Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Are Women Good Gamers?

Gone were the days where guys dominate the gaming world, where we think that computer geeks were composed of men with thick glasses and pocket protectors. Nowadays, women would pass time shacked in their house playing computer games.




There is one avid game player, Torrie Dorrell, who reveals that she loves to play EverQuest 2 online where she is right now an officer in a specific guild. And that her husband hates it that she spends so much time on this activity.




Entertainment Software Association even mentions that thirty eight percent of the gaming population is composed of females who plays with computer games for almost seven a half hours per week. And this makes the husbands and the boyfriends resent it as they only come second to their partner's priority list.




The good thing here is that Dorrell has transformed her passion for computer games into a lucrative career. In fact, she is now the senior vice president of global sales and marketing for Sony Online Entertainment (SOE).




Though there is an increasing number in women engaging in gaming, there is still not much women out there developing games. And due to this reason, Dorrell as well as her associates have formed GIRLS, Gamers in Real Life, which is a scholarship programs that aims to entice more and more women to engage in a career in creation and development of games.




It is pretty obvious that when you go to any gaming convention, there are more men in attendance than women who develop games as mentioned by Courtney Simmons, the public relations director for SOE that strongly pushes for the GIRL program at its San Diego head office.




Simmons has spoken in an invitation-only program in a San Francisco bar where she, together with her associates, launched a program in partnership with the Art Institutes that would allow women to enroll and study in the institute under a $10,000 scholarship plus a paid internship at one of the SOE's development studios.




Although Dorrell, Simmons and others are now promoting GIRL, this is not the first time that this issue has been tackled.




There has been studies that have been conducted previously that indicates that women are more often than not to play portable games such as Nintendo DS and they would be likely to play The Sims where fifty five percent who play this game are females. But even though this is the case, there is only twelve percent in the gaming industry who are women and because of this, the gaming industry is not able to cater to all of its consumers.




It is Simmons' vision that more and more women would create games that women would like to play.




But there are more than sixty percent of women who are studying game design programs at the Art Institutes that believe that because there is dominance of male in the gaming industry, it is hard for women to engage in designing games but eventually, it is hoped that more and more women would enroll in such classes and continue on in transforming this into a game designing career.


Lance Thorington's articles have been posted on several places online including web sites, blogs, ezines and email lists. For more information on women gaming visit http://www.womeningamesinternational.org/

game download wii: game download wii

game download wii: game download wii

Article Source: www.articlesnatch.com

Fix The Xbox 360 Red Ring Of Death - What Each Red Light Means

Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 systems in the fall of 2005 with much fanfare. The units sold like hot cakes and millions lapped up the new offer. The euphoria did not last long. All over the world, major hardware failures were reported and the returns from frustrated clients started piling up at Microsoft. No one knew the exact cause behind the failures but it was named the Xbox Red Ring of Death. The ring of lights in the front console of the Xbox started flashing red, indicating a major hardware failure. The Xbox Red Ring of Death became the latest nightmare for thousands of game enthusiasts.




People knowledgeable about electronic products said that the failure rate of the Xbox 360 was around 30%. According to them, the design did not have much margin for error. This non-fault-tolerant design meant that the good units might work for a couple of years and the bad ones could go down in hours. The chief reason attributed to the Xbox Red Ring of Death terror was the overheating of the unit. The more air and cooling the unit received, the longer it lasted.




Microsoft had provided a detailed support document in their Microsoft Help and Support section. Whether that gives any comfort to a distressed gamer is a moot point. However, insiders had suggested a few options when you face the Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death problem. The Xbox 360 contains four operating quadrants. Each division has got its own red light. The four red lights indicate four different problems.




If the first light is flashing red, then you could unhook all your cables and reattach them. Nine times out of ten, the problem would be solved, since this is a general hardware failure. If the second quadrant light is indicating red, then the problem is simple overheating. Remove the unit from the power supply and allow it to cool for a considerable time before starting the Xbox 360 again.




The red light flashing in the third section is by far the most dangerous. You could try to remove and re-insert all the cables but generally the service center needs to be called. The last situation is the easiest. If all the four lights are flashing red, then it means that the AV cable had not been properly inserted. Just ensure that the AV cable clicks accurately at the back of the console.




There are about 6 major video game systems in the market. They are Play Station 3, PSP, PS2, DS, Wii, and Xbox 360. The maximum number of problems and hardware failures occur in Xbox. Knowledgeable people mention that the product was launched in a hurry to beat Sony, even though the flaws in the design were not rectified. The Xbox Red Ring of Death problem is mainly due to a core digital error in the motherboard. The excessive heat generated on the GPU warps the motherboard around the GPU. The solder joints are stressed in the over heat and start giving up. Due to the cyclic nature of the various games, certain games would cause more heating than others.




Whatever it is, the Xbox Red Ring of Death is a major cause of concern for game lovers, as well as Microsoft. The best option would be to opt for a product from Sony or Nintendo for the time being, till Microsoft comes up with a perfect Xbox. That might be a few years away.


Henry Resic has a blog about the: Xbox 360 Red Ring Of Death Fix where you will find reviews of the best Xbox 360 Repair Guides plus other great Xbox 360 tips.

game download wii: game download wii

game download wii: game download wii

Article Source: www.articlesnatch.com