IGN Entertainment, Inc., known as IGN, is a casual news/reviews website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. Its corporate parent is IGN Entertainment, which owns and controls separate sites, such as GameSpy, GameStats and AskMen. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment. Videogame-related channels include PC Games, Wii, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Xbox Live, Wireless, Retro, iPhone, and Android games.

History

Created in September 1996 as the Imagine Games Network, IGN was founded by publishing executive Jonathan Simpson-Bint and began as five individual websites within Imagine Publishing: N64.com (later renamed ign64.com), P.S.X.-Power, Saturnworld, Next-Generation.com and Ultra Game Players Online. In 1998, the network consolidated the individual sites as system "channels" under the IGN brand. Next-Generation and Ultra Game Players Online were not part of this consolidation; U.G.P.O. dissolved with the cancellation of the magazine, and Next-Generation was put "on hold" when Imagine decided to concentrate on launching the short-lived Daily Radar brand. Then-parent company Snowball.com held an IPO in 2000, which subsequently bombed with the burst of the dot-com bubble.

In June 2005, IGN claimed to have 24,000,000 unique visitors per month, with 4.8 million registered users through all departments of the site. IGN is ranked among the top 200 most-visited websites according to Alexa. In September 2005, IGN was acquired by Rupert Murdoch's multi-media business empire, News Corporation, for $650 million. Currently, the IGN website contains categories that include music, TV and film related topics.

IGN celebrated its 10th anniversary on January 12, 2008.

IGN was headquartered in the Marina Point Parkway office park in Brisbane, California, until it relocated to a smaller office building near AT&T; Park in San Francisco on March 29, 2010.

On May 25, 2011, IGN sold its Direct2Drive division to Gamefly for an undisclosed amount .

In 2011, IGN recieved a Guiness World Record award for the most visited video-game website.

Scoring

Original scale

A member of the IGN staff writes a review for a game and gives it a score between 0 and 10, which is assigned by increments of 0.5 and determines how much the game is recommended. The score is given according to the individual aspects of a game, like presentation, graphics, sound, gameplay and lasting appeal. Each game is given a score in each of these categories, but the overall score for the game is an independent evaluation, not an average of the scores in each category.

IGN rarely gives a game a score of 10. During the 1990s, IGN awarded 10s to ''The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time'' for the Nintendo 64, ''Link's Awakening DX'' for the Game Boy Color, ''Pokémon Gold'' and ''Silver'' for Game Boy Color, ''Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow'' for Game Boy, ''The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons'' and ''Oracle of Ages'' for the Game Boy Color, ''Sonic the Hedgehog: Pocket Adventure'' for the Neo Geo Pocket Color, Soulcalibur for the Dreamcast, ''Super Mario Bros. Deluxe'' for the Game Boy Color, Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation,and Dragon Quest 3 for the Game Boy Color. After nearly a decade with no games receiving a 10, in 2008 ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' and ''Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots'' were awarded 10s. In 2010, IGN awarded ''Super Mario Galaxy 2'', ''Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare'' and ''Pac-Man Championship Edition DX'' a perfect 10/10. In 2011, IGN has given Chrono Trigger (Wii) a perfect 10/10 on May 25, 2011.

IGN UK also gave ''GTA IV'' a 10 (this was the first 10 given by IGN UK to a game) as well as Super Mario Galaxy 2. In addition, IGN UK gave ''Halo: Reach'' a 10/10 while the US gave it 9.5/10, thus making it the first game the UK gave a perfect review that the US did not. To date, IGN has given a total of 31 games a rating of 10 out of 10.

Later scale

On August 3, 2010, IGN announced that the site would be changing to a new scoring scale. Instead of a 100-point scale, where games are scored in increments of 0.1, all future reviews will use a 20-point scale where games are scored in increments of 0.5. The scoring change is not retroactive: all scores on reviews written prior to the change will remain the same. This change also does not affect the scoring system for reader reviews.

Other sections

In 2000, Snowball.com purchased an E-federation called the Internet Wrestling Organization (IWO). Since Snowball owned both IWO and IGN, IWO would go on to become IGN's first official E-Fed, even doing a column on the website. IGN For Men: This section officially closed down on October 2, 2001. It is no longer updated. IGN has sites such as ''IGN Stars'' and ''AskMen.com'' that fulfill much of the function of the old ''IGN For Men'' site. IGN Wrestling met its end in early 2002, when many of the staff departed. Interviews with professional wrestling personalities and coverage of wrestling games has been folded into IGN Sports, currently headed by Jon Robinson. IGN Sci-Fi: Largely dead since 2002, this section of the site included movie news, comic book reviews, anime coverage and other associated items. It has since been discontinued. The site, ''SciFI.ign.com'', now redirects to the recently created SciFiBrain.ign.com, which covers some of the content of the old Sci-Fi site.

In 2002, IGN launched a dedicated videogame FAQs site specifically designed to host user-submitted guides. This was launched following the cancellation of affiliation with GameFAQs. In 2004, IGN launched ''GameStats'', which serves as a more unbiased rating network, as it takes in scores from every corporately owned game rating site and averages them all into one score to give a general idea of the quality of a game. IGN also launched ''Direct2Drive.com'' in 2004. Its primary focus is selling digital downloads of full PC and Mac video games, as well as anime, comics and game guides. In 2005, IGN launched its comics site, which is devoted to not just the staple Marvel and DC titles, but also manga, graphic novels, statues and toys.

In 2006, IGN launched its television site. It provides interviews with various television celebrities, in addition to a TV schedule, TV trivia and TV news. Akin to IGN FilmForce, IGN's TV section has a variety of exclusive clips from upcoming television shows. In 2006, IGN launched regional versions of the site based in the UK and Australia, which both share the same information as the American site but with added content authored from editors within each respective region. When visiting IGN.com from either the UK or Australia, the site automatically redirects you to your localised version using geolocation software. Each version of the site has a modified logo with the UK, Australian or American flags beneath the IGN symbol. On May 30, 2006, IGN Dreamcast was restarted; however, none of the Dreamcast updates were posted on the main IGN webpage.

In 2007, IGN launched its anime site. It provided features on anime and manga, including trailers and free episodes. It also included reviews of manga and anime from other sections of IGN, such as IGN Comics and IGN DVD. The anime channel was dropped after IGN redesigned the site. In 2008, IGN launched its Retro channel to mark IGN's 10th anniversary. To coincide with the release of ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'', IGN created Super Smash Bros. World Site. On the site, people can submit their user created stages from the game and download ones made by other people. IGN subsequently launched a similar website called GTA 'Hood on April 29, 2008, for ''Grand Theft Auto IV''.

On March 17, 2010, IGN launched a segment with Kristine Steimer where she attempts to catch all 493 Pokémon in her ''Pokémon SoulSilver'' game. There is a blog on IGN.com at http://ds.ign.com/articles/107/1078539p3.html. The process of catching all the Pokémon has also done a very good job at engaging the readers. IGN has set up an e-mail account where readers are able to e-mail Kristine and attempt to set up a trade. Kristine's Friend Code (1248 0974 0329) is also listed. On the final page of the blog, there is a checklist that shows all the Pokémon Kristine has caught, and all the Pokémon she still needs to catch.

April Fools pranks

On April 1, 2008, IGN released a movie trailer for the hit video game series ''The Legend of Zelda'' that prompted many Zelda fans to believe that a live-action motion picture was on the way. Other movie websites reported that IGN was showing the world premiere of the Zelda trailer that day. The supposed release date of the film was April 1, 2009. The trailer had 3.5 million views that day. IGN released a statement the following day stating that the trailer was an elaborate April Fools joke. IGN was flooded with calls and e-mails about the joke but said it was done with good intentions, and to show Nintendo that a ''Zelda'' movie could be made and that fans would go see it. In a behind-the-scenes documentary posted the following day, a camera operator stated that they could have cut together a small mini-series with all the footage shot.

On April 1, 2010, IGN made a mock trailer for a possible movie based on the ''Halo'' video game series but with an Indian Bollywood theme, which gave away the prank.

On April 1, 2011, another mock trailer was made for a television spin-off of Harry Potter.

References

External links

Website

Official mobile website

IGN Channel on YouTube

Category:Internet properties established in 1996 Category:Internet forums Category:Blog hosting services Category:Orphan initialisms Category:Video game review websites Category:Video game news websites Category:Companies based in San Francisco, California

ar:آي جي إن bn:আইজিএন ca:IGN da:IGN de:IGN Entertainment es:IGN fa:آی‌جی‌ان fr:IGN (site web) ko:IGN hr:IGN it:IGN (sito web) ka:IGN lt:IGN hu:IGN mk:IGN ms:IGN nl:IGN ja:IGN no:IGN pl:IGN pt:IGN ru:IGN simple:IGN sr:IGN fi:IGN sv:IGN tr:IGN vi:IGN zh:IGN

name	Marsha Thomason
birth name	Marsha Lisa Thomason
birth date	January 19, 1976
birth place	Moston, Manchester, England
occupation	Actress
yearsactive	1993–present
spouse	Craig Sykes (2009-present) }}

Marsha Lisa Thomason (born 19 January 1976) is an English actress, who is known in the United States for playing Nessa Holt in the first two seasons of the NBC series ''Las Vegas'', for her recurring role on ABC's ''Lost'' as Naomi Dorrit, and for playing FBI agent Diana Berrigan on USA Network's ''White Collar''.

Early life

Thomason was born in Moston, Manchester, the daughter of Phyllis (née McCrae), a Jamaican electronics company employee and Peter Thomason, who worked in politics. She attended Holy Trinity Primary School in Blackley, and North Manchester High School for Girls, before attending Oldham Sixth Form College to study for A levels in Media Studies, Theatre Studies and Performing Arts. Thomason attended the Manchester Metropolitan University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. From the age of 13, Marsha attended Oldham Theatre Workshop where she was able to participate within youth theatre productions which would later contribute in her confidence towards becoming an aspiring professional actress.

Career

Thomason first came to prominence on British television in the series ''Playing the Field'' and ''Where The Heart Is'', as well as in the first series of the BBC Three drama ''Burn It''. In the U.S., she appeared in Disney's ''The Haunted Mansion'', playing Eddie Murphy's wife. She played Brandy in the movie ''My Baby's Daddy'', and played Victoria in ''Black Knight''. She also played Vicki in ''Pure''. She starred in the US television series ''Las Vegas'' as Nessa Holt in seasons 1 and 2, a total of 47 episodes.

On 21 October 2004 she was a guest on the radio show ''Loveline''. In January 2008 she appeared in ''Messiah V: The Rapture'', alongside Marc Warren. In August 2008 Thomason was cast as a series regular in the CW show ''Easy Money''.

In 2009 Thomason appeared on ''General Hospital''; her first appearance was 20 November. After appearing in the pilot episode for ''White Collar'' as agent Diana Berrigan, she returned for the first season finale. It was announced that she would appear on the series full time in the second season. She will be the new voice of Diana in Hitman: Absolution.

''Lost''

Thomason was a recurring character on the television show ''Lost'' as Naomi Dorrit. Being a friend of Dominic Monaghan (who played Charlie Pace on the series), she was a huge fan of the show and excited to be cast. She also found the lack of character transparency to be refreshing: "That’s kind of difficult as an actor, but also freeing in a way, because you just have to play the scenes as they’re written. And then if you find out if you’re a big villain or whatever, then you play that... You know when that worked really brilliantly? On ''24'' with Nina Myers. She didn’t have a clue – Sarah Clarke, the actress – and that made it really brilliant, because she played Nina honestly. Really honestly. And then she was a villain. Genius. That was such a great one."

She first appeared in the third season episode "Catch-22," which aired on 18 April 2007, and continued to appear until the season finale "Through the Looking Glass". She next appeared in "The Beginning of the End" and in the season 5, episode 13, "Some Like it Hoth".

Personal life

On 5 April 2009 Thomason married Craig Sykes, a lighting technician, in Malibu, California.

Thomason is an avid supporter of Manchester City Football Club.

Filmography

''Priest (1994 film) ''Prime Suspect#Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgment ''Swallow'' ''Long Time Dead'' ''The Haunted Mansion (film) ''My Baby's Daddy'' ''The Nickel Children'' ''The Package'' ''LA Blues ''Messiah V: The Rapture'' ''Into the Blue 2: The Reef''

Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
1993	''Safe''	Wendy
1994	Priest'' ||	Nurse
rowspan="2"	1996	Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgment'' ||	Janice Lafferty
''Brazen Hussies''	Stripper with fire
rowspan="2"	2001	|	Tina Harford	TV Movie
''Black Knight (film)	Black Knight''	Chambermaid Number 7 / Victoria the Chambermaid / Nicole
rowspan="2"	2002	|	Lucy
''Pure (2002 film)	Pure''	Vicki
2003	The Haunted Mansion'' ||	Sara Evers / Elizabeth Henshaw
2004	|	Brandy
2005	|	Beatrice
rowspan="5"	2006	|	Melissa	Short subject>Short film
''Caffeine (film)	Caffeine''	Rachel
''The Fast One''	Lucy
''The Tripper''	Linda
''Tug of War''	Sam
2007	|	Carla
2008	|	Mel Palmer	TV Movie
2009	|	Azra	Film

Television

''Pie in the Sky (TV series) ''Playing the Field'' ''Love in the 21st Century'' ''Table 12'' ''Burn It'' ''Las Vegas (TV series) ''Cane (TV series) ''Lost (TV series) ''Life (NBC TV series) ''Easy Money (2008 TV series) ''Make It or Break It'' ''White Collar (TV series) ''General Hospital''

Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
1996	Prime_Suspect#Prime_Suspect_5:_Errors_of_Judgement>Prime Suspect''
1997	Pie in the Sky'' ||	Sally	8 Episodes
rowspan="2"	1998	|	Sharon 'Shazza' Pearce
''Where the Heart Is (1997 TV series)	Where the Heart Is''	Jacqui Richards
1999	|	Louise	Episode: "Threesome"
2001	|	Denie	Episode: "Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner"
2003	|	Tina
2003–2005	Las Vegas'' ||	Nessa Holt	Seasons 1-2 (Main cast: 47 Episodes)
2007	Cane'' ||	Miranda Sanfilipino	Episode: "Family Business"
2007–2010	Lost'' ||	Naomi Dorritt	12 Episodes
2008	Life'' ||	Jill Abrahams	Episode: "The Business of Miracles"
2008	Easy Money'' ||	Julia Miller	series regular
2009–2010	|	MJ Martin	6 Episodes
2009–present	White Collar'' ||	Diana Berrigan	Season 1 (2 episodes: Pilot, Finale); Season 2+ (Main Cast)
2009	|	List of General Hospital characters#C>Gillian Carlyle	2009

References

External links

Category:1976 births Category:Actors from Manchester Category:Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University Category:Black British actors Category:British actors Category:British expatriates in the United States Category:English actors Category:English film actors Category:English people of Jamaican descent Category:English television actors Category:Living people Category:People from Moston

bg:Марша Томасън da:Marsha Thomason de:Marsha Thomason es:Marsha Thomason fr:Marsha Thomason it:Marsha Thomason nl:Marsha Thomason pt:Marsha Thomason ru:Томасон, Марша sr:Марша Томасон fi:Marsha Thomason sv:Marsha Thomason th:มาร์ชา โทมาสัน tr:Marsha Thomason