Tomb Raider Underworld-4

Finally, after solving another puzzle Lara had to make it through a timed section on a motorbike with very fat wheels. Apparently there’s also something very cool about this which we haven’t been told about so expect another update when I get it.

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Throughout, Lara looks more fluid than before and that’s because for the first time they motion-captured a gymnast. Would have liked to have had that job. They have also concentrated on her facial features more, showing off anger when she fights and even the odd smirk. Something’s funny, she just won’t tell us what it is.
We were then treated to a puzzle where Lara had to smash a stone floor, and luckily, there was a big stone block on a pillar above. Thanks to a new physics system, Lara could send out a grapple hook past the object, then move round to use the wire to push the block off the ledge and smash the floor. Again, we’ve seen it in other games but never through the eyes of Miss Croft.

Tomb Raider Underworld-2

She then spots black panthers fighting enemy guards. This again is new AI similar to what we’ve seen in Bioshock, where AI characters will fight each other and you, creating a more dynamic world. She then bounced about targeting two panthers at once, so there’s a new dual targeting system in there too.
Next was the problem of getting high enough to climb about. Luckily, Lara can now pick up weapons such as big sticks and insert them into holes to make new vertical paths to ascend those dizzy heights she loves falling from so often.

Tomb Raider Underworld-1

A couple of weeks ago I got an exclusive playtest of Tomb Raider Underworld and got to speak to some of the team behind the game. Since then it’s been embargoed but now I can give you all the juicy info. So let me tell you what I saw.
Running on an Xbox 360 with a very decent framerate, the game opened with a usual shot of Lara’s behind looking over a temple as clouds swept across the sky with dismal rain falling from the skies. So weather effects are a new feature and even clouds cast shadows across the sky. Lara can even get muddy as she rolls over the ground and the rain slowly washes it off. Some people alone in their bedrooms may like to roll around a lot! – just for fun.

TombRaiderBOARD now boasting Underworld looks!

You might have noticed that things look slightly different from the last time you were here. Today we set as default our new forum skin, based on the upcoming Tomb Raider: Underworld game. We still have a few minor tweaks to consider this a complete job, but since it’s fully functional and quite a few members were already using it, we decided to make it our default skin.

Far Cry 2 Impressions.

Far Cry 2 adds a further touch of realism by having vehicles break down on you, which means you have to get out and fiddle with the engine. Weapons will also jam in the heat of battle and eventually explode in your hands, which means you're better off buying new weapons before each mission as old or enemy weapons will be rusty and unreliable. Getting down to the last bar of health also means you quickly have to find some cover to pull the bullet out or put your arm back in your socket (because we all know that removing a bullet or using a syringe will magically cure all wounds!). All this is cool for the first time but can get a little tiresome when you have to climb out of your jeep in the middle of nowhere for the 300th time, but it at least makes the game a little more exciting. Furthermore, even though it's supposed to be realistic the act of doing all these doesn't feel that real, especially when a gun is rusting after 10 minutes of use.

Far Cry 2 Impressions.

I've been playing Far Cry 2 most of the weekend and today (it came out on Friday) and I'm kind of on the fence in regards to my impressions of it. It's not that it's a bad game, it's just that there's plenty of minor annoyances that bring it down. I'm still enjoying playing it, but I can't seem to get around the fact that it seems a little too repetitive and may be better if it's played in short bursts

Razor1911 (RZR) cracks Far Cry 2 DRM protection

Caught between two rival factions in war-torn Africa, you are sent to take out "The Jackal," a mysterious character who has rekindled the conflict between the warlords, jeopardizing thousands of lives. In order to fulfil your mission you will have to play the factions against each other, identify and exploit your their weaknesses, and neutralize their superior numbers and firepower with surprise, subversion, cunning and, of course, brute force. Real-time story telling, systemic auto-healing, minimal in-game interface are just few of the features that make you feel the tension of being alone against barbarous warlords that threaten thousands of innocent lives. Choose from a wide range of weapons to make your way to your primary target. Meet the fight head-on with your machine-gun, go berserk with your machete or make stealth kills as a Sniper. If you feel that the atmosphere is not warm enough, light up your flamethrower and let your enemies and everything around them feel the heat.

How to unlock Far Cry 2 bonus/promotional content (Additional missions)

Played Far Cry 2 for a few hours and loved it although there is nothing related to the original Far Cry. On my machine with C2D E8400, 3GB RAM and 8600GT VGA, I could play the game on very high settings with no hiccups at all; something I did not expect given my aging video card. For those interested in the game, here is a way to unlock some promotional bonus missions in the game which are not enabled unless you pre ordered it from GameStop.

I’m not quite sure how these work but from what I have gathered, there are four hidden buddies in the game and you can get a total of 6 new missions from them if you have bonus content enabled. Again I have not played this game that far so I really can’t confirm when or where you will get to play the bonus missions.

Teaching Kids with Money Games

Games are always fun! Whether it's a board game, an online game, or one you make yourself, your kids will have a fun time. And if they are learning at the same time, even better!

With holiday shopping just around the corner, you might want to check out Money Board Games for Kids. Or if you are looking to fill some time while the kids are off school, you can try Online Money Games for Kids. Keep it fun and the learning will happen naturally!

Stop wasting money: video games and energy efficiency

Video game consoles consume a "staggeringly high" amount of energy, according to a report the Natural Resources Defense Council is releasing on Wednesday. How much electricity do they use each year? About as much as it takes to power the city of San Diego.

There's plenty of room for improvement. We can cut our nation's electricity bill by more than $1 billion and avoid 7 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, according to the report.

How much can you personally save? Depends on what brand you choose. The Sony Playstation 3 and Microsofts Xbox 360 use as much as nine times more energy than the Nintendo Wii.

Habits play a crucial role as well. The systems use nearly the same amount of power when they are turned on and idle as they do when you are actively playing a game or watching a movie. If left on continuously, the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 will consume the same amount of energy as two new refrigerators over the course of a year.

Brett Ratner + God of War = Money for Everyone!

You read the headline correctly, folks; the director of the indie-darlings Rush Hour, Rush Hour 2, and After the Sunset is officially attached to the film adaptation of videogame mega-hit, God of War. Hopefully, Ratner can convince David Jaffe, Sony hit maker and blog writing provocateur, to pen the script.

While rumors have been floating since July, popping up in various places, it was in this recent interview with our fifth favorite NYU alum that we got oral confimation.

We could be grumpy. Mr. Ratner doesn’t have the best street cred, but how can you hate a man that plays dress up on set?

Playing the Money Game

It’s amazing how much time and energy people waste stressing over money, reacting to financial setbacks as if money is life itself.

For my son Kyle’s 5th birthday earlier this month, he received the board game Trouble as one of his gifts. The game involves mostly luck plus a small amount of skill (easy enough for a child to grasp).

Our family has played this game together several times so far — we often play games together after dinner. Erin plays the game fairly calmly, but my eight-year old daughter Emily and I totally ham it up when we play — screaming for certain die rolls to come up, giving each other high fives after dealing the leader a setback, verbally strategizing as if we can control the odds, and laughing uproariously.

Kyle, however, takes the game far more seriously. When he’s in the lead and one of his pieces gets knocked back to the starting position (a common setback in the game), he may get so upset he can barely continue playing. Even when he wins a game, he’s reticent to play again. We try to explain to him that it’s just a game (and mostly blind luck at that), but he hasn’t yet reached the level of maturity where he can grasp that kind of abstraction. He gets so attached to his pieces that any kind of setback is seen as a personal blow.

Interestingly, Kyle has actually won more games than Emily and I have. But he doesn’t enjoy his victories as much as Emily and I enjoy our defeats. The game seems to be a fairly stressful experience for him. When he wins, his happiness is very brief, and he seems to dread it when we say, “Let’s play again.” Now he still seems to enjoy playing the game — we certainly don’t force him to play — but his attachment makes it more stressful than fun for him.

On the other hand, Emily and I have so much fun when we play that you’d never know if one of us was winning or losing. Every minor gain leads to outlandish celebration. You’d think we just won the lottery each time we captured a piece. Because we don’t take the game personally, we enjoy it a lot more.

Of course this is a metaphor for how people relate to their finances. Many people play the game like Kyle plays Trouble, feeling stressed and worried because there’s this underlying fear of loss. A significant financial setback is seen as a serious personal blow. Even financial victories can’t be enjoyed much because the next setback could come at any time. Any uncertainties serve to increase the stress and worry, which leads to the desire to clench down really hard and try to control every known factor, to avoid any potential risk. Another possible reaction is to check out from the game entirely and refuse to play (except as absolutely necessary), lamenting the great unfairness of it all.

How would you react to a player who played Trouble like this? If it’s a young child, no big deal, right? He’ll outgrow that phase soon enough. But what about a grown adult who plays this way? What advice would you give such a person? How about, “Chill out, dude… it’s just a game. Don’t take it so seriously.”

What’s the point of playing the game Trouble? Is it to win? No. The point is to enjoy the experience and have fun.

What’s the point of playing the money game? Is it to amass a fortune? Of course not. You’re going to lose it all when you die anyway. The point is to enjoy the experience, have fun, and grow from it. The money game isn’t your enemy. It’s your teacher.

Just as Kyle needs to learn not to take the game Trouble so seriously, many people need to learn not to stress out over the money game. If you lose all your money, sure it stings a little, but it really isn’t the end of the world. There’s always another opportunity to get back in the game. Going broke or bankrupt isn’t a death sentence.

Nine years ago Erin and I lost a round of the money game. We got kicked out of our apartment, went bankrupt, and had to start over from scratch with almost zero cash and minimal income. But guess what… we’re still playing the game, having fun, and learning from it. Those early losses simply helped us become better players. Isn’t this a better approach than whining about the loss and saying, “That’s not fair! I’m never playing this stupid game again!”

Don’t blame the money game if you’re a bad player. It’s not the game’s fault if you suck at playing. Don’t blame the other players either, especially the ones you perceive as more skillful or more lucky than you.

In terms of being able to win equally, the money game may not seem particularly fair. That’s irrelevant though because winning isn’t the point. This isn’t a game that can be won with any sense of finality anyway. However, in terms of the opportunity for growth, the money game is very fair. If you play full out, you will undoubtedly grow from it.

It’s much more fun to play the money game like Emily and I play Trouble. We keep ourselves in a fun, light-hearted state, so no matter what happens, we enjoy it. Even though the game is supposed to be competitive, we celebrate each other’s victories. We’ll even celebrate Kyle’s victories to help encourage him.

Although Trouble is mostly luck, skill plays a much bigger factor in the real life money game. If you play the money game scared, you’ll tend to do very poorly. If you’re worried about losing your pieces (i.e. your money), you’ll play the game way too tight. But if you see it as a fun game, you’ll loosen up, and you’ll feel more comfortable playing in a larger field.

Money needn’t be a stressful or worrisome part of your life if you treat the money game as a fun growth experience. If you don’t take your financial life so seriously, you can learn to enjoy the process of shifting from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset. There’s no mandate that says you must stress yourself out about money, regardless of your current financial situation.

Even though real life may seem more serious than a game of Trouble, you can still laugh in the face of defeat and enjoy the game regardless of circumstances.

Play the money game for fun and growth, including the fun and growth of the other players. Don’t stress over whether you think you’re winning or losing. The more important question is: Are you growing?

In the next article, I’ll share some tips for how to raise your financial vibration.

How Much Money Can Your XBox360 Live Arcade Game Make?

At the recent Microsoft Gamefest where GarageGames announced the new XNA game engine, Torque X, to complement Game Studio Express, Josh Williams, newly appointed CEO of GG, and myself gave a talk about Casual Game Smarts to a packed out room of game developers. Our discussion was about how to bridge the huge technology gap between downloadable games on the XBox and the PC. I have been, and will continue, going over many of the points in that presentation here in the MBG blog. A quick out take, and a part of the Indie game business that people are most interested in is “how much can my game make?”. I wrote about this subject in another MBG post called How Much Money Can Indie Games Make, Part 1.

My first online earning story.

Hi this is one of my tutorial project where i teach people how to earn money from blogging.Here my student will also participate and they will talk about ther success story and also money earning tips from blogging