Online World: Daily Living

How Can Video Games Cure Diseases

2012-09-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

Scientists at the University of Washington spent years letting supercomputers try to solve the mysterious puzzle of protein folding, a important key to curing the world's worst neurological diseases. When the supercomputers fell short, they tried something revolutionary: They gave the puzzle to video gamers.

"Folding" is the process by which proteins assemble themselves from amino acids to peptides to something useful. If all goes well, we get proteins that make, oh say, a blood vessel wall or an enzyme. When a protein folds itself incorrectly, however, it becomes a useless clump of peptides that drifts through the blood stream, often winding up trapped in the tiny capillaries of the brain. These misfolded proteins can be toxic to brain cells and cause disease. Many neurological illnesses—Alzheimer's Disease, Huntington's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, and even Mad Cow disease, are caused by the faulty folding of proteins.

The Human Genome Project gave us the ingredient list for all the proteins that make us human beings who we are—but left us without the recipe. And as scientists in this field will tell you, the recipe for a well-folded protein is wickedly complex, the sort of thing that makes the most creative French cuisine look like a sliced ham sandwich.

The solution? Biochemists at the University of Washington teamed up with their colleagues in the computer science department to develop the free video game called Foldit, a Tetris-like puzzle game that allows video gamers to attempt protein folding themselves. Points are awarded for successful folds, gamers can compete for top scores against their counterparts around the globe, and the most successful users are able to create their own synthetic proteins. The UW scientists then studied the comparable merits of the video gamers to the supercomputers working on the same puzzle.

The results? When a protein-folding task required certain choices—cognitive leaps of faith, long-term vision, or major shifts in strategy—human beings performed far better than supercomputers. Over 50,000 players have participated, and the UW lab overseeing the project has already tried to manufacture one of the synthetic proteins designed by an avid gamer in Texas.

The future? That's where things get really exciting. As time progresses, video game designers will find creative ways to build games that reward both the user and society as a whole. Imagine your teenager, with their usual glassy-eyed stare and ape-like grip on a game controller, playing a racing-car game that solves the world's fossil fuel dependency problem, or a game like Resident Evil in which gamers collectively create the vaccine for a real-world biohazard.

History of Online Gaming

2012-08-24T15:20:00.000-07:00

The history of online gaming includes contributions by many different companies and entities. Online gaming began as multiplayer gaming, but has evolved to include online gaming servers and massively-multiplayer online game settings.

Multiplayer games started in 1972 with PLATO.

PLATO was a joint project of the University of Illinois and Control Data Corporation, which enabled students to interact with other terminals for the purpose of education and computer-aided learning. In 1972, new interfaces enabled students to begin creating games, and the world of multiplayer gaming began.

MUD was the first network game.

MUD in 1978 spawned a genre of network-based games, enabling players on the network to interact and explore the MUD game world. MUD games ultimately paved the road for MMORPGs, with the concept of a shared world.

MAD on BITNET was the first worldwide multiplayer game.

In 1984, MAD appeared, and it was the first game to enable worldwide connectivity. MAD was a MUD accessible to anyone on the worldwide computer network, and it lasted for two years.

Maze War fueled development of server-host gaming.

Simultaneous to the development of MUDs and BITNET, a game called Maze War, which originated with NASA in 1973, was helping to fuel development of server-host gaming. In its various incarnations, Maze War paved the way for two computers connecting directly in a peer-to-peer connection, computers connecting to a server and games hosting on the server with local ports at local workstations. This server-host evolution proved integral to the future of online gaming.

Neverwinter Nights was the first graphical MMORPG.

Launched to AOL customers in 1991, Neverwinter Nights was the first graphical MMORPG. It was integral to the development of future MMO games.

Doom paved the way as a first-person shooter multiplayer game.

Doom made major landmarks as a first-person shooter game with multiplayer capabilities in 1993. You could connect and play with others via local network, or you could direct dial to other folks via your modem. Doom also spawned the creation of DWANGO, an independent service that matched players up online to promote multiplayer gaming.

Quake paved the way for modern multiplayer gaming.

Quake was similar to and followed Doom in 1996, but it was revolutionary for the development of one extremely important bit of technology: client-side prediction. Quake itself was full of lag, but Quake developers came up with new technology in Quakeworld to solve this problem. Before Quakeworld refined this concept, online multiplayer games were plagued with lag as players had to wait for actions to register on the online gaming server before they'd show up on the screen. Quakeworld introduced the concept of client-side prediction, which drastically reduced lag and made it possible for multiple players to game simultaneously without significant server delays.

Ultima Online was the beginning of MMOs.

Massively multiplayer online games really took off with the release of Ultima Online. Quakeworld refined the technology, and Ultima Online introduced a game world where players could freely interact and pummel each other. Today's online gaming owes much to these predecessors.

Online Game Economies Get Real

2012-08-24T12:16:00.000-07:00

In a galaxy not too far away, online gamers may soon scour the job boards for paying posts as Galactic Empire insurgents or anti-Vader moisture farmers. Massive multiplayer online role-playing games boast subscriber populations that rival those of many North American cities. As a result, game developers are moving beyond simply creating ultrarealistic 3-D worlds. They're also modeling less tangible Earth phenomena such as governance and commerce -- prompting a rise of real economies in imaginary societies.

"Traditionally that kind of kill-the-rat, get-your-five-gold-pieces model hasn't changed with most (multiplayer online games)," said LucasArts producer Haden Blackman, referring to the revenue strategy pioneered by the early text-based multi-user domains on which modern MMORPGs are based. "One of the things we wanted to do is have a more viable player-run economy from the very outset."

Blackman heads up the LucasArts branch of the team that's working with Sony Online Entertainment to produce the first Star Wars-based MMORPG, Star Wars Galaxies, set to hit shelves in late January.

The elaborate handle for these online role-playing games is shortened in various ways throughout the online gaming industry: MMOP, MMO and MMPOG, in addition to the Star Wars Galaxies-styled, MMORPG.

Typically, MMORPG gamers move through elaborate environments as digital action figures called avatars. Successful adventures yield monetary rewards that can be used to purchase equipment and clothing.

The major problem with older MMORPG economies has been their artificiality. The ability to sell to market-oblivious machines and the presence of infinitely durable goods, for example, have led to a variety of economic problems, which Blackman said his team is working hard to minimize.

"We identified some problems with the previous MMORPGs -- things like the older a (gaming) server is, the more money is available, meaning less value for 'über-items,'" Blackman said, referring to the devaluation of currency that occurs when an economy lacks monetary drains. "We wanted to avoid that syndrome if we could, and so a very simple addition like 'item decay' in our game will hopefully help."

And as similar games move closer to economic reality, the line between "real" and "fake" economy begins to disappear.

"From an economist's standpoint what's happening in these games is real," said Edward Castronova, an associate professor of economics at California State University at Fullerton. "You've got a distinct territory with specialization of labor, gains from trade, a floating exchange rate -- real economies are happening."

As a doctorate student in economics, Castronova had a strictly recreational interest in gaming -- until he encountered Sony Online's EverQuest, the most massively popular MMORPG in history.

"I started playing EverQuest in early 2001, and was playing for about four days when I saw the reality of the economy in it," he said.

A year later, Castronova had penned the first-ever study of a game society's economic system. His paper examines the EverQuest world of Norrath, where "the exchange rate between Norrath's currency and the U.S. dollar is determined in a highly liquid (if illegal) currency market, and its value exceeds that of the Japanese yen and the Italian lira.... Norrath's GNP per capita easily exceeds that of dozens of countries, including India and China."

Star Wars Galaxies directly addresses many of the economic problems Castronova identified in the Norrathian economy -- namely the reduction of computer-controlled merchants and the elimination of infinitely durable goods. Both of these measures should eliminate the deflation experienced in Norrath.

Castronova believes games will eventually move from the creation of "real" economies to the formation of "real" governments.

"What you have now is a customer service state -- history has shown that this is not a viable way to run a people," he said. "I'm sure that we'll see a move toward consensus-based decision making. You are going to see player parliaments, or people are going to go to Earth courts and sue."

Negative Effects of Video Gaming

2012-08-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

Of course, when I started playing games, parents and relatives would just tell me that video games were bad and they had several negative effects. But to be very frank, back in 1995 not many could answer a simple question like, 'What is the harm in playing video games anyway?'

So, are there any negative effects of video games? Should we simply take all the video games ever made and dump them into a canal? Well, as someone who has been playing these games for the past thirteen years, it would be only right for me to put down the ill effects of video games that I have experienced.

# Get an intriguing game, like say, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, or Diablo or Dungeon Siege and you will find yourself trying to run through your entire work day and get back to your console or computer to play or continue playing the game. Therefore, not only are you playing the game while you are playing the game, you are playing the game even when you are not playing it.

# All that you hear about gamers being more violent than non-gamers, I cannot say it this way or that, but here I should tell you one of my experiences. Before I used to play games, whenever I used to be stuck in a traffic jam, I would just pout, shrug and look up to the sky, as if a magic bridge would come down for me to complete the journey. And after I have played games like Need for Speed and other racing games, I do get that momentary, fleeting idea that I can just rev up my engine and road rage through the entire traffic. There, you have it, and you can quote me on this one.

# These are apart from the numerous other situations you face like insomnia, sleeplessness in the night, drowsiness in the day if you are a dedicated gamer.

# With every game worth at least $10 a pop, think about the amount of money you are spending on the games. And do not tell me you do not buy a game every month. I tell that to myself every month and all I get is a grin. And apart from the initial cost, think about the subscription costs you pay in if you are into MMORPGs. Of course there are free MMORPGs available, but serious gamers do not like to play along gold hounding Koreans, don't we?

# If you ask a computer whom you would like to inflict physical harm to, chances are the computer will point a trembling finger towards their owners. And the situation gets worse if you use non-genuine copies of computer games on your machine. Non genuine software is simply not good for your machine, but then, who can take their eyes away from those peddlers who sell two or even three games for $10, while if you go into the shop you will get each game for $100.

You'll find other articles all over the Internet going on about the carpal tunnel syndrome and ruined posture and back pain related to gaming, and these are just some of the other negative aspects of video games that should not be ignored.

Positive Effects of Video Games

2012-08-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

Video games have always been infamous for their anti-social aspect and the violence that is shown in them. They have been seen as negatively affecting the players in terms of lack of social skills, inefficiency, obesity and laziness. We lack an unbiased view, thus not being able to experience the positive effects of video games. The negativities brought in by video games are due to the unrestricted duration for which they are played. Video games are popular among the children and the youngsters of America. If there is no limit to the time for which a child is allowed to play a video game or no supervision on the way in which the game is played, the not-so-positive effects of video games will start showing. But otherwise, video games can prove to be beneficial. Playing video games demands an interactive involvement of the players. As a player, you start identifying with some character in the game and act for it. This excited state of mind has a positive effect on the player. It is also said that playing video games is surely better than watching television as video games are interactive.

Playing video games involves problem solving, planning, estimation and analysis of the moves or actions of both you and your opponent. This affects the player positively by developing in him/her problem-solving skills, analytical and estimation skills and quick decision-making. In playing video games, you need to manage your resources such as the time, your armor or your people. This is a virtual activity but it evolves abilities of resource management and testing. You learn to recognize the types of situations and react to them with determination.

You learn to map the virtual world scenarios to those in the real world. Children can benefit from video games. Children with an inferiority complex, lack of self-confidence are seen to be gaining help from playing video games. Video games have also been included in the therapy for children with such psychological problems. In playing video games, a child gets a sense of participation, a sense of achievement, thus building his/her self-confidence. Children, after playing video games begin to feel excited about their lives, they start feeling positive and enthusiastic. This enables them to defeat their psychological disorders to a certain extent. A lonely child can acquire social presence after becoming a fan of video games! Another very important positive effect of video games seen in children in the improvement in their hand-eye coordination.

A player has to watch on screen while simultaneously operating the joystick of the device in his/her hand to make moves. This requires the player to be alert and well coordinated. Moreover, he/she can see his actions taking effect immediately, thus getting a first hand experience of his/her actions taking effect. Video games give children a platform to manifest their gaming skills and share their expertise with their parents. Parents get to assess their child's gaming abilities while the child enjoys having an opportunity to 'teach' something to his/her parents. Video games give the means to channelize one's emotions in a positive way. Anger, hatred and such other negative feelings in a person's mind get a platform to come forth by way of a game. Players get to enact their frustrations in the virtual world. The player, in the virtual world of gaming makes new friends. All playing the same game, without having seen each other, become friends.

This is an open relationship that develops between two people; as biases created by cast, creed or color, do not come into picture. Team spirit is another positive effect of video games. Many games require a team of people or partners to play together. This fosters teamwork and cooperation in children. It can induce leadership skills in a child. Nottingham Trent University professor Mark Griffiths says that video games can prove to be a distraction for those undergoing painful cancer treatments. In a study conducted in 2004 by Butch Rosser, a surgeon of Laparoscopy, he studied the surgical skills of surgeons playing video games and surgeons who did not. It was astonishing to know from the results that surgeons playing video games were faster in action and made lesser mistakes during work than those who did not play video games.

There are careers building around video gaming. We have programmers working as video game testers and game designers. Those conversant with video games have an edge over those unaware of video games. Video games that include simulation of real world scenarios are becoming popular. The United States has launched a game called America's Army, which reproduces a real wartime experience. It is going to help train the new recruits. It's time we begin looking at video games in the right perspective. It is important that we realize their positive effects. We need to become aware of how can video games have a positive impact on a child's development. So next time you plan to get a video game for your child also plan to try your hands on it!

Game Review: Red Alert 3

2012-08-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

Title: Red Alert 3

Genre: Strategy
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: EA Los Angeles

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 is a 2008 real-time strategy video game developed by EA Los Angeles and published by Electronic Arts. It was released on October 28, 2008 in the United States for Microsoft Windows PCs and October 30, 2008 in Europe. An Xbox 360 version was released on November 11. On January 21, 2009 EA officially announced Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Ultimate Edition, the PlayStation 3 version which contains bonus material extra to that of the Xbox 360 and PC versions and released on March 23, 2009 along with the Mac OS version by TransGaming. The game is a continuation of the Red Alert games within the Command & Conquer series. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 – Uprising, a stand-alone expansion pack, was released for Windows in March 2009. It was offered via digital distribution.

Like the previous entries in the Red Alert series, the game is set in an alternate reality from World War II, in which the Western Allies fought the Soviet Union. In Red Alert 3 the Soviet leadership, facing defeat, goes back in time to kill Albert Einstein and prevent his assistance to the allies, paving the way for Soviet domination in the present. However as an unintended consequence, a third world power, the Empire of the Rising Sun, is created and all three sides go to war. All three factions are playable, with the gameplay involving constructing a base, gathering resources and training armies to defeat other players. Each faction has a fully co-operative campaign, playable with an artificial intelligence partner or with another human player online. The game intersperses strategy missions with full motion video footage featuring an ensemble cast led by Jonathan Pryce, Tim Curry and George Takei as the leaders of the three adversaries.

The game received mostly positive reviews, with reviewers citing the co-operative and multiplayer components as strengths, along with the enhanced role of naval combat compared to other real-time strategy games. Commonly cited weaknesses included aspects such as unit path finding.

Red Alert 3 retains the core RTS mechanics of the Command & Conquer series. Warring factions harvest resources using vulnerable collectors and then use those resources to construct military bases and forces on-site. Structures form a shallow but wide tech tree with a variety of units and elusive superweapons. Weapon types are specialized to the point where a rifleman can withstand direct hits from an anti-tank cannon. Red Alert 3's major refinements are the addition of the Empire of the Rising Sun to the factions of the sub-series (similar to what Tiberium Wars did with the Scrin faction), a co-operative campaign, and expanded naval warfare.

Empire of the Rising Sun

The Empire of the Rising Sun campaign begins with a full-scale invasion of the Soviet Union, just as the Soviets are defeating the Allied forces. Emperor Yoshiro's strategy involves striking at symbolic targets such as important monuments and employing fear to deteriorate the morale of the enemy. On the other hand, the Emperor's son, Crown Prince Tatsu, advocates modernizing the Imperial army and attacking true military targets, although his father would overrule him. The validity of the emperor's strategy however is soon challenged by the Allied full-scale attacks on Pearl Harbor at the Imperial islands of Hawaii and on one of the Empire's Floating Fortresses in the Pacific. Though both attacks are repelled and Hollywood is taken, a joint Allied-Soviet task force gains a foothold in Yokohama.

Having replaced President Ackerman with an android doppelganger, the Emperor learns of Zelinsky's defection and Cherdenko's time travel. This devastates the Emperor, as he thinks there can be no "Divine Destiny" if history can be altered. He surrenders the leadership of the Empire's military to his son. Under Prince Tatsu's command, the joint Allied-Soviet invasion of Yokohama is repelled and a full-scale attack on the Kremlin results in the deaths of Premier Cherdenko and General Krukov. Finally, the Empire invades Amsterdam, which holds the Allied Headquarters as well as FutureTech, the company responsible for much of the Allied technological advances. At the brink of defeat, Dr. Zelinsky's deploys a prototype FutureTech ultraweapon that annihilates almost everything in the city. Yet the remaining Imperial forces succeed in destroying what was left of the Allied and Soviet forces. Thus the war ends and the Commander is given the title of "Supreme Shogun".

► Red Alert 3 System Requirements

OS - Windows XP / Vista (32-Bit)
Processor - XP: 2.0 GHz (Intel Pentium 4; AMD Athlon 2000+; Multiple Cores)

Vista: 2.2 GHz (Intel Pentium 4/AMD Athlon 2200+/Multiple Cores)
Memory - XP/Vista: 1 GB
Hard Drive - Media: 6.0 GB / EA Link: 12.0 GB
DVD Drive- 8 SPEED
Video Card - NVIDIA GeForce 6800, ATI Radeon X1800 or higher end

DirectX 9.0c compatible gfx card
Sound Card - DirectX 9.0c compatible

Online Multiplayer - 512 Kbps or faster; 2-8 Players
Input - Keyboard, Mouse
Optional - VoIP Headset

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Game Review: Max Payne 3

2012-08-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

Title: Max Payne 3

Genre: Action, Shooting
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Developer: Rockstar Games

Rockstar distributed details the lowest and recommenced PC specifications for Max Payne 3. Though the Console Xbox360 & PS3 editions arrived on May 15th, the PC edition arrived a little later on Ms Microsoft Windows in The United States on May 29th, and in European countries on June 1st, 2012.

Max Payne 3 is a third-person shooter in which the player assumes the role of its titular character, Max Payne. Max Payne 3 features a similar over-the-shoulder camera as its predecessors, with the addition of a cover mechanic, while also retaining much of the same run-and-gun style of gameplay. Max Payne 3 also marks the return of bullet-time in action sequences, for which the franchise is notable. In bullet-time it is possible to see every bullet strike an enemy in detail. New to the series is a "Last Stand" mechanic, which gives the player a grace period after losing all health during which time the player may kill the enemy that wounded them in order to continue playing, however this mechanic is only usable if the player has one or more bottles of painkillers in their possession.

Max Payne 3 retains the shoot-dodge mechanic from the previous games in the series. Players are able to stay grounded after a dive, which enables them to shoot 360 degrees around. Rockstar has blended physics and animation, so that when a player dives, they do so appropriately according to their surroundings. Through advanced use of the Euphoria dynamic animation engine, shooting and killing enemies in Max Payne 3 will look noticeably more realistic than in any preceding Rockstar game.

New to the series are cinematic action movements, interactive cutscenes which transition seamlessly into continuing gameplay. Moreover there are no loading screens across gameplay and cutscenes.

Multiplayer

The games's online multi-player functions, maps and modes that dynamically change within a match, as well as compensate, position and group techniques.

Max Payne 3 will let gamers form personal group with friends, or be a part of public group. Players can be a participant of up to five at the same time, and finishing projects as a group will obtain XP points for the gamer. Among the group functions guaranteed are chronic Feuds, that see the gamer scrapping with opposite gangs who have murdered someone on the group. Social Team incorporation hook up play across several headings, beginning with Max Payne 3 and Grand Theft Auto V. By enjoying both games multi-player "crews" that the gamer set up in one will be taken over to the other.

► RECOMMENDED PC SPECIFICATIONS:

LOW RECOMMENDED SPECS
Windows 7/Vista/XP PC (32 or 64 bit)
Intel Dual Core 3GHz or AMD equivalent
3GB System RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 450 512MB RAM
or AMD Radeon HD 4870 512MB RAM

HIGH RECOMMENDED SPECS
Windows 7/Vista (32 or 64 bit)
Intel i7 Quad Core 2.8Ghz or AMD equivalent
3GB System RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 480 1GB RAM
or AMD Radeon HD 5870 1GB RAM

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Game Review: NBA 2K13

2012-08-10T09:40:00.000-07:00

Title: NBA 2K13

Genre: Sports
Publisher: 2k Sports
Developer: Visual Concepts

NBA 2K13 release date is scheduled to be October 2, 2012 in North America for the Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, Wii U, and Wii. Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers, and Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls are the cover athletes. NBA 2K13 is the successor to NBA 2K12 in the NBA 2K series.

Around mid-June 2K Sports announced a 'Uncover the Cover' where the more tweets #NBA2K13 got the more clues would be revealed about the cover athletes. 2K also announced NBA 2K13's compatibility with Kinect for the Xbox 360. On May 3, 2012, 2K Sports announced that as a bonus for pre-ordering the game, buyers would receive downloadable content for an All Star Weekend, which would feature the Slam Dunk Contest, Three Point Contest, Rising Stars Challenge, and the NBA All Star Game.

Jay-Z serves as executive producer of the game. He has been credited with the idea of having both the 1992 and 2012 United States men's national basketball teams in the game. All players from the 1992 team will be available, except for Scottie Pippen.

Read This Article From CNN:

It's been arguably the biggest sports-debate question of the past month: Who would win in a head-to-head matchup between the original 1992 Olympic basketball "Dream Team" and the 2012 edition that just won gold in London?

Larry, Magic and Michael, or Kobe, KD and LeBron?

We'll never know, right? Maybe not. 2K Sports is ready to let the fans decide by including both superstar teams in their upcoming basketball video game, "NBA 2K13." The fantasy matchup, in which gamers can match both teams in a virtual showdown for the ages, is the result of a partnership with USA Basketball, the organization that represents the U.S. in world basketball events.

The public debate over which team is better started before the London games when the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant said he thought he and his teammates could beat the 1992 squad.

"Well, just from a basketball standpoint, they obviously have a lot more size than we do," Bryant told reporters after a pre-Olympics practice. "We have just a bunch of young racehorses, guys that are eager to compete. It'd be a tough one, but I think we'd pull it out."

"In one game, we can beat them. No question about it."

The resulting back-and-forth between members from both teams sparked an idea from "NBA 2K13" executive producer Jay-Z. Why not let the fans interact, play the game, and decide who is the better team?

"In 'NBA 2K13,' we're giving fans the opportunity to play as two of the best teams ever assembled in sporting history, literally putting the debate right into their hands," Jay-Z said in a statement.

The original Dream Team is considered one of the most dynamic sports teams ever assembled. Eleven Hall of Fame players, including Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, David Robinson, Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley, came together to crush international opponents and win Olympic gold in Barcelona, Spain.

This year's Olympic team featured many likely future Hall of Famers, including Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

Not surprisingly, the famously competitive Jordan believes his team would triumph over the 2012 bunch. In an interview this week, he said playing both teams in "NBA 2K13" is likely to start more arguments than finish them.

"When you stack all the stats, which is in some ways how the game is going to be viewed and discussed, our stats are going to be a lot better than their stats," Jordan said in a conference call with reporters.

"I think it's going to start debates. I don't think it's going to end any. The only way it would end is for us to lace 'em back up and play them."

Jordan thinks "NBA 2K13" gamers will get a good appreciation of the different styles of play over the two eras. The third-leading scorer in NBA history also offered some advice to fans playing as the Dream Team in the new video game.

"If you want to score inside, you have to throw it to Charles (Barkley) or Karl (Malone)," Jordan said. "If you want to throw it to the perimeter, Larry (Bird) or Chris Mullin can set up.

"Myself, I'm pretty sure I can score in any environment."

Jordan also believes the inclusion of the all-star teams will give international gamers a chance to experience American-style hoops firsthand.

"With the USA Basketball portion (of "NBA 2K13"), you are going to have a lot of Europeans being able to play the Dream Team fantasy. ... I think that's going to be fun."

► NBA 2K13 System Requirements

Minimum System Requirements:
CPU: Pentium 4 2.4 Ghz Single Core processor or equivalent (2.8 Ghz for Vista)
RAM: 512 MB or more (1 GB for Vista)
Disc Drive: 8x or faster DVD drive
Hard Drive: 10.5 GB or more free space
Video: DirectX 9.0c compatible
Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible
Input: Keyboard or dual-analog gamepad

Recommended System Requirements:
CPU: 3 GHz Dual Core processor or equivalent
RAM: 2 GB
Disc Drive: 8x or faster DVD drive
Hard Drive: 10.5 GB or more free space
Video: Shader Model 3.0 support with 512 Ram (Nvidia(R) Geforce(R) 7900 GT or better)
Sound: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
Input: Dual-analog gamepad
DirectX 9.0c or DirectX 10

Video card with 128 MB or more memory and one of the following chipsets is required:
ATI x1300 or greater;
NVIDIA 6600 or greater;
DirectX 9.0c compatible card with Shader Model 3.0 support.

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Online Game Review: Guild Wars 2

2012-07-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

Title: Guild Wars 2

Genre: MMORPG/Role-Playing Game

Publisher: NC Soft

Developer: ArenaNet

Guild Wars 2 is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game in development by ArenaNet. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, the game follows the re-emergence of Destiny's Edge, a disbanded guild dedicated to fighting the Elder Dragons, a Lovecraftian species that has seized control of Tyria in the time since the original Guild Wars. The game takes place in a persistent world with a story that progresses in instanced environments.

Guild Wars 2 claims to be unique in the genre by featuring a storyline that is responsive to player actions, something which is common in single player role-playing games but rarely seen in multiplayer ones. A dynamic event system replaces traditional questing, utilising the ripple effect to allow players to approach quests in different ways as part of a persistent world. Also of note is the combat system, which aims to be more dynamic than its predecessor by promoting synergy between professions and using the environment as a weapon, as well as reducing the complexity of the Magic-style skill system of the original game. As a sequel to Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2 will feature the same lack of subscription fees that distinguished its predecessor from other commercially developed online games of the time, though a purchase is still required to install the game.

Guild Wars 2 uses a heavily modified version of the proprietary game engine developed for Guild Wars by ArenaNet. The modifications to the engine include real-time 3D environments, enhanced graphics and animations and the use of the Havok physics system. The developers say the engine now does justice to the game's critically acclaimed concept art, and that concept art will be integrated into the way the story is told to the player.

Guild Wars 2 will allow a player to create a character from a combination of five races and eight professions, the five races being the humans and charr, introduced in Prophecies, the asura and norn, introduced in Eye of the North, and the sylvari, a race exclusive to Guild Wars 2. The professions, three of which do not appear in Guild Wars, are divided into armor classes: "scholars" with light armor, "adventurers" with medium armor, and "soldiers" with heavy armor. There is no dedicated healing class because the developers felt that making it necessary for every party to have a healing character was restrictive.

The race and profession of the player will determine the skills that he or she has access to. Guild Wars 2, like Guild Wars, uses a skill-based combat system, whereby players must select only 10 skills from a much larger pool, introducing an element of strategy. However, unlike Guild Wars, skill slots have predefined roles, so the first five will be determined by a combination of the player's weapon and profession, the sixth can only be one of a number of healing skills, the seventh through ninth will be skills with no defined roles, and unlocked as the game progresses, and the tenth slot will be for an "elite" skill, which is also initially locked. In a departure from the high number of skills present in Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2 will focus on quality of skills over quantity and will also reduce the overall number of game modes to reduce balancing complexity — one of the most common issues present in MMORPG's.

The uniquely low level cap of Guild Wars has been replaced with one capping out at 80, which the developers state strikes the correct balance between allowing for character development and avoiding forcing players into the grind-based gameplay that too often accompanies a high level cap, the elimination of which was a core design principle of the original Guild Wars. In PvE, grind is combated with a sidekick system, similar to that used in City of Heroes, allowing two players with a large level disparity to normalize their levels and enjoy content as though they were the same level. In PvP, entry to e-sport will grant access to all skills, items and provide a fixed level, so that all players will be on a level playing field.

In addition to the small-scale, tactical combat described above, Guild Wars 2 will feature "World PvP", large scale combat taking place in a persistent world, with players able to drop in and out "on the fly". Players will be able to join this worldwide PvP battle in a variety of roles, with rewards commensurate with their success. A more elaborate crafting system and other non-combat interactions are also being added to the game.

► System Requirements

Windows XP Service Pack 2 or better

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, Core i3, AMD Athlon 64 X2 or better

NVIDIA GeForce 7800, ATI Radeon X1800, Intel HD 3000 or better (256MB of video RAM and shader model 3.0 or better)

25 GB available HDD space

Broadband Internet connection

Keyboard and mouse

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Game Review: Prototype 2

2012-07-29T16:40:00.000-07:00

Title: Prototype 2

Genre: Action
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Radical Entertainment

Prototype 2 is an open world action-adventure video game that was released for consoles on April 24, 2012. It was developed by Canadian studio Radical Entertainment and is the sequel to 2009's Prototype. The game was published by Radical Entertainment's owner, Activision.

The game features a new protagonist, James Heller, as he goes on a quest to destroy the Blacklight virus. The story is also one of revenge, as Heller wants to kill Alex Mercer, protagonist of the original Prototype, after his family was killed in the outbreak of the Blacklight virus.

The game was announced at the 2010 Spike VGA Awards with the tagline "Murder your Maker." While the game was a top seller for a period of time, its sales would eventually result in the demise of its developer.

James Heller can shapeshift and assume other people’s identities and memories by consuming them. Taking people's identities and shapeshifting into them has become more tactical. Due to Blackwatch's actions in the Yellow Zone, if the player assumes the role of a soldier, people will react to him in a way that they show they want nothing to do with him. To make sure that enemies do not overwhelm the player, Radical has created a dodging system and new, more realistic AI. Heller will be able to use weapons in the game, such as ripping the cannon off a tank and using it against enemies. Heller can also sneak up on unsuspecting human enemies, inject the Blacklight virus in them and create a "BioBomb" out of them to blow up objects, enemies and such.

Heller also has improved strength, movement, invulnerability (self-healing and endurance), and has a sonar sense. The sonar includes a new pulse ability that highlights the key features of an environment to make it easier for the player to find someone, instead of looking in a large crowd for a person with an icon above their head. Radical has stated that the powers will be more meaningful, appearing as mutations and upgrades that let players decide how they want to play as Heller.

► Prototype 2 System Requirements

Minimum System Requirement
CPU: 2.3 GHz dual-core Intel or AMD processor
RAM: 1 GB system memory
Graphics: DirectX 9 compatible card with 512 MB RAM,

Nvidia 200-series or Radeon 3000-series or better.
Operating system: Windows XP Service Pack 2
DirectX compatible sound card
12 GB of free hard disk space

Recommended System Requirements
CPU: 2.4 GHz Quad Core Intel or AMD processor
RAM: 2GB system memory
Graphics: DirectX 10 compatible 1 GB graphics card,

Nvidia 400 series or AMD 5000 series or better.
Operating system: Windows 7
DirectX compatible sound card
12 GB of free hard disk space

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