How Video Games Could Help Your Business

 I know what you're thinking "how could video games ever benefit me in anyway, let alone help my business", firstly I don't want to give the false impression that by staying home all day and playing video games your business will skyrocket, it won't, hard work and dedication is the only formula for that my friends. However I do want to examine the benefits of playing video games, and show the translation of these benefits into our fine world of business.

Social Networking

Online multiplayer games are huge; it is the most played game type in the world. Meaning that aside from youths calling you derogatory terms for homosexuals and claiming to have performed certain acts on your mother, there are some genuine links to be made. Given the magnitude of the online community, it is likely that you will encounter potential business associates and clients on your time playing online; however it will be difficult to build a rapport with someone on first person shooter type games, stick to strategic games, for example league of legends. This strategy based game encourages you to talk tactics with fellow players to help win games, making it a very easy platform to meet people.

Decision Making

In the fast paced war zone of Afghanistan there is no time to hesitate, either you pull the trigger first or die. Now this anecdote may only be referring to a virtual war zone, where you don't actually die but it is regularly being in these pressure situations which exercise the brain into comfort when faced with similar circumstances. In game you will be faced to face with an opponent where if you do not make the first move you will die, in these situation there is no time to think,just react. Crossover into the workplace, your company is downsizing and you need to let an employee go, you're torn between two employees at this point it is beyond thought and has reached instinct.

Longevity of life

A study from the University of Iowa has states that playing a brain-teasing game for just two hours a week may help slow the degree of mental decay associated with the natural aging process. I really do not know how I could link this in with the business world, think of it this way, your business is probably better off with you not dead, right?

Pain Relief

In 2010 a research found that patients who had been undergoing chemotherapy reported less pain when immersed in virtual world. The same study shows that this does not only apply to chronic illnesses, sufferers of minor and injuries and stress also saw a decrease when pain levels when playing video games. The proverb peace of body peace of mind, is not just proverbial, it is a fact, we are only able to function to our full potential when our body and mind are at ease.

Why Today's Games Require More Power and Hard Drive Capacity

 Over the last few years PC gaming has come a long way. As a serious gamer you need to buy a good prebuilt or custom build your own high performance desktop gaming computer optimized for the newest games. You need a powerful custom PC With the graphics capabilities, processing speeds and memory required for today's fast paced, large and visually mind blowing games. Non-gaming computers lack the necessary components. This creates a low fps, causing games to lag, glitch and for graphics to not be as sharp. When information isn't able to accessed quickly it causes today's games to not as load or update as fast and for game play to lag. Not that but it will also cause your computer to run hotter, causing you to spend more money on fans and cooling devices. This is why it is important that you have a high crisp. The last thing you want is for character to glitch out in the middle of an important game.

Up until fairly recently the main things people looked for in a gaming PC was huge graphics cards and tons of memory. Those things are still important however, over the past couple years CPU performance has become more and more important. In the past games were smaller, had fewer graphics and not as much information getting accessed from the hard drive. They simply weren't the CPU hogs that today's games are. Instead of games being 2gigs today's games are 16-20gigs. Information constantly needs to be accessed from the hard drive end processor, hard drive and the front side buss to carry everything for game play to run smoothly.

When deciding on a processor we recommend Intel's Core i7-4770K processor. The Intel Core i7-4770K is Intel's latest Haswell based quad core processor with a stock clock of 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo), 8MB of L3 cache, hyper-threading support, and an unlocked multiplier for overclocking as well. It's the flagship mainstream desktop PC CPU for Intel and it's a good value. This processor is not only great for today's games, but unlike other processors will carry you for years to come. With the release of DICE's latest game, Battlefield 4 was able to take advantage of up to 6 threads when played on a system that has the capability. On the other hand, when using an Intel Core i5-3570K, Battlefield 4 was eating up near 100% CPU utilization. Both the Intel Core i5-3570K and the Intel Core i7-4770K are quad core CPUs, the difference between the two is that the Intel Core i7-4770K includes Hyper-Threading, which doubles the amount of threads on the CPU from 4 (1 per physical core) to 8 (2 per physical core). While this doesn't bring a full 100% improvement in performance in multi-threaded applications, it can improve performance ~30%, which will be become important as games continue to get bigger and bigger.

For hard drives we recommend the Kingston V300 120GB Solid State. A solid-state drive is something that has no moving parts, and is just stupid fast. I've noticed so much of a speed increase on my computer since changing over to the Kingston SSD. Programs that use a lot of data, like my Fritz Chess program are just lightning fast compared to what they were on a regular drive. Many of you have asked 'how is game performance on an SSD?". Of course it's faster and better! When you copy your game data over to your drive, you know that it's going to have to read the information. The faster the read time - the more responsive the game is going to be. Game response on an SSD is great to phenomenal. With SATA being in its third generation, running 6 gigabits per second, your information is lighting fast. When you're gaming, you want to keep rolling... so remember CPU performance is hugely important for today's gamer. Do yourself a favor and make sure you get a PC with an SSD and Intel Core i7-4770K.

New Gamers: Tips for Getting Started

 When people start out with gaming, they might not want to tell other people that they have started gaming because they don't want to feel stupid about not being so good on the consoles.

They might start playing a game and start chatting to their friends about it, but the friend knows a lot about the game and they make comments about how slow their progress it. This could lead the new gamer to quit and stop playing the games.

If this sounds like you and you want to start out with gaming, then you should read further into this article, for some tips on how to become a great gamer.

Pick a Console

This year, the two new major consoles have been released - Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. You might be tempted to just run out and buy both but think about what you can use them for.

One is more a complete entertainment machine and the other is aimed at gamers with better graphics. If you buy them both and you don't like gaming, you can re-sell them but you will lose money on them.

You might be better starting out with the one that can be used as a full entertainment system and then you will get some use out of it, even if you don't use it for gaming.

Social Networks

Once you have made a player profile on your console, have your gamer tag listed on your social networks and your current friends will add you. They will already know that you are a beginner and they are more likely to help rather than ridicule.

Practice Makes Perfect

Once you have bought a game and you have played it a few times, you will start to learn the controls and have a better idea of what you are supposed to do. You will start to notice a change in the way that you are thinking. For example, if you are starting out with Dead Rising 3, when you first play it, you will follow the story and run around killing zombies.

But, you will start to notice that you can pick up things on the way that will benefit you. These things might be food for energy or new weapons, or you might even jump in a car so that you don't have to run everywhere. You will think about surviving in the game and not just running around wondering where you are supposed to be going.

Stuck?

There might come a time when you are stuck and you have no idea how to get further on in the game. If this happens to you, then you should not worry; there are options that you can take.

In the old days, you would just have to figure it out, but with advances in technology, you can search for solutions on the Internet and even watch walk-through videos on YouTube. Once you have played more games, you will find that you will figure more things out and you won't have to go looking for help as much.

Play Online

Once you have played some games and you feel a bit more secure about your ability, you should start playing online against other players. This is a brilliant way to make friends and gaming will become more of a social activity.

Em L Rafferty is a blogger and she writes about her life at NerdAsylum [http://nerdasylum.net] If you liked this article you should visit her website at NerdAsylum for more great articles.

Steps to Become a Video Game Designer

 1. Be passionate!

Passion takes people far and if passion can be transparent in the work produced then skill becomes secondary. Employers look for people that know games inside and out.

2. Be a problem solver

There is a lot of potential for something to go wrong in video games like bugs and dysfunctions and employers absolutely need someone who are quick on their feet and comes up with solutions.

3. Keep up with the fast pace

The game industry works at a rapid pace. Although patience is required it is also very important to be efficient and meet deadlines.

4. Get the proper training

People cannot expect to work as a designer without the proper education in the field. There is very specific training that is involved with designing video games and most of it can be learned in school specialized in game design. Becoming educated about the industry and how the process works will be help people translate their knowledge and apply that to real world applications.

5. Gain experience

Knowledge is definitely important in any industry but what is most important is applying the knowledge to real world applications. To become a video game designer it is vital to apply the skills to test design capabilities and get more familiar with programs and applications. This can be done through internships or jobs where shadowing someone with more experience. Self teaching applications and doing projects for fun will also be good practice and add to the portfolio. Use websites and resources to take in as much knowledge as possible.

6. Build Portfolio

Create a killer portfolio and resume to be the best candidate for the dream position. The resume should include creative, marketing and business skills used for games that have been designed. Explain the game genre, target demographic, marketing hooks and business model for the games. Compile the work produced through schooling, personal endeavors, and professional experience in an online and print portfolio to showcase the work.

What will make you stand out?

Be able to communicate your design in a simple way, both verbally and in writing. Understand core game loops and break them down. Have the knowledge to explain exactly what makes a game fun. It is vital to understand disciplines you might work with. Be able to adapt to limited resources, time and budget. Most importantly, be excited about games and your work. Translate passion in anything and everything related to games.