Pikmin

Pikmin (Japanese: ピクミン, Hepburn: Pikumin) is a real-time strategy video game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube in 2001. It was created and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, and is the first game in the Pikmin series. The player controls Captain Olimar, an astronaut who crash-lands on a mysterious planet. Olimar befriends creatures he calls "pikmin", and utilizes their abilities to collect the missing parts of his spaceship he lost during the crash. The player has 30 days to recover the pieces and repair the ship.

The game was both a critical and commercial success. The game has spawned two sequels, Pikmin 2 (2004) for the GameCube and Pikmin 3 (2013) for the Wii U. In 2009, Pikmin was re-released for the Wii as part of the New Play Control! series.

Gameplay

The main goal in Pikmin is to retrieve ship parts by using the three varieties of Pikmin available in different combinations. Olimar discovers multi-colored plant-animal hybrids that willingly follow his orders and help him recover ship parts. All three of the Pikmin colors that Captain Olimar discovers must be used in order to overcome various obstacles and complete the game. The Pikmin creatures come in three different varieties - red, yellow, and blue. Red Pikmin are the first type found in the game, and more powerful than the other two varieties and resistant to fire. Yellow Pikmin can be thrown higher than the other two and can carry explosives called "bomb rocks", while blue Pikmin are the only ones that can survive in water. They are utilized in various tasks, including carrying objects and enemies, breaking down walls, and defeating enemies. Objects that can be carried vary between ship parts, enemy corpses, and pellets. Only 100 Pikmin can be on the ground at a time.

Blue

Blue is the colour between violet and green on the optical spectrum of visible light. Human eyes perceive blue when observing light with a wavelength between 450 and 495 nanometres. Blues with a higher frequency and thus a shorter wavelength gradually look more violet, while those with a lower frequency and a longer wavelength gradually appear more green. Pure blue, in the middle, has a wavelength of 470 nanometres. In painting and traditional colour theory, blue is one of the three primary colours of pigments, along with red and yellow, which can be mixed to form a wide gamut of colours. Red and blue mixed together form violet, blue and yellow together form green. Blue is also a primary colour in the RGB colour model, used to create all the colours on the screen of a television or computer monitor.

The modern English word blue comes from Middle English bleu or blewe, from the Old French bleu, a word of Germanic origin, related to the Old High German word blao. The clear sky and the deep sea appear blue because of an optical effect known as Rayleigh scattering. When sunlight passes through the atmosphere, the blue wavelengths are scattered more widely by the oxygen and nitrogen molecules, and more blue comes to our eyes. Rayleigh scattering also explains blue eyes; there is no blue pigment in blue eyes. Distant objects appear more blue because of another optical effect called atmospheric perspective.

Blue (tourism magazine)

Blue was an adventure travel magazine, founded in 1997 by Amy Schrier, with David Carson as the original design consultant. Its focus was on global adventure travel. It was published in New York and is now out of print; its last issue was February–March 2000.

The cover of its first issue was included in a list of the Top 40 magazine covers of the last 40 years by the American Society of Magazine Editors. In 1999 Life magazine listed it in the Best Magazine Photos of the Year. The New York Times characterized it as "not your father's National Geographic."

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Blue Gender

Blue Gender (Japanese: ブルージェンダー, Hepburn: Burū Jendā) is a 26-episode anime created, co-directed and co-written by Ryōsuke Takahashi (of Armored Trooper Votoms and Gasaraki fame) broadcast in Japan from 1999-2000. Blue Gender was created by the Japanese animation studio, AIC and is distributed in the United States by Funimation Entertainment. In 2003, Blue Gender was released on American television as part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, though it had originally been planned for Toonami, and was thus edited to remove its graphic violence, nudity, and sex scenes (however, its airing on Colours TV and Funimation Channel in the United States). There is also a compilation movie (Blue Gender: The Warrior) available on DVD with an alternative ending. The series was also shown on the Sci Fi Channel in the UK in 2002-2003. The Blue Gender series is set in the 2030s, in which Earth has been overrun by the Blue, which are mutated insect-like creatures containing a newly evolved B-cell that recently appeared in several humans, including the main protagonist, Yuji Kaido, that kill and harvest humans for food. Most of the surviving human race has moved to Second Earth, a huge space station that orbits the planet. The series mostly focuses on Yuji and Marlene's relationship as they work together to reach Second Earth and their participation in military combat operations against the Blue.

Chaenostoma cordatum

Chaenostoma cordatum, also known by the names bacopa or ornamental bacopa (not to be confused with the genus Bacopa), is one of 52 species in the genus Chaenostoma (Scrophulariaceae), and is best known in its cultivated forms. It originated in southern Africa, and is a tender perennial forming a ground cover, but often used in hanging baskets. Small dark green heart shaped leaves and small round five-petaled white flowers at the branch tips can be found year round, but at its prime in spring.

Cultivation

Sutera 'Cabana', is a short-lived evergreen perennial for zones 9-ll. It grows annually in colder climates, but requires full sun to flower profusely.

The Pikmin Flower

It is notable as the source of a breed marketed as "The Pikmin Flower", after the GameCube game Pikmin. The plant is noted to have a similar appearance as the Pikmin's flowers. Other cultivars include 'Bridal Showers', 'Snowflake', 'Giant Snowflake' and 'Pink Domino'.

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References

Pikmin 3

Pikmin 3 (Japanese: ピクミン3, Hepburn: Pikumin Surī) is a real-time strategy video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U video game console. It is the sequel to Pikmin 2 (2004) and was first released in Japan on July 13, 2013 and then in all other regions the following month. Game designer Shigeru Miyamoto first announced Pikmin 3 on July 16, 2008 as a game for the Wii console, later stating at E3 2011 that its development had transitioned to Wii U. Pikmin 3 retains the gameplay elements introduced in previous Pikmin games and adds new features, including new playable characters and Pikmin types, Off-TV Play, and downloadable content.

In the single-player campaign, the player controls three alien captains who explore the surface of a planet known as "PNF-404" in search of cultivable fruit seeds to save their home planet, Koppai, from famine. They meet and befriend the Pikmin, who assist them.

Gameplay

Pikmin 3 expands on the gameplay of the first Pikmin title, in which the player commands a horde of up to 100 plant-like creatures called Pikmin and uses their unique abilities to explore the in-game world and uncover treasures within it. Pikmin can be directed to accomplish various tasks, such as building bridges, destroying barriers, collecting spoils, and defeating enemies. The Pikmin themselves come in various colors and different physical features that signify their special abilities or immunities to hazards. For example, Red Pikmin are immune to fire, Yellow Pikmin are immune to electricity and Blue Pikmin can swim in water without drowning.

Pikmin 2

Pikmin 2 (ピクミン2, Pikumin Tsū) is a 2004 real-time strategy video game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube video game console. The game is the direct sequel to the 2001 game Pikmin and is the second game in the Pikmin series.

Like its predecessor, Pikmin 2 focuses on exploring the surface of an unknown planet from a microscopic perspective, where the player directs and delegates tasks to a horde of tiny plant-like creatures called Pikmin. The Pikmin can be directed to destroy obstacles, defeat enemies, and retrieve objects. Pikmin 2 introduces many gameplay mechanics not seen in Pikmin, including the ability to control two different leaders of the Pikmin at once and the addition of new Pikmin types.

Pikmin 2 received critical acclaim, gaining aggregate scores of 89.60% and 90 on GameRankings and Metacritic, respectively. Many critics praised the additions to the Pikmin gameplay, such as the removal of the 30-day time limit imposed in the original game. The game (and its predecessor) was ported to the Wii in 2009 as a New Play Control! title. The sequel to the game, Pikmin 3, was released in 2013 for the Wii U console.