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AMD recently announced a $10,000 grant through its foundation to the Institute for Play, which is currently working on developing a “social impact game community” on the Gamestar Mechanic software development platform. The Gamestar Mechanic platform is a partnership between the Institute for Play and E-Line media aimed at improving the game development skills of young people. Beyond the development skills, the organization believes it provides computer literacy and critical thinking skills necessary to succeed in the 21st century. AMD’s Changing the Game features competitions and other initiatives to encourage interaction between young people interested in development.

Programs, such as the Gamestar Mechanic, are crucial to encouraging young people to develop an interest in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields that are important in advancing industry in the United States. Since, unlike school, developers are not graded on their work, they can learn about the field and nurture their interest in a low pressure environment. Part of the program also allows for collaboration, so more experienced developers on the platform can provide feedback to more novice participants.

“The Game Alley program and competition are specifically tailored to create successful gaming experiences for youth and to help them engage their peers on important social issues, two key objectives of the AMD Changing the Game initiative,” said Allyson Peerman, president of the AMD Foundation. “The program is an excellent example of ‘stealth learning’ in that players will absorb STEM and critical thinking skills while having fun.”

As the software development industry continues to evolve around agile development and other new processes, new generations of developers will become an invaluable aspect of the industry. Targeting young people now with game development opportunities will enable the industry to make an impact on their lives and direct them toward educational programs and careers in software development.

“The AMD Foundation has been a real pioneer in empowering youth through game design,” E-Line President Alan Gershenfeld, who was formerly Chairman of Games for Change and senior vice president at Activision Studios, said. “We are very pleased to support their mission of harnessing the power of computer and video games to engage youth in the critical issues that will affect their lives in the 21st century.”

By rachelzee | November 12, 2010

Rachel Zee is a freelance writer for Software Development News. In addition to game development, she covers software development topics like extreme programming and release planning.

It might not be perfectly accurate to call what the independent developer Riot Games has done ‘frontier justice,’ but they’re certainly crossing borders into new territory when it comes to taking care of hoodlums in gaming communities, so call it what you like.

The service team at Riot were presented with a problem, a big one. Their game, League of Legends, garners a considerable slice of a niche-within-a-niche genre that first came to popularity in the form of a modification to the Warcraft 3 realtime strategy game. It has a particularly rabid fan base, and because of its free-to-play marketplace payment system, it became somewhat of an independent game development success story. Due to the nature of their product though, and furthermore the nature of the user base from which they got most of their players, the League of Legends ladder became plagued with poor sportsmanship.

Seeing a potential threat to the lifespan of their game, Riot implemented a reporting system that allowed for their moderators to handle customer complaints and reprimand offending players, the ones that ruin or otherwise sour other players’ game time. This would have worked, had their problem not been as rampant as it indeed was. They received as many as ten thousand separate griefing complaints every single day. Therein lay their problem.

Not to be defeated, Riot has since developed a system to control poor sportsmanship that is unlike any other to appear in a gaming community. They’ve dubbed it the ‘Tribunal’ system. Every player has a rank, a ‘Summoner Level’ to be specific, and once a player reaches the highest summoner level, they have the ability to become a judge. When a player is a judge, they can randomly pull from all of the case files that are generated when a player or players register a complaint with the system. These case files detail the events of the match and the chat logs, making sure to leave out player names to prevent favoritism. The judge then decides whether or not the player in question was in the wrong, and a punishment is issued, depending on the number of previous infractions the offending player has made.

The system doesn’t allow just one judge to make the call though. The case files are made for relatively quick review, so that a good deal of judges can make a decision about a single case, and the punishment (or pardon) is handed down according to the majority decision. To make sure the system runs smoothly, judges themselves are tracked, and if they disagree with the majority opinion too frequently, they lose their judge status and can no longer review cases.

This is quite a change within the world of griefers and the gamers who hate them, and if Riot’s system proves to be as strong as it seems to be, there will be imitators, especially since we’re starting to witness the dawning of a new independent gaming renaissance, and are thus seeing smaller and smaller companies having to come up with intelligent ways to handle their massive player bases.

Online gambling is not only fun, it provides an opportunity to make some extra cash. And whether you’re brand new to the world of Web gambling or have been a gamer for quite some time, gambling forums can be useful. Probably one of the greatest advantages of online gambling is you can gamble without the amount of pressure that’s usually at a Las Vegas or Singapore casino table! You can take time to learn all about gambling before getting your feet wet. You can also take it slowly and start with very little risk.

Gambling forums are great for beginners as well as avid gamers. Here are three ways to maximize your experience.

1. Take Your Time

Before leaping into a conversation at any gambling forum, take a week or two to observe how the forum operates and the type of users there. Make sure the forum covers the topics you’d like to discuss. Some are dedicated to a particular type of gambling, such as poker, roulette or blackjack. Others cover an array of topics and appeal to all types of gamers. You might find it to be the right forum for you…or you might decide to try the next one instead!

2. Avoid Self-Promotion

If you own a business (whether related to gambling or not), try to avoid self-promotion when posting to forums. It’s okay to offer free advice and then to include a link to your site at the conclusion of your tips; however, don’t post blatant ads into the forums. You’ll likely be kicked off the forum permanently and/or users will lose confidence in your postings. A good rule of thumb is to include any links as a “by the way” or a “resource box” only.

3. Build Relationships

Whether for business or pleasure, gambling forums provide a great medium for building relationships. You can find friends and mentors for life if you frequent reputable forums. Some are avid gamers who can give valuable advice to help you improve your gaming experience. Others are beginners seeking friendship of those with similar passions. Stick with one or two gambling forums so you can build relationships with those users. In doing so, you’ll be exposed to many great resources and trustworthy gambling tips.

The purpose of a gambling forum is to learn more about gambling and those who make things happen in this fast-paced industry. You can find out the best Singapore casinos or Las Vegas guides if you’re planning a gambling trip soon. Learn where all the best online casinos are on the Internet and how to make the best of your investment. Find out more about Macau gambling and other popular locations.

Gambling forums can enable you to learn about any gambling subject from your own home computer. Don’t shy away just because the forums are all about gaming. Use these amazing sites as a tool to increase winnings!

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web.
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What are the most important things to remember when hosting a pub quiz?

Without a doubt the most important thing you must make sure of is that your answers are correct. There are many sources of free pub quiz questions out there but they may have incorrect answers with them. I have come across hundreds of questions with incorrect answers in the past and some of the problem lies with the age of the question. The world changes every day after all.

Be most aware of questions that contain the words biggest, longest, widest, oldest etc.

To double check an answer, to see if it is correct, you should visit a website that specialises in that topic. If a question is about planets then visit N.A.S.A, if a question is about football then visit the F.A.

You will find a lot of the answers to your questions on Wiki but be careful here. When you type a question into a search engine you will find that the top results returned are from Wiki, most of the time. Wiki is a community edited website, anybody can contribute and because of this there are mistakes.

Don’t just rely on one source either. Get a consensus by looking at what other websites reckon the answer should be. If the answer seems elusive and a few websites disagree with each others answers then I would discard that question all together to avoid an argument with your pub quiz teams later.

The worse case scenario you can have during your pub quiz is when it comes to marking. If you read out an answer to a question and a team shouts out that it is incorrect, what do you do? Not only that, you will look like a fool in front of everyone if the answer you have is obviously wrong.

The way to avoid this happening is to thoroughly research each answer yourself. Not only does this virtually guarantee you will have no incorrect answers but if a team does challenge you then you will have good knowledge of that particular subject because you have read about it and studied it.

People do get pretty upset if they are convinced that they had the right answer and you tell them they are wrong. But no matter what, the golden rule to any quiz is that The Quiz Master Is Always Right! As long as you do your research then that statement should hold true.

Never the less, if you get more than 1 team convinced that your answer is incorrect then I find the best way to resolve the problem it is to have a vote, it is fair and democratic. Before you have a vote tell everyone that it must be a unanimous decision and that more than half of the teams must raise their hands for the vote to be passed. Nobody can argue with a majority vote and if they try they will most certainly lose.

Even if you have had a vote and the quiz is all over, some people just can’t let it go and will still confront you about the so called incorrect answer. You should listen to them with a smile on your face and agree with their opinion. Tell them that you will make a note of it and do some more research on the subject and let them know at the next pub quiz what you found. If it turns out that they were in fact correct then announce this during the next pub quiz and award their team an extra point.

You are there to entertain them not to get their backs up. You want everyone to be happy all the time if your pub quiz is going to be a success. Remember to always have a smile on your face, never ever swear and keep your opinions to yourself. Above all, be polite and well mannered at all times and you are sure to have a successful pub quiz night.

Martin has been a full time Quiz Master for over 10 years and has been in the entertainment business for over 20. By mixing his talent in entertainment and his passion for quizzes he has come up with a great night out that fills pubs week after week.

He has decided to build a website to show the world how much fun a pub quiz can be and invites you to take a look: The Free Pub Quiz Website.

Baseball and softball are approximately identical in many areas, but you’ll notice a number of major differences regarding the two sports once you start to match. You must know the differences if you plan to train beginning-level softball if all of your experience has been in baseball – and the other way round.

This list will give you a view at several of the more glaring distinctions:

Pitching area - Youth baseball programs, particularly at the advanced levels, include a pitching mound how the pitcher throws from ( younger levels may demand hitters to hit off a tee or from a ball pitched from their coach). That isn’t the way it is in softball – at any level. The pitcher delivers balls on level ground using the batter. Another major pitching difference is always that softball pitchers deliver the ball in an underhand motion; baseball pitchers can throw overhand or perhaps sidearm when they choose.

Distance from your pitcher’s area by plate – The overall game of fast-pitch softball puts a greater focus on pitching, because of the pitcher throws from the distance much nearer to home plate in comparison with baseball. At the start stages of youth softball, pitchers typically deliver pitches about 35 feet from home plate. At the higher levels of play, pitchers throw balls from 40 feet.

Base paths – The base paths in softball are some feet shorter than those in baseball. When pitchers throw from 35 feet, the bases typically are 55 feet apart; when pitchers deliver balls from 40 feet, the bases are often 60 feet apart. The smaller base paths consequently create a smaller infield area, which has an effect on the defense of the infielders.

Field size – Outfield dimensions vary greatly. Perhaps the most common distance at home plate to the outfield fence in softball is 150 feet for the younger kids, while for the teens it reaches to 225 to 250 feet.

Scale of the ball – A regulations softball is significantly bigger than a regulation baseball. A softball measures between 11.88 and 12.13 inches in circumference and weighs between 6.25 and 7.00 ounces; a baseball measures between 9.00 and 9.25 inches in circumference and weighs between 5.00 and 5.25 ounces.

Sometimes, leagues for the youngest softball players use smaller and softer softballs, because a girl’s hand from the outset variety of play isn’t large enough to grip and throw a regulation softball.

Bats – With the youth level, bats used by baseball and softball are interchangeable. In the advanced amounts of play, players use softball-specific bats, that can come in a variety of different materials, for instance graphite, carbon, Kevlar, and liquid metal, to name a few. Many softball programs only allow specific kinds of bats to be used.

Looking to find the best deal on baseball accessories, then visit to find the best advice on top baseball accessories for your baseball game.

When it comes to saving money, nothing beats renting games. This will allow you to play your favorite adventures, without paying for its full price. GameFly is undeniably one of the best services that offer an arsenal of games that a player can rent.

GameFly allows gamers from the US to rent games for Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo consoles. They have more than 7000 titles on board, and finding the one that you need is almost impossible. This service allows you to choose from 9 categories, and they will allow you to keep the game as long as you want.

If you want to rent games from GameFly, all you have to do is to visit the website and order all the games that you want. The information and reviews about the exercises are available, allowing you to choose the games that fit your taste. Once you have finished ordering the game, you can simply sit back and wait. GameFly will send your ordered games within 2-4 days depending on your location.

GameFly offers four renting plans ranging from $15.95 to $22.95 and no upfront payment is required. All you have to do is become a member of the service. You can choose as many games as you want and place them on your query. GameFly will instantly send the next games on your list after you have returned the first batch that you have rented. This company also offers trial for new members, which allows you to play new games for as low as $5.95.

Playing games should not be as expensive as you think. Why would you buy expensive CDs if you can rent all the game that you want for a very low price? There are other companies that you might want to try.

Watch out for my next article, as I will be discussing another game renting company called Gamerang.

Read a review on Rock Band Unplugged plus all the latest video game reviews.

With all the 10s of millions of Americans playing online war games in gaming communities, it seems there is a tremendous amount of brain power being expended each and every day. These humans are learning to adapt, fight, strategize, and make decisions on the fly – with one goal in mind; to win, and, winning means scoring the most points, eliminating the most enemies, and surviving to fight another day, which does indeed sound a lot like the real thing – that is to say; war in the real world.

Training the military strike teams using simulation works and is a wise use of such technology. From logistical work to the tip of the sword simulation and online community gaming should be tapped to do this training. That makes sense right? Sure it does it makes sense on so many levels, and thus, I am pleased to say that it’s now being done.

In fact, there was a very interesting article published not too long ago in Homeland Security News titled “New Anti-Piracy Tool: 1,000-Participant Internet Wargame” published on May 10, 2011″ which stated; “The U.S. Navy is recruiting a community of more than 1,000 players from across the U.S. government to collaborate on solving real-world problems facing the U.S. Navy: high-seas piracy; the participants will be asked to suggest ways to combating piracy off the coast of Somalia.”

In discussing this concept with a fellow think tanker, Troy Laclaire, we had considered who the participants are scheduled to be, and perhaps which groups were excluded, why, and even why they should have been included in this Massive Multiplayer Online War Game Leveraging the Internet or MMOWGLI. As you may well know, Troy is an expert on online gaming communities. Troy said he believed the idea was interesting yet also noted;

They will be pulling players from “academia, defense, and government and nongovernment organizations”. Perhaps they need to setup such a system and allow for the average person to try it out. [This was they might] increase the talent pool, and perhaps get more solutions, [Also,] since they do say “nongovernment organizations” however, they should specify the type.

Troy has also suggested that perhaps these gaming simulations should be played by both gamers and non-gamers. And those expert gaming folks may indeed be able to add value to this strategy and come up with an array of realistic solutions as well. All great suggestions indeed and so, I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow is the Founder of the Online Think Tank, a diverse group of achievers, experts, innovators, entrepreneurs, thinkers, futurists, academics, dreamers, leaders, and general all around brilliant minds. Lance Winslow hopes you’ve enjoyed today’s discussion and topic. http://www.worldthinktank.net/ – Have an important subject to discuss, contact Lance Winslow.

Dungeons and Dragons. These three words bring many thoughts to many different people. People think about nerds, geeks, dorks. Others think of fun, adventurous, stimulating. Some people think of live action role playing (LARPing). The bottom line is that Dungeons and Dragons has been around for quite some time, and has entertained millions of people around the world due to its open world, open imagination based game. Dungeons and Dragons has expanded into a multi-billion dollar idea that has spawned many copies of the D20 system.

Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) was first published in 1974. The game quickly grew in popularity and the demand for the basic book sky-rocketed. D&D is a D20 system. D20 systems are role-playing games where each player has a character sheet with statistics, equipment, spells, race, age, class, and other abilities. Players play on either a mat or some other form of board with which the Dungeon Master (DM) molds his story for the players enjoyment. It is called a D20 system because most actions require the player to roll a 20 sided die. D stands for die, 20 the number of sides on the die. In D&D the D20 is used to attack, make saving throws to avoid spell damage, or to use an ability such as stealth or intimidation. Damage rolls on successful attack rolls usually use D6, D8, D10, or D12s. The main focus players have in their characters are the abilities and attacks they can perform. Abilities and attacks depend greatly upon the class of the character.

Dungeons and Dragons has a plethora of classes for players to choose from. They can choose from a basic fighter, barbarian, sorcerer, wizard, bard, cleric, monk, paladin, to even a druid. There are well over 40 different classes for players to choose from and even more prestige (expansion) classes. Each class has different abilities and play a different role in the party. Players can choose from being a melee damage (rogue), ranged damage (archer, wizard), support character (bard), healer (cleric), or a tank type of character (barbarian). Dungeons and Dragons was set up to be a team game that required every player to take his role seriously. Like the common phrase says, “You only as strong as your weakest link”. If a groups healer is fooling around in combat, the entire team can suffer. The use of roles ensures everyone has an equal playing field in terms of their importance to the party.

Perhaps the greatest part of D&D is the length games can go on for. One game of D&D consists of sessions. Each session can last anywhere from one hour to an entire day depending on how dedicated and free the players and DM are. Games consist of these sessions and certain games can last several years, even up to 10+ years of gaming. I’ve personally played in games that have been going on for 3 years now and have grown attached to my character. Dungeons and Dragons is perhaps the only game that people become attached to their characters on a normal basis. Although it may take several gaming sessions, many people begin to envelope themselves in their character and each decision they make.

Many people believe D&D sessions are always a Dungeon adventure that ends with killing dragons or saving the princess. However, luckily for most gamers, the man behind D&D, Gary Gygax, added alignments to each characters. You character may be lawful, neutral, or chaotic. Several DMs make their adventures chaotic only, which leads to many characters doing whatever they want, when they want. Several of my sessions have been focused on internal issues with our party instead of external issues such as what has red eyes and is looking at us while we set up camp at night.

In my experience, the easiest characters to begin playing Dungeons and Dragons are fighters. Fighters must know their Armor Class (AC), Health Points (HP), and what attacks they can perform. Fighters have the least amount of material that needs to be memorized in order to play effectively. Although they are a simple class to play, they can play a great role in any party. Upon learning the basics of the game, experiences players may explore into the Arcane or Diving classes such as the cleric, druid, or wizard. These classes must know the same information as fighters, but must also pay attention to their spells. A good wizard knows what spells to use and when. Casting classes are limited in their spell casting capabilities and if they run out of spells, they must resort to hand to hand combat. A Wizard fighting in hand to hand combat is much like a quarterback attempting to tackle a linebacker in football.

Dungeons and Dragons is a game meant to be played by anyone. The game is only limited by your imagination. I’ve played D&D with a wide range of characters. From 16 year old punks to 65 year old grandfathers and everything in-between. It takes an open mind to try Dungeon and Dragons out for the first time, but it doesn’t take a nerd or geek to enjoy playing it. I consider Dungeons and Dragons to be the equivalent of a video game, except it was first created when video games were barely even known about. Today, everyone knows what video games are and the majority of citizens enjoy playing them. If people were to try D&D just once, I’m sure they would an enjoyable experience. Dungeons and Dragons games can be found in many places. You’re able to find groups that play online or you can even walk into a comic shop and ask if they host games. D&D is more popular than most people expect. Through the use of imagination and the collective thoughts of many willing participants, Dungeons and Dragons has grown from a home-made basement gathering to a world-wide game enjoyed by millions.

Nintendo Wii is one of the most popular gaming consoles today, especially when we are talking about a family-friendly console. This is the first game console that utilizes motion-sensor controllers that allows the console to accurately track the movements of the player and convert it to movements of the in-game character. This article will show you the easiest way to stay fit while having fun.

With the help of the motion-sensing capability of Nintendo Wii, the player is involved in the game physically. This will require them to move a lot more muscles compared to traditional game where a player holds the controller while sitting on the sofa all day.

After seeing a huge success in the console, Nintendo releases a real fitness game called Wii Fit Plus. This game will allow you to choose the exercise or activity that will suit your needs and ability. This is said to be one of the best games when it comes to family bonding, because it will not only keep everyone enjoying the game, but it will also help them to stay fit and active.

The Wii Fit Plus offers a personal coach that will provide feedback regarding your performance. This will also help you track the calories that you have burned while playing the game. This game also offers a lot of features including a 30-day marathon that will give you exercises depending on your body type for 30 days. Some people said that they have experience a great change in their body shape after 30 days of playing this game.

This game may cost a little more than an average game, but is there a price for keeping your family healthy and fit? This is the number one advantage that Nintendo offers to parents who are planning to purchase Wii Fit Plus. What’s better than being able to enjoy working out while inside the comfort of your own home?

Read a review on Need Speed Shift plus all the latest video game reviews.

To make the Geocaching experience enjoyable to everyone, here are the basic rules that need to be followed:

1. Cachers are not allowed to move the location or placement of the cache. The Geocaching website provides a forum for you to share your Geocaching experience, so use it to your advantage. You can contact the cache owner if you see irregularities on the cache placement or if the location where the Geocache was placed is dangerous. The owner of the Geocache is the person responsible in maintaining the Geocache.

2. Do not take anything from the cache unless you intend to replace it. What is inside the cache is considered the “treasure” or the prize that a Geocacher receives for finding the cache. If you intend to take what is in it, you are obliged to replace it with something of equal or greater value so that the other cachers that are hunting for that cache have something in store for them.
Geocache

3. Placing food items like alcohol, drugs, explosives, knives and other harmful objects are prohibited. Food items are not allowed because there might be some animals that would destroy the cache to get the food inside it. Cache owners must bear in mind that Geocaching is a game that is played by people from almost all age range. Please help keep the game as wholesome as possible to make it an enjoyable experience for everyone.

4. As much as possible, avoid placing the cache in public places (ex. Schools, national parks, banks and buildings) and on privately own lots and residential houses. Public places must be avoided in hiding the caches because of security issues. Geocaches come in all kinds of shapes and sizes that can sometimes be suspicious. There are instances that Geocachers are interrogated by the police due to suspicion on their acts. Unless you secure a permit, avoid hiding caches on public places. Cemeteries and archeological sites are also included in this scope.

5. Minimize the impact on nature. There are places that are intended to protect and preserve wildlife. Avoid placing caches in these areas. You will be violating federal laws if you place caches on areas that are administered by the government such as national parks. Let us all respect the law.

When hiding caches, use your common sense and keep in mind the safety of other players. The Geocaching game was created to be an exciting and fun experience for everyone.

For a lively discussion of all things geocaching please visit: http://www.whatisgeocaching.com/

Want to get into geocaching? Learn from a recognised expert: http://www.getintogeocaching.com/