Ready Player One

Ready Player One is a 2011 science fiction and dystopian novel by Ernest Cline. In 2012, the book received an Alex Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association division of the American Library Association and won the 2012 Prometheus Award.

The book was published by Random House on August 16, 2011. The audiobook is narrated by Wil Wheaton.

A film adaptation directed by Steven Spielberg is slated to begin production in spring 2016.

Plot summary

From the back cover:

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.

But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros., Warners, or simply WB) is an American entertainment company that produces film, television and music entertainment. As one of the major film studios, it is a division of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank, California. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video, New Line Cinema, Castle Rock Entertainment, and DC Entertainment. Warner Bros. owns half of The CW Television Network.

History

Founding

The company's name originates from the four founding Warner brothers (born Wonskolaser or Wonsal before Anglicization):Harry (born Hirsz), Albert (born Aaron), Sam (born Szmul), and Jack (Itzhak, or to some sources, Jacob). They emigrated as small children with their parents to Canada from Krasnosielc which was located in the part of Congress Poland that had been subjugated to the Russian Empire following the eighteenth-century Partitions of Poland near present-day Ostrołęka.

Player One

Player One: What Is to Become of Us is a novel written by Douglas Coupland for the 2010 Massey Lectures. Each of the book's five chapters was delivered as a one-hour lecture in a different Canadian city: Vancouver on October 12, Regina on October 14, Charlottetown on October 19, Ottawa on October 25 and ending in Toronto on October 29. The lectures were broadcast on CBC Radio One's Ideas, November 8–12. The book was published by House of Anansi Press.

The plot follows four characters, Karen, Rick, Luke, and Rachel, as they arrive in the lounge of an airport bar, as they interact with one another, and as they cope with chaos that erupts as cataclysmic events occur. The story addresses their motivations and perceptions, as well as their thoughts on certain themes. There are several minor characters and a fifth main character, Player One, who retells the events that the four main characters experience but from the perspective of an outside observer, like someone exploring a video game environment.

Space Invaders (Player One song)

"Space Invaders" is a song by Australian songwriters Russell Dunlop and Bruce Brown, recording under the band name Player One (commonly stylised as Player [1]) in 1979. The song is based on the hugely successful 1978 video game Space Invaders. It was a novelty hit in Australia, peaking at #3 on the Kent Music Report charts, and ending up as the fourth best selling single in Australia for 1980.

The song was released internationally but failed to chart outside Australia. It was, however, influential in the history of dance music, being sampled by Jesse Saunders for the bassline of what is commonly held to be the first Chicago house music record, "On and On" (1984).

Dunlop and Brown also released an album as Player One, Game Over. Dunlop recalled: "We sat down and wrote a bunch of space songs, but instead of sticking to the concept of the hit, we wandered off into the 'clever' musical genre with fancy time signatures, radical chord progressions and so on. The reply came back for the States that this was intended for 13- to 14-year-olds: 'You've lost us.'"