title: Dragon Age: Inquisition

text: Voillot was primarily responsible for technical matters, while Kent focused on the creative side. They delegated many distinct audio areas to individual employees who took ownership of the tasks they were assigned responsibility for. Voillot and Kent noted that the creative and technical vision for "Inquisition", as well as relevant audio guidelines, were defined very early in pre-production. A large amount of content had been created at this stage, often with mere pictures as inspiration. Some of the important decisions they made include choosing the type of microphone that would achieve their desired dialogue direction, or locking down a composer. The decision to have Trevor Morris compose the game's original soundtracks was an intentional change, as Voillot and Kent wanted to introduce to the franchise a new emotional flavour.


title: Dragon Age: Inquisition

text: For Kent and Voillot, the key challenges for "Inquisition" were centered on creating high quality audio across the enormous scale of content the player encounters, while at the same time creating a "dynamic, believable soundscape" to immerse them in the setting of Thedas. Voillot also liaised with audio programmers in harnessing the audio functionality of the Frostbite engine for a role-playing game, which he said differs greatly from first-person shooters in terms of technical requirements. Voillot pushed for the removal of key rote tasks including tagging animations or the placement of sound emitters so that the programmers can concentrate on producing high quality sounds. Semi-procedural systems were adopted, though audio programmers had to manually hand-script key story moments.


title: Dragon Age: Inquisition

text: Raney Shockne composed a series of songs which are performed by a non-player character named Maryden Halewell, voiced by singer Elizaveta Khripounova, at a tavern in the player's base of operations. Elizaveta described the recording process for a video game as somewhat secretive, and controlled without any scope for collaboration or input from the performer as clients usually know exactly what they want and specifically request for it. Instructed to do a "folky ballad, Celtic troubadours-style", she received the instrumentals and lyrics from Shockne and recorded the songs in her bedroom with only a microphone to her laptop. Because the pronunciation for the tavern songs was meant to be very specific, she had to re-record on a number of occasions. The tavern songs and song sheets were collected into "Dragon Age Inquisition: The Bard Songs", which are separate from the digital original soundtrack (OST) included with the game's Deluxe Edition. Due to popular demand, "The Bard Songs" were made free to download from January 26, 2015 to February 9, 2015 by BioWare, after which they were offered for sale on various digital platforms.


title: Dragon Age: Inquisition

text: Publisher Electronic Arts first announced the game as "Dragon Age III: Inquisition" in September 2012. It was revealed that "Inquisition" was a collaboration between BioWare studios in Edmonton and Montreal. The game was initially targeting a late 2013 release date, until it was revealed at E3 2013 it was delayed to late 2014. EA dropped "III" from the game's title because it was an "all-new chapter inside of the "Dragon Age" universe", rather than a straightforward follow-up to "Dragon Age II". Originally scheduled for release on October 7, 2014, the game was delayed for six weeks as the team needed additional time to polish the game.


title: Dragon Age: Inquisition

text: BioWare confirmed on October 31, 2014, that "Inquisition" had declared gold, indicating it was being prepared for duplication and release. Electronic Arts released the game on November 18 in North America and November 21 in Europe. The game was not released in India to "avoid a breach of local content laws". EA released "Dragon Age Keep", a "companion web experience", which allows players to customize the state of the world before beginning a playthrough of "Inquisition". Within "Dragon Age Keep", players can access " Dragon Age: The Last Court", a companion game developed by Failbetter Games, although EA deactivated it in late 2020. BioWare offered a mini-game titled "Quest for the Red Lyrium Reapers" on the official "Dragon Age: Inquisition" website, which unlocked red lyrium-themed weapons as promotional rewards upon completion of the mini-game. This was later made available to all players in a "special delivery chest" as of Patch 11 released in October 2015. The Golden Nug statue was introduced in Patch 10 to allow players who already completed at least one playthrough to synchronize their previous collections of collectible items, recipes and schematics.


title: Dragon Age: Inquisition

text: In addition to the standard version, other editions of "Inquisition" were made available for purchase. The Digital Deluxe Edition and Inquisitor's Editions come bundled with a digital copy of the game's OST as well as multiple in-game bonus items, such as a throne made out of a dragon's skull for Skyhold, mount skins, and the "Flames of the Inquisition" equipment series. The multiplayer DLC packs "Destruction" and "Dragonslayer" were released in December 2014 and May 2015 respectively, and both were available free of charge. New playable agents were also added in post-launch patches. The first single-player DLC "" was released on March 24, 2015, for PC and Xbox 360 and May 26, 2015, for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Xbox 360. It focuses on the previous Inquisition and the fate of the Inquisitor's predecessor, and introduces a new open area called the Frostback Basin. "The Black Emporium", released on May 5, 2015 and available free of charge, adds a new vendor that sells exclusive items, and the "Mirror of Transformation", which allow players to change the appearance of their Inquisitor as many times as they want.


title: Dragon Age: Inquisition

text: On July 6, 2015, BioWare announced that they intended to cease support for the remaining downloadable content of "Inquisition" for the seventh generation of video game consoles, though players can transfer their saved games to the newer hardwares. "Spoils of the Avvar", which adds new in-game items, schematics, and customization options, was the last content pack released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on June 9, 2015, while "Spoils of the Qunari" was the first content pack released exclusively for the eighth generation of video game consoles on July 22, 2015. The second single-player DLC, "", developed by BioWare's Austin studio, was released on August 11, 2015. It brings the Inquisitor to the Deep Roads, where recurrent earthquakes threaten the worldwide lyrium trade, and potentially Thedas as a whole. The last single-player DLC, "", was released on September 8, 2015, set two years after the defeat of Corypheus. It expands upon the ending of "Inquisition" and concludes multiple story threads set up by the main game. EA released a Game of the Year edition of the game, which bundled the base game and all post-launch additional content, on October 6, 2015.


title: Dragon Age: Inquisition

text: "Dragon Age: Inquisition" received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Many critics regarded it as a significant improvement over "Dragon Age II", and helped revitalize the series.


title: Dragon Age: Inquisition

text: Chris Carter of "Destructoid" liked the new combat system for its successful integration of the fast gameplay in "Dragon Age II" and the more tactical combat in "Origins". In particular, he applauded the return of the tactical view. "Polygon"s Phillip Kollar agreed, saying that "Inquisition" "finds the best of both worlds with this system". Writing for "Eurogamer", Richard Cobbett believed that the overhauled combat system was not entirely successful, and the repetitive battles disappointed him. He added none of the enemy encounters were tactically interesting. Joe Juba of "Game Informer" praised the combat as "satisfying" and felt it tasked players to "manage the flow of battle" during tense encounters. However, he criticized the tactical camera for being "unreliable". Kevin VanOrd described the combat system as "fun" and "colorful", though he too lamented the clumsiness of the tactical view, and believed that tactics and strategy were not required in most enemy encounters. "GamesRadar"s Maxwell McGee praised the expanded customization options and wrote that the combat system was further elevated by the game's vibrant and colorful visuals. Several critics noted the game's technical issues in their reviews.


title: Dragon Age: Inquisition

text: Phil Savage of "PC Gamer" enjoyed the main campaign writing that "each mission is distinct, memorable, and significantly moves the story along". He enjoyed how the game showed Inquisition's growth as an organisation. Carter appreciated the writing for the companions, singling out Varric and Dorian. However, he felt the script was weak in the early portion of the game, and that the story was "by-the-books fantasy" and "less nuanced than "Origins"". Cobbett felt the story was uninspiring, though he noted it eventually gained momentum. The portrayal of returning characters whose personalities were completely changed in "Inquisition" disappointed him. Juba lamented that many important story beats were poorly told, writing that "many of the would-be defining events feel abrupt or poorly explained", but he enjoyed interacting with the game's cast of characters and praised BioWare for reflecting player choices in "Origins" and "II" in "Inquisition". Vince Ingenito, writing for "IGN", also criticized the central plot, calling it "frustratingly vague", saying it "[lacked] the heart and pathos of BioWare’s best games". While Cobbett was disappointed that the choices were not as impactful as he had hoped, "Joystiq"s Alexander Sliwinski wrote many choices were significant and that they brought both immediate and long-lasting impacts. Savage also wrote the main campaign is filled with "tough, world-shifting decisions". VanOrd liked the cast and enjoyed hearing the party banter, calling it "one of "Inquisition"s highlights". McGee described the characters as "eclectic" and "interesting", but wrote newcomers to the series may feel easily overwhelmed by the game's extensive lore, which was told mainly through codex entries scattered in the world. Robert Purchese of "Eurogamer" lauded the tarot cards used to depict the world and the characters in the game's menus, which changed based on how players interact with them.


title: Dragon Age: Inquisition

text: Thedas, as presented in "Inquisition", was often highlighted for being a realized world. Carter called the world "gigantic", and applauded Frostbite for its graphical prowess. He also appreciated the inclusion of optional dungeons and bosses in the game, which made exploring the hub world a rewarding experience. Juba liked the large open worlds, calling them and largest and best surprise for series fans. VanOrd added that travelling the world was "an absolute delight", though he felt that collecting crafting materials interrupted the game's pacing. While Savage enjoyed the large open worlds, the lack of a city hub like Kirkwall in "II" disappointed him, since the large open areas in "Inquisition" were set mainly in the wilderness and were not dense enough. Cobbett praised the inclusion of large open areas and believed it reflected BioWare's ambition and scale for the game, though he expressed disappointment with the mission design, compared to quests from MMOs. Many critics liked how the game's side activities are tied to Power as a gameplay mechanic. Critics considered the involvement of the Inquisitor in the politics of Thedas as one of the game's standout elements. The War Table missions were singled out by Kollar for further exploring the world and the various groups and factions inhabiting it. While the abundance of content was widely praised, Patricia Hernandez of "Kotaku" noted the game had a lot of filler content that was not meaningful or interesting, and it had an "overabundance of fluff". Hernandez urged players to leave the Hinterlands, one of the game's starting zone, as soon as possible.


title: Dragon Age: Inquisition

text: Lisa Granshaw from "Syfy" praised a pivotal musical cutscene in the narrative of "Inquisition", where the members of the Inquisition join together and sing a song called “The Dawn Will Come”, as "one of the more unforgettable moments and pieces of music" in the series. Elijah Beahm from "The Escapist" noted that the game's tavern songs were made special by Elizaveta's "ethereal" voice and became unexpectedly popular.


title: Dragon Age: Inquisition

text: "Dragon Age: Inquisition" debuted at No. 5 in UK in its first launch week. According to retail monitor Chart-Track, it had sold almost the exact amount of launch week copies as 2011's "Dragon Age II". According to Electronic Arts' fiscal 2015 third quarter earnings report, "Dragon Age: Inquisition" is the most successful launch in BioWare history based on units sold.


title: Dragon Age: Inquisition

text: In addition to winning several awards at major events and ceremonies, it was selected by "IGN", "Ars Technica", "Game Informer", "Polygon", and "Electronic Gaming Monthly" as their Game of the Year in 2014.


title: Dragon Age: Inquisition

text: "", a direct sequel to "Inquisition", is currently under development. Solas is featured prominently in the marketing and promotional material for the upcoming sequel.


title: Boston Brahmin

text: The Boston Brahmins or Boston elite are members of Boston's traditional upper class. They are often associated with Harvard University; Anglicanism; upper-class clubs such as the Somerset in Boston, the Knickerbocker in New York City, the Metropolitan in Washington, D.C., and the Pacific-Union Club in San Francisco; and traditional Anglo-American customs and clothing. Descendants of the earliest English colonists are typically considered to be the most representative of the Boston Brahmins. They are considered White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs).


title: Boston Brahmin

text: The doctor and writer Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. coined the term "Brahmin Caste of New England" in an 1860 story in "The Atlantic Monthly". The term "Brahmin" refers to the priestly caste within the four castes in the Hindu caste system. By extension, it was applied in the United States to the old wealthy New England families of British Protestant origin that became influential in the development of American institutions and culture. The influence of the old American gentry has been reduced in modern times, but some vestiges remain, primarily in the institutions and the ideals that they championed in their heyday.


title: Boston Brahmin

text: The nature of the Brahmins is hinted at by the doggerel "Boston Toast" by Holy Cross alumnus John Collins Bossidy:


title: Boston Brahmin

text: While some 19th-century Brahmin families of large fortune were of common origin, still fewer were of an aristocratic origin. The new families were often the first to seek, in typically British fashion, suitable marriage alliances with those old aristocratic New England families that were descended from landowners in England to elevate and cement their social standing. The Winthrops, Dudleys, Saltonstalls, Winslows, and Lymans (descended from English magistrates, gentry, and aristocracy) were, by and large, happy with this arrangement. All of Boston's "Brahmin elite", therefore, maintained the received culture of the old English gentry, including cultivating the personal excellence that they imagined maintained the distinction between gentlemen and freemen, and between ladies and women. They saw it as their duty to maintain what they defined as high standards of excellence, duty, and restraint. Cultivated, urbane, and dignified, a Boston Brahmin was supposed to be the very essence of enlightened aristocracy. The ideal Brahmin was not only wealthy, but displayed what was considered suitable personal virtues and character traits.


title: Boston Brahmin

text: The Brahmin was expected to maintain the customary English reserve in his dress, manner, and deportment, cultivate the arts, support charities such as hospitals and colleges, and assume the role of community leader. Although the ideal called on him to transcend commonplace business values, in practice many found the thrill of economic success quite attractive. The Brahmins warned each other against avarice and insisted upon personal responsibility. Scandal and divorce were unacceptable. This culture was buttressed by the strong extended family ties present in Boston society. Young men attended the same prep schools, colleges, and private clubs, and heirs married heiresses. Family not only served as an economic asset, but also as a means of moral restraint. Most belonged to the Unitarian or Episcopal churches, although some were Congregationalists or Methodists. Politically they were successively Federalists, Whigs, and Republicans. They were marked by their manners and once distinctive elocution. Their distinctive Anglo-American manner of dress has been much imitated and is the foundation of the style now informally known as preppy. Many of the Brahmin families trace their ancestry back to the original 17th- and 18th-century colonial ruling class consisting of Massachusetts governors and magistrates, Harvard presidents, distinguished clergy, and fellows of the Royal Society of London (a leading scientific body), while others entered New England aristocratic society during the 19th century with their profits from commerce and trade, often marrying into established Brahmin families.


title: Boston Brahmin

text: Descendants through the marriage of Sarah Preston Everett (1796–1866) and noted journalist Nathan Hale (1784–1863):


title: Lance Barber

text: Lance Barber (born June 29, 1973) is an American actor. He is best known for playing George Cooper, Sr. on the CBS sitcom "Young Sheldon" (2017–present), as well as Bill Ponderosa on the FX show "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".


title: Lance Barber

text: Barber was born and raised in Battle Creek, Michigan and developed an interest in acting at the age of seven, after seeing a performance of "Grease" at the Barn Theatre. He acted at Pennfield High School, from which he graduated in 1991, and performed in school productions from Kellogg Community College while earning his associate degree.


title: Lance Barber

text: After a year at the Barn Theatre, alongside Jennifer Garner, Barber moved to Chicago and spent five years working his way up in The Second City improvisational comedy troupe. He then moved to Los Angeles and had his first television role in "On the Spot", an improv sketch show that ran for five episodes on The WB in 2003. He credits his breakthrough to the 2005 HBO series "The Comeback" with Lisa Kudrow, in which he played Paulie G., a television writer. In 2010, he landed the recurring role of Bill Ponderosa on FX's "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". He reprised his role as Paulie G. when HBO brought back "The Comeback" in 2014. He also starred in episodes of "How I Met Your Mother", "Gilmore Girls", "Californication", "Monk", "The Mentalist", and "Grey's Anatomy".


title: Lance Barber

text: Barber played Jimmy Speckerman, who bullied Leonard Hofstadter at high school, in one episode of "The Big Bang Theory". He was cast as George Cooper Sr., father of Sheldon Cooper, in the spin-off "Young Sheldon" that premiered in 2017, and mentioned in an interview that some fans were confused by his different roles in the two related series. Barber also played Cooper in "The VCR Illumination", a 2018 episode of the parent show's twelfth season; the character is deceased in the series but appears on a video tape that Sheldon unexpectedly watches.


title: Metroid Dread

text: Metroid Dread is an action-adventure video game developed by Nintendo and MercurySteam and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It was released on October 8, 2021. Set after the events of "Metroid Fusion" (2002), players control bounty hunter Samus Aran as she investigates the source of a mysterious transmission on the planet ZDR. It retains the side-scrolling gameplay of previous 2D "Metroid" games and incorporates stealth elements. It was the first original 2D Metroid game in 19 years.


title: Metroid Dread

text: "Metroid" producer Yoshio Sakamoto conceived "Dread" for the Nintendo DS in the mid-2000s, but development ended due to technical limitations. Industry commentators expressed interest in a new 2D "Metroid" game, and listed "Dread" in their "most wanted" lists. After their work on "" in 2017, Sakamoto appointed MercurySteam to develop "Dread", the first original side-scrolling "Metroid" game since "Metroid Fusion". Nintendo announced it at E3 2021.


title: Metroid Dread

text: Upon release, "Metroid Dread" received critical acclaim. At The Game Awards 2021, the game received three nominations including Game of the Year, winning for Best Action/Adventure Game. It became the fastest-selling "Metroid" game in Japan, the UK and the US, and has sold nearly 3 million copies, making it the best-selling "Metroid" game.


title: Metroid Dread

text: "Metroid Dread" is an action-adventure game in which players control bounty hunter Samus Aran as she explores the planet ZDR. It retains the side-scrolling gameplay of previous "Metroid" games, alongside the free aim and melee attacks added in "" (2017). As the player explores, they discover new items and weapons, allowing them to access new areas.


title: Metroid Dread

text: "Dread" adds stealth elements, with Samus avoiding the EMMI robots in certain areas by hiding, reducing her noise, and using the Phantom Cloak, camouflage that makes her invisible but slows her movement. If an EMMI catches Samus, the player has two brief chances to perform melee counters and escape. If they fail, Samus is killed. EMMIs can only be destroyed when Samus obtains the temporary "Omega Blaster" upgrade, which is lost upon using it to destroy one; however, destroying an EMMI grants Samus a new permanent upgrade. Upgrades can also be found by finding Chozo statues or destroying a Core-X like in previous games. Players unlock images in an in-game gallery based on their completion time, difficulty level, and percentage of items collected.


title: Metroid Dread

text: The Galactic Federation receives video evidence that the X, a dangerous species of parasite that can mimic any creature it infects, survives on the remote planet ZDR. They dispatch seven EMMI (Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifiers) robots to ZDR to investigate, but lose contact with them shortly after. The Federation sends Samus Aran to ZDR to investigate.


title: Metroid Dread

text: Samus encounters a Chozo warrior deep underground, who destroys the exit, defeats her in combat and strips her suit of most of its abilities. Samus is instructed by her ship's computer, Adam, to find another path to the surface and return to her ship. Samus is attacked by the EMMI, which have been reprogrammed to consider her hostile. She escapes and absorbs a mysterious energy from one of the planet's central units. The energy temporarily enables the Omega Blaster, with which she destroys the EMMI and regains some of her abilities.


title: Metroid Dread

text: In Ferenia, Samus is captured by another EMMI, but is saved by a Chozo named Quiet Robe, who deactivates them. Quiet Robe explains that, long ago, the scientific Thoha tribe create the Metroids as a mean to counter the X parasites on the planet SR388. But after the Metroids went out of control, the Thoha banded with the warrior Mawkin tribe to contain them. The Thoha intended to destroy the planet with the Metroids in it, but Raven Beak, the Mawkin leader, wanted to use the Metroids as bioweapons to conquer the galaxy. He slaughtered the Thoha tribe and spared Quiet Robe so the Metroids could be controlled with his Thoha DNA. He planned to use ZDR to house Metroids, but had to contain an infestation of the X while Samus eradicated the Metroids from SR388. Raven Beak reprogrammed the EMMI robots and lured Samus to ZDR to extract the Metroid DNA implanted in her during the events of "Fusion", which would allow him to revive the Metroids.


title: Metroid Dread

text: Quiet Robe opens a barrier to allow Samus to progress before he is assassinated by one of Raven Beak's robotic soldiers. Adam encourages Samus to defeat Raven Beak and destroy ZDR. In Elun, Samus encounters the X parasites and inadvertently releases them into the rest of the planet; one of the X possesses Quiet Robe's corpse and reactivates the remaining EMMI. Samus arrives on the surface, where she is attacked by the last of the EMMI; she destroys it by sapping its energy with her hand, a power gained from her Metroid DNA. As a side effect, Samus is slowly becoming a Metroid.


title: Metroid Dread

text: On the floating fortress of Itorash, Samus confronts Raven Beak, who has been masquerading as Adam. Raven Beak reveals that he spared her before so that she would awaken her Metroid powers, at which point he would clone her to create an army of the most powerful Metroid of all. Samus battles Raven Beak and is nearly killed, but the Metroid abilities within her grant her incredible power. Samus attacks Raven Beak, draining energy from Itorash and causing it to crash into ZDR. Raven Beak is infected by an X, and Samus uses her newfound powers to destroy him. Samus retreats to her ship as ZDR begins to self-destruct, but is unable to use it due to her energy-draining Metroid powers. The X possessing Quiet Robe appears and allows itself to be absorbed into Samus to neutralize her Metroid abilities, allowing her to escape the planet before it explodes.


title: Metroid Dread

text: "Metroid" producer Yoshio Sakamoto conceived "Metroid Dread" as a Nintendo DS sequel to "Metroid Fusion" (2002). It came from the concept of having Samus followed by "dread" on an unfamiliar planet. Sakamoto's inspiration was "the tension surrounding the SA-X from "Metroid Fusion" and how we wanted to take that style of gameplay and put it into what is considered to be the normal "Metroid" gameplay". Sakamoto did not want "Dread" to be a horror game, but did want to explore "fear-based gameplay".


title: Metroid Dread

text: Sakamoto attempted to have "Dread" developed for the DS at least twice, but the technology was too limited to create the game he envisioned. The first attempt was made around 2005, while a second attempt was made around 2008. A playable prototype was shown to Nintendo Software Technology and Nintendo of America staff at E3 2009. The project was reportedly not titled "Metroid Dread" at that point and had an art style similar to "Metroid Fusion". The prototype did not meet Sakamoto's expectations, so development was halted. A major reason for this was that Sakamoto's desire for an intimidating, unsettling antagonist was difficult to achieve with the DS hardware.


title: Metroid Dread

text: The title "Metroid Dread" first appeared on a 2005 internal Nintendo software list of "key DS games set to be announced in the future", triggering expectation that it would appear at the E3 convention in 2005 or 2006. By late 2005, rumors spread that "Metroid Dread" had been canceled or was in development hell. A release date of November 2006 was listed in the February issue of "Official Nintendo Magazine". The March issue listed a release date for 2006, with a suggestion to look to E3 2006 for further details, but the game did not appear.


title: Metroid Dread

text: A message reading "Experiment status report update: Metroid project 'Dread' is nearing the final stages of completion" appears in the 2007 game "". "Corruption" director Mark Pacini denied any connection and said that it was coincidental. "Wired" writer Chris Kohler expressed skepticism over Retro's denial; he felt it would be believable if Pacini said that it was a joke, but the claim that it was a coincidence was not. In the Japanese version, which launched later that year, the message instead refers to a "dread class turret".


title: Metroid Dread

text: In 2010, Sakamoto said that Nintendo would "start from scratch" if they returned to the "Dread" project. He also said that they were "waiting and watching and reading the comments to see what people are interested in before we make any comment on the project". In other interviews, he denied that the Wii game "" (2010) and the Nintendo 3DS game "" (2017) were connected to "Dread". In May 2010, "IGN" Craig Harris said that the story for "Metroid Dread" was complete, and that Nintendo was able to "bring it back at any time".


title: Metroid Dread

text: Following the game's initial listing, critics expressed an interest in "Metroid Dread" or a similar 2D side-scrolling "Metroid" project being revived. In 2011, "IGN" cited it as a "game in danger". K. Thor Jensen included it in his list of "video games you will never, ever play". He felt that "Metroid: Other M" was a disappointment and it made him nostalgic for "Dread". Thomas East included "Dread" and its apparent reference in "Corruption" in their list of "11 amazing "Metroid" facts and secrets". East added that he was hopeful for a possible 3DS release.


title: Metroid Dread

text: Marc Zablotny, a writer for the "Official Nintendo Magazine", included it in his 2013 wishlist, saying he was more interested in what "Dread" "stood for rather than the specific game itself". Zablotny later included it in a list of the "15 more Nintendo Games you never got to play" and called it one of the most infamous cancelled Nintendo games. Nick Chester from "Destructoid" criticized Nintendo for its focus on games such as the "Brain Age" series over "Metroid".


title: Metroid Dread

text: During Nintendo's E3 2021 Nintendo Direct presentation on June 15, Nintendo announced that "Metroid Dread" was in development for the Nintendo Switch, with a release date of October 8, 2021. "Dread" was developed by the Spanish developer MercurySteam, the studio that developed "", and Nintendo EPD. Sakamoto said that Nintendo revived the project after seeing what MercurySteam could do with its technology on the Switch. "Dread" is the first fully original side-scrolling "Metroid" game since "Fusion".


title: Metroid Dread

text: On the review aggregator website Metacritic, "Metroid Dread" has a score of 88 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Samuel Claiborn of "IGN" praised the boss fights, writing that they "range from the traditional big, drooling monsters with patterns and weak points to learn, to almost "Smash Bros."-esque encounters with enemies that mimic your move set". Chris Carter of "Destructoid" said "Dread" "masterfully" executed the Metroidvania formula, and that it "doesn’t take a lot of big swings, but it rarely bats a foul ball". "Nintendo Life"s PJ O'Reilly liked the returning mechanics and the newer additions, saying "it always feels as though you've got a ton of choice in how to explore and move around your richly detailed surroundings". Joe Findly of "CGM" wrote that ""Metroid Dread" is a wonderful, modern take on a classic game from childhood". "IGN" wrote that it "brings back the legendary exploration and progression and merges it with excellent modern combat and some of the best boss fights ever".


title: Metroid Dread

text: "Metroid Dread" pre-orders topped the Amazon Video Game Best Sellers list in the US, UK, Japan, and Australia. It was also the most pre-ordered game following E3 2021 at GameStop.


title: Metroid Dread

text: "Dread" had the highest-grossing physical launch of the franchise in the UK, debuting at number three on the weekly video games sales charts. Including digital copies, the game is also the fastest-selling "Metroid" game in the UK. In the United States, "Dread" debuted at #3 and sold 854,000 copies in its first month, making it the fastest-selling "Metroid," according to Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser. In Japan, it debuted at number one, selling 86,798 retail copies in its first week of release. Including digital copies, "Dread" outsold the life-to-date sales of nearly every "Metroid" game in Japan in its first week. By May 10, 2022, it had sold more than 2.9 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling "Metroid" game.


title: Metroid Dread

text: At The Game Awards 2021, "Metroid Dread" won the award for Best Action/Adventure Game. At the Golden Joystick Awards, the game won in the category Nintendo Game of the Year. It was also named Game of the Year by "Time" and "Digital Trends".


title: Nancy Benoit

text: Nancy Elizabeth Benoit (formerly Daus, Sullivan, née Toffoloni; May 17, 1964 – June 22, 2007) was an American professional wrestling manager and model. She was best known for her appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling in the mid-1990s under the ring name Woman.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: After graduating from DeLand (Florida) High School, Toffoloni got a job answering phones at State Farm Insurance. When George Napolitano needed a beautiful young girl for the cover of the June 1984 edition of the pro-wrestling magazine "Wrestling All Stars", fellow photographer Bill Otten suggested the 20-year-old Nancy Toffoloni Daus for the role. Toffoloni, who had worked as a model, often sat alongside her then-husband Jim. She had also been selling programs at the Orlando shows and appeared as Apartment Wrestler "Para" in Stanley Weston's "Sports Review Wrestling" magazine. It was on this shoot where she met Kevin Sullivan, who eventually wanted her to be a part of his wrestling entourage. After months of convincing, she finally became an on-air valet, taking the ring name "Fallen Angel".


title: Nancy Benoit

text: As "Fallen Angel", Toffoloni made her in-ring debut on June 30, 1984, in Miami, Florida, for Florida Championship Wrestling.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: Toffoloni became a part of Kevin Sullivan's stable of kayfabe "Satanists", which also included wrestlers The Lock, Luna Vachon, The Purple Haze, and Sir Oliver Humperdink. Toffoloni and Kevin Sullivan traveled throughout the United States using the "Satanist" gimmick for promotions such as Angelo Savoldi's ICW and Southwest Championship Wrestling. The two married in 1985. On August 3, 1985, she wrestled Debbie Combs in Hawaii for NWA Polynesian Wrestling, in which she lost by disqualification.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: Nancy Sullivan first appeared in WCW as a "fan" of Rick Steiner named Robin Green, wearing a Steiner T-shirt and large glasses. She would sit in the audience and would interact with Steiner whenever he appeared. She eventually turned on him, aligning herself with Kevin Sullivan and adopting the name "Woman" and becoming the manager of Doom (Butch Reed and Ron Simmons). After leaving Doom, she aligned herself with Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: In late-1993, Nancy and Kevin Sullivan joined the Philadelphia-based promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling, where she reverted to the ring name "Woman". In December 1993, Sullivan and The Tazmaniac won the ECW Tag Team Championship. They held the championship until March 1994, when they were defeated by The Public Enemy.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: After Sullivan left ECW in spring 1994, Woman began managing The Sandman. The Sandman's character was estranged from his wife and valet, Peaches, who had left him after he accidentally struck her during a match while temporarily blinded. Woman drove a wedge between The Sandman and Peaches, convincing him that Peaches was cheating on him with Tommy Cairo. In keeping with The Sandman's character, Woman would open his beers and light his cigarettes prior to matches. She began carrying a Singapore cane with which she would strike The Sandman's opponents. At When Worlds Collide on May 14, 1994, Woman and The Sandman lost to Cairo and Peaches in a Singapore Cane match, after which Peaches caned The Sandman in the groin until Woman threw salt in her eyes, enabling The Sandman to regroup and cane Cairo and Peaches.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: In mid-1994, The Sandman began feuding with Tommy Dreamer after he kissed Woman. The feud culminated in an "I Quit" match on October 1, during which The Sandman was seemingly blinded when Dreamer pushed a lit cigarette into his eye and then caned him in the face. Following the bout, Woman announced that she was leaving The Sandman as he was now "useless". After Cairo mocked The Sandman, a guilt-stricken Dreamer challenged him to a match at November to Remember on November 5. At the same event, Peaches attempted to reconcile with The Sandman. Woman interrupted the reconciliation, caning Peaches and threatening The Sandman. After Dreamer came to the ring to stop Woman, The Sandman revealed that he was not in fact blinded and attacked Dreamer, with his estrangement from Woman a ploy to pit Dreamer and Cairo against one another.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: In April 1995 at Three Way Dance, Woman again left The Sandman, aligning herself with Shane Douglas. At Hostile City Showdown on April 15, she helped The Sandman defeat Douglas for his second ECW World Heavyweight Championship by striking him in the knee with a Singapore cane, revealing the turn to have been another ruse. Following The Sandman's victory, Woman began carrying the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to ringside. Throughout mid-1995, she helped The Sandman defend his championship in a series of bouts with Cactus Jack. In September, she began also managing The Sandman's ally, ECW World Television Champion 2 Cold Scorpio. In late 1995, The Sandman began feuding with Mikey Whipwreck, during which a controversial storyline began in which Woman became visibly aroused while watching The Sandman cane Whipwreck. The Sandman's reign lasted until October 28, when he lost to Whipwreck in a ladder match after Stunning Steve Austin prevented Woman from interfering.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: On October 28, 1995, 2 Cold Scorpio defeated Rocco Rock in a singles bout to win the ECW World Tag Team Championship, then selected The Sandman as his partner. The Sandman regained the ECW World Heavyweight Championship in a three-way dance with Whipwreck and Austin at December to Dismember on December 9, giving Woman control of all three championships. On December 29 at Holiday Hell, Whipwreck defeated 2 Cold Scorpio in a singles match with the World Tag Team Championship on the line. The Sandman's third reign as World Heavyweight Champion lasted until January 27, 1996, when he lost to Raven. In February at Big Apple Blizzard Blast, Woman announced that she was returning to WCW, parting ways with The Sandman and 2 Cold Scorpio.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: Nancy Sullivan (as "Woman") made her return to WCW on the January 22, 1996 episode of "WCW Monday Nitro" as one of many women who stood in the aisle and waved as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage came to the ring. On the February 5 episode of "Nitro" she turned on Savage during his match with Chris Benoit and rejoined Flair, Arn Anderson, Brian Pillman, and Benoit in the then-current incarnation of the Four Horsemen. Miss Elizabeth also managed the stable.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: In 1996, Pillman had left the Horsemen, but they added Steve McMichael and his wife Debra in June, which didn't sit well with Woman. In her next angle, the two bickered, not getting along in general. The Four Horsemen were often given interview time on "Nitro" and when it came time for Debra to speak on the mic, she'd often go into a soliloquy regarding Woman's looks and fashion sense – usually when the two weren't within the vicinity of each other. Despite the heavy tension, the two managers never had a physical altercation.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: Concurrently, she started an on-screen relationship with Benoit, who at the time was involved in a feud with her real-life husband, Kevin Sullivan. On December 7, on "WCW Saturday Night", during a post-match interview with Sullivan, a home movie of the couple canoodling in a kitchen was played in front of him. Woman taunted Sullivan by saying, "You can't find me" and "I'm my own woman," while Benoit added: "You consider yourself the master of human chess. Well, my bishop just took your queen". After the video, Sullivan appeared speechless, and his manager Jimmy Hart led him off stage. The feud between Benoit and Sullivan saw Woman clashing with Sullivan's then-valet Jacquelyn at ringside. In one match, the two ladies were strapped together, took shots at each other, and used the strap connecting them as a weapon against the men.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: Eventually, the on-screen relationship developed into a real-life affair off-screen. Because of this, it is often joked that Kevin Sullivan "booked his own divorce". The two divorced in 1997. Sullivan lost a retirement match to Benoit; his intent had been to retire from in-ring action and focus on booking.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: Woman's final WCW appearance (and professional wrestling appearance as Woman) took place on May 26, 1997, on "Monday Nitro" as she accompanied Benoit to the ring for a confrontation with Jimmy Hart regarding the whereabouts of Sullivan, who wasn't in the arena. On the following week's show, Benoit came alone to ringside without her by his side. After managing him for a little over half a year, no reason was given for Woman's sudden disappearance, and she was never mentioned on WCW programming again.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: Before her marriage to Kevin Sullivan in 1985, Benoit had been married to and divorced from Jim Daus.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: In early 1997, while married to Kevin Sullivan, she was having an extramarital affair with Chris Benoit. She and Benoit became engaged later in 1997 after her divorce from Sullivan, although Benoit referred to her as only his fiancée even after they were married. She managed her husband's career from their home in Atlanta.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: She gave birth to their son Daniel Christopher Benoit on February 25, 2000. She married Chris on November 23, 2000. In May 2003, she filed for divorce, citing the marriage as "irrevocably broken" and alleging "cruel treatment." She dropped the suit in August 2003, as well as a restraining order filed on her husband.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: In December 2006, Nancy Benoit had back and neck fusion surgery with Lloyd Youngblood, the same surgeon who had previously done a 3–hour neck operation on Nancy's husband Chris on June 28, 2001.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: After Nancy Benoit's death in 2007, "Hustler" published nude photographs of her from a shoot taken when she was 20 years old. The length of time between the events caused controversy, causing critics to claim that Hustler owner Larry Flynt was attempting to capitalize on the event. The family of Nancy Benoit took legal action against Hustler. The appellate court ruled that, "The photographs published by [Flynt] neither relate to the incident of public concern conceptually [the murders] nor correspond with the time period during which Benoit was rendered, against her will, the subject of public scrutiny".


title: Nancy Benoit

text: On June 25, 2007, Benoit, her husband Chris, and their son Daniel were found dead in their home in suburban Atlanta at around 2:30 p.m. It first was reported by the WWE Mobile Alerts service and posted to their official website soon after.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: Lieutenant Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department told "ABC News" it was being investigated as a double murder-suicide, and the police were not searching for any suspects outside of the house, as the instruments of death were located at the scene of the crime.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: During a press conference on June 26, Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard reported that Chris Benoit had killed his wife and son and committed suicide. A Bible was left by Nancy's body, and she died of asphyxiation. She had bruises on her back and stomach consistent with an attacker pressing a knee into her back while pulling on a cord around her neck. Daniel also died of asphyxiation, without signs of restraint. He had internal injuries to the throat area, but no bruises, indicating he may have been killed by a choke. Benoit killed Nancy on Friday, Daniel on Saturday, then asphyxiated himself with the cord of a weight machine in his basement on Sunday.


title: Nancy Benoit

text: A memorial for Nancy and Daniel took place in Daytona Beach, Florida, on July 14, 2007. Both were cremated and their ashes placed in starfish-shaped urns for Nancy's family. Chris was also cremated, but the fate of his ashes has not been publicly revealed.


title: Infanta Sofía of Spain

text: Infanta Sofía of Spain (Sofía de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Ortiz; born 29 April 2007) is the younger daughter of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia. She has an older sister, Leonor, whom she follows in the line of succession to the Spanish throne.


title: Infanta Sofía of Spain

text: Infanta Sofía was born on 29 April 2007 at 16:50 in the Ruber International Hospital in Madrid by means of a caesarean section, two days after due date. Like her elder sister, her birth was announced by the royal family to the press via SMS. It was announced that her umbilical cord stem cells would be sent to a European private bank in Belgium and to a Spanish public one. The parents, then the Prince and Princess of Asturias, did the same with Leonor's cells: they were taken to a private center in Arizona, which caused controversy in Spain.


title: Infanta Sofía of Spain

text: Sofía was named after her paternal grandmother, Queen Sofía of Spain. She was christened on 15 July by the Archbishop of Madrid, Antonio María Rouco Varela, in the gardens of the Palacio de la Zarzuela. Her godparents are Paloma Rocasolano (her maternal grandmother) and Konstantin, Prince of Vidin. Like her sister, she was given one name, with the additional name of (of All the Saints), at her christening, a Bourbon tradition.


title: Infanta Sofía of Spain

text: She received her First Communion on 17 May 2017 at the parish Asunción de Nuestra Señora, and was accompanied by her parents, her older sister, her grandparents, her maternal great-grandmother Menchu Álvarez del Valle, her step-grandmother Ana Togores, and her godfather Konstantin-Assen of Bulgaria, Prince of Vidin.


title: Infanta Sofía of Spain

text: Sofía's full title is Her Royal Highness Sofía de Todos los Santos de Borbon y Ortiz Infanta de España.


title: Hawk

text: Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica.


title: Hawk

text: The terms "accipitrine hawk" and "buteonine hawk" are used to distinguish between the types in regions where "hawk" applies to both. The term ""true hawk"" is sometimes used for the accipitrine hawks in regions where "buzzard" is preferred for the buteonine hawks.


title: Hawk

text: All these groups are members of the family Accipitridae, which includes the hawks and buzzards as well as kites, harriers and eagles. To confuse things further, some authors use "hawk" generally for any small to medium Accipitrid that is not an eagle.


title: Hawk

text: The common names of some birds include the term "hawk", reflecting traditional usage rather than taxonomy. For example, some people may call an osprey a "fish hawk" or a peregrine falcon a "duck hawk".


title: Hawk

text: Aristotle listed eleven types of ("hierakes", hawks, singular "hierax"): aisalōn (merlin), asterias, hypotriorchēs, kirkos, leios, perkos, phassophonos, phrynologos, pternis, spizias, and triorchēs. Pliny numbered sixteen kinds of hawks, but named only aigithos, epileios, kenchrēïs (kestrel), kybindis, and triorchēs (buzzard).


title: Hawk

text: The accipitrine hawks generally hunt birds as their primary prey. They are also called "hen-hawks", or "wood-hawks" because of their woodland habitat.


title: Hawk

text: The subfamily Accipitrinae contains "Accipiter;" it also contains genera "Micronisus" (Gabar goshawk), "Urotriorchis" (long-tailed hawk), and "Megatriorchis" (Doria's goshawk). "Melierax" (chanting goshawks) may be included in the subfamily, or given a subfamily of its own.


title: Hawk

text: "Erythrotriorchis" (the red and chestnut-shouldered goshawks) is traditionally included in Accipitridae, but is possibly a convergent genus from an unrelated group (see red goshawk taxonomy).


title: Hawk

text: The ""Buteo" group" includes genera "Buteo", "Parabuteo", "Geranoetus", and most of "Leucopternis". Members of this group have also been called "hawk-buzzards".


title: Hawk

text: Proposed new genera "Morphnarchus", "Rupornis", and "Pseudastur" are formed from members of "Buteo" and "Leucopternis".


title: Hawk

text: The ""Buteogallus" group" are also called hawks, with the exception of the solitary eagles. "Buteo" is the type genus of the subfamily Buteoninae. Traditionally this subfamily also includes eagles and sea-eagles. Lerner and Mindell (2005) proposed placing those into separate subfamilies (Aquilinae, Haliaaetinae), leaving only the buteonine hawks/buzzards in Buteoninae.


title: Hawk

text: In February 2005, Canadian ornithologist Louis Lefebvre announced a method of measuring avian "IQ" by measuring their innovation in feeding habits. Based on this scale, hawks were named among the most intelligent birds.


title: Hawk

text: Hawks, like most birds, are tetrachromats having four types of colour receptors in the eye. These give hawks the ability to perceive not only the visible range but also ultraviolet light. Other adaptations allow for the detection of polarised light or magnetic fields. This is due to the large number of photoreceptors in the retina (up to 1,000,000 per square mm in "Buteo", compared to 200,000 in humans), a high number of nerves connecting these receptors to the brain, and an indented fovea, which magnifies the central portion of the visual field.


title: Hawk

text: Like most birds, the hawk migrates in the autumn and the spring. Different types of hawks choose separate times in each season to migrate. The autumn migrating season begins in August and ends mid-December. It has been studied that there are longer migration distances than others. The long-distance travelers tend to begin in early autumn while the short distance travelers start much later. Thus, the longer the distance the earlier the bird begins its journey. There have been studies on the speed and efficiency of the bird's migration that show that it is better for a hawk to arrive at its destination as early as possible. This is because the first bird that arrives has the first pick of mates, living area, food, and survival necessities. The more fat a bird has when it starts its migration, the better chance it has of making the trip safely. Kerlinger states that studies have shown that a bird has more body fat when it begins its migration, before it leaves, than when has arrived at its destination.


title: Hawk

text: One of the most important parts of the hawk's migration is the flight direction because the direction or path the bird chooses to take could greatly affect its migration. The force of wind is a variable because it could either throw the bird off course or push it in the right direction, depending on the direction of the wind. To ensure a safer journey, a hawk tries to avoid any large bodies of water in the spring and fall by detouring around a lake or flying along a border.


title: Hawk

text: Hawkwatching is a citizen scientist activity that monitors hawk migration and provides data to the scientific community.


title: Hawk

text: The red-tailed hawk is the most common hawk in North America. Past observations have indicated that while hawks can easily adapt to any surrounding, hawks prefer a habitat that is open. Hawks usually like to live in places like deserts and fields, likely as it is easier to find prey. As they are able to live anywhere, they can be found in mountainous plains and tropical, moist areas. Hawks have been found in places such as Central America, the West Indies, and Jamaica.


title: Hawk

text: Starting in the hawk's early life, it is fed by its parents until it leaves the nest. The young hawk, while still in its fledgling phase, will leave its nest as early as six weeks old. Once the bird is older it begins to hunt. The hawk kills its prey with its talons as opposed to other predator birds, such as the falcon. The falcon uses its talons to catch the prey but kills the small animal with its beak instead of its talons. The hawk's preferred time for hunting is usually just before nightfall when daylight lessens. Although the hawk is known for being a violent predator, some are gentle and quiet. When it flies, the hawk flaps its wings rapidly, and then uses that momentum to glide smoothly and gracefully through the air.


title: Hawk

text: The idea of flocking during migration has been closely analyzed, and it has been concluded that it is a commutative tool used by birds and other animals to increase survival. It has become clear to observers that a hawk traveling in a flock has a greater chance of survival than if it travelled alone. Another word used in the United States that has the same meaning as "flock", particularly in terms of groups of hawks, is "kettle".


title: Hawk

text: Hawks are known for their unique mating season. The method the hawk uses to reproduce is different from most. The male and female will fly together in a circular motion. Once they reach a certain height, the male will dive toward the female and then they will raise back to the height again. The two birds will repeat this until finally the male latches onto the female and they begin to free-fall down to earth. In one year, a female hawk will lay about five eggs. Both the male and the female will cater and take care of the eggs for about a month until they hatch. The male and the female create their nest before the mating season and improve it together during the nesting season. The two birds usually make their nest prior to mating. Some species of hawks tend to be monogamous and stay with the same mating partner their whole lives.


title: Hawk

text: A hawk's diet is predictable and includes a variety of smaller animals. Some of these small animals include snakes, lizards, fish, mice, rabbits, squirrels, birds, and any other type of small game that is found on the ground. More specifically, a red-shouldered hawk likes to eat smaller birds like doves and bugs like grasshoppers and crickets.


title: Hawk

text: A "war hawk", or simply "hawk", is a term used in politics for somebody favoring war. The term reportedly originated during the 1810 debates in Congress over a possible war with Great Britain when Congressman John Randolph called the pro-war faction led by Henry Clay, the 'war-hawks'.


title: Hawk

text: Numerous sporting clubs, such as the Atlanta Hawks, the Hawthorn Hawks and the Malmö Redhawks, use the bird as an emblem. Miami University in Oxford, Ohio officially became known as the RedHawks in 1997 after formerly being known as the Redskins.


title: Hawk

text: Hawks are highly associated with Guru Gobind Singh in the Sikh community. According to ornithologists, he is believed to have kept a white Northern Goshawk. This is reflected in that the Northern Goshawk was made the official state bird of Punjab, India.


title: Always on My Mind

text: "Always on My Mind" is a ballad written by Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher, and Mark James, first recorded by Brenda Lee, and first released by Gwen McCrae (as "You Were Always on My Mind") in March 1972. Lee's version was released three months later in June 1972. The song has been a crossover hit, charting in both the country and western and pop categories. Elvis Presley's recording was the first hit version of the song.


title: Always on My Mind

text: AllMusic lists more than 300 recorded releases of the song in versions by dozens of performers. While Lee's version reached no. 45 on the US country chart in 1972, other performers reached the Top 20 on the country and/or pop charts in the United States and elsewhere with their own versions: Elvis Presley (1972, US country; UK pop Top Ten); John Wesley Ryles (1979, US country) and Willie Nelson's Grammy Award-winning version (1982, US/Canada country number one; US/Canada pop Top Ten). Plus the Pet Shop Boys' 1987 hi-NRG/synth-pop interpretation (UK number one; US Top Ten).


title: Always on My Mind

text: "Always on My Mind" did not see completion until late 1971. Songwriter-guitarist Wayne Carson had about two verses done, with the working title "You Were Always on My Mind". He had been occupied in Memphis on a project that required him to stay ten days longer, and he phoned his wife in Springfield, Missouri, to apologize for the delay. She was angry, and he replied: "Well, I know I’ve been gone a lot, but I’ve been thinking about you all the time." This idea struck him as potential song material, and he quickly ended the call so he could capture it on paper. He brought the song back to the recording studio of Chips Moman and worked on it for a few days, but it did not jell. Carson asked for help from his colleague Johnny Christopher (the two had already written the hit song "No Love at All" in 1970) and they composed more of it in Moman's office. Feeling stuck, they appealed for assistance from songwriter Mark James who was walking through the studio. James was exhausted from non-stop music projects but he ran through the song with Carson and Christopher. By the fourth run-through, the song was finished.


title: Always on My Mind

text: Music critic Robert Hilburn said that it was commonly thought in Nashville and Memphis that Elvis Presley's marital troubles were the inspiration of the song, and that it was tailored to fit his musical style. Fueling this conjecture was the fact that James had already written a hit song "Suspicious Minds" for Presley. Carson responded that the song was not written for Presley but for every man. He said that it "was one long apology. It’s sort of like all guys who screw up and would love nothing better than to pick up the phone and call their wives and say, 'Listen, honey, I could have done better, but I want you to know that you were always on my mind.


title: Always on My Mind

text: Elvis Presley recorded "Always on My Mind" on March 29, 1972, a few weeks after his February separation from his wife, Priscilla. The song was popular and critically appreciated and is considered one of Presley's standout songs of the 1970s. The song was released as the B-side of the "Separate Ways" single, which was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales in excess of one million units. It was listed as a double A-side, reaching number 16 on "Billboard"s Hot Country Singles chart in November 1972. In the United Kingdom, "Always on My Mind" (as the A-side) reached the Top Ten in January 1973. In 2013 the recording ranked number one in a poll conducted by ITV, "The Nation's Favourite Elvis Songs", just ahead of "Suspicious Minds" and "Can't Help Falling in Love".


title: Always on My Mind

text: In 1979, John Wesley Ryles reached number 20 on the US Hot Country Songs chart with his rendition, retitled "You Are Always on My Mind", from the album "Let the Night Begin". The rendition was produced by Bob Montgomery.


title: Always on My Mind

text: Willie Nelson recorded and released the song in early 1982. It raced to number one on "Billboard"s Hot Country Singles chart that May, spending two weeks on top and a total of 21 weeks on the chart. The song also fared well on Top 40 radio, reaching number five on the "Billboard" Hot 100 for three weeks and staying on that chart for 23 weeks. It was the best-performing single on the Hot Country Singles year-end chart of 1982. This version also charted in a number of other countries. The single was certified platinum by the RIAA on October 7, 1991.


title: Always on My Mind

text: Nelson's version resulted in three wins at the 25th Grammy Awards in February 1983: songwriters Christopher, James, and Carson won Song of the Year and Best Country Song; in addition, Nelson won for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. This version also won Country Music Association Awards in two consecutive years: 1982 Song of the Year and 1983 Song of the Year for songwriters Christopher, James and Carson; 1982 Single of the Year for Nelson; and contributed to Nelson winning 1982 Album of the Year for the album "Always on My Mind".


title: Always on My Mind

text: Nelson performed the song with Johnny Cash on the 1998 release of "". The song was also featured in a December 2009 ASPCA commercial. In 2008, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.


title: Always on My Mind

text: In 2013, Nelson's version was also featured in its entirety in a season two episode of the HBO series "The Newsroom".


title: Always on My Mind

text: In 1987, the Pet Shop Boys performed a synth-pop version of "Always on My Mind" on "Love Me Tender", a television special on the ITV network in the United Kingdom. Commemorating the tenth anniversary of Presley's death, the programme featured various popular acts of the time performing cover versions of his songs. The Pet Shop Boys' performance was so well-received that the duo decided to record the song and release it as a single.


title: Always on My Mind

text: This hi-NRG and dance-pop version became the UK's Christmas number-one single that year – edging out "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues – spending four weeks atop the chart. It also reached number four on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming their fifth and last top ten hit.


title: Always on My Mind

text: The Pet Shop Boys version introduces a harmonic variation not present in the original version. In the original, the ending phrase "always on my mind" is sung to a IV-V-I cadence (C-D-G). The Pet Shop Boys extend this cadence by adding two further chords: C-D-Gm/B-C-G (i.e. a progression of IV-V-III-IV-I).


title: Always on My Mind

text: In November 2004, "The Daily Telegraph" placed the version at number two in a list of the 50 best cover versions of all time. In October 2014, a public poll compiled by the BBC saw the song voted the all-time best cover version.


title: Always on My Mind

text: In the video for Pet Shop Boys' version of "Always on My Mind" (an excerpt from their surreal music film "It Couldn't Happen Here"), Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe are seated in the front of a taxi cab, when an eccentric passenger gets in, played by British actor Joss Ackland. At the end of the song, he gets out of the car, which drives away. Standing alone, he mutters: "You went away. It should make me feel better. But I don't know how I'm going to get through", which is part of the lyrics for another Pet Shop Boys song, "What Have I Done to Deserve This?", released earlier in the year.


title: Always on My Mind

text: In 1988, the duo remixed the song for their third studio album, "Introspective", combining it with the acid house track "In My House". Two further remixes by longtime Pet Shop Boys remixer, Shep Pettibone, were released on the US promotional triple vinyl version of the album—Shep's Holiday Mix and Shep's House Mix. Neither have appeared on any other format since.


title: Always on My Mind

text: In 2008, the song was used in the video game "Dance Dance Revolution X", which was released for both arcades and the PlayStation 2 console. In 2010, the song was re-used for "Dance Dance Revolution X2" which was released for arcades.


title: Always on My Mind

text: In 2017, Burberry released its holiday campaign, as directed by Alasdair McLellan, which features Cara Delevingne and actor Matt Smith. It opens with Delevingne singing "Always on My Mind" before segueing into the Pet Shop Boys cover of the song.


title: Limbo

text: In Catholic theology, Limbo (Latin "limbus", edge or boundary, referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Medieval theologians of Western Europe described the underworld ("hell", "hades", "infernum") as divided into three distinct parts: Hell of the Damned, Limbo of the Fathers or Patriarchs, and Limbo of the Infants. The Limbo of the Fathers is an official doctrine of the Catholic Church, but the Limbo of the Infants is not.


title: Limbo

text: The "Limbo of the Patriarchs" or "Limbo of the Fathers" (Latin "limbus patrum") is seen as the temporary state of those who, despite the sins they may have committed, died in the friendship of God but could not enter Heaven until redemption by Jesus Christ made it possible. The term "Limbo of the Fathers" was a medieval name for the part of the underworld (Hades) where the patriarchs of the Old Testament were believed to be kept until Christ's soul descended into it by his death through crucifixion and freed them (see Harrowing of Hell). The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes Christ's descent into Hell as meaning primarily that "the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection. This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ's descent into Hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead." It adds: "But he descended there as Saviour, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there." It does not use the word "Limbo".


title: Limbo

text: This concept of Limbo affirms that admittance to Heaven is possible only through the intervention of Jesus Christ, but does not portray Moses, etc. as being punished eternally in Hell. The concept of Limbo of the Patriarchs is not spelled out in Scripture, but is seen by some as implicit in various references.


title: Limbo

text: Luke 16:22 speaks of the "bosom of Abraham", which both the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, following early Christian writers, understand as a temporary state of souls awaiting entrance into Heaven. The end of that state is set either at the Resurrection of the Dead, the most common interpretation in the East, or at the Harrowing of Hell, the most common interpretation in the West, but adopted also by some in the East.


title: Limbo

text: Jesus told the Good Thief that the two of them would be together "this day" in Paradise (Luke 23:43; see also Matthew 27:38); but on the Sunday of his resurrection he said that he had "not yet ascended to the Father" (). Some say that the descent of Jesus to the abode of the dead, his presence among them, turned it into a paradise. Others understand the text to mean not "I say to you, This day you will be with me in paradise", but "I say to you this day, You will be with me in paradise". Timothy Radcliffe explained the "today" as a reference to the "Today of eternity".


title: Limbo

text: Jesus is also described as preaching to "the spirits in prison" (). Medieval drama sometimes portrayed Christ leading a dramatic assault – the Harrowing of Hell – during the three days between the Crucifixion and the resurrection. In this assault, Jesus freed the souls of the just and escorted them triumphantly into heaven. This imagery is still used in the Eastern Orthodox Church's Holy Saturday liturgy (between Good Friday and Pascha) and in Eastern Orthodox icons of the Resurrection of Jesus.


title: Limbo

text: The doctrine expressed by the term "Limbo of the Fathers" was taught, for instance, by Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215), who maintained: "It is not right that these should be condemned without trial, and that those alone who lived after the coming [of Christ] should have the advantage of the divine righteousness."


title: Limbo

text: The Limbo of Infants (Latin "limbus infantium" or "limbus puerorum") is the hypothetical permanent status of the unbaptised who die in infancy, too young to have committed actual sins, but not having been freed from original sin. Recent Catholic theological speculation tends to stress the hope, although not the certainty, that these infants may attain heaven instead of the state of Limbo. Most Roman Catholic priests and hierarchy will now say that no child could ever be condemned for the sins committed by our ancestors and that they no longer believe that limbo for children exists.


title: Limbo

text: While the Catholic Church has a defined doctrine on original sin, it has none on the eternal fate of unbaptised infants, leaving theologians free to propose different theories, which magisterium is free to accept or reject. Limbo is one such theory, although the word "limbo" itself is never mentioned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.


title: Limbo

text: In countering Pelagius, who denied original sin, Saint Augustine of Hippo was led to state that because of original sin, "such infants as quit the body without being baptized will be involved in the mildest condemnation of all. That person, therefore, greatly deceives both himself and others, who teaches that they will not be involved in condemnation; whereas the apostle says: 'Judgment from one offence to condemnation' (Romans 5:16), and again a little after: 'By the offence of one upon all persons to condemnation'.,"


title: Limbo

text: The Council of Carthage (418), a council of North African bishops which included Augustine of Hippo, did not explicitly endorse all aspects of Augustine's stern view about the destiny of infants who die without baptism, but said in some manuscripts "that there is no intermediate or other happy dwelling place for children who have left this life without Baptism, without which they cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, that is, eternal life". So great was Augustine's influence in the West, however, that the Latin Fathers of the 5th and 6th centuries (e.g., Jerome, Avitus of Vienne, and Gregory the Great) did adopt his position.


title: Limbo

text: In the later medieval period, some theologians continued to hold Augustine's view. In the 12th century, Peter Abelard (1079–1142) said that these infants suffered no material torment or positive punishment, just the pain of loss at being denied the beatific vision. Others held that unbaptised infants suffered no pain at all: unaware of being deprived of the beatific vision, they enjoyed a state of natural, not supernatural happiness. This theory was associated with but independent of the term "Limbo of Infants", which was coined about the year 1300.


title: Limbo

text: If Heaven is a state of supernatural happiness and union with God, and Hell is understood as a state of torture and separation from God then, in this view, the Limbo of Infants, although technically part of hell (the outermost part, "limbo" meaning "outer edge" or "hem") is seen as a sort of intermediate state.


title: Limbo

text: The question of Limbo is not treated in the parts of the "Summa Theologica" written by Saint Thomas Aquinas himself, but is dealt with in an appendix to the supplement added after his death compiled from his earlier writings. The Limbo of Infants is there described as an eternal state of natural joy, untempered by any sense of loss at how much greater their joy might have been had they been baptised: Every man who has the use of free-will is adapted to obtain eternal life, because he can prepare himself for grace whereby to merit eternal life; so that if he fails in this, his grief will be very great, since he has lost what he was able to possess. But children were never adapted to possess eternal life, since neither was this due to them by virtue of their natural principles, for it surpasses the entire faculty of nature, nor could they perform acts of their own whereby to obtain so great a good. Hence, they will nowise grieve for being deprived of the divine vision; nay, rather will they rejoice for that they will have a large share of God's goodness and their own natural perfections. Nor can it be said that they were adapted to obtain eternal life, not indeed by their own action, but by the actions of others around them, since they could be baptised by others, like other children of the same condition who have been baptised and obtained eternal life: for this is of superabundant grace that one should be rewarded without any act of one's own. Wherefore the lack of such a grace will not cause sorrow in children who die without Baptism, any more than the lack of many graces accorded to others of the same condition makes a wise man to grieve.


title: Limbo

text: The natural happiness possessed in this place would consist in the perception of God mediated through creatures. As stated in the International Theological Commission's document on the question:


title: Limbo

text: The Ecumenical Council of Florence (1442) spoke of baptism as necessary even for children and required that they be baptised soon after birth. This had earlier been affirmed at the local Council of Carthage (417). The Council of Florence also stated that those who die in original sin alone go to hell, but with pains unequal to those suffered by those who had committed actual mortal sins. John Wycliffe's attack on the necessity of infant baptism was condemned by another general council, the Council of Constance. The Council of Trent in 1547 explicitly stated that baptism (or desire for baptism) was the means by which one is transferred "from that state wherein man is born a child of the first Adam, to the state of grace, and of the adoption of the sons of God, through the second Adam, Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Pope Pius X taught of limbo's existence in his Catechism.


title: Limbo

text: However, through the 18th and 19th centuries, individual theologians (Bianchi in 1768, H. Klee in 1835, Caron in 1855, H. Schell in 1893) continued to formulate theories of how children who died unbaptised might still be saved. By 1952 a theologian such as Ludwig Ott could, in a widely used and well-regarded manual, openly teach the possibility that children who die unbaptised might be saved for heaven. He also told about Thomas Cajetan, a major 16th-century theologian, that suggested infants dying in the womb before birth, and so before ordinary sacramental baptism could be administered, might be saved through their mother's wish for their baptism. In its 1980 instruction on children's baptism the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated that "with regard to children who die without having received baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as indeed she does in the funeral rite established for them", leaving all theories as to their fate, including Limbo, as viable possibilities. And in 1984, when Joseph Ratzinger, then Cardinal Prefect of that Congregation, stated that he rejected the claim that children who die unbaptised cannot attain salvation, he was speaking for many academic theologians of his training and background.


title: Limbo

text: The Church's teaching expressed in the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church is that "Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament." It adds that "God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments". It recalls that, apart from the sacrament, "baptism of blood" (as in the case of the martyrs) and in the case of catechumens who die before receiving the sacrament, explicit desire for baptism, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, ensures salvation. It states that, since Christ died for all and all are called to the same divine destiny, "every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved", seeing that, if they had known of the necessity of baptism, they would have desired it explicitly.


title: Limbo

text: It then states: As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them", allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism. Merely stating that one can "hope" in a way of salvation other than baptism, the Church thus urgently reiterates its appeal to baptize infants, the only certain means to "not prevent" their "coming to Christ" for salvation.


title: Limbo

text: On 20 April 2007, the advisory body known as the International Theological Commission released a document, originally commissioned by Pope John Paul II, entitled "The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die without Being Baptized." After tracing the history of the various opinions that have been and are held on the eternal fate of unbaptized infants, including that connected with the theory of the Limbo of Infants, and after examining the theological arguments, the document stated its conclusion as follows:


title: Limbo

text: Pope Benedict XVI authorized publication of this document, indicating that he considers it consistent with the Church's teaching, though it is not an official expression of that teaching. Media reports that by the document "the Pope closed Limbo" are thus without foundation. In fact, the document explicitly states that "the theory of "limbo", understood as a state which includes the souls of infants who die subject to original sin and without baptism, and who, therefore, neither merit the beatific vision, nor yet are subjected to any punishment, because they are not guilty of any personal sin. This theory, elaborated by theologians beginning in the Middle Ages, never entered into the dogmatic definitions of the Magisterium. Still, that same Magisterium did at times mention the theory in its ordinary teaching up until the Second Vatican Council. It remains therefore a possible theological hypothesis" (second preliminary paragraph); and in paragraph 41 it repeats that the theory of Limbo "remains a possible theological opinion". The document thus allows the hypothesis of a limbo of infants to be held as one of the existing theories about the fate of children who die without being baptised, a question on which there is "no explicit answer" from Scripture or tradition. The traditional theological alternative to Limbo was not Heaven, but rather some degree of suffering in Hell. At any rate, these theories are not the official teaching of the Catholic Church, but are only opinions that the Church does not condemn, permitting them to be held by its members, just as is the theory of possible salvation for infants dying without baptism.


title: Limbo

text: Neither the Eastern Orthodox Church nor Protestantism accepts the concept of a limbo of infants; but, while not using the expression "Limbo of the Patriarchs", the Eastern Orthodox Church lays much stress on the resurrected Christ's action of liberating Adam and Eve and other righteous figures of the Old Testament, such as Abraham and David, from Hades (see Harrowing of Hell).


title: Limbo

text: Some Protestants have a similar understanding of those who died as believers prior to the crucifixion of Jesus residing in a place that is not Heaven, but not Hell. The doctrine holds that Hades has two "compartments", one an unnamed place of torment, the other named Abraham's Bosom. Luke 16:19–16:26 speaks of a chasm fixed between the two which cannot be crossed. Those in the unnamed "compartment" have no hope, and will ultimately be consigned to hell. Those in Abraham's bosom are those of whom it is written of Jesus, "When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives …" (Ephesians 4:8), quoting Psalm 68:18). These individuals, the captives, now reside with God in Heaven. Both "Compartments" still exist, but Abraham's Bosom is now empty, while the other chamber is not, according to this doctrine.


title: Limbo

text: Latter-day Saints teach, "there is a space between death and the resurrection of the body … a state of the soul in happiness or in misery until the time … that the dead shall come forth, and be reunited, both soul and body, and be brought to stand before God, and be judged according to their works.". It is also taught that "all who have died without a knowledge of [the] gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God.".


title: Limbo

text: Jehovah's Witnesses, Christadelphians, and others have taught that the dead are unconscious (or even nonexistent), awaiting their destiny on Judgment Day.


title: Limbo

text: The Zoroastrian concept of "hamistagan" is similar to limbo. Hamistagan is a neutral state in which a soul that was neither good nor evil awaits Judgment Day.


title: Limbo

text: In Islam, which denies the existence of original sin in totality, the concept of Limbo exists as "Barzakh", the state that exists after death, prior to the day of resurrection. During this period, sinners are punished and the adequately purified rest in comfort. Children however are exempt from this stage, as they are regarded as innocent and are automatically classed as Muslims (despite religious upbringing). After death, they go directly to Heaven, where they are cared for by Abraham. According to Christian Louis Lange, Islam also possesses a "al-aʿrāf" (cf. Q.7:46) "a residual place or limbo" situated between heaven and hell where there is "neither punishment nor reward".


title: Limbo

text: In Classical Greek mythology, the section of Hades known as the Fields of Asphodel were a realm much resembling Limbo, to which the vast majority of people who were held to have deserved neither the Elysian Fields (Heaven) nor Tartarus (Hell) were consigned for eternity.


title: Limbo

text: In Buddhism, "Bardo" (Sanskrit: "antarabhāva") is sometimes described as similar to limbo. It is an intermediate state in which the recently deceased experiences various phenomena before being reborn in another state, including heaven or hell. According to Mahāyāna Buddhism, the arhat must ultimately embrace the path of the bodhisattva, despite having reached enlightenment. The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra states that an arhat obtains a ""samādhikāya" (rapture-body)" and is reborn in a lotus in a transitory state of existence, unable to awaken for a whole eon. This is likened to a person intoxicated who must spend a certain period of time before becoming sober.


title: Tony Gilroy

text: Anthony Joseph Gilroy (born September 11, 1956) is an American filmmaker. He wrote the screenplays for the original "Bourne" trilogy (2002–2007) and wrote and directed the fourth film of the franchise, "The Bourne Legacy" (2012). He also wrote and directed "Michael Clayton" (2007) and "Duplicity" (2009), earning nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the former.


title: Tony Gilroy

text: In 2016, Gilroy was hired by Lucasfilm to provide rewrites and uncredited reshoots for "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" (2016). He later returned to the "Star Wars" universe as the showrunner, head writer and executive producer of "Andor" (2022-present), a Disney+ political spy drama series chronicling the evolution of Cassian Andor over a five-year period preceding the events of "Rogue One".


title: Tony Gilroy

text: Gilroy was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Ruth Dorothy (née Gaydos), a sculptor and writer, and Frank D. Gilroy, an award-winning playwright, director, and movie producer, who received the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play "The Subject Was Roses" in 1965. He is the brother of screenwriter Dan Gilroy and editor John Gilroy. Through his father, he is of Italian, Irish and German descent.


title: Tony Gilroy

text: Gilroy was raised in Washingtonville, New York. He graduated from Washingtonville High School in 1974 at 16 years old and attended Boston University for two years before dropping out to concentrate on his music career.


title: Tony Gilroy

text: Gilroy has written many scripts for film, starting with the script for "The Cutting Edge" in 1992. This was followed by "Dolores Claiborne" in 1995 and "The Devil's Advocate" in 1997. He was one of five credited writers on Michael Bay's "Armageddon", the highest-grossing film of 1998. Gilroy's next script was "Proof of Life" in 2000. In 2002, 2003 and 2007 he wrote the screenplays for "The Bourne Identity", "The Bourne Supremacy" and "The Bourne Ultimatum", and wrote and directed the next installment of the Bourne series, "The Bourne Legacy" (2012).


title: Tony Gilroy

text: Also in 2007, he wrote and directed the film "Michael Clayton", which won an Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay, and was nominated for several Academy Awards including screenplay. In 2009, Gilroy wrote and directed the romantic comedy spy film "Duplicity", starring Clive Owen, Julia Roberts and Tom Wilkinson. Gilroy was set, along with "The Bourne Ultimatum" co-screenwriter Scott Z. Burns, to write the script for the upcoming film "Army of Two", based on the video game from EA Montreal.


title: Tony Gilroy

text: In September 2013, Gilroy delivered a screenwriting lecture as part of the BAFTA and BFI Screenwriters' Lecture Series.


title: Tony Gilroy

text: Gilroy's directorial debut was in 2007, when he directed the film "Michael Clayton", which his brother John Gilroy edited. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. In addition to its Edgar Award, the film won one Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress (Tilda Swinton). The film was a box office success, grossing over $92 million worldwide.


title: Tony Gilroy

text: He also wrote and directed his next film, "Duplicity", released March 20, 2009, and starring Clive Owen, Julia Roberts and Tom Wilkinson. He then took over as director of the next entry in the "Bourne" series as well as co-writing; the film, "The Bourne Legacy", was released August 10, 2012, starring Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Joan Allen, and Albert Finney.


title: Tony Gilroy

text: In 2016, Gilroy co-wrote the script to the sci-fi war film "Rogue One", directed by Gareth Edwards. It is a prequel to the 1977 classic "Star Wars". Gilroy shared writing duties with fellow filmmaker Chris Weitz.


title: Tony Gilroy

text: In October 2019, Gilroy returned to the "Star Wars" franchise to serve as the showrunner for the Disney+ political spy drama "Andor", taking over from Stephen Schiff. Gilroy wrote five of the twelve episodes in the series' first season and was also originally set to direct multiple episodes. However, Toby Haynes took over as the director of these episodes due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. After multiple delays, "Andor" premiered on September 21, 2022 and received widespread critical acclaim.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (; NATO reporting name: Fresco) is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the Soviet Union from 1952 and was operated by air forces internationally. The MiG-17 was license-built in China as the Shenyang J-5 and Poland as the PZL-Mielec Lim-6. The MiG-17 is still being used by the North Korean air force in the present day and has seen combat in the Middle East and Asia.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: The MiG-17 was an advanced modification of the MiG-15 aircraft produced by the Soviet Union during the Korean War. Production of the MiG-17 was too late for use in that conflict and was first used in the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1958. While the MiG-17 was designed to shoot down slower American bombers, it showed surprising success when used by North Vietnamese pilots to combat American fighters and fighter-bombers during the Vietnam War, nearly a decade after its initial design. This was due to the MiG-17 being more agile and maneuverable than the American F-4 Phantom and F-105 Thunderchief, which were focused on speed and long range combat, as well as the fact that MiG-17 was armed with a gun, which initial models of the F-4 Phantom lacked.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: While the MiG-15bis introduced swept wings to air combat over Korea, the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau had already begun work on its replacement in 1949 (originally the MiG-15bis45) in order to fix any problems found with the MiG-15 in combat. The result was one of the most successful transonic fighters introduced before the advent of true supersonic types such as the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 and North American F-100 Super Sabre. The design would ultimately still prove effective into the 1960s when pressed into subsonic dogfights over Vietnam against much faster planes which were not optimized for maneuvering in such slower speed, short-range engagements.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: While the MiG-15 used a Mach sensor to deploy airbrakes because it could not safely exceed Mach 0.92, the MiG-17 was designed to be controllable at higher Mach numbers. Early versions which retained the original Soviet copy of the Rolls-Royce Nene engine, the Klimov VK-1 were heavier with equal thrust. Later MiG-17s would be the first Soviet fighter application of an afterburner which burned extra fuel in the exhaust of the basic engine to give extra thrust.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: Though the MiG-17 looks very similar to the MIG-15 it had a new thinner and more highly swept wing and tailplane for speeds approaching Mach 1. While the F-86 introduced the "all-flying" tailplane, which made the aircraft more controllable near the speed of sound, this would not be adopted on MiG aircraft until the fully supersonic MiG-19. The wing sweep was 45° ( like the U.S. F-100 Super Sabre) near the fuselage and 42° for the outboard part of the wing. The stiffer wing resisted the tendency to bend its wingtips and lose aerodynamic symmetry unexpectedly at high speeds and wing loads.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: Other easily visible differences to its predecessor were the addition of a third wing fence on each wing, the addition of a ventral fin and a longer and less tapered rear fuselage that added about one meter in length. The MiG-17 shared the same Klimov VK-1 engine, and much of the rest of its construction such as the forward fuselage, landing gear and gun installation was carried over. The first prototype, designated I-330 "SI" by the construction bureau, was flown on the 14 January 1950, piloted by Ivan Ivashchenko.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: In the midst of testing, pilot Ivan Ivashchenko was killed when his aircraft developed flutter which tore off his horizontal tail, causing a spin and crash on 17 March 1950. Lack of wing stiffness also resulted in aileron reversal which was discovered and fixed. Construction and tests of additional prototypes "SI-2" and experimental series aircraft "SI-02" and "SI-01" in 1951, were generally successful. On 1 September 1951, the aircraft was accepted for production, and formally given its own MiG-17 designation after so many changes from the original MiG-15. It was estimated that with the same engine as the MiG-15's, the MiG-17's maximum speed is higher by 40–50 km/h, and the fighter has greater manoeuvrability at high altitude.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: Serial production started in August 1951, but large quantity production was delayed in favor of producing more MiG-15s so it was never introduced in the Korean War. It did not enter service until October 1952, when the MiG-19 was almost ready to be flight tested. During production, the aircraft was improved and modified several times. The basic MiG-17 was a general-purpose day fighter, armed with three cannons, one Nudelman N-37 37 mm cannon and two 23 mm with 80 rounds per gun, 160 rounds total. It could also act as a fighter-bomber, but its bombload was considered light relative to other aircraft of the time, and it usually carried additional fuel tanks instead of bombs.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: Although a canopy which provided clear vision to the rear necessary for dogfighting like the F-86 was designed, production MiG-17Fs got a cheaper rear-view periscope which would still appear on Soviet fighters as late as the MiG-23. By 1953, pilots got safer ejection seats with protective face curtain and leg restraints like the Martin-Baker seats in the west. The MiG-15 had suffered for its lack of a radar gunsight, but in 1951, Soviet engineers obtained a captured F-86 Sabre from Korea and they copied the optical gunsight and SRD-3 gun ranging radar to produce the ASP-4N gunsight and SRC-3 radar. The combination would prove deadly over the skies of Vietnam against aircraft such as the F-4 Phantom whose pilots lamented that guns and radar gunsights had been omitted as obsolescent.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: The second prototype variant, "SP-2" (dubbed "Fresco A" by NATO), was an interceptor equipped with a radar. Soon a number of MiG-17P ("Fresco B") all-weather fighters were produced with the RP-1 Izumrud radar and front air intake modifications.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: In early 1953 the MiG-17F day fighter entered production. The "F" indicated it was fitted with the VK-1F engine with an afterburner by modifying the rear fuselage with a new convergent-divergent nozzle and fuel system. Early VK-1F engines that were specifically modified to equip the MIG-17F had issues during prolongued normal afterburner usage, due to the insufficient heat resistance of the alloys used for the external nozzle body and stator vanes. Because of this, early 1953-1955 production planes had a special afterburner unit that used a separate tank filled with 90% ethanol for consumption in the afterburner due to its lower combustion temperature. This engine variant was labeled VK-1F(A). Later production jets used a normal system with on-board fuel. The afterburner doubled the rate of climb and greatly improved vertical maneuvers. But while the plane was not designed to be supersonic, skilled pilots could just dash to supersonic speed in a shallow dive, although the aircraft would often pitch up just short of Mach 1. This became the most popular variant of the MiG-17. The next mass-produced variant, MiG-17PF ("Fresco D") incorporated a more powerful Izumrud RP-2 radar, though they were still dependent on Ground Control Interception to find and be directed to targets. In 1956 a small series (47 aircraft) was converted to the MiG-17PM standard (also known as PFU) with four first-generation Kaliningrad K-5 (NATO reporting name AA-1 'Alkali') air-to-air missiles. A small series of MiG-17R reconnaissance aircraft were built with VK-1F engine (after first being tested with the VK-5F engine).


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: 5,467 MiG-17, 1,685 MiG-17F, 225 MiG-17P and 668 MiG-17PF were built in the USSR by 1958. Over 2,600 were built under licence in Poland and China.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: In 1955, Poland received a license for MiG-17 production. The MiG-17F was produced by the WSK-Mielec factory under the designation Lim-5 (an abbreviation of "licencyjny myśliwiec" – licence-built fighter). The first Lim-5 was built on 28 November 1956 and 477 were built by 1960. Apart from Poland, a number were exported to Bulgaria, designated as MiG-17F. An unknown number were built as the Lim-5R reconnaissance variant, fitted with the AFA-39 camera. In 1959–1960, 129 MiG-17PF interceptors were produced as the Lim-5P. WSK-Mielec also developed several Polish strike variants based on the MiG-17: the Lim-5M, produced from 1960; Lim-6bis, produced from 1963 (totalling 170 aircraft). Additionally some Lim-5Ps were converted in the 1970s into attack Lim-6Ms whereas other Lim-5, Lim-6bis and Lim-5P aircraft were modified for reconnaissance role as the Lim-6R, Lim-6bis R and Lim-6MR.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: In the People's Republic of China (PRC), an initial MiG-17F was assembled from parts in 1956, with license production following in 1957 at Shenyang. The Chinese-built version is known as the Shenyang J-5 (for local use) or F-5 (for export). Similarly the MiG-17PF was manufactured there as the J-5A (F-5A for export). Altogether 767 of these single-seater variants were built.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: MiG-17s were designed to intercept straight-and-level-flying enemy bombers, not for air-to-air combat (dogfighting) with other fighters. This subsonic (Mach .93) fighter was effective against slower (Mach .6-.8), heavily loaded U.S. fighter-bombers, as well as the mainstay American strategic bombers during the MiG-17's development cycle (such as the Boeing B-50 Superfortress or Convair B-36 Peacemaker, which were both still powered by piston engines). It was not however able to intercept the new generation of British jet bombers such as the Avro Vulcan and Handley Page Victor, which could both fly higher. The USAF's introduction of strategic bombers capable of supersonic dash speeds such as the Convair B-58 Hustler and General Dynamics FB-111 rendered the MiG-17 obsolete in front-line PVO service, and they were supplanted by supersonic interceptors such as the MiG-21 and MiG-23.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: MiG-17s were not available for the Korean War, but saw combat for the first time over the Straits of Taiwan when the Communist PRC MiG-17s clashed with the Republic of China (ROC, Nationalist China) F-86 Sabres in 1958.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: MiG-17s downed a reconnaissance aircraft in the 1958 C-130 shootdown incident over Armenia, with 17 casualties.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17

text: In 1960, the first group of approximately 50 North Vietnamese airmen were transferred to the PRC to begin transitional training onto the MiG-17. By this time the first detachment of Chinese trained MiG-15 pilots had returned to North Vietnam, and a group of 31 airmen were deployed to the Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) base at Son Dong for conversion to the MiG-17. By 1962 the first North Vietnamese pilots had finished their MiG-17 courses in the Soviet Union and the PRC, and returned to their units; to mark the occasion, the Soviets sent as a "gift" 36 MiG-17 fighters and MiG-15UTI trainers to Hanoi in February 1964. These airmen would create North Vietnam's first jet fighter regiment, the 921st. By 1965, another group of MiG pilots had returned from training in Krasnodar, in the USSR, as well as from the PRC. This group would form North Vietnam's second fighter unit, the 923rd Fighter Regiment. While the newly created 923rd FR operated only MiG-17s, and initially these were the only types available to oppose modern American supersonic jets before MiG-21s and MiG-19s were introduced into North Vietnamese service (the 925 FR regiment was formed in 1969, flying MiG-19s).