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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Minecraft] | [TOKENS: 1445] |
Editing Template:Minecraft Copy and paste: – — ° ′ ″ ≈ ≠ ≤ ≥ ± − × ÷ ← → · § Sign your posts on talk pages: ~~~~ Cite your sources: <ref></ref> {{}} {{{}}} | [] [[]] [[Category:]] #REDIRECT [[]] <s></s> <sup></sup> <sub></sub> <code></code> <pre></pre> <blockquote></blockquote> <ref></ref> <ref name="" /> {{Reflist}} <references /> <includeonly></includeonly> <noinclude></noinclude> {{DEFAULTSORT:}} <nowiki></nowiki> <!-- --> <span class="plainlinks"></span> Symbols: ~ | ¡ ¿ † ‡ ↔ ↑ ↓ • ¶ # ∞ ‹› «» ¤ ₳ ฿ ₵ ¢ ₡ ₢ $ ₫ ₯ € ₠ ₣ ƒ ₴ ₭ ₤ ℳ ₥ ₦ ₧ ₰ £ ៛ ₨ ₪ ৳ ₮ ₩ ¥ ♠ ♣ ♥ ♦ 𝄫 ♭ ♮ ♯ 𝄪 © ¼ ½ ¾ Latin: A a Á á À à  â Ä ä Ǎ ǎ Ă ă Ā ā à ã Å å Ą ą Æ æ Ǣ ǣ B b C c Ć ć Ċ ċ Ĉ ĉ Č č Ç ç D d Ď ď Đ đ Ḍ ḍ Ð ð E e É é È è Ė ė Ê ê Ë ë Ě ě Ĕ ĕ Ē ē Ẽ ẽ Ę ę Ẹ ẹ Ɛ ɛ Ǝ ǝ Ə ə F f G g Ġ ġ Ĝ ĝ Ğ ğ Ģ ģ H h Ĥ ĥ Ħ ħ Ḥ ḥ I i İ ı Í í Ì ì Î î Ï ï Ǐ ǐ Ĭ ĭ Ī ī Ĩ ĩ Į į Ị ị J j Ĵ ĵ K k Ķ ķ L l Ĺ ĺ Ŀ ŀ Ľ ľ Ļ ļ Ł ł Ḷ ḷ Ḹ ḹ M m Ṃ ṃ N n Ń ń Ň ň Ñ ñ Ņ ņ Ṇ ṇ Ŋ ŋ O o Ó ó Ò ò Ô ô Ö ö Ǒ ǒ Ŏ ŏ Ō ō Õ õ Ǫ ǫ Ọ ọ Ő ő Ø ø Œ œ Ɔ ɔ P p Q q R r Ŕ ŕ Ř ř Ŗ ŗ Ṛ ṛ Ṝ ṝ S s Ś ś Ŝ ŝ Š š Ş ş Ș ș Ṣ ṣ ß T t Ť ť Ţ ţ Ț ț Ṭ ṭ Þ þ U u Ú ú Ù ù Û û Ü ü Ǔ ǔ Ŭ ŭ Ū ū Ũ ũ Ů ů Ų ų Ụ ụ Ű ű Ǘ ǘ Ǜ ǜ Ǚ ǚ Ǖ ǖ V v W w Ŵ ŵ X x Y y Ý ý Ŷ ŷ Ÿ ÿ Ỹ ỹ Ȳ ȳ Z z Ź ź Ż ż Ž ž ß Ð ð Þ þ Ŋ ŋ Ə ə Greek: Ά ά Έ έ Ή ή Ί ί Ό ό Ύ ύ Ώ ώ Α α Β β Γ γ Δ δ Ε ε Ζ ζ Η η Θ θ Ι ι Κ κ Λ λ Μ μ Ν ν Ξ ξ Ο ο Π π Ρ ρ Σ σ ς Τ τ Υ υ Φ φ Χ χ Ψ ψ Ω ω {{Polytonic|}} Cyrillic: А а Б б В в Г г Ґ ґ Ѓ ѓ Д д Ђ ђ Е е Ё ё Є є Ж ж З з Ѕ ѕ И и І і Ї ї Й й Ј ј К к Ќ ќ Л л Љ љ М м Н н Њ њ О о П п Р р С с Т т Ћ ћ У у Ў ў Ф ф Х х Ц ц Ч ч Џ џ Ш ш Щ щ Ъ ъ Ы ы Ь ь Э э Ю ю Я я ́ IPA: t̪ d̪ ʈ ɖ ɟ ɡ ɢ ʡ ʔ ɸ β θ ð ʃ ʒ ɕ ʑ ʂ ʐ ç ʝ ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ ɦ ɱ ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ ʋ ɹ ɻ ɰ ʙ ⱱ ʀ ɾ ɽ ɫ ɬ ɮ ɺ ɭ ʎ ʟ ɥ ʍ ɧ ʼ ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ ɨ ʉ ɯ ɪ ʏ ʊ ø ɘ ɵ ɤ ə ɚ ɛ œ ɜ ɝ ɞ ʌ ɔ æ ɐ ɶ ɑ ɒ ʰ ʱ ʷ ʲ ˠ ˤ ⁿ ˡ ˈ ˌ ː ˑ ̪ {{IPA|}} Wikidata entities used in this page Pages transcluded onto the current version of this page (help): |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft_Live] | [TOKENS: 2806] |
Contents Minecraft Live Minecraft Live is an interactive livestream about the video game Minecraft, hosted bi-annually by developer Mojang. Originally starting out as an in-person fan convention called MinecraftCon (later Minecon[a][b]), the first gathering was in 2010; the event reoccurred annually until 2016 under the name Minecon. The Minecon 2011 convention was held in Las Vegas and celebrated the launch of the game with Minecraft-related discussion panels and gaming areas; the last in-person convention, Minecon 2016, held in Anaheim, had 12,000 attendees. The most recent event was held on September 27, 2025. Since 2017, Minecraft Live has taken the form of an interactive livestream. The livestream was called Minecon Earth in 2017 and 2018, and was later renamed to Minecon Live in 2019 and Minecraft Live starting in 2020, where the audience was permanently removed. An attempt at returning to in-person events, called Minecraft Festival, was prevented due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2024, Mojang announced they were changing the structure of Minecraft Live. It will now broadcast twice a year, and the mob vote was retired due to controversy from the community. In-person events MinecraftCon 2010 was a gathering of more than 30 people at Bellevue, Washington, on 31 August. The event was organized following a post on Markus Persson's blog in which he made people aware he was going to be in the area. He was aware multiple people had expressed an interest in meeting him, and called for people to suggest places where a small meeting could be held. The event would eventually take place in Bellevue Downtown Park and had a small group of people asking Persson questions about the state of Minecraft's development. Five thousand people attended the first official MineCon convention held in Las Vegas on 18 November. The convention focused on celebrating the game's release and hosted Minecraft-related discussion panels, and invited people to play the game with others while at the convention. There were keynote speeches from members of the community, building contests, costume contests and exhibits. One of the many events at MineCon was the "Nether Party", an event for those aged 21 and over, featuring Canadian DJ deadmau5. This event also marked the release of version 1.0 to the public, officially taking the game out of beta, as Notch pulled a giant lever. It was also the first time that the port of Minecraft for the Xbox 360 console was first shown and played outside of the development.[citation needed] On 2 August 2012, Mojang announced that the 2012 MineCon convention would take place at Disneyland Paris on the 24 and 25 November. The announcement was made over the social networking platform Twitter when the game's creator, Markus Persson, posted a short trailer revealing the new convention location. The video shows Mojang team members wearing Disney paraphernalia, and Persson comments to lead developer Jens Bergensten, "I think they are trying to tell us something". Joystiq's JC Fletcher said that the site was a "step up" from the first MINECON's location in Las Vegas. The second annual convention was the first held outside of the United States, making it available to European fans who might not have been able to attend the first. It was held in the wake of Minecraft's growing popularity as the Xbox 360 version of the game sold 3 million copies. 2012 was also the start of several in-game unofficial MINECONs, notably a Virtual MINECON, which although an unofficial event, was attended by a member of the Mojang Team. Many in-game MINECONs have announced an intent to return with the start of the next MINECON. The convention in 2012 was attended by 4,500 fans. Mojang made several announcements at the 2012 convention. Details about the 1.5 "Redstone" update were revealed as well as information on the game's modding API. On 7 April 2013, Lydia Winters revealed that MINECON 2013 would be held in the United States. Jens Bergensten later said that it would be on the east coast. On 27 June, it was announced on Mojang's YouTube Channel that MINECON 2013 will be held in Orlando, Florida. The website for the Orange County Convention Center had listed MineCon as an upcoming event in November, with an attendance of 7,500, but then removed the event from the web page. Tickets went on sale in three batches each of 2,500 tickets on 31 July, and the 2 and 3 August. The first batch of 2,500 tickets was sold out in three seconds, according to Mojang COO Vu Bui. The event took place on 2 and 3 November. On 30 March 2014, Lydia Winters revealed in a tweet that MINECON 2014 would be held in Europe. However, on 1 August 2014, Vu Bui created a blog post, stating that there would be no MineCon 2014, but instead the next MineCon would be in Spring 2015 in London. On 2 February 2015, Vu Bui announced MINECON 2015 would be held in London, at the ExCeL London Exhibition and Conference Centre on the 4 and 5 July 2015. Ticket prices were announced on 18 March 2015 and were set at £129. During the opening ceremony on 4 July 2015, animated by Element Animation Studios, it was announced by Guinness World Records that MineCon had won the world record for the most attendance for a convention that is solely for one game, selling 10,000 tickets. On 7 March 2016, Mojang announced in a blog post that MINECON 2016 would be held in Anaheim, California, at the Anaheim Convention Center on the 24 and 25 September 2016. They announced new features during that time, such as the Minecraft novel, Minecraft: The Island, and an update coming to the console versions of the game. Promoted in the opening and closing ceremonies was a two-part short film from Element Animation, entitled A Minecraft Adventure. Following three years of livestreams, a return to the in-person convention format was announced at Minecon Live 2019, named Minecraft Festival, which would happen in September 2020. Minecraft Festival's venue, the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, would have been the same venue for Minecon 2013. More details were revealed at the very start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but was swiftly postponed a week later to the same dates the next year, then to an undetermined date in 2022, and then cancelled for 2022 as the pandemic continued. Online events On 8 August 2017, Mojang announced that MINECON would be taking the form of an interactive livestream on 18 November 2017, dubbed "MINECON Earth". The host of MINECON Earth is Will Arnett, a Canadian actor. After this announcement came the introduction of 'Official Community Events', which allow events such as Minefaire, Minevention and Multiplay's BlockFest to be considered 'Official Minecraft Conventions'. During the show, the developers announced the next major update, the "Update Aquatic", released in July 2018. A new feature of MINECON was the "Mob Vote", a community poll where users are invited to vote on Twitter (X) for one of few mobs to be implemented into the game. Hosted by Vu Bui, COO of Mojang Studios, it was announced at the end of the livestream that the winning mob was "The Monster of The Night Skies", later named the "Phantom". On 10 April 2018, Mojang announced that MINECON Earth would be taking place on 29 September 2018 for 90 minutes on stream. During the event, Mojang announced Minecraft Dungeons, a dungeon-crawler spin-off of Minecraft, and features of the upcoming "Village & Pillage" update, which was released in April 2019. Viewers voted for one of three in-game biomes to be updated in the next update in a "Biome Vote"; the Taiga biome won the vote. Prior to the event, players in China participated in a promotional poll by Netease in which they guessed which national Chinese animal would join Minecraft. The options were the giant panda, Chinese alligator, golden snub-nosed monkey, Thorold's deer, and baiji. The former was announced to be implemented in the "Village & Pillage" update, and it coincidentally placed first in this poll and was added as well. On 17 May 2019, MINECON Live 2019 was announced to be held on 28 September that same year, changing the name of the event from "MINECON Earth" to "MINECON Live" to avoid confusion with their new game Minecraft Earth. Like the previous year, viewers were able to vote for new features to be added to one of three in-game biomes in a following update; the Mountains biome won the vote. During the livestream, developers of the game announced the "Nether Update", released in June 2020. An early access release date of Minecraft Earth was also announced to be for October 2019. The first to use the "Minecraft Live" branding, Minecraft Live 2020 was held on 3 October 2020. It marked the return of the Mob Vote, where users could vote about which Minecraft creature should be added into the next update. The three options were Iceologer (featured in Minecraft Dungeons), Moobloom (featured in the now cancelled mobile game Minecraft Earth) and Glow Squid, with the latter winning. The livestream also provided details on Minecraft's next big update, "Caves & Cliffs", and a musical "Nether Update Encore" from Element Animation featuring additions from the previous update. Minecraft Live 2021 was held on 16 October 2021. It featured a live Mob Vote, like previous years, with the options consisting of the Copper Golem, the Glare, and the Allay, the last of which won the vote. It also featured another Element Animation musical short film, a recap of the features of the previous "Caves & Cliffs: Part 1". The show also announced the theme of the next major update, called "The Wild Update", which added a new biome, the mangrove forest, and an underground biome called the Deep Dark, which was originally planned for the "Caves & Cliffs". Minecraft Live 2022 was held on 15 October 2022. It featured a Mob Vote, this time in-game, with the options consisting of the Sniffer, the Rascal, and the Tuff Golem, the first of which won the vote. Unlike previous years, the developers revealed a few basic features for the next update, including camels, bamboo wood, and hanging signs. The update was later dubbed the "Trails & Tales" update. It also announced the basic gameplay for the upcoming game Minecraft Legends and the Season 3 update for Minecraft Dungeons. Minecraft Live 2023 was held on 15 October 2023, which featured another Mob vote, featuring the crab, armadillo, and penguin, the second of which won the vote. The event also announced portions of the next major updates of Minecraft, Minecraft Legends and Minecraft Education. Like previous years, there was an announcement relating to the next major update. This year, the update that was announced was the 1.21 Tricky Trials Update. The update was said to focus on "combat adventures and tinkering". It includes several copper block variants, and trial chambers. It also included the new crafter, tuff brick types, and more unique enemies that spawn in the trial chambers. The update also introduced the breeze as a new mob. Yet another short film from Element Animation was shown during the livestream, staring mobs from the last update. Minecraft Live 2024 was held on 28 September 2024. Starting with this year, the mob vote was retired. However, a new mob and biome were discussed, the "Creaking" and "Pale Gardens" biomes, respectively. After, the show went on to discuss and show a new trailer of A Minecraft Movie, and announced new features for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. The show discussed The Minecraft Experience: Villager Rescue, a real-life Minecraft-themed interactive experience, and featured another short from Element Animation, promoting the upcoming drop. Minecraft Live 2025: March 2025 was held on March 22, 2025. The first of two Minecraft Live events in 2025, it discussed the upcoming Spring Drop which was later released on March 25 as Spring to Life, which included new variants of existing mobs. It also showed some features coming in a later drop nicknamed the "Summer Drop", such as Vibrant Visuals, a built in form of shaders, and new forms of the ghast, the dried ghast, ghastling, and happy ghast. It also showed a preview of the upcoming A Minecraft Movie. Minecraft Live 2025: September 2025 was held on September 27, 2025. The second of three Minecraft Live events in 2025, it discussed the Copper Age and Mounts of Mayhem updates. Notes References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft_%E2%80%93_Volume_Alpha] | [TOKENS: 3028] |
Contents Minecraft – Volume Alpha Minecraft – Volume Alpha is the first soundtrack album by the German electronic musician Daniel "C418" Rosenfeld. Created for the 2011 video game Minecraft, it is the first of two albums by Rosenfeld to come from the game's soundtrack. It primarily consists of simplistic ambient music, though some tracks are more upbeat. The simplistic nature of the album's music was caused by the technical limitations of Minecraft's sound engine, which made earlier concepts unfeasible. Volume Alpha was released digitally in March 2011 as Rosenfeld's first commercial release, with record label Ghostly International releasing the album in vinyl record and CD format in 2015, and in cassette format in 2025. Since release, Volume Alpha has been lauded by critics, who praised its usage in the game and its merits as a standalone ambient work. It has been considered to be a major part of Minecraft's popularity, and seven of its tracks are among the most streamed video game compositions on Spotify. Due to its association with Minecraft, some have considered it to be an influential album, as well as one of the best video game soundtracks ever made. In 2025, the soundtrack was selected to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, and/or aesthetically significant", making it the second piece of video game music to do so after the Super Mario Bros. theme. A second Minecraft soundtrack album, Minecraft – Volume Beta, was released in 2013. A third soundtrack album by Rosenfeld has been completed, but remains unreleased. Rosenfeld described Volume Alpha as his most important work, and the success of the album led him to pursue music creation full-time. In 2022, the album experienced a resurgence in popularity and appeared on multiple charts, and was nominated for the Top Dance/Electronic Albums category at the Billboard Music Awards of 2022. In August 2023, the album's success led to Rosenfeld reaching number one on the Billboard Emerging Artists charts. In December of that year, Volume Alpha was certified gold by the RIAA, after "Sweden" received its own Gold certification in August. Since then, two more tracks from the album, "Minecraft" and "Subwoofer Lullaby", have also been certified gold. Background Volume Alpha was the first album to come from the soundtrack for Minecraft, a 2011 sandbox video game created by Markus Persson. In the game, players can build anything they want in a randomly-generated world made out of "voxels", with no mandatory goals. As of October 2023, it is the best-selling video game of all time, having sold over 300 million units. Prior to creating Volume Alpha, independent musician Daniel "C418" Rosenfeld was a small artist, mainly producing experimental albums inspired by Aphex Twin that he described as "making no sense". During the development of Minecraft, Persson met Rosenfeld through indie game development forum TIGSource, and the two became friends. When Persson showed the game to Rosenfeld, he requested that he become the game's sound designer. Rosenfeld accepted, and began work on the game's sound effects and music. Production and composition Volume Alpha consists mainly of simplistic ambient and acoustic music that predominantly uses piano and strings. This design was primarily caused by the technical limitations of Minecraft's sound engine, which Rosenfeld said heavily limited the capabilities of the game's sound design. Originally, Rosenfeld wanted the game to include more "epic" music that would play during fights, music that would play depending on what type of biome the player was in, and music that would play exclusively in caves. These were all unfeasible due to how the game's sound engine worked, or because they were based on events that would've lasted too short for the music to be worthwhile. Instead, Rosenfeld opted to create more quiet, simplistic music. His approach was inspired by Dwarf Fortress (2006), where he viewed the game's lower graphical quality that would otherwise be a turn-off to be backed up by music that would encourage the player to continue playing. Rosenfeld composed the soundtrack using Ableton Live, alongside other software and plugins. He also used synthesisers like the Moog Voyager. After every track was complete, Rosenfeld arranged the final renditions so that every track flowed naturally into the next, sometimes extending tracks to achieve this. He wanted Volume Alpha to be able to be listened to in one sitting and presented independently of Minecraft, while being interpreted as a single piece. In an interview with Vice, Rosenfeld stated that the album's track order originally had a narrative, though he had forgotten what it was. Despite Volume Alpha's track order, the music in Minecraft is played randomly, with no set moments where specific tracks play. The first three tracks Rosenfeld made for Minecraft, added early in development, were "Minecraft", "Clark" and "Sweden", known in the game files as "Calm" 1, 2, and 3, respectively. After these tracks were added, Rosenfeld continued experimenting with the soundtrack's direction. He later concluded that the compositional style present in the "Calm" tracks was the most well received by players. He would then use this style as the basis for the composition of other tracks in Volume Alpha. This style does not apply to all tracks in the album, with compositions such as "Cat" and "Dog" being upbeat chiptune themes that use synthesisers. Release Volume Alpha was released digitally on 4 March 2011 via Bandcamp as Rosenfeld's first commercial release. The commercial release of Volume Alpha contains several tracks exclusive to the album, ranging from those cut from the game (such as "Excuse") to compositions from Rosenfeld's previous albums (such as "Droopy Likes Ricochet"). The album's cover art is of a 3D version of a Minecraft block of grass. On 23 June 2015, a physical release of the album was announced by record label Ghostly International. Alongside the standard CD and LP releases, a limited edition version that came in the form of a transparent vinyl was announced, with only 1,000 units being produced. These were released on 21 August 2015. Those who purchased the physical releases also received the album digitally. It has been reprinted since its initial release. On 15 April 2025, Ghostly announced that Volume Alpha would be released in cassette tape format starting 13 June, available alone or in a limited-edition box set with Volume Beta. Reception Volume Alpha received positive reviews from critics. Several critics have highlighted the usage of Volume Alpha in Minecraft, believing its music to work alongside the aesthetic of the game; many commented on the album's significance and influence, and several praised the artistry. Luke Plunkett of Kotaku called Volume Alpha "as tranquil as a good night's sleep", and a great ambient album, the music critic Anthony Fantano found the work "gorgeous", and a staff writer of Sputnikmusic said it was an album you could "sit down to for a quick listen, only to emerge, staggering and numb, 2 hours later, confused but knowing that time wasn't wasted". The album's artistry was the subject of critical commentary. AllMusic's Andy Kellman found Volume Alpha to be a good demonstration of Rosenfeld's work, one that made it "easy to hear [...] why he has been compared" to influential composers such as Erik Satie and Brian Eno. Kellman believed that the album had good track variety, writing "none of the recurring elements are pronounced or simple enough to become fatiguing with repeated play". Original Sound Version's Richard McDonald described the similarities between most tracks in the album as beneficial to its presentation when it came to "providing an overall style while keeping each track unique", while also finding the composition of each track to be a style that he "couldn't imagine the game without". Sputnikmusic praised the album's role as a soundtrack and its consistency between compositions. They said that the abundance of piano-centric compositions accompanied with synths created a "signature" for Rosenfeld; they praised this as key to the mood and immersion though wished there was more track variety. Critics highlighted the album's significance and influence. Stephen Worthy of Mojo believed that the album diverted expectations in comparison to other soundtracks behind popular video games, which he found to typically be large scale orchestras instead of vignettes. Worthy described Volume Alpha as one of the most influential albums of recent times due to Minecraft's widespread popularity, as well as one of the "loveliest". Sputnikmusic described it as one of the best ambient and electronic albums of 2011, and Fantano named it "easily" one of the best video game soundtracks of all time. Original Sound Version's McDonald believed that Volume Alpha was "one of the most stand-out game soundtracks" of the 21st century, and one that was an "example of beautiful, elegant, and strongly emotional composition that transcends the game music genre into something much more". Critics commented on the album's context within the game. Original Sound Version's McDonald highlighted the album's usage in Minecraft as leading to "very strong emotions that few games manage to master, or even hint at", which he viewed as consequentially being heavily nostalgic. AllMusic's Kellman wrote Volume Alpha to be one of "many immersive aspects" of Minecraft, Fantano said it was integral in making Minecraft's gameplay enjoyable, and Digital Trends believed that Minecraft might not have been as successful as it was if it were not for the work of Rosenfeld, including Volume Alpha. In the book Four Ways of Hearing Video Game Music, Michiel Kamp wrote that the sandbox nature of Minecraft also applied to its music, believing the randomness of how the soundtrack is presented would lead to what he viewed as the game creating unique, personalized moments that weren't intentional. Legacy Following the release of Volume Alpha, Rosenfeld continued to create music for Minecraft, with the second soundtrack album, Minecraft – Volume Beta, releasing in 2013. He also composed the score for the 2012 documentary film Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. Afterwards, Rosenfeld contributed music to console versions of Minecraft in 2014, and three more standalone tracks to the full game in 2018. In 2015, Rosenfeld told Fact Magazine that a third soundtrack album would be released. In 2017, Rosenfeld said that while he was "still far from done" at that point, he had composed more music for the third album than the total of Volume Alpha and Beta combined. When asked about the third album in a 2021 interview with Anthony Fantano, Rosenfeld commented, "I have something—I consider it finished—but things have become complicated, especially as Minecraft is now a big property, so I don't know". Since the release of Volume Beta, other artists besides Rosenfeld have created music for the game, such as Celeste (2018) composer Lena Raine. Rosenfeld said in 2025 that he was glad that his time with Minecraft was "chosen for me that it's done" so he could focus on a normal career—Rosenfeld made note of "a lot of ruminations going on" about whether he would release a work for Minecraft again, and said that he would be content if he does not complete further work for the game. Staff teams of several news outlets have considered the Minecraft soundtrack, including Volume Alpha, to be among the best video game soundtracks of all time. These include the editorial teams of NME, Digital Trends, GamesRadar+, and VG247. In 2020, Fantano ranked the Minecraft soundtrack, including Volume Alpha, 138th in his list of the 200 best albums from the 2010s. Volume Alpha has been found to be a popular album to listen to while studying or working due to its calm nature. According to research done by Unikrn in April 2021, "Sweden" was the most streamed work from the Minecraft soundtrack on Spotify and the most streamed video game composition on the service, with over 77 million plays. Alongside "Sweden", six other tracks from Volume Alpha were in the top 25 on Spotify at the time, these being "Minecraft" (2), "Subwoofer Lullaby" (7), "Wet Hands" (8), "Key" (18), "Haggstrom" (23), and "Mice on Venus" (24). At the time, the plays for these seven works combined were estimated to be 225 million. Unikrn estimated that the streaming of Volume Alpha could have earned Rosenfeld $900,000, with up to a third of that being from "Sweden". Since then, "Sweden" has been surpassed in plays by "Megalovania", a song from the Undertale Soundtrack, but remained in second place with about 120 million plays by March 2023. Three individual tracks from Volume Alpha have been certified gold by the RIAA, each selling 500,000 confirmed units: "Sweden" on 22 August 2023, and "Minecraft" and "Subwoofer Lullaby" on February 18, 2025. Rosenfeld considers the album to be his most important and successful work, and the one that helped him create his career as an independent music artist. In 2011, Rosenfeld told Kotaku that the success of his Minecraft music allowed him to pursue making music full-time rather than part-time. According to Fact Magazine, the success of Minecraft makes Rosenfeld one of the best selling artists by proxy. Rosenfeld would go on to co-found the independent game studio Ivy Road, for which he composed the music to their first game, Wanderstop. Volume Alpha experienced a resurgence in popularity in 2022 and 2023, appearing on multiple global charts and being nominated for Top Dance/Electronic Album at the Billboard Music Awards of 2022, though it lost to Illenium's Fallen Embers. In 2023, the album led to Rosenfeld reaching #1 on the Billboard Emerging Artists chart. On 14 December 2023, Volume Alpha was certified gold by the RIAA, nearly four months after the individual certification of "Sweden". In April 2025, the Library of Congress added the soundtrack to the National Recording Registry of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant recordings". Volume Alpha is the second piece of video game music to be inducted since the Super Mario Bros. theme. Track listing Digital download and CD (58:59) LP (38:08) Side A Side B Accolades Charts Certifications ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. References |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft_server] | [TOKENS: 2286] |
Contents Minecraft server A Minecraft server is a player- or business-owned multiplayer game server for the 2011 Mojang Studios video game Minecraft. In this context, the term "server" often refers to a network of connected servers, rather than a single machine. Players can start their own server either by setting one up on a computer using software provided by Mojang, or by using a hosting provider so they can have their server run on dedicated machines with guaranteed uptime. The largest server is widely accepted to be the minigame server Hypixel, and previously, Mineplex. Minecraft multiplayer servers are controlled by server operators, who have access to server commands such as setting the time of day, teleporting players, setting the world spawn, and changing players' gamemode. The server owner (or users that have access to the live server files) can also set up and install plugins to change the mechanics of the server, and can also set up restrictions concerning which usernames or IP addresses are allowed or disallowed to enter the game server. Multiplayer servers have a wide range of activities: with some servers having unique premises, rules, and customs. Player versus player (PvP) combat can be enabled to allow fighting between players. Custom mods and plugins (server side mods) can be used with modified servers to allow actions that are not normally possible in the vanilla form of the game. There also exists a modification of the server software that can allow crossplay between the Java and Bedrock editions of the game. History Multiplayer was first added to Minecraft on May 31, 2009, in update 0.15 during the Classic phase of the game. The first server mods quickly began to arise around this time. On September 3, 2010, work began on hMod, a notable mod which implemented an API for plugins which ensured they would remain compatible with each other provided they were using hMod. Several notable projects were created around this time for hMod, such as WorldEdit, some of which remains maintained for more modern platforms to this day. Multiplayer for Minecraft's survival mode was released on August 4, 2010. The oldest server map is called "Freedonia", on the Minecraft server MinecraftOnline. The server and map were created within the first hour of Minecraft survival-mode multiplayer being released. Following stagnation in the development of hMod, a spiritual successor called Bukkit would be created by a group of hMod developers: Nathan 'Dinnerbone' Adams, Erik 'Grum' Broes, Warren 'EvilSeph' Loo, Nathan 'Tahg' Gilbert, and sk89q. The project would begin work on December 21, 2010, and officially release in 2011. The project consisted of Bukkit, licensed under GPL, and CraftBukkit, licensed under LGPL. Notably, the licensing was not legally permissible due to the inclusion of proprietary code from Mojang. On January 9, 2011, the first Minecraft server proxy, CraftProxy, would be created. It was a very basic proxy which primarily served to allow multiple servers to be run on the same computer with different ports. In December 2011, Mojang and the founding Bukkit team would meet at Mojang's headquarters to discuss the potential of an official Minecraft modding API. On February 28, 2012, Mojang and Bukkit jointly announced that all founding members of the Bukkit project would be joining Mojang as employees to work on an official modding API (except for sk89q, who had left the project in early 2011). This would never be released, though the hired developers did make significant technical contributions in other ways. In May 2012, a server implementation called CraftBukkit− would be created by a team including developer md_5. The name was a parody of its upstream project, the recently defunct fork of CraftBukkit called CraftBukkit++. The implementation would be rebranded to Spigot on January 15, 2013, as the project grew in size. In August 2012, work began on a series of Minecraft server proxies by md_5 and Codename_B which were capable of facilitating the transfer of players between different servers connected to the proxy. This eventually culminated in a layer-7 proxy known as BungeeCord, which began development on October 4, 2012. In 2013, Mojang announced Minecraft Realms, a server hosting service intended to enable players to run server multiplayer games easily and safely without having to set up their own. Unlike a standard server, only invited players can join Realms servers, and these servers do not use IP addresses. Since 2016, Realms have enabled Minecraft to support cross-platform play between Windows 10, iOS, and Android platforms. It is a subscription-based service, allowing for either three or eleven players in the realm at once depending on the subscription tier. While Realms can also be purchased on the Java edition of the game, it does not enable cross platform play with Bedrock players. On 14 June 2014, Mojang began enforcing the EULA of Minecraft: Java Edition to prevent servers from selling pay-to-win items in microtransactions, which many players thought unfairly affected gameplay. After this change, servers were only allowed to sell cosmetic items. Many servers closed shortly afterwards. On June 23, 2014, the Paper project (originally PaperSpigot) would be launched by Z750 and gsand as a fork of Spigot following increased reluctance of Spigot to accept community contributions. The project would see many improvements in performance compared to Spigot. As of June 2025, the community-ran metrics platform bStats tracks an all-time record of over 130,000 Paper servers running concurrently, taking up over 60% of all server implementations stemming from the Bukkit ecosystem. On August 24, 2014, EvilSeph would announce the discontinuation of the Bukkit project citing the legal grey area of the project as well as Mojang's new enforcement of the EULA. This would then be rebutted by Mojang employees over Twitter, who stated that the Bukkit Team had transferred their rights to the project to Mojang as part of their employment for the company. Developers Dinnerbone and Grum stated they would update Bukkit to the next version of Minecraft themselves, clarifying that Bukkit still was not going to be an official modding API. On September 5, 2014, a prominent Bukkit contributor identified as Wolvereness sent a DMCA takedown notice to GitHub to remove all of their contributions to Bukkit and its forks (including Spigot) due to copyright infringement caused by the inclusion of proprietary Mojang code in Bukkit. The project never received another update, effectively shutting it down. Spigot would return with an updated version on November 28, 2014, following migration of code from GitHub to a self-hosted Stash server, the introduction of a Contributor License Agreement, and the development of build tooling designed to evade the DMCA takedown by providing build tools which added patches to a copy of Bukkit before the takedown instead of distributing pre-compiled binaries. This led to Spigot becoming the de facto successor to Bukkit. On September 20, 2017, the "Better Together Update" was released for Bedrock codebase-derived editions of the game, which added cross platform multiplayer support, along with four featured servers: Lifeboat, Mineplex, InPVP and CubeCraft. On July 27, 2022, player chat reporting was added as a part of "The Wild Update", 1.19.1. This allowed players to report abusive chat messages sent by other players directly to Mojang, and players could be banned from playing on multiplayer servers, including realms, as a whole for violating Microsoft's community standards. On November 7, 2023, Mojang Studios, in partnership with GamerSafer, opened the official server list of Minecraft. Servers listed on the site can earn badges showing, for example, their commitment to safety and community management features, which are designed to give parents an indication of which servers offer the highest standards. Management Managing a Minecraft server can be a full-time job for many server owners. Several large servers employ a staff of developers, managers, and artists. Running a large server can be expensive for its operators, particularly those that have more than a thousand players. Expenses may include salaries, hardware, bandwidth, and DDoS protection. Dunbar stated that MCGamer, which has had over 50,000 daily players, has expenses that can be "well into the five-figure marks" per month. As of 2015, expenses of Hypixel, the largest server, are nearly $100,000 per month. Many servers sell in-game ranks, cosmetics and passes to certain minigames or gamemodes to cover expenses. For the Java edition, Mojang release an official JAR file for server operators to run their servers with each game update. Third party server JARs also exist; typically utilizing resources more efficiently than the official server software and allowing the use of plugins. However, Minecraft servers have traditionally been restricted to running most operations on a single core (main thread) with a limited amount of other operations being able to be run asynchronously, making them inefficient for large player counts. Minecraft: Java Edition uses the default port 25565 to listen to and accept new connections. Notable servers The most popular server on Minecraft Java Edition is Hypixel, which was released in April 2013 and has hosted tens of millions of unique players, making it one of the largest and most influential community-run servers in the game’s history. By the mid-2020s, Hypixel’s founder reported that the server had surpassed 38 million lifetime unique players, while continuing to maintain some of the highest concurrent player counts in Minecraft multiplayer. Another major network is CubeCraft Games, launched in December 2012 on Java Edition and expanded to Bedrock Edition in 2018. CubeCraft has reported over 30 million unique server connections and peak concurrent player counts exceeding 57,000, making it one of the most active cross-platform Minecraft networks. Other notable servers include MCGamer released in April 2012, which has reported more than 3.5 million unique players; Wynncraft, an MMORPG-style server released in April 2013 that features a persistent open world and quest-based gameplay and has surpassed one million unique players; and Emenbee, launched in 2011, which has also exceeded one million unique players over its lifetime. Some large multiplayer networks have undergone significant changes in recent years. Mineplex, once one of the largest Minecraft servers by concurrent player count, officially shut down in May 2023 following a sustained decline in activity, marking the closure of one of the game’s earliest major server networks. According to Polygon, by 2014, servers such as Mineplex, Hypixel, Shotbow, and The Hive were each receiving well over one million unique players per month, highlighting the scale and popularity of large multiplayer Minecraft networks. Bedrock edition Mojang-featured server References Further reading External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumi_Tanioka] | [TOKENS: 1398] |
Contents Kumi Tanioka Kumi Tanioka (谷岡久美, Tanioka Kumi; born August 29, 1974) is a Japanese composer and pianist. Born in Hiroshima, Japan, she graduated from Kobe University with a degree in musical performance, and began working as a video game composer in 1998. She joined video game developer and publisher Square that same year, and worked on over 15 games for them before leaving to work as an independent composer in 2010. Tanioka is best known for composing for the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series. She also likes to incorporate piano music into her soundtracks, which she typically performs herself, as she has done as a part of The Star Onions, a musical group focusing on arrangements of Final Fantasy XI music as well at various concerts. Biography Tanioka was born in Hiroshima, Japan, where she studied music and composition while in school and enjoyed listening to video game music as her younger brother was a gamer. Among the composers she grew familiar with were Square employees Hitoshi Sakimoto, Nobuo Uematsu and Kenji Ito. Her favorite pianists at the time were Piotr Paleczny and Hiromi Uehara. Tanioka attended Kobe University, where she studied music and joined a choir. She graduated with a degree in musical performance. Although she had planned on performing music as a career, during college she became more interested in composing than performance, and in video game composition because of her childhood experiences. After graduating, she joined Square (now Square Enix) as a composer in 1998. Tanioka's first game works were sound effects for the Psikyo games Taisen Hot Gimmick and The Fallen Angels, released in 1997 and 1998 respectively. Later in 1998, she joined Square and composed her first soundtrack to a game in the Chocobo series, Chocobo's Dungeon 2, with Yasuhiro Kawakami, Tsuyoshi Sekito and Kenji Ito. Her second work in the series was also her first solo soundtrack, that of Dice de Chocobo, a video game adaption of a board game. She composed for two other projects over the next two years, All Star Pro-Wrestling with Tsuyoshi Sekito and Kenichiro Fukui and Blue Wing Blitz by herself. Her first major composing role was in 2002, when she was one of three composers chosen to write the soundtrack to Final Fantasy XI. Although she did not contribute more than one song to the multiple expansions to the game, during this period she joined The Star Onions, a band made of Square Enix composers that arranges and performs Final Fantasy XI music. The group has released two albums to date. After Final Fantasy XI, she composed the soundtrack to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, which led to her composing the soundtracks to the other five games in the series. Between the games, she worked on the soundtracks to Code Age Commanders, Code Age Brawls, Project Sylpheed, and Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon. On February 28, 2010, Tanioka announced her departure from Square Enix, following several other Square Enix composers such as Kenichiro Fukui, Junya Nakano, and Masashi Hamauzu; she joined the composer's group GE-ON-DAN with many other composers like Nakano. In 2011, she became one of the founding members of Ringmasters, a non-exclusive worldwide group of artists and composers, though she later left the group. She composed in 2011 music for iOS interactive storybooks, Snow White, The Ugly Duckling, and Hansel and Gretel, before founding her own independent company, Riquismo, in August 2012. Riquismo is not a full studio, and Tanioka continues to work independently. Tanioka has said that she decided to become a freelance composer because she wanted to write for a wider variety of subjects. Since its founding she has composed music for Ragnarok Odyssey, for which she wrote independently of any prior music from the Ragnarok series, and MA.YU.MO.RI. Unlike the soundtracks to the numbered Final Fantasy games, no songs from the Crystal Chronicles or Chocobo soundtracks have appeared in any compilation albums produced by Square Enix. Songs from the two series have also not appeared in any of the official Final Fantasy music concerts, although "Morning Sky" from the Crystal Chronicles soundtrack was played in the first Games in Concert performance in Utrecht, Netherlands on November 26, 2006. It was performed by Floor Jansen of the band After Forever and the Metropole Orchestra. Musical style and influences Kumi Tanioka's signature style, especially for the Crystal Chronicles games, is that of "world music". She has described the musical style for the soundtrack to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles as being based on "ancient instruments". The soundtrack has extensive use of many medieval and renaissance musical instruments like the recorder, the crumhorn and the lute, creating a distinctively rustic feel, and also follows the practices and styles of medieval music. She says the idea came to her while looking at illustrations of the game world, which gave her the idea of making "world music", where the tracks would "not [be] limited to a single country or culture". She feels that specific instruments do not necessarily need to be tied to a specific geographic region, and tries to see, for example, how an Indian instrument and a Celtic instrument might work with each other. For the soundtrack to Ring of Fates, Tanioka tried to focus on "creating a new landscape containing the same atmosphere". She returned to using instruments in an "ethnic manner" again in composing the soundtrack for Echoes of Time. The piano performances in the Ring of Fates soundtrack were done by Kumi Tanioka. She did the performances herself rather than use an outside performer as most Final Fantasy soundtracks have done primarily because she "likes to play piano", and they were done without any sheet music, as she preferred instead to improvise. She took extensive piano lessons as a child, and lists piano and choral music as the biggest influences on her musical style. She also claims to have been influenced by music from a wide variety of cultures, like Indonesian, Irish and Balinese music. Tanioka has performed live at several events, including 2011's Final Fantasy XI-themed VanaCon or 2021's Tokyo Game Show for the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remaster; she likes to do live performances as she feels it connects her with the listener's response to her music, unlike when composing where she can only imagine audience's responses to hearing her music. Works See also Notes References |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2b2t] | [TOKENS: 3578] |
Contents 2b2t 2b2t (2builders2tools) is a Minecraft server founded in December 2010. The server was centrally premised around having no rules, where players are not permanently banned, known within the Minecraft community as an "anarchy server". As a result, players commonly engage in the destruction of other players' and groups' creations, colloquially called "griefing", as well as hacking using modified software to gain an advantage. 2b2t is the oldest anarchy server in Minecraft, as well as one of the few running 2010 Minecraft servers of any variety. The server is permanently set to hard difficulty and player versus player combat is enabled. It has seen over 1,000,000 players explore its procedurally generated map over approximately 15 years, increasing its file size to over 80 terabytes. 2b2t has been described in news media as the worst Minecraft server due to its toxic playerbase and culture. In 2025, the server's rules were updated on Mojang Studios' request, banning "harmful ideas, hateful symbols, or hateful speech". Since then, a wordfilter was introduced to chat messages as well as on in-game signs. History The 2b2t Minecraft server was founded in December 2010; it has run consistently without a reset since then. The founders are anonymous, choosing to remain unknown or known only via usernames; the most prominent founder is commonly referred to as "Hausemaster". The server operates with minimal rules, as an "anarchy server"; except in fixing game-breaking exploits, the server operators are relatively hands-off in administrating the server. Varying explanations have been given for the origin of the server's rules-free style. One server operator told Vice that the server originated as a regular Minecraft server, before he and his friends "decided to open it up to see how much destruction could be made and started advertising it on various places on the Internet." According to 2b2t player and amateur archivist James Rustles, Hausemaster was given control of the server by its original founder, who had established it on the principle of maximum player freedom in the tradition of a Garry's Mod server he already owned. The server was advertised shortly after its creation on online forums such as 4chan, Facepunch Studios, and Reddit, whose users populated the server by the hundreds due to the total freedom it offered. Members from different forums raided each other and their bases on the server. The founders eventually stopped playing Minecraft, though the server remained online due to the large player base that had been formed. A subreddit was created by a player on March 25, 2012. In early 2013, the file size of 2b2t's world map, which is procedurally generated, was reported to be over 500 gigabytes. This increased to almost one terabyte by late 2015, costing US$90 a month to maintain. On June 1, 2016, popular YouTuber "TheCampingRusher" uploaded a YouTube video of himself playing on 2b2t. This caused a massive influx of new players from the channel's audience, who were at first mostly tourists, as the video gained over two million views in less than four months from its upload. This overwhelmed the server and strained the hardware used to host and run it, bringing together a loose group of older players who banded against these new players. Although the new players, who were labelled "Rushers", largely outnumbered the older players at the time, the older players had years of experience and resources. Many older players deterred new players by destroying the spawn area to make it uninhabitable and extremely difficult to escape from and repeatedly killing them in-game. Some players built in-game contraptions designed solely to overload the server, with the intent of making it difficult for TheCampingRusher and his fans to play on it. Some placed obscene content around the spawn area and along player-built roads to get TheCampingRusher's YouTube videos taken down for violations of YouTube's terms of service. The new players, despite having been discouraged to do so by TheCampingRusher, had destroyed bases and monuments on the server that had stood for years, which is partially what had caused such a response from the player base. When Kiberd from Newsweek asked Hausemaster if he disapproved of the massive influx of new players, he responded by saying that "2b2t is definitely not ruined—in my opinion it's how it should be: absolutely chaotic." In response to the inundated server and hardware, a queue to enter the server was added. Before then, the server would have about ten players online at the same time. However, at the influx peak, the server had thousands of players waiting in queue. The queue gave earlier 2b2t players priority over newer players, although this feature was removed after a year. The regular queue moves slowly and can contain over a thousand players. Waiting in the queue has been described as an onerous task. Players can pay $20 to access a separate "priority" queue for one month. In 2018, a group of players called "Nerds Inc." discovered a software bug in 2b2t's server software that allowed players to query far-away terrain, which players cannot normally view. The loading of huge areas of terrain puts a heavy workload on the server, which Nerds Inc. used to repeatedly crash the server. This was done with the intent to induce the developers of PaperMC, a modified server software used by 2b2t, to create a bug fix for the software, which introduced a vulnerability where the server would now only respond to the querying of far-away terrain if it was already loaded, i.e., proximate to a player. By creating the flawed bug fix, the developers inadvertently gave anyone aware of the vulnerability the ability to test if any given area in the game world contained a player, and to read that area if so. Nerds Inc. was now able to locate all online players and remotely observe the terrain around players in real-time, including valuable storage of in-game items and player-built constructions. Correlating the coinciding timing of player join and disconnect notices and the loading and unloading of locations let Nerds Inc. tell where specific players stood, not just that a player was there. The exploit became more effective with an adaptive tracking system programmed by a member of Nerds Inc., predicting the paths individual players would take using Monte Carlo localization in response to the server implementing rate-limits preventing less efficient search methods. The data gathered amassed about 2 terabytes during the 3 years of tracking terrain, paths, and base locations. One group that shared members with Nerds Inc. was supplied with the locations of numerous bases which they raided, looting 200 million in-game items. They kept the exploit secret, creating fake stories behind the destruction of bases and gaslighting. They named the exploit "Nocom", short for "no comment". In 2021, another group called Infinity Incursion independently created a more primitive version of the Nocom exploit and, with their less concealed use of it, other groups started learning about Nocom by June 2021. On July 15, 2021, server admin Hausemaster implemented changes to 2b2t that patched the exploit. Nocom resulted in many bases and in-game item stashes being raided or destroyed, with a total of 15,000 bases being discovered. Rich Stanton of PC Gamer described Nocom as one of the most impactful events in the server's history. On August 14, 2023, 2b2t updated to Minecraft version 1.19, after running on Minecraft 1.12 for over six years. Several additions to the server became controversial, including resetting established terrain and a "soft item economy reset", which removed and decreased the amounts of certain items in player's inventories and storage, resulting in community backlash. On August 24, Hausemaster apologized and explained his decisionmaking. The next day he announced that the server would be rolling back to 1.12 temporarily and then updating to 1.19 without the controversial changes, and announcing an option to refund priority status for those who have paid for it and are dissatisfied with the changes.[non-primary source needed] In December 2025, the server became cross-platform with Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, allowing players from mobile devices and video game consoles to play with users from Java Edition. The same month, the rules of 2b2t have been updated, mandating the adherence to Xbox community guidelines and banning "builds, structures, or any other content relating to harmful ideas, hateful symbols, or hateful speech". Additionally, a chat filtering system was introduced, censoring profanity and potentially abusive terms in chat messages as well as on placeable in-game signs. GamesRadar+ opined that the rule change may have been caused by the Bedrock Edition support introduced the same month leading to an influx of new and vulnerable players, though noted that Mojang Studios pushed for similar changes earlier that year to the Java-only server MinecraftOnline, the oldest Minecraft survival server of all time. Culture The culture of 2b2t, as well as Minecraft anarchy servers in general, is inhospitable and nihilistic. Players usually need to hide supplies and be well armed to survive and can expect to be killed several times. This is exacerbated by the server being set to hard difficulty and player versus player combat being enabled, making survival considerably harder. Longtime players are often hostile to new players on the server, whom they often call "newfags". The server-wide chat often contains spam, trolling, and trash talking, as well as racial slurs, death threats, and Nazi propaganda. Links to obscene content and screamer videos are also common. Players lie to others with the intent of sending them to in-game locations with traps. A common rule among players is to not trust others. Traps are deliberately placed surrounding the area where players first join the server: pits of lava, areas lit on fire, and portals that lead to lava or enclosed areas of obsidian that force players to disconnect and reconnect, waiting through the long queue again. Some players create large obstacles called "lavacasts", in which water and lava are repeatedly poured down staircases of stone, creating mountains of jagged cobblestone. These structures completely surround the spawn area, and many are as tall as the map's height limit. There have occasionally been events in which dozens of players come together to take control of spawn for a time to build a large base, kill many new players, or destroy other bases, which were referred to as "spawn incursions". Inexperienced players may need many attempts and multiple hours to "escape" the spawn area, where resources have been consumed or destroyed for thousands of blocks in all directions. The most common cause of death is starvation from being unable to escape the spawn area. A player may last around 1,500 blocks of travel without food before dying of starvation without the help of hacks or glitches. Roisin Kiberd of Newsweek speculated that enduring the challenge may be part of the appeal of 2b2t: since "nobody survives for long, there is a pride in having died there." Experienced players reside far away from the spawn area in relative safety to play the game and build. The map is less destroyed further away from spawn, allowing for trees and animals. Player-built roads called "highways" are used to travel out from spawn. The server has no etiquette regarding ownership; anything that is built can be destroyed at any time if found by other players. This destruction, known as griefing, is so commonplace on the server that Brendan Caldwell of Rock, Paper, Shotgun described it as being "just a form of weather". Despite this culture of hostility and destruction, there is an event every April Fools' Day in which the server changes to a different map for a few days and players can come together and cooperate. Players often make use of modified Minecraft clients incorporating cheats such as X-ray vision, improved bow and sword aim, and radar; these modifications are permitted by 2b2t's (lack of) rules. These clients help immensely in allowing the player to navigate the environment and survive. Players without these clients are at a disadvantage. Because the server's map is over a decade old, 2b2t has developed an insular subculture with its own history and ethos. Martin Paul Eve, a researcher in digital humanities, found that the wiki documenting the history of 2b2t "refer to the in-game universe as though it were a totality". He likens it to resources documenting the Warez scene; they mingled with the subculture themselves and are difficult to understand without a direct experience. Reception Both Robert Guthrie of Kotaku and Andrew Paul of Vice have called 2b2t the worst server in Minecraft. Paul called the server a "fantastical world of possibility and horror," and found that it functioned as a kind of virtual "id", representing an "unrestrained stream of populist consciousness". Brendan Caldwell of Rock, Paper, Shotgun described 2b2t as the game's "most obscene server." In June 2012, Craig Pearson of PCGamesN called it Minecraft's most offensive server, noting 2b2t's callousness and obscenity in the form of language, swastikas, and its hostile player base. In 2013, a PCGamesN article by Jeremy Peel reported on Minecraft's newly announced built-in server hosting service, Minecraft Realms, remarking that it would keep children away from 2b2t. In 2014, Tim Edwards wrote in a PCGamesN article addressing Microsoft about their purchase of Minecraft that they should not get "prissy" about player-made creations, stating that "2b2t is still an amazing achievement, with or without the swastikas." In 2016, in both Newsweek and The Independent, Roisin Kiberd described 2b2t as a malevolent form of Minecraft, a place of beauty and terror. Kiberd called the server "hell", stating that it is "not safe for life", as the server gives "free rein to [players'] darkest impulses." Kiberd concluded that the main appeal of playing on the server comes from learning the possibilities of a server with few limits, as well as enduring its hostile environment. Kiberd also noted that there is a so-called "meta-narrative" above 2b2t, involving players using YouTube and Reddit to share analysis and commentary about in-server events. A 2013 IGN article and video listed 2b2t's spawn area as one of the six best things in Minecraft, describing the server as the "end boss" of Minecraft servers, a celebration of destruction and indifference. The article noted 2b2t's propensity towards griefing, the use of hacked clients, and player-built obscenities; and stated that players with thick skin should visit 2b2t at least once. From September 8, 2018, to February 24, 2019, 2b2t was featured in the Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt exhibition of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The exhibition aimed to explore video games and their designing process, as well as how they captivate players and the social and ethical issues around them. Minecraft was heavily featured in the third section of the exhibition, which focused on games in which players "become creators and designers themselves, often as part of large online communities". 2b2t represented this aspect of Minecraft, which exhibited alongside 15 other video games. The server was described as "littered with archaeological remnants of its history... a palimpsest of a landscape, written over and re-written over by feuds between players, hacks injecting vast structures into the world, and by different waves of Internet communities arriving and rampaging or attempting to settle within it." In Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development, published by Pearson Education in August 2017, 2b2t was described as being a "barren hellscape", with its nature being the "ultimate expression of the core mechanic of the game," referring to Minecraft's open-ended sandbox nature. The Ultimate Minecraft Creator, published by Triumph Books in July 2014, stated that despite 2b2t's offensive language and behavior, griefing, and cheating, the server can be a unique and fun experience for players who are willing to put up with its negative aspects. 2b2t also featured in an episode of the Swedish podcast P3 Spel (P3 Games) of Sveriges Radio, which described 2b2t as Minecraft's "most talked-about" server, and how, throughout its history, it has become the "witch's cauldron of chaos" it is today. Master Builder 3.0 Advanced and Ultimate Guide to Mastering Minigames and Servers, published by Triumph Books in April 2015 and April 2016 respectively, both stated that 2b2t "sits among online royalty when it comes to public [Minecraft] servers." Renders References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft_Dungeons] | [TOKENS: 1964] |
Contents Minecraft Dungeons Minecraft Dungeons is a 2020 dungeon crawler video game developed by Mojang Studios and Double Eleven and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is a spin-off of the sandbox video game Minecraft and was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in May 2020. The game was later released on Steam on September 22, 2021. It was also adapted into an arcade video game by Raw Thrills. The arcade version released in May 2021. Development concluded in November 2022 with the release of the final content update, version 1.17. Mojang officially announced the end of development on September 28, 2023, at which point the game had reached 25 million players across all platforms. Minecraft Dungeons received positive reviews, with most critics deeming the game fun and charming, and praising its visuals and music. However, its simple gameplay and use of procedural generation were met with a more mixed reception, with its short story and lack of depth criticized. Gameplay Unlike Minecraft, Minecraft Dungeons does not feature an open world nor mining or building. Instead, it is a point-and-click hack and slash-styled dungeon crawler, rendered from an isometric perspective. Players explore procedurally generated and hand crafted dungeons filled with randomly-generated monsters and also deal with traps, puzzles, bosses and finding treasure. There is no class system; players can use any weapon or armor they wish. The game includes a four-player local and online multiplayer. Following the release of the final DLC, Mojang introduced Seasonal Adventures, a free content update system that added new gameplay modes and progression systems. The first season, Cloudy Climb, launched on December 14, 2021, and introduced The Tower, a roguelike single-player mode featuring 30 procedurally generated floors that initially refreshed every two weeks. The rotation frequency was later increased to weekly in November 2022. This update also added an Adventure Rank progression system with both free and premium reward tracks available through an Adventure Pass. Luminous Night, the second season, released on April 20, 2022, and featured nighttime Tower exploration along with the Wildfire mob. The third and final season, Fauna Faire, released on October 19, 2022, and added the Enchantsmith merchant, the Treetop Tangle mission, and multiplayer functionality to The Tower. Plot Minecraft Dungeons is set in the same fictional world as Minecraft, known as the "Overworld", consisting of rough 3D objects—mainly cubes and fluids, and commonly called "blocks"—representing various materials, and inhabited by both peaceful and hostile mobs. Unlike 'Minecraft', the game features a linear, story-driven campaign, and cutscenes. The opening cutscene tells the story of an Illager named Archie, who was driven away by his people. While searching for a new home, he was forced to leave every village he found due to Villagers not allowing him to live with them. One day, Archie stumbled upon a powerful artifact known as the Orb of Dominance, which granted him magic powers but also corrupted him. Now known as the "Arch-Illager", he sought vengeance on all those who wronged him and subjugated numerous villages with his newly acquired army, composed of creatures such as redstone golems and other Illagers. Players assume the role of heroes who embark on a quest to defeat the Arch-Illager while liberating oppressed villages, fighting monsters, and completing various quests. Ultimately, the players face the Arch-Illager in his castle and, once defeated, the orb takes its true form as the Heart of Ender boss. This is the final boss of the game. After destroying the Heart of Ender aka the Orb of Dominance, Archie is freed from its influence. Rather than punish Archie for his actions, the players show him kindness and forgiveness and quickly befriend him. As the players and Archie depart, the Orb is shown to be rebuilding itself. It is then found by an Enderman who picks up the orb and goes into the End. The last scene in the cutscene shows an Endersent climbing out of the portal. In the game, after defeating Archie, players unlock new difficulties that make the game more challenging but provide better rewards. There are six expansion packs that continue the story of the game: Development Dungeons is developed by Mojang Studios for Xbox One, Windows 10, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch using Unreal Engine 4. Console ports are being done by Double Eleven. With the continued success of the original Minecraft, Mojang thought about other possible games that could bring something new to the Minecraft universe. Experimenting with different ideas, the game was originally meant to be a single-player dungeon crawl game, inspired by The Legend of Zelda series, for the Nintendo 3DS. However, as the game began to take shape, these elements were changed or removed. For example, after adding in multiplayer features, the development team realized that these changes made the game more fun. According to game director Måns Olsen, the game was inspired by Diablo and Torchlight, as well as co-operative first-person shooter games like Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide and Left 4 Dead. One of the primary challenges the development team faced was figuring out how to adapt the gameplay of dungeon crawl games like Diablo into the world of Minecraft. Since Minecraft characters did not have any special innate abilities, Mojang had to think of alternatives to things such as character class that would normally be found in games of that genre. Their solution was to focus on creating weapons and armor that the player could make more powerful through enchantments, allowing the player to explore their creativity through customization. In addition, Mojang wanted to streamline the traditional dungeon crawl game experience into something more accessible. Olsen remarked that other games in the genre "are approachable to some degree, but they're typically games with very deep, interconnected systems", and that they wanted to make getting into Minecraft Dungeons "super easy" yet "instantly familiar". The decision to not allow building or crafting, a staple of the original Minecraft, was also made in order to focus on the core dungeon-crawling experience. To give more experienced players a challenge, the team added options to change the game's difficulty, which would reward players with better equipment and new secret content for playing on harder difficulties. Minecraft Dungeons was announced on September 28, 2019, during the Minecon live streaming event. A video showcasing gameplay was released during E3 2019. Release Minecraft Dungeons was released on May 26, 2020, after being delayed from its original April release date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The closed beta for the game ran for a month from March 25 to April 24, 2020. After the initial release, the game was supported with several downloadable content (DLC) expansions packs that each added new dungeons, weapons, items and artifacts. The first expansion, titled Jungle Awakens, was released on July 1, 2020. It was followed by Creeping Winter on September 8, 2020, Howling Peaks on December 9, 2020, Flames of the Nether on February 24, 2021, Hidden Depths on May 26, 2021, and Echoing Void on July 28, 2021. A patch for the Xbox One version of the game including enhancements for Xbox Series X/S consoles was released alongside the Flames of the Nether update. On July 28, 2021, the same day that Minecraft Dungeons: Echoing Void was released, Minecraft Dungeons, Ultimate Edition was released with all 6 DLCs and access to all Hero Pass Cosmetics. In March 2021, Mojang announced an arcade version of the game associated with collectible cards. Officially licensed from Mojang and Microsoft, it was created by developer Play Mechanix and entertainment company Raw Thrills. The gameplay was changed into a beat-em-up format, similar to games such as Golden Axe. It debuted at Dave & Buster's restaurants sometime in May 2021, and at Sony Pictures' Wonderverse on December 19, 2023. Reception Minecraft Dungeons received mixed to positive reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. Critics generally found the game fun and charming, complimenting its visuals and music. Some were divided on Dungeons's simplicity and the procedural generation system used to generate loot and dungeon layouts. Most reviewers were critical of the game's short story mode and perceived lack of depth. Shacknews called it "a fun, laid back dungeon crawler for friends to get into." The Hero Edition of Minecraft Dungeons sold 11,450 physical copies on the Nintendo Switch within its first week on sale in Japan, making it the fourth bestselling retail game of the week in the country. The game was nominated for the category of Best Family game at The Game Awards 2020. The game has over 15 million players, as of February 2022, and approximately 25 million as of April 2024, making it the most successful Minecraft spinoff. Three music tracks from this game, Halland, Dalarna, and The Arch-Illager, are featured as downloadable content in the 2018 crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with the former two being rearranged into a single medley. These songs were added to the game on October 13, 2020, as part of Challenger Pack 7, which features content from Minecraft franchise including the default skins Steve and Alex as playable fighters and a stage based on Minecraft biomes. References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynncraft] | [TOKENS: 383] |
Contents Wynncraft Wynncraft is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Minecraft server created by Jumla, Salted, and Grian, and released in April 2013. According to Salted, one of the server's owners, over 2.9 million players have played on the server as of March 2021. As of february 2026, the player count record is 10716(following the Fruma expansion trailer) Gameplay Wynncraft's gameplay includes completing quests, joining guilds, completing dungeons and raids, and fighting bosses. Before a tutorial start in the Fruma province, one of Wynncraft's five known provinces, players are required to select a class between Archer, Assassin, Mage, Warrior, and Shaman. The server's world has an approximate size of 4,400 by 5,500 blocks (meters), and consists of four provinces: Wynn, Corkus, Gavel and Silent Expanse, divided by an ocean with islands. Wynncraft's design is inspired by the MMORPG RuneScape, and as of 2021, it has hundreds of quests. Aside from the cost of Minecraft, the server is free-to-play, with players being able to purchase cosmetic in-game items. Reception Wynncraft received generally positive reviews. Writing for Kotaku Australia, Luke Plunkett praised Wynncraft's map and called the server "a full and proper MMO". Carl Velasco of Tech Times said that the server is "nuts" and "a stunning example of what can be created using Minecraft's own sandbox engine". Austin Wood, writing for PC Gamer, was "continually floored by all you can do". As of 4 July 2017, Wynncraft is the largest MMORPG built in Minecraft, according to Guinness World Records. References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autcraft] | [TOKENS: 467] |
Contents Autcraft Autcraft is a Minecraft server dedicated to be a safe haven for children who have a diagnosis of autism. History Founded in 2013, Autcraft was the first Minecraft server created with autism in mind. It was founded by Stuart Duncan, a web developer in Timmins, Canada whose son is diagnosed with autism, and is known in-game as AutismFather. Autcraft was created so such children could play their favourite game with others without facing the threat of bullying and discrimination. Autcraft is administrated by adults with and without mental conditions as well as their friends or family. As of February 2026, the server has over 20,000 whitelisted players. When asked about the server, Duncan stated, "We just let them know that they're not alone... We're here for each other and will support each other for as long as need be... We all know how terrible it can feel sometimes and none of us want the others to feel that same way." Autcraft was the subject of a 2015 conference paper by Ringland et al. in which empirical data was gathered from a digital ethnography of the server to explore how parents of autistic children continually create a "safe" virtual world through both implicit and explicit means. Gameplay Autcraft's gameplay is mostly similar to vanilla (unmodded) Minecraft, however offers a variety of server plugins to facilitate moderation, prevent griefing (unauthorized destruction of another player's builds or items), let players make shops, and add custom crafting recipes. It also offers Player Of The Week (POTW) events, in which an outstanding player is selected as the POTW in an event, as well as Darkness Fights, where players must fight waves of both normal enemies and significantly stronger custom bosses collaboratively. Oftentimes these bosses will drop rare, sought after items, such as a wearable head that gives you a permanent beneficial effect, or simply a trophy. Staff & Moderation There are eleven ranks on Autcraft, three of which are staff ranks. The staff ranks are Helper, Senior Helper (officially known as SrHelper), or Admin. The staff team are alerted (via the social media platform Discord) for things like writing signs, books, items, or when a new player joins, among many other things. References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_SMP] | [TOKENS: 1741] |
Contents Dream SMP The Dream SMP (sometimes referred to as DSMP and formerly known as the Dream Team SMP) was an invite-only survival multiplayer[a] (SMP) Minecraft server. YouTubers Dream and GeorgeNotFound created a roleplay with Minecraft content creators. They played fictionalized versions of themselves in a loose storyline. Participants livestreamed on Twitch and YouTube, and it became a popular Minecraft web series. The server officially shut down as of April 10, 2023. History and plot The Dream SMP was created by Dream and GeorgeNotFound in April or May 2020[b] as a small private server for a few friends. The server was hosted by BadBoyHalo, as he owned several servers for MunchyMC. It quickly gained popularity, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic and collaborations across various Twitch and YouTube channels. It starred fellow Minecraft YouTubers such as Sapnap and TommyInnit, who roleplayed as characters loosely based on themselves. They engaged in lengthy conflicts over political power and rare artifacts. Most content was improvised, apart from major plot points which were loosely scripted in advance. Wilbur Soot, who planned many of the early story arcs, said in an interview for Insider, "I write up a series of plot hooks and points that should tie together, however we improv[ise] dialogue and comedy throughout to take us from point to point." The server had over 20 "eras" in its plotline and over 30 characters as of August 2021. The server's early storyline was inspired by Hamilton, and the musical was referenced many times by the server members. Within the plot, characters could die up to three times before being permanently dead. Some members played multiple characters, including ghost versions of themselves. Dream used a separate Minecraft account to play as DreamXD, the god of the Dream SMP and who has canon access to creative mode. The Disc Saga, the server's longest-running story arc, was a series of events centered around two rare music discs belonging to TommyInnit. Throughout the saga, Dream and other characters fought over ownership of the discs, and used them as leverage against each other. The Disc Saga concluded in January 2021, with Dream being imprisoned. TommyInnit's Twitch broadcast of the events peaked at over 650,000 viewers, making it the third-highest all-time concurrent viewer livestream on the platform. Another conflict broke out when Wilbur Soot founded L'Manburg (July 2020), an in-game breakaway state for non-American players. It seceded from the Greater Dream SMP nation and won a war for independence. L'Manburg would later hold a presidential election, which involved heated roleplay debates between the fictional political parties SWAG2020 and POG2020. When SWAG2020 running mate GeorgeNotFound failed to show up, Quackity, the presidential candidate for the party, formed an impromptu coalition party with jschlatt, SchWAG2020. This coalition party went on to win the election with 46 percent of the vote. In January 2021, L'Manburg would go on to be invaded, destroyed, and permanently disbanded. It was blown up by Dream on January 6. The heavy emphasis on the roleplaying aspect of the server and their overarching plots attracted significant attention. According to Rich Stanton of PC Gamer, "L'Manburg was taken very seriously by its players, to the extent the nation has not only a flag but a national anthem." The plot was likened to live theater by Cecilia D'Anastasio of Wired, describing it as a "Machiavellian political drama". Ryan Broderick of Polygon described the server's plot as being played out like "a silly Game of Thrones with anime pacing", and described the story's characters as being "not unlike how the wrestler John Cena plays the wrestler John Cena inside the narrative of WWE". The Disc Saga was described by Julia Alexander of The Verge as a "dramatic tale of good versus evil" as Dream and TommyInnit fought over dominance in the server. In a 2022 interview with Variety, Dream said that the Dream SMP was just Minecraft being used as a storytelling medium as opposed to being an actual game, with GeorgeNotFound adding they do not actually "really" play Minecraft when doing Dream SMP streams. In November 2022, TommyInnit and Tubbo did four consecutive live streams on Twitch, starting on November 10 and ending on November 13, describing them as the Dream SMP season 1 finale. These four streams concluded with the server being blown up by Tubbo and Jack Manifold. The last part of the stream featured Dream, TommyInnit, and Tubbo appearing on a new world with no memories of what had happened earlier in the stream. Tubbo later announced that all subsequent finale streams will end in the server blowing up, calling it "The Event." In the same stream, he hinted that season 2 may have references to season 1. In March 2023, Dream announced that there would likely be no season 2; in response, CaptainPuffy uploaded over 300 images taken of locations on the server at various stages on her website. Several members streamed on the SMP together on April 10, 2023, to defeat the Ender Dragon (a boss in Minecraft), which was inaccessible until that day due to Dream's rules. Cultural impact The Dream SMP garnered a large following and a popular fandom, with hundreds of thousands of viewers turning up for live events. Its storylines are analyzed in documentary-style videos, such as those of MatPat, who describes the series as "narrative storytelling through the lens of gaming". Broderick also attributes the Dream SMP's unprecedented success to how its story is showcased, describing it as being "a profound idea [that] essentially turns viewers into their own directors, hopping through streams to see which version of the story they want to focus on". In September 2021, Benjamin Herold of The Hechinger Report said that the Dream SMP "helped millions of kids stay connected to the social world" during the COVID-19 pandemic. The server's storylines have inspired fan art, fan fiction, animations, and online musicals. Although unusual for an online creator, Dream encouraged fan fiction to be written about him, stating that it ultimately helps his career. One notable fan creator is Sad-ist, an animator from the Philippines who illustrates events from the server's story set to music and dialogue clips. An offhand joke post on Tumblr made at the expense of the Dream SMP fandom led to the creation of a fan-made server with its own plot and lore, known as "Penis SMP". On July 24, 2021, the flag of L'Manburg was spotted at an anti-vaccine protest in London, next to a Donald Trump flag. The Verge described the Dream SMP as a "worldwide phenomenon", with Dream SMP fans creating mass amounts of fan fiction, fan art (WolfytheWitch, SAD-ist, etc.) and fan songs (i.e. works from Derivakat, Precious Jewel Amor, kroh, Knight of Endale, Amanda Fagan etc.). A notable fan work, Heat Waves, which is a Dream SMP-related fan fiction series hosted on Archive of Our Own, reached the top three in kudos on the website. It is named after the song "Heat Waves" by Glass Animals, and is suggested to be one of the reasons the song topped the 2020 Triple J Hottest 100 countdown in Australia. "Dream SMP" was listed as a genre in Spotify Wrapped in late 2021. The genre encompasses fan-created music about the events of the server, music made by Dream SMP members, and music used in Dream SMP streams, but largely was used as a catchall for music by YouTubers with similar fanbases. The artists that are part of the genre include Glass Animals, Wilbur Soot, Toby Fox, Derivakat, and Alec Benjamin. The server was visited by several notable guest stars, including KSI, Vikkstar123, LazarBeam, Ninja, Lil Nas X, Pokimane, Corpse Husband, and MrBeast. MrBeast staged a game on the server by hiding gift cards worth $100,000 for Dream SMP members to find, which streamer Tubbo won. Cast List adapted primarily from Dot Esports. Notes References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informative_Murder_Porn] | [TOKENS: 1169] |
Contents Informative Murder Porn "Informative Murder Porn" is the second episode in the seventeenth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 239th episode of the series overall, it premiered on Comedy Central in the United States on October 2, 2013. The episode revolves around the children of South Park trying to stop their parents from watching "murder porn", television programs containing softcore pornography that reenact true crime stories. Plot At South Park Elementary, student Peter Mullen gives a report on "murder porn", television shows that employ reenactments of murders provoked by spousal abuse and adultery, which the students' parents enjoy watching; Peter states exposure to such content leads to parents murdering each other. At the Marsh residence, Stan Marsh discovers his parents, Randy and Sharon, are watching "murder porn". That evening, Eric Cartman calls Stan, telling him that first grade student, Aaron Hagen's father has murdered his mother. The boys arrive at the scene while Aaron's mother's corpse is removed from the house (upsetting Aaron) and his father is arrested, while protesting his innocence. The next day, at the Community Center, Kyle Broflovski holds a town meeting with the rest of the children of South Park, discussing the murder and its connection to "murder porn". Kyle informs the group that there is a phone application that imposes a parental lock on certain programs and employs a password that only children would know. When Stan's parents are locked out, unable to answer the security question, "How do you tame a horse in Minecraft?"[a] (referring to the video game), Randy calls the cable company and learns that Stan locked them out. Randy and the other parents go to the cable company to ask that the lock be removed, but the sadistic representatives they speak to rebuff them, while mockingly fondling their nipples. The parents subsequently learn that a child named Corey Lanskin can be hired to teach anyone how to play Minecraft. The next day, Jimmy Valmer tells Stan and Kyle that some parents have broken their parental locks, and Butters has become grief-stricken because his father killed his mother in Minecraft, leading Kyle to realize that someone is teaching the game to their parents. At the community center, the children discuss how their parents are now not only continuing to watch murder porn, but are ruining their online experiences in Minecraft as well, blaming Kyle and his app. The next day, the boys go to Corey's house, where they discover Corey teaching parents in the basement. They convince him about the negative effects Minecraft has had upon their parents and their use of it to keep their parents away from murder porn. Corey informs the boys that in order to protect their families, they will have to fight their cable company. The boys confront the cable company's representatives, who are unsympathetic until they learn about the prospective displeasure the parents would have at being unable to access murder porn. The representatives subsequently drop the murder porn channels from their standard network lineup, but still allow customers to opt-in to receive them - provided that they're willing to pay for the privilege, have a technician service their cable box in the dead of night every night, and also pay for 300 Portuguese language channels. Angered that they have again lost their murder porn, Randy and Sharon resolve to play Minecraft, in which their avatars kill each other with great pleasure. Production The idea of "murder porn" came from series co-creator Trey Parker and writer Bill Hader. Parker says that he and Hader knew the most about "murder porn" because they and their respective wives regularly watch it like the parents of South Park do in the episode. Parker felt that the programs comprising "murder porn" provide a lot of easy-to-spoof material, specifically citing the inaccurate depictions of the individuals involved in the crimes that "murder porn" reenacts. The channels in the episode that air the programs spoof Investigation Discovery, the Oprah Winfrey Network, and Cinemax. Parker and fellow series co-creator Matt Stone chose Minecraft to be the secondary focus of the episode because they wanted something family friendly to contrast with the adult oriented programming that comprises "murder porn". They settled on Minecraft because the game was the first video game that Parker and Stone did not understand so they felt that the parents could have a similar experience. Parker and Stone said they contacted Mojang, developer of Minecraft, before making the episode to ask permission to use the game in the episode. They happily agreed and also sent merchandise to the South Park production crew. Reception Andrew Wallenstein, writing for Variety, suggested that Discovery ID, the host of the "murder porn" programs in the episode, bears a striking resemblance to Investigation Discovery, which airs similar programming. Wallenstein also suggested that the logo of the Get Cable Company resembles the logo of Time Warner Cable. IGN's Max Nicholson gave the episode a score of 7.8 out of 10, saying: "After last week's season premiere, South Park's 'Informative Murder Porn' was noticeably better, and depicted a simple but effective premise. The laughs weren't particularly gut-busting, but the jokes were nevertheless humorous and intelligent." Ryan McGee of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+, saying: "Coming off a hit-and-miss season premiere, [...] 'Informative Murder Porn' keeps the satire local, social, and more consistently amusing in its second week." Markus Persson, creator of Minecraft, tweeted approvingly about the episode. He followed up that he was asked for permission to include Minecraft in the episode and was sent out a rough outline. Persson told them "they could do whatever they want". Notes References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.U.Y.] | [TOKENS: 5671] |
Contents G.U.Y. "G.U.Y." (a backronym for "Girl Under You") is a song by American singer Lady Gaga from her third studio album, Artpop (2013). She co-wrote and co-produced the song with Zedd. It debuted on French radio as the album's third and final single on March 22, 2014. "G.U.Y." was developed while Gaga was touring with her Born This Way Ball, and was recorded a number of times for the final version. It is an EDM track containing elements of industrial, contemporary R&B, and house music whose lyrics address a number of subjects like sexual dominance, submission, and gender roles. "G.U.Y." received mixed reviews from music critics, who complimented the composition of the track and Gaga's vocals, but criticized her production. The song debuted on the record charts of a few countries, but failed to enter the top forty in many of them. In the United States, "G.U.Y." became one of Gaga's lowest charting singles on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 76. It reached the top ten on Bulgarian airplay chart, the Billboard Greek Digital Songs chart, and the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart. The music video for the song was shot at Hearst Castle, located near San Simeon. The video featured reality TV show stars like The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and works of artist Nathan Sawaya and Minecraft YouTuber SkyDoesMinecraft. Running for over 11 minutes, the video shows Gaga as a wounded fallen angel who is revived by her followers in a pool. Once rejuvenated, she takes revenge on the men who hunted her and replaces them with clones known as G.U.Y. The video received positive reviews for its visuals and its references to Greek mythology. Gaga has performed "G.U.Y." at her seven-day concert residency at Roseland Ballroom in March 2014 and on her ArtRave: The Artpop Ball tour; in both places she emulated the choreography from the music video on stage, and received a positive critical response. Gaga also performed the song on the Late Show with David Letterman on April 2 of the same year. Background and development Development of Gaga's third studio album, Artpop, began shortly after the release of her second one, Born This Way (2011), and by the following year, the record was already being recorded. "G.U.Y." was confirmed in an interview with Stylist magazine where Joanna McGarry asked Gaga about her views on feminism. Gaga told McGarry that the song is about new-age feminism, which she wanted to explore, where being subordinate to a man is the transfer of strength: I actually wrote a song about it on my album, it's called 'GUY' and it stands for 'Girl Under You'. So wearing make-up, smelling delicious and having suckable, kissable, edible things between your limbs is something I find strengthening because I know that when I pick the right guy, I can let him have it. Some women feel oppressed by make-up and clothing, and here's to them, they have every right to feel that way as well. On her social media website Littlemonsters.com, Gaga later corrected the song title, saying that it is actually "G.U.Y.", an acronym for "Girl Under You". She also revealed that the song was written and produced with musician Zedd, who had been touring with Gaga for her Born This Way Ball. Zedd had previously done a remix of her single "Marry the Night" for her remix album, Born This Way: The Remix, and Gaga had contributed vocals on an alternate version of Zedd's track, "Stache". The musician told MTV News that they "both love nothing more than making music, so it was just kind of natural for us to just work on music". He also confirmed that around ten songs were composed with Gaga and was almost finished, although he was not sure which would be available on the final track list for Artpop. By January 2013, Zedd clarified that due to their busy schedules it was difficult to complete the project and work progressed mainly during the tour. Talking to Sirius XM Radio in December 2013, where she gave an in-depth analysis of each song from the album, Gaga further expanded on the concept of new-wave feminism: "The record's all about being comfortable underneath, because you are strong enough to know that you don't have to be on top to know you're worth it," she concluded. Recording and composition Initial recording sessions for Artpop coincided with the Born This Way Ball. Zedd was not happy with the initial outcome of the recordings and so he suggested Gaga to re-do the whole process. Gaga's idea of recording the songs with Zedd was to not limit themselves with the intention of creating a staple radio hit, instead be creative in whichever way they wanted. He explained to Rolling Stone that they did not "try to make an EDM album – but, at the same time, we didn't try not to make an EDM album. I've done a lot of stuff that's really outside of what I usually do. There was one song that started from her just giving me, like, 10 words to describe an emotion, and then I had to make this into music. It's been a very experimental way of approaching music." The song was recorded at Record Plant Studios, Hollywood, California, by Dave Russell with assistance from Benjamin Ladder. Zedd did the mixing of the track at Zeddl. The instructional voice at the beginning of the song was done by Sonja Durham. Assisting with the whole process was Ryan Shanahan and Jesse Taub. Finally, Rick Pearl did the additional programming and Gene Grimaldi did the audio mastering at Oasis Mastering Studios in Burbank, California. According to Musicnotes.com, "G.U.Y." is set in the time signature of common time, with a dance-pop tempo of 110 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of C minor with Gaga's vocals spanning the tonal nodes of D3 to C5. "G.U.Y." is an EDM song with industrial, R&B, and house elements. Jason Lipshutz of Billboard described the track as a "shuddering dance siren that makes the distinction between gender equality and willful sexual submission". Caryn Ganz from Rolling Stone called the song a "gothy grinder". Its composition is reminiscent of the songs on Gaga's first album, The Fame (2008), with MTV News' John Walker noticing a number of topics being addressed by the lyrics, including sexual preferences, dominance and submission and gender roles. There is also a glimpse of baroque music in the composition which Ed Power of Hot Press described as landing "its blows with agreeable fervor". The song opens with Gaga playing the role of a hostess, which Maura Johnston of Spin found similar to the 1993 erotic album, Cyborgasm. It begins with a spoken word introduction about Eros, the god of sexual desire. Critical response Following its release, "G.U.Y." received mixed reviews from music critics. Positive comment came from Lipshutz, who commended Zedd's production of the song, noticing that it complimented Gaga's vocals and the hook was relatable, making "G.U.Y." the first standout track from Artpop. Robert Copsey from Digital Spy praised the song's "grinding bass and darting synths" and "hypnotic chorus". Andy Gill of The Independent felt that Gaga's "robotic" vocal delivery in the song made the theme of sexual attraction "seem grimly denatured". Walker praised the track's lyrics and gave "G.U.Y" four out of five rating, but was less pleased with its instrumentation. Owen Myers of Dazed & Confused complimented the entendres present in the song, saying that "this pop wonder" would have worked better as the lead single from Artpop. Harper's Bazaar magazine's Justin Miller shared this opinion, and believed that both the dance music composition and the lyrics catered most to the Venus inspiration behind the album. In a retrospective review, Claire Lobenfeld of Pitchfork stated that "G.U.Y." was "Gaga's career-best dance track up until her Ariana Grande-featuring trauma-balm 'Rain on Me' was released in 2020." Johnson described the song as "a seriously banging pop EP", and a welcome departure from the first two tracks of the album, "Aura" and "Venus". She described the song to be "an ode to taking on the submissive role in a relationship". Stacy-Ann Ellis from Vibe deemed the song "almost clever". Brian Tank from The Buffalo News called the track a "catchy and fun" song which made one "feel happy and dance along". Writing for Fact, William Bennett described the song as incredible. Mikael Wood from Los Angeles Times felt that "G.U.Y." helped the Artpop album have a "fresh" sound. Annie Zalenski of The A.V. Club praised it as one of the album's highlights. The song was called an "instant hit" by Mike Driver from Clash who found the usage of handclaps and the chorus as addictive. Clare Considine from Time Out found the song to be inspired by the work of Madonna and David Bowie, in its "cosmic pansexual playfulness". Brad Wheeler from The Globe and Mail noted the erotic elements associated with the track, jokingly adding that "one imagines Gaga's choreographer is busy at work on the song's live erotica possibilities as we speak." Negative reviews came from Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine, who criticized the song, saying that it did not portray Gaga as an artist moving forward with her music, and did not contribute anything musically to distinguish itself from other sexual songs. Kevin Fallon of The Daily Beast opined that "G.U.Y." is a "complicated" track where the production is so chaotic that it drowned the commendable hook of the song, making it sound like a "whirring bee's nest". Melinda Newman from Hitfix gave the song a "C" rating and criticized its production as "clunky". Preston Jones from Fort Worth Star-Telegram called the song "blunt", and believed that it showed Gaga "has been, all along, more or less creatively bankrupt". Allan Moses Rodricks from The Hindu felt that too much experimenting with the music led to a low quality production on the song. Allison Stewart from The Washington Post criticized the song's lyrics for including "role playing, bad puns, a killer hook". Stewart also characterized it as "highly sexualized, which is different from saying it's sexy, because Gaga's air of sexual detachment rivals Rihanna's." Chris Bosman from Time found the song's sexual themes to be "very similar" and redundant to those from "Venus". Lydia Jenkin from The New Zealand Herald was unsure whether the lyrics were interesting or "just confused". Release and artwork A 12-second preview of "G.U.Y." was posted online by Gaga in October 2013 as a preview of songs from Artpop. The part in the snippet was from the, "Love me, love me, please retweet. Let me be the girl under you that makes you cry," line. Interscope Records later uploaded the track "Gypsy" on their SoundCloud account as list of singles they would send for radio play. This led to speculation in the media that "Gypsy" would be released as the third single from Artpop. Gaga also announced plans of shooting a new music video, which tied in with the single rumors. In March 2014, NBC announced that the next Artpop single would be "G.U.Y." and that they would premiere its music video on March 22. It officially impacted mainstream and rhythmic radio stations in the US on April 8, 2014. A radio edit was uploaded to Interscope's SoundCloud; the edit has 20 seconds of the introduction chopped off. Universal Music announced that in Italy, the song would be played from March 28, 2014, while BBC Radio 1 declared "G.U.Y." as new music on UK radio from April 21, 2014. Gaga revealed the official artwork for the single through her Facebook account. It shows the singer in one of the instances from the music video, in a bruised state and sporting big wings behind her. Digital Spy's Lewis Corner described the artwork as "[representing] a phoenix who rises from the ashes." The image is surrounded by the same white border prevalent in the other artworks, like those of "Do What U Want", "Applause", and the promotional single "Dope". Beneath the cover, Gaga revealed that the song title and the artist name were self-written. Chart performance Following the release of Artpop, the song debuted and reached a peak of number 42 on the Gaon Music Chart of South Korea, selling 3,362 copies. It debuted as the second-highest new entry on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 76 for the week ending April 13, 2014. Among the total chart points gained, 72% of it was due to streaming activity, enabling it to enter the Streaming Songs chart—one of the component charts for the Hot 100—at number 31 with two million streams following the premiere of the music video on March 22. Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems tracked the streams from the first full week of the music video release, from March 24 to 30. The total point also included the streams from the music video containing only the "G.U.Y." version, which debuted five days later. The total marked a 98% increase in overall streaming activity for the song from the prior tracking week. The release of the video also helped Gaga re-enter the Social 50 chart of Billboard at number 26, with 86% increase in views on her Vevo account, 87% rise in mentions on Twitter, and an 84% gain in conversation on Facebook. Two weeks later, the song debuted at number 35 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart, becoming the second debut of the week. It debuted at number 34 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. "G.U.Y." also debuted at number 92 in France, number 88 in Australia and number 115 in the United Kingdom. Music video The music video, officially titled "G.U.Y. – An Artpop Film", was directed by Gaga herself. In February 2014, it was announced that Gaga had been allowed to shoot for a musical project at Hearst Castle, located near San Simeon, California. The shooting took place from February 11–13, at locations including the 84,000 square feet area of the Castle's main terrace, the Neptune Pool and the indoor Roman Pool. The cast from Bravo channel's reality show The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (RHOBH) was also seen around the shoot. The news attracted media attention as it was the first time since 1960 that a video project was shot there, the last being for Stanley Kubrick's epic film Spartacus; the Deed of gift mandate by the Hearst Corporation prohibited any commercial filming at the location. Among the accessories shown, the wings worn in the video were made by Jim Henson Studios and her own creative team, Haus of Gaga, created the arrows. Gaga told Access Hollywood about the shoot at Hearst Castle and the main idea behind the video: "It was a great experience writing the treatment working with everyone and I was like, 'Don't touch anything, and if you knock over a sculpture I'm going to pass out!'. The intention of the video was to create something that was a true sort of road map of my journey, being an artist, a pop singer, a creative person..... It's interesting because in this video the fashion and the psychotic sort of whimsy is all happening around me and it's me almost like Alice in Wonderland going through my own rabbit hole in my brain and re-experiencing the past year of my life. Every moment that we were filming together was really joyous and really fun." The cast from RHOBH featured included Lisa Vanderpump, Yolanda Foster, Carlton Gebbia, Kyle Richards, and Kim Richards, who acted as instrument players in the video. Kyle Richards and Vanderpump also accompany Gaga on a different sequence in the video, showing the trio taking revenge against a corporation. Vanderpump explained that they were contacted by Andy Cohen—who himself has a cameo appearance in "G.U.Y."—from Bravo and were signed for side-roles in the video. Richards noticed that Gaga was a perfectionist on the set, with Vanderpump saying that the singer took charge of every detail of the production. They explained to The Hollywood Reporter that Gaga wanted the housewives to "feel and look beautiful and fierce" and during one of the homicide scenes she explained: "I want you to whip that ponytail even more. Go back and really exaggerate your head-flipping'. I was like, 'Whatever you say'. [Vanderpump] To get me into a lace bodysuit, there's not many people I'd do that for. I'm 53 years old, for God's sake. She said, 'This is what you're wearing'." Richards personally wanted to play the guitar since she had been taking lessons. Gaga also used the 3D game Minecraft in a sequence and enlisted Minecraft YouTuber SkyDoesMinecraft in a sequence which depicts the singer reviving famous men who have been dead. The artist had been a fan of the game since Martyn Littlewood of The Yogscast used it to create a parody of her 2011 single, "Born This Way", which she appreciated. Minecraft and Lego were also used to create little items like fruits and chairs in the video. The 3D theme also expanded onto using artist Nathan Sawaya's Lego sculpture Yellow—which showed a man ripping his chest out—in a sequence showing Gaga's head being transposed on the artpiece. Sawaya recalled that Gaga had contacted him for collaborating on the music video. They mutually agreed on the idea of making art "accessible" and decided on the different sculptures to be created, including a duplicate of Yellow, without the head. Sawaya then traveled to Hearst Castle to install the art pieces for the shoot. Multiple designer dresses were also used in the video namely, a white ensemble with a giant headpiece by Jean Paul Gaultier, jeans by Versace, a red swimsuit by La Perla and a black one by Madrid label POL, jewelry from Lynn Ban, and custom made sandals form Ruthie Davis. The homicide scenes showed designs by Helen Yarmak, lace bodysuits by Somarta and Aturo Rios feathered headpiece. Designer Bea Szenfeld created a dress from paper resembling a teddy bear as well as other couture. Finally, gold colored latex body suit created by Atsuko Kudo was also work by Gaga, as well as gold garments for her backup dancers. On March 14, 2014, Gaga revealed during her keynote speech with John Norris at SXSW that she would release the video a week later. She also tweeted a still from the clip with a caption about the release date. A preview of the clip aired on March 21, during an interview with Savannah Guthrie for Today. The video debuted in full on Dateline NBC a day later. To coincide with the release of the video, The Out NYC hotel changed their name temporarily to The G.U.Y. Hotel and would keep it till April 10, 2014. Located in Midtown New York, the hotel also opened a Gaga Gallery which started from March 28 (Gaga's birthday) and showcased the props and dresses included in the music video. Running for nearly twelve minutes, the video features the four songs "Artpop", "Venus", "G.U.Y" and "Manicure" from Artpop and features the central video for "G.U.Y." The video opens with corporate business men fighting each other over money. Nearby, a fallen angel (played by Gaga) has been shot out of the sky with an arrow. The instrumental of her song "Artpop" plays in the background. The men run off and Gaga crawls to safety, removing the arrow from her chest. Gaga makes it to her feet and travels to a palace, where she collapses at the front door and is scraped up by the guards. "Venus" begins as she is carried down to the pool, where people cover her in flowers and put her into the water to heal her. "G.U.Y." begins as Gaga rises again in a white dress, reborn as a Greek goddess of sorts and the song begins to play. Shots of Gaga in different outfits, including a blue dress and white bikini are shown with dance sequences. Andy Cohen and the stars of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills make cameos in the video. A scene featuring Gaga rolling around on a seashell bed in a red outfit, dancing in a gold leotard with arrows, and floating on a bed in a pool is shown throughout the song. With the help of YouTuber SkyDoesMinecraft (also making their cameo appearance), Michael Jackson, Mahatma Gandhi, John Lennon, and Jesus are resurrected using the game Minecraft and their blood is used to create clones known as "G.U.Y." Gaga, Vanderpump, and Richards are seen coming out of a car in black outfits, shooting money cannons, and walking down the hallway to kill corporate executives to replace with G.U.Y. clones. The video ends with thousands of these clones marching out of the castle. The credits section of the video then features "Manicure" playing. "It's really up for interpretation by anyone that watches it. There's some artistic images and just some really pop images and I think the trick is to kind of watch it a few times and you'll catch something different each time. But it's ok to be confused because the intention was for there to be a hallucinogenic quality to when you watch it, like Pop Culture Acid." Christina Lee from Idolator called it "extravagant" and found similarity to the release of Jackson's music video for "Remember the Time", with Gaga building up anticipation for "G.U.Y." with teasers and premiere. Marissa G. Muller from MTV News commended the fashion, the choreography, the appearance of RHOBH in the video, and all who worked in it in the credits, saying "While it's a humbling move to put the spotlight on everyone else's contributions, it's also a reminder of how truly epic this production is. It's gonna be really hard for Gaga to out-Gaga this one." Adam Markovitz from Entertainment Weekly was impressed by the grandiose of the video calling it "camp-pop delirium". He compared it with director Jean Cocteau's films and proposed different theories as to the plot of the video, including ode to old and new Hollywood and a satire of "corporate subservience". This view was shared by Whitney Phaneuf from HitFix who called it a "heavy dose of camp and pop culture". MuuMuse's Bradley Stern described the video as "an eye-popping 7-minute deep dive into astonishing new levels of self-importance and certifiable insanity." The video was also noted as Gaga's most ambitious project since those for her previous singles "Bad Romance" and "Telephone". Kevin Rutherford from Billboard said that Gaga "has no problem attaching art to music" and that "she's not showing signs of stopping anytime soon with her new music video." Isaiah Thomas from El Espectador noted that the video was a response by Gaga against accusations of "selling out" to the corporate world. Especially the ending of the video justified this with Gaga murdering the corporate heads who supposedly destroyed her freedom in the beginning of the video. Dharmic X from Complex described the release as "vibrant" and "leftfield", as is expected from a release by Gaga. Samantha Grossman from Time expected the video to be full of the strange imagery and the extravagant costumes, making it "bizarre". Negative reviews came from Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani, who found the plot to be "muddled", ultimately deducing that the final output was "unsexy" for a song talking about sexual submissiveness. Cinquemani found inspirations from the 1952 musical film Million Dollar Mermaid, in the scenes involving synchronized swimming. Contactmusic.com's Elinor Cosgrave highlighted the video's "mix of symbolism", though criticized the references to Christ and rebirth. Live performances "G.U.Y." was included in the setlist of her Manhattan concert residency at Roseland Ballroom. Following the performance of "Applause", Gaga appeared in a white jumpsuit and green colored wig which she had introduced during the Artpop era. She stood in the middle of the Ballroom stage and sang the opening lyrics while purple neon lights flooded the stage. On April 2, her performance of the song was broadcast on Late Show with David Letterman along with her song "Dope". Amanda Holpuch from The Guardian recalled that the performance of "G.U.Y." received "as much love as [Gaga's] first big hit 'Just Dance'". April Spanos from The Village Voice rendered the performances of "Applause" and "G.U.Y." as the "power duo" of the night. She added that the latter was "particularly pleasant to hear live; the Zedd beat was made to be experienced in a club and its crunch was felt all over the dancefloor." Conversely, Hilary Hughes from USA Today felt that the simplest moments of the performances were the ones featuring toned down versions of her singles like "Born This Way" and "Poker Face", rather than the "extravagant" choreography during "Bad Romance" and "G.U.Y." The song was also included in the set list of her ArtRave: The Artpop Ball tour, being the second track performed. The singer wore a bejeweled leotard which had the Jeff Koons blue gazing ball attached in the middle; the ball was previously used in the album cover art for Artpop. Gaga accessorized the dress with a pair of feathered wings while wearing a blond bob wig reminiscent of her looks from The Fame era. Following the performance of the album title song, "Artpop", Gaga loosened the wings and was joined by her dancers on the ramp to perform "G.U.Y." During the intermediate verses Gaga performed a choreographed routine reminiscent of the music video with a dancer. The performance ended with the singer and the dancers reaching the main stage and dancing energetically. It received positive review from Ross Raihala of St. Paul Pioneer Press who said that the song sounded "terrific" in its live rendition. Chuck Yarborough from The Plain Dealer noticed that Gaga sang with a backing track during the performance of "G.U.Y.", but concluded that "she and a gifted crew of dancers kept up a manic pace that matched the frenzy of the evening". Track listing and formats Digital download – Remixes Credits and personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of Artpop. Charts Certifications and sales ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. Release history References |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oasis_(Minecraft_clone)] | [TOKENS: 729] |
Contents Oasis (Minecraft clone) Oasis is a 2024 video game that attempts to replicate the 2011 sandbox game Minecraft, run entirely using generative artificial intelligence. The project, which began development in 2022 between the AI company Decart and the computer hardware startup Etched, was released by Decart to the public on October 31, 2024. The AI-driven simulation uses "next-frame prediction" to anticipate player actions based on keyboard and mouse inputs, trained on millions of hours of gameplay footage. Without memory or code, the game often outputs unpredictable changes in scenery and inventory, limiting its functionality as a traditional video game. Critics noted its lack of sound, low frame rate, and "dream-like" appearance, though some praised its unpredictability as entertaining. The project is seen as a potential proof of concept for AI-driven video games. Creation and gameplay The demo "proof of concept" version of the game was developed by Israeli San Francisco–based AI company Decart and Silicon Valley hardware startup Etched. The idea originated in 2022 when Robert Wachen, a Harvard graduate and co-founder of Etched, met Dean Leitersdorf, an Israel Institute of Technology graduate and co-founder of Decart. Sharing an interest in OpenAI's GPT-3, they collaborated to create the game, naming it after the setting of the novel and film Ready Player One. It was funded by a $21 million grant from Israeli-American billionaire Oren Zeev and New York–based Sequoia Capital. Decart released the game to the public for free on October 31, 2024. The AI replicates Minecraft's gameplay without code using "next-frame prediction", in which the AI tries to predict what the player will see after each keyboard and mouse input, which it was trained to do on millions of hours of Minecraft footage. The game used Nvidia graphics processing units or GPUs for its demo but plans to transition to more energy-efficient Sohu GPUs, under development by Etched, capable of supporting up to 4K graphics. Etched has also suggested the possibility of making the game open source in the future. Alongside Oasis, the company is co-developing AI-generated video and educational content. Reception Upon its launch, many players posted videos of their experience with the game online, which often showed Oasis could not maintain coherent logic in its actions or setting. The game also presented low-quality graphics, running between 360p and 720p consistently at 20 FPS, no in-game sound, and could only be played for five minutes at a time before restarting. These issues led some news outlets to refer to the game as a "nightmarish hallucination", and drawing comparisons to dementia and dreams. Despite the negative reviews, Leitersdorf, as well as a number of commentators, have commented that while the game may have fallen short of replicating Minecraft in its demo launch, it was the first step towards something more advanced, which could one day resemble Minecraft or any other game. Online publication The Backdash commented the game could be a "glimpse at the future of game development", while others like Tom's Hardware expressed doubts a game without code could ever look as good as one with, arguing they fail to capture "the point of what makes games fun—or even coherent". In terms of legality, Decart and Etched did not receive permission from Microsoft to create a copy of their game using generative artificial intelligence. No legal actions have been taken by the latter, however, as artificial intelligence and copyright remains largely vague legally. See also References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vintagecraft] | [TOKENS: 631] |
Contents Vintage Story Vintage Story is a sandbox survival game developed and published by Anego Studios. The game began development on April 5, 2016, by the founders of Anego Studios, Tyron and Irena Madlener. The game became available for owners of a "game key" on September 4, 2016, then became publicly available for sale on September 27, 2016. An old version of the game is available for free download. The game is in early access and can be played in singleplayer or multiplayer modes. Gameplay The player character is a tall humanoid, referred to as a seraph by the game and developers. Gameplay is generally focused on a realistic and immersive sandbox survival experience. The creation of new items can be both done through a GUI or through interaction with the world for some items. For example, in order to create a clay bowl, players place small voxels into the shape of a bowl, which then must be fired in a pit kiln. Other aspects of gameplay include prospecting for minerals and ores, animal husbandry, farming, brewing and building. The world map is procedurally generated and infinite, with realistic biomes and randomly generated structures. Development Vintage Story began as a standalone version of an earlier Minecraft mod called Vintagecraft that was created by Tyron Madlener. The game is written in C# using OpenTK and a fork of the ManicDigger game engine. Most of the game's programming was done by Tyron Madlener, with contributions from several others. A majority of the game's code is under a source-available license on the Anego Studios GitHub. Development on updates with additional features and story elements for the game is ongoing, with the latest stable version, 1.21.6 being released to the public. A notable feature of the game is its modding API, which has been praised for its flexibility and quality. In 2025, following the cancellation (but before the revival) of Hytale, an adventure mode inspired by the cancelled game was announced to be in development, to be created by former Hypixel Studios developers hired by Anego Studios (eventually announced as a standalone game codenamed Project Glint). Reception Power Up Gaming described Vintage Story as being "on a completely different level" than other block-based survival games due to its approach to crafting and inventory management, noting that the game fixes all the "nagging problems that everyone has" in other open-world survival block-based games by allowing the player to open multiple menus at the same time and interact with items more naturally. A critic found the content of Vintage Story to be a more atmospheric survival experience compared to Minecraft which he considered "too tame". Rock Paper Shotgun praised the world generation, animations, and modding. In another review Rock Paper Shotgun mostly focused on the much better performance of Vintage Story, compared to Minecraft. A review by Sportskeeda praised the graphics, as well as the mineralogy. Digital Trends heralded the unique gameplay and crafting system for their quality, as well as the flexibility of the game. See also References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minecraft_Multiplayer_Fun] | [TOKENS: 690] |
Contents Minecraft Multiplayer Fun "Minecraft Multiplayer Fun" is a 2010 YouTube video, noted for being the oldest video available for viewing on the PewDiePie channel. The video was uploaded by Felix Kjellberg, the owner of the channel, on 2 October 2010. Also featuring Xebaz, a friend of Kjellberg's, the video shows the two playing Minecraft, a sandbox video game. "Minecraft Multiplayer Fun" has been viewed more than 22 million times as of March 2024.[update] Background and release Kjellberg registered his "PewDiePie" YouTube account on 29 April 2010, after forgetting the password to his old account.[a] His first YouTube upload was a different Minecraft video, which he deleted and no longer has access to. Nonetheless, "Minecraft Multiplayer Fun" has been cited as Kjellberg's first video by various outlets. Kjellberg described his commentary at the time as 'shy', and stated "it was so weird to me, sitting alone in a room talking into a microphone. That was unheard of back at the time. No one really did it." Released on 2 October 2010, the video is Kjellberg's oldest available for public viewing. The video was released while Minecraft was still in its alpha stage of development. The video's description reads: "My friend was going to show me something inside the building, somehow a zombie had spawn waiting for us in his minecart." Indeed, the video featured "what sounded like a young man laughing heartily at an unlucky zombie that had gotten stuck in a tree." The video features mainly Swedish off-screen commentary from Kjellberg and Xebaz, although there is occasional swearing in English. This is in contrast to the English he has primarily employed in his later videos. Reception and legacy "Minecraft Multiplayer Fun" has been viewed over 22 million times as of May 2024. The video itself has been cited as one that turned Kjellberg "into [a] huge YouTube star" by Business Insider, as well as one of the "10 most important videos in YouTube history" by Observer. Despite Minecraft being particularly notable within the Let's Play community, which Kjellberg helped to popularize, he did not upload playthroughs of the game during early periods of the game's popularity. He stated in a video that "it felt like people were playing it just because it was popular, and not because they were actually [having fun] doing it." However, in 2019, Kjellberg began to regularly upload Minecraft gameplays on his channel; Polygon wrote that he began to play the game, in part because, "he feels that he is flexible enough to not have the game define his channel." The Verge cited one content strategist stating that Kjellberg was the top creator for the Minecraft keyword. In a pinned comment made in response to people asking about Xebaz, Kjellberg said that "Sad reality is sometimes friendships don't last forever – doesn't mean it's anyone's fault or that something happened. Xebaz was such a great friend to have during this time, he was one of the few people who understood and shared my dreams with YouTube and supported it 1000%." See also Notes References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_Lands_or_Bust] | [TOKENS: 1162] |
Contents Far Lands or Bust Far Lands or Bust (abbreviated FLoB) is an online video series created by Kurt J. Mac in which he plays the video game Minecraft. The series depicts his journey to the "Far Lands", a distant area of Minecraft worlds where, in certain old versions of the game, the terrain generation does not function correctly due to an integer overflow, creating a warped landscape. Kurt began traveling in March 2011, and completed his journey to the Far Lands on October 4, 2025. From season 13 onwards, the series has been renamed to Far Lands and Beyond (abbreviated FLaB), reflecting the changed nature of the series as the initial destination has now been reached. Episodes of Far Lands or Bust typically act as a sort of podcast, with the game providing a backing track while Kurt discusses recent events in his life, news and science. The show also encourages viewers to donate to charity to reach fundraising goals. This charity of choice was originally Child's Play, for which the show raised over $400,000. From 2018 to 2019 and 2023 to 2024, the charity was Direct Relief. In 2020, the charity was the Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) in Washington, from which Kurt adopted his own dog, Juno, in 2017. On August 30 of the same year, Kurt announced he would no longer be using PAWS as his charity, mostly due to complications with their donation system, instead switching to supporting the Equal Justice Initiative. Since then, the series has supported the CDC Foundation, Rise Above The Disorder, Equality Texas, and UNRWA. The show holds the Guinness World Record for the longest journey in Minecraft. Format Minecraft is a sandbox video game which places players in a 3D, procedurally generated world. As a player walks in any direction, the game generates terrain ahead of them, creating (in theory) a virtually infinite world for the player to explore. However, due to computational limits in earlier versions of the game, at a distance of roughly 12,550,821 blocks from the center of the world the terrain generation algorithm behaves unexpectedly, creating a sudden warped landscape. Markus Persson, popularly known as Notch, the original developer of Minecraft, commented that "Walking that far will take a very long time. Besides, the bugs add mystery and charisma to the Far Lands." The name "Far Lands" was adopted by the community to refer to this area. Persson also said it would be "impossible to reach the Far Lands" and Kurt took that as a challenge. Note that the Far Lands are however not the ultimate edge of the game world, which instead occurs at 2,147,483,647 blocks from the origin (the maximum value of a signed 32-bit integer) and crashes the game if one attempts to venture past it. Due to changes to the game's code, recent versions of the game do not contain the same error, and terrain continues to generate normally at distances up to 30,000 kilometres (19,000 mi) from the center of the world. Kurt has continued to record his series in version Beta 1.7.3, the latest version of the game in which the Far Lands are still present. Persson estimated in 2014 that walking to the Far Lands would take approximately 800 hours. Even further out (32 million blocks), the player falls into the void. This is, to an extent, intended by the developers. Over 30 legitimate journeys to the Far Lands have been verified as of October 2023. About 1/3 have been completed (some using a 1/8th shortcut through the Nether dimension), 1/3 are in progress, and 1/3 have become inactive (including one death, TinfoilChef). For example, in June 2020, this goal was first reached by KilloCrazyMan and, in August 2022, it was reached by MysticalMidget, after 2,500 hours and 32 million blocks of walking. In the game, a debug screen can be opened by pressing the F3 key, which displays the player's current coordinates in the world. In Kurt's journey to the Far Lands, F3 is only pressed once each season's charity donations goal has been met, as a way to conclude the season. Additionally, he builds a monument to commemorate each occasion. An exception to this was when he crossed a point where the floating-point error grew from two texture pixels to four. On August 8, 2020, Kurt witnessed an increase in the floating-point error jitter during a live stream (listed as episode 793.5). Kurt pressed F3 in the next episode, 794, to confirm he had hit the milestone of 4,194,304 blocks. He built a monument to mark the point. The next time this occurred was April 16, 2024, during that year's FLoB-a-thon, when he noticed the jitter increase again after 8,388,608 blocks of total progress. In September 2025, AntVenom, a Minecraft YouTuber, predicted that Kurt was within 200,000 blocks of the Far Lands. On October 4, 2025, Kurt reached the Far Lands during a specially planned Twitch stream. In a post on his YouTube channel, Kurt stated he intends to continue the series after reaching the Far Lands. On December 31, 2025, the first post-Far Lands episode of the series kicked off season 13, along with a renaming of the series to Far Lands and Beyond going forward. References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Minecraft] | [TOKENS: 52] |
Category:Minecraft Subcategories This category has the following 10 subcategories, out of 10 total. Pages in category "Minecraft" The following 29 pages are in this category, out of 29 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Quest] | [TOKENS: 913] |
Contents Wonder Quest Wonder Quest was an edutainment children’s web series from Disney’s Maker Studios. It was created by Joseph Garrett, a prominent YouTube commentator who posts videos primarily set in the sandbox game Minecraft as his internet persona "Stampy Cat". The series was scripted by Patrick Muhlberger, Ryan Burns, and Garrett, and produced by Muhlberger. The Minecraft educational content was initially developed by Adam Clarke, who stars alongside Garrett as his own persona, "Wizard Keen". Featured on the Wonder Quest YouTube channel, Maker Studios described the series as a spinoff series of Joseph Garrett’s main YouTube channel, starring the character Stampy Cat. Citing the runaway success of Minecraft as inspiration for Wonder Quest at the MIPTV television industry conference in Cannes, Garrett states that “if you take their engagement and put it into a more productive space like education or the arts, they’re going to be involved in that, they’re going to be engaged”. Wonder Quest premiered on April 25, 2015. By December 2016, the series had garnered over 101 million views. The first episode of season 2 was released on August 20, 2016. The series ended on a cliffhanger on November 5, 2016. In October 2024, every video on the Wonder Quest channel was made private for unknown reasons.[original research?] Synopsis Wonder Quest follows the anthropomorphic Stampy Cat and sorcerer Wizard Keen, who go on many adventures to stop various forces of evil from destroying a magic gem, called the Wonder Gem. Series overview Set in the town of Wonderberg, Stampy Cat and his newly acquainted friend, Wizard Keen, try to save the town from his evil wizard brother, Heinous. Together, they set off on an adventure to piece back together the 5 wonderments of the wonder gem to bring back wonder in Wonderberg, and they encounter trouble along the way. Stampy Cat and Wizard Keen receive a mysterious invitation to the Society of Wonderers. As new members of the society, the Head Wonderer, Priscilla, charges the duo to spread wonder and guard Wonderberg from evil forces. They encounter Rama, a rejected member of the society who changed the past to stop the world's greatest wonderers from wondering. Using a time machine, the team sets off on another adventure to bring back wonder to the present. Voice cast Production and release Wonder Quest was first announced by Joseph Garrett at the MIPTV television industry conference in April 2015. The series is a partnership between Joseph Garrett and Maker Studios. YouTube secured rights as the exclusive distributor of the series, as its parent company Google pushed for a wider coverage of children’s content on their video streaming site. The series takes on a different format to Garrett’s normal slate of videos: “It’s different to my normal videos just playing and talking about Minecraft. It’s a completely scripted show, and the production values are much higher: there’s an original score and lots of sound effects and overlays.”. Additionally, the series is pitched as an educational show for children, however Garrett stressed that entertainment is the main priority: "There’s no point having an educational show if nobody’s going to watch it". The original Minecraft maps were built by The Voxelbox, Blockworks and Johan “Dragnoz” Kruger. The original soundtrack was composed by Seth Earnest. Wonder Quest premiered on April 25, 2015. Episodes were released on a weekly schedule with an animated I Wonder episode. As part of YouTube Gaming's virtual reality initiative, season 2 of Wonder Quest includes content uploaded in 360° video. Installments of the virtual reality content immerses fans in interactive games, stories, and rides. I Wonder Every Wonder Quest episode is accompanied by an episode of a short animated side series called I Wonder, also produced by Maker Studios. The short series, each episode lasting around three minutes in length, features Stampy Cat and Wizard Keen investigating educational topics explored in each corresponding Wonder Quest episode. The supervising producer is Cella Duffy and the co-directors are Josh Bitzer and TJ Fuller. Original music for I Wonder is composed by Duke Westlake. Side Quest Side Quest is a companion series for Wonder Quest featured on Garrett’s main channel, stampylonghead. Unlike Wonder Quest and I Wonder, this series uses the Let’s Play format. In this series, Stampy explores the world of Wonderberg with Wizard Keen and other characters. Awards References |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety-Five_Senses] | [TOKENS: 98] |
Contents Ninety-Five Senses Ninety-Five Senses is a 2022 independent animated short film by Jared and Jerusha Hess. Summary An inmate on death row (Tim Blake Nelson) reflects his own mistakes while facing his own mortality. Production A production team of U.S. and Latin American animators created the 13-minute film in six different styles. Accolades 96th Academy Awards: Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_Dynamite] | [TOKENS: 5037] |
Contents Napoleon Dynamite Napoleon Dynamite is a 2004 American independent coming-of-age comedy film directed by Jared Hess, written by Jared and Jerusha Hess and produced by Jeremy Coon, Chris Wyatt and Sean Covel. The film stars Jon Heder in the role of the titular character, a nerdy high-school student who deals with several dilemmas: befriending an immigrant who wants to be class president, awkwardly pursuing a romance with a fellow student, and living with his quirky family. The film was Hess' first full-length movie and is partially adapted from his earlier short film, Peluca (2002). Napoleon Dynamite was acquired at the Sundance Film Festival by Fox Searchlight Pictures, which partnered with Paramount Pictures and MTV Films for the release. It was filmed at Preston High School and different areas in Franklin County, Idaho, in the summer of 2003. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2004. Most of the situations in the movie are loosely based on the life of Jared Hess. The film's total worldwide gross revenue was $46.1 million. The film has since developed a cult following and was voted number 14 on Bravo's 100 funniest movies. Plot Socially awkward 16-year-old Napoleon Dynamite lives in Preston, Idaho, with his grandmother, Carlinda, and his technology-addicted older brother, Kip. Napoleon's school days are spent doodling mythical creatures, dealing with bullies, and playing tetherball by himself. Carlinda breaks her tailbone in a quad bike accident and asks Napoleon's and Kip's Uncle Rico to look after the boys while she recovers. Flirtatious, middle-aged Rico arrives in the camper van he lives in, and teams up with Kip to sell items door-to-door in a get-rich-quick scheme. Kip wants to pay for his internet girlfriend, LaFawnduh, to visit from Detroit. Former high-school athlete Rico dwells on his past and dreams of going back in time. He believes wealth will help him get over his breakup with his girlfriend and failed dreams of NFL stardom. Napoleon becomes friends with Deb, a shy girl who sells headshots and knick-knacks to raise money for college, and Pedro, a bold transfer student from Juárez, Mexico. Pedro is rebuffed when he asks the popular and snobby Summer Wheatly to accompany him to the high school dance; Deb gladly accepts. Pedro encourages Napoleon to find a date and he picks popular classmate Trisha. As a gift, he draws an (unintentionally bad) picture of her and delivers it to Trisha's mother, one of Rico's customers. Rico tells Trisha's mother embarrassing stories about Napoleon to evoke sympathy. She buys his wares and forces Trisha to accept Napoleon's invitation. Trisha goes to the dance with Napoleon but abandons him to hang out with Summer. Pedro allows Napoleon to dance with Deb. Pedro runs against Summer for class president. The two factions put up flyers and hand out trinkets to attract voters. To demonstrate their "skills" and increase their respect around the school, Napoleon and Pedro enter a Future Farmers of America competition, grading milk and cow udders. They win medals, but it does little for their popularity. Napoleon buys an instructional dance videotape, D-Qwon's Dance Grooves. Kip's girlfriend, LaFawnduh, arrives and gives him an urban makeover, outfitting him in hip-hop regalia. Seeing that Napoleon is learning to dance, LaFawnduh gives him a mixtape. Rico continues to spread embarrassing rumors about Napoleon to prospective customers. He tries to sell Deb a breast-enhancement product, claiming it was Napoleon's suggestion, causing her to break off their friendship. Napoleon confronts Rico and tells him to leave, but Rico refuses. His sales scheme ends when martial arts instructor Rex walks in on Rico demonstrating the breast-enhancement product on his wife, and assaults him. On Election Day, Summer gives a speech before the student body, and presents a dance skit to "Larger than Life" by the Backstreet Boys. Pedro gives a despondent speech after discovering he is also required to perform a skit. Napoleon gives the sound engineer LaFawnduh's mixtape and spontaneously performs a dance routine to "Canned Heat" by Jamiroquai as Pedro's skit. Napoleon's routine receives a standing ovation, stunning Summer and her boyfriend, Don Moser. Pedro becomes class president, Grandma returns from the hospital, Rico reunites with his girlfriend, Kip and LaFawnduh leave on a bus for Michigan and Napoleon and Deb reconcile and play tetherball together. Two months later, Kip and LaFawnduh get married, and Napoleon arrives late at the wedding on a stallion which he tamed for Kip and LaFawnduh to ride out on. Cast Production In 2002, Brigham Young University film students Jon Heder and Jared Hess collaborated on a class project; the result was a 9-minute short movie shot on black-and-white 16mm film entitled Peluca about a nerdy high school student named Seth. Peluca was shown at the 2003 Slamdance Film Festival and was well received. Jeremy Coon convinced Hess to drop out of school and adapt it into a feature-length film, and he helped him to find investors for the project. Hess sent the short film and the script to a variety of different casting directors, many of whom thought that the idea was "too weird or they just didn't like the character," Hess explained. One casting director suggested Jake Gyllenhaal over Heder for the lead role but Hess believed Heder was the only actor to play the part. Jason Lee was offered the role of Uncle Rico while Brad Garrett auditioned for Rex and enjoyed the script, but decided not to commit. Actor Vincent Gallo was also considered and almost cast as Uncle Rico. Heder was paid $1,000 for starring in the film, but successfully negotiated to receive more after the film became a runaway success. Hess shot the film on location in Preston, in southeastern Idaho, located near the Utah border, in July 2003. Operating on a tight budget of $400,000, Hess cast many of his friends from school, including Heder and Aaron Ruell, and he relied on the generosity of Preston locals, who provided housing and food to crew members. Among the established actors in the cast was comedy veteran Diedrich Bader, who filmed his scenes as virile martial art instructor Rex in one day. He recalled in 2011 that Napoleon Dynamite "still to this day [is] one of the two top scripts I've ever read", alongside Office Space (1999), one of his most-recognized roles. "It was very, very hot," Hess recalled in a Rolling Stone interview. "But it was so much fun being in this rural farm town making a movie. We shot it in 23 days, so we were moving very, very fast; I just didn't have a lot of film to be able to do a lot of takes. It was a bunch of friends getting together to make a movie. It was like, 'Are people going to get this? Is it working?'" Hess describes the film as being "so autobiographical". "I grew up in a family of six boys in Preston, Idaho, and the character of Napoleon was a hybrid of all the most nerdy and awkward parts of me and my brothers growing up. Jerusha really was like Deb growing up. Her mom made her a dress when she was going to a middle school dance and she said, 'I hadn't really developed yet, so my mom overcompensated and made some very large, fluffy shoulders.' Some guy dancing with her patted the sleeves and actually said, 'I like your sleeves ... they're real big,"' Hess said in an interview with Rolling Stone. The film is set during the 2004–2005 school year, as shown on Napoleon's student ID card in the title sequence. The film depicts numerous culturally retroactive elements harkening back between the 1970s to 1990s. For example, Deb wears a side ponytail and Napoleon wears Moon Boots, both popular fashion trends of the 1980s. One scene is set at a school dance that plays only 1980s music such as Alphaville's "Forever Young" (1984), whereas an earlier scene features students performing a sign language rendition of "The Rose" (1980), originally made popular by Bette Midler (it was actually sung in the film by L.A.-based studio session vocalist Darci Monet, who was never credited or paid any residuals for her work). Much of the technology in the film is also archaic; Napoleon uses a top-loader VCR and Walkman cassette player, Kip connects to the Internet via a pay-per-minute dial-up connection and Uncle Rico drives a 1975 Dodge Tradesman. The song Napoleon Dynamite dances to at the end of the film—"Canned Heat" by Jamiroquai—came out in 1999. The film was originally made without opening titles. Audiences at test screenings were confused about when the film was set. Eight months after the film was completed, the title sequence was filmed in cinematographer Munn Powell's basement. Ruell, who played Kip, suggested the idea of the title sequence. The sequence shows a pair of hands placing and removing several objects on a table. Objects like plates of food had the credits written in condiments, while other objects like a Lemonheads box or a tube of ChapStick had the credits printed on them. Hess explains: So this question came up a few times and the Fox Searchlight marketing people were like "maybe we could do something to say that this is happening now" because I kept explaining to them that I grew up in a small town in Idaho and that things are more, you know, functional and fashion doesn't matter as much ... It's kind of weird, but because they wanted to show that the film takes place now, there's a title where a hand pulls Napoleon's school ID out of a wallet and it says "2004". On the studio's reaction to the sequence, Hess adds: We actually had Jon Heder placing all the objects in and out [of frame], and then showed it to Searchlight who really liked it and thought it was great, but some lady over there was like "There are some hangnails or something – the hands look kinda gross! It's really bothering me, can we re-shoot some of those? We'll send you guys a hand model." We were like "WHAT?!". This, of course, was my first interaction with a studio at all, so they flew out a hand model a couple weeks later, who had great hands but was five or six shades darker than Jon Heder. So we reshot, but they're now intermixed, so if you look there are like three different dudes' hands (our producers are in there too). It all worked out great, though, and was a lot of fun. The Hesses wrote the climactic dance scene because they knew Heder liked to dance. "Jared's wife was like, 'Jon, I hear you're pretty good dancer. I've seen you boogie; it's pretty sweet,'" recalled Heder. "And I was like, 'Well, I like to dabble.' I liked to mess around sometimes in front of friends and dance. But I did take pride in it. I won't be modest. I wasn't great but I did like to mess around ... Cut to two years later: after we had shot the short, they were like, 'Okay we're going to have you dancing in the movie as the climax. This is going to make or break the film.'" When it came to shooting the dance scene for the final film, the producers scheduled to film it towards the end of the film. When they finally got to the scene, they were running out of money and film. They only had one roll of film (approximately 10.5 minutes) left to shoot. "It was a lot of pressure," Heder observed. "I was like, 'Oh, crap!' This isn't just a silly little scene. This is the moment where everything comes, and he's making the sacrifice for his friend. That's the whole theme of the movie. Everything leads up to this. Napoleon's been this loser. This has to be the moment where he lands a victory. He gets up there, and it's quiet: no reaction from the audience." The dance was spontaneously improvised by Heder, with some choreography help from Tina Majorino, and additional moves taken from Saturday Night Fever, Michael Jackson, and Soul Train. "They were like, 'No, Jon, just figure it out.' So I just winged it. I danced three times and they took the best pieces from each of those." "When you're shooting in independent film, you don't know what you're going to get the rights to," Heder explained. "We thought Jamiroquai might be expensive. So we danced to three different songs. To that song and another Jamiroquai song, "Little L." We danced to Michael Jackson, something off of Off the Wall. Just those three. And then we got the rights to Jamiroquai. And I think that was half our budget." Upon the film's release, it was noted that the name "Napoleon Dynamite" had originally been used by musician Elvis Costello, most visibly on his 1986 album Blood & Chocolate, although he had used the pseudonym on a single B-side as early as 1982. Filmmaker Jared Hess remarks that he was unaware of Costello's use of the name until two days before the end of shooting, when he was informed by a teenage extra. He later said, "Had I known that name was used by anybody else prior to shooting the whole film, it definitely would have been changed ... I listen to hip-hop, dude. It's a pretty embarrassing coincidence." Hess claims that "Napoleon Dynamite" was the name of a man he met around 2000 on the streets of Cicero, Illinois, while doing missionary work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Costello believes that Hess got the name from him, whether directly or indirectly. Costello said, "The guy just denies completely that I made the name up ... but I invented it. Maybe somebody told him the name and he truly feels that he came to it by chance. But it's two words that you're never going to hear together." Release Napoleon Dynamite premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 2004, where it was picked up by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Shortly after, Fox Searchlight collaborated with Paramount Pictures and MTV Films to release the film, with Fox Searchlight handling North American distribution, and Paramount and MTV distributing internationally. The film was theatrically released in the United States on June 11, 2004. On June 9, 2014, the film was screened at Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles to celebrate its 10th anniversary. In addition, a bronze statue of Napoleon Dynamite, complete with tetherball, was placed at the 20th Century Fox studio lot. A 20th anniversary screening of the film took place at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2024, to commemorate the festival's 20th anniversary, in the form of a new 4K restoration from the original 35mm negative produced by Searchlight Pictures and its parent company Walt Disney Studios, under the supervision of Hess. On the announcement, he remarked "Returning to Sundance with Napoleon Dynamite feels like a homecoming. When it premiered at the festival 20 years ago, we never anticipated the incredible reaction it would receive ... It's always been a very personal film for Jerusha and me, so the love affair it's had with audiences all these years continues to delight us. To commemorate its 20th anniversary, we are thrilled to screen this newly restored version ... The restoration team did an amazing job bringing to life new details from the original film's negative that we'd never seen before. We can't wait to share it!" Hess and several cast members attended the Sundance screening in Park City, Utah. Efren Ramirez reprised part of Pedro's speech at the student assembly by saying, "I really don't have much to say. Have a happy Sundance." Napoleon Dynamite was released on VHS and DVD on December 21, 2004, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in North America and by Paramount Home Entertainment in all other territories. The DVD is a double-sided disc containing full screen and letterbox versions of the film, plus Peluca and deleted scenes—all with audio commentary. A 2-disc edition (dubbed "Like, the Best Special Edition, Ever!") was released in 2006 with additional deleted scenes, promotional material and a second commentary track, but fell out of print in favor of the first edition DVD and the Blu-Ray. The "10th Anniversary Edition" Blu-ray was released on June 2, 2014. A digital release of the 4K screening of the film is also currently available to purchase and stream. On August 30, 2011, the film's production company Napoleon Pictures filed a lawsuit against Fox Searchlight Pictures for $10 million for underreporting royalties and taking improper revenue deductions. In its term sheet, Fox agreed to pay 31.66% of net profits on home video. The lawsuit said that a 2008 audit revealed that Fox was only paying net royalties on home videos at a 9.66% rate, and there were underreported royalties and improper deductions. Napoleon Pictures also alleged that Fox had breached the agreement in multiple other respects, including underreporting pay television license fees, failing to report electronic sell-through revenue, charging residuals on home video sales, as well as overcharging residuals on home video sales, deducting a number of costs and charges Fox had no right to deduct and/or for which there is no supporting documentation. In May 2012, Fox went to trial after failing to win a summary judgment on the case. The trial began on June 19, 2012. On November 28, 2012, a 74-page decision sided with Fox on 9 of the 11 issues. Napoleon Pictures was awarded $150,000 based on Fox accounting irregularities. Reception Despite a very limited initial release, Napoleon Dynamite was a commercial success. It was filmed on an estimated budget of a mere $400,000, and less than a year after its release, it had grossed $44,940,956. It also spawned a slew of merchandise, from refrigerator magnets to T-shirts and Halloween costumes. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 72% of 175 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.40/10. The website's consensus reads, "A charming, quirky, and often funny comedy." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 64 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine complimented the film, saying, "Hess and his terrific cast – Heder is geek perfection – make their own kind of deadpan hilarity. You'll laugh till it hurts. Sweet." The Christian Science Monitor called the film "a refreshing new take on the overused teen-comedy genre" and said that the film "may not make you laugh out loud – it's too sly and subtle for that – but it will have you smiling every minute, and often grinning widely at its weirded-out charm." Michael Atkinson of The Village Voice praised the film as "an epic, magisterially observed pastiche on all-American geekhood, flooring the competition with a petulant shove." In a mixed review, The New York Times praised Heder's performance and the "film's most interesting quality, which is its stubborn, confident, altogether weird individuality", while criticizing the film's resolution that comes "too easily." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film one-and-a-half stars, writing that he felt that "the movie makes no attempt to make [Napoleon] likable" and that it contained "a kind of studied stupidity that sometimes passes as humor". At the time, Entertainment Weekly critics gave it a grade C and C− respectively. Entertainment Weekly later ranked Napoleon #88 on its 2010 list of The 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years, saying, "A high school misfit found a sweet spot, tapping into our inner dork." The film was on several year-end lists. Rolling Stone placed it at number 22 of the 25 Top DVDs of 2004. In 2025, it was one of the films voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition of The New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century", finishing at number 196. Soundtrack Future After nearly two decades of rumors, it was reported in September 2020, that a sequel to Napoleon Dynamite was in discussion. Heder stated that he is interested in a darker take on the film's characters instead of rehashing the original film's plot: I feel like the future for Napoleon would be a lot more raw and edgy. So whatever he comes up with would be fun to explore, because I think whatever Jared comes up with wouldn't be your typical, 'Let's do a sequel where they all look the same and they all act the same.' I think it would be an interesting development in their lives. Ramirez improvised a script for a sequel in which Pedro is married to Summer Wheatly, has five kids and owns a bakery. In the same hypothetical script, Kip has fulfilled his dream to become a cage fighter, while Rico has ventured into a new business that he believes will make him rich. In January 2023, Heder stated that he believed a sequel was "inevitable" and reiterated his interest in displaying a darker tone for the sequel. In October 2024, he stated once again that a sequel was possible, saying "that the door's not closed yet." In April 2010, Fox announced that an animated series was in development, with the original cast reprising their roles. The series debuted on Sunday, January 15, 2012. Director Jared Hess, his co-screenwriter wife Jerusha, and Mike Scully produced the show in association with 20th Century Fox Television. On May 14, 2012, it was announced that Fox had canceled the series after 6 episodes. The complete series was released on DVD on November 4, 2014, by Olive Films. In 2016, Burger King produced a cheesy tots commercial featuring Heder and Ramirez as patrons. For the film's 20th anniversary, Ore-Ida produced a new commercial with Heder fully reprising the role of Napoleon Dynamite, now promoting "tot-protecting" pants. Legacy The term "The Napoleon Dynamite Problem" has been used to describe the phenomenon where "quirky" films such as Napoleon Dynamite, Lost in Translation (2003) and I Heart Huckabees (2004) prove difficult for researchers to create algorithms that are able to predict whether or not a particular viewer will like the film based on their ratings of previously viewed films. For several years the city of Preston held a "Napoleon Dynamite Festival" in the summer. Many of the featured festival themes related to events occurring during the film. For example: Tetherball Tournament, Tater Tot Eating Contest, Moon Boot Dance, Impersonation, Look-A-Like Contest, Football Throwing Contest and more. Fifteen years after the film came out fans continue to visit Preston, primarily as a side trip as they make their way to Yellowstone National Park. The success of Napoleon Dynamite led to other films set in small towns, such as Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and Juno (2007), which would have similar critical, popular, and financial success. See also References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentlemen_Broncos] | [TOKENS: 1077] |
Contents Gentlemen Broncos Gentlemen Broncos is a 2009 American comedy film written by Jared and Jerusha Hess and directed by Jared Hess. The film stars Michael Angarano, Jemaine Clement, Jennifer Coolidge, and Sam Rockwell. The film is about a teenage author whose fantasy story is plagiarized by an established author. Plot Benjamin Purvis lives with his single mother Judith, who designs tacky clothes and makes rock-hard popcorn balls. Judith and Benjamin make ends meet by working at a women's retail clothing store. Benjamin spends his spare time writing science fiction stories, and has recently completed Yeast Lords, which centers on a hero named Bronco, modeled after his long-dead father. At various times, portions of Yeast Lords are seen as Benjamin imagines them. Bronco is obliquely masculine, and he valiantly struggles with a villain over yeast production. While attending a two-day writing camp for aspiring fantasy and science fiction authors, Benjamin attends lectures by his idol, the prolific and pretentious writer Ronald Chevalier. Chevalier announces a contest for the writers, in which the winner's story will be published nationally. After encouragement from fellow camper Tabatha, Benjamin submits Yeast Lords. Tabatha shows the story to her friend Lonnie Donaho who runs an ultra low-budget video production company. Lonnie gives Benjamin a post-dated check for $500 and begins adapting Yeast Lords into a film. As Chevalier reviews the stories from the campers, he gets a call from his publisher, rejecting his latest manuscript. Panicked, he picks up Benjamin's story, and it sparks his imagination. Chevalier changes Purvis' Bronco into Brutus, an extremely effeminate and comically flamboyant hero, changes the other character names and title, but otherwise leaves the story intact. His publisher loves it, and the novel is rushed into production under the title Brutus and Balzaak. Portions of Chevalier's version are now seen playing out alongside Benjamin's original vision of the story. At the local premiere of Donaho's version of Yeast Lords, Benjamin is nauseated to see how badly Donaho has adapted his work, and abruptly leaves the film with Tabatha. They go to a bookstore where he discovers Chevalier's plagiarism after reading a paragraph from Brutus and Balzaak. Benjamin confronts Chevalier at a local book signing, and assaults him with some merchandise Chevalier had offered Benjamin in exchange for keeping his theft quiet. Two policeman hustle Benjamin out of the store and he is put in jail. Judith comes to visit her son in jail to give him his birthday present. She hands him a box of manuscripts, all officially bound by the Writers Guild of America. Judith explains that she has been registering all his stories with them since he was seven years old, thinking they would make a nice keepsake for his children. Yeast Lords is one of the registered stories, allowing Chevalier to be exposed as a fraud. Copies of Brutus and Balzaak are unceremoniously dumped from store shelves and replaced with Yeast Lords. Benjamin uses some of the money from the book's sales to help Judith put on a successful fashion show for her clothing, modeled by Benjamin's friends. Cast Production In December 2007, JoBlo.com reported that Jared and Jerusha Hess had signed with Fox Searchlight Pictures to produce Gentlemen Broncos, based on a spec script they had written. The deal called for Jared Hess to direct and Mike White, who co-wrote Nacho Libre with them, to produce. Hess brought Angarano onto the project based on his performance in the film Snow Angels, which also starred Rockwell. Filming began in March 2008 in Utah. Much of the film was shot in Tooele, Utah. In early August 2008, work on an Internet viral marketing began, which had a video introducing the character of Ronald Chevalier. A second video was released in October 2008. A trailer was released on August 19, 2009. Some of the artwork in the opening credits is by fantasy and science fiction artist David Lee Anderson. Release Gentlemen Broncos was intended to be released theatrically on October 30, 2009, but due to poor reviews, the national release was pulled from theaters. Reception The film received mostly negative reviews and holds a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 79 reviews by critics and the sites consensus reads: "Unselfconsciously juvenile and overwhelmingly quirky, Gentlemen Broncos offers a lot of potty humor but isn't terribly funny". Metacritic gave it a generally unfavorable 28 out of 100 based on 21 reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, writing that "Hess invents good characters, but they quickly become lost in a disjointed and meandering story.” However, Richard Brody, writing for The New Yorker, lauded the film, and in 2018 described Gentlemen Broncos as "a truly great film, with no asterisk whatsoever". Home media Gentlemen Broncos was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 2, 2010. Soundtrack The following songs appear in the film: References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_(film)] | [TOKENS: 6043] |
Contents Grease (film) Grease is a 1978 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Randal Kleiser (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Bronté Woodard and an adaptation by co-producer Allan Carr, based on the 1972 stage musical of the same name by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The plot follows greaser Danny Zuko (John Travolta) and Australian transfer student Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John), who develop an attraction for each other during a summer romance. Grease was released in the United States on June 16, 1978, by Paramount Pictures. The film was successful both critically and commercially, becoming the highest-grossing musical film at the time. Its soundtrack album ended 1978 as the second-best-selling album of the year in the United States, only behind the soundtrack of the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, which also starred Travolta, and the song "Hopelessly Devoted to You" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 51st Academy Awards. The film also received five nominations at the 36th Golden Globe Awards, including for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and two for Best Original Song, for "Grease" and "You're the One that I Want". In 2020, Grease was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". A sequel, Grease 2, was released on June 11, 1982, starring Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle Pfeiffer as a newer class of greasers. Few of the original cast members reprised their roles. In 2023, a short-lived prequel television series, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, debuted on Paramount+, lasting for only one season. Plot During the summer of 1958, greaser Danny Zuko and straight-laced Australian girl Sandy Olsson fall in love at the beach. As Sandy prepares to return home, she worries that she will never see Danny again, but he comforts her by saying that the summer is "only the beginning" for them. On the first day of his senior year at Rydell High School, Danny reconnects with the members of his greaser gang the T-Birds: Sonny, Putzie, Doody, and his best friend Kenickie. Sandy arrives at Rydell and is introduced to girls' gang The Pink Ladies—Marty, Jan and leader Betty Rizzo—by mutual friend Frenchy. At lunch, Danny and Sandy each separately describe their summer, unaware of the other's presence until Sandy mentions Danny's name, which the Pink Ladies recognize. At a pep rally, Sandy, now a cheerleader, flirts with Tom, a football player. Kenickie arrives in "Greased Lightnin'", a heavily used car he plans on restoring in order to drag race it at Thunder Road. Rizzo and the Pink Ladies surprise Sandy by reuniting her with a shocked Danny. Sandy is thrilled, but Danny makes fun of her to maintain his tough image. Frenchy invites her to a sleepover with the other Pink Ladies that night to make her feel better. At the sleepover, Rizzo makes fun of Sandy's good-girl image, and Frenchy announces she is dropping out of Rydell to go to beauty school. The T-Birds crash the party, and Rizzo leaves with Kenickie to have sex in Greased Lightnin' at a nearby make-out spot. While the couple is there, rival greasers Leo and Cha-Cha interrupt them. Danny motivates the T-Birds to work on the car by saying it will win them both girls and races. Later, he sees Sandy on a date with Tom and tries to apologize for his attitude at the pep rally, but she is unconvinced. Danny tries several sports in order to impress Sandy, eventually succeeding at track and field. Sandy, bored with Tom, agrees to be Danny's date to an upcoming dance at which the television show National Bandstand will do a live broadcast from the Rydell gym. Rizzo and Kenickie break up after a fight. After a disastrous beauty class, Frenchy reluctantly decides to return to Rydell to complete her high school education. At the dance, Rizzo and Kenickie bring Leo and Cha-Cha as their respective dates out of spite. In a ribald dance contest that ends with the T-Birds mooning the cameras, Danny begins the contest with Sandy before Sonny pushes Sandy off the floor and Cha-Cha cuts in. Danny and Cha-Cha win as Sandy storms off. To make it up to her, Danny takes Sandy to a drive-in movie and asks her to wear his ring. She accepts, but when he tries to make out with her, she flees the drive-in, leaving Danny hurt. Meanwhile, Rizzo fears that she may be pregnant, and tells Marty. When word reaches Kenickie, he offers to help, but she denies that he is the father. At Thunder Road, Kenickie's head collides with his own car door, leaving him concussed. Danny takes his place behind the wheel and beats Leo in the race. Sandy decides to change her image and asks Frenchy for help. At Rydell's graduation carnival, Rizzo discovers that she is not pregnant, and she and Kenickie get back together. Danny shocks the T-Birds by becoming a letterman, and Sandy shocks everyone with a new leather, "greaser"-style outfit. She and Danny reconcile and the whole gang vows to "always be together". Danny and Sandy drive off into the sky while their friends wave goodbye. Cast Production Director Randal Kleiser took numerous liberties with the original source material, most notably moving the setting from an urban Chicago setting (based on William Howard Taft High School), as the original musical had been, to a more suburban locale, reflecting his own teenage years at Radnor High School in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Writer Warren Casey was said to have based the high school on Gorton High School in Yonkers, New York. He had little control over the musical aspects of the film; his choice of theme song, a composition by Charles Fox and Paul Williams, was overruled when Robert Stigwood and Allan Carr commissioned a song from Stigwood's client Barry Gibb at the last minute. John Travolta had previously worked with Stigwood on Saturday Night Fever, recorded the top-10 hit "Let Her In" in 1976, and had previously appeared as Doody in a touring production of the stage version of Grease. As part of a three-picture deal with Stigwood, Travolta was given the lead role after Henry Winkler (then starring as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli in Paramount's TV series Happy Days) turned down the role for fear of becoming typecast as a greaser character. (Winkler would later regret the decision.) Director Randal Kleiser had never directed a theatrical feature before this but had directed Travolta in the 1976 telefilm The Boy in the Plastic Bubble; Kleiser helped Travolta maintain focus as he grieved the death of Diana Hyland (his girlfriend at the time and his on-screen mother in Bubble). Before Newton-John was hired, Allan Carr was considering numerous names such as Carrie Fisher, Ann-Margret, Deborah Raffin, Susan Dey and Marie Osmond for the lead role. Fisher, who had recently finished Star Wars, was ultimately rejected because neither Stigwood nor Carr knew if she could sing. Osmond almost took the role before she realized the extent to which the character transformed into a rebel; she turned it down to instead star in Goin' Coconuts. Carr eventually chose Newton-John after a chance encounter at a soireé hosted by Helen Reddy. Newton-John had done little acting; before this film she had only two film credits, both of which predated her singing breakthrough (1965's Funny Things Happen Down Under and the little-seen 1970 film Toomorrow), and she requested a screen test prior to accepting the role. She thought that she was not going to be cast, for she was 28 years old. She agreed to a reduced asking price in exchange for star billing and the ability to rewrite the script, which included changing her character's origin to an Australian immigrant (to avoid having to emulate an American accent) and making her less passive. In a case of life imitating art, Newton-John's own musical career would undergo a transformation similar to that of the Sandy Olsson character; her next album after Grease, the provocatively titled Totally Hot, featured a much more sexual and pop-oriented approach, with Newton-John appearing on the album cover in similar all-leather attire and teased hair. Lorna Luft (who would later be cast in Grease 2) and Lucie Arnaz both auditioned for the part of Rizzo, but a talent client of Carr, Stockard Channing, was cast, several years after her last major film role and debut in The Fortune. At 33 she was the oldest cast member to play a high school student, and Kleiser made her and the other actors playing students take a "crow's feet test" to see whether they could pass for younger in close-ups. Softer focus was used on some of the older actors' faces. Channing lobbied heavily to keep the climactic song "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" in the score over Carr's objections. Elvis Presley was considered for the role of The Teen Angel but died before production. Marie Osmond's brother and duet partner Donny Osmond was another potential Teen Angel before Avalon was cast, as was Frankie Valli, who had been given the choice of either singing the theme or appearing as the Teen Angel (he chose the former, believing the theme to be a better song and more likely hit). Fabian was noted as the inspiration for the role in the musical's script notes, but he and Allan Carr had fallen out after Carr's brief attempt at managing Fabian's stage act in 1974, as Carr determined Fabian's talent was limited to headlining a lounge act. Fabian stated in 2025 that he had been offered the role, but had to decline it due to being overseas when the scene was to be filmed. The role would revive Avalon's career on the nostalgia circuit, with Valli noting that both Frankies benefited from their appearances despite "Beauty School Dropout" not being released as a single. Jeff Conaway, like Travolta, had previously appeared in the stage version of Grease; he had played Danny Zuko during the show's run on Broadway. He did not get to perform Kenickie's featured number "Greased Lightnin'" due to Travolta's influence and desire to have that song for himself. Jamie Donnelly reprised her role as Jan from the Broadway show, the only cast member to do so; as her hair had begun to gray by this point, she had to dye her hair to resemble her stage character. Lorenzo Lamas was a last-minute replacement for Steven Ford, who developed stage fright shortly before filming and backed out, and Mark Fidrych, who ran into conflicts with his full-time career as a baseball player. His role contained no spoken dialogue and required Lamas to bleach his hair to avoid looking like one of the T-Birds. Adult film star Harry Reems was originally signed to play Coach Calhoun; however, executives at Paramount nixed the idea, concerned that his reputation as a porn star would hinder box office returns in the Southern United States, and producers cast Sid Caesar instead. Caesar was one of several veterans of 1950s television (Eve Arden, Frankie Avalon, Joan Blondell, Edd Byrnes, Alice Ghostley, Dody Goodman) to be cast in supporting roles; Paul Lynde was considered for the role Arden ultimately filled, with a scene conceived for Lynde that would have had him in a Carmen Miranda outfit. Coincidentally, Frankie Avalon and Randal Kleiser had both appeared in 1966's Fireball 500, the latter as an extra. The opening beach scene was shot at Malibu's Leo Carrillo State Beach, making explicit reference to From Here to Eternity. The exterior Rydell scenes, including the front parking lot scenes, the auto shop, the "Summer Nights" bleachers number, Rizzo's "There Are Worse Things I Can Do" number, the basketball, baseball, and track segments, and the interior of the gymnastics gym, were shot at Venice High School in Venice, California, during the summer of 1977. The Rydell interiors, including the high school dance, were filmed at Huntington Park High School. The sleepover was shot at a private house in East Hollywood. The Paramount Pictures studio lot was the location of the scenes that involve Frosty Palace and the musical numbers "Greased Lightning" and "Beauty School Dropout". The drive-in movie scenes were shot at the Burbank Pickwick Drive-In (it was closed and torn down in 1989 and a shopping center took its place). The race was filmed at the Los Angeles River, between the First and Seventh Street Bridges, where many other films have been shot. The final scene where the carnival took place used John Marshall High School in Los Feliz. Furthermore, owing to budget cuts, a short scene was filmed at Hazard Park in Los Angeles. Scenes inside the Frosty Palace contain obvious blurring of various Coca-Cola signs. Prior to the film's release, producer Allan Carr had made a product placement deal with Coca-Cola's main competitor Pepsi (for example, a Pepsi logo can be seen in the animated opening sequence animated by John David Wilson at Fine Arts Films). When Carr saw the footage of the scene with Coca-Cola products and signage, he ordered director Randal Kleiser to either reshoot the scene with Pepsi products or remove the Coca-Cola logos from the scene. As reshoots were deemed too expensive and time-consuming, optical mattes were used to cover up or blur out the Coca-Cola references. The 'blurring' covered up trademarked menu signage and a large wall poster, but a red cooler with the logo could not be sufficiently altered so was left unchanged. According to Kleiser, "We just had to hope that Pepsi wouldn't complain. They didn't." Due to an editing error, a closing scene in which Danny and Sandy kiss was removed from the finished print and lost before its theatrical release. The scene was preserved only in black-and-white; Kleiser attempted to have the existing footage colorized and restored to the film for the film's re-release in 1998 but was dissatisfied with the results. The scene is included as an extra on the 40th anniversary home video release, and Kleiser hopes to make another attempt at colorizing the footage that is effective enough for the footage to be inserted into the film as he originally intended by the time the film's 50th anniversary comes in 2028. Soundtrack The soundtrack album ended 1978 as the second-best-selling album of the year in the United States, exceeded only by another soundtrack album, from the film Saturday Night Fever, which also starred Travolta. The song "Hopelessly Devoted to You" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music – Original Song. The song "You're the One That I Want" was released as a single prior to the film's release and became an immediate chart-topper, despite not being in the stage show or having been seen in the film at that time. Additionally, the dance number to "You're the One That I Want" was nominated for TV Land's award for "Movie Dance Sequence You Reenacted in Your Living Room" in 2008. In the United Kingdom, the two Travolta/Newton-John duets, "You're the One That I Want" and "Summer Nights", were both number one hits and as of 2018[update] were still among the 30 best-selling singles of all time (at Nos. 5 and 28, respectively). The film's title song was also a number-one hit single for Frankie Valli. The song "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" refers to Sal Mineo in the original stage version. Mineo was stabbed to death a year before filming, so the line was changed to refer to Elvis Presley instead. The references to Troy Donahue, Doris Day, Rock Hudson and Annette Funicello are from the original stage version. Coincidentally, this scene as well as the scene before and the scene after it were filmed on August 16, 1977, the date of Presley's death. Some of the songs were not present in the film; songs that appear in the film but not in the soundtrack are "La Bamba" by Ritchie Valens, "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" by Jerry Lee Lewis, "Alma Mater", "Alma Mater Parody", and "Rydell Fight Song". "Alone at a Drive-in Movie (Instrumental)", "Mooning", and "Freddy My Love" are not present in the film, although all three are listed in the end credits in addition to being on the soundtrack. (Both "Mooning" and "Rock'n'Roll Party Queen", the latter of which was played in the film as background music, were written in the musical for a character named Roger that was written out of the film, replaced by the non-singing Putzie. In general, all of the songs in the musical that were performed by characters other than Danny, Rizzo, Sandy, Johnny Casino, or the Teen Angel were either taken out of the film or given to other characters, including Marty Maraschino's number "Freddy My Love", Kenickie's "Greased Lightnin'", and Doody's "Those Magic Changes".) Two songs from the musical, "Shakin' at the High School Hop" and "All Choked Up", were left off both the film and the soundtrack. The songs appear in the film in the following order: Release Grease was originally released in the United States on June 16, 1978, and was an immediate box-office success. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $8,941,717 in 862 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking at number 2 (behind Jaws 2) at the box office for the weekend and with the all-time opening weekend records. Despite losing the opening weekend, it topped the box office the following weekend with a gross of $7,867,000 and set a record gross in its first 19 days, with $40,272,000. After 66 days, it had grossed $100 million to become Paramount's second-highest-grossing film, behind The Godfather, and ended its initial run with a gross of $132,472,560, which made it the highest-grossing film in 1978. In the United States and globally, it became the highest-grossing musical ever at the time, eclipsing the 13-year-old record held by The Sound of Music, with a worldwide gross of $341 million. In the United Kingdom, it opened with a record $2.2 million in its first eight days. It went on to become the highest-grossing film in the UK, with a gross of £14.7 million. It was re-released May 18, 1979, in 1,248 theatres in the United States and Canada (except for the New York City area, where it opened a week later), Paramount's biggest ever saturation release at the time, grossing $4.5 million in its opening weekend. The film played for four weeks and was then paired with the PG-rated version of Saturday Night Fever in late June. During the reissue, it overtook The Godfather as Paramount Pictures' highest-grossing film. It was re-released in March 1998 for its 20th anniversary, where it grossed a further $28 million in the United States and Canada. It remained the highest-grossing live-action musical until 2012 when it was overtaken by Les Misérables, and it remained the US champion until 2017 when it was surpassed by Beauty and the Beast, and again in 2024 with Wicked, the first installment of that musical's two-part adaptation. Discounting inflation, Grease is now the seventh-highest-grossing live-action musical worldwide. A further re-issue for its 40th anniversary in 2018 grossed $1 million. To date, Grease has grossed $189,969,103 domestically and $206.2 million internationally, totaling $396 million worldwide. Another re-issue took place in select AMC Theatres locations in August 2022 to honor Olivia Newton-John following her death earlier that month, with $1 per sold ticket and the proceeds going to breast cancer research, through a donation by AMC Cares. Similarly, in the UK, selected Merlin Cinemas venues also reissued the film during August, but partnered with Macmillan Cancer Support, with a contribution of £1 per ticket sold. Reception Grease is considered by many as one of the best films of 1978. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 70 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 65% approval rating based on 158 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Word is, Grease stars an electrifying John Travolta while serving up some '50s kitsch in a frenetic adaptation that isn't always the one that we want." First reviews were mixed. The New York Times' Vincent Canby called the film "terrific fun", describing it as a "contemporary fantasy about a 1950s teen-age musical—a larger, funnier, wittier and more imaginative-than-Hollywood movie with a life that is all its own". Canby compared Grease to Don't Knock the Rock (1956) and Beach Party (1963), calling it a "multimillion-dollar evocation" of these "B-picture quickies". Gene Siskel gave the film three stars out of four, calling it "exciting only when John Travolta is on the screen" but still recommending it to viewers, adding, "Four of its musical numbers are genuine showstoppers that should bring applause." Variety praised the "zesty choreography and very excellent new plus revived music", and thought Travolta and Newton-John "play together quite well." Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times was negative, writing, "I didn't see Grease onstage, but on the testimony of this strident, cluttered, uninvolving and unattractive movie, it is the '50s—maybe the last innocent decade allowed to us—played back through a grotesquely distorting '70s consciousness." Gary Arnold of The Washington Post also panned the film, writing, "Despite the obvious attempts to recall bits from Stanley Donen musicals or Elvis Presley musicals or Frankie-and-Annette musicals, the spirit is closer to the New Tastelessness exemplified by Ken Russell, minus Russell's slick visual style [...] I've never seen an uglier large-scale musical." David Ansen of Newsweek wrote, "Too often, Grease is simply mediocre, full of broad high-school humor, flat dramatic scenes and lethargic pacing. Fortunately, there's nothing flat about John Travolta [...] when he's on screen you can't watch anyone else." In a 1998 retrospective review, Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, calling it "an average musical, pleasant and upbeat and plastic." He found John Travolta's Elvis Presley–inspired performance to be the highlight, but felt that Grease "sees the material as silly camp." In 2018, Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian gave it 5 out of 5 stars, saying "It's still a sugar-rush of a film." Grease was voted the best musical ever on Channel 4's 100 greatest musicals in 2004. The film was ranked number 21 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies. In recent years, the film has been reassessed for what some critics have deemed as discriminatory and problematic content. Bryn Gelbart from Business Insider wrote that the film had not aged well, describing it as preaching an "unfortunate message" with aspects that could be "considered regressive by today's standards". Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the ending of the film was "decidedly un-feminist". Katy Hall of The Sydney Morning Herald said that the film was "deeply problematic" but also "ahead of its time." Joe Hildebrand of News.com.au defended the film, saying that it "isn't horribly sexist and offensive, it's just that its characters say and do horrible, sexist and offensive things [...] In short, they're a lot like, well, people." A 2020 showing of film on the BBC drew complaints from viewers and renewed criticism. Olivia Newton-John responded to the criticism, calling the comments "silly" and saying that the film isn't meant "to be taken so seriously." Home media Grease was released in the US on VHS by Paramount Home Video in 1979, 1982, 1989, 1992 and 1994; the last VHS release was on June 23, 1998, and was titled the 20th Anniversary Edition following a theatrical re-release that March. This one was THX certified and consisted of widescreen and pan and scan fullscreen versions. On September 24, 2002, it was released on DVD for the first time. On September 19, 2006, it was re-released on DVD as the Rockin' Rydell Edition, which came with a black Rydell High T-Bird jacket cover, a white Rydell "R" letterman's sweater cover, or the Target-exclusive Pink Ladies cover. It was released on Blu-ray Disc on May 5, 2009. On March 12, 2013, Grease and Grease 2 were packaged together in a double feature DVD set from Warner Home Video. In connection with the film's 40th anniversary, Paramount released Grease on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on April 24, 2018. Sing-along version On July 8, 2010, a sing-along version of Grease was released to selected theaters around the U.S. The film was shown for two weekends only; additional cities lobbied by fans from the Paramount official website started a week later and screened for one weekend. CBS aired this version of the film on June 7, 2020. Legacy Grease 2 (1982) stars Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle Pfeiffer. While several of the Rydell High staff characters reprise their roles, the sequel focused on the latest class of graduating seniors, hence most of the principals from Grease did not appear. Patricia Birch, the original film's choreographer, directed the sequel. The original musical's cocreator Jim Jacobs, who was not involved in the making of Grease 2, has disowned the film. In March 2019, it was announced that a prequel, called Summer Lovin', was in development from Paramount Players. The project would be a joint-production collaboration with Temple Hill Productions and Picturestart. John August signed on to serve as screenwriter. As of August 2024, there has been no further word on the project. On August 17, 2009, a television series inspired by the film premiered in Venezuela. The series was produced and directed by Vladimir Perez. The show explores and expands on the characters and story from the film. On January 31, 2016, Fox aired a live television-adapted special of the musical, using components from both the 1978 film and the original Broadway show. Starring Julianne Hough, Aaron Tveit, and Vanessa Hudgens, the adaptation received positive reviews, especially for Hudgens, and ten Emmy nominations. On October 15, 2019, it was announced that a musical television series based on Grease, titled Grease: Rydell High, was given a straight-to-series order by HBO Max. Annabel Oakes is set to write the pilot episode and act as executive producer for the series. In 2020, the series' title was changed to Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies. It premiered on Paramount+ April 6, 2023. Filming began in January 2022, and the series' cast was announced at the end of the month. Rise of the Pink Ladies released ten episodes in spring 2023 before the series was cancelled and withdrawn from public availability in June. References External links |
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Contents Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[a] is a 2018 crossover fighting game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth[b] installment in the Super Smash Bros. series, succeeding Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (2014). The game follows the series' traditional style of gameplay, in which players control one of the various characters and use attacks to weaken their opponents and knock them out of an arena. It features a wide variety of game modes, including a single-player campaign and multiplayer versus modes. Ultimate features 89 playable fighters, including all characters from previous Super Smash Bros. games as well as newcomers. The roster ranges from Nintendo characters to those from third-party franchises. Planning for the game had begun by December 2015, with full development starting after the completion of 3DS/Wii U's downloadable content (DLC). Series creator and director Masahiro Sakurai returned along with Bandai Namco Studios and Sora, the studios that developed 3DS/Wii U, with their return speeding up the preparation process. Sakurai's goal with Ultimate was to include every character from previous games in the series, despite the various development and licensing challenges this would present. Several well-known video game musicians contributed to the soundtrack, with Hideki Sakamoto writing the main theme "Lifelight". Ultimate was first teased in a Nintendo Direct in March 2018, with Nintendo's E3 2018 Direct primarily revealing and featuring it that subsequent June. Ultimate received downloadable content adding new fighters, stages, and other content until October 2021. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was released on December 7, 2018. The game received acclaim from critics, who lauded its refined gameplay and fine-tuning of the series' best elements as well as its extensive variety of content and characters, while its online mode was negatively received for its technical performance and matchmaking. Ultimate is often considered to be one of the best titles on the Switch and one of the greatest video games ever made, becoming a popular competitive fighting game in esports like its predecessors. It is also the best-selling fighting game in history and one of the best-selling games on the Switch, having sold over 37 million copies as of December 2025. Gameplay Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a platform fighter for up to eight players in which characters from Nintendo games and third-party franchises fight to knock each other out of an arena. Each player has a percentage meter that increases as they take damage, representing the amount of knockback they take from attacks; the higher a character's percent, the easier it is to launch them into the air and out of the arena. Standard battles use one of three victory conditions: Timed, where players aim to earn the most KOs within a time limit; Stock, where each player or team has a set number of lives and aims to be the last player standing; and Stamina, in which the percentage meter is replaced with a measure of hit points that opponents try to reduce to zero to win. Players can adjust the rules to their liking and save them as presets for future matches. Players have the option to enable various items to spawn at random during battle, which can be picked up and used in various ways to grant them an advantage; for instance, Poké Balls and Assist Trophies respectively summon Pokémon and other non-playable characters to assist the user in battle. In Timed matches, certain Assist Trophies can be attacked and defeated to earn points. Each character also possesses a powerful Final Smash attack, which can be performed either by obtaining a Smash Ball or by filling up a special meter, either of which can be toggled on and off. The base game features 103 different stages (plus one additional stage added in a free update), with additional stages being bundled alongside DLC fighters. Most stages have dynamic elements and hazards that can be toggled on or off in the rules, and each stage has an alternative Battlefield and Omega form with standardized layouts. A new feature called Stage Morph allows players to select two stages that the game alternates between at certain intervals during a match. Other tweaks include new icons and gauges for character-specific abilities, such as Cloud's Limit gauge. In addition to returning modes such as Classic, Special Smash, and Home-Run Contest, Ultimate adds new modes. These are Smashdown, where each character can only be played once; Squad Strike, where players battle in teams of either 3 or 5 characters; and Tourney, a tournament mode that allows up to 32 players to battle in playoff brackets. Ultimate introduces the Spirits mechanic, replacing the collectible trophies from previous games. Each of these Spirits, based on characters from represented franchises, can be used to power up a fighter with unique abilities. Players mainly gain Spirits through pre-made challenges called "Spirit Battles" that represent the character the Spirit depicts, which are embodied by one or more of the game's fighters and other specific level effects. For example, the Spirit battle of Rayquaza, a flying dragon Pokémon, requires players to defeat a large version of Ridley with a similar color palette and wind effects. Players are encouraged to strategically choose Spirits based on the level effects; in the same example, a player would need to equip a Spirit that provides wind resistance or immunity, or one that allows them to deal extra damage to a giant opponent. A separate mode called the Spirit Board presents a rotating set of Spirit battles for players to gain Spirits from. Spirits have a growth and evolution system, in which they can be leveled up to become more powerful or converted into Cores to summon new Spirits. Certain Spirits will also become an "enhanced" form upon reaching max level, but will return to level 1. Nintendo offers limited-timed Spirit events in cross-promotion with other games and franchises, with the Spirits featured only available to collect during the event. Eventually, these Spirits make their way into general rotation and can be found on the Spirit Board. The local multiplayer mode also allows for the option to use Spirits.[citation needed] Ultimate features the return of Adventure Mode, which was absent in 3DS/Wii U. It is now integrated into the Spirits mode with a new story, World of Light, which prominently uses the game's Spirit mechanics. The mode's narrative begins with an evil entity, Galeem, destroying the Smash Bros. world, vaporizing almost all of the fighter characters and placing them under his imprisonment; only Kirby, due to his Warp Star, evades this attack. Players explore the titular World of Light, a new world that Galeem created in the original world's place, to rescue captured fighters and Spirits -the remnants of other characters' physical forms- by completing marked Spirit Battles. Players can use regained allies and Spirits to overcome certain challenges on the map and defeat Galeem. However, after Galeem is defeated, a new enemy, Dharkon, emerges; after Dharkon's defeat, it wages war against Galeem. If just Galeem is defeated, Dharkon will engulf the world in darkness, but if just Dharkon is defeated, then Galeem will cover the universe with light. However, by defeating an equal number of light and dark Spirits on the final map, players are able to challenge and defeat both of them, freeing the Spirits from their control. The game supports local multiplayer, local wireless with other systems, and online play via Wi-Fi or LAN connections. By defeating players online, players earn tags which can be traded for in-game currency to buy new Spirits, music, and Mii Fighter costumes. The game is compatible with Joy-Con controllers, the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, and GameCube controllers via a USB adapter. Like the previous entry, amiibo figurines can be used to create AI-controlled Figure Players, which can be trained to become stronger. Shortly after the game's release, a service for the Nintendo Switch Online mobile app, known as "Smash World", was launched, which allows players to check their game statistics and share images and videos captured from the game to social media. Ultimate features over 900 music tracks, which can be played through the Switch's handheld mode while in standby mode. Version 3.0 of the game, released in April 2019, adds a Stage Builder, which allows players to create custom stages which can be shared or downloaded through the Switch Online service. The update also includes a replay editor, allowing players to edit stored replays, which can be shared online or downloaded to other devices. These replays are available within the Smash World app. An update in May 2019 provided limited support for the virtual reality VR Kit of Nintendo Labo, allowing players to view computer-only matches in VR or play in a 1-on-1 mode against the computer. An update in September 2019 added the Home-Run Contest mode from previous Smash games. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, like other games in the Super Smash Bros. series, features a crossover cast of fighters from several different Nintendo franchises, as well as fighters from series by third-party developers such as Konami, Sega, Capcom, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Square Enix, Atlus, Microsoft, SNK, Mojang Studios, and Disney. The base game features 74 playable fighters,[c] consisting of all 63 previous fighters from past entries and 11 newcomers: the Inklings from the Splatoon series; Princess Daisy from the Mario series; Ridley and Dark Samus from the Metroid series; Simon and Richter Belmont from the Castlevania series; Chrom from Fire Emblem Awakening; King K. Rool from the Donkey Kong series; Isabelle from the Animal Crossing series; Ken Masters from the Street Fighter series; and Incineroar from Pokémon Sun and Moon. When starting the game, players only have access to the eight starter characters of the original Super Smash Bros. and unlock the rest by completing the game's Classic mode, playing through World of Light, or fighting a certain number of battles. Certain characters whose movesets are directly based on other characters are now classified as "Echo Fighters", possessing similar movesets and proportions to the fighters they are based on, but with unique animations and gameplay differences. On the character selection screen, these characters can either be listed individually or stacked with the fighters they are based on. Select characters also have alternative skins featuring different genders or sometimes other characters, such as Bowser Jr., who has the other Koopalings as skins, but with identical animations and abilities. Several returning characters received updates to their appearances, such as Mario having Cappy from Super Mario Odyssey accompanying him and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's incarnation of Link replacing the one from Twilight Princess. Additional fighters have been added to the game via post-release downloadable content (DLC). The first of these, Piranha Plant from the Mario series, was released in January 2019 and made available for free to those who purchased and registered the game with a My Nintendo account before the end of that month. Additional fighters, each coming with a unique stage and related music, have been released both individually and as part of two Fighters Pass bundles. The first Fighters Pass consisted of five characters: Joker from Atlus' Persona 5, released in April 2019; the Hero[d] from Square Enix's Dragon Quest series, released in July 2019; Banjo & Kazooie from Rare's Banjo-Kazooie series, released in September 2019; Terry Bogard from SNK's Fatal Fury series, released in November 2019; and Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, released in January 2020. The second Fighters Pass, titled Fighters Pass Volume 2, consisted of six additional fighters and was the final content planned for Ultimate. The first character in this collection, Min Min from ARMS, was released in June 2020. Steve,[e] the default player avatar from Mojang Studios' Minecraft, was released in October 2020. Sephiroth, the antagonist from Square Enix's Final Fantasy VII, was released in December 2020, with players able to unlock him a few days early by defeating him in a limited-time boss battle known as the "Sephiroth Challenge". Pyra and Mythra, a dual character from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, were released in March 2021. Kazuya Mishima from Bandai Namco's Tekken series was released in June 2021. Sora from Square Enix and Disney's Kingdom Hearts series was the final fighter to be added in October 2021. Development Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd., the same studios that developed Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, for the Nintendo Switch, with series creator Masahiro Sakurai returning as game director. Unlike previous Super Smash Bros. games, the team was not assembled from the ground up, which sped up preparation time. The project plan for the game was in the works by December 2015, when the DLC for 3DS and Wii U was in development, and finished after it was completed. Staff gathering was done soon afterward. The development period was shorter compared to previous entries in the series. Hatena assisted with the development of some elements, and tri-Crescendo contributed to programming and design. According to Sakurai, producing a Super Smash Bros. game for the Switch was the last request that former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata had given him before his death in 2015, and he wanted to make the game the best possible product he could to respect him. Sakurai sought to include every character from previous games, as to not disappoint fans. However, he knew this would be a complex problem for both development and licensing; it would also drastically increase the cost of development. The return of Bandai and Sora made it easier for this to happen. Sakurai also wanted to adjust character abilities to speed up the game, although not to an extent that would alienate players unfamiliar with the series. Sakurai knew that Ultimate was a core game for Nintendo and that it had a dedicated player base that he did not want to disappoint, and believed that completing this goal was necessary to satisfy them. Sakurai was also faced with the decision to either create a completely new game system or build off of pre-existing ones; he chose to build off pre-existing ones because there would only be about a third of the characters he desired in the final game. All the returning characters' abilities had to be re-balanced so they could work in Ultimate. Originally, gameplay would differ between the Switch's docked and handheld modes, but Sakurai scrapped this idea since the system's screen in handheld mode was better than he thought. Sakurai believed this would be the only Smash game to have the full roster of returning characters, calling the effort to include the characters, music, stage settings, and other elements as "unprecedented", and cautioned that future games in the series would likely be smaller in scope. However, he still wanted to add as many fighters as possible through DLC. Voice lines recorded by David Hayter for Snake were re-used for Ultimate. Xander Mobus, who voiced Crazy Hand, Master Hand, and the announcer in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, also made a return with new voice clips, in addition to reprising his role as Joker from Persona 5 when he was added as DLC. The addition of Ridley from Metroid as a playable character had been highly requested within the Super Smash Bros. community for some time. In 2008, Sakurai stated that he knew Ridley was a high-demand character, but thought that he was "impossible" to add unless they were able to sacrifice the character's size for balancing purposes. So that Ridley could be included in the game, Sakurai studied the art of the character and redesigned him so he could stand upright. All characters were chosen at the beginning of development except for Incineroar, who had not been created yet; the team instead left a space open for a Sun and Moon Pokémon. The Inklings' ink mechanic proved challenging to implement due to its interactions with environments. The team built Ultimate from scratch with new assets and content. Localization manager Nate Bihldorff stated that the game significantly upgraded lighting effects and texture rendering from the game engine of the Wii U version. The World of Light mode was inspired by Brawl's (2008) Subspace Emissary, and Sakurai chose to start it with a cataclysmic event because he thought it would leave a greater impact on players. The team conceived the Spirits mechanic because they wanted to create an enjoyable single-player mode, but did not have enough resources to create character models. While it did not let them tell stories for individual fighters or create new locations and rules, it let them use various characters and assets. One part of the team chose Spirits to include in the game and had to thoroughly research them; according to Sakurai, the Spirits mode was essential for using various franchises. Like previous games in the series, Ultimate features several well-known video game music composers and arrangers providing a mix of original music and rearrangements of various tracks for the represented franchises, with over 1,000 tracks in total. New to Ultimate is the tying of tracks to franchises instead of individual stages, as well as the ability to create custom playlists to listen to outside the game when the Switch is in handheld mode. Sakurai stated that he began contacting composers over a year before release, providing them with a database of over a thousand suggested track ideas. In addition, he allowed them to submit their own personal favorites, with those choices being given priority for inclusion. While Sakurai oversaw the process and preferred that the music retain the spirit of the original games, the direction of them was generally handled by the composers themselves. The main theme, "Lifelight", composed by Hideki Sakamoto, is the basis of most of the game's original music. As with previous entries, Nintendo planned to offer new fighters through DLC; however, unlike with the 3DS and Wii U, where players could request which characters they wished to see in the game, Nintendo chose which characters they would add by November 2018. Like the previous title, additional Mii costumes were released as paid DLC, with certain costumes also adding new music tracks to the game. Sakurai believed that despite characters like Joker, the first announced DLC fighter, not being from games usually associated with Nintendo, they were added because they were "emblematic" of the types of characters they wanted to add to Ultimate. He also stated that they "bring just a whole different level of fun and enjoyment for players". The Piranha Plant was chosen as a DLC character because Sakurai wanted to add diversity to the roster. Nintendo met with Rare studio head Craig Duncan at E3 2018 to discuss the possibility of including Banjo and Kazooie as downloadable content; Duncan, believing it to be "a great opportunity", agreed and connected the two development teams for further discussions. Sakurai noted that Banjo and Kazooie were the second most requested character for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U in a Nintendo-sanctioned fan vote in 2015, and that their addition happened "quite easily", despite the property being owned by Microsoft through its acquisition of Rare. Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, stated that negotiating their inclusion was "an easy deal to make" thanks to Microsoft's strong partnership with Nintendo. The development of Fighters Pass Volume 2 was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, as due to stay-at-home orders in Japan, Sakurai and his development team had to work remotely. According to Daniel Kaplan of Mojang Studios, early discussions between Nintendo and Microsoft about including Minecraft content in the Super Smash Bros. series had begun roughly five years prior to Steve's addition into the game. The character's inclusion required the development team to rework every stage in the game to accommodate Steve's gameplay mechanics. Sakurai had wanted to include Sora from Kingdom Hearts in the game because he was the top fighter requested for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U in the 2015 fan vote. However, they initially thought that the legality surrounding the intellectual property with Disney would be insurmountable, and originally planned for only five fighters in the second pass. However, Sakurai met a Disney representative at an award venue, which facilitated the start of negotiations for Sora's inclusion. Nintendo, Disney, and Square Enix saw towards including Sora in the game and overseeing all aspects related to his inclusion, with several limitations and guidelines they were required to follow. The Sora Challenger Pack featured a promotional tie-in with the 2020 rhythm game Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory: players with Melody of Memory save data on their Nintendo Switch would unlock the music track "Dearly Beloved (Swing Version)". Release On March 8, 2018, Nintendo announced that the next Super Smash Bros. game would release on the Nintendo Switch sometime in 2018. The teaser, broadcast in an online Nintendo Direct presentation, did not reveal the title of the game. However, it showed several characters, including Mario, Link, and the Inklings from Splatoon, the last of which would be new to the Super Smash Bros. series. At E3 2018 that June, Nintendo revealed the game's title as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and announced that it would be released on December 7, 2018. The E3 presentation detailed several changes to the gameplay of Ultimate compared to previous titles, and highlighted that every playable character from past installments of the series would return in Ultimate, in addition to new characters like the Inklings and Ridley from the Metroid series, who was announced at the end of the presentation. Afterwards, Nintendo hosted an invitational tournament for the game featuring competitive players of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Melee. Demo versions were playable at E3 and at San Diego Comic-Con the following month. IGN nominated Ultimate for its Best Game of E3 2018 award; the game won Best Nintendo Switch Game from both IGN and Gamescom. Two Nintendo Direct presentations in 2018, one on August 8 and another one on November 1, were devoted to the game, revealing new characters, stages, and game modes. Nintendo released Super Smash Bros. Ultimate worldwide on December 7, 2018. In addition to the standard retail version, a special edition containing a Super Smash Bros.-themed Nintendo Switch Pro Controller and a Switch with a download code was also released. An additional special edition contained a pair of Super Smash Bros.-themed Joy-Con as well as a Switch console, a Super Smash Bros.-themed dock, and a download code for the game. A GameCube controller with the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate logo was released on November 2, 2018. One of the game's new additions had the character Mr. Game & Watch assuming the appearance of a feather- and loincloth-wearing Native American when using one of his attacks—a reference to Fire Attack (1982), in which players controlled a cowboy defending his fort from attacking indigenous people. Some users on social media saw this as racist, leading to Nintendo of America apologizing and removing the animation in an update shortly after release. Two weeks before its release, a leaked copy of the game was distributed across the internet. Nintendo took steps to issue copyright strikes on YouTube videos using data mined content, while fans worked to isolate spoilers, particularly the World of Light story mode, from those that had played the leaked version. Reception Ultimate received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to the review aggregator platform Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received "mighty" approval, being recommended by 97% of critics. Critics lauded the huge cast of characters and levels, new game modes, and combining of the best elements from its predecessors. French video game website Jeuxvideo.com called it the best game in the series, praising its features which "brilliantly mix gargantuan content with nostalgia". Bleacher Report hailed the game's colorful art style, faster gameplay, and unique stages. IGN praised the game's decision to bring back every character from the series as "ambitious and excellent". The game's massive soundtrack and portable music player were praised by The Verge. However, the game's online mode received criticism for its technical performance and matchmaking. Many players found significant lag affecting their games, even when using wired connections over wireless, while the game's matchmaking features did not adhere to players' criteria, with players frequently playing matches with rule sets they did not choose. The matchmaking process was further criticized for making it difficult for friends to join matches over random players, and not allowing multiple local players to join in online matches. There had been so many complaints on Ultimate's subreddit that the administrators forwarded all complaints to a separate thread. The lag and loading time issues are lessened on the Nintendo Switch 2, which is backwards compatible with Switch games such as Ultimate. The World of Light mode also received mixed reviews. While some found the single-player mode both accessible and challenging, others found the mode tedious and excessive. In November 2018, Nintendo announced Ultimate was the most pre-ordered game for the Switch and in the series. The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment reported that Ultimate was the fastest-selling Switch and Super Smash Bros. game in the United Kingdom, with physical launch sales 302% higher than those for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, 233% higher than those for 3DS, and 62.5% higher than those for Brawl. In its first three days on sale in Japan, the game sold 1.2 million copies, outselling Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in the region. Within 11 days of its release, Ultimate had sold more than three million copies within the United States, making it the fastest-selling Switch game in the country. It was similarly the fastest-selling Switch game as well as the fastest-selling game for any Nintendo console in Europe based on the first 11-day sales. It was estimated that the game sold and shipped over five million copies within its first three days of release. Within three weeks, Ultimate became the fifth best-selling Switch game in the United Kingdom, surpassing the sales of Splatoon 2. In January 2019, Amazon reported that Ultimate was their highest selling video game product of 2018, with Nintendo officially announcing that the game had shipped over 12.08 million copies worldwide. Ultimate was also Nintendo's fastest-selling game of all time until being surpassed by Pokémon Sword and Shield in 2019. By September 2020, the game had sold over 21.10 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling fighting game of all time, surpassing the record of Street Fighter II, and became the third-best-selling Nintendo Switch game, only behind Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. As of March 31, 2025[update], total sales reached 36.24 million. The game won the award for "Best Nintendo Switch Game", "Best Fighting Game", and "Best Multiplayer Game" in IGN's Best of 2018 Awards, whereas its other nominations were for "Game of the Year" and "Best Video Game Music". Esports EVO 2019, held on August 2–4, 2019, featured Ultimate as one of its main events. It was the largest offline Smash Bros. tournament of all time, with 3,534 entrants signed up. It set a new record for EVO concurrent viewership, with over 279,000 viewers during Top 8. On May 8–10, 2020, top Super Smash Bros. Melee player Hungrybox partnered with NFL running back Le'Veon Bell and esports organization Team Liquid to host The Box, an online tournament with a $10,000 prize pool. In February 2020, it was announced that the Smash World Tour would feature both Super Smash Bros. Melee and Ultimate players for a grand prize pool of $250,000. The tournament would have included international qualifiers, with the grand finals' location to be in the United States. However, the COVID-19 pandemic quickly led to several of the qualifiers getting either postponed or canceled. The Smash World Tour was successfully relaunched in 2021, featuring a mix of online and offline qualifiers and culminating in a final offline championship. In 2022, an officially licensed circuit was introduced, being the Panda Cup, featuring Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. However, on November 24, 2022, Nintendo stated that the Smash World Tour 2022 could not continue, as they did not have a license from Nintendo. Accusations of Panda CEO, Alan Bunney, caused many players who had qualified for the Panda Cup to drop out. This caused both the Panda Cup and the Smash World Tour 2022 Championships to be cancelled, along with the Smash World Tour 2023. Notes References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_Racing:_CrossWorlds] | [TOKENS: 3520] |
Contents Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds[a] is a 2025 kart racing game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega. A spinoff in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, it incorporates characters and features from previous Sonic racing games. The game's main new feature is the "CrossWorld" mechanic, which causes racers to travel to other tracks in the middle of a race. Several guest characters from other franchises appear via downloadable content. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds was developed by Sonic Team, with members of the Initial D arcade games' development team contributing. The game was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on September 25, 2025. A Nintendo Switch 2 version followed on December 4, 2025. CrossWorlds received positive reviews from critics, who praised its gameplay and customization features, though its single-player content and downloadable characters' presentation were criticized. Gameplay Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is a kart racing game, similar to its predecessor, Team Sonic Racing (2019), although CrossWorlds does not retain that game's cooperative team racing mechanic in normal gameplay. Players race against up to 11 opponents in three-lap races around a track, similar to other games in the genre such as the Mario Kart series. Like previous Sonic racing games, a strong emphasis is placed on drifting to maneuver around tight turns and build up additional speed. Players can also earn speed boosts by performing consecutive mid-air tricks after jumping off ramps. Rings are scattered around the track, which players can gather to increase their maximum speed; players lose rings when they make contact with walls, obstacles, or other racers. Item capsules can also be obtained, which can be used to increase the player's speed or attack other opponents. Players can choose between standard race cars, which transform to boats and planes at different points in the race similar to Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (2012), or Extreme Gear hoverboards, which were previously featured in the Sonic Riders sub-series. Unlike previous Sonic racing games, characters are not restricted to a single vehicle and have their own stats, which affect the performance of vehicles. Cars fall into one of four different classes based on their most prominent stat: Speed, Acceleration, Power, or Handling. A fifth type, Boost, is utilized exclusively by Extreme Gear. A total of 45 different vehicles can be unlocked, with players also able to combine parts from the vehicles they have unlocked to create custom vehicles. By competing in races and completing special challenge objectives, players can earn "Donpa Tickets", which can be used to purchase additional vehicle parts and customization items like paint and decals. Tickets can also be spent to retry a race during a Grand Prix, or gifted to characters to increase their friendship rating and earn rewards. Before starting a race, players can choose from over 70 unlockable gadgets to equip that provide them passive advantages, such as drawing in distant rings, increasing trick speeds, or prioritizing specific items; up to six gadget slots can be unlocked, with some gadgets requiring multiple slots to be equipped. The game features 24 different race tracks, divided into eight Grands Prix. Many of the tracks are based on locations from previous Sonic games, such as Metal Harbor from Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) and Kronos Island from Sonic Frontiers (2022). After the first lap of each race, the leading racer chooses between two different "Travel Rings", large ring-shaped portals that appear in the middle of the track; the racers then enter the selected Travel Ring and emerge in the corresponding "CrossWorld", one of 15 separate locations in which the second lap of the race takes place before reverting to the original track for the final lap. While in the CrossWorld, random "frenzy" modifiers may be activated, causing additional effects such as adding moving boost gates to the course. Elements of the track layout also change during the final lap, adding new hazards or opening new paths and shortcuts. Additional tracks and vehicles are available as downloadable content (DLC). Players can choose between four different speed options, which also act as the race's difficulty setting. In Grand Prix mode, the player must complete four sequential races, consisting of three standard races and a final race that features one lap each from the preceding tracks, while attempting to earn the highest placement score possible. During a Grand Prix, one opponent is designated as the player's "rival", who exhibits higher difficulty behavior and specifically targets the player during each race. Rival characters also have special interactions with the player character, and defeating a rival in Grand Prix grants additional rewards. A time trial mode allows players to play three laps on each track and record their best times. Earning medals in time trials unlocks additional music tracks from other Sonic games in the "jukebox" menu; these tracks can then be set as the individual background music for each lap of a race. A third mode, Race Park, features team mechanics similar to those in Team Sonic Racing. In the mode, teams of players earn points by completing specific challenges, such as collecting the most rings or hitting the most opponents with items. Defeating computer-controlled rival teams in Race Park unlocks additional rewards. The game supports local multiplayer, as well as cross-platform online multiplayer for up to 12 players. Themed "festival" events are held infrequently, allowing players to compete online in Race Park style challenges to earn points for additional rewards. CrossWorlds features the largest roster of playable characters in a Sonic racing game to date, with the final roster including downloadable content set to exceed 50 characters. The game launched with 24 playable characters, one of which is unlockable. Additional characters from Sonic and other Sega properties have been added via free monthly updates, with 13 total planned to be released through the end of 2026.[b] A premium season pass adds 15 characters from other external properties, spread across six waves of content. Three characters originating from the animated series Sonic Prime are also included with the season pass, while Sonic the Werehog from Sonic Unleashed was available as a pre-order incentive. As of February 11, 2026[update], the game features 40 playable characters. Guest characters are labeled in bold. Development Sonic Team began developing Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds in 2022, with the developers behind the Initial D series of arcade racing games contributing to the project. Sonic Team chose to incorporate both transforming vehicles and Extreme Gear as a way of appealing to fans of previous Sonic racing games, treating CrossWorlds as a culmination of all the games to date. The Travel Ring concept was inspired by the use of rings as portals in the Sonic the Hedgehog film series, as well as producer Ryuichi Taki's childhood memories of driving through long tunnels and emerging in very different environments. The team's experience with developing arcade racing games inspired them to make each lap of the race unique to maintain excitement and interest. Taki noted that the Extreme Gear was difficult to implement, as it necessitated creating an entirely new gameplay system to make it work. The team worked to refine the core racing gameplay and course design before adding any items to the game, removing those which they felt made the game too unbalanced. Creative director Masaru Kobayakawa drew on his experience developing arcade card games when balancing gadget combinations, feeling that a certain "sharpness" was needed to create opportunities for a more interesting metagame. Sonic series producer Takashi Iizuka stated that while CrossWorlds was designed as a Sonic racing game first and foremost, fan disappointment at the lack of crossover content in Team Sonic Racing compared to previous entries led them to include more guest characters as DLC. Iizuka also stated that since the Sonic franchise has traditionally seen the most success in western markets, the team instead chose guest characters for downloadable content that would draw interest from Japanese players. The downloadable characters do not have voice acting, due to the lengthy approval process required when dealing with external licensors. Takahiro Kai acted as sound director and lead composer for CrossWorlds and composed the game's main theme, "Sonic Racing - Cross the Worlds", which features lyrics and vocals by James Bourne of Busted. The song "Get Higher" by Creepy Nuts appears in the game's credits. Other contributors to the soundtrack include Sega composers Tomoya Ohtani, Tae Fujimoto, Jun Senoue, Kanon Oguni, Iona Takashima, Satoshi Okamura, Hidekuni Horita, and Makoto Tokuyama, as well as guest musicians Riot, Giga, Tee Lopes, Zardonic, Camellia, Toriena [ja], Nanobii, Aiobahn, and Laur [ja]. A set of five songs by Vocaloid musicians Kairiki Bear, cosMo@Bousou-P, Yunosuke, Ponchi♪, and Camellia are also featured in the game, with accompanying art and music videos released as part of a "Project Onsoku" collaboration between Sonic and Hatsune Miku. Additional songs by Crazy Raccoon [ja] and Inugami Korone have been added via updates. Release Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds was initially announced with a teaser trailer at The Game Awards 2024. The first gameplay trailer was shown during Sony Interactive Entertainment's State of Play on February 12, 2025, and a closed beta test for the PlayStation 5 version was held from February 21 to 23. This was followed by an open beta test for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and Windows between August 29 and September 1. A single-player demo was released on September 17. In June 2025, leaked concept art and footage from an early build of the game revealed the existence of multiple guest characters from non-Sega franchises planned as downloadable content. The inclusion of guests was subsequently confirmed at Summer Game Fest a few days later on June 6, along with the game's final release date of September 25, 2025. Iizuka expressed disappointment in the leaks, feeling it had ruined the excitement and surprise for fans. A Nintendo Switch 2 version was also announced, and was released digitally on December 4, 2025, with a paid upgrade available for owners of the Nintendo Switch version that will carry over their progress. A physical Nintendo Switch 2 release will follow on March 26, 2026. In addition to the standard edition of the game, a Digital Deluxe Edition provided three days of early access on all non-Nintendo platforms. The Digital Deluxe Edition also includes the downloadable content season pass, the contents of which are being released in six waves over the course of the year following the game's launch. Each wave of the pass adds multiple characters, a race track, a vehicle, emotes, and music based on a different franchise, including Minecraft, SpongeBob SquarePants, Pac-Man, Mega Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and Avatar Legends.[h] Separate to the individual waves, the season pass also includes three characters from Sonic Prime. Sega Account holders could redeem a code for the "Blue Star" Extreme Gear in-game, which was later released as general DLC. Limited Run Games produced a Collector's Edition of the game packaged with additional physical rewards, which was only available to order during June 2025. During 2025, Sega promoted the game through a "Racing Around the World" marketing campaign. In June, the company announced a multi-year partnership with the McLaren Formula One racing team. A tie-in one-shot manga, Sonic The Hedgehog — Blue Racer, was released for free via Sega's social media channels in July. A promotional short animated by Studio Giggex and SIMAGE Animation was released on August 29. IDW Publishing, the publisher of the Sonic comic book series, will also release a tie-in comic issue in February 2026. CrossWorlds includes in-game vehicle decals promoting several other external brands, such as ASUS, Beyblade, and Hi-Chew. In October 2025, Sonic was added as an optional voice for the Waze GPS software, along with CrossWorlds themed icons. An advertisement for CrossWorlds, titled "Come Race on Our Level", received attention for dimunitively comparing the game's dimension-hopping abilities and character customization to "[roaming] around on the open road" in "that kart racing game", heavily implied to be Mario Kart World, whose open world design received polarizing reception. The advertisement, which was based on a 1992 Sega Genesis TV commercial, drew comparisons to the Nintendo-Sega console wars in the 1990s. Reception In a preview for IGN, Jada Griffin praised CrossWorlds for its breadth of customization options and the novelty of the CrossWorlds game mechanic. The closed beta was well received in reviews published in Digital Trends and ComicBook.com, as well as by fans online, with the presentation, gameplay, and variety of playable characters and tracks being praised, and the "chaotic" nature of the races being generally described as fun and entertaining. However, some also found the chaos overwhelming, and felt that the combat power-ups featured in the game were unbalanced, hoping that they might be adjusted in the final release. According to Taki, the balance of power-ups underwent heavy adjustment in response to feedback from the closed beta test. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds received "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregation website Metacritic. The game was recommended by 95% of critics according to aggregator OpenCritic. In Japan, four critics from Famitsu gave the game a total score of 33 out of 40. IGN praised the game for its fast and intuitive racing, and found that the game's rival system added a greater level of personality to the game. Game Informer described the game as "the most well-rounded kart racer of the year", though they criticized the game's Grand Prix mode for each cup's final race making the player replay previous courses. Anime News Network said that not only was the game the best racing game in the Sonic franchise, but probably one of the best racing games from the past decade. Critics contrasted the game's traditional kart racing approach with the design reinventions of Mario Kart World. Chris Scullion from Video Games Chronicle wrote "By sticking with the tried-and-tested Grand Prix format and offering straightforward three-lap races, Sega’s game is no longer a like-for-like take on Mario Kart but has now – whether deliberate or not – positioned itself as a viable alternative for those not interested in the new direction Nintendo’s series has taken." Steve Watts of GameSpot compared the two games, noting that while Mario Kart World "excelled due to its simplicity", Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds' customization offered enough depth to reward experimentation. Push Square praised the game as a solid kart racer but criticized the game's progression features, describing the game's unlockable content as a grind. This criticism was echoed by GamesRadar+, who felt that replaying the game's Grand Prix mode became samey. The game's downloadable content has been met with criticism. Eurogamer expressed disappointment that the Sega-related crossover DLC fails to include courses based on the characters' respective franchises. Kotaku also criticized the lack of rival dialogue and general voice acting for the DLC characters compared to the base game characters, describing them as "mostly just props placed in karts or on hoverboards". In Japan, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds sold 5,500 physical copies in during its first week of release, debuting at 24th on the national sales chart between September 22 and September 28, 2025. The game sold an additional 1,776 physical copies the following week, again ranking 24th. In the United States and Canada, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds was the 16th most-downloaded PlayStation 5 title in September 2025. In the United States, the game ranked as the 8th best-selling title for the period from August 31 to October 4. The game placed 15th on the U.S. sales chart in October, and 13th in November. In the United Kingdom, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds debuted at 4th place on the physical sales chart for the week ending September 27, 2025. The game moved to 12th place the following week, then ranked 24th for the week ending October 11, and 31st for the week ending October 18. In subsequent weeks, the game placed 38th (week ending November 16), 22nd (November 23), 27th (November 30), 32nd (December 6), 27th (December 13), 23rd (December 20), 27th (December 27), and 36th for the week ending January 3, 2026. By October 2025, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds had surpassed one million copies sold worldwide. In November 2025, Sega stated in their financial report that the game's initial sales had failed to meet internal projections. Notes References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films_in_the_United_States_by_year] | [TOKENS: 517] |
Contents List of highest-grossing films in the United States by year This is a listing of the highest-grossing films by year, based on their United States box-office gross. The films are listed by in-year release, rather than the gross they accumulated during a calendar year. Six directors have directed the highest-grossing film on multiple occasions: George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Sam Raimi, Robert Zemeckis, and Chris Columbus. Spielberg has the record, directing four of the yearly highest-grossing films: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Jurassic Park (1993), and Saving Private Ryan (1998). Lucas has directed three such films, all of which are part of the Star Wars franchise, which he created: the original Star Wars (1977), and two of its prequels The Phantom Menace (1999), and Revenge of the Sith (2005). James Cameron has also directed three such films: Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Titanic (1997), and Avatar (2009). Sam Raimi, Robert Zemeckis, and Chris Columbus have directed two each: Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 3 (2007) for Raimi; Back to the Future (1985) and Forrest Gump (1994) for Zemeckis; Home Alone (1990) and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) for Columbus. Films that are a part of larger film or media franchises are frequently atop the highest-grossing films in the United States. The Star Wars franchise has had the highest-grossing film in eight years since 1977. In addition to the aforementioned three which Lucas directed, the franchise also had The Force Awakens, Rogue One, and The Last Jedi finish as the highest-grossing in 2015, 2016, and 2017, respectively. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had four films atop the yearly U.S. box office: The Avengers (2012), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). No Way Home also gave the Spider-Man film franchise its third leading film. Batman films, Harry Potter, Top Gun, and Toy Story are the other franchises with two films to top the U.S. box office in a single year. By in-year release The following is the annual listing: See also References |
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