Mark Thompson ran an IT consultancy in London for many years. He now live in Spain and runs an number of websites including NextGen Consoles and World of the Weird

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Renting games online is not only good for my kids but my Husband enjoys playing as well and sometimes we rent games we can play as a family too. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like my children sitting in front of the television for long hours. But, renting a game and having it easily accessible when needed is most helpful. There are many days that the kids were cooped up inside due to bad weather and the games we rented online came in handy.

Out of the rent games online available, we found Gamefly to be the best program available with the most extensive game collection and affordable prices. Going to the movies with 5 people is simply out of the budget right now, we can rent games for the entire month instead of one 2 hour trip to the movies. It’s a win-win situation for all of us. I definitely suggest you try it out, you won’t be sorry.

Jay Coleby is a writer that specializes in informational articles on various topics. His most recent projects include articles on cell phone batteries, rent games and noni juice. Jay can be contacted if you need an article written on a specific topic.

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I work from home on my computer; my computer is my livelihood and it is how I make my money. Allowing my kids to play on my computer also makes my computer susceptible to ad aware, spam and the like. For someone that works from home, this can be a very big problem if my computer ends up infected with a virus! Every single time I go to a cheat code site for my son, I have to go remove the entire ad aware I just picked up. Not to mention that due to my working, I can’t always let him sit and play his games and we were both frustrated.

We than saw an ad to rent games online, we have been happy ever since! I have the games shipped to my house, there are no late fees and the monthly fee is a flat rate for unlimited rentals. As you can see, this a win/win situation for us! He gets to play all games he wants and I get to keep my computer.

Rent games online will also save you time and money! No longer will you have to go wait in line to rent a game, you can now have them sent to your door ? I have to tell you, this is my favorite part. Along with saving money of course!

Jay Coleby is a writer that specializes in informational articles on various topics. His most recent projects include articles on cell phone batteries, rent games and noni juice. Jay can be contacted if you need an article written on a specific topic.

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Thinking is not something that everyone can do well. Now, we are referring here to the thought process that goes along with solving problems. For many children, this is something they struggle with. Mom or Dad always takes care of the problems. If something isn’t right, just call mom or dad. Even on the television, that is full of real life and imaginary “problems” that need to be solved, there is no encouragement for children to come up with the solution. What happens then? They just sit and watch and let someone else handle the problem.

But, what happens when they are older or in a situation where they have to solve the problem at hand? Do they know how to analyze their thoughts, ideas, and to find the right solution? Many don’t. But, if you would like your child to be the one who does know how to flip the switch on and solve the problem, consider allowing them to sit in front of the computer as opposed to the television.

Okay, so too much time in front of the computer isn’t much better, but there are ways to you make what time you do allow them to sit at the computer to be good times. This is you simply need to maximize what they are doing. There are several good games out there that can be used to stimulate thinking in children. For many people, this is the perfect way to go to encourage children to learn how to solve problems without letting them in on it! Yes, because games are fun, the child will not fight you on playing them. Much unlike a lesson plan, this way seems to encourage children to come back to the game time and time again, therefore getting the experiences they need to learn a thing or two.

But, what are these games? What are the options that are out there for your child? There are many games, and although we will only talk about a few here, find ones that will work well with your child. What are his or her likes and dislikes? Sports? Television characters? Perhaps they enjoy space or under water adventures. Search out those games that will intrigue them as well as encourage them to think.

Some to consider include Big Thinkers Kindergarten and the series of Freddi Fish Adventures as well as many other games specifically for children. These are mainly for younger children, but you’ll find many more for older children as well. In fact, consider giving your older kids more puzzle related games to help them along this course as well.

When you give your child the gift of being a problem solver, they will work through the situations that happen to them, big and small, without fear of not knowing how to handle them. They will be more likely to do well in the real world then. What’s more is that you can feel good about all that time they spend in front of the tube (even though it’s the computer not the television!)

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

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A pocket pc has about a million uses. But one of the most popular uses of a pocket pc is to play games on it. Nearly everyone plays games on their pda, whether they will admit it or not. Of course, die-hard game enthusiasts prefer full versions of pocket pc games. A definite added bonus is if these full versions pocket pc games are free.

To find full versions of pocket pc games free is not actually very difficult. Free game downloads for your pda are available on tons of freeware sites, or as shareware for very little money. Palm pilot games are very affordable. These freeware games also work with any operating system, so you can download any kind of game your heart desires for your pda.

Casino games, arcade games, action games, strategy games, and sports games-you can find them all for free online just by searching the Internet. These full versions generally have good graphics and plenty of levels to keep your interested. In fact, why pay for games for your pda when you can get them as freeware instead?

Enterprising companies like Compaq and HP are including fun games for free with their palm pilots, and so are other companies that sell pdas. Playing palm pilot games is one of the top uses for a pda. Gaming is a great way to pass the time, so why feel guilty about using your pda for games? Entertain yourself when you are bored, no matter where you are.

Dan Ayala is webmaster and publisher of PDA-Review-Online.com, offering reviews on PDAs, Palm Pilots, Pocket PC’s, software and accessories. PDA Review Online provides free information and recommendations for your online resources that you can download anytime or anywhere.

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Many kids struggle each and every year at school with that dreaded Friday spelling test. It doesn’t get any easier because chances are good that the words just keep getting harder. For many parents, spelling is often a challenge to teach as well. The English language is nothing simple. But, what if you could teach them through the use of a PC game? That would be excellent, wouldn’t it?

Think about this. The next time your child comes home with that awful list of twenty words they just have to know, you can easily say to them, “Why not go play a game on the computer.” Yes, you can do this!

There are a number of games that are just perfect for teaching children the art of spelling. For example, you might want to try a word puzzle game like Beesly’s Buzzwords. Or, if Spiderman happens to be your child’s favorite character, you have games like Spider-Man 2: Web of Words. In this game, you child can advance through the levels by correctly spelling words. Its fun, rewarding, and most of all, it will help to improve their spelling capabilities.

The spelling games are not boring, dull, and difficult. To the opposite, these games will hold your child’s attention so that they can get the knowledge they need. That is what makes these games different. If you are thinking back to your school days and those boring computer programs you were allowed to play and wondering how your technology loving child is going to play with something like that, don’t worry. These games are much different. They are made to stimulate your child’s knowledge without even allowing them to realize that they are. To them, they are simply playing a Spider Man game.

The value of these games is huge. In fact, there are more than just spelling games, as we will see down the line. They are great ways to feed your child the knowledge that they need without boring them. When it is fun, it will get played more often. The more that it gets played, the more they can learn from it.

So, then, what is the bottom line? You can easily allow your child to play some computer games but of course, you still need to monitor their usage. And, yes, you may have to practice those specific spelling words each week, but it may just get easier as time goes on. Here’s a thought. Replace their favorite computer game with one of these for a week. They still get computer time and they still get to play a fun game. But, you get the satisfaction of knowing that they are playing an educational game as well. All in all, we think these games may be a great way to boost confidence and knowledge. Consider them for any age of child. You’ll be happy that you did.

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

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But now I want to tell you about some space themed computer shareware games, and want you to play it ? I choose only best 19 games from about 200!

Here you can find 10 shooters with each of it’s own unique gameplay, 5 puzzles, some with actions twists, 2 strategy and 2 actions and 1 arkanoid. Two game studios presented in this article has here by two games, and as I know 7 of game development studios are from Russia. Take a look at this game, but please be patient ? I will split this article to 3 parts, it will help me to say more about each of 19 games. And another one note ? I don’t want to rank these games, it’s all are best, so I will present games in alphabetical list.

AstroAvenger (by Divo Games) / Space Shooter “An insane space shooter with twisted missions and cool weapons!” Looking for a space shooter that will surprise you? AstroAvenger features cool graphics, excellent sound effects and a groovy sound track. The game employs an advanced upgrade and power-up system that allows you to buy new types of weapons, ammo, armor and batteries as you advance from one level to another. Fighting takes place in five distinct and expansive galaxies, with over 25 different enemy ships types to combat.

Barnyard Invasion (by Sandlot Games) / Puzzle “Save farm animals from their cruel human masters and take them on a much-needed vacation in this wacky puzzle game!” Save farm animals from their cruel human masters and take them on a much-needed vacation. Use your superior alien powers to thwart human attempts to keep the happy livestock captive in this wacky puzzle game. See hilarious snapshots of vacationing aliens and liberated farm animals!

Bejeweled 2 Deluxe (by PopCap Games) / Puzzle “Take the classic game of gem-swapping to euphoric new heights!” Take the classic game of gem-swapping to euphoric new heights! Adapted from its predecessor, Bejeweled 2 features four unique ways to play. Solve handcrafted brain teasers in puzzle mode while up against the clock or kick back, relax and enjoy endless mode. With awe-inspiring planetary backdrops, explosive new gems and dazzling special effects, Bejeweled 2 is more wildly addictive than ever before!

Bugatron (by Retro64) / Space Shooter “Are you ready to blast some bugs?” It’s easy to see why thousands of people have already ordered Bugatron Gold. It’s fun, fast, and you don’t have to be a computer wiz to figure out how to play. We know you’ll love it, and your friends will love it too!

Clash’ N Slash (by Enkord) / Shooter “Non-stop action space shooter with extremely simple controls suitable for all ages!” Space shooting has never been so simple and addictive! With Clash’N Slash arcade game you will battle pesky aliens all around the galaxy. Loads of weapons, upgrades, enemies will hold you for a long time and innovative bonus triggering system will make your game experience colorful and fun.

Cosmic Bugs (by Retro64) (or another name Cosmo Bots) / Puzzle Action “Cosmic Bugs is a remake of the classics Jezzball and Qix, with tons of power-ups!” Cosmic Bugs takes its cue from the addictive classics Jezzball and Qix. But that’s where the similarity ends, because Cosmic Bugs has different shapes for each level, 3D rendered graphics, digital sound, new enemies, and tons of power-ups. The game features over 500 levels, and does not require any special hardware. It’s easy to control and easy to play!

So, it’s end. In next Part we will see next seven games - Desperate Space, Flyonoid, Jets N Guns, KaiJin, Mutant Storm, Outpost Kaloki and Paradoxion.

———————————————————————- Denis Snow. You can find all of these games at http://www.ChocoSnow.com site. You can download and try it for free.———————————————————————-

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Perhaps less common than the first two motivators, creativity is nonetheless an important driving force in the gamer psyche. Though at first gaming doesn’t seem like a particularly creative act, what with its formalized rules and structured systems, there is much more room for self expression than one might think. Some games play to this directly through unique presentations or artistic themes. Music games and many of the Sim titles are basically just expressive outlets that happen to be governed by a computerized system of rules. Other creatives find their outlet in multiplayer gaming. The modern MMORPG sports equipment and decorative combinations numbering well into the millions. The Creatively Motivated gamer takes pleasure in designing how their character looks as well as changing how they interact with their environment. Creatively Motivated gamers thrive when outlets are available. Anything involving a high degree of expression, decoration, or a large abstract component draws them. They wilt in gaming environments governed purely by numbers, and in those where presentation is extremely homogeneous.

Though we sometimes don’t like to admit it, escapism is a motivation that lives in the heart of every gamer. By design, a game creates an inherently different world. Even games which have as one of their primary goals simulation of some aspect of the real world recast the player into some role they find more exciting than their own. Escaping into the role of adventurer, pilot, quarterback or even zookeeper provides motivation for nearly every gamer. Escapism Motivated gamers seek out games where the environment is rich, comprehensive, real. They thrive in worlds where suspension of disbelief is high, where they can lose themselves in the depth and complexity available to them. They gravitate toward role playing and simulation, environments where the world is rich and believable. They tend to avoid abstract games where the underlying reality is difficult to believe or understand. It is a strange sort of paradox that MMORPGS, with their incredibly deep histories and expansive worlds, are not as attractive to Escapism Motivated gamers as pure RPGs. This effect arises from the multiplayer aspect. Players talking in a public channel about out of game topics or, worse, about the mechanical and numerical aspects of the game world may well ruin the escapists experience and cause them to seek the company of non player characters or others who share their motivation.

Much has been made of the downside of escapism. A gamer who spends too much time in a world not their own can begin to lose touch. This sort of disassociation with reality can, and has, lead to all sorts of problems with work, school and personal relations. This does not mean, however, that escapism is itself an unhealthy thing. It is a basic part of the human experience. The reason we vacation, watch moves, enjoy sporting events or go camping is inherently escapist. As people, we are often unsatisfied with out lot in life. It’s natural to seek out activities that allow us to experience something outside of our day to day. Gaming is no different. However, as gamers, we are an oft misunderstood community. We owe it to ourselves and to the world at large both to fight with information, by spreading the positive realities of gaming and gamer culture, and to fight internally against obsession. No matter how good a substitute for the real world a game may seem it is, in the end, only a pastime. Leave it once in a while.

Next week, we conclude with Social Interaction. Then, we’ll move on to some sort of unified theory about all this.

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

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Then SimCity 2000 came out on the market. It was almost like a revolution. Many new things to use, better graphics, more innovative and the game engine was more advanced. So it was very good news (except from the fact that the seasons were gone).

But the follower that came after SC2000, SimCity3000 was real disaster. Well there were more tools, advisers and a more advanced terrain (witch was crap because you couldn’t build anything on it) but not anything special. The graphics was probably the worst part. It was more advanced but everything just looked as shit. It was a blur hell. I would state that this didn’t feel like an upgrade more like a retarded downgrade. It was fun in 2 weeks but no more.

And after that flop, a new version was to be released, SimCity 4. This time, the MAXIS programmers learned had learned a lesson, not to release anything that isn’t useful. So they did good graphics added fun tools, more effects, more unique buildings and neighboring cities. This was a small step up from SimCity 2000 but a huge step up from SC3000. This was however not intended to be a strategy-based city planning game, but more to be like a fun modeling program (like 3DMax or Maya) and creating wow effects. It was not Hey I’ve managed to get 1m inhabitants but more like Hey, look what a nice city I built. The game also required a new high-end computer with more than a GB of RAM, a high-end graphic card with at least 128MB an Athlon2500XP or a with Pentium 2,5GHZ to be able to play (but even that was not).

You can clearly see what have happened to one of the best game on the planet. This is not specific to just SimCity but to the whole gaming industry. The graphic wow-effect is everything that matters today. Personally, I love good graphics, but not when I have to buy a better computer to be able to use it, when I can experience a delay and when the whole game is based around that wow-effect-subject.

What will happen with SimCity5? There is rumors that they are already building it but why having expect anything of it. If SC4 was too much for my pretty new PC than I wonder how SC5 will be like. This will probably be the last version if they actually build it. Why? It will be a flop. Nobody will be able to use it. People that already experienced SC4 for will definitely not buy it. It’s kinda joke already.

The solution

Lets start a new project based on opensource. Lets call it OpenSimcity.

Part two - The project

The idea is based on objective programming, OOP. This should be easy to made, easy to check bugs and adjusting the code. We will create this game from the beginning and do it better. And when I say better, I don’t just mean faster performance or some new features. I mean a whole new structure, a whole new ground to stand on. This will be unique.

The graphics should be advanced but on the same time not dominate the game. It should feature a lot of options for peoples that have another kind of taste. Also, the game will probably take a few years to finish and by that time, graphics cards will be more powerful then we had ever seen before. GPU performance grows 40% per year while CPU only grows with 10%. Therefore, all graphics should be done in OpenGL to unleash power from the CPU. Real-time zooming should be possible.

Unlimited area. Instead of the idea that the user can have 3 or 4 sizes to choose between, why not customize it? The user can etc print out X (width) and Y (height) axis and get a map featuring whatever size he/she chose. The user should have the ability to change the size (increase or decrease) under the game.

Ability to choose climate. There should be an option for what year-around climate you want to have. How cold or warm and how dry or wet and so on. Also, an option if you want to have floating (changing) climates with seasons or a static climate.

More default buildings. It should be also be easy to add new buildings or remove the old ones.

The engine should not be easy, middle, hard or advanced but rather an effect of the number between 1-1000 you give.

Interface should however be an option between easy, middle, hard and advanced.

Cost and Assets should be fully customizable.

The game should feature online gaming. Competing with your neighbor cities, friends or strangers. You could etc choose to compete to X number of citizens or having as much population as possible in X time. Or it could be played for no reason, just having fun. You could also have the ability of trading lands with your neighbors.

Ability to import maps from all SimCity versions.

I can make the list longer, but you get the point. Viva la OpenSimcity.

URL: http://www.geocities.com/bolster_rally

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The main security flaw with my website was probably the simple fact that the username and password were exactly the same. Granted I did realize that this wasn’t highly intelligent but I didn’t have the power to change it myself, and I didn’t think it really mattered enough to bother about it. Having an identical username and password is a massive “no-no” in computer security. Your username and password should not even be related along the same line of thought. A username of “Dragon” and a password of “Fire” is not a secure combination.

For maximum security, passwords should not be cohesive words or phrases and should not be too obviously related to something like your birthday or the birthday of someone close to you. Personal information is one of the first things used when people attempt to break passwords. Having a password of “Password” is indeed humorous and ironic but it is not in the least bit secure.

A “brute force” password hacking technique involves using certain rules and guidelines to take a guess at possible passwords and generally works through a dictionary of sorts, trying combinations of possible words and common characters. Your best bet at creating a secure password is to pick a random collection of letters, numbers, and symbols, including varying case changes (in a password the letter “a” is not the same as the letter “A”, so alternating at random between upper and lower case will increase the difficulty encountered in cracking your password). Selecting a sequence of characters on the keyboard (such as “asdf” or, worse, “1234″) definitely does not create a secure, random password.

Having symbols in your password is an easy way to greatly increase security. These are the special characters accessed by holding the “Shift” key and pressing one of the numbers at the top of the keyboard. If you want to truly expand your arsenal of special characters, try holding down the “alt” key and pressing a combination of numbers on the num pad (the rectangular collection of numbers on the right hand side of most keyboards) then release “alt”. For example, holding “alt” and pressing numbers, 1 then 6 then 8 and releasing “alt” will give the character “¿”. Most combinations of 3 numbers will enter a different symbol into your password. This may make it a little harder to enter your password but it makes it a lot harder for anyone else to crack it.

To make passwords easier to remember you can use something original, like the name of your favorite character in a book (personal information that other people won’t know). Then add some numbers to it, perhaps use the “Leet speak” (check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet for exact definition) method of changing letters to numbers and generally mix things up so that to you it seems coherent and memorable but to an automated pattern recognizer it seems random. For example, “jAm35_5m1Th¿” (”James Smith”) is actually surprisingly secure. In this case the password’s meaning is obvious to a human reader but it will take a lot of work for them to divine the password without prior knowledge (unless you’ve used your name or a close relative/friend’s name which, as we’ve already discussed, is not a good idea).

For additional security you should not use the one user name and password for every account that you have. If you do and someone manages to get hold of your details for one site they pretty much have the run of your digital life. It is not particularly vital to have perfect passwords for less important accounts (e.g. web based email from Hotmail, forums you visit etc.). These sites can quite happily be accessed using the same password. However, bank accounts, work email etc. should be made as secure as possible.

Hopefully a few of these tips will assist you in making your online activities more secure. Keep these guidelines in mind, change your password on a semi regular basis, and with any luck you’ll be able to avoid the hacking menace that befell me.

Daniel Punch M6.Net Web Helpers http://www.m6.net

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