Rezé (Breton: Reudied, Gallo: Rezae) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France.
It was also called Ratiate in the Middle Ages and Rezay in the High Middle Ages.
Inhabitants of Rezé are called Rezéens.
The commune is surrounded by the communes of Nantes, Vertou, Les Sorinières, Pont-Saint-Martin and Bouguenais. It is limited north by the Loire, east by the Sèvre Nantaise and the Ilette, west by the Jaguère and south by the boulevard périphérique of Nantes.
Rezé dates back to the Roman era, when it was known as Portus Ratiatus (port of Rezé) and Ratiatum Pictonum Portus (picton port of Rezé). Being populated by the Ambilatres - Armorican Gauls - Rezé was an important port on the south shore of the Loire and a place for meetings and trade between the various Celtic tribes of the region (Veneti, Namnetes, Ambilatres, Andecavis and Pictones).
Since the municipal elections of 1977, the city council has always been filled in the first round of voting.
Rez is a rail shooter music video game released by Sega in Japan in 2001 for the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2, with a European Dreamcast release and United States PlayStation 2 release in 2002. The game was developed by Sega's United Game Artists division, which contained several former members of the disbanded Team Andromeda, the Sega development team behind the Panzer Dragoon series. It was conceptualized and produced by Tetsuya Mizuguchi. His company, Q Entertainment, released a high definition version, Rez HD, to the Xbox Live Arcade in 2008.
The game is notable for replacing the typical sound effects found in most rail shooter games with electronic music, with sounds and melodies created by the player as they target and destroy foes in the game, leading to a form of synesthesia, enhanced by an optional Trance Vibrator peripheral.
A sequel, Child of Eden, was released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2011.
The game is set in futuristic computer "supernetwork" called Project-K where much of the data flow is controlled by an AI named Eden. Eden has become overwhelmed with the amount of knowledge gathered on the network, causing her to doubt her existence and enter a shutdown sequence, which would create catastrophic problems everywhere should she be able to complete this. The player plays the protagonist hacker, logging into the Project-K system to reboot Eden while destroying any viruses or firewalls that happen to inhibit progress, and analyzing other sub-areas of the network to gain access to Eden's location. The Project-K name and much of the game's visual and synesthesia inspiration comes from the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, whose name is mentioned at the very end of the game credits, whereas the Rez name was inspired by the Underworld track of the same name.
"Rez" is a non-album track by Underworld, originally released in 1993 in the UK. It became one of their biggest club/live anthems despite the fact it could not be found on an album. However, it did appear on many compilations, b-sides, and even appeared on a bonus disc for Second Toughest in the Infants (1996). The first promo release of the single was pressed onto pink vinyl, and is highly collectible as it has another non-album track, Why, Why, Why. Due to this track's obscurity, there are, incidentally, many bootlegs of it. The more common release has "Cowgirl" on it. There is also a limited white vinyl pressing available in the US.
Historically, katana (刀) were one of the traditionally made Japanese swords (日本刀, nihontō) that were used by the samurai of feudal Japan. Modern versions of the katana are sometimes made using non-traditional materials and methods. The katana is characterized by its distinctive appearance: a curved, slender, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands.
The production of swords in Japan is divided into specific time periods:
The first use of "katana" (gatana) as a word to describe a long sword that was different from a tachi occurs as early as the Kamakura Period (1185–1333). These references to "uchigatana" and "tsubagatana" seem to indicate a different style of sword, possibly a less costly sword for lower-ranking warriors. The evolution of the tachi into the katana seems to have started during the early Muromachi period (1337 to 1573). Starting around the year 1400, long swords signed with the "katana" signature were made. This was in response to samurai wearing their tachi in what is now called "katana style" (cutting edge up). Japanese swords are traditionally worn with the signature facing away from the wearer. When a tachi was worn in the style of a katana, with the cutting edge up, the tachi's signature would be facing the wrong way. The fact that swordsmiths started signing swords with a katana signature shows that some samurai of that time period had started wearing their swords in a different manner.
Katana is Japanese for backsword and often refers to uchigatana, especially in English. For a list of fictional katana, see Katanas in fiction. Katana may also refer to:
The Dreamcast (Japanese: ドリームキャスト, Hepburn: Dorīmukyasuto) is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998 in Japan, September 9, 1999 in North America, and October 14, 1999 in Europe. It was the first in the sixth generation of video game consoles, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox. The Dreamcast is Sega's final home console, marking the end of the company's 18 years in the console market.
In contrast to the expensive hardware of the unsuccessful Sega Saturn, the Dreamcast was designed to reduce costs with "off-the-shelf" components, including a Hitachi SH-4 CPU and an NEC PowerVR2 GPU. Released in Japan to a subdued reception, the Dreamcast enjoyed a successful U.S. launch backed by a large marketing campaign, but interest in the system steadily declined as Sony built hype for the upcoming PlayStation 2. Sales did not meet Sega's expectations despite several price cuts, and the company continued to incur significant financial losses. After a change in leadership, Sega discontinued the Dreamcast on March 31, 2001, withdrawing from the console business and restructuring itself as a third-party publisher. 9.13 million Dreamcast units were sold worldwide.