Business, economic development - the unofficial Chamber of Commerce

For the past weeks, there were talks that Microsoft is going to take advantage of the holiday season to offset the launch of the PS3 from Sony. It was speculated that there would be Xbox 360 price slash. As a result, most gamers waited for the price slash and the PS3’s release before deciding which console to get. However, to the disappointment of everyone, John Porcaro, US Microsoft’s PR guy recently came out with a statement from the MS bigwigs that there would be no price slash for the newest Xbox model.

Quite understandably, since Xbox 360 is already selling at half the value of the new Sony console. The cheaper Nintendo Wii targets a different gaming audience so Microsoft does not consider it as a threat. Also, perhaps, there is some truth in what the UBS analysts predicted last year. According to UBS analysts, Microsoft subsidizes the cost of their new console by $75. This is the reason they are able to sell for a lower price. Some rumors even persist that other than the subsidized $75, Microsoft is losing as much as $100 per console. This is due to Microsoft’s inability to produce their own core manufacturing systems. They get the parts of their core hardware still from Intel and NVIDIA which require them to pay royalties.

To add insult to injury, the company is reported to be still suffering from losses incurred from Xbox sales. They reportedly used the same subsidy system for the older Microsoft console. The math goes pretty bad for Microsoft since the consoles have high production costs but are only sold at a meager price. Microsoft neither confirm nor deny these reports but they report that they have hit their mark for the year.

It is not a mystery how Microsoft was able to survive the losses. The company sells different console accessories and do effective marketing. Statistics reveal that most Microsoft console users have at least one accessory for enhancement of the game experience. Let’s not even talk about the games. Most analysts suggest that the bulk of the gains Microsoft received this year was from the sales of game titles. With a new title release almost every month and DRM protection, games are mostly bought and owned individually. The games do not cost much when taken individually; the cost only becomes staggering when you think about the accumulated price. Microsoft gains from all these.

Regarding Xbox 360 price slash, I think that consumers can still hope. The holiday market is a big one. It is also the time when people are more generous to themselves and others. Microsoft and their new Xbox would have trouble resisting an opportunity such as this. Sony is pushing for a close to $600 price, and though expensive, there is somebody out there who would buy it. The holidays are times of giving and sharing, isn’t it? But if the consumer is faced with a more difficult choice, say, three Xbox 360s for one PS3, the balance usually tips to the more economical side. Same quality, cheaper price, more people can enjoy it. That is what you call spreading holiday cheer.

In part 2 of this series we took a look at Creative Expression and Escapism, two significant motivators of the common gamer. The week before that, we covered Challenge and Competition. This week we have a look at Socialization and try to tie it all together.

Social interaction is a subject on which we gamers take a fair bit of static from our non-gaming peers. Sometimes this is because they mistake differing priorities for introversion. Wanting to talk about the relative merits of the Western Plaguelands against Winterspring as a post 55 grinding location isn’t really any different from wanting to talk about the strength of the Bill’s secondary, its just that one of them is relevant to a somewhat narrow audience (give it time.) Sometimes, however, the criticism is merited. We tend to be somewhat socially awkward folk, in part because the hobbies in which we invest a sizeable amount of our time have rigid rules governing most interactions, making them poor training for the free wheeling reality of human discourse. For some gamers, the Social Interaction found in the gaming experience is a primary motivator.

Social activity in gaming occurs on many levels. At a very low level, gaming can be a reinforcer for existing social groups. Think of a group of friends getting together to play a board game or some Half Life. The social activity found in modern online games can be much broader in scope. MMORPGs, to which discussion of the current state of gaming always seems to gravitate, are essentially groups of people that already share some primary common link. The friendships formed through online cooperation and friendly competition can be one of the biggest draws of such games. Anyone who has ever stayed up later than they should because their guild needed them or because someone asked them to has experienced this. These online relationships are no less real, no less significant than their offline analogues. They are, however, different.

The interaction that takes place within a game is structured and often, online gamers see only part of one another. It is difficult for a group formed around a particular activity to bond as deeply as a group of friends that exists solely for the purpose of supporting one another. To avoid turning to diatribe on not forgetting your real loved ones we’ll stop following that chain of thought. The important thing is that some game players are purely Socially Motivated. Such individuals thrive online, where other players can be met and interacted with. For these people, the heavier the social component of the game, the better. Interestingly, many games with a high degree of social complexity also have a large amount of the mathematical complexity that may drive away socially motivated gamers. In pure form, this type of gamer is seeking an experience that blurs the line between games and chat environment.

Challenge. Competition. Creation. Escape. Socialization. Five different motivators, all of which combine to make up the motivation of a particular gamer. We could add more, certainly, but these will do for now. So where do we go with this? I’m having to physically restrain myself from drawing a pentagonal map and plotting individual gamers on the five motivational axes. While it would look neat and might be an interesting topic for an esoteric role-playing text, it wouldn’t get us anywhere.

A more useful tack, perhaps, is to think about what motivates us individually. Knowing yourself and what drives you can help you figure out what sort of games you should be playing and, more importantly, which will never give you anything but frustration. Understanding the motivations of others can give us insight that will better help us relate. Many arguments over what to do in online games arise because the different party members are motivated differently. A Creative and a Challenger aren’t likely to crave the same activities from a night of dungeon delving. Nor are an Escapist and a Competitive going to even speak the same way about a game. For one, a game may be a world waiting for his immersion. For the other, a game is a matrix of numbers waiting to be solved and conquered. We all have a little of each in us and if we can understand what drives us we can both better interact with one another and increase the joy we find in gaming.

Steve is a member of the GrandMatrix team. They provide a broad range of pc games, puzzles, articles and reviews. Read more articles, download and play the latest free PC games plus enjoy thousands of user submitted puzzles, quizzes and word games at GrandMatrix Free Game Downloads

Bishojo in Japanese means “pretty young girl.” The Bishojo games center around interacting with largely 2D images of young girls. They could be an arcade game, a puzzle game, an adventure story, or similar game themes. The Bishojo aspect can be incorporated into any computer game and make it a part of the Bishojo game industry.

Examples of Bishojo games include – Gals Panic, Money Idol Exchanger, Strip Mahjong, Tokimeki Memorial, Galaxy Angels, To Heart, Kanon, etc.

Bishojo games became popular with the rise of the PC in the 80s in Japan. Beset with very explicit content, guidelines were set in the 90s leading to a more organized set up. The Games were translated into English, but did not enjoy widespread popularity. Many of these were hentai games with more explicit content. Examples include – True Love, Season of the Sakura, Three Siosters’ Story, etc.

Today Bishojo games are available in CD – ROMs and can be downloaded from the internet. Some of the popular games are Tokimeki Check In, X-change, and Megatokyo.

Some of the major companies in the west involved with Bishojo publishing are Jast USA, Peach Princess, G-Collections, etc.

Not all Bishojo games contain explicit scenes, though. The western publications however contain explicit themes and scenes.

A number of related terms are used with Bishojo and contain similar game themes and representation styles. These include – Eroge, Dating Sim, Renai games, Raiser sim, and visual novel.

The main impetus behind using cartoons and animations to represent adult content initially came from Japanese laws that did not allow real actors to be used, especially minors. A cursory look at Bishojo pictures would reveal young and pretty girls pampering to the tastes of adults.

The main stimulating aspect of Bishojo and other Hentai games appears to be the use of young girls and minors as objects of sexual fantasy. That is what seems to propel the sale, and the lack of widespread popularity in the west appears to be due to this aspect.

For more information on Bishojo games, visit Bishojo Games

The author is a freelance writer associated with freehentaigame.info

Seems everyone is asking “where is the place for gold?” or “I’m broke and need gold fast, please tell me where?” This article should help you out. Here I will list just some of the methods because there are too many to write but farming or getting world of warcraft gold is EASY! Think outside of the box…

You can farm normal rock elementals in the south, middle edge of The Badlands zone (nestled in a small valley). They drop a lot of grey loot that vendors for 50silver to 1.5 World Of Warcraft Gold and drop it every other kill. They also drop ELEMENTAL EARTH which sells on the ah for 1-3 World Of Warcraft Gold A PIECE. Average drop of the earths is 1 out of 17.

You can farm elemental slaves on the west side of Alterac mountains (horde only) for the chance to get elemental earths (1 out of 15 kills). Goes for 1-3 World Of Warcraft Gold a piece on Auction House.

Can farm elemental exiles on the southwest area of Arathi Highlands for elemental earths. Same 1-3 World Of Warcraft Gold per earth on AH.

Can farm Dabryie’s farm in Arathi Highlands (horde only) for 30 npcs of 2-6 silver each on 3-5 minute spawn timers. Often times not camped. Easily can generate 1-5 World Of Warcraft Gold an hour, more if you are an AOE class.

Can farm Go’Shek farm in Arathi Highlands (alliance only) for 30-40 npcs of 2-6 silver each on 3-5 minute spawn timers. Often times not camped. Easily can generate 1-5 World Of Warcraft Gold an hour, more if you are an AOE class.

You can area of effect the scarlet monastery graveyard (in Tristfall glades northeast corner of map) for a good 2silver - 6 silver per kill. An aoe class can easily farm and reset the instance for a good 30-60 World Of Warcraft Gold an hour.

You can farm warpwoods and deadwoods (funny, walking tree treant guys) for 2-10 silver, rare herb drops that sell for 1-5 World Of Warcraft Gold EACH, major healing potions (sells for 1-1.5 World Of Warcraft Gold each on my server), and Living Essences (sells for 8-14 World Of Warcraft Gold EACH on AH!). The warpwoods are located on the north side of Felwood zone near the alliance flight path person. The deadwoods are located just southwest of where the warpwoods are. I made an easy 40-80 World Of Warcraft Gold an hour depending on AH prices with my 60 PALADIN. If you have any other faster dps class, you can EASILY get DOUBLE the World Of Warcraft Gold per hour I got (I should’ve rolled a different class…. *cries*).

You can farm twilight hammer elites in Searing Gorge. They are located JUST WEST of the alliance/horde flightpoints. You can easily get 3-5 mageweave cloth per drop and about 2silver-16 silver per kill, with 9/10 silver being the most common drop of coin. Easily can make 10 World Of Warcraft Gold per hour off coin drops and 5-20 World Of Warcraft Gold per hour off the green and mageweave drops.

And there are many more spots if you take the time to look. This short list should help you.

For more free tips because there are too many to write on where to farm gold or get linen, wool, silk, mageweave, or rune cloths, visit my free website (http://www.richlemongal.com/wowgoldguru.htm) with all the methods and tips. Suitable for all levels and is 100% safe for any class.

PS3 games have been long awaited by its fans. With the expected release of the PlayStation 3 console in November, 2006 approaching fast, gamers are enthusiastic about the new experience it offers. Sadly though, the new experience comes together with the PS3 games itself and not the game console that offers backward compatibility. Ergo, it is the new format of the games that is much awaited and not the actual player.

Just what does the new format of the PS3 games offer? Well due to its being written on Blue-Ray Discs, the gaming experience would be parallel to HDTV in terms of its quality. This is because of the ability of the disc to store 10x as much data as the DVD. Having the ability to store more data, it means that programmers are able to incorporate more features that would enable it to deliver high picture and interactive quality.

Given that, how much quality do we really need to enjoy a game? Gamers in the early 90s were satisfied with the picture and gaming quality of the popular Pacman game from Nintendo, the level at which people of today are satisfied with the quality of their gaming experience has always been in accord with the developments in technology. PS3 games would expectedly offer picture quality that is unmatched by any of its competitors.

After PS3 games, then what? Well, one would think that developments in the next decade would definitely grow at an exponential rate. It would not be unreasonable to expect that developers would come up with some gaming console that would enable its users to literally be in the game. Considering that virtual games are now present, continued research on the technology would probably yield devices that can be hook to our nervous system, and would function somewhat like holograms. It is, I guess, only our human imagination that truly limits what we can come up with in the next couple of decades.

So what are the potential problems that could arise from this advancement in gaming technology aside the declining academic performance of children? While PS3 games would definitely give out optimum performance, another aspect that grows in accordance to developments in technology is the cost.

The production of the game console, which is actually more than just a gaming console, as well as the PS3 games would most probably be only affordable for the high-end consumers. That is, during the first two years of production. Fortunately, the prices always go down after a couple of years. That is the only time when children, as well as adults in the lower ranks of society are able to enjoy a magnificent gaming experience. I guess that’s how things really work in this society.

Oh well. But nevertheless, PS3 games and all the others that will come soon will always be appreciated by the consumers. They would not really manufacture these things had there been no demand for it, won’t they? So enough with the ranting about its costs. PS3 games and others will remain and will continue to develop. So long as the technology is available, people will always find ways to apply them to whatever they could think of.

In the age of Internet, E-Games is an irresistible attraction amongst all age groups. The desire to play games has turned children to be more techno savvy these days. E-Games are flexible and intuitive, it’s easy to use so you can spend your time creating games instead of programming them.

You can increase business effectiveness by easily adding more motivation and challenge to your learning programs. With the advent of E-Learning, even Training Games are transforming. Indeed, because Computer Games and Arcades are commonplace, instructional games may be the perfect candidate for e-learning events.

Trainers understand the value of a good game for engaging participants in the learning process, whether as pre-course materials, self-teaching tools, or content reviews. Most games draw on traditional game-show styles such as Jeopardy, or popular boardgames, including Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly. The question-and-answer format of those games proves ideal for self-assessment and memory building. When played in groups, games promote teambuilding and team spirit. More importantly, games alleviate learners’ anxiety about being evaluated.

A sophisticated programmed E-Game usually includes the following features:

· Easy, intuitive authoring interfaces.
· An array of different game types.

· Detailed Help files, sample games, and demonstrations.

· Cross-platform playback using the Flash web player.

· No messy software downloads or installation requirements.

· Options to create games from your web browser.

· You can choose from several skins for your games, including a custom skin that allows you to modify the colors.

· Full customization for any of the game types.

· Your own online Arcade system that allows you to group your games into custom multi-player arcades and invite players to compete.

The average age of an E-Game Player is 29 years and ninety two percent of all games are purchased by adults over the age of 18. 39% E-Game players are women. Computer and video game software sales grew 8% in 2003 to $ 7 billion in the following years and are expected to hike more. However, when compared to the movie industry this segment is still a small player.

In fiscal 2004, ended June 30, E-Games’ sales rose 11% to $8 million, and profit increased 9%, to $1.7 million, from a year earlier. It did have a loss of $184,000 in its 2005 fiscal first quarter, after sales were hurt when Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reduced shelf space it allocates to low-price PC games, E-Games says.

Some very sought after E-Games are as follows:

1. AirXonix: This is a 3-dimensional remake of the Xonix game. In the Xonix game you have to control a device, which is moving over the playing field whilst several monster-balls are wandering inside. The objective is to isolate the balls away from as much spare playing field as possible.

2. Buzzing Cars: Buzzing Cars is a totally crazy racing game where you’ll not only need to be fast but also smart. You must carry out various missions such as drive robots around, chase flying saucers, electrocute aliens and of course race against the clock. You can buy seven different cars with various properties. In every crash, the cars begin to lose parts, until eventually after enough is lost they completely fall apart.

3. Cross & Word Games: A compilation of three simple puzzle games previously released by E-Games in their early RomTech days. Crossword Mania is a set of 110 crossword puzzles and Word Search Mania has 222 word searches. Both of these pencil and paper to keyboard and monitor translations also have basic design tools for constructing your own puzzles. Word Connect Special Edition is a one board demo of a Scrabble clone where players try to form interlocking words on a board with lettered tiles.

4. Mahjongg Master: Enjoy the classic Chinese game of strategy with this full-featured version! You’ll find 18 original tile sets — everything from classic MahJongg tiles to all new designs! You can also choose from among 70 beautiful backgrounds including scenics, animals, textures, and much more. Plus great music, too! MahJongg Master is one of E-Games best-selling titles. There are millions of players around the world.

5. Marble Blast: In this arcade action game from independent publisher Garage Games, players take the control of marbles. The objective of the game is to race the marble through the 72 levels each containing moving platforms, dangerous hazards, sparkling treasures and power up enhancements, and complete it in record time.

6. Miniverse Minigolf: Two 9 hole mini golf courses for 1-4 players. One course is set on “Earth” and features putting through locations such as a construction site, a war zone, and a casino. The other course is set in space and includes a variety of science fiction obstacles like tele-porters and laser shields. Players can choose to control their putter by pushing or pulling the mouse and can select one of several different colors for their golf ball.

7. Pinball: E-Games’ Pinball is a 3D pinball simulation with three tables. 3D acceleration is used for all sorts of realistic effects like table glass, light halos, shadows, reflections of the ball on the table, and more. Standard pinball game play applies; knock down targets to light up bonuses, which can be further increased by multipliers.

8. Word Search Mania: A computerized version of the standard pencil and paper word search. Word Search Mania is a collection of 222 assorted puzzles with a variety of strange topics in varying degrees of difficulty. It also contains a tool for building puzzles from your own lists of words.

This article is written by subhasis chaterjee for http://www.ecard4all.com/ which is a free online greetings card site containing free ecards for various occasions, events and emotions. The article is free and can be used by any webmaster on their website, provided they will keep the link intact with the article.