Games have been getting shorter in length over the last decade. RPGs like The Elder Scrolls series are still tremendously long, but most single-player game experiences have gotten shorter as production values, costs, and manpower requirements to create them have gone up. It seems that elite Japanese developers Level-5 and Brownie Brown have decided to completely disregard that trend for their forthcoming collaborative effort Professor Layton and the Last Specter, which will feature what might...
For more than a decade, free-to-play games with microtransactions (also called In-App Purchase or IAP) by which players can pay real money for in-game content have been the industry standard for online success in Asia. Mainstream American gamers have long resisted these "freemium" games, with World of Warcraft and other subscription based online games reigning supreme, and being seen as more AAA than their free-ish counterparts. Casual games developers have encountered no such problems, and m...
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Danish developer Playdead has made only one game, a little indie, side-scrolling, puzzle platformer called Limbo. It just happens to be far and away the best video game of that prominent genre (and perhaps the best indie game period) on the Xbox 360, and quite possibly for PlayStation 3 and PC, too. Critical and financial success has followed in droves, and today... Playdead has taken advantage of that success and indie-fied themselves even further by purchasing back the portion of the compan...
Crysis 2 is the current standard for high-quality graphics in video games. No other game looks so smooth, so colorful, so... ultra-real. German developer Crytek has built their reputation on PC game technology to the limit, and the CryENGINE 3 graphics engine they used to make Crysis 2 might be the most powerful tool for creating 3D video game graphics on Earth. As of yesterday, it's also free for anyone, yourself included, to download from Crytek's website here.
In the last decade, burglary rates in the United States have fluctuated little with over 2 million burglaries each year. In 2009, nearly three quarters of all burglaries were from residential properties, with over sixty percent being forcible entry. But we all know burglars don't like confrontation—they prefer breaking into apartments and houses when its owners are away. And that's why it's a must for apartment dwellers and homeowners to be on the defensive, even when they're not home.
(Difficulty Level: from Newby to Expert) Digital cameras can produce freaky sharp images—it’s one thing that sets them apart from film cameras. A DSLR doesn’t have grain, it has noise—and that sounds a lot less charming for a reason. If you shoot at a low ISO, high f-stop and fast shutter speed, you can wind up with a super sharp image that might look great even on a billboard. But sometimes, sharp isn’t everything.
They've been at it for a few years now, but the crazy group of amateur rocket scientists who call themselves Copenhagen Suborbitals have triumphed over adversity, successfully launching their DIY rocket nearly 2 miles into the sky last Friday. The privately funded, non-profit aims to one day send human beings into suborbital space on the cheap, without the need of government budgets and administration.
He may have just started his teenage years, but Laurence Rock's future is looking pretty good after inventing an ingenious doorbell device called Smart Bell. He's already sold 20,000 units to telecoms giant Commtel Innovate, and is securing a second deal with an unidentified company that will land him £250,000. That's over $400,000!
With give or take 250 million cars in America, odds are most city dwellers waste time hunting for parking spots. And while a smartphone app can't make free parking spots magically appear, it can aid in the searching process.
Yale University has opened up its museum archives to the public in digital form, providing free online access to high-resolution images from its cultural collections, making it the first Ivy League school to do so in this fashion. Currently, there's over 250,000 "open access" images available from their new online collective catalog, with the goal of providing scholars, artists, students and all other worldly citizens royalty-free, no-license access to images of public domain collections with...
I've always wanted a gigantic saltwater aquarium, but maintaining a big, beautiful fish tank is not only time consuming—it's expensive. Also, it's a potential hazard if you have children, pets or any other uncontrollable elements around the house.
By now, many of you may have heard about iPhone tracking and recording your location data, but is there anything else being extracted from cell phones without our knowledge? If you're a Michigan state resident, the answer is an alarming "maybe".
Beware the Canning Mission! The Zynga Community Forum is full of complaints about the new Canning Mission. Here is an outline:
When you look up the word free in the dictionary, you'll find a lot of definitions, but in the days of digital dependency and a falling economy, free only means one thing—expensive stuff for nothing. And if you own a Windows computer, one of the best sites to get free software from is Giveaway of the Day.
It's amazing how the years seem to slip by. One day you're a dreamy, starry-eyed college student. Hopeful intern the next. Before you know it, you're just a hard working stiff like the rest of them. Even though those college years don't seem too far in the past, it's always a shock when you come across an old photo and see a somewhat fresher, baby-faced version of yourself. Think about how shocking it would be to see a time-lapse recording of years gone by, each day incrementally displaying t...
After getting slammed with a crazy-big earthquake/tsunami, the Japanese nuclear plant Fukushima Daiichi might be on the brink of meltdown. Not as bad as Chernobyl, but maybe as bad as Three Mile Island. Nobody wishes such a disaster on anyone...anywhere in the world. In the US, there are about 100 nuclear facilities, about 8 of which are located near hot beds of seismic activity.
As a California resident, I'm all too familiar with the delicious western fast food chain In-N-Out. The food is great: the fries, the shakes, the fresh ingredients, the secret sauce. And of course, the secret menu. There are only 4 items posted on the in-store menu, but for customers in the know, there are more "secret" items available:
Immigration is a serious political issue in the United States, and those who oppose or support stricter immigration laws are often outspoken and candid about their beliefs, imposing their will on future legislation to not only politicians, but the general public—the voters. And what's the best way to reach the public? Entertainment.
If you tried visiting the Apple Store online this morning, you were probably prompted with the same notice as the one below, which lasted a good portion of the a.m. What could Apple have been doing to shut down their online store for so long?
There can be areas of preparation you may not have anticipated before you start your project of installing your laminate flooring.
Without Richard Channing Garfield the world would be a much grayer and less interesting place today, at least for all of us. He created Magic in college, playtested it throughout, accidentally found a publisher for it, and wound up the the most well-known and successful paper game designer in the world (sorry Guygax, make something new why don't ya?). He does not seek the limelight, has not had a snappy biography written about him (or his game, amazingly enough) and I thought we should pay a ...
AMD vs. Intel processors - How to pick your ideal PC. Okay figuring out what computer you want is one step, but figuring it out what it's used for could save you money and achieve you much better performance. Every dollar saved could be used for something else in that computer to make it last longer, stronger, faster and better in general.
Imagine this scenario: Late for work, you jump in the car. Going your usual 10 or maybe even 15 miles over the speed limit, suddenly a ball tumbles into the road, closely pursued by a little girl! Scared sh*tless, you slam on your brakes.
PopSci has compiled an amazing list of 30 college labs that would tempt anybody to re-enroll. If you know any high school juniors or prospective grad students, pass this along. They just might reconsider their initial choices.
Nowadays designer jeans cost anywhere between 100 and 200 bucks (or even more). Consumers have been converted to the concept that the fit and quality is just plain better. This is old news- everybody and their mother has joined the madness. However, what surprises me, is apparently you are not supposed to wash them.
FarmVille added a new feature today in place of the old Mystery Boxes. This is a mystery game! It costs a bit more than the old boxes did, but you are guaranteed to get at least one of each of the mystery prizes by the time all the balloons are popped, instead of wasting tons of farm cash and perhaps opening a hundred mystery boxes and never getting that one thing you really wanted. So this is a great improvement and is much more interactive than the old 'purple sparkly poof'.
Every day of the week, WonderHowTo curators are hard at work, scouring the web for the greatest and most inspiring how-to videos. Every Friday, we'll highlight our favorite finds.
The point of any workout is to stress your body and initiate an adaptive training response. Period. What are appropriate levels of stress necessary to achieve the adaptive response? In terms of the cardiovascular system, studies have shown that it usually takes about two minutes to get the heart rate into the training zone. Once there, the heart shows an adaptive response after five more minutes of training in the zone. Total minutes needed to get an adaptive response from your heart? Seven.
New Levels! Levels 70-90 released. You will get your 20 farm cash if you skip straight to 90 because you had enough xp, or the appropriate amount for however many levels you've completed.
You may have already heard of Zazzle, an online service that allows you to print on a variety of goods (tees, mugs, posters, etc.). You can design-it-yourself, or choose from Zazzle's library of available designs.
So, you've made your first zine. Now what? That depends on a couple things:
DVice posts six of the world's most powerful telescopes and, man, they are HUGE. Check it out. The Keck I and Keck II
Dating sites are getting more and more culture specific, and this week's brand new girl + guy site offers a very specific service. Cute girls are paid to play video games. Gamer dudes pay to play with them.
Preparing answers is essential for any job interview. Completing this video will walk you through preparing opening job interview answers, example based answers, responses to difficult job interview questions and the best answers to questions about your weak areas.
Researching the job market thoroughly and with the correct resources is important to the advancement of your career. Watching this video will establish how to research your career options, find information about companies and familiarize yourself with job titles that are a fit for the degree and/or certifications you have earned as well as your professional background. Find the perfect job today!
How much do the producers of Lonely Girl make? How much do the producers of American Idol make? How much does COPS cost to make? I decided to share what I have learned for the CES audience in Vegas.
WikiLeaks. In recent weeks, it's been the hottest topic on the web. It's been attacked on a multinational level by political influence peddling.
Another media player bites the dust. First, we saw the extinction of the phonograph and gramophone. Then came the fall of eight-track tapes. Even modern record players became more and more obsolete, with DJs switching over to the world of digital music. And today— the end of cassette players! What's next? Compact discs?
In a recent arbitrage tip, we showed you the secret to making money fast by buying and selling the same thing over and over again on eBay. But there's one thing you need to know about the buying part—get the lowest price possible! This article aims to show you some of the best methods to making sure you're paying the lowest prices on eBay, so you're the best arbitrageur out there, with your profits higher than ever!
