Image by: Andy Tul
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League of Legends
The Top 20 PC Game of All-Time Gigabyte
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Image by: Connor Kordes
Image by: Evan-Amos
Give a Look to the Chromebook
Look Towards League Pg.10
Pg.6
The 5 Best Games You’ve Never Heard of Pg. 16
The Evolution of Gaming
Pg.24
The Living Dead: A True Threat Pg. 22
Game Changing:
Getting More from the App Store Pg.18
The Progression of Pokemon Pg.30
Next Generation Consoles Pg. 28
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Image by: Gamefreak (Pokemon Company)
Be the ENVY of your friends
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Dear Readers, We appreciate that you have chosen to read our magazine. The staff had a lot of fun making this edition of Gigabyte and we hope that you have just as much fun reading it. We hope to enthrall you with our engaging stories about the latest games and technology. Informing readers like you about new technologies drives us to keep working. We have put many hours of work into this magazine for you to enjoy, and continue to read Gigabyte in the future. Sincerely,
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the Editors
Nathan Humphreys Lucas
has played many PC games in the past. The main games were Wizard 101, Runescape and Minecraft. Now, Nathan plays League of Legends and enjoys every minute spent playing it. Nathan loves eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pears, and Goldfish, while hard at work. Nathan attends the Liberal Arts and Science Academy and he runs cross country, and runs on Lacrosse and Ultimate Frisbee.
Will Goodwin, a student at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy,
has had a fairly short history of gaming. He mainly plays First Person Shooter games such as Call of Duty or Battlefield. Will Goodwin has also enjoys playing RPGs such as Skyrim. Will Goodwin currently plays Ultimate Frisbee and plays the Alto Saxophone in the LBJ marching band. Will can often be seen eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Pringles througout the E-Zine classroom.
Connor Kordes thoroughly enjoys modern video games. He
currently plays games such as Call of Duty, Fifa 13, Halo 4, and Gears of War 3. Connor thinks that the Xbox would clearly and obviously beat the PS3 in a head-on competition. Besides video games, Connor loves to play soccer. He also loves to hang out with friends at LASA, and eating other group members’ peanut butter and jelly sandwiches without their consent.
Sam Beckett
recognizes the obvious superiority of the PS3 over the Xbox. His favorite games include Mass Effect, Bioshock, and Dishonored, and he avidly participates in the online gaming community. When not gaming, Sam usually hangs out with friends or rows at the Texas Rowing Center. Sam loves procrastinating on all of his work at LASA and does everything last minute. Sam also thinks himself very stealthy when stealing other group members’ Doritos.
All Images by: Gigabyte
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by William Goodwin ‘What is the Chromebook? What makes it different from any other laptops? Why should I buy this one over a Mac?’ This list should help you decide if the Chromebook is right for you.
• The Chromebook constantly updates itself so you’ll never have a problem with old software • For a high quality laptop, the Chromebook offers a cheap alternative to a Mac or Windows laptop • Compared to other laptops that can only last 3-4 hours without charging, the Chromebook tends to last an entire workday without plugging in (lasting 6-8 hours) • Unlike most laptops that weigh 8 or 10 lbs, the Chromebook weighs only slightly more than a netbook, at about 3 lbs.
• The Chromebook can boot-up and start running programs in seconds. • For on-the-go use, the Chromebook offers a data plan with Verizon. • Buying the Chromebook Pixel (one of the higher end Chromebooks at $1,299) gives the user one terabyte of data in the cloud for three years (a value of $1799.49)
WHAT THE ARE SAYING “The $249 Samsung Chromebook is a no-brainer...”
-Mark Spoonauer of Laptop Magazine
“Overall, the Samsung Chromebook is a solid device for the price...” -Sarah Tew of CNET 6
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“...the Wi-Fi-only Samsung Chromebook is worth buying for anyone who wants a cheap, functional laptop that’s also light and responsive.” -Tim Simonite of MIT Technology Reviews
• The Chromebook lacks a large amount of data that it can store on its hard drive because it stores most data in the Cloud. • Different models of the Chromebook have differing amounts of ports, but none of the models have more than two, which creates problems for some consumers. • Unlike most laptops and computers, the Chromebook does not have a conventional operating system. You cannot download programs onto it, which many consumers have
lots of trouble dealing with. However, these programs have many alternatives online, for example, you can find many word processors online if the consumer does not like Google Docs. • Some people find the Chromebook difficult to use because they do not have the same accessibility when they cannot use the internet. However, on new versions of the Chromebook, Google has developed better offline modes that users can use, but people tend to not like it because they cannot do things that you would be able to do on a conventional laptop, like watch movies via DVD, or play games.
Image by: Google
“...ultimately consumers might prefer to use “There is no market for a tablet for the same type of functions — and the Pixel.” get better hardware for a similar price point.” -Farhad Manjoo of -Ron Miller a freelance journalist
“Everyone should want a Chromebook Pixel — I certainly do. But almost no one should buy one.” -David Pierce of The Verge magazine
Slate magazine
Sources: “Going deep with Google Chromebook Pictures, Review, Pros and Cons.” Rodingo.com. Sheer, Julia. Oct. 2012. “Google’s Chromebook: The Great and the Not So Great for Your Business.” Entrepenuer. Ray, Ramon. Aug. 2011.
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Look towards
League by Nathan Humphreys Lucas
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[The] basic idea [of League of Legends] is to get an early lead, lose it mid game, devolve into screaming and shouting, then lose and swear you will never play the stupid game ever again. Then repeat the cycle.� Fox Pulliam said about the general gameplay of the League of Legends, a game made by Riot. Pulliam, the captain of a League of Legends team, started playing League of Legends a year ago and has not stopped playing since. League of Legends, a Multiplayer Online Battle Game played by millions, faces players against each other in either a 3v3 or 5v5 battle located on the Fields of Justice, the place where League of Legends is set. Each player picks a champion to fight with and when the game starts,
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allied minions start spawning to help fight with the champions. A team has won the game when they destroy the opposing team’s Nexus, or base. Many intermediate players have called this simple game surprisingly fun, and they say it will attract a beginning player immediately. “I got hooked from my first game because I just loved the thrill,” James Asghar said when talking about his first time playing League of Legends, “I think I played the game for four days straight with less than four hours of sleep.” When starting out in a League of Legends game, there are three lanes, the top, mid, and bot lane. Each of these lanes houses a certain class of champions specifically designed for their lane, called laners. A maze of ill-lighted trees and grass grow in between lanes which players call the jungle. The jungle houses an allied jungler, an enemy jungler and monsters. Monsters lie scattered
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around the jungle and give the jungler buffs when killed. Buffs, a way of improving a champion’s stats, help the jungler attack opposing
“League is all about making the players on the other team so frustrated they either rage quit or uninstall,“ said Pulliam. laners and give allied champions an edge over the other team’s laners. When the jungler has collected enough buffs to start to help the laner’s, the jungler and laner will start to push their lane. Pushing a lane means to slowly work your way toward the other team’s nexus and destroy the other team’s towers and
minions to get there. When your team reaches the other team’s side, the main goal is to destroy the enemy inhibitor, which will allow your side to spawn super minions. Super minions deal more damage and have more health than normal minions, and help to make the final push to destroy the nexus. Once you destroy the nexus, the game ends. “League is all about making the players on the other team so frustrated they either rage quit or uninstall,” Pulliam said. When a beginning player first joins League of Legends, they will start out with 400 IP, or influence points and 400 RP, or riot points. IP, the currency that you get for free by playing games, can help you buy many items, where as RP, the currency bought with real money, makes buying these items easier. New players have a huge option of items to buy with their starting money, however, saving up is the best option because they will have access to buy the better items, which cost more. “[A beginning player] ought to take [their] IP and save it up real nice, because all the prettier champions cost more. Or they can blow it on Zilean as soon as possible and lose every game.” Pulliam said. The beginning player will also start out with ten champions that cycle out each week. Riot calls these champions free-to-play champions and they let new players try out different positions and strategies that will entice the player to spend their IP or RP. When the new player starts to play games, he or she will start to level up and once the player reaches level thirty, they will be able to play ranked games. There are many tips for beginning players online that beginners read to better understand the game, such as reignofgaming. net or surrenderat20.net, two blogs that are commonly used by League of Legend players.
“Basic tips are to ignore pings, don’t look at the minimap, rage at your teammates, and blame everything on everyone else, because you are level 5 and are MLG,” Pulliam said. However, a new player may want to learn the rules before breaking them. This will help the new player become a better player and a smarter player according to many League of Legends players. “Learn the game before thinking about [ranking], win some, lose some, understand how the game feels,” Asghar said. When playing League of Legends, the team aspect of the game is inescapable, whether playing against AI’s or other players, teams will help anybody win. Teams can help carry out strategies and make the game much harder for the enemy. “Being in a team is loads more fun than not being in one. Pretty much because of the fact that when playing by yourself, it can be boring not being able to talk to others. Being on a team allows more communication and the ability to strategize and such,” said Asghar. People communicating helps improve the gameplay of League of Legends. Whether on a Skype call or a conference call with all your friends, talking to your team can help a lot when trying to out-strategize the opposing team. Sometimes a player will not know who they play with, and they will have to communicate with a complete stranger. “LoL boasts a vibrant community of helpful players who offer such insightful comments as ‘Noob’ and ‘l2p.’ Any mistake you make is quickly forgiven and forgotten, and you may make many lasting friends as you level up and meet more people.” said Pulliam when talking about the communication between two strangers. When you do join a team, talking to a stranger about strategies will
become a rare occurrence. However, League of Legends still has a huge communication aspect of it, and most teams will use Skype to talk about strategies and coordinate attacks on the adversaries. “Communication-wise, we win
every game where my Skype isn’t trolling me and I can lead my team to victory with my voice. When Skype is broken, everyone falls into a panic and we lose because my soothing voice isn’t there to comfort the scrubs.” Pulliam said.
Iona Island: The birthplace of many champions with spiritual powers.
Image by: leagueoflegends.wikia.com
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At the beginning of each game, the player will choose a champion that they have bought to fight with on the arena. Champions have pros and cons that will help and hurt your team in a variety of different ways and each team can only have one of each champion on their team, so picking champions can become a strategy. “I play all champions everywhere because I can. I don’t pick favorites because every champion is beautiful in their own way,” Pulliam said, “The pros of playing everyone is that I can counter pick, first pick, or counter counter pick their counter to a pick we chose first to counter them.” Champions define a player by who they are, and so the players often come to pick a favorite or favorites. “Lee Sin and Zed are my favorite top lane, because their snowball is ridiculous and [they] can carry insanely hard. They also can perform a lot of roles in teamfights and games. Jarvan and Hecarim are my go to junglers because of their insane teamfight presence. Ezreal is my favorite ad carry (champions that deal damage through basic attacks) because of his blink and unique kit,” said Anthony Clemens, an avid
League of Legends player. However, like all champions, these favorites have their downsides. “With Lee Sin, it’s easy to get behind and not be of much use for your team. Zed doesn’t really have any cons that come to mind. Jarvan and Hecarim are just super swag,” said Clemens. Along with having favorite champions, each player might have a favorite strategy. Strategies improve the way that teams win a game, and
Every single game has differences, with the chances of two games having the same champions and the same items a 1 in 10,240,366,730 chance. help each player have a role in the game. There are basic strategies that everybody plays with, and then there are more interesting ones that people make up to fit with the team’s skill set.
Rengar Headhunter: Often used as an asassin, he has very low defense.
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“The ideal team strategy is to focus the ad carry. [They] dish out the most damage on the team but also have the least amount of heath and defense on the team. It is the role of the support and sometimes the jungler or top lane to protect him or her. Positioning is also a big deal. Both of the ad carries are trying to stay behind the front line so it’s hard for the other team to get to them,” said Clemens about the basic strategies inside a League of Legends game. The made-up strategies usually have the most effect, mainly because not many people have a counter strategy to defend from rarely seen plans. “The first would be a strategy we call ‘Balls Deep’, it’s basically a 5 man rush for the Nexus at level 1. The second is where we get our support fed and send him in for the 1v5 pentakill while the rest of us don’t buy wards and fight for jungle camps,” Pulliam said. League of Legends hooks players from the very beginning of the game and keeps them hooked. Every single game has differences, with the chances of two games having the same champions and the same items a one in 10,240,366,730 chance. The competitive scene in League of Legends keeps the game fun and Riot also releases new champions every couple of weeks. League of Legends, an Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game made by Riot, a game that millions of people play. League of Legends has many features inside the game that hook players and keep the game fun, such as a helpful community, and addictive gameplay with minimal lag. League of Legends also offers many interesting choices when choosing a champion to play as, and Riot offers new champions every week. So when looking for a new past time, look at League of Legends.
Lee Sin: He is often used as a jungler with lots of melee power.
Image by: leagueoflegends.wikia.com
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’ by Samuel Beckett Gamers that play such mainstream games as Call of Duty or Halo often miss out on lesser-known games that never come into the popular spotlight. However, that’s not to say that these games are any worse than well-known ones; they simply haven’t developed the fame and following of other games. In this article, we will list and review what we consider to be the five best games you’ve never heard of.
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10000000 (10 Million)
10000000 is a sidescroller dungeon run game originally released for iOS and Android, and recently released for the PC and Mac. Its gameplay mashes together two very different gaming genres—the cascading-tile puzzle and the dungeon crawl—and tosses in the old-school, eight-bit-graphics look of a 1980s arcade game. The name refers to the number of points you’re aiming to accumulate, which you do by guiding your blowwcky little character through a dungeon that scrolls across the screen. Overall, 10000000 is a charming and original game that we just couldn’t put down. But it isn’t the originality of the concept that made this one of our favorite games of the year; it’s the wholehearted embrace of old-fashioned simplicity in design and execution.
Don’t Starve
Don’t Starve is an upcoming survival / exploration game. You play as Wilson, an intrepid Gentleman Scientist who has been trapped by a demon and transported to a mysterious wilderness world. Wilson must learn to exploit his environment and its inhabitants, while constantly ensuring he does not starve, if he ever hopes to escape and find his way back home. Unique in the way it emphasizes finding food and staying sane, Don’t Starve’s Minecraft-esque freedom and wonderfully dark humor makes it a great addition to the list.
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Bastion
Bastion is an action role-playing experience that redefines storytelling in games, with a reactive narrator who marks your every move. You play as ‘the Kid’ as you pass through the game’s lush hand-painted environments and discover the secrets of the Calamity, a surreal catastrophe that shattered the world to pieces. With a huge arsenal of upgradeable weapons and tools, combat is never boring. Bastion’s critically-acclaimed original music score and hours of reactive narration deliver a deep story, and its actionpacked combat rewards playing with finesse. Playing Bastion feels almost like reading an enthralling book; you just can’t put it down.
Little Inferno
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Little Inferno is available on PC, Wii U, and devices including iPad. Despite its title, Little Inferno doesn’t want to encourage children to play with fire. Rather, it’s a message about the value of your time and the size of the big, wide world, especially juxtaposed against the size of the tiny, glowing screen that you stare at while playing the game. The majority of the game takes place in front of the Little Inferno Entertainment Fireplace, where it’s your job to throw things in and set them on fire. Flammable objects can be purchased from one of seven themed catalogs using coins, and burning said objects yields more coins. Buy more stuff to unlock more stuff, burn stuff, repeat. “But you can’t do that forever,” the game assures players. “There’s bound to be an end!”The characters in Little Inferno encourage you to just keep burning things. They warn of a cold, hard world outside. “Just make a nice fire and stay warm in the glow of your high definition entertainment product,” reads a letter from Miss Nancy, the fictional CEO of Tomorrow Corporation, creators of the Little Inferno Entertainment Fireplace. Its use of irony, that you are an idiot for playing the game, but you’re still having fun, makes Little Inferno one of our favorite games of all time.
Thief: The Dark Project 1
Thief: The Dark Project takes place from a firstperson perspective in a remarkably well animated 3D environment. You play as Garrett, a talented young thief looking to utilize his skills to get rich. Thief ’s gameplay emphasizes evasion over confrontation, and the player has limited combat proficiency and damage resistance. Shadows can be used to avoid notice; a monitor on the HUD indicates Garrett’s visibility level. Garrett can lean, crouch, climb, swim and run, among other actions. Surfaces cause varying amounts of noise; for example, carpet is quiet and ceramic tiles are very loud. The player receives information about NPC”s through sound, such as the surface on which they are walking,
their proximity and suspicion level. The player may use sound, such as a thrown object, to distract NPCs. Each of the game’s 12 levels has objectives, such as the theft of a specific item, that must be completed before another level is reached. The game’s three difficulty settings alter objectives, paths through the level, and other aspects.Levels are largely unscripted, and allow for emergent gameplay. The clever and unique “first-person sneaker” aspect of the game makes it feel new, even if it was made over a decade ago. Although it may be old, Thief definitely remains as one of the best least-known games out there.
Images by: “10000000 Review A New Game Experience Hidden Behind A Name Mac, IOS, and App News At AppleNApps.” IPhone AppGame Reviews IPad AppGame Reviews Apple Mac IOS and App News At AppleNApps RSS. 22 Mar. 2013 Imgur “Bastion.” Adrift. 22 Mar. 2013. “Psuedo Review: Little Inferno.” Procedurally Generated. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. “Thief: The Dark Project Game.” Mod DB. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.
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Image by: Will Goodwin
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Getting More from the App Store by Will
Goodwin
R
obin Wauters of TechCrunch magazine predicted the app market will be worth $25 billion dollars by 2015. From its previous value of $6.8 billion in 2010 this growth is staggering. But not all app developers succeed. “The dirty little secret of App development,” John Webb says, Principal Developer, Logic Labs, “is that almost 60% of all apps don’t break even (cost vs earnings).” The number of people with smartphones in the U.S. continues to grow 225 million people having smartphones. And nearly all of the 225 million people use apps on their phones. Becoming an app developer is looking like more and more of an appealing option. But what does it take to become a successful app developer?
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Image by: John Webb
Apple XCode, a dev environment, simulating the game Canabalt on a Mac.
“The idea is the biggest factor that will distinguish your app from the millions of others,” said Neil Patil,an app developer in the making at LASA High School. “There are about 700,000 other apps out there, so you have to develop something that is unique, solves a problem, and solves said problem well.” To solve a problem, the idea must be thought out and planned well. “Half the battle is finding an idea to implement and figuring out how you will implement it,” Neil Patil says,. “Then you must publish it. That’s quite easy.” Many apps try to make it big, but few do. These app developers have often thought of something no one has thought of before. But to truly make it successful, the app they developed utilizes technology that no one has seen before. An example of apps like this are SoundHound and Shazam. These apps have a complex algorithm that help them a identify a song playing, and because of the
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complicated coding few apps could compete. “Because the technology was so complicated and many aspects of it [Shazam] were patented, it made/ makes it very difficult for competitors to copy the functionality,” Webb says. “The two apps [Shazam and SoundHound], because of the advanced apps technology and patent protections essentially own this niche.” Creating an app that quickly goes viral but doesn’t have any new technology enables many app developers to easily copy your app with slight differences. Webb says this closes the market for your new app very quickly. “...let’s say you developed a simple app, a game, that uses no special technology. Say you were the first app developer to create a Tic-Tac-Toe game. If you started showing success, it would be extremely easy for other developers to copy what you did. And you’d have no way to stop them,” Webb says. “Within a short period of time,
your game might be just one of 100 Tic-Tac-Toe games in the App Store. Once you have the idea for the app, you must plan accordingly on how you should go about creating it. You should think about how long it takes to make certain parts and features of each app. To help keep up with your planning, one should make “checkpoints” so you know how far you are along on your app and if you misestimated how long it will take to make your app. Now that you have your idea on what your app should be, what do you need? “To make an app, all you need is a decent computer, a phone, and your brain,” Patil says, “That’s what’s so awesome about software. That’s why I love programming.” To develop on Android phones, a software development environment recommended by Webb is Android SDK, and for Apple, Apple XCode. Apple XCode has many features such as the ability to drag graphics into the
source code and it proofreads your work as you type. “Next to good thorough planning, the next most important aspect [of an app] is testing,” Webb says. “Nothing will earn you a bad review or lose you customer confidence quicker than having a poorly tested app that flakes out. It’s hard to recover from a bad first impression in the App market.” When testing an app you want to make sure all functions work as planned in the app. Testing must be done on many different levels. Testing can be done on the unit level, which means the developer tests each individual strand of code or each feature of the app. Testing the app on the entire system requires using the app in its entirety, using all features and functions of the app and making sure they all run smoothly. And finally, if your app uses external resources, such as websites, servers, and databases, you must integrate it and test it again.
“
app developers perform Beta Testing. To do Beta Testing one can just give trials of the apps to friends or family and let them run it. Beta Testing allows you to see how people react with the app, you can see how people navigate the app, or since they aren’t familiar with the app they could try stuff one never thought of testing, a tester might try to click on something at a time unreasonable, to the developer, and this might result in a bug or the app to crash. “This [Beta Testing] allows [for] a far more realistic testing environment,” Webb says. Now the developer can publish the app on the Apple Store or Google Play. Most people would think that it stops there, but apps need constant updates so they can stay in competition against other developers and so they can work on new hardware and software. However if you think that just making apps will make you rich quick you will probably have tough luck.
To make an app, all you need is a decent computer, a phone, and your brain. That’s what’s so awesome about software. That’s why I love programming.
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- Neil Patil
“It’s also a good idea to test Apps on all previous versions of hardware and software,” says Webb, “because not everyone has the latest, greatest iPhone/iPad.” Testing must be done on multiple hardwares, but varying softwares as well. This might contribute to more testing but means that the app should be able to run on the iPhone 4 running both IOS 4 and 5. After testing on your phone, most
associate writer at Ars Technica. Large companies with large budgets in the market creates difficult competition for small app developers who have a lot of trouble ever getting there app noticed with the dominating companies. “It used to be easier to get away without spending any money on marketing, but now it’s quite hard to make a dent in the market without that,” said Pat McCarron, a developer at Stand Alone Apps, in that same article. With small app developers not able to fund for advertising or marketing, some find it impossible to make it big in the lottery that was once the App Store. Developers can contract themselves out to develop apps for companies that actually need an app for their work, guaranteeing an immediate profit. “It’s no secret that the money in the App Store is the contracts writing the apps, not in selling the apps themselves,” a Mac programmer Jonathan Rentzsh said. Large companies with big budgets are leaving small app developers behind as the App market continues to grow. App developers have to find new ways to stand out from the crowd in the market or some have started working with companies to make money. Apple and Android might eventually find a way to even the odds of the lottery in the rapidly evolving App market.
“The App Store is very much like the lottery, and very few companies are topping the charts,” Paul Kafasis from Rogue Amoeba told Ars Technica in a 2012 article. “It’s a hit-based business. Much like music or book sales, their are a few huge winners, a bigger handful of minor successes, and a whole lot of failures.” Nearly 80% of developers can’t sustain a business just developing apps, according to Chris Foresman, an
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The Living Dead: by Nathan Humphreys Lucas
Are you a HARDCORE survivalist? Or just a cautious, well-prepared soul? Either way, look below for tips on how to survive an apocalypse with brain-hungry neighbors.
When preparing for a zombie apocalypse, everyone needs to think of food. Having canned, non perishable foods in the first few days of the apocalypse gives an advantage over others. These items can go years without spoiling and do not break easily, just remember to bring a can opener. However, canned food will disappear eventually, so make sure to pack gardening tools, including seeds and a gardening book. When thinking of what to grow, potatoes succeed better than many other plants. These vegetables have the most calories per pound and can grow almost anywhere in the United States.
Food
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A True Threat Everyone needs water for survival. However, water does not always come without microbes. To clean water of pathogens, pack Clorox or other bleach. Only eight drops of bleach can clean a gallon of water. If the water has dirt or other solids inside of it, run the water through a t-shirt or coffee filter.
Water
Supplies
From guns to duck tape, supplies will aid with survival and help kill zombies. Guns will prove useful when quickly trying to get out of a situation, but large melee weapons do not attract any zombies, so use melee whenever possible. However, other supplies will become necessary if injured. Antibiotics, bandages and even simple band-aids become appreciated when needed. Since the apocalypse will have no electricity, all electronic devices should run on hand-cranks, including lamps, walkie-talkies and any other item that might make survival easier. One can imagine many other useful supplies, but when picking gear, consider the weight and the type of transportation available.
When surviving a zombie apocalypse, shelter helps ease the threat of a hungry zombie. Whether a broken down house or a nuclear bunker, shelter will protect from the hordes of zombies. The most preferable shelter goes partially underground, well barricaded with little or no windows and has sufficient provisions. To avoid the largest hordes of zombie, pick a shelter farthest away from large cities and living areas, because the more people, the more zombies.
Shelter
Finally, good luck, because you will need it
“Apocalypse Now: The Gear You Need to Survive Doomsday.” LifesLittleMysteries.com. Hadhazy, Adam. May 2011. “How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse.” Forevergeek.com. Parrish, Robin.Oct. 2011. Images by: Nathan Humphreys Lucas
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by Sam Beckett
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alf a century ago, home video gaming was still in its infancy and video games consisted of simple dots and basic AI. But today, video game consoles have evolved in a number of ways, and not only offer the ability to play sophisticated games, but also to stream media and browse the internet. “When the Atari 2600 came out and I got one for Christmas, it blew my mind,” says Tim Harrison, a gamer who remembers the birth of home console gaming. “I didn’t have to go to the arcade, I could play games in my house. It was amazing!” When the Magnavox Odyssey came out in 1972, it opened the floodgates for the development of home video game consoles from around the world. Magnavox itself developed many new iterations of the Odyssey, and the fledgling company Atari released a console based on its hit game Pong. A decade later, in the years following the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System by Japan-based company Nintendo, home video gaming was advancing faster than ever. Nintendo’s rival SEGA pioneered the field of online console gaming in 1998 with the Dreamcast, and the early
As the world of video games continues to evolve, we take a look back at popular consoles and video games that helped make Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft the giants that they are today
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2000’s saw the release of Sony’s Playstation 2, Nintendo’s GameCube, and Microsoft’s Xbox, all of which were huge hits.
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Whether you’re streaming your own content from your computer or watching Netflix, you’re probably going to do it on a console if you’re into gaming. - Tim Harrison
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These three companies would go on to be the big players in the next generation of consoles, those that we have today; the Playstation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360. But the power of today’s consoles over those of the 20th century is not just their massively superior graphics and enhanced gameplay, but their ability to stream media and browse the web. “Consoles have evolved to be not just gaming machines,
but media machines,” says Harrison. “Whether you’re streaming your own content from your computer or watching Netflix, you’re probably going to do it on a console if you’re into gaming.” Of course, video games have changed, too. Gamers are no longer satisfied with a ball that bounces back and forth across the screen. Games must offer something deeper. “Video games have evolved in terms of graphics, definitely,” says Harrison. “But story is now a major factor, much more so than when I was younger. If a video game has a weak story, it’s more than likely not going to be a hit in the modern market.” While many games today boast stunning life-like graphics, the simplicity and beauty of low-bit graphics have persevered into the digital age. Minecraft, by Swedish indie game developer Mojang, was made only two years ago, but its 16-bit textures would normally be considered primitive by today’s standards. Even so, IGN called its “blocky” graphics “instantly memorable”. And as games’ graphics evolved, so too did their stories. The original Legend of Zelda for the NES was a breakaway from the conventional arcade-style side scroller, and
immediately gained popularity for its immersive (at the time) story. But gamers themselves have also evolved. In the early days, gaming was for young kids, and video gaming was never taken seriously as a hobby. Gaming wasn’t a culture like it is today. “I think the modern gamer is probably a little older than the average gamer in my day,” says Harrison. “Gaming isn’t for kids anymore. Kids (like me) grew up with it and it was just another form of entertainment. I think the modern gamer probably expects a lot more than I did when I was a kid.” And though gaming consoles, video games, and gamers themselves have changed over the past 50 years, the fundamentals that make playing video games fun have not. The Atari generation and ours both know the joy that comes from completing a game, and the connection that we feel with the characters. “Even though gaming has changed drastically over the years,” notes Harrison. “When you get right down to it, we all just really want to run and around and shoot stuff or drive really fast or rescue princesses (who are probably in another castle).”
Image by: Online Education
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consoles
As time has gone by it seems that we have hit a buffer in the creation of new consoles. One of the best consoles in the market is the Xbox 360, building on only slight improvements since its release on 2005. Along with this console, the Playstation 3, only added upon itself slight improvements since 2006, when it was first released. These slight improvements included more memory a sleeker appearance. This brings us to the question: When are they going to make the next big leap with these consoles, and what are they expected to be?
OLD
XBOX 360
Image by: James Pfaff
PS3
Image by: Michel Ngilen
Xenon triple-core
Cell Processor
3.2GHz
3.2GHz
Graphics
ATI Xenos
NVIDIA RSX
Disc
Xbox DVD ROM, DVD
Blu-Ray, PlayStation 2, DVD, PS3 Rom
Storage
Max 500gb
Max 500gb
Winner
2.4 GHz radio system used to connect controllers
Bluetooth (up to 7)
Loser
CPU Processing
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The Playstation’s new controller the Dual shock 4 has a couple new features like the touch pad in the middle, and the share button that lets you share any of your games or videos with friends almost instantly.
Sources : The Great Debate: PS3 vs Xbox 360, altered gamer, James Barnett, 09/2012
Tie
PS4 Information about the PS4 finally came in February 2013. The PS4 is definitely the next big step that the gaming world needs. The architecture sticks to that of a PC but “super charged”. It has a large processor and an improved graphics chip. At the game developers conference Sony claimed to improve the network drastically with cloud-based gaming, and the ability to download games in the background. In addition to cloud-based gaming, they showed that it would be much easier to play with your friends as well. They revealed that you could now almost experience what your friends were doing. Along with this they also presented the new controller that is similar to that of the PS3’s but with a few more upgrades. Sources : PS4 vs Xbox 720 release dates, idesign times, Idesign Staff Reporter, 02/13
XBOX 720 They expect more RAM for increased graphics, and a Blu-Ray player. They also expect a new graphics card from AMD (one of the best in the business). There are also rumors that a 3-D component could be included in this console, too. This would allow you to play all of your favorite games in 3-D, but you would need a 3-D screen. Like the Playstation researchers think that Microsoft might eliminate used games, or games that worked on the previous Xbox. Microsoft plans to release the Xbox right before Christmas. Image by: Sony
A competitor that has something completely different than these other companies, have created a virtual reality. They offer a headset that fits on like goggles, and when you look around the goggles sense this and move around as well. This new concept really impressed everyone that saw it, and as a result they received much funding. Many different projects have taken place with these goggles one interesting one is a decapitation simulation.
Sources : Xbox 720 release date, news and rumours, TechRadar, James Rivington, 05/13
h Not much is known about this console. Presented at CES (Consumer Electronics Conference), It can stream PC games onto your HDTV and has many good hardware components like it’s graphics card, and i7 Core Processor. It allows the very interesting concept of allowing PC gamers to get a console experience. This Console uses the software Steam for all of the games, and any games that you have on your steam account can be played on this box.
Sources : Gaming’s next big plays, Toronto Star, Raju Mudhar, 02/16/2013
An idea very unique compared to other consoles, the Wii U basically gives you two consoles for a completely different gaming experience. The gamepad allows you to have a secondary view creating a unique gameplay. The Wii U, the only 8th generation console to actually be released so far, recommended for the younger crowd more than gamers that have interest in first person shooters. Super Mario Bros and Nintendo Land.
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by Connor Kordes Image by: Pokemon Company
S
eventeen years ago, Pokémon Red released for the first time in the United States. This game could go anywhere on the first Gameboy device that had black and white graphics. The gamer could control the character’s name and who he would become. You created a team of Pokémon strategically so that you could battle other trainers and beat them to move on through the game. Almost every player had a different strategy and different gaming experience because of the wide variety of 156 different Pokémon to choose from. The game included many puzzles, challenges, and obstacles to get past to win the game. Some of these challenges included fighting the elite four or catching all of the Pokémon. Pokémon offered a completely different gaming experience than other games of its time. Mario, for example, didn’t let your player level up, and the gaming experience stayed the same every time. Since the dawn of Pokémon, GameFreak has released 19 more games and the quality of the graphics have come a long way. You can now play the games in highresolution 3D rendered graphics on the DS. Gigabyte
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Pokémon has a basic storyline, which all of the games follow. You go on an adventure to catch all of the Pokémon and beat all of the gyms. Gyms, buildings that contained many different Pokémon trainers of a specific type, appeared in almost every city of the Poké mon region. After you defeated all of the gyms you could move on through the game to “be the very best, the best there ever was.” The release of Pokémon X and Y will be the sixth Generation of this game. Starting with the fifth generation games some gamers had conflicted feelings concerning the Pokémon of this generation. The Pokémon X and Y trailer shows many new changes to the game including completely new graphics. Some Pokémon players show concern because they felt the previous games did not exhibit the creativity that they felt familiar with in the original games. The changes being made to the new games, did not completely satisfy everyone. Discussion threads about Pokémon getting worse exist all over the internet, ranging from websites like Gamespot and Gamefaqs to Bulbagarden. A majority of them included commentary that said the designers gave up when drawing the newer Pokémon.
“
I am not happy with what they added in Black and White. I think they are really running low on Pokémon ideas
”
-Miles Kersten
“As the games move on, it seems that they start to lack the original charm,” said Anthony Clemens, a LASA student that currently plays most of the Pokémon games. So what qualities really molded and shaped
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Pokémon to make it become popular originally? Derian Golden, a LASA student that plays Pokémon said that these games interest gamers because of the freedom, allowing the player to do so many more things than just sticking to the storyline. He said this freedom must remain in Pokémon X and Y for the game to succeed. Having a
of creativity really starts to show. An example he gave were the ice cream and garbage Pokémon. The ice cream Pokémon that they added has a base of a cone with a cross cross pattern made of ice, then a soft serve vanilla swirl tops it off a face embossed on to the swirl. The garbage Pokémon looks like a brown mass with green and red rocks engrossed in its body
Image by: Game Freak and screen shots from Youtube
This is the new view that players will experience when they play Pokemon X and Y. Some think the game might take place in Europe as depicited by the Eiffel Tower in the background.
plethora of options when playing a game still shows up today in other populr free realm games such as Minecraft and Skyrim. These options range from the ability to roam around wherever on the Pokémon map to battling any trainers or competing in a beauty pageant. All of these choices give the gamer the opportunity to do some other activity if the current one bores them. “[Pokémon] is such a creative and abstract game,” said Clemens. He said that the older Pokémon looked more creative because they looked like a new species with interesting design elements. Clemens, like other Pokémon gamers on the chat threads said the creativity of Pokémon has played a large role in making it so popular. He said that in the newer games a lack
and a face that rests on the top of this mass. He said that these two Pokémon have very unoriginal qualities when compared to Pokémon in the original games. These two Pokémon appeared in the fifth generation games. Harper Shapiro, another Pokémon player, also said that there starts to show an absence of design detail in the fifth generation Pokémon. He mentioned that even though the new legendary Pokémon were “cool” with design features like claws extending from all of the limbs and patterns on the body, the new designs don’t resemble the original Pokémon that he grew up with. He said normally this wouldn’t change anything, but the new changes made these Pokémon look more like strange animals with spikes. Clemens and Shapiro both hope that changes like this will not
take place in the new games. The new Pokémon X and Y games, made for the 3DS, exhibit an improvement in graphics, which is not surprising because graphics improve with almost every new generation. Instead of having the basic birds-eye view, the game offers a third person view with 3D graphics. Now the entire Pokémon experience will change for Pokémon players because of this large shift from birds eye to a third person view. This could possibly draw people in to see what the new game might be like, and could conversely push people because the game feels unfamiliar. The trailer for Pokémon X and Y shows your character in his house, but instead of you looking from the top down like all the other games, the character explores the Pokémon world in a 3-D area. The trailer also shows completely different 3D battle
ability to customize your character or the new ways that people will go around different obstacles on the map. The starter Pokémon for the new games concluded her research.
“
The Pokémon Company International and Nintendo officially blew our minds ...with the announcement of Pokémon X and Y
”
-Audrey Drake, a reporter for IGN
Like all other games, Pokémon X and Y have three starter Pokémon. One Pokémon fire type, another water type, and the last grass type. Like
Image by: Pokemon Company (gamefreak)
Gamefreak introduced the new legendaries Xerneas and Yveltal. Xernius, the X pokemon of the game, looks similiar to that of a reindeer. Yvelta, the Y pokemon in the game, has the ability to fly.
animations that the video said will give the gamer a feeling of actually participating in the games. So far these new graphics do seem to stimulate excitement on the comment page of the YouTube trailer. Audrey Drake, a reporter for IGN, examined the release videos on YouTube and found many hidden things not everyone could see. Some of these observations included the
rock, paper, scissors, each starter has a strentgh and a weakness to another starter type. For example, fire type affects grass, but water type Pokémon affects fire type. The Official Nintendo Magazine posted a poll giving people the opportunity to vote for their favorite and least favorite Pokémon starter of Pokémon X and Y. The fire starter, Fennekin, resembles a fox and got voted as the favorite Pokémon. The
water starter, Froakie, which looks like a blue frog with white circles around his neck, got voted the least favorite Pokémon. Clemens said that Froakie looks just like a frog and that this new Pokémon did not go through enough thought process. He said there were so many options, and they simply made a blue frog. The designers didn’t think of special touches they could have added that would make Froakie more of a Pokémon rather than a familiar animal. Although the new starters don’t completely satisfy Pokémon fans, the idea of a new 3-D realm excites gamers because they will get to experience Pokémon in a whole new way. Golden thinks this advancement could help Pokémon. “I think the new 3-D perspective will make the game a lot more realistic ... the 3-D addition will make your trainer seem to be more of a person than a character,” Golden said. Some fans think that Pokémon X and Y will really dictate where the future of Pokémon goes. This game will release in the U.S. and Japan at the same time in October for millions of Pokémon gamers to judge. Although some think the new game won’t compare to the other games, and others gamers think the game will add a great new gaming experience to the game, both parties do agree on one thing. “Pokémon X and Y might be a system seller for me for the 3DS,” said Derian Golden. Even though Miles doesn’t like the game he agrees. “I will continue to play Pokémon later on even in the direction that they are going.”
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I feel like Bob the Builder when I play Minecraft - Jesus Martinez
Minecraft has lots of SWAQ!!!!!! - Jackson Akin
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Call of Duty This game rocks my socks even though I’ve never played it!! - Noah Schatz
Has this game even come out yet? - Rad Brad
Ghosts