Section: Gaming News, Features, Lists

Haven’t caught all of the Gamertell news this week?  Here’s your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles!

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Section: Gaming News, Originals, PCs, Linux, Mac, Windows, PCs-Other, Ads & Media, Print, Web, Genres, Educational, MMO, Sim

The cover story for the most recent issue of the Kent State University alumni magazine (Kent State Magazine, Vol. 8, Issue 3, Spring 2009) highlights the efforts of several professors using Second Life as an educational tool.

Although a feature story about Second Life might seem, “Like, so two years ago,“ this is a prime example of how video games can be used to contribute to society and bring together a world community.

Titled “Get a Second Life,“ the article features Pamela R. Mitchell, an associate professor of speech pathology and audiology in the College of Education, Health and Human Services; Steve Zapytowski, professor of design and technology in the School of Theatre and Dance; and Dr. Patricia Book, co-leader of the group Digital Game-Based Learning Community and vice president for regional development.

The University’s SL efforts include online courses, field trips and “live” online performances all as an effort to provide game-based learning.

The virtual world performances by The Kent Second Life Ensemble, which includes Zapytowski, an assistant professor and twelve students, utilize microphones for live in-world performances along with specialized lighting scripts. For rehearsals and performances, Zapytowskiin constructed the Obrádlan Síorai theater within Second Life.

Likewise, Mitchell was able to get a grant to buy land and resources to create a virtual classroom where she teachers her Communication Modalities and Assistive Technology and Research Methods classes within Second Life.

The article also includes links to photos of the professors and students (both real world and within Second Life), instructions for joining the KSU Second Life island community and a couple links to SL help site.

Read [Kent State Magazine]

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Need a CMS without a bunch of drama?

Hate having to deal with installing databases?

Cushy CMS makes handling mostly static websites a bit simpler for you and clients by adding an interface between the user and the HTML. By adding the Cushy class into the HTML of the page, you make it a little bit easier to go in and edit pieces of the site without it being completely hosed.

Of course this comes at a price the interface is Cushy branded until you fork over $28 bucks a month. This fact is quite odd considering the market. If you have enough clients to justify that, then you probably don’t need it.

Anywho… here is a video.

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Section: Gaming News, PCs, Windows, Game-Companies, Developers, Genres, 3D, Action, Adventure

Adventure horror fans will be able to get a great deal in February, since Paradox Interactive is going to be releasing the Penumbra Collection. You get Penumbra Overture, the first game in the series, Penumbra: Black Plague and Black Plague‘s expansion, Penumbra: Requiem. If the Amazon‘s listing is any indication the game collection will be out February 17, 2009 for $19.99

If you’ve never played the games, they’re nicely done and very creepy, without being overly violent. Both Overture and Black Plague are essentially adventure games with action and horror elements, and you’re gradually moving through each entry, discovering the truth about the environments and characters. Penumbra: Requiem is actually more of a survival, horror, puzzle game, where Phillip has to escape from a tomb/maze by finding keys and reaching the exit.

All three games star a physicist named Phillip who suddenly discovers after his mother dies that his father left them and didn’t die. Without revealing too much of the story here, Phillip goes to Greenland to discover the truth about his father and gets caught up with a mysterious organization’s plot. For the budget price of $19.99, the games may be worth checking out. Especially if you enjoyed games like Silent Hill, BioShock and Portal – since the Penumbra games have some similar elements.

Read [Monstervine] Product Page [Amazon]

Full Story » | Written by Jenni Lada for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

This is a cool little product to come out of CES…I think I’ll see how much one is so I can finally put that computer under the kitchen cabnet.

At CES, Asus unveiled a full-sized keyboard with a PC built in. The PC’s desktop can be viewed from the 5-inch interactive display on the keyboard’s right side. The display can also operate media controls in addition to displaying a Windows desktop. The Asus Eee keyboard, named after the company’s line of netbook products, features an Atom processor, USB and video ports, an HDMI port to connect to your HDTV, Wi-Fi, and a solid state drive.

Right now the battery only lasts 90 minutes, but the company plans to up that to 3 hours by the time the device is available for sale. At the moment, the keyboard is just a prototype, but the company plans to release it in September.

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I recently recieved a new laptop for work, it’s a Sony Vaio.  The design is a lot like the mac’s – silver with big-ish trackpad.  The keyboard is recessed with separated, “chiclets” keyboard buttons – they work pretty nice.

I really like the super wide screen 16.4 diagonal with 16:9 aspect ratio.  It’s really more like the size of a 17″ computer, but a bit shorter.  I like it – really wide.

I’m running Vista Ultimate, which seems really nice, it tends to be a bit finiky about the video driver.  It shouldn’t – but I guess this laptop is not really compatible with Vista Ultimate.

Other than that – the blu-ray is very cool.  The fit and finishis probably the best.

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Section: Features, Gift Guide, PCs, Windows, Game-Companies, Distributors, Genres, 3D, Action, Adventure, FPS, Shooter, Role-Playing, Strategy

If you’re friends or family of a gamer who is big on PC gaming, you’re probably wondering what to get them for Christmas or their next birthday if it’s coming up. For those with the Steam client, there are always different sales, new releases and package deals that would help out your gamer’s repertoire.

Here are some ideas for the last minute shopper who doesn’t want to contend with the crowds in stores.

Strategy

There are a few options for the fans of the strategy genre on Steam. Some of the biggest games in the genre that you can get in ease are Defense Grid: The Awakening. The game costs $19.99 and is a more graphically appeasing of the normal castle defense flash games. Few strategy games actually have much in the way of replayability, but with the various modes and main storyline the replayability for this game is high. Some other things that are worthwhile at Steam are World in Conflict (a $29.99 strategy gaming rendition of Red Dawn), Dawn of War with all the expansions (DoW Platinum Edition $29.99 and Soulstorm for $29.99) and the complete pack for Civilization IV (One game and two expansions for $59.99). There are still other big names but these are just some examples.

Action/Adventure

If your gamer is a fan of action there are many different options. One of the main things they are currently advertising is a Rainbow 6 collection. This includes Rainbow 6 3: Gold Edition, Rainbow 6: Lockdown, Rainbow 6: Las Vegas and Rainbow 6: Las Vegas 2. This pack is going for $49.99 for all four games. It’s definitely something for the people who are a bit behind on the gaming times. For the action/adventure junkie who leans towards the darker side of life (or death) Steam also has Silent Hill Homecoming in its catalog. The game is still offered at its standard price for the other consoles but for the people without either of consoles this Silent Hill take on Jacob’s Ladder. Silent Hill Homecoming costs $49.99. These are just examples though there is a lot that can be done.

RPG

There isn’t much in the way of options. You have the option of games like Hinterland, Mount & Blade, Bioshock and other such games that blend the various lines between genres. Hinterland is part roleplaying game and part strategy game. Mount & Blade is a mostly horseback RPG that has some strategy aspects to it. Bioshock is partially survival horror and RPG while being a FPS game. Each games in the RPG section of the store runs anywhere between $19.99-49.99.

Developer Packages

Steam also offers quite a few different packages for gamers that cover everything that a developer might have realized that’s in the Steam stores. These usually run around $99 even though outside of Steam it would normally cost over $200. To give you some perspective, if you get the Valve complete pack, you get 22 games (including all things solid with Half Life and Half Life 2) that would normally cost you $239.81. On Steam it costs $99.99, not including tax. Another example is the THQ Collector’s Pack, which comes with 12 games (including S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl, Full Spectrum Warrior and others), would normally cost you $229.88 but Steam sells it for $99.99. One of the biggest deals that you would find on Steam is if someone gets the Eidos Collector’s Pack which runs for $99.99 but elsewhere would normally cost about $389.80.

Site [Steam Store]

Full Story » | Written by Jonathan Gronli for Gamertell. | Comment on this Article »

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