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Howie on February 5th, 2010 | Category:
Other
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has been granted a patent by the US patent office for his "invention" of a new "personal data mining" system. This new system will be used to analyze information and to make important recommendations with the goal of aiding a person's life's decisions. These recommendations will improve a person's quality of life whether they want it improved or not, says Mr. Gates.
My question is this. Do you want Bill Gates and his evil empire Microsoft to be making decisions for you? Do you want him mining your personal data? If you have pictures, videos, or write something and then post it Bill Gates will be able to get at it. He disguises his true intent by saying he "simply wants to improve everyone's quality of life."
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Howie on February 3rd, 2010 | Category:
Other
The newly crowned Miss America upon claiming her crown took the opportunity to slam video games. During her acceptance interview after winning the title she said, "Take away the TV, take away the video games, set some standards for our children!"
Granted this is a relatively mild slam, but it is a slam none the less. Apparently former Miss Virginia Caressa Cameron is not a fan of video games, television or the media in general and never has been. She doesn't seem to understand that television and the media (video games included) are what drive her business. If it weren't for the media there would be no need for silly things like Miss America.
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Howie on January 29th, 2010 | Category:
Other
Microsoft recently commissioned a marketing firm named Cross-tab Marketing Services to conduct a survey about online information and how it can hurt you. If you happen to be looking for a job you might want to think about the information you have online. You might want to erase some of your online history.
How could this hurt the online game player that might be searching for a job? Games certainly are online and most of us reading this play them. Online games have forums and they keep data bases about everything. Perhaps we said something derogatory during the heat of battle? Perhaps we had a beef with an opponent and we called them out in a public forum. Could actions like this cause us not to be hired? I guess it can and this study proves it. Money can buy anything or anyone so all a company needs to do is open the pocketbook thus persuading a site to open their books. It's certainly not out of the realm of possibility.
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Howie on January 27th, 2010 | Category:
Other
Chicago-based Jellyvision Games LLC has decided to sue AFLAC's insurance selling duck for trademark infringement. Jellyvision is the maker of the trivia game "You Don't Know Jack" that was first released back in 1995. The game was followed up by a short-lived television trivia game show in 2001.
According to the lawsuit. “AFLAC’s use of the slogan is unauthorized by Jellyvision and it represents an effort to trade on the valuable goodwill and reputation associated with Jellyvision and its "You Don’t Know Jack mark”.
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Howie on January 24th, 2010 | Category:
Other
Advanced Micro Devices the little computer chip manufacturing company that refuses to die has reported revenue for the fourth quarter of 2009 at $1.646 billion. This is an increase of 18 percent compared to the previous quarter and 42 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2008.
This certainly is good news for AMD. However, does this increase in revenue mean that AMD has turned things around? Will AMD be able to survive for another year in the cutthroat world of computer processor makers where big evil monopolies like to go around stepping on the small fry competition? Unfortunately, I think not and I will tell you why in the following paragraphs.
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Howie on January 22nd, 2010 | Category:
Other
Zipper Interactive's Ben Jones thinks so. In fact he gave an interview during a London based event being used to promote the soon to be launched PlayStation 3's multi-player shooter MAG saying just that.
Mr. Jones told a reporter at the event:
“I actually consider Xbox Live the more juvenile of the two due to the things that are being said over Xbox Live”.
"Each service has its own posse," "I think the PlayStation audience definitely fits more to our game." Says Jones.
Should the developer of a game be giving interviews that bash one group of people over another?
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Howie on January 20th, 2010 | Category:
Other
According to Stan Shih the founder of Acer Computer the United States will no longer be a force in the production and distribution of personal computers. Mr. Shih says that the US will no longer be able to compete in the low cost computer market. He says the US will be out of business with in 20 years and that the Chinese will take the market over completely during this time.
Mr. Shih was quoted as saying the following:
"The trend for low-priced computers will last for the coming years," said Stan Shih, high tech entrepreneur and founder of the island's leading personal computer brand according to the Taipei-based Commercial Times newspaper.
"But US computer makers just don't know how to put such products on the market... US computer brands may disappear over the next 20 years, just like what happened to US television brands."
I would like to make a (comment) in response to this announcement in the following paragraphs.
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Howie on January 15th, 2010 | Category:
Other
"SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 14, 2010 – Intel Corporation today reported fourth-quarter revenue of $10.6 billion. The company reported operating income of $2.5 billion, net income of $2.3 billion and EPS of 40 cents."
"Intel's strong 2009 results reflect our investment in industry-leading manufacturing and product innovation". Said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. "This strategy has enabled us to generate unprecedented operating efficiencies while growing our traditional businesses and creating exciting new market opportunities, even in difficult economic times."
The above is a news snip-it from the Intel web site. It looks like they are raking in the profits while other companies are going out of business. You can go to the Intel web site to
read the entire news posting or you can click on the "read more" link below to see a (Commentary) about this announcement.
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Howie on January 14th, 2010 | Category:
Other
Pirates of the Burning Sea will celebrate their two-year anniversary on January 23, 2010 by having an in game event. During the event players can try their luck against the creators of Pirates of the Burning Sea. Game rewards will be given to the winners.
Flying Lab Software is releasing a major update for the game. Many new and updated features are going to be implemented such as a completely revamped Avatar combat system. In addition to this there is going to be new missions, new and improved skills, and new animations and improved upon NPC behavior. In fact there are a ton of new features in the game and you can go
here to check all of them out.
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Howie on January 5th, 2010 | Category:
Other
An online game player has spent 330,000 real world American dollars for virtual real estate on a make believe game! An auction was held and the purchase was made in an online MMORPG called Planet Calypso. A world record for the most money spent to buy a virtual item has also been established.
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Howie on December 30th, 2009 | Category:
Other
College professor Dmitri Williams has joined a large crowd of researchers that likes to study video games and their impact on society. He has completed a study about women and their computer gaming habits. This time the focus is on a theory that female video game players are more hardcore then their male counterparts when it comes to playing online video games, especially games that feature a MMORPG fantasy subject matter.
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Howie on December 25th, 2009 | Category:
Other
"Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect. "
-- By Oren Arnold
To our faithful readers, we at Hooked Gamers wish you all a Very Merry Christmas.
If you do not celebrate Christmas then we wish you much happiness and joy through out the coming new year!
May you be blessed with many wonderful new video game experiences during these joyous times.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from your friends at Hooked Gamers...
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Howie on December 23rd, 2009 | Category:
Other
I have now officially heard it all. A woman that resides in the city of Boston has stooped to a new low. It seems like her 14-year-old teenaged son is addicted to playing video games and she has no clue about how to deal with it.
Recently while playing the infamous blood and guts shooter "Grand Theft Auto" this young man was asked (I'm assuming nicely) to turn the game off and to go to bed. He refused his mother's request and continued to obsessively play the game. He then crazily ran through the home and turned on every light in the house.
His mother, after putting up with this horrible situation for a few hours had no other choice but to call the 911 emergency line and get Boston police involved. Police soon arrived and persuaded the lad to turn off the game console and to go to sleep.
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Howie on December 16th, 2009 | Category:
Other
I came across
this interesting video about how playing video games and more specifically texting is causing a greater instance of myopia to occur in the US. It seems like near sightedness is up a staggering 66 percent since the 1970s, which is indeed a large increase. However, I have concerns about this so-called study.
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Howie on December 16th, 2009 | Category:
Other
Giant computer chipmaker Intel is again having problems with the law and is being sued by the US Federal Trade Commission. The FTC says, "Intel is trying to prevent the competition from gaining a foothold in the computer chip market place." In a statement by the FTC they accuse the monopolistic chipmaker of "using threats and of insisting on using bundled prices to encourage exclusive deals that hampers competition." The FTC goes on to say, "Intel uses its enormous financial power to unfairly manipulate the prices of its products."
Mount & Blade is a great castle and knight on horse back game that has a large following.
It also has tons of user created mods. Check it out, you will be glad you did!
