Poulter Is Tired Of Game

Ian Poulter had victory in WGC-Accenture Match Play, he became the focus of public. It also proves that WGC-Accenture Match Play is wonderful without Tiger Woods( from Woods keeps no words on Match Play ). Ian Poulter keeps calm to accept the victory. How about him now?

In the immediate aftermath of his victory over Ryder Cup team-mate Paul Casey in Arizona on Sunday, Poulter admitted he was in two minds about competing this week.Titleist is famous golf brand, you can have it and improve your golf skill.

“I’m not sure yet. I’m supposed to be,” the Englishman joked.

“I’ve got a feeling I might be quite tired.” His exciting disappeared and golf clubs left him tired.

Poulter could not even afford much of a celebration at the weekend thanks to a 6.30am flight on Monday to record a television advert for one of his sponsors in California.

But the 34-year-old will still try to add a first strokeplay title on US soil to his match play victory at TPC Scottsdale, and will form the marquee group alongside world number three Phil Mickelson and Sony Open winner Ryan Palmer in the first two rounds.

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a joke:Nice House

After John Elway dies and enters the Pearly Gates, God takes him on a tour. He shows John a little two-bedroom house with a faded Broncos banner hanging from the front porch. “This is your house, John. Most people don’t get their own houses up here,” God says.

John looks at the house, then turns around and looks at the one sitting on top of the hill. It’s a huge two-story mansion with white marble columns and little patios under all the windows. Wisconsin flags line both sides of the sidewalk and a huge Green Bay Packers banner hangs between the marble columns.

“Thanks for the house, God, but let me ask you a question. I get this little two-bedroom house with a faded banners and Brett Favre gets a mansion with brand new Packers banners and flags flying all over the place. Why is that?”

God looks at him seriously for a moment, then with a smile, God says, “That’s not Favre’s house, it’s mine.”

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Watch The Philadelphia Phillies Game Online

Philadelphia, PA, makes it fair share of sports fans no matter where they live. And, if you are a smart fanatic, you can watch Philadelphia Phillies MLB games online. I do. I never miss any action because I see the Phils in action through live streaming video on my computer.

This way, no matter where I am in the country, I catch the NL Champion team from the City of Brotherly Love share some baseball kisses against hapless opponents where an All-Star lineup takes the field to teach a lesson.

Yes sir. I watch as many games as I can where Manager Charlie Manuel leads a team of overachievers like 2009 All Stars Chase Utley, Raul Ibanez, Ryan Howard, Shane Victorino and Jayson Werth. I can even get the All Star game where Philadelphia roistered three outfielders, the first time since 1995. Yep, I can get the All Star game on my computer.

How, you ask?

I discovered this fabulous software that I easily downloaded to my laptop. Installation was a breeze and I now use this software to watch Philadelphia Phillies MLB games online plus much more. Granted, gaining access to Phillies games is sweet, but this software grants access to other sporting presentations, some great shows along with great entertainment and news channels, history, education and fabulous kids’ programming. I have access to more than 3,500 online channels over the Internet.

You can watch all this on your PC, too.

All you need is a DSL or cable Internet connection along with a computer using a Windows operating system or Mac. You don’t need the latest and greatest computer system – anyone will work.

This way when the Phillies make their usual pennant run, you can catch every exciting moment regardless where you watch the game. Relax, it’s on the computer!

Rommel Quidim tees off on the 10th hole to start his match in Virginia’s round 3 pennant clash against Keperra.

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A Brief History Of Carrom Game Tables

In 1889 Henry Haskell, a Sunday School teacher, was concerned about the growing number of boys who were hanging around pool rooms. He decided to use his clever and inventive mind to create games for the boys would be wholesome and enjoyable. Carrom has been providing family entertainment for all ages ever since. Some games tested your skills or used strategy, other games were just for fun.

The Carrom Company went through various name changes through the years (it was originally the Ludington Novelty Company until 1901), but today is known as the Carrom Company, just as it was known from 1914-1939.

The original Carrom game tables were table top games. They were usually made of wood, about 30″ square which often had rounded corners and some with pockets in each corner for various games. Different game patterns were featured on each side.

Here is a brief look at the Carrom game boards manufactured up until 1945.

A – The most beautiful and elegant board ever made, produced without change from about 1902 until 1941. B – “4-surface board” with removable panel, 1902-1939. BB – Baseball/Crokinole, 1938 – 1941. C – “Crown Combination” w/ Spider and Flies game, 1899-1943. D – No. 2 – “Flags of the Nations”, 1902-1941. E – No. 1 – A hugely popular board, 1899-1939, painted red and black with a 1-1/2″ thick rim; rare very early editions in red and green. Replaced by the “Q” style in 1934 but was briefly reintroduced from 1937 until 1939 with a 1-1/4″ rim. F – Austere (economical) version of the “A”, 1901-1938. Probably second to the “E” in popularity. G – No. 2 – 1901 until around 1930, a much-improved edition of Ludington Novelty Co.’s first board which had wooden pockets. Rare early editions came in red and green. All others are red and black. GP – mid-1940s, called “Carrom-Checkers”, an unusual variant carrying the old “E” Checker design on one side and the “C” Spider & Flies on the other. 29″ square. H – Octagonal Crokinole board, 1900 to 1936; 1904 catalog shows H-1, 29″ across; H-2, 31″; H-3 exactly like H-2 but with green felt in ditch; several other varieties exist. H-4 – Sharp-square-cornered 28-1/2″ board, 1937-1939, maybe 1940; very scarce for an inexpensive board. J – Elaborate baseball board produced from about 1908; still present in a 1927 catalog. Very scarce. K – 1939 -1941 Carrom “Viking” edition with Chinese Checkers on reverse. No marbles – a flat playing surface with lots of little wooden markers. LF – 1938 – 1939 baseball board honoring Lew Fonseca, baseball celebrity 1920s & 1930s; other side of board is blank. Game identical to the “BB”. O – Late 1930s Carrom game tables, called the Carrom-Backgammon board. The Carrom/Checkers side is exactly like the corresponding side of the “E”, and the opposite side carries nothing more than a full-size Backgammon pattern in red and black. P – “Carrom-Pleasure”, late 1930s, 24″ board; one side carried the Spider & Flies game and the other side carried the old game of Fox & Geese. Q – The “Viking” board, introduced in 1934 as replacement for the “E”. Disappeared about 1947. QS – 1944 (only?), identical to “Q” but “finished in brown stain” according to ads, (wartime wood supply problems). SP – “Sport board”, 1939-1941, baseball like “BB”, football on other side, hard-to-find. T – “Carrom-Tennis”, 1940-1943, 168 playing pieces, the 5-Surface board, the designers at Carrom Industries really had a ball with this fun edition, very scarce. X – Late 1930s, called the “Cadet”. Y – 24″ “Playboy” board introduced 1935; one could call it a more austere and smaller predecessor of the “GP” YP – Identical to the “Y”, wartime edition made of composition-board.

Carrom still makes some classic games, but have also evolved with the times by introducing the popular games of today. Some of the Carrom game tables that are popular in family rooms across the country include air hockey, stick hockey and foosball.

So, whether you like the classic games, or the modern Carrom game table games, you can’t go wrong with a Carrom game, it is always great to see an all American company with a great and long history like the Carrom Company.

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Airsoft Game Types: Capture the Flag

Capture the Flag is a classic game type that is popular in both paintball and airsoft. Each team is tasked with capturing a flag and bringing it to a designated location while avoiding enemy fire.

Capture the flag is a versatile game type in that it can be adapted to accommodate large or small groups of players. There are several variations on the rules of Capture the Flag, a couple of which are described below.

Capture the Flag begins with two teams positioned at opposite ends of the playing field. Usually, each has its own base (or designated starting location) with a flag that the team must protect. Each team’s mission is to capture the opposing team’s flag and bring it safely to home base while defending its own flag and eliminating as many opponents as possible. Typically the rules stipulate that the flag must be visible at all times, including while it is being carried by a player. The rules dictated by the organizer will determine what happens if a player carrying the flag is hit. Either the flag must be returned to its original base or the player may drop the flag for a teammate to pick up and continue with the mission.

An alternative scenario called ‘Center Flag’ consists of two teams and two bases, but only one centrally located flag that each team must try to capture. In the single flag variation, victory goes to the team that returns the flag to its own base first. In an alternative scenario, the team may be required to capture the flag and bring it to the opponent’s base.

As with other airsoft game types, the rules for Capture the Flag vary among different organizations and fields. Even if you are an experienced player, be sure that you are familiar with the rules for the organization with which you are playing.

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2010 All Star Game: George Steinbrenner Dies

This morning, the same day as the MLB All-Star Game 2010 is to take place, managing partner and owner of the New York Yankees George Steinbrenner died at approximately 6:30 a.m. He suffered a heart attack at his home and was transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, Florida. Steinbrenner had just turned 80 on July 4th. Steinbrenner along with 13 partners purchased the Yankees from CBS Inc in 1973.

Although Steinbrenner thought he was too busy to be involved with the team at the time, his partners soon learned differently. Steinbrenner’s ownership reign of more than 37 years led the Yankees to win 7 World Series titles, 11 pennants and 16 AL East titles, but not without great controversy. Steinbrenner was known for his disagreements with many, he never managed a game but he controlled everything else, as strictly as he was raised. His supporters liked his ruthless winning style, but his enemies blamed him for destroying baseball’s spirited stability by escalating player’s earnings. View tonight’s MLB All Star game 2010 odds with the American League -121 favorites over the National League +111.

“The Boss” as George Steinbrenner was nicknamed, brought about many changes during his time as owner, hiring, firing and even rehiring some managers but there was one constant theme “winning”. “Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing,” Steinbrenner was fond of saying. “Breathing first, winning next.” And win they did, increasing the value of the Yankees more than 100 times the amount they were bought for in ‘73. With that money Steinbrenner was able to offer large sums to get the players he wanted such as Derek Jeter, Reggie Jackson and Alex Rodriguez in hopes to continue to win, yet he also gave anonymously millions of dollars to charities.

“The passing of George Steinbrenner marks the end of an era in New York City baseball history,” rival Mets owners said. “George was a larger than life figure and a force in the industry. The rise and success of his teams on the field and in the business marketplace under his leadership are a testament to his skill, drive, and determination.” As Steinbrenner’s health declined in the past years he spent most of his time in Tampa, Florida, leaving his sons, Hal and Hank, to run the family business, since Hank mostly resembles the same characteristic of his father. Steinbrenner is also survived by his wife, Joan, daughters Jennifer and Jessica and 13 grandchildren. The MLB All Star game 2010 will take place at 8:20pm EST and can be seen on FOX.

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Game Room Decor and Furniture For Your Man Cave

So you’re building up your man-cave, huh? Like Sam Adams beer, this is always a good decision: every slightly-educated human male is aware that a dedicated area of the home designed specifically for him is essential to a man’s happiness…. as essential as poker, Sportscenter, and chicks in bikinis.

And while one of the man-caves specific purposes is to play the role of “Fortress of Solitude,” it’s also intended to be the ideal hang-out for you and all your other poker-playing, beer-drinking, Sportscenter-watching buddies.

The only problem? Each one of these poker-playing, beer-drinking, Sportscenter-watching buddies has a man-cave of their own. So you’ll need the top game room décor and supplies in order to make your man-cave better than the rest.

First step: Television. BIG television. In those horrible years called the 90′s, when a big-screen TV had a caboose the size of a Volkswagon, the options of where and how big your television would be were limited, and sometimes dictated, by the architecture of your room. With flat-screens the norm these days, you can hang a High-Definition screen almost any place.

No matter what goes on in your man-cave or what the situation, the activity in the room will always flow around the television. Picking the right one, as well as the right location for it, is brutally essential.

(On a different note, don’t spring the extra dough for 3-D channels. Avatar might have been cool, but you and all your friends sitting in the basement wearing goofy glasses is not.)

Once you’ve got the television in place, you should probably add a couple gaming tables. The ideal one is poker, since it’s a group activity. Ping pong tables, pinball machines, air hockey, foosball… all fun games, and certainly worth looking into. But Poker can encompass the largest amount of players at once, and isn’t that the point?

While you’re at it, pick up a custom poker chip set, some fancy new card decks, and any other poker table supplies you may need. The more professional your supplies, the more professional your game… and the more your friends will want to be included.

Folding chairs for the poker table is perfect. They’re easy to move and adjust, which is important when there isn’t enough room on your couch (Did we not mention the couch? Yeah, you’re gonna need a couch. A BIG, comfy couch).

There’s also the issue of art. After all, just because we are men, doesn’t make us savages. We deserve a little bit of class, and some tasteful, tactful art on the wall can be just the thing.

Most guys will go straight for a centerfold cut-out of their favorite supermodel. This is a classic mistake. Remember, you’re just a share-cropper…. using the bit of land generously given to you by the true Master of the Land (i.e. your wife or girlfriend). And “The Boss” may not be too happy seeing life-sized photos of gorgeous girls in tiny tops draped around the wall.

A good substitute when looking for ‘art’ to act as game room décor for your man-cave is signed sports memorabilia. Just putting up a pennant or poster seems childish. But if you’ve got an autograph on it, that not only ups the amount of class, it adds a conversation piece you can stick your chest out and boast about…. All while keeping the true Master happy.

Also, florescent signs from beer companies are always cool… but a little overused. That bright-green Heineken sign you’ve had since High School looked pretty sick in your dorm room, but now it’s just too bright, too annoying, and too often seen in other places. Buy something original, won’t you?

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Orioles Tickets to a Baseball Game of Frenzied Excitement

Baseball lovers are ready to give an eye and a tooth to get Orioles tickets this season. Based in Baltimore, Maryland, the Baltimore Orioles, a professional baseball team are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball’s American League. The unique name “Orioles” is the name of a bird; hence the team is also nicknamed as ‘the Birds’. Their ballpark from year 1992 till date has been the Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Early History

The Orioles have an interesting history. Way back in 1894, they were known as the Milwaukee Brewers of Western League. The year 1902 saw the team shifting to St. Louis and becoming the St. Louis Browns. The Browns practiced in the Sportsman’s Park and the Cardinals were their arch rivals. The Browns are most remembered for their role in the race for the American League batting title in year 1910, when Coach Harry Howell tried to bribe the official scorer.

In 1916, the Browns exchanged hands, being sold to Philip DeCatesby Ball. Some of the best players then were George Sisler, Ken Williams, Baby Doll Jacobson, and Jack Tobin. In 1944, the Browns won the American League pennant but after 1945, the Browns never had another winning season in St. Louis. In 1951, Bill Veeck purchased the Browns. Shortly, starving for funds, Veeck sold the Browns to a Baltimore-based group led by Clarence Miles and Jerry Hofberger. Under them, a shift in 1954 to Baltimore gave the team a new face as the Orioles.

The New Face Of The Orioles

Baltimoreans welcomed the Orioles with open arms. They bought Orioles tickets with fervor. It took the Orioles about six years to become competitive. By the 1960s, baseball players such as Brooks Robinson, John “Boog” Powell, and Dave McNally took the team to great heights. The Orioles won their first American League championship in 1966 defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers. From 1966 to 1983, the Orioles won three World Series titles, six American League pennants, and five American League Eastern Division titles making them a highly winning baseball team. During this period, Frank Robinson, Boog Powell and Cal Ripken, Jr. were their most valuable players. Weaver Ball gave the team a further boost.

The Last Two Decades And The Orioles

But after 1983, the Orioles started on a downslide. This losing streak shocked the baseball world through the 1980s. Peter Angelos bought the Baltimore Orioles in 1993 and hired Pat Gillick as GM who brought several players like B.J. Surhoff, Roberto Alomar and Randy Myers into the team. From them on, the Orioles showed an upturn and went on the win the AL East Division title in 1997.

The GMs changed in quick succession from Frank Wren, Syd Thrift, Mike Hargrove to Lee Mazzilli. Rafael Palmeiro, Roberto Alomar, and Eric Davis were the star players of the Orioles in the 1990s. Most sports lovers bought Orioles tickets to watch them scorch the ground.

In 1999, the Orioles were the first Major League team to stage an exhibition game against the Cuban national team in Havana. A few years later, the 2005 season had an early good start but felt apart for the Orioles in the face of injuries to Luis Matos, Lopez, Sosa, Brian Roberts, and Larry Bigbie. In the 2006 season, the Orioles recorded 70 wins and a whopping 92 losses. Now too, though the 2008 season has been lacking luster, as the Yankees and Red Sox are in top form against the Orioles, fans have not yet given up. They are buying the Orioles tickets, ready to cheer the team as they play. As time is short, you can get your Orioles tickets from an online broker. Join the hot excitement of baseball with the Orioles.

Designed by Howard Chappel, the Wheelbarrow Boat The Irish Pennant a Wooden Boat built the Spring of 2009 on Cape Cod. We left off the wheel and the handles this time. The design has a wheel well in the bow with a slot for a wooden wheel exposed to the water and two handles on either side of the transom, extensions of the rub rail. Hull constructed from Marine Plywood purchased from Boulter Plywood in Somerville Mass Mahogany used for frames, clamps, and chine purchased at Bottelos in Mashpee as was long gran fur for rub rail. White pine for seat, skeg and transom purchased locally on the cape as was Oak for the stem and blocks for oar locks. Fasteners and Cuprinol from Jamestown Distributors. Epoxy and tape from RAKA in Florida
Video Rating: 4 / 5

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Game Ideas For Independence Day

If you’re hosting a 4th of July party, there are hours and hours to fill before the highlight events of the day begin – the fireworks. You’ll want to have plenty of activities and games planned to keep everyone busy and entertained.

There are a variety of games you can plan that have a patriotic theme.

Balloon pass – This game involves relaying a balloon down a line of people. Use balloons that are red, white and blue and tell the participants they will be using their hands and their legs to pass the balloon down the line. Create two teams of people, and line them up in straight lines. Give the first person a balloon and tell them to put it between their legs, passing the balloon to the next person in line with their legs only. That person will take the balloon and pass it to the next person by putting it over their head. That third person will put the balloon between their legs and pass to the next person like that. The game continues until the balloon has passed all the way down the line. If you have a small group, require that the balloon get passed down the line and back again before declaring a winner.

Chalk it up – Pick a panel of judges (the oldest members of the family are the obvious picks) and have them become the official judges for a chalk contest. Break your guests into two teams (or more, depending on how many people are at the party) and give them each one or two containers of sidewalk chalk. Tell them to create a sidewalk picture that shows something patriotic, and tell them the flag must be included in the picture. Give them a time limit (depending on your group, this time limit might range from 10 minutes to 45 minutes) and then have the judges declare a winner after they have carefully examined all the artwork. You could have art-themed prizes for the winners.

Parade – One fun 4th of July activity that just screams “4th of July!” is a parade with decorated bikes, scooters and the like. Ask everyone who comes to the party to decorate their bike or scooter or other item in patriotic garb. You can have people bring them to the party already decorated and have a contest for “best bike”, etc., but also fun is to have a decorating party within the party. Have all the items on hand to decorate the bikes and scooters and skateboards. You might have streamers, banners, flags, and ribbons. The children and adults can decorate their bikes and scooters as a party activity.

Guessing Game – These games are always popular for just about any occasion. Fill a large jar with peppermint candy (the red and white striped kind) and decorate it with blue and red ribbon. Have people guess how many candies are in the jar (which of course means you count as you place the candies in the jar). The winner, or the person who comes closest to the number without going over, gets the jar of candy.

Fireworks – If you’re having fireworks at your home, you might have a big box of assorted fireworks. Everyone has their personal favorites and people might have clear ideas of what they want to see and hear. You can play a game to determine who gets to pick the next firework to go off next. You might ask trivia questions (why are there 13 stars on the flag?). Or you can have a dance off. While music plays in the background, each person who really wants to pick the next firework to go off has to dance the craziest, silliest dance they can come up with. Someone who’s been designated a judge will decide who won the dance off and that person gets to pick the next fireworks item. Unless there are more fireworks than people, each person only gets to pick once.

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Hottest Game Room Trends Right Now

Even in new home design, the home game room is seeing a big resurgence in prevalence as more and more people want to stay home to have fun (which is less expensive) and want to make their home game rooms the neighborhood’s favorite. The hottest game room trends are not necessarily those that are more expensive, either. Let’s look at what mainstream America is incorporating into the hottest home game rooms around the country.

Hot Game Room Trends: Signs

While you don’t want a slouch mess of posters and signs splattered all over your game room, a few well-chosen game room signs are all the rage. Choose pub signs, neon signs, beer signs, and more. The market is huge for these signs, so you’ll find a plethora of options out there. There are also trendy personalized game room signs, like “John’s Man Cave” or the “Johnson’s Getaway” for example, that can be customized with your favorite saying.

Hot Game Room Trends: Sports Themed Colors

No matter what team you’re rooting for, enjoying the game in a sports team themed game room is the ultimate fan experience – even if it’s your son’s high school football team. Choose the colors of your favorite team, and incorporate those colors throughout the room with throws, pillows and accessories in the shade of the team’s colors as well as pain and trim on the walls. Posters are great – as are autographed baseballs and other memorabilia.

Hot Game Room Trends: Great Flooring

The home game room is no longer limited to the hard concrete of the basement; quite the contrary. Many of the hottest game rooms have a variety of flooring options, including bamboo, hardwood, cork, ceramic, or even carpet. Race fan? Go for black and white tile to make the room a checkered flag theme. Make sure that the flooring you choose for your family’s ultimate game room is easy to clean, however – because we all know how messy those Super Bowl parties can be.

Hot Game Room Trends: Furniture

When choosing the furniture for your home game room, the sky is the limit, really. From pub chairs and accessories that are made more for the club scene than the home, to pinball machines and custom bar stools, decorating your home game room with fun furnishings adds to the pleasant atmosphere of the room. Keep little ones in mind, however, if you have kids in the home – and choose kid-friendly furnishings that are easy to clean and easy to use.

Hot Game Room Trends: Lighting

Lighting can really set the mood for your game room, and since many game rooms are in the basement where lighting is minimal, you’ll want to make sure you have sufficient lighting for all of your activities. From pub lamps and bar lamps to over the table lamps made specifically for pool tables, there are tons of options for you. There are also personalized options when it comes to lighting for your game room – so choosing a coordinating sign and lamp is a great way to make the room come together.

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James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game

While Jame’s Cameron spent most of the last two decades working on his next magnum opus, Ubisoft Montreal decided to team up with Lightstorm Entertainment and bring stereoscopic 3D graphics to the small screen. Unfortunately, not having access to a display that is capable of delivering 3D graphics meant that the experience playing Avatar was not much different from any other third-person shooter. One thing that seemed to have worked in this game’s favor is the decision to develop the game independently from the movie storyline. Of course, the game is set in the same world as the movie and at least a couple of characters from the movie have reprised their roles in this game. However, the game’s story does not follow the exploits of Jake Sully from the movie; rather it explores the alien world of Pandora through the perspective of a code-breaker working for a private mining corporation called the RDA.

The games kicks-off by introducing the alien moon of Pandora and puts you in control of the game’s protagonist named Corporal Lance “Able” Ryder. After a brief sortie in the surrounding lands, the game picks up when Able Rider is initiated into the Avatar program.

Let me take a brief detour and skim through the premise of Avatar. After having discovered an alien world, the humans start aggressively mining the moon for a mineral called Unobtanium, which fetches a hefty price back home. However, Pandora has more than just deposits of minerals—the moon is lush with thick vegetation, sentient plants, animals and even sapient beings called the Na’vi. Even in the next millennium, humans have not given up on the idea that nicely asking someone to give up their freedom will work. So to facilitate diplomacy between the humans and the Na’vi, the humans start the Avatar program. This allows humans to remotely control human-Na’vi hybrid s that are ‘created’ by human scientists. Understandably, the Na’vi are not a big fan of the program and the relation between the two species is tenuous to begin with.

But these things have always failed to dampen man’s spirit for conflict and so, even all those millions of miles away what we have on Pandora is the all too familiar conflict for resources and territory.

Back to the game: pretty early on in the plot, the storyline forks into two. After the already very obvious intent of RDA is made even more obvious, Able Ryder gets the option to either continue with the RDA or to defect and join the indigenous resistance forces. Irrespective of which side you pick, they both share a common goal to locate and activate something called as a Well of Souls. Tapping into this allows communication and subsequently control over the entire ecosystem. The Na’vi believe that the moon’s life system is controlled by a single conscious being whom they refer to as Eywa. So whether you choose to play as Na’vi or as an RDA mercenary, the main objective of the game is to locate and activate the Well of Souls and then use its powers against your enemies.

In spite of following the same plot, this choice in the game offers an incentive to beat the game twice over. Siding with either faction, the game still maintains common design elements like the skills, weapons and combat systems. There are subtle differences with the weapons and mounts, and there is at least one skill that is unique to one particular species. Strangely, despite these similarities and the seemingly superior constitution of the Na’vi, the RDA still come out as the stronger of the two sides. After playing the single-player campaign with both the species, I found that playing as the Na’vi has a steeper learning curve and up till the very end, the combat is substantially more challenging.

Towards destruction of your enemies, the game offers the Na’vi an assortment of weapons that predate history back home. As a Na’vi the game will offer you access to melee weapons like clubs, axes and dual-blades and ranged weapons like bows and crossbows. Just to keeps things a little respectable, you can also carry one piece of human technology in the form of a machinegun. Playing as an RDA operative, you will have access to a decent collection of weapons. Surprisingly, the human weapons’ technology has not changed much in over a thousand years and the arsenal is a disappointing collection of handguns, machineguns, shotguns and flamethrowers. The game could potentially have been a lot more fun when using vehicles (or mounts) in the game; especially the RDA vehicles. Unfortunately, the game’s abysmal flight and vehicle control system sucks all the fun out and I had actually started to dread game sequences where you were forced to use one of these.

Providing an additional layer to the game’s combat system is the skills system. Each of the two species has access to a set of skills that can be a life-saver on the battlefield. Now, even though there are overlying differences with the skills available to the two factions, most of them effectively perform the same functions.

Weapons, skills and armor upgraded are awarded each time your character levels-up. Experience points can be earned by killing enemies, completing primary and secondary objectives or by collecting additional information about the habitat.

If the game’s combat system seems like a ho-hum experience, the storytelling does not help elevate the game from mediocrity. By contemporary standards, the voice acting is pretty weak and character animation during cut-scenes appears to be tacked on. Even the game world is not overtly imaginative as the landscape of Pandora looks like a spin-off of the Amazonian rainforest. Culturally, the Na’vi race comes- up as a blend of elves and the indigenous African tribes. Even stories— like this one about the plight of the Na’vi and the human aggression— can be found in numerous tomes in libraries throughout the world, as both works of fiction and historical documentation. Maybe the objective of the movie is to offer a visual treat and the uninspiring storyline is simply an excuse to do just that. Unfortunately with video games, eye-candy is not as effective in compensating for weak game-play, as it may be for making up for a weak plot in a movie.

Providing a break from the drudgery of what is mostly a point-and-shoot combat system is another game-mode called Conquest. It is actually a built-in mini-game that can be triggered from certain points in the main game. Conquest plays in a war-room like interface with a 3-D layout of Pandora, along with position of enemy and friendly troops. The objective is to expand your factions control over the moon by capturing enemy territories, while at the same time defending and reinforcing territories under your control. This mode also ties in nicely with the regular game-play—capturing specific enemy territories rewards the player with various bonuses to defense and attacking capabilities. In turn, earning experience points in the single-player mode will add credits in the Conquest mode. Credits can be used to recruit additional forces or to reinforce a territory’s defenses.

Avatar Game also has multiplayer support with customary game-modes like capture the flag, king of the hill and team deathmatch. Logging into the game servers requires an account registered with Ubisoft, along with the game’s product key. After logging in however, it was quite rare to find someone to match up with. Even using the server’s matchmaking service to join an existing match seldom threw up results. The best I could find, after several attempts at different times of the day, was a CTF match with no more than four players populating a relatively huge map.

The game is still a commendable effort as it tries to give the player a lot of options. However, it does not stray from the tired mechanics of a typical third-person shooter and this overly cautious approach makes for a very ordinary game. I was actually expecting a lot worse from this game given the stigma one tends to have against movie based games. It would actually be nice to see Ubisoft Montreal (or some other studio) return to the world of Avatar. Only next time it would be nice to see them approach the game with a lot less creative conservatism and a lot of polish to smoothen the rough edges.

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