Where Are the Wild West Games?

Gun, Red Dead Revolver, and the Wild Arms games. These are the only half-decent Wild West themed games that have come out in the past decade. I give Wild Arms credit for having such a long running RPG series, I even enjoy my copy of Wild Arms 3, but when I think of the Wild West, I don't picture cell-shaded anime characters shooting goblins in the face with snipers and shotguns. I like the Wild Arms series, don't get me wrong, it just isn't the type genre of the Wild West that I'd like to see more of.

The 1800's in America were a time of exploration and adventure, where everyday people weathered the elements, the treacherous landscape, and the wild animals to catch a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean or make their fortune in gold. Nowadays, sand box games are all the rage and so an open ended Wild West game seems doable; just picture Nikko from GTA4 on a horse instead of a car and using a six shooter instead of a rocket launcher.

It surprises me a little that we aren't flooded with every Western-style game imaginable like we were with Western movies. Ask anyone if they've ever heard of John Wayne or Clint Eastwood and after they ask what you're doing in their house, they'll probably say yes. The simple answer is that we don't see more wild west games is because Japan has the most say in what types of games are to be developed and since their history is much different than ours, we see more samurais and ninjas than we do cowboys.

Don't get me wrong, I like exploring fictional video game lands like Filgaia and whatever the name of the world is from the Final Fantasy games, but it would be a breath of fresh air and much more interesting to have landscapes in games modeled to look like realistic locations. Nothing would be more exciting than to explore the pre-settled territories of the American West and ride off into the sunset like we see so many heroes do in movies; or recognize a landmark in a game that you've actually seen in real life.

Thanks to advancements in open sourced technology, gamers are given the driver's seat when it comes to what they want in video game. Maybe in the future we'll see more games that seek to satisfy the restless American spirit that we all seem to have because, I don't know about you, but Oregon Trail just doesn't seem to cut it.

My name is Brendan and I am a senior at the University at North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I enjoy writing articles to improve my writing, pad my resume, and give my advice and feedback on different topics. Check out my website to find more of my stuff at http://brendanigan.com

Time.com - As Indian authorities secured the hostage sites, residents of the country's financial center ponder the effects of the attacks

Disco Technology Through the Ages

Diamond Disco has been around in the form of a Mobile Disco in Cornwall since the 70's.

It's owner has seen a lot of changes within that time. Starting out with the old Citronic Hawaii twin decks, that played the old 45's with usually a two pence piece on the stylus because someone clever on the dance floor had worked out where the loose floor board was on the dance floor, and used it to such creativity, making the record jump in time with the music. Then we done some modifications to the "decks" with some thick foam underneath to absorb the vibrations, and I must say that worked fairly well.

Fast forwarding to the mid 1990's saw the transition from vinyl to "mini disc" It was decided that that was the way technology was going and at that time the only way to record all your vinyl records (there were thousands) was on to a stand alone mini disc player. So then Mr Smarty pants could jump up and down on the loose floorboards as much as he liked. This was about a year or two before the recordable C.D. player "doh".

Jumping right up to the present day and for the last two years now I have been using MP 3's from my "laptop". The old mini disc player has gone to Ebay heaven along time since, and I have at last found the easiest system for finding the title of a song in my extensive record collection No more breaking my back trawling through C.D. upon C.D. I am right where the action is up and centre, so there is no excuse not to comment on Aunty Betty doing the "conga" on her own and desperately looking for any poor passer by to join her.

"Good Stuff" technology, I love it.

David Carne
owner and DJ of a Mobile Disco in Cornwall
http://diamonddisco.biz

AP - Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his wife Rivkah had no fear when they embarked on their mission to open a Jewish center in the Indian city of Mumbai, her brother said Saturday night as relatives in Israel prepared to bury the couple slain in a three-day terror spree.

How Do I Become a Xbox Beta Tester - 4 Steps to Testing Success

Are you one of the many gamers out there asking: how do i become a xbox beta tester? Yes? Then you're in luck, as you're about to discover the 4 simple steps that could have you testing video games on the xbox 360 by the end of this week!

Step 1: Be Serious

If you just want to test video games on the weekends for a little extra cash, game testing probably isn't going to work out for you. Although possible, being a "hobby" game tester isn't usually all that successful. Why not? Because of the "part time" limitation that you've set for yourself.

Being unavailable to test games is a huge drawback when it comes to game testing. If you're not available when a company first needs you, then you're not available at all -- it's as simple as that. In light of that unfortunate fact, be ready and willing WHENEVER a developer or gaming company beckons you. As a new xbox beta tester, you can't afford to be picky, lazy, or busy.

Step 2: Get Your Head Out Of The Paper

Stop looking in the paper for xbox game tester jobs; you won't find them. The nation wide "game tester" pool is plentiful, meaning game developers have no need to advertise their need for game testers -- the testers come to them. That being said, throw away that newspaper and start heading straight to the companies.

Send in your resume/application via e-mail, snail mail, fax, telegram, you name it; just make sure it gets to the game developer. The more gaming companies that have your resume/application, the better your chances are of getting that "You've Just Been Hired!" phone call.

Step 3: Offer to Test for Free

You might not think it to be a good idea, but free video game testing is an effective way to meet the right people; not to mention build up a collection of references.

Developers and gaming companies hate to spend more on a games creation than absolutely necessary. That means if they can save a few bucks by getting a couple of testers to test their game for free, they're going to jump on the offer in a heartbeat. By testing a game free of charge for a company one week, you might just find that you're a paid employee of that game company the next.

Step 4: Learn From The Masters

Learning how to become a successful video game tester all on your own can be tough; especially when you don't have a clue about where to start. For that reason, most aspiring young xbox game testers use the website http://Gamer-Testing-Ground.com to help themselves find high-paying testing jobs. Not only does the website teach gamers how to be better testers, but it also tells them which gaming companies are currently hiring and how to get in touch with those companies! It truly is the best resource for video game testers everywhere.

AP - Two months ago, federal food regulators said they were unable to set a safety threshold for the industrial chemical melamine in baby formula. Now, however, they found a way to settle on a standard that allows for higher levels than those found in U.S.-made batches of the product.

Electronic Discovery Services

Electronic discovery is the process of locating and retrieving electronic data. These days, every company is storing its important information in the electronic format, in devices like CD ROMs, DVDs, hard disks, floppy disks, and others. Data is also being sent across the world in electronic formats via e-mail or Internet because of the speed and cost-effectiveness. However, this may cause some of the data to be lost or altered. Electronic discovery enables the retrieval of such electronic data from the vast amounts of data available. Another important application of electronic discovery is in litigation or lawsuits. Electronic discovery can even bring out electronic evidence that has been tampered with.

There are many companies today that are offering electronic discovery services. The electronic document discovery market was worth $1.3 billion in 2004. Electronic discovery involves the use of certain software tools and technologies for data recovery. These tools make data discovery not only extremely fast, but also efficient and cheap. These companies offer comprehensive packages of all kinds of data management and discovery tools. These include e-mail analytical tools, search and filtering tools, review and redaction tools, task assignment and case management capabilities, and concept folders for easy tagging and storage of documents. These make data gathering, media restoration, data processing, document production and reporting more efficient. Some specific electronic discovery services include evidence collection and processing services.

Most electronic discovery services are specially designed for attorneys and law firms, since they are the most common potential users of this technology. Some companies have data discovery capacities of over 5 million pages per day. Most of the services are custom designed as per the requirements of the client. Some of the top providers of electronic discovery services are: Biscayne Professional Associates, Bowne Litigation Solutions, Cricket Technologies, Emag Solutions, Daticon, Electronic Evidence Discovery Inc., Kroll Ontrack Inc., Renew Data Corp, Universal Document Solutions, ZANTAZ Inc, Applied Discovery Inc., Fios Inc., Ibis Consulting, KPMG and SPI Litigation Direct.

Electronic Discovery provides detailed information on Electronic Discovery, Electronic Evidence Discovery, Electronic Data Discovery, Electronic Discovery Software and more. Electronic Discovery is affiliated with Electronic Component Distributors.

SPACE.com - Every once in a while, something will appear in the night sky that will attract the attention of even those who normally don't bother looking up. It's likely to be that way on Monday evening, Dec. 1.