837: R1 to Brood
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Game » consists of 3 releases. Released Sep 23, 2009
Extraterrestrials appear in many video games in a variety of styles. Sometimes they're evil, sometimes they're benevolent, and sometimes they're very similar to humans.
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, commonly refers to the programmed behaviors of NPCs in a game, whether it's the fact that a soldier takes cover behind a wall in Gears of War, or that townspeople cheer upon your arrival to their village in Fable.
Bosses are enemies that fight you at the end of a level or at a significant point in the story.
A boss fight is a culminating challenge that pits the player against one or more enemies representing a greater threat and/or difficulty than those previously faced. These scenarios typically feature unique antagonists.
The continue is a classic gaming concept, and usually arises when the player "dies" or fails in the game. Usually some loss is tied to a continue, in a form of a "life" or something of other value.
The main line of distinction between victory or failure in video games, death is the process of a biological being ceasing to be alive.
The concept of purchasing media and having it delivered over the internet. No physical representation of this content is given, and although the content resides on the user's hard drive they are typically granted a license to the product, rather than ownership of it.
A powerful release of energy. This energy is usually expelled in all directions very quickly, typically giving off orange or red flames.
Earning an extra life, either by collecting a 1up or by hitting a certain score.
A commonly used programming API for interactive sound creation and playback in games.
Game Over originally appeared in pinball machines, and later, arcade machines. When players lose at a game, it is game over.
In many games there is a ranking system, the players with the highest point value are listed in a "high score" table.
A hostile artificial intelligence, or "rogue AI", is a synthetic being that has turned on its creators. Among the most famous rogue AIs from video games are SHODAN (System Shock) and GLaDOS (Portal).
Indie Gala is a pay-what-you-want bundle of indie games. Much like the Humble Indie Bundle, the purchase price is split between the game developers, two charities, and Indie Gala itself.
A leaderboard is a way for players of any multi-player game to know where they rank within the game's community.
The concept of lives in video games evolved to let the player get a second chance after failing once. The most recognizable symbol is the heart.
Options menus give you the option to change anything the game lets you change. Whether you want subtitles or not, sound effects or not, the game to be harder or not, anything you want that the game lets you change, you can change in the options menu.
Various effects using "particles" (billboard/sprite planes or full models).
Physics play an important part in this game in solving puzzles and/or combat. Notable examples include the Gravity Gun from Half-Life 2, and the Force Powers from Star Wars: Force Unleashed.
Power Ups can be used to give the controlling character, or any other character, temporary or permanent upgrades.
Games on Xbox Live that are no longer available for purchase on the Xbox Games Store.
Multipliers award players for playing well continuously. Racking up multipliers is crucial in any point based game in which they are featured.
Space is usually empty, but sometimes it's filled with virtual death machines.
A digital distribution service owned by Valve Corporation. Originally created to distribute Valve's own games, Steam has since become the de facto standard for digital distribution of PC games.
Valve's counterpart to Microsoft's popular achievement system.
Steam Trading Cards is a built in feature in the Steam client. It lets users collect cards from certain games and trade them and receive rewards for complete sets.
Some games force you to try and survive as long as possible without losing, or tasks you with surviving a certain number of "waves" of enemies before granting you victory.
A disembodied voice that narrates or announces certain game aspects, like the round counts in fighting games or instructing the player to select a character.
Whether by item or otherwise, temporary invincibility provides the user a brief moment where they are impervious to attack.
In many MMOs, some items, typically keys, will disappear from your inventory once you log out.
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