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GameRanger
GameRanger is software for the Macintosh and Windows created by Australian developer Scott Kevill, which provides matchmaking for online games, as well as social features such as text chat rooms and voice chat. It was first released for the Macintosh in July 1999 and was given the "Best Internet Gaming Achievement" by Macworld Magazine. Windows support was added in 2008 and it currently supports over 700 titles. Overview The software and service is maintained and managed by Scott Kevill. In addition to acting as a metaserver and browser for servers, lobbies, ranking, statistics, and invitations, the service also acts as a chat platform. Gameranger evolved from Kevill's prior experience writing ''QuakeFinder'' and ''UnrealFinder'', Mac exclusive server browsers for '' Quake'' and ''Unreal'' respectively, as well as other tools such as his ''Quiver'' level editor for ''Quake''. After GameSpy Arcade went offline, GameRanger announced that it would support games supported by GameSpy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mac OS
Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc. in a succession of two major series. In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the classic Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system, rebranded Mac OS in 1997, was pre-installed on every Macintosh until 2002 and offered on Macintosh clones shortly in the 1990s. It was noted for its ease of use, and also criticized for its lack of modern technologies compared to its competitors. The current Mac operating system is macOS, originally named Mac OS X until 2012 and then OS X until 2016. It was developed between 1997 and 2001 after Apple's purchase of NeXT. It brought an entirely new architecture based on NeXTSTEP, a Unix system, that eliminated many of the technical challenges that the classic Mac OS faced, such as problems with memory management. The current macOS is pre-installed with every Mac and receives a major update annually. It is the basis of Apple's current syst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chat Room
The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from real-time online chat and online interaction with strangers (e.g., online forums) to fully immersive graphical social environments. The primary use of a chat room is to share information via text with a group of other users. Generally speaking, the ability to converse with multiple people in the same conversation differentiates chat rooms from instant messaging programs, which are more typically designed for one-to-one communication. The users in a particular chat room are generally connected via a shared internet or other similar connection, and chat rooms exist catering for a wide range of subjects. New technology has enabled the use of file sharing and webcams. History The first chat system was used by the U.S. government in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1999 Software
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA. * January 25 – The 6.2 Colombia earthquake hits western Colombia, killing at least 1,900 people. February * February 7 – Abdullah II inherits the throne of Jordan, following the death of his father King Hussein. * February 11 – Pluto moves along its eccentric orbit further from the Sun than Neptune. It had been nearer than Neptune since 1979, and will become again in 2231. * February 12 – U.S. President Bill Clinton is acquitted in impeachment proceedings in the United States Senate. * February 16 ** In Uzbekistan, an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov takes place at government headquarters. ** Across Europe, Kurdish protestors take over embassies and hold hostages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LogMeIn Hamachi
LogMeIn Hamachi is a virtual private network (VPN) application developed and released in 2004 by Alex Pankratov. It is capable of establishing direct links between computers that are behind network address translation (NAT) firewalls without requiring reconfiguration (when the user's PC can be accessed directly without relays from the Internet/WAN side). Like other layer 2 VPNs, it establishes a connection over the Internet that emulates the connection that would exist if the computers were connected over a local area network (LAN). Hamachi became a LogMeIn product after the acquisition of Applied Networking Inc. in 2006. It is currently available as a production version for Microsoft Windows and macOS, as a beta version for Linux, and as a system-VPN-based client compatible with Android and iOS. Operational summary Hamachi is a proprietary centrally-managed VPN system, consisting of the server cluster managed by the vendor of the system and the client software, which is instal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GameSpy
GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1999 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for Quake, 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Level (video Games)
In Video game, video games, a level (also referred to as a map, mission, stage, course, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively increasing difficulty to appeal to players with different skill levels. Each level may present new concepts and challenges to keep a player's interest high to play for a long time. In games with linear progression, levels are areas of a larger world, such as Green Hill Zone. Games may also feature interconnected levels, representing locations. Although the challenge in a game is often to defeat some sort of character, levels are sometimes designed with a movement challenge, such as a jumping puzzle, a form of obstacle course. Players must judge the distance between platforms or ledges and safely jump between them to reach the next area. These puzzles can slow the momentum down for players of fast action games; the first ''Half-Life ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unreal (1998 Video Game)
''Unreal'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by Epic MegaGames and Digital Extremes and published by GT Interactive for Microsoft Windows in May 1998. It was powered by Unreal Engine, an original game engine. The game reached sales of 1.5 million units by 2002. Since the release of ''Unreal'', the franchise has had one sequel and two different series based on the '' Unreal'' universe. One official bonus pack, the Epic-released Fusion Map Pack, can be downloaded free of charge. ''Unreal Mission Pack I: Return to Na Pali'', developed by Legend Entertainment, was released in June 1999, and added 17 new missions to the single-player campaign of ''Unreal''. ''Unreal'' and ''Return to Na Pali'' would later be bundled together as ''Unreal Gold''. Additionally, the games were updated to run on the '' Unreal Tournament'' version of the game engine. ''Unreal'' became free to download in November 2024. Plot The player takes on the role of Prisoner 849, aboard the prison sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quake (video Game)
''Quake'' is a 1996 first-person shooter game developed by id Software and published by GT Interactive. The first game in the ''Quake'' series, it was originally released for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows, followed by Mac OS, Linux and Sega Saturn in 1997 and Nintendo 64 in 1998. The game's plot is centered around teleportation experiments, dubbed slipgates, which have resulted in an unforeseen invasion of Earth by a hostile force codenamed Quake, which commands a vast army of monsters. The player takes the role of a soldier (later dubbed Ranger), whose mission is to travel through the slipgates in order to find and destroy the source of the invasion. The game is split between futuristic military bases and medieval, gothic environments, featuring both science fiction and fantasy weaponry and enemies as the player battles possessed soldiers and demonic beasts such as ogres or armor-clad knights. ''Quake'' heavily takes inspiration from gothic fiction and in particular the wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metaserver
{{unreferenced, date=July 2017 A MetaServer is a central broker providing a collated view (similar to a database view) for dispersed web resources. It is used to collect data from various web services, web pages, databases, or other online resources/repositories and then present the combined results to the client using a standard web protocol (e.g. HTTP with HTML, REST, SOAP, XML-RPC XML-RPC is a remote procedure call (RPC) protocol which uses XML to encode its calls and HTTP as a transport mechanism.Simon St. Laurent, Joe Johnston, Edd Dumbill. (June 2001) ''Programming Web Services with XML-RPC.'' O'Reilly. First Edition. ..., etc.). Styles of use The purpose of such a system is to provide one or several of the following: * a unified view on multiple resources * easy comparison of the data * standardized access to different repositories * calibration of the data * determining the data consensus Example MetaServer projects Typical, widespread implementations of MetaServers a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macworld
''Macworld'' is a digital magazine and website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG. History ''Macworld'' was founded by David Bunnell and Cheryl Woodard (publishers) and Andrew Fluegelman (editor). It began as a print magazine in 1984, with its first issue distributed at the launch of the Macintosh computer. As a print magazine, it had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macintosh-focused magazines in North America, more than double its nearest competitor, '' MacLife''. In 1997, the Ziff-Davis-owned '' MacUser'' magazine was consolidated into ''Macworld'' within the new Mac Publishing joint venture between IDG and Ziff-Davis. In 1999, the combined company also purchased the online publication MacCentral Online, because ''Macworld'' did not have a powerful online news component at the time. In late 2001 IDG bought out Ziff-Davis' share of Mac Publishing, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voice Chat
Voice chat is telecommunication via voice over IP (VoIP) technologies—especially when those technologies are used as intercoms among players in multiplayer online games. The VoIP functionality can be built into some games, be a system-wide communication system, or a third-party chat software. History Voice chat in video games began in the sixth generation with the Sega Dreamcast (circa 1999). Some games, including Seaman and Alien Front Online included built in voice chat functionality, though it required an active subscription to the Dreamcast's online service, SegaNet. In 2001, Sony released the Network adapter for their PlayStation 2 video game console, which allowed voice chatting with a headset. In 2002, Microsoft launched the Xbox Live service, including support for voice chat. Later, Microsoft required all Xbox Live console game developers to integrate voice chat capability into their games and bundled a microphone and headset with the Xbox Live retail unit. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
