Alternate Reality Games
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gaminghub
If you are looking for a thrilling alternative to video games which involve a more tactile and personalised experience you may want to look into the exciting world of alternate reality games. ARGs are interactive entertainment worlds which use the real world around the player as the platform for the action. Once they have entered into the game the player uses various forms of media to bring them through it. This type of game has been used for a wide variety of purposes since its inception, including marketing campaigns and pure entertainment thrill rides.
 The thrust of the game is usually mystery solving, with the organisers of the game releasing clues to a mystery through websites, emails and phone-lines which the community of players must piece together. Generally this means that, no matter where the AGR takes the player, the central spine of the story must be the internet as this allows the game to keep in contact with the player. Within this medium there is, however, an incredible amount of room for experimentation and variety. For example, the Swedish ARG The Truth About Marika connected its action with that of a popular TV show. Each week a live TV debate about the case of a fictional missing woman was staged and the case would be influenced by players who were in contact with the game through the internet and their mobile phones. Clues would be released on websites and email and the actions of the players would affect the outcome of the TV show. This AGR won numerous awards for its unique and innovative structure.
Another widely acclaimed AGR was Tim King's Conspiracy for Good. King, who previously created TV's Heroes, created this game so that participants could influence the action while performing tasks that would do actual good in the real world. This idea of charity gaming is truly revolutionary and has resulted in the building of five new libraries in Africa.
AGRs have truly opened up all kinds of exciting new avenues for gamers.
Tags: AGR, Tim King, The Truth About Marika, Video Games
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Grand Turismo 5 Review
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gaminghub
Grand Turismo is probably one of the best driving games that have ever been designed. In fact, since its debut version came out, everyone has been stunned by how the game was developed. It always performed superiorly to its era. This world leading game has now come to its 5th version. The new Grand Turismo 5 is available for the PlayStation 3, which enhances graphics incredibly. The combination of Grand Turismo's incredible game play and PlayStation's leading graphic system has been the main reason for this game's success.
 If you are a car lover, you will know what I am talking about when I say there is nothing better than racing any car, on any track, and listening to its actual engine sound. Yes, you heard it right! The new version includes every car's actual sounds. Every single one of the car models that are available inside the game was taken into a studio to record its sound and place it unedited into the game. Plus, various tracks and handling methods were analyzed to create a more realistic racing experience. It is harder to turn at high speeds, your handling capacities change from car to car and from track to track, and you can really drive any car as you like with the manual transmission.
There are definitely no limits, no rules and no cons on this world-leading game. It is just a matter of time until we get to see the new and greatly-improved Grand Turismo 6, which we are waiting for anxiously.
Tags: Grand Turismo 5, Review, Playstation 3
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Gaming & Society
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gaminghub
If you are old enough, you will agree with me to say that no one ever thought about games as they look today, 30 years ago. It is impressing, but the human being has been populating the earth for 7 million years now, and it had never evolved technologically as it has been doing it during the last 100 years. Our population was also doubled during these 100 years. We evolved impressively in this period of time, and that makes technological advances be made more quickly and in a bigger magnitude.
When it comes to gaming, the advances we have seen are just a reflection of what users ask for and demand. Back in the 80's, our gaming technology was limited to a bi-color, 1 inch screen in which we could drive a little ugly car. Today, these kinds of gadgets are rarely seen, and they are included in cereal boxes. Thirty years ago, they were more expensive than a hundred cereal boxes.
Our society is being constantly affected by many technological advances. Some say that these advances can end up ruining humans' connection with nature and what surrounds them. Some say the more time we spend in front of a screen, the less we will value everything out of it.
This might be true. However, technology is not the one to blame. Technology can be a great tool if it is used correctly. In fact, you wouldn't be reading this article if it wasn't for technology. Our society's problem is that it is using technology in the wrong way.
Tags: Gaming, Society, Technology, Screen, Advances
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Gaming & Education: Pros
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gaminghub
The games of today are not entirely bad for our children. In fact, some of them can benefit them greatly in certain areas of their development. It has been said that an excessive use of these games can cause children to under develop analytic and creative areas of their brains. Also, they can consume time that should be used in proactive and educational activities. Consequently this excess can end affecting the kid's life latter, as an adult at their daily activities.
Well, if you really pay attention to the last paragraph, you will see that there is a key word. That word is “Excess”. Not only gaming, but any activity done in excess is negative for a child's development. Does that mean gaming is not bad for children if it is done limitedly? Exactly! Today's games are mostly strategic and analytic. A kid's strategic and motor capacities can be developed better with the use of some games. Not all games are adequate for the development of brain processes. For example, games that are mostly about killing and require no major thinking are totally negative for a child's brain.
Experts recommend that kids spend no more than an hour and a half per day playing strategic games. Doing this will effectively help the kid develop a good brain-hand motor capacity as well as its strategic processes. Some games have the same effect in kids' minds as chess and other brain developing activities.
The way games affect children is totally up to their parents. If they are very careful about what their kids see and play, gaming could even be a positive thing to their brains.
Tags: Gaming, Education, Pros, Children, Excessive
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Gaming & Education: Cons
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gaminghub
Gaming has definitely affected our children's education today. Some years ago, this was not a reality, as no one spent hours playing in front of a screen instead of doing their homework. However, this problem has been existent during the last fifteen years approximately. When the first computer games were launched, they were such a success that everyone was into playing them. Those who didn't have a computer, which were very expensive in those times, would save to get one just to play a couple of games everyone was talking about. Our thirst for technology and innovation has taken us to the point in which practically every kid of the modern world has used or is currently using a gaming console.
Education is a child's first priority. Recreation is just one of their needs, and of course, it has to be respected and covered. However, one of the most common and serious mistakes made by parents is that they use these gaming solutions as their programmed babysitters. Whenever parents are unable to take care of their children, it seems easier to them to simply turn on the gaming console and leave them playing for hours. However, this excessive use of electronic games causes serious damages to the analytic and creative capacities of the kid. In fact, these effects last till the moment the kid grows up. Consequently, the individual could be unable to perform efficiently at their job due to this gaming disorder in childhood. Your job as a parent or a tutor is to limit the time your kids spend playing these games. Do activities that could develop their brains better, like playing outside or strategic table games.
Tags: Gaming, Education, Cons, Children, Education
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Impressive Evolution
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gaminghub
Have you taken a close look to the way human technology has evolved in the last 100 years? If not, let me explain a little about how things happened. Let's go really far back in time, to when human beings started living. History reveals that humanity has been populating the earth for 7 million years now. So, our population started with a number of people, a small one. About 3 million years later, our population consisted of 40 thousand people approximately. So, we practically took 3 million years to increase our population to 40 thousand. Logically, our growth had to be exponential as the more people reproduced the more people that had to be born.
By year 1900, our population exceeded three point four billion people. That sounds more like a planet's population. However, it still took us about 3 million years just to gain 3.4 billion people. Now, here is the shocking part. From 1900 to 2000, our population came from being 3.4 billion to 6.5 billion people. How is it possible that we took 3 million years to bring 3 billion people to the earth, and 100 years were enough to double that number?
Well, our growth has been exponential and practically unexplainable. However, it is easy to develop systems with more people living on the earth. That is the main reason why our games, electronic devices, and so many other things have advanced so much. Games from one hundred years ago were nowhere close to what we know today. However, we owe it all to the human population evolution.
Tags: Evolution, Technology, Humans, Population, Billion
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Duke Nukem Forever
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gaminghub
After more than a decade of being stuck in developer limbo, Duke Nukem Forever is finally done. This was announced by game developers, 2K Games and Gearbox Software, stating that the game had gone “gold”---meaning it was already completed.
“Duke Nukem Forever is the game that was once thought to be unshippable, and yet here we are, on the precipice of history,” said 2K Games president, Christoph Hartmann.
“Today marks an amazing day in the annals of gaming lore, the day where the legend of Duke Nukem Forever is finally complete and it takes that final step towards becoming a reality,” he continued.
3D Games creative director, George Broussard, called the development and final release of Duke Nukem Forever “legendary” and an “epic journey”.
“Duke Nukem Forever and its journey to store shelves is legendary. It's an epic tale of four game developer studios that banded together and did the unthinkable, and shipped the unshippable. When you play this game, you will be reminded of that epic journey at every turn and in every small detail of the game,” said Broussard.
The launch of Duke Nukem Forever is set for June 10th internationally and June 14th in North America. The game is available for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Those who pre-ordered the game or purchased the Borderlands Game of the Year edition will have access to the demo, which will be released on June 3rd.
Duke Nukem Forever has been in development since 1997 and a number of jokes have been formed about its much delayed development timeline. It has been called Duke Nukem “fornever”, “(taking)forever”, and “Neverever”. Some have noted that the initials DNF also stand for “did not finish”, which is racing car parlance to refer to drivers or cars which did not cross the finish line and did not complete the race.
Tags: Duke Nukem Forever, PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3
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Diablo III Update
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gaminghub
Game developer, Blizzard, announced at the Blizzcon, that players of its soon to be released Diablo III, will have the ability to customize all twenty of their character's skills with the use of five different colored Runestones.
Whereas in past iterations of the game, these runestones were placed in the sockets, and these stones are applied to the skills of a player's character. There are five colors---indigo, crimson, golden, obsidian and alabaster, which are able to change the skills of a character in different ways. The ways that the colors affect a character's skill follow a single theme. For instance, a crimson runestone will increase the damage that can be inflicted while a golden one decreases the damage.
These stones also come in different ranks of power. The higher the stones rank, the more dramatic the effect it has on the skill which it enhances.
For instance, when a barbarian uses a crimson stone to his whirlwind skill, the effect is to shoot bits of rock and gravel in every area, increasing area damage. The indigo stone allows the spawning of smaller whirlwinds that inflict direct damage to enemies. The obsidian stone makes the barbarian immune to immobilizing effects, while the golden stone reduces fury cost. Finally, the alabaster stone allows for critical strikes against enemies, confusing them and forcing them to attack their companions for a short time.
On the monk, a red runestone has the effect of increasing the area of damage to its sweeping wind skill by adding a flurry of blades. Indigo stones add fire damage to this kind of attack as well as expand the area of effect. An obsidian stone creates a persistent whirlwind around the character which harms enemies that come into contact with it. The golden stone increases spirit regeneration while the alabaster stone creates a powerful sandstorm, damaging enemies and pushing them back.
For other examples check the Blizzard website.
Tags: Blizzard, Diablo III, Runestones, Blizzcon
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Konami's Birds of Steel
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gaminghub
Flight sim fans have something new to look forward to, as Konami has formally announced the release of its newest flight simulation game for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 gaming platforms.
Birds of Steel is touted by Konami and game developer Gaijin Entertainment as “the most realistic World War II air-combat experience” and will take the player through the major battles of the war, including Midway, Guadalcanal, Coral Sea, Siege of Malta and Pearl Harbor.
The game features both a single and online player experience with support for up to sixteen players. There are 20 missions based on history while others are fictional. The game features fifteen campaigns and allows gamers to use over 100 World War II aircrafts such as the P-51, Messerschmitt 109, the Spitfire and the Japanese Zero.
Realistic flight environments, weather conditions and day to night cycles are also some of the other things one can expect from the game. To make things more exciting, there are monthly dogfight tournaments and the ability to create, edit and share your gameplay footage. Konami notes that players will also have access to additional content through DLC.
“Far too long, the first person shooter fans have been tied to the foot soldier point of view, with the rare ability to experience realistic flight simulations or combat situations,” said Konami Digital Entertainment Inc. president, Shinji Hirano.
“Birds of Steel pushes the throttle of realism by giving fans what they've been missing: cooperative online gameplay, life-like VFX and game dynamics, and a campaign that encompasses some of history's most memorable aerial battles,” Hirano added.
Gaijin Entertainment is not new to flight simulators. Its past games include IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey, which was well received by fans and gamers. Their other games include Wings of Luftwaffe, Apache Air Assault and World of Planes..
Birds of Steel is scheduled to be released by early 2012.
Tags: Birds of Steel, Konami, Gaijin
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Sony = $3.2 Billion Loss
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gaminghub
The double whammy of a hacker attack on its online gaming service and production disruptions from Japan's tsunami have resulted in a $3.2 billion loss for Sony Corporation for the fiscal year which ended on March 2011.
Sony, the Japanese manufacturer of the Playstation 3 console and flat panel TV's announced the loss ahead of its official earnings announcement under Tokyo Stock Exchange rules. It had earlier predicted a profit of about $860 billion.
The electronics manufacturer was one of the many Japanese manufacturers affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Production shortages have resulted in a scarcity of parts. Sony's chief financial officer, Masaru Kato, said these shortages have eased but full recovery is yet to be had.
“Our supply chain was significantly damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. In addition to direct damages, component-procurement conditions and power outages are also affecting our operation,” Kato stated.
Sony anticipates spending $134 million to fix buildings, machinery, equipment and inventories but also expects insurance to cover many of these costs.
The hacker attack on its online gaming service not only affected millions of its subscribers, but also cost the company dearly. Sony spent about $170 million to cover costs for improvements to its network security, free access to content, identity theft insurance for its customers and an investigation into the incident.
“These amounts are our reasonable assumption based on the information currently available to Sony. So far, we have not received any confirmed reports of customer identity theft issues, nor confirmed any misuse of credit from the cyber-attack,” Kato said.
“Those are key variables, and if that changes, the costs could change,” he added.
For the fiscal year 2012, the electronics giant expects the earthquake to cost the company a total of $1.83 billion in consolidated operating income.
“With respect to our forecast for consolidated results for the fiscal year ending March 2012, even after taking into account the impact of the earthquake, we are expecting our consolidated sales to grow year-on-year and operating income to be flat year-on-year,” Kato said.
Tags: Sony, Playstation 3, Masaru Kato
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