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Skin Gambling
In video games, skin gambling (also known as skin betting) is the use of virtual goods, often cosmetic in-game items such as " skins", as virtual currency to bet on the outcome of professional matches or on other games of chance. It is commonly associated with the community surrounding ''Counter-Strike 2'' (the successor to '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive''), but the practice exists in other games such as Electronic Arts's FIFA. Valve, the developer of the ''Counter-Strike'' series, also runs the Steam marketplace which can be interfaced by third-parties to enable trading, buying, and selling of skins from players' Steam inventories for real-world or digital currency. Valve condemns the gambling practices as it violates the platform's terms of service. Valve added random skin rewards as part of an update to ''Global Offensive'' in 2013, believing that players would use these to trade with other players and bolster both the player community and its Steam marketplace. A nu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valve Corporation
Valve Corporation, also known as Valve Software, is an American video game developer, video game publisher, publisher, and digital distribution company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It is the developer of the software distribution platform Steam (service), Steam and the game franchises ''Half-Life (series), Half-Life'', ''Counter-Strike'', ''Portal (series), Portal'', ''Day of Defeat'', ''Team Fortress 2, Team Fortress'', ''Left 4 Dead (series), Left 4 Dead'' and ''Dota''. Valve was founded in 1996 by the former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. Their debut game, the first-person shooter (FPS) ''Half-Life (video game), Half-Life'' (1998), was a critical and commercial success and had a lasting influence on the FPS genre. Harrington left in 2000. In 2003, Valve launched Steam, followed by ''Half-Life 2'' (2004), the Episodic video game, episodic sequels ''Half-Life 2: Episode One'' (2006) and ''Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Episode Two'' (2007), the mult ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Video Games
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual feedback from a display device, most commonly shown in a video format on a television set, computer monitor, flat-panel display or touchscreen on handheld devices, or a virtual reality headset. Most modern video games are audiovisual, with Sound, audio complement delivered through loudspeaker, speakers or headphones, and sometimes also with other types of sensory feedback (e.g., haptic technology that provides Touch, tactile sensations). Some video games also allow microphone and webcam inputs for voice chat in online gaming, in-game chatting and video game livestreaming, livestreaming. Video games are typically categorized according to their hardware platform, which traditionally includes arcade video games, console games, and PC game, comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Team Fortress 2
''Team Fortress 2'' (''TF2'') is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation in 2007. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' Mod (video gaming), mod for ''Quake (video game), Quake'' and its 1999 remake, ''Team Fortress Classic''. It was released in October 2007 as part of ''The Orange Box'' for Microsoft Windows and the Xbox 360, and was ported to the PlayStation 3 in December 2007. It was released as a standalone game for Windows in April 2008, and updated to support macOS in June 2010 and Linux in February 2013. It was made free-to-play in June 2011, and is distributed online through Valve's digital retailer, Steam (service), Steam. Players join one of two teams—RED and BLU—and choose one of nine character classes to play as in game modes such as capture the flag and King of the Hill (game), king of the hill. Its development was led by John Cook and Robin Walker (game designer), Robin Walker, the d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microtransaction
Microtransaction (mtx) refers to a business model where users can purchase in-game virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransactions are a staple of the mobile app market, they are also seen on PC software such as Valve's Steam digital distribution platform, as well as console gaming. Free-to-play games that include a microtransaction model are sometimes referred to as "freemium". Another term, " pay-to-win", is sometimes used pejoratively to refer to games where purchasing items in-game can give a player an advantage over other players, particularly if the items cannot be obtained through free means. The objective with a free-to-play microtransaction model is to involve more players in the game by providing desirable items or features that players can purchase if they lack the skill or available time to earn these through regular game play. Also, presumably the game de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loot Box
In video game terminology, a loot box (also called a loot crate or prize crate) is a consumable virtual item which can be redeemed to receive a randomised selection of further virtual items, or Loot (video gaming), ''loot'', ranging from simple customisation options for a player's Avatar (computing), avatar or character to game-changing equipment such as weapons and armour. A loot box is typically a form of Video game monetization, monetization, with players either buying the boxes directly or receiving the boxes during play and later buying "keys" with which to redeem them. These systems may also be known as ''gacha'' (based on , i.e. capsule toys), which is popular in Japan, and may be integrated into gacha game, ''gacha'' games. Loot box concepts originated from loot systems in massively multiplayer online role-playing games, and from the monetisation of free-to-play mobile gaming. They first appeared in 2004 through 2007, and have appeared in many free-to-play games and in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vice News
Vice News (stylized as VICE News) is Vice Media's alternative current affairs channel, producing daily documentary essays and video through its website and YouTube channel. It promotes itself on its coverage of "under-reported stories". Vice News was created in December 2013 and is based in New York City, though it has bureaus worldwide. The channel originally launched to mixed reception in 2013. In the following decade, Vice News won a number of awards for its reporting, including four Peabody Awards and the inaugural Pulitzer Prize for Audio Reporting. In May 2023, Vice Media filed for bankruptcy and Vice News fired most of its employees. The YouTube Channel of Vice News was taken over by Vice co-founder Shane Smith and began uploading podcast held by Smith, featuring right-leaning guests. History Before Vice News was founded, ''Vice'' published news documentaries and news reports from around the world through its YouTube channel alongside other programs. ''Vice'' had r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Dollars
The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish dollar, Spanish silver dollar, divided it into 100 cent (currency), cents, and authorized the Mint (facility), minting of coins denominated in dollars and cents. U.S. banknotes are issued in the form of Federal Reserve Notes, popularly called greenbacks due to their predominantly green color. The U.S. dollar was originally defined under a bimetallism, bimetallic standard of (0.7734375 troy ounces) fine silver or, from Coinage Act of 1834, 1834, fine gold, or $20.67 per troy ounce. The Gold Standard Act of 1900 linked the dollar solely to gold. From 1934, its equivalence to gold was revised to $35 per troy ounce. In 1971 all links to gold were repealed. The U.S. dollar became an important intern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabe Newell
Gabe Logan Newell (born November 3, 1962), also known by his nickname Gaben, is an American video game developer and businessman. He is the president and co-founder of the video game company Valve Corporation. Newell was born in Colorado and grew up in Davis, California. He attended Harvard University in the early 1980s but dropped out to join Microsoft, where he helped create the first versions of the Windows operating system. In 1996, he and Mike Harrington left Microsoft to found Valve and fund the development of their first game, ''Half-Life'' (1998). Harrington sold his stake in Valve to Newell and left in 2000. Newell led the development of Valve's digital distribution service, Steam, which launched in 2003 and controlled most of the market for downloaded PC games by 2011. As of 2021, Newell owned at least one quarter of Valve. He has been estimated as one of the wealthiest people in the United States and the wealthiest person in the video games industry, with a net wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polygon (website)
''Polygon'' is an American entertainment website created by Vox Media covering video games, movies, television, and other popular culture. At its October 2012 launch as Vox Media's third property, ''Polygon'' sought to distinguish itself by focusing on the stories of the people behind video games and long-form magazine-style feature articles. The site was built over the course of ten months by eight co-founding editors which included the editors-in-chief of the gaming sites '' Joystiq'', '' Kotaku'' and '' The Escapist''. Vox Media produced a documentary series on the founding of the site. In May 2025, ''Polygon'' was sold to Valnet. History Vox Media (2012–2025) The gaming blog ''Polygon'' was launched on October 24, 2012, as Vox Media's third property. The site grew from technology blog ''The Verge'', which was launched a year earlier as an outgrowth of sports blog network ''SB Nation'' before Vox Media was formed. Vox Media's chief executive officer, Jim Bankoff, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paintball
Paintball is a competitive sport, competitive team sport, team shooting sport in which players eliminate opponents from play by hitting them with spherical dye-filled gelatin capsules called Paintball equipment#Paintballs, paintballs that break upon impact. Paintballs are usually shot using low-energy air gun, air weapons called paintball markers that are powered by compressed air or carbon dioxide and were originally designed for remotely marking trees and cattle. The game was invented in Henniker, New Hampshire, Henniker, New Hampshire, June 27, 1981, by Hayes Noel, a Wall Street stock trader, and Charles Gaines (writer), Charles Gaines, an outdoorsman and writer. A debate arose between the two men about whether a city-dweller had the instinct to survive in the woods against someone who had spent his youth hunting, fishing, and building cabins. A friend of the pair chanced upon an advertisement for ''Nel-Spot'' cattle marking guns in a farm catalogue and they were inspired ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camouflage
Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier, and the leaf-mimic katydid's wings. A third approach, motion dazzle, confuses the observer with a conspicuous pattern, making the object visible but momentarily harder to locate. The majority of camouflage methods aim for crypsis, often through a general resemblance to the background, high contrast disruptive coloration, eliminating shadow, and countershading. In the open ocean, where there is no background, the principal methods of camouflage are transparency, silvering, and countershading, while the bioluminescence, ability to produce light is among other things used for counter-illumination on the undersides of cephalopods such as squid. Some animals, such as chameleons and octopuses, are capable of Active ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bloomberg Business
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in September 1929. Since 2009, the magazine has been owned by Bloomberg L.P. and became a monthly in June 2024. History 1929–2008: ''Businessweek'' ''The Business Week'' was first published based in New York City in September 1929, weeks before the stock market crash. The magazine provided information and opinions on what was happening in the business world at the time. Early sections of the magazine included marketing, labor, finance, management and Washington Outlook, which made it one of the first publications to cover national political issues that directly impacted the business world. The name of the magazine was shortened to ''Business Week'' in 1934. Originally published as a resource for business managers, the magazine shifted its str ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
