1.
Sega
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Nonetheless, Sega remains the worlds most prolific arcade producer, with over 500 games in over 70 franchises on more than 20 different arcade system boards since 1981. Sega, along with their sub-studios, are known for their multi-million selling game franchises, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Virtua Fighter, Phantasy Star, Yakuza, Segas head offices are located in Tokyo. Segas North American division, Sega of America, is headquartered in Irvine, California, Segas European division, Sega Europe, is headquartered in London. After the war, the founders sold that company and established a new distributor called Service Games and this company provided coin-operated slot machines to U. S. bases in Japan and changed its name again to Service Games of Japan by 1953. David Rosen, an American officer in the United States Air Force stationed in Japan and this company eventually became Rosen Enterprises, and in 1957, began importing coin-operated games to Japan. On May 31,1960, Service Games Japan was closed, Three days later, two new companies were established to take over its business activities, Nihon Goraku Bussan and Nihon Kikai Seizo. By 1965, Rosen Enterprises grew to a chain of over 200 arcades, Rosen then orchestrated a merger between Rosen Enterprises and Nihon Goraku Bussan, becoming chief executive of the new company, Sega Enterprises, which derived its name from Service Games. Within a year, Sega began the transition from importer to manufacturer, with the release of the submarine simulator game, the game sported light and sound effects considered innovative for that time, eventually becoming quite successful in Japan. It was soon exported to both Europe and the United States, becoming the first arcade game in the US to cost 25 cents per play, in 1969, Rosen sold Sega to American conglomerate Gulf and Western Industries, although he remained as CEO following the sale. Under Rosens leadership, Sega continued to grow and prosper, and in 1974, Gulf and Western made Sega Enterprises, a subsidiary of an American company renamed Sega Enterprises, Inc. allowing them to take the companys stock public. Sega prospered heavily from the gaming boom of the late 1970s. In 1982, Segas revenues surpassed $214 million and that year they introduced the first game with isometric graphics, Zaxxon, the industrys first stereoscopic 3D game, SubRoc 3D, and the first laserdisc video game, Astron Belt. Astron Belt wasnt released in the U. S. until 1983, other notable games from Sega during this period are Head On, Monaco GP, Carnival, Turbo, Space Fury, Astro Blaster, and Pengo. In 1983-4, Sega published Atari 2600 versions of some of its arcade games, Carnival, Space Fury, Turbo, and Zaxxon were licensed to Coleco as launch titles for the ColecoVision console in 1982. Some of these and other titles were licensed to different companies for 8-bit computer versions, the Atari 8-bit computer port of Zaxxon is from Datasoft, for example, while the Commodore 64 port is from Synapse. An overabundance of games in 1983 led to the game crash. Seeking an alternate source of revenue from the arcade market, Sega designed and released its first home video game console. G&W sold the U. S. assets of Sega Enterprises that same year to pinball manufacturer Bally Manufacturing, nakayama became the new CEO of Sega, Robert Deith chairman of the board, and Rosen became head of its subsidiary in the United States
2.
Hirokazu Yasuhara
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Hirokazu Yasuhara is a Japanese video game designer. He is best known for designing the gameplay and stages of the initial Sonic the Hedgehog video games for Sega Genesis in the 1990s, based on technical demos, Yasuhara stayed with Sega until the late 1990s. He then joined Naughty Dog, working on the Jak and Daxter series and Uncharted, Drakes Fortune and he was the senior design director at Namco Bandai Games America. In April 2012, Yasuhara joined Nintendo where he accepted a position at the Nintendo Software Technology division, donkey Kong, Tipping Stars — Special thanks Mini Mario & Friends, Amiibo Challenge – Special thanks
3.
Yuji Naka
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Since 2006, he has been the head of Prope, a game company he founded after leaving Sonic Team that same year. Naka learned how to program by replicating and debugging video game code printed in magazines, the experience prompted him to study assemblers and practice writing code during his school classes. After graduating high school, Naka decided to skip university and stay in his home town, around 1983, Naka saw that Sega was looking for programming assistants and decided to apply. After a brief interview, he was hired and his first project was a game called Girls Garden and their boss was impressed and decided to publish the game, and it earned them notice among their peers and Japanese gamers. After the release of Sonic & Knuckles, Naka was moved up to the role of producer at Sega Enterprises in Japan, during his tenure in that position, he oversaw titles including Nights into Dreams. On March 16,2006, Naka announced that he intended to create his own studio, Prope. Naka stated that he considered it a benefit to be able to create games other than Sonic the Hedgehog titles, following Naoto Ohshimas and Hirokazu Yasuharas departure by 2002, Naka was the final member of the original creative core that created Sonic the Hedgehog to leave Sega. Girls Garden — Game Designer, Programmer Spy vs, — Designer Fishing Resort — Creator StreetPass Mansion/Monster Manor — Producer Hi-sCoool. SeHa Girls — Voice actor Rodea the Sky Soldier — Producer Official Prope website Sonic Team Speaks Segas Yuji Naka Talks, Yuji Naka On New Beginnings At His Studio, Prope Life after Sega, The Sonic creator talks about being free of the hedgehog
4.
Video game programmer
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A game programmer is a software engineer, programmer, or computer scientist who primarily develops codebases for video games or related software, such as game development tools. Game programming has many specialized disciplines, all of which fall under the term of game programmer. A game programmer should not be confused with a game designer, in the early days of video games, a game programmer also took on the job of a designer and artist. This was generally because the abilities of computers were so limited that having specialized personnel for each function was unnecessary. Technology has advanced to such a degree that contemporary games usually boast 3D graphics. Nowadays, the term programmer art has come to imply the kind of bright colors. The desire for adding depth and assets to games necessitated a division of labor. Initially, art production was relegated to full-time artists, next game programming became a separate discipline from game design. Now, only games, such as the puzzle game Bejeweled, are simple enough to require just one full-time programmer. Despite this division, however, most game developers have some say in the design of contemporary games. Each aspect of the game can consume all of one time and, in many cases. Some programmers may specialize in one area of programming. The number of programmers needed for each feature depends somewhat on programmers skills, Game engine programmers create the base engine of the game, including the simulated physics and graphics disciplines. Increasingly, video games use existing game engines, either commercial and they are often customized for a particular game, and these programmers handle these modifications. A games physics programmer is dedicated to developing the physics a game will employ, typically, a game will only simulate a few aspects of real-world physics. For example, a game may need simulated gravity. Since processing cycles are always at a premium, physics programmers may employ shortcuts that are computationally inexpensive, in other cases, unrealistic physics are employed to allow easier gameplay or for dramatic effect. Sometimes, a subset of situations is specified and the physical outcome of such situations are stored in a record of some sort and are never computed at runtime at all
5.
Video game music
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Video game music is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was limited to simple melodies of early sound synthesizer technology. With advances in technology, video game music has now grown to include the same breadth and complexity associated with television and film scores, while simple synthesizer pieces are still common, game music now includes full orchestral pieces and popular music. Music in video games can be heard over a title screen, options menu. Today’s soundtracks can also change depending on a player’s actions or situation, Video game music can be one of two options, original or licensed. In order to create or collect this music, teams of composers, music directors, today, original composition has included the work of film composers Harry Gregson-Williams, Trent Reznor, Hans Zimmer, Josh Mancell, Steve Jablonsky, and Michael Giacchino. The popularity of game music has expanded education and job opportunities, generated awards. At the time video games had emerged as a form of entertainment in the late 1970s, music was stored on physical medium in analog waveforms such as compact cassettes. Such components were expensive and prone to breakage under heavy use making them less ideal for use in an arcade cabinet, though in rare cases. Sound effects for the games were also generated in this fashion, an early example of such an approach to video game music was the opening chiptune in Tomohiro Nishikados Gun Fight. The first game to use a background soundtrack was Tomohiro Nishikados Space Invaders. It had four descending chromatic bass notes repeating in a loop, though it was dynamic and interacted with the player, the first video game to feature continuous, melodic background music was Rally-X, released by Namco in 1980, featuring a simple tune that repeats continuously during gameplay. The decision to any music into a video game meant that at some point it would have to be transcribed into computer code by a programmer, whether or not the programmer had musical experience. Some music was original, some was public domain music such as folk songs, Sound capabilities were limited, the popular Atari 2600 home system, for example, was capable of generating only two tones, or notes, at a time. As advances were made in technology and costs fell, a definitively new generation of arcade machines. This was further improved upon by Namcos 1982 arcade game Dig Dug, Dig Dug was composed by Yuriko Keino, who also composed the music for other Namco games such as Xevious and Phozon. Home console systems also had an upgrade in sound ability beginning with the ColecoVision in 1982 capable of four channels. However, more notable was the Japanese release of the Famicom in 1983 which was released in the US as the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985
6.
Jun Senoue
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Jun Senoue is a Japanese video game composer and musician who works for Sega, known for his various contributions in the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series. He is also the songwriter and lead guitarist for the band Crush 40, Senoue started playing the piano at the age of three, whilst living in Japan. After moving to Panama at the age of 12, he dedicated to rock music after being exposed to MTV. He began to teach himself to play the guitar at the age of 15. After graduating from college with a degree in economics from Aoyama Gakuin University in 1993, Senoue sent demo tapes to Namco and Sega and his first project with the company was on Dark Wizard, where he arranged a medley of the games music for the staff roll. After that, he wrote a few pieces of music and jingles for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the games success lead to his name becoming known worldwide, as well as him being promoted to the sound director of the series. Also in 2007, Senoue choose to arrange and perform Angel Island Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for Super Smash Bros, in 2009, Senoue announced a compilation album titled The Works. Containing only three Sonic related songs, it features more obscure works he provided for other games. The album was released on October 21,2009, more recently, Senoue worked as the sound director, composer, and arranger for Sonic the Hedgehog 4, Episode I, Episode II, and Sonic Generations. At the Sonic Appreciation festival at Joypolis in December 2015, Senoue announced a sequel to The Works, the album was released on February 24,2016. The band created several songs from the Sonic the Hedgehog series by Sega, gioeli co-wrote the lyrics for the Sonic the Hedgehog theme song His World, and Crush 40 performed their own version of the song, featured as a bonus track on the games vocal track soundtrack. They also recorded a cover of Sonic Boom, the theme of the North American version of Sonic CD. In October 2008, Crush 40 took the stage at the Tokyo Game Show to perform some of their most popular Sonic based songs in front of an audience for the first time. Gioeli and Senoue have since created a YouTube account and uploaded video footage of the event, in 2009, a new Crush 40 album was released titled The Best of Crush 40, Super Sonic Songs. The compilation contained most of the bands Sonic releases, as well as a mixture of old tracks from NASCAR Arcade, in August 2010, Crush 40 performed at the Summer of Sonic convention in London, marking their first full-length performance and first performance outside Japan. In 2012, the performed at two conventions, at the Summer of Sonic in Brighton and at the Sonic Boom event in San Diego during the Comic-Con. The band released their first live album in October 2012, titled Live, which featured songs from their concerts in Tokyo. In August 2013, the band performed in St. Louis for the Sonic Boom 2013 event, and also performed at the 2015 Youmacon in Detroit
7.
Sonic the Hedgehog
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Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game franchise created and produced by Sega. The franchise centers on a series of speed-based platform games, the protagonist of the series is an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog named Sonic, whose peaceful life is often interrupted by the series main antagonist, Doctor Eggman. Typically, Sonic—usually along with some of his friends, such as Tails, Amy, the first game in the series, released in 1991, was conceived by Segas Sonic Team division after Sega requested a mascot character. The title was a success, it spawned many sequels, by 2016, the series had sold over 80 million physical copies of games, and over 350 million units when combining packaged game software with mobile phone downloads. Almost all games in the feature a blue hedgehog named Sonic as the central player character. The games detail Sonic and his allies attempt to save the world from various threats, primarily the evil genius Dr. Ivo Eggman Robotnik, Robotniks aim is to rule the world, to achieve this, he usually attempts to destroy Sonic and to acquire the powerful Chaos Emeralds. The game focused Sonics ability to run and to jump at high speeds with the use of springs, checkpoints, and loops. Its sequel, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, a game released in 1992, increased the overall size. The game introduced Sonics sidekick, Miles Tails Prower, who followed Sonic throughout the game and this game also added Sonics spin dash maneuver, which allowed Sonic to boost forwards quickly from a complete standstill, unlike the previous title, where Sonic could only gain speed with momentum. The next sequel, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, was a platform game in the Sonic series released in 1994. The game introduced a temporary shield maneuver, added new types to the series. It also introduced a new character, Knuckles the Echidna, who served as an additional antagonist with Doctor Robotnik for the game, Sonic & Knuckles, another platform game in the Sonic series, was released later in 1994. This allowed gamers to play the game as it was intended, the games were intended to be one title. There were several Sonic games for the Genesis that were not 2D platform games, Sonic Spinball, released in 1993, was a pinball simulation modeled after the Spring Yard and Casino Night Zones from the first two Sonic games. The game, unlike general pinball simulations, had a goal of collecting all the Chaos Emeralds in each level. It was one of the few games that had elements from the cartoons Sonic the Hedgehog. Dr. Robotniks Mean Bean Machine was a game similar to Puyo Puyo that was set in the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog universe. The Sega Genesis had add-on systems that incorporated Sonic titles, Sonic CD, released for the Sega CD, was a 2D platform game released in 1993
8.
Computing platform
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Computing platform means in general sense, where any piece of software is executed. It may be the hardware or the system, even a web browser or other application. The term computing platform can refer to different abstraction levels, including a hardware architecture, an operating system. In total it can be said to be the stage on which programs can run. For example, an OS may be a platform that abstracts the underlying differences in hardware, platforms may also include, Hardware alone, in the case of small embedded systems. Embedded systems can access hardware directly, without an OS, this is referred to as running on bare metal, a browser in the case of web-based software. The browser itself runs on a platform, but this is not relevant to software running within the browser. An application, such as a spreadsheet or word processor, which hosts software written in a scripting language. This can be extended to writing fully-fledged applications with the Microsoft Office suite as a platform, software frameworks that provide ready-made functionality. Cloud computing and Platform as a Service, the social networking sites Twitter and facebook are also considered development platforms. A virtual machine such as the Java virtual machine, applications are compiled into a format similar to machine code, known as bytecode, which is then executed by the VM. A virtualized version of a system, including virtualized hardware, OS, software. These allow, for instance, a typical Windows program to run on what is physically a Mac, some architectures have multiple layers, with each layer acting as a platform to the one above it. In general, a component only has to be adapted to the layer immediately beneath it, however, the JVM, the layer beneath the application, does have to be built separately for each OS
9.
Sega Genesis
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The Sega Genesis, known as the Mega Drive in most regions outside of North America, is a 16-bit home video game console which was developed and sold by Sega Enterprises, Ltd. The Genesis was Segas third console and the successor to the Master System, Sega first released the console as the Mega Drive in Japan in 1988, followed by a North American debut under the Genesis moniker in 1989. In 1990, the console was distributed as the Mega Drive by Virgin Mastertronic in Europe, by Ozisoft in Australasia, in South Korea, the systems were distributed by Samsung and were known as the Super Gam*Boy, and later the Super Aladdin Boy. The system supports a library of more than 900 games created both by Sega and an array of third-party publishers and delivered on ROM-based cartridges. It can play Master System games when the separately sold Power Base Converter is inserted, the Genesis has benefited from several peripherals and network services, as well as multiple first-party and third-party variations of the console that focus on extending its functionality. Controversy surrounding violent titles such as Night Trap and Mortal Kombat led Sega to create the Videogame Rating Council, Sega sold 30.75 million units worldwide. The console and its games continue to be popular among fans, game music fans, collectors. As of 2015, licensed third party re-releases of the console are being sold by AtGames in North America and Europe. Many games have been re-released in compilations for newer consoles and offered for download on online services, such as the Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network. The Genesis was succeeded by the Sega Saturn, in the early 1980s, Sega Enterprises, Inc. then a subsidiary of Gulf & Western, was one of the top five arcade game manufacturers active in the United States, as company revenues rose to $214 million. The company retained Segas North American R&D operation, as well as its Japanese subsidiary, Sega Enterprises, with its arcade business in decline, Gulf & Western executives turned to Sega Enterprises, Ltd. s president, Hayao Nakayama, for advice on how to proceed. Nakayama received permission to proceed with project, leading to the release of Segas first home video game system. The SG-1000 was not successful, and was replaced by the Sega Mark III within two years, Nakayama was then installed as CEO of the new Sega Enterprises, Ltd. In 1986, Sega redesigned the Mark III for release in North America as the Sega Master System and this was followed by a European release the next year. In 1987, Sega faced another threat to its business when Japanese computer giant NEC released the PC Engine amid great publicity. First announced in June 1988 in Beep, a Japanese gaming magazine, the developing console was referred to as the Mark V, but Sega management felt the need for a stronger name. After reviewing more than 300 proposals, the settled on Mega Drive. In North America, the name of the console was changed to Genesis, the reason for this change is not known, but it may have been due to a trademark dispute
10.
Microsoft Windows
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Microsoft Windows is a metafamily of graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Microsoft. It consists of families of operating systems, each of which cater to a certain sector of the computing industry with the OS typically associated with IBM PC compatible architecture. Active Windows families include Windows NT, Windows Embedded and Windows Phone, defunct Windows families include Windows 9x, Windows 10 Mobile is an active product, unrelated to the defunct family Windows Mobile. Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20,1985, Microsoft Windows came to dominate the worlds personal computer market with over 90% market share, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced in 1984. Apple came to see Windows as an encroachment on their innovation in GUI development as implemented on products such as the Lisa. On PCs, Windows is still the most popular operating system, however, in 2014, Microsoft admitted losing the majority of the overall operating system market to Android, because of the massive growth in sales of Android smartphones. In 2014, the number of Windows devices sold was less than 25% that of Android devices sold and this comparison however may not be fully relevant, as the two operating systems traditionally target different platforms. As of September 2016, the most recent version of Windows for PCs, tablets, smartphones, the most recent versions for server computers is Windows Server 2016. A specialized version of Windows runs on the Xbox One game console, Microsoft, the developer of Windows, has registered several trademarks each of which denote a family of Windows operating systems that target a specific sector of the computing industry. It now consists of three operating system subfamilies that are released almost at the time and share the same kernel. Windows, The operating system for personal computers, tablets. The latest version is Windows 10, the main competitor of this family is macOS by Apple Inc. for personal computers and Android for mobile devices. Windows Server, The operating system for server computers, the latest version is Windows Server 2016. Unlike its clients sibling, it has adopted a strong naming scheme, the main competitor of this family is Linux. Windows PE, A lightweight version of its Windows sibling meant to operate as an operating system, used for installing Windows on bare-metal computers. The latest version is Windows PE10.0.10586.0, Windows Embedded, Initially, Microsoft developed Windows CE as a general-purpose operating system for every device that was too resource-limited to be called a full-fledged computer. The following Windows families are no longer being developed, Windows 9x, Microsoft now caters to the consumers market with Windows NT. Windows Mobile, The predecessor to Windows Phone, it was a mobile operating system
11.
Australasia
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Australasia, a region of Oceania, comprises Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. Charles de Brosses coined the term in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes and he derived it from the Latin for south of Asia and differentiated the area from Polynesia and the southeast Pacific. The bulk of Australasia sits on the Indo-Australian Plate, together with India, physiographically, Australasia includes New Zealand, Australia, and Melanesia, New Guinea and neighbouring islands north and east of Australia in the Pacific Ocean. The designation is applied to all the lands and islands of the Pacific Ocean lying between the equator and latitude 47° south. Most of Australasia lies on the portion of the Indo-Australian Plate, flanked by the Indian Ocean to the west. Sometimes the term encompasses the island of New Guinea. Many organisations whose names include the prefix Australasian Society of, limit their scope of operation to just Australia and New Zealand. In the past, Australasia has been used as a name for combined Australia/New Zealand sporting teams, examples include tennis between 1905 and 1915, when New Zealand and Australia combined to compete in the Davis Cup international tournament, and at the Olympic Games of 1908 and 1912. From an ecological perspective the Australasia ecozone forms a region with a common geologic and evolutionary history. In this context, Australasia is limited to Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, New Caledonia, the Wallace Line marks the biological divide from the Indomalaya ecozone of tropical Asia – Borneo and Bali lie on the western, Asian side. These three land masses have been separated from other continents, and from one another, for millions of years, all of Australasia shares the Antarctic flora, although the northern, tropical islands also share many plants with Southeast Asia. Mainland Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania are separated from one another by shallow continental shelves and they share a similar fauna which includes marsupial and monotreme mammals and ratite birds. Eucalypts are the predominant trees in much of Australia and New Guinea, New Zealand has no extant native land mammals aside from bats, but also had ratite birds, including the kiwi and the extinct moa. Media related to Australasia at Wikimedia Commons
12.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
13.
North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
14.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
15.
Platform game
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A platform game is a video game which involves guiding an avatar to jump between suspended platforms and/or over obstacles to advance the game. The player controls the jumps to avoid letting the avatar fall from platforms or miss necessary jumps, the most common unifying element of games of this genre is the jump button, but now there are other alternative like swiping in touchscreen. Jumping, in genre, may include swinging from extendable arms, as in Ristar or Bionic Commando, or bouncing from springboards or trampolines. These mechanics, even in the context of genres, are commonly called platforming. Games where jumping is automated completely, such as 3D games in The Legend of Zelda series, Platform games originated in the early 1980s, with 3D successors popularized in the mid-1990s. The term itself describes games where jumping on platforms is an part of the gameplay and came into use after the genre had been established. While commonly associated with gaming, there have been many important platform games released to video arcades, as well as for handheld game consoles. North America, Europe and Japan have played major parts in the genres evolution, Platform themes range from cartoon-like games to science fiction and fantasy epics. At one point, platform games were the most popular genre of video game, at the peak of their popularity, it is estimated that between one-quarter and one-third of console games were platformers. No genre either before or since has been able to achieve a market share. Since 2010, a variety of endless running platformers for mobile devices have brought renewed popularity to the genre, Platform games originated in the early 1980s. Because of the limitations of the day, early examples were confined to a static playing field. Space Panic, a 1980 arcade release by Universal, is credited as being the first platform game. While the player had the ability to fall, there was no ability to jump, swing, or bounce, however, it clearly influenced the genre, with gameplay centered on climbing ladders between different floors, a common element in many early platform games. Another precursor to the genre released that year was Nichibutsus Crazy Climber. Donkey Kong, a game created by Nintendo and released in July 1981, was the first game that allowed players to jump over obstacles and across gaps. Donkey Kong had an amount of platforming in its first two screens, but its last two screens had a more pronounced platform jumping component. This game also introduced Mario, an icon of the genre
16.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
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Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a platform video game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega. The fourth main game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, it was released for the Sega Genesis worldwide in February 1994, following the events of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Dr. Robotniks spaceship, the Death Egg, crash-lands on a mysterious floating island. There, Sonic and Tails must once more retrieve the Chaos Emeralds to stop Death Egg from relaunching, while making rounds with the islands guardian, development of Sonic 3 began shortly after the release of Sonic 2 in late 1992. The Sonic & Knuckles cartridge features lock-on technology that allows it to be attached to the Sonic 3 cartridge, creating a combined game. The game is notable for the alleged musical contributions from American pop musician. As with its two predecessors, Sonic 3 was a critical and commercial success, with critics seeing it as an improvement over previous installments, Sonic 3 is a 2D side-scrolling platformer. At the games start, players can choose to select Sonic, Tails, in the latter choice, players control Sonic while Tails runs along beside him, a second player can join in at any time and control Tails separately. Sonic 3 adds the ability for Tails to fly for a time by spinning his twin tails like a propeller. Unlike Sonic, Tails can also swim underwater, the game takes place over six zones, each divided into two acts. Levels are populated with Robotniks robots, called badniks, Sonic and Tails can defeat badniks by jumping on them or using the spin dash attack, which also gives the character a speed boost. The levels include obstacles and other such as vertical loops, corkscrews, breakable walls, spikes, water that the player can drown in. There is a fight with one of Robotniks large, powerful robots at the end of the first act of each level. Reaching a new level saves the game to one of six save slots. Dying with zero lives gives the player a game over, the game contains two types of special stages. When the player collects at least 50 rings and passes a checkpoint, they can warp to the first type, both sides of the corridor are lined with flippers, which disappear when the character bounces on them, and the switch drops when both flippers supporting it are removed. The corridors floor contains a bounce pad, which disappears after one use. The second type, triggered by entering giant rings found in secret passages, involves running around a 3D map and passing through all of a number of blue spheres arranged in patterns. Removing all of the spheres gives the player a Chaos Emerald, if Sonic collects all seven, he can become Super Sonic at will
17.
Sonic the Hedgehog (character)
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Sonic is a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog who has the ability to run at supersonic speeds and the ability to curl into a ball, primarily to attack enemies. Throughout the course of the games, Sonic most commonly has to race through levels, collect power up rings and survive against a host of natural obstacles. While many individuals at Sega had a hand in Sonics creation, programmer Yuji Naka, the first game was released on June 23,1991, to provide Sega with a mascot to rival Nintendos flagship character Mario. Since then, Sonic has become one of the worlds best-known video game characters, in 2005, Sonic was one of the first game character inductees into the Walk of Game alongside Mario and Link. Many results came forth from their experiments with character design, including an armadillo, a dog, a Theodore Roosevelt look-alike in pajamas, eventually, Naoto Ohshimas spiky teal hedgehog, initially codenamed Mr. Needlemouse, was chosen as the new mascot. Sonic was created without the ability to swim because of an assumption by Yuji Naka that all hedgehogs could not do so. A group of fifteen people started working on the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, the games soundtrack was composed by Masato Nakamura of the band Dreams Come True. Sega sponsored the groups Wonder 3 tour, painting Sonic on the bus, distributing pamphlets advertising the game. The original concepts gave Sonic fangs and put him in a band with a girlfriend named Madonna. However, a team from Sega of America, led by Madeline Schroeder and this sparked a heated issue with Sonic Team. Naka later admitted that it was probably for the best, Sonics appearance varies greatly depending on the medium and the style in which he is drawn. In the video games, Sonics original design by Oshima was short and round, with quills, a round body. Artwork featuring this design and drawn by Akira Watanabe was displayed on the artwork for Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonics proportions would change for the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Mega Drive, Sonics head to height ratio was changed from 1,2 to 1,2.5. For the 1998 release of Sonic Adventure, Sonic was redesigned by Yuji Uekawa as a character with longer legs and a spherical body, longer and more drooping quills. For the 2006 game, Sonic was redesigned to make him look adult-like and this was also done because Sonic would interact with humans more often and his design was supposed to fit. An alternative Werehog form was introduced in Sonic Unleashed, placing emphasis on Sonics melee skills rather than speed. Although Tetsu Katano acknowledged the large negative fan response to the Werehog, different actors have provided Sonics voice in his game appearances
18.
Knuckles the Echidna
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Knuckles the Echidna is a fictional character in Segas Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games. He is a red echidna who is determined and serious. He can glide and climb up walls, and is a fighter due to his spiked hands. He serves as the guardian of the Master Emerald, a gemstone that controls the series integral Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles debuted as an antagonist in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in 1994, Doctor Eggman tricks him into opposing Sonic and he first became playable in Sonic & Knuckles later that year, he learns of Eggmans trickery and teams up with Sonic during that games events. Since then he has appeared in dozens of playable and non-playable roles, as well as in series of comic books, Western animated television. His likeness has appeared in Sonic merchandise. During conception of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the development team wanted to create a new rival for Sonic, the final design of Knuckles was the result of dozens of possible designs inspired by numerous different animals. The emphasis of the character was to break walls and he was originally planned to have a Jamaican accent and a name called Dreds referring to his dreadlocks. Knuckles was created by developer Takashi Yuda, who never intended him to be any more than a supporting character, Knuckles was introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 as an intimidator because of his powerful abilities. He was given a role in the next game, Sonic & Knuckles. Knuckles is a 16-year-old red anthropomorphic echidna, the only living descendant of a clan of echidnas. For many years, his clan guarded a giant gemstone called the Master Emerald, as such, Knuckles has spent most of his life atop a floating island called Angel Island, guarding the Emerald from harm. He has grown up fairly introverted as a result, Knuckles has a serious, determined personality, described as keeping cool in combat. However, he loses his composure and gets in fights with other characters. He is depicted as somewhat gullible and very rash, especially when angered and he has often been tricked by Doctor Eggman, but is stated in one game manual to have become more skeptical of him. He can also glide long distances by trapping air under his dreadlocks, unlike Sonic, Knuckles is able to swim. As is typical among Sonic characters, Knuckles can roll into a ball to attack enemies and he also has an empowered super form, using the Chaos Emeralds allows him to transform into Super Knuckles
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Doctor Eggman
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Doctor Ivo Eggman Robotnik is a fictional video game character and the main antagonist of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, created by Sega. His original character designer was Naoto Ohshima, who created him as one of many character designs for the companys new mascot. In main line of games, Dr. Eggman is a rotund mad scientist who plans to conquer the world in order to build his own Eggman Empire. Eggman possesses ability of creating machines and robots, as notably in early games, Dr. Dr. Eggman has also been very well received by critics and fans alike, while remaining as one of the most popular and recognizable villains in gaming. In April 1990, Sega commissioned its AM8 R&D department to create a character who would replace Alex Kidd as the mascot, as well as compete against Nintendos flagship character. The idea of a character became the basis of the visual design for Eggman. The character was designed to be easy for children to draw. It wasnt until 1999s Sonic Adventure that the character was called both Eggman and Robotnik in the English version, with all following English releases to date referring to him as Doctor Eggman. Yuji Naka has explained that Robotnik is the true last name while Eggman is a nickname taken after his shape. Despite that, no Japanese language media has ever acknowledged it, Eggman is described as being a certifiable genius with an IQ of 300. His fondness for machines has made him a renowned authority on robotics. Ultimately, his goal is to conquer the world and create his ultimate utopia and he selfishly never gives up on this matter, and does not care for others opinions. He considers those who would interrupt his plans a prime threat and his abominable laughter and maniacal declarations contrast his self-professed softer side. Although Sonic has always ruined his plans, Eggman begrudgingly holds a secret respect for his determination. Several voice actors have portrayed Dr. Eggman in his game appearances and his first voice actor was Masaharu Satō, who portrayed him in the arcade game SegaSonic the Hedgehog. The first video game to star Mike Pollock was Shadow the Hedgehog, Pollock reprises the role in the Sonic Boom animated series. In the Sonic OVA movie, Junpei Takiguchi provided Eggmans voice, Edwin Neal later provided the English dub. The early television cartoon incarnations of Eggman have been voiced by 3 different voice actors, in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Robotnik is voiced by British blues singer Long John Baldry, who coincidentally died the same year as Deem Bristow from a severe chest infection
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Sonic the Hedgehog 2
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Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a platform video game developed and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis console. It was released worldwide in November 1992, the game is the second main entry in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and the first to feature Miles Tails Prower, a flying two-tailed fox. Tails and protagonist Sonic the Hedgehog must stop series antagonist Dr. Ivo Robotnik from stealing the Chaos Emeralds to power his space station, the Death Egg. Development of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 began at the end of 1991 and this game and Sonic the Hedgehog CD were originally part of the same project, but were split into different games early in development. As with the game, the soundtrack was composed by Dreams Come True songwriter Masato Nakamura. The game was a critical and commercial success, selling six million copies. It has since released on several compilations and downloads for various platforms. A remastered version was released on iOS and Android devices in December 2013, two direct sequels, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, were released in 1994. The games premise is similar to that of the original Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonics nemesis, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, is planning world domination through the power of the Chaos Emeralds and an army of robots powered by trapped animals. Specific to this game, hes additionally constructing a space station known as the Death Egg. The events of the game see Sonic and Tails chasing Robotnik through South Island, and eventually up to the Death Egg, pursuing him with Tails biplane, the plane is damaged after being shot at, but Sonic still manages to infiltrate the Death Egg, alone. Once there, he battles a robotic imposter before taking on Robotnik, Sonic manages to defeat the robot and it explodes, damaging the Death Egg and knocking it out of orbit. Sonic falls to the ground and is saved by Tails in the Tornado, if the player has collected all of the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic, in his Super Sonic form, flies alongside it. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a 2D, side-scrolling platform game, the game stars Sonic the Hedgehog and his sidekick, Miles Tails Prower, who is described as having idolized Sonic as a child and wanting to keep up with him. At the games start, the player can select to play as Sonic, Tails. The difference between the two is purely cosmetic, the two both have identical abilities, in the latter mode, players control Sonic while Tails runs along beside him. A second player can join in at any time and control Tails separately, the game takes place over a series of levels, each divided into one, two, or three acts with a boss fight with Robotnik at the end of the last act. Certain levels have features that are unique to them, for example, Emerald Hill has corkscrew-like loops, and Chemical Plant has boost pads that instantly put Sonic at his top speed
21.
ROM cartridge
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ROM cartridges can be used to load software such as video games or other application programs. The cartridge slot could also be used for additions, for example speech synthesis. Some cartridges had battery-backed static random-access memory, allowing a user to save data such as game progress or scores between uses, an advantage for the manufacturer was the relative security of the software in cartridge form, which was difficult for end users to replicate. However, cartridges were expensive to manufacture compared to making a floppy disk or CD-ROM, as disk drives became more common and software expanded beyond the practical limits of ROM size, cartridge slots disappeared from later game consoles and personal computers. Cartridges are still used today with handheld gaming consoles such as the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, due to its widespread usage for video gaming, ROM cartridges were often colloquially referred to as a game cartridge. ROM cartridges were popularized by early home computers which featured a special bus port for the insertion of cartridges containing software in ROM. Notable computers using cartridges in addition to magnetic media were the Commodore VIC-20 and 64, MSX standard, the Atari 8-bit family, the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, some arcade system boards, such as Capcoms CP System and SNKs Neo Geo, also used ROM cartridges. The modern take on game cartridges was invented by Jerry Lawson as part of the Fairchild Channel F home console in 1976, the cartridge approach gained more popularity with the Atari 2600 released the following year. From the late 1970s to mid-1990s, the majority of video game systems were cartridge-based. As compact disc technology came to be used widely for data storage, Nintendo remained the lone hold-out, using cartridges for their Nintendo 64 system, the company did not transition to optical media until 2001s GameCube. SNK still released games on the cartridge based Neo Geo until 2004, ROM cartridges can not only carry software, but additional hardware expansion as well. Examples include the Super FX coprocessor chip in some Super NES game paks, micro Machines 2 on the Genesis/Mega Drive used a custom J-Cart cartridge design by Codemasters which incorporated two additional gamepad ports. This allowed players to have up to four gamepads connected to the console without the need for an additional multi-controller adapter, the ROM cartridge slot principle continues in various mobile devices, thanks to the development of high density low-cost flash memory. For example, a GPS navigation device might allow user updates of maps by inserting a memory chip into an expansion slot. An E-book reader can store the text of several books on a flash chip. Personal computers may allow the user to boot and install a system off a USB flash drive instead of CD ROM or floppy disks. Digital cameras with flash drive slots allow users to exchange cards when full. Storing software on ROM cartridges has a number of advantages over other methods of storage like floppy disks, software run directly from ROM typically uses less RAM, leaving memory free for other processes
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Xbox Live Arcade
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Xbox Live Arcade is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsofts digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from major publishers and independent game developers. Titles range from classic console and arcade games, to new games designed from the ground up for the service. Games available through the XBLA service range from $5–20 in price, prior to the Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade was the name for an online distribution network on the original Xbox, which was replaced by the Xbox Live Marketplace. The Xbox Live Arcade service was announced on May 12,2004, at Microsofts E3 press conference by Bill Gates and launched on December 3,2004. The XBLA software was obtained by ordering it on Microsofts website and it was sent by mail on a disc that also contained a free version of the Ms. Pac-Man video game. Once connected to Xbox Live, customers could purchase additional titles by using a credit card, prices for the games range from $4.99 to $14.99. On November 22,2005, XBLA was relaunched on the Xbox 360, the service was integrated into the main Dashboard user interface, and the Xbox 360 hard drives were bundled with a free copy of Hexic HD. Every Arcade title on the Xbox 360 supports leaderboards, has 200 Achievement points and they also have a trial version available for free download. These demos are playable and most of them only a fraction of the levels, modes. A full version of the game must be purchased to allow the user to upload scores to the leaderboards, unlock achievements, play online multiplayer, and download bonus content. The original size limit imposed by Microsoft for Xbox Live Arcade games was 50MB, the limit has since been changed to 150MB, then 350MB, and now 2GB, the latter of which is a technical limitation of the system. On September 12,2012 the 2GB limit was raised to a number with two titles, Red Johnsons Chronicles and Double Dragon Neon weighing at 2. 68GB and 2. 24GB. On July 12,2006, Microsoft launched the Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays program, when that summer ended, Microsoft announced that new titles for XBLA would also be released on Wednesdays. In order to promote the service in retail, Microsoft released Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged Volume 1 as a disc of six games. On October 18,2007, Microsoft announced the Xbox 360 Arcade console SKU which includes versions of Boom Boom Rocket, Feeding Frenzy, Luxor 2, Pac-Man Championship Edition. Furthermore, Microsoft created an internal games studio to create high quality digital content for XBLA, on July 30,2008, Microsoft announced the XBLA Summer of Arcade. Another Summer of Arcade began the year on July 22,2009
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Virtual Console
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The Virtual Console lineup consists of titles originally released on past home and handheld consoles. Virtual Console titles have been downloaded over ten million times, the distribution of past games through the Virtual Console is one of Nintendos attempts at preventing software piracy. There were 38 titles of Famicom, Super Famicom, N64, Mega Drive, the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console launched with 7 titles of Game Boy and Game Boy Color. New Virtual Console software is added on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 2, 00PM JST, there were 12 titles total of NES, SNES, N64, and Genesis games available at launch on the Wii Virtual Console for the North American region. Two TurboGrafx-16 titles were added two days later on November 21,2006, the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console launched with 4 titles of Game Boy and Game Boy Color. New releases are added to the Wii Shop Channel and/or Nintendo eShop for Nintendo 3DS at around 12,00 PM EST/9,00 AM PST currently on Thursdays. North America saw its first release of Commodore 64 games on the service on February 23,2009, as of January 26,2017, there are 398 titles for Wii,172 titles for Nintendo 3DS and 267 titles for Wii U available. This later came to reality, and former Japan-only games have appeared on the North American Virtual Console, the first game to be added with such localization was Sin and Punishment from the Nintendo 64. Despite the fact others fit the category, there are currently 25 titles listed under the Import genre with 1 removed, Sin and Punishment, Super Mario Bros. TwinBee, Wonder Boy III, Monster Lair, Pulseman, Secret Command, Street Fighter II, Champion Edition, Castlevania, Rondo of Blood, Ironclad, Ufouria, The Saga and Monster World IV. Furthermore, at least two titles were released without any English translation, and thus only Japanese text is available in these games while Monster World IV was fully translated to English. A total of 17 NES, SNES, N64, Mega Drive, the store updates every Thursday at 12, 00AM CET, in Australia at 9, 00AM and in New Zealand at 11, 00AM AEST. The number of games per update has varied, but is usually 1 or 2. As of December 8,2016, there are 385 titles in Europe and 384 titles in Australia, in March 2007, Hudson released three TurboGrafx games which were not originally released in Europe, Double Dungeons, Dragons Curse, and Battle Lode Runner. Five Hanabi Festivals have been held since, releasing former Japanese and/or North American exclusive titles, there are currently 43 titles listed under the Import genre, in which most of them were released during the campaigns. While the gameplay remains unchanged for all of the classic titles offered for the Virtual Console, as with disc-based games, the Virtual Console service is region-locked—that is, different versions of games are provided to different regions, and game availability may vary from region to region. Nintendo had stated that the Wii Shop Channel would not be used exclusively for retro games and these original games are made available through the WiiWare part of the Wii Shop Channel, as opposed to through the Virtual Console. Satoru Iwata stated in a speech on March 23,2006, that Nintendo, Sega, at E32006, Hudson also declared it would bring upwards of 100 titles to the Wiis Virtual Console
24.
Steam (software)
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Steam is a digital distribution platform developed by Valve Corporation, which offers digital rights management, multiplayer gaming, video streaming and social networking services. Though initially developed for use on Microsoft Windows operating systems, versions for OS X, mobile apps with connected functionality with the main software were later released for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone devices in the 2010s. The Steam platform is considered to be the largest digital platform for PC gaming. By the end of 2015, the service had over 125 million registered accounts, the success of the Steam platform has led to the development of a line of Steam Machine micro-console, as well as SteamOS, a Valve developed fork of the Debian operating system. Valve decided to create a platform that would update automatically and implement stronger anti-piracy. Valve approached several companies, including Microsoft, Yahoo. and RealNetworks to build a client with these features, Steams development began in 2002, with working titles for the platform being Grid and Gazelle. It was first revealed to the public on March 22,2002, at the Game Developers Conference, to demonstrate the ease of integrating Steam with a game, Relic Entertainment created a special version of Impossible Creatures. However, the game was not released on Steam until 2015, Valve partnered with several companies, including AT&T, Acer, and GameSpy Industries. The first mod released on the system was Day of Defeat, the Steam client was first made available for public beta testing in January 2003 during the beta period for Counter-Strike 1.6, for which it was mandatory to install and use. At the time, Steams primary function was streamlining the patch process common in computer games. Steam was a component for all other games. 80, 000–300,000 gamers tested the system when it was in its beta period, the system and website choked under the strain of thousands of users simultaneously attempting to play the latest version of Counter-Strike. In 2004, the World Opponent Network was shut down and replaced by Steam, the online features of games which required World Opponent Network ceased to work unless they were converted to Steam. Around that time, Valve began negotiating contracts with publishers and independent developers to release their products, including Rag Doll Kung Fu and Darwinia. Canadian publisher Strategy First announced in December 2005 that it would partner with Valve for digital distribution of current, in 2002, the managing director of Valve, Gabe Newell, said he was offering mod teams a game engine license and distribution over Steam for US$995. Valves Half-Life 2 was the first game to require installation of the Steam client to play and this decision was met with concerns about software ownership, software requirements, and issues with overloaded servers demonstrated previously by the Counter-Strike rollout. During this time users faced multiple issues attempting to play the game, although digital distribution could not yet match retail volume, profit margins for Valve and developers were far larger on Steam. Large developer-publishers, including id Software, Eidos Interactive, and Capcom, by May that year,13 million accounts had been created on the service, and 150 games were for sale on the platform
25.
2D computer graphics
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2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them. The word may stand for the branch of science that comprises such techniques. This representation is more flexible since it can be rendered at different resolutions to suit different output devices. For these reasons, documents and illustrations are often stored or transmitted as 2D graphic files, 2D computer graphics started in the 1950s, based on vector graphics devices. These were largely supplanted by raster-based devices in the following decades, the PostScript language and the X Window System protocol were landmark developments in the field. 2D graphics models may combine geometric models, digital images, text to be typeset, mathematical functions and equations and these components can be modified and manipulated by two-dimensional geometric transformations such as translation, rotation, scaling. In object-oriented graphics, the image is described indirectly by an object endowed with a self-rendering method—a procedure which assigns colors to the pixels by an arbitrary algorithm. Complex models can be built by combining simpler objects, in the paradigms of object-oriented programming, in Euclidean geometry, a translation moves every point a constant distance in a specified direction. A translation can be described as a motion, other rigid motions include rotations and reflections. A translation can also be interpreted as the addition of a constant vector to every point, a translation operator is an operator T δ such that T δ f = f. If v is a vector, then the translation Tv will work as Tv = p + v. If T is a translation, then the image of a subset A under the function T is the translate of A by T, the translate of A by Tv is often written A + v. In a Euclidean space, any translation is an isometry, the set of all translations forms the translation group T, which is isomorphic to the space itself, and a normal subgroup of Euclidean group E. The quotient group of E by T is isomorphic to the orthogonal group O, E / T ≅ O, thus we write the 3-dimensional vector w = using 4 homogeneous coordinates as w =. Similarly, the product of matrices is given by adding the vectors. Because addition of vectors is commutative, multiplication of matrices is therefore also commutative. In linear algebra, a matrix is a matrix that is used to perform a rotation in Euclidean space. R = rotates points in the xy-Cartesian plane counterclockwise through an angle θ about the origin of the Cartesian coordinate system
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Level design
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Level design, environment design or game mapping is a discipline of game development involving creation of video game levels—locales, stages, or missions. This is commonly done using an editor, a game development software designed for building levels, however. Level design is both an artistic and technical process, in early days of video games, a single programmer would create the maps and layouts for a game, and a discipline or profession dedicated solely to level design did not exist. Early games often featured a system of ascending difficulty as opposed to progression of story-line. The first game genre that required significant amounts of time to design areas were text-based games, often, promoted users were assigned to create new paths, new rooms, new equipment, and new actions, often using the game interface itself. Doom and Doom II were two of the first games to attract focused game modding activity, and many WAD level files were made for them, one of the reasons was a clear separation between the level files and game engine itself. Half-Life, Quake 3, and many games have notable mapping tools. In certain games, such as games, levels may be procedurally generated. In these cases, the game programmer controls how the variations of rooms and tunnels are formed. Level design for each level in a modern game typically starts with concept art, sketches, renderings. Once completed, these concepts transform into extensive documentation, environment modeling, a level editor may be distributed as a complete stand-alone package, at times, rivaling commercial 3D modelling software. There are various steps involved in laying out a map and these steps may vary dramatically across the different game genres that exist today. General steps include, Laying out the features of the map, such as hills, cities, rooms, tunnels. Specifying certain regions where certain gameplay activities or behaviors occur, such as harvesting, base building, water travelling. Specifying non-static parts of a level, such as doors, keys and buttons with associated mechanisms, teleporters, hidden passageways, etc. Specifying locations of various entities, such as units, enemies, monster spawn points, ladders, coins, resource nodes, weapons, save points. The first level of the game designed to get players to explore the mechanics of the game. Cut scenes may be triggered by events in a level, but require different skills
27.
Tails (character)
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Miles Prower, more commonly known by his nickname Tails, is a fictional character in Segas Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is a significant main character after the title character Sonic, Tails also appears in his own spin-off series in comic books, cartoons, as well as in an OVA. The name Miles Prower is a pun on miles per hour and he is an 8-year-old fox with 2 tails, hence the nickname. He is known to be Sonics sidekick and adopted younger brother as well as Sonics best friend as well as a mechanical genius and he is able to use his two tails to propel himself into the air like a helicopter for a limited time. He debuted on October 16,1992, with the release of the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, when he was first introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Tailss fur was orange. The color was changed to yellow-orange for Sonic Adventure, and later to light yellow for Sonic Heroes, in 1993 and 1995 he starred in his own games, Tails and the Music Maker for the Pico, Tails Adventure, and Tails Skypatrol for the Game Gear. Tails is the third most popular character of the series, behind Sonic and Shadow, yasushi Yamaguchi, originally the main artist and zone designer for Segas Sonic Team, designed Tails for an internal competition for a sidekick to the speedy hedgehog. The character was meant to hold a deep admiration for Sonic and his entry won, but Sonic Team decided to change his characters name from Miles to Tails. Yamaguchi ended up with a compromise, using Miles in as the real first name, Tails would be his nickname. The name Miles Prower is a pun on the miles per hour. The character debuted as Sonics tag-along partner in the second game. However the characters uniqueness was not established until Sonic the Hedgehog 3 when players were given the power to control his flying, Tails was redesigned by Yuji Uekawa for Sonic Adventure. His fur changed color to a more yellow shade as opposed to the orange in his early appearances, the character of Tails is portrayed as a very sweet-natured and humble fox who, before he met Sonic, was often picked on because of his twin tails. As a long friend, he admires Sonic and dreams of being just like him. Though he lacks courage, he wants to prove that he can be counted on. He loves mint candy, tinkering with machines, and flying mechas, Tails also has a fear of lightning. Tails has been described as a prodigy who rivals Dr. Eggman. Additionally, by spinning his two tails like a helicopter rotor, he has the ability to push himself through the air to catch up with Sonic
28.
Player character
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A player character or playable character is a fictional character in a role-playing or video game whose actions are directly controlled by a player of the game rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not controlled by a player are called non-player characters, the actions of non-player characters are typically handled by the game itself in video games, or according to rules followed by a gamemaster refereeing tabletop role-playing games. The player character functions as a fictional, alternate body for the player controlling it, video games typically have one player character for each person playing the game. Some games offer a group of characters for the player to choose from. Where more than one character is available, the characters may have different abilities, strengths. A player character may sometimes be based on a real person, historical people and leaders may sometimes appear as characters too, particularly in strategy or empire building games such as in Sid Meiers Civilization series. Such a player character is properly an avatar as the player characters name. Avatars are also seen in casino game simulations. In many video games, and especially first-person shooters, the character is a blank slate without any notable characteristics or even backstory. Pac-Man, Crono, Link and Chell are examples of such characters and these characters are generally silent protagonists. Some games will go further, never showing or naming the player-character at all. This is somewhat common in first-person videogames, such as in Myst, having many different characters to play as and against, all possessing different moves and abilities, is necessary to create a larger gameplay variety in such games. In role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons or Final Fantasy, the character is usually of a certain race and class, each with strengths and weaknesses. The attributes of the characters are given as numerical values which can be increased as the gamer progresses and gains rank, a secret or unlockable character may be a playable character in a video game available after completing the game or meeting other requirements
29.
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
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Cutscene
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A cutscene or event scene is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, breaking up the gameplay. Cutscenes often feature on the fly rendering, using the graphics to create scripted events. Cutscenes can also be pre-rendered computer graphics streamed from a video file, pre-made videos used in video games are referred to as full motion videos or FMVs. Cutscenes can also appear in forms, such as a series of images or as plain text. The 1984 game Karateka helped introduce the use of cut scenes to home computers, since then, cutscenes have been part of many video games, especially in action-adventure and role-playing video games. The term cutscene was first coined by Ron Gilbert, when describing events in Maniac Mansion that the player has no control over, live-action cutscenes have many similarities to films. For example, the cutscenes in Wing Commander IV used both fully constructed sets, and well known such as Mark Hamill and Malcolm McDowell for the portrayal of characters. Some movie tie-in games, such as Electronic Arts The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars games, have extensively used film footage. Another movie tie-in, Enter the Matrix, used footage shot concurrently with The Matrix Reloaded that was also directed by the films directors. Pre-rendered cutscenes are animated and rendered by the developers, and take advantage of the full array of techniques of CGI. Like live-action shoots, pre-rendered cutscenes are presented in full motion video. Real time cutscenes are rendered using the same game engine as the graphics during gameplay. This technique is known as Machinima. Real time cutscenes are generally of much detail and visual quality than pre-rendered cutscenes. For example, some allow the player character to wear several different outfits. It is also possible to give the control over camera movement during real time cutscenes, as seen in Dungeon Siege, Metal Gear Solid 2, Sons of Liberty, Halo, Reach. Many games use both pre-rendered and real time cutscenes as the developer feels is appropriate for each scene, during the 1990s in particular, it was common for the techniques of live action, pre-rendering, and real time rendering to be combined in a single cutscene. For example, popular games such as Myst, Wing Commander III, though Final Fantasy VII primarily uses real-time cutscenes, it has several scenes in which real-time graphics are combined with pre-rendered full motion video
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Saved game
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A saved game is a piece of digitally stored information about the progress of a player in a video game. This naturally led to the need to store in some way the progress, Game designers allow players to prevent the loss of progress in the game Games designed this way encourage players to try things out, and on regretting a choice, continue from an earlier point on. Although the feature of save games might suggest you can retry after a game over, for online games the games progress is maintained on the remote server. In some games, upon resuming the game from a save game, early examples like Moria, Diablo II hardcore mode where the character save game is managed by the battle. net server. Depending on the game the feature may be feasible or not, the use of saved games is very common in modern video games, particularly in role-playing video games, which are usually much too long to finish in a single session. In early video games, there was no need for saving games, home computers in the early 1980s had the advantage of using external media for saving, with compact cassettes and floppy disks, before finally using internal hard drives. On later cartridge-based console games, such as Kirbys Adventure and The Legend of Zelda, saved games were stored in battery-backed RAM on the game cartridge itself. In recent consoles, which use disc-based media for storing games, saved games are stored in other ways, some games do not save the players progress towards completing the game, but rather high scores, custom settings, and other features. The first game to save the score was Taitos seminal 1978 shoot em up title Space Invaders. The available ways to save a game affect gameplay, and can represent a practice of players or a decision by designers to give the game a particular feel or alter its difficulty. A video game may allow the user to save at any point of the game, any time. The phrase Save, save, save. is a reference to this feature and is included in guides to these types of games to ensure that the user takes maximum advantage of this feature. This was chiefly a computer-only save game ability until the introduction of hard drives on console systems, there are modified versions of this, too. To make gaming more engaging, some games may impose a limit on the number of times a player saves the game. For instance, IGI2 allows only a handful saves in each mission, some high-end models of digital audio players and portable media players have the save anywhere system for playlists and randomization modes for audio files. Some video games allow the game to be saved at predetermined points in the game. Save points are also far easier to program, so when a developer has to rush a game, save points are attractive to build in. Game saving does not need to be manual, some video games save the game in progress at automatically, such as at the start of each level, after the pass of a fixed amount of time or at certain predetermined points in the game
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Glossary of video game terms
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This glossary of video game terms lists the general video game industry terms as commonly used in Wikipedia articles. 1-up In games where players have a number of lives to complete a game or level, 1v1 Abbreviation of 1 versus 1, which means two players battling against each other. 8-bit A descriptor for hardware or software that arose during the generation of video game consoles. 16-bit A descriptor for hardware or software that arose during the generation of video game consoles. 2D graphics The game features 2-dimensional objects,2. 5D graphics A game consisting of 3D graphics set in a 2D plane of movement, where objects outside of this 2D plane can have an effect on the gameplay. 32-bit A descriptor for hardware or software that arose during the generation of video game consoles. 4X A genre of video games, short for explore, expand, exploit. 64-bit A descriptor for hardware or software that arose during the generation of video game consoles. AAA A high-budget game with a development team, or game studios that make them. AAA games are usually multiplatform, have multimillion dollar marketing budgets, abandonware The idea of a game being forgotten about, or abandoned by the developers for multiple different reasons, one being copyright issues. Act See Level Action point A subunit of a players turn, for example, during each turn, a player can take a set number of actions, each costing a point. Action role-playing game A genre of role-playing video games where battle actions are performed in real-time instead of a turn-based mechanic. Actions per minute The total number of actions the player can perform in a minute, ADS Aiming Down Sights, or, Aim Down Sights. Refers to the alternate method of firing a gun in an FPS game. AFK Abbreviation of Away From Keyboard, generally said through a chat function in online multiplayer games when a player intends to be temporarily unavailable. Often used in gaming to grind, sometimes facetiously used in reference to irritated bystanders. Aimbot A first-person shooter cheat that lets players shoot other player-characters without aiming, in most cases, the reticle locks on to a target within the players line of sight and the player only has to pull the trigger. Aimbots are one of the most popular cheats in multiplayer FPS, alpha release An initial, incomplete version of a game, alpha versions are usually released early in the development process to test a games most critical functionality and prototype design concepts
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Slot machine
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A slot machine, informally fruit machine, puggy, the slots, poker machine or simply slot, is a casino gambling machine with three or more reels which spin when a button is pushed. Many modern machines are equipped with a legacy lever in addition to the button. Slot machines include a currency detector that validates the money inserted to play, the machine pays off according to patterns of symbols visible on the front of the machine when it stops. Modern computer technology has resulted in variations on the slot machine concept, Slot machines are the most popular gambling method in casinos and constitute about 70 percent of the average US casinos income. The slot machine term derives from the slots on the machine for inserting and retrieving coins, fruit machine comes from the traditional fruit images on the spinning reels, such as lemons and cherries. Sittman and Pitt of Brooklyn, New York, U. S. developed a machine in 1891 which was a precursor to the modern slot machine. It contained five drums holding a total of 50 card faces and was based on poker and this machine proved extremely popular and soon many bars in the city had one or more of the machines. Players would insert a nickel and pull a lever, which would spin the drums and the cards they held, the player hoping for a good poker hand. To make the better for the house, two cards were typically removed from the deck, the ten of spades and the jack of hearts. The drums could also be rearranged to further reduce a players chance of winning, the bell gave the machine its name. Three bells in a row produced the biggest payoff, ten nickels, Liberty Bell was a huge success and spawned a thriving mechanical gaming device industry. Even when the use of these devices was banned in his home state after a few years. The Liberty Bell machine was so popular that it was copied by many slot machine manufacturers, thus in 1907, manufacturer Herbert Mills from Chicago produced a slot machine called the Operator Bell. By 1908 lots of bell machines were installed in most cigar stores, saloons, bowling alleys, brothels, early machines, including an 1899 Liberty Bell, are now part of the Nevada State Museums Fey Collection. Other early machines, such as the trade stimulator, gave out winnings in the form of fruit-flavoured chewing gums with pictures of the flavours as symbols on the reels, the popular cherry and melon symbols derive from this machine. The BAR symbol now common in slot machines was derived from a logo of the Bell-Fruit Gum Company. In these cases, a mint vending machine was declared to be a device because by chance the machine would occasionally give the next user a number of tokens exchangeable for more candy. Despite the fact that the result of the next use would be displayed on the machine, the courts ruled that he appealed to the players propensity to gamble
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1-up
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1-up is a video game term that succeeds the player-characters gained extra life, allowing continuous play before game over. Because there are no universal game rules, specific 1-ups vary tremendously from game to game, however, they are very often rare and difficult items to acquire, occasionally requiring the player to demonstrate significant skill or risk an unnecessary death. In certain games, it is possible to receive extra lives at once. Games that dont follow this rule often simply repeat the 1-up notification in rapid succession concurrent with the number of lives awarded. The term 1-up appeared in American pinball games at least as early as the late 1960s, early multi-player pinball games displayed XUP to signify that it was a certain players turn. It would also use this terminology to designate which score belonged to which player, 1UP followed by a score indicated that it was Player 1s score, even then, however, the current concept of the 1-up was incorporated. These games often gave players multiple chances before one reached a game over, when a ball was lost in the gutter, the next ball was loaded and the game continued. If a player met certain conditions, they received an extra ball, later, this concept was applied to arcade games. The inclusion of lives was very common in video games from the 1980s on. The use of the term 1-up to designate an extra life first appeared in Super Mario Bros, each subsequent kill in the same go generates a further extra life. The term quickly caught on, seeing use in home and arcade gaming. As arcade games lost popularity in the face of improved technology in video game consoles. The concept has not died out entirely, but other arrangements are now far more common, players are often simply given infinite lives, allowing them to restart at checkpoints or save points reached along the way
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Power-up
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In video games, power-ups are objects that instantly benefit or add extra abilities to the game character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a benefit, although often collected directly through touch, power-ups can sometimes only be gained by collecting several related items, such as the floating letters of the word EXTEND in Bubble Bobble. Items that confer power-ups are usually pre-placed in the world, spawned randomly. Power-ups are mostly found in action-oriented games such as games, run and guns, shoot em ups, first-person shooters. Power-up and 1-up are examples of a form of wasei-eigo. The general meaning of X-up in Japanese is this will increase your X, and this is similar to another phrase, X get. as seen in Super Mario Sunshines Japanese versions Shine Get. Pac-Man from 1980 is credited as the first video game to feature a power-up mechanic. The effect of the power-up was illustrated by one of the first cut scenes to appear in a game, in the form of brief comical interludes about Pac-Man. The power pellet entered popular culture with a joke on video game controversies regarding the influence of games on children. In 1984, Sabre Wulf introduced power ups in the form of flowers which, in 1985 Super Mario Bros. introduced the Super Mushroom, which has entered popular culture, being described as the quintessential power-up. The original game idea was to have an always big Mario as a technical advance, the development team thought it would be interesting to have Mario grow and shrink by eating a magic mushroom, just like in Alices Adventures in Wonderland. Konamis 1985 game Gradius had the first use of a bar where the player could select which power-up effect to trigger. In 1986 and the years after, the concept of permanent power-ups appeared in the action role-playing genre in the form of perks, power-ups can be classified according to the type of benefit they give the player. Gives a new weapon, or transforms the player character into an aggressive form that increases its attack power or makes some enemies vulnerable. This also includes nukes, which are weapons that destroy every enemy on the screen at once, these are prevalent in different genres including vehicular combat, run and guns. The effect of the power-up can be time-limited, have a number of uses, last until the player is hit, last until the player is killed. Examples, Mega Man series, Weapons are earned from the Robot Masters/Mavericks upon defeating them, the weapons are kept until the game is turned off or when the game is completed. Donkey Kong, The hammer that Mario can use to destroy barrels and fireballs, Pac-Man, Power pellets can be picked up by Pac-Man, allowing him to attack ghosts
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3D computer graphics
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Such images may be stored for viewing later or displayed in real-time. 3D computer graphics rely on many of the same algorithms as 2D computer vector graphics in the wire-frame model, 3D computer graphics are often referred to as 3D models. Apart from the graphic, the model is contained within the graphical data file. However, there are differences, a 3D model is the representation of any three-dimensional object. A model is not technically a graphic until it is displayed, a model can be displayed visually as a two-dimensional image through a process called 3D rendering or used in non-graphical computer simulations and calculations. With 3D printing, 3D models are rendered into a 3D physical representation of the model. William Fetter was credited with coining the term computer graphics in 1961 to describe his work at Boeing, 3D computer graphics software began appearing for home computers in the late 1970s. The earliest known example is 3D Art Graphics, a set of 3D computer graphics effects, written by Kazumasa Mitazawa, models can also be produced procedurally or via physical simulation. Basically, a 3D model is formed from points called vertices that define the shape, a polygon is an area formed from at least three vertexes. A polygon of n points is an n-gon, the overall integrity of the model and its suitability to use in animation depend on the structure of the polygons. Before rendering into an image, objects must be out in a scene. This defines spatial relationships between objects, including location and size, Animation refers to the temporal description of an object. These techniques are used in combination. As with animation, physical simulation also specifies motion, rendering converts a model into an image either by simulating light transport to get photo-realistic images, or by applying an art style as in non-photorealistic rendering. The two basic operations in realistic rendering are transport and scattering and this step is usually performed using 3D computer graphics software or a 3D graphics API. Altering the scene into a form for rendering also involves 3D projection. There are a multitude of websites designed to help, educate, some are managed by software developers and content providers, but there are standalone sites as well. These communities allow for members to seek advice, post tutorials, not all computer graphics that appear 3D are based on a wireframe model
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Star Ocean: Blue Sphere
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Star Ocean, Blue Sphere is an action role-playing video game developed by tri-Ace and published by Enix for the Game Boy Color handheld video game console in June 2001. It is an entry in the Star Ocean series, acting as a direct sequel to the 1998 PlayStation title Star Ocean. It was later remade for mobile devices, releasing in 2009, to date, it is the only Star Ocean title for mobiles, and the only title in the series not to have been released in the West. Blue Sphere is set two years after the events of The Second Story on the planet Edifice, a world currently in a pre-space flight state but holding remnants of an advance civilization. Protagonists from the events of The Second Story are brought down onto the planet by an unknown force, the gameplay carries over multiple Star Ocean elements, including real-time combat and optional side conversations between party members. New elements include item creation tied to the system. Development began in 2000 as a spin-off from the main Star Ocean series, multiple core staff from earlier Star Ocean titles returned, including producer and scenario designer Yoshiharu Gotanda, and series composer Motoi Sakuraba. The character designs were created by manga artist Mayumi Azuma, the production period proved difficult for the team, with the programmers collapsing from exhaustion. In addition to tri-Ace, developer tri-Crescendo helped with the sound design, Blue Sphere has garnered a positive reception from journalists, and has sold 130,000 copies in Japan as of 2007. Star Ocean, Blue Sphere is an action role-playing game set on the planet Edifice, navigation of field, dungeon and interior environments takes place from a top-down perspective, while battles are displayed from a side angle. Various actions can be performed in the field, such as jumping or interacting with objects, carried over from earlier mainline entries are Private Actions, optional sequences between characters which improve their relationship with each other and affect their performance in battle. Battles are initiated when the party encounters enemies in field environments, outside battle, the battle party can be organized as the player pleases out of the 12 possible playable characters. The battle system takes place in real-time, with three party members facing a single enemy, enemies have various body parts that can be attacked separately, and in turn can attack in distinct ways. In addition to standard attacks are character-specific finishing moves which deal damage to enemies. Instead of experience points, each battle rewards the party with Skill Points in addition to in-game currency, SP are collected in a single pool shared between all playable characters, and can be allocated at the players discretion. SP can be used to increase statistics such as health and magic, or unlock and these skills are themselves tied to attributes such as Strength and Intelligence, with the types of skills unlocked tied to which attribute has been raised. Skill growth is interconnected with Create Feats, a minigame where new items such as swords, the types of items forged in Create Feats depend on what skills are active with each character. A local multiplayer option is available, using the consoles Game Link Cable, players can fight each other with their parties, or exchange items
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Sonic the Hedgehog (1991 video game)
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Sonic the Hedgehog is a platform video game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis console. The game was first released in North America, Europe, New Zealand and Australia in June 1991, the game features an anthropomorphic hedgehog named Sonic in a quest to defeat Dr. Eggman, a scientist who has imprisoned animals in robots and stolen the magical Chaos Emeralds. Sonic the Hedgehogs gameplay involves collecting rings as a form of health, the games development began in 1990, when Sega ordered its AM8 development team to create a game featuring a mascot for the company. After considering a number of suggestions, the decided on a blue hedgehog with spikes along his head and spine. Sonic the Hedgehog, designed for fast gameplay, was influenced by the games of Super Mario series creator, Sonic the Hedgehog uses a novel technique that allows Sonics sprite to roll along curved scenery, which originated in a tech demo created by the games programmer, Yuji Naka. The game was received by critics, with praise given to its visuals, music. The game was commercially successful, establishing the Genesis as a key player in the 16-bit era and allowing it to compete with Nintendo. The game has been ported a number of times, and inspired several clones, a successful franchise, the player controls Sonic, who aims to halt Robotniks plans by freeing his animal friends and collecting the emeralds himself. If the player all the Chaos Emeralds and completes the game. If not all the emeralds are collected, Robotnik taunts the player while juggling any of the Chaos Emeralds not collected by the player, Sonic the Hedgehog plays as a 2D side-scrolling platformer. The gameplay centers around Sonics ability to run at speed through levels that include springs, slopes, high falls. The levels are populated with hazards in the form of robots that Dr. Robotnik has trapped animals inside, destroying one frees the creature, but is not necessary to complete the game. Sonics main means of attack is the Spin Attack, in which he curls into a ball and rotates rapidly, damaging enemies and this can be performed by jumping in the air or rolling on the ground. Scattered around each level are gold rings, collecting 100 rings rewards the player with an extra life. Rings act as a layer of protection against hazards, if Sonic holds at least one ring when he collides with an enemy or dangerous obstacle, however, all rings in his possession will be scattered, they flicker and disappear in a few seconds if not picked up again. If he is hit without holding any rings, he loses a life, the game is split into six zones, Green Hill, Marble, Spring Yard, Labyrinth, Star Light, and Scrap Brain, each with its own visual style and enemies. Each zone is split into three acts, the player must navigate through each zone to progress. At the end of each zones third act, the player confronts Dr. Robotnik, after completing the sixth zone, the player continues directly to the Final Zone for the last encounter with Robotnik
