Making New Friends with Online Multiplayer Games

Multi-player games have been experiencing strong growth in recent years. It does not matter if you are 20 years old or 50 years old – all come together online to interact and have fun.

If you are looking for a new game to join, you will discover that you are spoilt for choice. Some of the more popular games include World of Warcraft, Starcraft, 2029 online, Everquest, and the more recent Evony.

Every player must buy the original CD before he or she can start playing. The activation key is usually found on the CD itself, or at the back of the case cover. All new players are required the enter the activation key before an account can be created. Without the official key, a player cannot log on to the game servers.

MMORPG games have changed greatly, together with the growth of the Internet. CDs and activation keys are no longer strictly required. Bandwidth has increased greatly, and individuals can now download entire games online. Players can now download huge installation files within minutes and install the games on their computers. After successful installation, players can start logging on to play the games.

Game developers have also discovered that they can now bypass the traditional distribution channels. In other words, they do not need brick and mortar stores to help them release a game. The Internet can take care of everything.

The game of Evony is a very good example. No hard purchase is needed to start the game. Through PPC, the game is able to attract millions of players. As no upfront purchase is needed, anyone can register for an account and start playing instantly.

The game continues to be free perpetually. No upgrade is necessary for game play to go on. In other words, the game does not expire. So if players don’t pay upfront to play, how can revenue be generated to support the game?

Money is made by selling additional items to existing game players. To level up quicker, you can always spend real money on virtual items. To remain competitive, you may be forced to spend money to level up. If you don’t start buying, that means you are willing to spend hours of your time in the game trying to level up. You can choose to purchase special items such as weapons. You may also interact with other players and make mutually beneficial trades!

To a game player, whether it’s an account or a character, it takes time to level up. To level up manually means to stay weak for a longer period of time, and more time is needed to become stronger. Very often, players become impatient and start paying to get better and stronger. So they spend more money, in the hope that they can spend less time leveling up.

The better multiplayer gamers are often setup in such a way that the game play encourages players to form alliances. It is not uncommon to see a popular game having hundreds of private guilds. Some are public guilds, where everyone can join, and some are private guilds. The role of the guild is to provide additional support for its members to overcome the challenges in the game. In this way, there is more interaction and playing in a group is certainly more fun and enjoyable!

Top Five Most Addicting Free Online Motorbike Games for the Office Gamer

Eight hours is hard to fill when you are stuck in front of a computer the whole time. There are some things you have to get done. There are some personal responsibilities to catch up on as well. (Like that checkbook, for example.) There are also some things you could be doing that aren’t really that pressing. Things you have come to know as “busy work.”

But the mind needs a break. In fact, a recent study showed that employees who “surf the net” and “goof off at work” actually get more work done because they keep their mind fresh with frequent breaks of something to look forward to that actually energizes them for the major tasks at hand.

Of course, you point your boss to that, and it probably won’t get you very far, but still: you have to stay fresh and sharp when it comes to managing your day. Why not add in a fun time-waster here and there?

One of the most addicting ways to stay on your toes is by adding a dash of online motorbike games to your daily routine. With a variety of stunt bike games and dirt bike games available online ? for free no less ? there are plenty of fun options available to you.

Here are the top five most addicting free online motorbike games for you, the office gamer:

5. Max Dirt Bike Challenge: This game combines many different levels of enjoyable and challenging obstacles into a format of angles and shapes that will keep you going for hours. Part TRON-part Excite-Bike, with advanced graphics than either of those classic games. Best of all, you do not even need to own a system to enjoy its fun, but simple game-play.

4. Ice Bike Mania: With similar game-play to what is featured in the #5 choice, Ice Bike Mania is one of the best dirt bike games out there, or “ice” bike games we should say. Use your quick hand speed and reaction time to perform stunts that will truly take your breath away.

3. Stunt Bike Draw II: Remember how addicting the old game Linerider (and all its follow-ups) have been? Well, with Stunt Bike Draw II, you get a similar concept, but only with much sharper, cleaner cartoon graphics for a ride that draws you in by allowing you to draw in your own courses, and then enjoy the fun (or carnage). Easy to play, difficult to master!

2. Nuclear Bike Tricks: Talk about a magnificent time-waster! Nuclear Bike Tricks gives you a seemingly unending palette of fun with its realistic backgrounds and bike control. The early levels are less challenging and involve much shorter runs, but as you get past the first few screens, your level of stunt bike skills must increase if you hope to keep your wheels.

1. Motocross FMX: One of the best of the bunch, you get realistic backgrounds and biker movement. You must learn how to handle your bike with relation to angle and speed. Plus, there is the added benefit of getting to do midair trick moves to wow your audience and boost your score.

What is the Best 35mm Slide Scanner for Older Slides?

The 35mm slide scanner is a boon for people who were born well before the advent of digital era and have stocks of 35mm slides and negatives stored away in cupboards, garages, attics or under the stairs with lots of memories captured in them. The purpose for doing so is to re-live and commemorate those precious moments again on special occasions and family gatherings. However, that seldom happens and the negatives and slides are left untouched for years. This is mainly because it is just not that easy to recover and set up the 35mm slide projector and the screen. Well, today you don’t have to go through such troubles every time you want to share the forgotten memories with your friends and family.

With the advancement in the technology, you can now very easily resurrect your older slides and negatives by using a 35mm slide scanner. A negative and slide scanner allows you to convert your older slides and negatives into a digital format that can then be stored on your PC. You can easily share these saved files with your friends, relatives and family members in different ways like you can email them, post them on social network sites like Myspace or Facebook, burn them to CDs or DVDs, or just get them printed in different sizes and formats.

So, if you have loads of 35mm slides and negatives, and want to restore them so that you can share them with others then you should get a slide and negative scanner. That brings us to the important question – “What is the best 35mm slide scanner for older slides?”

Well, there are lots of models and brands of slide scanners that are available in the market. Fundamentally, they can be classified in two categories – dedicated slide scanner and multi-purpose flatbed slide scanner. The difference between the two is that the dedicated scanner can only scan slides and films while the flatbed one cannot only scan slides and films but also documents and photos.

Some of the leading brands you can choose from include Cannon, Nikon, HP, Epson, Kodak, Polaroid, Olympus, Microtek, Minolta and Leaf. The scanners from are available in different price ranges from low to high end. However, focusing only on the price and brand won’t help you get the best. You also need to consider the features, quality and the use of product before buying one.

One of the important aspects you need to consider when buying a scanner is the purpose for which you are going to use it. If you simply want to scan the older slides that you have, then a low end product will do. On the other hand, if you are a photographer who takes pictures regularly, then you should opt for a mid-range product. However, if you run a publishing and printing business that requires you to scan huge quantities of films and slides, then you should certainly need a high-end product.

The resolution of the scanner is another thing that you should consider. The higher the resolution is, better the end product will be. The software that comes along the scanners is another important feature that you need to look for. Make sure that it will help you to accomplish your tasks like scanning, storing and editing easily.

Selecting a best 35mm scanner for older slides not only depends on pricing and brand name of the product but also its features and purpose. Go for one that fits in your budget and fulfills your needs.

Brass Model Trains – Extremely Unique

For the ultimate collector “Brass Model Trains” may be the perfect choice. These toy model trains are made of solid brass and henceforth have an artistic quality to them. Due to the nature of the material the craftsmanship and uniqueness of the pieces are outstanding.  However, there is one slight drawback to the Brass Model Trains, the cost. The old saying “you get what you pay for” is not only fact but also the standard. Brass Model Trains are the “Gold” standard of toy model trains. Prices for these trains range upward to $2000 or more and raises the question of are these trains worth collecting. You are about to find out!

It is hard to say what is more important to a collector, appearance or resale value. Brass Model Trains have both. The quality of material, intricate detailing and overall appearance of these models gives the owner pride in the quality of their collection. Some trains in their natural color almost look as if they were made out of gold and that in turn keeps their resale value extremely high.  Due to the craftsmanship, look and cost of these toy model trains they are unique within a unique market. The model train collection market is a small niche but to be a niche within a niche makes the Brass Model Trains extremely rare and unique. Collectors like that aspect. The downside of collecting these unique trains is the cost. They can run more than twice the price of a standard composition train. If a collector wants a vintage brass model train he will pay even more than that since they are extremely rare.

Before you begin delving into these beautiful specimens consider the most important element of collecting brass model trains. Think about brass and how time and weather affects it. Now consider the value of your collection and the time and effort that it will require to properly clean, polish and protect your investment. If for some reason you are not able to give your collection enough care it will begin to turn black and on the other extreme, too much polishing will damage the collection. Caring for these pieces of art is a full time endeavor and requires a lot of work.

For many toy model trains enthusiast realism is the key to their entire collection. To the best of my knowledge there has never been a working locomotive that was made out of brass. So as interesting, valuable and decorative as these pieces are they are not typical of a working train and therefore not realistic. What you may want to consider is adding a piece or two of brass model trains to your collection as basically pieces of art to be showcased in you office or home while using a more traditional approach to your toy model train collection. Of course this really depend on what your purpose in collecting the trains is all about. Many collectors like to purchase sets and pieces that never leave the box and are displayed and traded like commodities while other are more like me in that they prefer to build lavish model train scenery layouts that consist of cities, switching yards, trains stations, mountain, etc.  Brass Model Trains are very unique and it really depends on the collector’s personality and intentions of whether these models will be a good fit. To each his own, as they say.

By the way, I own one and it is proudly displayed in my office!

Matchbox Cars & Hot Wheels as Collectables

Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars flourished as popular toys for decades, and continue to do so. However, in recent years, these die-cast cars have also spurred on a new realm of collecting. Toy collecting has been around for some time and those individuals naturally started to collect toy cars as well. However, there have been many individuals that got their start in, and stayed exclusively in, die-cast toy cars.

                Collecting Matchbox cars and Hot Wheels is something that wide varieties of people have come to enjoy. One of the reasons for this is that most people, especially men, enjoy cars. In fact, some are ecstatic about cars. People’s love for cars naturally draws them to toy cars. People also dream of owning cars well beyond their reach, and while a die-cast car cannot be enjoyed the same way, they allow people to own their dream car. In fact, they could own dozens of dream cars.

                One of the major reasons that collecting Matchbox cars and Hot Wheels became so big is because of the multiple variations of models. This is especially true of older Matchbox cars. In the process of painting a line of cars, if they ran out of paint, they would simply use extra paint left over from another run, often of a different color. This usually meant that only a small portion of that particular model was the second color, and therefore much rarer. As every collector knows, the rarer an item, the more its value goes up. Matchbox was also known, especially early on, to make other slight variations within one run similar to this. These were often due to manufacturing adjustments. There are also cases where factory workers would accidentally apply incorrect elements to the wrong model. These two facts created multiple variations of cars and are often not discovered until years later when someone realizes that their car is different.

Other variations also create rarity. Another very common one is the fact that the same model would be reissued multiple times over the years, usually with changes or improvements. These variations included graphics/paint schemes, wheels (rim style), door & hood lines and even opening parts like hoods and doors. Obviously, the older cars are worth more but occasionally flawed cars are not caught until after some make it to the stores. The numbers of these incorrect cars that make it out, depend on how fast the company catches the mistake.

        Die-cast toy car companies are now also catering to the collectors with special releases and lines of cars. This is especially true of Hot Wheels. They have begun to release a ‘Treasure Hunt’ series that highlights popular past models with new paint jobs, usually chrome in color. This series releases twelve cars per year and occasionally a thirteenth that can only be received through a mail offer and proof of purchasing the other twelve Treasure Hunt models for that year. Hot Wheels also releases cars enclosed in a black blister pack, concealing the car from the buyer. These ‘Mystery Cars’ are often black themselves. One last thing that contributes to collector’s interest is the special edition cats that companies make for their employees as holiday, anniversary or special occasion gifts. It is also important to mention that some collectors are interested in models designed to replicate vehicles from other companies, race cars, farm machinery and many others.