Recently, many new online gaming services have been introduced. The
world is having a visible affect on the online gaming industry, as more
and more people turned towards playing and enjoying online games.
Games
on net were once an imaginary phrase, but since the introduction of
thousands of user friendly and easy operating games on the Internet,
people are finding that fiction has become reality.
But, now
you can read about what you want to learn and play free online games at
paying no money. This is the ultimate playing way for anyone frightened
by the complex layout of games. To play online games, read introduction
to the games and play along.
Another main reason people want to
play free online games is to get refreshed from the monotonous and
hectic routine. With games on net, all of that excitement can be put
into action. The people may choose to play free online games for
recreation. Many people just want to chill out at the end of a day, and
playing with a pool or slot machine etc. doesn't provide sufficient
amusement.
According to a leading company's survey on online
gamers, women around or above age 40 are the informal gaming hardcore,
playing games at an average of nearly nine hours a week. As far as men
of all age group are concerned, they spend nearly six hours gaming while
women of all ages average to around seven hours per week. This show
increasing urges to play online games in all age groups and both
genders.
The report also unveils an interesting point, 54
percent of adults said that they play games to wipe-off stress and the
20 percent of teens who play for just relaxation.
With free
online games one can experience the excitement of playing, without the
fear of losing any single cent. Many sites on the Internet also let you
to post messages in forum and even facilitate to chat with friends while
you play.
This is excellent news for gaming authors and
websites, as the more-n-more people are moving towards playing online
games on net, the more excitement around the globe will be.
All in all, it can be pretty relaxing experience and certainly it is becoming very popular time-pass.
Allen
Brown is a freelance writer for http://www.1888FreeOnlineGames.com the
premier website to play thousands of free online games including arcade
games, action games, card games, flash games, strategy games, puzzle
games and more. He also freelances for
http://www.1888SoftwareDownloads.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Allen_Brown
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/110704
Sabtu, 23 November 2013
4 Pics 1 Song - Addictive Puzzle Game For IOS
Not long ago there€™s a great game known as 4 Epics 1 Word on Facebook
as well as smartphone that gain a lot of attentions simply because IA€™s
simple and yet fascinating game play. Generally at that game you must
speculate what hidden word on the puzzle by checking out 4 unique
pictures with a same common point behind it. That game is accessible for
Facebook and thus a lot of Facebook users contend with their friend and
giggling at the result for certain. 4 Epics 1 Song is identical game
but this time OA€™re not simply guess a single word but an entire title
from a song, ETA€™s take a look at how interesting this game beneath.
Feature
Much like 4 Epics 1 Word, you are going to face 4 various images together with hidden indicating on I, your task is to find that secret meaning and then figure the song title with the clue. Not like Song the place you have to also think by hearing the music, within this game the difficulties could be more challenging particularly when you DNA€™t even know the song. But if you play it with your friend it's going to provide laugh and entertaining without a doubt. The game need a depth thinking for certain, initially it seems like quite tough to figuring out the clue however when you get familiar with it, IA€™s be a little more fun and easy to play.
You will see different picture range between automobile, illustration, goods, plus more. These pictures shown by the show picture, real picture, and much more. Numerous images identify what best and easy clue on it whilst the other requires a quite logical thinking. Once you guess the right answer, you will see the musician who sings it as well as the title and how many per cent you can guess it correctly. There are several achievement that you could unlock each need specified success to reach.
There are lots of tunes you will want to guess, together with coop mode you may get hours of fun together with your friend and much more knowledge of music from so many artists. One thing that the creator have to concern is some user complaining about having new content so they can play a lot more music with 4 Epics 1 Song, if you want simple and enjoyable game 4 Epics 1 Word is certainly what you should play within your mobile phone. You are able to grab this game on i-Tunes for free.
Feature
Much like 4 Epics 1 Word, you are going to face 4 various images together with hidden indicating on I, your task is to find that secret meaning and then figure the song title with the clue. Not like Song the place you have to also think by hearing the music, within this game the difficulties could be more challenging particularly when you DNA€™t even know the song. But if you play it with your friend it's going to provide laugh and entertaining without a doubt. The game need a depth thinking for certain, initially it seems like quite tough to figuring out the clue however when you get familiar with it, IA€™s be a little more fun and easy to play.
You will see different picture range between automobile, illustration, goods, plus more. These pictures shown by the show picture, real picture, and much more. Numerous images identify what best and easy clue on it whilst the other requires a quite logical thinking. Once you guess the right answer, you will see the musician who sings it as well as the title and how many per cent you can guess it correctly. There are several achievement that you could unlock each need specified success to reach.
There are lots of tunes you will want to guess, together with coop mode you may get hours of fun together with your friend and much more knowledge of music from so many artists. One thing that the creator have to concern is some user complaining about having new content so they can play a lot more music with 4 Epics 1 Song, if you want simple and enjoyable game 4 Epics 1 Word is certainly what you should play within your mobile phone. You are able to grab this game on i-Tunes for free.
Protect your board and card games with Euro Card Sleeves!
Does your family play a lot of non-electronic games? There is a growing
trend in the US and abroad to turn off the electronics and enjoy a
family night with some popcorn and a good old fashioned board game.
With Christmas and winter coming many consumers are turning away from
violent, individual games and pulling an old favorite off the shelf.
These can be classics like Monopoly, Risk or Trivial Pursuit but more
and more people are discovering the "euro board game". This new genre
stems from shorter games that focus more on individual achievement
through cooperation or less dramatic competition than what is found in
Risk or Monopoly.
Euro Board Games typically last 30-60 minutes and have elegant designs for greater variation and higher replay values. These new designs have historically come out of Europe, and Germany in particular. Titles such as Settlers of Caftan, Carcass and Dominion are among "euro games" that get people hooked and coming back for more due to their indirect attacking and quick play.
One problem with both these new titles and other more traditional ones, has been the components they are made with. Who doesn't have a monopoly set at home that has a partially torn or frayed deed to Park Place? How many copies of Monopoly or Risk has your family gone through? It isn't a huge investment for some of these mass-market games when your cards are ruined and you have to go out and get a new copy, but the new Euro offerings of today often have more components and certainly in games like Thunder stone, Dominion, Dixie and the upcoming 7 Wonders title, the cards are the key element in the game and a replacement copy can cost upwards of $50 or more.
So how do you keep your expensive game collection safe from wear and tear or streaks and stains from messy hands and careless friends? More and more board gamers are turning to card sleeves for protection. Card sleeves have long been known to Collectible Card Game owners of Magic The Gathering or Yu-GI-Oh cards, but with an increasing number of Euro Games relying heavily on cards there has been a push for card sleeves in non-traditional sizes. There is now a database online with over 740 board and card games of every description that will tell you what size cards your game is and how many cards are in that game. This database is updated several times per month and new titles are added all the time. Once you know your card count and size the color-coded chart makes it easy to find the right sleeve from the company that makes these sleeves.
Find out more and protect your own board games before you spill another drink or lose another family favorite by visiting Mayday Games.
Euro Board Games typically last 30-60 minutes and have elegant designs for greater variation and higher replay values. These new designs have historically come out of Europe, and Germany in particular. Titles such as Settlers of Caftan, Carcass and Dominion are among "euro games" that get people hooked and coming back for more due to their indirect attacking and quick play.
One problem with both these new titles and other more traditional ones, has been the components they are made with. Who doesn't have a monopoly set at home that has a partially torn or frayed deed to Park Place? How many copies of Monopoly or Risk has your family gone through? It isn't a huge investment for some of these mass-market games when your cards are ruined and you have to go out and get a new copy, but the new Euro offerings of today often have more components and certainly in games like Thunder stone, Dominion, Dixie and the upcoming 7 Wonders title, the cards are the key element in the game and a replacement copy can cost upwards of $50 or more.
So how do you keep your expensive game collection safe from wear and tear or streaks and stains from messy hands and careless friends? More and more board gamers are turning to card sleeves for protection. Card sleeves have long been known to Collectible Card Game owners of Magic The Gathering or Yu-GI-Oh cards, but with an increasing number of Euro Games relying heavily on cards there has been a push for card sleeves in non-traditional sizes. There is now a database online with over 740 board and card games of every description that will tell you what size cards your game is and how many cards are in that game. This database is updated several times per month and new titles are added all the time. Once you know your card count and size the color-coded chart makes it easy to find the right sleeve from the company that makes these sleeves.
Find out more and protect your own board games before you spill another drink or lose another family favorite by visiting Mayday Games.
Selasa, 05 November 2013
Popular Electronic Games - They Are Not Just For Kids Anymore
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.
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.
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.
One thing is certain. Kids love them. They buy and play them in ever increasing numbers. Electronic games are here to stay.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
One thing is certain. Kids love them. They buy and play them in ever increasing numbers. Electronic games are here to stay.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Royce Armstrong is a successful freelance writer with a business
and banking background who believes consumers should get the best value
for their money when shopping for toys such as electronic games
[http://www.a1-in-toys.com/electronic-games.html], PlayStation 2
[http://www.a1-in-toys.com/index.html], and game boy
[http://www.a1-in-toys.com/remote-control-cars.html].
Kamis, 31 Oktober 2013
Zuma Deluxe Style Games Evolution
As I think most of gamers who play in shareware games know game called
Zeugma Deluxe. This game was extremely popular some time ago and still
popular now. It's now a classic game!
Long time nobody in game industry try to make a game with Zeugma gameplay. It was a fear of fail - as someone can know big portals like Real Arcade or Shockwave.com don't take for publishing game clones.
But in last time we see a lot of games what takes a Zeugma gameplay idea plus some interesting own ideas. Let's look at whims games.
First game will be Luxor.
Main idea is the same, but here one deferent feature - you blast a colored spheres from the bottom line. Game use ancient Legit styling with pyramids and Pharaoh, you explore the path of the Nile. The game very popular right now.
Next game we will look at is Tumble Bugs.
IMHO this game have one of best graphic work (also as last game) and use very interesting design - you need to save your beetle buddies from the Black Bug Empire. According to game info "In a deep dark lair, in Any Backyard USA, creep the Evil Black Bugs. You, the hero "Tumble", hold the fate of your beetle buddies in your hands. Save the colorful beetles from being enslaved by the Black Bug Empire". It has some unique power ups not presented in other games and has some features to talk about - how about two sources and to plashes to shoot from?
Another two games Bubble fish Bob and Aqua POP uses sea adventure design. It first game you need to save small fishy friends. The second game objective not known. As I think this game was created in zeugma gameplay with only design changes.
Next game have extremely different gameplay but use some ideas from parent game - Twisting.
Main Zeugma idea - colored spheres presented, but gameplay based based on the bingo cards and the numbers on it. It requires you to stay focused and yet still full of situations to think over in every minute. You need to explore the Big Island step by step to find and save the cute animals that need your help.
Last game I want to say named Zed.
This game was created by developers from Russian Federation and have very interested idea mixed with some zeugma elements. It's puzzler-shooter game with a space theme. In Zed, you are a plot of space garbage truck. The space craft is located in the middle of the screen and can rotate both clockwise or counter clockwise. You can also move the spaceship, albeit in a very small circle. A continuous flow of space junk gravitates toward you (rather fast, sometimes) and you have to destroy it, before it damages the ship. This is the action part. What makes the game tricky (and addictive) is the puzzle part. All garbage is "color-coded". In order to destroy it, you have to get 3 or more pieces of garbage of the same color stuck together (here we have some Zeugma ideas). Since you pilot a space garbage truck, not some super-cool X-Wing interceptor, you call only shoot with garbage pieces. Occasionally, as you get bonuses like missiles or bombs, which will allow you to feel yourself like a space commando for 0.17 seconds, but other than that, it's all about waste management.
The storyline of this also very interesting, but I don't want to open all - try by yourself!
Here we see 7 games in some parts based on Zeugma classic game. I try all of them and think what Zeugma, Tumble bugs, Twisting and Zed is the best and have very much difference to explore. How you think?
Denis Snow. ChocoSnow.com sells Zeugma style games at http://www.chocosnow.com/.
Try Zed - http://www.chocosnow.com/games/zed/ and Twisting - http://www.chocosnow.com/games/twisting/
Long time nobody in game industry try to make a game with Zeugma gameplay. It was a fear of fail - as someone can know big portals like Real Arcade or Shockwave.com don't take for publishing game clones.
But in last time we see a lot of games what takes a Zeugma gameplay idea plus some interesting own ideas. Let's look at whims games.
First game will be Luxor.
Main idea is the same, but here one deferent feature - you blast a colored spheres from the bottom line. Game use ancient Legit styling with pyramids and Pharaoh, you explore the path of the Nile. The game very popular right now.
Next game we will look at is Tumble Bugs.
IMHO this game have one of best graphic work (also as last game) and use very interesting design - you need to save your beetle buddies from the Black Bug Empire. According to game info "In a deep dark lair, in Any Backyard USA, creep the Evil Black Bugs. You, the hero "Tumble", hold the fate of your beetle buddies in your hands. Save the colorful beetles from being enslaved by the Black Bug Empire". It has some unique power ups not presented in other games and has some features to talk about - how about two sources and to plashes to shoot from?
Another two games Bubble fish Bob and Aqua POP uses sea adventure design. It first game you need to save small fishy friends. The second game objective not known. As I think this game was created in zeugma gameplay with only design changes.
Next game have extremely different gameplay but use some ideas from parent game - Twisting.
Main Zeugma idea - colored spheres presented, but gameplay based based on the bingo cards and the numbers on it. It requires you to stay focused and yet still full of situations to think over in every minute. You need to explore the Big Island step by step to find and save the cute animals that need your help.
Last game I want to say named Zed.
This game was created by developers from Russian Federation and have very interested idea mixed with some zeugma elements. It's puzzler-shooter game with a space theme. In Zed, you are a plot of space garbage truck. The space craft is located in the middle of the screen and can rotate both clockwise or counter clockwise. You can also move the spaceship, albeit in a very small circle. A continuous flow of space junk gravitates toward you (rather fast, sometimes) and you have to destroy it, before it damages the ship. This is the action part. What makes the game tricky (and addictive) is the puzzle part. All garbage is "color-coded". In order to destroy it, you have to get 3 or more pieces of garbage of the same color stuck together (here we have some Zeugma ideas). Since you pilot a space garbage truck, not some super-cool X-Wing interceptor, you call only shoot with garbage pieces. Occasionally, as you get bonuses like missiles or bombs, which will allow you to feel yourself like a space commando for 0.17 seconds, but other than that, it's all about waste management.
The storyline of this also very interesting, but I don't want to open all - try by yourself!
Here we see 7 games in some parts based on Zeugma classic game. I try all of them and think what Zeugma, Tumble bugs, Twisting and Zed is the best and have very much difference to explore. How you think?
Denis Snow. ChocoSnow.com sells Zeugma style games at http://www.chocosnow.com/.
Try Zed - http://www.chocosnow.com/games/zed/ and Twisting - http://www.chocosnow.com/games/twisting/
Jumat, 25 Oktober 2013
Free Game - Packed With Spices of Thrill and Extra Charm
Free game on net gives the option of money saving. Young children like
to play video games which are attractive. They get inspiration from
their guardians and teachers to play whatever they like to enrich
knowledge. Children roam in the world of fantasy. They dream of
embracing fairies and playing with butterflies. They are also brave,
ambitious and bold to face tough world. MORPH and multimedia gaming
software provide food for children who want adventure, thrill and
excitement. Internet helps young boys to explore.
Digital video games appear with a new look. You can choose the MORPH and other virtual games for brain nourishment of your holy kids. Let your sons and daughters think in a different way. Time is changing its course speedily to upgrade the basic lifestyle of human society. Your babies should not be isolated from this stream. A brain teaser can enable your son to sharpen his intelligence power.
Cost Free Video Games Online
HD video games which are played free of cost are stored in different websites. Make online venture to collect some rare pebbles which must show you some extraordinary ways to get success in life. Your mind will be energetic and fresh. Same way when minor boys and girls sit in front of consoles for watching battle on a multimedia format they are curious to know the truth behind the curtain. Their curiosity boosts them up to progress further. Before selecting the particular games for playing online, a gamer should decide which sort of game will attract him. The best way of searching for new MORPH editions in the net, you will have to create a new personal account in operating the site. Archive in a website has the collection of gaming software with new features. It is family entertainment program. Encourage babies to play games which are favorable to the enrichment of their lives. You are not needed to upgrade your system by installing gaming software tools for playing free game.
Young gamers enjoy free entertainment online. During their vacations, they sit for watching and playing games. 3D MORPH formats are lively and natural in colors. Extraordinary digital graphics, superb background setting and Dolphin sound track create an amazing ambience for young gamers. Online multimedia games expand imagination, enrich mind and increase intuitive power. Have a look at Obama Bellboy, Euthanasia Battle, and Happy Go Go which are at present available in online galleries. These are free games to give real fun to make teens and children happy. Unlimited accessibility to have good free games, you must sign up to find few old and latest games. Even elite schools and colleges allow students to play some
Digital video games appear with a new look. You can choose the MORPH and other virtual games for brain nourishment of your holy kids. Let your sons and daughters think in a different way. Time is changing its course speedily to upgrade the basic lifestyle of human society. Your babies should not be isolated from this stream. A brain teaser can enable your son to sharpen his intelligence power.
Cost Free Video Games Online
HD video games which are played free of cost are stored in different websites. Make online venture to collect some rare pebbles which must show you some extraordinary ways to get success in life. Your mind will be energetic and fresh. Same way when minor boys and girls sit in front of consoles for watching battle on a multimedia format they are curious to know the truth behind the curtain. Their curiosity boosts them up to progress further. Before selecting the particular games for playing online, a gamer should decide which sort of game will attract him. The best way of searching for new MORPH editions in the net, you will have to create a new personal account in operating the site. Archive in a website has the collection of gaming software with new features. It is family entertainment program. Encourage babies to play games which are favorable to the enrichment of their lives. You are not needed to upgrade your system by installing gaming software tools for playing free game.
Young gamers enjoy free entertainment online. During their vacations, they sit for watching and playing games. 3D MORPH formats are lively and natural in colors. Extraordinary digital graphics, superb background setting and Dolphin sound track create an amazing ambience for young gamers. Online multimedia games expand imagination, enrich mind and increase intuitive power. Have a look at Obama Bellboy, Euthanasia Battle, and Happy Go Go which are at present available in online galleries. These are free games to give real fun to make teens and children happy. Unlimited accessibility to have good free games, you must sign up to find few old and latest games. Even elite schools and colleges allow students to play some
Kamis, 24 Oktober 2013
Good Flash Games for All
Welcome to Girl Game playing, the actual largest exclusive play area for
ladies as if you! Girl Game playing definitely makes the best ladies'
activities on the internet. We attempt our greatest to merge the factors
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Selasa, 22 Oktober 2013
How to Download PS2 Games Cheaply and Safely
The PlayStation 2 has been by far the most successful console of all
time, surpassing its predecessor the P.S. by a large margin in sales,
now to the tune of over 130 million worldwide. This is largely due to
the consoles massive library of games, also the largest of any system
ever released. With the increasing number of ways to download games off
the internet, that library of nearly 2,000 games is entirely at your
disposal.
While the average P.S. game is a rather robust 3-4 GB, computer technology has advanced a great deal since the aging P.S. was first released at the turn of the century, making download and storage of P.S. games easier than ever for users, and uploading and storing games on servers easier than ever for websites. For this reason, an increasing number of ROM sites are adding P.S. games to their collections, which would have been unfathomable even a few years ago. Even 700 MB CD-based games have only recently seen wide release on ROM sites, such as P.S. and Saturn games.
Because these ROM sites freely offer direct downloads of some P.S. games [http://www.articlesbase.com/video-games-articles/how-to-download-ps2-games-cheaply-and-safely-1471294.html], they should be one of the first places you look. Just be aware of two key points at present. Firstly, only a handful of the most popular games are available at most ROM sites. Secondly, they may have downloading restrictions in place capping the amount you can download over a period of time, which would usually amount to no more than a game per day, much like similar restrictions you would find at other sites such as Mega Upload or Rapid share.
Speaking of MU and RS, they are also viable options when it comes to downloading games, save for the above mentioned download restrictions (which can be waived for a monthly fee), and the fact that games get broken down into multiple parts due to file size limitations imposed by these sites (much smaller file size at RS, meaning the average 4 GB P.S. game comes in 40 parts). The trick is simply to find a site that hosts the link information to these files, usually found on gaming forums, as the game files are usually given random or chaotic names so as to avoid being taken down by the hosting sites, so they can not simply be searched for through the site itself.
Next, you can try one of the major direct download sites, which also require a monthly fee, but which feature faster downloading speeds, single file downloads, and large or even complete lists of games in one place. For the devout gamer looking to download P.S. games by the bucketful, this is definitely the most viable option.
Lastly is PP file sharing, which is certainly a potentially option, though fraught with uncertainty. Firstly, as P.S. games become older and older, with less and less interest surrounding them, less people are sharing the files, making it difficult to find active files with even a single seed. Secondly, even if a file is found that is active, download speeds may not be all that good due to the limited number of unloaders. Lastly, there is a greater risk of encountering harmful files through this method than other.
There are many options when discussing how to download P.S. games. Depending on the amount of games you wish to download, as well as their general popularity, and the download speeds you wish to obtain, the option which is the best one for you will vary. Enjoy downloading some of the best games ever made.
While the average P.S. game is a rather robust 3-4 GB, computer technology has advanced a great deal since the aging P.S. was first released at the turn of the century, making download and storage of P.S. games easier than ever for users, and uploading and storing games on servers easier than ever for websites. For this reason, an increasing number of ROM sites are adding P.S. games to their collections, which would have been unfathomable even a few years ago. Even 700 MB CD-based games have only recently seen wide release on ROM sites, such as P.S. and Saturn games.
Because these ROM sites freely offer direct downloads of some P.S. games [http://www.articlesbase.com/video-games-articles/how-to-download-ps2-games-cheaply-and-safely-1471294.html], they should be one of the first places you look. Just be aware of two key points at present. Firstly, only a handful of the most popular games are available at most ROM sites. Secondly, they may have downloading restrictions in place capping the amount you can download over a period of time, which would usually amount to no more than a game per day, much like similar restrictions you would find at other sites such as Mega Upload or Rapid share.
Speaking of MU and RS, they are also viable options when it comes to downloading games, save for the above mentioned download restrictions (which can be waived for a monthly fee), and the fact that games get broken down into multiple parts due to file size limitations imposed by these sites (much smaller file size at RS, meaning the average 4 GB P.S. game comes in 40 parts). The trick is simply to find a site that hosts the link information to these files, usually found on gaming forums, as the game files are usually given random or chaotic names so as to avoid being taken down by the hosting sites, so they can not simply be searched for through the site itself.
Next, you can try one of the major direct download sites, which also require a monthly fee, but which feature faster downloading speeds, single file downloads, and large or even complete lists of games in one place. For the devout gamer looking to download P.S. games by the bucketful, this is definitely the most viable option.
Lastly is PP file sharing, which is certainly a potentially option, though fraught with uncertainty. Firstly, as P.S. games become older and older, with less and less interest surrounding them, less people are sharing the files, making it difficult to find active files with even a single seed. Secondly, even if a file is found that is active, download speeds may not be all that good due to the limited number of unloaders. Lastly, there is a greater risk of encountering harmful files through this method than other.
There are many options when discussing how to download P.S. games. Depending on the amount of games you wish to download, as well as their general popularity, and the download speeds you wish to obtain, the option which is the best one for you will vary. Enjoy downloading some of the best games ever made.
Selasa, 08 Oktober 2013
Disclaimer Policy
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Senin, 07 Oktober 2013
Top Ten Classic Video Games
10. Pong
Origins: 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.
The Concept: 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.
Game play: 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'.
Nostalgia: 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!
9. Frogger
Origins: 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.
The Concept: 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.
Game Play: 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!
Nostalgia: 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!
8. Space Invaders
Origins: 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.
The Concept: 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.
Game Play: 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.
Nostalgia: 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!
7. Galaxians
Origins: 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.
Concept: 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.
Game play: 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
Nostalgia: 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!
6. Defender
Origins: 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.
Concept: 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.
Game play: 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.
Nostalgia: 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!
5. Missile Command
Origins: 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.
Concept: 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.
Game play: 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.
Nostalgia: 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!
4. Breakout
Origin: 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.
Concept: 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!
Game play: 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.
Nostalgia: 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!
3. Hang On
Origin: 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.
Concept: 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).
Game play: 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.
Nostalgia: 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.
2. Pacman
Origin: 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.
Concept: 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.
Game play: 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.
Nostalgia: 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.
1. Asteroids
Origin: 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.
Concept: 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.
Game play: 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.
Nostalgia: 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!
Origins: 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.
The Concept: 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.
Game play: 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'.
Nostalgia: 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!
9. Frogger
Origins: 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.
The Concept: 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.
Game Play: 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!
Nostalgia: 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!
8. Space Invaders
Origins: 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.
The Concept: 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.
Game Play: 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.
Nostalgia: 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!
7. Galaxians
Origins: 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.
Concept: 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.
Game play: 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
Nostalgia: 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!
6. Defender
Origins: 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.
Concept: 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.
Game play: 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.
Nostalgia: 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!
5. Missile Command
Origins: 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.
Concept: 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.
Game play: 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.
Nostalgia: 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!
4. Breakout
Origin: 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.
Concept: 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!
Game play: 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.
Nostalgia: 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!
3. Hang On
Origin: 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.
Concept: 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).
Game play: 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.
Nostalgia: 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.
2. Pacman
Origin: 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.
Concept: 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.
Game play: 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.
Nostalgia: 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.
1. Asteroids
Origin: 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.
Concept: 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.
Game play: 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.
Nostalgia: 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!
To play some of these games for free go to my website:www.squidoo.com/TopTenVideoGames
http://www.squidoo.com/SimonCook
http://www.squidoo.com/SimonCook
Kamis, 05 September 2013
Secrets to an Amazing Role-Playing Game
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Check out my unique site where I discuss the merits of various role-playing games at RPG-Games-Plus
Senin, 19 Agustus 2013
Alienware vs Rockdirect vs Dell : Finding the Best Gaming Laptop
So you want to buy a gaming laptop.
But not just any old gaming laptop, you want to buy the best
gaming machine on the planet, the best gaming machine money can
buy -- the fastest, the most powerful, the ultimate kick-ass,
take no prisoners, meanest motherboard of all gaming laptops.
Well, there's some good news for you, things have really changed
in the laptop world. No doubt you are probably aware there have been
some major developments in laptop construction and technology
in the last year or so. Technology that puts the gaming laptop
on par or near par with its main rival, the desktop PC.
Recent changes in technology have really brought gaming laptops
into the spotlight with a whole list of new Technologies:
PCI Express, Sonoma Chipset, SLI, Hyper-Threading, Dual Graphics,
Better RAM, and now Dual Core gaming laptops. Gaming notebooks are
just now entering the specs and performance arena which was exclusively
reserved for the bulky yet much more powerful desktop PC.
Just in case you have had your head buried in term papers and study
sheets lately -- hey, it happens! Here's a brief rundown of these
new technologies that will give you the fastest gaming laptop:
Graphics Cards: these are the real heart of any gaming machine. They
are getting faster and more powerful. We also see the use of dual
graphics cards and better transfer of data with new pipelines
and buses.
PCI Express: is a new standard for expansion cards that comes in
different versions. Presently, we have the x16 and x1 lanes, they
offer increased bandwidth. For example, x1 lane offers 500MB/sec
instead of just 133MB/sec for PCI.
NVIDIA SLI: SLI stands for Scalable Link Interface, technology
that lets you use a couple of GeForce 6800 graphics cards together
with PCI Express X16. Basically, SLI will speed up graphics on a single
monitor by deploying two graphics cards. It also lets you combine
4 GPUs in one system for the fastest graphics yet.
An alternative system would be ATI's CrossFire which
is a SLI-like configuration using 'Master' and 'Slave'
cards to combine two Radeon GPUs for improved and faster
graphics.
Hyper-Threading: Gives processors better performance
especially when combined with dual-core processors,
capable of handling four software threads which will put
a smile on any gamer's face.
Better RAM: DDR3 SDRAM (Double Data Rate Three Synchronous
Dynamic Random Access Memory) this new DDR memory standard
will use 40% less power and run at speeds up to 800 MHz.
Don't confuse this with GDDR3 (in Graphics Cards) which is
a totally different technology.
Dual Core: just as the name says, you put two CPUs into
a laptop for more power and faster computing. Rockdirect's
Xtreme 64 was one of the world's first dual core notebooks to
hit the market.
Also be on the lookout for Intel's Dual Core Notebook
Chip dubbed Yonah, it will be somewhat different in that
this notebook chip will not only have two cores but these
cores will share a 2MB cache which will greatly boost performance.
In most cases, keeping ahead of all these developments and
improvements can be a pleasurable chore for most gamers but
it can sure eat into your gaming time. And as the notebook
technology evolves, the gaming laptop will get even more smaller
and more powerful, offering a real alternative to the gaming
desktop PC even for the most die-hard Power Junkies.
Serious gamers will also know laptop or notebook gaming technology
is constantly evolving and mutating. Therefore, most gamers will
only purchase a fully upgradeable open architecture notebook, they
look for a laptop design which can be easily upgraded with the newest
and latest technology, if at all possible.
Despite this option, as laptop gaming technology steadily improves,
gamers are still left with the choice of which gaming system to buy.
Just in case you have be hibernating for last five years -- hey, it
happens. Here's a quick rundown of the different systems on the market
...Voodoo, Alienware, Mayhem, Vigor, Sager, ASUS, Rockdirect,
M-Tech, Dell...
Despite the fancy lapels, serious gamers know that most laptops are
made by the same two or three companies in Taiwan! The same components
and mainframes are assembled under different brand names and marketed
to the public.
Not to get too cynical, but sometimes it's the laptop with
the better paint job or the better advertising that will
win your purchasing dollar. Not that savvy gamers are easily
fooled, perish the thought, but packaging may rule the day,
performance may be the same or negligible in gaming
machines with basically all the same components and specs.
Regardless of this sober reality, gamers are still left with the
choice of which gaming manufacturer has tweaked these components
into the best gaming laptop on the market. There are numerous gaming
specialists that make high quality machines well worth your
consideration but because of limited space here we will only examine
three major gaming manufacturers, sometimes for entirely different reasons.
These three are Alienware, Rockdirect and Dell. All produce serious
contenders for the ultimate gaming laptop. Here's a brief rundown on
all three makers and their gaming laptops which may be of some help
to anyone looking to purchase a high-end gaming monster.
Alienware Laptops
First, we will start with the most distinctive looking gaming
laptops on the market. Those coming from Alienware, a company
founded by two avid gamers, Nelson Gonzalez and Alex Aguila, in
1996. It has become one of the leading producers of revolutionary
gaming PCs and Notebooks. It has also won raves and rewards from such
top industry publications as CNET, PC Gamer, Computer Games and
many more.
Their flagship model is the Area-51m 7700. This scary monster
can be outfitted with an Intel Pentium 4 Processor with
Hyper-Threading Technology - (2.8GHz - 3.8GHz, 800MHz FSB,
1MB Cache, Socket 775) Intel 915P + ICH6 chipset with NVIDIA
GeForce GO 6800 ULTRA with 256MB DDR3. It has a 17 inch WideUXGA
1920x1200 LCD Display and 4 dedicated SO-DIMM slots for
Dual-Channel DDR2 Memory. Warranties can be purchased for up
to 4 years.
The Alienware Area-51m 7700's base price starts at around
$2000 but if you want to max out this system, be prepared
to double that amount. High price for high performance.
Runs quiet and cool. This one is dressed to kill.
Rockdirect Laptops
Next, we go across the pond, for a company that produces some
high priced yet powerful gaming machines. Rockdirect gaming notebooks
are another group of machines that many gamers should consider.
Rockdirect, formerly known as Rock, is a British company that's
on the cutting edge of notebook technology. They have had a long
history of making high quality laptops for business and gaming.
Rockdirect laptops are expensive, there's no way to get around
that fact.
Rockdirect's Xtreme 64 is one of the world's first dual core
notebooks using AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ processors and twin
100GB 7,200RPM hard drives. With NVIDIAGeForce Go 7800 GTX
graphics and a 17 inch WSXGA+ (1680x1050) display with X-Glass
for better viewing. Around 2,300 pounds or $4,000 USD.
Three Year Collect and Return Warranty.
Dell Laptops
Hey dude, this can't be a DEll?
Dell with the introduction of its XPS second generation gaming
laptops has to be considered by the serious gamer. Don't laugh!
With the introduction of the XPS Gen2 laptops, Dell entered the
gaming market for real. A lot of people stood up and took notice.
Even more people stood up when Dell introduced the XPS Renegade 600
desktop gaming system with 4 NVIDIA 7800GTX GPUs at the
CES this year. Now that's putting SLI to some good use!
Dell's top Notebook Model is the XPS M170 powered by
Intel Pentium M Processor 780 (2.26 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
and 2GB1 Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm Memory on
a 100GB 7200rpm Hard Drive. It uses 256MB NVIDIA GeForce
Go 7800 GTX and has a 17 inch UltraSharp Wide Screen UXGA
Display. Priced at around $3,896 with a two year warranty
and longer warranties may be purchased.
Show me the Facts!
Anyone can pick a top gaming notebook and say its the fastest
in the world. However, you have to prove it or back it up.
That's where benchmark testing enters the picture, these are
standard tests that rate the performance level of your
gaming laptop. Hey, tests are good for something!
One good site that has performed a whole slue of tests on
the gaming laptops mentioned above is http://www.hexus.net.
You can see the different Benchmark tests here:
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=4188
Testing for memory bandwidth and latency, picfast,
cryptography, raytracing, realistic render, encoding and
so on. The dual core Rock XTreme 64 showed impressive
numbers, even beating out an Athlon 4000+ Desktop in
many areas.
WildCard Entry: M-TECH!
There's another laptop maker many novice gamers don't consider
when buying their ultimate gaming machine. It may not be as
well known as the ones above but the real wildcard entry is
M-TECH. This is basically the American equivalent of Rockdirect,
although the companies are in no way connected. They just have a
similar philosophy of working with and using cutting-edge technology
and firms to produce some superior gaming machines.
M-TECH, a Michigan company, started in 1995 and has close
strategic partnerships with Tech firms in Silicon Valley. It
is favorably reviewed by many industry magazines such as
Laptops, Mobile Computing, CNET, PC TODAY and others.
M-TECH produces some powerful low priced (relatively speaking)
gaming laptops such as the D900K and the D900T:
You can configure your D900T with two 100GB (7200RPM) SATA HDD
Hard Drives with Pentium 4 3.8GHz 2MB L2Cache with a RAID setup.
With Nvidia GeForce Go 7800 GTX w/256MB DDR3 and a 17 inch TFT WSXGA+
Glassview LCD display for around $3500 USD. One year warranty,
longer warranties may be purchased.
When buying your laptop, keep in mind, just because a gaming
laptop has a lot of style doesn't mean it has sacrificed performance.
It is not a matter of style over substance, it just means
you have to pay highly for all that style/advertising/packaging.
If you can afford it, go for a higher priced gaming laptop.
People buy Ferraries don't they? There's no accounting for how
people spend their money, if you want one of these dual core
laptops from Rockdirect and you can take a little bit of heat
and noise with your games, go for a Rockdirect Xtreme 64 or
the older Xtreme Ti.
If you want a dressed to kill Alienware laptop, go for the
Area-51m 7700. If you're on a budget, look closely at the Dell
XPS M170 or the other XPS systems and watch for special Dell
coupons and discounts. Dell is known for giving some great
discounts so keep your eyes peeled. And if you really want to
go against the mainstream, why not check out M-TECH. Especially
the M-TECH D900K or the D900T, ultimate performance at a good price.
No matter which gaming system you go with, try to pick one
that has a fully upgradeable open architecture structure so
you can easily upgrade when the time comes. Keep in mind,
laptop technology is changing so fast by the time your
dream machine is configured, it is probably already out of date.
Sobering thought but more true than any of us would like to
believe.
Finding the fastest gaming laptop may be an on-going process
of outfitting your dream machine with the latest technologies
and hardware as they come on stream. Hey, nobody said life would
be simple.
Just wondering how you can fit Quad SLI with 4 GPUs
into a laptop. Hey, it can happen and probably will!
But not just any old gaming laptop, you want to buy the best
gaming machine on the planet, the best gaming machine money can
buy -- the fastest, the most powerful, the ultimate kick-ass,
take no prisoners, meanest motherboard of all gaming laptops.
Well, there's some good news for you, things have really changed
in the laptop world. No doubt you are probably aware there have been
some major developments in laptop construction and technology
in the last year or so. Technology that puts the gaming laptop
on par or near par with its main rival, the desktop PC.
Recent changes in technology have really brought gaming laptops
into the spotlight with a whole list of new Technologies:
PCI Express, Sonoma Chipset, SLI, Hyper-Threading, Dual Graphics,
Better RAM, and now Dual Core gaming laptops. Gaming notebooks are
just now entering the specs and performance arena which was exclusively
reserved for the bulky yet much more powerful desktop PC.
Just in case you have had your head buried in term papers and study
sheets lately -- hey, it happens! Here's a brief rundown of these
new technologies that will give you the fastest gaming laptop:
Graphics Cards: these are the real heart of any gaming machine. They
are getting faster and more powerful. We also see the use of dual
graphics cards and better transfer of data with new pipelines
and buses.
PCI Express: is a new standard for expansion cards that comes in
different versions. Presently, we have the x16 and x1 lanes, they
offer increased bandwidth. For example, x1 lane offers 500MB/sec
instead of just 133MB/sec for PCI.
NVIDIA SLI: SLI stands for Scalable Link Interface, technology
that lets you use a couple of GeForce 6800 graphics cards together
with PCI Express X16. Basically, SLI will speed up graphics on a single
monitor by deploying two graphics cards. It also lets you combine
4 GPUs in one system for the fastest graphics yet.
An alternative system would be ATI's CrossFire which
is a SLI-like configuration using 'Master' and 'Slave'
cards to combine two Radeon GPUs for improved and faster
graphics.
Hyper-Threading: Gives processors better performance
especially when combined with dual-core processors,
capable of handling four software threads which will put
a smile on any gamer's face.
Better RAM: DDR3 SDRAM (Double Data Rate Three Synchronous
Dynamic Random Access Memory) this new DDR memory standard
will use 40% less power and run at speeds up to 800 MHz.
Don't confuse this with GDDR3 (in Graphics Cards) which is
a totally different technology.
Dual Core: just as the name says, you put two CPUs into
a laptop for more power and faster computing. Rockdirect's
Xtreme 64 was one of the world's first dual core notebooks to
hit the market.
Also be on the lookout for Intel's Dual Core Notebook
Chip dubbed Yonah, it will be somewhat different in that
this notebook chip will not only have two cores but these
cores will share a 2MB cache which will greatly boost performance.
In most cases, keeping ahead of all these developments and
improvements can be a pleasurable chore for most gamers but
it can sure eat into your gaming time. And as the notebook
technology evolves, the gaming laptop will get even more smaller
and more powerful, offering a real alternative to the gaming
desktop PC even for the most die-hard Power Junkies.
Serious gamers will also know laptop or notebook gaming technology
is constantly evolving and mutating. Therefore, most gamers will
only purchase a fully upgradeable open architecture notebook, they
look for a laptop design which can be easily upgraded with the newest
and latest technology, if at all possible.
Despite this option, as laptop gaming technology steadily improves,
gamers are still left with the choice of which gaming system to buy.
Just in case you have be hibernating for last five years -- hey, it
happens. Here's a quick rundown of the different systems on the market
...Voodoo, Alienware, Mayhem, Vigor, Sager, ASUS, Rockdirect,
M-Tech, Dell...
Despite the fancy lapels, serious gamers know that most laptops are
made by the same two or three companies in Taiwan! The same components
and mainframes are assembled under different brand names and marketed
to the public.
Not to get too cynical, but sometimes it's the laptop with
the better paint job or the better advertising that will
win your purchasing dollar. Not that savvy gamers are easily
fooled, perish the thought, but packaging may rule the day,
performance may be the same or negligible in gaming
machines with basically all the same components and specs.
Regardless of this sober reality, gamers are still left with the
choice of which gaming manufacturer has tweaked these components
into the best gaming laptop on the market. There are numerous gaming
specialists that make high quality machines well worth your
consideration but because of limited space here we will only examine
three major gaming manufacturers, sometimes for entirely different reasons.
These three are Alienware, Rockdirect and Dell. All produce serious
contenders for the ultimate gaming laptop. Here's a brief rundown on
all three makers and their gaming laptops which may be of some help
to anyone looking to purchase a high-end gaming monster.
Alienware Laptops
First, we will start with the most distinctive looking gaming
laptops on the market. Those coming from Alienware, a company
founded by two avid gamers, Nelson Gonzalez and Alex Aguila, in
1996. It has become one of the leading producers of revolutionary
gaming PCs and Notebooks. It has also won raves and rewards from such
top industry publications as CNET, PC Gamer, Computer Games and
many more.
Their flagship model is the Area-51m 7700. This scary monster
can be outfitted with an Intel Pentium 4 Processor with
Hyper-Threading Technology - (2.8GHz - 3.8GHz, 800MHz FSB,
1MB Cache, Socket 775) Intel 915P + ICH6 chipset with NVIDIA
GeForce GO 6800 ULTRA with 256MB DDR3. It has a 17 inch WideUXGA
1920x1200 LCD Display and 4 dedicated SO-DIMM slots for
Dual-Channel DDR2 Memory. Warranties can be purchased for up
to 4 years.
The Alienware Area-51m 7700's base price starts at around
$2000 but if you want to max out this system, be prepared
to double that amount. High price for high performance.
Runs quiet and cool. This one is dressed to kill.
Rockdirect Laptops
Next, we go across the pond, for a company that produces some
high priced yet powerful gaming machines. Rockdirect gaming notebooks
are another group of machines that many gamers should consider.
Rockdirect, formerly known as Rock, is a British company that's
on the cutting edge of notebook technology. They have had a long
history of making high quality laptops for business and gaming.
Rockdirect laptops are expensive, there's no way to get around
that fact.
Rockdirect's Xtreme 64 is one of the world's first dual core
notebooks using AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ processors and twin
100GB 7,200RPM hard drives. With NVIDIAGeForce Go 7800 GTX
graphics and a 17 inch WSXGA+ (1680x1050) display with X-Glass
for better viewing. Around 2,300 pounds or $4,000 USD.
Three Year Collect and Return Warranty.
Dell Laptops
Hey dude, this can't be a DEll?
Dell with the introduction of its XPS second generation gaming
laptops has to be considered by the serious gamer. Don't laugh!
With the introduction of the XPS Gen2 laptops, Dell entered the
gaming market for real. A lot of people stood up and took notice.
Even more people stood up when Dell introduced the XPS Renegade 600
desktop gaming system with 4 NVIDIA 7800GTX GPUs at the
CES this year. Now that's putting SLI to some good use!
Dell's top Notebook Model is the XPS M170 powered by
Intel Pentium M Processor 780 (2.26 GHz/2MB Cache/533MHz FSB)
and 2GB1 Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz 2 Dimm Memory on
a 100GB 7200rpm Hard Drive. It uses 256MB NVIDIA GeForce
Go 7800 GTX and has a 17 inch UltraSharp Wide Screen UXGA
Display. Priced at around $3,896 with a two year warranty
and longer warranties may be purchased.
Show me the Facts!
Anyone can pick a top gaming notebook and say its the fastest
in the world. However, you have to prove it or back it up.
That's where benchmark testing enters the picture, these are
standard tests that rate the performance level of your
gaming laptop. Hey, tests are good for something!
One good site that has performed a whole slue of tests on
the gaming laptops mentioned above is http://www.hexus.net.
You can see the different Benchmark tests here:
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=4188
Testing for memory bandwidth and latency, picfast,
cryptography, raytracing, realistic render, encoding and
so on. The dual core Rock XTreme 64 showed impressive
numbers, even beating out an Athlon 4000+ Desktop in
many areas.
WildCard Entry: M-TECH!
There's another laptop maker many novice gamers don't consider
when buying their ultimate gaming machine. It may not be as
well known as the ones above but the real wildcard entry is
M-TECH. This is basically the American equivalent of Rockdirect,
although the companies are in no way connected. They just have a
similar philosophy of working with and using cutting-edge technology
and firms to produce some superior gaming machines.
M-TECH, a Michigan company, started in 1995 and has close
strategic partnerships with Tech firms in Silicon Valley. It
is favorably reviewed by many industry magazines such as
Laptops, Mobile Computing, CNET, PC TODAY and others.
M-TECH produces some powerful low priced (relatively speaking)
gaming laptops such as the D900K and the D900T:
You can configure your D900T with two 100GB (7200RPM) SATA HDD
Hard Drives with Pentium 4 3.8GHz 2MB L2Cache with a RAID setup.
With Nvidia GeForce Go 7800 GTX w/256MB DDR3 and a 17 inch TFT WSXGA+
Glassview LCD display for around $3500 USD. One year warranty,
longer warranties may be purchased.
When buying your laptop, keep in mind, just because a gaming
laptop has a lot of style doesn't mean it has sacrificed performance.
It is not a matter of style over substance, it just means
you have to pay highly for all that style/advertising/packaging.
If you can afford it, go for a higher priced gaming laptop.
People buy Ferraries don't they? There's no accounting for how
people spend their money, if you want one of these dual core
laptops from Rockdirect and you can take a little bit of heat
and noise with your games, go for a Rockdirect Xtreme 64 or
the older Xtreme Ti.
If you want a dressed to kill Alienware laptop, go for the
Area-51m 7700. If you're on a budget, look closely at the Dell
XPS M170 or the other XPS systems and watch for special Dell
coupons and discounts. Dell is known for giving some great
discounts so keep your eyes peeled. And if you really want to
go against the mainstream, why not check out M-TECH. Especially
the M-TECH D900K or the D900T, ultimate performance at a good price.
No matter which gaming system you go with, try to pick one
that has a fully upgradeable open architecture structure so
you can easily upgrade when the time comes. Keep in mind,
laptop technology is changing so fast by the time your
dream machine is configured, it is probably already out of date.
Sobering thought but more true than any of us would like to
believe.
Finding the fastest gaming laptop may be an on-going process
of outfitting your dream machine with the latest technologies
and hardware as they come on stream. Hey, nobody said life would
be simple.
Just wondering how you can fit Quad SLI with 4 GPUs
into a laptop. Hey, it can happen and probably will!
For more on the best gaming laptops click here: Gaming Laptops. For information on upgrading your gaming laptop click here: Laptop Memory Upgrade. Titus Hoskins Copyright © 2006. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
Selasa, 02 Juli 2013
The World Within Or Online Multiplayer Games In Depth
For most of the 20th century, life used to be rather simple for
most people. There was school, college, work, retirement. Along with
that you had hobbies like cars, bowling, or gardening. The former was
more or a less of a chore, the latter the fun stuff you did in your free
time, usually together with local friends from the same neighborhood.
This was basically the same as a thousand years ago. For a few lucky
people the two areas overlapped and they could do the stuff that they
liked as their main job.
Now, in the last 10 years of the 20th century, as well as in the first few years of the 21st, this has been changing rather dramatically. The reason is the rapid technical progress, both in the wide area network and computing power areas. Contemporary hardware can animate very detailed and realistic graphics fluently, and transfer data on the movements and actions of hundreds of objects and characters around the world in milliseconds (although, unfortunately, the speed of light still remains a limiting factor). This has led to an explosion in the availability and quality of online games, with the newest generation like Counter-Strike and World of Warcraft becoming a phenomenon no longer limited to any particular social class, but rather an all-encompassing cultural element in the industrial countries.
Increasingly, parents find that their children spend a lot of time playing some of those games, and more and more people come in contact with them. This leads to people wanting objective information, which is in practice not easy to obtain. Most articles about these games are either written by rather clueless journalists who have never or hardly played the games in question and therefore mainly focus on scandalous negative side effects, or by enthusiastic fans who dive deep into the technicalities and don't mention the real world consequences much. This article tries to bridge the gap - it describes the currently most important types of online games and looks in detail at the social relationships behind them. The authors have been longterm players for years and therefore hope that they can address the issue in considerably greater depth and detail than most journalists (however, you won't find detailed technical facts here since it is not in scope of this article).
There are basically three main types of multiplayer online games:
First-person shooters (FPS) where the player sees everything through a (usually temporary, just for the online session or less) character's eyes and his gun's barrel. This category still remains predominant in total worldwide player numbers (according to Valve, Counterstrike is currently still the most popular online multiplayer game). Some of the other examples include Quake, Unreal Tournament, and Doom3.
Strategy games are the the second main category. Usually similar to FPS games in the round/session-based style of play, in these games the player usually does not have any single entity, but rather commands a number of troops of some kind against other human opponents. There are also various options where one can both play with other humans against the computer etc. Games of this kind include Starcraft, Warcraft III, Age of Empires and many others.
The last group, the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games), is the area which popularity has really exploded in the last few years. Here, the player obtains a permanent character (or entity) or several which can evolve and be equipped with various gear, and undertakes adventures in a large world full with other players. This is probably the most promising group since it resembles the real world most, and it has also been the fastest developing recently. The currently most prominent games in this category are World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XI, Guild Wars, Everquest II and Lineage II.
FPS
In first-person shooter games, the basic principle is simple. Shoot or be shot, kill or be killed. Starting with the original Castle of Wolfenstein and Doom, these games have developed to a level of frightening realism mainly for men living out their ancient predatory and fighting instincts (according to some surveys, there are about 10 times as many male as female players in average FPS games). One of the recent milestones in this category, Doom 3 is a game which is psychologically scary even to adult men with the highly detailed and realistic monsters suddenly attacking from dark corners. However, once these games take to the online multiplayer stage, their focus shifts a little. The goal is no longer to scare the pants off the lone player in his dark room, but rather to provide a fun platform for competition between many players of different skill. The most popular online game in this category is still without doubt Counter-Strike - a game which has received much negative fame because of various school shootings done by Counter-Strike players, yet still remains a highly captivating pastime for millions worldwide. It is a fan modification of Half-Life, a Valve game, and a team game in its core: one team is the "terrorists", the other the "counter-terrorists", and the play is round-based: at the start of a round, each team member receives an identical (except for clothing) avatar, picks some weapons, and the the two teams clash in combat until either a bomb is placed or everyone of one team is dead (there are also variations like "capture the flag" etc).
There are numerous reasons for the massive popularity of Counter-Strike. The game rounds are short-term in nature and don't require much time. It is comparatively realistic - weapons existing in reality like the M-16 or AK-47 are used in the game, and even one shot may be enough to kill. Also, it is easily accessible - almost everyone can install and run a Counter-Strike server, and there are many thousands of them in the world online at any given time. Although the basic game does not lead to social interaction deeper than a quick chat, the grouping of people around some specific favorite servers and the wish to play better, which inevitably requires solid teamplay, has led to the phenomenon of so-called "clans", or dedicated player groups, which usually have their own server where they train. A competitive clan will usually have requirements for people wanting to join - a certain skill level, or some minimum playtime - and most serious clan players play at least several hours a day. Dedicated clans will also sometimes meet in real life to discuss strategies and generally have fun, which is not much different from most other groups of people with similar hobbies, like e.g. stamp collectors or RC model builders. Since many servers are regional, mostly there are same-country and often even same-neighborhood people on the same server, which of course makes meeting in real life easier as well.
The picture is roughly comparable in the other FPS multiplayer games like Quake 4 and Unreal Tournament, with the main difference between that the latter are less realistic and include sci-fi weapons like laser guns and such. They are also typically much faster, with frantic movement (means, being hard to target) being highly important to survival, which is a concept rather different to Counter-Strike where sometimes the top scorers just sit in one place with a sniper rifle. However, a thing common to all FPS, mouse control is highly essential. Skilled FPS players develop extremely good mouse control (conventional mice no longer being good enough for them led to the development of a whole new segment of gaming mice) and have reaction times below 0.1 seconds. The numerous stress peaks and drops, lack of time between rounds, and the frantic gameplay often leads to additional addictions, though - many of the hardcore FPS players are chain smokers, fast-food eaters, coffee addicts, or all of it combined. There are worldwide tournaments held for most of the established FPS, and the current champions are mostly from Europe or the US.
Strategy games
The picture is a bit different with strategy games. Usually they are less frantic and leave much more room for logical thinking (of course, the classic board games like chess or Go also have major online playing facilities nowadays, but they cannot really be called multiplayer games since there is little to none team aspect, it's just one-on-one most of the time). A typical example is Warcraft III, which is the most recent in the Warcraft realtime strategy game series by Blizzard. It is played on the so-called Battlenet, a major online gaming hub by Blizzard, which also serves other strategy games like StarCraft. In Warcraft III it is possible to play both random opponents matched to you approximately by skill, either one on one or in teams of up to 4 on 4, or play others in pre-arranged teams. As in FPS games, there are also clans in Warcraft, which in this case are even explicitly supported by Battlenet. This and the very immediate visibility of someone's skill level (basically, his win/loss ratio) gives rise to much competition between dedicated players for the top ladder (ranking) spots. Unlike geographically uniform games like Counter-Strike with tens of thousands of servers, Warcraft has just a handful of large servers, each for a certain area of the world (e.g. Americas, Europe, Asia). Interestingly enough, most strategy games are dominated by Asian, especially South Korean, players, where online multiplayer games have been a very major part of the culture for years already. The professional South Korean Starcraft and Warcraft tournaments are major events with hundreds of thousands of live spectators, played on an extremely competitive level, and broadcasted on TV, and the top players have practically celebrity status and incomes in the six-figure range and higher.
Since the popular strategy games are usually also just round-based, there is not very much room for social interaction apart from an occasional chat. Strategy players are probably a bit older than FPS players on average, mostly between 16 and 35 in the Western societies.
Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games
MMORPGs are the final and by far the most complex group in our classification. They are something like little worlds within themselves, often resembling scaled-down copies of the real world, yet different as well. The two leading MMORPGs as of the time of writing are probably World of Warcraft (WoW) and Final Fantasy XI (FFXI) , each with millions of active players worldwide. The distinctive difference between MMORPGs and the other kinds of online multiplayer games is that RPGs are not round-based, and do not have a time limit or any specific goal to achieve. They are just there to be explored along (or sometimes against) other players. The key concept is that each player chooses a single virtual avatar which is at first rather weak (low-level) and starts in some safe basic area of his choice. The current MMORPGs all offer a rich palette of races and locations to start with. Usually, to be able to explore the world, the character must be made stronger, which is typically achieved by killing some kind of virtual monsters repeatedly, at low levels usually alone, later in a group. You can also do "quests" - tasks given to you by an in-game character - for various rewards and with various degrees of difficulty.
Current MMORPGs are very large and highly complex. Even fully exploring their worlds can take years, and trying out all the playstyles and options is almost impossible. There are lots of different strategies for doing quests and winning difficult battles, and organizational and managemental skills become essential in major conflicts where sometimes hundreds of people are involved at once. Those large-scale groups already resemble something like real-world armies, with a defined command structure and squads with some special tasks each. This is something entirely new - nothing of comparable scale and complexity has been there until just several years ago - and the scale is likely to become ever greater.
An impressive fact is the extreme internationality of MMORPGs. A little less obvious with WoW, since it is also Battlenet-based and uses the regional server concept, it is highly apparent with Final Fantasy XI, which does not distinguish any regions - each of its servers has people from the entire Earth. Most players come from Japan (where the game originates from), many from the US and Europe, but it is possible to meet people from too many countries to list here, almost every corner of the world being represented. An interesting side effect is that one comes in contact with numerous cultures and customs and many different languages. Some anecdotal stories from the authors' own experience include a maid coming in to clean an Egyptian player's room at the wrong time, relaxed Moroccan players sipping on a water pipe in an Internet cafe while playing, and a Canadian PhD student surveying the attitudes of gamers for her thesis work.
Another positive thing about MMORPGs is that they encourage making friends and teamplay very much. It may be possible to do a lot alone (although not in all RPGs), but a well-matched group can do much more. Therefore, social skills like making contacts and keeping them are substantial in MMORPGs. Since the player is hidden behind his avatar, the threshold to approach someone you don't know is a lot lower than in real life, which makes them a good playground for shy people. The authors know of several real-life relationships that initially started with the players liking each other in the game and then finding out they liked each other in real life as well. Of course, the chance for a mess-up is much higher here as well - after all in real life it's unlikely you date someone who looks cute for a while, only to find out he's a chain smoking guy in his 30s. However, still, interestingly enough, MMORPGs are relatively much more popular with women when compared to FPS or strategy games. That is probably because there's a lot of social interaction within them - you make friends who you see and adventure together a lot, and there's a lot of talking and personal information being exchanged - something almost entirely missing from most other multiplayer games.
The clan idea from FPS and strategy games is even much more emphasized in MMORPGs. Guilds in WoW and linkshells in FFXI are major social entities, with their members meeting each other daily for years. The real-life meetings of large guilds or linkshells are worldwide events, with people coming together from many different places. Linkshell friendships sometimes last for years. On the downside, this means that one can get hurt as well in the game - a fact that many people unfamiliar with the whole phenomenon often fail to understand. "It's just a game", they say. On the one hand, they're right. Yet on the other hand, if it is possible to make new friends through these games, who become real-life friends as well, one should realize that it is quite possible to get friendships broken by them as well, for instance when being disappointed by people one had trusted. This is also something almost unique to MMORPGs - there has never been so much reality in a virtual world before. Talking of that, one should mention another peculiar aspect of those games - the equipment hunting. As the avatars are the same (or similar) for everyone, the gear or equipment that a player has basically measures his social status, much like a car or money in real life. Players with very rare, "godly" gear, are admired and envied by many people with regular equipment. Since that is something most people like, and, as mentioned, the thresholds for doing things are so much lower than in real life, many nasty things have been done in order to obtain gear. Again, here the RPGs are almost like a mirror of real life, condensing down the more hidden similar issues there to a more compact and visible form. In a way, it is a pretty interesting experience and can teach one a lot about people. It just becomes clear much faster who is worth what. A related trait of these games is the emerging RMT (Real Money Trade) industry, which basically thrives on selling virtual game money and items for real money, and for some games has reached revenues comparable to the per capita gross national products of European countries. Here one can see the blurring of the distinction between work and playing - many people don't play for fun anymore. They earn money by "camping" (sitting at the same spot all day) special monsters and selling the dropped items. It turns out it is possible to earn sizable amounts with that - more than a regular hard job in some countries would pay.
To summarize, online multiplayer games are a very large and ever increasing phenomenon. Very addictive, and easily able to occupy a player for years, they are perhaps becoming the major modern escape-from-reality tool of the next generation. Certainly, they have their drawbacks, and not too few. However, if seen as an alternative to TV, MMORPGs are definitely more worthwhile, in the authors' humble opinion.
Now, in the last 10 years of the 20th century, as well as in the first few years of the 21st, this has been changing rather dramatically. The reason is the rapid technical progress, both in the wide area network and computing power areas. Contemporary hardware can animate very detailed and realistic graphics fluently, and transfer data on the movements and actions of hundreds of objects and characters around the world in milliseconds (although, unfortunately, the speed of light still remains a limiting factor). This has led to an explosion in the availability and quality of online games, with the newest generation like Counter-Strike and World of Warcraft becoming a phenomenon no longer limited to any particular social class, but rather an all-encompassing cultural element in the industrial countries.
Increasingly, parents find that their children spend a lot of time playing some of those games, and more and more people come in contact with them. This leads to people wanting objective information, which is in practice not easy to obtain. Most articles about these games are either written by rather clueless journalists who have never or hardly played the games in question and therefore mainly focus on scandalous negative side effects, or by enthusiastic fans who dive deep into the technicalities and don't mention the real world consequences much. This article tries to bridge the gap - it describes the currently most important types of online games and looks in detail at the social relationships behind them. The authors have been longterm players for years and therefore hope that they can address the issue in considerably greater depth and detail than most journalists (however, you won't find detailed technical facts here since it is not in scope of this article).
There are basically three main types of multiplayer online games:
First-person shooters (FPS) where the player sees everything through a (usually temporary, just for the online session or less) character's eyes and his gun's barrel. This category still remains predominant in total worldwide player numbers (according to Valve, Counterstrike is currently still the most popular online multiplayer game). Some of the other examples include Quake, Unreal Tournament, and Doom3.
Strategy games are the the second main category. Usually similar to FPS games in the round/session-based style of play, in these games the player usually does not have any single entity, but rather commands a number of troops of some kind against other human opponents. There are also various options where one can both play with other humans against the computer etc. Games of this kind include Starcraft, Warcraft III, Age of Empires and many others.
The last group, the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games), is the area which popularity has really exploded in the last few years. Here, the player obtains a permanent character (or entity) or several which can evolve and be equipped with various gear, and undertakes adventures in a large world full with other players. This is probably the most promising group since it resembles the real world most, and it has also been the fastest developing recently. The currently most prominent games in this category are World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XI, Guild Wars, Everquest II and Lineage II.
FPS
In first-person shooter games, the basic principle is simple. Shoot or be shot, kill or be killed. Starting with the original Castle of Wolfenstein and Doom, these games have developed to a level of frightening realism mainly for men living out their ancient predatory and fighting instincts (according to some surveys, there are about 10 times as many male as female players in average FPS games). One of the recent milestones in this category, Doom 3 is a game which is psychologically scary even to adult men with the highly detailed and realistic monsters suddenly attacking from dark corners. However, once these games take to the online multiplayer stage, their focus shifts a little. The goal is no longer to scare the pants off the lone player in his dark room, but rather to provide a fun platform for competition between many players of different skill. The most popular online game in this category is still without doubt Counter-Strike - a game which has received much negative fame because of various school shootings done by Counter-Strike players, yet still remains a highly captivating pastime for millions worldwide. It is a fan modification of Half-Life, a Valve game, and a team game in its core: one team is the "terrorists", the other the "counter-terrorists", and the play is round-based: at the start of a round, each team member receives an identical (except for clothing) avatar, picks some weapons, and the the two teams clash in combat until either a bomb is placed or everyone of one team is dead (there are also variations like "capture the flag" etc).
There are numerous reasons for the massive popularity of Counter-Strike. The game rounds are short-term in nature and don't require much time. It is comparatively realistic - weapons existing in reality like the M-16 or AK-47 are used in the game, and even one shot may be enough to kill. Also, it is easily accessible - almost everyone can install and run a Counter-Strike server, and there are many thousands of them in the world online at any given time. Although the basic game does not lead to social interaction deeper than a quick chat, the grouping of people around some specific favorite servers and the wish to play better, which inevitably requires solid teamplay, has led to the phenomenon of so-called "clans", or dedicated player groups, which usually have their own server where they train. A competitive clan will usually have requirements for people wanting to join - a certain skill level, or some minimum playtime - and most serious clan players play at least several hours a day. Dedicated clans will also sometimes meet in real life to discuss strategies and generally have fun, which is not much different from most other groups of people with similar hobbies, like e.g. stamp collectors or RC model builders. Since many servers are regional, mostly there are same-country and often even same-neighborhood people on the same server, which of course makes meeting in real life easier as well.
The picture is roughly comparable in the other FPS multiplayer games like Quake 4 and Unreal Tournament, with the main difference between that the latter are less realistic and include sci-fi weapons like laser guns and such. They are also typically much faster, with frantic movement (means, being hard to target) being highly important to survival, which is a concept rather different to Counter-Strike where sometimes the top scorers just sit in one place with a sniper rifle. However, a thing common to all FPS, mouse control is highly essential. Skilled FPS players develop extremely good mouse control (conventional mice no longer being good enough for them led to the development of a whole new segment of gaming mice) and have reaction times below 0.1 seconds. The numerous stress peaks and drops, lack of time between rounds, and the frantic gameplay often leads to additional addictions, though - many of the hardcore FPS players are chain smokers, fast-food eaters, coffee addicts, or all of it combined. There are worldwide tournaments held for most of the established FPS, and the current champions are mostly from Europe or the US.
Strategy games
The picture is a bit different with strategy games. Usually they are less frantic and leave much more room for logical thinking (of course, the classic board games like chess or Go also have major online playing facilities nowadays, but they cannot really be called multiplayer games since there is little to none team aspect, it's just one-on-one most of the time). A typical example is Warcraft III, which is the most recent in the Warcraft realtime strategy game series by Blizzard. It is played on the so-called Battlenet, a major online gaming hub by Blizzard, which also serves other strategy games like StarCraft. In Warcraft III it is possible to play both random opponents matched to you approximately by skill, either one on one or in teams of up to 4 on 4, or play others in pre-arranged teams. As in FPS games, there are also clans in Warcraft, which in this case are even explicitly supported by Battlenet. This and the very immediate visibility of someone's skill level (basically, his win/loss ratio) gives rise to much competition between dedicated players for the top ladder (ranking) spots. Unlike geographically uniform games like Counter-Strike with tens of thousands of servers, Warcraft has just a handful of large servers, each for a certain area of the world (e.g. Americas, Europe, Asia). Interestingly enough, most strategy games are dominated by Asian, especially South Korean, players, where online multiplayer games have been a very major part of the culture for years already. The professional South Korean Starcraft and Warcraft tournaments are major events with hundreds of thousands of live spectators, played on an extremely competitive level, and broadcasted on TV, and the top players have practically celebrity status and incomes in the six-figure range and higher.
Since the popular strategy games are usually also just round-based, there is not very much room for social interaction apart from an occasional chat. Strategy players are probably a bit older than FPS players on average, mostly between 16 and 35 in the Western societies.
Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games
MMORPGs are the final and by far the most complex group in our classification. They are something like little worlds within themselves, often resembling scaled-down copies of the real world, yet different as well. The two leading MMORPGs as of the time of writing are probably World of Warcraft (WoW) and Final Fantasy XI (FFXI) , each with millions of active players worldwide. The distinctive difference between MMORPGs and the other kinds of online multiplayer games is that RPGs are not round-based, and do not have a time limit or any specific goal to achieve. They are just there to be explored along (or sometimes against) other players. The key concept is that each player chooses a single virtual avatar which is at first rather weak (low-level) and starts in some safe basic area of his choice. The current MMORPGs all offer a rich palette of races and locations to start with. Usually, to be able to explore the world, the character must be made stronger, which is typically achieved by killing some kind of virtual monsters repeatedly, at low levels usually alone, later in a group. You can also do "quests" - tasks given to you by an in-game character - for various rewards and with various degrees of difficulty.
Current MMORPGs are very large and highly complex. Even fully exploring their worlds can take years, and trying out all the playstyles and options is almost impossible. There are lots of different strategies for doing quests and winning difficult battles, and organizational and managemental skills become essential in major conflicts where sometimes hundreds of people are involved at once. Those large-scale groups already resemble something like real-world armies, with a defined command structure and squads with some special tasks each. This is something entirely new - nothing of comparable scale and complexity has been there until just several years ago - and the scale is likely to become ever greater.
An impressive fact is the extreme internationality of MMORPGs. A little less obvious with WoW, since it is also Battlenet-based and uses the regional server concept, it is highly apparent with Final Fantasy XI, which does not distinguish any regions - each of its servers has people from the entire Earth. Most players come from Japan (where the game originates from), many from the US and Europe, but it is possible to meet people from too many countries to list here, almost every corner of the world being represented. An interesting side effect is that one comes in contact with numerous cultures and customs and many different languages. Some anecdotal stories from the authors' own experience include a maid coming in to clean an Egyptian player's room at the wrong time, relaxed Moroccan players sipping on a water pipe in an Internet cafe while playing, and a Canadian PhD student surveying the attitudes of gamers for her thesis work.
Another positive thing about MMORPGs is that they encourage making friends and teamplay very much. It may be possible to do a lot alone (although not in all RPGs), but a well-matched group can do much more. Therefore, social skills like making contacts and keeping them are substantial in MMORPGs. Since the player is hidden behind his avatar, the threshold to approach someone you don't know is a lot lower than in real life, which makes them a good playground for shy people. The authors know of several real-life relationships that initially started with the players liking each other in the game and then finding out they liked each other in real life as well. Of course, the chance for a mess-up is much higher here as well - after all in real life it's unlikely you date someone who looks cute for a while, only to find out he's a chain smoking guy in his 30s. However, still, interestingly enough, MMORPGs are relatively much more popular with women when compared to FPS or strategy games. That is probably because there's a lot of social interaction within them - you make friends who you see and adventure together a lot, and there's a lot of talking and personal information being exchanged - something almost entirely missing from most other multiplayer games.
The clan idea from FPS and strategy games is even much more emphasized in MMORPGs. Guilds in WoW and linkshells in FFXI are major social entities, with their members meeting each other daily for years. The real-life meetings of large guilds or linkshells are worldwide events, with people coming together from many different places. Linkshell friendships sometimes last for years. On the downside, this means that one can get hurt as well in the game - a fact that many people unfamiliar with the whole phenomenon often fail to understand. "It's just a game", they say. On the one hand, they're right. Yet on the other hand, if it is possible to make new friends through these games, who become real-life friends as well, one should realize that it is quite possible to get friendships broken by them as well, for instance when being disappointed by people one had trusted. This is also something almost unique to MMORPGs - there has never been so much reality in a virtual world before. Talking of that, one should mention another peculiar aspect of those games - the equipment hunting. As the avatars are the same (or similar) for everyone, the gear or equipment that a player has basically measures his social status, much like a car or money in real life. Players with very rare, "godly" gear, are admired and envied by many people with regular equipment. Since that is something most people like, and, as mentioned, the thresholds for doing things are so much lower than in real life, many nasty things have been done in order to obtain gear. Again, here the RPGs are almost like a mirror of real life, condensing down the more hidden similar issues there to a more compact and visible form. In a way, it is a pretty interesting experience and can teach one a lot about people. It just becomes clear much faster who is worth what. A related trait of these games is the emerging RMT (Real Money Trade) industry, which basically thrives on selling virtual game money and items for real money, and for some games has reached revenues comparable to the per capita gross national products of European countries. Here one can see the blurring of the distinction between work and playing - many people don't play for fun anymore. They earn money by "camping" (sitting at the same spot all day) special monsters and selling the dropped items. It turns out it is possible to earn sizable amounts with that - more than a regular hard job in some countries would pay.
To summarize, online multiplayer games are a very large and ever increasing phenomenon. Very addictive, and easily able to occupy a player for years, they are perhaps becoming the major modern escape-from-reality tool of the next generation. Certainly, they have their drawbacks, and not too few. However, if seen as an alternative to TV, MMORPGs are definitely more worthwhile, in the authors' humble opinion.
The authors are experienced gamers and alongside with their work
as co-founders of a web design and development company
([http://www.s-kaze.com]) still enjoy an occasional round of play.
Selasa, 14 Mei 2013
PS2 Game Rentals - The Best Places to Rent PS2 Games
Renting video games has never been so appealing as it does in
this day in age. Many video game rental clubs offer PS2 game rentals,
amongst many other console games, to the public for one low monthly
price. Today, we will be investigating into which rental clubs offer the
best quality and selection when it comes to your favorite PS2 games.
As of 2006, there are 3 online video game rental companies that stand out amongst the rest of the pack. If your into video gaming, you might have heard of them. Gottaplay, GameFly, and Intelliflix are currently our nations leading chain of video game rentals. Below, we will be evaluating each of the 3 companies when it comes to PS2 game renting.
PS2 Game Rental Reviews
Gottaplay PS2 Rentals
Gottaplay rental company is fast becoming one of the hottest online video game rental companies in the US, trailing right next to GameFly . They are the first online company of their kind that offers phone support to all their customers, along with a massive game selection. Gottaplay has a large selection of PS2 games within their arsenal. Here are some of the stats that we came up with when reviewing this company
1. PS2 Game Selection: Roughly 700 PS2 titles
2. New Release Titles: All new releases were available as soon as they hit the local stores. Roughly around 75 new releases at the time of publishing this article.
3. Classic Game Titles: Many PS2 classics were included such as Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, and other great titles of the past, present and future.
4. Hard-to-Find Games : Many games that we never even knew about were included within their selection. If you want to play a game with little or no popularity, Gottaplay has this covered as well.
5. PS3 Titles- Gottaplay will carry the most current PS3 titles once released.
GameFly PS2 Rentals
GameFly has been the online leader within the video game rental realm for quite some time. With a large selection of game rentals available reaching at over 5,000 titles, this company doesn't seem to be losing its edge when it comes to what they do best. One thing is for sure, when it comes to PS2 rentals, they cover the market with quality and selection. Lets take a better look:
1. PS2 Game Selection: Roughly 800 PS2 titles
2. New Release Titles: New releases are always available. Roughly around 60 new releases at this current time.
3. Classic Game Titles: Many PS2 classics are included, but the selection is not quite as comprehensive as Gottaplay's.
4. Hard-to-Find Games: With their large diverse selection of PS2 titles, hard to find games were easily found within their database. You'll find a great selection of "when did this come out" type of games.
5. PS3 Titles- GameFly will be one of the first rental companies to stock PS3 games once available.
Intelliflix PS2 Rentals
Intelliflix is looking to cover a wide variety of markets including movies, video games, and adult movies. Although they do cover a large area of rentals, they do not dominate within any particular market. Their plans are great for families that would like a one-stop-shop type of policy. When it comes to PS2 renting, they do carry a great selection of newer games, although their game selection isn't nearly as comprehensive as the other two mentioned above. They are still worth their weight in gold and worth mentioning for any PS2 game fanatic. Here is what we dug up.
1. PS2 Game Selection: Roughly 475 PS2 titles
2. New Release Titles: New releases are always available. Roughly around 50 new releases currently.
3. Classic Game Titles: There were a few PS2 classics available, but this company mainly focuses on their newer game titles. If your highly fond of classic PS2 titles, you may want to try GameFly or Gottaplay.
4. Hard-to-Find Games: There were a few scattered hard-to-find titles located within their database.
5. PS3 Titles- Intelliflix will also carry PS3 titles once released. I think any company serious about game rentals will have these titles covered.
As of 2006, there are 3 online video game rental companies that stand out amongst the rest of the pack. If your into video gaming, you might have heard of them. Gottaplay, GameFly, and Intelliflix are currently our nations leading chain of video game rentals. Below, we will be evaluating each of the 3 companies when it comes to PS2 game renting.
PS2 Game Rental Reviews
Gottaplay PS2 Rentals
Gottaplay rental company is fast becoming one of the hottest online video game rental companies in the US, trailing right next to GameFly . They are the first online company of their kind that offers phone support to all their customers, along with a massive game selection. Gottaplay has a large selection of PS2 games within their arsenal. Here are some of the stats that we came up with when reviewing this company
1. PS2 Game Selection: Roughly 700 PS2 titles
2. New Release Titles: All new releases were available as soon as they hit the local stores. Roughly around 75 new releases at the time of publishing this article.
3. Classic Game Titles: Many PS2 classics were included such as Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, and other great titles of the past, present and future.
4. Hard-to-Find Games : Many games that we never even knew about were included within their selection. If you want to play a game with little or no popularity, Gottaplay has this covered as well.
5. PS3 Titles- Gottaplay will carry the most current PS3 titles once released.
GameFly PS2 Rentals
GameFly has been the online leader within the video game rental realm for quite some time. With a large selection of game rentals available reaching at over 5,000 titles, this company doesn't seem to be losing its edge when it comes to what they do best. One thing is for sure, when it comes to PS2 rentals, they cover the market with quality and selection. Lets take a better look:
1. PS2 Game Selection: Roughly 800 PS2 titles
2. New Release Titles: New releases are always available. Roughly around 60 new releases at this current time.
3. Classic Game Titles: Many PS2 classics are included, but the selection is not quite as comprehensive as Gottaplay's.
4. Hard-to-Find Games: With their large diverse selection of PS2 titles, hard to find games were easily found within their database. You'll find a great selection of "when did this come out" type of games.
5. PS3 Titles- GameFly will be one of the first rental companies to stock PS3 games once available.
Intelliflix PS2 Rentals
Intelliflix is looking to cover a wide variety of markets including movies, video games, and adult movies. Although they do cover a large area of rentals, they do not dominate within any particular market. Their plans are great for families that would like a one-stop-shop type of policy. When it comes to PS2 renting, they do carry a great selection of newer games, although their game selection isn't nearly as comprehensive as the other two mentioned above. They are still worth their weight in gold and worth mentioning for any PS2 game fanatic. Here is what we dug up.
1. PS2 Game Selection: Roughly 475 PS2 titles
2. New Release Titles: New releases are always available. Roughly around 50 new releases currently.
3. Classic Game Titles: There were a few PS2 classics available, but this company mainly focuses on their newer game titles. If your highly fond of classic PS2 titles, you may want to try GameFly or Gottaplay.
4. Hard-to-Find Games: There were a few scattered hard-to-find titles located within their database.
5. PS3 Titles- Intelliflix will also carry PS3 titles once released. I think any company serious about game rentals will have these titles covered.
The #1 Rated Online Video Game Rental Club Review Guide in the US.
Minggu, 05 Mei 2013
Free Arcade Games
Arcade games are an age-old tradition. They have existed as a
term since the heyday of the pinball machine, and even earlier in many
cases. There are several websites that offer free arcade games including
solo player, multi-player, action, adventure, card/casino, racing or
skill games. Some of the popular free gaming sites on the Internet are
game.co.in, free-games-online.com, freearcade.com, ultimatearcade.com,
Cnet’s download.com, and freeclassicgames.com. Arcadenut.com,
Funny-games.biz and GameAlbum.com are other great entertainment sites
which offer free arcade games.
Free Games (www.free-games.au) is an online directory of free games on the Internet, which also reviews and ranks the most popular games. Per their lists, the five most popular games available on their site are The Mafia Boss, Real Mud – the 4th Coming, Runescape, Aegis and Terraworld. All these games are massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG).
Some popular arcade games from the 1980s are available at Triplets and Us (http://www.tripletsandus.com/80s/80s_games/arcade.htm). These include PacMan, Frogger, Space Invaders, Mario Brothers, Asteroids and Tetris. The site also contains links to several Java arcade emulator game sites.
Flash Games ([http://www.t45ol.com/flash-game/arcade-games.php]) offers all free arcade games in Flash. The site contains the traditional arcade games in flash format like Space Invaders, Pong, Super Mario Brothers, Tetris, Donkey Kong and Street Fighter.
Arcade RockStar (http://www.arcaderockstar.com/) is a free gaming network where members participate in daily tournaments, and win cool prizes like cell phones, iPods, gift cards and Sony PSPs, among others. Since it is an ad-supported network, the members must be prepared for different forms of ads such as sponsorships, sweepstakes, banners, text links or pop-ups.
Free Games (www.free-games.au) is an online directory of free games on the Internet, which also reviews and ranks the most popular games. Per their lists, the five most popular games available on their site are The Mafia Boss, Real Mud – the 4th Coming, Runescape, Aegis and Terraworld. All these games are massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG).
Some popular arcade games from the 1980s are available at Triplets and Us (http://www.tripletsandus.com/80s/80s_games/arcade.htm). These include PacMan, Frogger, Space Invaders, Mario Brothers, Asteroids and Tetris. The site also contains links to several Java arcade emulator game sites.
Flash Games ([http://www.t45ol.com/flash-game/arcade-games.php]) offers all free arcade games in Flash. The site contains the traditional arcade games in flash format like Space Invaders, Pong, Super Mario Brothers, Tetris, Donkey Kong and Street Fighter.
Arcade RockStar (http://www.arcaderockstar.com/) is a free gaming network where members participate in daily tournaments, and win cool prizes like cell phones, iPods, gift cards and Sony PSPs, among others. Since it is an ad-supported network, the members must be prepared for different forms of ads such as sponsorships, sweepstakes, banners, text links or pop-ups.
Arcade Games [http://www.WetPluto.com/Classic-Arcade-Games.html]
provides detailed information on Arcade Games, Free Arcade Games, Online
Arcade Games, Real Arcade Games and more. Arcade Games is affiliated
with Online Computer Games [http://www.i-ComputerGames.com].
Sabtu, 27 April 2013
Basketball Arcade Games
When arcade games gained popularity in the 1970s, they were the
traditional type like the first pinball games, Pac-Mac, Pong, and Space
Invaders. However, over time, the creators of these games realized they
had to innovate and improve constantly to retain the attention of their
players. This led to them diversifying into games like the High Impact
Football game series. This was a completely new format for arcade games.
However, these games did not do as well as their ancestors. Perhaps
players took time to adjust to them.
It was not until the release of basketball arcade games that this type of game really caught on. The first that really took the arcade games by storm was NBA Jam. This genre got noticed immediately with its release and became popular worldwide.
NBA Jam was unique in a lot of ways. First of all it was more expensive than the other games, where finishing a game required no less than $2. It was also the very first game that used real teams, real players with their real names, with the digitized version of these players playing the game on screen.
Playing the game was akin to watching a game on TV, only better, since here the game players could make control every move of their favourite basketball players. More so, one could defy gravity to make them do what a player wanted them to do. This has been one of the criticisms of the game, that it featured unrealistic effects, with the players flying as much as their heights to score a point. Fans of the game however maintained, that this was actually a great high.
However, the game continued to climb on the popularity charts and featured basketball greats of their times like Karl Malone, Chris Webber, Colbert Cheaney, Jeff Hornacek, David Robinson, Charles Oakley among others. After a time people discovered other features of the game like Easter eggs and other special features to be activated by use of buttons and joysticks.
The game saw many sequels and spin-offs, including the NBA Jam: Tournament Edition, NBA Jam Extreme of 1996 and even a 3D version of the game featuring a commentary. The other games in the line were NBA Hangtime and NBA Hangtime Extreme. A college version of the game, called College Slam was also introduced in 1995.
The huge success of basketball games also gave rise to other sports games, which centred on games like football and baseball.
It was not until the release of basketball arcade games that this type of game really caught on. The first that really took the arcade games by storm was NBA Jam. This genre got noticed immediately with its release and became popular worldwide.
NBA Jam was unique in a lot of ways. First of all it was more expensive than the other games, where finishing a game required no less than $2. It was also the very first game that used real teams, real players with their real names, with the digitized version of these players playing the game on screen.
Playing the game was akin to watching a game on TV, only better, since here the game players could make control every move of their favourite basketball players. More so, one could defy gravity to make them do what a player wanted them to do. This has been one of the criticisms of the game, that it featured unrealistic effects, with the players flying as much as their heights to score a point. Fans of the game however maintained, that this was actually a great high.
However, the game continued to climb on the popularity charts and featured basketball greats of their times like Karl Malone, Chris Webber, Colbert Cheaney, Jeff Hornacek, David Robinson, Charles Oakley among others. After a time people discovered other features of the game like Easter eggs and other special features to be activated by use of buttons and joysticks.
The game saw many sequels and spin-offs, including the NBA Jam: Tournament Edition, NBA Jam Extreme of 1996 and even a 3D version of the game featuring a commentary. The other games in the line were NBA Hangtime and NBA Hangtime Extreme. A college version of the game, called College Slam was also introduced in 1995.
The huge success of basketball games also gave rise to other sports games, which centred on games like football and baseball.
Arcade Games [http://www.WetPluto.com/Classic-Arcade-Games.html]
provides detailed information on Arcade Games, Free Arcade Games, Online
Arcade Games, Real Arcade Games and more. Arcade Games is affiliated
with Online Computer Games [http://www.i-ComputerGames.com].
Selasa, 12 Maret 2013
Computer Puzzle Game
Computer puzzle game is a genre of computer games that emphasize
puzzle solving. The types of puzzles involved can involve logic,
strategy, pattern recognition, sequence solving, word completion or, in
some cases, just pure luck.
A personal computer game (also known as a computer game or simply PC game) is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine. Computer games have evolved from the simple graphics and gameplay of early titles like Spacewar!, to a wide range of more visually advanced titles, although the computer game market has been declining in the United States since 1999.
PC games are created by one or more game developers, often in conjunction with other specialists (such as game artists) and either published independently or through a third party publisher. They may then be distributed on physical media such as DVDs and CDs, as Internet-downloadable shareware, or through online delivery services such as Direct2Drive and Steam. PC games often require specialised hardware in the user's computer in order to play, such as a specific generation of graphics processing unit or an Internet connection for online play, although these system requirements vary from game to game.
Computer games and game addiction are often the subject of criticism, focusing largely on the influence of objectionable content and prolonged gameplay on minors. The Entertainment Software Association and other groups maintain that parents are responsible for moderating their children's behaviour, although the controversy has prompted attempts to control the sale of certain games in the United States.
A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often "winning". Strategy is differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand by its nature of being extensively premeditated, and often practically rehearsed.
The word derives from the Greek word stratēgos, which derives from two words: stratos (army) and ago (ancient Greek for leading or guiding or moving to). Stratēgos referred to a 'military commander' during the age of Athenian Democracy.
Logic (from Classical Greek λÏŒγος logos; meaning word, account, reason or principle) is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration.
As a formal science, logic investigates and classifies the structure of statements and arguments, both through the study of formal systems of inference and through the study of arguments in natural language. The scope of logic is therefore large, ranging from core topics such as the study of fallacies and paradoxes, to specialized analyses of reasoning using probability and to arguments involving causality. Logic is also commonly used today in argumentation theory.
Traditionally, logic is studied as a branch of philosophy, one part of the classical trivium, which consisted of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Since the mid-nineteenth century formal logic has been studied as the foundation of mathematics. In 1903 Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead established logic as the cornerstone of mathematics with the publication of Principia Mathematica. The development of formal logic and its implementation in computing machinery is the foundation of computer science.
Description
The genre can be difficult to describe: the gameplay is usually abstract (but not always) often involving arranging geometric shapes to fulfill some goal or constraint. Often edge matching or colour matching plays an important role. Puzzle games usually strive to have a pick-up-and-play accessibility to them and to have an addictive quality. They are popular with travelers and commuters for the same general reasons as the airport novel: Low bars to accessibility, moderate levels of personal involvement, and a relatively easy and painless mode of abandoning and reaccessing one's progress in the event of being jostled or moved. They provide a welcome distraction from the jostling and inconvenience of travel.
Types of game
Some puzzle games feed the player a random assortment of blocks or pieces that they must organize in the correct manner, such as Tetris, Klax and Lumines. Others present a preset game board and/or pieces and challenge the player to solve the puzzle by achieving a goal (Bomberman, The Incredible Machine). Some of the games in the former category have a mode that plays like the latter. For example, in both Tetrisphere and Tetris Attack, there is an actual "puzzle mode" in which the player must clear a pre-defined board within a certain amount of moves.
Some games are not puzzle games, yet contain many puzzle elements, such as Resident Evil, Silent Hill and the Legend of Zelda series.
Because puzzle games are often so abstract, the term is sometimes used as a blanket term for games with unique and otherwise indescribable gameplay. Every Extend Extra is an example of this.
Puzzle games are often easy to develop and adapt: from dedicated arcade units, to home video game consoles, to personal digital assistants and mobile phones.
The game Minesweeper is notable because of the large installed user base (the game comes bundled with the Microsoft Windows operating system).
A personal computer game (also known as a computer game or simply PC game) is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine. Computer games have evolved from the simple graphics and gameplay of early titles like Spacewar!, to a wide range of more visually advanced titles, although the computer game market has been declining in the United States since 1999.
PC games are created by one or more game developers, often in conjunction with other specialists (such as game artists) and either published independently or through a third party publisher. They may then be distributed on physical media such as DVDs and CDs, as Internet-downloadable shareware, or through online delivery services such as Direct2Drive and Steam. PC games often require specialised hardware in the user's computer in order to play, such as a specific generation of graphics processing unit or an Internet connection for online play, although these system requirements vary from game to game.
Computer games and game addiction are often the subject of criticism, focusing largely on the influence of objectionable content and prolonged gameplay on minors. The Entertainment Software Association and other groups maintain that parents are responsible for moderating their children's behaviour, although the controversy has prompted attempts to control the sale of certain games in the United States.
A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often "winning". Strategy is differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand by its nature of being extensively premeditated, and often practically rehearsed.
The word derives from the Greek word stratēgos, which derives from two words: stratos (army) and ago (ancient Greek for leading or guiding or moving to). Stratēgos referred to a 'military commander' during the age of Athenian Democracy.
Logic (from Classical Greek λÏŒγος logos; meaning word, account, reason or principle) is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration.
As a formal science, logic investigates and classifies the structure of statements and arguments, both through the study of formal systems of inference and through the study of arguments in natural language. The scope of logic is therefore large, ranging from core topics such as the study of fallacies and paradoxes, to specialized analyses of reasoning using probability and to arguments involving causality. Logic is also commonly used today in argumentation theory.
Traditionally, logic is studied as a branch of philosophy, one part of the classical trivium, which consisted of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Since the mid-nineteenth century formal logic has been studied as the foundation of mathematics. In 1903 Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead established logic as the cornerstone of mathematics with the publication of Principia Mathematica. The development of formal logic and its implementation in computing machinery is the foundation of computer science.
Description
The genre can be difficult to describe: the gameplay is usually abstract (but not always) often involving arranging geometric shapes to fulfill some goal or constraint. Often edge matching or colour matching plays an important role. Puzzle games usually strive to have a pick-up-and-play accessibility to them and to have an addictive quality. They are popular with travelers and commuters for the same general reasons as the airport novel: Low bars to accessibility, moderate levels of personal involvement, and a relatively easy and painless mode of abandoning and reaccessing one's progress in the event of being jostled or moved. They provide a welcome distraction from the jostling and inconvenience of travel.
Types of game
Some puzzle games feed the player a random assortment of blocks or pieces that they must organize in the correct manner, such as Tetris, Klax and Lumines. Others present a preset game board and/or pieces and challenge the player to solve the puzzle by achieving a goal (Bomberman, The Incredible Machine). Some of the games in the former category have a mode that plays like the latter. For example, in both Tetrisphere and Tetris Attack, there is an actual "puzzle mode" in which the player must clear a pre-defined board within a certain amount of moves.
Some games are not puzzle games, yet contain many puzzle elements, such as Resident Evil, Silent Hill and the Legend of Zelda series.
Because puzzle games are often so abstract, the term is sometimes used as a blanket term for games with unique and otherwise indescribable gameplay. Every Extend Extra is an example of this.
Puzzle games are often easy to develop and adapt: from dedicated arcade units, to home video game consoles, to personal digital assistants and mobile phones.
The game Minesweeper is notable because of the large installed user base (the game comes bundled with the Microsoft Windows operating system).
Author: Ales Orlic
Born: Slovenia,Europe
Living town: Zagreb,Croatia, Europe
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Born: Slovenia,Europe
Living town: Zagreb,Croatia, Europe
My Personal Blog's:
Home Blog
Weight Loss
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