text:
Armored Core 2

Armored Core 2 is a 2000 third-person shooter mecha video game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation 2. It is the fourth entry in the Armored Core series and an indirect sequel to Armored Core: Master of Arena. In North America, Armored Core 2 was a launch title for the PlayStation 2. A direct sequel, Armored Core 2: Another Age, was released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2.

The story takes place almost 70 years after Master of Arena. Following the colonization of Mars, a powerful organization called the Frighteners overthrows the government at the behest of their leader, the enigmatic Leos Klein. The player is a mercenary who is tasked with dismantling the Frighteners and defeating Klein.

Armored Core 2 's gameplay is largely similar to that of its predecessors. Players take control of powerful machines called Armored Cores and engage in dangerous missions or fight in the Arena against other pilots. Like earlier games, Armored Core 2 features a local multiplayer mode that includes a console linking feature and allows two players to fight each other with their own custom Armored Core.

Gameplay
Armored Core 2 is a third-person shooter in which players pilot machines called Armored Cores. These Cores can be fully customized with different parts, weapons, and paint schemes to create a unique loadout. Players must balance their loadout to ensure that they aren't too heavy or are using too much power. In order to purchase more parts, players must earn credits through missions or the Arena.

Missions are largely unchanged from the original Armored Core. Players are given an objective to complete in open levels and can complete the objective however they choose. Enemies can consist of automated machines called MTs, mysterious unmanned weapons called Disorders, or other Armored Core pilots. Upon completion, repair and ammunition costs are deducted from the reward payout. If a player fails a mission, those costs are directly deducted from their overall balance.

The Arena is a largely freeform gamemode that the player can enter at any time. At the start of the game, the player is ranked at the bottom of a 50-person ladder and must fight their way to the top. Some ranked pilots can be killed over the course of the story missions and removed from the ladder. As players win, they can earn credits or parts for their victories that can be used in both the Arena and story missions.

In addition to missions and the Arena, a local multiplayer mode allows players to fight their friends via split screen or console linking with a Sony I-link Fire Wire cable. While split screen only requires one copy of the game, console linking requires two copies, along with two separate consoles and two televisions. Console linking allows for a larger number of location options in the game mode. Players with existing saves can load their custom Armored Core into these multiplayer matches.

Plot
67 years after Master of Arena, Earth's second largest corporation, Zio Matrix, acquires plans for a research project on Mars, dating back before the Great Destruction. Using these plans, Zio Matrix sends a research team to Mars to begin the Terraforming Project, which causes the Martian surface and atmosphere to approximate that of Earth. Other corporations learn of the project and quickly follow Zio Matrix, bringing with them the competitive environment that existed on Earth, and the employ of the mercenaries of Nerves Concord.

As the three companies' war comes to a close, Zio Matrix attempts a coup against the government, which has regained control through its elite mercenary team, The Frighteners, led by Leos Klein. But in the chaos that ensues, the Frighteners turn on the government, assassinate its leader, and take control of powerful technology. The player character is tasked with confronting them and saving the human populace of Mars.

Release
Armored Core 2 was initially released in Japan for the Sony PlayStation 2 on August 3, 2000. FromSoftware partnered with Agetec and released a North American version on October 26 the same year as a launch title for the PlayStation 2. A European version was released in partnership with Ubisoft on January 19, 2001.

Reception
The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. NextGen's Chet Barber wrote that the game was "Definitely one of the best titles currently available for PS2. Certainly worth owning, unless you're turned off by the complex mech-building system or you hate mechs entirely." In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 33 out of 40.

Reviewers praised the graphical quality of Armored Core 2. Game Informer's Andrew Reiner called the lighting effects and environments "absolutely incredible." GamePro's Cheat Monkey wrote that "the graphics bring the AC world to life." GameRevolution's Shawn Sanders found the "particle effects [to be] impressive". AllGame's Jon Thompson, on the other hand, didn't find the graphics to be as groundbreaking as his peers, writing that "it still looks acceptable."

Gameplay had mixed responses. GameSpot's Frank Provo called it the game's "true beauty." IGN's David Smith wrote that the "progression curve occasionally leaps in bizarre directions at times." PlanetPS2's Jessyel Gonzalez agreed with Smith's complaints, noting that the game "demand[s] every single bit of patience in your mind to master the game."

Criticism was directed at the control scheme, with Smith noting that the game "has dragged its old control scheme into the new generation with it, and we gamers are much poorer for it." Thompson added: "The mechs are not as responsive as they should be, the targeting is oversensitive, and on the whole, the process of combat sometimes becomes more of a hassle than a good time."

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Armored Core 2


text:
Rats Saw God

Rats Saw God is a young adult novel written by Rob Thomas, published in 1996.

Plot
It follows the main character Steve York, the son of an astronaut. Steve is a high school student who has had issues with marijuana and has found himself in the counselor's office. The counselor tells him that he is flunking and if he wants to graduate he must write a 100-page paper about anything. Steve is reluctant to do so, at first, but eventually relents and begins the tale about the divorce of his parents, his prickly relationship with his father, and his first real relationship with a girl nicknamed Dub. Told in parallel timelines and bouncing back and forth from his senior year to his sophomore year, through writing the book Steve eventually comes to see his father as he'd never seen him before and understands that many of the things that he thought were true were completely wrong.

Structure
The story takes place over the four years Steve is in high school. The narrative is interlaced between his senior year in San Diego, California and flashbacks to his freshman to junior years in Houston, Texas. The time described in Houston is supposedly the 100-page essay written by Steve as his extra English class necessary for graduation. To set off the different parts of the story Steve's time in Houston is presented in Gill Sans sans-serif typeface while his time in San Diego is shown in Industria.

Characters

 * Steve York - the main character, a high school student who is brilliant, but alienated from his peers by his parents' divorce and his disastrous relationship with his father. After the divorce, Steve starts drugs and flunks school, but is given one chance to graduate by writing a one hundred page essay.
 * Alan York - Steve's father, referred to by his son as "the astronaut"
 * Sarah York - Steve's younger sister
 * Dub - Wanda Varner, Steve's girlfriend during his sophomore year of high school
 * Doug - Steve's best friend in high school
 * Jeff DeMouy - Steve's senior year guidance counselor
 * Sky - Steve's English teacher in Houston
 * Allison Kimble - Steve's girlfriend during his senior year of high school

Title
The novel's title originates from a student group in the novel, the Grace Order of Dadaists also known by its abbreviated name GOD. This group used American Sign Language in their yearbook photo to spell out the phrase "Dog Was Star" which is the reverse of the phrase "Rats Saw God". Author Thomas later created the television series Veronica Mars and called a season 2 episode "Rat Saw God" after the book. Steve's sophomore-year girlfriend Wanda Varner was later used as the name of a character on the series in the episode "Return of the Kane".

In addition, a character named Alan York is referenced in the episode "Astroburger" of the TV series iZombie, also created by Thomas. In this incarnation, York is also an astronaut.

Awards
The book was awarded the ALA Best Books for Young Adults in 1997.

title: Rats Saw God


text:
Armored Core 2: Another Age

Armored Core 2: Another Age is a 2001 third-person shooter mecha video game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation 2. It is the fifth entry in the Armored Core series and a direct sequel to Armored Core 2. A reboot of the series, Armored Core 3, was released in 2002 for the PlayStation 2.

Another Age is the final game in the original Armored Core continuity that began with 1997's Armored Core. Five years after Leos Klein's coup in Armored Core 2, the Earth government must contend with corporations rebuilding their influence and a rebel faction attempting to overthrow the existing regime.

Gameplay is extremely similar to Armored Core 2, changing few of the core mechanics. The Arena is removed from the game, making way for over 100 missions. Minor analog controller support has been added to the game along with a local cooperative mission mode. While only retained in the Japanese version, the game was notable for being the first game in the franchise to include online multiplayer.

Gameplay
Another Age's gameplay retains the core mechanics of its predecessor with a few minor changes. The game revolves around accepting missions from various corporations to earn credits for new parts for the player's Armored Core unit. Like Project Phantasma and Master of Arena, Another Age acts as an expansion to Armored Core 2, though it can be played as a standalone title. The Arena, a game mode added in Project Phantasma and recurring through the series, is absent from Another Age, giving way to a greater number of missions. Whereas earlier games had a maximum of 50 missions, Another Age contains over 100, which remains the highest number of missions in a single game in the entire franchise.

Analog support is added in the game but only allows for the left analog stick to be used for movement. While other games of the era allowed for look functionality on the right analog stick, Another Age retained the franchise's use of shoulder buttons to look around.

Like its predecessors, the game includes a versus multiplayer mode that can be played in split screen or via a PlayStation I-Link Cable. An additional cooperative mission mode is included in the game that can only be played locally. In multiplayer modes, the second player can load their own personal Armored Core from a save on a second memory card.

In Japan, Another Age introduces a broadband multiplayer option that allows players to fight each other of the internet, but the feature is not included in versions released in other territories. The removal was in part because the PlayStation Network Adapter had not yet been released outside of Japan.

Plot
Five years after the coup attempt led by Leos Klein the Earth government struggles to realize one of its original objectives, relocating people from the underground cities to the Earth's surface. The three largest corporations, Zio Matrix, Emeraude, and Balena, fight for dominance following a massive loss of influence. The government attempts to keep the corporations in check, but the situation is made more complex by the involvement of a rebel group, the Indies, who engage both sides in an attempt to establish a new government.

Release
Armored Core 2: Another Age was initially released in Japan for the Sony PlayStation 2 on April 12, 2001. FromSoftware partnered with Agetec and released a North American version on August 21 the same year. A European version was released in partnership with Metro3D on September 27, 2002.

Reception
Another Age received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 35 out of 40.

Reviewers praised the graphics and larger mission count in Another Age. GameRevolution's Shawn Sanders wrote "the mechs are still incredibly detailed" and concluded that the game looked "awesome". GameSpot's Gerald Villoria noted that in adding the greater number of missions and optimizing the visuals, FromSoftware "improve[d] upon the already solid framework set by Armored Core 2." GameZone added that with all of the added content, "there is still plenty to love here."

Like previous games, reviewers found the gameplay to retain its quality. GameSpot's Villoria commented on the challenge that the game provided, saying: "The difficulty of the game is a testament to the game's stellar AI, which never fails to surprise with deft maneuvers that are at a nearly human level of unpredictability."

The removal of the Arena mode drew much criticism from reviewers, all of whom said that its loss was disappointing. GameRevolutions Sanders said that the removal of the mode left him "bummed", while GameSpots Villoria called it "disappointing".

IGN's David Smith called Another Age "the best Armored Core expansion yet" but added that it was "in essence the same game." Many reviewers wrote about the lack of innovation in the title, with GameZone writing that "there is very little that is different or new compared to the other titles in the series, so if you've played one before, don't expect to be blown away." NextGen's Jim Preston wrote of the game, "Only lack of the promised online supports keeps this from earning five stars."

title: Armored Core 2: Another Age


text:
Kate Silverton

Kate Silverton (born 4 August 1970) is an English child therapist. She formerly worked as a broadcaster and newsreader for the BBC. Silverton was a regular presenter of BBC News at One and BBC Weekend News, as well as making occasional appearances on the BBC News Channel and BBC World News. In 2018 she participated in series 16 of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, where she was paired with professional dancer Aljaž Škorjanec and finished in 8th place. She became a qualified child therapist in 2023.

Early life and education
Silverton was born in Waltham Abbey in Essex, England, the daughter of Terry Silverton, a black-cab driver-turned-registered hypnotherapist and Patricia Silverton. Silverton has two sisters, Claire and Amy. Silverton attended West Hatch High School in Chigwell, Essex, where she was Head Girl and a junior swimming champion. She also competed in the triathlon. She was a Girl Guide and gained the Queen's Guide Award.

Silverton graduated from St. Cuthbert's Society, a college at Durham University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, having previously studied Arabic and Middle Eastern history for a year.

Early career
Silverton worked for a London-based bank before becoming a journalist. She trained with the BBC, working on Look North news before becoming a reporter and presenter at Tyne Tees Television.

She was a panellist on Channel 5's The Wright Stuff, and hosted ITV's The Psychic Show in 2002. She also featured on The Heaven and Earth Show, Big Strong Boys, and Weekend Breakfast on BBC Radio 5 Live, before joining BBC News.

In 2003, Silverton allegedly hit Rod Liddle, the former editor of BBC Radio 4's Today programme, during a pilot for a new political show. Liddle said: "I made a stupid comment about the disabled which Kate rightly took exception to."

BBC News
From 2005 until December 2007, Silverton was a presenter on BBC News 24 and also a regular relief presenter for BBC Breakfast.

In December 2007, she was named as the presenter of the BBC News 8 p.m. summary, a 90-second round-up of the news shown on BBC One, which she presented for two months. She presented the BBC News at One from February to August 2008, whilst main presenter Sophie Raworth was on maternity leave.

BBC Scotland apologised to viewers in August 2010, after Silverton swore at the end of a news bulletin on live television. Viewers in Scotland were the only ones who heard the words. A spokesman for BBC Scotland said: "Kate thought she was off-air at the time. The microphones hadn't been faded down and the mistake only went out in Scotland."

Silverton took maternity leave in October 2011, and returned to the News at One in April 2012. Until May 2012, she was the deputy presenter of the BBC News at One, presenting on Mondays and when main presenter Sophie Raworth was unavailable. Sian Williams later took over this role. Silverton returned to the deputy role in October 2013 to cover for Williams' leave. Williams later left the BBC so Silverton regained her role.

Other BBC projects
On 1 April 2008, alongside the historian Dan Snow, she presented live coverage of the celebrations held at RAF Fairford for the 90th Birthday of the Royal Air Force. In 2008, Silverton joined the presenting team for Big Cat Diary on BBC One. She co-presented coverage of New Year Live aboard HMS Belfast (C35) in London on 31 December 2008 on BBC One with Nick Knowles.

In April 2009, she appeared as a mentor in the BBC Two series The Speaker, offering her advice on good storytelling and public speaking.

In May 2009, she presented a documentary called 10 Things You Need to Know About Sleep, which looked at different ways to deal with insomnia.

From 2010, she presented the Sunday morning show on BBC Radio 5 Live, running from 09:30 to 11:00.

In June 2012, Silverton interviewed Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, who called for a halt to the killing of rhinos for their horns in Africa. Silverton has also acted as a stand-in presenter for the Radio Four series Last Word.

Strictly Come Dancing
Between 8 September and 18 November 2018, Silverton participated in the sixteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing with professional dance partner Aljaž Škorjanec. The couple were eliminated in Week 9 (Blackpool), losing a dance-off against Graeme Swann and his partner Oti Mabuse.

 * Notes
 * Red number indicates Kate & Aljaž were at the bottom of the leaderboard
 * Alfonso Ribeiro filled in for Tonioli

Philip Hayton incident
In September 2005, Silverton drew media attention when her BBC News 24 co-newsreader Philip Hayton, who had worked for the BBC for 37 years, resigned his position six months into a year's contract, citing issues of "incompatibility" with Silverton. The Daily Telegraph, without substantiation and quoting an unnamed 'insider', reported that Hayton turned to Silverton during a break and said "I don't like you".

The Daily Mirror quoted another BBC 'insider' as saying that Silverton is "...pushy beyond belief. Behind her big superficial smile she can be a really aggressive, manipulative monster who always gets what she wants." Hayton merely cited "incompatibility" with Silverton as his reason and when his managers refused to move Silverton to another time slot, he left. Silverton was in the peculiar position of having to go through the morning's paper review live on air the morning the story broke, avoiding any discussion of the story and chiding her new co-anchor when he looked to refer to it. Hayton said that he left the BBC "without bitterness or rancour".

However, several figures spoke up for Silverton. Jon Sopel, a fellow BBC News 24 presenter, who was Silverton's co-anchor at News 24 for several months, commented on the incident saying: "She's warm and friendly. With Kate, what you see is what you get – she's bright, lively, talented and vivacious. I like and trust her. Yes, she's ambitious... but aren't we all?"

Rod Liddle, who was allegedly hit by Silverton in 2003, nevertheless defended his former co-presenter. Liddle said: "Kate is intelligent, attractive and has strong opinions. She was absolutely lovely, good fun, professional, intelligent and devoid of the usual afflictions of TV presenters – narcissism and greed."

Child therapist
In 2021 Silverton left the BBC to follow what she descried as her "life's passion" and become a qualified child therapist. She told the PA news agency: "My academic background is in child psychology, and becoming a mum really inspired me too. My journey has really been decades long, both in understanding more about children’s mental health, and as a parent really benefiting from all the interviews and access to advice that I was given by incredible people." She admitted that when she competed in Strictly Come Dancing in 2018, it was with the intention of leaving journalism to train in child therapy. She now works in a primary school supporting young children with complex needs.

Personal life
Kate married Mike Heron in 2010. On 5 November 2011, Silverton gave birth to a baby girl. Her baby daughter was eventually conceived naturally, after four unsuccessful cycles of IVF. After losing an ovary during an operation to remove a cyst at the age of 29, Silverton had been told that she was unlikely to get pregnant naturally.

On 25 January 2014, at the age of 43, Silverton announced that she was pregnant with her second child. She used her Twitter account to break the news, stating: "Mike and I are very happy to share that Clemency is set to become a big sister this summer." Their second child, a son, was born on 26 June 2014.

Silverton is 5 ft 11in tall. In August 2018, she said the producers of Strictly Come Dancing had custom-made shoes created for her because none in the Strictly wardrobe were big enough for her above-average size nine feet.

In 2022, Silverton was training to be a children's counsellor, and had qualified by 2023.

Cosmetic surgery lawsuit
In January 2008, Silverton sued a clinic after an allegedly botched cosmetic surgery procedure for treatment of acne scars. Silverton said that the procedure caused a severe skin reaction and she had to take two weeks off work after the treatment. The lawsuit filed for unspecified monetary damages.

title: Kate Silverton


text:
Armored Core 3

Armored Core 3 is a 2002 third-person shooter mecha video game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation 2. It is the sixth entry in the Armored Core series. Armored Core 3 acts as a reboot for the franchise and begins a storyline that would continue through Armored Core: Last Raven. In 2009, Armored Core 3 was ported to the PlayStation Portable.

As a reboot of the franchise, Armored Core 3 returns the setting back to the post-apocalyptic setting of the earlier PlayStation trilogy. The player is a mercenary in a future where humanity has been driven underground and is ruled by a powerful artificial intelligence called The Controller. Despite The Controller's rule, corporations fight each other for dominance.

Armored Core 3 is largely unchanged from its predecessor. Players operate mech units that they may customize with credits earned from completing missions and fighting in an arena. Customization extends to every aspect of a player's Armored Core unit, including the individual parts, weapons, paint, and emblem. Local multiplayer modes allow for up to 4 players to fight each other with their custom Armored Cores.

Gameplay
Armored Core 3 continues the series' core mechanics. Players pilot Armored Core units, massive customizable mechs. In order to earn money to customize their Armored Core, players must complete missions for three major corporations. This money can then be used for weapons, items, and parts to improve their Armored Core.

Missions, like in earlier titles, retain their focus on completing objectives and destroying enemies. Mission costs like repairs and ammunition supply are automatically deducted from the reward. Voice acted briefings prior to missions provides a small amount of story regarding the mission.

Returning after a removal in Another Age, the Arena is a free-form game mode that allows players to fight other pilots to rise in rank. Winning Arena matches can provide players with credits and parts that can be used on their Armored Core unit.

Like its earlier counterparts, Armored Core 3 hosts a local multiplayer mode that allows players to fight their friends via split screen or console linking with a Sony I-Link Fire Wire cable. As a new feature, the Fire Wire cable allows for up to 4 players to connect their consoles rather than the previous maximum of 2 players. An offline bot mode for fighting computer opponents is included.

As a new feature, Armored Core 3 supports USB mice for emblem design. Additional features include computer-controlled allies that assist with missions and detachable weapons. Armored Core 3 also supports Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound.

Plot
Armored Core 3 serves as a reboot for the Armored Core franchise but retains many similar elements to the original Armored Core. Set in a post-apocalyptic future, Armored Core 3 depicts a world where humanity has begun to live underneath the Earth's surface after a catastrophic global nuclear war broke out on the surface. The human beings who survived formed a subterranean society called "Layered". Layered is ruled by an artificial intelligence known as "The Controller", which dictates almost everything that happens in the world. The two major corporations, Mirage and Crest Industries, and a relatively more minor one, Kisaragi, all vie for dominance and control over the land and assets in Layered. At the game's outset, The Controller seems to be experiencing frequent errors, which has led to a growth of support for a rebel group, known as Union, that wishes to overthrow The Controller.

The player takes the role of a Raven, mercenaries that are registered with the neutral Global Cortex organization. Over the course of the game, the player is provided with missions for the various factions by Laine Meyers, the player's manager, and the player can choose who to support. In later missions, it is revealed that The Controller is manipulating the various factions in order to destroy infrastructure and support systems for Layered, leading to a direct confrontation with The Controller. After the player destroys it, an emergency program opens Layered's blast doors and allows for surface access for the first time in centuries.

Release
Armored Core 3 was initially released in Japan for the Sony PlayStation 2 on April 4, 2002. FromSoftware partnered with Agetec and released a North American version on September 5, 2002. A European version was released in partnership with Metro3D on May 30, 2003.

Armored Core 3 Portable
Armored Core 3 was re-released for the PlayStation Portable as Armored Core 3 Portable. In Japan, it was released on July 30, 2009. A North American version was released on October 21, 2009, while a European version was released on May 19, 2010. The re-release included widescreen support and an ad hoc multiplayer mode.

Reception
The PlayStation 2 version of Armored Core 3 received "mixed or average" reviews, while the PlayStation Portable version received "generally unfavorable reviews", according to the review aggregator website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave the former console version a score of 34 out of 40.

Critics positively received the variety of mission objectives and the continued customization depth of the franchise but were unimpressed with the incremental nature of the game, barebones story, and continued control problems. Eurogamer's Martin Taylor called the variety of objectives "impressive", though later added: "Sadly, the prevalence of missions that have you either bumbling around streets or in various industrial buildings starts to become tiresome and samey" due to "uninspiring locales". In regards to the game's complicated gameplay, Shawn Sanders from Game Revolution stated that "none have been able to compete with the complexity and depth that is the Armored Core series".

The lack of meaningful updates to the core experience was a sore point for many reviewers. In a mixed review, David Smith from IGN wrote: "From Software could do so much more with these games, and instead it seems committed to doing the same damn thing over and over". GameSpot's Greg Kasavin called the design "dated" and criticized its "unspectacular presentation".

As in previous titles, the game's lack of depth to its story was criticized. Dylan Parrotta from GameZone called the story "under-developed at best and totally unintelligible at worst". Outdated and overbearing controls were especially derided by reviewers. When discussing the lack of dual analog control, Eurogamer's Martin Taylor said: "This glaring oversight in the control scheme hinders the player far more than it should, and makes targeting roof-mounted or flying enemies a task in itself".

title: Armored Core 3


text:
The Seventh Victim

The Seventh Victim is a 1943 American horror film directed by Mark Robson and starring Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell, and Kim Hunter. Written by Charles O'Neal and DeWitt Bodeen, and produced by Val Lewton for RKO Radio Pictures, the film focuses on a young woman who stumbles on an underground cult of devil worshippers in Greenwich Village, New York City, while searching for her missing sister. It marks Robson's directorial debut, and was Hunter's first onscreen role.

O'Neal had written the script as a murder mystery, set in California, that followed a woman hunted by a serial killer. Bodeen revised the script, basing the story on a Satanic society meeting he attended in New York City and setting it as a prequel to Cat People (1942), with Conway reprising his role as Dr. Louis Judd. Filming took place over 24 days in May 1943 at RKO Studios in Los Angeles.

Released on August 21, 1943, the film failed to garner significant income at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics, who found its narrative incoherence a primary fault. It was later revealed that Robson and editor John Lockert had removed four substantial scenes from the final cut, including an extended conclusion. In spite of its mixed reception, it became a cult film in England, noted by critics for its homoerotic undertones.

Plot
Mary Gibson, a young woman at Highcliffe Academy, an expensive boarding school, is informed by the principal that her older sister and only relative, Jacqueline, has gone missing and has not paid Mary's tuition in months. Mary decides to leave the school to find her sister, who owns La Sagesse, a cosmetics company in New York City.

Upon arriving in New York, Mary finds that Jacqueline sold her cosmetics business eight months earlier to her assistant, Esther Redi. Jacqueline's close friend and La Sagesse employee, Frances Fallon, claims to have seen Jacqueline the week before at Dante, an Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village. Mary soon discovers that Jacqueline has rented a room above Dante, without having moved in. Mary convinces the owners to let her see the room, which she finds empty aside from a wooden chair and above it a noose hanging from the ceiling. While at Dante, Mary meets Jason Hoag, a poet, who offers to help find her sister.

Mary's investigation leads her to several individuals who knew Jacqueline, including her secret husband, attorney Gregory Ward, and a psychiatrist, Dr. Louis Judd. Mary learns Jacqueline had been a patient of Judd's, seeking treatment for depression stemming from her membership in a Satanic cult called the Palladists, and her subsequent efforts to leave the group. Jacqueline was lured into joining the cult by her former co-workers at La Sagesse, particularly Esther.

Mary enlists private detective Irving August to help locate Jacqueline. When Mary accompanies him to La Sagesse after hours, Irving is stabbed to death by an unseen assailant. Mary flees into the subway, where she witnesses two men board her car, carrying Irving's corpse between them. She attempts to alert the police, but the men vanish with Irving's body before they arrive.

Judd offers to bring Mary to visit Jacqueline at his residence, where she has been in hiding. There, Mary is briefly met by Jacqueline, who gestures her to be quiet before again vanishing. Determined to remain in New York, Mary takes a job at a kindergarten. Some time later, Esther breaks into Mary's apartment and confronts her in the shower, claiming that Jacqueline murdered Irving and urging Mary to return to Highcliffe. Mary tells Gregory and Jason what Esther told her and they resolve to locate Jacqueline and have her surrender herself to police for Irving's murder. They unite with Judd, who takes them to meet Jacqueline.

Jacqueline recounts how she came to join the Palladists, as well as how she inadvertently killed Irving, believing him to be an assassin sent by the cult to kill her. (The Palladists have a rule that any member who betrays the cult must die, and they believe Jacqueline betrayed them by discussing the cult to Judd, an outsider.)

The cult members congregate to decide Jacqueline's fate. She would be the seventh person condemned for betrayal since the founding of the cult. However, the cult does not believe in directly committing acts of violence, feeling it is only permissible as a last resort. Instead, they goad perceived offenders into committing suicide. Frances, because of her profound attachment to Jacqueline, begs the cult members to spare her, to no avail.

The cultists kidnap Jacqueline and, over several hours, try to browbeat her into killing herself as she has long been suicidal anyway. They offer her a cup of poison. When she refuses to drink it, they let her leave, but send an assassin to follow her. The assassin chases her through the streets with a switchblade, but she eludes him and returns to her rented room above Dante. Simultaneously, Jason and Judd confront the Palladists, condemning them for their dedication to evil, and recite lines from the Lord's Prayer in response to Mr. Brun's (a high-ranking member of the cult) nihilistic philosophical explanation for their doctrine.

In the rooming house hallway, Jacqueline briefly encounters her neighbor, Mimi, a terminally ill young woman. Mimi confesses to Jacqueline that she is afraid to die, and plans to have one last night out on the town. Jacqueline enters her own apartment and apparently hangs herself; Mimi hears the thud of the chair falling over as she leaves for the evening.

Nihilism
Most controversially, the film resolves with the suicide of one of the main characters (contrary to the spirit if not the letter of the Production Code). Film historian Steve Haberman, in his audio commentary for the 2005 Warner Bros. DVD release of the film, characterized Jacqueline as the film's philosophical center, noting her existentialist views: "Her life is the very nightmare version of life that Val Lewton portrays in many of his movies: a meaningless existence, trying to find meaning, always failing and in the end seeking a sort of peace through death." Film scholar J. P. Telotte echoed this sentiment, stating: "The Seventh Victim explores certain ineffable fears that always haunt the human psyche, especially a fear of meaninglessness or the irrational which can make death seem almost a welcome release from life."

Homoeroticism
Critics have noted homosexual undercurrents running through the film, particularly in Jacqueline's character and her relationship with Frances, a cult member who is an employee at the company she formerly owned. The film was featured in Turner Classic Movies' Screened Out, which celebrated gay and lesbian themes in classical Hollywood cinema. Other film theorists, such as Harry M. Benshoff, author of Monsters in the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film (1997), have read the film's anchoring of its Palladist characters in Greenwich Village—a neighborhood with a history of gay and lesbian residents—as another prominent undercurrent. In his assessment of the film, Benshoff notes: "The Seventh Victim invokes the analogy in ways more sympathetic to homosexuality. While it could have easily fallen into the trap of using gay and lesbian signifiers to characterize its villains (i.e. homosexual = Satanist, as did Universal's The Black Cat in 1934), the film is much more complex than that." Additionally, Benshoff notes that while contemporary reviews did not comment on the film's homosexual undertones, they did note its "baffling" subtleties.

Development
The script for The Seventh Victim went through several incarnations in the pre-production process. One version focused on an orphan caught in a murder plot amid California's Signal Hill oil wells; in this narrative, the heroine needed to solve the orphan's identity, saving him from becoming the seventh victim of the unknown killer. This version of the script was re-written entirely by DeWitt Bodeen under the supervision of producer Val Lewton. The new plot followed a young woman who uncovers a cult of Satanists in Greenwich Village. Bodeen purportedly based his idea for the film on a real Satanic society he had encountered in New York. The script incorporated other elements of his experiences in New York: Jacqueline's cosmetics business, La Sagesse, was inspired by his previous work as a journalist reporting on cosmetic companies, and the Italian restaurant, Dante, was based on Barbetta, a restaurant in Manhattan's Theater District.

Filming
Mark Robson, a Canadian editor who had worked as an assistant on Citizen Kane, was signed to direct the film, his directorial debut. It was shot over 24 days at RKO's Gower Street studio in Los Angeles, from May 5 to 29, 1943. The opening scene at the boarding school used the set featured in RKO's The Magnificent Ambersons, released the year before.

Post-production
Mark Robson and John Lockert made multiple edits to the film during post-production, according to Lewton and Bodeen, resulting in a slightly "disjointed" narrative. Lewton's son spoke about this in a 2003 interview:

"[My father's] scripts were very specific about set design, camera direction, and also what you usually left to one editor—dissolves, cuts, and so on. Much of the confusion in The Seventh Victim would have been eliminated if scenes weren't cut. There was a final scene, after the woman hanged herself, that was just a horrible rehash, and it was wisely cut. It's a great ending, with the final scene taken out, but that last shot (when we hear the chair fall) needs to hold for another four or five seconds, just enough time to let it sink in. But it doesn't. The movie just ends, and the reason was because they couldn't go back to reshoot it."

According to Joel Siegel in Val Lewton: The Reality of Terror (1973), four key scenes were cut from the film, contributing to its narrative incoherence; among them are a sequence in which Gregory visits Mary at the kindergarten where she works, and Mary admits to him, "It would be easier if Jacqueline were dead." At the beginning of another scene—which remains in the final cut—Mary's supervisor says to her, "Aren't you the popular one? You've a visitor again," the last word making it clear she'd had an earlier visitor, Ward. A second excised scene features Judd visiting Natalie Cortez, pretending to be interested in joining the Palladists. The two discuss philosophical matters, mainly the notion that if good exists, evil exists, and one is free to choose between the two. Cortez reveals that she became a Palladist because "Life has betrayed us. We've found that there is no heaven on earth, so we must worship evil for evil's sake."

In a third excised scene, Judd again visits Natalie, indicating that he wishes to join the Palladists. In conversation, Judd unintentionally reveals that Jacqueline is staying with Mary at the rooming house. This makes the audience aware that the Palladists were able to trace Jacqueline to Mary's room to kidnap her. In the truncated theatrical print, how the Palladists found Jacqueline is left unclear. In a final scene that followed Jacqueline's suicide, Mary, Gregory, and Jason meet at the Dante restaurant. Gregory and Mary go off together, leaving Jason standing before the restaurant's mural of Dante and Beatrice, making clear his failure as an artist and lover. He says to himself: "I am alive, yet every hope I had is dead. Death can be good. Death can be happy. If I could speak like Cyrano ... then perhaps, you might understand."

Release
The film premiered in the United States on August 21, 1943. Five days later, on August 26, according to the United States Copyright Office, it was registered for copyright by RKO Pictures. On September 17, 1943, the film opened theatrically at the Rialto Theatre in New York City. A total of $130,000 was spent on promotional material, including posters and lobby cards.

Though box office data for the film is unknown, according to film historian John McElwee, The Seventh Victim did not fare well with audiences upon its theatrical release, and was not a box office success. A cinema proprietor in South Carolina reported that theatergoers were disappointed: "We must have been the eighth victim; patrons walked out. Business poor. Some of the kids would not sit through it." A. C. Edwards, a theater employee in Scotia, California, said it was "without doubt the most unsatisfactory picture we have any recollection of." The failure to generate considerable income at the box office (on top of the financial failure of Lewton and Robson's follow-up picture, The Ghost Ship) would result in Lewton scrapping two planned projects, The Screaming Skull and The Amorous Ghost.

Contemporaneous
Some critics praised elements of the film, such as Kate Cameron of the New York Daily News, who felt that it established a "sinister atmosphere" and had an "incredible" story; she did, however, criticize the performance of Brooks, whom she wrote "gives no hint of the scintillating personality Jacqueline is supposed to possess, nor does she adequately intimate the terror and fear under which she is supposed to labor." A critic from The Philadelphia Inquirer alternately praised Brooks's performance as well as those of the rest of the cast, and ultimately described the film as "eerie, anything but cheery... Director Mark Robson didn't miss many tricks calculated to send chills down the spine." Writing for the Big Spring Daily Herald, Jerry Cahill similarly felt that "the suspense of the picture is well carried out by the crack performances."

A critic of the Republican Herald also praised the film for being "packed with a suspenseful action that builds from its quiet beginning to a hair-raising conclusion." Grace Kingsley of the Los Angeles Times noted that "probably hardboiled mystery fans will be disappointed that none of the horrific rites are disclosed, but there are enough other chills and thrills to make up." A critic for the Waxahachie Daily Light praised the film for its "gripping climax", deeming it a "thrilling horror drama".

The film was likewise praised for the shadowy camera work by cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, but criticized by some for having too many characters and a storyline that lacked cohesion; among these critics were Bosley Crowther of The New York Times, who felt that the film "might make more sense if it was run backward." Variety gave a negative review, noting: "A particularly poor script is the basis for the ills besetting this mystery melodrama. Even the occasional good performance can't offset this minor dealer."

Robson later said:

Retrospective
Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum cited The Seventh Victim as one of his favorite horror films. Film historian Carlos Clarens also praised it, noting: "Rarely has a film succeeded so well in capturing the nocturnal menace of a large city, the terror underneath the everyday, the suggestion of hidden evil", and deemed it "hauntingly oppressive". In Guide for the Film Fanatic, Danny Peary called the film "a complete original".

TV Guide gave the film four out of five stars, noting: "While very little in the way of horrific action takes place in The Seventh Victim, the film has a haunting, lyrical, overwhelming sense of melancholy and despair to it—death is looked upon as a sweet release from the oppression of a cold, meaningless existence." They considered its conclusion "without a doubt the bleakest ending to any film ever made in Hollywood." Time Out London also praised the film, calling it Robson's "masterpiece, a brooding melodrama built around a group of Satanists ... the whole thing is held together by a remarkably effective mix of menace and metaphysics—half noir, half Gothic."

In a retrospective review of the film in The New York Times, critic Caryn James wrote: "Despite its creaky plot, The Seventh Victim is one of Lewton's best movies, a triumph of style over sense." She also noted a "terrifying scene that anticipates Psycho [in which] Mary is shocked by a visitor who breaks in while she showers." Other historians and critics, including Joel Siegel and Laurence Rickels, cited the scene as a potential precursor to the infamous shower murder in Psycho.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 95% based on 20 reviews, with an average score of 7.5/10.

Home media
The Seventh Victim was released on LaserDisc and VHS in 1986 by RKO Home Video, and again on VHS in 2002. It made its DVD debut on October 8, 2005, in a five-disc box set titled the Val Lewton Collection, comprising nine horror films released by RKO and produced by Lewton. Other films in the set include Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie, and The Ghost Ship. The Seventh Victim was also paired on a single-disc DVD alongside Shadows in the Dark, a documentary on Lewton's career.

Musical score
The score was composed by Roy Webb, and is possibly the only Hollywood film score of the period to end in a minor key. Film historian Edward Bansak notes that Webb's score for the film is remarkably understated: "Rather than use a strong theme to accompany the chills, Webb relies upon single chords and ominous strains of dissonance that create an effect not unlike the characteristic work of Bernard Herrmann."

On June 3, 2000, a compilation disc of Webb's musical scores from Lewton's series of horror films—titled Music from the Films of Val Lewton—was released by Alliance, featuring ten musical tracks from The Seventh Victim.

Related works
The film is loosely connected to Jacques Tourneur's Cat People (1942)—another film produced by Lewton with a screenplay by Bodeen–via the appearance the Dr. Louis Judd character, who appears in both films. In The Seventh Victim, Judd recounts to a poet that he once knew a mysterious woman who was in fact a "raving lunatic" (referencing Irena Dubrovna, the protagonist of Cat People). In memos and early drafts of the script, Conway's character was referred to as "Mr. Siegfried"; film scholars believe that the character's name was changed to provide continuity between the two films and to capitalize on Cat People's success. The Judd character, however, had died in Cat People, calling into question the relation of the two fictional narratives. Lewton historian Edmund Bansak notes that the films are also linked thematically through a preoccupation with nihilism.

title: The Seventh Victim


text:
West Indian Test match records

This list outlines key records relating to the West Indies cricket team.

Highest Test innings total

 * Home: 790–3 declared vs. Pakistan Kingston, 1957–58
 * Away: 692–8 declared vs. England The Oval, 1995

Lowest Test Innings total

 * Home: 47 vs. England Kingston, 2003–04
 * Away: 53 vs. Pakistan Faisalabad, 1986–87

Highest individual Test innings

 * Home: 400* Brian Lara vs. England St. John's, 2003–04
 * Away: 291 Viv Richards vs. England The Oval, 1976

Best bowling in an innings

 * Home: 9–95, Jack Noreiga, vs. India, Port of Spain, 1970–71
 * Away: 8–92 Michael Holding, vs. England, The Oval, 1976

Best bowling in a match

 * Home: 11–84 Curtly Ambrose, vs. England, Port of Spain, 1989–1990
 * Away: 14–149 Michael Holding, vs. England, The Oval, 1976

Biggest win

 * Innings and 336 runs, vs. India, Calcutta, 1958–59

Biggest defeat

 * Innings and 237 runs, vs. England, The Oval, 1957

title: West Indian Test match records


text:
Silent Line: Armored Core

Silent Line: Armored Core, known in Japan as Armored Core 3: Silent Line (アーマード・コア3 サイレントライン), is a 2003 third-person shooter mecha video game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation 2. It is the seventh entry in the Armored Core series and a direct sequel to 2002's Armored Core 3. In 2009, Silent Line: Armored Core was ported to the PlayStation Portable.

Some time after the liberation of the underground city Layered in Armored Core 3, mankind has begun reclaiming the surface. The corporations explore the world and expand their reach, constructing factories and fortresses on the new lands. While exploring the planet, several teams vanish behind the border of a mysterious region known as the Silent Line. The player takes the role of a newly-registered Raven who must unravel the secrets of the region.

Gameplay in Silent Line offers incremental feature updates to the franchise, namely the addition of player-trained computer-controlled versions of the player's Armored Core and a first-person view. Otherwise, the game retains its core structure of customizing mechs, taking on missions or fighting in the Arena, and multiplayer versus modes.

Gameplay
Like its predecessor, Silent Line retains the series' core gameplay mechanics. Players operate customizable Armored Core mechs and take on missions for various clients, usually corporations. Completing missions earns the player credits after costs for repairs and fees for AI helpers are deducted. There are hundreds of parts that can be used to fully customize a player's mech, allowing them to approach missions with different equipment options. As an expansion to Armored Core 3, the game allows players to import save data and retain their Armored Cores, earned credits, and emblems.

An Arena mode allows players to raise additional funds and parts outside of the normal missions structure. Here, they face off against computer-controlled opponents and gain ranks based on their performance. Additional features include the ability to use AI companions and train computer-controlled counterparts to the player so they can play against a trained version of their own Armored Core. Players can also utilize a brand new first-person mode when piloting their mechs.

Returning from previous games is the franchise's local multiplayer options. Players can fight each other in split-screen modes or by linking multiple PlayStation 2 consoles together via Sony I-link Fire Wire cable. The same limitation of requiring multiple televisions and game copies for console link play from previous games remains in Silent Line.

Story
Following the destruction of the machine-run society of Layered at the hands of a Raven, mankind has slowly begun the process of returning to the surface and repopulating the face of the globe. Reconnaissance teams are sent out to search the land, determine what has changed, and seek areas for the returning humanity to go. A single region becomes a source of interest as teams lose contact after crossing the region's border, which earns it the moniker "Silent Line". A mysterious faction, known as the Artificial Intelligence Office, or AIO, grants the three major corporations, Mirage, Crest, and Kisaragi, with advanced technology to further their goals.

Like the previous game, the player takes the role of a Raven from a neutral mercenary organization called Global Cortex. The player is sent on missions to investigate the Silent Line and the missing teams with the support of their manager, Emma Sears. The AIO sends a representative, Sera Cross, to provide intelligence to the player during their missions.

As the player's investigation continues, the technology given by the AIO allows for the discovery of an autonomous satellite cannon. The Mirage Corporation accidentally activates a mechanism that sends out a code that causes the AIO's technology to turn on corporate forces, leading to catastrophic losses. The cannon, triggered by the mechanism, begins firing erratically across the planet, forcing the corporations to send a group of Ravens, including the player, to disable the cannon. It is revealed that not only was the cannon deliberately avoiding any regions behind the Silent Line, but that the code's origin came from deep within the territory. The player is sent to break through the defenses of the Silent Line and discovers a heavily defended fortress. Upon destroying the fortress, it is revealed that it was a relay station for an AI of another underground human settlement like Layered. This AI, IBIS, manipulated events outside of the Silent Line by masquerading as the AIO and its employees, including Sera.

The player infiltrates the underground settlement and confronts IBIS. After a massive battle, IBIS is defeated and claims that its function is complete. Similarly to the defeat of The Controller in the original Layered, the doors of the newly discovered settlement open and allow the residents to return to the surface.

Release
Silent Line: Armored Core was initially released in Japan for the Sony PlayStation 2 on January 23, 2003. FromSoftware partnered with Agetec for its international versions, releasing a North American version on July 17, 2003 and a European version on July 1, 2005.

Armored Core: Silent Line Portable
Silent Line: Armored Core was re-released for the PlayStation Portable as Armored Core: Silent Line Portable. In Japan, it was released on November 19, 2009. A North American version was released on February 4, 2010, while a European version was later released on June 15. The re-release included an ad-hoc multiplayer mode and the ability to import save data from Armored Core 3: Portable.

Reception
The game received "average" reviews on both platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave the PlayStation 2 version a score of 31 out of 40.

Reviewers criticized Silent Line for continued issues with the franchise, including archaic controls, dated graphics, and a continued lack of innovation in the franchise. In a review by IGN 's Tyrone Rodriguez, he quoted the Armored Core 3 review they published a year prior by saying: "Our review of the previous AC pretty much sums up how we feel about this one, 'I just wish the series would commit to more than gradual improvement. At this pace, it looks like I'll be able to give an unqualified thumbs-up round about Armored Core 5 -- say, four or five years from now. From Software could do so much more with these games, and instead it seems committed to doing the same damn thing over and over'".

GameSpot focused on the game's controls, with writer Giancarlo Varanini calling them "sloppy" and adding, "that they detract from the game". Game Revolution's Shawn Sanders agreed, calling the controls "the game’s biggest hurdle".

Silent Line's graphics were referred to as "average" by GamePro's Atomic Dawg, while IGN's Rodriguez felt that the visuals were good enough and wrote, "why fix something if it works?"

Outside of its criticisms, the game was noted for remaining authentic to its core experience, especially in customization and gameplay. Game Revolution's Sanders praised the growth in the customization mechanics and wrote "it has never been this interesting". IGN's Rodriguez added that the gameplay, while not "graceful", was "really satisfying".

title: Silent Line: Armored Core


text:
Armored Core: Nexus

Armored Core: Nexus is a 2004 third-person shooter mecha video game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation 2. It is the eighth entry in the Armored Core series and a sequel to 2003's Silent Line: Armored Core. Unlike Silent Line, Nexus is not an expansion but rather a full-fledged sequel.

The game's plot concerns a new corporation called Navis that begins to hoard ancient technology, leading to tensions between it and the existing corporations. As those tensions begin to mount, the player takes on missions through the reorganized Raven's Ark until the corporations break into all out war. When the corporations begin to activate ancient weapons in desperation, the player takes on more critical tasks of attempting to stop the weapons before they destroy everything on the planet.

Very little has changed from Armored Core 's primary gameplay mechanics in Nexus. Players pilot mechs, take on missions, and earn money that they can use to customize their mech units. New additions to the game include dual analog stick support and a LAN multiplayer mode.

Gameplay
The mechanics of Armored Core: Nexus continues with many of the franchise's conventions. Players pilot large mech robots called Armored Cores and are hired as mercenaries for objective-based missions. Armored Cores are highly modular and can be customized with hundreds of parts and items. Money is earned through missions and can be used to purchase customization options, but any expenses incurred through a mission are automatically deducted from the player's income.

Mouse support allows for players to create emblems and navigate menus. The control scheme of Nexus has been updated to include support for dual analog sticks, a first for the franchise.

Nexus is split into two discs. The first, Evolution, is the main game and story sequel to Silent Line. The second disc, Revolution, contains updated missions from earlier titles in the franchise that can be played using Armored Cores from Nexus.

Like previous games, Nexus includes several multiplayer options. Split-screen modes and I-Link multiplayer connectivity return, allowing for 2 player head-to-head combat. A new addition is a LAN multiplayer mode that allows up to 4 players to connect and fight each other.

Plot
55 years after the incident at the Silent Line, corporate warfare is on the verge of breaking out once more between the four largest corporations: Mirage, Crest, Kisaragi, and the newly founded Navis. An ill-equipped bureaucracy called the Organization for Administrating Enterprise claims to police the corporations, but does little in practice to stop the escalation of conflict between them. Global Cortex, the organization that employed Armored Core pilots called Ravens, has been replaced with a successor organization called Raven's Ark.

As the corporations expand across the planet, Navis begins to hoard ancient technology and gains the attention of Mirage, which leads to an attempt by Mirage to use the OAE to force Navis into sharing the technology. Navis instead withdraws from the OAE and severs its partnership with Kisaragi to develop a secret alliance with Crest. Tensions from these events lead to all-out war between the corporations, which comes to a climax as Crest betrays their smaller ally and destroys the city that Navis is based in. Despite Crest withdrawing from the war, Mirage begins to attack Navis, leading the desperate company to activate an ancient weapon that proves to be uncontrollable. Despite the player's defeat of the weapon, the Kisaragi corporation accidentally activated a separate weapons system that begins to destroy everything it can.

Release
Armored Core: Nexus was initially released in Japan for the Sony PlayStation 2 on March 18, 2004. FromSoftware partnered with Agetec for its international versions, with the game releasing in North American on September 28, 2004, European on April 13, 2006, and in Australia on November 1, 2006.

Reception
The game received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of two eights, one nine, and one seven for a total of 32 out of 40.

The addition of dual analog stick support was welcomed by reviewers, with Game Informer's Matt Miller calling it "long-needed". Customization was praised as being "easier than before" by GamePro and the game's "real selling point" by IGN.

Gameplay had a more mixed reaction. Game Informer wrote that the dynamic plot that took into account player losses and victories was "a mixed blessing". IGN called targeting systems "imprecise and purposefully infuriating". However, GameSpot disagreed, writing that gameplay changes and improvements "make Nexus more difficult and more interesting than its predecessors, which is great".

Critics complained that the series remained inaccessible to newcomers and did little to change its formula. GamePro's Rice Burner wrote that the lack of information given to new players to acclimate them to the game was "unfortunate", and believed that newcomers would "find themselves in impossible situations". IGN's Ivan Sulic was less forgiving about the franchise's iterative ritual, stating "it's practically eight games of enough already".

title: Armored Core: Nexus


text:
Armored Core: Nine Breaker

Armored Core: Nine Breaker is a 2004 third-person shooter mecha video game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation 2. It is the ninth entry in the Armored Core series and a spin-off to Armored Core: Nexus.

Nine Breaker removed story missions and placed much more focus on the Arena mode found in previous games. Training missions reveal that an organization has put the Arena mode together in order to train pilots for a potential future war as currently all corporations are at peace.

Players pilot mech robots called Armored Cores in a competitive Arena ladder. Armored Cores can be customized with hundreds of parts, with some parts only available after completing certain achievements. A training mode allows for players to practice certain skills that can help them within the Arena and allow them to unlock additional parts for their mech.

Gameplay
In Nine Breaker, players pilot large mech robots called Armored Cores. Unlike previous games in the franchise, players are not hired for missions and no longer earn credits, instead being only focused on fighting Arena battles to raise the player's rank.

A training mode included in the game includes 150 minigames for practicing specific exercises. Upon completion, the player is rated on their performance in the exercise. Within the Arena mode, players are placed onto a competitive ladder and must earn points from winning matches to advance on the ladder.

While previous games required that the player purchase customization options for their mech, Nine Breaker unlocks a majority of its parts from the start and allows others to be earned through performance achievements in the training or arena modes.

Previous multiplayer offerings return in Nine Breaker. Players can fight each other in 2 player split-screen modes or local network play.

Setting
Unlike other Armored Core titles, Nine Breaker doesn't have a proper storyline. Instead, it focuses on a training program that sees Armored Core pilots fight each other and hone their skills in the event that another war breaks out. The game hints at an underlying plot involving an organization putting together the training program due to a rare peacetime between corporate conflicts.

Release
Armored Core: Nine Breaker was initially released in Japan for the Sony PlayStation 2 on October 28, 2004. FromSoftware partnered with Agetec and released a North American version on September 13, 2005. A European version was released in partnership with 505 Games on April 28, 2006.

Reception
Nine Breaker received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave Nine Breaker a score of two sevens, one eight, and one seven for a total of 29 out of 40.

Critics noted that the game's removal of story missions, with IGN's Ivan Sulic stating: "Funny how a sequel can offer less, eh?" Dan Whitehead, writing for Eurogamer noted that the game's focus on challenges and arena combat wasn't developed well enough, calling them "a series of competition scraps to plough through for no real reason". He noted that there was a framing story, but deemed it "hilariously half-hearted".

Criticism of the franchise's iterative nature continued in Nine Breaker. IGN 's Sulic wrote: "I might have been able to copy and paste the text from my Armored Core: Nexus review into this space... given how similar the two titles are". Greg Bemis from G4 commented on the "stale" nature of the franchise, writing: "If you’re one of those Armored Core fanboys, congratulations! You just bought the same game...again".

Gameplay for Nine Breaker was considered challenging like its predecessors, but some critics noted that the challenge often became frustrating due to how inaccessible it was. While GameZone found the combat systems "balanced", IGN found it to be tedious. ' GameSpot's Bob Colayco called it "straightforward" and added that "the game offers a decent amount of strategy since you decide how to set up your AC in order to best match up with your opponents". Eurogamer was particularly scathing about the gameplay, writing that "only the most masochistic will persevere with this curt exercise in uninspired destruction".

title: Armored Core: Nine Breaker


text:
Armored Core: Last Raven

Armored Core: Last Raven is a 2005 mecha-based vehicular combat game developed by FromSoftware. It is part of the Armored Core series and is a direct sequel to Armored Core: Nexus (2004). The game was originally released for the PlayStation 2 and was ported to the PlayStation Portable in 2010. Gameplay remains largely unchanged from the game's predecessors and is centered around piloting a large mech in combat missions for various clients. The game is also notable for being the debut project of future FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki.

Last Raven concludes the storyline that began with 2002's Armored Core 3. The previously warring corporations have merged into a single organization called The Alliance, while a group of mercenaries called Vertex rise to oppose them. The player takes the role of an unaffiliated mercenary, a Raven, and is given the option of which faction to support, leading to several distinct endings for the first time in the series.

Gameplay
As with previous Armored Core games, players in Last Raven are pilots of mech robots called Armored Cores. Players can take on over 70 missions that play out over a 24-hour period. Completed missions provide the player with credits to spend on parts and weapons, and can influence the availability of subsequent missions. The 24-hour period incrementally moves forward with each mission, and mission choices can dictate the narrative ending the player receives.

Customization is identical to previous entries. Players start the game with 300,000 credits and a basic Armored Core. They can alter the mech with hundreds of parts and weapons, each of which can change the player's gameplay experience. A component damage system allows for parts to be broken individually over the course of a mission, drastically affecting its performance. For example, damaging its legs crippled its movement, while damaging its arms removes its ability to use hand-held weapons.

Story
In the wake of the now defunct Navis's failed attempt to control recovered ancient weapons technology at the end of Armored Core: Nexus, the world has been left in tatters. Looking to consolidate power, the remaining corporations have merged into one super-corporation known as "The Alliance". Fed up with corporate rule and oppression, and seeing a newfound threat in The Alliance, a Raven known as Jack-O forms an organization of Ravens known as "Vertex" from the ashes of the fallen Raven's Ark. After rallying a sizable force of fellow Ravens to his cause, Jack-O declares that he will launch an all-out war on the Alliance in 24 hours. Leading the opposing force, a Raven named Evangel has rallied just as many Ravens to the Alliance and is preparing to fight Jack-O head on. Making matters all the more complicated, many Ravens have turned into independent warlords, setting out on their own after the collapse of Raven's Ark.

The player, one of a surviving Raven, begins the game by choosing to take a mission for either Vertex or The Alliance. After completing the mission they are introduced to Evangel, Zinaida, and Jack-O; The major characters of the struggle.

Throughout the story missions, the Raven learns the existence of "Dominant", an extremely gifted pilot who can turn the tide of war. This was a title sought by Evangel, who are driven to become the strongest by any means necessary. In middle game, Evangel betrays The Alliance to infiltrate Vertex from within. Meanwhile, Jack-O puts Zinaida and the Raven through several missions which often pit them against other Ravens. It is revealed that Jack-O was so desperate to find the Dominant that he would go so far as to betray or execute fellow members of Vertex if he felt they didn't measure up.

The struggle reaches its climax at an energy plant, where the Raven learns of a destructive weapon called Pulverizers. Following several attacks by seemingly rogue Pulverizers, it is revealed that an AI called Internecine is controlling them and was responsible for the weapons attack at the end of Armored Core: Nexus. Jack-O reveals to the Raven that the true purpose of this war to find the Dominant that are strong enough to stop the Internecine and the Pulverizers.

Release
Armored Core: Last Raven was initially released in Japan for the Sony PlayStation 2 on August 4, 2005. FromSoftware partnered with Agetec and released a North American version on June 13, 2006. A European version was released in partnership with 505 Games on October 6, 2006.

Armored Core: Last Raven Portable
Armored Core: Last Raven was re-released for the PlayStation Portable as Armored Core: Last Raven Portable. In Japan, it was released on March 4, 2010. A North American version was later released on May 4, while a European version was released on July 14. The re-release includes widescreen support, an ad hoc multiplayer mode, and the ability to import save data from Armored Core 3: Portable.

Reception
Last Raven received "mixed or average reviews" on both platforms according to the review aggregator websites GameRankings and Metacritic. The game was praised for continuing the impressive level of customization that Armored Core has become renown for, yet it was also cited as a daunting barrier to new players. GameSpot's review of the PlayStation 2 version claimed the difficulty of the story and arena missions were too steep, and relied too much on trial and error to customize the player character successfully for the challenges at hand. IGN's review of the same console version was slightly more favorable, but still criticized the game's extreme learning curve, the lack of new graphics, and lack of significant innovations to the game's formula. In Japan, Famitsu gave the game a score of 29 out of 40 for the PS2 version, and 26 out of 40 for the PSP version.

title: Armored Core: Last Raven


text:
Morrison incident

The Morrison incident (モリソン号事件) of 1837 occurred when the American merchant ship Morrison, headed by Charles W. King, was driven away from "sakoku" (isolationist) Japan by cannon fire. This was carried out in accordance with the Japanese Edict to Repel Foreign Vessels of 1825. It has been alleged that King used the pretext of repatriating seven Japanese castaways, among them Yamamoto Otokichi, to try to open trade with Japan.

History
In addition to its commercial aims, the ship was attempting to repatriate seven shipwrecked Japanese citizens who had been picked up in Macau. It also carried Christian missionaries such as Samuel Wells Williams.

In July 1837, Charles W. King set off with the seven Japanese aboard an American merchant ship called the SS Morrison, on which he sailed to Uraga at the entrance of Edo Bay. The ship had been disarmed to signify its peaceful intentions.

Cannon were fired from the hilltops of the Miura Peninsula as soon as the ship approached Uraga, in compliance with the 1825–42 shogunal order that any approaching Western ships, apart from Dutch ones, should be fired upon.

King anchored at a safe distance, out of range of the shore batteries. Men from several small fishing ships boarded the SS Morrison, and sake and cookies were shared until late in the night. By daybreak, however, cannons had been brought closer to the seaside, and they were again fired at the ship. Hundreds of small boats, each with a small cannon at the front, also started to surround and attack the ship. The Morrison sailed away, with little damage.

King then sailed to Kagoshima in Kyūshū. The first day he met some officials there, who took two of the castaways into custody. The following day, a fisherman came alongside and warned the sailors to leave immediately. As the ship was setting its sails, the Japanese opened fire from cannons they had moved to the proximity of the ship during the night. King decided to abandon the mission and returned to Canton with the remaining castaways.

King was outraged by the Japanese response, and upon his return to the United States in 1839 wrote a book about his adventure. In the book he explained that the American flag had been fired upon by a foreign government and that the next contacts with Japan "had better be left to the stronger and wiser action of the American Government".

In 1845, a resolution was introduced to the United States Congress to open Japan to trade. Although the resolution was never passed, the United States government sent an expedition under James Biddle with two heavily armed ships, to induce Japan to negotiate.

The nature of the ship's mission became known one year after the event, and this resulted in increased criticism of the Edict.

Fictional Depictions

 * King's visit to Japan was briefly depicted during the opening episode of the 2008 NHK Taiga drama Atsuhime.

title: Morrison incident


text:
Efigênia dos Santos Lima Clemente

Efigênia Mariquinhas dos Santos Lima Clemente is a member of the Pan-African Parliament from Angola, beginning in 2004.

title: Efigênia dos Santos Lima Clemente


text:
Armored Core: Formula Front

Armored Core: Formula Front is a mecha video game developed by FromSoftware and published by Agetec. It was a launch title for the PlayStation Portable in Japan, the 10th main installment in the Armored Core series.

Gameplay
The player assumes the role of an Architect. An Architect is a person who builds, programs and battles with a modified Armored Core known as a u/AC or an Unmanned Armored Core. u/ACs are AI controlled Armored Cores which compete exclusively in battling tournaments. u/ACs battle independent of the Architect's control, so the Architect must influence how the u/AC fights by customizing various part combinations and loading various program functions into the u/AC's AI. The North American version of the PSP game has since been modified to allow players the option of actually piloting their u/AC in battle instead of letting the AI fight. In the game, this is called a N-u/AC (N standing for Naked) and is supposedly notoriously hard to control.

Armored Core: Formula Front allows the player to build their own robot using 480 different parts. These part come in several categories. These categories are head, core, arms, legs, generator, fire control system, booster, radiator, extension, inside, right arm weapon, left arm weapon, back left weapon, back right weapon, right hangar unit, left hangar unit, and optional parts. Several different part types can also be available. For instance, there are three types of cores (OB, EO, and Standard). Other types of customization include paint, AI tune, Parts Tune, Repository, Sortie Order, Name Entry, Sample Emblem, and Edit Emblem.

Setting
In the game's story, Formula Front is a worldwide competition in which unmanned, AI-controlled ACs [u-ACs] are pitted against one another in fiercely contested arena battles. The game takes place twenty-five years after Formula Front arena warfare was introduced. It is now the world's most popular form of entertainment. At the heart of Formula Front's success are the architects. These are the individuals responsible for assembling and programming the u-ACs entered into league matches.

Plot
As the player fights their way into the Regular League, they are confronted by a new team, BT Wyvern, and its architect, Linus. After two matches against BT Wyvern, Linus sends a message that he meet the player again. Rank after rank, the player again confronts a formidable opponent, Team Ogre, and its architect, Diablo. Though Ogre usually wins through harsh tactics, their battle against BT Wyvern was horrible. Fortunately, the player defeated Diablo. As the player gets nearer through the top ranks, they are again confronted by BT Wyvern with a new AC model, Force Wing X. Afterwards, Diablo confronts the player again with an AC similar to Linus' AC and has installed with a mysterious data in Diablo's AC. The player manages to defeat Diablo and Team Ogre was temporarily banned due to being accused of stealing the 'Master Data'.

After defeating the second rank Team Neonia and its architect, Raving, the player has the right to challenge Team Testarossa Artigiana ('Arti' for short) and FFA's top architect, Bren. After the player defeats Bren, they become the new top architect.

Release
Formula Front is the first Armored Core game to be released on multiple platforms, originally on the PlayStation Portable and later on the PlayStation 2. In Japan it was released simply as Armored Core: Formula Front. In North America, the game was modified and released on December 15, 2005 as Armored Core: Formula Front Extreme Battle, often mislabeled as Armored Core: Formula Front Special Edition; however, the PlayStation 2 version was not released in North America. The then-upcoming American version of the game was re-released on November 17, 2005 in Japan entitled Armored Core: Formula Front International (アーマード・コア フォーミュラフロント インターナショナル); this re-released edition is considered to be the ultimate edition as it also contains a large amount of additional battles not found in the American version of the game, and includes both Japanese and English text options (except for the tutorial videos which are only in Japanese). Later released fan-made patch addressed the issue, translating the videos.

Reception
The PSP version received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave the game a score of 30 out of 40 (8/7/8/7) for the PSP version, and 28 out of 40 for the PlayStation 2 version.

title: Armored Core: Formula Front


text:
Johnny Alegre

Juan Bautista H. Alegre III (born June 4, 1955), known professionally as Johnny Alegre, is a jazz guitarist and composer from Manila, Philippines. He leads the jazz group Johnny Alegre Affinity and the world music group Humanfolk.

Career
Alegre studied composition at the University of the Philippines College of Music in the latter 1970s. He was a founding member of the U.P. Jazz Ensemble. He participated in workshops by composer Erhard Karkoschka, guitarist Ike Isaacs, and composer Chou Wen-chung.

In May 2002, Alegre formed the Johnny Alegre Affinity with bassist Colby de la Calzada, drummer Koko Bermejo, pianist Elhmir Saison, and saxophonist Tots Tolentino. Their first recorded work, "Stones of Intramuros", written by Alegre, was included in the limited edition Philippine jazz anthology Adobo Jazz: A Portrait of the Filipino as a Jazz Artist (Vol. 1).

The self-titled album Johnny Alegre Affinity was released in the Philippines in mid-2005 by Candid Records Philippines; and was rereleased in England the same year by Candid Records (UK) for global distribution as Jazzhound. This was followed by performances at the PizzaExpress Jazz Club in London with guest saxophonist, Dimitri Vassilakis.

During 2006 and 2007, Alegre and Affinity worked on Eastern Skies, an album of original compositions with the Global Studio Orchestra conducted by Gerard Salonga. In 2009 MCA released Johnny Alegre 3, a trio album with Ron McClure (bass) and Billy Hart (drums). Alegre was MCA's first jazz act from the Philippines. In 2014, MCA released a compilation of highlights from Alegre's Candid Records recordings, entitled Stories.

In 2008, Alegre recorded Humanfolk, the name of an album and a band formed with percussionist Susie Ibarra, drummer Roberto Juan Rodriguez, Cynthia Alexander, and Malek Lopez. For Humanfolk he wrote "Para Sa Tao" based on the Baybayin letters of the Tagalog language.

Alegre is profiled in the books The Great Jazz Guitarists by Scott Yanow and the Cultural Center of the Philippines Encyclopedia of Philippine Art, Second edition (Volume 7).

In November 2023, a retrospective of Alegre's urban folk compositions for Humanfolk were featured in a 2-hour recital at the Ayala Museum, hosted by the Filipinas Heritage Library. The recorded music of Johnny Alegre, including his independently produced works, is aggregated by The Orchard, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment.

Family
Johnny Alegre is the youngest surviving grandchild of the late Senator Juan Bautista Alegre y Levantino, senator who represented the Philippines's 6th senatorial district to the 6th and 7th Philippine Legislatures. The family genealogy of Johnny Alegre is descended from Carlist exiles from Spain to the Philippines and intermarried with Filipinos. His paternal grandmother, Amanda ("Aimee") Alegre née Sargent, is descended from the early Sargent family of New England.

Other personas
Johnny Alegre is a member of FILSCAP and tenured with the Philippine International Jazz and Arts Festival as a consultant. He is an active Wikimedian advocate that includes WikiProject Jazz. As Juan Bautista H. Alegre, he is a Rotary Club past president (Makati Rockwell, Rotary International District 3830), and was conferred a Paul Harris fellowship.

title: Johnny Alegre


text: User talk:70.19.166.253

title: User talk:70.19.166.253


text: File:Let's go to my star.jpg

title: File:Let's go to my star.jpg