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A scripted random event that may or may not have been intended by the developers. A source of much unintentional comedy & frustration. An example would be the Imperial foresters fighting each other over deer. Another would be a tribe chieftain getting kidnapped by UFO's in Spore.
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.
A rogue character who doesn't obey the law, bandits are known to steal from people for their own selfish gain.
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.
Glass that can be broken and destroyed in real-time.
A condition in which two male characters are socially close, but not sexually or romantically, and are often partners.
Bullet time is a gameplay mechanic that allows players to slow down time. Depending on the game itself, the player often slows down along with the world around them, however occasionally the player can simply move at normal speed while the game world continues to slow.
A sight placed on the HUD used to aim and provide a point of reference to the player when looking and interacting with the game world. Although they often aim weapons, they have a variety of uses and have appeared in many games in many different forms.
The main line of distinction between victory or failure in video games, death is the process of a biological being ceasing to be alive.
A destructible environment means the player has the ability to destroy his/her surroundings. This allows players to use the environment to their advantage.
In most shooters missiles are indestructible, but there is games where they can be destroyed by projectiles
Voice actors don't always get an NPC to represent them. Sometimes voices have no visible speaker.
Rapidly firing your weapon of choice at the general direction of the target. Usually used when talking about light gun games
The 1995 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles California on May 11-13.
The 1996 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles California on May 16-18.
An environmental hazard that can be exploited to inflict massive areal damage, exploding barrels are one of the most ubiquitous objects to be found in games. The most common methods of ignition include shooting and throwing. Exploding barrels are usually distinguished from the non-exploding kind by a conspicuous red tint.
In real life, vehicles rarely explode unless an actual explosive device is involved. Like, it almost never happens. In video games, on the other hand, cars will blow up real good with almost no encouragement.
A powerful release of energy. This energy is usually expelled in all directions very quickly, typically giving off orange or red flames.
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.
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.
Death From Above.
Henchmen are the loyal grunts caught in between the player and the main antagonist. Without them every game would be nothing more than a boss battle.
In many games there is a ranking system, the players with the highest point value are listed in a "high score" table.
Hostages exist to be saved, guarded, and occasionally executed.
A Light Gun controller is used on some arcade games and very few console games. You point it at the screen, pull the trigger, and people die.
Limb Targeting is the ability to target specific limbs on the body with the object being either to disable the limb or kill the target faster. It may also be referred to as the "Limb System" or "Localized Damage".
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.
Various games purposefully don't include blood when realistically there should be fountains of gore to avoid getting an adult rating and sell to a wider audience.
An on-rails game behaves much like a train: while sometimes the player can choose which path is taken, they cannot deviate from it. Sometimes on-rails games even go so far as to decide when the player moves.
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