Author: Francis E. Hagopian

I'm Francis E. Hagopian, and I'm the voice and vision behind Billionaire365.com. For the last 15 years, I've lived and breathed Silicon Valley culture, arming myself with insights and know-how that I can't wait to share with you. Think of me as your personal guide in the intricate maze of technology. I specialize in translating the complex into the understandable, so you can turn knowledge into power. This isn't just about staying in the loop; it's about giving you the tools you need to excel in a digital age. When you're looking for reliable tech insights, know that I've got your back.

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Games

Top Games That Had Amazing Graphics for Their Time

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While gaming in 2023 is indeed at an unprecedented level when it comes to graphics, as it’s pretty difficult to find a game that doesn’t have an environment that looks as realistic as the world we interact with every day, the situation wasn’t always like this. During its first stages, gaming looked absolutely horrible compared to the most popular titles of today, as you could literally count the pixels on the screen.

Gaming evolved gradually into how we mostly know it today, although we don’t have to forget that there are a lot of retro games out there nowadays that feature ‘ancient’ graphics. That’s precisely why people like them anyway, as not everybody is up for highly realistic games such as Red Dead Redemption 2 or EA SPORTS FC 24, for instance.

Some of the video games that are the subject of this article were released at a time when the graphics of video games, in general, looked very poor and obsolete compared to what exists today. GTA San Andreas, for instance, is a fabulous game if we consider the gameplay itself, but the graphics looked absolutely horrible compared to the industry’s current standards. Let’s cut to the chase:

Crysis (2007)

The mind-blowing graphics of Crysis cannot be stressed enough. This is the first game in its series, and it’s basically a multiplayer shooter game where the player steps in the shoes of a guy who’s stranded in the jungle. Who knows what great dangers might lurk at every corner? That’s why playing this game never gets old, and you could compare it to the Egyptian Pyramids in some way. While it’s still uncertain today how it was possible for someone to build those pyramids thousands of years ago, making such a highly realistic game, such as Crysis in 2007, is also puzzling. Maybe aliens built the Egyptian Pyramids and also gave Crysis to us as a bonus, who can tell for sure?

GTA Vice City (2002)

Launched more than two decades ago, in 2002, GTA Vice City is one of the most popular and highly influential video games, and it still holds the flag high even today. This game represents a big open-world environment and some very nice graphics for its time. Back in 2002, when GTA Vice City broke out, it rapidly became a hit.

GTA Vice City follows the adventures of Tommy Vercetti, who’s not exactly the kind of guy you would like to play Call of Duty with. He likes to play Call of Duty in the ‘real’ world of GTA Vice City, actually.

Counter-Strike 1.6 (2003)

You probably know the drill when it comes to Counter-Strike games, as the legendary 1.6 is no exception: you are part of a team of terrorists or counter-terrorists, and you need to defeat the other enemy along with your partners. The first team that loses all of its members loses. On the other hand, if you plant the bomb as a terrorist and it explodes, you win. If you deactivate the bomb planted by your terrorist opponents, you win. If the others do these actions against you, you lose.

Counter-Strike 1.6 was launched in 2003, and it became one of the most played video games worldwide. While the graphics weren’t too impressive for their time, the sound effects were fabulous for their time and even for today’s gaming standards.

GTA 4 (2008)

At its release back in 2008, GTA 4 represented a huge upgrade compared to its predecessor, GTA 3, in every possible way. While the gameplay is extremely interesting and dark, along with the similar dialogues, the graphics in GTA 4 were simply amazing and probably even unprecedented for their time. Rockstar created a very addictive open world where Niko Bellic, a Bosnian war veteran, was the main protagonist, and he had to visit his cousin Roman in Liberty City (a parody of New York City).

Once arrived in Liberty City, Niko gets into all sorts of trouble along with his cousin, and they have no choice but to kill or be killed. GTA 4 was extremely well received by the fans of Grand Theft Auto games, and some believe up to this day that this 2008 game is even better than its successor, GTA 5.

Mafia 2 (2010)

Easily one of the best gangster games of all time, Mafia 2, which came out 13 years ago, easily takes the cake in our view. This game is an absolute classic, and there’s no wonder why some people say that it’s the best game ever made. The attention to detail that the developers had for this game is amazing, and the graphics were out of this world for the period when Mafia 2 was released. Even the facial expressions of the characters were extremely well done. The windows break very realistically if the protagonists shoot at them. Those are just two of the best examples that come to mind to explain the amazing graphics of this game.

In Mafia 2, the player will be in the shoes of Vito Schaletta, an Italian soldier who participated in WWII in Europe. Visiting his buddy Joe in the Empire Bay (parody of New York) of the ’40s, Joe will have to face challenges that are at least as difficult as the war. The world of mobsters where he became trapped doesn’t have any mercy on anyone, and Vito rapidly figured out the hard way that he has no choice but to play by its dirty rules.

How about your own favorite games that feature amazing graphics for their time? Feel free to leave your thoughts and opinions in a comment below!

 

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Tech

How to Become Famous on Instagram: See Our Best Tips!

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A lot of people want to become famous on Instagram to be that cool and popular guy/gal. Who doesn’t want to become famous, in general? Popularity on Instagram, such as being famous on any other social platform, can make you find people with similar interests and tastes as you, make new friends, build new partnerships and businesses, find a life partner, and so on.

Building popularity on any social platform out there is indeed challenging, especially in the beginning. It’s hard to build a strong reputation if you lack experience in the field, especially because there are so many other people out there who offer better content. But that shouldn’t discourage you!

Focus on a specific niche

It’s important to establish a specific niche right from the start so that your followers will know clearly what they can find on your profile. It’s best to choose a niche that you are passionate about, as true enthusiasm leads to great results, regardless of how much it may sound like a cliche.

Create high-quality content

This one may sound like another boring old cliche, but it’s so entirely true! You need a good camera, some good ideas, and as much originality as possible if you want to become famous on Instagram. You need to learn how to edit your videos, but don’t worry, as there are numerous apps out there that can do that for you! Just make sure to invest a bit in a good camera, as nobody likes to see photos or videos in which they can count the pixels in 2023. Certainly, you wouldn’t do it either, so don’t judge them!

Post as often as you can

Nobody will follow your profile if you just post once in a blue moon. Make sure to post as regularly as possible, but at the same time, you should be careful not to run out of ideas in the process! You can also take advantage of the Instagram Insights function to see when your audience is most active, which can tell you when the best time for a new post is.

Use hashtags

You should always find time to do a little research to see which are the most relevant hashtags. Remember that hashtags will make your posts more discoverable, so you should never neglect their importance! You should also create a branded hashtag for your own community and encourage your followers to use it.

Find collaborations

You can collaborate with other Instagram users who are in the same niche as you. The goal is to establish joint projects or shoutouts. It’s also a good idea to be part of Instagram challenges or takeovers to reach a new audience for yourself and your posts.

Interact with your audience

Don’t be that kind of guy/gal who never responds to comments and who will immediately block anyone who dares to say something he or she doesn’t like. There are too many of those people out there already! Instead, your followers will have much higher faith in you if you simply respond to their comments, questions, and DMs. At the same time, don’t just give that lame old excuse that you don’t have time to respond to their messages. Nobody will believe you, as nobody has ever believed such an excuse.

You should definitely bear in mind that building a strong fan base on Instagram cannot be done overnight. You need to constantly provide good quality content, likely for a few weeks or months, until you will see some good results. Good luck and never lose your patience, as it could actually be the biggest virtue of all!

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Games News

The GTA 6 Trailer is Just Around the Corner – What We Need to See in the Long-Awaited Game

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After a long wait, Rockstar informed the world that the official trailer for the long-awaited game GTA 6 will finally arrive in early December. In other words, we might have less than a week to wait until the trailer floods the internet. As fans of the famous and iconic franchise for the gaming industry, we have been waiting for a sequel to GTA 5 for about a decade. Enough is enough already!

However, even though it’s only a matter of days until we get the official trailer for GTA 6, along with the release date of the long-awaited game, there is still a lot to consider. Rockstar needs to fix a lot of stuff and make GTA 6 much better than GTA 5 if they want their new game to sell better. In other words, let’s see what we need to see in GTA 6 when the long-awaited game will be ready to launch:

More enterable buildings

GTA 5 was a great game, that’s for sure. It had an amazing story, perfect graphics, a lot of comedy, and so on and so forth. But one aspect of the insanely-popular RPG that Rockstar shouldn’t have worked more at has to do with the enterable buildings. If we set aside the missions of the game, GTA 5 has few buildings where the player can enter and do his monkey business. If we take a look at GTA San Andreas, for instance, a game that came out almost a decade before GTA 5, that older title was teeming with enterable buildings. Maybe the guys from Rockstar could draw some inspiration from the legendary GTA San Andreas and implement at least as many buildings in GTA 6. Although GTA SA has completely obsolete graphics for today’s standards when it comes to gaming, it still has an incredibly complex gameplay.

More side missions

GTA 5 has 69 main wonderful missions and some side missions as well. Those main missions are indeed long, complex, and entertaining, but after you finish the storyline of the game, you somehow get that feeling that there’s not much else to do. However, we have to remark on the possibility of rapidly replaying any of the missions you’ve finished in GTA 6, which is a nice feature that we hope to see in GTA 6 as well. It doesn’t exist in any other GTA game.

Once again, we have to take GTA San Andreas as an example. That game is teeming with optional missions that you can play, and the more you progress and collect items, the more bonuses you receive. For instance, a 100% completion of the game (which takes very, very much time) will grant you a Rhino tank right in CJ’s backyard.

A more diversified map

GTA 5 has too many mountains and countryside. It has a major city, a few islands, and a beachside. That’s not bad at all, but we could use more than one city in the game and the possibility to travel from one to another in various ways, such as in GTA 4 or, as you’ve already guessed, GTA San Andreas!

Otherwise, the map in GTA 5 is the biggest of all GTA maps, but even so, we can still ask for more. After all, Rockstar had ten years at their disposal to make GTA 6, and all that waiting needs to seriously pay off.

A female protagonist

Who doesn’t like to see a badass chick as she’s teaching some manners to the naughty boys? That’s what we can expect to see in GTA 6 as well. Judging by the information we have so far about the future game, it seems that our wish will be granted.

What do you want to see more in GTA 6? Feel free to share your opinion with us!

Categories
Games

EA FC 24: Top Tips to Become a Better Player in the Game

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EA FC 24 came out a few months ago for PC and the usual consoles, and the community is already delighted by its gameplay. EA has proven that it is indeed possible to have a high-quality game even though it lacks the ‘FIFA’ brand. For those unaware, EA FC 24 is none other than the official successor of FIFA 23. EA SPORTS no longer has the right to use the word ‘FIFA’ in its gaming titles.

EA FC 24 already seems to be a great game, and as you’ve already expected, it updates all the team kits and player names to match the real world. Club leagues have also been updated to include the latest teams that were promoted, those that were relegated, and so on.

Whether you’re new to FIFA games or not, you should definitely keep in mind a few powerful tips to improve your gameplay in these games, including EA FC 24:

Don’t park the bus

An old saying in football says that attack is the best defense. In other words, playing defensive football, such as keeping your team constantly in your own half of the field and smashing each ball away from you, is not an efficient way of playing the game. It doesn’t work in the real world of football, and it won’t work in video games, either. Sooner or later, in most situations, the gods of football will punish you for trying to fool this wonderful sport, meaning that you will lose the game.

Surely, you might have some objections here, saying that, for instance, the Italian national team is well-known for playing highly defensive football in many periods of its history and relying heavily on counterattacks. But guess what? Italy is the exception, not the rule. They were able to obtain great results with such a style of playing football because this country had some of the best defenders in the history of football. On the other hand, you won’t have such good defenders in your own team in a video game, so it’s best not to park the bus.

Opt for short and fast passes

It’s okay to opt for long passes as long as you have De Bruyne in your team, for instance, a player who is well-known as an exceptional passer. But for the majority of players of a football team, long passes don’t represent an efficient way of gameplay. It’s much better to opt for short, fast, and regular passes between teammates. Teams such as Barcelona were well-known for such kinds of passes out there in the real world, and the club won some pretty imposing trophies in this way.

Watch the gameplay of top players

Online streaming platforms such as YouTube are loaded with the gameplay of top FIFA players, and it’s nothing shameful to draw inspiration from others. This means that it’s a good idea to watch the gameplay of the best FIFA players and analyze it, as, in this way, you will definitely learn something.

Put your goalkeeper to work

Don’t be afraid to tell your goalkeeper to go all the way in your opponent’s penalty box when your team has a corner, especially in the latest minutes of a match. Also, don’t be afraid to make your goalkeeper go out of his own penalty area for short passes to his teammates. During a penalty shootout, even goalkeepers participate in executing penalty kicks if they get their turn. Even goalkeepers know how to kick the ball, so don’t be afraid to put them to work.

EA FC 24 is available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/Series S, and Windows PC.

 

Categories
Tech

Top Random Video Chat Apps That You Can Use in 2023

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We live in 2023, a time when people seem to be more and more departed from one another. Social media has the alleged purpose of bringing people together, but it seems like it’s somehow doing the exact opposite. Nobody seems to look for true and strong human interaction anymore, as everybody is busy scrolling through social media posts or going to the supermarket. Everybody ghosts people nowadays or blocks them at the slightest inconvenience.

But wait, there is hope! Surely, there are still people out there who are willing to meet others and build strong connections. You can find them in places you expect the least, such as random video chat apps.

If you have no idea what random video chat apps are, the idea behind them is quite simple: they exist simply to break that golden rule of our childhood that says not to talk to strangers. With such apps, you can meet people from different parts of the world in an instant and start talking to them. You can choose to meet people who have similar interests as you, or you can opt for a completely random virtual encounter.

Omegle

Omegle is probably the most popular random video chat app, as it’s teeming with users of all nationalities. To use it, all you have to do is access the official webpage, enter a name, and start the game. In a matter of seconds, you will be put in contact with another person who can be totally different from you. The person could even be located on the other side of the globe, but guess what? That’s the whole charm of the Omegle service!

Chatous

With Chatous, you don’t just have the chance to contact a stranger and talk about anything you guys want, but the platform also gives you the chance to exchange photos. Chatous allows you to spend multiple hours on the platform as you talk with more and more people, even with the protection of a nickname. In other words, there’s no use providing any personal information there, although you will still need to expose your face, obviously. But perhaps it’s a good idea to wear a mask while talking to another person on Chatous, at least on Halloween.

Camsurf

Users of Camsurf are also connected to one-on-one video conversations, similar to the usual random video chat apps such as Omegle. It’s interesting to keep in mind that Camsurf also employs a moderation system to make sure that there won’t be inappropriate content on the platform.

On Camsurf, you even have the possibility to chat with someone else anonymously. However, the dev team encourages you to adhere to the community’s guidelines to maintain a respectful and positive environment.

Tinychat

On Tinychat, users have the chance to create or join chat rooms, where they can talk to others on group video calls or through one-on-one conversations. The platform itself revolves around the concept of chat rooms a lot. Those chat rooms can be either public or private, and they can also cover specific topics or interests of users.

Tinychat also offers the advantage of being able to sign in using social media accounts, which means that you won’t have to bother remembering a new username and a new password.

It’s probably better to opt for a completely random virtual interaction on video chat apps, where you don’t have any idea how the person will be or what interests he has. It can become pretty boring to have a friend or life partner who has tastes and interests similar to yours. However, it ultimately depends on each person’s view when it comes to what type of people they  want around them.

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