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First-Person is a vantage point that attempts to simulate looking through a game character's eyes. It is most commonly found in first-person shooters, racing games, and visual novels, and to a lesser extent in other genres, such as RPGs, 3D platformers, and adventure games.
Fog plays an important role in many games. In games like Silent Hill, it's an atmospheric element. In other games, it's artificially added to reduce draw distances to save memory and increase framerate.
Some first-person games that wish to immerse the player in the experience more will go as far as to include full body awareness, or the ability to see the player character's body when looking down.
GamersGate is a client-free digital distribution service.
A digital distribution platform that focuses on providing DRM-free computer games, both old and new.
Derived from the Spanish word for "little war", guerrilla warfare is waged by a small and mobile armed force against a larger, more regimented force. It typically involves the use of ambushes, sabotage, and other offensive tactics meant to overcome an enemy's greater numbers.
A heads-up display is a graphical overlay of vital information used in most modern games.
Most modern shooting games add the realistic touch of rendering shots to the cranium instantly fatal. Glorious for the shooter, kind of a bummer to the shootee.
Health is a value that gauges how much damage players can take in a game before they die or pass out. Also known as life in some games. Health is usually represented by a bar or a percentage instead of an exact amount. Found in most non sport games
A console game is high definition if it operates at a resolution of at least 720p, or 1280x720. A console able to achieve this resolution is HD-capable. For a variety of reasons, the term does not apply to PC games.
A rendering technology using lighting with a larger dynamic range to create more realistic images.
A school of game design often associated with Looking Glass Studios, in which the player is free to act as they choose in a richly simulated world. The term was coined by Warren Spector in his Deus Ex post-mortem.
Whether it be a close up shotgun blast, far away sniper rifle, explosive, or backstab, the "one hit kill" is a popular kill strategy. Usually hard to master and even harder to avoid, the instant kill is loved and hated by gamers everywhere.
A new gametype in Halo: Reach. the objective of the game is for the attacking elites to breach security and steal a precious data core while the spartans try to shut them out.
It's arguably the one move that symbolizes the medium to those outside it. The ability to jump, be it onto a building, a platform, or a skull, is one of the all time most important abilities ever put in a video game.
Leaning is a concept that allows a character to angle their body. Often used to look around corners. Primarily found in First Person Shooters.
A graphical effect used in video games where an object blocks light and around the edges of the object the light is significantly brighter than normal.
One of the smaller innovations in the gaming industry was making the player's targeting reticle change colours depending on the situation.
Armed forces. The arm of government that deals with fighting wars and protecting a nation from external or internal threats
A list and grouping of military jargon in games
All militaries have some kind of uniform.
For games that feature a mission briefing before gameplay.
Much like a map editor but with the ability to design ones own missions; first seen used in Operation Flashpoint series
Oftentimes developers will release the tools they used to create a title to the fans that play it. This Mod Support allows normal gamers to re-define their gaming experience and share their work with the public, promoting creativity and community.
PC games that support the use of two or more monitors.
Sometimes we will go a whole game without knowing the true name of a protagonist. Oftentimes, this is remedied by unique references being made towards the protagonist, such as "The Wanderer," "The Kid," or "The Man With no Name."
Combat between ships dates back to antiquity, and in the 20th century expanded to include the use of aircraft.
Characters controlled by the game for players to interact with, as opposed to player characters which are controlled by whomever is playing the game.
Non-linear level design where the player is able to freely traverse the game world and choose where and when to visit certain areas in the game.
Persistent bullet holes allows players to shoot holes into walls without them disappearing right away. This feature added realism to first person shooters, as well as the ability to draw smiley faces.
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