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Snowballs piling up in Hell: Faxion Online enters its second closed beta test
"Free to pray, free to prey, free to play," the tagline goes. While Faxion Online continues to milk all of the religious-themed puns the team can think of (and it's hard not to add your own!), this afterlife MMO continues to charge ahead with the second phase of its beta process. UTV True Games announced that Faxion Online has entered its second closed beta test, which has been expanded to include new players and a number of improvements implemented after the first test. Faxion now has an improved starter tutorial that invites players to learn about heavenly living or hellish confluct, depending on the class chosen. Other improvements include class reballancing, new areas and teleportation stones that help warriors get to the conflicts even faster than before. UTV's Frank Lucero credits the players for shaping the game's development: "The responses to the first closed beta have been incredible in helping us determine updates for this second phase." You can check out this tongue-in-cheek PvP MMO by signing up for the beta test or by vicariously experiencing the spiritual planes in our Faxion Online first impressions.
Religious broadcaster takes balanced look at games
The stereotypical image of a fiery preacher warning about the moral dangers of video games took a hit today with the relatively balanced look at games on Christian lifestyle program Living the Life.The CBN program talked to Richard Abanes, author of What Every Parent Needs to Know about Video Games, who started by noting the positive effects game playing can have on logical thinking, social interaction and teamwork skills. Later, he said that media talk about games creating violent killers is overblown. "Whenever you see those stories in the news, it's just for the sake of getting some news," Abanes said.Living the Life fixture Dr. Linda Mintle was up next, talking about the potential addictiveness of video games. Her professional opinion? "Is it really physically addicting. Probably not. Do the chemicals rise and you get into it? Yes." Still, Mintle warned parents to watch out for children using games excessively as an escape from social problems. Both guests recommended parents play games with their children and warned of potential desensitizing effects of prolonged play -- good advice that thankfully avoids the sensationalist fearmongering of some other media outlets. Of course, the program did touch on some explicitly Christian issues. Abanes said that Christian games are not yet "hip enough" for kids, but that Christian games could eventually serve as "ministry points" to connect with hard-to-reach children. Mintle warned that parents should consider whether they want their kids "dabbling in the occult" through games. So, in summary, keep your kids away from The Witcher and you should be OK.Watch - Living the Life 4/18/07 (WMV Link)
Intel GM has "religious experience," buys a Mac
Hexus has an interview with Pat Gelsinger, Intel's GM of their Digital Enterprise Group, in which he describes crossing "the religious boundary" by purchasing a Mac. Note how the interviewer reacts and grimaces around 1:41 when Pat drops the bomb, and how he has to interrupt Pat to announce his newfound "Mac fanboy" status. Pat also mentions he's buying a second for his wife, along with a copy of the upcoming Windows Vista and Parallels Desktop, of course.This is a really interesting statement to hear from someone so high up on a business ladder, especially since he's specifically spending the money to buy Parallels, instead of using Apple's free but workflow-intruding Boot Camp. Pat joins other business notables - like the recent CIO who picked Mac OS X after comparing to Linux and Windows for a month - in voicing their fondness for Apple's OS, even while the big fruit seems to be spending most (if not all) of their marketing on advertising to the home creative crowd.I'd link the actual interview, but it seems almost the entire Hexus site is done in Flash (grrrr). As of this writing, the interview is at the top of their list.[via Macworld UK]
