1.
Twisted Pixel Games
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Twisted Pixel Games is a video game developer based in Austin, Texas. Originally a contractor, Twisted Pixel now releases games based on their own properties such as The Maw. The company uses their own engine, known as BEARD. On October 12,2011, it was announced that Twisted Pixel had become part of Microsoft Studios, however, Twisted Pixel was separated from Microsoft and become an independent company again starting from September 30,2015. Twisted Pixel Games was founded in 2006 by industry veterans Michael Wilford, Frank Wilson, the company first performed contract work for the now-defunct Midway Games, providing engineering work for NBA Ballers, Chosen One and Blitz, The League II. In 2008 Twisted Pixel announced that their focus had shifted to digitally distributed games based on their own new intellectual properties, in 2008 the company moved from Madison, Indiana to their current location in Austin, Texas. According to CEO Michael Wilford the move was to tap into a talent pool. Initially, Twisted Pixel targeted WiiWare as their service of choice, speaking of the 2005 planned state of the service Back then, WiiWare was planned to be more like Xbox Live Arcade stated CEO Michael Wilford. He noted the original plans for the service would require companies to submit games to Nintendo for approval, early discussions with Microsoft were not positive, but Wilford stated that Nintendo was eager to work with them. Twisted Pixel was the first company to get a light for WiiWare. Nintendo later changed their WiiWare model to one that required no submission process, Twisted Pixel opted not to use the service and continued talks with Microsoft. In 2007, Wilford met with David Every, the planner for Xbox Live Arcade at that time. Twisted Pixel pitched multiple games, including The Maw, which would become their first Xbox Live Arcade title. Released on January 21,2009, The Maw tells the story of the extraterrestrial Frank and a purple, amorphous creature called The Maw and their second title, Splosion Man, is a platform game where players control an escaped science experiment with the ability to explode himself repeatedly. It was released on July 22,2009, Twisted Pixels third title, Comic Jumper, The Adventures of Captain Smiley was released October 6,2010. Players control Captain Smiley, a comic book hero whose comics are poorly received, seeking help from Twisted Pixel themselves he jumps in other comics, hoping to glean from each genres popularity. On December 3,2010 Twisted Pixel announced Ms. Splosion Man and it was released on July 13,2011. On February 1,2011, the company revealed their fifth game, The Gunstringer
2.
Microsoft Studios
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They were established in 2002 as Microsoft Game Studios to coincide with the already released Xbox, before being re-branded in 2011. The subsidiary had also known as Microsoft Game Division and simply Microsoft Games before 2002. Microsoft Studios develops and publishes games in conjunction with first and third party development studios under their publishing label, in 2007, Microsoft Studios announced the opening of a European office in Reading, England, headed by general manager Phil Spencer. It disbanded FASA Studio, best known for their work on the MechWarrior series, former Halo developer Bungie announced that they would split from Microsoft Studios in order to become a privately held independent company. In 2008, Microsoft Studios disbanded casual games studio Carbonated Games and it also began to recruit for 343 Industries to take over development of the Halo franchise after the former developer, Bungie, regained independent status. 343 Industries was first officially revealed as steward of the Halo series in mid-2009 with the announcement of the animated project, in 2009, Microsoft Studios disbanded both Ensemble Studios and Aces Studio due to the effects of the late-2000s financial crisis and the restructuring of their game development studios. Phil Spencer was promoted to Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Studios in order to replace the retiring Shane Kim, in 2010, Microsoft Studios forms a Mobile Gaming studio focused on developing gaming and entertainment multimedia for Windows Phone. It also expanded Rare Ltd. to a second additional 90+ person in Digbeth, formed new internal studios named Microsoft Game Studios - Vancouver and Microsoft Flight Development Team, to bring Microsoft Flight to PC. In October 2010, Don Mattrick is promoted to President of the Interactive Entertainment Business, in 2011, Microsoft Studios opened new development studios in Soho London, Redmond, Washington and Victoria, British Columbia. In 2012, Phil Harrison, the former Sony worldwide studios head, joins Microsoft as head of Microsoft Studios Europe, Microsoft Studios recruited for new development studios in Redmond, including Playful Learning and The Connected Experiences. Microsoft Studios acquired developer Press Play, known for developing Tentacles and they aimed to create Microsoft Studios next big IP to rival their most successful series, Halo. Microsoft also recruited for a new development studio in Los Angeles, in 2013, Microsoft established a new European studio Lift London, a studio that would create digital cloud games for tablets, mobiles and TVs and officially reveals the Xbox One on May 21,2013. Later, Microsoft recruited for EMEA Publishing to manage relations with third party developers making Microsoft Published games in EMEA regions, Microsoft Studios announced that they would publish fifteen Xbox One exclusives within 12 months of launch,8 of which would be new franchises. On December 6, Microsoft decided to close the Victoria Studio with explanation to focus on Vancouver based studio, however Victoria didnt develop any games. On January 11,2014, Microsoft Studios announced they had signed multi-year, multi-title publishing contract with Undead Labs, on January 27, it acquired the rights to the Gears of War franchise and announced that the series will continue under Black Tusk Studios. On February 13, Jason Holtman left Microsoft Studios just 6 months after he joined the company, and Phil Spencer was appointed as the new head and boss of Microsoft Studios. On April 5, Phil Spencer announced that a couple of internal development studios that had not been publicly revealed are currently working on exclusive titles for the Xbox One platform. On May 31, it was revealed that Microsoft has acquired the rights of Rise of IP, on July 17, the head of Microsoft Studios, Phil Spencer, confirmed that Xbox Entertainment Studios would close in the coming months
3.
Game engine
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A game engine is a software framework designed for the creation and development of video games. Developers use them to games for consoles, mobile devices. The process of development is often economized, in large part, by reusing/adapting the same game engine to create different games. In many cases game engines provide a suite of development tools in addition to reusable software components. These tools are provided in an integrated development environment to enable simplified. Game engine developers attempt to pre-invent the wheel by developing robust software suites which include many elements a game developer may need to build a game, most game engine suites provide facilities that ease development, such as graphics, sound, physics and AI functions. Gamebryo, JMonkey Engine and RenderWare are such widely used middleware programs, however extensibility is achieved, it remains a high priority for game engines due to the wide variety of uses for which they are applied. Some game engines only provide real-time 3D rendering capabilities instead of the range of functionality needed by games. These engines rely upon the developer to implement the rest of this functionality or assemble it from other game middleware components. These types of engines are referred to as a graphics engine, rendering engine. This terminology is used as many full-featured 3D game engines are referred to simply as 3D engines. A few examples of engines are, Crystal Space, Genesis3D, Irrlicht, OGRE, RealmForge, Truevision3D. As technology ages, the components of an engine may become outdated or insufficient for the requirements of a given project. Since the complexity of programming a new engine may result in unwanted delays. Such a framework is composed of a multitude of different components. The actual game logic has to be implemented by some algorithms and it is distinct from any rendering, sound or input work. The rendering engine generates 3D animated graphics by the chosen method, before hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, software renderers had been used. Game engines can be written in any programming language like C++, C or Java, though language is structurally different
4.
Computing platform
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Computing platform means in general sense, where any piece of software is executed. It may be the hardware or the system, even a web browser or other application. The term computing platform can refer to different abstraction levels, including a hardware architecture, an operating system. In total it can be said to be the stage on which programs can run. For example, an OS may be a platform that abstracts the underlying differences in hardware, platforms may also include, Hardware alone, in the case of small embedded systems. Embedded systems can access hardware directly, without an OS, this is referred to as running on bare metal, a browser in the case of web-based software. The browser itself runs on a platform, but this is not relevant to software running within the browser. An application, such as a spreadsheet or word processor, which hosts software written in a scripting language. This can be extended to writing fully-fledged applications with the Microsoft Office suite as a platform, software frameworks that provide ready-made functionality. Cloud computing and Platform as a Service, the social networking sites Twitter and facebook are also considered development platforms. A virtual machine such as the Java virtual machine, applications are compiled into a format similar to machine code, known as bytecode, which is then executed by the VM. A virtualized version of a system, including virtualized hardware, OS, software. These allow, for instance, a typical Windows program to run on what is physically a Mac, some architectures have multiple layers, with each layer acting as a platform to the one above it. In general, a component only has to be adapted to the layer immediately beneath it, however, the JVM, the layer beneath the application, does have to be built separately for each OS
5.
Xbox 360
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The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the console in the Xbox series. The Xbox 360 competed with Sonys PlayStation 3 and Nintendos Wii as part of the generation of video game consoles. The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12,2005, with detailed launch, the Xbox 360 features an online service, Xbox Live, which was expanded from its previous iteration on the original Xbox and received regular updates during the consoles lifetime. In addition to multimedia features, the Xbox 360 allows users to stream media from local PCs. Several peripherals have been released, including controllers, expanded hard drive storage. The release of additional services and peripherals helped the Xbox brand grow from gaming-only to encompassing all multimedia. Launched worldwide across 2005–2006, the Xbox 360 was initially in short supply in many regions, including North America, the earliest versions of the console suffered from a high failure rate, indicated by the so-called Red Ring of Death, necessitating an extension of the devices warranty period. Microsoft released two redesigned models of the console, the Xbox 360 S in 2010, and the Xbox 360 E in 2013. As of June 2014,84 million Xbox 360 consoles have sold worldwide, making it the sixth-highest-selling video game console in history. The Xbox 360s successor, the Xbox One, was released on November 22,2013, on April 20,2016, Microsoft announced that it would end the production of new Xbox 360 hardware, although the company will continue to support the platform. Known during development as Xbox Next, Xenon, Xbox 2, Xbox FS or NextBox, in February 2003, planning for the Xenon software platform began, and was headed by Microsofts Vice President J Allard. That month, Microsoft held an event for 400 developers in Bellevue, also that month, Peter Moore, former president of Sega of America, joined Microsoft. On August 12,2003, ATI signed on to produce the graphic processing unit for the new console, before the launch of the Xbox 360, several Alpha development kits were spotted using Apples Power Mac G5 hardware. This was because the systems PowerPC970 processor running the same PowerPC architecture that the Xbox 360 would eventually run under IBMs Xenon processor, the cores of the Xenon processor were developed using a slightly modified version of the PlayStation 3s Cell Processor PPE architecture. According to David Shippy and Mickie Phipps, the IBM employees were hiding their work from Sony and Toshiba, jeff Minter created the music visualization program Neon which is included with the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 was released on November 22,2005, in the United States and Canada, December 2,2005, in Europe and December 10,2005, in Japan. It was later launched in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, and Russia
6.
Beat 'em up
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Beat em up is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat between the protagonist and an improbably large number of opponents. These games typically take place in settings and feature crime-fighting and revenge-based plots, though some games may employ historical. Traditional beat em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional levels and these games are noted for their simple gameplay, a source of both critical acclaim and derision. Two-player cooperative gameplay and multiple characters are also hallmarks of the genre. The first influential beat em up was 1984s Kung-Fu Master, with 1986s Renegade introducing the urban settings, Games such as Streets of Rage, Final Fight and Golden Axe are other classics to emerge from this period. The genre has been popular since the emergence of 3D-based mass-market games. A beat em up is a type of game where the player character must fight a large number of enemies in unarmed combat or with melee weapons. Gameplay consists of walking through a level, one section at a time, defeating a group of enemies before advancing to the next section, however arcade versions of these games are often quite difficult to win, causing players to spend more money to try to win. Beat em ups are related to—but distinct from—fighting games, which are based around one-on-one matches rather than scrolling levels, such terminology is loosely applied, however, as some commentators prefer to conflate the two terms. At times, both one-on-one fighting games and scrolling beat em ups have influenced each other in terms of graphics and style, occasionally, a game will feature both kinds of gameplay. Beat em up games usually employ vigilante crime fighting and revenge plots with the taking place on city streets, though historical. Players must walk from one end of the world to the other. Some later beat em ups dispense with 2D-based scrolling levels, instead allowing the player to roam around larger 3D environments, though they retain the simple gameplay. Throughout the level, players may acquire weapons that they can use as well as power-ups that replenish the players health, as players walk through the level, they are stopped by groups of enemies who must be defeated before they can continue. The level ends when all the enemies are defeated, each level contains many identical groups of enemies, making these games notable for their repetition. In beat em up games, players fight a boss—an enemy much stronger than the other enemies—at the end of each level. Beat em ups often allow the player to choose between a selection of protagonists—each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and set of moves, attacks can include rapid combinations of basic attacks as well as jumping and grappling attacks. Characters often have their own attacks, which leads to different strategies depending on which character the player selects
7.
Video game
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A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor. The word video in video game referred to a raster display device. Some theorists categorize video games as an art form, but this designation is controversial, the electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms, examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. These platforms range from large mainframe computers to small handheld computing devices, the input device used for games, the game controller, varies across platforms. Common controllers include gamepads, joysticks, mouse devices, keyboards, the touchscreens of mobile devices, and buttons, or even, with the Kinect sensor, a persons hands and body. Players typically view the game on a screen or television or computer monitor, or sometimes on virtual reality head-mounted display goggles. There are often game sound effects, music and, in the 2010s, some games in the 2000s include haptic, vibration-creating effects, force feedback peripherals and virtual reality headsets. In the 2010s, the game industry is of increasing commercial importance, with growth driven particularly by the emerging Asian markets and mobile games. As of 2015, video games generated sales of USD74 billion annually worldwide, early games used interactive electronic devices with various display formats. The earliest example is from 1947—a Cathode ray tube Amusement Device was filed for a patent on 25 January 1947, by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann, and issued on 14 December 1948, as U. S. Written by MIT students Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanens on a DEC PDP-1 computer in 1961, and the hit ping pong-style Pong, used the DEC PDP-1s vector display to have two spaceships battle each other. In 1971, Computer Space, created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was the first commercially sold and it used a black-and-white television for its display, and the computer system was made of 74 series TTL chips. The game was featured in the 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green, Computer Space was followed in 1972 by the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home console. Modeled after a late 1960s prototype console developed by Ralph H. Baer called the Brown Box and these were followed by two versions of Ataris Pong, an arcade version in 1972 and a home version in 1975 that dramatically increased video game popularity. The commercial success of Pong led numerous other companies to develop Pong clones and their own systems, the game inspired arcade machines to become prevalent in mainstream locations such as shopping malls, traditional storefronts, restaurants, and convenience stores. The game also became the subject of articles and stories on television and in newspapers and magazines. Space Invaders was soon licensed for the Atari VCS, becoming the first killer app, the term platform refers to the specific combination of electronic components or computer hardware which, in conjunction with software, allows a video game to operate. The term system is commonly used
8.
Xbox Live Arcade
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Xbox Live Arcade is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsofts digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from major publishers and independent game developers. Titles range from classic console and arcade games, to new games designed from the ground up for the service. Games available through the XBLA service range from $5–20 in price, prior to the Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade was the name for an online distribution network on the original Xbox, which was replaced by the Xbox Live Marketplace. The Xbox Live Arcade service was announced on May 12,2004, at Microsofts E3 press conference by Bill Gates and launched on December 3,2004. The XBLA software was obtained by ordering it on Microsofts website and it was sent by mail on a disc that also contained a free version of the Ms. Pac-Man video game. Once connected to Xbox Live, customers could purchase additional titles by using a credit card, prices for the games range from $4.99 to $14.99. On November 22,2005, XBLA was relaunched on the Xbox 360, the service was integrated into the main Dashboard user interface, and the Xbox 360 hard drives were bundled with a free copy of Hexic HD. Every Arcade title on the Xbox 360 supports leaderboards, has 200 Achievement points and they also have a trial version available for free download. These demos are playable and most of them only a fraction of the levels, modes. A full version of the game must be purchased to allow the user to upload scores to the leaderboards, unlock achievements, play online multiplayer, and download bonus content. The original size limit imposed by Microsoft for Xbox Live Arcade games was 50MB, the limit has since been changed to 150MB, then 350MB, and now 2GB, the latter of which is a technical limitation of the system. On September 12,2012 the 2GB limit was raised to a number with two titles, Red Johnsons Chronicles and Double Dragon Neon weighing at 2. 68GB and 2. 24GB. On July 12,2006, Microsoft launched the Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays program, when that summer ended, Microsoft announced that new titles for XBLA would also be released on Wednesdays. In order to promote the service in retail, Microsoft released Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged Volume 1 as a disc of six games. On October 18,2007, Microsoft announced the Xbox 360 Arcade console SKU which includes versions of Boom Boom Rocket, Feeding Frenzy, Luxor 2, Pac-Man Championship Edition. Furthermore, Microsoft created an internal games studio to create high quality digital content for XBLA, on July 30,2008, Microsoft announced the XBLA Summer of Arcade. Another Summer of Arcade began the year on July 22,2009
9.
PAX (event)
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PAX is a series of gaming festivals held in Seattle, Boston, Melbourne, Philadelphia, and San Antonio. PAX was created by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the authors of the Penny Arcade webcomic, created in 2004, PAX has been hailed as a celebration of gamer culture. Every PAX also features the Omegathon, a long tournament consisting of a group of randomly selected attendees competing for a grand prize. The final round of the Omegathon makes up the ceremony of PAX. Past games for the final round have included Tetris, Pong, Halo 3, and Skee ball. The first PAX, known at the time as the Penny Arcade Expo, was held on August 28–29,2004, in Bellevue, Washington, at the Meydenbauer Center, the event was held annually in August, at the same venue, for the next two years. Attendance grew rapidly, with over 9,000 attendees in 2005, by 2007, the event had outgrown its previous venue, and moved to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, which was twice the size. Attendance in 2007 was counted at 39,000, in 2008, attendance grew to 58,500, and in 2009, it grew to 60,750. In 2010, PAX held its first event on the East Coast, PAX East 2010 was held in Boston, from March 26–28, at the Hynes Convention Center. Attendance levels rivaled those of PAX2009, PAX East 2010 was attended by 52,290, from then on, the original Washington festival was referred to as PAX Prime in order to avoid confusion between the two. PAX Prime 2010 was attended by 67,600 people, PAX Prime 2011 was attended by over 70,000 people. For the two prior to PAX Prime, an event called PAX Dev was held, it was exclusive to the game developer community, no press were permitted. This supplemental event was created as a forum where developers speak freely, the same year, the second annual PAX East was held in March 2011, at a new venue, the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. PAX East 2012 was held April 6–8, and PAX Prime 2012 was held from August 31 to September 2, PAX East 2013 took place March 22–24. 2013 also marked the first year that a PAX event was held outside of the United States, PAX Prime 2013 was the first four-day PAX and took place from August 30 to September 2,2013. Passes for PAX Prime 2013 sold out six hours. An agreement reached in early 2012 has extended Boston as the home of PAX East until 2023. PAX Australia 2014 was held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on October 31 to November 2,2014, the first PAX South was held in San Antonio, Texas at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center on January 23–25,2015
10.
The Maw (video game)
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The Maw is a 2009 action-adventure video game developed by Twisted Pixel Games. The player assumes the role of Frank and directs The Maw—which can take on the abilities of objects and fauna it consumes—via a leash. Critical reception of The Maw was above average, both the Xbox 360 and Windows versions hold a rating of 75/100 on Metacritic, and respective ratings of 76. 06% and 73. 33% on GameRankings. The game won the 2008 Audience Choice award at PAX10, and was a finalist at the 2009 Independent Games Festival, as of year-end 2011, The Maw has moved more than 237,000 units. The Maw is set in a futuristic universe, the game begins with Frank, a pacifist bipedal alien, and The Maw, a purple one-eyed creature with small- medium teeth, both having been captured by the Galactic Bounty Hunters. For unknown reasons the ship on which they are being held crash lands on a strange planet, alone, they set out for a communications tower in the distance while on the run from additional Galactic Bounty Hunters who have come to recapture them. In The Maw players control Frank, who in turn controls The Maw via an electrical leash that he keep him at his side. Gameplay involves guiding The Maw in specific directions to clear obstacles, the Maw also has the ability to eat objects and creatures, taking on some of the properties of the thing it eats, such as breathing fire, flying, or simply growing in size. Players then use The Maws increased abilities to navigate previously impossible sections of a level, Twisted Pixel Games announced in June 2008 its plans to release The Maw as its the first original title for the company. Previously the company had worked with Midway Games to develop the 2004 game NBA Ballers, technically The Maw is a reference or homage to Halo 1s final level of the campaign titled The Maw. Hothead Games, a Vancouver-based independent video game developer, teamed with Twisted Pixel Games to bring The Maw to Microsoft Windows and it was released for the PC on March 9,2009. The Maw soundtrack was composed by Winifred Phillips and produced by Winnie Waldron, Twisted Pixel has announced that a total of three new levels will be released for the game as downloadable content, Brute Force, River redirect, and The Speeder Lane. Once downloaded, the new levels will be selectable from the menu as deleted scenes. Brute Force and River Redirect were released for Xbox 360 on February 18,2009, both were released together for the Steam version of the game on March 16,2009. The Speeder Lane was released on April 30,2009, didnt work on them in any way until after the main game was wrapped, stated Wilford. Wilford further explained that due to the way The Maw ends extending past the ending would not be possible, therefore, plans were made for the downloadable content to be dubbed Deleted Scenes, levels that take place inside the story of the main game. Wilford was quick to note that these levels were not simply unlock codes that provided the player access to things already in the game. I think some people took it to mean that we intentionally stripped out levels that were 100 percent complete only to them as DLC, he said
11.
'Splosion Man
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Splosion Man is a 2. 5D action platform video game developed by Twisted Pixel Games for the Xbox 360s Xbox Live Arcade digital download service. It was released on July 22,2009 as part of the 2009 Xbox Live Summer of Arcade, Splosion Man received positive reviews, averaging 84/100 at Metacritic and 85. 55% and GameRankings, two video game aggregators. It was voted by Xbox Live players as the Best Original XBLA Game of 2009, IGN listed the game eleventh in their top twenty-five Xbox Live Arcade titles of all time. Splosion Man placed thirteenth overall in 2009 sales and as of year-end 2011 has sold over 487,000 copies, a sequel, titled Ms. Splosion Man, was released on July 13,2011. The games title character, Splosion Man, was created by the fictional laboratory Big Science, the character is made entirely of explosive material. The aim of the game is to splode through a series of levels consisting of puzzles, traps, a splode is effectively a jump, and can also be used to kill enemies, such as scientists and robots, demolish walls, detonate explosive barrels or trigger other effects. The character can explode up to three times in succession at which point he will need to take a breather to replenish his supply. Splosion Man includes a mode consisting of fifty levels, including three bosses, as well as up to four-player cooperative gameplay, with fifty coop-exclusive levels. When playing cooperatively the players are presented in a different color to distinguish them from others. All players share the screen which zooms in and out according to how close players are to one another. The game does not contain any items, but hidden in each level is a cake which can be consumed for extra points or achievements. Pre-production for Splosion Man began in early 2008, coinciding with winding down of development of The Maw, the pre-production began in order keep the team working on a title once The Maw was completed. Production began in December 2008, and development began in January 2009, on April 1,2009, Twisted Pixel released a press announcement that a new game called Splosion Man would be released onto the Xbox Live Arcade. The next day, Twisted Pixel confirmed that the game wasnt an April Fools Day hoax and it was featured at the 2009 PAX convention at Twisted Pixels booth. Splosion Man was released for Xbox Live Arcade on July 22,2009 and it was the first of five titles to be released as part of Microsofts Summer of Arcade for the Xbox 360. The developers specifically timed the development cycle so in hopes that it would be one of the titles included, the premise for Splosion Man spawned from a random idea proposed by Sean Riley, one of the developers involved in the game. His idea to develop a game about a guy who splodes in a world made of glass. The team joked about the concept until it progressed into a full-fledged video game
12.
GameRankings
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GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games, GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive. Similar websites include GameStats, Metacritic, MobyGames, and TopTenReviews, GameRankings collects and links to reviews from other websites and magazines and averages specific ones. While hundreds of reviews may get listed, only the ones that GameRankings deems notable are used for the average, Scores are culled from numerous American and European sources. The site uses a grade for all reviews in order to be able to calculate an average. However, because not all use the same scoring system. When a game has accumulated 20 total reviews, it is given a ranking compared to all games in the database. The current highest rated game is Super Mario Galaxy, with 97. 64%, there are specific rules that GameRankings follows to determine which review sites are used in calculating a games overall score. From the GameRankings Help page, they are, Sites must have at least 300 archived reviews for a multi-system/multi-genre sites, Sites must publish a minimum of 15 reviews a month. Sites must be visually appealing and look professional, Sites must review a variety of titles. Sites must have a domain name with professional hosting. Site reviews must be well written, Sites must conduct themselves in a professional manner. However, some sites that follow these rules are not included and these are the top 20 games with best scores on the site. GameRankings High Scores Matter To Game Makers, Too, The Wall Street Journal, things that suck about video game reviews, That Videogame Blog, April 2,2008
13.
Metacritic
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Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of media products, music albums, games, movies, TV shows, DVDs, and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged, Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts. The site provides an excerpt from each review and hyperlinks to its source, a color of Green, Yellow or Red summarizes the critics recommendations and therefore the general appeal of the product to reviewers and, to a lesser extent, the public. It is regarded as the game industrys foremost review aggregator. Metacritics scoring converts each review into a percentage, either mathematically from the mark given, before being averaged, the scores are weighted according to the critics fame, stature, and volume of reviews. Metacritic was launched in July 1999 by Marc Doyle, his sister Julie Doyle Roberts, rotten Tomatoes was already compiling movie reviews, but Doyle, Roberts, and Dietz saw an opportunity to cover a broader range of media. They sold Metacritic to CNET in 2005, CNET and Metacritic are now owned by the CBS Corporation. Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal wrote in September 2004, Mr. Doyle,36, is now a product manager at CNET. Speaking of video games, Doyle said, A site like ours helps people cut through. unobjective promotional language and he added that the review process was not taken as seriously when unconnected magazines and websites provided reviews in isolation. In August 2010, the appearance was revamped, reaction from users was overwhelmingly negative. Certain publications are given more significance because of their stature, games Editor Marc Doyle was interviewed by Keith Stuart of The Guardian to get a look behind the metascoring process. Stuart wrote, the phenomenon, namely Metacritic and GameRankings, have become an enormously important element of online games journalism over the past few years. The ranging of metascores is, Metacritic is regarded as the foremost online review site for the video game industry. Nick Wingfield of The Wall Street Journal has written that Metacritic influence the sales of games and he explains its influence as coming from the higher cost of buying video games than music or movie tickets. Many executives say that low scores can hurt the sales potential. He claimed that a number of businesses and financial analysts use Metacritic as an early indicator of a games potential sales and, by extension. In 2004, Jason Hall of Warner Bros. began including quality metrics in contracts with partners licensing its movies for games, if a product does not at least achieve a specific score, some deals require the publisher to pay higher royalties. In 2008, Microsoft began using Metacritic averages to de-list underperforming Xbox Live Arcade games and these are the top 10 individual games with the highest scores on the site as of 2 April 2017
14.
Fourth generation of video game consoles
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In the history of computer and video games, the fourth generation of games consoles began on October 30,1987 with the Japanese release of NEC Home Electronics PC Engine. This generation saw strong console wars, Nintendo was able to capitalize on its previous success in the third generation and managed to win the largest worldwide market share in the fourth generation as well. Sega was extremely successful in this generation and began a new franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog, several other companies released consoles in this generation, but none of them were widely successful. Nevertheless, several companies started to take notice of the maturing video game industry. This generation ended with the discontinuation of the Neo Geo in 2004 and it launched in North America during August 1989, under the name TurboGrafx-16. Initially, the PC Engine was quite successful in Japan, partly due to titles available on the then-new CD-ROM format, NEC released a CD add-on in 1990 and by 1992 had released a combination TurboGrafx and CD-ROM system known as the TurboDuo. In the United States, NEC used Bonk, a caveman, as their mascot. The TurboGrafx-16 failed to maintain its sales momentum or to make an impact in North America. The TurboGrafx-16 and its CD combination system, the Turbo Duo, ceased manufacturing in North America by 1994, though a small amount of software continued to trickle out for the platform. In Japan, a number of adult titles were also available for the PC Engine, such as a variety of strip mahjong games. The Mega Drive was released in Japan on October 29,1988, the console was released in New York City and Los Angeles on August 14,1989 under the name Sega Genesis, and in the rest of North America later that year. It was launched in Europe and Australia on November 30,1990 under its original name and their advertising was often directly adversarial, leading to commercials such as Genesis does what Nintendont and the SEGA. scream. Segas version of Mortal Kombat received generally favorable reviews in the gaming press. With the new ESRB rating system in place, Nintendo reconsidered its position for the release of Mortal Kombat II, the Toy Retail Sales Tracking Service reported that during the key shopping month of November 1994, 63% of all 16-bit video game consoles sold were Sega systems. The console was never popular in Japan, but still managed to sell 40 million units worldwide, by late 1995, Sega was supporting five different consoles and two add-ons, and Sega Enterprises chose to discontinue the Mega Drive in Japan to concentrate on the new Sega Saturn. Nintendos fourth-generation console, the Super Famicom, was released in Japan on November 21,1990, the machine reached North America as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System on August 23,1991, and Europe and Australia in April 1992. Later titles such as Star Fox and Donkey Kong Country would keep the Super Famicom/SNES relevant well into the fifth generation era of 32-, the CD-i format was announced in the late 80s, with the first machines compatible with the format being released in 1991. The Phillips CD-i main selling point was that it was more than a game machine, due to an agreement between Nintendo in Philips about an abortive CD add-on for the SNES, Philips also had rights to use some of Nintendo franchises
15.
Manga
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Manga are comics created in Japan or by creators in the Japanese language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century. They have a long and complex pre-history in earlier Japanese art, the term manga in Japan is a word used to refer to both comics and cartooning. Manga as a term used outside Japan refers to comics published in Japan. In Japan, people of all ages read manga, many manga are translated into other languages. Since the 1950s, manga has become a major part of the Japanese publishing industry, representing a ¥406 billion market in Japan in 2007. Manga have also gained a significant worldwide audience, in Europe and the Middle East the market was worth $250 million in 2012. In 2008, in the U. S. and Canada, the market was valued at $175 million, the markets in France. Manga stories are printed in black-and-white, although some full-color manga exist. In Japan, manga are usually serialized in manga magazines, often containing many stories. If the series is successful, collected chapters may be republished in tankōbon volumes, frequently but not exclusively, a manga artist typically works with a few assistants in a small studio and is associated with a creative editor from a commercial publishing company. If a manga series is popular enough, it may be animated after or even during its run, sometimes manga are drawn centering on previously existing live-action or animated films. Manga-influenced comics, among original works, exist in parts of the world, particularly in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan. The word manga comes from the Japanese word 漫画, composed of the two kanji 漫 meaning whimsical or impromptu and 画 meaning pictures, rakuten Kitazawa first used the word manga in the modern sense. In Japanese, manga refers to all kinds of cartooning, comics, among English speakers, manga has the stricter meaning of Japanese comics, in parallel to the usage of anime in and outside Japan. The term ani-manga is used to describe comics produced from animation cels, writers on manga history have described two broad and complementary processes shaping modern manga. One view emphasizes events occurring during and after the U. S, occupation of Japan, and stresses U. S. cultural influences, including U. S. comics and images and themes from U. S. television, film, and cartoons. Regardless of its source, an explosion of artistic creativity certainly occurred in the period, involving manga artists such as Osamu Tezuka. Astro Boy quickly became popular in Japan and elsewhere
16.
Fantasy
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Fantasy is a fiction genre set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Most fantasy uses magic or other elements as a main plot element, theme. Magic and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds, in popular culture, the fantasy genre is predominantly of the medievalist form. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy works by many writers, artists, filmmakers. Fantasy is studied in a number of disciplines including English and other studies, cultural studies, comparative literature, history. The identifying trait of fantasy is the reliance on imagination to create narrative elements that do not have to rely on history or nature to be coherent. This differs from realistic fiction in that whereas realistic fiction has to attend to the history and natural laws of reality, an author applies his or her imagination to come up with characters, plots, and settings that are impossible in reality. Fantasy has often compared with science fiction and horror because they are the major categories of speculative fiction. Fantasy is distinguished from science fiction by the plausibility of the narrative elements, a science fiction narrative is unlikely, though seeming possible through logical scientific and/or technological extrapolation, whereas fantasy narratives do not need to be scientifically possible. The imagined elements of fantasy do not need an explanation to be narratively functional. Authors have to rely on the suspension of disbelief, an acceptance of the unbelievable or impossible for the sake of enjoyment. Despite both genres heavy reliance on the supernatural, fantasy and horror are distinguishable, horror primarily evokes fear through the protagonists weaknesses or inability to deal with the antagonists. Beginning perhaps with the earliest written documents, mythic and other elements that would come to define fantasy. MacDonald was an influence on both J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. The other major fantasy author of this era was William Morris, lord Dunsany established the genres popularity in both the novel and the short story form. Many popular mainstream authors also began to write fantasy at this time, including H. Rider Haggard, Rudyard Kipling and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Indeed, juvenile fantasy was considered more acceptable than fantasy intended for adults, nathaniel Hawthorne wrote fantasy in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, intended for children, though works for adults only verged on fantasy. Political and social trends can affect a societys reception towards fantasy, in the early 20th century, the New Culture Movements enthusiasm for Westernization and science in China compelled them to condemn the fantastical shenmo genre of traditional Chinese literature
17.
Protagonist
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A protagonist is the main character in any story, such as a literary work or drama. The protagonist is at the center of the story, typically makes the key decisions, the protagonist usually affects the main characters circumstances as well, as they are often the primary actor propelling the story forward. If a story contains a subplot, or is a made up of several stories. The word protagonist is used notably in stories and forms of literature and culture that contain stories, in those forms the protagonist may simply be the leading actor, or the principal character in the story. The antagonist will provide obstacles and complications and create conflict that test the protagonist, thus revealing the strengths, the earliest known examples of protagonist are dated back to Ancient Greece. At first dramatic performances involved merely dancing and recitation by the chorus, but then in Poetics, Aristotle describes how a poet named Thespis introduced the idea of having one actor step out and engage in a dialogue with the chorus. This was the invention of tragedy, which occurred about 536 B. C, then the poet Aeschylus, in his plays, introduced a second actor, inventing the idea of dialogue between two characters. Sophocles then wrote plays that required a third actor, euripides play Hippolytus may be considered to have two protagonists. The protagonist of the first half is Phaedra, who dies partway through the play and her stepson, the titular Hippolytus, assumes the dominant role in the second half of the play. In Ibsen’s play The Master Builder, the protagonist is the architect Halvard Solness, the young woman, Hilda Wangel, whose actions lead to the death of Solness, is the antagonist. In Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is the protagonist and he is actively in pursuit of his relationship with Juliet, and the audience is invested in that story. The character of Tybalt opposes Romeo’s desires, he is the antagonist, in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Prince Hamlet, who seeks revenge for the murder of his father, is the protagonist. The antagonist would be the character who most opposes Hamlet, Claudius, in the novel The Catcher in the Rye, the character Holden Caulfield is the protagonist. He is the character, and the reader is invested in his story. Sometimes, a work will have a false protagonist, who may seem to be the protagonist, the character Marion in Alfred Hitchcocks film Psycho is an example. A novel that contains a number of narratives may have a number of protagonists, alexander Solzhenitsyns The First Circle, for example, depicts a variety of characters imprisoned and living in a gulag camp. Leo Tolstoys War and Peace, depicts fifteen major characters involved in or affected by a war
18.
Modern Age of Comic Books
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The Modern Age of Comic Books is an informal name for the period in the history of mainstream American comic books generally considered to last from the mid-1980s until present day. An alternative name for this period is the Dark Age of Comic Books, due to the popularity and artistic influence of grim titles, such as Batman, The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. Because the time period encompassing the Modern Age is not well defined, many influences from the Bronze Age of Comic Books would overlap with the infancy of the Modern Age. The work of such as John Byrne, Chris Claremont. The Uncanny X-Men is the most definitive example of this impact as Bronze Age characters such as Wolverine and Sabretooth would have an influence on the Marvel Universe in the 1980s. For DC, Crisis on Infinite Earths is the bridge joins the two ages together. The result was the cancellation of The Flash, Superman, the post-Crisis world would have Wally West as the new Flash, John Byrne writing a brand-new Superman series, and George Pérez working on a new Wonder Woman series. Batman would also get a makeover as the Batman, Year One storyline would be one of the most popular Batman stories ever published, with an animated adaptation of Year One released in 2011. The arrival of Jim Shooter as Editor in Chief at Marvel Comics saw the departure of key creators at Marvel such as Steve Gerber, Marv Wolfman, in these new companies creators were free to create very personal stories. Mike Grells Jon Sable Freelance, Howard Chaykins American Flagg, Mike Baron and Steve Rudes Nexus, Dave Stevens Rocketeer and John Ostranders GrimJack attracted some attention and garnered a number of awards. These creators were brought in by DC editor Mike Gold to create defining works such as Green Arrow, The Longbow Hunters by Grell, Blackhawk by Chaykin, and Hawkworld by Truman. With Alan Moore, Frank Miller, and Art Spiegelmans Maus, the Comics Code Authority was established in 1954, and specified that no comic should contain the words horror or terror in its title. This led EC Comics to abandon its horror comics line, starting with Alan Moore’s groundbreaking work on DCs Swamp Thing in the early 1980s, horror comic books incorporated elements of science fiction/fantasy and strove to a new artistic standard. Other examples include Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, dC’s Vertigo line, under the editorship of Karen Berger, was launched in 1993, with the goal of specializing in this genre. Existing titles such as Animal Man, Doom Patrol, Hellblazer, and Shade, other titles later were created for the line, which continued successfully into the 2010s. This also lead to an avalanche of other comic book adaptations which included previously lesser known Vertigo titles, notably Constantine, Miller also created Elektra, who straddled the conventional boundary between love interest and villain. By the late 1980s DC has published many titles such as Hellblazer, Swamp Thing. DC later separated these titles to their launched Vertigo imprint that publishes titles outside of the DC Universe, by the early 1990s, antiheroes had become the rule rather than the exception, and among the most popular were Marvel Comics Cable and Venom and Image Comics Spawn
19.
Silver Age of Comic Books
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The Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. The popularity and circulation of books about superheroes declined following World War II. However, controversy arose over alleged links between comic books and juvenile delinquency, focusing in particular on crime and horror titles, in 1954, publishers implemented the Comics Code Authority to regulate comic content. In the wake of changes, publishers began introducing superhero stories again. In response to demand, DC began publishing more superhero titles including Justice League of America. Silver Age comics have become collectible, with a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15, Comics historian and movie producer Michael Uslan traces the origin of the Silver Age term to the letters column of Justice League of America #42, which went on sale December 9,1965. Letter-writer Scott Taylor of Westport, Connecticut wrote, If you guys keep bringing back the heroes from the Golden Age, according to Uslan, the natural hierarchy of gold-silver-bronze, as in Olympic medals, took hold. Fans immediately glommed onto this, refining it more directly into a Silver Age version of the Golden Age, very soon, it was in our vernacular, replacing such expressions as. Second Heroic Age of Comics or The Modern Age of comics and it wasnt long before dealers were. Specifying it was a Golden Age comic for sale or a Silver Age comic for sale, a number of major superheroes were created during this period, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, and Captain America. In subsequent years comics were blamed for a rise in crime statistics. The result was a decline in the comics industry, to address public concerns, in 1954 the Comics Code Authority was created to regulate and curb violence in comics, marking the start of a new era. The Silver Age began with the publication of DC Comics Showcase #4, at the time, only three superheroes—Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman—were still published under their own titles. According to DC comics writer Will Jacobs, Superman was available in great quantity, editor Julius Schwartz, writer Gardner Fox, and artist Carmine Infantino were some of the people behind the Flashs revitalization. Robert Kanigher wrote the first stories of the revived Flash, with the success of Showcase #4, several other 1940s superheroes were reworked during Schwartz tenure, including Green Lantern, the Atom, and Hawkman, as well as the Justice League of America. The DC artists responsible included Murphy Anderson, Gil Kane and Joe Kubert, in the mid-1960s, DC established that characters appearing in comics published prior to the Silver Age lived on a parallel Earth the company dubbed Earth-Two. Characters introduced in the Silver Age and onward lived on Earth-One and it was established that the two realities were separated by a vibrational field that could be crossed, should a storyline involve superheroes from different worlds teaming up. Unsuccessful attempts to revive the superhero archetypes popularity include Captain Comet, supermouse and Mighty Mouse were published continuously in their own titles from the end of the Golden Age through the beginning of the Silver Age
20.
Cel shading
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Cel-shading is often used to mimic the style of a comic book or cartoon and/or give it a characteristic paper-like texture. There are similar techniques that can make an image look like a sketch and it is somewhat recent, appearing from around the beginning of the twenty-first century. The name comes from cels, the sheets of acetate. The cel-shading process starts with a typical 3D model, where cel-shading differs from conventional rendering is in its non-photorealistic illumination model. Black ink outlines and contour lines can be created using a variety of methods, one popular method is to first render a black outline, slightly larger than the object itself. Backface culling is inverted and the triangles are drawn in black. To dilate the silhouette, these faces may be drawn in wireframe multiple times with slight changes in translation. Alternatively, back-faces may be rendered solid-filled, with their vertices translated along their vertex normals in a vertex shader, after drawing the outline, back-face culling is set back to normal to draw the shading and optional textures of the object. Finally, the image is composited via Z-buffering, as the back-faces always lie deeper in the scene than the front-faces, the result is that the object is drawn with a black outline and interior contour lines. The Utah teapot rendered using cel-shading, The back faces are drawn with thick lines The object is drawn with a basic texture Shading Steps 2 and 3 can be combined using multi-texturing, another outlining technique is to use 2D image-processing. Other notable examples include The Legend of Zelda, The Wind Waker, Viewtiful Joe, Ni No Kuni, Escape Dead Island, The Wolf Among Us, Ōkami, and Ultimate Spider-Man. Cutscenes in Mirrors Edge use a mixture of characters and 3D toon shaded models, with the latter used mostly in vehicles. Blue season 14, a game based TV series. Based on the video game Halo, Transformers, Robots in Disguise, a 2015 animated series and sequel to Transformers, Prime. List of cel-shaded video games 2. 5D IGN, Jet Set Radio review
21.
2.5D
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By contrast, games using 3D computer graphics without such restrictions are said to use true 3D. Common in video games, these projections have also been useful in geographic visualization to help understand visual-cognitive spatial representations or 3D visualization, lines perpendicular to the plane become points, lines parallel to the plane have true length, and lines inclined to the plane are foreshortened. They are popular camera perspectives among 2D video games, most commonly those released for 16-bit or earlier and handheld consoles, as well as in later strategy and role-playing video games. The advantage of these perspectives are that they combine the visibility and mobility of a game with the character recognizability of a side-scrolling game. There are three divisions of axonometric projection, isometric, dimetric, and trimetric. The most common of these types in engineering drawing is isometric projection. This projection is tilted so that all three axes create equal angles at intervals of 120 degrees, the result is that all three axes are equally foreshortened. In video games, a form of projection with a 2,1 pixel ratio is more common due to the problems of anti-aliasing. In oblique projection typically all three axes are shown unforeshortened, all lines parallel to the axes are drawn to scale, and diagonals and curved lines are distorted. One tell-tale sign of oblique projection is that the face pointed toward the camera retains its right angles with respect to the image plane, two examples of oblique projection are Ultima VII, The Black Gate and Paperboy. Examples of axonometric projection include SimCity 2000, and the role-playing games Diablo, the name refers to the fact that objects are seen as if drawn on a billboard. This technique was used in early 1990s video games when consoles did not have the hardware power to render fully 3D objects. This is also known as a backdrop and this can be used to good effect for a significant performance boost when the geometry is sufficiently distant that it can be seamlessly replaced with a 2D sprite. In games, this technique is most frequently applied to such as particles. A pioneer in the use of technique was the game Jurassic Park. It has since become mainstream, and is found in games such as Rome, Total War. Other examples include early first-person shooters like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Hexen and Duke Nukem 3D as well as racing games like Carmageddon, skyboxes and skydomes are methods used to easily create a background to make a game level look bigger than it really is. A skydome employs the concept but uses a sphere or hemisphere instead of a cube
22.
Quick time event
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In video games, a quick time event is a method of context-sensitive gameplay in which the player performs actions on the control device shortly after the appearance of an on-screen instruction/prompt. It allows for limited control of the character during cut scenes or cinematic sequences in the game. Performing the prompted action improperly or not at all results in the failure at their task. The term quick time event is attributed to Yu Suzuki, director of the game Shenmue which used the QTE feature to a great degree, QTEs generally involve the player following onscreen prompts to press buttons or manipulate joysticks within a limited amount of time. More recent games on consoles with motion-sensitive controls feature QTEs requiring specific movements from the player, such actions are either atypical of the normal controls during the game, or in a different context from their assigned functions. In the 1980s, Dragons Lair, Cliff Hanger and Road Blaster were interactive movie video games that showed video clips stored on a laserdisc. This gave them graphics on par with a cartoon at a time when video games were composed of simple, pixelated characters. Gameplay consisted of watching a video and pressing the correct button every few seconds to avoid seeing a loss scene. Compared to modern titles, games like Dragons Lair would require the player to memorize the sequence and timing of their input. An improvement to the QTE mechanic was flashing the buttons that need to be pressed on the screen, which appeared in the laserdisc games Super Don Quix-ote, Ninja Hayate, Time Gal and Road Blaster. Die Hard Arcade, Sword of the Berserk, Guts Rage, the games manual called them quick timer events, but the phrase became popularized as quick time events since its release. Since this period, several games on modern console and game systems have included QTEs or similar mechanics. Failure to execute the event in time would result in the opposing team scoring a goal or claiming possession of the ball. QTEs have mixed reaction from players and journalists and they can be used effectively to enhance cutscenes and other actions. At the same time, they also are considered to be an addition to gameplay. Also, QTEs may frustrate the player due to the fact that they not have any sign that they are about to happen. QTEs are often used during dramatic cutscenes, Resident Evil 4 uses QTEs to facilitate a seamless transition between gameplay and the in-game movies and prevent players from losing interest during cutscenes. One example in Resident Evil 4 is a knife fight, as the action takes place during the major revelation of the game, the QTE serves to prevent the player from skipping over the cutscene
23.
Fighting game
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A fighting game is a video game genre in which the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent, which can be either an AI or controlled by another player. The fight matches typically consist of several rounds and take place in an arena, while each character has widely differing abilities, players must master techniques such as blocking, counter-attacking, and chaining attacks together into combos. Since the early 1990s, most fighting games allow the player to special attacks by performing specific input combinations. The fighting game genre is related to but distinct from beat em ups, the first video game to feature fist fighting was arcade game Heavyweight Champ in 1976, but it was Karate Champ which popularized one-on-one martial arts games in arcades in 1984. In 1985, Yie Ar Kung-Fu featured antagonists with differing fighting styles, in 1987, Street Fighter introduced hidden special attacks. In 1991, Capcoms highly successful Street Fighter II refined and popularized many of the conventions of the genre, the fighting game subsequently became the preeminent genre for competitive video gaming in the early to mid-1990s, particularly in arcades. Fighting games are a type of game where two on-screen characters fight each other. These games typically feature special moves that are triggered using rapid sequences of carefully timed button presses, games traditionally show fighters from a side-view, even as the genre has progressed from two-dimensional to three-dimensional graphics. Fighting games typically involve hand-to-hand combat, but may also feature melee weapons and this genre is distinct from beat em ups, another action genre involving combat, where the player character must fight many weaker enemies at the same time. During the 1980s publications used the fighting game and beat em up interchangeably. With hindsight, critics have argued that the two types of game gradually became dichotomous as they evolved, though the two terms may still be conflated, Fighting games are sometimes grouped with games that feature boxing, UFC, or wrestling. As such, boxing games, mixed martial arts games, and wrestling games are described as distinct genres, without comparison to fighting games. Fighting games involve combat between pairs of fighters using highly exaggerated martial arts moves and they typically revolve around primarily brawling or combat sport, though some variations feature weaponry. Games usually display on-screen fighters from a view, and even 3D fighting games play largely within a 2D plane of motion. Games usually confine characters to moving left and right and jumping, although some such as Fatal Fury. Recent games tend to be rendered in three dimensions and allow side-stepping, but otherwise play like those rendered in two dimensions, aside from moving around a restricted space, fighting games limit the players actions to different offensive and defensive maneuvers. Players must learn which attacks and defenses are effective against each other, often by trial, blocking is a basic technique that allows a player to defend against attacks. Some games feature more advanced blocking techniques, for example, Capcoms Street Fighter III features a move termed parrying which causes the attacker to become momentarily incapacitated, in addition to blows such as punches and kicks, players can utilize throwing or grappling to circumvent blocks
24.
Joystiq
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Joystiq was a video gaming blog founded in June 2004 as part of the Weblogs, Inc. family of weblogs, now owned by AOL. It was AOLs primary video game blog, with sister blogs dealing with MMORPG gaming in general, after declining readership, it was announced that Joystiq would be shut down on February 3,2015, as part of moves to downsize AOLs operations by shuttering its underperforming properties. However, none of three initial weblogs were ever aggressively marketed, and The Video Games Weblog made its final post on May 18,2005. All three blogs are now listed as On Hiatus/Retired in the Weblogs, Inc. directory, david Touve, the primary contributor to these early blogs, would later act as Joystiqs features editor for a short time in late 2005 before resigning due to the birth of his child. However, being a separate and wholly video game-related entity, Joystiq allowed for much more analysis of the video game industry than the primarily consumer electronics-oriented Engadget. While Joystiq had featured content as early as April 2, the blog is not officially considered to have been launched until Rojass public revelation on Engadget on Wednesday, Weblogs, Inc. was acquired in October 2005 by America Online. For the next three weeks this trend would continue, with PSP Fanboy launching on November 28, WoW Insider on December 6, and DS Fanboy on December 12. On February 15,2006, a blog was introduced, Revolution Fanboy, while March 29 heralded the arrival of PS3 Fanboy. On January 26,2006, Joystiq coined the phrase DS phat, on November 2,2007, Massively was launched to cover MMOs in general. On January 27,2009, the Fanboy sites were rebranded and integrated directly into the main Joystiq site, DS and Wii Fanboy were merged into Joystiq Nintendo, as were PSP and PS3 Fanboy merged into Joystiq PlayStation, and Xbox 360 Fanboy became Joystiq Xbox. Until 2010, these continued to feature specialized posts in addition to relevant content from the main Joystiq site. On June 11,2010, as part of the new Futurestiq iteration of the site, in January 2012, Ludwig Kietzmann became the editor-in-chief after Grant left to form a new video game news website with Vox Media, owners of The Verge, known as Polygon. On January 27,2015, Re/code reported that Joystiq was among the sites that were likely to be shut down as part of this restructuring plan, readership of Joystiq had seen sharp declines, falling by at least 18% over the previous year. It is expected that future gaming-oriented coverage will be assumed by Engadget, after the shutdown, on February 10,2015, the staff of Massively launched a successor site, Massively Overpowered, dedicated to the continuation of their MMO coverage. Thomas Schulenberg and Sam Prell maintain the blog on the weekends as the weekend editors, the original format for the Joystiq Podcast was hosted by Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin Hoops McElroy. The three would discuss various gaming-related news stories, segments included, What Have you Been Playing. Brush With Fame, The Big Three, The Do It Line. various podcasts have included guests from other gaming websites such as CheapyD, Chris Remo, Stephen Totilo, Rocco Botte, Tom Chick and Shawn Andrich but they stopped doing them. Over time, the format evolved to include more off-the-cuff discussion
25.
Final Fight
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Final Fight is a series of beat em up video games by Capcom, which began with the arcade release of Final Fight in 1989. A parody of the game, titled Mighty Final Fight, was released for the NES. A competitive 3-D fighting game spinoff, Final Fight Revenge, was released for Segas Titan arcade hardware in 1999, a 3D sequel titled Final Fight, Streetwise was released in 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Andore would make a reappearance as a character in Street Fighter III 2nd Impact under the name Hugo in 1997. He is accompanied by Poison as his manager, both would reappear in SNK vs. Capcom, SVC Chaos 2003, which also features the cameo appearances of the two first Final Fight bosses, Damnd and Sodom, in Chun-Lis ending. Both Cody and Guy are playable characters in Super Street Fighter IV while Hugo is in a cameo in a stage, Codys musical theme is a remix of the intro music from Final Fight. There is also a downloadable Mike Haggar outfit for Zangief in Street Fighter IV, Rolento was considered as a playable character for Super Street Fighter IV, but was edged out by Adon as he had slightly more interest. He later appeared in Ultra Street Fighter IV, alongside Hugo, however, the construction site from his boss battle features as one of the stages. The car-vandalizing bonus stage was used in early versions of Street Fighter II. In Super Street Fighter IV, if Cody or Guy are vandalizing the car in the stage, Mad Gear member Bred will appear. Guy is a character in Capcom Fighting Jam while Cody, Haggar, Jessica, Hugo. Both Guy and Mike Haggar are playable characters in the Namco-published crossover game, Namco x Capcom, in it, Guy is paired with Sho, a. k. a. Ginzu the Ninja from Captain Commando, Mike Haggar is a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Fate of Two Worlds, where he was the first character from the Final Fight series to be featured in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. In the game, there is also a stage that takes place in Metro City with the Mad Gear gang fighting the police in the background, Hugo, Poison, Cody, Guy, and Rolento are playable characters in Street Fighter X Tekken. Mike Haggar and several Mad Gear bosses can be seen in cameo appearance in this game at the background named Mad Gear Hideout. Maki Genryusai is the original character from Final Fight 2 to make a return appearance. She made her video game appearance in the 2001 fighting game Capcom vs. SNK2. Maki has also featured as a trading card in Card Fighters 2
26.
Contra (series)
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Contra is a video game series produced by Konami composed primarily of run and gun-style shoot-em-ups. The series debuted in 1987 as an arcade game simply titled Contra. In Japanese, the title is spelled with the kanji characters 魂斗羅 or Kontora and this is a form of ateji, in which the characters are used for their phonetic pronunciations rather than any inherent meaning they may have. The arcade version of Contra was released on February 1987, a few months after the Iran–Contra affair was made public. Only the Appaloosa-developed installments in the series, Contra, Legacy of War and C, The Contra Adventure, as well as Neo Contra, Contra, Shattered Soldier, while maintaining the side-view perspective of the 2D games, features fully polygonal 3D graphics. Almost every game in the series, with only a few exceptions, the main power-ups in the series are falcon-shaped letter icons which will replace the players default weapon with a new one, such as a Laser Gun or a Spread Gun. Contra, Shattered Soldier and Neo Contra both deviate from this tradition by having set weapon configurations instead, most of the Contra games have the player begin the game with only a set number of lives. If the player gets hit, they lose a life along with any weapon they currently possess in some games. Even in the arcade versions, most of the games only give limited chances to continue before forcing the player to start all over. Extra lives are obtained in most games when the player reaches certain scores. The NES version of the original Contra used the Konami Code to start the game with thirty lives instead of the usual three. Most of the subsequent console games in the only featured these extra lives codes in their Japanese releases, such as Contra Spirits and Contra. Contra Contra is the first game in the series, many of the series conventions such as power-ups, two-player cooperative gameplay and the characters light mobility were already present in this game. The game is composed of traditional side-view stages that scroll either vertically or horizontally, the NES version is essentially identical to the arcade version in terms of content, but has longer stages and other modifications. In Japan, the Famicom version uses the VRC2 chip, which allowed for additional background animation, an MSX2 version was also produced that is drastically different from the other two versions. Several computer versions were done outside Japan, by Ocean in Europe for the C64, CPC and ZX, Super Contra Super Contra replaces the 3D view stages from the original with top-view stages similar to those in Commando or Ikari Warriors. Features unique to the version includes upgradeable weapons and the ability to control the characters jumping height. The NES version has three new stages and a new boss, but lacks the upgradable weapons from the arcade game
27.
Gunstar Heroes
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Gunstar Heroes is a run-and-gun shooter video game, and the first game developed by Treasure and published by Sega. Treasures debut game was released on the Sega Genesis in late 1993. In February 2006, Gunstar Heroes was released as part of the Gunstar Heroes and it is also available on the Wiis Virtual Console. In 2009, it was released on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, in 2015, a 3D Classics version was released on the Nintendo 3DS eShop. It has been listed among the best video games of all time by various publications, Gunstar Heroes is a run-and-gun side-scrolling shooter much in the vein of Contra. These weapons are dropped as power-ups throughout the game, and the play may hold onto two at a time, by combining two weapons, a new weapon can be formed. For example, combining Lightning and Flame results in a short range weapon that ignores most collision from walls. Counting the basic weapons, there are a total of 14 different possible weapons in the game, in addition to using weapons, the player can engage enemies in close quarters combat. Enemies can be tossed, and other moves can be performed, such as sliding and jumping attacks, the first four stages of the game can be played in any order from a stage select screen. Unlike most games in the genre, the player has life in the form of a numerical health counter, however, the player only has one life, although there are unlimited continues. The games main focus is on its boss encounters, which are made up of multiple sprites allowing for fluid movement and simulated scaling. There are often multiple bosses per stage, each with their own moves and abilities. The games backstory concerns an evil organization that created a powerful robot, Golden Silver. The Gunstars, exhausted, seal themselves in stasis pods on the moon while civilization rebuilds itself, as time passes, Golden Silver begins to be seen as a God that will lead righteous people to paradise. There, the leader of the expedition, Professor Brown, finds the Gunstars in stasis, the Gunstars learn of the Empires plan, and learn that Green is helping the Empire to resurrect Golden Silver. The Gunstars convince Professor Brown to betray the Empire and help stop the revival of Golden Silver. Red and Blue journey to recover the gems with the aid of Yellow, greys second-in-command, Smash Daisaku, continually challenges Red and Blue throughout the game. After securing the last gem, the Gunstars return to base to find Professor Brown tied up and Yellow kidnapped by General Grey, who demands the gems in return for her safety
28.
Earthworm Jim (series)
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Earthworm Jim is a series of side-scrolling platforming video games, the first game of which was released in 1994. The series is noted for its platforming and shooting gameplay, surrealist humor, four games were released in the series, Earthworm Jim, Earthworm Jim 2, Earthworm Jim 3D, and Earthworm Jim, Menace 2 the Galaxy. The series lay dormant for almost a decade before Gameloft remade the game in HD for PlayStation Network. Interplay announced an Earthworm Jim 4 in 2008, but little has surfaced since, playmates Toys, finding success with the license for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, wanted to start their own franchise. From there, the games design actually started with creator Doug TenNapels simple sketch of an earthworm that he presented to Shiny Entertainment, impressed, David Perry and the rest of Shiny bought the rights to Earthworm Jim from TenNapel, and started developing the game. From there, TenNapel would work on doing the design, creating level ideas, and voicing Jims character, while Perry. The resulting game would be the original Earthworm Jim, the game would play as a 2D sidescrolling platformer with elements of a run and gun game as well. The player controls Jim and must maneuver him through the level while avoiding obstacles and enemies, the player can use Jims gun as a method of shooting enemies, or his head a whip for whipping enemies. The whip move also allows the player to hold of. Some levels have additional requirements beyond merely getting to the end of the level, failure to do so results in Peter lashing out at Jim, taking away from his health. The game was well received on both the Genesis and the Super NES. It was awarded Best Genesis Game of 1994 by Electronic Gaming Monthly and was rated the 114th-best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Powers Top 200 Games list, the game was noted for its fluid animation, featuring a hand-drawn style that was unusual for 16-bit releases. A special version of the game entitled The Great Earthworm Jim Race was broadcast in 1995 for the Sega Channel. The game featured an increase in difficulty level and a room which, when reached by the first 200 players, would display a password. Those that called the number were awarded special prizes, shortly afterwards, the same development team started work on a sequel. The premise of the sequel was largely the same as the original, traverse through the levels in order to save Princess Whats Her Name, however, gameplay was much more diverse. While the majority of levels was based on run and gun and platformer game elements. For instance, there are types of guns to use once found in a level, such as an auto-aiming gun
29.
Microsoft
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Its best known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, Microsoft Office office suite, and Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers. Its flagship hardware products are the Xbox video game consoles and the Microsoft Surface tablet lineup, as of 2016, it was the worlds largest software maker by revenue, and one of the worlds most valuable companies. Microsoft was founded by Paul Allen and Bill Gates on April 4,1975, to develop and it rose to dominate the personal computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by Microsoft Windows. The companys 1986 initial public offering, and subsequent rise in its share price, since the 1990s, it has increasingly diversified from the operating system market and has made a number of corporate acquisitions. In May 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion, in June 2012, Microsoft entered the personal computer production market for the first time, with the launch of the Microsoft Surface, a line of tablet computers. The word Microsoft is a portmanteau of microcomputer and software, Paul Allen and Bill Gates, childhood friends with a passion for computer programming, sought to make a successful business utilizing their shared skills. In 1972 they founded their first company, named Traf-O-Data, which offered a computer that tracked and analyzed automobile traffic data. Allen went on to pursue a degree in science at Washington State University. The January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics featured Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systemss Altair 8800 microcomputer, Allen suggested that they could program a BASIC interpreter for the device, after a call from Gates claiming to have a working interpreter, MITS requested a demonstration. Since they didnt actually have one, Allen worked on a simulator for the Altair while Gates developed the interpreter and they officially established Microsoft on April 4,1975, with Gates as the CEO. Allen came up with the name of Micro-Soft, as recounted in a 1995 Fortune magazine article. In August 1977 the company formed an agreement with ASCII Magazine in Japan, resulting in its first international office, the company moved to a new home in Bellevue, Washington in January 1979. Microsoft entered the OS business in 1980 with its own version of Unix, however, it was MS-DOS that solidified the companys dominance. For this deal, Microsoft purchased a CP/M clone called 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products, branding it as MS-DOS, following the release of the IBM PC in August 1981, Microsoft retained ownership of MS-DOS. Since IBM copyrighted the IBM PC BIOS, other companies had to engineer it in order for non-IBM hardware to run as IBM PC compatibles. Due to various factors, such as MS-DOSs available software selection, the company expanded into new markets with the release of the Microsoft Mouse in 1983, as well as with a publishing division named Microsoft Press. Paul Allen resigned from Microsoft in 1983 after developing Hodgkins disease, while jointly developing a new OS with IBM in 1984, OS/2, Microsoft released Microsoft Windows, a graphical extension for MS-DOS, on November 20,1985. Once Microsoft informed IBM of NT, the OS/2 partnership deteriorated, in 1990, Microsoft introduced its office suite, Microsoft Office
30.
Bink Video
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Bink Video is a proprietary video file format developed by RAD Game Tools, and primarily used for full-motion video sequences in video games. It has been used in over 10,000 games for Windows, Mac OS, Xbox 360, Xbox, GameCube, Wii, PlayStation 3, PC, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, Nintendo DS, and Sony PSP. The format includes its own video and audio codecs, supporting resolutions from 320×240 all the way up to high definition video and it is bundled as part of the RAD Video Tools along with RAD Game Tools previous video codec, Smacker video. It is a hybrid block-transform and wavelet codec capable of using 16 different encoding techniques allowing it to any type of video. The codec places emphasis on lower decoding requirements over other video codecs with specific optimizations for the different computer game consoles it supports, the format was reverse-engineered by the FFmpeg project and Bink decoding is supported by the open-source libavcodec library. Bink2, a new version of the format, was released in 2013 and this new format is available for Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Sony PS4, PS3, and PS Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Wii U, Android and iOS. Smacker video RAD Game Tools Site about Bink Games using Bink Video Bink Video - MultimediaWiki
31.
Comix Zone
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Comix Zone is a 1995 arcade-style beat em up video game, originally released as a Sega Genesis exclusive. The concept for the game originated from a Commodore Amiga demo video animated by Peter Morawiec titled Joe Pencil Trapped In The Comix Zone, the video was made in 1992, displaying the animation of how the gameplay and the comic book elements would blend in. Sketch Turner, a starving artist and freelance rock musician living in New York City, is working on his newest comic book, named the Comix Zone. Comix Zone is the story of the New World Empires attempt to defend Earth from an invasion of alien renegades, with coming from Sketchs dreams. One night, while Sketch is working on Comix Zone during a thunderstorm, because he does not possess any power in reality, Mortus sends Sketch into the world of his own comic, freely drawing in enemies attempting to kill him. Inside the comic book, Sketch meets General Alissa Cyan, who believes he is the one who came to save their post-apocalyptic world from the evil of Mortus. Ignoring Sketchs protests, Alissa sends him on his mission, keeping in touch with instructions and it is up to Sketch to stop Mortus evil plans and find a way out of this comic world. The game has two possible endings, at the end of the game, Alissa attempts to defuse a nuke, when Mortus comes into the comic and throws her into the chamber, which starts to fill up with liquid. If the player defeats Mortus and the Kreeps he summons quickly enough to drain the liquid and save Alissa, Comix Zone is a huge success, being sold out on its first day, and Alissa joins the army, eventually becoming Chief of Security for the United States. Roadkill is given a vast amount of cheese, and spends a lot of time exploring the citys new sewer system when not sleeping under a pile of Sketchs dirty socks. If the player defeats Mortus after the chamber fills with liquid, Sketch comes out, but his comic is destroyed. The last sentence in the cutscene says Will Sketch recreate his adventure for a happier ending. Comix Zone is a platformer in which players control Sketch as he progresses through panels of his comic book, hoping to reach the end. Each level consists of two pages and secrets are discovered by shredding the paper and revealing items, along with standard attacks such as punching, kicking and jump attacks, Sketch can store up to three items in his inventory to help him overcome obstacles. His pet rat Roadkill can discover hidden items and access areas that are too dangerous for Sketch to reach, Sketch can also tear off the backdrop into a paper plane to throw at enemies, but this costs health and can also hurt Sketch if hes not careful. In order to progress through the pages, Sketch will often have to successfully solve a puzzle. Arrows will then appear, allowing Sketch to jump to another panel, Sketchs health is determined by a health bar, which is diminished when Sketch is damaged by enemies or obstacles. It will also diminish as Sketch punches through breakable objects or if he uses his paper plane move, if Sketch loses all his life, or falls down a bottomless pit, the game will end and Mortus will take his place in the real world
32.
Comic strip
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A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. With the development of the internet, they began to online as web comics. There were more than 200 different comic strips and daily cartoon panels in American newspapers alone each day for most of the 20th century, Strips are written and drawn by a comics artist or cartoonist. As the name implies, comic strips can be humorous, starting in the late 1920s, comic strips expanded from their mirthful origins to feature adventure stories, as seen in Popeye, Captain Easy, Buck Rogers, Tarzan, and The Adventures of Tintin. Soap-opera continuity strips such as Judge Parker and Mary Worth gained popularity in the 1940s, all are called, generically, comic strips, though cartoonist Will Eisner has suggested that sequential art would be a better genre-neutral name. In the UK and the rest of Europe, comic strips are also serialized in comic book magazines, storytelling using a sequence of pictures has existed through history. One medieval European example in textile form is the Bayeux Tapestry, printed examples emerged in 19th-century Germany and in 18th-century England, where some of the first satirical or humorous sequential narrative drawings were produced. William Hogarths 18th century English cartoons include both narrative sequences, such as A Rakes Progress, and single panels, in China, with its traditions of block printing and of the incorporation of text with image, experiments with what became lianhuanhua date back to 1884. The first newspaper comic strips appeared in North America in the late 19th century, the Yellow Kid is usually credited as one of the first newspaper strips. However, the art form combining words and pictures developed gradually, swiss author and caricature artist Rodolphe Töpffer is considered the father of the modern comic strips. In 1865, German painter, author, and caricaturist Wilhelm Busch created the strip Max and Moritz, Max and Moritz provided an inspiration for German immigrant Rudolph Dirks, who created the Katzenjammer Kids in 1897. Familiar comic-strip iconography such as stars for pain, sawing logs for snoring, speech balloons, hugely popular, Katzenjammer Kids occasioned one of the first comic-strip copyright ownership suits in the history of the medium. When Dirks left William Randolph Hearst for the promise of a better salary under Joseph Pulitzer, it was an unusual move, in a highly unusual court decision, Hearst retained the rights to the name Katzenjammer Kids, while creator Dirks retained the rights to the characters. Hearst promptly hired Harold Knerr to draw his own version of the strip, Dirks renamed his version Hans and Fritz. Thus, two versions distributed by rival syndicates graced the pages for decades. Dirks version, eventually distributed by United Feature Syndicate, ran until 1979, in the United States, the great popularity of comics sprang from the newspaper war between Pulitzer and Hearst. On January 31,1912, Hearst introduced the nations first full daily comic page in his New York Evening Journal, the history of this newspaper rivalry and the rapid appearance of comic strips in most major American newspapers is discussed by Ian Gordon. The longest running American comic strips are,1, barney Google and Snuffy Smith 5
33.
Maquette
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A maquette is a small scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture. An equivalent term is bozzetto, from the Italian word that means sketch and it is used to visualize and test shapes and ideas without incurring the cost and effort of producing a full-scale product. It is the analogue of the cartoon, modello, oil sketch or drawn sketch. For commissioned sculptures, especially monumental public sculptures, a maquette may be used to show the client how the work will fit in the proposed site. The term may refer to a prototype for a video game, film. Modello, unlike the terms, is also used for sketches for two-dimensional works such as paintings. Like oil sketches, these works in progress can be at least as much sought after as completed works by highly regarded artists, showing the process of developing an idea. Gian Lorenzo Bernini, a sculptor from the Baroque period, made his bozzetti from wax or baked terracotta to show his patrons how the piece was intended to look. Eleven of these bozzetti were displayed in an exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2004, some museums specialize in collections of maquettes, such as the Museo dei Bozzetti in Pietrasanta, Italy. The dictionary definition of maquette at Wiktionary Tate Gallery definition of maquette retained in The National Archives s recording of the Tate Gallerys glossary
34.
Game Informer
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Game Informer is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, the publication is owned and published by GameStop Corp. the parent company of the video game retailer of the same name, who bought FuncoLand in 2000. Due to this, an amount of promotion is done in-store, which has been attributed to the success of the magazine. Game Informer has since become an important part of GameStops customer loyalty program, Power Up Rewards, Game Informer debuted in August 1991 as a six-page magazine. It was published two months until November 1994, when the magazine began to be released monthly. Since 2001 Game Informer has been published by Cathy Preston, who has working as part of the production team since 2000. It was under her that the publication became a part of GameStops customer loyalty program. In 2010, Game Informer became the 5th largest magazine in the US with 5 million copies sold, ahead of popular publications like Times, Sports Illustrated, by 2011, Game Informer had become the 3rd largest magazine in the US topping 8 million copies circulated. However, in 2014 it had fallen to 4th place with 6.9 million copies sold, recent figures still place the magazine at 4th place with over 7 million copies sold. The success of Game Informer has been attributed to its relationship with publishers. In each years April edition, Game Informer includes Game Infarcer, on the cover is Worlds #1 Pretend Magazine where it would ordinarily say Worlds #1 Video Game Magazine, and the word Parody is written on the bottom of each page. Game Infarcer articles are accredited to the fictional editor-in-chief Darth Clark, the heated responses to parody articles are often featured in later Game Informer issues. Game Informer has included four Sacred Cow Barbecues, similar in style to a celebrity roast, the occasion is meant to knock some of gamings most revered icons off their high and mighty pedestals. The first Sacred Cow Barbecues featured in issue 158, other issues featuring Sacred Cow Barbecues are,183,211, and 261. Sacred Cow Barbecues articles are considered controversial among those gamers who arent amused with their games being mocked, Game Informer Online was originally launched in August 1996, and featured daily news updates as well as articles. Justin Leeper and Matthew Kato were hired on in November 1999 as full-time web editors, as part of the GameStop purchase of the magazine, the site was closed around January 2001. Both Leeper and Kato were eventually placed on the staff of the magazine. GI Online was revived in September 2003, with a redesign and many additional features, such as a review database, frequent news updates
35.
GameSpot
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GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1,1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and it was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which purchased CNET Networks in 2008, is the current owner of GameSpot, in addition to the information produced by GameSpot staff, the site also allows users to write their own reviews, blogs, and post on the sites forums. In 2004, GameSpot won Best Gaming Website as chosen by the viewers in Spike TVs second Video Game Award Show, the domain gamespot. com attracted at least 60 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete. com study. GameSpot was founded by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein in San Francisco, CA, initially, GameSpot focused exclusively on PC games. Its sister site, VideoGameSpot. com, was launched in December 1996 to cover console games, in 1997, VideoGameSpot. com became VideoGames. com for a short period, and by 1998, the PC and console sections were united at GameSpot. com. On October 3,2005, GameSpot adopted a new design similar to that of TV. com, a new layout change was adopted on October 2013. GameSpot UK was started in October 1997 and operated until mid-2002, during this period, GameSpot UK won the 1999 PPAi award for best website, and was short listed in 2001. Following the purchase of ZDNet by CNET, GameSpot UK was merged with the main US site, on April 24,2006, GameSpot UK was relaunched. In a similar fashion, GameSpot AU existed on a scale in the late 1990s with Australian-produced reviews. When a local version of the main CNET portal, CNET. com. au was launched in 2003, the site was fully re-launched mid-2006, with a specialized forum, local reviews, special features, local pricings in A$, Australian release dates, and more local news. GameSpot Japan in its current form launched in 2007 and it provides Japanese video game industry news, previews, reviews, features, and videos as well as translated articles from the other GameSpot sites. Jeff Gerstmann, Editorial Director of the site, was fired on November 28,2007, Gerstmann had previously given Kane & Lynch a fair or undesirable rating along with critique. Both GameSpot and parent company CNET stated that his dismissal was unrelated to the review, a month after Gerstmanns termination, freelance reviewer Frank Provo left GameSpot after eight years stating that I believe CNET management let Jeff go for all the wrong reasons. I believe CNET intends to soften the tone and push for higher scores to make advertisers happy. GameSpot staffers Alex Navarro, Ryan Davis, Brad Shoemaker, Davis co-founded Gerstmanns subsequent project, Giant Bomb, and was later joined by Shoemaker and Caravella. Navarro later returned to Giant Bomb, where he works as a Senior Editor. On March 15,2012, it was announced that CBS Interactive, as part of the deal, the non-disparagement agreement between Gerstmann and CNET was nullified, allowing him to finally speak publicly about his termination over four years prior
36.
IGN
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The website was the brainchild of media entrepreneur Chris Anderson and launched on September 29,1996. It focuses on games, films, television, comics, technology, the company is located in San Franciscos SOMA district in California, United States. Originally a network of websites, IGN is now distributed on mobile platforms, console programs on the Xbox and PlayStation, FireTV, Roku, and via YouTube, Twitch, Hulu. IGN was sold to publishing company Ziff Davis in February 2013 and now operates as a J2 Global subsidiary. com, PSXPower, Saturnworld, Next-Generation. com and Ultra Game Players Online. Imagine expanded on its owned-and-operated websites by creating a network that included a number of independent fansites such as PSX Nation. com, Sega-Saturn. com, Game Sages. In 1998, the network launched a new homepage that consolidated the individual sites as system channels under the IGN brand, the homepage exposed content from more than 30 different channels. Next-Generation and Ultra Game Players Online were not part of this consolidation, dissolved with the cancellation of the magazine, and Next-Generation was put on hold when Imagine decided to concentrate on launching the short-lived Daily Radar brand. In February 1999, Imagine Media incorporated a spin-off that included IGN and its channels as Affiliation Networks. In September, the newly spun-out standalone internet media company, changed its name to Snowball. com, at the same time, small entertainment website The Den merged into IGN and added non-gaming content to the growing network. Snowball held an IPO in 2000, but shed most of its properties during the dot-com bubble. In June 2005, IGN reported having 24,000,000 unique visitors per month, with 4.8 million registered users through all departments of the site, IGN is ranked among the top 200 most-visited websites according to Alexa. In September 2005, IGN was acquired by Rupert Murdochs multi-media business empire, News Corporation, IGN celebrated its 10th anniversary on January 12,2008. IGN was headquartered in the Marina Point Parkway office park in Brisbane, California, on May 25,2011, IGN sold its Direct2Drive division to Gamefly for an undisclosed amount. In 2011, IGN Entertainment acquired its rival UGO Entertainment from Hearst Corporation, ultimately, News Corp. planned to spin off IGN Entertainment as a publicly traded company, continuing a string of divestitures for digital properties it had previously acquired. Financial details regarding the purchase were not revealed, prior to its acquisition by UGO, 1UP. com had previously been owned by Ziff Davis. Soon after the acquisition, IGN announced that it would be laying off staff and closing GameSpy, 1UP. com, the role-playing video game interest website Vault Network was acquired by IGN in 1999. GameStats, a review website, was founded by IGN in 2004. GameStats includes a GPM rating system incorporates an average press score and average gamer score
37.
Official Xbox Magazine
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Official Xbox Magazine is a monthly video game magazine which started in November 2001 around the launch of the original Xbox. A preview issue was released at E32001, with another issue in November 2001. The magazine was bundled with a disc that included demos, preview videos and trailers. The discs also provided the software for the Xbox 360 for backward compatibility of original Xbox games for those without broadband, as of January 2012, OXM no longer includes a demo disc. In February 2015, OXM and all of Futures websites were redirected into GamesRadar, the magazine itself continues to be published in the UK, US and Australia. On the Disc Each issue originally contained a disc with both Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Arcade games. However, beginning in January 2012, OXM stopped including demo discs, saying Youve told us you dont want the DVD anymore, Each demo contained unlockable content like gamer pics and hidden demos. There was also a game called OXM Universe. Gamers played the games on disc and viewed the videos on the disc to gain points, the points had another use in which gamers used their points to research and build equipment for the in-game game OXM Universe. OXMU was discontinued in OXMs 100th issue and we Heart Xbox In this section, new games which were not yet shown to the mainstream public or user-modified hardware such as consoles or faceplates were shown here. Message Center Besides showing readers mail, the OXM crew revealed their Top 5 things on their mind at the moment. The Top 5 tradition was broken in Issue #85 of July 2008, Xbox Next In this section, upcoming games were highlighted and previewed. Features In this section, games may get prolonged previews, or OXM may have an exclusive 6-10 page review for a certain game, there may also be special featured content like Issue #77s HDTV Buyers Guide. Xbox Now This was the section where every Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox Live Arcade game, and downloadable content is reviewed. Live Space (a section which showed gamers Xbox Live gamertags, Ask Dr. Gamer, the column The Business of Xbox was written by Geoff Keighley through the May 2007 issue, but until 2015, the column was written, on a less frequent basis, by Chris Morris. As of Issue #71, the end page rotated columnists, with guests including game creators Tim Schafer, Denis Dyack, the games that received at least a 9.0 were given an Editors Choice award. Beginning with issue #53, the US OXM switched to a 20-point scoring system, the UK edition though switched to a 10-point scoring system, scoring games out of 10. This ratings scale was detailed on the page to every issues review section
38.
Saved game
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A saved game is a piece of digitally stored information about the progress of a player in a video game. This naturally led to the need to store in some way the progress, Game designers allow players to prevent the loss of progress in the game Games designed this way encourage players to try things out, and on regretting a choice, continue from an earlier point on. Although the feature of save games might suggest you can retry after a game over, for online games the games progress is maintained on the remote server. In some games, upon resuming the game from a save game, early examples like Moria, Diablo II hardcore mode where the character save game is managed by the battle. net server. Depending on the game the feature may be feasible or not, the use of saved games is very common in modern video games, particularly in role-playing video games, which are usually much too long to finish in a single session. In early video games, there was no need for saving games, home computers in the early 1980s had the advantage of using external media for saving, with compact cassettes and floppy disks, before finally using internal hard drives. On later cartridge-based console games, such as Kirbys Adventure and The Legend of Zelda, saved games were stored in battery-backed RAM on the game cartridge itself. In recent consoles, which use disc-based media for storing games, saved games are stored in other ways, some games do not save the players progress towards completing the game, but rather high scores, custom settings, and other features. The first game to save the score was Taitos seminal 1978 shoot em up title Space Invaders. The available ways to save a game affect gameplay, and can represent a practice of players or a decision by designers to give the game a particular feel or alter its difficulty. A video game may allow the user to save at any point of the game, any time. The phrase Save, save, save. is a reference to this feature and is included in guides to these types of games to ensure that the user takes maximum advantage of this feature. This was chiefly a computer-only save game ability until the introduction of hard drives on console systems, there are modified versions of this, too. To make gaming more engaging, some games may impose a limit on the number of times a player saves the game. For instance, IGI2 allows only a handful saves in each mission, some high-end models of digital audio players and portable media players have the save anywhere system for playlists and randomization modes for audio files. Some video games allow the game to be saved at predetermined points in the game. Save points are also far easier to program, so when a developer has to rush a game, save points are attractive to build in. Game saving does not need to be manual, some video games save the game in progress at automatically, such as at the start of each level, after the pass of a fixed amount of time or at certain predetermined points in the game
39.
GamesRadar
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GamesRadar+ is an entertainment website primarily featuring video game related news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. Since November 2014 the site has included a TV, films and sci-fi section, bringing in content from Futures entertainment brands Total Film. It is owned and operated in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future plc, GamesRadar publishes numerous articles each day. Including official video game news, reviews, previews and interviews with publishers and developers, one of the sites features was their Top 7 lists, a weekly countdown detailing negative aspects of video games themselves, the industry and/or culture. They actually mark a negative score in almost everything, now, they are better known for lists of baddest depth segmented by genre, platform, or theme. These are divided into living lists, for consoles and platforms that are still active, the site launched a free iPhone app in January 2011, allowing users to browse their cheats and game guides. In 2007 the State of Texas filed a lawsuit against GamerRadars parent company Future plc, the lawsuit alleges that the site failed to include necessary disclosures and obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children. The owner of the other websited settled in March 2008, though the final disposition against Future plc is not public record, in November 2012 Keith Walker became the new publisher at Future and thus GamesRadar, looking to improve digital growth. By December 2012 the site underwent a new redesign including new layout, interface and regular features along with new staff members. Many of the members of TalkRadar went on to produce the Laser Time podcast network. In May 2014 it was reported that Future intended to close the websites of Edge, Computer and Video Games and their other videogame publications
40.
Kotaku
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Kotaku is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Univision Communications bought Gawker Media in August 2016, and rebranded it as Gizmodo Media Group, Kotaku was first launched in October 2004 with Matthew Gallant as its lead writer, with an intended target audience of young men. About a month later, Brian Crecente was brought in to try to save the failing site, since then, the site has launched several country-specific sites for Australia, Japan, Brazil and the UK. Previous contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Crecente was named one of the 20 most influential people in the video game industry over the past 20 years by GamePro in 2009 and one of gamings Top 50 journalists by Edge in 2006. The site has made CNETs Blog 100 list and was ranked 50th on PC Magazines Top 100 Classic Web Sites list and its name comes from the Japanese otaku and the prefix ko-. In April 2014, Gawker Media partnered with Future plc to launch Kotaku UK, Kotaku is currently run by Stephen Totilo, who replaced Brian Crecente in 2012. Kotaku was one of six websites that was purchased by Univision Communications in their acquisition of Gawker Media in August 2016. In 2007, attorney Jack Thompson sued Gawker Media and site editor Brian Crecente over concerns that Kotaku declined to remove threatening user comments, in 2009, Business Insider reported that Hearst Corporation sought to buy Kotaku from Gawker Media. In 2010, Kotaku criticized Japanese magazine Famitsus glowing endorsement of a Konami game as a conflict of interest, in 2013, Forbes criticized Kotaku over what they called an inflammatory headline in a story about Hideki Kamiya, Kotaku rewrote the headline. In 2007, Kotaku ran a story about rumored upcoming features on the PlayStation 3, the site claimed in 2015 that they had been blacklisted by major game companies Bethesda Softworks and Ubisoft
41.
Gamasutra
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Gamasutra is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on all aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb, a division of Unite Business Media, the articles can be filtered by either topic or category. Gamasutra encourages professionals to publish blogs in order to share their expertise with other developers, analysis articles are popular reads as writers spark discussions on game design and the various trends of the industry. Many postmortems have been published, ranging from independent games such as Okabu and The Path to major studio projects such as Okamiden, there are currently over 150 collected post-mortems dating back as far as 1997. Learning from Past Post-Mortems” that details the most common mistakes that developers make as admitted in the articles, Gamasutra requires users who wish to publish articles on the website to work with the features director Christian Nutt, whether they have fleshed-out drafts, an outline, or a concept. The editorial staff offers help in shaping, polishing, and editing articles before publication, a broad range of topics can be selected given the audience, which consists of businesspeople, educators, and developers, both professional and aspiring. The articles are required to contain at least 1500 words, though the length tends to be 2500 to 3500 words. Gamasutra also requires a thirty-day exclusivity period from the date of publication, after which the writer is free to take the article elsewhere, users are also allowed to comment on articles, but there is a strict set of rules. Users are encouraged to post only constructive thoughts that add to the conversation, GameSetWatch is an alternative video game weblog and sister site of Gamasutra. com. It is dedicated to collecting curious links and media for offbeat and often ignored games from consoles old and new, as well as from the download, iOS. GameSetWatch was founded by Simon Carless in November 2005, GameSetWatch has remained up for readers but no new content has been posted since. The editors at the time Eric Caoili and Danny Cowan have taken different steps to help out at their sister sites, Cowan has gone to blog over at IndieGames. com and Caoili is at Gamasutra. IndieGames. com is Gamasutras sister site dedicated to reporting on indie games and it became the UBM TechWebs main method to deliver news about independent games after GameSetWatch closed. The IndieGames. com Podcast was started by Michael Rose and Tim in September 2010 and it is available to listen to online or download on the website or iTunes store. An episode is released every week with a guest indie developer hosting the podcast in addition to the two creators of the show, Tim was the independent owner and operator of the Independent Gaming Weblog which was shut down and sold to IndieGames. com in December 2007. Michael Rose is an editor and writer at IndieGames. com, the show has taken a hiatus since July 2012 and has no news of restarting as of yet. The interviews section of the site features interviews with indie game creators and developers, the interviewees answer a set of questions posed by the interviewer including questions regarding their inspirations and hardships. The page is split into three categories, desktop, console and mobile to organize the interviews by platform interests
