Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is an action hack and slash video game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Konami Digital Entertainment. Released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows, it is a spin-off in the Metal Gear series, is set four years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. In the game, players control Raiden, a cyborg who confronts the private military company Desperado Enforcement, with the gameplay focusing on fighting enemies using a sword and other weapons to perform combos and counterattacks. Through the use of Blade Mode, Raiden can cut cyborgs in slow motion and steal parts stored in their bodies; the series' usual stealth elements are optional to reduce combat. The game was being developed internally by Kojima Productions, who announced the game in 2009 under the title of Metal Gear Solid: Rising. However, the team met with difficulties in developing a game based on swordplay, so executive producer Hideo Kojima postponed its development until a solution could be found.

The project resurfaced in late 2011 under its finalized title, with PlatinumGames as the new developer. The game underwent significant changes in its play mechanics and storyline under PlatinumGames' involvement, although Kojima Productions retained responsibility for the game's overall plot and Raiden's design. Upon its worldwide release in February 2013, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was well-received by critics, being praised for its sophisticated cutting system, its use of Metal Gear elements to complement the story despite the game's focus on action, its soundtrack, its boss fights; the game enjoyed positive sales, with the three versions selling over 1.1 million copies. While those involved in the game's production have expressed desire to develop a sequel, such prospects have yet to come to fruition due to the ongoing conflicts between Konami and Kojima Productions. Players assume control of a katana-wielding cyborg, he is playable in his "Standard Body" form, which resembles the body used by Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 4, but with a more natural looking face.

The player can alter Raiden's appearance through alternative skins. Unlike previous titles in the Metal Gear series, where players try not to be noticed by enemies, Rising is action oriented, focusing on sword fighting and a sophisticated cutting system to fight and defeat enemies. Although Raiden's main weapon is his high-frequency blade, Raiden can wield weapons such as a dagger or a rocket launcher. Other subweapons can only be obtained after defeating the game's bosses; the game's cutting system allows players to engage in melee combat, as well as to slash enemies and objects at will along a geometrical plane using the "free slicing" Blade Mode. Any object in the game can be cut, including vehicles and enemies, though elements of the environment were intentionally limited to structures such as pillars and walls to better facilitate the game. Entering Blade Mode produces a special targeting reticule in the form of a transparent blue plane which can be rotated and moved, tracing orange lines across the surfaces of objects to indicate where they will be cut.

These features can be employed strategically, for example disabling opponents, finding weak points and gaps in armor, severing support columns to collapse ceilings or walls onto enemies, deflecting enemy fire, or cutting through objects to remove enemy cover. However, entering into Blade Mode reduces Raiden's energy to the point that if dropped to a certain level, it cannot be used. Throughout the story the player obtains the Ripper Mode, a state which enhances Raiden's power for a limited time facilitating the use of Blade Mode. Raiden has the ability to parry attacks when his back is turned, allowing him to counterattack enemies and perform multiple combos; the player has access to a stealth mode called "Ninja Run" which drastically increases Raiden's speed and allows him to climb certain areas. This allows him to strategically ambush an enemy rather than fighting head to head. Another key feature is called Zandatsu, involves "cutting" through enemies and "taking" parts, ammunition and information from the bodies of dismembered cyborgs and robots.

This maneuver can be employed when attacking an enemy during Blade Mode and helps Raiden gain energy. When completing a mission, the player will be rewarded with a specific number of points depending on his or her performance and will receive a grade, with the highest being "S"; these points allow them to buy upgrades for Raiden's equipment. The player can carry out reconnaissance using a visor. Through this, the player can verify the areas and proceed to the objective avoiding contact with enemies. Hiding in a cardboard box makes sneaking easier for Raiden. Being spotted by an enemy triggers the "Alert Mode", in which Raiden is assaulted by multiple enemies for a determined time; the player gains assistance from Bladewolf, a dog-like machine that gathers map information for Raiden. The events of Metal Gear Rising are set in the year 2018, four years after the events of Guns of the Patriots; the Patriots, a powerful shadow organization running the world's war economy, have been destroyed and Private Military Companies have splintered into numerous factions.

With the elimination of the Patriot-controlled nanomachine technology used to regulate soldiers' abilities, PMCs turn to advanced cyborg technology, creating durable superhuman soldiers. The player controls Raiden

Robert A. Schommer was an American observational astronomer, he was a professor at Rutgers University and a project scientist for the U. S. office of the Gemini Observatory Project at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. He was known from stellar populations to cosmology. Schommer was born in Illinois to Harvey and Bea Schommer, he received a B. A. in Physics from the University of Chicago in 1970 and a Ph. D. in Astronomy from the University of Washington in 1977, where he continued for one year as instructor. Following two years in seminary college in Chicago, he held postdoctoral positions at Caltech, the Hale Observatories, the University of Chicago, Cambridge University before joining the Department of Physics at the State University of New Jersey, he became unhappy with the department's unwillingness to support astronomy, in 1990 he moved to CTIO in Chile where he remained until his death in 2001. Schommer carried out some of the first charge-coupled device imaging studies of Large Magellanic Cloud star clusters, published in a paper on what is now called the "short distance" to the LMC.

His work on star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds and the galaxy M33 were fundamental in providing a basis for our understanding of the chemical histories of those galaxies. Schommer was an active member of the High-z Supernova Search Team and co-authored their 1998 paper arguing that we live in an accelerating universe with a cosmological constant. In honor of this work, he was awarded the AURA Science Achievement Award in 1999. Schommer worked on clusters of galaxies and their use in establishing the extragalactic distance scale. In his final year at CTIO, Schommer took over the management of the U. S. Gemini Project Office as Project Scientist, he was an advocate for a strong national observatory that would allow U. S. astronomers access to ground-based facilities. At the time of his death, Schommer was in the process of moving to Tucson, Arizona to establish a U. S. Gemini Science Center and a remote observing facility. Schommer committed suicide in La Serena, Chile, on December 12, 2001, he was survived by his wife Iris Labra and three children Paulina and Robert.

Following his death, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy established the Schommer Children's Fund to assist the Schommer family in meeting the future educational expenses of their children. Asteroid 12514 Schommer Robert A. Schommer Observatory Robert A. Schommer Prize