Verdun

Verdun (/vɛrˈdʌn, vɜːr-/;French pronunciation: ​[vɛʁ.dœ̃]; medieval German: Wirten, official name before 1970 Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a small city in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture (arrondissement) of the department.

Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital of the department is the slightly smaller city of Bar-le-Duc.

History

Verdun (Latin: Verodunum, meaning "strong fort") was founded by the Gauls (as its Celtic name shows; "Dunum" is the Latinized version of a Celtic word meaning oppidum). It has been the seat of the bishop of Verdun since the 4th century AD, with interruptions. In the Treaty of Verdun in AD 843, the empire of Charlemagne was divided into three parts.

The city has been famous for Dragées or sugared almonds from 1200 onwards; they were distributed at the baptism of French princes.

Verdun was part of the middle kingdom of Lotharingia, and in 1374 it became an Imperial Free City of the Holy Roman Empire. The Bishopric of Verdun formed together with Tull (Toul) and Metz the Three Bishoprics, which were annexed by France in 1552 (recognized in 1648 by the Peace of Westphalia).

Zero Punctuation

Zero Punctuation is a series of video game reviews created by English-Australian comedy writer and video game journalist Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. Since the series began in 2007, over 400 episodes have been created, which have been published weekly by internet magazine The Escapist. Episodes are typically about five minutes in length and provide critical insight into recently released video games.

History

Prior to Zero Punctuation, Croshaw primarily authored content for his blog, Fully Ramblomatic, and would occasionally review video games, often with an emphasis on humor and criticism. In July 2007, Croshaw uploaded two game reviews in video format to YouTube in the same style that would eventually be used for Zero Punctuation: one of the demo of The Darkness for the PlayStation 3, and the other of Fable: The Lost Chapters for the PC. Both were well-received and The Escapist was one of several publishers to offer Croshaw a contract.

The name "Zero Punctuation" refers to the speed of Croshaw's narration. Since its creation, the series has become popular in the gaming community. Video game developers and publishers have occasionally acknowledged Croshaw's reviews of their games, and at least one internet meme has resulted from Zero Punctuation. At the end of every year, Croshaw creates special episodes of Zero Punctuation discussing what he believes were the best and worst games of the year; a practice that started at the end of 2008. He has occasionally dedicated episodes to new technologies or milestones in video gaming rather than games, such as E3 and the coming of the eighth generation of consoles.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, known in Japan as Biohazard 3: Last Escape (Japanese: バイオハザード3　ラストエスケープ, Hepburn: Baiohazādo 3 Rasuto Esukēpu), is a survival horror video game developed by Capcom and originally released for the PlayStation video game console in 1999. It is the third installment in the Resident Evil video game series and takes place before and after the events of Resident Evil 2. The story of the game follows Resident Evil protagonist Jill Valentine and her efforts to escape from a city that has been infected with a new type of biological weapon secretly developed by the pharmaceutical company Umbrella. The game uses the same engine as its predecessors and features 3D models over pre-rendered backgrounds with fixed camera angles.

Unlike previous Resident Evil games, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis was designed to have more action-oriented gameplay. It features a larger number of enemies for the player to defeat and introduces the eponymous Nemesis creature, which periodically pursues the player from one area to the next until the end of the game. The game was a critical and commercial success, selling more than three million units worldwide. Most critics praised the graphics for being detailed and the Nemesis creature as an intimidating villain, but some criticized the game's short length and story. After its release on the PlayStation console, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis was subsequently ported to the Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows and GameCube systems.

Resident Evil

Resident Evil, known as Biohazard (バイオハザード, Baiohazādo) in Japan, is an action, adventure, horror fiction video game based media franchise created by Shinji Mikami and owned by the video game company Capcom. The franchise focuses around a series of survival horror video games, but has since branched out into comic books, novels and novelizations, sound dramas, a series of live-action films and animated sequels to the games, and a variety of associated merchandise, such as action figures. The overarching plot of the series focuses on multiple characters and their roles in recurring outbreaks of zombies and other monsters, initially due to the release of the T-virus, a biological weapon created by the fictional Umbrella Corporation.

The eponymous first game in the series was released in 1996 as a survival horror video game, but the franchise has since grown to encompass other video game genres. The series is a mix of action and horror film-inspired plotlines, exploration and puzzle solving, but from Resident Evil 4 onwards, the main series took a more third-person shooter approach with fewer puzzles and greater emphasis on gunplay and weapons upgrading. As of 2015, the video game series has sold 61 million units worldwide. It has become Capcom's biggest franchise in terms of sales and marked the start of the "survival horror" genre, which was already influenced by earlier efforts such as Sweet Home (also by Capcom) and the Alone in the Dark series.