title: Β-Carotene

text: The average daily intake of β-carotene is in the range 2–7 mg, as estimated from a pooled analysis of 500,000 women living in the US, Canada, and some European countries. Beta-carotene is found in many foods and is sold as a dietary supplement. β-Carotene contributes to the orange color of many different fruits and vegetables. Vietnamese gac ("Momordica cochinchinensis" Spreng.) and crude palm oil are particularly rich sources, as are yellow and orange fruits, such as cantaloupe, mangoes, pumpkin, and papayas, and orange root vegetables such as carrots and sweet potatoes. The color of β-carotene is masked by chlorophyll in green leaf vegetables such as spinach, kale, sweet potato leaves, and sweet gourd leaves. Vietnamese gac and crude palm oil have the highest content of β-carotene of any known plant sources, 10 times higher than carrots, for example. However, gac is quite rare and unknown outside its native region of Southeast Asia, and crude palm oil is typically processed to remove the carotenoids before sale to improve the color and clarity.


title: Β-Carotene

text: Excess β-carotene is predominantly stored in the fat tissues of the body. The most common side effect of excessive β-carotene consumption is carotenodermia, a physically harmless condition that presents as a conspicuous orange skin tint arising from deposition of the carotenoid in the outermost layer of the epidermis.


title: Β-Carotene

text: Carotenoderma, also referred to as carotenemia, is a benign and reversible medical condition where an excess of dietary carotenoids results in orange discoloration of the outermost skin layer. It is associated with a high blood β-carotene value. This can occur after a month or two of consumption of beta-carotene rich foods, such as carrots, carrot juice, tangerine juice, mangos, or in Africa, red palm oil. β-carotene dietary supplements can have the same effect. The discoloration extends to palms and soles of feet, but not to the white of the eye, which helps distinguish the condition from jaundice. Carotenodermia is reversible upon cessation of excessive intake. Consumption of greater than 30 mg/day for a prolonged period has been confirmed as leading to carotenemia.


title: Β-Carotene

text: At the enterocyte cell wall, β-carotene is taken up by the membrane transporter protein scavenger receptor class B, type 1 (SCARB1). Absorbed β-carotene is then either incorporated as such into chylomicrons or first converted to retinal and then retinol, bound to retinol binding protein 2, before being incorporated into chylomicrons. The conversion process consists of one molecule of β-carotene cleaved by the enzyme beta-carotene 15,15'-dioxygenase, which is encoded by the BC01 gene, into two molecules of retinal. When plasma retinol is in the normal range the gene expression for SCARB1 and BC01 are suppressed, creating a feedback loop that suppresses absorption and conversion. Because of these two mechanisms, high intake will not lead to hypervitaminosis A.


title: Β-Carotene

text: β-Carotene can interact with medication used for lowering cholesterol. Taking them together can lower the effectiveness of these medications and is considered only a moderate interaction. Bile acid sequestrants and proton-pump inhibitors can decrease absorption of β-carotene. Consuming alcohol with β-carotene can decrease its ability to convert to retinol and could possibly result in hepatotoxicity.


title: Β-Carotene

text: Chronic high doses of β-carotene supplementation increases the probability of lung cancer in smokers. The effect is specific to supplementation dose as no lung damage has been detected in those who are exposed to cigarette smoke and who ingest a physiologic dose of β-carotene (6 mg), in contrast to high pharmacologic dose (30 mg). Therefore, the oncology from β-carotene is based on both cigarette smoke and high daily doses of β-carotene.


title: Β-Carotene

text: Increases in lung cancer may be due to the tendency of β-carotene to oxidize, and may hasten oxidation more than other food colors such as annatto. A β-carotene breakdown product suspected of causing cancer at high dose is "trans"-β-apo-8'-carotenal (common apocarotenal), which has been found in one study to be mutagenic and genotoxic in cell cultures which do not respond to β-carotene itself.


title: Β-Carotene

text: Additionally, supplemental, high-dose β-carotene may increase the risk of prostate cancer, intracerebral hemorrhage, and cardiovascular and total mortality in people who smoke cigarettes or have a history of high-level exposure to asbestos.


title: Β-Carotene

text: Medical authorities generally recommend obtaining beta-carotene from food rather than dietary supplements. Research is insufficient to determine whether a minimum level of beta-carotene consumption is necessary for human health and to identify what problems might arise from insufficient beta-carotene intake.


title: Β-Carotene

text: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) represents the leading cause of irreversible blindness in elderly people. AMD is an oxidative stress, retinal disease that affects the macula, causing progressive loss of central vision. β-carotene content is confirmed in human retinal pigment epithelium. Reviews reported mixed results for observational studies, with some reporting that diets higher in β-carotene correlated with a decreased risk of AMD whereas other studies reporting no benefits. Reviews reported that for intervention trials using only β-carotene, there was no change to risk of developing AMD.


title: Β-Carotene

text: A meta-analysis concluded that supplementation with β-carotene does not appear to decrease the risk of cancer overall, nor specific cancers including: pancreatic, colorectal, prostate, breast, melanoma, or skin cancer generally. High levels of β-carotene may increase the risk of lung cancer in current and former smokers. This is likely because beta-carotene is unstable in cigarette smoke-exposed lungs where it forms oxidized metabolites that can induce carcinogen-bioactivating enzymes. Results are not clear for thyroid cancer. In a single, small clinical study published in 1989, natural beta-carotene appeared to reduce premalignant gastric lesions.


title: Β-Carotene

text: A Cochrane review looked at supplementation of β-carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin E, independently and combined, on people to examine differences in risk of cataract, cataract extraction, progression of cataract, and slowing the loss of visual acuity. These studies found no evidence of any protective effects afforded by β-carotene supplementation on preventing and slowing age-related cataract. A second meta-analysis compiled data from studies that measured diet-derived serum beta-carotene and reported a not statistically significant 10% decrease in cataract risk.


title: Β-Carotene

text: Caretenoids were found to be suseptible to a thermal degradation and discoloration upon drying, which are believed to associated with isomerization and oxidation reactions.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: Tomb Raider: Underworld is an action-adventure video game developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Eidos Interactive for Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS in November 2008. Later versions were released for mobile in December 2008, PlayStation 2 in 2009, and OS X in 2012. Various companies ported or developed the different versions. The ninth overall entry in the "Tomb Raider" series and third in the "Legend" trilogy, "Underworld" follows archaeologist-adventurer Lara Croft as she searches for Mjolnir, an artefact key to entering the realm of Helheim, while confronting adversaries from her past. Gameplay features Lara navigating levels set across the world through platforming, fighting enemies and solving puzzles to progress.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: Production of "Underworld" began in 2006 following the release of "", and was developed in parallel with "" (2007). The scenario was co-written by director Eric Lindstrom and series co-creator Toby Gard; Gard left Crystal Dynamics the following year. The gameplay was redesigned around a principle of Lara's abilities, with her actions created using motion capture for the first time. A new game engine was created for the project, with the team having troubles transitioning onto next-generation hardware and staff shortages due to production of "Anniversary".


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: Announced in January 2008 for next-generation hardware, it was delayed into November and also announced for then-current generation hardware. 360-exclusive downloadable content was released in 2009. The game' received mostly positive reviews from critics, with praise for the environments, story, puzzles, exploration, graphics and the less linear style of gameplay, although criticism was directed at its camera and combat system. It sold below expectations, though ultimately went on to sell over three million copies worldwide. It was the final "Tomb Raider" published by Eidos Interactive prior to its 2009 acquisition and rebranding by Square Enix. Following "Underworld", Crystal Dynamics rebooted the series a second time, with the subsequent game releasing in 2013.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: "Tomb Raider: Underworld" is a single-player action-adventure game where the player controls the protagonist, Lara Croft, from a third-person perspective, through a variety of locations around the world. Lara can jump, climb and shimmy along ledges and vertical poles or ladders, crawl through small spaces, and swing on ropes and horizontal poles. Some areas have climbable surfaces she can scale, and some ledges allow her to stand on them and shimmey along. Other abilities include wall jumping between two adjascent surfaces, interacting with objects and switches, using a grappling hook to latch onto special rings for both puzzle solving and environmental traversal, and swim and dive underwater for a limited time. Different button combinations can create more moves such as a roll and swan dive. Puzzles revolve around Lara finding keys to mechanisms in the environment, or manipulating different mechanisms to trigger larger elements within and around the environment. There are also traps which need to be avoided, some of them involved in the puzzle design. During some levels, Lara has access to an all-terrain bike which is used in both navigation and puzzle solving.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: During combat, Lara automatically locks on to enemies and fires with her equipped gun, with the player able to switch to another target within range and move freely to avoid enemy attacks. When using two weapons, she is able to target up to two enemies at once. Through most of the game Lara has access to seven weapons, selectable from the main menu; her default twin pistols with infinite ammunition, and a shotgun, submachine guns, assault rifle, speargun, tranquillizer gun, and sticky grenades all with limited ammunition. During the last two levels, Lara also has access to the magical artefact Mjolnir, which instantly kills most enemies. Lara's health is represented by a coloured figure, with the game resetting to a checkpoint if she dies; medipacks and artefact collectables heal her, and hard-to-reach relics collected through the game raise her health cap. The difficulty setting can be tailored, with puzzle, combat and platforming difficulties each having sliders influencing their respective challenge in-game. There is also an option on Lara's PDA to receive tips about navigation or solving puzzles. A sonar map is accessible through the PDA, showing a generated 3D representation of Lara's environment.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: The PlayStation 2 and Wii versions are generally similar to other versions, but with smaller environments and puzzle structure due to hardware limitations; the Wii version also incorporates dedicated combat controls and puzzles revoling around the motion controls. The Nintendo DS (DS) is a two-dimensional (2D) side-scrolling platformer, with Lara navigating self-contained areas while progressing through each level. There are two mobile versions with differing gameplay styles; one is a 2D side-scrolling platformer similar to earlier mobile "Tomb Raider" games, while the other uses 3D graphics and incorporates platforming and combat elements similar to the home console versions though Lara is restricted to moving forward or backward and some movements are automatic triggered using button prompts.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: The story begins "in medias res"; Lara Croft navigates her home Croft Manor after an explosion, then is shot at by her tech assistant Zip. One week earlier, Lara is investigating a sunken island in the Mediterranean Sea as part of her search for Avalon, hoping it will lead her to an explanation for the disappearance of her mother Amelia and salvage her father Richard's academic reputation despite the scepticism of Zip and her research assistant Alistair. The island houses ruins dubbed "Niflheim", one of the many Norse underworlds, and Lara discovers one of the gauntlets attributed to the god Thor to wield Mjolnir. While ambushed by mercenaries sent by rival Amanda Everet, Lara recovers the gauntlet, which has shaped itself to her hand. On Amanda's ship she also meets an imprisoned Jacqueline Natla, former ruler of Atlantis presumed dead after . Natla reveals that Amelia was sent to "Helhiem"−another name for Avalon−and directs Lara to ruins in Thailand, hinting that her father also searched for Mjolnir before she is taken by Amanda as the ship sinks due to an explosion caused by the mercenary leader who ambushed Lara.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: In Thailand, Lara navigates the ruins of "Bhogavati" and finds more ancient ruins that housed a gauntlet; Richard was sent there by Natla, but removed the gauntlet and destroyed a map showing the location of Thor's relics. From the use of his initials referencing her grandfather, Lara deduces that Richard hid the gauntlet in Croft Manor. Finding Richard's study in Croft Manor's catacombs, Lara finds the gauntlet and a tape-recorded message from Richard, revealing Helheim contained a powerful weapon and that he destroyed the map after recording it to prevent its use. She also encounters a pair of Thralls, undead guardians of Thor's relics created from eitr. Croft Manor is bombed, and Lara learns from Zip that the bomber, who looked identical to her, stole the magical stone Amanda used during "". Lara then encounters a Doppelgänger—a being modelled to look like Lara—who shoots Alistair and flees; despite Zip's protests, Lara continues her quest so she can use Mjolnir to kill Natla. In the ruins of "Xibalba" in Mexico, Lara finds both Thor's belt−which powers the gauntlets and is protected by more Thralls−and ancient carvings detailing the myth of Jörmungandr, who will flood the world before fighting Thor, with both dying. In the ruin of "Valhalla" on Jan Mayen, Lara recovers Mjolnir, then confronts Natla.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: Natla provides Lara with the coordinates of Helheim, but points out that only she knows the ritual to prepare its gates, so Lara reluctantly strikes a bargain and frees her from her cell. Amanda attempts to stop her, but the Doppelgänger attacks and apparently kills Amanda. Lara dives to the ruins of Helheim under the Arctic Sea, and with Natla's preparation opens its entrance with Mjolnir. Lara then discovers Amelia is turned into a Thrall and is forced to shoot her. Natla appears and reveals that she killed Richard after his betrayal in Thailand, then sets the Doppelgänger on Lara before leaving to awaken Jörmungandr, revealed as a metaphor for the Earth's faultlines; Natla intends to activate an ancient device above the faultlines' weakpoint and trigger apocalyptic volcanic activity. Amanda appears and apparently throws the Doppelgänger to its death, allying with Lara to stop Natla's plan. Lara finds the device and destabilises it, then throws Mjolnir at Natla, knocking her into a lake of eitr. Lara and Amanda then use the chamber's dais travel device that to escape, ending up at the Nepalese monastery where Amelia first disappeared. Amanda tries to restart their fight, but backs down and leaves when Lara refuses; before she leaves, Lara bids goodbye to her mother.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: The downloadable content episodes "Beneath the Ashes" and "Lara's Shadow" are set after these events. The Doppelgänger, revealed to have survived, finds a disfigured Natla and is compelled through the magical command "Okh Eshivar" to take her to the Doppelgänger's birthplace in an ancient ruin. After the Doppelgänger restores the ruin's healing technology, Natla orders the Doppelgänger to kill Lara then itself. At Croft Manor, Lara finds notes on a Thrall-creating stone carved with the "Okh Eshivar" command. After a Thrall attacks from a cavern, she descends deeper into the catacombs and finds the stone. The Doppelgänger and attacks, and Lara says "Okh Eshivar" bringing the Doppelgänger under her control. After Lara questions the Doppelgänger's nature and the Doppelgänger states that they are both driven by something beyond their control−compulsion for the Doppelgänger and obsession for Lara−Lara frees the Doppelgänger from all commands and sends it back to Natla as an means of avenging Alistair. Back at the ruin, the Doppelgänger destroys the device, then watches as a trapped Natla is drowned in a rising pool of eitr.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: Planning for "Underworld" began during the final production stages of "Legend" in 2006, with the team feeling they had a strong-enough fan response and set of gameplay concepts to begin planning ahead. There were also features that could not be included in "Legend" which were envisioned as being possible in a sequel. Eric Lindstrom, who had previously worked as a scenario writer on "Legend", acted as creative director. Alex Jones, later acting as a co-producer for "", acted as the project's senior producer. The other staff included Harley White-Wiedow as lead designer, lead programmer Rob Pavey, and Patrick Sirk acted as art director. Production lasted roughly two and a half years.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: Development was troubled by multiple factors. Production of "Underworld" ran parallel to "Anniversary", with "Anniversary" developed by a separate time based on the "Legend" game engine. Due to this, "Underworld" suffered due to staff shortages. For "Underworld", a new engine was created that was later dubbed the CDC engine. They had trouble adapting to the new technology, as the engine had to be built from stratch rather than carrying over the earlier code from "Legend". Other troubles included the original lead level designer dying in the middle of production, and another core staff member needing to leave to have her baby. The ship escape Lara experiences in the opening level, intended to feel like an action movie, was almost cut from the game several times due to its technical challenges. Lindstrom later called the game's successful development "a miracle" due to the difficulties of transitioning onto next-generation hardware and the staff limitations. While proud of their achievement, he regretted not being able to have a more polished product by release, attributing this failing mainly to over-ambition from himself and other team members.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: The gameplay was built around the question "What could Lara do?": while carrying over the established platforming and action, the team wanted to remove as many arbitrary barriers as possible, allowing Lara to traverse the environment in a more natural manner. They also wanted to steer away from the corridor-style levels of their earlier games and have an open area with some freedom of choice for players, and better incorporate Lara's toolset such as the grappling line into puzzles. Some gameplay elements planned for "Underworld" were first shown off in "Anniversary", with Lindstrom working with that game's director Jason Botta to test them out on the fan base before "Underworld" released. The separated elements of its difficulty settings were implemented to give players more control over their gameplay experience. For the enemy artificial intelligence (AI), Crystal Dynamics licensed the NavPower middleware from BabelFlux, allowing for more variety in its AI behaviour. Adrenaline Moments were designed as an alternative to the previously used quick time events which were falling out of fashion in the gaming world. Adrenaline Moments allowed the team to create similar cinematic moments without removing player interaction. Designing the feature, which had slow motion elements, presented a challenge as the team did not want it compared to the bullet time used in other media.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: After hand-animation was used for "Legend" and "Anniversary", for "Underworld" Lara's animations were created using motion capture, chosen by the team to allow for a more fluid and natural style of movement compared to her earlier games. Her motion capture animations were then blended together using hand animation to create smooth transitions between different gameplay stances. Keeley Hawes returned from "Legend" and "Anniversary" to voice Lara. Her motion capture was performed by Olympic gymnast Heidi Moneymaker and stuntwoman Helena Barrett. To portray her at trade shows, Eidos hired model Alison Carroll. Carroll was the last live model for Lara.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: "Underworld" forms part of a trilogy together with "Legend" and "Anniversary". The scenario was co-written by Lindstrom and Lara's credited co-creator Toby Gard; the script was written by Lindstrom. Gard was credited on the game as cinematic director. Additional writing work was done by the Freeman Group, led by screenwriter David Freeman. "Underworld" was Gard's last project at Crystal Dynamics before leaving in 2009, and is his last "Tomb Raider" game to date. In an interview that year, he felt his influence on Lara had growing less since "Legend" due to the increasing size of the team and the input of the director and publisher, feeling it was the right time to leave Lara behind for other game projects. The story delivery was intended to balance the dialogue-heavy approach of "Legend" and more solitary atmosphere of "Anniversary", in addition to the atmosphere being darker and having environmental weather and effects tying into the story. This was partly in response to negative feedback from players of "Legend" about Alistair and Zip talking too much during gameplay.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: The game's title ""Underworld"" had multiple meanings; she was visiting multiple underworld locations across different cultures as part of her adventure, reaching a darker part of her "internal journey", and the tone of the adventure and locations was more sombre than earlier games. The storyline of "Underworld" was made "epic" and dramatic, with the team wanting to raise the stakes. While a single location with multiple ruins to explore was considered, the team wanted a world-spanning adventure that would take in multiple ruins themed around underworld legends worldwide, informing the game and story design from that point on.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: Norse mythology was chosen as the unifying thread for the story, with additional mythologies building on that. Lindstrom made the initial decision of which mythology the game would use during pre-production talks with Gard, with the two then making the story as brief and entertaining as possible. The story also referenced similar myths appearing worldwide, something that had fascinated Gard for years. A central theme of the narrative was Lara's determination to uncover the truth behind Mjolnir, despite the risks of unleashing something of world-destroying power, calling into question the reasons behind and justification for her adventuring. While there was a trend for series to darken their tones to sometimes mixed reactions, Gard explained the tonal shift as a natural progression of the "Legend" trilogy. The storyline originally featured a colleague of Lara's father and his niece, who would be possessed by an artefact dubbed the Eye of Odin. The characters and artefact were cut from the game as it made the narrative too complicated, with the team wanting to focus on Natla's plan and associated roles of Amanda and the Doppelgänger.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: Speaking about Lara's historically exaggerated figure, Lindstrom noted that they focused on making both Lara and the environments "larger than life", focusing on spectacle and making the character "credible" over being realistic. The enemies were split into three categories; normal wildlife that could be found in each region she visits, cryptids that were undiscovered and potentially influenced by the magic of the ruins such as the Nāga in Thailand and giant spiders in Mexico, and purely magical beings like the Thralls. The Thralls drew on two aspects of Thor's folklore, his human servants Þjálfi and Röskva, and his goats Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr which would resurrect after being butchered and eaten if their bones were left intact.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: When creating the environments, team members went on research trips to Mexico, Belize and Cambodia, taking thousands of reference photographs. Thailand, which was featured prominently in the game's marketing, was based direction on ruins from Cambodia and the team included plant life native to the area to create a realistic feel to the level. Thailand was always envisioned as the game's "deep, lush exotic jungle experience", with the amount of vegitation and detail causing problems with the frame rate when it was turned into in-game assets. Croft Manor was built using the versions from "Legend" as a reference, lessening work for the team and providing an easy tutorial area, though it needed the largest memory allocation of any environment. For the Southern Mexico area, which was described as the testbed scenario for the game as a whole, the team based it on a number of areas including Uxmal with the aim of featuring a grounded scenario of Lara exploring a lost Mayan temple complex. The area around Jan Mayan and Helheim was trimmed down from the initial concept, which would have included navigating an ice labyrinth with the all-terrain bike. Crystal Dynamics licensed Turtle, a middleware lighting software, from Illuminate Labs. Sirk stated that its use allowed for greater dynamic lighting for both the in-game environments and their concept art. An important factor in showing off the locals was the in-game camera, which at key points was designed to focus on specific areas and angles to evoke a sense of scale and wonder.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: The music was principally composed by Colin O'Malley, with "Legend" and "Anniversary" composer Troels Brun Folmann creating the main theme and supervising the soundtrack. O'Malley and Folmann had met on an earlier project creating a sample library, which they used when creating the soundtrack. The music for "Underworld" was purely orchestral and ambient in style, with some pieces that only played once to accompany specific sequences rather than looping, a style emulating "Tomb Raider" titles from the Core Design era. This direction was influenced by Lindstrom's vision for the overall style, with Folmann bringing in O'Malley based on these requirements due to his ability to work on emotional and orchestral tracks.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: An entry designed for next-generation consoles was confirmed by Ian Livingston of Eidos Interactive in 2006 after the release of "Legend". The ""Underworld"" subtitle was trademarked in November 2007. The game was officially revealed and previewed to the press in January, initially confirmed for PlayStation 3 (PS3), Xbox 360 and Windows personal computers (PC). Prior to any official release date being announced, Eidos parent company SCi Games announced a delay alongside versions for PlayStation 2 (PS2), Wii and Nintendo DS. Its official title was revealed in February with a planned release "later" in 2008. During marketing in mid-2008, Eidos hired Luton Hoo and turned some interiors into a version of Croft Manor. A game demo was released for PC on 31 October through the game's website. "Underworld" was the last entry to be published by Eidos, who were bought and absorbed by Square Enix the following year. Crystal Dynamics decided to create a second series reboot, released in 2013 under the title "Tomb Raider", additionally working on the spin-off title "Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light".


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: While sharing the same story, many different versions of "Underworld" were developed for different platforms. Crystal Dynamics handled development for the 360 version. Nixxes Software, in addition to providing general development tools, handled the PC and PS3 versions. Buzz Monkey Software provided programming and animation support for the 360 and PS3 versions, and handled the ports to PS2 and Wii. Development of the Wii version was influenced by reviews and feedback of the Wii port of "Anniversary", with the more positively received touch-based puzzles increasing in number. The gameplay was expanded in some areas with new zones, while the shooting controls were carried over from "Anniversary". The DS version was developed Santa Cruz Games. The DS version was built around the platform's limitations; most levels were presented as a 2D plain, and while Lara's model used 3D graphics much of the environment was built using 2D art. The side-scrolling genre was chosen to best fit "Tomb Raider" gameplay onto the platform. Lara's model used hand animation rather than motion capture and the levels were broken into small sections to allow for quick play sessions on the move, but the lighting used similar technology to the other versions. In both Nintendo hardware versions, care was taken to carry over as much of the established gameplay as possible. A version of the game was also developed for mobile devices, licensed out by Eidos to EA Mobile and developed by Distinctive Developments. The music and sound design was handled by High Score Studio. Feral Interactive created a port of the game for OS X.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: The PS3, 360, PC and DS versions were released in North America on 18 November, in Europe on 21 November, and in Australia on 4 December. A notable part of the European release was Eidos requesting that reviews scoring the game lower than an 8 or similar should not be released for a few days. In Australia, the game was distributed by the local branch of Atari. The PC version was released under the Games for Windows brand. The Wii version notably shipped with a bug where a key puzzle element which opened the path forward in the second level failed to appear, prompting Eidos to give advice on avoiding it to players and seek a solution for future printings. The mobile versions were released on 3 December 2008 by Electronic Arts. The PS2 version was released worldwide in 2009; in Europe on 23 January, 12 February in Australia, and 3 March in North America. A Japanese release through Spike was confirmed for 2009, initially for PS3, 360, Wii, PS2 and DS. It was released for PS3 and 360 on 29 January, and for PS2 and Wii on 23 April. The DS version went unreleased in the region. The OS X port was released digitally on 12 June 2012 by Feral Interactive.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: Exclusive to EB Games in Australia and New Zealand was the "Tomb Raider: Underworld Ultimate Fan Pack", which was available on 360, PS3 and PC. The pack contained the retail version of the game, a Lara Croft calendar, a Lara Croft figurine, a "Tomb Raider" T-shirt, a trucker cap and a messenger bag. Exclusive to Game in the United Kingdom was the limited edition of "Tomb Raider: Underworld", which was available on 360, PS3 and PC. The edition included a bonus disc, which contained behind-the-scenes documentary, promotional artwork, an exclusive soundtrack, videos and trailers. Themed merchandise was created based on the game, including figurines and books containing artwork from the games up to that point. The PS3 version of "Underworld" was bundled with ports of "Legend" and "Anniversary" in a collection dubbed "The Tomb Raider Trilogy". The collection was published worldwide in March 2011.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: Prior to release, Crystal Dynamics and Eidos were approached by Microsoft to create exclusive DLC for the Xbox 360, with Lindstom describing the content as being entirely new rather than material held back from the main game. According to a later statement, Lindstrom said that some features were cut from the main game due to time constraints and were incorporated into the DLC, which he was pleased about. The design goal for "Beneath the Ashes" was to expand upon the gameplay concepts of the main game in a new environment, while "Lara's Shadow" gave the team an opportunity to create new gameplay mechanics for the Doppleganger. While the narratives built on established plot points, they were intended as standalone experiences that would not fit into the main campaign. For the DLC, Eidos collaborated with fashion designers in Quebec to create outfits for Lara, one of them voted on by fans. Originally planned for release on 24 February 2009, the first episode "Beneath the Ashes" was delayed due to an unspecified technical issue. "Beneath the Ashes" was released on 24 February, while "Lara's Shadow" was released on 10 March.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: "Tomb Raider: Underworld" received generally positive reviews from critics. The Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3 versions of the game were generally highly praised, with many critics comparing "Underworld" to older titles in the series, such as GamesRadar and "The Guardian". In reviews, the environments have been widely praised, many reviewers also praised Lara's motion captured movements and the much less linear style of gameplay, while some criticisms aimed at its "haywire" camera angles and "dodgy" combat system.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: IGN described the game as enjoyable for the puzzles, exploration and graphics. They went on to praise that quick time events were replaced with adrenaline moments and noted improvements in combat, such as the ability to aim at two enemies at once and new sticky bombs. Similarly, "Edge" described "Underworld" as a "rare game that manages to provide a real adventure to go along with its action", praising its frenetic pace and Lara's new abilities. However, GamesRadar marked the game down for "dodgy combat", but the exploration was highly praised. "Nintendo Power" and GamesRadar also praised the game's platforming elements. Despite mentions of camera issues and weaker combat, critics described it as "as good as Tomb Raider has ever been" and "the Tomb Raider we've been waiting for!"


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: The Wii and PlayStation 2 versions received mostly mixed to negative reviews. IGN commented the Wii version "is not a bad game" but they were critical of its puzzles, minimal combat and the game's length. GameSpot called "Underworld" as an enjoyable adventure, but was critical of bugs, camera issues, and the extras for Wii version. The PlayStation 2 version was called "an embarrassment to the franchise" by IGN. They went on to say that the version was such a poor conversion that it shouldn't have been released, criticising the game's bugs, linear gameplay and minimal combat.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: "Tomb Raider: Underworld" received a BAFTA nomination in 2009. For "Underworld"'s story, Lindstrom and Gard received a nomination for the WGAW's Videogame Writing Award.


title: Tomb Raider: Underworld

text: In early 2009, Eidos said that "Tomb Raider: Underworld" sales failed to meet expectations, selling 1.5 million copies worldwide as of 31 December 2008. They later announced in February that the game had sold around 2.6 million copies worldwide. Also, on 8 May, Ian Livingstone, President of Eidos Interactive, said that "Underworld" has met their target expectations. The same month, "Tomb Raider: Underworld" was released as part of both the Xbox Classics and PS3 Platinum Range. In December 2011, "Tomb Raider: Underworld" was given away for free to subscribers of the PlayStation Plus service. As of September 2021, the game has sold an estimated 3.8 million copies.


title: The Box Tops

text: The Box Tops is an American rock band formed in Memphis in 1967. They are best known for the hits "The Letter", "Cry Like a Baby", "Choo Choo Train," and "Soul Deep" and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period. They performed a mixture of current soul music songs by artists such as James & Bobby Purify and Clifford Curry; pop tunes such as "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum; and songs written by their producers, Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, and Chips Moman. Vocalist Alex Chilton went on to front the power pop band Big Star and to launch a career as a solo artist, during which he occasionally performed songs he had sung with the Box Tops.


title: The Box Tops

text: The Box Tops' music combined elements of soul music and light pop. Their records are prime examples of the styles made popular by Moman and Penn at American Sound Studio in Memphis. Many of their lesser known Top 40 hits, including "Neon Rainbow", "I Met Her in Church", and "Sweet Cream Ladies, Forward March", are considered minor classics. As rock critic Lester Bangs wrote in a review of the group's "Super Hits" album, "A song like 'Soul Deep' is obvious enough, a patented commercial sound, yet within these strictures it communicates with a depth and sincerity of feeling that holds the attention and brings you back often."


title: The Box Tops

text: The Box Tops began as The Devilles, playing in Memphis. By January 1967 the group was composed of founding member Danny Smythe (drums, background vocal) along with newer arrivals John Evans (guitar, keyboards, background vocal), Alex Chilton (lead vocal, guitar), Bill Cunningham (bass guitar, keyboards, background vocal; son of Sun Records artist Buddy Blake Cunningham and brother of B.B. Cunningham Jr., lead vocalist for 1960s Memphis group The Hombres), and Gary Talley (lead guitar, electric sitar, bass, background vocal). They would soon change their name to The Box Tops to prevent confusion with another band recording at the time, The DeVilles of New York.


title: The Box Tops

text: As the Box Tops, they entered the studio under the guidance of producer Dan Penn to record Wayne Carson Thompson's song "The Letter". Though under two minutes in length, the record was an international hit by September 1967, reaching the Hot 100's number-one position for four weeks, selling over four million copies, earning a gold disc, and receiving two Grammy Award nominations. During 20–27 October 1967, "The Letter" and The Hombres' "Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)" were 1-2 on the WLS (AM) Silver Dollar Survey, marking a rare quinella involving two brothers of the same family (the Cunningham brothers), each in a different top 40 act.


title: The Box Tops

text: The band followed up "The Letter" with "Neon Rainbow", another tune written by Thompson and produced by Penn. An album called "The Letter/Neon Rainbow" appeared in November 1967. The Box Tops released three albums over a nine-month period from late 1967 to mid 1968. Some of the group's instrumental tracks were performed by session musicians like Reggie Young, Tommy Cogbill, Gene Chrisman, and Bobby Womack at American Sound Studio. However, the actual group members performed on a number of their recordings, including "The Letter", and on all live performances.


title: The Box Tops

text: By January 1968, John Evans and Danny Smythe returned to school, thereby avoiding the draft. They were replaced by bassist Rick Allen (born January 28, 1946, Little Rock, Arkansas) from the Gentrys and drummer Thomas Boggs (born July 16, 1944, Wynne, Arkansas, died May 5, 2008, Memphis, Tennessee) from the Board of Directors.


title: The Box Tops

text: "Cry Like a Baby" was a million-seller in 1968, peaking at #2 on the Hot 100. It has been covered by the Hacienda Brothers and Kim Carnes. "I Met Her in Church" and "Choo-Choo Train" were smaller hits released later that year. Towards the end of 1968, the band switched producers, with Dan Penn being replaced by the team of Cogbill and Chips Moman. This team was responsible for producing the band's final 1968 hit, "Sweet Cream Ladies, Forward March" (which debuted on the Hot 100 on Chilton's eighteenth birthday) and all the band's future releases through 1970.


title: The Box Tops

text: In the summer of 1969, Thompson's decidedly upbeat "Soul Deep" became the group's final US Top 40 entry, peaking at #18 on the Hot 100 in late August. The follow-up single, "Turn on a Dream", peaked at #58 on the Hot 100 and was a #29 hit in Canada.


title: The Box Tops

text: Cunningham left the Box Tops to return to school in August 1969 and was replaced by Harold Cloud on bass. Eventually the group's tolerance for the disrespect and fleecing they had endured as teen musicians from managers, lawyers, and promoters came to an end. According to a 2004 article in "Puremusic.com" by Talley, a December 1969 British tour was cancelled by the band after arriving in London to discover that instead of respecting the rider agreement, the local promoter insisted they play the tour with the opening reggae act's toy drums, public address system amplifiers (instead of proper guitar amplifiers), and a keyboard with a broken speaker.


title: The Box Tops

text: Finally, in February 1970, the remaining founding members, Talley and Chilton, were ready to move on and disbanded the group. However, the Bell record label kept releasing new Box Tops singles through early 1970, such as "You Keep Tightening up on Me" (#92 on the Hot 100 on 21–28 March 1970), using material that had already been recorded.


title: The Box Tops

text: The Box Tops name (which was under the control of a management company) still had a certain amount of cachet and sales potential in the early 1970s. Lacking original band members, beginning in 1972 new studio groups (whose members remained anonymous) were assembled to record new Box Tops material in Memphis.


title: The Box Tops

text: These later Box Tops records used some of the same production personnel that had produced and played on the group's earlier recordings, but no original group members. Willie Mitchell's Hi Records released two singles credited to the Box Tops, one in 1972 ("Sugar Creek Woman") and one in 1973 ("Hold On Girl"). In 1974, Tommy Cogbill co-produced one final single credited to the group, "Willobee and Dale", which appeared on the Stax label. None of these singles charted, or received much airplay, and they are generally not included in Box Tops retrospectives.


title: The Box Tops

text: In 1976, Pickwick Records recorded new versions of "The Letter" and "Cry Like a Baby" using lead vocalist Alex Chilton backed by studio musicians. These tracks were credited to The Box Tops, though Alex Chilton was the only group member involved. Both recordings were released in the UK on a various-artists LP set called "The Heart Breakers and Tear Jerkers Collection".


title: The Box Tops

text: Each of the original members went on to work in the music industry in subsequent years after leaving the Box Tops. Chilton's career path included work performing with Big Star, Tav Falco's Panther Burns, and his solo trio, as well as briefly producing groups like The Cramps. Guitarist Talley went on to work in a variety of styles as a session guitarist and songwriter in Memphis, Atlanta, and Nashville. Artists and producers he has worked with have ranged from Billy Preston, Hank Ballard, Chips Moman, Billy Lee Riley, Billy Joe Royal, Webb Pierce, Waylon Jennings, Tracy Nelson, Willie Nelson, and Tammy Wynette to Sam and Dave's Sam Moore, and others. He recorded two albums for Appaloosa Records with the group Fish Heads & Rice, Certified in 1991, and 4 Heads in 1994. Bassist Cunningham won a spot in the White House orchestra in Washington, D.C., after completing his master's degree in music. During his classical music career, he played with some of the world's best performers; at Cunningham's last public classical music performance, for instance, he performed at the White House with Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman. In the 1980s, he earned an MBA and changed careers. Evans played occasionally in Memphis groups after the Box Tops, while working as a luthier, eventually switching to a computer network administrator career. Smythe performed in Memphis soul and blues groups in the 1970s, later changing to a career in art by the 1980s, but returned to music performance in the 1990s.


title: The Box Tops

text: There was a one-off Box Tops charity concert in Nashville, Tennessee, at a venue called Ace of Clubs in 1989 for Harold Cloud's family member. The lineup for this show comprised Chilton, Evans, Talley, Harold Cloud (bass), and Gene Houston (drums). At this show the group was also augmented by backup singers Tracy Nelson, Jonell Mosser, and Kim Morrison and a full horn section.


title: The Box Tops

text: America's Freedom Festival, in conjunction with Wilsonwood Promotions, presented the Drifters and the Boxtops in concert at the Utah Lake State Park on Friday, June 29, 1990. The concert was sponsored by Food 4 Less, KZOL Oldies 96 FM, and Fred Meyer.


title: The Box Tops

text: Cunningham next organized a reunion of all the band's original members, including Chilton, in 1996. The group subsequently released a self-produced album of new material recorded at Easley McCain Recording, "Tear Off!" and resumed performing concerts internationally. The "Tear Off!" album included a new original by guitarist Talley ("Last Laugh"); covers of Bobby Womack's "I'm in Love", Eddie Floyd's "Big Bird" (often covered in solo concerts since the 1980s by Chilton), and The Gentrys' "Keep on Dancing"; and a new recording of "The Letter". Other songs on the album reflected the band members' varied soul, novelty, rock-and-roll, and country music influences. B.B. Cunningham Jr. played a guitar on the album version of "Trip to Bandstand", his 1959 Memphis novelty single. The album also featured horn arrangements and performances by The Memphis Horns, who subsequently participated in some of the group's concerts. By 2000, John Evans was no longer in the band and was replaced by Nashville session man Barry Walsh. Evans is employed by the University of Memphis.


title: The Box Tops

text: In 2001 the group contributed a Blondie cover tune to a various artists collection of "songs you never thought you'd hear" called "When Pigs Fly".


title: The Box Tops

text: Sold-out Box Tops concerts in Germany in 2003 were aired on German radio, and the group's 2005 tour schedule showed a number of American dates planned despite the group members' busy careers outside the band. The Box Tops did their last Memphis concert on May 29, 2009, at The Memphis Italian Festival.


title: The Box Tops

text: On July 28, 2010, the remaining Box Tops, Bill Cunningham, Gary Talley, and Ron Krasinski, plus an added Terry Manning played a tribute show in honor of Alex Chilton at The City Winery in New York City.


title: The Box Tops

text: In mid 2015, Bill Cunningham and Gary Talley reformed The Box Tops in response to continued requests by fans.


title: The Box Tops

text: September 23, 2017, marked the 50th anniversary of "The Letter" reaching #1. Cunningham, Talley, and Rick Levy joined the Happy Together Tour, performing to sold out shows across the U.S., together with Flo and Eddie of The Turtles, Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night, The Association, The Cowsills, and Ron Dante of The Archies.


title: The Thin White Duke

text: The Thin White Duke was the persona and character of the English musician David Bowie during 1975 and 1976. He is primarily identified with Bowie's 1976 album "Station to Station" and is mentioned by name in the title track, although Bowie had first begun to adopt the "Duke" persona during the preceding "Young Americans" tour and promotion in 1975. The persona's look and character are somewhat based on Thomas Jerome Newton, the humanoid alien played by Bowie in the 1976 film "The Man Who Fell to Earth".


title: The Thin White Duke

text: The Thin White Duke was a controversial figure due to ostensibly pro-fascist statements made by Bowie in press interviews during this period. Soon after making the comments, Bowie claimed that they were "theatrical" remarks made in character and did not reflect his actual views. In later years, he blamed his erratic behaviour during his mid-1970s Duke era on an "astronomical" use of hard drugs (particularly cocaine) while living in Los Angeles.


title: The Thin White Duke

text: Bowie left California for Europe in late 1976 to improve his mental and physical well-being. He settled in West Berlin in early 1977, at which point he quietly retired the Thin White Duke persona. Some fans recognize the survival of the Thin White Duke through the Berlin Trilogy, and his ultimate demise on "Lodger".


title: The Thin White Duke

text: David Bowie, who had experience performing in experimental theatre before becoming famous as a musician, began adopting different performing personae in the early 1970s, most notably the glam alien Ziggy Stardust. He famously retired Ziggy in 1973 at the end of the Ziggy Stardust Tour, and adopted the dystopian Halloween Jack persona for his "Diamond Dogs" album and most of the following tour.


title: The Thin White Duke

text: An early version of the Thin White Duke character began to appear in late 1974 during the second leg of the tour. During this "plastic soul" lead-up to his "Young Americans" album, Bowie's hair was still orange, but it was cut shorter, and his stage costumes moderated from colorful glam outfits to more conventional dress clothes. The Thin White Duke was mentioned by name in the title track of Bowie's next album, "Station to Station", and he appeared in that persona during the following Isolar Tour.


title: The Thin White Duke

text: Bowie was significantly influenced by William S. Burroughs, whom he met in 1973, enthusiastically incorporating his 'cut-up' technique as a method to harness unconscious creative processes. Stark suggests Burroughs reference to semen in the Naked Lunch as 'the Thin White Rope' may have influenced the name of the Thin White Duke.


title: The Thin White Duke

text: At first glance, the Thin White Duke appeared more conventional than Bowie's previously flamboyant glam incarnations. Sporting well-groomed blonde hair and wearing a simple, cabaret-style wardrobe consisting of a white shirt, black trousers, and a waistcoat, the Duke was a hollow man who sang songs of romance with an agonised intensity while feeling nothing, "dry ice masquerading as fire". The persona has been described as "a mad aristocrat", "an amoral zombie", and "an emotionless "Aryan" superman". Bowie himself described the character as "A very Aryan, fascist type; a would-be romantic with absolutely no emotion at all but who spouted a lot of neo-romance."


title: The Thin White Duke

text: The Thin White Duke was a controversial figure. While being interviewed in the persona in 1975 and 1976, Bowie made statements about Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany that some interpreted as expressing sympathy for fascism or even promoting fascism. The controversy deepened in May 1976 when, while acknowledging a group of fans outside of London Victoria station, he was photographed making what some alleged to be a Nazi salute. Bowie denied this, saying that he was simply waving and the photographer captured his image mid-wave.


title: The Thin White Duke

text: As early as 1976, Bowie began disavowing his allegedly pro-fascist comments and said that he was misunderstood. In an interview that year in the "Daily Express", he explained that while performing in his various characters, "I'm Pierrot. I'm Everyman. What I'm doing is theatre, and only theatre ... What you see on stage isn't sinister. It's pure clown. I'm using myself as a canvas and trying to paint the truth of our time on it. The white face, the baggy pants they're Pierrot, the eternal clown putting over the great sadness." In 1977 (after retiring the Duke), Bowie stated that "I have made my two or three glib, theatrical observations on English society and the only thing I can now counter with is to state that I am "not" a fascist".


title: The Thin White Duke

text: In later years, Bowie called the mid-1970s "the darkest days of my life" due to "astronomical" usage of cocaine and amphetamines. For much of 1976, he was obsessed with Satanic symbols, remained awake for days at a time, and lived on a diet of red peppers, milk, and hard drugs. In subsequent interviews, he blamed his erratic behavior and fascination with Nazi Germany and the occult during his Thin White Duke period on drug-induced paranoia and depression, and claimed that his mental state was such that he could not remember the late-1975 recording sessions for "Station to Station". "It was a dangerous period for me," he explained. "I was at the end of my tether physically and emotionally and had serious doubts about my sanity." Eventually, he began to see the Thin White Duke as "a nasty character indeed", and later, "an ogre".


title: The Thin White Duke

text: In an attempt to salvage his mental and physical health, Bowie left California's drug-fueled social scene for Europe in late 1976, staying in Geneva, Switzerland, for a time before joining his friend Iggy Pop in West Berlin in early 1977. Though he did not publicly retire the Thin White Duke as he had Ziggy Stardust, Bowie did not appear in the persona after settling in Europe.


title: The Thin White Duke

text: Bowie lived in West Berlin for almost two years, during which time he moved on both musically and personally with his "Berlin Trilogy" albums ("Low", ""Heroes"", and "Lodger") in collaboration with Brian Eno and Tony Visconti. He also produced Pop's albums "The Idiot" and "Lust for Life".


title: Rich Bisaccia

text: Richard Bisaccia (born June 3, 1960) is an American football coach who is the special teams coordinator for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach for the Dallas Cowboys, San Diego Chargers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and was an interim head coach for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021, leading the Raiders to the playoffs in his lone season.


title: Rich Bisaccia

text: A former defensive back at Yankton College in South Dakota, the native of Yonkers, New York played football at and graduated from New Fairfield High School in Connecticut. He began his coaching career at Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska, in 1983. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education degree with a minor in Health Education from Wayne State.


title: Rich Bisaccia

text: In 1983, Bisaccia began his coaching career at Wayne State College as their defensive backs and special teams coach. In 1984, he became their quarterbacks and wide receivers coach.


title: Rich Bisaccia

text: In 1988, Bisaccia joined the University of South Carolina as a graduate assistant, tight ends and wide receivers coach. In 1989, he transitioned to be their defensive backs and special teams coach. In 1991, he served as their tight ends and special teams coach and as their running backs and special teams coach in 1992. Under Bisaccia, the Gamecocks led the SEC in kickoff returns in 1992 and set a school record for blocked kicks.


title: Rich Bisaccia

text: In 1994, Bisaccia was hired by Clemson University as their running backs and special teams coach where he served in that role until 1998.


title: Rich Bisaccia

text: In 1999, Bisaccia joined the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) as their running backs and special teams coach. In 2000, he was promoted to assistant head coach.


title: Rich Bisaccia

text: In 2002, Bisaccia was hired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as their special teams coordinator under head coach Jon Gruden. That year, the Buccaneers went to Super Bowl XXXVII and defeated the Oakland Raiders to win the franchise’s first Super Bowl title by a score of 48–21. In 2007, Micheal Spurlock, under Bisaccia's special teams unit, became the first player in franchise history to return a kickoff for a touchdown, snapping a 32-season streak. In 2008, Bisaccia was promoted to assistant head coach, running backs coach and special teams coordinator. In 2009, Bisaccia was retained as assistant head coach and special teams coordinator under new head coach Raheem Morris.


title: Rich Bisaccia

text: In 2011, Bisaccia was hired by the San Diego Chargers as their special teams coordinator under head coach Norv Turner. In 2012, he was promoted to assistant head coach.


title: Rich Bisaccia

text: In January 2013, Bisaccia was hired to be the assistant head coach, running backs and special teams coach at Auburn University under head coach Gus Malzahn. Auburn released Bisaccia from his contract after less than a month to allow him to sign with the Cowboys.


title: Rich Bisaccia

text: On January 30, 2013, Bisaccia was hired by the Dallas Cowboys as their assistant head coach and special teams coordinator under head coach Jason Garrett. He remained in this position until the end of the 2017 season.


title: Rich Bisaccia

text: In 2018, Bisaccia was hired by the Oakland Raiders as their assistant head coach and special teams coordinator, reuniting with head coach Jon Gruden.


title: Rich Bisaccia

text: On October 11, 2021, Bisaccia was named the interim head coach of the Raiders following Gruden's resignation. On October 17, 2021, Bisaccia made his head coaching debut against the Denver Broncos and he led the Raiders to a 34–24 win.


title: Rich Bisaccia

text: Bisaccia led the Raiders to a 7–5 record, and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2016 after a win over the Los Angeles Chargers in the final week of the regular season. Bisaccia became the first interim head coach since Bruce Arians with the 2012 Indianapolis Colts to lead their team to a postseason berth.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is a skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the second installment in the "Tony Hawk's" series of sports games and was released for the PlayStation in 2000, with subsequent ports to Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Color, and Dreamcast the same year. In 2001, the game was ported to the Mac OS, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, and Xbox (as part of "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x"). The game was later ported to Windows Mobile and Windows Phone devices in 2006 and to iOS devices in 2010.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" uses the same game engine as its predecessor while improving the graphics and gameplay, most notably with the introduction of manuals and cash rewards. The game takes place in a three-dimensional urban environment permeated by an ambience of punk rock and hip hop music. The player takes control of a variety of skateboarders and either performs skateboarding tricks or collects certain objects. The game offers several modes of gameplay, including a career mode in which the player must complete objectives and evolve their character's attributes with earned profits, a free-play mode in which the player may skate without any given objective, a multiplayer mode that features a number of competitive games, and a level editor that allows the player to create customized levels.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" was critically acclaimed upon release and is considered one of the greatest video games of all time, as well as the highest-rated sports video game. All versions of the game were praised, with critics lauding its addictive gameplay, large environments, detailed graphics, fluid and precise controls, customization features and soundtrack, with some minor criticisms directed at the lack of a first-person camera and the truncated soundtrack of the Nintendo 64 version.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" puts the player in control of a professional or fictional skater and takes place in a third-person view with a fixed camera. The player must perform tricks and complete level objectives in return for cash rewards, which can be used to unlock other levels, improve the player character's statistics and obtain better equipment. The game's universe maintains a loose grip on physics for the sake of gameplay quality; while the player character can jump reasonable heights and perform short grinds early on in their career, they may eventually come to grind for much longer distances and reach such a disproportionate height in their jumps as to be capable of stringing an unrealistic chain of maneuvers together midair. The player can move freely throughout the levels without constraint and fulfill the different objectives in any order desired.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: In "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2", the player character is self-propelling and can have their course altered via the arrow keys or d-pad. The player character is capable of jumping and change direction midair. The game features a vast number of skateboarding tricks. One button can be used to switch footedness between "regular" or "goofy", while another can initiate a nollie or a fakie. Passing from a nollie to a fakie (or vice versa) in a chain of tricks increases the multiplier factor of the score collected for that chain. Other button inputs can be used to perform slides, grabs, and flips. A series of inputs can be used to perform lip tricks. It is possible to perform wall rides and transfers (changing ramps) as well as manuals that allow several tricks to be chained together. The player must use directional input to maintain balance during a manual; in the "2X" port, balance is visually represented by a vertical scale that appears next to the player character.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: The game features ten professional skateboarders, along with four unlockable original characters, depending on the version. Furthermore, the game features Spider-Man via a licensing deal with Marvel Comics. Additionally, the South Korean and other Asian versions featured the girl group Fin.K.L.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" features five modes of gameplay: Career Mode, Free Skate, Single Session, Multiplayer and the Level Editor. The Career Mode is played as a series of levels of increasing difficulty. Each level has ten objectives to perform within a period of two minutes. Some objectives are found in all levels, such as accumulating a particular score, collecting letters of the word "SKATE" scattered throughout the level or seeking and obtaining a hidden videotape. Other objectives are more varied, such as making figures at specific locations, jumping to difficult places or collecting particular objects. Each completed objective is rewarded with cash, which can be used to improve skater statistics and obtain new equipment and playable characters. A select few levels take place in a competition in which the player must perform for judges and accumulate the highest score within three one-minute rounds. The jury bases its score on the variety, difficulty and quality of the performed tricks. To fully complete these levels, the player must both accumulate a score high enough to win a gold medal and collect all the cash scattered within the level. The mode includes a series of small bonuses given for transfers, jumps and slides made across particular environmental elements. A list of these bonuses, referred to as "gaps", are compiled in a checklist that is viewable from the game's option menu. Other single-player modes include the Single Session, in which the player can freely accumulate a high score within two minutes using any previously obtained levels and characters, and the Free Skate, in which there is no time limit imposed.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: The multiplayer mode consists of five types of games: "Graffiti", "Trick Attack", "Tag", "HORSE" and "Free Skate". In "Graffiti", players must accumulate the highest score by changing level elements into their own color via the use of tricks. If a player performs a higher-scoring trick on an element that has already been marked, the element will change to that player's color. "Trick Attack" is a mode in which players must accumulate the highest score by chaining tricks together. "Tag" is an interpretation of the traditional game of tag that gives each player a timer, which only counts down when they've been touched by the other player and are therefore "it". The player who is "it" can decrease the speed of the other player and increase the ease in tagging them by performing tricks. The player who causes the other player's timer to run out is the winner. "HORSE" is a game that is played intermittently between two players, who must compete in rounds lasting either eight seconds or until a trick has been made. The player with the lower score on any given turn receives a letter in the word "HORSE" or whatever word the players had generated prior to the game's start. The first player to accumulate the entire word loses. "Free Skate" allows the players to skate freely on the same level without any given goal.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: The game's Level Editor incorporates over 100 pieces and a variety of pre-built park bases. The construction of a level is initiated on a flat and empty canvas that can be rotated at any angle. The setting can be altered between themes such as a warehouse or park, and elemental pieces are rotatable and flexible in size.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: The game featured a total of thirteen real-life professional skateboarders, along with four unlockable original characters, depending on the version. Furthermore, the game features Spider-Man via a licensing deal with Marvel Comics. Additionally, the South Korean and other Asian versions featured the girl group Fin.K.L. Skaters in bold are new to the series.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: On September 24, 1999, Neversoft released a hiring notice for new programmers and designers, through which it revealed plans to develop a sequel to its then-latest release "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater". The following week on October 4, Activision confirmed its acquisition of Neversoft. In April 2000, Activision began development of "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" for the Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, PlayStation, Dreamcast and PC platforms. The game made its first public appearance at the 2000 Electronic Entertainment Expo as a non-playable demonstration. A playable demonstration was subsequently integrated into the "Jampack Summer 2K" compilation CD released by "PlayStation Underground". The game's soundtrack lineup was unveiled on July 28, 2000.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: The game engine of "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" is an enhanced version of that of its predecessor, which in turn used a modified version of the engine used in Neversoft's earlier title "Apocalypse". "Pro Skater 2" is the first installment in the series to feature a level editor, character customization and manuals; the latter was intended to be included in the previous game, but was not implemented due to time constraints.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: On September 19, 2000, "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" made its premiere the day before its wide release at the Best Buy in West Los Angeles. The event was attended by the game's namesake Tony Hawk, who personally autographed copies of the game, and KROQ-FM disc jockey Jed the Fish, who played with guests competing for a variety of prizes. In order to give the Nintendo 64 version of the original "Pro Skater" more time to sell, Activision delayed the release of "Pro Skater 2"s Nintendo 64 port to late-2001. In October 2001, Activision acquired Treyarch preceding the release of "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x".


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: The original version of "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" was developed for the PlayStation by Neversoft and was released in North America and Europe in September 2000. The game was re-released for the Greatest Hits lineup in North America and for the Platinum Range in Europe. The PlayStation version includes a demo of "Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX" that is available from the options menu. The Dreamcast version was developed by Treyarch and was released in the United States in November 2000 and in Europe the following month. The Dreamcast version features smoother textures and higher-quality animation than the PlayStation version. "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2"s Nintendo 64 version was developed by Edge of Reality, who developed the Nintendo 64 port of the original "Pro Skater", and was released in the United States on August and in Europe in October 2001. The Nintendo 64 version includes all of the features from the PlayStation version plus an additional level. While the game's textures and frame rate are smoother than that of the PlayStation version, the soundtrack had been shortened to six tracks consisting of instrumental chorus loops due to limited storage capacity.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" was ported to the PC by LTI Gray Matter and was released in North America in October 2000 and in Europe the following month. The PC version features improved textures and resolution over the PlayStation version. The South Korean release features Fin.K.L members Lee Hyori, Ock Joo-hyun, Lee Jin and Sung Yu-ri as playable characters and adds seven Fin.K.L songs to the game's soundtrack. The Mac OS version was produced by Westlake Interactive and developed by Aspyr Media. It was released in the United States in May 2001. The Mac OS version is ported from and nearly identical to the PC version and features online multiplayer support via GameRanger.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" was developed for the Game Boy Color by Natsume and was released in the United States and Europe in November 2000. The game features two modes of play ("Career Mode" and "Free Skate"), thirteen skaters, seven stages and a password system to aid in tracking the player's progress. The Game Boy Color's limited capacity necessitated a change in perspective to side-scrolling and isometric overhead levels and a completely synthesized soundtrack. "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" was developed for the Game Boy Advance by Vicarious Visions and released in the United States and Europe in June 2001. The game takes place in an isometric overhead perspective and features all levels and game modes excluding the level editor, multiplayer and skater-customization modes. Due to the console's limited capacity, the game's control scheme was simplified and the soundtrack was altered to feature shortened instrumental versions of the game's licensed tracks.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: An enhanced port of "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" was released as a part of the Xbox title "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x". It was developed by Treyarch and released in North America in November 2001. The compilation includes five new levels, redesigned menus, the ability to create female customized skaters and a customized soundtrack, a "balance meter" feature and a four-player and LAN compatibility in the multiplayer mode. The game's graphics had been improved from those of the PC and Dreamcast versions; the textures were reworked to display more detail, most notably in the patches of grass.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: A version for Windows Mobile devices was developed by Aspyr Media and released in April 2006. The port is optimized for the Intel 2700G processor found in Dell Axim devices. A port of "Pro Skater 2" for iOS devices was released by Activision on April 1, 2010. The version's only playable modes are the Career, Single Session and Free Skate modes, and the soundtrack had been remade. The game's controls are visually displayed on the screen as four virtual buttons and a directional cross. The game was removed from the App Store in 2014.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: A remaster of both "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater" and the second game, titled "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2", was developed by Vicarious Visions and released on September 4, 2020, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One systems. The remaster includes all of the original levels and skaters from the original games, but also includes improved skater creation and park creation modes, online multiplayer, and other new features, and featuring most of the original soundtracks due to licensing issues.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" was met with universal critical acclaim upon release and remains the best-reviewed PlayStation video game of all time, as well as being the second highest rated game of all time with an aggregate score of 98/100 on Metacritic. Martin Taylor of Eurogamer declared the game to be "the supreme champion of extreme sports gaming". Ben Silverman of Game Revolution considered the game's "excellent" control to be "what pushes [it] from great to fantastic" and that on a visual level, the game "looks better than about 90% of the Playstation games that have come before it". David Smith of IGN praised the tightness of the game's control as being "in a rarefied category with games like "Quake III" and "Soulcalibur", games that do exactly what you want them to, exactly when you want them to". He also elaborated on the game's graphical improvements over its predecessor, though noted the slightly unsatisfactory draw distance in the larger levels as a minor flaw. Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot commended the large levels and the game's ability to maintain a solid framerate while handling them. The lack of a first-person camera view was lamented by Game Revolution's Silverman and GameSpot's Gerstmann.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: The Nintendo 64 version was also positively reviewed, though less so than its PlayStation and Dreamcast counterparts. Fran Mirabella of IGN stated that Edge of Reality gave the best version of the game that the Nintendo 64 was capable of having. Justin Leeper of "Game Informer" noted that along with the original version's strengths being successfully transposed, the reduced load times are an advantage of the Nintendo 64 port. Both Mirabella and Leeper judged the Nintendo 64 version's graphics to be inferior to the PlayStation version due to the reduced draw distance and the blurred, seamed textures. In regards to the soundtrack, while both reviewers commended the effort to incorporate the licensed tracks onto a cartridge format, they concluded that the result came across as "butchered".


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: Greg Orlando reviewed the PlayStation version of the game for "Next Generation", rating it five stars out of five: "Stop reading. Go buy. Hurry – and consider stoplights to be a suggestion".


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: Martin Taylor of Eurogamer considered the Game Boy Advance version to be "an impressive accomplishment" and "almost like a new game - "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2b" if you like". Craig Harris of IGN noted that while the Game Boy Color version had "serious" gameplay problems, it was an improvement over its predecessor's equivalent on the same platform. Frank Provo of GameSpot referred to the Game Boy Color version's gameplay as "exquisite" and praised the "colorful and detailed" environments and "fluidly animating" character sprites. Hillary Goldstein of IGN stated that the iOS version "maintains the fun and challenge of the original" in spite of its imperfect controls. Kristan Reed of Eurogamer considered the iOS port to be "a surprisingly enjoyable conversion", though he noted the overly-faithful graphics, the struggling framerate on older iOS devices, the lack of a multiplayer mode and some soundtrack changes to be flaws.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: "Next Generation" reviewed the Game Boy Advance version of the game, rating it five stars out of five, and stated that "Buy this and you'll be a believer too. The Hawk has been done justice on a portable."


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: Following its release, "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" was the top-selling PlayStation title for two consecutive weeks. In the United Kingdom, the game's PlayStation version received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies. "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2"s computer version sold 320,000 copies and earned $8 million by August 2006. It was the 58th best-selling computer game in the United States between January 2000 and August 2006. Combined sales of all "Pro Skater" computer games released between January 2000 and August 2006 had reached 440,000 units in the United States by the latter date. In the United States, the game's Game Boy Advance version sold 680,000 copies and earned $24 million by August 2006. During the period between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the 38th highest-selling game launched for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable in that country. In September 2007, The San Diego Union-Tribune published sales information provided by The NPD Group that put the worldwide sales of "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" across all platforms at 5.3 million units.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: "Electronic Gaming Monthly" named "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" "Video Game of the Year 2000" in its April 2001 issue. It won GameSpot's 2000 "Best Sports Game (Alternative)" award among console games, and was a runner-up in the "Game of the Year", "Best Dreamcast Game" and "Best PlayStation Game" categories. Likewise, its 2001 Nintendo 64 version was nominated for the publication's "Best Nintendo 64 Game" award. "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" was ranked #4 in "Game Informer"s "Top 100 Games of All Time" in its 100th issue in August 2001. The game was nominated for "Best Console Sports Game" and "Best Game Design" in the 2001 D.I.C.E. Awards, but lost to "SSX" and "" respectively. In 2003, the staff of IGN ranked "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" #20 in its "Top 100 Games of All Time" list. In the final issue of the "Official UK PlayStation Magazine" in 2004, the game was ranked as the 7th best game of all time. In 2009, the staff of IGN considered the console version's gameplay to be the "most important" of the fifth-generation video game era in their feature "The Greatest Gameplay of All Time". In 2014, Luke Reilly of IGN named the console version's demo as the fourth in "6 of the Greatest Game Demos Ever". "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" is listed in the Guinness World Records as the best-selling action sports video game for selling over 2 million units in the United States.


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: Following the Game Boy Advance version's appearance at the 2001 Electronic Entertainment Expo, IGNpocket named "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" "Best of Show: Handhelds", "Best Handheld: Sports" and "Best of Show: Handheld Technological Excellence". IGNpocket later named the released title "Editor's Choice: Extreme Sports Game", "Editor's Choice: Best Sound" and runner-up for "Editor's Choice: Best Graphics" in its "Best of 2001". The Game Boy Advance version was awarded "Best Mobile Interactive Game" at the 2001 BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards. It was a runner-up in "GameSpot"s annual award category for the best alternative sports console game, and in the "Biggest Surprise" and "Best Game Boy Advance Game" categories. In 2007, IGN editor-in-chief Craig Harris ranked the Game Boy Advance version #5 in his list of the "Top 25 Game Boy Advance Games of All Time".


title: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

text: The series was followed up by a second sequel, titled "Pro Skater 3", released the following year in October 2001.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: Prehistoric religion is the religious practice of prehistoric cultures. Prehistory, the period before written records, makes up the bulk of human experience; over 99% of human history occurred during the Paleolithic alone. Prehistoric cultures spanned the globe and existed for over two and a half million years; their religious practices were many and varied, and the study of them is difficult due to the lack of written records describing the details of their faiths.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: The cognitive capacity for religion likely first emerged in "Homo sapiens sapiens", or anatomically modern humans, although some scholars posit the existence of Neanderthal religion and sparse evidence exists for earlier ritual practice. Excluding sparse and controversial evidence in the Middle Paleolithic (300,00050,000 years ago), religion emerged with certainty in the Upper Paleolithic around 50,000 years ago. Upper Paleolithic religion was possibly shamanic, oriented around the phenomenon of special spiritual leaders entering trance states to receive esoteric spiritual knowledge. These practices are extrapolated based on the rich and complex body of art left behind by Paleolithic artists, particularly the elaborate cave art and enigmatic Venus figurines they produced.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: The Neolithic Revolution, which established agriculture as the dominant lifestyle, occurred around 12,000 BC and ushered in the Neolithic. Neolithic society grew hierarchical and inegalitarian compared to its Paleolithic forebears, and their religious practices likely changed to suit. Neolithic religion may have become more structural and centralised than in the Paleolithic, and possibly engaged in ancestor worship both of one's individual ancestors and of the ancestors of entire groups, tribes, and settlements. One famous feature of Neolithic religion were the stone circles of the British Isles, of which the best known today is Stonehenge. A particularly well-known area of late Neolithic through Chalcolithic religion is Proto-Indo-European mythology, the religion of the people who first spoke the Proto-Indo-European language, which has been partially reconstructed through shared religious elements between early Indo-European language speakers.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: Bronze Age and Iron Age religions are understood in part through archaeological records, but also, more so than Paleolithic and Neolithic, through written records; some societies had writing in these ages, and were able to describe those which did not. These eras of prehistoric religion see particular cultural focus today by modern reconstructionists, with many pagan faiths today based on the pre-Christian practices of protohistoric Bronze and Iron Age societies.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: Prehistory is the period in human history before written records. The lack of written evidence demands the use of archaeological evidence, which makes it difficult to extrapolate conclusive statements about religious belief. Much of the study of prehistoric religion is based on inferences from historic (textual) and ethnographic evidence, for example analogies between the religion of Palaeolithic and modern hunter-gatherer societies. The usefulness of analogy in archaeological reasoning is theoretically complex and contested, but in the context of prehistoric religion can be strengthened by circumstantial evidence; for instance, it has been observed that red ochre was significant to many prehistoric societies and to modern hunter-gatherers.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: Religion exists in all human cultures, but the study of prehistoric religion was only popularised around the end of the nineteenth century. A founder effect in prehistoric archaeology, a field pioneered by nineteenth-century secular humanists who found religion a threat to their evolution-based field of study, may have impeded the early attribution of a religious motive to prehistoric humans.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: Prehistoric religion differs from the religious format known to most twenty-first century commentators, based around orthodox belief and scriptural study. Rather, prehistoric religion, like later hunter-gatherer religion, possibly drew from shamanism and ecstatic experience, as well as animism, though analyses indicate animism may have emerged earlier. Though the nature of prehistoric religion is so speculative, the evidence left in the archaeological record is strongly suggestive of a visionary framework where faith is practised through entering trances, personal experience with deities, and other hallmarks of shamanismto the point of some authors suggesting, in the words of archaeologist of shamanism Neil Price, that these tendencies and techniques are in some way hard-wired into the human mind.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: The question of when religion emerged in the evolving human psyche has sparked the curiosity of paleontologists for decades. On the whole, neither the archaeological record nor the current understanding of how human intelligence evolved suggests early hominins had the cognitive capacity for spiritual belief. Religion was certainly present during the Upper Paleolithic period, dating to about 50,000 through 12,000 years ago, while religion in the Lower and Middle Paleolithic "belongs to the realm of legend".


title: Prehistoric religion

text: In early research, "Australopithecus", the first hominins to emerge in the fossil record, were thought to have sophisticated hunting patterns. These hunting patterns were extrapolated from those of modern hunter-gatherers, and in turn anthropologists and archaeologists pattern-matched "Australopithecus" and peers to the complex ritual surrounding such hunts. These assumptions were later disproved, and evidence suggesting "Australopithecus" and peers were capable of using tools such as fire deemed coincidental; for several decades, prehistoricist consensus has opposed the idea of an "Australopithecus" faith. The first evidence of ritual emerges in the hominin genus "Homo," which emerged between 23 million years ago and includes modern humans, their ancestors and closest relatives.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: The exact question of when ritual shaded into religious faith evades simple answer. The Lower and Middle Paleolithic periods, dominated by early "Homo" hominins, were an extraordinarily long period (from the emergence of "Homo" until 50,000 years before the present) of apparent cultural stability. No serious evidence for religious practice exists amongst "Homo habilis", the first hominin to use tools. The picture complicates as "Homo erectus" emerges. "H. erectus" was the point where hominins seem to have developed an appreciation for ritual, the intellectual ability to stem aggression of the kind seen in modern chimpanzees, and a sense of moral responsibility. Though the emergence of ritual in "H. erectus" "should not be understood as the full flowering of religious capacity", it marked a qualitative and quantitative change to its forebears. An area of particular scholarly interest is the evidence base for cannibalism and ritual mutilation amongst "H. erectus". Skulls found in Java and at the Chinese Zhoukoudian archaeological site bear evidence of tampering with the brain case of the skull in ways thought to correspond to removing the brain for cannibalistic purposes, as observed in hunter-gatherers. Perhaps more tellingly, in those sites and others a number of "H. erectus" skulls show signs suggesting that the skin and flesh was cut away from the skull in predetermined patterns. These patterns, unlikely to occur by coincidence, are associated in turn with ritual.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: The lineage leading to anatomically modern humans originated around 500,000 years before the present day. Modern humans are classified taxonomically as "Homo sapiens sapiens". This classification is controversial, as it goes against traditional subspecies classifications; no other hominins have been treated as uncontroversial members of "H. sapiens". The 2003 description of "Homo sapiens idaltu" drew attention as a relatively clear case of a "H. sapiens" subspecies, but was disputed by authors such as Chris Stringer. Neanderthals in particular pose a taxonomic problem. The classification of Neanderthals, a close relative of anatomically modern humans, as "Homo neanderthalensis" or "Homo sapiens neanderthalensis" is a decades-long matter of dispute. Neanderthals and "H. s. sapiens" were able to interbreed, a trait associated with membership in the same species, and around 2% of the modern human genome is composed of Neanderthal DNA. However, strong negative selection existed against the direct offspring of Neanderthals and "H. s. sapiens", consistent with the reduced fertility seen in hybrid species such as mules; this has been used as recent argument against the classification of Neanderthals as a "H. sapiens" subspecies.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: The study of Neanderthal ritual, as proxy and preface for religion, revolves around death and burial rites. The first undisputed burials, approximately 150,000 years ago, were performed by Neanderthals. The limits of the archaeological record stymie extrapolation from burial to funeral rites, though evidence of grave goods and unusual markings on bones suggest funerary practices. In addition to funerals, a growing evidence base suggests Neanderthals made use of bodily ornamentation through pigments, feathers, and even claws. As such ornamentation is not preserved in the archaeological record, it is understood only by comparison to modern hunter-gatherers, where it often corresponds to rituals of spiritual significance. Unlike "H. s. sapiens" over equivalent periods, Neanderthal society as preserved in the archaeological record is one of remarkable stability, with little change in tool design over hundreds of thousands of years; Neanderthal cognition, as backfilled from genetic and skeletal evidence, is thought rigid and simplistic compared to that of contemporary, let alone modern, "H. s. sapiens". By extension, Neanderthal ritual is speculated to have been a teaching mechanism that resulted in an unchanging culture, by embedding a learning style where orthopraxy dominated in thought, life, and culture. This is contrasted with prehistoric "H. s. sapiens" religious ritual, which is understood as an extension of art, culture, and intellectual curiosity.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: Archaeologists such as Brian Hayden interpret Neanderthal burial as suggestive of both belief in an afterlife and of ancestor worship. Hayden also interprets Neanderthals as engaging in bear worship, a hypothesis driven by the common finding of cave bear remains around Neanderthal habitats and by the frequency of such worship amongst cold-dwelling hunter-gatherer societies. Cave excavations throughout the twentieth century found copious bear remains in and around Neanderthal habitats, including stacked skulls, bear bones around human graves, and patterns of skeletal remains consistent with animal skin displays. Other archaeologists, such as , find the evidence for the "bear cult" unconvincing. Wunn interprets Neanderthals as a pre-religious people, and the presence of bear remains around Neanderthal habitats as a coincidental association; as cave bears by their nature dwell in caves, their bones should be expected to be found there. The broader archaeological evidence overall suggests that bear worship was not a major factor of Paleolithic religion.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: In recent years, genetic and neurological research has expanded the study of the emergence of religion. In 2018, the cultural anthropologist Margaret Boone Rappaport published her analysis of the sensory, neurological, and genetic differences between the great apes, Neanderthals, "H. s. sapiens", and "H. s. idaltu". She interprets the "H. s. sapiens" brain and genome as having a unique capacity for religion through characteristics such as expanded parietal lobes, greater cognitive flexibility, and an unusually broad capacity for both altruism and aggression. In Rappaport's framework, only "H. s. sapiens" of the hominins is capable of religion for much the same reason as the tools and artworks of prehistoric "H. s. sapiens" are finer and more detailed than those of their Neanderthal contemporaries; all are products of a unique cognition.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: The Paleolithic, sometimes called the Old Stone Age, makes up over 99% of humanity's history. Lasting from approximately 2.5 million years ago through to 10,000 BC, the Paleolithic comprises the emergence of the "Homo" genus, the evolution of mankind, and the emergence of art, technology, and culture. The Paleolithic is broadly divided into Lower, Middle, and Upper periods. The Lower Paleolithic (2.5 mya300,000 BC) sees the emergence of stone tools, the evolution of "Australopithecus", "Homo habilis", and "Homo erectus", and the first dispersal of humanity from Africa; the Middle Paleolithic (300,000 BC50,000 BC) the apparent beginnings of culture and art alongside the emergence of Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans; the Upper Paleolithic (50,000 BC10,000 BC) a sharp flourishing of culture, the emergence of sophisticated and elaborate art, jewellery, and clothing, and the worldwide dispersal of "Homo sapiens sapiens".


title: Prehistoric religion

text: Religion prior to the Upper Paleolithic is speculative, and the Lower Paleolithic in particular has no clear evidence of religious practice. Not even the loosest evidence for ritual exists prior to 500,000 years before the present, though archaeologist Gregory J. Wightman notes the limits of the archaeological record means their practice cannot be thoroughly ruled out. The early hominins of the Lower Paleolithican era well before the emergence of "H. s. sapiens"slowly gained, as they began to collaborate and work in groups, the ability to control and mediate their emotional responses. Their rudimentary sense of collaborative identity laid the groundwork for the later social aspects of religion.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: "Australopithecus", the first hominins, were a pre-religious people. Though twentieth-century historian of religion Mircea Eliade felt that even this earliest branch on the human evolutionary line "had a certain spiritual awareness", the twenty-first century's understanding of Australopithecene cognition does not permit the level of abstraction necessary for spiritual experience. For all that the hominins of the Lower Paleolithic are read as incapable of spirituality, some writers read the traces of their behaviour such as to permit an understanding of ritual, even as early as "Australopithecus". Durham University professor of archaeology Paul Pettitt reads the AL 333 fossils, a group of "Australopithecus afarensis" found together near Hadar, Ethiopia, as perhaps deliberately moved to the area as a mortuary practice. Later Lower Paleolithic remains have also been interpreted as bearing associations of funerary rites, particularly cannibalism. Though archaeologist Kit W. Wesler states "there is no evidence in the Lower Paleolithic of the kind of cultural elaboration that would imply a rich imagination or the level of intelligence of modern humans", he discusses the findings of "Homo heidelbergensis" bones at Sima de los Huesos and the evidence stretching from Germany to China for cannibal practices amongst Lower Paleolithic humans.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: A number of skulls found in archaeological excavations of Lower Paleolithic sites across diverse regions have had significant proportions of the brain cases broken away. Writers such as Hayden speculate that this marks cannibalistic tendencies of religious significance; Hayden, deeming cannibalism "the most parsimonious explanation", compares the behaviour to hunter-gatherer tribes described in written records to whom brain-eating bore spiritual significance. By extension, he reads the skull's damage as evidence of Lower Paleolithic ritual practice. For the opposite position, Wunn finds the cannibalism hypothesis bereft of factual backing; she interprets the patterns of skull damage as a matter of what skeletal parts are more or less preserved over the course of thousands or millions of years. Even within the cannibalism framework, she argues that the practice would be more comparable to brain-eating in chimpanzees than in hunter-gatherers. In the 2010s, the study of Paleolithic cannibalism grew more complex due to new methods of archaeological interpretation, which led to the conclusion much Paleolithic cannibalism was for nutritional rather than ritual reasons.


title: Prehistoric religion

text: In the Upper Paleolithic, religion is associated with symbolism and sculpture. One Upper Paleolithic remnant that draws cultural attention are the Venus figurines, carved statues of nude women speculated to represent deities, fertility symbols, or ritual fetish objects. Archaeologists have proposed the existence of Lower Paleolithic Venus figurines. The Venus of Berekhat Ram is one such highly speculative figure, a scoria dated 300350 kya with several grooves interpreted as resembling a woman's torso and head. Scanning electron microscopy found the Venus of Berekhat Ram's grooves consistent with those that would be produced by contemporary flint tools. Pettitt argues that though the figurine "can hardly be described as artistically achieved", it and other speculative Venuses of the Lower Paleolithic, such as the Venus of Tan-Tan, demand further scrutiny for their implications for contemporary theology. These figurines were possibly produced by "H. heidelbergensis", whose brain sizes were not far behind those of Neanderthals and "H. s. sapiens", and have been analysed for their implications for the artistic understanding of such early hominins.