Lemmy gets alive again in Videogame

Probably he drinks his Jack Daniels on a cloud in the sky or elsewhere. But the Motörhead boss Ian «Lemmy» Kilmister († 70), who died in December 2015, is more present than ever: magazine cover, special editions, tributeshows, merchandise and post-releases keep the cult alive around one of the legendary rockers of all times.

A video tag can not be missing. After all, Lemmy was known as an absolute game freak. His sessions at game boxes and arcade machines - including the Rainbow at the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles - are legendary. And he even had a performance in the "Brütal Legend" action game.

Available from the end of May

In fact "Motörhead: Through the Ages" was already conceived before the death of the musician. In the Bulgarian studio of the action-RPG "Victor Vran" in Sofia thunder regularly also Metalsongs from the boxes. Some of the developers at Haemimont Games are passionate followers of the British NWOBHM cult band. They had long wanted to bring their Gothik-Game and Lemmy Kilmister together.

With "Motörhead: Through the Ages" the dream has now come true. The extensive story extension for the action RPG «Victor Vran» is to appear on May 31 - not only for PC, but for the first time also for the PS4 and the Xbox One. This is made possible by the special "Overkill Edition". It is also planned for May and consists of the original and still very popular «Victor Vran» adventure of 2015, all previously released DLC content and the Motörhead game «Through the Ages».

There it goes accordingly to and fro. The story: On his travels, Lemmy has a parallel dimension. A ruthless politician plunges this world into war and ruin. That does not fit Lemmy. He decides to destroy the "leader" and his hordes with the help of Snaggletooth. A fierce battle burns, but the famous Motörhead mascot is surprisingly defeated. At the last minute Barkeeper Lloyd - played by Troma's boss and Lemmy-friend Lloyd Kaufman - invites demon vault Victor Vran to help. The adventure begins.

Metal gameplay

Motörhead classics such as "Iron Fist" or "Ace of Spades" are then demons. It is not only musically everything on Lemmy trimmed. The gameplay is heavy metal: there are guitar weapons, headbanging sessions or gigantic concert speakers. It can happen that the opponents are afraid of Motörhead riffs and then transported by a huge pressure wave into the beyond. And in the Boss Fights you can do it with the "Orgasmatron" from the album of the same name (cover).

How did Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell put it so nicely? "These game people have built up a lot of crazy shit - get ready for something!"

The best and the worst 'alien' games

The sci fi heart cheers: the acid splashes, the blood flows, the mucus bubbles - alien is back. And even if one or other fanboy of "Alien: Covenant" is disappointed in content, one must say: Director Ridley Scott has finally created a real "Alien" film in the tradition of the first two classics.

A game version of «Alien: Covenant» is unfortunately not planned today. Although the option according to the film studio is not final from the table, but already to "Prometheus" no license game was developed. Best opportunities currently has a mobile game. So consoles and PC gamers will probably have to resort to the games that have appeared so far. And it has real hits under it - and unfortunately also really bad flops.

The best ...

One of the most successful games is "Alien: Isolation" from 2014. While most alien games - especially shooter - are based on James Cameron's action sequel «Aliens» from 1986, this Sega title plays with the oppressive atmosphere of Ridley Scott's original. Not for nothing, the Stealth game was awarded several "Game of the Year" awards and became a huge success.

One blockbuster was the "Alien vs. Predator ". The resulting film did not meet the expectations, but the shooter has set the standard for "Alien" games. With his three campaigns from the perspective of a Marine, Alien or Predator, the Rebellion title was based on a clever concept. And the nervous tension makes even the film franchise honor. This also applies to the 2001 hit "Alien vs. Predator 2 ".

Still popular today is "Alien Trilogy", which was published in 1996 for PS 1, Sega Saturn and MS Dos. The game was programmed as part of the First Person Shooter boom at the time and combines the actions of «Aliens» and «Alien 3». It may have been badly aged - but in 1996 "Alien Trilogy" was a coherent and very difficult shooter.

... and the worst

Not just badly aged, but generally bad was "Aliens vs.. Predator: Extinction "(2003). The decision to raise the game as a Real Time Strategy title turned out to be tricky. However, the game still has fans - which one can definitely not claim from "Aliens: Colonial Marines". The game is quite rightly considered one of the biggest flops of the game history. Because on a great trailer followed in 2013 only an unfinished game with gruesome graphics, drunken gameplay and a stupid story.

Is it even worse? Yes. The "Alien", released in 1982 for the Atari 2600, was more or less "Pac-Man" with the monster by H. R. Giger. Instead of fruit there were spaceships, instead of ghosts aliens - instead of high tension and horror just a fun game for the sake of. The Engineers were supposed to have passed the time.

Six free games to give you a chance

Great fun does not always have to be expensive. Free games, so-called free-to-play games, have a lot to offer today. Here you will find six video games, which you should look at.

From shooter to sports game: The selection of free playable games is huge today. With some video players, these free-to-play games (F2P) do not enjoy a good reputation, but this is inappropriate. In terms of quality, the games are in no way inferior to their pay competitors. Here is a selection of games you should look at.

"Paladin"

On the PC already some time ago appeared, "Paladins" is also recently available for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 free of charge. In the shooter, players slip into the role of a hero with special abilities and compete against each other in five-team teams. At best, the group consists of a co-ordinated team: the one can heal, the others share damage, again others run away opponents and so on. The whole thing is similar to the Blizzard-Kracher "Overwatch", but also has independent ideas to offer.

"Hearthstone"

Blizzard: One of the most popular and best F2P games is "Hearthstone". The online collectible is easy to learn but difficult to master. Players duel themselves and, alternately, do everything in their power to bring their opponent's life points to zero. The cards represent, among other things, spells and creatures with which the opponent can be attacked. Available is the game for PC and Mac as well as for iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

"League of Legends"

No less popular is "League of Legends". Around 100 million gamers are expected to play the MOBA title monthly by the end of 2016, according to an article from the US gaming website "Polygon". The Multiplayer Online Battle Arena is a subgenre of the real-time strategy games. Teams from five players try to penetrate the base of the opposing team on the PC and attack a central point, the Nexus. If this is successfully destroyed, the game is won. A similar well-known representative of the genre is "Dota 2".

"3on3 Freestyle"

Also sports games like the arcadige "3on3 Freestyle" is free. The streetball game, exclusively for PS4, sets with a wink at a brightly colored graphic style and funny characters, all of which have different talents and abilities to offer. As the name implies, the game is played in three teams. Gamers can either compete online against other players or enjoy themselves in the good old couch coop.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War"

Pirates of the Caribbean 5: Salazar's Revenge has also recently been released for "Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War" for iOS and Android smartphones. In the strategy game, players build ships and buildings, train their units, and plunge into sea battles to gain control over the world's oceans. They meet known characters from the films - including Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Captain Barbossa.

"Warframe"

Anyone who likes something more action-packed and likes to play with friends, could be "Warframe" something. The co-op shooter for PC, PS4 and Xbox One takes players into a distant future, where they stand as futuristic warriors opposing opponents. You can earn, buy, build, and equip numerous weapons, armor, upgrades, to survive the dangerous missions of the third person shooter.

Computer game may help kids choose healthy food

Worried that your children are addicted to unhealthy foods? Take heart -- a simple brain-training game could help them choose healthy snacks instead of chocolates and sweets, a study has showed.

The game involves reacting to images of healthy food by pressing a button, and doing nothing if unhealthy foods are shown.

The findings showed that children who played the seven-minute game made healthier choices when asked to pick foods afterwards.

"The sight of foods like chocolate can activate reward centres in the brain at the same time as reducing activity in self-control areas," said lead researcher Lucy Porter from the University of Exeter in Britain.

"Our training encourages people to make a new association -- when they see unhealthy food, they stop," Porter added.

For the study, detailed in the journal Appetite, the team conducted two experiments, and in total more than 200 school children aged 4-11 were shown images of healthy and unhealthy foods.

Alongside each image, a cartoon face was displayed -- happy for healthy food, sad for unhealthy food.

Children had to hit the space-bar when they saw a happy face and do nothing if they saw a sad face.

Afterwards, they played a shopping game where they had to choose a limited number of food items in one minute.

Further, age did not affect whether the game worked or not, meaning that children as young as four as well as adults can benefit from playing.

"It's encouraging to see that this simple computer game has the potential to improve food choices in young children as well as in adults," added Natalia Lawrence from the University of Exeter.

Best Selling Computer Game of All Time Teaches…

Economics, Entrepreneurship, and Cooperation?

As part of our homeschooling curriculum, our kids spend an enormous amount of time designing complex circuits and structures using a state-of-the-art computer program. They also spend a lot of time communicating with others and finding online resources that can help them when they need to solve a problem.

Doesn't that sound better than "our kids play Minecraft a lot?"

Minecraft is the best-selling computer game of all time, and since its launch way back in May of 2009, it has been fascinating to see how "Minecraft culture" has evolved. It has unleashed a host of YouTube entrepreneurs who review mods and make tutorial videos explaining their creations. Companies make online courses that teach people how to write Minecraft mods using Java. Minecraft is so open and so easy to customize that it isn't a stretch to say the only limit is the player's imagination. We're still working on building out our kids' channels, Elevator Zombie and Cupcakes and Meat Patties. One of the lessons they're going to learn, I think, is that this is an open market with no barriers to entry and, therefore, not a market in which they will be able to earn economic profits. But we'll get to that hard lesson eventually.

Like all parents we're working to help our kids navigate the online space and avoid getting too attached to gaming at the expense of other things, but it doesn't really bother us that much that they play games like Minecraft and Roblox at every opportunity. It has been fun to watch them develop design and problem-solving skills, but—perhaps surprisingly—it has been an excellent opportunity for them to develop their social skills.

Minecraft servers and Roblox games have different, constantly-evolving norms and a robust marketplace for rules. The kids get to learn how to endure various slights and griefs, to be sure, but they also learn how to cooperate with strangers by playing team games on Minecraft servers or by trying to earn more in-game currency by helping someone harvest wood in Roblox Lumber Tycoon 2.

They also teach great lessons about entrepreneurship. If you don't like a game, you can design your own. If you want to cater to a specific community or subgroup, it's easy. There are, for example, Minecraft servers created specifically for children on the autism spectrum who might want to play the game with others but without running the risk of being raided or killed or otherwise abused.

I've been especially surprised at just how big Minecraft has become online and beyond. One of the best things about Minecraft is that it is practically infinitely customizable, and the internet is filled with mods one can download, install, and enjoy. Once again, norms are evolving to govern the use (and sometimes abuse) of mods and modders, and reputation-based mechanisms help people know which sites they can trust and which sites they can't when it comes to mod downloads.

There are people—DanTDM and Stampy Longnose, for example—who make very comfortable livings running YouTube channels consisting almost solely of videos of them playing Minecraft, Roblox, or some other game. They are legitimate celebrities. A year or so ago, a company started making a line of "Tube Heroes" toys based on famous YouTube Minecraft players, and you can see videos of Minecraft and other gaming conventions at which thousands of people are there to see DanTDM play and at which people line up for his autograph. There are also people who earn their living making games and items for Roblox, which has an in-game currency called "Robux" that can be purchased with real dollars and then spent on game passes, special items and upgrades, and so on.

Games like Minecraft and Roblox give virtually unlimited play to the imagination, and they provide decentralized platforms on which people can build, divide, or conquer—or simply find a community of gamers with similar interests. The internet brings out the worst in us, but games like Minecraft and Roblox show how it can also bring out our best.

With the Spring semester over and the summer finally upon us, I'll be looking forward to checking out "Liberty Minecraft," a new project created and maintained by a Learn Liberty viewer named Nathan, which uses a highly customized Minecraft server that reshapes the game's interactive multiplayer world into an immersive tool for teaching players about private property and free enterprise.