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In games, fire can be an obstacle, a tool, a weapon, or a solution. Just don't play with it...unless you really want to.
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.
Cold-blooded aquatic animals that have scales and breathe through gills.
The fixed camera was made famous by games such as the Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid franchises. Depending on the camera set, up could be down and left could be right. Even in the later generation of consoles, games like the God of War franchise still use this technique.
It's not just for airplanes anymore: Game mascots and MMO players alike have taken to the skies. Players can use flight to quickly navigate large levels, find hidden items, or take opponents down.
The floppy disk is a symbol for saving data that originated back when floppies were still the dominant format for computer games, but has persisted long after the technology became obsolete.
Footprints are visible marks left behind by a character walking.
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.
FMVs are pre-rendered videos used in place of real-time graphics. Using FMV was an attempt to make videogames look "more like movies", sometimes with CGI animation and others with live-action actors speaking directly to players. The downside is that FMV requires a lot of disk space, and live-action FMV in particular can look terrible by comparison.
Game Over originally appeared in pinball machines, and later, arcade machines. When players lose at a game, it is game over.
The concept of a game referencing another game through mockery, parody or even directly. A game reference to the same franchise does not count.
GamersGate is a client-free digital distribution service.
Whenever there's a new Pixar, superhero or Harry Potter movie they have to make one of these.
Some games have a complicated history.
An Xbox 360 and Games for Windows Live feature that lets you purchase and download full Xbox, Xbox 360, and PC games through the Live Marketplace.
A characteristic many game characters share when their eyes emit a colored light instead of what a regular eye should look like. This is often evident in robots and characters possessed by some evil force.
Greatest hits is a general term for re-releases of games which have sold a certain number of copies, as part of a program managed by the console manufacturer.
A heads-up display is a graphical overlay of vital information used in most modern games.
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
In many games there is a ranking system, the players with the highest point value are listed in a "high score" table.
Hotseat multiplayer mode allows multiple people to play the same game on one system. This generally only applies to turn based games such as Civilization IV or Advanced Wars.
A hub is the central location from which a player can venture out into different areas of a game. It is often used as a clever way of masking loading between levels or worlds.
Humans are bipedal, sapient primates capable of abstract reasoning, language, and emotions.
When stuff that always used to work suddenly break down when you need it the most and you either have to fix it or find another way around.
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.
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.
The delay between what you do and when it actually happens, latency can result in a lessened ability to enjoy a game or get high scores.
When the title of the game does not appear immediately at the beginning of the game, but rather after the first mission or prologue.
Games released coinciding with new hardware.
A leaderboard is a way for players of any multi-player game to know where they rank within the game's community.
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