It's one of the greatest fears among parents and politicians the world over—video game violence spilling out into reality. The shooting at Columbine and the more recent tragedy in Utøya, Norway have touched deep nerves in Western consciousness. And that's why there's a giant pink, juggling elephant in the corner of every production meeting and press conference for each shooter game that comes out.
One of the reasons I love living here in Northern Chile is the great variety of personalities represented in the people who live here. Truly, the culture we enjoy in Northern Chile is as diverse as the history of this region, and by reason of Zofri and the multinational customers it serves, we enjoy a variety of cultures from all over the world. I love the people of Northern Chile. They make me smile. I met an Iquiqueno during my first week in Iquique years ago who had that effect on me. As I...
Every year at the big video game trade shows around the world, like E3 and gamescon, the big three console makers each do a hot-ticket exclusive press conference to let the media know what's coming for their system. Computer games have no such press conference. Who would give it if they did?
Japanese game shows are legendary for being more extreme (and absurd) than their American counterparts. Chris Farley immortalized the concept in a classic SNL sketch, and MXC and Ninja Warrior have both achieved great success dubbed and subtitled on American television. A big part of their appeal is how demanding they are compared to U.S. game shows. Only a few people have actually won Ninja Warrior in its 23 seasons on the air, and MXC is a constant comedy of failure and pain.
Games like Minecraft and Braid have proven that there is money to be made in the indie game marketplace, which means more and more designers are following suit, one being Zeboyd Games. The two-man indie design team released two excellent JRPG spoofs on the Xbox Live Indie Games (XBLIG) Marketplace in 2010: Breath of Death VII ($1) and Cthulhu Saves the World ($3). Both have been well-reviewed and spent time near the top of the XBLIG sales charts, but its success couldn't be rivaled by what wa...
Hangouts are one of the most fun features in Google+. As long as you have a webcam and a microphone, you can "hangout" with up to 10 of your buddies on Google+ and do just about anything. Of course, sometimes it can get kind of awkward when you are hanging out and you don't really have anything to say. This problem can be mitigated if you host hangouts with a plan.
Tower defense games have taught us little. We already knew that defending castles from baddies was fun and that legions of weenies are the key to success in most real-time strategy situations. What other insights have they to offer?
Making a video game requires an incredible amount of work. It requires people skilled in many disciplines to work together for thousands of hours merging visual art, computer programming, game design, sound design, and music composition into a fun game. The Indie Stone is a Scottish indie development studio started, like so many others, by industry vets who were tired of corporate restrictions and wanted to make the crazy games they had always imagined.
+Tom Anderson of MySpace has been very active on Google+ over the first week, and he's not shy with his thoughts on the evolution of the industry he once owned. Here's his take on this morning's Facebook announcement and Mark Zuckerberg's response when asked about Google+.
Blizzard Entertainment is considered one of the most successful game developers in the world. Ever since the release of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (their debut Warcraft game) in 1994, they've set sales records and created genre-defining games with remarkable consistency. But the company wasn't founded in 1994—it all started back in 1991 when they were called Silicon & Synapse.
I don't know what I'd do without my computer. I can't do my job without the internet. I communicate with employers, friends, and family through emails, video chat and Twitter. I schedule meetings and plan deadlines. I bank. I shop. I read the news. I play games. I watch my favorite shows. Yes, I'd be rather lost without this little plastic box of circuits.
Do you know how you are perceived by your peers? In real life and online? In the physical world, you could be seen as intelligent, thoughtful and hard-working, but on the Web you could be looked at as irrational, selfish and slothful. There's just something about the Internet that takes away a person's judgement and replaces it with impulsiveness—especially when it comes to Facebook.
George Plimpton may be one of the most interesting Americans ever. Foremost a sports journalist, he was also a novelist, Fireworks Commissioner for New York City and host of Mouseterpiece Theater. Some of you may also recognize him as one of the men who tackled Robert F. Kennedy's assassin, Sirhan Sirhan. But most of you probably remember him as the pitchman for products like Pop Secret Popcorn and the Intellivision video game console. Actually, his most appreciated work would probably be a s...
Over the past few years, I have downloaded several third-party web browsers for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, and the one I have found most advanced and feature rich is Atomic Web. While many mobile browsers have their unique features, Atomic Web could well be considered the professional browser for advanced web users. With each version of the app, the developer has included features that make navigating the browser more user friendly and useful for bookmarking, managing and saving website...
Pressing the button on a video game controller quickly is like running the 100 meter dash. Both require dedication and a precise exercise regime. There is also an odd quality about both in which the range between the very best and complete neophyte is tiny. Sprinter Usain Bolt holds the record in the 100 meter run at 9.58 seconds, only three seconds faster than I ran in freshmen high school track. And yet there are thousands of sprinters from a hundred years of Olympic competition in between ...
Video games consoles have long wanted to be more than just consoles. Nintendo Japan called the NES the Famicom because they wanted to make it the sole family computer. Obviously that didn't work out, and most efforts to make consoles into all-in-one entertainment systems have had similar fates. Sony has done the best job with the Playstation consoles, probably because they have experience with other types of electronics that most video game companies do not.
In 1988, John Langley created COPS for the fledgling FOX network. 23 years later, the show is still running. It is the Energizer bunny of prime time television. Since John has followed more police officers and witnessed more crime than any human being on earth (absolutely no question), I had to ask some advice for hypothetical unwanted encounters with the men in blue.
The joys of summer are many! If you, like me, live in a place where the summer is short, you’re going to want to maximize your fun in the sun by doing as many awesome things as possible before the sun goes back to wherever the hell it hibernates during the cold and dark times. The most important ingredients for fun in the sun are friends and…well…the sun, so you can do almost anything with a group of exciting creative people, but here are my favorite el cheapo activities for summer.
Getting the best deal on laminate flooring can take a little time to research all the choices on the market these days. The two basic choices you have these days are buying online or buying in your local market. Online merchants don't tend to carry the high overhead cost as your local flooring store. There are pros and cons when buying your laminate flooring from either place.
Check out the new FarmVille Limited Time Crafting Recipes! There is one recipe for each of the crafting buildings and they all use the limited edition White Pumpkins!
This is a tool I wouldn't want to do without in my kitchen. It's full name is the Jaccard Super Tendermatic Meat Tenderizer but if you refer to the "Jaccard", most food folks will know what you are talking about. Jaccard makes lots of food prep products but this is probably their most well known. There are other tenderizers on the market, but this one is better made and uses higher quality materials than most. High quality stainless steel blades in a sturdy plastic case that is machine washab...
I still have hope that this will be a good World Cup... This article aggregates a lot of things that have been said about the World Cup experience this year (South Africa's infrastructure, low scoring games, uninteresting first round match-ups, etc). I've noticed in a few broadcasts that upper seating areas are not filled to capacity and maybe the vuvuzelas make up for this. I think this will change once the Knock-out stages begin, but Nick Webster has a point:
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.
What Am I Doing???? Last night, I was reminded on the negative impacts of striving for perfection. It's not possible to be perfect. We describe many things as being perfect. IE, an afghan, a hat, a tablecloth and more over, there is always something better... a different colour, a slightly different pattern, and so on. As time progesses, the colours we choose this fall might be the OUT colours of next fall.
I just found out that I might be expected to tip all the vendors... on top of the exorbitant fee they charge! Sigh... Here is a great tipping cheat sheet courtesy of theknot.com.
Oh, LifeHacker, we love you. You've brought us so many handy HowTo's: Hack Wireless Internet, Bypass Blocked Websites, Convert a Laptop Into a Projector, Watch TV & Movies on the Web For Free, 10 Must-Know Google Privacy Settings, and more.
Prank Calls, Masked NumbersWho is calling your phone or your child's? Pranksters use a lot of tricks to make sure they can get on your nerves. Being able to trace prank calls is important because you're not going to learn much from your Caller ID, since most prank callers use an unlisted number - such as, a cell phone number. Many also use special code *67 to mask the number so your Caller ID will show "Blocked Number" or "Private Number". There are a lot of mild cases of so-called phone bull...
Basically you skate up a ramp waiting on the other end is some sort of explosion. Pretty self explanatory....it's not extravagant but gets the job done.
Right before the male target goes to sleep, "burrow" their car keys. take the car to the professional painter and give it a new paint job. color it in hot pink, put a license plate saying "i love cock", decorate the interior of the card with fluffy pink seats and make it look like a 100% chick car....
In our media-enriched world, past and present, SCRABBLE has made a name for itself, whether deliberately, subconsciously, or influentially. You may have a read a book that had the popular word game within a chapter, watched a movie that showed your favorite characters bringing out the SCRABBLE board, or even listened to a rap about this word or that word. SCRABBLE is everywhere, even if you don't realize it.
How to transfer iTunes from PC to Mac You want to switch from PC to Mac and you want to take your iTunes library with you? There are several ways to move iTunes from your Windows PC to your new Mac. You can manually move all your iTunes contents to an external hard drive and from it to your Mac, or you can use a software like CopyTrans TuneSwift that does the job for you. Let's start with the easier way!
Have you ever seen Whose Line Is It Anyway? Many people enjoy watching this show, where they can see people do comedy off the top of their heads. There's no prior thought involved and it can be a lot of fun to participate in.
Are you having problems because the game was released a long time ago and the more experienced players are better than you? Then you should be very excited to find out that I will be giving you some general tips & tricks about the different classes that I have learned the hard way.
10 Ways to Make Your Goals Easier to Achieve Do you have goals in your life? Most people do. You may want to lose weight, advance your career, or make your relationship better. You think about where you want to be and then find a way to get from where you are to where you want to be.
If you ever wondered how to keep your car looking great and protect the paint for years to come, read on.
Obesity has ballooned into a worldwide epidemic. The World Health Organization estimates that 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and 700 million will be obese by 2015. Over 20 million children are overweight today. The reasons for these distressing figures are common knowledge: The international switch to high sugar, high fat, low nutrient processed junk foods prompted by global fast food chains and their advertising; the increasingly sedentary nature of jobs; children playing video games ...
Have Johnny disguised as IrvingZisman and turn him loose on the general population armed with "The Pooter" ( one of the most realistic fart making noise gadgets available ) to release a gas attack like they have never heard. Let him visit crowded elevators, office buildings, crowded buses, shopping malls, taxi cabs, restaurants, movie theaters, job interviews, grocery stores, churches or what ever target he chooses. This joke would even work with the entire cast of Jackass but Irving would mo...
Cap Holes is a great modifier for modeling as well as making images in 3ds Max. The 3D Studio Max Cap Holes modifier builds faces in the holes in a mesh object. A hole is defined as a loop of edges, each of which has only one face. For example, one or more missing faces from a sphere would produce one or more holes. The modifier works best on reconstructing planar holes, but can do a reasonable job on non-planar holes as well. See how to use it in conjunction with a slice modifier, it’s a goo...
The job market has bounced back slightly in recent months, yet it appears that working remotely will be a way of life for many of us moving forward. With many industries disappearing, app development looks like it's here to stay.
Whenever we make a homemade circuit, we use what are called through-hole components. Any components with long metal leads is a through-hole component. They are great for soldering to, but it's tough to fit enough through-hole resistors and capacitors into a smartphone. To get those last microns, we have surface-mount components for SMDs (surface-mount devices). These are all of those teeny, tiny things you see when you crack open your digital camera or laptop case.
