Final Fantasy XI is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game
(MMORPG), developed and published by Square as part of the Final Fantasy
series. Designed and produced by Hiromichi Tanaka, it was released in
Japan on May 16, 2002 for Sony's PlayStation 2, and for Microsoft
Windows-based personal computers in November of that year. The game was
the first cross-platform MMORPG and the Xbox 360's first MMORPG. The
story is set in the fantasy world of Vana'diel, where player-created
avatars can both compete and cooperate in a variety of objectives to
develop an assortment of jobs, skills, and earn in-game item rewards.
Players can also undertake an array of quests and progress through the
in-game hierarchy and thus through the major plot of the game. Since its
debut in 2002, five expansion packs have also been released along with
six add-on scenarios. In 2006, between 200,000 and 300,000 active
players logged in per day, and the game was the dominant MMORPG in
Japan. Final Fantasy XI has a user base of around 500,000 subscribers,
and the total number of active characters exceeds 2 million. It is the
most profitable title in the Final Fantasy series.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XI>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1811:
Peninsular War: An allied force of British, Spanish, and
Portuguese troops clashed with the French at the Battle of Albuera south
of Badajoz, Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Albuera>
1866:
The United States Congress authorized the minting of the
country's first copper-nickel five-cent piece, the Shield nickel
(pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shield_nickel>
1943:
Royal Air Force Dambusters embarked on a raid to deploy
bouncing bombs on German dams in Operation Chastise during the Second
World War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chastise>
1960:
American physicist Theodore Maiman operated the first working
laser at the Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser>
1966:
Chinese leader Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution
officially as a campaign to rid China of its liberal bourgeois elements
and to continue revolutionary class struggle.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution>
1975:
Based on the results of a referendum held about one month
earlier, Sikkim abolished its monarchy and was annexed by India,
becoming its 22nd state.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikkim>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
hue and cry:
1. (historical) The public pursuit of a felon; accompanied by shouts to
warn others to give chase.
2. (by extension) A loud and persistent public clamour; especially one of
protest or making some demand.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hue_and_cry>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Religion is a great force — the only real motive force in the
world; but what you fellows don't understand is that you must get at a
man through his own religion and not through yours. Instead of facing
that fact, you persist in trying to convert all men to your own little
sect, so that you can use it against them afterwards. You are all
missionaries and proselytizers trying to uproot the native religion from
your neighbor's flowerbeds and plant your own in its place. You would
rather let a child perish in ignorance than have it taught by a rival
sectary.
--George Bernard Shaw
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw>