Xenosaga

Xenosaga (ゼノサーガ, Zenosāga) is a series of science fiction video games developed by Monolith Soft and published by Bandai Namco. Xenosaga's main story is in the form of a trilogy of PlayStation 2 video games. There have been three spin-off games and an anime adaptation. The Xenosaga series serves as a spiritual successor to the game Xenogears, which was released in 1998 for the PlayStation by Square. The creator of both Xenogears and Xenosaga is Tetsuya Takahashi, who left Square in 1998 along with Hirohide Sugiura. Using funds from Namco, they started MonolithSoft and the Xenosaga project.

The first game in the trilogy, Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht was released in February 2002 in Japan, and in February 2003 in North America. Xenosaga Freaks, a lighthearted game with a playable demo for Episode II, was released in April 2004 in Japan, but was not released elsewhere. Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse was released in June 2004 in Japan and February 2005 in North America. Xenosaga: The Animation, an anime based on Episode I, premiered on TV Asahi in Japan on January 5, 2005. Xenosaga Pied Piper, a three chapter-long cellphone-based game depicting the history of cyborg "Ziggurat 8" 100 years before the start of Episode I, was released in Japan in July 2004. Released on July 6, 2006, Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra is the final title in the Xenosaga series; six episodes were originally projected, but by the time Episode III was released, Namco had already established that it would be the last entry, effectively halving the series. A retelling of the first two episodes titled Xenosaga I & II was released on the Nintendo DS in March 2006 in Japan.

List of Home and Away characters (2011)

Home and Away is an Australian television soap opera. It was first broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. The following is a list of characters that first appeared in 2011, by order of first appearance. All characters were introduced by the shows series producer Cameron Welsh. The 24th season of Home and Away began airing on 24 January 2011. The following month, the Braxton brothers; Darryl, Heath and Casey were introduced. Miranda Jacobs and Kieran Monroe made their debuts in April. Marty Jones made his debut in June and Tegan Callahan arrived the following month. Fletcher Humphrys joined the cast in July as Gang Member Jake Pirovic. August saw the introductions of Harvey Ryan, Hammer, Stu Henderson and Sasha Bezmel. Shane Emmett made his debut as Mark Gilmour in September and lawyer Hayley O'Connor began appearing from October.

Darryl Braxton

Darryl "Brax" Braxton, played by Steve Peacocke, made his first screen appearance on 16 February 2011. The character and casting was announced on 9 January 2011. Peacocke heard about the role from his agent and he called the audition process "a lot of fun". Brax is the oldest of three brothers known as the The River Boys, a "bad-boy surf gang with dodgy reputations." A writer for Channel Seven's Home and Away website stated that Brax has a "dodgy reputation and a chip on his shoulder." He is a surfing legend and commands a respect from his fellow surfies, which he finds useful. Peacocke commented that Brax just wants to escape his upbringing and have a successful family life. Brax tries to keep his younger brothers Heath (Dan Ewing) and Casey (Lincoln Younes) out of trouble. Shortly after his arrival, Darryl began a relationship with Charlie Buckton (Esther Anderson). For his portrayal of Darryl, Peacocke won the Logie Award for Most Popular New Male Talent in 2012.

Transformers (toy line)

The Transformers (トランスフォーマー, Toransufomā) is a line of toys produced by the Japanese company Takara (now known as Takara Tomy) and American toy company Hasbro. The Transformers toyline was created from toy molds mostly produced by Japanese company Takara in the toylines Diaclone and Microman. Other toy molds from other companies such as Bandai were used as well. In 1984, Hasbro bought the distribution rights to the molds and rebranded them as the Transformers for distribution in North America. Hasbro would go on to buy the entire toy line from Takara, giving them sole ownership of the Transformers toy-line, branding rights, and copyrights, while in exchange, Takara was given the rights to produce the toys and the rights to distribute them in the Japanese market. The premise behind the Transformers toyline is that an individual toy's parts can be shifted about to change it from a vehicle, a device, or an animal, to a robot action figure and back again. The taglines "More Than Meets The Eye" and "Robots In Disguise" reflect this ability.

Denny's

Denny's (also known as Denny's Diner on some of the locations' signage) is a full-service pancake house/coffee shop/fast casual family restaurant chain. It operates over 1,600 restaurants in the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, Canada, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Curaçao, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Honduras, Japan (transliterated as デニーズ Denīzu), Mexico, New Zealand, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

Denny's is known for always being open, serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert around the clock. Unlike many other restaurant chains, Denny's does not close on holidays or nights, except where required by law. Many of their restaurants are located in proximity to freeway exits, bars, and in service areas. Denny's started franchising in 1963, and most Denny's restaurants are now franchisee-owned.

History

Harold Butler and Richard Jezak opened Danny's Donuts in Lakewood, CA in 1953. In 1955, after Jezak's departure from the then-6-store chain, Butler created and changed the concept a year later in 1956, shifting it from a donut shop to a coffee shop with store #8. Danny's Donuts was renamed Danny's Coffee Shops and changed its operation to 24 hours. In 1959, to avoid confusion with Los Angeles restaurant chain Coffee Dan's, Butler changed the name from Danny's Coffee Shops to Denny's Coffee Shops. Two years later, in 1961, Denny's Coffee Shops was simply renamed Denny's. The business continued to expand, and by 1981, there were over 1,000 restaurants in all 50 U.S. states. The company absorbed many of the old Sambo's restaurants, and used their mid-century design in all their future restaurants. In 1977, Denny's introduced the still-popular Grand Slam breakfast. In 1994, Denny's became the largest corporate sponsor of Save the Children, a national charity. All but six Denny's closed for the first time ever on Christmas 1988; many of the restaurants were built without locks, and some had reportedly lost their keys.