Dawn of Kings annonce le contenu de sa nouvelle mise à jour

Dawn of Kings annonce aujourd'hui la nouvelle mise à jour 3.70. L'équipe derrière DOK se prépare depuis un moment, et vise à apporter aux joueurs un nouveau contenu massif et une expérience de jeu plus excitante. Les additions comprennent de nouvelles quêtes de faction, des fêtes, des forteresses spéciales et une série de nouveaux événements. Afin d'accueillir à nouveau les anciens joueurs, un événement prendra place spécialement pour eux, sur la page officielle de DOK.

 Quêtes de Faction inter-serveurs : Tous les samedis soirs

Les joueurs peuvent maintenant obtenir de « l’honneur de Faction » qui peut être utilisé pour rejoindre la quête de Faction inter-serveur, tous les samedis soirs. Les Factions avec une force d'armée similaire seront jumelées ensemble par le système. Il y aura deux étapes: occuper les forteresses et défendre les forteresses. Vous pourrez gagner des coupons pour acheter des composants d’armure. Voici un  nouveau défi pour vos troupes et vos stratégies militaire !

Nouvelles Forteresses, Nouvelles Technologies, & Fêtes

Trois nouvelles forteresses spéciales ont été maintenant ajoutées au jeu - Stonemouth Est, Whispley Nord et Punton Ouest. Chaque forteresse a sa particularité. La nouvelle technologie avancée « Prière de Gemmes » est également disponible pour se développer. En outre, maintenant vous pouvez envoyer des invitations à d'autres joueurs de la même faction pour se joindre à une grande fête, lorsque vous avez obtenu de nouveaux généraux ou de nouvelles armures.

Nouveaux évènements

 Bien que les événements comme la « Roue de gemmes » et le « Roi barbare » soient maintenant disponibles dans Dawn of Kings, l'équipe de développement a également préparé un événement sur la plate-forme : un rappel des anciens joueurs. Des cadeaux en abondance pour les débutants et les anciens joueurs, disponible du 30 Septembre au 10 Octobre.

En plus de la Guerre de Faction : « La Révolte de Lofley », et les Séries d'occupation,  ainsi que beaucoup d’autres nouveaux contenus sont à découvrir. Commencez votre nouveau voyage maintenant: [lien]

The Game You Play and Your Personality

Our true natures are revealed by many choices we make: the cars we drive, our clothing, the food we eat, the music we enjoy and the films we watch. We are, to an extent, what we consume.

Then there are video games -- the red-headed stepchild and favorite whipping boy of pop media. Video games also betray our hidden selves. By their interactive nature, we relate with games more intimately than any other entertainment medium. An average video game requires an investment of 10 to12 hours of our precious time.

Since video gaming is a mostly private pursuit, the games we play may be the most honest expression of our inner lives. Let's face it, there's usually no one around to see us let our freak flags fly.

Eric Zimmerman, author of "Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals" and CEO of developer gameLab, elaborates: "Unlike a book, a film, and other forms of prescripted media, a game is more like a set of tools that the player uses to build his or her own experience. The games we choose to play, and the way we play them, reveal a tremendous amount about us -- from our creative drives and ambitions to the dark corners of our desires."

Video games are a window to our souls and the view isn't always pretty.

With tongue planted firmly in cheek, please find here the field guide to the inner lives of gamers.

The Decompressor

He or she has a high stress, manic paced job -- cop, air traffic controller, stock trader, or kindergarten teacher. Since time on the job is so heart attack inducing, gaming is usually a cathartic release. All those activities that are frowned upon in real life (murder, mayhem, mutilation, etc.) are not only OK in games, they are the foundations of many favorite titles.

"If it feels good, do it" is the mantra of The Decompressor. After six hours with small children or a double shift patrolling the mean streets, nothing short of some unbridled, heavy-caliber gunplay will soothe the nerves.

The Decompressor shares many favorite games with the Latent Sociopath (see below). "Halo 2," "SOCOM 2," and "GTA: San Andreas" all offer a full range of primal pleasures guaranteed to let some of that potentially lethal pressure off.

Without games, The Decompressor literally would pop a gasket.

The Latent Sociopath

Unlike The Decompressor, The Latent Sociopath (LS) can come from any walk of life. They may be the next-door neighbor, the pharmacist or the UPS guy.

We've all seen dumbstruck folks on the news saying things such as, "he seemed like a regular guy," or "her kids were always well dressed" when describing the perpetrator of a horrific crime. The same outwardly normal appearance is typical of the LS.

These are the gamers who come home, fire up the Xbox, and let their id reign supreme. The purpose of gaming is to provide fuel for the inner beast. The more mundane and uneventful real life is, the hungrier the beast becomes.

Fave games will be M-rated bloodbaths. "The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher's Bay," "GTA: San Andreas," "Hitman: Contracts," and "Burnout 3" all feature protagonists free of societal constraints, indulging every psychotic whim.

LS's use games to stay latent. Despite the proclamations of Congress and concerned parents everywhere, games such as "GTA: San Andreas" actually make the world a safer place.

The Alpha Dominator

The Alpha Dominator toils away at a thankless, perpetually promotion-free job. Temp agency regulars, data entry clerks and industrial custodians fit the AD profile.

What the AD longs for is superiority -- utter fear and awe from lesser beings. What may be professionally unattainable is only an Ethernet connection away in the game world. Online multiplayer games offer an even playing field that can be ruled by anyone with the requisite hand-eye coordination.

The AD lives for the thrill of bringing online opponents to their knees. Public recognition for his or her virtual feats is key to the AD's sense of self worth. When Sony decided to reset the online rankings board for "SOCOM 2," the AD may well have sunk into depression.

Games of choice include online battlegrounds "Unreal Tournament 2004," "SOCOM 2," "ESPN NFL 2K5," and "Madden 2005." The AD isn't concerned with violence or a particular sporting event. Winning is everything.

The Escapist

Everyday life is a struggle for The Escapist. They come from all walks of life; their condition may result from an unfulfilling job but is just as likely to be independent of career events. Nothing seems as good as it could be to The Escapist.

TV and movies are effective ways to bring some joy to their bleak and dreary lives, but games are the only true remedy. Games can offer another, infinitely more stimulating existence. Why be a mere mortal when there are otherworldly empires to explore and ancient kingdoms to conquer? Regular life seems unbearably dull compared to the fantastic online exploits for The Escapist.

Like The AD, The Escapist inhabits the realm of online multiplayer games. But that's where the similarities end. Winning or conquering may play a part in The Escapists gaming, but only in the context of a much grander scheme. Escapists may sink the equivalent of entire months into their fave games, lovingly building experience points and elaborate inventories.

The exotic lands of "Everquest II," "Final Fantasy XI," "World of Warcraft," and "Rome: Total War" are where The Escapist prefers to dwell.

The Inner Child

Life for The Inner Child isn't so much unpleasant as it is, well, complicated. The golden prepubescent years are fondly remembered and silly things such as bills and jobs are a downright nuisance.

ICs may be regarded as simpleminded, but this would be a mistake. They can, after all, keep track of the location of every star in "Mario 64" and can name every title released on every platform in the Legend of Zelda saga. Nintendo holds a place near to the heart of every IC.

The ugly, dirty real world has to be tolerated for a time each day, but after work the IC retreats to a simpler, shinier place. "Kirby and the Amazing Mirror," "Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door," "Pikmin 2," and "The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures" are the playgrounds of the IC.

The Control Freak

The Control Freak may think that only games can bring some much needed order to their lives. If everyone else is calling the shots in the real world, they can rule over every detail in the digital realm.

So-called god games are a godsend for the CF. Micromanaging may be a pain to co-workers, but in The Sims and Tycoon series games it's an essential skill. Mighty corporations and entire populations live or die under the CF's focused gaze.

The CF got hooked on gaming with Sid Meier's "Civilization" and "Railroad Tycoon" and has most recently found an outlet for obsessive compulsive tendencies in "The Sims 2," "Rollercoaster Tycoon 3" and "City of Heroes."

Teens and Video Game

The gamer community had a near-miss this week in Ohio, when a 15-year-old boy collapsed after playing "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" for up to five days straight.

The Columbus teen was rushed to the hospital with severe dehydration, where he recovered, according to a report from TV station WCMH on Aug. 7.

Players who delve too deeply into their electronic worlds can face various health risks, ranging from deep vein thrombosis, or blood clots, to severe dehydration.

For instance, in July, a Taiwanese teenager was found dead after sitting for 40 hours in an Internet cafe playing "Diablo 3." At the time, doctors speculated he died from a heart attack caused by a blood clot that formed during the long session.

And last summer, a 20-year-old man from the U.K. died from a blood clot after spending 12-hour sessions on his Xbox. His father told "The Sun" newspaper, "He lived for his Xbox. I never dreamed he was in any danger." [10 Easy Paths to Self Destruction]

While these are extreme cases, they are a reminder that sitting at a computer or console for days, whether it's for "World of Warcraft" or for work, isn't healthy for anyone. But psychologists who study video games and kids say parents needn't worry about the amount of time spent gaming, unless screen time starts to affect school, health or social life. (And, of course, a stint of tens of hours gaming is likely to negatively affect schoolwork and lead to social woes.) That said, researchers remain concerned about the effects of violent content in video games, which have been linked by many studies to aggressive behavior.

Too much screen time?

These days, screens of one kind or another occupy youth for 50 hours a week, a 2010 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation reports. "It's a full-time job plus 10 hours of overtime, and that's the average," said Douglas Gentile, a psychologist and director of the Media Research Lab at Iowa State University.

Video-gaming consumed nine weekly hours for teens, the Kaiser survey found, while a Harris Poll conducted for Gentile during the same period reported 13 hours a week spent gaming on computers and consoles.

While some kids can shoot 'em up for hours, for others, too much time gaming leads to poor school performance. Recent studies have finally linked the cause and effect, showing that gaming displaces after-school academic activities such as homework and reading. A 2010 study from researchers at Denison University in Ohio, published in the journal Psychological Science, compared two groups of boys that had never owned gaming systems. They gave one group a system right away, but withheld games from the other group for four months. Boys who received the video-game system first had more teacher-reported learning problems and significantly lower reading and writing scoresthan the other boys.

Problems in school are relatively easy for parents to fix: Limit screen time — of course, if you can get the controller out of his or her hands. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than one to two hours per day in front of any electronics.

Violent games and aggression

What's harder to control is violent content in video games. The Pew Research Center reported in 2008 that more than 90 percent of games rated as appropriate for children 10 years or older contained violence, including games rated "E" for everyone. (Most researchers define violence as the ability of a player to intentionally harm others in a game.)

Now most researchers will agree that video games can help as well as harm. For example, educational games boost learning, and action games can improve vision and spatial skills. Video games have also been used successfully to teach children self-care skills for asthma and diabetes.

And then there's the primary reason people play video games: They're relaxing. Gentile thinks the flickering screen and varying sound levels trigger a primitive brain response. "One of the reasons I think we find television and video games so relaxing is they provide the attention for you. It forces you to orient to the media. You don't have to work to pay attention like you do in [a] classroom lecture," said Gentile.

But a preponderance of evidence links violent video games to an increase in aggressive behavior in teens. The behavior wasn't violent crime, like school shootings, but small yet hurtful offenses like teasing, name-calling, rumor-spreading and fist fights. In a review of 130 studies of kids and teens, Iowa State University researchers found that violent video games increased the likelihood of aggression and decreased empathy. The meta-analysis appeared in 2010 in the journal Psychological Bulletin. [5 Ways to Foster Self-Compassion in Your Teen]

Which teens are vulnerable?



Of course, repeated exposure to violence in any environment has a deleterious effect, Gentile noted. "Seeing violence anywhere increases the risks that a child might become involved in aggression, whether as a perpetrator or a victim," he said. But video games are phenomenal teachers. Players get immediate feedback and rewards for punishing competitors. And not only do games reward hostility, they train your brain to respond to real-life problems with aggression, research indicates.

In fact, games can prime teens to react to slights with name-calling or pushing, instead of choosing to avoid confrontation. "So when I get bumped in the hallway, I don't assume it's an accident anymore," explained Gentile. "What comes to mind first is to retaliate in some way. Those aren't the only options you have, but we never think of them because what we see over and over in the media is 'You killed my monster, now you must die.'"

But psychologist Patrick Markey's research suggests just some teens are susceptible to these effects. Markey found people with certain personality traits — those who are highly neurotic, less agreeable and less conscientious — are those more likely to become hostile from gaming. The 2010 study appeared in the journal Review of General Psychology.

"The truth of the matter is that most people can handle this media, but for some people with a select predisposition, these people might be a little more aggressive, more prone to an argument here and there," said Markey, a professor at Villanova University in Pennsylvania.

"The most interesting part is there is really no research that suggests video games have a different effect than TV or movies. It has empirically never been shown," said Markey. "Any media is supposed to engage us emotionally, and video games are a form of media, a form of art even."

Gaming for being Healthier!

A new paper in American Psychologist, the flagship journal of the American Psychological Association, looks at the positive effects of video game play.

I’ve already written about the 5 reasons I’m buying my kids a Wii U this holiday season. In a way, this post offers 4 more reasons, emphasizing some of the positive impact that comes from gaming. As you’ll read below, I have some reservations about the paper, but I also think there’s a lot of good information in it.

The research paper, by Isabela Granic, Adam Lobel, and Rutger C. M. E. Engels, entitled “The Benefits of Playing Video Games,” attempts to balance out the kinds of research that has been undertaken around gaming. The authors write:

Decades of valuable research on the effects of violent video games on children’s and adolescents’ aggressive behavior already exists, and this is indeed an important body of work to consider. However, we argue that in order to understand the impact of video games on children’s and adolescents’ development, a more balanced perspective is needed, one that considers not only the possible negative effects but also the benefits of playing these games.

They summarize research on the positive impact of gaming in the following areas: cognitive, motivational, emotional, and social. Here, I summarize their summary.

I feel compelled to mention that I do have a number of questions about the validity of the general concept of “psychological health.” The criteria with which we assess one’s psychological well-being seem, to me, inescapably political in nature. That is, I believe we should seriously question what agenda underlies any attempt at identifying an “ideal” image of health. Healthy for what? Often, we are defining what it means to be healthy enough to participate in an inherently unhealthy system. Consider that myriad authors have pointed out that many of our most ‘successful’ citizens, our most famous CEOs in particular, display sociopathic tendencies.

Still, despite the many objections to their diagnostic practices, the American Psychological Association does hold the predominantly accepted definition of mental health, the definition of the ‘ideal’ psychological comportment for our current society. Since we don’t have the space here to question that ‘ideal’ in depth, we’ll have to take it at face value. Therefore, I present this particular research with reservations about its underlying assumptions, but enthusiasm about its findings.

Here are 4 ways video game play may benefit adolescents overall psychological health.

1. The Cognitive Benefits of First Person Shooters



In controlled tests, folks who played first person shooters showed “faster and more accurate attention allocation, higher spatial resolution in visual processing, and enhanced mental rotation abilities.” Apparently, the improvement in spacial skills that gamers develop are comparable to those developed in formal courses designed to teach the same skills.

In addition, “Preliminary research has also demonstrated that these cognitive advantages manifest in measurable changes in neural processing and efficiency.” Which, best I can tell, means that gamers use their neural resources more efficiently–their brains don’t show as much activity as non-gamer’s brains show while solving problems.

Finally, there seems to be convincing evidence that playing games enhances problem-solving skills and improves creativity. “Among a sample of almost 500 12-year-old students, video game playing was positively associated with creativity.” The same results were not true when kids interacted with other kinds of technology.

Sure, most of us were already skeptical of the illogical inclination to scapegoat violent games, this paper validates our position. The author’s write, “these data suggest that agendas to ban shooter games may be too simplistic.”

I still don’t let my kids play first-person shooters, but I don’t have a simple explanation for why. For now, it is just my intuition that tells me it is not in their best interest.

2. Call It Motivation Not Addiction



The idea here is that through persistent engagement, young people develop a sense of identity, “beliefs about their intelligence and abilities,” that can have long-term impact on their proclivity for success.

The work of Carol Dweck makes a distinction between an entity theory of intelligence and an incremental theory of intelligence. When kids develop an entity theory of intelligence, they believe they have innate, fixed traits. They are praised for being so smart, or being good at math, etc. It has a negative impact on long term attitudes. When kids develop an incremental theory of intelligence, on the other hand, they understand that they have certain skills. They are praised for their effort: “you worked so hard on that problem, you solved that puzzle.”

Video games, the authors argue, help kids to develop an incremental theory of intelligence. “Immediate and concrete feedback in video games (e.g., through points, coins, dead ends in puzzles) serves to reward continual effort,” keeping players in a “motivational ‘sweet spot’” that “balances optimal levels of challenge and frustration with sufficient experiences of success and accomplishment.”

As my two sons and I slowly learn to beat each level of New Super Mario Brothers U by failing and trying again, we are all reinforcing positive motivational attitudes.

3. Control Your Emotions



“Gaming may be among the most efficient and effective means by which children and youth generate positive feelings.”

If you follow me on Forbes, you know that I regularly write about game based learning. One of the strongest arguments for game based learning is that games allow us to build simulations of complex systems. Players get to situate themselves within the system and practice navigating the particular challenges of that system.

In a broader way, by creating realistic enough simulations that elicit strong emotional responses (both positive and negative), commercial games provide players with an opportunity to try and regulate their emotions. Players feel that “the accomplishment of goals matters” and also know that because they’re controlling the Mario avatar with the Wii U controller, rather than throwing real fireballs, the space is “safe enough to practice controlling, or modulating, negative emotions in service of” the game’s goals.

The authors write, “Adaptive regulation strategies such as acceptance, problem solving, and reappraisal have repeatedly been linked to less negative affect, more social support, and lower levels of depressive symptoms.”

4. How To Be A Social Butterfly

“Contrary to stereotypes, the average gamer is not a socially isolated, inept nerd.” So many of today’s games are multiplayer games that require interacting with other players. According to this paper, “over 70% of gamers play their games with a friend, either cooperatively or competitively.”

My son spends hours on Minecraft servers, making friends, asking what he needs to do to become a member, etc. I’ve written in detail about the benefits of the cooperative multiplayer mode that many of the new generation ofNintendo games include. I play the Mario games in coop mode with my 8 year old and my 6 year old constantly. I’ve explained in other places why I think playing video games with my kids makes me a better dad.

According to the authors, playing games leads to prosocial “helping” behaviors. Two recent studies have shown that playing games leads to cooperative behaviors outside of the gaming context. Apparently, “even the most violent video games on the market (Grand Theft Auto IV, Call of Duty) fail to diminish subsequent prosocial behavior.”

Would you play Browser Games?

In recent years, with the development of web technology, type of game has been varied again. There are quite a lot of browser games online, such as Shifu, Nightfalls, Dragon Atlas and Dawn of King. Instead of having to download the application or client of game, we merely need to open a web browser and install a plug-in maybe and then we can start playing straight away.

Indeed, compared to many massive games like PC, console and massively multiplayer online games, browser games provide a much easier way to play and they are usually free to play. However, in terms of the quality of game, browser games might still have a long way to go.

I don't play much browser games but I'm actually playing one now. It's a Japanese web game called SD Gundam Operation and it's on Yahoo JP. It's a card game that you keep playing everyday to try to get better cards which improve your combat capacity in total. The reason why I play this game everyday it's because it doesn't cost me much time. I can play when working in office. The manipulation is simple: just some clicks on the interface and you finish the things you want to do then all you need to do is to wait. After finishing each activity in game, such as quests, battling with other players and killing bosses, there will be a CD that you have to wait before the next same things you want to do. Well this looks boring as it doesn't even require you to think. Of course I play this because I love Gundam. Honestly the design of cards is good and if this game is not about Gundam, I wouldn't even sign up for it I think. But objectively speaking, the quality of the game isn't too good and it's more likely that you just keep doing something everyday rather than playing a game.

I am not a professional browser gamer but I would say there are also other issues of browser games, which is the content. Let's take Nightfall as an example, when I firstly knew this game, I found it is a copied version of Diablo III. The characters, the images, the bosses and the skills are very close to what I have seen in Diablo III. I can't say it's a bad game but this reveals a lack of creativity and I would play directly Diablo III rather than this game. I would spend money on what is really qualitative rather than spending time on those that I don't feel enjoying. On the other hand, the control is just too simple that you follow all the time the guidance and just give it a click to finish everything. You don't even need to pay attention or to think but do things step by step.

I wouldn't say browser games are 100% not qualitative because I don't play much. I might be wrong to make such comment above and I also know people who spend quite a lot of money on web games. I think that they are at least happy with the game but for me, most web games don't feel entertaining during the playing. I might be focus on stats and number of games while I was still adolescent, especially at the time when I firstly start playing online games. I used to be satisfied by having rare items and powerful characters. However, it didn't last for too long. Now I prefer having more interesting experiences in game, such as visual pleasure, original story and degree of freedom. Browser games can't really provide much of these features. Finally I can only say that browser games might to designed for certain specific gamers.