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Three Myths about Video Games and the People Who Play Them

There are many myths surrounding  online gaming and gamers who like to spend their time playing them. Unfortunately, many of those myths negatively portray these games and gamers. These myths have come to be recognized as fact which has caused a negative public opinion of video games. Here are a few of the myths and the actual truth surrounding gamers and games.

Video Games Lead to Increased Teen Violence
We’ve all heard the “fact” that violent video games lead to violent teens. However, if you look at the statistics surrounding juvenile crime in the country, you will see that the rates are at the lowest they have been in three decades. In fact, studies show that the people who are in prison for perpetrating violent crimes viewed less media than the people who are free and walking the streets. The main contributions to teen violence are the individual teen’s home life and their mental stability, not video games.

Video Game Makers Target Children in Their Marketing
While many video games are made for children, this is not the main market that video game companies think of when marketing their products. Most of the video game players are adults who grew up playing games and continue to do so into their adult years. More than 60 percent of the market for game consoles is over the age of 18. That is also why so many of today’s video games have an “M” rating, meaning they are for mature audiences. Unfortunately, many parents do not consider this and they let their kids play the games anyways.

Video Games Isolate People Socially
Many of today’s games are very sociable. In fact, it’s one of the favorite pastimes for friends to do when they get together. About one-third of the people who play games,  like online casino games,  playwith a brother or sister and a large number also play with parents and spouses. Most games are also designed for multiple players and you can even play hundreds of games online and talk with people from around the world who are playing the same game.

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Cleaning Your Video Game Controller

My 360 Elite
Image by MNgilen via Flickr

It’s easy to get excited when playing video games. Unfortunately, that excitement often results in spilling your snacks or soda all over the couch, the floor and even the video game controllers. Luckily, it is not a total loss if you get soda or other liquids in your controllers. Here are some things you can do to clean them.

Take it Apart
It might seem like a daunting task to take your video game controller apart to clean it, but what have you got to lose? If you don’t take it apart, it’s probably ruined so at least you have a chance to salvage it by going inside the controller to clean it. Most controllers have a bottom piece that screws on so you can start by loosening the screws and removing it. Be sure to keep the screws in a safe place so you don’t lose them once you have taken them out of the controller.

Remove the Parts
Once you remove the bottom plate of the controller, you will see many parts. Remove the circuit board, the cable, the contact parts, the plastic buttons and any other parts inside the controller. Make a mental note of how they are arranged so you can get the controller back together once you are finished.

Wash the Shell
After removing all the parts, wash the remaining shell with warm soapy water. Use a small scrub brush (like a toothbrush) to clean the small spaces. You can also use a cotton swab for the tiny places that the bristles on the toothbrush cannot reach.

Clean the Small parts
The plastic buttons can be cleaned in a bowl of warm soapy water while the rubber parts should be cleaned with a dry cloth and compressed air. Dry each part with a soft cloth and set them back on a flat surface so they can air dry. Clean the circuit board with rubbing alcohol to ensure it is clean as well.

Put it Back Together
Now that everything is clean and dry, put it back together and see if it works. If it doesn’t, at least you tried.

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New Tech Allows Working Out With the Wii

If you love playing Xbox games, you might want to venture out and try the Nintendo Wii. The Wii is the newest phase in losing weight and keeping fit. Millions of people have gotten in shape using video games from the Nintendo Wii.

Dance Dance Revolution is a game played where you follow the characters on the screen in order to mimic their dance moves. By stepping on the giant dance pad that comes with the game, you can learn new dance steps as well as get a great cardio workout.

EA Sports Active is great if you want to stay on a workout plan. You can customize your workouts and even try the thirty day challenge to keep you on track. There are three levels of intensity. Beginner is for those that are new to exercise and also to the Wii way of working out. Intermediate is for those that exercise pretty frequently and need more of a workout than the beginner mode can give. Expert is for those that are highly experienced and in shape, and want an awesome workout in order to feel the burn. There are also many different single workouts you can do, such as step aerobics and yoga.

Punch-out is a great game for upper body strength. Punch-out lets you box your way to the top. By using the Wii remote and the nun-chucks, you can punch your way through different characters in order to raise your skill level and fight against higher levels. If you add the balance board, you will get a total-body workout that promises to be intense.

All of these options are enabled by new microchip technologies that use full body movement, weight, balance, and advanced system interaction to get maximum results.

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Tips for Cleaning Your Video Game Discs

Few things are as frustrating for gamers as getting into a game and then having the disc skip or lag because it is dirty. Keeping your video game discs clean and scratch-free is vital to helping it play correctly. Here are some tips to cleaning your game discs and keeping them clean so you won’t have to worry about running into the skipping or lagging problem again.

Use a Soft Cloth
To clean your discs of any dust, oil or dirt, the best thing to use is a dry soft cloth. This can either be your t-shirt or a cloth specifically made for cleaning discs. Bathroom towels, paper towels and other materials are too rough for disc cleaning so never use these materials as they may scratch your discs rather than clean them.

Rub from the Inside Out
Many people make the mistake of cleaning their video game discs in a circular motion. While this may look like it makes sense, this can cause damage to the disc. Instead, start at the center of the disc and rub in a straight line to the outer edge. This will help remove any dust and oils without damaging your disc.

Fill In Scratches with Toothpaste
As weird as it sounds, toothpaste is a great way to fill in the scratches on your game disc. Spread a thin layer of plain toothpaste over the entire playing side of the disc and then wipe it clean with a damp soft cloth. Allow the disc to dry and the scratches should no longer be a problem. If the scratches are deep, however, the toothpaste may not fix it.

Keep the Disc in the Case
It’s tempting to leave your video game discs lying around so they are easy to get to. But by doing this, you leave it vulnerable to dirt and dust and scratches. Take the few extra seconds to put your disc in its case after each use to avoid any major problems with it in the future.

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Simple Tips for Online NFL Betting

The new NFL logo went into use at the 2008 draft.
Image via Wikipedia

When you are betting through any online sportsbook, you have to keep specific things in mind in order to get the best return on your bet. Unless you are aware of some of the standard tips, you are better off enjoying online casino games, which will provide you with just as much entertainment but without the tension of how your team is doing. However, for those who are interested in learning about betting on your favorite NFL teams online, here are a few simple rules you should follow to improve your odds.

  • Know your limit and always keep your betting amount consistent. Experts say that those who are emotionally attached to a specific team will bet more on them but in actuality, you have a better chance of gaining if you bet equally on each game. With a moderate amount, you stand to lose less per game. It is a type of addiction, so be sure you are doing this for fun and do not get too emotionally involved.
  • Reading the injury report will help you understand who the better team will be overall. In football, all eleven players are needed for a successful match and the team with the best eleven players tends to do better overall in the game. Injury reports will inform you of who the stronger team is during the game.
  • Be sure to have multiple sportsbooks active if you are a regular bettor. Only using one sportsbook and betting on the same lines will more often cause you to lose. With multiple sportsbooks, you increase your chances of winning. Diversify your bets and never stick to the same old thing. Learn from you mistakes so that you do not repeat history.

Do some research, and you will be better at understanding the way everyone bets. Do not get emotionally attached. Instead, learn to enjoy the game.

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How to Save Money on Electronic Purchases

Electronic purchases can be some of largest ones you will make, especially if you are purchasing a home theatre or music system. However, even if you’ve set aside  a certain amount, you do not necessarily need to pay all of it. There are ways you can save money on these items.

The best way to save money on anything, including electronic purchases, is by using coupons and discount offers from such websites as offers.com. These can sometimes let you save as much as fifty percent, depending on the amount that is offered. Others can make it easier to apply for rebates, which can also take a lot off the original purchase price, even if you did have the pay the entire amount up front.

Take advantage of end-of-the-model-year sales and holiday sales. New models of electronics come out every year, just like with cars, sometimes even more frequently, and right before the new models are ready to be introduced is a good time to save. Likewise, many stores put electronics on sale during the holiday season, especially on “Black Friday.” If you can get there early enough to get the few that will be available, you can save a bundle at this time.

Look in the classified sections, both print and online, for electronics for sale. These may be brand-new and the buyer did not realize it wouldn’t fit or could not be installed until it was too late. Rather than go through the hassle of trying to return it, he is offering it for sale.

Look at buying floor or display samples. These are usually marked down; if they aren’t, you can ask that they be, especially if you see a scratch or ding on them. The warranties will probably be just as good on them as they are on the new-in-the-box ones.

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Software Tales From The 80s: Infocom

As personal computers began to infiltrate more and more households in the 1980s, computer game companies began to flourish. By today’s standards, many of these early video games were rudimentary at best, but many are still revered today for their playability. And now with the advent of open source software like openoffice and Ares which created ares p2p, video games and coding are growing by leaps and bounds.  In particular, the text adventures created by a small company called Infocom still have a cult following today.

Humble Beginnings

The founders of Infocom met at MIT, while they were working on their undergraduate degrees. After becoming friends, they wrote Zork 1, which went on to sell over a million copies. A text adventure, Zork had no graphics of any kind. Instead, the player read the words on the screen and typed in a command for his character, i.e., “walk north” or “kill troll with sword”. Zork required the player to solve many different puzzles by using maps, items, and in some cases, good timing. It was lauded for challenging the intellect and stirring the imagination of its players.

National Success

From its humble beginnings at MIT, Infocom grew, and over the next several years, it published many bestselling games in a variety of genres. Zork spawned two sequels and even a prequel, and games like Trinity, Sorcerer, and Planetfall were loved by millions of people. Infocom’s games were marked by witty, descriptive writing and brain-teasing puzzles. The company initially offered a phone number that people could call to get hints for these puzzles, but later began publishing “Invisiclues” – booklets for each game with clues written in invisible ink – so the reader could only reveal the hint she needed at the time.

Infocom’s Downfall

Though the matter is up for debate, most posit that the fall of Infocom was brought about by Cornerstone, a financial software product that the company spent a significant amount of time and money developing but that failed to bring in much revenue. Many think that Infocom’s investors pushed the company into producing the product, but perhaps the company’s leaders were overambitious. Regardless, Infocom’s games are still revered among many video gamers.

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An Outline of the Early History of Computers – Hardware

Inner workings (computer)
Image via Wikipedia

Computers are essential to life as we know it today. They are everywhere, but just who invented them? The computer is something that has evolved from many different designs and inventions, developed over time by various people over many years.

A mechanical calculator was built in Germany in the 1930’s. This was considered the first binary computer and was used to do mathematical calculations. It was refined by the 1940’s to use old movie film to store programs and data; the first not to use paper tape or cards. A 1941 version had a memory of 64 words.

What were referred to as personal computers from then through the 1950’s and 1960’s were able to do mathematical calculations. They weren’t able to do everything like the computers of today, but were sophisticated for the time. Their concept and the ideas of their builders were still visionary nonetheless. The different types that appeared throughout the time period featured switches and dials built into bulky large boxes.

The paperclip computer was a device in the late 1960’s based on a book that described a working computer built out of homemade supplies. Programs were stored on a magnetic drum and the device had units for input, output, control, and arithmetic. The main units of this system correspond to most modern digital computers, even though the machine looked nothing like a home computer.

Machines that began to take on the appearance of modern PCs in the early history of computers began to appear in the 1970s. The first successful mass produced computer was made by Apple in 1977, while IBM and Microsoft developed several computers in the 1980’s. Several entered the mainstream, such as Atari, as computerized video games became a cultural phenomenon, but it is also impossible to leave out the Commodore 64, since it was one of the most popular individual computer types on the market.

The reliance on more powerful gaming systems, as well as word processors, secured the high demand for better computers. Today, there are computers everywhere and inside just about anything electronic.

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Putting Motion on the Web: A History of Flash

YouTube
Image via Wikipedia

Every wonder why seemingly every website has an annoying blinking animation or game that asks to click here?

Well that answer is marketing, but wondering how leads to the answer of Wunderkind Jonathon Gay. As a child, Gay became interested and apt at working with computers. So much so that by the time he was in high school his science fair projects were sophisticated enough to earn the attention of professional programmers. By the time he was a senior in high school Gay was working for the company Silicon Beach, which released his first commercial product, Airborne! a black and white game for the Macintosh. Gay had bigger plans than building games for the Apple II or Mac. Before leaving home to attend Harvey Mudd College, Gay contributed to Superpaint 2, a revolutionary program that allowed both simultaneous bit map painting and vector drawing.

Foreseeing a market for graphics, Gay formed his own company. FutureWave Software company built a drawing program, before moving on to software for the emerging market of Internet programmers. Future Wave Software released FutureSplash Animator, which created vector based animations. As a vector based program the animations adjusted to screen size, unlike pixel based programs.

With the advent of Netscapes plug in features turned FutureSlash into a more viable product. Soon major sites such as msn.com and Disney’s Daily Blast were using FutureSplash. Gay had gone from high school standout to the big time. Soon major companies such as Macromedia were taking notice.

In December 1996 Macromedia purchased FutureWave. With a team of developers behind it Flash animations would soon become an Internet staple. Flash enjoyed the advantages of being vector based, bandwidth friendly and browser independent with those advantages, Flash spread. Some would say like a weed.

Back to those annoying, “look at me” animations. Those are almost certainly Flash, but so are useful tools again. The tutorial that showed how to make a Bobbie Flay style meal or the YouTube video showing the after effects of visiting the dentist both probably used Flash Media Player. Much like the Internet Flash has greatly evolved. And like any technology it has been abused. But with out Flash the Internet would be, well, less Flashy (or not as animated).

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Using the Web to Find Internet Service Deals – Hardware

Having access to the Internet is pretty much a necessity nowadays. There are many ways to get online, in regards to the providers that offer deals for accessing the Web. You can even use the Net itself to search the websites of providers, where you can find detailed information on what each offers, and even find reviews and forum comments about the quality of the service.

Even if you don’t yet have access, you can always use a friends’ computer, go to a library, or visit an Internet café if one exists near where you live to do your research. The type of information you want to look for is whether you get enough features and perks to justify the cost. Most of the time, they are relatively inexpensive because of the competition; there are almost countless providers out there.

If you are lucky, you can even have Internet access included in your cable TV and/or telephone plan. Various top named cable providers offer high-speed access; speed being one of the top features to look for. You can easily get a fast service and connection, and there is no reason to have long wait times for websites to load or to send email.

Email is another feature that you can no longer do without. In addition to reliability, you also want to know how much storage space you have, and whether the provider’s system experiences any significant downtime. This is something you want to assess about the system overall before you buy into the service. You can also consider extras such as website hosting and domain registration, if you’re inclined to get into the technical side, as affordable additions or standard features of the service.

With so much information online, you can use the Internet to find Internet deals. Don’t hesitate to browse forums, blogs, review sites, or your favorite trusty search engine to find information. If something is worth talking about it, you can be sure someone is out there to post useful information that you can use in your decision.

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