Saturday, August 28, 2010
Don't underestimate her just because she's a little girl. "Dora The Explorer" is a multibillion-dollar franchise that may be creating a more enlightened generation, more open to different people and cultures not their own.
Ten years have passed since the Latina Dora became the first bilingual heroine of children's TV and conquered the hearts of kids around the world. Nickelodeon has celebrated the anniversary with a one-hour special that features the voices of Rosie Perez, John Leguizamo and Hector Elizondo, and a documentary with comments from Dora herself, the series' creators, experts from the industry, real-life kids and celebrities such as Salma Hayek and Shakira.
"I think that the fact that kids are identifying with a kid with darker color skin that speaks another language (shows they are more open)," said Chris Gifford, one of the show's creators and executive producers. "Kids want their parents to read them the books and watch Dora with them. ... That's what it's about."
"Dora The Explorer" is seen today in 151 markets and is translated to 30 languages. In English-speaking countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland, Dora teaches Spanish; in other markets — including the Hispanic U.S. markets — the adventurous little girl teaches English.
According to Nickelodeon, "Dora" has generated over $11 billion in worldwide sales since 2002, having sold 65 million units of Fisher Price Dora the Explorer toys, 50 million books and over 20 million DVDs worldwide. In France, publishing house Albin Michel has sold more than 12 million educational Dora books since its launch — or one Dora book for every child in France, the network points out.
Yet, the original idea for the show had nothing to do with a bilingual girl.
"She didn't start as a Latina or a heroine — she was a forest animal," said co-creator and executive producer Valerie Walsh Valdes. "Nickelodeon actually asked us to consider making her a Latina because a recent study said that there were no positive bilingual characters on children's television."
So producers turned to such experts as historian Carlos E. Cortes, author of "The Children Are Watching" and "The Making — and Remaking — of a Multiculturalist."
"He was absolutely instrumental in helping us find the best way to put Dora forward in terms of culture," said Gifford. Cortes advised that Dora should always be inclusive, so producers decided not to give her a particular country of origin.
"I am delighted with the way 'Dora' has come out, particularly the impact it seems to be having in young people," said Cortes, professor emeritus of history at the University of California, Riverside. "The Latino kids take pride having Dora as a lead character and non-Latino kids can embrace someone different."
"I think that Dora has a very specific special relationship with kids at home, not necessarily for being bilingual but as a powerful character who invites kids on adventures," says Brown Johnson, president, Animation, Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group. "Here, Spanish words open doors."
In "Dora The Explorer," the Latin flavor is present not only in the language and Dora's features but also in characters such as Isa the Iguana and Tico the Squirrel, scenes, themes and family values. The little star invites her young, preschool viewers to come with her on an adventure, where she usually faces a problem that she cannot resolve by herself.
Dora asks her audience to answer questions in an interactive show that includes silences that are long enough for viewers to suggest an answer.
"The kids are feeling good about putting together the puzzle bridge (that will solve the problem). ... Dora needs THEIR help!" says Walsh Valdes.
Each episode relies on the advice of educators and cultural experts, and can take more than a year to produce, in part because not one gets into the air without first being screened in front of the most honest and feared jury: at least 75 children. "Just the heartbreak to see those kids disappointed! We really take it personally. ... These 3 year olds," Gifford said. They really listen to the children, said Walsh Valdes.
Dora's voice has been portrayed the last three years by Caitlin Sanchez. The 14-year-old succeeded the original voice of Dora, Kathleen Herles, when she left to go to college.
"It's really an honor to play an icon," said Sanchez, who enjoys making the voice of the Latina idol in front of her little fans, who immediately recognize it: "It's Dora!" "She's got Dora inside her mouth!"
"Dora is like the most helping person in the world," the young actress said. "I have learned a lot from her, too. ... She's a great role model."
Stars such as Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek have spoken about the relationship of Dora with their families.
"There's a 'Dora The Explorer' (episode) where Dora's mom has twins — a boy and a girl," Jolie told People magazine in 2008, noting how her older children got ready for the arrival of her own twins. "They watched that a lot."
"I love Dora! She's been such a part of my relationship with my child," said Hayek at the show's 10th anniversary press conference in March. "I love that it's bilingual and that she's a heroine who has Latin roots."
Meanwhile, a Dora balloon made its debut in Macy's 2005 Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, the first time for a Latino character.
"It's flattering, but it also speaks about how Dora has transcended from just being a preschool show. There's something really amazing in her ability to cross over," said Walsh Valdes.
"Dora" has aired against the backdrop of the immigration debate. When the new Arizona law was announced, a photo of Dora behind bars as a suspected illegal immigrant made the rounds on the Internet.
Such is the influence of Dora, Cortes said, that future fans could affect the political future of America. A 5-year-old viewer in 2000 is now 15.
"It will be another three years until they go to college and be able to vote, and I think we may see a difference. You can't be certain, but our hope is that young people of all backgrounds will be more open," he said. "If Dora can do that, her impact is unimaginable."
___
Online:
Labels:
Friday, August 27, 2010
by Mike Smith
Just how did Monopoly get to be such a classic?
Played by the standard rules, it’s a terrible game; a shallow, tedious, confrontational waste of far too much time. But somehow it’s the most played board game in the world, according to Hasbro.
So chances are your family games closet has one (or more) of the various editions of this classic. Most likely, it’s pushed to the back, where it’s been hanging out ever since that unfortunate incident between Aunt Grace and Grandpa over the hotel on Park Place. They’re still not speaking. But the less said about that, the better. If you’ve got the hankering to pull it out again, here’s a few ideas for how to get the monotony out of your Monopoly.
Set a time limit
If you do nothing else, do this: decide when your game’s going to stop, and stick to it. You can set a hard time limit (although you might have to deal with players deliberately running down the clock) or set a ceiling on the number of turns the game will run. Once you hit the end, call the game, total up assets, and declare the victor.
Free Parking
What happens when you land on “Free Parking?” According to the rulebook, absolutely nothing. Many players introduce a rule whereby if you land on the “Free Parking” square you collect a fixed sum of cash, the accumulated Chance and Community Chest winnings of the other players, or some other windfall. Don’t do this. Putting more cash in circulation is exactly what you don’t want to do in Monopoly, especially when it’s dished out according to the whim of the dice. You’ll just end up prolonging the game, and making the game even more luck-based than it already is.
Closed-bid auctions
Some players find Monopoly’s auction process tiresome, time-consuming, or intimidating. If that’s the case with you, just switch to a closed-bid system. Have every player write down their top bid on a piece of paper and hand them to the banker -- the top bidder wins, and pays the amount the second highest bidder wrote down.
Raise the prices
Often, Monopoly players find there’s just too much money flying around. If you’re playing with a big bankroll, there’s even less strategy to the game; purchasing decisions become trivial, and considering they’re the only decisions you’ll be making for most of the game, that’s a big loss. Try increasing the face prices of all properties by 50 or even 100%, and keep all other monetary values (including mortgage prices) where they are. If your cash doesn’t go as far, you’ll have to think much harder about where to spend it.
Auction off the first turn
In Monopoly, the player who goes first knows he or she isn’t going to wind up paying rent. Conversely, the player who goes last is likely to find many of the starting row properties already owned -- and is likely to wind up with a bill to pay. Here’s a way to level the playing field: have all the players bid for the first-place opportunity with some of their starting cash.
Ditch useless utilities
No smart Monopoly player buys the utilities. Make them worthwhile by turning them into a fifth and sixth railroad. Keep the cost the same as the other railroads, and increase the rent values proportionally for players holding five or six.
Barter
Many Monopoly games adopt this rule as the game wears on, as adding a human dimension to the game deepens its strategy enormously. Under this rule, all deals between players are fair game. Want to lend money and charge interest? Go ahead. Trade properties for a Get Out Of Jail Free card? Sure. Give another player free rent on all your properties, or arrange a profit-sharing deal? Go nuts. Just be prepared for an engrossing session of skulduggery and backstabbing.
Make your own cards
Ever thought your Monopoly game would be livened up by a housewrecking elephant? What about a property boom that doubles prices for the next round? Make your own sets of Chance or Community Chest cards, and you can make your wildest dreams come true. As long as they involve Monopoly boards, that is.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
It's no longer satisfying simply holding a video game high-score. If you really want to make a mark as a gamer, you'll have to go after a world record. We'd be surprised, however, if any of these massive video game records were surpassed any time soon. After all, the bigger they are, they harder they are to break.
Longest time spent playing a massively-multiplayer online game
700 days playing Runescape
Between November 2004 and October 2009, Sarah Lhadi spent over 9 hours a day exploring massively-multiplayer game Runescape. That's nearly two full years worth of continuous, nonstop play.
Largest playable environment in a video game
Fuel -- 5560 square miles
Massive games like Fallout 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV might score headlines, but when it comes to sheer size, even these giants can't compare to 2009 racer Fuel. Its impossibly enormous amount of playable terrain makes it larger than many countries, including Jamaica and Lebanon.
Largest working Tetris game
15 stories - Delft University of Technology - 1995
It might not be the best-known version of the addictive puzzler, but there's never been a bigger one. Created by Dutch students, the massive game took place on 15 floors of the university's Electrical Engineering department.
Largest collection of Pokemon memorabilia
12,113
Lisa Courtney likes Pokemon more than you do. Way, way more. Built over the course of 13 years, the 21 year-old's monstrous collection of Poke-goodies is as cuddly as it is colorful. Since setting the record, it's broken the 13,000 mark.
Longest prison sentence for gaming
4 months - Faiz Chopdat
The next time you're asked to turn off a gizmo on a plane, do yourself a favor and just do it. Otherwise, you might up like Faiz Chopdat, who in September of 2002 was jailed for four months for incessantly playing Tetris on his cell phone during a flight to the U.K. Multiple warnings by the flight staff went unheeded, landing the gamer behind bars...and in the record books.
Largest in-game soundtrack
GTA IV
Assuming this doesn't include the likes of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, it's easy to see how GTA IV snagged this record. Players can listen to over 218 licensed tracks while causing mischief on the streets of Liberty City.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
By Shawn Struck, Associated Content
Share your expertise. Get published. Get paid. Learn more.
Buzz up!
Consumers spent over $25 billion on video games last year, according to Today's Gamers Survey by Newzoo and TNS -- and video games as an industry have been around for over a quarter of a century. With so much history and so much money being spent, there were bound to be a few video game products that were clunkers. Here are nine of the worst offenders.
Nintendo Cereal System
Released by Ralston in 1989, the Nintendo Cereal System was a limited-edition cereal designed to cash in on the popularity of the Nintendo Entertainment System. The box of cereal was divided into two halves. One half had Super Mario Bros.-inspired fruit-flavored Mario pieces, along with mushrooms, Koopa Troopas, Bowsers, and Goombas. The other half promoted The Legend of Zelda and had berry-flavored cereal shapes of Link, along with other items from the video game like shields, boomerangs, hearts and keys.
The cereal itself was bland and unexciting, tasting like an even sweeter Trix knockoff, but that wasn't really the main selling point. The back of the box featured Nintendo trading cards, Nintendo stickers and a contest entry to win a Super Mario Bros. cereal bowl, or a Nintendo Power Pad.
Though the cereal was only produced for one year, the flavor of nostalgia is still strong with the gaming enthusiasts of today. Vintage boxes of the Nintendo Cereal System often reach a hundred dollars or more on Ebay.
Sony Pocketstation
Released in 1999 in Japan, the Pocketstation was a memory card for the Sony Playstation console that featured an LCD screen, flash memory and a built-in real-time clock, and could play simple games. It first came to the of US gamers when it was announced that Final Fantasy VIII's US release would retain the Pocketstation mini-game present in the Japanese version.
Eager gamers who paid exorbitant prices to import one were rewarded with the ability to play a Chocobo-themed mini game... and that was about it. After you had paid more than a Game Boy or a Playstation memory card to get a much tinier screen with games that weren't all that fun, and a memory capacity no better than the cheapest memory card, you can understand why most importers were disappointed.
U-Force
Released in 1989 by once-popular publisher Broderbund, the U-Force was a controller for the Nintendo Entertainment system that unfolded like a laptop computer, and used infrared beams and flat panel sensors to translate a player’s motions into button presses. It sounded unbelievably futuristic when it was announced, and television commercials showed clips of gamers unleashing devastating right-left-right punch combinations in Mike Tyson's Punch Out by throwing actual punches.
In practice, the infrared beams were very weak. The motions required a lot of effort to even register, and in many cases, the U-Force made a video game even more difficult to control. It proved to be a critical flop, even years later when IGN named it one of the 10 Worst Controllers of All Time.
Wii Hip Street Cheer Pom Poms
Kobian USA released this Nintendo Wii accessory last year, hoping to ride the popularity of cheerleading games on the Wii. For the low, low price of 20 dollars, the Wii Hip Street Cheer Pom Poms can be strapped onto the end of your Wii Remote and Nunchuck controllers, and... do...
...well, that's it. You've now paid 20 dollars for cheaply made pom-poms that dangle off of your Wii controllers and do nothing. And if you bought this set hoping to make the most popular cheerleader series, We Cheer, more fun? Well, you are going to have to buy a second set. The Wii Hip Street Cheer Pom Poms set has one attachment for a Wii Remote and one attachment for the Nunchuck controller, but the We Cheer series uses two Wii Remotes simultaneously.
Gamer Grub
It turns out that the 1980s don't have a complete lock on ridiculous video game related food items. Gamer Grub was introduced as a "performance snack formulated especially for gamers" because it was engineered to be grease-free and crumb free so that you wouldn't clog up your keyboards or gunk up your controllers. The Gamer Grub package was designed to be torn open and tilted directly at your open mouth so that you could keep playing with your free hand.
As if the one-handed junk food that fed into gamer stereotypes (as well as gamer waistlines) wasn't bad enough, the names of the flavors were laughable. With flavors like Action Pizza, Racing Wasabi, Strategy Chocolate, and Sports PB&J, Gamer Grub marketing made the promoters of GoGurt look like geniuses in comparison.
Wii Party Station
The Wii Party Station demonstrates why video games and food just don't seem to work well together. It featured a hand fan unit to cool off sweaty palms, a tiny storage tray, and four separate LED screens -- presumably for keeping score. But what drove this accessory from the boring into the ridiculous were its additional features: four plastic cup holders with freezable liners, and a shallow bowl in the center to store chips and dip.
While storing greasy chips in a chintzy plastic bowl atop a unit that has a hand fan out of a bowling alley might seem to be the key reasons this product idea was sent back to the drawing board after a much-hyped release, its makers reportedly blamed rising prices of oil (and consequently plastic) instead. So the world has been spared this plastic monstrosity...for now.
Sega Dreamcast Fishing Rod
Released in 1998 alongside the inexplicably popular Sega Bass Fishing video game, this official Sega accessory attempted to make the typical fishing video game more realistic by releasing a controller shaped like a fishing rod and reel. Unfortunately, since Dreamcast games didn't officially support any sort of controller vibration or motion controls, all this gave you was a more frustrating experience.
Power Glove
Released in 1989, the Power Glove was an accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System that attempted to bring a virtual reality-type control to the game console experience. It was a black-and-white glove that fitted over the hand, and contained a joypad and keypad across the forearm. It received prominent product placement in the Nintendo-produced drama-comedy The Wizard, about the adventures of a group of tweens entering a video game contest. The movie's antagonist, Lucas, showed off the Power Glove in what would become an Internet meme two decades later when he uttered the line, "I love the Power Glove. It's so bad."
Only two games were ever released for use specifically with the Power Glove. One, Super Power Ball was packed in with the Power Glove for free. The other game, Bad Street Brawler, was a critical and financial flop. Additionally, both Power Glove designed games could also be played with regular joysticks, making the Power Glove a superfluous purchase at best.
CTA Wings for the Nintendo Wii
The CTA Wings are designed to be used for one specific mini-game for Wii Fit Plus game called Bird's-Eye Bull's-Eye. According to The Escapist, the Wings are promised to let you "truly experience what its like to be a bird". How does it accomplish this? It's simple: you take these "wings" that look like over-sized pot holders, slip your hands and arms through the loops, strap on the Wings, and then flap your arms up and down like a bird while holding a Wii Remote.
That's right, the CTA Wings do nothing except make you look even more ridiculous, and all for the sake of a single minigame on a popular title for the Wii.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Today's U.S. military recruits enjoy an arsenal of simulators and video games that sharpen their fighting skills and may even protect them from the mental stresses of combat. But experts caution that virtual reality could also help mask the reality of war.
That has not stopped the military from embracing video games to recruit and train a young generation of gamers who typically play commercial games such as "Modern Warfare 2," which passed $1 billion in sales in January.
"The Army has really taken a hold of gaming technology," said Marsha Berry, executive producer for the game "America's Army 3."
"America's Army" represents the official U.S. Army game that competes with commercial offerings such as "Modern Warfare 2" by also featuring online multiplayer shootouts. The free-to-play game has become a more effective recruiting tool for the Army than all other Army advertisements combined, according to MIT researchers.
Such blurring between entertainment and war may have unwanted consequences, according to Peter Singer, a Brookings Institute defense expert. He argues in a Foreign Policy journal article that the "militainment" phenomenon can lead to greater distortions in how people view war.
In real life, "any military person will tell you that there's a blend of incredible intensity and stress combined with long years of boredom," Singer pointed out. "But is a game going to capture that?"
But such reality-based video games could help prepare recruits for the mental horrors of war, help train them for the real thing and even help prevent cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in soldiers. [Related: World of Warcraft Video Game Succeeds in School]
The virtual Army wants you
Very few games have the ambition to convey both the physical carnage and mental anguish of warfare, such as was shown in the recent Oscar-winning film "The Hurt Locker" or HBO's Emmy-nominated World War II series "The Pacific." Instead, they have more narrow goals, such as attracting today's recruits through familiar entertainment.
One Army recruitment station in the Philadelphia area featured war-themed video games and helicopter simulators aimed at attracting urban youth. It closed down last month, but the Army hinted that it might adopt a similar approach for future recruitment stations.
"America's Army" continues a strong run with more than 11 million registered users having played over 260 million total hours and counting since 2002, including enlisted soldiers who play under their real-life unit designations.
"The whole concept behind the game was that it was not going to be about scoring based on kills," Berry told LiveScience. "We wanted it to represent Army values and career options."
Gamers can undergo virtual Army training around barracks and shooting ranges, as well as fight in teams against opposing players in online multiplayer combat. Players who faithfully complete tasks, such as medic training, even get perks in multiplayer games, such as being able to revive wounded comrades during online battles.
The game does have some quirks that reveal how tricky it is to reproduce combat realities on an imaginary platform. In online games, players always view themselves as U.S. Army soldiers and see the opposing team of players as a fictional enemy. By contrast, an upcoming commercial game "Medal of Honor" allows players to fight one another as either U.S. Army or as the Taliban insurgents of Afghanistan.
Killing in "America's Army" also represents a fairly clean affair compared with the bloodier kills of "Modern Warfare 2." That allowed the game to earn a "T for teen" rating, as part of its recruitment tool value.
"We wanted kids to be able to start playing at 13," Berry explained. "If they haven't thought about the Army by the time they get to 17, it's probably not something they'll do."
Boot camp 2.0
The recruitment of young gamers has forced some changes in military training. Earlier this year, the Army announced that it would reshape basic training to accommodate a new generation of tech-savvy recruits who may have more gaming skills than physical fitness.
On the upside, specialized games and simulators have become cheap and effective virtual training grounds that supplement the usual physical drills.
The Army trains its soldiers on game-like simulations such as "Virtual Battlespace 2" or even noncommercial versions of "America's Army." Training versions of "America's Army" can integrate real military weapons or hardware with the game software, so soldiers can physically hold the launch tube of a Javelin antitank missile and practice firing it in a virtual setting.
By the time soldiers get to the live fire exercises with weapons, many are already fairly proficient from having trained on the simulators, Berry said.
The most futuristic example of game-like training comes from Raytheon, a giant in the defense industry, and Motion Reality, the company responsible for the 3-D technology behind the Hollywood blockbuster "Avatar."
The two companies developed a free-roaming simulator called VIRTSIM, which allows participants wearing full gear and virtual reality goggles to physically fight their way through a virtual setting. The participants can toss physical objects such as mock grenades that explode in the virtual setting, and even experience a low-level Taser-style shock when a virtual enemy manages to shoot them.
Preparing the mind for war
Such virtual training may go beyond training military recruits to operate weapons, spot roadside bombs, or clear rooms of enemies. It could also protect them from the mental horrors of war, according to Albert "Skip" Rizzo, a University of Southern California psychologist.
With funding from the U.S. military, Rizzo's team in the virtual reality lab at USC's Institute for Creative Technologies wants to prepare military recruits for mental trauma before they are ever deployed overseas. It is developing virtual re-creations based on the stories told by returning veterans.
"What we want to create is something that pulls at the hearts of people," Rizzo said. "Maybe there's a child lying there with the arms blown off, screaming and crying. Maybe your action kills an innocent civilian, or you see a guy next to you get shot in the eye with blood spurting out of his face."
At the most upsetting moment, the simulation would freeze and allow a virtual character to come out and walk the player through the situation. That character might look like a gunnery sergeant, a Buddhist monk, even a former schoolteacher - whatever helps the recruit think calmly after experiencing the virtual trauma.
"The rationale is you want to teach people this stuff when they're in a state of arousal so that they're more likely to access that learning when they're in a similar state" in real life, Rizzo said.
Such stress-resilience training, or emotional coping, has existed in U.S. military training for a couple of years. But there's a limit to how much time new recruits can spend in workshops or in the re-creation of an Iraqi village at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in Southern California. A virtual simulation or game could allow more recruits to train themselves in stress resilience during the many months leading up to actual combat.
Less is more for veterans
Ideally, the preparation would help prevent future cases of PTSD among veterans. As many as 20 percent of returning military personnel may suffer from the disorder or from major depression, according to a 2008 study by the RAND Corp.
For veterans with PTSD, even poor graphics in virtual reality simulators can trigger powerful memories. Psychologists have found that a crude visual representation allows the mind of the patient to fill in the details based on personal experience (similar to the notion popularized in the Hollywood blockbuster "Inception").
"If you leave it a little bit open, then you have more space for the patient's own imagination and their own insertion of experiences in the world," Rizzo said.
When Vietnam War veterans took part in virtual reality therapy for PTSD during the late 1990s, the simulation graphics "sucked," according to Rizzo.
Even so, "when the patients got out of the [virtual] copter, a couple of them were describing Vietcong shooting from the jungle and water buffaloes in the rice paddies. None of that was in the simulation - they had blended in their own experiences."
Rizzo hopes that the new stress-resilience training can trump the need for PTSD therapy and allow future military veterans to return to civilian life with fewer nightmares. He wants to convey a sense of reality closer to certain war films, such as "Platoon" or "Saving Private Ryan," rather than the films he watched as a kid, in which combat appeared as a sanitized black-and-white struggle.
"We're training people to cope with the jobs they've been asked to perform and come back intact," Rizzo said. "Nobody goes to war and comes back the same, but when they return, are they capable of holding a job and loving their wife and kids? That's what our aim is, to make the return home as smooth as possible."
Blurring the lines
Before that can happen, Rizzo and his colleagues must figure out how to strike a balance in the realism of their simulations. Too polished a presentation may lull recruits into thinking of the simulation as just another commercial game such as "Modern Warfare 2," where death only has the consequence of making players wait to reappear in the next match.
"We don't want it to look like a game [recruits] have already played and become habituated to," Rizzo said.
Brookings Institute defense expert, Singer wondered if militainment could also lead to a growing sense of detachment among military recruits during actual combat. He spoke with military officers who observed as much about some of the latest recruits.
"This might be the essence of this new era of militainment: a greater fidelity to detail, but perhaps a greater distortion in the end," Singer wrote in his Foreign Policy article.
That distortion could become magnified among the majority of gamers playing "America's Army" or "Modern Warfare 2," who only experience warfare as what appears on their computer and television screens. Few will end up deploying overseas to experience the reality of war in places such as Afghanistan for themselves, according to Singer.
"This is especially the case as you have now almost two generations (X and Millennials) for whom the draft is just some paper card you get when you are 18 and never ever hear about again," Singer said in an e-mail. "It completely changes the way they think about war."
The militainment trend also takes place during a time when those killed in the wear rarely show up in U.S. news, and only arrive home as flag-draped coffins. As a result, most gamers may only ever see the casualties of modern wars as pixels on a screen - there one moment, gone the next.
* The 10 Most Outrageous Military Experiments
* Video Gamers Can Control Dreams, Study Suggests
* 10 Technologies That Will Transform Your Life
* Original Story: For the U.S. Military, Video Games Get Serious
LiveScience.com chronicles the daily advances and innovations made in science and technology. We take on the misconceptions that often pop up around scientific discoveries and deliver short, provocative explanations with a certain wit and style. Check out our science videos, Trivia & Quizzes and Top 10s. Join our community to debate hot-button issues like stem cells, climate change and evolution. You can also sign up for free newsletters, register for RSS feeds and get cool gadgets at the LiveScience Store.
by Mike Smith
Pop quiz: what does a plummeting Death Star stormtrooper in the original Star Wars, a defeated Nazi in Raiders of the Lost Ark, a dive-bombed hunter in Howard the Duck, and a fallen cowboy in 2010 hit video game Red Dead Redemption have in common?
Movie buffs will know the answer, but the rest of us may have to listen more closely: they all utter the same scream as they perish.
The famous sound-effect is called the Wilhelm scream -- named after one of the first characters to use it on screen -- and it’s become a favorite in-joke of sound directors and film fans.
Originally created for 1951 western “Distant Drums,” the distinctive scream was uttered by a soldier after being bitten by a crocodile. Its next appearance -- hollered by a character named “Private Wilhelm” in 1953 cowboys-and-Indians flick “The Charge at Feather River” -- gave it its name. From there, it found its way into a stock sound effects library used by Warner Bros. and was soon featured in many more movies during the 50s.
But it wasn’t until the late 1970s that the Wilhelm would rise to prominence, thanks largely to the efforts of Ben Burtt, the celebrated sound designer behind many of Star Wars’ iconic audio effects. Burtt liked the sound so much, he used it in many movies during the late 70s and 80s, including the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones films. Other soundmen followed suit, and you’ll be able to spot it in a seriously diverse set of movies, like Toy Story, Gremlins II, Reservoir Dogs, and even The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
In Red Dead Redemption, it turns up all over the place -- usually as you shoot an opponent off his horse. Here’s an example that takes place during the mission “We Shall Be Together in Paradise,” as the game’s lead, John Marston, is fighting his way along the San Luis river, picking off attackers that line the south bank.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
by Mike Smith
Giving your product away for free may not seem the most promising of business plans, but it’s an option that’s proving increasingly attractive to publishers of massively multiplayer online games. The latest online world to ditch fees, once-proud Everquest II, bears one of the most famous names in the genre, but it’s far from the only game to go free in the last year.
It’s easy to see why. Monthly fees (typically around $12-15) add up: a World of Warcraft fan who’s been playing the game since its 2004 launch will likely have sunk around a thousand dollars into their habit. While that’s probably good value in sheer bucks-per-hour terms, some players are seeking lower-cost alternatives as their wallets feel the squeeze, and the market is answering.
Everquest II joins a slate of recent MMOs to cast off its subscription fees. Lord of the Rings Online, a resounding hit with critics, plans to go free later in the year. Dungeons & Dragons: Online, after a disappointing debut, switched to a free model last September. And a growing number of recent and upcoming MMOs -- like Sony’s kid-friendly Free Realms -- are free from day one.
It’s also a trail that’s been amply blazed in the past: take Guild Wars, the first “major” online world to be released without subscription fees, and a massive success with critics and players. But even here, its publisher NCSoft had a plan to keep money rolling in: a series of regular expansion packs, priced around $30, added much new content to the game. Fans bought over six million copies of Guild Wars and its various expansions, and a sequel is expected sometime before the end of next year. Even rudimentary-looking, indie-developed Runescape hauled in enough cash to propel its creators onto the London Times Rich List.
But just how free are free MMOs? In Everquest 2’s case -- as with most MMOs that adopt a free model -- there’s a not inconsiderable list of ifs and buts. Free players won’t get access to newer game areas, for example, and they’ll only have access to a subset of the game’s races and classes. There’s a complex set of limitations that will likely leave committed players with no real option but to keep on paying.
Others do better, like D&D: Online, which charges small, optional “microtransactions” to let players buy premium items or unlock quests early. Players can never pay a dime and still get access to the same content: it’ll just take them longer. But even D&D Online still offers a subscription plan, and paying customers can expect priority logins, better customer service, and a host of other bundled fringe benefits. It’s still the same story: if you want the best out of the game, you’re going to end up paying for it.
Which, of course, isn’t much of a shock. The expensive server farms that are the throbbing heart of online worlds don’t run on sunshine and rainbows, and customer support reps don’t work for free. (Just ask Electronic Arts, which was sued in 2000 over its use of unpaid support staff in its pioneering MMO Ultima Online.)
Go in with appropriate expectations, though, and you’ll likely find good deals. Use free versions of MMOs to get your feet wet in the game’s world (and get to know its players) before you decide to lay down money on a subscription plan. Or use pre-paid cards (available at everywhere from game stores to gas stations) to manage your microtransaction spending. And if you’re really looking for World of Warcraft levels of polish and finesse, expect to wind up paying World of Warcraft-level prices.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)