Grim Fandango is a personal computer game in the graphic adventure
genre released by LucasArts in 1998 and primarily written by Tim
Schafer. It is the first adventure game by LucasArts to use 3D computer
graphics overlaid on pre-rendered 2D backgrounds. As with other
LucasArts adventure games, the player must converse with other
characters and examine, collect, and use objects correctly to solve
puzzles in order to progress. Grim Fandango's world combines elements
of Aztec beliefs of afterlife with style aspects of film noir,
including The Maltese Falcon, On the Waterfront and Casablanca, to
create the Land of the Dead, which recently departed souls, represented
in the game as calaca-like figures, must travel through before they
reach their final destination, the Ninth Underworld. The story follows
travel agent Manuel "Manny" Calavera as he attempts to save Mercedes
"Meche" Colomar, a newly arrived but virtuous soul, during her long
journey. The game received positive reviews, praising its artistic
design and overall game direction in particular. Grim Fandango was
selected for several gaming awards at the time of release, and is often
listed in publishers' lists of top games of all time. However, the game
has been considered a commercial failure, which partially led LucasArts
to terminate their adventure game development, contributing to the
decline of the adventure game genre.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grim_Fandango>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1028:
Future Byzantine empress Zoe married Romanos III Argyros according to
the wishes of the dying Constantine VIII.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoe_%28empress%29>
1893:
Mortimer Durand, Foreign Secretary of British India, and Abdur Rahman
Khan, Amir of Afghanistan, signed the Durand Line Agreement,
establishing what is now the international border between Afghanistan
and modern-day Pakistan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line>
1927:
Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party, leaving Joseph
Stalin in undisputed control of the Soviet Union.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Trotsky>
1942:
World War II: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal , the decisive engagement
in a series of naval battles between Allied and Japanese forces during
the months-long Guadalcanal campaign in the Solomon Islands, began.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Battle_of_Guadalcanal>
1991:
In Dili, East Timor, Indonesian forces opened fire on student
demonstrators protesting the Indonesian occupation of East Timor,
killing at least 250 people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_massacre>
2006:
Although the Georgian government declared it illegal, South Ossetia
held a referendum on independence, with about 99 percent of voters
supporting to preserve the region's status as a de facto independent
state.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Ossetian_independence_referendum%2C_2006>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
enchorial (adj):
1. Indigenous, native.
2. Of, relating to, or written in the vulgar form of ancient Egyptian
hieratic writing
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/enchorial>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
In entering upon the great work before us, we anticipate no small
amount of misconception, misrepresentation, and ridicule; but we shall
use every instrumentality within our power to effect our object.
--Elizabeth Cady Stanton
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Cady_Stanton>
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