Solaris (Atari 2600)

Solaris is a game for the Atari 2600 published in 1986 by Atari. The game was programmed by Doug Neubauer, who owns the copyright to the game and the Solaris trademark. Solaris is a sequel, and in many ways superior, to Neubauer's Star Raiders, and has some of the best graphics on the Atari 2600. Both games feature an enemy race known as "Zylons." Solaris was at one point going to be based on The Last Starfighter, while the Atari 8-bit version of The Last Starfighter was renamed Star Raiders 2.

Gameplay

The galaxy of Solaris is made up of 16 quadrants, each containing 48 sectors. The game has 3 distinct environments:

Atari 2600

The Atari 2600, (or Atari VCS before 1982) is a home video game console released on September 11, 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and ROM cartridges containing game code, a format first used with the Fairchild Channel F video game console in 1976. This format contrasts with the older model of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware, which could only play the games which were physically built into the unit.

The console was originally sold as the Atari VCS, an abbreviation for Video Computer System. Following the release of the Atari 5200 in 1982, the VCS was renamed to the "Atari 2600", after the unit's Atari part number, CX2600. The 2600 was typically bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a game cartridge, initially Combat, and later Pac-Man.

History

Ted Dabney and Nolan Bushnell developed the Atari gaming system in the 1970s. Originally operating under the name "Syzygy", Bushnell and Dabney changed the name of their company to "Atari" in 1972. In 1973, Atari Inc. had purchased an engineering think tank called Cyan Engineering to research next-generation video game systems, and had been working on a prototype known as "Stella" (named after one of the engineers' bicycles) for some time. Unlike prior generations of machines that use custom logic to play a small number of games, its core is a complete CPU, the famous MOS Technology 6502 in a cost-reduced version known as the 6507. It was combined with a RAM-and-I/O chip, the MOS Technology 6532, and a display and sound chip known as the Television Interface Adaptor (TIA). The first two versions of the machine contain a fourth chip, a standard CMOS logic buffer IC, making Stella cost-effective. Some later versions of the console eliminated the buffer chip.

Solaris (2002 film)

Solaris is a 2002 American science fiction drama film written and directed by Steven Soderbergh, produced by James Cameron and Jon Landau, and starring George Clooney and Natascha McElhone. It is based on the 1961 science fiction novel of the same name by Polish writer Stanisław Lem.

Reflecting on Andrei Tarkovsky's critically acclaimed 1972 film Solaris (which was itself preceded by a 1968 Russian TV film), Soderbergh promised to be closer in spirit to Lem's novel.

The film is a meditative psychodrama set almost entirely on a space station orbiting the planet Solaris, adding flashbacks to the previous experiences of its main characters on Earth. Clooney's character struggles with the questions of Solaris' motivation, his beliefs and memories, and reconciling what was lost with an opportunity for a second chance.

Plot

Clinical psychologist Dr. Chris Kelvin is approached by emissaries for DBA, a corporation operating a space station orbiting the planet Solaris, who relay a message sent from his scientist friend Dr. Gibarian. Gibarian requests that Kelvin come to the station to help understand an unusual phenomenon but is unwilling to explain more. DBA is unsure how to proceed, as the mission to study Solaris has been sidetracked and none of the astronauts want to return home. In addition, DBA has lost contact with the security patrol recently dispatched to the station. Kelvin agrees to a solo mission to Solaris as a last attempt to bring the crew home safely.

List of minor DC Comics characters

Throughout its history, DC Comics has introduced many characters, including numerous minor characters. These characters range from supporting characters, heroes and villains that appear infrequently, to characters that only take part in a single story.

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Airstryke

Airstryke is a villain in the DC Universe.

Within the context of the stories, William Kavanagh was given the ability to transform into a pterodactyl/man hybrid by a weapons company Meta/Tech and took the name Airstryke. Count Viper took advantage of these new abilities and used Airstryke to distract Hawkman while Viper tried to take command of the Justice League and thus the world. Airstryke and Viper were soon defeated and Airstryke was sent to Belle Reve Prison. He remained here until he was freed by Neron and was given the chance to sell his soul along with numerous other villains. Airstryke chose not to sell his soul and continued his life of crime. Eventually, Airstryke was returned to prison where he became a victim of Joker's Joker gas. Again, he was defeated and returned to prison. This time he was sent to the Slab. During his stay, Brother Blood attempted to break all the villains out of the prison so they could assist him on his mission. Airstryke was the first to question Blood on his plan. Brother Blood then shot and killed Airstryke for his hubris.

Solaris (1972 film)

Solaris (Russian: Солярис, tr. Solyaris) is a 1972 Soviet science fiction art film adaptation of Polish author Stanisław Lem's novel Solaris (1961). The film was co-written and directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. The film is a meditative psychological drama occurring mostly aboard a space station orbiting the fictional planet Solaris. The scientific mission has stalled because the skeleton crew of three scientists have fallen into separate emotional crises. Psychologist Kris Kelvin travels to the Solaris space station to evaluate the situation only to encounter the same mysterious phenomena as the others.

The original science fiction novel is about the ultimate inadequacy of communication between humans and other species. Tarkovsky's adaptation is a "drama of grief and partial recovery" concentrated upon the thoughts and the consciences of the cosmonaut scientists studying Solaris' mysterious ocean. In loyalty to the novel's complex and slow-paced narrative, Tarkovsky wanted to bring a new emotional and intellectual depth to the genre, viewing most of western science fiction as shallow. The ideas which Tarkovsky tried to express in this film are further developed in Stalker (1979).

List of Go terms

Players of the game of Go often use jargon to describe situations on the board and surrounding the game. Such technical terms are likely to be encountered in books and articles about Go in English as well as other languages. Many of these terms have been borrowed from Japanese, mostly when no short equivalent English term could be found. This page gives an overview of the most important terms.

Use of Japanese terms

Although Go originated in China, the current English and Western technical vocabulary borrows a high proportion of terms from the Japanese language because it was through Japan that Go was introduced to Western culture.

Many of these terms are from a jargon used for technical Go writing and to some extent specially developed for Go journalism. Some authors of English-language Go materials avoid use of Japanese technical terms, and the way they are applied can differ in subtle ways from the original meanings.

A very small number of Korean-language terms have come into use (e.g. haengma as a way of describing the development of stones).

Atari 5200

The Atari 5200 SuperSystem, commonly known as the Atari 5200, is a home video game console that was introduced in 1982 by Atari Inc. as a higher-end complementary console for the popular Atari 2600. The 5200 was created to compete with the Intellivision, but wound up more directly competing with the ColecoVision shortly after its release.

The 5200 was based on Atari Inc.'s existing 400/800 computers and the internal hardware was almost identical, although software was not directly compatible between the two systems. The 5200's controllers have an analog joystick and a numeric keypad along with start, pause and reset buttons. The 360-degree non-centering joystick was touted as offering more control than the eight-way joystick controller offered with the Atari 2600.

Hardware

Much of the technology in the Atari 8-bit family of home computer systems was originally developed as a second-generation games console intended to replace the 2600. However, as the system was reaching completion, the personal computer revolution was starting with the release of machines like the Commodore PET, TRS-80 and Apple II. These machines had less advanced hardware than the 5200, but sold for much higher prices with associated higher profit margins. Atari's management decided to enter this market, and the technology was repackaged into the Atari 400 and 800. The chipset used in the these machines was created with the mindset that the 2600 would likely be obsolete by the 1980 time frame. What was surprising, however, was that the entry into this new market of competition helped to quickly cut off the sales of the 2600.