Anachronox is a third-person role-playing video game produced by Tom Hall (pictured) and the Dallas Ion Storm games studio. It was released worldwide in June 2001 for Microsoft Windows. The turn-based game follows a down-and-out private investigator looking for work in the slums of planet Anachronox; he travels to other planets, collects an unlikely group of friends, and unravels a mystery that threatens the fate of the universe. The game's design and unconventional humor were influenced by cyberpunk and film noir; inspirations include the video game Chrono Trigger and the Final Fantasy series, animator Chuck Jones, and the novel Ender's Game. The game was built with a heavily modified version of the Quake II engine, rewritten chiefly to allow a wider color palette, emotive animations and facial expressions, and better particle, lighting, and camera effects. Originally planned for a 1998 release, Anachronox‍‍ '​‍s development was long and difficult. Critics enjoyed the game and awarded it high marks for its design and story, but Ion Storm closed down one month after the game's release. In 2003, Anachronox cinematic director Jake Hughes spliced together gameplay footage and cutscenes to create a feature-length award-winning film.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1328:

William of Ockham, an English friar who originated the methodological principle Occam's razor, secretly left Avignon under threat from Pope John XXII. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_of_Ockham

1828:

Kaspar Hauser, a foundling with suspected ties to the Royal House of Baden, first appeared in the streets of Nuremberg, Germany. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaspar_Hauser

1865:

American Civil War: General Edmund Kirby Smith negotiated the surrender of his army, the only significant Confederate Army force remaining in the war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Kirby_Smith

1940:

Second World War: A flotilla of "little ships" began a mass evacuation of British, French and Belgian troops cut off by the German army during the Battle of Dunkirk. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkirk_evacuation

1991:

Lauda Air Flight 004 experienced an uncommanded thrust reverser deployment of an engine and broke apart in mid-air, killing all 223 people on board. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauda_Air_Flight_004

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

eyrie: 1. A bird of prey's nest. 2. Any high and remote but commanding place. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eyrie

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

We erased a problem by not trying to erase the problem, by saying, "This is in the nature of what we do." It's really weird that it could be that simple.   --Ward Cunningham https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham