Online Life

Digital Interactive Streams, Inc., has recently released its Triton player to work with the world’s fastest broadband entertainment streaming service. The July 11, 2006, release of the anticipated FPS (first person shooter) game Prey, by 3D Realms, marks the beginning of a new era in the delivery of AAA games to the public.

Here’s what the free Triton player (www.playtriton.com) brings to the table:

1. you can play a game within minutes of purchase, and participate in multiplayer gameplay while the game is streaming in the background

2. no need for a gamer to physically procure a game and no need to wait for lengthy download and installation processes

3. accelerates on-demand gaming experience for the most graphic-intensive games

4. provides the fastest delivery of any service to the gamers desktop

5. no need to search the web for updates, or modifications, so you always have the latest version of the game and player

6. dynamic, bandwidth-shaping streaming engine, which streams in the background even after game play has started, even in multiplayer mode

7. reliable and extremely scaleable gaming-on-demand solution for hardcore gamers, service providers, content providers, game developers, and publishers

8. available directly from playtriton.com or through over 7 million Microsoft XP MCE PCs distributed around the world

For retrogamers or others who may not be up with the latest PC games, this means you can download the free player and demo games before you decide you would like to enter this advanced gaming world.

Charles Lamm is a retired attorney and currently an unrepentant gamer using the fast Triton player available free at: http://www.playtriton.com

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The most important aspect of a game that inspires more gamers to play it is the amount of challenge it provides. The best way of making a game more challenging is to make it multiplayer. Because Artificial Intelligence in computer games has not reached a point yet where it can predict every kind of move you make and also every kind of player, they are easy to beat once you understand the patterns they follow. In multiplayer games however, you get to play with and against other gamers, and each time you play someone new you face a new kind of challenge. Owing to this fact, the game developers came up with a new category of games. This category is Massively Multiplayer Online Game or MMOG and enables thousands of players to join and play the game simultaneously via the internet.

There are some MMOG’s these days that have servers all around the globe connected to each other, enabling gamers to interact and play each other from every corner of the globe. Most MMOG’s create a persistent universe where the game goes on whether any player is online or not. Since however, it stresses on multiplayer gameplay, they usually have Artificial Intelligence, to allow the game to be played in single player mode and people do not leave if there is no other person online.

Unlike single player games MMOG’s do not have an end point in the game. They are modeled in a way that the game goes on and the characters within it develop like real life. Only a few MMOG’s have a winning condition that too based on the standings of the players after due time the game has been played.

MMOG’s are able to support thousands of players online simultaneously. Because of the diversity of gamers playing these games from around the globe and the amount of detail the game developers put into these games, they are very challenging and filled with endless new experiences. Some MMOG’s allow clans to be formed, so people can form their own groups of gamers and compete with other groups. This makes the game even more challenging as each clan tried to overpower the other clans.

MMOG’s are most suitable for gamers with loads of free time as they are quite addictive and time consuming. However, for any gamer who appreciates game details and quality, MMOG’S are heavenly.

Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles on many topics including Games, Travel, and Sports

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When we were children, me, my brother and sister would sit in the family room and do jigsaw puzzles. I don’t want to say exactly how old I am, (my mainly salt and little pepper beard gives a good indication), but back then there was no such thing as cable television. There were only 4 channels that were hard to get, even though you tried positioning the antenna a thousand different ways. You had to be able to make your own entertainment and our family’s favorite was jigsaw puzzles.

My brother and I would make a contest of it, while my sister would calmly find the pieces and fit them into the puzzle. She always completed more of the puzzle than we did, but that didn’t stop us from proclaiming that we had done the most to complete the puzzle.

Now, instead of buying puzzles at the store, I put them together online. I have to tell you, of all the advanced technology out there, the ones that have been put into puzzle games amaze me the most. These are interactive puzzles that allow you to drag the pieces around the screen to form it. It may sound boring, but nothing could be farther from the truth.

My favorite game site, Big Fish Games, has puzzles that come to life as they take shape. There’s one particular game that uses the ocean as a background. You start putting the puzzle together and as the fish shapes are completed, they take on life and begin moving about the screen. Way too cool, as my son would say. Somehow, they’ve managed to give the puzzles a 3D effect, which makes them even more beautiful when they are completed. The details are so fine, that you feel like you are actually in the room shown in the puzzle.

Another of my favorite puzzles blends objects into the picture and you have to find them all in a certain amount of time. Some of the objects are easy to locate, but others are so well hidden, it’s hard to locate them. You can get hints to their location and I am always shocked that I didn’t see them earlier, since they appear to have been “hidden” in plain view. These games are excellent to sharpen your observation skills and provide exercise for your mind. Body fitness is given tons of attention, but little is given to how to keep your mind in shape. Puzzle games are a great way to do this and provide a lot of entertainment at the same time.

If you really want to get on a mental treadmill, try the games that make you find the differences in pictures. It might seem easy, but it isn’t. This weekend my sister is coming for dinner and I’m going to introduce her to these games. Finally, after all of these years, I think I may actually best her at a puzzle.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as puzzle gifts at http://www.puzzleandgamegifts.com.

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