Love of Games

A Balanced View of Games Addiction Have fun and keep safe.

Problem or Not? We take a responsible look at Computer Game Addiction

There are many potential benefits to be derived from Computer gaming, as we have seen in Parts 1 and 2 of this article and there is every reason to go so far as to encourage gaming for the many instances described earlier where good will be achieved. Nevertheless, caution cannot simply be cast aside and you should always take a responsible approach not only for yourself but also others for whom you are responsible..

Some hard facts follow although we do finish on a positive and optimistic note.

Social tragedies associated with computer gaming addiction are becoming more common and one does not have to look far for evidence of the damage that computer gaming addiction can cause including job loss, families breaking up, marriage failures and in extreme cases, death!

Many of you will have heard of the headline case of 2005 when Lee Seung Seop visited an Internet cafe in the city of Taegu in South Korea and played StarCraft almost continuously for fifty hours.  He went into cardiac arrest and died at a local hospital. The police told Reuters news agency they understood the man had not slept and had eaten little during his marathon gaming session. They added that it was not known whether he suffered from any previous health conditions and mentioned that the man had been fired from his job for repeated tardiness and missing work to indulge in his computer gaming addiction.

A friend reported: “…he was a game addict. We all knew about it. He couldn’t stop himself.”

South Korea appears to be a world hot-spot for online gaming as apparently some 15 million people, that’s 30% of its population, are registered for online gaming.   It is no surprise to hear that the annual World Cyber Games are operated by a South Korean corporation, backed by A-List corporations including Samsung and Microsoft

Such extreme consequences of Computer Game Addiction are thankfully rare but some of you may recognize in yourselves some parallels with Lee’s case

The big question is of course: “Do I need to be concerned about Computer Games Addiction?

Answer “yes” or “no” to the following statements to see if you may be addicted to online or video gaming:

#  Do you find you need to play more and more hours in order to satisfy your need for the excitement? 
#  Are you preoccupied with gaming, thinking about it when offline, anticipating your next gaming session?
#  Have you ever had to lie to friends and family members to hide the extent of your computer gaming?
#  Whenever you try to cut down on your computer gaming, do you find it makes you feel irritable or restless?
#  Have you made repeated attempts to control, cut down, or stop computer gaming?
#  Are you aware of ever having used gaming to escape personal issues or to ease feelings of helplessness, guilt, anxiety, or depression?
#  Have you ever risked endangering your marriage or another important relationship in order to indulge in your computer gaming?
#  Has your computer gaming ever resulted in a lost job, a lost career move or educational opportunity?

You may be addicted to computer gaming if the answer is yes to any of these questions. A “Yes” to any one of these common signs suggests that you may have lost control. Why wait until it is too late to seek out help?

For most people, it will be clear without the need for the tests, if they are spending too much time gaming. Home-based video games are less likely to become addictive compared to MMORPGs and online gaming according to research on the subject.  Perhaps try more to “keep local” with your friends and family rather than going online to compete.

Perhaps a Golden Rule to achieve healthy gaming is ensure variety rather than sticking purely to one form of gaming.or another.

This is one of three concise articles, on Computer Gaming Addiction. The articles have been researched and written by a site dedicated to Video and Online Gaming and seek to present a balanced and responsible view of Gaming Addiction.

It’s probably reasonable to suggest that all of the big three games consoles – Sony’s PS3, the Microsoft Xbox and the Nintendo Wii – all have their own strong points. Different gamers will have their own personal favourites and it’s pretty much a waste of time to try to persuade them that one of the other consoles is any better.

A lot of households today will have more than one, and very possibly all three, games consoles. Not to mention the various mobile consoles like the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS. Sometimes games consoles will also double up as DVD or blu-ray disc players.

However, ignoring the almost pointless discussion regarding which console is “best”, it’s probably reasonable to suggest that the Nintendo Wii is the most sociable of the three available consoles. Microsoft’s Xbox and the Sony PS3 will often be found in teenager’s bedrooms – the Wii, on the other hand, is quite often found in the family living room. The Wii has less processing power than the other two consoles and has much simpler graphics – more cartoon like in general. Yet it is the Wii that is often found connected to the big screen TV in the living room.

One important factor in this is the fact that the Wii’s motion sensitive controller means that, even though the graphics may be simpler, it’s more difficult to follow the action on a small screen TV when you’re jumping around all over the place. The other thing is that it’s easier and more intuitive to pick up how to play games on the Wii. It’s so easy that even adults can manage it – so it’s a lot easier for all the family members to take part in the fun.

One of the consequences of all that jumping about when playing Wii games is that more space is required to play the Wii than the other consoles. This also makes the living room a more attractive choice than the typical teenage bedroom, where you would be tripping over discarded clothes, half eaten pizzas and empty juice bottles. The physical side of playing games on the Wii is a good thing. It means that there’s a certain amount of exercise involved when playing Wii games. On the other hand, you do need to take it easy at first. It’s very easy to wake up with a stiff arm or sore legs after your first evening of playing Wii Sports.

The tendency for families to have their Wii console in the living room could go some way to explaining the success of the black Wii. Nintendo went to the dark side and released a black Wii console in Japan in the summer of 2009. It went on sale in Europe in time for Christmas 2009. It proved to be a very popular choice with many gamers – probably because it matches the TV, the DVD player, the cable box etc. – better than the white version.

Are you a gaming addict? Yes? In that case, you would love reading what’s coming below.

Well, I am not a gaming addict; in fact I rarely get into it. But this blog post that I read was something that interested me, and set me to penn down this little post.

While searching for some information on latest Nokia cell phone models, I saw a tech blog that has uploaded this interesting video developed by Epson. The video features a game addict with a projector tied to him and a remote control in his hand, along with a PS3, powerful battery who is having fun gaming wherever he goes to. In discotheque, on the streets of London, in the bus, in the train…everywhere. For hard-core gamers, this is a must watch.

This gaming video is actually a promotion for Espon projectors, where the projector’s great portability, durability and speed are being showcased. The gamer, though, is only a mere actor sticking to the video director’s instruction. Sure the promotion for the projector will work bring the desired results; gamers too will surely get inspired seeing the video.

After watching the video, if you wish to buy yourself that projector, the original post gives you information on that too – the cost of the projector being $1000 and the specific model number is Epson’s EH-TW450 HD.

Gamers these days are being offered crazy games and crazier style of gaming. Recently an iPhone endless car racing App in which the car would jump from one iPhone to another letting you race endlessly was launched. And now this time it is a freaking amazing promotional video that is going to get all attention from the gamers around. You may want to see the video under the post titled – Crazy: How Far Would You Go For Gaming? And of course the crazy extreme gamer too!

With the future release of Band Hero on its way to the DS the real question to ask is are all of these games getting too much or is there actually a demand for them?

When Guitar Hero was first said to be coming on the DS people were actually really looking foward to it because it was a brand new idea and something that no one had dared try before. This game with its problems and it is these problems that still need fixing.

The major problem that this game actually has is that when you are trying to play it the peripherals are not designed very well so it ends up really hurting the hands. It has still not been proved that if you were to play this game all the time that it would actually damage the hands but when it gets to the point where you have to stop playing because of the pain then you know something isn’t right. Other problems like not being able to pick a favorite guitar like the Gibson les Paul Custom

When the drum add on came into the game it started to get slightly better as you didnt always have to go around hurting yourself when you played the game, however the add on wasnt needed as you could just use the screen.

With Band Hero on the way with still no way of playing it on the newest console the DSi, have they really bothered to add extra features or just throw together a very tacky game? Well it’s the same old same old really with the ability to sing too which is going to please everyone on the bus I’m sure.

How long is it before they start to introduce silly things like DJ equipment and one of those bass guitar amps.

You probably already know it, Xbox 360 Games offer some of the most extraordinarily immersive experiences anywhere, online or off.  With blockbuster titles like Halo, Fallout, Call of Duty, and Panzer General : Allied Assault, it’s tough to see what else could presumably improve gameplay any more than the long way it is come.  Of course , it wasn’t but 1 or 2 years back that clunky old-style controllers were still being used.  Today the user interface has improved noticeably, with on-board accelerometers to process spatial data for human kinetics in gaming.  But something on the horizon may be the most revolutionary thing to hit videogaming at home in our time. 

Xbox 360 games can be closely matched to Xbox 360 Accessories for the most continued experience of really immersive gameplay.  But what if there were no need for any Xbox 360 accessories save one?One uber accessory to replace them all?  Long the definition of science fiction and comic books, this latest of Xbox 360 Accessories would also be the last.  It would be the only thing needed to play all of the Xbox 360 games made of then on. 

Not heard of it?  That’s because it was only recently announced by Microsoft.  It’s a electronic eye of sorts that will obliterate the need for physical controllers, hardware that is held in one’s hand.  This new soon-to-come electronic eye will sense player movements in space, so hand-held controllers with inbuilt accelerometers will not be required.  This latest advance in gaming technology is due out within the next year or two, and will be mounted separately from the console.  But all user movement data will be provided to the console just the same.  Try and imagine playing videogames with nothing more than your own body and body movements! 

This veritable magic eye that Microsoft has been developing will even track eye movements to switch point of view in a first-person shooter.  Imagine Halo or Call of Duty or medal of respect without annoying controllers but with instead a light gun and your own body and your own eyes!  As you turn right the screen capture reveals views to your right side, and as you turn left the panorama shifts with you! 
So while today’s Xbox 360 games are quite sophisticated, the Xbox accessories to come will need software that rethinks the entire idea of onscreen and off.  Hardware and software exist in a symbiotic relationship, and it will be fascinating to see what transpires next now that the hardware has taken a quantum jump forward!

There have been many games that have been made that are set in Africa and a lot of these games have caused people to get offended sparking huge arguments. Out of all of the ones out there these have to be the top three.

Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 5 or Biohazard 5 in Japan was released earlier this year and is of course one of the many games in the Resident Evil survival horror franchise. As ever the game was developed and published by Capcom and strangely enough the game is actually the seventh instalment in the series. The game itself actually takes part in a fictional town Kijuju located in Africa. The game caused a lot of controversy because in the trailers for the games all the enemies that were being fought were black which of course then got turned into a gigantic race row. The game was eventually seen as not being racist.

Call Of Duty- World At War

Although the entire game did not take part in Africa there were a couple of missions that did and this time the race row came from how the Japanese were shown in the game. However it is common knowledge that the Japanese trated their POW’s really badly.

Far Cry 2

This is another game that is set in a fictional town of Africa. The time the game is set is 2008 because that is when it was released. You play a mercenary who has been given the mammoth task of hunting down someone known as the Jackal. The thing is the Jackal is causing a lot of the problems as he is supplying both sides with weapons. In this game you are free to move and go wherever you please which is what made it such a great game.

If you think that some of these locations look like they are worth visiting then get over to the real Africa and see what you think? {Tanzania Holidays, Mozambique Holidays} and of course South Africa Holidays could be the right holiday to take.

Gaming seems to have heavily influenced the army over the past ten years or so. it would seem the army may have gone a bit too far this time as they have taken the everyday gaming controller and made it into something that can control war vehicles.

Lets be honest here, are there any real benefits of using this kind of thing? Well the first maker benefit would be that they no longer have to sit there on a mounted position controlling various things. Thngs like recon planes can now be controlled in very similar ways that you would control an RC plane. However all of this is starting to sound like that film with Robin Williams as a toy maker with his evil uncle using children to control military things from a far distance.

Will there ever be a time in which the troops need not even go into battle as they can just sit at home and use these controllers to control all of the tanks, helicopters and missiles? The main reason this will never actually happen is because wars are won because of the people, the bravery that these men and women show is what wins us the wars. This is just another option to take when it comes to fighting a very modern war, it will never be used without the help of people and to think that it would is madness.

It is wondered how many deutsch connectors and multicore ties are actually needed to develop this brilliant technology. Is it really fair to put all of this guilt onto the game pad creators? The thing is, this kind of technology was never meant to be used in this way, the next thing they will use is motion sensing things that can control tank,it is being taken too far. Let us just hope that they used hellermann tyton to make sure everything is secure enough to work.

Nintendo DS Lite Pink is an excellent choice when it comes to consoles produced by Nintendo. Though it is a very far out color for a games gadget, it has its own mass popularity which is nigh on unsurpassed. What makes it so interesting is the way it looks. Nintendo DS Lite Pink has looks that can easily grab your attention in an instant! Players around the world are going berserk for this console. Added to the stylish appearance are highly developed functions which were not included in the previous editions of Nintendo DS devices. 

Each Nintendo DS Lite Pink has 3” touch responsive twin screens, one on the base and the other on the lid. The screens provide high resolution graphics and a vast range of colours which takes your videogaming experience to a completely new level.  Included in this bundle is the stylus or a joy stick reaching one cm in both length and thickness, with which you operate the dual screen. This will permit you to write messages along with help from the PictoChat function. There’s also a microphone port included which helps in fixing the volume of the titles and facilitates voice messaging as well. 

Aswell as these functions the Nintendo DS Lite Pink, like any other Nintendo DS model, has a wireless communication system which can enable you to take part in multiplayer sessions with the opportunity to go up against the best gamers from across the planet. Even more, you can even try out playing with your chums through the web, interacting in real time with players with the aid of the microphone.  The Nintendo DS Lite Pink even boasts a sixteen channel audio output which opens up a new world of audio-visual entertainment for you. 

Therefore, it’s gaming in every sense of the term. Nintendo DS Lite Pink gives you the best gaming experience and the advanced technology of wireless communication, allowing you to keep in contact with buddies and relatives while you are playing. It gives you a life like visual definition and causes you to feel physically part of the game. And most importantly ; you get it in the color of your choosing. Small wonder the Nintendo DS Lite Pink is so well-liked amongst the gaming fraternity!

Advertisement is a part of life. Everywhere you go there is an advertisement of some kind whether it is on the bus, on the internet, in video games and in even in schools.

Even people that are playing computer games seem to be suffering as well with more and more “in game” advertisements being seen. The first game to actually feature an “in game” advertisement was way back in 1978 and was called Adventureland. The advertisement itself was merely showing off the next game that was on the way by the maker of Adventureland itself.

Football games started to set a trend as with each addition of FIFA came a new set of advertisments. It would seem that games have taken a leaf out of FIFA’s book in that more and more are seeing in game advertisements. Splinter Cell even had a giant billboard advertisement that you couldn’t avoid seeing as you had to climb over it.

Something that has started to cause huge arguments is the envolvment of corportate companies advertising within schools. The real question to ask is are corportate companies just trying their luck in a new sector or trying to almost trick the younger people into buying their products?

The corporate world has managed to infiltrate the education system in a number of ways:

• Candy and chocolate manufacturers have begun printing branded educational posters.

• When the school lunch is served, brand name foods are sometimes given out with the name being plastered all over the food serving process.

• The humble school bus has now become another medium for advertising to be served up to schoolchildren.

• Recently even lessons have started to be sponsored by big corporate companies meaning that the kids have to learn about it. Is this really any different to what Hitler did to all of the German Schools during his dictatorship?

The advertising industry worldwide covers mediums such as managed print services to branding design. Exhibition stands are frequently used at trade fairs and industry events as another branding opportunity.

The vast choice of Nintendo DSi colors is amongst the primary reasons for its increasing popularity. It’s known that this games console is famous for its advanced technology and vastly developed features, but all said and done a lot can be said for the outward appearance aswell. Nowadays, nobody wants to be stuck in the boring land of black or white. So Nintendo is creating fresh, inventive and exciting colors to woo players around the world. 

The Nintendo DSi has competed in the marketplace for a while now.  In spite of awesome primary figures, purchases are diminshing thanks to the recession plaguing our worldwide economy. Moreover, most of  enthusiastic game players have already bought their Nintendo DSi. Nintendo DSi colors are being produced to get the consumers back in the game! There are extreme colors such as lime green and pink currently doing the circuit in Japan, with extra colors in the pipeline for the west. Therefore this is part of the marketing technique Nintendo is banking on. 

It’s fascinating, however, that Nintendo is marketing different Nintendo DSi colors in different nations. While it had introduced black and white in Japan, in the west it began with black and blue. These colors were matted at the start, but now Nintendo have devised glittering and glossy consoles, along with additions to the myriad Nintendo DSi colors. Routinely one may expect a universal color of videogaming console that would be recognised across the globe, but Nintendo is choosing differing colors in the east and west. This could be a plan to cater to the idiosyncratic preferences of the nations, or to boost international Nintendo DSi colors sales. 

Most frequently, introducing new colors of an already famous gadget is a trick to win the support of {the} players. But it’s also true that the device is made more stylish and appealing. The days of black, white and grey are slowly receding into the past. In the new age, players always need their gaming console to look chic and trendy. So now you can choose from a number of Nintendo DSi colors that mirror your style and personality!