Do you need to let off a little steam? Maybe kick someone’s “armageddon”? Today, TechLife brings you the five minute diversion known as Stick Arena.

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Can you really play a multi-CD game at work? I don’t think so.

Stick Arena is a flash-based game requiring an internet connected machine and the ability to use your keyboard and mouse in concert. The arrow keys move your “Stick Figure” while the mouse is your action button to swing a baseball bat or fire a shotgun. Rated “T” for teens due to mild violence. (more…)

TechLife could not resist adding to the Friends of Line Rider series, with this holiday installment.  Warm up some hot chocolate and get  in the holiday spirit.  Ski Battle takes place in a winter wonderland, complete with snowmen, reindeer, ski lodges, and even holiday music.  It also expands on the classic Line Rider palatte with a color palette.

Our friend Joanne at Rocketboom is really into Line Rider and pointed us to this link.

Watch her in Line Rider.  Thanks Rocketboom.

 

I know we are in the middle of a series of How to’s for installing True Combat: Elite, but everyone needs a break from the hard work of installing one game, so they might play simple time wasting games.  Don’t say you weren’t warned, this is the first in TechLife’s series of “Friends of Line Rider”.

Line Rider is the original.  What is it?  A simple Flash game (works in any browser with Flash) that let’s you create a track for your rider.  You draw a line, and let gravity take over. Of course just like any addiction, some people have created some great Line Rider creations.   Get inspired with the video below of a great ride.  What can you create?  Let us know.

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Getting your computer ready for a software install can often make the process a lot less painless.  And I am all about making things a bit easier.

I visited the Windows Installation Guide for True Combat: Elite.  As I mentioned I am not a real gamer, but I know enough that if your machine isn’t powerful, you can’t run the games.  So looked over the “Preparation” section carefully.

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As we jump in with two feet today, I felt it would be cool to use another immersive metaphor, first person shooter (FPS) games and this one is FREE!  For those unfamiliar, this a game where your on-screen view matches the perspective your character is seeing the world.  An example:

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A trailer for a free video game.  Gotta love the dedication.

You hear a noise above you, you actually need to make your character look up to see it, from the first person view.  The shooter part should be pretty self explanatory.

So I found a really neat game, True Combat: Elite, a free FPS based on another free game called Wolfenstein – Enemy Territory (both downloadable at the True Combat site). 

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Reader Response

TechLife has news!÷š Good News?÷š Bad News?÷š I know you are dying to know.÷š You might think you even guessed it from the title of this column. Keep reading and let×?Ts see if you are right.

Remember the last column?÷š ×??Passion Publising, Get Paid.×??÷š My challenge stirred something deep in the heart of TechLife readers.÷š The result is we have been busy this past month helping quite a few readers get their blogs setup.÷š The schedule is filling up for next month too.÷š It has been really exciting. Contact us if you want to get publishing.÷š This is not the last time this topic will come up.

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The recent explosion of email to techlife [at] dkworldwide dot com has been great. Thank you. I try to answer all the emails I get, and some are just interesting enough to get published.

Food for Katrina

Dear TechLife,
My son recently inquired about how to make the donated canned food for the Katrina victims taste good. I tried to explain that canned food is non-perishable, which was promptly replied to with, “you mean non-edible?” I decided to look online for good recipes to cook for him and there were a lot of sites, but I couldn’t find exactly what I needed. Any suggestions?
Hungrily yours,
Katie D.

More after the jump (more…)

This is it! The middle of the decade! July 2005 is the exact halfway point between January 2000 and December 2010. Remember back towards the end of 1999? You were going to change your life, learn new things and overall life would be different. So where are you in “Life’s To-Do-List”? Still looking to add a few more “checks” to completed items?

Techlife would like to share a few helpers in the quest…

Keep reading after the jump. (more…)