Donkey Kong is an arcade game released by Nintendo in 1981. The game is an early example of the platform genre as the gameplay focuses on maneuvering the main character across a series of platforms while dodging obstacles. The storyline is thin but well developed for its time. In it, Mario (originally called Jumpman) must rescue a damsel in distress from a giant ape named Donkey Kong. The hero and ape would go on to be two of Nintendo's more popular characters. The game was the latest of Nintendo's efforts to break into the North American market. Nintendo's president, Hiroshi Yamauchi, assigned the project to a first-time game designer named Shigeru Miyamoto. Drawing from a wide range of inspirations, including Popeye and King Kong, Miyamoto developed the scenario and designed the game alongside Nintendo's chief engineer, Gunpei Yokoi. The two men broke new ground by using graphics as a means of characterization, including cut scenes to advance the game's plot, and integrating multiple stages into the gameplay. Despite initial misgivings on the part of Nintendo's American staff, Donkey Kong proved a tremendous success in both North America and Japan. Nintendo licensed the game to Coleco, who developed home console versions for numerous platforms.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1582: Spain, Portugal, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Italy became the first countries to replace the Julian calendar with the Gregorian calendar. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar)

1917: Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari was executed by a firing squad for spying for Germany. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mata_Hari)

1987: The Great Storm of 1987 hit France and England, killing at least 23 people. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Storm_of_1987)

1989: Playing for the Los Angeles Kings against his old team, the Edmonton Oilers, Canadian professional ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky broke Gordie Howe's National Hockey League record of 1,850 career points. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Gretzky)

2003: Chinese space program: Shenzhou 5, China's first manned space mission was launched, carrying astronaut Yang Liwei. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhou_5)

_____________________ Wiktionary's Word of the day:

octothorpe: A name for the hash or pound sign (#), used mainly in telephony and computing. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/octothorpe)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

Without art we would be nothing but foreground and live entirely in the spell of that perspective which makes what is closest at hand and most vulgar appear as if it were vast, and reality itself. -- Friedrich Nietzsche (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche)