Skilled Players Search Results

Level-5: The Biggest Indie Game Developer in the World Invades America

Most stateside gamers have probably never heard of Level-5. If they have, it's more than likely due to the charming and maddening line of Nintendo DS puzzle games, Professor Layton. Some might even remember Dark Cloud and its sequel from the early days of the PlayStation 2, and all eight of you PSP owners in the U.S. might recognize the epic Jeanne d'Arc. These games alone make Level-5 a noteworthy company, but they've quietly surpassed "noteworthy" status to become one of the largest and gre...

News: The First (Real) Celebrities Arrive on Google+

One of the coolest things about Twitter is the fact that you can get direct access to some of your favorite celebrities, and have one-on-one conversations with them in less than 140 characters. With Google+, you can have the same advantage, but you don't need to feel constricted by the 140 character limit. Although Google+ has been weeding out fake accounts, they do not currently have a system for celebrities to verify whether their accounts are legitimate or not.

News: Did George Plimpton Make a Falconry Game for ColecoVision?

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...

Instacast: A Better Way to Listen To & Manage Podcasts

Though it could be argued that Apple's popular and widely used iTunes media player was responsible for the growth and explosion of podcasting, I would argue that iTunes is not the best way to manage and listen to your podcast subscriptions—if you're a iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch user. Instead, you will find that a $1.99 mobile app called Instacast (iTunes App Store link) is a much better method. Below, a short video introduction to Instacast, plus a written breakdown of its features. Mobile L...

News: Creating Social Structures in Minecraft

Minecraft is the most basic and barren open sandbox building game. There are a limited number of materials and recipes to craft. But with these few building blocks, people have been able to creatively build some amazing structures and cities. There is a physical limitation, but the beauty of the game is turning that limitation into a strength.

News: Man Immortalizes Dead Fiancée in Virtual World

Death is tough for the living, and those who mourn do all sorts of odd things to cope with it. Some keep mementos, some build towering statues, others create memorial paintings or write sad songs, all of which are healthy in moderation. Honoring the dead has been around for so long, it's part of what makes us human. Recently, the practice of memorializing the dead has spread from the arts, religion, and ceremonial burial to video games.

How To: Get By with the Cheaper 16GB Option for iPhone or iPad

There are a few different types of Apple iPhone and iPad users: general household users who largely consume media—e.g. surfing the web, watching movies, listening to music. Other iPhone and iPad owners use their device(s) to produce stuff—written documents, edited movies, blog posts, music tracks, and the like. And then there are those who are very mobile with their devices. They commute to and from work on a regular basis with their iPhone or iPad. Some users may travel a lot on business, or...

The Witcher 2: First Impressions

Do you have an awesome rig that is able to run anything you throw at it at 60 fps with maximum settings? Prepare to be humbled. The Witcher 2 is the first game in quite some time to tax your system the same way Crysis did when it first came out.

Minecraft: My Uncle, the Serial Killer

Do you ever really know someone? I mean really really? Super really? Sometimes we can talk and be with people normally for years and then bam: five people dead, house on fire, dog missing. All the while people shake their heads and regret that if they had just put the little clues together all of this could have been averted.

Out Today: How to Play the Gears of War 3 Beta Version on Xbox Live

Gears of War fans around the world are excited (possibly drooling) over the upcoming release of the third installment in the series, Gears of War 3. There's a lot of hype about the game and its new features, which includes a 4-player co-op mode and a slew of new female characters. But there's one problem—it doesn't come out until September 20th. But for a lucky circle of gamers, the Multiplayer Beta just opened up today.

Privacy Is So 2001: An Anime Video Game Novel About Social Media

Japanese people are into many things Americans find weird—like YouTube's beloved canine-hosted cooking show or Daito Manabe's light up LED grills or even more insane, a vending machine that distributes live crabs. In light of these cultural oddities, the Japanese phenomenon of visual novels (NVL, or bijuaru noberu), seems relatively normal. A meeting place of books and video games, visual novels are a sort of "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" for the new generation.

How To: Read Guitar Tab

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.

News: USA into the Round of 16!!

Posted with permission via HereComeTheYanks.com Have you recovered from that heart attack inducing, hell of a game?? I am still riding high and, as such, may ramble a bit on here. But stay with me...I'm a die-hard fan!! What else do you expect??

News: What changes need to be made before USA vs. Algeria?

Posted with permission via HereComeTheYanks.com I will get this out of the way early and then not mention it again...the referee for the USA vs. Slovenia game was awful. He missed key plays and called back the goal that would have sent the USA to victory. Nothing he did was good...as evidenced by FIFA's (supposed) forthcoming grade of a "poor performance" and relief of all further World Cup center refereeing duties. He was horrible, and cost us the win...for the most part.

WC 2010 grim view: low scores, low attendance.

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:

How To: Write the Action/Adventure Screenplay

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...

Red Dead Redemption: Act 1

Finished Act 1 (3 total) of Red Dead Redemption and it was disappointing. The act is divided into five important people who you have to do missions for in order to progress the story. Around five missions per person on average. Only Bonnie and the Marshall's story missions felt tied to the storyline. Dickens, Seth, and Irish's missions felt like they added nothing but padding to the game. Add that nothing that you do in the game affects the world around and it's like you never existed in the ...

News: Why is ACL Injury More Common in Female Athletes?

The sudden deceleration, shifting in the knee, popping sound and screaming from the intense pain that immediately follows is becoming increasingly common among our young athletes. Those who have witnessed or suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) are familiar with the pain, surgery and intense 6 to 8 month rehabilitation that accompanies the injury, not to mention the disappointment of ending a season. Nationwide, this will occur more than 500,000 times this year, and female athlete...

News: A Small Look at Aquaria

A look at Aquaria Last week I made a post about the Humble Indie Bundle (http://www.wolfire.com/humble). It's a small online charaty drive where you could buy five indie games for any price you wanted.

News: Levon Helm Bustin' Out the Nitty-Gritty Mud Beats

Levon Helm... The longtime drummer for The Band , Levon Helm wore many musical hats throughout his long career, including multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, impressario, studio owner, studio engineer and producer. He grew up working on a farm in Arkansas; his first instrument was guitar, which he began playing at ag eight, but after seeing the F.S. Walcott Rabbits Foot Minstrels, he decided to ...

News: Ice Rink Half-Pipe

Build a 10-12 foot high half-pipe in the middle of the ice rink. Everything is normal about the ramp with the exception that the flat area is not wood, it's ice. So, essentially it is two quarter-pipes facing each other to make one full half-pipe. Get a bunch of skaters and BMXers to try it out. It's a little like the gauntlet . . . perhaps have hockey players fire pucks at them while they are skating.

News: extreme beer pong

set up just like beer pong but with a jackass twist if you miss you get 30 seconds in the penalty box(portapotty which inside is covered in shit,bloody tampons and piss) while its being rolled down a hill, but if everyone is in the penaly box the contestants will have a group penalty which is they have to rub the bloody tampons on their face. if you make it in the first cup you get away free for the round, make it in the second row and you have to stick the tampons on your forehead for the en...

News: LOSE OR FAIL

This is a game just like "TRUTH or DARE" just the "JACKASS" way. Get some of the crew (try for AT LEAST 4) ready. Once the players are known, find out who will be going first. That person will pick someone to pick "LOSE OF FAIL". If they pick "LOSE" you must think of 1st dumb idea pops in your head or something already made up. If they pick "FAIL" they are hit in the nuts (as many times as you all have picked). This goes on till one person is left.

Minecraft Monster Slaying: How to Surprise Your Aggressors with a Long Drop and Sudden Stop

No one likes having their home invaded, and sometimes you just don't want to have to wait those precious few seconds for someone or something to drown, suffocate, or burn up. This trap utilizes gravity to destroy anyone who may want to pillage your home, be they monster or player. No drowning or suffocating here... they just go splat at the bottom of a deep hole, and you can instantly forget about them.