System Shock is a 1994 first-person action role-playing video game developed by Looking Glass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. It was directed by Doug Church with Warren Spector (pictured) serving as producer. The game is set aboard a space station in a cyberpunk vision of the year 2072. Assuming the role of a nameless hacker, the player attempts to hinder the plans of a malevolent artificial intelligence called SHODAN. System Shock's 3D engine, physics simulation and complex gameplay have been cited as both innovative and influential. The developers sought to build on the emergent gameplay and immersive environments of their previous games, Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss and Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds, by streamlining their mechanics into a more "integrated whole". Critics praised System Shock and hailed it as a major breakthrough in its genre. It was later placed on multiple hall of fame lists. The game was a moderate commercial success, with sales exceeding 170,000 copies; but Looking Glass ultimately lost money on the project. A sequel, System Shock 2, was released by Looking Glass Studios and off-shoot developer Irrational Games in 1999.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Shock

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1586:

Eighty Years' War: Spanish forces were victorious against a combined Anglo-Dutch army in the Battle of Zutphen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Zutphen

1792:

French Revolution: One day after the National Convention voted to abolish the monarchy, the French First Republic came into being. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_First_Republic

1914:

World War I: German naval forces bombarded Papeete in French Polynesia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Papeete

1934:

One of Britain's worst mining accidents took place when an explosion at Gresford Colliery in Wales, killed 266 men. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresford_disaster

1994:

The Nordhordland Bridge (pictured), which crosses Salhusfjorden between Klauvaneset and Flatøy in Hordaland, and is the second-longest bridge in Norway, was officially opened. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordhordland_Bridge

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

voetsek: Go away! Get lost! Exclamation of dismissal or rejection. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/voetsek

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Electricity is often called wonderful, beautiful; but it is so only in common with the other forces of nature. The beauty of electricity or of any other force is not that the power is mysterious, and unexpected, touching every sense at unawares in turn, but that it is under law, and that the taught intellect can even now govern it largely. The human mind is placed above, and not beneath it, and it is in such a point of view that the mental education afforded by science is rendered super-eminent in dignity, in practical application and utility; for by enabling the mind to apply the natural power through law, it conveys the gifts of God to man.   --Michael Faraday https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Faraday