Portal:Video games/Featured article
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3D Monster Maze is a computer game developed by Malcolm Evans in 1981 for the Sinclair ZX81 platform with the 16KB memory expansion. The game was initially released by J.K. Greye Software in early 1982 and re-released later the same year by Evans' own startup, New Generation Software. Rendered using low-resolution character block "graphics", it was the first 3D game for a home computer.
New Generation Software went on to become a well-known software firm with the Sinclair platform and continued to pioneer the 3D gaming technology for ZX81 and the later model Sinclair ZX Spectrum. The press immediately gave the game a title of a "firm favourite" of the ZX81 users. Decades later, it became popular with the retrogaming community, inspiring remakes and fueling ZX81 emulation projects.
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee is a multi-award winning side-scrolling platform video game developed by Oddworld Inhabitants and published by GT Interactive. It was released in 1997 for the PlayStation video game console and Windows OS in North America, Australia and Europe. The game was released under the title Abe a GoGo in Japan for the PlayStation by publisher SoftBank, with a Windows OS version following in 2001. Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee was the first game in the planned five part Oddworld Quintology, which includes Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus and Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee.
The game centers on the titular Abe, a Mudokon slave working at the RuptureFarms meat processing factory on Oddworld. When he discovers that he and his friends face death at the hands of their desperate master, he decides to escape and aid as many enslaved Mudokons as he can along the way. The player assumes the role of Abe, and must escape from the factory before embarking on a perilous quest to restore his once noble people.
Abe's Oddysee was widely acclaimed for having innovative gameplay, good graphics and engaging cut-scenes; however, its steep learning curve and system of saving only at checkpoints received criticism.
Chrono Cross (クロノ・クロス Kurono Kurosu?) is a console role-playing game created by Square Co. (now Square Enix) for the Sony PlayStation. It is the sequel to Chrono Trigger, which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Unlike its predecessor's "Dream Team", Chrono Cross was developed primarily by scenarist and director Masato Kato and other programmers for Chrono Trigger, including art director Yasuyuki Honne and sound planner Minoru Akao. Composer Yasunori Mitsuda scored Chrono Cross and Nobuteru Yūki designed its characters.
The story of Chrono Cross focuses on a teenage boy named Serge and a theme of parallel worlds. Faced with an alternate reality in which he died as a child, Serge endeavors to discover the truth of the two worlds' divergence. The flashy thief Kid and forty-three other characters assist him in his travels around the tropical archipelago El Nido. Struggling to uncover his past and find the mysterious Frozen Flame, Serge is chiefly challenged by Lynx, a shadowy antagonist working to apprehend him.
Upon its release in Japan in 1999 and in the United States in 2000, Chrono Cross received high ratings and critical acclaim. The game's 1.5 million worldwide sales led to a Greatest Hits re-release and continued life in Japan as part of the Ultimate Hits series. Chrono Cross was not released in PAL territories due to expected technical expenses and difficulties. A "Millennium Edition" featuring a calendar, clock, and music sampler disc was released exclusively in Japan.
Chrono Trigger (クロノ・トリガー Kurono Torigā?) is a console role-playing game created by Square Co. for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in Japan on March 11, 1995 and in North America on August 22 of the same year. The game's story follows a group of young adventurers who are accidentally transported through time and learn that the world will be destroyed in the distant future. Vowing to prevent this disaster, they travel throughout history to discover the means to save the planet.
Chrono Trigger was developed by a group called the "Dream Team", consisting of Hironobu Sakaguchi, producer and creator of the Final Fantasy series, Yuuji Horii, director of the Dragon Quest games, Akira Toriyama, character designer for Dragon Quest and Dragon Ball, producer Kazuhiko Aoki, and Nobuo Uematsu, the composer of several games in the Final Fantasy series. Assisting the team were music composer Yasunori Mitsuda, who completed most of the score, and scenarist Masato Kato, who would later helm the game's sequels.
At the time of its release, certain aspects of Chrono Trigger were seen as revolutionary — including its multiple endings, plot-related sidequests focused on character development, unique battle system, and detailed graphics. It is still regarded by fans as one of the greatest games of all time, and was rereleased in Japan for the Sony PlayStation during 1999. In 2001, it was released in North America as part of the Final Fantasy Chronicles package, which also includes Final Fantasy IV. It has never been released in PAL territories.
Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング Donkī Kongu?) is an arcade game released by Nintendo in 1981. The game is an early example of the platform genre; gameplay focuses on maneuvering the main character across a series of platforms while dodging obstacles. The storyline is thin but well developed for its time. In it, Mario (originally called Jumpman) must rescue a damsel in distress from a giant ape named Donkey Kong. The hero and ape would go on to be two of Nintendo's more popular characters.
The game was the latest of Nintendo's efforts to break into the North American market. Nintendo's president, Hiroshi Yamauchi, assigned the project to a first-time game designer named Shigeru Miyamoto. Drawing from a wide range of inspirations, including Popeye and King Kong, Miyamoto developed the scenario and designed the game alongside Nintendo's chief engineer, Gunpei Yokoi. The two men broke new ground by using graphics as a means of characterization, including cut scenes to advance the game's plot, and integrating multiple stages into the gameplay.
Despite initial misgivings on the part of Nintendo's American staff, Donkey Kong proved a tremendous success in both North America and Japan. Nintendo licensed the game to Coleco, who developed home console versions for numerous platforms. Other companies simply cloned Nintendo's hit and avoided royalties altogether. Miyamoto's characters appeared on cereal boxes, television cartoons, and dozens of other places. A court suit brought on by Universal City Studios, alleging that Donkey Kong violated their trademark of King Kong, ultimately failed. The success of Donkey Kong and Nintendo's win in the courtroom helped position the company to dominate the video game market in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Doom (or DOOM) is a 1993 computer game by id Software that is among the landmark titles in the first-person shooter genre. It is widely recognized for its pioneering use of immersive 3D graphics, networked multiplayer gaming on the PC platform, and the support for players to create custom expansions (WADs). Distributed as shareware, Doom was downloaded by an estimated 10 million people within two years, popularizing the mode of gameplay and spawning a gaming subculture; as a sign of its impact on the industry, games from the mid-1990s boom of first-person shooters are often known simply as "Doom clones". Its graphic and interactive violence has also made Doom the subject of much controversy reaching outside the gaming world. According to GameSpy, Doom was voted by industry insiders to be the #1 game of all time.
The Doom franchise was continued with Doom II: Hell on Earth (1994) and numerous expansion packs, including The Ultimate Doom (1995), Master Levels for Doom II (1995), and Final Doom (1996). Originally released for PC/DOS, these games have later been ported to many other platforms, including nine different game consoles. The series lost mainstream appeal as the technology of the Doom game engine was surpassed in the mid-1990s, although fans have continued making WADs, speedrunning, and modifying the source code which was released in 1997. The franchise again received popular attention in 2004 with the release of Doom 3, a retelling of the original game using new technology, and an associated 2005 Doom motion picture.
Final Fantasy VI (ファイナルファンタジーVI Fainaru Fantajī Shikkusu?) is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square Co., Ltd.. Released in 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the game focuses on a group of rebels as they seek to overthrow an imperial dictatorship. It was the third game in the Final Fantasy series to be released in North America, following Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy IV. As a result, it was marketed under the title "Final Fantasy III" in North America. Several other changes were made to the game, as well, due to various content guidelines imposed by Nintendo of America, including censorship of nudity and offensive language.
Final Fantasy VI was the first game in the series to be directed by someone other than producer and series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, with that role being filled instead by Yoshinori Kitase and Hiroyuki Itō. Originally released to near-universal critical acclaim, it is still regarded as a landmark of the series and of the role-playing genre. At 24 megabits, it was the largest role-playing video game to appear on a console at the time of its release, with a significantly greater number of battle customization options than its predecessors and the largest playable cast in the Final Fantasy series to date, excluding spin-off titles. It remains widely praised for its storyline, characters and non-linear style of play.
Final Fantasy VII (ファイナルファンタジーVII Fainaru Fantajī Sebun?) is a console role-playing game (RPG) developed and published by Square Co., Ltd. (now Square Enix). Released in 1997, it was the first game in the Final Fantasy series to be produced for the Sony PlayStation, the first to be ported to Windows-based computers, and the first to use 3D computer graphics, featuring fully rendered characters on pre-rendered backgrounds.
The game's story centers on a group of adventurers as they battle a powerful mega corporation called "Shin-Ra", which is draining the life of the planet to use as an energy source. As the story progresses, conflicts escalate and the world's safety becomes a major concern.
A major critical and commercial success, the game remains arguably the most popular title in the series, and is often credited with allowing RPGs to achieve mainstream success outside Japan.[1] The ongoing popularity of the title led Square Enix to produce a series of sequels and prequels in the early-to-mid-2000s under the collective title "Compilation of Final Fantasy VII". As of March 2006, Final Fantasy VII has sold more than 9.72 million copies worldwide, earning it the position of the best-selling Final Fantasy title.
Final Fantasy VIII (ファイナルファンタジーVIII Fainaru Fantajī Eito?) is a console and computer role-playing game created by Square Co. for the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Windows-based PCs. It is the eighth installment of the main Final Fantasy series, the second to be released for the PlayStation, and the second to be ported to Windows. The game's story focuses on a group of young mercenaries who are drawn into an international conflict, and seek to protect the world from a sorceress manipulating this war for her own purposes.
Thirteen weeks after its release in 1999, Final Fantasy VIII had earned more than US$50 million in sales, making it the fastest selling Final Fantasy title. Final Fantasy VIII has sold 7.86 million units worldwide as of March 2006, making it the third best-selling title of the series, behind Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VII. Additionally, Final Fantasy VIII was voted the 22nd-best game of all time by readers of the Japanese magazine Famitsu.
Final Fantasy VIII departed from many traditional standards of the series. It is the first game in the series to consistently use realistically proportioned characters, the first to feature a vocal piece as its theme song, and one of the only titles to deviate from the series' traditional means of increasing a character's power.
Final Fantasy X (ファイナルファンタジーX Fainaru Fantajī Ten?) is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix. It is the tenth installment in the Final Fantasy series and the first game of the series to be released on the Sony PlayStation 2. Introduced in 2001, it was once among the top twenty best-selling console games of all time, and has sold more than 7.93 million copies worldwide. Set in the fantasy world of Spira, the game's story centers around a group of adventurers and their quest to defeat a rampaging force known as "Sin".
The game marks the Final Fantasy series' transition from entirely pre-rendered backdrops to fully three-dimensional areas, achieved with the PlayStation 2’s 294 MHz Emotion Engine processor. Though pre-rendered backgrounds are not entirely absent, their use has been restricted to less vibrant locations, such as building interiors. Final Fantasy X is the first in the series to feature a wide range of realistic facial expressions, as well as other technological developments in graphical effects achieved , such as variance in lighting and shadow from one section of a character's clothing to the next. Final Fantasy X is also the first in the series to feature voice-over actors, as well as the first to spawn a direct sequel, Final Fantasy X-2.
Final Fantasy X introduces other significant advances in the Final Fantasy series. For instance, because of the implementation of voice-overs, scenes in the game are paced according to the time taken for dialogue to be spoken, whereas previous games in the series incorporated scrolling subtitles. Final Fantasy X features changes in world design, with a focus placed on realism. The gameplay makes a significant departure from past games as well, incorporating several new elements.
Final Fantasy X-2 (ファイナルファンタジーX-2 Fainaru Fantajī Ten-Tsū?) is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix. Released in 2003 for the Sony PlayStation 2, it is the sequel to the best-selling Final Fantasy X, and the first direct sequel to an installment in the Final Fantasy series. The game's story follows the character Yuna from Final Fantasy X as she seeks to resolve political conflicts in the fictional world of Spira before they lead to war. As of March 2006, the game has sold over 5.14 million copies worldwide.
Final Fantasy X-2 set several precedents in the Final Fantasy series aside from being the first direct sequel. It was the first game in the series to feature only three playable characters, an all-female main cast, and early access to most of the game's fictional locations. Additionally, it featured a variation of the character classes system — one of the series' classic gameplay concepts — and is one of the few games in the series to feature multiple endings.
Half-Life 2 is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game and the sequel to Half-Life, developed by Valve Corporation. It was released on November 16, 2004 following a protracted five-year development cycle during which the game's source code was leaked to the Internet. The game garnered near unanimous positive reviews and received critical acclaim, winning over 35 Game of the Year awards for 2005.
Taking place in and around the fictional City 17 sometime in the near future, Half-Life 2 follows the scientist Gordon Freeman. Dr. Freeman is thrust into a dystopian environment in which the aftermath of the Black Mesa Incident has come to bear fully upon human society. Freeman is forced to fight against increasingly unfavorable odds in order to survive. In his struggle, he is joined by various allies, including fellow Black Mesa colleagues, oppressed citizens of City 17, and the Vortigaunts.
The game uses the Source game engine coupled with a heavily modified version of the Havok physics engine. Half-Life 2 has been critically acclaimed for advances in computer animation, sound, narration, computer graphics, artificial intelligence (AI) and physics. When sales figures were last announced, over four million copies of Half-Life 2 had been sold. Roughly 25 percent of all Half-Life 2 copies have been purchased using the Steam content delivery service; their exact number is between 750,000 and one million, depending on whether they are included in the figure of four million. Overall, the Half-Life franchise, including Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat, has seen over 15 million sales.
To date, an Xbox port of the game has also been released. Two more versions to run on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are expected to be released during the first quarter of 2007.
Halo: Combat Evolved, or simply Halo, is a science fiction first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios, and first game of the Halo series. It was released on November 15, 2001 as a launch title for the Xbox gaming system, and is considered that platform's "killer application". With more than six million copies sold worldwide, Halo is second only to its sequel, Halo 2, in sales for the Xbox video game console. The game was later ported to Windows and Mac OS.
The titular Halo is an enormous, ring-shaped artificial space habitat, and, according to Bungie Studios, has a diameter of either ten thousand kilometers or miles. Halo sits at a lagrange point between a planet and its moon; this arrangement gives the station rotational gravity. In the game, the player assumes the role of the Master Chief, a cyborg "super-soldier" with battle armor. The Master Chief is accompanied by Cortana, an artificial intelligence who occupies the neural implant between the battle armor and the Master Chief's brain. Players battle various types of aliens on foot or in vehicles as they attempt to uncover the secrets of the Halo. The game has been called "easy to learn," and has been praised for its "engaging story".
Widely considered to be one of the best, and most influential, first-person shooters of all time, Halo's acclaim rivals that of GoldenEye 007 and Half-Life. For example, Edge gave Halo a full score of ten out of ten, only the fourth such designation in the magazine's 12-year history. Nevertheless, Halo has its critics. The game was tenth on GameSpy's "Top 25 Most Overrated Games of All Time"; one reviewer stated that the game "recycl[ed] the same areas over and over until you were bored to tears."
The game's popularity has led to labels such as "Halo clone" and "Halo killer", applied to games either similar to, or anticipated to be better than, Halo. In addition, the game inspired and was used in the fan-created Red vs. Blue video series, which is credited as the "first big success" of machinima — the art of using real-time 3-D engines, often from computer and video games, to create animated films.
Katamari Damacy (塊魂 Katamari Damashii?) is a Japanese video game designed by Keita Takahashi and published by Namco. It was released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan on March 18, 2004, in South Korea on August 12, 2004, and in North America on September 22, 2004. However, it has not been released in Australia or Europe. It was followed by two sequels, We ♥ Katamari, also for Playstation 2, and Me and My Katamari, for the PlayStation Portable.
The game's plot concerns a tiny prince on a mission to rebuild the stars, constellations and Moon, which his father has accidentally destroyed. This is achieved by rolling a magical sticky ball called a katamari around various locations, collecting increasingly larger objects, ranging from thumbtacks to schoolchildren to mountains, until the ball has grown large enough to become a star. The game falls under both the puzzle and action game genres, since strategy as well as dexterity are needed to complete a mission.
Katamari Damacy's story, characters, and settings are bizarre and heavily stylized, rarely attempting any semblance of realism, though the brands and items used are heavily based on those current in Japan during the game's production. The game's simple controls and colorful, blocky graphics make it appear to be targeted towards a young audience, but with its matter-of-fact, often twisted sense of humor, its innovative gameplay, and its surreal setting, it has attracted attention from gamers of all ages.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (ゼルダの伝説: ムジュラの仮面 Zeruda no Densetsu: Majura no Kamen?) is a video game for the Nintendo 64 console. It was released in Japan on April 27, 2000, in Canada and the United States on October 24, 2000, and in Europe on November 17, 2000. The game sold approximately 314,000 copies during its first week of sales in Japan and it went on to sell three million copies worldwide.
Majora's Mask is the sixth installment in The Legend of Zelda series and the second to feature 3D graphics. Although it failed to match the sales success of its predecessor, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask features a broader and darker storyline. The protagonist of the series, Link, is placed in the land of Termina, rather than the usual Hyrule. A mysterious mask-wearing imp known as the Skull Kid has been persuading the moon to abandon its orbit and crash into Termina. The player repeatedly lives three days through time travel in order to prevent this catastrophe. Majora's Mask has been cited as the darkest game in the Zelda series to date, largely due to its plot leading up to an impending apocalypse.
The gameplay is centered around a repeatedly-played three-day cycle and the use of masks, some of which are required to proceed and complete the game. A variety of songs control the flow of time and open passages to the four Temples that Link must complete. Unlike Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask requires the use of the Expansion Pak, which allows for a larger number of on-screen characters and improved graphics. Majora's Mask was generally received well by critics, who cited the graphic improvements as well as a deeper storyline; however, it is ranked lower than Ocarina of Time on most critics' lists of the greatest video games of all time since its predecessor had broken extensive new ground.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (ゼルダの伝説 風のタクト Zeruda no Densetsu: Kaze no Takuto?, The Legend of Zelda: Baton of the Wind) is the tenth installment in the Legend of Zelda series of video games. It was released for the Nintendo GameCube in Japan on 13 December 2002, in Canada and the United States on 24 March 2003, and in Europe on 3 May 2003. The upcoming Zelda title, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is a direct sequel to The Wind Waker.
The game is set on a group of islands — a first for the series. The player controls Link, the protagonist of the Zelda series. He struggles against his nemesis, Ganon, for control of a sacred relic known as the Triforce. Link spends a significant portion of the game sailing, traveling between islands, and traversing through dungeons and temples to gain the power necessary to defeat Ganon.
The Wind Waker follows in the footsteps of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, retaining the basic gameplay and control system from the Nintendo 64 title. A heavy emphasis is placed on using and controlling wind with a baton called the Wind Waker, which aids sailing and floating. Critics enjoyed the similarity to Ocarina of Time, but often complained that the large amount of sailing became tedious. Despite this, the game has met commercial and critical success and is the fourth of only six games that have received a perfect score from Famitsu magazine.
Perfect Dark is a first-person shooter video game for the Nintendo 64 game console. The game was developed by Rare, creators of the multimillion-selling GoldenEye 007, an earlier first-person shooter with which Perfect Dark shares many gameplay features. The game was first released in Canada and the United States in May 2000, where it was greeted with critical acclaim; PAL and NTSC-J releases followed soon afterwards.
The game features a single-player mode consisting of seventeen missions in which the player assumes the role of special agent Joanna Dark, an operative for the fictional Carrington Institute, as she attempts to foil a conspiracy by rival corporation dataDyne. It also includes a range of multiplayer options, including co-operative and "counter-operative" modes in addition to traditional deathmatch settings. Technically, it is one of the most advanced games developed for the N64, with optional high-resolution graphics and Dolby Surround Sound.
In September 2000, a separate game starring agent Joanna Dark, also titled Perfect Dark, was released for the Game Boy Color. Although set in the same universe, it follows a separate storyline. With the use of the Transfer Pak, the Game Boy game allows certain features within the Nintendo 64 version to be unlocked. Perfect Dark Zero, a prequel to Perfect Dark also developed by Rare, was a launch title for the Xbox 360 in 2005. Perfect Dark: Initial Vector, a novel by Greg Rucka, was published later that year.
Shadow of the Colossus (ワンダと巨像 Wanda to Kyozō?, lit. "Wander and the Colossus"), is a Japanese-developed action-adventure video game developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEI) for the PlayStation 2. Published internationally by Sony, it was released in North America and Japan in October 2005, and was subsequently released in PAL territories in February 2006. The game was created by SCEI's International Production Studio 1, the same development team responsible for the cult-hit Ico. Well received by critics, Shadow of the Colossus holds an average score of 91% from both Game Rankings and Metacritic.
The game focuses on "Wander", a young man who must travel across a vast expanse on horseback and defeat sixteen giant beings called "colossi" to restore the life of a sacrificed girl. The game is unusual among the action-adventure genre in that there are no towns or dungeons to explore, no characters with which to interact, and no enemies to defeat other than the colossi. Shadow of the Colossus has been described as a puzzle game, as each colossus has a weakness which must be identified and exploited to defeat the boss.
StarCraft is a real-time strategy computer game by Blizzard Entertainment. It was initially released for the PC platform in 1998; a Macintosh version of the game was released in 1999. Starcraft was also later ported to the Nintendo 64.
The main storyline follows a war among three galactic species: the strong, stable human Terrans, the hive mind arthropodic Zerg, and the psychic humanoid Protoss warriors.
It was the best-selling computer game of 1998 and won the Origins Award for Best Strategy Computer Game of that year. Nine million copies of StarCraft and its expansion pack, StarCraft: Brood War have been sold since its release. It has achieved an international cult-like status in the computer gaming world, especially in its online multiplayer tournament format. This is especially true in South Korea, where professional players and teams participate in matches, earn sponsorships, and compete in televised matches.
Empires: Dawn of the Modern World is a history-based real-time strategy computer game developed by Stainless Steel Studios and released on October 21, 2003. Considered an unofficial sequel to Empire Earth, the game requires players to collect resources to build an empire, train military units, and conquer opposing civilizations.
Based on a slightly compressed version of world history, Empires covers five eras, from the Medieval Age to World War II. The game features seven civilizations: England, the Franks, Korea and China are playable from the Medieval Age to the Imperial Age; and the United States, Russia, Germany, France and the United Kingdom are playable in the World War I and World War II ages. The game attracted positive critical reaction.
Bulbasaur (フシギダネ Fushigidane?) is the first of the 493 fictional species of Pokémon creatures from the Japanese Pokémon media franchise. Designed by Ken Sugimori, Bulbasaur debuted in 1996 in Pokémon Green, the first Pokémon video game. They are vaguely reptilian-looking creatures that move on all fours. They are small and squat, and have a light blue-green body coloration with darker blue-green spots. As Bulbasaur undergo Pokémon evolution, the bulb on their backs flourish into a flower.
Bulbasaur are a prominent species, since they are one of the first Pokémon that can be obtained in the first Pokémon video games and they appear often in the Pokémon anime.
The name Bulbasaur is a blend of "bulb", from the large bulb on its back, and "dinosaur." The Japanese name for Bulbasaur, Fushigidane, is a compound of 不思議 (fushigi, lit. "mystery" or "mysterious"), and 種 (tane, lit. "seed"). Additionally, だ (da) is the plain form of です (desu), and ね (ne) is used to seek an agreement from the listener, making "Fushigidane" literally "isn't it a mystery?" The name Bulbasaur refers to the species as a whole, as well as individual characters in the games, anime and manga.
Link (リンク Rinku?) is the fictional protagonist of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto. He first appeared in the 1986 video game The Legend of Zelda, where he was portrayed by a two-dimensional sprite; in later releases he is a computer-generated image (CGI). Link has been featured in other video games, comic books, and his own television show.
He is a young Hylian, whose age ranges from 7 to 18 in various incarnations. He often journeys through the realm of Hyrule, defeating evil forces and his nemesis Ganon, who is also known as Ganondorf. Link battles with the Master Sword and other swords and shields, as well as auxiliary weaponry such as boomerangs, bombs, and bows and arrows. Although young, he is a great warrior and courageous; he has a close relationship with Princess Zelda, whom he has repeatedly rescued.
The character is part of Nintendo's merchandising and leads one of Nintendo's flagship game franchises. Link's enduring popularity has led to many incarnations of the Legend of Zelda story and has sold over 47 million copies worldwide.
Torchic (アチャモ Achamo?) are one of the 493 fictional species of Pokémon creatures from the multi-billion-dollar Pokémon media franchise – a collection of video games, anime, manga, books, trading cards and other media, created by Satoshi Tajiri. Torchic are famous for being one of the three species of Pokémon players can choose from at the beginning of their adventure in the Pokémon Ruby & Pokémon Sapphire and Pokémon Emerald versions of the series. The purpose of Torchic in the games, anime and manga, as with all other Pokémon, is to battle both wild Pokémon, untamed creatures encountered while the player passes through various environments, and tamed Pokémon owned by Pokémon trainers.
The name Torchic is a portmanteau of the words torch, a flame or light used to see in darkness, and chick, a common name for infant chickens. The Japanese name for Torchic, Achamo, is a portmanteau of aka (アカ?), a term for baby, and shamo (シャモ ?), a breed of Japanese bird, originally bred for fighting or hunting. The name Torchic refers to both the overall species, and to individual Torchic within the games, anime and manga series.
In all three games, Torchic are described as small, clumsy chickens, with yellowish feathers and orange bodies. They are often seen hopping randomly behind their trainers, or characters in the Pokémon world who collect and battle Pokémon. Although their appearance gives an innocent and harmless impression, Torchic are noted to fight by spitting flames from the pits of their stomachs.
The Commodore 64 personal computer, released in August 1982, became the best selling single computer model of all time, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. The Commodore 64 is commonly referred to as the C64; other less common names include CBM 64/CBM64, C= 64. The Commodore 64 casing has affectionately been nicknamed the "breadbox" and "bullnose" due to its shape.
The C64 competed in the fractured personal computer industry with the Commodore PET and the VIC-20, among others. Introduced by Commodore Business Machines in August 1982 at a price of US$595, it offered 64 kilobytes of RAM with sound and graphics performance that compared favourably with IBM-compatible computers of that time. During the Commodore 64's lifetime (between 1982 and 1994), sales totaled around 17 million units.
Unlike computers that were distributed only through authorized dealers, Commodore also targeted department stores and toy stores. The unit could be plugged directly into a television set to play games, giving it much of the appeal of dedicated video game consoles like the Atari 2600. Its affordable pricing contributed to the video game market crash of 1983.
Approximately 10,000 commercial software titles were made for the Commodore 64 including development tools, office applications, and games. The machine is also credited with popularizing the computer demo scene. The Commodore 64 is still used today by many computer hobbyists and emulators allow anyone with a modern computer to run these programs on their desktop (with varying degrees of success and functionality).
Frank Klepacki (born May 25, 1974) is a video game music composer best known for his work on the Command & Conquer series. Having learned to play drums in childhood, he joined Westwood Studios as a composer at age 17. He scored several games there, including the Lands of Lore series, the Dune games, the The Legend of Kyrandia series, Blade Runner, and the Command & Conquer series. His work in Command & Conquer: Red Alert won two awards.
He lives in Las Vegas, where he has shaped a solo career and played and produced for several local bands. His personal and band work touches upon several genres, including orchestral, rock music, hip hop music, alternative rock, progressive rock, soul music, and funk. His work has appeared in various media, including the Spike TV program The Ultimate Fighter. Klepacki is currently the audio director of Petroglyph games, where he scored Star Wars: Empire at War.
Frank Klepacki has not been contacted to score Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, noting he learned of the game's development the "same way the fans did." Klepacki's next composing project is an unnamed game collaboration by Sega and Petroglyph. His next solo CD will be entitled Awakening of Aggression.
The Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES, is an 8-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Its Japanese equivalent is known as the
Nintendo Family Computer (任天堂 ファミリーコンピュータ?), or Famicom (ファミコン?). The most successful gaming console of its time in Asia and North America (Nintendo claims to have sold over 60 million NES units worldwide), it helped revitalize the video game industry following the video game crash of 1983, and set the standard for subsequent consoles in everything from game design (the first modern platform game, Super Mario Bros., was the system’s first "killer game") to business practices. The NES was the first console for which the manufacturer openly courted third-party developers.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (commonly abbreviated to MGS3) is a stealth-based game directed by Hideo Kojima. Snake Eater was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and published by Konami in 2004 for the PlayStation 2. It was well-received publicly and critically, selling 3.75 million units worldwide and scoring an average of 91% in Metacritic's aggregate. The game serves as a prequel to the entire Metal Gear series.
Set in Cold War-era Russia, the story centers on Naked Snake as he attempts to rescue a weapons designer and sabotage an experimental superweapon. While previous games were set in a primarily urban environment, Snake Eater adopts a 1960s Soviet jungle setting, with the high tech, near-future trappings of previous Metal Gear Solid games being replaced with the wilderness. While the setting has changed, the game's focus remains on stealth and infiltration, and it retains the series' self-referential, fourth wall-breaking sense of humour. Snake Eater's story is told through numerous cut scenes and radio conversations.
The Wii (pronounced as the pronoun we, IPA: [wiː]) is the fifth home video game console released by Nintendo. The console was previously known by its code name of Revolution and is the direct successor to the Nintendo GameCube. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, but it competes with both as part of the seventh generation of gaming systems.
A distinguishing feature of the console is its wireless controller, the Wii Remote, which can be used as a handheld pointing device and can detect motion and rotation in three dimensions. Another is WiiConnect24, which enables it to receive messages and updates over the Internet while in standby mode.
Nintendo first mentioned the console at the 2004 E3 press conference and later unveiled the system at the 2005 E3. Satoru Iwata revealed a prototype of the controller at the September 2005 Tokyo Game Show. In the 2006 E3, the console won the first of several awards. By December 8, 2006, it completed its launch in four key markets.
Metal Gear Solid (メタルギアソリッド Metaru Gia Soriddo?) (commonly abbreviated to MGS) is a stealth-based game directed by Hideo Kojima. The game was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and first published by Konami in 1998 for the PlayStation video game console. It was well-received publicly and critically, shipping more than 6 million copies and scoring an average of 94% in the review tallying website Metacritic's aggregate. It is the fourth title to be released in the Metal Gear series (the third in the official canon) and a direct sequel to Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.
Metal Gear Solid's story centers on Solid Snake, a retired soldier who infiltrates a nuclear weapons disposal facility to neutralize the terrorist threat from FOXHOUND, a renegade special forces unit. He attempts to liberate their two hostages, the head of DARPA and the president of a major arms manufacturer, and stops the terrorists from launching a nuclear strike. Snake also confronts and defeats members of FOXHOUND, who reveal his genetically-engineered heritage.
The commercial success of the title prompted Metal Gear Solid to be enhanced and rereleased on PlayStation and Windows PC under the name Metal Gear Solid: Integral; a remake, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, was later released for the Nintendo GameCube. The game has also spawned a number of sequels and spin-offs. A PlayStation 2 sequel, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, was followed by two prequels — Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops — on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable respectively. Game Boy Color spin-off Ghost Babel was joined by Metal Gear Acid and Metal Gear Acid 2, both on the PlayStation Portable. Another home-console title, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, is slated for release on the PlayStation 3 in 2007.
GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and is owned by CNET Networks. The site has a large database of video game information and has been called a site where readers "can get almost any information" regarding game strategies. The systems covered range from the 8-bit Atari platform to the consoles of today. The FAQs, cheat codes, reviews, game saves, and credits are submitted by volunteer gamers, and contributions are reviewed by the site's two editors, Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and Allen "Sailor Bacon" Tyner.
The site hosts one of the most active message board communities on the Web. Every game listed on the site has a board to discuss the game or answer questions about the game. The site also features a daily opinion poll and related contests.
GameFAQs is consistently cited by The Guardian as one of the top gaming sites on the Web, and the site has been positively reviewed by Entertainment Weekly. Additionally, GameFAQs.com is one of the 300 highest-trafficked websites according to Alexa.
Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War is a real-time strategy game developed by both Stainless Steel Studios and Midway Games; it was released on June 12, 2006. The game incorporates segments of third-person shooter gameplay, allowing the player to temporarily control a "hero". Rise and Fall is based in the first millennium BC, and features four playable civilizations: Persia, Greece, Egypt, and Rome. The game includes over eighty unique military units, as well as eight hero units—of which only one may be purchased during a game. In Rise and Fall, there are two campaigns: one following the conquests of Alexander the Great; the other, the liberation of Egypt by Cleopatra.
During the game's development, Stainless Steel Studios closed. They abandoned all their games, including Rise and Fall, which was near finishing. Rick Goodman, founder of Stainless Steel and the lead designer of Rise and Fall, reported that Midway stopped funding the game when its release date was pushed back several months. Midway then decided to finish the game themselves. Reviews of the game were mixed; it won two awards, and was commercially successful in the United Kingdom.
F-Zero GX (エフゼロ ジーエックス Efu Zero Jī Ekkusu?, F-ZERO GX) is a futuristic racing video game for the Nintendo GameCube console. Developed by Sega's Amusement Vision department, it was released in Japan, Europe and North America, in 2003. Its arcade counterpart, F-Zero AX, was developed in conjunction between Nintendo, Namco, and Sega. F-Zero GX/AX runs on a heavily modified version of the engine that powered Super Monkey Ball. F-Zero GX is ranked as one of the best futuristic racing games to date according to Game Rankings.
F-Zero GX is the fifth installment in the F-Zero series and the successor to F-Zero X. The game continues the series difficult, high-speed racing style, retaining the basic gameplay and control system from the Nintendo 64 title. A heavy emphasis is placed on track memorization and reflexes, which aids in completing the title. GX also introduces a "story mode" element, where the player walks in the footsteps of Captain Falcon through nine chapters while completing various missions.
Devil May Cry 2 (frequently abbreviated to DMC2) is an action game developed by Capcom Production Studio 1 and published by Capcom in 2003 exclusively for the PlayStation 2. The game serves as a sequel to Devil May Cry and is currently the last game in the Devil May Cry series to take place chronologically. It has been criticized for a variety of development decisions, which made the game considerably different than its predecessor; chief among these decisions was the lowered difficulty.
Set in modern times on the fictional Dumary Island, the story centers on Dante and Lucia in their fight to stop a businessman named Arius from raising the demon Argosax and achieving supreme power. The story is told primarily through a mixture of cutscenes using the game's engine with several pre-rendered full motion videos.
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