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Skylanders
''Skylanders'' is a toys-to-life action-adventure video game franchise published by Activision. ''Skylanders'' games are played by placing a character's figure on the "Portal of Power", a device that reads its tag using NFC and "imports" them into the game as a playable character, leveling them up and saving its progress on the figure to potentially be used on a different game or video game console with all its saved stats. Skylander figures are generally sold separately from the game itself, unless as part of a starter pack. Typically, the starter pack for each game contains two or more Skylanders, a Portal of Power, the game disc and sometimes something else to show off the game's newest feature. Plot The games take place in the Skylands, a realm of floating islands located at the center of the universe that is often threatened by evil forces who seek to rule it and gain access to all worlds. For generations, a band of heroes known as the Skylanders have worked with the P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spyro's Adventure
''Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure'' is a 2011 toys-to-life action role-playing game and the first video game in the ''Skylanders'' series. It is played using with toy figures that interact with it through a "Portal of Power" that reads their tag through NFC. It was released in October 2011 for North America, Europe, and Australia for Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 and PC/Windows. Activision announced that as of June 3, 2012, the game had been the top-selling console and handheld video game worldwide for 2012. As of March 31, 2012, Activision has sold over 30 million ''Skylanders'' toys, and sales were expected to exceed $500 million by the end of the year. A direct sequel, '' Skylanders: Giants'', was released in 2012 for the Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Wii U. Version differences The game was originally developed by Toys for Bob for the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 which feature some notable differences, including: * Many motion-contro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toys For Bob
Toys for Bob, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Novato, California. It was founded in 1989 by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford (programmer), Fred Ford and is best known for creating ''Star Control'' and the ''Skylanders'' franchise, as well as for working on the ''Crash Bandicoot'' and ''Spyro'' franchises. The studio began as a partnership between Reiche and Ford. The two had separately attended the University of California, Berkeley in the late 1970s before entering the video game industry in the early 1980s. They later met through mutual friends in 1988, when Reiche was seeking a programmer to develop ''Star Control'' for Accolade, Inc., Accolade. This led to the creation of their partnership in 1989 and the debut of ''Star Control'' in 1990. The release was considered a landmark science fiction game and led to the 1992 sequel ''Star Control II'', which greatly expanded the series' story and scale. ''Star Control II'' is celebrated as one of the List of video gam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vicarious Visions
Blizzard Albany (formerly Vicarious Visions, Inc.) is an American video game development division of Blizzard Entertainment based in Albany, New York. Founded in 1991, the company was acquired by Activision in January 2005. In January 2021, Vicarious Visions became part of Activision's sister company Blizzard Entertainment and was merged into it in April 2022. History The studio was founded by brothers Karthik and Guha Bala in 1991 while they were in high school. In the late 1990s, Vicarious Visions appointed Michael Marvin, an Albany-based investor and entrepreneur, and founder and former CEO of MapInfo Corporation; and Charles S. Jones, investor, who sat on the boards of various software and industrial companies including Geac and PSDI, to its board of directors. Under their leadership, a sale of the company was negotiated to Activision, earning the original investors over 20x their initial investment. In January 2005, Vicarious Visions was acquired by publisher Activision. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toys-to-life
Toys-to-life is a video game feature using physical figurines or action figures to interact within the game. There are several technologies used to make physical figurines appear in game such as image recognition, quick response (QR) codes, Bluetooth and near field communication (NFC). Depending on the technology, the game can determine the individual figurine's proximity, and save a player's progress data to a storage medium located within that piece. It was one of the most lucrative branches of the video game industry especially during the late 1990s and 2010s, with the '' Skylanders'' franchise alone selling more than $3 billion worth over the course of four years. Although modern versions use NFC technology, an early example of such a game is ''Redbeard's Pirate Quest: Interactive Toy'' created by ''Zowie'' in 1999. This PC game came with a plastic pirate ship that connects to the printer port, and players can interact with the game by placing the separate pirate figurines ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lorne Balfe
Lorne Balfe (born 23 February 1976) is a Scottish composer of film, television and video game scores. A veteran of Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions, Balfe's scoring credits include the films '' Megamind'', ''Penguins of Madagascar'', ''Home'', ''Terminator Genisys'', '' 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi'', '' The Lego Batman Movie'', '' Mission: Impossible – Fallout'' and its sequel '' Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One'', '' Bad Boys for Life'' and its sequel '' Bad Boys: Ride or Die'', '' Black Widow'', '' Black Adam'', '' Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves'', '' Gran Turismo'', and '' Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F'', as well as the video games '' Assassin's Creed: Revelations'', '' Assassin's Creed III'', ''Crysis 2'', '' Skylanders'', and '' Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2''. He has also scored the television series '' The Bible'', '' Marcella'', ''The Crown'', and ''Genius'', the latter for which he earned a nomination for a Primetime Emmy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beenox
Beenox Inc. is a Canadian video game developer established in 2000 in Quebec City. The studio became a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision on May 25, 2005. History Between 2003 and 2007, the developer was essentially a porting house. They completed approximately 30 projects for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems. In 2007, they returned to original game development with the console versions of ''Bee Movie Game'', inspired by the Bee Movie, feature film from DreamWorks Animation. As part of Activision's Electronic Entertainment Expo, E3 2007 media blitz, it was announced that Beenox was the developer behind the Windows version of Activision's Spider-Man game ''Spider-Man: Friend or Foe'', which was released in October 2007. They released the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii and Windows versions of ''Monsters vs. Aliens (video game), Monsters vs. Aliens'' and the console versions of ''Guitar Hero Smash Hits''. Beenox later developed the Spider-Man ga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wii U
The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The Wii U is the first Nintendo console to support HD graphics. The system's primary controller is the Wii U GamePad, which features an embedded touchscreen, a D-pad, analog sticks, and action buttons. The screen can be used either as a supplement to the main display or in supported games to play the game directly on the GamePad. The Wii U is backward compatible with Wii software and accessories. Games can support any combination of the GamePad, Wii U Pro Controller, Wii Remote, Nunchuk, Balance Board, or Classic Controller. Online functionality centered around the Nintendo Network platform and Miiverse, an integrated social networking service which allowed users to share content in game-specific communities. Critical response to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one of the largest third-party video game publishers in the world and was the top United States publisher in 2016. The company was founded as Activision, Inc. on October 1, 1979, in Sunnyvale, California, by former Atari, Inc., Atari game developers upset at their treatment by Atari in order to develop their own games for the popular Atari 2600 home video game console. Activision was the first independent, third-party, console video game developer. The video game crash of 1983, in part created by too many new companies trying to follow in Activision's footsteps without the experience of Activision's founders, hurt Activision's position in console games and forced the company to diversify into games for home computers, including the acquisition ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
N-Space
n-Space Inc. was an American video game developer founded in 1994 by Erick S. Dyke, Dan O'Leary, and Sean Purcell. It developed games on nearly a dozen different platforms, but was mostly focused on Nintendo consoles and handhelds in particular since 2001. The game ''Geist'' was a second-party project, developed in cooperation with Nintendo. In March 2016, it was announced that n-Space had closed down for unknown reasons. History n-Space founders Erick S. Dyke and Sean Purcell met while working at General Electric Aerospace (now part of Lockheed Martin) to create advanced military simulators. In 1991, GE Aerospace began to explore the possibility of using its 3D technology for commercial applications. This led to a series of contracts with Sega for the development of the Model 1 and Model 2 arcade boards. Dyke, O’Leary, and Purcell spent two months working with Sega in Japan to complete the development of one of the first Model 2 arcade titles, ''Desert Tank''. The trio work ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nintendo Switch
The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the Wii U and competed with Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One; it also competes with the Ninth generation of video game consoles, ninth generation consoles, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox Series X/S. The Switch is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for home video game console, home console use or used as a handheld game console, portable device, making it a Video game console#Hybrid video game consoles, hybrid console. Its wireless Joy-Con controllers function as two halves of a standard controller and alternatively as individual controllers, featuring buttons, directional analog sticks for user input, motion sensing, and tactile ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Floating Cities And Islands In Fiction
In science fiction and fantasy, floating cities and islands are a common trope, ranging from cities and islands that float on water to ones that float in the atmosphere of a planet by purported scientific technologies or by magical means. While very large floating structures have been constructed or proposed in real life, aerial cities and islands remain in the realm of fiction. Seaborne cities and islands Seaborne floating islands have been found in literature since Homer's ''Odyssey'', written near the end of the 8th century BCE, described the island of Aeolia. They reappear in Pliny the Elder's ''Natural History'' of the 1st century CE. Richard Head's 1673 novel '' The Floating Island'' describes a fictional island named Scotia Moria. In '' The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle'', the characters sail to a floating island, which later becomes fixed in place. In the DC comics story of Wonder Woman, Themyscira is a group of floating islands. In Jules Verne's '' Propeller Island'', t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
