-playing games. As I stated before, the important factor is immersion. A real deal breaker for me is the inability to develop the type of character I want. I've encountered this more often than not in games where you have no choice over the skills that you character can develop. Of course, this is the worst scenario and there are many games that allow limited development but there are only a handful of games that allow a real sense of development.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A truly great role-playing game has to allow players to develop in any direction and compensate for this flexibility by incorporating multiple paths through the game. There's no point in creating a computerized role-playing game if the character does the same thing in every single play through of the game. The most annoying of these issues is a game where you can have a spell wielding character but they develop the exact same spells at exactly the same point in every run of the game. It's a little more forgivable for warrior types but even in this case there are many games which allow for dozens of different fighting styles.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, if I were to continue with this discussion I'd add other topics like the renaming of attributes with no good cause, allowing for more than one quest to be given at a time, real world purchase requirements during the game and other ridiculous practices.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I did promise to show which game type was the best for role-playing games though so, here it is. Non-online computerized games are the only games that allow for full immersion and I'll explain why.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unlike table-top games, you aren't interrupted by the requirement to physically reach out and move pieces which takes you out of the role of the piece itself. Compared to pen and paper games, you aren't required to look up tables or enter long boring discussions on how rules should be interpreted. Massively multiplayer online role-playing games don't meet the requirements either and I know some of you will be surprised but when was the last time you were playing a computerized role-playing game and one of the other players had to leave because they had to go to work and they informed you it was a different time in their part of the world.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Computerized role-playing games are the only role-playing game type where the characters stay in the game, you don't have to suddenly work out if something is allowable by the rules and the user interface stays consistent so that the immersion is most efficient.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In conclusion, the best role-playing games are stand-alone home computer based and don't involve interaction with other real world people who will throw a spanner in the immersion works. The storyline must be solid and delivered in a natural manner, a deliverable assumption that your character already knows the fictional world, no instant love interests out of nowhere and the ability to develop your character in any direction seamlessly along with plot paths that allow for these developments.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I only hope that the gaming companies pay attention to this and realise that they are making role-playing games for role-players and if they're not in the market for role-players, then they should call their games by a different genre.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px;">The article was taken from</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px;">Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7398556</span></span></div>
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Credit to the author</div>
</span></span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-63652028176216739542014-11-02T19:49:00.000-08:002014-11-02T19:49:00.719-08:00Benefits of Gaming - PC and Video Games<div style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">New PC and video games are not only capable of providing fun and excitement for everyone, but they can also give certain benefits and advantages.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With the help of advanced technology and popularity, the gaming industry has advanced and expanded rapidly over the years.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If we are looking for categorization of videos games, they are broadly divided into eight major categories:</span></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Action</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These are fast paced and may contain a large amount of violence due to this. Action games are usually inappropriate for children. Such games fall under the category "M" (mature-rated). Examples are Halo, Star Wars, Jedi Knight and Enter the Matrix.</span></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Adventure and Role Playing</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These are normally not as graphic as action games and can take the player into surrealism and fantasy. Though adventure and role-playing games often contain violence, it is not found to be as intense as the violence in action games. Examples of this category are Borderlands 2, Final Fantasy, Legend of Mana and Billy Hatcher.</span></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First Person Shooters</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As the name implies, it is a game in which the player sees the action through the eyes of the character he is representing and involves the use of pistols or rifles to kill the enemy. Due to the violence involved in this genre of games, they are not suitable for young children. Examples of these games are "Half-Life, "Half-Life 2", "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" and so on.</span></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Construction and Management Simulation (CMS)</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As the name suggests, in the games belonging to this genre, the players are expected to build, expand and manage imaginary projects and communities with very little resources. Examples of this genre include, "SimCity" and "Harvest Moon".</span></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Strategy</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here the accent is on strategy rather than on violence and these games are slower which gives the player time for strategic thinking, resource management and planning to achieve victory. Most are warfare based and so violence is not completely absent. These games are not suitable for children. Some examples are Advanced Wars I & II, Civilization V and Crusader Kings II.</span></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Simulation</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These are video or computer games that simulate real world situations under game settings. In this category, the three well-known games are Racing Simulators, Flight Simulators and Sims. There are lots of games in this class to entertain children. Some examples of simulation games are: Football Manager, Farming Simulator 2013, The Sims and Evil Genius.</span></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Platformer</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Platform Game or Platformer is consists of jumping between suspended platforms of varying heights or obstacles and sometimes both to move forward in the game. Some examples of Platformer are 40 Winks, Abuse, Action 52 and Adventure Island.</span></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">PUZZLES</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Puzzle video games are a class of games that require puzzle solving. The kinds of puzzles that need to be solved can involve many problem solving skills such as using logic, word completion sequence solving, strategy and pattern recognition. Some examples of Puzzle Video Games are Mario, Bejeweled 3, Cradle of Rome 2 and Hidden Objects.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While on the subject, let's not forget Sports games such as NHL 13, and FIFA Soccer 13 and Arcade games such Chicken Shoot 1, Toy Story Mania and Angry Birds to name a few.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nowadays, video games are enjoyed by a wide cross-section of our society, from toddlers to grandparents and these have been accepted by everyone as a good manner of entertainment and seen to be better than watching TV as it requires the viewer's participation and interaction.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The general feeling is that video games do not provide any benefits to the player and especially so in the case of children.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Contrary to this belief, there are many benefits in allowing children to play certain types of games. Most important of these benefits is the development of:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">· Cognitive thinking skills</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">· Fine motor skills</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">· Real-time decision-making abilities</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">· Hand-eye coordination</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">· Cooperative playing skills</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Keeping video games out of the reach of children can only deprive them of these benefits.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A child's imagination can be stimulated through role-playing and adventure games. Even if some of these games can seem tasteless due to its graphic nature and violence, they can play a positive and important role in a child's development by promoting teamwork, building confidence and improving motor skills. Playing such video games will only provide a child with a healthy means of expression.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Certain video games are believed to teach children high level thinking skills which they would benefit from in the future.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now that we have looked at the benefits for children, let's look at what benefits video games hold for the rest of us.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Research into the pros and cons of video games are being conducted by various bodies including universities in some parts of the world and the result is that the pros outweigh the cons in respect of benefits.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When playing video games, you would need to react quickly and take split second decisions in order to succeed in the given task. It is believed that this kind of practice would provide benefits in real life where you would be able react with speed and take quick decisions.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brain scientists have discovered that a certain driving video game, created by a research and development team at the University of California in San Francisco could improve the short-term memory and long-term focus of older adults.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was found that immersion in a game distracts the mind from pain and discomfort. Due to this reason, some hospitals have started to suggest that children and others undergoing painful treatments play games to reduce their distress and anxiety.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some video games have provided improvement in "Cognitive Flexibility", which is the ability to switch quickly from one task to another.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Researchers from North Carolina State University found a link between playing video games and mental well-being among the elderly. They found that those citizens who played video games, even occasionally, experienced a state of well- being and happiness.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Gaming can also improve family relationships, as some of these games can and should be played together.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">According to some studies conducted at the University of Rochester, people playing certain titles of video games have shown improvements in tests in the following areas:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">• Multitasking</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">• Attention</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">• Accuracy</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">• Vision</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The only thing a video game player or his or her family needs to ensure is that it does not become addictive in any way. A video game player shouldn't end up spending hours on end playing games and losing track of time and place and while neglecting duties, personal chores and responsibilities.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another thing that the parents of minors need to ensure is that their kids get access only to educational or similar games which are suitable for their age group and the good news is that there's a huge selection of games available that are appropriate for all ages.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A video game content rating is a system is available in many countries and they are used to classify video games into suitability-related age groups with respect to its contents which, if followed, will help to limit the negative aspects of some of the games.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Finally, if video game players are able to play in moderation, and stick only to the categories of games suitable for their respective ages, they can derive a number of benefits as cited above.</span></span></div>
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8035122</div>
</span></span></span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-68567772488136208932014-11-01T19:47:00.000-07:002014-11-01T19:47:00.116-07:00The War on Used Games<div style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As we prepare for the coming wave of next generation systems, we should be anticipating improvements on all the good things we associate with the current crop of systems. Moving forward we expect: better graphics, faster processors, more engaging games, you get the idea. But not everything that we're anticipating will be a progressive movement for gaming. At least, as far as Sony and Microsoft are concerned, you can wave goodbye to playing used games on their systems. Although these are just rumors at this point, it wouldn't be surprising if they came to fruition. It's very plausible, especially when taking into consideration that several game publishers have already fired shots at the used game market.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Most notable is Electronic Arts(EA), who became the first publisher to institute the practice of charging gamers, who bought used games, a fee to access codes that come with the game. To elaborate, Downloadable Content(DLC) codes are included with new copies of a particular game and only with those codes, can that content be accessed. EA expanded its project to include playing used games online. Gamers would now have to pay $10, in addition to the cost of the used game that they purchased, in order to have access to the online components of their game. Ubisoft has since followed suit, requiring an online pass for its games as well. You can identify the games which require an online pass as they bare the,"Uplay Passport", logo on the box.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ubisoft decided they'd take things a step further and implement Digital Rights Management, a practice more often associated with DVD or CD anti-piracy efforts. Assassins Creed 2 was the first game to be effected by this practice. In order to play the PC version of Assassins Creed 2, gamers are required to create an account with Ubisoft and remain logged into that account in order to play the game. This means that if you lose your internet connection, the game will automatically pause and try to reestablish the connection. However, if you're unfortunate enough to be unable to reconnect to the internet you'll have to continue from your last saved game; losing any progress you may have made since then. This will be the case for all of Ubisoft's PC titles, regardless of one playing single-player or multi-player. While Digital Rights Management has been used to combat DVD and CD piracy for quite some time now, this will mark the first time it's been used for a video game. In light of Ubisoft's implementation of DRM, Matthew Humphries of Geek.com, cautions that it's feasible that eventually even console games will require online registration in order to play them.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So what's the reason for all of this? According to According to Denis Dyack, the head of Silicon Knights, the sale of used games is cannibalizing the profit of the primary game market. He also claims that the used game market is somehow causing the price of new games to rise. His proposed solution is to move away from physical disks and embrace digital distribution. Essentially he'd like to see services like Steam or EA's Origin replace traditional hard copies. There are even rumors that the X-Box 720 will embrace the exclusive use of digital downloads and not use disks at all. Whether Microsoft will actually follow through with that plan remains to be seen.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One could argue that Sony has already laid the ground work for preventing used games from functioning on their future system. At the very least, they've already made quite an effort to make used games significantly less desirable. Kath Brice, of Gamesindustry.biz, reported that the latest SOCOM game for PSP, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3, will require customers who purchase a used copy to pay an addition $20 dollars to receive a code for online play.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'd like to see some quantifiable evidence to support the claim that used games are in fact hurting the sales of new games at all. Without some actual facts, it sounds to me like a whole lot to do about nothing. Case in point, within 24 hours Modern Warfare 3 sold 6.5 million copies, grossing $400 million dollars in sales. Correct me if I'm wrong but you haven't heard Infinity Ward complaining about the used game market and it affecting their bottom line. That's likely because they're too busy counting their money earned by creating games that people actually want to play. Imagine that. Maybe the problem isn't that used games have a negative impact on the sale of new games but, the problem is instead that game developers need to make better games that gamers are willing to pay full price for.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In my opinion, not every game is worth $60 simply because it's the suggested retail price. Looking at things objectively, not every game is created equally, therefore not every game is worthy of costing $60. Whether it's because that particular game failed to meet expectations and live up to the hype or because it lacks any sort of replay value. It's ludicrous to argue that gamers should pay top dollar for every game especially when they all too often turn out to be horrible disappointments, like Ninja Gadian 3, or they're riddled with glitches like Skyrim.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I suspect that the War on Used Games is nothing more than a money grab by developers, upset that they're unable to cash in on a very lucrative market. To put it in dollars and cents, in 2009 GameStop reported nearly $2.5 million dollars in revenue from the sale of used consoles and used games. And not one red cent of that profit reaches the pockets of game publishers. Greed as the motivating factor for the declaration of War on Used Games is transparent. Especially when you consider that when GameStop began separating their revenue from new games and used games in their financial statements, EA thereafter instituted their $10 dollar fee for used games.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the absence of empirical evidence, I'll have to settle for anecdotal. I'll use myself as an example. I'm planning to purchase a used copy of Ninja Gaidan 2. I've never been a huge fan of the series. I didn't play the first one because I didn't have an Xbox and at the time it was an Xbox exclusive. And I never played the original version. Needless to say, I was never clamoring to play Ninja Gaidan 2. However the innovation in the second incarnation of the game, which allows you to disembowel your enemies, is enough of a novelty that I'd like to play through it at some point. I can buy it now, used, for about 10 dollars. If it was only being sold at full price I would more than likely pass on playing it altogether or maybe rent it. My point is that game developers are not losing money because of used games; you can't miss money you weren't going to receive anyway. They're simply not getting money they weren't going to get to begin with.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unless you have a significant amount of disposable income and a considerable amount of free time, you're probably like me and you prioritize which games you plan to purchase and how much you're willing to pay for them. You decide which games are must haves and which games you'd like to play but are willing to wait for a price drop before getting them. Then there are the games which you're interested in, but they tend to fall through the cracks because they're not all that high on your radar and you'll maybe pick them up several months later, or even years after their release, if you ever pick them up at all.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I find it ironic that the looming death of the used game market could likely spell the demise of GameStop who, ironically, push their customers to pre-order new games and purchase them at full price. One would think that game publishers would be appreciative about this service and not detest GameStop and treat used games with such scorn. Pre-orders not only help promote their games but they function as a forecast of potential sales as well. Even Dave Thier, a contributor for Forbes Online, who describes GameStop as, "a parasitic bloodsucker that doesn't do much besides mark up discs and sit in the mall", recognizes the folly of passing the burden of the used game market onto the consumer.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've only once pre-ordered a game myself. At the behest of J. Agamemnon, I pre-ordered Battlefield 3, which is ironically a property of EA. I paid full price for this game and was happy to do so. In large part because I was granted access to several weapons and maps that I would have had to wait to download had I not pre-ordered it. I propose that instead of punishing gamers for wanting to save their hard earned cash, the gaming industry needs to learn to incentivize gamers into wanting to pony up to that $60 dollar price tag.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I titled this article The War on Used Games in an effort to be tongue-in-cheek and poke fun at how whenever the government declares war on drugs or terror or whatever it may be, they only succeed in exacerbating the problem. It should come as no surprise seeing as how the government tends to take the most asinine approach possible trying to "solve" problems. The end result is always the same; precious time and resources are wasted, and the issue is that much worse than it was before they intervened. If the gaming industry does indeed go down this path; they'll only hurt themselves in the long run, fail to share in the revenue they so greedily covet and worst of all, hurt their customers, who keep the gaming industry abreast with currency.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's very ironic and actually very fitting that it's EA who are spearheading the effort to attack the used game market when they themselves are one of the largest beneficiaries of used games. Chipsworld MD Don McCabe, told GamesIndustry.biz that EA has what he referred to as a "franchise software house" in that they "upgrade their titles; FIFA, Madden; all of these are effectively the same title upgraded each year. And people trade in last year's for this year's." He went onto say that those titles are the ones which are most often traded in. Shutting down the used games market effectively destroys a tried and true method in which fans of EA's franchises keep up-to-date with each of EA's annual releases. Aside from nostalgia, what would be the point of holding onto FIFA 11, when FIFA 12 is right around the corner?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don McCabe, an executive at Chipsworld, explains that, "consumers won't prosper under this new system, as copies of the game will lose their resale value". He goes on to say that retailers will "just readjust [the price] bearing in mind you have to buy the voucher." The CEO of SwapGame cautions that "customers who trade in for cash or credit do so to acquire new games they could otherwise not afford." This means that ultimately it will be the publisher who ends up losing money because when retailers adjust their prices to reflect the increase in cost for used games, the resale value of the game will drop and new games are less likely to be purchased.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm a fan of several EA franchises, I enjoy Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed and I'm a die hard Sony PlayStation enthusiast. As their customer, I'm outraged and offended by their current practices. I fear for what future methods they may use to further stifle or even kill the used game market. That said, I'm hopeful that these companies will be receptive to the outcry of their customers and adhere to our wants. I implore them to discontinue punishing their customers in an effort to capture what they perceive as missed profits. They risk not only alienating their customers but they risk finding themselves with significantly fewer customers and substantially less profit. And at the end of the day, that's really the bottom line.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The article was taken from:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7017112</span></div>
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</span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-34430813435642848702014-10-31T19:43:00.000-07:002014-10-31T19:43:00.170-07:00Gaming Keyboards - Why Are They Confusing?<div style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What is a gaming keyboard?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Firstly, what we need to look at is what do the words "gaming keyboard" actually mean. Well I will tell you that it is exactly what you think it is. It is a keyboard for gaming. Now with most people it stops there because they think that just because it is a gaming keyboard it can only be used for gaming and nothing else. They don't realise that a gaming keyboard can be used for much more than just gaming. So this article is aimed at giving some advice in regards to choosing the right gaming keyboard for you. I remember my first programmable gaming keyboard (the Logitech G15) and how I struggled with it. The only reason why I wanted it, was because it was the best on the market at the time and I felt for that reason I needed to own one. I had absolutely no idea what to do with it or what I was going to use it for. I did however, almost add another feature to it's already impressive list of pre-installed features by illustrating just how effective the keyboard can be in a game of cricket or anything involving a bat. It really irritated me because I did not need it for all the functions and because they were there, I felt I had to use them all. I did use them all in the end, but that was only because I advanced my game play and in doing so required more functions out of the keyboard.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So let's take a look at some of the aspects that we will have to deal with when looking at gaming keyboards.</span></div>
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<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The features installed on a gaming keyboard and what they actually do</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The terminology used in gaming keyboards</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What are the best types of gaming keyboards</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How do we know which is the right type of gaming keyboard for us</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now many people are already gamers, serious or not and know exactly what the features are and what they can do. But there are as many people out there that don't know what the features are supposed to do and whether the features are in fact what they actually need. So I have put together a list of the features that you will find on gaming keyboards and below I will explain each one of them more clearly.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here is a list of the features that you will find installed on gaming keyboards. I would like to add, that not every gaming keyboard has all of the features mentioned below installed on them at the same time.</span></div>
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<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">LCD Display screen</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Programmable G-keys (for macros and macros on the fly)</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Back Lighting</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anti-Ghosting</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In game mode switch</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Media controls</span></li>
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<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">High Speed USB Ports</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Automatic Profile Switching</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cruise Control</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now as we can see there are many features that you will find installed on a gaming keyboard, but the important thing now is to know what they can do and when to use them. Let's take a closer look at the features and see how they can be used for gaming but also for outside of gaming.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The LCD Display screen is a screen at the top of the keyboard (typically in the middle) which displays a host of information to you during game play. An example of the information displayed is; vital game statistics, system statistics, VOIP communication data and you can even see what server your friends are playing certain games on, such as World of Warcraft. You can also watch photo slide shows on the screen as well as YouTube videos (this feature is only on the Logitech G19). So there we can see how good the LCD screen is. Outside of gaming you can still see system statistics displayed, but only on the Logitech G19 can you watch videos and photo slide shows.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Programmable G-Keys (or game keys) are keys that can be programmed to execute certain commands. You can program multiple keys to be executed with a single keypress. So in other words, if you have a command which you would like to execute but it has more than one keystroke required then you would program a G-key to perform all those keypresses for you. Now this is vital in game playing, especially in strategy and role-playing games. But programmable keys can also be used in everyday computing. I own the Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard and I use the programmable key feature to program my passwords and small snippets of text which is normally login information. This is a great feature for those that work with databases or anything where numerous logins are required. It is also good for designers and editors where numerous keypresses are sometimes required.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Back Lighting is a really cool feature. This is standard on all gaming keyboards irrespective of all the other features mentioned above. Basically what this feature does is illuminate the keys from underneath. There are typically three levels of brightness for the back lighting, however all though back lighting is standard on gaming keyboards not all of them have the same colours or as many colours as others do. The Logitech G19 and G510 are gaming keyboards with a host of different colours, whereas others have only three or just one. This is not only good for gaming especially if games are played in low lighted or even dark areas, but also a great asset to changing the style of your workstation. There are people out there that just want a new look for their workstation and backlit keyboards do the trick.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anti-Ghosting is a feature whereby missed keypresses are in fact actually recorded and not voided. This happens with multiple keypresses albeit not frequently but without anti-ghosting the keypresses won't be recognized.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In game mode switch is a feature which disables the Windows/Context key during gameplay, so you don't accidentally get kicked out of your game. Which I am sure has happened to all of us at some point.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Media controls, this feature is great as you can control volume, playback and mute from the keyboard itself. This feature works for headsets that are connected to the keyboard and also for the sound emitting from the computer itself. So there is no need to find the controls on the screen if you want to quickly turn down the volume.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Detachable Key Pad. This is also a really neat feature as you can move the keypad to either the left or the right side, depending which hand you are more comfortable using for operating. Again, this feature is another feature you can use outside of gaming.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">High Speed USB Ports are a great advantage as you can Plug and Play with comfort. Also through this feature you can transfer data between devices, such as MP3 Players and Flash Drives and you can do all this while charging your devices that are battery-powered. Another great feature that can be used outside of gaming.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Automatic Profile Switching is a feature that allows you to automatically or manually change the profile you are in or want to be in. With the automatic function, the keyboard detects the application you are running and automatically applies the profile that you previously set for that application. Really cool feature especially if you like to play in different modes (Microsoft Sidewinder X6 had this feature).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The cruise control feature is also a really handy feature to have as it allows you to continue an action without having to hold down all the different keys required to perform the action. You can even use the cruise control function for up to four keypresses (installed on the Microsoft Sidewinder X6)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So as we can see all the features that are installed on a gaming keyboard can also be used for everyday computing, although the obvious design factor was initially for gamers in the first place. Another thing we must look at is the structural design of the keyboard. First thing we will notice is that some of the keyboards are slightly bulkier than a standard keyboard. Now this is to be expected as the keyboard itself houses more keys, requires more space for electrical components and other hardware utilities that are required for game play. But what is also great about the design of gaming keyboards, is that they are designed for ergonomic purposes. This is because gamers spend a lot of time in front of their keyboards and they are more prone to wrist, arm and hand discomfort than users of a standard keyboard. So the idea behind ergonomically designed gaming keyboards is to install some features that will reduce the risk of wrist discomfort overall. These features include; detachable and adjustable wrist wrest, keyboards with zero slope designs, different keyboard feet lengths for effective raising or lowering of keyboards for comfort and also keys that can accommodate softer keypresses.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now I am not sure how familiar you are with the terminology that is used in the gaming keyboard field, but below is a list words that you will come across with regards to gaming keyboards.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">WSAD - This is the four keys that you use to control movement which is typically your W, S, A & D keys.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ANTI-GHOSTING - Typically in a standard keyboard (or dome switch keyboard), the design is in such a way that the keyboard uses columns and rows of wires. Through this design the results that occur can be inaccurate when lots of keys are pressed at once. When this happens the dropped keys become "ghosts". With keyboards that have anti-ghosting capabilities, they use a small dab of carbon at each switch site to prevent the contact of the keys from shorting the rows or columns of wires. In doing so, this allows the keyboard to decode each key press separately.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">MACROS - A macro is a collection of operations and property values that can be applied to an existing visualization or visualizations. So in other words macros are not linked to the objects or visualizations to which they are applied but when they are used, the operations or property settings will be applied to the objects currently selected. This means that property settings can be applied to multiple visualization types, unlike property settings in styles.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">OPTICAL - Optical is basically a device used for producing or controlling light. So if you took an optical mouse for example, it would be a mouse that produces light and in doing so uses the light to register it's movement on your computer.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ULTRA POLLING - Ultra-polling in gaming mice increases the amount of times the firmware on a mouse reports it's tracking data to the computer to 1ms (1000hz). In doing so, it reduces the interval between each transmission of movement calculations and therefore giving the cursor on the screen a smoother and more precise feel with increased responsiveness.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">HYPER RESPONSE - On a hyper response button, there are two stages that go into the development of the button. This is basically to ensure that it can always be actuated no matter where it is pressed and also how quickly is it pressed. So therefore if you don't completely press down on a button or don't press hard enough, the button will still actuate and you will not lose response time.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ON-THE-FLY - This is basically just when you doing something in a hurry or to create something quickly when needed.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">G-KEYS - These are basically game keys. The keys that you can program with macros.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ERGONOMICS - This is basically a study to see how things interact with the human body. So if you were to take a pen for example; holding it for long periods of time and writing with it could eventually cause discomfort to the hand and wrist. By making the design of the pen more ergonomically, it would allow for long periods of use without causing discomfort. This study is applied to everything that interacts or can interact with the human body</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now the only answer I can give you about which gaming keyboard is the best is simple. It depends entirely on what you want to use the keyboard for. The industry is lead to believe the Logitech G19 Programmable Gaming Keyboard is the best on the market and to a certain degree it is. It has all the features that other keyboards have but more advanced and it is designed with serious gamers in mind, therefore lending itself to being classed as the best gaming keyboard ever. But in my opinion a gaming keyboard, or anything for that matter is only as good as what you need it for. If you don't need it for a lot of things then don't buy one that can do everything.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With regards to what gaming keyboard is best for you, well again that depends on what you want out of it. If you are a novice gamer with little experience with programmable keyboards, then it is probably better to take a gaming keyboard with either no programmable keys or a keyboard with a limited number of programmable keys. However in saying that, many of the gaming keyboards have really good instruction manuals and CDs. But again, if you only need a few keys that can be programmed then don't buy a gaming keyboard with massive amounts of programmable options. So it all boils down to what you need it for. If you take the time to think clearly about what will you want to get from a gaming keyboard and read all the reviews on the different types of gaming keyboards, then your decision won't be wrong.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope you have a much clearer understanding of gaming keyboards if you hadn't already.</span></div>
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The article was taken from:</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px;">Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5470933</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px;">Credit to author</span></span></div>
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</span></span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-43904791439411872092014-10-30T19:41:00.000-07:002014-10-30T19:41:00.200-07:00Different Types of Card Games<div style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are limitless types of card games to be played. People think because two games use the same deck of 52-cards that they are similar games, but nothing could be more different than Barbu and Speed, or Pai Gow and Pinochle.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here's a list of twenty different kinds of card games, and some facts about them.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1.Bridge</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bridge is a popular contract bidding game. Bridge has a culture -- there are websites, newspaper columns, and even radio shows devoted to bridge strategy. There is a world-wide obsession with bridge, even though it has been called the hardest card game in the world. With a complicated strategy and steep learning curve, to many bridge is not just a game, it is a lifestyle. I wish I were exaggerating.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Whist</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whist could be called "Bridge, Jr" -- and though it is not as big a game as it once was, and is dwarfed in popularity by big-brother Bridge, Whist has never really died out. Card gamers love trick-taking games -- beating out your opponent in such a visual way is one of the more exciting part of any card game. Whist has some of the complexity of Bridge without any bidding.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Texas Hold'em</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Texas Hold'em is something of a legend -- a poker variation with a story as rich as a Spaghetti western. This version of poker, a drawing and betting game, was invented and then made popular by old time poker sharks in Texas, hence the name. This is easily the most popular poker variant right now, and is bringing more new people to card gaming than any other game.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. Hearts</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is said that most of the professional poker tour players are hardcore Hearts players and that they bet big money on cutthroat games of Hearts in dark mysterious rooms during tournaments. Romantic as that may sound, it would make sense for these card sharks to love the game of Hearts - an otherwise childlike game of matching cards (and no bidding) usually turns into a competitive nightmare. Because of the game play, there are lots of ways to screw your opponents in Hearts. Trick-winning and passing card are big elements of Hearts.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. Spades</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People don't realize it, but spades is a variation of bridge that simplifies the game even more than Whist and changes the outcome of the game as well. Spades is really popular in large groups, on college campuses, and in tournaments around the world. There may be as many variations of Spades as there are groups playing it -- thanks to "jailhouse rules" which penalize tactics like point sandbagging and the existence of multiple versions of "house rules". A strategic game you can play without paying much attention if you want.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6. Go-fish</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the simple children's card matching game we all remember from our childhood. You can play Go-fish with as many players as you have cards. Some people claim Go-Fish is a variation of Rummy but the simplicity of the game and the children's game gimmick make it likely just some toy company's creation. Strangely enough, Go-fish is known as Literature in some parts of the world. Write in if you understand that one.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7. War</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another children's game (or time-killing game) War is a straight luck based game. Depending on the flop of the card, you either win or lose a war. Most people under the age of 30 learned War before they learned any other card game. You'll see War played a lot in lines at airports.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">8. Oh Hell!</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Substitute your own dirty word for "Hell!" and you know this party game. Most of the fun is the fact that you get to cuss a lot and people laugh at you. What keeps this game popular is that it is a strict betting game. The object of Oh Hell! is to bid the precise number of tricks you will win. You have to take only the number that you bid, no more and no less. Play is precise, and because of the structure of the game, one player always blows it big time. There. That's what's fun. Screwing your opponent.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">9. Blackjack</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A skill game that in some casinos is the best bet you can make, if you can play a perfect hand. This is one of the most popular casino card game, and has a place in popular culture as THE "Vegas" game. The point is to build a hand that adds up to a total of 21 points without going over, and ending up with a higher number than the dealer. Players compete against the House directly, adding to the fun. Little known fact -- there exists somewhere in this world a blackjack player's hall of fame. Safe to say that this game's got a cult following</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">10. Baccarat</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">James Bond's favorite game (don't believe the hype -- it wasn't poker or blackjack -- read the books) Baccarat is a basic betting game. Players bet on who will win a given hand - the player, the banker, or if there will be a tie. Sure it looks easy, but Baccarat is a skill game. A small sidenote about Baccarat -- the name comes from the name of the worst possible hand. This would be like calling your video poker machine "High Card Poker". Just doesn't have the same ring as "Royal Flush".</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">11. Solitaire</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The most varied card game in the world. In England, they call this game Patience, and for good reason. Solitaire requires little set up beyond putting cards in specific places, and is usually played by yourself. Solitaire is another popular airport line waiting game.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">12. Rummy and variations</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are lots of different kinds of Rummy, more than are probably written down on any list. I've written for a website that had me list 500 variations or other names for Rummy, so I'll spare you the reading and just say there's lots of kinds of Rummy. The more popular versions are called Gin Rummy, Liverpool Rummy, and Contract Rummy. The feature that makes a game a Rummy is a player matching identical cards into pairs and other groups. Some experts believe the Chinese game of Mahjong is part of the Rummy family, though I'd bet the Chinese are just fine with Mahjong as it is.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">13. Pai Gow</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is an old Chinese domino game that has been passed down through the years as a poker variation. You'll see Pai Gow at casinos in both as a poker and a domino game -- it is probably the casino game that the least number of people understand. This is a game of fast bets, player versus dealer. Pai Gow strategy is just as rich as any other poker betting game, and the culture of Pai Gow is similar to the Blackjack culture -- super-fast bets and edgy behavior at the margins.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">14. Spoons</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A silly card game probably invented to keep kids out of trouble, Spoons is a bluffing game (with some elements of matching) that uses simple kitchen utensils as an added play element. The first player in the group to draw a poker style four of a kind reaches to a pile of spoons in the middle of the table, signalling the other players to grab for one. Since there's one less spoon than players, one player will be left out every time. So its a social interaction game, and not a game chock full of card strategy. its still fun. Great date night game.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">15. Speed</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Speed (sometimes called Spit) is a matching game that is unique because both players play simultaneously and as fast as they can. In Speed, a player tries to 'get rid' of his or her cards by matching them to cards placed face-up on the table. This is a face to face game, though there's actually little interaction between the two opponents. The last few moments of any game of Speed reminds me of solitaire on fast-forward, with hands and cards flying around and rows forming and draining like water pipes. Strange game, Speed.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">16. Crazy 8s</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is another children's matching game, you could say it is cousin to the popular game Uno. The 8s in the deck of standard cards are considered "crazy" not because they need to be medicated but to indicate they are wild cards. In some variations of Crazy 8s, not just Wild Cards but other "rule cards" exist, making the game more complex for older players.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">17. Slapjack</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you want to teach more complex card games to younger kids, Slapjack is the perfect vehicle. The object of Slapjack is to acquire the whole deck of cards by matching and slapping pairs. Kids like to slap stuff, and the game can be played over and over again.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">18. Old Maid</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You don't need an "Old Maid" deck to play this kid's card game -- any standard 52 card deck will do. Just remove one of the Queens. Old Maid is a matching game where players find pairs You trade cards with your opponent until that player is left with the unmatched Queen. Matching games are popular, and the novelty "Old Maid" packs are fun for kids.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">19. Cribbage</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a hybrid board and card game with complicated rules that generally intimidates people, even hardcore card gamers. You play cribbage by forming groups of cards that are worth different point values, and moving a peg on a board that represents your progress accordingly. Requiring a specific board (or a quick hand with a pen and paper) cribbage isn't the best travel game, but as fans of cribbage will tell you, no two games are alike. There are solitaire versions of cribbage, and other varieties of cribbage game play to choose from if you're bored with the standard version.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">20. Pinochle</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pinochle is popular because it is a trick-taking game that you play with a 48 card deck. In Pinochle, you try to make melds or tricks, much like in Gin, but there's a really complex scoring system making the game fun to learn and to master. To be good at pinochle, you have to play for a number of years, and lose plenty of hands. Though it is less popular year after year, Pinochle is one of those "heritage games".</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4083950</span></div>
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</span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-70803559050546259692014-10-29T19:37:00.000-07:002014-10-29T19:37:00.168-07:00The Growing Popularity of Free & Casual Games<div style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Free online internet gaming has exploded over the past 10 years and now comprises of a large collection of game developers, publishers, web portals and millions of casual game players. Talented game developers are in more limited supply than publishers and portals, yet even they are steadily growing in supply as more companies and brands look for sponsorship deals with high quality upcoming free games.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wide brand exposure can be gained from sponsoring free online games and more companies are looking towards game sponsorship and in game product placement as a serious advertising platform. Portals are in the greatest supply with a huge amount of gaming orientated sites offering the developers creations, indeed some game developers also offer their own web portals such Ninjakiwi and Armor Games. These are two of the more popular and innovative gaming developers with Armor Games holding a top 1000 traffic rating.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Behind such successes are talented flash game designers and coders, it is usually one or two experienced designers that plant the seeds from which top free gaming websites flourish. Casual gaming both free and paid downloads have become so huge online that the genre has the greatest presence in the world's most highly trafficked websites.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ninjakiwi have an in house team of developers, they are owners of the very popular brand of games named Bloons. The first Bloons game was introduced back in mid 2007 and the series has already been played hundreds of millions of times. If you compare such an audience exposure rate to the most popular video watched on you tube, it is easy to see why advertisers are turning to free online games to reach global audiences. What's more intriguing are the demographics behind casual game players with a considerable percentage of the audience being young adults. This demographic has caught the attention of many blue chip companies including mobile giants Orange and O2 who regularly advertise through Mochiads - an in game preloading ads platform.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As the advertising revenue increases for free games so will the creativity, detail and complexity of their design. Developers are now creating games targeted specifically at certain age ranges, including teens, young adults and mums.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ninjakiwis' list of games is expanding rapidly. As their brand has received greater exposure over the past year they have branched out from their original success of Bloons to produce other games with different concepts, some have been received with more enthusiasm than others. Some of their successes include:</span></div>
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<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bloons - Including the player packs, more bloons and even more bloons, tower defense games, hot air bloon, bloons pop 3</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Boombot Games - 1 and 2</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hotcorn Games - 1 and 2</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Potion Madness</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Powerpool</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Replay Racer - 1 and 2</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rings</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Shinju</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sinta</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Zeba</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ninjakiwi has established a loyal fan base with their range being published across hundreds of medium to large sized gaming portals. One of their advertising platforms is through the previously mentioned Mochiads, a major advertising platform for both game developers and game publishers who earn revenue from publishing games. A small advert is shown whilst each game is loading in a web browser, developers and publishers earn money from game impressions and advert clicks.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The other free games developer previously mentioned, Armor games, is the larger of the 2. Armor develops in house games and sponsors independent developers, funding their creations and offering revenue sharing across their advertising platform. Armor games has a much more extensive range games than Ninjakiwi and has funded the creation of some of the most <b>imaginative games</b> on the internet, a list of some of their best games is compiled below:</span></div>
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<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Armed with Wings - 1 and 2</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Crush the Castle</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hedgehog Launch</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hedgehog Launch 2</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fancy Pants Adventure - 1 and 2</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Gemcraft</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Gemcraft Chapter 0</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Last Stand 1 & 2</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pillage the Village</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sonny</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sonny 2</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Warfare 1917</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is common to find developers and portals alike sharing each other's games. This idea was originally invoked by the biggest casual free game provider on the internet - Miniclip.com. Their success grew from allowing webmasters to publish their games on thousands of smaller sites. Sharing and creating viral copies of successful games can prove a very lucrative strategy on the internet.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em;">There are many more high quality game developers, publishers and portals, ones worth a mention include Crazy Monkey Games, Addicting Games, Newgrounds and Kongregate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.5em;">Free game production has also seen the remake of many old classic arcade games which will delight fans of the 80's arcade.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Classic games such as PacMan, Ms PacMan, Space Invaders, Pong and Frogger have all been remade using flash and are now available to play as free online games. Paul Neave, a talented flash developer is responsible for such flash reproductions.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">More comprehensive flash gaming communities have sprung up within this landmark 10 year period of growth. One example of an immensely popular community is MechQuest, this is one of currently 5 flash games created by Artix Entertainment. MechQuest is an online Fantasy/Sci-Fi Web RPG game that offers both a free and premium paid side. The game is built using flash and has millions of members in its community. Striking a balance between casual and hardcore game play it aims to offer a compromise allowing players who do not wish to spend all day at their PC's a casual multiplayer experience.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course free online games such as MechQuest, AdventureQuest, DragonFable, ArchKnight and BattleOn.com are a step in the right direction for what online gaming should be about (if we are looking from a healthy perspective), they offer gamers a balanced dosage of online fun which don't require a lifelong commitment to progress and gain in game rewards. The total opposite would be games such as World of Warcraft which are designed to reward excessive amounts of game play.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The free games market will continue to its rapid growth in the foreseeable future and more developers will come into the market. Whether flash will remain the markets main publishing platform remains to be seen but for now it will keep its dominant position with all free online game developers using it. Fans can expect to find more elaborate free online flash games being introduced in the coming years as free games compete and very much encroach upon paid game audiences.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1776083</span><br />
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</span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-92217578022917383462014-10-28T19:34:00.000-07:002014-10-28T19:34:00.629-07:00Top 5 Twisted, Yet Fun Games of All Time<div style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have been a video gamer since growing up as a kid (back in the 1980's), with my first game system being the classic NES, and I have played many different games since then. These games includes: Battletoads, Super Mario Bros, Sonic, Mega man, first person shooter games, roleplaying games, online games (such as Adventure Quest), and plenty of other hit games out there. Of course, I have also played plenty of twisted games too and some of them are surprisingly fun, humorous, and sometimes even popular, and in this article, I will talk about at least 5 of them.</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Game #1 - Become a "thug" in the Grand Theft Auto Series</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ever wondered what it might be like living the life as a thug and getting involved in organized crime (such as gangs) without actually becoming a criminal? In the Grand Theft Auto series (with the latest installment being The Ballad of Gay Tony), you do just that. The GTA universe is a popular roleplaying game, usually based in New York City (also known as Liberty City, though some games feature other cities such as Miami in Vice City and Los Angeles in San Andreas) where you usually control a thug (such as Nikko in GTA 4) and do missions for various crimbe bosses throughout the city. Some quests involves petty crimes such as stealing a prized car that a certain crime boss wants, while other missions may have you assassinate people that have crossed the criminal organization you are a part of, such as delinquents. In GTA San Andreas, for example, Carl Johnson joins the Grove Street gang and gets involved in a gang war with rival gangs, such as the Ballas (though he also works for crime bosses such as El Salvador, Doctor Rosenburg, as well as a corrupt government agent named, Mike Torreno to name a few). Many of the newer games also have plenty of side missions you can do, such as spraying graffiti on select buildings in San Andreas, take on multiple girlfriends (CJ for example, can have up to 6 girlfriends), as well as doing smuggling missions (such as hauling freight from the badlands to Las Venturas while dodging police officers in San Andreas). Of course, on the side if you rather just play for fun, you could always go on rampages in the game, where you can steal cars, get a little trigger happy, obtain wanted stars and drive the local police crazy, drive like a maniac around the city, as well as trying to get your guy killed. By the way, you never really have to worry about getting busted or wasted in the game as your guy will simply respawn at the nearest hospital or police station, only to go on another rampage once more (by the way, never try this in real life a this aspect is very unrealistic of course). Similar games: Saints Row, Gun and Bully</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are some interesting stuff you can do in the GTA univers that you can't get away with in real life:</span></div>
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<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Your primary form of transportation are cars you jack from unsuspecting people, and you can usually get away with it unless if there is a cop near by (who will try to bust you if he sees you jacking a car).</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cops will simply bust you, take your weapons and some of your money as a brige, and simply release you for even the most henious offenses (such as going on rampages). And when you get released, you can do more crimes as well, with the same results. Imagine doing that stuff in real life. You would probably go to jail for a very long time (or worse depending on the offense) for similar crimes committed in real life.</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your guy dies, he will simply respawn at a nearby hospital.</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In GTA San Andreas, you can have up to 6 girlfriends at a time without having to worry about them getting jealous. In real life, trying to take on multiple girlfriends is quite risky as they do get jealous (at least from a guy's perspective of course), and even the slightest form of disloyalty (such as cheating) can lead to disastrous results on a relationship, as was the case for Scott towards the end of the third season of the reality TV series, "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" when Kourtney learns that Scott was cheating on her (though luckily for him, the two seemed to have gotten back together by season 4).</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And plenty of other odd stuff that you can't really expect to get away with in real life.</span></li>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Game 2- Fight to the death in the Mortal Kombat Series</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If any game were to take after the infamous gladiators events during the days of ancient Rome (where people fight each other to the death), it would probably be the Mortal Kombat series. On the surface, Mortal Kombat takes after similar fighting games, such as Street Fighter 2, where two opponents fight each other in matches consisting of three rounds, with the opponent winning at least 2 out of three rounds being the victor of the match. Usually, the loser simply gets knocked out in his/her losing round, with the winner moving onto the next level. However, in the Mortal Kombat series, there is a whole new twist to fighting: the winner of each match has the option of terminating his or her opponent using special finisher moves called, fatalities. If you have played any of the Mortal Kombat games, you would know that when you knock out your opponent during the final round of a match, the announcer (presumably Shao Kahn in most games) will say "Finish Him!" (or her if your opponent is a female character). When this happens, if you have five seconds or so (some games have cheat codes that allow you to disable the fatality timer if you want extra time to pull it off) to finish off your opponent by entering a certain button combination in the right sequence and in the right distance within the time frame (the exact move does vary by fighter by the way. Pulling a fatality (or similar move, such as animalities, friendships, etc) can be tricky at first, but if it is done correctly, a special tune usually plays, the screen goes dark, and your character will do a special move that basically finishes off his/her opponent. Each character has their own fatalities, by the way (Scorpion, for example takes off his "mask" and hurles fireballs at his defeated foe, while Sonya will blow a kiss of death at her foe that incinerates him/her instantly). The list of fatality moves goes on and on (some people have posted fatality demonstrations on YouTube by the way if you are curious about all of the moves), but you get the picture. By the way, if you prefer not to do fatalities, you could always do a friendship move (where your character "befriends" his/her foe), a babality (where your opponent gets turned into an infant), or even simply knock out your opponent with an uppercut. Despite the obvious dark nature to the Mortal Kombat saga, the games have been quite popular as there have been many sequels in the series (my favorite is probably Mortal Kombat Trillogy), several movies produced (with the latest one being Mortal Kombat Armageddon), a short lived cartoon series, as well as sound tracks released. Of course, this game is probably not recommended to the younger audience or people that are easily offended as these games definiately has death matches in them (similar to MTV's Celebrity Death Match). Similar games: Killer Instinct</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Game #3 - Play "God" Sims 2 (and most other games in the series)</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don't want to sound blasphemous (I am a Christian by the way), but do you ever wonder what it might be like to play God for a day? It might sound wiered, but in SIms 2 (and similar games), you will pretty much be doing that. Sims 2 is an open ended game for the PC (though there are also versions on the consoles, such as Play Station 2) where you build a virtual home in a virtual community, along with creating a simulated family (consisting of a mother, father, kids, etc) that you will help manage as you play through the game. Sim families function much like a typical family you would see at least here in America: they work, have emotions, go to school (if they are sim kids), do chores, socialize with other sims, get into relationships, sleep, relax, watch TV, build skills for a job or career they have, and sometimes even raise a dog or cat (at least in Sims 2 Pets). You could simply watch them live out life and make their own choices, or you can intervine and give them stuff to do. For example, if they need to go to bed at a certain time in order to get to work or school on time and they are say watching TV, you could put it in their minds to go to bed, and usually they will. Maybe there is a person that you want your sim to meet or interact with, you can have your character strike up a conversation with another (complete with dalogue options of course, allowing you to choose how they interact with each other). Or maybe you need to help the sim keep their motives up (such as having them eat when their hunger stats are low, using the bathroom when their bladder stats get low, interating with other sims when depressed, etc). Of course, as "God" in their world, you can also take after Satan and abuse your powers and ruin the lives of your sims. Here is a breakdown of some funny and twisted stuff you can do to your sims:</span></div>
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<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cause a sim to become a jerk around other sims. Whenever you have your sim strike up a conversation with another sim, dialogue options will open up, and while you can make your guy or girl friendly, you can also cause him/her to say and do things to be mean (such as insulting others, slapping others, tell lies, gossiping about other sims, or even picking a fight). By the way, be careful about creating fights between family sims as some sims will move out if they take too much abuse from other sims.</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sit back and do nothing. Usually the sim(s) will make bad choices and suffer the consequences for it (for example, if he/she misses work too often, he/she will get fired).</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Allow kids to get bad grades in school (usually happens by allowing them to skip the school bus when it comes). The only downside to this is that they can be sent to military school if their grades get too low.</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kill off a sim. One way you can do this is simply by letting him/her to starve to death. Of course, there are plenty of other ways for a sim to die (such as electrocution, drowning in pools, getting scared to death by ghosts, etc). Once a sim dies, beware of the fact that they can come back as ghosts and haunt your sim family (by the way, in Sims 2, one can get scared to death if their mood is too low when the ghost is active in the house). By the way, one funny thing you can do in the PS2 version of Sims 2 is that you can actually control the ghosts, which can be quite hilarious as you can scare other sims, possess them, and even cause them to behave erratically (such as throwing up).</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cause your sim(s) to get abducted by aliens. Usually happens if they look into a telescope at night too often. By the way, in SIms 2 for the PC, there is actually a cheat I found a while back that allows your sim to get abducted at will instead of by random and even caused my entire sim family to get abducted by aliens as well).</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you are a control freak, you can also turn off free will (it is usually on by default) and bend them to your will. Can be useful when dealing with a stubborn sim that won't listen to you when you give them a tas k to do (no matter how foolish it is).</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The list goes on, but as you can see, Sims 2 can be quite twisted when you think of it and yet it has been quite popular especially among the younger audience, and has spawned many sequels (including Sims 3), YouTube videos, as well as console versions of the game which tend to be a bit different from the PC versions (in the PSP version of Sims 2, for example, the game is more of a roleplaying game where you control this dude who finds himself in Strangetown, a desert city that has lots of paranormal happenings in it, and go on a quest to stop an evil genius from taking over the city and escape the ghosts and aliens infested town).</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Game 4 - Play as Alien Invaders in "Destroy All Humans!"</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Games involving aliens have been quite popular probably since the days of Atari (such as Space Invaders) and have evolved quite a bit since then. There have been plenty of different games and even films in this genre, with titles you are probably familiar with including: Space Invaders, the Simpsons Game (Kang and Kronos launch an alien invasion near the midpoint of the game), Independence Day, the Star Wars and Star Trek sagas (not all of the alien race are hostile in Star Wars or Star Trek, of course), Aliens vs Predator, the Contra series, as well as even the Halo series (where you get a hostile alien race bent on wiping out the entire human race). Usually you fight against the aliens, however in "Destroy All Humans", you actually get to play as the aliens themselves, controlling an alien named, Crypto who is a part of the Furon empire, an alien race that wants to acquire human brains for some odd reason. The game is pretty big and spans many missions, starting with Crypto crash landing in farmlands and terrorizing both cows and farmers alike, and later with Crypto launching a full scale invasions against towns and cities. And yes, you do play as the bad guys in this game as your job is to conquer Earth (particularly North America as the game is centered in the United States). Besides terrorizing civilians, you can also take on human form and blend in with the crowd (can be useful for infiltration missions, for example), go up against government agents (such as the "men in black"), do mind control on people, making them do as you wish, razing villages with your flying saucer, as well as taking on huge bosses that try to stop you in your invasion (which is natural of course when you are controlling a hostile alien race bent on the destruction of the world). Despite the twisted nature of this game, it can be quite humorous when Crypto goes on rampages, along with creating hysteria among citizens, harassed cows, destroys buildings using his saucer, as well as battling government agents trying to stop Crypto. Similar games: Alien Homid and Overlord</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Game 5 - Conker's Bad Fur Day (also known as Conker's Live and Reloaded if you have played the Xbox version)</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Platform games have been popular probably since the debut of Mario Bros in the 1980's, and have spawned many popluar titles in the genre, with hit titles including: Super Mario Bros, Sonic the Hedgehog, Kirby, Castlevania, Crash Bandacoot, the Mega Man series, as well as the SImpsons Game. Many of these games have similar themes: you play through different levels in various kinds of terrain, go up against an evil villain and his/her cronies (such as Dr Robotnik in the Sonic the Hedgehog series), fight plenty of huge bosses (usually cronies and close associates of the evil genius, unless if you are on the final showdown), and save the day (such as recuing Princes Peach from Bowser in Super Mario Bros). Most of these games are obviously geared more towards the younger audience (barring some games, such as the newer Castlevania games given the "M" ratings on some of the newer titles, such as "Curse of Darkness"), especially in the case of games like Mario Bros and Sonic, where kids will usually play these games more than adults do. Anyways, with that said, there another platform game that I have played through that is quite twisted when you think of it: "Conker's Bad Fur Day" (I played the Xbox version by the way). Conker's Bad Fur Day appears to be a typical 3D platform game (Super Mario 64 style), complete with a storyline, boss fights, an evil genius to defeat (namely the Panther King), and many colorful stages to play through. However, if you have checked the rating for the game, you would probably see the "M" rating. That is because Conker's Bad Fur day is pretty much a platformer that is geared more towards an older audience. Here are some features in this game you will usually not find in most other games in this genre:</span></div>
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<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Most of the characters swear (though in some versions, the swearing is censored by a beeping voice when they swear).</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are some crude levels in the game. In one area in the game, for example, there is a poop themed level where you are surrounded by poop and one of the bosses you fight in this area is literally one giant piece of poop (his voice actually reminds you of that of Christopher Lee, with the heavy British accent, though he is actually voiced by another guy named Chris Marlow).</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are some sensual scenes in the game. In one level, for example, you have to help a bee "pollenate" a feminine sunflower plant. Also, Conker does have a girlfriend, named Berrie, who gets kidnapped by the Panther King.</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is a grim reaper in the game that wants to kill cats for some odd reasons (his voice is somewhat funny as well).</span></li>
<li style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alcoholism does play a role in this game. At the beginning of the game, Conker has a nasty hangover after a night of drinking beer before the story officially begins. Also, alcohol is a powerup that Conker can use in the game that causes him to get drunk and urinate on foes (funny and crude if you ask me).</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are plenty of other adult themes in this game (though I won't list them all), but you get the picture. This wacky game is sure to both offend some people (for example, if you are a kid, this is certainly not a game you would want to play with your parents near by) and make other laugh.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well, there you go, those are some of the most twisted and yet surprisingly fun and sometimes popular games I have seen throughout my gaming career. Obviously there are more titles I haven't mentioned (such as Overlord, Bully, etc) but, you are welcome to add to this list if you want to and feel free to comment on this article as you are free to agree or disagree with me.</span></div>
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3747312</div>
</span></span></span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-31563858326474206912014-10-27T19:30:00.000-07:002014-10-27T19:30:01.241-07:00Most Popular Games of the World For Improving IQ<div id="article-content" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">
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<span style="background-color: white;">We all are fond of playing games online and offline. Games can be defined as an activity that is merely done for enjoyment or sometimes for educational purpose. However, many of the games such as soccer, rugby, baseball, chess, etc are largely played to have competition between the players in order to decide the winner. The winner of the game is usually the one who utilizes his mental and physical activity above par to win the game. Many people hardly find any time to play games which means their physical and mental ability will comparatively lower than a sportsman who stays fit and plays game regularly. Most games need physical and mental stimulation to be played effectively. As it is said that games require mental stimulation, it is evitable that it improves one IQ level.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">One can find infinite numbers of popular games online and the list of games is simply endless. Games can be classified in different categories such as quiz, trivia games, online games and real life games. Real life games include a wide range of games. Tug of war is one of the most common, popular and widely played real life games. This game is also known as rope pulling. The game is played between two different teams or sometime between two individuals. Both the teams have to compete with each other using a rope which is the tug. The winner is declared when one of the two teams managed to pull the opponent team in such a manner that they cross the center point. This game requires high physical stimulation as well as mental strategy as the game need to be played with techniques to favor the players.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Charades is one of the guessing games, which is also widely enjoyed by people around the globe. This games is known by different names in different parts of the world, however, the most common name for the game is Charades or Charade. The game is as interesting as any other quiz games or online trivia games. Charades also improves IQ as it involves lot of mental exercise in form of guess works. The game is based on acting and guessing skills. As one person acts out a word or a phrase and the other participant needs to guess the correct answer by understanding the sign language done by his teammate.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.5em;">Trivia games are also one of the most interesting games that are enjoyed by people from all age groups. These games are filled with general knowledge sort of questions which needs to be answered. Like many other games trivia game also helps in enhancing your IQ level. Other games that are improves our mental skills include online quiz games, word search games, word puzzles, image puzzle, suduko.</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Chess is one famous board game which is played in almost every country of the world. It can also be played online. The game highly stimulates mental ability of the players. It requires lot of mind work. There are many other such games that are played which not only offer enjoyment but also enhance IQ level. Card games such as solitaire, hearts, piquet, bridge, etc are very exciting games that will make you think of different strategies to win the game.</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">TV Games are one of the best ways to play games and improve your IQ by staying at the comfort of your home. Unlike other outdoor game which improves your physical strength, TV Games helps in enhancing your mental abilities and also improves your thought process. Various TV games have various difficulty levels. The more time you spend to think about different ways to clear the level, the more mentally sound you become.</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">On the internet, you can find many online quizzes, trivia games. You can also find umpteen numbers of skill games can be found online, one of the prominent ones being strategy games such as Evony. This game can be played through your web browser. You can also choose multiplayer option to play with anyone across the globe. There are other strategy games that can be played by means of DVDs on your PC such as SimCity and Age of Empires. Such games can improve your IQ considerably.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Matthew Brown is a researcher and analyst of QuizBoom.com. Online quiz QuizBoom.com [http://www.quizboom.com/] is a risk-free online quiz where players compete against each other using their trivia knowledge. All players are rewarded with cash prizes - only a player's skill determines the outcome of each game round. QuizBoom.com is a game created for everyone who loves trivia - those who have taken part in trivia games or have always wanted to.With QuizBoom.com, each and every player can take part at any time - there are no limits to proving one's trivia knowledge.. Each game consists of 16 multiple choice questions with different difficulty levels covering various subjects. Everyone can play the game for free - QuizBoom.com gives free chips for each registered user. Chips are needed for making bets on ones game score. At the end of each day's quiz game all the individual games played are ranked by their scores.The daily game pool is distributed to all players of the particular day according to pre-defined winnings distribution rules.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #dddddd; color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />The article was taken from:<br />Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2908588</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #dddddd; color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Credit to author</span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-25913024302339056662014-10-26T19:16:00.000-07:002014-10-26T19:16:00.425-07:00Top Ten Classic Video Games<div style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<u><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">10. Pong</span></b></u></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Origins</b>: Pong was based on a game called 'Tennis for Two' which was a simulation of a game of tennis on an oscilloscope. Physicist William Higinbotham, the designer, goes down in history as creating one of the first electronic games to use a graphical display.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The Concept</b>: The game is intended to represent a game of Tennis or Table Tennis (Ping Pong). Each player has a bat; the bat can be moved vertically. The screen has two horizontal lines on the top and bottom of the screen. A ball is 'served' and moves towards one player - that player must move the bat so that the ball hits it. The ball rebounds and moves back the other way. Depending on where the ball hits the bat, the ball will move in different directions - should it hit one of the top or bottom lines, then it will bounce off. The idea is simply to make the other player miss the ball - thus scoring a point.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Game play:</b> while it sounds utterly boring, the game play is actually very addictive. It is easy to play but very difficult to master, especially with faster ball speeds, and more acute angles of 'bounce'.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Nostalgia</b>: for me this is the father of video games. Without Pong you probably wouldn't have video games - it started the craze that would continue grow and become a multi-billion dollar industry. I will always remember this game!</span></div>
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<u><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">9. Frogger</span></b></u></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Origins</b>: this game was developed by Konami in 1981, and was the first game to introduce me to Sega. At the time it was very novel and introduced a new style of game.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The Concept:</b> Easy - you want to walk from one side of the road to the other. Wait a minute - there's a lot of traffic; I better dodge the traffic. Phew Made it - hang on, who put that river there. Better jump on those turtles and logs and get to the other side - hang on that's a crocodile! AHHH! It sounds easy - the cars and logs are in horizontal rows, and the direction they move, the number of logs and cars, and the speed can vary. You have to move you frog up, down left and right, avoiding the cars, jumping on logs and avoiding nasty creatures and get home - do this several times and you move to the next level.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Game Play</b>: Yet another simple concept that is amazingly addictive. This game relies on timing; you find yourself dinking in and out of traffic, and sometimes going nowhere. The graphics are poor, the sound is terrible, but the adrenalin really pumps as you try to avoid that very fast car, or the snake that is hunting you down!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Nostalgia</b>: I love this game for many reasons. I played it for a long time, but never really became an expert - however, it was the first ever game I managed to reproduce using Basic on my ZX81 - I even sold about 50 copies in Germany!</span></div>
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<u><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">8. Space Invaders</span></b></u></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Origins</b>: Tomohiro Nishikada, the designer of Space Invaders was inspired by Star Wars and War of the Worlds. He produced on of the first shooting video games and drew heavily from the playability of Breakout.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The Concept</b>: aliens are invading the Earth in 'blocks' by moving down the screen gradually. As the intrepid savior of the Earth it's your task to use your solitary laser cannon, by moving horizontally, and zapping those dastardly aliens out of the sky. Luckily, you have four bases to hide behind - these eventually disintegrate, but they provide some protection from the alien's missiles.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Game Play</b>: this is a very repetitive game, but highly addictive. Each wave starts a little closer to you, and moves a little fast - so every new wave is a harder challenge. The game involved a fair amount of strategy as well as good hand eye co-ordination.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Nostalgia</b>: I wasted a lot of time playing this game. While originally simply green aliens attacked, some clever geek added color strips to the screen and the aliens magically changed color the lower they got - that was about as high tech as it got back in the days of monochrome video games!</span></div>
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<u><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7. Galaxians</span></b></u></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Origins</b>: Galaxians expanded on the Space Invaders theme by having aliens swoop down on the defender. It was one of the first games to have colored sprites.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Concept</b>: Take Space Invaders, add some color, remove the bases and make some of the aliens swoop down at you and you have Galaxians. Essentially the concept is the same as Space Invaders, you're defending the world against alien invaders, but rather than the whole screen full of aliens moving down at you in a nice orderly fashion, you get groups of aliens swooping down in haphazard ways.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Game play</b>: if you liked Space Invaders then you'll love this. The strategies are different, as you often have to avoid two or three different groups of alien 'swoopers' but if you can shoot them as they swoop, then you get some great bonus points. The game is difficult until you get used to some of the patterns</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Nostalgia</b>: this was one of the first games that I played on a desktop computer that was almost exactly like the arcade fame. I had an old Acorn Electron, and this game was almost perfect on this little machine. I miss my old Acorn Electron!</span></div>
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<u><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6. Defender</span></b></u></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Origins</b>: This game was created by Williams Electronics in 1980. The Game was designed by Eugen Jarvis, Sam Dicker, Paul Dussault and SLarry DeMar. It was one of the first games to feature complex controls, with five buttons and a joystick. While slow to catch on due to its difficulty, it still was a popular game.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Concept</b>: Most of the shoot-em-up games of the era were horizontal shote-em-ups. This game changed the playing field by being a vertical shooter. Yet again aliens are intent of doing nasty things to earth - this time they are trying kidnap 10 humans. You are in charge of the sole defender and must kill the aliens before they kidnap the humans. You fly over a 'landscape' and can see your humans mulling around on the surface. The aliens appear and drop towards the humans - you can kill them at this point, but should they grab an alien, you must shoot the alien, and catch the human before the alien reaches the top of the screen.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Game play:</b> This was a great game that was easy to play but tough to master. Shooting the aliens and catching the humans gave the best bonuses, and this formed a major part of the strategy. There were some different type of aliens that chased you making the game a lot more hectic than others; often it was just a relief to finish a level. While not as addictive as some, it did give a feeling of achievement when you reached a high score.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Nostalgia</b>: I went on vacation with a friend for a week and we spent the entire week in the arcade playing this game and the number one game on my list (I won't reveal the name now!). It was one of the best memories of my teen years!</span></div>
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<u><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. Missile Command</span></b></u></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Origins</b>: In July 1980, Atari published a revolutionary game. It didn't have a joystick, but had a ball that controlled an on screen cursor. It was programmed by Dave Theurer and licensed to Sega.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Concept</b>: Those pesky aliens are getting smarter. Rather than sending space ships down to fight, they're hiding in deep space and sending a bunch of missiles to blow up the Earth's cities. This game was unique as it use a 'round' joystick. You used this to move to a point on the screen and then fire a missile into this spot - the culminating explosion would destroy any missiles that hit the 'cloud'. The missiles were essentially lines that moved down from the top of the screen at varying angles and speeds - some of them would split into multiple 'missiles' half way down.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Game play:</b> this is a very strategic game. Placing your bombs in the right place and timing them right could essentially clear the alien missiles quickly and easily. As the game move on you found yourself spinning the wheel frantically trying to get the bombs in the right place. This game was adrenalin pumping fun - sometimes you seemed to be up against impossible odds and yet you'd breath a sigh of relief when one city survived.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Nostalgia</b>: this was one of the first games I played on a table top machine. While these didn't really catch on, it was still fun to be able to put a can of soda down while you played!</span></div>
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<u><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. Breakout</span></b></u></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Origin</b>: This game was heavily inspired by Pong. It was created in 1976 by Atari, with Nolan Busnell and Stew Bristow being the key designers. It's probably one of the most cloned games ever, even today there are new games based on the same theme coming out. Apparently the Apple II computer was inspired by this game - wow where would Steve Jobs be now without Breakout.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Concept</b>: The idea is simple - you have a bat at the bottom of the screen that can move back and forth. Above you is a wall of bricks. A ball will move from your bat - every time it collides with a brick, the brick disappears and the ball bounce back at you. Your task is simple - stop the ball going off the bottom of the screen by placing your bat in the way and bouncing the ball back at the wall - you also have to remove all the bricks in the wall to progress to the next level!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Game play:</b> this is a fairly difficult game to master. As the bricks get lower each level and the ball speed increases, it becomes more and more difficult to 'break out'. Also, sometimes the angle that the ball comes off the bat is so acute that it is very difficult to judge where the ball will bounce! It's one of those games where you just keep on saying 'just one more game' and before you know it five hours have passed.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Nostalgia</b>: when I lived in Wales we had a little utility room that housed books and my little ZX Spectrum - I used to spend hours playing this game as my Father sat and studied. It was like a male bonding session!</span></div>
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<u><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Hang On</span></b></u></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Origin</b>: This game was released in 1985 and was developed by Sega. It was one of the first '3D' racing games and one of the first to introduce a 'realistic' aid to playing the game - that it a larger replica motorcycle style cabinet, with speedo, brakes and a throttle. This game became the benchmark for future racing games and lead to the highly praised Out Run series. The game cleverly used 'billboards' and trees to give you the feel that you were moving at high speed.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Concept</b>: You are a motorcycle racer - you sit on top of a bike and have to race around a 3d race track, overtaking other riders and reaching certain checkpoints within a time limit. The game featuring different places and conditions (such as night).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Game play:</b> Yet another easy game to play but very difficult to master. Timing the turns was essential, especially if other bikers got in the way. Each slight touch of another bike, or crash into a barrier slowed you down and made it harder to reach the checkpoint in time. The awesome graphics (for the time) made this game pleasurable to play as you really felt you were in a race. It is another game that kept you coming back for more.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Nostalgia: </b>As a kid I always wanted a real motorbike, so this gave me a feeling that I actually had one. I was very good at this game (an d Pole Position) and constantly had my name on the high score table - it's perhaps the only game I could truly say I was a master.</span></div>
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<u><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Pacman</span></b></u></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Origin</b>: Developed by Toru Iwatani, and programmed by Hideyuki Moakajima San, this game came out in mid 1980. The name is derived from a phrase that relates to the sound when your mouth opens and closes (allegedly). Namco produced the game, but it really took off in America when Midway released it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Concept</b>: You are Pacman and you are very hungry. You find a maze full of 'dots' and zip around eating them. Unfortunately there's some ghosts who aren't too happy about this and they will chase you and eat you - but hey, there's some really big dots that give you the power to banish the ghosts back to their central cage. The maze is complex, filling up the whole screen, but there are no dead ends - there's also a passage way between each side of the screen. In the center, is the cage that holds the ghosts - occasionally bonus fruit appear next to the cage. You essentially have to eat all the dots in order to progress.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Game play:</b> This is a simple concept, but with pretty decent graphics and an addictive tune it became a huge success. There is a lot of strategy to the game - each ghost follows a set pattern (although eventually they'll forget this and follow you) - in fact there are books dedicated on the best route to avoiding the ghosts. The game gets harder as you go, with the ghosts speeding up and getting smarter.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Nostalgia</b>: there's something about the music in this game that is just so catching -even as I write it I can hear it in my mind. It's one of the first games that I can remember using music as a major selling point. I wasted many hours playing this game, and although I was never great I always had fun trying to devise new routes. It is also probably my most successful programming achievement - I designed a version of this for the Acorn Atom and I actually sold a couple of hundred copies (again in Germany) - I am proud that as a twelve year old, I was able to use logic and programming skills and make some money doing it.</span></div>
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<u><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Asteroids</span></b></u></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Origin</b>: It's truly amazing to think that this game was first released in 1979 - I've been playing it for 30 years now! Developed by Atari and designed by Lyle Rains and Ed Logg, the game cleverly used vector graphics and real inertia physics to convert a simple concept into a classic game.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Concept</b>: Your little space ship has strayed into an asteroid belt. With the use of thrusters, a trusty laser cannon and a hyperspace unit, you must move your spaceship in all directions over the screen and avoid the asteroids. You can go anywhere on the screen and even going off the edge is OK - it just happens to be a wrap around universe. The asteroids come at you from all angles. Initially they are large, and are fairly slow. Once hit they split into smaller asteroids, and these smaller asteroids split again - the smaller the asteroid the faster it goes. Occasionally a nasty alien ship will appear and start firing at you - he'll occasionally hit the asteroids and split them. The idea of the game is simple - destroy all the asteroids without colliding into them or getting shot by an alien.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Game play</b>: Wow what can I say. To really succeed at this game you have to use strategy - firing at all asteroids will fill the screen with a lot of small fast moving asteroids, making it difficult to avoid collisions. Therefore the game required that you pick off one asteroid at a time, and then deal with the smaller asteroids. While doing this, you also had to maneuver gingerly; with real inertia, you often found yourself drifting without realizing it and suddenly you'd be in the middle of four or five asteroids.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Nostalgia</b>: this is one of the only games that I still play today. Whether it's the 'Buck Rogers' in me, or I just like the challenge I don't know! You'd think that after 30 years of playing I'd either master the game or get bored; somehow neither has happened - I can sometimes get a mega score, but usually I'm just average. I guess I like the fact that it makes me think and keeps my hand-eye co-ordination in tip top condition! Now if only I could get all that money that I pushed into the asteroids machine back - I'd be very rich!</span></div>
<span style="background-color: #dddddd; color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />This artilce was taken from:<br />Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2363769</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #dddddd; color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Credit to the author</span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-52883115871029313762014-10-25T19:13:00.000-07:002014-10-25T19:13:00.402-07:00How to Pick Video Games Both Parents and Their Kids Will Love<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">To hear parents tell it, the perfect video game is educational, provides small life lessons, strengthens hand eye coordination, and keeps the kids entertained for roughly 30 minutes at a time. Listening to kids, however, it appears that educational qualities rank far below the needs for speed, action, rad moves, and great weapons. It is hard to believe that there are games which fulfill the requirements hoped for by both parents and kids.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Parents should always make the time to play the games alongside their kids; the only problem with using this approach to picking video games is the fact that the game is already in the house and the money spent. Opened games are rarely returnable and once they are in the house and their hot little hands, kids will not let go of games without a lot of arguing, complaining, and upset. Thus, making an informed decision prior to bringing the games home is a must!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">So how does a parent go about picking out a video game for the children to play? Reading the back of the cover is unlikely to present a lot of information whereas the buzz on the Internet can be so forbiddingly filled with insider lingo that it is hard to discern if the game is appropriate, too violent, or perhaps even contains content that is objectionable.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">At the same time, simply because a game is very popular and the evening news shows long lines of consumers waiting outside the stores for them to go on sale, does not mean that it offers the kind of game play the parent wants to invite into the home. Fortunately, there are five simple steps to picking video games both parents and their kids will love. These steps are not complicated, require a minimum of effort, and are rather reliable.</span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;">1. Check the ESRB Rating</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) developed a rating system that ranks game content according to age appropriateness. The ratings are "EC," "E," "E 10+," "T," "M," "AO," and "RP."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Games designated with an "EC" are educational and fun for preschoolers and young grade-schoolers. An "E" notes that the games are appropriate for all players, and while preschoolers might have more of a learning curve to get the game-play right, there is no objectionable content. Look out for games rated with an "E 10+" since these games are reserved for kids older than 10. Some mild language is usually incorporated into the game.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">A game rated "T" is reserved for teens, and parents should know that violence, sexual innuendo, partial nudity, and also curse words are par for the course. "M" for mature indicates games for those over the age of 17 and the blood, guts, gore, and sex are legendary in these games. Upping the ante are games marked "AO" or adults only, as they are "M" squared. An "RP" rating simply means that a rating is pending, and parents should hold off on buying the game until the rating has been apportioned.</span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;">2. Read the ESRB Content Descriptors</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Since preschoolers and grade-schoolers cannot simply be pigeonholed into age brackets, but should be much further differentiated by their maturity levels, parents will be wise to read the ESRB content descriptions on the backs of the video game packets. They list potentially objectionable content.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">For example, "animated blood" refers to purple, green, or other kinds of unrealistic blood that may be shown during game play, while a listing of "blood" is an indicator that realistically depicted blood is part of the game play. Children highly sensitive to blood may not enjoy playing these games, even if they are rated for their age brackets.</span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;">3. Understand the Classifications When Shopping For Older Kids</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Parents who have braved the age appropriate ratings, and also made it through reading the descriptions may now be stumped by a further classification: the kind of game-play their kids may expect.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Older kids may like "FPS" (First Person Shooter) games that put them into the action from a first person perspective, rather than seeing the character they are controlling doing the actions -- which is the case in "TPS" (Third Person Shooter) games. In addition, some games are classified by the kinds of content that provides the storyline, such as vehicle simulation games, strategy games, or sports and puzzle games.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Shooter games are the most violent while strategy games are perhaps the most educational. Puzzle games require strategic thinking but do not offer a lot of action moves that appeal to teens.</span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;">4. Visit the Game Platform Manufacturer Website</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Parents may visit the website for the gadget that will ultimately allow the kids to play the video games. This may be the website for PlayStation, GameCube, Nintendo, Xbox, and a host of sub-platforms. The companies list the video games made for them, their ratings, and more often than not also post trailers, screen shots, and brief outlines of the actual game itself.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Although such a website does not offer an in depth and unbiased analysis of the game, it is a rather useful tool for getting a good feel about game play and content without having to rely solely on a rating, the back of a package, or the marketing efforts.</span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;">5. Check with Organizations That Offer Independent Game Evaluations</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">There are various organizations that are not tied in with the video game industry and still offer advice to parents. Some groups focus on the educational aspects while others are faith based and review the games from this angle. Find a group that meets your personal criteria and peruse the reviews on various games you are considering for your kids.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">One of the most well known groups is the Entertainment Consumers Association that offers insight into the industry as well as the games. Parents who want more detailed information about the games they are considering will do well to visit the forums and websites of such groups and learn from other parents whose kids might already be playing these games.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Since these are interactive forums, parents have the unique ability to actually ask questions of other parents, and if there is a particular concern about a game, this is the venue where to get more information.</span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;">If All Else Fails</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Of course, if all else fails, there is the old fallback on the classic games and characters. Crash Bandicoot, Mario, Spyro, and Pokémon are game characters which have been around for a while and in a host of incarnations. Even as the educational value of some of these games is debatable, they do offer rip-roaring fun, rad moves, and most certainly the entertainment value the kids appreciate most. At the same time, they eschew foul language, nudity, and explicit violence parents object to.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Parents in a time crunch or those who simply cannot find a game that meets their standards will usually find a winner in these genres. Moreover, since they are part and parcel of a popular series, parents and kids can make the buying decisions together. For example, the popular Mario games offer offshoots like "Luigi's Mansion" that offers the exploration of a haunted house, while other offshoots are cart racing games.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Completely different game play -- yet the same reassuring characters and the same level of appropriateness -- make this a premier opportunity for parents and children to agree on the game play the kids would like to try out, while staying away from potentially objectionable games that offer similar game play.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: #dddddd; color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />The article was taken from<br />Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1489347</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #dddddd; color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Credit to author</span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-77364295241453570952014-10-24T19:11:00.000-07:002014-10-24T19:11:00.190-07:00Popular Electronic Games - They Are Not Just For Kids Anymore<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">Superheroes battle monsters and space invaders in fast action games. Players take on the role of these superheroes in epic battles. In other games players race cars, boats, motorcycles, helicopters and planes against villains and even less evil opponents to win high stakes races.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Game titles such as Burnout3: Takedown, ESPN, NHL - 2K5, Silent Hill 4: The Room, Terminator 3: The Redemption, Donkey Kong 3, and, Pokemon have joined the national lexicon as kids have flocked to the lure of electronic games.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Parents, teachers, preachers and politicians, have criticized and in some cases even banned electronic games. Electronic games have been blamed for poor grades, poor conduct and even poor health. If you listen long enough, electronic games are responsible for all of the problems our young people experience today.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">One thing is certain. Kids love them. They buy and play them in ever increasing numbers. Electronic games are here to stay.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">People have been trying to play games on computers almost since the days of the very first computer. As early as 1950, Claude Shannon, a mathematician and engineer, believed that computers could be programmed to play chess in competition with humans. He became intrigued with the concept of artificial intelligence. In pursuit of this idea researchers and scientists designed crude games that could be played on the huge and clumsy computers of the 1950s and 1960s.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The first actual electronic games as a consumer product were built as coin operated arcade games in the early 1970s. In 1971 Nolan Bushnell, Ted Dabney and Al Alcorn formed the first game company, Atari. Soon after they produced the first game console and their first electronic game, Pong, as an arcade game. Pong was immediately successful.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">This success led Atari and other firms to begin work on home game consoles that could be hooked to TV sets. Atari released its first home console in 1977. Soon games were put on cartridges that could be changed at the whim of the player.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">By 1979, the company, Activision, was formed by former Atari game designers. The purpose of this new company was to focus strictly on game software. They decided to leave the development of equipment to play electronic games to other people. This was the first company to build a business of developing and selling electronic games software.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">In a short time a spate of game companies sprang up trying to develop software for the infant electronic game industry. The result was a glut of poorly conceived games hitting the market. Consumers turned away in droves and the home electronic game industry faded hit the skids.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">By the early 1980s, electronic games were being developed for personal computers. Color graphics, flexible storage capacity and general purpose processors made games much easier to play on personal computers. The game console business was all but dead.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">In the late 1980s, two Japanese companies introduced a new generation of game consoles that were technologically capable of handling the new electronic games being produced. These companies were Nintendo and Sega. These game consoles had graphics capabilities that exceeded those of most personal computers. Nintendo also offered a feature that let the console record the game action so a player could pause the action of a game.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Right behind Nintendo came Game Boy, a hand-held game console. Game consoles enjoyed a resurgence of popularity during the 1990s. A new, even more sophisticated generation of electronic games was introduced by 2001. These consoles included Playstation2 and Xbox. Electronic games continued to become more complex with more action and more graphics.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Electronic games, today, have achieved art form status. They are sort of a wonderful combination of board games and comic books all rolled up into one medium with spectacular graphics and compelling audio. Curiously enough, most electronic games are similar to board games. They have one of two central themes. The first is racing and the other is capturing area or opponents. Perhaps it is because of these similarities that electronic games have begun to capture a wider audience.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">As electronic games have matured they have begun to attract more mature audiences. Initially these games were primarily toys for boys. The growth area in the game industry is no longer adolescent males. It is mature adults, both men and women. Many of the most popular board games have been adapted to electronic game formats. Where youngsters hooked game consoles to TV sets, adults are playing games on their PCs, often against other players across the Internet. Grandparents are playing electronic games with grandchildren. They are also joining game clubs to play electronic games on the Internet with other senior citizens in another state or half a world away. Many of the top game companies are betting that older adults are the new growth market for the game industry.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Claude Shannon believed that computers could be programmed to play chess. In a sense he was right. He certainly never imagined chess players reaching across cyberspace as they exercise chess strategies on computerized game boards. Nor could he have imagined video poker, Internet casinos and all of the other popular electronic games people of all ages are playing. Electronic games aren't just for kids anymore.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: #dddddd; color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br />This articles was taken from</span><br />
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/34410</div>
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Credit to the author</div>
Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-90048129938902527682014-10-23T19:07:00.000-07:002014-10-23T19:07:00.419-07:00Online Games <div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white;">If you are doing a job which involves eight hours of work, you require some relaxation at the end of the day. You may be delighted to know that there are free online games which can actually work as a stress buster. Games offer lot of fun, specially the multi-player ones. With these games, you can compete with other people. So just connect to the internet and start playing against other players.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The online world is known for providing news and entertainment. But now a days, internet is known for offering games that are easy to access and offer entertainment and excitement. We might get several ways to make use of our leisure time but our favourite time pass will always be playing online games. Browse the internet carefully to find the best electronic games. The popularity of online gaming is increasing day by day. You can get various popular games free of cost on the internet. There are basically two kind of games: some are based on Java platforms and some are based on flash platforms.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Games have become an addictive form of activity as they provide endless entertainment. Online gaming gives you an exciting gaming experience with easy to operate games. Before playing these games, you need to download the correct plug-in for your browser for supporting the graphics. You should have a fast internet connection as games take much time to load in a slow net connection. You can find both single player games and multi-player games.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">There are 'Text Based Games' which are simpler than Java Games and these can be played in chat rooms as well. Online Multi-player Games are also popular as they allow you to play against multiple players.Game developers are coming up with new games with new technologies in a bid to make them more exciting than ever. Internet has introduced to a variety of new generation games. These games are convenient to download and are easy to play.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">They have become a medium of entertainment and they help us kill boredom. These thrilling and exciting games keep the players engrossed and make them demand for more excitement. <a href="http://www.rupizcompare.co.uk/games-and-consoles/games.aspx" rel="nofollow" style="color: #610000;" target="_new">Online Games</a> come in diverse categories like puzzle, racing, action, adventure and sports. Most of these games are played with Flash or Shockwave. These games cater to everyone no matter he is a male, female, kid or adult.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Find numerous games based on TV shows or movies. These games are stress busters and help you to relax and relieve stress. Get fun, entertainment and amusement free of cost. The types of games available these days include:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Arcade Games: These games require some coins to be put into a gaming machine.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Action and adventure Games: These include fighting games, space adventure games and situational games. These games may come with a storyline.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Card Games: These are ever popular games which are played with cards.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Casino Games: The online casino games involve real money transactions.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Sports Games: Play sports games on the internet where you can compete against a second player or the computer itself.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Shooting Games: These games let you shoot objects in virtual scenarios.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Puzzle Games: These popular games are for people who don't like too much violence. They are played by people of all ages and help you sharpen your mind. Puzzle games are loved by all age group people.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">If you love racing, you can play games where you compete against other cars. Select one of the games and refresh your mind.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">These internet games have made the gamers dreams come true. These games help them to relax after the hectic daily routine. You'll find so many games to play that you will never get bored by playing them. The online games stores offer a fabulous range of games. One can choose his choicest game from these stores and enjoy unlimited excitement.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #dddddd; color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">The article was taken from<br />Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1045979</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #dddddd; color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Credit to the author</span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-60283954826701869372014-10-22T19:06:00.000-07:002014-10-22T23:51:46.604-07:00BOARD GAME<div id="article-content" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">
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<span style="background-color: white;">Monopoly, Risk and Clue have roots buried deep in the sands of ancient Mesopotamia.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">British archeologist Charles Leonard Woolley unearthed the earliest known board game in the late 1920's. He was excavating a burial tomb in Ur, what is now southern Iraq. The game, buried with other treasure, had been interred nearly 4,500 years earlier. The Royal Game of Ur is the earliest known board game. Not only did Woolley find the game board and game pieces, he also found instructions for playing the game. They were engraved in cuneiform texts located at the site. The Royal Game of Ur, or the 'game of 20 squares' was a race game with two players racing to the end of the board. Since that time similar game boards have been found throughout the ancient world, from Egypt to India. The game Woolley found can still be played today, just as the ancient Sumerians enjoyed it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Board games have been popular in nearly every known civilization. Many civilizations were playing board games before they developed any form of written language.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Board games come in two basic types. The first uses strategy to win the game. The object is to block or capture opposing game pieces or to capture larger portions of the game board. Monopoly and checkers are both examples of the strategy game. Strategy alone does not insure victory.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Chance plays a significant role in most board games, but not all. Some of the most respectable board games, chess for example, focus on skill with very little luck involved.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Purists feel that luck is an undesirable element. They feel the games should be based entirely on strategy and skill. Others feel the element of chance gives these games more complexity with many more possible strategies. These people feel the element of luck makes these games more exciting. On the other hand, games that are completely games of chance, where no or few decisions are made, quickly become boring to most adults. Many children's board games are games of luck with few decisions to be made.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The second types of board games are race games. Two or more players move pieces in a race from one point on the board to another. Backgammon is an example of a race game. Again, the element of chance is an essential ingredient in these games.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Luck is introduced into the game in a number of ways. One of the popular ways is by using dice. The dice can determine how many units a play can move, how forces fare in battle or which resources a player gains. Another common method of introducing change is by using a deck of special cards. In yet other games spinners or other such devices are used to determine the play.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">A third type of board games is a combination both of the above types. These games employ strategies to conduct a race.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Board Games Pre-date Reading And Writing</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Board games have been popular for centuries. The game of 20 squares was played from Egypt to India more than 4,000 years ago. Nearly 3,000 years ago a game that resembles backgammon was developed in the same region. Games using stone marbles were developed in Egypt nearly 1,000 years later.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">A board game is a game played with a pre-marked surface and counters or pieces that are moved across the board. Methods of chance are often used, usually dice or cards, to determine the movement of the pieces or counters across the surface of the board.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">We are not really sure why early board games were developed. Some argue these games were a device for conducting religious services. Others claim they were employed to teach strategies of war. Today's board games are recreational and considered good family entertainment.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Board games became popular in the U.S. in the early 1900s. As the population moved off the farm, people had more time and more money to pursue leisure activities. Board games were a family recreation easily played in the home. Chess, checkers and backgammon became tremendously popular.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The most popular board game of all time is Monopoly. In 1904 Elizabeth Maggie patented "The Landlord's Game" an early version of Monopoly. It was based upon economic principles and was designed to teach real estate ownership and management.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">In 1933, Clarence Darrow copyrighted a version of "The Landlord's Game." He called it "Monopoly." He went to the game company, Parker Brothers, for help producing the game. They turned him down because they said it would never sell. He began selling Monopoly for the 1934 Christmas season. He was overwhelmed with orders. Parker Brothers agreed to produce the game the following year. Monopoly is now printed in 15 languages and sold worldwide.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Favorite old board games have recently been redeveloped for a whole new generation. These classics have been developed as electronic games. Most popular board games have now been successfully adapted as electronic games. These games are played on game consoles and on personal computers.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Board games have come along way since the days of ancient Sumerians when they were played around campfires of camel trains. Astronauts millions of miles above the earth have played board games. Now, with the Internet, players half a world apart can come together in cyberspace and enjoy the challenge of board games.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><span style="background-color: white;">This articles was taken from, Credit to original author</span><span style="background-color: #dddddd;">Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/33221</span></span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7171763959529774024.post-27420694782270896822014-10-21T19:00:00.004-07:002014-10-21T19:38:22.516-07:00Which was the first video game ever made?<span style="font-family: Avenir Next, Arial, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;">Which was the first video game ever made?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Avenir Next, Arial, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Well, as a lot of things in life, there is no easy answer to that question. It depends on your own definition of the term "video game". For example: When you talk about "the first video game", do you mean the first video game that was commercially-made, or the first console game, or maybe the first digitally programmed game? Because of this, I made a list of 4-5 video games that in one way or another were the beginners of the video gaming industry. You will notice that the first video games were not created with the idea of getting any profit from them (back in those decades there was no Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Sega, Atari, or any other video game company around). In fact, the sole idea of a "video game" or an electronic device which was only made for "playing games and having fun" was above the imagination of over 99% of the population back in those days. But thanks to this small group of geniuses who walked the first steps into the video gaming revolution, we are able to enjoy many hours of fun and entertainment today (keeping aside the creation of millions of jobs during the past 4 or 5 decades). Without further ado, here I present the "first video game nominees":</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">This is considered (with official documentation) as the first electronic game device ever made. It was created by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann. The game was assembled in the 1940s and submitted for an US Patent in January 1947. The patent was granted December 1948, which also makes it the first electronic game device to ever receive a patent (US Patent 2,455,992). As described in the patent, it was an analog circuit device with an array of knobs used to move a dot that appeared in the cathode ray tube display. This game was inspired by how missiles appeared in WWII radars, and the object of the game was simply controlling a "missile" in order to hit a target. In the 1940s it was extremely difficult (for not saying impossible) to show graphics in a Cathode Ray Tube display. Because of this, only the actual "missile" appeared on the display. The target and any other graphics were showed on screen overlays manually placed on the display screen. It's been said by many that Atari's famous video game "Missile Command" was created after this gaming device.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">NIMROD was the name of a digital computer device from the 50s decade. The creators of this computer were the engineers of an UK-based company under the name Ferranti, with the idea of displaying the device at the 1951 Festival of Britain (and later it was also showed in Berlin).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">NIM is a two-player numerical game of strategy, which is believed to come originally from the ancient China. The rules of NIM are easy: There are a certain number of groups (or "heaps"), and each group contains a certain number of objects (a common starting array of NIM is 3 heaps containing 3, 4, and 5 objects respectively). Each player take turns removing objects from the heaps, but all removed objects must be from a single heap and at least one object is removed. The player to take the last object from the last heap loses, however there is a variation of the game where the player to take the last object of the last heap wins.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">NIMROD used a lights panel as a display and was planned and made with the unique purpose of playing the game of NIM, which makes it the first digital computer device to be specifically created for playing a game (however the main idea was showing and illustrating how a digital computer works, rather than to entertain and have fun with it). Because it doesn't have "raster video equipment" as a display (a TV set, monitor, etc.) it is not considered by many people as a real "video game" (an electronic game, yes... a video game, no...). But once again, it really depends on your point of view when you talk about a "video game</span>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">This was a digital version of "Tic-Tac-Toe", created for an EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) computer. It was designed by Alexander S. Douglas from the University of Cambridge, and one more time it was not made for entertainment, it was part of his PhD Thesis on "Interactions between human and computer".</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The rules of the game are those of a regular Tic-Tac-Toe game, player against the computer (no 2-player option was available). The input method was a rotary dial (like the ones in old telephones). The output was showed in a 35x16-pixel cathode-ray tube display. This game was never very popular because the EDSAC computer was only available at the University of Cambridge, so there was no way to install it and play it anywhere else (until many years later when an EDSAC emulator was created available, and by that time many other excellent video games where available as well...).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.5em;">"Tennis for Two" was created by William Higinbotham, a physicist working at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. This game was made as a way of entertainment, so laboratory visitors had something funny to do during their wait on "visitors day" (finally!... a video game that was created "just for fun"...) . The game was pretty well designed for its era: the ball behavior was modified by several factors like gravity, wind velocity, position and angle of contact, etc.; you had to avoid the net as in real tennis, and many other things. The video game hardware included two "joysticks" (two controllers with a rotational knob and a push button each) connected to an analog console, and an oscilloscope as a display.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">"Tennis for Two" is considered by many the first video game ever created. But once again, many others differ from that idea stating that "it was a computer game, not a video game" or "the output display was an oscilloscope, not a "raster" video display... so it does not qualify as a video game". But well... you can't please everyone...</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">It is also rumored that "Tennis for Two" was the inspiration for Atari's mega hit "Pong", but this rumor has always been strongly denied... for obvious reasons.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.5em;">"Spacewar!" video game was created by Stephen Russell, with the help of J. Martin Graetz, Peter Samson, Alan Kotok, Wayne Witanen and Dan Edwards from MIT. By the 1960s, MIT was "the right choice" if you wanted to do computer research and development. So this half a dozen of innovative guys took advantage of a brand-new computer was ordered and expected to arrive campus very soon (a DEC PDP-1) and started thinking about what kind of hardware testing programs would be made. When they found out that a "Precision CRT Display" would be installed to the system, they instantly decided that "some sort of visual/interactive game" would be the demonstration software of choice for the PDP-1. And after some discussion, it was soon decided to be a space battle game or something similar. After this decision, all other ideas came out pretty quick: like rules of the game, designing concepts, programming ideas, and so forth.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">So after about 200 man/hours of work, the first version of the game was at last ready to be tested. The game consisted of two spaceships (affectively named by players "pencil" and "wedge") shooting missiles at each other with a star in the middle of the display (which "pulls" both spaceships because of its gravitational force). A set of control switches was used to control each spaceship (for rotation, speed, missiles, and "hyperspace"). Each spaceship have a limited amount of fuel and weapons, and the hyperspace option was like a "panic button", in case there is no other way out (it could either "save you or break you").</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The computer game was an instant success between MIT students and programmers, and soon they started making their own changes to the game program (like real star charts for background, star/no star option, background disable option, angular momentum option, among others). The game code was ported to many other computer platforms (since the game required a video display, a hard to find option in 1960s systems, it was mostly ported to newer/cheaper DEC systems like the PDP-10 and PDP-11).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Spacewar! is not only considered by many as the first "real" video game (since this game does have a video display), but it also have been proved to be the true predecessor of the original arcade game, as well as being the inspiration of many other video games, consoles, and even video gaming companies (can you say "Atari"?...). But that's another story, arcade games as well as console video games were written in a different page of the history of video games (so stay tuned for future articles on these subjects).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">So here they are, the "First Video Game" nominees. Which one do you think is the first video game ever made?... If you ask me, I think all these games were revolutionary for its era, and should be credited as a whole as the beginners of the video gaming revolution. Instead of looking for which one was the first video game, what is really important is that they were created, period. As the creator of "Spacewar!", Stephen Rusell, once said: "If I hadn't done it, someone would have done something equally exciting or even better in the next six months. I just happened to get there first".</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The articles was taken from : http://ezinearticles.com/ credit to the original author</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></b></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: #dddddd; color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Next', Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /></span>Melodi Kehidupanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09139097856920311302noreply@blogger.com0