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Weighted Companion Cube
The Weighted Companion Cube (also simply called the Companion Cube) is a fictional item featured in the ''Portal'' series of video games by Valve Corporation. Initially featured in a single level of the original ''Portal,'' Test Chamber 17, as one of Aperture Science's ubiquitous Weighted Storage Cubes with heart symbols printed on the outside, it is given to the game's main character, Chell, as part of the antagonist GLaDOS's sinister testing initiative. After carrying it through the entire level and ostensibly anthropomorphizing and "bonding" with the Cube, the malevolent AI forces her to unceremoniously dispose of it in an incinerator device. Companion Cubes later re-appear in the game's sequel with a slightly different design. The original Companion Cube is shown to have survived the events of both ''Portal'' and ''Portal 2'', appearing as part of an ending gag. While GLaDOS has suggested the Companion Cube may be sentient, it is unclear whether this was solely to psychologi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valve Corporation
Valve Corporation is an American video game developer, video game publisher, publisher, and digital distribution company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It is the developer of the software distribution platform Steam (service), Steam and the franchises ''Half-Life (series), Half-Life'', ''Counter-Strike'', ''Portal (series), Portal'', ''Day of Defeat'', ''Team Fortress'', ''Left 4 Dead (series), Left 4 Dead'' and ''Dota''. Valve was founded in 1996 by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. Their debut game, the first-person shooter (FPS) ''Half-Life (video game), Half-Life'' (1998), was a critical and commercial success; with its realism, scripted sequences and seamless narrative, it had a lasting influence on the FPS genre. Harrington left in 2000. In 2003, Valve launched Steam, followed by ''Half-Life 2'' in 2004. With advanced Physics engine, physics systems and an increased focus on story and characters, ''Half-Life 2'' received critical acclaim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Easter Egg (media)
File:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg, 250px, An image that reveals an Easter egg when the hedgehog is clicked or tapped. Another Easter egg can be found in a tooltip when a mouse pointer is hovered over the hedgehog. rect 455 383 550 434 I am a hedgehog, NOT an egg! desc none An Easter egg is a message, image, or feature hidden in software, a video game, a film, or another, usually electronic, medium. The term used in this manner was coined around 1979 by Steve Wright, the then-Director of Software Development in the Atari Consumer Division, to describe a hidden message in the Atari video game ''Adventure'', in reference to an Easter egg hunt. The earliest known video game Easter egg is in '' Moonlander'' (1973), in which the player tries to land a Lunar module on the moon; if the player opts to fly the module horizontally through several of the game's screens, they encounter a McDonald's restaurant, and if they land next to it the astronaut will ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graffiti
Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed Graffito (archaeology), since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire. Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City Subway nomenclature, New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Platonic Love
Platonic love (often lowercased as platonic love) is a type of love in which sexual desire or romantic features are nonexistent or has been suppressed or sublimated, but it means more than simple friendship. The term is derived from the name of Greek philosopher Plato, though the philosopher never used the term himself. Platonic love, as devised by Plato, concerns rising through levels of closeness to wisdom and true beauty, from carnal attraction to individual bodies to attraction to souls, and eventually, union with the truth. Platonic love is contrasted with romantic love. Classical philosophical interpretation Platonic love is examined in Plato's dialogue, the ''Symposium'', which has as its topic the subject of love, or more generally the subject of Eros. It explains the possibilities of how the feeling of love began and how it has evolved, both sexually and non-sexually, and defines genuine platonic love as inspiring a person's mind and soul and directing their att ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Video Game Exploit
In video games, an exploit is the use of a bug or glitch, or use of elements of a game system in a manner not intended by the game's designers, in a way that gives a substantial unfair advantage to players using it. However, whether particular acts constitute an exploit can be controversial, typically involving the argument that the issues are part of the game, and no changes or external programs are needed to take advantage of them. Controversy Exploiting is considered cheating by some in the gaming community and gaming industry, due to the unfair advantage usually gained by the exploiter. Whether an exploit is considered a cheat is a matter of widespread debate that varies between genres, games, and other factors. Most software developers of online games prohibit exploiting in their terms of service and often issue sanctions against players found to be exploiting. There is some contention by exploiters that exploiting should not be considered cheating as it is merely taking ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Culture Jamming
Culture jamming (sometimes also guerrilla communication) is a form of protest used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert media culture and its mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. It attempts to "expose the methods of domination" of mass society. Culture jamming employs techniques originally associated with Letterist International, and later Situationist International known as '' détournement.'' It uses the language and rhetoric of mainstream culture to subversively critique the social institutions that produce that culture. Tactics include editing company logos to critique the respective companies, products, or concepts they represent, or wearing fashion statements that criticize the current fashion trends by deliberately clashing with them.Boden, Sharon and Williams, Simon J. (2002) "Consumption and Emotion: The Romantic Ethic Revisited", Sociology 36(3):493–512 Culture jamming often entails using mass media to pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hacktivism
In Internet activism, hacktivism, or hactivism (a portmanteau of ''hack'' and ''activism''), is the use of computer-based techniques such as hacking as a form of civil disobedience to promote a political agenda or social change. With roots in hacker culture and hacker ethics, its ends are often related to free speech, human rights, or freedom of information movements. Hacktivist activities span many political ideals and issues. Freenet, a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication, is a prime example of translating political thought and freedom of speech into code. Hacking as a form of activism can be carried out through a network of activists, such as Anonymous and WikiLeaks, or through a singular activist, working in collaboration toward common goals without an overarching authority figure. "Hacktivism" is a controversial term with several meanings. The word was coined to characterize electronic direct action as working toward social change by combining pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pain In Animals
Pain negatively affects the health and welfare of animals. "Pain" is defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage." Only the animal experiencing the pain can know the pain's quality and intensity, and the degree of suffering. It is harder, if even possible, for an observer to know whether an emotional experience has occurred, especially if the sufferer cannot communicate. Therefore, this concept is often excluded in definitions of pain in animals, such as that provided by Zimmerman: "an aversive sensory experience caused by actual or potential injury that elicits protective motor and vegetative reactions, results in learned avoidance and may modify species-specific behaviour, including social behaviour." Nonhuman animals cannot report their feelings to language-using humans in the same manner as human communication, but obs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Animal Testing
Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and ''in vivo'' testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This approach can be contrasted with field studies in which animals are observed in their natural environments or habitats. Experimental research with animals is usually conducted in universities, medical schools, pharmaceutical companies, defense establishments, and commercial facilities that provide animal-testing services to the industry. The focus of animal testing varies on a continuum from pure research, focusing on developing fundamental knowledge of an organism, to applied research, which may focus on answering some questions of great practical importance, such as finding a cure for a disease. Examples of applied research include testing disease treatments, breeding, defense research, and toxicology, including cosmetics testing. In edu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Experimental Science
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a particular factor is manipulated. Experiments vary greatly in goal and scale but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results. There also exist natural experimental studies. A child may carry out basic experiments to understand how things fall to the ground, while teams of scientists may take years of systematic investigation to advance their understanding of a phenomenon. Experiments and other types of hands-on activities are very important to student learning in the science classroom. Experiments can raise test scores and help a student become more engaged and interested in the material they are learning, especially when used over time. Experiments can vary from personal and informal natural comparisons (e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apex Legends
''Apex Legends'' is a free-to-play Battle royale game, battle royale-hero shooter game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in February 2019, for Nintendo Switch in March 2021, and for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in March 2022. A mobile version of the game designed for touchscreens titled ''Apex Legends Mobile'' was released in May 2022 on Android (operating system), Android and iOS. The game supports cross-platform play, excluding the aforementioned mobile platforms. Before the match, players form into two- or three-player squads, and select from Player character, pre-designed characters with distinctive abilities, known as "Legends". The game has two gameplay modes. In "Battle Royale", up to 20 three-person squads or 30 two-person duos land on an island and search for weapons and supplies before attempting to defeat all other players in combat. The available play area on the island s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dota 2
''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.'' ''Dota 2'' is played in matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players independently controls a powerful character known as a "hero" that all have unique abilities and differing styles of play. During a match players collect experience points and items for their heroes to successfully defeat the opposing team's heroes in player versus player combat. A team wins by being the first to destroy the other team's "Ancient", a large structure located within their base. Development of ''Dota 2'' began in 2009 when IceFrog, lead designer of ''Defense of the Ancients'', was hired by Valve to create a modernized remake for them in the Source game engine. It was re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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