title: Zhang Zongchang

text: In 1924, he took part in the Second Zhili–Fengtian War, capturing the crucial Lengkouguan Pass after the Zhili clique's defenses were thrown into chaos due to Feng Yuxiang's betrayal. This boosted Zhang's reputation within the Fengtian clique. He later helped partition Shanghai between the opposing forces. In April 1925 he conquered Shanghai proper and then seized Nanjing, both for the glory of Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian clique. From then on, Zhang was very active in Shanghai for both work and pleasure. He often caroused in the city with Zhang Zuolin's son, Gen. Zhang Xueliang. Both men enjoyed opium, for which Shanghai was a key site in the smuggling trade, and the Fengtian economy became increasingly reliant on the drug. Zhang became closely connected to Shanghai's criminal gangs and the drug trade. Later in 1925, Zhang and his forces were ousted from Shanghai. He was subsequently appointed military governor of Shandong, which he ruled as warlord until May 1928.


title: Zhang Zongchang

text: Zhang's rule of Shandong was notoriously poor, dominated by graft and mismanagement. He implemented excessive taxes, printed so much provincial currency that it became worthless, and starved public institutions of funds. By 1927, the provincial educational system had collapsed and the local economy was in tatters. Any opposition was brutally suppressed; when a newspaper criticized his regime, Zhang promptly ordered its editor shot. Peasants banded together as part of the Red Spear Society, revolting against Zhang's reign in the countryside. Although poorly armed, these insurgents proved to be a major threat to smaller units belonging to Zhang's army. At the same time, Zhang set up his headquarters in Jinan like a "medieval court" with lavish entertainment and grand feasts. He also acted as benefactor for artists, writers, entertainers, arms dealers, drug kingpins, diplomats, and Western journalists.


title: Zhang Zongchang

text: When the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) loyal to the Kuomintang (KMT) launched the Northern Expedition, Zhang remained firmly loyal to the Fengtian clique, briefly retaking Shanghai before his army was driven north. As his position in Shandong was threatened to be overrun, Zhang requested a resident German technician named Franz Oster to build more aircraft for his air force to counter the advancing KMT. Oster constructed a plane, but when it was shipped to Zhang's headquarters, it was found to be so badly designed that it could not even get off the ground. In 1928, NRA troops led by Bai Chongxi defeated and destroyed Zhang Zongchang's army, capturing 20,000 of his 50,000 troops and almost capturing Zhang himself, who escaped beyond the Great Wall to Manchuria. Regardless, he and the remnants of his army were able to escape northward with much loot from Shandong. The province was left in chaos following his flight. Even after the loss of Shandong and the murder of Fengtian leader Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Zongchang wanted to resist the NRA. When the succeeding Fengtian commander Zhang Xueliang (son of the former murdered leader Zhang Zuolin) intended to make peace with the KMT, Zhang and his follower Chu Yupu revolted and attempted to overthrow him. However, the combined NRA-Zhang Xueliang forces crushed Zhang Zongchang's army. In the end, even his Russian mercenaries betrayed him.


title: Zhang Zongchang

text: As his army disintegrated, Zhang fled to Japanese protection in Dalian, though remained unwilling to accept his reduced status. From Dalian, he hatched several plots to regain his former territories. Possibly enjoying covert support by Japan, Zhang, his long-time follower Chu Yupu and another warlord, Huang Feng-chi, returned to Shandong in 1929 and launched a major rebellion against Liu Zhennian, the Nationalist-aligned "de facto" ruler of eastern Shandong at the time. Gathering tens of thousands of demobilized soldiers who were still loyal to them, the three warlords fought for several months against Liu's followers, thereby causing great destruction and many casualties among the civilian population. Zhang also instigated a parallel revolt in Beijing that was quickly suppressed. In the end, the Shandong rebellion was defeated, but Zhang managed to escape back to Dalian. This time, the Japanese authorities of the Kwantung Leased Territory did not allow Zhang to reenter Dalian. As a result, he travelled to Moji in Japan instead.


title: Zhang Zongchang

text: Later that year, he was living quietly in Beppu, Japan, with his mother, though he was thrown into the spotlight again when he "accidentally" shot Prince Xiankai (憲開), a cousin of the deposed emperor Puyi. According to Zhang the gun he was holding while standing at his hotel window happened to go off and shoot the young prince in the back, killing him instantly, though it was more likely he killed the playboy prince for dallying with one of Zhang's many concubines. He was charged, found guilty by a Japanese court and given the choice between 15 days' imprisonment or a $150 (US) fine. He chose the fine.


title: Zhang Zongchang

text: Declaring his intention to assist the Chinese resistance against the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Zhang visited some of his former comrades in Jinan on 3 September 1932. When he returned to the city's railway station to travel to Beijing, Zhang was assassinated by the nephew of an officer whom he had executed. His last words were reportedly "No good!" The assassin was granted clemency and pardoned by the Kuomintang government. Contemporary claims were made that the "filial murder" might have been part of a plan set up by a local governor to remove Zhang as a political rival. It was also suspected that ex-warlord Feng Yuxiang was involved in the murder.


title: Zhang Zongchang

text: Zhang was buried in the Western Hills near Beijing. His funeral attracted family members, ex-retainers, paid mourners, and "the curious"; the funeral procession stretched for . After his death, a shop clerk named Liang Zuoyou claimed to have found a $30 million check belonging to the Nanjing government on Zhang's body. Finance Minister T. V. Soong provided Liang with a first-class train ticket to personally return the check to the state treasury in Nanjing. However, Liang had "misread" the number, as the check was only worth $300,000. The government was ridiculed by the press for the event, while the clerk greatly profited, as he had exchanged the first-class ticket for a third-class one and pocketed the difference.


title: Zhang Zongchang

text: As a result of rumours of his great wealth, Zhang's tomb was repeatedly targeted and raided by grave robbers. It was also opened by Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution, but the communists only found a single tablet. In modern China, Zhang is still mainly remembered as a "wicked warlord" representing the violent excesses of his era.


title: Zhang Zongchang

text: Zhang Zongchang was one of the most infamous and well-known Chinese warlords, and is difficult to differentiate truth from slander and legends in regards to his life. Being of impressive height and physically strong, he was often regarded as a brute and loathed by his victims. According to researchers Matthew R. Portwood and John P. Dunn, his opponents portrayed him as "a poster boy for evil and avarice". Historian Arthur Waldron stated that of all warlords of the time, Zhang is "perhaps the one most generally held in contempt". His opponents stated that his behaviour was "mindlessly brutal" during his military campaigns and that he had "the physique of an elephant, the brain of a pig and the temperament of a tiger". Writer Lin Yutang called Zhang "the most colorful, legendary, medieval, and unashamed ruler of modern China". The "Time" called him "notorious, cruel, rapacious". Zhang was notorious for his hobby of splitting the skulls of prisoners with his sword, and for hanging dissidents from telephone poles. Despite his negative reputation, however, Zhang was also known to also be very sociable, charming and commanded the respect of his troops as well as superiors. He was described as being very brave, and as a "warmonger". Waldron argued that Zhang was one of the most talented military leaders among the Chinese warlords, something his critics refused to acknowledge.


title: Zhang Zongchang

text: Zhang loved to boast about the size of his penis, which become part of his legend. He was a "well-known womanizer" and polygamist. At the height of his power, he had some 30 to 50 concubines of different nationalities, who were given numbers since he could not remember their names nor speak their language. According to the "Time", several of his concubines had been forcibly seized from rich families in Shandong. However, some of his concubines stayed with him throughout his career, with him marrying the earliest when he was still a coolie. His concubines included Chinese, Japanese, Russians, Koreans, Mongolians and at least one American. According to research by journalist John Gunther, his harem included concubines of 26 different nationalities. Zhang reportedly ate meat of black Chow Chow dogs every day, as it was popularly believed at the time that this meat would boost a man's virility. He was free with his gifts, lavishly squandering money and concubines on superiors and friends. As a result, his commanders were very loyal to him, contributing to his military success. However, his common soldiers were often not well paid, negatively impacting their morale. He often ventured to Beijing to meet with China's high society and go gambling. He repeatedly met and played poker with Oei Hui-lan, a socialite and wife of Chinese statesman Wellington Koo. She later argued that Zhang proved to be a complex character: On one side, he was "so delightfully outrageous that he was disarming", such as when he regularly gambled away tens of thousands of dollars and behaved like a swashbuckler; yet he was also highly respectful and friendly towards those whom he respected including Oei. Zhang also funded actress Yang Naimei, helping her to set up the Naimei Film Company in Shanghai. He made a pact of brotherhood with the Japanese rōnin Date Junnosuke in 1929, which led Date to change his name to Zhang Zongyuan and change his nationality to Chinese.


title: Zhang Zongchang

text: Although only semi-literate, Zhang Zongchang was also known for writing poetry, though his works (such as the "Poem about bastards", the "Daming Lake poem", "Visiting Penglai Pavilion" and "Pray for Rain") are generally considered to be quite bad. However, some sources have disputed these poems as being fabrications made by his political opponent Han Fuju to slander Zhang Zongchang. When asked about where he got his education, Zhang liked to say that he went to the " 'College of the Green Forest' (that is, banditry)".


title: Zhang Zongchang

text: Though not very pious, Zhang was strongly influenced by a Daoist diviner, Tong Huagu, who had allegedly convinced the warlord of his powers by successfully prophesying that a train would derail. It was rumoured that the diviner had ensured this outcome by bribing some peasants to sabotage the tracks. In summer 1927, a famine struck Shandong particularly hard, and Zhang Zongchang was reported to have gone into a temple of the Dragon King to pray for rain. When this failed to improve the situation, Zhang returned to the temple. In his fury, he slapped the Dragon King's statue several times, and ordered his artillery to shoot into the sky for several hours. He also intended to build a shrine devoted to himself, including a large bronze statue, at Daming Lake. The project was not finished before Zhang's flight from Shandong.


title: Zhang Zongchang

text: While having a reputation as one of the most brutal and ruthless warlords, he was also one of the most colourful. After defeating the army of general Wu Peifu by making his enemy's forces defect, he rewarded the defectors by allowing them to keep their original ranks. He then promoted his own officers, but since there was not enough metal to make the gold and silver stars for their rank insignia, he ordered the stars to be made from the gold and silver paper foil in cigarette packages. During the mass promotion ceremony, the officers were surprised to find their insignia already torn even before the ceremony had ended. He usually travelled with a coffin planted atop a car during his campaigns; this was a typical way at the time to signify one's willingness to die in combat. He publicly announced that he would come home in his coffin if he was defeated in battle. When his troops were forced back during one campaign he was true to his word—he was paraded through the streets, sitting in his coffin and smoking a large cigar. It was also a matter of public amusement that he kept his aged mother with him at all times. Even on campaign he often kept her close, providing her with a well-appointed railway car to accompany his army. He also raised a well-armed army of thousands of teenage soldiers for his son to command.


title: Cameo (band)

text: Cameo is an American funk band that formed in 1974. Cameo was initially a 14-member group known as the New York City Players; this name was later changed to Cameo.


title: Cameo (band)

text: As of the first half of 2009, some of the original members continue to perform together. Two other original members were hired by the hip hop group Outkast. In 2015, Cameo announced a new residency show at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, opening in March 2016. On February 20, 2019, Larry Blackmon of Cameo announced "El Passo", the first new single from the band in 19 years. Cameo topped the R&B charts for more than a decade, has sold more than 18 million albums and is considered one of the most popular funk bands of its era.


title: Cameo (band)

text: Formed by Larry Blackmon in 1974 as the New York City Players the band was signed by Casablanca Records to its Chocolate City imprint in 1975 as “The Players”. However, according to original band member Nathan Leftenant, the group soon changed its name after the threat of legal action by Mercury Records due to the name “The Players” being too similar to Ohio Players, who recorded for Mercury at the time. The name Cameo was derived from a brand of cigarettes sold in Canada that the band saw during a visit to that country. Prior to this, Blackmon, keyboardist Gregory Johnson, and the late Gwen Guthrie formed the band East Coast, together with James Wheeler (alto saxophone), Melvin Whay (bass), Michael Harris (percussion), and Haras Fyre (also known as Pat Grant) on trombone. They released one self-titled album in 1973 on the independent label Encounter.


title: Cameo (band)

text: Cameo started with a deep, funk sound, but it was obvious from the start their sights were set on the dance floor. Their first album was "Cardiac Arrest" which featured its first hit single, "Rigor Mortis". Follow up albums We All Know Who We Are, Ugly Ego, and "Secret Omen" contained dance floor songs such as "I Just Want To Be" and “It’s Serious”; which was used for a dance contest scene in the 1978 film "Thank God It's Friday". The band's debut single "Find My Way" was a disco song that was also used in the film, and was included on the Thank God It's Friday soundtrack. ("Find My Way" was their cover of a 1972 Three Degrees and a 1969 Tymes tune.)


title: Cameo (band)

text: The 1979 single “I Just Want To Be” was Cameo's breakthrough hit. It reached number 3 on the Billboard Magazine R&B Chart, and along with the follow up single, the Top 10 R&B ballad “Sparkle”, pushed the album Secret Omen to Gold status with sales of over 500,000 copies; the band's first album to achieve this status. Their next album, "Cameosis", came out in 1980 and also achieved Gold status thanks in large part to the funk classic “Shake Your Pants”, the mid-tempo single “We’re Goin’ Out Tonight”, and the ballad “Why Have I Lost You” (a re-recording of a song from their 1978 album We All Know Who We Are). It reached number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and number 25 on the Billboard 200 chart, their highest positions yet. Their second album of 1980, "Feel Me", 1981's "Knights of the Sound Table" and 1982's "Alligator Woman" also went Gold and saw the band playing up their eclectic style. The band released "She's Strange" in 1984, which performed well and hit number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and 26 on the Billboard 200. The album's title track, eponymous single became the band's first number 1 R&B hit, as well as their first charting pop single; reaching number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100.


title: Cameo (band)

text: 1985's album "Single Life", featuring the title track and "Attack Me with Your Love", hit number 2 on the Top R&B chart and continued the band's momentum, paving the way for what was to come the following year. The single "Word Up!" was released in 1986 and reached number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart, plus number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100; becoming the band's biggest single on the pop chart. The follow up single “Candy” reached number 1 R&B and 21 pop, while their next release, “Back and Forth”, went to number 3 R&B and number 50 pop. The album also hit numbers 8 and 1 on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B charts respectively, becoming their highest-charting album.


title: Cameo (band)

text: Two years later, Cameo released "Machismo" to mixed critical reviews and dropped to chart at numbers 10 and 56 on the Top R&B and Billboard 200 respectively. Cameo then followed up with 1990's "Real Men... Wear Black" and 1992's "Emotional Violence". The previous release was followed by two compilation albums in between the time of their next recording.


title: Cameo (band)

text: In 1994, "In the Face of Funk" was released on the band's independent label and hit 10 on the Top R&B chart. This album was then followed by a 6-year unofficial hiatus with several compilation releases, until the next album "Sexy Sweet Thing" in 2000. The album hit 64 on the Top R&B chart, and is their most recent charting release.


title: Cameo (band)

text: In 2001, a sample from the band's single "Candy" was used in the Mariah Carey single "Loverboy." The song hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Blackmon was given a co-songwriting credit.


title: Cameo (band)

text: These years saw a great period of inactivity and unofficial hiatus, in which time 6 compilation albums were released. The compilation albums released in this period were, in chronological order: "The Hits Collection" (2000)", 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Cameo" (2001)", Anthology" (2002)", Classic Cameo" (2003)", The Best of Cameo" (2004)", Gold" (2005), and "The Definitive Collection" (2006).


title: Cameo (band)

text: In March 2016, Cameo began a year-long Las Vegas residency show at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino.


title: Cameo (band)

text: Aaron Mills continues to tour with Cameo as well as other artists. He has worked with Outkast, playing on their singles "Ms. Jackson" and "Prototype", among other tracks. Ex-Cameo vocalist John Kellogg became an entertainment lawyer, representing such artists as The O'Jays, the late Gerald Levert, and LSG. He also pursued a career in music industry higher education, becoming Assistant Chair of the Music Business/Management department at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Gregory B. Johnson has released two CDs on his own label, Allspice Record Co. — in 2007 "A New Hip", which is a smooth Jazz CD, and in 2012 "Funk Funk (Just For A Little Time)", an urban funk CD.


title: Cameo (band)

text: Cameo began as a horn-oriented funk band in the 1970s, influenced by Parliament-Funkadelic. By the 1980s, Cameo expanded their sound with influences from pop, hip hop, rock and reggae, and placed more emphasis on keyboards and drum machines.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: Far Cry Primal is a 2016 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is a spin-off to "Far Cry 4", and the tenth overall installment in the "Far Cry" series. Set during prehistoric times, the game follows the story of Takkar, who starts off as an unarmed hunter but will rise to become the leader of a tribe, using his special gift of taming animals. "Primal" adapts the traditional "Far Cry" formula to its prehistoric setting, replacing modern firearms with primitive weapons like spears, clubs, and bows and arrows, and allowing players to summon animal companions during battles. Everyday survival is a key aspect of the gameplay, as players have to watch out for both natural predators and rival tribesmen.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: "Far Cry Primal" was released worldwide for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on February 23, 2016, Microsoft Windows on March 1, 2016, and for Google Stadia on May 17, 2022. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the concept and setting, as well as the animal-taming mechanic and world design. However, some reviewers noted that the lack of weapons players can utilize led to a repetitive gameplay design, while others felt the story and characters were not on par with the previous "Far Cry" games.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: "Far Cry Primal" is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a first-person perspective. As the game is set in prehistoric times, the traditional gunplay and vehicle gameplay featured in the "Far Cry" series were removed, and the player can only get access to melee weapons such as spears, clubs and ranged weapons such as bows and slings. The player cannot purchase weapons and must craft them using the materials scavenged in the world such as wood and stone. As the player progresses, they can craft more lethal weapons with a larger variety of resources.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: Besides facing natural predators, the player must also compete with other hostile tribes occupying the area. By attacking and seizing bonfires and camps, the Wenja tribe will move in and begin patrolling the nearby region, and the player will gain fast travel points as well as camps to rest in. Non-player characters will also task the player to rescue tribe-mates and perform other tasks which improve the village, as well as provide free crafting materials. The game also features a dynamic weather system and day-night cycle, which affects the gameplay. At night, more predators are present, and many become more aggressive and dangerous, whereas at the day, the player can gather food and scavenge other resources such as tools for hunting. The player can also make use of fire as a tool for personal protection or hunting at night.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: The player can bait different wildlife in the game using lures, and can also tame predators while they're feeding on the bait. These animals serve as a companion for the player and can assist them in combating enemies after being tamed, and can be summoned remotely and issued basic commands. Larger animals such as sabertooth cats can be used as mounts. Takkar has an owl, his spirit animal which can be directly controlled. Through the owl's vision, the player can scout enemies' outposts and highlight enemies. Through skill improvements, the owl can be upgraded to have various abilities added, such as diving to kill an enemy or dropping bombs.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: In a post-launch update, a survival mode, which drastically increases the game's difficulty, was introduced.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: The game is set in 10,000BC during the end of the Upper Paleolithic and beginning of the Mesolithic period in Europe. It takes place in the fictional Oros valley in the Carpathian Mountains of Central and Eastern Europe (although some in-game mountains can be easily recognized as the Tre Cime di Lavaredo located in north-east Italy), an open world filled with different types of flora and fauna. A large portion of the game's map consists of modified regions from Kyrat, the fictional Himalayan country featured in "Far Cry 4", specifically South Kyrat and a small part of north-western North Kyrat. Unlike previous games, there is prehistoric wildlife such as woolly mammoths, dire wolves, cave bears, cave lions, woolly rhinos, brontotherium, Irish elk and saber-toothed cats along with forms of modern creatures like brown bears, badgers, and deer. Survival is a daily challenge as tribes come into conflict with one another and nature.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: Players take on the role of a Wenja tribesman named Takkar (Elias Toufexis), who is stranded in Oros with no weapons after his hunting party is ambushed by a saber-tooth tiger. Takkar, using his newfound skill of taming animals, will eventually rise to power and lead the Wenja to dominate all of Oros.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: Takkar, a hunter from the Wenja tribe, is the only survivor after his hunting party is ambushed and killed by a sabertooth, cutting him off from the rest of his kin. Resigned to proceed alone, Takkar meets Sayla (Cara Ricketts), a Wenja gatherer whose life he saves, and once they arrive at Oros, Sayla informs Takkar that the Wenja are scattered and homeless across the land after their village was destroyed by Ull (DeLaRosa Rivera), leader of the Neanderthal-like Udam tribe who live in the northern mountains, prize warfare and hunting, and frequently kidnap Wenja to cannibalize them. Takkar then starts gathering the Wenja he meets around his cave, eventually encountering the wolf shaman Tensay (Terrence C. Carson), who helps him to learn the ability to tame the local animals. Tensay dubs Takkar the "Beast Master" for his skill.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: After repelling an Udam attack led by Ull on his newly established village, Takkar enlists the help of three other skilled Wenja: Jayma (Ayisha Issa), a veteran huntress, Wogah (Ron Kennell), a one-armed craftsman, and Karoosh (Nicolas Van Burek), a one-eyed warrior with his own vendetta against the Udam. With the help of Tensay, Takkar discovers that the Udam are eating Wenja flesh in hopes of gaining immunity from a terminal genetic disease, the "skull fire", that is wiping out their tribe, then tracks down and apprehends the Udam commander Dah (Juan Carlos Velis) to learn more about the Udam's techniques. Several Wenja reject Takkar's decision to give shelter to an Udam warrior at first, and take him to a cave to be executed by drowning, until Takkar himself arrives in time to rescue Dah and chastise the tribe for disobeying him, earning Dah's gratitude and help. When the agrarian, ritualistic Izila, another, more advanced tribe that lives in the marshlands of southern Oros, begin capturing Wenja prisoners for slavery and human sacrifice to the Sun goddess Suxli, Takkar invades their domains to rescue them, coming face to face with their leader Batari (Debra Wilson). After he refuses to become Batari's slave, a war begins between the Wenja and Izila. Takkar then infiltrates the camp of an Izila commander named Roshani (Ali Momen) and captures him, allowing him to live in exchange for sharing Izila technology in both warfare and agriculture.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: After preparing himself enough to face Ull and Batari, Takkar storms the Udam and Izila's main fortresses, passing by all opposition before confronting and killing their commanders. While the defiant Batari is burned alive during a solar eclipse, Ull urges Takkar to take care of his two children with his dying breath, which Takkar accepts, taking them with him back to his village. With both rival tribes defeated and Wenja dominance secured, Roshani agrees to stay with the Wenja and teach them how to grow food, while Takkar reluctantly agrees to mercifully kill Dah, ending his suffering from disease. Takkar then joins Sayla and Tensay in a celebration of his victory with the other villagers.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: In the post-credits, Ull's daughter appears taming a cave bear, implying that she has acquired Takkar's animal taming skills.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: The development of "Far Cry Primal" was led by Ubisoft Montreal, with assistance provided by Ubisoft Toronto, Ubisoft Kyiv and Ubisoft Shanghai. When asked about whether "Far Cry 4" would feature standalone content like "Far Cry 3" with "", creative director Alex Hutchinson declared that a sequel to the game would not be happening, but that they were planning something that could "surprise" players. On January 5, 2015, Ubisoft released a survey and asked players about their favorite "Far Cry" setting. The survey includes themes like vampires, zombies, dinosaurs, a post-apocalyptic world, historical warfare and modern days locations like Peru and Alaska.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: It was first added to the Steam database under its codename "Far Cry Sigma" on October 2, 2015, causing confusion for both fans and press. However, on October 6, 2015, Ubisoft held a stream revealing their next project. It was announced a day later, though it was leaked by IGN Turkey several hours before the official announcement. The game's creative director is Jean-Christophe Guyot, who has worked on several "Prince of Persia" games. On December 3, 2015, creative director Maxime Béland stated that "Far Cry Primal" was as big as "Far Cry 4". The game does not feature a multiplayer mode. The decision was made during the early stages of the game's development as they wanted to focus on the game's core gameplay instead.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: "Far Cry Primal" released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on February 23, 2016. The Microsoft Windows version was released shortly afterwards on March 1, 2016. The game has two different special editions, both of which cost more than the base game. The "Collector's Edition" features additional physical items such as a steelbook, a collector's book, a map of Oros, the game's original soundtrack and a Wenja phrasebook, which serves as a guide for players to learn the language used in the game. The "Digital Apex Edition", which can only be purchased digitally, and the "Collector's Edition" contain digital content such as extra in-game missions, weapons and additional packs. The game runs on an upgraded version of the Dunia 2 engine from "Far Cry 4".


title: Far Cry Primal

text: The characters speak a fictional language with a defined syntax and structure. It is based on the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, which is the theorized common ancestor of most modern European languages and some languages in Asia and the Middle East. Linguists constructed three dialects—Wenja, Udam and Izila—one for each of the three featured tribes. Each dialect was designed to have a distinct sound conveying the culture of its tribe. Lead writer Kevin Shortt said that players are able to understand Wenja vocabulary, and finish the game with "a real sense of it". Mexican vocalist and composer Malukah was among the voice actors providing war cries and other vocal effects to the game.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: The soundtrack of "Far Cry Primal" was created with percussion instruments, stone, clay, and an Aztec death whistle. The soundtrack was composed by Jason Graves. The tribes the player encounters have their own distinct music profiles. The Wenja tribe features ram's horn and solo flute, while the Izilia features Aztec death whistles, female vocals and ritualistic percussion.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: According to the review aggregator Metacritic, the Microsoft Windows version of "Far Cry Primal" received "mixed or average" reviews from critics upon release, while the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions received "generally favorable" reviews.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: Destructoid's Kyle MacGregor spoke positively about how the game depicts violence towards animals and the survival aspects in general, saying that they were designed with realism in mind. He also felt that the animal companion mechanic was one of the game's strongest elements, saying that it has "limitless potential". In regard to the choice of setting, he felt it was a welcome and natural evolution in the "Far Cry" series. However, he described the story as being familiar and predictable and said that, even with the drastic change of setting, the "Far Cry" formula isn't as innovative as it once was.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: Matt Buchholtz of Electronic Gaming Monthly wrote, "The graphics are stunning—Ubisoft has truly mastered facial animations and lighting effects." He added, "The game feels like a full-priced reskin of "Far Cry 4", without the engaging storyline", finishing with, ""Far Cry Primal" really wants you to know that there are tons of things you can do in its prehistoric, open world. Unfortunately, you may not want to do any of them."


title: Far Cry Primal

text: Jeff Cork from Game Informer praised the setting for allowing for gameplay and story elements with more realism, specifically in regard to the protagonist not being a stereotype young male who inexplicably has advanced combat knowledge. He called the visuals and world design "beautiful", and said that the decision to use a primitive language made specifically for the game was "effective". Lastly, Cork wrote: "Players who associate "Far Cry" with explosions and massive gunfights might find the setting disappointing, but it's one of my favorite entries in the series yet."


title: Far Cry Primal

text: Matt Utley of Game Revolution called "Far Cry Primal" a "breath of fresh air for both the franchise and first-person action games in general". He praised the decision to remove guns and motorized vehicles for enabling more dynamic gameplay, called the graphics "lush" and "evocative", and, like others, commended the bold setting change. Utley's critiques were minor; he disliked some aspects of the control scheme, found that the quieter moments of the game were drowned-out by aggressive enemies, and felt that not enough improvements and fixes were made to the basic "Far Cry" formula.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: Mike Mahardy of GameSpot gave the game a mostly positive review, calling the setting its greatest strength. He praised the open world for being "cohesive" and "foreboding", enjoyed the "tense" focus on survival, and called the beast-taming mechanics "creative". Mahardy did feel as though there was a limited amount of weapons given to the player and disliked some of the gameplay for being "repetitive".


title: Far Cry Primal

text: Joe Skrebels from GamesRadar was more critical of the game, summarizing his thoughts with: ""Primal" takes the great structure of the "Far Cry" series, but little of its character. No clear goal and a limited arsenal end up making this feel a little prehistoric itself." Skrebels too praised the taming mechanic and the open world design.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: Luke Reilly of IGN summarized his review with: ""Far Cry Primal" comes to the table with a quiver of neat ideas but it forgot to bring much of a story with it." Reilly thought the game's strongest aspects were created by its twist on the series' formula, highlighting the scavenging elements and the animal-taming mechanics. However, Reilly felt the drastic change for the series wasn't without its flaws, saying that the characters, quests, and overall story were a step back from the memorable moments of the previous games.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: Polygon's Justin McElroy particularly praised the open world environment, calling it the "most immersive" in the series. He summarized his review by writing: "I don't want every "Far Cry" game from here on to trade bullets for arrows, motorcycles for tigers, but "Primal" is an invigorating example of how to re-imagine a tired franchise while keeping its soul intact."


title: Far Cry Primal

text: Even though he described the game as being "very fun" and felt that the decision to develop a spin-off-type game in the series was a great one, Simon Miller from VideoGamer.com recognized that "Far Cry Primal" "doesn't do anything drastically new" for the series. He too praised the animal taming mechanic and the visuals.


title: Far Cry Primal

text: The retail version was the best selling game in its week of release in the UK, debuting at No. 1 in the UK retail software sales chart. It was also the best-selling game in the United States in February 2016. According to Ubisoft, the game performed better than they had expected, and that its release became the biggest launch of a game in February.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Lisa Marie Varon (née Sole; born February 10, 1971) is an American retired fitness competitor, bodybuilder and professional wrestler best known for her tenure with WWE under the ring name Victoria and her time spent as an Impact Wrestling Knockout under the ring name Tara. Varon held both companies woman's championships on several occasions.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Varon began competing in fitness competitions and won ESPN2's "Fitness America Series" in 1997. In 1999, she placed second at a fitness event in New York City to earn her International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) Professional Fitness Card. Varon met World Wrestling Federation (WWF) performer Chyna, who encouraged her to become a professional wrestler. She trained in the WWF's developmental territories for three years before moving to the main roster to compete full-time under the ring name Victoria.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Varon had her first television appearance at WrestleMania 2000, where she portrayed one of The Godfather's "Hos". She debuted in June 2002 and was pushed to win the WWE Women's Championship, a title she would go on to hold twice in her wrestling career. After leaving WWE in 2009, Varon debuted in TNA later that year as Tara. In TNA, she became a five-time TNA Knockouts Champion, making her a seven-time Women's Champion overall. She was also a one-time TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champion, with Brooke Tessmacher, collectively known as TnT.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Varon was born in San Bernardino, California, to a Puerto Rican father (who is a Vietnam veteran) and a Korean-born Turkish mother who worked as a singer in Japan. She grew up with three older brothers, all of whom became amateur wrestlers, with her oldest brother, Bobby, winning a gold medal at the 1983 Pan American Games. Varon attended Eisenhower High School in Rialto, California. During high school, she was active in cheerleading, a sport in which she competed since the sixth grade.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: During her senior year in high school, she was nationally recognized by the National Cheerleading Association, earning an All-American award and being chosen to cheer at half-time of the NFL 1989 Pro Bowl, alongside 70 other women. She participated in track and field events in the ninth grade. After graduating, she studied biology at the University of California, Los Angeles and she studied medicine at Loma Linda University, with the intent on becoming a physician. She worked as a human tissue coordinator at the Inland Eye and Tissue Bank in Redlands, California, where she was involved in the process of organ donation.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: While working at the eye and tissue bank, Varon became a personal trainer and taught aerobics. While training at a gym, she was offered an opportunity to compete in a bodybuilding competition, a contest she won as a middleweight. She competed in fitness competitions, such as ESPN2's "Fitness America Series" in 1997 and 1998, winning the former, and the Miss Galaxy Competition in 1998, where she met and befriended Torrie Wilson. After Wilson moved to Los Angeles, California and signed with the professional wrestling promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW), she invited Varon to one of the shows. While backstage, an agent asked her to appear in a segment with Scott Hall. Through Wilson, Varon unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a contract with WCW. She later moved to Los Angeles to find work in televised news fitness segments. In 1999, she earned her International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) Professional Fitness Card after placing second at the National Physique Committee (NPC) Team Universe show in New York City. It was during her time working in fitness competitions that Varon also first met Trish Stratus.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: After moving to Los Angeles, Varon worked as a trainer at the gym Crunch Fitness, where she met World Wrestling Federation wrestler Chyna, who complimented Varon on her appearance and encouraged her to become a wrestler. Varon would then put together a biography package and sent it to the WWF. She heard from Kevin Kelly two days later, who invited her to an interview in a month's time. With no previous wrestling experience, she looked up professional wrestling schools, and eventually began training at Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) in Southern California in June 2000. She wrestled under the ring name Head Bitch In Charge (HBIC), and appeared in a cheerleading outfit, with a snooty gimmick, similar to WCW Nitro Girl Miss Hancock. She impressed WWF talent scout Bruce Prichard during her first UPW show.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Varon made her on-screen debut in the WWF portraying one of The Godfather's "hos". She was referred to as the "head ho", and led the "Save the Hos" campaign. On the August 7 episode of "Raw", Varon took a bump by being powerbombed through a table by The Godfather's next persona, The Goodfather. After this, she was given the name Victoria. She was removed from television in November, and sent to WWF's then-developmental territory Power Pro Wrestling in Memphis for extensive training. In February 2001, she was aligned with Brandon Baxter and Bobby Eaton in a feud with Bill Dundee, Jerry Lawler and The Kat. Throughout the feud, Victoria and Baxter were manipulating Eaton into fighting with Dundee, going so far as blurring fact and fiction by mixing professional and personal lives, including having Bobby's son Dylan call on the phone and a kayfabe wedding between Victoria and Eaton. Unfortunately, the feud didn't have a proper end, as in March 2001, the WWF severed ties with Power Pro over Jerry Lawler's quitting the promotion over the Kat's firing in late February. Power Pro folded shortly thereafter.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: After Power Pro folded, she quickly joined Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW). Victoria briefly acted as the commissioner for MCW, and was involved in storyline feud with Ivory. She also managed Steve Bradley before MCW closed in 2001. Varon later relocated to Louisville, Kentucky to train in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), using the ring name Queen Victoria. She was placed as the manager of the tag team the Basham Brothers, and managed one of the team members, Doug Basham, to win the OVW Heavyweight Championship on July 25, 2001.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Varon returned to the renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as Victoria on the July 7, 2002 episode of "Sunday Night Heat", in an angle with Trish Stratus, who Victoria claimed had betrayed her when they worked together as fitness models. The storyline had her character become a demented, sadistic villainess, as she and Stratus feuded for months. Her first pay-per-view match came at No Mercy, where she was defeated by Stratus. The following month at Survivor Series, Victoria defeated Stratus with a Snap Suplex in a hardcore match, to win the WWE Women's Championship for the first time. Victoria would go on to successfully retain her championship against Stacy Keibler, with the debut of her finishing move, the "Widows Peak". The following night on "Raw", Victoria was attacked in the ring by Stratus. Steven Richards came to her aid, establishing an on-screen relationship between Victoria and Richards. At Armageddon, Victoria began using the entrance theme "All The Things She Said" by t.A.T.u. She defeated Stratus and Jacqueline to retain the WWE Women's Championship in a triple threat match.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Victoria continued to feud with Trish Stratus into 2003, competing against her in successful title defenses and mixed tag team matches, during which Victoria teamed with Richards. At WrestleMania XIX, Victoria dropped the Women's Championship back to Stratus during a Triple Threat match that also involved Jazz. Throughout the rest of the year, Victoria was involved in matches against other Divas, such as participating in a Fatal Four-Way match for the Women's Championship at Judgment Day, and defeating Lita in the first women's steel cage match in WWE history on November 24. Victoria also defeated Ivory in a number one contender's match for the Women's Championship on the last episode of "Sunday Night Heat" of 2003. After the match, Women's Champion Molly Holly struck Victoria in the head with the title belt.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: The next week on "Raw", Victoria became a fan favorite, when she attacked Holly after the two women were placed in a team, along with Miss Jackie, for a six-woman tag team match. During her face run, she abandoned her sadistic and unstable personality, and began wearing hippie shorts and performed a gyrating moonsault. On January 5, 2004, Victoria was set for a title match with Molly Holly, however she was attacked by Test before the match.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: The angle with Molly Holly continued into the next year, with Victoria defeating Holly in tag team matches. On February 23, 2004, Victoria defeated Holly, Lita and Jazz in a fatal four-way elimination match, to win her second Women's Championship. After defeating Holly in a tag team match the next week, Victoria was challenged by Holly to a rematch for the title at WrestleMania XX, which later became a hair vs title match. At the pay-per-view, Victoria won the match, and shaved Holly's head bald. She held the Women's Championship until June 13, when she dropped the title to the villainous Trish Stratus during a Fatal Four-Way match at Bad Blood, that also included Lita and Gail Kim, and was unsuccessful in regaining it in a rematch a week later. After defeating Molly Holly at Vengeance to become the number one contender, Victoria lost to Stratus at Unforgiven for the championship. Prior to Unforgiven, several of Victoria's matches were interrupted by a mysterious person in drag, who was later revealed to be Steven Richards, with whom she was previously allied. After the match with Stratus, the storyline culminated when Richards challenged Stratus' ally Tyson Tomko to a match, which Richards lost.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: On the May 30, 2005 episode of "Raw", Victoria participated in a swimsuit contest, losing to Christy Hemme. Following the loss, the storyline had Victoria become a villainess by attacking the other contestants, as well as host Jerry Lawler, claiming that she had enough of the attention Hemme was receiving. The two engaged in a short feud which culminated in a match at Vengeance, which Victoria won. During her heel run, Victoria adopted the gimmick of a bully-like enforcer, when she was placed in an angle alongside Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle (collectively known as the Ladies in Pink, and later Vince's Devils) on August 29, portraying the role of the group's enforcer, as the three women joined forces against the 2005 Diva Search winner Ashley Massaro. Massaro was assisted in the storyline feud by Trish Stratus, and at Unforgiven, Victoria and Wilson were defeated by Stratus and Massaro. The angle continued into "WWE Homecoming", where the Ladies in Pink lost a Handicap Bra and Panties match to Stratus and Massaro. The three of them competed in the first ever Bra and Panties gauntlet match, where Ashley was declared the winner by last eliminating Victoria. She lost to male wrestler Carlito on the December 26, 2005 Raw. At the 2006 Royal Rumble, they appeared flirting with Vince McMahon.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: On March 6, 2006 on "Raw", Victoria and Candice turned on Wilson during Candice's "Playboy" cover unveiling, starting an angle between the former teammates. A scheduled match was set to take place at "Saturday Night's Main Event XXXII" with Victoria and Candice against Wilson and Stratus. As part of the storyline, however, on the episode of "Raw" prior to the event, Wilson was found unconscious, with the implication being that Victoria and Candice had attacked her. The match eventually took place on March 27, with Victoria and Candice being defeated. The alliance of Victoria and Candice fell apart during a tag team match on July 17, in which Victoria and Mickie James were defeated by Wilson and Trish Stratus, with Candice as the special guest referee.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Victoria was given a push on November 27, after she won a number one contender's battle royal. Varon gained notoriety from the match when it was reported that her kick to Candice Michelle's face had resulted in a legitimate broken nose that required surgery. Following the victory, the angle had her carry a checklist to the ring which contained the names of other Divas. Each week, she checked a name off the list after defeating them in matches. She also defeated WWE Women's Champion Mickie James in a non-title match. Victoria lost the championship match against James at New Year's Revolution, and a rematch on January 15, 2007.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: On June 17, Victoria was moved to the SmackDown! brand as part of the WWE Supplemental Draft. Victoria became involved in an on-screen relationship with Kenny Dykstra, and the duo was placed in feuds against Torrie Wilson and Jimmy Wang Yang, as well as Michelle McCool and Chuck Palumbo. While on a tour of Europe with WWE in December 2007, Varon claimed to have legitimately broken McCool's nose.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Victoria later allied herself with the debuting Natalya in April. At the Backlash pay-per-view on April 27, Victoria teamed up with Natalya, Beth Phoenix, Jillian Hall, Layla and Melina to defeat Mickie James, Maria Kanellis, Ashley, Michelle McCool, Cherry and Kelly Kelly. On the May 2 episode of "SmackDown", Victoria and Natalya defeated McCool and Cherry. In October, Victoria lost to the debuting Brie Bella, when Brie disappeared under the ring during the match, emerged appearing refreshed, and won. On the September 26 episode of "SmackDown", Victoria and Natalya lost to Maria and Brie. On the October 31 episode of "SmackDown", Victoria teamed up with Natalya and Maryse in losing effort to Michelle McCool, Maria and Brie. On the November 7 episode of "SmackDown", Victoria was accompanied by Natalya, where she was once again defeated by Brie. After the match, it was revealed that Brie had been switching places under the ring with her twin sister, Nikki Bella, and the twins proceeded to attack Victoria and Natalya. On the November 21 episode of "SmackDown", Victoria teamed up with Natalya in losing effort to The Bella Twins (Nikki and Brie). On the November 28 episode of "SmackDown", Victoria teamed up with Natalya and Maryse to defeat the Bella Twins and Michelle McCool.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: With two more years of her contract remaining, Varon asked for her release when WWE told her they have no plans for her. Her last match took place on the January 16, 2009 episode of "SmackDown", against Michelle McCool. She then thanked the fans, and gave farewell to staff at ringside.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: After leaving WWE, Varon began training for a career in mixed martial arts, and practiced Jiu Jitsu. She returned to WWE for one night only in April 2009, when she was part of the 25 Divas battle royal at WrestleMania XXV, outlasting the five other former WWE Divas. She eliminated Maria, but was eliminated by The Bella Twins.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: On May 24, 2009, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) confirmed that Varon had signed a contract with the company. She debuted on the May 28, 2009 episode of "TNA Impact!", under the ring name Tara, later revealed to be short for "Tarantula". She made her intentions known by attacking The Beautiful People (Angelina Love, Velvet Sky, and Madison Rayne) after Love's match with Sojournor Bolt, establishing herself as a fan favorite. On the June 11 episode of "Impact!", Tara won her debut match against Madison Rayne. On the July 1 episode of "Impact!", Tara began bringing her pet tarantula, named Poison, with her to the ring. After winning a tag team match against The Beautiful People, she put the spider on the unconscious body of Velvet Sky. On the July 9 episode of "Impact!", after Tara threatened to put her spider on Sky once again, Angelina Love agreed to put her TNA Knockouts Championship on the line, which Tara ultimately won, only to lose the title back to Love two weeks later at Victory Road.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: On the September 24 episode of "Impact!", Tara teamed with the new Knockouts Champion ODB to challenge Sarita and Taylor Wilde for the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship, but they lost after Awesome Kong interrupted and distracted her during the bout. During the following two weeks of "Impact!", Tara and Kong both received one-on-one Knockouts Championship matches from ODB, but both of them ended up losing after the other interfered in the match. At Bound for Glory, ODB defeated both Tara and Kong in a three-way match to retain the title. During the match, Tara was confronted by mixed martial artist Kim Couture to set up an MMA fight between the two, which, however, never came to fruition. At Turning Point, Tara defeated Kong in a Six Sides of Steel match. On November 26, Tara won a ten-woman battle royal to earn a shot at the Knockouts Championship at Final Resolution. At the event, she defeated ODB to win the Knockouts Championship for the second time. On the January 4, 2010 episode of "Impact!", Tara lost the title back to ODB. Two weeks later at Genesis, Tara defeated ODB in a two out of three falls match to regain the title, making her a three-time champion.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: On the February 18, 2010 episode of "Impact!", Tara defeated Daffney by disqualification, after she hit Tara with a toolbox. At Destination X, Tara successfully defended her title against Daffney, who stole Poison the tarantula from her after the match. On the March 29 episode of "Impact!", Tara retained her title against Daffney for a second time, this time in the first ever women's First Blood match in TNA. On the April 5 episode of "Impact!", Tara was one of the four winners in an eight-Knockout Lockbox match. The box she opened contained her pet tarantula, Poison. At the same time, however, Tara lost the Knockouts Championship to Angelina Love, and began turning villainous due to her friction with Love heading into their match against The Beautiful People (Madison Rayne and Velvet Sky). At Lockdown, the villainous Tara attacked Love after losing a tag team steel cage match against Rayne and Sky, cementing Tara's heel turn.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: On April 28, 2010, Varon announced on her MySpace blog that she would be leaving TNA the following month, after refusing to re-sign with the company, due to not receiving a pay increase. On the May 3 episode of "Impact!", Tara challenged Madison Rayne to a match at Sacrifice, where she would put her career on the line against Rayne's Knockouts Championship. At Sacrifice on May 16, Tara failed to win the match, and as a result her TNA career came to an end. After her TNA career came to a halt, she continued to discuss a new contract with Dixie Carter.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: She returned to the company on July 11 at Victory Road as a villainess, disguising herself by wearing a motorcycle helmet and attacking Angelina Love during her match for the Knockouts Championship. In the following weeks, she aligned herself with Madison Rayne against Love and Velvet Sky. Tara was ultimately unmasked on the September 2 episode of "Impact!", when she and Rayne defeated Love and Sky in a tag team match, after hitting Sky with the motorcycle helmet. On the September 30 episode of "Impact!", Rayne signed a waiver to allow Tara to return to in-ring competition. At Bound for Glory, Tara defeated Angelina Love, Velvet Sky, and Madison Rayne in a Four Corners match to win the Knockout Championship for the fourth time, much to the dismay of Rayne, who thought Tara's intention was to help her regain the title. On the following episode of "Impact!", Tara laid down for Rayne and allowed her to pin her to regain the Knockouts Championship, giving Tara the shortest reign in the title's history. The following week, Tara attacked Mickie James after her victory over Sarita. At Turning Point, Tara wrestled James to a double disqualification, after James pushed the referee, and they began brawling. On the December 2 "Impact!", Tara attacked James while she was singing her single "Hardcore Country", which later led to James attacking her. At Final Resolution, Tara defeated James in a Falls Count Anywhere match, following interference from Madison Rayne. On the following episode of "Impact!", James defeated Tara in a steel cage match. During the match, Tara legitimately tore a ligament in her elbow, but the injury did not require surgery. On the December 16 episode of "Impact!", Tara and Rayne defeated James and Ms. Tessmacher to advance the finals of a tournament for the vacant TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship. The following week, they were defeated in the finals by Angelina Love and Winter.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: In 2011, Madison Rayne would start a rivalry with Mickie James over the Knockouts Championship, and would successfully defend the title against her at Genesis and Against All Odds, after Tara interfered in both matches. During the feud, Tara began claiming that Rayne had gone too far in her brutality towards Mickie James, but was forced to follow her orders due to being under exclusive contract with her, and not TNA. After Rayne lost the Knockouts Championship to James at Lockdown, James agreed to give her a rematch on the condition that if she is unable to regain the title, Tara would be released from her contract with Rayne. On May 15 at Sacrifice, Tara became a fan favorite after knocking out Rayne during her match with James, costing her the Knockouts Championship and guaranteeing herself a release from her contract with Rayne.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Tara and Madison Rayne had their first match against each other since the break–up of their partnership on the May 19 episode of "Impact Wrestling", where Tara teamed with Mickie James and Ms. Tessmacher against Rayne, Sarita and Rosita. Tara won the match for her team by pinning Rosita, after Rayne, who avoided her former partner throughout the match, sacrificed her in order to get away from the ring. Tara and Rayne faced each other again on the July 14 episode of "Impact Wrestling", where Tara was victorious after distracting Rayne with her tarantula. On the July 21 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Tara and Ms. Tessmacher, later named TnT, defeated Mexican America (Rosita and Sarita) to win the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship. Tessmacher and Tara made their first title defense on August 7 at Hardcore Justice, defeating Mexican America in a rematch. On the September 29 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Tara was defeated by her former partner Madison Rayne in a match to determine the third and final challenger for the TNA Knockouts Championship at Bound for Glory. On the November 3 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Tara and Tessmacher lost the Knockouts Tag Team Championship to Gail Kim and Madison Rayne. On the January 26, 2012 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Tara defeated Mickie James and Velvet Sky in a three-way match to earn a match for the Knockouts Championship. On February 12 at Against All Odds, Tara was unsuccessful in her title challenge against Gail Kim.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: On the August 23 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Tara defeated the new Knockouts Champion and TnT partner Miss Tessmacher in a non-title match, and was subsequently named number one contender for her title. On September 9 at the No Surrender, Tara challenged Tessmacher for the Knockouts Championship, but failed to capture the title.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: On the following episode of "Impact Wrestling", Tara congratulated Tessmacher on her victory, only to attack Tessmacher shortly afterwards, turning Tara into a villainess and effectively disbanding TnT. On the September 27 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Tara defeated ODB in a number one contender's match to earn another shot at Miss Tessmacher's Knockouts Championship. On October 14 at Bound for Glory, Tara defeated Tessmacher to win the TNA Knockouts Championship for a record-tying fifth time. Afterwards, Tara introduced her "Hollywood boyfriend", the debuting Jesse. Tara made her first successful title defense on the October 25 episode of "Impact Wrestling", defeating Tessmacher in a rematch following interference from Jesse. On November 11 at Turning Point, Tara and Jesse were defeated by ODB and Eric Young. On December 9 at Final Resolution, Tara successfully defended her Knockouts Championship against Mickie James after a distraction from Jesse. On the December 20 episode of "Impact Wrestling", Tara defeated James again to retain her title. Tara went on to have another successful title defense on the January 25, 2013, episode of "Impact Wrestling", defeating Velvet Sky. On the February 21 episode of "Impact Wrestling" taped in London, England, Tara lost the championship to Sky in a fatal four-way elimination match, also involving Gail Kim and Miss Tessmacher, ending her reign at 104 days. Tara received her rematch on the February 28 episode of "Impact Wrestling", but was again defeated by Sky. The following months, Tara would make increasingly fewer appearances, and would be rarely used competing in matches. On the July 14 episode of "TNA Xplosion", Tara would wrestle her final match in TNA losing to ODB. Two days later on July 16, Tara was released from her TNA contract.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Varon later stated in an interview that she was close to leaving TNA prior to her release, and that she would never return to TNA. She also stated that her tenure in TNA was great, but different from WWE and made her "appreciate WWE a lot".


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Tara took part of Family Wrestling Entertainment's "FWE: Fallout" pay-per-view on November 15, 2011, defeating Madison Rayne with Christy Hemme as the special guest referee. Tara returned to the promotion on February 25, 2012, taking part of a tournament to determinate the inaugural FWE Women's Champion at "FWE: No Limits", losing to Maria Kanellis. Tara then helped Maria defeat Winter to win the championship alongside her partner Ms. Tessmacher. On November 9, 2013, Varon debuted at "House of Hardcore 3", where she and Stevie Richards were defeated by Carlito and Rosita.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Varon debuted for Ring of Honor on October 26, 2013, under her real name. She made an FAQ before Glory by Honor XII. At the event, she attacked Maria Kanellis with a Widow's Peak.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: On June 19, 2015, Varon appeared at Maryland Championship Wrestling's "Ladies Night" event as the special guest referee for the MCW Women's Championship main event match between Mickie James and Amber Rodriguez, attacking villainous enforcer Melina during the match following Melina's attack towards James, who went on to capture the title.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: On September 2, 2016, Victoria made her debut for Chikara, when she entered the 2016 King of Trios tournament as part of Team Original Divas Revolution, alongside Jazz and Mickie James. They defeated Team Shimmer (Candice LeRae, Crazy Mary Dobson and Solo Darling) in their first round match. The following day, Team Original Divas Revolution was eliminated from the tournament by The Warriors Three (Oleg the Usurper, Princess KimberLee and ThunderFrog).


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: On December 2, 2017, Varon appeared at House of Hardcore 36 as Candice Michelle's opponent in Candice's retirement match. Varon turned heel and attacked Candice after feigning an injury, only to be defeated by Candice with a DDT.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: On January 6, 2019, Varon announced that it would be her last year as an active wrestler. She competed in her last match in the main event at Master of Ring Entertainment on September 21, 2019; defeating Melina to become the inaugural MORE Women's Champion.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: On November 18, 2020 in an interview with "WrestlingInc.com", Varon expressed interest in working with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in a behind-the-scene capacity. She feels she can accomplish a lot for the company as a trainer and agent and share her extensive knowledge about the business.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: At the 2021 Royal Rumble, Victoria was the tenth entrant in the Women's Royal Rumble match, marking her first appearance with WWE in almost twelve years. Victoria was the fifth contestant to be eliminated after being thrown over the top rope by Shayna Baszler. Later that year, the WWE Network included her in a list of top 50 female performers in the history of the company.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Varon's finisher is a gory neckbreaker called the "Widow's Peak". According to Varon, she credits Roderick Strong for the move, while also crediting Molly Holly for suggesting the move. Holly then reveals that she wrestled with Strong in their teens, in which Holly saw Strong using the move and decided to pass the knowledge of the move to Varon.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Varon has made guest appearances on television shows "V.I.P." and "Nikki", as well as participated in two fitness competitions for the Univision program "Sábado Gigante". In November 2010, she was a contestant on an all-TNA week of "Family Feud", teaming with Angelina Love, Christy Hemme, Lacey Von Erich and Velvet Sky against Jay Lethal, Matt Morgan, Mick Foley, Mr. Anderson and Rob Van Dam. On November 10, 2012, Varon, along with several other TNA employees, were featured in an episode of MTV's "Made". Video games include WWE Wrestlemania XIX WWE Raw 2 WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain WWE Day of Reckoning WWE Smackdown vs Raw WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Varon has a tattoo of a heart on her ankle, which she got in high school and hid from her parents. She is a fan of motorcycles and owns a Suzuki Hayabusa.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: In an interview for the "South Florida Sun-Sentinel", Varon was quoted as saying she was legitimately jealous of the 2004 WWE Diva Search winner Christy Hemme. She retracted the statement on her website, claiming the reporter had misquoted her when she mentioned that she was jealous of Hemme's paycheck, as it was a lot higher than what Varon received in her rookie year.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: Varon owned a restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky named Fat Tony's Pizzeria, but sold it in May 2007. In May 2008, she and her husband opened a custom car shop, Black Widow Customs, in Louisville. The shop was destroyed on December 16, 2010, in a fire, which the authorities deemed suspicious. This occurred the day after a local TV show's "Consumer Watch" segment. Antwane Glenn, a football player at the University of Kentucky, wanted a refund after claiming his car was left un-drivable following Black Widow Customs' work on it. He contacted WHAS11 and the story was profiled on the show.


title: Lisa Marie Varon

text: In March 2013, Varon opened a wrestling themed restaurant in Chicago, Illinois named The Squared Circle. In January 2015, Varon announced that she would be moving back to California, and leaving the restaurant to be run by her estranged husband Lee Varon. In March 2015, the restaurant was put up for sale. One week later, a gunman entered the restaurant and Lee Varon was able to incapacitate the man until police arrived. Days after the gunman incident and the resulting media attention, Lisa Marie Varon announced her intention to close the establishment and that she would no longer support the business or encourage fellow wrestlers to make promotional appearances there. The restaurant closed on April 10, 2017, just two years after the gunman incident.


title: MSX

text: MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, then vice-president at Microsoft and director at ASCII Corporation. Microsoft and Nishi conceived the project as an attempt to create unified standards among various home computing system manufacturers of the period, in the same fashion as the VHS standard for home video tape machines.


title: MSX

text: MSX systems were popular in Japan and several other countries. Eventually, 9 million MSX units were sold worldwide, including in Japan alone. Despite Microsoft's involvement, few MSX-based machines were released in the United States. The very first commercial MSX for the public was a Mitsubishi ML-8000, released on October 21, 1983, thus marking its official "release date".


title: MSX

text: The meaning of the acronym MSX remains a matter of debate. In 2001, Kazuhiko Nishi recalled that many assumed that it was derived from "Microsoft Extended", referring to the built-in Microsoft Extended BASIC (MSX BASIC). Others believed that it stood for "Matsushita-Sony". Nishi said that the team's original definition was "Machines with Software eXchangeability", although in 1985 he said it was named after the MX missile. According to his book in 2020, he considered the name of the new standard should consist of three letters like "VHS". He felt "MSX" was fit because it means "the next of Microsoft", and it also contains first letters of Matsushita (Panasonic) and Sony.


title: MSX

text: Before the success of Nintendo's Family Computer, MSX was the platform for which major Japanese game studios such as Konami and Hudson Soft produced video games. The "Metal Gear" series, for example, was first written for MSX hardware.


title: MSX

text: In the early 1980s, most home computers manufactured in Japan such as the NEC PC-6001 and PC-8000 series, Fujitsu's FM-7 and FM-8, and Hitachi's Basic Master featured a variant of the Microsoft BASIC interpreter integrated into their on-board ROMs. The hardware design of these computers and the various dialects of their BASICs were incompatible. Other Japanese consumer electronics firms such as Panasonic, Canon, Casio, Yamaha, Pioneer, and Sanyo were searching for ways to enter the new home computer market.


title: MSX

text: Major Japanese electronics companies entered the computer market in the 1960s, and Panasonic (Matsushita Electric Industrial) was also developing mainframe computers. The Japanese economy was facing a recession after the 1964 Summer Olympics and Panasonic decided to exit the computer business and focus on home appliances. The decision was a huge success, and Panasonic grew to become one of the largest electronics companies. In the late 1970s, the company investigated other business areas outside of home appliances. Panasonic also saw potential in the recent microcomputer revolution. One of Panasonic's distributors, Yamagata National, told Panasonic's president, Toshihiko Yamashita, that "Recently, NEC's personal computers sell well in Yamagata too, and our dealers also request merchandise. However, we must purchase not only personal computers but also home appliances from NEC. I think Matsushita also need develop personal computers". Yamashita ordered the vice president, Shunkichi Kisaka, to develop a personal computer, and Kisaka called on Kazuyasu Maeda of Matsushita R&D Center.


title: MSX

text: Maeda requested Nishi to assist with the development. They were already close each other. When they met at a seminar held by NEC, they noticed both were from Kobe and had graduated the same university. They often talked to each other about home computers. At the same time, Spectravideo contacted Microsoft in order to obtain software for their new home computer. Nishi went to Hong Kong to meet with Spectravideo, and suggested some improvements to its prototype. Spectravideo's president, Harry Fox, was willing to accept Nishi's proposals. Nishi conceived to create a unified standard based on its machine, and Maeda agreed with his idea. Nishi wanted to involve Panasonic and Sony in the development of home computers. While they were competing for videotape formats, Nobuyuki Idei of Sony accepted his proposal. Idei thought Sony should cooperate with Panasonic on its development because the SMC-70, Sony's first personal computer, faced difficulty in the market when Sony started their computer business. Maeda also wanted to invite NEC, but NEC chose to go its own way.


title: MSX

text: Nishi proposed MSX as an attempt to create a single industry-standard for home computers. Inspired by the success of VHS as a standard for video cassette recorders, many Japanese electronics manufacturers (Including GoldStar, Philips and Spectravideo) built and promoted MSX computers. Any piece of hardware or software with the MSX logo on it was compatible with MSX products from other manufacturers. In particular, the expansion cartridge format was part of the standard; any MSX expansion or game cartridge would work in any MSX computer.


title: MSX

text: Nishi's standard was built around the Spectravideo SV-328 computer. The standard consisted primarily of several off-the-shelf parts; the main CPU was a 3.58 MHz Zilog Z80, the Texas Instruments TMS9918 graphics chip with 16 KB of dedicated VRAM, sound and partial I/O support was provided by the AY-3-8910 chip manufactured by General Instrument (GI), and an Intel 8255 Programmable Peripheral Interface (PPI) chip was used for parallel I/O such as the keyboard. The choice of these components was shared by many other home computers and games consoles of the period, such as the ColecoVision and Sega SG-1000 video game systems. To reduce overall system cost, many MSX models used a custom IC known as "MSX-Engine", which integrated glue logic, 8255 PPI, YM2149 compatible soundchip and more, sometimes even the Z80 CPU. However, almost all MSX systems used a professional keyboard instead of a chiclet keyboard, driving up the price compared to the original SV-328. Consequently, these components alongside Microsoft's MSX BASIC made the MSX a competitive, though somewhat expensive, home computer package.


title: MSX

text: On June 27, 1983, the MSX was formally announced during a press conference, and a slew of big Japanese firms declared their plans to introduce machines. The Japanese companies avoided the intensely competitive U.S. home computer market, which was in the throes of a Commodore-led price war. Only Spectravideo and Yamaha briefly marketed MSX machines in the U.S. Spectravideo's MSX enjoyed very little success, and Yamaha's CX5M model, built to interface with various types of MIDI equipment, was billed more as a digital music tool than a standard personal computer.


title: MSX

text: MSX spawned four generations. The first three, MSX (1983), MSX2 (1985), and MSX2+ (1988), were all 8-bit computers based on the Z80 microprocessor. The MSX2+ was exclusively released in Japan.


title: MSX

text: A new MSX3 was originally scheduled to be released in 1990, but delays in the development of its Yamaha-designed VDP caused it to miss its time to market deadline. In its place, the MSX TurboR was released, which used the new custom 16-bit R800 microprocessor developed by ASCII Corporation intended for the MSX3, but features such as DMA and 24-bit addressing were disabled. Like the MSX2+, the MSX TurboR was exclusively released in Japan. By the time the MSX TurboR standard was announced in 1990, only Panasonic was manufacturing MSX computers. Its initial model FS-A1ST met with moderate success, but the upgraded model FS-A1GT introduced in 1991 sold poorly due to its high retail cost of 99800 yen. Production of the TurboR ended in 1993 when Panasonic decided to focus on the release of 3DO. The VDP was eventually delivered in 1992, two years after its planned deadline, by which time the market had moved on. In an attempt to reduce its financial loss, Yamaha stripped nearly all V9958 compatibility and marketed the resulting V9990 E-VDP III as a video-chipset for PC VGA graphic cards, with moderate success.


title: MSX

text: In Japan, South Korea, Argentina, and Brazil, the MSX was the preeminent home computer system of the 1980s. It was also fairly popular in continental Europe, especially in the Netherlands and Spain. Classrooms full of networked Yamaha MSX computers were used for teaching informatics in schools in some Arab countries, the Soviet Union, and Cuba, where they were widely used in public schools, which allowed the Cuban government to educate students in computer subjects. In total, 9 million MSX computers were sold in Japan, making it relatively popular. However, the MSX did not become the worldwide standard envisioned because of limited adoption in other markets. Before the MSX's lack of success in these markets became apparent, US manufacturer Commodore Business Machines overhauled its product line in the early 1980s and introduced models such as the Plus/4 and Commodore 16 that were intended to better compete with the features of MSX computers.


title: MSX

text: In comparison with rival 8-bit computers, the Commodore 64 is estimated to have sold 12.5–17 million units worldwide, the Apple II sold 6 million units, the ZX Spectrum over 5 million units, the Atari 8-bit sold at least 4 million units, the Amstrad CPC sold 3 million units, and the Tandy TRS-80 Model 1 sold 250,000 units.


title: MSX

text: The system MSX most closely resembled was the Spectravideo SV-328 home computer (Spectravideo even claimed to be "MSX compatible" in advertisements before the actual launch of MSX systems, but it was not completely compatible with it). This led to a new and short-lived kind of software cracking: "converting". Since the MSX games were unplayable on the SV-328 computer, SV-328 crackers developed a method of modifying the (MSX) games to make them work on the SV-328. In most cases this included downloading the MSX BIOS to the SV-328 from tape or floppy disk. Spectravideo later launched the SVI-728 which completely adhered to the MSX standard.


title: MSX

text: The Sega SG-1000, the Memotech MTX, the Tatung Einstein, and the ColecoVision all have many similarities with the MSX1 standard, but none are fully compatible with it. Porting games between those systems is somewhat easy. It was also very common to port games from the ZX Spectrum to the MSX, since both have the same CPU, the Spectrum 128 had the same soundchip, and the ZX Spectrum's graphic mode could be easily emulated on the MSX's screen-2 mode.


title: MSX

text: By default MSX machines have a hardcoded character set and keyboard scan code handling algorithm. While MSX has full application software compatibility at the firmware (BIOS) level, due to minor hardware differences, replacement of the BIOS with another from different PC may render incorrect scan code translations and thus incorrect behaviour of the keyboard subsystem for the application software.


title: MSX

text: In 2011, AGE Labs introduced Language Pack firmware, aiming to make each model support several localizations. By default installed into GR8BIT instead of the Kanji-ROM, it allows changing the character set and keyboard layout of the machine at startup. This allowed changing between Japanese, Russian, International and Portuguese locales, and the ability to change locales during machine operation using newly introduced BASIC command LANG. Selected locale setting is stored into the unused RTC NVRAM memory space.


title: MSX

text: Others received various installments on the MSX, including several titles unique to the system or largely reworked versions of games on other formats:


title: MSX

text: In 2001, Kazuhiko Nishi initiated a MSX revival around an official MSX emulator called MSXPLAYer. This is the only official MSX emulator as all MSX copyrights are maintained by the MSX Association. In 2004, a Dutch company Bazix announced they had become the representatives of MSX Association in Europe, being the English contact for any questions regarding the MSX trademarks, copyrights, and licensing. On October 17, 2006, Bazix launched WOOMB.Net, a website selling MSX games in English and other languages, with a selection of 14 games. In Japan, game sales began earlier, through Project EGG. "WOOMB.Net" was the English counterpart of this and other Japanese services offered by D4 Enterprise, which also announced in August 2006 the launch of a new MSX2 compatible system called the "one chip-MSX", a system based on an Altera Cyclone EP1C12Q240C8 FPGA. The one chip-MSX" is similar in concept to the C-One, a Commodore 64 clone also built on the basis of a single FPGA chip. The new MSX system is housed in a box made out of transparent blue plastic, and can be used with a standard monitor (or TV) and a PC keyboard. It has two MSX cartridge slots and supports the audio extensions MSX-MUSIC and SCC+. A SD/MMC-flashcard can be used as an external storage medium, emulating a disk drive and can be used to boot MSX-DOS. Due to its VHDL programmable hardware, it is possible to give the device new hardware extensions simply by running a reconfiguration program under MSX-DOS. The "one chip-MSX" also has two USB connectors that can be used after adding some supporting VHDL code.


title: MSX

text: In 2011, AGE Labs announced the launch of a MSX kit called GR8BIT, the do-it-yourself computer for learning purposes, which was licensed by the MSX Licensing Corporation. It includes all necessary components to assemble a working MSX2 compatible computer, except for an ATX chassis, power supply, floppy drive, hard disk, PS/2 keyboard and monitor.


title: MSX

text: Some of the Korean forum members who made Zemmix Neo created a new version of MSX called Mini IQ3000 Cutie, which has similar features to the IQ-2000 (MSX2. Made in Korea. Daewoo Electronics ) It is based on 1ChipMSX but has some special features like 'Scan Line Generator' and 'Multi Language Support'. The scan line generator generates scan lines to show the MSX screen with better quality. It supports 2 languages at the same time. Normally it shows Korean font and working as Korean version of MSX but when pressing the 'del' key while booting, it changes to Japanese mode. Even though the default mode is Korean, the default font allocation table is Japanese, as it shows Japanese characters when executing Japanese version software.


title: MSX

text: In 2019, a group of fans developed the so-called MSX Mini Replica. It is a 1:2 scale reproduction of the Philips VG-8020 computer compatible with the software of the MSX, MSX2, MSX2 + and Turbo R generations. It incorporates 2 USB ports, an HDMI video output and internally uses the same hardware as the C64 Mini. Connecting an additional peripheral, called MSX Player, can run original games on ROM cartridge.


title: MSX

text: The MSXVR is a computer released in 2020 and compatible with the MSX family of computers. Like the latest Zemmix game consoles, it is also based on a Raspberry Pi card with additional circuitry to connect the original MSX peripherals.


title: MSX

text: The keyboard is a functionally separate unit which could be connected by non-multiplexed and multiplexed interfaces. Multiplexed keyboard units feature additional data direction line, allowing sending scan line number to the keyboard using same data lines used for return scan code, decreasing overall number of wires between keyboard and machine. Non-multiplexed interface is usually used for internal keyboards (and some external keyboards, like Panasonic CF-3300); multiplexed interface is used for external keyboards (e.g. in Yamaha YIS805 model).


title: MSX

text: The keyboard is organized as a matrix with maximum 11 input lines and 8 output lines, accounting for maximum 88 keys (including all control, numerical and alphanumerical keys). Each scan line is regularly queried to identify the state of the keys on the line; query speed is identified by the system interrupt frequency. Such organization allows system to sense state of each key, not exhibiting notorious problem with 8042 microcontroller-based keyboards when pressing several keys simultaneously (usually more than 3) generates wrong input characters, or renders inability to sense the press of more keys.


title: MSX

text: Due to the keyboard scan being controlled by the system interrupts, one of the troubleshooting hints when an MSX machine does not display any image (assuming power is present) is to press the CAPS key to see if the respective LED toggles. If it does not toggle, the system is likely suffering a more serious problem than just lack of image on the screen (i.e. the problem with video cable or video display interface in overall).


title: MSX

text: In 2009, Kamil Karimov designed the adapter board to connect PS/2 keyboard to the multiplexed MSX keyboard interface. The firmware embedded into its ATTiny chip was tailored for Daewoo CPC machines.


title: MSX

text: In 2011, AGE Labs embedded a PS/2 keyboard controller unit, based on Microchip microcontroller, into its GR8BIT do-it-yourself machine. Its firmware is developed to directly convert PS/2 scan codes to the MSX keyboard scan codes. Thus it is fully transparent to the applications, allowing use of the controller unit with different MSX-compatible machines and for different localization setups.


title: MSX

text: MSX standard requires at least 1 cartridge slot, most MSX models have 2. These slots are interchangeable, so "in most cases" it makes no difference in which slot a cartridge is inserted. The physical connector is a 50 pin (2 × 25 contacts), standard 2.54 mm (0.1 inch) pitch edge connector. Using these cartridge slots, a wide variety of peripherals could be connected.


title: MSX

text: Regular game cartridges are about the size of an audio cassette (so-called "Konami size"). Despite their higher cost, this was a popular format due to its reliability and ease of use.


title: MSX

text: Around 1985, Hudson Soft released the credit card-sized Bee Card, which was meant as a cheaper and more convenient alternative to ROM cartridges. But it was a commercial failure, and very few titles were released on the format.


title: MSX

text: MSX systems generally did not have a built-in disk drive, so games were published mainly on cartridge and cassette tape. Sony created a battery backed RAM cartridge the HBI-55 "data cartridge" for some computers in their "Hit-Bit" line of MSX systems, that could be used to store programs or data as an alternative to cassette tapes.


title: MSX

text: Floppy disk drives were available for MSX however, in the form of a cartridge containing the disk interface electronics and a BIOS extension ROM (the floppy disk drive interface), connected to an external case with the drive. In South-America, many of these systems used a floppy disk drive, but in Europe, drives were more popular. In Japan, some MSX1 systems included a built-in 3.5-inch disk drive, like the Panasonic (previously named Matsushita) CF-3000. In Europe, a range of Philips MSX2 systems NMS 8230, 8235, 8245, 8250 and above featured either 360 or 720 KB 3.5-inch floppy drives.


title: MSX

text: In 1985, the MSX2 was released, and these systems often (but not always) included a built-in 3.5-inch disk drive too. Consequently, the popular media for games and other software shifted to floppy disks.


title: MSX

text: The MSX-DOS disk operating system had internal software mechanisms much like CP/M (so CP/M software could be ported reasonably easily), but had a file system compatible with MS-DOS. Its user commands were also similar to early MS-DOS versions. In this way, Microsoft could promote MSX for home use while promoting MS-DOS based personal computers in office environments.


title: MSX

text: The MSX 3.5-inch floppy disks are directly compatible with MS-DOS (although some details like file undeletion and boot sector code were different). Like MS-DOS 1, MSX disks (formatted) under MSX-DOS 1 have no support for subdirectories.


title: MSX

text: In September 2012, AGE Labs extended the standard by including support for 1.44Mb 3.5-inch format. The 1.44Mb diskette size goes in two configurations: Standard (1 sector per cluster, 9 FAT sectors), and Compatible (4 sectors per cluster, 3 FAT sectors).


title: MSX

text: MSX computers are emulated on many platforms today. Early MSX emulators were often based on the code of the pioneer fMSX, a portable MSX emulator by Marat Fayzullin. Many emulators removed Fayzullin's Z80 emulation code entirely in later versions to avoid legal problems, as at the time fMSX was not free software. Somewhat later fMSX source code became free for non-profit use; however a license was still required for commercial use. On December 31, 2013, the Windows version of fMSX 3.7 was released, free for anyone to use.


title: MSX

text: The official MSX emulator MSXPLAYer is produced by the MSX Association, of which the inventor of the MSX standard, Kazuhiko Nishi, is the president.


title: MSX

text: In February 2007, Nintendo of Japan announced that MSX games will be available for the Wii's Virtual Console emulator. It was confirmed that the games would cost 700 Wii Points and will become available from the middle of 2007. It also became available for the Wii U on December 25, 2013. Ultimately 13 games, mainly Konami titles, for the Wii, plus one for the Wii U, were released for the service in Japan only.


title: Jet aircraft

text: A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by jet engines.


title: Jet aircraft

text: Whereas the engines in propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much lower speeds and altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency at speeds close to or even well above the speed of sound. Jet aircraft generally cruise most efficiently at about Mach 0.8 () and at altitudes around or more.


title: Jet aircraft

text: The idea of the jet engine was not new, but the technical problems involved could not begin to be solved until the 1930s.


title: Jet aircraft

text: Frank Whittle, an English inventor and RAF officer, began development of a viable jet engine in 1928, and Hans von Ohain in Germany began work independently in the early 1930s. In August 1939 the turbojet powered Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft, made its first flight. A wide range of different types of jet aircraft exist, both for civilian and military purposes.


title: Jet aircraft

text: After the first instance of powered flight, a large number of jet engine designs were suggested. René Lorin, Morize, Harris proposed systems for creating a jet efflux.


title: Jet aircraft

text: After other jet engines had been run, Romanian inventor Henri Coandă claimed to have built a jet-powered aircraft in 1910, the Coandă-1910. However, to support this claim, he had to make substantial alterations to the drawings which he used to support his subsequently debunked claims. In fact the ducted-fan engine backfired, setting the aircraft on fire before any flights were ever made, and it lacked nearly all of the features necessary for a jet engine - including a lack of fuel injection, and any concern about hot jet efflux being directed at a highly flammable fabric surface.


title: Jet aircraft

text: During the 1920s and 1930s a number of approaches were tried. A variety of motorjet, turboprop, pulsejet and rocket powered aircraft were designed. Rocket-engine research was being carried out in Germany and the first aircraft to fly under rocket power was the Lippisch Ente, in 1928. The Ente had previously been flown as a glider. The next year, in 1929, the Opel RAK.1 became the first purpose-built rocket aircraft to fly.


title: Jet aircraft

text: The turbojet was invented in the 1930s, independently by Frank Whittle and later Hans von Ohain. The first turbojet aircraft to fly was the Heinkel He 178, on August 27, 1939 in Rostock (Germany), powered by von Ohain´s design. This was largely a proof of concept, as the problem of "creep" (metal fatigue caused by the high temperatures within the engine) had not been solved, and the engine quickly burned out.Von Ohain´s design, an axial-flow engine, as opposed to Whittle's centrifugal flow engine, was eventually adopted by most manufacturers by the 1950's.


title: Jet aircraft

text: The first flight of a jet-propelled aircraft to come to public attention was the Italian Caproni Campini N.1 motorjet prototype which flew on August 27, 1940. It was the first jet aircraft recognised by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (at the time the German He 178 program was still kept secret). Campini began development of the motorjet in 1932; it differed from a true turbojet in that the air was driven through by a piston engine, instead of the exhaust gas, a much more complex solution.


title: Jet aircraft

text: The British experimental Gloster E.28/39 first flew on May 15, 1941, powered by Sir Frank Whittle's turbojet. The United States produced the Bell XP-59A, which flew on October 1, 1942, using two examples of a version of the Whittle engine built by General Electric. The Meteor was the first production jet, with the first orders for production examples being made on 8 August 1941, the prototype first flying on 5 March 1943 and the first production aircraft flying on 12 January 1944, while the first orders for production Me 262 aircraft were not issued until 25 May 1943, and the first production Me 262 did not fly until 28 March 1944 despite the Me 262 program having started earlier than that of the Meteor, as Projekt 1065, with initial plans drawn up by Dr Waldemar Voigt's design team in April 1939.


title: Jet aircraft

text: The Messerschmitt Me 262 was the first operational jet fighter, manufactured by Germany during World War II and entering service on 19 April 1944 with "Erprobungskommando 262" at Lechfeld just south of Augsburg. An Me 262 scored the first combat victory for a jet fighter on 26 July 1944. The Me 262 had first flown on April 18, 1941, but mass production did not start until early 1944, with the first squadrons operational that year, too late for any effect on the outcome of the World War II. While only around 15 Meteors entered WW2 action, up to 1400 Me 262 were produced, with 300 entering combat. It was the fastest conventional aircraft of the war, although there were faster aircraft propelled by unconventional means, such as the rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet.


title: Jet aircraft

text: Around this time, mid 1944, the United Kingdom's Gloster Meteor was being used for defence of the UK against the V-1 flying bomb – itself a pulsejet-powered aircraft and direct ancestor of the cruise missile– and then ground-attack operations over Europe in the last months of the war. In 1944 Germany introduced the Arado Ar 234 jet reconnaissance and bomber into service, though chiefly used in the former role, with the Heinkel He 162 "Spatz" single-jet light fighter appearing at the end of 1944 ended. USSR tested its own Bereznyak-Isayev BI-1 in 1942, but the project was scrapped by Joseph Stalin in 1945. The Imperial Japanese Navy also developed jet aircraft in 1945, including the Nakajima J9Y Kikka, a modified, and slightly smaller version of the Me 262 that had folding wings. By the end of 1945, the US had introduced their first jet fighter, the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star into service and the UK its second fighter design, the de Havilland Vampire.


title: Jet aircraft

text: The US introduced the North American B-45 Tornado, their first jet bomber, into service in 1948. Although capable of carrying nuclear weapons it was used for reconnaissance over Korea. On November 8, 1950, during the Korean War, United States Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown, flying in an F-80, intercepted two North Korean MiG-15s near the Yalu River and shot them down in the first jet-to-jet dogfight in history. The UK put the English Electric Canberra into service in 1951 as a light bomber. It was designed to fly higher and faster than any interceptor.


title: Jet aircraft

text: BOAC operated the first commercial jet service, from London to Johannesburg, in 1952 with the de Havilland Comet jetliner. This highly innovative aircraft travelled far faster and higher than the propeller aircraft, was much quieter, smoother, and had stylish blended wings containing hidden jet engines. However, due to a design defect, and use of aluminium alloys, the aircraft suffered catastrophic metal fatigue which led to several crashes.


title: Jet aircraft

text: The series of crashes gave time for the Boeing 707 to enter service in 1958 and this came to dominate the market for civilian airliners. The underslung engines were found to be advantageous in the event of a propellant leak, and so the 707 looked rather different from the Comet: the 707 has a shape that is effectively the same as that of contemporary aircraft, with marked commonality still evident today for example with the 737 (fuselage) and A340 (single deck, swept wing, four below-wing engines).


title: Jet aircraft

text: Turbofan aircraft began entering service in the 1950s and 1960s, bringing far greater fuel efficiency, and this is the type of jet in widespread use today.


title: Jet aircraft

text: The Tu-144 supersonic transport was the fastest commercial jet aircraft at Mach 2.35 (). It went into service in 1975, but was withdrawn from commercial service shortly afterwards. The Mach 2 Concorde entered service in 1976 and flew for 27 years.


title: Jet aircraft

text: Most people use the term 'jet aircraft' to denote gas turbine based airbreathing jet engines, but rockets and scramjets are both also propelled by jet propulsion.


title: Jet aircraft

text: Cruise missiles are single-use unmanned jet aircraft, powered predominately by ramjets or turbojets or sometimes turbofans, but they will often have a rocket propulsion system for initial propulsion.


title: Jet aircraft

text: The Space Shuttle, while far faster than the X-43 or X-15, was not regarded as an aircraft during ascent as it was carried ballistically by rocket thrust, rather than the air. During re-entry it was classed (like a glider) as an unpowered aircraft. The first flight was in 1981.


title: Jet aircraft

text: The Bell 533 (1964), Lockheed XH-51 (1965), and Sikorsky S-69 (1977-1981) are examples of compound helicopter designs where jet exhaust added to forward thrust. The Hiller YH-32 Hornet and Fairey Ultra-light Helicopter were among the many helicopters where the rotors were driven by tip jets.


title: Jet aircraft

text: Jet-powered wingsuits exist - powered by model aircraft jet engines - but of short duration and needing to be launched at height.