1.
Nintendo DSi
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The Nintendo DSi is a dual-screen handheld game console released by Nintendo. The console launched in Japan on November 1,2008, and it is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival is Sonys PlayStation Portable. The fourth iteration, entitled Nintendo DSi XL, is a model that launched in Japan on November 21,2009. Development of the DSi began in late 2006, and the handheld was unveiled during an October 2008 Nintendo conference in Tokyo, consumer demand convinced Nintendo to produce a slimmer handheld with larger screens than the DS Lite. Consequently, Nintendo removed the Game Boy Advance cartridge slot to improve portability without sacrificing durability. While the DSis design is similar to that of the DS Lite, Nintendo stated that families often share DS and DS Lite consoles. Its new functionality was intended to facilitate personalization, so as to each member of a household to purchase a DSi. The handheld supports exclusive physical media in addition to DS games with DSi-specific features, the only exception to its backward compatibility are earlier DS games that required the GBA slot. Nintendo had sold over 41 million DSi and DSi XL units combined, numerous critics were disappointed with the limited resolution of DSis cameras, though others such as Ars Technica and GameSpot agreed they were adequate for the handhelds display. CNET and PCWorld considered the DSi Shop to be the most important buying incentive for current DS owners, some critics believed the DSi XL was not an essential upgrade. GamePro and Wired UK, on the hand, praised the DSi XLs larger screens for improving the gaming experience. Nintendo ceased operations of the DSi Shop on March 31,2017, Nintendo Points became unredeemable on September 30,2016. Development of the Nintendo DSi started at the end of 2006 and it was the first time Masato Kuwahara of Nintendos Development Engineering Department served as a hardware project leader. Kuwahara reported that his team had difficulty determining the market for the handheld during the design process, he said of their goal. It also has to be able to meld into the already-existing DS market, Kuwaharas team originally wanted one camera with a swivel mechanism, but this was abandoned due to concerns of reliability, cost, and the need of a thicker console. Owing to consumer demand, Nintendo also improved the handhelds volume and audio quality, however, to improve portability without sacrificing durability, the GBA cartridge slot present on earlier models was removed. To compensate, Nintendo continued to support the DS Lite as long as there was demand for it. The DSis size was changed midway through development, delaying its release and its original design included two DS game card slots, because of demand from both fan communities and Nintendo employees, which consequently made it larger
2.
North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
3.
Engadget
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Engadget is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. Engadget currently operates a total of ten written in English. Engadget has in the past ranked among the top five in the Technorati top 100 and was noted in Time for being one of the best blogs of 2010 and it has been operated by AOL since October 2005. Engadget was founded by former Gizmodo technology weblog editor and co-founder, Peter Rojas, Engadget was the largest blog in Weblogs, Inc. a blog network with over 75 weblogs including Autoblog and Joystiq which formerly included Hack-A-Day. Weblogs Inc. was purchased by AOL in 2005, Engadgets editor-in-chief, Ryan Block, announced on July 22,2008, that he would be stepping down as editor-in-chief in late August, leaving the role to Joshua Topolsky. On March 12,2011, Topolsky announced that he was leaving Engadget to start The Verge, appointing Tim Stevens — profiled by Fortune on May 31, on February 13,2013, AOL acquired gdgt, a device review website that was created by Rojas and Block. Overnight on July 15,2013, Tim Stevens stepped down as the editor-in-chief, in November 2013, a major redesign was launched that merged gdgts features into Engadget, such as database of devices and aggregated reviews. The changes aimed to turn Engadget into a more consumer electronics resource, similarly to CNET and Consumer Reports. As of April 2014, Michael Gorman was tapped as the Editor-In-Chief alongside Christopher Trout as Executive Editor, Engadget operates a number of blogs spanning seven different languages including English, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Polish, Korean and German. The English edition of Engadget operates four blogs which, like the international editions, have assimilated into a single site with a sub-domain prefix. These include Engadget Classic, Engadget Mobile, Engadget HD and Engadget Alt, as of late 2013, these editions exist but have been wrapped into Engadget Classic. In March 2014, a UK edition of Engadget also launched to target the developing European tech market, launched in March 2004, Engadget is updated multiple times a day with articles on gadgets and consumer electronics. These writers include Jason Calacanis, Paul Boutin, Phillip Torrone, Joshua Fruhlinger, Marc Perton, darren Murph, has worked on the site as Managing Editor and Editor-at-Large. He has written over 17,212 posts as of October 5,2010, industry analyst Ross Rubin has contributed a weekly column called Switched On since October 2004. Engadget uses the Blogsmith CMS to publish its content, the Engadget podcast was launched in October 2004 and was originally hosted by Phillip Torrone and Len Pryor. Torrone was the host for the first 22 episodes of the podcast at which point Eric Rice took over, the podcast was hosted by Editor-in-chief Joshua Topolsky along with editors Paul Miller and Nilay Patel with occasional special guests until their 2011 departure. The podcast was produced by Trent Wolbe under Topolskys editorship and continued to be under Tim Stevens until December 2012, the topic of discussion for the podcast is technology-related and closely linked to events that have happened during the week in the world of technology. The show generally lasts an hour or more, the show is normally weekly, however, the frequency can change, especially during special events
4.
Joystiq
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Joystiq was a video gaming blog founded in June 2004 as part of the Weblogs, Inc. family of weblogs, now owned by AOL. It was AOLs primary video game blog, with sister blogs dealing with MMORPG gaming in general, after declining readership, it was announced that Joystiq would be shut down on February 3,2015, as part of moves to downsize AOLs operations by shuttering its underperforming properties. However, none of three initial weblogs were ever aggressively marketed, and The Video Games Weblog made its final post on May 18,2005. All three blogs are now listed as On Hiatus/Retired in the Weblogs, Inc. directory, david Touve, the primary contributor to these early blogs, would later act as Joystiqs features editor for a short time in late 2005 before resigning due to the birth of his child. However, being a separate and wholly video game-related entity, Joystiq allowed for much more analysis of the video game industry than the primarily consumer electronics-oriented Engadget. While Joystiq had featured content as early as April 2, the blog is not officially considered to have been launched until Rojass public revelation on Engadget on Wednesday, Weblogs, Inc. was acquired in October 2005 by America Online. For the next three weeks this trend would continue, with PSP Fanboy launching on November 28, WoW Insider on December 6, and DS Fanboy on December 12. On February 15,2006, a blog was introduced, Revolution Fanboy, while March 29 heralded the arrival of PS3 Fanboy. On January 26,2006, Joystiq coined the phrase DS phat, on November 2,2007, Massively was launched to cover MMOs in general. On January 27,2009, the Fanboy sites were rebranded and integrated directly into the main Joystiq site, DS and Wii Fanboy were merged into Joystiq Nintendo, as were PSP and PS3 Fanboy merged into Joystiq PlayStation, and Xbox 360 Fanboy became Joystiq Xbox. Until 2010, these continued to feature specialized posts in addition to relevant content from the main Joystiq site. On June 11,2010, as part of the new Futurestiq iteration of the site, in January 2012, Ludwig Kietzmann became the editor-in-chief after Grant left to form a new video game news website with Vox Media, owners of The Verge, known as Polygon. On January 27,2015, Re/code reported that Joystiq was among the sites that were likely to be shut down as part of this restructuring plan, readership of Joystiq had seen sharp declines, falling by at least 18% over the previous year. It is expected that future gaming-oriented coverage will be assumed by Engadget, after the shutdown, on February 10,2015, the staff of Massively launched a successor site, Massively Overpowered, dedicated to the continuation of their MMO coverage. Thomas Schulenberg and Sam Prell maintain the blog on the weekends as the weekend editors, the original format for the Joystiq Podcast was hosted by Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin Hoops McElroy. The three would discuss various gaming-related news stories, segments included, What Have you Been Playing. Brush With Fame, The Big Three, The Do It Line. various podcasts have included guests from other gaming websites such as CheapyD, Chris Remo, Stephen Totilo, Rocco Botte, Tom Chick and Shawn Andrich but they stopped doing them. Over time, the format evolved to include more off-the-cuff discussion
5.
Teyon
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Teyon is a Polish video games developer, producer and online publisher for all leading platforms including PC, Mac OS X, iOS, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The company was founded in 2006 in Kraków, Poland, in 2007 Teyon released Burn, the first FPS in the companys portfolio. It was followed by Battle Rage and District Wars in 2008 and Blind Shot, in 2009 Teyon debuted on Nintendo Download services with Nintendo DSiWare puzzle games Robot Rescue and Ball Fighter, followed by Hubert the Teddy Bear, Winter Games a WiiWare family game in 2010. The same year 4 games other games were published on Nintendo DSiWare including 101 MiniGolf World,1001 Crystal Mazes Collection, Teyon also released an arcade shooting series for WiiWare, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The first part Heavy Fire, Special Operations appeared in July 2010 in North America, in 2012, Teyon released a number of Nintendo eShop games including Crazy Chicken, Pirates, Outdoors Unleashed, Africa 3D and Bird Mania 3D which reached number 1 in the Nintendo eShop Charts. Since 2012 Teyon started a research project Audio and Video Raytracer in consortium with AGH DSP, the project is aimed to make an audio and video engine of a new generation
6.
Sports game
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A sports game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including sports, track and field, extreme sports. Some games emphasize playing the sport, whilst others emphasize strategy. Some, such as Need for Speed, Arch Rivals and Punch-Out, satirize the sport for comic effect. This genre has been throughout the history of video games and is competitive. A number of game series feature the names and characteristics of real teams and players, Sports games involve physical and tactical challenges, and test the players precision and accuracy. Most sports games attempt to model the athletic characteristics required by that sport, including speed, strength, acceleration, accuracy, as with their respective sports, these games take place in a stadium or arena with clear boundaries. Sports games often provide play-by-play and color commentary through the use of recorded audio, Sports games sometimes make use of different modes for different parts of the game. This is especially true in games about American football such as the Madden NFL series, sometimes, other sports games offer a menu where players may select a strategy while play is temporarily suspended. Some sports games also require players to shift roles between the athletes and the coach or manager and these mode switches are more intuitive than other game genres because they reflect actual sports. Older 2D sports games sometimes used a graphical scale, where athletes appeared to be quite large in order to be visible to the player. As sports games have evolved, players have come to expect a realistic graphical scale with a degree of verisimilitude. Sports games often simplify the game physics for ease of play, Games typically take place with a highly accurate time-scale, although they usually allow players to play quick sessions with shorter game quarters or periods. Sports games sometimes treat button-pushes as continuous signals rather than discrete moves, in order to initiate, for example, football games may distinguish between short and the long passes based on how long the player holds a button. Golf games often initiate the backswing with one button-push, and the swing itself is initiated by a subsequent push. ″also can customize person and can make own team″ In 1958, William Higinbotham created a game called Tennis for Two, the players would select the angle at which to put their racket, and pressed a button to return it. Although this game was simple, it demonstrated how an action game could be played on a computer. Video games prior to the late 1970s were primarily played on university mainframe computers under timesharing systems that supported multiple computer terminals on school campuses, the two dominant systems in this era were Digital Equipment Corporations PDP-10 and Control Data Corporations PLATO
7.
Multiplayer game
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A multiplayer game has several players, who may be independent opponents or teams. Games with many independent players are difficult to analyse formally using game theory as the players may form coalitions, the term game in this context may mean either a true game played for entertainment, or a competitive activity describable in principle by mathematical game theory. John Nash proved that games with several players have a solution provided that coalitions between players are not allowed. He won the Nobel prize for economics for this important result which extended von Neumanns theory of zero-sum games, such a stable strategy is called a Nash equilibrium. If cooperation between players is allowed, then the game is more complex, many concepts have been developed to analyze such games. While these have had partial success in the fields of economics, politics and conflict. In quantum game theory, it has found that the introduction of quantum information into multiplayer games allows a new type of equilibrium strategy which is not found in traditional games. The entanglement of playerss choices can have the effect of a contract by preventing players from profiting from betrayal, board games – A played on a game board with set rules
8.
Official Nintendo Magazine
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Official Nintendo Magazine, or ONM, is a retired British video game magazine which covered the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Wii and Wii U video game consoles released by Nintendo. Under these names, it was published by EMAP for twelve years, before the rights were sold to its current publisher, the first issue by Future plc was released on 16 February 2006. The similarly-titled Australian version was a follow-up of Nintendo Magazine System, Mean Machines, a long-standing British games magazine, split into two separate magazines, focusing on the two then-major video games console companies, Sega and Nintendo. The Sega-based magazine retained the title, Mean Machines Sega. The first issue of Nintendo Magazine System was released on 1 October 1992 and its name was later changed to Nintendo Magazine, Nintendo Official Magazine then Nintendo Official Magazine UK, before its publisher was changed from EMAP to Future plc. After this change, the magazine was renamed to its current name, Official Nintendo Magazine and it reached its 50th issue on 20 November 2009 and its 100th issue in October 2013. On 15 December 2008, the first issue of Official Nintendo Magazine for Australia & New Zealand and it was the second officially-endorsed Nintendo magazine released in Australia and New Zealand, succeeding the Australian Nintendo Magazine System, which ceased publishing in 2000. Issue 60 and the issue for Official Nintendo Magazine for Australia & New Zealand was published in December 2013. In early 2011, four guest bloggers were appointed, Colette Barr, Marti Bennett, Chris Rooke and these bloggers provided their perspective to Nintendo-related news and events. In March 2011, the UK magazine underwent a change in the style and layout of the contents in the magazine, the first issue released in this format featured a 3D without glasses cover for the launch of Nintendo 3DS. A new version was introduced in November 2012, with the release of the Wii U, the magazine came to a close with its 114th issue. On 7 October 2014, Future confirmed that the magazine would come to a close with its 114th issue, furthermore, it was confirmed that the website would be closed 11 November 2014. On 15 October 2014, former moderators of the ONM forums set up a replacement site for the closure of the forums. Nintendo will now be focusing on its Nintendo Direct, Live Treehouse, Miiverse, there is also an A-Z of games features in the issue. Also includes a transcript of the podcast. A star letter is picked and a prize, is given to the sender. The score is given in percentages and a summary is given along with the good, - the top 27 games, also features In the Mood for. Wii U 3DS & 2DS 3DS & 2DS eShop FAQs, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and The Legend of Zelda, Twilight Princess were all given ratings of 97%
9.
Computing platform
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Computing platform means in general sense, where any piece of software is executed. It may be the hardware or the system, even a web browser or other application. The term computing platform can refer to different abstraction levels, including a hardware architecture, an operating system. In total it can be said to be the stage on which programs can run. For example, an OS may be a platform that abstracts the underlying differences in hardware, platforms may also include, Hardware alone, in the case of small embedded systems. Embedded systems can access hardware directly, without an OS, this is referred to as running on bare metal, a browser in the case of web-based software. The browser itself runs on a platform, but this is not relevant to software running within the browser. An application, such as a spreadsheet or word processor, which hosts software written in a scripting language. This can be extended to writing fully-fledged applications with the Microsoft Office suite as a platform, software frameworks that provide ready-made functionality. Cloud computing and Platform as a Service, the social networking sites Twitter and facebook are also considered development platforms. A virtual machine such as the Java virtual machine, applications are compiled into a format similar to machine code, known as bytecode, which is then executed by the VM. A virtualized version of a system, including virtualized hardware, OS, software. These allow, for instance, a typical Windows program to run on what is physically a Mac, some architectures have multiple layers, with each layer acting as a platform to the one above it. In general, a component only has to be adapted to the layer immediately beneath it, however, the JVM, the layer beneath the application, does have to be built separately for each OS
