Sonic the Hedgehogis a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main Sonic the Hedgehog games are platformers mostly developed by Sonic Team; other games, developed by various studios, include spin-offs in the racing, fighting, party and sports genres. The franchise also incorporates printed media, animations, feature films, and merchandise.
BioWareBioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, alongside Trent Oster, Brent Oster, and Marcel Zeschuk. Since 2007, the company has been owned by American publisher Electronic Arts. BioWare specializes in role-playing video games, and achieved recognition for developing highly praised and successful licensed franchises: Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
Resident Evil 4Resident Evil 4 is a survival horror game developed and published by Capcom for the GameCube in 2005. Players control special agent Leon S. Kennedy who is on a mission to rescue the US president's daughter, Ashley Graham, who has been kidnapped by a religious cult in rural Spain. Leon fights hordes of enemies infected by a mind-controlling parasite and reunites with the spy Ada Wong. In a departure from the fixed camera angles and slower gameplay of previous Resident Evil games, Resident Evil 4 features a dynamic camera system and action-oriented gameplay.
Fifth generation of video game consolesThe fifth generation era (also known as the 32-bit era, the 64-bit era, or the 3D era) refers to computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld gaming consoles dating from approximately October 4, 1993, to March 23, 2006. For home consoles, the best-selling console was the Sony PlayStation, followed by the Nintendo 64, and then the Sega Saturn. The PlayStation also had a redesigned version, the PSone, which was launched on July 7, 2000.
DualShockThe DualShock (originally known as Dual Shock; trademarked as DUALSHOCK or DUAL SHOCK; with the PlayStation 5 version named DualSense) is a line of gamepads with vibration-feedback and analog controls developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation family of systems. Introduced in November 1997, it was initially marketed as a secondary peripheral for the original PlayStation, with updated versions of the PlayStation console including the controller, Sony subsequently phased out the controller that was originally included with the console, called the PlayStation controller, as well as the Sony Dual Analog Controller.
DreamcastThe Dreamcast is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nintendo's GameCube, and Microsoft's Xbox. The Dreamcast was Sega's final console; its 2001 discontinuation ended the company's eighteen years in the console market. An internal Sega team led by Hideki Sato began developing the Dreamcast in 1997.
Razor and blades modelThe razor and blades business model is a business model in which one item is sold at a low price (or given away for free) in order to increase sales of a complementary good, such as consumable supplies. It is different from loss leader marketing and free sample marketing, which do not depend on complementary products or services. Common examples of the razor and blades model include inkjet printers whose ink cartridges are significantly marked up in price, coffee machines that use single-use coffee pods, electric toothbrushes, and video game consoles which require additional purchases to obtain accessories and software not included in the original package.
128-bit computingGeneral home computing and gaming utility emerge at 8-bit (but not at 1-bit or 4-bit) word sizes, as 28=256 words become possible. Thus, early 8-bit CPUs (TRS 80, 6502, Intel 8088 introduced 1976-1981 by Commodore, Tandy Corporation, Apple and IBM) inaugurated the era of personal computing. Many 16-bit CPUs already existed in the mid-1970's. Over the next 30 years, the shift to 16-bit, 32-bit and 64-bit computing allowed, respectively, 216=65,536 unique words, 232=4,294,967,296 unique words and 264=18,446,744,073,709,551,615 unique words respectively, each step offering a meaningful advantage until 64 bits was reached.
Video game controversiesVideo game controversies refers to a wide range of debates on the social effects of video games on players and broader society, as well as debates within the video game industry. Since the early 2000s, advocates of video games have emphasized their use as an expressive medium, arguing for their protection under the laws governing freedom of speech and also as an educational tool. Detractors argue that video games are harmful and therefore should be subject to legislative oversight and restrictions.
Dolphin (emulator)Dolphin is a free and open-source video game console emulator for GameCube and Wii that runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S. It had its inaugural release in 2003 as freeware for Windows. Dolphin was the first GameCube emulator that could successfully run commercial games. After troubled development in the first years, Dolphin became free and open-source software and subsequently gained support for Wii emulation. Soon after, the emulator was ported to Linux and macOS.
