Gadgets & Technology

Nintendo Wii

At this moment, the video game console wars involve the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and Sony’s PlayStation 3. Each console has its fan base who claims that their console is the best one and that the others pale in comparison. They give technological specs, dates and numbers, and all sorts of things that supposedly make their consoles the winner of the war.

To me, a video game console is not about its specs, but about how much fun it is, and one of the ways to know how fun it is is to see how it has sold over time. While sales can fluctuate and be deceiving when a new console is launched, over time, word of mouth and performance give a better idea of how a console is doing, specially if its main competitors have also been out for a few years. Read more…

Yuri's Revenge

Yuri’s Revenge is one of my favorite games before, I just wanted to share some of my strategies in this game. I hope you will like it.Setting: Three on three in Tour of Egypt.

Playing as Yuri

Early games
Do this as fast as you can and use your first four vehicles to find boxes while doing this. Remember that speed is the key to win.

* Deploy the Yuri’s construction yard.
* Build bio reactor and feed the infantry unit.
* Build a two mining vehicles.
* Build the barracks then build cannons.
* Build the war factory built 5 more mining vehicles to maintain financial stability.
* Build the psychic radar.
* After building the miners build 10 or more gatling tanks.
* Build 2 psychic tower in front of the base to protect any early attacks.
* Build more bio reactor.
* Build battle lab and build the genetic mutator.
* Build more mining vehicles. This is important in the middle game.

Middle games
Preparing for battle. In this part you need to know the kind of defense of your enemy as well as the target for you to prepare the defense.

* Build five or more master minds.
* Build the psychic dominator.
* Activate the genetic mutator in you own miners. Feed some of your brute into bio reactor. Always do this every time the genetic mutator is ready. Brutes can also help in your attacks or in destroying the miner vehicles of your enemy.
* This time you can now attack your enemy by using some of your master mind and gatling tanks, and your first four tanks. Remember that the best time to attack the enemy is when they are not yet building a strong defense and whoever attacks first usually wins.
* Destroy the defense of the enemy and control their tanks trough the master mind. Remember to always retreat your master mind when controlling units. Controlling more units can destroy the master mind.

Later games
Later in the game when the ore gets scarce every unit counts. When the ore runs out and it takes longer and longer to build more units, this is the time of the best strategy to win.

* Built more master minds and deploy it as a defense for your teammates, sometimes Yuri is more effective as defense in later games.
* Activate your psychic dominator in mining factory of the enemy this is to have an advantage in money.
* Create a Yuri Prime and Let your allied ally to build 1 more barracks then control it.
* Then create a Yuri Cloning Vats and create many rocketeers.
* Maintain the strategy. Focus in generating more golds as you continually create more master mind and roketeers then attack in perfect time.

Well, that is the strategy. I guess that the best strategy is gained from experience. It is depending on whom you are playing with.

Cockpit Simulator

In an airplane, the cockpit is where the pilot sits to operate the plane with its controls and instrument panel. In flight sim, the cockpit simulator is basically the same thing. Of course, there are some differences in each “simpit”, depending on the type of aircraft you choose to fly.

For example, if you choose to try out the Wright Flyer, the cockpit has no instruments, seats or even a cockpit. When it was first flown in 1903, the pilot had to lie on his stomach and steer by moving a cradle attached to his hips. Can you imagine what the Wright Brothers must have felt when they first tried their biplane glider, looking out over the bottom wing, where they lay on their stomach attempting to control the aircraft?

On the other hand, you could experience the cockpit simulator of the F-18 Hornet which is a supersonic fighter jet that is loaded with advanced instrumentation. These military planes have special cockpit lighting for night vision and digital colored moving map. The F-18 can be flown on secret missions to destinations all over the world. They are used for aerial demonstration by the Blue Angels, so you could show off with some tricks or even try landing on an aircraft carrier.

Aircraft and their components are very expensive; therefore, the controls and functions in the simpits don’t actually work. They are there to give it a real feel and look, especially if the cockpit is made of glass.

What you use to control the planes are accessories like a joystick or rudder pedals that allow a pretty accurate simulation. With most flight simulation software, you can just use your computer keyboard to run the controls, too.

Most cockpit simulator games are viewed in 2D, but there are some that have 3D capabilities for an even more authentic view. Some programs even let the high tech user to network multiple instances of the program together to layout numerous views of the simulation. By doing this, the aircraft enthusiast can see the pilot’s viewpoint on a panel displayed on a screen right in front of him and see the view from outside of the plane, presented on a separate screen.

If you had enough hardware and techno background, it is possible with some cockpit simulator programs to create sophisticated simulation environment with multiple views and even have a separate control station allowing an instructor to pass/fail instruments. This can be great training for a future pilot, without having to spend the money on lessons. Of course, lessons would be necessary to fly a real aircraft, but flight simulation can be used to help determine if it is something you truly want to do.

When you choose to fly at night, the cockpit simulator lights glow so you can see your instrument panel. So, as you can see, there are many exciting options to experience with flight simulation. The scenery and graphics are amazing and so realistic. You might just have trouble deciding if it is real or simulated!