1.
Irvine, California
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Irvine is an affluent city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a city, the Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28,1971, the 66-square-mile city had a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census, a number of corporations, particularly in the technology and semiconductor sectors, have their national or international headquarters in Irvine. The Gabrieleño indigenous group inhabited Irvine about 2,000 years ago, gaspar de Portolà, a Spanish explorer, came to the area in 1769, which led to the establishment of forts, missions and cattle herds. The King of Spain parceled out land for missions and private use, after Mexicos independence from Spain in 1821, the Mexican government secularized the missions and assumed control of the lands. It began distributing the land to Mexican citizens who applied for grants, three large Spanish/Mexican grants made up the land that later became the Irvine Ranch, Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, Rancho San Joaquin and Rancho Lomas de Santiago. In 1864, Jose Andres Sepulveda, owner of Rancho San Joaquin sold 50,000 acres to Benjamin and Thomas Flint, Llewellyn Bixby, in 1866, Irvine, Flint and Bixby acquired 47, 000-acre Rancho Lomas de Santiago for $7,000. After the Mexican-American war the land of Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana fell prey to tangled titles, in 1868, the ranch was divided among four claimants as part of a lawsuit, Flint, Bixby and Irvine. The ranches were devoted to sheep grazing, however, in 1870, tenant farming was permitted. In 1878, James Irvine acquired his partners interests for $150,000 and his 110,000 acres stretched 23 miles from the Pacific Ocean to the Santa Ana River. The ranch was inherited by his son, James Irvine, Jr. who incorporated it into The Irvine Company, James, Jr. shifted the ranch operations to field crops, olive and citrus crops. In 1888, the Santa Fe Railroad extended its line to Fallbrook Junction, north of San Diego, the town that formed around this station was named Myford, after Irvines son, because a post office in Calaveras County already bore the family name. The town was renamed Irvine in 1914, by 1918,60,000 acres of lima beans were grown on the Irvine Ranch. Two Marine Corps facilities, MCAS El Toro and MCAS Tustin, were built during World War II on ranch land sold to the government, James Irvine, Jr. died in 1947 at the age of 80. His son, Myford, assumed the presidency of The Irvine Company and he began opening small sections of the Irvine Ranch to urban development. The Irvine Ranch played host to the Boy Scouts of Americas 1953 National Scout Jamboree, Jamboree Road, a major street which now stretches from Newport Beach to the city of Orange, was named in honor of this event. David Sills, then a young Boy Scout from Peoria, Illinois, was among the attendees at the 1953 Jamboree, Sills came back to Irvine as an adult and went on to serve four terms as the citys mayor. The same year, the University of California asked The Irvine Company for 1,000 acres for a new university campus, the Irvine Company sold the requested land for $1 and later the state purchased an additional 500 acres
2.
Video game industry
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The video game industry is the economic sector involved in the development, marketing and Monetizing of video games. It encompasses dozens of job disciplines and employs thousands of people worldwide, the computer and video game industry has grown from focused markets to mainstream. They took in about US$9.5 billion in the US in 2007,11.7 billion in 2008, sound cards were developed for addition of digital-quality sound to games and only later improved for music and audiophiles. Early on, graphics cards were developed for more colors, later, graphic cards were developed for graphical user interfaces and games, GUIs drove the need for high resolution, and games began using 3D acceleration. They also are one of the pieces of hardware to allow multiple hookups. Product and talent layer, includes developers, designers and artists, production and tools layer, generates content production tools, game development middleware, customizable game engines, and production management tools. Distribution layer, or the industry, involved in generating and marketing catalogs of games for retail. Hardware layer, or the providers of the platform, which may be console-based, accessed through online media. This layer now includes network infrastructure and non-hardware platforms such as machines, or software platforms such as browsers or even further Facebook. End-users layer, or the users/players of the games, the game industry employs those experienced in other traditional businesses, but some have experience tailored to the game industry. Some of the specific to the game industry include, game programmer, game designer, level designer, game producer, game artist. Most of these professionals are employed by video game developers or video game publishers, however, many hobbyists also produce computer games and sell them commercially. Recently, game developers have begun to employ those with extensive or long-term experience within the modding communities, prior to the 1970s, there was no significant commercial aspect of the video game industry, but many advances in computing would set the stage for the birth of the industry. In 1947 Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann filed a patent for a cathode ray tube amusement device and their game, which uses a cathode ray tube hooked to an oscilloscope display, challenges players to fire a gun at target. One of the first known examples is Spacewar, developed by Harvard and MIT employees Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanen. The introduction of easy-to-program languages like BASIC for mainframes allowed for more games to be developed. In 1971 the arcade game, Computer Space was released, the following year, Atari, Inc. released the first commercially successful video game, Pong, the original arcade version of which sold over 19,000 arcade cabinets. That same year saw the introduction of video games to the market with the release of the early video game console
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
Michael Morhaime
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Michael Mike Morhaime is president and a co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, a video game developer located in Irvine, California, owned by Activision Blizzard. He is also an alumnus of Triangle Fraternity and received his bachelors degree in 1990 from UCLA, in 2008, Morhaime was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for Blizzard’s creation of World of Warcraft. Morhaime plays poker and reached second place in edition 2006 of DICEs Celebrity Poker Tournament, in the last round, he faced Scott Fischman and Perry Friedman, and Ray Muzyka, co-founder and CEO of video game developer Bioware. After a 45-minute game, Muzyka won, and Morhaime placed second overall in the tournament and he graduated from Granada Hills High School in 1985. He is a member of ETC, a band formed of and by Blizzard Employees. His avatar is a male Troll, MaiKyl, in 2008, Morhaime was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. In 2012, Morhaime made a appearance on The Guild. Morhaime received the national Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Technology category in 2012, in 2015 Morhaime received the IGDA Game Innovation Spotlight Award
5.
President (corporate title)
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The President is a leader of an organization, company, community, club, trade union, university or other group. In many organizations, it is the legally recognized highest titled corporate officer, the president may also be the chairman. The relationship between the president and the Chief Executive Officer varies, depending on the structure of the specific organization, in a similar vein to the Chief Operating Officer, the title of corporate President as a separate position is also loosely defined. The powers of the president vary widely across organizations and such powers come from specific authorization in the bylaws, originally, the term president was used to designate someone who presided over a meeting, and was used in the same way that foreman or overseer is used now. It has now come to mean chief officer in terms of administrative or executive duties. In addition to the administrative or executive duties in organizations, the president has the duties of presiding over meetings, in committees or small boards, the president votes along with the other members. However, in assemblies or larger boards, the president should vote only when it can affect the result, at a meeting, the president only has one vote. The powers of the president vary widely across organizations, the amount of power given to the president depends on the type of organization, its structure, and the rules it has created for itself. If the president exceeds the given authority, engages in misconduct, or fails to perform the duties, such procedures may include censure, suspension, or removal from office. The rules of the organization would provide details on who can perform these disciplinary procedures. Usually, whoever appointed or elected the president has the power to discipline this officer, some organizations may have a position of President-Elect in addition to the position of President. Generally the membership of the organization elects a President-Elect and when the term of the President-Elect is complete, some organizations may have a position of Immediate Past President in addition to the position of President. In those organizations, when the term of the President is complete, the organization can have such a position only if the bylaws provide it. The duties of such a position would also have to be provided in the bylaws, riding Shotgun, The Role of the COO. National Association of Parliamentarians®, Education Committee, independence, MO, National Association of Parliamentarians®
6.
Diablo (series)
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Diablo is an action role-playing hack and slash dungeon crawler video game series developed by Blizzard Entertainment. As of May 30,2012, the series has sold over 24.8 million copies worldwide, the series is made up of three core games, Diablo, Diablo II, and Diablo III. All three games are action role-playing and hack and slash games, additional content is provided through story elements explored in other media forms. To celebrate Diablos 20th anniversary, the game was going to be recreated in Diablo III in late 2016. The series is set in the world of Sanctuary. The three games in the series place in similar geographic areas, with several common areas including the town of Tristram. Additional setting is provided by the High Heavens and the Burning Hells, the series focuses on the battle between the humans living on Sanctuary and the Prime Evils, demons who are led by Diablo, the series chief antagonist. The humans are occasionally aided by angels, notably the archangel of justice, the characters in the world of Sanctuary are primarily humans, angels, and various classes of demons and monsters. The series has resulted in the publishing of several books relevant to the Diablo setting, covering a range of the timelines of the universe. There are also comics that explore various stories within the world of Sanctuary, Diablo is set in the world of Sanctuary, created by the Archangel Inarius for angels and devils weary of conflict between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells. When Lilith returned, a farmer named Uldyssian-ul-Diomed stopped her by destroying the cults of both Inarius and Lilith, sacrificing himself to protect the world. The prime evils remained imprisoned until Diablo, through contacts with mortals living in the town above him, while a hero managed to slay him, the hero soon transformed into a new host body for Diablos soul. With Diablo setting about in his new host to free his brothers, in the process, the Worldstone, designed to keep Sanctuary hidden from the High Heavens and the Burning Hells, was destroyed. Eventually, Diablo achieved resurrection once again, this time in the body of his daughter, through subterfuge, he manages to obtain the souls of all the Prime Evils. Containing those souls within his own, Diablo begins to assault the High Heavens and nearly destroys them before a new hero kills him, the setting of Diablo is the town of Tristram, the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Khanduras on the world of Sanctuary. The actual fighting takes place beneath the town in a maze of dungeons, catacombs, Diablo offers three character classes and the Hellfire expansion offers three more. Players can play as Warriors, Rogues, or Sorcerers, each class has its own place in the games history, and all three classes make appearances as non-player characters in the sequel. All three classes have the same skills and access to the same spells
7.
Hearthstone (video game)
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Hearthstone, originally known as Hearthstone, Heroes of Warcraft, is a free-to-play online collectible card video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Having been released worldwide on March 11,2014, Hearthstone builds upon the already existing lore of the Warcraft series by using the elements, characters. It was first released for Microsoft Windows and macOS, with support for iOS, the game features cross-platform play, allowing players on any device to compete with each other, restricted only by geographical region account limits. The game is a card game between two opponents, using constructed decks of thirty cards along with a selected hero with a unique power. Players use mana points to cast spells or summon minions to attack the opponent, winning matches can earn in-game gold, rewards in the form of new cards, and other in-game prizes. Players can then buy packs of new cards through gold or microtransactions to customize, the game features several modes of play, including casual and ranked matches, as well as daily quests and weekly challenges to help earn more gold and cards. In contrast to games developed by Blizzard, Hearthstone was an experimental game developed by a smaller team based on the appreciation of collectible card games at the company. Many of the concepts as well as art assets were based on previously published in the physical World of Warcraft Trading Card Game printed around 2008. The game has been reviewed by critics and proven successful for Blizzard. By April 2016, Blizzard has reported more than 50 million Hearthstone players, the game has become popular as an eSport, with cash-prize tournaments hosted by Blizzard and other organizers. Hearthstone is a collectible card game that revolves around turn-based matches between two opponents using pre-made decks of cards from their collection. Players can choose from a number of modes, with each offering a slightly different experience. Blizzard has added new cards sets through Expansions and Adventures, roughly three times a year, to increase the pool of available cards, Hearthstone is set within the Warcraft universe, with its characters, spells and locations drawing from existing lore. Each player is represented by a hero, a character from Warcraft lore representing one of nine specific classes. The classes are defined by their unique power that can be used during a players turn. The game features modes of gameplay. The standard Play mode allows players to other players or computer opponents. Solo Adventures allow players to complete challenges against computer opponents, often with unique conditions, cards, or powers, the boss encounters feature unique dialogue elements
8.
Heroes of the Storm
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Heroes of the Storm is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and macOS. The game features heroes from Blizzards franchises including Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft, The Lost Vikings, the game uses both free-to-play and freemium models and is supported by micropayments, which can be used to purchase heroes, visual alterations for the heroes in the game, and mounts. The game was released on June 2,2015, Heroes of the Storm revolves around online 5-versus-5 matches, operated through Blizzards online gaming service Battle. net. Players can choose from three modes, which include playing with/against computer-controlled heroes or other players. Four additional free hero slots are available to players who have reached level 15, as of March 2017, there are currently 64 heroes in the game, divided into 4 separate roles, Assassin, Warrior, Support and Specialist. Varian Wrynn from the Warcraft universe, added in November 2016, is the first multiclass hero, he can be either a Warrior or Assassin depending on his talent choices. Of the currently released maps, nine of the 12 have the three main lanes where players can fight, while the others have only two main lanes, but a separate objective-based area. Killing computer-controlled enemy/neutral units and the opposing sides heroes grants experience points, when a certain experience point threshold is reached for a team, every hero on that team levels up, acquiring slightly amplified powers and gaining a talent point upon reaching certain levels. Talent points allow players to customize and empower their heros abilities and this leveling system emphasizes the importance of teamwork and planning, since a players action can affect the whole team. Players can also mount different animals, such as horses, lizards, or unicorns, to increase their movement speed, minions at neutral camps can be defeated to gain experience points, and become mercenaries that fight for the players team. Each map has a different side-objective that will help either team, in non-draft modes, players choose their heroes in a party before entering the game or knowing what map they are playing. In draft modes, teams play the same heroes as the opposing team. However, they can base their decision around the map that is announced during the draft period, draft mode allows each team to ban two heroes each, removing them from the match. Tutorials - The tutorials are composed of three scripted levels that are aimed at new players with the intent of teaching them movement, use of abilities and other basic controls. The player controls Jim Raynor, who is teleported from the StarCraft universe into the Nexus, training - A reduced XP mode where a player plays with four AI teammates against five AI opponents set at the Beginner difficulty. - Players face off against five AI opponents, before beginning, the player can choose to have human-controlled or AI allies. Like in StarCraft II, the AI difficulty can be chosen prior to initiating a match, quick Match - This mode sets two teams of five human-controlled heroes against each other on one of the twelve maps in Player-Versus-Player style combat. These teams are selected based on the players past performance to create a playing field
9.
Overwatch (video game)
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Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released in May 2016 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, players on a team work together to secure and defend control points on a map and/or escort a payload across the map in a limited amount of time. Players gain cosmetic rewards that do not affect gameplay, such as character skins and victory poses, the game was initially launched with casual play, with a competitive ranked mode, various arcade game modes, and a player-customizable server browser subsequently included following its release. Overwatch is Blizzards fourth major franchise and came following the 2014 cancellation of the ambitious massively multiplayer online role-playing game Titan. Some elements of Overwatch borrow assets and concepts from the canceled Titan project, significant time was spent adjusting the balance of the characters, making sure that new players would still be able to have fun while skilled players would present each other with a challenge. Overwatch was unveiled at BlizzCon 2014 in a playable state and was in a closed beta from late 2015 through early 2016. An open beta in May 2016 drew in more than 9.7 million players, the release of the game was promoted with short animated videos to introduce the games narrative and each of the characters. Considered one of the best games released in 2016, the game received numerous accolades, including being awarded Game of the Year at The Game Awards, Awards, and Game Developers Choice Awards, as well as from numerous publications. Since its release, Overwatch has become recognized as an eSport, Overwatch is a first-person shooter that features squad-based combat with two opposing teams of six players each. Players choose one of several characters, each with their own unique abilities. Within a match, players can switch between characters in-game following deaths or by returning to their home base, the game is designed to encourage players to adapt to the opposing team during a match by switching to characters that better counter their abilities. Each hero has an attack or skill and at least two additional skills that can be invoked at any time, some requiring a brief cooldown period before they can be used again. Once ready, the player can use this skill at any time which may last for a few seconds or be a single powerful action and this gives opposing players a brief moment to try to take cover or respond appropriately. A second meter tracks how many points a player has scored over time, which are rewarded for killing or assisting in killing, providing team defense or healing. When a certain threshold is reached, the player characters icon will be on fire, representing that character is a threat. This meter will drop if the player does not continue to score points. Overwatch employs an automated instant replay system, designed to highlight important moments of the game and this is called a Play of the Game, or Play of the Match in competitive games that have longer matches. Afterwards, a screen is shown, highlighting up to four individual players from both teams for their achievements during the match, and all players are given the option to commend one of them
10.
StarCraft
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StarCraft is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney, and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series debuted with the video game StarCraft in 1998, Blizzard Entertainment began planning StarCraft in 1995, with a development team led by Metzen and Phinney. The game debuted at E31996, and used a modified Warcraft II game engine, StarCraft also marked the creation of Blizzard Entertainments film department, the game introduced high quality cinematics integral to the storyline of the series. Most of the development team for StarCraft returned to work on the games official expansion pack, Brood War. In 2001, StarCraft, Ghost began development under Nihilistic Software, unlike the previous real-time strategy games in the series, Ghost was to be a stealth-action game. After three years of development, work on the game was postponed in 2004, development of StarCraft II, Wings of Liberty began in 2003, the game was later announced in May 2007 and was released in July 2010. The StarCraft II franchise continued with the StarCraft II, Heart of the Swarm expansion, the third StarCraft II installment, StarCraft II, Legacy of the Void, released in November 2015. The original game and its expansion have been praised as one of the benchmark real-time strategy games of its time. By June 2007, StarCraft and Brood War had sold nearly 10 million copies combined, in addition, the series was awarded a star on the Walk of Game in 2006, and holds four Guinness World Records in the Guinness World Records Gamers Edition of 2008. On March 27,2017, Blizzard announced StarCraft, Remastered, a version of the original StarCraft, with the core updates being up-to-date graphics. The story focuses on the activities of the three species in a part of the Milky Way known as the Koprulu Sector. Millennia before any of the events of the games, a known as the XelNaga genetically engineered the Protoss. These experiments backfire and the XelNaga are largely destroyed by the Zerg, however, the computers automating the colony ships malfunction, propelling the Terran colonists far off course to the edge of Protoss space. Out of contact with Earth, they form various factions to maintain their interests, intrigued by the behavior and mentality of the Terrans, the Protoss remain hidden to examine the humans, while protecting them from other threats without their knowledge. However, the Zerg target the Terrans for assimilation to harness their psionic potential, the Confederacy eventually succumbs to Mengsks rebels when they use Confederate technology to lure the Zerg into attacking the Confederate capital, Tarsonis. In the consequent power vacuum, Mengsk crowns himself emperor of a new Terran Dominion, however, during the assault on Tarsonis, Mengsk allows the Zerg to capture and infest his psychic second-in-command, Sarah Kerrigan. This betrayal prompts Mengsks other commander, Jim Raynor, to him with a small army. Having retreated with Kerrigan to their hive clusters, the Zerg are assaulted by Protoss forces commanded by Tassadar
11.
Warcraft
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Warcraft is a franchise of video games, novels, and other media created by Blizzard Entertainment. The series is made up of five games, Warcraft, Orcs & Humans, Warcraft II, Tides of Darkness, Warcraft III, Reign of Chaos, World of Warcraft. The first three of these games are in the real-time strategy genre, where opposing players command virtual armies in battle against each other or a computer-controlled enemy. The fourth and best-selling title of the franchise is a multiplayer online role-playing game. The most recent title is Hearthstone, a collectible card game. Multiple expansion packages also accompanied World of Warcraft, which include, The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor and Legion. All games in the series have set in and around the world of Azeroth. Initially, the start of the focused on the human nations that make up the Eastern Kingdoms, and the Orcish Horde. The Orcs came from another world, referred to as Draenor, which turns into Outland. The world of Azeroth also contains the traditional fantasy setting races of elves, dwarves, gnomes, orcs, the series also spawned several books and other media, covering a broad range of characters and timelines in the Warcraft universe. A collectable card game was published, which offered those who bought booster packs a chance to gain access codes to limited in-game content in World of Warcraft. Many comics have also released alongside the books, further covering parts of the universes storyline. A short-lived, online subscription only magazine was available but later ceased publication after just five issues. A film adaptation was released in 2016, the first three games in the Warcraft series, including their expansion packs, were all released on both the PC and Macintosh. All of these games were of the strategy genre. Each game proceeded to carry on the storyline of the previous games, Warcraft III was the first game in the series to feature a Collectors Edition, which all subsequent games have released as well. Warcraft II was the first game in the series to play over the internet using Battle. net. Warcraft II was also the first in the series to be re-released as a Battle Chest, Warcraft III and World of Warcraft also have both had Battle Chests released for them subsequent to their initial release
12.
Net income
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In business, net income is an entitys income minus cost of goods sold, expenses and taxes for an accounting period. In the context of the presentation of financial statements, the IFRS Foundation defines net income as synonymous with profit, net income is a distinct accounting concept from profit but the same as net profit. Net income can also be calculated by adding a companys operating income to non-operating income, net income can be distributed among holders of common stock as a dividend or held by the firm as an addition to retained earnings. As profit and earnings are used synonymously for income, net earnings, often, the term income is substituted for net income, yet this is not preferred due to the possible ambiguity. Net income is called the bottom line because it is typically found on the last line of a companys income statement. The items deducted will typically include tax expense, financing expense, likewise, preferred stock dividends will be subtracted too, though they are not an expense. For a merchandising company, subtracted costs may be the cost of goods sold, sales discounts, for a product company advertising, manufacturing, and design and development costs are included
13.
Vivendi Games
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Headed by Bruce Hack, it was headquartered in Los Angeles, California and employed over 3,400 people at four separate development divisions. It later merged with Activision and is now known as Activision Blizzard, the direct predecessor of Vivendi Games was Universal Interactive, the game publishing division of Universal Studios. Founded in 1993, it was best known for publishing the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon series, CUC Software was founded in February 1996, when CUC International, a large mail order and subscription company, offered to acquire entertainment software developer Sierra Entertainment. Headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, Sierra published adventure game such as Kings Quest, Gabriel Knight. Sierra was a company, which employed roughly 1,000 employees at 12 different acquired studios. CUC offered to absorb Sierras stock shares at a price roughly 90% higher than what Sierra was trading, at the same time, CUC also approached Davidson & Associates, a leading publisher and distributor of educational software, with an offer of a similar stock swap. Headquartered in Torrance, California, Davidson published the Math Blaster, Warcraft, Davidson was also a public company, founded and headed by Bob Davidson, who acted as CEO, and also by Jan Davidson, who acted as President. Soon after its creation, CUC Software acquired in January 1997 Knowledge Adventure, a developer of educational software. CUC also acquired Gryphon Software, another software company. Davidson & Associates and Gryphon were then absorbed into Knowledge Adventure, in 1997, CUC Software also acquired Berkeley Systems and integrated Berkeley Systems into Sierra On-Line. CUC then merged with a hotel, real-estate, and car-rental franchiser called HFS Corporation to form Cendant in 1997, the company sold its consumer software operations, which included Sierra and Blizzard, to French publisher Havas in 1998, the same year Havas was purchased by Vivendi. In June 2000, Vivendi acquired Seagram to become Vivendi Universal, in 2004, Vivendi Universal Games sold one of its divisions, Knowledge Adventure to a group of private investors. When parent company Vivendi Universal dropped the Universal in its name in 2006 to simply become Vivendi SA, Vivendi Universal Games followed suit and it ceased to publish under its own name and instead assigned those duties to its divisions. Spyro and Crash Bandicoot were assigned to Sierra Entertainment in this arrangement, in 2006, Vivendi Games created a new mobile division Vivendi Games Mobile, which was promised to begin publishing and distributing games in 2006 through mobile carriers and portals. In December 2007, it was announced that Vivendi Games would merge with games publisher Activision, in July 2008, the merger went active. Activision Blizzard operated the games division of Vivendi SA, and became an independent company on July 25,2013, Blizzard Entertainment is a development studio best known for creating the series Warcraft, Diablo and StarCraft. World of Warcraft, one of the most popular MMORPG games, has currently over 3.5 million subscribers, Blizzard Entertainment later became independent, as compared to a subsidiary. Sierra Entertainment creates and publishes software for consoles, handheld gaming devices, Sierra Entertainment features a portfolio of titles, including F. E. A. R
14.
Activision Blizzard
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Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game developer. Activision Blizzard currently includes five units, Activision, Blizzard Entertainment, Major League Gaming, Activision Blizzard Studios. The company owns and operates additional studios under an independent studios model, including Treyarch, Infinity Ward and Toys for Bob, and its titles have broken a number of release records. Call of Duty, Black Ops III grossed $550 million in sales during its opening weekend in 2015. In December 2007, Activision announced that the company and its assets would merge with fellow games developer and publisher Vivendi Games, at the time, Vivendi was best known as the holding company for the game studios Sierra Entertainment and Blizzard Entertainment. The new company was to be named Activision Blizzard, and would retain its headquarters in California. Bobby Kotick of Activision was announced as the new president and CEO, the European Commission permitted the merger to take place in April 2008, approving that there werent any antitrust issues in the merger deal. On July 8,2008, Activision announced that stockholders had agreed to merge, Vivendi was the majority shareholder, with a 52% stake in the company. At this point, Jean-Bernard Levy replaced René Penisson as chairman of Activision Blizzard, the merger made Activision Blizzard the parent company of Vivendi Games former divisions. While Blizzard retained its autonomy and corporate leadership in the merger, other Vivendi Games divisions such as Sierra ceased operation, with the merger, Kotick was quoted stating if a Sierra product did not meet Activisions requirements, they wont likely be retained. However, a number of Sierras games such as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Activision Blizzard does not publish games under its central name and instead uses its studios to publish games. In early 2010, the independent studio Bungie entered into a 10-year publishing agreement with Activision Blizzard, by the end of 2010, Activision Blizzard was the largest video games publisher in the world. The 2011 release of Activision Blizzards Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 3 grossed $400 million in the US and UK alone in its first 24 hours, making it the biggest entertainment launch of all time. Call of Duty, Black Ops III grossed $550 million in sales during its opening weekend in 2015. In 2011, Activision Blizzard debuted its Skylanders franchise, which led to the press crediting the company with inventing and popularizing a new toys-to-life category. The first release Skylanders, Spyros Adventure was nominated for two Toy Industry Association awards in 2011, Game of the Year and Innovative Toy of the Year. Skylanders, Spyros Adventure and its sequels were released for consoles and PC. At the conclusion of the deal, Vivendi was no longer Activision Blizzards parent company, bobby Kotick and Brian Kelly retained a 24. 4% stake in the company overall
15.
University of California, Los Angeles
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The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university in the Westwood district of Los Angeles, California, United States. It became the Southern Branch of the University of California in 1919 and it offers 337 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines. UCLA enrolls about 31,000 undergraduate and 13,000 graduate students, and had 119,000 applicants for Fall 2016, including transfer applicants, the university is organized into six undergraduate colleges, seven professional schools, and four professional health science schools. Fourteen Nobel laureates, three Fields Medalists, two Chief Scientists of the U. S. Air Force and three Turing Award winners have been faculty, researchers, or alumni, the university was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1974. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2015–2016 ranked UCLA 16th in the world for academics, in 2015-2016, UCLA ranked 12th in the world by the Academic Ranking of World Universities and 31st in the 2016/17 QS World University Rankings. UCLA student-athletes compete as the Bruins in the Pac-12 Conference, the Bruins won 126 national championships, including 113 NCAA team championships, more than any other university. UCLA student-athletes, coaches and staff won 251 Olympic medals,126 gold,65 silver and 60 bronze, UCLA student-athletes competed in every Olympics since 1920 with one exception, and won a gold medal in every Olympics that the United States participated in since 1932. The State Normal School at Los Angeles opened on August 29,1882, the facility included an elementary school where teachers-in-training could practice their technique with children. That elementary school is related to the present day version, UCLA Lab School, in 1887, the school became known as the Los Angeles State Normal School. In 1914, the moved to a new campus on Vermont Avenue in East Hollywood. However, David Prescott Barrows, the new President of the University of California, the same legislation added its general undergraduate program, the College of Letters and Science. After the athletic teams entered the Pacific Coast conference in 1926, the Southern Branch student council adopted the nickname Bruins, in 1927, the Regents renamed the Southern Branch the University of California at Los Angeles. In the same year, the state broke ground in Westwood on land sold for $1 million, less than one-third its value, by real estate developers Edwin and Harold Janss, the campus in Westwood opened to students in 1929. The original four buildings were the College Library, Royce Hall, the Physics-Biology Building, the first undergraduate classes on the new campus were held in 1929 with 5,500 students. A timeline of the history can be found on its website, during its first 32 years, UCLA was treated as an off-site department of UC. As such, its presiding officer was called a provost, in 1951, UCLA was formally elevated to co-equal status with UC Berkeley, and its presiding officer Raymond B. Allen was the first chief executive to be granted the title of chancellor. The appointment of Franklin David Murphy to the position of Chancellor in 1960 helped spark an era of growth of facilities. By the end of the decade, UCLA had achieved distinction in a range of subjects
16.
Blizzard Entertainment
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Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California, and is a subsidiary of the American company Activision Blizzard. The company was founded on February 8,1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of the University of California, Los Angeles, Michael Morhaime, Frank Pearce, and Allen Adham. In 1994 the company became Chaos Studios, then Blizzard Entertainment, shortly thereafter, Blizzard released Warcraft, Orcs & Humans. On July 9,2008, Activision merged with Vivendi Games, on July 25,2013, Activision Blizzard announced the purchase of 429 million shares from majority owner Vivendi. As a result, Activision Blizzard became an independent company. Blizzard Entertainment was founded by Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham, and Frank Pearce as Silicon & Synapse on February 8,1991, in the early days, the company focused on creating game ports for other studios. Ports include titles such as J. R. R, tolkiens The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I and Battle Chess II, Chinese Chess, in 1993, the company developed games such as Rock n Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings. In early 1994, they were acquired by distributor Davidson & Associates for $6.75 million and that same year the company briefly changed its name to Chaos Studios, before finally settling on Blizzard Entertainment. Shortly thereafter, Blizzard shipped their breakthrough hit Warcraft, Orcs & Humans, Blizzard has changed hands several times since then. Davidson was acquired along with Sierra On-Line by a company called CUC International in 1996, CUC then merged with a hotel, real-estate, and car-rental franchiser called HFS Corporation to form Cendant in 1997. In 1998 it became apparent that CUC had engaged in accounting fraud for years before the merger, cendants stock lost 80% of its value over the next six months in the ensuing widely discussed accounting scandal. The company sold its consumer operations, Sierra On-line to French publisher Havas in 1998. Blizzard was part of the Vivendi Games group of Vivendi, in July 2008 Vivendi Games merged with Activision, using Blizzards name in the resulting company, Activision Blizzard. In 1996, Blizzard acquired Condor Games, which had been working on the game Diablo for Blizzard at the time, Condor was renamed Blizzard North, and has since developed the games Diablo, Diablo II, and its expansion pack Lord of Destruction. Blizzard North was located in San Mateo, California, the company originated in Redwood City, California. Blizzard launched their online gaming service Battle. net in January 1997 with the release of their action role-playing game Diablo, in 2004, Blizzard opened European offices in the Paris suburb of Vélizy, Yvelines, France. On May 16,2005, Blizzard announced the acquisition of Swingin Ape Studios, the company was then merged into Blizzards other teams after StarCraft, Ghost was postponed indefinitely
17.
Rock n' Roll Racing
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The game prominently features a number of popular heavy metal and rock songs in its soundtrack, hence the games title. The game was ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2003, Rock n Roll Racing was initially developed as RPMII, a sequel to the companys SNES game RPM Racing. At the end of the project, Interplay marketing added licensed music and it is also similar in gameplay to Racing Destruction Set where it got its logic/AI engine and the NES game R. C. Pro-Am developed by Rare in 1988, the game pits four racers against each other, with up to two of them being player-controlled and the rest being AI opponents. In addition to navigating the turns, racers must also maneuver hills, players are rewarded with a monetary attack bonus each time they provide the finishing blow against another car using their forward or rear weapons. In accordance with the destruction and restoration of the racing vehicles. Other hazards include oil slicks, snow drifts, and lava, players are updated on the race by commentator Loudmouth Larry, who makes comments like The stage is set, the green flag drops. and Rip, is about to blow. In an enthusiastic tone at appropriate moments during the race, despite their limited capacity, every vehicle will have its weapon and boost charges replenished at the completion of each lap in a race. Racers can also buy more advanced models, however, all equipment. The first three drivers to complete a race are awarded money and points according to the final standings. Points are required for advancement to the racing division or the next planet. A player who has not obtained enough points during a racing season must repeat the division, again starting with zero points. In two-player mode, when one player has sufficient points. Allowing the leading player to continue alone by removing the other player from the game, the dropped player can continue from that point later by using their most recent password, once the game is reset. Passwords are given out at the beginning of new racing season. The Game Boy Advance version of the uses a EEPROM chip to save the players progress in lieu of the password system. The password codes only allow the player to save a maximum of $999,990, if there are more than six figures in the bank account, the password truncates the leftmost digits over six. Due to the two-player password function, its possible to cheat by entering the password for both players or by entering passwords for players who were at entirely different points in the game
18.
The Lost Vikings
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The Lost Vikings is a puzzle-platform video game developed by Silicon & Synapse and published by Interplay. Blizzard re-released the game for the Game Boy Advance in 2003, in 2014 the game was added to Battle. net as a free download emulated through DOSBox. In The Lost Vikings, the player controls three separate Vikings with different abilities, the three Vikings must work together to finish each level and find their way back home. A sequel, The Lost Vikings 2, was released in 1997, three Vikings — Erik the Swift, Baleog the Fierce, and Olaf the Stout — get kidnapped by Tomator, emperor of the alien Croutonian empire, for an inter-galactic zoo. They are able to escape the ship, but get lost in various periods of time and they must traverse various bizarre locations, and eventually confront and defeat Tomator, to find their way home. Every level is designed such that each Viking must contribute his unique skills to help the two through to the end. Similarly, to finish the level, all three characters must reach the exit point, the Vikings each have three health points which they can lose by getting hurt by enemies or by falling from great heights. Baleog can kill enemies with his sword, or from a distance with his bow, the bow can also be used to hit switches from a distance. Olaf can block enemies and their projectiles with his shield and use his shield as a hang glider, olafs shield can also be used as a platform to for Baleog to walk over and to allow Erik to reach higher areas. Computer Gaming World in 1993 called The Lost Vikings a clever blend of comedy, the magazine concluded that the game is a unique puzzle solving adventure, great for people who enjoy using their cerebral cortex along with their eye to hand coordination. Mega placed the game at #22 in their Top Mega Drive Games of All Time
19.
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
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Warcraft, Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game, developed by Blizzard Entertainment and published by Blizzard and Interplay Entertainment. The MS-DOS version was released on 23 November 1994 and the Macintosh version in early 1996, sales were fairly high, reviewers were mostly impressed, and the game won three awards and was a finalist for three others. There was a CD re-release, namely version 1.21, the sequel, Warcraft II, Tides of Darkness, became the main rival to Westwood Studios Command & Conquer series, and this competition fostered an RTS boom in the mid to late 1990s. Although Warcraft, Orcs & Humans was not the first RTS title to offer multiplayer games, the game introduced innovations in mission design and gameplay elements, which were adopted by other RTS developers. Warcraft, Orcs & Humans is a strategy game. The player takes the role of either the Human inhabitants of Azeroth, in multiplayer games, the objective is always to destroy the enemy players forces. Some scenarios are complicated by the presence of monsters. The game plays in a setting with fantasy elements. Both sides have melee units and ranged units, and also spellcasters, Warcraft, Orcs & Humanss gameplay expands the Dune II build base, build army, destroy enemy paradigm to include other modes of game play. In one mission, the player has to kill the Orc chiefs daughter, the game also allows two players to compete in multiplayer contests by modem or local networks, and enables gamers with the MS-DOS and Macintosh version to play each other. Multiplayer and AI skirmishes that are not part of campaigns were supported by a map generator. The game also allowed spawn installations to be made, Warcraft requires players to collect resources, and to produce buildings and units in order to defeat an opponent in combat. Non-combatant builders deliver the resources to the Town Center from mines, from which gold is dug, and forests, where wood is chopped. As both are limited resources which become exhausted during the game, players must collect them efficiently, the lower-level buildings for Humans and Orcs have the same functions, but different sprites. The Town Hall stores resources and produces units that collect resources, each Farm provides food for up to four units, and additional units cannot be produced until enough Farms are built. The Barracks produces all non-magical combat units, including melee, ranged, mounted, however all except the most basic also need assistance from other buildings, some of which can also upgrade units. Each side can construct two types of buildings, each of which produces one type of spellcaster and researches more advanced spells for that type. These advanced buildings can be constructed only with assistance from other buildings, the Human Cleric and Orc Necrolyte can both defend themselves by magic and also see distant parts of the territory for short periods
20.
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
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As in all RPGs, the player assumes the role of a character and takes control over many of that characters actions. MMORPGs are played throughout the world, worldwide revenues for MMORPGs exceeded half a billion dollars in 2005, and Western revenues exceeded a billion dollars in 2006. In 2008, the spending on subscription MMORPGs by consumers in North American, World of Warcraft, a popular MMORPG, has over 10 million subscribers as of November 2014. World of Warcrafts total revenue was $1.04 billion US dollars in 2014, Star Wars, The Old Republic, released in 2011, became the worlds Fastest-Growing MMOG Ever after gaining more than 1 million subscribers within the first three days of its launch. Although modern MMORPGs sometimes differ dramatically from their decedents, many of them share the basic characteristics. The majority of popular MMORPGs are based on traditional fantasy themes, some employ hybrid themes that either merge or replace fantasy elements with those of science fiction, sword and sorcery, or crime fiction. Still, others draw thematic material from American comic books, the occult, often these elements are developed using similar tasks and scenarios involving quests, monsters, and loot. In nearly all MMORPGs, the development of the character is the primary goal. Traditionally, combat with monsters and completing quests for non-player characters, the accumulation of wealth is also a way to progress in many MMORPGs, and this is also traditionally best accomplished via combat. The cycle produced by these conditions, combat leading to new items allowing for more combat with no change in gameplay, is sometimes referred to as the level treadmill. The role-playing game Progress Quest was created as a parody of this trend, eve Online trains skills in real time rather than using experience points as a measure of progression. In some MMORPGs, there is no limit to a player’s level, MMORPGs that use this model often glorify top ranked players by displaying their avatars on the game’s website or posting their stats on a high score screen. Another common practice is to enforce a maximum level for all players. Once reached, the definition of a player’s progression changes, instead of being awarded primarily with experience for completing quests and dungeons, the player’s motivation to continue playing will be replaced with collecting money and equipment. Often, the range of equipment available at the maximum level will have increased aesthetic value to distinguish high ranking players in game between lower ranked players. Colloquially known as gear, this set of empowered weapons. Player motivation to outperform others is fueled by acquiring such items and is a significant determining factor in their success or failure in combat-related situations, also traditional in the genre is the eventual demand on players to team up with others in order to progress at the optimal rate. This sometimes forces players to change their schedules in order to keep up with the game-world
21.
World of Warcraft
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World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe. Blizzard Entertainment announced World of Warcraft on September 2,2001, the game was released on November 23,2004, on the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise. The first expansion set of the game, The Burning Crusade, was released on January 16,2007, the second expansion set, Wrath of the Lich King, was released on November 13,2008. The third expansion set, Cataclysm, was released on December 7,2010, the fourth expansion set, Mists of Pandaria, was released on September 25,2012. The fifth expansion set, Warlords of Draenor, was released on November 13,2014, the sixth expansion set, Legion, was released on August 30,2016. In January 2014, Blizzard announced that more than 100 million accounts had been created over the games lifetime, players may instead use a trial account that lets the player character reach level 20 for free but has many features locked. To enter the game, the player must select a server, each realm acts as an individual copy of the game world and falls into one of four categories. RP – a variant of PvE, where players roleplay in-character, rP-PvP – roleplay-PvP – a variant of PvP, where players are in-character and cross-faction combat is assumed. Realms are also categorized by language, with support in the language available. Players can make new characters on all realms within the region, to create a new character, in keeping with the storyline of previous Warcraft games, players must choose between the opposing factions of the Alliance or the Horde. Characters from the factions can perform rudimentary communication, but only members of the same faction can speak, mail, group. The player selects the new race, such as orcs or trolls for the Horde. Players must select the class for the character, with such as mages, warriors. Most classes are limited to particular races, as characters become more developed, they gain various talents and skills, requiring the player to further define the abilities of that character. Characters can choose two primary professions that can focus on producing items, such as tailoring, blacksmithing or jewelcrafting or on gathering from resource nodes, characters can learn all four secondary skills, archeology, cooking, fishing and first aid. Much of World of Warcraft play involves the completion of quests and these quests are usually available from NPCs. Quests usually reward the player with some combination of points, items
22.
Diablo III
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Diablo III is a hack and slash action role-playing video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the installment in the Diablo franchise and was released in the Americas, Europe, South Korea, and Taiwan on May 15,2012. A console version was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on September 3,2013, versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were released on August 19,2014. In the game, players choose one of six character classes – Barbarian, Crusader, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor or Wizard – and are tasked with defeating the Lord of Terror, Diablo. It has sold, along with Reaper of Souls,30 million copies across all platforms, Diablo III received critical acclaim from critics, although its digital rights management that requires an internet connection at all times was criticized. The expansion pack Diablo III, Reaper of Souls was released for the Windows, for consoles the expansion pack content was released as part of the Diablo III, Ultimate Evil Edition version. It was released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Diablo III, Ultimate Evil Edition includes the original console version of Diablo III and Diablo III, Reaper of Souls expansion pack. Much like in Diablo and Diablo II, the quality and attributes of equipment are randomized, in addition to base stats, higher-quality items have additional properties, such as extra damage, attribute bonuses, bonuses to critical hit chance or sockets. Higher level monsters tend to higher level items, which tend to have higher base stats. The proprietary engine incorporates Blizzards custom in-house physics, and features destructible environments with an in-game damage effect, the developers sought to make the game run on a wide range of systems without requiring DirectX10. Diablo III uses a custom 3D game engine in order to present a view to the player. Enemies utilize the 3D environment as well, in such as crawling up the side of a wall from below into the combat area. As in Diablo II, multiplayer games are possible using Blizzards Battle. net service, players are also able to drop in and out of sessions of co-operative play with other players. Unlike its predecessor, Diablo III requires players to be connected to the internet due to their DRM policy. An enhanced quest system, a random level generator, and a random encounter generator are used in order to ensure the game provides different experiences when replayed. Unlike previous iterations, gold can be picked up merely by touching it, or coming within range, adjusted by gear, players can still assign specific attacks to mouse buttons. Skill runes, another new feature, are skill modifiers that are unlocked as the player levels up, unlike the socketable runes in Diablo II, skill runes are not items but instead provide options for enhancing skills, often completely changing the gameplay of each skill. For example, one skill rune for the Wizards meteor ability reduces its arcane power cost, while another turns the meteor to ice, as in Diablo II, Diablo III gives players the choice to make hardcore characters
23.
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls
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Diablo III, Reaper of Souls is the first expansion pack for the action role-playing video game Diablo III. It was revealed at Gamescom 2013 and it was released for the PC and Mac versions of Diablo III on March 25,2014. The expansion pack content was released as part of the Diablo III, Ultimate Evil Edition version for consoles on August 19 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. That edition expanded the base Diablo III game on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, after Diablo is defeated by the Nephalem, Tyrael recovers the Black Soulstone that contains the essence of all seven of the Great Evils. Now calling himself the Angel of Death, Malthael kills all but one of the Horadrim, incapacitating Tyrael in the process, Tyrael sends the surviving Horadrim, Lorath Nahr, to locate the Nephalem. Nahr encounters the Nephalem outside Westmarch City, which has been overrun by the Reapers, Malthaels army of enslaved spirits, with the gates blocked, the Nephalem fights through the city sewers to the Zakarum cathedral in the city center, where they encounter Tyrael. A sliver broke off from the Black Soulstone when Malthael took it, the Nephalem tracks Urzael down to the Tower of Korelan and defeats him in a gruesome battle. The Nephalem learns from Myriam Jahzia, a mystic rescued during the attack against the soul crucibles, Lorath decides to accompany the hero, then learns that Adria sealed the tombs entrance with a rock slide, so he suggests unlocking the guide-stones to open the correct passageway. She then transforms into a demonic creature, claiming that Diablo sent her a vision of his return at the hands of the Nephalem. Upon learning of Malthaels location, Tyrael takes the Nephalem back into the High Heavens, Imperius directs the Nephalem to use an ancient battering ram to breach the fortress gates, using siege runes held by the demons trapped there. After breaching the gates with four hits with the ram, Tyrael informs the Nephalem that they must become one with death, as Malthael is. Inside the fortress, the Nephalem encounters a figure from their past who directs them to unlock the soul prison kept in its depths. The Nephalem holds their own against Malthael for a time, until he shatters the Black Soulstone and takes the power of the Seven Evils within himself. As Tyrael and Imperius look on after the Nephalems victory, Tyrael sees the Nephalem in a new light, a protector of the innocent who can confront the most powerful champions of Heaven and Hell alike. Yet in the end the Nephalem still has a heart that can be corrupted. Reaper of Souls adds a number of new features to the gameplay of Diablo III. These include a new class, the Crusader, who specializes in defensive play, large weapons, specialized Crusader shields. A fifth Act is added, which follows the Nephalems quest through the remains of Westmarch, in addition to the campaign, the expansion adds an Adventure Mode, where players are free to roam the entire world and take on random Bounties and dungeons at their leisure
24.
Collectible card game
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A collectible card game, also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a kind of card game that first emerged in 1993 and consists of specially designed sets of playing cards. Successful CCGs typically have upwards of thousands of cards, with the first developed. Typically, a CCG is initially played using a deck, or intro deck. This deck may be expanded or modified with cards from booster packs, One of these cards is a rare or unique card that is much harder to obtain than the remaining cards and often has a higher value than the rest. These values can change over time as distribution changes, cards banned in playing formats. Eventually, with cards, players may create new decks from scratch. Despite the dominance of Magic, The Gathering in the CCG market, Pokémon, and Legend of the Five Rings. Other notable CCGs have come and gone, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Vampire, The Eternal Struggle, Middle-earth, World of Warcraft, Dragon Ball Z, many other CCGs were produced, but had little or no commercial success. More recently, digital collectible card games have gained popularity, spurred by the success of Hearthstone, while players typically start by purchasing a complete preset starter deck so they can play from the onset, additional cards generally come in the form of randomized booster packs. Cards distribution in such packs are set by a rarity system, due to this nature of publishing, CCGs often have expansions that add more potential cards to the games library, creating new card combinations and often shifting the metagame with the CCG community. The exact definition of what makes a CCG is vague as many games are marketed under the collectible card game moniker. The rudimentary definition requires the game to resemble trading cards in shape and function, be mass-produced for trading or collectibility, the definition of CCGs is further refined as being a card game in which the player uses his own deck with cards primarily sold in random assortments. Acquiring these cards may be done by trading with other players or buying card packs, if every card in the game can be obtained by making a small number of purchases, or if the manufacturer does not market it as a CCG, then it is not a CCG. Terms such as collectible and trading are used interchangeably because of copyrights, CCGs can further be designated as live or dead games. Dead games are those CCGs which are no longer supported by their manufacturers and have ceased releasing expansions, live games are those CCGs which continue to be supported by their manufacturers. Usually this means that new expansions are being created for the game, lCGs are card games that share many of the same characteristics as CCGs, but without the randomized booster packs characteristic of trading cards and CCGs. Other similar card games have been marketed or referred to as CCGs, Collectible Common-Deck Card Games are those games where players do not have their own personal deck, and consequently, no customization of decks occur and no trading or metagame is developed. Non-Collectible Customizable Card Games are those games where each player has their own deck, many of these games are sold as complete sets
25.
World of Warcraft: Legion
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World of Warcraft, Legion is the sixth expansion set in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, following Warlords of Draenor. It was announced on August 6,2015 at Gamescom 2015, the expansion was released on August 30,2016. It initially included ten 5-man dungeons and two raids, the expansion allows players to level up to 110 in the Broken Isles, an increase from the cap of 100 in the previous expansion Warlords of Draenor. Initially, there were ten dungeons with patch 7.1 adding the revamped Karazhan dungeon, after Emerald Nightmare was opened, Mythic Plus dungeons and Legions first player versus player season began. In patch 7.3, players travel to Argus - the headquarters of the Burning Legion. The development team made a number of changes to the PvP aspects of the game, there is a PvP honor system that unlocks PvP honor talents and there are separate abilities for use only in PvP that are not available in regular gameplay. Honor talents are abilities earned through increased levels in PvP and are activated while players engage in PvP, once players hit maximum honor level, they can choose to earn a prestige level that resets the honor talents earned and gives cosmetic bonuses. In PvP combat, gear will be nullified and all related to gear will be deactivated, with the exception of artifact weapons. Instead, the game will predetermine a set of stats configured to a specialization that can be modified for class balance purposes. However, a players average item level will still factor in PvP, artifact weapons are powerful items that were wielded by legends of the Warcraft universe, and only available to player characters in Legion. In addition, there is an artifact called the Underlight Angler for those dedicated to fishing. Players complete quests to obtain weapons, and the weapons will gain power alongside the player as they level in the Broken Isles, complete world quests. The appearance of artifacts can be customized, at level 102, quests are available to acquire the other artifact weapons from a players class that was not initially earned at level 100. The demon hunter is the hero class in World of Warcraft. Demon hunters begin as members of the Illidari, the guard of Illidan Stormrage during his rule of Outland in The Burning Crusade. Demon hunters operate on the concept of fighting fire with fire, wielding fel magic to fuel their attacks. Demon hunters ritually blind themselves to gain spectral sight, allowing them to detect demonic energy from demons, similar to death knights, demon hunters are able to fill the tank or damage dealer role, but only have two specializations, vengeance for tanking and havoc for DPS. They wear leather armor and wield a pair of warglaives, a type that is a curved two-bladed short sword
26.
Multiplayer online battle arena
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The objective is to destroy the opposing teams main structure with the assistance of periodically spawned computer-controlled units that march forward along set paths. Player characters typically have various abilities and advantages that improve over the course of a game, MOBA games are a fusion of action games, role-playing games and real-time strategy games, in which players usually do not construct either buildings or units. Because of the influence, the term DotA is sometimes used to refer to the genre as a whole. It was followed by the two successors, League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth, and eventually a sequel, Dota 2. The roots of the genre can be traced back decades to one of the earliest real-time strategy titles and it has been cited as a precursor to, or an early example of, the MOBA genre. It used a formula, where each player controls a single command unit in one of two opposing sides on a battlefield. In 1998, Future Cop, LAPD featured a strategic Precinct Assault mode similar to Herzog Zwei, Herzog Zweis influence is also apparent in several later MOBA games such as Guilty Gear 2, Overture and AirMech. In 1998, computer game company Blizzard Entertainment released its best-selling real-time strategy game StarCraft with a suite of game editing tools called StarEdit, the tools allowed members of the public to design and create custom maps that allowed play very different from the normal maps. A modder known as Aeon64 made a map named Aeon of Strife that became very popular. Aeon64 stated that he was attempting to create gameplay similar to that of Future Cop, in the Aeon of Strife map, players controlled a single powerful hero unit fighting amidst three lanes, though terrain outside these lanes was nearly vacant. In 2002, Blizzard released Warcraft III, Reign of Chaos, both the MOBA and tower defense subgenres took substantive shape within the WC3 modding community. A modder named Eul began converting Aeon of Strife into the Warcraft III engine, Eul substantially improved the complexity of play from the original Aeon of Strife mod. Shortly after creating the custom DotA map, Eul left the modding scene, with no clear successor, Warcraft III modders created a variety of maps based on DotA and featuring different heroes. Called DotA, Allstars, it was inherited after a few months by a modder called Steve Guinsoo Feak, the changes conducted by IceFrog were well-received and the number of users on the Dota, Allstars forum is thought to have peaked at over one million. By 2008, the popularity of DotA had attracted commercial attention and that year, The Casual Collective released Minions, a Flash web game. Gas Powered Games also released the first stand-alone commercial title in the genre, in late 2009, Riot Games debut title, League of Legends initially designed by Feak, was released. Riot began to refer to the genre as a multiplayer online battle arena. Also in 2009, IceFrog, who had continued to develop DotA, Allstars, was hired by Valve Corporation, in 2010, S2 Games released Heroes of Newerth, with a large portion of its gameplay and aesthetics based on DotA, Allstars
27.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
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StarCraft II, Wings of Liberty is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. The game is set four years after the events of 1998s StarCraft, Brood War, the game includes both new and returning characters and locations from the original game. The game was met very positive reviews from critics, receiving an aggregated score of 93% from Metacritic. Similar to its predecessor, StarCraft II was praised for its gameplay, as well as its introduction of new features. The game was criticized for lacking features that existed in the original StarCraft game including LAN play, at the time of its release, StarCraft II became the fastest-selling real-time strategy game, with over three million copies sold worldwide in the first month. StarCraft II features the return of the three species from the game, Protoss, Terran, and Zerg. In a departure from previous Blizzard games, the campaign is non-linear, with Raynor taking jobs for money and using money to buy additional units. Although each play through will vary, the end result remains consistent, Blizzards Vice President Rob Pardo stressed that each campaign will function very differently. The Terran campaign, Wings of Liberty, places players in a mercenary-style campaign, the second release, Heart of the Swarm, is Zerg-focused and has role-playing elements. Kerrigan is the focus of the campaign, and the story revolves around the possibility of her redemption, the Protoss-themed Legacy of the Void will be the final expansion, with the Protoss Artanis attempting to reunite the Protoss tribes in order to stop Amon, a fallen XelNaga. Wings of Liberty has 29 playable campaign missions, but only 26 of them are playable in a single playthrough since three missions are choice-related alternates. There is one secret mission named Piercing the Shroud, which can be unlocked on the Media Blitz mission, There is also a series of four missions in which the player plays as the Protoss in reliving the memory of Zeratul. In another mission, enemy units will attack the player at night. Finally, in one mission, the player must use a unit to influence the tide of an AI-controlled battle. The single player missions are highly customizable and are featured in the StarCraft II Community Zone, between missions, players can choose units, buildings, and upgrades that are not available in the multiplayer missions. A major new addition to the community is the StarCraft II Arcade. Lead Designer Dustin Browder has mentioned that even maps like player-created Defense of the Ancients in Warcraft III would not meet the quality requirements to be branded as a premium map, Wings of Liberty features approximately the same number of units as the original StarCraft. Some units from the game have returned, some featuring new upgrades and abilities
28.
StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void
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The game was released on November 10,2015. The expansion includes additional units and multiplayer changes from Heart of The Swarm, the campaign concludes the StarCraft II trilogy and focuses on Artanis as its protagonist. Blizzard launched its beta testing of the game on March 31,2015. The beta testing closed on November 2,2015, a week before the November 10 release date. The pre-order of the game was announced and made available for purchase on Battle. net, the campaign in Legacy of the Void focuses on the Protoss and concludes the events of the Starcraft II trilogy. Like the two preceding games, the room features interactive exploration but this time on board a Protoss Arcship known as the Spear Of Adun. Missions are accessed through a Protoss version of Hyperions Star Map known as the Celestial Array, Artanis goal is to unify the Protoss and stand against Amon, a fallen XelNaga who wishes to reshape the universe in his image. Jim Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan will play smaller parts in the story as well, chris Metzen has likened the story to that of the film 300, with a small force engaging a much more powerful one in a desperate last stand. Legacy of the Voids resource system was changed in order to encourage aggression, territorial control, changes include decreasing resource quantity and increasing the amount of workers spawned at the beginning of the game. The Protoss receive a change to the Photon Overcharge ability, it can now be cast on Pylons, also, the Chrono Boost ability can no longer be cast on multiple structures, but instead focuses on a single structure infinitely, though it is limited to one per Nexus. The Oracle from Heart of the Swarm now has its Revelation and Envision abilities combined in one, the Carrier now has the ability of launching interceptors at a longer range and safer distance. The Immortal loses its trademark Hardened Shields from HotS / WoL and instead receives the Barrier ability, another new unit is the Disruptor, built from the Robotics Facility and requiring the Robotics Bay. It attacks by discharging a ball of energy which can be player-controlled and directed at the opponent, the Disruptor is reminiscent of the Protoss Reaver from Brood War in that precise micromanagement is required to deliver greater damage. The Terrans virtually remain unaltered of their macro mechanics inherited from Wings of Liberty, meaning they can still deploy MULEs, the Banshee receives a speed upgrade which can be researched at a Fusion Core. The Battlecruiser can now warp instantly to any location, regardless of visibility, the Reaper from Heart of the Swarm gains a grenade-like ability that deals minimal damage, but knocks back and temporarily stuns enemy units. The Widow Mine remains unaltered, except it now has a targeting beam when it fires, another new Terran unit is the Liberator, which can engage aircraft with its normal area-of-effect attack, but can also transform to deploy a powerful cannon to attack ground targets. For units, the Swarm Host, to accommodate for the returning Brood War Lurker, no longer burrows and has its role altered to an assault unit, able to spawn its Locust while moving. The Corruptor has its Corruption ability removed and replaced with Caustic Spray, the Nydus Worm is altered so that it remains invulnerable while being constructed, removing the opponents capacity of destroying them before completion with workers
29.
First-person shooter
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The first-person shooter shares common traits with other shooter games, which in turn fall under the heading action game. From the genres inception, advanced 3D or pseudo-3D graphics have challenged hardware development, the first-person shooter has since been traced as far back as Maze War, development of which began in 1973, and 1974s Spasim. 1998s Half-Life—along with its 2004 sequel Half-Life 2—enhanced the narrative and puzzle elements, in 1999, Half-Lifes mod Counter-Strike was released and, together with Doom, is perhaps one of the most influential first-person shooters. GoldenEye 007 was a landmark first-person shooter for home consoles, while the Halo series heightened the consoles commercial and critical appeal as a platform for first-person shooter titles. In the 21st century, the shooter is the most commercially viable video game genre. Several first-person shooters have been popular games for eSports and competitive gaming competitions as well, first-person shooters are a type of three-dimensional shooter game, featuring a first-person point of view with which the player sees the action through the eyes of the player character. They are unlike third-person shooters, in which the player can see the character they are controlling, the primary design element is combat, mainly involving firearms. A more important key difference is that first-person light-gun shooters like Virtua Cop often feature on-rails movement, the first-person shooter may be considered a distinct genre in itself, or a type of shooter game, in turn a subgenre of the wider action game genre. Following the release of Doom in 1993, games in this style were commonly termed Doom clones, in time this term has largely been replaced by first-person shooter. Wolfenstein 3D, released in 1992, the year before Doom, has credited with inventing the genre. There are occasional disagreements regarding the design elements which constitute a first-person shooter. For example, Deus Ex or BioShock may be considered as first-person shooters, some commentators extend the definition to include combat flight simulators where the cockpit or vehicle takes place of the hands and weapons. Like most shooter games, first-person shooters involve an avatar, one or more ranged weapons, and a varying number of enemies. Because they take place in a 3D environment, these tend to be somewhat more realistic than 2D shooter games. First-person shooters played on computers are most often controlled with a combination of a keyboard. This system has claimed as superior to that found in console games. It is common to display the characters hands and weaponry in the view, with a head-up display showing health. Often, it is possible to overlay a map of the surrounding area, first-person shooters often focus on action gameplay, with fast-paced and bloody firefights, though some place a greater emphasis on narrative, problem-solving and logic puzzles
30.
Shooter game
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Shooter games are a subgenre of action game, which often test the players speed and reaction time. It includes many subgenres that have the commonality of focusing on the actions of the avatar using some sort of weapon, usually this weapon is a gun, or some other long-range weapon. A common resource found in many games is ammunition. Most commonly, the purpose of a game is to shoot opponents. There are many criteria to determine the type of shooter, listed below are some of the major divisions, using the following, it is possible to categorize almost all shooters developed. It is also possible for a game to have a camera, especially shooting gallery games. Tactical shooters are games that attempt to emulate lifelike ballistics and character damage, other shooter games range further away from realism and towards fantasy, like the Sci-Fi action shooting series titled Lost Planet. Games which feature non-player characters fighting alongside the player, but which are not directly controllable are not considered squad-based games, if a shooter game is playable online, there are several other sharp divisions it can take. Many games will offer differing modes which allow players to choose from various types. In team modes, players are assigned to one of two factions which are competing for some goal, co-op modes have several players on the same faction playing through either single-player or custom missions against computer-controlled enemies. Individual has all players competing with each other and this is often an optional way to categorize a shooter, but in some cases its needed to help distinguish it. A game may quite often heavily rely on stealth as opposed to direct action, others might have large horror elements to them. However, the one thing in common with all shooters is that combat with a gun or similar long range/projectile weapon is the focus of gameplay itself. Shoot em ups are a subgenre of shooters wherein the player may move up and down and left and right around the screen. Shoot em ups share common gameplay, but are categorized by viewpoint. This genre also includes run and gun games which emphasize greater maneuvering or even jumping, such as Thexder, Contra and Metal Slug. Shooting gallery games include light gun games, although many can also be played using a regular joypad, when these debuted, they were typically played from a first-person perspective, with enemy fire that occurred anywhere on the screen damaging or killing the player. One of the earliest examples is the 1985 arcade game Shootout produced by Data East, other games in this subgenre include Blood Bros
31.
Activision
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Activision Publishing, Inc. also known as Activision, is an American video game publisher. It was founded on October 1,1979 and was the worlds first independent developer and its first products were cartridges for the Atari 2600 video console system published from July 1980 for the US market and from August 1981 for the international market. As of January 2017, Activision is one of the largest third party video game publishers in the world and was also the top publisher for 2016 in the United States, before Activision, third-party developers did not exist. Software for video game consoles were published exclusively by makers of the systems for which the games were designed, for example, Atari was the only publisher of games for the Atari 2600. This was particularly galling to the developers, as they received financial rewards nor credit for games that sold well. Kaplan, who called the others the best designers for the in the world, recalled that Kassar called the four men towel designers and that anyone can do a cartridge. Crane, Miller, and Whitehead left Atari and founded Activision in October 1979 with former music industry executive Jim Levy and venture capitalist Richard Muchmore, David Crane has said the name Activision was based on Jim Levys idea to combine active and television. The original name proposed for the company was VSync, Inc, unlike Atari, the company credited and promoted game creators along with the games themselves. The steps taken for this included devoting a page to the developer in their instruction manuals and these approaches helped the newly formed company attract experienced talent. In recognition of this step, Kaplan, Levy, Miller, the departure of the four programmers, whose titles made up more than half of Ataris cartridge sales at the time, caused legal action between the two companies not settled until 1982. As the market for game consoles started to decline, Activision branched out, producing titles for home computers. In 1982, Activision released Pitfall. on the Atari 2600, designed and developed by David Crane, it was a huge success. Many clones of the game were introduced, including arcade games. On June 13,1986, Activision purchased struggling text adventure pioneer Infocom, Jim Levy was a big fan of Infocoms titles and wanted the company to remain solvent. About six months after the InfoWedding, Bruce Davis took over as CEO of Activision, Davis was against the merger from the start and was heavy-handed in its management. Five of them accepted this offer, in 1988, Activision began involvement in software besides video games, such as business applications. As a result, Activision changed its name to Mediagenic to better represent all of its activities. After taking over the company, the new management filed for a Chapter 11 reorganization, in the reorganization, Mediagenic merged with The Disc Company with Mediagenic being the surviving company
32.
BlizzCon
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BlizzCon is a video game convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch. Since October 2005, it has held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim. The closing night has featured concerts by The Offspring, Tenacious D, Foo Fighters, Ozzy Osbourne, Blink-182, Metallica, a similar event was the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational, held outside the US until 2008. Tickets for the first BlizzCon were $50 for admission to both days of activities, for the 2007 and 2008 events, prices were $100. For 2009 the price was raised to $125, for 2010, the price was raised to $150. For 2011, the price was raised to $175 and for 2013 the price remained at $175, for 2014, the price was raised to $199 and the BlizzCon Benefit Dinner went from $500 to $750, which includes admission. From 2015 to 2017, the remained at $199 for admission. BlizzCon was not held in 2012, attendees were able to try one of the two new playable races, the Blood Elves, for upcoming expansion based in Outland which was released as World of Warcraft, The Burning Crusade in 2007. Playable demos of the single and multiplayer modes of the currently halted Starcraft, a songwriting competition was judged by Jonathan Davis of Korn. Level 60 Elite Tauren Chieftain, comedian Christian Finnegan, and The Offspring performed at the closing concert, StarCraft II was available for play, as single player or 2v2 as Terran or Protoss. Much of the game was revealed and explained as well as Q&A with attendees, the Zerg race was, however, not unveiled at that time. The second expansion to World of Warcraft, titled Wrath of the Lich King, was officially announced, comedian Jay Mohr entertained at the closing ceremony followed by Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain alongside Video Games Live performing at the closing concert. Playable versions of Diablo III, StarCraft II, and World of Warcraft, the Zerg race was now playable in the StarCraft II demos. BlizzCon 2008 was broadcast live on both days as a PPV event on DirecTV for US viewers only, for eight hours per day in high definition, official Blizzard fansite WoW Radio broadcast live audio via SHOUTcast. For the closing ceremonies on Saturday, comedians Kyle Kinane and Patton Oswalt performed, the closing ceremony was performed by Video Games Live, playing arrangements from all of the Blizzard games, and a performance including the Wrath of the Lich King music. In an attempt to reduce frustrations linked to lack of availability for previous BlizzCons. Blizzard implemented a new system designed to make buying tickets easier, the new system implemented an online queue, effectively creating an organized online line for anyone who wants to purchase tickets, an improvement on 2008s chaotic sale of tickets. As in 2008, DirecTV carried both days of BlizzCon 2009 as a PPV event for eight hours per day in standard and high definition
33.
South Korea
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South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a sovereign state in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The earliest Korean pottery dates to 8000 BC, with three kingdoms flourishing in the 1st century BC and its rich and vibrant culture left 19 UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity, the third largest in the world, along with 12 World Heritage Sites. Annexed into Imperial Japan in 1910, Korea was divided after its surrender in 1945, peace has since mostly continued with the two agreeing to work peacefully for reunification and the South solidifying peace as a regional power with the worlds 10th largest defence budget. South Koreas tiger economy soared at an average of 10% for over 30 years in a period of rapid transformation called the Miracle on the Han River. A long legacy of openness and focus on innovation made it successful, today, it is the worlds fifth largest exporter with the G20s largest budget surplus and highest credit rating of any country in East Asia. It has free trade agreements with 75% of the economy and is the only G20 nation trading freely with China, the US. Since 1988, its constitution guarantees a liberal democracy with high government transparency, high personal freedoms led to the rise of a globally influential pop culture such as K-pop and K-drama, a phenomenon called the Korean Wave, known for its distinctive fashionable and trendy style. Home of the UN Green Climate Fund and GGGI, South Korea is a leader in low carbon growth, committed to helping developing countries as a major DAC. It is the third least ignorant country in the Index of Ignorance, ranking eighth highest for peaceful tolerance. It is the worlds largest spender on R&D per GDP, leading the OECD in graduates in science, the name Korea derives from the name Goryeo. The name Goryeo itself was first used by the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo in the 5th century as a form of its name. The 10th-century kingdom of Goryeo succeeded Goguryeo, and thus inherited its name, the modern spelling of Korea first appeared in the late 17th century in the travel writings of the Dutch East India Companys Hendrick Hamel. After Goryeo was replaced by Joseon in 1392, Joseon became the name for the entire territory. The new official name has its origin in the ancient country of Gojoseon, in 1897, the Joseon dynasty changed the official name of the country from Joseon to Daehan Jeguk. The name Daehan, which means great Han literally, derives from Samhan, however, the name Joseon was still widely used by Koreans to refer to their country, though it was no longer the official name. Under Japanese rule, the two names Han and Joseon coexisted, there were several groups who fought for independence, the most notable being the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. Following the surrender of Japan, in 1945, the Republic of Korea was adopted as the name for the new country. Since the government only controlled the part of the Korean Peninsula
34.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
35.
Bachelor's degree
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A bachelors degree or baccalaureate is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to seven years. In some institutions and educational systems, some bachelors degrees can only be taken as graduate or postgraduate degrees after a first degree has been completed. The term bachelor in the 12th century referred to a knight bachelor, by the end of the 13th century, it was also used by junior members of guilds or universities. By folk etymology or wordplay, the word came to be associated with bacca lauri in reference to laurels being awarded for academic success or honours. An honours degree generally requires an academic standard than a pass degree. In most African countries, the university systems follow the model of their former colonizing power, for example, the Nigerian university system is similar to the British system, while the Ivorian system is akin to the French. The degree is typically identical to the program of Frances universities, bachelors degree programs cover most of the fields in Algerian universities, except some fields, such as Medicine and Pharmaceutical Science. Bachelors degrees at the University of Botswana normally take four years, the system draws on both British and American models. Degrees are classified as First Class, Second Class Division One, Second Class Division Two and Third as in English degrees, but without being described as honours. The main degrees are named by British tradition, but in recent years there have been a numbers of degrees named after specific subjects, such as Bachelor of Library, in Morocco, a bachelors degree is referred to as al-ʾijāzah. The course of study takes three years, which are divided into two cycles. The first cycle comprises the first, or propaedeutic, year, after successfully completing their first two years, students can pursue either theoretical specialization or professional specialization. The second cycle is one long, after whose completion students receive the licence détudes fondamentales or the licence professionnelle. This academic degree system was introduced in September 2003, University admission is extremely competitive, with attendant advantages and disadvantages. Nonetheless, it takes four to five years to complete a bachelors degree, in cases of poor performance, the time limit is double the standard amount of time. For example, one may not study for more than 10 years for a five-year course, students are normally asked to leave if they must take longer. B. Arch. and other specialized undergraduate degrees, such as B. Eng, Science undergraduate degrees may require six months or a semester dedicated to SIWES but it is usually mandatory for all engineering degrees. A semester for project work/thesis is required, not excluding course work, the classifications of degrees, first-class, second-class, third-class and a pass
36.
Interplay Entertainment
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Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and publisher, founded in 1982 as Interplay Productions by Brian Fargo, Troy Worrell, Jay Patel and Bill Heineman. As a developer, Interplay is best known as the creator of the original Fallout series and as a publisher for the Baldurs Gate, the first projects were non-original and consisted of software conversions and even some military work for Loral Corporation. After negotiations with Activision, Interplay entered a US$100,000 contract to produce three illustrated text adventures for them, published in 1984, Mindshadow is loosely based on Robert Ludlums Bourne Identity while The Tracer Sanction puts the player in the role of an interplanetary secret agent. Borrowed Time which features a script by Arnie Katz Subway Software followed in 1985 and these adventures built upon work previously done by Fargo, his first game was the 1981 published Demons Forge. Interplays parser was developed by Fargo and an associate and in one version understands about 250 nouns and 200 verbs as well as prepositions, in 1986, Tass Times in Tonetown followed. Interplay made a name for itself as a quality developer of role-playing video games with the three-part series The Bards Tale, critically acclaimed Wasteland, all of them were published by Electronic Arts. In 1995, Interplay published the hit game Descent, developed by startup Parallax Software, Interplay published several Star Trek video games, including Star Trek, 25th Anniversary for computers and for Nintendo and Star Trek, Judgment Rites. These games had later CD-ROM editions released with the original Star Trek cast providing voices, Interplay also published Starfleet Academy and Klingon Academy games, and Starfleet Command series, beginning with Star Trek, Starfleet Command. Another game, Star Trek, Secret of Vulcan Fury, was in development in the late 1990s but was never completed, in 1995, after several years of delays, Interplay finally published its role-playing game Stonekeep. Other PC games released during the mid-to-late 1990s games included Carmageddon, Fragile Allegiance, Hardwar, in 1997, Interplay developed and released Fallout, a successful and critically acclaimed role-playing video game set in a retro-futuristic post-apocalyptic setting. Black Isle Studios, a newly created in-house developer, followed with the sequel, Fallout 2, another successful subsequent Interplay franchise was Baldurs Gate, a Dungeons & Dragons game that was developed by BioWare and which spawned a successful expansion, sequel and spin-off series. The spin-off series started with Baldurs Gate, Dark Alliance, the games success forged a sequel as well. Aside from Dark Alliance, Interplay published a few notable console series such as Loaded and the game series ClayFighter. By 1998 the financial situation at Interplay was dire and the company was in bankruptcy court, to avert bankruptcy Interplay went public in order to raise capital and pay off debt. Interplay was successful in its offering and avoided bankruptcy. Shares were sold on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and Interplay changed its name to Interplay Entertainment Corp, Interplay continued to endure losses under Brian Fargo due to increased competition, less than stellar returns on Interplay’s sports division and the lack of console titles. This forced Interplay to seek additional funding two years later with an investment from Titus Software, a Paris-based game company, Titus agreed to invest 25 million dollars in Interplay and a few months later this was followed up by an additional 10 million investment. Despite releasing critically acclaimed games such as Descent 3 and FreeSpace 2 the company then reported several additional quarters of losses, by 2001, Titus Software completed its acquisition of majority control of Interplay
37.
Sierra Entertainment
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Sierra Entertainment is an American publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams. Based in Oakhurst, California and later in Fresno, California, the division is now owned by Activision, Sierra is known for its multiple lines of seminal graphic adventure games started in the 1980s, many of which proved influential in the history of video games. The Sierra label was absorbed by its parent company in 2008, some franchises that were published by Sierra were later published by Activision. Sierra was revived in 2014 by Activision Blizzard and it now focuses on re-releasing their old games, reviving their franchises and collaborating with independent developers for smaller projects. Sierra Entertainment was founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems in Simi Valley, California, by Ken, Ken Williams, a programmer for IBM, bought an Apple II microcomputer which he planned to use to develop a Fortran compiler for the Apple II. At the time, his wife Roberta Williams was playing text adventure games on the Apple II, dissatisfied with the text-only format, she realized that the graphics display capability of the Apple II could enhance the adventure gaming experience. After initial success, On-Line Systems was renamed Sierra On-Line in 1982, by early 1984 InfoWorld estimated that Sierra was the worlds 12th-largest microcomputer-software company, with $12.5 million in 1983 sales. In 1980, On-Line Systems released their first game in the Hi-Res Adventure series, Roberta wrote the script for the adventure game in three weeks, then presented it to Ken. At this point, Roberta convinced Ken to help her develop the game in the evenings after work and she worked on the text and the graphics, and told Ken how to put it all together to make it the game she wanted. They worked on it for three months and, on May 5,1980, Mystery House was ready for shipment. Mystery House was an instant hit and it was the first computer adventure game to have graphics, although they were crude, monochrome, static line drawings. It sold about 15,000 copies and earned $167,000, the Hi-Res Adventure series continued with Mission Asteroid, which was released as Hi-Res Adventure #0, despite being the second release. The next release, Wizard and the Princess, also known as Adventure in Serenia, is considered a prelude to the later Kings Quest series in both story and concept. Through 1981 and 1982, more games were released in the series including Cranston Manor, Ulysses and the Golden Fleece, Time Zone, a simplified version of The Dark Crystal, intended for a younger audience, was written by Al Lowe and released as Gelfling Adventure. Many of Sierras most well known series began in the 1980s, in 1983, Sierra On-Line was contacted by IBM to create a game for its new PCjr. IBM would fund the development of the game, pay royalties for it. Ken and Roberta accepted and started on the project, Roberta created a story featuring classic fairy-tale elements. For the game, a development system called Adventure Game Interpreter was developed
US$2.4 billion (2016)[1]
