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GameSpy Arcade
GameSpy Arcade was a shareware multiplayer game server browsing utility. GameSpy Arcade allowed players to view and connect to available multiplayer games, and chat with other users of the service. It was initially released by GameSpy Industries, on November 13, 2000, to replace the aging GameSpy3D and Mplayer.com program. Version 2.0.5 was the latest offering of the software, boasting additional features such as increased speed and advanced server sorting abilities. History Discussing GameSpy Arcade's history, Ian Birnbaum of ''PC Gamer US'' wrote, "GameSpy began in 1996 as a fan-hosted server for the original '' Quake''. By the early 2000s, GameSpy was ''the'' online multiplayer platform, adding dozens of games every year." The service closed in May 2014. Features GameSpy Arcade included various other features which enhance its overall functionality: *Ability for users to have their own profiles. *Scanning a user's hard disk for Arcade compatible games. *A basic web browser. * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GameSpy Industries
GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameSpy brand to other video game publishers through a newly established company, GameSpy Industries, which also incorporated his Planet Network of video game news and information websites, and GameSpy.com. GameSpy merged with IGN in 2004; by 2014, its services had been used by over 800 video game publishers and developers since its launch. In August 2012, the GameSpy Industries division (which remained responsible for the GameSpy service) was acquired by mobile video game developer Glu Mobile. IGN (then owned by News Corporation) retained ownership of the GameSpy.com website. In February 2013, IGN's new owner, Ziff Davis, shut down IGN's "secondary" sites, including GameSpy's network. This was followed by the announcement in April 2014 that G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unreal Tournament
''Unreal Tournament'' is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. The second installment in the ''Unreal'' series, it was first published by GT Interactive in 1999 for Microsoft Windows, and later released on the PlayStation 2 and Dreamcast by Infogrames in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Players compete in a series of matches of various types, with the general aim of out-killing opponents. The PC and Dreamcast versions support multiplayer online or over a local area network. Free expansion packs were released, some of which were bundled with a 2000 re-release: ''Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition''. Powered by the Unreal Engine, ''Unreal Tournament'' received universal acclaim, often being considered one of the greatest video games ever made, with reviewers praising the graphics, level design, and gameplay, though the console ports were noted for having limitations. The design of the game shifted the series' focus to competit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Game Server Browsers
In multiplayer video games, matchmaking is the process of connecting players together for online play sessions. Playlists Playlists are automatically managed streams of online play sessions that players can join and leave at will. A set of predefined rules is used to determine the configuration of each session without the need for human input. Games will normally offer a choice of themed playlists (e.g. teams or solo, quirky rulesets, etc.) to suit different tastes or moods. Since playlists are handled by servers controlled by the game's developer, it is possible for them to be changed over time. When a player selects a playlist, they join a pool of other people who have made the same choice. The playlist server then either connects them to an existing session or creates a new one. Parties Parties are groups of players who are treated as a single entity by matchmaking systems. A party can skip from session to session without its players becoming separated from each other. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The All-Seeing Eye
The All-Seeing Eye, known to its community of users as ASE, was a game server browser designed by Finnish company UDP Soft. It helped online gamers find game servers. ASE took two years to develop and was introduced as shareware on June 15, 2001. Despite UDP Soft lacking the marketing power of GameSpy, ASE's popularity grew swiftly and steadily. It was sold to Yahoo! for an undisclosed sum in September 2004. Yahoo! All-Seeing Eye The purchase by Yahoo! was a defensive move against acquisition activity by CNet and others, and a desire on Yahoo!'s part to tap into the hard-core gaming market. At the time of the acquisition, All-Seeing Eye had over 12M downloads, and was actively used by more than a million gamers per month. While some mistakenly assumed the acquisition was in some way a move against ''Xfire'', the reality is that Ultimate Arena had only rebranded themselves as XFire a couple of months prior to the ASE acquisition, and announced an impending launch of their pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HLSW
Half-Life Server Watch (HLSW) is a game server browser and administration tool written by Timo Stripf. HLSW was originally designed with a focus on administrating and joining ''Half-Life'' servers (pre-Steam) thus the name, Half-Life Server Watch. However, over the years, HLSW has added support for other games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ... and modifications. HLSW abbreviation The HLSW definition, Half-Life Server Watch, is no longer felt relevant by the developers of HLSW due to Half-Life no longer being the primary focus, as many games are now supported. Related projects PocketHLSW PocketHLSW was developed initially as a side project by Andrew Collins but was later adopted by HLSW but still fully maintained by its original author. PocketHLSW is a Goo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Backgammon
Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Persia. The earliest record of backgammon itself dates to 17th-century England, being descended from the 16th-century Irish (game), game of Irish.Forgeng, Johnson and Cram (2003), p. 269. Backgammon is a two-player game of contrary movement in which each player has fifteen piece (tables game), pieces, known traditionally as 'men' (short for 'tablemen') but increasingly known as 'checkers' in the US in recent decades. These pieces move along twenty-four 'point (tables game), points' according to the roll of two dice. The objective of the game is to move the fifteen pieces around the board and be first to ''bear off'', i.e., remove them from the board. The achievement of this while the opponent is still a long way behind results in a triple wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to distinguish it from related games, such as xiangqi (Chinese chess) and shogi (Japanese chess). The recorded history of chess goes back at least to the emergence of a similar game, chaturanga, in seventh-century India. The rules of chess as we know them today emerged in Europe at the end of the 15th century, with standardization and universal acceptance by the end of the 19th century. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide. Chess is an abstract strategy game that involves no hidden information and no use of dice or cards. It is played on a chessboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. At the start, each player controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Checkers
Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers is developed from alquerque. The term "checkers" derives from the checkered board which the game is played on, whereas "draughts" derives from the verb "to draw" or "to move". The most popular forms of checkers in Anglophone countries are American checkers (also called English draughts), which is played on an 8×8 checkerboard; Russian draughts, Turkish draughts both on an 8x8 board, and International draughts, played on a 10×10 board – the latter is widely played in many countries worldwide. There are many other variants played on 8×8 boards. Canadian checkers and Singaporean/Malaysian checkers (also locally known as ''dum'') are played on a 12×12 board. American checkers was weakly solved in 2007 by a team of Canadian computer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reversi
Reversi is a strategy board game for two players, played on an 8×8 uncheckered board. It was invented in 1883. Othello, a variant with a fixed initial setup of the board, was patented in 1971. Basics There are sixty-four identical game pieces called ''disks'', which are light on one side and dark on the other. Players take turns placing disks on the board with their assigned color facing up. During a play, any disks of the opponent's color that are in a straight line and bounded by the disk just placed and another disk of the current player's color are turned over to the current player's color. The objective of the game is to have the majority of disks turned to display one's color when the last playable empty square is filled. History Original version Englishmen Lewis Waterman and John W. Mollett both claim to have invented the game of Reversi in 1883, each denouncing the other as a fraud. The game gained considerable popularity in England at the end of the 19th century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rogue Spear
''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear'' is a 1999 tactical first-person shooter video game developed and published by Red Storm Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, with later ports for the Dreamcast, Mac OS, PlayStation, and Game Boy Advance. It is the second installment in the ''Rainbow Six'' series and was the last to be published by Red Storm before its acquisition by Ubi Soft in 2000. The game's plot follows the secret international counterterrorist organization Rainbow, as they investigate the emerging threat of nuclear terrorism. ''Rogue Spear'' is based on a similar game engine, and features gameplay and presentation similar to, the original ''Rainbow Six''. ''Rogue Spear'' focuses on realism, planning, strategy and teamwork. ''Rogue Spear'' was released on August 31, 1999 to generally positive reviews from critics. A PlayStation 2 port was announced, but it was later canceled. ''Rogue Spear'''s engine was later used for the 2003 South Korea-only spinoff '' Tom Clancy' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quake III Arena
''Quake III Arena'' is a 1999 multiplayer-focused first-person shooter developed by id Software. The third installment of the ''Quake'' series, ''Arena'' differs from previous games by excluding a story-based single-player mode and focusing primarily on multiplayer gameplay. The single-player mode is played against computer-controlled bots. It features music composed by Sonic Mayhem and Front Line Assembly founder Bill Leeb. Notable features of ''Quake III Arena'' include the minimalist design, lacking rarely used items and features; the extensive customizability of player settings such as field of view, texture detail and enemy model; and advanced movement features such as strafe-jumping and rocket-jumping. The game was praised by reviewers who, for the most part, described the gameplay as fun and engaging. Many liked the crisp graphics and focus on multiplayer. ''Quake III Arena'' has also been used extensively in professional electronic sports tournaments such as QuakeCon, Cyb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
