title: Chengdu

text: Anren Historic Town is located west of Chengdu. It was the hometown of Liu Wencai, a Qing dynasty warlord, landowner and millionaire. His 27 historic mansions have been well preserved and turned into museums. Three old streets built during the Republic of China period are still being used today by residents. Museums in Anren have a rich collection of more of than 8 million pieces of relics and artifacts. A museum dedicated to the memorial of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake was built in 2010.


title: Chengdu

text: Luodai was built, like many historic structures in the area, during the period of the Three Kingdoms. According to legend, the Shu Han emperor Liu Shan dropped his jade belt into a well when he passed through this small town. Thus, the town was named 'lost belt' (). It later evolved into its current name with the same pronunciation, but a different first character.


title: Chengdu

text: Luodai Historic Town is one of the five major Hakka settlements in China. Three or four hundred years ago, a group of Hakka people moved to Luodai from coastal cities. It has since grown into the largest community for Hakka people.


title: Chengdu

text: Chinese name ,24 acre, at the western outskirts of Chengdu, adjacent to the Huanhua Xi (Flower Rinsing Creek). Key buildings in the Du Fu Cao Tang Park were constructed in the early 16th century during the Ming dynasty and extensively renovated in 1811 during the Qing dynasty.


title: Chengdu

text: China's state council has designated Chengdu as the country's western center of logistics, commerce, finance, science and technology, as well as a hub of transportation and communication. It is also an important base for manufacturing and agriculture.


title: Chengdu

text: According to the World Bank's 2007 survey report on global investment environments, Chengdu was declared "a benchmark city for investment environment in inland China".


title: Chengdu

text: Also based on a research report undertaken by the Nobel economics laureate, Dr. Robert Mundell and the celebrated Chinese economist, Li Yining, published by the State Information Center in 2010, Chengdu has become an "engine" of the Western Development Program, a benchmark city for investment environment in inland China, and a major leader in new urbanization.


title: Chengdu

text: In 2010, 12 of the Fortune 500 companies, including ANZ Bank, Nippon Steel Corporation, and Electricité de France, have opened offices, branches, or operation centers in Chengdu, the largest number in recent years. Meanwhile, the Fortune 500 companies that have opened offices in Chengdu, including JP Morgan Chase, Henkel, and GE, increased their investment and upgraded the involvement of their branches in Chengdu. By the end of 2010, over 200 Fortune 500 companies had set up branches in Chengdu, ranking it first in terms of the number of Fortune 500 companies in Central and Western China. Of these, 149 are foreign enterprises and 40 are domestic companies.


title: Chengdu

text: According to the 2010 AmCham China White Paper on the State of American Business in China, Chengdu has become a top investment destination in China.


title: Chengdu

text: The main industries in Chengdu—including machinery, automobile, medicine, food, and information technology—are supported by numerous large-scale enterprises. In addition, an increasing number of high-tech enterprises from outside Chengdu have also settled down there.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is becoming one of the favorite cities for investment in Central and Western China. Among the world's 500 largest companies, 133 multinational enterprises have had subsidiaries or branch offices in Chengdu by October 2009. These MNEs include Intel, Cisco, Sony and Toyota that have assembly and manufacturing bases, as well as Motorola, Ericsson, and Microsoft that have R&D centers in Chengdu.


title: Chengdu

text: The National Development and Reform Commission has formally approved Chengdu's proposed establishment of a national bio-industry base there. The government of Chengdu has recently unveiled a plan to create a 90-billion-CNY bio pharmaceutical sector by 2012. China's aviation industries have begun construction of a high-tech industrial park in the city that will feature space and aviation technology. The local government plans to attract overseas and domestic companies for service outsourcing and become a well-known service outsourcing base in China and worldwide.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu has long been an established national electronics and IT industry hub. Chengdu's growth accelerated alongside the growth of China's domestic telecom services sector, which along with India's together account for over 70 percent of the world telecommunications market. Several key national electronics R&D institutes are located in Chengdu. Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone has attracted a variety of multinationals, at least 30 Fortune 500 companies and 12,000 domestic companies, including Intel, IBM, Cisco, Nokia, Motorola, SAP, Siemens, Canon, HP, Xerox, Microsoft, Tieto, NIIT, MediaTek, and Wipro, as well as domestic powerhouses such as Lenovo. Dell plans to open its second major China operations center in 2011 in Chengdu as its center in Xiamen expands in 2010.


title: Chengdu

text: Intel Capital acquired a strategic stake in Primetel, Chengdu's first foreign technology company in 2001. Intel's Chengdu factory, set up in 2005 is its second in China, after its Shanghai factory, and the first such large-scale foreign investment in the electronics industry in interior mainland China. Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, has invested US$525 million in two assembly and testing facilities in Chengdu. Following the footsteps of Intel, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), the world's third largest foundry, set up an assembly and testing plant in Chengdu. Intel's rival AMD is likewise set to open an R&D center in this city.


title: Chengdu

text: In November 2006, IBM signed an agreement with the Chengdu High-Tech Zone to establish a Global Delivery Center, its fourth in China after Dalian, Shanghai and Shenzhen, within the Chengdu Tianfu Software Park. Scheduled to be operational by February 2007, this new center will provide multilingual application development and maintenance services to clients globally in English, Japanese and Chinese, and to the IBM Global Procurement Center, recently located to the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. On 23 March 2008, IBM announced at the "West China Excellent Enterprises CEO Forum" that the southwest working team of IBM Global Business Services is now formally stationed in Chengdu. On 28 May 2008, Zhou Weikun, president of IBM China disclosed that IBM Chengdu would increase its staff number from the present 600 to nearly 1,000 by the end of the year.


title: Chengdu

text: In July 2019, Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing company, signed a deal with the Cengdu High-Tech Zone to establish an innovation center. This project was intended to attract international business and enterprise into the area, promote cloud computing in China, and develop artificial intelligence technologies.


title: Chengdu

text: Over the past few years, Chengdu's economy has flourished rapidly. Chengdu is a major base for communication infrastructure, with one of China's nine top level postal centers and one of six national telecom exchanges hub.


title: Chengdu

text: In 2009, Chengdu hosted the World Cyber Games Grand Finals (11–15 November). It was the first time China hosted the world's largest computer and video game tournament.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is a leading financial hub in the Asia-Pacific region and ranks 35th globally and 6th in China after (Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou) in the 2021 Global Financial Centres Index. Chengdu has attracted a large number of foreign financial institutions, including Citigroup, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, JPMorgan Chase, ANZ and MUFG Bank.


title: Chengdu

text: ANZ's data services center, established in 2011 in Chengdu, employs over 800 people, and in March 2019 the bank recruited further staff to support its data analytics and big data efforts. In 2020 ANZ temporarily repurposed its Chengdu data center to an IT helpdesk, as part of the bank's pandemic response.


title: Chengdu

text: In 1988, Dr. Joseph Fowler, a British professor of optoelectronics from Cambridge founded Scsi Capital, Asia's first venture capital firm focused on opportunities in the digital age, in Chengdu. Scsi currently manages an active portfolio in excess of CNY 300 billion and has operations in India, Israel, Singapore and USA. Scsi Capital is the world's largest private equity investor and fund of funds in the photovoltaic, compound semiconductor, multilayer cmos, ceramic packaging, display and advanced materials sector.


title: Chengdu

text: Historically, Chengdu has marked its name in the history of financial innovation. The world's first paper currency 'Jiao Zi' was seen in Chengdu in the year 1023, during the Song dynasty.


title: Chengdu

text: Now, Chengdu is not only the gateway of Western China for foreign financial institutions, but also a booming town for Chinese domestic financial firms. The Chinese monetary authority, People's Bank of China (China's central bank), set its southwest China headquarters in Chengdu City. In addition, almost all domestic banks and securities brokerage firms located their regional headquarters or branches in Chengdu. At the same time, the local financial firms of Chengdu are strengthening their presences nationally, notably, Huaxi Securities, Sinolink Securities and Bank of Chengdu. Moreover, on top of banks and brokerage firms, the flourish of local economy lured more and more financial service firms to the city to capitalise on the economic growth. Grant Thornton, KPMG, PWC and Ernst & Young are the four global accountants and business advisers with West China head offices in the city.


title: Chengdu

text: It is expected that by 2012, value-added financial services will make up 14 percent of the added-value service industry and 7 percent of the regional GDP. By 2015, those figures are expected to grow to 18 percent and 9 percent respectively.


title: Chengdu

text: Because of its logistic infrastructure, professional network, and resources in science, technology, and communication, Chengdu has become home to 43 foreign-funded logistic enterprises, including UPS, TNT, DHL, and Maersk, as well as a number of well-known domestic logistic enterprises including COSCO, CSCL, SINOTRANS, CRE, Transfar Group, South Logistic Group, YCH, and STO. By 2012, the logistic industry in Chengdu will realize a value added of RMB 50 billion, with an average annual growth exceeding 18 percent. Ten new international direct flights will be in service; five railways for five-scheduled block container trains will be put into operation; and 50 large logistic enterprises are expected to have annual operation revenue exceeding RMB 100 million.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is the largest trade center in western China with a market covering all of Sichuan province, exerting influence on a population of 250 million in six provinces, cities, and districts in western China. Chengdu ranks first among cities in western China in terms of the scale of foreign investment in commerce and trade. Out of the 40 World Top 250 retail enterprises based in China, 15 have opened branches in Chengdu. In downtown Chengdu, there are 71 department stores whose business area exceeds 10,000 sq. m, with the total business area reaching 2,600,000 sq. m. By 2012, total retail sales of consumer goods in Chengdu will exceed RMB 300 billion, up 18 percent annually on average; the total wholesales will exceed RMB 400 billion, with an annual increase of 25 percent. Total retail sales of the catering industry will exceed RMB 60 billion, up 20 percent annually; and the total exports and imports of Chengdu will be above US$35 billion, increasing 30 percent annually.


title: Chengdu

text: Boasting the claim as "China’s Famous Exhibition City", Chengdu takes the lead in central and western China for its scale of convention economy. It has become one of the five largest convention and exhibition cities in China. In 2010, direct revenue from the convention and exhibition industry was RMB 3.2 billion, with a year-on-year growth of 26.9 percent. The growth reached a historical high.


title: Chengdu

text: More than 13.2 million people have come to Chengdu to participate in conventions and exhibitions from foreign countries and other parts of China. Numerous convention and exhibition companies have invested in Chengdu such as the UK-based Reed Exhibition, as well as domestic companies such as the Chinese European Art Center, Sanlian Exhibition, and Eastpo International Expo.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is one of the first service outsourcing bases in China. More than 150,000 people in Chengdu are engaged in software-related work. Among the Top 10 service outsourcing enterprises in the world, Accenture, IBM, and Wipro are based in Chengdu. In addition, 20 international enterprises including Motorola, Ubi Soft Entertainment, and Agilent, have set up internal shared service centers or R&D centers in Chengdu. Maersk Global Document Processing Center and Logistic Processing Sub-center, DHL Chengdu Service Center, Financial Accounting Center for DHL China, and Siemens Global IT Operation Center will be put into operation. In 2010, offshore service outsourcing in Chengdu realized a registered contract value of US$336 million, 99 percent higher than the previous year.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is the "National High-Tech Industry Base for New Energy Industry", as approved by the National Development and Reform Commission. Leading enterprises are operating in Chengdu and providing research and technology support such as Tianwei New Energy Holding Co., Ltd., Sichuan Sanzhou Special Steel Tube Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Tianma Bearing Co., Ltd., and key research institutions such as the Nuclear Power Institute of China, Southwestern Institute of Physics, Southwest Electric Power Design Institute.


title: Chengdu

text: In 2010, the new energy enterprises above realized 31.1 billion RMB in revenue from main operations, 43.2 percent more than the previous year. Chengdu ranked first again in the list of China's 15 "Cities with Highest Investment Value for New Energies" released at the beginning of 2011, and Shuangliu County under its jurisdiction entered "2010 China's Top 100 Counties of New Energies". By 2012, Chengdu's new energy industry will realize an investment over 20 billion RMB and sales revenue of 50 billion RMB.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is home to the most competitive IT industry cluster in western China, an important integrated circuit industry base in China, and one of the five major national software industry bases.


title: Chengdu

text: Manufacturing chains are already formed in integrated circuits, optoelectronics displays, digital video & audio, optical communication products, and original-equipment products of electronic terminals, represented by such companies as IBM, Intel, Texas Instruments, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson, Dell, Lenovo, Foxconn, Compal, Wistron, and others.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu has built a comprehensive automobile industry system, and preliminarily formed a system integrated with trade, exhibitions, entertainment, R&D, and manufacturing of spare parts and whole vehicles (e.g., sedans, coaches, sport utility vehicles, trucks, special vehicles). There are whole vehicle makers, such as Dongfeng-PSA (Peugeot-Citroën), Volvo, FAW-Volkswagen, FAW-Toyota, Yema, and Sinotruk Wangpai, as well as nearly 200 core parts makers covering German, Japanese, and other lines of vehicles.


title: Chengdu

text: In 2011, Volvo announced that its first manufacturing base in China with an investment of RMB 5.4 billion was to be built in Chengdu. By 2015, the automobile production capacity of Chengdu's Comprehensive Function Zone of Automobile Industry is expected to reach 700,000 vehicles and 1.25 million in 2020.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu enjoys favorable agricultural conditions and rich natural resources. It is an important base for high-quality agricultural products. A national commercial grain and edible oil production base, the vegetable and food supply base as well as the key agricultural products processing center and the logistics distribution center of western China are located in Chengdu.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is home to many defense companies such as the Chengdu Aircraft Company, which produces the recently declassified J-10 Vigorous Dragon combat aircraft as well as the JF-17 Thunder, in a joint collaborative effort with Pakistan Air Force. Chengdu Aircraft Company is also currently developing the J-20 Mighty Dragon stealth fighter. The company is one of the major manufacturers of Chinese Military aviation technology.


title: Chengdu

text: The Chengdu Statistics Bureau reports that the total investment in fixed assets in 2008 was 301.29 billion yuan (US$43.38 billion). Domestic investment was 180.52 billion yuan (US$26 billion), an increase of 23.5 percent from 2007. The total amount of foreign direct investment reached US$2.25 billion, an increase of 97.3 percent from 2007.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu Hi-tech Comprehensive Free Trade Zone was established with the approval of the State Council on 18 October 2010 and passed the national acceptance on 25 February 2011. It was officially operated in May 2011. Chengdu High-tech Comprehensive Free Trade Zone is integrated and expanded from the former Chengdu Export Processing Zone and Chengdu Bonded Logistics Center. it is located in the Chengdu West High-tech Industrial Development Zone, with an area of 4.68 square kilometers and divided into three areas A, B and C. The industries focus on notebook computer manufacturing, tablet computer manufacturing, wafer manufacturing and chip packaging testing, electronic components, precision machining, and biopharmaceutical industry. Chengdu Hi-Tech Comprehensive Free Trade Zone has attracted top 500 and multinational enterprises such as Intel, Foxconn, Texas Instruments, Dell, Morse and so on.


title: Chengdu

text: In 2020, the Chengdu Hi-Tech Comprehensive Free Trade Zone achieved a total import and export volume of 549.1 billion yuan (including Shuangliu Sub-zone), accounting for 68% of the province's total foreign trade import and export volume, ranking No.1 in the national comprehensive free trade zones for three consecutive years.


title: Chengdu

text: In 1988, The Implementation Plan for a Gradual Housing System Reform in Cities and Towns marked the beginning of overall housing reform in urban areas of China. More than 20 real estate companies set up in Chengdu, which was the first step for Chengdu's real estate development. The comprehensive Funan River renovation project in the 1990s had been another step towards promoting Chengdu environmental development. In 1992, Singapore capitals brought into Chengdu helped constructing Jinxiu Garden (), which was the first elite residential area. Its advertisement was "Driving Volkswagen, Living in Jinxiu Garden.". In 1992, the first real estate management service company set up in Chengdu.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu started the Five Main Roads & One Bridge project in 1997. Three of the roads supported the east part of the city, the other two led to the south. It established the foundation of the Eastern and Southern sub-centers of Chengdu. The two major sub-centers determined people's eastward and southward living trends. Large numbers of buildings appeared around the east and south of the 2nd Ring Road. The Shahe River renovation project together with Jin River project also set off a fashion for people living by the two rivers. It was said that the map of Chengdu should update every three months.


title: Chengdu

text: In 2000, dozens of commercial real estate projects also appeared. While promoting the real estate market, the Chinese government encouraged citizens to buy their own houses by providing considerable subsidies at a certain period. Houses were included in commodities.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is served by the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport located in Shuangliu County southwest of downtown. Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport is the busiest airport in Central and Western China and the nation's fourth-busiest airport in 2018, with a total passenger traffic of 53 million in 2018. Shuangliu Airport is one of the two core hubs for Air China, together with Beijing, as well as the main hub and headquarters for Sichuan Airlines. Chengdu Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Lucky Air and Tibet Airlines also have bases at Shuangliu International Airport.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu airport is also a 144-hour visa-free transit airport for foreigners from many countries (Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar).


title: Chengdu

text: The airport has two runways and is capable of landing the Airbus A-380, currently the largest passenger aircraft in operation. Chengdu is the fourth city in China with two commercial-use runways, after Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. On 26 May 2009, Air China, Chengdu City Government and Sichuan Airport Group signed an agreement to improve the infrastructure of the airport and increase the number of direct international flights to and from Chengdu. The objective is to increase passenger traffic to more than 40 million by 2015, making Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport the fourth-largest international hub in China, after Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, top 30 largest airports in the world. Chengdu Shuangliu Airport ranked the No.1 and No.2 busiest airport in China in 2020 and 2021, respectively.


title: Chengdu

text: A second international airport, the Chengdu Tianfu International Airport with two main terminals and three runways, opened in June 2021. The new airport is southeast of the city and will have a capacity to handle between 80 and 90 million passengers per year.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is the primary railway hub city and rail administrative center in southwestern China. The China Railway Chengdu Group manages the railway system of Sichuan Province, Chongqing City, and Guizhou Province. Chengdu has four main freight railway stations. Among them, the Chengdu North Marshalling Station is one of the largest marshalling stations in Asia. Since April 2013, companies are able to ship goods three times a week (initially only once a week) to Europe on trains originating from Chengdu Qingbaijiang Station bound for Łódź, Poland. It is the first express cargo train linking China and Europe, taking 12 days to complete the full journey.


title: Chengdu

text: There are four major passenger stations servicing Chengdu: Chengdu railway station (commonly referred to as the "North Station"), Chengdu South railway station (ChengduNan Station), Chengdu East railway station (ChengduDong Station), and Chengdu West railway station (ChengduXi Station). Additionally, Chengdu Tianfu Station is under construction.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is the terminus of Baoji–Chengdu railway, Chengdu–Chongqing railway, Chengdu–Kunming railway, Chengdu–Dazhou railway, Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu high-speed railway, Chengdu-Lanzhou railway, Xi'an-Chengdu high-speed railway, Chengdu-Guiyang high-speed railway, Chengdu-Kunming high-speed railway and Chengdu–Dujiangyan high-speed railway.


title: Chengdu

text: The Chengdu–Dujiangyan high-speed railway is a high-speed rail line connecting Chengdu with the satellite city of Dujiangyan and the Mountain Qingcheng World Heritage Site. The line is in length with 15 stations. CRH1 train sets on the line reach a maximum speed of and complete the full trip in 30 minutes. The line was built in 18 months and entered operation on 12 May 2010.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu's transport network is well developed, and Chengdu serves as the starting point for many national highways, with major routes going from Sichuan–Shanxi, Sichuan–Tibet, and Sichuan–Yunnan.


title: Chengdu

text: Several major road projects have been constructed: a tunnel from Shuangliu Taiping to Jianyang Sancha Lake; alteration of the National Expressway 321, from Jiangyang to Longquanyi. There will also be a road that connects Longquan Town to Longquan Lake; it is connected to the Chengdu–Jianyang Expressway and hence shorten the journey by . By the end of 2008, there are ten expressways, connecting downtown Chengdu to its suburbs. The expressways are Chenglin Expressway, extensions of Guanghua Avenue, Shawan Line, and an expressway from Chengdu to Heilongtan.


title: Chengdu

text: The toll-free Chengjin Expressway in the east of Chengdu is long. After it opens to the public, it will take only about half an hour to drive from central Chengdu to Jintang, half the time of the current journey.


title: Chengdu

text: The expressway between Chengdu to Heilongtan (Chengdu section), going to the south of the city, is long. It is also toll-free and a journey from downtown Chengdu to Heilongtan will only take half an hour.


title: Chengdu

text: The extension of Guanghua Avenue, going towards the west of the city. It make the journey time from Chongzhou City to Sanhuan Road to less than half an hour.


title: Chengdu

text: The extension of Shawan Road going north is designed for travel at . After it is connected to the expressways Pixian–Dujiangyan and Pixian–Pengzhou, it will take only 30 minutes to go from Chengdu to Pengzhou.


title: Chengdu

text: The Chengdu Metro officially opened on 1 October 2010. Line 1 runs from Shengxian Lake to Guangdu (south-north). Line 2 opened in September 2012. Line 3 opened in July 2016. Line 4 opened in December 2015. Line 10 connects to city center and Shuangliu International Airport. Future plans call for more than thirty lines. As of the end of June 2021, Chengdu has 518.96 km of metro lines in operation.


title: Chengdu

text: Bus transit is an important method of public transit in Chengdu. There are more than 400 bus lines in Chengdu with nearly 12,000 buses in total. In addition, the Chengdu BRT offers services on the Second Ring Road Elevated Road. Bus cards are available that permit free bus transfers for three hours.


title: Chengdu

text: Historically, the Jin River was used for boat traffic in and out of Chengdu. However, due to the size of the river itself and the reduced water depth over time, the Brocade River is no longer capable of carrying any type of water traffic. Therefore, Chengdu has no direct access to the Yangtze River or any other larger river. However, to ensure that Chengdu's goods have access to the river efficiently, inland port cities of Yibin and Luzhou—both of which are reachable from Chengdu within hours by expressways—on the Yangtze have commenced large-scale port infrastructure development. As materials and equipment for the rebuilding of northern Sichuan are sent in from the East Coast to Sichuan, these ports will see significant increases in throughput.


title: Chengdu

text: Wen Weng, administer of Chengdu in the Han dynasty, established the first local public school now named Shishi (literally a stone house) in the world. The school site has not changed for more than 2,000 years, which remains the site of today's Shishi High School. No. 7 High School and Shude High School are also two famous local public schools in Chengdu.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is a leading scientific research city, one of the only two cities in the Western China region (alongside Xi'an), ranking in the top 30 cities worldwide by scientific research outputs. It is consistently ranked # 1 as the center of higher education and scientific research in Southwest China.


title: Chengdu

text: The United States Consulate General at Chengdu opened on 16 October 1985. It was the first foreign consulate in west-central China since 1949. The United States Consulate General at Chengdu was closed on 27 July 2020, corresponding to the closure of Chinese Consulate-General, Houston. The Sri Lankan consulate in Chengdu opened in 2009, and was temporarily closed in 2016. Currently, sixteen countries have consulates in Chengdu. The Philippines, India, Greece, Turkey, Brazil and Argentina have been approved to open consulates in Chengdu.


title: Chengdu

text: Soccer is a popular sport in Chengdu. Chengdu Tiancheng, Chengdu's soccer team, played in the 42,000-seat Chengdu Sports Stadium in the Chinese League One. The club was founded on 26 February 1996 and was formerly known as Chengdu Five Bulls named after their first sponsor, the Five Bulls Cigarette Company. English professional soccer club Sheffield United F.C., took over the club on 11 December 2005. The club was later promoted into the China Super League until they were embroiled in a match-fixing scandal in 2009. Punished with relegation the owners eventually sold their majority on 9 December 2010 to Hung Fu Enterprise Co., Ltd and Scarborough Development (China) Co., Ltd. On 23 May 2013 the Tiancheng Investment Group announced the acquisition of the club.


title: Chengdu

text: Longquanyi Stadium was one of the four venues which hosted the 2004 AFC Asian Cup. Chengdu, along with Shanghai, Hangzhou, Tianjin and Wuhan, hosted the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is the hometown of Grand Slam champions Zheng Jie and Yan Zi, who won the women's double championships at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006, and Li Na who won the 2011 French Open and 2014 Australian Open, has led to increased interest in tennis in Chengdu. Over 700 standard tennis courts have been built in the city in the past 10 years (2006–2016), and the registered membership for the Chengdu Tennis Association have grown to over 10,000 from the original 2,000 in the 1980s.


title: Chengdu

text: Thanks to the boom the country has now 30,000 tennis courts and an estimated 14 million people in China regularly playing tennis, up from 1 million when the sport returned to the Olympics in 1988, according to the WTA Tour. The Chinese government is aiming to increase that by 15 percent every year. The nation's tennis market has reached $4 billion annually, according to Tom Cannon, a professor and sports finance expert at the University of Liverpool Management School in England.


title: Chengdu

text: The women's tour upgraded the China Open in Beijing to become the only combined event with the men's tour in Asia. Played at the Beijing Olympic Tennis Center with combined prize money of $6.6 million and a main stadium that holds 10,000 spectators, the China Open is now one of the WTA's top four tournaments. The ATP's other flagship tournament in Asia is the $8.1 million Shanghai Masters.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is now part of an elite group of cities to host an ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Champions Tour tournament, along with London, Zürich, São Paulo and Delray Beach. Chengdu Open, an ATP Championships Tour starting in 2009, have successfully invited star players including Pete Sampras, Marat Safin, Carlos Moya, Tomas Enqvist, and Mark Philippoussis.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu is represented in the Overwatch League by the Chengdu Hunters, the first major esports team to represent Chengdu. They play as part of the League's Pacific Division.


title: Chengdu

text: Chengdu will host the 2021 Summer Universiade, it would take place from 8–19 August 2021, but the delayed Summer Olympics in Tokyo from 2020 to 2021 will move proposed dates if these events are safe to organise with COVID-19 pandemic efforts. The city will also host the 2025 World Games.


title: Chengdu

text: The Chengdu Sports Center is located in downtown Chengdu, covering and has 42,000 seats. As one of the landmarks of Chengdu, it is the first large multipurpose venue in Chengdu that can accommodate sports competitions, trainings, social activities, and performances. It is the home stadium of the Chengdu Blades, Chengdu's soccer team. The stadium hosted the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.


title: Chengdu

text: The Sichuan International Tennis Center, located away from Chengdu's Shuangliu International Airport, covers an area of . It is the largest tennis center in southwest China and the fourth tennis center in China meeting ATP competition standards, after Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing. This center is equipped with 36 standard tennis courts and 11,000 seats. Since 2016, the Chengdu Open, an ATP Championship Tour tournament, is held here annually.


title: Chengdu

text: The Chengdu Goldenport Circuit is a motorsport racetrack that has hosted the A1 Grand Prix, Formula V6 Asia, China Formula 4 Championship and China GT Championship.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east and Hertfordshire to the east.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Buckinghamshire is one of the Home Counties, the counties of England that surround Greater London. Towns such as High Wycombe, Amersham, Chesham and the Chalfonts in the east and southeast of the county are parts of the London commuter belt, forming some of the most densely populated parts of the county, with some even being served by the London Underground. Development in this region is restricted by the Metropolitan Green Belt. The county's largest settlement and only city is Milton Keynes in the northeast, which with the surrounding area is administered by Milton Keynes City Council as a unitary authority separately to the rest of Buckinghamshire. The remainder of the county is administered by Buckinghamshire Council as another unitary authority. Other large settlements include the county town of Aylesbury in the centre, the former county town of Buckingham in the northwest, Marlow in the south near the Thames and Princes Risborough in the west near Oxford.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: A large part of the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, runs through the south of the county and attracts many walkers and cyclists from London. In this area older buildings are often made from local flint and red brick. Many parts of the county are quite affluent and like many areas around London this has led to high housing costs: several reports have identified the market town of Beaconsfield as having among the highest property prices outside London. Chequers, a mansion estate owned by the government, is the country retreat of the incumbent Prime Minister. To the north of the county lies rolling countryside in the Vale of Aylesbury and around the Great Ouse. The Thames forms part of the county's southwestern boundary. Notable service amenities in the county are Pinewood Film Studios, Dorney rowing lake and part of Silverstone race track on the Northamptonshire border. Many national companies have head-offices or major centres in Milton Keynes. Heavy industry and quarrying is limited, with agriculture predominating after service industries.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: The name Buckinghamshire is Anglo-Saxon in origin and means "The district (scire) of Bucca's home". "Bucca's home" refers to Buckingham in the north of the county, and is named after an Anglo-Saxon landowner. The county has been so named since about the 12th century; however, the county has existed since it was a subdivision of the kingdom of Mercia (585–919).


title: Buckinghamshire

text: The history of the area predates the Anglo-Saxon period and the county has a rich history starting from the Brythonic and Roman periods, though the Anglo-Saxons perhaps had the greatest impact on Buckinghamshire: the geography of the rural county is largely as it was in the Anglo-Saxon period. Later, Buckinghamshire became an important political arena, with King Henry VIII intervening in local politics in the 16th century, and just a century later the English Civil War was reputedly started by John Hampden in mid-Bucks.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Historically, the biggest change to the county came in the 19th century, when a combination of cholera and famine hit the rural county, forcing many to migrate to larger towns to find work. Not only did this alter the local economic situation, it meant a lot of land was going cheap at a time when the rich were more mobile, and leafy Bucks became a popular rural idyll: an image it still has today. Buckinghamshire is a popular home for London commuters, leading to greater local affluence; however, some pockets of relative deprivation remain.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: The expansion of London and coming of the railways promoted the growth of towns in the south of the county such as Aylesbury, Amersham and High Wycombe, leaving the town Buckingham itself to the north in a relative backwater. As a result, most county institutions are now based in the south of the county or Milton Keynes, rather than in Buckingham.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: The county can be split into two sections geographically. The south leads from the River Thames up the gentle slopes of the Chiltern Hills to the more abrupt slopes on the northern side leading to the Vale of Aylesbury and the City of Milton Keynes UA, a large and relatively level expanse of land that is the southern catchment of the River Great Ouse.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: The county includes parts of two of the four longest rivers in England. The River Thames forms the southern boundary with Berkshire, which has crept over the border at Eton and Slough so that the river is no longer the sole boundary between the two counties. The River Great Ouse rises just outside the county in Northamptonshire and flows east through Buckingham, Milton Keynes and Olney.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: The main branch of the Grand Union Canal passes through the county as do its arms to Slough, Aylesbury, Wendover (disused) and Buckingham (disused). The canal has been incorporated into the landscaping of Milton Keynes.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: The southern part of the county is dominated by the Chiltern Hills. The two highest points in Buckinghamshire are Haddington Hill in Wendover Woods (a stone marks its summit) at above sea level and Coombe Hill near Wendover at .


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Quarrying has taken place for chalk, clay for brickmaking and gravel and sand in the river valleys. Flint, also extracted from quarries, was often used to build older local buildings. Several former quarries, now flooded, have become nature reserves.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Today Buckinghamshire is ethnically diverse, particularly in the larger towns. At the end of the 19th century some Welsh drover families settled in north Bucks and, in the last quarter of the 20th century, a large number of Londoners in Milton Keynes. Between 6 and 7% of the population of Aylesbury are of Asian or Asian British origin. Likewise Chesham has a similar-sized Asian community, and High Wycombe is the most ethnically diverse town in the county, with large Asian and Afro-Caribbean populations. During the Second World War there were many Polish settlements in Bucks, Czechs in Aston Abbotts and Wingrave, and Albanians in Frieth. Remnants of these communities remain in the county.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: The ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire consists of both unitary authority areas combined. The ceremonial county has a Lord Lieutenant and a High Sheriff. Since November 2020, the Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire is The Countess Elizabeth Howe and the High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire is George Anson. The office of "Custos rotulorum" has been combined with that of Lord Lieutenant since 1702.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Until 31 March 2020, the ceremonial county had two top-level administrations: Buckinghamshire County Council, which administered about four-fifths of the county, and Milton Keynes City Council, a unitary authority, which administers the remaining fifth. There were four district councils that are subsidiary to the county council: Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe districts.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: The county council was founded in 1889 with its base in new municipal buildings in Walton Street, Aylesbury (which are still there). In Buckinghamshire, local administration was run on a two-tier system where public services were split between the county council and a number of district councils.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: In 1966, the council moved into new premises: a 15-storey tower block in the centre of Aylesbury (pictured) designed by county architect Fred Pooley. It is now a Grade II listed building.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: In 1997, the northernmost part of Buckinghamshire, the part of Buckinghamshire north of the Varsity Line together with Bow Brickhill, Woburn Sands, and parts of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford, until then Milton Keynes District, was separated to form a unitary authority, the Borough of Milton Keynes; for ceremonial purposes Milton Keynes remains part of Buckinghamshire. The administration of the remainder of the county continued to be called Buckinghamshire County Council.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Buckinghamshire County Council was a large employer in the county and provided a variety of services, including education (schools, adult education and youth services), social services, highways, libraries, County Archives and Record Office, the County Museum and the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery in Aylesbury, consumer services and some aspects of waste disposal and planning.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Buckinghamshire Council is a unitary authority covering most of the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire. It was created in April 2020 from the areas that were previously administered by Buckinghamshire County Council and the district councils of South Bucks, Chiltern, Wycombe, Aylesbury Vale.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Milton Keynes City Council was formed by the Local Government Act 1972 as the "Milton Keynes District Council", subordinate to Buckinghamshire County Council. The (district) council was first elected in 1973, a year before formally coming into its powers and prior to the creation of the District of Milton Keynes on 1 April 1974. The council gained borough status, entitling it to be known as "Milton Keynes Borough Council" and to annually appoint a (ceremonial) Mayor of Milton Keynes. On 1 April 1997, it became a self-governing unitary authority. In 2022, the Borough of Milton Keynes became the City of Milton Keynes, following award of Letters Patent.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: The traditional flag of Buckinghamshire comprises a chained swan on a bicolour of red and black. The flag was registered with the Flag Institute on 20 May 2011.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: The coat of arms of the former Buckinghamshire County Council features a white swan in chains. This dates back to the Anglo-Saxon period, when swans were bred in Buckinghamshire for the king's pleasure. That the swan is in chains illustrates that the swan is bound to the monarch, an ancient law that still applies to wild swans in the UK today. The arms were first borne at the Battle of Agincourt by the Duke of Buckingham.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Above the swan is a gold band, in the centre of which is Whiteleaf Cross, representing the many ancient landmarks of the county. The shield is surmounted by a beech tree, representing the Chiltern Forest that once covered almost half the county. Either side of the shield are a buck, for Buckingham, and a swan, the county symbol.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: The motto of the shield is "Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum". This is Latin and means 'no stepping back' (or 'no steps backwards').


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Buckinghamshire has a modern service-based economy and is part of the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire NUTS-2 region, which was the seventh richest subregion in the European Union in 2002. As well as the highest GDP per capita outside Inner London, Buckinghamshire has the highest quality of life, the highest life expectancy and the best education results in the country. The southern part of the county is a prosperous section of the London commuter belt. The county has fertile agricultural lands, with many landed estates, especially those of the Rothschild banking family of England in the 19th century (see Rothschild properties in England). The county has several annual agricultural shows, with the Bucks County Show established in 1859. Manufacturing industries include furniture-making (traditionally centred at High Wycombe), pharmaceuticals and agricultural processing. Pinewood Studios in Iver Heath is a principal centre of operations for film and TV production in the UK.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Buckinghamshire at current basic prices published by the Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds sterling (except GVA index).


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Buckinghamshire is notable for its open countryside and natural features, including the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Stowe Landscaped Gardens near Buckingham, and the River Thames. The Ridgeway Path, a long-distance footpath, passes through the county. The county also has many historic houses. Some of these are opened to the public by the National Trust, such as Waddesdon Manor, West Wycombe Park and Cliveden. Other historic houses are still in use as private homes, such as the Prime Minister's country retreat Chequers.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Claydon House (near Steeple Claydon), Hughendon Manor (near High Wycombe), Stowe Landscaped Gardens, and Waddesdon Manor (near Aylesbury) are in the care of the National Trust.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Mentmore Towers, a 19th-century English country house built by the Rothschilds is located the village of Mentmore. It is the largest of the English Rothschild houses and is known for its Jacobean-styled architecture designed by Joseph Paxton.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes is the site of World War II British codebreaking and Colossus, the world's first programmable electronic digital computer. Together with the co-located National Museum of Computing, it is a nationally important visitor attraction.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Examples of historical architecture in the Chiltern region are preserved at the Chiltern Open Air Museum, an open-air folk museum near Chalfont St Giles. The site contains reconstructed buildings which might otherwise have been destroyed or demolished as a result of redevelopment or road construction.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: The market town of Olney, in the City of Milton Keynes UA, is home to Cowper and Newton Museum which celebrates the work and lives of two famous figures: William Cowper (1731–1800) a celebrated 18th-century poet; and John Newton, a prominent slave trade abolitionist who was curate in the local church. Together, Cowper and Newton wrote the "Olney Hymns", including one of the world's most popular hymns, Amazing Grace".


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Buckinghamshire is the home of various notable people in connection with whom tourist attractions have been established: for example the author Roald Dahl who included many local features and characters in his works. Artists William Callow and Harriet Anne Smart Callow produced many paintings of the area in the late 19th century.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Sports facilities in Buckinghamshire include half of the international Silverstone Circuit which straddles the Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire border, the Adams Park Stadium in the south and Stadium MK in the north, and Dorney Lake (named 'Eton Dorney' for the event) was used as the rowing venue for the 2012 Summer Olympics.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: The county is covered by three terrestrial television transmitters: Oxford (BBC South and ITV Meridian regions), covering the western side of the county, Sandy Heath (BBC East and ITV Anglia) covering the north and east of the county, and Crystal Palace (BBC London & ITV London), covering the south of the county.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: The ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire is served by four motorways, although two are on its borders:


title: Buckinghamshire

text: The county is poorly served with internal routes, with the A413 and A418 linking the south and north of the county.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: As part of the London commuter belt, Buckinghamshire is well connected to the national rail network, with both local commuter and inter-city services serving some destinations.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Chiltern Railways is a principal train operating company in Buckinghamshire, providing the majority of local commuter services from the centre and south of the county, with trains running into . Great Western operates commuter services from and into London Paddington. West Midlands Trains provides these services from into or , and Southern operates commuter services via the West London Line from Milton Keynes Central to East Croydon.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Avanti West Coast operates inter-city services from Milton Keynes Central to Euston, North West England, the West Midlands, the Scottish Central Belt, and North Wales. Great Western operates non-stop services through the south of the county from Paddington to South West England and South Wales.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: , contractors are working on behalf of the East West Rail Company to reinstate the route between and Bletchley via , enabling services to Milton Keynes Central from 2025. The line between Aylesbury and Claydon Junction may also be reinstated in the same programme, enabling services between Aylesbury and Milton Keynes, but this option is not programmed. Construction of High Speed 2 is also underway and is planned to run non-stop through the county at some future date.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: For the full list of towns, villages and hamlets in Buckinghamshire, see List of places in Buckinghamshire. Throughout history, there have been a number of changes to the Buckinghamshire boundary.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Artist and composer Harriet Anne Smart started a school in Buckinghamshire in the 1850s to teach local laborers how to read. Today, education in Buckinghamshire is governed by two Local Education Authorities. Buckinghamshire Council is one of the few remaining LEAs still using the tripartite system, albeit with some revisions such as the abolition of secondary technical schools. It has a completely selective education system: pupils transfer either to a grammar school or to a secondary modern school or free school depending on how they perform in the Eleven-Plus exam and on their preferences. Pupils who do not take the test can only be allocated places at secondary modern schools or free school. There are 9 independent schools and 34 maintained (state) secondary schools, not including sixth form colleges, in the county council area. There is also the Buckinghamshire University Technical College which offers secondary education from age 14. The unitary authority of Milton Keynes operates a comprehensive education system: there are 8 maintained (state) secondary schools in the City Council area.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Buckinghamshire is also home to the University of Buckingham, Buckinghamshire New University, the National Film and Television School, and the Open University. The University of Bedfordshire has a campus in Milton Keynes.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Buckinghamshire is the birthplace and/or final resting place of several notable individuals. St Osyth was born in Quarrendon and was buried in Aylesbury in the 7th century while at about the same time Saint Rumwold was buried in Buckingham. In the medieval period Roger of Wendover was, as the name suggests, from Wendover and Anne Boleyn also owned property in the same town. It is said that King Henry VIII made Aylesbury the county town in preference to Buckingham because Boleyn's father owned property there and was a regular visitor himself. Other medieval residents included Edward the Confessor, who had a palace at Brill, and John Wycliffe who lived in Ludgershall.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Buckinghamshire later became home to some notable literary characters. Edmund Waller was brought up in Beaconsfield and served as Member of Parliament (MP) for both Amersham and Wycombe. Mary Shelley and her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley lived for some time in Marlow, attracted to the town by their friend Thomas Love Peacock who also lived there. John Milton lived in Chalfont St Giles and his cottage can still be visited there and John Wilkes was MP for Aylesbury. Later authors include Jerome K. Jerome who lived at Marlow, T. S. Eliot who also lived at Marlow, Roald Dahl who lived at Great Missenden, Enid Blyton who lived in Beaconsfield and Edgar Wallace who lived at Bourne End and is buried in Little Marlow. Modern-day writers from Bucks include Terry Pratchett who was born in Beaconsfield, Tim Rice who is from Amersham and Andy Riley who is from Aylesbury.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: During the Second World War a number of European politicians and statesmen were exiled in England. Many of these settled in Bucks as it is close to London. President Edvard Beneš of Czechoslovakia lived at Aston Abbotts with his family while some of his officials were stationed at nearby Addington and Wingrave. Meanwhile, Władysław Sikorski, military leader of Poland, lived at Iver and King Zog of Albania lived at Frieth. Much earlier, King Louis XVIII of France lived in exile at Hartwell House from 1809 to 1814.


title: Buckinghamshire

text: Also on the local political stage Buckinghamshire has been home to Nancy Astor who lived in Cliveden, Frederick, Prince of Wales who also lived in Cliveden, Baron Carrington who lives in Bledlow, Benjamin Disraeli who lived at Hughenden Manor and was made Earl of Beaconsfield, John Hampden who was from Great Hampden and is revered in Aylesbury to this day and Prime Minister Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery who lived at Mentmore. Also worthy of note are William Penn who believed he was descended from the Penn family of Penn and so is buried nearby and the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who has an official residence at Chequers. John Archdale, the colonial governor of North Carolina and South Carolina, was born in Buckinghamshire.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (stylized as AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator – Requiem) is a 2007 American science fiction action film starring Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, John Ortiz, Johnny Lewis and Ariel Gade. The directorial debut of the Brothers Strause, the film was written by Shane Salerno and is a direct sequel to "Alien vs. Predator" (2004) as well as the second and latest installment in the "Alien vs. Predator" franchise, continuing the crossover between the "Alien" and "Predator" franchises.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: Set immediately after the events of the previous film, the film begins with a Predator ship crashing into a forest outside of Gunnison, Colorado, where an Alien-Predator hybrid known as the Predalien escapes and makes its way to the nearby small town. A skilled veteran "cleaner" Predator is dispatched to kill the Predalien, and the townspeople try to escape the ensuing carnage.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem" premiered on November 4, 2007 in Los Angeles. It was released theatrically on December 25 in the United States. The film was panned by critics for its poor lighting, editing, and lack of originality. It grossed $130.2 million worldwide against a production budget of $40 million. Plans for another sequel were abandoned, with further independent entries in both franchises released in 2010 and 2012 respectively.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: Following the events of the previous film, a Predator ship leaves Earth carrying Alien facehuggers. A chestburster with traits of both species quickly matures into an adult Predalien and starts killing the Predators on board. The hull gets punctured and the ship crashes in a forest outside of Gunnison, Colorado, killing all but one of the Predators. Severely injured, the Predator sends a distress signal before being killed by the Predalien.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: The Predalien and several facehuggers escape, implanting embryos into several humans. On the Predator homeworld, a skilled veteran Predator, Wolf, receives the signal and decides to kill all the Xenomorphs on Earth. He arrives at the crashed ship, uses an acid-like liquid to dissolve evidence of Aliens' presence, and triggers an implosion to destroy the vessel.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: Meanwhile, ex-convict Dallas Howard returns to Gunnison after serving time in prison. He reunites with his younger brother Ricky, who is in love with his classmate Jesse but is constantly harassed by her boyfriend Dale and his two friends. Kelly O'Brien also returns to Gunnison after serving in the US Army, and reunites with her husband Tim and daughter Molly. Another woman, Darcy Benson, begins searching for her missing husband and son, unaware that they were killed by the Xenomorphs. Meanwhile, local waitress Carrie Adams discovers she is pregnant.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: Wolf starts killing Xenomorphs in the sewer, but four manage to escape. He pursues some to the power plant, where collateral damage from the fight causes a citywide power outage. Ricky and Jesse meet at the high school swimming pool but are interrupted by Dale and his cohorts just as the power goes out. A Xenomorph then appears and kills Dale's friends. Another Xenomorph invades the O'Brien's home, killing Tim while Kelly escapes with Molly. Xenomorphs also attack the diner where Carrie works, and she is impregnated by the Predalien. Darcy discovers her body in horror. Sheriff Morales then arrives and brings her with him.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: Kelly, Molly, Ricky, Jesse, Dale, Dallas, and Sheriff Morales gather at a sporting goods store to collect weapons. Troops from the Colorado Army National Guard arrive but are quickly slaughtered by Xenomorphs. Wolf captures Dallas inside the store to use as bait to lure Xenomorphs, but Dallas escapes. Several Xenomorphs arrive, but Wolf defeats them. Dale is killed during the battle and one of Wolf's shoulder plasma casters is damaged.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: As the survivors attempt to escape Gunnison, they learn Colonel Stevens is staging an air evacuation at the center of town. Dallas and Kelly, however, are skeptical since going there would cause them to become surrounded by Xenomorphs. They, along with Ricky, Jesse, Molly, and a few others go for the helicopter at the hospital to get out of town, while Sheriff Morales and Darcy head to the evacuation zone. However, the hospital has been invaded by Xenomorphs and the Predalien, who has impregnated some pregnant women to breed more Xenomorphs. Wolf arrives at the hospital and dispatches more Xenomorphs. During the battle, he accidentally kills Jesse. Distraught, Ricky rushes Wolf with rifle fire only to be injured by the Predalien. The Predator is attacked by a Xenomorph and both tumble down an elevator shaft. Dallas takes possession of Wolf's plasma blaster.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: Dallas, Ricky, Kelly, and Molly reach the roof and fight off several Xenomorphs before escaping in the helicopter. Wolf, having survived the fall, battles the Predalien on the roof in hand-to-hand combat. The two mortally wound each other just as an F-22 Raptor arrives. Rather than a rescue mission, an F-22 executes a tactical nuclear strike that levels the entire city to ensure the aliens' deaths, instantly killing Sheriff Morales, Darcy and everyone else gathered at ground zero. The shock wave causes the fleeing helicopter to crash in a clearing, where the survivors are rescued by the military. Wolf's plasma blaster is confiscated, and Colonel Stevens presents it to Ms. Yutani.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: Inspired by "", brothers Colin and Greg Strause moved to Los Angeles to break into the film business. After an unsuccessful attempt to find employment at Industrial Light & Magic, the brothers worked on "The X-Files" film and founded their own special effects company, Hydraulx. The company produced special effects for films such as "Volcano", "The Day After Tomorrow", "Poseidon" and "300" and the brothers began a career directing commercials and music videos. Colin believes Hydraulx secured a strong relationship with 20th Century Fox, which owns the "Alien" and "Predator" franchises.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: The brothers unsuccessfully pitched an idea for the first "Alien vs. Predator" film and Fox almost bought a film titled "Wolfenstein" suggested by the brothers, "When the script came up for this movie, they thought we'd be perfect for it because it's an ambitious movie for the budget that they had and they knew that having our visual effects background was going to be a huge thing." The brothers were hired to direct the sequel to "Alien vs. Predator" in late spring 2006 and had limited time to start filming in the fall. The film's original title was "Alien vs. Predator: Survival of the Fittest", but was later dropped.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: Filming on "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem" begun on September 23, 2006, in Vancouver, British Columbia for a 52-day schedule. During filming breaks, the brothers supervised visual effects work on "300", "Shooter" and "" by using in-house supervisors and a system called "Mavis and Lucy", which let the brothers track, view and approve dailies. Colin estimates Hydraulx produced 460 of the 500 visual effects shots including the nuclear explosion which was created using Maya fluids and BA Volume Shader. The interior of the Predator ship was created using CGI, as the brothers felt it would be more cost effective than building a set. The visual effects team peaked at 110 people for several months and averaged 70, almost all of the entire Hydraulx staff.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: Using their knowledge in visual effects and making use of principal photography, the brothers tried to film as much as they could on camera without resorting to CGI, Colin said "other than the exterior spaceship shots, there are no pure CG shots." CGI was used for the Alien tails and inner jaws, whereas they required puppeteers and wire removal on previous films. The main visual effects of the film included set design, a nuclear explosion, the Predator's ship crashing and the Predator cloak, about which Colin stated: "We wanted to make sure it didn't look too digital."


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: As a side-note, in the DVD commentary the brothers explained that they wanted actor Adam Baldwin to reprise his role as Garber in "Predator 2", but were unable to do so, instead using Robert Joy as a new character. Additionally, while the previous installment attracted casual moviegoers as well as fans of the franchises, the film catered exclusively to "Alien" and "Predator" fans with many references to the previous films appearing in the film.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: Composer Brian Tyler was hired to write the score for the film. The soundtrack album was released on December 11, 2007, by Varèse Sarabande. Despite not appearing in the CD soundtrack, the song "Wach auf!" ("Wake Up") by German band Oomph!, was released as a promo in January 2008, with the music video using clips from the film. The song was appeared on the band's album "Monster".


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem" had its premiere at the Los Angeles Comic Book and Sci Fi Convention in Los Angeles on November 4, 2007. The Brothers Strause attended the event, presenting the film to an audience for the first time. The film was later released in the United States and in other territories on December 25, 2007.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem" was released on DVD, Blu-ray and PSP UMD Disc on April 15, 2008, in North America and May 12, 2008, in the United Kingdom by Fox Home Entertainment. It was released in three versions: a single-disc, R-rated version of the 94-minute theatrical presentation, a single-disc unrated version extended to 101 minutes and a two-disc unrated version with the 101-minute film and a second disc of special features. Extra features on the single-disc editions include two audio commentary tracks: one by the directors and producer John Davis and a second by creature effects designers and creators Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: Disc one of the two-disc unrated edition includes both commentary tracks as well as both cuts of the film seamlessly branched and an exclusive "Weyland-Yutani archives" picture-in-picture reference guide to the warring alien races; five behind-the-scenes featurettes: "Prepare for War: Development & Production", "Fight to the Finish", "The Nightmare Returns: Creating the Aliens", "Crossbreed: The Predalien" and "Building the Predator Homeworld"; multiple galleries of still photos showing the creature designs and sets; and the film's theatrical trailer. The second disc includes a "digital copy" download feature.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: In its first week of release, the film debuted at number two on the DVD charts, earning $7.7 million and number one on the Blu-ray charts. The film has made $27,403,705 in DVD sales in the United States.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem" opened in North America in 2,563 theaters along with "The Bucket List" and "". It was rated R for violence, gore and language, unlike its predecessor, which was given a PG-13 rating. In the UK and Australia, the BBFC's classification decision for the film is the same as the original (Rated 15), whilst the Australian ACB rated the film MA15+, up from the original's M rating.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: The film grossed $9,515,615 on its opening day for an average of $3,707 per theater and was number six at the box office. It grossed $5 million in Australia, $9 million in Japan and the United Kingdom and $7 million in Russia, and had an international total of $86,288,761. The film had a domestic gross of $41,797,066 and an international gross of $88,493,819, bringing it to a total of $130,290,885.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem" has an approval rating of based on reviews from critics. The website's consensus states: "The increased gore and violence over the first "Alien vs. Predator" can't excuse "Requiem"s disorienting editing, excessively murky lighting, and lack of new ideas." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 29 out of 100, same as its predecessor, based on reviews from 14 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: Chris Hewitt of "Empire" called it an "early but strong contender for worst movie of 2008". Stina Chyn of "Film Threat" felt the camerawork "is a smidge too shaky and the lighting/color design too dark for me to relish the Predator-on-Alien butt-kicking". Josh Rosenblatt of "The Austin Chronicle" dismissed the film stating it was "An orgy of mindless violence, a random collection of bloody bodies, alien misanthropy and slobbering carnage designed to bore straight into the pleasure centers of 13-year-old boys and leave the rest of us wondering when the movies got so damn loud." Kirk Honeycutt of "The Hollywood Reporter" contributor called it a "dull actioner that looks like a bad video game".


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: Chris Nashawaty of "Entertainment Weekly" felt it was a "B movie that truly earns its B," and gave it a grading of "B" on an A to F scale. "Variety" contributor Joe Leydon said it "Provides enough cheap thrills and modest suspense to shake a few shekels from genre fans before really blasting off as homevid product". Ryan Stewart of "Cinematical" said he "can't recommend it as a good movie on its own merits, stocked as it is with cardboard cutout characters and a barely coherent plot, but it's miles more interesting than the last "Alien vs. Predator" film."


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: Conversely, Neil Genzlinger of "The New York Times" stated: "It may not be classic sci-fi like the original "Alien", which it has in its DNA, but it's a perfectly respectable next step in the series."


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: During the production of "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem", the Brothers Strause expressed plans for a third "Alien vs. Predator" installment. However, the planned sequel was put on hold indefinitely.


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: The "Predator" franchise continued with Nimród Antal's "Predators", Shane Black's "The Predator" (the latter of which featured references to "AVP" such as shurikens and Lex's spear which Scar made out of an Alien tail), and Dan Trachtenberg's "Prey", while the "Alien" franchise proceeded with Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" and "".


title: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

text: A tie-in video game for the film was released on November 13, 2007, in North America, November 30 in Europe and December 6 in Australia. The game, developed by Rebellion Developments and published by Sierra Entertainment, was a third-person action-adventure game, allowing players to take the role of the Predator from the film. Much like the movie, the game received generally negative reviews from the press.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Irvine, California. It was founded in June 2003, shortly before the closure of Black Isle Studios, by ex-Black Isle employees Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, and Chris Jones.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: Although they have created original intellectual property, many of their games are sequels based on licensed properties. Early projects included "" and "Neverwinter Nights 2", both sequels to BioWare-developed games. The team then developed their first original game, "Alpha Protocol", in 2010. Other notable works from Obsidian include "", "Dungeon Siege III", and "", all of which are also licensed properties.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: Throughout the studio's history, many projects—including "Futureblight", "Dwarfs", "Aliens: Crucible", and "Stormlands"—were canceled. Due to having so many projects canceled, the company entered a severe financial crisis in 2012. As a result, Obsidian decided to crowdfund their next game, "Pillars of Eternity", a role-playing game played from an isometric perspective, which ultimately became a success and saved the studio from closure. The team's focus then changed from developing licensed titles to creating original games based on the studio's own intellectual property, including .


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: In November 2018, it was announced that the studio had been acquired by Microsoft and become part of Microsoft Studios (now known as Xbox Game Studios). Their latest releases are the adventure survival game "Grounded and RPG Pentiment." Obsidian Entertainment is currently developing "Avowed", and "The Outer Worlds 2".


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: Obsidian Entertainment was founded by Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan and Chris Jones on June 12, 2003. Prior to the establishment of Obsidian, they worked for Interplay Entertainment's subsidiary Black Isle Studios. At Black Isle they created several role-playing games including "Icewind Dale", "", and "Fallout 2", and collaborated with BioWare on "Neverwinter Nights", "Baldur's Gate", and "Baldur's Gate II". Most of these games were critically and commercially successful, but Interplay's financial situation was poor and the studio lost its license to produce "Dungeons & Dragons"-based games. This led to the cancellation of "". Urquhart and most of the staff members were dissatisfied and frustrated with the cancellation, as the game had already been under development for a year and a half. Urquhart became convinced that staying at Black Isle was no longer a "viable option" for the team, and decided to leave the company. He was in his early thirties at the time, and thought that if he did not start a new company soon, he may become too old to do so. Urquhart officially left Interplay in 2003 with Avellone, Parker, Monahan, and Jones, and founded Obsidian Entertainment with them the same year.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: At the time of the company's establishment there were seven employees, including the company's five founders. Parker, Urquhart, and Monahan invested $100,000 to $125,000 into their newly founded company. When choosing the name of the company, they had prepared a short list of names for them to choose. The list included "Scorched Earth" and "Three Clown Software". The team eventually chose "Obsidian Entertainment", which they thought was strong, memorable, and felt similar to name of their old studio, Black Isle.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: Upon its establishment, the studio needed more capital in order to keep its operation running, and thus needed to gain support from publishers. They approached Electronic Arts, but it did not result in a project. The studio also contacted Ubisoft looking to make a "Might & Magic" game, but Ubisoft instead ended up contracting with Arkane Studios on that project, which became "Dark Messiah of Might & Magic". Obsidian pitched a game to Take-Two Interactive called "Futureblight", which was described as a "Fallout"-style game powered by the "Neverwinter Nights" engine. Similar to the EA and Ubisoft projects, "Futureblight" was never made.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: Towards the end of 2003, the team was contacted by LucasArts president Simon Jeffrey, who requested that Obsidian make an action role-playing game set in the "Star Wars" universe. The team suggested a game concept which featured first-person lightsaber melee combat and that included established characters like R2-D2. Their idea was rejected, and Jeffrey instead asked Obsidian to create a follow-up to the BioWare-developed "", as the team at Obsidian was familiar with the technology that the original game used. The partnership between the two companies finalized in late 2003, and development of the game, which became "", began in October 2003. Obsidian was given 15 months to develop "The Sith Lords". Originally set for a holiday 2004 release, LucasArts gave the studio an extension into 2005, before shifting the release date back to holiday 2004 following the Electronic Entertainment Expo. While LucasArts did dispatch members of its own staff to help get the game out on time, a number of features wound up being cut due to time constraints. Due to the moved deadline, Obsidian also did not have enough time to polish the game, and "The Sith Lords" suffered from crashes and other technical issues. Despite its issues, "The Sith Lords" was released to positive critical reception. The cut features were eventually restored by modders, who began their effort in 2009 and finished in 2012.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: From the beginning, the studio's goal was to be able to develop multiple projects simultaneously, and the decision led the company to expand very quickly. Soon after the development of "The Sith Lords" began, the team expanded to 20 employees. As of July 2004, it had expanded to 27, with 18 from Black Isle, and others from Blizzard Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Taldren, Totally Games, Treyarch, and Troika.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: Prior to the launch of "The Sith Lords," Obsidian was approached by Atari. Atari acquired the license to produce "Dungeons & Dragons"-based games, and wanted Obsidian to create a sequel to "Neverwinter Nights", which became "Neverwinter Nights 2". Development of the game began in July 2005 with a team of ten people. The development of the game was headed by Monahan and Avellone. Obsidian became the game's lead developer, while "Neverwinter" "Nights" creator BioWare provided technical assistance. While they were developing the game, the team's size grew to about 50 people. The team were given sufficient time for the game's development, and Atari was willing to delay the project's targeted release window from Christmas 2005 to October 31, 2006. "Neverwinter" "Nights 2" received a generally positive critical reception. Two expansions, "" and "", were released in 2007 and 2008.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: During "Neverwinter" "Nights 2"s development, the team approached other publishers to work on additional projects. Disney Interactive Studios commissioned Obsidian to develop a prequel to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" called "Dwarfs", which was set to be a third-person action game for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Work began in 2005, and the team developed a prototype and was a year into development when Bob Iger replaced Michael Eisner as CEO of The Walt Disney Company. As CEO, Iger led Disney to head in a completely different direction, which made the Snow White franchise "untouchable" and resulted in the cancellation of the project. According to Urquhart, the team loved the game and its cancellation was a "heartbreaking" experience for them.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: With the development of "Neverwinter Nights 2" coming to an end, Obsidian was contacted by three different publishers. Electronic Arts wanted Obsidian to develop a role-playing game to compete with "", and another publisher was also interested in having Obsidian develop a fantasy RPG. The third publisher was Sega, who wanted the studio to develop an action role-playing game set within the "Alien" franchise. The game, titled "Aliens: Crucible", was to feature base-building, dialogue choices, and character customization. In February 2009, Obsidian sent a prototype to Sega. Sega decided to cancel the game three weeks later without inspecting the demo. The cancellation was officially confirmed in June of that year. At around the same time, Atari again approached Obsidian, this time to revive "Baldur's Gate III". Obsidian requested a large budget, which Atari could not afford, and the deal between the two companies fell apart when Atari Europe was sold to Namco Bandai Games.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: Despite the cancellation of "Aliens: Crucible", Sega was still interested in working with Obsidian to develop another project. Instead of developing a sequel, they were asked to develop a role-playing game based on a new intellectual property. The team came up with an idea of a "spy RPG". Sega approved the idea and decided to help with the game's funding and serve as its publisher. The game would go on to become "Alpha Protocol". The game's development was troubled; the team did not have a precise vision for "Alpha Protocol" and struggled to settle on what gameplay elements to include and what the target audience should be. As a result, it suffered from an identity crisis and featured elements from multiple genres. Sega, for its part, was also unable to make decisions quickly and the publisher cut features from the game after their completion. This resulted in numerous delays and excessively long production time; "Alpha Protocol" took four years to develop. It was finally released in June 2010.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: Their first original game, "Alpha Protocol" received mostly mixed reviews from critics. It was also a commercial failure for Sega, which led to their decision to put any plans for a sequel on hold. After the game's launch, Urquhart admitted that there was still room for improvements. Even though the game was a commercial failure, it was well received by the community, which has often demanded that Obsidian make a sequel. Urquhart responded by saying that the team hoped that they can develop "Alpha Protocol 2", and "do better" with it. Avellone later added that they were unable to develop a sequel because the rights to the game were owned by Sega and crowdfunding would not be a suitable option.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: On February 11, 2010, Red Eagle Games and Obsidian announced that they would co-develop one or more games based on "The Wheel of Time" fantasy novel series by Robert Jordan. On April 25, 2014, however, Urquhart told "Computer & Video Games" that the agreement between the companies had dissolved after Red Eagle had failed to secure the necessary funding.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: At the same time that "Alpha Protocol" was in development, Obsidian was also working on "". Prior to working on "New Vegas", they were contacted by Bethesda Softworks about developing a "Star Trek" game, but the idea never gained traction. After Bethesda released "Fallout 3" and began to shift its own focus back towards its "Elder Scrolls" series, it approached Obsidian with the idea of having the latter studio develop another game in the "Fallout" series, as several of Obsidian's founders had worked on the franchise while at Black Isle. In developing "New Vegas", Obsidian looked at fan requests, which led to "New Vegas" giving a more prominent role to the in-game factions. When the concept was pitched to Bethesda, it was immediately approved. The development of "New Vegas" began soon after the cancellation of "Aliens: Crucible", and it was released in October 2010. It received generally positive reviews, with some critics saying that the game's quality exceeded that of the critically acclaimed "Fallout 3".


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: As was the case with "The Sith Lords", the development team did not thoroughly assess "New Vegas" for bugs and glitches before it was released. Some players were unable to play the game due to constant crashes. These problems were later patched and fixed. Obsidian considered "New Vegas" to be a learning experience; it was the studio's first AAA game, and it taught the studio how to manage quality assurance. Between "The Sith Lords" and "New Vegas", Obsidian had built a reputation for creating games with technical problems. The team was determined to change this with future titles, and made improvements to their bug-tracking system, These improvements were applied to the studio's next project, "Dungeon Siege III", a sequel to the Gas Powered Games-developed "Dungeon Siege", published by Square Enix. The game received mixed reviews upon release in 2011, but it enjoyed a stable launch. "Dungeon Siege III" was the first game to use Obsidian's own in-house Onyx engine.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: In 2011, the company began working on a third-person open world game named ""Stormlands"". It was rumored that the game was being produced for the then-unannounced successor to the Xbox 360. The title was ultimately canceled in 2012 by its publisher, Microsoft Studios, causing Obsidian to lay off between 20 and 30 people. Obsidian then transformed "Stormlands" into another game title called "Fallen" and then pitched it to other publishers including 2K Games and Ubisoft. Despite hearing no response from them, "Fallen" became the foundation for one of Obsidian's future games, "Tyranny".


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: In October 2009, Obsidian was contacted by South Park Digital Studios to develop a game set within the "South Park" universe. The team originally thought the phone call from South Park Digital Studios was a prank carried out by another company located in the same building. Obsidian met with "South Park"s creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, with the two parties agreeing that it was critical that the game share the television show's construction paper-like visual aesthetic. Funding was originally provided by Viacom, the parent company of the television channel that "South Park" is broadcast on. In 2011, Viacom decided to let the video game publisher THQ take over as the game's publisher. Shortly after THQ took over, they entered into a financial crisis, eventually going bankrupt in late 2011. With THQ unable to continue its publishing and funding roles, an auction was held for other publishers to acquire their titles. Obsidian was worried that if the project was canceled, they too would face severe financial difficulties. Eventually Ubisoft acquired the game, which was released as "" in March 2014. In mid 2014, the studio announced "Armored Warfare", a tank game developed for My.com. It launched in open beta during 2015.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: Obsidian has also maintained a friendly relationship with inXile Entertainment. Like Obsidian, inXile was founded by former employees of Interplay Entertainment. The two companies signed an agreement to share their technology with each other. Obsidian assisted in the development of inXile's "Wasteland 2" after its Kickstarter campaign raised $2.1 million, "Wasteland 2" was released in late 2014 and received generally positive reviews upon release.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: While the studio managed to complete "", the company faced a precarious financial position. The studio received only a small "kill fee" for their work on "North Carolina". They also lost their bonus for "", as the game failed to meet Bethesda's standard—an aggregate review score of 85 at Metacritic—by 1 point. The team lacked sufficient resources to keep the company's operation running. According to Adam Brennecke, an executive producer at Obsidian, if they failed to pitch a project to a publisher in time they would have exhausted their money and gone bankrupt. At that time, the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter was growing popular and Josh Sawyer, creative director of "New Vegas", proposed that the studio put their canceled game on Kickstarter and attempt to secure funding for it there. Some team members were skeptical about the idea and feared that they may not even be able to raise $100,000 through the platform. The question of whether to pursue a Kickstarter campaign led to numerous debates between key members of the company. The debates ended when "Double Fine Adventure"s campaign launched and saw huge success.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: Secure in the belief that Kickstarter was a viable funding option, the team decided to use it to fund the development of a game they wanted to make for a very long time: a spiritual successor to "Baldur's Gate". The Kickstarter campaign for "Pillars of Eternity" was launched in September 2012 under the working name ""Project Eternity"", with Obsidian requesting $1.1 million. The studio approached Kickstarter with the mindset that if their campaign was successful the game could eventually be turned into a franchise, while if they were unsuccessful, they would attempt to refine their ideas and try again with another campaign.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: Obsidian's campaign was hugely successful, raising $4 million and breaking the record set by "Double Fine Adventure". "Pillars of Eternity" was released in March 2015 to a positive critical reception. Paradox Interactive served as the game's publisher. Obsidian planned an expansion pack, called "". It was divided into two different parts, one of which was released on August 25, 2015, and the other on February 16, 2016. A board game for "Pillars of Eternity" titled "Pillars of Eternity: Lords of the Eastern Reach" was announced on May 19, 2015. It was developed by Zero Radius Games with input provided by Obsidian. Like the main game, it was funded through a Kickstarter campaign, and it reached its funding goal within a day.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: In June 2015, studio co-founder Chris Avellone announced his departure from Obsidian. In August 2015, Obsidian partnered with inXile and Double Fine to launch a new funding website named Fig, with Urquhart serving as a member of the company's advising board. The new platform's aim is to offer "equity crowdfunding", and it will only focus exclusively on video game-related projects. Obsidian is set to use Fig as its future crowdfunding platform.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: It was announced in July 2015 that the company was working on the localization for "Skyforge". On August 13, 2014, Obsidian announced that they had licensed the "Pathfinder Roleplaying Game" to make electronic games, starting with a tablet adaptation of it, which was released for iOS and Android devices in April 2016, with releases for other platforms to be announced. Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens also confirmed plans for an Obsidian-developed computer role-playing game. Urquhart had stated a desire to collaborate with BioWare again on a new "Star Wars" game. After the release of "New Vegas", there is also a desire to work on another "Fallout" game.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: On March 15, 2016, Obsidian announced their new project called "Tyranny", an isometric RPG set in a world where evil has already won. The game was announced for release in 2016 on Microsoft Windows, Mac and Linux, and was published by Paradox Interactive. The game was originally called "Fury", whose concept was created in 2006, and is set in "a world that had been laid waste by a magical apocalypse". The concept later became "Defiance", whose concept is similar to that of "Tyranny". "Defiance", along with ideas of Obsidian's other projects later became "Stormlands". As "Stormlands" was canceled, the company reconsidered the original idea of "Defiance" to make "Tyranny". In April 2016, Leonard Boyarsky joined Obsidian, becoming the second Troika Games co-founder to work for the company.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: On January 27, 2017, Obsidian announced "" and launched a crowdfunding campaign on Fig to raise additional development funds. The project achieved its funding goal in less than a day, and was released in May 2018. In February 2017, it was announced that Obsidian were leaving the development of "Armored Warfare" in the hands of the game's publisher to finish the project.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: On November 10, 2018, it was announced that the studio had been acquired by Microsoft and would become a part of its Microsoft Studios division. Following the announcement of the acquisition, during The Game Awards ceremony in December 2018, Obsidian announced a new intellectual property named "The Outer Worlds", an action role-playing game set in an alternate future in which megacorporations began colonizing and terraforming alien planets. The game was released on October 25, 2019, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and a version for Nintendo Switch released on June 5, 2020. In November 2019, Obsidian announced its next game, titled "Grounded", describing it as a "survival adventure where you're the size of an ant". On July 23, 2020, at the Xbox Games Showcase, Obsidian Entertainment revealed a brand new role-playing game called "Avowed" was currently in development for Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X. In 2021, another unannounced open-world project for PC and console was also found to be in development through a technical artist job posting on the company's website, which was later revealed to be "The Outer Worlds 2" during the Xbox + Bethesda E3 2021 showcase.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: In 2022, Obsidian revealed "Pentiment", a narrative adventure game for Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Xbox One with a November 2022 release window. The game director is Josh Sawyer, the game director of "".


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: Obsidian built its reputation making sequels in well-established franchises including "", "Neverwinter Nights", "Fallout", and "Dungeon Siege". Urquhart has stated that the company is fine with developing sequels, as they are often fun to make since the studio can "get to go play in someone else's world" and further explore and expand upon the original games' ideas. The studio also believes that such licensed projects are easier to develop. Obsidian considered the making of these sequels as stepping stones towards eventually making original games based on their own intellectual property. The studio's focus did later shift towards developing their own games, which allowed Obsidian to maximize their creative freedom and escape the constraints imposed by publishers. The studio has used the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter as an indicator to see whether a game or genre is popular or not.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: As an independent company prior to their 2018 acquisition by Microsoft, Obsidian believed that they must act and react quickly to market changes and not stagnate on any certain point. While the core focus of Obsidian was still developing character-driven role-playing games, the team were willing to try out projects that are smaller and are in different genres. The decision to develop "Armored Warfare" was one result of this strategy.


title: Obsidian Entertainment

text: A dungeon crawler game based on the story of the company's five founders was made. The game was housed in an arcade cabinet inside Obsidian.


title: Battle of Chosin Reservoir

text: The Battle of Chosin Reservoir, also known as the Chosin Reservoir Campaign or the Battle of Lake Changjin (), was an important battle in the Korean War. The name "Chosin" is derived from the Japanese pronunciation ""Chōshin", instead of the Korean pronunciation.


title: Battle of Chosin Reservoir

text: The battle took place about a month after the People's Republic of China entered the conflict and sent the People's Volunteer Army (PVA) 9th Army to infiltrate the northeastern part of North Korea. On 27 November 1950, the Chinese force surprised the US X Corps commanded by Major General Edward Almond in the Chosin Reservoir area. A brutal 17-day battle in freezing weather soon followed. Between 27 November and 13 December, 30,000 United Nations Command troops (later nicknamed "The Chosin Few") under the field command of Major General Oliver P. Smith were encircled and attacked by about 120,000 Chinese troops under the command of Song Shilun, who had been ordered by Mao Zedong to destroy the UN forces. The UN forces were nevertheless able to break out of the encirclement and to make a fighting withdrawal to the port of Hungnam, inflicting heavy casualties on the Chinese. The retreat of the US Eighth Army from northwest Korea in the aftermath of the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River and the evacuation of the X Corps from the port of Hungnam in northeast Korea marked the complete withdrawal of UN troops from North Korea.


title: Battle of Chosin Reservoir

text: By mid-October 1950, after the successful landing at Inchon by the US X Corps, the Eighth Army breakout from the Pusan Perimeter and the subsequent pursuit and destruction of the Korean People's Army (KPA), the Korean War appeared to be all but over. United Nations (UN) forces advanced rapidly into North Korea with the intention of reuniting North and South Korea before the end of 1950. North Korea is divided through the center by the impassable Taebaek Mountains, which separated the UN forces into two groups. The US Eighth Army advanced north through the western coast of the Korean Peninsula, while the Republic of Korea (ROK) I Corps and the US X Corps advanced north on the eastern coast.


title: Battle of Chosin Reservoir

text: At the same time the People's Republic of China entered the conflict after issuing several warnings to the United Nations. On 19 October 1950, large formations of Chinese troops, dubbed the People's Volunteer Army (PVA), secretly crossed the border and into North Korea. One of the first Chinese units to reach the Chosin Reservoir area was the PVA 42nd Corps, which was tasked with stopping the eastern UN advances. On 25 October, the advancing ROK I Corps made contact with the Chinese and halted at Funchilin Pass (), south of the Chosin Reservoir. After the landing at Wonsan, the US 1st Marine Division of the X Corps engaged the defending PVA 124th Division on 2 November; the ensuing battle caused heavy casualties among the Chinese. On 6 November, the PVA 42nd Corps ordered a retreat to the north with the intention of luring the UN forces into the Chosin Reservoir. By 24 November, the 1st Marine Division occupied both Sinhung-ni () on the eastern side of the reservoir and Yudami-ni () on the west side.


title: Battle of Chosin Reservoir

text: Faced with the sudden attacks by Chinese forces in the Eighth Army sector, General Douglas MacArthur ordered the Eighth Army to launch the Home-by-Christmas Offensive. To support the offensive, MacArthur ordered the X Corps to attack west from the Chosin Reservoir and to cut the vital Manpojin—Kanggye—Huichon supply line. In response, Major General Edward M. Almond, commander of the US X Corps, formulated a plan on 21 November. It called for the US 1st Marine Division to advance west through Yudami-ni, while the US 7th Infantry Division would provide a regimental combat team to protect the right flank at Sinhung-ni. The US 3rd Infantry Division would also protect the left flank, while providing security in the rear area. By then the X Corps was stretched thin along a 400-mile front.


title: Battle of Chosin Reservoir

text: Surprised by the Marine landing at Wonsan, Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong called for the immediate destruction of the ROK Capital Division, ROK 3rd Infantry Division, US 1st Marine Division, and US 7th Infantry Division in a telegram to Commander Song Shilun of the PVA 9th Army on 31 October. Under Mao's urgent orders, the 9th Army was rushed into North Korea on 10 November. Undetected by UN intelligence, it entered the Chosin Reservoir area on 17 November, with the 20th Corps of the 9th Army relieving the 42nd Corps near Yudami-ni.