HOME
*





Brian Reynolds (game Designer)
Brian Reynolds (born 1967) is an American videogame designer who is currently president of Firaxis Games. Reynolds has designed at SecretNewCo, Zynga, Big Huge Games and MicroProse and has been chairman of the International Game Developers Association. He has played a major part in designing a number of multi-million selling games including ''Civilization II'', ''Rise of Nations'', '' Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri'', and ''FrontierVille''. He has also founded or co-founded three game companies, SecretNewCo, Big Huge Games, and Firaxis Games. Early life Reynolds made his first game sale with Quest 1 to '' SoftSide'' magazine, its August 1981 cover feature. He was a gamer in high school, and a SysOp on Randolph School's (Huntsville, Alabama) PDP-11 mainframe computer. A 1990 graduate of the University of the South, Reynolds briefly pursued graduate studies in Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. Career Reynolds initiated his game career with MicroProse where he wor ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Electronic Entertainment Expo
E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publishers, hardware, and accessory manufacturers use to introduce and advertise upcoming games and game-related merchandise to retailers and to members of the press. E3 includes an exhibition floor for developers, publishers, and manufacturers to showcase their titles and products for sale in the upcoming year. Before and during the event, publishers and hardware manufacturers usually hold press conferences to announce new games and products. Over time, E3 has been considered the largest gaming-expo of the year by importance and impact. Before 2017, E3 was an industry-only event; the ESA required individuals wishing to attend to verify a professional relationship with the video game industry. With the rise of streaming media, several of the press ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

PDP-11
The PDP-11 is a series of 16-bit minicomputers sold by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) from 1970 into the 1990s, one of a set of products in the Programmed Data Processor (PDP) series. In total, around 600,000 PDP-11s of all models were sold, making it one of DEC's most successful product lines. The PDP-11 is considered by some experts to be the most popular minicomputer. The PDP-11 included a number of innovative features in its instruction set and additional general-purpose registers that made it much easier to program than earlier models in the PDP series. Further, the innovative Unibus system allowed external devices to be easily interfaced to the system using direct memory access, opening the system to a wide variety of peripherals. The PDP-11 replaced the PDP-8 in many real-time computing applications, although both product lines lived in parallel for more than 10 years. The ease of programming of the PDP-11 made it very popular for general-purpose computing uses a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

1994 In Video Gaming
1994 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as ''Super Metroid'', ''Donkey Kong Country'', ''Final Fantasy VI'', '' Sonic 3 & Knuckles'', ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo'' and ''Virtua Fighter 2'' and ''Doom II'', along with new titles such as ''Daytona USA'', ''Ace Driver'', ''Alpine Racer'' and ''Tekken''. The year's video game console was the Game Boy, while the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis remained the home console. The year's highest-grossing arcade video games were ''Super Street Fighter II X'' (''Super Street Fighter II Turbo'') and ''Virtua Fighter'' in Japan, and ''Daytona USA'' and ''Mortal Kombat II'' in the United States, while the year's best-selling home video game worldwide was ''Donkey Kong Country''. Events *Nintendo proclaims "1994: The Year of the Cartridge". *Nintendo Australia Pty. Ltd, the Australian subsidiary of Nintendo Co., Ltd is established and opened by Hiroshi Yamauchi and effectively ends Mattel Australia's distribution of Nintendo's prod ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Colonization (computer Game)
''Sid Meier's Colonization'' is a video game by Brian Reynolds and Sid Meier released by MicroProse in 1994. It is a turn-based strategy game themed on the early European colonization of the New World, starting in 1492 and lasting until 1850. It was originally released for DOS, and later ported to Windows 3.1 (1995), the Amiga (1995), and Macintosh (1995). American video game publisher Tommo purchased the rights to this game in 2015 and digitally published it through their Retroism brand. ''Colonization'' is much like a more-developed version of Sid Meier's previous game ''Civilization'' (1991) in visual design and handling, but the two have marked differences in gameplay. Instead of forging a nation from nothing, the player manages the cross-Atlantic expansion of an established one in the service of the Crown. As the colonies become more self-sufficient, their relationship with the colonial power declines from being beneficial to harmful, and to win the player must ultim ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Sid Meier
Sidney K. Meier ( ; born February 24, 1954) is a Canadian-American programmer, game designer, designer, and video game producer, producer of several strategy video games and simulation video games, including the ''Civilization (series), Civilization'' series. Meier co-founded MicroProse in 1982 with Bill Stealey and is the Director of Creative Development of Firaxis Games, which he co-founded with Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds (game designer), Brian Reynolds in 1996. For his contributions to the video game industry, Meier was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. Early life and education Meier was born in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, to parents of Dutch and Swiss descent, giving him both Canadian and Swiss citizenship. A few years later, the family moved to Michigan, US, where Meier was raised. He studied history and computer science, graduating with a degree in computer science from the University of Michigan in 1975. Career Following college, M ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


1993 In Video Gaming
1993 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as '' Dragon Ball Z: Super Butōden'', ''Mortal Kombat II'', ''Secret of Mana'', and ''Super Street Fighter II'', along with new titles such as '' Disney's Aladdin'', ''Doom'', '' FIFA International Soccer'', ''Gunstar Heroes'', ''NBA Jam'', ''Ridge Racer'', ''Samurai Shodown'', ''Star Fox'' and ''Virtua Fighter''. The year's highest-grossing video game worldwide was Capcom's arcade fighting game '' Street Fighter II'' for the third year in a row, while again being the year's highest-grossing entertainment product. The year's best-selling home system worldwide was the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis video game console. Top-rated games Game of the Year awards The following titles won Game of the Year awards for 1993. ''Famitsu'' Platinum Hall of Fame The following video game releases in 1993 entered ''Famitsu'' magazine's "Platinum Hall of Fame" for receiving Famitsu scores of at least 35 out of 40. Financial performance ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Dragonsphere
''Dragonsphere'' is a point-and-click graphic adventure game developed and published by MicroProse in 1994. It has graphics which were considered high-quality at the time it was published, considered a novelty. It is still a cult classic for many. The game was the third, and last, graphical adventure game developed by MicroProse, following '' Rex Nebular'' and ''Return of the Phantom''. It was designed by Douglas Kaufman and developed using the MicroProse Adventure Development system with 256-color graphics. Plot The story, taking place in a fantasy world, revolves around a magical sphere where the evil sorcerer, Sanwe, was trapped by the late King of Gran Callahach 20 years ago and he is about to break free. The newly crowned king, Callash, goes on a quest to stop the wizard before he regains his powers. However, when he faces Sanwe, he discovers that he is not the real king but a shapechanger named Pid Shuffle. It is revealed that the Queen Mother concocted the scheme to get r ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Return Of The Phantom
''Return of the Phantom'' is a Point-and-click adventure game, point-and-click graphic adventure game developed and published by MicroProse in 1993. It was produced by Matt Gruson and designed/written by future James Bond novelist Raymond Benson. It is based on the 1910 novel ''The Phantom of the Opera'' by Gaston Leroux. The game was the second graphical adventure game developed by MicroProse, following ''Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender, Rex Nebular'' and preceding ''Dragonsphere''. It was developed using the ''MicroProse Adventure Development'' system, and made use of 8-bit color, 256-colour Computer graphics, graphics. A CD version featuring full voices for the characters was also released. Plot The Palais Garnier is in the midst of the world premiere of ''Don Juan Triumphant'' when the enormous chandelier adorning the domed ceiling of the auditorium plunges into the middle of the stalls and kills several members of the audience. The player takes the role of Raoul Mont ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


1992 In Video Gaming
1992 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as ''Dragon Quest V'', ''Final Fantasy V'', ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2'', '' Street Fighter II: Champion Edition'', '' Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins'', and ''Super Mario Kart'', along with new titles such as ''Art of Fighting'', ''Lethal Enforcers'', ''Mortal Kombat'' and ''Virtua Racing''. The year's highest-grossing video game worldwide was Capcom's arcade fighting game ''Street Fighter II'' for the second year in a row, while also being the year's highest-grossing entertainment product. The year's best-selling home system was the Game Boy for the third year in a row, while the year's best-selling home video games were ''Sonic the Hedgehog 2'' for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and the Super NES port of ''Street Fighter II'', which were both also the year's highest-grossing home entertainment products. Top-rated games Game of the Year awards The following titles won Game of the Year awards for 1992. ''Famitsu'' Platinum ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Rex Nebular And The Cosmic Gender Bender
''Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender'' is a point-and-click graphic adventure game developed and published by MicroProse in November of 1992. The game is the first graphical adventure game developed by MicroProse, '' Return of the Phantom'' and '' Dragonsphere'' being the other ones. It was developed using the ''MicroProse Adventure Development'' system, and made use of 256-colour graphics. Tommo purchased the rights to this game and digitally publishes it through its Retroism brand in 2015. Plot The bumbling bachelor, Rex Nebular, has been hired by Colonel Stone to retrieve a vase that holds some sentimental value for 75,000 galactars. Rex agrees and sets out for the last known location of the vase. Rex discovers that the planet where the vase was last known to reside has vanished, but his ship's sensors still detect a planetary mass and gravitational field, invisible to the naked eye. Suddenly a large warship decloaks behind him, and fires. His ship is badly damaged and ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Adventure Game
An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media, literature and film, encompassing a wide variety of literary genres. Many adventure games ( text and graphic) are designed for a single player, since this emphasis on story and character makes multiplayer design difficult. ''Colossal Cave Adventure'' is identified as the first such adventure game, first released in 1976, while other notable adventure game series include '' Zork'', '' King's Quest'', '' Monkey Island'', and '' Myst''. Initial adventure games developed in the 1970s and early 1980s were text-based, using text parsers to translate the player's input into commands. As personal computers became more powerful with better graphics, the graphic adventure-game format became popular, initially by augmenting player's text c ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

University Of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant university and the founding campus of the University of California system. Its fourteen colleges and schools offer over 350 degree programs and enroll some 31,800 undergraduate and 13,200 graduate students. Berkeley ranks among the world's top universities. A founding member of the Association of American Universities, Berkeley hosts many leading research institutes dedicated to science, engineering, and mathematics. The university founded and maintains close relationships with three national laboratories at Berkeley, Livermore and Los Alamos, and has played a prominent role in many scientific advances, from the Manhattan Project and the discovery of 16 chemical elements to breakthroughs in computer science and genomics. Berkeley is ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]