people
Latest
Worldwide cellphone use hits 60 percent, developing nations largely to thank
Outfits like Nokia have been just rolling in profits from selling oodles of low margin handsets in developing nations across the globe, so it's no shock at all to hear that those very countries have propelled the worldwide usage tally well above the 50 percent mark. According to a wide-ranging United Nations report, around six in ten people across the globe now use mobile phones, and as expected, fixed line subscriptions have increased at a much slower pace. If you're wondering just how significant this figure really is, chew on this: in 2002, just under 15 percent of the global population used a cellie. Impressive, eh?[Via TG Daily]
Azeroth comes through on the love hunt
This is one of the sillier articles that PC Gamer UK has probably ever written about massively multiplayer online games, but still, I enjoyed it. One of their writers went (only half seriously) looking for love in a few popular virtual worlds, and he found it, surprisingly enough, in Azeroth.Neither EvE Online or City of Heroes were very helpful in the love-finding department -- despite finding a fetching young lady superheroine in CoH, the writer was a little disappointed to find out she was a he behind the keyboard. But WoW, as usual, provides the best of MMO experiences -- the writer finds some cute love in the Night Elf starting area.Sure, it's silly (and probably not true -- just because someone says they're a Finnish college student means nothing at all online). But I found it strangely touching, the thought that a real human connection could be made in an online game. And isn't that why we play these in the first place?[via WorldofWar.net]
WoW is a Work of Art, part 1: A journey into Azeroth
The day I walked into the store to buy World of Warcraft, I had been taking care of my mother as she underwent chemotherapy for brain cancer, and I desperately needed something to do that wasn't cooking, cleaning, sorting pills, or running errands. I needed something that would connect me with people while at the same time letting me stay at home and care for someone I loved.When I picked up a box with a pretty, yet severe night elf woman's face on the cover, I wasn't thinking, "I want to get to level 60 and start raiding Molten Core for epic gear!" or even "I'm going to be a PvP god!" Instead, I was hoping to create characters with a personal background, with feelings and ideas all their own, and act them out in an imaginary world where no one knew who I really was, a world in which our purpose was to share creatively and interact as a team, not to make money or exchange gossip.In short, I wanted to roleplay. But what I got was something much more than even a roleplaying experience, more than me and my characters, more than an endless stream of quests and rewards, experience and reputation, monsters and loot. I found myself in a world filled with its own people -- real people -- and a series of problems for these people to overcome together in order to progress and travel even deeper into this world. At every stage, I found something new opening up to me, whether it was access to more abilities of my own, more ways to interact with others, more vast landscapes to please my eye, or more stories to capture my imagination.
Wii Warm Up: Those old folks
We here at the Fanboy highly doubt that any of you have escaped the "Old People" phenomenon, by which Luddites of various ages, locked into their ways, miraculously pick up a Wiimote and slug it out in Wii Bowling. Many are so enthusiastic that they inquire as to the availability (answer: no) and price of this wonderous machine. But, in truth, how many are actually going to purchase one? Many with whom we've spoken have enjoyed the Wii, but still have difficulty fathoming a lifestyle in which the games are played so often as to warrant a 250 dollar purchase. What percent of Wii units sold will eventually go to this demographic, and is it large enough to push Nintendo to first place?
Widget Watch: the Jack of All Widgets
The Jack of All Widgets widget could perhaps be better named as the Jack of All Searches. It allows quick access to what I would guess is around 50 different searches and services, including Amazon, gas prices, people searches, package tracking (including the only widget I know of that searches the USPS), lyrics, weather and more. It's description page at Apple's download site says it starts up Safari to display search results, but with my experience it simply starts your default browser.The Jack of All Widgets widget is freeware and available from Apple's download page.
Overheard at E3: Which game is this?
A lot of the casual conversation at E3 revolves around girls, girls and more girls. Overheard at Webzen's display of whirling skirts and crop-tops:Gamer 1: Which game is this?Gamer 2: Dude, I don't even care.
