1.
Analog stick
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An analog stick, sometimes called a control stick, joystick, or thumbstick is an input device for a controller that is used for two-dimensional input. An analog stick is a variation of a joystick, consisting of a protrusion from the controller, while digital sticks rely on single electrical connections for movement, analog sticks use continuous electrical activity running through potentiometers. The analog stick has greatly overtaken the D-pad in both prominence and usage in console video games, in a video game, an analog stick is often used to move some game object, usually the playable character. It may also be used to rotate the camera, usually around the character, the analog stick can serve a great variety of other functions, depending on the game. Today many analog sticks can also be pushed in like conventional face buttons of a controller and its use is prevalent in 3D games, where more than 8 directions are needed. Using a D-pad in a 3D game greatly limits the ability to move, for example, in a 3D platform game like Super Mario 64, using a D-pad would allow Mario to move forward, backwards, left and right, but nothing in between. With the prevalence of analog sticks, the limitations of the D-pad ceased to be an issue. Two analog sticks offer greater functionality than a single stick, on some modern game controllers, the left stick is positioned to the upper left of the D-pad while the right stick is positioned to the lower left of the face buttons. The Classic Controller for the Wii also uses this configuration, with genres such as action, adventure games, platforming, and shooting, the left stick normally controls the characters movement while the second stick controls the camera. The use of an analog stick alleviated problems in many earlier platform games. In Namcos Katamari Damacy and its sequels, both analog sticks are used at once to control the players character, Sonys PSP has been criticized for the lack of a second analog nub to accompany the left-hand one, a criticism that was later also leveled at Nintendos 3DS. Nintendo has since released an add-on for the 3DS that adds, among other things, the follow-up to the PSP, the PlayStation Vita, features dual analog sticks. It is the first handheld console to do so. The New Nintendo 3DS and New Nintendo 3DS XL added a second analog controller, the first consumer games console which had analog joysticks was the Prinztronic/Acetronic/Interton series, launched in 1976. This system was widely cloned throughout Europe and available under several brand names, the 2 sticks each used a pair of potentiometers, but were not self-centering. In 1982, Atari released a controller with an analog joystick for their Atari 5200 home console. However, its non-centering joystick design proved to be ungainly and unreliable, during that same year, General Consumer Electronics introduced the Vectrex, a vector graphics based system which used a self-centering analog joystick. In 1985, Segas third-person rail shooter game Space Harrier, released for the arcades, Segas analog Mission Stick was released for the Saturn console on September 29,1995
2.
Sony Interactive Entertainment
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Sony Interactive Entertainment is a multinational video game company and is an owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products and Services Group of Sony. The company was founded and established on November 16,1993, as Sony Computer Entertainment, since the successful launch of the original PlayStation console in 1994, the company has since been developing the PlayStation lineup of home video game consoles and accessories. Expanding upon North America and other countries, the company soon became Sonys main resource for research and development in video games, in 1994, Sony Computer Entertainment America, began to produce the original PlayStation console in North America. The starting price for this console was originally listed at $299.99, in April 2016, SCE and Sony Network Entertainment was restructured and reorganized into Sony Interactive Entertainment, carrying over the operations and primary objectives from both companies. Sony Interactive Entertainment handles the research and development, production, alongside, it is also a developer and publisher of video game titles and is composed of several subsidiaries of Sonys largest markets, North America, Europe and Asia. As of September 30,2016, the company has sold more than 486 million PlayStation consoles worldwide. Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. was jointly established by Sony, the original PlayStation console was released on December 3,1994, in Japan. The companys North American operations, Sony Computer Entertainment of America, were established in May 1995 as a division of Sony Electronic Publishing. Located in Foster City, California, the North American office was headed by Steve Race. On August 7,1995, Race unexpectedly resigned and was named CEO of Spectrum HoloByte three days later and he was replaced by Sony Electronics veteran Martin Homlish. The PS console was released in the United States on September 9,1995, as part of a worldwide restructuring at the beginning of 1997, SCEA was re-established as a wholly owned subsidiary of SCEI. The launch of the second PS console, the PlayStation 2 was released in Japan on March 4,2000, on July 1,2002, chairman of SCEI, Shigeo Maruyama, was replaced by Tamotsu Iba as chairman. Jack Tretton and Phil Harrison were also promoted to vice presidents of SCE. The PlayStation Portable was SCEIs first foray into the handheld console market. Its development was first announced during SCEs E3 conference in 2003, the system was released in Japan on December 12,2004, in North America on March 24,2005, and in Europe and Australia on September 1,2005. On September 14,2005, SCEI formed Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, shuhei Yoshida was named as President of SCE WWS on May 16,2008, replacing Kazuo Hirai, who was serving interim after Harrison left the company in early 2008. On December 8,2005, video game developer Guerrilla Games, on January 24,2006, video game developer Zipper Interactive, developers of the Socom series, was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment as part of its SCE WWS. Sony also stated that the service would always be connected, free, the launch date for the PS3 was announced by Hirai at the pre-Electronic Entertainment Expo conference held at Sony Pictures Studios in Los Angeles, U. S. on May 8,2006
3.
Sony
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Sony Corporation is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation that is headquartered in Kōnan, Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified business includes consumer and professional electronics, gaming, entertainment, the company is one of the leading manufacturers of electronic products for the consumer and professional markets. Sony was ranked 116th on the 2015 list of Fortune Global 500 and these make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. The group consists of Sony Corporation, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Financial Holdings and others. Sony is among the Semiconductor sales leaders by year and as of 2013, the companys current slogan is BE MOVED. Their former slogans were make. believe, like. no. other, Sony has a weak tie to the SMFG keiretsu, the successor to the Mitsui keiretsu. Sony began in the wake of World War II, in 1946, Masaru Ibuka started an electronics shop in a department store building in Tokyo. The company had $530 in capital and a total of eight employees, in the following year he was joined by his colleague, Akio Morita, and they founded a company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo 東京通信工業. The company built Japans first tape recorder, called the Type-G, in 1958 the company changed its name to Sony. When Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo was looking for a name to use to market themselves, they strongly considered using their initials. The primary reason they did not is that the railway company Tokyo Kyuko was known as TTK, the company occasionally used the acronym Totsuko in Japan, but during his visit to the United States, Morita discovered that Americans had trouble pronouncing that name. Another early name that was tried out for a while was Tokyo Teletech until Akio Morita discovered that there was an American company already using Teletech as a brand name, the name Sony was chosen for the brand as a mix of two words. One was the Latin word sonus, which is the root of sonic and sound, and the other was sonny, a common slang term used in 1950s America to call a boy. In the 1950s Japan sonny boys, was a word into Japanese which connoted smart and presentable young men. The first Sony-branded product, the TR-55 transistor radio, appeared in 1955, at the time of the change, it was extremely unusual for a Japanese company to use Roman letters to spell its name instead of writing it in kanji. The move was not without opposition, TTKs principal bank at the time and they pushed for a name such as Sony Electronic Industries, or Sony Teletech. Akio Morita was firm, however, as he did not want the company tied to any particular industry. Eventually, both Ibuka and Mitsui Banks chairman gave their approval, according to Schiffer, Sonys TR-63 radio cracked open the U. S. market and launched the new industry of consumer microelectronics
4.
Game controller
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A game controller is a device used with games or entertainment systems to provide input to a video game, typically to control an object or character in the game. A controller is connected to a game console or computer by means of a wire or cord, although, since the mid-2000s. Input devices that have been classified as game controllers include keyboards, mouses, gamepads, joysticks, special purpose devices, such as steering wheels for driving games and light guns for shooting games, are also game controllers. Game controllers have been designed and improved over the years to be as user friendly as possible, the Microsoft Xbox controller, with its shoulder triggers that mimic actual triggers such as those found on guns, has become popular for shooting games. Some controllers are designed to be deliberately best for one type of game, such as steering wheels for driving games, One of the first video game controllers was a simple dial and single button, used to control the game Tennis for Two. Controllers have since evolved to include directional pads, multiple buttons, analog sticks, joysticks, motion detection, touch screens, a gamepad, also known as a joypad, is held in both hands with thumbs and fingers used to provide input. Gamepads can have a number of action buttons combined with one or more omnidirectional control sticks or buttons, action buttons are generally handled with the digits on the right hand, and the directional input handled with the left. Gamepads are the means of input on most modern video game consoles. Most modern game controllers are a variation of a standard gamepad, common additions include shoulder buttons placed along the edges of the pad, centrally placed buttons labeled start, select, and mode, and an internal motor to provide haptic feedback. As modern game controllers advance, so to does their user ability qualities, typically, the controllers become smaller and more compact as to more easily, and comfortably, fit within the users hand. Modern examples can be drawn from such as Xbox, whose controller has transformed subtly, yet dramatically. A paddle is a controller that features a wheel and one or more fire buttons. The wheel is used to control movement of the player or of an object along one axis of the video screen. Paddle controllers were the first analog controllers and they lost popularity when paddle, a variation, the Atari driving controller, appeared on the Atari 2600. Designed specifically for the game Indy 500, it functioned almost identically in operation, the exceptions were that its wheel can be continuously rotated in either direction, and it was missing the extra paddle included on the previous model. Unlike a spinner, friction prevented the wheel from gaining momentum, a joystick is a peripheral that consists of a handheld stick that can be tilted around either of two axes and twisted around a third. The joystick is used for flight simulators. HOTAS controllers, composed of a joystick and throttle quadrant are a combination for flight simulation among its most fanatic devotees
5.
Fifth generation of video game consoles
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The fifth-generation era refers to computer and video games, video game consoles and video game handhelds from approximately 1993 to 2001. For home consoles, the console was the PlayStation by a wide margin, followed by the Nintendo 64. Both were discontinued before the other made their debut. The Neo Geo Pocket was released in 1998, but was dropped by SNK in favor of the fully backwards compatible Neo Geo Pocket Color just a year later, Nintendos Game Boy Color was the winner in handhelds by a large margin. There were also two updated versions of the original Game Boy, Game Boy Light and Game Boy Pocket, there was considerable overlap between this and the sixth generation of consoles, which began with the launch of the Dreamcast in Japan on November 27,1998. The fifth generation officially ended with the discontinuation of the PlayStation in March 2006, early efforts from then-industry leaders Sega and Nintendo saw the introduction of the 32X and Super FX, which provided rudimentary 3D capabilities to the 16-bit Genesis and Super NES. Prime examples of this trend include Virtua Fighter 2 on the Saturn, Tomb Raider on the PlayStation and Saturn, Tekken and Crash Bandicoot on the PlayStation, and Super Mario 64 on the N64. Their 3D environments were widely marketed and they steered the industrys focus away from side-scrolling and rail-style titles, as well as opening doors to more complex games and genres. 3D became the focus in this era as well as a slow decline of cartridges in favor of CDs, due to the ability to produce games less expensively. Publicly, Nintendo defended this decision on the grounds that it would give games shorter load times than a compact disc, however, it also had the dubious benefit of allowing Nintendo to charge higher licensing fees, as cartridge production was considerably more expensive than CD production. Many third-party developers like EA Sports viewed this as an attempt to raise more money for Nintendo. Nintendos decision to use a cartridge based system sparked a small scale war among gamers as to which was better, a Nintendo magazine ad placed a Space Shuttle next to a snail and dared consumers to decide which one was better. Almost every other system used the new CD-ROM technology. Consequent to the storage and cost advantages of the CD-ROM format, there was much confusion over which console was superior to the others. Also, console makers routinely boasted theoretical maximum limits of each systems 3D polygon rendering without accounting for real world in-game performance, the FM Towns Marty is considered the worlds first 32-bit console, being released in February 20,1993 by Japanese electronic company Fujitsu. Never released outside Japan, it was marketed as a console version of the FM Towns home computer. It failed to make an impact in the due to its expense relative to other consoles. While using a 32-bit word length, however, the Intel 80386SX CPU only supports 16-bit bus addressing, despite massive third party support and an unprecedented amount of hype for a first-time entrant into the industry, the 3DO Interactive Multiplayers $700 price tag hindered its success
6.
PlayStation Controller
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The PlayStation Controller is the first gamepad released by Sony Computer Entertainment for its PlayStation video game console. The original version was released alongside the PlayStation on December 3,1994, based on the basic button configuration established with Nintendos Super NES Controller, the PlayStation Controller added a second pair of shoulder buttons for the middle fingers. To compensate for the less stable grip from shifting the middle fingers placement to the shoulders, on April 2,1996, Sony released a revised version of the PlayStation Controller, featuring a longer cord with a ferrite bead. The PlayStation 2 is backward-compatible with the original PlayStation controller
7.
DualShock
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The DualShock is a line of gamepads with vibration-feedback developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation consoles and devices. The DualShock was introduced in Japan in late 1997 and was launched in the North American market in May 1998, first introduced as a secondary peripheral for the original PlayStation, an updated version of the PlayStation console included the controller. Sony subsequently phased out the digital controller that was included with the console. As of 2008, over 28 million DualShock controllers have been sold under the brands name, the DualShock Analog Controller, a controller capable of providing vibration feedback, was based on the onscreen actions taking place in the game, as well as analog input through two analog sticks. Its derives from its use of two vibration motors and these motors are housed within the handles of the controller, with the left one being larger and more powerful than the one on the right, so as to allow for varying levels of vibration. The DualShock differs from the Nintendo 64s Rumble Pak in this respect as the Rumble Pak only uses a single motor, the Rumble Pak also uses batteries to power the vibration function while all corded varieties of the DualShock use power supplied by the PlayStation. The rumble feature of the DualShock is similar to the one featured on the first edition of the Japanese Dual Analog Controller, the DualShock, like its predecessor the Dual Analog controller, has two analog sticks. Unlike the earlier controller, the DualShocks sticks feature textured rubber grips other than the smooth plastic tips with recessed grooves found on the Dual Analog controller. The DualShock also features two additional buttons when compared to the Dual Analog, L3 and R3, which are triggered by depressing the analog sticks, other differences between Dual Analog and the DualShock include the longer grips/handles and slightly different L2/R2 buttons. Some games designed for the Dual Analogs vibration capability, such as Porsche Challenge and Crash Bandicoot 2, many games took advantage of the presence of two motors to provide vibration effects in stereo including Gran Turismo and the PlayStation port of Quake II. Released in 1999, the PlayStation hit Ape Escape became the first game to explicitly require DualShock/Dual-Analog-type controllers, the DualShock is also compatible with the PlayStation 2, as they use the same connector and protocol. However, certain PS2 games that utilize the DualShock 2s analog buttons, the DualShock is fully forwards compatible with the PlayStation 2 when that console is used to play PlayStation games. There were however a few cosmetic changes. It has different screw positioning and one fewer screw, a blue DualShock 2 logo was added to the top of the controller, the connector is more square than the DualShock, and both the cable and connector are black rather than grey. The standard controller is black, rather than grey as with the original DualShock, the analog sticks are also noticeably stiffer than on the original DualShock. Internally, the DualShock 2 was lighter and all of the buttons were readable as analog values. The DualShock 2 has been available in various colors, black, satin silver, ceramic white, slate grey, ocean blue, emerald green, crimson red. The original PlayStation is forward compatible with the DualShock 2, the PlayStation 3 is backward compatible with the DualShock 2 by the use of third party peripherals, which connect the controller to the console via a USB port
8.
PlayStation (console)
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The PlayStation is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The console was released on 3 December 1994 in Japan,9 September 1995 in North America,29 September 1995 in Europe, the console was the first of the PlayStation lineup of home video game consoles. It primarily competed with the Nintendo 64 and the Sega Saturn as part of the generation of video game consoles. The PlayStation is the first computer entertainment platform to ship 100 million units, in 2000, a redesigned, slim version called the PSone was released, replacing the original grey console and named appropriately to avoid confusion with its successor, the PlayStation 2. In 1999, Sony announced the successor to the PlayStation, the PlayStation 2, which is compatible with the PlayStations DualShock controller and games. The last PSone units were sold in winter 2004 before it was discontinued in March 2005. The inception of what would become the released PlayStation dates back to 1986 with a joint venture between Nintendo and Sony, Nintendo approached Sony to develop a CD-ROM add-on, tentatively titled the Play Station or SNES-CD. A contract was signed, and work began, Kutaragi was nearly fired by Sony because he was originally working with Nintendo on the side without Sonys knowledge. It was then-CEO, Norio Ohga, who recognized the potential in Kutaragis chip, Ohga kept Kutaragi on at Sony, and it was not until Nintendo cancelled the project that Sony decided to develop its own console. This was also to be the used in SNES-CDs, giving a large degree of control to Sony despite Nintendos leading position in the video gaming market. The product, dubbed the Play Station was to be announced at the May 1991 Consumer Electronics Show, yamauchi decided that the contract was totally unacceptable and he secretly cancelled all plans for the joint Nintendo-Sony SNES CD attachment. After the collapse of the project, Sony briefly considered allying itself with Sega to produce a stand-alone console. The Sega CEO at the time, Tom Kalinske, took the proposal to Segas Board of Directors in Tokyo, Kalinske, in a 2013 interview recalled them saying that’s a stupid idea, Sony doesnt know how to make hardware. They don’t know how to make software either, why would we want to do this. The federal judge presiding over the case denied the injunction and, in October 1991, however, it is theorized that only 200 or so of these machines were ever produced. However, Sony decided in early 1993 to begin reworking the Play Station concept to target a new generation of hardware and software. As part of process the SNES cartridge port was dropped. Early advertising prior to the launch in North America referenced PSX
9.
PlayStation Analog Joystick
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The PlayStation Analog Joystick is Sonys first analog controller for the PlayStation, and is the precursor to the PlayStation Dual Analog Controller. It is often referred to as the Sony Flightstick. Announced to the public in August 1995, the Analog Joystick was released to the public in Japan in early April 1996. The stick also features a thumb-operated digital hat switch on the joystick, corresponding to the traditional D-pad. A compatibility mode for the Analog Joystick was included in the Dual Analog Controller, PS1 games that support the PS1 Analog Joystick have an Analog Joystick Compatible icon on the back cover. The Analog Joystick has a switch to select either Analog or Digital mode, when in the Digital mode, both sticks function as the gamepad on a regular PS1 controller. Older PS1 games that do not support the PS1 DualShock sticks can work with the Analog Joystick,4 Newman / Haas Racing Pilot Ni Narou. Metal Slug Anthology, Gradius III, Gradius IV Fukkatsu and other games that use just the Gamepad. XGIII, Extreme G Racing is the only PS2 game that utilizes true Analog with the Analog Joystick, the further the stick is pushed, the more the motorcycle will lean. GamePros The Rat Baron praised the controller for its comfort, tight control, button layout, and analog movement, though he expressed doubt that most gamers would go for it given the high price tag. The Analog Joystick can be connected to the PC via a USB adapter, the Allegro library provides the same functionality for developers
10.
Tobal 2
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Tobal 2 is a 3D fighting video game developed by Dream Factory and released by Square in Japan in 1997. It is the sequel to Tobal No.1, unlike the latter, Tobal 2 was not released in North America or PAL territories. The game was re-released in 2007 under Square Enixs Legendary Hits label, the fighting system in Tobal 2 is the same as in the previous game. The player can freely navigate 3D fighting arenas under the condition that he or she faces the opponent, high, medium, and low attacks can be executed using assigned buttons. 1, the grappling and blocking system offers the player a variety of offensive and defensive maneuvers, a new unblockable fireball attack has been added for each character. Tobal 2 was released on the day as Sonys Dual Analog Controller in Japan. Graphically, the game features Gouraud shaded and higher-resolution character models compared to Tobal No,1, but still runs at 60 frames per second. The Quest Mode from Tobal No.1 makes a return in Tobal 2, the game contains six dungeons to conquer. Unlike the dungeon-enclosed Quest Mode of the original, this incarnation also offers a fully explorable town that allows the player to eat, sleep, in each floor of the dungeons, the player will battle against a variety of monsters. When defeated, the monsters will drop either food, stones, potions, as the player progresses through the game, the character gains experience for each body part or type of attack. The higher the level of the arms and legs and throw. Similarly, the higher the level, attacks on the character will yield less damage. Both attack and defence levels can be increased/decreased by potions and stones, guard experience can also be accumulated by eating food when the stamina bar is full. By defeating monsters in the Quest Mode, the player has the option of capturing the monsters for use in the versus fighting mode, some monsters are unique, such as the chocobo, but many of them are just palette swaps with attributes raised for higher level monsters. Monsters can be captured by throwing a stone at them when they are nearly defeated. The progress of the Game can be saved using the buildings in the town. Tobal 2 was to be released in North America but the release was cancelled, according to a Square official, the game was not localized due to the disappointing sales of Tobal No. 1, and the assumption that most of the people who did buy it only did so for the playable demo of Final Fantasy VII
11.
Bushido Blade (video game)
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Bushido Blade is a 3D fighting video game developed by Light Weight and published by Square and Sony for the PlayStation. The game features one-on-one armed combat and its name refers to the Japanese warrior code of honor, Bushidō. Upon its release, the fighting engine in Bushido Blade was seen as innovative. A direct sequel, Bushido Blade 2, was released on the PlayStation a year later, another game with a related title and gameplay, Kengo, Master of Bushido, was also developed by Light Weight for the PlayStation 2. The bulk of the gameplay in Bushido Blade revolves around one-on-one third-person battles between two opponents, unlike most fighting games, however, no time limit or health gauge is present during combat. Most hits will cause instant death, while traditional fighting games require many hits to deplete an opponents health gauge and it is possible to wound an opponent without killing them. Notably, the North American release of Bushido Blade had one minor change, blood was added. The game features eight weapons to choose from in many of its modes, including katana, nodachi, long sword, saber, broadsword, naginata, rapier, and sledgehammer. Each weapon has a weight and length, giving each one fixed power, speed. A variety of attack combinations can be executed by the player using button sequences with the games Motion Shift System, where one swing of a weapon is followed through with another. Many of these attacks are available in one of three stances, switched using the shoulder buttons or axis controls depending on controller layout, high, neutral. The player also has a choice of one out of six playable characters, similar to the weapons, each one has a different level of strength and speed, and a number of unique special attacks. Some characters have a subweapon that can be thrown as well, all the characters have differing levels of proficiency with the selectable weapons and have a single preferred weapon. Characters in Bushido Blade also have the ability to run, jump, because battles are not limited to small arenas, the player is encouraged to freely explore during battle. The castle compound which most of the takes place in acts as a large hub area of interconnected smaller areas including a cherry blossom grove, a moat. Some areas, such as the bamboo thicket, allow some interaction, the story mode of Bushido Blade adds another gameplay mechanic, the Bushido code. Certain moves and tactics are considered dishonorable, such as striking a foe in the back, throwing dust in their eyes, acting dishonorably will abruptly end the players playthrough after a certain point in the story, displaying a message berating them on their behavior. In addition to the single player story mode, Bushido Blade contains a two-player versus mode
12.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
13.
Namco
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Namco Limited is a Japanese corporation best known as a video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies game production assets were spun off into Bandai Namco Games on March 31,2006, Namco was re-established to continue domestic operation of video arcades and amusement parks. Its headquarters are located in Ōta, Tokyo, the companys English name is often officially written as NAMCO. Namco was a front-runner during the age of arcade video games. Pac-Man went on to become the best-selling arcade game in history, Namco was also known for creating successful franchises such as Galaxian, Ridge Racer, Ace Combat, Tekken, as well as the Soul and Tales series. Masaya Nakamura founded the company as Nakamura Manufacturing in 1955, based in Tokyo, the company started out by running childrens rides on the roof of a department store in Yokohama. The business eventually expanded throughout the Tokyo area, Nakamura Manufacturing was reorganized in 1958 and later underwent a name change to Nakamura Manufacturing Company, which would be used to form the acronym NAMCO. In 1970, the company produced a coin-operated mechanical driving simulator called Racer, Atari Japan, the Tokyo-based subsidiary of Atari, was struggling financially by 1974. General manager Hide Nakajima was left in charge of the company after his boss had quit, Nakajima claims that employees had been stealing money and that he had contributed funds from his personal savings in order to pay creditors and stave off bankruptcy. Sega, then a manufacturer of machines, offered to acquire Atari Japan for $50,000. Nakamura put in a bid for $800,000 and shocked others out of competition, the deal was finalized at $500,000 and Bushnell was glad to take it. Debts inherited from Atari Japan would take Nakamura two years to pay off, but the deal had also secured for him a license to distribute Ataris games in Japan for ten years. Nakamura would follow up by opening video arcades featuring Atari games, everyone thought was mad when he paid so much for Atari, but it turned out to be a very wise investment. Nakajima was promoted to president in 1978, and on his recommendation Namco opened a subsidiary, Namco America. The location he chose was across the street from Ataris former headquarters in Sunnyvale, at the time, games were not released in the U. S. under the Namco label. Namco America existed mainly to license Namcos games to companies such as Atari, Galaxian revolutionized the industry as the first video game to use RGB color graphics. It was Pac-Man, however, that would become definitive of Namcos legacy, galaga, a follow-up to Galaxian, was one of the most successful sequels of the era. Dig Dug, Xevious, and Pole Position continued Namcos success in establishing iconic franchises during the Golden Age, during this period, Namco published video games for home consoles and personal computer under the Namcot brand name
14.
NeGcon
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The neGcon is a third-party controller for the PlayStation manufactured by Namco. The neGcon was a design in that the left and right halves of the controller were connected by a swivel joint. The full extent of this twist was available to the console as an analogue measurement, also unusual for its time were the buttons. The neGcon removed the L2 and R2 buttons as well as the select button, the neGcon replaced the digital circle and triangle buttons with digital A and B buttons, and also replaced the R1 shoulder button with a digital R shoulder button. The neGcon featured the digital D-Pad as one area similar to competing consoles controllers, the remaining buttons received more elaborate treatment. The X and square buttons were replaced with analogue Ⅰ and Ⅱ buttons and these buttons were in a recessed well and had approximately 7mm of travel. The users thumb could be rested on the edge of the well and this allowed the tip of the thumb to be accurately pivoted to depress the Ⅰ and Ⅱ buttons varying distances. This allowed very precise control with little learning, the L shoulder button was also analogue, with about 5mm of travel. The R shoulder button had a 5mm throw like the L shoulder button, the neGcon worked by means of gears turning the shafts of potentiometers. The center pivot of the neGcon utilized a ring-gear driving a pinion on the shaft of the potentiometer, lack of space inside the unit precluded an analogue R shoulder button. However, extended use caused the swivel joint to wear, the neGcons design was prompted by Namcos desire to accurately replicate the dual-lever controls of their arcade game Cyber Sled on the PlayStation. The design of the neGcon, while initially seeming very unwieldy, was in very good for racing games. The analogue Ⅰ and Ⅱ buttons were used as the accelerator and brake. The neGcon could be gripped with the fists facing forward and the thumbs upwards, twisting the arms at the elbows would turn the hands around a circle, as well as twist the wrists relative to each other, producing steering input. Although this was the most natural way to use the controller, the WipEout series also supported the neGcon. The number of non-racing games which supported the neGcon was limited, Tempest X3, based on the rotary-controlled Tempest arcade game, is also supported. Although the neGcon was not strictly protocol-compatible with the standard PS1 controller, because of this, a neGcon could be used in most games that didnt require the use of R2, L2 or select buttons. It even worked in the built-in ROM memory card librarian and CD player programs, however, due to the long throw of the Ⅰ and Ⅱ buttons, the neGcon was not a top-quality substitute for a regular PS1 controller
15.
Wipeout (video game)
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Wipeout, The Music is a soundtrack album of various British electronica artists and other European producers from the video game of the same name, released in 1995. Wipeout, released for Sony PlayStation in 1995, was one of the first video games to incorporate electronic music by non-mainstream, alternative artists into the game. The artwork for the album was made by The Designers Republic in their typical style, in line with the artwork of the game. The cover features the katakana デザイナーズ・リパブリック, the soundtrack album had a different track list than the game itself, making use of only a few songs that were present in-game. Aside from tracks 1,2 and 5, no tracks from the album appear in the game. Wipeout was written and recorded specifically for the game, while Afro Ride, Wipeout, The Music at Discogs Wipeout at Discogs Wipeout at Last. fm
16.
Ridge Racer (video game)
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Ridge Racer is a 1993 racing video game developed and published by Namco. It was initially released on the Namco System 22 arcade system board and it is the first title in the Ridge Racer series released for arcades and home consoles. The objective is to finish in first place in a series of races, the PlayStation version supports Namcos NeGcon controller. Development took eight months, and the game is based on a trend among Japanese car enthusiasts, the first home version was released in Japan in 1994 as a launch title for the PlayStation, the versions for North America and Europe were released in 1995. It was re-released in Japan for the PlayStation The Best range in 1997, Ridge Racer played a major role in establishing the new system and giving it an early edge over its nearest competitor, the Sega Saturn, and was considered a rival to Segas Daytona USA. Ridge Racer received a positive reception. Reviewers praised the graphics, audio, drifting mechanics, and arcade-like gameplay, although some were critical of the lack of artificial intelligence. The soundtrack was remixed and released on the Namco Game Sound Express Vol.11 album, players choose a course, a car, a transmission, and a song. The cars vary in their specifications, some have a top speed, others excel at acceleration or turning. Certain cars are named after other Namco games such as Solvalou, Mappy, Bosconian, Nebulasray, the racetrack can be observed from the first-person perspective or, for the PlayStation version, from the third-person perspective. Namcos NeGcon controller can be used to play, because the game is an arcade-style racing game, collisions do no damage, and merely slow the player down. There is a limit, which ends the game if counted down to zero. A single course is featured, and it consists of four configurations of increasing difficulty, Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, the player races eleven opponents except in Time Trial, where there is only one. The higher the difficulty, the faster the cars run, with Time Trial being the fastest, each race consists of three laps. Checkpoints that grant additional time when passed through are present throughout, in the PlayStation version, after every race is won, reversed ones become available, and an additional opponent is encountered in Time Trial, the 13th Racing, the fastest car. On winning, the car is unlocked, the PlayStation version features hidden mirror version of the tracks. It becomes an image of itself, left turns become right turns and vice versa. In the arcade version, the players score is saved in action-replay highlights after finishing the game
17.
Need for Speed II
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Need for Speed II is a racing video game released in 1997. It is a part of the Need for Speed series and is the installment in the series, following Road & Track Presents. The tracks are based on fantasized or exaggerated race courses in real settings around the world. For example, one in one course cars race through a Hollywood film set while in another cars race along the edge of the Himalayan mountain range. Like its predecessor, Need for Speed II allows players to race cars, either against computer-controlled opponents or human opponents via a LAN. There are three distinct modes, Single Race mode in which a player simply chooses a car. In this mode, the player can customize both the number and type of opponents as well as the number of laps to be completed, tournament Mode in which the player must complete a series of races successfully to unlock a bonus car. The Knockout Mode consists of a series of 2-lap races with 8 opponents, the game features eight real life high-end sports cars and concept cars which the player can drive and race against. The Special Edition release of the game added four additional cars, in addition, the game features a showcase which provides photos, videos, and technical information about the cars as well as the history of each company and background of each cars development. The game also features new elements compared to the previous game in the form of customizable car paint and components of their car including gear ratios, tires. As in the original Need for Speed, the game features detailed specifications, history, the largest feature are several full motion video segments for each of the cars, several of them being the professionally-produced videos for the concept vehicles. Need for Speed II was developed by EA Canada, the lead programmer for the game was Laurent Ancessi with Wei Shoong Teh and Brad Gour as senior programmers. To ensure the physics of fast car handling and performance were as accurate as possible, need for Speed II was met with mixed reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation version 71. 39% and 71/100, a GameSpot reviewer liked the game but felt most of the roads were outrageous and that the cars would be unfamiliar to many. An Adrenaline Vault review described the game as a good overall driving experience with easy installation, realistic sound effects, another review like the crisper graphics, smoother animation, rich colors and increased detail compared to the original. Criticism of the game stemmed from its being easier to play, an IGN review felt the game was not as good as the original. Some reviewers felt the steering was a little jerky, and one went as far as to describe the details as poor. Another issue was that the game required a fast computer at the time, a reviewer for Computer and Video Games didnt appreciate the combination of super realist cars being driven on fantasy tracks and thought that the crashes look and feel wrong
18.
Gran Turismo (video game)
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Gran Turismo is a sim racing video game designed by Kazunori Yamauchi. Gran Turismo was developed by Polys Entertainment and published by Sony Computer Entertainment in 1997 for the PlayStation video game console, the games development group was established as Polyphony Digital in 1998. The game has started a series, and has spawned over 10 spin-offs, Gran Turismo is a racing game. The player must maneuver a car to compete against artificially intelligent drivers on race tracks. The game uses two different modes, Arcade Mode and Simulation Mode, in the arcade mode, the player can freely choose the courses and vehicles they wish to use. Winning races unlocks additional cars and courses, however, simulation mode requires the player to earn different levels of drivers licenses in order to qualify for events, and earn credits, trophies and prize cars by winning race championships. Winning one particular championship also unlocks a video and a few additional demonstration tracks, credits can be used to purchase additional vehicles, and for parts and tuning. Gran Turismo features 140 cars and 11 race tracks, two Honda NSX cars from 1992 were included in the Japanese version, but were removed from the North American and European versions. There is also a 1967 Chevrolet Corvette and a 1998 Mazda Roadster exclusive to the Arcade mode, the game required five years to complete. During an interview with Kazunori Yamauchi, it was revealed that development of Gran Turismo started in the half of 1992. Yamauchi added that at different times there were seven to fifteen people assisting him. When asked how difficult it was to create Gran Turismo, Yamauchi remarked, in those five years, we could not see the end. I would wake up at work, go to sleep at work and it was getting cold, so I knew it must be winter. I estimate I was home only four days a year, sound design was one aspect that Yamauchi believed was compromised due to a lack of time. Although Kazunori considered the games artificial intelligence to be superior to its competitors, when Gran Turismo was released in Japan, Polyphony Digital was still a development group within Sony Computer Entertainment. The studio was established in April 1998, before the Western release of the game, Yamauchi estimated that Gran Turismo utilised around 75% of the PlayStations maximum performance. The opening song for the North American and PAL versions is a Chemical Brothers remix of the Manic Street Preachers song Everything Must Go, the opening song for the Japanese version is Moon Over the Castle, composed by Masahiro Andoh. The Japanese version, however, used an original score
19.
Gran Turismo 2
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Gran Turismo 2 is a racing game for the Sony PlayStation. Gran Turismo 2 was developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertainment in 1999 and it is the sequel to Gran Turismo. The title received an average of 93% in Metacritics aggregate, Gran Turismo 2 was also the first PS1 game to be emulated on the Dreamcast via Bleemcast. Gran Turismo 2 is fundamentally based on the game genre. The player must maneuver an automobile to compete against artificially intelligent drivers on race tracks. The game uses two different modes, Arcade Mode and Simulation Mode, in the arcade mode, the player can freely choose vehicles they wish to use, and can enable damage. However, the simulation mode requires the player to earn drivers licenses, pay for vehicles, Gran Turismo 2 features nearly 650 automobiles and 27 racing tracks, including rally tracks. The major changes are the vastly expanded number of cars, tracks, other differences include that the player can race events separately, if he/she does not want to enter the whole tournament. The player is no longer able to qualify for each race entered, after the unexpected success of Gran Turismo, lead developer Kazunori Yamauchi planned to make Gran Turismo 2 an even better product. Jack Tretton had similar enthusiasm, expecting Gran Turismo 2 to fly off the faster than the original. Upon the games release, players shortly found various errors and glitches, SCEA did not ignore the outcry, and offered a replacement if any problems occurred. For example, the maximum attainable completion percentage was 98. 2%, the other glitch was that no matter what, even if a player saves the game, cars can disappear from their garage. At the time of its release, GT2 featured one of the largest lists of new and historic cars available in a single computer game. GT2 contained 36 manufacturers, ranging from Acura, BMW, Peugeot to Venturi, in comparison, the original Gran Turismo and GT3 A-Spec had less than 200 each. Certain notable manufacturers, such as Ferrari and Porsche, were not featured since the required licenses could not be obtained, ruf, included in GT2 and in later installments, was added as an alternative to Porsche. However, the two are not to be mistaken as one entity, ruf is a separate manufacturer from Porsche under U. S. and German law. Gran Turismo 2 was the first game of the series to feature the Vauxhall/Opel brands, the PAL version has the Faithless Remix of the song. In some introductions of the North American releases, the song was cut such that it played differently after one minute, the opening song for the Japanese version is Moon Over the Castle
20.
LED
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A light-emitting diode is a two-lead semiconductor light source. It is a p–n junction diode, which emits light when activated, when a suitable voltage is applied to the leads, electrons are able to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons. This effect is called electroluminescence, and the color of the light is determined by the band gap of the semiconductor. LEDs are typically small and integrated optical components may be used to shape the radiation pattern, appearing as practical electronic components in 1962, the earliest LEDs emitted low-intensity infrared light. Infrared LEDs are still used as transmitting elements in remote-control circuits. The first visible-light LEDs were also of low intensity and limited to red, modern LEDs are available across the visible, ultraviolet, and infrared wavelengths, with very high brightness. Early LEDs were often used as indicator lamps for electronic devices and they were soon packaged into numeric readouts in the form of seven-segment displays and were commonly seen in digital clocks. Recent developments in LEDs permit them to be used in environmental, LEDs have allowed new displays and sensors to be developed, while their high switching rates are also used in advanced communications technology. LEDs have many advantages over incandescent light sources including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved physical robustness, smaller size, and faster switching. Light-emitting diodes are now used in applications as diverse as aviation lighting, automotive headlamps, advertising, general lighting, traffic signals, camera flashes, as of 2017, LED lights home room lighting are as cheap or cheaper than compact fluorescent lamp sources of comparable output. They are also more energy efficient and, arguably, have fewer environmental concerns linked to their disposal. Electroluminescence as a phenomenon was discovered in 1907 by the British experimenter H. J. Round of Marconi Labs, using a crystal of silicon carbide, russian inventor Oleg Losev reported creation of the first LED in 1927. His research was distributed in Soviet, German and British scientific journals, rubin Braunstein of the Radio Corporation of America reported on infrared emission from gallium arsenide and other semiconductor alloys in 1955. Braunstein observed infrared emission generated by simple diode structures using gallium antimonide, GaAs, indium phosphide, in 1957, Braunstein further demonstrated that the rudimentary devices could be used for non-radio communication across a short distance. As noted by Kroemer Braunstein …had set up a simple optical communications link, the emitted light was detected by a PbS diode some distance away. This signal was fed into an amplifier and played back by a loudspeaker. Intercepting the beam stopped the music and we had a great deal of fun playing with this setup. This setup presaged the use of LEDs for optical communication applications, by October 1961, they had demonstrated efficient light emission and signal coupling between a GaAs p-n junction light emitter and an electrically-isolated semiconductor photodetector
21.
Nintendo 64 controller
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The Nintendo 64 controller is the standard game controller included with the Nintendo 64. Released by Nintendo in late 1996 in Japan and North America, and 1997 in Europe, it features ten buttons, one digital Control Stick and a directional pad, all laid out in an M shape. The controller was designed by Nintendo R&D3, who were directed to try out new ideas that would break from the mold of gaming controllers. Thats why the A and B Buttons are placed for easiest access on the new controller, theyre the buttons that get high traffic. The controller was designed to be held in three different positions, first, it can be held by the two outer grips, allowing use of the D-pad, right-hand face buttons and the L and R shoulder buttons. This style was intended to play in 2D games by emulating the setup on the Super NES controller. It can be held by the center and right-hand grip, allowing the use of the single control stick, the right hand-buttons, the R shoulder button. This style was intended for 3D games, finally, the controller can be held by the center and left-hand grip, allowing for a combination of the D-pad, L-shoulder, analog stick and Z button. This was implemented in GoldenEye 007, additionally, though the controller was not designed with this setup in mind, one controller can be held in each hand with a thumb on each analog stick and index fingers on the Z trigger. This setup allows dual-analog control on some first-person shooters such as Perfect Dark, the analog stick and right-hand face and shoulder buttons are usually used in games. In some games such as Mortal Kombat Trilogy, the control stick, very few games use the directional pad exclusively, two examples are the 3D puzzle game Tetrisphere and the side-scrolling platformer Kirby 64, The Crystal Shards. This layout would become dominant in design, and several third-party manufacturers would produce aftermarket N64 controllers with more conventional layouts, such as the MakoPad. The controller also includes four C buttons, which were intended to control the camera in the N64s three-dimensional environments. However, since the pad only contains three face buttons, the C-buttons often became assigned to ulterior functions. An example of this is The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time, one game, Robotron 64, allows one player to use two controllers to control an avatar. This way, the plays like its predecessor, Robotron 2084. Star Wars Episode 1, Racer, GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark also use this set up for different gameplay experiences compared to the standard single controller option. The controller initially came in six colors but other colors were released later, when the Nintendo 64 is switched on, the joystick on each controller is automatically calibrated by recording the current position as the center position
22.
MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat
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MechWarrior 2, 31st Century Combat is a vehicle simulation game developed and released by Activision in 1995, as part of the MechWarrior series of video games in the BattleTech franchise. Originally developed for DOS, it was ported to a variety of platforms including Windows, Apple Macintosh, a number of enhanced versions were released to take advantage of the 3D graphics accelerator cards at the time. MechWarrior 2 features a soundtrack composed by Jeehun Hwang, and an intro sequence by Digital Domain. At the start of the game, the player must choose to side with one of the two Clans involved in the Refusal War, Clan Wolf or Clan Jade Falcon. The battles in the game take place on planets named in the various BattleTech source books on the war, each battle has a specific goal such as search-and-destroy, reconnaissance or a base strike. Initially, the controls one Mech, but in later missions has access to squad commands. Between missions, a mech lab allows players to customize the weapon, armor, engine, MechWarrior 2 is played as a tactical simulation, incorporating aspects of both real-time first-person combat and the physical simulation of the players mech. The player can choose between several modes, from a basic point and shoot mode, to an advanced mode that allows the player to manage the legs. The mechs on-board computer provides feedback to the player, ranging from the proximity of friendly and enemy forces to system damage, a version for Windows 95 include NetMech software for player vs. player battles over a network or direct connection. MechWarrior 2 is a game re-creation of the Refusal War, the player can choose to be a member of one of two clans, either Clan Jade Falcon or Clan Wolf, while engaging in a total of 32 missions in the year 3057 time frame. Set shortly after the Battle of Tukayyid between the Inner Sphere and invading armies, the plot revolves around an ideological conflict inside the clans. It focuses only on clans Jade Falcon and Wolf, both of which represent a different side in the struggle — Crusaders and Wardens, respectively. These forces eventually splintered and formed 20 separate groups, called the Clans, creating a society based around warfare. Over the years of isolation, two schools of thought divided the clans, Crusader clans wished to return to the Inner Sphere as conquerors, forcing the nations to unite and recreating the Star League. The Warden clans, on the hand, believed that the clans should act as protectors of the Inner Sphere. The invasion force consisted of both Crusader and Warden clans, the Wardens participated in an attempt to mitigate the damage caused by the Crusader clans. The invasion continued until the clans were challenged by the ComStar organization to a fight on the planet Tukayyid. If the Clans won, they would gain control of Terra, the battle was lost by the Clans and their invasion was halted for 15 years
23.
Ace Combat 2
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Ace Combat 2 is a semi-realistic combat flight simulation game made by Namco for the PlayStation game console. It is the second console offering in the Ace Combat series and continues the arcade style gameplay of the first game Air Combat. In 2005 Namco re-released Ace Combat 2 as part of the NamCollection for the PlayStation 2 to celebrate the publishers 50th anniversary, players complete missions by destroying various air and surface targets to obtain credits for their airforce. A mission briefing details the players expected route of attack and the opposition in a 3D map display. The player can also choose Novice or Expert control settings, the latter enables the player to execute realistic aircraft maneuvers such as rolls, certain aircraft will be arrayed depending on the wingmens mission assignments. Operation time will be dictated through a fuel gauge, the game mostly proceeds in a linear fashion, but later on, the player will have a choice of two branching mission paths. Certain targets in missions can also unlock secret missions and alternative endings, Ace Combat 2 features many of the flyable aircraft seen in the first game, as well as new real-life aircraft. The game also introduces to the franchise the concept of superfighters, or jets that are unique from existing aircraft in design, two superfighters are introduced - the ADF-01 and the XF/A-27, players can only access the latter. A bar graph also indicates how many times the aircraft have been used, the planes also sport actual military color schemes, dispensing of the phoenix-style scheme found in the first game. Ace Combat 2 introduces the concept of aces, elite pilots that have better performance than standard enemy pilots. They are identifiable by their planes unique color schemes and their callsigns, some of the aces fly together as a squadron. Shooting down a legendary pilot or squadron will earn a medal in the players record, a group of rebel military forces launch a massive insurrection all over the Usean continent. The takeover occurs just as political leaders attend a peace summit in a faraway location. The speed of the coup enables the rebels to acquire special strategic weapons, the danger of such a threat prompts the deployment of Scarface, an elite mercenary air force, to quell it. The above plot is fleshed out in the 3DS remake, Assault Horizon Legacy, however, countries in southern Usea consider joining the Osean Federation after it offers to sign a military treaty with them. The other countries in Usea object to move, but the southern nations press ahead with the treaty. Conservative military personnel in these countries engineer a coup on the day of the treaty signing, in danger of total collapse, the Usean government executes an offensive codenamed Operation Fighters Honor, with the Special Tactical Fighter Squadron Scarface leading the attack. A Nintendo 3DS remake was released as Ace Combat, Assault Horizon Legacy in North America on November 15,2011, the Japanese version, titled Ace Combat 3D, Cross Rumble, was released on January 12,2012
24.
Descent II
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Descent II is a 1996 first-person shooter video game developed by Parallax Software and published by Interplay Productions. It is the game in the Descent video game series. Unlike standard first-person shooters, the player must control a ship that has a six degrees of freedom movement scheme. The original soundtrack features industrial metal contributed by notable musicians such as Type O Negative, Ogre and Mark Walk of Skinny Puppy, the game received very positive reviews from video game critics. A sequel, Descent 3, was released in 1999, as of December 2015, Descent II had been withdrawn from sale via Good Old Games and Steam due to a dispute between Parallax Software and publisher Interplay. Like its predecessor Descent, Descent II is a six degrees of freedom shooter wherein the player controls a ship from a first-person perspective in zero-gravity. It is differentiated from standard first-person shooters in that it allows the player to move, specifically, the player is free to move forward/backward, up/down, left/right, and rotate in three perpendicular axes, often termed pitch, yaw, and roll. Aboard the ship, the player can shoot enemies and fire flares to explore darkened areas, in the games single-player mode, the player must complete 24 levels where different types of AI-controlled robots will try to hinder the players progress. In each level, the player must find and either destroy a reactor or defeat a boss, depending upon on which level the player is, each level is composed of a set of rooms separated by white, blue, yellow, or red doors. White doors can be opened by simply firing weapons at them or bumping into them, along the way, the player may also find and free a Guide-Bot, an assistant that shows the player the way to a specific target. Within each level, the player may collect power-ups that enhance the ships weaponry, weapons are categorized into two different types, primary weapons and secondary weapons. Primary weapons range from a variety of weapons to the Plasma Cannon. Most primary weapons consume energy in different rate, but some, such as the Vulcan Cannon, in contrast, all secondary weapons require their own ammunition suppliers. The player can also collect equipment items which grant special powers, additionally, there may be human hostages hidden away in many of the stages, which can give an additional point bonus after completing a level if they are rescued. The players ship is protected by a shield which decreases when incurring damage from enemies, its own weapons, If the shield is fully depleted, the player loses one life, all rescued hostages, and starts at the beginning of the level without any collected power-ups. Nevertheless, the player can reclaim the missing power-ups from the ruins of the destroyed ship, If a player loses all life points, the game will be over. The players score can be increased by killing enemies or rescuing hidden human hostages. Descent II also features a multiplayer mode wherein two to eight players can compete against each other in several game types
25.
Colony Wars
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Colony Wars is a space combat simulator video game for the PlayStation developed and released by Psygnosis in 1997. In it, players complete space missions using preselected starfighters equipped with various weapons. The game features multiple paths of missions and outcomes, depending on the players performance and it was later followed by Colony Wars, Vengeance in 1998, and Colony Wars, Red Sun in 2000. Players fight in space combat missions using one of seven pre-selected League of Free Worlds starfighters. The selection is due to the League High Commands decisions for efficiency in every given mission, each starfighter carries a certain combination of energy weapons, missiles or torpedoes, and a number of units are equipped with nonlethal EMP cannons. The player can also use countermeasures to shake off inbound enemy missiles or use a gun to capture targets of importance. The stages are divided into several Acts with three missions each, multiple paths and outcomes are available throughout the game, depending on the players performance. Completing or failing missions does not always define the ultimate success or failure of the campaign, players can view their combat records in the game. They can also access a database of planets and ships, with full voiceovers, the Earth is fully stripped of natural resources by the fifth millennium. As a result, the Earth Empire sends out expeditionary sleeper ships to distant planets found to have abundant natural resources, the discovery of hyperspace technology accelerates the Empires interstellar expansion. As the colonies become more prosperous, the inhabitants bceome discontent as most of their resources are used to benefit Earth. A peaceful insurrection in the 47th century only results in the Earth Empires leader, stunned by the carnage, the other colonies band together as the League of Free Worlds, with a man known as the Father leading the fight. The Empires Colonial Navy sends a fleet to attack League forces in the Gallonigher system, when the Navy overextends its forces for the assault on Bennay, the League lures them into a trap inside a nearby asteroid belt, where the Navy strike fleet is destroyed. The game picks up months after what is now known as the Battle of Bennay. If the player succeeds in Gallonigher, the League will proceed to the Draco system, if the player is defeated in Gallonigher, the League will survive, but will retreat to resupply bases in the Diomedes system before launching an attack on Alpha Centauri. It is also possible to be sent to Alpha Centauri by performing poorly during the Draco campaign, the Tsars personal flagship, the Super Titan-class dreadnought Tsunami, appears to destroy the League remnants. If defeated in Alpha Centauri, a group of League soldiers discontented with the war, called The Faction, the colonies are then enslaved and strip-mined by the Empire, who fully supported the Faction. If victorious in Alpha Centauri, the League and the Empire reach a tactical stalemate, with both sides realising that neither could ever truly destroy the other, they make peace after The Factions destruction
26.
Electronic Gaming Monthly
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Electronic Gaming Monthly was a monthly American video game magazine. It offered video game news, coverage of events, interviews with gaming figureheads, editorial content. The magazine was founded in 1988 as U. S. National Video Game Teams Electronic Gaming Monthly under Sendai Publications, in 1994, EGM spun off EGM², which focused on expanded cheats and tricks. It eventually became Expert Gamer and finally the defunct GameNOW, after 83 issues, EGM switched from Sendai Publishing to Ziff Davis publisher. Until January 2009, EGM only covered gaming on console hardware and software, in 2002, the magazines subscription increased by more than 25 percent. The magazine was discontinued by Ziff Davis in January 2009, following the sale of 1UP. com to UGO Networks, the magazines February 2009 issue was already completed, but was not published. In May 2009, EGM founder Steve Harris purchased the magazine, the magazine was relaunched in April 2010 by Harris new company EGM Media, LLC, widening its coverage to the PC and mobile gaming markets. k. a. Writers who also served stints as editor-in chief include Ed Semrad, Joe Funk, John Davison, the magazine is known for making April Fools jokes. Its April 1992 issue was the source of the Sheng Long hoax in Street Fighter II, games are reviewed by one member, except for the big games, which were reviewed by one of a pool of editors known as The Review Crew. They each assign a grade to the game and write a few paragraphs about their opinion of the game, the magazine makes a strong stance that a grade of C is average. The current letter grade system replaced a long-standing 0–10 scale in the April 2008 issue. In that system, Silver went to a game with a rating from 8 to 9, Gold to a game reviewed at 9 to 10. Until 1998, as a matter of policy, the reviewers rarely gave scores of 10. That policy changed when the reviewers gave Metal Gear Solid four 10 ratings in 1998, in addition, they gave the game with the highest average score for that issue a Game of the Month award. In 2002, EGM has also begun giving games that earned unanimously bad scores a Shame of the Month award, as there is not always such a game in each issue, this award is only given out when a game qualifies. Originally, a team of four editors reviewed all the games and this process was eventually dropped in favor of a system that added more reviewers to the staff so that no one person reviewed all the games for the month. Though the scores ranged from 0–10 on the numerical scale, the score of zero was almost never utilized, with notable exceptions being Mortal Kombat Advance, The Guy Game. EGM en Español was released in Mexico in November 2002 and it was published by Editorial Televisa and is edited by a different staff
27.
Ziff Davis
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Ziff Davis, LLC is an American publisher and Internet company. It was initiated during 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, by William B, Ziff, Sr. and Bernard G. Davis. Throughout most of Ziff Davis history, it was a publisher of hobbyist magazines, often devoted to expensive, advertiser-rich technical hobbies such as cars, photography. However, since 1980, Ziff Davis has primarily published computer-related magazines, Ziff Davis had several broadcasting properties, first during the mid-1970s, and later with its own technology network ZDTV, later renamed to TechTV, that was sold to Vulcan Ventures during 2001. Ziff Davis magazine publishing and internet operations offices are based in New York City, Massachusetts, on November 12,2012, Ziff Davis Inc. was acquired by cloud computing services company j2 Global of Hollywood, Calif. for $167 million cash. According to a late 2015 Fortune article, Ziff Davis comprises 30% of parent company j2 Globals $600 million annual revenue and is increasing 15% to 20% each year, analyst Gregory Burns of Sidoti & Company calculates that Ziff Davis is worth $1.9 billion. During 1923, Ziff acquired E. C, auld Company, a Chicago publishing house. Ziffs first venture in publishing was Ziffs Magazine, which featured short stories, one-act plays, humorous verse. The title was changed to Americas Humor during April 1926, Bernard George Davis was the student editor of the University of Pittsburghs humor magazine, the Pitt Panther, and was active in the Association of College Comics of the East. During his senior year he attended the convention and met William B. When Davis graduated during 1927 he joined Ziff as the editor of Americas Humor, Ziff, who had been an aviator in World War I, created a new magazine, Popular Aviation, during August 1927 that was published by Popular Aviation Publishing Company of Chicago, Illinois. Managed by Editor Harley W. Mitchell it became the largest aviation magazine, the magazines title became Aeronautics for June 1929 and the publishing companys name became Aeronautical Publications, Inc. The title was changed back to Popular Aviation for July 1930, the magazine became Flying during 1942 and is still published today by the Bonnier Corporation. The magazine celebrated its 80th anniversary during 2007, the company histories normally give the founding date as 1927. This is when B. G. Davis joined and Popular Aviation magazine started, however, it was not until 1936 that the company became the Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. Davis was given a minority equity interest in the company and was appointed a vice-president. He was later named president during 1946, Davis was a photography enthusiast and the editor of the Popular Photography magazine started during May 1937. During early 1938, Ziff-Davis acquired the magazines Radio News and Amazing Stories and these were started by Hugo Gernsback but sold as a result of the Experimenter Publishing bankruptcy during 1929
28.
PlayStation
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It is created and owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment since December 3,1994, with the launch of the original PlayStation console in Japan. The original console in the series was the first video game console to ship 100 million units,9 years and 6 months after its initial launch and its successor, the PlayStation 2, was released in 2000. The PlayStation 2 is the home console to date, having reached over 155 million units sold as of December 28,2012. Sonys next console, the PlayStation 3, was released in 2006 and has sold over 80 million consoles worldwide as of November 2013. Sonys latest console, the PlayStation 4, was released in 2013, selling 1 million consoles in its first 24 hours on sale, the first handheld game console in the PlayStation series, sold a total of 80 million units worldwide by November 2013. Its successor, the PlayStation Vita, which launched in Japan on December 17,2011, PlayStation TV is a microconsole and a non-portable variant of the PlayStation Vita handheld game console. The main series of controllers utilized by the PlayStation series is the DualShock, the PlayStation Network is an online service with over 110 million users worldwide. PlayStation Mobile is a framework that provides PlayStation content on mobile devices. Content set to be released under the framework consist of only original PlayStation games currently, 7th generation PlayStation products also use the XrossMediaBar, which is an award-winning graphical user interface. A new touch screen-based user interface called LiveArea was launched for the PlayStation Vita, additionally, PlayStation 2 and original PlayStation 3 consoles also featured support for Linux-based operating systems, though this has since been discontinued. The series has also known for its numerous marketing campaigns. The consoles origins date back to 1988 where it was originally a joint project between Nintendo and Sony to create a CD-ROM for the Super Famicom. However, a day after the announcement at CES, Nintendo announced that it would be breaking its partnership with Sony, opting to go with Philips instead but using the same technology. The deal was broken by Nintendo after they were unable to come to an agreement on how revenue would be split between the two companies. The breaking of the partnership infuriated Sony President Norio Ohga, who responded by appointing Kutaragi with the responsibility of developing the PlayStation project to rival Nintendo. At that time, negotiations were still on-going between Nintendo and Sony, with Nintendo offering Sony a non-gaming role regarding their new partnership with Philips. This proposal was rejected by Kutaragi who was facing increasing criticism over his work with regard to entering the video game industry from within Sony. At the meeting, Kutaragi unveiled a proprietary CD-ROM-based system he had working on which involved playing video games with 3D graphics to the board
29.
PlayStation models
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A number of models of Sonys PlayStation video game console were produced. The PlayStation went through a number of variants during its production run, from an external perspective, the most notable change was the gradual reduction in the number of external connectors from the back of the unit. This started very early on with the original Japanese launch units, the SCPH-1000, released on December 3,1994, was the model that had an S-Video port. Also, the first models had problems with function and developers had to use another function instead. The CD player also included reverberation effects unique to those systems until the release of the PS one in 2000 and this model was followed by the SCPH-550x and exclusive PAL SCPH-5552 units, released in April 1997. Starting with the SCPH-550x series, PAL variants had the power, originally, the PlayStation was supposed to have provision on Video CD support, but this feature was only included on the Asian exclusive SCPH-5903 model. New to the SCPH-700x series was the introduction of the Sound Scope - light show music visualizations and these were accessible by pressing the Select button while playing any normal audio CD in the systems CD player. While watching these visualizations, players could add various effects like color cycling or motion blur. These were seen on the SCPH-700x, 750x, 900x, the final revision to the original PlayStation was the SCPH-900x series, released in May 1999. These had the hardware as the SCPH-750x models, except the parallel port was removed. It also incorporated a modified version of the menu design previously used only on PAL consoles. The later revision was functionally identical, but reduced manufacturing cost by moving to more highly integrated chips. There were also debugging consoles - these were generally in blue or green cases, although there were some special production units that were grey. The debug units were designed to be as close as possible to retail consoles, the reason for the two different case colors was a hardware change that Sony had made fairly early in the PlayStation production cycle - the original machines were built using Rev. They also used VRAM to store the video data - the later models used Rev, C silicon and SGRAM - although the two chipsets had very similar performance, they were not identical - the Rev. Because this made the two machine types quite significantly different from other, you had to test your title on both of them before submitting it. The blue debugs had the old silicon and the green ones had the new silicon, in 1997, Sony released a version of the PlayStation called the Net Yaroze. Naturally, the Net Yaroze lacked many of the features the full developer suite provided, programmers were also limited by the 2 MB of total game space that Net Yaroze allowed
30.
PlayStation technical specifications
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The PlayStation technical specifications describe the various components of the original PlayStation video game console. LSI CoreWare CW33300-based core MIPS R3000A-compatible 32-Bit RISC CPU MIPS R3051 with 5KB L1 cache, the microprocessor was manufactured by LSI Logic Corp. with technology licensed from SGI. Operating performance,10 MIPS Documented device mode is to read three RLE-encoded 16×16 macroblocks, run IDCT and assemble a single 16×16 RGB macroblock, output data may be transferred directly to GPU via DMA. It is possible to overwrite IDCT matrix and some additional parameters, features, Compatible with MJPEG and H.261 files Directly connected to CPU bus System Control Coprocessor This unit is part of the CPU. Modified from the original R3000A cop0 architecture, with the addition of a few registers, controls memory management through virtual memory technique, system interrupts, exception handling, and breakpoints. 2 MiB main EDO DRAM Additional RAM is integrated with the GPU and SPU, cache RAM for CPU core and CD-ROM. See the relevant sections for details, flash RAM support through the use of memory cards, see below
31.
PlayStation 2
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The PlayStation 2 is a home video game console that was developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the successor to the PlayStation, and is the installment in the PlayStation lineup of consoles. It was released on March 4,2000 in Japan, October 26,2000 in North America, November 24,2000 in Europe and it competed with Segas Dreamcast, Microsofts Xbox, and Nintendos GameCube in the sixth generation of video game consoles. Announced in 1999, the PlayStation 2 was the first PlayStation console to offer backwards compatibility for its predecessors DualShock controller, the PlayStation 2 is the best-selling video game console of all time, selling over 155 million units, with 150 million confirmed by Sony in 2011. More than 3,874 game titles have been released for the PS2 since launch, Sony later manufactured several smaller, lighter revisions of the console known as Slimline models in 2004 and well on, and in 2006, announced and launched its successor, the PlayStation 3. Sony unveiled the PlayStation 4 console the following month on February 20,2013, Sony announced the PlayStation 2 on March 1,1999. The Dreamcast itself launched very successfully in North America later that year, soon after the Dreamcasts North American launch, Sony unveiled the PlayStation 2 at the Tokyo Game Show on September 20,1999. Sony showed fully playable demos of upcoming PlayStation 2 games including Gran Turismo 2000 and Tekken Tag Tournament – which showed the consoles graphic abilities, the PS2 was launched in March 2000 in Japan, October in North America and November in Europe. Sales of the console, games and accessories pulled in $250 million on the first day, directly after its release, it was difficult to find PS2 units on retailer shelves due to manufacturing delays. Another option was purchasing the console online through websites such as eBay. This allowed the PS2 to tap the large install base established by the PlayStation – another major selling point over the competition, later, Sony added new development kits for game developers and more PS2 units for consumers. The PS2s built-in functionality also expanded its audience beyond the gamer and this made the console a low cost entry into the home theater market. The PS2 remained as the only active sixth generation console for over 6 months, before it would face competition from rivals, Nintendos GameCube and Microsofts Xbox. While the PlayStation 2 theoretically had the weakest specification of the three, it had a start due to its installed base plus strong developer commitment. Sony also countered the Xbox by temporarily securing PlayStation 2 exclusives for highly anticipated games such as the Grand Theft Auto series and Metal Gear Solid 2, Sons of Liberty. Sony cut the price of the console in May 2002 from US$299 to $199 in North America, making it the price as the GameCube. It also planned to cut the price in Japan around that time and it cut the price twice in Japan in 2003. In 2006, Sony cut the cost of the console in anticipation of the release of the PlayStation 3, Sony, unlike Sega with its Dreamcast, originally placed little emphasis on online gaming during its first few years, although that changed upon the launch of the online-capable Xbox
32.
PlayStation 2 models
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There were many revisions of the PlayStation 2 in its history from 2000 to 2013, some only of internal construction and others involving substantial external changes. These are colloquially known among PS2 hardware hackers as V0, V1, each region receives a different model number, for example, the V18 was released in North America as SCPH-90001, in Australia as SCPH-90002, and in Hong Kong as SCPH-90006. The final digit is a code with no bearing on the hardware, many games and DVDs are restricted to certain regions. The PS2 is primarily differentiated between models with the original fat case design, and slimline models introduced at the end of 2004, in 2010 a television incorporating a PS2 was introduced. Three of the original PS2 launch models were sold in Japan. These models instead included a PCMCIA slot, sCPH-10000 and SCPH-15000 did not have built-in DVD movie playback and instead relied on encrypted playback software that was copied to a memory card from an included CD-ROM. V3 had a different internal structure from the subsequent revisions. In V4 everything except the power supply was unified onto one board, v5 also introduced a more reliable laser than the ones used in previous models. V7 and V8 included only minor revisions to V6, beginning with model SCPH-500xx, the i. LINK port was removed. An infrared receiver was added for use with a remote to control DVD playback, the PS2 standard color is matte black. The small PlayStation logo on the front of the disc tray could be rotated 90 degrees and this feature is also used on slimline consoles. In September 2004, Sony unveiled its third major hardware revision, available in late October 2004, it is smaller, thinner, and quieter than the older versions and includes a built-in Ethernet port. Due to its profile, it does not contain the 3.5 expansion bay. It also lacks an internal power supply, similar to the GameCube, the removal of the expansion bay has been criticized as a limitation due to the existence of titles such as Final Fantasy XI, which require the use of the HDD. The official PS2 Linux also requires an expansion bay to function, currently only the modified Multitap is sold in stores, however, these are also compatible with the older versions, and also added support for multiple memory cards on some games. Third-party connectors can be soldered into the unit giving hard drive support, however, IDE connections were removed in the V14 revision. Certain mod chips enable the use of a USB hard drive or other storage device. There are two sub-versions of the SCPH-700xx, one with the old EE and GS chips, and the other with the newer unified EE+GS chip, but otherwise are identical
33.
PlayStation 2 technical specifications
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The PlayStation 2 technical specifications describe the various components of the PlayStation 2 video game console. The sixth-generation hardware of the PlayStation 2 video game consists of various components. At the heart of the configuration is its central processing unit. The CPU heavily relies on its integration with two vector processing units, known as VPU0 and VPU1, the Graphics Synthesizer, and a floating-point unit in order to render 3D graphics. Other components, such as the systems DVD-ROM optical drive and DualShock 2 controller, provide the software, PlayStation 2 software is distributed on CD-ROM and DVD-ROM. In addition, the console can play audio CDs and DVD movies and this is accomplished through the inclusion of the original PlayStations CPU which also serves as the PS2s I/O processor. The PS2 also supports limited functionality with PS1 memory cards and controllers, the PS2s DualShock 2 controller is an upgraded version of the PS1s DualShock with analog face, shoulder and D-pad buttons replacing the digital buttons of the original. Like its predecessor, the DualShock 2 controller features force feedback technology, the standard PlayStation 2 memory card has an 8 MB capacity and uses Sonys MagicGate encryption. This requirement prevented the production of cards by third parties who did not purchase a MagicGate license. Memory cards without encryption can be used to store PlayStation game saves, there are a variety of non-Sony manufactured memory cards available for the PlayStation 2, allowing for a larger memory capacity than the standard 8 MB. However their use is unsupported and compatibility is not guaranteed and these memory cards can have up to 128 MB storage space. The console also features USB and IEEE1394 expansion ports, compatibility with USB and IEEE1394 devices is dependent on the software supporting the device. For example, the PS2 BIOS will not boot an ISO image from a USB flash drive or operate a USB printer, by contrast, Gran Turismo 4 and Tourist Trophy are programmed to save screenshots to a USB mass storage device and print images on certain USB printers. A PlayStation 2 HDD can be installed via the bay in the back of the console. Instruction set, MIPS III, MIPS IV subset with Sonys proprietary 107 vector SIMD multimedia instructions, the custom instruction set was implemented by grouping the two 64-bit integer ALUs. 32-bit FPU coprocessor with 6 stage long pipeline, 32-bit VLIW-SIMD vector units at 147.456 MHz, VPU0 and VPU1 each VPU contains a vector unit, instruction cache, data cache and interface unit. VPU1 has an additional EFU unit and it also allowed vector quantization for 2D graphics data. This extended memory provides 16 kilobytes of fast RAM available to be used by the application, scratchpad memory can be used to store temporary data that is waiting to be sent via DMA or for any other temporary storage that the programmer can define
34.
PlayStation 3
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The PlayStation 3 is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the successor to PlayStation 2, and is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles and it was first released on November 11,2006, in Japan, November 17,2006, in North America, and March 23,2007, in Europe and Australia. The PlayStation 3 mainly competes against consoles such as Microsofts Xbox 360, the console was first officially announced at E32005, and was released at the end of 2006. It was the first console to use Blu-ray Disc as its storage medium. In September 2009, the Slim model of the PlayStation 3 was released and it no longer provided the hardware ability to run PS2 games. It was lighter and thinner than the version, and featured a redesigned logo and marketing design. A Super Slim variation was released in late 2012, further refining and redesigning the console. The system had a start in the market but managed to recover. As of March 2016, PlayStation 3 has sold 85 million units worldwide, putting it about on par with Xbox 360 and its successor, the PlayStation 4, was released later in November 2013. On September 29,2015, Sony confirmed that sales of the PlayStation 3 were to be discontinued in New Zealand, in March 2017, the official site for PlayStation 3 in Japan was updated to state that it would be discontinued soon. Sony officially unveiled PlayStation 3 to the public on May 16,2005, at E32005, Video footage based on the predicted PlayStation 3 specifications was also shown. Two hardware configurations were also announced for the console, a 20 GB model, the 60 GB model was to be the only configuration to feature an HDMI port, Wi-Fi internet, flash card readers and a chrome trim with the logo in silver. Both models were announced for a worldwide release, November 11,2006, for Japan and November 17,2006, for North America. On September 6,2006, Sony announced that PAL region PlayStation 3 launch would be delayed until March 2007, because of a shortage of materials used in the Blu-ray drive. Also, the price of the Japanese 20 GB model was reduced by over 20%. During the event, Sony showed 27 playable PS3 games running on final hardware, PlayStation 3 was first released in Japan on November 11,2006, at 07,00. According to Media Create,81,639 PS3 systems were sold within 24 hours of its introduction in Japan, soon after its release in Japan, PS3 was released in North America on November 17,2006. Reports of violence surrounded the release of PS3, a customer was shot, campers were robbed at gunpoint, customers were shot in a drive-by shooting with BB guns, and 60 campers fought over 10 systems
35.
PlayStation 3 models
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The PlayStation 3 video game console has been produced in various models during its life cycle. Since then, Sony have released two redesigned models, the Slim and Super Slim models. As of December 2013, the number of consoles sold is estimated at 77 million. There are several original PlayStation 3 hardware models, which are referred to by the size of their included hard disk drive,20,40,60,80. Although referred to by their HDD size, the capabilities of the consoles vary by region and release date. The only difference in the appearance of the first five models was the color of the trim, number of USB ports, compatibility issues with games for both systems are detailed in a public database hosted by the manufacturer. All models, excluding the 20 GB model, include 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, in addition to all of the features of the 20 GB model, the 60 GB model has internal IEEE802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, multiple flash card readers and a chrome colored trim. In terms of hardware, the 80 GB model CECHE released in South Korea is identical to the 60 GB model CECHC released in the PAL regions, however, it retains the Graphics Synthesizer GPU resulting in a hybrid hardware and software emulation. Due to the elimination of the Emotion Engine and its replacement with a software-emulated version and this was due to the removal of Graphics Synthesizer GPU, which stripped the units of all PlayStation 2 based hardware. No official Wi-Fi or flash card readers were ever released by Sony for the 20 GB system. As of September 2009, Sony had placed no further emphasis on these proposed add-ons. It was rumored that the Cell processors in the third-generation PS3s would move from a 90 nm process to the newer 65 nm process, which SCEI CEO Kaz Hirai later confirmed and this change lowers the power consumption of the console and makes it less expensive to produce. The Cell microprocessor has moved to a 45 nm manufacturing process, which lets it run cooler and quieter than previous models, the RSX moved to a 40 nm process in the latest revision. The PS3 slim also includes support for CEC which allows control of the console over HDMI by using the TVs remote control, the PS3 Slim no longer has the main power switch like the previous PS3 models, similar to redesigned slimline PlayStation 2. As of October 2011, PS2 classics are available for purchase in the PlayStation Store, the PS3 slim was officially released on September 1,2009, in North America and Europe and on September 3,2009, in Japan, Australia and New Zealand. However, some such as Amazon. com, Best Buy. The PS3 Slim sold in excess of a million units in its first 3 weeks on sale. S, federal Communications Commission filings as the PS3 CECH-2000B. Although no North American bundles have been announced for the 250 GB PS3 slim, in July 2010, Sony announced two new sizes of Slim PS3,160 GB and 320 GB, with the 120 GB model being discontinued in Japan
36.
PlayStation 3 technical specifications
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The PlayStation 3 technical specifications describe the various components of the PlayStation 3 video game console. The PS3 uses the Cell microprocessor, which is made up of one 3.2 GHz PowerPC-based Power Processing Element, a seventh runs in a special mode and is dedicated to aspects of the OS and security, and an eighth is a spare to improve production yields. The PS3 has 256 MB of Rambus XDR DRAM, clocked at CPU die speed. The PPE has 64 KB L1 cache and 512 KB L2 cache, while the SPEs have 2 MB local memory, according to Nvidia, the RSX—the graphics processing unit —is based on the NVIDIA G70 architecture. The GPU is clocked at 500 MHz and makes use of 256 MB GDDR3 RAM clocked at 650 MHz with a transmission rate of 1.3 GHz. The RSX has a floating-point performance of 400.4 GFLOPS, to date, the PS3 has had several component revisions which serve to reduce power consumption. This in turn results in production savings, lower production, lower cooling requirements. Since launch, the Cell processor has shrunk from 90 nm to 45 nm, the RSX GPU has also seen reduction in size over periodic revisions of the PS3. Major improvements were introduced with the PS3 Slim, on all models of the PS3, the last seven characters of the serial number make up the consoles model number. This begins with CECH, followed by a letter indicating what model the system is, the last two characters of the model number indicate what region the system is from. The PS3 supports numerous SDTV and HDTV resolutions and connectivity options, the PS3 slim features an upgraded HDMI chip that allows bitstreaming of lossless audio codecs to an external receiver. For the optical drive, a wide variety of DVD and CD formats are supported. A20,40,60,80,120,160,250,320, in the early 60 GB and 80 GB configurations, flash memory can also be used, either Memory Sticks, CompactFlash cards, or SD/MMC cards. All models support USB memory devices, flash drives and external drives are both automatically recognized. However, they must be formatted with the FAT32 file system. For communication, the system sported four USB2.0 ports at the front on the 20 and 60 GB models as well as the NTSC80 GB model, but the 40 GB and 80 GB PAL models only have two USB ports. All models released after August 2008 have been reduced to two USB ports, as well as dropping CompactFlash and SD card support, one Gigabit Ethernet port, Bluetooth 2.0 support, and built-in Wi-Fi. The original PlayStation 3 console is approximately 5 kg,325 mm ×98 mm ×274 mm, the case was designed by Teiyu Goto of Sony, and uses the Spider-Man font
37.
PlayStation 3 system software
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The PlayStation®3 system software is the updatable firmware and operating system of the PlayStation 3. The process of updating is almost identical to that of the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, the initial slim PS3s SKU shipped with a unique firmware with new features, also seen in software 3.00. The native operating system of the PlayStation 3 is CellOS, which is believed to be a fork of FreeBSDPlayStation License, tCP/IP stack fingerprinting identifies a PlayStation 3 as running FreeBSD, and the PlayStation 3 is known to contain code from FreeBSD and NetBSD. The 3D computer graphics API software used in the PlayStation 3 is LibGCM and PSGL, based on OpenGL ES, LibGCM is a low level API, and PSGL is a higher level API, but most developers preferred to use libGCM due to higher levels of performance. This is similar to the later PlayStation 4 console which also has two APIs, the low level GNM and the higher level GNMX. Due to the fact that it requires an agreement with Sony. XMB displays icons horizontally across the screen that be seen as categories, when one category is selected, there are usually more specific options then available to select that are spread vertically above and below the selected icon. Users may navigate among these options by using the up and down buttons of the D-pad, the basic features offered by XMB implementations varies based on device and software version. Apart from those appearing in the PSP console such as icons for Photos, Music and Games. Also, XMB offers a degree of multitasking, in-game XMB features were added to the PS3 properly with firmware version 2.41 after causing early implementation problems. The PlayStation 3 supports Remote Play with Sonys handheld game consoles, the PlayStation Portable, however, unlike Remote Play between the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation Vita, the problem with PS3 was that it only supported a select few titles and results were often laggy. However, it is clear that Remote Play with the PS3 was the bed for its much better integration with the PS4. Furthermore, they can use a service called Cross-Buy which allows them to buy certain games that support this one time. Not only that, but in the case of most such games, their saved games actually transfer back, there is also a feature called Cross-Play covering any PlayStation Vita software title that can interact with a PlayStation 3 software title. Different software titles use Cross-Play in different ways, for example, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is a title supporting the Cross-Play feature, and the PS3 version of the game can be controlled using the PS Vita system. In addition, some PS3 games can be played on the PS Vita using the PlayStation Now streaming service, similar to many other consoles, the PlayStation 3 is capable of photo, audio, and video playback in a variety of formats. It also includes various photo slideshow options and several music visualizations, furthermore, the PlayStation 3 is able to play Blu-ray and DVD movies as well as CDs out of the box, and also capable of adopting streaming media services such as Netflix. However, unlike the PS4, the PS3 is able to play Adobe Flash, early versions of the PlayStation 3 system software also provided a feature called OtherOS that was available on the PS3 systems prior to the slimmer models launched in September 2009
38.
PlayStation 4
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The PlayStation 4 is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It competes with Nintendos Wii U and Microsofts Xbox One, as part of the generation of video game consoles.84 teraflops. The consoles controller was redesigned and improved over the PlayStation 3, with improved buttons and analog sticks. Heightened demand also helped Sony top global console sales, by the end of 2016, more than 53 million consoles have been sold worldwide, with more than 57 million shipped. All models, including the original sold in 2013, support HDR10 high-dynamic-range color, according to lead architect Mark Cerny, development of Sonys fourth video game console began as early as 2008. Less than two earlier, the PlayStation 3 had launched after months of delays due to issues with production. The delay placed Sony almost a year behind Microsofts Xbox 360, PlayStation Europe CEO Jim Ryan said Sony wanted to avoid repeating the same mistake with PS3s successor. In designing the system, Sony worked with software developer Bungie, in 2012, Sony began shipping development kits to game developers, consisting of a modified PC running the AMD Accelerated Processing Unit chipset. These development kits were known as Orbis, in early 2013, Sony announced that an event known as PlayStation Meeting 2013 would be held in New York City, U. S. on February 20,2013, to cover the future of PlayStation. Sony officially announced the PlayStation 4 at the event and it revealed details about the consoles hardware and discussed some of the new features it will introduce. Sony also showed off real-time footage of games in development, as well as some technical demonstrations, the design of the console was unveiled in June 2013 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, and the initial recommended retail prices of $399, €399, and £349 given. The console was released on November 15,2013 in the United States and Canada, by the end of 2013, the PS4 was launched in more European, Asian and South American countries The PS4 released in Japan at ¥39,980 on February 22,2014. Sony finalized a deal with the Chinese government in May 2014 to sell its products in mainland China, and the PS4 will be the first product to be released. Kazuo Hirai, chief officer of Sony, said in May, The Chinese market. I think that we will be able to replicate the kind of success we have had with PS4 in other parts of the world in China. In September 2015, Sony reduced the price of the PS4 in Japan to ¥34,980, with similar price drops in other Southeast Asian markets. The first official sub £300 PS4 bundle was the £299.99 Uncharted Nathan Drake Collection 500GB, released in the UK on October 9,2015, a 1TB £329.99 version was offered at the same time. On October 9,2015, the first official cut of the PS4 in North America was announced
39.
PlayStation 4 system software
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The PlayStation 4 is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It competes with Nintendos Wii U and Microsofts Xbox One, as part of the generation of video game consoles.84 teraflops. The consoles controller was redesigned and improved over the PlayStation 3, with improved buttons and analog sticks. Heightened demand also helped Sony top global console sales, by the end of 2016, more than 53 million consoles have been sold worldwide, with more than 57 million shipped. All models, including the original sold in 2013, support HDR10 high-dynamic-range color, according to lead architect Mark Cerny, development of Sonys fourth video game console began as early as 2008. Less than two earlier, the PlayStation 3 had launched after months of delays due to issues with production. The delay placed Sony almost a year behind Microsofts Xbox 360, PlayStation Europe CEO Jim Ryan said Sony wanted to avoid repeating the same mistake with PS3s successor. In designing the system, Sony worked with software developer Bungie, in 2012, Sony began shipping development kits to game developers, consisting of a modified PC running the AMD Accelerated Processing Unit chipset. These development kits were known as Orbis, in early 2013, Sony announced that an event known as PlayStation Meeting 2013 would be held in New York City, U. S. on February 20,2013, to cover the future of PlayStation. Sony officially announced the PlayStation 4 at the event and it revealed details about the consoles hardware and discussed some of the new features it will introduce. Sony also showed off real-time footage of games in development, as well as some technical demonstrations, the design of the console was unveiled in June 2013 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, and the initial recommended retail prices of $399, €399, and £349 given. The console was released on November 15,2013 in the United States and Canada, by the end of 2013, the PS4 was launched in more European, Asian and South American countries The PS4 released in Japan at ¥39,980 on February 22,2014. Sony finalized a deal with the Chinese government in May 2014 to sell its products in mainland China, and the PS4 will be the first product to be released. Kazuo Hirai, chief officer of Sony, said in May, The Chinese market. I think that we will be able to replicate the kind of success we have had with PS4 in other parts of the world in China. In September 2015, Sony reduced the price of the PS4 in Japan to ¥34,980, with similar price drops in other Southeast Asian markets. The first official sub £300 PS4 bundle was the £299.99 Uncharted Nathan Drake Collection 500GB, released in the UK on October 9,2015, a 1TB £329.99 version was offered at the same time. On October 9,2015, the first official cut of the PS4 in North America was announced
40.
PlayStation Portable
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The PlayStation Portable is a handheld game console developed by Sony. Development of the handheld was announced during E32003, and it was unveiled on May 11,2004, the system was released in Japan on December 12,2004, in North America on March 24,2005, and in the PAL region on September 1,2005. It primarily competed with the Nintendo DS, as part of the generation of video games. The PlayStation Portable became the most powerful system when launched. It was the first real competitor to Nintendos handheld domination, where many challengers, such as SNKs Neo Geo Pocket and Nokias N-Gage and it also features connectivity with the PlayStation 3, other PSPs and the Internet. It is the handheld console to use an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc. The original PSP model was replaced by a model with design changes in 2007. Another remodeling followed in 2008, PSP-3000, which included a new screen, a complete redesign, PSP Go, came in 2009, followed by a budget model, PSP-E1000, in 2011. The PSP line was succeeded by the PlayStation Vita, released in December 2011 in Japan, the PlayStation Vita features backward compatibility with many PlayStation Portable games digitally released on the PlayStation Network, via PlayStation Store. Shipments of the PlayStation Portable ended throughout 2014 worldwide, having sold 80 million units in its 10-year lifetime, Sony first announced development of the PlayStation Portable at a press conference before E32004. Although mock-ups of the system were not present at the conference or E3. Then-CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Jose Villeta called the device the Walkman of the 21st Century in a reference to the multimedia capabilities. Several gaming websites were impressed by the handhelds computing capabilities and looked forward to the potential as a gaming platform. Nintendo had been dominating the market since launching its Game Boy in 1989, with the only close competitor being Segas Game Gear. Later offerings from both SNK and Nokia also failed to cut into Nintendos share, the PSP was called the first legitimate competitor to Nintendo’s dominance in the handheld market by an IDC analyst in 2004. The first concept images of the PSP appeared in November 2002 at the Sony Corporate Strategy Meeting and showed a PSP with flat buttons and no analog stick. Although some expressed concern over the lack of an analog joystick, in addition to announcing more details about the system and its accessories, Sony also released a list of 99 developer companies that had pledged support for the new handheld. Several PSP game demos, such as Konamis Metal Gear Acid and SCE Studio Liverpools Wipeout Pure were also shown at the conference
41.
PlayStation Vita
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The PlayStation Vita is a handheld game console developed and released by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It is the successor to the PlayStation Portable as part of the PlayStation brand of gaming devices and it was released in Japan on December 17,2011, with releases in North America, Europe, and other worldwide regions starting on February 22,2012. It primarily competes with the Nintendo 3DS as part of the generation of video game consoles. Internally, the Vita features a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor, the systems design was created to meld the experience of big budget, dedicated video game platforms with the then up-and-coming trend of mobile gaming through smart phones and tablets. However, in the year after the successful launch, sales of the hardware and its bigger budget games stalled. A concentrated effort to attract smaller, indie developers in the West, combined with support from mid-level Japanese companies. While Sony has not released sales figures, market analyst EEDAR estimates its sales to be around 10 million sold as of the end of 2015. In 2004, it released the PlayStation Portable to compete with the Nintendo DS as part of the generation of video game consoles. After a slow start in the market, it was invigorated in Japan with multiple releases in the Monster Hunter series. With the series being less popular in regions, it failed to revive the platform in the same way. The PSP ended up being a result for the company. Despite this, it was still managed to sell a little over half of what its actual market competitor, the DS, had sold. Through mid-2010, websites continued to run stories about accounts of the existence of a PSP2, reports arose during the Tokyo Game Show that the device was unveiled internally during a private meeting during mid-September held at Sony Computer Entertainments headquarters in Aoyama, Tokyo. A report later confirmed by Mortal Kombat Executive Producer Shaun Himmerick, by November, Senior Vice President of Electronic Arts, Patrick Soderlund, confirmed that he had seen the PlayStation Portable successor existed, but could not confirm details. Throughout 2010, Sony would not confirm reports of a PSP successor. The device was announced by Sony on January 27,2011. Its power was described by Sony engineers as about halfway between the PSP and PS3. Sony also revealed that the device would be using a mix of retail, further details were announced at Game Developers Conference 2011, including that Sony would be dropping the PSPs UMD disc format in favor of small game cartridges of 2GB or 4GB size variants
42.
PlayStation Vita system software
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The PlayStation Vita system software is the official firmware and operating system for the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation TV video game consoles. It uses the LiveArea as its graphical shell, the PlayStation Vita system software has one optional add-on component, the PlayStation Mobile Runtime Package. The system is built on a Unix-base which is derived from FreeBSD and NetBSD, the current version of the system software is 3.63, which was made available on November 1,2016. The LiveArea is the name of the user interface of the PlayStation Vita system software developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The interface features a new touch-based screen and acts like a hub page, the PlayStation Vita system software uses LiveArea as its user interface, which includes various social networking features via the PlayStation Network. Users can select the icon for a game or an application on the screen to open the LiveArea screen for that game or application in PlayStation Vita or PlayStation TV. As a new feature of PlayStation Vita and PlayStation TVs LiveArea, in addition, by scrolling down the games LiveArea, the Activity of other users who are playing the same game can be checked instantly. The PlayStation Vita supports a feature called Remote Play with Sonys home video game such as the PlayStation 3. It allows the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 to transmit its video, besides, the PlayStation Vita can be used as a second screen device for the PS4 for streaming content directly from the console to the PlayStation Vita. Updates of the PlayStation Vita system software can also be downloaded to PS Vita devices via a PS3 system, furthermore, a service called Cross-Buy can be used which allows players to buy certain games that support this feature one time, and play them in both Sony platforms. Minecraft and Terraria are examples of games, and their saved worlds are transferable between the consoles. Minecraft is no longer cross buy as of February 25th 2016, there is also a feature called Cross-Play covering any PlayStation Vita software title that can interact with a PlayStation 3 or a PlayStation 4 software title. Different software titles use Cross-Play in different ways, for example, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is a title supporting the Cross-Play feature, and the PS3 version of the game can be controlled using the PS Vita system. In addition, PS Vita users may play some PS3 games using the PlayStation Now cloud-based gaming service, although the PlayStation Vita console can function without any Internet connection, it will provide more functionality when it is connected to the Internet. For example, users may download updates to the software from Internet as well as playing online when the Internet is properly connected. Applications such as the PlayStation Now App and the Live from PlayStation App as well as various video streaming apps also require an Internet connection to function properly, the Browser is a pre-installed app on the PlayStation Vita for browsing the web. Although its not very different from web browsing on a PlayStation Portable, the browser app does not have tabs, but users can have up to 8 separate browser windows open at once. They can also save images from webpages to the PS Vita memory card by touching and holding on the image until a menu appears, furthermore, while the PS Vita web browser supports HTML5, cookies and Javascript, it does not support Adobe Flash at launch
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PocketStation
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The PocketStation is a Memory Card peripheral by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation home video game console. To use the memory card functionality, it must be connected to a PlayStation through a memory card slot. It was released exclusively in Japan on January 23,1999, software for the PocketStation was typically distributed as extras for PlayStation games, included in the CD-ROM, enhancing the games with added features. Stand-alone software could also be downloaded through the PlayStation console, the software is then transferred to the PocketStation for use. A built-in infrared data interface allows direct transfer of such as game saves between PocketStation units, as well as multiplayer gaming. The original Japanese ship date for the PocketStation was set for December 23,1998, Sony only shipped an initial 60,000 units of the peripheral when it was released on January 23,1999. It was initially available in two colors, white and clear. It proved extremely popular, selling out all over the region, Sony planned to release the PocketStation outside Japan, engaging in promotional activity in Europe and North America, but the release did not occur. SCEA cited an inability meeting Japanese demand as the reason for the PocketStations absence, a few games, such as Final Fantasy VIII and SaGa Frontier 2, retained PocketStation functionality in their localized versions. The PocketStations most popular game was Dokodemo Issho, which sold over 1.5 million copies in Japan and is the first game to star Sonys mascot Toro, the PocketStation was discontinued in July 2002 after having shipped nearly five million units. Originally it was available to PlayStation Plus members, it was later released to the general public. It remains an exclusive to the Japanese PlayStation Vitas, dimensions,64 ×42 ×13.5 mm Weight, Approximately 30g All Japan Pro Wrestling Arc the Lad III Armored Core, Master of Arena Battle Bug Story Be Pirates. Q. Shop Keeper Spyro the Dragon Spyro 2, Riptos Rage, Street Fighter Alpha 3 Street Fighter Zero 3 Super Robot Wars Alpha Tales of Eternia Theme Aquarium Tokimeki Memorial 2 World Neverland 2 World Stadium 3 Yu-Gi-Oh. True Duel Monsters, Sealed Memories VMU, an accessory for the Sega Dreamcast console
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PSX (digital video recorder)
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The PSX is a Sony digital video recorder with a fully integrated PlayStation 2 video game console. It was released in Japan on December 13,2003 and its high cost resulted in poor sales, meaning that the PSX was never released outside of Japan. This made it a commercial failure, the device is a fully functional digital video recorder with an included Infrared remote control and S-Video, composite video, and RF inputs. It is able to tune analog VHF and CATV and it can also be linked with a PlayStation Portable to transfer videos and music via USB ports, and features software for non-linear video editing, image editing and audio editing. DVD+R support was to be introduced in a future update and it was the first device to use Sonys XrossMediaBar graphical user interface, which was later used on the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, and 2008-era BRAVIA TVs. The PSX fully supports both PlayStation and PlayStation 2 software by its slot-loading DVD drive, as the onboard EE+GS chip is a unification of the PS2s Emotion Engine, online game compatibility is available using the broadband connection, Games that use the PS2 HDD are supported as well. The PSX is not supplied with any game controllers, but there are two ports on the back of the device. Two PlayStation memory card ports were on the front of the PSX, because of the different placement of the memory card slots, the PSX is incompatible with the PlayStation Multitap and its PS2 counterpart, and no PSX-compatible multitap was ever produced. Games that require the use of two or more USB ports are also incompatible with the PSX, like standard PS2 consoles, the PSX can be laid horizontally or stood up vertically. The PSX was released in eight retail configurations during its lifespan, software updates were made available by disc and download. The 7500/7700 models added a Ghost Reduction Tuner, the inclusion of BS and UHF/VHF connectors varied by model. Only the final revision of each supported the PlayStation Portable. All models have two sets of lights, power lights and Infrared receivers, one along the front for horizontal orientation. The Disk Rec indicator is only on the front of the device in later models, before being known as the PS1, the first PlayStation console came to be known colloquially by its provisional codename of PSX. This can cause confusion as to which device is being referred to. The PSX was initially displayed at CEATEC in white, silver, yellow, red, the white variant was released commercially, with a limited edition silver model made available in 2004
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PlayStation TV
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PlayStation TV, known in Japan and other parts of Asia as the PlayStation Vita TV or PS Vita TV, is a microconsole, and a non-handheld variant of the PlayStation Vita handheld game console. It was released in Japan on November 14,2013, North America on October 14,2014, however, not all content is compatible with the device, since certain features in the PS Vita such as the gyroscope and microphone are not available on the PS TV. Nevertheless, the PS TV is able to touch input for both the Vitas front and rear touchpads using the DS3/DS4 controller. In Japan, PlayStation TV was the given to PlayStation 3 retail kiosks from 2006 to 2014, which consisted of a PS3 unit, an LCD monitor. The system was released in Japan on November 14,2013, the device on its own sold for 9,954 yen tax inclusive, whilst a bundle version with an 8 GB memory card and DualShock 3 controller retailed for 14,994 yen. Andrew House, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, explains that Sony hopes to use the PS Vita TV to penetrate the Chinese gaming market, the PS Vita TV was released in five other Southeast Asian countries and the special region of Hong Kong on January 16,2014. At E32014, the system was announced for North America and Europe, under the name PlayStation TV, final release dates for the western release were announced at Gamescom 2014. Open beta trials for PlayStation Now functionality on the PS TV began on October 14,2014 in North America, by the end of March, in Europe, Sony has dropped the price of PlayStation TV by 40% with the new price of €59.99. That same week the sales has increased 1272%, on February 29,2016, Engadget reported that Sony has stopped shipping the PlayStation TV in Japan. Instead of featuring a display screen, the connects to a television via HDMI. The device is referred to by Sony as the VTE-1000 series. The in-built scaler has been removed from the PCH-2000 series PlayStation Vita model, PS4 Remote Play functionality for the PS Vita TV gained full support with the release of the 1.70 PS4 firmware update. The device includes the features of the PS Vita, such as the Web browser. There are future plans for media server and DLNA support for video streaming. The console measures 6.5 cm by 10.5 cm and it is charged with the same model/type of charger used for the original PlayStation Portable. Because of the PlayStation TVs lack of the Vitas touchscreen, rear touchpad, microphone, camera and motion sensors and these included Uncharted, Golden Abyss, Call of Duty, Black Ops, Declassified, Gravity Rush, and Tearaway. If a player inserted a Vita game card that was not on the whitelist, the decision to blacklist certain Vita games was not well received by players. Many of them some of the Vitas most popular titles were included on the blacklist
