Hello wizards! Welcome to The Wizard's Spiral! This new blog is about Wizard101. Feel free to post about anything in the Forums, ranging from equipment to Helephants, from castles to Mooshu. If you have any questions or technical problems, go to the forums and open a new threa ...more
Tips a secret prank for Jeff and Johnny to read , or the element of surprise will be lost. hi : ) Find a very tall hotel and arrange for remote control of the elevator system ...so that it actually freeefalls and can up n down like a super bungie via a remote pad. Early mo ...more
Write about what you LOVE. EARN money for it. In this week's edition of Friday Fresh, we're doing a little something different. You may have noticed our banner touting our Love. Earn program, and a new section called New Articles By You. New articles on topics as varied as sn ...more
FarmVille added a new feature today in place of the old Mystery Boxes. This is a mystery game! It costs a bit more than the old boxes did, but you are guaranteed to get at least one of each of the mystery prizes by the time all the balloons are popped, instead of wasting tons ...more
Picked up Metro 2033 from the Steam Sale. Wow is it pretty. At 1080p with DX11 and gorgeously detailed, it's hard to not stop and stare at every single thing! I wish there was a way to somehow convey this feeling.. Something like that. Beside the amazingly detailed texture wo ...more
On a Wednesday evening when friends are going to a movie or out to dinner, you’re at the dojo training. On a Sunday night when your show or the game is on the television you’re not home to watch it, you’re at the dojo training. On a Friday night when the town is full of exci ...more
What do you guys think about all these "pleasant" ties? I'm so not cool with waking up to watch a game, only to fall asleep again. The lack of goals scored in these first few games is really discouraging and detrimental to new viewers and the growth of the sport in the U.S. Th ...more
There is a wonderful site that just launched with the youth sports community in mind. The site is http://YouthSportTravel.com , a collaboration of youth sports coaches and a major online travel brand. They offer arguably the best prices on hotel and motel rooms anywhere. For p ...more
I recommend you take a look into this issue and suggest that your friends delete their association with Gamers Unite and any other cheat providing site. This post is meant only as my advice for how to remove Gamers Unite or any other spammy app. This is all based on my persona ...more
Lord of the Rings Online, one of the most popular and recognizable MMOs out there, is now Free to Play. http://www.lotro.com/betasignup/ This now joins Dungeons and Dragons Online as the second game by Turbine to go from subscription to Free to Play business model. DaDO was a ...more
Bowling is such a fun group activity and is perfect for birthdays and other types of gatherings. However, if you are not a pro bowler the scoring system can be pretty confusing. This tutorial will walk you through the steps of keeping score so you will know a strike from a spa ...more
Throwing a block party is a great way to meet your neighbours! Block parties are perfect for hot summer nights when no one wants to be stuck indoors. These parties are fun and easy to throw, even on a budget. Check out this video for information on how to throw a rockin' party ...more
Get out your army pants and prepare to conquer your backyard. Learn how to play Capture the Flag with this video Step 1: Choose teams Divide the players into two teams of equal size. Step 2: Find playing field Find a large outdoor playing field that includes both open and ...more
Spit, or speed, is a fun, fast-paced card game that will have your heart racing nearly as fast as your hands. Step 1: Set up cards Split the deck so each player has 26 cards. Set up your tableau opposite your opponent by dealing your cards face down into five piles. The first ...more
Tired of losing your shirt playing poker? How about a fun game for couples instead? You Will Need * 4 players * Deck of cards * Table Step 1 Form two teams of two. The goal of euchre is to be the first team to score 10 points. Step 2 Remove cards 2 through 8 of every suit. S ...more
Learn how to play hide-and-seek. If you need a rainy day activity for the kids, or just want to relive your childhood, hide-and-seek is a great game for everyone. You Will Need * A place to play * Someone to be "it" * People to hide Step 1. Designate hiding spots Designate ...more
If there ever was a time for Null Byte to need people to contribute, it's now. Let's make Null Byte a place where anyone, from novice to master computer user, come and learn. It has been sometime since the last "Call to Arms" for Null Byte, and even longer since the last "Week ...more
Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our tutorials, post to the community corkboard, and come play on our free server! Minecraft 1.2.5 has been planned for a few days now, but Jeb wanted to wait for modders to catch up to the new changes. This time around, things should run ...more
Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our tutorials, post to the community corkboard, and come play on our free server! There have been a ton of cities and towns popping up all over the map recently, and I'm thrilled that one of them is the winner of this week's Staff Choice ...more
Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our tutorials, post to the community corkboard, and come play on our free server! The server activity has actually been kinda slow while we wait to install the new 1.2.3 update, but that didn't stop any build progress! Everyone on the ser ...more
There is a vast amount of knowledge out there on computers! In fact, it is so vast that no single person could ever possibly ever learn everything there is to learn about hacking or computers in general. People usually specialize in a certain field: cryptography, computer secu ...more
Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our tutorials, post to the community corkboard, and come play on our free server! Everyone seems to really be enjoying the current Weekly Challenge, so it was a little hard to find some finished builds. There are some work-in-progress bui ...more
Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our tutorials, post to the community corkboard, and come play on our free server! This week, everyone has been so busy working on the Futuristic Creations Weekly Challenge, that there were unfortunately very few entries for the Weekly Sta ...more
Law enforcement can make a lot of folks cringe. Too often do we hear on the news, and even experience in our own lives, the unjust way that an unacceptable portion of law enforcement treat the very citizens they are supposed to protect. People's rights are violate each and eve ...more
Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our tutorials, post to the community corkboard, and come play on our free server! It's another Friday, which means it's time for the Weekly Staff Choice Awards. Last week's went great, with Gusse Fant's amazing Steam Fortress taking home ...more
Lost the product key for your game? If you have to reinstall the game and don't have that key anymore, you're out of luck, especially if you didn't "buy" the game. But never be in fear of losing product keys again with today's Null Byte, where we'll be practicing a little bit ...more
Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our tutorials, post to the community corkboard, and come play on our free server! Weekly Challenge: Week 3 Though these Weekly Challenges are not required, they were created in order to help our builders on the server get out of any arti ...more
Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our tutorials, post to the community corkboard, and come play on our free server! Weekly Challenge: Week 2 Though Weekly Challenges are not required, they were created in order to help our builders on the server get out of that artistic ...more
The latest in the Legend of Zelda series, Skyward Sword, released a few short weeks ago to very little fanfare. I have no idea why that is, because the game is absolutely gorgeous and pretty darn good. Maybe it was the fact that Nintendo forced motion controls in to this one, ...more
Flash memory can be a tad unpredictable at times. I have had 4 flash drives die out on me over the last few years, and they usually die without warning. When a flash memory based device dies, the data is likely impossible to recover. Adversely on an HDD, or Hard Drive Disk, ev ...more
WENDIGO n pl. -GOS windigo 62 points (12 points without the bingo) The WENDIGO (or WINDIGO) is a malevolent creature from the mythology of the Algonquian, one of the most populous and widespread Native American language groups, which includes such tribes as the Innu, Ojibwe, ...more
GRAMARYE n pl. -S occult learning; magic 64 points (14 points without the bingo) Simply put, GRAMARYE is MAGIC, SORCERY, and in some cases, NECROMANCY. But overall, there is very little distinction between the terms. Magic is best described as an OCCULT art that can manipula ...more
CARRION n pl. -S dead and putrefying flesh 59 points (9 points without the bingo) The word CARRION refers to the dead and putrefying flesh on the carcass of any dead animal. Yes… humans are animals. Carrion differs from plain old dead bodies (cadavers, corpses, LICH, etc.) b ...more
CREMAINS n/pl the ashes of a cremated body 62 points (12 points without the bingo) Perhaps one of the creepiest portmanteau words out there, CREMAINS combines CREMATED and REMAINS to clearly describe the leftover ashes from a dead body that was burned. When you're grieving, ...more
REVENANT n pl. -S one that returns 61 points (11 points without the bingo) Frankenstein. Vampires. Zombies. These creepy creatures are all examples of the UNDEAD, living entities that are technically dead but still animate. Some of these 'walking dead' feed off blood, others ...more
BURKITE n pl. -S a burker 63 points (13 points without the bingo) There's no better time than Halloween to have the BEJABERS scared out of you, and no better way than with a slasher flick or horror movie about HEXEREI. To some, Halloween is a time for candy, costumes and cel ...more
COXSWAIN v -ED, -ING, -S to direct (a crew) as coxwain 70 points (20 points without the bingo) The definition for coxswain could be pretty confusing if you don't know what a coxwain is, but perhaps even more confusing is the fact that coxwain is not an acceptable word in Scr ...more
This week's review roundup is a diverse lot. They really only have two things in common—their indie origins and puzzle elements. Otherwise, they come from France, Spain and the U.S., a few from unknown designers and one by the guy who inspired Minecraft. Gauge French indie d ...more
Nicholas Entertainment Group (NEG) is a Polish independent game publisher that recently got their hands dirty with development. Their first game (with Intoxicate Studios) is the forthcoming horror first-person shooter Afterfall: InSanity, which comes out next month—dangerously ...more
Game design is sedentary work. Generally its practitioners do their work with their butts planted securely in front of a computer in an office (be it home or away) as their muscles and verbal skills atrophy. Even game journalists are prone to this condition. Not so with Colin ...more
Hideo Kojima is one of the biggest names in Japanese game design. He's the man behind every Metal Gear game, each of which has been beautiful but divisive. He's an auteur, a rarity in AAA game design, managing business, design, and programming for Kojima Productions. Last week ...more
The Netherlands are a hotbed of indie game development, which seems appropriate for such a brilliant and eccentric little nation. Two man Dutch indie developer Vlambeer have found themselves in the news more often than most companies of their size, thanks to two great games an ...more
Update 2: 1.9 Version3 is currently out. Click here to download and install 1.9 Version 3. Update: 1.8 is now officially out! It'll prompt you to update the next time you launch. Be sure to read the rundown of the new 1.8 features and share your thoughts in the 1.8 general im ...more
It's been a busy week here at Indie Games Ichiban, between attending PAX and breaking news stories about Stabyourself and Playdead Studios, that there's been relatively little time for some honest, good old-fashioned game playing. But time was made and here are two excellent i ...more
Video games are one of the best non-medical things that have ever happened to sick children. They are stimulating, entertaining and require very little physical strength to play, which makes them perfect for those suffering physical maladies. In 2003, the ambitious and creati ...more
We're ending the week with a lot of big announcements and updates. To date, Google+ has updated its name policy, but is still forbidding pseudonyms. Blocking people on Google+ became even easier, and yesterday, games on Google+ launched. Google+ Name Policy Changes Google+ h ...more
+Tom Anderson of MySpace has been very active on Google+ over the first week, and he's not shy with his thoughts on the evolution of the industry he once owned. Here's his take on this morning's Facebook announcement and Mark Zuckerberg's response when asked about Google+. To ...more
A few weeks ago I wrote about Atomic Web as the best web browser for iOS devices, and while I believe it is a superior option, Atomic Web is not the only alternative web browser you can use on your iOS device. There are three more—Dual Browser, iCabMobile, and iSwifter—that ar ...more
Minecraft is the most basic and barren open sandbox building game. There are a limited number of materials and recipes to craft. But with these few building blocks, people have been able to creatively build some amazing structures and cities. There is a physical limitation, bu ...more
In the mid '90s, there was no such thing as a widely available indie video game. Brick-and-mortar stores were the only places for consumers to buy games, and magazines were the only outlets to hear about them. For video game creators, the need for a publisher to market and dis ...more
I love role-playing games. They tell great stories, require intense strategy, and make minimal demands of my tyrannosaurus-like hand-eye coordination. The idea of an RPG experience, at least on paper, is to allow users to play the role of a character. However, real people do n ...more
In 2008, Audiosurf came out on Steam, creating the psychedelic music game genre. If you haven't played it in the intervening three years, you're missing out on one of the coolest things in video games. The player selects any MP3 on their computer, then the game builds a unique ...more
Yesterday, Electronic Arts had a nice sale on Steam for 40-60 percent off some of their Sims titles, which included The Sims 3 (along with its DLCs) and SimCity 4. I've never been a big Sims fan, especially with the slew of virtual people games in the last decade, so I didn't ...more
In my earlier post about long-term strategies I promised I’d ask some of my neighbors who do what I call factory chicken farming (Let 1000 Chickens Bloom) if the coyotes that have shown up will change the way they play the game. The one guy who replied in any detail said that ...more
Note: Little Brother is available as a free ebook download. Warnings I read Boing Boing a lot, which means that I know just about everything about Cory Doctorow's politics and opinions. So, knowing his politics definitely colors my perceptions of this novel. My review will i ...more
When I heard that a man wearing a pink wig and matching PVC dress won the 2010 National Scrabble Championship yesterday, I wasn't that shocked. After all, it was Halloween. But it turns out that it wasn't just a Halloween costume. In fact, it's a way of life for this champion ...more
It’s that time of the year when everyone feels like taking a long vacation from the hustles of life and bend most of the rules. This is especially with regards to eating habits. Most people tend to forget the importance of eating a healthy diet. However, there are the few of u ...more
How to Create Scenery in FSX This article will show you how to create scenery objects in Microsoft Flight Simulator X (unfortunately not available to the Standard FSX, but it is available to standard FSX with the Acceleration Expansion Pack) that you can see in the 'real world ...more
There is an abstinence game being created by the University of Central Florida with $400k+ of taxpayer money. The game is directed at middle school girls to help them handle and cope with sexual advances. From the article: Fox News Orlando reports that the University of Cent ...more
"Life is difficult." That's how Scott Peck's best-selling book, "The Road Less Travelled", begins. That life is difficult is not news. Over two-thousand years ago the Buddha said it too: Life is suffering. The sanskrit word the Buddha used for suffering is dukkha. Dukkha doesn ...more