FIFA series
Developer(s) EA Sports
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Platform(s) Current:
Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Mobile Phone, Nintendo DS, Wii
Notable past systems:
Mega Drive, SNES, PlayStation, GameCube, Xbox, GBA, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, GB, GBC, 3DO, Sega 32x, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System, Sega Mega-CD, Amiga, Nokia N-gage, Gizmondo, DOS
Release date(s) Annually, 1993-present
Genre(s) Association football
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer (all versions)
FIFA Football, also known as FIFA Soccer or FIFA in some regions, is a series of football video games, released annually by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. While there was no major competition when EA released the first titles in their Madden NFL and NHL series, football video games such as Sensible Soccer, Kick Off and Matchday Soccer had been developed since the late eighties and were already competitive in the games market when EA announced a soccer game as their next addition to the EA Sports label.
When the series began in late 1993 it was notable for being the first to have an official licence from FIFA. The latest installments in the series contain many exclusively-licenced leagues and teams from around the world, including the English Premier League and Football League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, the Australian A-League and US Major League Soccer, allowing the use of real leagues, clubs, and player names and likenesses within the games.
The main series has been complemented by additional installments based on single major soccer tournaments, such as the FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Championship, and UEFA Champions League, as well as a series of football management titles.
Despite the obvious commercial success of the franchise, the games more often than not receive poor to average reviews from the dedicated press. However, the last few entries have been viewed as significant improvements and credible challengers to Konami's Winning Eleven series.
History
The key points of EA's early advertising campaigns were the isometric view of the pitch (when other games used either top down, side scrolling or bird's eye views), detailed graphics and animations, and of course the FIFA endorsement (although the first game did not feature real player names). It was shipped for Christmas 1993, named FIFA International Soccer, and was released for most popular platforms of the time. In every Fifa game there has been at least 500000 to 1million fans increase.
While FIFA 95 did not add much other than the ability to play with club teams, FIFA 96 pushed the boundaries. For the first time with real player names by obtaining the FIFPro license, the PC, 32X and Sega Saturn versions used EA's "Virtual Stadium" engine, with 2D sprite players moving on a real-time 3D stadium. FIFA 97 had crude polygonal models for players and added indoor football, but the new pinnacle was reached with FIFA 98: Road to World Cup. This version featured improved graphics, a complete World Cup with qualifying rounds (including all national teams) and refined gameplay. Months later, World Cup 98, EA's first officially licensed tournament game, improved Direct3D support, gave each team a unique kit and broke the sequence of poor video games based on tournaments started by US Gold's World Cup Carnival in 1986 and continued until Gremlin Interactive's Euro 96.
FIFA games have been met with some criticism, such as for the minimal improvements each title features over its predecessor. As the console market expanded, FIFA was challenged directly by other titles such as Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer (known as Winning Eleven in Japan and the US). Both FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer have a large following but FIFA enjoys a higher volume of sales.[citation needed]
FIFA is the only video game series to be published on the same console platform (in this case the original Sony PlayStation) for ten successive years (FIFA Soccer 96 published in 1995, through to FIFA Football 2005 published in 2004). EA's Madden NFL series appeared on the PlayStation for nine straight years.
The European PS3 box art
Developer(s) Criterion Games
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Designer(s) Alex Ward (Creative director)
Series Burnout
Native resolution 720p (Xbox 360) 1080i (PS3)
Platform(s) PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s) PlayStation 3
Retail
NA January 22, 2008
EU January 25, 2008
Download
INT September 25, 2008
Xbox 360
NA January 22, 2008
EU January 25, 2008
Microsoft Windows
February 2009
Genre(s) Racing, Sandbox
Mode(s) Single-player, Multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: E10+
OFLC: M
PEGI: 3+
Media Blu-ray Disc, DVD, Download
Input methods Gamepad, keyboard and mouse
Burnout Paradise (formerly known as Burnout 5) is Criterion Games's newest installment in the Burnout video game series. It was released in January 2008 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was also released on the PlayStation Store in September 2008 and will be available on Microsoft Windows from February 2009. It has an open world set in the fictional Paradise City, with no loading times and no traditional online lobbies or game menus. The song "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses is the game's title music and also featured on the in-game soundtrack.
Gameplay
According to Alex Ward from developer Criterion Games, this game is a "complete reinvention" of the Burnout series. He also said "To create truly next-generation gameplay, we needed to create a truly next-generation game, from the ground up." Despite being in an open world, the game still retains the 60 frames-per-second most Burnout games have used. Initially day and night cycles were not included in the game but a software update entitled "Davis" added this element to the game. Records will now be kept on players' drivers licenses and there will be statistics such as fastest time and biggest crash for every street in the game. Unlike in previous Burnout games, Crash Mode, now called Showtime, can now be started at any time and place in the game; though Showtime mode is rather different from the usual Crash Mode. Also, for races, players may now take any route to get to the destination. Races and other events are simply started by stopping at any of the 120 traffic lights around Paradise City and applying the accelerator and brake at the same time. Multiple settings have been confirmed to be fully customisable such as:
* "Boost Rules", where the player may choose cars that use the boost styles from previous Burnout games.
* Whether or not there is traffic in an online event.
* Start and finish points for online events with up to 16 checkpoints.
The damage system has also been reworked. There are now two different types of crash based on the car's condition after the crash. If the player's car manages to retain all four wheels, and not break its chassis, the player may drive out of the crash and continue playing; this is called a "driveaway". If a player's car loses any of its wheels, has the engine damaged too much from an impact, or winds up outside of the game's map, the car is in a "wrecked" state and the player will have to wait until their car is reset. Cars can also be torn into several pieces, be compressed and deform around objects as you crash into them. However, Alex Ward confirmed in the Official Crash FM podcast that cars may not be ripped in half, as concept pictures and early information had stated. There are also other cars which can be obtained by typing in a sponsor code. These only work for certain regions. One of these sponsor code cars is the Steel Wheels version of the Carson GT concept car, which features the car with an armor plate and supercharger. The code for this car could be obtained from pre-ordering the game from certain retailers. When starting the single player mode you are assigned with a learner's permit and a single car. While playing you race and win events to earn points towards a higher license, from a Learners Permit (E-class), D-class, C-class, B-class, A-class, Burnout Paradise (S-class), Burnout Elite (SS-class) up to Criterion Elite (SSS-class). After earning a new license every event that you complete is reset so you can replay the event again to earn credit towards a new license.
Cars now have manufacturer and model names, which are loosely based on real-world cars but are mostly fictional (some of the cars are even based on those from a previous Burnout game, e.g. the Hunter Manhattan is the Classic from Burnout 2). Cars may not be "tuned up" or customized apart from color changes, which may be done in real-time by driving through the forecourt of a blow shop, which will randomly assign a color to the car, or by selecting the color in the Junkyard where you select your vehicle (after taking the car through a Paint Booth drivethru at least once). Other real-time changes include driving through the forecourt of a gas station to automatically refill your Burnout meter, and driving through the forecourt of a repair shop to automatically repair your car, allowing you to extend a Road Rage or Marked Man event beyond the car's damage limits.
The online lobby system used by most video games has been replaced by a streamlined system known as "Easy Drive". While driving, players simply hit right on the D-Pad and the Easy Drive menu pops up on the bottom left hand corner of their screen. From there, players are able to invite another player from their friends list. Once friends have joined the game, the hosting player is then able to pick from a variety of events to play. There are also special Burnout Racing Team cars that you can get.
Car types
Cars in Burnout Paradise can have one of three different types of "Boost Standard", showing what a player will have to do with the car in order to build up their boost bar:
* Speed: Driving the car at high speeds through oncoming traffic and/or weaving through traffic (performing a "Near Miss" where the car avoids another by a few inches or less) builds up the boost bar. This is the only type of boost in which the boost is not available until the meter is completely filled. When it is filled, the boost bar becomes inflamed and the player may use it until the player crashes, lets off of the boost, or runs out of boost power. However, the depletion of boost power on a Speed standard can cause a "Burnout" if the player keeps the boost button pressed after their boost bar is depleted, in which the bar refills allowing the player to continue to use their boost. As long as the boost is continued to be used and the car is continuing to be driven, the player can create a "Burnout Chain" for as long as the player is able. This is the only standard that allows a Burnout chain.
* Stunt: The player can only build up this boost bar by performing stunts with the car (driving through incoming traffic counts). However, as long as there is boost power stored, the player is able to use it. The Stunt boost is the longest boost bar initially.
* Aggression: The player can fill up this boost bar by reckless driving, such as performing traffic checks and/or takedowns, knocking over signs, performing stunts, and driving through oncoming traffic. Initially, the boost bar of these cars shows a "x2" at the end of the bar. If a player performs a takedown, the bar can be extended until the player switches cars (the only boost standard that has this ability), thereby showing a "x3" at the end of the bar instead. Like the Stunt standard, boost can be used immediately, regardless of if the player has the bar completely filled.
Cars are also rated on three merits when viewed at the Junkyard:
* Speed: How fast a car can go. The higher the rating, the higher the top speed in which a car will be able to reach without using boost.
* Boost: The cars boost power. The higher this rating, the longer the boost power on that car will last before running out.
* Strength: How long a car can go before becoming completely totaled. The higher this rating, the more likely the car will be able to survive a crash or be able to make another car crash instead of them (if a car is stronger than another, the more likely the car will make the other crash upon collision). This rating also determines how many crashes a car is allowed in Road Rage or Marked Man events before an event ends when the car is in mint condition upon entering the event.
The Chinese characters 降卋(世)神通 (pinyin:Jiàngshì Shéntōng) that appear with the English logo translate to "The divine medium who has descended upon the mortal world."
Also known as Avatar: The Legend of Aang
Genre Adventure, Fantasy
Created by Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko
Written by Michael Dante DiMartino
Bryan Konietzko
John O'Bryan
Nick Malis
Matthew Hubbard
Aaron Ehasz
Elizabeth Welch Ehasz
Josh Hamilton
Ian Wilcox
Tim Hedrick
Directed by Lauren MacMullan
Anthony Lioi
Dave Filoni
Giancarlo Volpe
Ethan Spaulding
Joaquim Dos Santos
Voices of Zach Tyler Eisen
Mae Whitman
Jack DeSena
Jessie Flower
Dante Basco
Mako (Season 1-2)
Greg Baldwin (Season 3)
Dee Bradley Baker
Grey DeLisle
Olivia Hack
Cricket Leigh
Clancy Brown
Mark Hamill
Jennie Kwan
Jason Isaacs
Theme music composer The Track Team
Composer(s) The Track Team
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
Language(s) English
No. of seasons 3
No. of episodes 61 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive
producer(s) Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, Aaron Ehasz
Running time 24 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel Nickelodeon
(2005-2008)
Nicktoons Network
(2005-present)
Picture format NTSC (480i)
Original run February 21, 2005 – July 19, 2008
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary
Avatar: The Last Airbender (also known in some countries as Avatar: The Legend of Aang) is an Emmy award-winning American animated television series that aired for three seasons on the Nickelodeon television network and on Nicktoons Network. The show is set in an Asian-influenced world of martial arts and elemental manipulation; the series follows the adventures of the main protagonist Aang and his friends, who must save the world by defeating the Fire Lord and ending the destructive war with the Fire Nation. In the series' terminology, each episode is referred to as a "chapter", and each season as a "book".
The show made its debut on February 21, 2005, and the last episodes were screened on July 19, 2008; it is now available on DVD, the iTunes Store, and the Xbox Live Marketplace, as well as its home on Nickelodeon. Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko co-created the series, and serve as executive producers alongside Aaron Ehasz.
Avatar: The Last Airbender was popular with both audiences and critics, garnering 5.6 million viewers on its best-rated showing and receiving high ratings in the Nicktoons lineup, even outside its 6–11-year-old demographic. The first series' success prompted Nickelodeon to order second and third seasons. Merchandise based on the series include scaled action figures, a trading card game, three video games based on the first, second, and third seasons, stuffed animals distributed by Paramount Parks, and two LEGO sets.
Background
Avatar: The Last Airbender was co-created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko at Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank, California. According to Bryan Konietzko, the concept of the program was conceived in Spring 2001, when he took an old sketch of a balding, middle-aged man; he re-imagined the character as a child, and the show began to develop. Konietzko drew the character herding bison in the sky, and showed the sketch to Mike DiMartino. At the time, DiMartino was studying a documentary about explorers trapped in the South Pole.
Konietzko described their early development of the concept:
“ We thought, "There's an air guy along with these water people trapped in a snowy wasteland... and maybe some fire people are pressing down on them..." ”
The co-creators proceeded to successfully pitch the idea to Nickelodeon VP and executive producer Eric Coleman just two weeks later.
The show was first revealed to the public in a teaser reel at Comic-Con 2004, and aired February 21, 2005. In the United States, the first two episodes of the series were shown together in a one-hour premiere event. At the conclusion of the first season, Nickelodeon ordered a second twenty-episode season that premiered on March 17, 2006, and concluded on December 1. The series maintained its success during the second season, causing Nickelodeon to order a third and final season, which began on September 21, 2007 and featured twenty-one episodes rather than the usual twenty. The final four episodes were packaged as a two-hour movie.
Premise
A map of the four nations. The characters at the top, 群雄四分, mean "the heroes divide [the world or the country or the land] in four." The characters of the four lands are 水善 (Water Peaceful), 土強 (Earth Strong), 火烈 (Fire Fierce), and 气和 (Air Harmony). The phrase at the bottom, 天下一匡, reads "correct all things under heaven." The "correct things" phrase, with roots of the Confucian analect phrase 一匡天下, refers to reunification.[citation needed]
Avatar: The Last Airbender takes place in a fantasy world that is home to humans, fantastic animals, and supernatural spirits. Human civilization is divided into four nations: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation. Each nation has its own natural element, on which it bases its society. Within each nation exists an order called "Benders," who have the ability to manipulate the element of their nation. The show’s creators assigned each Bending art its own style of martial arts; inheriting both the advantages and weakness of the martial arts it was assigned. The Bending types are Waterbending, Earthbending, Firebending, and Airbending.
Each generation yields one person who is capable of Bending all four elements. This being is referred to as the Avatar, the spirit of the planet manifested in human form. When an Avatar dies, he is reincarnated into the next nation in the Avatar Cycle. The Avatar Cycle parallels the seasons: autumn for the Air Nomads, winter for the Water Tribe, spring for the Earth Kingdom and summer for the Fire Nation. Legend holds the Avatar must master each bending art in order, starting with his native element. This can sometimes be compromised when the situation requires it, as Aang demonstrates in the show. For the Avatar, learning to bend the element opposite his native element can be extremely difficult. This is because opposing Bending arts are based on opposing fighting styles and disciplines. Firebending and Waterbending are opposites, as are Earthbending and Airbending.
The Avatar possesses a unique power called the Avatar State. It endows the Avatar with the knowledge and abilities of all past Avatars and acts as a self-triggering defense mechanism, though by learning how to unlock one's own chakras, it can be entered into at will. If an Avatar is killed in the Avatar State, the reincarnation cycle will be broken, and the Avatar will cease to exist.
Through the ages, countless incarnations of Avatar have served to keep the four nations in harmony, and maintain world order. The Avatar serves as the bridge between the physical world and the Spirit World, allowing him or her to solve problems that normal benders cannot.
Plot summary
One hundred years before the start of the series, the Airbender Aang learned he was the new Avatar. Faced with the heavy responsibilities of stopping an impending world war, Aang fled from home on his flying bison Appa. Encountering a fierce storm, they crashed into the ocean, triggering Aang's Avatar State, which froze them in a state of suspended animation.
They are awoken by two siblings of Southern Water Tribe, Katara and Sokka. Aang learns that the Fire Nation had indeed ravaged the world with decades of war, he realizes that he must fulfill his destiny of becoming the Avatar and return balance to the world by defeating the Fire Nation. Along with Katara and Sokka, Aang sets out to master the four elements of Air, Water, Earth, and Fire (in that order); as he is already an Airbender, he heads to the North Pole to find a Waterbending master.
Aang soon discovers that Sozin's Comet, which Firelord Sozin used to spark off the war, will return in the summer, giving the Fire Nation enough power to win the war for good. Aang must therefore master all the elements and as the Avatar, end the war before then. For most of their journey to the North Pole, the group is pursued by Zuko (along with his uncle Iroh) - banished Fire Nation prince and son of Fire Lord Ozai, obsessed with capturing Aang to restore his lost honor.
Aang travels to the Earth Kingdom to master Earthbending. The team meets Toph, a blind girl who is nevertheless an Earthbending prodigy and becomes Aang's second teacher. The heroes go on to discover information about a solar eclipse, which would leave the Fire Nation powerless and open to invasion; they struggle to reach the Earth King with this vital information. Opposing them are enemies old and new: the conflicted Zuko, his sister Azula and her two friends Mai and Ty Lee. Azula engineers a coup from within that topples the Earth Kingdom and destroys any hope of a large-scale invasion of the Fire Nation.
On the day of the eclipse, Aang, Sokka, Katara, Toph and a small, determined group of allied warriors go ahead and launch a smaller invasion, which although brave ultimately fails thanks to Azula's cunning. Zuko finally learns the true side of himself and confronts his father. He later manages to gain the trust of the protagonists and becomes Aang's Firebending teacher.
Sozin's Comet arrives and Fire Lord Ozai is on the brink of total victory in the war. Now, having finally mastered all four elements, Aang and his friends face Fire Lord Ozai and defeat him, finally restoring harmony to the world.
A 300-person LAN party in Germany.
In modern computer games, the word multiplayer usually implies that the players play together by connecting multiple computers via a network, usually either a LAN or the Internet. This form of multiplayer is sometimes called "netplay" to refine the meaning. The first popular videogaming title to release a LAN version was Doom in 1993, when the first network version of the game allowed a total of four simultaneous gamers. Playing networked multiplayer games via LAN often eliminates problems common in Internet play, such as lag and anonymity of players. As a result, multiplayer games usually are the focus of LAN parties. Play-by-email games are multiplayer games that use email as the method of communication between computers. Other turn-based variations which do not require players to be online at the same time are Play-by-post gaming and Play-by-Internet. Some online games are "massively multiplayer" games, which means that a large number of players participate simultaneously. The two major genres are MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) such as World of Warcraft or EverQuest and MMORTS (massively multiplayer online real-time strategy).
Some networked multiplayer games do not even feature a single-player mode. For example, MUDs and massively multiplayer online games, such as RuneScape are multiplayer games by definition. First-person shooters have become very popular multiplayer games and games like Battlefield 1942 and Counter-Strike gained their fame despite not featuring extensive (or any) single-player plot or gameplay. The biggest MMOG in the world is Lineage out of South Korea with 14 million registered gamers which is played in several mostly Asian countries. The biggest Western MMOG in 2008 is World of Warcraft with over 10 million registered gamers worldwide. This category of games currently requires multiple machines to connect to each other over the Internet, but before the Internet became popular, MUDs were played on time-sharing computer systems, and games such as Doom were played on a LAN.
Gamers often refer to latency by the term ping, which measures round-trip network communication delays (by the use of ICMP packets). For example, a player on a DSL connection with a 50 ms "ping" will be able to react faster to game events than a modem user with 350 ms average latency. Another popular complaint is packet loss and choke, which can render a player unable to "register" their actions with the server. In first-person shooters, this problem usually manifests itself in the problem of bullets appearing to hit the enemy, but the enemy taking no damage. Note that the player's connection is not the only factor; the entire network path to the server is relevant, and some servers are slower than others. While latency is frequently complained about, many players believe a lack of finesse and decent tactics is more damaging than a slow connection in most games. Major and frequent variations in latency, however, can be another story; these can make it very difficult to properly play the game.
Starting with Sega Dreamcast in 2000, game consoles have also begun to support network gaming, over both the internet and LANs. Many mobile phones and handheld consoles also offer wireless gaming through Bluetooth or similar technologies.
A multiplayer video game is one which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time. Unlike most other games, computer and video games are often single-player activities that pit the player against preprogrammed challenges and/or AI-controlled opponents, which often lack the flexibility and ingenuity of regular human thinking. Multiplayer components allow players to enjoy interaction with other individuals, be it in the form of partnership, competition or rivalry, and provide them with a form of social communication that is almost always missing in single-player oriented games.
In a variety of different multiplayer game types, players may individually compete against two or more human contestants, work cooperatively with a human partner(s) in order to achieve a common goal, supervise activities of other players, or engage in a game type that incorporates any possible combination of the above. Examples of more well-known multiplayer gametypes include deathmatch and team deathmatch, MMORPG-associated forms of PvP and Team PvE, capture the flag, domination (competition over control of resources), co-op, and various objective-based modes, often expressed in terms of "assault/defend a control point". Multiplayer games typically require the players to share resources of a single game system or use networking technologies that allow players to play together over greater distances.
