Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is a 2003 side scrolling and platforming video game developed and published by Konami for the Game Boy Advance. In the game, it is the year 2035 and Dracula has been sealed in his castle since being defeated in 1999. Soma Cruz, a teenager with occult power, has been told that Dracula's reincarnation will acquire his powers, and Cruz battles dark figures in the castle who also wish to inherit these powers. The game incorporates the combination of elements from platform games and role-playing video games that were initially utilized in an earlier Castlevania game Symphony of the Night. Aria of Sorrow introduces several new features to the series, such as the "Tactical Soul" system and a futuristic storyline, a contrast to the medieval setting of many other Castlevania games. The game sold poorly in Japan but was commercially successful in the United States. It was praised by several video game publications, with many considering it one of the best games in the series since Symphony of the Night. A sequel was released in Japan in 2005.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania:_Aria_of_Sorrow

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1536:

The army of Inca Emperor Manco Inca Yupanqui began a 10-month siege of Cuzco against a garrison of Spanish conquistadors and Indian auxiliaries led by Hernando Pizarro. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Cuzco

1882:

Irish Under-Secretary Thomas Henry Burke and Irish Chief Secretary Lord Frederick Cavendish were stabbed to death by members of the radical group Irish National Invincibles as they walked through Phoenix Park in Dublin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Park_Murders

1954:

At Oxford's Iffley Road Track, English athlete Roger Bannister became the first person to run the mile in under four minutes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-minute_mile

1991:

Time magazine published "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power", an article highly critical of the Scientology organization, leading to years of legal conflict that ended when the Church of Scientology's petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States in the case was denied in 2001. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thriving_Cult_of_Greed_and_Power

2002:

Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was assassinated by animal rights and environmental activist Volkert van der Graaf in Hilversum, marking the first political murder on Dutch soil since 1672. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Pim_Fortuyn

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

softly softly: (UK, idiomatic) In a very tactful, careful, or nondisruptive manner. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/softly_softly

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

 Faith is more basic than language or theology. Faith is the response to something which is calling us from the timeless part of our reality. Faith may be encouraged by what has happened in the past, or what is thought to have happened in the past, but the only proof of it is in the future. Scriptures and creeds may come to seem incredible, but faith will still go dancing on. Even though (because it rejects a doctrine) it is now described as "doubt". This, I believe, is the kind of faith that Christ commended.   --Sydney Carter https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sydney_Carter