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#using that tag is unfair to javascript actually
Asking followers for opinions
I am really thinking about what to do about money cause things are getting hard for me and my family. This is not only for the time we’re all still under quarantine, but for after that, too. It sucks being good enough at nth and having no degree....#$@#%@#@##!@%^&%*^@#@#
So I thought of mentioning some things I can do (not perfectly but good) and see what fans and other people following me are into and what I can use from my knowledge to my financial benefit at once. Since addressing to areas outside my communities and interests hasn’t worked for me, so far, I thought of trying here. This will cover various fields and the prices won’t go above 3$ if I eventually do it, so this is just a survey for me to see what people want and like. Again, this survey doesn’t apply only to our days in quarantine, because I know people don’t have money now to cover anything past their basic needs, but I still have to try from now, in case I can somehow make sth out of it. Let’s start:
In case of Patreon:
1) I speak Greek and English fluently, so if you are a writer writing around Greek mythology and want some Greek phrase in it or a whole paragraph, I can translate it for you, or if you have translated through Google, check if it’s correct for you.
2) I am a photomanipulator, I have been editing images since I was 9 years old (2003) and got to more professional editing techniques in 2015. I can do graphics for your websites, social media and writeblrs but not for print. (I don’t seem to understand how on earth to pass what i have on my screen on prints exactly as is, with the same colors, shadows etc).
3) Besides the pngs, psds, and other graphics I can do for what I mentioned above, I can also do psds for fanpages or simple personal blogs based on specific themes and aesthetics, like horror, sci-fi, fantasy, gothic etc. (i will speak about fansite graphics with pictures of actual artists included later, when I will talk about ko-fi)
4) I can code in html, css and a bit of javascript, but I can’t build a website from scratch, so I can help you install your tumblr theme or fix any problems that might come up only in case the original coder of your theme is not active on tumblr anymore to help you. In short, I can help with basic coding and correct any mistakes that may occur in codes.
5) I can help with basic photoshop editing. A few months ago I came across an event that showed me that some people, even though there are tutorials on youtube about such things, they don’t like them or they don’t bother watch them for whatever reason, so if you need someone to ask questions or help you guide yourselves through the program, without having to watch a video but by a question-answer situation, I can do that too.
In case of ko-fi (this is less likely to happen cause again I don’t want to be working for free, right now, but it’s a good way for others to see what I am able to do and maybe get a dollar or 2 out of effort before someone starts asking for commissions)(this wil be more like “If you enjoy my work, please consider buying me a coffee”, in order to see more edits, cause I can’t directly be paid from a fanart piece, I don’t feel good about it. Saying sth like “Pay me 1$ for a fanart or gif of an mv“ feels unfair to me. Ko-fi gives you sth more like paying for the artist’s effort or as gratitude):
1) In case you want some graphics for your fansites or rp blogs with an artist attached to it, or an anime character, you can tell me and I can make it (icons, psds, pngs etc) but with RP graphics I will only do anime graphics cause some artists are not ok with being used in RP and I don’t want to get in trouble.
2) If you want gifs of any artist I can do that too as long as you have a link to the video you want and it’s on websites like youtube, vk, dailymotion and vimeo (i am not visiting porn websites to make gifs of nice scenes for your smut but if there is sth on vk, since it’s safer, and I don’t judge people, I can make a gif from a video there too for my writer fellows steamy scenes :3)
That’s all I can think of right now, if you are interested in any of those or have more ideas, like, comment or send me a pm to know and, if I really see an interest from you guys I will open both a patreon and a ko-fi to get started.
If you wish to see what I am capable of in terms of photomanipulation, you can visit my deviantart.
If you want to see my gifs you can go visit my gif tag here.
Graphics, well, if you visit my blogs here on tumblr you can get an idea, like the few graphics I have on my about page on this blog, my writing wip page on my writing blog, or the navigation page of my fanblog of the visual kei band the Valentine.
As for coding, again you can check my tumblr blogs and see how the themes look, after playing with their code a bit and how they differ to their original, the latter of which you can find by clicking the credit marks of their creator on the main page of each blog. Of course, to some themes I only added the pictures of my choice, but for some people that might be hard too, hence why I think I could help in case their themes’ original creator is no longer active on tumblr. If the theme you have, though, had in its rules not to be editted, only add pictures of your choice, I will respect the coder’s wishes and not change a thing, whether or not they are active anymore.
Thank you for your patience. Stay strong and healthy everyone!
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amandasmith03 · 4 years
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Best Practices For Using Search Engine Optimization
While many people complain about the unfairness of life, others use their drive to start and run their own business. If you’re one of the innovators in life, these SEO Marketing techniques can help you boost your online business.
Coding is an important element in search engine optimization if you are using Search Marketing.For example, a site that relies heavily upon JavaScript must be coded efficiently, spiders can’t index your site.
To help you to rank highly on search engines you’ll need to take advantage of the meta tags for “Title”, even those that are misspelled, and “Keywords”. Search engines will be able to see these meta tags and you will increase your visibility. For example, if your site is about eyeglasses,” you can add “catfood,” “eyeglasses” and “eye glasses,” and “cat chow.”
Always make sure that your site is well-coded. For example, a site that relies heavily upon JavaScript must be coded efficiently, so that it can be indexed by search engine spiders. A site that relies heavily on Flash without providing text descriptions will be ignored by the search engines.
Pay-per-click approaches can be a lucrative strategy in affiliate marketing tactic. This service is the most common, so the pay is correspondingly modest, but it can rapidly build up.
This means that keywords should be repeated as much as possible without breaking up the flow of the writing. As search engines work partly by locating keywords and evaluating their density, your content will shine if you pay close attention to the words you use.
Make sure you use of header tags. They can be a bit too big sometimes, but using CSS can help you change their sizes. Search engines like to use the headers to rank websites.
There are various search engine optimization strategies you can employ. Having the best possible search engine optimization is important for drawing in more traffic. Your reader will have a better experience if you make your site more usable.
When making URL names for each page, it’s important to know that spiders cannot read dynamic language or session ID names. This confuses search engines a great deal, especially if keywords are not incorporated.
Try to include a transcript for videos or audio content on your site.
Learn about social media and how it can benefit your Local SEO In Lynchburg VA planning. There are many more social networking sites besides Twitter that can be useful. There are also online groups and websites for people with certain interests that cater to folks interested in things like photography or dog breeding. Join relevant ones and use it as a way to optimize your site.
Incorporate one or two of your keywords into your domain name. Having a keyword in your address makes it easier for people to find when searching the internet for that keyword. Your website visitors will come from a variety of sources. It may be advertising or it may be from a random online search.
Many people are under the impression that keywords in their comment tags will make a more visible to search engines.
Image Links
You won’t find many image links with sites that are optimized websites. Image links only provide the URL address for the linked file to be indexed by the search engine.
Learn how much experience this expert actually has. If you decide to use an SEO expert, be sure to have a written contract clearly stating the terms of your agreement before any work is done, and understand any risks that may be involved.
Lynchburg SEO Companies can help your site. Many business are unaware of this symbiotic relationship.
Join as many prominent organizations as you can when you are working to optimize your search engine rankings.This assists with local searches because it is usually linked to you.
Don’t dump a bunch of links on a page. Blend them in with the content.Pages filled with links are boring and search engines.
To help to keep your website visitor’s interest, you need to make sure that your website’s content is set up to do that. You want return visitors and your visitors to stay on your website for extended periods of time. Not only will these additional traffic increase your sales, but the search engines will increase your ranking.
Search engines will help increase the number of visitors to your website. Making your website search engine spider friendly will produce fantastic results.Spiders are not able to “read” pictures, so you need to have text tags for every image on your site. Be sure to write a description that are rich with keywords.
Consider all the options at your disposal for getting quality inbound links directed to your website, such as article writing, press releases, directory submissions, blogs and directory submissions.
Make sure to use a language meta tag if your site’s content is written in something other than English. This simple step helps increase your rank when someone searches in search engine results that are language specific.
Internal links must use relevant anchor text for the best impact. Just typing “click here” followed by linking to that term, will not help your search rankings. Spiders focus on keywords, so if you pick out the most appropriate keywords for your content, they will count your anchor text towards your overall relevancy.
You want to make sure that you’re pursuing email marketing in the promotion of your website. Use SEO Agencies keywords in the emails and include any social sites you belong to.Make sure the email is easy to forward emails to others.
Make sure that your server to be sensitive on URLs.
You can lure visitors in with contests and sweepstakes, but be sure you’re following all the rules and regulations in your area.You can initiate your research by looking at a competitor’s website contest, but do not just copy their ideas and rules verbatim.
Visit competitors’ websites to take a look at their source code. This gives you information about how they use SEO on their website, and which keywords they use. Don’t plagiarize what they do, but do take hints from it for your own plan.
Link directories will link you back to yourself, if you plan to use them. Many directories have lots of date. Always take the time to research any business you affiliate yourself with.
Be thorough in editing your website contains no errors and user friendliness. Visitors will not stay on your website long if there are misspelled words and poor grammar. You should also watch your links to be sure they are all active and actually take the visitor where s/he wants to go.
To further tie everything together, you should include your company’s name at the end of the title link as well. People aren’t very likely to search for your company’s name.
Improving content on your website is the very best strategy to drive customers towards your site. When website visitors don’t see relevant information that they want to see and read, they will leave. One of the best ways to bring more visitors in is to work on your content.
Search Engine
There are certain things you can help make your site is search engine friendly. Keep in mind that you need to please both people and the search engine robots. Your text should be easy to read and the color of it should be easy on everyone’s eyes. These are a few quality principles that can make your site stand out.
The footer can be a perfect spot for the sitemap link. This will help search engine spiders index your website properly.
Add a site map if you’re trying to get more traffic. This results in the pages being linked together. Having these links in the side bar will help customers navigate your site, improving your traffic.
Do not place any copied content on your page, Google will catch it and drop your rank.
It’s important these days to do a lot more than thinking. Focus on what you are able to do to get things done. Use these tips to increase your chances of website success.
If you just keep studying When it comes to search engine marketing, you really should not place trust in your organization’s Google ranking to someone who is not a Lynchburg SEO Expert. If you are reading this, you most likely are seeking for someone who can advice you raise your company’s online visibility, website traffic, and leads., you can master them. Use all of this information to help you understand that this does not have to be a difficult topic. You will find success if you take things one day at a time.
from https://mrphiltucker.com/best-practices-for-using-search-engine-optimization/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=best-practices-for-using-search-engine-optimization
from Mr Phil Tucker - Blog https://mrphiltucker1.weebly.com/blog/best-practices-for-using-search-engine-optimization
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thelmasirby32 · 4 years
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JavaScript rendering and the problems for SEO in 2020
30-second summary:
Anyone working in enterprise SEO in 2020 will have encountered this web architecture scenario with a client at some point. Frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular make web development more simply expedited.
There are tons of case studies but one business Croud encountered migrated to a hybrid Shopify / JS framework with internal links and content rendered via JS. They proceeded to lose traffic worth an estimated $8,000 per day over the next 6 months… about $1.5m USD.
The experienced readers amongst us will soon start to get the feeling that they’re encountering familiar territory.
Croud’s VP Strategic Partnerships, Anthony Lavall discusses JavaScript frameworks that deal with the most critical SEO elements.
While running the SEO team at Croud in New York over the last three years, 60% of our clients have been through some form of migration. Another ~30% have either moved from or to a SPA (Single Page Application) often utilizing an AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML) framework to varying degrees.
Anyone working in enterprise SEO in 2020 will have encountered this web architecture scenario with a client at some point. Frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular make web development more simply expedited. This is especially true when creating dynamic web applications which offer relatively quick new request interactivity (once the initial libraries powering them have loaded – Gmail is a good example) by utilizing the power of the modern browser to render the client-side code (the JavaScript). Then using web workers to offer network request functionality that doesn’t require a traditional server-based URL call.
With the increased functionality and deployment capabilities comes a cost – the question of SEO performance. I doubt any SEO reading this is a stranger to that question. However, you may be still in the dark regarding an answer.
Why is it a problem?
Revenue, in the form of lost organic traffic via lost organic rankings. It’s as simple as this. Web developers who recommended JavaScript (JS) frameworks are not typically directly responsible for long-term commercial performance. One of the main reasons SEOs exist in 2020 should be to mitigate strategic mistakes that could arise from this. Organic traffic is often taken as a given and not considered as important (or controllable), and this is where massive problems take place. There are tons of case studies but one business we encountered migrated to a hybrid Shopify / JS framework with internal links and content rendered via JS. They proceeded to lose traffic worth an estimated $8,000 per day over the next 6 months… about $1.5m USD.
What’s the problem?
There are many problems. SEOs are already trying to deal with a huge number of signals from the most heavily invested commercial algorithm ever created (Google… just in case). Moving away from a traditional server-rendered website (think Wikipedia) to a contemporary framework is potentially riddled with SEO challenges. Some of which are:
Search engine bot crawling, rendering, and indexing – search engine crawlers like Googlebot have adapted their crawling process to include the rendering of JavaScript (starting as far back as 2010) in order to be able to fully comprehend the code on AJAX web pages. We know Google is getting better at understanding complex JavaScript. Other search crawlers might not be. But this isn’t simply a question of comprehension. Crawling the entire web is no simple task and even Google’s resources are limited. They have to decide if a site is worth crawling and rendering based on assumptions that take place long before JS may have been encountered and rendered (metrics such as an estimated number of total pages, domain history, WhoIs data, domain authority, etc.).
Google’s Crawling and Rendering Process – The 2nd Render / Indexing Phase (announced at Google I/O 2018)
Speed – one of the biggest hurdles for AJAX applications. Google crawls web pages un-cached so those cumbersome first loads of single page applications can be problematic. Speed can be defined in a number of ways, but in this instance, we’re talking about the length of time it takes to execute and critically render all the resources on a JavaScript heavy page compared to a less resource intensive HTML page.
Resources and rendering – with traditional server-side code, the DOM (Document Object Model) is essentially rendered once the CSSOM (CSS Object Model) is formed or to put it more simply, the DOM doesn’t require too much further manipulation following the fetch of the source code. There are caveats to this but it is safe to say that client-side code (and the multiple libraries/resources that code might be derived from) adds increased complexity to the finalized DOM which means more CPU resources required by both search crawlers and client devices. This is one of the most significant reasons why a complex JS framework would not be preferred. However, it is so frequently overlooked.
Now, everything prior to this sentence has made the assumption that these AJAX pages have been built with no consideration for SEO. This is slightly unfair to the modern web design agency or in-house developer. There is usually some type of consideration to mitigate the negative impact on SEO (we will be looking at these in more detail). The experienced readers amongst us will now start to get the feeling that they are encountering familiar territory. A territory which has resulted in many an email discussion between the client, development, design, and SEO teams related to whether or not said migration is going to tank organic rankings (sadly, it often does).
The problem is that solutions to creating AJAX applications that work more like server-based HTML for SEO purposes are themselves mired in contention; primarily related to their efficacy. How do we test the efficacy of anything for SEO? We have to deploy and analyze SERP changes. And the results for migrations to JavaScript frameworks are repeatedly associated with drops in traffic. Take a look at the weekly stories pouring into the “JS sites in search working group” hosted by John Mueller if you want some proof.
Let’s take a look at some of the most common mitigation tactics for SEO in relation to AJAX.
The different solutions for AJAX SEO mitigation
1. Universal/Isomorphic JS
Isomorphic JavaScript, AKA Universal JavaScript, describes JS applications which run both on the client and the server, as in, the client or server can execute the <script> and other code delivered, not just the client (or server). Typically, complex JavaScript applications would only be ready to execute on the client (typically a browser). Isomorphic Javascript mitigates this. One of the best explanations I’ve seen (specifically related to Angular JS) is from Andres Rutnik on Medium:
The client makes a request for a particular URL to your application server.
The server proxies the request to a rendering service which is your Angular application running in a Node.js container. This service could be (but is not necessarily) on the same machine as the application server.
The server version of the application renders the complete HTML and CSS for the path and query requested, including <script> tags to download the client Angular application.
The browser receives the page and can show the content immediately. The client application loads asynchronously and once ready, re-renders the current page and replaces the static HTML with the server rendered. Now the web site behaves like an SPA for any interaction moving forwards. This process should be seamless to a user browsing the site.
Source: Medium
To reiterate, following the request, the server renders the JS and the full DOM/CSSOM is formed and served to the client. This means that Googlebot and users have been served a pre-rendered version of the page. The difference for users is that the HTML and CSS just served is then re-rendered to replace it with the dynamic JS so it can behave like the SPA it was always intended to be.
The problems with building isomorphic web pages/applications appear to be just that… actually building the thing isn’t easy. There’s a decent series here from Matheus Marsiglio who documents his experience.
2. Dynamic rendering
Dynamic rendering is a more simple concept to understand; it is the process of detecting the user-agent making the server request and routing the correct response code based on that request being from a validated bot or a user.
This is Google’s recommended method of handling JavaScript for search. It is well illustrated here:
  The Dynamic Rendering Process explained by Google
The output is a pre-rendered iteration of your code for search crawlers and the same AJAX that would have always been served to users. Google recommends a solution such as prerender.io to achieve this. It’s a reverse proxy service that pre-renders and caches your pages. There are some pitfalls with dynamic rendering, however, that must be understood:
Cloaking – In a world wide web dominated primarily by HTML and CSS, cloaking was a huge negative as far as Google was concerned. There was little reason for detecting and serving different code to Googlebot aside from trying to game search results. This is not the case in the world of JavaScript. Google’s dynamic rendering process is a direct recommendation for cloaking. They are explicitly saying, “serve users one thing and serve us another”. Why is this a problem? Google says, “As long as your dynamic rendering produces similar content, Googlebot won’t view dynamic rendering as cloaking.” But what is similar? How easy could it be to inject more content to Googlebot than is shown to users or using JS with a delay to remove text for users or manipulate the page in another way that Googlebot is unlikely to see (because it is delayed in the DOM for example).
Caching – For sites that change frequently such as large news publishers who require their content to be indexed as quickly as possible, a pre-render solution may just not cut it. Constantly adding and changing pages need to be almost immediately pre-rendered in order to be immediate and effective. The minimum caching time on prerender.io is in days, not minutes.
Frameworks vary massively – Every tech stack is different, every library adds new complexity, and every CMS will handle this all differently. Pre-render solutions such as prerender.io are not a one-stop solution for optimal SEO performance.
3. CDNs yield additional complexities… (or any reverse proxy for that matter)
Content delivery networks (such as Cloudflare) can create additional testing complexities by adding another layer to the reverse proxy network. Testing a dynamic rendering solution can be difficult as Cloudflare blocks non-validated Googlebot requests via reverse DNS lookup. Troubleshooting dynamic rendering issues therefore takes time. Time for Googlebot to re-crawl the page and then a combination of Google’s cache and a buggy new Search Console to be able to interpret those changes. The mobile-friendly testing tool from Google is a decent stop-gap but you can only analyze a page at a time.
This is a minefield! So what do I do for optimal SEO performance?
Think smart and plan effectively. Luckily only a relative handful of design elements are critical for SEO when considering the arena of web design and many of these are elements in the <head> and/or metadata. They are:
Anything in the <head> – <link> tags and <meta> tags
Header tags, e.g. <h1>, <h2>, etc.
<p> tags and all other copy / text
<table>, <ul>, <ol>, and all other crawl-able HTML elements
Links (must be <a> tags with href attributes)
Images
Every element above should be served without any JS rendering required by the client. As soon as you require JS to be rendered to yield one of the above elements you put search performance in jeopardy. JavaScript can, and should be used to enhance the user experience on your site. But if it’s used to inject the above elements into the DOM then you have got a problem that needs mitigating.
Internal links often provide the biggest SEO issues within Javascript frameworks. This is because onclick events are sometimes used in place of <a> tags, so it’s not only an issue of Googlebot rendering the JS to form the links in the DOM. Even after the JS is rendered there is still no <a> tag to crawl because it’s not used at all – the onclick event is used instead.
Every internal link needs to be the <a> tag with an href attribute containing the value of the link destination in order to be considered valid. This was confirmed at Google’s I/O event last year.
To conclude
Be wary of the statement, “we can use React / Angular because we’ve got next.js / Angular Universal so there’s no problem”. Everything needs to be tested and that testing process can be tricky in itself. Factors are again myriad. To give an extreme example, what if the client is moving from a simple HTML website to an AJAX framework? The additional processing and possible issues with client-side rendering critical elements could cause huge SEO problems. What if that same website currently generates $10m per month in organic revenue? Even the smallest drop in crawling, indexing, and performance capability could result in the loss of significant revenues.
There is no avoiding modern JS frameworks and that shouldn’t be the goal – the time saved in development hours could be worth thousands in itself – but as SEOs, it’s our responsibility to vehemently protect the most critical SEO elements and ensure they are always server-side rendered in one form or another. Make Googlebot do as little leg-work as possible in order to comprehend your content. That should be the goal.
Anthony Lavall is VP Strategic Partnerships at digital agency Croud. He can be found on Twitter @AnthonyLavall.
The post JavaScript rendering and the problems for SEO in 2020 appeared first on Search Engine Watch.
from Digital Marketing News https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2020/05/06/javascript-rendering-and-the-problems-for-seo-in-2020/
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operationrainfall · 6 years
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*Reviewer’s Note: The online features were not tested as part of this review since they were still in the beta stage. Koei Temco has announced free updates coming for online lobbies.*
Title Dead or Alive 6 Developer KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. Publisher KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD. Release Date March 1st, 2019 Genre Fighting Platform PlayStation 4, Steam, Xbox One Age Rating REPLACE WITH RATING(S) Official Website
It’s time once again to enter the crazy world of Dead or Alive. Many moons ago, at E3 2018, Koei Tecmo announced that Dead or Alive 6 would be coming in early 2019. This was met with some ire from fans when it was announced the game would be toning down the series standard sexiness in favor of a more serious fighter. This stance flip-flopped a lot from the development team over the months and even I wasn’t sure what kind of game this would turn out to be. Well I’ve spent about 25 hours with it and can now discuss my findings. Is Dead or Alive 6 sexy? Are the mechanics new and improved? And is Marie Rose even cuter than in DOA 5? OK, I’ll answer that one now, yes she very much is! Now let’s see how the rest of this turned out.
The Story mode picks up a short time after the events of Dead or Alive 5. The next tournament is starting and you get a glimpse of how your favorite characters are gearing up for the new tournament. Marie Rose and Honaka are included in the story this time, as Helena sends Marie on a mission to observe Honaka’s strange powers. Overall this story is batshit crazy in true Dead or Alive fashion, and I loved every minute of it. The team did a great job here, and having one round fights and all the cutscenes being fully voiced in English and Japanese was a nice touch.
Dead or Alive 6 kills it in the graphics department. Everything looks better than it did in Dead or Alive 5. The stages and character models have a lot more detail, and while there may not be as much jiggle as there was with the Soft Engine, there is still plenty of that to be found here as well. This will greatly depend on the outfit your fighter has equipped. Characters will display come cuts and bruises and some blood effects have been added to show off the impact of blows as well. These can be turned off in the options if this isn’t your cup of tea. The animation in general is super smooth. This makes everything feel faster and fluid. On the PlayStation 4 you have to the option to turn the graphics up a bit, but it will cost you some framerate. The Steam version will give you a few more graphical options such as shadow details and resolutions up to 4K. This port runs pretty good overall, but a few stages with tons of things moving around in the background could’ve been optimized a bit better. But with my 1050Ti 4GB I was able to get it running butter smooth and looking pretty sweet at 1080p.
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Dead or Alive’s triangle combat system makes a return here in all its glory. This is a system of strikes, holds and throws. It functions a lot like rock, paper and scissors for those unfamiliar with the series. That’s not to say nothing has been changed though. Every character has had their move list updated with new moves and combos. I feel some characters like Marie and Honaka, that were added to the last game later in its life cycle, really benefited from this. The addition of the new Break System that allows for easier counters when one bar of the special meter is full and the new Fatal Rush combos make the game more approachable to those not as adept at fighters without giving anyone an unfair advantage as well.
Playing Dead or Alive 6 is one of the very few times I’ve reviewed a fighting game where I felt the balance was almost perfect. There are a couple characters I think might be a tad overpowered, but no matter who you pick as your main you have a fighting chance against anyone. I played over 25 hours for this review on every difficulty the game had to offer and I never felt like I was outmatched because of the game’s balance, and usually if I changed up my tactics a bit I could come out on top.
Most of the play modes found here are exactly what you would expect from Dead or Alive. The aforementioned Story Mode, Arcade Mode, Time Attack, Survival, Training Mode for basic inputs as well as character specific training and the all new DOA Quest Mode. The DOA Quest mode may not be innovative for a fighter but it is certainly fun. You basically have to win a series of around 100 matches completing various objectives. These can be things like do X number of holds, attack with a certain input X number of times and so on. I really loved this mode since it teaches not only basics but some of more advanced strategies of the game while allowing you to earn coins and player points. You will use those to unlock the various costumes and other goodies the game has locked away.
DOA Central is where you spend those coins and points you obtained in Quest Mode to unlock the costumes and other goodies. This time around not only do the fighters have costumes in various colors but you can add accessories, change their hair styles and more. Here you can also set up a custom soundtrack from the songs you’ve unlocked during gameplay. You unlock these tracks by simply raising your player level by completing matches. Library will give insights in to the story of Dead or Alive, and there are really awesome trivia tidbits for fans to discover here as well. Last but not least is the Theater section. Here you can watch replays or set up CPU vs. CPU matches and take some photos to show off your “Core Values” as well.
All in all, I think Dead or Alive 6 is pretty great package. There’s a ton of great fighters to choose from, the action is fast and fun, and the game is very welcoming to newcomers while still giving veteran players a lot of new moves to master and there are a decent number of costumes to unlock out of the box. The only major problem I have with that is while DOA Quest mode is fun it takes forever to actually unlock a lot of the outfits. You will be 40 or 50 missions deep before you unlock a single outfit for some characters, so it makes it feel less rewarding than it should at times. I think the lack of Tag Battles is a bit of a letdown as well, but I’m hopeful that the team will add these in an update somewhere down the line.
Despite my few beefs with the game, if you are a fan of the series Dead or Alive 6 is a must own title for you at the $59.99 price tag. The game is still very sexy with tons of jiggle and service fans have come to know and love. The fighting is still deep and fun like always, and honestly I feel like the game just simply plays so much better than the previous one did. I can pull off moves and combos here easily that I had a much harder time pulling off last time around. If you’ve always been interested in fighting games but thought they were too complex for you to enjoy I think you should give this one a shot. The game is so well made and easy to pick up that I think anyone could hop right in here and have some fun.
[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”4.0″]
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Review Copies provided by the publisher for review purposes.
REVIEW: Dead or Alive 6 *Reviewer's Note: The online features were not tested as part of this review since they were still in the beta stage.
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omcik-blog · 7 years
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New Post has been published on OmCik
New Post has been published on http://omcik.com/are-americans-lazy-cnnmoney-readers-weigh-in/
Are Americans lazy? CNNMoney readers weigh in
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It struck a chord. Reader responses ranged from “I could not agree more” that Americans are lazy to calling the writer of the story a “dumb idiot” and other unprintable names.
We decided to ask CNNMoney readers: Are Americans lazy? And what do you think the biggest problem is in the economy? Some people wrote two lines and others penned long essays.
Broadly, immigrants and people over age 50 were more likely to concur that Americans are lethargic. But plenty of people just wrote in to say how difficult life was. Jeannie Daniels of Welsh, Louisiana, captured it in two lines:
“Holding two jobs to be able to afford my insurance and medicine. Sorry, I’m just too tired for anything else,” wrote Daniels who is 57.
Overall, five dominant themes emerged from the emails. We present them below, along with direct quotes from readers (used with their permission and edited lightly for length and spelling).
Related: Read the original article “Americans have become lazy”
1. Mediocrity is celebrated
“No one wants to get their hands dirty — literally. Kids are coddled and can’t even run around outside exploring. …Young people want to sell a few apps and make millions, or work for a startup that lets them work or nap when they feel like it. Then there’s the HUGE drug epidemic … young people are bored out of their minds.” –Sue Butcher, 64, Boulder, Colorado
“I work with our youth who are under-educated, under-motivated, lacking in basic working and thinking skills, and have little to no experience of what planning, hard work, and visions of success can do. I hold families and the education system responsible for our youth not experiencing personal success.” –John Seryak, 67, Reynoldsburg, Ohio
Related: Meet Howard Lerman, the newest $1 billion tech CEO
2. The 1% get it all.
“I can’t believe this is even a topic for debate. The problem with the American economy is that 99% of the wealth is in the hands of less that 1% of the populace. That is not even an economy, it should be an episode of ‘Hoarders.'” –Tony Paustian, 36, Federal Way, Washington
“As a teacher for 25 years, my salary has not kept up with inflation, like 90% of my fellow Americans. This country has become a land that only supports only one class: The well heeled.” –Richard Horan, 55, Ithaca, New York
John Salomone of Colorado is concerned about how inequality has grown.
“The biggest problem with the economy is income inequality. Look no further than executive compensation. CEOs today make orders of magnitude more than they did in the 1960s and 70s. It’s because so much of the wealth is going to a tiny fraction of people who don’t need the money and aren’t spending it! Why does that matter? It matters a lot. It’s holding down wages for the rest of America’s workforce.” –-John Salomone, 44, Boulder, Colorado
“I think the biggest problem with the U.S. Economy is greed. Those who are blessed to have thriving businesses and who are becoming wealthier each day are not willing to share their wealth with those who have less.” –Sue Russell, 67, Center, Texas
Related: More insurers abandon Obamacare. Who might be next?
Sue Russell of Texas is worried about how greedy the wealthy have become.
3. The other 99% are (mostly) in debt.
“It is unfair to write an article like this without mentioning student debt. Total student loans rose from around $510 billion in 2007 to more than $1.4 TRILLION today. Using me as an example, I was saddled with over $113,000 in student debt when I graduated from a state school with a meteorology degree. … [Student debt] leaves very little room to take risks.” — Mike Swan, 31, Southington, Connecticut
“I’ll tell you what’s wrong with our economy: Our dollars aren’t worth anything. My parents both worked full time jobs and could actually buy a house. EVERYONE that I know works, a lot at that, so I’m not sure how this guy gets off calling us lazy. Start a business? We’re trying to pay our bills! Move? Does he realize how expensive that is!” –Cat Neely, 29, Atlanta, Georgia
Related: U.S. inequality is getting worse
4. U.S. health care is a mess
“Too many people have the energy, ideas, and motivation to start new ventures and spark the economy, but they don’t do anything because they want to retain their employer-based health care coverage.” –Craig Boroughs, 44, Keystone, Colorado
“People don’t change jobs or take risks because they could lose health coverage, and while many adults are willing to wing it without coverage … if they have children, they will stay put.” —Pamela Rodi, 61, Los Angeles
“If you want to see innovation, let this country go to universal health care. There are so many bright people that are in a point in their professional life that could really be successful, but you hear the same thing: ‘I need health insurance.’ The cash flow from starting and growing a business often doesn’t create an additional $1,200 a month.” –Kirk Billingsley, 56, Monterey, Virginia
Related: Trump is dialing back his economic promises
5. We’re too dependent on government
“We have become a nation that wants handouts. We need another: ‘Ask what you can do for your country moment.’ We have become a very laid back, play on our phone at every opportunity, nation. I have noticed this in all ages. We have to get back to work ethic before we can truly move forward.” –Thomas Knudsen, 50, New York
“Why take risks when you can get a basket of social programs to support you. To think the food stamp budget is now $70 billion a year is astounding. We have a reported 4.5% unemployment rate, but the lowest participation in 40 years. Why work? Why take risks?” –Terry Podlogar, 58, The Woodlands, Texas
“I can count the number of veterans receiving 100% disability, which is $36,000 a year, yet they work next me in a federal job making as much or more than me. The VA has a very unique definition of disability which should mean unable to work. Entitlements need to be stopped or at the very least, severely reined in. When workers see so many other people getting so much for free, it kills morale.” –-Rebecca Mosseri, 55, Kempner, Texas
CNNMoney (New York) First published April 14, 2017: 11:18 AM ET
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New Post has been published on http://omcik.com/big-banks-rack-up-6-4-billion-in-atm-and-overdraft-fees/
Big banks rack up $6.4 billion in ATM and overdraft fees
If you’ve ever had to pay $3 (or more) to get your own money out of an ATM machine, you aren’t alone.
Nobody likes those fees. Except banks.
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America’s three biggest banks — JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC) and Wells Fargo (WFC) — earned more than $6.4 billion last year from ATM and overdraft fees, according to an analysis by CNNMoney that was verified by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
That works out to over $25 in fees annually for every adult American.
Despite public outcry, banks show no sign of scaling back on fees. The big three banks collected nearly $300 million more in ATM and overdraft fees in 2016 than they did in 2015.
Related: How to save more money in 2017
At JPMorgan alone, ATM fee revenue jumped a whopping 22% last year. A JPMorgan spokesman told CNNMoney that’s because the bank raised ATM fees by 50 cents at the end of 2015. Customers must pay the fee whenever they use a non-JPMorgan Chase ATM machine.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other watchdog groups have tried to warn people: Beware of bank fees.
“These fees have a disproportionate impact on low and moderate income families living paycheck to paycheck,” says Pamela Banks, senior policy counsel at Consumers Union, an advocacy group.
The average fee for using an “out-of-network” ATM in the United States is now $4.57, according to Bankrate. Last year marked the tenth straight year of increases.
Overdraft fees are even more profitable than ATM fees
Senator Bernie Sanders actually made ATM fees an issue during the presidential election last year. He vowed to limit ATM fees to a maximum of $2.
“It is unacceptable that Americans are paying a $4 or $5 fee each time they go to the ATM,” Sanders said.
While Sanders zeroed in ATM fees, banks make more money by charging customers so-called “maintenance” and overdraft fees. Maintenance fees are a monthly charge just to keep an account open. Some banks assess customers a few dollars a month if their account balance falls below a certain level, such as $5,000.
Overdraft fees occur when a person’s bank balance falls below $0 and they still take money out at an ATM or use their debit card to buy something. The bank is essentially giving people a loan, but the fees are hefty: Many banks charge $35 every time this happens.
Related: 5,300 Wells Fargo employees fired over 2 million phony accounts
That adds up to big profits for the banks. JPMorgan made close to $2 billion from overdraft charges last year. Wells Fargo made $1.8 billion, and Bank of America made $1.7 billion on overdraft fees.
Customers aren’t supposed to even be able to overdraft on their account unless they actively “opt in” to the service. But a 2014 Pew study found more than half of the people who overdrew their checking accounts in the past year didn’t remember consenting to the overdraft service.
Even more alarming is that 8% of customers pay 75% of all overdraft fees, according to the CFPB. Those customers tend to be young and poor, and they’re overdrafting 10 or more times a year.
“So-called ‘overdraft protection’ programs are really just a way for banks to bilk their most vulnerable customers with costly fees,” says Banks.
A ‘unfair system’ some say
“It’s just an unfair system,” says Morteza Hamidi, a 54-year-old small business owner in Orange County, California.
Hamidi claims he’s paid a lot of those $35 overdraft charges in recent years. One time he deposited a check from a recent job he did, but it didn’t clear. Hamidi says he bought small things like coffees the rest of the day before realizing the check didn’t go through. His bank charged him $35 on each purchase because his account went below $0. He has since learned to monitor his balance vigilantly.
“The amount of fees they charge should be proportionate to the fault,” Hamidi says.
The CFPB study notes that if someone borrowed $24 for only three days and paid an overdraft fee of $34, that “loan” from the bank would carry a whopping 17,000% annual percentage rate (APR).
By law, people can opt out of ATM overdrafts at any time. Banks are also offering people more options to monitor their account balances. Some now text or email customers if their account falls to $0.
But one look at how much money banks still make on these fees is an indication that not enough is being done to protect people, says Banks, the senior policy counsel at Consumers Union.
To reach the reporter on this story, email [email protected].
CNNMoney (New York) First published February 22, 2017: 11:27 AM ET
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