Tag Archives: game

لعبة Coin Dozer الشهيرة للاندرويد مجانا

تعتبر هذه اللعبة من الألعاب البسيطة السهلة والتي يمكنك ممارستها في كل لحظة تشاء لأنها ليست من الألعاب الاستراتيجية او التي تحتاج الى عمق تفكير او حتى مهارات معينة.

انها تعرف بتسمية لعبة “ماكينة الكازينو” وهي عبارة عن مكبس يتحرك الى الامام والى الخلف يدفع القطع النقدية التي تتساقط امامه نحو الحافة لتسقط بعدها في الصندوق وتحتسب لصالح رصيد اللاعب.

المقصود بـ Coin Dozer هو القاء القطع النقدية امام المكبس كي يدفعها الى ان تسقط في الصندوق بحركته المتواصلة والمنتظمة لتضاف النقاط الى اللاعب ويزداد رصيده من المال. ولكن هذا الرصيد يقل مع كل قطعة يلقيها اللاعب امام المكبس المتحرك، أي عليه متابعة ما لديه من رصيد وان يحاول باستمرار كسب اكثر مما يلقي امام المكبس كي ينتقل الى مراحل متقدمة من اللعبة.

الربح يأتي من خلال المكافآت التي تظهر فجأة امام المكبس وهي عادة بفضل القطع النقدية الكثيرة التي تسقط مرة واحدة احيانا او القطع النقدية كبيرة الحجم التي تدفع بكمية كبيرة من القطع للسقوط في الصندوق.

حين ينتهي رصيدك من القطع النقدية ولا تجد ما تلقيه امام المكبس، يمكنك ان تهز جهازك كي تتساقط القطع النقدية التي توقفت عند الحافة وتحتاج لدفعة بسيطة لتسقط وتضاف الى رصيدك.

Coin Dozer ليست جديدة وهي معروفة في غالبية الهواتف الذكية ولكننا نقدمها هنا لمن لم يتعرف عليها لغاية الآن لأنها تعتبر من الألعاب التي تفرغ التوتر العصبي للاعب بطريقة رائعة لأن المرء بحاجة الى ما يروح عنه عناء الارهاق والتوتر الى ان يشعر بنوع من الراحة، علاوة على انك تستطيع التسلي بها اينما كنت بغض النظر عن الوقت المتاح لديك لممارستها فهي لا تحتاج للانترنت او لوقت طويل حتى تقطع بها مسافات او تنتقل من مرحلة الى اخرى.

المطور : Game Circus

السعر : مجاني

للتنزيل

Dr. Craig Malkin: Does Technology Make Us Afraid Of Intimacy?

One of my clients, Lisa, 25, a socially anxious software engineer, hadn't been to a party, let alone on a date, in months. She was far too busy racking up points on a new online multiplayer game. "I'm lonely most of the time, she confessed "but when I get lost in the game, I forget all about how terrible I feel. "

On the face of it, Lisa's solution to social discomfort seems harmless enough. After all, the occasional night alone, kicking back with some sangria, snack chips, and an epic video game, can be as much fun as a night on the town. In Lisa's case, unfortunately, her "breaks" now spanned not just hours but entire weekends. In fact, somewhere along the line, without even realizing it, she'd joined the ranks of people I call the cybercelibate -- those of us who shut out not only friendship, but even romance and physical intimacy, in favor of the rush that comes with online connection and gaming thrills. Having thrown herself into multiplayer gaming (or Twitter, her other favorite haunt, where she used a pseudonym), she wasn't spending any time with people outside of work. And as harmless as her choice might have seemed at the time, it had deep and enduring psychological consequences. Because each time Lisa disappeared into cyberspace, her fears not only lived on inside her, they got worse. The reason has to do with how anxiety works.

In the absence of any real danger, our fears fade naturally; the human nervous system simply can't stay in an anxious state forever. But when we approach an experience that scares us -- say, a social situation -- and then veer away, it ends up feeling dangerous forever because the anxiety never gets a chance to run its course. All our relief comes from avoiding what we're afraid of instead of seeing that that it's not as bad as we imagine. It's a bit like timidly circumnavigating a "bad neighborhood." There's a chill up your spine because you picture all kinds of horrible things. Never mind that the place hasn't been dangerous for 20 years. Your nervous system tells you it is. Just as Lisa's nervous system continuously told her people were dangerous because she rarely spent enough time with them to prove otherwise. Her cyberworld became both a refuge and prison, and the more she retreated to it, the more anxious she became.

Addicted to Love -- Er, Make That Tech

But the problem of cybercelibacy is deeper and more far-reaching than its potential to reinforce shyness or social anxiety. Once we've turned away from the world around us in favor of online games or Facebook or pornography, the thrill we get doesn't just offer respite from our loneliness. It replaces our need for connection and intimacy, temporarily, with a euphoria we then come to crave.

Whereas people are unpredictable -- sometimes providing sex or affection or comfort, sometimes withholding the very rewards we long for -- games, pornography, and social networking always offer some kind of payoff. That's where the troubles starts. Because strangely enough, our brains don't seem to care if the thrill comes from great sex, drugs, or an epic win in World of Warcraft; they all cause massive amounts of dopamine, a feel-good neurotransmitter, to start spilling into our brain's reward center. And being something of a neurological prime mover, dopamine tends to keep us chasing after the same thrill again and again, regardless of the consequences. So while gaming or pornography can't ever cure our loneliness, over time they do become an incredibly addictive salve -- and that makes it easier and easier to turn away from people and back to cyberspace.

The end result is that much as people in pain sometimes drown their sorrows in alcohol, the cybercelibate abuse technology, relying on it to provide relief, relaxation, self-soothing, excitement, and even connection (albeit limited) that they could be getting from live people. In their minds, close relationships remain a dangerous neighborhood--and cyberspace becomes Vegas. For people already leery of intimacy, the chance to lose themselves in an exciting world they can enter and exit at will can easily become a way of life.

And that's why cybercelibacy is a problem for all of us. We're all a little anxious about intimacy, aren't we? After all, letting people in is inherently risky. Which means that even though we won't all slip into Lisa's extremes, everyone's at risk for the occasional retreat -- and technology offers plenty of places to hide. In fact, if research is any indication, many of us may already be turning away from close relationships Studies show that we're spending increasing amounts of time playing video games and surfing the web instead of hanging out with friends and neighbors, so much so that some researchers have even suggested that technological isolation is at least one contributing factor to the decline in marriage and committed long-term relationships. All of which means that our capacity to hide in addictive technologies could be turning more and more of us into intimacy-phobes.

So what, if anything, can we do about this? What I've come to believe is that the most powerful defense we have against the isolating effects of technology is to live with intention. Both dopamine (excitement) and fear can drive, and be driven by, mindless habit, so to overcome their influences, we have to force ourselves, first, to make a conscious choice. With Lisa, each time she had an impulse to leap into cyberspace, I had her ask herself, is this fear or desire? Do I want to connect with someone online, or am I afraid to connect offline? The question, itself, focused her attention on what she wanted most: to feel less alone, not just for a few hours, but for the rest of her life. And the only way to accomplish that was to seek opportunities among people and overcome her fears.

In the end, that's the only way any of us can nurture healthy relationships and intimacy. By being mindful of our choices to turn toward or away from the people we love. Technology is only as healthy as our use of it. We can deepen our connections online, learning from, and even loving, people who live half a world away, or we can use social networking to withdraw and hide, seeking shelter from potential judgment and rejection, foreclosing the possibility of true intimacy. The choice is ours, but only if we make it consciously and deliberately every time we face it.

For more by Dr. Craig Malkin, click here.

For more on conscious relationships, click here.

WATCH: Lifelogger Makes His Memories Into A Video Game

Every day since the start of November, Alan Kwan has logged his life via a video camera attached to his eyeglasses. And every night since then, he's taken those recordings and turned them into "memory blocks," bundles of recordings organized into discrete pieces.

The result is unique video game made from his memories -- a game that takes users "on a journey into [his] mind," GameScenes reports.

But Kwan, a filmmaker and media artist, doesn't intend the game, "Bad Trip," to remain a one-off for long: He intends to spread the technology he used to make it, including his self-designed program Memory Palace.

Memory Palace, Kwan explains, is something like "a hybrid of Sim City and iPhoto", where users can navigate a surreal 3-D virtual environment and build complexes to store their own memories. Kwan also eventually envisions a "Memory Market" where people could buy and sell memories.

"The cool thing with using POV camera to do lifelogging is that the users’ face very rarely appears in the videos...a player could buy a memory of kissing his dream girl from another player who has actually kissed her," Kwan told GameScenes during a recent interview.

Visit GameScenes to read more details about Kwan's project.

He also believes lifelogging will soon become ubiquitous -- an idea greeted with far less skepticism now that the Internet's gone crazy over Diane Von Furstenberg's self-logging with Google Glass.

Once a rarity undertaken only by artists, activists and professors (think Wafaa Bilal, Hasan Elahi and Steve Mann) the hobby has now become affordable to any tech-head who wants to try it.

But users may find Kwan's ideas of what to do with the memories a little creepy; after all, judging by his currently-searchable lifelogs, the creator has a penchant for the bizarre. His YouTube uploads, besides "Bad Trip," include a beating heart clock and a short, self-shot film collage.

Users exploring Kwan's game "Bad Trip" can expect the following:

When you enter the game, the first thing you hear is heavy breathing. After a minute, you notice the breathing quickens pace when you walk, and slows when you stop. The world you wander is surreal. There are no colors: everything is displayed as chalky white outlines on black. The scene is pastoral, but the hills are the wrong shape, too sheer and too creviced. Bizarre entities -- beating hearts, people with trees for heads -- haunt the landscape. And everywhere there are houses, some waiting in valleys, some high atop cliffs, some floating in the sky.

These houses contain memories.

The most easy to find houses contain the most public of memories. Continue searching the world, and you'll find hidden houses containing memories more and more intimate. A house atop a surreal spiral staircase contains childhood memories, but players "often have to retry several times" to reach it. Secret memories are in the flying houses, completely inaccessible to players -- but climbing the highest mountains lets you listen to whispery echoes of audio as the houses pass overhead.

Watch the video above to learn more about "Bad Trip," and leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

You’re Going To Fail

Failure is a big part of the startup game. When investors bet on fledgling companies, most of them know that the risk is high -- but few knew it was this high.

Shikhar Ghosh, a Harvard Business School lecturer, has released research that shows venture-backed startups fail at much higher rates than previously thought, The Wall Street Journal reports.

About 75 percent of new firms that take venture capital leave their backers in the red, Ghosh told the WSJ. That means three out of four new firms will fail. That figure, the Journal notes, dwarfs the 30 percent startup failure rate previously estimated by the National Venture Capital Association.

The notion that startups frequently fail to deliver investment returns has prompted some to say the venture-capital model is broken. It has also created tension between founders and their backers as both groups question whether they actually need each other.

David McClure, a former PayPal executive and founder of the Silicon Valley accelerator 500 Startups, lashed out at venture capitalists during a tech conference in Canada last month. “The last 10 to 20 years you’d think that it has been all about VCs making money, because that’s all we hear about,” said McClure. “But it’s really about VCs failing and failing to return capital and being fucking idiots. VCs are stupid. They are absolutely stupid.”

As McClure’s outburst shows, there’s a growing stigma in Silicon Valley attached to taking institutional money. Entrepreneurs praise peers who avoid VCs and instead tap into revenue they're generating when they need cash to expand.

Adding to the souring relationship between founders and venture investors, the VC industry as a whole has not produced its promised returns for more than ten years, according to a recent report by the Kauffman Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based entrepreneurship advocacy group.

“Over the past decade, public stock markets have outperformed the average venture capital fund,” the Kauffman report said. “For 15 years, VC funds have failed to return to investors the significant amounts of cash invested, despite high-profile successes, including Google, Groupon and LinkedIn.”

But it is those Zuckerberg-style success stories that keep entrepreneurs and investors coming back to the startup game. And while they are few and far between, recent research shows that average successful startups raise $25.3 million, sell for $196.8 million and give shareholders a whopping 676 percent return.

You’re Going To Fail

Failure is a big part of the startup game. When investors bet on fledgling companies, most of them know that the risk is high -- but few knew it was this high.

Shikhar Ghosh, a Harvard Business School lecturer, has released research that shows venture-backed startups fail at much higher rates than previously thought, The Wall Street Journal reports.

About 75 percent of new firms that take venture capital leave their backers in the red, Ghosh told the WSJ. That means three out of four new firms will fail. That figure, the Journal notes, dwarfs the 30 percent startup failure rate previously estimated by the National Venture Capital Association.

The notion that startups frequently fail to deliver investment returns has prompted some to say the venture-capital model is broken. It has also created tension between founders and their backers as both groups question whether they actually need each other.

David McClure, a former PayPal executive and founder of the Silicon Valley accelerator 500 Startups, lashed out at venture capitalists during a tech conference in Canada last month. “The last 10 to 20 years you’d think that it has been all about VCs making money, because that’s all we hear about,” said McClure. “But it’s really about VCs failing and failing to return capital and being fucking idiots. VCs are stupid. They are absolutely stupid.”

As McClure’s outburst shows, there’s a growing stigma in Silicon Valley attached to taking institutional money. Entrepreneurs praise peers who avoid VCs and instead tap into revenue they're generating when they need cash to expand.

Adding to the souring relationship between founders and venture investors, the VC industry as a whole has not produced its promised returns for more than ten years, according to a recent report by the Kauffman Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based entrepreneurship advocacy group.

“Over the past decade, public stock markets have outperformed the average venture capital fund,” the Kauffman report said. “For 15 years, VC funds have failed to return to investors the significant amounts of cash invested, despite high-profile successes, including Google, Groupon and LinkedIn.”

But it is those Zuckerberg-style success stories that keep entrepreneurs and investors coming back to the startup game. And while they are few and far between, recent research shows that average successful startups raise $25.3 million, sell for $196.8 million and give shareholders a whopping 676 percent return.

Shawn Amos: WATCH: 60 Seconds of Social Media

The tablet wars are heating up. Can Amazon's new Kindle Fire HD take on Apple's iPad?

With Google's recent report on the multi-screen revolution, it's not surprising that so many players want in the game. The iPad has to fend off not just the Kindle Fire, but the Google Nexus 7, Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 and Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet, among others. Even Toys 'R' Us wants a share of the market!

What savvy marketers and retailers realize is that as tablet usage becomes even more widespread, e-commerce will surge, too. According to one report, over half of tablet owners already say they prefer shopping online using their tablets, and they spend over 20 percent more per purchase compared to desktop or laptop users. Is your site ready for the tablet boom?

Catch up on tablets and e-readers in the latest episode of Freshwire's "60 Seconds of Social Media" below. Plus, we'll introduce you to an Icelandic company that wants to clean up your cloud storage.

Did you see last week's episode on social media and fashion? Check it out here.

Andrew Lloyd Webber Is Heading To Your Wii

Fans of musicals everywhere can finally rejoice, because Andrew Lloyd Webber is heading to a gaming system nearest you.

According to gaming website MCV, the famous musical director is the star of a new video game titled "Andrew Lloyd Webber Musicals: Sing and Dance," which was released exclusively for Wii today. The game features 32 hits from Webber's popular musicals, including popular ballads like "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" and "All I Ask Of You."

A description of the video game posted on Broadway World states: "Fans of hit musicals such as 'The Phantom of the Opera', ‘Sunset Boulevard’, 'Evita', 'Cats', 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat' and 'Jesus Christ Superstar' will now be able to put themselves center stage with this new game."

Players can pick between "Dance," "Sing, or "Career" modes (we have no idea what that last one means), incorporating jazz hands and high-pitched solos. Plus, they can choose to belt out their songs next to Mii versions of ALW greats like Elaine Paige, Michael Crawford, and Donny Osmond.

Think Rock Band for the gentler music lovers out there. That's right, no more lonely shower singing, now you can bring your best impression of Munkustrap to, erm, your living room. That's a step up right?

"This is a fabulous signing for us," said Paul Nicholls, sales and marketing director at Koch, in a statement to MCV. "Andrew Lloyd Webber and his creations are a British institution that have been enjoyed by generations across the world. The chance to bring this product to market for the Nintendo Wii is both an honor and hugely exciting."

"Andrew Lloyd Webber Musicals: Sing and Dance" was published by Tubby Games and is available for Wii starting September 14th through Koch Media.

Check out the slideshow of images from the best of Andrew Lloyd Webber below.

9 Weird Products That Came Out This Year

July offered a shimmer of good news for a stagnant U.S. economy. Consumer spending, a driving force of the economy, was up 0.4 percent in July, the highest showing in five months.

So if you, like some Americans, are now more willing to burn a hole in your wallet, why not make a minor indulgence in some mindless products?

This year, plenty of those have been released, as platforms like Kickstarter have brought depraved twists on a fun party game to life and inventors have helped to settle the age-old question of how to to best dip your Oreo in milk.

Check out some bizzarre products that have come out this year:

Football Manager 13: Less Time-Consuming ‘Classic’ Mode For Players With Lives

The new Football Manager game has just been announced - and this year there's a big new feature.

Less.

Less options to control, less details to remember, and less time to spend taking your team to glory.

It's all part of the new 'classic' mode, which is described as a "less time-consuming" version of the incredibly complex game you already know and love. It is said to resemble elements of the game's previous incarnations, which focused mainly on basic tactics, line-ups and transfers.

Before any die-hards cry foul, don't worry - your believed full game is still there, complete with options on how to tie your players' shoe laces.

But for the rest of us, Sega and Sports Interactive have decided to tone things down a bit.

SI chief Miles Jacobson told Eurogamer that "in recent years it's become clear that there's a large group of people who would like to play Football Manager, but simply can't devote the time required to get the most out of the game - in fact, now that they have families and other commitments, even some members of the SI team have found themselves in this position.

"We decided, therefore, to try to find a way to accommodate players with limited free time, without significantly diluting the experience."

The SI team estimate an entire season of classic mode will take about eight to 10 hours to play.

It will include specific challenges as well as open-ended play, and also feature the new 3D match engine, better media integration and other upgrades from the main game.

Football Manager 13 will be released before Christmas.

Freddie Mercury Is An Angry Bird

From "Killer Queen" to Angry Bird: Freddie Mercury has been immortalized as an honorary character of the popular video game, just in time for the rock legend's Sept. 5 birthday.

In this quirky video, which was posted on YouTube Monday by Angry Birds creator Rovio Entertainment, the famed Queen frontman stars as a mustachioed yellow bird -- complete with chest hair, bad teeth and a regal crown.

Set to the Queen's cheeky 1978 hit "Bicycle Race," the clip features Freddie Mercury as the "Angry Bird Queen" riding -- what else? -- a bicycle with some other feathered friends before facing off with a decidedly less cool king pig.

The video was created in support of the annual Freddie for a Day campaign, which always coincides with Mercury's birthday. The campaign, which sees people around the world dressing up as the renowned rock icon, raises money and awareness for The Mercury Phoenix Trust, an AIDS charity established in Mercury's name.

The singer died in 1991 at the age of 45 after a long battle with HIV.

Mercury, whose timeless vocals are featured in anthemic classics, such as "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Killer Queen" and "We Are The Champions," would have turned 66 today.

In addition to the video, Angry Birds has also released a special edition Freddie Mercury T-shirt. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Mercury Phoenix Trust.

As the Boston Herald notes, this is not the first time the tech world has paid tribute to the legendary singer.

Last year, Google celebrated Mercury’s 65th birthday by creating an interactive doodle set to the band’s hit “Don’t Stop Me Now.”

Happy Birthday, Freddie Mercury.

Do you dig the Angry Bird Queen? Tell us what you think of the rock legend's feathered alter ego in the comments below.

h/t: Kotaku

New Video Game Features Cartoon Of Prince Harry In The Buff

Prince Harry's latest tabloid exploits -- leaked photographs from a Vegas strip billiards romp -- have spawned supportive Facebook pages and a legion of naked copycats in arms, but a small tech company has taken the royal redhead's most recent scandal and turned it into a hilarious new video game called "Save Harry."

The concept of the game is simple: Using the arrow keys and space bar on their keyboard, players must navigate a naked Harry through a hotel, ducking and dodging to avoid the prying camera flashes of assembled partiers in bikinis, staff members and paparazzi. If players stray into the line of an errant camera, they officially "lose" and are faced with a tabloid cover with the headline, "Harry grabs the crown jewels."

Gamers can earn extra points by picking up "bonus objects" scattered throughout the game's several levels, including billiard balls and a framed photo of Her Majesty, the Queen -- all of which are also used hide the prince's private parts.

The game, launched by GamesOnly.com, is the brainchild of a pair of Dutch developers in their 20s, TechCrunch reports.

“To us, the way in which this prince made the news was so funny that we simply had to use this opportunity,” 22-year-old GamesOnly founder Robin Ras told TechCrunch in an email.

Since the fiasco at a Vegas hotel suite, Prince Harry has been keeping a low profile. On Monday, however, Harry made his first public appearance since the incident, stepping out at a London event, according to Yahoo! UK. The prince attended a charity awards ceremony and met some of the children helped by the WellChild organization.

REVIEW: Madden 13 – How Far Has Video Game Gridiron Come In 20 Years?

The Madden series is one of the longest-running, most beloved and regularly most infuriating franchises in gaming history.

It first hit the world in a recognisable action-packed football simulation form back in 1990, but it was John Madden Football ’93 that really set the bar. Back then it dazzled gamers with its fluid, full-colour, dramatic graphics, fast gameplay and deep range of plays, controls and options.

Zoom forward 20 seasons, and Madden appears to have come a long way. Having long ago made the jump to full 3D, its graphics have never been richer or more detailed. The depth of gameplay has never been more impressive, and its new Infinity Engine means no tackle is the same.

But is it better? We went back to try out both Madden 93 (Snes version) and Madden 13 (Xbox 260) to see which game is truly the more enjoyable gridiron experience.

1st QUARTER: GRAPHICS

To start with the obvious, 20 years is a long time. There is simply no comparison in graphical terms between the two games.

Yes, it is easy to look back with misty eyes at the days of pixelated, generic players with comedic animations. And there really is a charming feel to the early game, even now. It is also arguably easier to see what's going on. Since the players are smaller and simpler, it's less difficult for new players to read the pitch - and easier for experienced pros to make precise, repeatable passes.

madden93graph

Above: Madden 93

And yes, the new Madden is not without flaws. The Infinity Engine adds a physicality not seen before in the game, but it also leads to new graphical quirks. Players are often sprawled on the floor for up to five seconds after plays, making them look either injured or dead. The camera often stutters, the crowd is still a generic cast of five or six identikit fans, the walking animations are awkward and stilted, and players still walk straight through referees.

But for eeking out the very last drops of graphical power from an ageing generation of consoles, the new Madden is a real graphical achievement. The level of detail from helmet decals to the grass is baffling. The use of focus is key to creating a ‘broadcast’ feel, and the fluidity of in-game animations is visibly better than before - plus you sense that as soon as it makes it to the next gen of consoles, Madden will instantly yet another giant step forward. We can’t wait.

SCORE: Madden 13 [ 14 - 3 ] Madden 93

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Above: Madden 13

2ND QUARTER: Detail

As with the graphics, it’s hard to give Madden 93 an easy ride here just for the sake of nostalgia. The new game has a massive and extensive range of statistics, rosters, photos, individual players and playbooks. In career mode it even includes fake Twitter feeds to keep you abreast of the ‘news’ in your league. It’s a daunting title, and it also updates itself as the season progresses.

Meanwhile the old game doesn’t even have the official team, player or stadium names, meaning that New York Jets fans have to pay as New Jersey just to wear the green and white. It did make some leaps over the 92 version, admittedly, including adding a few new teams and the coin toss for the first time. But it’s another tough quarter for the veterans.

SCORE Madden 13 [21 - 6 ] Madden 93

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Above: The Madden 93 Options Screen

3RD QUARTER: Single And Multiplayer Game Modes

Madden 93 has a pretty restrictive list of modes, including a regular exhibition game, a playoff campaign and an all-time-greats playoff competition. Still, the lack of modes does give the game focus. Yes, a full season mode seems like an obvious missing feature, but since the consoles of the time didn’t have a save-game capacity or (obviously) online multiplayer, that's understandable.

In breadth and detail, Madden 13 wipes the floor with the old title. It comes with a frankly baffling range of single-player and online gameplay modes, most of which introduce new depth and story-telling to the experience of make-believe football.

You can play in Connected Career mode as either a player (existing, legend or your own creation) or as a coach, making every relevant decision for your franchise. It turns an NFL season into a fully-fledged RPG, and while it’s better online with friends it’s also a very comprehensive single-player experience.

But - and it’s a big but - if you’re a a single player who wants to just play Madden and not all the fluff around the main game, there is bafflingly no simple ‘season’ or even playoff mode. You can play an exhibition game, and that’s it. Unless you want to go through the massive time commitment of a Connected Career, you actually have less options than in Madden 93. Which is, needless to say, a massive fumble.

SCORE Madden 13 [24 - 16 ] Madden 93

4TH QUARTER: Gameplay

Madden 93 is a simple, quick and ridiculously fun game to play. Thanks to the simple nature of console games (and gamepads) at the time, the moves your players can make are limited, but do include things like spins, dives and power tackles. The range of plays is also more restrictive, but audibles, hurry-up offense and a variety of different formations and options are present and correct.

Basically, the game works - and has stood the test of time - because it is simple, and fun. As all games should be. And, most importantly, it’s fast. You don’t have to sit through endless replays, cut-scenes and commentary chat to get to your next play, and the gulf between good and bad players isn’t as obvious or vast as it is now. Unlike in Madden 13, where a rookie will be undone by simply not knowing the right combinations, play modifiers and options to press, in Madden 93 it’s pretty obvious what you have to do at any one moment. It doesn’t mean you’ll be able to do it - the game isn’t easy - but you’ll know why and you’ll enjoy doing it.

That’s not to say Madden 13 isn’t a fun game - it is. If you just want to bash through a quick game letting Madden pick your plays, you can, and the Infinity Engine means it’s much more brutal, physical and, yes, ‘real’, than before. But it’s hard for the new game to match the old title’s precise, pixel-by-pixel simplicity.

Yes, it’s a question of personal preference - but for pure playability Madden 93 is the better game. Not because Madden 13 is bad, but because the classic game is still so damn good.

FINAL SCORE Madden 13 [31 - 31 ] Madden 93

OVERTIME:

The Madden franchise is ultimately a brilliant but frustrating one, for exactly the same reason as any other sports game, from FIFA to Formula 1.

Why? Because, surely, it shouldn’t be this hard.

Sports, at their heart, are predictable, rational games. The rules are set, the boundaries are clear, the actors are known and even the uncertainties - the bounce of a ball, the specific flailing crunch of a tackle - seem as though they are governed by logic. A video game should be able to capture those certainties with ease - shouldn’t it? Unlike video games set in the chaos of war or the urgency of a living city, a sports game should be doable by now. We should have got there.

But - and it’s a biggie - the tragedy of sports, and the reason we still make and buy new sports games, is that, in reality, sports aren’t simple.

And they aren’t games.

They are interesting precisely because they aren’t predictable. They are infinitely complex. They are primarily human dramas that only appear to be played out in a logical way. It’s a cliche, but the least interesting thing about sport is the sport.

What keeps us interested are loyalties, stories, emotions and our own empathy. The variables within those expanded boundaries are endless - and the details are too many to (currently) capture in a simulation. The Connected Careers mode in the new game comes quite close - but it's too mechanical to be truly engaging.

Take gridiron itself: as a sport it is as thoughtless as war. But it is also as intricate as a chess match played on a mountaintop, with pageantry as colourful and emotive as the Palios of medieval Sienna. It is the most brutal, specialised and aggressive sport in the world, and - most importantly of all - it is played, like all the best dramas, by complex, flawed characters whose stories are deeper than they appear in the 60 minutes a week spent on the pitch.

Football played by robots would not be football.

As a result, neither Madden 93 nor Madden 13 capture the sport in a truly satisfying way. Games just aren’t there yet. Our graphics aren’t real enough, our ability to create atmosphere in a digital stadium is still rudimentary, and we still aren’t able to put the human-ness of sport first in a video game, instead of layering it on top.

For that reason, neither Madden game is a complete success. The old title is great - probably better, in fact - for a quick, intense game with friends. The new game can’t be matched for detail and drama, and in comparison the graphical leap is astonishing.

But while Madden still means American Football when it comes to games, for now that’s all it is. And maybe all it will ever be.

WATCH: Deadmau5 Fights Gerard Way In New Video

Here's a music battle to remember.

In this new high-octane music video for Deadmau5's recent single "Professional Griefers," watch as the Canadian superstar DJ takes on My Chemical Romance's frontman Gerard Way (who is featured on the track) in a futuristic UFC brawl that is set in a world where men don't fight alone.

They fight, instead, with giant robots.

Surrounded by screaming fans as they duke it out in an Ultimate Fighting Championship ring, Deadmau5 and Way control massive mouse mechs that battle it out till the brutal end.

The video is fast, frenetic and unabashedly over-the-top -- which, as MTV points out, is likely what Deadmau5 was going for:

For the uninitiated, the term "Griefer" refers to the folks in multiplayer video games who deliberately harass other players in the game, usually in the most annoying ways possible (verbal insults, intentionally killing other players, siding with the enemy, crashing servers, etc.). They are basically the bane of the video game universe, bold and brash and unapologetic about their actions. And this video...is all of those things and then some.

In a behind the scenes video posted on YouTube, Deadmau5 claimed that this was the most expensive electronic music video ever made. Though the veracity of that comment has yet to be verified, there's no question that the production costs of this video -- with its myriad special effects and props -- was hefty, to say the least.

Who wins the clash of the music heavyweights? Watch the video to find out. More mau5 below.

John Pavley: eSports and How to Stay Connected with Your Grown-Up Kids

I'm writing this blog post from the floor of the Raleigh Convention Center during the second day of Major League Gaming's Summer Championships. Even if you're not familiar with eSports, any sports fan would feel at home in the auditorium here as the crowd cheers their favorite players on, as the analysts give play-by-play color commentary, sponsors beg fans to text for prizes, and the winners give post game interviews.

Electronic Sports (eSports) are not some new hot trend. Competitive gaming was born the day that commercial video games were brought to market back in the 80s. Today's eSports are professionalized, well sponsored, and adored by millions of fans worldwide. At this afternoon's event the world's top players are competing in head-to-head matches that will result in the crowning of a world summer season champion in the StarCraft II pro circuit.

At this moment Stephano and Violet are battling: Zerg vs. Zerg. StarCraft II is a competitive realtime strategy (RTS) game created by Blizzard Entertainment. You can play StarCraft alone but beating a computer generated opponent isn't as much fun as testing your mettle against an organic life form of your own species. To play StarCraft each electronic athelete has to mine resources, build bases and units, and attack his opponent. Competitive StarCraft requires lightening reflexes, a great command of the mechanics of the game, and excellent strategic planning. In this way, StarCraft is similar to Speed Chess. Most games are won or lost based on strategic decisions made early in the game.

Stephano and Violet sit in small glass booths with their computers and headphones under giant video screens. Cameras show the audience their every reaction as they fight for control of the map, upgrade their units, and launch feints and defend against attacks. Stephano belongs to a major league team: Millenium, based in France. Violet is an independent and a great enough player that he is sponsored directly by a Korean company. Korea is the true home of competitive StartCraft. The majority of StarCraft players in Raleigh today are from Korea and you can see them taking smoke breaks outside the convention center and walking down Fayetteville Street looking for lunch. (I recommend the Mecca Restaurant.)

To follow the game you need to understand how StarCraft is played. The commentators talk about roach speed, mutalisk units, evolution chambers, and the hydra-queen defense. But they also talk about calculated risks, getting back into the game, and incredible plays. Luckily, I played the original StarCraft back in late 90s (not competitively) so I can follow along while my sons gives me hints, tips, and bits of player background.

And that's the real reason I'm here: Because eSports are important to my nearly grown-up kids (and to lots of young adults). I could drag my kids to a baseball game but they're not little guys anymore. Instead I'm letting them drag me to a StarCraft tournament. Looking around the vast auditorium floor I see only a handful of parents. But that's ok. I'd rather spend a weekend in the world that my kids inhabit than force them to suffer through mine. And the truth is that I'm having a great time. The enthusiasm of the players is infectious. The color commentary is as good as it gets. The games are truly exciting. Really -- I'm a big kid myself!

I'm participating in the future here: 10 or 15 years from now eSports will be as big as Baseball (in the US, they are already as big as Baseball in Korea) and star players like Stephano and Violet will be recognized legends.

Hayley Krischer: An Open Letter to the Video Game Industry, From a Mom Whose Son Loves Gaming

Dear Video Game Industry:

In retrospect, maybe the whole video game thing is my fault. I was the one who bought him Wii. I was the one who got him the DS. I was the one who taught him how to play Lego Star Wars Wii, and yes, I was the one who got him through that incredibly difficult level, you know the one where Sebulba races young Anakin... Anyway!

I'm sure you've seen The Atlantic's scathing article about Kixeye Entertainment's new recruitment video circulating the Internet. I'm sure you heard Kixeye CEO Will Harbin say to potential programmers: "What is best in life? Is it to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women? Well, that's a pretty good start."

There's no secret about misogynistic characters in video games. There's no secret about the misogynistic people playing these video games either -- and maybe that's the point of Kixeye's video? To be satirical? To have a laugh at your own expense. Kixeye's VP of engineering Danielle Deibler (A woman! Don't you love it?) swung her own digital sword when speaking to The Atlantic.

"Everyone has a place at Kixeye if they kick ass and have a passion for making great games. You've totally misrepresented our company and taken our video so far out of context that it's laughable."

Here's the problem with the video. It feeds into the perpetuation of sexist behavior that makes it uncomfortable and intimidating for women so that they don't feel safe in your world.

Kind of like how Miranda Pakozdi felt when she entered the Cross Assault video game tournament. She expected to play for $25,000, according to New York Times reporter Amy O'Leary, and instead got this feedback from her coach:

Over six days of competition, her team's coach, Aris Bakhtanians, interrogated her on camera about her bra size, said "take off your shirt" and focused the team's webcam on her chest, feet and legs. He leaned in over her shoulder and smelled her.

Or how about how Feminist Frequency's Anita Sarkeesian has become the target of rape threats when she began documenting her Tropes vs. Women project. I'm sure you've seen some of the comments. And the death threats. And the insults.

Look, I'm not suggesting that women have no sense of humor. Or that we don't enjoy story lines about domination, destruction and skill. Believe me, we love sex and violence just like everyone else! (Hello, Game of Thrones.) But we don't like it when you make us the target, or the victim, or the subject, or the object when there's no self-realization.

Video Game Industry, could you do us this favor? Could you try, try try to accept that this kind of sexism is real. That it's not just denigrating to women and girls, but it's denigrating to men and boys as well. Could you at least attempt to understand that because girls and boys -- like mine -- are fully engaged and enthralled by everything you do that it's crucial to encourage a healthy gaming arena.

In closing, take a look at some of the misogynist evidence on Fat, Ugly or Slutty. Just in case you didn't know, they're blogs that chart the complaints of women who have been harassed by gamers. It's updated daily.

xo,

Hayley

Hayley Krischer: An Open Letter to the Video Game Industry, From a Mom Whose Son Loves Gaming

Dear Video Game Industry:

In retrospect, maybe the whole video game thing is my fault. I was the one who bought him Wii. I was the one who got him the DS. I was the one who taught him how to play Lego Star Wars Wii, and yes, I was the one who got him through that incredibly difficult level, you know the one where Sebulba races young Anakin... Anyway!

I'm sure you've seen The Atlantic's scathing article about Kixeye Entertainment's new recruitment video circulating the Internet. I'm sure you heard Kixeye CEO Will Harbin say to potential programmers: "What is best in life? Is it to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women? Well, that's a pretty good start."

There's no secret about misogynistic characters in video games. There's no secret about the misogynistic people playing these video games either -- and maybe that's the point of Kixeye's video? To be satirical? To have a laugh at your own expense. Kixeye's VP of engineering Danielle Deibler (A woman! Don't you love it?) swung her own digital sword when speaking to The Atlantic.

"Everyone has a place at Kixeye if they kick ass and have a passion for making great games. You've totally misrepresented our company and taken our video so far out of context that it's laughable."

Here's the problem with the video. It feeds into the perpetuation of sexist behavior that makes it uncomfortable and intimidating for women so that they don't feel safe in your world.

Kind of like how Miranda Pakozdi felt when she entered the Cross Assault video game tournament. She expected to play for $25,000, according to New York Times reporter Amy O'Leary, and instead got this feedback from her coach:

Over six days of competition, her team's coach, Aris Bakhtanians, interrogated her on camera about her bra size, said "take off your shirt" and focused the team's webcam on her chest, feet and legs. He leaned in over her shoulder and smelled her.

Or how about how Feminist Frequency's Anita Sarkeesian has become the target of rape threats when she began documenting her Tropes vs. Women project. I'm sure you've seen some of the comments. And the death threats. And the insults.

Look, I'm not suggesting that women have no sense of humor. Or that we don't enjoy story lines about domination, destruction and skill. Believe me, we love sex and violence just like everyone else! (Hello, Game of Thrones.) But we don't like it when you make us the target, or the victim, or the subject, or the object when there's no self-realization.

Video Game Industry, could you do us this favor? Could you try, try try to accept that this kind of sexism is real. That it's not just denigrating to women and girls, but it's denigrating to men and boys as well. Could you at least attempt to understand that because girls and boys -- like mine -- are fully engaged and enthralled by everything you do that it's crucial to encourage a healthy gaming arena.

In closing, take a look at some of the misogynist evidence on Fat, Ugly or Slutty. Just in case you didn't know, they're blogs that chart the complaints of women who have been harassed by gamers. It's updated daily.

xo,

Hayley

7 Epic Video Game Fails

Ah, video games.

America has a love-hate relationship with this industry. Some say they're too violent or the cause for high rates of bullying in today's youth. Others suggest more positive effects: One study says that adolescent girls who game with their families have an improved "mental well-being,"

Either way, there's one thing most of us can agree on: we love to watch epic video game fails.

Whether a Wii remote flies through a television set, or a father accidentally knocks his kid over while playing on the Xbox Kinect, these unfortunate videos crack us up. We know we look ridiculous jumping around the room, far too invested in Wii Sports, so it's fun to see someone looking more absurd than us, for a change.

Check out the slideshow below of 7 epic video game fails. Do you have a crazy gaming story? Let us know in the comments section! Then check out the 11 of the most beautiful video games ever and these seven websites to waste your time on.

John Pavley: The Myth of the Aging Hacker and How to Fight It

One thing that you don't want to admit to in the tech world is getting old. (I guess that's true in general but in technology land it's almost a taboo.)

Technology has a reputation for being a young person's game. That's a perception that I would like to change. But it's tough when we technologists believe it ourselves. Here are three examples of ageism that happened to me all on the same day:

A young 20-something techie explained to me that she was getting old fast and needed to start a startup before she got too old to have great ideas. "Everyone knows that after 30 your mind slows down and the billion dollar ideas stop flowing."

A post-50 techie told me on the phone that he was getting old, feeling slow and unhealthy, and that perhaps his best years were behind him. He had been a giant lion in Silicon Valley in the '90s and now he feels like a little lamb.

A good friend sent me his resume: He just got suckered into early retirement by his employer of 20 years and feels totally lost in the world of hack-a-thons, meetups and fancy new Java VM languages. For the last 20 years he's been coding UNIX operating system tools while being an excellent father. And now he thinks he's competing with his post-college kids for the same jobs!

Lies! It's all lies! (Is there a Myth Busters show for misconceptions about aging?)

To counter this sort of self-inflicted ageism I'll use myself as an example:

Sure, when I was young I had a dozen ideas a day. But most of them slipped away. I hardly ever completed anything. Now that I am older, I have the ability to finish what I started. I can ensure an awesome end-product because I've been through the whole product development cycle too many times to count.

When I was young all the ideas that excited me were mine. Now, I don't care where the idea comes from. I'm much more interested in success for the team than pushing my agenda. I think this is one of the reasons why 99 percent of all startups fail: Young people, pushing their ideas, unable to gain perspective, chasing after personal success. A successful startup usually has an inter-generational mix of people at its core.

But enough about me: Let's use Bill Gates as example: He dropped out of Harvard to create Microsoft and bulldozed his way to the top of the technology heap. He did some stuff when he was young that I bet he is not proud of, just like any normal human, but he ostensibly "won" the game.

Bill's best ideas were not those from his youth. His best ideas, and what history will remember him for, came after he retired and created the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with his wife! Reinventing the toilet might not be as sexy sounding as another Pinterest-Photo-Streaming-Mobile-Coupon app, but it's 100 times more important. Long after that Pinterest-Photo-Streaming-Mobile-Coupon app is forgotten, the Gates Foundation's work in sanitation will be celebrated.

I bet Bill feels older, perhaps slower, but he looks like he's in great shape. When you're young you don't have to exercise and eat right. As you age you have to do it. I know for us aging hackers the idea of exercise is about as appealing as an hour spent with IE6. But it must be done. This morning I put Billy Blanks in the old DVD player and did my Tae Bo Flex.

And the great thing about being an old hacker is that all the stuff we learned back in the '80s and '90s is still relevant and critical: LISP, Objective-C, UNIX, POJOs, User Centered Design. Our skills are not outdated! Our skills are continually rediscovered by every new generation.

So if you're young, don't rush into an ill-thought-out startup because you fear your biological clock. And if you're old, get your game face on and keep hacking!

ESPN revamps Goals app to feature exclusive video content

ESPN revamps Goals app to feature exclusive video content

If you live in the United Kingdom and are a big fan of football, then the recently enhanced ESPN Goals app is worth taking a closer look at. The free app by ESPN will provide video highlights and advanced coverage of every game aired by Barclays Premier League.

Users of the app can expect ESPN pre and post game coverage, as well as advanced analysis streamed to your device for free. Assuming you have a strong WiFi or 3G connection, the video will be streamed in high quality to your Android device. In addition, ESPN integrated social networking in order for app users to share the video highlights with friends that may or may not have the app. As one would expect from a sports app, ESPN Goals includes important football stats such as assists, scorers, and discipline. Video alerts will populate the app during the half-time, post game, and round-ups.

ESPN Goals will only be available for users living in the United Kingdom, but it can be installed on devices running Android 1.6 and higher. For more information, feel free to browse the Google Play listing below.

[Google Play ESPN Goals]

Finally: Game Of Thrones Season Two Available To Buy Online

War is coming. So are dragons. And possibly zombies.

if you haven't seen the second series of Game of Thrones yet, you can down buy it for the first time in the UK.

The series is now available to purchase for £17.99 after streaming video service BlinkBox signed a deal with HBO.

BlinkBox will offer Game of Thrones and both seasons of Broadwalk Empire ahead of their DVD release.

The deal also covers HBO shows True Blood, Band of Brothers and The Pacific, as well as many other established shows. They'll be available to watch on PC, Mac, mobile devices, games consoles and set-top boxes.

Colin Smith, director for international digital distribution at HBO said: "We are delighted to partner with blinkbox and to offer a wide variety of award-winning premium content to fans in the UK with a number of titles available on an EST basis for the very first time.

"I'm particularly excited that Game of Thrones Season 2 will be available to own for all those fans out there that haven't had the opportunity to watch it yet."

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