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Downloadable Content
Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain additional revenue from a title after it has been purchased, often using some type of microtransaction system. DLC can range from cosmetic content, such as skins, to new in-game content such as characters, levels, modes, and larger expansions that may contain a mix of such content as a continuation of the base game. In some games, multiple DLC (including future DLC not yet released) may be bundled as part of a " season pass"—typically at a discount in comparison to purchasing each DLC individually. While the Dreamcast was the first home console to support DLC (albeit in a limited form due to hardware and internet connection limitations), Microsoft's Xbox console and Xbox Live platform helped to popularize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Initialism
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as in ''Benelux'' (short for ''Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg''). They can also be a mixture, as in ''radar'' (''Radio Detection And Ranging''). Acronyms can be pronounced as words, like ''NASA'' and ''UNESCO''; as individual letters, like ''FBI'', '' TNT'', and ''ATM''; or as both letters and words, like '' JPEG'' (pronounced ') and ''IUPAC''. Some are not universally pronounced one way or the other and it depends on the speaker's preference or the context in which it is being used, such as '' SQL'' (either "sequel" or "ess-cue-el"). The broader sense of ''acronym''—the meaning of which includes terms pronounced as letters—is sometimes criticized, but it is the term's original meaning and is in common use. Dictionary and s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steam (service)
Steam is a video game digital distribution service and storefront by Valve. It was launched as a software client in September 2003 as a way for Valve to provide automatic updates for their games, and expanded to distributing and offering third-party game publishers' titles in late 2005. Steam offers various features, like digital rights management (DRM), game server matchmaking, anti-cheat measures, social networking and game streaming services. It provides the user with automatic game updating, saved game cloud synchronization, and community features such as friends messaging, in-game chat and a community market. Valve released a freely available application programming interface (API) called Steamworks in 2008, which developers can use to integrate Steam's functions into their products, including in-game achievements, microtransactions, and user-created content support. Initially developed for Microsoft Windows operating systems, Steam was released for macOS in 2010 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halo 2
''Halo 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox console. ''Halo 2'' is the second installment in the ''Halo'' franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed '' Halo: Combat Evolved''. The game features new weapons, enemies, and vehicles, and shipped with online multiplayer via Microsoft's Xbox Live service. In ''Halo 2''s story mode, the player assumes the roles of the human Master Chief and alien Arbiter in a 26th-century conflict between the United Nations Space Command, the genocidal Covenant, and the parasitic Flood. After the success of ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', a sequel was expected and highly anticipated. Bungie found inspiration in plot points and gameplay elements that had been left out of their first game, including online multiplayer. A troubled development and time constraints forced cuts to the scope of the game, including the wholesale removal of a more ambitious multiplayer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Splinter Cell
''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' is a series of stealth action-adventure video games, the first of which was released in 2002, and their tie-in novels that were endorsed by Tom Clancy. The series follows Sam Fisher, a highly trained agent of a fictional black-ops sub-division within the NSA, dubbed "Third Echelon", as he overcomes his adversaries. Levels are created using Unreal Engine and emphasize light and darkness as gameplay elements. The series has been positively received, and was once considered to be one of Ubisoft's flagship franchises, selling more than 31 million copies by 2011. No further installments have been released since 2013, though a VR version and a remake of the first game have since been announced. Games ''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' (2002) ''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' was developed over a period of two years and developed by Ubisoft Montreal with original publishing by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox as an exclusive title. Later in 2003, Ubiso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 30 November 2000. It is the successor to the original PlayStation (console), PlayStation, as well as the second installment in the PlayStation brand of consoles. As a sixth generation of video game consoles, sixth-generation console, it competed with Nintendo's GameCube, and Microsoft's Xbox (console), Xbox. It is the List of best-selling game consoles, best-selling video game console of all time, having sold over 155 million units worldwide. Announced in 1999, Sony began developing the console after the immense success of its predecessor. The PS2 offered Backward compatibility, backward-compatibility for its predecessor's DualShock#DualShock, DualShock controller, as well as its games. The PlayStation 2 received widespread critical accla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off (or spinoff) is a radio program, television program, film, video game or any narrative work, derived from already existing works that focus on more details and different aspects from the original work (e.g. particular topics, characters or events). One of the earliest spin-offs of the modern media era, if not the first, happened in 1941 when the supporting character Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve from the old time radio comedy show '' Fibber McGee and Molly'' became the star of his own program '' The Great Gildersleeve'' (1941–1957). In genre fiction, the term parallels its usage in television; it is usually meant to indicate a substantial ''change in narrative viewpoint and activity'' from that (previous) storyline based on the activities of the series' principal protagonist and so is a shift to that action and overall narrative thread of some other protagonist, which now becomes the central or main thread (storyline) of the new sub-series. The ''new pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Half-Life (video Game)
''Half-Life'' is a 1998 first-person shooter (FPS) game developed by Valve and published by Sierra Studios for Windows. It was Valve's debut product and the first game in the ''Half-Life'' series. Players assume the role of Gordon Freeman, a scientist who must escape the Black Mesa Research Facility after it is invaded by aliens. The gameplay consists of combat, exploration, and puzzle-solving. Unlike other games of the time, the player has almost uninterrupted control of the player character, and the story is told mostly in scripted sequences rather than cutscenes. Valve co-founder Gabe Newell said that the team was disappointed with the lack of innovation in the FPS genre, and aimed to create an immersive world rather than a "shooting gallery". Valve developed using GoldSrc, a heavily modified version of the ''Quake'' engine, licensed from id Software. The science fiction novelist Marc Laidlaw was hired to shape the story and assist with design. ''Half-Life'' rece ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Expansion Pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game or collectible card game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, characters, or an extended storyline to an already-released game. While board game expansions are typically designed by the original creator, video game developers sometimes contract out development of the expansion pack to a third-party company, it may choose to develop the expansion itself, or it may do both. Board games and tabletop RPGs may have been marketing expansions since the 1970s, and video games have been releasing expansion packs since the 1980s, early examples being the '' Dragon Slayer'' games '' Xanadu Scenario II'' and '' Sorcerian''. Other terms for the concept are module and, in certain games' marketing, adventure. Characteristics The price of an expansion pack is usually much less than that of the original game. As expansion packs c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cable Television
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadcast television (also known as terrestrial television), in which the television signal is transmitted over-the-air by radio waves and received by a television antenna attached to the television; or satellite television, in which the television signal is transmitted over-the-air by radio waves from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth, and received by a satellite dish antenna on the roof. FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephone services, and similar non-television services may also be provided through these cables. Analog television was standard in the 20th century, but since the 2000s, cable systems have been upgraded to digital cable operation. A "cable channel" (sometimes known as a "cable network") is a telev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sega Genesis
The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan as the Mega Drive, and in 1989 in North America as the Genesis. In 1990, it was distributed as the Mega Drive by Virgin Mastertronic in Europe, Ozisoft in Australasia, and Tec Toy in Brazil. In South Korea, it was distributed by Samsung as the Super Gam*Boy and later the Super Aladdin Boy. Designed by an Research and development, R&D team supervised by Hideki Sato and Masami Ishikawa, the Genesis was adapted from Sega's Sega System 16, System 16 arcade board, centered on a Motorola 68000 processor as the central processing unit, CPU, a Zilog Z80 as a sound controller, and a video system supporting hardware Sprite (computer graphics), sprites, Tile-based video game, tiles, and scrolling. It plays a List ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sega Channel
The Sega Channel is a discontinued online game service developed by Sega for the Sega Genesis video game console, serving as a content delivery system. Launched on December 14, 1994, the Sega Channel was provided to the public by TCI and Time Warner Cable through cable television services by way of coaxial cable. It was a pay to play service, through which customers could access Genesis games online, play game demos, and get cheat codes. Lasting until July 31, 1998, the Sega Channel operated three years after the release of Sega's next generation console, the Sega Saturn. Though criticized for its poorly timed launch and high subscription fee, the Sega Channel has been praised for its innovations in downloadable content and impact on online game services. History file:Sega-Genesis-Mk2-6button.jpg, left, A Model 2 Sega Genesis, released in 1993 Released in Japan as the Mega Drive in 1988, North America in 1989, and Europe and other regions as the Mega Drive in 1990, the Sega ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GameLine
GameLine was a dialup game distribution service for the Atari 2600, developed and operated by Control Video Corporation (CVC). Subscribers could install the proprietary modem and storage cartridge in their home game console, accessing the GameLine service to download games over a telephone line. GameLine had an exclusive selection of games, and its pioneering business model eventually gave rise to America Online. Despite being ahead of its time, it wasn't very popular, possibly due to its price of $60 for the hardware, $15 for the membership fee, and $1 per game, which you could only keep for a week. In 1983, cable pioneer William von Meister was looking for a way to use his modem transmission technology, which was previously acquired in ill-fated attempts of sending music to cable companies. Legal issues caused cable providers to step away from the service, leaving Von Meister with a delivery tool and no content. He then converted his variable speed adaptive modem technology ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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