Internet | Gaming Circuits

Arcade Game Cabinets

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Arcade games are a great way to outfit a game room or simply own for games that you have absolute obsession of. A good indicator of this might be if you have this particular games theme as a free ringtone. But what you should look for when purchasing a used arcade game? Obviously one of the first things is to check the physical condition of the unit. Is it in good shape? Check for chips, cracks or other damage. Does it feel sturdy? All questions you should verify. Next, are you able to test the machine? Can you verify the unit works? You should try playing a game see if the controls all work, as they should. Check out the sound and the picture quality, too.

One more thing is to check out the coin mechanism. Does it function properly accepting coins and registering them on screen? If the machine is in good shape, even if one or more of these things are bad, you can actually replace them usually with not too much expense. Most of these are actually user replaceable and aren’t very difficult to do. If you do not want to do it yourself, you can find a local shop in your area that can do it for you. You should also ask your seller if they know the history of the cabinet and if they have any extra parts or manuals for it. You may find these very helpful later. If the unit has cosmetic damage, you can find the decals and marquees for sale by private sellers or for sale in online auctions.

It is a good idea to have a basic understanding of arcade games and arcade game cabinets in order to check all this stuff out. The more you know about the cabinet, the better able you will be to appraise it for what it is really worth.

Filed Under: Internet, Technology, Video Game Tagged With: Arcade game, Game, GameRoom

Exercise Video Games

If the price for a car is getting you down, you may want to look into staying home and getting some exercise. Exercise can not only make you healthier, it’s much better than staying sedentary or even driving around aimlessly in your car.

If you don’t have a Nintendo Wii, now is the time to get one. The Wii has many games available that can help you get the exercise you need. For example, the Wii Fit is a complete system that comes with a balance board as well as other accessories designed to help you get into shape.

Wii Fit has such games such as tennis, volleyball, yoga and even fun balance games. Once starting one of these games, you will have no idea that hours have passed because you will be having so much fun.

EA Sports Active is another Wii game that many people use. This one comes with a personal trainer that can help you along in your exercise program. There are also 6-week challenges that you can do in order to stay focused and on track. It works by utilizing the balance board as well as other accessories. The balance board can also weigh you so that you can keep track of your weight loss progress.

There are three levels: beginner, intermediate and expert. If you are just starting out, you will want the beginner mode, as that is still difficult for many people. By the end of the 6-week challenge, you will find that you can go farther distances without becoming out of breath. You will also notice that you have more energy and that you aren’t feeling as lazy.

The best part of all of that is that you will soon see your muscles toning up as well as the weight coming off of your body.

Filed Under: Computer, Internet Tagged With: Nintendo, Wii, Wii Fit

The Kinect Game Lineup

We would absolutely love to tell you the details of how the Xbox 360 Kinect works. Unfortunately, Microsoft has kept the specifics of the Kinect a well-guarded secret. This certainly gives them an advantage over the Wii and Playstation franchise, both of whom have been seeking to replicate their results with little success. The Kinect is up for a spectacular season this December. Here are a few of the great games that are Kinect-compatible and ready for the holiday season.

Dance Masters

From Konami, the proud creators of Dance Dance Revolution, comes an entirely new way to get your groove on. Instead of simply moving your feet on a (slippery, sometimes non-registering) pad, you can just move in front of the Kinect and follow the game’s impressive dance directions.

Def Jam Rapstar

While there have been Guitar Heroes and Rock Bands on the consoles for some time, this is the first opportunity we really have to get into the rap genre.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows

The Deathly Hollows game follows the movie and allows you to step into the world of witches and wizards. The difference is that there are now 22 controller-free challenges for players to take on.

Kinect Sports

Much akin to the “Wii Sports” for their competitor console, Xbox has released a full body movement game that allows you to step onto the sport’s field from your own living room.

YourShape: Fitness Evolved

This fitness game features virtual trainers to walk you through numerous exercises. With the help of the Kinect, exact directions are given to help you perfect your form, making workouts more effective than ever.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Kinect, one great source is the Kinect Facebook page. Some basic social media monitoring of that page will give you a good idea of the Kinect’s features and upcoming games.

Filed Under: Internet, Website Tagged With: Kinect, Wii, Xbox

Updating Video Game Software

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In the world of video games, it used to be that when it was time for an addition to a particular video game, the game was released as a new version and gamers—or their parents—had to buy a new game to get new adventures and improved functions. With the evolving and growing technology in video games these days, that is no longer the case. While new games are always being released and the purchases will not slow down anytime soon, there are new ways for updating existing games and adding more fun or fixing glitches without buying a whole new game.

Many video games have software patches that fix problems or add additional adventures to the games. Gamers can go to specific websites and download these software updates, if the game is PC based. For those video games that are on game consoles such as Nintendo and Playstation, there are new ways to download software updates via online connections that are available options. This is a newer feature that is being further developed. This software enables users to enjoy furthering the game and prolonging interest as well as the life of the game. This is fun and saves money as well. Even if the updates require a small fee—which many do not—it is rarely even close to the price of a new game.

With video games and the resulting software becoming increasingly popular and the game consoles becoming more intricate and able to go online wirelessly and so forth, updating via software online will likely continue to increase. Software has changed so much in recent years, it is next to impossible to keep up with all the updates and changes, with video games and all other programs as well. Technology is amazing and is growing by leaps and bounds every minute, it seems.

Filed Under: Car, Computer, Electronics, Internet Tagged With: Gamer, Games, Nintendo, Personal computer, PlayStation, Shopping, Video game, Video game console

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.

Filed Under: Car, Circuits, Computer, Internet Tagged With: Aerobic exercise, Balance board, Dance pad, Dance Revolution, EA Sports Active, Nintendo, Physical exercise, Wii

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.

Filed Under: Computer, Internet Tagged With: Electronic Purchases

Four Old-School Video Games You Can Play Online

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Do you miss the elementary graphics and nostalgia that are a part of old video games like Pac Man and Donkey Kong? Do you ever long for the simple idea of just trying to rescue the damsel in distress or just racking up the most points? If so, you would probably enjoy the fact that many vintage video games are available to play on the Internet. Here are four of those games in case you would like to relive your younger days. Super Mario Brothers Few games have made an impact on American society like Super Mario Brothers. It came to the arcades in 1983 and became available for NES just a couple years later. It didn’t give that lovable Mario his start, but it bolted him into fame and popularity as millions of American kids and adults played this game for hours on end. The Legend of Zelda One of the most recognized names in video game history is The Legend of Zelda. The game has sold around 60 million copies all over the world and it probably owes its popularity to its combination the aspects of puzzles, role playing, battles, action and exploration all in one game. Who can resist? Pong What might seem like the most elementary and boring game ever was actually very addicting when it first came out. Pong was the start of it all in the 1970s and you can play it online now. Even if you are an avid gamer who has played the latest and most sophisticated games, you might get hooked after just a few minutes of this simple concept. Centipede This was another game that started out at the arcades and made it into millions of American homes just a few years later. Centipede was an Atari creation and it was one of the first games to be played by a large number of female players. All you had to do was shoot the centipede apart before it killed you. The concept doesn’t get much simpler than that.

Filed Under: Internet, Technology, Video Game Tagged With: Legend of Zelda, Pac Man, Super Mario Bros, Video game

VHS versus Beta

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Technology does not always survive commercially by outperforming its competitors. While natural selection might ensure that a particular species survives while another becomes extinct, no such force exists in the area of consumer preference. Otherwise the Betamax format might be remembered as something other than a failure.

The Video Cassette Recorders- VCRS first became widely available in 1972. The Philips Video Cassette Recording system might have been innovative, but it did not prove to have much staying power. Price might have been part of the problem as consumers could have been hesitant to fork over more than $2000 for a new and unproven technology.

By 1975 the marketplace had shifted and selling VCRs to the public became a profitable endeavor. The idea of bringing a portable movie studio into living rooms proved exciting to the public, while Hollywood Executives predicted that the machine could destroy their industry.

Luckily for movie lovers bringing VCRs into homes proved to have the opposite effect of destroying the movie industry. VCRs became a staple in homes, and the only question that remained was VHS or Beta?

The Betamax emerged first on the market and offered superior picture and sound. VHS offered two hours of recording time. Quantity won out over quality as the public desired time to record movies and television events.

But pricing and marketing also doomed Sony’s VCR. VHS was cheaper, and once JVC’s VCR began to gain market share it partnered with movie studios to offer a wider selection of offerings. Despite being first and better quality, Betamax proved to be the lesser of the two VCR offerings. By the 1990s the Beta was a dead technology.

While Beta had a short shelf life, the format war between the two systems has become a marketing case study. The rapid introduction of new technologies to the market place means that companies will always remember the lessons of the Sony Betamax, while desperately hoping that their products do not suffer a similar fate.

Filed Under: Internet Tagged With: Betamax, VHS

An Outline of the Early History of Computers – Hardware

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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.

Filed Under: Computer, Electronics, Internet Tagged With: Hardware, Personal computer, Word processor

Putting Motion on the Web: A History of Flash

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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).

Filed Under: Computer, Internet, Technology Tagged With: Apple, FutureSplash Animator, FutureWave Software, YouTube