omgpop Draw anything, draw something

According to the New York Times article, “A Game Explodes and Changes Life Overnight at a Struggling Start-Up,” Draw Something is the newest “it” game for smart phones.  Draw something essentially became an overnight sensation and a money maker for the employees of Omgpop, which was recently bought out by a larger company, Zynga, for $180 million.

Draw Something is a social game and is essentially a one-on-one game of virtual Pictionary.  The game gives you three options of words you can draw, differing in difficulty, for your opponent to guess.  As a result, you are rewarded with more coins for picking the most challenging word to draw.  People have been posting real examples of their sketches to Facebook, Twitter, and other blogging sites, which has vastly increased the popularity of the game. unsecured loans

Omgpop was started as a joke, states found Charles Forman.  He had intended the site for sheer entertainment, until he realized people were visiting the site more than expected.  Though, Omgpop would have likely shut down, due to its lack of revenue, if it weren’t for the hit sensation, Draw Something.

Draw Something is a game played at one’s convenience, which seems like a necessary criteria for games these days, as people are always on the move.  There is no time limit on when the player must guess/draw a word, and it allows you to play against your own friends, or random players if your friends do not have the game.  Additionally, there is no winner and no loser and the game never ends, unless chosen to by the players.

Draw Something is encouraging and motivating, which can likely be accredited to its current success.  The first time you play Draw Something, you start out with four basic colors.  However, as you achieve more coins, by correctly guessing and drawing words, you are able to purchase more colors in order to ease your ability to successfully draw your chosen word.  What makes the game even more appealing is that it is free, with ads, or merely $0.99 to get the ad-free version.

Everyone and their mothers are playing Draw Something.  Literally, my mother just found out about this game and is hooked.  When anything technological becomes popular with the older generation, that’s when you know they’re doing something right.  Draw Something is topping the Apple App Store charts, and you should find out why. bad credit loans

how to do a rgh xbox slim

The newly formed RGH Development Team at Xecuter HQ are proud to announce that all Phat consoles have now been defeated and are totally glitch-able without having a previous NAND dump or CPU KEY (the same applies to Slim Trinity that have been updated to 14717/14719) !

Codenamed RGH 2.0, new features introduced:
* Hack now works on new CB's (14717/14719 update)
* Hack now works with all Refurbished Split CB's (4577, 5772, 6752)
- Zephyr CB 4577, 4575
- Falcon/Opus CB 5772, 5773 unsecured loans
- Jasper CB 6752, 6753
- Trinity (Slim) CB 9230

To confirm, we can now glitch Phats with any kernel and any bootloader. As soon as you have your CPU KEY, and you are using an Xecuter DemoN you will ALWAYS be able to switch to a fully hacked NAND and it can never be stopped no matter what update you apply and no matter which efuses are blown !
We will be helping the J-Runner team to implement all of the new code which will allow you to build a patched ecc for any Phat NAND / Kernel / Bootloader.

The Xenon RGH hack will also be released however the quality of glitching seems to be as poor as the infamous Zephyr. No doubt once its out there users can tweak away at it and get some better results, the feeling here is that it's time wasted at the moment when we should be working on Corona. Currently it's a "repair" method at best to rescue DVD keys.

This is a new style of RGH hack (hence RGH 2.0) and there will be a new JED file, changes to the CoolRunner design, changes to the QSB's and possibly new install methods (we'll also show you how to change your older version TX CoolRunner to be compatible with the new hack, and initial tests have shown that other cheaper versions of RGH hardware will not work at all).

Work on fine tuning the hack is currently ongoing to make it as solid as possible, however we hope to have everything ready asap.

Members of our team are also working hard on the new Slim Corona model and can tell you that great progress has made made there too. We'll just say that we feel bad for anyone who paid good money for any glitch mod that was advertised as being "Corona Ready".

Stay tuned for more news :) bad credit loans
Thanks to Tiros & GliGli for their initial work on the RGH hack. Without them none of this would have been possible.

Joule heart rate monitor kinect

Considering how many fitness games have been released for the Kinect since it has been released it was only a matter of time before someone, namely Microsoft, make some sort of system that tracks your amount of exercise and even a heart-rate monitor. Anonymous sources have spoken with The Verge and these sources have said that Microsoft is planning to release Kinect Play Fit and Joule sometime soon. bad credit loans

Kinect Play Fit will track your exercise across “most Kinect games” and will save your data to the cloud while Joule will be a heart rate monitor which will wirelessly monitor your heart rate so players can try to keep their heart rate “within a target goal for weight loss, strength, or cross-fitness workouts.”

Microsoft themselves have been very helpful with the rumor by stating that “Microsoft does not comment on rumors or speculation.” Anyone want to bet that next month at E3 we will be seeing these unsecured loans two things revealed?

Are you a social media savvy? Do you always want to be updated with the latest applications online for your gadgets? Well, Flixel could be an interesting application for you. It is an application that was recently released created by Endloop Mobile.

If you love sharing your special moments in social net working sites like bad credit loans Twitter and Facebook, Flixel could be a fun way to do it. It is an application inspired by Cinemagraphs along with Cinemagram which is a fairly well publicized startup. You can simply record a video and then pick a very small portion of the video and use it to animate in a brief, looped Graphic Interchange Format (GIF). It is one good way of showing your precious moments with a twist of your creativity with your friends. It is such an exciting application for you will be amazed of the animated pictures that you can create out of Flixel. You can try searching online for sample images that was created with Flixel. You can see them on Flixel official website. They will definitely impress you.

With this application, users can simply add effects to their creations using filters, just like filters in Instagram. Flixel’s advantage is that it offers more options on filters compared to its other competitors. Unlike other applications, Flixel can make the animated portion colored while keeping the other parts of the picture black and white. It has a lot more other advantages like you can immediately see the look of your creations as you’re creating it with your finger. With other applications, you have to do everything first and see if your creation is good, if not, you have to do it all over again. So it might take much of your time just creating your images. With Flixel, it will be a lot easier because you will see the slow transition of your creation from beginning to finish. You can immediately edit your image anytime during your image creation. unsecured loans

Flixel, while free, is generating revenue by intriguing customers on other available filters that they can buy to unlock. It includes the Flixelize filter which is the filter that can provide color-isolating effect on images.

Adam Yauch rip

Tributes are pouring in after the sad death of Beastie Boys' rapper Adam Yauch.
A truly seminal figure in hip hop, Adam Yauch’s work with the Beastie Boys alone would grant him hero status. However for fans it was the way in which he conducted himself – a vegan Buddhist who promoted the Free Tibet movement – which really broke the mould.

Sadly passing away yesterday after a battle with cancer, Adam Yauch left behind a lifetime of music and activism, as well as some provocative film work. Tributes are pouring in for the rapper, with Beastie Boys posting a message on their official website.

“It is with great sadness that we confirm that musician, rapper, activist and director Adam "MCA" Yauch, founding member of Beastie Boys and also of the Milarepa Foundation that produced the Tibetan Freedom Concert benefits, and film production and distribution company Oscilloscope Laboratories, passed away in his native New York City this morning after a near-three-year battle with unsecured loans cancer. He was 47 years old.”
News initially broke via Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons, who wrote on his website: “Adam was incredibly sweet and the most sensitive artist, who I loved dearly. I was always inspired by his work. He will be missed by all of us.”

Hitting Twitter, the news of Adam Yauch’ passing caused a tremendous outpouring of emotion. Here is a brief selection:
Reverend Run – “R I P Adam... I'm devastated. Praying for Adam Yauch's family from the legendary Beastie Boys. You'll be missed!”

Snoop Dogg - “RIP MCA U are a Legend and a pioneer. #BeastieBoys4life
Common – “God Bless the soul of Adam Yauch aka MCA of the Beastie Boys. RIP”
Def Jam - “Man…that one hurts. Our prayers go out to Adam Yauch and his family. #MCA #BEASTIEBOYS Rest Well.”

Finally, Coldplay paid their respects onstage at the Hollywood bad credit loans Bowl last night. Chris Martin performed a piano led version of ‘Fight For Your Right’, dedicating the song to Adam Yauch. Watch the performance below.

Guild Wars 2

1. Welcome to IN MEDIAS RES, SOLDIER!
I have seen a lot of comments about the opening scene in Guild Wars 2. Basically for 2 of the 3 racial starting areas we’ve seen, it is chaos. Ghosts popping out of nowhere in the charr area, centaurs running amok throughout a human starting area, and norn standing around their forest picking their ears while players hunt. Don’t fret! Players are practically given god mode in the opening area. There will be plenty of time and safety to fiddle with dye colors and key bindings after the opening scene. Press “W”+Mouse 1 should get you through the area. Try and learn what you can during this time, but you will get a chance to go more “at your own pace” afterwards.

2. Always Be Movin’
That is the golden rule for Guild Wars 2 combat. Don’t stop moving! Seriously, I don’t care whether you are a rifle-toting warrior or a greatsword-wielding ranger; don’t stop. If you find yourself in a red circle, then move faster. A stationary soldier is a dead soldier. Your #1 skill for each weapon will be an auto-attack so you can concentrate on moving while your character will keep trying to swing away. Make sure to use Mouse 2, or whatever, to face the enemy while you are circle-strafing. If you don’t like auto-attack then CTRL+click the skill to disable it. Be prepared to press “1″ a lot after that. I would also suggest keybinding dodge instead of double-tapping movement or mouse-clicking the button.


3. “I was in a queue?”
There is a queue in Guild Wars 2, but players are actually playing in it. Once a player gets through the queue a popup will invite the player to the “main” zone to get out of the “overflow” zone. Normally players would want to press yes to get to a higher populated zone, but if a player is having fun in the middle of an event, the player can press no to head back in to the queue.

4. Getting to PvP
After the starting area, to get to PvP open up the “H”ero menu (hint: press “h”) and there should be a tab on the left to get to PvP. You can enter a random match at will, but this is not recommended at first. Entering the Mists will change you to a level 80 character complete with traits and skills. It can be jarring to all of the sudden get 10 skills, weapon swapping, and all the rest. Take some time in this hub area to check out all the new things. Entering World v. World (WvW) will strip you of all the level 80 everything unlocked hotness and return you to your normal leveling career (sidekicked to level 80).

5. XP From Onions
Everybody can gather materials lying around the world which are identified by icons on the minimap (log, rock, and plant). Regardless of whether you check out crafting, you do want to gather materials. They provide significant XP, as much as a couple enemy kills, for simply pressing “f”. Then sell the onions to the chumps below.

6. Next Iron Chef
Crafting can be fun, and if you like to craft definitely check it out. I would recommend taking one of the “armor” professions, such as Leatherworking, so that you can craft bags for yourself. Anyway, cooking which make consumable buffs and the like is going to suck the time out of beta. Be forewarned, cooking can be a lot of fun, but it is hardcore. Also make sure to look for tabs from the merchants near the crafting areas.

7. Jump Around, Jump Around
Possibly one of the most fun side excursions built in to the PvE zones are the “jumping puzzles”. These small areas are a bit off the beaten path, and they will push your skill to the limits. The Demongrub Pits are in southeast Queensdale (human 1-15), the Shaman’s Rookery is on the west side of central Wayfarer’s Foothills (norn 1-15), and the charr have theirs at the Loreclaw Expanse in the Plains of Ashford (charr 1-15). They are amazing, and should not be missed. They give decent loot too. bad credit loans

8. WvW Together, Die Alone
World vs. World (WvW) can be a source for some constant activity. Hours can just bleed away fighting in the Mists for your world. A few tips. Find a group, and stick with them. If you go exploring all alone, don’t be surprised when 10 enemies run over the hill, trample you, and move on. Seriously, finding just a few other people can be enough to start grabbing objectives for your world. Also, always grab “supply” which is the lifeblood of WvW, wherever and whenever you can. Supply creates siege weapons from merchant-sold plans and heals your structures. And, guerrilla tactics are critical if you are outnumbered. Hit the enemy elsewhere if you can’t confront them directly. Taking down their supply chain can really shake things up.

9. Inverse Mass Effect
The greatest thing about Guild Wars 2 is simply playing together with random strangers and it being a positive, helpful experience. Unfortunately, when a mob of players hits some critical mass things can get a little unfun. The population seems to spread out quickly enough, but I would recommend that you take the time to get away from 40 players fighting an overgrown spider at level 4 to check out some of the other sights. Exploring the racial city almost nets enough experience for a whole level. There are hidden nooks and crannies everywhere. In other words, break from the herd if it feels too strong. unsecured loans

10. So, I Met This Norn
I’ve already suggested exploring the capital cities, and you should. If you later find out that your favorite new best friend (since they also pre-purchased and are as cool as you) rolled a different race than you, there are asura gates (purple portals on your city map) in each capital city that will warp you to the other race’s capital cities. ArenaNet also seems to lock out non-beta content at the warps, so for beta purposes you can sometimes warp to other races’ areas by hitting the warp at the edge of a zone. Either way you should be able to meet up with friends pretty quickly.

Have Fun! I can’t wait to hear all the stories from everybody.

Inside xbox to cease in american

In the last 10 years, Xbox LIVE has transformed in so many amazing ways, and as a community we’ve experienced so much together. I’ve personally witnessed many changes that have helped Xbox LIVE improve and together with our members we’ve created a community we all value and rely on.

At Xbox, we are focused on making entertainment and gaming more amazing, and we must continue to invest our resources and talents wisely. Consequently, we’ve decided to discontinue production of Inside Xbox in the United States, and as a result this content will also no longer be available in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Xbox LIVE in EMEA is currently looking at its operating model for Inside Xbox. This could potentially result in some changes, but we have no news here to share yet. Xbox LIVE in Mexico and Japan will continue to produce first-party content for its members via other media outside of the Inside Xbox brand.

We want to express our sincere appreciation to all of our viewers and fans of Inside Xbox, and remain committed to providing our members with access to high-quality news and information via the console, social media channels and Xbox.com. We will be leveraging third-party news and video content available through a variety of existing and future partners, and supplementing this content with select first-party offerings. However, day-to-day news content and weekly programming currently offered though Inside Xbox will cease production in the United States. This includes shows like Major’s Minute, Featured Videos and Insider Moves packaged under the Inside Xbox brand. unsecured loans

This decision was not made lightly. Our teams working on Inside Xbox have done a great job connecting with our members and delivering high-quality, informative game news and tips. We thank them all for their contributions to the Xbox LIVE community and wish them all the best in their future endeavors. bad credit loans

Final Fantasy VII, best.game.ever!

Final Fantasy VII is, without a doubt, the most influential and well known game in the Final Fantasy series. It's hardly surprising, then, that there's an army of detractors who have set out to diminish it. After all, if something is popular, it must be terrible.
Whenever something becomes too popular, the same old word is trotted out -- overrated. Whenever you bring up Final Fantasy VII, it is inevitable that the "O" word will rear its ugly head in due time.
Is Final Fantasy VII overrated, or are people just lashing out at it due to its popularity? Personally, I think it deserves all the praise it gets.

To say something is overrated is to say that it does not deserve its critical success and that those who remember it fondly are injecting their memories with a little too much fondness. Oftentimes, I find the term "overrated" an arrogant one, as you're implying somebody else should tone down their appreciation of something because you don't care for it. Much of the time, I think the term betrays intellectual cowardice, as some people just want to say that they dislike a game but use "overrated" to dress it up and artificially make their personal opinion look like part of an objective, factual statement.
With Final Fantasy VII, I've seen many debates over the years regarding its status, but I've rarely -- if ever -- seen a convincing argument that it hasn't earned its place as one of the most influential videogames of all time. In fact, it's usually somebody just complaining that the game is "shit" without offering much in the way of valid debate.
This argument is not about which Final Fantasy is the best. Most people who shit on Final Fantasy VII just seem to be bitter that history remembers it more readily than Final Fantasy VI. I happen to think Final Fantasy IX is the best in the series, but that doesn't mean I'm about to disregard what Final Fantasy VII did as a game and why it deserves its critical acclaim.

Final Fantasy VII is, for many gamers, the first Final Fantasy they were introduced to. Like it or not, this game became an ambassador not just for Final Fantasy, but for the entire genre of Japanese role-playing games. I was one of those people for whom Final Fantasy VII represented a new style of gaming. Earlier or later games in the series might have ended up more highly regarded by players such as I, but for a first exposure, VII became an incredibly important game.
If there's one thing not even the most ardent detractor can deny, it's Final Fantasy VII's impact and legacy. It was this game that made the Final Fantasy series overseas, and carved out a whole new international market for Japanese role-playing games. This is especially true in Europe, where VII was the first Final Fantasy game to ever be released.
As a gamer who grew up in Europe, I cannot state enough just what an influence Final Fantasy VII had. This game caused me to look at videogames with a whole new respect -- it made me think of games not just as fun distractions, but as potentially superior ways of delivering a story. I was able to comprehend a sense of immersion and narrative ambition that I just hadn't seen in any form of entertainment before -- a journey across an entire world that the audience itself could get lost in. Such concepts are taken for granted now, and often shunned as gamers grow up and don't have enough spare time for a huge role-playing world. In 1997, however, as a teenager who until that point thought Eternal Champions boasted a deep story, Final Fantasy VII's concepts were a revelation.

It's true that Final Fantasy VII's story isn't perfect, with a few ludicrous concepts and some silly dialog, but I will proudly say that I still enjoy it with no issue at all. It runs the gamut of emotions, with inspiring moments such as the big parachuting return to Midgar, tragic scenarios such as the story of Dyne, comedic elements provided by characters like Barret and Cait Sith, a number of mind-bending plot twists and even a few scenes that could be described as horror. Final Fantasy VII is made up of incredible "moments," those scenes that endure in the mind, where the mere mention of them will instantly evoke a mental picture without further description -- I can simply stay "Shinra Building motorcycle," and I am confident that many people will get the exact same image in their head, with the appropriate music.
The range of characters are some of the most diverse in videogame history, and each one comes with its own unique history and important development. Cloud Strife, who goes from cocky jerkass to shattered personality and finally redeemed hero, is an engaging protagonist whose identity crisis is almost torturous to watch. Barret starts the game as comic relief, but as you learn more about what he went through, the emotional burden he carries on his shoulders, and his reasoning for rebelling against the Shinra corporation, he becomes one of the most endearing personalities in the game. Even Cait Sith, the silly robot cat, has his own story to tell, and comes to represent a man in a powerless position, attempting to change his own life as well as save others.  unsecured loans
Final Fantasy VII didn't just throw a bunch of one-dimensional stereotypes at the player -- very obvious care and attention went into crafting a memorable personality out of each cast member, and that is why they're so memorable today. I can't name half the characters in Final Fantasy XIII anymore, but I can rattle off Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, Barret Wallace, Aeris/Aerith Gainsborough, Red XIII, Cait Sith, Vincent Valentine, Yuffie and Cid Highwind without much effort at all.

Sure, stories have come along in games that I've found to be superior, but that doesn't mean VII hasn't earned its praise. For a game to present so many concepts and run the player through so many emotions isn't a small feat. I feel Final Fantasy VII hit a range of feelings and a variety of concepts that no other game has managed before or since -- it might not have hit all of them perfectly, but when you truly stand back and look at what the game accomplished narratively, from beginning to end, it's hard not to be impressed.
As a game, VII is also to be credited with popularizing and refining turn-based combat. Many people have turned against the idea of random encounters and turn-based battles, with even Square Enix refusing to stick to the concept, but I feel the notion still has a place in videogames, and that Final Fantasy VII provided the best delivery. As well as superb Active Time Battle combat, VII also brought us the Materia system -- a compelling method of gaining new abilities by equipping and mastering them. This allowed for far greater player control over a party's combat prowess, and added in tons of gameplay as players would hunt for rare Materia and work on strengthening it.
As well as the epic main story, Final Fantasy VII ought to be praised for some of the best secrets and sidequests to be found in a role-playing game. Chief among them, of course, is the Chocobo breeding that could end up just as engaging and time-consuming as the "real" game. Yes, I spent far more of my life than I should have done embarking on a quest to breed the Gold Chocobo, but I did it, and I had a blast the whole way. Don't get me started on the Gold Saucer -- a veritable time vampire whose wealth of minigames is so famous that casinos and fairgrounds in other role-playing games are often regarded as "Gold Saucer areas."

One must also mention the Weapons, a series of optional boss encounters that still live on as some of the most infuriating bastards to ever be encountered in a game. Over the years, the tactics for facing these monstrosities have been refined and passed among the populace, but back in the day, the name of Emerald Weapon evoked fear and respect. As with the Chocobo rearing, these battles became games almost in and of themselves. Players would dedicate their time not to beating the main quest, but to becoming strong enough to take down these beasts and earn the precious, delicious bragging rights. Again, other games have had optional bosses, but few had their defeat become a life goal for so many gamers. bad credit loans
Sidequests of such a lengthy and compelling nature have fallen by the wayside in modern times, as games grow shorter and budgets become too bloated for extra content. VII arrived at just the right time, and as such, still boasts far more to discover and enjoy than most role-playing games developed today. Not even its fellow PlayStation titles, VIII and IX, had a world map so bursting with as many secret areas, optional bosses and time-draining sub-games.

I'm not saying you have to like any of this. Nobody has to like Final Fantasy VII for its achievements. What I'm saying is that those who do like the game and appreciate the many things it did -- both on a personal level and a cultural one -- are utterly, utterly right in doing so. This game means so much to so many people not because they're overrating it, but because it truly was a revelation at the time and boasts an experience that still holds up today. Final Fantasy VII was downloaded over 100,000 times within the first two weeks of its PlayStation Network launch -- there are just that many people out there who can still enjoy themselves with this game, over a decade since it first appeared.
Games don't have that kind of lasting power just because a group of people got together and decided to love it too much. Final Fantasy VII has this kind of lasting power because it was just that damn good, and accomplished that damn much.
That's why it is not overrated. It earned the right to be loved.