Larry Evans (chess player)

Larry Melvyn Evans (March 22, 1932 – November 15, 2010) was an American chess grandmaster, author, and journalist. He won or shared the U.S. Chess Championship five times and the U.S. Open Chess Championship four times. He wrote a long-running syndicated chess column and wrote or co-wrote more than twenty books on chess.
He is not to be confused with Larry David Evans (born 1952), another American chessmaster who was active in the 1970s and 1980s and achieved the International Master title.
Chess career.
Early years.
Evans was born on March 22, 1932 in Manhattan, the son of Bella (Shotl) and Harry Evans. His family was Jewish. He learned much about the game by playing for ten cents an hour on 42nd Street in New York City, quickly becoming a rising star. At age 14, he tied for 4th–5th place in the Marshall Chess Club championship. The next year he won it outright, becoming the youngest Marshall champion at that time. He also finished equal second in the U.S. Junior Championship, which led to an article in the September 1947 issue of Chess Review. At 16, he played in the 1948 U.S. Chess Championship, his first, tying for eighth place at 11½–7½. Evans tied with Arthur Bisguier for first place in the U.S. Junior Chess Championship of 1949. By age 18, he had won a New York State championship as well as a gold medal in the Dubrovnik 1950 Chess Olympiad. In the latter, his 90% score (eight wins and two draws) on sixth board tied with Rabar of Yugoslavia for the best result of the entire Olympiad.
U.S. champion.
In 1951, Evans first won the U.S. Championship, ahead of Samuel Reshevsky, who had tied for 3rd–4th in the 1948 World Championship match-tournament. Evans won his second championship the following year by winning a title match against Herman Steiner. He won the national championship three additional times: in 1961–62, 1967–68, and 1980, the last in a tie with Walter Browne and Larry Christiansen.
Grandmaster.
FIDE awarded Evans the titles of International Master (1952) and International Grandmaster (1957). In 1956 the U.S. State Department appointed him a "chess ambassador".
Evans performed well in many U.S. events during the 1960s and 1970s, but his trips abroad to international tournaments were infrequent and less successful. He won the U.S. Open Chess Championship in 1951, 1952, 1954 (he tied with Arturo Pomar but won the title on the tie-break) and tied with Walter Browne in 1971. He also won the first Lone Pine tournament in 1971.
Olympiad successes.
Evans represented the U.S. in eight Chess Olympiads over a period of twenty-six years, winning gold (1950), silver (1958), and bronze (1976) medals for his play, and participating in team gold (1976) and silver (1966) medals.
Best international results.
Evans' best results on foreign soil included two wins at the Canadian Open Chess Championship, 1956 in Montreal, and 1966 in Kingston, Ontario. He tied for first–second in the 1975 Portimão, Portugal International and for second–third with World Champion Tigran Petrosian, behind Jan Hein Donner, in Venice, 1967. However, Evans' first, and what ultimately proved to be his only, chance in the World Chess Championship cycle ended with a disappointing 14th place (10/23) in the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal.
At his peak in October 1968 he was rated 2631 by the United States Chess Federation.
Working with Bobby Fischer.
He never entered the world championship cycle again, and concentrated his efforts on assisting his fellow American Bobby Fischer in his quest for the world title. He was Fischer's second for the Candidates matches leading up to the World Chess Championship 1972 against Boris Spassky, though not for the championship match itself, after a disagreement with Fischer.
He also wrote the introductions to Fischer's "My 60 Memorable Games" (1969) and urged Fischer to publish when he had initially been reluctant to do so.
Chess journalism.
Evans had always been interested in writing as well as playing. By the age of 18, he had already published "David Bronstein's Best Games of Chess, 1944–1949" and the "Vienna International Tournament, 1922". His book "New Ideas in Chess" was published in 1958, and was reprinted in 2011. He wrote or co-wrote more than twenty books on chess.
He wrote the tenth edition of the important openings treatise "Modern Chess Openings" (1965), co-authored with editor Walter Korn. Some of Evans's other books are "Modern Chess Brilliancies" (1970), "What's The Best Move" (1973), and "Test Your Chess I.Q." (2001).
Evans began his career in chess journalism during the 1960s, helping to found the "American Chess Quarterly", which ran from 1961 to 1965. He was an editor of "Chess Digest" during the 1960s and 1970s. For over thirty years, until 2006, he wrote a question-and-answer column for "Chess Life", the official publication of the United States Chess Federation (USCF), and has also written for Chess Life Online. His weekly chess column, "Evans on Chess", has appeared in more than fifty separate newspapers throughout the United States. He also wrote a column for the World Chess Network.
Evans also commentated on some of the most important matches for "Time" magazine and "ABC's Wide World of Sports", including the 1972 Fischer versus Spassky match, the 1993 PCA world title battle between Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short, and the Braingames world chess championship match between Vladimir Kramnik and Kasparov in 2000.
Evans also contributed a large amount of tutorial and other content to the "Chessmaster" computer game series, most notably an endgame quiz and annotations of classic chess games. He was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 1994.
Criticism of writings.
Larry Evans was a prolific author, with many who both liked and disliked his works.
Noted chess author and trainer International Master John L. Watson made the following observations on Evans's books and columns: "huge bias"; "long histories of ignoring and distorting evidence" and "Evans' absurd arguments".
By contrast, chess author and International Master Anthony Saidy noted that Evans brought to his journalism a "taste for intriguing chess", his personal experience at "the summit of US chess", and "sharp opinions" regarding the politics of chess, which contributed to his "spicy, concise columns".
Author and USCF National Master Bruce Pandolfini described Larry Evans's "New Ideas in Chess" as influential and a "first-rate chess book".
Leading chess historian Edward Winter, however, has noted numerous factual errors in Evans' work as well as several examples of possible plagiarism.
On page 175 of Evans' book, "Modern Chess Brilliancies", he claims Lodewijk Prins adjourned a clearly lost position against Cuban master Quesada and was lucky enough when the latter died of a heart attack the "next day". Prins noted that he had actually resigned the position, as is proven by the tournament crosstables showing it as a loss for him, and that Quesada played three more games in the tournament before dying five days after the game against Prins. While Evans acknowledged the error, he defended it with "you must admit it makes a good story."
Death.
On November 15, 2010, Evans died in Reno, Nevada, from complications following gallbladder surgery.
Notable games.
This game, against future grandmaster Abe Yanofsky, was Evans's first victory against a noted player:
In his book "Modern Chess Brilliances", Evans listed four of his own wins:


Video games in Australia

The video game industry in Australia is worth $2.96 billion annually as of 2017, inclusive of traditional retail and digital sales. A survey completed in 2017 indicated that game development in Australia employed 928 people. In fiscal year 2016-17, revenue from Australian game developers was approximately $118.5 million, 80 percent of which was from overseas sales.
Video game retailers in Australia include EB Games, JB Hi-Fi, Gametraders and The Gamesmen. Video games are also sold at department stores like Big W and Target Australia.
History.
The Gamesmen, an Australian video game retailer, was established in 1982. They were the first retailer to sell video games online in Australia when they launched their website on 18 July 1996.
Beam Software was one of the first Australian game development studios to achieve global success, with a text adventure adaption of The Hobbit released in 1982 for the ZX Spectrum. The company went on to produce other successful titles including The Way of the Exploding Fist for Commodore 64 in 1985 and Le Mans for the SEGA Dreamcast in 2001. Ozisoft, a major distributor of games, was established in 1982.
Other early game development studios in Australia include SSG, who developed Reach for the Stars in 1983, and Micro Forté, founded by John De Margheriti in 1985.
John De Margheriti later established the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) in 1996 and founded the Game Developers Association of Australia (GDAA) in 1999. The first president of the GDAA was Adam Lancman, who had previously worked at Beam Software.
The Game Wizards, an Australian video game retailer, was established in 1990. It was the second retailer to sell games online in Australia when it set up its website in 1997. In 2007, the company's 22 stores were acquired by GAME and re-branded. By 2009 GAME Australia had expanded to over 100 stores.
EB Games entered the market as a video game retailer in 1997.
The real-time strategy game "", developed by Queensland-based Auran, achieved widespread critical and commercial success upon its release in 1997.
A research report published by the association in 2005 found that the 76 per cent of households had a device for playing video games, 38 per cent of gamers were female and the average age of a gamer was 24.
In 2005, the top three games by units sold were Gran Turismo 4, and Pokémon Emerald. The most popular game genres were strategy, adventure and action.
Team Bondi, a Sydney-based independent third-party game developer, was founded in 2003. The studio was responsible for the Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 title "L.A. Noire", published by multinational video game developer and publisher Rockstar Games (also popular for the "Grand Theft Auto" series). "L.A. Noire" was both a critical and commercial success, with over 5 million sales. Despite this, Team Bondi was in massive debt before and after the launch of L.A. Noire and the company wound up on 5 October 2011.
Between 2005 and 2015, a number of other large studios operating in Australia shut down including KMM Brisbane, Pandemic Studios, Krome Studios, THQ, Visceral Games and 2K Australia.
During the same period, smaller game developers were having success with mobile games. In 2010, Halfbrick, a studio based in Brisbane, released Fruit Ninja which has since been downloaded over a billion times. Other notable mobile games developed in Australia include Crossy Road and Framed. In October 2015, half of the top 10 mobile games in the App Store were Australian made.
EB Games held the first EB Expo video game convention at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre in 2011. The expo was attended by over 10,000 people. The expo moved to the Sydney Showground for 2012 and was held there annually until the expo returned to the Gold Coast in 2017. 36,750 people attended the expo in 2015.
At PAX Prime 2012, it was announced that PAX would expand internationally to Australia. PAX Australia was held for the first time in 2013 at the Melbourne Showgrounds. The annual event remains the only PAX event held out side of the United States.
On 14 May 2012 GAME, which had since downsized to 26 stores, went into administration and subsequently closed down.
The Digital Australia 2012 report, published by the IGEA, found that female participation in video gaming had risen to 48 per cent and the average age of an Australian video gamer had hit 32. Traditional retail sales of video games in Australia during 2012 were $1.16 Billion; digital sales were estimated at $620 Million.
In 2013, Australia was ranked 14th in the world in terms of video game revenues.
On 22 June 2015 the Australian Senate commenced an inquiry into the future of Australia's video game development industry. The subsequent report was tabled on 29 April 2016.
Trade bodies.
The industry body for video games in Australia is the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA). IGEA was formed in 2002 initially as the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) as an industry association for publishers, distributors and marketers of video games. The IEAA was renamed to IGEA in 2009 to present more focus on video game entertainment.
The Game Developers Association of Australia (GDAA) supports video game development. Among its activities is organizing the annual Game Connect Asia Pacific (GCAP) conference.
On March 6, 2020, the GDAA members votes to allow IGEA to acquire all the assets of GDAA under the IGEA banner, which will include operations of GCAP.
Censorship.
Video games could not be designated an adults only or 18+ rating in Australia until 1 January 2013. An R18+ classification rating has been available for this purpose for other forms of media since the introduction of the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995. Prior to 1 January 2013, a video game that had content deemed unsuitable for persons under the age of 18 would be 'Refused Classification' by the Australian Classification Board (ACB) under this act. Classification of video games is mandatory in Australia and material refused classification is legally banned from sale, hire or import.
Notable video games that were refused classification by the ACB prior to the introduction of an R18+ for video games include: Duke Nukem 3D, Grand Theft Auto III, , , Grand Theft Auto IV, Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead 2, Mortal Kombat (2011) and . Most of these games were subsequently modified by the publishers and later reclassified MA15+ and made available for sale in Australia. Although some games (GTA 3 and Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition) would be later rated R18+ uncut and The House of the Dead : Overkill was given an uncut MA15+ on appeal.
On 22 July 2011, the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General agreed in-principle to introduce legislation that would allow video games to be classified R18+. Amendments to the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995 came into effect on 1 January 2013 to allow video games to receive the adults only rating. Games that were refused classification prior to 1 January 2013 can be designated an R18+ rating and made available for sale in Australia if the publisher of the game applies for re-classification and pays a fee.
Games can still be refused classification and banned from sale if they depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified.
Notable video games that have been refused classification since the introduction of an R18+ for video games include: Saints Row IV, , and Outlast 2.
Material which is refused classification is put on the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service list of prohibited items. Any copies of these games found at the border will be seized, and its recipient, depending on the number of copies being imported may receive up to AUD$110,000 in fines.
An individual is allowed to own, use, access or create Refused Classification items, including games (with the exception of Western Australia). But a Refused Classification rating means that the created item is illegal to sell within Australia.


Video games in Ukraine

Video games in Ukraine began to emerge in the 1990s, with the appearance of the first studios. Subsequently, in the 2000-2010 in Ukraine there were several well-known video game series. Although the video game industry in Ukraine is only developing, video gaming is becoming more and more popular in the country.
Overview.
The study of the Ukrainian video game industry has not been carried out for a long time, despite the popularity of games developed in Ukraine. The question began to climb only in the second half of the 2000s. In part, this has been caused by the classes of Ukrainian developers, especially with regard to the value of its projects. But it was not a mystery that the creation of video games in Ukraine is cheaper than in the United States and Western Europe. In our country, various orders were performed, except for sounding and animation with the capture of the motion of actors. The reason for this was called market requirements and the lack of desired technologies. The volume of the Ukrainian video game market in 2013 became the largest history, 300 million US dollars. However, most of the profits are abandoned by foreign publishers. Some editions are called video games by the main cultural export of Ukraine to the west.
Major Ukrainian Video Games: GSC Game World, Best Way, Action Forms, 4A Games, N-Game Studios, Меридиан'93, Frogwares, Boolat Game Development Company, Dereza Production Studio, PershaStudia, Cyber Light Game Studio, Deep Shadows. The leader in the number of developer studio is the city of Kyiv.
History.
The origin: the 1990s.
In 1993, Meridian'93 studio was created. It was they who created the first commercial Ukrainian game - Admiral Sea Battles devoted to marine battles. Dmitry Prokopov developed a concept game, wrote a script and worked on graphics. The creation of the concept also participated in the programmer Andriy Desczuk, and Victor Silecs also engaged in graphics. Music wrote Andriy Vasilenko. All of them then worked and over two subsequent team projects: Ancient Conquest and Submarine Titans. And Proschuk, Silecs and two more programmers from the team, Gregory Podgorny and Artem Kulakov, as part of The Creative Assembly Australia even took part in the development of such strategies as and Stormrise.
At the exhibition in Hamburg, where the developers went to present their game, they met representatives of the German company Koch Media (later it created a special Deep Silver label for video games). As a result of cooperation, the Germans were engaged in a publishing house and distribution of Meridian'93 products in the West. In particular, Admiral Sea Battles in Germany became distributors. The release took place on September 30, 1996.
The first hits: the 2000s.
In 2001, the first part of the series , developed by GSC Game World. The idea to create the game Cossacks appeared in 1997, when Age of Empires was released, the development of the game began in 1998. The 17th-18th centuries were chosen because the Middle Ages would most likely be chosen to continue the Age of Empires and the Cossacks would emerge as its logical continuation rather than a competitor. Initially, there was to be a confrontation between Ukraine and Russia in the Cossacks, and there were to be 4 nations in total: Ukrainians, Russians, Europeans, and Ottomans. The game was to be sold on the domestic market. After the MILIA exhibition in Cannes, where the demo version of the Cossacks received good reviews from reputable people involved in the creation and publishing of video games, it was decided to increase the number of nations to 16 and publish the game around the world. In order to be able to reproduce thousands of units on the map, a 2D version of the graphics was selected. The following year saw the continuation of the series - Cossacks: Back to War.
In the middle of the decade, the following games appeared: Sherlock Holmes, , , , and Faces of War.
A real breakthrough was the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series, developed by GSC Game World. The first part was released in 2007 and was called . It was developed for 6 years. Later, books and movies appeared behind the game. The game takes place in an alternate reality, where on April 14, 2008 (there is a contradiction - the game itself mentions the date of April 12, 2008, and on the official website - April 12, 2006) there was a second explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This explosion caused the appearance of the "Zone" - a place within which, various anomalous phenomena appear, such as a multidirectional gravitational flow of more than 100G. The history of the second explosion at the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant is shrouded in darkness, and, wanting to investigate this situation, the Ukrainian government is sending troops to the Chornobyl zone. However, their actions in the zone end in failure. Due to the failure of the experiments, the territory of the Zone was fenced, checkpoints were built at the main points of access to the Zone. After some time, information about mutant animals and so-called artefacts, which were common objects in the past, began to arrive from the territory of the Zone. Getting into the anomaly, objects acquire unique properties. Many desperate people, wanting to make money quickly, began to enter the territory of the "Zone" to obtain a valuable artefact and sell it to scientists. A year later, people appeared on the territory of the Zone, who had tattoos in the form of the abbreviation "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." As a rule, these were people who began to "live" in the Zone. Soon everyone who rushed to the Zone began to be called stalkers (something between a marauder and a guide). The events of the game take place in 2012. The protagonist is a miraculously surviving stalker from a "death truck" (used to remove the bodies of dead stalkers from the center of the Zone; such a truck has a radiation background that is many times higher than normal human living conditions). The protagonist has completely lost his memory, and the only clue is the entry in the PDA: "Kill Sagittarius." According to the tattoo "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." on the hand of the protagonist, he receives the nickname "Marked". Now he faces many difficult questions and tasks. Then came the prequel to the game - "".
Growth: the 2010s.
In 2010 a new part of the series . The action of the project "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat" unfolds after the events of the original game - that is, after the shooter destroyed the project "O-Consignment". Having received information about the opening of the road to the center of the zone, the government decides to deploy a large-scale military operation under the code name "Farnvater" to receive control over ChNPP. In accordance with the developed plan, the first group of military must go for air intelligence of the territory and make detailed schemes of the location of abnormal formations. Subsequently, these safe passages will have to stand the main forces of the military. Despite thorough preparation, the operation is driven. To collect information about the causes of the failure of the Security Service of Ukraine directs its agent to the center of the zone. Further events depend only on the player.
Also, this year Studio 4a Games released METRO 2033 Ray that has been used in the Stalker Game series. The game uses a multi-plate mover of 4A Engine, which is transferred to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows. There are controversy or founded by this driving version of X-Ray (as claimed by Sergei Grigorovich, the founder, GSC Game World, as well as users who saw screenshots 4a Engine SDK, marking visual similarity, shared resources and technical changes in the pre-training demo. 4A Engine, made after a GSC Game World scandal), or it is its own development (according to 4a Games and Olesya Shishkovtseva in particular, which claims to be unthinkable to recycle X-Ray to support playing consoles. 4A Engine uses NVIDIA PHYSX support, improved artificial intelligence (AI), as well as a console SDK for Xbox 360. The PC version includes DIRECTX 11 support and is described as a "love player message" thanks to developers' decision to make a PC version [especially] phenomenal ". On October 22, 2009, THQ officially announced that it will be a publisher of the game "Metro 2033". It was stated that the game will come out in early 2010 for PC and Xbox 360. Together with this statement, a game trailer was released. On November 2, 2008-2009, the Russian publisher and the Localizator "Akella" announced the signing of the contract with THQ on the publication of the Metro 2033 on the territory of Russia and the CIS countries.
Statistics.
As of 2018, 84% of companies developing video games create mobile games for iOS and Android. More than 50% create or plan to create games for VR / AR devices. The average salary of the developer in Ukraine - $1375. According to the study, the most popular platform for the development of games remains Unity (69%). The most massive genres are ACTION (40%) and Adventure (42%). In total, in the development of video games there are about 20,000 people. 75% of offices of companies are in Ukraine. Almost 90% of companies are developing at their own funds. The audience of games that create Ukrainian developers is more than 770 million users. The largest audience in giants - Plarium, Ubisoft and Wargaming.
Video gaming sites.
Ukrainians read news about video games primarily on the Internet sites. Here are some video gaming sites in Ukrainian:


List of longest-running video game franchises

This is a list of notable longest-running video game franchises. To qualify for this list, a video game franchise must have seen regular releases for "at least twenty-five years", from a franchise's first release to its most recent. Only franchises that started out as a video game are listed; therefore, video games based upon other media are not listed. Ports, translations, downloadable content, re-releases, and compilations are not considered new entries. Remakes (i.e., games with significant differences in graphics or game play) and expansion sets which received retail releases are considered new entries in a series.


Victor Gu

Victor Gu (full name "Victor Gu Chian Peow", born in 1977 in Damansara Utama, Malaysia) is a former NTV7 newscaster, was an active debater at Universiti Malaya. Gu is also a member of Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and a DJ for Wah FM.
On NTV7, he hosted many shows, such as "Bai Wan Fu Weng", the Mandarin-language Malaysian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?".
Gu was chosen as Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate in the 2008 general election but he has lost.
Reality show participation.
In 2015, Victor Gu has clinched the third place in "I am Speaker", a reality TV series in China. He beat some 50 other contestants to reach the grand final of the show, which was aired last night on Beijing TV, after close to three months of intense battle.In his past appearances, Gu spoke passionately about Chinese education in Malaysia, justice and the death penalty.


Kurt Richter

Kurt Paul Otto Joseph Richter (24 November 1900 – 29 December 1969) was a German chess International Master and chess writer.
Chess achievements.
In 1922, Richter for the first time won the Berlin City Chess Championship. In 1928, he tied for 1st–2nd in Berlin. In 1928, he won in Wiesbaden. In 1930, he tied for 4–5th in Swinemünde. In 1930, he tied for 3rd–5th in Prague. In 1931, he lost a match to Gösta Stoltz (½ : 1½) in Berlin. In 1931, he took 2nd, behind Ludwig Rellstab, in Berlin.
He played for Germany at two official and one unofficial Chess Olympiads: at fourth board (+6 –3 =3) at Hamburg 1930, fourth board (+7 –1 =7) at Prague 1931, first board (+8 –2 =8) at Munich 1936. He won two team bronze medals (1930, 1936) and one individual bronze medal (1931).
In 1932, he won in Hamburg. In 1932, he tied for 1st–2nd in Kiel. In 1932, he took 3rd in Berlin. In 1932, he took 4th in Swinemünde. In 1932/33, he tied for 1st–2nd in Berlin. In 1933, he took 2nd, behind Efim Bogoljubow, in Bad Aachen. In 1933, he tied for 5–6th in Swinemünde. In 1933, he tied for 4–5th in Bad Salzbrunn. In 1934, he took 2nd, behind Gideon Ståhlberg, in Bad Niendorf. In 1935, he tied for 1st–2nd in Berlin. In 1935, he took 2nd in Swinemünde. In July 1935, he won in Bad Aachen (3rd GER-ch). In September 1935, he played in Zoppot (GER vs SWE match). In 1936, he won in the Berlin championship. In 1936, he took 2nd in Swinemünde. In 1936, he tied for 8–9th in Poděbrady (Salo Flohr won). In 1937, he tied for 2nd–3rd in Berlin. In 1937, he took 4th in Bad Elster. In 1937, he tied for 1st–2nd in Bad Saarow. In July 1937, he took 2nd, behind Georg Kieninger, in Bad Oeynhausen (4th GER-ch). In 1937, he took 3rd in Berlin (Friedrich Sämisch won). In 1938, he took 9th in Bad Harzburg (Vasja Pirc won). In 1938, he won in the Berlin championship. In 1938, he tied for 4–5th in Berlin. In July 1938, he tied for 5–7th in Bad Oeynhausen (5th GER-ch). The event was won by Erich Eliskases. In May 1939, he took 2nd, behind Bogoljubow, in Stuttgart (1st "Europa-Turnier").
During World War II, Richter played in several strong tournaments. In June 1940, he won in Berlin (BSG), and took 2nd, behind Bogoljubow, in Berlin. In August 1940, he tied for 3rd–4th in Bad Oeynhausen (7th GER-ch). In November 1940, he took 3rd in Cracow/Krynica/Warsaw (the 1st GG-ch). In 1941, he tied for 3rd–4th in Berlin. In August 1941, he took 3rd, behind Paul Felix Schmidt and Klaus Junge, in Bad Oeynhausen (8th GER-ch). In September 1941, he tied for 5–6th in Munich (2nd "Europa-Turnier"). The event was won by Stoltz. In September 1942, he tied for 3rd–5th in Munich (1st European Championship, "Europameisterschaft"). The event was won by Alexander Alekhine.
After the war, he participated in the Berlin championships. He tied for 1st–2nd (1948), tied for 3rd–4th (1949), tied for 2nd–3rd (1950), took 2nd (1951), took 3rd (1952).
Awarded the IM title in 1950. He was co-editor of "Deutsche Schachblätter" and "Deutsche Schachzeitung". Author of several chess books.
Influences on chess opening theory.
The Richter–Rauzer Variation of the Sicilian Defence (also known as the Richter–Rauzer Attack) occurs after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5. The Richter–Rauzer Variation was named in honor of Kurt Richter and the Soviet master Vsevolod Rauzer.
The Richter–Veresov Attack (also known as The Veresov Opening) was also named after Kurt Richter and Gavriil Veresov. It most commonly occurs after 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5.


BrainBuzz

BrainBuzz is an Australian children's show on 9Go! from 19 February 2018, starring Kellyn Morris, scientist Clare Van Dorssen and "Einstein", played by Michael Balk. The series involves children who explore, dissect and solve many of the world's frequently asked questions and has been described as "science by stealth". The program is filmed at the QTQ Studio in Brisbane, Australia.
Series overview.
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External links.


Give Us a Clue

Give Us a Clue is a British televised game show version of charades which was broadcast on ITV from 1979 to 1992. The original host was Michael Aspel from 1979 to 1984, followed by Michael Parkinson from 1984 to 1992. The show featured two teams, one captained by Lionel Blair and the other by Una Stubbs. Later versions of the programme had Liza Goddard as captain of the women's team. Norman Vaughan stood in for Blair for a short spell in 1980. Originally, the teams consisted of the captain, two celebrities and one member of the public. The public participation was dropped and another celebrity was added in their place. On one infamous edition of the programme, the male member of the public was handed the title he had to mime on a card by host Michael Aspel, but rather than read the mime, he read the wrong side of the card on which his name was printed. He thus mimed his name to his team mates. Lionel Blair later wrote this incident led to the dropping of the public participants.
A revived version was broadcast by BBC One in 1997 over 30 episodes, hosted by Tim Clark. Teams were captained by Christopher Blake and Julie Peasgood and the show introduced a lateral thinking puzzle (which the host could "give clues to"). "Give us a Clue" returned for a special Comic Relief episode in March 2011 with Sara Cox, Christopher Biggins, Lionel Blair, Una Stubbs, Holly Walsh, Jenni Falconer and David Walliams.
Format.
The game was based on charades, a party game where players used mime rather than speaking to demonstrate a name, phrase, book, play, film or TV programme. Each player was given roughly two minutes to act out their given subject in front of his/her team, and if the others were unsuccessful in guessing correctly, the opposing team would have a chance to answer for a bonus point.
Transmissions.
The first series was not networked. Following the launch of morning programming on ITV in September 1987, the last five series of the original run moved from peak-time to daytime slots. The Thames series ended in October 1991, but a one-off special was broadcast on 4 May 1992. Series 18 was made for the BBC.
Theme music.
The original theme tune was called "Chicken Man", which was also the theme tune of "Grange Hill". However, while "Grange Hill" used the original recording, "Give us a Clue" used a less dynamic custom arrangement more in keeping with the style of light entertainment programming.
In 1981, David Clark took over as producer/director and commissioned a new theme tune, followed in 1988 by a theme song written and composed by Alan Braden, which remained in use until the end of the Thames series in October 1991. Uniquely, the Braden theme song featured separate lyrics for both the opening titles and closing credits.
Trivia.
The programme has been repeated on satellite TV and is also still parodied in British comedy. It was frequently referred to by Humphrey Lyttelton, chairman of BBC radio's long-running "antidote to panel games", "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue", during a round of Sound Charades — usually with a gay innuendo-laden gag at the expense of Lionel Blair.
Other versions.
A licensed New Zealand version of "Give Us a Clue" was first broadcast on TVNZ during the early 1980s and hosted by Australian journalist Les Thompson. Teams were captained by Peter Rowley and Jenny Maxwell. The show was revived in 1993 via TV3 with Brian Edwards as host and Gary McCormick and Belinda Todd as team captains, and again in 1999 via TVNZ with Marcus Lush as host and Gary McCormick and Alison Wall as team captains.
SVT in Sweden broadcast their own version with the title "Gäster med gester". Dutch Public broadcasting organisation KRO aired the program from 1983 till 2003 and one series in 2010 under the name "Hints" ().


Deal or No Deal (Singaporean game show)

Deal or No Deal is a game show which was aired in Singapore on MediaCorp Channel 5 and MediaCorp HD5 for two seasons. Based upon the original Netherlands format of the game show, each episode sees a contestant choosing one of 26 briefcases, each containing a cash amount between $1 to $250,000, and then attempting to win as much as possible either by gambling on having a high amount in their chosen briefcase, or making the game's hidden operator, named "the Banker", offer a considerable cash sum for their box regardless of what is inside. The amount a contestant wins is determined by pure luck – cash amounts are randomly allocated to each of the briefcases before each game, with contestants required to open a specific number of briefcases per round of the game to eliminate the cash amounts their chosen briefcase does not contain, in turn affecting how much is offered by the Banker.
The show premiered on 13 May, 2007 with a million dollar deal show series from Sunday to Wednesday, after which the show aired every Wednesday at 8:30pm. The show is hosted by Adrian Pang. The second season of the show premiered on 21 November 2007, and increased to two episodes aired per week, on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8:30pm.
The show's official website has an online game, to let viewers become familiar with the format of the game.
Gameplay.
Before the game, a third party (known as an auditor in the show) randomly places the possible winnings in the 26 briefcases, which are then distributed to 26 identically-dressed models who reveal its contents during the game. The amounts range from S$1 to S$250,000. The twenty-six models are mainly professional models, including a former Miss Malaysia Universe, Andrea Fonseka.
After picking one of the 26 briefcases as theirs to keep, the contestant then selects 6 of the remaining 25 cases to open, revealed one at a time. Each amount appears in only one case, so any values revealed in this way are not in the contestant's case. A large electronic board (referred to as the "money tree") is used to keep track of the amounts still in play, with the amounts revealed struck off the board. This is followed by a phone call by "The Banker", a silhouette figure lit only dimly from inside a box overlooking the stage, who makes an offer via telephone to Adrian to buy the contestant's case (The Banker's voice is never heard, except for Adrian himself). The banker's offer is primarily based on the mean of the cash amounts still in play, the stage of the game (early offers tend to be far lower than the mean), as well as the player's psychology. Adrian then asks the contestant the title question: "Deal or No Deal?"
If the contestant accepts the banker's offer (by pushing a stylized red button enclosed in a glass case), the game ends and he or she wins the amount of the offer, and the value of the case that he or she chose at the beginning of the game is then revealed along with the whereabouts of the remaining prizes. Should the contestant refuse the offer (by stating "No deal" and/or closing the glass case), they must choose five of the remaining cases to eliminate from consideration. The Banker makes another offer, and play continues as before. The Banker's offer may be higher or lower than the previous offer, (if a top prize is eliminated in the round, generally the offer decreases; conversely, if only lower amounts are eliminated in the round, the offer increases significantly).
Subsequent rounds have the contestant withdrawing four, three, then two cases from play. Should the contestant continue to decline the Banker's offer after this point, they then eliminate one case each time (with an intervening offer from the Banker) until two cases are left. If the player rejects the final offer, the player wins whatever is their chosen case.
Each contestant has several supporters (usually three, though it has been increased to four for the second season), who sit in a special section just off stage during their game. As the field of briefcases dwindles, one or more of the supporters are asked to consult with the contestant and help him/her make a decision, such as which briefcase to open next or to accept the Banker's offer or not.
Homeviewers SMS game.
During the show, six briefcases are displayed before and after every commercial break. Viewers are invited to guess which briefcase contains a cash prize of S$1,000 by text messaging their answer e.g. Case 3, at a cost of S$0.21 per message. A lucky draw is held at the end of the game from the pool of viewers who chose the correct briefcase. The winners win S$1,000 and other product prizes from the sponsors of the show. On the 26 December and 27 December 2007 episodes, the home winners won S$2,000 on each of the two episodes. On the 30 January and 31 January 2008 episodes, the home winners won S$2,888 on each of the two episodes.
Records and statistics.
Correct as of the episode dated 31 January 2008.
Season 1.
Episode 1: The show premiered where insurance broker Harry Goh wanted to picked #13, but he and his wife consulted spiritual guidance prior to filming and so, decided to pick #11 instead. In Round 5, when he asked his best friend to pick a case (#1), it contained the $250,000, resulting in the bank offer dropping from $18,000 to $14,800. In Round 6, he dealt at $16,800. As the cases were revealed, the bank offer went up to $81,000, but fortunately for him, it was a good deal as his case only contained $150. Case #13 contained $150,000.
Episode 2: Sujeeta Menon dealt in round 8, winning $11,500, after striking out the largest amount in the very first case; her bank offer frequently fluctuated through the game. After dealing, the last bank offer went up to $27,500. Her case (#12) contained $50,000. The episode was the first ever time a contestant struck out the top 3 huge amounts within 2 rounds.
Episode 3: Khairunnisa invited an "imaginary" friend of hers named George. She picked #18. Despite knocking out the biggest amount early in the game, her following rounds went quite well. She rejected all the banker's offers, including the last potential bank offer of $33,000, leaving the last two amounts of $75,000 and $750 in play; her case contained only $750.
Episode 4: Banker Kaan Hoa Koang began the game by picking #18 for himself. During the fifth and the sixth round his bank offer dropped from $26,600 to $15,600 and then to $12,500 after he consulted his friend to open #11, which contained the $250,000. He continued the game and the bank offer went up to $21,000 in the next round in which he chose to Deal. Had he continued playing, the next bank offer would have been $36,000 after his next pick. He struck a good deal, though, as his case contained only $750.
Episode 5: Mr Joseph Tan began his journey by selecting #23. When it came to Round 4, his bank offer dropped from $11,000 to $9,000; he didn't deal. The next bank offer was $22,000 and he dealt. This deal was supported by his family members. However, when the next potential bank offer came up, it went up to $34,000. It was a good deal as his case contained only $7,500.
Episode 6: Gurdith Singh picked #3, and also requested to kiss one of the ladies as a good luck ritual (the lady turned out to be his wife). Despite knocking out all the huge amounts, and declining the bank offer of $9,900 in Round 4, he played on. He continued to the end and it was revealed that his case contained $2,500.
Episode 7: Amy Wong picked #20. After declining the banker's offer of $1,800 in Round 4, her luck took a further tumble. Her son Terrance and her 2 friends encouraged her to play on in the final round, when the banker offered her a ridiculous amount of $5, even though the remaining briefcases containing $15 and $25 weren't opened yet. She finally opened her case which contained $25. This episode marked the worst game played in Deal or No Deal (Singapore) thus far. She was also one of the most annoying contestants of Deal or No Deal, infamous for her disco dance moves, despite being a woman of elderly age. She labels herself as the "Disco Diva".
Episode 8: Vanessa Lopes picked #10. She was initially unlucky to strike off most of the values on the right of the money tree except for the $250,000, which was still in play during the round that she opted to deal. She dealt at $23,000, though she could have got $50,100 if she had played on for one more round. Nevertheless, it was still a good deal, as her own briefcase only contained $500.
Episode 9: Vive Ganandan came to the show hoping to accumulate enough money for his dowry. He picked case #7 but found his luck bad when he knocked off the three largest amounts in the first six choices before the first offer. His highest offer was $3,800 at round 4 but he rejected that offer and his luck continued to slide. Interestingly, his friends' and his aunt's choices were often much better than his. He went all the way, rejecting the banker's last offer of $450 and won the $1,000 in his own case.
Episode 10: Mr Clement Lim picked case #1. His luck was rather good, initially, keeping the top two amounts in play. However, his Star Wars luck left him and the offer tumbled after it peaked at $15,200. He decided to play all the way once the offer fell to $100 in round 7 after opening the last large amount. He won $250, from his original case.
Season 2.
Season 2 of the Singapore version premiered on 21 November 2007. The first 2 episodes were celebrity specials, featuring David Gan, international hairstylist and Fiona Xie, MediaCorp TV actress, respectively. They played for a chosen charity organisation.
In the first episode on 21 November 2007, David Gan closed the final deal and won S$101,000 for the ACCA Hospice Care, his charity organisation, making this the biggest win by any contestant of the Singapore edition, ever. His case (#6) contained S$50,000 while the remaining case contained S$150,000.
In the second episode on 22 November 2007, Fiona Xie played for Balestier Rainbow Centre. She rejected all the nine banker's offers and won S$250 in her case (#3). She then announced that she would make a personal donation of S$5,000 to the charity organisation, while her three friends that she brought with her donated an additional S$150 (S$50 each). In addition, the producers of the show decided to increase the winning amount to S$25,000, and as a result, a total of S$30,150 was raised for charity during the episode.
Episode 3 (28 November 2007): Contestant Devi picked case #11. Her rounds went smoothly, keeping the big amounts in play. Her friends and son convinced her to open case #7, but she chose to open other cases instead. She accepted an offer of $45,000 to end the game, though she would have gotten an offer of $72,000 if she had gone on for another round. Had she declined the $72,000 offer, she would have opened #7, which contained the $250,000, which would have caused the offer to drop to $1,400. It was a good deal though, as her case only contained $100. The next contestant was Heidianty. She picked case #13 to begin the game. After opening the first six cases, she rejected the banker's first offer of $3,800. Time ran out during the second round, so her game would continue in the next episode.
There were also two special Christmas episodes where the highest case value was doubled to S$500,000 while the S$15,000 amount was temporarily removed for the 26 December and 27 December 2007 episodes. The contestants of the two Christmas episodes rejected all nine bank offers and won only S$20 and S$150 respectively.
Episode 13 (2 January 2008): Tennis brought with him his two hamsters. He started by picking case #7. Initially his luck was good in the first few rounds. After turning down the banker's offer of $21,200, he opened the $250,000 in case #22, causing the offer to drop to $2,800. He declined the offer and his luck continued to slide. He rejected all offers and won $25 in his case. The next contestant was Paul Costello. He picked #3 to start the game. When Adrian asked him to try and open small amounts, he said he'll open the $1 and Adrian told him he'll kiss him if he did. He rejected the first offer of $4,100 and time ran out before opening the fifth case in the second round.
On the 16 January 2008 and 17 January 2008 episodes of Deal or No Deal, there were 26 hunks (male models) representing the briefcases, instead of the regular 26 babes. The contestants for both episodes were females and the contestant was introduced before the cases appeared on stage. They won S$88,000 and S$7,500 respectively.
Episode 19 (23 January 2008): Joel picked case #20. His rounds were pretty smooth, even though he opened some big amounts early. His luck slid when he opened all the large amounts later in the game, which caused the banker's offer to go down. He decided to play on and rejected the final offer of $1,200 and it was revealed that his case contained $2,500. He was followed by Sheryl, who chose case #6 and put her dog's collar on the case. She rejected the banker's first offer and opened the $250,000 in the second round. Time ran out before she opened the fifth and final case in the second round.
Episode 20 (24 January 2008): Sheryl returned to finish her game. She accepted the banker's offer of $23,000 with $150,000 as the highest amount remaining. Her case contained only $1,500. The next contestant was PE teacher Shah, whose students called him Mr. Shahlala. He hoped to win enough money to buy himself two bikes. He picked #16. He opened the $250,000 early and the bank offer frequently fluctuated as he opened the big amounts. In the final round, he dealt at $4,900 with $25 and $10,000 left despite his friends wanting him to say no deal. His case contained only $25. He was the only contestant to accept an offer of less than $10,000 in the Singapore version.
For the last two episodes of the second season on 30 January 2008 and 31 January 2008, being a week before the Lunar New Year, the highest case value was increased to S$688,888 and the second highest case was S$500,000 while the S$15,000 and the S$150,000 amounts were temporarily removed for the two episodes. Ironically, the contestants of each episode rejected all the nine Banker's offers and won only S$10 and S$20 respectively after eliminating the top prize early in the game.
$250,000 winners.
No contestant won the top prize of $250,000 in the Singapore version. However, three contestants chose the briefcase containing the $250,000, but ended up selling their case to the Banker before learning that their case contained the $250,000. All three instances of the top prize case being selected by the contestant occurred in the second season.


Starfinder (game show)

Starfinder was a British game show that aired on CITV from 2003 to 2004, presented by Michael Underwood with Tom Zikas giving advice to the children.
Four children are invited aboard a space station and start training for a week to be an astronaut by carrying out drills involving their practical skills, reactions, and hand–eye coordination. At the end of the week, the winning cadet would get to go to Star City in Russia for some real astronaut training.


Raymond (Animal Crossing)


Realm of the Jade Goddess

Realm of the Jade Goddess () is a German-style board game designed by Klaus Teuber and published in 2007 by Kosmos in Germany. It was originally available in limited release, and there has been no plans to release an edition for other languages.
"Realm of the Jade Goddess" is the first of the "Entdecker" trilogy of games, which are games based on Teuber's earlier game, "Entdecker", but incorporate new themes and game mechanics. It is considered the easiest of the three games in the trilogy.
Gameplay.
The players take roles of explorers in a jungle, in search of artifacts from a mysterious "lost city". Gameplay takes place on a board 11 tiles wide and deep, with the central row and column fully explored; players begin the game with their explorers (represented by jeeps) in the center space of the board. Each tile consists of either jungle sections or sections of the lost city, and lines in white or brown run through the centers of each tile (white if it runs through a jungle quadrant and brown otherwise).
The game also comes with a second type of tile, the "artifact tile", which serves as the treasures to be retrieved in the game. There are both "good" and "bad" artifacts, which differ in their scoring value at the end of the game. Each artifact token also consists of a particular quarter of an artifact, which are labeled "A", "B", "C", and "D".
At the start of a player's turn, a player may move their jeep. Jeeps may freely move along white lines, and must stop their movement after moving on a brown line. With the exception of the central (starting) tile, only one jeep may occupy any tile.
If the jeep moves to a tile adjacent to unexplored terrain (that is, where no tiles are present), one tile is placed to "explore" the area. Tiles are generally randomly drawn, and must be placed so that the colors of connecting lines match between adjacent tiles. If a player draws a tile that cannot be placed, they are set aside in a player's reserve, and may be placed on subsequent explorations in lieu of drawing tiles. The player's jeep is then placed on the newly explored tile. If the player drew a tile consisting of all jungle, the player may move their jeep a second time, placing tiles if necessary.
After tiles are placed, players may place an archaeologist on any lost city section of the tile, or remove an already-placed archaeologist figure. Each player has three single archaeologist figures, and one each of archaeologist figures that count as two and three archaeologists. Placing a single archaeologist is free, but a double or triple archaeologist costs one or two gold pieces, respectively, to place. When the lost city is completed (that is, when it is entirely surrounded by jungle or by the edge of the game board), the lost city is considered completed, and players gain gold pieces and artifacts depending on the number of gold coins and artifact heads depicted on each tile making up the lost city: each player having at least one archaeologist receives gold equal to the number of gold coins in the city. The player(s) with the most archaeologists in the lost city receives artifact tiles based on the number of artifact heads in the lost city. The player(s) with the second most receives half the number of artifact tiles (rounded up), and so on until every player with archaeologists in the lost city receives artifact tiles. (The exception to this rule is when there is only one artifact symbol, in which case "runners-up" receive nothing).
Players may choose to move their jeep to the central (starting) tile, which allows the player to exchange one artifact tile in their possession with one of five artifact tiles that were exposed at the start of the game, or exchanging two artifact tiles for two randomly drawn artifact tiles for the price of one gold piece.
After a player finishes their turn, the player may take a second turn by paying one gold piece.
The game ends when all tiles are taken (that is, all tiles are either on the board or in the reserves of players) or when all artifact tiles have been claimed; in the case of the former, each player has one final turn. Each artifact tile is worth one victory point, and a completed set of artifacts ("A, "B", "C", and "D") is worth 5 extra points if the set consists of only "good" artifacts" and 3 points otherwise. The player with the most points wins, with the number of artifact tiles and the number of gold pieces used as a tiebreaker.


Ace Driver

 is a 1994 racing arcade game developed and published by Namco. The player controls a Formula One racer, with the objective being to complete three laps of a race course and to avoid a collision with opponents and other obstacles. Three difficulty levels are available, as is a mode to enable a gear shift. Similar to Namco's own "Final Lap" series, the arcade cabinet can be linked together with another unit to enable eight-person multiplayer. It ran on the Namco System 22 arcade hardware.
"Ace Driver" was designed by Tatsuro Okamoto, his known for his work on the classic arcade game "Metro-Cross" (1985). He was assisted by "Pole Position" designer Shinichiro Okamoto. The game was a widespread success, winning the "Best Coin-Operated Game" award at the 76th Annual IAAPA tradeshow in November 1994. Critics praised the game's realistic graphics, multiplayer and responsive controls, with some reviewers finding it to be superior than Sega's "Daytona USA" and Namco's own "Ridge Racer". It was followed by two sequels, "Ace Driver: Victory Lap" (1995) and "Ace Driver 3: Final Turn" (2008). A PlayStation home conversion announced in 1995 went unreleased.
Gameplay.
"Ace Driver" is a 3D racing video game. Gameplay involves the player controlling a Formula One racer, the objective being to complete three laps of a race while in first place. The player can choose one of eight playable vehicles, which is determined by which seat the player has chosen on the cabinet itself. Cars also carry advertisements featuring names of older Namco video games and products, in a manner similar to the "Ridge Racer" series. The player can also choose from three difficulty levels — Beginner, Expert, and Expert Pro Race Class. Namco produced two versions of the game, an SD model and a DX model. The SD version features a basic sit-down structure, while the DX version features seats that rotate based on the player's actions in the game. Both cabinets are linkable, and allow for an additional machine to be connected to it, which enables eight-person multiplayer.
Development and release.
"Ace Driver" was released in Japan in November 1994, followed by a North American release later that year and a European release in March 1995. The game was designed by Tatsuro Okamoto, known for his work on "Metro-Cross" and the "Final Lap" series, with assistance from "Pole Position" designer Shinichiro Okamoto. The arcade cabinet, designed by mechanical engineer Junichiro Koyama, is much heavier than Namco's other arcade cabinets, which made it difficult for the game to be easily shipped. The game ran on the Namco System 22 hardware, which was also used for the original "Ridge Racer", with speaker systems provided by American company BOSE. Care was taken during production of the game's controls so as to make them tight and easy to use, which Okamoto recalls being as responsive as moving a shopping cart. The DX version, which featured rotating seats, was stated to have been dangerous in the event cabinet was placed up against the wall, leading to small fences being placed towards the base of the cabinet.
Reception.
"Ace Driver" was a widespread success, with reviewers praising its impressive technological capabilities and realistic graphics. At the 76th Annual IAAPA tradeshow in November 1994, it was awarded the "Best Coin-Operated Game" award for its texture-mapped 3D graphics, force feedback and motion-based cabinet. In Japan, "Game Machine" listed it on their January 1, 1995 issue as being the second most-successful dedicated arcade game of the year. The game was also a commercial success, with Namco reporting an "overwhelming" number of orders placed for the eight-player version. "Edge" magazine was impressed with the game's eight-person multiplayer and technological capabilities, saying that it easily outperformed Sega's "Daytona USA", which they attributed to the Namco System 22 arcade operating hardware it ran on. "Edge" also praised the game's usage of Gouraud shading techniques for giving it a realistic look at feel, concluding that "Ace Driver" helps justify Namco's reputation for producing impressive technology.
In their debut issue, "Next Generation" liked the game's unique "side-by-side" movement, saying that it created a much more realistic sense of turning and gave the game more of an "edge" compared to Namco's other driving game, "Ridge Racer 2". They concluded their review by saying: "It may not be the best all-around racing title out today, but for competitive multi-player action, "Ace Driver" holds the title". Spanish publication "Hobby Hitech" found the game superior to both "Daytona USA" and "Sega Rally", showing a positive response towards the game's controls and realistic graphics. They also considered the game a true successor to "Ridge Racer", highlighting its presentation and sense of speed. In a 2012 retrospect, "Kotaku" was more negative towards the game for its "atrocious" menu system and poor collision detection, while also disliking its rubber banding mechanic for making the game unfair to more experienced players. Despite their criticism, they said that its broken mechanics "made the game a "blast"" to play.
Sequels and legacy.
A sequel, "Ace Driver: Victory Lap", was released in 1995 for arcades, featuring additional tracks and vehicles, alongside a new "Championship" gameplay mode. A second sequel, "Ace Driver 3: Final Turn", was first presented at the Spring Amusement Operator's Union (AOU) tradeshow in 2008, before being released later that year. A home conversion of "Ace Driver" for the PlayStation was announced to be in development in August 1995, although it was never released.


How Dare You! (TV series)

How Dare You! is a children's game show that aired on ITV from 10 April 1984 to 15 July 1987.


Camille Combal

Camille Combal (born 18 September 1981) is a French television and radio presenter. He is the current host of "Danse avec les stars", "Mask Singer", "Qui veut gagner des millions ?", and "". He was the co-host of "Touche pas à mon poste !" for six seasons.
Personal life.
Combal was born on 18 September 1981 in Gap, Hautes-Alpes. He went to primary school in Les Orres, and secondary school in Embrun. He studied management at Aix-Marseille University. In 2019, he married Marie in Aix-en-Provence.
Career.
In 2006, Combal started as an intern at Fun Radio. In 2007, he replaced Manu Payet at NRJ, working alongside Bruno Guillon and . In 2008, he joined Virgin Radio, hosting their morning programme alongside Sébastien Cauet. He worked at Virgin Radio until June 2018, when he left to join TF1.
In 2008, Combal also began presenting the Canal+ programme "L'édition spéciale". In 2009, Combal joined TV channel W9, and in 2010, he joined M6, working alongside Estelle Denis. He presented the C8 talkshow "Touche pas à mon poste !" alongside Cyril Hanouna, before leaving the show in 2018 after six seasons. He also hosted one series of "Il en pense quoi Camille ?" between 2016 and 2017.
Combal has been the presenter of TF1 programme "Danse avec les stars" since season 9. Since 2019, he has presented "Mask Singer", and "Qui veut gagner des millions ?", the French version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?". As part of the handover for "Qui veut gagner des millions ?", the 2019 series started with a celebrity special hosted by Jean-Pierre Foucault in which Combal was a contestant. He also hosts his own show, Plan C, which uses carpool karaoke. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Combal hosted episodes of "Qui veut gagner des millions ?" from his living room. In 2020, Combal became the presenter of "", a French adaption of the American gameshow "Family Feud" and the British gameshow "Family Fortunes".
Awards.
In 2015, Combal was second in the TV Notes award for best presenter, for his work on "Touche pas à mon poste !", with 799,000 votes. He won the 2016 TV Notes award for best presenter.


Clag (card game)

Clag or Clagg is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards. It is similar to Whist or Oh Hell, and can be played with up to seven players.
Clag originated in the British Royal Air Force and started as an acronym for Clouds Low Aircraft Grounded.
Gameplay.
The deck of card is shuffled and dealt to each player in turn until the desired number of cards are dealt. The top card from the pack is turned over to reveal the trump suit if required. Whoever finishes with the highest points wins the game. The points are recorded after the end of each round and then calculated at the end of the game to reveal the overall winner. Points are obtained by successfully bidding on the number of tricks each player will win, this bidding takes place after finding out the trump suit. A correct bid is worth 10 points and each trick is worth 2. An incorrect bid is always worth zero. For example, a bid of two tricks is worth 14 points.
The complete game consists of twenty rounds each with slightly different rules. Only one card is dealt for the first round and the second round two are dealt. Successive rounds then increase up to seven cards. Once a seven card round has been played six seven card rounds are played. The first is played with the same rules except no trump suit is played. The next is played with trumps but bidding must happen before the trump suit is revealed. Next two rounds are played with normal trumps with blind variations. The first round players must bid before looking at their cards and the second round the players must bid before looking at the cards and they have to play each card in the order they were dealt from the top of their pile. The next two rounds are misere ones, the first is played with trumps and the second is played without trumps. For these rounds each player is forced to bid zero tricks and for each trick won two points are deducted, a bonus of ten is awarded if no tricks are obtained. Once the six rule variation rounds are finished a normal round with seven cards is played then a round of six cards is played. Rounds are then played successively until the final round with one card is played.
Sample score card.
A score card like the following can be used to help record scores. Each round is recorded in a row and each player gets a column with a running total of points. The left-hand number is the score after that rows round and the right hand number is a record of the bid recorded before the round starts play.
Royal Air Force rules.
Clag was primarily played throughout the Royal Air Force until the early 1990s, the rules varied from station to station and squadron to squadron around the globe. At this time serving personnel attempted to unify the rules throughout the service. This section covers the rules in use at that time.
The game is primarily played as above except the number of rounds would vary depending on the time available to play. The number of cards dealt for each round (between 3 and 7) is chosen by the dealer and there is no set structure to the rules for each round. Instead, the player who won the previous round, (referred to as the Caller) chooses the rules for the round after viewing their hand.
The Caller as well as having the option of choosing trumps or no-trumps has the option of various Precedence orders of trumps. With Precedence, the order is (hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades) with hearts being the top trump suit, trumping all other suits. Clubs will trump diamonds and spades. Diamonds just trumping spades and spades being no trump. Reverse Precedence order is (spades, diamonds, clubs, hearts). Any variation of Precedence may be called, e.g. Reverse Precedence red over black (d,h,s,c) Precedence black over red (c,s,h,d) etc.
Regardless of trumps called, players must follow suit of the first card played if possible. For example, if the first card played in a hand is a club and a player has a losing club in their hand, they must play that card and lose the hand rather than playing a trump to win the hand.
Another option for the caller is Nuloss (pronounced New Loss). With Nuloss the value of the cards in the pack are reversed. 2’s being the highest cards in the pack down to Ace’s being the lowest cards in the pack.
If a blind hand is called all players must shuffle their hand and place the cards face down on the table then play the round from the top of their hand.
Other options available to the caller are to alter the scoring system. As stated in the main rules above one option is misère where each winning hand will give a minus score. Another option though is Ascending or Descending Madness. With Ascending Madness the first trick is worth 2 points, the second 4 points, the third 6 points etc. With Descending Madness this is reversed the first trick having a value of twice the number of cards in the hand descending down to the last trick being worth only 2 points. When playing a round of Asc/Dsc Madness players still predict the number of tricks they will win for a bonus of 10 points as stated above, unless Asc/dsc Madness is combined with Misere when all players as stated above must predict winning no tricks.
An important rule when players predict the number of tricks they expect to win, is that the sum of predictions can not equal the number of cards in the hand. This ensures that it is impossible for all player to receive the bonus points for the round.
Any combination of these calls can be combined to create some very complex rounds. Making the right call becomes an important part of winning at clag and also increases the importance of winning rounds so as to be in the position of tailoring the round specifically to a player's hand. For example, may seem a bad hand, but the option of calling Nuloss Precedence Red over Black Ascending Madness could put a player in a very strong position indeed.


Labyrinth (paper-and-pencil game)

Labyrinth is a paper-and-pencil game played by three or more participants. One participant (known as the game master or game leader) designs the labyrinth map, sets the game rules, and announces the results of each move. The other players attempt to traverse the labyrinth by uncovering its design and achieving the objective (usually, finding a treasure and exiting the labyrinth with it). The game, created in the Soviet Union during the 1970s, was popular among high school and college students throughout the USSR.
Overview, objective and structure.
Labyrinth is played with a minimum of three people, one of whom is the game master. Each participant should have paper (preferably graph paper) and a pen or (preferably) a pencil. Players take turns as the game master, for one game each. Rules are agreed on before beginning a series of games.
The game ends when only one player is left alive, or when one of the players exits the labyrinth with the treasure(s). Each player keeps track of all movements, directives and requests, recreating the labyrinth structure on their notepad.
The square labyrinth's size determines the complexity and length of the game. Sizes range from to or . Each cell in the labyrinth may be one of the following:
A wall can be built between any two neighbouring cells. The outside wall, known as the monolith, must have at least one exit (a space) so players can leave the labyrinth.
Gameplay.
The game master creates the labyrinth. They and the players agree on the rules. At the start of the game, the game master sets the number and length of wormhole chains, rivers (if any) and weapon-related parameters such as the number of arsenals and the starting size of a player's weapons kit.
Players take turns. With each turn, a player can move their marker to a neighbouring cell (a cell with a common, non-diagonal border with their current cell). After each move, the game master tells the player whether their move is possible. If it is, they tell the player what type of cell their marker is on: empty, arsenal, river, wormhole, exit, etc. If it is an obstacle, the game master tells the player if it is an ordinary wall or the monolith (labyrinth boundary). If a player shoots, then the game master tells them if another player is wounded or killed. All game-master announcements are made aloud, and players cannot form alliances or exchange information in secret.
After learning the labyrinth parameters, each player secretly tells the game master where they want their marker placed at the beginning of the game; the game master may also place the markers randomly, so the players do not know their initial positions.
Each player has a starting arsenal, with a set of weapons.
Players move by making a step in any direction (saying "up", "down", "left" or "right"), or opting to skip a step. They can shoot in any direction before and after making a step, and the bullet travels in the stated direction until it hits a wall or a player. If it hits a player, they are declared wounded (or killed) by the game master. A player can stab by saying, "Use knife". If another player is in the same cell, they will be wounded or killed; the used knife is discarded. Players can blow up a wall in any direction by saying, "Throw grenade left/right/up/down", with the game master announcing the result.
Any combination of weapons use can be used with any type of step request. When a step directive is given, the game master tries to move the marker in the requested direction and announces the result. If a player's marker moves to a wormhole, it automatically moves to the cell with the next wormhole in the chain. If the current position is the last one in the chain, the marker is moved to the chain's first wormhole. If a marker is moved into a river, it is then moved two cells downriver; if one of the cells is the river end, the marker stops there. If the marker is already in the river (but not at the end), the player can skip the step and the marker will flow downriver. If a marker is in the arsenal, the player's starting weapons are restored or they receive an additional set. If a wounded player is in the hospital, their health is restored. A wounded player cannot use weapons or carry treasure. If a player carrying treasure is wounded, the treasure remains in that cell until it is picked up. If the player is wounded in the river, the treasure flows two cells downriver after every move to the river end, where it can be picked up.


Cave Story 3D

Cave Story 3D is a Metroidvania platform-adventure game developed by Nicalis and published by Nippon Ichi Software. It was released on November 8, 2011 for the Nintendo 3DS. A remake of the indie video game "Cave Story" developed by Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya, the entire game was redesigned with 2.5D graphics, with the ability to switch between 2D and 3D characters and enemies, and the soundtrack was remixed by Danny Baranowsky. The game received positive reviews from critics, who praised its design as remaining exemplary, although they criticized its similarities to the original and the loss of Curly Brace and Boss Rush mode, saying it was a poor value compared to other versions.
Development.
Due to the game having been published by Nippon Ichi Software, the player is able to unlock a Prinny Cap item by getting the best ending.
"Cave Story 3D" had a limited production run, resulting in it being sold for high prices on the used market. While Nicalis founder Tyrone Rodriguez posted in Miiverse that the game would be coming to the Nintendo eShop in late 2014, it ultimately never received a digital release.
Reception.
The game received an aggregate score of 82/100 on Metacritic.
Hollander Cooper of GamesRadar+ rated the game 4.5/5 stars, saying that while people would likely react with "disgust" to the new 3D graphics, it would be "a shame, because "Cave Story 3D" is absolutely remarkable". Saying that "a majority of the new content comes in the presentation, which has been built from scratch for the 3DS", he states that the visuals take "full advantage of the system's capabilities", and that "the audio, too, has been reworked with great success" compared to the game's WiiWare version. He summed up the game as ""Cave Story" unencumbered [...] Pixel's dream realized on a new platform for the masses, and in a form anyone can appreciate".
Zachary Miller of Nintendo World Report rated the game 8/10, saying that "the game does look beautiful in its polygonal, fully realized glory". Stating that "I imagine this is what the game looked like in Pixel’s head while he was slaving over the original freeware game", he professed "that extra dimension really does add a lot of immersion". However, he also stated that some areas were overly dark, such as the Ruined Egg Corridor, making death spikes "nearly invisible".
Rich Stanton of Eurogamer also rated the game 8/10, saying that the game "isn't a port [...] this has been visually rebuilt for 3DS, in some places expanded and in some places tweaked". Stating that "this remake is a labour of love", he also stated that the game was "a world that invites your imagination to lose itself, and becomes so much bigger in the process".


Descent 3

Descent 3 (stylized as Descent³) is a first-person shooter video game developed by Outrage Entertainment and published by Interplay Entertainment. It was originally released for Microsoft Windows in North America on June 17, 1999. "Descent 3" is the third game in the "Descent" video game series and a sequel to "Descent II". The game takes place in a science fiction setting of the Solar System where the player is cast as Material Defender, a mercenary who must help an organization known as the Red Acropolis Research Team to stop robots infected by an alien virus.
Unlike in standard first-person shooters, the player must control a flying ship that has a six degrees of freedom movement scheme, allowing the player to move and rotate in any 3D direction. In addition to a single-player campaign mode, "Descent 3" features an online multiplayer mode where numerous players can compete against each other in eight different game types. The game features both indoor and outdoor environments, made possible with the use of a hybrid engine that combines the capabilities of a portal rendering engine with those of a flight simulator-like terrain engine.
"Descent 3" received positive reviews from critics, holding a score of 89 out of 100 at review aggregate website Metacritic. The most praised aspects of the game were its graphics, artificial intelligence of enemies, and outdoor environments. An official expansion pack, "Descent 3: Mercenary", was released on December 3, 1999. The expansion pack includes a new series of missions, multiplayer maps, and a level editor. After its release on Microsoft Windows, the game was subsequently ported to Mac OS and Linux platforms.
Gameplay.
Like its predecessors "Descent" and "Descent II", "Descent 3" is a six degrees of freedom shooter where the player controls a flying ship from a first-person perspective in zero-gravity. It is differentiated from standard first-person shooters in that it allows the player to move and rotate in any 3D direction. Specifically, the player is free to move forward/backward, up/down, left/right, and rotate in three perpendicular axes, often termed pitch, yaw, and roll. Aboard the ship, the player can shoot enemies, turn on the ship's afterburners to temporarily increase its acceleration and speed, and fire flares or turn on the ship's headlight to explore darkened areas.
In the game's single-player mode, the player must complete a series of levels where multiple enemies controlled by the game's artificial intelligence will try to hinder the player's progress. The game primarily takes place inside labyrinthine underground facilities, but the player can occasionally travel over the surface of the planets where the facilities are buried to reach other nearby areas. The underground facilities are composed of a set of tunnels and rooms separated by doors. Most of them can be opened by either firing weapons at them or bumping into them, but others require special actions to be performed first before entry is allowed. For instance, some doors require special keys that must be collected. To finish a level and proceed to the next one, the player must complete a set of objectives that range from collecting items to activating switches, defeating enemies, and destroying objects.
As the player progresses throughout the game, two additional ships become available for use. Each of the game's three ships offers a different balance of speed, weapons, and maneuverability. Within the levels, the player may collect power-ups that enhance the ship's weaponry. Weapons are categorized into three different types: primary weapons, secondary weapons, and countermeasures. Primary weapons range from a variety of laser plasma cannon and the napalm cannon, which projects a stream of burning fuel. Secondary weapons include different types of missiles, while countermeasures range from proximity mines to portable turrets. Most primary weapons consume energy in different rate, but some, such as the Napalm Cannon, use their own type of ammunition. In contrast, all secondary weapons and countermeasures require their own ammunition suppliers.
The player's ship is protected by a shield which decreases when attacked by enemies. If the shield is fully depleted, the player dies and must start the game again from a previous section of the fight without any collected power-ups. Nevertheless, the player can reclaim the missing power-ups from the ruins of the destroyed ship. Shield, energy, and ammunition suppliers are dispersed among the levels to help players increase their resources. The player can also collect equipment items which grant special powers. For example, the Quad Laser modifies the laser weapons to fire four shots at once instead of the standard two, while the Cloaking Device renders the player invisible to enemies for 30 seconds. During the game, the player may also deploy the Guide-Bot, an assistant that keeps track of the next objective and shows the player the way to a specific target.
Multiplayer.
In addition to the single-player campaign mode, "Descent 3" features an online multiplayer mode where numerous players can compete against each other in eight different game types. Notable game types include Anarchy, where the objective is to kill as many opponents as possible, Capture the Flag, where two to four teams compete against each other to capture opposing flags, and Monsterball, in which players must shoot and guide a ball into their opponents' goal. Aspects such as time limit, number of players, map to play on, and selection of what weapons are allowed, among others, can be customized to match player preference. The game also features an observer mode which allows players to watch a multiplayer game as a spectator and a co-operative mode that allows players to work together to complete campaign missions. Multiplayer games support the DirectPlay, IPX, and TCP/IP protocols. Online gameplay was also possible over Parallax Online, an online gaming service which kept track of players' statistics and rankings.
Plot.
"Descent 3" takes place in a science fiction setting of the Solar System where the player is cast as Material Defender MD1032, a mercenary working for a corporation called the Post Terran Mining Corporation (PTMC). The game begins moments after the events of "Descent II", with the Material Defender escaping the destruction of a planetoid where he was clearing PTMC's robots infected by an alien virus. He was about to return to Earth to collect his reward, but a malfunction occurred with the prototype warp drive in the ship he was piloting, making it drift towards the Sun's atmosphere. At the very last moment, the Material Defender is rescued via a tractor beam by an organization known as the Red Acropolis Research Team.
While the Material Defender recovers in the Red Acropolis station on Mars, the director of the team informs him that they have been investigating PTMC, and have uncovered a conspiracy: one of her acquaintances in the PTMC was killed by a robot, and when she contacted PTMC about it, they denied having ever employed such acquaintance, even though he had worked with them for years. The Red Acropolis had tried to notify the Collective Earth Defense (CED), a large police group, of the PTMC's actions, but they took no action, not daring to interfere with such a powerful corporation. The director also tells the Material Defender that, while he was clearing the mines during the events of "Descent II", PTMC executive Samuel Dravis was actually testing and modifying the virus and deliberately tried to kill him by overloading the warp drive on his ship. After some persuasion and offers from the director, including a new ship and an AI assistant known as the Guide-Bot, the Material Defender accepts to help the Red Acropolis stop the virus.
The Material Defender is first sent to Deimos to obtain information about the location of a scientist named Dr. Sweitzer who has evidence of the PTMC's actions. He is then rescued in the Novak Corporate Prison on Phobos. After recovering the evidence, the Material Defender delivers it to PTMC President Suzuki in Seoul before leaving with his reward. When the Material Defender arrives at the Red Acropolis Research Station, the director tells him that the PTMC president has been killed and that the Red Acropolis Research Team are now accused of being terrorists, resulting in the destruction of the then-abandoned station. After a series of missions, the Material Defender and the Red Acropolis Research Team manage to develop an antivirus and convince the CED that they are not terrorists. The CED suggest to broadcast the antivirus through their strategic platform orbiting Earth, but the results are unsuccessful. The Material Defender is then sent to Venus, where Dravis has been tracked by the Red Acropolis. In the ensuing confrontation in his stronghold, Dravis is mortally wounded by the Guide-Bot's flares and the Material Defender deactivates the virus, which disables all of the PTMC's robots. The game ends with the CED destroying the PTMC's orbital headquarters while the Material Defender returns to Earth.
Development.
"Descent 3" is the first project developed by Outrage Entertainment. The company was founded when Parallax Software, creators of previous "Descent" games, decided to split in two: Outrage Entertainment and Volition. Volition would focus on creating the combat space simulator "FreeSpace" games, while Outrage would continue with the "Descent" series. Development on "Descent 3" began in November 1996 with a team of eight people. According to programmer Jason Leighton, one of the major problems during the game's development cycle was a lack of direction and control. He explained that the team had "no code reviews, no art reviews, [and] no way of saying, 'This is bad and we should be going in a different direction'". This "anarchistic" development environment worked for "Descent" and "Descent II" because they were developed by small groups that worked closely together and often in the same room. However, as Outrage started to grow from eight people to almost 20 by the end of the project, the developers did not introduce enough management to control the process. As Leighton recalls: "We literally had to build the team and company at the same time we started production on the game".
Originally, "Descent 3" was intended to support both a software and a hardware renderer, implying that the rendering process of the game could take place either in the CPU or dedicated hardware like a video card, but about six months after starting development, the team decided to go with a hardware-only renderer because it allowed them to create "visually stunning" graphics and maintain a solid frame rate without worrying about the limitations imposed by the software renderer. This was a difficult decision since the team had to scrap many tools and software rendering technology that were already developed. In addition, computers with hardware acceleration were not common at the time the decision was made. As the developers noted: "We knew just by looking at our progress on the game under acceleration that we had a beautiful looking game with all the latest technologies — but would anyone actually be able to play it?" Fortunately, as development progressed, hardware acceleration became more popular with each passing year. The game natively supports the Direct3D, Glide and OpenGL rendering APIs for graphics, and the A3D and DirectSound3D technologies for sound.
The new technology also allowed the developers to create both indoor and outdoor environments; one of the biggest complaints of "Descent II" was the fact that it was considered too "tunnely". To this end, the developers created a new technology which featured an indoor portal rendering engine "hooked to a flight-sim-like terrain" engine, collectively called the Fusion Engine. The portal engine permitted designers to create small rooms with complex geometry. These rooms would later be linked together via shared dividing polygons called portals to create a portalized world for the player to fly through. In contrast, the terrain engine, which was initially planned for another game and whose function is to create more polygonal detail as players get closer to the ground and decrease polygons when they are farther away, gave designers the ability to create expansive outdoor terrains. Transitions between both engines were achieved using an external room (with its normal vectors inverted) that could be placed anywhere on the terrain map. With this technique, developers could create hybrid levels where the player could transit from indoor to outdoor areas in real-time and without loading screens. Leighton commented that whenever one of these transitions occurs, "the game code [switches] collision detection, rendering, and so on, to use the terrain engine".
The company had no standardization of level design tools. Leighton said: "Some people used 3D Studio Max, some used Lightwave, and one designer even wrote his own custom modeler from scratch". This practice led to an inconsistent quality across the game's levels. For example, one designer would create structures with great geometry but bad texturing, while another would create the opposite. Once the structures were modeled individually, they were all imported into a custom editor, called D3Edit, so that the designers could "glue everything together". The D3Edit editor received constant updates because it initially did not feature an intuitive interface for designers. It was not until the last third of the development period that the editor improved significantly. As Leighton notes: "Even in the shipped game you can tell which levels were made early on and which were made near the end of the production cycle. The later levels are much better looking, have better frame rates, and generally have better scripts". Developers also considered the idea of shipping the game with a level editor based on the one they used to create the game's levels. Due to the constant changes the developers made to their own editor, it was hard for them to design a more user-friendly one.
In addition to the changes in the game's engine, the developers decided to improve the artificial intelligence to give each enemy a distinct behavior. According to Matt Toschlog, president of Outrage Entertainment and lead programmer of "Descent 3": "It's very rewarding for the player to meet a new enemy, get to know him, learn his quirks, and figure out the best way to kill him. It's great when a game requires both thinking and quick reactions". Originally, the developers planned to add weather effects that would disorient the player's ship during gameplay, but this feature was ultimately not implemented due to time and technology constraints. Multiplayer games were heavily tested to ensure their network stability and support IPX, TCP, and DirectPlay. The actual development of the game took 31 months to complete, with the developers describing it as both a joyful and painful process due to in part of the almost nonexistent management and the rapidly evolving technology at the time.
Marketing and release.
"Descent 3" was presented at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 1998, where developers showed off a demonstration of the game. In the months leading to the game's release, the game's publisher, Interplay Productions, ran a program that allowed "Descent" fans to submit a digital photo of themselves along with a pilot name to the company. These photos would later be included in the game so that players could use them as their multiplayer profiles. Outrage also released two game demos that allowed customers to try the game before purchasing it. The second demo included a single-player level and several multiplayer matches which could be played through a matchmaking service provided by Outrage. From March to August 1999, Interplay held a "Descent 3" tournament in the United States consisting of three phases where numerous players could compete against each other in multiplayer matches. The winner was awarded a prize of US$50,000.
"Descent 3" was initially released for Microsoft Windows on June 17, 1999. A level editor was released shortly afterwards, allowing users to create both single and multiplayer maps for the game. A Mac OS version of the game was released in November 1999. The Mac OS version was ported by programmer Duane Johnson, who previously worked on the 3dfx versions of the original "Descent" and "Descent II". "Descent 3" was also ported to Linux platforms by Loki Entertainment Software after an agreement with the game's publisher. The port, which features a multiplayer mode optimized for 16 players, was released in July 2000. In 2014, the game was released on the Steam digital distribution service.
Reception.
"Descent 3" received positive reviews from video game critics. The most praised aspects were its graphics, artificial intelligence of enemies, and outdoor environments. Erik Wolpaw of "GameSpot" felt that the game "improves in almost every conceivable way on its predecessors and reestablishes the series as the premier example of the play style it single-handedly pioneered", while "Next Generation" praised both its originality and faithfulness to its predecessors. "IGN" lauded the game's new engine, noting that the transition between indoor and outdoor environments is seamless. "GameRevolution" remarked that the addition of outdoor environments allows "greater use of the maneuvering capabilities, adds variety to the levels, and ensures that the game never gets dull or boring". The reviewer also acknowledged that the game's six degrees of freedom movement scheme may be difficult to master for some players, stating that the game "can be confusing, dizzying, and even nauseating. This is a game for the pro's".
The music and sound effects received similar praise. GameSpot pointed out that "explosions erupt with lots of satisfying, floor-rattling bass, lasers ping nicely, flamethrowers emit appropriate rumbling whooshes, and there's plenty of ambient beeping, hissing, and mechanical humming". Game Revolution praised the graphics for their "modeling, colored lighting, incredible special effects, wonderful animation, [and] sheer overall feel". Victor Lucas of "Electric Playground" stated similar pros, but also admitted that the game's hardware requirements were relatively high. Criticism was leveled at the game's story. GameSpot considered it not compelling, while Jason Cross, writing for "Computer Games Magazine", felt that it "really doesn't have much to do with actual gameplay". "PC Gamer" reviewer Stephen Poole also criticized the Guide-Bot's efficiency, remarking that sometimes it can get lost or trapped while leading the player to a destination.
The gameplay was praised for its variety of weapons and enemies. Game Revolution said that each enemy is "unique both in ability, structure, and behavior so that each requires a specific combat approach". "Maximum PC" reviewer Josh Norem praised the levels for their interesting objectives, stating that the missions "vary widely, ranging from finding lost colleagues to defending strategic structures against enemy assaults". "Computer Games Magazine" praised the fact that the developers replaced the wire-frame automaps of previous "Descent" games with flat-shaded polygons because they "provide more detail and make it easier to recognize where you are and how to get where you want to go". The multiplayer was highlighted positively due to its replay value and variety of game types. "Computer Games Magazine" also credited its "rock-solid performance on standard dialup modems and easy connectivity", while GameSpot praised it for being "fun and stable". The game was a runner-up for GameSpy's Action Game of the Year and a nominee for "GameSpot"s PC Action Game of the Year.
Sales.
Despite positive reviews and the commercial success of its predecessors, "Descent 3" was a commercial disappointment. According to PC Data, its sales in the United States were under 40,000 units by the end of September 1999, which drew revenues of roughly $1.7 million. A writer for "PC Accelerator" remarked that this figure was "not enough to keep publishers plugging at long, expensive development cycles in the hope of scoring a "Half-Life"". By the end of 1999, "Descent 3"s sales had risen to 52,294 units in the United States. "Daily Radar"s Andrew S. Bub presented "Descent 3" with his ""System Shock" Award" (named after the 1994 game of the same name by Looking Glass Studios), arguing that it was difficult "to find a better game that under-performed sales-wise, this year". "Descent 3"s sales were similarly low in the German market. It debuted in 27th place on 's computer game sales rankings, and fell to 33rd, 56th and 78th over the following three months, respectively. Interplay blamed its underperformance in the region on stiff competition in the genre. Conversely, "PC Player"s Udo Hoffman reported a German retailer's view that "the genre is no longer popular", and that demand for a mission pack was at "0.0 percent".
Expansion pack.
An expansion pack for "Descent 3" was developed by Outrage and released for Microsoft Windows on December 3, 1999. The expansion, entitled "Descent 3: Mercenary", introduces new features, a seven-level campaign, a fourth ship, and several multiplayer maps. It also includes the game's level editor. The expansion received mixed reviews from critics. "IGN" reviewer Rich Rouse praised "Mercenary" for its lasting appeal, stating: "With hordes of new missions and battlefields on the CD, as well as the included level creation package, you won't be uninstalling for a long time". In contrast, "GameSpot" editor Erik Wolpaw criticized the expansion for its bland level design and lack of new features. A compilation that includes both "Descent 3" and its expansion pack was released on June 14, 2001.


Legend of the Ancient Sword

Legend of the Ancient Sword () is a Chinese fantasy-adventure-action film directed by Renny Harlin and based on the video game "Gu Jian Qi Tan 2". The film was released worldwide on October 1, 2018.
Plot.
Due to a fateful occurrence, Yue Wuyi leaves home. He meets revered master Xie Yi, who imparts to him the magical arts of Yan, and thus begins his journey of cultivation. Along the way he meets Wen Renyu, Xia Yize, Ah Ruan and company. They discover the schemes and conspiracies of Shen Ye, the grand priest of Liu Yue City. The group of adventurers undergoes dangers to defeat Shen Ye, and prevent a disaster from befalling the world.
Production.
Principal photography began in December 2016 and wrapped up in March 2017.
Reception.
The film was a box office disaster during China's golden week of cinema. It attracted widespread derision online and only grossed US$1.25m despite a government mandate to screen the film nationwide.