Learn To Fly Like An Aviator With The Microsoft Flight Simulator

Looking up above and staring into space sometimes makes us wonder what flying an airplane is like. Unfortunately not all of us have the luck of being a licensed pilot and flying a real plane. Nevertheless, you don't need a real plane to feel the experience to fly like a professional aviator. With the Microsoft Flight Simulator, anyone can be a pilot. And unlike an actual life pilot who has limited time, space, and other constraints in flying a plane, a virtual pilot can explore the skies as he wishes.

The Microsoft flight simulator is compatible with Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. The program features highly detailed life-like images, which are based on the US Defense Mapping Agency. Meanwhile, the virtual planes look realistic enough to convince flight schools to use this game for training student pilots. Detailed work on the parts and performance of each airplane as well as realistic terrain are only two of many features that this simulator has to offer.

When using the Microsoft flight simulator, you can choose any type of flying machine that you want from a vast, regularly updated collection of aircrafts. You can fly your virtual plane in customized weather conditions for a more challenging flying experience. Taking off from and landing in any one of over 20,000 airports around the world with different types of planes will never be a boring experience. Similar to real planes, virtual planes in this simulation also comes with autopilot mode. This feature also works exactly like it does in real life.

The Microsoft flight simulator supports many types of game controllers. You can always fly your virtual plane using a keyboard. But if you want a more thrilling flying experience, you will need to use better controllers. The game can detect joystick, pedals, or yoke automatically the instant they are connected to your personal computer. The game menu will enable you to change the setting of the controllers at anytime.

This flight simulator's multiplayer mode allows you to fly with your friends. When connected to a server, you can fly with other pilots across the globe. One server allows up to 32 players to play communally. Each person can create a group of maximum 4 persons and throw fireballs at one and another. Linking the game with Google Earth even allows you to spot other active pilots who are flying on their own virtual planes.

The Worlds Of Warcraft

In 1994 Blizzard Entertainment (also known as Activision) released the first game related to the World of Warcraft series. The game was named 'Warcraft: Orcs and Humans' and was to be the starting point of this popular series. The Warcraft universe was set in a magical fantasy land named Azeroth as were all the following Warcraft titles released. A full ten years later Blizzard Entertainment released 'The World of Warcraft' on November 23, 2004 and the Warcraft craze really took off.

In the actual game players control a character in either first-person or third-person views. First-person is when you play the game looking through the eyes of your selected avatar and thrid-person view is when you view the game from just behind/above your character or avatar. 

The game is played through these views as the player explores the landscape of Azeroth combating foes either controlled by the game (bots) or characters controlled by other human players. During your exploring and combat situations you also have various quests to complete.

To enter the game you must choose which realm you want to play in. Each realm is actually a server that runs a world map and there are two main categories to choose from. The first realm category is called 'player versus player' and this consists of players basically fighting various other human players in an open combat situation on the Azeroth map. The second realm category is called 'player versus environment' and this consists of completing various game quests as well as open combat between foes.

Once a suitable realm is chosen a new character must be created. This character will either be from one of two factions- The Alliance or The Horde. You can only speak to characters in your own faction and this is the same when creating groups to roam the landscape. Once you have decided which faction to join you must then choose the race of you character. 

The typical fantasy races are covered including Trolls, Orcs, Humans or Dwarves. Orcs and Trolls fall into the Horde faction category and Humans and Dwarves fall into the Alliance faction category. The final option for your character involves you having to choose it's 'class'. These classes include Warriors, Priests and magical Mages.

To be involved in the World of Warcraft there is a certain outlay to pay. Your subscription is paid to cover you for playing for a certain amount of time much like paying pre-paid for a mobile/cell phone. If you are a Warcraft addict you can pay by credit or debit card and this allows you to play on a regular basis with little worry about your subscription ending.

Bubble Breaker - The Fantastic Puzzle Game

The game Bubble Breaker is one of the best classic puzzle games and you will need the ability to plan ahead on what to do next as well as the ability to distinguish between two or more colors easily. The game consists of a screen that has more than a hundred bubbles. The first level begins with two kinds of bubbles of two colors and as the level goes on, the number of colors of balls gets added to the screen. The first level may seem very easy. 

The key of the game is to remove the screen of all the balls that are present. This can be done if there are two or more balls of the same color close to each other. Since the levels in the game are of higher difficulty, the rules in the game remain the same. The higher number of bubbles that there are and are burst the more the number of points one will get.

Since the start of this game, there have been many developments to this bubble breaker game, and since then the graphics and many other additions have been made to the game. In most of the versions the music added to the game is better. The game is best played as a single player and it does not suit the multiplayer style. 

Even if there are many changes to the game, the bubble breaker and the tactics followed remain the same and hence the rules also remain the same. If one takes many bubbles at the same time then one can get extra points. If you are able to clear the screen during any level, then one can get as many as a thousand points at a time. It is best not to take time in the decision of clicking the balls, the best is to remove then with a quick decision.

There is an average score that one has to cross to be able to get to the next level, if one is not able to play bubble breaker with the time limit and the average score that you have to cross then the level and game will end. In the beginning game screen, you will have to choose the level to start from. If you are new to the game, it is best to start in the beginning and work you way up the levels. 

As you go up from one to eight, different color balls, one in each level get added to the screen. This makes it tough to differentiate the balls in the bubble breaker. Once the game is ended, you can submit your score along with your name and you can find out where you rank among the other players that you have been playing along with.

3 Tips to Better PC Airplane Games

Complex PC games, such as flight simulators, can be a challenge to play on a computer. This is primarily because unlike game consoles, with a nice simple controller, most flight simulators require a full keyboard due to the enormous amounts of detail involved with them. Here are some tips to help you run PC airplane games better on your computer.

1. Use a flight joystick or yoke - PC airplane games are very hard to play accurately with only the keyboard to control the aircraft. By using a flight joystick, or an actual yoke, you will have far more control which helps in your enjoyment. You can find these at most computer retail stores such as Best Buy or Office Depot for relatively cheap. A good example would be the Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas X Joystick which is about $30 online. Real airplanes don't use keyboards so why would you use one while playing? Always keep it real!

2. Check system compatibility - Today's PC airplane games require a lot out of computers. Many computers will not be able to run the game properly, if at all, with all the bells and whistles turned on. That's okay. Start with everything on and start playing around with the settings until you are experiencing smooth game play that is not lagging. Keep in mind that you can still fully enjoy these games despite not having maximum detail and scenery turned on. Just as long as you have an airport with runways you are good to go!

3. Read the tutorials - Understanding the basics of flight is essential. The biggest difference between flight simulators and arcade flying games is realism. Nearly all of the top flight simulators have detailed tutorials or training features available. It is important to use them if you are new to this and don't have a background in flight simulators or flying in general. 

However, some games have better training and tutorials than others so if you are new you will want to be sure to check if yours has training available. By understanding the basics of flight and learning properly how to control the airplane you can ensure that you take full advantage of all that the game offers.

It is important that you get everything you can out of your experience while playing. By keeping in mind these three essential tips you will get the most out of your favorite PC airplane games.

Where to Buy Wii Fitness

Video games are not the most excellent way of getting in shape. A day spent sitting on the couch while eating a bucket of potato chips while staring at a moving screen and getting carpel tunnel does not count as a workout. Heath experts have attacked this practice for so long that action has finally come from it. This solution has been into play for a while. 

The solution is called Wii Fit, a video game that really does count as a workout because it works you out. The game requires movement and by the time you are done with the activity it is almost as if you had performed that activity yourself. The real thing is always better, but the virtual thing works when your options are limited.

One of the most popular games on the market and for a good reason, Wii Fit is relatively ubiquitous. At the height of Wii popularity, many game consoles came packaged with a Wii Fit game inside. Game consoles usually come with a game so you can get hooked on playing and buy more games. The Wii is relatively outdated so if you try this approach you may not come out with much success.

Amazon is always a reliable place to purchase goods. This is probably your best bet. They have dozens and dozens of practically everything for a reasonable price. If you need to buy anything, you should go here. Not only do they have everything but they have them at a wide variety of prices. If you want to pay a little bit for a used Wii game that a previous owner has already burned through, that is an option. 

If you want to pay full price for a Wii Fit that is brand new, that option is equally feasible. Go to your trusted online stores because they are the places that tend to have the products you are looking for. EBay is also a reliable store to go to online when looking for an item that you would wish to buy cheaply.

A store that holds electronic items like Best Buy or Target may also have this product. Wii game is such a good idea that many stores are likely to have them. The Wii is slightly outdated but people still play them and since Wii Fit is so popular it will continue to be a hot commodity everywhere.

Shogun 2 Freezing

Shogun 2 is one of the most popular games worldwide. Recently, Shogun 2 players have been complaining that it freezes a lot. It's so annoying for the player if the game is freezing in middle of the gameplay. Let us discuss a few tips & tricks that worked for many people.

Follow the tips given here in order to ensure that the problem is fixed permanently and your computer is fully optimized for the extreme gaming performance.

Defragment the Registry

Registry fragmentation is the state where the registry data is divided into multiple parts taking a longer time to retrieve the information. Defragment the registry as it would help fixing Shogun 2 freezing. Windows registry is the central database which stores important information about the game files and each time the game is being run on computer these files are being accessed by the game. You have to make it sure that the registry data is not fragmented. The fragmentation in this data causes games to lag and freeze frequently.

Fix Registry Errors

Just as conducting a registry defrag scan it is recommended that you conduct a registry cleaner scan to detect and remove registry errors from your Windows registry. Most of the times the games freeze due to corruption in Windows registry.

Solve Compatibility Issues

Compatibility issues may result in Shogun 2 freezing. Do the following steps to solve the problem on your own:

Open My Computer. 

Open C:\Program Files\< Shogun 2 Installation Folder> 

Right click the main executable file of the game and select "Troubleshoot Compability" option.

Accelerate the DirectX Features

There is also another way to reduce game freezing which is to accelerate the DirectX features in your system. You can follow the following procedure to carry out this task:

Click Start | Run. 

Type "DxDiag" and press ENTER. 

Click "Sound" tab. 

Under "DirectX Features" move the slider from "Full Accelerator" to "No Accelerator" in order to disable the DirectSound feature. 

Click OK.

Clean the System

Using a System Cleaner program delete the temporary stuff from your hard disk, such as, temporary files, temporary internet files, browser cache, etc. Too many files stored on your hard disk lead Shogun 2 freezing problem.

You can use a System Cleaner application which normally comes with the System Utilities software. Otherwise use the built-in Disk CleanUp tool in Windows as shown here:

Click Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk CleanUp. 

Select a drive and press ENTER. 

Follow the on screen instructions.

PlayStation 3 Servers Crashed and Hacked - Are Gamers Now Switching to Xbox 360?

With the online serves for Sony PlayStation 3 networks crashing last month, does this mean some gamers cross over to Xbox 360 and abandon the PS3?The $60 per year Xbox 360 online cost may sound a little expensive, but at least the Xbox servers don't crash.

From about mid April 2011 to mid May 2011 the PlayStation 3 network was down. The apparent cause of the network being down was due to hackers. Apparently these hackers were able to intrude the PlayStation 3 servers, and cause serious damage to the servers. It was so bad, that you could not even play any of your favorite games online for over a month. So many gamers playing Call of Duty Black Ops, in multiplayer were not able to play the multiplayer online.

It was also announce that Sony believes account information, including passwords were compromised. Some reports suggested the credit card info was also compromised but according to Sony this was not the case. The reason gamers have their credit card information on file with Sony is mainly due to the PlayStation store. The store you can buy older games, demos, game add-ons and downloadable content to name a few. 

If you frequently did this, you could store your credit card information in the PlayStation store in what's called your wallet. This gave you the ability to buy a game, and not have to re enter your credit card information over and over again. A great idea, as long as it secure, which just found out it is not.

Sony has recently announced they will give (5) five or so games away for free, as an apology to their gamers. Sony has also announced for any user of the PlayStation network, they can sign up for a year's worth of free credit monitoring.

The thing about the Microsoft Xbox servers to play online games cost you $60 per year. Which too many not seeming like a bad option, if it's a secure environment. If you think about it, Microsoft has been dealing with the online line stuff for years, so one would think they would have a leg up on Sony.

This raises another question about updates; it said that Microsoft runs updates for the 360 users about twice a year, and Sony you have to do it for just about every game you want to play. The updates can be very annoying, considering it took me 45 minutes to download all the updates so I can play the first BioShock game on my PS3.

I guess if it really comes down to it, Xbox does have its durability issues. Meaning many true Xbox 360 gamers have gone through more than one console; mainly due to the ever popular RROD or Red Ring of Death. At the same time make your decision on what your friends have, so you can have fun and enjoy your gaming experience with others.