Friday, July 30, 2010

Battle It Out With Players Across The World On Hero Fighter

Battle It Out With Players Across The World On Hero Fighter: "

play fighting games onlineIt is one thing to play a fighting game like Street Fighter where you battle out computerized opponents. In time, you eventually learn the tricks and techniques of the computer, and you can usually conquer the opponent once you get enough practice in. But when you’re playing other real players who, like you, have been practicing their moves and tactics for some time, the level of excitement and competition multiplies.


I used to be a major video game player, until I had a family and then only turned to video games in times of high stress. It is usually now an outlet that I use when I just need to set my work down and forget about the world for a while. So, I was very excited to stumble across a very cool fighting game online this month called Hero Fighter that I could install and play right on my laptop.




We’ve covered a number of places where you can play fighting games online at MakeUseOf before. Simon previously covered three pretty cool games including Manga Fighter for kids, the Lost Saga, and of course the very cool Toribash fighting game. Hero Fighter is a bit different than these in that it’s an arena game with no real plot other than taking out your opponent using whatever means at your disposal. And it’s a very cool way to relieve stress.


online fighting games


Hero Fighter is a desktop download for Windows, and it includes a second add-on “Room Server” that’s packaged up with the install. When you launch the game, you’re presented with the option to either start playing immediately in single-player mode, or you can connect to a network game.


I wanted to warm up a bit, as it’s been quite some time since I’ve had time to play fighting games online. After clicking on the key settings and adjusting them to my preferences, I clicked on Start Game. After setting up myself as player 1 and adding the computer opponent, game play (in easy mode) started up.


play fighting games online


The first thing I noticed about gameplay is the quality of graphics. The background, objects and all of the scenery are well done, and the effects of hitting objects, like logs or rocks, are realistic. I also thought the soundtrack was pretty cool too. After a few swings, the computer apparently got pretty fed up with me and went into a full charge, as you can see here. A couple more swings of my hefty sword and he was down for the count. I was victorious in my very first round, and feeling pretty good about myself.


Feeling pretty confident, I went back to the main menu and chose network mode. Connecting is pretty easy, you just select the official room list first and you’ll see a list of available servers.


online fighting games


I was thinking there wouldn’t be anyone online because it’s so late here, but then glancing at the list I remembered that we’re talking a global gamer world here. There were a few folks online in Hong Kong and Germany – and people coming online and offline constantly. After browsing down the short list of servers available this late at night, I decided to join the folks over in Hong Kong to show them what a western boy is capable of.


A few things that I noticed about network play is that your latency is heavily dependent upon the location of the server you choose – so try to stick to your own country if possible. However, even playing on a Hong Kong server wasn’t too bad. Game play was relatively smooth, even with six players hacking it out against each other.


play fighting games online


The moment I entered the battlefield with these seasoned gamers from Hong Kong, I immediately entered into a charge against an unsuspecting player that had just run off-screen to the lower right. Now, if you look up and to the right of me, there’s this innocent looking red-headed girl holding a huge spear. Well, she wasn’t eyeing me because she thought I was cute. Within about four strides, she was all over me, and within five or six swipes of that spear, I was flat on my back – game over. So much for that!


One thing that I can tell you about this game is that it is easily one of the most addictive network fighting games that I’ve ever played. The controls aren’t overly complicated – it’s basically four directions, guard, attack and jump. The secret is practicing with getting the timing and placement just right. The game is so intuitive and easy to learn, that a few rounds with the computer in single player mode, and before long you’ll be battling out in tournaments as well as the best of them.


Have you ever played Hero Fighter? What do you think of it? Do you play of any other fighting games online that are as good or better? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.



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MouseFIGHTER lets you navigate your desktop with your keyboard instead

MouseFIGHTER lets you navigate your desktop with your keyboard instead: "

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Like to spend as little time as possible mousing around your desktop? Windows has a built-in feature called Mouse Keys which lets you move your pointer by using the numeric keypad, but not every keyboard has one.



If you're using a netbook or laptop without a number pad and you like the sound of Mouse Keys, check out MouseFIGHTER. It's a free program which lets you use the arrow keys to navigate -- I've never seen a keyboard without them, but I'm sure one of our loyal readers can probably tell us about an exception.



Even still, MouseFIGHTER lets you customize keys for directional control and button emulation -- so it can work on ANY keyboard. Acceleration, brake, and jump distance (as a percentage of your screen resolution) can also be tweaked to your preference.



MouseFIGHTER uses the caps lock key to activate keyboard control - either by pressing and holding it or using it as a toggle (again, your choice). When activated, the app changes your pointer's appearance to let you know it's working.



Know another app which you prefer? Share it with us in the comments!


MouseFIGHTER lets you navigate your desktop with your keyboard instead originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Simple Bots: Walker

Simple Bots: Walker: "My goal with Walker Bot was to make a 4-legged walking bot that could be
made in ten minutes. This bot ultimately took me three hours to make.
That said, my goal wasn't to make one in ten minutes, but to make one
that could be made in ten minutes. I am pretty confident that now that
I know what I ...
By: randofo

Continue Reading »"

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Entanglement is an engaging, HTML5-powered Time-Waster

Entanglement is an engaging, HTML5-powered Time-Waster: "

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entanglement

I am really enjoying watching HTML5 come into its own and mature into a full-fledged platform for video, Web apps, and now some games, too. Entanglement is an HTML5-driven puzzle game, and it feels just like Flash.


It's a simple brain teaser. You start with a hexagon in the middle of the board. An orange line comes out of that hexagon and touches another hexagon right next to it. That other hexagon shows several possible paths that the orange line could take, depending on how you connect it. You can rotate the second hexagon using the mouse wheel or arrow keys. Once you hit the space bar or click the mouse button, the orange line 'flows' into it, and the path becomes longer. You now get another hexagon to rotate and connect.


The goal is to make the path as long as you can without going back to the source point, allowing the path to cross itself, or touching the side of the board. My record is 23. Post your (undoubtedly higher) records below!

Entanglement is an engaging, HTML5-powered Time-Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zoundry Raven – Another Good Alternative to Windows Live Writer

Zoundry Raven – Another Good Alternative to Windows Live Writer: "

alternative to windows live writer All blog platforms, such as Blogger and Wordpress, come with their own built-in interfaces for writing new posts. These interfaces work fairly well, but they are ultimately web based interfaces and they can sometimes feel sluggish as a result. These built-in interfaces also can be an issue for people who have multiple blogs. Being forced to log into each individual site in order to make a new post can be very annoying.


The solution to these problems is the use of a blogging client that exists on your computer and acts as a normal program.



A blogging client acts like a word processor, and because it is located on your computer’s hard drive, you can write posts even when offline. Blog clients also make it possible to update multiple blogs through a common interface.


There are many of these programs available, and one of them is Zoundry Raven. Raven is an open-source client, and it supports all of the popular blog formats like Wordpress or Blogger and is a good alternative to popular Windows Live Writer.


Getting Started


Before you can start writing blog posts with Raven you need to set it up for use with your blog. In order to do this you need to click on File in the upper left, then hover over new, and finally click on Blog Account. This will start the new blog wizard.


I’m going to assume that you have a blog. If you don’t, Raven can help you there – clicking on “I don’t have a blog yet” will link you to Blogger.com so you can set one up. Otherwise, you need to enter the URL of your blog and then click Next. Raven will check the URL to make sure that a compatible blog format is being used on that website.


alternative to windows live writer


You’ll next be asked to set up your blog’s account information and enter an account name. You will need to know your username and password for the blog you want to post to and enter it here. Raven will also display the type of blog it detected. If that information does not look correct, click on the drop-down menu besides Site Type and find the right one. Now click Next.


Raven will check to make sure the account information and password you entered is valid, and once complete it will give you a final confirmation screen. If the account information was wrong, check it for accuracy and re-submit. Otherwise, click Finish.


windows live writer alternative


Raven will at this point download all of the image and post data from the blog. Now it is time to start writing.


Writing & Managing Posts


Once you have all of your blog data imported you will see that your blog account is listed in the account manager on the left side of the program. The account manager lets you browse all tags, images, links and posts that make up your blog. Adding a new post will, of course, add a post to this list.


windows live writer alternative


To start a new post you can click on the big Write button at the top of the program. This will open a new window that doesn’t look much different from the window that appears when you write a new email in an email client.


The name of the blog you are writing for will appear in this window (you can actually add more blogs as well, to update multiple blogs at the same time). Below that you will be able to enter the title of the post and also enter in any tags that you want to use.


windows live writer alternative


By default, the Design view will be open. This is a plain-text view of what you are writing. It is converted automatically to XHTML format that the blog you are writing for can use. You can have a look at the XHTML format by pressing the XHTML tab at the bottom of the window. Raven also lets you add images, links, tables, and XHTML tags. As with the text, all media and tags will be converted into a format compatible with the blog platform you use.


The Preview tab actually lets you take a look at how the post will look when it is posted to the blog. To enable this functionality, however, you must designate a template. This can be achieved clicking on Tools in the main Raven window and then clicking on Blog Template Manager. You only need to enter the URL of the blog you want to make a template for – Raven handles the rest.



To publish the blog post you only need to click on the big Publish button at the top of the window. Raven automatically uploads the blog post to your blog, and the post will momentarily appear on your blog’s page. Easy as pie! Actually easier – I haven’t a clue how to make pie.



Media Storage


Raven supports the ability to drag-and-drop files into your posts, including not only images but also non-image files, such as PDF files. These files can then be accessed through links in your blog post. This is a very nice feature that makes sharing information in your blog posts easier, but in order to use it you’ll first need to set up Media Storage.


Media Storage is where the files will actually be kept. Most blogs have some form of media storage by default, but you may want to use an alternative in some cases. For instance, let’s say you want to post images to your blog AND share them on a image sharing service.


alternative to windows live writer


To set up your media storage you need to click the Add Storage button in the main Raven window. This will prompt you to select the type of storage you want and give the storage a name. Raven supports custom FTP storage, Flickr, Image Shack, LiveJournal Scrapbook, Picasa Web Album and Ripway FTP.


Once you’ve set up your media storage you’ll need to make sure that it is enabled. Go to Tools and then click on Account Manager. Click on the account you want to use media storage for and then click on the Media Storage icon. The name of the storage you just set up will be available as an option with a checkbox. If the checkbox isn’t selected, go ahead and select it and then click Apply. You may need to click the override checkbox at the top of the window in order to do this.


Conclusion


Raven is the best blog client I’ve come across so far. It is easy to use and very powerful. It is open source, so hopefully it will continue to grow as developers work on it further and refine its features.


The most popular competition to Zoundry Raven is Windows Live Writer. They share many of the same features, such as ability to preview posts in your blog’s format and the automatic conversion of your post into a format that is compatible with the blog platform you use. But, as an alternative to windows live writer, The Media Storage Wizard is a feature that Raven has but Windows Live Writer does not and, as said, is particularly useful when you want to share files both on your blog and through a sharing or social media website.


Which desktop blogging client do you recommend?

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