Battleship Midway

Midway is a real-time 3D tactical strategy game that adapts the naval battles of the Second World War. It introduces how the naval warfare changed during WW2 from the early memory of Battle of Jutland (The greatest naval battle of the First World War. Jutland had all the ingredients to be a great British naval victory, but in the event the result was much less clear-cut) which were to be the forerunners of modern carriers. Midway can be played on Xbox 360 and PC, the game takes place from the time the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, and the Battle of Midway the following June. The story plays out as seen through the eyes of Naval recruit Henry Walker, as he is promoted in rank during the Pacific Theatre while fighting the naval battle against the Japanese.

Midway is not a visually stunning game but I think the graphics are very acceptable and the game moves along with a smooth even flow even in large complex battles which is something we can all appreciate. Audio wise the sounds sound true to life, or rather I should say true to what you would expect after watching the WWII movies about these battles.

There are around a dozen missions that will take Walker from the Day of Infamy on the Hawaiian island of Oahu as a PT boat gunner, to commander of a small fleet of US Navy ships. Gameplay focuses on the wider scale of the battles, by following the progression of the war in the Pacific through Henry's eyes, injecting a personal angle into the game play of sea-based conflicts. It's a way of giving the game a more personal feel which helps you develop a more realistic experience for the game as it moves on.

This strategy action game stands out for a number of reasons, because of its ability to create a tense and busy battlefield at what is ultimately a sedate pace of gaming at least in the first stages of the game as it builds to the full scale sea battles that you will face. Just like the real battles it is much like a game of chess or Battleships, where in some of the later missions players command ports, airfields, and an entire naval fleet of units, positioning your units and being prepared for action. This may not be ideal for everybody, but it's the patient build up and positioning of your units before launching batteries of artillery, torpedoes, and AA flak against enemy units that gives Midway an edge.

Don't be fooled as the game starts at a trivial pace, it are not long before you find it rising pretty sharply. The first few missions are straightforward and you may well complete them on the first go, and they can also be accomplished in quick succession, making the inevitable steep learning curve several levels in, all the more dramatic. Midway does balance the frustration and humiliation of defeat with the desire to give it another shot very well. Even when you get blown out of the water the first couple of minutes for the tenth time something that will happen, there's this pull to coming up with a better strategy to guarantee your success a strategy that seems to be working fine until you realize that it has in fact guarantees another defeat. You soon become determined to win the day and prevail, and after a few miss calculations, even the toughest missions can prove to be attainable.

As the player you have the option to take direct control of any single unit, or take command of the fleet like an armchair Naval Commander, you will be issuing commands to the entire force. A full-screen map, stylized to resemble a naval map, offers players a bird's eye view of the battlefield, displaying the positions of all known units. From here, it's seems easy to issue orders to engage with specific enemy forces, or you can jump into a unit to take direct control. As some of the more massive attacks on the Japanese war machine take place it becomes difficult to find a required unit. With so many units under the player's control, the map can quickly become cluttered with everything from PT boats and Landing Crafts, to Aircraft Carriers and B-17 Bombers, that results in it becoming even more difficult to see find and utilize your units affectively. The interface could also be improved for issuing orders from the Navy's ports, aircraft carriers, and airfields as I believe that many a commander was wanting during the actual conflict. For instance, if a B-17 Flying Fortress has dropped its payload, and is holding its position, there's nothing to distinguish it on the airfield interface from a second squadron of B-17s that hasn't dropped its bombs both units are displayed with an In flight symbol, making it difficult to choose the correct squadron to call on.

But it's not even the creation and execution of a strategy that sometimes makes Midway a deceivingly manic game to play. The numerous ships that form the US naval fleet, have their own damage systems much like in true life, you will have to keep track and balance them. Water, fire, and the loss of maneuvering and weapon systems can quickly spell the end of the mission if they're not carefully looked after, which can lead to frantic jumps between the action and the damage control screens, as you desperately try to priorities the ship's repairs. If your strategy sinks faster than a damaged submarine, then the sedate action of the Pacific War will all too quickly become crazy, as you find your self jumping from besieged vessel to besieged vessel, trying to assigning repair tasks to engineers and crews before you loose another unit.

Midway will put you in the intense action with the epic, large-scale naval combat and brings to life the great Pacific battles of World War II experience it for yourself.

Video Gaming can be a relaxing yet exciting way to spend some time with family and friends, Stop by and check out some great deals and find the latest information on new games and products at the following sites.

RR Smith
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Getting Videos Off YouTube the Easy Way

YouTube and Google videos have changed the way we use the internet and have changed the way we view content and entertainment as well with many other sites using streaming video for their own purposes and creating a whole generation that has turned away from television in absolute droves! The only problem is we are also a mobile generation with our iPods, complicated cell phones, PDAs and laptops where we demand access to what we need quickly. Until the internet is available quickly and cheaply from our mobile devices being able to have our own copy of videos is very important for our lifestyle but is getting videos off YouTube possible?

The answer is yes though YouTube does not make this easy. YouTube uses a version of macromedia flash files called FLV files which are embedded into the page in a way that tries to stop people downloading the videos for reasons of their own (they want more traffic to make money from advertising). This code is not impossible to crack but the average internet user will find it very difficult unless you are very tech savvy and even they it becomes quite a task for each video making even the geekiest of us question if there is an easier way of getting videos off YouTube.

Luckily some of these tech savvy geeks have decided to make an easier way of getting videos off YouTube that involves just a single click! With this technology you can get your favorite videos on your computer, convert them to any format for viewing on mobile devices, to make presentations without a net connection and to grab any videos before YouTube takes them down also so you won't miss out on the best stuff!

To find out how easy it is to download YouTube videos click below to view a short movie explaining how!

http://Download-Youtube-Videos.1001-Solutions.info

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My Top 10 RPGs of All Time

1) Baldur's Gate
Need I say more? If you've played this game, you know why. This is one of the only games that I still replay every few years because it doesn't take too long to beat and doesn't get boring. And who doesn't get excited exploring the city of Baldur's Gate when you finally get to it?

2) Elder Scrolls Oblivion
There are few games out there that push the next gen consoles to their limits and this is one of them. The world is so detailed and expansive, players can get lost for hours and hours just exploring and finding new dungeons and towns. I have this on PS3 and the graphics are matched by few games. The only reason this isn't at the top of my list is because once you experience as much of the game as you can and beat it, unless you have another lifetime to spend, there is too much to do over again, and many of the dungeons and caves get repetitive. But it's still worth being in your game library.

3) Final Fantasy VII
Of course this game is on the list; no game has a more convoluted and deep storyline, with characters that have become a household name, like Vincent and Cloud, not to mention having the coolest villain ever: Sephiroth. Turn-based RPGs are becoming a thing of the past but tons of gamers every year revisit this game to experience the story all over again.

4) Final Fantasy IX
This game doesn't get as much praise as it should. One thing I liked about was it leaned more towards a medieval theme than FFVII, so there were a lot castles and flying boats and dragons. The story was not as interesting as FFVII's, but the game was still very fun to play.

5) Chrono Cross
This game was another one that flew under the radar and didn't get as much attention as it should. Interesting characters and innovative game play kept the turn-based battles relatively fresh. It actually makes it fun to play again after you beat it because you carry over your stats and weapons to the beginning.

6) Gothic 3
Luckily I have a pretty good computer to handle this game, but if you don't, forget about it. This game was cool because the area was HUGE, dotted with settlements of both humans and orcs and many places to explore. You could join with the humans, or betray them and work for the orcs or vice versa. The graphics are amazing and it was really fun rummaging through forests hoping to stumble across lost ruins and monsters.

7) Wild Arms 3
I'm a fan of the Wild West genre games and while I don't really care for cell shaded anime inspired characters, this game is as close as it's going to get to a good western themed game. It isn't really set in the West, the planet is just slowly dying, but the game is fun and there are few things as enjoyable as shooting a goblin in the face while on horseback.

8) Breath of Fire II
Whoever came up with the idea to have a protagonist who can turn into a dragon deserves a medal. This is a classic old-school turn based RPG so people without patience and a long attention span should probably forgo playing it. While very similar to the first installment of the Breath of Fire series, this game's story is a little more grownup, with themes that involve sacrifice, religion, and love.

9) Final Fantasy III
If the graphics were better, it would be higher on my list. The game introduces more playable characters than most RPG's but does well to give each character a deep back story and likeable personality, making players able to identify with them. This game really put role playing games on the map so it definitely makes the list.

10) Skies of Arcadia
Everyone has a little part of them that wants to be a pirate, burning and pillaging, sailing the high seas and looking for treasure. This game allows you to do that, to a degree, but in the air instead of in the water. Dreamcast games don't get a lot of attention, but Skies of Arcadia is one of those must have games for the Dreamcast owner.

If you haven't played some of the games mentioned in my list, I highly recommend that you do because each game contains an experience not worth missing.

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

AP - Former chess champion Garry Kasparov and other prominent liberals launched a new anti-Kremlin movement in Russia on Saturday.

Want To Be A Disc Jockey? Read This First

Disc Jockeys are considered the life of any party these days. No night club seems to be able to do without them. Also called, "Deejays", they play music creatively for radio stations or nightclubs. The radio Disc Jockeys (called Radio Jockeys) not only play music but also talk about the news, sports and hold talk shows with celebrities or even the public. The disc jockeys working for clubs mix music and create special effects apart from providing enthusiastic comments in between.

They have to not only carry out music recording but also be good talkers. They need to record the latest and most happening music and do it in a way that is sensitive to the dancers' requirements. The job is certainly not an easy one as most disc jockeys have to work very late hours and may have to face a lot of isolation due to the nature of their job. Moreover, there is not a very huge market in small towns and to be successful; they have to move to urban areas for more options.

When working for radio stations, disc jockeys may not only have to be involved in audio mastering but also have to work all alone in sound proof, air conditioned rooms. They have to be very highly in tune to the latest issues to be able to chat while playing music. They have to keep track of the time and co-ordinate music, talk show, requests and commercial breaks. They have to be well prepared with spicy and interesting tidbits and organize the whole program.

Thus, while it may seem that the job is easy; actually the disc jockeys have to go through a lot of script creation and live and unprepared chatting with other people. Talking without any notes is rather tough because they have to forever think on their toes and be alert.

Moreover, a disc jockey needs to be able to work with all the recording software and studio equipments. They have to adjust sound and music and have erratic working hours. Since the radio stations are on air 24 hours a day, the radio jockeys can be called anytime of the day and must be always prepared. They must have good speaking voices and good grasp of the language in which they broadcast.

To start their career, disc jockeys may have to work free in certain clubs. Since there are no specific courses for this job, they have to be able to hold the pulses of their listeners. They may have to establish a good reputation as this career works very well by word of mouth. Normally, most disc jockeys follow a particular genre of music and are known for that specific type of music. They must also have some technical knowledge of recording studio equipment and should have the confidence to make the crowd dance to their tunes.

It is very difficult to get regularly paying gigs in this profession and so they have to be very well connected and aware of the various parties and occasions that need them. Most disc jockeys have different day jobs and use this as a part time job.

The author loves making music. You can keep up-to-date with the latest music terms with the help of a music dictionary. Setting up a home recording studio is also not very difficult these days.

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