January 16, 2010 at 1:33 pm      Games

Sega

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January 16, 2010 at 1:33 pm      Games

These are some of the most popular and best-selling games for the Pocket PC, available for download on the Internet.

Scrabble, developed by Handmark (www.handmark.com), features a built-in Official Scrabble Player’s Dictionary and an optional full-definition dictionary to view the definitions of each word as they are played. You can play in two different modes – Friendly and Tournament mode – against an automated computer opponent or real opponents using multiple devices with IR (infrared) beaming. Registration is $29.99.

GameBox Solitaire by PDAmill (www.pdamill.com), is a pack that includes ten popular card games, featuring good graphics, nice music and sound effects, smooth card animations, alpha effects, and great playability. The GameBox Solitaire is available for download on PDAmill website (www.pdamill.com) for $14.95.

Pocket War, developed b MetalShard (www.metalshard.com), is a strategic turn-based war game in which you start with a single city that can produce an assortment of war machines and troops in order to try and defeat the automated computer opponent. The new version 1.58 is more realistic and includes additional options. You have to register the demo ($24.97) in order to unlock the Save, multiplayer-disabled, 150 turns max options.

PocketSlay, from Sean O’Connor’s Windows Games (www.windowsgames.com), is a strategy game with a medieval set, where the main island is divided up between the six players. The game objective is to try and capture the enemies

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January 16, 2010 at 1:33 pm      Games

For the past weeks, there were talks that Microsoft is going to take advantage of the holiday season to offset the launch of the PS3 from Sony. It was speculated that there would be Xbox 360 price slash. As a result, most gamers waited for the price slash and the PS3′s release before deciding which console to get. However, to the disappointment of everyone, John Porcaro, US Microsoft’s PR guy recently came out with a statement from the MS bigwigs that there would be no price slash for the newest Xbox model.

Quite understandably, since Xbox 360 is already selling at half the value of the new Sony console. The cheaper Nintendo Wii targets a different gaming audience so Microsoft does not consider it as a threat. Also, perhaps, there is some truth in what the UBS analysts predicted last year. According to UBS analysts, Microsoft subsidizes the cost of their new console by $75. This is the reason they are able to sell for a lower price. Some rumors even persist that other than the subsidized $75, Microsoft is losing as much as $100 per console. This is due to Microsoft’s inability to produce their own core manufacturing systems. They get the parts of their core hardware still from Intel and NVIDIA which require them to pay royalties.

To add insult to injury, the company is reported to be still suffering from losses incurred from Xbox sales. They reportedly used the same subsidy system for the older Microsoft console. The math goes pretty bad for Microsoft since the consoles have high production costs but are only sold at a meager price. Microsoft neither confirm nor deny these reports but they report that they have hit their mark for the year.

It is not a mystery how Microsoft was able to survive the losses. The company sells different console accessories and do effective marketing. Statistics reveal that most Microsoft console users have at least one accessory for enhancement of the game experience. Let’s not even talk about the games. Most analysts suggest that the bulk of the gains Microsoft received this year was from the sales of game titles. With a new title release almost every month and DRM protection, games are mostly bought and owned individually. The games do not cost much when taken individually; the cost only becomes staggering when you think about the accumulated price. Microsoft gains from all these.

Regarding Xbox 360 price slash, I think that consumers can still hope. The holiday market is a big one. It is also the time when people are more generous to themselves and others. Microsoft and their new Xbox would have trouble resisting an opportunity such as this. Sony is pushing for a close to $600 price, and though expensive, there is somebody out there who would buy it. The holidays are times of giving and sharing, isn’t it? But if the consumer is faced with a more difficult choice, say, three Xbox 360s for one PS3, the balance usually tips to the more economical side. Same quality, cheaper price, more people can enjoy it. That is what you call spreading holiday cheer.

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January 16, 2010 at 1:33 pm      Games

The word wars between Sony and Microsoft just won’t die down. With Microsoft’s Peter Moore’s ragging about the PS3 games console’s price, surely, people don’t expect the Sony CEO, Steve Howard, to turn the other cheek. It’s pathetic to see two guys in power suits and power ties bicker like two kids in a playground. Sounds to me like they’re fighting about who could spit the farthest. But since Moore has been hounding publicity, well, we might as well give shy Howard a chance to defend his PS3 games.

It can be recalled that Peter Moore of Microsoft used Sony console’s price as a spring board in launching a new Xbox 360 marketing campaign. Moore released statements that gamers get more value in buying a Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360 for the value of a single PS3 games console. No doubt that the statement made even hard-core Sony fans hesitant about buying a PS3. After all, $600 is big money. Plus, the possibility given by Moore is a no-brainer: it is a choice between two next-gen consoles and more gaming options or one PS3. Sony has to act; and the usually quiet Steve Howard finally broke his silence.

In a recent press conference in Tokyo, Sony Corp’s Steve Howard released a statement justifying the new Sony console’s price. He claimed that the in buying a PS3 games console, the consumers are actually buying potential. Such a vague statement needed further clarification and Howard obliged. According to him, though the PS3 console is admittedly pricier ($599) than Microsoft’s Xbox 360 ($300) or Nintendo’s Wii($250), it provides users Blu-ray technology– touted to be the technology of the future. Further, if the new Sony console’s performance reaches its full potential, users would benefit from higher technology and longer years of use. Howard also implied in his statement that Xbox 360s and the Wii’s are cheaper because they are merely “transitional” consoles with inferior technology when compared to the futuristic PS3.

However, market analysts and yours truly, seriously doubt this claim by Howard. Times are hard, and people are sure to think about whether the PS3 games console deserves its price tag. This can look bad quickly for Sony because reviews show that PS3′s Blu-ray-supported graphics are only equal to that of the cheaper consoles. If there are differences, these are highly indistinct, unless you want to spend game time analyzing the graphic pixels. Even the controller is deemed inferior to that of the PS1 from seven years ago.

In fact, the Wii sports a much better controller. Also, Howard’s potential-based argument is stretched too thin and poorly supported. What if the new PS3 didn’t reach its full potential? Then, there is the case of disappointed consumers whining over their loss. What about the long years of use? I doubt that five years would pass before the gaming giants come up with a new console prototype. Surely, Howard can come up with something stronger than an argument based on “potential”. PS3 games enthusiasts need more fuel for their cause. Meantime, do you know what I’m excited to hear about? Peter Moore’s response to Sony’s “potential”.

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January 16, 2010 at 1:33 pm      Games

The Nintendo DS was a long anticipated handheld console, and no one knew what to expect. Nintendo has controlled the handheld market for a long time, but had been slimming in the general console section. And with news of the Sony PSP, could Nintendo still stay on top?

Holding the Dual Screen may be a little awkward at first, just like the GameCube controller is at first, but once you play for a bit it gets very comfortable, though people with bigger hands may have trouble pressing the R and L buttons, as I have had multiple times. The free demo you get with a Nintendo DS may be fairly short, but it’s easily worth the price tag ($0.00). There are three training challenges you can do (Regulator, Survivor, Morph Ball). Out of the box you can do wireless multiplayer, which is very fun, but does get slightly repetitive with the choice of only 3 maps, all of which are fairly small. Remember the Nintendo 64? Well, the graphical capabilities seem to be around that, if not slightly better. The textures can seem a little dodgy at times, but the characters, effects, and objects are nice enough not to want to gouge your eyes out.

The DS launch brought a lot of debating. Games were lacking, Sony fanboys were bagging it out, and generally, as I said before, no one knew what to expect. The Nintendo DS is a solid handheld system and has a bright future.

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January 16, 2010 at 1:33 pm      Games

Online gaming, i.e. games played over the Internet, originally started with PC games and now includes the latest modern consoles. The first console in the arcade game world was the Sega Dreamcast. The console is now essential to modern arcade games, with the advent of Internet connectivity in consoles such as the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Gamecube; portable consoles such as the PSP that use Wi-Fi; and in mobile/cellular phones.

Online games require multi-player facility; hence, the most popular game genres include massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG), first person shooter (FPS) games, racing/driving games, strategy games, and sports titles, where more than one person can play the game.

A MMORPG is an online computer role-playing game in which a large number of players can interact with or against one another in the same game at the same time. Once a player enters the game world they can engage in a variety of activities with other players ranging from chatting with their friends or other members to teaming up in order to kill enemies or complete complex tasks or quests that are not possible solo.

A first-person shooter (FPS) game is a combat game on PC or video, characterized by the player

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January 16, 2010 at 1:33 pm      Games

One of the best ways to sharpen your child

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January 16, 2010 at 1:33 pm      Games

Ever since video game designers were able to put red pixels on their imaginary characters that had recently deceased, there have been people crusading against their subversive ways. The outrage at video games seems to be cyclic, fading very briefly before exploding into the public eye once more with renewed frenzy. The controversy seems to have sparked up again in recent times, with numerous crimes being blamed on the corruptive influence of video games. There have also been various “controversies” surrounding recent video games and their content in the areas of both violence and sexuality.

The first game to receive widespread criticism and media attention was the martial art fighting game “Mortal Kombat”. This game included large spurts of blood emitted from attacks and also “Fatalities” that could be performed on stunned opponents after their defeat. These Fatalities were gruesome animation sequences showing the victorious player killing their defeated opponent in a vast variety of ways. Gamers revelled in this new experience and the controversy surrounding the violence caused mass hype that informed the less informed gamers that the game was out there. Consequently gamers played the new game just to find out what all the talk was about, thereby greatly increasing revenue.

One of the largest sparks of controversy has been the recent “Hot Coffee” modification for “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (GTA:SA)”. This involved unlocking a sexually oriented mini-game that had been removed from the game before release, although evidently not from the source code. The creators of the game, Rockstar Entertainment, obviously realised that this particular part of the game was not appropriate for the video gaming public and removed access to it. An enterprising fan of the game found out and modified the original code to give access to the content once again. Lawsuits were brought against Rockstar for including such content in their game, although the validity of the lawsuit has to be questioned. If the game is simply purchased and played as intended by the developers, this admittedly tasteless and inappropriate mini game would never be encountered. It is not until the user-made modification is downloaded and installed that the player is able to access the content.

Regardless of who’s to blame, “GTA: SA” was re-rated in America and banned from sale in Australia. Oddly enough the gratuitous and encouraged violence in the game went largely unnoticed in the wake of the “scandalous” sex scenes involving clothed, cartoonesque people.

When examined objectively almost all games contain a certain amount of violent content. The kid-friendly bright and colourful “Mario” games by Nintendo feature a character stomping on animated creature’s heads. In fact the majority of games, even children’s games, involve the protagonist crusading against an enemy horde of some sort and generally “disposing” of them in some manner, whether it be striking them with a weapon or body part (feet, hands, possibly a tail depending on the nature of the character). The only real stand out difference is that in a children’s game the ‘bad’ characters will generally bounce backwards in a cute manner and explode with a humorous puff sound (or simply disappear) whereas in a game oriented towards older mature players, the characters are more likely to be (somewhat) realistic, spraying a gusher of red upon their demise.

Whenever some young person somewhere commits a violent crime these days it seems to get blamed on a video game, from “Duke Nukem” and “Quake” being accused for the Columbine High massacre, to a more recent incident involving a group of minors attributing their violent actions to the “Mortal Kombat” video games. Without any solid evidence either way it’s hard to say whether or not video game violence actually has much of an influence on players. To really be sure you’d probably have to have a control group of isolated children that have never seen a violent movie or played a bloodthirsty video game. History does however show that brutal crimes were committed long before video games or even movies came into existence.

Children are quite easily influenced by something that they’re excited about and I’ve seen this happen a lot. Playing a wrestling video game with a group of eight year olds often leads to the eight year olds screaming raucously and trying to pin each other down on the ground. Pre-teens will often punch and kick their way out of a cinema in terrible combat stances after having viewed a martial arts movie. The current content rating system in place is not geared towards consumer restriction; it is largely aimed at simply informing the public about what they are going to experience. Legal restrictions are not actually put in place until the higher, more severe ratings like in x-rated films. Parents, guardians, and society in general need to start taking an interest in who is viewing certain types of content. Instead of complaining about the entertainment a child is enjoying, the parent could be there at the beginning looking at the rating that is printed clearly on the packaging of all entertainment. A simple “I don’t think that’s suitable, how about this game? It has a lizard!” distracts the child a surprising number of times. In my experience, children genuinely just want people to take an interest in what they’re interested in, not just murmuring indistinctly, “Yes dear, that’s nice.” as the child installs the newest violent game.

What about the children that are playing the games in the restricted ratings categories? The only way that they can even get the game into their possession is if a parent (or someone of legal age) purchases the game for the child, or if the store disregards the rating guidelines in place and sells it to them regardless. Either way the fact that a game’s content has fallen into a minor’s hands is not the fault of the game developer.

I’m not out to defend the integrity of artistic vision presented in video games as many other gamers are. Frankly there seems to me to be little artistic integrity in rendering blood that is ever more liquid in appearance. I do however enjoy playing some games that are quite violent in nature and in many cases the violent nature of the game increases my enjoyment. Video games are escapism, there’s (arguably) no point in playing a video game that simulates something you can just walk outside and do (and yet sports games somehow consistently sell in large numbers… curious…). Interestingly I have never yet felt the overwhelming desire to break down into a kung fu stance and commit murder. Perhaps more important than simply banning questionable content in video games would be studying why this content is so appealing to today’s society?

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January 16, 2010 at 1:33 pm      Games

The news is out: the PS3 games console is to be launched simultaneously around the globe in November 2006. But despite the grand global launch plan for the PS3 games console, there are doubts about its impact on the market. Even more, game analysts doubt if this global launch can help Sony regain lost market because of the earlier release of Microsoft’s Xbox 360. There are also many speculations why the new PS3′s launch keeps getting delayed.

Though Sony claims that the delays were due to digital rights management or DRM troubles, many analysts believe otherwise. Analysts pose more pressing issues as reasons for the PS3 games console’s launch delays. Eiichi Katayama, an analyst from Tokyo-based Nomura Securities’ Financial & Economic Research, suggests that the delays are probably caused by the slow progress of graphics chip development. Others offer reasons such as insufficiency of appropriate software titles. However, Sony is quick to dismiss these rumors and again reiterated the problem of DRM for their Blu-ray optical drive.

Blu-ray chips provide the new console with removable PS3 storage capacity that is five times bigger than the storage provided by DVDs of older consoles. Reports that PS3′s Blu-ray and DRM feature are almost finished make them unlikely causes of delays. According to Katayama, ROM mark and BD+ licensing have already started which make copy protection technology an implausible reason. Analysts believe that if DRM technology really cause the delay, the profit from PS3 games console would not suffer too much. However, if the reasons are as they believe — graphics chip development — the sales impact would probably be the worst in Sony’s history.

Sony contradicts the analysts’ measure of the situation and denies that the delays set the PS3 games console and the company at a disadvantage behind Microsoft and Xbox 360. Xbox 360 hit the stores last year and is still the top gaming console according to market trends. Jennie Kong, Sony’s European branch’s PR manager, defends the company’s strategy and claims that the company doesn’t allow itself to be dictated by their competitors’ moves. However, history supports the analysts’ views of the matter. It can be recalled that Microsoft and Sony had once faced the same situation, only this time, Sony has the advantage with the early release of their PS2 over the first Xbox. Current Analysis’ Steve Kovsky reminds that at that time, Microsoft suffered huge losses; clearly, Sony is slated for the same fate with PS3.

If Sony pushes for the November 2006 launch, it gives the Xbox 360 a full year sales advantage. However, the PS3 games franchise’s problem does not end with the launch’s delays. Rumors and news are circulating that even before its game console’s launch, Sony is planning to outlaw its resale. Different sources claim that Sony plans to sell the new consoles with their own individual licenses. This effectively prohibits second-hand sales in person or in online shops like Amazon.com and eBay.com. In essence, buyers are only purchasing the license to use the consoles; Sony still holds the proprietorship of the product. Game analysts comment that this is a logical move, if proven true. Sony would need all the push it can have to increase the sales of individual PS3 units.

The company refrains from making comments about the allegations no licensing. They maintain that all important announcements have been made during the E3 trade show and all other announcements would be made on the PS3 games console launch. This announcement, instead of putting a stop to the rumor mill only fuel the fire. But as it is, there is nothing gamers can do but just play their PS3 games and wait.

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January 16, 2010 at 1:33 pm      Games

Kakuro puzzles are the latest craze that is currently making great waves in the puzzle game field. It also has played a significant impact in many areas around the world. These puzzles are closely following the footsteps of the Sudoku puzzles that is currently enjoying worldwide success. Kakuro puzzles are also known as a numbers game, which require simple and pure logic as well as a basic knowledge of the addition and subtraction mathematical concepts.

Also referred as Cross Sums, especially during its early days, Kakuro puzzles are also considered by many as the numerical equivalent of the crossword puzzle. This is because it makes use of numbers instead of the usual words. And just like the crossword, the Kakuro also comes in various sizes, from the compact size to the giant size, and ranges, from the very easy to the extremely hard.

The modern version of Kakuro puzzles nowadays comes in a variety of forms. While the traditional type, which is of the square and rectangular shape, is still around, referred to as the classic kakuro, there are other variations of the puzzle game which have already been developed and which can surely catch the attention of many puzzle game enthusiasts. There is, for instance, the holey kakuro, which is similar to the classic kakuro, except for the fact that it has holes in the middle. Then there is the round kakuro which, as its name suggests, is round on the outside, although the shape is actually more diamond-like, with some versions having holes in the middle as well.

Today, with the advent of modern technology, Kakuro puzzles now also come out in computer software program formats, which naturally makes the game more enjoyable to play, in terms of visuals. The puzzle has also found it way on the worldwide web, where kakuro players are given the opportunity to try to solve the puzzle online. One can even get to see how other players are faring as far as solving the puzzle is concerned. Kakuro news and articles as well as various techniques and strategies designed to either make the game more enjoyable to play or make it easier to solve are also available on the internet.

However, many people still prefer to play Kakuro puzzles the old-fashioned or traditional way, which is the pen-pushing method. That is why the game is still being published in many newspapers as well as magazines. This is part of the reason why a new monthly magazine, known as the Kakuro Light, was conceptualized. Formally launched last March in the Netherlands by Sanoma Uitgevers B.V., the magazine, of course, carries the popular Kakuro puzzles and is marketed primarily for beginners of the game who are nevertheless eager to know how the puzzle is being played as well as finding out why this new puzzle kind in town is fast gaining the imagination as well as fancy of everyone who just happens to love the thrill of a puzzle game.

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