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Graffiti is the practice of painting, etching, stickering, pasting, or in any way marking public or private property with lettering or images for a variety of different ends. Depending on one's perspective, graffiti can be considered either art or vandalism.
Games in which players are guided through the game by characters via radio communication. Extremely popular narrative device and game mechanic in the current generation of video games.
A heads-up display is a graphical overlay of vital information used in most modern games.
More effective than any hospital. These games let you heal damage; ranging from a black eye to a gunshot wound, just by having a snack.
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.
A gameplay mechanic allowing players to store their items and freely carry them around.
A game mechanic where the player's possessions occupy a certain amount of space on a matrix; inventory items can be manually manipulated to fit within the grid.
Sometimes, players experience an unfortunate event that results in all their weapons and items being taken away from them.
A method of attempting to scare the player by the sudden unexpected occurrence of an event - often accompanied by some sort of audio sting.
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.
Lens Flare is a dynamic graphical effect that emulates visual artifacts that can appear on an image captured by a camera with a lens. This effect is not limited only to sunlight.
The maximum capacity for leveling up something in-game (usually a character).
The process by which characters reach a new level, gain greater attributes, and learn more abilities. It usually involves earning enough experience points by completing a variety of tasks such as quests or by "farming" such as killing other characters for their experience points.
One of the smaller innovations in the gaming industry was making the player's targeting reticle change colours depending on the situation.
Sometimes, a key just won't cut it. When you really need to get through a locked door or open a sealed chest, you need a certified master of unlocking, complete with a lock-pick.
These games feature devices that bear strong resemblances to real-life game devices, yet are named differently and are used for purposes other than gaming.
A game where you eventually receive a map of an area. Like in Metroid Prime you have map download stations to get a map outline of the area. This is the same concept in the exploring Castlevania games.
From Beat-em-ups to fighting games to modern FPS, one dude hitting another has made an enjoyable pastime.
Entering in-game menus like quest logs or inventories does not pause the gameplay.
Somebody wrote or drew a message on the wall, maybe it was in blood, maybe they had a marker handy; but now here you are, reading it.
When a game has a single player campaign that isn't its own separate thing, but rather just a series of multiplayer-style matches that you play against, and/or work alongside with, computer controlled "bots" instead of other players.
No HUD games are ones that either lack a Heads Up Display, or find a way to integrate it into the game environment. Many games do this to add a sense of immersion or artistic quality to their games, or to reduce screen clutter.
Game bundled with gaming hardware (usually a console) in order to boost sales. Most often these games are first party titles, meaning that the hardware and software are products of the same company.
The ninth annual PAX Prime took place between August 31-September 2, 2012 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, Washington.
A concept where the game must be restarted if you are killed. It is a mechanic found in most arcade games, but the term is usually used in reference to the RPG genre where the mechanic is less common, particularly "roguelike" games as well as strategy games such as Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics where characters die if they are defeated in battle. Often used as a significant plot device.
A persistent world is a game environment that is permanent and dynamic. This is seen in many MMO's.
Police are paid protectors who enforce the law through legal use of force. They are supposed to help ensure public safety and social order. Their motto is to protect and to serve.
Who needs 2D when we've got 3D? 3D, or 3 dimensions, is what we're used to seeing in almost every game these days, letting us do all sorts of awesome stuff like run in circles!
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