1.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (series)
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The Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic series, often abbreviated as KotOR, is a RPG video game series and subsequent comic book series based on the fictional universe of Star Wars by George Lucas. The first and third video game installments was developed by BioWare, the comic series was published by Dark Horse Comics. This series acts as a prequel to the video games, the games system is based on Wizards of the Coasts Star Wars Roleplaying Game, which is based on the d20 role-playing game system derived from the Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules. Combat is round-based, time is divided into rounds, and combatants attack. However, the number of actions a combatant may perform each round is limited, while each rounds duration is a fixed short interval of real time, the player can configure the combat system to pause at specific events or at the end of each round. The alignment system tracks actions and speech – from simple word choice to major plot decisions – to determine whether the players character aligns with the light or dark side of the Force, in the first game, the players speech and actions have no effect on their teammates. However, the player has influence over their companions in The Sith Lords, the players actions determining not only what side the player is on, but their teammates as well. The influence the player has on another character can be minor, from converting a character from the side to the light. Influence can be lost, however, if the player makes an action inconsistent with past decisions, the KotOR series introduces more than just new characters, it also introduces new lightsaber types and colors, as well as Jedi classes. The new colors include silver, cyan, and orange, along with new lightsabers are new classes, Gray Jedi, who tend to follow their own path as far as the Force is concerned rather than obeying the light or dark side. Lastly, a new type of lightsaber is introduced, the short lightsaber and this weapon is different from the longer lightsaber as it is easier to wield, making it more suitable for the off hand and inflicting less damage. In MMO The Old Republic there are eight classes, each four assigned to one of two faction, Galactic Republic or Sith Empire. Each class has a storyline, and all of them are integrated with the games overall arc. Once a character earns experience, each class may also choose from two advanced classes, resulting in a total of 8 advanced classes per faction. The advanced classes affect only on gameplay, not storyline, lightsaber and blaster colors are not faction or class restricted, but some are restricted based on level and/or Lightside or Darkside alignment. For example, some lightsabers can only be bought if Light or Darkside aligned, several new planets make appearances in the series as major locations. A space station near Yavin is also location in the PC version of KotOR and is available to Xbox players via download from Xbox Live. Four thousand years prior to the Star Wars films, Darth Malak – Darth Revans apprentice – has unleashed a Sith armada against the Republic, many Jedi, scattered and left vulnerable by Malaks aggression, die in battle whilst others swear loyalty and allegiance to Malak
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Chris Avellone
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Chris Avellone is an American video game designer and comic book writer who previously worked for Interplay and Obsidian Entertainment. Avellone is an alumnus of the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and he went on to study at The College of William & Mary, graduating with a major in English and a minor in fine arts, focused on architecture. Working initially as a freelancer in the two years after college, Avellone wrote campaigns for Dungeons & Dragons-inspired fantasy role-playing games, after entering the video game industry through the company Interplay in 1995, he briefly worked on the development of the 1997 title Star Trek, Starfleet Academy. In 1997 he took over the development of Descent to Undermountain, Avellone contributed to the 1998 game Fallout 2 and continued to work on its franchise. Interplay acquired the rights to produce a video game set in the Planescape campaign setting of Dungeons & Dragons with the development led by Avellone. The 1999 game Planescape, Torment removed character death as a motive and it won acclaim for its narrative. Avellone worked on all the titles of the Icewind Dale fantasy role-playing game series, for the company Avellone worked on the role-playing games Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic II and Neverwinter Nights 2 and on the action role-playing game Alpha Protocol. He also worked as a designer on Fallout, New Vegas. He worked as the director and lead creative designer on Dead Money, Old World Blues and Lonesome Road Fallout. As of 2012, Avellone had been working as a designer on role-playing video game Project Eternity. On June 9,2015, he revealed that he had departed from Obsidian Entertainment, on September 25,2015, Larian Studios announced that Avellone will be working with them on Divinity, Original Sin 2 on the games Kickstarter page
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Voice acting
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Voice acting is the art of doing voice-overs or providing voices to represent a character or to provide information to an audience or user. Voice acting is also done for small handheld audio games, performers are called voice actors or actresses, voice artists, or voice talent. Their roles may also involve singing, although a voice actor is sometimes cast as the characters singing voice. Voice acting is recognised in Britain as a specialized dramatic profession, Voice artists are also used to record the individual sample fragments played back by a computer in an automated announcement. The voices for animated characters are provided by voice actors, for live action productions, voice acting often involves reading the parts of computer programs, radio dispatchers, or other characters who never actually appear on screen. With a radio drama or CD drama, there is freedom in voice acting, because there is no need to match a dub to the original actors. In the context of voice acting, narration is the use of commentary to convey a story to an audience. A narrator is a character or a non-personal voice that the creator of the story develops to deliver information to the audience. The voice actor who plays the narrator is responsible for performing the lines assigned to the narrator. In traditional literary narratives, narration is a story element, in other types of narratives, such as plays, television shows, video games. One of the most common uses for voice acting is within commercial advertising, the voice actor is hired to voice a message associated with the advertisement. This has different subgenres, television, radio, cinema, the subgenres are all different styles in their own right. Voiceover used in commercial adverts also is the area of voice acting where de-breathing is used. De-breathing means artificially removing breaths from the recorded voice and this is done to stop the audience being distracted in any way from the commercial message that is being put across. Dub localization is a type of voice-over and it is the practice of voice-over translation altering a foreign language film, art film or television series by voice actors. Voice-over translation is an audiovisual translation technique, in which, unlike in Dub localization, actor voices are recorded over the audio track. This method of translation is most often used in documentaries and news reports to translate words of foreign-language interviewees, automated dialogue replacement is the process of re-recording dialogue by the original actor after the filming process to improve audio quality or reflect dialogue changes. ADR is also used to change original lines recorded on set to clarify context, improve diction or timing, in the UK, it is also called post-synchronization or post-sync
4.
Sara Kestelman
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Sara Kestelman is an English actress. She is best known for providing the voice of Kreia in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II, The Sith Lords, Kestelman was born in London, the daughter of Dorothy Mary, a dress designer, and Morris Kestelman, an artist. Her father was Jewish, from a family from Russia, in 1994, she won a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for her performance as Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret in the London revival of the show. She has performed with the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, in 1982, she performed in the play Macbeth, playing as Lady Macbeth. Kestelman joined the latter in 1968 but left in 1973 when she had her first role in a film as a scientist in Zardoz and she also voiced the character Kreia in the video game Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic II, The Sith Lords. Susan Preston Kavanagh QC ~1995 – Halina Birnbaum in Ancient History 17/03/1997 The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling ~1997 – Mrs
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Human (Star Wars)
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The first film in the series, Star Wars, was released on May 25,1977 and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by five sequels and three prequels. Many species of creatures are depicted. The Falleen, a Star Wars species, are a race of human-like reptilian people who come from a world called Falleen in the Midrim region of the galaxy. They can change the color and hue of their skin to convey their emotional states, males of the race have strong pheromones which can attract women of most species easily. The females have the same talent, the Falleen seldom leave their world due to the belief that their species is superior to all others. A notable minor character from this race is Prince Xizor, another major villain was Darth Karrid of the Old Republic. They are probably the Yuuzhan Vong, who launched a siege on the galaxy from 25-30 ABY, the name Far-Outsiders is also used by the inhabitants of Zonama Sekot to describe the invaders that attacked their planet. The Ruling Families cant stop them, neither can any power in the region, suggesting that the term Far-Outsiders may apply to any unknown hostile race originating from outside the galaxy. Nym, a pirate from various Star Wars computer games was a Feeorin and it is said that Feeorins only grow stronger with age. Their homeworld was Odryn for a period of time in the Old Republic era, the controversial Jedi master Feln was a Feeorin leader. It has been stated in several Star Wars novels and comics that there are only roughly 1 million Feeorins left in the galaxy, not a well known species, the only reference is in Force Heretic 1-3 and Rogue Planet. They have icy blue skin, whitish hair, and live on Zonama Sekot, the planet provides them fleshy habitats constructed of its own mass. The Firrerreo are a species of near-humans from the planet Firrerre and they have two-toned hair and golden skin. In their culture, if someone says a Firrerreos name, the Firrerreo would be forced to serve the speaker and they no longer live on Firrerre, after the poisoning of their world by the Empire, they were loaded onto massive colony ships for a journey to another world. One of their own, a Force-sensitive named Hethrir, betrayed his people by the command of Darth Vader, after the deaths of Darth Vader and Palpatine, Hethrir returned and intercepted the colony ships. He disengaged the drives and left the sleeping Firrerre to drift in space and he plundered the ships for the valuable equipment onboard and took the children to sell as slaves. Hethrir kidnapped the children of Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa Solo, Anakin, Han was on a mission on the time and did not know of the kidnappings, so Princess Leia set out to find them herself. On her quest she stumbled upon the colony ships
6.
Obsidian Entertainment
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Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. is an independent American video game developer whose corporate headquarters are located in Irvine, California. It was founded in 2003 by ex-Black Isle employees Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, although they have created original intellectual property, many of their games are sequels based on licensed properties. Early projects include Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic II, The Sith Lords and Neverwinter Nights 2, the team then developed their first original game, Alpha Protocol, in 2010. It was met generally mixed reviews. Other notable works from Obsidian include Fallout, New Vegas, Dungeon Siege III, throughout the studios history, many projects—including Futureblight, Dwarves, Aliens, Crucible, and Stormlands—were cancelled. Due to having so many projects cancelled, the company entered a financial crisis in 2012. The teams focus then changed from developing licensed titles to creating games based on the studios own intellectual property. Obsidian has developed a relationship with another studio that was founded by ex-Interplay Entertainment employees. Obsidian Entertainment was founded by Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, prior to the establishment of Obsidian, they worked for Interplay Entertainments subsidiary Black Isle Studios. Most of these games were critically and commercially successful, but Interplays financial situation was poor and this led to the cancellation of Baldurs Gate III, The Black Hound. Urquhart and most of the members were dissatisfied and frustrated with the cancellation, as the game had already been under development for a year. Urquhart became convinced that staying in Black Isle was no longer an option for the team. He was in his thirties at the time, and thought that if he did not start a new company soon. Urquhart officially left Interplay in 2003 with Avellone, Parker, Monahan, and Jones, at the time of the companys establishment there were seven employees, including the companys five founders. Parker, Urquhart, and Monahan invested $100,000 to $125,000 into their newly founded company, when choosing the name of the company, they had prepared a short list of names for them to choose. The list included Scorched Earth and Three Clown Software, the team eventually chose Obsidian Entertainment, which they thought was strong, memorable, and felt similar to name of their old studio, Black Isle. Upon its establishment, the studio needed more capital in order to keep its operation running and they approached Electronic Arts, but it did not result in a project. The studio also contacted Ubisoft looking to make a Might & Magic game, but Ubisoft instead ended up contracting with Arkane Studios on that project, Obsidian pitched a game to Take-Two Interactive called Futureblight, which was described as a Fallout-style game powered by the Neverwinter Nights engine
7.
The Force (Star Wars)
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The Force is a metaphysical and ubiquitous power in the Star Wars fictional universe. It is wielded by characters in the films and in many of its spin-off books, games. In the story, the Jedi utilize the light side of the Force, the Force has been compared to aspects of several world religions, and the iconic phrase May the Force be with you has become part of the popular culture vernacular. George Lucas created the concept of the Force to address character and he also wanted to awaken a certain kind of spirituality in young audiences, suggesting a belief in God without endorsing any specific religion. He developed the Force as a religious concept, distill the essence of all religions, premised on the existence of God and distinct ideas of good. Lucas said there is a choice between good and bad, and the world works better if youre on the good side, the power of the Force of Others is kept secret by the Jedi Bendu of the Ashla, an aristocratic cult in the second draft. The second draft offers an explanation of the Force of Others and introduces its Ashla light side. The Ashla and Bogan are mentioned 10 and 31 times, respectively, in the second draft, Luke Starkillers mission is to retrieve the Kiber Crystal, which can intensify either the Ashla or Bogan powers. The films shorter third draft has no references to the Ashla, Lucas finished the fourth and near-final draft on January 1,1976. Producer Gary Kurtz, who studied comparative religion in college, had discussions with Lucas about religion. Kurtz told Lucas he was unhappy with drafts in which the Force was connected with the Kiber Crystal, Lucas and screenwriter Leigh Brackett decided that the Force and the Emperor would be the main concerns in The Empire Strikes Back. The focus on the Emperor was later shifted to the film, Return of the Jedi. Lucas based the concept on symbiogenesis, calling midi-chlorians a loose depiction of mitochondria, and its really a way of saying we have hundreds of little creatures who live on us, and without them, we all would die. They are necessary for us, we are necessary for them, using them in the metaphor, saying society is the same way, says we all must get along with each other. After selling Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, Lucas said his biggest concern about the future was the Force being muddled into a bunch of gobbledegook. When writing The Force Awakens with Lawrence Kasdan, J. J. Abrams respected that Lucas had established midi-chlorians effect on some characters ability to use the Force. Abrams retained the idea of the Force having a light and a dark side, Star Wars Rebels producer Dave Filoni cites several influences on how the Force is used in the show. Filoni credits the films for better developing the concept of the Force
8.
Predestination
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Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, in this usage, predestination can be regarded as a form of religious determinism, and usually predeterminism. There is some disagreement among scholars regarding the views on predestination of first-century AD Judaism, josephus wrote during the first century that the three main Jewish sects differed on this question. He argued that the Essenes and Pharisees argued that Gods providence orders all human events and he wrote that the Sadducees did not have a doctrine of providence. Biblical scholar N. T. Wright asserts that Essenes were content to wait for God to liberate Israel while Pharisees believed Jews needed to act in cooperation with God, in the New Testament, Romans 8–11 presents a statement on predestination. In Romans 8, 28–30, Paul writes, We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, and those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. Biblical scholars have interpreted this passage in several ways, many say this only has to do with service, those he chose of service and is not about salvation. Catholic biblical commentator Brendan Byrne wrote that the mentioned in this passage should be interpreted as applied to the Christian community corporately rather than individuals. Another Catholic commentator, Joseph Fitzmyer, wrote that this teaches that God has predestined the salvation of all humans. Douglas Moo, a Protestant biblical interpreter, reads the passage as teaching that God has predestined a certain set of people to salvation, similarly, N. T. Instead, Wright asserts that Gods will works through that of humans to accomplish salvation. Origen, writing in the century, taught that Gods providence extends to every individual. He believed Gods predestination was based on Gods foreknowledge of every individuals merits, later in the fourth and fifth centuries, Augustine of Hippo also taught that God orders all things while preserving human freedom. Prior to 396, Augustine believed that predestination was based on Gods foreknowledge of whether individuals would believe, scholars are divided over whether Augustines teaching implies double predestination, or the belief that God chooses some people for damnation as well as some for salvation. Catholic scholars tend to deny that he held such a view while some Protestants, julian, bishop of Eclanum, expressed the view that Augustine was bringing Manichean thoughts into the church. For Vincent of Lérins, this was a disturbing innovation and this new tension eventually became obvious with the confrontation between Augustine and Pelagius culminating in condemnation of Pelagianism at the Council of Ephesus in 431. Pelagius denied Augustines view of predestination in order to affirm that salvation is achieved by an act of free will, the Second Council of Orange in 529 also condemned the position that some have been truly predestined to evil by divine power. Damascene teaches that peoples actions are done in cooperation with God
9.
Sith
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The Sith is an organization of preternaturally-gifted warriors in the fictional Star Wars universe. They are depicted as an ancient monastic and academic kraterocratic organization whose origin date back to c.6,000 BBY, the Sith Order mostly consists of those characterized by their desire to seize power through physical or supernatural force, social maneuvering and political cunning. Sith believed in conflict as a catalyst for growth, and as a tool to purge the unworthy and their culture was one based upon fear, dishonesty, and betrayal. The Sith are the primary wielders of the side of the Force. Within the space setting of Star Wars, the Sith are an affiliation of warriors who cultivate a legacy of forbidden martial arts in pursuit of individual power. Their schemes are key to the plot of the Star Wars films. Frequently opposed by their ancient forebears, the Jedi, the Sith have also been stymied at crucial junctures by internal frictions, the notion that the Sith’s cruel philosophy is ultimately self-defeating on both a personal and institutional level is a running theme within Star Wars media. The Sith philosophy lionizes greed, lust, selfishness and the attainment of power regardless of the cost to others, Sith believed in strength and also encouraged anyone with the power to do so, to rise up. Both Sith and Jedi alike may draw on the Force to achieve a variety of superhuman feats, however, in keeping with their egoistical doctrine, the Sith use these powers for their benefit alone, often to manipulate and destroy others. The Sith are key antagonists within the Star Wars universe, and are enslaved to their own self-serving desires, amoral, sadistic, vindictive, violent, the origin, agenda, abilities and philosophy of the Sith are intertwined with their relationship to the Force. With proper training, the Force may be called upon by rare individuals capable of sensing or touching it to achieve feats such as telekinesis, precognition. Not all psychological states are conducive to employing the Force, discipline is required, however, both quietude and focused, intense passion alike can be effective. The Sith originate in a group of Force-sensitive warriors who discovered efficaciousness of passion as a tool to draw on the Force many centuries prior to the events of the first Star Wars film, fully embracing this approach, they became defined by it. The warrior who would become the first Sith was apparently a member of an older martial order of Force-sensitive sapient beings in the Star Wars universe. The Jedi served as a knightly order within the Galactic Republic. The Jedi creed mirrored their method of utilizing the Force, and Jedi doctrine favored states of serenity, detachment, compassion, when certain members of the Jedi Order began to experiment with passion as an alternative, controversy emerged. The Jedi establishment saw these innovations as a threat to the ethos of the Jedi, opening members to the seduction of aggrandizement, eventually, this controversy led to a sectarian conflict in which the heterodox Jedi were defeated and exiled. In exile, the dissident Jedi was free to explore the relationship between passion and the Force and his investigations led them to conclude that the martial and ethical disciplines of the Jedi establishment were foolish and misguided
10.
Boss (video gaming)
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In video gaming, a boss is a significant computer-controlled enemy. A fight with a character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight. A boss enemy is quite larger in size than other enemies. Most commonly, bosses are very hard or impossible to defeat without knowing the correct fighting approach, Bosses take strategy and special knowledge to defeat, such as how to attack weak points or avoiding specific attacks. The first interactive game to feature a boss was dnd, a 1975 role-playing video game for the PLATO system, one of the earliest dungeon crawls, dnd implemented many of the core concepts behind Dungeons & Dragons. The objective of the game is to retrieve an Orb from the bottommost dungeon, the orb is kept in a treasure room guarded by a high-level enemy named the Gold Dragon. Only by defeating the Dragon can the player claim the orb, complete the game, a 1980 example is the fixed shooter Phoenix, where the player ship must fight a giant mothership in the fifth and final level. Bosses are usually more difficult than regular enemies, can sustain a lot more damage, while most games include a mixture of boss opponents and regular opponents, some games have only regular opponents and some games have only bosses. Some bosses require the player to them in a certain way that may be unusual to normal attacks, such as using a certain weapon. Story-centered bosses sometimes require certain prerequisites to be performed during the fight for the player to succeed, some bosses are encountered several times through a single game, typically with alternate attacks and a different strategy required to defeat it each time. Boss battles are seen as dramatic events. As such, they are characterized with unique music and cutscenes before. Recurring bosses and final bosses may have their own theme music to distinguish them from other boss battles. A miniboss, also known as a boss, mid-boss, half-boss, sub-boss. Some minibosses are simply stronger versions of enemies, like in the Kirby games. Some well known video game characters who take the role of a miniboss are Dark Link, Vile. A superboss is a type of boss most commonly found in role-playing video games and they are considered optional enemies, though optional bosses are not all superbosses, and do not have to be defeated to complete the game. For example, in Final Fantasy VII, the player may choose to out and fight the Ruby
11.
Wizards of the Coast
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Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. The companys corporate headquarters are located in Renton, Washington in the United States of America, Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999, all Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004. Wizards of the Coast was founded by Peter Adkison in 1990 just outside Seattle, Washington, originally the company only published role-playing games such as the third edition of Talislanta and its own The Primal Order. The 1992 release of The Primal Order, a supplement designed for use with any system, brought legal trouble with Palladium Books suing for references to Palladiums game. The suit was settled in 1993, instead, Adkison asked Garfield if he could invent a game that was both portable and quick-playing, to which Garfield agreed. Adkison set up a new corporation, Garfield Games, to develop Richard Garfields collectible card game concept, originally called Manaclash, into Magic, Wizards debuted Magic in July 1993 at the Origins Game Fair in Dallas. The game proved popular at Gen Con in August 1993, selling out of its supply of 2.5 million cards. In 1994, Magic won both the Mensa Top Five mind games award and the Origins Awards for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Board Game of 1993 and Best Graphic Presentation of a Board Game of 1993. In 1994, Wizards began an association with The Beanstalk Group, after the success of Magic, Wizards published RoboRally in 1994, and it soon won the 1994 Origins Awards for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Board Game and Best Graphic Presentation of a Board Game. Wizards also expanded its role-playing game line by buying SLA Industries from Nightfall Games and Ars Magica from White Wolf, in 1995, Wizards published another card game by Richard Garfield, The Great Dalmuti, which won the 1995 Best New Mind Game award from Mensa. In August 1995, Wizards released Everway and then four months later closed its roleplaying game product line, Peter Adkison explained that the company was doing a disservice to the games with lack of support and had lost money on all of Wizards roleplaying game products. Also in 1995, Wizards annual sales passed US$65 million, Wizards announced the purchase of TSR, the cash-strapped makers of Dungeons & Dragons on April 10,1997. Wizards acquired TSR and Five Rings Publishing Group for $25 million, many of the creative and professional staff of TSR relocated from Wisconsin to the Renton area. Wizards used TSR as a name for a while, then retired it. In Summer 1997, Wizards revisited the concept of a 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons, and given the change in ownership we thought this would be an excellent opportunity for WotC to put its stamp on D&D. He later Set overall design direction for the new edition of D&D. Wizards released the edition of Dungeons & Dragons in 2000
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Jedi
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The Jedi /ˈdʒɛˌdaɪ/ are the main protagonists in the Star Wars universe. They are depicted as an ancient monastic and academic meritocratic organization whose origin dates back to c.25,000 BBY. The Jedi Order mostly consists of polymaths, teachers, philosophers, scientists, engineers, physicians, diplomats and warriors, by serving others, the Jedi give of themselves through acts of charity, citizenship, and volunteerism. A Jedis ideology and strict way of life as a challenge to live up to is a recurring theme in the Star Wars universe. Their traditional weapon is the lightsaber, a device which generates a blade-like plasma controlled by a crystal, the fictional organization has inspired a real-world new religious movement, Jediism. As depicted in the canon, the Jedi study and utilize the Force, in order to help, like their counterparts, the Sith, their main weapon is the lightsaber. By training the mind and the body the Jedi seek to improve themselves by gaining unfettered access to the Force while also seeking to improve those individuals, the film Rogue One suggests that it relates to the planet Jedha, source of the kyber crystals used in lightsabers. George Lucas acknowledged Jedi concepts have been inspired by many sources, the work of the mythologist Joseph Campbell, especially his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, directly influenced Lucas, and was what drove him to create the modern myth of Star Wars. The Lost Twenty was the given to a group of Jedi Masters—numbering twenty in total—who left the Jedi Order throughout its history. The first twelve of these ‘Lost Twenty’ left the Jedi Order before the Third Great Schism, these twelve Masters later became Dark Jedi who eventually founded the first Sith Empire. In the years preceding the Clone Wars, Jedi Master Dooku left the Jedi Order as a result of differences with his fellow Jedi, to commemorate these former Jedi, memorial statue busts were displayed at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. The prequel films depict the Jedi in their prime, dealing with the presence of the dark side of the Force and determined to fight their mortal enemies. Once corrupted, Vader helps Palpatine hunt down and destroy all of the Jedi, leaving very few left, such as Jedi Masters Yoda. The first person to be issued this order was Clone Commander Cody, Darth Vader led Operation, Knightfall against the Jedi Temple with the 501st Legion while the rest of the clone army around the galaxy carried out Order 66. Palpatine convinced the people of the Republic that Jedi were corrupted warmongers responsible for prolonging the Clone Wars, Darth Vader continued to hunt and execute surviving Jedi by the thousands during the first 10 years of the Empires history. The Jedi are first introduced in the 1977 motion picture Star Wars as an order of monks who serve as the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. Obi-Wan Kenobi explains that the Galactic Empire had all but exterminated the Jedi some twenty years before the events of the film, Darth Vader is also established as the Jedis main enemy. By the end of the film, Luke is on the path to becoming a Jedi, the third film in the original trilogy, Return of the Jedi, ends with Luke redeeming Vader and helping to destroy the Empire, thus fulfilling his destiny as a Jedi
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Planescape: Torment
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Planescape, Torment is a role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. Released on December 12,1999, the takes place in locations from the multiverse of Planescape. The games engine is a version of the Infinity Engine, which was used for BioWares Baldurs Gate. Planescape, Torment is primarily story-driven and combat is not prominently featured, the protagonist, known as The Nameless One, is an immortal who has lived many lives but has forgotten all about them, even forgetting his own name. The game focuses on his journey through the city of Sigil, several characters in the game may join The Nameless One on his journey, and most of these characters have encountered him in the past or have been influenced by his actions in some way. The game was not a significant commercial success but received critical praise and has since become a cult classic. It was considered by game journalists to be the best role-playing game of 1999. Planescape, Torment is built on BioWares Infinity Engine, which presents the player with a world in which player characters are controlled. The games rules are based on those of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition, the player takes the role of The Nameless One, an immortal being on a quest to learn why he cannot die. Exploration around the scenery is accomplished by clicking on the ground to move, or on objects. Items and spells may be employed through hotkeys, quick slots, an alternative to armor is the use of magical tattoos, which can be applied to The Nameless One and certain other characters to enhance their abilities. The game begins with creation, where the player assigns attribute points to The Nameless One. The player may recruit adventuring companions over the course of the game, there are seven potential party members, conversation is frequent among party members, occurring both randomly and during conversations with other non-player characters. The Nameless One carries a journal, which helps the player keep track of the games numerous quests and subplots, death of the player character usually imposes no penalty beyond respawning in a different location. In Planescape, Torment, the character begins as a neutral character and throughout the game, based on the characters actions. Non-player characters respond to The Nameless One differently, depending on his alignment. A review in NextGen reported that the game caters to both the player who wants to be nice and lawful, and the evil bastards who just want to kill everything. Planescape, Torment is the first video game to be set in the Planescape universe, the city is overseen by the powerful Lady of Pain, while fifteen factions control different functions of the city related to each groups world view
14.
Princess Leia
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Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, later known as General Leia Organa, is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, portrayed in films by Carrie Fisher. Introduced in the original Star Wars film in 1977, Leia is princess of the planet Alderaan, a member of the Imperial Senate and she thwarts the sinister Sith Lord Darth Vader and helps bring about the destruction of the Empires cataclysmic superweapon, the Death Star. In The Empire Strikes Back, Leia commands a Rebel base and evades Vader as she falls in love with the smuggler, Han Solo. In Return of the Jedi, Leia leads the operation to rescue Han from the crime lord Jabba the Hutt, and is revealed to be Vaders daughter and the twin sister of Luke Skywalker. The prequel film Revenge of the Sith establishes that the mother is Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo. Leia is adopted by Senator Bail and Queen Breha Organa of Alderaan, in The Force Awakens, Leia is the founder and General of the Resistance against the First Order and has a son with Han named Ben, who goes by the name Kylo Ren. She becomes the Chief of State of the New Republic and a Jedi Master, One of the more popular Star Wars characters, Leia has been called a 1980s icon, a feminist hero and model for other adventure heroines. She has appeared in many works and merchandising, and has been referenced or parodied in several TV shows. Her cinnamon buns hairstyle from Star Wars and metal bikini from Return of the Jedi have become cultural icons, Leia was created by Star Wars creator George Lucas. In 1999, Lucas explained his early development of Leia, Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi, The first talked about a princess, the second version involved a father, his son, and his daughter, the daughter was the heroine of the film. Now the daughter has become Luke, Mark Hamills character, There was also the story of two brothers where I transformed one of them into a sister. The older brother was imprisoned, and the sister had to rescue him. In the fourth draft it was established that Leia Organa came instead from Alderaan, Fisher was 19 when she was cast as Princess Leia, with actresses including Amy Irving, Cindy Williams and Jodie Foster also up for the role. Asked about Streep in 2015, Fisher said, Bullshit, but Jodie Foster was up for it. That one I knew the most, the second draft of the Return of the Jedi screenplay contained dialogue in which Obi-Wan tells Luke he has a twin sister. She and their mother were sent to the protection of friends in a distant system, the mother died shortly thereafter, and Lukes sister was adopted by Bens friends, the governor of Alderaan and his wife. Fisher explained in 1983, Leias real father left her mother when she was pregnant, I was adopted and grew up set apart from other people because I was a princess. Composer John Williams created a musical leitmotif for Leia which recurs throughout the Star Wars saga, Princess Leias Theme was recorded as a concert suite for the score of the 1977 film
15.
Star Wars
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Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise, centered on a film series created by George Lucas. It depicts the adventures of characters a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The franchise began in 1977 with the release of the film Star Wars and it was followed by the successful sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, these three films constitute the original Star Wars trilogy. A prequel trilogy was released between 1999 and 2005, which received mixed-to-negative reactions, a sequel trilogy began in 2015 with the release of Star Wars, The Force Awakens. All seven films were nominated for Academy Awards and have been successes, with a combined box office revenue of over $7.5 billion. Spin-off films include Star Wars, The Clone Wars and Rogue One, Star Wars also holds a Guinness World Records title for the Most successful film merchandising franchise. In 2015, the value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at USD $42 billion. In 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.06 billion and earned the rights to all subsequent Star Wars films. Walt Disney Studios owns digital distribution rights to all the Star Wars films, the events depicted in the Star Wars franchise take place in an unnamed fictional galaxy at an undetermined point in the distant past. Many species of creatures are depicted. Robotic droids are also commonplace and are built to serve their owners. Space travel is common, and many planets in the galaxy are members of a single galactic government. In the prequel trilogy, this is depicted in the form of the Galactic Republic, at the end of the trilogy and throughout the original trilogy. Preceding and during the trilogy, this government is the New Republic. One of the prominent elements of Star Wars is the Force and it is described in the first produced film as an energy field created by all living things surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together. While the Force can be used for good, known as the side, it also has a dark side that, when pursued, imbues users with hatred, aggression. The sequel trilogy introduces the Knights of Ren, an order of practitioners of the side of the Force aligned with the First Order. The first film in the series, Star Wars, was released on May 25,1977 and this was followed by two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back, released on May 21,1980, and Return of the Jedi, released on May 25,1983
16.
Palpatine
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Sheev Palpatine is a fictional character of the Star Wars franchise, mainly portrayed by Ian McDiarmid. In the original trilogy, he is depicted as the aged, pale-faced and cloaked Emperor of the Galactic Empire, as Sidious, he instigates the Clone Wars, nearly destroys the Jedi, and transforms the Republic into the Empire. He also manipulates Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker into turning to the dark side, Palpatines reign is brought to an end when Vader kills him to save his son, Luke Skywalker. The Emperor is briefly mentioned in the original Star Wars, the first film in the original trilogy, grand Moff Tarkin explains to his fellow Imperials that the Emperor has dissolved the Senate. The Emperor first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back and he appears in hologram form to address Darth Vader, his Sith apprentice. He tells Vader that Luke Skywalker is becoming a threat to the Empire. Vader convinces him that Luke would be an asset if turned to the dark side. In 1983s Return of the Jedi, the Emperor appears in person to oversee the last stages of the second Death Stars construction and he assures Darth Vader that they will together turn Luke, now revealed to be Vaders son, to the dark side. Unknown to Vader, the Emperor plans to replace his apprentice with Luke, when Vader brings Luke before his master, the Emperor tempts Luke to join the dark side by appealing to the young Jedis fear for his friends, whom he has lured into a trap. This leads to a duel in which Luke defeats and nearly kills Vader. The Emperor tells Luke to kill Vader and take his place, enraged, the Emperor attacks Luke with Force lightning. Moved by his sons cries for help, Vader throws the Emperor into the Death Stars reactor shaft, as Sidious, he influences the corrupt Trade Federation to blockade and invade Naboo. Queen Padmé Amidala of Naboo flees to the planet Coruscant to receive counsel from Palpatine, after a plea for help from the senate results in bureaucratic delays, Palpatine persuades the queen to make a motion to have Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum removed from office. When Padmé attempts to liberate Naboo, Sidious sends his Sith apprentice Darth Maul there to capture her, the invasion is eventually thwarted and Maul is defeated in a lightsaber duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Palpatine uses the crisis to be elected the new Chancellor of the Republic and he then returns to Naboo, where he befriends the young Anakin Skywalker, telling him that, We will watch your career with great interest. In the 2002 sequel Star Wars, Episode II – Attack of the Clones, since the Separatists are secretly building a battle droid army, Palpatine uses the situation to have himself granted emergency powers. Palpatine feigns reluctance to accept this authority, promising to return it to the Senate once the crisis has ended and his first act is to allow the creation of a clone army to counter the Separatist threat, this results in the opening salvo of the Clone Wars. With the galaxy now at war as Sidious planned, Dooku brings him the plans for a new superweapon
17.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
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Obi-Wan Ben Kenobi is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise, portrayed by Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor in the films. In the original trilogy, he is a mentor to Luke Skywalker, in the prequel trilogy, he is a master and friend to Anakin Skywalker. He is frequently featured as a character in various other Star Wars media. Obi-Wan Kenobi is introduced in the original Star Wars living as the hermit Ben Kenobi on the planet Tatooine, when Luke Skywalker and the droid C-3PO wander off in search of the lost droid R2-D2, Ben rescues them from a band of native Tusken Raiders. At his home, R2-D2 plays Ben a recording of Princess Leia which explains that R2-D2 contains the plans for the Death Star, Leia asks him to deliver the droid and the plans safely to the planet Alderaan in order to help the Rebel Alliance. He gives Luke his fathers lightsaber and asks Luke to accompany him to Alderaan, Luke declines, but promises to take Obi-Wan as far as Anchorhead Station. After Luke finds his uncle and aunt killed by Imperial troops, he agrees to go with Obi-Wan to Alderaan, in the spaceport city Mos Eisley, Obi-Wan uses the Force to trick Imperial troops into letting them through a military checkpoint. They enter a cantina and make a deal with two smugglers, Han Solo and Chewbacca, to fly them to Alderaan in their ship. During the journey, Obi-Wan begins instructing Luke in lightsaber training and he suddenly becomes weak and tells Luke of a great disturbance in the Force. Emerging from hyperspace, the party finds that Alderaan has been destroyed, the trio chase the TIE fighter to the Death Star, and subsequently get caught in the Death Stars tractor beam. On board the Death Star, Obi-Wan shuts down the tractor beam, Obi-Wan uses the duel to distract Vader as Luke, Leia, Han and Chewbacca escape to the Falcon. Although Vader strikes Obi-Wan down, his body mysteriously vanishes the moment he dies, at the climax of the film during the Rebel attack on the Death Star, Obi-Wan speaks to Luke through the Force to help him destroy the Imperial station. In The Empire Strikes Back, Obi-Wan Kenobi appears several times as a spirit through the Force, on the planet Hoth, he appears to instruct Luke to go to the planet Dagobah to find the exiled Jedi Master Yoda. Despite Yodas skepticism, Obi-Wan convinces his old master to continue Lukes training and he appears later to beseech Luke not to leave Dagobah to try to rescue his friends on Cloud City, although Luke ignores this advice. In Return of the Jedi, Obi-Wan again appears to Luke after Yodas death on Dagobah, Obi-Wan acknowledges that Darth Vader is indeed Lukes father, revealed by Vader in the previous film and confirmed by Yoda on his deathbed, and also reveals that Leia is Lukes twin sister. After the second Death Star is destroyed and the Empire defeated, Obi-Wan appears at the celebration in the Ewok village, alongside the spirits of Yoda, in Star Wars, Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Obi-Wan Kenobi appears as the Jedi Padawan of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. He accompanies his master in negotiations with the Trade Federation, which is blockading the planet Naboo with a fleet of spaceships and their ship is damaged in the escape, however, and they are forced to land on Tatooine, where they discover a young Anakin Skywalker. Qui-Gon senses Anakins extraordinarily strong link to the Force and brings the boy to Coruscant to begin Jedi training, when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan return to Naboo to defeat the Trade Federation, they are met by Sith Lord Darth Maul
18.
Charity (practice)
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The practice of charity means the voluntary giving of help to those in need, as a humanitarian act. The word charity entered the English language through the Old French word charité, originally in Latin the word caritas meant preciousness, dearness, high price. From this, in Christian theology, caritas became the standard Latin translation for the Greek word agape, however, the English word more generally used for this concept, both before and since, is the more direct love. D. While the methods of giving may vary, there are three kinds of charity, pure, public, and foreign. Public charity is charity that benefits the whole rather than the individual, foreign charity is when the beneficiary lives in a country different from where the funds or services are being sent from. Charitable giving is the act of giving money, goods or time to the unfortunate, Charitable giving as a religious act or duty is referred to as almsgiving or alms. The name stems from the most obvious expression of the virtue of charity, the impoverished, particularly those widowed or orphaned, and the ailing or injured, are generally regarded as the proper recipients of charity. The people who support themselves and lack outside means of support sometimes become beggars. Some groups regard charity as being distributed towards other members from within their particular group, donations to causes that benefit the unfortunate indirectly, such as donations to fund cancer research, are also charity. With regards to religious aspects, the recipient of charity may offer to pray for the benefactor, in medieval Europe, it was customary to feast the poor at the funeral in return for their prayers for the deceased. Institutions may commemorate benefactors by displaying their names, up to naming buildings or even the institution itself after the benefactors, if the recipient makes material return of more than a token value, the transaction is normally not called charity. In the past century, many organizations have created a charitable model in which donators give to conglomerates give to recipients. Examples of this include the Make a Wish Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund, today some charities have modernized, and allow people to donate online, through websites such as JustGiving. Originally charity entailed the benefactor directly giving the goods to the receiver and this practice was continued by some individuals, for example, CNN Hero Sal Dimiceli, and service organizations, such as the Jaycees. With the rise of more social peer-to-peer processes, many charities are moving away from the charitable model, examples of this include Global Giving, DonorsChoose, PureCharity, Kiva and Zidisha. Institutions evolved to carry out the labor of assisting the poor, and these include orphanages, food banks, religious institutes dedicated to care of the poor, hospitals, organizations that visit the homebound and imprisoned, and many others. Institutions can also attempt to more effectively sort out the needy from those who fraudulently claim charity. Early Christians particularly recommended the care of the unfortunate to the charge of the local bishop, there have been examinations of who gives more to charity
19.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
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Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic is a role-playing video game set in the Star Wars universe. Developed by BioWare and published by LucasArts, the game was released for the Xbox on July 15,2003, the game was later ported to Mac OS X, iOS, and Android by Aspyr, and it is playable on the Xbox 360 via its backward-compatibility feature. The player character, as a Jedi, must venture to different planets in the galaxy in order to destroy the Star Forge, players choose from three character classes and customize their characters at the beginning of the game, and engage in round-based combat against enemies. Through interacting with characters and making plot decisions, the alignment system will determine whether the players character aligns with the light or dark side of the Force. The game was directed by Casey Hudson, designed by James Ohlen, LucasArts proposed developing a game tied to Star Wars, Episode II – Attack of the Clones, or a game set thousands of years before the prequels. The team chose the latter as they thought that they would have creative freedom. Ed Asner, Ethan Phillips, and Jennifer Hale were hired to perform voices for the games characters, announced in 2000, the game was delayed several times before its release in July 2003. The game received acclaim upon release, with critics applauding the games characters, story. It was nominated for awards, and is considered one of the best games ever made. A sequel, Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords, the series story continued with the 2011 release of Star Wars, The Old Republic, an MMORPG developed by BioWare. Players choose from three character classes at the beginning of the game, and later choose from three Jedi subclasses. Beyond class, a character has skills stats, tiered feats, feats and Force powers are unlocked every level-up, while the player is given skill points to distribute among their skills every level. Combat is round-based, time is divided into rounds, and combatants attack and react simultaneously. The number of actions a combatant may perform each round is limited, combat actions are calculated using DnD rules. While these are not displayed directly on the screen, the breakdown for each action are accessible from a menu. For much of the game, the player can have up to two companions in their party and these companions will participate in combat. They can be controlled by the player, or act autonomously if the player does not give them any input. Outside of combat, the companions will randomly engage the player or each other in dialogue and they will also participate in conversations the player has with other non-player characters
20.
LucasArts
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LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC is an American video game publisher and licensor. Until 2013, it was also a game developer. LucasArts is best known for its graphic adventure games, as well as based on the Star Wars. Its headquarters are located in San Francisco, California and it was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as Lucasfilm Games, the video game development group of his film company, Lucasfilm. Lucas initially served as the companys chairman, during a 1990 reorganization of Lucas companies, the Lucasfilm Games division was renamed LucasArts. LucasArts was acquired by The Walt Disney Company through the acquisition of its parent company Lucasfilm in 2012, on April 3,2013, Disney halted all internal development at LucasArts and laid off most of its staff. However, LucasArts remained open so that it could retain its function as a licensor, development of games based on the Star Wars license will be performed by Electronic Arts, through an exclusive license, for the core gaming market. Disney Interactive Studios retained the ability to develop, and LucasArts retained the ability to license the franchise for the gaming market. Development of video based upon other Lucasfilm properties will now be assumed by Disney Interactive Studios or licensed to third parties. The company was founded in May 1982 as the game development group of Lucasfilm Limited. Lucas wanted his company to branch out into areas of entertainment. The Lucasfilm Games Group originally cooperated with Atari, which helped fund the video game groups founding, the first results of this collaboration were unique action games like Ballblazer in 1984, and Rescue on Fractalus. In 1984, they were released for the Atari 5200 under the Lucasfilm Games label, versions for home computers were not released until 1985, by publisher Epyx. Lucasfilms next two games were Koronis Rift and The Eidolon and their first games were only developed by Lucasfilm, and a publisher would distribute the games. Atari published their games for Atari systems, Activision and Epyx would do their computer publishing, Maniac Mansion was the first game to be published and developed by Lucasfilm Games. The early charter of Lucasfilm Games was to make experimental, innovative, Habitat, an early online role-playing game, was one such title. It was only released as a beta test in 1986 by Quantum Link, Quantum Link could not provide the bandwidth at the time to support the game, so the full Habitat was never released outside of the beta test. However, Lucasfilm Games recouped the cost of development by releasing a sized down version called Club Caribe in 1988, Lucasfilm later licensed the software to Fujitsu, who released it in Japan as Fujitsu Habitat in 1990
21.
Concept art
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Concept art is a form of illustration used to convey an idea for use in films, video games, animation, comic books, or other media before it is put into the final product. Concept art is referred to as visual development and/or concept design. This term can also be applied to retail, set, fashion, architectural, Concept art is developed in several iterations. Artists try several designs to achieve the result for the work. Designs are filtered and refined in stages to narrow down the options, Concept art is not only used to develop the work, but also to show the projects progress to directors, clients and investors. Once the development of the work is complete, advertising materials often resemble concept art, although these are made specifically for this purpose. It may have come about as part of automotive design for concept cars. A concept artist is an individual who generates a design for an item, character. This includes, but is not limited to, film, animation, a concept artist may be required for nothing more than preliminary artwork, or may be part of a creative team until a project reaches fruition. While it is necessary to have the skills of a fine artist, some concept artists may start as fine artists, industrial designers, animators, or even special effects artists. Interpretation of ideas and how they are realized is where the artists individual creativity is most evident. Many concept artists work in a studio or from home via freelance, a lot more concept artists are switching to freelance because of the job security of having multiple clients. There is a salary to working for a large studio. The average salary for a concept artist is 60-$70,000 a year, Concept art has embraced the use of digital technology. Raster graphics editors for digital painting have become more available, as well as hardware such as graphics tablets. Prior to this any number of mediums such as oil paints, acrylic paints, markers. Popular programs for artists include PhotoShop and Corel Painter. Others include manga studio, Art rage, and other well known programs
22.
Foil (literature)
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In fiction, a foil is a character who contrasts with another character —usually the protagonist— in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character. In some cases, a subplot can be used as a foil to the main plot and this is especially true in the case of metafiction and the story within a story motif. The word foil comes from the old practice of backing gems with foil in order to make them shine more brightly, a foil usually either differs dramatically or is extremely similar but with a key difference setting them apart. The concept of a foil is also widely applied to any comparison that is made to contrast a difference between two things. In Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, the two characters, Dr. Frankenstein and his creature are both together literary foils, functioning to compare one to the other. In Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice, Marys absorption in her studies places her as a foil to her sister Lydia Bennets lively, similarly, in Shakespeares play Julius Caesar, the character Brutus has foils in the two characters Cassius and Mark Antony
23.
Revan
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Revan is a fictional character in BioWares Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic video game. The character may be male or female, though Revan is canonically male. The players choice of a male or female Revan changes only which characters the player character can fall in love with and he was voiced by Rino Romano in Knights of the Old Republic and Jeff Bennett in Star Wars, The Old Republic. Revans story is explored in Drew Karpyshyns 2011 novella Star Wars, The Old Republic. Revan is depicted as a former Jedi who, along with Malak, one year after the end of the Mandalorian Wars, Darth Revan returned to Republic space at the head of a massive invasion fleet. Calling themselves the Sith, they declared war on the Republic, however his intention was to unite the galaxy under one ruler so he could attack the ancient Sith Empire, he avoided attacking key places such as Coruscant, Onderon, and Dantooine. Though Malak believed himself to have successful in killing Revan. Revan was severely injured from the turbolaser blasts, Knights of the Old Republic begins with Revan awaking on a starship under attack. Throughout the game, Revan learns of his history and assembles a band of followers as he searches for Star Maps that lead him back to the Star Forge. Revan encounters Malak, who tells Revan that he is the former Sith lord, at one point Malak captures Bastila and turns her to the dark side. Her ultimate fate depends on player choices, in the game, the player can choose whether to turn Revan to the dark side or the light side of the Force. Regardless, Revan confronts Malak at the games conclusion, according to canon, Revan returned as a Jedi Knight who stopped the Sith forces under Malaks control and destroyed the Star Forge. The sequel Knights of the Old Republic II, The Sith Lords reveals that a year after the defeat of Malak, Revan recalled a threat from his time as the Dark Lord, and left known space to deal with it. Clues to the nature of the threat emerge from in-game dialogue with non-player characters, this varies according to alignment and gender. Also, at the ancient tomb of Ludo Kressh in Korriban, the game lists the color crystal of the light saber the player obtains from him as a unique red color. This is Revans only appearance in the entire game, additionally, the Jedi Exile can speak with several companions and non-player characters within the game to learn more about the history of Revan, and his journey into the Unknown Regions. He appears as the focus of Star Wars, The Old Republic, Revan, released by Bioware. Revan re-emerges in Star Wars, The Old Republic after a team of Republic heroes manage to rescue him from the Emperors Maelstrom Prison with the help of the ghost of the Jedi Exile
24.
The A.V. Club
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Club was initially created in 1993 as a supplemental part of The Onion and had a minimal presence on The Onion’s website in its early years. However, a 2005 website redesign placed The A. V, Club in a more prominent position, allowing its online identity to grow. Unlike its parent publication, The A. V, the publication’s name is a reference to school audiovisual clubs, composed of a bunch of geeks who actually knew how to run the film strip and film projectors. In 1993, five years after the founding of The Onion at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, UWM student Stephen Thompson launched an entertainment section, Club, as part of the newspapers 1995 redesign. Both The Onion and The A. V, Club made their Internet debut in 1996. Club acquired its own Internet domain name in December 1999, in December 2004, Stephen Thompson left his position as founding editor of The A. V. Club website was redesigned in 2005 to incorporate blogs and reader comments, in 2006, concurrent with another redesign, the website shifted its model to begin adding content on a daily, rather than weekly, basis. According to Sean Mills, then-president of The Onion, the A. V, Club website received more than 1 million unique visitors for the first time in October 2007. In late 2009, the website was reported as receiving over 1.4 million unique visitors and 75,000 comments per month, the offending review was removed from The A. V. Club, and then-editor Keith Phipps posted an apology on the website, leonard Pierce, the author of the review, was terminated from his freelance role with the website. At its peak, the print version of The A. V, Club was available in 17 different cities. Localized sections of the website were also maintained, with reviews and news relevant to specific cities, the print version and localized websites were gradually discontinued alongside the print version of The Onion, and in December 2013, publication ceased in the final three markets. On 13 December,2012, long-time writer and editor Keith Phipps and he stated, Onion, Inc. and I have come to a mutual parting of the ways. On 2 April,2013, longtime editor and critic Scott Tobias stepped down from his role as film editor of The A. V. Club stating via Twitter, After 15 great years @theavclub, I step down as Film Editor next Friday. In the comments section of the announcing the departures, writer Noel Murray announced he would also be joining their project. On 30 May,2013, it was announced that the six writers would be a part of the staff of The Dissolve. In April and June 2014, senior staff writers Kyle Ryan, Sonia Saraiya and Todd VanDerWerff left the website for positions at Entertainment Weekly, Salon and Vox Media, in 2015, Ryan returned to Onion, Inc. for a position in development
25.
Ayn Rand
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Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism, educated in Russia, she moved to the United States in 1926. She had a produced on Broadway in 1935–1936. After two early novels that were unsuccessful in America, she achieved fame with her 1943 novel. In 1957, Rand published her work, the novel Atlas Shrugged. Afterward, she turned to non-fiction to promote her philosophy, publishing her own magazines, Rand advocated reason as the only means of acquiring knowledge, and rejected faith and religion. She supported rational and ethical egoism, and rejected altruism, in art, Rand promoted romantic realism. She was sharply critical of most philosophers and philosophical traditions known to her, except for Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Literary critics received Rands fiction with mixed reviews, and academia generally ignored or rejected her philosophy, though academic interest has increased in recent decades. The Objectivist movement attempts to spread her ideas, both to the public and in academic settings and she has been a significant influence among libertarians and American conservatives. Rand was born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum on February 2,1905 and she was the eldest of the three daughters of Zinovy Zakharovich Rosenbaum and his wife, Anna Borisovna, largely non-observant Jews. Zinovy Rosenbaum was a successful pharmacist and businessman, eventually owning a pharmacy, with a passion for the liberal arts, Rand later said she found school unchallenging and she began writing screenplays at the age of eight and novels at the age of ten. At the prestigious Stoiunina Gymnasium, her closest friend was Vladimir Nabokovs younger sister, the two girls shared an intense interest in politics and would engage in debates at the Nabokov mansion, while Nabokova defended constitutional monarchy, Rand supported republican ideals. She was twelve at the time of the February Revolution of 1917, the subsequent October Revolution and the rule of the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin disrupted the life the family had previously enjoyed. Her father’s business was confiscated and the family displaced and they fled to the Crimean Peninsula, which was initially under control of the White Army during the Russian Civil War. She later recalled that, while in school, she determined that she was an atheist. After graduating from school in the Crimea at 16, Rand returned with her family to Petrograd. At the university she was introduced to the writings of Aristotle and Plato, a third figure whose philosophical works she studied heavily was Friedrich Nietzsche. Able to read French, German and Russian, Rand also discovered the writers Fyodor Dostoevsky, Victor Hugo, Edmond Rostand, and Friedrich Schiller, along with many other bourgeois students, Rand was purged from the university shortly before graduating
26.
Eurogamer
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Eurogamer is a website and YouTube channel focused on video game news, reviews and other features. It is operated by Gamer Network Ltd. with headquarters in Brighton, East Sussex, the site primarily caters to a UK/Ireland audience, Gamer Network operates other sites using the Eurogamer brand that caters to other European countries. Most of its reviews are of European or PAL releases of the games, eurogamers current editor is Oli Welsh, who took over the role from Tom Bramwell in September 2014. The editor prior to Bramwell was Kristan Reed. biz editor Rob Fahey, Eurogamer founder Rupert Loman was interviewed in February 2007 by MCV magazine. He was also featured in the Sunday Telegraph on 19 August 2007, at the Games Media Awards, Eurogamer won the categories of Best Games Website – News, and Best Games Website – Reviews & Features in 2007. Deputy Editor Tom Bramwell won Best Writer in Specialist Digital Media, News editor Wesley Yin-Poole won Best News Writer in 2014. Rupert Loman was winner of Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 at the Sussex Business Awards and he was also selected as one of 30 Young Guns by Growing Business magazine in October 2008. At the Leipzig Games Convention in August 2006, Eurogamer launched their first non-English language site of the franchise, in April 2011, Eurogamer Netherlands and Eurogamer Belgium merged to form Eurogamer Benelux. Eurogamer Romania closed down in 2011, in November 2012, Eurogamer launched their first non-European site, Brasilgamer, and 2012–2013 also saw the launch of USgamer, Gamer Networks US flagship multi-format games website. Eurogamer has a site, GamesIndustry. biz, which reports on the global video games industry. In May 2008 the site launched the GamesIndustry. biz Network for industry professionals, Eurogamer has hosted the Digital Foundry channel since 2007. Digital Foundry evaluates video game hardware and software from a technical level, often comparing performances of the same game across different platforms
27.
IGN
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The website was the brainchild of media entrepreneur Chris Anderson and launched on September 29,1996. It focuses on games, films, television, comics, technology, the company is located in San Franciscos SOMA district in California, United States. Originally a network of websites, IGN is now distributed on mobile platforms, console programs on the Xbox and PlayStation, FireTV, Roku, and via YouTube, Twitch, Hulu. IGN was sold to publishing company Ziff Davis in February 2013 and now operates as a J2 Global subsidiary. com, PSXPower, Saturnworld, Next-Generation. com and Ultra Game Players Online. Imagine expanded on its owned-and-operated websites by creating a network that included a number of independent fansites such as PSX Nation. com, Sega-Saturn. com, Game Sages. In 1998, the network launched a new homepage that consolidated the individual sites as system channels under the IGN brand, the homepage exposed content from more than 30 different channels. Next-Generation and Ultra Game Players Online were not part of this consolidation, dissolved with the cancellation of the magazine, and Next-Generation was put on hold when Imagine decided to concentrate on launching the short-lived Daily Radar brand. In February 1999, Imagine Media incorporated a spin-off that included IGN and its channels as Affiliation Networks. In September, the newly spun-out standalone internet media company, changed its name to Snowball. com, at the same time, small entertainment website The Den merged into IGN and added non-gaming content to the growing network. Snowball held an IPO in 2000, but shed most of its properties during the dot-com bubble. In June 2005, IGN reported having 24,000,000 unique visitors per month, with 4.8 million registered users through all departments of the site, IGN is ranked among the top 200 most-visited websites according to Alexa. In September 2005, IGN was acquired by Rupert Murdochs multi-media business empire, News Corporation, IGN celebrated its 10th anniversary on January 12,2008. IGN was headquartered in the Marina Point Parkway office park in Brisbane, California, on May 25,2011, IGN sold its Direct2Drive division to Gamefly for an undisclosed amount. In 2011, IGN Entertainment acquired its rival UGO Entertainment from Hearst Corporation, ultimately, News Corp. planned to spin off IGN Entertainment as a publicly traded company, continuing a string of divestitures for digital properties it had previously acquired. Financial details regarding the purchase were not revealed, prior to its acquisition by UGO, 1UP. com had previously been owned by Ziff Davis. Soon after the acquisition, IGN announced that it would be laying off staff and closing GameSpy, 1UP. com, the role-playing video game interest website Vault Network was acquired by IGN in 1999. GameStats, a review website, was founded by IGN in 2004. GameStats includes a GPM rating system incorporates an average press score and average gamer score
28.
Xbox
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Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. It represents a series of game consoles developed by Microsoft. The brand also represents applications, streaming services, and a service by the name of Xbox Live. The brand was first introduced on November 15,2001 in the United States and that original device was the first video game console offered by an American company after the Atari Jaguar stopped sales in 1996. It reached over 24 million units sold as of May 10,2006, Microsofts second console, the Xbox 360, was released in 2005 and has sold over 77.2 million consoles worldwide as of April 18,2013. The successor to the Xbox 360 and Microsofts most recent console, the Xbox One has been released in 21 markets in total, with a Chinese release on September 29,2014. The head of Xbox is Phil Spencer, who succeeded former head Marc Whitten in late March 2014. The original Xbox was released on November 15,2001, in North America, February 22,2002, in Japan and it was Microsofts first foray into the gaming console market. As part of the sixth-generation of gaming, the Xbox competed with Sonys PlayStation 2, Segas Dreamcast, the Xbox was the first console offered by an American company after the Atari Jaguar stopped sales in 1996. The name Xbox was derived from a contraction of DirectX Box, the integrated Xbox Live service launched in November 2002 allowed players to play games online with or without a broadband connection. It first competed with Dreamcasts online service but later competed with PlayStation 2s online service. The Xbox 360 was released as the successor of the original Xbox in November 2005, competing with Sonys PlayStation 3, as of June 30,2013,78.2 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide. The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12,2005, with detailed launch, the console sold out completely upon release in all regions except in Japan. Microsoft also released Kinect, a control system for the Xbox 360 which uses an advanced sensor system. At their E3 presentation on June 14,2010, Microsoft announced a redesigned Xbox 360 that would ship on the same day, older models of the Xbox 360 have since been discontinued. The first new console to be released features a 250 GB hard drive, the Xbox One was released on November 22,2013 in North America, as the successor of the Xbox 360. The Xbox One competes with Sonys PlayStation 4 and Nintendos Wii U as part of the generation of video game consoles. After an overwhelmingly negative response from critics and consumers, Microsoft announced that these restrictions would be dropped, as a gesture toward showing a commitment to user privacy, Microsoft decided to allow the console to function without Kinect
29.
Reference book
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A reference work is a book or periodical to which one can refer for information. The information is intended to be found quickly when needed, Reference works are usually referred to for particular pieces of information, rather than read beginning to end. The writing style used in works is informative, the authors avoid use of the first person. Many reference works are compiled by a team of contributors whose work is coordinated by one or more editors rather than by an individual author, indices are commonly provided in many types of reference work. Updated editions are published as needed, in some cases annually. Reference works include dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopedias, almanacs, bibliographies, many reference works are available in electronic form and can be obtained as application software, CD-ROMs, DVDs, or online through the Internet. A reference work is useful to its users if they attribute some degree of trust, in comparison, a reference book or reference-only book in a library is one that may only be used in the library and may not be borrowed from the library. Many such books are works, which are, usually, used briefly or photocopied from. Keeping them in the library assures that they always be available for use on demand. Some reference-only books are too valuable to permit borrowers to take them out, reference-only items may be shelved in a reference collection located separately from circulating items. Some libraries consist entirely, or to an extent, of books which may not be borrowed. An electronic resource is a piece of information that is stored electronically, general American Reference Books Annual, ARBA. Littleton, Col. Libraries Unlimited, 1970- Bergenholtz, H. Nielsen, S. Tarp, S. Lexicography at a Crossroads, Dictionaries and Encyclopedias Today, printed Reference Material London, Library Association Katz, W. A. Introduction to Reference Work, 3rd ed.2 vols, new York, McGraw-Hill Nielsen, Sandro The Effect of Lexicographical Information Costs on Dictionary Making and Use. J. Walfords Concise Guide to Reference Material, London, Library Association ISBN 0-85365-882-X, p.19. Books of Reference for School Libraries, an annotated list, 2nd ed. London, Library Association Malclès, geneva, Droz, 1950-58 Sheehy, E. P. et al. comps. Guide to Reference Books, 9th ed. Chicago, American Library Association, Supplement,1980 Totok, W. & Weitzel, aufl. hrg. von W. Totok, K. -H. Frankfurt am Main, Klostermann Day, Alan, walford, A. J. Walfords Guide to Reference Material
30.
Gamasutra
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Gamasutra is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on all aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb, a division of Unite Business Media, the articles can be filtered by either topic or category. Gamasutra encourages professionals to publish blogs in order to share their expertise with other developers, analysis articles are popular reads as writers spark discussions on game design and the various trends of the industry. Many postmortems have been published, ranging from independent games such as Okabu and The Path to major studio projects such as Okamiden, there are currently over 150 collected post-mortems dating back as far as 1997. Learning from Past Post-Mortems” that details the most common mistakes that developers make as admitted in the articles, Gamasutra requires users who wish to publish articles on the website to work with the features director Christian Nutt, whether they have fleshed-out drafts, an outline, or a concept. The editorial staff offers help in shaping, polishing, and editing articles before publication, a broad range of topics can be selected given the audience, which consists of businesspeople, educators, and developers, both professional and aspiring. The articles are required to contain at least 1500 words, though the length tends to be 2500 to 3500 words. Gamasutra also requires a thirty-day exclusivity period from the date of publication, after which the writer is free to take the article elsewhere, users are also allowed to comment on articles, but there is a strict set of rules. Users are encouraged to post only constructive thoughts that add to the conversation, GameSetWatch is an alternative video game weblog and sister site of Gamasutra. com. It is dedicated to collecting curious links and media for offbeat and often ignored games from consoles old and new, as well as from the download, iOS. GameSetWatch was founded by Simon Carless in November 2005, GameSetWatch has remained up for readers but no new content has been posted since. The editors at the time Eric Caoili and Danny Cowan have taken different steps to help out at their sister sites, Cowan has gone to blog over at IndieGames. com and Caoili is at Gamasutra. IndieGames. com is Gamasutras sister site dedicated to reporting on indie games and it became the UBM TechWebs main method to deliver news about independent games after GameSetWatch closed. The IndieGames. com Podcast was started by Michael Rose and Tim in September 2010 and it is available to listen to online or download on the website or iTunes store. An episode is released every week with a guest indie developer hosting the podcast in addition to the two creators of the show, Tim was the independent owner and operator of the Independent Gaming Weblog which was shut down and sold to IndieGames. com in December 2007. Michael Rose is an editor and writer at IndieGames. com, the show has taken a hiatus since July 2012 and has no news of restarting as of yet. The interviews section of the site features interviews with indie game creators and developers, the interviewees answer a set of questions posed by the interviewer including questions regarding their inspirations and hardships. The page is split into three categories, desktop, console and mobile to organize the interviews by platform interests
31.
Kotaku
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Kotaku is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Univision Communications bought Gawker Media in August 2016, and rebranded it as Gizmodo Media Group, Kotaku was first launched in October 2004 with Matthew Gallant as its lead writer, with an intended target audience of young men. About a month later, Brian Crecente was brought in to try to save the failing site, since then, the site has launched several country-specific sites for Australia, Japan, Brazil and the UK. Previous contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Crecente was named one of the 20 most influential people in the video game industry over the past 20 years by GamePro in 2009 and one of gamings Top 50 journalists by Edge in 2006. The site has made CNETs Blog 100 list and was ranked 50th on PC Magazines Top 100 Classic Web Sites list and its name comes from the Japanese otaku and the prefix ko-. In April 2014, Gawker Media partnered with Future plc to launch Kotaku UK, Kotaku is currently run by Stephen Totilo, who replaced Brian Crecente in 2012. Kotaku was one of six websites that was purchased by Univision Communications in their acquisition of Gawker Media in August 2016. In 2007, attorney Jack Thompson sued Gawker Media and site editor Brian Crecente over concerns that Kotaku declined to remove threatening user comments, in 2009, Business Insider reported that Hearst Corporation sought to buy Kotaku from Gawker Media. In 2010, Kotaku criticized Japanese magazine Famitsus glowing endorsement of a Konami game as a conflict of interest, in 2013, Forbes criticized Kotaku over what they called an inflammatory headline in a story about Hideki Kamiya, Kotaku rewrote the headline. In 2007, Kotaku ran a story about rumored upcoming features on the PlayStation 3, the site claimed in 2015 that they had been blacklisted by major game companies Bethesda Softworks and Ubisoft
32.
PC Gamer
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PC Gamer is a magazine founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games magazines in their respective countries. PC Gamer reviews are written by the editors and freelance writers. In the UK edition, no game has yet been awarded more than 96%, in the US edition, no game has yet received a rating higher than 98%. In the UK edition, the lowest numerical score was 2%, the sequel, Big Brother 2, was given an even lower score of N/A%, the review explaining that put as much effort into reviewing it as they did in making the game. In issue 255, August 2013, the score of 2% was matched by the review of the re-released Leisure Suit Larry, Magna Cum Laude, originally given 3% when it first launched. In the US edition, the lowest score awarded was 4%, given to Mad Dog McCree, unseating the previously lowest-rated game, there are two main editions of PC Gamer, a British version and an American version, both are published by Future plc. Founded in the United Kingdom in November 1993, the American sister version was launched a year later in June 1994, there are also numerous local editions that mainly use the materials of one of the two editions, typically the British one, including a Malaysian and Russian edition. An Australian edition was published monthly by Perth-based Conspiracy Publishing since August 1998, a Spanish edition titled PC Juegos y Jugadores also exists. Both American and British magazines are published thirteen times per year, the British edition of PC Gamer has been in constant monthly publication since 1993. Subscribers get an edition of the magazine with no headlines on the front cover. Almost exclusively devoted to PC games, the magazine has a reputation for giving in-depth reviews, the magazine originally shipped with an accompanying 3. 5-inch floppy disc. A CD demo disc was released alongside the floppy disk edition from issue 11 onwards with the first CD Gamer containing all the content from the previous 10 issues floppy discs, the single CD was later expanded to two CDs. An edition with a 9 GB DVD known as DVD Gamer ran alongside the 2CD edition for a couple of years, the UK Edition then only came with a single double-sided DVD. In August 2011, the UK magazine announced it was to be discontinuing the disk as of issue 232, the magazine has many regular features which make up each edition of the magazine. There is also a section, which reviews and recommends hardware such as video cards. The back page of the magazine is entitled ´Its All Over´, the PC Gamer blog was started to coincide with the transfer of the PC Gamer UK site to become part of the Computer and Video Games network which incorporates all of Future plcs gaming magazines. The move brought some controversy, with long standing members of the forum leaving due to the new forums cramped spacing, advertising
33.
GameSpy
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GameSpy was a provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games. com. GameSpy merged with IGN in 2004, by 2014, its services had used by over 800 video game publishers and developers since its launch. In August 2012, the GameSpy Industries division was acquired by video game developer Glu Mobile. IGN retained ownership of the GameSpy. com website, in February 2013, IGNs new owner, Ziff Davis, shut down IGNs secondary sites, including GameSpys network. This was followed by the announcement in April 2014 that GameSpys service platform would be shut down on May 31,2014, Mark Surfas saw the need for hosting and distribution of these mods and created PlanetQuake, a Quake-related hosting and news site. The massive success of mods catapulted PlanetQuake to huge traffic and a position in the burgeoning game website scene. Quake also marked the beginning of the Internet multiplayer real-time action game scene, however, finding a Quake server on the Internet proved difficult, as players could only share IP addresses of known servers between themselves or post them on websites. To solve this problem, a team of three programmers formed Spy Software and created QSpy and this allowed the listing and searching of Quake servers available across the Internet. Surfas licensed QSpy and became the distributor and marketer while retaining the original programming team. QSpy became QuakeSpy and went on to be bundled with ids QuakeWorld update - an unprecedented move by a top tier developer, with the release of the Quake Engine-based game Hexen II, QuakeSpy added this game to its capabilities and was renamed GameSpy3D. In 1997 Mark Surfas licensed GameSpy 3D from Spy Software, in 1999, GameSpy received angel investment funding from entrepreneur David Berkus. The company released MP3Spy. com, a software browser allowing people to browse and connect to online radio feeds, the expanding of the companys websites included the games portal, GameSpy. It also included platform-specific sites, but these were consolidated into GameSpy. com, forumPlanet and FilePlanet were services offered by GameSpy, and were not part of the Planet Network. In 2000, GameSpy received additional investment funding from the Ziff Davis publishing division ZDNet. com and from Guillemot Corporation, GameSpy shut down its RadioSpy division, backing away from the online music market which was dominated by peer-to-peer applications such as Napster and Gnutella. In 2001, GameSpys corporate technology business grew to include software development kits and middleware for video game consoles, such as Sonys PlayStation 2, Segas Dreamcast and Microsofts Xbox. In March 2004, IGN and GameSpy Industries merged, and was known as IGN/GameSpy before formalizing their corporate name as IGN Entertainment. GameSpy Arcade was the companys flagship matchmaking software, allowing users to servers for different online video games. This software rivaled the other major voice chat software Ventrilo and Teamspeak, the companys Powered by GameSpy technology enabled online functionality in over 300 PC and console games
34.
Game Informer
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Game Informer is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, the publication is owned and published by GameStop Corp. the parent company of the video game retailer of the same name, who bought FuncoLand in 2000. Due to this, an amount of promotion is done in-store, which has been attributed to the success of the magazine. Game Informer has since become an important part of GameStops customer loyalty program, Power Up Rewards, Game Informer debuted in August 1991 as a six-page magazine. It was published two months until November 1994, when the magazine began to be released monthly. Since 2001 Game Informer has been published by Cathy Preston, who has working as part of the production team since 2000. It was under her that the publication became a part of GameStops customer loyalty program. In 2010, Game Informer became the 5th largest magazine in the US with 5 million copies sold, ahead of popular publications like Times, Sports Illustrated, by 2011, Game Informer had become the 3rd largest magazine in the US topping 8 million copies circulated. However, in 2014 it had fallen to 4th place with 6.9 million copies sold, recent figures still place the magazine at 4th place with over 7 million copies sold. The success of Game Informer has been attributed to its relationship with publishers. In each years April edition, Game Informer includes Game Infarcer, on the cover is Worlds #1 Pretend Magazine where it would ordinarily say Worlds #1 Video Game Magazine, and the word Parody is written on the bottom of each page. Game Infarcer articles are accredited to the fictional editor-in-chief Darth Clark, the heated responses to parody articles are often featured in later Game Informer issues. Game Informer has included four Sacred Cow Barbecues, similar in style to a celebrity roast, the occasion is meant to knock some of gamings most revered icons off their high and mighty pedestals. The first Sacred Cow Barbecues featured in issue 158, other issues featuring Sacred Cow Barbecues are,183,211, and 261. Sacred Cow Barbecues articles are considered controversial among those gamers who arent amused with their games being mocked, Game Informer Online was originally launched in August 1996, and featured daily news updates as well as articles. Justin Leeper and Matthew Kato were hired on in November 1999 as full-time web editors, as part of the GameStop purchase of the magazine, the site was closed around January 2001. Both Leeper and Kato were eventually placed on the staff of the magazine. GI Online was revived in September 2003, with a redesign and many additional features, such as a review database, frequent news updates
35.
GamesRadar
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GamesRadar+ is an entertainment website primarily featuring video game related news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. Since November 2014 the site has included a TV, films and sci-fi section, bringing in content from Futures entertainment brands Total Film. It is owned and operated in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future plc, GamesRadar publishes numerous articles each day. Including official video game news, reviews, previews and interviews with publishers and developers, one of the sites features was their Top 7 lists, a weekly countdown detailing negative aspects of video games themselves, the industry and/or culture. They actually mark a negative score in almost everything, now, they are better known for lists of baddest depth segmented by genre, platform, or theme. These are divided into living lists, for consoles and platforms that are still active, the site launched a free iPhone app in January 2011, allowing users to browse their cheats and game guides. In 2007 the State of Texas filed a lawsuit against GamerRadars parent company Future plc, the lawsuit alleges that the site failed to include necessary disclosures and obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children. The owner of the other websited settled in March 2008, though the final disposition against Future plc is not public record, in November 2012 Keith Walker became the new publisher at Future and thus GamesRadar, looking to improve digital growth. By December 2012 the site underwent a new redesign including new layout, interface and regular features along with new staff members. Many of the members of TalkRadar went on to produce the Laser Time podcast network. In May 2014 it was reported that Future intended to close the websites of Edge, Computer and Video Games and their other videogame publications
36.
UGO Networks
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UGO Entertainment, Inc. was a website that provided coverage of online media in entertainment, targeting males aged 18–34. The company was based in New York, New York, United States. The company started in 1997 as Unified Gamers Online, billed in directories as a network of professionally managed gaming sites and services. ”In 1997, founder Chris Sherman hired Ken Margolis Associates to manage sales. Chris sold UGO to Actionworld, Inc. a subsidiary of InterWorld and that same year, InterWorld spun off the company “in order to permit UGO Networks to build a separate management team…and to position UGO Networks to seek private parts equity financing. In 1999, UGO changed its name to UnderGround Online as part of its efforts to expand its target audience, the company streamed various forms of media entertainment on its website as well as offering articles on topics of interest to its target audience. Topics included comics, television, music and film and its main competitors included CNET Networks, IGN, and Yahoo. On July 24,2007 it was announced that Hearst Corporation would acquire UGO Entertainment to expand its interactive media division, on January 6,2009, UGO Entertainment acquired 1UP. com and its associated sites from publisher Ziff Davis. In May 2011, IGN Entertainment announced that it would acquire UGO from Hearst in a cash, at the same time, its parent company News Corporation also announced that the profitable IGN division would be spun off into a new company. In March 2012, UGO ceased to exist as a website and was dormant for a short period. Later in 2012, UGO. com relaunched as a pop culture comedy site. On February 4,2013, UGO. com was purchased as part of the IGN network of websites acquired by Ziff Davis, and was shut down on February 21,2013
37.
Star Wars expanded universe
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The Star Wars expanded universe is a collective term for all Star Wars fictional material produced by Lucasfilm or officially licensed by it. This restructuring left the Star Wars theatrical films, the Clone Wars animated film, a number of works have subsequently been produced, including the Rebels animated TV series, the 2015 film The Force Awakens, and multiple novels and comic book series. Fosters 1978 novel Splinter of the Minds Eye was commissioned by Lucas as the basis for a potential sequel to Star Wars should the film prove unsuccessful. A Star Wars comic book series from Marvel Comics ran from April 1977 to May 1986, former Marvel Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter credited the titles strong sales for saving Marvel financially in 1977 and 1978. Marvels Star Wars series was one of the top selling titles in 1979 and 1980. The material was used as a resource by some novelists that followed, StarWars. com wrote in 2014 that the novel jumpstarted a publishing program that endures to this day and formalized the Expanded Universe. It introduced, among others, the popular characters Grand Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade and this so-called Thrawn trilogy is widely credited with revitalizing the Star Wars franchise. In The Secret History of Star Wars, Michael Kaminski suggests that this renewed interest was a factor in Lucass decision to create the prequel trilogy. Around this same time, Dark Horse Comics acquired the Star Wars license and launched a number of series set after the film trilogy. In 1999, Star Wars book publishing moved from Bantam Spectra to Del Rey Books, New Jedi Order, set 25 to 30 years after the original films, introduced a new threat, the Yuuzhan Vong, a powerful alien race attempting to invade and conquer the entire galaxy. The bulk of Expanded Universe storytelling explores the time period after Return of the Jedi, subsequent novels and comics were set before, concurrent with, and after the events of these works. In 2004, USA Today reported that over 1,100 Star Wars titles had been published, including novels, comics, non-fiction, then-president of Lucas Licensing, Howard Roffman, estimated that there were more than 65 million Star Wars books in print. He said, The books are a way of extending the fantasy of Star Wars, the movies have had a really profound effect on a couple of generations. Star Wars has become a cultural touchpoint, and our fans are avidly interested in exploring more stories, the animated television series Star Wars, The Clone Wars ran from 2008 to 2014 and was set between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Lucas discussed ideas for a sequel trilogy several times after the conclusion of the original trilogy, in October 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.06 billion. In April 2014, Lucasfilm rebranded the Expanded Universe material as Star Wars Legends, the companys focus would be shifted towards a restructured Star Wars canon based on new material. The announcement called these works the immovable objects of Star Wars history and it was also made clear that a planned Star Wars sequel trilogy, and subsequent works developed within the restructured canon, would not be based on Legends material but could possibly draw from it. Lucas had previously used the character Aayla Secura, introduced in 2000 in the Star Wars, Republic comic book series, in Attack of the Clones
38.
GameSpot
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GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1,1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and it was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which purchased CNET Networks in 2008, is the current owner of GameSpot, in addition to the information produced by GameSpot staff, the site also allows users to write their own reviews, blogs, and post on the sites forums. In 2004, GameSpot won Best Gaming Website as chosen by the viewers in Spike TVs second Video Game Award Show, the domain gamespot. com attracted at least 60 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete. com study. GameSpot was founded by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein in San Francisco, CA, initially, GameSpot focused exclusively on PC games. Its sister site, VideoGameSpot. com, was launched in December 1996 to cover console games, in 1997, VideoGameSpot. com became VideoGames. com for a short period, and by 1998, the PC and console sections were united at GameSpot. com. On October 3,2005, GameSpot adopted a new design similar to that of TV. com, a new layout change was adopted on October 2013. GameSpot UK was started in October 1997 and operated until mid-2002, during this period, GameSpot UK won the 1999 PPAi award for best website, and was short listed in 2001. Following the purchase of ZDNet by CNET, GameSpot UK was merged with the main US site, on April 24,2006, GameSpot UK was relaunched. In a similar fashion, GameSpot AU existed on a scale in the late 1990s with Australian-produced reviews. When a local version of the main CNET portal, CNET. com. au was launched in 2003, the site was fully re-launched mid-2006, with a specialized forum, local reviews, special features, local pricings in A$, Australian release dates, and more local news. GameSpot Japan in its current form launched in 2007 and it provides Japanese video game industry news, previews, reviews, features, and videos as well as translated articles from the other GameSpot sites. Jeff Gerstmann, Editorial Director of the site, was fired on November 28,2007, Gerstmann had previously given Kane & Lynch a fair or undesirable rating along with critique. Both GameSpot and parent company CNET stated that his dismissal was unrelated to the review, a month after Gerstmanns termination, freelance reviewer Frank Provo left GameSpot after eight years stating that I believe CNET management let Jeff go for all the wrong reasons. I believe CNET intends to soften the tone and push for higher scores to make advertisers happy. GameSpot staffers Alex Navarro, Ryan Davis, Brad Shoemaker, Davis co-founded Gerstmanns subsequent project, Giant Bomb, and was later joined by Shoemaker and Caravella. Navarro later returned to Giant Bomb, where he works as a Senior Editor. On March 15,2012, it was announced that CBS Interactive, as part of the deal, the non-disparagement agreement between Gerstmann and CNET was nullified, allowing him to finally speak publicly about his termination over four years prior
39.
The Boss (Metal Gear)
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The Boss, also known as The Joy, is a fictional character from Konamis Metal Gear series. S. In June 1944, during World War II, she led the Cobra unit to victory at the Battle of Normandy, the Boss appears as the main antagonist in Metal Gear Solid 3, Snake Eater. She moved to the Soviet Union with Colonel Volgin alongside the Cobra Unit, throughout the game, Naked Snake repeatedly encounters The Boss to kill her as ordered by his superiors. Following Volgins death, The Boss reveals she is the daughter of one of the members of the Philosophers behind the Philosophers Legacy. After one final fight, Snake fights and kills The Boss who gives him the Philosophers Legacy hidden by Volgin and she was eventually commissioned into Project Mercury to test the Mercury capsule and launched into space at roughly the same time as Yuri Gagarins flight on April 12,1961. However, the capsule suffered heavy damage upon reentry, the Boss, dubbed within the program as the Mercury Lady, survived the crash but was rendered comatose for six months. All evidence of her role in the program was erased, including airbrushing her out of a picture of the Mercury astronauts. The Bosss entire personality is also reconstructed in a special AI system developed by Strangelove for the Peace Walker weapon, the Bosss looks were inspired by actress Charlotte Rampling. During the shooting of the scene between The Boss and Naked Snake, Eriko Hirata, having read the script beforehand, was so moved by the scene that she broke down into tears. Hideo Kojima said in 2012, he would love to create a new prequel game starring The Boss as the protagonist, the character was very well received by media. According to Eurogamer, The Boss is often touted as being one of the strongest female characters in gaming, in 2008, Chip ranked her as the 12th top girl of gaming. That same year, The Boss was also ranked as the ninth best female protagonist in gaming by the staff of GamesTM despite her role as an antagonist, in 2008, the staff of GameSpy placed her at the top of Metal Gear boss battles. She was also included on IGNs 2008 lists of the Metal Gear series top ten villains as well as its top ten boss battles and that same year, Destructoid ranked this beautiful yet haunting battle as sixth on their list of top Metal Gear boss fights. In 2013, PLAY ranked The Boss as the top character in the series, calling her one of the most important. She was also voted as the 24th best overall character of the decade by Game Informers readers in 2010. In 2011, Complex ranked her as first on the list of most diabolical video game she-villains, the Boss doesnt have to resort to cheap tricks or feminine wiles to get her way or gain respect, thats why shes The Boss. Ryan Bates of Game Revolution placed her first on his 2014 list of top mean girls in gaming, the Boss - The Metal Gear Wiki - Wikia
40.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
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Metal Gear Solid 3, Snake Eater is an action-adventure stealth video game produced by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan for the PlayStation 2. It was released in late 2004 in North America and Japan, then in early 2005 in Europe and it was the fifth Metal Gear game written and directed by Hideo Kojima and serves as a prequel to the previous installments. While the setting has changed, the focus remains on stealth and infiltration, while retaining the series self-referential. The story of Snake Eater is told through cut scenes. Snake Eater was a success, having sold 3.6 million copies worldwide by August 2005. The gameplay of Snake Eater is similar to that of previous games in the Metal Gear Solid series, Snake, controlled by the player, must move undetected through a hostile, enemy-filled environment. Although Snake acquires various weapons, the emphasis is on using stealth to avoid confrontations, approximately two-thirds of the game is set outdoors in a Soviet Union rainforest, and using this varied environment to its fullest potential is often the key to success. Of the new features, particular emphasis is placed on camouflage, the advanced radar from previous games has been removed in favor of a simple motion detector and sonar system more suitable for the games time period. A percentage value called the camouflage index gauges Snakes exposure, on a scale from negative values up to 100%, other devices for camouflage, such as a fake gavial head to decrease chances of being detected in water, are also available. The basic close combat from previous installments has been refined and expanded into the CQC system. The context, pressure applied to the button, and movement of the analog stick determine the action performed, while previous games used only a simple life bar, Snake Eater also keeps track of injuries over the entire body. For example, a fall could fracture Snakes leg, slowing him down until the injury is properly treated with a splint. Unless these injuries are treated, Snake will not be able to recover his health for some time. The location brings in the need to rely upon native flora and this is manifested in a stamina gauge, which constantly depletes during gameplay. Failure to restore the gauge by eating has detrimental effects on gameplay, such as decreasing Snakes ability to aim his weapon, food can be stored in the backpack until it is needed. However, some types of food rot over time, and consuming rotten foods may result in Snake developing a stomach ache, the PlayStation 2 versions of Snake Eater include a minigame titled Snake vs. Monkey, in which Snake has to catch Ape Escape-style monkeys. In addition to containing tongue-in-cheek humor, bonus items usable in the game can be unlocked by progressing through various stages. The protagonist of Snake Eater, Naked Snake, known as Big Boss in subsequent games, is a young former Green Beret assigned to the CIA unit FOX
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1UP.com
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1UP. com was an American entertainment website that focused on video games. Launched in 2003, 1UP. com provided its own features, news stories, game reviews, and video interviews. The site was created by Ziff Davis as an extension of Electronic Gaming Monthly, 1UP was sold in 2009 to Hearst Corporations UGO Networks, who was acquired by IGN Entertainment in 2011. Coming full circle, Ziff Davis acquired IGN Entertainment as a whole in February 2013, shortly after the acquisition, however, Ziff Davis announced that in an effort to concentrate on IGN, it would shut down most of its secondary sites, including 1UP. Remaining staff members from 1UP were to be transferred to IGN, 1UP. com had produced a variety of audio and video podcasts, many of which aired weekly. 1UP Yours was the networks flagship internet radio show which featured topical discussions among several editors from the 1UP network, as well as personal gaming experiences and current news items. Though many guests circulated throughout episodes, the show was hosted by Garnett Lee, Shane Bettenhausen, new episodes of the show were made available every Friday. Former hosts included Jane Pinckard, John Davison, Luke Smith, Mark MacDonald, however, since the UGO acquisition in January 2009, many of these podcasts/shows were suspended, or in some cases, ended. In late October 2009, a new flagship podcast was created by David Ellis, audio podcasts included Games, Dammit. and Retronauts Live. Video podcasts included 1UPs Game Night and The Daily 1UPDate
