The Sims Online, also known as EA-Land, was a massively multiplayer online variation on Maxis' computer game The Sims. It was published by Electronic Arts and released in December 2002 for Microsoft Windows. The game was sold in retail stores in North America and Japan and could also be downloaded worldwide through the EA.com online store, though the game was English-only and had no official translations. The game charged a subscription fee of US $9.99 per month. In March 2007, EA announced that the product would be re-branded as EA-Land and major enhancements would be made. EA later announced that the game would shut down all activity on August 1, 2008.
Video game modding is the process of alteration by players or fans of one or more aspects of a video game, such as how it looks or behaves, and is a sub-discipline of general modding. Mods may range from small changes and tweaks to complete overhauls, and can extend the replay value and interest of the game.
The Sims 2 is a 2004 strategic life simulation video game developed in Redwood City, California studio of Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the first game in the franchise, The Sims. The game allows the player to create their own Sim, neighborhoods, houses, and families. Players manage their Sims so they can experience rewards and form relationships in a manner similar to real life.
Body Modification Ezine (BME) is an online magazine devoted to body modification, noted for its coverage of the extreme and fringes of body modification and erotic body play.
Pen spinning is a form of object manipulation that involves the deft manipulation of a writing instrument with hands. Although it is often considered a form of self-entertainment, multinational competitions and meetings are sometimes held. It is sometimes classified as a form of contact juggling; however, some tricks, e.g. "spreads" and "aerial tricks" do leave contact with the body. In addition to writing instruments, it is often also seen performed by drummers with their drumsticks. In fact, drumsticks are substantially easier to manipulate than pens, because of their extra mass and length. Pen spinning has quickly gained international popularity through online video sharing and forums. The hobby has been popular around the world since at least the 1970s.
A play-by-post role-playing game is an online text-based role-playing game in which players interact with each other and a predefined environment via text. It is a subset of the online role-playing community which caters to both gamers and creative writers. Play-by-post games may be based on other role-playing games, non-game fiction including books, television and movies, or original settings. This activity is closely related to both interactive fiction and collaborative writing. Compared to other roleplaying game formats, this type tends to have the loosest rulesets.
Blockland is a sandbox game in which players build and play using Lego-like building blocks in singleplayer and multiplayer. It was created by American developer Eric "Badspot" Hartman, using the Torque Game Engine, and was originally released as freeware on November 15, 2004. The game is not endorsed by, or affiliated with, the Lego brand. However, at one point, Lego was in talks with Hartman about purchasing the game. Blockland was spotlighted on The Screen Savers on February 11, 2005, drastically increasing the user base overnight. It has also been featured on Shack News. Blockland was officially released on February 24, 2007. On December 16, 2013, Blockland was released on Steam after spending nearly a year on Steam Greenlight.
Planet Half-Life is a gaming website owned by IGN and its subsidiary GameSpy. Maintained by a voluntary team of contributors, the site is dedicated to providing news and information about Half-Life and Half-Life 2, related modifications and other Valve titles. It was founded by Kevin "Fragmaster" Bowen and was at one point the largest of an array of GameSpy-run gaming websites known as the Planet Network. Following GameSpy's closure, the Planet Half-Life website still remains accessible, but seems to have ceased updating.
bit-tech is an online magazine for computer hardware enthusiasts, gamers and case modders, based in the UK. It was founded in 2000, became a fully professional online publication in 2005, and announced its acquisition by Dennis Publishing in October 2008. Dennis Publishing then partnered the site with existing monthly publication Custom PC magazine, making Bit-Tech the online version of the magazine. At this point the two editorial teams were totally integrated. However, due to a restructure in January 2012 the website and magazine had separate editors again, although several of the writers still contributed material to both publications. It is owned by The Media Team.
The Sims Resource is a Sims custom content site offering custom content for all Sims games which can be downloaded with the intent to alter and/or expand the games. The site offers a wide variety of furniture, hairstyles, clothing items, residential lots, etc. which can all be downloaded for free and installed into people's games and used in gameplay. It was formed in 1999 by a group of players who were tired of the limitations instated by the official Sims creators. To date, TSR has 1M+ custom floors, walls, objects, clothing, hair, and make-up to download for The Sims, The Sims 2, The Sims 3, and The Sims 4. As of 2010, the site counts 2.2 million members and about 680k mods.
Mod DB is a website that focuses on general video game modding. It was founded in 2002 by Scott "INtense!" Reismanis. As of September 2015, the Mod DB site has received over 604 million views, has more than 12,500 modifications registered, and has hosted more than 108 million downloads. A spin-off website, Indie DB, was launched in 2010 and focuses on indie games and news.
In May 2006, the North American Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) changed the rating of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, a video game for PCs, the Xbox 360, and eventually the PlayStation 3, from "Teen" (13+) to "Mature" (17+). The ESRB cited the presence of content not considered in their original review in the published edition of Oblivion. This included detailed depictions of blood and gore and sexually explicit content. The sexually explicit content was an art file, made accessible by a third-party modification called the Oblivion Topless Mod, that rendered the game with topless female characters.
The history of wikis began in 1994, when Ward Cunningham gave the name "WikiWikiWeb" to the knowledge base, which ran on his company's website at c2.com, and the wiki software that powered it. The wiki went public in March 1995, the date used in anniversary celebrations of the wiki's origins. c2.com is thus the first true wiki, or a website with pages and links that can be easily edited via the browser, with a reliable version history for each page. He chose "WikiWikiWeb" as the name based on his memories of the "Wiki Wiki Shuttle" at Honolulu International Airport, and because "wiki" is the Hawaiian word for "quick".
Jailbreak: Source is a multiplayer team-based first-person action video game, developed as a total conversion modification on the Valve's proprietary Source engine. The game was in beta development stages before it was abandoned, with its first public release on the 14th of February 2007. 0.2 followed a week later as a patch. The third major public version was released two months later on April 21, 2007. The next release was made available just over a year later, on May 3, 2008 with the latest version (0.6) being released on 15 January 2010.
Fandom is a wiki hosting service which hosts wikis mainly on entertainment topics. Its domain is operated by Fandom, Inc., a for-profit Delaware company founded in October 2004 by Jimmy Wales and Angela Beesley. Fandom was acquired in 2018 by TPG Capital and Jon Miller through Integrated Media Co.
The Sims 4 is a social simulation game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the fourth major title in The Sims series, and is the sequel to The Sims 3 (2009). The game was first released in North America on September 2, 2014 for Microsoft Windows; a macOS version was released in February 2015; PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were released in November 2017. The game moved to a free-to-play model on October 18, 2022, monetized by the purchase of various paid downloadable content (DLC) packs that have been developed since its release.
Nexus Mods is a site which allows users to upload and download "mods" (modifications) for computer games. It acts as a source for the distribution of original content. It is one of the largest gaming modification websites on the web, and, as of January 2022, had thirty million registered members. Founded in 2001 as a fan site, Nexus Mods was modified into the website TESSsource in 2007. After that, the site has expanded to host mod files for many other modifiable PC games. As of June 2022, the Nexus Mods network supported 1733 games, with a single forum and a wiki for site- and mod-related topics. The website's hosting and publication of various mods has been covered in the gaming and computer press.
Curse is a network of gaming websites. The company is headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, and has offices in San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, Brighton, and Berlin.
User modification, or modding, of games in the open world sandbox Grand Theft Auto series is a popular trend in the PC gaming community. These unofficial modifications are made by altering gameplay logic and asset files within a user's game installation, and can drastically change the gameplay experience. Frequently created by anonymous modders, modifications are presented in the form of downloadable files or archives. Third-party software has been indispensable for building Grand Theft Auto mods, due to the lack of official editing tools from the developer, Rockstar Games. Mods for Grand Theft Auto are generally developed for use on the PC versions of the games, since the platform does not prevent modifications to installed software; however, similar content for console and mobile phone versions does exist to an extent.
