FIFA (video game series)

FIFA, also known as FIFA Football or FIFA Soccer, is a series of association football video games or football simulator, released annually by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. While there was no major competition when EA released the first titles in their Madden NFL and NHL series, football video games such as Sensible Soccer, Kick Off and Match Day had been developed since the late 1980s and already competitive in the games market when EA Sports announced a football game as the next addition to their EA Sports label.

When the series began in late 1993, it was notable for being the first to have an official licence from FIFA, the world governing body of football. The latest installments in the series contain many exclusively-licensed leagues including leagues and teams from around the world, including the German Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, English Premier League and Football League, Italian Serie A, Spanish La Liga, Portuguese Primeira Liga, French Ligue 1, Dutch Eredivisie, Brazilian Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Mexican Liga MX, American Major League Soccer, South Korean K-League, Saudi Professional League and Australian A-League, allowing the use of real leagues, clubs, and player names and likenesses within the games. In addition, internationally popular clubs from around the world, including some teams from Greece, Turkey, Argentina and South Africa, without those nations' entire leagues.

2006 FIFA World Cup

The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six populated continents participated in the qualification process which began in September 2003. Thirty-one teams qualified from this process, along with the host nation, Germany, for the finals tournament.

Italy won the tournament, claiming their fourth World Cup title. They defeated France 5–3 in a penalty shootout in the final, after extra time had finished in a 1–1 draw. Germany defeated Portugal 3–1 to finish in third place. Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Serbia & Montenegro, Trinidad & Tobago and Togo made their first appearances in the finals.

The 2006 World Cup stands as one of the most watched events in television history, garnering an estimated 26.29 billion non-unique viewers, compiled over the course of the tournament. The final attracted an estimated audience of 715.1 million people. The 2006 World Cup ranks fourth in non-unique viewers, behind the World Cup in 1994, 2002, and 1990. As the winner, Italy represented the World in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.

FIFA International Soccer

FIFA International Soccer is a 1993 sports video game developed by EA Canada's Extended Play Productions team and published by Electronic Arts. Based on the sport of association football, the game tasks the player with controlling a football team. The game was released for the Sega Mega Drive console in December 1993 and ported to numerous other systems in 1994.

The game was positively received on release; critics lauded the detail and animation of the footballers in the game, the crowd sound effects and the overall presentation. The speed the game ran at and issues with the response to the player's input were seen as the game's primary faults. The game sold well, served as a pack-in game for the Goldstar 3DO, and led to a sequel, FIFA Soccer 95. It was the first game in the FIFA series.

Gameplay

FIFA International Soccer is a video game that created one of the earliest full simulations of association football. In particular, the game is based on international matches. The game utilises an isometric viewpoint, unlike other football games at the time such as Sensible Soccer which utilised a birds-eye view or Kick Off which used a top-down view. The player controls one of the eleven footballers on their team at a time, with the ability to switch players on command. The game allows up to four human players at the same time, each controlling a different footballer. The players can choose to control a footballer on the same team or on opposing teams. The remaining footballers are controlled by the computer.

2+2 road

A 2+2 road is a specific type of dual-carriageway being built in Ireland and in Sweden and in Finland, consisting of two lanes in each direction separated by a steel cable barrier.

These roads do not have hard shoulders and therefore they cannot be designated as Motorway at some future date. The Irish variant,however, has 3.5m lanes where there are a number of Swedish variants some with 3.25m wide lanes.

Junctions are generally at-grade roundabouts and minor roads cross under or over the mainline without connecting. They are also known as "Type 2 dual-carriageways" by the Irish National Roads Authority. These roads look similar to expressways, except that expressways often have interchanges, large medians or concrete barriers between traffic. The United States has 80,000 km of roads that fit this description.

First 2+2

The first road of this type opened in December 2007 as a new greenfield section of the N4 national primary route which joins Dublin to Sligo.

See also

List of highways numbered 1

The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads.

International

Asian Highway 1, an international route from Japan to the Turkish-Bulgarian border

European route E01 (Northern Ireland to Spain)

European route E001 (Georgia to Armenia)

Cairo–Dakar Highway

Afghanistan

Albania

National Road 1 (Albania), road running from border Montenegro (Hani i Hotit) to Tirana.

Albania–Kosovo Highway

Algeria

Algeria East–West Highway

Argentina

National Route 1, also known as Buenos Aires - La Plata Highway connects the cities of Buenos Aires and La Plata. It has a length of 50 km (31 mi).

Australia

Game Insight

Game Insight is a global developer and publisher of free-to-play mobile games and social games, headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania. The Company was founded in 2009 by Alisa Chumachenko, the former Vice President of Marketing and Advertising for Astrum Online Entertainment. Game Insight is famous for its many popular free-to-play games for IOS, Android, Windows 8 and Windows Phone, such as Paradise Island, My Country and The Tribez. Besides, Game Insight developed the first hidden object game for Facebook, Mystery Manor. Game Insight portfolio includes more than 45 free-to-play games, including mobile games for Android, IOS, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and Amazon, and games for social networks, such as Facebook and VKontakte, localized in 24 languages and played in 218 countries of the world. The Company currently employs more than 800 people all over the world.

History

Game Insight was founded in 2009 in Moscow. In 2010 the company launched its first game, Resort World, for the social networks VKontakte and Facebook; later the game was released for mobile platforms. Paradise Island for Android was the top-grossing game on Google Play for more than 26 straight weeks. In 2011 the company's game roster reached 50 million MAU. In 2012, the company opened its office in San Francisco, USA (closed in 2014). In the end of 2012 and in the beginning of 2013, new offices appeared in St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk. An additional St. Petersburg office was opened in the end of 2012 with the purpose of strengthening the Company’s presence in the north-western region. Since May 29, 2014, the company is headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Division (horticulture)

Division, in horticulture and gardening, is a method of asexual plant propagation, where the plant (usually an herbaceous perennial) is broken up into two or more parts. Both the root and crown of each part is kept intact. The technique is of ancient origin, and has long been used to propagate bulbs such as garlic and saffron. Division is mainly practiced by gardeners and very small nurseries, as most commercial plant propagation is now done through plant tissue culture.

Division is one of the three main methods used by gardeners to increase stocks of plants (the other two are seed-sowing and cuttings). Division is usually applied to mature perennial plants, but may also be used for shrubs with suckering roots, such as gaultheria, kerria and sarcococca. Annual and biennial plants do not lend themselves to this procedure, as their lifespan is too short.

Most perennials are best divided and replanted every few years to keep them healthy. They may also be divided in order to produce new plants. Those with woody crowns or fleshy roots need to be cut apart, while others can be prized apart using garden forks or hand forks. Each separate section must have both shoots and roots. Division can take place at almost any time of the year, but the best seasons are Autumn and Spring.