Category: blog-80

MMORPG or massively multiplayer online role-playing game. We’ll go over the very first MMORPG and learn about the biggest ones and those who influenced the genre as a whole. I myself spent a lot of time in MMOs, as I was always attracted and fascinated by this genre. Therefore, I decided to share my opinion with you on this topic and introduce you to the list of games released over the course of 30 years.

If you want to absorb all this information in a simple and relaxing way, you can follow the link to the video!

MUD (Multi User Dungeon). 1978

MUD or (Multi User Dungeon) is the name of the very first “MMORPG” with which it all began. MUD was D&D on the Internet with a text client. Where All actions were performed by entering certain commands. Moving, fighting, interacting with objects, collecting and communicating with players, all this was done without a mouse.

A little later, the game interface began to appear, and other little things that improved the project quite a lot. Then permanent servers arose, which still exist today. After some time, MUDs began to come out one after another, the market began to expand and progress could no longer be stopped, the genre began to develop.

Neverwinter Nights. 1991

In turn, the first full-fledged graphical MMORPG was Neverwinter Nights, and not to be confused with (Neverwinter Nights from BioWare!). The project was launched in 1991 and lived for six years. Of course, having found your fans and acquired an impressive online network of around 100 thousand people, which is the envy of current games.

Meridian 59. September 27, 1996

The next leap in the development of MMORPGs was Meridian 59. It is the first MMORPG on a 3D engine and one of the longest-running games of this genre. Its most important trump card was the three-dimensional client, which allows you to look through the eyes of the character at the virtual world. By the way, the project is still alive and is being played.

Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds. April 1996

The beginning of the Korean MMORPG, Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds, also known as Nexus TK or just Nexus. It was released in 1996 and became very popular in its homeland; since then, Koreans have taken this genre seriously.

Ultima Online. September 24, 1997

The starting point and bold point in the history of MMORPGs was Ultima Online, the queen of all MMOs, launched in September 1997 under the patronage of Richard Heriot, who created the term MMORPG itself. Ultima has been gaining its popularity by leaps and bounds. It was she who upended all conceivable and inconceivable standards of the genre and wrote her name in the book of history, in bold handwriting. A three-dimensional, isometric client with a third-person view, a huge world and amazing gameplay left all possible competitors behind. And to this day no one can compare with her in terms of freedom of action. Later she had a great influence on the world of the genre as a whole.

Lineage. January 16, 1998

In 1998, the Koreans, led by NCsoft, returned to the game. And they showed the world Lineage, which again became the most popular game in Korea, the number of subscribers of which, at a certain period of time, exceeded three million people, which allowed NCsoft to capture the native market for a long time. Despite its venerable age, in Korea itself the game still remains active and popular, more popular than Lineage 2, which we will soon move on to.

EverQuest. March 16, 1999

The next giant of the genre Slots-N-Play-Casino.uk was EverQuest, launched in March 1999. It was a successful project that held the championship for several years as the most popular MMORPG. A huge world was created in it, which consisted of more than 400 zones, there were group campaigns against monsters, battles against other players, role-playing, a lot of quests, and all this became widespread in EverQuest, where from 1000 to 3000 people were simultaneously present on one server. The system of selling virtual items for real money also gained enormous popularity, which greatly undermined the game economy, thereby increasing the incidence of fraud and scandals around the game.

Asheron’s Call. November 1999

The same year, following in the footsteps of Ultima Online and EverQuest, another MMORPG was released – Asheron’s Call. This game tried to absorb the experience of all previous projects, but wanted to remain as different as possible from everyone else. There are no banal elves and goblins in it, the variety of monsters is amazing, and each is original in its own way. One big storyline was created that drew gamers in, and constant events in the virtual world gave it life.

Final Fantasy XI. May 16, 2002

Let’s take a quick look at Japan. In 2002, the promising Final Fantasy XI launched. The developers hoped that crowds of fans of the series would pour into the virtual world, but the game’s mass popularity was limited only in its homeland.

Ragnarok Online. August 31, 2002

A few months later, another Asian project, Ragnarok Online, developed in South Korea, saw the light of day. The game has captured a huge number of gamers, with more than 20 million accounts in total. She attracted everyone with her unusual graphics, the whole world was in 3D, and your character was in 2D, with an anime-like rendering, which looks very unusual and beautiful. Also, Ragnarok Online soon reached Russia, it is still alive and localized.

RELEASE

Then the world of MMORPGs did not stand still and continued to develop, and since 2003 the period of ambassadors of the genre begins, and the story is divided into 2 parts before and after, in 2003 2 major projects were released at once, namely Eve Online and Lineage 2.

Eve Online. May 6, 2003

Eve Online is an ever-growing galaxy! The game, made in sci-fi style, had one more feature. She had and still has only one server on which gamers from all over the world play, and the number of concurrent users reaches more than 30 thousand, which is only about 50% of the possible volume. Hundreds of major corporations are fighting for dominance in the galaxy and, possibly, even the universe, seizing star systems, and waging a fierce struggle. But everyone remembers her for her crazy stories connected with real people.

Lineage 2. October 1, 2003

Lineage 2, in turn, was a classic with a PVP vibe, and was another successful Asian project. Now it is considered one of the best and most popular MMORPGs. However, popularity is, of course, a good thing, but Lineage 2 was overtaken by the same thing that happened to Ultima Online, just a huge number of illegal servers appeared. Due to the fact that character development was difficult, you could farm resources for months to sharpen your gear, but they would break and you had to do everything called and this case is not uncommon. Because of this, some people switched to pirate servers. But still, it remained in the hearts of many, and nowadays it has a considerable number of its fans who continue to play it.

World of Warcraft. November 23, 2004

On November 23, 2004, the entire situation in the MMORPG market was simply taken and turned upside down by a game from Blizzard, which quickly overtook and overtook absolutely all competitors without making any special efforts. The history of the World of Warcraft did its job, and the project did not need advertising. The game set records for the number of players and quickly surpassed the figure of 10 million active subscribers, which tells us about its unconditional success. WWII has become almost synonymous with the word MMORPG. And even those who had never played MMOs and were not interested in other WOW series knew what World of Warcraft was. This game is one of the best MMORPGs in terms of PvE content and lore, but it also has its drawbacks. Excellent ideas from the developers, a huge variety of monsters, bosses, events, as well as a very engaging social side are its main trump cards. And by the way, this is a project that will live for many more years until it simply becomes outdated.

Guild Wars. April 26, 2005

In 2005, the development of ArenaNet (a branch of NCsoft), Guild Wars, was born. Its peculiarity was that the user was offered to buy the original version of the game and no longer pay a penny for a subscription, but to purchase only periodically released additions. The main focus here was on cooperative play, PvP, clan wars and arena battles, otherwise it did not have enough stars from heaven.

Perfect World. July 2005

Also in 2005, the famous Chinese MMORPG Perfect World was released in Russia in 2008. This is a beautiful game, made according to all the standards of the genre. It’s quite easy to level up in it, and if you have the proper skill, it’s not at all demanding on donations. The setting is based on Chinese folk mythology, which is what attracted some people and Despite its age, the game is still very popular.

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. February 28, 2006

Soon a game with famous words in the name was launched – Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, a PVE-tuned game whose gameplay was completely based on the D&D system, for example in battle you had to roll a die that decides your fate. An attempt to return to the past, which attracted a fairly large mass of gamers, but at the same time greatly limited those who were unfamiliar and uninterested in this, that is, the majority of players.

LotRO, April 24, 2007

In 2007, the equally famous project LotRO was released, or Lord of the Rings Online PVE-oriented MMORPG. Which was developed based on the world of Tolkien – this is a game based on the book, it is this fact that greatly limits the possibilities for the development of the historical line. However, a considerable share of gamers came here precisely because of their love for the Lord of the Rings. The project is now alive and enjoying little popularity as a full-fledged MMORPG in the West, but in Russia it is experiencing its reincarnation.

Aion, November 2008

Another Korean major project was released in November 2008 and this is Aion, which embodied many years of experience of Korean developers and confidently started in its homeland, quickly gaining popularity there. A total of 25 servers were launched (7 of them were additional), At the time of open beta testing, more than 200,000 players were registered. Aion was also voted Korean Game of the Year in 2008. Aion was a classic MMORPG and it was not too progressive, but it attracted people not because of its originality and features that were nowhere to be found, but in the way it was all implemented, with what painstaking care every detail was worked out. Thanks to this, much of what we could see in many other games takes off to a whole new level, forcing us to take a fresh look at seemingly typical gameplay elements, be it flying on dragons, sieges of castles, and so on.

Conclusion

I told you about the most significant MMORPGs that influenced the development of the genre as a whole. I didn’t go through all the MMORPGs so that it wouldn’t drag on for a long time and chose such a period of time, because I think that all the projects that came out at that time laid the foundation for our genre. The current time for MMORPGs is very sad, decent games have stopped coming out, rendering everything possible to please the consumer and moving to mobile media, but the genre is not dead, there are worthy representatives that are still played, and new projects are appearing on the horizon that give hope. The MMO will live forever, but only time will tell whether it will return to its former glory.

Best comments

I don’t even know what to say, it’s just a list of released games.
I was hoping to see exactly how MMOs changed and which ones influenced what – as stated in the title “Development of the Genre”.
Moreover, the selection is completely sucked – LotRO is a WoW clone, which is not needed here, RF Online with its asymmetric faction battle and exchange would look much more interesting. =)

It’s quite easy to level up in it, and if you have the proper skill, it’s not at all demanding on donations.

It’s easy to download in Perfect World now, but when it came out, it was a living hell. It took years of grinding to reach the maximum level, so everyone who was too lazy used cheats. She is very demanding when it comes to donations; I have never seen a single mmo where donations would decide so much.

Thank you very much for your feedback! My first experience in writing material, I will be tempted and take into account everything said)

The Call od Duty series of games, as the ancestor of today’s shooters, has a rather interesting history, in which there were both legendary games for PCs and consoles, and not bad games for phones and laptops. In these reviews, I will describe the game using examples of other games in order to more clearly show all the features of this series of games. And most importantly, I will try not to abandon these reviews and will continue to publish them, talking about innovations in new games.

In 2002, the 2015 Games team released the fairly successful Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, which, thanks to Steven Spielberg’s plot, was able to distinguish itself from all other shooters of that time. But after the game was released, not wanting to create games in slavery by completing tasks as a second-rate studio, 22 developers left the studio and founded a new one called Infinity Ward.
Development of the new game began that same year and was focused on the goal of making a better game than the one they had just finished making. To achieve such big plans, you need to start with something simple, so the developers, to facilitate their goal, took as a basis the id tech 3 engine, which they already knew how to work with. It was also decided to show the plot from 3 different heroes in order to cover the larger scale of the actions of World War 2.
When the game was almost ready, Activision bought the studio along with the game, which made it possible for the game to become more popular. So this gave her the opportunity to get to E3 and get her first fans. The game appears on the market on October 29, 2003, and in Russia on March 12, 2004, under the publishing house 1C. On XBOX 360 and PS3, the game was released along with the consoles.

Id tech 3 has been seriously improved. New post-effects were added to it (motion blurred), shaders were added, now the water is processed by them, the lighting was improved and soft shadows were given. But it wouldn’t be possible to get all this just like that, so the engine moved to the new DirectX 9 API.0, previously used OpenGL.
As a result, the picture became better, the requirements for that time remained at the same level. So the game could be handled by a single core Pentium III with a frequency of 600 MHz or more, a video card with a memory of 32 MB or more., 128 MB. RAM, 1.5 GB. on disk. Therefore, even a computer with a 3-year warranty could easily handle the game.
In this case, the game starts only in 4:3 ratio, although the scene during the credits is made 16:9. But since this is id tech 3, it can easily be upgraded and set to the normal (current) screen aspect ratio.
The textures are divided into two parts: general textures, landscape and buildings, and object textures.
Nvidia Distance Fog – helped make the drawing distance uniform, with the function turned off on the sides of the screen, you could see what you might not see in the center.

Looking straight

The sound in the game is https://casinoskyvegas.co.uk good, if you consider the original. Each character speaks with his own accent, which changes in intonation depending on the incident, but if you want to put Russian text and voice acting, be prepared that none of the points above relates to localization in any way.
Their voices in one scene are either quieter or louder, extraneous sounds can interrupt their voices and other voices can overlap each other. At the same time, the text was translated in the same way: the names of the cities, in some places a fictitious translation, and in the handwritten text some letters cannot be read at all. I can’t recommend playing only with the original voice acting because there are few dialogues here, and you can always learn about everything from the loading screens.

The game features 4 campaigns with a total of 26 missions. We play as 3 heroes in turn: Martin – a private in the 506th Parachute Regiment in the USA; Evans – Sergeant of the 6th Airborne Division in Britain; Alexey Ivanovich Voronin at the beginning of the Red Army in the USSR.
Also in the game there was good AI that can hide, support, and at the same time can kill not only the main character, but also each other. At the same time, partners are divided into 2 types, plot ones cannot be killed, and secondary ones can already die, but at the same time, depending on the mission, they can and will appear.

The game begins with morning practice on August 10, 1942 at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, USA. Where Captain Foley and Sergeant Modi will teach us how to move, turn the camera, shoot, throw grenades and plant explosives.
After the training, a briefing begins where they explain the action plan for Operation Overlord, in which the United States and Britain take action. It tells the plan for the next 5 missions for the USA and 2 missions for Britain.
And so, the story of Private Martin begins with a night landing in the vicinity of Sainte-Mère-Eglise, June 5, 1944 at 23:30.
//And then I realized how good the translation is in the game, because how could one translate “St. Mere Eglise" as "Eglise Saint-Mer". It’s as simple as that?//
We have to meet with our squad, but alas, none of them survived. Therefore, we take the bag from the gray man hanging on the tree. Hitoma, with radio beacons and go to the nearest clearing to install beacons for landing the main units. And already in the place with them, go through the houses captured by the Germans to the trench leading to the city.
Sainte-Mère-Eglise, June 6, 1944 at 00:20. Entering the city together with Foley’s detachment, our goal is 3 anti-aircraft guns that prevent our planes from flying over. Having destroyed them, we stop at the crossroads near the church.
Sainte-Mère-Eglise, June 6, 1944 at 07:30. Having waited until morning, the Germans begin their offensive, but before that they fire at us with mortars, which become the main target. Having taken cover from the shelling, we take the Panzerfaust and destroy the first tank, shoot with a machine gun and then clear the northern path, on the way back we destroy the 2nd tank, and go on the offensive against the mortar men. Along the way we see a soldier throwing a grenade into the hatch of a tank and destroying it. Having reached the mortar men and killed them, we get into the car, where the. Foley sends for reinforcements along with Ser. Modi and row. Elder.
Normandy, road No. 13, June 6, 1944 at 08:15. We pass the checkpoint. Having passed the enemy checkpoint, through the fields, we enter the city, where a tank is blocking the road, and we drive into a dead end, where we break the car there. Having changed to another car, but already under the control of Elder, we get out of the city and arrive at the headquarters.
Brecourt estate, France, June 6, 1944 at 09:00. The main goal is to find 2 packages of documents. The first one is in an underground bunker, while along the way the partners destroyed 2 artillery pieces. Having taken the documents and leaving the bunker we see a cowardly doctor and behind him in a field under a tree a wounded soldier whom the doctor is afraid to save. For his cowardice, he is punished by a stray bullet in the head, and now he has to face. Modi goes to save the soldier, and we cover him. Modi saves the private and stays with him, while Martin and Elder have to go to the estate to pick up documents along the way, destroying several more artillery.
Afterwards there is a briefing at which they announce the success of Overlord operations and transfer us to a special squad.
Bavarian Alps, Germany, August 7, 1944 at 01:30. Our first task in the special squad is the rescue of two British captives. Price and Major Igram. They drop us off near the mansion. Having entered it, Foley gives us the task of finding documents and cutting off communications, while together with Modi he is looking for Ingram. The documents are located directly above the entrance, on the second floor. But to find the radio equipment you will have to go through the entire mansion to the room where the eagle is located, turn it and a secret door in the fireplace will open. We destroy the equipment, go out and we are met by Foley and Modi. Together with them we find only cap. Price is in an underground prison, and we learn that Major Igram was taken to a German camp. We leave the mansion and go there.
Dulag IIIA – Strassgof, Austria, September 18, 1944 at 03:20. We are dropped off near the camp and warned that after the first shot we will have to get out in 10 minutes. We approach the post, kill the guards and Foul demolishes the gate in a truck. We move towards Major Ingram, save him and return to the truck at the entrance, he thanks us for saving us and this ends the 1st Company for the USA.

2nd Company – Britain

The British campaign begins with a briefing detailing the British forces’ plan of action. And we play for Evans from 6 air.-landing. divisions, and then to the SAS.
Benouville, France July 6, 1944 at 00:07. The mission begins with a flight on an airplane, as a passenger. We wait while the pilots search for the forest and, as Price said, land softly.
//There is one good problem here. While we were landing, we had to create a lot of noise, but they did not replace us, although they were 50 meters away from us, and at the same time they told us to find a good position. In front of us is a pillbox and a path with a depression right along which you can go to it, but if you try to walk halfway along it, they will notice you, even if they stand with their backs. So the question is how they can detect a crawling soldier with their backs, who makes almost no sounds, but did not see the falling plane. HOW?//
Well, okay, having captured the pillbox, we move to the other side of the bridge to drive away the Germans, but the arriving tank ruins everything. Cap. Price gives the command to call Mils, who must repair the gun, so we call him to repair the anti-aircraft gun and we can destroy the tank. We finish off the remaining enemies and can rest a little.
Benouville, France July 6, 1944 at 12:30. Having replenished our equipment, we move to the other side of the bridge to repel the infantry advance. As soon as the tanks start moving, we retreat to the anti-aircraft gun and hold the defense until reinforcements arrive in 5 minutes.
The briefing begins where we are with the cap. Price is transferred to the SAS, and immediately given the first task to destroy the hydroelectric power station and air defense, which prevent it from being destroyed from the air.
Eder Dam, Germany, September 2, 1944 at 05:45. We are dropped off alone near the dam. The first thing we do is pass along the dam to the other side, simultaneously destroying 6 anti-aircraft guns. We go into the unscrewed door near the 6th anti-aircraft gun and climb down the dam to the electrical equipment. We plant explosives on them and leave the building to destroy 3 more anti-aircraft guns. Afterwards we make our way back to the top of the dam and get into the truck to the cap. Price and Ser. Watersu. The dams that take us out, breaking through the barrier into the tunnel.
Then we fight off our pursuers in the canyon, fortunately we have a grenade launcher. After the T-junction, after the wooden bridge, turn left and stop. They give us a sniper to cover Vaters while he blows up the bridge. Afterwards the chase continues until arriving at the airport. Where we shoot dive planes with anti-aircraft guns and sometimes kill people holed up on the roof of a neighboring building. And so we wait until our plane takes off. When he leaves, we get back into the truck, he takes us to them, and then we go on board
battleship Tirpitz.
Gakoya, Norway October 27, 1944 at 19:00. Together with CP. Price and Ser. Vatersom goes to the battleship Tirpitz. As we approach the battleship, we exchange light signals (confirmation of mooring) and together with Price we board the ship. Having reached the weapons department, they declassify us, Price remains on guard, and we mine the ship’s boilers. Having made a circle, we meet Price already dead, and in order not to repeat his fate, we first break through to the captain’s bridge, destroy the radio equipment, and only after that we return to Waters in the boat and sail away.
This is where the British company ends and the last Soviet one begins.

The plot of the Soviet company is divided into 2 parts: the first battle for Stalingrad, the second Vistula-Oder operation. We play for Alexey Ivanovich Voronin.
Volga, Stalingrad September 18, 1942 at 11:00. We begin to cross the Volga. The political leader is reading Stalin’s speech, planes are blowing up neighboring ferries, and ‘traitors’ have already appeared in our circles. As soon as we get off the ferry they blow it up and then we stand in line for weapons, where the first is given a rifle, and the second only cartridges, but of course we only get cartridges. Climbing up to the gray. Borodin, at his command we move from one shelter to another. in the end he sends us back to the ruins of the building, where right in front of us the commissar kills the “traitor”. When we approach them, we are also declared a traitor, but Borodin saves us. Now you can calmly admire the art shelling of Stalingrad.
Red Square, Stalingrad September 18, 1942 at 13:00. We wait for the start of the offensive and run to the middle. Makarov, who proposes to fire at them from the building. We go up to the top, take a sniper, kill 4 officers, and go down. After another artillery shelling, Makarov gives the task to report on the capture of Red Square to Major Zubov.
Having passed through the ruins, the station, and once again the ruins we reach Zubov.
Stalingrad sewer system, November 9, 1942 At 13:00. Zubov promotes us to junior sergeant. And together with the team he sends us to find the scouts who were supposed to recapture Pavlov’s house. But since there were many snipers on the streets, we are sent through the sewers.
Having joined Pavlov’s detachment, we begin the assault on the building, and then a 5-minute defense until reinforcements arrive.
Warsaw, Poland, January 17, 1945 at 10:30. For good results we are transferred to the team of Major Grishin. The first task is to capture a tank factory, and then unite with the 4th Army.
Poland, near the Polish-German border, January 26, 1945. 13:45. Due to a shortage of tankers, we are temporarily transferred to the position of tank commander/spotter. So we, destroying everything in our path, reach the city, and then capture it. This ends the USSR company and we move on to the Union.

4th Company – Union

In the last company we take turns playing as 3 protagonists. The first one is Martin. Americans at a briefing talk about the successes of the USSR and the increasingly worsening situation in Germany. Their last hope is the V-1 and V-2 missiles, which were not entirely accurate.
Northeast of Bastogne, Belgium, 15 January 1945 at 15:20. Foley gives a speech that should inspire the fighters, and after the speech, we go to capture two bunkers to take the documents from there. After capturing the second bunker, two tanks will come at us, which we will be told to deal with using an anti-aircraft gun, but while it’s underway, they will already kill you, so we take panzerfausts and destroy the tanks. And at the end, Foley will take off his headdress, bow his head and say, “We succeeded.”.
Burgsteinfurt, Germany, February 2, 1945 at 16:00. We play for the cap. Evans and together with Ser. We destroy the Flakvierling cannons with Waters, and intercept the supply trucks and unite with the rest of the team. We follow further and find the V-2, but due to our small supply of explosives, we first need to fill them with fuel, and then blow them up. To do this, we go down to the western bunker and turn on the fuel supply, go up and explode the rockets. Afterwards we leave through the northern bunker.
On the way to the Reichstag, Berlin, April 30, 1945 at 11:00. We play as the last hero Alexey. At the beginning we approach the Reichstag, clearing the way for tanks, destroying anti-tank guns, which will then open the way for us. We wait for the tanks to arrive and go inside, until they arrive enemies will constantly appear in the windows, and the area is completely open. Having entered the Reichstag, we go up to the top and watch one of the soldiers waving a flag.
Next, we hear a message from a son to his mother, who reports victory over Germany. And he’s even proud that he shook hands with an American, and although none of them understood anything, everyone rejoiced at the victory.

The story in the game helped to do something that almost never happened in other games. Not just shoot in the corridor, but shoot in the corridor for some purpose. The main problem appears in the middle of the Soviet company. If at the beginning of the story there was a constant dialogue with the hero, then after that they hardly talk to us at all, and you can only understand what is happening from the loading screens. At the same time, at the beginning the loading screen seemed to retell past actions on behalf of the hero, but at the end it is the only narrator of the hero’s actions.

The weapons are represented by 17 types of weapons, two of which have two types: with and without sights.
American is represented by: semi-automatic rifle M1A1 Carbine and M1 Garand;
Thompson assault rifle and M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle; Springfield sniper and Colt pistol .45.

In the history of World War II there were many legendary and great vehicles, but the most iconic was and remains the Soviet medium tank T-34. This is an article about the history of the creation of this tank, about its predecessor A-32.

The history of the appearance of the T-34 begins in 1937, when the development of tanks began, which later influenced the creation of the "thirty-four". In September 1938, after reviewing the design drawings and models of the developed versions of the BT-20 tank by the armored control commission, it was decided to produce one wheeled-tracked tank with a 45-mm cannon, two tracked tanks with 76-mm cannons and one hull for shelling. In mid-December 1938, revised designs and models of the A-20 tank were reviewed and approved at a meeting of the Main Military Council. The A-20 was presented in two versions: wheeled-tracked and tracked (A-20G, which later became the A-32). But the final fate of the T-40, T-100 and A-20 tanks was decided on February 26, 1939 at a meeting of the Defense Committee of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR (permission to build prototypes and the allocation of the necessary funds). As a result, the next day a protocol of the meeting of the Defense Committee was signed, according to which plant No. 183 was to produce three tanks.

Tank A-32 (with 76 mm L-10 gun)The wheeled-tracked A-20 was ready by May 26, 1939. But the production of the A-20G tracked vehicle (in May 1939, a new designation was already found in the documents – A-32) was late: the first sample was ready on June 13, 1939. In appearance and design, the A-32 resembled the A-20, but there were still a number of differences: a) there was no wheel drive; b) the thickness of the armor was different; c) A-32 was armed with a 76-mm L-10 cannon; d) the weight of the A-32 was 19 tons. In July 1939, field tests of these tanks began, which ended on August 23. The conclusions of the commission that observed the tests were as follows: “The A-20 and A-32 tanks were well executed. In terms of strength and reliability, it is superior to all prototypes of previously produced tanks. They have more powerful armor protection compared to production vehicles… The cross-country ability of tanks is higher than that of BT… Conclusion. Prototypes A-20 and A-32 are suitable for operation in the Red Army. The A-32 tank, as it has a margin for increased weight, would be advisable to protect it with more powerful armor, correspondingly increasing the strength of individual parts.”.

Afterwards, both cars were sent to the Kubinka training ground in order to appear before the eyes of members of the USSR government (Voroshilov, Mikoyan, Zhdanov, Likhachev and Malyshev were present). Also participating in this review were tanks KV, SMK, T-100, BT-7M, T-26 and an armored vehicle BA-11. The new technology made a good impression on senior management. It was noted that the A-32 has the full ability to enhance armor up to 45 mm without any special modifications, which should provide protection against 37 mm shells. To determine the possibility of enhancing the armor, they used the second sample of the A-32, which was manufactured on August 26, 1939. It differed from the first sample only in armament: a 45-mm tank gun was installed. In addition, the loaded tank lacked optical instruments, a gun lifting mechanism, radio equipment, machine guns, ammunition rack with weight models of artillery rounds and machine gun magazines, spare parts and transportable tools. The tank was loaded with cast iron blanks to a weight of 24 tons.

Tank A-32 (second sample), http://slingo-casino.uk/ loaded with cast iron blanks.

At the end of August 1939, KB 520 began development of a new tank with more armor. This machine received the designation A-34. In December 1939, at a meeting of the Defense Committee, Resolution No. 443c was adopted., part of the new tank from plant No. 183 said the following:

“Adopt the Red Army:..

T-32 tank – tracked, manufactured by plant No. 183 of Narkomsredmash, with the following changes:
A) increase the thickness of the main armor plates to 45 mm;
B) improve visibility of the tank;
C) install an F-32 76 mm cannon on the tank, coaxial with a 7.62 mm machine gun..
Assign a name to the specified tank “T-34”..

A) organize the production of T-34 tanks at Kharkov plant No. 183;
B) produce 2 prototypes of T-34 tanks by January 15, 1940 and an initial batch of 10 by September 15, 1940..
C) to increase the capacity of the plant for the production of T-34 tanks as of January 1, 1941 to 1,600 units … "
It was planned to be produced as A-20 (plant No. 183 in. Kharkov), and T-34 (plant No. 183 and Stalingrad Tractor Plant), but later it was decided to abandon the production of the A-20 in favor of the T-34.

The first sample of the A-34 tank, right view.

Tank A-34 No. 1, front view.

Thus, the T-34 tank was put into service even before the production of prototypes: only the loaded version of the A-32 passed the test. On January 16, 1940, the first T-34 sample entered factory testing.

I admit honestly, I have been a fan of GT not since the first part, but only since the third for PS2. But still, it is in my heart forever, because it was because of this game that I fell in love with auto racing and cars. But I came here to tell the story of a series of games, not the story of how I fell in love with this series. So let’s get started!
The phrase Gran Turismo is known to almost all car lovers. By the way, this is the name of the class of high-speed cars. Today I will tell you how this legendary series of games came into being.

I divided everything into background and history. I’ve divided the story into parts so you can watch whatever you want.

1.Kazunori Yamauchi

We have Kazunori Yamauchi to thank for the birth of Gran Tursmo. Of course, he loved cars since childhood, but he didn’t dream about them at all. Yamauchi was born on August 5, 1967 in Kashiwa, Japan. Humanity had recently conquered space, and like all the boys of those years, he dreamed of becoming an astronaut. But later Star Wars was born and Kazunori became interested in cinema. In high school, he collected and began making amateur films, about one a year, then he, like many schoolchildren, became interested in writing games, but it was rather a simple hobby, and the main place in his head was occupied by cinema. He dreamed of one day creating something comparable to Lucas’s creation. But fate had other plans.
At the university, he already said goodbye to his childhood dreams and began to study computer graphics. And despite the fact that he studied to be an accountant, games and cars became his main interests.
Soon, in his spare time from studying, he began making presentation films for automakers. Gradually, the idea matured in his head to create a real simulator that would convey the feeling of the race as much as possible, but at the same time appeal to ordinary players. And a few years later he got a job at Sony, where he and a small group worked on the first PlayStation. And a few years later he was entrusted with the development of the game.

Since Yamauchi’s parents owned a private school, he invited students to test the PS1 gamepad

2.But his first game was not GT, but Motor Toon Grand Prix. Let’s talk about her.
In 1994, Polys Entertainment (a small development team within Sony Computer Entertainment) released the racing game Motor Toon Grand Prix for the Sony PlayStation console. The development of the game was led by the then unknown Kazunori Yamauchi. The main goal of the developers was to create a game that realistically simulates the behavior of cars on the track, while the gameplay should remain addictive and fun, which was facilitated by cartoon graphics.(almost the way he wanted at 15)

“At that time we did not try to recreate one hundred percent reality on TV screens. We just wanted these tiny cars to at least remotely feel like they were real in terms of control. The suspension of the cars was calculated physically, so we were able to simulate the dynamic forces applied to the cars when entering corners."

The Motor Toon Grand Prix sailor-bingo-casino.co.uk project was very important for Yamauchi, since it was his first game under the wing of Sony and he had to show himself well.

The game Motor Toon Grand Prix was released on November 16, 1994 and for a debut game it received very good reviews, I really liked the game in which the cars behaved so realistically on the track. This set it apart from the many arcade games at the time. And so it was decided to make a sequel. True, Kazunori himself considered the game too crude, because the management was in a hurry with the development, which is why he had to abandon some of the ideas. Since then, the game designer promised himself never to release an unfinished product to the market again (and almost fulfilled his promise).
Motor Toon Grand Prix 2 was released in 1996.

HISTORY OF THE GT SERIES

1.Gran Turismo

Although Kazunori had already made a game with realistic car behavior, he still dreamed of creating a simulator that would feature not only realistic physics, but also stunning graphics that could convey on the screen all the beauty of racing cars. Such a game would be equally attractive to both professionals and ordinary players who are simply used to enjoying games.
And with this proposal and numerous sketches, Yamauchi turned to his superiors, after which he was allowed to develop his own game. True, the company’s management was cautious about such an unusual project and allocated a rather modest amount of resources to the development team. Thus began the development of the very first game in the Gran Turismo series.

But things weren’t so smooth. The development process progressed very slowly due to lack of funding and human resources. The game was being developed in parallel with the two parts of Motor Toon Gran Prix, so Yamauchi was torn between the two teams, trying to pay attention to all his projects at the same time. The very first Gran Turismo game took five years to create.

"It took us five years. It seemed to us that this development would have no end. I woke up at work and fell asleep at work. When it got cold in the office, I realized that winter had come – I was so disoriented in time. I spent only 3-4 days a year at home,” is how Yamauchi recalls the game development process.

The game went on sale in Japan on December 23, 1997. In Europe and North America it appeared on May 8 and 12, 1998, respectively. Critics rated the game very highly. To date, the game has sold 10.8 million copies worldwide.

Improvements
This game was a real breakthrough in the world of car simulators. In addition to a simple arcade mode, the game offered users a simulation mode (the mode was called Gran Turismo), in which the player had to build his racing career, obtain a driver’s license, participate in various competitions, and with the prize money earned, buy and improve his vehicles. (Well, in future parts this system with licenses continued.)
The game also used the capabilities of the PlayStation controller and conveyed the sensations of different road surfaces using vibration. All cars in the game were carefully recreated based on real ones. Sony had to fork out a lot of money to buy licenses for their use from the largest automobile concerns. Yamauchi carefully examined each car, together with his team he studied its behavior on the track, took numerous notes, photographs and notes, after which a virtual copy of the car was created for the game. 11 in-game car tracks were also created based on real-life racing tracks. There were also 180 cars in the game. Even today this is a large number. Won at Driveclub only 50. And in those days it was simply fantastic.

Gran Turismo became the best-selling game on the PS1 and remains one of the highest rated games in the industry. And also included in the 20 best games of all time.
Thanks to the success of Gran Turismo, Kazunori Yamauchi’s team was finally spun off into a full-fledged studio and became Polyphony Digital. Kazunori himself gained access to unlimited resources within the company, as well as the long-awaited independence from his superiors.

2.Gran Turismo 2

Almost 11 million copies sold meant one thing – a sequel is already in development.
GT2 appeared in 1999 on the same PlayStation. And Yamauchi has another bright moment in his life associated with him. According to him, before E31999 the whole team and he did not sleep for almost a hundred hours, finishing the demo for journalists. And after boarding the plane, he instantly passed out and did not wake up, even when he landed in Los Angeles. However, the team did not have time not only with the demo, the final game also suffered from haste, as Sony was in a hurry, they needed to take attention away from the first, as it would later become clear from the last 128-bit Sega DreamCast console.
As a result, an unfinished game hit the shelves. And part of the first edition even had to be recalled due to a serious error with support for one of the steering wheels (at that time the console had no connection to the Internet and patches could not even be dreamed of). Despite the withdrawal of the circulation, there were a number of small issues. The game took up two discs, one housed the arcade version on the other, a simulator. Graphically, GT2 has taken a big step forward, but the gameplay remains almost the same.
Gran Turismo 2 sold 9.3 million copies. And got into the Guinness Book of Records for the largest number of cars in the game, the best-selling game on PS1 in 98 and the most meticulous manual for the simulator. It was also the first game to be emulated on the Sega Dreamcast console
But still, the first generation of GT ended in triumph.

3.Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec

It was the year two thousand, Sony was preparing in full for the launch of its 2nd and most popular console in history. Of course, everyone wanted to see the system in action, and especially for E3 2000, Yamauchi and his team prepared a demo of Gran Turismo 2000, then all people celebrated the arrival of the new millennium twice and inserting 2000 into the name was very popular. True, the game was released in 2001 and it was called less trivially, namely Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec.
At E3, everyone was shocked by the picture quality of the new game, no one could believe that this was real on a home system. The cars looked like real ones, drove like real ones and looked amazing in replays. And no one even remembered that the number of cars rolled back to 185.

Improvements
1.In GT3, along with regular races, real multi-hour endurance races appeared. You could win unlicensed Formula 1 cars in them.
2.Multiplayer appeared for the first time, although only for 6 players.
3.Cars in the quarry have now been distributed by category and country of production.
The game was criticized only for the AI ​​of the opponents, who always drove only along the ideal trajectory and never made mistakes (this flaw will remain in GT for many years).
Conclusion.
The third part became one of the most popular racing games in history and, along with GTA3, the best-selling game on PS2. In total, almost 15 million copies were sold around the world, that is, every 10 system owners had a GT3. The game was so popular that Logitech released a special steering wheel for it.

We are all used to people playing something simple and extraordinary on their phones, be it moving precious stones or running with obstacles. But on January sixteen, two thousand and twenty, everything changed, because a high-quality, complex and, of course, brutal project from TipsWorks – a dark fantasy called Pascal’s Wager – was finally released on the App Store.

But no matter how difficult the player’s path through the world of the game may be, the story of Ian Young, the founder of the development company, is still a motivating path to success. Before appearing on stage at the Steve Jobs Theater at the presentation of the iPhone 11, the guys from TipsWorks had to work hard to eventually reach the level of the engine of the mobile gaming industry. Sit back and get ready to be immersed in a world of gritty, dark fantasy come true.

It is not known for certain what Yang Yang did before entering the gaming industry, but as an adult he worked for Konami, one of the largest companies developing computer games. Konami is famous for its strict internal personnel policy, so it’s no wonder that, like many, Ian wanted creative freedom.

Day X has arrived, and our creator, along with some colleagues, has launched a new company in Shanghai called TipsWorks. Everything would be fine, but by that time he had already been struggling with a terrible illness for two years – kidney failure. Ian did not have enough money for the transplant operation and had to save money. However, the desire to create overpowered everything, including the instinct of self-preservation.

Having created TipsWorks, Ian Yang did something http://slots-n-play-casino.co.uk/ truly crazy: he invested his savings, including funds for a kidney transplant, into the development of the company. But even this money was not enough to achieve success and recoup at least part of the investment.

In addition, Ian found himself in a trap that he had created for himself: no big company wanted to hire him anymore due to health problems. TipsWorks has become the last hope and only source of income for the developer. There was no turning back.

However, there was a way forward, and although Ian was struggling with uremia and undergoing blood dialysis three times a week, he did not want to do something he did not like. Specifically, he did not want to see Free-to-Play games with a non-aggressive monetization model on the lists developed by his company. In those days, and even now, mobile games were made on the principle of “slow down the gameplay and let the player speed it up with money.”. Yang Yang never even considered this principle, although he could have earned a lot of money and at the same time attracted investors faster.

But no one wanted to get involved with the stubborn TipsWorks, because everyone understood: this is a company that does not make games designed for excessive profits. She creates old-fashioned, high-quality projects that are fun to play and not pour money into. Therefore, the TipsWorks story could end before it began.

However, everything changed in two thousand and eighteen, when Giant Network decided to acquire Ian Young’s company. The new patron of TipsWorks had access to investors from Apple, thanks to which Ian’s dream finally came true: he received funding.

The progress of the game’s development, as well as the details of TipsWorks’ relationship with Apple, is shrouded in a fog of confidentiality, which is why we are unlikely to ever know what budget the publisher allocated to the developer. However, in 2019, Ian Yang finally received a kidney transplant, and now there is no need to worry about his health.

The game designer spoke at the presentation of the iPhone 11, showing the world his game for the first time, and at the beginning of two thousand and twentieth Pascal’s Wager was released. The project still remains one of the most interesting on mobile devices, because the developers’ promises turned out to be not empty words. The game truly challenges players and is a worthy successor to Dark Souls on portable devices.

A curious detail of the game’s plot is the presence of a Colossus affected by a mysterious disease. Definitely, Ian Young’s creative path is closely intertwined with his life, which in itself suggests a conclusion: Pascal’s Wager is the brainchild of people who sincerely wanted to bring their ideas to life. And this development principle is much more motivating to get acquainted with the game than the presence in it of “paid gameplay accelerators”.

The success of Pascal’s Wager and the thorny path of Ian Young show us that mobile games can be of high quality and truly ideological. TipsWorks has proven by its own example that there are people in the industry who want to bring their vision of a project to life, going against commercial considerations. And although the company still has a long way to go, it is safe to say that the development of a developer of good mobile games has been successful.

It’s quite common when you suddenly want to play something from your childhood. When this happens to me, I immediately take out an old box with Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 and I’m replaying the campaign for the hundredth time on the highest difficulty level.

Relatively recently, during another attack of nostalgia, I began to think about the fate of my favorite series of games. About how Activision ruined the concept, right after they ruined the concept itself Neversoft. And then I remembered that I once did the history of this studio, but purely in video format and at the dawn of my activities as an announcer/editor and screenwriter. And then I realized – we need a remaster. And deeper additions are needed.

Leaving Malibu, or how to take big risks and not go bankrupt

The best studio logo out of many others
1994. The gaming industry is ruled SEGA Genesis And SEGA Saturn, although the latter was sold only in Japan so far. And it was during these years Joel Jewett, game programmer Mick West and artist Chris Ward left the company Malibu Interactive and with Jewett’s last money they created a new team called Neversoft. Jewett worked as an accountant and was able to raise enough money for this. The head of the production department was Mick West, who previously had experience in development, being one of the game programmers Battletech about furs.

Joel Jewett

After forming the studio, they immediately found work from Playmates Interactive Entertainment, who represented Playmates Toys, a company that produces a toy line called Skeleton Warriors. They wanted to accompany the release not only with an animated series, but also with a game.

Neversoft began creating game design, changing studio to another in Woodland Hills in California. Development continued for an intense five months, until December 1994 Playmates took and canceled the development of the game for SEGA Genesis, for which the game was originally created. The decision was caused by the decline in audience interest in the console. The copyright holder decided to switch to creating a game for SEGA Saturn. To do this, Neversoft had to hire an additional level – a designer and artist. With new forces and the presence of past developments, things went faster and already in 1995 Skeleton Warriors was published, and a year later it was ported to a fresh PlayStation.

Skeleton Warriors

It was a platformer, and even with newfangled 3D. And damn beautiful for those years, except for the monotony of the color palette, but the style demanded it. In terms of gameplay, everything was simple, we go from left to right, kill monsters, of which there are many and they are all varied. From skeletons to werewolves and other flying-crawling undead. The means for killing everything and everyone were a sword and some kind of fireballs. It was interesting to play, but after that the monotonous gameplay got boring and I wanted to continue playing only because of the bosses, which turned out to be interesting.

The vaunted design of backdrops, enemies, and bosses was countered by an almost complete lack of plot and connection to the animated series. All that can hint to us about the story is the introductory video and the presence of the main character, when, as in the series, there are four of them. The enemies are spineless meat, as they certainly were not in the cartoon. The best advice for those who came here for the story would be to watch the series of the same name, and then play the game.

However, despite all the cavils, in those years it was of little importance. The consumer received another good, high-quality game and the growing Neversoft began another project.

Neversoft team, 1998
The studio started working on a game based on the ghost rider – Ghost Rider, upon request Crystal Dynamics. The studio was chosen for its positive experience in working on the previous project, because the game was also supposed to be a platformer.

But the game was eventually canceled in 1996 due to the publisher’s financial problems. The funds saved were used to develop our own game with the working title “Big Gun”. The developers were at the stage of creating their own engine for the game when Playmates Interactive Entertainment jointly Shiny Entertainment hired Neversoft for port MDK on Playstation, which the developers from Woodland were familiar with firsthand (when they ported Skeleton Warriors). During the transfer, the engine was modified and used Big Guns, Moreover, the engine turned out to be so successful that the same revision MDK then transferred to PC.

The engine performed so well on PlayStation that the Big Guns project was purchased Sony Computer Entertainment. Until November 1997, the game was intensively developed, even turned into a project Exodus, but was eventually canceled after numerous design changes. As a result, Neversoft’s staff was sharply reduced from 20 people back to 12, and the company began to intensively look for work, while simultaneously polishing the engine.

In 1998, on the verge of bankruptcy, Neversoft was lucky enough to have a successful meeting in the office Activision, they needed a team to develop the game Apocalypse with Bruce Willis. Big Guns technology was ideal for the new project. In May of the same year the game was ready for release.

Apocalypse

October 31, 1998

The game was very dynamic and remained forever in the hearts of many players. Several factors came into play. Firstly, Bruce Willis in the title role, with his charisma in the form of his voice. Secondly, it’s a constant drive; the gameplay grabs you from the first minutes and doesn’t let go until the very end.

A similar effect was facilitated by a huge selection of weapons (lasers, machine guns, rocket launchers), a live camera, which either dropped behind the hero’s shoulder or rose high up.Something is always happening on the screen, new enemies appear, the scenery changes, the main character rushes forward almost without stopping. There was even a plot, but it was extremely simple, if not formulaic.

How to become a skater without injuries, bruises and abrasions

Apocalypse was a success and the studio became in good standing with Activision, in connection with which the publisher received an offer to develop a game about skateboarding, the popularity of which at that time was growing every day. Joel Jewett accepted the offer. And the first thing that was done was the construction of a halfpipe (half pipe) in the studio yard and the purchase of skateboards. The goal was not just to make an imitation of skating on a board, but a game about skateboarding itself.

They took their own engine Singbingocasino.uk as a basis and significantly modified it. Development is in full swing. At first, a large number of levels were created – routes from point A to point B, but this seemed like the wrong decision. Game designers wanted to get rid of these professional sports features by presenting gameplay in a normal environment. Therefore, the developers simply began to look for places for tricks among their surroundings, step by step coming to the conclusion that they just needed open cards for constant trickery.

From a technological point of view PlayStation would not be enough for a full simulation of skating on a virtual board, because it was for this platform that the release was being prepared. Therefore, the emphasis was placed on entertainment and drive. Helped with the correct transfer of tricks to the virtual world Tony Hawk, in whose name the entire future series was subsequently christened. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was ready by 1999 on PlayStation. At release it went quite well to the masses, but after Tony Hawk’s legendary record with his 900 degree rotation, the release became similar to a bomb explosion.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater

September 30, 1999

It had everything: a new gaming experience, rich graphics, interesting gameplay, celebrities from the world of skateboarding and, of course, a cool soundtrack consisting of punk rock compositions and hip-hop. Every little detail in the game played into the atmosphere of street sports. The locations were typical habitats of skateboarders: schools, training parks, city gateways and Los Angeles, as the center of skate culture, was attached.

The set of playable characters was in color: Tony himself, Rodney Mullen, and others. Everyone had individual characteristics, some had better balance, some were better at rail-trick, and some were ramp masters. In addition, the game depended on the selected board, suspension and wheels. The essence of the game was as follows: we chose the character we liked, completed tasks, increased characteristics, and as we passed, we unlocked secret videos and hidden characters. But there was also a game mode for two players using split-screen.

The game mechanics were truly ingenious and simple. Pressed one button and got tricks involving rotating the skateboard in the air, pressed another and did a trick with grabbing the board in the air. Thanks to easy (to master, but not perfect) controls and slightly unrealistic physics, it became possible to combine tricks into unimaginable combinations worth several million points (this is more about the subsequent parts). But they won’t let you endlessly earn points; over time, balancing on the railing and in the manual becomes more difficult during one combo. In the end, the outcome begins to depend on your skill, dexterity and luck.

The developers did a great job on the animation. And there shouldn’t have been anything else in a game about skateboards and falling off them. When you fall from a virtual skateboard for the first time, the “athlete” writhes from injuries so naturally that you yourself involuntarily feel all the pain.

It was a new word in the genre. And a lot of money in the budget Activision, for whom this fact meant that they finally had their own Madden (series about American football from Electronic Arts). Naturally, the sequel was confirmed and started work, and Activision very quickly bought Neversoft with its giblets. However, these were not all surprises: the day before the publishing house received the rights to produce games based on Spiderman and rapidly growing after the success of Neversoft was a good candidate for the role of developers. As a result, part of the team began to make Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 (further THPS2), and the other began to sculpt Spider Man‘A.

The game was made on the same engine as THPS. The concept of the game itself was very bold – more or less open three-dimensional locations, flying on the web, combat. As a bonus, Stan Lee himself took part in the voice acting, and he also acted as a narrator. The development process took a little longer than the first Tony Hawk and eventually the release took place in 2000.

Spider Man

August 30, 2000

The game from Neversoft, in a sense, determined the direction for the entire subsequent series of games about Spidey. There have already been flights on the web over New York. The fight was Beat-m-up using a web, and, of course, sticking to everything was implemented. This was supported by good design and an interesting plot written by Stan Lee specifically for the game.

The narrative thread leads the hero through a wide variety of locations and tasks, where he has to deal with such “celebrities” as Scorpio, Daredevil, Rhino, Venom, Lizard, Mysterio. Such a huge number of villains made the game varied. Every boss in the game was interesting to fight. Plus Black Cat, Human Torch and Captain America as partners added to the fan service.

Graphically, the game was pleasing, the spirit of the comics was conveyed to the maximum, thanks to the covers of the issues at the beginning of each chapter, painstakingly recreated in 3D by character designs and beautiful animation of the spider itself.

Neversoft did a great job. The end consumer was satisfied with the product, critics responded, quote: “Perhaps the best Spider-Man game”. Activision counted the money from sales, and Neversoft continued to work on the second game in the series Pro Skater. This time everything was done according to the rule of sequels: bigger, better, cooler, more diverse.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2

September 19, 2000

Skateboarding has become faster, new tricks and skaters have been added. There were also great additions, such as creating your own alter ego. Allowed you to choose your nationality, hair color, shirt, pants, shoes, as well as information right down to your skateboard stance. A function has been added to create your own small and cozy skate park, with rails, ramps, trampolines and other interactive objects. We added several new locations and voila, good sales again, Neversoft’s reputation and people’s love.

Naturally, this is not all, because the devil is in the details. The community agrees that this particular part was the best in the series, but as for me, it was simply their first. But I’d rather leave the analysis to the specialists.

The series successfully entered the production line when the team decided to use RenderWare from Criterion Games. The engine turned out to be quite flexible and was quite convenient for porting work.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3

October 28, 2001

PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox

THPS 3 appeared on the shelves in 2001. Basically, the new Hawk has new maps, more advanced and responsive controls, updated character and park editors. A new selection of music, closely consisting of popular artists in the punk and hip-hop genres, perfectly complemented the dynamics. In general, every element was adjusted to the new engine without any losses, but stagnation was still felt. I wanted the series to start moving forward.

Neversoft understood this, even after 10/10 GameSpot. Next time such a trick wouldn’t work. This means it’s time to introduce something new, since the new engine has been mastered and you can start experimenting with the format.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4

October 23, 2002

PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox

Another year is already the fourth Pro Skater appeared on the shelves and was radically different from the previous part. The graphics have improved (but it was still painful to look at the faces of the NPCs), all locations and maps were completely new and very inventively made. The skateboarder editor has become even more advanced, it has added more settings, including physique adjustment. The skate park editor has expanded, there are more elements, but to open them all you need to go through the story campaign.

Yes, the “company” became a plot point and it was precisely in it that the main changes took place. If earlier the company mode consisted of completing ten tasks in a two-minute limit, now we were offered large locations with scattered NPC with tasks. Time restrictions were now only within tasks, which had become so varied and exciting that it was simply impossible to tear yourself away from the gameplay. On the other hand, it was the regime free-skate from previous parts crossed with career mode. But this only benefited the game and refreshed it.

In addition, the player needed to collect money scattered throughout the level if he wanted to buy his avatar new hats, skateboards and other junk to show off in full-fledged multiplayer. Experience points are no longer scattered throughout the levels, but are awarded for completed tasks, along with money. The gameplay was still the same Tony Hawk, the tricks became faster and more varied, it was still fun to ride.

In general, the game came out well and it’s a holiday for skateboarding fans again. By the way, this part turned out to be the last numbered part of the Pro Skater subtitle that Neversoft made, because then the series changed again. Having received positive feedback from the audience regarding the new approach to organizing the gameplay, the studio took a logical step.

Tony Hawk’s Underground

October 27, 2003

PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox

Series Tony Hawk’s I was able to surprise everyone again. Yes, these were skateboard rides again, yes, the editors of the skateboard and the park were still here, yes, the graphics were again embellished a little. But now with Underground the series has a full-fledged plot! Choose the difficulty level, create a character and start the story. Are you new to skateboarding who wants to get to the top, we have a friend with us who wants the same. Through a series of tasks and locations you climb to the top. The path is thorny, during the plot there will be ups and downs, betrayal and incredible adventures. The player will be guided by famous skaters, and will meet a variety of colorful personalities as if taken from the streets of the informal movement. Sometimes drama will develop on the screen, and sometimes sheer idiocy, and you will find it interesting. Neversoft and their writers did a great job and the plot turned out like in a good youth film about extreme sports.

Conceptually THUG advanced version of the previous part. At locations that have become even larger, there are NPCs with tasks. The money is gone, now everything is open at once, and what is closed is revealed as you progress. Attribute points are now earned in a special way. We have a list of tricks and values ​​to perform and achieve accordingly. For completing each, we receive a point of a certain characteristic. It started to smell like an RPG component. The ability to steer various vehicles has been added, but only during story missions. We added several completely new tricks based on key combinations, such as Spine Transfer, but the main innovation of the game was still the ability to get off the board and walk, climb somewhere higher and from there effectively continue skating.

The traditional multiplayer has been supplemented with several new modes. On the version for PlayStation 2 it became possible to glue your face to the model of the character you are creating using the camera EyeToy (many games basically did this, see. Rainbow Six: Vegas). New editors have appeared: creating tricks, deck art and tasks. Tricks were molded from several parameters applied to the time line, keys for action were assigned and the individual trick was ready. Creating a drawing on the deck was also simple, stencils and pictures were applied, and it was all painted together. Creating tasks was more difficult. On one of the maps we placed an NPC, the starting point of the task, and then we chose from the list what nature it would be: collecting the letters COMBO or SKATE, breaking the score record or performing tricks. The conditions changed: time for the task, point limit, zones, etc.n.

The result is a big, high-quality and not boring game. The beginning had been made and no less was expected from the announced second part of UG.

At that time, Neversoft had become a successful and quite respected studio all over the world. Her games were talked about and expected. And brands were even more drawn to them; adding real models of clothing and shoes for skateboarding was a tempting offer. But some went even further. At that time, the show became very popular in America MTV — Jackass (in Russia Oddballs). The essence of the program was this: several notorious scumbags did things on camera that a real person would never do. For example, sniffing a little wasabi through your nose, or trying to cross a rope when there are a bunch of predatory crocodiles below.

Neversoft liked the idea of ​​putting a show into the game, and the developers, in general, did just that.

Hello everyone, Egor Doshir is with you from Irkutsk! I was just in shock. I was appreciated and even my very first part of the story of the assassins creed series part 1 was voiced by Maximilian Kulakov himself! Cool, huh? Well then! What am I talking about! Thank you all! I am sooooo pleased to see that my fans have already gathered here and are happy with me. But I’m not talking about I’m just a sucker, so I think we’ll finish Enzio’s story and I’ll just write a blog. Fine? Well go to the Past!

So, after a mega-cool launch and sales, the French campaign Ubisoft decided to continue the story. That’s why assassins creed brotherhood was released in 2010. The point is that this is a pure giveaway. Hatya and Adon. But the continuation. That is, everything begins after the events of assassins creed 2 (who doesn’t know what was going on there, read the history of the assassins creed series part 2). And what are you asking us?? And I’ll answer nothing good! Everyone dies in the villa – Uncle Mario. And he is very sad because a certain Cisario Borgia is to blame for everything – the GG villain of assassins creed brotherhood. He wants the apple of Eden, so we will fight him. The fight will be long but interesting.

And this one is Cisario Borgia with a beautiful girl

Excuse me, of course, https://casinosky.uk for my opinion, I don’t want to impose it on anyone myself, but this is the best thing in the assassins creed series of games. Well that is. Yes. Everything is here. Here you have parkour and battles and a plot and girls and an apple Eden and Desmond and Italy and cities and travel and horses and secrets and secrets and towers and tasks and fortresses and capturing fortresses and hiring assassins and organizing assassins and multiplayer and new graphics and history and old heroes and new heroes and new controls and everything here is new and cool and yes! So this is the best part of the series. And don’t even argue.

And here is the training screen. It’s funny, we agree?

And that’s how Enzio’s story ended. Cisario was killed (sorry for the spoilers) and also retired. And the fans thought that everything. But no! And in 2011, Assassins Creed Revelations was released, in which there was already old Enzio I. And about this right now.

Game cover and fan art of the game. Found out?

And so now we are not in Italy as in assassins creed 2 and assassins creed brotherhood, we are in Istanbul, that is, Constantinople (interesting and Konstantin Trostenyuk knows about this city? Ask him it will be funny! =D). He’s old and tired. But so as not to run only for the old and tired, they give us an old friend – Altrair! Whoa. Didn’t expect it? Nobody expected! The point is that he hid something and Enzio is looking for it. I won’t go too deep, just play and find out for yourself.

And that’s what we have here? There are already three GG heroes (after all, there is also Desmond Miles). How they will do it later in GTA 5. I would say it was stolen, but who knows… The graphics haven’t changed, but they’ve gotten better. Появилась возможнасть оборонять вышки, аааааааааа не на вижу вышки, а так же убивать крюком. It’s a strange decision, but it’s true because then there was no hook, maybe I’m wrong, please correct me with a comment. But nevertheless, Enzio’s story was completed because he died. Sorry for the spoiler.

And he’s funny

And what is the result? assassins creed proved that the series will live forever and no one will forget it, with or without Enzio Auditorium de la Fiarencier, but we will play. Well, I pass the baton to Maximilian CoolAKovu not KulANDKovu like I wrote last time by accident and that’s all. Pack to everyone! =D

Introduction
Since 1995, game studios begin to release full-fledged MMORPG. Meridian 59, aka M59, became the first in the line of those games.
Before we begin the review of the game itself, we need to immerse ourselves in the realities of those times, and specifically Russia in 1997. The Internet was then provided to a few, and the price of online games was surprising even by Western standards.
About Internet accessibility
Until 1992, the Internet was owned by a small circle of people. Government officials, company employees, and university employees used the network. There were only a few commercial providers, and they provided Internet at high prices.
Skipping the complex technical part, it is difficult to indicate the time of peak development of the Internet in Russia. The growth in the number of pages in the Russian segment dates from 1996 to 1997. This is probably due to the increase in the number of providers in all regions.
About prices
Let’s compare the price tags for transport, as an element of daily expenses, and the cost of the Internet in 1997:
One trip on the Moscow metro – 0.$34
Monthly pass on the Moscow metro for 20 trips – $7
Installation of a modem and connection to a 64kb/sec network – $300
Rent a modem for a month – from $10
One hour of Internet use – 4$
Price Meridian 59 for 1997 – $50
Monthly subscription cost Meridian 59 – 9.$95
__________________________________________
Average salary per month in Moscow is $450
Average monthly salary in Russia is $180

Salary data taken from the website of the Pension Fund of Russia, the Central Bank and Rosstat Prices for transport and network were found out from friends in Moscow

P.S. Analyzing the data, I was surprised at such an advantage in salary. In some cities, for example Izhevsk, the average salary was $40. In Murmansk the salary reached $400. In Moscow I met for $800. But they didn’t always pay due to default. But this is not relevant to the topic.

Conclusion:
The Internet was present in large regions and the price was high. Having access to the network did not guarantee that you would be able to buy a disk with Meridian 59.

Meridian 59
History of creation
Archetype Interactive is an American game studio founded in 1995 by brothers Andrew and Chris Kirmse. Andrew currently working in Google and is known as the creator of the service Google Now.
The original inspiration for Meridian 59 was Scepter of Goth, in which the brothers spent many hours playing Scepter in high school. In the summer of 1993, the brothers became summer interns at Microsoft. Working with test versions Windows NT, they learned how to program the client-server part. Upon returning from their internship, the brothers began creating a game.
During 1994 Andrew interviewed several software companies including Looking Glass (who worked on Terra Nova And System Shock) and Papyrus (NASCAR Racing) and conducted research on Internet MUD games. By the end of the year, Andrew and Chris began creating Meridian.
The first thing that was made was a scripting language called Blakod. The game server was running under Windows NT, and the game client is on Windows 95.
The team’s project was noticed by the publisher 3DO, famous for the series Might and Magic, and at the beginning of 1996 bought Archetype Interactive.
Beta test in April 1996. attracted 17.000 the person is tall online by those standards.
September 27, 1996. the game was released ahead of Ultima Online for a year.
Peculiarities
The method of distributing the game was innovative for those times. In the first network projects, the player paid for every hour spent in the game. M59 offered to first buy the game for 50$ and then pay a monthly subscription for 9.$95. Users could spend as much time in the game as they wanted without worrying about their wallet. For comparison, one hour of playing Neverwinter Night For AOL cost about 6$, and did not require a purchase.
Graphics made in pseudo-3D style DOOM, became the second feature. Back then, most games used an isometric view and pixel-by-pixel character graphics. And Meridian enchanted with its voluminous surroundings and drawn static characters.

Gameplay
The player creates a character and goes on a journey in the spirit of old role-playing games. No one babysat the newbie. After completing training, players found themselves in a world hostile to them. Dying after the first enemy encountered was commonplace. Development consisted of pumping up characteristics and obtaining ammunition. Instead of character classes, each characteristic developed separately according to the player’s wishes. The character was created as a warrior, archer, mage or hybrid.
The goal of the game was PvE battles with monsters together with other players to gain experience and items. There was no plot as such, there were only a few non-player characters,. That’s why M59 called MUD with graphics, not MMORPG.
Once killing monsters gets boring, Meridian opened up on the other side, providing an open PVP system. Outside safe zones the player was attacked by anyone. In addition to open battles, players could fight for a faction.
Social component
Players united in guilds for mutual assistance in battles with monsters and players.
In addition to guilds, players could join one of three factions… Each faction provided advantages and rewards for players in PvE and PvP modes. Battles between factions took place over control of disputed territories.
Cons of the game
Meridian 59 as a pioneer in the genre, he did not avoid a number of technical difficulties that were eliminated in the process of refinement. Part of the problem was due to the fact that game design rules for MMOs had not yet been invented. The game lacked modern features. At the start of the project it was impossible to: change the head of the guild, reset stat points, there was no global map.
For the modern user, the big disadvantage will be the controls. The player uses standard WASD to move, the keyboard arrows to rotate the camera, and actions are performed on the keyboard and mouse. It takes a long time to get used to this.
Meridian 59 in our time

A moment of lyricism sing-bingo-casino.co.uk Playing Meridian these days is like watching "Dead Man" by Jim Jarmusch. He’s iconic, but it’s painful to perceive. The brain and eyes have become accustomed to more modern paintings.

To get acquainted, watch the video about PVP, the spectacle is extremely “exciting”.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO4k_xaVxUQ&t=82s

The game is distributed free of charge through Steam, Anyone can try Meridian. Steam uses the original client, registration takes place on the project website.
There is a fan server with a modified client.

openmeridian.org/ – project website, for downloading the client and registering. To play on a modified client, select in the launcher Ogre Client.

Instead of a conclusion
Meridian attracted a wide audience of players and began to popularize the genre. Game mechanics have become standards for MMOs. Monthly subscription format for content, also downloaded from M59, and is used everywhere. In the west, Meridian became the originator of the genre, and many fans of the genre started with him. In the CIS, only a few caught the game at the start, for the reasons described above.

In the next part, we will talk about Ultima Online.
A project that will give a name to the genre as such and make a huge contribution to its development.

Best comments

After the second part, I want to get OS for further actions.
Should you keep the same “dry” informational language or is it more pleasant for you to read more lively speech??)

Oh man, if you could mix your news story with a more lively delivery..
It’s clear that you write consciously about the subject of the conversation and know the topic)

Purely stylistically, there is room to think and edit, to dilute it somehow, with the same formatting of texts, a clearer division into paragraphs. Add symbols (punctuation marks help understand and perceive the text, for example:

One trip on the Moscow metro – 0.$34
Monthly pass on the Moscow metro for 20 trips – $7
Installation of a modem and connection to a 64kb/sec network – $300
Rent a modem for a month – from $10
One hour of Internet use – 4$
The cost of Meridian 59 for 1997 is $50
The cost of a monthly Meridian subscription is 59 – 9.$95

Here Here, it looks like something really interesting, but it looks like just a column of text. If the names were bold, there would be an additional symbol at the beginning of each line, everything would be neater.

Personally, I really liked the idea of ​​such a series of articles, please continue! 🙂

Thanks for the feedback and advice, I’ll take it into account)
In the next part I’ll play around with style and editing, let’s see what comes of it)