title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Batman: Arkham City is a 2011 action-adventure game developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, it is the sequel to the 2009 video game "" and the second installment in the "" series. Written by veteran "Batman" writer Paul Dini with Paul Crocker and Sefton Hill, "Arkham City" was inspired by the long-running comic book mythos. In the game's main storyline, Batman is incarcerated in Arkham City, a super-prison enclosing the decaying urban slums of fictional Gotham City. He must uncover the secret behind a sinister scheme orchestrated by the facility's warden, Hugo Strange. The game's leading characters are predominantly voiced by actors from the DC Animated Universe, with Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprising their roles as Batman and the Joker, respectively.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: The game is presented from the third-person perspective with a primary focus on Batman's combat and stealth abilities, detective skills, and gadgets that can be used in both combat and exploration. Batman can freely move around the Arkham City prison, interacting with characters and undertaking missions, and unlocking new areas by progressing through the main story or obtaining new equipment. The player is able to complete side missions away from the main story to unlock additional content and collectible items. Batman's ally Catwoman is another playable character, featuring her own story campaign that runs parallel to the game's main plot.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Rocksteady conceived ideas for a sequel while developing "Arkham Asylum", commencing serious development of "Arkham City"s story in February 2009. The layout of Arkham City has a virtual footprint five times that of "Arkham Asylum", and the city design was modified to accommodate Batman's ability to swoop and glide. Over a year and $10 million were spent on the game's marketing campaign, and its release was accompanied by two music albums; one containing the game's score, and the other featuring 11 original songs inspired by the game from various mainstream artists.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "Arkham City" was released worldwide for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles in October 2011, followed by a Microsoft Windows version a month later. The game received critical acclaim, particularly for its narrative, character and world designs, soundtrack, and Batman's combat and navigation abilities. It was tied with "" for the highest-rated video game of 2011 according to review aggregator Metacritic, and was the recipient of several awards from media outlets, including Game of the Year, Best Action Game, Best Action Adventure Game, Best Adventure Game, and Best Original Score. Like its predecessor, it is considered one of the greatest video games ever made. A spin-off mobile game, "" was released in December. "Arkham City" has received several re-releases, comprising: a Game of the Year edition in May 2012; Wii U and OS X versions in November and December 2012, respectively; and a remastered version for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in October 2016. A prequel to the series, "", was released in October 2013, and a narrative sequel, "", was released in June 2015.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "Batman: Arkham City" is an open-world action-adventure game that incorporates tactics from stealth games. It is presented from the third-person perspective, showing the playable character on screen and allowing the camera to be freely rotated around it. The game is set within Arkham City, which is open to the player from the beginning of the game, allowing them to travel freely anywhere within its boundaries. The player can move silently throughout the game, using a combination of gadgets and stealth moves to sneak up on enemies and incapacitate them. Batman can use his cape to glide around the city, diving downwards and swooping upwards to extend his flight, and he can use the grapnel gun's retracting rope to attach to out-of-reach ledges. As Batman, the player is able to use "Detective Vision", a visual mode that highlights elements of interest on-screen, such as character status, collectables, and clues; the mode is also used to perform forensic activities such as tracking the source of a sniper rifle round. The player has access to an in-game criminal database which includes forensic puzzles, as well as a network for hacking communication frequencies.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Using an improved version of the "Freeflow" combat system from "Arkham Asylum", the player can now counter multiple blows simultaneously, catch hurled projectiles, attack aerially, and administer a succession of consecutive strikes. Many of Batman's gadgets can now be used in combat. Enemies are armed with varying levels of armor and weapons; attacks from basic weapons like baseball bats and lead pipes inflict minor damage and can be countered, while guns inflict significant damage. Certain enemies must be disarmed in specific ways before they can be neutralized in combat: enemies with stun batons can only be attacked from behind; enemies with shields require aerial attacks to disarm; and enemies wearing body armor must be stunned with rapid successive strikes before they can be harmed. Larger enemies must be tackled with stuns and combo attacks, and can be manipulated to take out their allies. Disputes between gangs allied to rival villains often spark turf wars, which complicate the player's ability to move about Arkham City. Combat, among other actions, rewards the player with experience points that allow the player to periodically level Batman up and purchase upgrades to his Batsuit, gadgets, and combat and stealth skills. Each category contains approximately 15 different upgrades. For instance, an upgraded grapnel gun can be used to remotely disarm enemies, while a combat upgrade makes it easier to activate special attacks.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Some gadgets obtained in "" are present at the start of "Arkham City", while others become available during play. Most of these have improved or new capabilities; for example, the Cryptographic Sequencer, used for hacking security consoles, can also monitor shortwave radio channels, and the line launcher can now be deployed as a tightrope or alter direction during flight. Other items returning from the first game include these: a remote-controlled batarang; Explosive Gel that can now be detonated to knock down enemies in combat; and the grapnel gun, which can now be used while gliding to facilitate transportation. New items in Batman's arsenal include: smoke bombs that disorient opponents and assist with stealth tactics; a Remote Electric Charge (REC) gun that can stun enemies and temporarily power motors; Freeze Blast grenades that encase targets in ice and can be thrown into water to create makeshift platforms; and the Disruptor, which can remotely disable guns and explosive mines.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: The game has approximately 40 hours of gameplay, with the main campaign lasting 25 hours and side missions lasting 15 hours. The side missions, which can be attempted at any time, feature prominent characters from the Batman universe. One such character, the Riddler, provides 440 optional "Riddler challenges" to solve. Most of these challenges consist of collecting trophies hidden in the city through the use of gadgets to disable traps and barriers. The player can mark Riddler trophies on the in-game map once found if they do not initially have the necessary equipment to complete the puzzle. The player can also reveal the locations of Riddler trophies on the map by identifying the Riddler's henchmen with "Detective Vision" and interrogating them, which requires the player to save the henchmen for last when engaging in combat with a wave of enemies. There are also environmental challenges which require the player to solve riddles by locating a specific item or location (which are rewarded with stories relating to the answer), and to locate question marks painted around the city, some of which can only be viewed in whole from certain vantage points. After completing a select number of challenges, Batman must rescue a civilian hostage held in one of the Riddler's death traps.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: After completing the story mode on "normal" or "hard" difficulties, a "New Game Plus" mode is unlocked, enabling the player to replay the game with all of the gadgets, experience, and abilities that they have attained; enemies are tougher and the on-screen icon that warns players of imminent attacks is disabled. "Arkham City" features a series of challenge maps separate from the game's story mode. The maps focus on the completion of specific goals, such as eliminating successive waves of enemies in combat, subduing patrolling enemies while employing stealth, or traveling to a specific location as efficiently as possible. The methods and variety of abilities used to achieve these goals earn an overall performance score that is ranked online against other players.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Catwoman is another playable character available via the "Catwoman" campaign, which was initially downloadable content (DLC) on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles but was later included with the PC version and "Game of the Year" editions. Catwoman's campaign features her own heist-focused storyline that intersects with the main story at specific points in the game. Her combat emphasizes agility and allows for the use of unique weapons such as clawed gauntlets, bolas, and her iconic whip. A portion of the Riddler challenges are specific to Catwoman and can only be completed by her. Batman's allies Robin (Tim Drake) and Nightwing (Dick Grayson) are also playable via optional DLC and feature their own combat abilities and gadgets. Both characters are available in the challenge maps; Robin has his own main story narrative.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of "Arkham City" include a stereoscopic 3D (S3D) mode for 3D HDTVs and for 2D HDTVs via Inficolor 3D glasses, while the PC version supports Nvidia 3D Vision on compatible monitors. It uses TriOviz for Games Technology, which is integrated with Unreal Engine 3. The Wii U version uses the Wii U's touch screen controller to let the player manage Batman's equipment and upgrades, selectively detonate Explosive Gel placements, and view a map of the city. The Wii U version adds a Sonar mode which highlights points of interest nearby, and the Battle Armored Tech Mode (BAT Mode) that allows Batman to accrue energy during combat and, when activated, inflict increased damage.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "Arkham City" features a large ensemble cast of characters from the history of "Batman" comics. Returning characters from "Arkham Asylum" include Batman (Kevin Conroy), the Joker (Mark Hamill)—in what Hamill stated would be his final time voicing the character; (he subsequently reprised the role in "Arkham City" successor "")—Warden-turned-Mayor Quincy Sharp (Tom Kane), police Commissioner James Gordon (David Kaye), and reporter Jack Ryder (James Horan). Returning villains include the Riddler (Wally Wingert), Victor Zsasz (Danny Jacobs), Bane (Fred Tatasciore), and Poison Ivy (Tasia Valenza). Joker's sidekick Harley Quinn also returns, voiced by Tara Strong, who replaces Arleen Sorkin. Batman's supporting cast introduces Catwoman (Grey DeLisle), Robin (Troy Baker), and Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth (Martin Jarvis), who provides radio support alongside the returning Oracle (Kimberly Brooks). Nightwing appears as a playable character outside of the main story via challenge maps.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Other characters marking their debut in the series include the manipulative warden of Arkham City, Hugo Strange (Corey Burton), Two-Face (also voiced by Baker), and the Penguin (Nolan North). Stana Katic lends her voice as Talia al Ghul, and Maurice LaMarche voices both Mr. Freeze and Calendar Man. Other characters include the zombie Solomon Grundy (also voiced by Tatasciore), the shapeshifter Clayface (Rick D. Wasserman), the League of Assassins's leader, Ra's al Ghul (Dee Bradley Baker), the mind-controlling Mad Hatter (Peter MacNicol), and the assassin Deadshot (Chris Cox), who has infiltrated Arkham City to kill several high-profile character targets. The villain Hush (also voiced by Conroy), the mysterious Azrael (Khary Payton), and reporter Vicki Vale (also voiced by DeLisle) also appear. Black Mask (also voiced by North), Killer Croc (Steven Blum), and Freeze's wife, Nora Fries, make cameo appearances in the game.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: The events of "Arkham City" are set 18 months after "". Quincy Sharp, the asylum's erstwhile director, has taken sole credit for halting the Joker's armed siege, using this distinction to become mayor of Gotham City. Declaring both the asylum and Blackgate Penitentiary no longer suitable to contain the city's detainees, Sharp's administration orders both facilities closed, and he purchases Gotham's most notorious slums, converting them into an immense prison enclosure known as Arkham City. This facility is subsequently placed in the care of psychiatrist Hugo Strange—who is secretly manipulating Sharp—and monitored by a rogue private military firm, TYGER Security. Strange permits the inmates to do as they please, so long as they do not attempt to escape. A wary Batman maintains his own vigil over the new project, concerned that the chaotic situation there will get out of hand. Meanwhile, the Joker is suffering from a potentially fatal disease caused by his previous consumption of the Titan formula, an unstable steroid serum that turns men into maddened monsters.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: At a press conference held by Bruce Wayne to declare his opposition to Arkham City, TYGER mercenaries arrest and imprison him in the City itself. Hugo Strange discloses his knowledge of Wayne's dual identity as Batman before releasing him into the prison's criminal populace. While Strange prepares to commence "Protocol 10", Wayne obtains his equipment via airdrop from Alfred Pennyworth, allowing him to become Batman. He first saves Catwoman from being executed by Two-Face, who hopes to gain respect by murdering her. After Joker attempts to assassinate Catwoman, Batman tracks him to his hideout in the Sionis Steelmill, believing Joker may know the truth behind Protocol 10.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: There, Batman learns that the unstable properties of the Titan formula are mutating in Joker's blood, gradually killing him. Joker captures Batman and performs a blood transfusion on him, infecting him with the same fatal disease. Joker also reveals that Gotham hospitals have been poisoned with his infected blood. Desperate to save himself and innocent citizens, Batman seeks out Mr. Freeze, who has been developing a cure but has since been kidnapped by the Penguin. Tracking Penguin to his fortified museum, Batman defeats his forces, his imprisoned monster Solomon Grundy, and ultimately the Penguin himself, before liberating Mr. Freeze.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Freeze tells Batman that he has created a cure, but it is rendered useless via instability. Batman deduces that the therapeutic properties of Ra's al Ghul's blood can complete the cure and tracks one of his assassins to his underground lair, leading Batman into a confrontation with Ra's and his daughter Talia, Batman's former lover. With Ra's al Ghul's blood, Freeze is able to develop an antidote, but Harley Quinn steals it before Batman can use it. When Batman returns to the Joker, he finds his health has been restored.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: While the two fight, Strange activates Protocol 10, which is revealed to be a scheme to wipe out the entire population of Arkham City and destroy the criminal element of Gotham. TYGER troops begin executing inmates as Strange launches missile strikes on Arkham's denizens from his base in Wonder Tower. A missile hits the steel mill, burying Batman under rubble. Before Joker can take advantage of the situation, Talia arrives and offers him immortality in exchange for sparing Batman's life. After escaping with the help of Catwoman, Batman is convinced by Alfred to end Protocol 10 before pursuing Talia and Joker.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Batman infiltrates Wonder Tower and disables Protocol 10. Ra's al Ghul is revealed to be the true mastermind behind Arkham City and mortally wounds Strange for failing to defeat Batman. With his dying breath, Strange activates "Protocol 11", the self-destruction of Wonder Tower. After Ra's commits suicide to avoid capture, Joker contacts Batman, threatening to kill Talia unless Batman meets him at the Monarch Theater. When Batman arrives, Joker demands the cure from Batman but is impaled and seemingly killed by Talia while distracted. Talia admits to stealing the antidote from Quinn, before a second Joker kills her, still stricken with the disease.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: The healthy Joker that Talia impaled then reanimates into the shapeshifting Clayface, who is revealed to have been masquerading as a healthy Joker all along at the ailing villain's request. During Batman's battle with Clayface, Joker blows up the theatre floor, revealing that it is above the Lazarus Pit. After defeating Clayface, Batman drinks a portion of the antidote and destroys Ra's' rejuvenating Lazarus Pit before Joker can use it. As Batman debates curing his foe, Joker attacks him, inadvertently causing the antidote vial to smash. Batman admits that he would have saved him despite everything Joker had done. Joker finally succumbs to his illness and dies. Batman carries and places Joker's body on the hood of a police car before leaving Arkham City in silence.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Rocksteady conceived the idea of a sequel before development of "Arkham Asylum" had concluded, developing ideas for both the story and setting so the games' narratives could be effectively connected; a secret room was hidden in the asylum warden's office in "Arkham Asylum" containing hints of how the sequel would progress, including blueprints for the Arkham City prison; the blueprints are quite similar to its final layout in "Arkham City". The original idea was to take the game out of the asylum setting and onto the streets of Gotham City while retaining the level of design detail put into the asylum. To that end they wanted to include locations from the Batman mythos that were notable and meaningful to the character, instead of a series of generic streets; Rocksteady was initially unsure how technical considerations would limit the scope of this idea.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Serious development of the game's story and concept started in February 2009, as teams were moved from "Arkham Asylum" to "Arkham City"s development as they completed the work on that game. By the time they had programmed Batman to dive and glide between buildings of the asylum, the adaption of the gameplay to the city was considered natural. Rocksteady decided to not include the Batmobile, because it would be unable to travel on the city's broken terrain. Batman's gliding provided a sufficient means of transportation, and it was considered that putting Batman in any vehicle would make it a completely different game. Sefton Hill, "Arkham City"s director from Rocksteady Studios, stated that a key goal for the game was to deliver the "'Batman in Gotham' feeling." The sequel was described by Conroy as "really, really dark". While relating the game's dark nature to the animated movie "", Conroy also said, "It involves a lot of the villains and it goes to that area – it's that dark."


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: As part of the "Batman in Gotham" design philosophy, Batman's arsenal of moves and actions were expanded. Although the team developed several ideas for new moves, gadgets and abilities, they only went forward with those that they felt would be authentic to Batman. They also chose to have Batman start the game with access to the gadgets unlocked in "Arkham Asylum", to convey the impression that Batman is fully prepared for the inevitability of things going wrong in Arkham City. The studio reviewed the play and combat systems used in "Arkham Asylum", and built the new moves as natural extensions of the existing system as a means to "add even more depth and gameplay instead of changing them fundamentally". The number of animations were doubled to reflect the larger arsenal of moves at the player's disposal. The X-ray-like "Detective Vision" mode used to highlight certain objects in-game was redeveloped for "Arkham City" because it was considered to be too useful in "Arkham Asylum", resulting in some players using it throughout almost the entire game; the visual effect also obscured the game's design aesthetic. One idea was to introduce a time limit on its use, but it was considered that Batman "wouldn't make a gadget like that". Instead, the mode was designed to be difficult to use in certain situations such as obscuring navigational information, and combat where enemy strikes will blur the screen when "Detective Vision" is active. Rocksteady art director David Hego described the new "Detective Vision" as an "augmented reality mode".


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Another way the developers wished to enhance the player's Batman experience was through the larger game world. "Arkham City" has a virtual footprint five times larger than that of "Arkham Asylum", and the navigational aspects were improved to offer the player "the freedom and exhilaration of gliding down alleyways and soaring above the skyline". Though the concepts were compared to an open world game, Hill notes that such freeform nature would not be appropriate for a Batman game because it would inhibit the atmosphere they wanted to create, and that "Arkham City" was designed to challenge the player to think like Batman to survive. To counterbalance the larger game world, the developers also sought to include more challenges and side missions while keeping the player alert as to the primary mission, such that the players constantly are aware of "extreme pressure of the challenges that they face". The Riddler Trophies were designed towards the end of the game's development and were incorporated into every area of the map without overpopulating it, resulting in 440 trophies. Rocksteady aimed to make the player think creatively when collecting trophies by requiring the use of gadgets to solve puzzles, rather than placing the trophies in obscure areas of the map as mere collection items.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: With the open game world, Rocksteady included more villains to create challenges for Batman. Hugo Strange was selected as a primary antagonist, as his power and controlling manner help maintain the lockdown on Arkham City once Batman enters. Strange is aware of Batman's true identity, making Batman "vulnerable and exposed in a way that he has never been before", according to Hill. He noted that Strange is a character new to many players but that his backstory and character are detailed throughout the game. Catwoman was also included based on her long history with Batman, though she was given her own agenda running parallel to the events within Arkham City. Catwoman's missions initially ended with her coming to Batman's aide, but late in development, the developers decided to give the player an alternate choice, allowing them to have the morally grey Catwoman leave the city with her loot; the addition was implemented in two days. Batman's sidekick Robin also appears, featuring a shaved head and contemporary costume design that were intended to move away from his traditional "Boy Wonder" image. Senior concept artist Kan Muftic explained: "Our vision of Robin is the one of a troubled young individual that is calm and introverted at times, but very dangerous and aggressive if provoked. The shaved head is inspired by cage fighters, because we thought that Robin might be doing that in his spare time to keep him on his toes. Still, we kept all the classic trademarks of Robin's appearance, such as the red and yellow colors of his outfit, the cape and the mask." Rocksteady originally did not plan to include Robin in the main story but later decided to as an authentic means of delivering new gadgets to Batman, as well as to introduce their version of the character and his relationship with Batman.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Rocksteady intended for Batman, Catwoman, and Robin to offer three different playing experiences. Other villains from Batman's comic history were selected to show that the prison was a melting pot of people from Gotham. The developers believed that providing a small part of each villain's story rather than focusing on a select few allowed the player to meet many more characters and effectively conveyed the feeling of being in a superprison filled with supervillains. Rocksteady decided early on that the Joker would die in the story, and developed the idea of him poisoning Batman with the same affliction, in order to show how the two diametrically opposed characters would interact in pursuit of a shared goal. Warner Bros. and Dini did not oppose killing off the character as long as it was not done for shock value, and as long as they made it clear that Batman was not at fault, since he would not intentionally kill someone.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: The developers had considered adding a multiplayer element to the game, but ultimately decided against it. About the agreement, Hill stated, "If we use all of the energy that is required to create multiplayer and instead focus this on the single player, would that deliver a better overall game?"


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Variety was added to the city itself, as certain areas were designed around the villains that control that particular territory. Dax Ginn, marketing game manager at Rocksteady Games, said, "If you move into Joker's territory, you get a very Joker-ized experience, and all the artwork on the buildings – whether that's graffiti, signage, or whatever it might be – gives you a dense kind of Joker experience. So our art team has really put a lot of effort in making that sort of transition between one turf zone to another – really helping the player feel like they're making a physical transition into another emotional space." The architecture was imbued with 19th century Art Nouveau design, such as Strange's Wonder Tower which was inspired by the Eiffel Tower, while character designs employed a modern Hyperrealism style. To keep the environments interesting, base color schemes such as Mr Freeze's ice-themed area, Joker's fire-themed steel mill, and Poison Ivy's jungle-themed area were populated with contrasting elements: for example, the steel mill uses large, white clown faces to contrast the oranges and reds used throughout. To develop the expanded environment of "Arkham City" and build a "natural urban environment" for Batman, Rocksteady expanded its workforce from 75 to over 100 people. The crunch period for Arkham City lasted about eight months, with people working until 11 or 12 each night, with an 8am start.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: The game's release was accompanied by two albums of music released by WaterTower Music. "Batman: Arkham City – Original Video Game Score" was released on October 18, 2011, and features 19 tracks written for the game by "Arkham Asylum" composers Nick Arundel and Ron Fish. "Batman: Arkham City – The Album" was released on October 4, 2011, via CD and digital download. The album contains 11 original songs inspired by the game from mainstream artists including Daughtry, Panic! at the Disco, and Coheed and Cambria. An extra song was made available via the Collector's edition of the album, and the Deluxe edition included a portion of Arundel's original score.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "Arkham City"s marketing campaign was designed to reach an audience outside of superhero fans and appeal to consumers who are attracted to games like the first-person shooter series "Call of Duty". Warner Bros.'s marketing team decided that Batman's status as a cultural icon and superhero was unavoidable, so they decided to emphasize other elements of the character that could appeal to fans of first-person shooters and action games. Black-and-white photographs of iconic personalities like inventor Steve Jobs and actor James Dean served as inspiration and a basis for the final marketing campaign used in advertisements and the game's cover art. The imagery, highlighted with blood and bathed in light was considered to move away from the classic superhero image and refocus on Batman's humanity. The black and white campaign was featured on 120 magazine covers and was targeted towards approximately 15 million consumers across a variety of social media and Warner Bros. products, in addition to a series of viral marketing videos and stunts involving actors in costume attending press-related events. By April 2012, three gameplay trailers had gained approximately 6 million views. The viral segment of the campaign involved several audio recordings between characters from the game including Hugo Strange, Quincy Sharp, Riddler, and the Penguin; each recording could be found by solving a puzzle. The entire campaign spent more than a year in development, producing artwork, videos, DLC, printed advertisements, billboards, and events, and was estimated to have cost at least $10 million.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: A six-issue, limited monthly comic series, also titled "" was released on May 11, 2011. The series bridges the plot between "Arkham Asylum" and "Arkham City". It was written by Paul Dini with art by Carlos D'Anda. Warner Bros. also developed toys based on the characters through Mattel, Hallmark cards, batarang-shaped videogame controllers, and a variety of apparel by Converse, Eckō Complex, C Life, New Era, and Briefly Stated.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Toys "R" Us in Times Square New York City, released 500 copies of "Batman: Arkham City" on Monday, October 17, one day before the game officially hit shelves. The first 100 customers to pre-order a copy through the store's "Personal Shopping Department" had a chance to get their game autographed by DC Entertainment co-publisher Jim Lee, Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy, and "Arkham City" game director Sefton Hill. The remaining 400 copies of "Arkham City" could be purchased at the event, unautographed.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "Batman: Arkham City" was released in North America on October 18, 2011, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, followed on October 19 in Australia and October 21 in Europe. Australian retailers EB Games and Game broke the official release date two days early, selling the game on October 17. The Windows version had been scheduled for simultaneous release with other versions, but in September 2011, its release was pushed back to November 18 without explanation. Alongside its PC launch, the game was also released digitally on the OnLive, Origin, and Steam platforms. A Game of the Year edition was released on May 29, 2012, in the United States and Canada, and on September 7, 2012, in Europe, Australia, and other territories on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, except the United Kingdom where its scheduled release was pushed back to November 2, 2012.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: A spin-off game titled "" was developed by NetherRealm Studios for iOS and was released on December 7, 2011. Taking place before "Arkham City", the game sees players using touchscreen controls to fight enemies one-on-one, including villains such as Two-Face, Solomon Grundy, Joker, and the mercenary Deathstroke. Defeating enemies earns points that can be used to upgrade Batman's stats or unlock gadgets or costumes.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: The Wii U version of "Arkham City" was released on November 18, 2012, alongside the console's launch in North America. Titled "Batman: Arkham City – Armored Edition", the release contains all of the available content from previous releases — plus a Battle Armored Tech mode, GamePad support, and other additions. The Wii U version was developed by Warner Bros. Studios in Montréal and Burbank. The Game of the Year edition was developed for OS X by Feral Interactive and released on December 13, 2012.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "Batman: Return to Arkham", developed by Virtuos, features remastered versions of "Arkham Asylum" and "Arkham City" using the Unreal Engine 4 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Additionally, both games include all previously released downloadable content, and feature improved graphics, upgraded models and environments, and improvements in the lighting, effects and shaders for both games. Originally intended for release in North America on July 26, 2016, and in Europe on July 29, 2016, the collection was delayed indefinitely in June 2016 in order to give the development team "additional time to deliver a polished "Batman Arkham" game experience." The collection was released on October 18, 2016.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Warner Bros. partnered with several retailers and companies globally to provide bonus content as a reward for pre-ordering, including: Best Buy, Amazon.com, GameStop, Game, Gamestation, EB Games, Tesco, and Asda. The content was only made available by pre-ordering the game with a specific retailer or purchasing a product, such as a NOS beverage, to obtain an unlockable code.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: A variety of alternate outfits for Batman were revealed in August 2011, including suit designs worn by the character in "The Dark Knight Returns", "", the Bronze Age of Comics, "", and "Batman Beyond". The "Batman: The Animated Series" skin was initially only available to GameStop customers in the U.S. with a Power-Up Rewards Membership. A PlayStation 3-exclusive Sinestro Corps outfit was revealed in August 2011 that initially was only unlockable via a unique code obtained by purchasing the extended cut edition of the Warner Bros. film, "Green Lantern" on Blu-ray Disc.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Batman's sidekick Robin (Tim Drake) was made available as a playable character for use in challenge maps, with his own set of combat moves and gadgets. Additional Robin skins were also released, including his appearance from "Batman: The Animated Series" and the Red Robin outfit. The character came with two exclusive challenge maps: "Black Mask Hideout" and "Freight Train Escape". The "Joker's Carnival" challenge map was also made available; it set within the Joker's Sionis Steel Mill base where the player is faced with multiple waves of opponents. The pre-order content was considered an "early access opportunity" for customers, with Ginn confirming that all of the content would be made available for download after the game's release date. Pre-orders for "Arkham City" numbered more than 200% above those of "Arkham Asylum".


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: In the United Kingdom, the "Robin Edition" was announced, available exclusively through retailers Game and Gamestation, containing the game and all of the Robin pre-order content including the playable character, skins and challenge maps. A series of "Steelbook Edition" versions of the game were also made available, featuring the standard game with a metallic case. The Joker-themed Steelbook includes the "Joker's Carnival" challenge map, the animated film "" on DVD (Blu-ray for PlayStation 3), and the Bronze Age Batman skin DLC. Three other villain-themed steelbook cases were also offered, featuring the likenesses of Two-Face and the Penguin. A fourth steelbook featuring Catwoman was released, containing the "Batman: Earth One" alternative skin for Batman.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: The "Collector's Edition" contains a Batman statue by Kotobukiya, a collectible art book, "Batman: Arkham City – The Album" from WaterTower Music, the animated film "", "The Dark Knight Returns" skin and the Penguin-themed "Iceberg Lounge" challenge map. In July 2011, the Microsoft Windows version of the game was revealed to use Games for Windows – Live (GFWL) to access online services. Confusion concerning the use of GFWL was raised when a distributor was told by Warner Bros. that the title did not use the Live system, but the use of GFWL was confirmed in late August.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: On October 25, 2011, a Batman themed Xbox 360 console bundle was released, containing the game, a DVD of "Batman: Gotham Knight", a DVD of the "Green Lantern" film, the "Green Lantern" video game tie-in "", and a 250GB Xbox 360 console. A bundle containing these items and a Kinect controller was also released.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: A Game of the Year edition was announced on April 23, 2012, containing the game and all of the released downloadable content (DLC). A free download of the animated movie "" was also included with versions released in the United States and Canada. The cover art was widely criticized for its large text of review scores and quotations, which dwarfed the actual name of the game. Some critics claimed it to be among the worst ever.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: New purchases of the game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are provided with a unique code that unlocks the "Catwoman" DLC, enabling a series of missions for Catwoman, with unique weapons and moves. Although the missions were presented as part of the main game, on October 13, 2011, Warner Bros. announced that it would be restricted to new purchases. Users can also purchase the content separately. It was later announced that pre-owned copies purchased from GameStop would contain the necessary unlock code. A Warner Bros. rep confirmed that playing as Catwoman would not be required to complete the game. The Catwoman DLC also contains two alternate skins for the character: her appearances from "The Animated Series" and "". The PC version of the game includes the DLC, requiring no downloads or further installs to access.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Additional DLC packs were later released. The "Nightwing" pack, released on November 1, 2011, includes Batman's ally Nightwing as a playable character for the game's challenge maps, an "Animated Series" alternative skin for the character, and two more challenge maps: "Wayne Manor" and "Main Hall". The "Robin" pack was released on November 22, 2011, and contains the Robin pre-order content. A "Skins" pack containing all of the alternate Batman pre-order skins was released on December 6, 2011. Another pack was announced for release on December 20, 2011, containing the pre-order "Iceberg Lounge" and "Joker's Carnival" challenge maps, and a completely new challenge map: "Batcave". On December 19, 2011, a new Batman skin was released—based on the character's outfit from "Batman Incorporated"—to download for free on all platforms.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: On October 23, 2011, an official map app was made available to purchase on the iOS App Store that contains maps for "Arkham City", the locations of in-game collectibles, and the solutions to the Riddler's riddles.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "Harley Quinn's Revenge", a story-based campaign expansion, was released on May 29, 2012, for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, with a PC version coming out a week later. The campaign features a new story, new areas, new enemies, and both Batman and Robin as playable characters. The story takes place two weeks after the events of "Arkham City". The mega prison has since been evacuated, but Quinn returns and sets up in Joker's former base. The game follows Robin's search for Batman, who has gone missing while hunting Quinn; Batman has been acting differently following the end of the main game story, concerning his allies. On the same day, it was announced that all of the released DLC, including "Harley Quinn's Revenge", would be made available as part of the "Arkham City" Game of the Year edition.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "Batman: Arkham City" received critical acclaim. According to review aggregating website Metacritic, the PlayStation 3 version of the game had a weighted average review score of 96/100, the Xbox 360 version had 94/100, and the PC version had 91/100.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "Game Informer"s Andrew Reiner awarded the game a perfect 10 score, labeling it "the best licensed video game ever made". Reiner said that the game could be the biggest and "most enjoyable timesink" of 2011, and concluded that the game surpassed every standard set by "Batman: Arkham Asylum" "in every way and stands tall as one of Batman's greatest moments." "Joystiq"s Griffin McElroy praised the attention to detail, and mechanical excellence of the game environment, crediting Rocksteady for "breathing life into a staggeringly beautiful world; one which hums not only with opportunity, but ambition". McElroy criticized the game narrative as a series of excuses to encounter villains that were "one-dimensional punching [bags]", and that the character dialogue was clichéd. McElroy was also critical of the Riddler challenges, stating that they were "frustrating" when the player lacks the necessary items to complete them.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "Eurogamer"s Christian Donlan considered that the game lacked the same "surprise" as its predecessor, but praised the overall improvement of bosses, animations and the scope of activities available. Donlan said that the game environment was intricate and very detailed, and the abilities provided for its traversal made it "hard not to feel like the world's greatest detective, on patrol". "IGN"s Greg Miller said "the voice acting, the challenges, the amazing opening, the unbelievable ending and the feeling of being the Dark Knight—these are the things that standout". Miller said that the Catwoman missions were a fun change of pace from the main gameplay, and that he "adored" the option to replay the game with unlocked abilities and more difficult enemies.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "The Daily Telegraph"s Tom Hoggins praised the game's sense of progress in discovering and mastering the character abilities, and the "show-stopping brutality" of the improved combat system. Hoggins highlighted the Catwoman campaign as a "delight" and fitting lithe contrast to Batman's strength, but lamented the campaign's short length. "The Guardian"s Nick Cowen labeled it the best Batman game of all time, praising the variety of side missions and content, the large cast of iconic characters, and the satisfying challenge of the Riddler missions. The Australian "Official PlayStation Magazine" awarded a perfect score of 10 stating that the game "is not only the best superhero game ever made, it's one of the best games ever made ... it brings the Caped Crusader's world to life better than any comic, movie or television show before it". "Play3" (Germany) awarded a score of 92%, calling it "the best superhero game ever made". "GamesMaster" awarded a score of 97%, saying it is "the gold standard by which all future videogames should be judged".


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "Batman: Arkham City – Armored Edition" for Wii U received a positive reception. Metacritic provided a score of 85/100. Eurogamer's Richard Leadbetter was critical of technical performance including issues with visual quality and inconsistent framerate. "EGM"s Ray Carsillo said that the optional B.A.T. system made certain battles too easy. Carsillo also said it was the "clearly inferior version" of the game due to glitches and "tacked on gimmicks". Nintendo World Report's Patrick Barnett wrote that certain uses of the Wii U controller made it "the best way to experience "Arkham City"", but that some new features were a "nuisance". Barnett added that it was "on par, if not better, visually", than its counterparts. Joystiq's JC Fletcher opined that the persistent map screen and touch screen interface were appreciated, and complimented the use of augmented reality to explore crime scenes. "Game Revolution"s Blake Peterson praised the real-time management of information, upgrades and equipment that he considered made Batman more vulnerable, although Barnett included this as a point of criticism.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: For the "Harley Quinn's Revenge" DLC, "IGN"s Greg Miller scored the content 9 out of 10 and gave it an Editor's Choice designation. Miller said that it "is what downloadable content should be", but criticized the lack of variety in the missions and the lack of conclusion to some plot threads. "Eurogamer"s Christian Donlan gave the DLC a score of 7 out of 10, and said that Harley Quinn worked as well as the Joker as a narrative focus. Donlan said that Robin was "enormous fun to play", but criticized the DLC for not offering anything not present in the main game. "Kotaku"s Stephen Totilo was critical of the DLC, saying that it diminished his desire to replay the main game and describing it as "delicious a dessert as a poison-filled Joker pie to the face". Totilo said it presented an emotionless, inconclusive journey, composed of unused material from the main game.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "Arkham City" is one of the fastest selling games in history. Worldwide, two million units were sold in its first week from approximately 4.6 million shipped units, compared to "Arkham Asylum"s 4.3 million units sold in its entire release. On February 8, 2012, it was announced that more than six million units of the game had been shipped since release.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: During the first week of sales in the United Kingdom, "Batman: Arkham City" became the number-one selling game on all available formats, replacing "FIFA 12" atop the charts for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and all-format games. It became the fourth-biggest launch of 2011 after "FIFA 12", "Gears of War 3", and "L.A. Noire". It became the biggest UK game launch in the history of Warner Bros., doubling the first week sales of "Arkham Asylum". It was the tenth-best-selling game of 2011 with approximately ten weeks in release, and the 34th-best-selling game of 2012.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: According to NPD Group, "Batman: Arkham City" was the second-best-selling game in the United States for October 2011, selling 1.5 million copies across available formats, the tenth-best-selling in November, and the seventh-best-selling game overall in 2011. Game-rental service GameFly announced that it was the most requested game of 2011, beating out "".


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "Batman: Arkham City" won multiple awards at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards including: Character of the Year (Joker), Best Xbox 360 Game, Best Action Adventure Game, and Best Adapted Video Game; and received nominations for: Best Original Score, Best Graphics, Best Performance by a Human Female (Tara Strong), Best Performance by a Human Male (Mark Hamill), Trailer of the Year (Hugo Strange Reveal Trailer), Studio of the Year (Rocksteady), and Game of the Year. As part of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) 2011 awards, the game was named Adventure Game of the Year, and received nominations for: Outstanding Achievement in Animation; Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction; Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering; Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction; and Game of the Year.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: The 2012 British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA) awards saw the game win two awards for Performer (Mark Hamill) and Action game, and receive nominations for: Artistic Achievement; Audio Achievement; Best Game; Design; Original Music; Story; and the publicly voted GAME Award of 2011. Paul Crocker, Paul Dini, and Sefton Hill were nominated for the Video Game Writing award by the Writers Guild of America, and Crocker won the Best Videogame Script award from the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. The National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers awarded the game in the categories Control Design and Lighting/Texturing. The game was also awarded as Outstanding Action / Adventure Game by the 16th Satellite Awards. At the 2012 Develop Awards the game won in the category Use of a License and the International 3D Society awarded the game in the category 3D Videogame – PC. At the 5th Annual Cody Awards the game won in the category Best Licensed Game and it was nominated in other categories (Game of the Year, Studio of the Year, Best Action-Adventure Game, Best Graphics).


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "The Daily Telegraph" awarded the game Best Original Score (Nick Arundel) and Game of the Year, with a statement that said: "as a video game, it's a magnificent piece of work, but it also shines as a unique, lovingly-crafted slice of Batman fiction." The newspaper also nominated the game for: Best Director (Sefton Hill); Best Acting Performance (Mark Hamill and Nolan North); and Best Developer (Rocksteady Studios). The game was nominated for Game of the Year and Best Game Design at the Game Developers Choice Awards, and Game Audio Network Guild award's for Music of the Year, Best Soundtrack Album, Best Audio Mix, and Best Original Vocal – Choral for the track "Main Theme". The game was named the Best Action/Adventure Game and Best Overall Game of 2011 as part of the 2011 Yahoo! Games Game of the Year awards. "Batman: Arkham City" received several honors from "GameTrailers", including Best Xbox 360 Game of the Year, Best PC Game of 2011, as well as Best Action/Adventure game. It also won the Best Action-Adventure Game award at the 2012 Golden Joystick Awards, and was nominated for Top Gaming Moment for the game's ending, Best DLC for "Harley Quinn's Revenge", and the overall Ultimate Game of the Year. It was nominated for Game of the Decade at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: According to Metacritic, the PlayStation 3 version of the game was the highest-rated game of 2011; and across all formats, the game was tied with the role-playing game "" as the highest-rated game of 2011. This also tied "Arkham City" for the sixth-highest-rated game ever.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "Batman: Arkham City" appeared on several lists of the top video games of 2011, including these: number 1 by "E! Online", and "CNET"; number 2 by "Gamasutra"; number 3 by Digital Spy, "Joystiq", "VentureBeat", and "Wired"; number 5 by the Associated Press, and "Time"; and number 10 by the "Daily Mirror".


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: Several international video game websites and magazines labeled "Arkham City" as their favourite Game of the Year and as their favourite Action/Adventure Game.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: GameSpot labeled it the Best Action/Adventure Game as part of its Best of 2011 series, "Game Informer" named it their Best Action/Adventure game of 2011 in their February 2012 issue, and highlighted specific points of the game including placing Batman number 1 on their list of the Top Ten Heroes, and the Mr. Freeze boss fight number 4 on their list of Top Ten Video Games Moments. Always "Game Informer" labeled the game as Best Adventure Game on its Best of E3 2011 Awards. "PlayStation Official Magazine UK" placed "Batman: Arkham City" as their number 2 Game Of the Year. IGN labeled it as Best PC Action Game and as Best Overall Action Game of 2011 and the game won the IGN's People's Choice Awards for Best Xbox 360 Action Game and Best Xbox 360 Story. At the "Official Xbox Magazine" Game of the Year 2011 Awards the game was awarded as Best Action-Adventure Game and became runner-up in the categories Best Story and Best Voice Acting. DieHard GameFan awarded the game as Best Action Game and Game of the Year. The BTVA Voice Acting Awards awarded the game in the categories Best Male Vocal Performance in a Video Game (Mark Hamill) and Best Vocal Ensemble in a Video Game. The game also won in the category Best Interactive Animation at the Pulcinella Awards. The game also won in two categories at the X-Play Awards 2011. 1UP.com placed the game's main theme song as number 6 on its "Top 10 Theme Songs of 2011".


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: In January 2012, "Eurogamer" listed it as the third-best game of 2012. In November 2012, "Time" named it one of the 100 greatest video games of all time and said, "It's hard to imagine a better superhero game than "Batman: Arkham City". It's also hard to imagine a better video game in general." Also in November, "Entertainment Weekly" named it one of the ten best games of the past decade (2002–2012) and said, "this is the definitive superhero adventure of the decade." In 2013, "Game Informer" named it the best superhero game of all time, and "GamingBolt" listing it at number 62 on its list of the 100 Greatest Video Games Ever Made. In 2014, "Empire" placed it at number 12 on its list of the 100 Greatest Video Games of All Time, ahead of "Arkham Asylum" at number 28. "PC Gamer" named it the 68th-best PC Game, and "IGN" named it the 24th-best PC game of the preceding decade, and the 16th-best game of the contemporary console generation. In 2019, "IGN" listed it as the 54th-best video game of all time. Metacritic, "The Hollywood Reporter", "Forbes" and "IGN" put the game among the best video games of the decade 2010–2019.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: During launch week, issues were found to exist in the code-restricted content. Some customers discovered the code to be missing from their copy, preventing them from obtaining the Catwoman story missions. The problem was reported by customers in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Warner Bros. issued a statement claiming that the missing codes had affected less than 0.5% of customers. Upon release in the United Kingdom, a technical issue rendered the game unplayable for some players, booting them from the game with an error message that the "downloadable content is corrupt." Rocksteady European community manager Sarah Wellock claimed that the fault lay with the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live online systems.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: In early November 2011, Rocksteady confirmed that it was investigating reports by numerous users that save files for the Xbox 360 version of the game were being erased without prompting, resulting in players losing their progress and being unable to complete the game. On launch, performance issues arose for the PC version when DirectX 11 features were enabled; the developer acknowledged the inconvenience and recommended running the game with DirectX 9 until a title update was released to address this matter.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "", the successor to "Arkham City", was announced in April 2013. The game was developed by WB Games Montréal for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U, and was released on October 25, 2013. Set several years before the events of "Arkham Asylum", "Arkham Origins" follows a younger and less experienced Batman on Christmas Eve on the streets of Gotham City as he faces off against eight deadly assassins. A separate title, "", was developed for Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita by Armature Studios, and was released on the same day. Dini stated that he would not be involved in writing a sequel. He had not been included in writing for any of "Arkham City"s DLC, including the story-based "Harley Quinn's Revenge" DLC, and said that Warner Bros. and Rocksteady suggested that he take work elsewhere if offered.


title: Batman: Arkham City

text: "Batman: Arkham Knight", the successor to "Arkham Origins", was announced in March 2014. Developed by Rocksteady for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows, the game was released on June 23, 2015. "Arkham Knight" is set nine months after the events of "Arkham City" and follows Batman as he confronts an assault on Gotham City by the Scarecrow, and his ally, the Arkham Knight.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano (; born 15 September 1972) is the Queen of Spain as the wife of King Felipe VI. She came from a middle-class family and worked as a journalist for "ABC" and EFE before becoming a news anchor at CNN+ and Televisión Española. In 2004, she married Felipe, then Prince of Asturias and heir apparent to the Spanish throne. Their daughters, Leonor and Sofía, were born in 2005 and 2007 respectively. As Princess of Asturias, Letizia represented her father-in-law, King Juan Carlos, in Spain and abroad. On her father-in-law's abdication in June 2014, Felipe and Letizia became king and queen.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano was born on 15 September 1972 at Miñor Sanatorium in Oviedo, Asturias, the eldest daughter of Jesús José Ortiz Álvarez, a journalist, and his first wife, María de la Paloma Rocasolano Rodríguez, a registered nurse and hospital union representative. She has two younger sisters, Telma (b. 1973) and Érika (1975–2007), whose death was widely reported by press as due to an intentional prescription drug overdose.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: Letizia's parents divorced in 1999 and her father remarried in Madrid on 18 March 2004 to fellow journalist Ana Togores.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: Letizia's paternal grandparents were José Luis Ortiz Velasco (ca. 1923–2005), a commercial employee at Olivetti; and María del Carmen "Menchu" Álvarez del Valle (1928–2021), a radio broadcaster in Asturias for over 40 years. Her maternal grandfather was Francisco Julio Rocasolano Camacho (1918–2015), a mechanic and cab driver in Madrid for over 20 years who was of French and Occitan origin. Letizia's maternal grandmother, Enriqueta Rodriguez Figueredo (1919–2008) was born in the Philippines to Filipino and Spanish parents.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: British genealogists have provided evidence that through her mother's Rocasolano lineage, Letizia descends from Astorg Roquesoulane (died c.1564), and her coat of arms incorporates the arms of the Rocasolano family. Reports have suggested – and remain unproven – that on her paternal grandfather's side, Letizia is a descendant of an untitled family descended from medieval nobility who served as constables of Castile.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: Letizia attended La Gesta School in Oviedo, before her family moved to Rivas-Vaciamadrid near Madrid, where she attended the Ramiro de Maeztu High School. She completed a bachelor's degree in journalism, at the Complutense University of Madrid, as well as a master's degree in audiovisual journalism at the Institute for Studies in Audiovisual Journalism.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: During her studies, Letizia worked for the Asturian daily newspaper "La Nueva España" and later for the newspaper "ABC" and the news agency EFE. After completing her master's degree, she travelled to Guadalajara, Mexico, where she worked at the newspaper "" and began work toward a PhD. She did not, however, complete her doctoral thesis because she returned to Spain. After returning to Spain, she worked for the Spanish version of the economic channel Bloomberg before moving to the news network CNN+.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: In 2000, she moved to TVE, where she started working for the news channel 24 Horas. In 2002, she anchored the weekly news report programme "Informe Semanal" and later the daily morning news programme "Telediario Matinal" on TVE 1. In August 2003, a few months before her engagement to Felipe, Letizia was promoted to anchor of the TVE daily evening news programme "Telediario 2", the most viewed newscast in Spain.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: In 2000, Letizia reported from Washington, D.C., on the presidential elections. In September 2001, she broadcast live from Ground Zero following the 9/11 attacks in New York and in 2003, she filed reports from Iraq following the war. In 2002 she sent several reports from Galicia in northern Spain following the ecological disaster when the oil tanker "Prestige" sank.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: Letizia married Alonso Guerrero Pérez (born in 1962), a writer and a high school literature teacher, on 7 August 1998, in a simple civil ceremony at Almendralejo, in Badajoz, after a 10-year courtship. The marriage was dissolved by divorce in 1999.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: On 1 November 2003, to the surprise of many, the Royal Household announced Letizia's engagement to Felipe, then Prince of Asturias. Afterwards, she moved to live in a wing of the Zarzuela Palace until the day of her wedding. The Prince of Asturias had proposed to her with a 16-baguette diamond engagement ring with a white gold trim. She marked the occasion by giving him white gold and sapphire


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: The wedding took place on 22 May 2004 in the Cathedral Santa María la Real de la Almudena in Madrid. It was the first royal wedding in this cathedral. It had been nearly a century since the capital celebrated a royal wedding, as the prince's parents married in Athens, and his sisters, Infanta Elena and Infanta Cristina, married in Seville and Barcelona respectively.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: Letizia's bridal gown was designed by Spanish fashion designer Manuel Pertegaz, her bridal shoes by Pura López; and the veil, a gift from Felipe to his bride, was made of off-white silk tulle and hand-embroidered with detailing.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: As Letizia's previous marriage involved only a civil ceremony, the Catholic Church does not consider it canonically valid and therefore did not require an annulment to proceed with a Catholic marriage to the Prince of Asturias.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: Letizia and Felipe have two daughters: Leonor, Princess of Asturias, born on 31 October 2005; and Infanta Sofía, born on 29 April 2007. They were born at Ruber International Hospital in Madrid.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: Princess Letizia immediately joined in the duties of her husband and travelled extensively through Spain representing her father-in-law. They also represented Spain in other countries: she has travelled along with her husband to Jordan, Mexico, Peru, Hungary, the Dominican Republic, Panama, the United States, Serbia, Brazil, Uruguay, Sweden, Denmark, Japan, China, and Portugal. She also greeted international dignitaries, along with other members of the royal family, and attended gatherings of foreign royalty in Luxembourg, for the silver wedding anniversary of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, and in the Netherlands for the 40th birthday of the Prince of Orange.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: Her solo agenda was announced in 2006, shortly after the announcement of her second pregnancy. Letizia has performed a couple of audiences and her work focuses on social issues such as children's rights, culture, and education. In late 2007, her solo agenda started to grow in the number of events she performed by herself and Felipe's and Letizia's agendas became more distinct and separate.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: On 19 June 2014, Letizia became Queen of Spain; as such, she holds the style of Majesty. She is the first Spanish-born queen consort since Mercedes of Orléans, the first wife of Alfonso XII, in 1878. She is also the first Spanish queen to have been born as a commoner.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: Queen Letizia undertook her first solo engagement as queen on 23 June 2014 at the inauguration of the El Greco and modern painting exhibition at the National Prado museum in Madrid.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: In their first overseas trip as king and queen, Felipe VI and Letizia met Pope Francis on 30 June 2014, in the Apostolic Palace. They later met with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by Mgsr. Antoine Camilleri, under-secretary for Relations with States. The visit followed one by King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia on 28 April. In 2015, Letizia was named Special Ambassador for Nutrition for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: In March 2016, leaked text messages between Letizia and businessman Javier Lopez Madrid created a controversy. Together with other executives and board members of the Caja Madrid and Bankia financial group, Madrid had been accused of corruption. In October 2014 Letizia pledged her support for him, texting "We know who you are and you know who we are. We know each other, like each other, respect each other. To hell with the rest. Kisses yoga mate (miss you!!!)". Felipe also joined in, texting "We do indeed!" The newspaper "El Diario" later published these texts. A palace official subsequently stated that the King and Queen were no longer friends with Madrid due to his legal issues.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: For the 2020 Rey Jaime I Awards in Valencia, Queen Letizia presented the award-winners with their gold medals and gave a short speech praising the "talent, effort and generosity" (el talento, el esfuerzo y la generosidad) of prize-winners.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: On 21 May 2004, the day before her marriage to Prince Felipe, Letizia was appointed a Dame Grand Cross of the Royal and Distinguished Order of Charles III. Since then, Letizia has received different appointments and decorations by foreign states and other Spanish honours.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: Letizia was styled as "Her Royal Highness the Princess of Asturias" from her marriage to her husband's accession in 2014, and as "Her Majesty the Queen" since.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: The coat of arms of Queen Letizia was adopted in 2014, based on the design created for her by the Asturian Academy of Heraldry and Genealogy ("Academia Asturiana de Heráldica y Genealogía") in May 2004 and approved by Vicente de Cadenas y Vicent, Cronista Rey de Armas; this was used by her as Princess of Asturias. The revision of 2014 was confirmed by Don Alfonso Ceballos-Escalera y Gil, Chronicler of Arms for Castile and León.


title: Queen Letizia of Spain

text: The Queen's coat of arms has no governmental status, as in Spain only those of the King and those of the Princess of Asturias are so recognized.


title: Odd Future

text: Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, better known as Odd Future and often abbreviated as OF, was an American hip-hop music collective formed in Los Angeles County, California in 2007. The original members were Tyler, the Creator, Casey Veggies, Hodgy, Left Brain, Matt Martians, Jasper Dolphin, Travis "Taco" Bennett and Syd. Later members included brandUn DeShay, Pyramid Vritra, Earl Sweatshirt, Domo Genesis, Mike G, Frank Ocean and Na-Kel Smith.


title: Odd Future

text: Odd Future self-released their debut mixtape, "The Odd Future Tape", in 2008, as well as various solo and collaborative projects over the subsequent years. In 2010, they then released their second mixtape, "Radical", gaining a significant rise in popularity throughout the early 2010s. Their debut studio album, "The OF Tape Vol. 2", was released in 2012. Aside from music, Odd Future had an Adult Swim comedy skit show, "Loiter Squad", which ran from 2012 to 2014.


title: Odd Future

text: Since 2016, the official status of the group has been highly disputed. While there is no conclusive announcement signifying an official breakup, the group has remained almost completely inactive, with many of its members alluding to the fact that there are no plans for the collective. Because of this, the group is generally considered to have disbanded. Today, the Odd Future branding is primarily utilized as the namesake of a loosely related clothing brand, primarily found in retailers like Zumiez.


title: Odd Future

text: Odd Future was formed in 2007 in South Central Los Angeles by Tyler, the Creator along with Casey Veggies, Hodgy, Left Brain, the Super 3 (Matt Martians' production trio which included fictional characters Betty Vasolean and Yoshi Jankins Jr.) and Jasper Dolphin. In early 2008, Casey Veggies released "Customized Greatly, Vol. 1", featuring Tyler on a few tracks. On November 15, 2008, Odd Future released their debut mixtape, "The Odd Future Tape".


title: Odd Future

text: On July 7, 2009, Hodgy released his debut mixtape, "The Dena Tape". On December 25, 2009, Tyler, the Creator released his debut mixtape, "Bastard". In 2008, Chicago-based rapper brandUn DeShay and Atlanta-based producer Pyramid Vritra joined the collective; the latter joined Matt Martians' Super 3, and they released "The Super D3Shay" EP alongside the former before changing their name to the Jet Age of Tomorrow. Earl Sweatshirt, Domo Genesis, Mike G, Frank Ocean and Na-Kel Smith joined the group between 2009 and 2010. Earl Sweatshirt's debut mixtape, "Earl", was released on Tumblr in March 2010. MellowHype, a duo composed of Hodgy and Left Brain, released their debut mixtape, "YelloWhite", on February 24, 2010, and their debut album, "BlackenedWhite" was also released in 2010. Domo Genesis released his debut mixtape, " Rolling Papers" on August 30, 2010, and Mike G released a mixtape," Ali", in 2010. The collective also released their second mixtape, "Radical", near the middle of 2010.


title: Odd Future

text: In November 2010, Odd Future completed a two-stop tour and the first was in London on November 5, 2010. The second was in New York City on November 8, 2010. Their concerts have been compared to punk rock shows, with stagediving, moshing, and group members antagonizing the crowd.


title: Odd Future

text: MellowHype re-released "BlackenedWhite" through Fat Possum Records on July 12, 2011. Frank Ocean self-released his debut mixtape, "Nostalgia, Ultra", on February 16, 2011 . Tyler, the Creator signed a one-album deal with XL Recordings and released his debut album, "Goblin", on May 10, 2011. They gained a cult following, and received press attention from blogs and magazines. In April 2011, the group signed a deal with RED Distribution and Sony Music Entertainment to start their own label, Odd Future Records. On August 2, 2011, Odd Future announced the Golf Wang Tour 2011 on their website. The tour included 27 stops, beginning on September 28, 2011 in San Diego, California at the House of Blues.


title: Odd Future

text: On September 8, 2011, it was announced that Odd Future would be making a television show called "Loiter Squad". The show was announced to be a sketch comedy show featuring various skits and pranks and first aired on Adult Swim in March 2012. The show featured Tyler, Jasper, Taco, Earl and Lionel as main cast members, with other members of Odd Future making cameo appearances. The program was produced by Dickhouse Productions, which is also the production company for the TV series "Jackass".


title: Odd Future

text: On October 3, 2011, Tyler, the Creator tweeted a link to iTunes with a compilation album of songs from artists within the group such as Domo Genesis, Hodgy Beats, Mike G, the Jet Age of Tomorrow, MellowHype, the Internet, and Tyler himself. The album is simply named "12 Odd Future Songs", despite having 13 tracks, including three new releases from the Internet, Mike G and MellowHype. On March 20, 2012, the collective released their debut studio album, "The OF Tape Vol. 2", as a relative sequel to the original mixtape, "The Odd Future Tape". On the same day, Earl Sweatshirt, who was absent from Odd Future from June 2010 until February 2012 due to attending boarding school in Samoa, first performed with the group at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.


title: Odd Future

text: Frank Ocean released his debut studio album, "Channel Orange", on July 10, 2012. Other solo releases for the second half of 2012 included Domo Genesis's "No Idols" with the Alchemist, released on August 1, 2012, and MellowHype's "Numbers," released on October 9, 2012. On December 5, 2012 it was announced Frank Ocean was nominated for six awards at the 2013 Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist, Record of the Year for "Thinkin Bout You" and Album of the Year for "Channel Orange".


title: Odd Future

text: On April 2, 2013, Tyler, the Creator released his completely new second studio album, "Wolf", which received positive reviews from critics and debuted at number 3 on the "Billboard" 200, selling 89,895 copies in the United States. Earl Sweatshirt released his debut studio album. Tyler and Earl also went on an EarlWolf Summer Tour in 2013.


title: Odd Future

text: In June 2014, Frank Ocean left Odd Future management, 4 Strikes Management. In May 2014, the third season of "Loiter Squad" premiered. Earl, Tyler, Jasper, Taco, and L-Boy did an in-depth interview for HuffPost Live. On August 11 and August 12, 2014, Odd Future opened up for Eminem at Wembley Stadium, London..


title: Odd Future

text: On September 12, 2014, the Odd Future radio station premiered on Dash Radio, which was released the month before by DJ Skee. The station featured a live playlist, special links such as "Taco Tuesday" (also repeated on Fridays) and coverage of live events, such as the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, also hosted by Odd Future.


title: Odd Future

text: On January 18, 2015, Hodgy Beats stated that MellowHype will not release another project, but he and Left Brain will continue to make music together. Hodgy stated in an interview, "Nah, we ain't breaking up. Nah, this ain't no weirdo shit. It's just some real shit. It's a refocus. Going from boys to men this is what it is. So it's either understand it, 'cause it will be explained–cry about it, talk shit, applaud us–we still moving."


title: Odd Future

text: In May 2015, Tyler, the Creator hinted on Twitter that Odd Future was supposedly breaking up, saying "although its no more, those 7 letters are forever", seemingly referring to the collective's acronym "OFWGKTA", with Earl Sweatshirt backing up Tyler's claims as well.


title: Odd Future

text: "OFWGKTA" was listed on the bill for Tyler, the Creator's 4th Annual Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival. The line-up that performed included Hodgy Beats, Domo Genesis, Mike G and Left Brain. Tyler and Earl were not included in the set due to Tyler already having a solo show and Earl being busy.


title: Odd Future

text: Some rumors began to circulate in 2016 about the group working together musically again after a picture was taken of Tyler, Earl, Syd, Jasper, Taco, and Matt Martians together at the Afropunk Festival.


title: Odd Future

text: On December 9, 2016, Hodgy released the final Odd Future Records release, his debut studio album "". On February 6, 2017, it was confirmed MellowHype to be reuniting on Left Brain's solo mixtape "MindGone Vol. 1".


title: Odd Future

text: Tyler, the Creator’s 2017 album, ‘’Flower Boy’’, features vocals by fellow Odd Future members Frank Ocean, Jasper Dolphin, and L-Boy.


title: Odd Future

text: With the release of Tyler's 2018 single "Okra", he seems to further hint towards an Odd Future breakup with the lyric "Golf be the set, no more OF". However, later that year on August 8, Taco posted a series videos on his Instagram story, showing an Odd Future surprise concert taking place at The Low End Theory club in Los Angeles. Odd Future members who attended the show included Tyler, Taco, Jasper, Mike G, Earl, and the returning Syd and Hodgy.


title: Odd Future

text: In 2018, "Pitchfork" wrote that Odd Future's legacy was "one that demands we bask in complicated truths, reminding us that nurturing the parts that don’t fit is how any culture moves forward."


title: Odd Future

text: On October 23, 2019, Mike G confirmed Odd Future was "still together" but that they would no longer be touring.


title: Odd Future

text: On February 17, 2020, Tyler confirmed Odd Future was likely not going to release another album, stating he does not think "the styles will mesh much for a good cohesive thing".


title: Odd Future

text: Odd Future was scheduled to appear at the February 2014 Rapture Festival in Auckland, as a supporting act to Eminem. The group was not on the original bill, but was substituting for Kendrick Lamar after the concert had been sold out. A campaign was launched by an anti-violence group to prevent Odd Future performing, based partly on prior occurrences of the group supposedly inciting violence by their fans towards members of the public, and by the group's lyrics allegedly supporting rape and violence towards women. Immigration New Zealand canceled the visa of some group members because of alleged acts of inciting violence.


title: Odd Future

text: In 2015, Tyler, the Creator was banned from the United Kingdom for 3–5 years due to the allegedly homophobic and violent content of his lyrics from earlier albums such as "Bastard" and "Goblin".


title: Odd Future

text: Tyler's UK ban has since been lifted, concurring with his show in London to promote his fifth studio album, "Igor". However, his show was forcibly cancelled by police after they voiced their safety concerns, saying that it was "overcrowded" and "too rowdy".


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, although they can be based on words from other languages. Such a name is called a binomial name (which may be shortened to just "binomial"), a binomen, name or a scientific name; more informally it is also historically called a Latin name.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: The first part of the name – the "generic name" – identifies the genus to which the species belongs, whereas the second part – the specific name or specific epithet – distinguishes the species within the genus. For example, modern humans belong to the genus "Homo" and within this genus to the species "Homo sapiens". "Tyrannosaurus rex" is likely the most widely known binomial. The "formal" introduction of this system of naming species is credited to Carl Linnaeus, effectively beginning with his work "Species Plantarum" in 1753. But as early as 1622, Gaspard Bauhin introduced in his book "Pinax theatri botanici" (English, "Illustrated exposition of plants") containing many names of genera that were later adopted by Linnaeus.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: The application of binomial nomenclature is now governed by various internationally agreed codes of rules, of which the two most important are the "International Code of Zoological Nomenclature" ("ICZN") for animals and the "International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants" ("ICNafp"). Although the general principles underlying binomial nomenclature are common to these two codes, there are some differences, both in terminology they use and in their particular rules.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: In modern usage, the first letter of the generic name is always capitalized in writing, while that of the specific epithet is not, even when derived from a proper noun such as the name of a person or place. Similarly, both parts are italicized in normal text (or underlined in handwriting). Thus the binomial name of the annual phlox (named after botanist Thomas Drummond) is now written as "Phlox drummondii". Often, after a species name is introduced in a text, the generic name is abbreviated to the first letter in subsequent mentions (e.g., "P. drummondii").


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: In scientific works, the authority for a binomial name is usually given, at least when it is first mentioned, and the year of publication may be specified.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: The name is composed of two word-forming elements: "bi-" (Latin prefix meaning 'two') and "nomial (literally 'name'). In Medieval Latin, the related word was used to signify one term in a binomial expression in mathematics. The word nomen (plural nomina) means 'name' in Latin.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: Prior to the adoption of the modern binomial system of naming species, a scientific name consisted of a generic name combined with a specific name that was from one to several words long. Together they formed a system of polynomial nomenclature. These names had two separate functions. First, to designate or label the species, and second, to be a diagnosis or description; however these two goals were eventually found to be incompatible. In a simple genus, containing only two species, it was easy to tell them apart with a one-word genus and a one-word specific name; but as more species were discovered, the names necessarily became longer and unwieldy, for instance, "Plantago foliis ovato-lanceolatus pubescentibus, spica cylindrica, scapo tereti" ("plantain with pubescent ovate-lanceolate leaves, a cylindric spike and a terete scape"), which we know today as "Plantago media".


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: Such "polynomial names" may sometimes look like binomials, but are significantly different. For example, Gerard's herbal (as amended by Johnson) describes various kinds of spiderwort: "The first is called "Phalangium ramosum", Branched Spiderwort; the second, "Phalangium non ramosum", Unbranched Spiderwort. The other ... is aptly termed "Phalangium Ephemerum Virginianum", Soon-Fading Spiderwort of Virginia". The Latin phrases are short descriptions, rather than identifying labels.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: The Bauhins, in particular Caspar Bauhin (1560–1624), took some important steps towards the binomial system, by pruning the Latin descriptions, in many cases to two words. The adoption by biologists of a system of strictly binomial nomenclature is due to Swedish botanist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778). It was in Linnaeus's 1753 "Species Plantarum" that he began consistently using a one-word trivial name () after a generic name (genus name) in a system of binomial nomenclature. Trivial names had already appeared in his "Critica Botanica" (1737) and "Philosophia Botanica" (1751). This trivial name is what is now known as a specific epithet ("ICNafp") or specific name ("ICZN"). The Bauhins' genus names were retained in many of these, but the descriptive part was reduced to a single word.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: Linnaeus's trivial names introduced an important new idea, namely that the function of a name could simply be to give a species a unique label. This meant that the name no longer need be descriptive; for example both parts could be derived from the names of people. Thus Gerard's "Phalangium ephemerum virginianum" became "Tradescantia virginiana", where the genus name honoured John Tradescant the Younger, an English botanist and gardener. A bird in the parrot family was named "Psittacus alexandri", meaning "Alexander's parrot", after Alexander the Great, whose armies introduced eastern parakeets to Greece. Linnaeus's trivial names were much easier to remember and use than the parallel polynomial names and eventually replaced them.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: The value of the binomial nomenclature system derives primarily from its economy, its widespread use, and the uniqueness and stability of names that the Codes of Zoological and Botanical, Bacterial and Viral Nomenclature provide:


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: Binomial nomenclature for species has the effect that when a species is moved from one genus to another, sometimes the specific name or epithet must be changed as well. This may happen because the specific name is already used in the new genus, or to agree in gender with the new genus if the specific epithet is an adjective modifying the genus name. Some biologists have argued for the combination of the genus name and specific epithet into a single unambiguous name, or for the use of uninomials (as used in nomenclature of ranks above species).


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: Because genus names are unique only within a nomenclature code, it is possible for two or more species to share the same genus name and even the same binomial if they occur in different kingdoms. At least 1,258 instances of genus name duplication occur (mainly between zoology and botany).


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: Nomenclature (including binomial nomenclature) is not the same as classification, although the two are related. Classification is the ordering of items into groups based on similarities or differences; in biological classification, species are one of the kinds of item to be classified. In principle, the names given to species could be completely independent of their classification. This is not the case for binomial names, since the first part of a binomial is the name of the genus into which the species is placed. Above the rank of genus, binomial nomenclature and classification are partly independent; for example, a species retains its binomial name if it is moved from one family to another or from one order to another, unless it better fits a different genus in the same or different family, or it is split from its old genus and placed in a newly created genus. The independence is only partial since the names of families and other higher taxa are usually based on genera.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: Taxonomy includes both nomenclature and classification. Its first stages (sometimes called "alpha taxonomy") are concerned with finding, describing and naming species of living or fossil organisms. Binomial nomenclature is thus an important part of taxonomy as it is the system by which species are named. Taxonomists are also concerned with classification, including its principles, procedures and rules.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: A complete binomial name is always treated grammatically as if it were a phrase in the Latin language (hence the common use of the term "Latin name" for a binomial name). However, the two parts of a binomial name can each be derived from a number of sources, of which Latin is only one. These include:


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: The first part of the name, which identifies the genus, must be a word which can be treated as a Latin singular noun in the nominative case. It must be unique within the purview of each nomenclatural code, but can be repeated between them. Thus "Huia recurvata" is an extinct species of plant, found as fossils in Yunnan, China, whereas "Huia masonii" is a species of frog found in Java, Indonesia.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: The second part of the name, which identifies the species within the genus, is also treated grammatically as a Latin word. It can have one of a number of forms:


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: Whereas the first part of a binomial name must be unique within the purview of each nomenclatural code, the second part is quite commonly used in two or more genera (as is shown by examples of "hodgsonii" above). The full binomial name must be unique within each code.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: From the early 19th century onwards it became ever more apparent that a body of rules was necessary to govern scientific names. In the course of time these became nomenclature codes. The "International Code of Zoological Nomenclature" ("ICZN") governs the naming of animals, the "International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants" ("ICNafp") that of plants (including cyanobacteria), and the "International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria" ("ICNB") that of bacteria (including Archaea). Virus names are governed by the "International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses" ("ICTV"), a taxonomic code, which determines taxa as well as names. These codes differ in certain ways, e.g.:


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: Unifying the different codes into a single code, the ""BioCode"", has been suggested, although implementation is not in sight. (There is also a published code for a different system of biotic nomenclature which does not use ranks above species, but instead names clades. This is called the "PhyloCode".)


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: As noted above, there are some differences between the codes in the way in which binomials can be formed; for example the "ICZN" allows both parts to be the same, while the "ICNafp" does not. Another difference is in the way in which personal names are used in forming specific names or epithets. The "ICNafp" sets out precise rules by which a personal name is to be converted to a specific epithet. In particular, names ending in a consonant (but not "er") are treated as first being converted into Latin by adding "-ius" (for a man) or "-ia" (for a woman), and then being made genitive (i.e. meaning "of that person or persons"). This produces specific epithets like "lecardii" for Lecard (male), "wilsoniae" for Wilson (female), and "brauniarum" for the Braun sisters. By contrast the "ICZN" does not require the intermediate creation of a Latin form of a personal name, allowing the genitive ending to be added directly to the personal name. This explains the difference between the names of the plant "Magnolia hodgsonii" and the bird "Anthus hodgsoni". Furthermore, the "ICNafp" requires names not published in the form required by the code to be corrected to conform to it, whereas the "ICZN" is more protective of the form used by the original author.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: By tradition, the binomial names of species are usually typeset in italics; for example, "Homo sapiens". Generally, the binomial should be printed in a font style different from that used in the normal text; for example, ""Several more "Homo sapiens" fossils were discovered"." When handwritten, a binomial name should be underlined; for example, Homo sapiens.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: The first part of the binomial, the genus name, is always written with an initial capital letter. Older sources, particularly botanical works published before the 1950s, use a different convention. If the second part of the name is derived from a proper noun, e.g. the name of a person or place, a capital letter was used. Thus the modern form "Berberis darwinii" was written as "Berberis Darwinii". A capital was also used when the name is formed by two nouns in apposition, e.g. "Panthera Leo" or "Centaurea Cyanus". In current usage, the second part is never written with an initial capital.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: When used with a common name, the scientific name often follows in parentheses, although this varies with publication. For example, "The house sparrow ("Passer domesticus") is decreasing in Europe."


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: The binomial name should generally be written in full. The exception to this is when several species from the same genus are being listed or discussed in the same paper or report, or the same species is mentioned repeatedly; in which case the genus is written in full when it is first used, but may then be abbreviated to an initial (and a period/full stop). For example, a list of members of the genus "Canis" might be written as ""Canis lupus", "C. aureus", "C. simensis"". In rare cases, this abbreviated form has spread to more general use; for example, the bacterium "Escherichia coli" is often referred to as just "E. coli", and "Tyrannosaurus rex" is perhaps even better known simply as "T. rex", these two both often appearing in this form in popular writing even where the full genus name has not already been given.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: The abbreviation "sp." is used when the actual specific name cannot or need not be specified. The abbreviation "spp." (plural) indicates "several species". These abbreviations are not italicised (or underlined). For example: ""Canis" sp." means "an unspecified species of the genus "Canis"", while ""Canis" spp." means "two or more species of the genus "Canis"". (These abbreviations should not be confused with the abbreviations "ssp." (zoology) or "subsp." (botany), plurals "sspp." or "subspp.", referring to one or more subspecies. See trinomen (zoology) and infraspecific name.)


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: The abbreviation "cf." (i.e. "confer" in Latin) is used to compare individuals/taxa with known/described species. Conventions for use of the "cf." qualifier vary. In paleontology, it is typically used when the identification is not confirmed. For example, ""Corvus" cf. "nasicus"" was used to indicate "a fossil bird similar to the Cuban crow but not certainly identified as this species". In molecular systematics papers, "cf." may be used to indicate one or more undescribed species assumed related to a described species. For example, in a paper describing the phylogeny of small benthic freshwater fish called darters, five undescribed putative species (Ozark, Sheltowee, Wildcat, Ihiyo, and Mamequit darters), notable for brightly colored nuptial males with distinctive color patterns, were referred to as ""Etheostoma" cf. "spectabile"" because they had been viewed as related to, but distinct from, "Etheostoma spectabile" (orangethroat darter). This view was supported in varying degrees by DNA analysis. The somewhat informal use of taxa names with qualifying abbreviations is referred to as open nomenclature and it is not subject to strict usage codes.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: In some contexts the dagger symbol ("†") may be used before or after the binomial name to indicate that the species is extinct.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: In scholarly texts, at least the first or main use of the binomial name is usually followed by the "authority" – a way of designating the scientist(s) who first published the name. The authority is written in slightly different ways in zoology and botany. For names governed by the "ICZN" the surname is usually written in full together with the date (normally only the year) of publication. The "ICZN" recommends that the "original author and date of a name should be cited at least once in each work dealing with the taxon denoted by that name." For names governed by the "ICNafp" the name is generally reduced to a standard abbreviation and the date omitted. The International Plant Names Index maintains an approved list of botanical author abbreviations. Historically, abbreviations were used in zoology too.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: When the original name is changed, e.g. the species is moved to a different genus, both codes use parentheses around the original authority; the "ICNafp" also requires the person who made the change to be given. In the "ICNafp", the original name is then called the basionym. Some examples:


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: Binomial nomenclature, as described here, is a system for naming species. Implicitly it includes a system for naming genera, since the first part of the name of the species is a genus name. In a classification system based on ranks there are also ways of naming ranks above the level of genus and below the level of species. Ranks above genus (e.g., family, order, class) receive one-part names, which are conventionally not written in italics. Thus the house sparrow, "Passer domesticus", belongs to the family Passeridae. Family names are normally based on genus names, although the endings used differ between zoology and botany.


title: Binomial nomenclature

text: Ranks below species receive three-part names, conventionally written in italics like the names of species. There are significant differences between the "ICZN" and the "ICNafp". In zoology, the only rank below species is subspecies and the name is written simply as three parts (a trinomen). Thus one of the subspecies of the olive-backed pipit is "Anthus hodgsoni berezowskii". In botany, there are many ranks below species and although the name itself is written in three parts, a "connecting term" (not part of the name) is needed to show the rank. Thus the American black elder is "Sambucus nigra" subsp. "canadensis"; the white-flowered form of the ivy-leaved cyclamen is "Cyclamen hederifolium" f. "albiflorum".


title: Casper (film)

text: Casper is a 1995 American fantasy film directed by Brad Silberling, in his feature film directorial debut, based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost created by Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo. The film stars Christina Ricci, Bill Pullman, Cathy Moriarty and Eric Idle, with voice talents of Joe Nipote, Joe Alaskey, Brad Garrett and the film introduction of Malachi Pearson in the title role.


title: Casper (film)

text: The film makes extensive use of computer-generated imagery to create the ghosts, and it is the first feature film to have a fully CGI character in the lead role. It goes for a much darker interpretation of the Friendly Ghost in comparison to the comics, cartoons and films of the previous years, especially with its theme of death, most notably providing the character a tragic backstory that addresses his death.


title: Casper (film)

text: "Casper" was released in cinemas on May 26, 1995, by Universal Pictures. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the film for its faithfulness to its source material (specifically the title character's portrayal), visual effects, music score, and performances, but criticized its dark story and humor. The film earned $287.9 million on a $55 million budget, and spawned two direct-to-video/made-for-TV indirect prequels, "" (1997) and "Casper Meets Wendy" (1998) as follow-ups to the film and released by 20th Century Fox, and an animated television spin-off, "The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper".


title: Casper (film)

text: In Friendship, Maine following the death of her father, neurotic and spoiled heiress Carrigan Crittenden discovers she has only been left Whipstaff Manor in his will while his vast wealth has gone to several charities. Carrigan and her lawyer Dibs find a map within the will's papers that tell of an alleged treasure hidden inside the manor, but find the property haunted by a ghost named Casper and his poltergeist uncles the Ghostly Trio. They unsuccessfully attempt to force the ghosts out by way of paranormal experts and a demolitions team. A lonely Casper watches a news report about paranormal therapist James Harvey and is instantly smitten with his teenage daughter, Kat, prompting Casper to inspire Carrigan in summoning James to Whipstaff. Kat dislikes her father's reputation and obsession with contacting the ghost of his late wife, Amelia. The Harveys move into Whipstaff, but Casper's attempt to befriend them fails when his uncles try to torment and scare them away, which eventually fails.


title: Casper (film)

text: Casper gains the Harveys' trust when he serves them breakfast, and follows Kat to school, where she becomes popular when her class learns she is living in Whipstaff, and agrees to host their Halloween party there. Her envious classmate Amber plots with her friend, Vic (who Kat has a crush on), to humiliate Kat during the party. James attempts therapy sessions with the Ghostly Trio, who not only try to avoid them, but also reveal they know Amelia; in exchange for convincing Carrigan to leave them alone, they promise to go through the "red tape" involved to get James a meeting with his wife.