Running is a simple form of exercise, and something everyone does as a kid. So it only makes sense that running would be a natural and easy way to improve your fitness as an adult and lose weight. There are guidelines that will be helpful when running for weight loss, and this article will get you started in the right way.
If you haven’t run in a long time, or you’re out of shape in general, it’s a good idea to visit your doctor before starting a running program. So if you have a health problem that is long-term, or you take certain medications, you may not be able to run and lose weight. Your doctor may give you the thumbs up if you are able to do a running regimen; it is always better to be safe than sorry. Other things to consider are previous injuries that you have had such as knee or hip damage that could prevent you from running and not further injuring your body. website
Motivation tends to dwindle once a person begins to run, especially as they get more tired from the workout. Others, however, have the opposite problem, and start off with too much enthusiasm. It is possible to get injured if you do too much, which is a common problem for most people getting started.
Having an endorphin rush may lead people to believe that they can run far beyond their capabilities; they may soon find out that they are limited from injury and pain they will feel later. Doing things gradually is the key to improving your running ability; make sure that you stretch and do things that will prevent injuries to your knees and feet. download music
As with anything else, consistency is the key to achieving any goal. Irrespective of how fast or slow you go, if you want to lose a specific amount of weight, or run a certain distance, stick to a schedule that will get you there. Running on a treadmill, or running through a beautiful forest, is completely permissible as long as it is done three times a week. Never overdo or over extend yourself as you try to reach your goals; it is better to approach them using a consistent gradual pace. By doing this everyday, your running will become robotic, and you will do it without thinking which is important as you try to lose weight. Doing this is really the only way that you will be able to consistently lose weight. songs
Running to lose weight, as we’ve discussed in this article, can be both demanding and rewarding. It’s important to be consistent about it, as that’s the only way you’re going to get fitter and lose weight. People that run have always said that it is enjoyable because the present moment is so real. You can have your long term goals in mind as well, but don’t be in too much of a hurry, as with running you really want to enjoy the journey as much as the destination.
The Gamma Project has announced that Libra Balance Fantasy 1.8, their 3D tilt game will be on sale. Players guide 5 balls on a rotating platform into a hole on the platform. You must twist and tilt the platform to guiding ball into the hole on the platform while navigating around objects like crystals, mushrooms, fairy oaks, greek columns, traffic cones, barrels, road blocks, and more. I would strongly recommend this game to fans of Labyrinth and other Ball-Rollers.
The Gamma Project has announced that effectively immediately they are dropping the game’s price from $1.99 to $0.99. Libra Balance is a 3D tilt game for fans of Labyrinth and other Ball-Rollers.
The core gameplay of Libra Balance is not at all complicated, but in practice ends up being pretty challenging and very fun. The entire goal of the game is to guide either 5 or 6 balls depending on the level on a rotating platform into a hole on said platform. The rotations of the platform are controlled via the accelerometer on your device.
You must twist and tilt the platform to guide the balls into the hole on the platform while navigating around objects like crystals, mushrooms, fairy oaks, greek columns, traffic cones, barrels, road blocks, and more.
There are four different level packs, each of them with eight different 3D themes:
Playground:
The easiest pack, with quite easy levels. The obstacles in this pack are mainly hills and indents in the platform. This pack serves as a nice intro into the game.
Classic:
This pack introduces solid obstacles that you must circumnavigate around with the balls. The levels in this pack are a good bit harder than the ones in playground.
Ancient:
A more difficult pack, with an ancient theme. The pack has some very challenging levels – mix this with higher difficulty level and you have yourself quite a proposition.
Fantasy:
This pack introduces the player into the World of the elves and Fairies. A bonus level pack which includes the most beautiful and colorful worlds in this game.
There are three difficulty levels:
Easy:
The ball that fell off will just be placed back onto the platform. The other balls will not be affected.
Medium:
All balls will be returned to their original starting positions on the platform when another ball falls off (if a ball has already gone through the hole it will not return; only active balls will be returned to starting positions.)
Hard:
Same result as medium, however the catch in this is that all balls will be returned to their starting positions whenever a ball goes through the hole
The level is completed when all balls are put into the hole. You are then awarded a score based on time taken to complete the level as well as whether your balls fell off the platform or not.
The game has autosave which is very nice.
The music is very high tempo and gets you excited to play the game, and the in-game sound effects get the job done.
The graphics are very well done in 3D. The balls and landscapes look very good on my device and are very smooth. The graphics are very detailed – still I never had any problems with frame rate.
The menus fit the game very nicely matching the look of the game and having balls from the actual gameplay balls rolling around everywhere. The icon is fantastic – one of the best on my device.
The content is pretty good, you’re getting a fair amount for your money. Libra Balance has four theme packs with eight levels each and most levels have a good amount of variety. The game does not feel repetitive to play through. The implementation of high scores also adds a lot of replay value.
The tilt controls are implemented very nicely, and the physics are spot-on.
What the game does do great is provide a unique experience and great graphics. The gameplay is fun and I had a great time playing through the game, I can also see myself going back to replay levels and beat my scores to move up the Game Center leaderboards.
I would strongly recommend this game to fans of Labyrinth and other Ball-Rollers.
- TapTap Radiation – Crazy Snowboard HD Lite – 10 Pin Shuffle (Bowling) Lite – Air Hockey Gold – Labyrinth 2 HD Lite – Classic Solitaire – WarChess – GameRoom TapTap Radiation itunes.apple.com Crazy Snowboard HD Lite itunes.apple.com 10 Pin Shuffle (Bowling) Lite itunes.apple.com Air Hockey Gold itunes.apple.com Labyrinth 2 HD Lite itunes.apple.com Classic Solitaire itunes.apple.com WarChess itunes.apple.com GameRoom itunes.apple.com What’s on my iPad!
In this ongoing look at significant moments in the history of video game design, we have already taken a look at Bungie’s Halo, Bioware’s MDK2, Nintendo’s Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out and several others. The goal of this series is to go beyond simple gaming magazines and iPhone app reviews, and take a closer look at what defines memorability and quality in game design. In this seventh part of the series we will examine some more of those classic moments where video game designers undoubtedly got it right and delivered a memorable, enduring and progressive gaming experience.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Multi-platform) – Bethesda’s fourth entry in their Elder Scrolls series, Oblivion is by far the most complete. While not as large as Daggerfall or as ambitious as Morrowind, Oblivion surpassed them both in terms of functionality, playability and overall stability. Fixing much of what was wrong in Morrowind, Oblivion maintained a massive world and incredibly varied mission structure, but did so in the absence of most of the bugs that plagued the earlier entrants in the Elder Scrolls series.
As is the theme of this series, we must focus on a particular aspect of Oblivion and single out its quality as it relates to game design. Oblivion is another title that absolutely drips with impressive features, so it is a bit of a challenge to pick a single one out of the crowded bunch. Still, if we must we must, so for this article we will examine one of the less talked about aspects of Oblivion, its incredibly well thought out enemy item inventories.
Now, even the most experienced gamers may be asking themselves: What are enemy item inventories? These inventories are the items that enemies are holding on their person at any given time throughout the game. These are the items that can be pick-pocketed from unaware characters, looted from defeated enemies, or snatched from the corpses of fallen warriors and monsters. It is this system that guarantees difficult battles reward the player with sufficient loot and ensures that players are never left in the middle of nowhere without any health or means to defend themselves. Subtle, but incredibly crucial to the enjoyment of the game, this system is still flawed in Oblivion, but works well enough to merit attention.
For all of the questionable enemy inventory choices (why in the world would a ghost in the middle of an underground dungeon be carrying gold pieces), there are some incredibly valuable and memorable ones. One that stood out for this gamer involved small moments that made a huge impact on my level of game world immersion. The incident I will single out here involved a simple battle with a cave dwelling ghoul. The battle was short, as the unarmored ghoul took a couple of arrows to the chest and fell face first into his permanent resting place. After plucking my two arrows from his body I noticed that, beyond his ragged clothing, he had only one other item on his person – a wooden spoon. It was this single wooden spoon that truly immersed me in the world of Oblivion. Picturing this little ghoul scouring for food, battling critters and trying to survive…yet using a spoon to eat with rather than his bare hands, was enough for me to decide that, come hell or high water, I was going to complete this massive game and see all that it had to offer.
Part of what makes the game so memorable is that Oblivion is absolutely filled with little moments like this one. Whether it is the riveting diary of a fallen traveler or the unique enchanted bow of an enemy archer, the game is littered with moments where battles, exploration and crimes alike are rewarded with items that push the game’s story and immersion into previously uncharted depths.
Tim Kennedy writes on behalf of AppsPatrol. He recommends you visit AppsPatrol for your iphone apps and iphone game reviews
In this ongoing look at significant moments in the history of video game design, we have already taken a look at Bungie’s Halo, Bioware’s MDK2, Bethesda’s Morrowind and several others. The goal of this series is to go beyond simple gaming magazines and iPhone app reviews, and take a closer look at what defines memorability and quality in game design. In this seventh part of the series we will examine some more of those classic moments where video game designers undoubtedly got it right and delivered a memorable, enduring and progressive gaming experience.
Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out (MTPO) (NES) – One of the only boxing games offered on the original Nintendo Entertainment System, MTPO was also by far the best. A variety of unforgettable characters, limited but memorable music and simple yet incredibly rewarding gameplay are but a few of the characteristics that make this game one of the all-time greats. However, as is requisite of this series, we must single out an aspect of MTPO to focus on and thusly compliment. For this purpose, we can quite easily and confidently point to the game’s incredibly smooth difficulty ramping and incredibly challenging – yet fair – final character battles.
MTPO starts out with a joke of an opponent, the aptly named Glass Joe. He exists purely as a tutorial tool. In this opening fight players learn how the buttons work and get a handle on the games control scheme. Just four fights later the players will be pitted against King Hippo, an opponent that could give player’s hours of fits if they were unable to figure out his particular exploit. However, the battle with King Hippo is a necessary one for the progression of the player. King Hippo is one of the game’s easiest characters to defeat, but only once his patter is identified. Up until this point in the game, players could defeat their opponents merely by keeping a steady stream of offense flowing and dodging at least some of the incoming attacks. Hippo alerted the players that, from this point on, they would have to keep their brains turned on and be on the lookout for exploitable patterns.
By the time the player battled their way to the final encounter with Mike Tyson himself, they were at least partially prepared for the championship bout. While the challenge of defeating Mike Tyson is dwarfed by the challenges that modern videogames present to today’s savvy players, in its time it was considered one of the stiffer boss battles in all of gaming. Tyson’s lightning fast punches could floor our hero, Little Mac, in a single blow. Many gamers were so committed to defeating Tyson, that they memorized the code that allows you to skip right to the final battle – 007-373-5963. Though some gamers were never able to topple the mighty Tyson, those that did were able to do so largely because of the skills they had developed in working their way up the ladder and mastering the pattern identifying and exploiting techniques required to defeat the games lesser combatants.
MTPO is such a fan favorite that it continues to be distributed by Nintendo to this day. Available through the Wii’s virtual console, and as a hidden game in the popular Nintendo title Animal Crossing, the game – now featuring Mr. Dream as the titular character – continues to entertain and impress gamers of all generations, and serves another example is classically executed game design.
Tim Kennedy writes on behalf of AppsPatrol. He recommends you visit AppsPatrol for your iphone apps and iphone game reviews
The iPhone has quickly become perhaps the most popular phone to play games on. Thousands of old classics and new favorites have made their way to the iPhone with many more on the way. However, with this incredible amount of games we often see developers making the same avoidable mistakes over and over. In this article we will look at two of those mistakes and explore why they should be avoided.
Using the features as a novelty – The iPhone’s combination of touch screen and tilt sensor provides developers the opportunity to design and implement game features that cannot be had on any other mobile device. The problem with this is that too many developers try to shoehorn these features into their game, often with mixed results. The quality of the game will rely on how well the user can interact with the game experience, not on the inclusion of every feature. In developing games a priority must be put on placing functionality and playability over comprehensive feature use. A simple rule of thumb to follow is this: If the feature is not directly adding to the gameplay experience, do not include it!
Staying too faithful – Many of the games available in the iTunes app store are old classic that have been re-engineered to run and play on the iPhone. The issue here is that developers are so hesitant to make any alteration to their beloved classics that they end up with a game that is simply not as playable or enjoyable as the original. While financial considerations are definitely a factor in some of these decisions, this is a case where a little could go a long way. It absolutely must be considered that the iPhone is very different from any system that came before it, and any games from previous systems must be molded to fit the newer platform. When taking a game that originally ran on a computer or home video game system that had several hard buttons and a control pad and putting it on an iPhone, there is almost always something lost in the translation. Instead of staying with incredibly faithful ports, developers should spend the time making their games more accessible to iPhone users. The result will be higher sales, happier customers, a better likelihood of repeat iPhone business and an increased chance of crossover business to the developers other projects.
In the first entry of this ongoing series we took a look at some memorable design moments in video game history courtesy of Nintendo’s own Metroid on the original NES and Bioware’s MDK2 from the Sega Dreamcast. In this second part of this ongoing series we will examine some more of those moments where video game designers undoubtedly got it right and delivered a memorable, enduring and progressive gaming experience.
Halo – A launch title for the original Xbox from Microsoft, Halo: Combat Evolved forever changed the way people think of first person shooters (FPS) on video game consoles. The game had a very long development cycle, starting out as an RTS title, evolving into a third person shooter for the Mac and finally resulting in an FPS for Microsoft’s console debut. Regardless of this much longer than average development cycle, the game released to incredible sales, glowing reviews and almost universal praise for its execution and technical innovations.
The first high water mark in game design comes at the very beginning of Halo, as the main character – the Master Chief – is thawed from his cryo-sleep. It is at this point that the player first takes control of the main character – the Master Chief. Under the guise of configuring the Chief’s on-board systems, the player is put through a short tutorial that familiarizes them with the game’s control scheme. This seamless integration of gameplay mechanic introduction into the narrative is not only incredibly slick, but almost shockingly effective. What follows is a short run from the cryo-chamber to the deck of the ship. This run involved the player moving, jumping, ducking and generally being forced to familiarize themselves with all aspects of movement. It is not until the player finally reaches their destination on the bridge, that they are finally rewarded with their first weapon and the game truly begins.
Another standout moment in this game arrives at the beginning of the game’s second level, simply titled ‘Halo.’ When the Master Chief exits his escape pod and we see the incredible size and scope of the world he has landed on and will soon explore, the player discovers that along with some progressive controls and design integration, the game will also be upping the ante on level design. Few FPS to this point featured worlds so large and lush, and none starred enemies as dynamic and engaging as the Elites, Jackals and Grunts that make-up the bulk of the enemy army. Unbeknownst to the player, they would soon be fighting alongside civilians and soldiers, driving (and being driven in) Warthog jeeps, using sniper rifles and choosing their own pathways through the level. If the opening level of Halo wowed the player with its clever integration of tutorial elements into the gameplay, the follow-up level only served to cement the promises the development team made with those innovations, and foretold of a game to come that would push the limits of what gamers would come to expect from a FPS from that point on.
Anybody who has been a consistent video game player over the years has had their fair share of encounters with both fantastic game design – and controller breaking, teeth gnashingly frustrating, outright broken game design.
Since the latter does not deserve our attention, in this first in an ongoing series, we will take a look at some of those moments where video game designers undoubtedly got it right and delivered a memorable, enduring and progressive gaming experience.
Metroid (NES) – When I bought Metroid for the NES in 1986 I was just a 9-year-old boy with some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket. I bought the game mainly due to the box art, but also because I had seen it on the cover of one of the few gaming magazines of the day.
This was one of the first games I had bought new, entirely with my own money, and I was very excited when I finally got home and put the cartridge in my Nintendo. The stand-out moment for this game came within the first minute of gameplay.
As you start the game, your natural instinct is to head right. This direction of movement had been instilled in players through years of playing games such as Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros and countless other games.
Still, when the player headed right in Metroid, they were greeted by an impassable wall that required the character to turn into a ball in order to roll under it – a skill the character did not yet possess.
This forced the player to head back where they came from, and end up to the left of the start screen, where the ability to turn into the ball was found.
This simple to solve yet incredibly purposeful roadblock let the player know that their pre-conceived notions of how a video game was supposed to be played did not apply to Metroid.
After less than a minute of gameplay, the player was already being challenged and forced to re-evaluate how they approach games – all through the use of one straight forward, yet elegantly challenging design element.
MDK2 (Dreamcast) – This absolutely must play game is a sequel to the original MDK developed by Shiny entertainment and released on the PC, Mac and eventually the Playstation. BioWare took over the reins for the development of this Dreamcast based sequel and they plastered their consistent quality all over this title.
Starring three intertwined yet very distinct characters – Max the stealthy sniper, Dr. Hawkins the crazy scientist and Kurt the 6 legged dog (MDK respectively) – the game had an incredibly varied approach to gameplay that involved sections which complimented the strengths of each player.
Anyone who has played this game will know how brutally difficult it is, but this difficulty does not come without a degree of fairness. The game demands you execute very complex moves with absolute precision, and places unforgiving save points in your path that require the player to be not only perfect, but consistently perfect.
The standout game design moments in this game are delivered in a constant stream. After completing a torturous level with Kurt where you may have gunned down hundreds upon hundreds of enemies as you desperately and frantically searched for more ammunition, you are rewarded with a brain testing breather as you take over Dr. Hawkins and must solve a puzzle within a riddle.
This constantly rotating gameplay avoided the pitfalls of similar games by refusing to allow the dips in quality that often occur as character control shifts. While the game is filled with high water marks such as: the amazing boss battles and flying sequences with Kurt, Max’s free falling navigations and sniper wars, and Dr. Kurt’s epic climbing and pipe following – the game on the whole is a massive achievement in game design and stands out as one of the most challenging and rewarding games the Dreamcast ever saw, and that BioWare ever produced.
If you have not yet had the chance to play MDK2, do yourself a favor and track down a copy. I guarantee that if its merciless difficulty does not scare you away, the game will reveal itself to be one with few in the realm of high quality game design.
uniqueapps.com Here’s a pretty fun game to play on the iphone. It’s a free app called Falldown! You can download it here Falldown itunes Link – bit.ly Please post your high scores in the comments section of this video. My top score is 297! I hope you enjoy the video! Talk soon, Ryan
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