Games
Discover facts about games. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Games
World of Tanks sells faster progress as well as tanks.
World of Tanks sells faster progress as well as tanks. Premium vehicles can earn additional resources, giving them value beyond their appearance or…
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GLaDOS's synthetic singing began with an opera-trained human voice.
GLaDOS's synthetic singing began with an opera-trained human voice. Ellen McLain described aiming for a pure, boy-soprano-like tone when recording Still…
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An Atari programmer hid his credit inside the game.
An Atari programmer hid his credit inside the game. Warren Robinett put a secret room in Adventure with his name on display, bypassing Atari's policy of…
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Halo's announcer originally auditioned for Master Chief.
Halo's announcer originally auditioned for Master Chief. Jeff Steitzer recalls being handed lines for the hero, an alien and dying soldiers at his audition.…
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Dark Souls turned a starting gift into a community obsession.
Dark Souls turned a starting gift into a community obsession. Players searched the pendant for a hidden significance encouraged by director Hidetaka…
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The Wii Balance Board reads metal bending too slightly to see.
The Wii Balance Board reads metal bending too slightly to see. Its sensors use strain gauges: electrical resistance changes as their metal stretches under…
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Bill Gates entered Doom to sell Windows as a gaming machine.
Bill Gates entered Doom to sell Windows as a gaming machine. In a 1995 promotional video, Gates appeared inside the game's world with a shotgun. The…
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A medieval bishop got in trouble for playing chess.
A medieval bishop got in trouble for playing chess. Around 1061, Peter Damian complained to the pope after discovering that the bishop of Florence had played…
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Fallout was originally supposed to be based entirely on the highly popular GURPS tabletop role-playing system, but the creators of the system violently pulled their licensing…
Fallout was originally supposed to be based entirely on the highly popular GURPS tabletop role-playing system, but the creators of the system violently pulled…
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GTA's runaway police helped reveal what made the game fun.
GTA's runaway police helped reveal what made the game fun. Developer Gary Penn recalled police cars suddenly trying to drive through the player during…
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Microsoft marketing executives absolutely hated the name Xbox when it was first pitched, viewing it as a clunky abbreviation for the Direct X Box project that sounded completely unprofessional.
Microsoft marketing executives absolutely hated the name Xbox when it was first pitched, viewing it as a clunky abbreviation for the Direct X Box project that…
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Katamari's unlikely beginning involved a student project.
Katamari's unlikely beginning involved a student project. Keita Takahashi recalls that his boss thought the rolling-ball idea would struggle through Namco's…
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An EVE Online bank suffered a very real-looking financial crisis.
An EVE Online bank suffered a very real-looking financial crisis. In 2009, the player-run EBANK froze withdrawals after theft, bad loans, and accounting…
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Half-Life was revolutionary in 1998 for telling its entire narrative strictly from a first-person perspective without ever taking control away from the player with cutscenes.
Half-Life was revolutionary in 1998 for telling its entire narrative strictly from a first-person perspective without ever taking control away from the player…
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A bucket can let a Skyrim speedrunner skip a wall—and part of the story.
A bucket can let a Skyrim speedrunner skip a wall—and part of the story. Holding certain objects against a wall can exploit collision behavior and push the…
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Chess’s queen was once much weaker than the piece we know today.
Chess’s queen was once much weaker than the piece we know today. In late-15th-century European play, she gained long-range movement along ranks, files, and…
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Bethesda specifically designed the tactical slow-motion VATS combat system in Fallout 3 after watching cars spectacularly explode in the arcade racing game Burnout.
Bethesda specifically designed the tactical slow-motion VATS combat system in Fallout 3 after watching cars spectacularly explode in the arcade racing game…
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Some U.S.
Some U.S. prisons have restricted Dungeons & Dragons as a security risk. Officials have cited group hierarchies and organized role-playing, and a federal…
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A Dreamcast fishing rod could double as a Soulcalibur controller.
A Dreamcast fishing rod could double as a Soulcalibur controller. The accessory’s movement inputs also registered in the fighting game, letting players swing…
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Donkey Kong grew out of a game Nintendo couldn't make with Popeye.
Donkey Kong grew out of a game Nintendo couldn't make with Popeye. Shigeru Miyamoto recalled sketching ideas around Popeye before learning those characters…
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Modern Warfare 2 let one player's killstreak end the whole match.
Modern Warfare 2 let one player's killstreak end the whole match. In the 2009 game, the Tactical Nuke normally required a 25-kill streak. Calling it in…
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Nintendo developers shaped the Arwing space fighters in the original Star Fox as simple flat triangles purely because the limited hardware chip could not render any actual…
Nintendo developers shaped the Arwing space fighters in the original Star Fox as simple flat triangles purely because the limited hardware chip could not…
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Resident Evil 4's textures sent fans looking for real buildings.
Resident Evil 4's textures sent fans looking for real buildings. Capcom had photographed real locations, especially in Spain and Wales, to build surfaces in…
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Steve Wozniak made Breakout so compact that Atari could not simply copy it.
Steve Wozniak made Breakout so compact that Atari could not simply copy it. Wozniak built a remarkably chip-efficient prototype of the arcade game while…
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