title: Nelly Korda

text: On 28 November, she dropped to the Number 2 ranking from Number 1 the past two weeks. Lydia Ko re-gained the Number 1 ranking for the first time since 2017.


title: Nelly Korda

text: Korda is the daughter of retired Czech professional tennis players Petr Korda and Regina Rajchrtová. Her father is a tennis grand slam champion who won the 1998 Australian Open crown. Her younger brother, Sebastian, won the 2018 Australian Open tennis title in the boys' division. Her older sister Jessica Korda also plays on the LPGA Tour.


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: Sherlock Holmes is the overall title given to the series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations produced by the British television company Granada Television between 1984 and 1994. The first two series were shown under the title "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and were followed by subsequent series with the titles of other short story collections by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: Of the 60 Holmes stories written by Doyle, 43 were adapted in the series, spanning 36 one-hour episodes and five feature-length specials. (Episode 40 incorporates the plot lines of both "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" and "The Adventure of the Three Garridebs". Episode 35 "The Eligible Bachelor" has material from both "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor" and "The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger".)


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: The series was broadcast on the ITV network in the UK and starred Jeremy Brett as Holmes. Watson was played by David Burke in the first series ("Adventures") and by Edward Hardwicke from the second series ("Return") onwards.


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: In the late Victorian era, Sherlock Holmes is the world's only consulting detective. His practice is largely with private clients, but he is also known to assist the police, often in the shape of Inspector Lestrade, when their cases overlap. His clients range from private citizens of modest means to members of royalty. His ability to spot clues easily overlooked by others, bring certain specialist knowledge — for example chemistry, botany, anatomy – and deductive reasoning to bear on problems enable him to solve the most complex cases. He is assisted in his work by military veteran Dr. John Watson, with whom he shares rooms at 221B Baker Street. He craves mental stimulation, and is known to relapse into depression when there are insufficiently complex cases to engage him.


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: The role of the servant Joe Barnes who impersonates Lady Beatrice in the 1991 episode "Shoscombe Old Place" was played by Jude Law, who later played Dr. Watson in the 2009 film "Sherlock Holmes" and its 2011 sequel "".


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: Freddie Jones made two guest appearances in the show as different characters, appearing in "Wisteria Lodge" as Inspector Baynes and "The Last Vampyre" as a pedlar. Michael Wynne also made two guest appearances in the show as different characters, appearing in Shoscombe Old Place as Josiah Barnes and The Mazarin Stone as Commissionare Jenkins. Helen Ryan also made two guest appearances in the show as different characters, appearing in "The Norwood Builder" as Mrs McFarlane, and in "The Mazarin Stone" as the Princess of Wales (a role she previously played in Edward the Seventh).


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: The programme ran for four series and 41 episodes: 36 ran for 50 minutes, and 5 were feature-length specials.


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: The series was initially produced by Michael Cox, with later episodes produced by June Wyndham Davies. It was developed for television by screenwriter John Hawkesworth, who also wrote many of the episodes (all based on individual Doyle stories). Other writers to adapt Doyle's short stories in the series included Alexander Baron, Jeremy Paul, T.R. Bowen, and Alan Plater.


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: Brett had been approached in February 1982 by Granada to play Holmes. The idea was to make a totally authentic and faithful adaptation of the character's best cases. Eventually Brett accepted the role and was very attentive to discrepancies between the scripts he had been given and Doyle's original stories.


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: To shoot the series, a full-scale outdoor replica of Baker Street was constructed at Granada's studios in Quay Street, Manchester, which later formed a central part of the Granada Studios Tour tourist attraction, before that venue's closure in 1999.


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: The series came to an end owing to the death of Brett at the age of 61 from heart failure in 1995. He had suffered from ill health during filming of the later series' due to adverse reactions to the medicine prescribed for depression. It was an affliction he was prone to, episodically, throughout his life. In his later life, it worsened.


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: Though the Granada series is one of the most comprehensive screen adaptations of the Holmes canon, it nevertheless left 19 stories unadapted after Brett's death. These stories comprise two of the novels and 17 of the short stories:


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: During 1988–1989, Brett and Hardwicke appeared in a West End play, "The Secret of Sherlock Holmes", a two-hander written specially for them by the television series screenwriter Jeremy Paul.


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: In May 1992, Brett and Hardwicke appeared in a mini-episode (about ten minutes in length) as part of "The Four Oaks Mystery", shown as part of the ITV "Telethon" "92" charity telethon. This episode formed the first of a four-part sequence of stories featuring the stars of four ITV detective shows of the time all separately working to solve the same mystery, broadcast at two episodes a night across one weekend. The other shows that produced mini-episodes for the special were "Van der Valk," "Taggart", and "Inspector Wexford".


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: As well as being broadcast by ITV in the UK, the series was also seen overseas, particularly in the United States, where the episodes initially ran on PBS stations in the "Mystery!" strand. Later series gained co-production funding from Boston PBS broadcaster WGBH. The shows have also been transmitted on two US cable television stations, Disney Channel and A&E Network, and on CBC in Canada.


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: In the UK, the series has often been repeated: on Granada Plus; on ITV3; ITV4; and on BBC Two, which ran the complete series on Saturday afternoons from 2003 to 2005. This makes it one of the very few programmes originally produced by an ITV company for broadcast on their own channel to have subsequently been shown on the BBC. In March 2006, the series returned to its original channel for the first time in over a decade, as part of the daytime television line-up on weekday afternoons.


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: The series is considered to present the most faithful screen adaptations of many of the Holmes stories, although liberties were taken with some plotlines and characters, particularly later in the run during the 1990s episodes (for instance "The Mazarin Stone", filmed in 1994, combined the plot elements of two separate Doyle stories).


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: A big change was Holmes quitting his cocaine habit in the episode "The Devil's Foot," which was done with the approval of Doyle's daughter, when it was discovered that the series had a considerable child audience. Nonetheless, the series has been highly praised for the performance of Brett, its adherence to Doyle's original concept in the characterisation of Watson, its high production values, and its close attention to period detail.


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: The series has been released on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4, and has been repeated on ITV4 and BBC Two.


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: The complete series has also been released on VHS and on DVD, twice on the latter, with the most recent 2005 release taking advantage of the digitally remastered film prints originally prepared for the BBC Two repeat run. In December 2012, the series was released on Blu-ray in Japan, in Spain in May 2013, in France in October 2013, and in the US in September 2014.


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: MPI Home Video has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1, in various incarnations. MPI released "The Adventures & The Return" in single disc volumes as well as complete collections. "The Casebook & The Memoirs" were released as a single collection box sets. In addition, on 25 September 2007, a complete series set was released featuring all 41 episodes in one complete collection for the very first time.


title: Sherlock Holmes (1984 TV series)

text: The Complete Collection mentioned above has English subtitles only. The complete series was released on Blu-ray in Spain in 2013. Though native to Spain, the 10 disc set is region-free and thus can be played in any region of the world. The Complete Collection was released a second time on Blu-ray in Germany in 2016. It has German subtitles only but German and English soundtracks. This is a 14 disc set and is marked region 'B'.


title: Doom 3

text: Doom 3 is a 2004 survival horror first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. "Doom 3" was originally released for Microsoft Windows on August 3, 2004, adapted for Linux later that year, and ported by Aspyr Media for Mac OS X in 2005. Developer Vicarious Visions ported the game to the Xbox, releasing it on April 3, 2005.


title: Doom 3

text: "Doom 3" is set on Mars in 2145, where a military-industrial conglomerate has set up a scientific research facility into fields such as teleportation, biological research, and advanced weapons design. The teleportation experiments open a gateway to Hell, resulting in a catastrophic invasion of the Mars base by demons. The player controls a space marine who fights through the base to stop the demons attacking Mars and reaching Earth.


title: Doom 3

text: "Doom 3" is the first reboot of the "Doom" series, ignoring the events of the previous games. "Doom 3" utilizes the id Tech 4 game engine, which has since been licensed out to other developers, and later released under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later in November 2011.


title: Doom 3

text: "Doom 3" was a critical and commercial success; with more than 3.5 million copies of the game sold, it is the most successful game by developer id Software to date. Critics praised the game's graphics, presentation and atmosphere, although reviewers were divided by how close the gameplay was to that of the original "Doom", focusing primarily on simply fighting through large numbers of enemy characters. The game was followed by "", an expansion pack developed by Nerve Software, in April 2005. A series of novelizations of "Doom 3", written by Matthew J. Costello, debuted in February 2008. An expanded and remastered edition titled "" was released in the fourth quarter of 2012, while a version based on the "BFG Edition" of the game was released without online multiplayer, simply called "Doom 3", for Android in June 2015, and Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in July 2019.


title: Doom 3

text: "Doom 3" is a story-driven action game played from a first-person perspective. As with previous "Doom" games, the main objective is to successfully pass through its levels, defeating a variety of enemy characters intent on killing the player's character. "Doom 3"s more story-centered approach, however, means that the player often encounters friendly non-player characters, who provide key plot information, objectives and inventory items. The game incorporates ten weapons for the players use to survive, including conventional firearms such as a submachine gun, shotgun and grenades, experimental plasma weaponry, and the powerful BFG 9000 and chainsaw weapons of the "Doom" franchise. Enemies come in multiple forms and with different abilities and tactics, but fall into two broad categories of either zombies or demons. Zombies are humans possessed by demonic forces, who attack the player's character using their hands and melee weapons or a variety of firearms, while demons are creatures from Hell, most of which attack using claws and spines, or by summoning plasma-based fireballs. The corpses of demons are reduced to ashes after death, leaving no trace of their body behind.


title: Doom 3

text: The game's levels are semi-linear in nature and incorporate several horror elements, the most prominent of which is darkness. This design choice is not only intended to foster feelings of apprehension and fear within the player, but also to create a more threatening game environment in which the player is less likely to see attacking enemies. This aspect is further enhanced by the fact that the player must choose between holding a weapon and holding the flashlight (until the BFG editions released in 2012 made the "duct tape mod" a standard feature), forcing the player to choose between being able to see and having a readied weapon upon entering a room, which consequently leads to a more deliberate pace for the player. In addition, the levels are regularly strewn with corpses, chopped body parts and blood, sometimes used in conjunction with the game's lighting to disorient the player.


title: Doom 3

text: Frequent radio transmissions through the player's communications device also add to the atmosphere, by broadcasting certain sounds and messages from non-player characters meant to unsettle the player. Early in the game, during and directly after the event that plunges the base into chaos, the player often hears the sounds of fighting, screaming and dying through their radio transmitter. The ambient sound is extended to the base itself through such things as hissing pipes, footsteps, and occasional jarringly loud noises from machinery or other sources. Often ambient sounds can be heard that resemble deep breathing, unexplained voices and demonic taunting from the game's antagonists.


title: Doom 3

text: Early in the game, the player is provided with a personal data assistant (PDA). PDAs contain security clearance levels, allowing the player to access certain areas that are otherwise locked and off-limits. Additionally, the PDA can be used to read e-mails and play audio logs or video discs that the player's character acquires during the game. Whenever the player picks up any of the other PDAs found throughout the game, its contents are automatically downloaded to the player's own device. Other PDAs often contain e-mails and audio logs for other characters, which can provide useful information such as storage or door key codes, as well as significant plot details.


title: Doom 3

text: "Doom 3" was released with a four-player multiplayer element, featuring four game modes. However, the game's community created a modification to boost this to eight or sixteen players. The "Resurrection of Evil" expansion would later officially increase the player limit to eight. The four game modes are all deathmatches. The standard deathmatch game mode involves each player moving around a level, collecting weaponry and killing the other players, with the player with the highest kills when the time runs out winning. A team variation of this involves the same principle. The third game mode is "last man standing", in which each player has a limited amount of respawns, with players losing a life when they are killed. Eventually, all but one player will be eliminated from the game, leaving the survivor as the winner. The final game mode is "tournament", in which two players fight each other while the other players watch as spectators. The victor of the battle remains in the arena, facing each other player one at a time until the winner of previous rounds is defeated. The loser then moves to the spectators and the new winner remains to fight the next player. The Xbox version of "Doom 3" also incorporates an additional two-player co-operative mode for the main single-player game.


title: Doom 3

text: As of April 15, 2010, the Xbox Live service was shut down, thus online multiplayer for the original Xbox game is no longer available.


title: Doom 3

text: "Doom 3" is set on the planet Mars in the year 2145. According to the game's backstory, the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) has grown to become the largest corporate entity in existence with near-unlimited funds, and has set up a research facility on Mars. At this base, the UAC are able to conduct research into several scientific areas, including advanced weapons development, biological research, space exploration and teleportation, outside of legal and moral boundaries. As the player progresses through the game, they learn that the employees on the base are unsettled due to a large number of incidents involving hearing voices, unexplained sightings and increasing cases of paranoia and insanity, often leading to fatal accidents with the facility's machinery. Rumors regarding the nature of experiments in the UAC's Delta Labs division are especially prevalent among the base's employees.


title: Doom 3

text: There are five main characters in "Doom 3". The player assumes the role of an anonymous Space Marine corporal who has just arrived on the UAC's Mars base. The player's non-commissioned officer in-charge is Master Sergeant Thomas Kelly (voiced by Neil Ross) who gives the player objectives and advice over the player's radio for the first half of the game. The antagonist in the story is Dr. Malcolm Betruger (Philip L. Clarke), the head scientist of the UAC's enigmatic Delta Labs division, who is revealed to be working in collaboration with the forces of Hell to cause the subjugation of humanity, and his demonic voice frequently taunts the player as the game progresses. The final two principal characters are Elliott Swann (Charles Dennis), a representative of the UAC's board of directors, and Jack Campbell (Andy Chanley), a space marine who acts as Swann's bodyguard and is armed with a BFG 9000. Swann is sent to Mars to check up on Betruger's research and investigate the rising number of accidents on the base after a request for assistance from a whistleblower. Swann is almost always accompanied by Campbell, and the two are often shown in the game to be a few steps ahead of the player, but cannot be reached and directly communicated with until late in the game. The game also incorporates a large host of minor characters who add details to the story or assist the player in certain segments. The player encounters multiple scientists involved in the various research and development programs and archaeological digs through the UAC base, as well as fellow marines and security guards. Civilian employees engaged in bureaucratic work and maintenance workers are also seen.


title: Doom 3

text: UAC board member Elliott Swann, his bodyguard Jack Campbell, and a recently transferred Marine arrive at Mars City, the main access to the UAC's Mars base. Sent to investigate multiple incidents involving the Delta Complex, Swann has a tense meeting with facility director Dr. Malcolm Betruger while the Marine reports to Master Sergeant Thomas Kelly for orders. Kelly orders the Marine to find a scientist from the Delta Labs who has gone missing. The marine finds the scientist in a decommissioned communications facility, where he is frantically trying to send a warning to the UAC on Earth about Betruger's teleportation experiments. However, as he tries to explain the situation to the marine, another teleportation test takes place but loses containment, at which point the entire Mars base is swept with a shockwave. The forces of Hell invade through the teleporter's portal and transform most of the base's personnel into zombies.


title: Doom 3

text: Now forced to fend off attacks from zombified base personnel and demons from Hell, the Marine returns to Mars City, where Kelly gives him orders to link up with another squad of marines and get a transmission card containing a distress call to the main communications facility to call for reinforcements. As the Marine progresses through the base, he learns that Swann and Campbell have survived, and are also en route to the communications facility to prevent any messages being sent in order to contain the situation on Mars. The marine squad is ambushed by demons and slaughtered in the EnPro Plant, and although the Marine recovers the transmission card, he is too late to prevent the bulk of equipment at the communications facility being destroyed by Campbell. However, Kelly directs the Marine to a backup system, where the Marine is given the choice of whether to obey Kelly's orders to send for reinforcements, or accept Swann's argument to keep Mars isolated until the nature of the invasion is understood, so as not to endanger Earth. The Marine is told to go to the Delta Labs by Kelly or Swann, depending on whether the transmission is sent or not.


title: Doom 3

text: On the way to the Delta Labs, the Marine is contacted by Betruger, who is now shown to be working in cooperation with Hell in order to invade Earth. If the Marine did not send the distress call to Earth, Betruger does so himself, hoping to use the ships bringing reinforcements to transport the demons to Earth. Betruger then unsuccessfully attempts to kill the Marine using the toxic gases in the base's recycling facilities. Upon arriving at the Delta Labs, the Marine learns of the details behind the teleportation experiments, expeditions into Hell to retrieve specimens and Betruger's increasing obsession with the tests, as well as of a xenoarchaeological dig under the surface of Mars. The dig is excavating the ruins of an ancient civilization discovered on Mars, and has produced a relic known as the Soul Cube. According to a scientist the Marine finds in the labs, the Soul Cube is a weapon created by the ancient civilization to defend against the forces of Hell. The scientist also reveals that the invasion began when Betruger took the Soul Cube into the portal at the beginning of the game, depositing it in Hell. The Marine pursues Betruger through the labs, but is pulled into the main teleportation portal after being lured into a trap by Betruger.


title: Doom 3

text: The portal takes the Marine directly into Hell, where he proceeds to fight his way through a large number of demons to the Soul Cube, defeating its demonic guardian. The Marine is then able to reinitialize the teleportation equipment left by previous research expeditions and return to the Delta Labs. Betruger, however, tells the Marine that although the main UAC teleporter has been destroyed, Hell is opening a Hellmouth on Mars, capable of bringing millions of demons to Mars. The Marine encounters the injured Swann, who informs him that Kelly has been working with Hell for possibly the whole time, and has been transformed by the demons. Telling the Marine that Campbell has gone after Kelly, Swann gives the marine his PDA containing information on the location on the Hellmouth under the surface of Mars and says that he will try to make his way out of the base alone.


title: Doom 3

text: However, when the Marine catches up with Campbell in the central computer processing sector of the base, Campbell is mortally wounded; before expiring, he says that Kelly has taken Campbell's BFG 9000 weapon. Kelly then begins to taunt the marine in a demonic voice. The Marine eventually faces off with Kelly in the central computer core, revealing Kelly as a cybernetic human grafted onto a tank-like base. The Marine is able to kill Kelly and takes the BFG 9000 before proceeding deeper under the Martian surface to Site 3, the archaeological dig site where the Soul Cube was unearthed. At the primary excavation site, the Marine discovers the Hellmouth, defended by Hell's mightiest warrior, the Cyberdemon. Using the Soul Cube, the Marine defeats the Cyberdemon, and the Soul Cube then seals the Hellmouth. The ending cut scene shows the reinforcements from Earth arriving at the base to discover the carnage. They find the Marine alive, but discover that Swann has died from his injuries. They are unable to locate Betruger, who in the final scene is shown in Hell, reincarnated as a dragon-like demon.


title: Doom 3

text: In June 2000, id Software's game engine designer John Carmack, posted an internal company plan announcing a remake of "Doom" using next generation technology. This plan revealed controversy had been growing within id Software over remaking "Doom". Kevin Cloud and Adrian Carmack, two of id Software's owners, were always strongly opposed to remaking "Doom", believing that id was going back to the same formulas and properties too often. However, after the positive reception to "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" and the latest improvements in rendering technology, most of the employees agreed that a remake was the right idea and presented the two owners with an ultimatum: allow them to remake "Doom" or fire them. After the reasonably amicable confrontation (although artist Paul Steed, one of the instigators, was fired in retaliation), the agreement to work on "Doom 3" was made. Id Software began development on "Doom 3" in late 2000, immediately after finishing "". The game was made by 20 to 22 people. In February 2001, it was unveiled to the public by Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple at the time when it unveiled) in Macworld Conference & Expo/Tokyo 2001 along with the GeForce 3 at Makuhari Messe and was later demonstrated at E3 2002 at LACC, where a fifteen-minute gameplay demo was shown. It won five awards at E3 that year.


title: Doom 3

text: Early in "Doom 3"s development, Trent Reznor of the band Nine Inch Nails, a fan of the "Doom" games, was set to compose the music and sound effects to "Doom 3". However, due to "time, money and bad management", none of Trent Reznor's sound effects or music made the final product. Eventually, Nine Inch Nails' former drummer, Chris Vrenna, produced and fellow Tweaker band member Clint Walsh composed the game's soundtrack.


title: Doom 3

text: "Doom 3" was also intended to be more storyline-focused than previous id titles, as was demonstrated by the developers' conscious effort to have more professional voice acting. Late in 2002, two employees at ATI Technologies leaked a development version of "Doom 3" onto the Internet. One year later, a new trailer was shown at E3 2003 and soon afterwards id Software's website was updated to showcase "Doom 3" as an upcoming project, although it was also announced that "Doom 3" would not be ready for the 2003 holiday season. According to John Carmack, the development took longer than expected. The developer Splash Damage assisted in design for the multiplayer elements of the game. Around 3,000 beta testers on site provided feedback via QuakeCon. The game's crunch period was between January and August 2004.


title: Doom 3

text: According to John Carmack, the lead graphics engine developer at id Software, the technology of "Doom 3" was supported by three primary features: unified lighting and shadowing, complex animations and scripting that showed real-time with fully dynamic per-pixel lighting and stencil shadowing, and GUI surfaces that add extra interactivity to the game. The key advance of the id Tech 4 graphics engine developed for "Doom 3" is the unified lighting and shadowing. Rather than computing or rendering lightmaps during map creation and saving that information in the map data, most light sources are computed in real-time. This allows lights to cast shadows even on non-static objects such as monsters and machinery, which was impossible with static non-directional lightmaps. A shortcoming of this approach is the engine's inability to render soft shadows and global illumination.


title: Doom 3

text: To increase the interactivity with the game world, id Software designed hundreds of high-resolution animated screens for in-game computers. Rather than using a simple "use key" to operate these computers, the crosshair acts as a mouse cursor over the screens allowing the player to use a computer in the game world. This allows for an in-game computer terminal to perform more than one function, from operating security door codes, activating machinery, toggling lights or unlocking weapons lockers. According to the "Doom 3" manual, GUI designer Patrick Duffy wrote over 500,000 lines of script code, and generated more than 25,000 image files to create all of the graphical interfaces, computer screens, and displays throughout "Doom 3". Other important features of the game engine are normal mapping and specular highlighting of textures, realistic handling of object physics, a dynamic, ambient soundtrack, and multi-channel sound. "Doom 3" on Xbox supports 480p widescreen video display resolution and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.


title: Doom 3

text: "Doom 3" achieved gold status on July 14, 2004 and a Mac OS X release was confirmed the next day. "Doom 3" was released in the United States on August 3, 2004, and to the rest of the world on August 13. Due to high demand, the game was made available at select outlets at midnight on the date of release. Additionally, a Linux version was released on October 4, 2004, by Timothee Besset. The Mac OS X version was released on March 14, 2005, and on February 20, 2006, the patch 1.3 Rev A included a universal binary, adding support for Mac OS X on the x86 architecture. Finally, the modified Xbox conversion was released on April 3, 2005, featuring a limited steel book edition and two games including "The Ultimate Doom" and "".


title: Doom 3

text: A week before the game's release, it became known that an agreement to include EAX audio technology in "Doom 3" reached by id Software and Creative Labs was heavily influenced by a software patent owned by the latter company. The patent dealt with a technique for rendering shadows called Carmack's Reverse, which was developed independently by both John Carmack and programmers at Creative Labs. Id Software would have placed themselves under legal liability for using the technique in the finished game, so to defuse the issue, id Software agreed to license Creative Labs sound technologies in exchange for indemnification against lawsuits.


title: Doom 3

text: During the keynote address at QuakeCon 2011, John Carmack announced that the source code for the "Doom 3" engine would be released. The source code was open-sourced under the GNU GPL-3.0-or-later on November 22, 2011. It contains minor tweaks to the shadow rendering code to avoid potential patent infringement with a patent held by Creative Labs. Art assets such as 3D models, music, sound effects etc. remain subject to the EULA.


title: Doom 3

text: On April 3, 2005, eight months after the release of "Doom 3", id Software released an expansion pack for "Doom 3" on Windows. The expansion, entitled "Resurrection of Evil", was developed by Nerve Software, a company that had partnered with id Software on several other projects, including "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" and the Xbox conversion of "Doom". Once again published by Activision, a Linux version was released on May 24, 2005, and an Xbox version followed on October 5, 2005. The expansion featured a new twelve-level single-player campaign, set two years after the original storyline, as well as three new weapons, one of which is geared towards manipulating the physics in the game. Several new enemy characters were also introduced. Multiplayer gameplay was enhanced, officially increasing the player limit to eight and adding new game modes such as capture the flag. "Resurrection of Evil"s reception was not as positive as it had been for "Doom 3", but still received generally favorable reviews from the industry's critics.


title: Doom 3

text: In 2009, Escalation Studios released a spin-off of "Doom 3" for iOS called "Doom: Resurrection." It is a rail shooter much like "Time Crisis" or "The House of The Dead." It was removed from the App Store a few years later.


title: Doom 3

text: A re-release of "Doom 3" called "Doom 3: BFG Edition", published by Bethesda Softworks, was released on October 15, 2012, in Australia, October 16, 2012, in North America and October 19, 2012, in Europe. The "BFG Edition" features enhanced graphics, better sound with more horror effects, a checkpoint save system, support for 3D displays and HMDs, and the ability to use the flashlight while holding a weapon, in the form of the so-called "armor-mounted flashlight". Also included are the previous expansion pack "Resurrection of Evil", a new single-player expansion called "The Lost Mission", and copies of the original "Doom" (the "Ultimate Doom" edition with the add-on fourth episode, "Thy Flesh Consumed") and "Doom II" (with the expansion "", previously available only for the Xbox 360). The versions of "Doom" and "Doom II" released with the "BFG Edition" have undergone some degree of censorship. PC versions of "Doom 3: BFG Edition" other than the GOG.com release require the Steam client and a valid Steam account for installation, play and achievements.


title: Doom 3

text: "Doom 3" received a favorable reception from critics, with the PC version of the game holding an 87 percent score and an 88 percent score at the review compilation sites Metacritic and GameRankings respectively. Much praise was given to the quality of "Doom 3"s graphics and presentation; "GameSpot" described the game's environments as "convincingly lifelike, densely atmospheric, and surprisingly expansive", while "PC Gamer UK" described the graphics and non-player character modeling and animation as simply "flawless", stating that "Doom 3" signalled the return of the "Doom" franchise to the forefront of the computer and video game industry, eleven years after the release of the original "Doom". "IGN"s Dan Adams noted that the game's presentation comprised a remarkably high proportion of the game, stating that "without the atmosphere, "Doom 3" is a plain shooter that hearkens back to those of the '90s." In addition, several reviewers praised id Software for making the game still look surprisingly good even on lower graphics levels.


title: Doom 3

text: A number of reviewers also praised the attention paid to the game's premise and setting; GameSpot's Greg Kasavin described getting "the impression that "Doom 3" takes place in a fully realized world" while "IGN" noted that "the UAC base also has a very worn and lived-in feel that adds to the realism." "Eurogamer" in particular pointed out that the game's opening sequence "feels like a fitting tribute to the excellent ideas" of Valve's genre-defining "Half-Life".


title: Doom 3

text: Many reviewers noted that "Doom 3" stuck with a similar "run and gun" gameplay style that was successful with its predecessors, and the game was alternately praised and criticized for this element. Several reviews were critical of a perceived repetitiveness in gameplay after a while. In addition, the game's artificial intelligence was not regarded as particularly challenging, with GameSpot noting that "enemies follow the same sorts of predictable patterns that [players] may remember from previous "Doom" games" while "GameSpy" stated the way enemies would spawn to attack the player was "gimmicky"; the reviewer noted that players would realize that picking up a lone armor vest would cause a variety of zombies to emerge from hidden compartments in the dark. In addition, several reviewers noted that the game's methods of conveying the story were "ineffectual", compounded by the lack of an identity for the player character. Finally, the game's multiplayer was seen as lacking in innovation, with its low player limits and small number of game modes, particularly in contrast to id Software's influential "Quake III Arena".


title: Doom 3

text: The Xbox version of "Doom 3" received a similar level of critical support, holding a score of 88 percent on Metacritic and an 87.7 percent score on GameRankings. The game was praised and faulted on many of the same issues as the PC version, although the game was praised for maintaining smooth and user-friendly controls on a gamepad, as well as for including a two player co-operative multiplayer mode, which IGN described as "worth the price of admission alone." However, some criticism was directed towards slowdowns in play due to the game engine, despite being scaled down for the Xbox, still being demanding on the Xbox hardware.


title: Doom 3

text: "GameSpot" named "Doom 3" the best computer game of August 2004, and later gave the game its annual "Best Graphics, Technical" prize. "Computer Games Magazine" nominated the game for its "Best Technology" award in 2005, which ultimately went to "Half-Life 2".


title: Doom 3

text: "Doom 3" was a commercial success for id Software. id expected to sell 4 million copies of the game. In the United States, the computer version sold 760,000 copies and earned $32.4 million by August 2006. It was the country's 16th best-selling computer game between January 2000 and August 2006. Its computer version also received a "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom. By the beginning of 2007, over 3.5 million copies of "Doom 3" had been sold worldwide (compared to 2-3 million copies sold for the original "Doom" and 2 million for "Doom II"), making it the most successful project by id Software at the time.


title: Doom 3

text: In early 2008, a new series of "Doom" novels by Matthew J. Costello were published, an author who had worked on the story and scripts for "Doom 3" and "Resurrection of Evil"; previous "Doom" novels had expanded the storyline of the original two "Doom" games. The series of books aims to novelize the story of "Doom 3", with the first installment, "", published on February 26, 2008. The second book in the series, "", was released in March 2009.


title: Doom 3

text: The game engine for "Doom 3", id Tech 4, has been licensed out for the use of other developers, such as in Human Head Studios' "Prey", Raven Software's "Quake 4", Splash Damage's "", Raven Software's "Wolfenstein", and Splash Damage's "Brink"; however id Tech 4 has not been widely licensed compared to Epic Games' Unreal Engine. On November 22, 2011, the source code of the engine was released under the GNU GPL-3.0-or-later, but the game's artwork content still remains under the EULA. A later source code drop also included the changes made for the "BFG Edition", allowing the re-release to potentially be ported to other previously unsupported platforms such as Linux and OS X, and such a port was eventually released.


title: Doom 3

text: Id Software eventually went on to release another title in the series, this time following the series' original roots in minimal storytelling and fast-paced action. Development was announced in 2008, then slated to run on the id Tech 5 engine and initially titled "Doom 4". Titled just "Doom" and powered by the id Tech 6, the game was released in 2016 by Bethesda Softworks for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 with cross-platform support in its "Snapmap" multiplayer mode. A Nintendo Switch version was released in 2017. It is considered a continuation of the original "Doom" storyline.


title: Year One (film)

text: Year One is a 2009 American adventure comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film was written by Harold Ramis, Gene Stupnitsky, and Lee Eisenberg and stars Jack Black and Michael Cera. Its story follows Zed and Oh, two hunter-gatherers who travel to the city of Sodom after being banished from their tribe. Problems quickly emerge during their journey, as they encounter several biblical figures along the way.


title: Year One (film)

text: The film was produced by Judd Apatow's production company The Apatow Company and was released on June 19, 2009. It grossed $19.6 million in its opening weekend and $62.4 million worldwide, against a budget of $60 million. Upon release, it was panned by everybody, receiving only a 14% approval rating based on 173 votes on Rotten Tomatoes. This marked the last film to be directed, produced, written and starring Harold Ramis before he passed away in February 2014.


title: Year One (film)

text: Once informed the hunter Zed ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the shaman and Marlak banish him from the tribe. His hut destroyed after Zed burns the village down by accident, the gatherer Oh reluctantly joins Zed on a journey to discover what the world has to offer.


title: Year One (film)

text: They encounter Cain and Abel. Cain kills Abel with a boulder in an act of rage and tells Zed and Oh that they must escape with him or else he will be accused of killing Abel.


title: Year One (film)

text: Zed and Oh find out their love interests, Maya and Eema, from their former tribe have been captured and sold into slavery. Trying to buy the girls' freedom, they end up being sold as slaves themselves, as Cain had been wanting to rid himself of the murder's witnesses. Whilst in transport, the slave caravan containing Oh, Zed, Maya, Eema and others from their tribe is attacked and overpowered by Sodomites. Zed and Oh escape and hide in the desert but lose track of the now Sodomite-led slave caravan.


title: Year One (film)

text: Still resolved to free the slaves and knowing the caravan's new destination, Zed and Oh pass by a mountain where they find Abraham about to kill his son Isaac. Zed stops them, telling Abraham Abraham's Deity sent him to do so. He takes them to his Hebrew village and tells them about the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.


title: Year One (film)

text: Zed and Oh head off for Sodom when Abraham plans to circumcise them. As they arrive they are captured. Cain, now a Sodomite soldier, saves them from being sodomized, calling them his "brothers". They remind Cain he sold them as slaves; he apologizes and offers them food, gives Zed and Oh a tour of the city and gets them jobs as guards.


title: Year One (film)

text: While patrolling the city they see the princess Inanna, who is fasting as she feels guilty that most of the city is starving. She notices Zed and has him invited to a party that night, surreptitiously pulling him aside for clandestine discussion.


title: Year One (film)

text: Inside the palace, Zed sees Maya and Eema serving as slaves, but Oh is forced to follow the High Priest around the palace while Zed meets with Princess Inanna, who asks him to enter the Holy of Holies and tell her what it is like, believing Zed is the "Chosen One".


title: Year One (film)

text: Inside the temple, Zed encounters Oh, who is hiding from the high priest. They get into a heated argument and are ratted on by an eavesdropping Cain, who then imprisons them for entering the temple. Sentenced to be stoned to death, Zed convinces the Sodomites to have mercy, so they are instead sentenced to hard labor until they die from work.


title: Year One (film)

text: The king then announces that he will sacrifice his daughter and two virgins (Maya and Eema), who were labeled by Cain as "followers of the Chosen One", as a gift to the gods. The growing crowd, already at its breaking point from the famine, reacts negatively as Princess Inanna is already very popular for her regular displays of solidarity with the people.


title: Year One (film)

text: Zed interrupts the ceremony and Oh instigates a riot with the exclamation "The Chosen One Comes"! Abraham arrives with the Hebrews to help overthrow the King. Oh and Eema have sex inside the palace, preventing either of them to be sacrificed. They help Zed subdue the other soldiers, who have already turned on and killed the King. Just about to throw Maya into the flames, Oh and Zed throw oil over the High Priest and he ends up being sacrificed instead, proving to be a true virgin. As a result, rain actually starts to fall, first for only a split second, then as an actual storm once Zed proclaims that anyone can be the chosen one.


title: Year One (film)

text: The crowd is ready to proclaim Zed as the Leader being the "Chosen One" but he decides that his love for Oh, Eema, and Maya outstrips his wish to be a Savior persona. He lets Inanna rule, and becomes an explorer with Maya. Oh becomes the leader of his home village. The two say goodbye and head their separate ways.


title: Year One (film)

text: The film uses the translation convention to comedic effect, presenting man prehistoric and Roman-era people speaking modern American English, and some Romans and royalty speaking British English.


title: Year One (film)

text: The score to "Year One" was composed by Theodore Shapiro, who recorded his score with contemporary band elements, and a 75-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Sony Scoring Stage.


title: Year One (film)

text: A commercial for the film aired during Super Bowl XLIII; soon after, a clip from the film surfaced on YouTube and the first trailer was attached to "I Love You, Man".


title: Year One (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 14% based on 173 reviews, with an average rating of 3.90/10. The site's consensus reads: ""Year One" is a poorly executed, slapdash comedy in which the talent both in front of and behind the camera never seem to be on the same page." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score 34% based on 28 reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B− on scale of A to F.


title: Year One (film)

text: Michael Phillips of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film a "fair-good" review of 2.5 out of 4 stars stating that ""Year One" won't join his list of essential comedies, the ones Ramis helped create as writer, director, performer or combination thereof." Claudia Puig of "USA Today" gave the film 2 out of 4 stars complaining that the film "is scattershot and silly, squandering its potential by relying on juvenile bawdy humor". Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film 1 star out of 4, stating that the film "is a dreary experience, and all the ending accomplishes is to bring it to a close". Kyle Smith of the "New York Post" gave the film 1.5 stars out of 5 saying it was "mediocre at best."


title: Year One (film)

text: "Year One" opened at #4 at the US box office in its opening weekend. The film eventually grossed $43,337,279 in US ticket sales, and a further $19,020,621 worldwide, for a total of $62,357,900. Its production budget was $60 million.


title: Alpo Martinez

text: Albert Geddis Martinez, better known as Alpo Martinez, Abraham G. Rodriquez (witness protection), or more simply as Alpo or Po (June 8, 1966 – October 31, 2021) was an American drug dealer from Harlem, New York City of Puerto Rican descent. Martinez rose to prominence in the mid–1980s. In addition to New York, Martinez expanded his drug trade to other cities, notably Washington, D.C.


title: Alpo Martinez

text: Martinez started selling drugs at 13 years old in the East Harlem section of New York when he met West Side Harlem drug dealer Azie Faison, Martinez started to move up the chain of drug dealers in Harlem and eventually became one of the biggest drug dealers in the city. Martinez later moved to Washington, D.C. to expand operations where he quickly became involved in the city's underworld and elevated his drug activities. He met Wayne 'Silk' Perry, a notorious gangster and D.C. enforcer, who would later become his bodyguard and hitman.


title: Alpo Martinez

text: On November 7, 1991, Martinez was arrested in Washington, D.C. for selling drugs. He was charged with conspiracy to commit murder, various drug charges, and 14 counts of murder, including the murder of D.C drug dealer Michael Anthony Salters aka Fray and Brooklyn drug dealer Demencio Benson. Facing the possibility of either the death penalty or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, Martinez turned informant and testified against members of his organization. For his testimony against Perry (who received five consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole), Martinez was sentenced to 35 years in prison.


title: Alpo Martinez

text: Martinez was released in 2015 while serving a 35-year sentence for 14 counts of murder at ADX Florence, a federal supermax prison located in Fremont County, Colorado. He was released after testifying against former associates and had been living under a United States witness protection program in Lewiston, Maine, under the assumed name, Abraham G. Rodriquez, until shortly before his death in 2021. According to the website, Martinez was in the federal witness protection program awaiting a new identity.


title: Alpo Martinez

text: On the morning of October 31, 2021, at 3:30am, Martinez was fatally shot five times in Harlem, New York, while seated in his 2017 Dodge Ram according to various media outlets including "The Source" magazine, Hot 97, AllHipHop and "The New York Times". Shakeem Parker was later charged with his murder. Several media outlets later reported that Martinez was killed over a road rage incident.


title: Alpo Martinez

text: Martinez was portrayed by rapper and actor Cam'ron in the 2002 film "Paid In Full" which was based on the criminal exploits of Martinez, Azie Faison and Rich Porter. Martinez is referenced in several hip hop and rap songs, including:


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Stephon Stiles Gilmore (born September 19, 1990) is an American football cornerback for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at South Carolina and was selected 10th overall by the Buffalo Bills in the 2012 NFL Draft. Gilmore spent his first five seasons with the Bills and earned Pro Bowl honors in 2016 before joining the New England Patriots. During his four seasons with the Patriots, Gilmore was named Defensive Player of the Year in 2019 after leading the league in interceptions. He also extended his Pro Bowl selections to four, received two first-team All-Pro selections, and was a member of the team that won a Super Bowl title in Super Bowl LIII. Gilmore was traded to the Carolina Panthers in 2021, where he received a fifth Pro Bowl selection, and signed with the Colts the following year.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore attended South Pointe High School in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where he played football, basketball and ran track. In football, he was a two-way player as quarterback and defensive back, and helped his team to a perfect 15–0 record and the SCHSL AAAA Division II title as a senior. Among his teammates were DeVonte Holloman and Jadeveon Clowney. Playing quarterback on offense, Gilmore rushed for 1,331 yards and 23 touchdowns and passed for 1,771 yards with 14 scores. He earned first-team all-state honors by The State and was named an All-American by "Parade" and "EA Sports". He was also named Mr. Football for the state of South Carolina.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: In track & field, Gilmore competed as a sprinter during his junior year in 2008. He recorded a PR of 11.41 seconds in the 100 meters in the prelims of the Taco Bell Classic. At the York County Meet, he took 5th in the 200 meters, at 23.14 seconds, and placed 9th in the 400 meters, with a time of 54.94 seconds. He was also a member of the 4 × 100 m relay (43.10s) squad.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Considered a four-star recruit by "Rivals.com", Gilmore was listed as the No. 2 overall prospect from South Carolina in the class of 2009. He chose South Carolina over Alabama, Tennessee, and Clemson.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore graduated from South Pointe High School in December 2008 to enroll at South Carolina early, and participate in spring practice. It worked out, as he came out of spring as a starter at cornerback. Appearing in all 12 games for the Gamecocks, Gilmore was the rare true freshman to start at cornerback in the Southeastern Conference in 2009. He had 52 tackles, five tackles for loss, two sacks, and nine passes defended, which earned him Freshman All-American honors by "College Football News" and "Phil Steele". He has occasionally appeared on offense, with a career total of 3 attempted passes (2 complete) and 6 rushes during regular season games. He also completed a 29-yard pass to Alshon Jeffery in the 4th quarter of the 2010 Chick-fil-A Bowl.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore was one of 37 defensive backs to attend the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana and completed all of the required combine drills. He finished second among all defensive backs in the short shuttle, tied for fourth in the 40-yard dash and the three-cone drill, finished sixth in the broad jump, and seventh in the vertical jump. On March 28, 2012, Gilmore attended South Carolina's pro day, along with Alshon Jeffery, Antonio Allen, Melvin Ingram, and 11 other prospects. He opted to stand on his combine numbers and only run positional drills for scouts and team representatives from all 32 NFL teams, including then-New York Jets' head coach Rex Ryan. At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Gilmore was projected to be a first round pick by NFL draft experts and scouts. He was ranked the second best cornerback prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com, NFL analyst Mike Mayock, and NFL analyst Adam Rank.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: The Buffalo Bills selected Gilmore in the first round (10th overall) of the 2012 NFL Draft. He was the second cornerback selected behind Morris Claiborne and was the highest selected Gamecocks' cornerback since Dunta Robinson in 2004.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: On May 17, 2012, the Bills signed Gilmore to a four-year, $12.08 million rookie contract that is fully guaranteed and also includes a signing bonus of $7.22 million with a fifth-year option.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore entered training camp slated as the No. 1 starting cornerback, alongside Aaron Williams. Head coach Chan Gailey named Gilmore and Williams the starting cornerbacks to begin the regular season.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore made his NFL debut and first career start in the Bills' season-opener at the New York Jets and recorded five combined tackles during a 48–28 road loss. The following week, he recorded a season-high seven solo tackles in the Bills' 35–17 win against the Kansas City Chiefs. On December 9, Gilmore collected two combined tackles and recorded his first NFL interception off of Sam Bradford during a 15–12 loss to the St. Louis Rams. Gilmore finished his rookie season with 61 combined tackles (52 solo), 16 pass deflections, and an interception in 16 games.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: On April 3, 2013, Gilmore changed his jersey number from No. 27 to No. 24 after it became available due to the departure of Terrence McGee in free agency. He entered training camp slated as the starting cornerback alongside Leodis McKelvin. On August 24, Gilmore recorded five combined tackles during the Bills' third preseason game at the Washington Redskins. He left in the third quarter of the 30–17 loss after suffering an injury to his wrist. On August 26, head coach Doug Marrone announced Gilmore suffered a fractured wrist, had undergone surgery, and was expected to miss 6–8 weeks.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore returned in Week 6 and recorded three combined tackles during a 27–24 overtime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Three weeks later, he recorded a season-high seven combined tackles as the Bills lost to the Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 23–13. During Week 14, Gilmore made two combined tackles, two pass deflections, and intercepted Mike Glennon during a 27–6 road loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore finished his second season with 35 combined tackles (30 solo), ten pass deflections, and two interceptions in 11 games and nine starts.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: On January 25, 2014, the Bills hired former Lions' head coach Jim Schwartz as their new defensive coordinator after Mike Pettine departed to accept the head coaching position with the Cleveland Browns. Head coach Doug Marrone named Gilmore and McKelvin the starting cornerbacks to begin the 2014 regular season.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore missed the Bills' 23–20 season-opening road victory over the Chicago Bears after sustaining a groin injury. During Week 3, he recorded a season-high six solo tackles during a 22–10 loss to the San Diego Chargers. During Week 8, Gilmore collected five combined tackles, deflected a pass, and intercepted quarterback Geno Smith during a 43–23 road victory over the New York Jets. He missed the Bills' Week 17 victory at the New England Patriots after he suffered a concussion during a 26–24 road loss to the Oakland Raiders the previous week.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore finished the 2014 season with 46 combined tackles (38 solo), six pass deflections, and three interceptions in 14 games and starts. The Bills finished second in the AFC East with a 9–7 record but did not qualify for the playoffs. On December 31, 2014, Marrone announced his resignation as the head coach of the Bills.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: On August 28, 2015, the Bills exercised the fifth-year option on Gilmore's rookie contract, paying him a salary of $11.08 million for 2016. New head coach Rex Ryan named Gilmore and Ronald Darby the starting cornerback duo to begin the regular season.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore started in the season-opener against the Indianapolis Colts and recorded a season-high six solo tackles during a 27–14 victory. During Week 5 against the Tennessee Titans, he recorded a solo tackle, a career-high four pass deflections, and an interception during a narrow 14–13 road victory. On December 6, Gilmore collected two combined tackles before leaving the 30–21 victory against the Houston Texans after suffering a shoulder injury while tackling running back Akeem Hunt. On December 16, Gilmore was placed on injured reserve for the rest of the season after he underwent surgery the previous day to repair his torn labrum.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore finished his first season under defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman with 36 solo tackles, a then career-high 18 pass deflections, and three interceptions in 12 games and starts. The Bills did not qualify for the playoffs after finishing with an 8–8 record.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: 37–31 loss to the New York Jets. In the next game, he made three combined tackles, four pass deflections, and intercepted Arizona Cardinals' quarterback Carson Palmer twice in their 33–18 victory. This marked Gilmore's first multi-interception game of his career. During Week 11, he made six combined tackles, three pass deflections, and intercepted quarterback Andy Dalton twice during a 16–12 road victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: On December 27, the Buffalo Bills fired head coach Rex Ryan after losing to the Miami Dolphins and falling to a 7–8 record. Running backs coach Anthony Lynn was appointed to interim head coach for the final game of the season. Gilmore was inactive for the Bills' 30–10 Week 17 road loss to the New York Jets after he sustained a concussion the previous week against the Dolphins.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore finished the 2016 season with 48 combined tackles (42 solo), 12 pass deflections, and a career-high five interceptions in 15 games and starts. His five interceptions were the most by a Bills' player since Jairus Byrd intercepted five passes in . On January 23, 2017, the Buffalo Bills announced that Gilmore was voted to the 2017 Pro Bowl. He also received the Ed Block Courage Award.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: The Bills hired Sean McDermott to be their new head coach and he declined to franchise tag Gilmore. He entered contract negotiations with the Chicago Bears, but was unable to reach a deal.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: On March 9, 2017, the New England Patriots signed Gilmore to a five-year, $65 million contract that includes $31 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $18 million.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore made his Patriots' debut in the season-opener against the Kansas City Chiefs and recorded four combined tackles and deflected a pass during a 42–27 loss. Two weeks later against the Houston Texans, he recorded his first interception as a Patriot off of Deshaun Watson in the narrow 36–33 victory. Gilmore missed three games (Weeks 6–8) after suffering a concussion during a Week 5 19-14 road victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On December 17, 2017, Gilmore recorded a career-high eight solo tackles and broke up a pass during a 27-24 road victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore finished his first season with the Patriots with a career-high 50 combined tackles (47 solo), nine pass deflections, and two interceptions in 13 games and starts.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: The Patriots finished atop the AFC East with a 13–3 record and received a first-round bye. On January 13, 2018, Gilmore started in his first NFL playoff game and recorded one tackle and two pass deflections as the Patriots defeated the Tennessee Titans by a score of 35–14 in the AFC Divisional round. After defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Championship Game by a score of 24–20, the Patriots went on to face the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl. On February 4, 2018, Gilmore started in Super Bowl LII and recorded four solo tackles and two pass deflections during the Patriots' 41–33 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: During the season-opener, Gilmore recorded a season-high eight combined tackles, two pass deflections and intercepted Deshaun Watson in a 27–20 win over the Houston Texans. In Week 9 against the Green Bay Packers, he held Packers star receiver Davante Adams to two catches for 15 yards on four targets and recovered an Aaron Jones fumble early in the fourth quarter that led to the Patriots scoring 14 unanswered points in their 31–17 win. During Week 10 against the Tennessee Titans, he got his first NFL sack on Marcus Mariota in the 34-10 road loss. Two weeks later, Gilmore recorded three pass deflections and intercepted Josh McCown in a 27-13 road victory over the New York Jets. He started all 16 games, finishing the season second in the league with 20 passes defensed. He was named to his second Pro Bowl, was named first-team All-Pro, and was the highest graded cornerback in the league by Pro Football Focus.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: In the Divisional Round against the Los Angeles Chargers, Gilmore recorded a team high two pass deflections and intercepted a pass from Philip Rivers that was intended for Keenan Allen in the 41–28 victory. In the AFC Championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs, he recorded one tackle in the 37–31 overtime road victory. During Super Bowl LIII against the Los Angeles Rams, Gilmore intercepted a fourth quarter throw from quarterback Jared Goff that was intended for former teammate Brandin Cooks to seal a 13–3 victory for the Patriots.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Coming off of the best year of his career thus far, Gilmore was named the number one cornerback alongside Jason McCourty.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: During Week 2 against the Miami Dolphins, Gilmore intercepted former teammate Ryan Fitzpatrick and returned it for a 50-yard touchdown as the Patriots won on the road by a score of 43–0. This was his first interception of the season and it was his first NFL pick six. In Week 6 against the New York Giants, Gilmore recorded five pass deflections and a toe tapping interception off of Daniel Jones on the sideline in the 35–14 victory. He allowed a 0.0 passer rating when targeted during the game. After the game, former Patriots' cornerback Darrelle Revis said that Gilmore is "by far the best corner in the league right now." In the next game against the New York Jets, Gilmore intercepted Sam Darnold once in the 33–0 road victory. On October 31, 2019, Gilmore was named AFC Defensive Player of the Month for October.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: During Week 12 against the Dallas Cowboys, Gilmore held Pro Bowl wide receiver Amari Cooper to no catches on two targets and recorded an interception off a pass thrown by Dak Prescott intended for Cooper in the 13–9 victory. Two weeks later against the Kansas City Chiefs, Gilmore recovered a fumble forced by teammate Devin McCourty on Travis Kelce in the 23–16 loss. In the next game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Gilmore recorded two interceptions off Andy Dalton, the second of which was returned for a 65-yard pick six, during the 34–13 road victory. The last two weeks of the season saw Gilmore struggle; he allowed his first touchdown of the season against the Buffalo Bills in Week 16, a 53-yard reception by John Brown, despite the Patriots winning 24–17, then allowed DeVante Parker to catch eight passes for 137 yards during a 27–24 loss to the Dolphins.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore finished the season with 53 tackles, 20 passes defended, and a league-leading six interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns. He was awarded the Associated Press NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award in recognition of his excellent season. He was the first member of the New England Patriots and the first cornerback since Charles Woodson in 2009 to win the award.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: During the season-opener against the Miami Dolphins, Gilmore recorded his first interception of the season off a pass thrown by Ryan Fitzpatrick during the 21–11 win. In the next game against the Seattle Seahawks, he struggled to cover wide receiver DK Metcalf allowing 92 yards including a 54-yard touchdown in the 30–35 road loss. After a Week 4 26-10 road loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, he tested positive for COVID-19, and was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list by the team. Gilmore was activated on October 15. In Week 15, he suffered a partially torn quad, and was placed on injured reserve on December 23. Gilmore finished the season with 37 tackles, three pass deflections, and an interception through 11 games and starts.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: On August 31, 2021, Gilmore was placed on the reserve/physically unable to perform list to start the season due to the quad injury he suffered the previous season.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore was traded to the Carolina Panthers on October 6, 2021, in exchange for a sixth-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft. He appeared in eight games for Carolina, starting three, totaling 16 tackles and two interceptions.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: On April 18, 2022, the Indianapolis Colts signed Gilmore to a two-year contract worth up to $23 million, with $14 million guaranteed.


title: Stephon Gilmore

text: Gilmore is the son of Linda and Steve Gilmore. On July 12, 2014, Gilmore married his college sweetheart, Gabrielle Glenn. They have three children together, Sebastian, Gael and Gisele. Gabrielle, also an athlete, was a collegiate sprinter for University of South Carolina.


title: Forbes Global 2000

text: The "Forbes" Global 2000 is an annual ranking of the top 2000 public companies in the world, published by "Forbes" magazine. "The Global 2000" annual ranking is assembled by "Forbes" using a weighted assessment of four metrics: sales, profit, assets and market value. The list has been published since 2003.


title: Forbes Global 2000

text: As a group, the Forbes Global 2000 in year 2018 accounts for $39.1* trillion in sales, $3.2 trillion in profit, $189* trillion in assets and $56.8* trillion in market value.


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: Georges Auguste Escoffier (; 28 October 1846 – 12 February 1935) was a French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer who popularized and updated traditional French cooking methods. Much of Escoffier's technique was based on that of Marie-Antoine Carême, one of the codifiers of French "haute cuisine"; Escoffier's achievement was to simplify and modernize Carême's elaborate and ornate style. In particular, he codified the recipes for the five mother sauces. Referred to by the French press as "roi des cuisiniers et cuisinier des rois" ("king of chefs and chef of kings"—also previously said of Carême), Escoffier was a preeminent figure in London and Paris during the 1890s and the early part of the 20th century.


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: Alongside the recipes, Escoffier elevated the profession. In a time when kitchens were loud, riotous places where drinking on the job was commonplace, Escoffier demanded cleanliness, discipline, and silence from his staff. In bringing order to the kitchen, he tapped into his own military experience to develop the hierarchical "brigade de cuisine" system for organizing the kitchen staff which is still standard in many restaurants today. He worked in partnership with hotelier César Ritz, rising to prominence together at the Savoy in London serving the elite of society, and later at the Ritz Hotel in Paris and the Carlton in London.


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: Escoffier published "Le Guide Culinaire", which is still used as a major reference work, both in the form of a cookbook and a textbook on cooking. Escoffier's recipes, techniques and approaches to kitchen management remain highly influential today, and have been adopted by chefs and restaurants not only in France, but also throughout the world.


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: Escoffier was born in the village of Villeneuve-Loubet, today in Alpes-Maritimes, near Nice. The house where he was born is now the Musée de l'Art Culinaire, run by the Foundation Auguste Escoffier. At the age of twelve, despite showing early promise as an artist, his father took him out of school to start an apprenticeship in the kitchen of his uncle's restaurant, Le Restaurant Français, in Nice. As an apprentice, August was bullied and swatted by his uncle and his small stature made him even more of a target–he was too short to safely open oven doors. Eventually, he wore boots with built up heels. Escoffier showed such an aptitude for cooking and kitchen management that he was soon hired by the nearby Hôtel Bellevue, where the owner of a fashionable Paris restaurant, Le Petit Moulin Rouge, offered him the position of "commis-rôtisseur" (apprentice roast cook) in 1865 at the age of 19. However, only months after arriving in Paris, Escoffier was called to active military duty, where he was given the position of army chef.


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: Escoffier spent nearly seven years in the army—at first stationed in various barracks throughout France (including five months in Villefranche-sur-Mer, coincidentally not three miles from his old home in Nice), and later at Metz as "chef de cuisine" of the Rhine Army after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. His army experiences led him to study the technique of canning food.


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: Sometime before 1878, he opened his own restaurant, "Le Faisan d'Or" (The Golden Pheasant), in Cannes.


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: In 1884, Escoffier and his wife moved to Monte Carlo, where Escoffier was employed by César Ritz, manager of the new Grand Hotel, to take control of the kitchens. At that time, the French Riviera was a winter resort: during the summers, Escoffier ran the kitchens of the Grand Hôtel National in Lucerne, also managed by Ritz.


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: In 1890, Ritz and Escoffier accepted an invitation from Richard D'Oyly Carte to transfer to his new Savoy Hotel in London, together with the third member of their team, the "maître d'hôtel", Louis Echenard. Ritz put together what he described as "a little army of hotel men for the conquest of London", and Escoffier recruited French cooks and reorganized the kitchens. The Savoy under Ritz and his partners was an immediate success, attracting a distinguished and moneyed clientele, headed by the Prince of Wales. Gregor von Görög, chef to the royal family, was an enthusiast of Escoffier's zealous organization. Aristocratic women, hitherto unaccustomed to dining in public, were now "seen in full regalia in the Savoy dining and supper rooms".


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: Escoffier created many famous dishes at the Savoy. In 1893, he invented the "pêche Melba" in honour of the Australian singer Nellie Melba, and in 1897, Melba toast. Other Escoffier creations, famous in their time, were the "bombe Néro" (a flaming ice-cream), "fraises à la Sarah Bernhardt" (strawberries with pineapple and Curaçao sorbet), "baisers de Vierge" (meringue with vanilla cream and crystallized white rose and violet petals) and "suprêmes de volailles Jeannette" (jellied chicken breasts with foie gras). He also created "salad Réjane", after Gabrielle Réjane, and (although this is disputed) "tournedos Rossini".


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: In 1897, the Savoy board of directors began noticing their revenues were falling despite business increasing. They discreetly hired an auditing company who in turn hired a private investigation company that began secretively tailing Ritz, Echenard and Escoffier. After a six-month investigation, they made a report to the board which detailed substantial evidence of fraud.


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: On 8 March 1898, Ritz, Echenard and Escoffier were brought in front of the board and dismissed from the Savoy "for ... gross negligence and breaches of duty and mismanagement". They were to leave immediately that day. Most of the kitchen and hotel staff were loyal to Ritz and Escoffier and as news spread disturbances in the Savoy kitchens reached the newspapers, with headlines such as "A Kitchen Revolt at The Savoy". "The Star" reported: "Three managers have been dismissed and 16 fiery French and Swiss cooks (some of them took their long knives and placed themselves in a position of defiance) have been bundled out by the aid of a strong force of Metropolitan police." The real details of the dispute did not emerge at first. Ritz and his colleagues even prepared to sue for wrongful dismissal.


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: Eventually, they settled the case privately: on 3 January 1900, Ritz, Echenard and Escoffier "made signed confessions" but their confessions "were never used or made public". Escoffier's confession was the most serious admitting to an actual crime, taking kickbacks from the Savoy's food suppliers worth up to 5% of the resulting purchases. The scheme worked by Escoffier ordering, for example, 600 eggs from a supplier; the supplier would pay Escoffier a bribe and make up the difference by delivering a short-count, for example, 450 eggs, with Escoffier's complicity. The Savoy's losses totaled more than £16,000 of which Escoffier was to repay £8,000 but he was allowed to settle his debt for £500 since that was all the money he possessed. Ritz paid £4,173 but he denied taking part in any illegal activity; he confessed to being overly gratis with gifts to favored guests and staff, the hotel paying for his home food and laundry, and similar infractions.


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: By the time of their dismissal from the Savoy, however, Ritz and his colleagues were on the way to commercial independence, having established the Ritz Hotel Development Company, for which Escoffier set up the kitchens and recruited the chefs, first at the Paris Ritz (1898), and then at the new Carlton Hotel in London (1899), which soon drew much of the high-society clientele away from the Savoy. In addition to the "haute cuisine" offered at luncheon and dinner, tea at the Ritz became a fashionable institution in Paris, and later in London, though it caused Escoffier real distress: "How can one eat jam, cakes and pastries, and enjoy a dinner – the king of meals – an hour or two later? How can one appreciate the food, the cooking or the wines?"


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: In 1913, Escoffier met Kaiser Wilhelm II on board the SS "Imperator", one of the largest ocean liners of the Hamburg-Amerika Line. The culinary experience on board the "Imperator" was overseen by Ritz-Carlton, and the restaurant itself was a reproduction of Escoffier's Carlton Restaurant in London. Escoffier was charged with supervising the kitchens on board the "Imperator" during the Kaiser's visit to France. One hundred and forty-six German dignitaries were served a large multi-course luncheon, followed that evening by a monumental dinner that included the Kaiser's favourite strawberry pudding, named "fraises Imperator" by Escoffier for the occasion. The Kaiser was so impressed that he insisted on meeting Escoffier after breakfast the next day, where, as legend has it, he told Escoffier, "I am the Emperor of Germany, but you are the Emperor of Chefs." This was quoted frequently in the press, further establishing Escoffier's reputation as France's pre-eminent chef.


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: Ritz gradually moved into retirement after opening The Ritz Hotel, London, in 1906, leaving Escoffier as the figurehead of the Carlton until his own retirement in 1920. He continued to run the kitchens through the First World War, during which time his younger son was killed in active service. Recalling these years, "The Times" said, "Colour meant so much to Escoffier, and a memory arises of a feast at the Carlton for which the table decorations were white and pink roses, with silvery leaves – the background for a dinner all white and pink, "Borscht" striking the deepest note, "Filets de poulet à la Paprika" coming next, and the "Agneau de lait" forming the high note."


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: In 1919, at the age of 73, Escoffier was made Knight of the Légion d'honneur. In 1928, he was presented with the medal of Officer of the Légion d'honneur.


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: Escoffier married Delphine Daffis on 28 August 1878. She has been described as "a French Poet of some distinction and a member of the Academy". Escoffier apparently won her hand in a gamble with her father, publisher Paul Daffis, over a game of billiards. They had three children, Paul, Daniel (who was killed in World War I), and Germaine. She died on 6 February 1935.


title: Auguste Escoffier

text: Escoffier died on 12 February 1935, at the age of 88. He is buried in the family vault at Villeneuve-Loubet.


title: Age of Empires II

text: Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh, it is the second game in the "Age of Empires" series. "The Age of Kings" is set in the Middle Ages and contains thirteen playable civilizations. Players aim to gather resources, which they use to build towns, create armies, and defeat their enemies. There are five historically based campaigns, which conscript the player to specialized and story-backed conditions, as well as three additional single-player game modes; multiplayer is also supported.


title: Age of Empires II

text: Despite using the same game engine and code similar to its predecessor's, development of "The Age of Kings" took a year longer than expected, forcing Ensemble Studios to release "" in 1998 instead. The design team focused on resolving significant issues in "Age of Empires", but noted on release that some problems remained.


title: Age of Empires II

text: Reception of "Age of Empires II" was highly positive. The significant number of new features was praised, as were the gameplay improvements. The game received "universal acclaim" according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. Three months after its release, two million copies of "Age of Empires II" had been shipped, and it topped sales charts in seven countries. The game won multiple awards and is today considered a classic of its type, having had a significant impact on future games in its genre. The original "Age of Empires II" and its 2000 expansion pack, "", were later released as "The Gold Edition". "Age of Empires II" is often considered one of the greatest games ever made.


title: Age of Empires II

text: An updated high-definition graphics version of the game, "", was released in 2013. The "HD Edition" includes the original game and the expansion "The Conquerors", as well as new campaigns, civilizations, and updated graphics for high-resolution displays. A remaster, "", was released in November 2019.


title: Age of Empires II

text: "Age of Empires II" is a real-time strategy game that focuses on building towns, gathering resources, and creating armies to defeat opponents. Players conquer rival towns and empires as they advance one of 13 civilizations through four "Ages": the Dark Age, the Feudal Age, the Castle Age (representing the High Middle Ages), and the Imperial Age (reminiscent of the Renaissance)—a 1,000-year timeframe. Advancing to a new Age unlocks new units, structures, and technologies, but players must first build certain buildings from their current age and then pay a sum of resources (typically food and gold).


title: Age of Empires II

text: Civilian units, called "villagers", are used to gather resources; they are either male or female—gender does not affect their abilities. Resources can be used to train units, construct buildings, and research technologies, among other things; for example, players can research better armour for infantry units. The game features four types of resources: food, wood, gold, and stone. Food is obtained by hunting animals, gathering berries, harvesting livestock, farming, and fishing, both from shore and from boats. Wood is gathered by chopping down trees. Gold is obtained from either gold mines, trade, or collecting relics in a monastery. Stone is collected from stone mines. Villagers require checkpoints, typically depository buildings (town center, mining camp, mill, and lumber yard), in order to store gathered resources.


title: Age of Empires II

text: Each civilization can purchase upgrades that increase the rate of gathering these resources. Players can also construct a marketplace for trade, where they can trade wood, stone, and food for gold, and use gold to buy other resources. Market prices fluctuate with every transaction. Furthermore, markets and docks can also generate gold by using trading carts or cogs, which are sent to visit foreign markets and ports; once they return to the player's market/dock, gold is added to the stockpile. The amount of gold a trade unit earns on each trip is based on the distance it needed to travel to a foreign market; more gold is earned on longer trips. It is possible to trade with enemies' markets or docks, but the player's trading units may be attacked or destroyed by enemy units in the process. Players do not need to keep trading manually, as once they select the port or market the trading units continue to trade automatically and indefinitely.


title: Age of Empires II

text: There are five campaigns in "The Age of Kings", containing historically based scenarios such as Genghis Khan's invasion of Eurasia, Barbarossa's Crusade, and Saladin's defence of the Holy Land. In the Joan of Arc and William Wallace campaigns, the player can control a unit based on its namesake; in others, players take orders from guiding spirits representative of the army's commander.


title: Age of Empires II

text: Additional game modes are available to the player in "The Age of Kings". One mode, random map, generates a map from one of several randomly chosen map-generating scripts, with players starting in the Dark Age with a Town Center, three villagers (or more depending on the civilization), and a scout unit. The game can be won through military conquest, by constructing a special building known as a Wonder and keeping it standing for a certain amount of time, or by obtaining control of all relics on the map for a set amount of time. Deathmatch mode allows players to begin with large amounts of resources, creating a focus on military dominance, while in the regicide mode each player is given a king unit, winning by killing all of the other monarchs.


title: Age of Empires II

text: Every player has an ultimate limit to the number of units they can create—a population limit—but cannot immediately use this entire potential population. The population capacity, which can be capped at anywhere between 25 and 200 in intervals of 25, is based on the number of houses, Castles, or Town Centers—the main building in a player's town—which have been built. "The Age of Kings" introduced two significant new features for unit management: the idle villager button, which helps players identify villagers that have not been assigned a task, and the town bell, which sends all of the player's villagers into their Town Center, Castle, or tower for safety; units garrisoned within these three buildings, especially archers, increase the building's firepower (towers fire more arrows with units garrisoned inside), including the Town Center, which cannot fire anything at all without someone garrisoned there.


title: Age of Empires II

text: "The Age of Kings" also includes five types of military units: infantry, archers, cavalry, siege weapons, and naval units. Certain types of infantry, archers, and cavalry are "counter units" with special defenses against other types of units. The three human classes of military generally follow a rock-paper-scissors model. For example, infantry are generally powerful against buildings but weak against cavalry, thus the infantry counter units—spearmen and pikemen—have attack bonuses against cavalry.


title: Age of Empires II

text: Each civilization in "The Age of Kings" has one or two special units that are exclusive to that civilization. For instance, the Britons have access to longbowmen, an archery unit with increased range. These civilization-specific units are generally more powerful, but still follow the basic rock-paper-scissors model. The monk is a special kind of military unit that has the ability to convert enemy units to the player's civilization, and to heal allied units. Monks are also used to collect relics, which accumulate gold once held in the player's monastery—the more relics are captured, the faster the gold is accumulated. Collecting all relics on the map is one method by which a player can win a random map game, depending on the victory condition. Once a player has all the relics in their monasteries, a timer is shown to all players. The player holding all of the relics wins if they maintain control of the relics for the length of the timer.


title: Age of Empires II

text: Players choose to play as one of 13 civilizations split into four architectural styles—Western European, Eastern European, Middle Eastern, and East Asian—that determine building appearance in-game. The civilizations have varying strengths and weaknesses with regards to economics, technology, and combat, and each has access to one or more different, very powerful "Unique Units". Additionally, each civilization provides an individual team bonus in team games. To add variety, each civilization has a set of sound bites in its native language that are uttered by units when selected or instructed to perform a task.


title: Age of Empires II

text: Buildings in "The Age of Kings" are split into economic and military categories. Buildings can research technologies and upgrades that increase economic, military, or unit-based efficiency, as well as provide resources for the player.


title: Age of Empires II

text: The most important economic building is the Town Center, where villagers are created, all types of resources can be stored, some technologies are researched, and the player can advance to the next Age. The Town Center can fire arrows at enemy units if villagers or archers are garrisoned inside while enemy units are within range. Other economic buildings include storage buildings for resources, farms, docks (the dock may also produce several military ships), and houses to support a higher population.


title: Age of Empires II

text: Military buildings include unit-producing buildings such as barracks, archery ranges, stables, and castles, as well as defensive buildings such as walls and towers. Military buildings can conduct research to improve the abilities of military units, increasing their strength, defensive capabilities, or other capabilities. Castles are a key offensive and defensive building as they can build trebuchets, train the civilization's "unique unit/s", and fire a hail of arrows at enemy units within range, with garrisoned units firing extra arrows. Castles can only be built after a player has reached the Castle Age, although in some game options, players begin with an already-built castle as early as the Dark Age.


title: Age of Empires II

text: After advancing to the Imperial Age, players can also construct a Wonder, an expensive non-military building. On many gameplay modes building a Wonder triggers a victory countdown; unless it is destroyed within a certain timeframe, the player who built it wins. Every civilization's Wonder is in the shape of a real-world landmark unique to that historical culture.


title: Age of Empires II

text: "The Age of Kings" shipped with five campaigns, each having multiple playable scenarios that progress a story line, and each centered around a different civilization. The campaign of William Wallace (Celts) serves as a tutorial campaign, and teaches the player how to move units, gather resources, and build armies to defeat the enemy. It takes place during the Wars of Scottish Independence against the English under King Edward I Longshanks. In the Frankish campaign, the player leads Joan of Arc against the English in the Hundred Years' War. The Saracen campaign features Saladin and his efforts to repulse Crusaders in the Middle East, while the Mongol campaign documents Genghis Khan's conquest of Eurasia; finally, the Teuton campaign focuses on Frederick Barbarossa's ambitious expansion of the Holy Roman Empire. The campaigns are sorted numerically to distinguish difficulty, with the William Wallace campaign being the easiest and Barbarossa and Saladin being the two most challenging.


title: Age of Empires II

text: "The Age of Kings" supports multiplayer over the Internet, or via a local area network (LAN). Up to eight players can take part in one game, with all of the single-player game modes available. The MSN Gaming Zone supported the game until the service closed on June 19, 2006. After that, various multiplayer gaming services such as GameRanger supported it. Since April 2013, Steam supports in-game multiplayer for HD resolution


title: Age of Empires II

text: Prior to the completion of "Age of Empires", Ensemble Studios had signed a contract with Microsoft for a sequel. The design team chose to set "The Age of Kings" in the Middle Ages as a logical progression from the ancient era setting of "Age of Empires". The design team was conscious of attempting to capture the broad appeal of the first game without making the game's design too similar. Nonetheless, they attempted to appeal to the vast demographic who played "Age of Empires". "The Age of Kings"s design team intended to complete the game within a year by using code from the original and reusing the Genie game engine. Several months into the process they found they would not be able to complete a game of the quality they sought in that time. Ensemble Studios informed Microsoft they would need another year and instead created "", an easily developed expansion pack of "Age of Empires", as a compromise which could be released for Christmas 1998. To help meet the next year's deadline, additional programmers, artists, and designers were employed. To overcome another significant objection to the original game—its path-finding—the team completely redesigned the game engine's movement system.


title: Age of Empires II

text: The original "Age of Empires" was criticized for its artificial intelligence (AI), which did not "cheat" by attributing itself extra resources or using other techniques the human player could not, making it easier to defeat than in many other real-time strategy games. For "The Age of Kings", Ensemble Studios attempted to develop a more powerful AI system that still did not compromise by cheating. Industry veteran Mario Grimani led Ensemble Studios in the creation of the new system. "The Age of Kings" saw the introduction of a triggers system for its scenario editor. The triggers allow messages to be displayed, or actions to take place, based on pre-set criteria or "events". The scenario editor was also improved by the new AI system. The AI and trigger systems interacted regularly in the single-player campaigns.


title: Age of Empires II

text: The team was less successful in resolving other issues; programmer Matt Pritchard complained following the release of "Age of Empires" that there was still no process by which patches could be issued. Extensive cheating in multiplayer games of "Age of Empires" came as a result of several bugs in the game, which resulted in Microsoft promising Ensemble Studios there would be a patch process for "The Age of Kings". Upon release, there were several bugs that needed immediate attention, but the patch process was not yet ready. The first patch was released 11 months later.


title: Age of Empires II

text: Ensemble Studios developed a new terrain system for "The Age of Kings", with 3D presentation capabilities that were vastly superior to those of "Age of Empires". Pritchard noted an improvement in the team's artistic abilities following their work on the past two games, and he is noted as saying that ""AoK" became a showcase for their improved talent". However, he complained about the lack of an art asset management tool, while other departments gained new tools and automated procedures to assist in design and play testing.


title: Age of Empires II

text: The soundtrack for "The Age of Kings" was directed by Stephen Rippy, who has since taken that role for all games in the "Age of Empires" series. Music for the game was split into two categories. For "in-game" music, Rippy's team took musical elements from a variety of cultures and combined them to create a mixed sound. "Pre-game" music was designed to be unique to the civilization in question. Campaigns based on historical figures would include "a theme that will at least be rooted in [the character's] culture".


title: Age of Empires II

text: A demo of "The Age of Kings" was released on October 16, 1999. It featured the learning campaign, a sample of a random map game, and the ability to play via the MSN Gaming Zone. Much to Ensemble Studios' disappointment, numerous incomplete versions of the game were leaked. These were picked up by warez sites, and sold illegally throughout the Pacific Rim; warez versions of the game were even sold outside Microsoft's offices in South Korea.


title: Age of Empires II

text: In January 2000, three months after its release, Microsoft had shipped two million copies of "The Age of Kings". The game topped sales charts in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, and South Korea. It spent the next two and a half years on top 20 sales lists. "The Age of Kings" was the top-selling game in October 1999, and the fourth highest-selling game in 1999. The game's sales in the United States alone totaled 469,376 by the end of 1999, which drew revenues of $20.2 million, the second-highest domestic gross that year behind "SimCity 3000". Domestic sales rose another 442,318 units ($19.56 million) from January through October 2000, according to PC Data. It finished the year as the seventh-largest computer game hit in the United States, with 595,016 in sales and $26.2 million in revenue. "Age of Empires II"s domestic success continued in 2001: with sales of 478,557 units ($19.4 million), it claimed tenth place for the year.


title: Age of Empires II

text: In the German market, "Age of Empires II" debuted in first place on Media Control's sales charts during October 1999, and by March 2000 had spent 17 weeks in the rankings. It received the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland's (VUD) "Platinum" award within one month of release, indicating sales of 200,000 units across Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. By the end of February 2000, it had reached "Double-Platinum" status (400,000 sales) and become the German market's "most successful PC game of the past 12 months", according to the VUD. The game later received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) for at least 300,000 copies sold in the United Kingdom.


title: Age of Empires II

text: Between the 2019 re-release and global lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the game has seen a resurgence in popularity.


title: Age of Empires II

text: "The Age of Kings" received "universal acclaim", according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Age of Empires II

text: According to Eurogamer's Geoff Richards, "the list of new features and improvements over the original game is over a page long". "GamePro"s review similarly focused on "new additions to the genre itself" which it argued made "The Age of Kings" outstanding. These included the idle unit button and town bell. GameSpy's Carlos Salgado was appreciative of other features; he praised the ability to create individual profiles for different players and to customize hotkeys. Meanwhile, IGN appreciated the new abilities given to the villager unit—the review stated villagers "now play an important role not only in the collection of resources, but also in town defense and even in combat."


title: Age of Empires II

text: AllGame's Michael L. House enjoyed the use of sound bites in civilizations' native languages, which he said was "very influential in developing an era-enhancing atmosphere". Eurogamer said this feature "gives [villagers] a personality, rather than the standard 'Acknowledged' grunt of military RTS games", also stating that the use of female villagers provided a good variety. Game Revolution's review explained that by being set in a more recent epoch of human history, "The Age of Kings" was able to "add character to an otherwise impersonal style of gameplay". "Computer and Video Games" approved of "The Age of Kings" use of shorter, more focused campaigns, compared to its predecessor, while Game Revolution noted that even in slower sections of the campaign, the historical narrative helped maintain player interest. GameSpot said that with the screen full of units, "you can begin to imagine how their historical equivalents once prospered", while GameSpy said "The Age of Kings" presents "realism rarely seen in the RTS genre". IGN staff argued that while the strengths and weaknesses attributed to different civilizations made the game more realistic, the fact that they were still mostly the same prevented "The Age of Kings" from "delivering the same battlefield impact of "StarCraft" or """.