Alfa

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Demo

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Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. (Italian pronunciation: [ˈalfa roˈmɛːo]) is an Italian car manufacturer. Founded as A.L.F.A. ("Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili", translating to Anonymous Lombard Automobile Factory in English) on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911. It was owned by Italian state holding company Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale between 1932 and 1986, when it became a part of the Fiat group. In February 2007, the Alfa Romeo brand was transformed into the current Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A., a subsidiary of Fiat Group Automobiles, now Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Italy.

The company that became Alfa Romeo was founded as Società Anonima Italiana Darracq (SAID) in 1906 by the French automobile firm of Alexandre Darracq, with some Italian investors. In late 1909, the Italian Darracq cars were selling slowly and the Italian partners of the company hired Giuseppe Merosi to design new cars. On June 24, 1910, a new company was founded named A.L.F.A., initially still in partnership with Darracq. The first non-Darracq car produced by the company was the 1910 24 HP, designed by Merosi. A.L.F.A. ventured into motor racing, with drivers Franchini and Ronzoni competing in the 1911 Targa Florio with two 24-hp models. In August 1915, the company came under the direction of Neapolitan entrepreneur Nicola Romeo, who converted the factory to produce military hardware for the Italian and Allied war efforts. In 1920, the name of the company was changed to Alfa Romeo with the Torpedo 20-30 HP the first car to be so badged.

Pokémon

Pokémon (ポケモン, Pokemon, /ˈpoʊkeɪˌmɒn/ POH-kay-mon) is a media franchise owned by The Pokémon Company, and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995. It is centered on fictional creatures called "Pokémon", which humans known as Pokémon Trainers catch and train to battle each other for sport.

The franchise began as a pair of video games for the original Game Boy, developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo. The franchise now spans video games, trading card games, animated television shows and movies, comic books, and toys. Pokémon is the second-most successful and lucrative video game-based media franchise in the world, behind only Nintendo's Mario franchise.

The franchise celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2006. Cumulative sales of the video games (including home console games, such as Hey You, Pikachu! for the Nintendo 64) have reached more than 200 million copies. In November 2005, 4Kids Entertainment, which had managed the non-game related licensing of Pokémon, announced that it had agreed not to renew the Pokémon representation agreement. Pokémon USA Inc. (now The Pokémon Company International), a subsidiary of Japan's Pokémon Co., now oversees all Pokémon licensing outside of Asia. As of 2013, the Pokémon media franchise has grossed revenues of ¥4 trillion worldwide (equivalent to US$37.76 billion). The brand earned $2 billion in 2014 alone.

Pokémon X and Y

Pokémon X and Pokémon Y (ポケットモンスター X・Y, Poketto Monsutā Ekkusu & Wai) are role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. They are the first installments in the sixth generation of the Pokémon series of role-playing games. First announced on January 8, 2013, by Satoru Iwata through a special Nintendo Direct, both X and Y were released worldwide on October 12, 2013, making them the first Nintendo-published retail games to have such a global simultaneous release in all key regions.

As with previous installments, each game follows the journey of a young Pokémon trainer (and the trainer's friends) as they train Pokémon. This time, the game takes place in the Kalos region—based on France—with the object of the game being to thwart the schemes of the nefarious criminal organization Team Flare, all while attempting to challenge the Pokémon League Champion. X and Y introduced 70 new Pokémon species, and includes new features such as the new Fairy type, character customization, updated battle and training mechanics, and completely rendered polygonal 3D graphics (as opposed to the sprites used in previous generations). A new form of Pokémon evolution, known as "Mega Evolution," allows players to further evolve many species of fully evolved Pokémon, with 30 evolutions currently available. Both titles are independent of each other, but feature largely the same plot, and while either can be played separately, trading Pokémon between the two games is, as with past titles, necessary in order for a player to obtain every Pokémon species.