Knights Contract
''Knights Contract'' is a 2011 action video game developed by Game Republic and published by Namco Bandai Games for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The story, set in a fantasy version of Medieval Germany, follows the witch Gretchen and former executioner Heinrich as they seek to stop the schemes of the alchemist Dr Faust, who has revived Gretchen's sisters as vengeful monsters in pursuit of their power. Gameplay has Heinrich exploring linear levels and fighting monsters, with Gretchen as a computer-controlled companion and spellcaster. Production began in 2008, with Game Republic pitching it to Namco Bandai during a period of financial trouble in the hope of creating a franchise. The team drew inspiration from the legend of Faust and European witch folklore. The staff included writer Tadashi Satomi and composer Kosuke Yamashita. Upon release, the game saw mixed to negative reviews; while praise was given to its premise and art design, its gameplay and Gretchen's artificial intellige ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Game Republic
was an independent video game developer based in Tokyo, Japan. The company, which employed just under 300 individuals before its closure, was founded on July 1, 2003 by Yoshiki Okamoto after he departed from Japanese game developer and publisher Capcom. He began working at rival game developer and publisher Konami in the 1980s, and was responsible for such arcade games as '' Gyruss'' and '' Time Pilot''. He then moved to Capcom, where he worked on many franchises, such as ''1942'', '' Resident Evil'' and especially ''Street Fighter II''. While Game Republic was a completely independent developer able to produce titles for any publisher and/or platform they desire, during the company's early years it had enjoyed a close relationship with Sony, with many of their early titles funded by and produced in conjunction with the publisher. In June 2011 reports surfaced of Game Republic shutting down its website and vacating its offices. Many of the former Game Republic developers ha ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brash Entertainment
Brash Entertainment LLC. was an American video game publisher focused on licensed games. The company was co-founded in 2007 by Thomas Tull, Bert Ellis, President and COO Nicholas Longano, and CEO and Chairman Mitch Davis. Of the first three games produced (''Alvin and the Chipmunks'', ''Jumper: Griffin's Story'' and ''Space Chimps'') Alvin was the only one to sell moderately well at 360,000 copies. Despite this all three lost money and the stigma of low quality products made some developers wary of doing business with them. The company also announced a series of games built around the '' Saw'' film franchise. On November 6, 2008, Variety reported that Brash was short on money and was in talks of returning the movie rights back to its holders. During this time Brash was forced to stop paying some of its developers as well as modify the release schedule of the next year to only two titles (Saw and Six Flags: Fun Park) On November 14, 2008 the company went out of business. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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VG247
''VG247'' is a video game blog published in the United Kingdom, founded in February 2008 by industry veteran Patrick Garratt. In 2009, CNET ranked it as the third best gaming blog in the world. History Founded in collaboration on 1 February 2008 between games journalist Patrick Garratt and Eurogamer Network, ''VG247'' was set up to be a news-only blog, the first of its kind in the UK to have a specialist games blog found among the likes of American sites ''Kotaku'' and ''Joystiq''. At launch, ''VG247'' did not review video games and focused instead on news, interviews, and previews. Garratt was the only staff member at the time of launch, although grew in time with the addition of contributors Mike Bowden and Nathan Grayson. In early 2009, the site relaunched itself, rebranding from ''videogaming247.com'' to ''VG247''; at the same time the site changed its primary url to ''www.vg247.com'', and launched a new site design, with improved features, and staff. The site added addi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joystiq
''Joystiq'' was a video gaming blog founded in June 2004 as part of the Weblogs, Inc. family of weblogs, now owned by AOL. It was AOL's primary video game blog, with sister blogs dealing with MMORPG gaming in general and the popular MMORPG '' World of Warcraft'' in particular. After declining readership, it was announced that ''Joystiq'' would be shut down on February 3, 2015, as part of moves to downsize AOL's operations by shuttering its "underperforming" properties. History Predecessors As of early 2004, Weblogs, Inc. was seeking to add a blog to its repertoire for the sole purpose of covering news related to video games, as evidenced by the now-defunct ''The Video Games Weblog'', founded February 27, 2004. On March 12, Weblogs, Inc. CEO Jason Calacanis announced two spinoff projects: ''The Unofficial Playstation 3 Weblog'' and ''The Unofficial Xbox 2'', both of which are now similarly retired, though they would set a precedent for the launching of Joystiq's Fanboy blogs ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Famitsu
formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the form of special topical issues devoted to only one console, video game company, or other theme. the original ''Famitsu'' publication, is considered the most widely read and respected video game news magazine in Japan. From October 28, 2011, the company began releasing the digital version of the magazine exclusively on BookWalker weekly. The name ''Famitsu'' is a portmanteau abbreviation of the word "Famicom" itself comes from a portmanteau abbreviation of "Family Computer" (the Japanese name for the Nintendo Entertainment System)—the dominant video game console in Japan during the 1980s. History , a computer game magazine, started in 1982 as an extra issue of ''ASCII'', and later it became a periodic magazine. was a column in '' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nobunaga's Ambition
is a series of turn-based grand strategy role-playing simulation video games. The original game was one of the first in its genre, being released in March 1983 by the Japanese video game developer Koei. ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' takes place during the Sengoku period of feudal Japan. The player is tasked with achieving the ultimate goal of warlord Oda Nobunaga: the conquest and unification of Japan. Selecting Oda Nobunaga is optional, however, as the player is also able to choose from a variety of other regional ''daimyōs'' of the time. Games in the franchise have been released for the Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ..., Game Boy, Sega Genesis, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, 3DO, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo, PlayStat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Digital Devil Saga
''Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga'' is a duology of role-playing video games developed by Atlus for the PlayStation 2. They are a spin-off of the ''Megami Tensei'' series. The first ''Digital Devil Saga'' was released in Japan in 2004, North America in 2005, and Europe in 2006. Its direct sequel, ''Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2'', released in 2005 in Japan and North America, and 2007 in Europe. The games were published in Europe by Ghostlight and in other regions by Atlus and its North American subsidiary Atlus USA. ''Digital Devil Saga'' follows the Embryon, a tribe who fights against five other tribes in a digital world called the Junkyard. After being infected with a demon virus that grants them demonic powers, the Embryon must fight with and devour the other tribes to ascend to "Nirvana". During the conflict, they shelter a woman named Sera, who has the power to calm their demonic powers. In ''Digital Devil Saga 2'', having escaped into the devastated real ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paracelsus
Paracelsus (; ; 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance. He was a pioneer in several aspects of the " medical revolution" of the Renaissance, emphasizing the value of observation in combination with received wisdom. He is credited as the "father of toxicology". Paracelsus also had a substantial influence as a prophet or diviner, his "Prognostications" being studied by Rosicrucians in the 1600s. Paracelsianism is the early modern medical movement inspired by the study of his works. Biography Paracelsus was born in Egg an der Sihl, a village close to the Etzel Pass in Einsiedeln, Schwyz. He was born in a house right next to a bridge across the Sihl river (known as ''Teufelsbrücke''). The historical house, dated to the 14th century, was destroyed in 1814. The ''Restaurant Krone'' now stands ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Witch Trials In The Early Modern Period
Witch trials in the early modern period saw that between 1400 to 1782, around 40,000 to 60,000 were killed due to suspicion that they were practicing witchcraft. Some sources estimate that a total of 100,000 trials occurred at its maximum for a similar period. Groundwork on the concept of witchcraft (a person's collaboration with the devil through the use of magic) was developed by Christian theologians as early as the 13th century. However, prosecutions for the practice of witchcraft would only reach a highpoint from 1560 to 1630 during the Counter-Reformation and the European wars of religion, with some regions burning those who were convicted at the stake, of whom roughly 80% were women,, mostly over the age of 40. Medieval background Christian doctrine Throughout the medieval era, mainstream Christian doctrine had denied the belief in the existence of witches and witchcraft, condemning it as a pagan superstition. Some have argued that the work of the Dominican Thomas A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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GameFan
''GameFan'' (originally known as ''Diehard GameFan'') was a publication started by Tim Lindquist, Greg Off, George Weising. and Dave Halverson in September 1992 that provided coverage of domestic and import video games. It was notable for its extensive use of game screenshots in page design because of the lack of good screen shots in other U.S. publications at the time. The original magazine ceased publishing in December 2000. In April 2010, Halverson relaunched ''GameFan'' as a hybrid video game/film magazine. However, this relaunch was short-lived and suffered from many internal conflicts, advertising revenue being the main one. History The idea for the name ''GameFan'' came from the Japanese Sega magazine called ''Megafan''. Although it began as an advertising supplement to sell imported video games mostly from Japan, the small text reviews and descriptions soon took on a life all their own, primarily due to the lack of refinement and sense of passion. Caricatures were given ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dave Halverson
Dave Halverson is an American video game journalist who has been the founder, publisher, and editor-in-chief of ''GameFan'' (where he wrote reviews as E. Storm, Skid and Takahara), ''Gamers' Republic'', ''Play'', and currently the new versions of ''GameFan''. Halverson is regarded as a well-known but a controversial and polarizing figure in video game journalism regarding his personality, actions and statements, such as his aggressive criticism of the poor reception of '' Golden Axe: Beast Rider '' by many other outlets, and also initially giving the Xbox 360 version of ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' (2006) a 9.5, which is regarded as one of the worst video games of all-time. He also reviewed anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ... releases, including for ''Gamers' Republ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Software Release Life Cycle
A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help improve the software or fix software bugs still present in the software. There are several models for such a life cycle. A common method is that suggested by Microsoft, which divides software development into five phases: Pre-alpha, Alpha, Beta, Release candidate, and Stable. Pre-alpha refers to all activities performed during the software project before formal testing. The alpha phase generally begins when the software is feature complete but likely to contain several known or unknown bugs. The beta phase generally begins when the software is deemed feature complete, yet likely to contain several known or unknown bugs. Software in the production phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software, as well as speed/performa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |