|
America's Army "America's Army" is a computer game bankrolled by the United States Army in an attempt to make the military culture so cool that significant numbers of impressionable, energetic American youths will join the army and do their part for Peace, Justice and the American Way. Parents, you don't have to worry about your kids. The army has been extra careful to be attentive to teenage sensibilities. As one of their spokesmen explained, "We were very careful on the blood thing." Web: Computer Game Resources There is no need to waste even a minute of your time working, eating, sleeping or talking to other people. Here are enough game resources to keep you busy all day long. You'll find free games, reviews, cheats, and much more. Web:
Doom Why do young men like Doom so much? Because it is so much like real life. You get to travel around surrealistic environments, carrying powerful weapons and shooting at things left and right. But it's not just enough to play Doom. To do it right, you need to become a fanatic. These resources offer everything you need: the official Doom FAQ, tutorials and guides, news, specifications, graphics from the game, great utilities (such as map editors and level creators), and much more. Web:
Usenet:
IRC:
Earth 2025 Here's a Web-based game you can play with nothing more than a browser. Earth 2025 is a strategy/empire building game in which thousands of people can play at the same time. Your goal is to try to create and maintain a strong country that can survive attacks by other players (just like real life). While you are playing, you can chat with other players, keep up with the Earth 2025 news, and check the rankings to see who are the top players. To do well at this game, you don't have to be a fanatic -- but it sure helps. Web:
Empire Here is the home of the famous game of Empire, the real-time strategy war game played by people across the Internet. If you like playing Civilization, you'll love Empire. The Web sites offer everything you need to learn about and start playing this great game. Web:
Usenet:
Emulators and Classic Games An emulator is a program that causes your computer to act like a different computer or machine. There are programs available for PCs that emulate a variety of old game console systems and arcade games. Once you install such an emulator, you can use it to run the original programs. This means that you can play all manner of classic games on your computer, and when you do, the games behave exactly as they did in their original form (because you are running the exact same programs). There are a number of emulators available for free on the Net. One of the most important is MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator), which can run literally hundreds of different arcade games. (My favorite is Ms. Pacman.) Warning: Don't get started on this stuff unless you have a lot of spare time. Web:
Usenet:
Game Demos Games can be a lot of fun, but they also cost money. How do you know which games you want to buy? Simple, just cruise to some of these Web sites, and you can try out all the game demos you want for free. This is a common way for new games to be introduced to the world. I often use game demos to save me from wasting money on games that aren't as much fun as I thought they would be. Web:
Game Reviews It is morning. The alarm goes off, and you wake up to find that the world has changed drastically. You feel as if you are on some type of a quest, but you don't know exactly what you are looking for or why you want to find it. As you move around, you have a vague feeling that someone or something is trying to control your actions. As you walk and run from one place to another, strange looking figures pop up and then disappear. You find yourself fighting with strangers, and dodging bullets and knives for no good reason. You feel compelled to run frantically, looking for secret shortcuts. You look down at your hand and see that you are clutching an unusual weapon, one that you have never seen. There is only one thing to do. You summon your will, stiffen the sinews, and fight your way across the living room to your computer. You then start your browser and, as quickly as possible, navigate to a computer game review Web site. The first thing you see is a review of a brand new game that features-- you! (Oh, my...) Web:
Usenet:
Game Search Engines Do you want to find a particular game? These search engines are where to start. They visit all the major game sites and gaming magazine pages, so when you search for a game by name, you'll find a lot of stuff, including reviews, cheats and tips. Web:
Gaming News No matter what your pleasure -- Sega, Playstation, PC, whatever -- gaming will never be as good as it could be unless you are a fanatic, and to be a fanatic, you're going to have to keep up on all the news. Find out what's new, what's going to be new, and the reality behind the fantasy. Web:
Interactive Fiction Interactive fiction (IF) is a text-based, role-playing game in which the computer responds to your input and describes your surroundings. The first IF game was probably "Hunt the Wumpus", a Unix game from the early 1970s, in which you move around a dodecahedron-shaped maze, avoiding mysterious dangers in search of a Wumpus, which you must kill before he eats you. (Obviously, some people did inhale in the 1970s.) The classic IF was "Adventure", which debuted in 1977. Interactive fiction is a lot of fun. I myself completely mastered Adventure during the summer of 1981 when I had a few months off from medical school. Web:
Usenet:
LAN Parties A LAN party is a gathering of computer gamers who get together at someone's home, connect their computers into a temporary network (LAN stands for "local area network"), and then spend many hours playing a network-oriented video game (such as Half Life 2, Starcraft, Halo, Quake or Doom) and eating junk food. LAN parties are a relatively new cultural phenomenon, compared to, say, book clubs, bar mitzvahs, or Tupperware parties. However, there are already several well-defined traditions. First, LAN parties start late in the day and last a very long time, at least through the night. Second, there must be large supplies of geeky beverages (high caffeine and sugar) and geeky food (high fat and high salt) available during the entire time. For example, if you were going to host your own LAN party, you would want to buy a lot of Coke, Mountain Dew and coffee, along with pizza, potato chips, and Funyuns (don't ask). You would also prepare some space for sleeping, because even hard-core gamers need to rest a bit every now and then. Another tradition is that LAN parties are loud. A good party will have 8-20 people (4 at a minimum) and, during the party, the gamers will make a lot of noise. In addition, because of all the computers and the length of the party, the room tends to warm up quite a bit, so LAN parties (once they get going) are hot. To me, the most interesting tradition is that all serious LAN party gamers have special, portable computers that they use just for parties. Such computers have special, light-weight cases, and are often decorated with lights and other cool embellishments. As I have said, most LAN parties are at someone's house. However, some parties are hosted by large groups who will rent a room for an evening or a weekend. There will be organized tournaments, teams, prizes, and so on. Imagine an auditorium filled with 1,500 geeks, each of which is wearing headphones and sitting in front of his own computer for hours on end, with his own supply of junk food and drink. Still, LAN parties are basically a homegrown tradition and there is no reason why you can't hold one of your own. All you need to do is follow the equation: LAN party = bunch of gamers + wireless network + cool computers + junk food + noise + heat. (Hint for beginners: It's a good idea to have at least one network geek and one hardware geek in attendance, so you can fix any problems that might arise during the party.) Web:
Multiplayer Games A multiplayer game is one in which more than one person can participate at the same time. The number of people can range from a handful of players to hundreds or even thousands, all playing at the same time. Such games can be not only highly challenging, but highly addictive, so be forewarned. I know someone, for example, who spends a lot of time playing backgammon online. There is a large variety of multiplayer games available -- action games, strategy games, simulation games, board games, card games, role playing games, and muds -- so no matter what your interests, I'm sure you'll find something you like. There are four different ways in which you might play a multiplayer game. First, many games are designed so that all you need is your Web browser, although you may have to download a plugin, an ActiveX control or a Java applet. Other games require you to use a client program designed specifically for that game. In such cases, you will have to download and install the client before you can play the game. For games that are text-based, such as muds, you can use a simple telnet client, although you are better off downloading and installing a general mud client. Finally, there are games that are played by email. For these games, all you need is to be able to send and to receive mail. Web:
PC Games Talk and General Discussion If God didn't want us to use our PCs for games, he wouldn't have given us so many games discussion groups. The .games and .misc groups are for general talk about all types of PC games. The other groups are for particular types of games (.rpg means role-playing games). Usenet:
Sims The Sims is a sophisticated simulation game from the makers of SimCity in which you control people and their daily lives. (Doesn't that sound like fun?) You create the people, build houses for them, provide them with furnishings and other possessions, and control their lives. At your direction, your Sim people wake up, eat breakfast, use the bathroom, go to work, make friends, have conversations, fall in love, have children, and much, much more. You can even create new "skins" (appearances) for your people, as well as new houses and furniture, which you can share with other players. If you ever had a yen to be God (or to understand God), this is the game for you. Web:
Usenet:
IRC:
Starcraft Starcraft is a strategy game from Blizzard, the makers of Warcraft II and Diablo. If you like such games, you will find Starcraft addictive (as do two of my researchers). The setting of Starcraft is an intergalactic war taking place on the rim of the galaxy, in which three races -- Terran, Protoss, and Zerg -- are fighting one another. You take control of one of these races, planning and executing the strategy. What's really cool are the multiplayer options. You can use a free Blizzard online service to meet and compete with other players from around the world. Not only can you kill fictitious aliens, you can plot against and vanquish real people you will never meet. Life just doesn't get any better. Web:
Usenet:
IRC:
Video Game World Records If you're a real gamer, it's not just enough to enjoy a video game. You need to compete -- against yourself and against others -- to see who can get the best high scores and time attacks (beating a high score in the shortest time). Does it thrill you to know that the world champion at Dig Dug scored 4,388,520 points, beating the old mark of 4,211,920? Or that the Star Wars high score is an incredible 3,947,108 points (using only a total of 6 shields)? If so, you're in the right place. Web: Video Games You never know when you will have to sneak up behind someone and eviscerate him with a light saber before he turns around and blasts you with a laser. Stuff like that happens every day, and I want you to be prepared. The best way I know to be prepared is to spend as much time as possible playing video games, so let's get started. Web:
Usenet:
Video Games Hints and Cheats Why spend huge portions of your life trying to master an arcane video game? As a Net user, you are only one click away from enough hints, cheats and walkthroughs to choke an electronic horse. Now you can use all that extra spare time to do something useful (like talk about video games on Usenet). Web:
|
© All contents Copyright 2005, Harley Hahn
Full trademark and copyright information