A Free Web Game Round-Up

© Robert Janelle

Bored surfing the web? Or better yet, bored at work? Here are five free web games to keep you entertained.

The internet is great for many things. An excessive amount of information available at our fingertips, the ability to keep in touch anywhere in the world and of course, lots of distractions to help with procrastination.

The ability to play video games directly in the web browser certainly helps with the latter use. No need to download anything (which is especially useful if downloading happens to blocked on your computer, say at work for example) and they're available on any computer.

With thousands to choose from, here is a list of some of the more interesting interactivity the internet has to offer.

Dark Cut

A note of caution, this one isn't for the feint of heart. There's a LOT of cartoon blood.

In this game, which is sadly far too short, you get to play as a medieval surgeon, dealing with problems ranging from the plague to proper disposal of a vampire.

It's fairly simple (you're guided through everything step-by-step) but entertaining none-the-less, especially when you're reaching for a tray of leaches.

Alter Ego

A note of caution must proceed this "game" as well: Do NOT start this one unless you've got a LOT of free time to spare. It's the polar-opposite of Dark Cut as far as length goes and can be kind of addictive.

The graphic-based Second Life may be all the rage, but this completely text-based game asks the question: "What if you could live your life all over again?"

You play through various life scenarios beginning at birth and ending at death (which can occur at any age, based on your life choices.)

The game is basically a long series of descriptions, followed by choices to make, each one having an effect on the overall game. You can see how the game interprets that choices you'd normally make (or made when you were in those situations) or see what it thinks would happen if you'd done things in a completely different way. This one could easily kill an entire night.

McDonald's Video Game

A glorious newsgame (or as I prefer to call them, interactive editorials,) the McDonald's Video Game puts you in charge of the world's largest fast-food chain.

You need to grow the business by managing at all levels: the farms, the pimply-faced kids working in the restaurants and the boardroom.
The game is fictional, but fun! Annex land for more pastures and bribe politicians for favors, just keep your eye on the bottom line!

Desktop Tower Defense

A strange kind of strategy game. The idea is to make sure no more than 100 monsters make their into your castle by setting up defensive towers, which each have different strengths and weaknesses and cost.

Remember, along with buying more projectile-firing towers, you can also upgrade the ones you already have. Good luck.

Sphere and Crimson Room

Sphere is the sequel to the web-classic Crimson Room, which popularized the "escape from the room" genre of web puzzle games.

These games have you locked in a room and you have to search around for items to solve puzzles, which will eventually allow you to escape.

The annoying thing is, there's rarely any explanation as to just WHY you're trapped in a room.
The trick to these games: Click on EVERYTHING!

These should keep the bored web-surfer busy for sometime. Just don't let your boss catch you

IP e-Games sees growth, consolidation, in RP online gaming

By Erwin OlivaINQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines -- Online game publisher IP e-Games still sees growth in the online gaming market in the Philippines next year. But at the same time, the company expects more consolidation in 2008.
“There's potential for the market to grow double or triple,” Steve Tsao, IP e-Games president, who also stressed that companies that are not making enough money will eventually need to consolidate with other firms.
IP e-Games is a subsidiary of publicly listed firm IPVG. Tsao was invited to talk during the first Asian Gaming Journalists Association workshop held in Taytay, Rizal, Saturday and Sunday.
Citing industry figures, Tsao said that about 23 to 25 percent of the Internet user base in the Philippines is now playing online games. He stressed that the number could become higher next year since growth is now coming from outside Metro Manila and other key cities in the country.
For IP e-Games, Tsao said it has about 5.5 million subscribers to its online games and about 2.5 million active users. It currently has more than 50,000 concurrent users for its various online games in the Philippines.
In 2007, most of the games that were launched in the Philippines have become free-to-play, which means people could play games for free and pay only if they want to buy items and other in-game requirements to "level up" characters.
Citing a Synovate Research done August 2007, most Filipino Internet users today get their access through Internet cafés, especially among the 15 to 29 year-old and non-working users who belong to the D and E economic classes, Tsao said.
He said that the "willingness to pay for broadband Internet" has been evident in areas outside of Metro Manila and other key cities, but getting a decent Internet connection remains a challenge for consumers and even Internet shop owners.
"Growth of the Internet shops should be encouraged," he said.
Tsao stressed that the growth of online games will also depend a lot on more "compelling" content that would encourage more Filipinos to play games online.
Casual online games are emerging as more popular than hardcore massively multiple online role playing games which require a lot of time to play. Tsao said IP e-Games' Audition, for one, has so far attracted about 8,000 concurrent users a month.
IP e-Games is the Philippine publisher of RAN Online, O2 Jam, Audition, Supreme Destiny, Granado Espada, and soon, Hellgate: London.

Pair aim to turn games into cash

By WAYNE TIMMO

A pair of Waikato internet entrepreneurs are hoping a series of online sporting games in which fans compete to lead their team to virtual victory will be a winning business model.
Matthew Scoble and Jeremy Bell launched www.blackoutrugby.com on Saturday after almost two years of development. The site allows members to manage fictional sports teams and players in either weekly friendly, league or cup match competitions. Budding Graham Henrys choose and train players to build a team which a match engine then pits against each other in real-time games played out with text commentary and animated statistics.
Members' pre-match decisions and 16,000 lines of programming code then decide the result play by play. Positions such as age group and even national coaching spots are up for grabs providing armchair managers a chance to try their hand at a World Cup minus elaborate reconditioning programmes and thousands of miles of travel.
The concept is based on UK on-line soccer manager game www.hattrick.org, which has been running for more than a decade and has 940,000 members.
More than 2000 worldwide blackoutrugby members had signed up and begun building teams prior to launch solely through chat in gaming communities. It was hoped to get 4000 members within a few months of launch.
The pair claim it is the most in-depth and fair rugby manager game on the internet.
Members can play for free, with onscreen advertising providing the site with income, or pay $59 for 12 months to receive full player stats and game graphics. Which begs the question, why pay?
"A lot of people who play these games love stats and to get really involved they will want to pay," said Mr Scoble, an avid online sports gaming fan.
Members started paying up in February with no guarantees the game would go live and 50 were subscribers prior to launch.
The pair have trademarked the blackout name and bought numerous related domain names with a view to expanding into other sports, including cricket, and the global appeal of golf and tennis. Super 14 and World Cup versions are also planned.
While Mr Scoble holds down a fulltime telemarketing job, e-commerce graduate and website designer Mr Bell has worked solely on the game due to a weekly stipend from his father, who has bankrolled the project. The pair say the concept would have worked without the comfort of a family investor, although it would have taken longer and been prone to the membership losses of sites that don't fix bugs quickly.

Last-minute ideas: Gadgets and gifts

By Bruce Dancis, McClatchy Newspapers
Like Pinocchio’s nose and Rupert Murdoch’s wallet, DVD boxed sets are growing larger and larger. Last year, consumers were offered mega boxes filled with dozens of discs featuring every episode of particular TV shows — and this season finds more of the same.
Older TV series are getting into the act too. “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” (41 discs, Time Life/Warner, $249.99), the mid- 1960s James Bond-lite series about unlikely spy partners Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum), presents all 105 episodes and nearly 10 hours of bonus features in a fancy silver attache case. (It’s available exclusively online from Time Life at www.manfromuncledvd.com.)
For those on your gift list with discerning comedic taste, the one “must-have” set is “Seinfeld: The Complete Series” (32 discs, Sony, $283.95), a tastefully packaged collection of all 180 episodes of the landmark sitcom. It also includes a 226-page anthology of photos, quotes and trivia; a bonus disc featuring the cast and co-creator Larry David reminiscing about the series; and all the deleted scenes, episode commentaries, bloopers and other bonus features that have appeared on the single-season sets.
Fans of Alex Haley’s work on black history should enjoy “Roots: The Complete Collection” (10 discs, Warner, $119.82), which includes the original, historic “Roots” miniseries, the sequel “Roots: The Next Generations,” the holiday movie “Roots: The Gift,” plus interviews and short documentaries.
For folks who don’t subscribe to pay-cable channels such as HBO and Showtime, gifts of these superior TV shows are highly recommended:
From HBO Video, “The Sopranos: Season 6, Part II” (three discs, $99.98), “The Wire: The Complete Fourth Season” (four discs, $59.99), “Deadwood: The Complete Third Season” (six discs, $99.98), “Rome: The Complete Second Season” (five discs, $99.98) and “Extras: The Complete First Season” and “Extras: The Complete Second Season” (both three discs, $29.98 apiece).
And from Showtime, on Lionsgate DVD, “Weeds — Season Two” (two discs, $39.98). New movie “franchise” boxes available this year include the “Ocean’s Trilogy” (three discs, Warner, $51.82), starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt; the five-film “Harry Potter Limited Edition DVD Giftset” (12 discs, Warner, $119.97), including souvenir bookmarks and trading cards; and “The Jason Bourne Collection” (three discs, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, $49.98), starring Matt Damon in “The Bourne Identity,” The Bourne Supremacy” and this year’s “The Bourne Ultimatum.”
Notable movie directors get their due in “The Coen Brothers Gift Set” (five discs, MGM, $49.98), featuring Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Blood Simple,” “Raising Arizona,” “Millers Crossing,” “Barton Fink” and “Fargo.”
Changing genres, for baseball fans of a righteous nature, “Yankeeography” (12 discs, A&E, $99.95) offers 34 spectacular episodes of New York Yankees history, while those less fortunate — historically speaking — Red Sox fans might be content with “The Boston Red Sox 2007 World Series Collector’s Edition” (eight discs, A&E, $79.95).

Philippine Stock Index Drops 0.5 Percent

© 2007 The Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine shares slumped Tuesday following Wall Street's fall, but the decline was offset by last-minute bargain-hunting inspired by a report that the government posted a large budget surplus in November.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index fell 0.5 percent to 3,470.21 in moderately heavy volume.
"The market remains affected by uncertainties overseas. Some investors, however, have started to focus on our strong local fundamentals," said First Grade Holdings Managing Director Astro del Castillo.
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves reported Tuesday a budget surplus of 54.1 billion pesos in November, substantially higher than target set by government, due to receipts from the sale of state assets.
This has enabled the government to reverse a 10-month deficit of 41.5 billion pesos at the end of October into a surplus of 12.6 billion by the end of November, he said.
Top-traded Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. rose 0.7 percent at 3,000 pesos, while Bank of the Philippine Islands was down 4.2 percent at 57.50 pesos, Ayala Corp. dropped 2.9 percent at 500 pesos.
Losers led gainers 66 to 41, while 59 stocks were unchanged.

Euro, Pound Lower Against US Dollar

© 2007 The Associated Press

FRANKFURT, Germany — The euro and the pound both drifted lower against the U.S. dollar Tuesday after new data showed that the U.S. trade deficit fell to its lowest point in two years.
In morning European trading, the euro bought US$1.4395, down slightly from US$1.4398 on Monday in New York. The British pound drifted lower to US$2.0201 from US$2.0213, while the dollar edged higher to 113.09 Japanese yen from 113.02 yen.
The euro was lower after the U.S. Commerce Department reported Monday that the current account trade deficit fell by 5.5 percent to US$178.5 billion in the July-September quarter. That was a better-than-expected showing and the smallest current account imbalance since a US$173.4 billion deficit in the third quarter of 2005.

Market Spotlight: Chinese Online Gaming

By RACHEL METZ AP Business Writer

NEW YORK — Fueled by rising Internet access and an increasingly diverse user base, the Chinese online gaming market is booming, and analysts think steady growth will keep it healthy for years to come.
About 43 million to 45 million people currently play multiplayer online games in China, said Pali Capital analyst Tian X. Hou.
These make up the vast majority of China's online gaming space, while casual games, which are more individual-focused and simpler, make up the rest.
Revenue from online multiplayer games has grown over 25 percent annually in the past few years, Hou said, and the games are on track to bring in $1 billion in China this year.
Andrey Glukhov, an analyst with Brean Murray Carret & Co., thinks China's total online gaming market could grow to about $2 billion by 2010.
"The established players in this market generate very, very, very nice cash flows," Glukhov said.
Companies _ some of whom license and run games, some of whom develop and run their own, and some of whom do all three _ are also betting growth will continue. Since July, Chinese online gaming companies Perfect World Co. Ltd. and Giant Interactive Group Inc. have joined a swelling crop of companies like The9 Ltd. and Netease.com Inc. that are trading publicly in the U.S.
The number of games has risen, too, and Susquehanna Financial analyst C. Ming Zhao said those developed in the country have started to dominate.
"The imported games, their market share is smaller and smaller," Zhao said.
There are plenty of potential customers in China to stoke this growth. According to Hou, a little less than 12 percent of people in China have stable Internet access, but she and others expect this number will rise and more consumers will join the fray.
Analysts attribute online gaming's rise in China to other factors as well, citing a lack of entertainment options and a culture that values group entertainment and mental challenges.
The relative cost of these games is also a factor, even as disposable income is growing in China. Many Chinese operators run free-to-play games, which mean users pay for things like items within a game that enhance and expand the experience. A user might spend $40 on a year's worth of online gaming, Hou said, rather than spending hundreds on a console system and games to go with it.
"From a cost and benefit point of view, online games have a better payoff," she said.
And while online game companies still have plenty of room to grow in China, many of these companies are expanding outside the country as well.
One aiming at the U.S. market is CDC Corp.'s online gaming business, CDC Games, which launched CDC Games USA in August.
Hou thinks American entertainment and gaming companies would be well-served by cooperating with Chinese gaming companies.
Referring to companies like Netease and Giant Interactive, Hou said, "we should really expect them to come to the U.S. one day."