Online Game Reviews Make People Buy and Play

Information along the lines of performance ratings, genre, review on the actual game play or special features of the game, the positive and negative aspects of the game, what console it plays on, who created the games, and the overall rating for the audience it is initially targeted to.

The gaming industry has become a multi-billion dollar enterprise, which has infected everyone from, every known aspect of society. From rich to poor, child to adult, everyone has had come in contact at on point in time with video games, so much now that there is a need for these reviews to act as advertising to the masses. Also for the amazing amount of different genres and more realistic video games being produced monthly, it has become so much easier for adult content, violence, and even nudity to find its way to the wrong type of audience, say children.

That type of mishap has happened before and to a grand scale. The many video game bodies of America and the world have been given ultimatums by the censorship boards that have to clean up these sort messes, and tighten their grip on what is the correct thing to do. They now have a tougher criterion when handing out these ratings for Mature, Everyone, Teen etc. And there are now stiff penalties for anyone choosing to stray from the rules that have been set by these boards.

These reviews are done by any number of individuals, websites or business that revolves around the innumerable characteristics of the gaming industry. And reviews on every single game has to provide some kind of useful information to not only the users of these games, but also the reviews work as an advertising post and putting the game out there for potential new gamers that may be interested in the games.

The majority of these reviews are done for online gaming sites, and various e-zines that relay that information to a wide number of people. Some examples of these sites and search engines are: Tech TV, Game Spot, Game Zone, IGN Games, Game Rankings, Computer Games Online, Business Week/Game Room, Gamers, Review Center etc. And these are just a few of the popular reviews that are available to the public. There are actually millions of sites on line that give out this information, and the games are reviewed by a lot of players also, so you always get great feedback on the games of your choice.

These games are reviewed by any and everyone and are for the many consoles out there; Xbox, Xbox 360, Playstation, PS2, Nintendo Game Cube, Nintendo DS, and even for the PC. Games are already being tested and reviewed for the highly anticipated PS3. I just shudder to think about it, such grandeur. Anyway these ratings are very important, it lets you know what to spend your money on, what games are right for children, if you highly awaited game sucks, or scores, or if you just want to know what the competition is up too.

Article Source: http://add-articles.com

Kevin Dark is an online marketer. You may find more information on game reviews on his new site.

Clearing Up PS3 Games Rumor

The PlayStation3 console won't be released until late this year but there are already rumors doing their rounds about it and the PS3 games. The report about Theseis is one rumor that perhaps confused even the most devoted player. Developers and publishers, as well as game sites, have been coming out with their reviews, release dates, and other news about the latest PS3 games for the past months. The hype about the PS3's Blu-ray increased expectations about the games; a game rumor, though confusing, was not unexpected.

Let me refresh the events that fueled the rumor mill. Track7 Games, the developer of the popular adventure game Theseis for PC and Xbox 360, allegedly called the people behind PS3 Land to announce an important news. The announcement? The development of PS3 Theseis was consequently cancelled due to high development costs for PS3 games. The article that PS3 Land published even quoted Vicky Valvanos, managing director for Track7, saying that Theseis development would resume if Sony offers the company some assistance.

This bit of news has spread among Internet gaming sites and blogs with webmasters and forum moderators picking up the threads. Debates also ensued regarding the production of Theseis as one of the PS3 games. Apparently, no gamer noticed that there wasn't any announcement or news during the recent E3 or on the product lists about a Theseis software for PS3. A probable reason for this was the fact that Theseis appeared on several retailers sites as a PS3 game. Track7, however, did not recognized the existence of these catalogues.

This is the point when everything became confusing. Track7 didn't recognize the Theseis games on the retailers' sites but they called PS3 Land to announce that PS3 Theseis was discontinued? Track7 tried to clear up the issue by saying that the bits about canning PS3 Theseis and Theseis development were just jokes. The company even called the PS3 Land article "erroneous". As of now, PS3 Land updated their article on PS3 Theseis with the new article from Track7. But the confusion about the PS3 games came from Track7. According to them, there was no Theseis planned or developed for PS3, but what about the announcement they made to PS3 Land? Was there really an error, or was it just a joke said in passing that got blown up into big proportions?

A misunderstanding between PS3 Land and Track7 is a probable cause, although the question of what they talked about remains. Surely, there was some reference to Theseis, otherwise, it wouldn't have appeared in the article. There was also a number of retailers' database that showed Theseis as one of the PS3 games. Clearly, someone started it and the knowledge about Theseis lies solely with Track7 as Sony didn't include the game in its repertoire during the recent E3. The most probable cause, I think, is that Track7 wanted to develop a Theseis software for PS3. They let out that bit of "joke" to test the market and the demand for their game. In my opinion, they did this, also to bait Sony into thinking that a Theseis is a good addition to their games. Anyway, whatever the reason behind this, the market for PS3 games is a big one, and I can't blame anyone for wanting to exploit this lucrative business.

Article Source: http://add-articles.com

For more valuable information on ps3 games please visit www.ps3-game.com

Dig the gold in the Virtual Realm

Take a trip to Lusk and you will find a sign for a classic wood dining set for $250. Walk or fly around Luskwood and you will find what looks like an up-and-coming development with a few properties for sale. Land is also available in Ahern, Dore and Morris, and property values are surging.

An average day in suburbia? Not quite. This is a day inside Second Life, a virtual world created by San Francisco-based game developer Linden Lab.

Welcome to the virtual economy, where currencies such as the Linden dollar trade against the U.S. dollar, companies like Internet Gaming Entertainment (IGE) create markets for everything from magic shields to potions, and entrepreneurs sell notary services and the latest fashions. One of the most popular games, World of Warcraft, reached one million North American players in August, three months ahead of its first anniversary. The games are particularly hot in America and Asia. After World of Warcraft was released in China last June, 1.5 million paying customers signed up in a month.

Such ventures — known as massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) — have spawned economies that would rival those of a small country but fly largely under the radar of economists, government statisticians and people beyond the 12-to-35-year-old demographic. However, these economies are becoming increasingly important, says Wharton legal studies professor Dan Hunter, adding that they could redefine the concept of work, help test economic theories and contribute to the gross domestic product in the United States. “Increasingly, these virtual economies are leading to real money trades,” notes Hunter, one of a handful of academics closely following this trend.

Another is Edward Castronova, a professor at Indiana University, who has written a series of papers examining the virtual economy which he estimates at somewhere between $200 million to $1 billion. In general, virtual economies are supported by assets collected during a game — such as the power to slay a dragon — that are then sold on the Internet for real dollars to other players looking for a competitive edge.

Steve Salyer, president of IGE, says the market for virtual asset trading could hit $1.5 billion in 2005 and $2.7 billion in 2006. Salyer's projections are a blend of internal data and research from outside sources such as DFC Intelligence and the Yankee Group. “Nobody can say for sure how big the market is,” adds Dmitri Williams, a speech communications professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “It's not like you can go on the street and poll people to find out.” In addition, he notes, many of the players who buy virtual goods are internationally based in locales such as China and Korea, making the dollars they spend hard to track.

While the size of the market is debatable, experts agree that virtual economies are expanding rapidly and warrant more attention. “It's really amazing that this hasn't gotten more attention,” says Kendall Whitehouse, senior director of information technology at Wharton. “You can learn a lot from these worlds.”

Article Source: http://add-articles.com

Steven is a researcher for many game sites such as wow gold ,cheap wow gold ,ddo platinum ,etc.

PlayStation Are You a Video Game Junkie

Are you a video game junkie? Do you find that you’d rather be in front of the TV, playing your favorite PlayStation game, more than you’d care to admit? If the answer is yes, you are not alone.

The first PlayStation was launched in Japan in late 1994. The American launch occurred shortly thereafter. Many of the original PlayStation games, such as Tomb Raider, Resident Evil and Gran Turismo, are still extremely popular today.

As of May 2004, Sony (the company that manufactures the PlayStation) had shipped approximately 100 million consoles, worldwide. As of March 2005, there were over 7,500 game titles available for purchase.

There has been more than one version of the PlayStation manufactured, over the years. These newer versions offered improvements, over the original system. They reduced problems, such as flickering video and noisy consoles.

Gamers can still purchase the PlayStation 1 (PSone) if they are interested in a smaller version of the original. The PSone hit the market in September 2000 and is one-third of the size of a PlayStation.

The PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation Portable were later introduced to gamers and are still available today. The next generation of this system, the PlayStation 3, is slated to make its debut in the fall of 2006.

“PlayStation Junkies” who have Internet access can easily locate original games on a variety of auction sites and through online discount venders. Two, even less inexpensive means of obtaining older games are flea markets and yard sales.

If you get stuck while playing your favorite PlayStation game, don’t despair. There are books available, which will guide you through the game… start to finish. Again, auction sites, yard sales and flea markets are the best place to find these, since many are no longer in print.

Sony never stops giving new and advanced electronic toys to the consumers. One such latest gift by Sony to video game fans is PlayStation3. It is an advanced version of the previously released PlayStation2. PlayStation3 was released in 2006. Today more than 10 million units of PS3 have been sold worldwide. The striking feature of PS3 is that it can play both CD’s and DVD’s. Moreover it also provides the facility for playing DVD and CD movies. PS3 is also compatible with the USB support.

There are countless websites that provide hints and cheat codes for almost every PlayStation game, as well.

So if you are a video game junkie the web will offer you an enormous amount of information on your favorite games. It is also recommended to shop for your favorite game online. In a lot of cases you will get it a lot cheaper than at a regular store.

Article Source: http://add-articles.com

Sandra Stammberger is the editor of The Info Bot. An online directory focusing on electronics.

The Potential Of PS3 Games Console

The word wars between Sony and Microsoft just won't die down. With Microsoft's Peter Moore's ragging about the PS3 games console's price, surely, people don't expect the Sony CEO, Steve Howard, to turn the other cheek. It's pathetic to see two guys in power suits and power ties bicker like two kids in a playground. Sounds to me like they're fighting about who could spit the farthest. But since Moore has been hounding publicity, well, we might as well give shy Howard a chance to defend his PS3 games.

It can be recalled that Peter Moore of Microsoft used Sony console's price as a spring board in launching a new Xbox 360 marketing campaign. Moore released statements that gamers get more value in buying a Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360 for the value of a single PS3 games console. No doubt that the statement made even hard-core Sony fans hesitant about buying a PS3. After all, $600 is big money. Plus, the possibility given by Moore is a no-brainer: it is a choice between two next-gen consoles and more gaming options or one PS3. Sony has to act; and the usually quiet Steve Howard finally broke his silence.

In a recent press conference in Tokyo, Sony Corp's Steve Howard released a statement justifying the new Sony console's price. He claimed that the in buying a PS3 games console, the consumers are actually buying potential. Such a vague statement needed further clarification and Howard obliged. According to him, though the PS3 console is admittedly pricier ($599) than Microsoft's Xbox 360 ($300) or Nintendo's Wii($250), it provides users Blu-ray technology-- touted to be the technology of the future. Further, if the new Sony console's performance reaches its full potential, users would benefit from higher technology and longer years of use. Howard also implied in his statement that Xbox 360s and the Wii's are cheaper because they are merely "transitional" consoles with inferior technology when compared to the futuristic PS3.

However, market analysts and yours truly, seriously doubt this claim by Howard. Times are hard, and people are sure to think about whether the PS3 games console deserves its price tag. This can look bad quickly for Sony because reviews show that PS3's Blu-ray-supported graphics are only equal to that of the cheaper consoles. If there are differences, these are highly indistinct, unless you want to spend game time analyzing the graphic pixels. Even the controller is deemed inferior to that of the PS1 from seven years ago. In fact, the Wii sports a much better controller. Also, Howard's potential-based argument is stretched too thin and poorly supported. What if the new PS3 didn't reach its full potential? Then, there is the case of disappointed consumers whining over their loss. What about the long years of use? I doubt that five years would pass before the gaming giants come up with a new console prototype. Surely, Howard can come up with something stronger than an argument based on "potential". PS3 games enthusiasts need more fuel for their cause. Meantime, do you know what I'm excited to hear about? Peter Moore's response to Sony's "potential".

Article Source: http://add-articles.com

New Xbox 360 Sales Tactic

In a statement that surprised gamers and non-gamers alike, Peter Moore of Microsoft Xbox, endorsed Nintendo's new Wii console. Speculations circulated whether this statement by Moore was a genuine praise or a calculated move designed to offset the launch of Sony PlayStation 3. Moore even referred to himself as a big fan of the Nintendo console. He suggested that for the price of a PS3, gamers would be able to get a new Xbox 360 plus a Nintendo Wii, with some leftover for a few games. It can be recalled that Sony pegged the price of their new PlayStation at $499-$599, a price the company claimed to be fit for a Blu-ray console.

This move by Microsoft seemed to be another tactic to push the Xbox 360 sales higher with the imminent release of the PS3 at its heels. Peter Moore was downplaying the viability of the PS3 by pointing out the only disadvantage of the new Sony console: its price. But Moore's reason was not only consumer concern. Moore's statement also implied that Microsoft do not see Nintendo as direct threat and competitor. Perhaps he thought that having Nintendo's support would clearly buy Microsoft's sales. Moore was right to do so in this case, since ugly numbers were cropping up in sales reviews of the Microsoft consoles.

The marketing and research firm, NPD Group supplied numbers and reports that indicated that the prized console of Microsoft lagged behind the PS2 in terms of hardware sales. Launched half a decade ago, Sony's PlayStation 2 still lets its presence be felt at the game console market. The five-year old Sony console even managed to exceed the sales of the then-brand new Xbox 360 especially in the month of May. The next-gen console sold only 221,000 units; 11,000 units less than the PS2 sales. Though Microsoft retaliated quickly by revamping shipment processes and adding a third manufacturer for its console, it wasn't enough to draw considerable margin between their sales and that of PS2.

But even if the move didn't suffice, it somewhat improved Xbox 360 console sales. Succeeding sales reviews showed that the sales of the console picked up; the influx of consoles ensuring amply supply and brisk sales. But the PS3 was touted to be a bigger threat. It didn't help either that Sony's processing systems have improved since the release of the PS2. Clearly, it became imperative for Microsoft to beef up its marketing operation to ensure their new console's top position within the next-gen hierarchy.

In conclusion, Microsoft's marketing plan included Peter Moore banking on Sony's overly-inflated ego that expected gaming fans to shell out big bucks for the PS3. Moore targeted the rival console's price when he made that statement about Xbox 360 and the Wii console. He also hoped to draw in Nintendo fans over to the Microsoft side by actively endorsing the Wii. If Nintendo approves Moore's tactic, the next-gen console battle will be a two versus one fight. Another tell-tale sign of Microsoft and Moore's pricing attack at Sony's new console was the reported price slash for Xbox 360 consoles during the holidays. The price slash was clearly planned to coincide with Sony's PS3 launch. However, the affirmation if Peter Moore's tactic worked still rests on gamers' shoulders.

Article Source: http://add-articles.com

For more valuable information on xbox360 xbox please visit www.xbox360-blogger.com

New Business Real life dollars buy in game currency

Will people pay real dollars for in-game virtual money to help their virtual characters buy in-game goods?One gamer, who goes by the screen name Haylo, said he spent $10 to $20 real dollars a month on in-game platinum(all nonexistent, of course) to buy weapons and other goods in Dark Age of Camelot (DAOC), but would spend more if he could afford it.

Most video games have some form of currency. In many ways, the in-game economy is similar to a real world economy - goods and services are traded to mutual advantage and are mediated in currency (platinum, gold, credit,etc.). "With all the things you can buy in game," a gamer said, "it's hard not to want them, just like real-life stuff."

The average Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game(MMORPG) player is 27-year-old -- a demographic drooled over by marketers. Plus, nearly half of all players have jobs, which often means they have more money than time and are the perfect consumers of virtual assets. On the Internet, many gamers now buy virtual money that only exist as data files stored in a server run by a game company with real-world dollars, and the buying and selling of virtual currencies may be off most people's radar, but it is truly big business.

An online broker, who goes by the screen name Rolala, was not a fan of online games until his 15-year-old son became interested in Final Fantasy XI. He then noticed that a large number of gils which are the currencies used in FFXI were for sale on eBay.

"I started hearing about players leaving the game who were selling their assets at cheap prices," he said, "so I figured, buy low, sell high."

But Rolala found his moneymaking options in FFXI "very limited". He switched to World of Warcraft. There, he has leveraged his real-life experience into an online business. He converts his game profits into real money on sites like eBay and bankofwow ,etc. Earnings can be considerable. He said he was on track to earn about $120,000 in real money in his first year in this business.

Rolala's business is just one example of how increasingly popular online role-playing games have created a shadow economy in which the lines between the real world and the virtual world are getting blurred.

"World of Warcraft", the world's largest MMORPG, boasts more than 1 million paying users in North America.There are many sites like wow gold free strategics, teaching gamers how to earn wow gold in game for free, however many players are still willing to buy gold and weapons to help their virtual characters get a higher virtual status more rapidly. Some virtual goods in World of Warcraft have been sold for thousands of dollars. It obviously creates a large real world market.

Edward Castronova, an economics professor at Indiana University who has written a book on the subject, calculated that if you took the real dollars spent within "EverQuest "as an index, its game world, called Norrath, would be the 77th richest nation on the planet, while annual player earnings surpass those of citizens of Bulgaria, India or China.

Go to GameUSD, an exchange-rate calculator for the virtual worlds, and do a search for the latest rates of virtual currencies against the U.S. dollar, and let your jaw drop open. The rates of some virtual world currencies are even better than that of the Iraqi Dinar! For instance, here is the recent exchange rate of several popular virtual currencies: Everquest Plat ($0.54/1K), EQ2 Gold ($0.17/gold), WOW Gold ( World of Warcraft Gold ) ($0.098/gold), SWG Credit ($4.40/1M), Lineage 2 adena ($2.80/1M), Guild Wars Gold ($0.12/1K), FFXI Gil ($17.89/1M), etc.

Right now, this business is one of the most hotly debated issues on the internet. Many game companies such as Blizzard who run World of Warcraft discourage profit from in-game properties, though none have found a way to stop it.

Sony Online Entertainment, on the other hand, encourages the practice (albeit within the confines of their own "Station Exchange", their own forum for the sale of in-game properties). It recently announced the first month's figures from "Station Exchange". According to SOE, over 45,000 characters from "EverQuest 2" have been active on the exchange and have spent over $180,000 USD in one month, half of which have been spent on in-game gold and platinum.

Despite of different attitudes towards virtual currency trade, the number of people who are getting into such business is rising, and the size of market has been expanding very rapidly.The market also creates a competitive environment. We could refer to sites like GameShopList, a price comparison site, to see the fierce price competition between different exchange sites.

For some ordinary gamers, however, such a capitalist approach spoils the experience. Nick Yee, a psychology researcher from Stanford University, believes many players dislike virtual currency traders because, by using real wealth to buy virtual power, "they're breaking the fantasy-reality bubble, getting an advantage in a way that other players can't".

According to a recent survey by IGN, an internet media focused on the videogame markets, most gamers say they dislike and avoid this business, believing that it gives players with more discretionary income an unfair advantage.

But such attitudes are called into question by size estimates for the virtual asset trading market, which is seen having a value of $200 million to nearly $900 million in 2005.

One potential explanation for the disconnection between attitudes and money spent may be that gamers are unwilling to admit they use the services, IGN said.

In terms of the law's concern, another issue is, who owns the virtual money? Many virtual world designers maintain that anything created in the world belong to the company. They refuse to recognise the rights of their players in the virtual property for fear of attracting liability for its maintenance or security.

But will this work in the long term? Players spend considerable time and/or money acquiring such assets. In many cases they are the creation of the player and even the intellectual property ownership is questionable. "As we spend more time in these worlds, it's not enough for companies to say that 'we own everything and we can turn it off at any time,'" said a gamer. "The question may soon be should we have recourse against a game company for obliterating virtual assets?"

With the rapid growth of virtual currency exchange market, should people accord virtual property the same protection as property in the real world?

Article Source: http://add-articles.com

Steven is a researcher for many game sites such as wow gold ,cheap wow gold ,ddoplatinum ,wow gold ,wow gold ,etc.

New Business Real life dollars buy in-game currency

Will people pay real dollars for in-game virtual money to help their virtual characters buy in-game goods?One gamer, who goes by the screen name Haylo, said he spent $10 to $20 real dollars a month on in-game platinum(all nonexistent, of course) to buy weapons and other goods in Dark Age of Camelot (DAOC), but would spend more if he could afford it.

Most video games have some form of currency. In many ways, the in-game economy is similar to a real world economy - goods and services are traded to mutual advantage and are mediated in currency (platinum, gold, credit,etc.). "With all the things you can buy in game," a gamer said, "it's hard not to want them, just like real-life stuff."

The average Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game(MMORPG) player is 27-year-old -- a demographic drooled over by marketers. Plus, nearly half of all players have jobs, which often means they have more money than time and are the perfect consumers of virtual assets. On the Internet, many gamers now buy virtual money that only exist as data files stored in a server run by a game company with real-world dollars, and the buying and selling of virtual currencies may be off most people's radar, but it is truly big business.

An online broker, who goes by the screen name Rolala, was not a fan of online games until his 15-year-old son became interested in Final Fantasy XI. He then noticed that a large number of gils which are the currencies used in FFXI were for sale on eBay.

"I started hearing about players leaving the game who were selling their assets at cheap prices," he said, "so I figured, buy low, sell high."

But Rolala found his moneymaking options in FFXI "very limited". He switched to World of Warcraft. There, he has leveraged his real-life experience into an online business. He converts his game profits into real money on sites like eBay and bankofwow ,etc. Earnings can be considerable. He said he was on track to earn about $120,000 in real money in his first year in this business.

Rolala's business is just one example of how increasingly popular online role-playing games have created a shadow economy in which the lines between the real world and the virtual world are getting blurred.

"World of Warcraft", the world's largest MMORPG, boasts more than 1 million paying users in North America.There are many sites like wow gold free strategics, teaching gamers how to earn wow gold in game for free, however many players are still willing to buy gold and weapons to help their virtual characters get a higher virtual status more rapidly. Some virtual goods in World of Warcraft have been sold for thousands of dollars. It obviously creates a large real world market.

Edward Castronova, an economics professor at Indiana University who has written a book on the subject, calculated that if you took the real dollars spent within "EverQuest "as an index, its game world, called Norrath, would be the 77th richest nation on the planet, while annual player earnings surpass those of citizens of Bulgaria, India or China.

Go to GameUSD, an exchange-rate calculator for the virtual worlds, and do a search for the latest rates of virtual currencies against the U.S. dollar, and let your jaw drop open. The rates of some virtual world currencies are even better than that of the Iraqi Dinar! For instance, here is the recent exchange rate of several popular virtual currencies: Everquest Plat ($0.54/1K), EQ2 Gold ($0.17/gold), WOW Gold ( World of Warcraft Gold ) ($0.098/gold), SWG Credit ($4.40/1M), Lineage 2 adena ($2.80/1M), Guild Wars Gold ($0.12/1K), FFXI Gil ($17.89/1M), etc.

Right now, this business is one of the most hotly debated issues on the internet. Many game companies such as Blizzard who run World of Warcraft discourage profit from in-game properties, though none have found a way to stop it.

Sony Online Entertainment, on the other hand, encourages the practice (albeit within the confines of their own "Station Exchange", their own forum for the sale of in-game properties). It recently announced the first month's figures from "Station Exchange". According to SOE, over 45,000 characters from "EverQuest 2" have been active on the exchange and have spent over $180,000 USD in one month, half of which have been spent on in-game gold and platinum.

Despite of different attitudes towards virtual currency trade, the number of people who are getting into such business is rising, and the size of market has been expanding very rapidly.The market also creates a competitive environment. We could refer to sites like GameShopList, a price comparison site, to see the fierce price competition between different exchange sites.

For some ordinary gamers, however, such a capitalist approach spoils the experience. Nick Yee, a psychology researcher from Stanford University, believes many players dislike virtual currency traders because, by using real wealth to buy virtual power, "they're breaking the fantasy-reality bubble, getting an advantage in a way that other players can't".

According to a recent survey by IGN, an internet media focused on the videogame markets, most gamers say they dislike and avoid this business, believing that it gives players with more discretionary income an unfair advantage.

But such attitudes are called into question by size estimates for the virtual asset trading market, which is seen having a value of $200 million to nearly $900 million in 2005.

One potential explanation for the disconnection between attitudes and money spent may be that gamers are unwilling to admit they use the services, IGN said.

In terms of the law's concern, another issue is, who owns the virtual money? Many virtual world designers maintain that anything created in the world belong to the company. They refuse to recognise the rights of their players in the virtual property for fear of attracting liability for its maintenance or security.

But will this work in the long term? Players spend considerable time and/or money acquiring such assets. In many cases they are the creation of the player and even the intellectual property ownership is questionable. "As we spend more time in these worlds, it's not enough for companies to say that 'we own everything and we can turn it off at any time,'" said a gamer. "The question may soon be should we have recourse against a game company for obliterating virtual assets?"

With the rapid growth of virtual currency exchange market, should people accord virtual property the same protection as property in the real world?

Article Source: http://add-articles.com

Steven is a researcher for many game sites such as wow gold ,cheap wow gold ,ddoplatinum ,wow gold ,wow gold ,etc.

New Concept Virtual Economy in Game

There is a popular multiplayer computer game called World of Warcraft in which you go around killing dragons and pretend you're a wizard and all that. This is one of those games that has an ongoing virtual universe built around it. In the life of your character you need to make money to buy weapons and armor and things. One of the ways you can get some money is through "farming" for gold. (Strange term, but whatever.)

Now "farming" isn't as fun as duelling and casting spells and all that nerdological geekitude; it's a time-consuming chore.

Gold and other items in this game are transferrable from one player to another. You could do a ton of work to get some loot and then give it...or sell it, for real money, to a lazy player who just wants to have more toys.

Now the amount someone would be willing to pay for this virtual gold isn't gonna be worth your time. You're much better off working at White Castle than pulling shifts on Warcraft, so the farmer-for-hire thing hasn't taken off in American suburbia.

But some industrious entrepeneurs made a few calculations and learned a very valuable fact... The amount an American kid is willing to pay for this imaginary gold is well worth the time of a Chinese peasant. So the Warcraft sweatshop was born.

As you read this, there are rooms of rural Chinese sitting at terminals, farming computer gold in 12-hour shifts (each character has 2 people working it 24 hours a day), staying carefully out of the purview of the game's administrators, and trying not to bother the real players. Agriculture on planet earth can't provide them with the $150 (equivalent) check they recieve for a month of Warcraft farming.

That's 42 cents an hour, and low enough that the white middle-man can make a sweet profit when he resells these "goods" to his customers over here.

This process is the same phenomenon as clothing manufacture, and a million other tangible things. And you know what happens when a flood of cheap foreign goods suddenly becomes available on the American market? The value of the products plummet.

In Warcraft, it's the currency itself that's being overproduced, not just any product. That means it'll take more units of that currency to exchange for any product. Inflation. The price of everything goes up. Everything you worked so hard to save up suddenly becomes worth so much less.

The Warcraft economy appears to be on the lip of this plunge and administrators are taking steps to curb inflation. When they find a career farmer, they ban the character. Now the farming company has to re-buy the game and set up a new account. This makes the process of creating these goods overseas more expensive, and functions similar to a tariff (which is a protective tax).

With these tariffs, the price of overseas goods rises, and it becomes more worth the time of Americans to...well...farm their own damn gold. As it were.

But there are ways of getting around this barrier. One is through a black market. (This system is already a black market, though not illegal in the real world, and such an approach would only mean being more sneaky and stealthy.) Another is to increase productivity per dollar on the supply side. e.g. Xian used to get $150 every month (42 cents/hour), but now he only gets $100 and has to work 14 hour shifts, to counteract the effect of the tariff.

But however it happens, water finds its way to the ocean, and cheap foreign goods find their way to the American market. If it gets really out of control in Warcraft, then gold, and anything that can be produced through time and effort--anything that's not finite in amount will become worthless, and trade will occur among things that are finite, or require much greater skill to acquire...or everyone will turn the game off and read a book. Probably Dragonlance.

If that happens, it'll be like a factory shutting down. It'll put a bunch of rural Chinese out of work all at once.

There is a balance, which in the real world, the Treasury, and the Federal Reserve, and a bunch of International Organizations try to maintain. And by maintain, I mean getting as much cheap shit for themselves as possible without throwing the system completely out of whack. (In the finance industry, human rights is a footnote, if anything.)

What lies ahead for the Warcraft economy? Let's keep watching it in the future.

Article Source: http://add-articles.com

Steven is a researcher for many game sites such as wow gold ,cheap wow gold ,ddoplatinum ,wow gold ,wow gold ,etc.

A HIGHLY TECHNICAL XBOX360

Xbox360, the latest version of the video game console that has been manufactured by Microsoft, was a term that was finally arrived at by the computer software company last year. This was after a marketing firm that it hired conducted a survey which asked people whether they thought the Xbox evoked a more "next generation" or "next-gen" sound. It was apparent that Microsoft was having worries at that time that sticking to Xbox2 as the name of its new video game console would make it appear or sound older or less "cutting-edge" than its main rival, the PlayStation 3 or PS3.

Keeping such a concept in mind, Microsoft recently announced that it has successfully produced a set of fresh 360 backwards compatibility update of the Xbox which the firm is scheduled to release anytime within the week. This is in keeping with the company's commitment to concentrate on the continuous improvement of the console's features. Peter Moore, the game's top honcho, said the updates are presently having their final testing at Microsoft. Once completed, these will be released to the market sometime this week.

Aside from the compatibility updates, the Xbox360 is also reported to have a special feature that has the capability to perform maintenance functions in the console's storage devices. A player, who recently purchased a copy of the video game, said the console's cache can be cleared simply by going to the sytem blade, then to its memory. From there, the player said, one can press Y on either the HDD or the MU. The said player consequently posted his observations on one of the console's numerous websites.

A Microsoft representative did confirm the existence of the said feature. However, he tried to make it clear to those who purchased the console that while the HDD clearing feature is a part of the game's entire electronic processing system, it is also a part of the technical support process. Ideally, it should only be utilized in instances when technical operations are involved. Moore said that while the said Xbox360 feature, when utilized, will not really harm or cause severe damage to the console, still it is advisable that it be used sparingly and only upon proper instructions from a qualified Microsoft customer service staff.

The latest model of the Xbox is considerably much smaller in size than its predecessor. It also has the obvious looks of a 21st century set top box. In addition, the game also contains a removable hard drive that is located on the left side of the console.

In general, the Xbox360 is, for all intents and purposes, a most powerful console, a truly next generation video game that has amazing top-of-the-line and cutting-edge features. It promises to provide an amazing digital visual enjoyment. The latest Xbox has a variety of hot as well as new game titles ranging from science-fiction, to adventure, to action, to sports, and to practically anything that the human mind can imagine.

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Before You Buy A Video Game Cheat

Cheaters never win and winners never cheat. When it comes to video game cheats, however, cheating really means shortcuts, tips, tricks, and extras.

Some of you may have fond memories of Pong, Battlezone, and Asteroids. I know I've spent my entire week’s allowance every Saturday and the local arcade. In all honesty, I still play these games today on my pc. They offer the simplistic arcade action that some of us crave.

Today's video games have gotten so complicated that entire books for a single game title have been written on how to finish them. The graphics, strategies, and multiplayer online aspects have taken video gaming to a whole new level. To be honest, it's rare that I can even finish a game anymore, let alone win all the bonus cars or cool weapons.

After playing for a few hours I'll often get stuck. Either I can't finish a level or can't find the special weapons to defeat the boss. If it weren’t for cheat codes, I'd probably just give up. Never enjoying the full potential game play, never getting my money's worth. Even on the easiest settings, it's almost impossible to finish a game anymore without cheating.

So before I buy any game, I'll go online and check out the latest reviews, graphics, and best price. But I'm also looking to see if they have a walk through, cheats, and extras. You'll usually find these written up by the professional paid reviewers, but don't forget to check out the player reviews and forum. Sometimes the actual gamers will find even more cheats and extras that the professional reviewers missed.

No matter how good the preview is I want to see what the end users are actually saying. Also, no matter how bad the professional review is, I want to see what the actual gamers are saying. I can tell you that I've thoroughly enjoyed games that scored very low with the professional reviewers. After reviewing the gamer's scores, I found they often enjoyed games much more than the professional reviews would lead you to believe.

Also check out your local video game store, ask the sales people what they think of the games. I found most of them are big time game players too and will give you an honest answer. We gamers need to look out for each other, don't we?

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Robert Rogers is a writer in the Washington DC area. For more free tips and resources, visit his blog at Free Xbox and PS2 Game Cheats

Top Rated PS3 Games Assassins Creed

Assassin's Creed is certainly one of the most impressive and exciting PS3 Games ever developed by Ubisoft. The same team, which created the outstanding and popular Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, spent two years in order to produce this visually stunning, stylish, and very original game. Assassin's Creed offers a whole new level of gaming adventure with its awesome lifelike animation, freer movement of the characters, good graphics and sound, and other special features like you've never seen before in other PS3 Games.

A quick look at Assassin's Creed might remind you of other recent and top rating PS3 Games. For, this game boasts of an incredibly controllable hero and an almost lifelike animation just like the Prince of Persia. Moreover, the game has an astounding medieval setting, a visually stunning lifelike cityscapes, and an open-ended game play that is very similar to that of Oblivion. The ps3 game also reminds us of the Thief series for its resourceful, independent, and inconspicuous hero as well as the anti-medieval-establishment background. Then, the open-ended sandbox world of Assassin's Creed is also comparably with Grand Theft Auto. Amidst certain similarities with other games, Assassin's Creed is still a standout with its surprising twists and it's creative and beautifully designed visual style. All these features add to the uniqueness of the game.

"Nothing is true. Everything is permitted." And so goes the creed of the assassin. These words suggest that anything is possible during the entire game. This exciting and action-packed adventure is set in the late 12th century during the Third Crusade under the leadership of Richard Lionheart. Here, you play as Altair, the fearless and powerful assassin armed with a sword, a wrist blade, and crossbows. The hero is surrounded by aggressive threats in all places and yet he can destroy them all instantly with his fast and cunning counterattacks to his enemies. Assassin's Creed, indeed, is one of the PS3 Games worth playing.

The people's reaction to Altair is another thing, which sets apart Assassin's Creed from the rest of the PS3 Games. While the hero is busy fighting or demonstrating his skills and tactics, you could see the people around visibly frowning or raising their eyebrows as they watch him. A perfect example for this is the scene where Altair attacks a random civilian. As the victim drops to the ground, the villagers stand in shock while others run away from the place screaming.

You might be wondering where the hero's name comes from. Altair is an Arabic word, which means "the flying eagle." Indeed, the developers of the game made sure that the character would really live up to his name. If you want to find out why, just watch Altair's rapid and swift movements each time he faces his opponents. He projects a cool attitude even in the middle of a big fight. Altair is distinct from other heroes in PS3 games with the fact that his movements look so real and good to the players. The game's animation is simply visually stunning and lifelike. Assassin's Creed is truly one of the best PS3 Games ever created by Ubisoft. The whole adventure is worth checking out.

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Rumors on PS3 Games

Rumors have been spreading around the internet about PS3 Games having copyrights. This means that consumers cannot re-sell the games that they already own, ergo, they cannot buy cheaper second hand games. It's really no surprise that rumors with this kind of nature spread around quickly. But the fact that it did spread around and that people talked about it, only tells something about the possible reaction of people, in case the issues are true. To even things out however, Sony has denied the rumors about the illegal re-selling of PS3 Games.

Aside from the fact that the retail price of the game console itself has been stirring up consumers who are anxiously waiting for its release, price issues about the PS3 Games itself are also being talked about.

Critiques are expecting that since Japanese released PS2 games have been selling for around $75, they are expecting that PS3 Games would come at a higher price. It would only be natural to expect that this would be the case. Sony has made a lot of efforts to raise the quality of the new product. This is of course, only their natural response to the upcoming competition from Microsoft. However, they would also have to make a lot of consideration as regard the pricing of the games. If PS2 games have been selling for about $75, should consumers expect that PS3 Games would be sold at least around $80-85. In addition to this, high-end games would definitely be a little more over that.

Another rumor surrounding the release of this new gaming console is that hard drives would not be included in some models of the PlayStation 3. This means that people would not be able to play high-end PS3 Games that feature HD quality. This has also been one of the key issues regarding the upcoming release.

High-end PS3 Games require a 60Gb hard drive to be able to function. Estimates have been predicted that the hard drive itself could easily cost around $100. With rumors that Sony would be struggling with the $400 pricing of the game console, an additional $100 dollars to the price could prove to be detrimental. Past game consoles that exceeded the $400 range did not perform as well in the market, compared to those which stayed below this mark. It seems people would not want to spend higher than 400 on the video games. The bigger question is that with the introduction of HDTV these days, would people who are familiar with the difference in viewing they would get from it, pay another $100 just to get better video quality?

Oh well! We could all be certain that rumors about PS3 Games and the console itself would continue to be around until it is actually released. I wonder why people cannot have enough patience to just wait and see how much these things would cost, and whether PS3 Games would be copyright protected. It's also good though, that people are able to talk about something while they're not doing anything and are still waiting for the upcoming release.

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Power Behind the Xbox360

Although Microsoft's Xbox was able to sell millions and millions of units worldwide, it was still considerably outsold by its competitor, Sony's PlayStation. In this day, wherein another revolution in video and gaming technology is at hand, the Xbox360 is more promising than ever.

What difference does the Xbox360 hold against its predecessor? Well, just like all gaming consoles, it is basically a computer that is designed to run video game programs. The difference is that they focus specifically on this function alone.

So how does the latest model from Microsoft differ from any other gaming console. As was mentioned earlier, the Xbox360 is a computer designed for playing video games. But aside from this, it was also designed to perform as a complete stand alone entertainment system. To break it down, this new console can allow users to connect via a network, it can copy, stream, and download all sorts of media. This would of course include in its arsenal, the ability to download and play HD movies, audio, as well as digital photos and games.

Now, since we know that all gaming consoles are simply computers designed for playing video games, let us take a look at the heart of all computers – the CPU. Just the same, video game consoles have a processor that would, of course, 'process' all the information being fed into the system. You could think of it as similar to a car's engine – it is the one that powers every function of the whole system. The latest innovation in the Xbox360 is that, they “modified the engine” to be able to deliver optimum performance for players.

Traditionally, CPU's process information via a single path. The more technical term for this is a thread. Now what the latest edition of the Xbox is bragging about is that under its hood, is a processor, or a core, that is able to process 2 threads simultaneously. This means that all the information that is being fed into it, is processed more effectively and efficiently because the “brain” is “multi-tasking”. Meaning, information about sound could be processed via one path, the other for the video graphics, etc. If you've ever noticed, past video games would either pause a bit or stutter occasionally. This is because the system is being bombarded by too much information, and it takes time for their 'brains' to be able to cope with the demands.

In addition to this, Microsoft has incorporated with this technology, a multi-core system that allows them to integrate more than one processor into a single chip. This is by far the latest innovation by hardware manufacturers – and yes, Microsoft has included it in their new Xbox game console. Having the ability to perform multiple tasks at the same time, it allows the game developers to come with strategies on how to maximize the potential of the machine, to deliver optimum performance.

This is the heart of why the Xbox has evolved to become even more powerful. There's a lot of other features about the new Xbox360 that definitely boosts its performance. But the heart of all of this, is of course the core that runs everything in it.

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XBOX 360 COLLIDES WITH PS3

The Xbox360 (pronounced as "three-sixty") is Microsoft's replacement to its original video game console. The video game was formally launched on the MTV Channel last year, May 12, 2005, to be exact. A more detailed launch, including the presentation of the Xbox's more important information, was made later in the same month at the famous Electronic Entertainment Expo.

However, formal release of the video game was made almost six months later, on November 22, in North America and in Puerto Rico. Other launches included those made in Europe last December 2 and in Japan last December 10. With almost simultaneous launches across the three major regions of the world, the Xbox360 thus became the first of the video game consoles to achieve such a feat. It is also the first entrant in a new generation of game consoles that is expected to provide stiff competition to Sony's PlayStation as well as to Nintendo's Wii.

There are two different configurations of the Xbox360 in most countries, namely, the Premium Package, priced at USD $299, and the Core System, with a market value of USD $399. The latter is not available in Japan though. Nevertheless, Microsoft is offering an identical package which it sells at Y37,900. The price has naturally drawn several negative criticisms, particularly from Japanese customers, since they said that they are able to purchase the game's smaller package at a much lower price in other countries. However, this is usually region-coded for Japan.

During its development stage, the Xbox was more commonly referred as the Xenon, Xbox2, XboxNext, or the Nextbox. It is now considered a seventh generation console, initially developed within Microsoft by a small team headed by Seamus Blackley, a game developer as well as a high energy physicist. Rumors of the video game's development first came out during the latter period of 1999 when Microsoft big boss Bill Gates said in an interview that a gaming/multimedia device was important for multimedia convergence in the new times of digital entertainment. Consequently, early the following year, the video game's core concept was announced in a press release.

Analysts believe that the Xbox 360 is Microsoft's way of capitalizing on the burgeoning video game market, especially with the PC market experiencing stagnant growth after the dot.com bust. The video game industry provided Microsoft the opportunity to diversify its product line, which, up to the 1990s, was heavily concentrated in software manufacturing.

Aside from this, the Xbox360 idea also came about because according to Heather Chaplin and Aaron Ruby, authors of the book Smartbomb, the remarkable success of Sony's PlayStation gaming consoles in 1990 sent a worrying message to Microsoft. The growing success of the video game industry, where Sony is considered a pioneer, threatens the PC market, an industry long dominated by Microsoft and upon which most of the company's revenues was heavily dependent. A venture into the video game business, through the Xbox, was the next logical step for Microsoft, said Chaplin and Ruby.

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Become a Video Game Designer Online

Copyright 2006 Michael V. Gruber, MPH

When it comes to online video games, the market is a strong one, and being a video game designer can be a lucrative career. Unlike technological fads that may come and go, the video game industry has only grown stronger since its beginning, and video games are appealing to a wide demographic. A video game designer will be in constant demand as long as he or she has the training and the skills to keep up in this highly lucrative and competitive business.

The Art Institute Online has a comprehensive program that can get people into the video game designer business quickly and successfully. Their Game Art and Design Bachelor degree program helps students focus on all aspects of video games, including producing detailed graphics, scene and set design, animation, background, and characters. A successful graduate of the Art Institute Online's Video Game Design program will be qualified to enter into the video game industry as a sought-after video game designer. Video Game DesignerVideo game tester, background artist, conceptual designer; these are just some of the fields that a graduate of the program will be able to enter.

If you are interested in enrolling in The Art Institute's Online Video Game Design program, then this probably means that you love video games. Although it may seem like a moot point, it is an important one. The video game industry is a fast-paced and intensive one, and in order to succeed in the business, video games should be one of your life's passions. Believe it or not, potential employers are going to be looking for this as well as training and skill. Employers look for experience in playing an assortment of video games as well as being able to design them. You need to be able to know what is currently popular and what is becoming yesterday's news; what is a well designed and produced video game and what is low-quality. A good video game designer needs to have his or her finger on the pulse of the video game playing public.

The Art Institute's Online Video Game Design program is constantly updated to include any new technology that has recently developed. This, coupled with your love for video games, makes a strong combination when you are applying for positions in the video game industry. The The Art Institute will give students a firm foundation for beginning a good, solid career, and for continually advancing as a successful video game designer.

With a Video Game Design program that is offered completely online, students can work any day of the week at the time that's convenient for them by completing assignments and participating in online discussions. Courses are six weeks long, and very study-intensive. No more than two courses should be taken at the same time. Instructors at The Art Institute Online are available for consultation through email or during the course of the online discussions. Students taking online courses through The Art Institute Online will receive the best training, as well as a consistently strong support network.

There is every reason in the world to turn your passion for video games into a lucrative career as a video game designer. Why simply play video games in your spare time when you can be designing the kind of games that you wish were available to you right now? The Art Institute Online can help you reach your goal of becoming a video game designer, and help ensure that you will always be involved in a business that you love and that is financially rewarding.

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Find free information about online design degree programs that educate and develop artistic and imaginative students for careers in the fields of commercial art and design at www.design-degree-online.com

Swap Magic brings welcome Magic for legal responsible PS2 disc owners

I first heard of Swap Magic was when I was busy solving eerie mysteries and killing grotesque looking creatures in Silent Hill 4. I admit it--I am a Playstation 2 fanatic. I have somehow acquired this addiction from my cousin who always includes me in his long hours of playing PS2, from racing games to Role Playing Games (RPGs). During one of my mystery packed game session of SH 4 "The Room," my cousin suddenly came out of nowhere and excitedly started talking about the Swap Magic for Playstation 2. One of the most annoying problems faced by PS2 players is that the PS2 console won't allow users to play imported game CD titles and back up copies of legally obtained titles. Many PS2 gamers find themselves out of luck when, after shelling out big bucks for a legal copy, their legal copy becomes scratched or unusable. To add insult to injury, many titles sell out quickly or go out of print, responsible law abiding PS2 players once again find themselves in a bind. Swap Magic solves these problems.

Swap Magic, which comes bundled with a in CD and DVD format disc, allows every PS2 fan to use or play imported or backed-up games on their Playstation 2. Imported game titles include both foreign translations of US titles or games published by foreign publishers. Backed-up games are Playstation 2 games legally copied by individual game disc owners for back up or archival purposes. Legal disc owners usually back up their libraries to protect against accidents or damage to the original discs they normally use. Swap Magic poses a major advance for PS2 gamers. Not only does it allow once to play archived and imported copies, it is extremely easy to use. You only need to boot your PS2 with the disc. After boot up, you swap it with imported or backed-up game discs. The Swap Magic comes with a Swap Tool which is included with every package, to enable you to swap your games effortlessly.

Just why would a gamer be interested in import games? That’s a very good question, and one I just love to talk about. Most of the hottest and rarest games often come out for the Japanese market or the Asian and European markets. If you’re looking for the coolest puzzle game, you’ve got to have a Japanese PS2 to play it. The best rally and other racing games often come out only in Europe, which means you would need a European PS2 to play the games. With the Swap Magic, your USA PS2 will be able to play all of the hottest game titles that will probably never make it this side of the Ocean. And for European gamers that just can’t get enough of the US games, Swap Magic comes in your version too, with a USA, PAL and JAPANESE version of the discs available.

There are various ways of using the Swap Magic disc. A slide card is used for an original Playstation2 console. In a Slim PS2 on the other hand, there are other options that you can also choose from in disc switching. There are numerous websites that offer a number of disc swapping devices and methods which are designed for archive and imported disc play on the PS2. These other methods range from replacing the original top loading lid with a new lid for easy switching to installing a switch that will allow the original lid to open without the system even knowing it.

Although Swap Magic allows legal PS2 game owners to play backed-up/archive copies of their legally acquired discs, Swap Magic also prevents users from making illegal copies. Swap Magic retains the same copy protection systems that the PS2 uses. While there are many versions of Swap Magic on the market, Swap Magic's terms clearly prohibit the illegal copying and use of PS2 game titles. Used responsibly, Swap Magic enables PS2 game owners an extra measure of peace of mind. Swap Magic users can rest assured that when they back up rare or discontinued game titles, the back ups will work as expected.

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PS2 Hardware To Be Part Of PS3 Games

PS3 Games are reported to contain a hardware solution that will allegedly allow it to operate on PlayStation 2 games. This is the main tone of the PS3 Games story that was featured in the magazine Ultra One.

The magazine said that PS3 Games will most definitely have new features as well as modern technological gaming breakthroughs. Aside from that, however, is the possibility of the console carrying the main components that are found in most PS2 or PlayStation 2 games. This will include Emotion Engine as well as Graphic Synthesizer.

Ultra One said that this approach of PS3 Games manufacturer Sony where backward capability is being utilized is not a formal part of the company's long term plans for the console. As a matter of fact, a software solution is currently being developed and will most likely be installed in future alterations or modifications of the latest Sony game. This will then render the hardware of PlayStation 2 basically ineffective.

The Ultra One report has yet to be verified. However, if the story turns out to be accurate, then the possible inclusion of the PS2 hardware in the initial batches of PS3 Games that will be introduced in the market some six months away clearly points to one direction: it will tend to raise the total cost of every PS3. This will ultimately lead to greater income losses for manufacturing giant Sony. This is a somewhat contradictory position for Sony to take when one takes into consideration the intense preparation that it is making in its all-out battle for supremacy in the video game industry. This is the logic that must be remembered so that it could place its name back in the growth list category.

PS3 Games are set to be launched by middle of November this year. Simultaneous launchings of the console have already been scheduled in three different countries namely, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Reports say the game will have revolutionary interface systems, which will include the use of Blu-Ray media. This does not mean that the game will not play DVD and CD media because it still will. However, it is highly likely that Sony will make several refinements in the design of both the console and the controller. As a matter of fact, the electronics firm is scheduled to unveil the final design of the PS3 controller at the E3 games convention which is set to be held next week.

Initially, one million units of PS3 Games will be manufactured solely for the November launch during which the games will come in black. An additional five million units are expected to be produced by the end of March next year.

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Why 80's Arcade Games are the Best

Reminiscing the 80s would never be complete without mentioning about 80s arcade games. An arcade game is a coin-operated gaming machine that you would usually find in entertainment centers, video arcades, and even in restaurants. Popular arcade games are redemption games that give players rewards based on their score in the game; computer-controlled video games; and pinball games wherein the player manipulates one or more metal balls on a playfield.

Flashback

Arcade games began to be so popular in the early 70s. Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney made Atari that released the Pong video game (based on ping-pong or table tennis) that became almost everyone’s favorite. The success of the Pong video game spawned lots of imitations and created more and more avid video players. Eventually video game arcades abounded through the 80s. They can be found in the malls, department stores, bars and even in restaurants and movie houses. They’re everywhere in the United States

Popular 80s Arcade Games

In the 80s, arcade games became even more popular. Some of the most influential 80s arcade games were the following:

Space Invaders – This game, one of the predecessors of modern video games, was created by the Japanese Toshihiro Nishikado. It was first released in 1978 in Japan. This arcade game mimics a shooting gallery with a movable laser (resembling a cannon) placed below the video screen. There were video aliens that were designed to disrupt the game by passing across the screen and by raining bombs and rays that are deadly. The goal of the player is to avoid those deadly rays and bombs and shoot the aliens so that they won’t reach the bottom of the screen or else, he or she will lose in the game.

Pac-Man – This was created by Namco and was first distributed in 1980. It game remains to be popular today though it has already taken new forms. Compared to many 80s arcade games, Pac-Man was not violent, was easy to play and was enjoyable, which explains why it clicked both to young and old, girls and boys alike.

The yellow circle with a mouth called Pac-Man makes people remember this game so well through the years. The game is played by maneuvering Pac-Man through the maze, letting him eat small dots and different item prizes along the way. Ghosts named Blinky, Inky, Pinky and Clyde on the other hand chase Pac-Man.

Donkey Kong – Another video game that emerged so popular among other 80s arcade games was the Donkey Kong. It was made by Nintendo and was introduced in 1981. Basically the game is played by maneuvering the chief character, Mario (formerly Jumpman),across a series of platforms. As Mario goes through the platforms, he has to get rid of obstacles that prevent him from rescuing a damsel in distress from the hands of Donkey Kong.

The abovementioned are only some of the most popular 80s arcade games. There were also the Battlezone, Pengo, Tron, Tetris, Rubik’s cube and many others. The craze for 80s arcade games only began to subside in the late 80s when newer forms of entertainment were being introduced such as advanced home video game consoles but 80s arcade games didn’t totally die out until the coming of fighting games like the Street Fighter ll that required two players.

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Rumination on the PS3 Game and Console

PS3 games have been long awaited by its fans. With the expected release of the PlayStation 3 console in November, 2006 approaching fast, gamers are enthusiastic about the new experience it offers. Sadly though, the new experience comes together with the PS3 games itself and not the game console that offers backward compatibility. Ergo, it is the new format of the games that is much awaited and not the actual player.

Just what does the new format of the PS3 games offer? Well due to its being written on Blue-Ray Discs, the gaming experience would be parallel to HDTV in terms of its quality. This is because of the ability of the disc to store 10x as much data as the DVD. Having the ability to store more data, it means that programmers are able to incorporate more features that would enable it to deliver high picture and interactive quality.

Given that, how much quality do we really need to enjoy a game? Gamers in the early 90s were satisfied with the picture and gaming quality of the popular Pacman game from Nintendo, the level at which people of today are satisfied with the quality of their gaming experience has always been in accord with the developments in technology. PS3 games would expectedly offer picture quality that is unmatched by any of its competitors.

After PS3 games, then what? Well, one would think that developments in the next decade would definitely grow at an exponential rate. It would not be unreasonable to expect that developers would come up with some gaming console that would enable its users to literally be in the game. Considering that virtual games are now present, continued research on the technology would probably yield devices that can be hook to our nervous system, and would function somewhat like holograms. It is, I guess, only our human imagination that truly limits what we can come up with in the next couple of decades.

So what are the potential problems that could arise from this advancement in gaming technology aside the declining academic performance of children? While PS3 games would definitely give out optimum performance, another aspect that grows in accordance to developments in technology is the cost.

The production of the game console, which is actually more than just a gaming console, as well as the PS3 games would most probably be only affordable for the high-end consumers. That is, during the first two years of production. Fortunately, the prices always go down after a couple of years. That is the only time when children, as well as adults in the lower ranks of society are able to enjoy a magnificent gaming experience. I guess that's how things really work in this society.

Oh well. But nevertheless, PS3 games and all the others that will come soon will always be appreciated by the consumers. They would not really manufacture these things had there been no demand for it, won't they? So enough with the ranting about its costs. PS3 games and others will remain and will continue to develop. So long as the technology is available, people will always find ways to apply them to whatever they could think of.

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Sega Dreamcast

The Sega Dreamcast (Japanese: ƒhƒŠ[ƒ€ƒLƒƒƒXƒg; code-named "Blackbelt," "Dural," and "Katana" during development) is Sega's last video game console. An attempt to recapture the console market with a next-generation system, it was designed to supercede Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's Nintendo 64, and although generally considered to be "ahead of its time" (literally fifteen months before the PlayStation 2 and three years before GameCube or Xbox) it failed to gather enough momentum before the release of the PlayStation 2 in March 2000. After the Dreamcast was discontinued, Sega had no other plans to release another console.

History
When the time came to design the successor to the Sega Saturn, the new President of Sega, Shoichiro Irimajiri, took the unusual step of hiring an outsider. He hired Tatsuo Yamamoto from IBM Austin to head a skunkworks group to develop the next-generation console. However, it soon became apparent that the existing Japanese hardware group led by Hideki Sato did not want to relinquish control of hardware, and so there were two competing designs led by two different groups.

Design
The Japanese group led by Hideki Sato settled on an Hitachi SH4 processor with a PowerVR graphics processor developed by VideoLogic (now Imagination Technologies) and manufactured by NEC. This was originally codenamed "White Belt". The first Japanese prototype boards were silkscreened "Guppy" and the later ones "Katana".

The US skunkworks group (in a secret suite at the 303 Twin Dolphin Drive building) led by Tatsuo Yamamoto settled on an IBM/Motorola PowerPC 603e processor with a 3Dfx Voodoo 2 graphics processor, which was originally codenamed "Black Belt". The first US prototype boards were silkscreened "Shark" (in response to the Japanese "Guppy").

The Japanese hardware was codenamed "Dural", then later, "Katana". "Black Belt" was the only codename used by the US hardware team (they called themselves the "Black Belt team").

In July 1997, it was decided that the Japanese "Katana" would be the chosen format, renamed Dreamcast. In September 1997, 3Dfx filed a lawsuit against Sega and NEC (later including VideoLogic), claiming "breach of contract", although they later settled.

Launch
The Dreamcast was released on November 27, 1998 in Japan, on September 9, 1999 in the United States (the date 9/9/99 featured heavily in US promotion) and on October 14, 1999 in Europe. The tagline used to promote the console in the US was, "It's thinking", and in Europe "Up to 6 Billion Players". The vagueness of these campaigns and almost total lack of any in game footage has been touted as one of the reasons for the Dreamcast's eventual downfall. Many Americans knew that the Dreamcast was coming, but didn't know what one was. The Dreamcast was the first console to include a built-in modem and Internet support for online gaming. It enjoyed brisk sales in its first season and was one of Sega's most successful hardware units. In the United States alone, a record 300,000 units (citation Maclean's September 24, 1999) had been pre-ordered before launch and Sega sold 500,000 consoles in just two weeks (including 225,000 sold on the first 24 hours which became a video game record until the PlayStation 2 launched a year later). In fact, due to brisk sales and hardware shortages, Sega was unable to fulfill all of the advance orders. Sega confirmed that it made $98.4 million on combined hardware and software sales with the Dreamcast with its September 9, 1999 launch. Sega even compared the record figure to the opening day gross of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, which made $28.5 million during the first 24 hours in theaters.

Before the launch in the United States, Sega had already taken the extra step in displaying Dreamcast's capabilities in stores nationwide. Much like the PlayStation's launch in North America, the displays of titles such as Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure, Power Stone and Hydro Thunder helped the Dreamcast succeed in the first year. Although Electronic Arts declined to support the Dreamcast which included the omission of its popular sports games (due in part to EA's losses from the past Sega Saturn), Sega Sports titles helped to fill that void.

Competition
In April 1999, Sony announced its PlayStation 2, designed to be backwards-compatible with the older PlayStation, and released the unit in Japan in March 2000. Sony's press release, despite being a year ahead of the launch of the PS2, was enough to divert a lot of attention from Sega. Even though Sega touted the Dreamcast's online capabilities (the PS2 would not go online until late 2002), American public attention was focused upon the PlayStation 2's ability to play DVDs (the DVD format did not catch on in Japan until after the release of the PS2 as the LD was the established standard). Electronic Arts also announced its support for the PS2. This, combined with the fact that Sega had dropped support for the Saturn and did not offer backwards compatibility led to poorer sales in America.

In 2000, the announcement of the Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube was widely regarded as the last straw for the Dreamcast, since both competitors had deep pockets (like Sony) which fueled speculation that Sega did not have the resources for a prolonged marketing campaign.

End of production
On January 31, 2001, Sega announced that production of Dreamcast hardware was to be discontinued by March of that year, although the 50 to 60 titles still in production would be published. The last North American release was NHL 2K2, which was released in February of 2002. With the company announcing no plans to develop a next-generation successor to the Dreamcast, this was Sega's last foray into the home console business. By the time Sega decided to cease development of the Dreamcast, about 10 million consoles had been sold. Though the Dreamcast was officially discontinued in early 2001, commercial games were still developed and released afterwards, particularly in Japan. Many consider the critically acclaimed arcade shooter Ikaruga developed by Treasure to be the Dreamcast's swan song. It was released in September 2002 in Japan only after a large amount of speculation on the game's fate; its US release was on the Nintendo GameCube in April 2003. Hacked unreleased games like Propeller Arena and Half-Life continued to become available to the public by program decoders like Echelon. On February 24, 2004, Sega released their final Dreamcast game, Puyo Pop Fever, although a small number of third-party games are still being released, such as Trizeal, Rajirugi, and most recently Under Defeat (released in March 2006).

Despite its short lifespan, the Dreamcast is still a very popular and highly-regarded console among many fans due to its impressive library of both mainstream and quirky titles. It is even starting to become a cult classic, as the system is getting harder to find (in fact, although the Dreamcast was officially discontinued in January 2001, Sega continued to produce the console for a short time afterwards due to rising demand, not least among collectors and hard-core fans).

Several Dreamcast emulation projects have emerged after the Dreamcast's end of production, with Chankast being the most notable.

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Future Improvements To World Of Warcraft

A year has passed since Blizzards release of their massively multiplayer online role playing game, World of Warcraft. On release, there were a lot of mistakes, a lot of imbalances and a lack of high end content. Since then, Blizzard has fixed many of its issues, and added enough content to keep the hardcore gamers interested, for now.

The first month that blizzard had the game live was sketchy at best. The realm servers were constantly being taken down for maintenance. The player base was upset with the state of the game. Problems will be inherent in an undertaking as large as WOW. To those on the affected servers, the response time from Blizzard was abysmal. Some servers were down for days. Blizzard made amends by giving free play time to the players with characters on those servers. Since then, blizzard has picked up their service, and the only significant time the servers have problems is the day or so that a new patch comes out.

The raid content of the game on release was limited to The Molten Core and Onyxia. For the first three months that was plenty, the most avid WOW players were still busy leveling and getting good gear from the high level five man instances. The top guilds, however, would have these encounters mastered in short order once they got into them. After two months of raiding nothing but these encounters they became tedious. Many players lacking faith in Blizzard grew bored with the game. Blackwing Lair was released a few months ago, and has proven to be a sufficient challenge. Ahn’Qiraj was just released. Those finished with Blackwing Lair will be looking forward to the new challenges it presents. As long as Blizzard can keep up with the progression of best raiding group, no player can complain about lack of activity at level 60.

The honor system and battlegrounds released half a year after the game hit shelves brought more structure to Player versus Player interaction (PvP) by ranking and rewarding players for killing other players close to their own level. While it doesn’t discourage ‘ganking,’ killing a player much lower in level than the attacker, it provides purpose to fighting the opposing faction.

At the core of every good video game is a high quality user interface. It’s the way the player interacts with the game environment. WOW provided a fine interface at the start, but as the game progressed, it became clear certain things were lacking. Thankfully, Blizzard supported Custom User Interfaces by allowing ‘add-ons’ to be incorporated easily into their game. Using these custom interfaces, players can get exactly what they need out of the game to play to the maximum efficiency. The best of the interfaces have been incorporated into WOW’s base user interface.

Blizzard does a lot to make sure their games are of the highest quality when they are released. After a full year of beta testing, WOW was a much better game than when it started. Though at that time, the game was not perfect, and perhaps not quite ready for retail. Over the last year, the game has made leaps and bounds to become the best massively multiplayer online game on the market. With a larger test group, and user input, Blizzard has been able to shape WOW into the game it should have been on release.

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Hunter Crowell is a researcher, avid online gamer, and creator of www.wow-gold-price-list.com/ ">WOW Gold Price List, helping players find the cheapest place to buy their gold.

Super Nintendo

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, and Australia. In Japan it is known as the Super Famicom (Family Computer). In South Korea, it is known as the Super Comboy and was distributed by Hyundai Electronics.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was Nintendo's second home console, following the Nintendo Entertainment System (often abbreviated to NES, released as the Famicom in Japan). Whereas the earlier system had struggled in Europe and large parts of Asia the SNES proved to be a global success, albeit one that could not match its predecessor's popularity in South East Asia and North America—due in part to increased competition from Sega's Mega Drive console (released in North America as the Genesis). Despite its relatively late start, the SNES became the best selling console of the 16-bit era but only after its competitor Sega had pulled out of the 16-bit market to focus on its 32-bit next generation console.

History
Even as the original NES/Famicom was at the height of its popularity, several companies were launching their own consoles. In 1987 and 1988 respectively, NEC and Sega launched their contenders, the PC Engine and the Mega Drive, one of the first 16-bit home gaming systems. Although the NES would continue to dominate the video game industry for years to come, Nintendo's hardware was beginning to show its age, and though Nintendo executives initially showed little interest in developing a new system, Sega and NEC's growing market share with consoles like the Mega Drive (Sega Genesis) and the PC Engine soon forced Nintendo to reconsider.

Masayuki Uemura, the man responsible for designing the Famicom several years earlier, was put in charge of the design of the console and the Super Famicom was released in Japan on November 21, 1990 for ¥25,000. An instant blockbuster, Nintendo's initial shipment of 300,000 units quickly sold out within hours. The system was so popular that it was said to have attracted the attention of the Yakuza, leading to the decision to ship the devices at night in order to avoid robbery. In Japan, the Super Famicom effortlessly outsold its chief rival, the Mega Drive, and Nintendo retained control over approximately 85% of the Japanese console market thanks, in part, to Nintendo's retention of most of its key third party developers from the Famicom, including Capcom, Konami, Tecmo, Square Co., Ltd., Koei, and Enix.

Nine months later, on August 13, 1991, Nintendo released the Super Famicom in North America with a new redesigned case as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Initially sold for a price of $199 US, the North American package included the game Super Mario World. The SNES was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland in April 1992 for £150, with a German release following a few weeks later. The PAL versions of the console looked identical to the Japanese Super Famicom, except for labelling.

Nintendo's Japanese market dominance was, however, not repeated in the American and European markets. By the time of launch the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis had already become firmly entrenched in the US and European marketplace, helped by the lower cost of the Mega Drive/Genesis console and games, Sega's aggressive marketing in North America, and overall popularity of the console alone. In addition many US gamers had come to expect backwards compatibility from console developers (as was the case with the Atari 2600 and 7800), but the SNES was not designed to play NES cartridges.

Rivalry between Nintendo and Sega produced what is possibly the most notorious console war in gaming history. Nintendo would never achieve market leadership in Europe and did not manage to do so in the U.S. until 1994, benefiting from Sega's pulling out of the market and its continued production of SNES and its games well after the 32-bit era of gaming had started.

In the period of the early 1990s, a blue-collar anti-Japanese sentiment had grown to maturity. While the NES was accused of shoddy construction and poor planning, the SNES was rumored to be a tool of outright economic war. The SNES was incompatible with several American-brand TVs, causing the screen to hop 3-5 times a second, or (in very rare cases) even outright backfire on the TV set. Nintendo fixed all units aftermarket free of charge, but the theory held on for years.

By 1996, the 16-bit era of gaming had ended, and a new generation of consoles, including Nintendo's own Nintendo 64, caused the popularity of the SNES to wane. In October 1997, Nintendo released a redesigned SNES 2 in North America for $99 USD (which included the pack-in game Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island). Like the earlier NES 2, the new model was designed to be slimmer and lighter than its predecessor but lacked S-Video and RGB output, and would prove to be among the last major SNES-related releases in America. A similar redesigned Super Famicom Jr. was released in Japan around the same time. All the American cases from the original NES to the SNES 2 were designed by Lance Barr.

Nintendo of America ceased production of the SNES in 1999. In Japan, the Super Famicom continued to be produced until September 2003 (also some new games were produced until the year 2000). In recent years, many SNES titles have been ported to the handheld Game Boy Advance, which has similar video capabilities. Some video game critics consider the SNES era "the golden age of video games," citing the many groundbreaking games and classics made for the system, whereas others question this romanticism. See video game player for more.

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Game Boy

The Game Boy line (Japanese: ¥²©`¥à¥Ü©`¥¤ G¨¥mu B¨­i) is a line of battery-powered handheld game consoles sold by Nintendo. It is one of the world's best-selling game system line, selling over 120 million units worldwide as of 2006 and has spawned many successful spin-offs. It is also the best-selling portable game system line ever, and the longest runner.

History
Nintendo's Game Boy handheld was first released in 1989. The gaming device was the brainchild of long-time Nintendo employee Gunpei Yokoi, who was the person behind the Ultra Hand, an expanding arm toy created and produced by Nintendo in 1970, long before Nintendo would enter the video game market. Yokoi was also responsible for the Game & Watch series of handhelds when Nintendo made the move from toys to video games.

When Gunpei designed the original Game Boy, he knew that, to be successful, the system needed to be small, light, inexpensive, and durable, as well as have a varied, recognizable library of games upon its release. By following this simple mantra, the Game Boy line managed to gain a vast following despite technically superior alternatives.

Game Boy continues its success to this day and many at Nintendo have dedicated the handheld in Yokoi's memory. Game Boy celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2004, which nearly coincided with the 20-year anniversary to the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). To celebrate, Nintendo released the Classic NES Series and a NES-themed color scheme for the Game Boy Advance SP.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata had this to say on the rumored demise of the Game Boy brand: "No, it's not true after all. What we are repeatedly saying is that for whichever platform, we are always conducting research and development for the new system, be it the Game Boy, or new console or whatever. And what we just told the reporter was that in thinking about the current situation where we are enjoying great sales with the DS and that we are now trying to launch the Wii, it's unthinkable for us to launch any new platform for the handheld system, including the new version of the GBA... Perhaps they misunderstood a part of this story, but as far as the handheld market is concerned [right now] we really want to focus on more sales of the DS; that's all."

Versions
The Game Boy console went through several design iterations, without significant changes to its computing power, since its release in 1989.

Game Boy
The original Game Boy was released on April 21, 1989 in Japan and in August 1989 in the United States with an MSRP of US$100. Based around a Z80 processor, it had a black and green reflective LCD screen, an eight-way directional pad, two action buttons, and Start and Select buttons. It played games from ROM-based media contained in small plastic detachable units called cartridges (sometimes abbreviated as carts or GamePaks).

The killer game that pushed the Game Boy into the upper reaches of success was Tetris. Tetris was widely popular, and on the handheld format could be played anywhere. It came packaged with the Game Boy, and broadened its reach; adults and kids alike were buying Game Boys in order to play Tetris. Releasing Tetris on the Game Boy was selected as #4 on GameSpy's 25 Smartest Moments in Gaming: Tetris Makes Game Boy a Must-Have.

The original Game Boy was the first cartridge-based system that supported more than four players at one time (via the link port). In fact, it has been shown that the system could support 16 simultaneous players at once. However, this feature was only supported in Faceball 2000.

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