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.
1080° Snowboarding (テン・エイティ スノーボーディング Ten Eiti Sunōbōdingu?) is a multiplayer snowboard racing video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 and first released in Japan on February 22, 1998. The player controls one of five playable snowboarders from a third-person perspective using a combination of buttons to jump and perform tricks over eight levels.
1080° was announced on November 21, 1997 and developed over nine months; it garnered critical acclaim and won an Interactive Achievement Award from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. 1080° sold over a million units, and a sequel, 1080° Avalanche, was released for the Nintendo GameCube on November 28, 2003.
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. 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.
Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None is a 2005 point-and-click adventure game developed by AWE Productions and published by The Adventure Company for the PC. The game is the first in The Adventure Company's Agatha Christie series. The story is focused on a man's journey to the fictional Shipwreck Island, off the coast of Devon, with ten others, and the events that unfold there.
And Then There Were None retains the plot elements of Agatha Christie's novel of the same name, with the sole difference being the conclusion. In order to further the connection between the game and its source material, Christie's novel is included in the North American release of the game. Several reviewers of And Then There Were None have harshly criticized its character designs and graphics as being archaic and outdated, whereas others have praised aspects of the game such as character dialogue and an immersive story. Reactions to the game were mixed, with many reviewers polarized in their opinions of the game, calling it either a good adaptation of the novel, or an extremely poor adventure game. And Then There Were None is followed by a sequel, Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express.
On March 19, 2007, The Adventure Company announced that And Then There Were None will be ported to the Wii console. The Wii version of the game was released during February 2008. The game features several motion-sensitive actions made possible with use of the Wii Remote, such as digging and turning actions.
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (がんばれゴエモン～ネオ桃山幕府のおどり～? Ganbare Goemon ~New Dance of the Peach Mountain Shogunate~) is a video game released by Konami for the Nintendo 64 on August 7, 1997 in Japan and April 16, 1998 in North America. It is the fifth entry in the Ganbare Goemon series and the second Goemon game released in North America, following Legend of the Mystical Ninja. Featuring elements of platform and action-adventure games, Mystical Ninja is a hybrid of Super Mario 64 and the Legend of Zelda series.
The story follows Goemon as he struggles to prevent the Peach Mountain Shoguns gang from turning Japan into a fine arts theatre. The journey takes Goemon through three cinematic musical features and battles between gigantic robots. Like other Ganbare Goemon games, it is peppered with surrealist humor and anachronisms.
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon was received well, selling nearly 200,000 copies worldwide. Reviewers praised its graphics, gameplay, and humorous plot. Critics considered the soundtrack and musical numbers engaging and memorable. Conversely, Mystical Ninja was criticized for localization issues, unintuitive camera control, and dull stretches of travel through Japan. It was followed by Goemon's Great Adventure in 1999 and Goemon Mononoke Sugoroku in 2000.
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.
Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express is a 2006 point-and-click adventure game developed by AWE Productions and published by The Adventure Company for Microsoft Windows. The game is the second installment in The Adventure Company's Agatha Christie series, and is the sequel to Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None. The story follows an amateur sleuth, Antoinette Marceau, and her investigation of a murder with twelve possible suspects aboard the Orient Express, which has been blocked by an avalanche in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during 1934. She is aided by famous detective Hercule Poirot.
Murder on the Orient Express retains the main plot elements of Agatha Christie's novel of the same name. An additional ending is presented in the game which differs from the conclusion of Christie's novel. As with And Then There Were None, Christie's novel has been bundled with the game. Some reviewers of Murder on the Orient Express criticized the game because of the repetitive nature of tasks the player must complete, and also complained about the inefficient and cumbersome inventory system. Others have praised it for improved graphics compared to And Then There Were None, as well as convincing voice acting and audio effects. Murder on the Orient Express is followed by Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun, the third installment in the Agatha Christie series.
Murder on the Orient Express is the first game in the Agatha Christie series to feature Hercule Poirot, Christie's most popular and famous detective. David Suchet, a well-respected portrayer of Poirot who achieved fame through the popular television series Agatha Christie's Poirot, was hired to provide Poirot's voice. His performance was generally met with praise. Some have criticized the game for not allowing the player to actually control Poirot; the developers explained this choice by saying that adventure gamers who make mistakes throughout the game do not reflect the genius of Poirot, but are better represented by amateur sleuth Antoinette Marceau.rmless impression, Torchic are noted to fight by spitting flames from the pits of their stomachs.
Age of Mythology (commonly abbreviated as AoM), is a mythology-based, real-time strategy computer game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on November 1, 2002 in North America and a week later in Europe.
Age of Mythology focuses less on historical accuracy than the previous games by Ensemble Studios and Microsoft Games—namely, the Age of Empires series (from which it was originally an extension of sorts)—but instead centers upon the myths and legends of the Greeks, Egyptians, and Norse. Its campaign follows an Atlantean admiral, Arkantos, who is forced to travel through the lands of the three civilizations in the game, hunting for a cyclops who has turned Poseidon against Atlantis.
Four months after its release, Age of Mythology went platinum, selling over 1 million units.
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.
Ōkami (大神 lit. "great god") is an action-adventure video game developed by Clover Studio for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It was released in 2006 in Japan and North America, and 2007 in Europe and Australia.
Set in an unspecified period of classical Japanese history, Ōkami combines several Japanese myths, legends and folktales to tell the story of how the land was saved from darkness by the Shinto sun goddess, named Amaterasu, who has taken the form of a white wolf. It features a distinct sumi-e-inspired cel-shaded visual style and the Celestial Brush, a gesture-system to perform miracles.
Ōkami was one of the last few PlayStation 2 games selected for release prior to the release of the PlayStation 3. Clover Studio was closed by Capcom a few months after its release. Although it suffered from poor sales, Ōkami earned high acclaim from reviewers and earned, among other awards, the title of IGN's 2006 Game of the Year.
BioShock is a first-person shooter video game by 2K Boston/2K Australia—previously known as Irrational Games—designed by Ken Levine. The game is available for the Windows operating system and the Xbox 360 video game console. It was released on August 21, 2007, in North America, and three days later in Europe and Australia.
The game received overwhelmingly positive reviews, and ranks as the thirteenth best video game on Game Rankings based on reviews from critics. It was particularly well-reviewed in the mainstream press where its "morality-based" storyline, immersive environment and Ayn Rand-inspired dystopian setting were all singled out for praise. BioShock has been praised for providing "an entirely new tool through which to explore philosophy, psychology, and morality."
Set in an alternative history 1960, the game places the player in the role of a plane crash survivor named Jack, who must explore the underwater Objectivist-dystopian city of Rapture, and survive attacks by the mutated beings and mechanical drones that populate it. The game incorporates elements found in role-playing and survival horror games, and is described by the developers and Levine as a "spiritual successor" to their previous titles in the System Shock series.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (キャッスルヴァニア ～暁月の円舞曲～ Kyassuruvania ~Akatsuki no Menuetto~?, lit. "Castlevania ~Minuet of Dawn~") is an action-adventure game developed and published by Konami for the Game Boy Advance. It is part of Konami's Castlevania video game series, and the third installment of the series on the Game Boy Advance. It was released in North America on May 6, 2003 and released in Japan on May 8, 2003. Although the game sold poorly in Japan, selling only 27,000 units nearly one month after its release, it was commercially successful in the United States, with more than 158,000 units sold three months following its release.
The storyline of Aria of Sorrow is part of the fictional universe of the Castlevania series, which features the struggle between the vampire hunters of the Belmont clan and the vampire lord Dracula. The game is set in the year 2035, where Dracula has been defeated, and his powers are to be passed onto his reincarnation. The game's plot follows the adventures of Soma Cruz, a high school student who is granted powers as a result of Dracula's death, and his battle against those who wish to acquire Dracula's powers.
Aria of Sorrow takes many elements from other Castlevania games, including Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, which was in production at the same time as Aria of Sorrow. The game incorporates the combination of elements from platform games and console role-playing games that were initially utilized in the best-selling Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Aria of Sorrow introduces several new features to the series, such as the "Tactical Soul" system and a futuristic storyline, a contrast to the medieval setting of many other Castlevania games. Aria of Sorrow received praise from several video game publications, with many considering it one of the best games in the Castlevania series since Symphony of the Night.
Konami released a sequel to Aria of Sorrow, titled Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, on August 25, 2005 in Japan. It incorporates many elements from its predecessor, including the "Tactical Soul" system featured in Aria of Sorrow. Aria of Sorrow was also re-released as part of Konami's "Konami the Best" line on November 3, 2005 in Japan, and in a dual pack with Harmony of Dissonance, titled the Castlevania: Double Pack, in North America on January 11, 2006.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (悪魔城ドラキュラ 蒼月の十字架 Akumajō Dorakyura Sōgetsu no Jūjika?, lit. "Demon Castle Dracula: Cross of the Blue Moon") is an action-adventure game developed and published by Konami. It is part of Konami's best-selling Castlevania video game series and the first Castlevania game to be released on the Nintendo DS. It is the sequel to Konami's Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and incorporates many elements from its predecessor. The game was commercially successful, selling more than 15,000 units in its first week in Japan and 164,000 units in the United States three months after its initial release.
The game takes place in the fictional universe of the Castlevania series, where the vampire hunters of the Belmont clan wage an endless conflict against the immortal vampire Dracula. Dawn of Sorrow continues the storyline found in Aria of Sorrow, in which Dracula has been completely defeated, and his powers assumed by his reincarnation, Soma Cruz. With the help of his allies, Soma avoids becoming the new dark lord. A cult forms to bring forth a new dark lord by killing Soma. Soma and his allies move to ensure that a new dark lord is not created.
Dawn of Sorrow incorporates many features from previous Castlevania games: the combination of elements from platform games and console role-playing games, the "Tactical Soul" system featured in Aria of Sorrow, and a dark, gothic atmosphere. Dawn of Sorrow also introduces new gameplay elements, such as the "Magic Seal" system, which requires the use of the DS stylus to draw a pattern in order to defeat powerful enemies, a distinctive anime character design, and a multiplayer mode, where two players compete for fastest times on a prerendered level. The game received high scores from many video game publications, and was considered one of the best games on the Nintendo DS for 2005. The game was re-released in Japan on June 29, 2006 in the "Konami the Best" line.
Devil May Cry (frequently abbreviated as DMC) is a hack and slash action game developed by Capcom Production Studio 4 and published by Capcom in 2001 for the PlayStation 2. The events in the game are second in the series storyline's chronological order, taking place after events in Devil May Cry 3, and before Devil May Cry 4 and Devil May Cry 2. The game has received generally positive reviews, and has sold more than 4 million copies. Set in modern times on the fictional Mallet Island, the story centers on the characters Dante and Trish and their quest to confront the demon lord Mundus. The story is told primarily through a mixture of cutscenes, which use the game's engine and several pre-rendered full motion videos.
Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening (frequently abbreviated to DMC3) is an action game that was developed by Capcom Production Studio 1 and published by Capcom in 2005 for the PlayStation 2 (also ported to PC in 2006). The game is a prequel to the original Devil May Cry, and is the first game in the series storyline's chronological order. Upon release, Devil May Cry 3 was widely criticized for its high level of difficulty, but was praised for improvements over its predecessor, and a return to the challenging gameplay of Devil May Cry.
Set in modern times in an enchanted tower named Temen-ni-gru, the story centers on the dysfunctional relationship between Dante and his brother Vergil. The events of the game take place just as Dante has opened up the Devil May Cry agency, and before Dante's demonic heritage has reached its full potential. The story is told primarily through a mixture of cutscenes using the game's engine with several pre-rendered full motion videos. A manga prequel to the game was first published in Japan in 2005.
Crazy Taxi is a series of score attack racing video games that was developed by Hitmaker and published by Sega. The first game appeared in arcades in 1999 and was very successful, prompting Sega to port the arcade version to their Dreamcast console in 2000. It was the fifth best-selling game on the Dreamcast, selling over a million copies. The game was later ported to the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and PC with sequels also appearing on the Xbox, Game Boy Advance, and PlayStation Portable systems.
Each game has the player assume the role of a taxi driver who must accumulate money by delivering passengers to their destinations in the fastest time possible, earning tips by performing "crazy stunts" before the time runs out. The franchise has been recognized for its innovative gameplay design which is easy to learn but difficult to master, its use of in-game advertising, and its soundtrack music provided by the bands The Offspring and Bad Religion. The core gameplay mechanic has been patented by Sega, leading to at least one lawsuit over similar gameplay in The Simpsons Road Rage, which has since been settled out of court.
Final Fantasy (ファイナルファンタジー Fainaru Fantajī?) is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and owned by Square Enix that includes video games, motion pictures, and other merchandise. The series began in 1987 as an eponymous console role-playing game developed by Square, spawning a video game series that became the central focus of the franchise. The franchise has since branched out into other genres and platforms, such as tactical RPGs, portable games, MMORPGs, and games for mobile phones. As of March 2007, there are twenty-eight games in the franchise—including twelve numbered games and numerous spin-off titles. The series has spurred the release of three animated productions, two full-length CGI films, and several literary adaptations.
Most Final Fantasy installments are independent stories (the numbers after the title refers more to volumes than sequels); however, they feature common elements that define the franchise. Such elements include recurring creatures, character names, airships and character classes. The series has popularized many features that are now widely used in console RPGs, and it is well known for its visuals, music, and innovation. Many titles in the series have been commercially and critically successful; it is the fourth-best-selling video game franchise, with more than 80 million units sold as of December 2007. In addition, the series was awarded a star on the Walk of Game in 2006.
Kingdom Hearts (キングダムハーツ Kingudamu Hātsu?) is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (formerly Square). It is the result of a collaboration between Square and Disney Interactive Studios and is under the direction of Tetsuya Nomura, a longtime Square character designer. Kingdom Hearts is a crossover of various Disney settings based in a universe made specifically for the series. In addition, it has an all-star voice cast which includes many of the Disney characters' official voice actors. Characters from Square Enix's Final Fantasy series make appearances and interact with the player and Disney characters. The series centers around the main character Sora's search for his friends and his encounters with Disney and Final Fantasy characters on their worlds.
The Kingdom Hearts series currently consists of four games across different video game platforms, and future titles are planned. Most of the games in the series have been both critically acclaimed and commercially successful, though each installment has seen varying levels of success. As of September 2007, the Kingdom Hearts series has shipped over eleven million copies worldwide, with 2.0 million copies in PAL regions, 3.0 million copies in Japan, and 5.6 million copies in North America. There have been several types of merchandise released along with the games, such as soundtracks, figurines, and companion books. In addition, the games have been adapted into a manga series and novels.
The Mana series, known in Japan as Seiken Densetsu (聖剣伝説? lit. "Holy Sword Legend"), is a console role-playing game series from Square Enix, created by Koichi Ishii. The series began as a handheld side story to Square's flagship franchise Final Fantasy, although most Final Fantasy-inspired elements were subsequently dropped, starting with the second installment, Secret of Mana. It has since grown to include games of various genres within the fictional world of Mana, with recurring stories involving a world tree, its associated holy sword, and the fight against forces that would steal their power. Several character designs, creatures, and musical themes reappear frequently.
In 2003, the series comprised five games; since 2006, it has experienced a revival through the World of Mana campaign, with five new games released in the span of one year. As of 2008, the Mana series comprises eight console games and two mobile games, in addition to four manga and one novelization. The Mana series reception has been very uneven, with Secret of Mana earning wide acclaim, such as being rated 78th in IGN's yearly "Top 100 Games of All Time", and being highly praised for its musical score, while the games from the World of Mana series have been rated considerably lower.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, commonly referred to as Morrowind, is a single player computer role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios, and published by Bethesda Softworks and Ubisoft. It is the third installment in The Elder Scrolls series of games. It was released in North America in 2002 for Microsoft Windows and the Xbox. Well-received publicly and critically, selling over four million copies and winning more than 60 awards, including Game of the Year> Morrowind holds an average review score of 89% from both Metacritic and Game Rankings. The game spawned two expansion packs for the PC: Tribunal and Bloodmoon. Both were eventually repackaged into a full set containing all three, Morrowind: Game of the Year Edition, which shipped on October 30, 2003 for both PC and Xbox.
The story takes place on Vvardenfell, an island in the Dunmer province of Morrowind, which lies in the empire of Tamriel and is far from the more civilized lands to the west and south that typified Daggerfall and Arena. The central quests concern the deity Dagoth Ur, housed within the volcanic Red Mountain, who seeks to gain power and break Morrowind free from Imperial reign. Morrowind was designed with an open-ended free-form style of gameplay in mind, with a lessened emphasis on the game's main plot. This choice received mixed reviews in the gaming press, though such feelings were tempered by reviewers' appreciation of Morrowind's expansive and detailed game world.
Final Fantasy IV (ファイナルファンタジーIV Fainaru Fantajī Fō?) is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) in 1991 as a part of the Final Fantasy series. The game was originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, but has been ported by TOSE with minor differences to the Sony's PlayStation, Bandai's WonderSwan Color, and Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. In May 2007, Square Enix announced that it was developing a remake of the game for the Nintendo DS. The game was originally titled "Final Fantasy II" during its initial release in North America, but later localizations used the original title.
The player takes the role of Cecil, a Dark Knight from the kingdom of Baron, on his journey to save the world from the evil Golbez. Struggling to prevent Golbez from acquiring powerful Crystals, Cecil learns of his heritage and travels through three realms to battle Golbez's minions. His lover, best friend, and other warriors join him for the adventure.
Final Fantasy IV introduced innovations that became staples of the Final Fantasy series and role-playing games in general. Its "Active Time Battle" system was used in six subsequent Final Fantasy games. Its character-driven plot, use of the new technologies (such as Mode 7) and critically acclaimed score by Nobuo Uematsu have prompted critics to consider Final Fantasy IV one of the greatest games of all time.
Final Fantasy IX (ファイナルファンタジーIX Fainaru Fantajī Nain) is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix), and the ninth installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was released in 2000, and is the third and last numbered Final Fantasy game for Sony's PlayStation.
Set in a fantasy world of Gaia, Final Fantasy IX's plot centers on a war between several nations, sparked by an ambitious queen. Players follow a young thief named Zidane Tribal, who joins with several others to defeat the Queen. The plot shifts, however, when the characters realize that the Queen is a puppet for an arms dealer named Kuja.
Final Fantasy IX was developed alongside Final Fantasy VIII, but took a different path to return to the series' roots with a more traditional fantasy setting. Consequently, Final Fantasy IX was influenced heavily by the original Final Fantasy, and features allusions to other Final Fantasy games. Final Fantasy IX introduced new features to the series, such as the Active Time Event, Mognet, and a revamped equipment and skill system. The game has been subject to generally positive reviews and some consider it the best game in the series. However, the game received mixed reception for its return to the style of older Final Fantasy games.
Final Fantasy XI (ファイナルファンタジーXI Fainaru Fantajī Irebun?), also known as Final Fantasy XI: Online, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Square (later Square Enix) as part of the Final Fantasy series. It was released in Japan on Sony's PlayStation 2 on May 16, 2002, and was released for Microsoft's Windows-based personal computers in November 2002. It was localized and released for the North American market on October 28, 2003, and for the European market on September 17, 2004. An Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in April 2006 as the system's first MMORPG and the first cross-platform MMORPG.
The story is set in the fantasy world of Vana'diel, where tasks can be performed to improve a character's powers or to complete quests. Players are able to customize a character that they will guide through the story. There are also hundreds of quests that allow players to gain various rewards, as well as a growing number of player versus player competitions.
In January 2004, Square Enix announced that more than 500,000 users, using more than one million characters, were playing the game. As of 2006, between 200,000 and 300,000 active players logged in per day, and the game remains the dominant MMORPG in Japan. Four expansions for the game have been released, capitalizing on the game's success.
Final Fantasy XII (ファイナルファンタジーXII Fainaru Fantajī Tuerubu?) is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for Sony's PlayStation 2, and the twelfth installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was released in 2006, and was the first single-player Final Fantasy title of the main series since Final Fantasy X five years earlier. Selling more than two million copies in Japan, it became the fourth best-selling PlayStation 2 game of 2006 worldwide.
The game takes place in the fictional location called Ivalice, where the empires of Archadia and Rozarria are waging an endless war. Dalmasca, a small kingdom, is caught between the warring nations. When Archadia invades and occupies Dalmasca, its princess, Ashe, creates a resistance movement. During the struggle, she meets Vaan, a young adventurer who dreams of commanding an airship. They are quickly joined by a band of allies; together, they rally against the tyranny of the Archadian Empire.
Final Fantasy XII introduced several innovations to the series: battles occur without a transition to a separate screen; a "gambit" system automatically controls the actions of characters; and a "license" system determines which abilities and equipment are used by characters. Final Fantasy XII also includes elements from previous games in the series, such as summoned monsters, Chocobos, and airships.[1] The game received universally high scores, and earned numerous "Game of the Year" awards in various categories from noted video game publications. The sequel, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, was released for the Nintendo DS on April 26, 2007 in Japan and was released in North America on November 20, 2007.
Final Fantasy Tactics (ファイナルファンタジータクティクス Fainaru Fantajī Takutikusu?) is a tactical role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Sony PlayStation video game console. It was released in Japan in June 1997 and in the United States in January 1998. The game combines thematic elements of the Final Fantasy video game series with a game engine and battle system unlike those previously seen in the franchise. In contrast to other 32-bit era Final Fantasy titles, Final Fantasy Tactics uses a 3D, isometric, rotatable playing field, with bitmap sprite characters.
The game is set in a fictional kingdom called Ivalice, which has just ended its war with neighboring kingdom of Ordalia. The story follows Ramza Beoulve, a young cadet who finds himself thrust into the middle of a conflict, where two noble factions are coveting the throne of the kingdom. While the war was caused by a conflict of succession, Ramza was exposed to a plot that involved the kingdom's dominant religious organization.
A spinoff was created in 2003, called Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, and a sequel has been announced for it called Final Fantasy Tactics A2, and in 2006, a stand-alone title called Final Fantasy XII was released for the Sony PlayStation 2. All three games take place in the fictional land of Ivalice. An enhanced remake of Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, was announced as part of Square Enix's new Ivalice Alliance project. Overall, the game received positive reviews from gaming magazines and websites.
Characters of Final Fantasy VIII: Square's 1999 best-selling console role-playing game Final Fantasy VIII deals with an elite group of mercenaries called "SeeD", as well as soldiers, rebels and political leaders of various nations and cities. Thirteen weeks after its release, Final Fantasy VIII had earned more than US$50 million in sales, making it the fastest selling Final Fantasy title. Additionally, Final Fantasy VIII was voted the 22nd-best game of all time by readers of the Japanese magazine Famitsu. The game's characters were created by Tetsuya Nomura, and are the first in the series to be realistically proportioned in a consistent manner. This graphical shift, as well as the cast in general, has received generally positive reviews from gaming magazines and websites.
The six main playable characters in Final Fantasy VIII are Squall Leonhart, a loner who keeps his focus on duty and avoids letting himself care for others to avoid vulnerability; Rinoa Heartilly, a passionate young woman who follows her heart in all situations and does not hesitate to speak her mind; Quistis Trepe, an instructor with a serious, patient attitude; Zell Dincht, a martial artist with a passion for hot dogs and fighting; Selphie Tilmitt, a cheerful girl who loves trains and flies the spacecraft Ragnarok; and Irvine Kinneas, a marksman and consummate ladies' man with an interest in Selphie. Playable supporting characters include Laguna Loire, Kiros Seagill and Ward Zabac, who appear in "flashback" sequences; and antagonists Seifer Almasy and Edea Kramer. Each playable character has a powerful special attack called a Limit Break. Other characters make appearances throughout the story; their significance and backstories are revealed as the game progresses.
Characters of Kingdom Hearts: Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing video games developed and published by Square Enix (formerly Square). It is the result of a collaboration between Square and Disney Interactive Studios. Kingdom Hearts is a crossover of various Disney settings based in a universe made specifically for the series. The series features a mixture of familiar Disney and Final Fantasy characters, as well as several new characters designed and created by Tetsuya Nomura. In addition, it has an all-star voice cast which includes many of the Disney characters' official voice actors.
The series centers around the main character Sora's search for his friends and his encounters with Disney and Final Fantasy characters on their worlds. There are few playable characters in the games, though there are numerous characters that are able to join Sora's party as computer controlled members. The majority of the characters were introduced in the first game, Kingdom Hearts. Several new characters were introduced in the sequel, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, which also featured alternate versions of previous characters created from Sora's memories. The third game, Kingdom Hearts II, added more Disney and Final Fantasy characters as well as introduced new antagonists.
Cortana is a fictional artificially intelligent (AI) character in Bungie Studios' Halo series of video games. Voiced by Jen Taylor, she appears in Halo: Combat Evolved and its sequels, Halo 2 and Halo 3, as well the novels Halo: The Flood, Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: First Strike, and Halo: Ghosts of Onyx. During gameplay, Cortana provides backstory and tactical information to the player, who assumes the role of the Master Chief. In the story, she is instrumental in preventing the activation of the Halo installations, which would have destroyed all sentient life in the galaxy.
Bungie first introduced Cortana—and Halo—through the Cortana Letters, cryptic emails sent during Combat Evolved's production in 1999. Since then, the character has been used extensively to advertise the series. Action figures of the character were sold in conjunction with the latter two games, and she appeared in other forms of marketing for Halo 3. Cortana has been recognized for her sex appeal, believability, and character depth; she was rated as one of the ten most disturbingly sexual game characters by Games.net and one of the fifty greatest female video game characters ever by Tom's Games.
Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, commonly called Master Chief and John alternatively, is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Halo universe, created by Bungie Studios, and is a player character in the trilogy of science fiction first-person shooter video games Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3. Outside of video games, the Master Chief appears in the novels Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: The Flood, Halo: First Strike, and Halo: Uprising, and has cameos in Halo: Ghosts of Onyx and the Halo Graphic Novel. He is voiced by Chicago disc jockey Steve Downes in the video games in which he appears.
The Master Chief is one of the most visible symbols of the Halo series and the video game universe. Originally designed by Marcus Lehto, Rob McLees, and Shi Kai Wang, the character is a towering and faceless cybernetically enhanced supersoldier; he is never seen without his armor or helmet. The character has been called an icon, a relative newcomer among more established franchise characters, such as Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Lara Croft. Electronic Gaming Monthly named the Master Chief as the eighth greatest video game character ever. Conversely, the Chief's silent nature during gameplay has led to criticisms that the character is one-dimensional and unbelievable.
The PlayStation 3 (officially marketed PLAYSTATION 3, commonly abbreviated PS3) is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game systems.
A major feature that distinguishes the PlayStation 3 from its predecessors is its unified online gaming service, the PlayStation Network, which contrasts with Sony's former policy of relying on games developers for online play. Other major features of the console include its robust multimedia capabilities, connectivity with the PlayStation Portable, and its use of a next-gen optical media, Blu-ray Disc, as its primary storage medium.
The PlayStation 3 was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November 17, 2006 in North America, and March 23, 2007 in Europe and Oceania, with two stock keeping units (SKUs): a basic version with a 20 GB hard disk drive (HDD), and a premium version with a 60 GB HDD and several additional features. (The 20 GB version was not released in Europe or Oceania.) Since then, the console has had several revisions made to its available SKUs and has faced stiff competition from the other seventh generation consoles. As of December 20, 2007, the PS3 is in third place in home console sales for its generation.
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES (also called SNES and Super Nintendo) is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia (Oceania), and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the Super Family Computer, Super Famicom (スーパーファミコン Sūpā Famikon?), or SFC for short. In South Korea, it is known as the Super Comboy and was distributed by Hyundai Electronics. Although each version is essentially the same, several forms of regional lockout prevent direct compatibility.
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was Nintendo's second home console, following the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The console introduced advanced graphics and sound capabilities that compensated for its relatively slow CPU, compared with other consoles at the time. Additionally, the system's support for numerous enhancement chips (which shipped as part of certain game cartridges) helped to keep it competitive in the marketplace.
The SNES was a global success, becoming the best-selling console of the 16-bit era despite its relatively late start and the fierce competition it faced in North America from Sega's Genesis console. Some consider the SNES to embody the "Golden Age of video games", citing its many groundbreaking games and the perceived focus on gameplay over graphics and technical gimmicks. Others question this perceived romanticism, believing the system was just another step in the evolution of video game technology. The SNES remained popular well into the 32-bit era, and although Nintendo has dropped all support for the console, it continues to be popular among fans, collectors, and emulation enthusiasts, some of whom are still making "homebrew" ROM images.
Giants: Citizen Kabuto is a third-person shooter video game with real-time strategy elements for Microsoft Windows. It was the first project for Planet Moon Studios comprising former Shiny Entertainment employees who had worked on the game MDK. The game went through four years of development before Interplay Entertainment published it on December 06, 2000, and followed up with a PlayStation 2 port in 2001. MacPlay published the Mac OS X port earlier in the same year.
The subtitle "Citizen Kabuto" refers to the thundering behemoth who is one of the playable characters in the game. Players can also take on the roles of jet pack-equipped and heavily armed Meccaryns, and amphibious spellcasting Sea Reapers; and challenge each other in multiplayer games. The single-player mode is framed as a sequential story, and puts the player through missions, several of which test the player's reflexes in action game-like puzzles, to teach the abilities of each playable race.
Game critics praised the game for its state of the art graphics, humorous story, and success in blending in one genre with another. Criticisms of the game centered on crippling software bugs and lack of an in-game save feature. The critics also rated its console version as technically inferior to its computer versions. The game sold poorly for both Windows and PlayStation 2, although it enjoyed a successful launch for its small Mac OS X market.
Golden Sun, released in Japan as Ōgon no Taiyō Hirakareshi Fūin (黄金の太陽 開かれし封印? literally "Golden Sun: The Broken Seal"), is the first installment of a series of role-playing video games developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo. It was released in November 2001 for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, with a Game Boy Advance sequel, Golden Sun: The Lost Age, in 2003. The game is notable for certain unique game elements, such as the use of special "Djinn" that empower the player and can be used against enemies.
The story follows a band of magic-attuned "adepts" who are sent from their home town into the wide world of Weyard to prevent the destructive power of alchemy from being released as it was in the past. Along the way the adepts gain new abilities, help out the local populations, and learn more about why alchemy was sealed away. Upon its release, the game was highly praised; IGN said that Golden Sun could "arguably be one of the best 2D-based Japanese RPGs created for any system."
Grim Fandango is a graphic adventure computer game released by LucasArts in 1998 and primarily written by Tim Schafer. It is the first adventure game by LucasArts to use three-dimensional graphics overlayed on pre-rendered 2D computer backgrounds. As with other LucasArts adventure games, the player must converse with other characters and examine, collect, and use objects correctly to solve puzzles in the game in order to progress.
Grim Fandango's world combines elements of Aztec beliefs of afterlife with style aspects of film noir, including The Maltese Falcon, On the Waterfront and Casablanca, to create the Land of the Dead, which recently departed souls, represented in the game as calaca-like figures, must travel through before they reach their final destination, the Ninth Underworld. The story follows travel agent Manuel "Manny" Calavera as he attempts to save Mercedes "Meche" Colomar, a newly arrived but virtuous soul, during her long journey.
The game received positive reviews, which praised its artistic design and overall game direction in particular. Grim Fandango was selected for several gaming awards at the time of release, and is often listed in publishers' lists of top games of all time. However, the game has been considered a commercial failure, which partially led LucasArts to terminate their adventure game development, contributing to the decline of the adventure game genre.
Halo 2 is a science fiction first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. Released for the Xbox game console on November 9, 2004, the game is the sequel to Halo: Combat Evolved. After its initial release, Halo 2 was the most popular video game on Xbox Live, holding that rank until the release of Gears of War for the Xbox 360 nearly two years later. By June 20, 2006, more than 500 million games of Halo 2 had been played and more than 710 million hours have been spent playing it on Xbox Live; by May 9, 2007, this number had risen to more than five million unique players on Xbox Live. As of May 9, 2006, Halo 2 is the best-selling first-generation Xbox game with 8 million copies sold worldwide. As of September 25, 2007, Halo 2 is the fifth best-selling video game in the United States with 6.3 million copies sold in the US alone.
The game features a new game engine, as well as using the Havok physics engine; added weapons and vehicles; new multi-player maps; and a continuation of the storyline from Halo: Combat Evolved. In the game, humans, who have developed faster-than-light travel and colonized hundreds of worlds, have been engaged in a war against a collective of genocidal alien races, the Covenant. The player assumes the roles of Master Chief and the Arbiter, and fights enemies on foot or with a collection of alien and human vehicles. Critical reception of the game was generally positive, with most publications lauding the strong multiplayer component; at the same time, the campaign was the focus of criticism for its cliffhanger ending.
A Windows Vista version of the game was released on May 17, 2007. It was developed by a team at Microsoft Game Studios who are referred to internally as "Hired Gun". Game developer Pi Studios produced editing tools for this version, which allows users to create multiplayer maps.
Halo 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie exclusively for the Xbox 360. The game is the third title in the Halo series and concludes the story arc that began in Halo: Combat Evolved and continued in Halo 2.
The game was released on September 25, 2007 in Australia, Brazil, India, New Zealand, North America, and Singapore; September 26, 2007 in Europe; and September 27, 2007 in Japan. On the day before its official release, 4.2 million units of Halo 3 were in retail outlets. Halo 3 holds the record for the highest grossing opening day in entertainment history, bringing in US$170 million in its first 24 hours, going on to gross US$300 million in its first week. More than one million people played Halo 3 on Xbox Live in the first twenty hours. As of January 3, 2008, Halo 3 has sold 8.1 million copies, and was the best-selling video game of 2007 in the U.S.
Halo 3's story centers on the interstellar war between 26th century humanity, led by the United Nations Space Command, and a collection of alien races known as the Covenant. The player assumes the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier, as he wages war in defense of humanity, assisted by human Marines as well as allied alien Elites led by the Arbiter. The game features vehicles, weapons, and gameplay not present in previous titles of the series, as well as the addition of saved gameplay films, file sharing, and the Forge map editor; a utility which allows the player to perform modifications to levels. Overall, the game was well-received by critics, with the Forge and multiplayer offerings singled out as strong features; on Game Rankings, Halo 3 ranks as the sixth highest rated Xbox 360 game to date.
Iridion 3D is a quasi-3D rail shooter game for the Game Boy Advance developed by Shin'en. A launch title for the Game Boy Advance, it was released in North America on May 29, 2001 and in Europe on September 21, 2001. While praised for beautiful graphics and rich sound, the game was derided by critics and gamers for repetitive gameplay.
Influenced by the Commodore 64 game Uridium, Iridion features a single starship waging war against the alien Iridion that have attacked Earth. The game spans seven levels from Earth to the alien's home planet, each with a fixed linear path that ends with a boss. Despite lukewarm reception to the title upon release, Iridion 3D influenced future Shin'en shooters such as Iridion II and Nanostray.
Defense of the Ancients (often referred to as DotA) is a custom scenario for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, based on the "Aeon of Strife" map for StarCraft. The objective of the scenario is to destroy the opponents' "Ancient", a heavily guarded structure in each corner of the map. Players use powerful units known as heroes, and are assisted by allied heroes and AI-controlled fighters called "creeps". As in role playing games, players level up their hero and use gold to buy equipment during the mission.
The scenario was developed with the World Editor of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and was updated upon the release of The Frozen Throne. There have been many variations of the original concept, the most popular of which is DotA Allstars, which has been maintained by several authors during development. Since its release, Allstars has become a feature at several worldwide tournaments, including Blizzard Entertainment's Blizzcon and the Asian World Cyber Games, as well as the Cyberathlete Amateur and CyberEvolution leagues.
The development of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion began in 2002, immediately after Morrowind's publication. Rumors of a sequel to The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind began circulating in June 2004; the sequel's title was identified on September 10, 2004, the date of Oblivion's official announcement. Oblivion was developed by Bethesda Softworks, and the initial Xbox 360 and Personal computer (PC) releases were co-published by Bethesda and Take-Two Interactive subsidiary 2K Games. According to interviews with Bethesda staff, the publisher-developer relationship—one of the few independent relations in the industry—worked well, and Bethesda was not subject to excessive corporate guidance. Originally scheduled for a November 22, 2005 release, in tandem with the Xbox 360's launch, Oblivion was delayed to a March 21, 2006 release for Windows PCs and the Xbox 360.
Developers working on Oblivion focused on providing a tighter storyline, with fewer filler quests and more developed characters. The developers sought to make information in the game world more accessible to players, making the game easier to pick up and play. Oblivion features improved AI (courtesy of Bethesda's proprietary Radiant AI), improved physics (courtesy of the Havok physics engine), and impressive graphics, taking advantage of advanced lighting and shader routines like high dynamic range rendering (HDR) and specular mapping. Bethesda developed and implemented procedural content creation tools in the creation of Oblivion's terrain, leading to landscapes that are more complex and realistic than those of past titles, with less of a drain on Bethesda's staff.
A PlayStation 3 version of Oblivion was released on March 20, 2007 in North America, and April 27, 2007 in Europe, following delays similar to those for the Xbox 360 release. The PlayStation 3 release was touted for its improvement over the graphics of the PC and Xbox 360 versions, although some of the improved shader routines optimized for the PlayStation 3 release were set to be ported over to the other releases through patches. A plan to distribute content through downloads paid by micropayment was initially met with criticism by customers do to its alleged low value, but later releases—at a reduced price, and with more content—proved more popular.
ESRB re-rating of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: On May 3, 2006, the North American Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) changed the rating of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, a video game for PCs and the Xbox 360, from Teen (13+) to Mature (17+). The ESRB cited the presence of content not considered in their original review in the published edition of Oblivion. This included detailed depictions of blood and gore and sexually explicit content. The sexually explicit content was an art file, made accessible by a third party modification called the Oblivion Topless Mod, that rendered the game with topless female characters.
In response to the new content, the ESRB conducted a new review of Oblivion, showing to its reviewers the content originally submitted by the game's publisher along with the newly disclosed content. The new review resulted in an M rating. The ESRB reported that Bethesda Softworks, the game's developer and publisher, would promptly notify all retailers of the change, issue stickers for retailers and distributors to affix on the product, display the new rating in all following product shipments and marketing, and create a downloadable patch rendering the topless skin inaccessible. Bethesda complied with the request, but issued a press release declaring their disagreement with the ESRB's rationale. Although certain retailers began to check for ID before selling Oblivion as a result of the change, and the change elicited criticism for the ESRB, the events passed by with little notice from the public at large. Other commentators remarked on the injustice of punishing a company for the actions of its clients, and one called the event a "pseudo-sequel" to the Hot Coffee minigame controversy.
Halo Graphic Novel is a graphic novel published by Marvel Comics in partnership with Bungie Studios. The Halo series began with the award-winning popular video game Halo: Combat Evolved, which spawned several books as well as video game sequels, and is focused on the story of future humanity fighting against a powerful collective of races called the Covenant. The Halo Graphic Novel is the series' first entry into the sequential art medium, and features aspects of the Halo universe which until then had not been discussed or seen in any medium.
The majority of the book is divided into four short stories by writers and artists from the computer game and comic industries. Each tale focuses on different aspects of the Halo universe, revealing stories that are tangential to the main plot of the game. The book also contains an extensive art gallery compiled of contributions from Bungie, Marvel and independent sources. Released on July 19, 2006, the Halo Graphic Novel was well-received, with reviewers noting the cohesiveness of the work as a whole, as well as the diversity of the individual material. The success of the novel led to Marvel announcing a new limited comic series, which became known as Halo: Uprising.
Kingdom Hearts (キングダムハーツ Kingudamu Hātsu?) is an action role-playing game developed and published by Squaresoft (now Square Enix) in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It is the result of a collaboration between Square and The Walt Disney Company. The game combines characters and settings from Disney's animated features with those from the Final Fantasy series, developed by Square. The story follows Sora, a young boy, as he is thrown into an epic battle against the darkness. He is joined by Donald Duck and Goofy, classic Disney characters, who help him on his quest.
Kingdom Hearts was a departure from Square's standard role-playing games by introducing a substantial action-adventure element. In addition, it had an all-star voice cast which included many of the Disney characters' original voice actors. Kingdom Hearts was also longtime Square character designer Tetsuya Nomura's first time in a directorial position.
Kingdom Hearts was praised for its unusual combination of action and role-playing, as well as its unexpectedly harmonious mix of Square and Disney. It received numerous year-end "Best" video game awards and was a dominating presence in the 2002 holiday season and went on to achieve Sony "Greatest Hits" status. Since its release, Kingdom Hearts has sold over 5.6 million copies worldwide and has been followed by two sequels. Three more titles are currently being developed, which have a connection to a future, unannounced game.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (キングダムハーツ チェインオブメモリーズ Kingudamu Hātsu Chein obu Memorīzu?) is an action role-playing game developed by Japanese studio Jupiter and published by Square Enix in 2004–2005 for the Game Boy Advance. The game serves as an intermediary between the two larger-scale PlayStation 2 games in the Kingdom Hearts series. It was one of the first GBA games to incorporate full motion video. The game was remade into a PlayStation 2 game titled Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, which was released in Japan as a second disc packaged with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix in March 2007.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is the direct sequel to Kingdom Hearts, and its ending is set about a year before Kingdom Hearts II. The story centers around the protagonist of the first game, Sora, exploring a mysterious castle in search of his friends. As he ascends the castle, his friend and rival, Riku, explores the basement levels and fights his personal demons. The game introduces new characters and plotlines that further expanded the Kingdom Hearts universe and set up the premise for Kingdom Hearts II.
Though not as successful as the other Kingdom Hearts games, it received positive reviews and sales. It was praised for its story, graphics, and FMVs. The game features a new card based battle system that is a departure from its predecessor. When it debuted in Japan, it sold 104,000 units in only 48 hours, a record for a Game Boy Advance title at the time. Since its release, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide.
Kingdom Hearts II (キングダムハーツII Kingudamu Hātsu Tsū?) is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and published by Square Enix and Buena Vista Games (now Disney Interactive Studios) in 2005 for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console. Kingdom Hearts II is the sequel to the 2002 Disney Interactive and Square collaboration, Kingdom Hearts, which combined Disney and Square elements into an action role-playing game. The game's popularity has resulted in a novel and manga series based upon it and an international version called Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, released in March 2007.
Kingdom Hearts II is the third game in the Kingdom Hearts series. It picks up one year after the events of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Sora, the protagonist of the first two games, returns to search for his lost friends. Like the previous installments, this game features a large cast of characters from Disney films and Final Fantasy games. Organization XIII, a group introduced in Chain of Memories, also reappears to impede Sora's progress.
The game was well-received, earning year-end awards from numerous video gaming websites. In Japan, it shipped more than one million copies within a week of its release. One month after its North American release, it had sold over one million copies and was the second best-selling game of 2006. As of December 2006, Kingdom Hearts II had shipped more than 3.5 million copies worldwide.
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages are two action-adventure games developed by Flagship and published by Nintendo and the seventh and eighth installments in The Legend of Zelda video game series. They were released on February 27, 2001 in Japan, May 14, 2001 in North America, and October 5, 2001 in Europe for the Nintendo Game Boy Color. A special shop is available when played on a Nintendo Game Boy Advance.
After experimenting with porting the original The Legend of Zelda to the Game Boy Color, Yoshiki Okamoto's Flagship team began developing three interconnected Zelda games that could be played in any order. The complexity of this system led the team to cancel one game; the remaining two were adapted into Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages. The two games, released simultaneously, interact via a Game Link Cable and a password system.
In Seasons, the Triforce transports Link to the land of Holodrum, where he witnesses the kidnapping of Din, the Oracle of Seasons, by Onox. In Ages, the Triforce transports Link to Labrynna, where Nayru is kidnapped by Veran. The main plot is revealed once the player completes both games. The player controls Link from an overhead perspective, using basic controls copied from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening for the Game Boy. Link is armed with a sword and shield as well as a variety of secondary weapons and items for battling enemies and solving puzzles. The central items of the games are the Rod of Seasons, which manipulates the seasons of Holodrum, and the Harp of Ages, which allows Link to travel through time in Labrynna. Link gathers the eight Essences of Nature and the eight Essences of Time, hidden in dungeons and guarded by bosses, to obtain the power to penetrate Onox's castle and Veran's tower.
Metroid Prime is a video game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube, released in North America on November 15, 2002. It is the first 3D game in the Metroid series, and is classified by Nintendo as a first-person adventure rather than a first-person shooter, due to the large exploration component of the game. In North America, it was also the first Metroid installment to be released since Super Metroid in 1994; in all other markets, it was released after Metroid Fusion.
Metroid Prime is the first of the three part Prime storyline, which takes place between the original Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus. Like previous games in the series, Metroid Prime has a science fiction setting, in which players control the bounty hunter Samus Aran. The story follows Samus as she battles the Space Pirates and their biological experiments on the planet Tallon IV.
Despite initial backlash from fans due to the first-person perspective, the game was released to both critical and commercial success, selling more than a million units in North America alone and becoming one of the most acclaimed games of all time.
Populous: The Beginning is the third game in the PC strategy god games of the Populous series, developed by Bullfrog Productions in 1998. The game was the first in the series to use true 3D graphics. Unlike earlier games in the series, which cast the player in the role of a god influencing loyal followers, The Beginning took a radical departure from the earlier games and cast the player instead as a shaman, who directly leads her tribe against opponents.
Throughout the twenty-five missions of the campaign, the player leads their tribe across a solar system, dominating enemy tribes and tapping new sources of magic, with the ultimate goal of the shaman attaining godhood itself. The game, playing very different from earlier titles, was welcomed to mixed reviews, with reviewers noting the excellent graphics; complaints were directed at the artificial intelligence and the inability of the game to decide between being a real time strategy title or god game. The PC version of the game was released November 30, 1998; a PlayStation version was later developed and released on April 2, 1999. The PlayStation version was later emulated on the PlayStation Network in 2007, through which it can be played on the Sony PlayStation Portable and, as of Operating System update 1.70, on the PlayStation 3.
Portal is a single-player first-person action/puzzle video game developed by the Valve Corporation. The game was released in the bundle package The Orange Box for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on October 9, 2007, and for the PlayStation 3 on December 11, 2007. The Windows version of the game is also available for download separately through Valve's content delivery system, Steam and was released as a standalone retail product on April 9, 2008.
The game consists primarily of a series of puzzles that must be solved by teleporting the player's character and other simple objects using the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device ("Portal Gun" for short), a unit that can create an inter-spatial portal between flat planes. The player character is challenged by an AI named "GLaDOS" to complete each puzzle in the "Aperture Science Enrichment Center" using the Portal Gun with the promise of receiving cake when all the puzzles are completed. The unusual physics allowed by the portal gun are the emphasis of this game, and is an extension of a similar portal concept in Narbacular Drop; many of the team from the DigiPen Institute of Technology that worked on Narbacular Drop were hired by Valve for the creation of Portal.
Portal has been acclaimed as one of the most original games in 2007 despite being a comparatively short game. The game has received praise for its unique gameplay and darkly humorous story (created with the assistance of Erik Wolpaw and Chet Faliszek of "Old Man Murray" fame), the "character" of GLaDOS (voiced by Ellen McLain), and the final credits song, "Still Alive" (written by Jonathan Coulton for the game). The game's popularity has led to official merchandise from Valve as well as fan creations using elements of the game.
Radical Dreamers: Nusumenai Hōseki (ラジカル・ドリーマーズ -盗めない宝石- Rajikaru Dorīmāzu -Nusumenai Hōseki-?, literally Radical Dreamers -The Jewel That Cannot Be Stolen-) is a Japanese video game produced by Squaresoft (now Square Enix) in 1996 for the Satellaview add-on for the Nintendo Super Famicom. It is a text-based adventure game in which the player takes the role of Serge, a young adventurer accompanied by Kid, a teen-aged thief, and Gil, a mysterious masked magician.
The game is a gaiden, or side story, to the 1995 game Chrono Trigger, released to complement its predecessor's plot. It features text-based gameplay with minimal graphics and sound effects, and was scored by composer Yasunori Mitsuda. After players complete the main story, six more scenarios become available for play.
Radical Dreamers and other Satellaview titles were planned to be released at the Akihabara electronics district of Tokyo. Square also tried to integrate it into the Japanese PlayStation port of Chrono Trigger as an Easter egg. Writer and director Masato Kato halted both releases, unhappy with the quality of his work. Though the game was never officially released abroad, ROM hackers completed an English fan translation in 2003.
Silent Hill 4: The Room is the fourth installment in the Konami Silent Hill survival horror series. The game was released in Japan in June 2004 and in North America and Europe in September of that same year. Silent Hill 4 was released for the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Microsoft Xbox consoles as well as the PC. A soundtrack release was also made at the same time.
Unlike the previous installments, which were set primarily in the disturbed town of Silent Hill, this game is set in the fictional town of South Ashfield, and is focused on the character of Henry Townshend attempting to escape from his locked-down apartment. He explores a series of supernatural worlds and finds himself in conflict with an undead serial killer.
Originally intended as a spinoff from the main series, Silent Hill 4 features an altered gameplay style with first-person navigation and plot elements taken from previous installments. Upon its release the game received a mostly positive critical reaction despite mixed opinions to the deviations from the original Silent Hill style.
Spyro: Year of the Dragon is a platform game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation video game console. The game was released in North America on October 11, 2000, in the United Kingdom on October 25, and in the rest of Europe on November 10. Year of the Dragon is the third installment in the Spyro series and the last Spyro game to be released for the PlayStation. The game was the last Spyro game Insomniac Games made (their next title was Ratchet & Clank for the PlayStation 2.)
Named after the animal of the Chinese zodiac, Year of the Dragon follows the titular purple character Spyro as he travels to the "Forgotten Realms" after 150 magical dragon eggs are stolen from the land of the dragons by an evil sorceress. Players travel across thirty different worlds gathering gems and eggs. Year of the Dragon introduced new characters and minigames to the series, as well as offering improved graphics and music. Upon release, the game sold more than two million units in the United States, and received a positive critical response, with reviewers noting the game built on the successful formula of its predecessors by adding more games and expansive environments. At Game Rankings, Year of the Dragon is one of the top twenty highest-rated PlayStation games of all time. The game was followed by the multiplatform title Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly.
Super Mario 64 (スーパーマリオ64 Sūpā Mario Rokujūyon?) is a platformer developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe on March 1, 1997. Along with Pilotwings 64, it was one of the launch titles for the Nintendo 64. Super Mario 64 has sold over eleven million copies, and as of September 25, 2007, it is the seventh best-selling video game in the United States.
Super Mario 64 was the first 3D platform game in the Mario series, and it established a new archetype for the genre, much as Super Mario Bros. did for 2D sidescrolling platformers. Hailed as "revolutionary", the game left a lasting impression on the 3D game design, particularly notable for its use of a dynamic camera system and the implementation of its analog control.
By going from two to three dimensions, Super Mario 64 replaced the linear obstacle courses of traditional platform games with vast worlds in which the player must complete multiple and diverse missions, with an emphasis on exploration. While doing so, it managed to preserve many gameplay elements and characters of earlier Mario games. It is acclaimed by many critics and fans as one of the greatest and most revolutionary video games of all time.
Super Smash Bros. Melee (大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズDX Dairantō Sumasshu Burazāzu Derakkusu, lit. "Great Melee Smash Brothers Deluxe") is a crossover fighting/action game released for the Nintendo GameCube shortly after its launch in 2001 (2002 in the PAL region). It is the sequel to the 1999 Nintendo 64 game Super Smash Bros., and the predecessor to the 2008 Wii game Super Smash Bros. Brawl. HAL Laboratory developed the game, with Masahiro Sakurai as head of production.
The game is centered on characters from Nintendo's video gaming franchises such as Mario, Pokémon and The Legend of Zelda. The stages and gameplay modes make references to, or take their designs from, popular games released by Nintendo.Melee's gameplay system offers an unorthodox approach to the "fighter" genre as percentage counters measure the level of damage received, rather than the health bar traditionally seen in most fighting games. It builds on the first game's broad appeal by adding new features related to gameplay and playable characters. Following the popularity of its multiplayer gameplay, Melee has featured in several multiplayer gaming tournaments.
The game received a generally positive reception from the media, as well as awards and acknowledgements from gaming publications. It achieved strong sales upon release, and is the GameCube's best-selling game, with more than seven million copies sold as of March 10, 2008.
Supreme Commander, abbreviated as SupCom, is a real-time strategy computer game designed by Chris Taylor and developed by his company, Gas Powered Games. The game is considered to be the spiritual successor to Taylor's 1997 game, Total Annihilation. First announced in the August 2005 edition of PC Gamer magazine, the game was released on February 16, 2007 in Europe and February 20, 2007 in North America. A standalone expansion, Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance, was released on November 6 of the same year.
Supreme Commander is focused on using a giant bipedal mech called an Armoured Command Unit (or ACU) to build a base, then upgrading units to reach higher technology tiers, and conquering opponents. The player can command one of three nations: the Aeon Illuminate, the Cybran Nation, or the United Earth Federation. Supreme Commander was highly anticipated in pre-release previews, and was received well by critics, with a Metacritic average of 86 out of 100.
System Shock is an action role-playing game developed by Looking Glass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. Released in 1994, the game is set aboard the fictional Citadel Station in a cyberpunk vision of 2072. Assuming the role of a nameless hacker, the player attempts to hinder the plans of a malevolent artificial intelligence.
Unlike other first-person games of the time, System Shock features true 3D environments, allowing the player to look up and down, climb, duck, jump, and lean to the side. Critics praised System Shock and hailed the game as a major innovation in its genre. It was later placed on multiple hall of fame lists. Despite its technological feats and critical acceptance, System Shock was outsold by its contemporaries. A sequel, System Shock 2, was released by Looking Glass Studios and off-shoot developer Irrational Games in 1999.
Vagrant Story (ベイグラントストーリー Beiguranto Sutōrī) is a Japanese-developed console role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Sony PlayStation video game console in 2000. The game was released in Japan in February 2000, in the United States in May 2000, and in Canada and Europe later, as part of Square's promotional "Summer of Adventure" game package, and in PAL territories in June 2000. It was largely developed by the team responsible for Final Fantasy Tactics, with Yasumi Matsuno serving as producer and director.
The game takes place in the fictional kingdom of Valendia and the ruined city of Leá Monde. The story centers on Ashley Riot, an elite agent known as a Riskbreaker, who must travel to Leá Monde to investigate the link between a cult leader and a senior Valendian Parliament member, Duke Bardorba. In the prologue, Ashley was blamed for murdering the duke, and the game discloses the events that happened one week before the murder.
Vagrant Story is unique as a console action/adventure role-playing game because it features no shops and no player interaction between other characters; instead, the game focuses on weapon creation and modification, as well as elements of puzzle-solving and strategy. Overall, the game received positive reviews from gaming magazines and websites.
Voyage: Inspired by Jules Verne (called Journey to the Moon in the United Kingdom) is a point-and-click adventure game with pre-rendered graphics, developed by Kheops Studio and published by The Adventure Company for the PC in 2005. The game's story focuses on a French adventurer's journey to the moon in the 19th century, and the ancient lunar civilization he finds there.
Voyage is loosely based on the novels From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon by science-fiction author Jules Verne, and the novel The First Men in the Moon by science-fiction author H.G. Wells. Reactions to the game were generally mixed. In particular, some reviewers praised it for immersing the player in the look and feel of the 19th century; others have criticized it for featuring out-of-date graphics and dull textures.
While staying true to most adventure game conventions, Voyage has unique features for its genre. These include two dexterity minigames that take advantage of the lack of gravity in the game's lunar setting, and an "Intelligence Management System", in which a score is assigned to the player for every puzzle the player solves, and for certain actions. The Adventure Company introduced this feature to motivate players to replay the game to increase their cumulative score.
Wii Sports is a sports game developed and produced by Nintendo as a launch title for the Wii video game console. It was first released in North America along with the Wii on November 19, 2006, and was released in Japan, Australia, and Europe the following month. The game is included as a pack-in game with the Wii console in all territories except Japan, making it the first game included with the launch of a Nintendo console since Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990. Wii Sports is part of an ongoing series of games sometimes referred to as the Wii Series.
The game is a collection of five sports simulations, designed to demonstrate the motion-sensing capabilities of the Wii Remote to new players. The five sports included are tennis, baseball, bowling, golf, and boxing. Players use the Wii Remote to mimic actions performed in real life sports, such as swinging a tennis racket. The rules for each game are simplified in order to make them more accessible to new players. The game also features training and fitness modes that monitor player progress in the sports.
Overall, Wii Sports has been well received by critics, and has received awards from the gaming press and entertainment community. Although not sold separately outside Japan, the game has been commercially successful. In Japan, it was the best-selling game of 2007 with 1,911,520 units sold. By the end of 2007, Wii Sports sold 17.85 million copies worldwide—including bundled copies. The game has been featured on television in Wii commercials, news reports, and other programming. It has become a popular device for social gatherings and competitions among players of varying ages.
