Fable II
Fable II is an action role-playing open world video game in the Fable game series developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360. It is the sequel to Fable and Fable: The Lost Chapters, it was announced in 2006 and released in October 2008. A compilation of the game, its two downloadable content packs, was released on 24 October 2009, titled the "Game of the Year" edition; the game takes place in the fictional land of Albion, five hundred years after Fable's original setting, in a colonial era resembling the time of highwaymen or the Enlightenment. Guns are still primitive, large castles and cities have developed in the place of towns. Unlike the original, the player may choose to be either female. There are both non-interactive cutscenes in the game. According to Lionhead Studios, the non-interactive cutscenes consume less than five minutes of game time. In the interactive cutscenes a player can use their expressions during the dialogue or run away from the scene, thus skipping it.
If the player runs away from a cutscene which contains important information, the character will await the player's return. The player's companion is a dog; this dog follows the player all of the time during the game. The dog can learn tricks, fight enemies and find treasure, lead the way to quest objectives, it can aid in combat situations by attacking downed enemies. The dog can become injured and ineffective, requiring healing by the player; the appearance of their dog will mirror the player's choices and changes colour depending on the player's alignments. There are no other animals in the game, save neutral rabbits and birds, a fact commented on by one NPC who notices the oddness of carriages with no horses. In the downloadable content "See the Future", it is possible to change the dog's breed with potions; the three choices are Dalmatian and Husky. In Fable II, it is possible for the player's character to get married, including same-sex marriage, have children. Divorce with the player's spouse can occur, can be initiated by either the spouse or the player themselves.
As with a real family, time spent around and interacting with them will keep the bond between them strong and reduce the chance of them leaving. It is possible to become widowed through the death of a partner, it is possible for the player character's children to die through cot death or disease, or to run away from home to become an adventurer, in which case the player can rescue them from danger. The relationships, as in the original Fable, are initiated by flirting, gift-giving, the common expression. By performing a potential mate's favourite expressions, or giving them their preferred gifts, they will become infatuated more easily. Beyond a certain level of interest, or payment in the case of prostitute characters, a character may proposition the player for sex. Unprotected sex may lead to the birth of a child, but can lead to sexually transmitted disease. If the player has purchased or found a condom, they will have the option of protected sex. No sex is shown. Fable II enhances the system of morphing one's character based on their actions as introduced in Fable.
Character morphing revolves around two major alignment scales: Good and Evil, Purity and Corruption. Good players will enable a pleasant looking Hero, with tanned skin and light hair, while evil players will have a more frightening look, with pale skin and black hair. Pure players will find that their hero will have a clear complexion and a halo, while corrupt players will find their hero with a flawed complexion and horns; these scales are independent of one another, meaning that it is possible to be both good and corrupt or any other variation. Related to character morphing is the character's slimness or fatness, determined by what foods the player eats. In addition and vegetables give the player purity points, while meats and alcohol give the player corruption points; this has no effect on game play other than the lack thereof in the eyes of NPCs. Levelling up stats will alter the player character's appearance. Increasing the Physique level will make the Hero more muscular. Increasing the Skill stat will make the Hero taller.
A high level of Will power and spells create glowing blue markings, called Will Lines, all over the body. Unlike Fable, the player does not acquire money through doing quests, but by doing jobs around Albion; these are Blacksmith, Bartender, Civilian Displacement, Bounty Hunter, Merchant. The first three involve pressing the A button during certain times, the latter three are combat related. Merchant, however, is done by taking advantage of the economies of each town, buying low and selling to richer vendors for a profit; the jobs become available depending and story progression. The trade skill jobs can be done over and over again for a certain number of days, but the sidequest jobs are single use, requi
Fight for Tomorrow
Fight for Tomorrow is a six-issue limited series of comic books by writer Brian Wood and artist Denys Cowan, published 2002-2003 by Vertigo
Top Cow Productions
Top Cow Productions is an American comics publisher, a partner studio of Image Comics founded by Marc Silvestri in 1992. During the early years of Image Comics, founded in 1992, co-founder, Marc Silvestri shared a studio with Jim Lee, where he created his first creator-owned comic book, Cyberforce, as part of Image's initial line-up. After setting up his own studio, Top Cow Productions, he expanded into other comics, launching Codename: Strykeforce, a new Cyberforce series and various spin-offs; the company attracted several professionals including artist Brandon Peterson, writer Garth Ennis and former Marvel staffer David Wohl. It helped launch the careers of various writers and artists, such as Christina Z. Joe Benitez, Michael Turner and David Finch. Benitez and Finch have since worked for DC and Marvel Comics. In 1996, Top Cow departed from Image during a power struggle with Image associate Rob Liefeld until Liefeld left the company shortly after. At the same time, Top Cow was moving more into the fantasy genre.
New properties were The Darkness. Thanks to the success of Witchblade Top Cow was able to expand, adding to its line with titles that included The Darkness, Aphrodite IX, others. Silvestri was involved in training and developing new talent through the studio and Top Cow was known for a time for its "house style". In addition to its' company owned properties, Top Cow has worked with creators to develop creator-owned properties; these properties have included Michael Turner's Fathom which ended up at Aspen Comics, Joe's Comics, created for J. Michael Straczynski, which included Rising Stars and Midnight Nation. Top Cow is known for bringing Tomb Raider's Lara Croft to comics. In 2006, Top Cow made a business agreement with Marvel Comics to use several of their licensed properties in their own series, with characters including Wolverine and the Punisher, appearing in crossovers; as part of this agreement, several Top Cow artists provided art chores on various Marvel series, such as Tyler Kirkham, Mike Choi, Silvestri himself.
At the 2007 San Diego Comic Con an announcement was made by Marvel Comics extending the deal into 2008. They used Kickstarter to fund some of the comics. At the 2007 New York Comic Con it was announced that Top Cow would be one of the first major comics publishers to offer online distribution, through a partnership with IGN; the initial titles offered were Tomb Raider #1–50, The Darkness #1–50 and Witchblade #1–50, at around $1 per issue. They announced a deal with Zannel to license their comics as mobile comics. Top Cow publisher Filip Sablik said in an interview that: Both film and television, as well as video games and animation, are things that Top Cow is and pursuing. All of those things take a long time to develop and set up; the Witchblade Anime that Gonzo produced and was released by FUNimation in the US took a decade to come to fruition. Add on to that Marc Silvestri and Matt Hawkins mantra of “we’d rather have no movie than a crappy movie” and you can see why it can take a while to bring a Witchblade or The Darkness movie to fans.
In December 2004, Dimension Films paid an undisclosed six-figure sum to develop a movie based on the comic for release in 2008. The film was pitched as a movie similar to The Crow, produced by Dimension. There have been no further developments. In March 2005, The Darkness was licensed by Majesco Entertainment for a console game to be developed by Starbreeze Studios. 2K Games obtained the rights to the game, the first-person shooter was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 console systems on June 25, 2007 in the United States and releasing first on Xbox 360 in EU Regions on June 29, 2007 and a month on PS3 on July 20. To promote the video game a five-issue mini-series was released, with each issue chronicled a chapter of the game. In June 2007 it was collected into a trade paperback. In February 2012, a sequel to the video game, entitled The Darkness II, was released for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3; the script for the game was written by comic book writer Paul Jenkins, who worked on The Darkness comic series.
Unlike the first game, the graphics for The Darkness II were developed using a cel-shading technique, emulating the aesthetic of its graphic novel namesake. The game received positive reviews from critics. Following a pilot film in August 2000, the cable network TNT premiered a television series based on the comic book series in 2001; the series was directed by Ralph Hemecker and written by Marc Silvestri and J. D. Zeik. Yancy Butler starred as Sara Pezzini. Although critically acclaimed and popular with audiences, it was canceled in September 2002. Announced as a production decision, the cancellation provoked widespread speculation that the true reason was Butler's alcohol addiction. Butler was ordered to enter rehab for alcohol addiction a year after being arrested for wandering intoxicated amidst traffic. Witchblade ran for two seasons of 12 episodes on TNT; the first episode aired on June 12, 2001, the last episode aired on August 26, 2002. On April 1, 2008, Warner Home Video announced a long-anticipated DVD release.
Witchblade: The Complete Series — a seven-disc collectors set including the original made-for-TV movie, all 23 episodes of the series, special features — was released July 29, 2008. An American superhero film based on the series was announced in 2008; the film was to be directed by Michael Rymer, who directed the 2002 film Queen of the
Fable III
Fable III is an action role-playing open world video game, developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The third game in the Fable series, the story focuses on the player character's struggle to overthrow the King of Albion, the player character's brother, by forming alliances and building support for a revolution. After a successful revolt, the player becomes the monarch and is tasked with attempting to defend Albion from a great evil; the game includes voice acting by Ben Kingsley, Stephen Fry, Simon Pegg, Naomie Harris, Michael Fassbender, Zoë Wanamaker, Bernard Hill, Nicholas Hoult, John Cleese, Johnathan Ross, Kellie Bright, Louis Tamone. The game was released on 29 October 2010 for Xbox 360 and on 20 May 2011 for PC via both Games for Windows and Steam; the PC version 3D functionality not found in the Xbox 360 version. Fable III is set 50 years after the events of Fable II; the game is set on the fictional continent of Albion, entering the age of industry.
The Hero of Bowerstone and ruler of Albion has died and left the Kingdom to their eldest son, the player's older brother. Some NPCs allude to how Logan has "changed" in the last four years of his rule, becoming excessively tyrannical; the player begins the game investigating rumours that Logan had a citizen of Albion executed, causing a group of citizens to protest. After the player character intervenes, Logan presents the player with the first of the game's numerous moral choices; the player is tasked with deciding whether the group of protesters are executed, or whether the player's love-interest is executed instead. Following the decision, the player escapes Logan's castle along with their mentor, Sir Walter Beck, their butler, Jasper; the player with the guidance of Theresa, the enigmatic Seeress of the Spire and distant and ancient relative of the Hero player, starts to gather allies to aid in a revolution against the tyrannical King Logan. The allies they gain include Sabine, the leader of the "Dwellers", a nomadic community that lives in the mountains.
During the course of the story the player will be asked by allies for a promise involving righting the wrongs done to them by King Logan's rule once the player has gained control over the kingdom. When attempting to gain the support of Kalin, the hero learns that a creature called the Crawler and the forces of the Darkness, which have devastated Aurora, intend to exterminate all life in the Kingdom of Albion, it is revealed that Logan's reason for treating his people so harshly is to raise funds for Albion's military to defend against the impending Crawler invasion. The player leads a coup d'état and becomes the next Monarch; as ruler the player is presented with numerous choices whether to keep the promises made to those who aided in the revolution, at great expense to the treasury, or betray those promises in order to raise money for the defence of Albion through industrialisation and use of natural resources against the approaching Crawler invasion. The player is given a limited amount of time to make choices and come up with enough money to fund the defence.
The choices made help decide the hero's fate as a evil ruler. The player can utilise the treasury money for personal purposes, or transfer personal money from the player's own supply to the treasury. Keeping and breaking promises has a tangible impact on future gameplay which are permanent; the player requires 6,500,000 gold in the treasury at the time of the Crawler attack in order to be able to fund the defence of the entire kingdom and thus minimise civilian casualties. With no money in the treasury and thus no army to defend Albion, the civilian casualties inflicted by the Crawler's attack amount to 6,500,000. If this happens, the world will be absent of civilians upon completion of the main quest; the player is as a ruler, presented with two choices: "good" and "evil" choices. If the player chooses to be a "good" ruler, the treasury will be vastly drained and the only way the player can offset this is by transferring several million gold from their personal funds to the treasury. If the player passes lots of time by sleeping and increasing the royal treasure income people will start to return.
If the player was a benevolent leader but lost large sums of civilians, many citizens who return will still praise the player. However, if the player raises money to fund the army through exploitation or tom-foolery they will be hated regardless of whether the kingdom was saved, it is possible to both raise funds for an army and be a benevolent ruler, this results in the player monarch being loved by the entire kingdom and no civilian casualties. If the player chooses to be an "evil" ruler, they are able to escape the bankruptcy caused by fulfilling promises made throughout the game by building factories, logging camps, redirecting sewage instead of shutting down factories, reducing security costs, so on in order to massively boost the economy and thus be able to fund the defence of Albion; this however would make him out to be a tyrannical leader the same as the tyrannical leader Logan, ousted by the player. The end result would be an overwhelm
Pseudonym
A pseudonym or alias is a name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which can differ from their first or true name. Pseudonyms include stage names and user names, ring names, pen names, aliases, superhero or villain identities and code names, gamer identifications, regnal names of emperors and other monarchs, they have taken the form of anagrams and Latinisations, although there are many other methods of choosing a pseudonym. Pseudonyms should not be confused with new names that replace old ones and become the individual's full-time name. Pseudonyms are "part-time" names, used only in certain contexts – to provide a more clear-cut separation between one's private and professional lives, to showcase or enhance a particular persona, or to hide an individual's real identity, as with writers' pen names, graffiti artists' tags, resistance fighters' or terrorists' noms de guerre, computer hackers' handles. Actors, voice-over artists and other performers sometimes use stage names, for example, to better channel a relevant energy, gain a greater sense of security and comfort via privacy, more avoid troublesome fans/"stalkers", or to mask their ethnic backgrounds.
In some cases, pseudonyms are adopted because they are part of a cultural or organisational tradition: for example devotional names used by members of some religious institutes, "cadre names" used by Communist party leaders such as Trotsky and Lenin. A pseudonym may be used for personal reasons: for example, an individual may prefer to be called or known by a name that differs from their given or legal name, but is not ready to take the numerous steps to get their name changed. A collective name or collective pseudonym is one shared by two or more persons, for example the co-authors of a work, such as Carolyn Keene, Ellery Queen, Nicolas Bourbaki. Or James S. A. Corey; the term is derived from the Greek ψευδώνυμον "false name", from ψεῦδος, "lie, falsehood" and ὄνομα, "name". A pseudonym is distinct from an allonym, the name of another person, assumed by the author of a work of art; this may occur when someone is ghostwriting a book or play, or in parody, or when using a "front" name, such as by screenwriters blacklisted in Hollywood in the 1950s and 1960s.
See pseudepigraph, for falsely attributed authorship. Sometimes people change their name in such a manner that the new name becomes permanent and is used by all who know the person; this is not an alias or pseudonym, but in fact a new name. In many countries, including common law countries, a name change can be ratified by a court and become a person's new legal name. For example, in the 1960s, black civil rights campaigner Malcolm Little changed his surname to "X", to represent his unknown African ancestral name, lost when his ancestors were brought to North America as slaves, he changed his name again to Malik El-Shabazz when he converted to Islam. Some Jews adopted Hebrew family names upon immigrating to Israel, dropping surnames, in their families for generations; the politician David Ben-Gurion, for example, was born David Grün in Poland. He adopted his Hebrew name in 1910, when he published his first article in a Zionist journal in Jerusalem. Many transgender people choose to adopt a new name around the time of their social transitioning, to resemble their desired gender better than their birth name.
Businesspersons of ethnic minorities in some parts of the world are sometimes advised by an employer to use a pseudonym, common or acceptable in that area when conducting business, to overcome racial or religious bias. Criminals may use aliases, fictitious business names, dummy corporations to hide their identity, or to impersonate other persons or entities in order to commit fraud. Aliases and fictitious business names used for dummy corporations may become so complex that, in the words of the Washington Post, "getting to the truth requires a walk down a bizarre labyrinth" and multiple government agencies may become involved to uncover the truth. A pen name, or "nom de plume", is a pseudonym adopted by an author; some female authors used male pen names, in particular in the 19th century, when writing was a male-dominated profession. The Brontë family used pen names for their early work, so as not to reveal their gender and so that local residents would not know that the books related to people of the neighbourhood.
The Brontës used their neighbours as inspiration for characters in many of their books. Anne Brontë published The Tenant of Wildfell Hall under the name Acton Bell. Charlotte Brontë published Jane Eyre under the name Currer Bell. Emily Brontë published Wuthering Heights as Ellis Bell. A well-known example of the former is Mary Ann Evans. Another example is Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin, a 19th-century French writer who used the pen name George Sand. In contrast, some twentieth and twenty first century male romance novelists have used female pen names. A few examples of male authors using female pseudonyms include Brindle Chase, Peter O'Donnell and Christopher Wood. A pen name may be used if a writer's real name is to be confused with the name of another writer or notable individual, or if their real name is deemed to be unsuitable. Authors who write both fiction and non-fiction, or in different genres, may use
Battle of the Planets (comics)
The Battle of the Planets is a series of comic book based on a television series of the same name. It was published by American company Gold Key Comics, with Top Cow releasing a number of comics more recently. Released in comic book form by Gold Key Comics in 1979, the series was revamped by Top Cow Productions with a new twelve-issue limited series starting in 2002; the series was planned as an ongoing comic, but low sales led to its cancellation at issue 12, which ended the series with a cliffhanger. A two-issue mini, was solicited in 2005, was meant to tie up the loose ends, but never made it to print. In 2003, there were a number of crossover one-shots starting with Witchblade; this was followed by two crossover issues with the ThunderCats. These were followed by a number of other comics: a Battle Book one-shot, one-shots focused on Mark and Jason, a six-issue limited series called Battle of the Planets: Princess released in 2004, written by David Wohl and illustrated by Wilson Tortosa. Top Cow published three issues of a manga version in 2003–2004.
Top Cow's license is now lapsed, there are no plans for future Battle of the Planets works from them, including the unreleased Endgame. A different Battle of the Planets strip was published in the UK weekly in TV Comic from 1981 to 1983, illustrated by Keith Watson; the various series have been collected into a number of trade paperbacks: The Gold Key series: Battle of the Planets Classics Volume 1 The Top Cow comics: Trial by Fire Blood Red Sky Destroy all Monsters Digests of the Top Cow comics: Trial By Fire Destroy All Monsters List of comics based on television programs
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight is a comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics from 2007 to 2011. The series serves as a canonical continuation of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, follows the events of that show's final televised season, it is produced by Joss Whedon, who wrote or co-wrote three of the series arcs and several one-shot stories. The series was followed by Season Nine in 2011; the series was supposed to consist of about 25 issues, but expanded to a 40-issue run. The series spawned a handful of spin-off titles, including a Tales of the Vampires follow-up and one-shots focusing on Willow and Riley; the success of the series prompted IDW Publishing and Joss Whedon to publish a concurrent continuation of the Angel television series, titled Angel: After the Fall, a Spike comic book series, which bridges some aspects of continuity between After the Fall and Season Eight. A motion comic version of the series debuted in 2010. A year after the end of the television series and Xander now lead command-central, situated at a citadel in Scotland.
At their disposal are a wide array of psychics, seers and Slayers, along with a vast amount of technology, revealed to be the result of Buffy robbing a Swiss bank to acquire the funds. There are 1,800 Slayers worldwide according to Buffy 500 of whom are working with the Scoobies, separated into 10 squads. Squads include Andrew's in Southern Italy, Giles' in England, Vi's in New York City, Robin's in Cleveland and another led by Rona in Chicago, Illinois. For Buffy's protection and because her name is feared worldwide, two decoys are put in place: one partying in Rome and one on a mission in demonic underground caverns. Buffy now relies on Willow, whose character arc sees her under the tutelage of a powerful demon called Saga Vasuki. Under Saga Vasuki, Willow's power has grown phenomenally. In the wake of Sunnydale's destruction, elements within the U. S. government view the expanded Slayers and the Scooby Gang as international terrorists and characterize Buffy as a "charismatic and destructive" leader.
General Voll, a member of a mystically aware Initiative-like government project, describes fear of their resources and ideology. The government has teamed with Sunnydale survivor/powerful witch Amy Madison and Season 6 villain Warren Mears in the hopes of bringing Buffy down. An evil British socialite Slayer called Lady Genevieve Savidge plots to usurp Buffy's place in the Slayer hierarchy, a shrewd cabal of Japanese vampires scheme to reverse the global activation of Potential Slayers in "Chosen"; the appearances of these villains are connected to "Twilight", the enigmatic Big Bad of the season, a masked person who views the expanded ranks of Slayers as a threat to humanity and wants to destroy them, bring about an end to all magic on Earth. It transpires that like Amy and Warren, Buffy's ex-boyfriend Riley Finn is loyal to Twilight, though Riley turns out to have been Buffy's double agent. Halfway through the season, ditzy vampire Harmony Kendall rises to fame as a reality TV star and ushers in a new pro-vampire, anti-Slayer world order.
Under attack from Twilight and other demons as well as militaries across the world, the various Slayer squads reconvene in retreat from their enemy. Because Twilight can now track the group through their use of magic and her friends relocate to Tibet to learn from Oz how to suppress magical natures for witches and Slayers alike. Giles and Buffy are both concerned with the extent to which they rely on Willow, worried she may go overboard again as in Season Six. Following the fray with Twilight, in which many Slayers were killed, Buffy developed abilities similar to those of Twilight. A subplot involves the repercussions of Dawn's college relationship with a boy named Kenny, whom she cheated on, losing her virginity to his roommate. Dawn has been cursed with mystical transformations: first into a giant a centaur, a living doll until she apologizes to Kenny and breaks the spell. Among the core group, Buffy is for a time romantically drawn to another woman: a Slayer named Satsu, Xander to Slayer Renée.
Kennedy is unaware of the sexual aspect of Willow's relationship with Saga Vasuki. Giles and Buffy, at odds, stop speaking with one another. Giles works with Faith to prevent more Slayers from going rogue. Although Buffy comes to feel that her only compatible mate is Xander, is upset to learn that he loves Dawn and Angel succumb to their desires for one another upon their reunion, though the extent to which they were in control of their actions is uncertain. In the series' penultimate arc, Twilight is revealed to be Angel. Angel attempts to explain that his Twilight persona was used to unify the anti-Slayer movement, thus limiting the potential destruction they could have caused working independently, his secondary goal was to push Buffy's development so that the two of them could reunite romantically and ascend to a higher plane of existence, itself called Twilight. However, whatever magical effect Angel was under seemed to wane after Buffy realised she was needed back on Earth to assist her friends as demons poured in from other dimensions to destroy the old universe.
At the last moment, Buffy's other love, arrives in a futuristic ship to announce he h
