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Critter Round-Up

Developer: Epicenter Studios

Release: TBA

No one wants to see alligators dine on penguins–that’s why you have to speedily corral various genera into their own pens. Aptly titled “Animal Panic” in Japan, “Critter Round-Up” requires you to build fences as quickly as possible while avoiding various forms of death–both yours and your animal charges.

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Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King

Developer: Square Enix

Release: May 2008

Square Enix figures you want to live the life of royalty. Unfortunately, there are a lot of chores that come with owning a kingdom. In “My Life as a King,” you play a child ruler who must construct a kingdom in the midst of a desert. It’s more simulation (think “Sim City”) than the action role-playing game that shares its namesake. You’ll have to both manage troops, who are sent off on foraging missions, and build up your ramparts and town center.

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Star Soldier R

Developer: Hudson Soft

Release: TBA

A 3D update of Hudson’s classic “Star Soldier” franchise, this WiiWare title brings a little arcade shooter action (think a seizure-inducing version of “Space Invaders”) to the Wii. The basics: Destroy everything in your path before it destroys you.

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LostWinds

Developer: Frontier Developments

Release: May 2008

WiiWare convinced Frontier Developments to do something a bit different. The developer, known for titles like “RollerCoaster Tycoon” and “Thrillville,” hosts a weekly meeting for employees to bat around game concepts. One chap suggested using wind as a central gameplay element, and “LostWinds” was born. Unlike most character-driven titles, movement in “LostWinds” is limited to the left or right direction. In order to defeat enemies, complete puzzles or leap up to high ledges, you’ll have to use gusts of wind that you’ll direct with the Wiimote.
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Gabe Zichermann has a message for all the companies writing tax software programs: Taxes could be more fun. Every April, millions of Americans plunge into their taxes–why not make it into a game? Taxpayers could compete to, say, find the biggest deductions out there. A leader board could memorialize who pays the most–or the least–taxes.

Zichermann would see things this way. Zichermann is chief executive of rmbr, a gamed-up photo-sharing site. He’s also the most ardent proponent of a concept called funware, the art of slipping game-like elements into everyday activities. “Every single application can be more fun,” declares Zichermann. “Every application can be more gamey, even if it can’t explicitly be a game on its own.”

He’s not alone. Increasingly games are sliding into just about every activity, from exercising to e-mailing.
In Pictures: 10 Games You Want To Win

All it takes is adding a leader board to turn something into a game. It might not be pretty, but awarding points for accomplishing specific goals drives most games. Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) has even used these principles to create a meta game about playing games. Xbox 360’s Achievements award players points for completing game-specific tasks (such as killing three enemies within four seconds in a “Halo 3″ multiplayer bout) that are then totaled and displayed in a gamer’s profile. This Gamerscore acts as a badge of honor–encouraging players to play more of the games they purchase.

Or take “Wii Fit.” Nintendo’s (other-otc: NTDOY.PK - news - people ) fitness gambit barely resembles the games we’re accustomed to playing in arcades or in our living rooms. In fact, the majority of its content is little different than most fitness videos. But through the magic of the Balance Board, a scale that measures both weight and center of gravity, “Wii Fit” can provide feedback, scores and leader boards. Lunges may not necessarily be enjoyable, but the fact that performances are graded and ranked motivates players to improve in order to best the high score.

Justin Hall, chief executive at GameLayers, is busy turning Web surfing into a game. PMOG (Passively Multiplayer Online Game) layers game mechanics–via a Firefox extension–on top of daily browsing activities. Players can scatter booby traps and rewards across the Web, stumble across Web pages annotated with links and notes, or construct trails to favorite sites that entertain or inform the PMOG masses.

“There’s a whole generation of people who know what it’s like to ‘level up,’ ” or earn advanced abilities and titles as they progress through a game, says Hall. “There’s an increasing number of folks who feel excited about playing videogames, and an increasing amount of time [is spent] staring into computer screens. How do you make time on a computer screen exciting?” Translating and distributing bits of games into other systems can motivate folks to work and learn more, he says.

Sports Illustrated’s Nitro-powered high school sports community, Takkle, encourages users to perform certain activities, like inviting friends and uploading photos, by handing out virtual trophies.

Nitro is purposefully designed to boost community involvement, points out Rajat Paharia, who runs Bunchball, a middleware client that helps content providers build “fun” into their sites through leader boards. With Nitro, says Paharia, “we can get them to do more of those things.”

To make the Web addictive–to increase audience engagement, reduce churn and, ultimately, get users to perform certain actions, Bunchball has studied everything from Facebook and Yelp to Pogo, Habbo Hotel, and eBay (nasdaq: EBAY - news - people ) to figure out what drives users to participate and become invested in the sites they visit. From there, Bunchball has devised the basic tool set needed to create a reward system. “We can drive any kind of behavior, not just behavior in games, around any kind of content,” Paharia says.

Zichermann contends there’s a host of activities just ripe for adding a gaming element. If, for instance, Wells Fargo (nyse: WFC - news - people ) wants to appeal to a younger audience and build a more engaged and active user base that would buy more things and sign up for more services, it should create a system that rewards users for every action they take. Each time they opened a checking account, got a mortgage, or referred friends, they’d receive a status boost (for example move from newbie to financial wizard) and earn points that could be traded in for gift certificates. These are the same principles employed by frequent-flier programs.

“Online banking, donating blood or helping the poor in Africa are not associated with being fun,” explains Zichermann. “My question is why not.” Would people give less blood if the process were made more fun?, he posits. “In every other sphere of life it’s clear that if I wrapped it in a game, or made it a game … it would give [people] a better way to do things. It focuses people’s attention on a specific activity; they’ll play it and play it to win.”

Still even game aficionados recognize that there are downsides to attaching points and leader boards to every activity: It’s psychologically manipulative, creates extra burdens users may not want and can even inflict punishments.

Bunchball’s Paharia sees gaming as a tool that needs to be carefully wielded. “If the content isn’t there, no one is going to come,” he says. It’s about enhancing the content you already have; you can’t get away with just building a site laden with game mechanics.

Could there be gaming overload? Hall frets that, if funware becomes too pervasive, we’ll get to the point where there’s such an over saturation of game-like things that they begin to bog down instead of buoy simple tasks.

Of course, having too much fun would be an interesting problem to have.

Source: Forbes

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by Aubin Bryce Date Added: Thursday 22 May, 2008

Yet again another super MP3 car player even better than the last one ordered from your store. I like the large back lit LCD display showing all the track playing details etc. Aubin Bryce Scotland

Rating: 5 of 5 Stars! [5 of 5 Stars!]

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by Keith Date Added: Tuesday 20 May, 2008

These are great, bright lights. i\’m a firefighter and there great for emergency vehicles.

Rating: 5 of 5 Stars! [5 of 5 Stars!]

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by Keith Date Added: Tuesday 20 May, 2008

Great lights if you\’re looking for bright led flashing lights this is the ones. has 2 sweet flash patterns.

Rating: 5 of 5 Stars! [5 of 5 Stars!]

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by walter Gawronski Date Added: Tuesday 20 May, 2008

quite good for the price, good build quality, handy for reading labels etc

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars! [4 of 5 Stars!]

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by GRANT ROBERTSON Date Added: Monday 19 May, 2008

ORDERED THREE OF THESE SUPER LITTLE CLOCKS , IDEAL

GIFT FOR ANYONE WHO LIKES GADGETS ,VERY EFFECTIVE

AT NIGHT WHEN SET TO CHANGE LIGHT MODE ,DIFFERENT

COLOURS CATCH THE EYE, AND BY TOUCHING THE CLOCK

YOU CAN CHANGE THE DISPLAY IE TIME, DATE,ALARM,

TEMPERATURE EASY TO SET UP .TAKES 3 AAA BATTERIES

Rating: 5 of 5 Stars! [5 of 5 Stars!]

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