text: On the ninth of each month leading up to the album's release, a new single and accompanying video was released to promote the album. On July 9, 2021, the band released the lead single from the album, "Hip to Be Scared". The single features Papa Roach frontman Jacoby Shaddix and was released along with an accompanying music video. On August 3, 2021, the band released a teaser video featuring the album's track listing, leading fans to predict and speculate the horror/thriller movies that inspired the songs on the album. On August 9, 2021, the band released the second single, "Assault & Batteries", inspired by "Child's Play". On September 9, 2021, the band released the third single, "Rainy Day", inspired by "Resident Evil". On October 9, 2021, the band released the fourth single, "Funeral Derangements", inspired by "Pet Sematary". The album was released on October 15, 2021. Four months after the album had released, the band released the fifth single from the record, "Take Your Pick" featuring George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher, taking cinematic inspiration from "My Bloody Valentine" and being released on February 14, 2022 to commemorate Valentine's Day alongside an animated music video. On May 16, 2022, the band released a live video for "The Shower Scene", that the band recorded on "The Trinity of Terror Tour", which the band finished in April along with Black Veil Brides and Motionless in White. This indicated that the song was the next to be released as a single, where the sixth single from the album was officially released on July 29 with a new acoustic rendition. An official video for "The Shower Scene", taking inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" was released on August 9, 2022. The video features appearances from actors Scout Taylor-Compton, Joe Bob Briggs, and Ricky Dean Logan. The video also features horror YouTube creator, Chelsea Rebecca. The music video narrative across the six released singles feature famous horror actor Bill Moseley as police chief Captain Harris.


"The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood" has been described as metalcore, deathcore, post-hardcore, emo pop, horror punk, and hard rock. "Blabbermouth.net" described the album as "decadent, devious, and fiercely insane, with sardonic wit to spare."


title: The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood

text: Regarding specific tracks on the album, some stray from the genres used to describe the majority of the album. In "F.L.Y.", the band is said to "bring metalcore and symphonic metal together in unholy unison, just like Seth Brundle merging with the fly in the teleport." "Wurst Vacation" is a technical death metal song with electronica and Neue Deutsche Härte influences. "Ex-Mørtis" features rockabilly and swing influences, resulting in a psychobilly style.


text: "A Rash Decision" combines metalcore riffs with electronica elements and horns, "Rainy Day" is an industrial metal song, and "Take Your Pick" is a death metal and hardcore punk song. "Welcome to Horrorwood" is a symphonic death metal and pop punk song.


text: "The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood" received critical acclaim. Graham Ray of "Distorted Sound" called the album "heavier, catchier and more cohesive than [the original] "The Silver Scream"." "Hysteria Magazine" described the album as "dramatic, thrilling and fast-paced." In a positive review, Jake Richardson of "Kerrang!" stated "["The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood" is] a unique, thrilling and unpredictable record, "The Silver Scream 2" has all the makings of an instant horror hit."


text: To sum up her thoughts on the album, Ali Cooper of "Metal Hammer" stated "Perfectly capturing the vast soundscapes, emotions and fake blood flowing through each movie stamped with their own metalcore trademark, Ice Nine Kills have crafted a flawless effort so deeply invested in its subject matter that it demands replay after replay… if you dare." Comparing the album to its predecessor, Ashley Gallagher of "New Noise Magazine" stated "The Silver Scream" felt like a collection of tracks while "Welcome to Horrorwood" was a complete body of work, keeping the listener wanting more after each and every song." Simon Crampton of "Rock Sins" considered the album to be "a huge step up from their previous work."


text: Melinda Welsh of "Spill Magazine" considered the album to be the "hard core exception to the general rule that “sequels suck”." Dan Harrison of "Upset Magazine" called the album "a pulpy delight." Comparing the album to movie sequels, Carys Hurcom of "Wall of Sound" stated "...to reference the film class scene in "Scream 2", it’s not "The Godfather Part II" (universally acknowledged as a superior film to the original), but more of a Terminator 2...in that both are great for different reasons, and will entirely depend on whether you like more understated, subtle texts or more fast, “action-packed” and in your face texts. Whatever your preference, "The Silver Scream 2: Welcome To Horrorwood" is still a hell of an experience.


text: "The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood" debuted within the Top 20 on the "Billboard" 200 at number 18, selling 25,000 copies in its first week with 18,000 of which were pure sales. It also was the fifth best selling album and the second best-selling rock album of the week in the United States, only behind Coldplay's "Music of the Spheres", as well as topping the US Digital Albums chart. It is the band's biggest commercially successful album on the "Billboard" charts to date.


text: In the United Kingdom, "The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood" was the band's second album to chart on the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart following "The Silver Scream", debuting at number 15. It was also the twelfth most downloaded album of the week in the country. When the album was released on physical formats in Europe, it resurfaced on the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart and peaked at number 11 just missing out on the Top 10. While falling to chart on the UK Albums Chart, it did however debut and peak on the UK Albums Sales Chart and Scottish Albums Chart at number 54 and 70 respectively. It peaked on the UK Physical Albums Chart at number 51. "The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood" spent a total of three non-consectutive weeks on the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart.


text: All lyrics written by Spencer Charnas and Steve Sopchak, all music written by Ice Nine Kills, except when noted.


title: Rex Chapman

text: Rex Everett Chapman (born October 5, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player and social media influencer. Chapman was a high school phenom in Kentucky, winning numerous awards for his play. In two seasons at the University of Kentucky, he won further awards and scored more than 1,000 points. Chapman was the first draft pick of the expansion Charlotte Hornets and played on four National Basketball Association (NBA) teams. Over his 12-year career, he averaged 14.6 points per game and appeared in two slam dunk competitions.


title: Rex Chapman

text: Injuries sustained on NBA courts led Chapman to an addiction to opioids. Following an arrest for shoplifting, he entered drug rehab for the third time and was able to overcome his addiction. After retiring, Chapman held several jobs with NBA teams culminating in being the vice president of player personnel with the Denver Nuggets. He is a broadcaster for University of Kentucky basketball games.


title: Rex Chapman

text: Rex Chapman was born October 5, 1967, in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Rex's father is Wayne Chapman, who played in the American Basketball Association and coached Kentucky Wesleyan College to two NCAA Division II national championships. Chapman had a turbulent relationship with his father; he and his sister, Jenny, "used to pray that Wayne's teams would win" so the mood of the house would not be tense, while his mother, Laura, would attempt to defuse the tension.


title: Rex Chapman

text: Chapman was a high school basketball star at Apollo High School in Owensboro, Kentucky. During his junior year, Chapman led his team to the state quarterfinals. He racked up numerous awards and accolades his senior year including Mr. Basketball of Kentucky, Gatorade State Player of the Year, Associated Press Player of the Year, and McDonalds's All-American. In 2020 radio host Matt Jones described Chapman as, "the biggest high school basketball player that ever came from the state." He was inducted into the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. Chapman was heavily recruited by many universities, but he chose to stay close to home when he signed with the University of Kentucky.


title: Rex Chapman

text: Chapman was a star with the Kentucky Wildcats. His freshman year, he averaged 16 points a game, was named Southeastern Conference (SEC) Freshman of the Year, set a record for points by a freshman, and led the Wildcats to the 1987 NCAA tournament. He improved his sophomore year average to 19 points a game. Chapman, joined by teammates such as future NBA journeyman Winston Bennett, helped lead Kentucky to the SEC title with a 27–6 record. The Wildcats were ranked as the 6th college basketball team in the nation by the Associated Press and United Press International and secured the No. 2 seed in the South region of the 1988 NCAA tournament. Kentucky reached the Sweet Sixteen, where Chapman scored a career best 30 points in a losing effort against Villanova. Chapman was named to the All-SEC Team both of his college years and amassed a total of 1,073 points before opting to enter the NBA draft. Chapman left the University as a "campus legend" with the nickname "King Rex".


title: Rex Chapman

text: Chapman found the off-court scrutiny and attention difficult. He said he was harassed by other students and the coaching staff for continuing to date his black high school girlfriend. "It wore on me," said Chapman, who is white. "It was hateful."


title: Rex Chapman

text: The Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), an expansion team, selected Chapman with the 8th overall pick in the 1988 NBA draft; he became the first player ever drafted by the Hornets. Chapman averaged 16.9 points per game in his rookie season. Chapman competed in the 1990 and 1991 Slam Dunk Contests, earning recognition for his dunks where he would flip the ball. After two-and-a-half seasons with the Hornets, Chapman was traded midway through the 1991–1992 season to the Washington Bullets. He was injured, however, and could only participate in the final game of the season.


title: Rex Chapman

text: On February 19, 1992, the Hornets traded Chapman to the Washington Bullets in exchange for Tom Hammonds. He played 60 games during the 1993–94 season and 45 games during the 1994–95 season. After getting off to a strong start in the 94–95 season and being named an All Star for the only time in his career, Chapman injured his ankle and did not play in the game. Danny Ainge, who later coached Chapman with the Phoenix Suns and became a close friend, speculated that Chapman played smart all-out basketball in an attempt to win a championship or be an All Star.


title: Rex Chapman

text: The Bullets traded Chapman with Terrence Rencher to the Miami Heat for Ed Stokes and Jeff Webster in June 1995. Chapman averaged 14.8 points per game during the 1995–96 season. On February 23, 1996, he scored 39 points (converting 9-of-10 three-point attempts) and led an injury-plagued Miami Heat team with an 8-man roster to a 113–104 victory over the Chicago Bulls, handing the Bulls one of their 10 losses during their historic 72–10 run. Unfortunately, later in the season Chapman found himself on the injured list again and only participated in 56 games. He eventually signed with the Suns.


title: Rex Chapman

text: Chapman played in 65 games, and scored 13 points per game for Phoenix for the 1996–1997 season. He played well in the Suns' last four games of the regular season. He had two memorable games against the Seattle SuperSonics in the first round of the play-offs. In Game 1, he set a play-off record for three-point shots (9), which was surpassed by Klay Thompson (11) in 2016 and Damian Lillard (12, 2OT) in 2021. In game four, he hit an off-balance three-point shot on an inbounds pass to send the game to overtime, although the Suns went on to lose.


title: Rex Chapman

text: Chapman played 68 games during the 1997–1998 season for the Suns, scoring almost 16 points per game. However, he was injured again during the strike-shortened 1999 season, playing 38 games. During his time with the Suns, Chapman began having severe nerve pains in his foot, had seven surgeries, and began to regularly take Vicodin. After 53 games during the 1999–2000 season, Chapman's various injuries and declining performance led him to retire. In the spring before he retired, Chapman had an emergency appendectomy. After the surgery he was prescribed OxyContin which increased his drug dependency, in part because it also helped ease the social anxiety he felt.


title: Rex Chapman

text: Chapman played a total of 666 regular season NBA games, scoring 9,731 points for an average of 14.6 points per game, with 1,798 assists for an average of 2.7 assists per game, and 1,645 rebounds, for 2.5 rebounds per game.


title: Rex Chapman

text: After retiring from active play Chapman's drug addiction intensified. He also began betting on horse racing daily. Betting on horses had been a distraction for him from childhood through his time in the NBA, where he hid his habit. Chapman eventually stopped betting and went to Gamblers Anonymous meetings. Urged by Ainge to enter rehab for his drug problem, Chapman was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and depression, for which he was medicated. Following rehab, he was troubled by abdomen pain and had surgery to remove a pin from his wrist. Following the surgery he was prescribed Vicodin and resumed his addiction, seeking treatment in 2002. After breaking the addiction, a doctor suggested he try Suboxone, medicine used to treat opioid addiction, which successfully addressed a resurgence of his abdomen pains. Over time, Suboxone caused Chapman to lose energy and clouded his thinking.


title: Rex Chapman

text: Chapman held several jobs in short succession following his retirement. After his second time in rehab, he was hired by the Suns, first as a scout and later as Director of Basketball Operations. He served as a color commentator on TNT during the NBA Playoffs. In 2005, he moved from Phoenix to accept a personnel scout position with the Minnesota Timberwolves. In 2006, he accepted the position of vice president of player personnel with the Denver Nuggets which he held for four years.


title: Rex Chapman

text: When he left the Nuggets his personal life was in trouble. He was divorcing his wife, sharing custody of their four children. Chapman had also become estranged from his parents and sister. His life continued to spiral down after leaving basketball. He worked in a variety of jobs as a basketball broadcaster including for Grand Canyon University in 2013.


title: Rex Chapman

text: In September 2014, Chapman was arrested for shoplifting merchandise from an Apple Store in Scottsdale, Arizona. Chapman made it appear that he was paying for an item at self checkout, but left the store and pawned the item to pay for gambling debts. Returning to the store several times, he was eventually identified by multiple employees based on his tenure in the NBA. Following the arrest Chapman entered a rehab facility in Louisville, Kentucky, run by a former University of Kentucky teammate. After a week of being drug free his abdomen pain returned and he was taken to a hospital where he was treated for an ulcer. Chapman's pain went away but the experience angered him, "This whole time I've been thinking I've got this jones for pain medication, it was really just an ulcer". During this time in rehab, he was prescribed Zoloft for his depression and began deep psychotherapy for the first time.


title: Rex Chapman

text: Following his time in Louisville, he continued to seek treatment in Texas and was hired by TNT to broadcast Kentucky's 2015 Final Four Game. In September 2015, Chapman pleaded guilty to four felony charges and was sentenced to probation. He agreed to pay more than $15,000 to the Apple Store and complete 750 hours of community service. He eventually moved back to Lexington where he states he stays clean, eats healthily, and swims daily. He hosts a pre-game show before Wildcat basketball games.


title: Rex Chapman

text: Chapman has been labeled as a social media influencer for his activity on Twitter, with over a million followers. Chapman, however, does not agree with being labeled that way and commented in 2020, "I'm not even sure what that means... Me, an influencer? Man, I hope not." He first joined Twitter as part of his job as a broadcaster. He began attracting followers after posting a video of dolphins charging into a paddle boarder, the first in a series of "block or charge?" tweets.


title: Rex Chapman

text: After previously declining any kind of sponsorship, during the COVID-19 pandemic Chapman was able to raise more than $150,000 to support those experiencing financial hardship. Despite his social media success, Chapman said he is glad that it was not around when he was a professional athlete. Since 2019, Chapman has been the television presenter of a "Block or Charge" show which appeared on Adult Swim, based on his tweets. He also hosts a podcast called "The Rex Chapman Show", which debuted on Basketballnews.com on March 16, 2021, with friend and actor Josh Hopkins.


title: Rex Chapman

text: In January 2022, CNN announced that Chapman will appear as a host on CNN+, the network's streaming platform. The show, simply titled "Rex Chapman", premiered on April 4, 2022 and aired four episodes before the service shut down on April 28.


title: Rex Chapman

text: In March 2022, Chapman served as a studio analyst for coverage of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.


title: Rex Chapman

text: In September 2022, entertainment business magazine "Variety" announced Chapman's podcast, “Charges with Rex Chapman”, would be turning into a TV show. Like the podcast, the new series will come from Portal A and Steve Nash's CTRL Media.


title: Broadsheet

text: A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner and tabloid–compact formats.


title: Broadsheet

text: Many broadsheets measure roughly per full broadsheet spread, twice the size of a standard tabloid. Australian and New Zealand broadsheets always have a paper size of A1 per spread (). South African broadsheet newspapers have a double-page spread sheet size of (single-page live print area of 380 x 545 mm). Others measure 22 in (560 mm) vertically.


title: Broadsheet

text: In the United States, the traditional dimensions for the front page half of a broadsheet are wide by long. However, in efforts to save newsprint costs, many U.S. newspapers have downsized to wide by long for a folded page.


title: Broadsheet

text: Many rate cards and specification cards refer to the "broadsheet size" with dimensions representing the front page "half of a broadsheet" size, rather than the full, unfolded broadsheet spread. Some quote actual page size and others quote the "printed area" size.


title: Broadsheet

text: Eventually, people began using the broadsheet as a source for political activism by reprinting speeches.


title: Broadsheet

text: Broadsheet newspapers developed in Britain after a 1712 tax was imposed on newspapers based on their page counts. However, larger formats had long been signs of status in printed objects and still are in many places. Outside of Britain the broadsheet developed for other reasons unrelated to the British tax structure including style and authority. With the early mechanization of the 19th century came an increased production of printed materials including the broadside, as well as the competing penny dreadful. Newspapers all over Europe were then starting to print their issues on broadsheets. However, in the United Kingdom, the main competition for the broadside was the gradual reduction of the newspaper tax, beginning in the 1830s until its eventual dismissal in 1855.


title: Broadsheet

text: With the increased production of newspapers and literacy, the demand for visual reporting and journalists led to the blending of broadsides and newspapers, creating the modern broadsheet newspaper.


title: Broadsheet

text: Modern printing facilities most efficiently print broadsheet sections in multiples of eight pages (with four front pages and four back pages). The broadsheet is then cut in half during the process. Thus, the newsprint rolls used are defined by the width necessary to print four front pages. The width of a newsprint roll is called its web. The now-common 11-inch-wide front page broadsheet newspapers in the United States use a 44-inch web newsprint roll.


title: Broadsheet

text: With profit margins narrowing for newspapers in the wake of competition from broadcast, cable television, and the internet, newspapers are looking to standardize the size of the newsprint roll. "The Wall Street Journal" with its 12-in-wide front page was printed on 48-inch web newsprint. Early adopters in the downsizing of broadsheets used a 50-inch web (-inch front pages). However, the 48-inch web is now rapidly becoming the definitive standard in the U.S. "The New York Times" held out on the downsizing until July 2006, saying it would stick to its 54-inch web (-inch front page). However, the paper adopted the narrower format beginning Monday, 6 August 2007.


title: Broadsheet

text: The smaller newspapers also have the advantage of being easier to handle, particularly among commuters.


title: Broadsheet

text: In some countries, especially Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US, broadsheet newspapers are commonly perceived to be more intellectual in content than their tabloid counterparts. They tend to use their greater size to publish stories exploring topics in-depth and carry less sensationalist and celebrity-oriented material. The distinction is most obvious on the front page since tabloids tend to have a single story dominated by a headline, and broadsheets allow two or more stories to be displayed of which the most important sit at the top of the page "above the fold."


title: Broadsheet

text: A few newspapers, though, such as the German "Bild-Zeitung" and others throughout Central Europe are tabloids in terms of content but use the physical broadsheet format.


title: Broadsheet

text: In 2003, "The Independent" started concurrent production of both broadsheet and tabloid ("compact") editions, carrying exactly the same content. "The Times" did likewise, but with less apparent success, with readers vocally opposing the change. "The Independent" ceased to be available in broadsheet format in May 2004, and "The Times" followed suit from November 2004; "The Scotsman" is also now published only in tabloid format. "The Guardian" switched to the "Berliner" or "midi" format found in some other European countries (slightly larger than a traditional tabloid) on 12 September 2005. In June 2017, the "Guardian" announced it would again change the format to tabloid size – the first tabloid edition was published on 15 January 2018.


title: Broadsheet

text: The main motivation cited for this shift was that commuters prefer papers that they can hold easily on public transport and that other readers also might find the smaller formats more convenient.


title: Broadsheet

text: In the United States, "The Wall Street Journal" made headlines when it announced its overseas version would convert to a tabloid on 17 October 2005. Strong debate occurred in the US on whether or not the rest of the national papers will or even should follow the trend of the European papers and "The Wall Street Journal". "The Wall Street Journal" overseas edition switched back to a broadsheet format in 2015.


title: Broadsheet

text: Almost all of Canada's major daily newspapers are broadsheets. Newspapers are in English, unless stated otherwise.


title: Broadsheet

text: Broadsheet is not common. National daily newspapers as "Die Zeit", "Die Welt", "Süddeutsche Zeitung", "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" and "Bild" use "Nordisch Format" with 570 mm × 400 mm (22 in × 16 in) (1.425 aspect ratio).


title: Broadsheet

text: Almost all major newspapers in India are broadsheets. Tabloids are mostly found in small-circulation local or rural papers.


title: Broadsheet

text: Newspapers such as "New Straits Times" and "Berita Harian" used to be published in broadsheet, but were published in the smaller size, instead, from 2005 and 2008, respectively. However, almost all Chinese newspapers in the country continue to publish in broadsheet.


title: Broadsheet

text: All Pakistan regional and national newspapers are broadsheets. "Pakistan Today" is the first and only paper in Berliner format.


title: Broadsheet

text: All of Poland's quality national dailies ("Gazeta Wyborcza", "Rzeczpospolita", "Nasz Dziennik", and "Dziennik Polska-Europa-Świat") are now published in compact format.


title: Broadsheet

text: The first major Swedish newspaper to leave the broadsheet format and start printing in tabloid format was "Svenska Dagbladet", on 16 November 2000. As of August 2004, 26 newspapers were broadsheets, with a combined circulation of 1,577,700 and 50 newspapers were in a tabloid with a combined circulation of 1,129,400. On 5 October 2004, the morning newspapers "Göteborgs-Posten", "Dagens Nyheter", "Sydsvenskan", and "Östersunds-Posten" all switched to tabloid, thus making it the leading format for morning newspapers in Sweden by volume of circulation. Most other broadsheet newspapers have followed, since. The last daily Swedish newspaper to switch to tabloid was "Jönköpings-Posten", 6 November 2013.


title: Hate speech

text: Hate speech is defined by the "Cambridge Dictionary" as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". Hate speech is "usually thought to include communications of animosity or disparagement of an individual or a group on account of a group characteristic such as race, colour, national origin, sex, disability, religion, or sexual orientation". Legal definitions of hate speech vary from country to country.


title: Hate speech

text: There has been much debate over freedom of speech, hate speech, and hate speech legislation. The laws of some countries describe hate speech as speech, gestures, conduct, writing, or displays that incite violence or prejudicial actions against a group or individuals on the basis of their membership in the group, or that disparage or intimidate a group or individuals on the basis of their membership in the group. The law may identify a group based on certain characteristics. In some countries, hate speech is not a legal term. Additionally, in some countries, including the United States, much of what falls under the category of "hate speech" is constitutionally protected. In other countries, a victim of hate speech may seek redress under civil law, criminal law, or both.


title: Hate speech

text: In this section, the term "theories of hate speech" is being used as an umbrella term describing the ways in which different thinkers throughout history have defined hate speech and have provided frameworks for understanding its impact.


title: Hate speech

text: One theory on the merits of freedom of speech, and consequently hate speech, is the view that public discourse ought to serve as a marketplace of ideas. This perspective, often attributed to mid-19th century philosopher John Stuart Mill, claims that hate speech is an unavoidable part of the wider current of free speech. Within this theory, there exists no partial truth; everything must be debated in order to determine what is true and what is false. This theory privileges the community's progression over individual desires. Mill writes in "On Liberty", "They [an individual] have no authority to decide the question for all mankind, and exclude every other person from the means of judging… All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility". Here, Mill asserts the necessity of hate speech as a stepping stone to truth. Denying others the ability to evaluate statements because one believes those words to be offensive is to make a unilateral decision that is ultimately harmful to the collective good. Although these thinkers believe speech can and should be limited in certain contexts, they firmly contend that all speech, including hate speech, is a part of the growth and development of the community.


title: Hate speech

text: Starting in the 1940s and 50s, different civil rights groups responded to the atrocities of World War II by advocating for restrictions on hateful speech targeting groups on the basis of race and religion. These organizations used group libel as a legal framework for describing the violence of hate speech and addressing its harm. In his discussion of the history of criminal libel, scholar Jeremy Waldron states that these laws helped "vindicate public order, not just by preempting violence, but by upholding against attack a shared sense of the basic elements of each person's status, dignity, and reputation as a citizen or member of society in good standing". A key legal victory for civil rights groups came in 1952 when group libel law was affirmed by the supreme court in Beauharnais v. Illinois. However, the group libel approach lost ground due to a rise in support for individual rights within civil rights movements during the 60s. Critiques of group defamation laws are not limited to defenders of individual rights. Some legal theorists, such as Richard Delgado, support legal limits on hate speech, but claim that defamation is too narrow a category to fully counter hate speech. Ultimately, Delgado advocates a legal strategy that would establish a specific section of tort law for responding to racist insults, citing the difficulty of receiving redress under the existing legal system.


title: Hate speech

text: Often cited in the 1970s Feminist Sex Wars, a third framework for conceptualizing hate speech claims that speech can restructure social norms in violently subordinating ways. In this model, hate speech does not incite violence, but rather is itself a violent act that changes the power relations between speakers and across group hierarchies. This branch of thought, termed Speech-Act Theory, has been used by Catharine A. MacKinnon to argue that pornography, as speech, is inherently violent to women because it silences them and acts to subordinate them both through its creation and its consumption. This theory has been expanded on by Mary Kate McGowan to include the role of authority in words performing acts. Essentially, truth becomes truth because it is said to be true by a legitimate authority. McGowan provides the example of an umpire's call to illustrate this point. If an umpire calls a play as safe, the play may or may not be safe, but it is designated as so because of the authority of the umpire. This relates to Speech-Act Theory because words are able to "do", to produce new meaning and reality. In the case of hate speech, those ostensibly with authority and power are able to tangibly alter the social location or life experience of others when they utter demeaning or derogatory words.


title: Hate speech

text: After WWII, Germany criminalized Volksverhetzung ("incitement of popular hatred") to prevent resurgence of Nazism. Hate speech on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity also is banned in Germany. Most other European and WWII combatant countries have done likewise, except for Italy, though a new law is contemplated.


title: Hate speech

text: International human rights laws from the United Nations Humans Rights Committee have been protecting freedom of expression, and one of the most fundamental documents is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) drafted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1948. In Article 19 of the UDHR, it states that "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."


title: Hate speech

text: Even though there are fundamental laws protecting freedom of expression, there are multiple international laws that expand on the UDHR and pose limitations and restrictions, specifically concerning the safety and protection of individuals.


title: Hate speech

text: A majority of developed democracies have laws that restrict hate speech, including Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, India, South Africa, Sweden, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom, Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998 expands on the UDHR, stating that restrictions on freedom of expression would be permitted when it threatens national security, incites racial or religious hatred, causes individual harm on health or morals, or threatens the rights and reputations of individuals. The United States does not have hate speech laws, since the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that laws criminalizing hate speech violate the guarantee to freedom of speech contained in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.


title: Hate speech

text: Laws against hate speech can be divided into two types: those intended to preserve public order and those intended to protect human dignity. The laws designed to protect public order require that a higher threshold be violated, so they are not often enforced. For example, a 1992 study found that only one person was prosecuted in Northern Ireland in the preceding 21 years for violating a law against incitement to religious violence. The laws meant to protect human dignity have a much lower threshold for violation, so those in Canada, Denmark, France, Germany and the Netherlands tend to be more frequently enforced.


title: Hate speech

text: A few states, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Rwanda Hutu factions, actors in the Yugoslav Wars and Ethiopia have been described as spreading official hate speech or incitement to genocide.


title: Hate speech

text: On 31 May 2016, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Twitter, jointly agreed to a European Union code of conduct obligating them to review "[the] majority of valid notifications for removal of illegal hate speech" posted on their services within 24 hours.


title: Hate speech

text: Prior to this in 2013, Facebook, with pressure from over 100 advocacy groups including the Everyday Sexism Project, agreed to change their hate speech policies after data released regarding content that promoted domestic and sexual violence against women led to the withdrawal of advertising by 15 large companies.


title: Hate speech

text: Companies that have hate speech policies include Facebook and YouTube. In 2018 a post containing a section of the United States Declaration of Independence that labels Native Americans "merciless Indian savages" was labeled hate speech by Facebook and removed from its site. In 2019, video-sharing platform YouTube demonetized channels, such as U.S. radio host Jesse Lee Peterson, under their hate speech policy.


title: Hate speech

text: Several activists and scholars have criticized the practice of limiting hate speech. Civil liberties activist Nadine Strossen says that, while efforts to censor hate speech have the goal of protecting the most vulnerable, they are ineffective and may have the opposite effect: disadvantaged and ethnic minorities being charged with violating laws against hate speech. Kim Holmes, Vice President of the conservative Heritage Foundation and a critic of hate speech theory, has argued that it "assumes bad faith on the part of people regardless of their stated intentions" and that it "obliterates the ethical responsibility of the individual". Rebecca Ruth Gould, a professor of Islamic and Comparative Literature at the University of Birmingham, argues that laws against hate speech constitute viewpoint discrimination (prohibited by First Amendment jurisprudence in the United States) as the legal system punishes some viewpoints but not others; other scholars such as Gideon Elford argue instead that "insofar as hate speech regulation targets the consequences of speech that are contingently connected with the substance of what is expressed then it is viewpoint discriminatory in only an indirect sense." John Bennett argues that restricting hate speech relies on questionable conceptual and empirical foundations and is reminiscent of efforts by totalitarian regimes to control the thoughts of their citizens.


title: Hate speech

text: Michael Conklin argues that there are positive benefits to hate speech that are often overlooked. He contends that allowing hate speech provides a more accurate view of the human condition, provides opportunities to change people's minds, and identifies certain people that may need to be avoided in certain circumstances. According to one psychological research study, a high degree of psychopathy is "a significant predictor" for involvement in online hate activity, while none of the other 7 criteria examined were found to have statistical significance.


title: Hate speech

text: Political philosopher Jeffrey W. Howard considers the popular framing of hate speech as "free speech vs. other political values" as a mischaracterization. He refers to this as the "balancing model", and says it seeks to weigh the benefit of free speech against other values such as dignity and equality for historically marginalized groups. Instead, he believes that the crux of debate should be whether or not freedom of expression is inclusive of hate speech. Research indicates that when people support censoring hate speech, they are motivated more by concerns about the effects the speech has on others than they are about its effects on themselves. Women are somewhat more likely than men to support censoring hate speech due to greater perceived harm of hate speech, which some researchers believe may be due to gender differences in empathy towards targets of hate speech.


title: Radio (2003 film)

text: Radio is a 2003 American semi-biographical sports drama film directed by Mike Tollin, and inspired by the 1996 "Sports Illustrated" article "Someone to Lean On" by Gary Smith. The article and the movie are based on the true story of T. L. Hanna High School football coach Harold Jones (Ed Harris) and a young man with an intellectual disability, James Robert "Radio" Kennedy (Cuba Gooding Jr.). The film co-stars Debra Winger and Alfre Woodard. It was filmed primarily in Walterboro, South Carolina because its buildings and downtown core still fit the look of the era the film was trying to depict.


title: Radio (2003 film)

text: In the 1970s, James Robert "Radio" Kennedy, a 23-year-old mentally-disabled man, lives alone with his mother who, as a nurse, spends much of the day at work. Radio spends much of his day roaming the town and pushing a shopping cart, which he uses to collect anything interesting he finds. Radio often pauses to observe the local high school football team in their training sessions, led by Coach Harold Jones. During one such session, the football falls out of bounds, allowing Radio to collect it and haul it away in his cart. A group of players retaliate the following day by tying Radio's hands and feet, locking him in the gear shed, and throwing footballs at the door to scare him. Coach Jones frees Radio and punishes the wrongdoers by making them run extra wind sprints after practice. Jones takes it upon himself to assist in Radio's care, and gives him his nickname due to his penchant for listening to the radio. Radio begins assisting Coach Jones on the football team, and inspires the team before each game as a mascot-type figure. Radio's increased attention from Jones is faced with resistance from the football team's parents, who see Radio as a distraction from their own sons' successes.


title: Radio (2003 film)

text: Upon the end of the football season, Jones involves Radio with several activities within the high school, and winds up neglecting his daughter Mary Helen, who is a member of the high school's cheerleading squad. At a Christmas mass, Radio receives several gifts from the townspeople, and Mary Helen confides to her father that while she does not blame him for neglecting her, she cannot understand the reason for his interest in Radio. The following day, Radio distributes the gifts around town. He soon encounters a suspicious police officer, and his impaired ability to communicate leads to his arrest on the charge of possessing stolen property. However, the other officers recognize Radio and he is released. To make up for the wrongful arrest, the arresting officer is forced to ferry Radio around town to finish delivering the gifts. Following the holidays, Radio begins taking classes in the high school to complete his formal education. One of the football players who had previously tormented him tricks Radio into entering the girls' locker room. Radio is reluctant to tell Coach Jones who set him up, but Coach Jones determines the player's identity by interviewing other players and punishes him by benching him for a decisive game.


title: Radio (2003 film)

text: Radio's mother suddenly dies of a heart attack, and Radio finds himself living alone until his absent older brother Walter finally returns to care for him. That same evening, Jones reveals to Mary Helen that his attachment to Radio and need to assist him stems from a childhood incident in which Jones, as a child making a living off delivering newspapers, did not help a mentally-disabled boy his own age crying behind barbed wire. Following the death of Radio's mother, pressure from the school board to have Radio put in a specialized institution strengthens. The association between Radio and Coach Jones is further blamed for the team's inability to win. In a meeting with the townspeople, Jones speaks of Radio being a blessing for the community by showing how people should treat one another, and announces his resignation as head coach so that he may spend more time with his family. At Radio's high school graduation, he receives an honorary diploma and a letterman jacket. The film ends with clips being shown of the real-life Radio and Coach Jones leading the football team.


title: Radio (2003 film)

text: The film's lead character, Radio, is based on James Robert "Radio" Kennedy, who was born October 14, 1946 in Anderson, South Carolina. His nickname, Radio, was given to him by townspeople because Kennedy grew up fascinated by radios and because of the radio he carried everywhere he went. He was known to ask students before football games, "We gonna get that quarterback?", and say "We gonna win tonight!". ReelSports provided the football and basketball coordination for the film.


title: Radio (2003 film)

text: On review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 36% approval rating with the consensus reading: "The story is heavy on syrupy uplift and turns "Radio" into a saint/cuddly pet". The film holds a score of 38 out of 100 on Metacritic. The film grossed $52.3 million with a budget of approximately $30 million. Cuba Gooding Jr. earned a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actor for his performance in the film but also an NAACP Image Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: The First Battle of Fallujah, code-named Operation Vigilant Resolve, was an operation against militants in Fallujah as well as an attempt to apprehend or kill the perpetrators of the killing of four U.S. contractors in March 2004.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: The chief catalyst for the operation was the highly publicized killing and mutilation of four Blackwater USA private military contractors, and the killings of five American soldiers in Habbaniyah a few days earlier.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: Fallujah had generally benefited economically under Saddam Hussein, and many residents were employed as military and intelligence officers by his administration. However, there was little sympathy for him following the collapse of his government, which many residents considered oppressive. The city was one of the most religious and culturally traditional areas in Iraq.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: Following the collapse of the Ba'ath infrastructure in early 2003, local residents had elected a town council led by Taha Bidaywi Hamed, who kept the city from falling into the control of looters and common criminals. The town council and Hamed were both considered to be nominally pro-American, and their election originally meant that the United States had decided that the city was unlikely to become a hotbed of activity, and didn't require any immediate troop presence. This led to the United States committing few troops to Fallujah from the start.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: Although Fallujah had seen sporadic air strikes by American forces, public opposition was not galvanized until 700 members of the 82nd Airborne Division first entered the city on 23 April 2003, and approximately 150 members of Charlie Company occupied "al-Qa'id" primary. On 28 April, a crowd of approximately 200 people gathered outside the school past curfew, demanding that the Americans vacate the building and allow it to re-open as a school. The protesters became increasingly heated, and the deployment of smoke gas canisters failed to disperse the crowd. The protest escalated as gunmen reportedly fired upon U.S. forces from the protesting crowd and U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division returned fire, killing 17 people and wounding more than 70 of the protesters. There were no U.S. Army or coalition casualties in the incident. U.S. forces said that the shooting took place over 30–60 seconds, however other sources claim the shooting continued for half an hour.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: Two days later, a protest at the former Ba'ath party headquarters decrying the American shootings was also fired upon by U.S. forces, this time the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which resulted in three more deaths. Following both incidents, coalition forces asserted that they had not fired upon the protesters until they were fired upon first.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: The 82nd Airborne soldiers were replaced by soldiers from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and 2/502nd Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. On 4 June, members of B Company ("Renegades"), 2/502nd, came under attack after a presence patrol on foot. An RPG round struck the lead vehicle as these soldiers mounted vehicles to return to base; PFC Brandon Oberleitner was killed and six were injured. Oberleitner's death was the only loss of life for B. Co. during the deployment. Soon after this attack, the 3rd Armored Cavalry requested an additional 1,500 troops, to counter growing resistance in Fallujah and nearby al-Habaniyya.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: In June, American forces began confiscating motorcycles from local residents, claiming that they were being used in hit-and-run attacks on coalition forces.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: On 30 June, a large explosion occurred in a mosque in which the imam, Sheikh Laith Khalil and eight other people were killed. While the local population claimed that Americans had fired a missile at the mosque, U.S. forces claimed that it was an accidental detonation by insurgents constructing bombs.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: On 12 February 2004, insurgents attacked a convoy carrying General John Abizaid, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, and the 82nd Airborne's Major General Charles Swannack, firing on the vehicles from nearby rooftops with RPGs, after seemingly infiltrating the Iraqi security forces.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: Eleven days later, insurgents diverted Iraqi police to a false emergency on the outskirts of the city, before simultaneously attacking three police stations, the mayor's office and a civil defence base. At least 17 police officers were killed, and as many as 87 prisoners released.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: During this time, the 82nd Airborne was conducting regular "lightning raids" inside the city, where Humvee convoys would destroy road barriers and curbs that could hide IEDs, and oversee searches of homes and schools, which frequently saw property damage, and led to shoot-outs with local residents.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: In March 2004, Swannack transferred authority of the Al-Anbar province to the I Marine Expeditionary Force commanded by Lt. General Conway.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: By early March 2004, the city began to fall under the increasing influence of guerrilla factions. The rising violence against the American presence resulted in the complete withdrawal of troops from the city, with only occasional incursions trying to gain and reinforce a "foothold in the city" being attempted. This was coupled with one or two patrols around the outer limits of FOB Volturno, the former site of Qusay and Uday Hussein's palace.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: On 27 March, a JSOC surveillance team was compromised in the town and had to shoot its way out of trouble.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: On the morning of 31 March, a combat engineer team from the 1st Engineer Battalion/1st Infantry Division was sent out on a route clearance mission in support of the 82nd Airborne and Blackwater movements. While en route from Habbaniyah to Fallujah, they were hit with the largest roadside bomb used at that point in the war, resulting in the deaths of 5 Bravo Company soldiers.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: On 31 March 2004, Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah ambushed a convoy containing four American private military contractors from Blackwater USA who were conducting delivery for food caterers ESS.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: The four armed contractors, Scott Helvenston, Jerko Zovko, Wesley Batalona and Michael Teague, were killed by machine gun fire and a grenade thrown through a window of their SUVs. A mob then set their bodies ablaze, and their corpses were dragged through the streets before being hung over a bridge crossing the Euphrates. The insurgents provided images to news agencies for broadcast worldwide, causing a great deal of indignation and moral outrage in the United States. An announcement of an upcoming "pacification" of the city promptly followed.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: The intended Marine Corps strategy of foot patrols, less aggressive raids, humanitarian aid, and close cooperation with local leaders was suspended on orders to mount a military operation to clear guerrillas from Fallujah.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was originally suspected as the organiser of the ambush as he was known to be planning terror attacks and believed to be in the area. The intelligence community was doubtful, however, because the exhibitionism of broadcasting images of the desecration of the victim's bodies was uncharacteristic of al-Zarqawi, whose typical style was to leak to Al Jazeera that he had planned an attack some weeks after it occurred. Intelligence reports ultimately concluded that Ahmad Hashim Abd al-Isawi was the mastermind behind the attack. By September 2004, al-Zarqawi was the "highest priority" target in Fallujah for the United States military; he died in a targeted killing in June 2006 when a United States Air Force jet dropped two 500-pound (230 kg) guided bombs on the safehouse in which he was attending a meeting.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: al-Isawi was also an important target, whose attacks continued until a 2009 SEAL special operation raid captured him without a shot being fired. He made accusations of mistreatment while in custody, and testified in April 2010 at the ensuing courts-martial against three Navy SEALs (all of whom were acquitted). Subsequently, he was handed over to Iraqi authorities, who tried and executed him by hanging at some point before November 2013.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: On 1 April, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of U.S. military operations in Iraq, promised an "overwhelming" response to the Blackwater USA deaths, stating "We will pacify that city."


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: On 3 April 2004, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force received a written command from the Joint Task Force, ordering offensive operations against Fallujah. This order went against the wishes of the Marine Commanders on the ground who wanted to conduct surgical strikes and raids against those suspected of involvement in the Blackwater deaths.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: On the night of 4 April 2004, American forces launched a major assault in an attempt to "re-establish security in Fallujah" by encircling it with around 2000 troops. At least four homes were hit in aerial strikes, and there was sporadic gunfire throughout the night.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: By the morning of 5 April 2004, headed by the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, American units had surrounded the city with an aim towards retaking it. American troops blockaded roads leading into the city with Humvees and concertina wire. They also took over a local radio station and handed out leaflets urging residents to remain inside their homes and help American forces identify insurgents and any Fallujans who were involved in the Blackwater deaths.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: It was estimated that there were 12–24 separate "hardcore" groups of insurgents, armed with RPGs, machine guns, mortars and anti-aircraft weapons, some of it supplied by the Iraqi Police. By 6 April 2004, U.S. military sources said that "Marines may not attempt to control the center of the town".


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: In the opening days, it was reported that up to a third of the civilian population had fled the city.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: The siege forced the closing of Fallujah's two main hospitals, Fallujah General Hospital and the Jordanian Hospital, which were re-opened during the ceasefire on 9 April 2004. Also on that date, the port visit to Jebel Ali by the aircraft carrier was cancelled, and the "George Washington" carrier strike group and its embarked Carrier Air Wing Seven were ordered to remain on station in the Persian Gulf as fighting intensified between Coalition Forces and Iraqi insurgents around Fallujah.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: The resulting engagements set off widespread fighting throughout Central Iraq and along the Lower Euphrates, with various elements of the Iraqi insurgency taking advantage of the situation and commencing simultaneous operations against the Coalition forces. This period marked the emergence of the Mahdi Army, the militia of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, as a major armed faction which, at that time, actively participated in anti-Coalition operations. The happenings were also punctuated by a surge of a Sunni rebellion in the city of Ramadi. During this period, a number of foreigners were captured by insurgent groups. Some were killed outright, whilst others were held as hostages in an attempt to barter for political or military concessions. Some elements of the Iraqi police and Iraqi Civil Defense Corps also turned on the Coalition forces or simply abandoned their posts.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: The rebels in Fallujah held on, as the Americans attempted to tighten their hold on the city. Air bombardments rained on insurgent positions throughout the city, Lockheed AC-130 gunships attacked targets with their Gatling guns and howitzers a number of times. Scout Snipers became a core element of the Marines' strategy, averaging 31 kills apiece in the battle, while PSYOP Tactical Psychological Operations Teams from Tactical Psychological Operations Detachment 910 lured Iraqis out into the open for the Scout Snipers by reading scripts that were aimed at angering insurgent fighters and by blaring AC/DC along with Metallica and other rock music over their loud speakers.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: After three days of fighting, it was estimated that the United States had gained control over 25% of the city, and it suggested that the insurgents had lost a number of key defensive positions.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: Due to the fact that American attacks were taking a toll on civilians as well as Iraqi insurgents, coalition forces faced growing criticism from within the Iraqi Governing Council, where Adnan Pachachi said, "these operations by the Americans are unacceptable and illegal."


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: Al-Jazeera reporter Ahmed Mansur, and cameraman Laith Mushtaq, the only two non-embedded journalists covering the conflict since 3 April 2004, reported that an unknown source stated that United States insisted that the reporters be withdrawn from the city, as a pre-condition to the ceasefire.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: At noon on 9 April 2004, under pressure from the Governing Council, Paul Bremer announced that the U.S. forces would be unilaterally holding a ceasefire, stating that they wanted to facilitate negotiations between the Iraqi Governing Council, insurgents, and city spokespersons, and to allow government supplies to be delivered to residents.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: As a consequence, much-needed humanitarian relief which had been held up by the fighting and blockade finally managed to enter the city, notably a major convoy organized by private citizens, businessmen and clerics from Baghdad as a joint Shi'a-Sunni effort. Some U.S. forces used this time to occupy and scavenge abandoned houses and convert them into "de facto" bunkers, while a number of insurgents did the same.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: At this point, it was estimated that 600 Iraqis had been killed, at least half of whom were non-combatants.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: Although hundreds of insurgents had been killed in the assault, the city remained firmly under their control. American forces had by then only managed to gain a foothold in the industrial district to the south of the city. The end of major operations for the time being led to negotiations between various Iraqi elements and the Coalition forces, punctuated by occasional firefights.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: On 13 April 2004, U.S. Marines fell under attack from insurgents located within a mosque. An airstrike destroyed the mosque, prompting a public outcry.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: On 15 April 2004, an American F-16 Fighting Falcon dropped a JDAM GPS guided bomb over the northern district of Fallujah.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: On 19 April 2004, the ceasefire seemed to be consolidated with a plan to reintroduce joint US/Iraqi patrols in the city. Over time this arrangement broke down and the city remained a major center of opposition to the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Interim Government. Additionally, the composition of the armed groups in Fallujah changed during the following months, shifting from domination by secular, nationalist and ex-Ba'athist groups towards a marked influence of warlords with ties to organized crime and groups following a radical Wahhabi stance.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: On 27 April 2004, insurgents attacked U.S. defensive positions, causing the Americans to call in air support. In response, on 28 April 2004, the aircraft carrier launched squadrons VFA-136, VFA-131, VFA-11, and VFA-143 to fly combat air sorties against insurgents in Fallujah. During this operation, aircraft from Carrier Air Wing Seven dropped 13 GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bombs on insurgent positions and also provided combat air support to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: On 1 May 2004, the United States withdrew from Fallujah, as Lieutenant General James Conway announced that he had unilaterally decided to turn over any remaining operations to the newly formed Fallujah Brigade - a Sunni security force formed by the CIA, which would be armed with U.S. weapons and equipment under the command of former Ba'athist Army General Jasim Mohammed Saleh. Several days later, when it became clear that Saleh had been involved in military actions against Shi'ites under Saddam Hussein, U.S. forces announced that Muhammed Latif would instead lead the brigade. Nevertheless, the group dissolved and had turned over all the supplied weapons to the insurgency by September. The Brigade soldiers declared loyalty to the insurgents and joined various jihadist and nationalist groups that vied for authority in the town.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: The loss of the Fallujah Brigade prompted the Second Battle of Fallujah in November that year. After intense fighting, the Americans successfully occupied the city.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: During the interim period between the two battles, U.S. forces maintained a presence at Camp Baharia, a few miles outside the city limits.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: The largest combat mission since the declaration of the end of "major hostilities", the First Battle of Fallujah marked a turning point in public perception of the ongoing conflict. This was because insurgents, rather than Saddam loyalists, were seen as the chief opponents of U.S. forces. It was also judged by both military and civilian agencies, that reliance upon U.S.-funded regional militias, such as the failed Fallujah Brigade, could prove disastrous. American strategists were mercurial about the outcome of the battle with one writing "the handwriting is on the wall. The Battle of Fallujah was not a defeat—but we cannot afford many more victories like it."


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: The battle also pushed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi into the public spotlight as the best-known commander of anti-Coalition forces in Iraq, and brought public attention to the concept of a Sunni Triangle.


title: First Battle of Fallujah

text: 27 U.S. servicemen were killed during the battle in Fallujah. Iraq Body Count estimated that around 800 Iraqis died in the battle as well, of which 572–616 were civilians and 184–228 insurgents. Many of the Iraqis killed were buried inside the city's former football stadium, which became known as the Martyrs' Cemetery.


title: Video game development

text: Video game development (or gamedev) is the process of developing a video game. The effort is undertaken by a developer, ranging from a single person to an international team dispersed across the globe. Development of traditional commercial PC and console games is normally funded by a publisher, and can take several years to reach completion. Indie games usually take less time and money and can be produced by individuals and smaller developers. The independent game industry has been on the rise, facilitated by the growth of accessible game development software such as Unity platform and Unreal Engine and new online distribution systems such as Steam and Uplay, as well as the mobile game market for Android and iOS devices.


title: Video game development

text: The first video games, developed in the 1960s, were not usually commercialised. They required mainframe computers to run and were not available to the general public. Commercial game development began in the '70s with the advent of first-generation video game consoles and early home computers like the Apple I. At that time, owing to low costs and low capabilities of computers, a lone programmer could develop a full and complete game. However, in the late '80s and '90s, ever-increasing computer processing power and heightened expectations from gamers made it difficult for a single person to produce a mainstream console or PC game. The average cost of producing a triple-A video game slowly rose, from 1–4 million in 2000, to over $5 million in 2006, then to over $20 million by 2010.


title: Video game development

text: Mainstream commercial PC and console games are generally developed in phases: first, in pre-production, pitches, prototypes, and game design documents are written; if the idea is approved and the developer receives funding, then full-scale development begins. The development of a complete game usually involves a team of 20–100 individuals with various responsibilities, including designers, artists, programmers, and testers.


title: Video game development

text: Games are produced through the software development process. Games are developed as a creative outlet and to generate profit. Game making is considered both art and science. Development is normally funded by a publisher. Well-made games bring profit more readily. However, it is important to estimate a game's financial requirements, such as development costs of individual features. Failing to provide clear implications of game's expectations may result in exceeding allocated budget. In fact, the majority of commercial games do not produce profit. Most developers cannot afford changing their development schedule mid-way, and require estimating their capabilities with available resources before production.


title: Video game development

text: The game industry requires innovations, as publishers cannot profit from constant release of repetitive sequels and imitations. Every year new independent development companies open and some manage to develop hit titles. Similarly, many developers close down because they cannot find a publishing contract or their production is not profitable. It is difficult to start a new company due to high initial investment required. Nevertheless, growth of casual and mobile game market has allowed developers with smaller teams to enter the market. Once the companies become financially stable, they may expand to develop larger games. Most developers start small and gradually expand their business. A developer receiving profit from a successful title may store up capital to expand and re-factor their company, as well as tolerate more failed deadlines.


title: Video game development

text: An average development budget for a multiplatform game is US$18-28M, with high-profile games often exceeding $40M.


title: Video game development

text: In the early era of home computers and video game consoles in the early 1980s, a single programmer could handle almost all the tasks of developing a game — programming, graphical design, sound effects, etc. It could take as little as six weeks to develop a game. However, the high user expectations and requirements of modern commercial games far exceed the capabilities of a single developer and require the splitting of responsibilities. A team of over a hundred people can be employed full-time for a single project.


title: Video game development

text: Game development, production, or design is a process that starts from an idea or concept. Often the idea is based on a modification of an existing game concept. The game idea may fall within one or several genres. Designers often experiment with different combinations of genres. A game designer generally writes an initial game proposal document, that describes the basic concept, gameplay, feature list, setting and story, target audience, requirements and schedule, and finally staff and budget estimates. Different companies have different formal procedures and philosophies regarding game design and development. There is no standardized development method; however commonalities exist.


title: Video game development

text: A game developer may range from a single individual to a large multinational company. There are both independent and publisher-owned studios. Independent developers rely on financial support from a game publisher. They usually have to develop a game from concept to prototype without external funding. The formal game proposal is then submitted to publishers, who may finance the game development from several months to years. The publisher would retain exclusive rights to distribute and market the game and would often own the intellectual property rights for the game franchise. Publisher's company may also own the developer's company, or it may have internal development studio(s). Generally the publisher is the one who owns the game's intellectual property rights.


title: Video game development

text: All but the smallest developer companies work on several titles at once. This is necessary because of the time taken between shipping a game and receiving royalty payments, which may be between 6 and 18 months. Small companies may structure contracts, ask for advances on royalties, use shareware distribution, employ part-time workers and use other methods to meet payroll demands.


title: Video game development

text: Console manufacturers, such as Microsoft, Nintendo, or Sony, have a standard set of technical requirements that a game must conform to in order to be approved. Additionally, the game concept must be approved by the manufacturer, who may refuse to approve certain titles.


title: Video game development

text: Most modern PC or console games take from three to five years to complete., where as a mobile game can be developed in a few months. The length of development is influenced by a number of factors, such as genre, scale, development platform and number of assets.


title: Video game development

text: Some games can take much longer than the average time frame to complete. An infamous example is 3D Realms' "Duke Nukem Forever", announced to be in production in April 1997 and released fourteen years later in June 2011. Planning for Maxis' game "Spore" began in late 1999; the game was released nine years later in September 2008. The game "Prey" was briefly profiled in a 1997 issue of PC Gamer, but was not released until 2006, and only then in highly altered form. Finally, "Team Fortress 2" was in development from 1998 until its 2007 release, and emerged from a convoluted development process involving "probably three or four different games", according to Gabe Newell.


title: Video game development

text: The game revenue from retails is divided among the parties along the distribution chain, such as — developer, publisher, retail, manufacturer and console royalty. Many developers fail to profit from this and go bankrupt. Many developers seek alternative economic models through Internet marketing and distribution channels to improve returns., as through a mobile distribution channel the share of a developer can be up to 70% of the total revenue and through an online distribution channel owned by the developer almost 100%.


title: Video game development

text: The history of game making begins with the development of the first video games, although which video game is the first depends on the definition of "video game". The first games created had little entertainment value, and their development focus was separate from user experience—in fact, these games required mainframe computers to play them. "OXO", written by Alexander S. Douglas in 1952, was the first computer game to use a digital display. In 1958, a game called "Tennis for Two", which displayed its output on an oscilloscope, was made by Willy Higinbotham, a physicist working at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. In 1961, a mainframe computer game called "Spacewar!" was developed by a group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology students led by Steve Russell.


title: Video game development

text: True commercial design and development of games began in the 1970s, when arcade video games and first-generation consoles were marketed. In 1971, "Computer Space" was the first commercially sold, coin-operated video game. It used a black-and-white television for its display, and the computer system was made of 74 series TTL chips. In 1972, the first home console system was released called Magnavox Odyssey, developed by Ralph H. Baer. That same year, Atari released "Pong", an arcade game that increased video game popularity. The commercial success of "Pong" led other companies to develop "Pong" clones, spawning the video game industry.


title: Video game development

text: Programmers worked within the big companies to produce games for these devices. The industry did not see huge innovation in game design and a large number of consoles had very similar games. Many of these early games were often "Pong" clones. Some games were different, however, such as "Gun Fight", which was significant for several reasons: an early 1975 on-foot, multi-directional shooter, which depicted game characters, game violence, and human-to-human combat. Tomohiro Nishikado's original version was based on discrete logic, which Dave Nutting adapted using the Intel 8080, making it the first video game to use a microprocessor. Console manufacturers soon started to produce consoles that were able to play independently developed games, and ran on microprocessors, marking the beginning of second-generation consoles, beginning with the release of the Fairchild Channel F in 1976.


title: Video game development

text: The flood of "Pong" clones led to the video game crash of 1977, which eventually came to an end with the mainstream success of Taito's 1978 arcade shooter game "Space Invaders", marking the beginning of the golden age of arcade video games and inspiring dozens of manufacturers to enter the market. Its creator Nishikado not only designed and programmed the game, but also did the artwork, engineered the arcade hardware, and put together a microcomputer from scratch. It was soon ported to the Atari 2600, becoming the first "killer app" and quadrupling the console's sales. At the same time, home computers appeared on the market, allowing individual programmers and hobbyists to develop games. This allowed hardware manufacturer and software manufacturers to act separately. A very large number of games could be produced by an individual, as games were easy to make because graphical and memory limitation did not allow for much content. Larger companies developed, who focused selected teams to work on a title. The developers of many early home video games, such as "Zork", "Baseball", "Air Warrior", and "Adventure", later transitioned their work as products of the early video game industry.


title: Video game development

text: The industry expanded significantly at the time, with the arcade video game sector alone (representing the largest share of the gaming industry) generating higher revenues than both pop music and Hollywood films combined. The home video game industry, however, suffered major losses following the video game crash of 1983. In 1984 Jon Freeman warned in "Computer Gaming World":


title: Video game development

text: Chris Crawford and Don Daglow in 1987 similarly advised prospective designers to write games as a hobby first, and to not quit their existing jobs early. The home video game industry was revitalized soon after by the widespread success of the Nintendo Entertainment System.


title: Video game development

text: "Compute!'s Gazette" in 1986 stated that although individuals developed most early video games, "It's impossible for one person to have the multiple talents necessary to create a good game". By 1987 a video game required 12 months to develop and another six to plan marketing. Projects remained usually solo efforts, with single developers delivering finished games to their publishers. With the ever-increasing processing and graphical capabilities of arcade, console and computer products, along with an increase in user expectations, game design moved beyond the scope of a single developer to produce a marketable game. The "Gazette" stated, "The process of writing a game involves coming up with an original, entertaining concept, having the skill to bring it to fruition through good, efficient programming, and also being a fairly respectable artist". This sparked the beginning of team-based development. In broad terms, during the 1980s, pre-production involved sketches and test routines of the only developer. In the 1990s, pre-production consisted mostly of game art previews. In the early 2000s, pre-production usually produced a playable demo.


title: Video game development

text: In 2000 a 12 to 36 month development project was funded by a publisher for US$1M–3M. Additionally, $250k–1.5M were spent on marketing and sales development. In 2001, over 3000 games were released for PC; and from about 100 games turning profit only about 50 made significant profit. In the early 2000s it became increasingly common to use middleware game engines, such as Quake engine or Unreal engine.


title: Video game development

text: In the early 2000s, also mobile games started to gain popularity. However, mobile games distributed by mobile operators remained a marginal form of gaming until the Apple App Store was launched in 2008.


title: Video game development

text: In 2005, a mainstream console video game cost from US$3M to $6M to develop. Some games cost as much as $20M to develop. In 2006 the profit from a console game sold at retail was divided among parties of distribution chain as follows: developer (13%), publisher (32%), retail (32%), manufacturer (5%), console royalty (18%). In 2008 a developer would retain around 17% of retail price and around 85% if sold online.


title: Video game development

text: Since the third generation of consoles, the home video game industry has constantly increased and expanded. The industry revenue has increased at least five-fold since the 1990s. In 2007, the software portion of video game revenue was $9.5 billion, exceeding that of the movie industry.


title: Video game development

text: The Apple App Store, introduced in 2008, was the first mobile application store operated directly by the mobile platform holder. It significantly changed the consumer behaviour more favourable for downloading mobile content and quickly broadened the markets of mobile games.


title: Video game development

text: In 2009 games' market annual value was estimated between $7–30 billion, depending on which sales figures are included. This is on par with films' box office market. A publisher would typically fund an independent developer for $500k–$5M for a development of a title. In 2012, the total value had already reached $66.3 billion and by then the video game markets were no longer dominated by console games. According to Newzoo, the share of MMO's was 19.8%, PC/MAC's 9.8%, tablets' 3.2%, smartphones 10.6%, handhelds' 9.8%, consoles' only 36.7% and online casual games 10.2%. The fastest growing market segments being mobile games with an average annual rate of 19% for smartphones and 48% for tablets.


title: Video game development

text: In the past several years, many developers opened and many closed down. Each year a number of developers are acquired by larger companies or merge with existing companies. For example, in 2007 Blizzard Entertainment's parent company, Vivendi Games merged with Activision. In 2008 Electronic Arts nearly acquired Take-Two Interactive. In 2009 Midway Games was acquired by Time-Warner and Eidos Interactive merged with Square Enix.


title: Video game development

text: Development is overseen by internal and external producers. The producer working for the developer is known as the "internal producer" and manages the development team, schedules, reports progress, hires and assigns staff, and so on. The producer working for the publisher is known as the "external producer" and oversees developer progress and budget. Producer's responsibilities include PR, contract negotiation, liaising between the staff and stakeholders, schedule and budget maintenance, quality assurance, beta test management, and localization. This role may also be referred to as "project manager", "project lead", or "director".


title: Video game development

text: A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by an external video game developer. As with book publishers or publishers of DVD movies, video game publishers are responsible for their product's manufacturing and marketing, including market research and all aspects of advertising.


title: Video game development

text: They usually finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer (the publisher calls this external development) and sometimes by paying an internal staff of developers called a studio. Consequently, they also typically own the IP of the game. Large video game publishers also distribute the games they publish, while some smaller publishers instead hire distribution companies (or larger video game publishers) to distribute the games they publish.


title: Video game development

text: Other functions usually performed by the publisher include deciding on and paying for any license that the game may utilize; paying for localization; layout, printing, and possibly the writing of the user manual; and the creation of graphic design elements such as the box design.


title: Video game development

text: Large publishers may also attempt to boost efficiency across all internal and external development teams by providing services such as sound design and code packages for commonly needed functionality.


title: Video game development

text: Because the publisher usually finances development, it usually tries to manage development risk with a staff of producers or project managers to monitor the progress of the developer, critique ongoing development, and assist as necessary. Most video games created by an external video game developer are paid for with periodic advances on royalties. These advances are paid when the developer reaches certain stages of development, called milestones.


title: Video game development

text: Independent video game developers create games without a publisher and may choose to digitally distribute their games.


title: Video game development

text: Developers can range in size from small groups making casual games to housing hundreds of employees and producing several large titles. Companies divide their subtasks of game's development. Individual job titles may vary; however, roles are the same within the industry. The development team consists of several members. Some members of the team may handle more than one role; similarly more than one task may be handled by the same member. Team size can vary from 3 to 100 or more members, depending on the game's scope. The most represented are artists, followed by programmers, then designers, and finally, audio specialists, with one to three producers in management. Many teams also include a dedicated writer with expertise in video game writing. These positions are employed full-time. Other positions, such as testers, may be employed only part-time. Use of contractors for art, programming, and writing is standard within the industry. Salaries for these positions vary depending on both the experience and the location of the employee.


title: Video game development

text: A game designer is a person who designs gameplay, conceiving and designing the rules and structure of a game. Development teams usually have a lead designer who coordinates the work of other designers. They are the main visionary of the game. One of the roles of a designer is being a writer, often employed part-time to conceive game's narrative, dialogue, commentary, cutscene narrative, journals, video game packaging content, hint system, etc. In larger projects, there are often separate designers for various parts of the game, such as, game mechanics, user interface, characters, dialogue, graphics, etc.


title: Video game development

text: A game artist is a visual artist who creates video game art. The art production is usually overseen by an "art director" or "art lead", making sure their vision is followed. The art director manages the art team, scheduling and coordinating within the development team.


title: Video game development

text: The artist's job may be 2D oriented or 3D oriented. "2D artists" may produce concept art, sprites, textures, environmental backdrops or terrain images, and user interface. "3D artists" may produce models or meshes, animation, 3D environment, and cinematics. Artists sometimes occupy both roles.


title: Video game development

text: A game programmer is a software engineer who primarily develops video games or related software (such as game development tools). The game's codebase development is handled by programmers. There are usually one to several lead programmers, who implement the game's starting codebase and overview future development and programmer allocation on individual modules. An entry-level programmer can make, on average, around $70,000 annually and an experienced programmer can make, on average, around $125,000 annually.


title: Video game development

text: A level designer is a person who creates levels, challenges or missions for video games using a specific set of programs. These programs may be commonly available commercial 3D or 2D design programs, or specially designed and tailored level editors made for a specific game.


title: Video game development

text: Level designers work with both incomplete and complete versions of the game. Game programmers usually produce level editors and design tools for the designers to use. This eliminates the need for designers to access or modify game code. Level editors may involve custom high-level scripting languages for interactive environments or AIs. As opposed to the level editing tools sometimes available to the community, level designers often work with placeholders and prototypes aiming for consistency and clear layout before required artwork is completed.


title: Video game development

text: Sound engineers are technical professionals responsible for sound effects and sound positioning. They are sometimes involved in creating haptic feedback, as was the case with the Returnal game sound team at PlayStation Studios Creative Arts' in London.


title: Video game development

text: They sometimes oversee voice acting and other sound asset creation. Composers who create a game's musical score also comprise a game's sound team, though often this work is outsourced.


title: Video game development

text: The quality assurance is carried out by game testers. A game tester analyzes video games to document software defects as part of a quality control. Testing is a highly technical field requiring computing expertise, and analytic competence.


title: Video game development

text: The testers ensure that the game falls within the proposed design: it both works and is entertaining.This involves testing of all features, compatibility, localization, etc. Although, necessary throughout the whole development process, testing is expensive and is often actively utilized only towards the completion of the project.


title: Video game development

text: Game development is a software development process, as a video game is software with art, audio, and gameplay. Formal software development methods are often overlooked. Games with poor development methodology are likely to run over budget and time estimates, as well as contain a large number of bugs. Planning is important for individual and group projects alike.


title: Video game development

text: Overall game development is not suited for typical software life cycle methods, such as the waterfall model.


title: Video game development

text: One method employed for game development is agile development. It is based on iterative prototyping, a subset of software prototyping. Agile development depends on feedback and refinement of game's iterations with gradually increasing feature set. This method is effective because most projects do not start with a clear requirement outline. A popular method of agile software development is Scrum.


title: Video game development

text: Another successful method is Personal Software Process (PSP) requiring additional training for staff to increase awareness of project's planning. This method is more expensive and requires commitment of team members. PSP can be extended to Team Software Process, where the whole team is self-directing.


title: Video game development

text: Game development usually involves an overlap of these methods. For example, asset creation may be done via waterfall model, because requirements and specification are clear, but gameplay design might be done using iterative prototyping.


title: Video game development

text: "Pre-production" or "design phase" is a planning phase of the project focused on idea and concept development and production of initial design documents. The goal of concept development is to produce clear and easy to understand documentation, which describes all the tasks, schedules and estimates for the development team. The suite of documents produced in this phase is called production plan. This phase is usually not funded by a publisher, however good publishers may require developers to produce plans during pre-production.


title: Video game development

text: The concept documentation can be separated into three stages or documents—high concept, pitch and concept; however, there is no industry standard naming convention, for example, both Bethke (2003) and Bates (2004) refer to "pitch document" as "game proposal", yet Moore, Novak (2010) refers to "concept document" as "game proposal".


title: Video game development

text: The late stage of pre-production may also be referred to as "proof of concept", or "technical review" when more detailed game documents are produced.


title: Video game development

text: "High concept" is a brief description of a game. The high concept is the one-or two-sentence response to the question, "What is your game about?".


title: Video game development

text: A "pitch", "concept document", proposal document, or "game proposal" is a short summary document intended to present the game's selling points and detail why the game would be profitable to develop.


title: Video game development

text: Verbal pitches may be made to management within the developer company, and then presented to publishers. A written document may need to be shown to publishers before funding is approved. A game proposal may undergo one to several "green-light meetings" with publisher executives who determine if the game is to be developed. The presentation of the project is often given by the game designers. Demos may be created for the pitch; however may be unnecessary for established developers with good track records.


title: Video game development

text: If the developer acts as its own publisher, or both companies are subsidiaries of a single company, then only the upper management needs to give approval.


title: Video game development

text: "Concept document", "game proposal", or "game plan" is a more detailed document than the pitch document. This includes all the information produced about the game. This includes the high concept, game's genre, gameplay description, features, setting, story, target audience, hardware platforms, estimated schedule, marketing analysis, team requirements, and risk analysis.


title: Video game development

text: Before an approved design is completed, a skeleton crew of programmers and artists usually begins work. Programmers may develop quick-and-dirty prototypes showcasing one or more features that stakeholders would like to see incorporated in the final product. Artists may develop concept art and asset sketches as a springboard for developing real game assets. Producers may work part-time on the game at this point, scaling up for full-time commitment as development progresses. Game producers work during pre-production is related to planning the schedule, budget and estimating tasks with the team. The producer aims to create a solid production plan so that no delays are experienced at the start of the production.


title: Video game development

text: Before a full-scale production can begin, the development team produces the first version of a game design document incorporating all or most of the material from the initial pitch. The design document describes the game's concept and major gameplay elements in detail. It may also include preliminary sketches of various aspects of the game. The design document is sometimes accompanied by functional prototypes of some sections of the game. The design document remains a living document throughout the development—often changed weekly or even daily.


title: Video game development

text: Writing prototypes of gameplay ideas and features is an important activity that allows programmers and game designers to experiment with different algorithms and usability scenarios for a game. A great deal of prototyping may take place during pre-production before the design document is complete and may, in fact, help determine what features the design specifies. Prototyping at this stage is often done manually, (paper prototyping), not digitally, as this is often easier and faster to test and make changes before wasting time and resources into what could be a canceled idea or project. Prototyping may also take place during active development to test new ideas as the game emerges.


title: Video game development

text: Prototypes are often meant only to act as a proof of concept or to test ideas, by adding, modifying or removing some of the features. Most algorithms and features debuted in a prototype may be ported to the game once they have been completed.


title: Video game development

text: Often prototypes need to be developed quickly with very little time for up-front design (around 15 to 20 minutes of testing). Therefore, usually very prolific programmers are called upon to quickly code these testbed tools. RAD tools may be used to aid in the quick development of these programs. In case the prototype is in a physical form, programmers and designers alike will make the game with paper, dice, and other easy to access tools in order to make the prototype faster.


title: Video game development

text: A successful development model is iterative prototyping, where design is refined based on current progress. There are various technology available for video game development


title: Video game development

text: Mainstream production is usually defined as the period of time when the project is fully staffed. Programmers write new source code, artists develop game assets, such as, sprites or 3D models. Sound engineers develop sound effects and composers develop music for the game. Level designers create levels, and writers write dialogue for cutscenes and NPCs. Game designers continue to develop the game's design throughout production.


title: Video game development

text: Game design is an essential and collaborative process of designing the content and rules of a game, requiring artistic and technical competence as well as writing skills. Creativity and an open mind is vital for the completion of a successful video game.


title: Video game development

text: During development, the game designer implements and modifies the game design to reflect the current vision of the game. Features and levels are often removed or added. The art treatment may evolve and the backstory may change. A new platform may be targeted as well as a new demographic. All these changes need to be documented and disseminated to the rest of the team. Most changes occur as updates to the design document.


title: Video game development

text: The programming of the game is handled by one or more game programmers. They develop prototypes to test ideas, many of which may never make it into the final game. The programmers incorporate new features demanded by the game design and fix any bugs introduced during the development process. Even if an off-the-shelf game engine is used, a great deal of programming is required to customize almost every game.


title: Video game development

text: From a time standpoint, the game's first level takes the longest to develop. As level designers and artists use the tools for level building, they request features and changes to the in-house tools that allow for quicker and higher quality development. Newly introduced features may cause old levels to become obsolete, so the levels developed early on may be repeatedly developed and discarded. Because of the dynamic environment of game development, the design of early levels may also change over time. It is not uncommon to spend upwards of twelve months on one level of a game developed over the course of three years. Later levels can be developed much more quickly as the feature set is more complete and the game vision is clearer and more stable.


title: Video game development

text: During development, artists make art assets according to specifications given by the designers. Early in production, concept artists make concept art to guide the artistic direction of the game, rough art is made for prototypes, and the designers work with artists to design the visual style and visual language of the game. As production goes on, more final art is made, and existing art is edited based on player feedback.


title: Video game development

text: Sound effect production is the production of sounds by either tweaking a sample to a desired effect or replicating it with real objects. Sound effects include UI sound design, which effectively conveys information both for visible UI elements and as an auditory display. It provides sonic feedback for in-game interfaces, as well as contributing to the overall game aesthetic. Sound effects are important and impact the game's delivery.


title: Video game development

text: Quality assurance of a video game product plays a significant role throughout the development cycle of a game, though comes more significantly into play as the game nears completion. Unlike other software products or productivity applications, video games are fundamentally meant to entertain, and thus the testing of video games is more focused on the end-user experience rather than the accuracy of the software code's performance, which leads to differences in how game software is developed.