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Top 5 First Person Shooter World War 2 Games

5. Return to Castle Wolfenstein (PC – 2001)

The much-anticipated sequel of the father of all first-person shooter, Wolfenstein 3D, is hard to exclude from a top five list. The game is essentially a reboot of Wolfenstein 3D from the early 1990s but offers a very modern take on the classic that still keeps up quite well with what more modern offerings have to provide. In it, players assume the role of Blazkowicz who must escape from a Nazi stronghold and investigate the secret paranormal division that’s around him. It is a linear FPS experience that doesn’t deviate from what players might already know from the original video game.

The visuals received a complete overhaul to keep up with more modern times. When played at maximum settings, which isn’t beyond the means of many computers used today, the levels become very vivid in their presentation. Although I was left with the impression that it wasn’t very “prison-like”. Instead, the levels seem rather medieval and take on a more literal meaning of “Castle” in many respects. However, this does little to detract from the overall experience of the game and it keeps to its predecessor quite well.

Overall, it’s hard to find fault with the game’s single-player mode, but the game truly shines in its multiplayer mode: experiences that were sorely missed in the early 1990s unless players had the technical knowledge to create IPX networks. Despite being over 10 years old, Return to Castle Wolfenstein still has a vibrant online community of dedicated players who are unlikely to disappear anytime soon!

IGN Score: 9.0
Personal Score: 7.0
Age Advisory: Mature (17+)

4. Battlefield 1942 (PC – 2002)

It’s hard to think about WW2 PC games and not have Battlefield 1942 come to mind. While comparably dated like Return to Castle Wolfenstein, it’s a game that’s hard to beat in the multiplayer realm due to the voluminous capacity of players who are able to take part in any one match. Up to 64 players are able to play in an individual campaign, which is set in the Pacific Theater and Stalingrad. It’s also set apart by its well-developed vehicle system. Increasingly modern games attempt to incorporate vehicles into the gameplay experience, but Battlefield 1942 still stands out as players have access to over 32 vehicles that are on land, sea, and in the air.

Given the age of the game, most modern computers released within the past few years would be able to handle Battlefield 1942 flawlessly. However, the visuals do indeed show their age nowadays. They still stand out as remarkable for the time of the game but are losing their appeal as time goes on. Yes, it’s understandable than an 11-year-old game would do this, but visuals certainly aren’t what keep players involved in the game. I’d argue it’s the sheer capacity of players per match that make it one of the unique WW2 games on the PC today.

If players are into full-scale combat, then this is a game that’s hard to beat. It’s by no means the best WW2 game available for the PC today, but has stood the test of time and is still widely enjoyed by players; much like Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

IGN Score: 9.3
Personal Score: 8.5
Age Advisory: Teen (13+)

3. Call of Duty (PC – 2003)

What WW2 would PC games list be complete without mentioning the start of what later became one of the most successful war-based franchises in gaming history? Like Battlefield 1942, Call of Duty is hectic in its experience and provides an unmatched intensity that’s unrivaled in today’s gaming scene. However, it also incorporates a great deal of historical accuracy: something that many of the best WW2 games choose to neglect, especially within the FPS genre. In it, players take control of numerous American and British soldiers who work their way through various campaigns during the Second World War. This was all done with sensitivity to the time period, so players won’t find themselves making use of ray guns or other futuristic weaponry in this game.

When this game was released ten years ago, its visuals were unlike anything on the market at that point and rivaled some of the most hardware intensive games on the most powerful console at the time, which was the Nintendo 64. However, that’s not to say the game was without fault. My test rig did come across some aliased features, but it’s difficult to pin down the source. It could very well be a driver incompatibility given the age of the game against my more modern hardware.

It’s still hard to go wrong with the original Call of Duty. Much of the community has moved onto more recent COD games, like Modern Warfare and Black Ops, but there’s still a very active community who play the original game. Should it ever disappear, then the single player mode is certainly worth the experience!

IGN Score: 9.3
Personal Score: 9.0
Age Advisory: Teen (13+)

2. Battlefield Heroes (PC – 2009)

For some reason, this game is often confused with Battlefield 1942. Perhaps the name “Battlefield” confuses some players into believing they’re the same game, but they are most certainly not! Battlefield Heroes is best described as what would happen if Team Fortress 2 was involved in the Second World War. In it, players side with either the Nationals (Axis) or Royals (Allies) and attempt to obliterate one another in a comical firefight that’s very cartoon-like in its presentation. I think the more lighthearted nature of the game is what keeps so many players involved in the community, but there are also traces of historical accuracy to keep purists amused.

It’s hard to find fault with the visuals. Yes, they’re very laid back when compared to something like Call of Duty, but I believe this was the developer’s intention with the game. There’s certainly a comedic vibe to the entire experience that kept me engaged throughout the time I played the game.

Perhaps the only fault I can find with it is each gameplay session, regardless of the chosen map or opponents, caused me to be disconnected from the Internet. I’m not entirely sure what was happening, but it has affected two different routers connecting to two different ISPs. If this issue didn’t exist, then I’d have no problem putting it in the first place position, but it is a major bug with the game that holds back an otherwise top-tier contender.

IGN Score: 8.0
Personal Score: 9.5
Age Advisory: 16+

1. Call of Duty: The World at War (PC – 2008)

Yes, Call of Duty is making another appearance in the best of the list with this title, which is the most recent Call of Duty game for the PC. After a slew of releases focused on more modern military conflicts, Activision reverted back to its roots with The World at War and put players in the Pacific Theater and Eastern Front operations within the Second World War. The experience holds true to its predecessors in that it’s very chaotic throughout the single player mode and features an impressive multiplayer experience to boot.

Visually, The World at War is nothing short of a masterpiece. The stunningly detailed in-game graphics are complimented by exceedingly spectacular cinematic cutscenes that accent the player’s progress throughout the game. Movement is fluid, responsive, and I dare say lifelike in many instances. Of course, this can be speculative as my test rig was able to play this game at very high settings. The experience may differ at lower settings, which may be required of some older systems not purpose-built for gaming.

It would be hard for me to consider anything besides The World at War to be the best FPS WW2 game. It is currently unmatched in the gaming world in terms of its strengths and is likely to hold this distinction for quite some time as developers seemingly shy away from the WW2 genre on the PC. Regardless, I would be happy to make this my go-to WW2 game for quite awhile.

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Review: Legendary “A Marvel Deck Building Game”

Deck-building game is a fast-growing genre that is gaining more and more fans around the world. You start out with a lame deck consisting of a few basic cards and then all options are open. It’s up to you to find the best combos of cards, add them to your deck and gradually build a “machine” that works better than other players’. It all started with Dominion, then came Thunderstone, Ascension, Nightfall… and now Legendary! But Legendary is much more than a simple deck-building game. Read on to find what’s different about it.

The game’s storyline is quite compelling thanks to the Marvel license. Here are all your favorite guys: the good ones like Wolverine, Spiderman, Hulk, Captain America, Iron-Man and much more, and the bad ones: Dr. Doom, Magneto, Loki and Red Skul. One of the Evil Masterminds decided to bring horror to the city, by trying to accomplish a scheme and recruiting many villains to help him do just that. You have the difficult task to stop him by recruiting the best superheroes out there and fighting the villains and the Mastermind himself. However, you are not alone. Your fellow players are on your side trying to do just the same as you. Players don’t take the role of superheroes. Instead, heroes are available for any player to add them to his deck from a common pool. So, is this a co-operative game? Up to one point yes. You all try to defeat the bad guys but one of you is going to do better than others. By defeating villains or fighting the Mastermind, players earn victory points and at the end of the game, the player with the most victory points is the winner.

This is a game for 1-5 players each player starting with the same deck of basic Hero cards, 8 S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, and 4 S.H.I.E.L.D. Troopers. During set-up, which by the way takes some time, you choose a Mastermind to fight at random. Each Mastermind comes together with 4 Mastermind tactics cards, placed underneath the Mastermind on a special place on the board. Then you choose a Scheme card at random too. On the Scheme card, there are details about how the Mastermind operates which influences the way the villain deck is formed.

Then you get to build the villain deck which consists of the following types of cards:

“Scheme twist” cards. A Scheme Twist card represents the Scheme moving forward towards victory for the evil Mastermind. Every Scheme works in a different way, with its Scheme Twists doing a specific thing related to that Scheme. The number of “Scheme twist” cards in the Villain deck depends on the Mastermind card.
“Master Strike” cards. A Master Strike card represents the evil Mastermind coming down to get their hands dirty and smash the Heroes themselves. Each Mastermind card has its own specific Master Strike effect. 5 of these identification cards are added to the villain deck.
Villain groups. Each group consists of eight villains that work together. The number of groups added depends on the number of players.
Henchmen groups. Henchmen are weaker Villains where each group consists of ten identical cards. The number of groups added depends on the number of players.
Bystanders. These are innocent citizens that turn out to be at the wrong place, the wrong time. Villains snatch them and carry them with them. When you defeat a Villain who has captured a bystander, you get an extra victory point for rescuing the poor guy/girl.
After the Villain deck, you build the Hero Deck. There are fifteen different heroes and you get to choose five of them (six when playing with 6 players). For each hero, there are 14 corresponding cards (1 rare, 3 uncommon, 5 of one common, and 5 of another common).

ll decks are shuffled and put face down on their special reserved places on the board. 5 cards are flipped from the Hero deck and put one next to the other into the 5 Hero Spaces in the HQ. Players shuffle their decks too and draw 6 cards. A starting player is chosen and players take turns in clockwise order.

Each player on his turn does 3 things:

Play the top card of the Villain Deck. The villain makes a spectacular appearance in the city through the… sewers!! There are 5 spaces (places in the city) through which villains move: Sewers, Bank, Rooftops, Streets and the Bridge. Each time a new villain enters a city space, if there is already someone there, he gets pushed one space to the left, towards the bridge. This may cause a chain reaction when a new villain appears. But be careful, if a villain is pushed left of the bridge, which is the final fifth space on the board, he forever escapes the city. If a certain number of villains, depending on the chosen scheme, manage to escape, then evil wins and all players lose.
Play cards from their hand, using them to recruit and fight. Each hero card has special symbols and text describing his abilities. A hero may provide gold which is used to recruit more heroes and/or attack points used to fight Villains. They also usually have a superpower ability that requires a hero of the same hero class having played this turn in order to activate it. Super powers can have many different effects such as drawing more cards, adding more attack points, getting rid of wounds or basic heroes and much more. Whenever a player defeats a villain he puts him on his personal Victory Pile.
Discard his hand and draw six new cards
The game is over when players defeat the Mastermind four times or if the Mastermind wins. Then players add the victory points they earned during the game.

I wouldn’t like to overextend with the rules of the game and for example explain what “Scheme twist” and “Master Strike” cards do, as these details are not essential to the review itself. Now it’s time for the actual review:

Components:

The components of the game are only a game board and cards. The game board is very functional with plenty of room for all individual groups of cards. On the right, we can see the Hero deck and Villain Deck. On the bottom of the board, there is the HQ (Headquarters) with 5 spaces on which heroes that are revealed from the hero deck, are placed. Just above it, there are the different parts of the city where villains appear. On the left side, there is a space for the Mastermind and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents deck. On the top, there are spaces for the Scheme card, the escaped villains, Wounds deck and Bystanders deck. Finally a big space for cards that get KO’d (knocked out) for the game. These are permanently removed from the game. The board is big and has plenty of space for everything, even a very helpful textbox on the top-left corner about how to set up the game according to the number of players.

The artwork of the board and the cards are awesome. The images are original artwork, not found in any comic, drawn with detail and imagination. All 14 cards of each hero, from the common to the rare version has the same artwork which is an issue that some people find not very appealing. I wasn’t much bothered by that although I admit that it would be a most welcomed update to the game if different versions of heroes had different art and it would make the cards more easily recognizable. 8/10The gameboard!

Gameplay:

What is there not to like in Legendary? It is deck-building, which is one of the newest and most popular genres, it’s highly thematic and it’s also unique in that it’s both cooperative (with players cooperating to beat the Mastermind) and competitive (with players competing to earn the most victory points). This combination matches a lot of Marvel storylines and makes the game appealing to fans of co-op games and gamers who like games with a single winner (like me!!). Devin Low has designed this game effectively, combining the latest trends in gaming, flavored by characters that almost everybody is familiar with, Marvel superheroes.

The pace of the game is really fast. There is always something happening and during other players turns, you can study your cards, planning your next turn or just watch the action. New villains appear every turn and some of them may trigger chain-reactions of events by pushing one or more villains to escape from the city.

Luck plays its little part in the game, regarding what heroes and villains will be revealed and whether you will manage to get enough heroes of a specific class to make your deck work. This is a big difference from games like Dominion or Thunderstone in which all cards are available to all players to buy. In Legendary you can only buy one of the five heroes at HQ so if no one fits your agenda or they are very expensive then your plans are delayed and you can do nothing about it. Nevertheless, the strategy is the dominant element in the game as you decide what heroes to buy and what villains to fight.

A little issue with gameplay I noticed is that players that play first usually do better than players playing after them as they get to choose first the best available (and affordable) heroes which make them have a head start against other players. I have to play many more games to decide if statistically, this problem appears often enough to make it a real issue. Other than that gameplay is smooth and balanced and I have to admit very.

Another con for the game is the amount of time required for setting up and break down. You have to pick a Mastermind (OK, that’s easy), to find his four tactic cards and pick a Scheme. Then you must build the Villain Deck: Add Master Strike cards, random Village and Henchmen groups and Bystanders. Then pick 5 Heroes. Shuffle all these decks. It’s true that set-up is not so boring as you are excited about the game that will follow. But what with break-down when the game is over? You have to sort out all the different cards, put them in piles and back to their box. This is a somewhat dull process but I guess it couldn’t be avoided. The randomness of the decks is what makes the gameplay so exciting. 9/10

Learning Curve:

Legendary is not a difficult game to learn, especially if you have played another deck-building game like Dominion or Thunderstone before. The most difficult thing to learn at first is the various cards of the villain deck, except the actual villains, that is Master Strike and Scheme Twist cards and their effects or what to do when a villain escapes. In case you never played a deck-building game before things will be a little harder. In any case, the best way to teach this game is to explain the very basic rules and learn the rest of it while playing the game. 7/10

 

 

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Halo 4 War Games, Simple Tips for Improving in Multiplayer

War Games refer to a collection of game types in Halo 4 in which you play competitively against other human players. These battles are training simulations performed by Spartan IVs onboard the Infinity, which they use to improve their abilities for Spartan Ops. There is no computer controlled enemies in War Games; every single ally and enemy is a real human player.

War Games offers an interesting dynamic to Halo 4 quite different from either the Campaign or Spartan Ops. Because you are playing against real players, you get an opportunity to fight enemies much more intelligent than those in the Campaign or Spartan Ops. Therefore, some of the strategies that I provide for the Campaign do not work nearly as well in War Games. There is no single “best” strategy, so experiment with many different tactics and choose one that best fits your strengths and plays style.

Leveling System

In War Games and Spartan Ops, you receive experience after completing each game. This experience is used to level up your Spartan-IV character. As you level up, you unlock new equipment (such as weapons, armor abilities, and perks) and new armor. Each level requires more experience to unlock, so you will level up quickly at first and slowly later on. After you reach level 20, you will have unlocked all equipment, and any levels past that will have little effect on your gameplay.

There are 3 ways to gain experience. The primary way is to complete games in either War Games or Spartan Ops. After each game, you will be rewarded a fixed completion bonus and a much smaller bonus based on your success during that game. In general, you will receive around 2500 experience from shorter games (slayer, oddball, etc.) and 3000 experience from longer games (Spartan Ops, Big Team Battle, CTF). The second way to gain experience is by completing challenges. There is an assortment of War Games, Campaign, and Spartan Ops challenges that you can complete gaining extra experience, with rewards ranging from 1000 to 20,000 experience depending on the difficulty of the challenge. Challenges come in many variations, such as killing a certain number of enemies in a certain way, winning a certain number of games, or completing a certain campaign mission on a certain difficulty. New Challenges are added periodically. Finally, you can gain experience by completing commendations. Commendations are similar to challenges, but they have no time limit and new ones are never added. There is a large assortment of over 100 commendations, each with between 5 to 7 stages of completion. Every time you complete a new stage of a commendation, you receive a certain amount of experience. You can also gain new armor and weapon skins by completing the highest stage of certain commendations.

After you reach level 50, you can choose from 8 different Spartan specializations. Each specialization requires 10 levels to complete, and you unlock new armor with each level. After completing the final level of a specialization, you unlock a new perk. While these new perks only have a minor effect on gameplay, they do offer useful bonuses such as more experience per game, faster assassinations, or longer overheat times on vehicles. Once you complete all 8 specializations and reach level 130, you have completed the leveling progression and will no longer level up.

Throughout the leveling process, you will unlock numerous pieces of armor, all of which can be accessed from the “back” menu. This allows you to customize the way your Spartan IV looks in both Spartan Ops and War Games but has absolutely no effect on gameplay. You unlock new armor by reaching new levels, completing commendations, and completing armor-specific challenges.

Loadout

Unlike in the previous Halo games, you can create your own loadout in Halo 4. Each loadout consists of a primary weapon, a secondary weapon, an armor ability, a grenade type, and two perks. You can have 5 different load outs at one time, allowing you to develop different combinations for each situation. These 5 load outs are used in both Spartan Ops and War Games, so I suggest that set allocate 2 load outs for Spartan Ops and 3 for War Games.

Below, I discuss which equipment to use in your War Games load outs. However, these are only my opinions; you should develop a loadout that fits your play style the best.
Primary Weapon: I highly suggest that you use a headshot weapon as your primary weapon, as headshot weapons have a much longer range and kill enemies faster than any of the assault weapons. I suggest that you use either the DMR, Battle Rifle, or Light Rifle. Of these Options, the DMR is the most accurate, the Battle Rifle deals the most damage when not zoomed in, and the Light Rifle deals the most damage when zoomed in.

Secondary Weapon: You should always use the Plasma Pistol as your secondary weapon, no matter the situation. Although the Plasma Pistol and headshot trick do not work very well against human players, you can still use the Plasma Pistol to stun and jack vehicles and to remove people’s shields and melee them. The Magnum is inferior in damage and accuracy to the headshot rifles, and the bolt shot does not deal enough damage to be worthwhile.

Grenade Type: I suggest that you use the Frag grenade as your grenade type. You can bounce Frag grenades around corners or up gravity lifts, allowing you to kill players that are out of your line of sight. When used in combination with Promethean Vision, this can be a very effective tactic. However, if you are very good at sticking your opponents, you may wish to use the Plasma grenade.

Armor Ability: In my opinion, Active Camouflage and Promethean Vision are the two best armor abilities for War Games. Promethean Vision allows you to see your opponents before they see you, allowing you to get the first shot and the element of surprise. It also allows you to easily see players using Active Camouflage. Active Camouflage allows you to stay hidden while snipping or sneak up on enemies, which is especially useful when using shotguns.

Perks: There is a large assortment of perks that provide minor bonuses. You should choose whichever perks complementing your play style the best. Some of my personal favorites include extra ammo, more frequent ordinance drops, and faster armor ability regeneration.

Ordinance Drops

In order to obtain non-loadout weapons in War Games, you will need to rely on Ordinance Drops. Ordinance Drops are a new game mechanic implemented in Halo 4, replacing the previous system of weapon spawns. Weapon crates are dropped onto the battlefield from above and can contain either a weapon, a power-up, or two grenades. There are two types of Ordinance Drops, and they are as follows:

Map Ordinance Drops appear throughout the map at the start of the game and redeploy after a certain amount of time. These drops usually contain a tier 2 (Shotgun, Saw, etc.) or a Tier 3 (Rocket Launcher, Binary Rifle, etc.) weapon, though they can also contain grenades or power-ups. Any player can access a Map Ordinance Drop simply by walking up to the weapons crate and pressing x, just like swapping with a weapon on the ground. When you are near Ordinance, it will show up as an icon on your HUD. This icon displays your distance from the drop and what equipment is in the drop, so it is a useful tool for judging if it is worth taking the Ordinance. Drops of higher value take longer to redeploy.

 

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What Are The Most Popular Genres of Video Games?

There is nothing to beat the popularity of video games, with newer versions appearing quite frequently. Because of the never-ending demands for such products, the industry offering them has no option but to keep pace by producing additional varieties to replace the older editions. Much to the benefit of gamers, the market is flooded with an extremely large variety of games and the dynamic gaming industry has undergone many technological developments. Undoubtedly, gamers never had such a wide range of quality products to fulfill their rising requirements.

Everybody interested in these games has personal preferences and can surely find some that never fail to meet their expectations of wonderful gaming experiences. Following you’ll find an introduction to different types of the most popular games available in present market, keeping in mind the interactive features they contain and the genre of the basic gameplay they offer.

FPS – FPS stands for First Person Shooter. This is largely centered on the player, who plays it only as per his perception. These games frequently involve different kinds of guns and bullets and other weapons, though there are many unusual games like Samurai plus other warfare styles that incorporate the use of swords and knives. Since these games require a moderate level of concentration, these are well accepted by amateurs, as well as experienced players.

RPG-RPG, meaning role-playing games, are among the most popular types of games that the present gaming industry offers. The games are designed to prompt the player to act in a role-playing manner that is supported by an appealing storyboard, having varying missions to be achieved as the game progresses. One of the most popular RPG games is the Final Fantasy Series.

Real Time Strategy (RTS) – The player that enjoys getting challenged mentally will surely get hooked on the games in this series. Real Time Strategy games are here to defy players’ logical aptitude and sense of reasoning. There is a large variety available for players to select from. However, the one that enjoys utmost popularity is StarCraft II, depicting a spellbinding war of the twenty-sixth century.

Massively Multiplayer Online Games or MMOGs – the Internet-savvy generation of today is frenzied by these games. The underlying principle of this game is the online interaction of a large number of players. Their operational code may include Role-Playing Games, First Person Shooter games or Real Time Strategy games and much more. These games necessarily require a couple of players who are online simultaneously. The most preferred varieties of MMOGs are available in 3D, which really provides an awesome experience to gamers in real life.

Other than the above mentioned highly popular genre, you can also find video games in the adventure, action and racing genres. You can explore the thrilling world of gaming by indulging in different types of games and thus get informed of the newest trends and technically highly advanced games, which are frequently released these days. But be warned, you’ll surely find some favorites and fall for them.

Are you a newbie in the gaming world and wondering which are the most popular video games? Or maybe you are an experienced, passionate player but you need lists of popular video games so you can choose your next adventure? No matter the answer, we can help you anyway. Visit our website.

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Online Games: What Is The Future Of Games Online?

Online games are now being played for over 60 minutes a day by over half a billion people globally, says Jane McGonigal.

In the United States alone, that number is 183 million.

Ninety-nine percent of boys under 18 and 94 percent of girls under 18 say they play online games on a regular basis.

On an average, young people will rack up 10 thousand hours of gaming by the time they reach the age of 21.

That is about the same amount of time that they will spend in their classrooms.

Over 5 million Americans are now spending over 40 hours a week playing online games, which is the equivalent of the time spent at a full-time job.

The NPD Group, a financial-analysis firm that tracks the sales of video games, says the U.S. games industry sold $6.71 billion worth of new games in 2012.

The top 10 best-selling games of 2012 were:

Call of Duty: Black Ops II (360, PS3, PC, Wii U)
Madden NFL 13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSV, Wii U)
Halo 4 (360)
Assassin’s Creed III (360, PS3, PC, Wii U)
Just Dance 4 (Wii, 360, Wii U, PS3)
NBA 2K13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSP, Wii U, PC)
Borderlands 2 (360, PS3, PC)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (360, PS3, Wii, PC)
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (Wii, 360, NDS, PS3, 3DS, PSV, PC)
FIFA Soccer 13 (360, PS3, Wii, PSV, 3DS, Wii U, PSP)
FarmVille is a highly-popular farming simulation social network game developed by Zynga in 2009.

FarmVille 2 was released in September 2012.

World of Warcraft holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game), with over 8 million subscribers as of March 2013 (Wikipedia).

Another popular game is Clash of Clans, which is a combat strategy game.

Free games, often referred to as freemium (free + premium) games, is a business model where the game is given away for free, but the customer has the option of spending money on a variety of game enhancements.

This model has become popular on both smartphones and iPads.

Free games are downloaded much more readily than paid games.

The freemium model seems to be the trend of the future because many are becoming reluctant to pay for a game before they use it.

Once a customer uses a game, they will usually be willing to spend money within that game if they find it fun and engaging.

As an example of how the freemium model works, consider the free game Clash of Clans.

The objective of this game is to create a clan, build a village for the clan, then train your warriors to protect your village from invaders.

You can download the game to your smartphone for free. Then, once you find this game fun and engaging, there are all kinds of available upgrades.

Sure, you can go on playing for free for as long as you like and slowly earn virtual “gems” to help you fund your clan project. Or you can make a purchase over your smartphone to speed up the pace of acquiring gems.

With the touch of a finger, players can buy a “pile of Gems” for $4.99, a “bag of Gems” for $9.99, or a “box of Gems” for $49.99.

And if you feel really ambitious, and if you wish to get a few extra swords and slingshots to fight off barbarian invaders, simply touch your smartphone screen and buy a “Chest of Gems” for only $99.99.

The company that makes Clash of Clans (Supercell) rakes in over 1 million dollars… a day!

All from people who downloaded a free Clash of Clans game on their smartphone.

Apple gets about 30% of that, or $300,000 a day.

When the ability to buy things is made easier through the use of technology, wealth is created faster and more abundantly than ever before.

Also consider that when people play Clash of Clans, they are encouraged to simply press a button to invite all of their friends from Facebook to join them, which brings Supercell even more money.

Of course, Clash of Clans is only one of many examples.

The users, the fans, and the players of Clash of Clans (and other freemium online games) generate millions of dollars for companies like Supercell and Apple.

Meanwhile, the users get zilch… a great big goose egg.

Does that seem fair?

Shouldn’t the users get rewarded?

We believe rewarding users of online games is an idea whose time has come.

Wouldn’t it be great if the users, the fans, and the players of online games got some of the money that comes from online games? Wouldn’t it be great if the users of online games could actually earn money for playing games online?

That’s the idea behind a brand new game company that will be coming soon.

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Psychological Aspects of Users’ Mobile Gaming Motivation

The game is an integral part of human’s life. Latest psychological researchers have proved that game isn’t just what small children do with their toys while the parents are busy. The game is an important cultural mechanism helping pass experience between generations and orientate in the world. By playing games, humans learn how to behave in their environment and acquire its values, beliefs and conduct patterns. But even after they’ve grown up, people continue playing psychological games by performing roles in their private and social life.

However, the game has received one more essential sense recently. It has become not a way to adapt to the world around us and to act there, but rather to escape from it. More and more people replace their real needs, achievements, friends, and even lives by virtual ones and disappear in game worlds. This phenomenon called game dependence is widely discussed, and psychologists are trying to explain and to overcome it. That article uses some results of these researches and takes a closer look at psychological aspects of people’s gaming motivation. It considers what basic human needs can be transferred in the area of virtual games and satisfied there.

The particular topic of this article is mobile games. It should be noticed that the situation with mobile gaming is not as acute as with computer gaming. People don’t tend to spend a long time with their smartphones, and it’s good so. That is the reason why this article won’t instruct people how to make a “bomb” stealing gamers from their families. It should rather be a guideline for mobile software developers to help them create an involving and exciting product being able to “hook” users.

Human needs that can be satisfied in a mobile game:

1. Need for achievement.

One of the most significant temptations of a game is giving usual people the possibility to become anyone they want to. The opportunities of game plot and its characters are endless, and the likelihood criterion is only optional. So, an unremarkable manager comes home, turns his PC on, launches the game – and becomes an incredible God in a fantastic universe. The longer he plays the more skills, experience, and points he earns; and these rewards are highly valuable for him. A game gives its player a possibility to become something else, a better, more important person, and to be more successful than he possibly is in its real life. Achievements in a mobile game are more “salient” than in real world: they can be made more quickly and easily than in reality; and their results are much more visual (unfortunately, no one receives golden coins or stars after having performed something well in his real life). This attractive process of gathering game achievements can be considered as a kind of substitute for real world self-development.

Why is this aspect important for a mobile software developer? By creating a game, he should reward the user for his progress generously. Stars, coins, additional resources, bonus levels etc. make players feel their success, enjoy it – and return to the game again and again in order to refresh these feelings.

2. Need for respect.

Being respected and appreciated by other people is an important side of people’s social life. Playing alone is good. Playing with other people, demonstrate achievements to them, win different competitions and being admired and regarded by other players is just perfect. Winning feels especially good. There are two main kinds of competitions in mobile games: direct and indirect. In a direct competition, players fight with online enemies or play matches against online opponents face-to-face. In an indirect competition, the game is performed in a single-player mode, but there are leaderboards showing the names of the best players. In that way, a person can always estimate his game success and compare it to the progress of his friends.

But even apart from any competitions, online games have a very significant social side by creating virtual communities. Being part of a clan or detachment evokes a strong feeling of belonging and cooperation. When we do something for the cause, perform our work well, and contribute to the general prosperity by this, we are respected and appreciated.

So, a mobile game should contain as many social features as possible. Leaderboards, online multiplayer modes, creating communities, social sharing buttons – everything connecting the player to other people matters.

3. Need for knowledge.

Learning new things is cool. It doesn’t mean that a mobile game should immediately become a branch of school on users’ smartphones. But gathering new experience, finding out exciting facts, discovering a foreign world, or exploring an interesting topic is fun. Thirst for knowledge has always been pushing humanity forward; it is in the human nature. That’s why the process of solving problems and puzzles and any other kind of intellectual activity can be an important source of gaming motivation.

This need can also be satisfied in a mobile game, especially in a strategy, RPG, or quest. Filling the game world with mysteries, puzzles, interesting facts, and secrets will turn a user to a discoverer learning things not because he has to but because he wants to.

So far, three important human needs that can be satisfied in a mobile game have been considered. Taking them into account and creating a mobile game on this basis will help it “hook” the users and settle down in their smartphones for a very long time.

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Car Finance – What You Should Know About Dealer Finance

Car finance has become big business. A huge number of new and used car buyers in the UK are making their vehicle purchase on finance of some sort. It might be in the form of a bank loan, finance from the dealership, leasing, credit card, the trusty ‘Bank of Mum & Dad’, or myriad other forms of finance, but relatively few people actually buy a car with their own cash anymore.

A generation ago, a private car buyer with, say, £8,000 cash to spend would usually have bought a car up to the value of £8,000. Today, that same £8,000 is more likely to be used as a deposit on a car which could be worth many tens of thousands, followed by up to five years of monthly payments.

With various manufacturers and dealers claiming that anywhere between 40% and 87% of car purchases are today being made on finance of some sort, it is not surprising that there are lots of people jumping on the car finance bandwagon to profit from buyers’ desires to have the newest, flashiest car available within their monthly cashflow limits.

The appeal of financing a car is very straightforward; you can buy a car which costs a lot more than you can afford up-front, but can (hopefully) manage in small monthly chunks of cash over a period of time. The problem with car finance is that many buyers don’t realise that they usually end up paying far more than the face value of the car, and they don’t read the fine print of car finance agreements to understand the implications of what they’re signing up for.

For clarification, this author is neither pro- or anti-finance when buying a car. What you must be wary of, however, are the full implications of financing a car – not just when you buy the car, but over the full term of the finance and even afterwards. The industry is heavily regulated in the UK, but a regulator can’t make you read documents carefully or force you to make prudent car finance decisions.

Financing through the dealership

For many people, financing the car through the dealership where you are buying the car is very convenient. There are also often national offers and programs which can make financing the car through the dealer an attractive option.

This blog will focus on the two main types of car finance offered by car dealers for private car buyers: the Hire Purchase (HP) and the Personal Contract Purchase (PCP), with a brief mention of a third, the Lease Purchase (LP). Leasing contracts will be discussed in another blog coming soon.

What is a Hire Purchase?

An HP is quite like a mortgage on your house; you pay a deposit up-front and then pay the rest off over an agreed period (usually 18-60 months). Once you have made your final payment, the car is officially yours. This is the way that car finance has operated for many years, but is now starting to lose favour against the PCP option below.

There are several benefits to a Hire Purchase. It is simple to understand (deposit plus a number of fixed monthly payments), and the buyer can choose the deposit and the term (number of payments) to suit their needs. You can choose a term of up to five years (60 months), which is longer than most other finance options. You can usually cancel the agreement at any time if your circumstances change without massive penalties (although the amount owing may be more than your car is worth early on in the agreement term). Usually you will end up paying less in total with an HP than a PCP if you plan to keep the car after the finance is paid off.

The main disadvantage of an HP compared to a PCP is higher monthly payments, meaning the value of the car you can usually afford is less.

An HP is usually best for buyers who; plan to keep their cars for a long time (ie – longer than the finance term), have a large deposit, or want a simple car finance plan with no sting in the tail at the end of the agreement.

What is a Personal Contract Purchase?

A PCP is often given other names by manufacturer finance companies (eg – BMW Select, Volkswagen Solutions, Toyota Access, etc.), and is very popular but more complicated than an HP. Most new car finance offers advertised these days are PCPs, and usually a dealer will try and push you towards a PCP over an HP because it is more likely to be better for them.

Like the HP above, you pay a deposit and have monthly payments over a term. However, the monthly payments are lower and/or the term is shorter (usually a max. of 48 months), because you are not paying off the whole car. At the end of the term, there is still a large chunk of the finance unpaid. This is usually called a GMFV (Guaranteed Minimum Future Value). The car finance company guarantees that, within certain conditions, the car will be worth at least as much as the remaining finance owed. This gives you three options:

1) Give the car back. You won’t get any money back, but you won’t have to pay out the remainder. This means that you have effectively been renting the car for the whole time.

2) Pay out the remaining amount owed (the GMFV) and keep the car. Given that this amount could be many thousands of pounds, it is not usually a viable option for most people (which is why they were financing the car in the first place), which usually leads to…

3) Part-exchange the car for a new (or newer) one. The dealer will assess your car’s value and take care of the finance payout. If your car is worth more than the GMFV, you can use the difference (equity) as a deposit on your next car.

The PCP is best suited for people who want a new or near-new car and fully intend to change it at the end of the agreement (or possibly even sooner). For a private buyer, it usually works out cheaper than a lease or contract hire finance product. You are not tied into going back to the same manufacturer or dealership for your next car, as any dealer can pay out the finance for your car and conclude the agreement on your behalf. It is also good for buyers who want a more expensive car with a lower cashflow than is usually possible with an HP.

The disadvantage of a PCP is that it tends to lock you into a cycle of changing your car every few years to avoid a large payout at the end of the agreement (the GMFV). Borrowing money to pay out the GMFV and keep the car usually gives you a monthly payment that is very little cheaper than starting again on a new PCP with a new car, so it nearly always sways the owner into replacing it with another car. For this reason, manufacturers and dealers love PCPs because it keeps you coming back every 3 years rather than keeping your car for 5-10 years!

What is a Lease Purchase?

An LP is a bit of a hybrid between an HP and a PCP. You have a deposit and low monthly payments like a PCP, with a large final payment at the end of the agreement. However, unlike a PCP, this final payment (often called a balloon) is not guaranteed. This means that if your car is worth less than the amount owing and you want to sell/part-exchange it, you would have to pay out any difference (called negative equity) before even thinking about paying a deposit on your next car.

Read the fine print

What is absolutely essential for anyone buying a car on finance is to read the contract and consider it carefully before signing anything. Plenty of people make the mistake of buying a car on finance and then end up being unable to make their monthly payments. Given that your finance period may last for the next five years, it is critical that you carefully consider what may happen in your life over those next five years. Many heavily-financed sports cars have had to be returned, often with serious financial consequences for the owners, because of unexpected pregnancies!

As part of purchasing a car on finance, you should consider and discuss all of the various finance options available and make yourself aware of the pros and cons of different car finance products to ensure you are making informed decisions about your money.

Stuart Masson is founder and owner of The Car Expert, a London-based independent and impartial car buying agency for anyone looking to buy a new or used car.

Originally from Australia, Stuart has had a passion for cars and the automotive industry for nearly thirty years, and has spent the last seven years working in the automotive retail industry, both in Australia and in London.

Stuart has combined his extensive knowledge of all things car-related with his own experience of selling cars and delivering high levels of customer satisfaction to bring a unique and personal car buying agency to London. The Car Expert offers specific and tailored advice for anyone looking for a new or used car in London.

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Zoom in the Fast Track of E-Financial Business by Choosing the Right Finance Website Templates

We love to have a solid finance back up at the sometimes it turns a headache to manage those finance affairs. I thank people who come forward to help us with online finance management solutions! Are you one of such helpful men? If so, my article is going to tell you how choosing one of the best finance website templates to give your financial business a boom!
There are two major factors when you want to develop a website for your online finance business. One is choosing a template shop and then finding one of the best finance web templates from the templates available in a template shop. There are some matters which help to find a good template shop and select one of the best finance website templates. I am here pointing you some features of finance web templates and how to know a template shop as best template shop.

A cool design in color application is the must for finance website templates. Money matters are serious affairs so simple yet elegant color increases soothing effect in the visitors’ mind.
The first sight falls on the header of a site so it has to be attractive. The header portion of the finance website templates needs to keep provision for showing off the purpose of the site. It is like grabbing the opportunity at first sight.
A visitor will come to get your services. In the finance web templates, the focus will have to be always on the services. So the service portion has to get maximized notice.
It is found that visitors want some live news. In the finance web templates, there should be always a panel about keeping a live report about financial markets. It will help to compare and understand your finance solutions against the present market.
Anytime or every time a visitor lands on a site, wants to know what is special! Finance website templates need to keep a space to show the special finance services from the service providers.
With the space for other related and valuable finance, content keeps a block for finance success stories. In the finance web templates, the place for successful finance-related stories increases the chances for investment.
People like to keep them updated. So a direct like for accepting newsletter services have some importance. In the finance website templates, there may be a place for subscribing newsletters. This part will let the service provider chance to remain in touch with the visitors who subscribe to the service.
Last but not the least is a quick solution and quick support panel. In the finance web templates, there has to be a panel for quick contact as it lets visitors chance to get finance solution fast. People are coming to get solution let them find support fast.
In the above points, I have tried to show you what should be the standard features in finance website templates or the finance web templates. Other features like programming support to open source and hardcore development, SEO friendliness, affordability are the primary factors for finance web templates. Now to find all these qualities in finance website templates you have to find out a template shop. But you have to search a template shop that emphasizes on all the above qualities in finance web templates. And of course, you should look for a template shop that cares to provide affordable templates.

Hi, I am Paul, a freelance graphic designer. I am here to share my knowledge about web design, development, and SEO with all. This article on financial website templates is my little effort to share my practical experience on template designing. I do own a beautiful template shop where I showcase my work (designs)

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The Best Car Deals – Low Finance Rates Vs Rebates – Which Should You Choose?

The Best Car Deals – Low Finance Rates Vs Rebates – Which Should You Choose?How to understand Rebates and low financing offers:

Vehicle MSRP: Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price – This price is always negotiable – don’t ever agree to pay MSRP

Exception: Some vehicles that might be “hard to find” or “limited in production” might be sold by the dealers at MSRP or, sometimes higher. This is usually called Market Adjustment.

Manufacturers Rebates: This is your money and has nothing to do with discounts given by the dealership. This money is given to you directly from the factory. Never let the rebate be used as a negotiation tool by the dealer. Any discount or negotiation from the dealer should be separate of any rebates offered.

Low finance rates: 0.00% 1.00% 1.9% etc… These are called Sub-vented rates, they too are offered by the factory and not the dealership. Do not allow a “low” finance rate to be used as part of a negotiation by the dealer. These rates are granted over and above any discounts, rebates, etc.

Exceptions: There are several exceptions to Sub-vented finance rates, but here are two that you really should be aware of:

1. Not all people qualify for these rates. So, if you suspect that you might have some issue that will cause you not to qualify, there is nothing wrong with expressing to the dealer that the low finance rate is something you are interested in, and you would like to apply first, before going through the long, timely steps of deal negotiation. Many dealerships will view this as unusual; however, any “good” dealer will be happy to let you submit an application first if you insist. Why is this important? As we always say, knowledge and preparation are the keys to not overpaying at a dealership. What happens if your entire deal is worked, negotiated and finalized with the dealer? Then you head over to the finance office to finalize the finance terms and payments… You expected to pay 0.00% interest, then at the last second you are told: “Sorry” because you don’t qualify… NOT GOOD THE WHOLE DEAL CHANGES.

2. Rebates and “low” finance rates can not always be combined. Some factories allow it some times, however there is no rule; you must do your homework first. For instance, Chrysler offers manufacturers rebates on most their vehicles, plus they offer low finance rates on most vehicles as well. Though, you the customer must decide which offer you want, you can’t have both. Although, sometimes Chrysler will run special offers that allow you to “combine” both the financing and rebate offers at once. But be careful, dealers won’t always tell you that these offers are available, if you are unaware and you agree to pay higher finance rates, you are stuck.

Commonly Asked Question: Which is the right choice, Rebate or Low Financing?

This is an interesting question asked by many customers, the answer is simple yet many people have no idea.

Remember this rule: You should do what’s best for you, do not ever inquire with a person, dealer, or anyone else that has any other motive than what’s best for you.

What that means is this: When you ask a dealership which makes more sense, the dealer will likely tell you: “Take the rebate – not the low-interest rate.”

The reasoning behind this answer is, if you take the rebate you are actually paying “less” for the vehicle than if you elected the low-interest rate. So, being that the vehicle price is the most important issue, you should always take the rebate. Is this correct or incorrect?

Rule: Don’t be concerned what the dealer is making or losing, it’s not relevant to what’s best for you.

Does the dealership stand to gain more if you chose the rebate vs. the low finance rate? The answer to that question is yes, the dealership does stand to gain more. They receive a little more in “reserve money” from the lender if you chose conventional finance rates. The fact is however; that this point is completely irrelevant. Who cares what the dealership is making? Why is that important anyway? Is there some rule that says a dealership is not entitled to make profit? The only person who is doing something wrong in this scenario is you. You’re asking the wrong party for information. If the complete and honest answer might cause the dealer to make less, chances are more than likely the answers will be carefully weighed to fall on their side.

Remember: Your concern is getting the best deal for you, don’t waist time caring about what the dealership makes. Prepare yourself by considering all the facts. Do not make the common errors of all the people we constantly heart about who over pay all the time.

Fact: People who think that dealerships are losing money on them are usually the ones who pay the most!

Note: Please understand the purpose of this and every other post we write is NOT to condemn dealerships for making profit. Why should a dealer not be entitled to profit? What right do we have to ask them to lose money? Would you ever go to a restaurant and tell them that you insist they sell you dinner and lose money? It’s a stretch, but equally as ridiculous.

The purpose of this post is to assist fair people in getting the best deal for themselves. Protecting people from being “ripped off” by a deceptive dealership is our motivation. We don’t claim that all dealers are unfair or “rip off artists”, in fact we are aware that most dealers are honest and forthcoming. Although, everyone is in business to make a profit and the topics written about within these posts are for the purpose of assisting “fair” consumers achieve “fair” and honest deals. Why do we keep mentioning “fair”. Because equal to us having no concern about a cheating dealership, we also have no concern about the “unfair” consumers who want the good dealers to close down their business and lose money.

“A GOOD DEAL IS WHEN BOTH PARTIES ARE SATISFIED”

As we have mentioned so many times; price is not always the most important issue.

The following is the one and only correct answer to the Rebate vs. Low rate debate:

With any issue that causes you to make a decision there are always certain facts in place, those facts make up the “pros and cons”. With any decision we make, we weight the pros and cons and ultimately are lead to a decision. Then of course, we hope that decision was the right one.

Remember this rule: There is always a point where the two lines will cross, that point is where you will find the correct answer.

This means; there are variables that create change in every deal. For example: It may be a better deal for me to take the rebate, while it is a better deal for you to take the low financing rates. Let’s explain:

You might be financing $30,000 and your finance term is 60 months. The Factory is offering a $3000 manufacturers rebate or 0.00% for the 60 month finance term. Which do you choose?

I might be financing $12,000 – The factory is offering a $3000 rebate or 0.00% for the finance term. Which one do I choose?

Obviously, the answers vary; your lines of “break even” will obviously cross way sooner than my lines. The reason: different factors in the two deals will yield different answers.

Here’s how you figure out the correct answer based on your factors:

For this example we’ll assume that you are considering a $30,000 car with $3,000 rebate or a 0% interest rate, and for the sake of finding an answer, we’ll assume that you’re putting $3,000 a down payment and you qualify for all offers.

First: Draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper; on one side write Rebate on the other side write 0%

Second: on the 0% side write in the sale price of $30,000 – and on the left side (rebate) write in the sale price of $30,000 as well.

Third: On both sides add in your local tax rate. For instance: if you live in Queens NY add 8.25% as sales tax.

Fourth: on both sides add $300 – this should cover DMV – Inspection, and Dealer Doc Fees.

Fifth: On both sides – subtract $3,000 for you down payment

Sixth: On the rebate side subtract $3,000 for the rebate

If you did this right, so far you should have the following results:

Both sides: should show Sale Price $30,000 Tax $2,475. DMV $300. Sub Total: $32,775

Rebate Side Should show $6,000.00 Total down payment and an “unpaid balance” of $26,775.00

The 0% side should show $3,000 Total Down Payment and an “unpaid balance of $29,775.00

Assumption: If you chose not to take the 0% – the dealer offered you a 5.5% interest rate.

Compare to see where the lines cross:

Next step – find an auto loan calculator – you can go on any search engine type in “free auto loan calculator”

I am not able to attach a link to this area of the post so I will simply suggest a very user friendly, free calculator (which we have no affiliation) is chase.com just search:

“Free Chase auto loan calculator”

Calculate:

REBATE SIDE

$26,775 Amount Financed

5.5% APR

60 Month Term

Answer: Payment $511.43

Total Interest: $3,910.80

Total of Payments $30,685.00

0% SIDE

$29,775.00 Amount Financed

0% APR

Answer: Payment $496.25

Total of Payments $29,775.00

Summery: On your deal, 0% came out to be $910.80 less than the REBATE, so obviously the better deal for you is 0%.

On my worksheet, using the same method, it turned out that the rebate was quite a bit more of savings, (only because I was financing much less) if I chose to finance more money perhaps the lines would cross sooner.

Final notes to remember:

1) If you choose to lower or raise you down payment and lower and raise your amount financed, the out come of “which one” is a better deal will vary. So, keep testing the different scenarios using the method provided above and you will find the best deal for you. Every time!

2) Be careful – No rebate is final, while low financing isn’t: Keep in mind this very important consideration: If you choose low financing over the rebate – essentially you just paid more for the vehicle and you can’t get that money back. However, you chose to do so in return for free financing terms. (Very smart) You did your homework, you made your decision based on solid factors and you made the overall least expensive decision. EXCELLENT WORK! Though, you must remember you made this comparison based on a 5 year repayment term. If you keep the vehicle for 5 years, and pay as expected you win, your calculations were perfect and you achieved the best deal for you. On the other hand, if something changes and for any reason you decide that you are not going to keep this vehicle beyond the second or third year… Then, you just gave back the benefit of the low financing. The variables have changed once again and the better deal swings back to the rebate. So remember, in the privacy non pressured environment of your own home; carefully consider all your options and likelihoods. For instance, if you know you don’t keep a vehicle beyond a couple of years, this must be included as a decision factors.

Long story short: Always compile all the facts first, limit the variables that can change the deal and negotiate with confidence.

The author of this article is an auto industry professional for the past 18 years. Robert has extensive knowledge in automotive finance and specialty automotive finance (bad credit). Having worked as a finance and special finance manger for dealerships in the New York metropolitan area since the early 90’s Robert has assisted thousands of clients in achieving auto mobile loans with “less than perfect” credit.

Since 2009 Robert has been working a program which was developed to assist customers in the often confusing issues related to purchasing automobiles. A free service: [http://www.BuyerCents.com], assists clients with good or bad credit alike. The BuyerCents program helps people understand the “pit falls” they should avoid, while additionally assisting with the general do’s and don’ts that cause many people to over pay or simply get ripped off at the dealership.

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Yahoo! Finance – What Sets This Finance Website Apart?

“What Obama Must Say Tonight,” “10 Tax Moves to Make in 2010,” and “Ailing Banks Favor Salaries Over Shareholders,” are all examples of the dozens of articles that could be found today at Yahoo! Finance. Yahoo! Finance is a finance website that offers lots of free information and tools all related to finance. There are many websites today that offers resources and tools related to personal finance and investing, so what does Yahoo! Have finance to offer?

*Free- Although there are some services available for a fee, accessing the Yahoo! Finance website is free and so is the use of many tools.

*Personalized Updates- If you choose to set up an account, you can get personalized updates when you log on about stocks or companies that you’re interested in.

*Up to Date- This is one of the best things that sets Yahoo! Finance apart. Market indexes and updates are updated frequently and the “news” is fresh.

*At a Glance- You can see Market index averages for the day including the DOW, NASDAQ, S&P 500 and more, as well as graphs showing the trend in these averages for the most recent working day.

What’s Up at Yahoo! Finance?

In addition to the Yahoo! Finance home page, you can find helpful pages on:

-Investing

-News and Opinion

-Personal Finance

-My Portfolios (if you choose to organize your financial information here)

– A Tech Ticker

On the Investing Pages at Yahoo! Finance:

Find out about “Today’s Markets,” including recent earnings statements, recent stock splits and more.

Mutual Funds, Stocks, ETFs, Options, Industries, and Currencies are all explored further. Find research, converters, calculators, articles and more.

You can also learn more about world stock index levels, world news and exchange rates are under “International.”

“Research and Education” offers a business term glossary, personal tutorials on finance and investing and more.

Of course Yahoo! Finance also offer “Community,” a section where you can chat, ask questions or join groups.

On the Personal Finance Pages at Yahoo! Finance:

Get your personal finances organized at “Banking and Budgeting.” Free trials of online bill pay are available. Frequent offers include free for 6 months and $4.95 thereafter.

More under Personal Finance…

*Insurance

*Taxes

*Loans

*Real estate

* Family and Income

*Retirement

On the News and Opinion Pages at Yahoo! Finance:

Look for articles on…

*Industry news

*New technology

*Top picks by experts

Creating a Yahoo! Finance Account:

Creating an account at Yahoo! Finance is easy and free. Once you’ve created an account, you can personalize your login so that the information that is important to you will be displayed including stock prices and relevant news pertaining to companies you are interested in.

The Perks of Yahoo! Finance:

Yahoo! Finance visitors and members enjoy that there’s so much financial information in one place and that the articles and financial charts on Yahoo! Finance are kept up to date. They also like that so many of the services available are free. Visitors also applaud Yahoo! for having limited ads.

Popular Tools at Yahoo! Finance:

There are rate charts and calculators for Mortgage, Home Equity, Savings, Auto Loans and Credit Cards for fixed loans and ARMs. You can see rates across the country as well view rates in your area.

What’s not to love about Yahoo! Finance?

While many users like the no-nonsense format at Yahoo! Finance, others find the finance websites look to be drab, boring and unexciting with little more than two colors, black and blue, limited photos.

Still, Yahoo! Finance is recommended as a finance website that has a lot of helpful tools and resources that are well organized, up to date and more than not, free.