Gaming Technology Helps Finding Oil

Tapwave Zodiac ... The product was designed to be a "high performance mobile entertainment system” centred on games, music, images, and video, aimed at 18 to 34 year old gamers and technology enthusiasts. By running an enhanced version of the Palm Operating System (5.2T), Zodiac also provided access to Palm’s personal information management software and many other applications from the Palm developer community...

Watara Supervision ... Though the machine garnered some attention at launch (mainly due to the low price point for the machine and its games, which many felt might enable it to make inroads into Nintendo's market share) it was ultimately unsuccessful in unseating the Game Boy from its position as the world's most popular handheld. Reasons commonly cited are the poor quality screen which was prone to blurring and made following the action difficult, a general lack of games and the simplistic nature of those that were released...

Role-playing Game Theory ... In 1994-95 Inter*Active, (later re-named Interactive Fiction) published a magazine devoted to the study of RPGs. In the first issue Robin Laws called for the creation of a critical theory for role-playing games...

Video Game ... The input device used to manipulate video games is called a game controller, and varies across platforms. For example, a controller might consist of only a button and a joystick, while another may feature a dozen buttons and one or more joysticks...

History Of Games ... The extinct Chinese board game liubo was immensely popular during the Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE). Early Chinese records indicate that liubo was already a popular game by the Warring States Period (476 BCE – 221 BCE)...

Problem Gambling ... According to a logical study conducted by Alec Roy, M. D. formerly at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, norepinephrine is secreted under stress, arousal, or thrill, so pathological gamblers gamble to make up for their under-dosage...

Special Versions Of The Nintendo DS ... In Australia, the DS Lite was also only available in white (Polar White) at launch. On September 21, 2006, the Jet Black (Onyx) color was released...

Redemption Game ... A variation on the ticket-based redemption game is the merchandiser, which directly displays and dispenses merchandise, rather than dispensing tickets which are then redeemed for prizes. Redemption games can be seen as the modern successor to carnival games, as the same general principles apply...

Nintendo DS ... On March 2, 2006, Nintendo released the Nintendo DS Lite, a redesign of the Nintendo DS, in Japan. It was released in North America, Europe, and Australia in June 2006...

Role-playing Game ... There are several forms of RPG. The original form, sometimes called the tabletop RPG, is conducted through discussion, whereas in live action role-playing games (LARP) players physically perform their characters' actions...

North American Video Game Crash Of 1983 ... There were several reasons for the crash, but the main cause was supersaturation of the market with hundreds of mostly low-quality games which resulted in the loss of consumer confidence. The full effects of the industry crash would not be felt until 1984...

Dartball ... Dartball rules and board configurations vary from league to league, but generally teams comprise either seven or nine players plus possible alternates. Dartball teams are usually formed by churches, often playing their games during fall and winter months in church basements or common areas...

N-Gage ... This was unsuccessful, partly because the buttons, designed for a phone, were not well-suited for gaming and when used as a phone the original N-Gage was described as resembling a "taco"... Instead of using cables, multiplayer gaming was accomplished with Bluetooth or the Internet (via the N-Gage Arena service)...

Role-playing Video Game ... Role-playing video games typically rely on a highly developed story and setting, which is divided into a number of quests. Players control one or several characters by issuing commands, which is performed by the character at an effectiveness determined by that character's numeric attributes...

PlayStation Portable ... Several gaming websites were impressed by the handheld's computing capabilities and looked forward to the system's potential as a gaming platform...