Maxis is an American video game developer and a division of Electronic Arts. The studio was founded in 1987 by Will Wright and Jeff Braun, acquired by EA in 1997. Maxis is best known for its simulation games, including The Sims and SimCity. Maxis' Emeryville studio was closed in March 2015, moving development of Maxis titles to other EA studio locations. Employees of the Emeryville studio were "given opportunities to explore" other positions within Maxis and other EA studios. In an organisational restructure in September, the now consolidated Maxis team was moved to function alongside EA Mobile. Maxis was founded in 1987 by Jeff Braun to help publish SimCity on home computers. Before the game was only available on a limited basis on the Commodore 64 due to few publishers showing any interest in porting a non-traditional game without definite "win" and "lose" conditions; the title went on to become one of the most successful video games of all time. The SimCity series has spawned multiple spin-offs.

Following the broad success of SimCity 2000, Maxis moved from Orinda, California, to Walnut Creek in 1994. To name the company, Braun required that the name was "from 5-7 letters, mean nothing, be easy to remember and contain a x,z or q". After such success with the SimCity series, Maxis tried various other Sim- titles; some of these attempts include SimFarm, SimEarth, SimLife, SimTower, SimIsle and SimHealth. Maxis was approached by companies to design business aids; the success of these franchises varies. Maxis released some non-simulation titles, such as 1991's RoboSport and 1995's 3D Pinball for Windows, included as one of the standard system games in several Windows releases. On June 1, 1995, Maxis became a public company. After the success of SimCity, Maxis experimented with different genres. However, their new games, including The Crystal Skull and SimCopter, were commercial failures, they acquired Cinematronics to create a game called Crucible and Full Tilt! Pinball. Heavy losses and lack of direction led Maxis to begin considering acquisition offers.

In 1997 Maxis agreed to be acquired by Electronic Arts by means of a stock swap which valued Maxis at $125 million. In a press release, Maxis stated it agreed to the acquisition in order to take advantage of Electronic Arts' strong distribution channel; the transaction was complete on July 28, 1997. Over 1998 Maxis was allowed to finish SimCity 3000 on its own time; the Sims was released in February 2000. For the first half of the decade, Maxis continued to produce sequels to The Sims. In 2004, Maxis' longtime studios in Walnut Creek were closed, the staff moved to EA offices in Redwood City. SimCity 4 was released in 2003, it was the first title in the series to implement true 3D, as well as the first where Wright was not directly involved with work. As The Sims became a steady success, Will Wright began to focus on Spore; the three years between its public announcement and its release were protracted enough to attract use of the term "vaporware" by some, upon its 2008 release, found itself subject to harsh criticism and the target of a consumer protest against Electronic Arts.

Despite the poor launch publicity, Spore sold 1 million units in its first month. Will Wright left Maxis in 2009. Maxis' only new standalone title until 2013 was Darkspore. During this time, Maxis.com redirected to the Spore website later once more to the website for The Sims. Throughout this period, the studio continued to operate in Emeryville. At the 2012 Game Developers Conference, EA announced a new SimCity along with a new logo for the Maxis brand. Maxis became one of four primary labels at EA. Development of The Sims continued, Maxis branding returned in 2013 with the launch of The Sims 3: University Life, SimCity. In March 2015, it was revealed by Guillaume Pierre, lead gameplay scripter of SimCity, that Maxis' Emeryville studio was being closed. On September 25, 2015, Electronic Arts announced that in an organisation restructure, the consolidated Maxis team would continue their work alongside the EA Mobile division, under Samantha Ryan, senior vice president for EA Mobile and Maxis. However, the CEO of Electronic Arts added that the "collaboration" would still see most of Maxis' future products available for personal computers.

In September 2016, EA Mobile and BioWare joined EA Worldwide Studios. Maxis is regarded for its innovative simulation games, in which there is no specific goal to the player, making its games endless. SimCity was Maxis' first release and innovated the conception of gaming as there was no specific goal to be reached, meaning that it could neither be won nor lost; the player is a mayor that may, at their leisure, take a city from a single village to a successful metropolis, laying down zones, taking care of the public services and stimulating the city's economy. The series includes six main games and three spin-offs, Sim City: The Card Game, SimCopter and Streets of SimCity. SimCity Societies, the fifth main release, was not produced by Maxis, but by Tilted Mill Entertainment, being described as a'social engineering simulator' and criticized for the lack of SimCity's traditional formula. In 2013, Maxis label Emeryville released a new version of SimCity. Maxis' most successf

Yousef Ahmed Masrahi is a Saudi Arabian track and field athlete, who specialises in the 400 metres sprint. His personal best time for the event is 43.93 seconds, set in 2015, is the Asian record. Masrahi represented his country at the 2012 London Olympics and is a three-time participant at the World Championships in Athletics, he was the gold medallist at both the Asian Athletics Championships in 2011 and at the 2014 Asian Games. He was banned for doping in 2016 for four years, his first international outing came in middle-distance events at the 2007 Asian Indoor Games. He failed to finish in the 800 metres, but set a national indoor record of 4:11.28 minutes in the 1500 metres heats. He won his first medal at the competition in the 4×400 metres relay, taking the gold alongside Hamdan Al-Bishi, Ali Al-Deraan and Hamed Al-Bishi. In the 2008 season he was based in California and began to run in the 200 metres and 400 metres instead, setting best times of 21.80 and 46.45 seconds in the events. Masrahi won the national title over 200 m in 2009 and improved his 400 m best to 45.84 seconds in Riyadh, gaining the "B" qualifying standard.

He represented Saudi Arabia at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, but was knocked out in the 400 m heats. He was the bronze medalist in the distance at the Arab Athletics Championships and won the relay title with Saudi Arabia. At the 2009 Asian Indoor Games in November Masrahi was just beaten to the 400 m title by Ismail Al-Sabiani, another Saudi runner, but the pair teamed up in the relay to set a Games record and national record time of 3:10.31 minutes. The 2010 Asian Games was his focus for the next season and he gained selection after winning a 200/400 m double at the national championships, he ran personal best of 45.48 seconds in the heats of the 400 m at the Asian Games, but was little slower in the final and took the bronze medal. With the relay team he anchored the men home to a Saudi national record of 3:02.30 minutes, running with Al-Sabiani, Mohammed Al-Salhi and Al-Bishi to win the Asian Games title. The next year, he won the 400 m gold medal at the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships in Kobe and won a silver medal in the relay.

In 2014, he won the gold medal for the men's 400m in 44.6 sec. He set his personal best, the Asian record during the qualifying heats of the 2015 World Championships, finishing ahead of Rusheen McDonald, credited with the same time, 43.93 which at the time ranked both men in the top dozen in history. With two more rounds to run, McDonald was unable to qualify for the final, while Masrahi did, but his remarkable speed was not present in that final where his personal best would only have been good enough for fourth place, he was banned from competition for four years, starting 15 June 2016, prior to the 2016 Rio Olympics due to a failed drug test. Yousef Masrahi at World Athletics

Collection is an album by American guitarist Lee Ritenour released in 1991, recorded for the GRP label. Collection contains a retrospective of Ritenour's 1979-1991 work; the album reached #7 on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz chart. Early A. M. Attitude - 4:59 Rio Funk - 5:08 Night Rhythms - 4:32 White Water - 5:02 San Ysidro - 4:59 Asa - 5:22 Dolphin Dreams - 5:09 Is It You? - 4:25 24th Street Blues - 5:24 Latin Lover - 6:17 The Sauce - 4:23 Malibu - - 4:47 Waltz for Carmen - 6:23 Lee Ritenour - Guitar Dave Grusin - Keyboards Alan Broadbent - Piano Ernie Watts - Saxophone Harvey Mason - Drums Carlos Vega - Drums Omar Hakim - Drums Jimmy Haslip - Bass Jimmy Johnson - Bass Marcus Miller - Bass John Pattitucci - Bass Abraham Laboriel - Bass Eric Tagg - Vocals Alex Acuna - Percussion Mitch Holder - Guitar - Collection at Discogs Lee Ritenour's Official Site