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Sometimes, a company will promote its game by offering prizes to players who can complete certain tasks. Prizes can range from a shirt to a million dollars.
Aiming with no ever-present marking of where a shot will hit.
When one type of ammo fits all.
Games in which, instead of playing on "Easy" or "Hard", players play on "Marine" or "Way of the Samurai".
Using a 2D sprite that always faces the camera within a polygonal 3D environment to fake a 3D effect.
A sound effect that plays once the player has gained a level, solved a puzzle or reached a milestone within the game.
An achievement that is unlocked for completing a game on a certain difficulty level, sometimes granting the achievements for all lower difficulties, and sometimes not.
Buzz cuts are modernly popular in some games. This is a type of hair that is shaved very short.
Usually the room before a boss battle, filled with ammo, health and other goodies for players to stock up on.
A proprietary video codec (.bik/bk2 extension) developed by RAD Game Tools and used in a very large number of video games.
Why are bad guys on so many game covers? Perhaps the developers secretly think they're cooler than the good guys.
Using physical force to damage an opponent, with or without an equipped weapon from a first person perspective.
Hot, high pressure gases released from the muzzle of a firearm when fired.
The permanent existence of one's body after death.
Sick 'em, boy!
When you try to quit a game, the game will pop up with a message or picture to try and make you play some more.
Flouting well-known laws of mathematics, some games allow the player to possess over 100% health. Typically, the surplus amount cannot be restored in the same way as standard health.
The army of Germany during the period of 1935 to 1945 under the reign of the Nazi party and Adolf Hitler.
Whether it's Super Scaler or Mode 7, growing and shrinking sprites/textures is a concept often used in sprite-based games. It was a popular technique used to create three-dimensional games with sprites, mostly during the 16-bit to early 32-bit eras. Sprite-scaling was an early form of 3D texture-mapping.
The Wolfenstein 3D engine is the first in a long line of FPS engines by id Software that was used for several games between the years of 1991 and 1995.
Controller Overlay is a technique developers used to help communicate to the player what each of the buttons on the console's controller did. With today's tech and evolution of gaming, this concept is accomplished by on-screen guidance.
The usually self-appointed leader of a region with totalitarian control. Usually will come into power through violence and will stay in power until he dies or is killed.
Games which contain secret areas that are hidden within other secret areas.
A subscription service from Microsoft on Xbox platforms and Windows 10. Described as "Netflix for video games", users pay a monthly fee to gain access to a range of titles or buy to own them at a discount price.
Using the Red Cross in an entertainment product is expressly forbidden by the Geneva Convention and international law, however some games don't realise that.
Games where the characters are 2D bitmap images (sprites), but the environment and scenarios are made in a 3-Dimensional space. This technique was commonly used on consoles like the PlayStation, Sega Saturn and Nintendo DS. Many 90's First-Person Shooters and early 3D RPGs also used this technique. Some used it as a stylistic choice like Paper Mario and Rakugaki Showtime.
A genre of FPS games that was popular in the 90's, usually associated with fast, simplistic combat and low amounts of cover. The style has seen a resurgence since the late 2010s, wherein the term was popularized, as some developers revisited the design philosophies present in older games. Some modern entries are even developed in old FPS engines, or in modernized derivatives thereof.
Games set in, or focused primarily around, the years between 1940 and 1949.
General MIDI (also known as GM or GM 1) is a standardized specification for electronic musical instruments that respond to MIDI messages. It is used in the large majority of older DOS and Windows games.
Games that have other games, usually older games from the same game series or publisher, hidden inside them and that you can play. Sometimes available in the game world or hidden as collectibles or behind challenges. this page both lists the games that are inside other games and the games that host the latter.
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