[Wikipedia] October 15: Donkey Kong (video game)

[Faraaz Damji]

   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.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey_Kong_%28video_game%29


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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)


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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)


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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)