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Oddballz
''Oddballz: Your Wacky Computer Petz'' is a virtual pet game developed by PF Magic, as part of the Petz series, released in 1996. It follows, and uses many of the systems as, PF Magic's previous Catz and Dogz, ''Catz'' and ''Dogz''. Gameplay ''Oddballz'' follows much of format of Catz and Dogz, ''Catz'' and ''Dogz'', with the player being able to adopt a selection of pets, and to play or punish them affecting their mood. However, unlike its predecessors it focuses on Legendary creature, fantasy and Chimera (mythology), Chimeric animals—such as a "cross between a walrus and a rabbit" or "half duck, half bear". Also unlike those games, ''Oddballz'' includes more than the starting 6 animals, allowing the user to unlock and collect them. New "toys"—items used to interact the your petz—include ray guns, magnets and fire extinguishers. Cretures could also be further "Mutants in fiction, mutated" and traded online with other players, further enhancing the collectability aspect. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PF Magic
PF.Magic, Inc. was a video game developer founded in 1991 and located in San Francisco, California, United States. Though it developed other types of video games, it was best known for its virtual pet games, such as '' Dogz'' and '' Catz''. The company was able to make extra revenue by selling plush toys under the Petz trademark. It was bought out in 1998 by Mindscape, Inc. After changing hands a few more times, Ubisoft now owns the copyright on its '' Petz'', '' Oddballz'' and '' Babyz'' titles. One of PF.Magic's earliest efforts was the 1994 video game '' Ballz'', published by Accolade. The innovative game featured main characters composed completely of spheres. This early game failed in the marketplace, though it would inspire many of their following games, such as ''Petz''. PF.Magic's designer and programmer, Andrew Stern, created an experimental project with Michael Mateas and others for five years. The project became ''Façade'', a freeware game in which the player interact ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petz
''Petz'' is a series of single-player video games dating back to 1995, in which the player can adopt, raise, care for and breed their own virtual pets. Developed by PF.Magic, original ''Petz'' ( ''Dogz'' and ''Catz'') has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. The series has grown to over 22 million copies as of 2011 since coming under Ubisoft. Development The original ''Petz'' games — '' Dogz: Your Computer Pet'' and '' Catz: Your Computer Pet''—were developed by PF.Magic, released in 1995 and 1996 respectively. They reused the graphics engine used '' Ballz''. Rob Fulop conceived of ''Dogz'', following the controversy surrounding his previous title '' Night Trap'', which resulted in him wanting to make a game that was "so cute and so adorable that no could ever, ever say it was bad for kids". He claims to have consulted a shopping mall Santa Claus about what children wanted, and was informed that puppies were the most popular request every year. Following the succes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catz And Dogz
''Dogz: Your Computer Pet'' and ''Catz: Your Computer Petz'' are a pair of virtual pet simulation software developed by PF.Magic, and released in 1995 and 1996 respectively. Developed for Windows and Mac OS, they were the first games in the ''Petz'' series, and were followed by Oddballz. Gameplay Upon starting the program the user is prompted to "adopt" one of 5 animals. In ''Dogz'' you get a choice between a bull dog, terrier, scotty, setter or chihuahua, whereas ''Catz'' presents the player with 5 differently-colored cats based on cat stereotypes (such as a 'scaredy cat', a serious hunter, or a snooty Siamese-like cat). Before choosing one you get a chance to play with each to get a feel for its personality. after that you can name and even paint your selected individual. From there the user interacts with the animals on the desktop. Depending on how the animals are interacted with they will change their mood and over time their personality. Actions include calling your ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Babyz
''Babyz: Your Virtual Bundle of Joy'' is a computer game in which one can play with and take care of a group of babies who live in a virtual house on the computer. The game was released in 1999 by The Learning Company and developed by PF.Magic. Gameplay Players can teach their Babyz how to talk, how to play with objects, and how to walk. Babyz can form relationships with other babyz that can result in sibling rivalries or friendships. At release, there were 15 babyz the players could adopt and care for, as well as various toys that babyz could interact with. There are different rooms to explore and numerous clothing items. ''Babyz'' reused some of the Petz toyz and had a similar home setting for its play scenes. Development PF Magic, built ''Babyz'' on the existing engine used for the ''Catz'' and ''Dogz'' games, using many of the systems of those games. The voice recognition in the game was provided by IBM's ViaVoice. Reception Nnedi Okorafor felt that while the game its sel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Guns
A raygun is a science-fiction directed-energy weapon usually with destructive effect.Jeff Prucher, '' Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction,'' Oxford University Press, 2007, page 162 They have various names: ray gun, death ray, beam gun, blaster, laser gun, laser pistol, phaser, zap gun, etc. In most stories a raygun emits a ray usually lethal if it hits a human target, often destructive if it hits mechanical objects, with properties and other effects unspecified or varying. Real-world analogues are directed-energy weapons or electrolasers: electroshock weapons which send current along an electrically conductive laser-induced plasma channel. History A very early example of a raygun is the Heat-Ray featured in H. G. Wells' novel ''The War of the Worlds'' (1898).Van Riper, op. cit., p. 46. Science fiction during the 1920s described death rays. Early science fiction often described or depicted raygun beams making bright light and loud noise like lightning ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
God Games
A god game is an life simulation game, artificial life game that casts the player in the position of controlling the game on a large scale, as an entity with Divinity, divine and supernatural powers, as a great leader, or with no specified character (as in ''Spore (2008 video game), Spore''), and places them in charge of a game setting containing autonomous characters to guard and influence. Definition God games are a subgenre of artificial life game, where players use supernatural powers to indirectly influence a population of simulated worshippers. It has also been categorized as a subgenre of strategy video games, though unlike other strategy video games, players are unable to tell specific units what to do. The genre is also separate from construction and management simulations, because gameplay revolves around growing and utilizing their supernatural powers to indirectly influence their worshippers, such as by placing a target marker or goal for the worshippers to conquer, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1996 Video Games
1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa, killing around 300 people. * January 9– 20 – Serious fighting breaks out between Russian soldiers and rebel fighters in Chechnya. * January 11 – Ryutaro Hashimoto, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, becomes Prime Minister of Japan. * January 13 – Italy's Prime Minister, Lamberto Dini, resigns after the failure of all-party talks to confirm him. New talks are initiated by President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro to form a new government. * January 14 – Jorge Sampaio is elected President of Portugal. * January 16 – President of Sierra Leone Valentine Strasser is deposed by the chief of defence, Julius Maada Bio. Bio promises to restore power following elections scheduled for February. * January 19 ** ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Wright (journalist)
Robert Wright (born January 15, 1957) is an American author and journalist known for his wide-ranging interests in philosophy, society, science (especially evolutionary psychology), history, politics, international relations, and religion. He has published five books: ''Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information'' (1988), '' The Moral Animal'' (1994), '' Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny'' (1999), '' The Evolution of God'' (2009), and '' Why Buddhism is True'' (2017). Wright has taught at Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania; more recently, in 2019 he was Visiting Professor of Science and Religion at Union Theological Seminary, New York. In addition to teaching, lecturing, books, and journalism, Wright has been an innovator in the development of content on the Internet. He is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Bloggingheads.tv, the founder and editor-in-chief of Meaningoflife.tv, the founder and chief correspondent of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AllGame
RhythmOne , a subsidiary of Nexxen, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went public on the Alternative Investment Market, AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in 2007, and began trading as RhythmOne in 2017. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and London, England. RhythmOne acquired All Media Network and its portfolio of web properties in April 2015. In April 2019, RhythmOne merged with Taptica, Taptica International (renamed Tremor International in June 2019), an advertising technology company headquartered in Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. History Blinkx was named after blinkx.com, an Internet Media platform which connects online video viewers with publishers and distributors, using advertising to monetize those interactions. Blinkx has an index of over 35 million hours of video and 800 media partnerships, as well as 111 patents related to the sit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Philadelphia Inquirer
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating daily newspaper in the United States. The newspaper has the largest circulation of any newspaper in both Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region, which includes Philadelphia and its surrounding communities in southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, northern Delaware, and the northern Eastern Shore of Maryland. As of 2020, the newspaper has the 17th-largest circulation of any newspaper in the United States As of 2020, ''The Inquirer'' has won 20 Pulitzer Prizes. Several decades after its 1829 founding, ''The Inquirer'' began emerging as one of the nation's major newspapers during the American Civil War. Its circulation dropped after the Civil War's conclusion, but it rose again by the end of the 19th century. Originally sup ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archive
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the history and function of that person or organization. Professional archivists and historians generally understand archives to be records that have been naturally and necessarily generated as a product of regular legal, commercial, administrative, or social activities. They have been metaphorically defined as "the secretions of an organism", and are distinguished from documents that have been consciously written or created to communicate a particular message to posterity. In general, archives consist of records that have been selected for permanent or long-term preservation on the grounds of their enduring cultural, historical, or evidentiary value. Archival records are normally unpublished and a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
