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Showing posts with label Online Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Online Games. Show all posts


The hugely popular Akinator game can be addictive, and if you must play it in the office or school, you'll need to have it unblocked. As most institutions often block this amazing game which makes it difficult for students or employees to access, denying them some fun moments playing it within their busy schedule.

While the Akinator games are also available for Android and iOS, it is mostly an online game that can be played direct on the browser via a PC, or even video game consoles and the demand is increasing by the day, with modern game enhancements through AR and VR.

In this post, we'll guide you on how to access the game and also what the Akinator game is it all about. So, let's start with what Akinator game brings to the table.

What is the Akinator Game all about?



Akinator is an AI game modeled on the concept of a genie by the same moniker, which game requires you to think of a fictional or real-world character and have the genie ask you series of questions to guess the exact character that you have in mind.

Take for instance, you think of a blockbuster movie actor, like Samuel L. Jackson. Then, Akinator will ask you such questions as which country is your character from, with suggestions like US, Canada and Asia and some other related questions, based on which it will be able to guess the correct answer.

It will keep on asking questions until it reaches to a right conclusion to provide the correct answer. However, it may guess wrong, and you'll continue to play the game for 3 more times until it accepts defeat. Then, you'll be allowed to disclose what exactly was the character that you have in mind. Now, you've got the idea?

How to Access the game when blocked at School & Workplace



Most offices and schools use content filtering software to restrict access to content passing through the network. Not just games but also certain sites like social networks, video streaming services and so forth.

And by simply adding a website address to the host file, or they can add the new URL in router settings to block them. But URL block using the host file is the more popular method. So, you can follow the below instructions to solve the blockade issue.

First, open host file located at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\ as follows:



Then check for Akinator website address listed there. If the URL is listed, simply remove it and save the file.

Alternatively, you can unblock any website by using VPN, but it may not work in this situation because you'll not have the permissions to install software on the school or office systems. So the only option is to use web proxies. But sadly, some proxy sites don't work with Akinator; you have to search for a proxy that currently works for the Akinator game.

Akinator Game — How to Unblock the Game at School and Workplace



GameSnacks are HTML5-based browser games designed for quick loading and capable of running on low-end smartphones with slow connections, developed by Area 120.

While Area 120 is a workshop within Google that help to rapidly build new products in an entrepreneurial environment. It is a hub where Googlers spend 100% of their time on 20% of projects. GameSnacks is part of Area 120, Google’s lab experimental projects, to make HTML5 games accessible for low-end phones on slow networks around the world.

Unfortunately, many web-based games don’t load quickly on low memory devices, such as 2G or 3G network devices that millions of people rely on today. GameSnacks seeks to solve this problem with games that are fast, easy to play, and available on any device that can connect to the internet.

How GameSnacks HTML5 Games are easy to play and fast loading?



Typically, web-based game loads slowly on a 1 GB RAM phone on a 3G network, which is what millions of people around the world are currently using as main mobile device.

GameSnacks HTML5 Games load within a few seconds in any slow network conditions, even on networks slower than 1 Mbps. For instance, a popular GameSnacks game called Tower, is ready to play on 1 GB RAM device connected to 3G quickly. The Area 120 team achieved the fast performance by reducing the size of the initially-loaded HTML page, by compressing additional assets such as images, scripts, and sounds, and loading them only when necessary.



GameSnacks games will soon arrive into the Gojek ecosystem through GoGames, which is a leading mobile technology platform in Southeast Asia that is focused on removing life’s daily frictions.

Earlier Application of HTML5 Games Development



The earliest application of HTML5 Games is perhaps that of Wooga, a German company that specialized in Social Games, with Wooga's Pocket Island launched in 2012; which project aimed to push HTML5 Games into new territory and create the worlds biggest game ever.

But the project inadvertently hit the rock. What would have translated as the most advanced game title for the emerging web development standard, HTML5, was not to be or better, was set for the future.

The company labeled the project "failed" and subsequently tagged the emerging web standard, HTML5, not ready for serious game development.

But that has all changed, as the emerging standard, HTML5 is super-ready now for mobile game development. Besides mobile, GameSnacks games also work on both touch PC’s mouse and keyboard; and you don’t need any set of instructions to play the games.

GameSnacks: Web-based HTML5 Games for Low End Phones by Area 120



April 1 is observed as April Fool's Day, and many tech companies have come to use the day to show mocked up teasers of Utopian ideas, but Google chose to offer its Maps users a cool Easter Egg, allowing them to play the legendary game ‘Snake’ right within the app.

Perhaps, you don’t have Google Maps installed on your smartphone, don't worry as there is a standalone site here, which allows you to play the game without the app, though the Easter Egg is supposed to expire in a week, the site will let you play the game for awhile longer.

For those with Google maps, simply tap the menu button on the Google Maps screen, and select the ‘Play Snake’ option to give it a try. And you can also select any city map presented on screen, either choose between London, San Francisco, Cairo, São Paulo, Sydney, Tokyo, or other region on the map.

Albeit, the actual game play have been tweaked a bit, so instead of a regular Snake, you will be getting a bus or train to pick passengers with en route to various landmarks along the given region.

April Fools' Day certainly ain't for kids only any more, as the tech companies also like to show they've got sense of humor; so expect fake news even from the most unlikely sources. And keep a watch on social media feeds as you're sure to find links across Twitter and Facebook about some ridiculous new venture from the likes of Uber.

But remember not to believe everything you see and relive the April Fools' web pranks, as more jokes roll in, so watch out and remain skeptical.

Google teases Maps users with Snake game play for April Fools’ Day



Google offers different style of Doodles to mark some occasions, and this year's Halloween, it is offering the Great Ghoul Duel game, which is perhaps the first multi-player Doodle game that allow users to form two teams of four ghosts to collect wandering flames and return to base within two minutes.

The company had launched series of interactive doodles to mark the opening of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, with the "Fruit Games" playable either on the browser or on Google app for Android and iOS, but the Great Ghoul Duel game takes things a notch higher as the first-ever multiplayer game.

It lets you play with random people around the world, and by forming two teams of four ghosts collect as much spirit flames as possible to your home base in two minutes.

The team that collect the most spirit flames will unlock some special powers, like night vision and power boosts, albeit teams can steal each others flames as they deposit them at their home base and the eventual winner is the team with the most spirit flames at the end of the game.

You can invite up to seven friends or family members to join in the team and play via a custom link, or you can choose to play with random people from around the world.

As games can be pretty addictive, it is recommended that you shouldn't play it at the office and perhaps you'll need plenty of cookies to sustain you, given the long playing time.

Google's Doodle for Great Ghoul Duel lets you play with random people around the world



The free-to-play, location-based augmented reality game, Pokemon Go, is finally getting a makeover, as it's been the same egg-hatching, monster-hunting, and candy-grinding experience since it made debut in July 2016. Niantic Labs, developers of Pokemon Go showed off two big updates coming to the game, with promise to make Pokemon raids battle ready.

While previous updates had focused on a few critical fixes, UI tweaks and adding a second batch of Pokemon, with the new release users will be getting a complete makeover.

And foremost, gym battles is getting a complete overhaul, which is about now rolling out in the US; as with the current gym system having elite players to drop six Dragonite on every gym, and to fight a series of tougher Pokemon to make it to the top, these won't be the case anymore.

With the new update, each gym as always having six slots available for a team to contribute, players will have to come visit their Pokemon and track their physical/mental form through a gauge, which empties overtime.

Also, there'll be a new reason to visit gyms, as each visit will now double as a PokeStop, so players can spin its sign to collect some items as well.

Albeit, there will be a limit of one to any given Pokemon per gym, and players will earn unique badges from each Gym which they can level up from Bronze to Silver or to Gold.

The new boss battle mode (dubbed Raid Battles), is where those "Legendaries" will actually make appearances.

As Pokemon Go catchphrase "Gotta catch 'em all" goes, the rarest, most valuable legendary Pokemon have been entirely off-limits, so it's never actually been possible in gameplay.

Now, when a player see the countdown timer and giant egg appear above a gym, along with 19 other friends can fight an incredibly powerful Pokemon, again and again until the timer runs out.

And each participant will have a set number of chances to catch the powerful boss Pokemon with special new Poke Balls. Though, a "Raid Pass" is required, which you can get one per day just by touching any gym.

Niantic, however, says releasing the Raid Battles won't happen, until the new gyms have rolled out across the world.

Pokemon Go next big update to overhaul the gyms; bring battle mode

Microsoft has announced a beta release of a new game chat feature that will enable players transcribe speech-to-text or text-to-speech on Xbox One and Window 10 PCs. The chat transcription makes it easier for gamers to communicate by converting typed chat into speech, and vice versa.

While the new feature public release will be available on Xbox One and Windows 10 shortly, the first game to support it will be Halo Wars 2.

The chat transcription feature will enable players to transcribe voices into text, which could be useful for gamers who want to avoid blocking or muting particular players.

It's especially useful for players who have poor hearing, as well as people who are unable to speak during a game session due to technological limitations (i.e. no microphone) or a physical inability.

The feature, however, will need to be supported in games directly, and won't be available as part of the Xbox One’s party chat option.

For Xbox One users, the feature can be turned on by going to Settings > All settings > Ease of Access > Game Chat Transcription. While for Windows 10 PC, open the Xbox app and go to Settings > General > Game chat transcription.

Microsoft bringing Game chat transcription to Xbox One and Windows 10

Earlier in the Month, Microsoft announced that the Xbox Live Creators Program will allow any game developer to publish Xbox Live-enabled games on Xbox One and for Windows 10 platform.

According to Microsoft, with the Creators Program, anyone can integrate Xbox Live sign-in, presence, and social features into their Universal Windows Platform (UWP) games, then publish the game to Xbox One and Windows 10.

What this means is that game developers would get maximum exposure for their games, from every Xbox One owner across the Xbox One family of devices, as well as hundreds of millions of Windows 10 PCs, and millions of folks using the Xbox app on mobile devices.

Microsoft had previously opened up the Xbox Store to app developers, and now, this current move goes to show the company's resolve to embracing open web ideology.

The Xbox Live Creators Program is aimed to empower anyone to rapidly publish Xbox Live-enabled games on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs, which in turn will help Microsoft cover-up on apps-deficit on its platforms.

Albeit, games published through the Creators Program isn't on equal footing with the latest AAA shooter from big publishers: for Xbox One, games published through the Xbox Live Creators Program is made available in a new “Creator games section” within the store.

And for those wishing to integrate with Xbox Live services and publish their games on the Xbox or Windows Store, will require approval from Microsoft first, through a program called ID@Xbox.

What Microsoft's opening up Xbox Games platform means for Developers

Microsoft announced Game Mode as a new system feature for Windows 10 that focuses the GPU and CPU on a Game Mode-enabled process, and now, Game Mode for Windows 10 has shown up in the Windows Insider build as a checkbox you can enable and disable.

While, many posts have been written about Windows 10 Game Mode, here's the full rundown — directly from Microsoft — on how this new system feature works.

The Windows 10 Game Mode will simply serve as suppressing system for processes and apps taking too much CPU, GPU, and RAM resources, thus freeing them up for the primary goal of game playing.

It will also limit CPU thread contention between the games been played and existing system processes, helping to speed things up even further.

Microsoft is also testing a game broadcasting feature in the Xbox app, albeit the feature is currently disabled, Windows 10 users will be able to easily stream games to the Beam pro with just the Xbox app once the Windows 10 Creators Update is released in April.

The concept behind the Game Mode is already available on Xbox One, which is to give games priority access to system resources.

Similar to how the Xbox One works, Game Mode is dynamically disabled when a user minimize or set game in the background, giving system processed full access to the hardware while multi-tasking.

Game Mode will be enabled by default for certain games that have undergone thorough testing, such as Halo Wars 2, which is expected to leverage Game Mode out of the box.

Microsoft is currently working with Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA, to make sure Game Mode comes out as good as possible, by optimizing for the most popular hardware configurations.

Here's How Windows 10 Game Mode feature works

Microsoft’s Beam, a game-streaming service, now upgraded to “Pro” is live. It features game streaming up to 1440p resolution at 60Hz with Xbox Live integration, which probably means that this will be the default streaming service for the Xbox platform.

While Microsoft acquired Beam last summer, the upgrade to Beam pro, has now tied Beam to Microsoft account, instead of a dedicated Beam ID save for the new option to log in with your Xbox Live account.

Albeit, the company had announced the rolling out the Beam pro upgrade to select users, the service is about now live for all users.

The upgraded Beam game-streaming service is perhaps Microsoft's take-on on Twitch and YouTube gaming, even as it brings Windows and Xbox players together, instead of moving on to other third-party services.

Beam pro update includes 1440p 60fps streams and “super-high motion” 1080p; and a 5X improvement in speed; as well as 60fps rendering performance for videos displayed on the site.

Microsoft Xbox Live support for Beam means better user verification, as the company is bringing more interesting additions with dedicated “mature” gaming streams to authenticated users who are 18 and above.

Beam pro upgrade also added video player, a revamped homepage, and “chat” improvements that include a new polling interface.

Microsoft's Beam game-streaming service goes live with Xbox integration

While at the office, sometimes we take a sneak at the news, and some just gossip, even as some find other odd stuff to wile away time. It'd go unnoticed to many that Google has actually hidden a number of Easter eggs across their products in the same way they’ve revolutionized search.

These Easter eggs are one of the most addictive games you can find, designed especially to let you wile away the minutes.

The infographic below shows such hidden gems as Atari Breakout and Pac-Man (for the old-school gamers), a fiendishly difficult, Flappy Droid game hidden in your Android phone, a simple but addictive platform game you can play in chrome when offline and some great games hidden in Google Maps and Google Earth.

We hope you find the guide interesting and don’t lose too much time playing the Pac-Man! This infographic is brought to you by Euroffice.

Fun Hidden Games on Google

INFOGRAPHIC: Fun Hidden Games on Google

Facebook has launched a new HTML5-based platform, dubbed Facebook Instant Games, that eliminates the need to download the Gameroom app for that quick game-play experience, as it now embed games right inside the News Feed and Messenger.

It's rather a re-organizing of its erstwhile online gaming experience, whereby users are required to dig them out from the left-hand sidebar which have hitherto been a constraint for smartphone and tablet users.

The Facebook Instant Games platform debut with initial seventeen games — including the iconic Pac-Man, Space Invaders and the more modern games like EverWing and Frenzy — which can now be launched directly from the News Feed and Messenger.

Also, in-app games can now be launched within both the Facebook mobile apps as well as Messenger, without the need for separate apps.

While for the Messenger, there's a new game controller icon just below the box where users type message, and an “Instant Play” button will allow you to launch the game.

Meanwhile, the new Instant Games isn't replacing Facebook Gameroom app, rather it's complementing the app, even as the name suggests, the new platform is about quick access and play experience.

It's currently available in 30 countries, according to Facebook, and requires a smartphone with either iOS 8 or higher, and Android 5.0 (“Lollipop”) or higher.

Facebook Instant Games brings gaming right inside News Feed and Messenger

Before now, Pokemon Go dedicated hunters have been crying for help in tracking their favorite pastime, as its tracking system wasn't any good, leaving a host of third party trackers to gain popularity on the platform.

While Pokemon Go shutting out of those trackers, have resulted numerous users quitting the game altogether.

Niantic Labs, the company behind the Pokemon Go, have now switched on a tracking system for Pokemon Go - and just in time for the Thanksgiving weekend bonus XP event, as there's an ample chance that lots of people will be playing the game this weekend.

If you check the list of nearby Pokemon you'll see the Pokestop photo nearest to each of the Pokemon on the list, you just need to tap a Pokemon and then the footprints to be shown exactly where the Pokestop is and have it tracked on the map.

And the footstep icons are back, so maybe that will do more than just show the closest Pokestop when you're in areas with high density Pokestop action.

The new Pokemon Go tracking system, however, seems to be having some obvious problem, as users are reporting that the Pokestop tracking isn't showing up in some areas. Albeit, it correctly flag how exactly individual tracking works and may be limited to those high density cities for now.

Now Pokemon Go shows exactly the Pokestop and trackable on the map

The record-breaking augmented reality game, Pokemon Go, latest app version has been mined to reveal that players will soon be able to take their favorite Pokemon down for a walk.

Pokemon GO Buddy system data, which was first unraveled on AeonLucid’s PogoProtos, the biggest Github repository for analyzing Pokemon GO traffic, shows that changes are already present in the code base, and could be getting the underway in the next update.

The code made it clear about how Pokemon could walk alongside a player, with others able to fly along and/or sit beside a player.

While the most recent update to Pokemon Go is the Appraisal feature, which teaches players on their Pokemon's battle readiness, ability to walk Pokemon is perhaps the second big, recent addition coming to the game.

It's expected that the app will receive the entire data package from the server side, similar to how walked egg distance is updated.

Also sighted are two new functions in the Network Requests code base: SetBuddyPokemonMessage and GetBuddyWalkedMessage, albeit, actual implementation is currently missing but their naming clearly indicates the intent.

Pokemon Go's next big update lets you walk the Pokemon

Google launched a series of interactive doodles to mark the opening of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, with the "Fruit Games" playable either on the browser or on Google app for Android and iOS, and will feature a different game each day.

Google had always featured different style of Doodles to mark each Olympic games, but for Rio 2016 Olympics, Google started something pretty weird, "Fruit Games".

The "Fruit Games" doodle, which appeared in coincidence with the Olympics' opening ceremonies, also features a minute YouTube video in which animated fruits from a fruit stand in Rio, compete in sports like marathons, spider-riding, water polo, bicycle racing and golf.

While the YouTube video is quite entertaining, it's actually a promo for its new game right inside the Google app for iOS and Android.

The app features seven different competitions, including a running game where a strawberry tries to outrun a watermelon, and there's also a swimming game where the game-control involves tilting your phone back and forth to avoid floating ice cubes.

Albeit, it remains unclear if Google may introduce human-figures in the games as competing in the actual Olympics, but till then, you'd have fun competing with the fruits.

Google Doodle "Fruit Games" to celebrate the Rio 2016 Olympics

Google's video/game streaming service, YouTube Gaming now packs in a bevy of new features in channels and location selection, including: landscape mode, new chat layout, and other nifty improvements.

While, the ability to use the app in landscape mode remains the most remarkable of the new features, YouTube has made it a lot more easier for users to stream contents online.

Albeit, watching YouTube videos has always been that way, now you can also navigate all around YouTube Gaming using your phone or tablet turned sideways.

Starting from YouTube Gaming app version 1.5, there is the new feature to reformat chat, allowing comments overlay while watching videos in landscape mode.

And now, the button to minimize the action is now more obvious, as you may want to keep a video going while heading over to the notifications to read a message.

YouTube watch history has been toned up, with the ability to save for offline access or to add to a “watch later” queue from the overview button.

Also, you can switch location to view videos from settings with options to select any country, including United States, the UK, Sweden, or elsewhere if you want to find out what games are topping the chart in that part of the world.

The service, however, isn't as cool as the live-streaming of Twitch, Google still have a long way to go to catching up with the popular online streaming service.

Online Gaming: What's new in YouTube Gaming App version 1.5?

Pokémon Go, a free-to-play location-based augmented reality (AR) mobile game developed by Niantic, broke records on iOS and Android with millions of downloads within a week of its release.

The Google-incubated Niantic Labs developed, Pokémon Go, is published by The Pokémon Company as part of the Pokémon franchise, and was released in July 2016 for iOS and Android devices.

While, the game allow players to capture, battle, and train virtual creatures, called Pokémon, using smartphone's in-built GPS and Camera in a combo with AR to create a live experience of catching the Pokémon.

Albeit, Pokémon Go, is incredibly low-end, and basic demonstrations of what AR technology is capable, as today generation of smartphones can do little to dynamically make sense of the real world through computer vision or depth sensing.

Pokémon Go thrives upon Google Maps data to take advantage of local geography: these are typically located at public art installations, historical markers and buildings, cenotaphs and other memorials, public parks and fountains, places of worship, and other points of cultural significance.

And to its credit, Pokémon has done a great job of getting typically lots of dumb gamer off their feet and outside to explore the real world around them, albeit through a surreal world lens.

Pokémon Go: Augmented Reality hits mainstream Gaming

Google's take-on Twitch.tv, YouTube Gaming is now live on iOS and Android, with purported web extension in the works. The game streaming service will offer live streaming, promotional videos, and game-play footage, with over 25,000 dedicated pages of games and live streams, alongside a number of channels from game publishers and YouTube video creators.

While, Amazon-owned Twitch.tv, is now boasting of more than 1.5 million broadcasters and 100 million visitors per month.

Twitch is all about live streaming, where gamers can use it to see footage of video games by other users as well as broadcasts. YouTube Gaming, albeit, technically equivalent to Twitch, is still much more different than it is similar.

YouTube Gaming vs. Twitch

Monetization: Live streams will be "front and center" on YouTube Gaming, with obvious improvement in live experience that makes it simpler to broadcast your game play. But, Twitch has a mass of active and engaged users, with many of the prominent game streamers most probably reluctant to leave Twitch because of the perpetual discontent about YouTube’s model, which forces creators to channel their advertising via the platform.

On-demand Video: YouTube's capability to rewind a live stream to watch anything is simply awesome, albeit, its not the only streaming service to feature this sort of built-in DVR, but it is the only one to offer it for TI5.

Utility: YouTube’s utility far outpaced Twitch, and Twitch will have to evolve or more people will have to make the switch to Google’s alternative.

In conclusion, this competitive tussle will eventually result better game streaming experience for users, and portends improved services, far better than would have been possible if Google had succeeded in acquiring Twitch.

YouTube Gaming: Why Twitch may not be itched a bit?

The Tuesday New Game Conference may well be described as a marriage of convenience between the two internet technology super-powers, as Google and Microsoft spearheaded its sponsorship. The two-day event which took place in San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Center for Arts focused on exploring the fundamental skills in creating cutting edge HTML5 games.

The emerging web standard, HTML5, has enjoyed tremendous support and perhaps the open web ecosystem has contributed to the overall success.

The technology vendors Mozilla and Google had always advocated the web in preference to native app development, with Google working through its Chrome Web Store and also its Native Client Project to making web-based gaming experience a better one. While Mozilla, on the other hand, had been pushing for APIs to support browser based games.

According to a notable remark at the conference, about 50% of installed browsers are able to play the HTML5 version of Angry Birds.

However, the extensive cutting-edge coding required in HTML5 execution remains an impediment to a broader adoption of the technology. And with the flood of new tools coming, the next version of WebGL specification, which allows JavaScript code to access a graphic processing unit, are all in the effort to break entry barriers.

The less vantage position of the emerging standard stems from the fact that it can reach only a small segment of the technology world, given that the old conventional technologies still hold sway on major devices. But, that not withstanding, the future is indeed open web standard.

HTML5: Online Game Development

The term platform as it applies to the web, is taken to mean the current technology trends that allow software to run on the web. It includes application frameworks and XML web services, also the technologies that makes it possible: SOAP and AJAX, which has virtually turned the web into a ready-made framework of application building block.

Web as a development platform gets a boost as web-based applications are improving on the functionality of their desktop equivalents.

Game development has found a new haven in leveraging this new technology trend, and as the earliest adopter, are instrumental in shaping the technical specifications. Game developers, since the advent of the personal computer had enjoyed strong support from the most successful platforms.

Game development popularity has perhaps attracted the attention of the internet giant, Google, as it announced the Google Game Development center, a web-based resource specifically designed to promote its new web application technologies and infrastructures: WebGL, Native Client, and HTML5 amongst others.

The uniqueness of this technology trend is that both the major players and smaller ones are leveraging the 'web as a box of blocks', which demonstrates the popularity of this new use of the web. The web as a development platform can be leveraged to do more than just the diverse content creation, obtainable at present. However, the right skills coupled with complex interaction between web building blocks is needed to result in new real innovations and functionality.

Games: Web As Platform

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