Ar Tonelico

 is a multimedia project series made in collaboration by Gust Corporation and Banpresto (currently subsidiaries of Tecmo Koei and Namco Bandai Games respectively) consisting of video games, manga, and an OVA. The name of the series is also the name of the amplification complex composed by three monumental towers that appear in the aforementioned works. Throughout the life of the series, it was directed by Akira Tsuchiya (Gust) and produced by Atsunori Kawachi (Banpresto). The main theme songs for all of the games were sung by Akiko Shikata. Recently, it was succeeded by the "Surge Concerto" series.
Games.
The core part of the series is formed by three console role playing games, which are listed below in chronological order:
Summary.
The "Ar tonelico" series is set in a planet called Ar Ciel, which lost its land in a great man-made catastrophe a long time ago, and it is a work of science fantasy that depicts the interaction between the protagonist and the heroines, the latter generally being members of a race called "Revatail" (romanized as Reyvateil in the English-localized versions of the games and related material), which can use a special ability known as Song Magic. During the course of the trilogy of games, the people were forced to live on three gigantic structures they made after the land was lost, and due to the loss of communication between the regions that form Ar Ciel, the people eventually came to believe that the region where they lived was the entirety of the "world" that existed.
A constructed language known as the Hymmnos Language (called Hymnos in English-language releases) is also present throughout the materials that form the series, used as part of the dialogue in the games as well as part of the lyrics of the songs heard in most audio releases related to the series, and used as a decorative element in parts of the interface, visual effects and backgrounds. The meaning to these multiple messages isn't apparent in the works themselves, but the Hymmnos language has a detailed vocabulary and set of grammar rules that can be read in detail over at the official site, which can be used as a guide to translate all phrases written in said language to Japanese. And while it hasn't received an official translation, all of this information has been translated for English-speaking audiences by enthusiastic fans of the series. Therefore, the players can discover hidden meanings and the feelings the characters singing the songs have hidden in its lyrics upon translating them.
The first chapter in the series, released as a game for the Sony PlayStation 2, gathered quite an appreciation due to its depictions of several topics, beginning with the usage of the Hymmnos Language for its songs, followed by the union of an elaborate world setting with a charming cast of characters. The following games introduced new ideas to the formula while continuing with the established basis for the series, as well as also receiving expansions into multimedia territory with the release of material such as manga and Drama CDs, which having songs and music as their core, further expanded the already complex world setting. Therefore, several products such as CDs compiling the songs found in the games and books explaining the intricacies of the game's world were released.
Development.
The setting for the first game, Sol Ciel, has its basis on the world setting that series' director Akira Tsuchiya created and used in 1995, during his college days, for a tabletop role-playing game, which also was where characters such as Shurelia were originally established and created. "Ar tonelico" was originally planned to be developed as an RPG that would see release in the PlayStation 2 console back in 2000, but the development was interrupted under the pretext that the "system for creating magical effects based on synthesizing bels" gave too much freedom to the player and thus, increased the difficult beyond tolerable levels. However, the project was restarted later on as a collaboration with Banpresto, in which the aforementioned bels were simplified with the introduction of the synthesis recipes, and the main concepts to the series: "Grathmeld", "Reyvateil", "Cosmosphere" and "Hymmnos", were introduced. Finally, after a development process in which there were several problems with the writing and revision of the main scenario scripts, the first game: "", saw release in January 2006 at Japan, which would be localized for North America by NIS America the following year.
That same year, in October, the second game in the series: ', was released as a PlayStation 2 RPG, and while a few characters returned for this sequel, it depicted a different region in the same planet as the first game, but a couple years after it ended. Like the first game, it was localized by NIS America in January 2009. The third and final installment in the series was released in January 2010 as a PlayStation 3 RPG titled ', and similarly to the second game, it depicted a different region a few years after its ending, but it also served as the conclusion for the storyline that started with the first game.
Systems.
The games introduce the usage of Song Magic in battle that has become unique to the "Ar tonelico" series, and even though the depiction of its usage varies greatly from a game to other, it has a few common elements throughout the series: the party is composed by Vanguards and heroines, and the Vanguards must protect the heroines as they sing their Song Magic and until they can activate it, as Song Magic displays stronger effects the longer the heroines sing it. Additionally, there are times when either ally or enemy Reyvateils will be singing Hymmnos songs, which will become the BGM for that particular battle, demonstrating the importance the Songs have in this series.
Additionally, the games have systems that are similar to the "Alchemical Synthesis" that has a central role in Gust's famous Atelier series games: "Grathmelding" and "Synthesis", which allow the players to create a large variety of items.
Girl Synthesis RPG.
The company itself has formally defined the game's genre as a "Girl Synthesis RPG". This refers to the world hidden inside the Reyvateils' mind called the Cosmosphere (also called the Soulspace), as well as the fact that the player can earn costumes with specific themes, such as Angels, Shrine maidens and Witches; and have the Reyvateils wear them.
World Setting.
While the three games have their stories set in different places and have different characters, they fundamentally share the same world. The world of ', Sol Ciel, is formed by an enormous Tower called "Ar tonelico" and a floating continent called the "Wings of Horus", while the world of ', "Metafalss", is a harsh world formed by a small tower surrounded by an artificial land called the "Rim", and finally, "" is set in world called "Sol Cluster", in which a white tower with a unique design is surrounded by a rock formation called the "Great Fang".
The Universe of EXA_PICO.
The universe that serves as the setting for the "Ar tonelico" series differs from our own in that it was formed by the Song interwoven out of waves by the original atomic nucleus called EXA_PICO. Therefore, this universe is structured in a form in which the planets, continents and life forms, all are created from the waves produced by the songs sung by higher-order life forms, and regardless of their position in the cosmic hierarchy, every life form sings out the waves that compose itself, allowing it to exert influence over life forms of a lower order than itself.
EXA_PICO emits a countless number of wave types, of which the planetary system to which Ar Ciel belongs only receives a very small number: in total, Ar Ciel is formed by approximately 20 wave types, of which only seven have a role in the formation of the humans.
Similarly, all of the planets that belong to the universe of EXA_PICO are formed by the waves emitted by the central stars and star clusters of which they are part, so the waves that compose their existence are structured in different ways and therefore, the people, flora and fauna found in them are formed by differing wave types.
Below is a representation of how the relationships work in the cosmic hierarchy using only nine of EXA_PICO's wave types as an example.
Ar Ciel.
The planet that serves as the setting for the series. Its name means "The only world" in Hymmnos Language. It also receives the name "Sol Ciel" in the Ancient Metafalss Note dialect of the Hymmnos Language, which translates to "shining world". As the result of the great disaster known as the "Grathnode Inferia", the sky was covered with a layer of plasma called the "Blast Line", while the surface of the planet was pulverized and covered by a thick layer of clouds called the "Sea of Death", so the survivors to this catastrophe barely managed to escape death by clinging to the Towers and their surrounding areas, which became the only places where life could still thrive in Ar Ciel. This planet is orbited by two natural satellites known as the "Cello Moon" and the "Viola Moon", with the "Cello Moon" being large and purple while the "Viola Moon" is small and golden. In Sol Ciel, these moons are visible in the sky at alternating intervals, while in other regions they are visible at the same time during certain occasions.
Additionally, while Ar Ciel was established as the name for the planet in the second game, an item called the "Ar Ciel Globe" made an appearance in the "Supporteil" mini-game before "Ar tonelico II" was released, which is described as a globe map for Ar Ciel.
Ar Cielan Gods (Wills of the Planet and others).
There are two main types of Gods in Ar Ciel: one is the "Wills of the Planet" that created the entirety of Ar Ciel from the Planetary Core where they reside, and the second are the "Reyvateil Origins" that are mentioned later on the article.
The term "Wills of the Planet" refers to the souls that compose Planet Ar Ciel, as well as the agglomeration of said souls. The first Wills are called the "Wills of Origin", as they are the three original Wills that created Ar Ciel: "Juklizda", "Clyuue" and "Horus", and the other Wills were derived from them as they were needed for the structuring of the Planet. A countless number of Wills of the Planet exist in Ar Ciel, but at the current point in time in which the games take place: the Third Era, several of them have faded away, but their number is roughly equal to that of the humans that still live on it.
The Wills of the Planet are also called the "Children of the Planet", and while normally they don't have a physical form, in extremely rare occasions they can manifest themselves in a physical form through several methods such as "materialization", "possession" and "reincarnation". It is due to these appearances and the great power they wield that the humans and Teru have come to recognize them as "Gods".
While the way the humans regard the Wills of the Planet varies from a region to other, the typical way in which they view them is as "beings that should feared and revered due to their great power", which is especially true in the region of Sol Cluster due to how strongly they revered the Gods. On the other hand, the Teru regard the Wills of the Planet as "friends from a nearby world" due to their higher sensibility and the multiple times they have been able to establish contact with them; especially in the region of "Syestine", which is considered as the holy ground of the Teru and the place where the Third Tower of Ar tonelico was built many years later. This region was a treasure trove of Songstones, as well as the point where it was the easiest to contact the Wills of the Planet, which led to it being called the "place where the truth of the world is gathered".
Furthermore, the twelve major Wills of the Planet receive the name of "The Twelve Gods of Starcircling" in Ar Ciel's mythology. And while it may be a bit out of the topic at hand, the Wills that give form to the star cluster and solar system to which Ar Ciel belongs are beings of a much higher order, of which the Wills of the Planet recognize Sol (the Will of Ar Ciel's Sun) as their main God.
Additionally, there are "Demigods" aside of the normal Wills of the Planet, which serve as intermediaries between the Wills and the humans. It has even been theorized that the first humans had Demigods as one or both parents, therefore making the Demigods born during the Era of Origin the parents of all humankind.
The Demigods descended upon the surface with the mission of leading the people down in a specific direction, and while there situations in which they came into the world with full knowledge of their mission, in others they would forget about it completely as well as their status as Demigods upon being born into the human world and would suddenly remember it in a certain day. The latter case was what happened to Raikokubishi in the story "The Chronicles of Resshikou ~Emperor of Wailing Thunder~", which was usually the starting point for a tragedy.
Finally, the ending of the trials endured by the saintly woman Rhaplanca that was featured so prominently in the myths of Metafalss was published in the Apocryphal Booklet of the compilation "Kurt Hymneth ~The Songs that Conversed with the Gods~", and while she hadn't been considered as a "God" up to that point, she is described as one at the end of said story. However, there are no details on if she became a proper Will of the Planet (God) or a Demigoddess.
Ar tonelico.
The name of the enormous structures (Towers) that serve as the setting for each individual game in the series. The name is composed by the Hymmnos Language words "Ar" (the only) and "tonelico" (divine tree), which together translate to "The Holy World Tree", and are enormous structures that were built during the times the land still existed in Ar Ciel. They go from the First to the Third Towers.
The First Tower of "Ar tonelico" is an "amplification Tower" that "supplies the people with an amplified version of the power of sounds on which Sound Science is grounded". While in the current times it has become a piece of lost technology, it still sees ample use due to its function as a "Song Magic Server", which makes it the power source for the Song Magic of the Reyvateils. Therefore, the Reyvateils in Sol Ciel all use the First Tower of Ar tonelico as their Song Server.
The "Second Tower of Ar tonelico", administrated by Frelia, was constructed to be a relay tower for the First, but due to its incomplete status, all of the Reyvateils in Metafalss, excepting for the IPDs, are instead connected to the First Tower in Sol Ciel through the Symphonic Power relay satellite "Sol Marta". On the other hand, the IPD Reyvateils use "Infel Phira" as their Song Server.
The Third Tower "Harvestasha", located in the region of Sol Cluster, was built to shoot the XP Shell into the Planetary in order to carry out the AAA Planet Regeneration Project, but due to several incidents that led it to lack the power necessary to finish its construction, it wasn't completed until near the end of the story of "Ar tonelico Qoga". The Third Tower itself doesn't have the functions of a Song Server, but it isn't linked to the First Tower like the Second is. The Song Server proper that houses the Soulspaces of the Sol Cluster Reyvateils is instead stored in the "Tower of Origin" located at Archia.
Each one of the three Towers of Ar tonelico is administrated by a "Reyvateil Origin", but after the Grathnode Inferia, the people relocated themselves to the upper areas of the regions where they lived, barely escaping death, and since this isolated the Towers from each other, they eventually came to believe that the region where they lived was everything that existed around them, which is why they call each region a world. Therefore, the world around the Tower administrated by Eoria is called ", the world around the Tower administrated by Frelia is called " and finally, the world around the Tower administrated by Tyria is called "".
Reyvateil.
Originally called "Revatail" in the Japanese version, which comes from the Hymmnos word with the same pronunciation and meaning, they are a rare race that has appeared in all material related to the series so far and has the ability of converting sounds into power. While they used to be an artificially created race, they are in appearance indistinguishable from the humans, and they can also interbreed with them. As the Y-Chromosome impedes the manifestation of Reyvateil qualities, there are only female Reyvateils. The proof of being a Reyvateil is a mark called the "Install Port" appearing in some part of their bodies. As they can control a miraculous power called "Song Magic", they are said to be capable of "talking with the world". Every Reyvateil is connected to the Song Server they use as the source of their powers through an umbilical cord of sorts located in the deepest layer of their psyches. The Song Magic they sing isn't really related to the processes in their mouth and throats that produce their normal voices, but it is instead produced by the Song Server causing the waves in the air to vibrate, producing sounds, instruments and voices to form a song identical to the one the Reyvateil has in her mind.
The Reyvateils are subdivided into the following general types: the special "Reyvateil Origins", the pure "Pureblooded β-types", and the human halfbreeds "Third Generations".
The IPDs unique to Metafalss also belong to the "Third Generation" category. Additionally, the Archia Think Tank over at Sol Cluster created a unique type known as the "γ-Sublimed". This type has the peculiarity of having a total of 24 Soulspace strata, in comparison to the other Reyvateil types which only have nine.
Reyvateil Origins.
Special Reyvateils created to be the Administrators of the Towers. There are only three of them, which in order of oldest to younger are: "Eoria", "Frelia" and "Tyria". All of them were born in El Elemia (the main country of Sol Ciel) during the First Era, and their abilities as Reyvateils surpass that of most of the other types by far. They all have their Install Ports located in the same place: on their hips.
As completely artificial life forms, they only grew until they turned 18, and won't ever age or die. Eoria is the oldest living Reyvateil, who was 739 years old at the time the events of "Ar tonelico" 1 took place. As the general concept of the Cosmospheres wasn't yet invented by the time they were created, they differ from the Pureblooded β-types and Third Generations in the fact that they don't have a Cosmosphere (excepting for Frelia).
Their names are taken from the three Demigoddesses known as the "Trio of Elemia" that appear in the Ar Ciel creation myth "Stelliarhythm", of which Eoria had the power of controlling the "wind", Frelia the "land" and Tyria the "water". Their Cluster (Japanese) styled names are as follows: "Eoria = Hishouten", "Frelia = Hekibyouten" and "Tyria = Kaibyouten".
Therefore, they alongside the Demigoddesses from which their names are taken are the main target of worshiping for the people of Sol Ciel, called the "Trio of Elemia".
However, Frelia has lost her status as a Goddess in Metafalss, while in Sol Cluster the Reyvateil Origins aren't recognized as divine beings either in the Great Fang or Archia, though the Reyvateil country of Clustania does worship Tyria, but more as a queen and the person who founded the country than as a Goddess.
Pureblooded β-Types.
In a loose way of speaking, Clones of the Reyvateil Origins. They will have the same eternal youth as the Origins, yet they aren't immortal, as they have a life span of roughly 150 years. However, they do have in common with the Origins that they are genetically programmed to stop aging once they reach 18 years of age, so once they reach that point, they won't grow or age anymore, and will keep the figure they have at that age until their deaths. There is also a Pureblooded β-Type called Mir that was created around 400 years ago and is still alive, but as she was sealed away when she was around 30 years old, she hasn't technically surpassed her life limit yet. The Pureblooded β-types that currently exist in the world of Sol Ciel are only Misha and the sealed away Mir, as well as a few who are currently living in the city of Platina. In the world of Metafalss, Frelia didn't do what Eoria did and thus didn't pass on to anyone the techniques and technology necessary for their creation, so they have become like legendary existences in that region. However, all of the Third Generations that currently live there are descendants of the Pureblooded β-Types that moved there from Sol Ciel during the First and Second Eras. As for the world of Sol Cluster, both Archia and Clustania have preserved the techniques and technology for creating Pureblooded β-Types. However, at the Reyvateil-centric country of Clustania, the birth of Reyvateils is regulated so only a specific number of them are produced each year.
Incidentally, the heart of the Reyvateils, called the Triangular Nuclear Loop, has an energy source called Telomeres, which is equivalent to the telomeres present in the human chromosomes, and they also indicate for how long the Triangular Nuclear Loop can work, serving as that which indicates the life span of the Reyvateils. Theoretically it is possible to replenish Telomeres to a Triangular Nuclear Loop, but such method fundamentally doesn't exist. However, the Rinkernator of the Third Tower of Ar tonelico is equipped with machines that allow to donate a large amount of Telomeres from a Reyvateil to other, making it possible to restore them to a depleted Triangular Nuclear Loop. As for the Rinkernator in the First Tower, as the ways they keep themselves alive differ so much between the Administrators of these two Towers, Eoria and Tyria, most likely it isn't equipped with such machinery.
When a Pureblooded β-type reaches the end of her life, or if she is taken beyond the range of the Tower to which she is connected, the Triangular Nuclear Loop will shut itself down and her body will turn back into the physiological saline solution that was used to create her, so they will disappear without even leaving behind a corpse. This is common to both the Pureblooded β-Types and the Origins.
Third Generations.
Girls that are born human but have Reyvateil abilities awakening at a later point in their life, which are always the result of the union between a human and a Reyvateils, and have a rather relative low probability of awakening. Strictly speaking, since they are just humans that were erroneously recognized as Reyvateils by the Song Servers due to their strong Reyvateil factors, they typically are inferior to the Pureblooded β-Types due to the enormous difference in ability between each girl, which is why they are given a test called the Hexagonal Plate Test and from its results, they are assigned a rank that goes from A to D in Sol Ciel. Unlike the Reyvateil Origins and the Pureblooded β-Types, they grow and age in the same way humans do. As the Reyvateils abilities begin devouring their human life force after they awaken, they have extremely short life spans, thus requiring to have administered at fixed intervals a life extending agent called "Diquility" in order to prolong their lives. Without Diquility, the most they can live is around 20 years. Either way, even if they receive their needed Diquility doses, the most a Third Generation Reyvateil will live is around 40 years.
Reyvateil factors are inherited from parents to children, so there are normal humans that have Reyvateil blood in their genealogy, and in the case of males, they can have strong Reyvateil factors yet they will never manifest them, while there are also potential Reyvatiel women that carry the factors but don't manifest them. For example, the protagonist of the first game, Lyner, had an extremely high probability of awakening as a Third Generation Reyvateil if he had been born female due to the strength of the Reyvateil factors he carries.
However, there is an exception to this, as in the Sol Cluster region, the Neo Atlas Faction of Archia scattered several anomalous Reyvateil factors in preparation for execution their "Human Evolution Project", which fundamentally allows anyone to connect their minds to a Song Server regardless of gender or Reyvateil awakening, yet if these humans suffer a strong surge of emotion, they will fall into a condition that will cause them to go berserk and their minds to be completely destroyed. This is known as a disease called the "Border Disease", and the Origin of said region, Tyria, has once jokingly called the humans possessing these anomalous factors "Medleys".
Life Extending Agent.
The bodies of the Reyvateils are given form by the song of the Triangular Nuclear Loop in their bodies, but this only applies to the Origins and Pureblooded β-Types due to the Third Generations lacking one. Because of this, the LEM (Reyvateil Life Extension Mechanism) converts the Static H-Waves that serve as their human life force into Dynamic D-Waves through magic so they may serve as a substitute for the song of the Triangular Nuclear Loop. Due to this is that the lives of the Third Generations rarely go beyond 18 years, but by giving them the Life Extending Agent, which is a mass of Static H-Waves that lack any special characteristics, the LEM will give priority to the Static H-Waves from the Life Extending Agent instead of stealing it from their life force, allowing them to live relatively as long as normal humans (however, since the usage of Song Magic puts such a heavy strain on their human bodies, they won't live beyond 40 years at most).
There are two types of Life Extending Agents: the weaker one called "Tranquility", and the stronger one called "Diquility", but people generally refer to the Diquility when they talk about the Life Extending Agent. In the world of Sol Ciel (excluding the cities of Platina and Em Pheyna), the only groups capable of mass-producing the Diquility are the Church and Tenba, but the people that work for either of them can receive Diquilities free of charge, while on the other hand it is quite an expensive product in the market. Because of this, Third Generation Reyvateils that live in this region typically seek employment with any of them. On the world of Metafalss, Diquility was discovered and invented by the first Maiden of Mio, Infel, so the Grand Bell Hall began distributing it to all the Reyvateils in the region free of any charge. Said distribution doesn't only cover the capital city of Pastalia, but also all of the areas of the neighboring Rim, which makes it an environment in which Third Generations can live without much problem. Finally, in the world of Sol Cluster, particularly the areas of Archia and the Great Fang, the Diquility is handled under the same conditions as in the Wings of Horus in Sol Ciel: it is expensive and hard to obtain. Blocking techniques to suppress the Reyvateil factors were also discovered and used in this region, advertised as "operations that would allow anyone to cut off the Reyvateil factors and the connection to the Song Servers for a cheap price", but they actually were used as a front for horrendous experiments in which the server areas of these Reyvateil patients were forcibly rewritten.
In respect to the Install of the Life Extending Agent, while it is essential in all regions for all the Third Generations Reyvateils, at the same time, if someone aside of their relatives or bosses performs the Install, it must be someone with whom they are having a very deep relationship, as this act holds a meaning similar to that of sex for the Reyvateils, making it an extremely important experience for them when they are having the Install being done by anyone that is not directly related to them for the first time, and particularly more if it is a person with whom they are in love.
Install Port.
A birthmark like crest of around 5 cm of diameter that appears in the skin of all the Reyvateils in specific spots (though strictly speaking it isn't a birthmark, but part of the Grathnode compound in their bodies appearing on their skins). All of the Origins have it programmed to appear in their hips, but all other Reyvateils have their Ports appearing in very varied areas. It is through this Install Port that Grathnode Crystals can be Installed, as well as also being the place through which the Life Extending Agent is administered to Third Generations. As the Install Port carries such an important role in the maintenance of their own lives, as well as being said the part of the body that exposes the mind of the Reyvateil to anyone that looks at it, the Reyvateils will never show it to anyone excepting for people in which they have an extreme amount of trust.
As the order of configuration for the form of the Ports goes from Origins to βs, and from βs to Third Generations, the more it advances, the farther it gets from the predetermined patterns that were programmed for the ports of the Origins, and the more chaotic and fuzzy their shapes become. Long ago, the Gust Shop gave away removable tattoos in the shape of the Install Ports of the heroines from the first and second games as bonus campaign items, and as it can be seen from the fact they were preconfigured designs, the Ports of the Origins are the ones that resemble the most a complete circle.
However, the Install Ports themselves aren't visible in the in-game portraits or event stills due to design concerns, so as a general rule, they are never drawn for these kinds of art.
Song.
In the games, writing it with the starting letter in uppercase is used to refer to the Song Magic, lyrics and spells that are sung in the Hymmnos Language in order to distinguish them from normal songs. This same distinction is also applied to the verb "to Sing". In Japanese, the distinction is made by using the kanji "" with the reading "uta" instead of "shi", and using "謳う" instead of "歌う" (both read as "utau") for the verb.
Song Magic.
The magic that Reyvateils can use. It is invoked by singing or reciting spell phrases in a constructed language called the Hymmnos Language, and it is quite a strong weapon to wield in battle. All of the Reyvateils can materialize their fantasies into the real world in order to use them as attacks or protection, normally using Hymmnos to do so, which receives the name Song Magic. Typically, Song Magic is crafted by the act of the partner Diving into the Reyvateil's mind. Therefore, the trust the Reyvateils and their partners have for each other is of great importance for the crafting of Song Magic. However, there are exceptions, as there have been cases where a Reyvateil has crafted Song Magic in the real world all by herself, but it is a very rare phenomenon that only happens in situations that would cause extreme emotions to sprout in the heart of the Reyvateil, such as the death of a family member.
That aside, even humans that have managed to study the Hymmnos language and its origins in profundity are capable of using Song Magic, but since they wouldn't be able to receive the support of the Song Servers for it, their songs would display an extremely weak amount of power. However, there is an exception to this, as in one of the sidestory Drama CDs, the character that appeared in the first game, Spica Neal, managed to craft a Song Magic that rivaled in power that of the Reyvateils through an item called the "Carillon Organito" that was made by a little girl that resembled Krusche Elendia. However, given this was done without the support of a Song Server, it ended leaving her extremely tired.
Hymnos.
The name given to the special Songs that can control the Towers, which are formally known by the name Hymmnos Extracts. They are typically found sealed in containers called Hymn Crystals (called Hymmne Crystals in the Japanese version). They are different from typical everyday Song Magic (Hymmnos Words), and by extracting the "Feelings" contained in the device inside of the crystal in a ritual called the Download Ceremony, Reyvateils become able to craft and sing a new Song out of them. However, all Reyvateils basically need to have a control key called the "Hymn Code" (Hymmne Code in Japanese) in order to Download a Hymmnos Extract, so only specific Reyvateils are granted the privilege of the Downloads (however, this doesn't apply in the case of the IPDs: due to their different Song Server, they don't need Hymn Codes at all, so no IPD Reyvateil has a Hymn Code either).
However, it is because of this power that the Reyvateils have become such a prized existence in the era the games take place, as there were technologies that allowed to use Hymmnos directly and without doing so through a Reyvateil intermediary, but all such technologies were lost in the two great catastrophes that happened centuries ago.
Hymn Code.
An identifier used for distinguishing individual Reyvateils among all that are connected to the Towers, and it is used during the authentication process that takes place during the Downloads for Hymmnos. The Reyvateil Origins and the Pureblooded β-Types have their Hymn Codes registered in the database of the Tower, but the same doesn't happen for the Third Generations. Therefore, while Third Generations can use the battle Song Magic that is preinstalled in them (Hymmnos Words), they can't Download Hymmnos from the Hymn Crystals.
However, a few Third Generation Reyvateils have been able to Download Hymmnos from the Hymn Crystals and sing them. All of these were able to do this due to different reasons, all of which will be explained below:
Cosmosphere.
The mental world or Soulspace that exists within the mind of each Reyvateil. It is formed by strata that correspond to her surface psyche and her deep psyche. The world setting for each strata, or level of the Cosmosphere, greatly varies from a Reyvateil to other, but it will always reflect the personality of that particular Reyvateil. Several different iterations of that same Reyvateil, all of which represent different sides of her personality, also show up within the Cosmosphere. On the other hand, "Diving" is the act of interfering with the Cosmosphere, so there is a system called "Mind Guardians" that exist to protect the world of the Cosmosphere from people the Reyvateil herself doesn't want to interfere in her Cosmosphere or if she doesn't want them to proceed to a deeper stratum. However, it has been confirmed that getting infected by the IPD disease will cause the Mind Guardian to disappear.
The Cosmosphere is also a private space prepared for the Reyvateils within the Song Servers. Typically, a Cosmosphere has nine strata or levels, of which strata one to five correspond to the surface psyche, while stratum nine corresponds to the deepest layer of the psyche. All of the strata will have an area called the "Tower of Life", which represents the connection of the Reyvateil with her Tower. On the other hand, strata eight and nine can't be accessed in the IPDs due to how their minds are configured and the fact that they lack the border that isolates their ego from that of the other Reyvateils, the "Boundary Gate", in these strata (however, after the continent of Metafalica has been crafted and Infel Phira begins functioning as its Heart of the Land, the Boundary Gates will reappear in these strata, allowing access to them).
Diving.
The act of interfering with the Cosmosphere of a Reyvateil, which is made possible through the usage of institutions called "Dive Shops", which can be found in all the regions of Ar Ciel. Given that this requires the Reyvateil to lay bare the contents of her mind to the Diver, she won't allow anyone to do it: fundamentally, she will only allow this to a partner alongside which they have built a strong relationship of mutual trust. Therefore, when a Dive is in progress, the Diver will require a fixed amount of Dive Points (DP), which are a numerical representation of the trust existing between the Reyvateil and her partner, and are consumed every time the partner triggers an event in the Cosmosphere. When the partner interferes positively in the Cosmosphere of the Reyvateil through a Dive, the following happens:
Furthermore, in the ninth and final stratum of the mind of every Reyvateil is the place where they are connected to the Binary Field of their Song Server, which also serves as their power source. Therefore, the closer the Reyvateils get to the ninth stratum, the stronger the Song Magic they will craft.
Once they clear the ninth level, Reyvateils become able to freely access the resources of Tower, and since this also allows them to read the data recorded in it, this allows them to enjoy a game called a "Binary Field Game" alongside their partners.
However, this doesn't mean the Reyvateils have a scenario set up for every Diver being able to reach the ninth level: there are professional Divers prepared with knowledge about counseling and psychological therapy, but said knowledge becomes useless from the fifth level onwards due to that being the point in which the true feelings of the Diver and the Reyvateil begin clashing against each other, so in these cases, the scenarios are subconsciously prepared for the Diver to reach up only to the fourth and fifth levels.
Furthermore, if the Reyvateil subconsciously feels that the Diver fears her or is not serious about her feelings, she will prepare the scenario to not allow the Diver beyond an even shallower level, which should be natural, as no Reyvateil would want to allow such a person to even Dive into her in the first place.
As the Divers who have reached the ninth level have been said to be rare enough that only a few of them live in each era, they apparently are considered as candidates to heroes just from having managed to complete a Cosmosphere to the end.
Teru Tribe.
A race different from the humans that has existed since long ago in the planet that serves as the setting for the series. While they were born as the product of a cross between humans and non-human creatures from a different world, they have established their own community and set apart as a different race. Their physical characteristics include having a darker skin, horns and a tail (the horns and tail having a different size depending on which Teru school they belong to), and have a life span longer than that of the humans: a Teru can live around 200 years. They can also use special abilities that have no relationship at all with Song Magic, and depending on which abilities they can use, they fall in one of the twelve branches that are known as "schools". Long ago, their knowledge and abilities played a very important role in the construction of the Tower of Ar tonelico. On the other hand, a few of the schools received the name "Necrofamilies" in the region of Sol Cluster, one such example of them being the "Ayatane Necrofamily".
Long ago, their unique culture was born and nurtured in the forests of Syestine, where the Third Tower of Ar tonelico is currently located, and though it was a place rich in Songstone deposits, it was a territory that was always in dispute between the neighboring human countries and kingdoms, which tried to burn away the forest to then annex Syestine to themselves, all of which came to an end when Syestine was completely destroyed in the Seven Bloodstains Incident and the Teru joined the Sol Cluster Federation. While the Munoph (Ayatane) Teru School was supposed to use their ability to predict the future in order to avoid the happening of disasters, they instead used it to trigger the catastrophe that served as the cause for the complete destruction of the civilization that thrived during the First Era: the Grathnode Inferia.
Currently, the Teru all live only in the city of Em Pheyna in the world of Sol Ciel and actively avoid any contact with humans excepting for those living in Platina. Additionally, following the covenant they signed alongside the people of Platina, they continue protecting the areas where the most important facilities of the Tower are located, as well as keeping away the people of Tenba and the Church so they can't explore or investigate the Tower.
On the other hand, the Teru coexist with the humans in the world of Metafalss, and due to being the inventors of the technology used for Diving, most of them also make a living as Dive Shop clerks and operators. There are also half-breeds of Terus with humans and Reyvateils: they are descendants of the team of engineers known as the "People of Mio", and they used to live in the area known as Kanakana Pier.
On the world of Sol Cluster, the Teru school called "Munoph (Ayatane)" once prophesied that "the Reyvateils would take hold of the trigger for the restoration of the world", which is why they manipulated the Reyvateil country of Clustania from the shadows, but after the head of the Homuragi Necrofamily: "Homuragi Gentoku Rakujou", caused the "Ayatane War", the Archia Think Tank carried out a systematic extermination of all the living Necrofamilies, leaving them as forgotten existences. Currently, the only known living Necrofamily in this region is "Ayatane Kureha Kirinami", who was still a child at the time the Ayatane War took place, and after said war, he was sheltered by Clustania.
Below is a list of all the Teru Schools:
Products of the Series.
Related Products.
Items such as an OVA, manga and light novels have been released. For more details, please read the related media releases pages corresponding to each game. The Exa Pico universe was expanded in the Surge Concerto series, with the games "Ciel Nosurge" and "Ar Nosurge".
Web content.
Below is a simple explanation about the contents found in the official site "Ar Portal", which contains all of the following alongside developer's diaries and additional information about the game world.


Highway Pursuit

Highway Pursuit is a computer game remake of Spy Hunter created by British developer Adam Dawes in association with Retrospec, initially released in 2003.
Highway Pursuit puts players in control of a powerful sports car, in a world filled with enemy agents, seeking to take control of the road. Their mission is to destroy as many of these enemy agents as possible, without putting any civilian life at risk. Along the way, players will encounter varied terrain and weather conditions, a number of different enemy vehicles intent on their destruction, and also a few helpful pointers from their colleague, Ashley, back at HQ.
Development history and future.
The initial version of the game was developed over an 18-month period from mid-2002 until its release date on 12 November 2003. A subsequent version, v1.1, was released on 6 January 2005 with a variety of small improvements to the controls and flow of the game. In 13 November 2015, game gained a new update to version 1.2.3, that contains many fixes & 1920x1080 resolution support.
While the main game dynamic is based on the arcade game Spy Hunter, the design attempts to include new feature not included within the original game in order to add some originality. The main feature is the addition of voice communication from the player's base of operations, provided by a game character named "Ashley". The inspiration for this was provided by another classic racing game, Chase HQ.
The author has stated that there are no current plans for a sequel.
Cheats.
The original game did not contain any cheat modes, although a number of players found ways to hack into the game and adjust its score and life counters. Strangely, a German web site, "spieletipps.de", published a number of cheat codes for the game, none of which actually existed. After receiving numerous puzzled emails, the author decided to include the cheats into the second release of the game, adding several more at the same time.
Media coverage.
Highway Pursuit has appeared on the cover discs of a variety of computer magazines.
More notable appearances include:


Kidstreet

Kidstreet is a Canadian children's game show that aired from 1987 to 1992 and was hosted by Kevin Frank, with Kathy Morse as the announcer (one of the rare occasions of a woman holding this position; the pair also worked together on "The Next Line", which was in production at the same time as "Kidstreet" during its last season in 1991-92), who also worked as associate producer.
"Kidstreet" was produced by Blair Murdoch at CFAC/CKKX in Calgary and aired on the CanWest Global and WIC in Canada, with reruns later airing on America One in the United States. In the final season, production moved to CKVU-TV in Vancouver, where Frank simultaneously hosted "The Next Line". "Kidstreet", produced by Northstar Syndications, later Blair Murdoch Productions, was one of Murdoch's longest running game shows airing new episodes for 5 seasons.
Gameplay.
Three teams of two kids each (all siblings) sat in race cars and competed in a game where they find out how much they know about each other while trying to win prizes. Correct answers were always followed by overhead clapping, which became a trademark of the show.
In the 2020 documentary series "The Search for Canada's Game Shows", host Kevin Frank revealed that the overhead clapping came about when a sound operator angrily told everyone on set that normal clapping into the microphones ruined his sound mix and suggested the players clap above their heads from then on.
The Main game.
Round 1 (Lap 1).
One set of kid players dubbed the drivers were sent off stage while their sibling whom are dubbed passengers answered two or three "Newlywed Game"-esque questions posed by host Frank. The answers given by the passengers act as predictions because when the drivers return they were asked the same questions. Each time the team's answers match, they earn 1 point. Those points were shown on eggcrate displays behind the contestants in the back of the cars (Kidstreet was the only show in Canada to use this type of display; most other shows in Canada used a variation on the Ferranti font while most of Blair Murdoch's other shows used the Vane font). After the round, Frank would interview the contestants.
Round 2 (Lap 2).
This lap/round was played like the first lap/round but with two differences:
The Final Lap.
This works like the 25-point bonus question on "The Newlywed Game", for in this round the roles were back to the way they were in round one. The passengers were asked one final question worth 5 points if the drivers can match the answers. The team with the most points at the end of this round wins the game. A perfect score (meaning all answers in each round were matched successfully) would be 17 points. The other two teams would receive parting gifts such as "Kidstreet" t-shirts, Rucanor sneakers, which host Frank wore on the show, "Kidstreet" watches, Toys & Wheels gift certificates, a goodies bag, which included Coca-Cola, amongst other things, and a home game version of the show.
"Kidstreet" Rebus.
The winning team now had a chance to solve a bonus puzzle called the ""Kidstreet" Rebus" (similar to the game show "Concentration"). They faced a grid of 25 numbered squares. To start squares were revealed at the outset; the number of squares revealed was determined by how many points the winning team scored during the game (if the team achieved a perfect score of 17 points, then all 25 squares would be revealed). Then the team chooses five more squares to reveal, and were given 20 seconds to solve it (the clock was displayed in the form of a "gas gauge" that went down as the seconds passed). If successful, they win a grand prize package. If they don't when time runs out, they have 10 more seconds to solve it (with the audience's help). If they solve it this time, the clock stops, and the team wins up to 10 smaller prizes, depending on the remaining time.
The winners would then have a chance to gather prizes from a mass of toys assembled at the side of the stage. Typically sponsored by Toys and Wheels, the mass would feature teddy bears, cars and other toys.


Video games in Sweden

First 20 years of video game developing in Sweden was mostly done by separate individuals. Developing costs increased and industry structure became more complex over time. Mapping the business of Swedish game developing history has been relatively problematic because individuals was spread all over the country working with different platforms in PDP, C64, VIC-20, Amiga and PC. Home computers became the focus for the creativity among often self learned youths who got access during 1980s.
In 2018, the Swedish games industry generated €1.8 billion and it employed almost 8,000 people.
For 2017, there were 4.2 million gamers in Sweden who spent $411.7 million.
1980-1989.
After 20 years this led to game development to become project groups of game developers.
Graphical home computer VIC-20 came soon in 1980. Home computer Commodore 64 was released 1983. The game Space Action (1983) was developed by Arne Fernlund and published by Handic Software.


Petrolheads

Petrolheads was a BBC television panel game presented by Neil Morrissey, with team captains Richard Hammond and Chris Barrie. The show pitted motoring wits against each other and included car stunts shot on location. There were two guests each episode. The show was produced by Brian Klein ("Top Gear"), directed by John L Spencer and executive producers were Marie-Claire Walton and Steve Ayres. The theme music was by British composer Leigh Haggerwood. It was created and scripted by prolific author Norman Giller, with input from "Top Gear" writer Richard Porter and comedy scriptwriter Ged Parsons.
Despite being well received, the show was a victim of the BBC's change of programming personnel, as it was considered 'too laddish' yet some aspects of the format are used in "A League of Their Own".
Episode list.
The coloured backgrounds denote the result of each of the shows:


Seer (film)

Seer () is a 2011 Chinese animated fantasy adventure film based on an online game. It is about some robots on an airship called Seer who were off to find a legendary phoenix in a vast universe, they also had to fight off some evil space pirates who were blocking their way. It was released on July 28, 2011. The film is the first in a film series, being followed by "Seer 2" (2012), ' (2013), "Seer 4" (2014) and ' (2015).
Reception.
Box office.
The film earned at the Chinese box office.


Education Station

Education Station is a 2010 American television game show that was aired on Trinity Broadcasting Network. It was taped in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. The show is similar to Fox's "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?", but geared toward Christian educational entertainment. Produced by Greg Robbins, CEO of Uplifting Entertainment, "Education Station" is one of 11 television series created by the company since its 1999 foundation.
Format.
The show features four rounds of multiple choice questions from categories including English, Math, Science, History and the Bible. Teams of two faced off and any time a team lost a round, it was "gooped," which means a bucket of slime was dumped on team members' heads, or the team members received a pie in the face. Other aspects of the show include rolling the "dice of doom," "spill the beans" or "silly noodle."


Sicilian Defence, Katalymov Variation

In chess, the Katalymov Variation (also spelled Katalimov) is a less popular line of the Sicilian Defence that begins with the moves:
Discussion.
The Katalymov is considered inferior since it commits Black to a plan with ...b6 rather than more aggressive Sicilian defences incorporating ...b7–b5. Black must protect the b5-square, as an invasion by a white knight or bishop would be very annoying. For example, White retains a slight plus after 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Bb7 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bd3 g6 7.f4 Bg7 8.Nf3 d6 9.0-0 Nf6 10.Qe1 0-0 11.Qh4 Nbd7 12.Bd2.
The opening is a favorite of French GM Christian Bauer, with which he managed to draw a game in 2005 against currently top-ranked GM Magnus Carlsen. It has also been used by top players such as Gata Kamsky, Russian GM Pavel Ponkratov and Soviet GM Lev Psakhis.
The opening is named after Soviet IM Boris Katalymov (1932–2013).
References.
Bibliography


ARMA (series)

ARMA is a series of first-person tactical military shooters, developed by Czech studio Bohemia Interactive and originally released for Microsoft Windows. It features large elements of realism and simulation; a blend of large-scale military conflict spread across large areas alongside the more close quartered battles. The first game was released in 2006 and the most recent in 2013. Later games have been released on Microsoft Windows, Linux, Android and iOS.
History.
"ARMA: Armed Assault".
"ARMA: Armed Assault", known as "ARMA: Combat Operations" in the United States, is the first "ARMA" game, released for Microsoft Windows in November 2006 (Czech Republic/Germany), February 2007 (Europe) and May 2007 (U.S.) using the Real Virtuality 2.
"ARMA: Queen's Gambit".
"Queen's Gambit" is downloadable content for "Armed Assault"; it was released in September 2007 (EU) using the Real Virtuality.
"ARMA 2".
"ARMA 2" is the second full "ARMA" game, released for Microsoft Windows and released in June 2009 using the Real Virtuality game engine. The mod "DayZ" was released on this title, which requires the other standalone game title "Operation Arrowhead".
"ARMA 2: Operation Arrowhead".
"ARMA 2: Operation Arrowhead" is a standalone game for Microsoft Windows, released in June 2010 with the Real Virtuality 3 game engine.
"ARMA 2: Reinforcements".
"Reinforcements" is a standalone expansion of the original "ARMA 2". It includes the downloadable content ' and ' which can be purchased for any standalone "ARMA 2" title.
"ARMA: Cold War Assault".
In June 2011, Bohemia Interactive re-released "Operation Flashpoint" as "ARMA: Cold War Assault", as Codemasters retain the rights to the "Operation Flashpoint" trademark. Owners of "Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis" and the Game of the Year Edition may download and install the latest patch for free, and the game is available for purchase via a number of digital distribution channels. This release does not include the Red Hammer expansion, which was developed by Codemasters. The game uses the same engine, Real Virtuality, as the military simulator VBS1.
"ARMA 2: Firing Range".
"ARMA 2: Firing Range" is a standalone for Android and iOS and was released in July 2011.
"ARMA Tactics".
"ARMA Tactics" is a standalone game for Nvidia Shield and other Android devices with Nvidia Tegra3 and Tegra4. It was released in May 2013 using the Unity game engine.
"ARMA 3".
"ARMA 3" is a standalone game for Microsoft Windows, released on September 12, 2013 using the Real Virtuality 4 game engine. It was first open to the public on March 5 using Steam's Early Access program. In late 2015 – early 2016 it was also released for Linux and Mac in an earlier version, aiming to catch up with the main Windows version later.
"Arma Mobile Ops".
"ArmA Mobile OPS" is a standalone title for Android and iOS. It was released in June 2016.


Unfabulous

Unfabulous is an American teen sitcom that aired on Nickelodeon. The series is about an "unfabulous" middle school student and teenager named Addie Singer, played by Emma Roberts. The show, which debuted on September 12, 2004, was one of the most-watched programs in the United States among children between the ages of 10 and 16. It was created by Sue Rose, who previously created the animated series "Pepper Ann" and "Angela Anaconda", and co-created the character Fido Dido with Joanna Ferrone. The series ended on December 16, 2007, with the third season being the final season.
All the episodes are narrated by Addie, and are told in flashbacks. The show's theme song is performed by Jill Sobule, who also wrote the songs performed throughout the show.
Overview.
"Unfabulous"s main character is a teenager named Addie Singer (Emma Roberts), who writes songs about her life in middle school. Her best friends are Geena Fabiano (Malese Jow), who is interested in fashion and designs her own clothes, and the environmentally committed school basketball player Zack Carter-Schwartz (Jordan Calloway). They all attend Rocky Road Middle School in an unspecified East Coast city. However, in episode 34 "The Birthday" when Addie receives a letter from when she was 7 years old the address is listed as "Pinecrest, PA". Addie's older brother Ben (Tadhg Kelly) works at "Juice!", a smoothie bar where Addie and her friends often hang out after school.
Throughout the first season, Addie obsesses about her crush on Jake Behari (Raja Fenske), who already has a girlfriend.
For the majority of the second season, however, Addie is dating Randy Klein (Evan Palmer). They break up towards the end of the season and Addie realizes that she still likes Jake. The made-for-TV movie "Unfabulous: The Perfect Moment" focused on Addie and Jake getting together although Jake will be gone for the rest of the summer in Canada.
In the third season, Addie and Jake finally begin dating and Geena and Zack begin to have feelings for each other.
Cast.
Other appearances.
The show's main character, Addie Singer, also appears in a cross-over episode of "Drake & Josh" called "Honor Council", in which she helps Megan play a prank on Josh for a video Megan makes for her website. The episode aired in November 2004, a few months after both series had debuted.
Broadcast.
Since the series' cancellation, reruns continued to air until July 2008. The show aired reruns on The N but ended in late 2009. The show then returned to TeenNick on October 11, 2011, and lasted until April 2, 2012. The show returned to the channel again on December 3, 2012 but was pulled once again in 2015. Currently it is aired on Popgirl and Nickelodeon Canada.
Home media.
TEENick Picks, Volume 1 released on April 18, 2006 – features "The Little Sister" (Season 1, Episode 11)
Merchandise.
Along with the start of the second season in September 2005, Nickelodeon also began selling different types of "Unfabulous"-related merchandise, beginning with the album "Unfabulous and More" (see Soundtrack below). In November 2005, the album was followed by two books tying into the show, "Keepin' It Real" () and "Split Ends" (), both written by Robin Wasserman, and the first items in a line of clothes based on Addie's wardrobe on the show. Two more books were released in February 2006, "Starstruck" () and "Jinxed!" ().
Before the launch of the third season, a video game based on the show was released for the Game Boy Advance by THQ on September 25, 2006.
All episodes from the first and the second season (including "The Perfect Moment") were available for download in the iTunes Store in the U.S. since fall 2006, but are now not available anymore. They have since been put back for download as of 2012.
Soundtrack.
On September 27, 2005, shortly after the premiere of the show's second season, Columbia Records and Nick Records released the album "Unfabulous and More", which serves as both the show's soundtrack and as Emma Roberts' debut album.
The album includes several original songs (among them "Dummy" and "I Wanna Be", both of which were also released as music videos, "I Have Arrived", and "This Is Me", which was co-written by Roberts), as well as some of Addie's songs from the first season (however in newly recorded versions), including "Punch Rocker" and "New Shoes" (both from the episode "The Party"), "94 Weeks (Metal Mouth Freak)" (from "The Bar Mitzvah") and "Mexican Wrestler" (which had previously appeared on Jill Sobule's 2000 album "Pink Pearl" and in the "Unfabulous" episode "The 66th Day").
The album peaked at #46 on "Billboard"'s Heatseekers Albums.


Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi

Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi (), also known by the initialism NVOK, is an Indian Tamil language game show. It is the official Indian Tamil adaptation of the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" and its successful Hindi version "Kaun Banega Crorepati".
Since its inaugural episode on 27 February 2012, the show has aired on Star Vijay. The show's first season was hosted by Suriya until its end on 12 July 2012. The show's second season, hosted by Prakash Raj, commenced on 11 March 2013 and ended on 12 July 2013. After a two year hiatus, the show's third season commenced with a slightly altered format on 30 May 2016 with Aravind Swamy as host, and ended on 19 November 2016.
Background.
K. Sriram, the general manager of Star Vijay, claimed "Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi" to be "the first international format to hit the Tamil television screens". On the contrary, there was an earlier show named "Deala No Deala", the Tamil adaptation of "Deal or No Deal", which aired on Sun TV briefly in 2009–2010.
"Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi" is unrelated to the show "Ungalil Yaar Maha Latchathipathi", the official Sri Lankan Tamil adaptation of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" which aired since 2011 in Shakthi TV. R. Sarathkumar had hosted a show titled "Kodeeswaran", which followed a similar format and aired on Sun TV earlier.
Production.
Season 1.
In April 2011, "Business Standard" reported that actor Prakash Raj would host the licensed Tamil edition of the Hindi game show "Kaun Banega Crorepati", which was then titled "Ungalil Yaar Kodeeswaran". Actor Vijay was also considered to host the reality game show, but he declined the offer. Eventually, it was confirmed that actor Suriya would host the show.
The title of "Kaun Banega Crorepati"s Tamil version was later confirmed as "Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi". Suriya was initially apprehensive when approached, but after seeing the game format, he was "convinced it would work". The episodes for "Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi" were shot at AVM Studios in Chennai, where its Malayalam equivalent "Ningalkkum Aakaam Kodeeshwaran" was also shot. Suriya was paid per episode, and 40 episodes were planned for "Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi", thus amounting to a total remuneration of .
Season 2.
In December 2012, Suriya stated that he could not host the second season due to his prior commitments. Subsequently, Prakash Raj, who was earlier considered for the show's first season, and whose previous appearance on television was in the 2003 Tamil serial "Sahana", was finalised to host the show, making his debut as a television host.
Season 3.
In 2016, three years after the second season ended, Star Vijay confirmed that the show was renewed for a third season. Arvind Swamy, who was a celebrity guest on the show in the previous season, was announced as the host. The season commenced on 30 May 2016, with a slightly altered format; such as two contestants per game, a new lifeline called double-dip (replacing the 50-50 option), and the ability for players to set their preferred safe-heaven amount on the money tree prior to playing.
Game rules.
Show format.
The contestants must undergo an initial round of "Fastest Finger First", in which the host introduces the ten contestants of the episode and asks them all the same question. The contestants must then arrange the answers in the order described in the question. The contestant that places the four options in the correct order in the fastest time gets the chance to go on the "hotseat", i.e. playing the main game. All contestants must be over the age of 18 and a citizen and resident of India to be eligible. The person must not be a former contestant of the show and must be able to converse well in English or Tamil languages.
Each player will be asked fifteen questions, the prizes starting at and leading up to . The first five questions are considered to be relatively easy. The player has 30 seconds per question. The second five are relatively harder. The time limit for these are 45 seconds per question. The final five are considered to be the most difficult hard and become increasingly more so. These have no timer. There can be, and generally is, more than one player per episode.
The show's host asks each contestant a number of multiple-choice questions. Of the four options only one is correct. Players answer correctly to win an amount of money. They are then shown the next question and four answers. Successive questions are worth a greater sum of money. In most cases this is double the previous sum. Players who answer question numbers five and ten correctly find themselves in a situation where their winnings are "safe". This means they will not lose their winnings under any circumstances. This allows the players to hazard a guess for question six and question eleven. Players answering a question incorrectly are eliminated from the game and their winnings return to the previous "safe" amount. If the contestant was in the process of answering questions one to five, the safe amount would be zero; for those answering questions six to ten, the safe amount will be , and for questions eleven to fifteen, it will be . Players can decide to stop at any time, after seeing the next question, and take the winnings they have accumulated up to that point.
The lifelines.
Current lifelines.
For assistance, the contestant can use one, two or all three "lifelines" at any time during the game.
Contestants can use a lifeline when they are undecided which answer is correct. A contestant can use each lifeline only once. He can also use all lifelines on one question.
Reception.
Initial reception to the first season of "Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi" was generally positive, though the show eventually garnered a large viewership and recorded large target rating points. A major criticism was in the questions asked to players, that were thought to be of lower-than-usual difficulty. K. Sriram later noted, "the questions were not silly, the options were mocking. The feedback we got was: Don't mock your own questions. We've taken it as constructive feedback and put it to the Big Synergy team". Difficulty level of questions became more accepted among public in later episodes. "Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi" received 5 million viewers on its first episode of the third season.


Virtual camera system

In 3D video games, a virtual camera system aims at controlling a camera or a set of cameras to display a view of a 3D virtual world. Camera systems are used in video games where their purpose is to show the action at the best possible angle; more generally, they are used in 3D virtual worlds when a third person view is required.
As opposed to film makers, virtual camera system creators have to deal with a world that is interactive and unpredictable. It is not possible to know where the player character is going to be in the next few seconds; therefore, it is not possible to plan the shots as a film maker would do. To solve this issue, the system relies on certain rules or artificial intelligence to select the most appropriate shots.
There are mainly three types of camera systems. In "fixed camera systems", the camera does not move at all and the system displays the player's character in a succession of still shots. "Tracking cameras", on the other hand, follow the character's movements. Finally, "interactive camera systems" are partially automated and allow the player to directly change the view. To implement camera systems, video game developers use techniques such as constraint solvers, artificial intelligence scripts, or autonomous agents.
Third-person view.
In video games, "third-person" refers to a graphical perspective rendered from a fixed distance behind and slightly above the player character. This viewpoint allows players to see a more strongly characterized avatar, and is most common in action games and action adventure games. Games with this perspective often make use of positional audio, where the volume of ambient sounds varies depending on the position of the avatar.
There are primarily three types of third-person camera systems: the "fixed camera systems" in which the camera positions are set during the game creation; the "tracking camera systems" in which the camera simply follows the player's character; and the "interactive camera systems" that are under the player's control.
Fixed.
With a fixed camera system, the developers set the properties of the camera, such as its position, orientation or field of view, during the game creation. The camera views will not change dynamically, so the same place will always be shown under the same set of views. Games that use fixed cameras include "Grim Fandango" (1998) and the early "Resident Evil" and "God of War" games.
One advantage of this camera system is that it allows the game designers to use the language of film, creating mood through camerawork and selection of shots. Games that use this kind of technique are often praised for their cinematic qualities. Many games with fixed cameras use tank controls, whereby players control character movement relative to the position of the player character rather than the camera position; this allows player to maintain direction when the camera angle changes.
Tracking.
Tracking cameras follows the characters from behind. The player does not control the camera in any way - they cannot for example rotate it or move it to a different position. This type of camera system was very common in early 3D games such as "Crash Bandicoot" or "Tomb Raider" since it is very simple to implement. However, there are a number of issues with it. In particular, if the current view is not suitable (either because it is occluded by an object, or because it is not showing what the player is interested in), it cannot be changed since the player does not control the camera. Sometimes this viewpoint causes difficulty when a character turns or stands face out against a wall. The camera may jerk or end up in awkward positions.
Interactive.
This type of camera system is an improvement over the tracking camera system. While the camera is still tracking the character, some of its parameters, such as its orientation or distance to the character, can be changed. On video game consoles, the camera is often controlled by an analog stick to provide a good accuracy, whereas on PC games it is usually controlled by the mouse. This is the case in games such as "Super Mario Sunshine" or '. Fully interactive camera systems are often difficult to implement in the right way. Thus GameSpot argues that much of the "Super Mario Sunshine difficulty comes from having to control the camera. "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker" was more successful at it - IGN called the camera system "so smart that it rarely needs manual correction".
One of the first games to offer an interactive camera system was "Super Mario 64". The game had two types of camera systems between which the player could switch at any time. The first one was a standard tracking camera system except that it was partly driven by artificial intelligence. Indeed, the system was "aware" of the structure of the level and therefore could anticipate certain shots. For example, in the first level, when the path to the hill is about to turn left, the camera automatically starts looking towards the left too, thus anticipating the player's movements. The second type allows the player to control the camera relatively to Mario's position. By pressing on the left or right buttons, the camera rotates around Mario, while pressing up or down moves the camera closer or away from Mario.
Implementation.
There is a large body of research on how to implement a camera system. The role of a constraint solver software is to generate the best possible shot given a set of visual constraints. In other words, the constraint solver is given a requested shot composition such as "show this character and ensure that he covers at least 30 percent of the screen space". The solver will then use various methods to try creating a shot that would satisfy this request. Once a suitable shot is found, the solver outputs the coordinates and rotation of the camera, which can then be used by the graphic engine renderer to display the view.
In some camera systems, if no solution can be found, constraints are relaxed. For example, if the solver cannot generate a shot where the character occupies 30 percent of the screen space, it might ignore the screen space constraint and simply ensure that the character is visible at all. Such methods include zooming out.
Some camera systems use predefined scripts to decide how to select the current shot for commonly seen shot scenarios called film idioms. Typically, the script is going to be triggered as a result of an action. For instance, when the player's character initiates a conversation with another character, the "conversation" script is going to be triggered. This script will contain instructions on how to "shoot" a two-character conversation. Thus the shots will be a combination of, for instance, over the shoulder shots and close-up shots. Such script-based approaches may switch the camera between a set of predefined cameras or rely on a constraint solver to generate the camera coordinates to account for variability in scene layout. This scripted approach and the use of a constraint solver to compute virtual cameras was first proposed by Drucker. Subsequent research demonstrated how a script-based system could automatically switch cameras to view conversations between avatars in a realtime chat application.
Bill Tomlinson used a more original approach to the problem. He devised a system in which the camera is an autonomous agent with its own personality. The style of the shots and their rhythm will be affected by its mood. Thus a happy camera will "cut more frequently, spend more time in close-up shots, move with a bouncy, swooping motion, and brightly illuminate the scene".
While much of the prior work in automated virtual camera control systems has been directed towards reducing the need for a human to manually control the camera, the Director's Lens solution computes and proposes a palette of suggested virtual camera shots leaving the human operator to make the creative shot selection. In computing subsequent suggested virtual camera shots, the system analyzes the visual compositions and editing patterns of prior recorded shots to compute suggested camera shots that conform to continuity conventions such as not crossing the line of action, match placement of virtual characters so they appear to look at one another across cuts, and favors those shots which the human operator had previously used in sequence.
In mixed-reality applications.
In 2010, the Kinect was released by Microsoft as a 3D scanner/webcam hybrid peripheral device which provides full-body detection of Xbox 360 players and hands-free control of the user interfaces of video games and other software on the console. This was later modified by Oliver Kreylos of University of California, Davis in a series of YouTube videos which showed him combining the Kinect with a PC-based virtual camera. Because the Kinect is capable of detecting a full range of depth (through computer stereo vision and Structured light) within a captured scene, Kreylos demonstrated the capacity of the Kinect and the virtual camera to allow free-viewpoint navigation of the range of depth, although the camera could only allow a video capture of the scene as shown to the front of the Kinect, resulting in fields of black, empty space where the camera was unable to capture video within the field of depth. Later, Kreylos demonstrated a further elaboration on the modification by combining the video streams of two Kinects in order to further enhance the video capture within the view of the virtual camera. Kreylos' developments using the Kinect were covered among the works of others in the Kinect hacking and homebrew community in a New York Times article.
Real-time recording and motion tracking.
Virtual cameras have been developed which allow a director to film motion capture and view the digital characters movements in real time in a pre-constructed digital environment, such as a house or spaceship. "Resident Evil 5" was the first video game to use the technology, which was developed for the 2009 film "Avatar.
The use of motion capture to control the position and orientation of a virtual camera enables the operator to intuitively move and aim the virtual camera by simply walking about and turning the virtual camera rig. A virtual camera rig consists of a portable monitor or tablet device, motion sensors, optional support framework, and optional joystick or button controls that are commonly used to start or stop recording and adjust lens properties. In 1992, Michael McKenna of MIT's Media Lab demonstrated the earliest documented virtual camera rig when he fixed a Polhemus magnetic motion sensor and a 3.2 inch portable LCD TV to a wooden ruler. The Walkthrough Project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill produced a number of physical input devices for virtual camera view control including dual three-axis joysticks and a billiard-ball shaped prop known as the UNC Eyeball that featured an embedded six-degree of freedom motion tracker and a digital button.


Familetna

Familetna (, "our family") is an Algerian television game shows hosted by Mehdi Adjaout and starting since 2014 on Télévision Algérienne, A3 and Canal Algérie.
Familetna is the Algerian version of the French program "", adapted from the original American version Family Feud.
Depends on the competition between two different families, each consisting of 5 members over the age of 18 years. The program presents different questions from everyday life on both families, it includes four phases in addition to the final stage.
Gameplay.
All the questions raised in the program are collected by people from public roads and sidewalks located in the most important cities in Algeria. Namely Algiers, Oran, Biskra and Constantine.
Each question has several answers and each answer carries different points, when asking the questioner to ask, each team leader who knows the answer must press the button to calculate the answer as correct, if the answer has the largest number of points, the answer is counted and the remaining family members are taken to identify the remaining answers, and if the answer of the leader of the team who pressed the button carries the largest number of points, it is given another chance for the leader of the competing family to give the answer, if the latter knows the answer with the highest number of points, it will be easy to pass on to the rest of his family in order to identify the rest of the answers. If the answer is less than the answer of the leader who pressed the button for the first time, in order to complete all the solutions to the question.
When you pass on to a family member whose leader is able to know a particular answer if they give three wrong answers, you will be given a chance to the competing family to give another answer to the question. If a correct answer is found, the family that has identified the answer from the first time loses all its points.
Stages of the program.
The program consists of four stages, after which the team that collects the largest number of points will be determined, and then the final stage, which will have five questions to be answered in 20 seconds.
The first stage.
The challenge at this stage is between the leader of each family. The stage contains one question that includes 7 answers. Each answer has a different number of points.
The second stage.
The same first stage, however, the challenge is between the first individual of each family and not among the leaders.
The third stage.
The challenge is between the second individual of each family. This stage contains one question that contains 6 answers and each answer is worth double values.
The fourth stage.
The challenge is between the third individual of each family. This stage contains one question that contains 5 answers and each answer is worth triple-points.
The final.
After the fourth stage, the family that collected the largest number of points of the birds passed. That family earned 100 dinars for each point. At this stage, the family chooses two of its members. A person is isolated with black glasses and headphones. The other person is left to answer the five questions in 20 seconds. Each question contains different answers but one question contains the largest number of points. "Top answer", when completing the first person answer the five questions are going to the other person who will answer the same questions. The two persons must have a total score of more than or equal to 200 points in addition to their "Top answers".


Fun with Charades

Fun with Charades is an Australian television program which aired on Sundays from late 1956 to early 1958 on Melbourne station HSV-7. The show was originally hosted by Miles Maxwell, a school-teacher at Brighton Grammar School. Later episodes were hosted by Danny Webb. The format was near-identical to the American series "Pantomime Quiz", which itself saw an Australian version in 1957 on stations ATN-7 and GTV-9. It is not known if "Fun with Charades" was ever kinescoped.
Gameplay.
Two teams of four members compete. One member of the team is told the charade (which could be the title of a book, play, etc.) and without saying anything has to act it out, with his team needing to figure out the answer within 60 seconds.
See also.
The following game shows also debuted on station HSV-7 during late 1956:


Air Rescue

Air Rescue is a Sega arcade game released in 1992 (which runs on Sega System 32 hardware). A Master System game of the same name was released later in 1992, but had little in common with the arcade version. The two games are similar to "Choplifter", which Sega had adapted into a hit arcade game, but it never reached the success of the original, and the Master System version only came out in PAL territories.
Gameplay.
Both versions of "Air Rescue" share a similar concept to the original "Choplifter". The player must pilot a helicopter, land it near hostages/prisoners behind enemy lines, and return them to the safety of the base.
The arcade version uses a first-person perspective and features full 3D movement throughout its environment, represented with large numbers of scaled sprites. The player can ascend or descent freely, as well as yaw left and right and move forward and back.
The Master System features completely different levels and a less overtly military theme from its arcade counterpart and should not be considered a port or a conversion as much as a tie-in game. It more closely resembles the classic 2D gameplay of "Choplifter", but with levels that scroll in all directions. "Air Rescue" also features the ability to drop a rope ladder to rescue hostages without landing.
Reception.
In Japan, "Game Machine" listed "Air Rescue" on their May 15, 1992 issue as being the third most-successful upright arcade unit of the year.


Dragoon (anime)

 is a three-episode Japanese original video animation.
Plot.
May is the key to unlocking the deadliest weapon, known as the Dragoon. Early in the film, May is shown in a tube being controlled by two older men. She escapes and finds herself lost in the woods. While practicing his sword techniques, a young man named Sedon hears soldiers and airplanes nearby. He comes across a search party looking for May. Staying hidden behind a row of shrubbery, he starts to follow them before tripping over May, who is lying naked and unconscious on the floor.
Sedon takes May to his small cabin, built by his father, where she soon wakes up. The search party then finds the cabin and knocks on the door. Sedon and May escape just in time, but they are leaving tracks in the snow. To prevent being tracked, they run down a small nearby stream. The Searchers lose the trail and Sedon takes May back to his village, where he discovers that she has amnesia, and remembers nothing.


Orla Hermann Krause

Orla Hermann Krause (3 November 1867 – 28 September 1935) was a Danish chess master and analyst.
He took 2nd, behind Andreas Rosendahl, at Copenhagen 1895, took 2nd at Copenhagen 1899 (the 2nd Nordic Championship, Jorgen Moeller won), took 5th at Copenhagen 1907 (the 7th Nordic-ch, Paul Saladin Leonhardt won), shared 2nd, behind Paul Johner at Copenhagen 1916 (the 9th Nordic-ch), tied for 4-8th at Copenhagen 1924 (the 12th Nordic-ch, Aron Nimzowitsch won), and tied for 5-8th at Copenhagen 1934 (the 16th Nordic-ch, Nimzowitsch won).
Krause played for Denmark at first board (+4 –5 =6) in the 1st Chess Olympiad at London 1927, and won team silver medal there.
In 1938 a 49 page analysis titled "About the opening position in chess"was published by Jørgen Møller with the help of the danish chess association. It is written by Dr. Krause and passed onto Jørgen Møller for review shortly before Krause's death. In it, Krause investigates whether or not white has an inherent advantage from the opening position, and attempts to prove his point by proposing several laws. The analysis ends without any conclusive results, but with hopeful prospects for the "Beauty of chess".
His name is attached to the Krause Variation in the Queen's Pawn Opening (1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 c5!?). He found many new ideas in the Slav Defense in the 1920s (among others: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Nh4!?).


FamiliaDA

FamiliaDA ("Family Olympics") is the Romanian version of "Family Feud". It started airing the show in 2012 until 2014 on Antena 1. It is hosted by the actor Cosmin Seleși. It is shown on every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 20:00.
Since 2015, the show is now rebooted as ' ("What Say the Romanians?") on Pro TV hosted by Cabral Ibacka. In addition, while "FamiliaDA" had five members of two teams, ' only has four members of two teams. However, it came back to the original five members of two teams format since 2017. The set and logo were also inspired for the Czech Republican version called "Co na to Češi" ("What do Czechs") a remake of "5 proti 5" ("5 vs./Against 5" not to be confused with the Slovakian version of the same name) hosted by on TV Nova since 2016.
Rules.
Rules are roughly the same as the original US version.


Weakest Link (American game show)

Weakest Link is an American television game show that made its debut in 2001. It is an adaptation of the British television series of the same name.
The series made its debut on NBC on April 16, 2001, and with the exception of the first 3 episodes which all aired the same week, the series aired once a week for an hour as part of the network's primetime schedule. The network cancelled "Weakest Link" in 2002 and its final episode aired on July 14, 2002, with ten episodes left unaired. These were eventually shown on PAX and GSN years later.
While the primetime series was still being produced, NBC began developing a daily half-hour edition that would be syndicated to local stations. This version premiered on January 7, 2002, and aired for a season and a half with the last new episode airing on May 20, 2003.
In July 2020, a revival with Jane Lynch as host and executive producer was announced. The revival premiered on NBC on September 29, 2020. A second season of the revival was announced in January 2021.
Hosts and announcers.
As was the case with the British version, Anne Robinson hosted the NBC "Weakest Link". George Gray, whose most notable hosting experience to that point was on "Extreme Gong", hosted the syndicated version. Jane Lynch currently hosts the revival and also serves as its executive producer.
The show's voice-over announcers were John Cramer (NBC Original), Lisa Friedman (syndicated), and Debra Wilson (NBC revival).
Rules.
For the original American run and the 2020 reboot, the game was conducted in the same way as the British version, with a team of contestants trying to reach and bank a set target within the time limit by completing a chain of correct answers that would be broken with an incorrect answer or if a contestant decided to bank the money that was already in the chain by either saying the word "Bank" before the question was asked to them or (in the reboot version) saying "bank" and pressing a button on their podium. On NBC, the team was composed of eight people (six on a special half hour episode featuring contestants from the first season of "Survivor" aired on May 10, 2001, and five on a special celebrity edition aired during the 2001 NBA Finals) looking to win up to $1,000,000 ($500,000 for the NBA special). In the syndicated series, teams were reduced to six contestants and the potential top prize was significantly reduced. The first season offered a potential top prize of $75,000, and the second season saw that figure increased to $100,000.
The game starts with the winner of a backstage draw before the show began (unlike other versions where they start with the player whose name comes first alphabetically). The first round is played for 2 minutes 30 seconds on the NBC series and 1 minute 45 seconds on the syndicated series, and any money banked during the round is added to the team's overall prize total. If the team banked enough money to reach or exceed the target, the round ended immediately and any excess was forfeited. When time ran out, any unbanked money was lost. Any question in progress when time ran out was discarded, with the host revealing the correct answer only if it had been fully read.
At the end of a round, regardless of the outcome, each contestant secretly votes for the person they want to eliminate from the game; they are forbidden from voting for themselves. After votes are revealed one at a time, the contestant who received the most votes is eliminated from the game and leaves with a curt dismissal from the host: "You are the weakest link. Goodbye." In the event of a tie, a tiebreaking vote is cast by the contestant who was named as its "strongest link".
The time limit decreased in each round after the first (10 seconds per round on the NBC series, 15 seconds for the syndicated one). Play would begin with the strongest link from the previous round, or the second-strongest if the former had been eliminated.
After six rounds of play on the NBC series and four on the syndicated series, the team had been reduced to two members. For the 2001–02 run of the NBC series, a seventh round was played for 90 seconds (1:30) with the two remaining team members. Any money banked in this round was doubled and added to the bank from previous rounds to determine the final prize total.
The abbreviated first season of the syndicated series also used the double stakes round, which was conducted for 45 seconds with the last two contestants. The change in the potential top prize for the second season resulted in this round being cut from the show. Instead, the game ended after the fourth round and the two surviving contestants after the last vote advanced to the final round to play for the accumulated money in their bank.
Six timed rounds are played in the 2020 revival, with question values and target totals increasing from one to the next, no rounds are played for double value. The target begins at $25,000 in the first round and increases to $500,000 in the sixth, allowing for a potential maximum bank of $1,000,000.
Money chains.
Question and target values during the NBC and syndicated runs of the series are displayed in the table below.
Final round.
The final round was a head-to-head showdown between the two surviving team members. The NBC series allowed five turns per contestant, while the syndicated series allowed three (which was previously used during one half-hour celebrity episode and one 15-minute celebrity episode). Before the round, the strongest link from the previous round was given the choice of whether to play first or second. In the second syndicated season and 2020 NBC reboot, the choice went to the second-strongest link if the two had eliminated the strongest link in the final vote.
The host would then ask one question at a time to each contestant, alternating back and forth. If one contestant missed a question, the opponent was not permitted to answer. The round ended when all questions had been asked or when one contestant attained an insurmountable lead over the other, whichever came first. The winner of this round was named the day's strongest link and won all the money in the bank, while the runner-up received nothing.
In the event of a tie, the host continued asking pairs of questions until only one contestant answered correctly, winning the bank.
Ratings.
The NBC version of "Weakest Link" started off well in the ratings, but quickly began to slip. The producers attempted to boost the ratings with large numbers of episodes featuring celebrities as the contestants, as well as others in which the team played on behalf of a selected charity. However, these changes caused the ratings to fall even further and accelerated the show's cancellation.
The syndicated "Weakest Link" performed well in its abbreviated first season and earned a renewal for a full second season in 2002, but it also experienced a sharp drop in ratings that led to its cancellation at the end of the season. Many stations opted to replace it with other programming, such as a daily syndicated edition of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", resulting in its being moved to an undesirable time slot or dropped altogether.
International release.
In May 2001, the BBC began to show episodes of the American NBC primetime version. These were billed as 'Weakest Link USA' in programming guides, although the title sequence was not altered to reflect this fact. Break bumpers and references to commercial breaks were removed and alternative credits were used (these credits were used when GSN began reairing the series). Notably, despite the show being produced by the BBC, the famous 'BBC Blocks' were not included (as was a requirement at that time for all BBC produced or funded programming) in the title sequence. The BBC did not air the 30-minute syndicated version.
Specials.
Various specials aired on both the NBC and syndicated versions. Occasionally the contestants on these episodes all had something in common, such as an episode featuring celebrities, family members, contestants with the same occupation or Halloween and Christmas episodes in which all the contestants wore holiday-themed costumes. Other episodes invited back previously-losing contestants, either those who had lost in the final round or those who were eliminated in the first round of voting on their original episode.
Celebrity episodes were common on the NBC version, in which all participants played for charity (as is traditionally the case with most celebrity editions of game shows), and eliminated celebrities still won $10,000–$25,000 for their respective charities; for this reason, the last two words of John Cramer's opening spiel "the rest will leave with nothing" were omitted, while Anne's farewell to the final round loser was changed from "you leave with nothing" to "you will just go away".
Revival.
On July 8, 2020, it was announced that actress Jane Lynch would host a revival of the show on NBC, featuring a few modern twists, such as picture clues on the contestants' podium screens. The revival premiered on September 29, 2020. On January 25, 2021, the revival series was renewed for a second season of 13 episodes.
CTV airs the reboot in Canada.


Trashed (game show)

Trashed was a television game show that ran on MTV from February 14 to July 23, 1994 with Chris Hardwick as host.
Premise.
Two teams of two players each competed in a junk-filled studio to answer questions based on music videos and pop culture. Each team brought six treasured items from home, three per player, and risked having them destroyed ("trashed") if they performed poorly in the game.
Main Game.
Rounds 1 and 2.
At the start of Round 1, each team put three items at risk and Hardwick asked a toss-up question to establish initial control, with no points at stake. The team that won control chose one of their opponents' items; Hardwick then announced a category and asked three toss-up questions worth 50 points each. The challenged team had to answer two questions correctly in order to save the item; if they failed to do so, it was trashed in full view of them and the audience. If the same team won the first two questions, the third one was discarded and the item's fate was immediately decided. The team that won the category took/kept control and chose one of their opponents' items.
The round ended after two categories had been played. Round 2 was played under the same rules, with each question now worth 100 points. Each team's remaining three items were put at risk, and the team that won the second category of Round 1 had initial control.
Categories.
Categories typically dealt with pop culture, music videos, or random trivia. On occasion, a skit would be presented, after which the contestants would have to answer questions about the skit or from the performers themselves. Examples of categories included "The Naked Trucker" and "Where in the Hell is Mayim Bialik?" (a satire of the computer game/game show, "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?").
Trashing.
When an item was to be trashed, plexiglas shields were put in place to protect the teams and audience from flying debris and Mark Fite (referred to as "Mark the Trasher") carried out the destruction, occasionally assisted by show model/announcer Andrea Wagner. Methods of trashing included crushing, detonation, irreparable defacement, and cutting to pieces. If the intended trashing failed to destroy the item to Fite's satisfaction, he would finish the job by smashing it with a sledgehammer.
Survival Round.
One member of each team put him/herself at risk of being trashed, while their partners answered 150-point toss-up questions for 39 seconds. Every question could be answered with one of three similar-sounding choices listed by Hardwick, such as "C. Everett Koop", "C. Thomas Howell", and "C. B. DeMille". When time ran out, the higher-scoring team won a prize and advanced to the bonus round, while the at-risk contestant on the losing team was subjected to a messy and/or humiliating punishment. The losers received a cheap, tacky parting gift (such as a "Simpsons" chess set) and were also required to do 10 hours of community service.
Bonus Round.
The winners sat face to face, each with three television screens placed behind him/her on which music videos were playing. They alternated roles, one player describing a video and the other trying to guess the band in it, and won a grand prize if they solved all six before time ran out. The clock was set to 30 seconds, plus five more for every one of the team's items that had not been trashed, for a maximum of 60 seconds. Players were not allowed to name any band members, albums or songs; use any part of the band name; sing, hum, or whistle any part of a song; or recite any lyrics.
Ongoing gags/jokes.
"Trashed" had several ongoing comedy bits that were emphasized, usually involving the trash theme and/or humiliating the contestants. These included:
Additional notes.
Comedians Brian Posehn, Doug Benson, Chris Henchy, Dave "Gruber" Allen, Steve Higgins, David Anthony Higgins and Joel Hodgson were on the writing staff and occasionally performed skits during the first two rounds.
The show used different scoring displays for each team: a yellow podium with an eggcrate display for one, a purple podium with a vane display for the other. The timer for the Survival Round and bonus round had an eggcrate display and was attached to a platform above the stage, where Wagner stepped on a foot pedal to activate it.