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OBJECTIVE: This study examined the factors that determine whether mental health services provided under contracts with private providers are more cost-efficient than services provided directly by public mental health agencies. METHODS: Data on service costs for 1993 were obtained from the California Department of Mental Health cost reporting and data collection system and from a survey of local mental health departments. Ordinary least-squares regression was used to estimate the effect of contracting, local market conditions, and contracting procedures on unit costs of seven core mental health services: psychiatric inpatient care, rehabilitative day service, intensive day service, individual therapy, medication management, crisis intervention, and case management. RESULTS: Contracts with private providers significantly reduced costs for six core mental health services, but not for inpatient care. However, the extent of savings was affected by local market conditions, including the concentration of providers in an area, the provider organization's size, and the scope of services that the provider offered, as well as by contracting procedures—whether there was a formal contract review process and whether prices were negotiated with the majority of providers. CONCLUSIONS: The amount of cost savings that can be achieved from contracting with private providers is influenced by several factors, including competitive conditions in local markets. In some areas, direct provision of services by public mental health agencies may cost less. Contracting is a complex process that cannot be viewed as a panacea for improving cost-efficiency.
State mental health departments are implementing managed care and selecting entities to act as the central "managed care organization" for local service systems. In many states, such as California, county mental health authorities often act as public managed care organizations. A critical choice for these organizations is whether to produce services directly (public provision) or to purchase them in the market through contracts with private providers (private provision)—that is, to "make" or "buy" services.
Contracting with private providers is widely accepted as a low-cost substitute for public mental health services, yet there is little evidence about how contracting affects costs (1,2,3). Recent studies show that market structure affects health plan premiums (4,5), hospital structure (6,7), and health care contracts more generally (8). However, less attention has been paid to the effect of local market conditions on the cost of services when the purchaser is a public managed care organization, such as a county mental health authority.
Private provision can be less costly than public provision due to price competition among potential providers, incentives to innovate that could lower long-run costs, and avoidance of bureaucracy and regulations in employment contracts (9). For example, unlike most private providers, public employees are typically unionized. They have above-market wage rates and negotiated work rules that may reduce organizational flexibility and efficiency. Because of these factors, public managed care organizations would seem to achieve lower costs simply by buying services at market rates rather than by public provision (10). Thus no special attention to contracting procedures—the behavior and conditions associated with obtaining a contract—would seem to be warranted to achieve savings. We offer data that strongly suggest otherwise.
Theory and evidence suggest that market conditions and the action of contracting generate transaction costs that must be considered in the decision to make or buy services (11,12). Market conditions, notably the extent of competition, are important determinants of prices (13). Other research suggests that significant transaction costs may be related to searching for providers, negotiating contracts, and monitoring their performance, especially when coordination of services is important and when contract performance is hard to measure (9,12,14). The literature provides examples of states where the success of mental health contracting depends on service types and local market conditions (2,9).
California county mental health authorities have acted as managed care organizations since the 1991 "Program Realignment" legislation decentralized the responsibility for providing and financing mental health service from the California Department of Mental Health to county-based local mental health authorities (15). After the decentralization, Libby (10) identified wide variation in the level of contracting for services among the 59 California public managed care organizations and their local service systems and in the types of procedures employed in securing and monitoring these contracts.
Building on the work of Hu and associates (3), we analyzed unit-of-service costs for seven standard services as defined by state regulations, using individual service provider organizations as the units of analysis. This study provided empirical tests of how local market conditions and contracting procedures used by California public managed care organizations affect service costs of public and private providers.
The data on costs, contracting, and market structure came from three sources: the 1993 California Department of Mental Health cost reporting and data collection (CRDC) system; a survey conducted by Libby (10) of contracting procedures of public managed care organizations, the 59 local mental health authorities in California; and a 1993 survey by the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics of county-level wages.
The CRDC system contains provider-level data from annual reports of expenditures and units of service provided. The reports are submitted for all county mental health providers, both contracted private providers and public providers. These expenditure data account for all funding sources, including county and state grants, Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance, and client fees. The data also include administrative costs (nonallocated) of public managed care organizations. The specific services analyzed are community psychiatric inpatient care (general hospital and other locally provided institutional care), rehabilitative day service, intensive day service, individual therapy, medication management, crisis intervention, and case management.
The effects of contracting on service costs were modeled at the provider level. A provider was defined as a service site consistent with reporting requirements of the CRDC; distinct satellite units of a parent agency were identified as separate providers. We maintained this distinction for two reasons. First, competition is spatially related such that firms that are geographically distributed within a county are more likely to compete with other providers. Second, some estimates indicate that mental health agencies with satellites provide services more efficiently than those without satellites (16). Failure to account for these effects may bias the estimated effects of local (county) market conditions. Unit costs for each service and provider were estimated by dividing total expenditures by total units of service reported. To allow pooling of all firms across the state in the unit cost analysis, we deflated the unit cost by an index of the average health worker's wage rate for each county in 1993.
Private providers were identified by a dummy variable, which was coded 1 if the provider was a private entity paid through a contract by a public managed care organization. The local market rate of contracting was estimated as total expenditures reported by contract providers relative to total publicly funded mental health treatment expenditures by a public managed care organization. The rate of contracting varied widely among California public managed care organizations, from zero to 100 percent, and averaged between 44 and 51 percent for the seven services studied here. In this study, between 17 and 59 percent of all providers associated with public managed care organizations, across the selected service types, were contract providers.
Based on Libby's survey (10) of managers of California public managed care organizations, two variables were developed as indicators of contracting procedures—contract review and direct negotiation. The first variable was coded 1 if the public managed care organization had a formal contract review process. The second was coded 1 if the public managed care organization was in a county where the level of price negotiation was high—that is, if more than 50 percent of mental health contracts were subject to direct negotiation on price by the public managed care organization. The negotiation variable and the contract variable interact so that the reported effect relates only to the unit costs of contracted firms.
Local market competitiveness for each type of service was measured using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) for each county. The HHI is calculated as the sum of the squares of all providers' individual market share for a given service type in each local market. Market share was calculated as the percentage of a local market's units of service for a given service type produced by each provider. For example, a provider with a local service monopoly would have a 100 percent market share yielding an HHI for that service of 10,000; a local market with five firms, each with 20 percent of the market, would yield an HHI equal to 202 × 5, or 2,000. Thus a higher HHI indicates less competition and should be positively related to market price.
The variable thus calculated was divided by 10,000 to yield a measure of local market competitiveness ranging from 0 to 1 for each service type and for each local public managed care organization's market. This market competition variable interacts with the contract variable to produce an effect that relates only to the unit costs of contracted firms.
Ordinary least-squares regression was used to model the effect of contracting and local market conditions on provider unit costs. The provider unit cost measures were log-transformed to correct for positively skewed distributions. The unit cost regression analyses controlled for firm-specific characteristics that may affect unit costs.
A variable scaled from 1 to 7 indicated the number of services among the seven studied that are offered by each individual provider. Another variable was a measure of provider size based on the ratio of a provider's service units to statewide mean units for providers of that service. A related variable was the provider size measure squared to account for nonlinearity in the relationship between size (a proxy for scale) and unit cost.
t1 shows results from the unit cost analysis for the seven service types. For six of the seven services, a significant inverse relationship was found between contracting and unit cost; the relationship for inpatient services was also inverse, but it was not significant. When market, provider characteristics, and contracting procedures were held constant, these estimates show that, on average, publicly funded mental health services provided by private providers through contracts were less costly than services provided directly by public providers.
These findings are generally consistent with the county-level estimates by Hu and associates (3), who found significant negative relationships between contracting and costs for four of the seven services measured at the county level—inpatient care, case management, medication management, and rehabilitative day care.
The variable based on the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, which indicates the effect of local market competition on contract providers' unit costs, was positively and significantly related to four of the seven service types: intensive day care, individual therapy, medication management, and case management. As expected, this finding indicates that when a provider's market share for any of the four service types was high, little competition existed among providers in that market and prices were higher. When contracts were written in such a market, unit costs were higher. For two additional services, crisis intervention and inpatient care, there was a positive but not a significant relationship between competition and price. Thus, although preliminary analysis indicated that private providers had lower unit costs, controlling for the effect of local market competition showed that having to write contracts in a noncompetitive environment may reduce the potential cost-efficiencies of contracting with private providers.
The variable that indicated a high level of contract negotiation on price had a negative and significant relationship with costs for intensive day service, individual therapy, medication management, and crisis intervention; the relationship with case management was also negative but not significant. The variable indicating the presence of a formal contract review was generally negatively related to costs, but it was significant only for case management and crisis intervention services. Thus the contracting procedures of public managed care organizations tended to reduce unit costs.
Highly significant scale effects were found in the regression analyses for all service types except inpatient care. The effects indicated an inverse relationship between the provider's size and unit cost, known as economies of scale. Four of the six services showed significant positive correlations between scope and unit cost: intensive day care, medication management, individual therapy, and crisis intervention. Thus offering more than one of the seven services significantly raised the unit costs of each service offered.
The production of multiple goods or services by a firm—its scope—is generally expected to reduce unit costs of each individual good or service, which is known as economies of scope. The counterintuitive results here may reflect the artificial delineation of individual markets for each service type. Providing more than one service may be correlated with a higher market share across all services and may thus be associated with higher prices.
F1 provides a stylized illustration of the relationship between unit costs and contracting for individual therapy, accounting for market competitiveness and price negotiation by public managed care organizations. The vertical axis plots estimated private provider unit costs as a percentage of public provider costs. The horizontal axis plots the Herfindahl-Hirschman index, indicating high to low competition over the range of zero to 10,000. A third variable, a shift factor for contractors' costs, is the extent of price negotiation attributed to the public managed care organization. Values reflect the average California mental health provider in the average county, with all other firm and market characteristics held constant.
Because public providers do not respond to market concentration and price negotiation levels, they are represented as a straight line at 1 on the vertical axis. The upper line shows the ratio of private contractors' costs to public providers' costs in areas where public managed care organizations negotiate fewer than half of their contracts, over a range of market competition described by the HHI. The lower slanting line indicates the same relative cost measure for contractors in areas with a high level of price negotiation.
Compared with public providers, private providers in areas with a low level of price negotiation had lower estimated unit costs over the HHI range of zero to approximately 3,200 (point A); beyond that point, public providers had lower relative costs. When public managed care organizations engaged in a high level of price negotiation with contract providers, the unit costs of these providers were lower over the entire range of local market conditions. Contract providers in areas with a high level of price negotiation had lower estimated unit costs over the HHI range of zero to approximately 7,400 (point B), beyond which public providers had lower relative costs.
To restate in terms of market structure, an HHI of approximately 3,300 could be associated with a market of three firms with equal market shares, while an HHI in the 7,400 range would require one provider to have at least an 85 percent market share. The 1993 mental health service data for California show that 40 public managed care organizations contracted for individual therapy services; 21 of these organizations had a low level of negotiation, and 19 had a high level. Of these, ten contract providers in low-negotiation areas and six in high-negotiation areas were located where local HHIs for the service they provide exceeded the thresholds under which private providers have lower costs than public providers.
We cannot draw direct conclusions about local price differences from this graph because other firm conditions will vary. It is clear, however, that many local markets in California are sufficiently concentrated—that is, they have low competition among providers for contracts—to question whether contracting will yield lower unit costs as a rule.
In another study, we examined two administrative cost models in which the public managed care organization was the unit of analysis (results of the regression analyses are available from the first author). Results support the notion, implied by transaction cost economics, that private contracting increases administrative costs for the public managed care organization, owing to the need to search for and monitor contract providers. The variables that reflect contracting procedures by public managed care organizations—formal review and a high level of negotiation—were significantly and positively related to dollars spent on contract administration for each contract provider in a county.
However, in that study there was a significant negative relationship between the extent of contracting and the total administrative expenditures by the public managed care organization for mental health services in the same reporting period. Thus, although contracting for services was found to generate significant governance costs per contractor for the public managed care organization, lower total administrative costs were associated with greater use of private contract providers.
In the study reported here, consistent with earlier studies, we found an inverse relationship between contracting and unit costs for all seven services, which was statistically significant for all but inpatient services. Services provided through private contractors were less costly than services provided directly by public providers. However, contracting alone was not sufficient to produce cost savings. Local market competition and the contracting procedures of public managed care organizations also affected unit costs; each was inversely related to lower unit costs and had independent effects. These two factors may generate compound saving if contracting procedures are used in certain competitive conditions.
Growth in public managed care and the use of contracted provider networks make private contracting increasingly prevalent. This growth has important implications for competitive bidding—a common contracting mechanism—as a conduit for market incentives, for both the procedures of the public managed care organizations involved and the local market context in which bidding occurs.
Although this study found support for the hypothesis that contracting for mental health services with private providers is less costly than direct public provision of services, resulting costs are affected by local market contexts. A threshold of local competition exists for each type of service, above which direct public provision of services may cost less. In addition, contracting procedures that enable a public managed care organization to take advantage of local competitive conditions affect this threshold and determine the extent of cost savings in a given market. The optimal level of contracting is difficult to assess for a specific local service system due to the interdependence of these factors. For example, developing a competitive array of contract providers, as local supply permits, also affects the scope and scale of provider firms, which in turn may increase or decrease local service and administrative costs.
Besides studying the mechanisms of writing and enforcing contracts for publicly funded mental health services, policy makers should pay attention to differences in outcomes of and access to programs operated by public and private providers, and across local systems with differing supplies of providers. Public and private providers may produce different qualities of services or select different mixes of clients to serve. Further, because services are not provided singularly but in multiple-service episodes, systems with many providers may have greater difficulty coordinating service episodes, particularly systems that have multiple treatment modalities and providers.
Compared with direct public provision of services, contracting may provide an opportunity to achieve savings by purchasing publicly funded mental health services. However, as this study suggests, contracting is a complex multidimensional process that cannot be viewed as a panacea for improving cost-efficiency.
This research was supported by training grant 5-T32-MH18828 from the National Institute of Mental Health (Richard M. Scheffler, Ph.D., principal investigator) and NIMH grant P50-MH43694 to the Center for Mental Health Services Research in Berkeley, California (Lonnie R. Snowden, Ph.D., principal investigator). The authors thank Lonnie Snowden, Ph.D., Teh-wei Hu, Ph.D., and Howard H. Goldman, M.D., Ph.D., for their helpful comments.
Dr. Libby is research director at the Center for Mental Health Services Research of the University of California, Berkeley, 2020 Milvia Street, Suite 405, Room 5610, Berkeley, California 94720-5610 (e-mail, email@example.com). Mr. Wallace is a doctoral candidate in the health services and policy analysis program at the University of California, Berkeley. This paper is one of several in this issue on mental health services research conducted by new investigators.
Relationship between unit costs and contracting providers of individual therapy, accounting for market competitiveness and price negotiation by California public managed care organizations in 19931
1 Contract providers in a low-negotiation area had lower estimated unit costs over the HHI range of zero to approximately 3,200 (point A); beyond that point, public providers had lower relative costsContract providers in high-negotiation areas had lower estimated unit costs over the HHI range of zero to approximately 7,400 (point B), beyond which public providers had lower relative costs.
Regression coefficients indicating the relationship between local market conditions and contracting practices of California public managed care organizations and providers' unit costs for seven types of services
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The Bargain Hunt Bazaar
And after two months, I decide to blog about my very first Alter/Ego bazaar! First the Tumblr Fair, now this. I should really stop it with the intense backlog. Y'all watched my vlog entry about the bazaar, though, right? So I should be kind of forgiven. :3
I was really excited by the fact that two out of the three days, I was assisted by my lovely best friend. We got to talk, bond, and dance. Hazel and I haven't spent that much time together since… high school I think? I missed this girl so much! :s
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I also think I'm the luckiest girl, my family was so supportive - helping me set up, giving me tiangge tips, and even buying stuff from me! Thanks, guyyyys. <3
Ooh and here's a photo my niece, Arwen, with her Tito Jech. Just had to share this 'cause it's too adorableee. She bought those pink glasses at the bazaar. Nagmana ata sa kakikayan ko. :3
Now I never know how to end blog posts, so I'll just finish this off with a random weird ass picture of me and Hazel trying to crump. Feast your eyes on our… beauty? HAHA! See you at my next bazaar, loves! <3


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The Asha series of S40 touch and type feature phones are especially designed for the emerging markets and it is quite evident that with Nokia Asha 303, Nokia has plans to target the newbies. Nokia Asha 303 is the most promising Asha series phone that boasts a 1GHz processor, solid built, many built-in apps and social networking features, games, Nokia browser, 3G, Wi-Fi, 2.6" capacitive touch-screen and a full QWERTY keyboard in combination. It resembles Nokia X3-02 touch-n-type feature phone launched sometime back. Nokia Asha 200 and Nokia Asha 300 are the other feature phones of the Asha series to which Nokia 303 belongs. It is also the most expensive of them all as its price is expected to be around Rs. 7900. It is expected that Nokia 303 shall arrive officially in the first quarter of 2012.[ + ] Read Nokia Asha 303 Review
Nokia Asha 303 is a mono-block device which has a 2.6" wide capacitive TFT resistive color QVGA touch display supported with full QWERTY keypad and great sensor controls. It is packed with a 1 GHz processor and Symbian series 40 operating system. This stylish monoblock device feels solid in hand and its build quality is good. The keys are well spaced and there are four hardware keys residing above its QWERTY keyboard. It is quite a treat for users as they serve as shortcuts for messaging app and music player. It measures 117 mm, 56 mm and 14 mm in length, width and thickness, respectively. The phone shall be selling in exciting color themes as red plus black.
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Nokia Asha 303 General
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Nokia Asha 303 Standard Battery Features
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Nokia Asha 303 Camera Features
|Fixed focus
Nokia Asha 303 Sound Settings
|Vibration, Polyphonic(64), WAV, MP3 ringtones
Nokia Asha 303 Connectivity Options
|3G Network
|3G, HSDPA, 10.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 2 Mbps
Nokia Asha 303 Additional Features
|JAVA Type
|Yes, MIDP 2.1


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|19 Sep 2010
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
windows 7 not finding my subwoofer
Hi there,
I have an HP dv7-2173cl laptop, factory install was vista premium 64bit. I have done a clean install to windows7 premium 64 bit from the hp upgrade to Windows 7 program. Except that now windows doesn't recognize my subwoofer as even existing. Have updated chipset, bios, idt audio drivers.Don't know what to try next.
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(UPDATE) Queens Councilman Ruben Wills arrested by Attorney General's office in corruption probe
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New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords toured a gun show in upstate New York Sunday.
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Nineteen companies caught writing fake reviews on websites such as Yelp, Google Local and CitySearch have been snared in a yearlong […]


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This episode focuses mostly on Herschel's struggle to keep as many of the sick people alive as possible.
In the opening of the episode, Rick drives back to the prison while contemplating his decision to exile Carol.
Herschel, Glenn, and Sasha force a breathing tube down Henry's throat to help him breath. Henry is one of the survivors who is dangerously close to dying due to this killer flu.
After stabilizing his breathing, Herschel and Glenn discover that one of the sick survivors, Mr. Jacobs, has perished. Instead of waiting for him to turn in the cell where everyone would see, Herschel gets a stretcher and with Glenn's help they take him to a separate room where they prevent his turn to a walker by stabbing him in the skull.
Maggie goes to see Glenn in the sick ward, but is surprised to see Herschel instead. She's worried at first until he explains that Glenn is just tired from helping people all day. Maggie offers her help, but Herschel refuses. He won't allow his daughter to risk catching the deadly flu as well. He does his best to reassure her and then heads back into the sick ward.
Inside, Glenn thanks Herschel for keeping Maggie outside. He misses her so much, but knows it's for the best that she doesn't see how sick he is.
The next morning, Maggie keeps herself busy killing walkers at the fence when Rick returns alone. Rick asks about Carl and Judith, and Maggie tells him they're fine. Maggie asks where Carol is, and Rick tells her how he discovered she was the one who killed Karen and David and he decided not to let her come back.
Rick then goes to see Carl who asks if he can come out of the quarantine yet. Rick tells him no, but Carl persists saying he can't protect him forever. Rick replies that he has to try and then walks outside.
Back in the sick ward, Herschel goes to see Doctor S. He has gotten much worse. He is now bleeding from his ears and eyes. The doctor insists that Herschel make sure everyone's cell doors are closed and locked because a lot of people are going to start dying.
While Herschel closes the cell doors, one of the sick stumbles out and dies in front of everyone. Sasha grabs the stretcher and Herschel wheels the man out to the side room from before and stabs him in the head. Rick stops by and gives Herschel some words of wisdom telling him that his perseverance is giving everyone hope.
Outside, Rick and Maggie try to control the overwhelming hoard of walkers at the fence.
Inside, Sasha passes out from the flu, but Herschel gets to her in time with an IV and she begins to feel somewhat better.
Back in Henry's cell, Glenn discovers that the man has died. As he tries to call to Herschel for help, Glenn falls to the floor coughing up blood. Several recently deceased sick people rise as walkers and begin attacking the sick ward.
Maggie hears gunshots and runs to her father's aid. Herschel finds Glenn choking on the floor.
Rick and Carl reinforce the fence outside, but the walkers prove too strong and force their way through. Rick and Carl run for the door to the prison. They've lost control of the outside. They grab some automatic rifles and start picking off the walkers in quick succession. Rick is surprised to see how well Carl handles himself in a gunfight.
Back inside, Herschel deals with his own walker problem. After killing a walker, Herschel finds that Glenn needs the breathing tube from now walker-Henry's mouth. He fights with the walker as Maggie finally finds a way in. She gets to him just in time and kills Henry. They get back to Glenn just in time and insert the breathing tube.
Herschel tells Maggie he didn't want her in here. She tells him she HAD to help… just like him.
Back outside, Carl and Rick have stopped the hoard of walkers. They see a van drive up with Daryl's group and the medical supplies. They all rush inside to help the survivors.
Maggie insists that her father get some rest now that the medical supplies have arrived. His hard work has saved many lives.
The reunited survivors catch up and begin to rebuild. Outside in the distance the Governor creepily stares at the prison.
Tune in to AMC next Sunday at 9PM to see what nefarious plan the Governor has for the remaining survivors.
Tags: AMC Recap The Walking Dead


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Bihar Police Constable Recruitment 2014 Online Application Form and other details updated below:-
Bihar Police Recruitment 2014:- Bihar Police invites the applications for 11783 posts of Constable for the Bihar Police Recruitment 2014. Candidates who are the eligible for the post of Constable can apply before the last date 28th February 2014 on the official website www.biharpolice.bih.nic.in. or from the below mentioned link.
More details Such as Eligibility Criteria, Educational Qualification, Age Limit, Exam Date, Exam Center, Syllabus, Papers, Application Form, Apply Online, Selection Procedure, Application Status, Admit Card, Answer Key, Result and other details of the Bihar Police Recruitment mentioned below :-
Bihar Police Recruitment 2014 Details :-
Total No. of Posts :- will be updated very soon on the official website at www.biharpolice.bih.nic.in.
Total Vacancies :- 11783 Posts.
Name of the Posts :- Constable
Bihar Police Recruitment 2014 Eligibility Criteria :-
Candidates should completed his/her education qualification for the Constable post is 12th Class Pass.
Age Limit:-
Candidates age limit must lie between 18 to 25 years. The age relaxation will be considered according to the govt rule.
Note: Candidate can get age relaxation details by download below mentioned official notification.
Important Dates :-
Start Date for Offline Application from:- 21st Jan 2014.
Last Date for offline Application form :- 28th February 2014.
Bihar Police Recruitment 2014 Exam Date:-
Bihar Police announced the exam date of written exam very soon on the official website at www.biharpolice.bih.nic.in
Bihar Police Recruitment 2014 Application Fee :-
The reserve candidates must have paid Rs.75 and all others have to paid 200/- as application fee.
Download official Notification
How to Apply : -
Candidates who are going to apply for the post they can downlaod the applcation format by the officail site www.biharpolice.bih.nic.in. The eligible candidates can apply containing the particulars of qualifications, job experience and required essentials enclosures should be sent it on or before the last date. which is mentioned below:
Central Selection Board (Constable Recruitment),
Back Harding Road,
Candidate should send the application form by the speed post or registered post before the last date 28th Feb.
Admit Card :-
Candidates who applied for the Bihar Police Recruitment can download their admit card from the official website of www.biharpolice.bih.nic.in. Candidates must have their admit card during written exam.
Selection Process :-
Candidates will select on the basis of the performance in the written examination and candidate who will be selected in the written exam they will be select after the physical fitness test.
Bihar Police Recruitment 2014 Result :-
The result of the written exam will be provided on the official website at www.biharpolice.bih.nic.in.
Refine Your search Term :-
Click Here for Bihar Police Recruitment Exam Answer Key
Click Here for Bihar Police Recruitment Results
Bihar Police Recruitment 2014 :-
The Bihar Police recruitment department released the notification for constable post recruitment very soon. So Apply for the post before the last date of the application.


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Lionel Early # 69 Electric Warning Signal in Original Box
Lionel Early # 69 Electric Warning Signal in Original Box
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Lionel Early # 69 Electric Warning Signal in Original BoxLionel Early # 69 Electric Warning Signal in Original Box Decription: Lionel early # 69 electric warning signal with original box. Condition: All original with light rust & scratches. The signal has not been tested and is NOT guaranteed to function.Box has come unglued, has one detached & one missing flap, shows light wear. Note: Please see photos to form your own opinion. Please ask any questions before bidding. DD60540 Descriptions and pictures are as accurate as possible. Any notable defects or flaws have been included. Many items are antique, vintage or gently used and will show wear characteristic of their age. Please ask any questions before bidding. Additional pictures and further descriptions can be provided. Guarantee: Please notify of problem within 3 days of receipt so a solution can be worked out.Bid price will be refunded if item substantially not as described.Insurance claim will be filed for item damaged in shipment. See my other listings for more great items!
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Copyright © 2011 by the American Psychiatric Association.
To the Editor: Several studies have identified low levels of mental health literacy in the general population. People often lack knowledge of psychiatric concepts or may have their own explanations of mental illness (1). Media both influence and reflect popular culture, and therefore, media analysis can be a useful tool to help us understand public perceptions. Previous studies have reported high rates of inaccurate and negative portrayals of schizophrenia in health news. Moreover, articles about non-health-related issues use the terms "schizophrenia" and "schizophrenic" metaphorically or in slang expressions.
To investigate these issues, we performed a content analysis (2) of articles published in 2007 and 2008 by the largest Brazilian national newspaper Folha de São Paulo. An electronic search included the terms "schizophrenia," "schizophrenic," "psychotic episode," "psychosis," and "psychotic." Metaphorical usage was analyzed by a method adapted from a previous study (3).
Of 687 identified articles, 219 fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Seventy-five (34%) addressed health issues and stories involving affected individuals, and 144 (66%) used the terms out of the medical context. Health news presented relevant information on genetic factors, the risk of drug-induced psychosis, and the benefits of psychotropic medications. However, another nine articles disseminated inaccurate information—for example, schizophrenia was associated with multiple personality—and the complexity of the disorder was not discussed. Three articles about individuals' stories described community integration. Seventeen focused on crimes allegedly committed by people with schizophrenia, and only one of these articles put the risk of violence into perspective.
The 144 articles that used the terms out of the medical context were more stigmatizing. Sixty-nine (48%) used the terms literally, and 75 (52%) used them metaphorically. Literal uses were noted in 37 fiction reviews, 14 common and inaccurate descriptions of schizophrenia, seven pejorative labels, and four comic expressions. Metaphorical meanings of these terms referred to contradiction, incoherence, splitting or multiplicity, oscillation, lack of reality, obsession, withdrawal, indecision, aggression, authoritarianism, peculiarity, intermediate state, creativity, transformation, and boldness. Approximately 80% of the metaphors (60 of 75) had a negative connotation.
One difference between our analysis and previous studies is that we identified metaphors with positive connotations (14 of 75, 19%), which associated schizophrenia terms with creativity, multiplicity, aggressiveness, and uniqueness of art. The metaphorical references to multiplicity and aggression had both negative and positive connotations. Although the analogy between schizophrenia and artistic creativity was presented in the newspaper articles as an attractive idea, this association may suggest that only people with schizophrenia who have extraordinary talents will be accepted by society (4) or that medical treatment is unnecessary. (One metaphor [1%] had a neutral connotation.)
Folha de São Paulo disseminated information that may promote mental health literacy; however, the stigmatizing messages may have overshadowed the positive ones. The analyses identified misconceptions and concerns that should be elucidated; for example, some news reports of criminal activities demanded that psychiatrists predict and prevent violent behavior.
Metaphorical usage can be distressing for affected individuals and families (1). Furthermore, use of terms pejoratively or to comic effect can be interpreted as disrespectful. It is not possible to control the use of medical language, and press censorship is unacceptable. The goal should be to change public perceptions of schizophrenia with antistigma campaigns, until the jokes and slang expressions no longer work.
This work was supported in part by a grant to Dr. Dubugras from CAPES, the Brazilian Ministry of Education. Dr. Mari is a I-A-level researcher with the National Research Council (CNPq) in Brazil.
The authors report no competing interests.
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BART protest ongoing in San Francisco: Be sure to check @ProducerMatthew's coverage of the situation; above is a photo by the SF Chronicle's Vivian Ho of the scene in question. Protesters have been blocking streets, while police officers have threatened arrest are reportedly arresting people.
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Readings — From the July 2014 issue
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Readings — From the July 2014 issue
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"Pharaonic exclusion is their motto; contempt for human scale and ordinary people their raison d'être."
"Pharaonic exclusion is their motto; contempt for human scale and ordinary people their raison d'être."
"Pharaonic exclusion is their motto; contempt for human scale and ordinary people their raison d'être."
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Weekly Review — December 12, 2006, 12:00 am
An American cattleman. Robert Gates was approved by the Senate to replace Donald Rumsfeld as the new secretary of defense; senators described themselves as "very pleased," "very impressed," "very enthusiastic," "very grateful," and "very happy" with the confirmation. Rumsfeld gave an emotional farewell speech to Pentagon employees, and had to wipe his nose.Washington PostWashington PostNew York TimesPresident George W. Bush blamed John Bolton's departure from the U.N. on the "shallow politics" of the Senate, and Kofi Annan, who will leave the U.N. on December 31 after completing his second five-year term as secretary general, said that he and Bolton were …
Weekly Review — April 25, 2006, 12:00 am
Under the presumed influence of White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, who collects photographs of President George W. Bush's hands, Karl Rove was relieved of his position as presidential policy adviser in order that he might focus his energies on the November midterm elections, and White House press secretary Scott McClellan resigned. "One of these days," the President said of McClellan, "he and I are going to be rocking in chairs in Texas and talking about the good old days."USA TodayForbes.comBBC NewsIn Iraq, three U.S. soldiers were killed by a bomb and at least 27 Iraqis were killed in …
Weekly Review — October 3, 2000, 12:00 am
A Dutch archaeologist claimed to have identified a papyrus containing the signature of Cleopatra; the document, which dates from 33 B.C., was written by a secretary, except for one word, "genestho," Greek for "make it so."Saddam Hussein sent senior spies to Serbia to help Slobodan Milosevic, who lost last week's presidential election and was facing daily protests demanding that he leave office; Milosevic's wife, Mira, was said to favor fleeing the country.A New York jury ordered Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb war criminal, to pay $4.5 million in damages for presiding over a policy of rape, torture, and genocide in …
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Jobs created by every billion dollars of U.S. government defense spending:
Artists tend to have twice as many sexual partners as noncreative people.
Swiss retailer Migros cut off ties with a collectible-creamer company following the distribution of 2,000 creamers whose lids bore images of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. "You cannot put Pol Pot or a terrorist on a milk creamer," said a Migros spokesman.
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Female Vaccination Workers, Essential in Pakistan, Become Prey
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One of Pakistan's most crucial public health campaigns has been plunged into crisis after militants killed eight volunteers over the course of a three-day polio vaccination drive.img width='1' height='1' src='http://rss.nytimes.com/c/34625/f/640346/s/26cc2f5a/mf.gif' border='0'/br/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883606148/u/0/f/640346/c/34625/s/26cc2f5a/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/151883606148/u/0/f/640346/c/34625/s/26cc2f5a/a2.img" border="0"//aimg width="1" height="1" src="http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/151883606148/u/0/f/640346/c/34625/s/26cc2f5a/a2t.img" border="0"/
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Browse Games
User Reviews
38 Reviews
|Viewing Reviews 1-10 of 38
User Reviews
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) - 38 reviews
The Mario franchise has been in the market for a long time now. We have seen different genres where Mario was in but what seems to be common to each is the core gameplay. Each Mario might be unique in itself but you cannot take away the fact that each one also has similarity to the rest, one way or another. What simply vary as time goes by are the graphics and mechanics of the game.
Can you imagine how primitive the other Mario games appear when placed side by side to Galaxy? Super Mario Galaxy raises the bar relatively high enough that its concept alone put other games to shame. When you play the game, you instantly notice how well the game was designed. It somehow even brings both nerds and game fanatics together since it makes use of a lot of physics to bring the game to life.
Each level in the game is worth playing and nothing seems to be considered as an "add-on level" just to make the game longer. There is so much variety in the game that you never get bored playing it, considering the fact that you have to accomplish quite a number of tasks before you can proceed to the next level. The standards might have increased in a sense that you have to collect more stars this time around but it's never a problem when you play the game.
Do you remember the first time you ever got your first Nintendo game? Well, Galaxy gives you that same ol' feel. Because of the countless things you can do with Mario, you begin to be very protective of him and simply keep him to yourself. Well, that definitely doesn't pose much of a problem since the game is very weak in terms of multiplayer. The second player is very limited in the things he could do and even look kind of dumb at times.
The graphics and sound of this game are also topnotch. They even combine so well that it makes the whole gaming experience really unforgettable. It can even be said that the graphics in this game is one of the best in its era and can compete with games ahead of its time. You are immersed in a different world … a world that seems to be very real because of the details in it.
But like everything else, there is no such thing as a perfect game. Every game has a glitch here and there. Super Mario Galaxy might have imperfections but it doesn't hurt the game in any way. These are just minor things and are forgivable. In fact, the defects can be cured by constantly playing the game since the more you play the game the easier it becomes to use the controls.
It is safe to say that Super Mario Galaxy is the best game ever made by Nintendo and one of the best games of its time. When you play this game, expect to be blown away with the whole gaming experience.
User Reviews
If you have been hooked for some time to the ever amazing adventure experience from playing the Age of Empires III, then the new expansion pack of the game will absolutely fill you with utmost excitement. The new expansion pack which don the title Asian Dynasties, adds three new Asian Civilizations, packed with new units and buildings and a campaign that rests on five missions. The new expansion still maintains the amazing unit balance and stunning presentation that the game has been known for. There's a catch, though. The new Asian Civilizations might be exciting, but it seems to be lacking in drama and variation that fans may have hoped to see in the game.
Asian Dynasties seems to move away from the fictional approach of the campaigns prior to the release of this expansion. Asian Dynasties adapts a more historical approach. Still, the fictional characters found in the campaigns provided the designers a leeway to recount a very unique story within a solid historical background. The Japanese campaign incorporates historical events such as Tokugawa's efforts in uniting Japan. Given that, you will then be able to witness a mutiny in the Chinese navy as the Treasure Fleet travels from India towards the New World. Finally, the Indian campaign players are given the responsibility of handling a British office, which is in the limelight and will later decide whether to aid India in their independence or not.
Asian Dynasties boasts of charms in the likes of finding and securing beached treasure ships; or elephants gone on a stampede throughout the enemy towns. In general, the missions require players to seize and handle trading posts, ruin town centers of the enemies, and keep your own structures from the attacks of the enemies. Throughout the game, the best missions come moving back and forth between objectives giving players the right to choose on how they tackle each different scenario.
The apparent disappointment though is that there are only a handful of scenarios instead of the wide range that the players probably anticipated. More often than not, an option regarding the path you take towards the enemy base is a choice between "right" and "wrong". A lot of the missions actually give the players some decision-making in determining the order on how they tackle secondary objectives but in almost all campaigns, this installment feels a little bit more linear than they had been in previous versions.
And for those who are big fans of sea battles, it is sad to note this is another disappointing area, as there is a definite lack of emphasis in the sea battles in the expansion. The Chinese Treasure Fleet and the British East India Company are being featured in the game but even that seems to be a letdown considering the fact that generating war in the seas is not emphasized here.
But can still expect cool units within the Asian armies like the samurai, firework rockets, and howdahs. The developer, Big Huge Games, positively captures the taste of combat very nicely with a very extensive range of colorful units that give out enough significant advantages to encourage the players to have a versatile army.
Indeed, Asian Dynasties is a great addition to the Age of Empires franchise. Besides the features already mentioned, it is packed with exciting combats, and even hints of history that will make fans of the franchise investigate more. Though this may not be as exhilarating as Age of Empires III or as historically grounded as Age of Empires II, it definitely is a great game that keeps in great action.
User Reviews
World of Warcraft (PC) - 38 reviews
One game comes along and leaves a mark in the gaming world. The game that has so far achieved that kind impact is the World of Warcraft. It has changed the way multiplayer should be played. Every person from every walk of life can relate to this game and enjoy it in the process. The developers have made this game so entertaining that to date; it still remains to be at the top of its game.
With the rise of numerous multiplayer online games, World of Warcraft doesn't look like it's ready to give up its spot; and instead, continues to challenge these other games to a point where sometimes it just makes even more obvious the inferiority of other games.
World of Warcraft is one game that thrives on the success of similar themed games. They put their own spin on it eventually making it their own and most often than not, make it even better than the ones they based it from. WoW has everything you look for in a game. You get to fight different creatures, go on various missions, get the thrill of gaining experience to learn more skills, not to mention get to play with a huge number of other players. You are likely to try and expand your experience to have power over the rest of the pack leaving you playing for hours and hours. The more you play this game, the more you definitely get addicted to it.
The game is easily thought of "user-friendly" despite its being a complex game. Ironic isn't it? But the game was drafted really well, making the players get the hang of things relatively fast. There aren't any tutorials that show you how the game should be played. Rather, you have to figure this out for yourself and use whatever knowledge you get from playing again and again to your advantage. You also get good 3D graphics that allows you to play without too much interruption. Games are loaded really fast, taking away the whole boring waits that are present in other games. With all of these, you get a game that makes you just sit, play and care about nothing else but the game.
Aside from it being played in multiplayer, WoW also has a lot of quests that allow you a whole new different way of playing the game. The huge number of quests available is more than enough to keep a player busy. However, you can't set out on just about any quest you want. You have to earn your way into being able to play it. This isn't half as bad, though; at least it prepares you for the different types of quests rather than just unleash you on a mission you have no inkling how to finish.
The whole experience of playing this game is just so amazingly fantastic in almost every aspect. So before deciding to play this game, be sure that you have a lot of spare time since it will undoubtedly take a long period of time before you would want to stop playing.
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Expansion Pack is finally here, a full featured retail add-on for the popular game World of Warcraft has finally been released. Fans have waited for years and now it is already out. The release created buzzing feelings and emotions to the gaming world of WOW. The addition of two new races, starting places, new trade profession and plenty of new caves and dungeons to explore together with PVP options come with this new expansion of the World of Warcraft game. As the saying goes, first impressions last, the game is very impressive with the changes and additions presented by Blizzard.
The new races are the draenei and blood elf races. The game gives older players to make a start over and the new players get a resounding introduction to the game. Blood elves are the more famous between the two. The blood elves can play paladins being a horde type, which adds up to its being billed famous among the servers. However, the new class on the side of the alliance balances the feature of the blood elves. The draenei's can play as shamans. Because of its newness, the balance of power could not yet be determined in raid groups. The Burning Crusade, in spite of its much awaited debut, falls short on the area of leveling up for Levels 20 to 60. The price is too high for players and many are quite contented with the only available level that their character can experience.
The addition of a new profession, jewelcrafting, also makes the players enjoy the experience of creating a variety of jewels. Together with mining, it presents and offers a good profession. Patterned from Diablo II, players can learn how to cut the jewels and put them in socketed weapons. Part of the challenge of this game is the patience that low level jewelers need to endure so that they can fully maximize their power. They need to undergo leveling up for their characters to improve.
The draenei and blood elf starting points are not so integrated with the existing land of Azeroth. Each area is a little less isolated and finding trainers requires extra work. There are NPC's that are available in Azeroth and quests also let the new classes integrate with the previously existing ones.
Through years of experience, Blizzard managed to improve the player experience, especially the new races as it is more adept and advanced. Running on early levels lets the user enjoy the quests with its compelling story. It's a wonderful ride for beginners as well as old players in this expansion set with the use of the new available races.
Level 60 players can now roam the Dark Portal in Blasted Lands and enter the new Outland areas of the game. The new zones provide new monsters, quests and capture areas as well as PVP-oriented gameplay. In fact, the game really provides enough balanced experience for players that are already in level 60 to reach level 70. The new feature of the game has multiple rewards that can motivate any player.
An example in the feature is to own three citadels in Hellfire. Players definitely have to engage in PVP's to grab this kind of opportunity and experience this added feature. The addition of a wide range of flight paths and portals in Shattrath City lets the players enter and face the wild. The Outlands also offers players a chance to buy some flying mounts available only to level 70 players. In preserving the balance of the game, the flying options are only available in the Outlands and the training is also pricey.
The Outland zones provide a unique environment. From the forest of Zangarmarsh with its mushrooms to the Blade's Edge, the golden lit land of Nagrand and to the twisted beauty of Netherstorm; these areas cater to players' expectations on what the World Of Warcraft is like.
The Burning Crusade is performing very well. With the same issues such as lag and population considered, the overall play of the expansion set is great and stable. Despite the problems encountered that seem to recur all throughout the game Blizzard still provides a very good game. All in all you can absolutely enjoy the wonderful ride of the World Of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.
User Reviews
Scribblenauts (DS) - 38 reviews
Scribblenauts (Nintendo DS) Review: Living Up to Expectations Despite the Frustrations.
Are you intrigued by the thought of having a puzzle game that gives the player the ability to conjure up any object they can think of? Well, that's exactly what Scribblenauts guarantee their gamers. It is one of the rarest games Nintendo DS ever have. This game is incredibly stunning!
The concept of this game actually stirs up skepticism. You might think it is quite impossible to begin with. Scribblenauts is a 2D side-scrolling platform-like encounter. The whole idea is to use any item or material in the real world to solve a given situation in the game. The creators encourage players to invoke anything by writing it on the screen. However, you cannot use words that are vulgar and inappropriate for the game. Also, you cannot utilize words with trademarks, such as Superman, Batman, and other similar terms. No matter how vast a vocabulary you have, there are limitations to this game. As long as you type objects that are applicable and acceptable, you can make it exist in the game.
One of the most fantastic aspects of this game is that the items you have evoked take on their own distinct characteristics and behaviors. For example, if you conjure up a car, you can ride on it; if it is food, it can be eaten; and if it is a weapon it can be used to attack enemies, and so on. However, the big BUT is the player can only make use of all these conjured up objects through Maxwell, the game's player-controlled protagonist. You have to tell Maxwell everything. If you want to dig a hole, give the shovel to Maxwell and tell him to begin digging. If you want to drive around, tell Maxwell to jump in the car and start the engine. Get the drift?
Now, you would think controlling Maxwell is a piece of cake. Sure, if you use the D-pad and buttons. And this is where the first frustration sets in. The thing is you have to use taps on the control screen to control the little fellow. It is so much like those RTS games where the troops tend to do things on their own, even after you tell them what to do. It can be real confusing and frustrating when Maxwell can't seem to get things right!
You thought that this game is all about absurdity? Well, think again! This game implements a physics engine. If you have dropped multiple objects at the same time, and you find yourself losing sight of what happens next, you can either stack up all those items or throw them around in the surroundings.
After a well executed tutorial, you can start solving dozens and dozens of problems. The first part is pretty much basic. However, as each level is raised, the difficulty is also amplified; which implies the need to think seriously and logically.
The reason behind making it as 2D is probably to preserve the player's sanity and to fit all software into the DS cartridge. It does not only have its own unique concept on how to play the game; it also has its own unique graphic designs. Nintendo supports the Wi-Fi Connection. You can download new creations and upgrades through the Internet. If you want to pass that kind of method, you can still trade levels in the game without even using the internet.
As an interactive toy, the game is enormously fun despite the cumbersome controls. It's like a sandbox for players who enjoy mucking around outside the normal realms. The puzzles can be very challenging and can even encourage some outlandish thought processes. It's not far off to think that this franchise may soon have a sequel. Hopefully, when that happens, Maxwell gets a control upgrade, too.
Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues (Wii) Review – It's Still a Great Misadventure Even Without Whiplash Restrictions.
The original LEGO Star Wars game was a uniquely created game. It provided a new and fun experience. Due to the success of the original game, the creators made similar games such as Batman and Indiana Jones. Now, its latest offerings include the sequel of Indiana Jones. However, the new game is more likely the same as other Lego games and the gameplay is more or less like the other LEGO titles. The character destroys everything that can be destroyed and collect the rewards.
In this edition, the most notable addition to the gameplay is the unrestrained usage of the whiplash already. In the first Indiana Jones game, the whiplash could only be used in a restrictive manner where you had to be near the target, for one. The Wii now allows you to use the whip your target whenever and wherever you need it; which gives you a wider spot, rather than a small or restricted area. The only limitation is you can only use it on specific characters in a certain level.
This new LEGO Indiana Jones 2 title put huge focus on the movie, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Surprisingly, the creators of this new game somehow ended up integrating the past movie editions of the Indiana Jones series. This created a mess as players are thrown into confusion on what really is happening; other things that are not part of any movie edition even happen inexplicably. Also, while all other LEGO games feature buying new characters and vehicles capabilities, that aspect does not exist in this new installment.
The story line of the game does not present any surprises and that makes the whole experience boring. The addition of bonus stages even fails to save it with the dismal approach that can really bore you to tears all throughout. Some parts of the games let you fight off enemies in bunches, but they're not even particularly created not with combat in mind; you get the feeling that its sole purpose is only to make the game longer and the experience excessive.
The essence of having a single approach that focuses on a specific movie series of a certain movie to the game is gone in this new game. The game was not created in support of the Indiana Jones movie editions; it was then a destruction of the movie editions as it is put into a one single game that makes it confusing. The creators have forgotten the former aspects of the original game in this new game by now making the character purchasable. It is done through fighting enemies and acquiring them directly in a certain stage. It has contributed to lack of inventory and upgrades to the brick collected in the game. By reason of the integration, there some parts of the game that will eventually make you lost. It is already very hard to cope up with the storyline as it involves other storylines of other Indiana Jones movies as well.
A new thing introduced in the game is the level creator where you can create pre existing levels but it will never look good as to the original made by Traveller's Tales. At first it would be exciting to create your own challenges but it will be for naught because there is no online connectivity for the game.
If you plan on buying this new game, my advice is to buy the original Indiana Jones game. with too many loopholes in this new game, any beginner would not be satisfied and would be asking for more.
User Reviews
Sniper : Ghost Warrior (PC) - 38 reviews
Sniper: Ghost Warrior (PC DVD) Review – Meet Stealth, Your New Best Friend.
Can't help falling in love with games that have guns from militaristic wars and battles? Can't stop liking being on stealth or being on the front line in a battle? Then Sniper: Ghost Warrior is definitely the best game for you!
The Sniper is kind of misleading. In this game, you can either be the soldier who's fighting on the front line or be the one lurking in the shadows and killing enemies with a single bullet on headshots. Yes, you can experience both in this game. Your character may be assigned to a fictional South American country; and from there, your main mission is to bring an end to the regime of a tyrannical dictator. You can alternately play the two characters on any given time. However, the game's focus leans more on the sniper.
When playing the sniper, you need to disguise and blend yourself with your environment. Different missions are given to you, which mean you employ different styles and methods to carry out your objectives as a sniper. In some parts of the game, you are thrown in a jungle landscape set at night. You have to sneak from one spot to another and fish out some fully-equipped guards on the area. This is where the HUD mechanics gets interesting and being focused on the screen for vital info becomes essential. It is crucial that you keep constant awareness of the visibility meter at the bottom of your screen. Know that when the gauge is full, it means you've been uncovered and the enemy has seen you. You can expect to have an open fire battle. Also, be careful not to expose dead guards' bodies to their comrades. It may lead to a panic and eventually reveal your presence. When numerous enemies have spotted you, just say bye-bye to your character … and to the game as well.
Once you bring up your sniper scope, a few diagrams are seen on your monitor; like the heartbeat of your character on the upper right corner of the screen. If you keep on running around and the heart rate continues to rise, the accuracy of your shot may be affected. Not only that, bullet trajectories, movement scopes and even your breath sounds differ with every action and movement you make … Pretty realistic, huh?
If you are still a newbie in this game, you can select the difficulty level according to your preference. Since the most common situation in this game is gaining the perfect timing to pull the trigger. It might be a little tricky on your part at the beginning, but there are tutorials and some demos presented in the game. Through this, you can learn on how to become a skilled professional sniper.
All in all, Sniper: Ghost Warrior shows potential of becoming a top game played on FPS genre. Expect having plenty of stealthy experience when playing this!
User Reviews
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (PS3) - 38 reviews
Ever since Sands of Time - way back in 2003, I have already been a fan of the Prince of Persia installments. The high flying acrobatic actions are truly appealing to the fans of the franchise. The downside to this, however, is the constant release of sequels by its creators, UBISOFT. They have literally toned down the excitement and thrill of the series because of frequent repetitions made. They made the game boring because of the many titles already on the market. It seems that the character in the game needs a little break because of too much exposure thats not really doing him or the franchise any favor anyway.
The last Prince of Persia was released n 2008 and it was like an eye opener for the creators finally recognizing the need for change. Besides, the prince literally needed to rest before he can give another shot at being on top of the order for the best games ever created. The game and the franchise reached the point where theyve done everything and there was nothing left to do. It came to the point of dullness for the franchise that the game has stagnated, regardless of the many sequels that have been released.
This dullness catapulted the re-creation of a new Prince of Persia and this is how the Forgotten Sands installment came to be. While some of you might think and say here we go again the new game establishes some points that balance out the reward and punishment. The creators made some magnificent changes in the mechanics, particularly in the combat system where it has really rebounded by holding its own all throughout even towards the end of the game.
The gameplay in the Forgotten Sands lets you be the Prince of Persia. A highly acrobatic warrior with the trademark of handsome looks; but is also very much adept at scaling walls and fighting anyone of the enemies that get in his way. The storyline revolves around the prince being tasked to save the world. This may sound familiar to you as this has been the storyline of the past Prince of Persia predecessors particularly Sands of Time, which set the bar for all installments of the Prince of Persia games. Despite the non improvement in the storyline, the platforms for acrobatic moves that the game really managed to master can get you excited all over again. With the ability of the Prince to climb and scale walls, you cant help but think that the Prince might be a ninja as well. The game has actually given you more time to figure out what moves to make in every level through the game.
The first taste of this new game can possibly make you conclude that the game is easy; however, the game gets more laborious once the Prince acquires more powers. It goes to the point where the player has to combine all the powers of the prince to survive in the game. The creators of the game undoubtedly made a wonderful combination of platforms and action rolled into a single rhythm.
The caveat of combining the skills is glaringly obvious. Its because in the past, it has led to the death of many Princes in the game. The creators provided a wonderful twist to this by bringing back a familiar and favorite ability: the ability to turn back the hands of time. Watch out though; there are certain limitations to the usage of this ability. And you even need to collect more blue orbs before you can use the ability and once you have used it all up, it necessitates going back to the nearest checkpoint. This is the presentation of the risk and reward attributes of this game.
The platform of the game can perk your excitement instantly. But when it comes to the combat aspect, it presents quite a drag down because the earlier opponents were much easier to kill. The new game still maintains the feature of getting experience after experience of killing enemies. This projects the prince as a lot stronger and with even more powers.
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is alright but it has yet to match the bar that Sands of Time has established. Nonetheless, the new game itself presents a wonderful array of visuals and colors from its lighting effects down to its graphics. Be warned though, because some parts can be dull and boring at times; basically because you have seen it all over before. All in all, despite not being at par with its long time great predecessor, its still an astounding game.
User Reviews
Jam With The Band (DS) - 38 reviews
The Band Brothers is one of the games that Nintendo has newly launched. It has an awkward title but you can probably say the game title itself is part of its unique style. The game is kind of familiar with typical platform and game design as that of other music video games. But what makes it different is how Band Brothers uses Nintendo DS hardware to show the full potential of the system.
Band Brothers is originally Game Boy music game. The whole concept of the gameplay is to take control of any music instrument and be part of a band playing some music. The Nintendo DS game presents a whole lot of segments and features. The Nintendo DS hardware lets you play the music in Band Brothers with better timing and accuracy. You produce a better song and you earn high scores in return.
The game is quite dependent on the control buttons. You have to press the designated button to produce the equivalent sound. Sounds familiar? Yes, you probably deduce that this is very similar to a mini Dance Revolution. You reach a point where you master the basic controls and ready to include the more advanced ones such as the L and R buttons. Moreover, as you progress through your playing, the degree of difficulty for each musical piece is also raised.
When you play this game in a single player mode it can get boring at times. The main focus of this game is the Wireless Multiplayer mode, which can accommodate up to 8 players. Well, you can imagine just how much fun you get with 8 players vying in a music video game. Of course, the idea is to get these 8 players as part of the band; the whole bunch can play any music at any chosen degree of difficulty. You absolutely get a lot of cool fun!
The Wireless Multiplayer mode is actually meant to be played in a multiplayer Nintendo DS cartridge; although the creators are farsighted enough to also make it playable in Nintendo DS single cartridge. The downside of playing it in a single cartridge, however, is it takes longer to load the game. Still the flexibility to use single cartridge is there.
The audio quality of the game can only be described as awesome. Be warned though; the songs are more like cell phone ringtones and they are quite similar to MIDI renditions. But that's to be expected with systems like this where the pitch is often altered.
The other interesting feature of the game is its capability to let you create your own kind of music. The game has a musical editor that you can use to manipulate and change the notes of certain music, especially the created ones. The songs and music that have been created can then be saved in a cartridge and shared with your friends in the game format.
This game truly showcases the wireless capability of the Nintendo DS hardware. Despite the heavy interface, the game indee
User Reviews
The Beatles RockBand (PS3) - 38 reviews
It had to happen at eventually, the Beatles have made it onto a video game. It has been said that if you don't like the Beatles you don't like music. There are millions upon millions of Beatles fans out there in the gaming world, but it would be an understatement if I was to say this is a game for Beatles fans alone. Who doesn't like The Beatles? Unless you have been living in a cave for the last half century you have probably heard of them and would probably recognize them as they were at the height of their fame, and will certainly know more than one of their songs or a cover version of them. They are generally accepted as the most influential group of their generation, some would say of all time.
However, the music is not the only thing that is great about this game, it also has a much better story line than previous Rockband games. This game is jam packed with over 45 great Beatles songs that you can play ensuring that you won't find yourself getting bored when you have over two hours worth of songs to play along with. Apart from the wonderful song choice there are some equally well produced graphics but the subject matter is more important than the quality especially with regards to some of the early footage.
You can follow the progress in an interactive journey following the band form their beginnings in Liverpool's Cavern to their appearances at major concert venues and follow them to America where they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. The legendary Apple recording studio where they created some of their masterpieces also features and material from their music and conversations there is also included.
You can sing along either by yourself or you can even have 2 friends singing along with you. However, it doesn't just stop with singing as you can even play the drums, guitar and bass guitar.
Don't just think that since there are only a certain number of songs that you will soon be able to master them all and then get bored through repetition. The songs themselves are rich in vocal and instrumental content and something new can be found almost every time you listen. Together with the songs there are also other features to keep you occupied including the facility to get online and play or sing and play along with others.
The developers were on a winner as soon as the game was conceived because whatever your taste in popular music the Beatles have either written a song to suit that taste or influenced almost everyone in the field of modern music from hard rock to ballads.
Track List
A Hard Day's Night And Your Bird Can Sing
Back in the U.S.S.R. Birthday Beatles 04
Boys Please Please Me Can't Buy Me Love
Come Together Day Tripper
Dear Prudence Dig a Pony
Do You Want to Know a Secret Don't Let Me Down
Drive My Car Eight Days a Week
Get Back Getting Better
Good Morning Good Morning Hello, Goodbye
Helter Skelter Here Comes the Sun
Hey Bulldog I Am the Walrus
I Feel Fine I Me Mine
I Saw Her Standing There I Wanna Be Your Man
I Want to Hold Your Hand I Want You (She's So Heavy)
If I Needed Someone I'm Looking Through You
I've Got a Feeling Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Octopus's Garden Paperback Writer
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band /With a Little Help from My Friends-67
Revolution Something
Taxman The End
Ticket to Ride Twist and Shout
While My Guitar Gently Weeps Within You Without You / Tomorrow Never Knows
Yellow Submarine
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