WBeneath a Steel Sky is a 1994 cyberpunk science fiction point-and-click adventure game developed by British developer Revolution Software and published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment for MS-DOS and Amiga home computers. The game was made available as freeware for PC platforms in 2003. Set in a dystopian future, the player assumes the role of Robert Foster, who was stranded in a wasteland known as "the Gap" as a child and adopted by a group of local Aboriginals, gradually adjusting to his life in the wilderness. After many years, armed security officers arrive, killing the locals and taking Robert back to Union City. He escapes and soon uncovers the corruption which lies at the heart of society.
WBioShock is a 2007 first-person shooter game developed by 2K Boston and 2K Australia, and published by 2K Games. It is the first game in the BioShock series. The game's concept was developed by Irrational's creative lead, Ken Levine, and incorporates ideas by 20th century dystopian and utopian thinkers such as Ayn Rand, George Orwell, and Aldous Huxley, as well as historical figures such as John D. Rockefeller and Walt Disney. The game is considered a spiritual successor to the System Shock series, on which many of Irrational's team, including Levine, had worked previously.
WBioShock 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Marin and published by 2K Games. It is the sequel to the 2007 game BioShock and was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on February 9, 2010; Feral Interactive released an OS X version on March 30, 2012. Set in the fictional underwater dystopian city of Rapture, the game's story takes place eight years after BioShock. Assuming control of Subject Delta, a hulking Big Daddy, players are tasked with fighting through Splicers, the psychotic human population of the city, using weapons and an array of genetic modifications. The game also includes a story-driven multiplayer mode that takes place during Rapture's civil war, before the events of the first game.
WBioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter video game developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K Games. It was released worldwide for the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and OS X platforms in 2013, and a Linux port was released in 2015. Infinite is the third installment in the BioShock series, and though it is not immediately part of the storyline of previous BioShock games, it features similar gameplay concepts and themes. Irrational Games and creative director Ken Levine based the game's setting on historical events at the turn of the 20th century, such as the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, and based the story on the concept of American exceptionalism, while also incorporating influences from more recent events at the time such as the 2011 Occupy movement.
WBioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea is a two-part single-player expansion to the first-person shooter video game BioShock Infinite. It was developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K Games for Linux, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and macOS platforms. Episode One was released digitally on November 12, 2013, followed by Episode Two on March 25, 2014. A retail version was released as part of BioShock Infinite: The Complete Edition, and later included in BioShock: The Collection for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
WCode Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion , often referred to simply as Code Geass, is a Japanese anime series produced by Sunrise. It was directed by Gorō Taniguchi and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi, with original character designs by Clamp. Set in an alternate timeline, the series follows the exiled prince Lelouch vi Britannia, who obtains the "power of absolute obedience" from a mysterious woman named C.C. Using this supernatural power, known as Geass, he leads a rebellion against the rule of the Holy Britannian Empire, commanding a series of mecha battles.
WDishonored is a 2012 action-adventure game developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. Set in the fictional, plague-ridden industrial city of Dunwall, Dishonored follows the story of Corvo Attano, bodyguard to the Empress of the Isles. He is framed for her murder and forced to become an assassin, seeking revenge on those who conspired against him. Corvo is aided in his quest by the Loyalists—a resistance group fighting to reclaim Dunwall, and the Outsider—a powerful being who imbues Corvo with magical abilities. Several noted actors including Susan Sarandon, Brad Dourif, Carrie Fisher, Michael Madsen, John Slattery, Lena Headey and Chloë Grace Moretz provided voice work for the game.
WFinal Fantasy X is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square as the tenth main entry in the Final Fantasy series. Originally released in 2001 for PlayStation 2, the game was re-released as Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in 2013, for PlayStation 4 in 2015, Microsoft Windows in 2016, and for Nintendo Switch and Xbox One in 2019. The game marks the Final Fantasy series transition from entirely pre-rendered backdrops to fully three-dimensional areas, and is also the first in the series to feature voice acting. Final Fantasy X replaces the Active Time Battle (ATB) system with the "Conditional Turn-Based Battle" (CTB) system, and uses a new leveling system called the "Sphere Grid".
WFinal Fantasy XIII is a science fantasy role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles and later for the Microsoft Windows operating system. Released in Japan in December 2009 and international in March 2010, it is the thirteenth title in the mainline Final Fantasy series. The game includes fast-paced combat, a new system for the series for determining which abilities are developed for the characters called "Crystarium", and a customizable "Paradigm" system to control which abilities are used by the characters. Final Fantasy XIII includes elements from the previous games in the series, such as summoned monsters, chocobos, and airships.
WFreedom Wars is a Japanese action role-playing video game developed by Japan Studio for the PlayStation Vita. Released in 2014 and set in the distant future where the majority of humankind is imprisoned in penal city-states known as Panopticons which wage war against one another, the game involves players cooperating to fight enemies and contribute towards their Panopticon. The game was one of most successful first-party PlayStation Vita titles in Japan, achieving the second highest all-time opening sales for Vita software sold there.
WFreedom™, the sequel to Daemon, is the second of a two-part novel, by the author Daniel Suarez, about a distributed, persistent computer application, known as The Daemon, that begins to change the real world after the original programmer's death.
WGuilty Crown is a 2011 Japanese anime television series produced by Production I.G which aired on Fuji TV's noitamina program block from October 13, 2011. The story revolves around Shu Ouma, a high school boy who comes into possession of an ability called the "Power of the King" allowing him to draw out items called "Voids" from other people. He is then thrown into the conflict between a quasi-governmental organization known as GHQ and a rebel organization called Funeral Parlor which aims to restore Japan's independence from the GHQ. In the process, Shu has to deal with the burden his ability puts on his shoulders and the horrific mystery of his past.
WHalf-Life 2 is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. Like the original Half-Life (1998), it combines shooting, puzzles, and storytelling, and adds features such as vehicles and physics-based gameplay. Players control Gordon Freeman, who fights the alien Combine with allies including resistance fighter Alyx Vance, using weapons such as the object-manipulating gravity gun.
WHarvester is a 1996 point-and-click adventure game written and directed by Gilbert P. Austin, known for its violent content, cult following, and examination of the relationship between fictional violence and actual violence.
WHomefront is a first-person shooter video game developed by Kaos Studios and published by THQ. The game tells the story of a resistance movement fighting in the near-future against the military occupation of the Western United States by a Korea unified under Kim Jong-un. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2011. After THQ's bankruptcy, the rights of the game were sold to Crytek who then sold the rights to Koch Media after restructuring their company. Deep Silver, a subsidiary of Koch Media, have published the reboot Homefront: The Revolution. Homefront was met with mixed reviews across all platforms. Some critics praised the atmosphere and story, while others panned those same aspects, along with the short length of the single-player campaign. However, the multiplayer aspect was generally well received.
WI, James Blunt is a 1942 wartime future history short-story by English journalist H. V. Morton. It takes the form of a diary written by an English tradesman chronicling the Nazi occupation of Great Britain in the autumn of 1944. The short-story was commissioned by the Ministry of Information as propaganda and is Morton's only work of fiction beside his travel journalism writings for which he is better known. George Orwell described the novel as "a good flesh creeper, founded on the justified assumption that the mass of the English people haven't heard of fascism."
WKillzone 3 is a 2011 first-person shooter video game for the PlayStation 3, developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the fourth installment in the Killzone series, the first game in the series to be presented in stereoscopic 3D, and the first to include motion controls using the PlayStation Move. It is a direct sequel to Killzone 2. It was released worldwide in February 2011 to positive reviews.
WMagnaCarta 2 is a video game developed by South Korean developer Softmax and published by Bandai Namco Games exclusively for Xbox 360. It is a follow-up to the role-playing video games Magna Carta: The Phantom of Avalanche released on Windows and Magna Carta: Crimson Stigmata released on the PlayStation 2. It was released in Japan on August 6, 2009 and in North America on October 13, 2009. This marks the series' first entry onto a seventh generation console. The game was officially unveiled in the April 2009 edition of Famitsu magazine.
WMetal Gear Rising: Revengeance is a 2013 action hack and slash video game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Konami Digital Entertainment. Released for the PlayStation 3 (PS3), Xbox 360 and Windows, it is a spin-off in the Metal Gear series, and is set four years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. In the game, players control Raiden, a cyborg who confronts the private military company Desperado Enforcement, with the gameplay focusing on fighting enemies using a sword and other weapons to perform combos and counterattacks. Through the use of Blade Mode, Raiden can cut cyborgs in slow motion and steal parts stored in their bodies. The series' usual stealth elements are also optional to reduce combat.
WMetal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a 2008 action-adventure game developed by Kojima Productions and published by Konami for the PlayStation 3 console. It is the sixth Metal Gear game directed by Hideo Kojima.
WMirror's Edge is an action-adventure platform game developed by DICE and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2008, and for Microsoft Windows in 2009. Set in a quasi-futuristic city, the game follows the story of Faith Connors, an underground parkour courier who transmits messages while evading government surveillance. To progress through the game, the player must control Faith from a first-person perspective and complete a series of levels that involve performing a sequence of acrobatic manoeuvres, including jumping between rooftops, running across walls, and sliding down zip lines.
WNineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, often published as 1984, is a dystopian social science fiction novel by English novelist George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final book completed in his lifetime. Thematically, Nineteen Eighty-Four centres on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of persons and behaviours within society. Orwell, himself a democratic socialist, modelled the authoritarian government in the novel after Stalinist Russia. More broadly, the novel examines the role of truth and facts within politics and the ways in which they are manipulated.
WPsycho-Pass is a Japanese cyberpunk psychological thriller anime television series produced by Production I.G. It was co-directed by Naoyoshi Shiotani and Katsuyuki Motohiro and written by Gen Urobuchi, with character designs by Akira Amano and featuring music by Yugo Kanno. The series aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block between October 2012 and March 2013. A second season aired between October and December 2014, with a feature film titled, Psycho-Pass: The Movie released in January 2015. In 2019, Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System premiered the first of its three independent films, spanning release dates between January and March. All of the stories take place in an authoritarian future dystopia where omnipresent public sensors continuously scan the mental states of every passing citizen. A third season aired between October and December 2019, with a sequel film, Psycho-Pass 3: First Inspector, released in March 2020.
WRépublique is an episodic action-adventure stealth video game developed by Camouflaj and Logan Games and published by GungHo Online Entertainment. The game was originally announced for iOS devices but has since expanded to Android, Microsoft Windows and OS X. A PlayStation 4 version, containing all five episodes, was released on March 22, 2016, while a version for the Stadia cloud gaming service was released on September 15, 2020. A VR version debuted on the Oculus Go, followed by a release onto Oculus Quest in July 2019, and Steam on 15 June 2020 and Oculus Go.
WThe Space Merchants is a 1952 science fiction novel by American writers Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth. Originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine as a serial entitled Gravy Planet, the novel was first published as a single volume in 1953, and has sold heavily since. It deals satirically with a hyper-developed consumerism, seen through the eyes of an advertising executive. In 1984, Pohl published a sequel, The Merchants' War. In 2012, it was included in the Library of America omnibus American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels 1953–1956. Pohl revised the original novel in 2011 with added material and more contemporary references.
WThe Story of Kamikuishiki Village is a satirical Japanese doujin resource management strategy game developed by HappySoft and published by Aum Soft that was released for PC-98 on June 29, 1995. Kamikuishiki Village satirises the Aum Shinrikyo cult and the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack orchestrated by the cult; a common misconception is that the game was produced by the cult as propaganda, whereas The Story of Kamikuishiki Village actually portrays Aum and the sarin gas attack negatively, mocking its members and showing footage of 'humiliating' media coverage.
WTerror in Resonance , also known as Terror in Tokyo, is a Japanese anime television series produced by MAPPA. The anime was created and directed by Shinichirō Watanabe, with character designs by Kazuto Nakazawa and music by Yoko Kanno. The anime began airing on Fuji TV's Noitamina block on July 10, 2014, and its final episode aired on September 25, 2014. In total, it was made up of 11 episodes. Funimation acquired North American streaming rights and released an English dub on DVD on January 19, 2016. Anime Limited and Madman Entertainment acquired streaming rights for the UK and Australia, respectively. Funimation premiered the series at Anime Expo on July 5, 2014.
WWarframe is a free-to-play action role-playing third-person shooter multiplayer online game developed and published by Digital Extremes. Released for Windows personal computers in March 2013, it was ported to the PlayStation 4 in November 2013, the Xbox One in September 2014, the Nintendo Switch in November 2018 and the PlayStation 5 in November 2020. It's also planned to be ported to Xbox Series X/S. The game is in open beta.
WWatch Dogs is a 2014 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the first installment in the Watch Dogs series. The game is played from a third-person perspective, and its world is navigated on foot or by vehicle. Set within a fictionalized version of the Chicagoland area in 2013, the single-player story follows grey hat hacker and vigilante Aiden Pearce's quest for revenge after the killing of his niece. An online multiplayer mode allows up to eight players to engage in cooperative and competitive gameplay.