The Impact of Social Games to Our Life

Social networking sites are introducing hundreds of social games to enhance the lives of users. These games are in the form of plug-ins, and users can play them live from the social website. Once you play a game, you can share the results with friends, or request them to join you in the competitions. Millions of users are spending long hours playing social games. Playing social games has had both positive and negative impacts to our life. The following are the impacts of social games to our life:

Kill Boredom

One positive impact of social games is that they kill boredom. People no longer have to sulk in boredom all day. If you do not have people to chat with, you can keep yourself busy playing social games.

Social Gaming is Fun!

Another impact is that they are fun, and thus changing the way people spend their leisure time. You no longer have to hold on to the same hobby you learnt at childhood. Social games are fun to an extent that you will always want to try another one.

Nurturing Skills

Playing social games can nurture vital skills especially in young people. Playing requires your full attention and a keen mind, and this teaches you how to focus and be attentive. Social games also boost your creative thinking and problem solving skills since they often involve a similar task.

Negative Impact of Social Games

However, there are also some negative impacts associated with social games. One of the negative impacts is that they can be addictive. Once a game becomes addictive, it can affect very many processes. If you are a student, you will sacrifice your study time playing social games and this has negative impacts on your grades. If you are an employee, you will spend your day playing social games instead of working, and this will affect your performance, and eventually, the overall profit margin of your company.

Therefore, it is essential for you to plan your time well so that you play only when you have free time. This will rule out any chances of addiction, and ensure that social games impact your life positively.
I have to mention some of the social games that I’ve been playing. All of these games are hosted by Facebook and are designed by social games giant - Zynga. First social game that made me register to Facebook is Farm Town, followed by FarmVille, then here comes CastleVille, and at present Hidden Chronicles.
Just an advice: Don’t become addict with those social games so that you can surely reap the benefits of playing them instead of reaping the negative ones.

Lovelylieze is social media blogger who spends some of her leisure times playing social games from Zynga. Join her with her quests to unravel those hidden objects in Hidden Chronicles with the help of Hidden Chronicles Guide and Hidden Chronicles Energy Cheat as vital resources.

A Short History of the Video Game

Throughout human history, entertainment has been something that has taken our fancy to the next level. Whether it was about simple fun for children choosing to play indoors or a way for adults to lower their stress levels, video games seem like they’ve always been around. However, those who are forty or so years old, or older, today can claim that they have been witnesses to one of the best inventions of technology.

The Early Days

When video games first hit the market, they were in the form of a very simple cathode ray tube-based video game. Known, quite ordinarily, as the “Cathode Ray Amusement Device”, the first video game was just about using radar technology to create a missile-launch scenario. The concept was about launching missiles onto fixed objects on the screen, by touching that part.

This, in 1947, was the first time human beings looked at video games as a means of adding a new dimension to their lives. Over time, that cathode ray tube led to the creation of a number of other early-games that have had major influence on the way video games have been designed. “OXO”  was a Tic-Tac-Toe game invented in 1952 while 1958 saw the creation of the world-famous “Tennis for Two” video game, which forever changed the way we looked at them.

Raising the Bar

Spacewar! was a direct offshoot from the success of Tennis for Two and instead of playing tennis, it allowed to rival spacecrafts to fight against each other. In 1971, a major change came into the gaming industry when the creation of coin-operated video game machines hit the world. Initially played on black and white screens, these machines changed the gaming world with arcades coming up all over the place.

By then, games were coming up thick & fast and these machines became a major breakthrough in terms of console gaming. Manufacturers and game designers had realised that it was possible to dedicate a machine for gaming and that people would pick it up. That is what led to the creation of the Magnavox Odyssey – the first ever home-based console video game.

The Real Bulge

Despite all these progressions, the real burst would come when Atari brought their Pong video game into people’s home. The industry got flooded with requests for this game and when people started looking for this game-changing video game, other manufacturers and designers entered the industry with their own versions of Pong.

However, after almost every single manufacturer decided to bring out a host of Pong games, video games crashed! The market had been flooded with Pong consoles and when demand began falling, manufacturers were forced to sell off their consoles at massive losses. Only Atari and Magnavox managed to survive this time and ushered the world of video games into the 80s.

Rapid Change

When the 1980s hit, game designers began exploring the realms of 2D gaming. Graphics kept improving as character details and overall sales also kept pace. Gaming started entering homes and those that couldn’t afford the expensive home-consoles, had plenty of choice at massive gaming arcades that became regular hangouts for kids.

Games like Legend of Zelda changed the entire concept of gaming, bringing in story-lines and puzzles into the gaming world. You could role-play within these games and, suddenly, stories became more complex and games became bigger.

Transformation

After a while, you will notice that modern video games have, somewhere or the other, found their inspiration from these marvels that came up in the 80s. Sure, the graphics have evolved and the size of these games have become, almost, infinite, but that could have never happened without the creation of the cathode ray amusement device. So the next time you pull up a video game on your computer screen or even start playing on your gaming console, remember where they came from because that’s what has created the magic you hold in your hands.

ALFREDO DO NASCIMENTO - author

In the world of design, Alfredo do Nascimento is known for creating some of the best logo designs in Brisbane. Taking his inspiration from the things that keep him happy and smiling, Alfredo has constantly lived in a parallel universe where everything is to his liking. Every time he needs inspiration for his work, Alfredo visits his happy place and finds more reasons as to why he took this up as a profession.

Nintendo Wii- The Motion Gaming Redefined

On November 19, 2006, Nintendo’s codeword “revolution” was revealed and world was presented with essence of motion gaming that is Nintendo Wii. Surfaced as a rival for X-box and PS, Nintendo Wii broke all sales record in history of gaming consoles. The zeal to create something unique urged Shigeru Miyamoto, the game designer of Nintendo revolutionized the concept of motion gaming. Nintendo Wii or simply Wii (as the company marketed it) features three categorically different yet identical technical brilliancies. The device has a wireless gaming set-up that has mastered the art of pointing and motion sensing. Along with that, the console has all day net connectivity to flood you with updates. 3D game dynamics have been portrayed so beautifully that one cannot resist wearing the Wii strap and waiting for the chance, definitely one will bounce off the couch. It is all together a family’s play.

Adorable features-

1. Motion Gaming- Unlike previous releases by other manufacturers, Wii is better when comes to the detection of bodily motions. The science behind motion sensing is enhanced and accelerometers and sensors are wiser. For the enhancement of real time gaming Wii MotionPlus was released.

2. TV inspired Menu look- The first screen displays many windows each to launch a channel. The ‘point’ concept of Wii is useful to personalize the look.

3. Compatible with older releases- Wii is backward compatible supporting Nintendo GameCube’s software and controllers. GameCube discs and GameBoy advance are also supported by Wii without enhancements.

4. Nintendo DS compatibility- Wii supports DS wirelessly without making use of additional connectives. The DS inputs via touch screen; microphone are directly passed on to the Wii games.

5. Wii connect24- the console allows the gamer to go online via 802.11b/g inbuilt Wi-Fi or via cable. Nintendo provides free Wi-Fi service for Wii users. The connect24 service has multifold uses like forecasting, news update and other channels. Console has the ability to connect to other Wi-Fi networks with the help of self generated LAN network. Third party devices can make use of net connectivity.

Some tech details-

Powered by “Broadway” processor manufacturing courtesy IBM, the device has graphics supported by ATI developed GPU named “Hollywood”. Both the processors are 90nm backed by CMOS and clocked at 729 and 243 MHZ respectively. 88 MB of memory provided by the manufacturer is broken into 24 MB and 64MB, internal and external respectively. This complete family game as they say supports of 16 Wii controllers via Bluetooth. Two USB and memory card slots are provided to expand the memory for game saves.

The family edition has released with almost same specifications except the support for GameCube discs. Never mind, still there are bounty of games at your disposal.  Now, with tech advances, you are wise to think that getting yourself a preowned Wii is not a bad idea. since now the cost of it has dropped, but yet getting the best of the game library which was not there before.