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= = Death and legacy = =
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Gerard was an associate of the anonymous author of the Quadripartitus and the Leges Henrici Primi , two 12th @-@ century law books . The medieval chronicler William of Malmesbury charged Gerard with immorality , avarice and the practice of magic . Gerard encouraged at least one of his clergy to study Hebrew , a language not normally studied at the time . Some chroniclers considered his ownership of a Hebrew psalter to be disturbing , seeing it as a sign of heresy or secret Judaism . Among the sins that Malmesbury imputed to him was the study of Julius Firmicus Maternus , a late Roman astrologer , every morning , which to Malmesbury meant that Gerard was a sorcerer . Malmesbury further claimed that Gerard was " lewd and lustful " . In Gerard 's favour , Anselm regarded him as learned and highly intelligent . Some verses composed by Gerard survive in unpublished form , now in the British Library manuscript collection as part of manuscript Cotton Titus D.xxiv. A collection of his letters circulated in the mid @-@ 12th century , part of a bequest made to Bec Abbey in 1164 by Philip de Harcourt , the Bishop of Bayeux , but it is now lost .
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Gerard died suddenly on 21 May 1108 , at Southwell , on his way to London to attend a council . His body was found in an orchard , next to a book of " curious arts " , his copy of Julius Firmicus . His canons refused to allow his burial within his cathedral , but their hostility probably owed more to Gerard 's attempts to reform their lifestyle than to his alleged interest in sorcery . Gerard was at first buried beside the porch at York Minster , but his successor , Thomas , moved the remains inside the cathedral church .
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= Something Borrowed ( Torchwood ) =
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" Something Borrowed " is the ninth episode of the second series of British science fiction television series Torchwood . It was first broadcast by BBC Three on 5 March 2008 and repeated on BBC Two one week later . The episode was written by Phil Ford , directed by Ashley Way and produced by Richard Stokes . The episode featured the five initial series regulars John Barrowman , Eve Myles , Burn Gorman , Naoko Mori and Gareth David Lloyd plus recurring actor Kai Owen in a central role .
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The episode centers on the marriage of Torchwood employee Gwen Cooper ( Eve Myles ) to her long @-@ term partner Rhys Williams ( Kai Owen ) . The wedding is complicated by Gwen 's sudden impregnation by a shape @-@ shifting alien Nostrovite . Although she resolves to see her wedding through , her nuptials are interrupted by an attack from the biological mother of the alien fetus ( played successively by Collette Brown , Nerys Hughes and John Barrowman ) . With the help of Rhys and Gwen 's Torchwood colleagues the fetus is neutralised and the attacking alien defeated . Gwen and Rhys marry , and their families have their memories of the wedding day wiped .
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The episode was designed to be the most humorous of Torchwood 's second series and incorporated elements of broad comedy and soap opera style storytelling to the monster of the week story . It was filmed largely on location in South Wales — prominent locations included the tourist attractions Margam Country Park and Dyffryn Gardens — and featured an ensemble of previously unseen Welsh characters . The episode was seen by an aggregated total of 4 @.@ 76 million viewers across its three debut showings in the United Kingdom . Critical response was extremely mixed . Some reviewers praised the inclusion of a less serious episode in the series whilst others felt that the comedy in the episode was too overt and detracted from the overall tone of the show .
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= = Plot = =
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On the night before her wedding , Gwen Cooper ( Eve Myles ) is bitten on the arm by a male shape shifting alien . Her boss , Jack Harkness ( John Barrowman ) kills the alien , and Gwen attends her hen night though is troubled by her wound . She wakes up the next morning heavily pregnant . Jack arrives along with Torchwood 's medic Owen Harper ( Burn Gorman ) to examine Gwen and tries to persuade her to cancel her wedding . Gwen 's fiancee Rhys ( Kai Owen ) also tries to postpone the wedding in Gwen 's interest but Gwen insists that the wedding go ahead as she desires nothing more than to marry him . The sudden pregnancy is explained to Gwen and Rhys ' families as their own child . Gwen 's mother ( Sharon Morgan ) and father ( William Thomas ) are excited at the prospect of a grandchild , but Rhys ' parents suspect Gwen of being pregnant by another man . Torchwood agent Toshiko Sato ( Naoko Mori ) is sent to the wedding venue to keep an eye on Gwen and to deliver a new wedding dress to accommodate her alien pregnancy .
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At Torchwood 's Cardiff headquarters , Owen determines from an autopsy that the alien that impregnated Gwen is a Nostrovite , a race of carnivorous shape shifters who hunt in pairs and mate for life . He tells Jack that after fertilisation , the female transfers her eggs to the male who plants them in a host body until they are ready to hatch . Later , the female kills the host to release the offspring . At the wedding venue , the female Nostrovite ( Colette Brown ) murders and partly devours wedding guest Mervyn . Toshiko investigates along with Rhys ' best man " Banana Boat " ( Jonathan Lewis Owen ) and they are subsequently captured by the alien , who intends to feed on them later . As Gwen and Rhys prepare to say their wedding vows , Jack runs up the aisle and demands that the wedding be halted . Owen and Ianto ( Gareth David @-@ Lloyd ) free Toshiko but the half @-@ eaten corpse of Mervyn is discovered by his wife , a bridesmaid , who alerts the entire wedding party to the murder . The Nostrovite reveals herself and is chased away by Jack , escaping through a window .
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Jack questions Owen about Gwen and Rhys , and he states that Rhys ' mother Brenda ( Nerys Hughes ) is with them . Tosh mentions that she saw Brenda with Gwen 's mother Mary in the garden . Tosh and Jack rush to the couple 's room , where Jack identifies Brenda as an alien and calls her an " ugly bitch " . After Brenda protests her innocence and Rhys punches Jack , Gwen states that Rhys ' mother is not the shapeshifter as Brenda wears a distinctive perfume . Torchwood reach the garden to find the Nostrovite , in Brenda 's image , with Mary . The alien holds Mary hostage , demanding that Gwen give her her child . Gwen walks towards them and as the Nostrovite releases Mary , Gwen reveals a hidden gun in her wedding bouquet and fires at the creature . Owen suggests using a piece of alien equipment called the singularity scalpel to destroy the alien fetus . He sends Gwen to her room and teaches Rhys how to use the scalpel ; Owen cannot use it himself due to injuries sustained in his undead state . Gwen is approached by Jack and reveals to him that she would have married Rhys a long time ago if she had not met him . She leans in as he appears to be ready to kiss her but he reveals himself to be the Nostrovite . Owen enters , shooting the creature whilst Gwen exits with Rhys . The Nostrovite , still in Jack 's form , attempts to attack Owen only to be repelled by the fact he is dead .
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Rhys and Gwen find refuge in a barn and Rhys explains Owen 's plan to remove the fetus . As the Nostrovite launches an assault on the door of the barn , Rhys succeeds in destroying the fetus . The Nostrovite enters , again impersonating Rhys ' mother . She attacks Rhys , who attempts to protect himself with a chainsaw , which malfunctions . Jack arrives and kills the alien with a more powerful gun . He shares a moment of joy with Gwen before praising Rhys ' own display of heroism and telling him that " the hero always gets the girl " . Rhys and Gwen return to the wedding venue and are married . At the wedding reception , they notice the guests all suddenly falling asleep . Jack reveals that he has drugged them all with amnesia pills mixed with sedative so that they will not remember the events of the day . Jack offers Gwen and Rhys Retcon too but Gwen declines as she does not wants any secrets in her marriage to Rhys . As Gwen and Rhys anticipate their honeymoon , Torchwood clear up the mess left behind . Later , Jack enters the Hub alone , and retrieves an old tin box from his office . He looks through photographs from his past , reminiscing , before picking up a picture of himself and an unidentified bride at their wedding .
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= = Production = =
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= = = Conception and writing = = =
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The original working title and given descriptor in the series breakdown for " Something Borrowed " was " The Wedding " . Writer Phil Ford felt the episode to be reminiscent of a soap @-@ opera as well as possessing science fiction elements . He describes the episode as " Coronation Street meets Torchwood " . Ford was chosen to write this episode because of his own involvement as a writer on Coronation Street and executive producer Russell T Davies ' view that this would enable him to handle a wedding with comedic elements . As the most humorous episode of the series it was deliberately scheduled alongside a series of darker episodes to provide a contrast .
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Describing the tone of the episode Ford describes it as " an all out romp " and an " action , rollercoaster ride " with " a lot of comedy in it as much as thrills and nasty monsters " . Davies stated that " the whole point of the episode is to have a right old laugh " . Expanding on the comedic aspects , something Ford considered whilst writing the episode was that " the trick is to have the comedy come out of the characters " rather than the scenario itself . It was Eve Myles ' idea to have Gwen compulsively eat gherkins after waking up pregnant ; the script had only specified the character drinking a glass of water . The episode also plays on Gwen 's conflicted feelings between Jack and Rhys . Davies felt it would be " irresistible " to have the wedding temporarily halted by " the one man Rhys doesn 't want to see running down the aisle . " Ford stated that whilst Jack is " the series hero " Rhys is " the hero of this episode " . He compares a sequence where Rhys arms himself with a chainsaw to defend Gwen to the character being in " Evil Dead mode " . Producer Richard Stokes commented that the episode illuminated that " even though [ Gwen ] ' s put [ Rhys ] through some really difficult times , she really does love him and want to be with him . " In an early draft of the script Gwen and Rhys had their memories wiped at the end of the episode in addition to the other guests and were convinced by Jack that the wedding had been problem free .
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= = = Casting = = =
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The episode featured an ensemble of family and friends of Gwen and Rhys previously unseen in the series . William Thomas and Sharon Morgan were cast as Gwen 's parents Geraint and Mary Cooper . Davies re @-@ introduced the characters during the fourth series of the show , considering Thomas and Morgan to be " two fine Welsh actors " . Thomas had previously appeared as two different characters in the 1988 Doctor Who serial Remembrance of the Daleks and the 2005 Doctor Who episode " Boom Town " . Upon appearing in " Something Borrowed " he became the first actor to have appeared in all three of the classic series , new series and Torchwood . Nerys Hughes played Rhys ' mother Brenda Williams , in addition to a duplicate form of the alien Nostrovite . Like Thomas she had previously appeared in a Doctor Who serial ( the 1982 story Kinda ) . Hughes enjoyed getting to play a " monster " for the first time in her career which involved having " fangs and claws and red eyes " and being wired up so " all this black blood can ooze out when I get shot " . Despite the funny aspect of the script Hughes took the role seriously stating that " everyone plays it for real " and that " you can 't camp it up " . She believed that as an actor " you 've got to believe what you 're doing " .
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Kai Owen describes Thomas , Morgan and Hughes collectively with Robin Griffith ( Barry Williams ) as a " good old @-@ fashioned Welsh cast who know what it 's all about " . Jonathan Lewis Owen was cast as Rhys ' best man " Banana Boat " a character referred to sporadically since Torchwood 's first series premiere " Everything Changes " ( 2006 ) . In keeping with the character 's name he was given a pair of banana patterned cuff links to compliment his costume . As a joke , Eve Myles ( who Jonathan Owen had previously worked with in other projects ) left a banana skin on his car on his first day of filming . Collette Brown played " Carrie " , the original human form of the mother Nostrovite . To transform her into the alien creature the actress was required to spend approximately an hour having make @-@ up applied . Brown was surprised at the efficiency of the make @-@ up artists as she had expected the transformation process to take longer . Originally , the human versions of the Nostrovite shapeshifter were intended to be more monstrous but Davies felt it was important that the audience would still be able to recognise the actor underneath once the make up had been applied .
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= = = Filming = = =
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The episode was filmed between October and November 2007 in the sixth production block of the series , alongside " Exit Wounds " . The sequence of Jack , Ianto and Owen leaving for Gwen 's wedding was recorded at Roald Dahl Plass on 25 October 2007 . A number of locations were used for the wedding venue . Producer Richard Stokes notes that " it felt like we were organising a real wedding but one that was being shot in about five different venues " . Director Ashley Way states that in directing the wedding scenes , the production team had to make sure that the colour scheme co @-@ ordinated in regards to aspects like the bridesmaids costumes and the flower patterns . Costume designer Ray Holman experienced difficulty sourcing a maternity wedding dress to accommodate the nine @-@ month baby bump worn by Eve Myles . He remarks that in trying to source three such dresses from bridal shops in Cardiff he was regarded " as if I was the biggest sinner in the world " and ended up designing the dress worn by Gwen himself .
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The main location shoot for the episode was at Margam Country Park in Margam , Port Talbot in and around a converted Orangery which provided a location for the wedding and reception . Way states that one of the reasons Margam 's Orangery was chosen for the shoot was because of the " fantastic windows " which provided a good visual opportunity in regards to a sequence involving the alien Carrie jumping out of them . However , due to its listed building status the production crew were not able to remove the window glass for filming and had to construct replica windows on separate scaffolding using resin glass . The hotel exteriors and sequences set in the gardens of the wedding venue were filmed at Dyffryn Gardens in St Nicholas , Vale of Glamorgan . The hotel interiors were partly recorded at Court Colman Manor in the village of Pen @-@ y @-@ Fai , Bridgend and partly in studio . The opening sequence of the episode where Gwen pursues the shape @-@ shifter was recorded on 19 November in a men 's public toilet in The Hayes , a shopping area in central Cardiff .
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The episode featured a large amount of incidental music . During Gwen 's hen night , the club she is in plays the tracks " Filthy / Gorgeous " and " Comfortably Numb " by the Scissor Sisters from their eponymous 2004 album and the single " Hole in the Head " from the Sugababes 2003 album Three . The song heard on Gwen 's radio Alarm Clock when she wakes up heavily pregnant is " Fire in My Heart " from the Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals . At Gwen and Rhys ' wedding reception , the records played include " You Do Something to Me " by Paul Weller and the song " Tainted Love " by Soft Cell . One of the black and white photos of Jack seen at the end of the episode is actually a promotional picture of John Barrowman from his role as Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago .
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= = Broadcast and reception = =
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" Something Borrowed " was first broadcast on the digital channel BBC Three on 5 March 2008 at 9 : 50 pm , straight after the BBC Two broadcast of the preceding episode " A Day in the Death " at 9 : 00 pm . The episode was first broadcast on BBC Two on 12 March at 9 : 00 pm , with a pre @-@ watershed repeat airing on 13 March at 7 : 00 pm . According to consolidated figures the episode was viewed by 0 @.@ 98 million viewers on BBC Three , 2 @.@ 76 million viewers for its 12 March BBC Two showing and 1 @.@ 02 million viewers for the pre @-@ watershed repeat amounting to an aggregated 4 @.@ 76 million viewers across its three initial showings . The episode was also available to watch on the online catch up service BBC iPlayer , where it was the 12th most viewed individual broadcast between 1 January and 31 March 2008 .
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= = = Critical reception = = =
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The episode received critical response ranging from extremely positive to extremely negative . Ben Rawson @-@ Jones of Digital Spy gave the episode five stars out of five , summarising it as an " energetic romp that oozed with body horror that would make David Cronenberg proud " which also " infused a type of family melodrama commonly seen on soaps " . He praised the " stunningly bonkers " plot noting that " every potential dramatic and comedic moment that stemmed from Gwen 's unconventional ' bun in the oven ' scenario was fully maximised " . He felt that in the central role " Eve Myles delivered an outstanding performance as Gwen " and also singled out the guest actors for praise , particularly Nerys Hughes . In an end of series review he listed " Something Borrowed " as his favourite episode of Torchwood 's second series . Writing for The Stage , Mark Wright wrote that " it ’ s good to see Torchwood can get in touch with its lighter side and not lose any momentum " concluding " I think I really might love this show " . Jon Beresford of TV Scoop felt the episode to be one of the strongest of the second series . Whilst he felt it to be " corny " in places he summarised the episode as an " exciting yarn with some really good performances from the team " . He felt that Myles and Owen " stole the show " as Gwen and Rhys believing that " there 's a definite spark between these two that sets their moments apart . "
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Joan O 'Connell Hedman of Slant Magazine felt the episode to be the strongest of the second series . She praised the " uniformly fantastic " guest cast and the " drop dead gorgeous " exterior and interior locations . She singled out writer Phil Ford for considerable praise feeling that he wrote the episode true to the characters " while filling in backstory we had no way of imagining " and delivered " drama , action , and laughs " . Brad Trechak of AOL TV felt the more comic episode was a welcome respite from darker episodes . He praised the episode for being " light and fluffy yet it furthered things along with regard to the Torchwood universe and its characters " . Reviewing the episode Brigid Cherry of Total Sci @-@ Fi felt that " contrary to expectation – it ’ s hilarious " . She praised the comedy provided from Eve Myles , Gareth David @-@ Lloyd and Nerys Hughes in particular as well as the " terrifying moments that threaten to tip over into gross @-@ out horror @-@ comedy . " She felt overall the " offbeat self @-@ parody " made a welcome change from the show 's more serious episodes and rated it eight out of ten . Den of Geek 's Jack Kibble @-@ White found the episode to be a " surprise series highlight " .
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However , the episode attracted heavy criticism . In a review titled " Too Much Crying , Not Enough Shagging " io9 's Charlie Jane Anders criticised the episode 's reliance on " cheesy soap opera moments " . Her major criticisms also encompassed the nonsensical aspects of the plot and the depiction of Torchwood as an incompetent team , particularly in allowing Gwen to progress with her wedding in the circumstance of her being pregnant . She felt that the episode had saving graces in a sequence which she felt acted as an homage to films Dead Alive and Evil Dead and the fact it made her believe " that Rhys and Gwen care about each other . " Ian Berriman of SFX magazine wrote that the episode was one of the weakest of the second series and was hampered by " limp gags and thuddingly obvious characterisation " . IGN 's Travis Fickett rated the episode five out of ten and criticised it as " flat out bad television " . He felt the comedic style to be at odds with Torchwood 's science fiction and horror storytelling and criticised some of the character moments as " preposterous " and " insipid " . Airlock Alpha 's Alan Stanley Blair was more mixed stating that the " episode feels like a lot of ideas have been thrown into a pot and mixed with all the Torchwood goodness " . He felt that the episode held together " by luck more than skill " but still " provided a lot of laughs and some wild fun " . Den of Geek 's Andrew Mickel felt that the episode exaggerated and stereotyped the Welsh characters in the overall scenario parodying them collectively as " the Welshest people on television " . He also criticised the focus on Gwen and the ridiculousness of her plan to marry Rhys despite her being pregnant . He felt however , that the episode played out " like a fun episode of Buffy " and that Rhys continued to be " Gwen ’ s one redeeming feature " , praising the scenes between him and his mother .
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= Perfect Dark ( 2010 video game ) =
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Perfect Dark is a remastered release of the first @-@ person shooter video game by the same name . Developed by 4J Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios a decade after the original 's 2000 release , the remaster features several technical improvements , including higher resolution textures and models , a higher frame rate , and a multiplayer mode that supports the Xbox Live online service . It was released for the Xbox 360 video game console in March 2010 , through the Xbox Live Arcade download service . The story of the game follows Joanna Dark , an agent of the Carrington Institute organization , as she attempts to stop a conspiracy by rival corporation dataDyne .
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Perfect Dark was under development for nearly a year and its game engine was completely re @-@ written from scratch to support several Xbox 360 features . Therefore , although the game plays exactly the same as the original , the code and renderer is different . The game received generally favorable reviews . Some critics considered the relatively unchanged game to be outdated , but most agreed that the title was a solid revival of a classic . As of the end of 2011 , the game had sold nearly 410 @,@ 000 units .
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= = Gameplay = =
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Perfect Dark is a first @-@ person shooter with elements of stealth games . In the game 's campaign mode , the player controls Joanna Dark through a series of nonlinear levels collected together into missions . Each level requires the player to complete a certain number of objectives , ranging from disguising oneself to hacking computers , collecting objects , and defeating enemies , among others . Players can carry an unlimited number of weapons and almost all of the weapons have two firing modes . The levels in Perfect Dark have no checkpoints , meaning that if Joanna is killed or fails an objective , the player has to start the level from the beginning . Every level can be played on three difficulty settings and several aspects , such as the enemies aggressiveness and the number of objectives that must be completed , among others , can vary in function of the chosen difficulty . Two players can also play the campaign co @-@ operatively or through a " counter @-@ operative " mode , in which one player controls the protagonist , while the other controls enemies throughout the level , attempting to stop the first player from completing objectives .
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The game also features a multiplayer mode , called Combat Simulator , where various players can compete against each other in different types of deathmatch and objective @-@ based games . Aspects of each game can be highly customized . Features such as the weapons available , the winning condition , and team management can be changed to match player preference . Computer controlled bots , called Simulants , can also be added to the game and each of them can be individually customized , including their appearance , difficulty , and behavior . Players can also issue orders to the Simulants on their respective team ; for example , Guard tells a Simulant to stay in its current location and guard that area . The player can explore the Carrington Institute , which serves as the game 's training ground , and take part in different training activities . The most substantial of these activities is the shooting range , which allows the player to test all the weapons of the game against moving targets .
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= = = Enhancements = = =
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The remaster offers several improvements over the original Perfect Dark that was released for the Nintendo 64 in 2000 . The most remarkable change is that any of the multiplayer modes , including co @-@ operative and counter @-@ operative , can now be played in either splitscreen or through the Xbox Live online service . Combat Simulator matches are still capped at 12 entities , but the game can now comprise eight players online simultaneously , an improvement to the original 's cap of four players and eight Simulants . Players can also play against more than eight Simulants as long as there are enough slots available in a match ; for example , a single player can play against 11 Simulants ; such a feature was not possible in the original game . Unlike the original game , all the multiplayer content is unlocked from the beginning , and weapons from the game 's predecessor , which were originally only available in the missions , are now available to use in multiplayer . The game features an online leaderboard system and players can earn achievements and in @-@ game crowns by accomplishing certain tasks . The game also includes two new control set @-@ ups , entitled " Spartan " and " Duty Calls " , which are based on the popular first @-@ person shooter franchises Halo and Call of Duty respectively .
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= = Plot = =
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Perfect Dark is set in the year 2023 against the backdrop of an interstellar war between two races : the Maians , who resemble the stereotypical grey aliens , and the Skedar , reptile @-@ like extraterrestrials who can disguise themselves as humans , bearing similarities to Nordic aliens . On Earth the megacorporation dataDyne has developed in secret Dr. Caroll , the world 's first sentient AI computer . Feeling that dataDyne has betrayed ethical and moral standards , Dr. Caroll contacts the Carrington Institute , an espionage agency founded by Daniel Carrington , with the hope of revealing dataDyne 's sinister dealings . He is recovered by Joanna Dark , the Institute 's top agent , but is later recaptured by dataDyne at Carrington 's private villa . Joanna is then sent to Chicago to once again recover Dr. Caroll and uncover dataDyne 's plan . She learns that dataDyne and their conspirators plan to kidnap the President of the United States in order to get access to a deep sea vessel which will allow the conspirators to steal an alien megaweapon buried on the ocean floor .
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Meanwhile , Joanna is ordered to rescue a Maian survivor named Elvis from Area 51 who is key in stopping the conspiracy . She succeeds and the pair work together to rescue the president . She learns the conspirators are actually Skedar aliens disguised as Scandinavian humans who intend to test the weapon on the Earth before using it against the Maian homeworld . Without permission from the president , dataDyne elect to hijack the deep sea vessel and take it to the ancient alien spacecraft . With the help of Elvis , Joanna follows where she finds a reprogrammed Dr. Caroll decoding the megaweapon . She replaces its current personality with a backup of the original , and the restored Dr. Carroll sets the weapon to self @-@ destruct in order to protect Earth . In retaliation , the Skedar capture Joanna and take her to their homeworld . Elvis rescues her and she then kills the Skedar High Priest , leaving the Skedar in disarray . The game ends with Elvis and Joanna leaving the Skedar planet just prior to an orbital bombardment from the Maian navy .
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= = Development = =
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Perfect Dark was ported by 4J Studios , the same studio that previously developed the Xbox Live Arcade versions of Rare 's platform games Banjo @-@ Kazooie and Banjo @-@ Tooie . According to Microsoft Game Studios creative director Ken Lobb , the development team " took the original code , ported it to the Xbox 360 and included deep [ Xbox Live ] integration . " The game was developed over a course of approximately 11 months after the creation of a working prototype . As the Xbox Live functionality had to be written from scratch , the developers opted to completely rewrite the game engine rather than do a port through emulation . As a result , although the game plays exactly the same , the code and renderer is different . The game also runs at 1080p and 60 frames per second .
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While the original level geometry was kept , the levels received new textures , characters and weapons were recreated , and skyboxes were rebuilt . Lobb explained that " things are large and blocky because that 's what [ Perfect Dark ] looks like " , meaning that the sharper textures and higher resolution simply make the game look clearer . He also observed that , as character and weapon models were remodeled from their original low hundreds polygon count to polygons in the thousands , he was worried about them looking awkward in the low @-@ poly geometry level design . According to him , " it 's one of the areas that I give a lot of credit to the developer on . It just looks right . They were smart about the way they up @-@ resed the models so they still feel like they 're kind of retro , but they 're clean . "
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Although music and sound effects were kept from the original recording sessions , original master recordings have been used to update the soundtrack at much higher quality ; the original recording size was 16 MB , while in the remaster it is over 250 MB . Developers also decided to retain the free aim mode because they wanted to be faithful to the original game . According to Rare 's Producer Nick Ferguson , " We didn 't change the fundamental behavior of the aiming system simply because that is not how Perfect Dark was played " . He also observed that the idea of updating the controls was actually seen as a flaw in Perfect Dark Zero , which tried to " combine the original Perfect Dark system with aspects of Halo " . The original diagonal running , which allows players to move faster than by running forwards or sideways alone , did not work the first time they implemented the analog stick , so it was manually rewritten as it was considered essential for speedruns and achieving some of the target times required to unlock cheats .
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= = Marketing and release = =
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Perfect Dark was first teased to consumers in April 2009 via a screenshot of a Rare employee 's Xbox 360 dashboard which showed an icon for the game . It was confirmed to be in development on June 2 , 2009 via Xbox Live Director of Programming Larry Hryb 's Twitter account . The game was released on March 17 , 2010 as part of Microsoft 's Xbox Live Block Party promotion . As a cross @-@ promotion with the game Crackdown 2 , users can unlock that game 's protagonist , known simply as Agent 4 , although a Crackdown 2 savegame is required on the Xbox 360 hard drive . A title update was released in April 2010 which addressed bugs , added two control schemes , and expanded playlists . Perfect Dark was downloaded over 150 @,@ 000 times during its first week of release and grossed approximately $ 1 @.@ 61 million at the end of the month . The game has sold more than 285 @,@ 000 units as of August 2010 and nearly 325 @,@ 000 units at the end of 2010 . As of year @-@ end 2011 , sales had increased to nearly 410 @,@ 000 units . In 2015 , the game was released as part of the Rare Replay compilation for Xbox One .
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= = Reception = =
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Perfect Dark received generally favorable reviews from critics . Writing for 1UP.com , Scott Sharkey highlighted the technical improvements , stating that the remaster is " a great way to re @-@ enjoy a game you already love " . Daemon Hatfield of IGN noted the game 's outdated dialogue , voice acting , and mission objectives , but nevertheless remarked that the game " wasn 't brought back for the uninitiated -- this is for the fans , and they will be very , very happy . " He also praised the game 's multiplayer mode over Xbox Live and highlighted the selection of weapons , the satisfying gunplay , and leaderboards , noting that they allow players to compare their performance with their friends .
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Despite the praise , some reviewers criticized the game for its confusing level layouts and felt they have not held up very well over the years . Christian Donlan of Eurogamer stated that Perfect Dark is " not afraid to throw dead ends at you seemingly for the hell of it , or repeat textures so much in its huge maps that you can get a little dizzy . " GameSpot 's Tom Mc Shea noted that the campaign was " oddly paced " , and that " locked doors , unused rooms , and dead ends ... can be disheartening to stumble around in a circle until you finally happen upon the correct door you just couldn 't locate . " Nevertheless , he admitted that " it 's a lot of fun to replay them to try for high scores and figure out the many unique objectives . " He also remarked that that online play can periodically suffer from a significant amount of lag , but praised the amount of content and features .
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The game 's original Counter @-@ Operative mode was very well received , with Eurogamer remarking that it " still feels ahead of its time even now . " Dan Ryckert of Game Informer stated similar pros , saying that " it 's even better this time around thanks to the framerate improvement . " Although the game 's controls have been upgraded to support two analog sticks , Steven Hopper of GameZone noted that the game still " feels a little different from what modern day shooter fans are used to " , while Eurogamer remarked that the aim assist can be unnecessarily generous on easy difficulties . At the end of March 2010 , IGN named Perfect Dark Xbox Live Arcade Game of the Month .
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= First Ostend Raid =
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The First Ostend Raid ( part of Operation ZO ) was the first of two attacks by the Royal Navy on the German @-@ held port of Ostend during the late spring of 1918 during the First World War . Ostend was attacked in conjunction with the neighbouring harbour of Zeebrugge on 23 April in order to block the vital strategic port of Bruges , situated 6 mi ( 5 @.@ 2 nmi ; 9 @.@ 7 km ) inland and ideally sited to conduct raiding operations on the British coastline and shipping lanes . Bruges and its satellite ports were a vital part of the German plans in their war on Allied commerce ( Handelskrieg ) because Bruges was close to the troopship lanes across the English Channel and allowed much quicker access to the Western Approaches for the U @-@ boat fleet than their bases in Germany .
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The plan of attack was for the British raiding force to sink two obsolete cruisers in the canal mouth at Ostend and three at Zeebrugge , thus preventing raiding ships leaving Bruges . The Ostend canal was the smaller and narrower of the two channels giving access to Bruges and so was considered a secondary target behind the Zeebrugge Raid . Consequently , fewer resources were provided to the force assaulting Ostend . While the attack at Zeebrugge garnered some limited success , the assault on Ostend was a complete failure . The German marines who defended the port had taken careful preparations and drove the British assault ships astray , forcing the abortion of the operation at the final stage .
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Three weeks after the failure of the operation , a second attack was launched which proved more successful in sinking a blockship at the entrance to the canal but ultimately did not close off Bruges completely . Further plans to attack Ostend came to nothing during the summer of 1918 , and the threat from Bruges would not be finally stopped until the last days of the war , when the town was liberated by Allied land forces .
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= = Bruges = =
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Bruges had been captured by the advancing German divisions during the Race for the Sea and had been rapidly identified as an important strategic asset by the German Navy . Bruges was situated 6 mi ( 5 @.@ 2 nmi ; 9 @.@ 7 km ) inland at the centre of a network of canals which emptied into the sea at the small coastal towns of Zeebrugge and Ostend . This land barrier protected Bruges from bombardment by land or sea by all but the very largest calibre artillery and also secured it against raiding parties from the Royal Navy . Capitalising on the natural advantages of the port , the German Navy constructed extensive training and repair facilities at Bruges , equipped to provide support for several flotillas of destroyers , torpedo boats and U @-@ boats .
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By 1916 , these raiding forces were causing serious concern in the Admiralty as the proximity of Bruges to the British coast , to the troopship lanes across the English Channel and for the U @-@ boats , to the Western Approaches ; the heaviest shipping lanes in the World at the time . In the late spring of 1915 , Admiral Reginald Bacon had attempted without success to destroy the lock gates at Ostend with monitors . This effort failed , and Bruges became increasingly important in the Atlantic Campaign , which reached its height in 1917 . By early 1918 , the Admiralty was seeking ever more radical solutions to the problems raised by unrestricted submarine warfare , including instructing the " Allied Naval and Marine Forces " department to plan attacks on U @-@ boat bases in Belgium .
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The " Allied Naval and Marine Forces " was a newly formed department created with the purpose of conducting raids and operations along the coastline of German @-@ held territory . The organisation was able to command extensive resources from both the Royal and French navies and was commanded by Admiral Roger Keyes and his deputy , Commodore Hubert Lynes . Keyes , Lynes and their staff began planning methods of neutralising Bruges in late 1917 and by April 1918 were ready to put their plans into operation .
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= = Planning = =
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