1.
Blue Byte
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Blue Byte GmbH is a video game developer and publisher based in Düsseldorf, Germany, founded in 1988. The company has produced popular titles like Battle Isle and The Settlers, in 2001, the company was purchased by Ubisoft. Blue Byte Software was founded by Thomas Hertzler and Lothar Schmitt in Mülheim in February 1988 after leaving Rainbow Arts, the first published game was the tennis simulation Great Courts, released in 1989 by Ubi Soft. Blue Bytes first big success in Germany and Europe was the strategy game Battle Isle. Inspired by the Japanese game Nectaris for the PC Engine, Battle Isle spawned numerous add-ons, the companys next big success followed in 1993 with the release of the managerial game Die Siedler, marketed internationally as The Settlers. The Settlers also had numerous sequels and became the most well-known of Blue Bytes products, over the years, Blue Byte developed and/or published numerous innovative titles including Chewy, Escape from F5 and Albion, but most of them were not successful internationally. Efforts to break into the American market, usually aided with publishing by Accolade, failed and success was limited to Germany, in 1995 a Chicago-based entrepreneur named Julian Pretto traveled to Germany and convinced the founders to open a North American office. Following the successful release of Battle Isle 2020 in the United States, three years later, Blue Byte moved from Chicago, Illinois, to its new facilities in Austin, Texas. In January 2001, Blue Byte was acquired by Ubi Soft, — Puzzle Battle Isle Data Disk II — Strategy History Line, 1914-1918 — Strategy Yo. Dragos Madcap Chase — Strategy Extreme Assault — Action Incubation — Strategy Game, Net & Match
2.
Ubisoft
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Ubisoft Entertainment SA is a French multinational video game publisher, headquartered in Rennes, France. In March 1986, five brothers of the Guillemot family founded the game publisher, Ubisoft, in Carentoir. Yves Guillemot soon made deals with Electronic Arts, Sierra On-Line, by the end of the decade, Ubisoft began expanding to other markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. They entered the game distribution and wholesale markets, and by 1993 they had become the largest distributor of video games in France. In the early 1990s, Ubisoft initiated its in-house game development program and it later became their administrative and commercial head office, even as the company continues to register its headquarters in Rennes. Ubisoft became a traded company in 1996 and continued its expansion around the globe, opening locations in Annecy, Shanghai, Montreal. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Ubisoft committed itself to online games by supporting Uru, Ages Beyond Myst, The Matrix Online, the publisher established an online division. However, in February 2004, Ubisoft cancelled the portion of Uru. The company is noted for its teams of female game developers/testers, in March 2001, Gores Technology Group sold The Learning Companys entertainment division to them. The sale included the rights to properties such as the Myst. In July 2006, Ubisoft bought the Driver franchise from Atari for a sum of €19 million in cash for the franchise, technology rights, and most assets. In July 2008, Ubisoft made the acquisition of Hybride Technologies, in November 2008, Ubisoft acquired Massive Entertainment from Activision. In January 2013, Ubisoft acquired South Park, The Stick of Truth from THQ for $3.265 million, in December 2004, rival gaming corporation Electronic Arts purchased a 19. 9% stake in the firm, an action Ubisoft referred to as hostile on EAs part. Ubisoft announced plans in 2013 to invest $373 million into its Quebec operations over seven years, the publisher is investing in the expansion of its motion capture technologies, and consolidating its online games operations and infrastructure in Montreal. The significant investment is expected to generate 500 jobs in Quebec over a seven-year period, by 2020, the company will employ more than 3,500 staff at its studios in Montreal and Quebec City. In March 2015, the set up a Consumer Relationship Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne. The centre is intended to integrate consumer support teams and community managers, Consumer Support and Community Management teams at the CRC are operational seven days a week. In October 2015, French mass media company Vivendi bought a 6% stake in Ubisoft, in February 2016, Ubisofts Yves Guillemot and his brother asked for more Canadian investors, to help prevent a hostile takeover by Vivendi
3.
Amiga
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The Amiga is a family of personal computers sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The Amiga provided a significant upgrade from earlier 8-bit home computers, the Amiga 1000 was officially released in July 1985, but a series of production problems meant it did not become widely available until early 1986. The best selling model, the Amiga 500, was introduced in 1987 and became one of the home computers of the late 1980s. The A3000, introduced in 1990, started the second generation of Amiga systems, followed by the A500+, finally, as the third generation, the A1200 and the A4000 were released in late 1992. The platform became particularly popular for gaming and programming demos and it also found a prominent role in the desktop video, video production, and show control business, leading to video editing systems such as the Video Toaster. The Amigas native ability to play back multiple digital sound samples made it a popular platform for early tracker music software. It was also an expensive alternative to the Apple Macintosh. Initially, the Amiga was developed alongside various Commodore PC clones, Commodore ultimately went bankrupt in April 1994 after the Amiga CD32 model failed in the marketplace. Since the demise of Commodore, various groups have marketed successors to the original Amiga line, including Genesi, Eyetech, ACube Systems Srl, likewise, AmigaOS has influenced replacements, clones and compatible systems such as MorphOS, AmigaOS4 and AROS. The Amiga was so far ahead of its time that almost nobody—including Commodores marketing department—could fully articulate what it was all about. Today, its obvious the Amiga was the first multimedia computer, but in those days it was derided as a machine because few people grasped the importance of advanced graphics, sound. Nine years later, vendors are still struggling to make systems that work like 1985 Amigas, Jay Miner joined Atari in the 1970s to develop custom integrated circuits, and led development of the Atari 2600s TIA. Almost as soon as its development was complete, the team developing a much more sophisticated set of chips, CTIA, ANTIC and POKEY. With the 8-bit lines launch in 1979, Miner again started looking at a next generation chipset, Miner wanted to start work with the new Motorola 68000, but management was only interested in another MOS6502 based system. Miner left the company, and the industry, shortly thereafter, in 1982, Larry Kaplan was approached by a number of investors who wanted to develop a new game platform. Kaplan hired Miner to run the side of the newly formed company. The system was code-named Lorraine in keeping with Miners policy of giving systems female names, in case the company presidents wife. When Kaplan left the late in 1982 to rejoin Atari, Miner was promoted to head engineer
4.
MS-DOS
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MS-DOS is a discontinued operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. MS-DOS resulted from a request in 1981 by IBM for a system to use in its IBM PC range of personal computers. Microsoft quickly bought the rights to 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products, IBM licensed and released it in August 1981 as PC DOS1.0 for use in their PCs. During its life, several competing products were released for the x86 platform and it was also the underlying basic operating system on which early versions of Windows ran as a GUI. It is a operating system, and consumes negligible installation space. MS-DOS was a form of 86-DOS – owned by Seattle Computer Products. This first version was shipped in August 1980, Microsoft, which needed an operating system for the IBM Personal Computer hired Tim Paterson in May 1981 and bought 86-DOS1.10 for $75,000 in July of the same year. Microsoft kept the number, but renamed it MS-DOS. They also licensed MS-DOS1. 10/1.14 to IBM, within a year Microsoft licensed MS-DOS to over 70 other companies. It was designed to be an OS that could run on any 8086-family computer, thus, there were many different versions of MS-DOS for different hardware, and there is a major distinction between an IBM-compatible machine and an MS-DOS machine. This design would have worked well for compatibility, if application programs had only used MS-DOS services to perform device I/O, Microsoft omitted multi-user support from MS-DOS because Microsofts Unix-based operating system, Xenix, was fully multi-user. After the breakup of the Bell System, however, AT&T Computer Systems started selling UNIX System V, believing that it could not compete with AT&T in the Unix market, Microsoft abandoned Xenix, and in 1987 transferred ownership of Xenix to the Santa Cruz Operation. On 25 March 2014, Microsoft made the code to SCP MS-DOS1.25, as an April Fools joke in 2015, Microsoft Mobile launched a Windows Phone application called MS-DOS Mobile which was presented as a new mobile operating system and worked similar to MS-DOS. Version 3.1 – Support for Microsoft Networks Version 3.2 – First version to support 3.5 inch,720 kB floppy drives and diskettes. Version 3.21 Version 3.22 – Version 3.25 Version 3.3 – First version to support 3.5 inch,1.44 MB floppy drives and diskettes, Version 3. 3a Version 3.31 – supports FAT16B and larger drives. MS-DOS4.0 and MS-DOS4.1 – A separate branch of development with additional multitasking features and it is unrelated to any later versions, including versions 4.00 and 4.01 listed below MS-DOS4. x – includes a graphical/mouse interface. It had many bugs and compatibility issues. Version 4.00 – First version to support a hard disk partition that is greater than 32 MiB. Version 4.01 – Microsoft rewritten Version 4.00 released under MS-DOS label, First version to introduce volume serial number when formatting hard disks and floppy disks
5.
Nintendo DS
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The Nintendo DS or simply, DS, is a 32-bit dual-screen handheld game console developed and released by Nintendo. The device went on sale in North America on November 21,2004, both screens are encompassed within a clamshell design similar to the Game Boy Advance SP. The Nintendo DS also features the ability for multiple DS consoles to directly interact with each other over Wi-Fi within a short range without the need to connect to a wireless network. Alternatively, they could interact online using the now-closed Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service and its main competitor was Sonys PlayStation Portable as part of the seventh generation era. Prior to its release, the Nintendo DS was marketed as an experimental, third pillar in Nintendos console lineup, meant to complement the Game Boy Advance and GameCube. However, backward compatibility with Game Boy Advance titles and strong sales ultimately established it as the successor to the Game Boy series, on March 2,2006, Nintendo launched the Nintendo DS Lite, a slimmer and lighter redesign of the original Nintendo DS with brighter screens. On November 1,2008, Nintendo released the Nintendo DSi, another redesign with several hardware improvements and new features. All Nintendo DS models combined have sold 154.02 million units, making it the best selling game console to date. The Nintendo DS line was succeeded by the Nintendo 3DS line in 2011, on November 13,2003, Nintendo announced that it would be releasing a new game product in 2004. The company did not provide details, but stated it would not succeed the Game Boy Advance or GameCube. On January 20,2004, the console was announced under the codename Nintendo DS. Nintendo released only a few details at that time, saying that the console would have two separate, 3-inch TFT LCD display panels, separate processors, and up to 1 gigabit of semiconductor memory. He also expressed optimism that the DS would help put Nintendo back at the forefront of innovation, in March 2004, a document containing most of the consoles technical specifications was leaked, also revealing its internal development name, Nitro. In May 2004, the console was shown in prototype form at E32004, on July 28,2004, Nintendo revealed a new design that was described as sleeker and more elegant than the one shown at E3 and announced Nintendo DS as the devices official name. On September 20,2004, Nintendo announced that the Nintendo DS would be released in North America on November 21,2004 for US$149.99. It was set to release on December 2,2004 in Japan, on February 24,2005 in Australia, the console was released in North America with a midnight launch event at Universal CityWalk EB Games in Los Angeles, California. The console was launched quietly in Japan compared to the North America launch, the Nintendo DS was seen by many analysts to be in the same market as Sonys PlayStation Portable, although representatives from both companies have said that each system targets a different audience. At one point, Time magazine awarded the DS a Gadget of the Week award, at the time of its release in the United States, the Nintendo DS retailed for US $149.99
6.
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
7.
MacOS
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Within the market of desktop, laptop and home computers, and by web usage, it is the second most widely used desktop OS after Microsoft Windows. Launched in 2001 as Mac OS X, the series is the latest in the family of Macintosh operating systems, Mac OS X succeeded classic Mac OS, which was introduced in 1984, and the final release of which was Mac OS9 in 1999. An initial, early version of the system, Mac OS X Server 1.0, was released in 1999, the first desktop version, Mac OS X10.0, followed in March 2001. In 2012, Apple rebranded Mac OS X to OS X. Releases were code named after big cats from the release up until OS X10.8 Mountain Lion. Beginning in 2013 with OS X10.9 Mavericks, releases have been named after landmarks in California, in 2016, Apple rebranded OS X to macOS, adopting the nomenclature that it uses for their other operating systems, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. The latest version of macOS is macOS10.12 Sierra, macOS is based on technologies developed at NeXT between 1985 and 1997, when Apple acquired the company. The X in Mac OS X and OS X is pronounced ten, macOS shares its Unix-based core, named Darwin, and many of its frameworks with iOS, tvOS and watchOS. A heavily modified version of Mac OS X10.4 Tiger was used for the first-generation Apple TV, Apple also used to have a separate line of releases of Mac OS X designed for servers. Beginning with Mac OS X10.7 Lion, the functions were made available as a separate package on the Mac App Store. Releases of Mac OS X from 1999 to 2005 can run only on the PowerPC-based Macs from the time period, Mac OS X10.5 Leopard was released as a Universal binary, meaning the installer disc supported both Intel and PowerPC processors. In 2009, Apple released Mac OS X10.6 Snow Leopard, in 2011, Apple released Mac OS X10.7 Lion, which no longer supported 32-bit Intel processors and also did not include Rosetta. All versions of the system released since then run exclusively on 64-bit Intel CPUs, the heritage of what would become macOS had originated at NeXT, a company founded by Steve Jobs following his departure from Apple in 1985. There, the Unix-like NeXTSTEP operating system was developed, and then launched in 1989 and its graphical user interface was built on top of an object-oriented GUI toolkit using the Objective-C programming language. This led Apple to purchase NeXT in 1996, allowing NeXTSTEP, then called OPENSTEP, previous Macintosh operating systems were named using Arabic numerals, e. g. Mac OS8 and Mac OS9. The letter X in Mac OS Xs name refers to the number 10 and it is therefore correctly pronounced ten /ˈtɛn/ in this context. However, a common mispronunciation is X /ˈɛks/, consumer releases of Mac OS X included more backward compatibility. Mac OS applications could be rewritten to run natively via the Carbon API, the consumer version of Mac OS X was launched in 2001 with Mac OS X10.0. Reviews were variable, with praise for its sophisticated, glossy Aqua interface
8.
IOS
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IOS is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the system that presently powers many of the companys mobile devices, including the iPhone, iPad. It is the second most popular operating system globally after Android. IPad tablets are also the second most popular, by sales, originally unveiled in 2007 for the iPhone, iOS has been extended to support other Apple devices such as the iPod Touch and the iPad. As of January 2017, Apples App Store contains more than 2.2 million iOS applications,1 million of which are native for iPads and these mobile apps have collectively been downloaded more than 130 billion times. The iOS user interface is based upon direct manipulation, using multi-touch gestures, interface control elements consist of sliders, switches, and buttons. Internal accelerometers are used by applications to respond to shaking the device or rotating it in three dimensions. Apple has been praised for incorporating thorough accessibility functions into iOS, enabling users with vision. Major versions of iOS are released annually, the current version, iOS10, was released on September 13,2016. In iOS, there are four layers, the Core OS, Core Services, Media. In 2005, when Steve Jobs began planning the iPhone, he had a choice to either shrink the Mac, forstall was also responsible for creating a software development kit for programmers to build iPhone apps, as well as an App Store within iTunes. The operating system was unveiled with the iPhone at the Macworld Conference & Expo on January 9,2007, and released in June of that year. At the time of its unveiling in January, Steve Jobs claimed, iPhone runs OS X and runs applications, but at the time of the iPhones release. Initially, third-party native applications were not supported, Steve Jobs reasoning was that developers could build web applications through the Safari web browser that would behave like native apps on the iPhone. In October 2007, Apple announced that a native Software Development Kit was under development, on March 6,2008, Apple held a press event, announcing the iPhone SDK. The iOS App Store was opened on July 10,2008 with an initial 500 applications available.2 million in January 2017, as of March 2016,1 million apps are natively compatible with the iPad tablet computer. These apps have collectively been downloaded more than 130 billion times, App intelligence firm Sensor Tower has estimated that the App Store will reach 5 million apps by the year 2020. On September 5,2007, Apple released the iPod Touch, Apple also sold more than one million iPhones during the 2007 holiday season
9.
Symbian
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Symbian is a discontinued mobile operating system and computing platform designed for smartphones. Symbian was originally developed as a closed-source OS for PDAs in 1998 by Symbian Ltd, Symbian OS was a descendant of Psions EPOC, and runs exclusively on ARM processors, although an unreleased x86 port existed. Symbian was used by major mobile phone brands, like Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson. Symbian OS was essentially a system and required an additional user interface to form a complete operating system. Symbian OS became prominent from the S60 platform built by Nokia, first released in 2002, Symbian eventually became the most widely used smart mobile operating system. UIQ was another Symbian user interface used by Motorola and Sony Ericsson. Applications of these interfaces were not compatible with other, despite each being built atop Symbian OS. Nokia was the majority shareholder in Symbian Ltd. and purchased the entire share in 2008, the non-profit Symbian Foundation was then created to make a royalty-free successor to Symbian OS - seeking to unify the platform, S60 became the Foundations favoured UI and UIQ stopped development. Symbian^1 was created as a result in 2009, Symbian^2 was only used by carrier NTT DoCoMo, one of the members of the Foundation, for the Japanese market. Symbian^3 was released as in 2010, by time it became fully open source. Symbian^3 received the Anna and Belle updates in 2011, the Symbian Foundation disintegrated in late 2010 and Nokia took back control of the OS development. Two months later, Nokia moved the OS to closed licensing, and later outsourced Symbian development to Accenture. Although support was promised until 2016, there was little development from Accenture, in January 2014, Nokia stopped accepting new or changed Symbian software from developers. The Nokia 808 PureView was officially the last Symbian smartphone from Nokia, however NTT DoCoMo continued releasing OPP devices in Japan, which still act as middleware on top of Symbian. Phones running this include the F-07F（Japanese：--） from Fujitsu and SH-07F（Japanese：--） from Sharp in 2014, Symbian originated from EPOC32, an operating system created by Psion in the 1990s. In June 1998, Psion Software became Symbian Ltd. a major joint venture between Psion and phone manufacturers Ericsson, Motorola, and Nokia, afterwards, different software platforms were created for Symbian, backed by different groups of mobile phone manufacturers. They include S60, UIQ and MOAP, with no major competition in the smartphone OS then, Symbian reached as high as 67% of the global smartphone market share in 2006. All of this discouraged third-party developers, and served to cause the native app ecosystem for Symbian not to evolve to a scale later reached by Apples App Store or Androids Google Play
10.
Android (operating system)
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Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google, based on the Linux kernel and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. In addition to devices, Google has further developed Android TV for televisions, Android Auto for cars. Variants of Android are also used on notebooks, game consoles, digital cameras, beginning with the first commercial Android device in September 2008, the operating system has gone through multiple major releases, with the current version being 7.0 Nougat, released in August 2016. Android applications can be downloaded from the Google Play store, which features over 2.7 million apps as of February 2017, Android has been the best-selling OS on tablets since 2013, and runs on the vast majority of smartphones. In September 2015, Android had 1.4 billion monthly active users, Android is popular with technology companies that require a ready-made, low-cost and customizable operating system for high-tech devices. The success of Android has made it a target for patent, Android Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California in October 2003 by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears, and Chris White. Rubin described the Android project as tremendous potential in developing smarter mobile devices that are aware of its owners location. The early intentions of the company were to develop an operating system for digital cameras. Despite the past accomplishments of the founders and early employees, Android Inc. operated secretly and that same year, Rubin ran out of money. Steve Perlman, a friend of Rubin, brought him $10,000 in cash in an envelope. In July 2005, Google acquired Android Inc. for at least $50 million and its key employees, including Rubin, Miner and White, joined Google as part of the acquisition. Not much was known about Android at the time, with Rubin having only stated that they were making software for mobile phones, at Google, the team led by Rubin developed a mobile device platform powered by the Linux kernel. Google marketed the platform to handset makers and carriers on the promise of providing a flexible, upgradeable system, Google had lined up a series of hardware components and software partners and signaled to carriers that it was open to various degrees of cooperation. Speculation about Googles intention to enter the communications market continued to build through December 2006. In September 2007, InformationWeek covered an Evalueserve study reporting that Google had filed several patent applications in the area of mobile telephony, the first commercially available smartphone running Android was the HTC Dream, also known as T-Mobile G1, announced on September 23,2008. Since 2008, Android has seen numerous updates which have improved the operating system, adding new features. Each major release is named in order after a dessert or sugary treat, with the first few Android versions being called Cupcake, Donut, Eclair. In 2010, Google launched its Nexus series of devices, a lineup in which Google partnered with different device manufacturers to produce new devices and introduce new Android versions
11.
Bada
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Bada is a discontinued operating system for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. It was developed by Samsung Electronics and its name is derived from 바다, meaning ocean or sea in Korean. It ranges from mid- to high-end smartphones, to foster adoption of Bada OS, since 2011 Samsung reportedly has considered releasing the source code under an open-source license, and expanding device support to include Smart TVs. All Bada-powered devices are branded under the Wave name, but not all of Samsungs Android-powered devices are branded under the name Galaxy, on 25 February 2013, Samsung announced that it will stop developing Bada, moving development to Tizen instead. Bug reporting was finally terminated in April 2014, after the announcement, the Wave S8500 was first shown at Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona in February 2010. At that time, applications running on the first Bada phone were demonstrated, after the launch, companies such as Twitter, EA, Capcom, Gameloft and Blockbuster showed their support for the Bada platform. In May 2010, Samsung released a beta of their Bada software development kit to attract developers, Samsung also began the Bada Developer Challenge with a total prize of $2,700,000. In August 2010, Samsung released version 1.0 of the SDK, in August 2011, Samsung released version 2.0 of the SDK. This new version provides many enhancements over its predecessors, the first Bada-based phone was the Samsung Wave S8500, released in April 2010, which sold one million handsets in its first four weeks on the market. The Samsung S8500 Wave was launched with version 1.0 of the Bada operating system, soon after the launch, Samsung released version 1.0.2, which included minor fixes for European users. The latest version 1.2 was released with the Samsung S8530 Wave II phone, the alpha-version of Bada 2.0 was introduced on February 15,2011, with the Samsung S8530 Wave II handset. Samsung Apps has over 2400 applications and this store is also available for Android and Samsung feature phones. Samsung is to remove the Bada brand and market the new OS, Tizen, with its own apps, the new store has around 1000 applications for Tizen. According to copyrights displayed by Samsung Wave S8500, it uses code from FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD, despite numerous suggestions, there is no known Bada device to date that is running the Linux kernel. Similarly, there is no evidence that Bada uses the same or similar graphics stack as the Tizen OS, the device layer provides core functions such as graphics, protocols, telephony and security. The service layer provides more service-centric features such as SMS, mapping and in-app-purchasing, to provide such features there is a so-called Bada Server. The top layer, the framework provides an application programming interface in C++ for application developers to use.0. Both the WebKit and Flash can be embedded inside native Bada applications, Bada supports OpenGL ES2.0 3D graphics API and offers interactive mapping with point of interest features, which can also be embedded inside native applications
12.
WebOS
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WebOS, also known as Open WebOS or LG WebOS, is a Linux kernel-based multitask operating system for smart devices such as Smart TVs and it has been used as a mobile operating system. Initially developed by Palm, HP made the open source. The operating system was sold to LG Electronics. HP still held patents related to WebOS. In January 2014, Qualcomm announced that it had acquired technology patents from HP, various versions of WebOS have been featured on several devices, including Pre, Pixi, and Veer smartphones, TouchPad tablet, LG Smart TVs since 2015. Palm launched WebOS, then called Palm WebOS, in January 2009 as the successor to Palm OS, the first WebOS device was the original Palm Pre, released by Sprint in June 2009. Upgraded Plus versions of both Pre and Pixi were released on Verizon and AT&T, in April 2010 HP acquired Palm, WebOS was described by Leo Apotheker as a key asset and motivation for the purchase. The $1.2 billion acquisition finalized in June, HP indicated its intention to develop the WebOS platform for use in multiple new products, including smartphones, tablets, and printers. In February 2011, HP announced that it would use WebOS as the platform for all its devices. HP announced several WebOS devices, including the HP Veer and HP Pre 3 smartphones, running WebOS2.2, and the HP TouchPad, a tablet computer released in July 2011 that runs WebOS3.0. In March 2011 HP announced plans for a version of WebOS by the end of 2011 to run within Windows, and to be installed on all HP desktop and notebook computers in 2012. Neither ever materialized, although work had begun on an x86 port around this time involving a team in Fort Collins, Colorado and it remained unclear whether HP would consider licensing WebOS software to other manufacturers. When HP reduced the price of the Touchpad to $99, the inventory quickly sold out. Notably, these US Pre 3 units, having been released through unofficial channels, the last HP WebOS version,3.0.5, was released on 12 January 2012. In August 2012, code specific to the devices was released as WebOS Community Edition. Open WebOS includes open source libraries designed to target a range of hardware. HP renamed its WebOS unit as Gram, in February 2012 HP released Isis, a new web browser for Open WebOS. The HP App Catalog was an app store for apps for the devices running WebOS
13.
Browser game
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A browser game is a computer game that is played over the Internet using a web browser. Browser games can be run using standard web technologies or browser plug-ins, the creation of such games usually involves use of standard web technologies as a frontend and other technologies to provide a backend. Browser games include all video game genres and can be single-player or multiplayer, browser games are also portable and can be played on multiple different devices, web browsers, and operating systems. Browser games come in many genres and themes that appeal to regular and casual players. Browser games are often free-to-play and do not require any client software to be installed apart from a web browser or browser plug-in, in some cases a game may be free, but charge for extra in-game features. Multiplayer browser games have a focus on social interaction, either between several players or on a massive scale. Due to the accessibility of browser games, they are played in more frequent. Since browser games run isolated from hardware in a web browser, a persistent browser-based game is a video game that is both browser-based and persistent. Persistent browser-based games usually rely on some kind of code, though some will use technologies like Flash, ActiveX. The server-side code will store persistent information about players and possibly the world in some kind of database. Sustainability, especially combined with persistence is a key distinction of a PBBG. This allows dynamic system modelling elements to develop and progress, even while the player is offline, such games often last for several months. Browser games can take advantage of different technologies in order to function, standard web technologies such as HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript can be used to make browser games, but these have had limited success because of issues with browser compatibility and quality. These technologies allow for games that can be run in all standards-compliant browsers, in addition, dedicated graphics technologies such as SVG and canvas allow for the fast rendering of vector and raster graphics respectively. In addition, WebGL allows for hardware-accelerated 3D support in the browser, browser plug-ins can be used to provide game technologies after being installed by the user. List of browser games List of multiplayer browser games
14.
Software release life cycle
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Usage of the alpha/beta test terminology originated at IBM. As long ago as the 1950s, IBM used similar terminology for their hardware development, a test was the verification of a new product before public announcement. B test was the verification before releasing the product to be manufactured, C test was the final test before general availability of the product. Martin Belsky, a manager on some of IBMs earlier software projects claimed to have invented the terminology, IBM dropped the alpha/beta terminology during the 1960s, but by then it had received fairly wide notice. The usage of beta test to refer to testing done by customers was not done in IBM, rather, IBM used the term field test. Pre-alpha refers to all activities performed during the project before formal testing. These activities can include requirements analysis, software design, software development, in typical open source development, there are several types of pre-alpha versions. Milestone versions include specific sets of functions and are released as soon as the functionality is complete, the alpha phase of the release life cycle is the first phase to begin software testing. In this phase, developers generally test the software using white-box techniques, additional validation is then performed using black-box or gray-box techniques, by another testing team. Moving to black-box testing inside the organization is known as alpha release, alpha software can be unstable and could cause crashes or data loss. Alpha software may not contain all of the features that are planned for the final version, in general, external availability of alpha software is uncommon in proprietary software, while open source software often has publicly available alpha versions. The alpha phase usually ends with a freeze, indicating that no more features will be added to the software. At this time, the software is said to be feature complete, Beta, named after the second letter of the Greek alphabet, is the software development phase following alpha. Software in the stage is also known as betaware. Beta phase generally begins when the software is complete but likely to contain a number of known or unknown bugs. Software in the phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software, as well as speed/performance issues. The focus of beta testing is reducing impacts to users, often incorporating usability testing, the process of delivering a beta version to the users is called beta release and this is typically the first time that the software is available outside of the organization that developed it. Beta version software is useful for demonstrations and previews within an organization
15.
The Settlers (video game)
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The Settlers is a 1993 real-time strategy video game developed and published by Blue Byte Software for Amiga. In 1994, it was ported to MS-DOS, Blue Byte published the DOS version in Europe under its original title, but in North America, it was published by SSI as Serf City, Life is Feudal. The Settlers is set in a milieu, and the primary goal in every level is to construct a settlement with a functioning economy. The game was well received, especially on the Amiga. Critics especially praised the interrelatedness and complexity of the economic system, as well as the graphics. While some critics saw it as a god game, comparing it favourably to Populous, others saw it as a city-building game, others, however, felt it defined a new genre altogether by blending elements of god games and city-building games. It was also a success, selling over 215,000 units worldwide. It went on to form the basis for The Settlers series, the game is controlled via a point and click interface, and can be played in one of two modes. The first is a series of thirty sequential missions where the player, either alone, or teaming with a second player, the second is an open-ended game, in which the landscape is either randomly generated, or based on input by the player. The player can choose up to three computer opponents against whom to play. Additionally, split screen mode allows two players to team up together to play against one or two computer opponents, or play against one another and up to two additional computer opponents. There are ten characters, who vary from peaceful and placid to warlike. In the HQ are a set amount of raw materials and tools, to expand their settlement, the player must gather and process additional raw materials such as granite, lumber, iron ore, gold and coal, as well as produce food such as bread and meat. The basic gameplay revolves around serfs who transport materials, tools and produce, populate the various buildings, a vital element in the game is the layout of the road network so as to allow for an efficient transportation system. Any settlers transporting goods must use roads, the settlers not bound by roads are knights during battle. To build a road, the player must place a flag in the ground, the player must then manually build the road from one flag to another using a series of on-screen prompts advising as to the best direction in which to build. To maximize distribution via the network, the player must set as many flags on each road as possible. As such, the flags the player has, the more settlers will operate on a given road
16.
Video game remake
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A video game remake is a video game closely adapted from an earlier title, usually for the purpose of modernizing a game for newer hardware and contemporary audiences. Typically, a remake of such game software shares essentially the same title, fundamental gameplay concepts, a remake typically shares very little of the original assets and code with the original game, distinguishing it from an enhanced port, partial remake, or remastering. Remakes are often made by the developer or copyright holder. If created by the community, video game remakes are sometimes also called fan game, a remake offers a newer interpretation of an older work, characterized by updated or changed assets. A remake typically maintains the story, genre, and fundamental gameplay ideas of the original work. The intent of a remake is usually to take a game that has become outdated and update it for a new platform. A remake may also include expanded stories, often to conform to the conventions of contemporary games or later titles in the series in order to make a game marketable to a new audience. However, elements that had not become dated, like the narrative, puzzles, another example is Black Mesa, a Half-Life 2 mod that improves in-game textures, assets and models, and facial animations, while taking place in the events of the original Half-Life game. A port is a conversion of a game to a new platform that relies heavily on existing work, a port that contains a great deal of remade assets may sometimes be considered a remastering or partial remake. In the early history of games, remakes were generally regarded as conversions. Due to limited and often highly divergent hardware, games appearing on platforms usually had to be entirely remade. These conversions often included considerable changes to the graphics and gameplay, and could be regarded retroactively as remakes, a conversion is created with the primary goal of tailoring a game to a specific piece of hardware, usually contemporaneous or nearly contemporaneous with the original release. In 1980, Atari released the first officially licensed home console conversion of an arcade title, Taitos 1978 hit Space Invaders. The game became the first killer app for a game console by quadrupling the systems sales. In 1985, Sega released a pair of arcade remakes of older video games. Pitfall II, Lost Caverns was effectively a remake of both the original Pitfall. and its sequel with new layouts and colorful, detailed graphics. This version was successful, and later adapted to the Master System. Both of these games were distinguished from most earlier conversions in that took major liberties with the source material
17.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
18.
Gameloft
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Gameloft SE is a French video game developer and publisher headquartered in Paris, with 20 game studios subsidiaries located around the world. They have created a number of games for mobile handsets, tablets, games consoles. It is a subsidiary of French media conglomerate Vivendi, founded in 2000 by Michel Guillemot and Josh Closson one of the co-founders and owners of video game publisher and developer Ubisoft, Gameloft has expanded to employ a staff of 5,000. Gameloft began to be profitable in 2003, gamelofts consolidated revenues were €10. 2m, €23. 2m and €46. 8m. Gameloft has posted consolidated revenues of €68m in 2006, €96m in 2007, €110m in 2008, in 2010, Gameloft consolidated sales reached €141m and went up to €164m in 2011. In 2012 the revenues continued to grow and crossed €200m, reaching €208. 3m in 2012, according to the preliminary data, the revenue for the end of year of 2014 were €227m. At a price of €8 per-share, the company was valued at €700 million, as of 1 July 2016 Vivendi owns 96. com Best MMORPG on iPhone & iPad 2011 JeuxVideo
19.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
20.
Simulation video game
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A simulation video game describes a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for purposes such as training, analysis. Usually there are no strictly defined goals in the game, with players allowed to freely control a character. Well-known examples are war games, business games, and role play simulation, comparisons of the merits of simulation games versus other teaching techniques have been carried out by many researchers and a number of comprehensive reviews have been published. While many credit simulation games beginning with Will Wright and SimCity in 1989, certain games such as SimLife and SimEarth were subsequently created and are capable of teaching players the basics of genetics and global ecosystems. In a study where adolescents played SimCity 2000, the found that those participants who played the game had a greater appreciation and expectation of their government officials after playing. Construction and management simulation is a type of game in which players build. Strategy games sometimes incorporate CMS aspects into their economy, as players must manage resources while expanding their project. But pure CMS games differ from games in that the players goal is not to defeat an enemy. Games in this category are also called management games. Life simulation games is a subgenre of video games in which the player lives or controls one or more artificial lifeforms. A life simulation game can revolve around individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation of an ecosystem, a sports game is a video game that simulates the playing of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including sports, athletics. Some games emphasize playing the sport, whilst others emphasize strategy, some, such as Arch Rivals, satirize the sport for comic effect. This genre has been throughout the history of video games and is competitive. A number of game series feature the names and characteristics of real teams and players, dating sims focuses on dating as the principal theme. In medical simulation games, players take the role of a surgeon and this includes the Trauma Center and LifeSigns series. In photography simulation games, players take photographs of animals or people and this includes games such as Pokémon Snap and Afrika
21.
Commodore Amiga
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The Amiga is a family of personal computers sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The Amiga provided a significant upgrade from earlier 8-bit home computers, the Amiga 1000 was officially released in July 1985, but a series of production problems meant it did not become widely available until early 1986. The best selling model, the Amiga 500, was introduced in 1987 and became one of the home computers of the late 1980s. The A3000, introduced in 1990, started the second generation of Amiga systems, followed by the A500+, finally, as the third generation, the A1200 and the A4000 were released in late 1992. The platform became particularly popular for gaming and programming demos and it also found a prominent role in the desktop video, video production, and show control business, leading to video editing systems such as the Video Toaster. The Amigas native ability to play back multiple digital sound samples made it a popular platform for early tracker music software. It was also an expensive alternative to the Apple Macintosh. Initially, the Amiga was developed alongside various Commodore PC clones, Commodore ultimately went bankrupt in April 1994 after the Amiga CD32 model failed in the marketplace. Since the demise of Commodore, various groups have marketed successors to the original Amiga line, including Genesi, Eyetech, ACube Systems Srl, likewise, AmigaOS has influenced replacements, clones and compatible systems such as MorphOS, AmigaOS4 and AROS. The Amiga was so far ahead of its time that almost nobody—including Commodores marketing department—could fully articulate what it was all about. Today, its obvious the Amiga was the first multimedia computer, but in those days it was derided as a machine because few people grasped the importance of advanced graphics, sound. Nine years later, vendors are still struggling to make systems that work like 1985 Amigas, Jay Miner joined Atari in the 1970s to develop custom integrated circuits, and led development of the Atari 2600s TIA. Almost as soon as its development was complete, the team developing a much more sophisticated set of chips, CTIA, ANTIC and POKEY. With the 8-bit lines launch in 1979, Miner again started looking at a next generation chipset, Miner wanted to start work with the new Motorola 68000, but management was only interested in another MOS6502 based system. Miner left the company, and the industry, shortly thereafter, in 1982, Larry Kaplan was approached by a number of investors who wanted to develop a new game platform. Kaplan hired Miner to run the side of the newly formed company. The system was code-named Lorraine in keeping with Miners policy of giving systems female names, in case the company presidents wife. When Kaplan left the late in 1982 to rejoin Atari, Miner was promoted to head engineer
22.
1994 in video gaming
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Nintendo proclaims 1994, The Year of the Cartridge. Nintendo Australia Pty. Ltd, the Australian subsidiary of Nintendo Co, Ltd is established and opened by Hiroshi Yamauchi and effectively ends Mattel Australias distribution of Nintendos products throughout Australia. Project Reality is renamed the Nintendo Ultra 64, the consoles design is revealed to the public for the first time in spring 1994. June 24 — The Computer Game Developers Association is formed by Ernest W. Adams, November — Game Zero magazine drops their print format and becomes the first video game news magazine on the web. November 10 — William Higinbotham, creator of Tennis for Two, january - Mega Man X is released in the US. February 2 — Sonic the Hedgehog 3, introduces Knuckles the Echidna, february 23 - Super Street Fighter II Turbo, introduces Akuma. March 15 - Mega Man 6 is released in the US, march 19 — Super Metroid, distributed on a 24-megabit cartridge, called the best game of all time by Electronic Gaming Monthly in 2002. March 27 - Origin releases Wing Commander III, Heart of the Tiger and its one of the most expensive games developed, with a budget of $4 million USD. April 2 - Square Co. releases Final Fantasy VI for the SNES on April 2 in Japan, may 3 — Epic MegaGames releases Jazz Jackrabbit, a console-style animal with attitude platformer. June 2 - Sir-Tech releases turn-based tactics game Jagged Alliance, the first installment of Jagged Alliance series, july — LucasArts releases TIE Fighter. July 5 — Capcom releases Darkstalkers, july 15 — Acclaim Entertainment and Mirage releases the fighting game Rise of the Robots. August 2 — Shiny Entertainment releases Earthworm Jim, august 25 — SNK Playmore releases The King of Fighters. August 27 — Nintendo releases Mother 2 for the Super Famicom in Japan, august 31 - Electronic Arts releases The Need for Speed for the 3DO, which begins the most successful racing game franchise of all time. September - MicroProse releases Master of Magic, September 9 — The Super NES version of Mortal Kombat 2 is released with all blood and fatalities left intact, the first major release on any Nintendo console at that point to have such content. September 22 — Looking Glass Studios releases System Shock, October — Killer Instinct, the first arcade machine with an internal hard disk. October 10 — id Software releases Doom II and Dave D. Taylor creates a Linux port of the original Doom, October 17 — Sonic & Knuckles is released. It allows a player to connect previous Sonic games to the cartridge, October 25 — MicroProse releases UFO, Enemy Unknown and the Strategy Game of the Year Master of Orion. November — Sega releases the 32X add-on in Europe and the US alongside Doom, November 21 — Nintendo releases Rares Donkey Kong Country, featuring 3D pre-rendered graphics
23.
IBM PC compatible
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IBM PC compatible computers are those similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, able to run the same software and support the same expansion cards as those. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones, Columbia Data Products built the first clone of the IBM personal computer by a clean room implementation of its BIOS. Early IBM PC compatibles used the computer bus as the original PC. The IBM AT compatible bus was named the Industry Standard Architecture bus by manufacturers of compatible computers. The term IBM PC compatible is now a historical description only, only the Apple Macintosh classic Mac OS and macOS kept significant market share without compatibility with the IBM personal computer, so consumers are typically identified as being a PC or Mac user. IBM decided in 1980 to market a low-cost single-user computer as quickly as possible in response to Apple Computers success in the microcomputer market. On 12 August 1981, the first IBM PC went on sale, there were three operating systems available for it. The least expensive and most popular was PC DOS made by Microsoft, in a crucial concession, IBMs agreement allowed Microsoft to sell its own version, MS-DOS, for non-IBM computers. The only component of the original PC architecture exclusive to IBM was the BIOS and this software would run on any machine using MS-DOS or PC-DOS. Software that directly addressed the hardware instead of making standard calls was faster, however, software addressing IBM PC hardware in this way would not run on MS-DOS machines with different hardware. The 808x computer marketplace rapidly excluded all machines which were not hardware-, the 640 KB barrier on conventional system memory available to MS-DOS is a legacy of that period, other non-clone machines, while subject to a limit, could exceed 640 kB. Rumors of lookalike, compatible computers, created without IBMs approval, by June 1983 PC Magazine defined PC clone as a computer accommodate the user who takes a disk home from an IBM PC, walks across the room, and plugs it into the foreign machine. Because of a shortage of IBM PCs that year, many customers purchased clones instead, Columbia Data Products produced the first computer more or less compatible to the IBM PC standard during June 1982, soon followed by Eagle Computer. Compaq announced its first IBM PC compatible in November 1982, the Compaq Portable, the Compaq was the first sewing machine-sized portable computer that was essentially 100% PC-compatible. The company could not copy the BIOS directly as a result of the decision in Apple v. Franklin. Each computer would have its own Original Equipment Manufacturer version of MS-DOS, any software written for MS-DOS would operate on any MS-DOS computer, despite variations in hardware design. This expectation seemed reasonable in the marketplace of the time. Until then Microsoft was based primarily on computer languages such as BASIC, the established small system operating software was CP/M from Digital Research which was in use both at the hobbyist level and by the more professional of those using microcomputers
24.
The Settlers II
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The Settlers II, Veni, Vidi, Vici is a 1996 real-time strategy video game developed and published by Blue Byte Software for MS-DOS. It is the game in The Settlers series, and a sequel to The Settlers. Shortly after its release, Blue Byte released a pack, The Settlers II Mission CD, containing additional maps, a new single-player campaign. In 1997, they released The Settlers II, Gold Edition, containing the original game, in 2006, a remake, The Settlers II 10th Anniversary, was released for Windows and Nintendo DS. In 2009, the Gold Edition was released on GOG. com, in the single-player campaign, the player controls a group of Romans who are shipwrecked. Led by their captain, Octavius, they must use a series of portals to try to find their way back to the Empire. During their travels, they come into conflict with Nubians, Vikings, in the single-player campaign included with the Mission CD, the player controls Octavius great-grandson as he attempts to conquer the entire world. The game received positive reviews, with critics praising the complex economic system, the graphics. Common criticisms included a lack of control during combat, and a sense of repetitiveness after playing for a while, the game is controlled via a point and click interface, and features a HUD navigated primarily through windows modeled on Windows 95. The game can be played in one of two modes, Campaign or Free Game, in Campaign mode, the player can only control the Romans, with the ten missions forming a linear narrative. However, once each mission has been unlocked, the player is free to return, in Free Game mode, the player can choose from eighteen different maps, and refine the type of game to be played in various ways. For example, the player can select how many races will compete in the game, which race they will control, a second player can also control one of the other races, with the main player selecting from three different types of alliance. The player must also select the objective of the game, choosing between Total domination and Conquer ¾ of the map, other conditions the player must set include Merchandise in the HQ, Exploration and Start position. Games involving two players are played in split screen, with the second player using a mouse on the same PC. Whether playing in Campaign or Free Game mode, every game begins the same way, the player has one building, a warehouse, in which are a set amount of raw materials and tools. To expand their settlement, the player must gather and process raw materials such as granite, lumber, iron ore, gold and coal, as well as produce food such as bread. The basic gameplay revolves around serfs who transport materials, tools and produce, populate the various buildings, a vital element in the game is the layout of the road network so as to allow for an efficient transportation system. Any settlers transporting goods must use roads, the settlers not bound by roads are soldiers during battle
25.
Video game
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A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor. The word video in video game referred to a raster display device. Some theorists categorize video games as an art form, but this designation is controversial, the electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms, examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. These platforms range from large mainframe computers to small handheld computing devices, the input device used for games, the game controller, varies across platforms. Common controllers include gamepads, joysticks, mouse devices, keyboards, the touchscreens of mobile devices, and buttons, or even, with the Kinect sensor, a persons hands and body. Players typically view the game on a screen or television or computer monitor, or sometimes on virtual reality head-mounted display goggles. There are often game sound effects, music and, in the 2010s, some games in the 2000s include haptic, vibration-creating effects, force feedback peripherals and virtual reality headsets. In the 2010s, the game industry is of increasing commercial importance, with growth driven particularly by the emerging Asian markets and mobile games. As of 2015, video games generated sales of USD74 billion annually worldwide, early games used interactive electronic devices with various display formats. The earliest example is from 1947—a Cathode ray tube Amusement Device was filed for a patent on 25 January 1947, by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann, and issued on 14 December 1948, as U. S. Written by MIT students Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanens on a DEC PDP-1 computer in 1961, and the hit ping pong-style Pong, used the DEC PDP-1s vector display to have two spaceships battle each other. In 1971, Computer Space, created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was the first commercially sold and it used a black-and-white television for its display, and the computer system was made of 74 series TTL chips. The game was featured in the 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green, Computer Space was followed in 1972 by the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home console. Modeled after a late 1960s prototype console developed by Ralph H. Baer called the Brown Box and these were followed by two versions of Ataris Pong, an arcade version in 1972 and a home version in 1975 that dramatically increased video game popularity. The commercial success of Pong led numerous other companies to develop Pong clones and their own systems, the game inspired arcade machines to become prevalent in mainstream locations such as shopping malls, traditional storefronts, restaurants, and convenience stores. The game also became the subject of articles and stories on television and in newspapers and magazines. Space Invaders was soon licensed for the Atari VCS, becoming the first killer app, the term platform refers to the specific combination of electronic components or computer hardware which, in conjunction with software, allows a video game to operate. The term system is commonly used
26.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
27.
The Settlers II (10th Anniversary)
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The Settlers II 10th Anniversary Edition is a remake of the classic real-time strategy game The Settlers II. It was announced in July 2006, the Settlers II 10th Anniversary Edition features up-to-date 3D graphics and new gameplay additions. The game has been released in Germany in September 2006 and in the UK in October 2006, an English-language version is also available in various other regions, including Scandinavia, Asia and Canada. The game was released in the United States as a GameStop exclusive. The game has since given a digital re-release on sites such as GOG. com As in the original version. The building of a road layout is essential to the gameplay. The transport system has to be optimized in order to guarantee the most efficient transportation of goods along their production chains, the soldiers who are basically the end product of this economy, are mostly controlled in an indirect way, similar to the flow of economic goods. The main gameplay enhancement over the game is much easier upgrading of soldiers in their barracks. Three of the types of population are included in the single player campaign. There is a map editor and the game can also import maps from the original game, multiplayer mode with a matchmaking Internet lobby is available. A Vikings add-on is available for the German, Czech, Polish, there even is a fan made translation of this add-on. In 2007 Ubisoft released a Nintendo DS title, The Settlers, early press materials suggested that the title would be a direct port of the MS-DOS original but instead the game is a rebuild of the game mechanics from The Settlers II
28.
The Settlers III
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The Settlers III is a 1998 real-time strategy video game developed and published by Blue Byte Software for Microsoft Windows. It is the game in The Settlers series, following The Settlers. In 2013, the Gold Edition was released on GOG. com under its North American title, The Settlers III, Ultimate Collection. HE tells them they must each pick a champion from among their people, Quest of the Amazons tells a prequel story, chronicling how Helioss daughter, Qnqüra, becomes HIS personal assistant, engineering events so that women become the secret rulers of the universe. Quest allows the player to choose one of two campaigns, either controlling the Amazons against the other three races, or controlling the combined forces of the others against the Amazons. The game was designed and co-programmed by Volker Wertich, creator of the original Settlers game, having consulted fan feedback from the first two games, Wertich wanted to expand the scope of the third installment as much as possible, whilst preserving the elements which made the series unique. In light of this principal, although the core supply and demand-based gameplay is broadly the same as in previous titles. The game was also the first in the series to online multiplayer. The Settlers III received mixed reviews, although acclaimed in its native Germany, where it was heralded as the best game in the series thus far, the international reaction was more muted. The game was a success, selling over 200,000 units in Germany within the first twelve months of its release. To achieve this end, the player must engage in economic micromanagement, construct buildings, the game can be played in one of three modes, Single Player, Scenario, Multiplayer, or Campaign. In Campaign mode, the player must complete a series of missions, in the original release of the game, there were three separate campaigns of eight missions each, one campaign each for the Romans, Egyptians and Asians. The player can select the type of game to be played, choosing from Map Defaults. Introduced in Quest of the Amazons was Economic Mode, in which the goal is to be the first player to complete an economic based objective. Whether playing Campaign, Scenario or Multiplayer, each game begins the same way, the player has a settlement, a set amount of raw materials and tools. The basic gameplay revolves around serfs, who transport materials, tools and produce, in both The Settlers and The Settlers II, settlers automatically emerged from the players headquarters as required. In The Settlers III, however, there are no headquarters, at no point does the player directly control any normal settler - instead, general orders are issued, with the AI handling the delegation of orders to specific settlers. However, the player can control specialist settlers, of which there are three types, pioneers, thieves and geologists, a major change to the mechanics in The Settlers III is that players do not have to construct a road network
29.
Isometric projection
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Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings. It is a projection in which the three coordinate axes appear equally foreshortened and the angle between any two of them is 120 degrees. The term isometric comes from the Greek for equal measure, reflecting that the scale along each axis of the projection is the same. An isometric view of an object can be obtained by choosing the viewing direction such that the angles between the projections of the x, y, and z axes are all the same, or 120°. For example, with a cube, this is done by first looking straight towards one face, next, the cube is rotated ±45° about the vertical axis, followed by a rotation of approximately ±35. 264° about the horizontal axis. Note that with the cube the perimeter of the resulting 2D drawing is a regular hexagon, all the black lines have equal length. Isometric graph paper can be placed under a piece of drawing paper to help achieve the effect without calculation. In a similar way, a view can be obtained in a 3D scene. Starting with the camera aligned parallel to the floor and aligned to the axes, it is first rotated vertically by about 35. 264° as above. Another way isometric projection can be visualized is by considering a view within a cubical room starting in a corner and looking towards the opposite. The x-axis extends diagonally down and right, the y-axis extends diagonally down and left, depth is also shown by height on the image. Lines drawn along the axes are at 120° to one another, the term isometric is often mistakenly used to refer to axonometric projections generally. From the two angles needed for a projection, the value of the second may seem counterintuitive. Let’s first imagine a cube with sides of length 2, and we can calculate the length of the line from its center to the middle of any edge as √2 using Pythagoras theorem. By rotating the cube by 45° on the x-axis, the point will become as depicted in the diagram. The second rotation aims to bring the point on the positive z-axis. There are eight different orientations to obtain a view, depending into which octant the viewer looks. 264°. As explained above, this is a rotation around the axis by β
30.
Command & Conquer
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Command & Conquer is a real-time strategy video game franchise, first developed by Westwood Studios. The first game was one of the earliest of the RTS genre, itself based on Westwood Studios landmark strategy game Dune 2 and this includes full motion video cutscenes with a notable ensemble cast to progress the story, as opposed to digitally in-game rendered cutscenes. Westwood Studios was taken over by Electronic Arts in 1998 and eventually closed down in 2003, the studio and some of its members were absorbed into EA Los Angeles, which continued development on the series. The magazine stated that it would have new terrain and enemies, Command & Conquer was released worldwide by Westwood on August 31,1995. The plot is set sometime in the future where the Earth becomes infected by a mysterious resource known only as Tiberium. A global war ensues between the UN-formed Global Defense Initiative to contain it and the cult quasi-state revolutionary Brotherhood of Nod, led by the enigmatic Kane, which seeks to harness it. Highly successful, it was followed by Command & Conquer, Red Alert in 1996 which is set in a universe where the Soviet Union wages war with the Allied West. The first game is referred to as Tiberian Dawn as a result. The original game was followed by Command & Conquer, Tiberian Sun in 1999, in 2002, a first person-shooter set in the Tiberium universe, Command & Conquer, Renegade, was released and praised for its online features. The highly anticipated Command & Conquer 3, Tiberium Wars was released in 2007 and followed by the expansion pack Command & Conquer 3, Kanes Wrath. Command & Conquer 4, Tiberian Twilight, released in 2010 as the conclusion to the Tiberium saga, received more mixed reviews because of its deviation from traditional gameplay. The series is developed for personal computers running Microsoft Windows, although some titles have been ported to various video game consoles. Other games for such as iOS and web-based have also been developed. As of July 2010, the Command & Conquer franchise consists of eleven games, the first three games of the series have been released as Freeware to promote the successors. EA had confirmed that a new game, entitled Command & Conquer, was in development with the studio Victory Games. It was set to be the game in the series and was expected to be released in 2013. However, after a short period the game was cancelled. The Command & Conquer series has been a success with over 30 million Command & Conquer games sold as of 2009
31.
Age of Empires
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Age of Empires is a series of personal computer games developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Studios. The first title of the series was Age of Empires, released in 1997, since then, seven titles and three spin-offs have been released. The titles are historical strategy games. They competed with another popular series, Civilization. Age of Empires focused on events in Europe, Africa and Asia, spanning from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, the expansion game explored the formation and expansion of the Roman Empire. The sequel, Age of Empires II, The Age of Kings, was set in the Middle Ages, the subsequent three games of Age of Empires III explored the early modern period, when Europe was colonizing the Americas and several Asian nations were on the decline. The newest installment, Age of Empires Online, takes a different approach as an online game utilizing Games for Windows Live. A spin-off game, Age of Mythology, was set in the period as the original Age of Empires, but focused on mythological elements of Greek, Egyptian. The Age of Empires series has been a success, selling over 20 million copies. The popularity and quality of the games has earned Ensemble Studios a strong reputation in real-time strategy gaming, Ensemble collaborated with Big Huge Games on Age of Empires III, The Asian Dynasties. Critics have credited part of the success of the series to its theme and fair play. The games in the focus on historical events throughout time. Age of Empires covers the events between the Stone Age and the Classical period, in Europe and Asia and its expansion, The Rise of Rome, follows the formation and rise of the Roman Empire. The Age of Kings and its Nintendo DS spin-off follow Europe, the Age of Kings expansion pack, The Conquerors, is set during the same period, but also includes scenarios about the Spanish conquest of Mexico, El Cid, and Attila the Hun. Age of Empires III and its first expansion, The WarChiefs and its second expansion, The Asian Dynasties, follows the rise of Asia in the same period. Age of Empires Online focuses on the Greek and Egyptian civilizations, the series spin-off, Age of Mythology, and its expansion pack, The Titans, are set during the Bronze Age, but focus on mythology as their themes, rather than history. Age of Empires, released on October 26,1997, was the first game in the series and it was one of the first history-based real-time strategy games made, utilizing the Genie game engine. GameSpot described it as a mix of Civilization and Warcraft, the game gives players a choice of 12 civilizations to develop from the Stone Age to the Iron Age
32.
Copy protection
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Various methods have been devised to prevent reproduction so that companies will gain benefit from each person who obtains an authorized copy of their product. Unauthorized copying and distribution accounted for $2, making copy protection effective while protecting consumer rights is still an ongoing problem with media publication. Copy prevention and copy control may be more neutral terms, the term is also often related to, and confused with, the concept of digital rights management. Digital rights management is a general term because it includes all sorts of management of works. Copy protection may include measures that are not digital, a more appropriate term may be technological protection measures, which is often defined as the use of technological tools in order to restrict the use or access to a work. Copy protection is most commonly found on videotapes, DVDs, computer software discs, video discs and cartridges, audio CDs. Many media formats are easy to copy using a machine, allowing consumers to distribute copies to their friends, a practice known as casual copying. Opponents of copy protection argue that people who obtain free copies only use what they can get for free, and would not purchase their own copy if they were unable to obtain a free copy. Some even argue that free copies increase profit, people who receive a copy of a music CD may then go and buy more of that bands music. Some publishers have avoided copy-protecting their products, on the theory that the resulting inconvenience to their users outweighs any benefit of frustrating casual copying, from the perspective of the end user, copy protection is always a cost. DRM and license managers sometimes fail, are inconvenient to use, the term copy protection refers to the technology used to attempt to frustrate copying, and not to the legal remedies available to publishers or authors whose copyrights are violated. Software usage models range from node locking to floating licenses, grid computing, the term license management refers to broad platforms which enable the specification, enforcement and tracking of software licenses. To safeguard copy protection and license management technologies themselves against tampering and hacking, floating licenses are also being referred to as Indirect Licenses, and are licenses that at the time they are issued, there is no actually user who will use them. That has some influence over some of their characteristics. Direct Licenses are issued after a user requires it. As an example, an activated Microsoft product, contains a Direct License which is locked to the PC where the product is installed. The basic technical fact is all types of media require a player — a CD player, DVD player. The player has to be able to read the media in order to display it to a human
33.
The Settlers IV
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The Settlers IV, known as The Settlers, Fourth Edition in North America, is a 2001 real-time strategy video game for Microsoft Windows developed and published by Blue Byte Software. It is the game in The Settlers series. It began as a mini-game called Smack a Thief, designed for advertisement, in The Settlers IV there are four races, the Mayans, the Vikings, the Romans, and the Dark Tribe. The game can be played via either single-player, playing against the computer, or against another human opponent and it also features a free settle mode where players are free to build a civilization with no fear of attack. The game was released on March 30,2001, in Europe and on July 20,2001, in 2009, it was ported by Gameloft to iOS devices, under the title The Settlers. Although the game utilizes touch controls, the gameplay, game mechanics, in 2011, Gameloft ported the game to both Symbian and Android devices. The Greatest God Him banishes the Dark God Morbus along with his partner Concora and his servants to the one place Morbus hates more than anywhere, The planet Earth, due to its green colour. Wishing to put an end to the areas around Earth, Morbus develops seeds that putrify the land. The game maintains the core gamplay from the three games, the player must build a working economy to produce military units. Iron and coal are needed to produce weapons that are used to recruit soldiers from the pool of workers and this, in turn, requires mines and food production. All buildings require wood and stone to build, and all settlers need living space, the game contains three playable races, the Mayans, the Vikings, the Romans. Each race has three missions available, over the course of twelve missions, the player fights against pirates, renegades, and the Dark Tribe itself. In the end the Mayans, Vikings and Romans unite to defeat the Dark Tribe, to destroy the Dark Tribe base, the player must destroy the fungus farms and the dark fortress at the heart of their camp. The fortress is protected by an area, where any soldiers set foot upon it are instantly killed. To destroy the fortress, the player must first destroy the farms, using gardeners and a priests spell, the game has an expansion called The Settlers IV, The Trojans and the Elixir of Power where a fourth playable race is included, the Trojans. The expansion was released on March 22,2002, the game has also had several add-ons released, The Settlers IV Mission Pack, released March 22,2002. Die Siedler IV, Die Neue Welt, released November 28,2002, Die Siedler IV, Große Feldzüge, released November 20,2003. In 2009, Gameloft released The Settlers for iOS on the App Store, in 2011, they released The Settlers HD for Symbian^3 on the Ovi Store and, later in the year, for Android on the Gameloft Store
34.
Maya civilization
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The Maya civilization developed in an area that encompasses southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. The Archaic period, prior to 2000 BC, saw the first developments in agriculture, the first Maya cities developed around 750 BC, and by 500 BC these cities possessed monumental architecture, including large temples with elaborate stucco façades. Hieroglyphic writing was being used in the Maya region by the 3rd century BC, in the Late Preclassic a number of large cities developed in the Petén Basin, and Kaminaljuyu rose to prominence in the Guatemalan Highlands. Beginning around 250 AD, the Classic period is defined as when the Maya were raising sculpted monuments with Long Count dates. This period saw the Maya civilization develop a number of city-states linked by a complex trade network. In the Maya Lowlands two great rivals, Tikal and Calakmul, became powerful, the Classic period also saw the intrusive intervention of the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan in Maya dynastic politics. In the 9th century, there was a political collapse in the central Maya region, resulting in internecine warfare, the abandonment of cities. The Postclassic period saw the rise of Chichen Itza in the north, in the 16th century, the Spanish Empire colonized the Mesoamerican region, and a lengthy series of campaigns saw the fall of Nojpetén, the last Maya city in 1697. Classic period rule was centred on the concept of the divine king, kingship was patrilineal, and power would normally pass to the eldest son. A prospective king was expected to be a successful war leader. Maya politics was dominated by a system of patronage, although the exact political make-up of a kingdom varied from city-state to city-state. By the Late Classic, the aristocracy had greatly increased, resulting in the reduction in the exclusive power of the divine king. Maya cities tended to expand haphazardly, and the city centre would be occupied by ceremonial and administrative complexes, different parts of a city would often be linked by causeways. The principal architecture of the city consisted of palaces, pyramid-temples, ceremonial ballcourts, the Maya elite were literate, and developed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing that was the most advanced in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Maya recorded their history and ritual knowledge in screenfold books, there are also a great many examples of Maya text found on stelae and ceramics. The Maya developed a complex series of interlocking ritual calendars. As a part of their religion, the Maya practised human sacrifice, the Maya civilization developed within the Mesoamerican cultural area, which covers a region that spreads from northern Mexico southwards into Central America. Mesoamerica was one of six cradles of civilization worldwide, the Mesoamerican area gave rise to a series of cultural developments that included complex societies, agriculture, cities, monumental architecture, writing, and calendrical systems
35.
Vikings
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The term is also commonly extended in modern English and other vernaculars to the inhabitants of Viking home communities during what has become known as the Viking Age. Facilitated by advanced seafaring skills, and characterised by the longship, Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. A romanticized picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century, current popular representations of the Vikings are typically based on cultural clichés and stereotypes, complicating modern appreciation of the Viking legacy. One etymology derives víking from the feminine vík, meaning creek, inlet, various theories have been offered that the word viking may be derived from the name of the historical Norwegian district of Viken, meaning a person from Viken. According to this theory, the word simply described persons from this area, however, there are a few major problems with this theory. People from the Viken area were not called Viking in Old Norse manuscripts, in addition, that explanation could only explain the masculine and ignore the feminine, which is a serious problem because the masculine is easily derived from the feminine but hardly vice versa. The form also occurs as a name on some Swedish rune stones. There is little indication of any negative connotation in the term before the end of the Viking Age and this is found in the Proto-Nordic verb *wikan, ‘to turn’, similar to Old Icelandic víkja ‘to move, to turn’, with well-attested nautical usages. In that case, the idea behind it seems to be that the rower moves aside for the rested rower on the thwart when he relieves him. A víkingr would then originally have been a participant on a sea journey characterized by the shifting of rowers, in that case, the word Viking was not originally connected to Scandinavian seafarers but assumed this meaning when the Scandinavians begun to dominate the seas. In Old English, the word wicing appears first in the Anglo-Saxon poem, Widsith, in Old English, and in the history of the archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen written by Adam of Bremen in about 1070, the term generally referred to Scandinavian pirates or raiders. As in the Old Norse usages, the term is not employed as a name for any people or culture in general, the word does not occur in any preserved Middle English texts. The Vikings were known as Ascomanni ashmen by the Germans for the ash wood of their boats, Lochlannach by the Gaels, the modern day name for Sweden in several neighbouring countries is possibly derived from rōþs-, Ruotsi in Finnish and Rootsi in Estonian. The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them Varangians, Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard. The Franks normally called them Northmen or Danes, while for the English they were known as Danes or heathen. It is used in distinction from Anglo-Saxon, similar terms exist for other areas, such as Hiberno-Norse for Ireland and Scotland. The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history, Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south. The Normans were descended from Vikings who were given feudal overlordship of areas in northern France—the Duchy of Normandy—in the 10th century, in that respect, descendants of the Vikings continued to have an influence in northern Europe
36.
Ancient Rome
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In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
37.
Troy
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The present-day location is known as Hisarlik. It was the setting of the Trojan War described in the Greek Epic Cycle, in particular in the Iliad, a new capital called Ilium was founded on the site in the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus. It flourished until the establishment of Constantinople and declined gradually in the Byzantine era and these excavations revealed several cities built in succession. Troy VII has been identified with the city that the Hittites called Wilusa, the origin of the Greek Ἴλιον. Today, the hill at Hisarlık has given its name to a village near the ruins. It lies within the province of Çanakkale, some 30 km south-west of the provincial capital, the map here shows the adapted Scamander estuary with Ilium a little way inland across the Homeric plain. Troy was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1998, Ancient Greek historians variously placed the Trojan War in the 12th, 13th, or 14th centuries BC, Eratosthenes to 1184 BC, Herodotus to 1250 BC, Duris of Samos to 1334 BC. Modern archaeologists associate Homeric Troy with archaeological Troy VII, in the Iliad, the Achaeans set up their camp near the mouth of the River Scamander, where they had beached their ships. The city of Troy itself stood on a hill, across the plain of Scamander, recent geological findings have permitted the identification of the ancient Trojan coastline, and the results largely confirm the accuracy of the Homeric geography of Troy. In November 2001, the geologist John C, kraft from the University of Delaware and the classicist John V. Luce from Trinity College, Dublin, presented the results of investigations, begun in 1977, into the geology of the region. Besides the Iliad, there are references to Troy in the major work attributed to Homer. The Homeric legend of Troy was elaborated by the Roman poet Virgil in his Aeneid, the Greeks and Romans took for a fact the historicity of the Trojan War and the identity of Homeric Troy with the site in Anatolia. Alexander the Great, for example, visited the site in 334 BC and there made sacrifices at tombs associated with the Homeric heroes Achilles and Patroclus. After the 1995 find of a Luwian biconvex seal at Troy VII, with the rise of critical history, Troy and the Trojan War were, for a long time, consigned to the realms of legend. However, the location of ancient Troy had from classical times remained the subject of interest. The Troad peninsula was anticipated to be the location, leChavaliers location, published in his Voyage de la Troade, was the most commonly accepted theory for almost a century. In 1822, the Scottish journalist Charles Maclaren was the first to identify with confidence the position of the city as it is now known, the hill, near the city of Çanakkale, was known as Hisarlık. In 1868, Heinrich Schliemann visited Calvert and secured permission to excavate Hisarlık, in 1871–73 and 1878–79, he excavated the hill and discovered the ruins of a series of ancient cities dating from the Bronze Age to the Roman period
38.
The Settlers: Heritage of Kings
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The Settlers, Heritage of Kings is a real-time strategy game for Microsoft Windows developed by Blue Byte Software and published by Ubisoft. It is the installment of The Settlers series. The game tells the story of a prince, Dario. Heritage of Kings is also the first Settlers game in 3D, the objective of the game remains the same as in all previous Settlers games, create a thriving settlement, while amassing an army and defeating rival nations. However, many aspects of the game have changed from the games predecessors, for example, in previous games, scarcity of resources was a major factor. However, in Heritage of Kings, the introduction of refineries for the various resources enabled players to more buildings in less time. The game also removes workers who bring resources from the quarries to the processing buildings, a major new addition to the game unavailable in any previous Settlers games is weather change. Initially, changing weather is automatic, after a set period of time the weather will change from winter to spring or summer to autumn, in later missions, however, the player can build a machine capable of controlling the weather. Heritage of Kings can also be played as a game via either a LAN or over the internet. Online game mode has its own set of maps. The standard mode of player is Conquest, where the player must destroy all of their opponents buildings, another mode is Technological race, in which opposing teams must develop new technologies and research buildings. The game starts when Dario, a boy in Thalgrund, is attacked by minions of the evil Mordred. After surviving the attack, Dario learns from his mother that he is actually the rightful heir to the throne. Upon hearing this, he sets out, accompanied by his childhood friend Erec, to locate his last living relative, finally, the heroes march on Mordreds base in Evelance, defeating him in an epic battle. With the kingdom finally liberated, Dario takes his place on the throne, on November 10,2005 Ubisoft released The Settlers, Heritage of Kings - Gold Edition, which contained the main game and the first expansion pack. The game received mixed to negative reviews upon release, while the graphics, multiplayer and sound design were praised, there was much criticism of the repetitive gameplay, weak combat, poor voice acting and slow pacing. The game holds a score of 61. 35% on GameRankings, based on twenty-three reviews. IGNs Dan Adams gave the game 6.5 out of 10, writing Without those big headed cartoon people, The Settlers series is just another RTS that manages to scrape by on technical graphics and decent sound
39.
Cossacks: European Wars
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Cossacks, European Wars is a real-time strategy video game for Microsoft Windows made by the Ukrainian developer GSC Game World. It was released on 24 April 2001, the game has an isometric view and is set in the 17th and 18th centuries of Europe. It features sixteen playable nations each with its own styles, technologies. Players must avoid famine and engage in expansion, building construction. Mission scenarios range from such as Thirty Years War to the War of the Austrian Succession. This ability set it apart from games of the time such as Age of Empires. Cossacks is a game which allows the user to gain strategy skills, the game has won two awards and was positively favoured by a majority of reviewers. There are 6 basic resources in the game that are crucial to the military victory. These are gold, wood, food, stone, iron, gold, iron and coal may only be acquired by constructing mines over a designated resource area and sending peasants into them whereas food is cultivated from mills and via the use of fishing boats. Wood and stone are gathered by means and there are also specific areas where these may be collected. Depending on the type of unit or structure being built, the amount of resources needed to create a unit/structure would inflate quantitatively with each one built or trained. Depleted resources would result in a penalty for the player such as a lack of food will signify a famine for the state. The economic workforce consists of peasants who can multitask and also attack enemy soldiers and they can, however, also be captured by enemy troops and turned to the enemys allegiance. Cossacks depart from common RTS titles in that military actions may be conducted by assigning formations to soldiers or allowing them to attack solitarily without proper formations. Formations may be made by grouping exactly 15,36,72,120 or 196 of a unit type in the presence of a corresponding officer and drummer. 3 different types of formations may be assumed and used for different attacking methods, units in formations may also be issued a stand ground order where they would also be granted a defensive bonus as well as a morale improvement. Cavalry units may also be grouped into formations and function in a manner as would an infantry formation minus the officer and drummer units. Upgrades which affect weaponry and defensive stats can be researched in the barracks or the stables or the armories, an academy or a minaret is also needed to train officers and to build formations
40.
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
41.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
