First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre centered around gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective. The genre shares common traits with other shooter games, which in turn makes it fall under the heading action game. Since the genre's inception, advanced 3D and pseudo-3D graphics have challenged hardware development, multiplayer gaming has been integral; the first-person shooter genre has been traced as far back as Maze War, development of which began in 1973, 1974's Spasim. And after more playful titles like MIDI Maze in 1987, the genre coalesced into a more violent form with 1992's Wolfenstein 3D, credited with creating the genre's basic archetype upon which subsequent titles were based. One such title, the progenitor of the genre's wider mainstream acceptance and popularity was Doom, one of the most influential games in this genre. Corridor shooter was another common name for the genre in its early years, since processing limitations of the era's hardware meant that most of the action in the games had to take place in enclosed areas.1998's Half-Life—along with its 2004 sequel Half-Life 2—enhanced the narrative and puzzle elements.
In 1999, the Half-Life mod Counter-Strike was released and, together with Doom, is one of the most influential first-person shooters. GoldenEye 007, released in 1997, was a landmark first-person shooter for home consoles, while the Halo series heightened the console's commercial and critical appeal as a platform for first-person shooter titles. In the 21st century, the first-person shooter is the most commercially viable video game genre, in 2016, shooters accounted for over 27% of all video game sales. Several first-person shooters have been popular games for eSports and competitive gaming competitions as well. First-person shooters are a type of three-dimensional shooter game, featuring a first-person point of view with which the player sees the action through the eyes of the player character, they are unlike third-person shooters, in which the player can see the character they are controlling. The primary design element is combat involving firearms. First person-shooter games are often categorized as being distinct from light gun shooters, a similar genre with a first-person perspective which use light gun peripherals, in contrast to first-person shooters which use conventional input devices for movement.
Another difference is that first-person light-gun shooters like Virtua Cop feature "on-rails" movement, whereas first-person shooters like Doom give the player more freedom to roam. The first-person shooter may be considered a distinct genre itself, or a type of shooter game, in turn a subgenre of the wider action game genre. Following the release of Doom in 1993, games in this style were termed "Doom clones". Wolfenstein 3D, released in 1992, the year before Doom, has been credited with introducing the genre, but critics have since identified similar though less advanced games developed as far back as 1973. There are occasional disagreements regarding the specific design elements which constitute a first-person shooter. For example, Deus Ex or BioShock may be considered as first-person shooters, but may be considered role-playing video games as they borrow from this genre extensively. Certain puzzle games like Portal are called first-person shooters, but lack any direct combat or shooting element, instead using the first-person perspective to help immerse players within the game to help solve puzzles.
Some commentators extend the definition to include combat flight simulators where the cockpit or vehicle takes place of the hands and weapons. Like most shooter games, first-person shooters involve an avatar, one or more ranged weapons, a varying number of enemies; because they take place in a 3D environment, these games tend to be somewhat more realistic than 2D shooter games, have more accurate representations of gravity, lighting and collisions. First-person shooters played on personal computers are most controlled with a combination of a keyboard and mouse; this system has been claimed as superior to that found in console games, which use two analog sticks: one used for running and sidestepping, the other for looking and aiming. It is common to display the character's hands and weaponry in the main view, with a head-up display showing health and location details, it is possible to overlay a map of the surrounding area. First-person shooters focus on action gameplay, with fast-paced and bloody firefights, though some place a greater emphasis on narrative, problem-solving and logic puzzles.
In addition to shooting, melee combat may be used extensively. In some games, melee weapons are powerful, a reward for the risk the player must take in maneuvering his character into close proximity to the enemy. In other situations, a melee weapon may be necessary as a last resort. "Tactical shooters" are more realistic, require teamwork and strategy to succeed. First-person shooters give players a choice of weapons, which have a large impact on how the player will approach the game; some game designs have realistic models of actual existing or historical weapons, incorporating their rate of fire, magazine size, ammunition amount and accuracy. Other first-person shooter games may incorporate imaginative variations of weapons, including future prototypes, "alien te
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a website focused on video game journalism and other features. It is operated by Gamer Network Ltd. with headquarters in East Sussex. It was formed in 1999 by brothers Nick Loman while they were in secondary school. Gamer Network states that the site has the largest readership of any independent videogames website in Europe, was the first such site to subject its traffic to independent verification by the ABC Electronic system; the site caters to a UK/Ireland audience. Most of its reviews are of PAL releases of games. In February 2015, Eurogamer dropped its 10-point scale review scores system in favour of a "recommendation system," where games would either receive no specific recommendation or awards for being "Recommended," "Essential" or "Avoid." Eurogamer launched on 4 September 1999. Among its founders were Rupert Loman, a Quake and esports community organiser. Eurogamer's current editor is Oli Welsh, who took over the role from Tom Bramwell in September 2014; the editor prior to Bramwell was Kristan Reed.
Contributors to the site include past or present writers from PC Gamer, GamesTM, Rock, Shotgun, such as Kieron Gillen, Jim Rossignol, John Walker, Simon Parkin, Alec Meer, Richard Leadbetter, Dan Whitehead, as well as former GamesIndustry.biz editor Rob Fahey. Eurogamer founder Rupert Loman was interviewed in February 2007 by MCV magazine, he was featured in the Sunday Telegraph on 19 August 2007, speaking about the experience he has gained from choosing to run Eurogamer instead of attending university. At the Games Media Awards, Eurogamer won the categories of Best Games Website – News, Best Games Website – Reviews & Features in 2007; the two awards were consolidated in 2008 and the site went on to win the new award for Best Games Website every year it was awarded, from 2008 to 2013, making it the only website to win the award in its history. Deputy Editor Tom Bramwell won Best Writer in Specialist Digital Media and Eurogamer TV editor Johnny Minkley won Best Games-Dedicated Broadcast on Mainstream TV or Radio in 2007.
News editor Wesley Yin-Poole won Best News Writer in 2014. Rupert Loman was winner of Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 at the Sussex Business Awards and The Observer's "One to Watch" in Media 2007, he was selected as one of 30 "Young Guns" by Growing Business magazine in October 2008. Eurogamer is the principal site of the Gamer Network family of video game-related websites which it has either launched or acquired. Many of its sister sites were started with language/country-specific sites through 2006 to 2012. Eurogamer Germany; this was followed up with Eurogamer France in June 2007, Eurogamer Portugal in May 2008, Eurogamer Netherlands in August 2008, Eurogamer Spain and Eurogamer Italy in October 2008, Eurogamer Romania in March 2009, Eurogamer Czech in May 2009, Eurogamer Denmark in June 2009, Eurogamer Belgium in August 2009, Eurogamer Sweden in April 2010 and Eurogamer Poland in November 2012. In April 2011, Eurogamer Netherlands and Eurogamer Belgium merged to form Eurogamer Benelux. Eurogamer Romania closed down in 2011.
In November 2012, Eurogamer launched their first non-European site, Brasilgamer,In February 2018, Gamer Network was acquired by ReedPOP for an undisclosed sum. Other sites under the Gamer Network include: GamesIndustry.biz, which reports on the global video games industry, launched in May 2008. USgamer, a site following the same principles as the main Eurogamer website but helmed by American staff, launched around 2013. VG247, a video game news site started between Gamer Network and Patrick Garrett in 2008. Mod DB, a database for video game modifications launched in 2002, acquired by Gamer Network in 2015. Rock, Shotgun, a British-based website principally devoted to personal computer video games; the site was acquired into the Gamer Network in May 2017. Eurogamer has hosted the Digital Foundry channel since 2007. Digital Foundry evaluates video game hardware and software from a technical level comparing performances of the same game across different platforms. In February 2018, ReedPOP, a subsidiary of Reed Exhibitions that runs the PAX conventions, acquired the Gamer Network and its network of sites as to expanding into digital news and editorial content, as well as EGX, the largest video game convention in the United Kingdom.
No immediate changes were expected at other sites on the Gamer Network. Eurogamer.net GamesIndustry.biz
Sudoku
Sudoku is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, each of the nine 3×3 subgrids that compose the grid contain all of the digits from 1 to 9; the puzzle setter provides a completed grid, which for a well-posed puzzle has a single solution. Completed games are always a type of Latin square with an additional constraint on the contents of individual regions. For example, the same single integer may not appear twice in the same row, column, or any of the nine 3×3 subregions of the 9×9 playing board. French newspapers featured variations of the puzzles in the 19th century, the puzzle has appeared since 1979 in puzzle books under the name Number Place. However, the modern Sudoku only started to become mainstream in 1986 by the Japanese puzzle company Nikoli, under the name Sudoku, meaning "single number", it first appeared in a US newspaper and The Times in 2004, from the efforts of Wayne Gould, who devised a computer program to produce distinct puzzles.
Number puzzles appeared in newspapers in the late 19th century, when French puzzle setters began experimenting with removing numbers from magic squares. Le Siècle, a Paris daily, published a completed 9×9 magic square with 3×3 subsquares on November 19, 1892, it was not a Sudoku because it contained double-digit numbers and required arithmetic rather than logic to solve, but it shared key characteristics: each row and subsquare added up to the same number. On July 6, 1895, Le Siècle's rival, La France, refined the puzzle so that it was a modern Sudoku, it simplified the 9×9 magic square puzzle so that each row and broken diagonals contained only the numbers 1–9, but did not mark the subsquares. Although they are unmarked, each 3×3 subsquare does indeed comprise the numbers 1–9 and the additional constraint on the broken diagonals leads to only one solution; these weekly puzzles were a feature of French newspapers such as L'Echo de Paris for about a decade, but disappeared about the time of World War I.
The modern Sudoku was most designed anonymously by Howard Garns, a 74-year-old retired architect and freelance puzzle constructor from Connersville and first published in 1979 by Dell Magazines as Number Place. Garns's name was always present on the list of contributors in issues of Dell Pencil Puzzles and Word Games that included Number Place, was always absent from issues that did not, he died in 1989 before getting a chance to see his creation as a worldwide phenomenon. Whether or not Garns was familiar with any of the French newspapers listed above is unclear; the puzzle was introduced in Japan by Nikoli in the paper Monthly Nikolist in April 1984 as Sūji wa dokushin ni kagiru, which can be translated as "the digits must be single" or "the digits are limited to one occurrence". At a date, the name was abbreviated to Sudoku by Maki Kaji, taking only the first kanji of compound words to form a shorter version. "Sudoku" is a registered trademark in Japan and the puzzle is referred to as Number Place or, more informally, a portmanteau of the two words, Num Pla.
In 1986, Nikoli introduced two innovations: the number of givens was restricted to no more than 32, puzzles became "symmetrical". It is now published in mainstream Japanese periodicals, such as the Asahi Shimbun. In 1997, Hong Kong judge Wayne Gould saw a completed puzzle in a Japanese bookshop. Over six years, he developed a computer program to produce unique puzzles rapidly. Knowing that British newspapers have a long history of publishing crosswords and other puzzles, he promoted Sudoku to The Times in Britain, which launched it on November 12, 2004; the first letter to The Times regarding Su Doku was published the following day on November 13 from Ian Payn of Brentford, complaining that the puzzle had caused him to miss his stop on the tube. Sudoku puzzles spread to other newspapers as a regular feature; the rapid rise of Sudoku in Britain from relative obscurity to a front-page feature in national newspapers attracted commentary in the media and parody. Recognizing the different psychological appeals of easy and difficult puzzles, The Times introduced both, side by side, on June 20, 2005.
From July 2005, Channel 4 included a daily Sudoku game in their teletext service. On August 2, the BBC's program guide Radio Times featured a weekly Super Sudoku with a 16×16 grid. In the United States, the first newspaper to publish a Sudoku puzzle by Wayne Gould was The Conway Daily Sun, in 2004; the world's first live TV Sudoku show, Sudoku Live, was a puzzle contest first broadcast on July 1, 2005, on Sky One. It was presented by Carol Vorderman. Nine teams of nine players representing geographical regions competed to solve a puzzle; each player had a hand-held device for entering numbers corresponding to answers for four cells. Phil Kollin of Winchelsea, was the series grand prize winner, taking home over £23,000 over a series of games; the audience at home was in a separate interactive competition, won by Hannah Withey of Cheshire. In 2005, the BBC launched SUDO-Q, a game show that combined Sudoku with general knowledge. However, it used only 4 × 6 × 6 puzzles. Four seasons were produced before
IGN
IGN is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc. a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, itself wholly owned by j2 Global. The company is located in San Francisco's SOMA district and is headed by its former editor-in-chief, Peer Schneider; the IGN website was the brainchild of media entrepreneur Chris Anderson and launched on September 29, 1996. It focuses on games, television, comics and other media. A network of desktop websites, IGN is now distributed on mobile platforms, console programs on the Xbox and PlayStation, FireTV, via YouTube, Twitch and Snapchat. IGN was the flagship website of IGN Entertainment, a website which owned and operated several other websites oriented towards players' interests and entertainment, such as Rotten Tomatoes, GameSpy, GameStats, VE3D, TeamXbox, Vault Network, FilePlanet, AskMen, among others. IGN was sold to publishing company Ziff Davis in February 2013 and now operates as a j2 Global subsidiary. Created in September 1996 as the Imagine Games Network, the IGN content network was founded by publishing executive Jonathan Simpson-Bint and began as five individual websites within Imagine Media: N64.com, PSXPower, Next-Generation.com and Ultra Game Players Online.
Imagine expanded on its owned-and-operated websites by creating an affiliate network that included a number of independent fansites such as PSX Nation.com, Sega-Saturn.com, Game Sages, GameFAQs. In 1998, the network launched a new homepage that consolidated the individual sites as system channels under the IGN brand; the homepage exposed content from more than 30 different channels. Next-Generation and Ultra Game Players Online were not part of this consolidation. G. P. O. Dissolved with the cancellation of the magazine, Next-Generation was put "on hold" when Imagine decided to concentrate on launching the short-lived Daily Radar brand. In February 1999, PC Magazine named IGN one of the hundred-best websites, alongside competitors GameSpot and CNET Gamecenter; that same month, Imagine Media incorporated a spin-off that included IGN and its affiliate channels as Affiliation Networks, while Simpson-Bint remained at the former company. In September, the newly spun-out standalone internet media company, changed its name to Snowball.com.
At the same time, small entertainment website The Den merged into IGN and added non-gaming content to the growing network. Snowball shed most of its other properties during the dot-com bubble. IGN prevailed with growing audience numbers and a newly established subscription service called IGN Insider, which led to the shedding of the name "Snowball" and adoption of IGN Entertainment on May 10, 2002. In June 2005, IGN reported having 24,000,000 unique visitors per month, with 4.8 million registered users through all departments of the site. IGN is ranked among the top 200 most-visited websites according to Alexa. In September 2005, IGN was acquired by Rupert Murdoch's multi-media business empire, News Corporation, for $650 million. IGN celebrated its 10th anniversary on January 12, 2008. IGN was headquartered in the Marina Point Parkway office park in Brisbane, until it relocated to a smaller office building near AT&T Park in San Francisco on March 29, 2010. On May 25, 2011, IGN sold its Direct2Drive division to Gamefly for an undisclosed amount.
In 2011, IGN Entertainment acquired its rival UGO Entertainment from Hearst Corporation. News Corp. planned to spin off IGN Entertainment as a publicly traded company, continuing a string of divestitures for digital properties it had acquired. On February 4, 2013, after a failed attempt to spin off IGN as a separate company, News Corp. announced that it had sold IGN Entertainment to the publishing company Ziff Davis, acquired by J2 Global. Financial details regarding the purchase were not revealed. Prior to its acquisition by UGO, 1UP.com had been owned by Ziff Davis. Soon after the acquisition, IGN announced that it would be laying off staff and closing GameSpy, 1UP.com, UGO in order to focus on its flagship brands, IGN.com and AskMen. The role-playing video game interest website Vault Network was acquired by IGN in 1999. GameStats, a review aggregation website, was founded by IGN in 2004. GameStats includes a "GPM" rating system which incorporates an average press score and average gamer score, as well as the number of page hits for the game.
However, the site is no longer being updated. The Xbox interest site, TeamXbox, the PC game website VE3D were acquired in 2003. IGN Entertainment merged with GameSpy Industries in 2005; the merger brought the game download site FilePlanet into the IGN group. IGN Entertainment acquired the online male lifestyle magazine AskMen.com in 2005. In 2004, IGN acquired film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and in 2010, sold the website to Flixster. In October 2017, Humble Bundle announced that it was being acquired by IGN. A member of the IGN staff writes a review for a game and gives it a score between 0.1 and 10.0, assigned by increments of 0.1 and determines how much the game is recommended. The score is given according to the "individual aspects of a game, like presentation, sound and lasting appeal." Each game is given a score in each of these categories, but the overall score for the game is an independent evaluation, not an average of the scores in each category. On August 3, 2010, IGN announced.
Instead of a 100-point s
Official Xbox Magazine
Official Xbox Magazine is a monthly video game magazine which started in November 2001 around the launch of the original Xbox. A preview issue was released at E3 2001, with another preview issue in November 2001; the magazine was bundled with a disc that included game demos, preview videos and trailers, other content, such as game or Xbox updates and free gamerpics. The discs provided the software for the Xbox 360 for backward compatibility of original Xbox games for those without broadband and Xbox Live access; as of January 2012, OXM no longer includes a demo disc. In mid-2014, the U. S. version was merged into the UK version on the website, which lasted only a few months until Future plc announced that it was closing its website along with all the other websites that Future has published, including Edge and Computer and Video Games. In February 2015, OXM and all of Future's video game websites were redirected into GamesRadar; the magazine itself continues to be published in US and Australia.
On the Disc Each issue contained a demo disc with both Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Arcade games. However, beginning in January 2012, OXM stopped including demo discs, saying "You've told us you don't want the DVD anymore, we listened....". Each demo contained unlockable content like hidden demos. There was a sim-like game called'OXM Universe'. Gamers played the games on disc and viewed the videos on the disc to gain points, but only 800 points were needed for the unlockable content; the points had another use in which gamers used their points to research and build equipment for the in-game game'OXM Universe'.'OXMU' was discontinued in OXM's 100th issue. We Heart Xbox In this section, new games which were not yet shown to the mainstream public or user-modified hardware such as consoles or faceplates were shown here. Message Center Besides showing readers' mail, the OXM crew revealed their'Top 5' things on their mind at the moment. The'Top 5' tradition was broken in Issue #85 of July 2008, when the staff instead answered to the question "What's your worst habit - and do you want to break it?"
Xbox Next In this section, upcoming games were previewed. Features In this section, games may get prolonged previews, or OXM may have an exclusive 6-10 page review for a certain game. There may be special featured content like Issue #77's'HDTV Buyer's Guide'. Xbox Now This was the section where every Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade game, downloadable content is reviewed. Xbox 365This section contained Xbox business articles, gaming news,'Hard Stuff','2,000 Pennies or Less', the codes of the month,'Forza Showroom', a section for competing against the OXM crew in games like Lost Planet, Halo 3, Gears of War, more,'Media Ho!','Live Space' (a section which showed gamers' Xbox Live gamertags,'Ask Dr. Gamer', and'The of Xbox' (a section that talked about business and other things of the Xbox gaming world; the column'The Business of Xbox' was written by Geoff Keighley through the May 2007 issue, but until 2015, the column was written, on a less frequent basis, by Chris Morris. As of Issue #71, the end page rotated columnists, with guests including game creators Tim Schafer, Denis Dyack, Randy Pitchford.
UK and US Edition Editor: Stephen Ashby Deputy Editor: Daniella Lucas Staff Writer: Adam Bryant Production Editor: Russell Lewin Senior Art Editor: Warren Brown Until issue #52, the Official Xbox Magazine used a 100-point system, scoring games out of 10.0 with.1 increments. The games that received at least a 9.0 were given an Editor's Choice award. Beginning with issue #53, the US OXM switched to a 20-point scoring system, scoring games out of 10.0 with increments of 0.5. The UK edition though switched to a 10-point scoring system, scoring games out of 10; this ratings scale was detailed on the introduction page to every issue's review section. A score of 10.0 was not considered perfect, but is called "Classic" and is considered to be "one of those rare and best of games." OXM's review scale did include a score of 11.0 as "Perfect," however the description for that score was "The unicorn. Will never happen. Never." Twenty games received a 10/10 score from OXM, but only BioShock, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Grand Theft Auto V had been given this score by both the US and UK editions.
The nine 10/10 games from the US edition included: Fight Night Round 3, Gears of War, Fallout 3, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Mass Effect, Gears of War 3 and Batman: Arkham City. Whereas the nine 10/10 games from the UK edition included: Grand Theft Auto IV, Project Gotham Racing 4, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Mass Effect 2, Halo: Reach, Portal 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mass Effect 3. OXM had begun reviewing Xbox Live Downloadable Content, on a three-point scale: Buy, Fanboys Only, Deny; the exception was The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles expansion pack in issue 70, due to the game's size, being "much more than a simple map pack" was reviewed on the normal 20-point scale, receiving an 8.5. Some disks came with additional material for Xbox games. Early issues' demo disk included a costume expansion to Dead or Alive 3 and Easter eggs unlockable
Xbox (console)
The Xbox is a home video game console and the first installment in the Xbox series of consoles manufactured by Microsoft. It was released as Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market on November 15, 2001, in North America, followed by Australia and Japan in 2002, it is classified as a sixth generation console, competing with Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's GameCube. It was the first console produced by an American company since the Atari Jaguar ceased production in 1996. Announced in 2000, the Xbox was graphically powerful compared to its rivals, featuring a 733 MHz Intel Pentium III processor, a processor that could be found on a standard PC, it was noted for its PC-like size and weight, was the first console to feature a built-in hard disk. In November 2002, Microsoft launched Xbox Live, a fee-based online gaming service that enabled subscribers to download new content and connect with other players through a broadband connection. Unlike online services from Sega and Sony, Xbox Live had support in the original console design through an integrated Ethernet port.
The service gave Microsoft an early foothold in online gaming and would help the Xbox become a competitor in the sixth-generation of consoles. The popularity of blockbuster titles such as Bungie's Halo 2 contributed to the popularity of online console gaming, in particular first-person shooters. Despite this, being in second position by the sales numbers—ahead of Nintendo's GameCube and Sega's Dreamcast—sales of the Xbox were always well behind Sony's PlayStation 2. Xbox's successor and the next console in the series, the Xbox 360, was launched in November 2005 as part of the seventh generation; the Xbox was discontinued soon after, beginning with Japan, Microsoft's worst-performing market, in 2005. Other countries followed suit in 2006; the last Xbox game in Europe was Xiaolin Showdown, released in June 2007, the last game in North America was Madden NFL 09 from EA Sports, released in August 2008. Support for out-of-warranty Xbox consoles was discontinued on March 2, 2009. Support for Xbox Live on the console ended on April 15, 2010.
In 1998, four engineers from Microsoft's DirectX team, Kevin Bachus, Seamus Blackley, Ted Hase and DirectX team leader Otto Berkes, disassembled some Dell laptop computers to construct a prototype Microsoft Windows-based video game console. The team hoped to create a console using a standardized set of hardware to compete with Sony's upcoming PlayStation 2, luring game developers away from the Windows platform; the team approached Ed Fries, the leader of Microsoft's game publishing business at the time, pitched their "DirectX Box" console based on the DirectX graphics technology developed by Berkes's team. Fries decided to support the team's idea of creating a Windows DirectX based console. During development, the original DirectXbox name was shortened to Xbox. Microsoft's marketing department did not like the Xbox name, suggested many alternatives. During focus testing, the Xbox name was left on the list of possible names to demonstrate how unpopular the Xbox name would be with consumers. However, consumer testing revealed that Xbox was preferred by far over the other suggested names and "Xbox" became the official name of the product.
It was Microsoft's first video game console after collaborating with Sega to port Windows CE to the Dreamcast console. Microsoft delayed the console, first mentioned publicly in late 1999 during interviews with Microsoft's then-CEO Bill Gates. Gates stated: "we want Xbox to be the platform of choice for the best and most creative game developers in the world"; the Xbox was announced at the Game Developers Conference on March 10, 2000. Audiences were impressed by the console's technology. At the time of Gates's announcement, Sega's Dreamcast sales were diminishing and Sony's PlayStation 2 was just going on sale in Japan. Gates was in talks with Sega's late chairman Isao Okawa about the possibility of Xbox compatibility with Dreamcast games, but negotiations fell apart over whether or not the Dreamcast's SegaNet online service should be implemented; the Xbox was unveiled to the public by Gates and guest professional wrestler The Rock at CES 2001 in Las Vegas on January 3, 2001. Microsoft announced Xbox's release prices at E3 2001 in May.
Most Xbox launch titles were unveiled at E3, most notably Halo: Combat Evolved and Dead or Alive 3. Due to the immense popularity of gaming consoles in Japan, Microsoft delayed the release of the Xbox in Europe to focus on the Japanese video game market. Although delayed, the European release proved to be more successful than the launch of the Xbox in Japan; some of Microsoft's plans proved effective. In preparation for its launch, Microsoft acquired Bungie and used Halo: Combat Evolved as its launch title. At the time, GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64 had been one of the few hit FPS games to appear on a console, as well as titles such as Perfect Dark and Medal of Honor. Halo: Combat Evolved proved a good application to drive the Xbox's sales. In 2002, Microsoft made the second place slot in consoles sold in North America; the Xbox Live service gave Microsoft an early foothold in online gaming and would help the Xbox become a relevant competitor to other sixth-generation consoles. In 2002, the Independent Television Commission banned a television advertisement for the Xbox in the United Kingdom after complaints that it was "offensive, shocking and in bad taste".
It depicted a mother giving birth to a baby boy, fired like a projectile through a window aging as he flies through the air. The advertisement ends with an old man crash-landing into his own grave and the slogan, "Life is short. Play more." The Xbox's successor, the Xbox 360, was announced on May 12, 2005 on MTV. It was the first n
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is a major American daily newspaper published in Washington, D. C. with a particular emphasis on national politics and the federal government. It has the largest circulation in the Washington metropolitan area, its slogan "Democracy Dies in Darkness" began appearing on its masthead in 2017. Daily broadsheet editions are printed for the District of Columbia and Virginia; the newspaper has won 47 Pulitzer Prizes. This includes six separate Pulitzers awarded in 2008, second only to The New York Times' seven awards in 2002 for the highest number awarded to a single newspaper in one year. Post journalists have received 18 Nieman Fellowships and 368 White House News Photographers Association awards. In the early 1970s, in the best-known episode in the newspaper's history, reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein led the American press' investigation into what became known as the Watergate scandal, their reporting in The Washington Post contributed to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
In years since, the Post's investigations have led to increased review of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In October 2013, the paper's longtime controlling family, the Graham family, sold the newspaper to Nash Holdings, a holding company established by Jeff Bezos, for $250 million in cash; the Washington Post is regarded as one of the leading daily American newspapers, along with The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal. The Post has distinguished itself through its political reporting on the workings of the White House and other aspects of the U. S. government. Unlike The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post does not print an edition for distribution away from the East Coast. In 2009, the newspaper ceased publication of its National Weekly Edition, which combined stories from the week's print editions, due to shrinking circulation; the majority of its newsprint readership is in the District of Columbia and its suburbs in Maryland and Northern Virginia.
The newspaper is one of a few U. S. newspapers with foreign bureaus, located in Beirut, Beijing, Bogotá, Hong Kong, Jerusalem, London, Mexico City, Nairobi, New Delhi and Tokyo. In November 2009, it announced the closure of its U. S. regional bureaus—Chicago, Los Angeles and New York—as part of an increased focus on "political stories and local news coverage in Washington." The newspaper has local bureaus in Virginia. As of May 2013, its average weekday circulation was 474,767, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, making it the seventh largest newspaper in the country by circulation, behind USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News, the New York Post. While its circulation has been slipping, it has one of the highest market-penetration rates of any metropolitan news daily. For many decades, the Post had its main office at 1150 15th Street NW; this real estate remained with Graham Holdings when the newspaper was sold to Jeff Bezos' Nash Holdings in 2013.
Graham Holdings sold 1150 15th Street for US$159 million in November 2013. The Washington Post continued to lease space at 1150 L Street NW. In May 2014, The Washington Post leased the west tower of One Franklin Square, a high-rise building at 1301 K Street NW in Washington, D. C; the newspaper moved into their new offices December 14, 2015. The Post has its own exclusive zip code, 20071. Arc Publishing is a department of the Post, which provides the publishing system, software for news organizations such as the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times; the newspaper was founded in 1877 by Stilson Hutchins and in 1880 added a Sunday edition, becoming the city's first newspaper to publish seven days a week. In 1889, Hutchins sold the newspaper to Frank Hatton, a former Postmaster General, Beriah Wilkins, a former Democratic congressman from Ohio. To promote the newspaper, the new owners requested the leader of the United States Marine Band, John Philip Sousa, to compose a march for the newspaper's essay contest awards ceremony.
Sousa composed "The Washington Post". It became the standard music to accompany the two-step, a late 19th-century dance craze, remains one of Sousa's best-known works. In 1893, the newspaper moved to a building at 14th and E streets NW, where it would remain until 1950; this building combined all functions of the newspaper into one headquarters – newsroom, advertising and printing – that ran 24 hours per day. In 1898, during the Spanish–American War, the Post printed Clifford K. Berryman's classic illustration Remember the Maine, which became the battle-cry for American sailors during the War. In 1902, Berryman published another famous cartoon in the Post—Drawing the Line in Mississippi; this cartoon depicts President Theodore Roosevelt showing compassion for a small bear cub and inspired New York store owner Morris Michtom to create the teddy bear. Wilkins acquired Hatton's share of the newspaper in 1894 at Hatton's death. After Wilkins' death in 1903, his sons John and Robert ran the Post for two years before selling it in 1905 to John Roll McLean, owner of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
During the Wilson presidency, the Post was credited with the "most famous newspaper typo" in D. C. history according to Reason magazine. When John McLean died in 1916, he put the newspap
