Mobile gaming - everything to play forWritten by Christopher Smith
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Downloading games to a mobile phone can be done from anywhere. Women do not need to venture into testosterone-laden atmosphere of game shops and this may account for why an increasing number of females are entering world of mobile gaming. Interestingly, it also appears that women are playing more traditional games such as solitaire and backgammon rather than 'shoot 'em dead' kind. Just as more women are playing games, so to are an increasing number of older people. Figures from Entertainment Software Association released in August 2003 indicate that a full 17% of game players are over age 50, up from 13% in 2000. This would suggest that gamers are an increasingly diverse group and appeal of gaming is spreading across sexes and across different ages and socio-economic backgrounds. People seem to be more and more at ease playing games on consoles, online and now on mobile phones. With growing awareness of mobile gaming, improved and ever-wider distribution channels for mobile games, and an increasing degree of comfort with payment and delivery over air amongst subscribers, everything points to an explosion in growth. This translates into a multi-billion dollar market for providers of mobile technology, game developers and retailers and a completely new way of looking at mobile phones. Copyright © 2004, Christopher Smith
Christopher Smith is a marketer and copywriter.
| | Buffer Under-run Protection & Its Value in DuplicationWritten by John McGrath
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better analogy for CD-R writing when using buffer under-run prevention is that of a car. If a car runs out of fuel, you can simply fill up a gas can, add fuel, and continue on your way. No plane crashes here. Using car analogy, what would be down side if your tank was very small and you were embarking on a long drive whereby distance between gas stations was greater than fuel capacity allowed? Well, you would run out of gas frequently and find yourself walking along road to fill your gas can only to walk back to your car, refill, and continue on your way, repeating this step as often as necessary. So in effect, if host PC or duplication controller cannot provide data as fast as CD-R drive writes, drive will pause, wait for buffer to refill, and then begin write process again. The downside here is performance. This can take from one to several seconds per actuation of buffer under-run prevention. A one-drive 32x copier from one company might easily out-perform a 52x unit relying on buffer under-run prevention. The MF Digital difference MF Digital designs its duplication and publishing systems so that buffer under-run prevention strategies are not needed. This is achieved through MF Digital's own precision duplication controllers and software, and use of high-speed hard drives, fast processors, and plenty of memory. When using MF Digital's PC based systems such as Scribe, be sure to adhere to minimum system requirements.
If you have any questions that might make an interesting TechNOTE or white paper, please do not hesitate to send them in. Please forward your questions or suggestions to John McGrath c/o MF Digital. 121 Carolyn Blvd., Farmingdale, NY. 11735, or email technotes@mfdigital.com, or http://www.mfdigital.com/
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