Habbo

Do you like social networking site, You might wanna try Habbo. Here is the full review from MMO Hut(www.mmohut.com).
Enjoy!

Habbo Review

By, Erhan Altay

Habbo is a social networking site published by Sulake, a company based in Finland. It was released in Finland in 2000 but didn’t come to America until the year 2004. The game is best known for its unique blocky 2D graphics and the fact that it has been the target of raids by internet trolls from the image board 4chan. Habbo was originally known as Habbo Hotel and ran using Shockwave but has undergone several rounds of updates and now requires Adobe Flash Player to run. Prospective players are advised that while Habbo is a persistent virtual world, it has few gameplay elements and is mostly a virtual chat room geared towards youngsters.

Sign Up at the Desk

Account creation is a simple process and is actually done on the same page as character creation. Players are asked to enter a unique character name, their email address and password on the left while customizing their avatar’s appearance on the right. Habbo has a very impressive character creation process, especially for a 2D browser based service. There are 10 face styles, 30 skin colors, 18 hair styles, various hats, hair accessories, glasses, facial hair styles, shirts, pants, shoes, belts, and necklaces to chose from when crafting your unique look. A handy randomize button is available for those who don’t want to spend time going through all the menus. Players must enter a CAPTCHA code to finalize their account and are then ready to enter the Hotel. Each character is entitled to one room which can be customized and expanded using in-game currency (pixels) and premium currency (coins.) There are several color schemes available to chose from and players start with a single piece of furniture, a table.

Exploring the Resort

Movement is done exclusively with the mouse, left clicking on your desired location makes your blocky avatar move in that direction. Your room won’t be a hot destination when you first start so it’s best to head out to some of the public areas and try to make some friends. By clicking the building icon to the left, players access their navigator which allows instant movement between the various areas of the Habbo Hotel. There are 26 ‘official’ rooms including cafes, restaurants, gardens, a library, a lobby, and other locations you might find in a real hotel. Each room has a unique theme but doesn’t offer anything different besides visuals. All players can do in these rooms is chat with others, add them as friends and that’s about it. There used to be a pool which was the focus of attention by internet trolls who would raid the game dressed as black men in suits equipped with giant afros. Their slogan would be ‘Pool’s Closed Due to AIDS’ and they would physically block the entrance to the area. Sadly, avatars can no longer physically block one another and the entire pool room has been removed by the publishers.

Make Your Own Entertainment

There used to be two free mini-games available in Habbo, SnowStorm and BattleBall. Both have been closed at least temporarily as the game migrants to a new version. I’ve played both games before and while they do add some entertainment and give Habbo some gameplay elements, they’re certainly not the main attraction. SnowStorm is a basic snowball fight game where players gather snow and knock each other down. In BattleBall, players start on large bouncing balls and move across the map leaving tiles they pass painted in a unique color. The player with the most tiles painted in their color at the end wins. Two other mini-games were available before the recent updates, Wobble Squabble and Diving. Both of these games required players to purchase tickets for real cash before playing. Besides these official games, players make up their own games and play them in their rooms. The most popular of these player-run games are Falling Furniture, Cozzie Change, Defend Your Pod, Don’ Say Yes/No, and Don’t touch the floor. These games are entirely run by the community and require a certain level of trust since the room owner is under no obligation to run them fairly. Other activities players may run are trivia quizzes or other game show like events but these are hardly enough to earn Habbo any gameplay medals.

Upgrade Your Room to a Suite

Habbo requires players to pay for most furniture and room upgrades. There are two currencies in the game, pixels which are earned by simply logging in and playing and coins which must be purchased. Coins cost anywhere from 13 to 20 cents each with a discount given for bulk purchases. Furniture varies in price from 1 coin to 15 coins a piece. Pixels can only be used to purchase the newbie line of furniture branded ‘Hello’ and other basic features such as special effects (emotes) that your avatar performs. If that weren’t enough, there is also a VIP membership which costs 20 coins a month. VIP Club members have access to more areas and receive special furniture each month. They also have more room customization options that are unavailable to non-VIP players.

Age Aware

Habbo’s slogan is ‘Hangout for teens’ but I suspect the median age to be heavily tilted towards the tween or early teen demographic. There just isn’t enough here to keep people interested for long. The game’s profanity filter is so strict that it is almost laughable. I couldn’t even say the word ‘mini game’, it translated it to ‘mibobbame.’ Most swear words are filtered and replaced by the word ‘bobba’ which makes for some hilarious sentences like ‘bobba my bobba.’ But I guess the appeal here isn’t for the average gamer but for kids interested in a virtual chatting experience. But even other social sites like Gaia Online and OMGPOP are concentrating heavily on gameplay features so the lack of progress on this front really leaves Habbo feeling outdated. The game is still widely popular in the USA and Europe with thousands of concurrent players logged in at any given time. The game hasn’t performed as well in China or Russia but still has momentum here so there is still time for Sulake to focus on adding more game content.

Final Verdict: Fair

Habbo is a casual social site with great character customization, a large world to explore, a unique and attractive visual style and plenty of room customization features but comes up short on gameplay. Even other social sites are rapidly adding gameplay elements. Habbo has a lot of catching up to do 


Copied From: http://mmohut.com/browser-games/habbo

Good To be Back!

After a week of exhausting examination its a hard exam!!!!

Its feel good to get back to what I good at, BLOGGING 

So thats the reason why I hadn't post anything in last few day, THX

Tsunami in Japan

• MARCH 11, 2011, 7:01 A.M. ET
• BEFORE THE BELL:US Stock Futures Fall After Japan Earthquake, Tsunami

By Polya Lesova

U.S. stock futures slumped Friday after a powerful earthquake rocked Japan, killing at least 23 and injuring dozens, forcing tens of thousands out of their homes and setting off tsunami alerts across the Pacific, including Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 43 points to 11940 and futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 index slid 3.20 points to 1286.30.

Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 8.25 points to 2272.50.

European equities were sharply lower in afternoon trading following steep losses for Asian markets. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended 1.7% lower at 10,254.43, with losses deepening in the final minutes of trading.

The drops came as an 8.9-magnitude earthquake shook Japan Friday, setting off a 10-meter-high tsunami along coastal areas.

"News of a Japanese earthquake and ensuing tsunami warning [...] has knocked risk sentiment as we end the week," said Kathleen Brooks from Forex.com in a note. "This has added to investor jitters about Europe's periphery as EU leaders meet today to discuss a long-term solution to the sovereign-debt crisis along with the Libyan situation."

In the currency markets, the dollar fell 1% to 82.13 Japanese yen.

April Crude oil futures slumped $2.77 to $99.93 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex.

On the economic front, U.S. data on retail sales will be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. After the stock market opens, data on consumer sentiment for March and inventories for January are due.

In premarket trading, shares of Aeropostale Inc. (ARO) slumped 7.4% after the apparel retailer reported late Thursday a decline in quarterly profit.

Another clothing retailer, Ann Taylor Stores Corp. (ANN), is expected to report earnings Friday.

On Thursday, the Dow tumbled 228.48 points, or 1.87%.

-By Polya Lesova; 49 69 29725517; AskNewswires@dowjones.com

COPIED FROM:http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110311-706107.html

Magic The Gathering Tactics

Magic The Gathering Tactics Review

By, Ange Perdu

Magic: The Gathering Tactics is a 3D fantasy MMO where players become a powerful mage known as a Planeswalker. Based off the immensely popular 1993 trading card game that spawned an entire franchise fans get to exchange their boards for an online virtual world. Much like the original version players strategize each move on a gridded map to take out their opponent. Summon amazing mystical creatures to assist in combat. Cast various spells. Create a spellbook or deck of a great sorcerer. Complete challenging campaigns to help elevate your magic. Explore detailed animated environments. Go against other players in intense battles and compete in tournaments for prizes.

Rise of the Planeswalker, the Gameplay

Players create an avatar to represent their Planeswalker in the virtual world of Dominaria.

This animated reincarnation of a TCG is slightly different than its predecessors. Users navigate their Planeswalker through various environments completing campaign based missions and battling other players. As a character gains experience through leveling their magic capabilities also increase. There are five distinct colors of magic. Each shade represents a universal power. Select virtuous white, fiery red, earthy green, purple, or black. An optional in-depth narrated tutorial teaches mages the basics covering important techniques and interface settings. Players have the freedom to can choose their desired game mode. In Magic: The Gathering Tactics players can tackle story driven campaigns divided into chapters, wage combat against others, or participate in tournaments for bonus rewards. The solo play or campaigns allows users to accumulate experience points and additional cards. Every chapter features challenging missions. Players start off in the territory of Aerona in the wizard Academy at Tolaria West and travel across to the woods of Muronia inhabited by dangerous beasts. Complete various objectives along your journey. Kill a Goblin Piker with a melee attack. Use an Elvish archer to destroy vampires and summon a bridge. Some missions may require a Planeswalker to navigate through a certain area or activate magical globes. The tasks often vary making the gameplay interesting. Using magic to fight off shamans and wolves gives the game a true RPG feel.

The Spellbook

Each Planeswalker has an arsenal of spell cards stored in their spellbook or deck. Cards containing powerful enchantments, mythical creatures, or magical artifacts are collected and used in battle throughout the game. New players receive a free starter pack to work with. The game features a wide variety of cards for strategizing and annihilating foes. Use the Fear Enchantment to disable counter attacks from opponents. Call on the Thieving Magpie Bird to fly over obstacles. Clones enter the battlefield as a copy of its target. Other spells like the Uncommon Sorcery returns target enemy back to its owners cast bar. In the spellbook editor players simply double click to place a card in the next available slot. At the bottom of the screen there are designated rows for cards summoning creatures and casting enchantments. A minimum of 40 cards completes a spellbook. Four copies of specific card can be loaded into a deck. When a player reaches level 6 they can start earning talent points to invest in skill trees. The ability to customize and create multiple decks gives users the option of integrating a particular skill tree into a spellbook as well. Players are only as powerful as their spellbook. They are essential for strategizing attacks during combat.

Pick-Up Games & Tournaments

In pick-up games Planeswalkers fight against other wizards in turn based battles. A gridded map appears around figures in the plain. Each square counts as an area in which a character is allowed to move. A cast bar at the bottom of the screen displays spells from a player’s deck along with a circle wheel monitoring mana. Mana is automatically generated per turn. Similar to PoxNora mages have the ability to summon mythical creatures to assist in battles. Clicking on a spell in the cast bar and then the desired target will initiate the attack. Although the animations for each spell are cool there is a significant lag when performing actions. It slows down gameplay and can be frustrating during intense matches. Players can also participate in tournaments. The three different types of tournaments in Magic: the Gathering Tactics are open, constructed, and draft. Each requires a fee of gold to enter. Open tournaments are scheduled throughout the day and does not require a set amount of players. Constructed tournaments are single elimination events where 8 players battle it out to the last one remaining. Draft tournaments are special Swiss events where the same number of players fights to win the best out of 3 games. These competitions often give away rare or expensive cards as rewards.

Auction House Benefits

In the Auction House Planeswalkers can buy or cards for gold. All the items are categorized by rarity, magic color, or type. There are hundreds of cards available to bid on. Buy the Gaseous Form enchantment to navigate through obstacles and figures quickly or grab a magical artifact like the Head of the Gorgon. The Talon Hawk Bird to the Giant Spider creature can be purchased for less than a user would pay in the shop area. The Auction House feature makes it easy to build up a decent deck. In the store boosters, single cards, and campaigns are available for station cash which requires real money to accumulate. Booster packs or boxes feature 10 to 24 card sets. Individual spells or creatures like the Targen, Magus of the Bazaar, and Mighty Djinn of Deceit increase the power of a mage’s spellbook. There are five campaign chapters in Magic: the Gathering Tactics. Only the first campaign is free. The rest of them must be bought in the store. Paying for new campaigns can be expensive but necessary for serious players. It’s possible to go through the free first chapter campaign relatively quickly leaving only pick-up games or tournaments to participate in.

Final Verdict: Good

Magic: the Gathering Tactics or MTGT is a solid MMO that combines role playing with traditional TCG elements for a unique experience. Players enter the virtual world of Dominaria to explore and conquer. Fight with familiar characters from the original Magic: the Gathering games as you cast spells and compete against other Planeswalkers. Complete missions in solo play for experience or go straight to battle in a quick pick-up game. Similar to games like PoxNora players summon mythical beasts to aid in combat.

Customize spellbooks and strategize to win tournaments for prizes. Although there’s a noticeable time lag it’s still fun. Fans of the MTG franchise will find this game truly addicting.

Travian Full Review

You like Travian, The Strategy Browser game? Here is the full review from mmohut.com. Enjoy!

Travian Full Review

By, Erhan Altay

Travian was originally released in 2004 by a German team and quickly gained an international following.  Today, the game is available in over 40 languages and has over 250 servers worldwide servicing 5+ million players.  While the gameplay mechanics are similar to another German browser based strategy game, Tribal Wars, the two now offer very different gaming experiences.  The most recent version of Travian (version 3) was released in 2006 and offers several new features including heroes, higher building level caps, and the ability to annex oases territories which previously only served a visual purpose.

Pick a Tribe!

Account creation in Travian involves picking a region, server, and then a tribe.  Region selection can easily be missed since the default is set to ‘Europe’ on the top left of the homepage.  If you’re from a different region, be sure to click the arrow and open the drop down menu to make your selection before clicking ‘register.’   There are two types of servers available to chose from; several regular servers, and one ‘Speed 3x’ server.  As the name suggests, things move three times faster on the speed server and I highly recommend it for beginners.  Gameplay in all browser based strategy games are painfully slow so do yourself a favor and go with the slightly-less-slow server.  Players will have to provide a valid email address since a verification code is required before logging in.  Newer games like Evony don’t require this extra barrier to entry which slows things down a bit, especially for first time impatient players.  Once your account is up to speed, the final phase is to select from among the three playable tribes.  The Romans are recommended for beginners since they have balanced attack/defense and powerful (but slowly trained) units available.  The Gauls are the intermediate tribe focused on defense while the Teutons are the advanced tribe with high defense but slow defense & speed.

More Alike than Different

Each tribe has its own 10 military unit list, though they fall into the same mold.  There are several types of infantry, cavalry, and siege units with varying costs, speeds, attack, and defensive power.  Each faction also has several special bonuses, for example the Teutons have a ‘plunder bonus’ which allows them to steal more resources in a raid than the other tribes can.  The early game progression is very similar despite which tribe you chose to go with.  Players are welcomed to the game by an advisor who offers tasks to help new players learn the ropes.  These tasks are activities you would have to do anyway, so be sure to accept them since they come with generous rewards.  The first few tasks ask you to upgrade your city’s resource spots.  There are four kinds of resources in Travian; lumber, clay, iron, and crop. I’m not sure why they decided to call it ‘crop’ rather than ‘food’ but that’s what it is.  The starting city comes with six empty crop spots and four spots for each of the other three resources.  The reason crops are given preference here is because every soldier you train requires a constant stream of crops to maintain.  I found the interface in Travian very outdated, especially having just played Evony the day before.  Even Tribal Wars has been upgraded with isometric graphics and a little animation to give the game more life.  Travian still languishes with a dated text & image combo.

One Step at a Time…

It doesn’t take long before new players are stuck with nothing left to do in Travian.  After the first few tasks, players are simply instructed to wait while an army the NPC adviser has sent arrives.  This takes about three hours and in the end the player is awarded with one rat as a combat unit.  Resources are generated quite slowly in Travian and there are far fewer bonuses given out than in Evony so the rate of resource tick is of greater importance.  Of course, Travian wasn’t meant to be played for hours on end in one sitting.  Even veteran players managing several cities can play the game in short bursts throughout the day without much loss in efficiency.  Free players can only construct one building at a time (per city) but by completing tasks, players are rewarded with temporary access to “Travian Plus”, which offers several benefits including the ability to construct two buildings simultaneously.  Additional premium features can be purchased with gold, the game’s premium currency.  Purchased at an exchange rate of 1 gold per 4-8 cents (depending how many you buy at a time), gold is used to provide temporary resource production bonuses and troop strength/defense bonuses.  It costs five gold to receive a three day long +25% boost per resource and three gold for a three day boost of 10% for attack and defense (separately.)   Additionally, players can pay two gold to have their current buildings under construction in one city complete instantly.  The final premium bonus costs three gold and allows players to exchange resources at a 1:1 ratio.  For example, if you have too much clay, you can exchange it for lumber.  The obvious problems that this premium payment method causes are in the realm of game balance.  While it is possible to play entirely for free, it is nearly impossible to win without spending money.

The Purpose Driven Life

Unlike most browser games, Travian does have an end-game purpose.  Each server enters an end game mode after about 300 days (~100 for speed servers) at which time the world is attacked by an AI controlled tribe known as the Natars.  Players must steal blue prints from the Natar, construct a Wonder, and defend it while upgrading it to level 100.  This takes an enormous amount of resources, especially since both the Natars and other players will attempt to stop you from completing it.  Team work is the only way to accomplish this feat.  Large alliances are required simply to defend a player who is pouring all his resources into construction and city defense.  Eventually, when a player completes his level 100 wonder, the server is reset with all players reverting to an empty starter village.  Gold that hasn’t been spent is preserved, however.  Some have praised the sense of purpose and urgency that Travian places on servers while others have found the need to restart every year or so bothersome.  In any case, it isn’t difficult to see how difficult it would be for a free player to ‘win’ when competing against players pouring money into bonus resources and instant construction of buildings.  Players who don’t want to spend money can still help their alliance and take heart in the fact that they at least contributed to victory.

Final Verdict: Fair

Travian is a widely popular strategy game that is beginning to show its age.  New players may have difficulty adjusting to the old interface but may be attracted by the sense of purpose Travian offers in the form of an actual, winnable game experience.  Unfortunately, gamers will have to shell out real cash if they hope to compete for the crown.

Warriors sign free agent forward Thornton

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- The Golden State Warriors have signed free agent forward Al Thornton after he was released by the Washington Wizards earlier this week.

Golden State said Thursday that Thornton was expected to join the Warriors before Friday night's game with the Celtics in Boston.

The 27-year-old Thornton averaged 8.0 points, 3.2 rebounds and 21.8 minutes in 49 games this season for Washington.

He was selected 14th overall in the first round in 2007 draft by the Los Angeles Clippers.

From: http://www.nba.com/news/news_archive.html

Places In Indonesia

I'll show you some place to go in Indonesa here is it:

Textile museum :

Textile Museum occupies an old building at Jalan K.S. Tubun / Petamburan No. 4 Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta
Textil Museum, Looks Home

The building itself at the beginning was the private home of a citizen of France which was built in the 19th century. Later purchased by the Turkish consul named Abdul Aziz Al Katiri Almussawi who settled in Indonesia. Subsequently in 1942 was sold to Dr. Karel Christian Cruq.

In the struggle for Indonesian independence, it became the headquarters of the Security Barisan Rakyat (BKR) in 1947 and inhabited by Lie Sion Pin. In 1952 purchased by the Ministry of Social Affairs and on October 25, 1975 submitted to the Government of DKI Jakarta, for later on June 28, 1976 inaugurated its use by Madame Tien Soeharto as the Textile Museum. 

Istana Merdeka(Merdeka Palace)


Merdeka Palace (English: Freedom Palace, Indonesian: Istana Merdeka, Dutch: Paleis Koningsplein), is a palace in Central Jakarta, Indonesia, used as the official palace of the President of the Republic of Indonesia. The palace is located directly in front of Merdeka square and Indonesian National Monument. The palace previously served as residence for the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies during the colonial era and up to the first president of Indonesia. In 1949 the palace was renamed to Merdeka Palace, "merdeka" an Indonesian word for "freedom". Merdeka Palace together with Negara Palace, along with a few structures in the complex, such as Wisma Negara, State Secretariat, and Bina Graha make up the State Palace complex; the center of Indonesian executive authority.