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  • Rent Games Online for the Kids

    Published June 16th, 2008

    It’s risky business allowing your children to play games online. I know that may sound funny but I have a good argument to back up my opinion. If you continue reading I will share it with you.

    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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    Games - Murder Mystery Games

    Published June 13th, 2008

    You’re gathered in a room with about a dozen or so people. Your host enters, welcomes you and tells you that by the end of this evening, one of you will be guilty of a murder. Welcome to the world of the murder mystery game. If you’ve never had the pleasure of participating in one of these things then you really don’t know what you’re missing. Hosting murder mysteries has been a big thing all over the world for over 30 years now. Hopefully, after reading this, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what to expect should you ever get invited to one.

    Ah, yes. The invitation. That’s where murder mystery games start, with the invite. Normally you’ll received a very fancy looking envelope in the mail. When you open it, you’ll read something like, “You are cordially invited to attend a murder mystery at.. .” and then you’ll be given the address, date and time and the name of the person hosting it. Normally about a dozen or so invitations will go out, depending on how elaborate the mystery is. Sometimes these will be hosted at somebody’s home but many times they are hosted at hotels or even on boats. Yes, a lot of work goes into these games.

    But where exactly do the games come from? Well, many of them are actually pre packaged and bought from novelty game stores. These games are usually very expensive, though cheaper ones can be found. But you do get what you pay for. The more expensive games are very elaborate and very entertaining. However, some people, if they are really creative, will actually create a murder mystery themselves. This is where the fun really comes in because if you’ve played enough of these games, eventually you’ll be invited to one that you’ve already done and will know the outcome in advance. With a homemade game, it truly does become a mystery.

    The games are actually very simple. When you arrive, you’re given a character to play. Sometimes your character is actually specified in the invitation. You’re not expected to know any dialogue. The only thing you need to do is observe. There will be people at the party who are actually hired actors. These actors will play out the parts of those who will be giving you clues throughout the evening as to who the murderer is, once the actual murder is committed. This could be right away or not for several hours. The length of these games is not predetermined as the object is for one of the “real” guests to figure out who the “murderer” is among the “hired” guests. This is where you better put your Sherlock Holmes cap on and do some serious thinking. Some of these games can be quite difficult.

    While not as popular as they were when they first came out about 30 or so years ago, murder mystery nights are still around. You can usually find one advertised in your local paper. Most of them today are held in hotels or boats. Not as many “regular” people put these on as in the early days as the thrill has died down a bit. But if you look hard enough, you can still get into the action. It will definitely be a night you won’t soon forget.

    Michael Russell

    Your Independent guide to Games

    Tag:

    When Games Simulate Life - Indie Sim Games Overview.

    Published June 1st, 2008

    Like simulators? There are hundreds of independent game developers who developer excellent and very unique games you should really know about. Here are some of the picks.

    Coffee Tycoon (Jamopolis)

    Coffee Tycoon gives sim games a jolt of caffeine. It’s packed with awesome graphics, tons of features, and lots of fun. Start fresh with one store, customize your coffee business by giving it a name and choosing a logo and store design. From there, choose a city start your coffee empire, maybe New York or L.A., or if you are really daring, the coffee capital of the world: Seattle!

    Coffee Tycoon is filled with dozens of charming characters who will offer up their opinions, good or bad, on the quality of your store. Choose from dozens of store upgrades and coffee recipes to customize your business. First, you’ll need to choose a name for your coffee company. It can be anything you like. Some examples of names are: “Sally’s Coffee”, “Cup of Joe” or “Cream and Sugar.” Adjust the percentage of each type of Employees to meet your daily need. If you need more Money, make more Employees Baristas. If you need more Customers, make more Employees Managers and so on.

    Betty’s Beer Bar

    Betty’s Beer Bar is a fast paced and addictive arcade game. Your task is to serve the customers as quickly as possible - keep them happy and they will give you huge tips. Serve them coffee when they’re about to get drunk, to keep them awake - drunk customers rarely pay. This nurse had one beer too many. With good reflexes and a sharp mind, Betty will earn enough money to leave her original work place and start progressing towards her own bar in the caribbean! Betty’s Beer Bar features four unique scenarios and over fifty original and fun animated characters in a beautiful hand-drawn, cartoonish style.

    It also includes different soundtracks to keep you fully immersed in its world. Even bears come to Betty’s Beer Bar. You can choose your own difficulty level to keep the game challenging at any time. It also includes an in-game tutorial so you will be playing in no time. You can also play in several different modes - including Free Play, Time Challenge and Story Mode, complete with inter-level cutscenes. And ifyou feel like competing, post your score in our online scoreboard.

    Smugglers 3

    In the case of Smugglers 3, you are a pilot in a interstellar conflict. However, instead of spending your time in non-stop battle action sequences, Smugglers 3 is based more on text.
    Smugglers 3 places you in one of four factions. Each of the factions has different objectives and weapons. Playing through the game, one of your main goals is to trade goods with the various planets that you visit. This will help you to build up your funds so that you can buy better weapons and a better ship. In addition you will undertake missions that will help to increase your standing within your faction and win you medals of honor.

    You do in fact have action battles in the game. However, the battles consist of you and an enemy in a turn based conflict that shows you both ships, a proximity meter and the special weapons that you each have available. These battles work very well to put you in control of all the important factors of the battle without making you get too tied up with minute details.

    Game Download Links:

    Coffee Tycoon http://www.deprice.com/coffeetycoon.htm

    Betty’s Beer Bar http://www.deprice.com/bettysbeerbar.htm

    Smugglers 3 http://www.deprice.com/smugglers.htm

    John Deprice loves simulators. His collection is publically available at http://www.deprice.com/games-6-1.htm

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