Video game controllers are our windows into the soul of the machine, our sole means of interacting with them. More often than not, consumers seem displeased by their controllers; it's comforting to blame sticky, poorly laid out buttons for messing up your game than your own lacking skills. The original "fatty" Xbox controller was so large it caused mass consternation and prompted Microsoft to replace it with a smaller version in a matter of months.
In the mid '90s, there was no such thing as a widely available indie video game. Brick-and-mortar stores were the only places for consumers to buy games, and magazines were the only outlets to hear about them. For video game creators, the need for a publisher to market and distribute was logistically essential to attract players.
Do you remember when video games came on tiny chips in plastic cartridges? When the CD and 3D graphics just meant ugly games with long load times? Before epic cinematics, spoken dialog, or cordless controllers? Do you still have all of your old games and lament that the consoles, cords, and controllers required to play them have either been stolen by exes or broken while moving apartments?
Guitar Essentials My friends and I would secretly scribble tab in the darkly lit practice rooms in our university even though we were educated musicians. So, being able to read tablature, or tab, is essential for beginning guitarists.
Chi gyo ichi nyo is a familiar expression in the dojo. The word chi means knowledge. Gyo means doing, or action. Ichi nyo means inseparable. Action and knowledge are one! Acting without adequate knowledge or understanding is a constant source of frustration and problems. In our lives we are often busy and active without really understanding the basis of our actions and their full impact. Some people practice karate without really knowing why they are training. In class they do the techniques ...
Well, we have had a pretty basic story structure in the previous couple of blogs. However, for the third act there is considerable leeway on how this story can play out. You can turn a story like this into a tragedy or comedy. Remember the line from the film Stranger Than Fiction "Tragedy, you die. Comedy you get hitched." Well in the Action/Adventure story, almost anything goes. For instance, GUY does not have to die, but CHICK could perish tragically. However, avoid cliches like someone jum...
Last week I talked about the video / image side of things, and as promised here is the audio side. Sound is integral to all studio productions, but for most student and low budget production, it's the last thing filmmakers seem to think about, and one of the most noticeable problems with low budget stuff. Sound IS half the experience, and yet it is usually all but forgotten come production.
Three-dimensional printing is one of the many wonders of modern technology. It's the first step towards real life Star Trek replicators and Timeline-esque teleportation chambers. While we aren't at the level of reconstructing strands of DNA, it's already possible to make tons of fun and useful designs on a 3D printer.
Are you a Minecraft cake fanatic, but have a hard time gathering enough eggs together to satisfy your addiction? Have you ever wondered if there was an easier solution to getting those "hard to get" chicken eggs? Well, today we will be going over a method of chicken egg farming.
Oh yeah, this is a big topic, at-least for me. All the frequent flyers will/should be interested in this topic. I'm sure all of you have heard at-least something about the TSA, and most of it should have been bad. Complaints, lawsuits and general disgust surround this organization. Is there a reason, or are the 'extremist liberals' at it again? Let's find out!
What is a burn? It's a form of injury to body tissues which is caused by heat, corrosive substances or friction. There is another form of burn, which is known as scald; it results from exposure to hot water or steam.
Sergio Peralta Advisor: Jessica Davis
Google+ is the greatest social network to emerge since Facebook annoyed everyone into joining, but that doesn't necessarily mean that our relationship with it is all rosy. Although Google+ has amazing innovations, like hangouts and circles, users are spending a lot of time begging for core features that take what seems to be an eternity to emerge.
The philosophy of street art is a long and complex one. This is just the first in a series of the individual street art philosophys i have come across.
In many of my articles, I will refer to applications designed to empower Mac users to automate various tasks on their computer. One such application is called Hazel. Like smart folders, smart playlists, and smart albums found in Mac OS X and iPhoto, Hazel can automate the task of moving, copying, or deleting files in folders on your Mac. I recommend Hazel as one of the most essential applications for any Mac user. Let's explore how it works.
noob - Short for "newbie." Someone with little to no experience or skill. In some gaming communities, there is fierce debate over the distinction between "noob" and "newb"—one being derogatory while the other simply indicates being a novice. While some may argue the semantic differences, "noob" is the most common spelling seen around the internet, for both purposes.
It's really a shame that it is so hard for people to make money on the internet these days. The dot com bubble has receded and scams are plentiful on the web. There are, however, a couple of legitimate ways to make a few extra bucks online, Amazon Mechanical Turk, or MTurk for short, is one of them. The idea of MTurk is to hook up programmers with people that do tasks that computers can not, these tasks are called HITs (Human Intelligence Task). These tasks include article creation, creative ...
GreenYou can tell a lot about a person's thought process by MTG color they favor: Red: aggressive, unsubtle, will surpass an obstacle by blowing it to bits with the largest explosives available (or Fireballs, as the case may be
On a Wednesday evening when friends are going to a movie or out to dinner, you’re at the dojo training.
Working from home is already challenging. Add the threat of a cyberattack into the mix, and the situation gets even hairier.
When you type on a computer, you have the help of a mouse or trackpad to guide your cursor. Unless you set up a mouse with your iPhone, however, you don't have that option on the go. Therefore, iOS needs to come up with ways for you to move your cursor around to easy pick up typing where you want to. Among other solutions, Apple has a way to jump your cursor wherever you want.
Facebook's 'Safety Check' is a useful social media function — it provides users a comfort that in the event of an emergency, they can let friends and family know they are safe. While certainly not perfect, the service is now essential during disasters and tragedies. That service is finally getting some improvements, as Facebook rolls out new features and updates.
Many of you may already know that Soy milk is low on fat but at the same naturally high in proteins, essential fatty acids, and fibers. But if you're like me and can't stand the taste of Soy milk alone then I'll show you how to make it delicious by adding apples and cinnamon powder in this Apple Cinnamon Soya Shake recipe. Average preparation time: 10 Minutes
Getting sunburned sucks, and according to the Environmental Working Group's 2012 survey of over 800 sunscreen brands, 75% of them contained potentially harmful ingredients linked to hormone disruption and even cell damage that may lead you to skin cancer. Yikes.
Over 56 million Americans decided to skip breakfast this morning. That's 18 percent of the population. You're probably sick of hearing that the first meal of the day is the most important, but it's true—studies have shown that those who skip it consume more calories and fewer essential nutrients than regular breakfast eaters. Regardless of nutrition, who can pass up devouring a batch of warm, fluffy buttermilk pancakes drizzled in sweet maple syrup? And why, you ask, is there a giant hole in ...
Your Mac's Finder is an essential tool to doing all kinds of useful things, but as all the other functions on OS X get more and more complex, it seems like the Finder pretty much stays the same. It does have a simple, intuitive interface, but many users wish it could do more.
Many windows users, if not all, run into a virus infection once in a while. This is unavoidable when using Microsoft's operating system. Without digressing too much, the fact that Windows is such a popular OS with no controlled software sources makes it easy for viruses and malware to spread. And while there's a plethora of antivirus tools for Windows, sometimes infections (such as certain scareware) can disable the install and/or use of antivirus systems and render your OS unusable until cle...
When you first become interested in learning how to program, it can be difficult to find a place to start. A lot of questions come up, especially if you're new to the idea of programming entirely. After you pick which language you want to learn, you have to worry about how you're going to write the language.
There's a lot that you can do in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Sure, you can do the predictable thing and be a gay cat-man that shouts at dragons to death. But you can also take on even the most mundane of tasks. Want to make pies for twenty hours? There's an oven right over there, get baking. How about living an honest life as a blacksmith? Well, by golly, you can do it!
Dungeon Defenders is the most exciting craft game on the Fall 2011 release schedule. I got a chance to play it at PAX in August and interviewed developers Trendy Entertainment last month. After more than a year of publishing difficulty and delay, the game finally came out on PSN, XBLA and Steam. I put about 20 hours into the XBLA version over the past weekend, beating all the campaign maps and racking up a huge pile of in-game money. It is not a perfect game. But it is a huge, challenging, an...
Minecraft is not just a game. It is a creative tool. Over the past year and a half countless epic builds, servers, and community projects have been undertaken. I'm sure some of you have seen the one-to-one scale recreation of the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek or the epic server Godcraft. Countless projects such as these are being worked on as we speak, and they serve to inspire us all.
This week's 6-part series on Making Art on Your iOS Device comes to a close today with our last segment: a collection of useful apps for touring museums, galleries and street art. The apps below cover some of the world's greatest art meccas, so read on if you're planning an upcoming trip, if you live in one of the destinations listed below, or if you simply want to see what a faraway museum has to offer—from the comfort of your couch.
The relationship between developers and publishers in the video game industry has always been awkward. Many great game developers such as Bizzare Creations, Clover Studio, and Bullfrog Productions have been disbanded due to corporate shenanigans involving their publishers and owners. The indie game movement has risen largely as a response to this.
There’s no point to playing all of the different tower defense games available today. Most adhere to the original formula, so playing 2 or 3 really good ones (like those mentioned in my previous post) would be more efficient.
Jezebel's back with another Beauty 101 (1, 2, 3), and this time the issue at hand is body odor. Everybody gets a little stinky from time to time (some more than others), but have no fear- there are solutions. Jezebel readers also address problems such as pit stains, excessive sweating, and natural deodorant alternatives.
The human flag is one of the hardest tricks in all of gymnastics, parkour, freerunning and general playground acrobatics.
Remember what life was like before your iPhone? Before there were palm-sized smartphones with seemingly endless features, there were phones like Motorola's RAZR that peaked with its embedded camera. Before that, there were simple flip phones with texting capabilities, bulky two-pound Gordon Gekkos—even briefcase phones.
I've created this guide to give you some ideas for how to progress quickly as well as some basics for how to operate FrontierVille. My tips are merely suggestions based on my experience and you are welcome to explore and play the game at your own pace. I hope you benefit from my posts and look forward to answering questions and bringing you more useful information here and on the Facebook page in the future! (All these blue links take you to more content just like this page, click them for mo...
I've been dealing with emotional difficulty for many years. It started when I had surgery for the epilepsy I was dealing, and quite literally, dying with. Since the surgery on March 28, 1990 I have had no seizures, but I have had plenty of emotional difficulty. Along with that, surviving some traumatic events has added some emotional baggage...in other words struggling...along the way.
By Ethical Traveler As the world becomes ever more interconnected, being an ethical traveler becomes both easier and more urgent. Travelers today have access to far more information than we did even 10 years ago. We can observe–almost in real time–the impact that smart or selfish choices, by governments and individuals, have on rainforests and reefs, cultures and communities.