title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: India was considered by Kennedy to be important not just in its own right, but also because an Indian diplomat always served as the chief commissioner of the International Control Commission (ICC), and thus in this way, Galbraith came to be involved in American policy towards Southeast Asia from his perch as an ambassador in New Delhi. In 1961, when Kennedy considered intervening in the civil war in Laos, Galbraith strongly advised him not to, warning him that the disaster of the Bay of Pigs invasion had been caused by Kennedy taking the advice offered by the hawkish Joint Chiefs of Staff who had assured him that the invasion could not fail and were now saying the same about the proposed intervention in Laos. Galbraith also noted that the ICC was also responsible for Laos as well as the two Vietnams, and he had Nehru's word that the Indian diplomats on the ICC were willing to serve as honest brokers for a peace deal to make Laos neutral in the Cold War.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In May 1961, the Indian ICC members had been able to broker a ceasefire in Laos and Kennedy decided to go for the neutralization option instead of war. During the talks in Geneva to discuss a solution to the Lao crisis, the chief American delegate, W. Averell Harriman, discovered the Chinese foreign minister, Chen Yi, was willing to meet him in private. However, Rusk forbade Harriman to talk to Chen under any conditions, fearful of Republican attacks against the Democrat Kennedy if the meetings should come out to the media, causing Harriman to explode in rage that in World War Two, Roosevelt had allowed him to meet whoever was necessary. Unable to change Rusk's mind, Harriman appealed to Galbraith who in his turn appealed to Kennedy. Kennedy granted permission for Harriman to meet Chen, provided that it was done under the strictest secrecy, but by that time, Chen had returned to Beijing. In May 1961, when Vice President Lyndon Johnson visited India, Galbraith had the duty of escorting him around various sites in India and attempting to explain some of his Texas mannerisms such as his shouts of "yee-hah!" that he made when he saw the Taj Mahal, which confused the Indians.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: From the embassy in New Delhi, Galbraith emerged as a critic about the increasing American involvement in Vietnam. In November 1961, Galbraith visited South Vietnam, where he presented an unflattering picture of the regime of President Ngo Dinh Diem saying "we are now married to failure" and advised finding a new South Vietnamese leader, saying "nothing succeeds like successors". In May 1962, Galbraith cabled Kennedy, stating that according to the most recent statements made by the Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, President Diem of South Vietnam had about 170,000 men under arms at present, while claiming that his country was in major danger from 20,000 lightly armed Viet Cong guerrillas. Galbraith proceeded to do a statistical comparison, under he which calculated that in proportional terms, Diem had an army that was approximately the ratio to the population that was equivalent to that of the U.S Army to the American people after the Civil War, while the Viet Cong had a ratio equivalent to that of the Sioux vs the American people, leading Galbraith to sarcastically ask why Diem needed more American support. He concluded his cable to Kennedy: "Incidentally, who is the man in your administration who decides what countries are strategic? I would like to have his name and address and ask him what is so important about this real estate in the Space Age".


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In January 1963, when the Polish Foreign Minister Adam Rapacki visited New Delhi, Galbraith met with him to declare to him his "despair" about Kennedy's Vietnam policies and to ask that Poland as one of the three members of the ICC try help find a diplomatic solution to the Vietnam war. Galbraith told Rapacki that he favored an agreement to neutralize the two Vietnams similar to the neutralization agreement signed for Laos in 1962. On February 5, 1963 Przemysław Ogrodziński, the Polish ambassador in New Delhi, was ordered by his superiors in Warsaw: "As far as the Vietnam matter, we are discussing it. It was received with interest. Deliberations will continue. As for now, we suggest inviting Galbraith to lunch and sounding [him] out, without committing ourselves, in order for him to see that we are looking into this matter".


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: Although Galbraith had acted on his own in approaching Rapacki, he had some support from Kennedy, who told him "to pursue the subject immediately." This was the origin of the "Maneli affair", named after Mieczysław Maneli, the Polish Commissioner to the ICC who, together with Ramchundur Goburdhun, the Indian Commissioner on the ICC, approached leaders in both North and South Vietnam with a proposal to make both Vietnams neutral in the Cold War.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: On April 1, 1963, Galbraith flew to Washington to discuss the peace proposal with Kennedy, where he was told by the president "to be prepared to seize upon any favorable moment to reduce our commitment [in Vietnam]", though it "might yet be some time away." In September 1963, Maneli met with Ngô Đình Nhu, the younger brother and right-hand man of President Diem, to discuss neutralization, a meeting that was leaked to the right-wing American columnist Joseph Alsop. At that point Kennedy lost interest in the "Maneli affair", instead deciding to back an alternative option he had been considering since August: a coup against the Ngo brothers.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: While in India, he helped establish one of the first computer science departments, at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. (Even after leaving office, Galbraith remained a friend and supporter of India.)


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: Because of his recommendation, First Lady of the United States Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy undertook her 1962 diplomatic missions in India and Pakistan.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: After leaving the American embassy in India, Galbraith continued to advise Johnson, now president, against escalating American involvement in Vietnam. In 1965, he advised Johnson that he should "instruct officials and spokesmen to stop saying the future of mankind, the United States, and human liberty is being decided in Vietnam. It isn't; this merely builds up a difficult problem out of all proportion. It is also terrible politics". During the 1966 Buddhist crisis in South Vietnam, Galbraith wrote Johnson a letter on April 3 saying he now had "an opportunity only the God-fearing deserve and only the extremely lucky get", saying that if the government of Air Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ should fall, Johnson should use the occasion to pull all Americans out of Vietnam.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: On June 16, 1966, Galbraith offered to write Johnson a speech that would set out an orderly withdrawal of American forces over the next year. Galbraith advised Johnson the beginning of the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" in China represented an opportunity for a diplomatic settlement of the Vietnam war, predicting that Mao Zedong would lose interest in Vietnam now that he had launched his Cultural Revolution. The National Security Adviser, W.W. Rostow, wrote the reply to Galbraith that was signed by Johnson, curtly declaring: "I have never doubted your talent for political craftsmanship, and I am sure you could devise a script that would appear to justify our taking an unjustifiable course in South Vietnam". On June 28, 1966, Galbraith made his final attempt to change Johnson's mind, warning that the Vietnam War would ruin his presidency and that he should stop taking the advice of Rostow. Galbraith stated that Johnson had the potential to be one of the greatest presidents if only he find a way out of Vietnam, and concluded: "The people who want to invest more and more in this war have nothing to lose. They will end up working for a foundation".


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In 1966, when he was no longer ambassador, he told the United States Senate that one of the main causes of the 1965 Kashmir war was American military aid to Pakistan.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In early 1968, Galbraith endorsed Senator Eugene McCarthy, who ran against Johnson on an anti-war platform. During the New Hampshire Democratic primary, Galbraith toured the Granite State, giving pro-McCarthy speeches in churches, union halls, campuses and house parties. As McCarthy had the reputation of being strange and frivolous, Galbraith's support and campaigning for him was important, as McCarthy needed the endorsement of mainstream figures to give him credibility. When the New Hampshire Democratic primary was held on March 12, 1968, Johnson defeated McCarthy by only about 300 votes, a humiliation for an incumbent president with a well funded campaign running against a senator widely considered to be too eccentric to be president, and who had only a fraction of the campaign money that Johnson had. Through Johnson won the primary, the very narrow margin of his victory was widely considered to be a defeat. On the night of the primary, Galbraith celebrated the result at McCarthy campaign headquarters as if it were an outright victory. The day after the New Hampshire primary, Galbraith was widely cheered by his students when he entered his lecture hall at Harvard.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: The results of the New Hampshire primary showed that Johnson was vulnerable. On March 16, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy announced he was entering the presidential race. Kennedy asked Galbraith to withdraw his endorsement of McCarthy and to endorse him instead, a request that Galbraith refused. The historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., who campaigned with Galbraith in New Hampshire for McCarthy, switched his support to Kennedy, on the grounds that Kennedy was a far more electable candidate than the eccentric McCarthy, a man most people found to be too silly to be president. Schlesinger strongly urged Galbraith to support Kennedy, but Galbraith chose to continue to campaign for McCarthy, partly because McCarthy's liberalism was closer to his own politics, and partly out of a personal revulsion for Kennedy, who had only opportunistically entered the presidential race when it became clear that Johnson was not invincible. Galbraith had been friends with John Kennedy, but his relations with Robert were more difficult, as Galbraith found Robert too rigid, utterly convinced that he was always right. Galbraith later said that with Robert Kennedy "You were either for the cause or against it, with the Kennedys or a leper".


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: After Kennedy was assassinated, McCarthy became so depressed that he almost dropped out of the election, and Galbraith visited several times to urge him to continue, through Galbraith later admitted "...I don't believe Eugene McCarthy's heart was ever wholly in the battle". At the chaotic and violent Democratic National Convention in August 1968 in Chicago, Galbraith attended as the floor manager for the McCarthy campaign. Amid what was later called a "police riot", as the Chicago police fought in the streets with anti-Vietnam war protesters, Galbraith held an impromptu speech outside the Hilton Hotel before a group of demonstrators, urging them to reject violence and to have patience, while assuring them that the American system was capable of reform and change. Galbraith pointed to the armed Illinois National Guardsmen standing in the background and said that they, unlike the Chicago police, were not the enemy, as he maintained that most of the young men who joined the Illinois National Guard had only done so to avoid being drafted to fight in Vietnam. After finishing his speech, a National Guard sergeant approached Galbraith, who froze up in fear as he believed he was about to be arrested. Instead the sergeant wanted to shake hands, saying: "Thank you, sir. That was the first nice thing anyone has said about us all week".


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: At the convention, supporters of Johnson challenged Galbraith's right to serve as a delegate, and sought to expel him from the building. Galbraith quarreled with Johnson supporters on the convention floor as he sought to add a peace plank to the Democratic platform, which Johnson saw as an insult to himself, and ordered the delegates to reject. The Mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley, a Johnson supporter, had imposed such stringent security conditions that it was impossible to walk across the convention hall without jostling somebody else, which added to the tension of the convention as pro-war and anti-war Democrats fiercely argued about the platform, all of which was captured live on national television. Adding to the tension were televisions on the convention floor that showed what was happening outside, as the Chicago police attacked and beat anti-war demonstrators. On Daley's orders, the Chicago police searched Galbraith's room at the Hilton hotel, alleging that he was hiding anti-war protesters. None were found. After Vice President Hubert Humphrey won the Democratic nomination, Galbraith reluctantly endorsed Humphrey as preferable to the Republican candidate, Richard Nixon.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In autumn 1972, Galbraith was an adviser and assistant to Nixon's rival candidate, Senator George McGovern, in the election campaign for the American presidency. During this time (September 1972) he travelled to China in his role as president of the American Economic Association (AEA) at the invitation of Mao Zedong's communist government, together with fellow economists Wassily Leontief and James Tobin. In 1973, Galbraith published an account of his experiences in "A China Passage", writing that there was "no serious doubt that China is devising a highly effective economic system," "[d]issidents are brought firmly into line in China, but, one suspects, with great politeness," and "Greater Shanghai ... has a better medical service than New York,". He considered it not implausible that Chinese industrial and agricultural output was expanding annually at a rate of 10 to 11%.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In 1972 he served as president of the American Economic Association. The "Journal of Post Keynesian Economics" benefited from Galbraith's support and he served as the chairman of its board from its beginning.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: During the shooting of "The World at War", a British television documentary series (1973–74), Galbraith described his experiences in the Roosevelt war administration. Among other things, he spoke about the initial confusion during the first meeting of the major departmental leaders about kapok and its use. Galbraith also talked about rationing and especially about trickery during fuel allocation.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In December 1977, he met the Palauan senator Roman Tmetuchl and eventually became an unpaid adviser to the Palau Political Status Commission. He advocated for minimal financial requirement and infrastructure projects. In 1979 he addressed Palau's legislature and participated in a seminar for the delegates to the Palau Constitutional Convention. He became the first person to earn honorary citizenship of Palau.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In 1984, he visited the USSR, writing that the Soviet economy had made "great material progress" as, "in contrast to Western industrial economy," the USSR "makes full use of its manpower."


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In 1985, the American Humanist Association named him the Humanist of the Year. The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) conferred its 1987 Award for Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In 1997 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2000 he was awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom. He also was awarded an honorary doctorate from Memorial University of Newfoundland at the fall convocation of 1999, another contribution to the impressive collection of approximately fifty academic honorary degrees bestowed upon Galbraith. In 2000, he was awarded the Leontief Prize for his outstanding contribution to economic theory by the Global Development and Environment Institute. The library in his hometown of Dutton, Ontario was renamed the "John Kenneth Galbraith Reference Library" in honor of his attachment to the library and his contributions to the new building.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: On April 29, 2006, Galbraith died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, of natural causes at the age of 97, after a two-week stay in a hospital. He is interred at Indian Hill Cemetery in Middletown, Connecticut.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: On September 17, 1937, Galbraith married Catherine Merriam Atwater, whom he met while she was a Radcliffe graduate student. Their marriage lasted for 68 years. The Galbraiths resided in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and had a summer home in Townshend, VT. They had four sons: J. Alan Galbraith is a partner in the Washington, DC, law firm Williams & Connolly; Douglas Galbraith died in childhood of leukemia; Peter W. Galbraith has been an American diplomat who served as Ambassador to Croatia and is a commentator on American foreign policy, particularly in the Balkans and the Middle East; James K. Galbraith is a progressive economist at the University of Texas at Austin Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. The Galbraiths also had ten grandchildren.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: A memorial plaque stands adjoining a stone inukshuk overlooking the Galbraith family farm on the Thompson (Hogg) Line just east of Willey Road, just north of the one room school he attended. The family home—a large white farm house—still stands, as do many of the original farm buildings.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: Even before becoming a president of the American Economic Association, Galbraith was considered as an iconoclast by many economists. This is partly because he rejected the technical analysis and mathematical modelling of neoclassical economics as being divorced from reality. Following Thorstein Veblen, he believed that economic activity could not be distilled into inviolable laws, but rather was a complex product of the cultural and political milieu in which it occurs. In particular, he posited that important factors, such as the separation between corporate ownership and management, oligopoly, and the influence of government and military spending had been largely neglected by most economists because they are not amenable to axiomatic descriptions. In this sense, he worked as much in political economy as in classical economics.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: His work included several best selling books throughout the fifties and sixties. His major contribution to the field of economics is the so-called "American capitalism" trilogy: The "Affluent Society" (1958), "The New Industrial State" (1967), and "Economics and the Public Purpose" (1973). Written in a clear and concise style, they were comprehensible to lay readers, not just economists.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: After his retirement from Harvard as the Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics, Emeritus, he remained in the public spotlight by continuing to write 21 new books, as well as completing a script in 1977 for a major series on economics for PBS and BBC television—"The Age of Uncertainty", broadcast in 38 countries.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In addition to his books, he wrote hundreds of essays and a number of novels. Among his novels, "A Tenured Professor" achieved particular critical acclaim. Galbraith wrote book reviews, e.g., of "The Report from Iron Mountain on the Possibility and Desirability of Peace", a 1967 political satire, under the pen name of "Herschel McLandress", a name of a fictional Scottish mentor featured in the "Tenured Professor". He also used the pseudonym, Mark Épernay, when he published "The McLandress Dimension" in 1963.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: Galbraith was an important figure in 20th-century institutional economics, and provided an exemplary "institutionalist" perspective on economic power. Among his numerous writings, Galbraith cherished "The New Industrial State" and "The Affluent Society" as his two best. As for the later works, economist and Galbraith friend Mike Sharpe visited him in 2004, on which occasion Galbraith gave Sharpe a copy of what would be Galbraith's last book, "The Economics of Innocent Fraud". Galbraith confided in Sharpe that "this is my best book", an assertion Galbraith delivered "a little mischievously."


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: After the beginning of the Great Recession of 2008, Galbraith's "The Great Crash, 1929" (1955) and other books containing warnings about the dangers of an unrestrained speculative mood without proper government oversight found an attentive readership again. In 2010, the Library of America published a new edition of Galbraith's major works, edited by his son, James K. Galbraith: "The Affluent Society & Other Writings, 1952–1967": "American Capitalism", "The Great Crash, 1929", "The Affluent Society", and "The New Industrial State". On this occasion, Bill Moyers interviewed James K. Galbraith about his father, his works, and his legacy.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In "American Capitalism: The Concept of Countervailing Power", published in 1952, Galbraith concluded that the American economy was managed by a triumvirate of big business, big labor, and an activist government. Galbraith defined the actions of the industry lobby groups and unions as "countervailing power". He contrasted this arrangement with the period prior to the previous Depression, when big business had relatively free rein over the economy.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: His 1955 bestseller "The Great Crash, 1929" describes the Wall Street meltdown of stock prices and how markets progressively become decoupled from reality in a speculative boom. The book is also a platform for Galbraith's humor and keen insights into human behavior when wealth is threatened. It has never been out of print.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In "The Affluent Society" (1958), which became a bestseller, Galbraith outlined his view that to become successful, post–World War II America should make large investments in items such as highways and education, using funds from general taxation.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: Galbraith also critiqued the assumption that continually increasing material production is a sign of economic and societal health. Because of this Galbraith is sometimes considered one of the first post-materialists. In this book, he popularized the old phrase "conventional wisdom". Galbraith worked on the book while in Switzerland and had originally titled it "Why The Poor Are Poor", but changed it to "The Affluent Society" at his wife's suggestion. "The Affluent Society" contributed (likely to a significant degree, given that Galbraith had the ear of President Kennedy) to the "war on poverty", the government spending policy introduced by the administrations of Kennedy and Johnson.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In 1966, Galbraith was invited by the BBC to present the Reith Lectures, a series of radio broadcasts, which he titled "The New Industrial State". Across six broadcasts, he explored the economics of production and the effect large corporations could have over the state.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In the print edition of "The New Industrial State" (1967), Galbraith expanded his analysis of the role of power in economic life, arguing that very few industries in the United States fit the model of perfect competition. A central concept of the book is the revised sequence. The 'conventional wisdom' in economic thought portrays economic life as a set of competitive markets governed, ultimately, by the decisions of sovereign consumers. In this original sequence, the control of the production process flows from consumers of commodities to the organizations that produce those commodities. In the revised sequence, this flow is reversed and businesses exercise control over consumers by advertising and related salesmanship activities.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: The revised sequence concept applies only to the industrial system—that is, the manufacturing core of the economy in which each industry contains only a handful of very powerful corporations. It does not apply to the market system in the Galbraithian dual economy. In the market system, composed of the vast majority of business organizations, price competition remains the dominant form of social control. In the industrial system, however, composed of the 1,000 or so large corporations, competitive price theory obscures the relation to the price system of these large and powerful corporations. In Galbraith's view, the principal function of market relations in this industrial system is, not to constrain the power of the corporate behemoths, but to serve as an instrument for the implementation of their power. Moreover, the power of these corporations extends into commercial culture and politics, allowing them to exercise considerable influence upon popular social attitudes and value judgments. That this power is exercised in the shortsighted interest of expanding commodity production and the status of the few is both inconsistent with democracy and a barrier to achieving the quality of life that the new industrial state with its affluence could provide.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: "The New Industrial State" not only provided Galbraith with another best-selling book, it also extended once again, the currency of "institutionalist" economic thought. The book also filled a very pressing need in the late 1960s. The conventional theory of monopoly power in economic life maintains that the monopolist will attempt to restrict supply in order to maintain price above its competitive level. The social cost of this monopoly power is a decrease in both allocative efficiency and the equity of income distribution. This conventional economic analysis of the role of monopoly power did not adequately address popular concern about the large corporation in the late 1960s. The growing concern focused on the role of the corporation in politics, the damage done to the natural environment by an unmitigated commitment to economic growth, and the perversion of advertising and other pecuniary aspects of culture. "The New Industrial State" gave a plausible explanation of the power structure involved in generating these problems and found a very receptive audience among the rising American counterculture and political activists.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: A third related work was "Economics and the Public Purpose" (1973), in which he expanded on these themes by discussing, among other issues, the subservient role of women in the unrewarded management of ever-greater consumption, and the role of the technostructure in the large firm in influencing perceptions of sound economic policy aims.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In "A Short History of Financial Euphoria" (1990), he traces speculative bubbles through several centuries, and argues that they are inherent in the free market system because of "mass psychology" and the "vested interest in error that accompanies speculative euphoria." Also, financial memory is "notoriously short": what currently seems to be a "new financial instrument" is inevitably nothing of the sort. Galbraith cautions: "The world of finance hails the invention of the wheel over and over again, often in a slightly more unstable version." Crucial to his analysis is the assertion that the common factor in boom-and-bust is the creation of debt to finance speculation, which "becomes dangerously out of scale in relation to the underlying means of payment."


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: Galbraith's main ideas focused around the influence of the market power of large corporations. He believed that this market power weakened the widely accepted principle of consumer sovereignty, allowing corporations to be price makers, rather than price takers, allowing corporations with the strongest market power to increase the production of their goods beyond an efficient amount. He further believed that market power played a major role in inflation. He argued that corporations and trade unions could only increase prices to the extent that their market power allowed. He argued that in situations of excessive market power, price controls effectively controlled inflation, but cautioned against using them in markets that were basically efficient such as agricultural goods and housing. He noted that price controls were much easier to enforce in industries with relatively few buyers and sellers. Galbraith's view of market power was not entirely negative; he also noted that the power of US firms played a part in the success of the US economy.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: In "The Affluent Society" Galbraith asserts that classical economic theory was true for the eras before the present, which were times of "poverty"; now, however, we have moved from an age of poverty to an age of "affluence", and for such an age, a completely new economic theory is needed.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: Galbraith's main argument is that as society becomes relatively more affluent, private business must create consumer demand through advertising, and while this generates artificial affluence through the production of commercial goods and services, the public sector becomes neglected. He points out that while many Americans were able to purchase luxury items, their parks were polluted and their children attended poorly maintained schools. He argues that markets alone will under-provide (or fail to provide at all) for many public goods, whereas private goods are typically "over-provided" due to the process of advertising creating an artificial demand above the individual's basic needs. This emphasis on the power of advertising and consequent over-consumption may have anticipated the drop in savings rates in the US and elsewhere in the developing world.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: Galbraith proposed curbing the consumption of certain products through greater use of pigovian taxes and land value taxes, arguing that this could be more efficient than other forms of taxation, such as labor taxes. Galbraith's major proposal was a program he called "investment in men"—a large-scale, publicly funded education program aimed at empowering ordinary citizens.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: An International Symposium to honor John Kenneth Galbraith, sponsored by the l'Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale, Dunkerque and the Institut de Gestion Sociale, Paris, France, was held in September 2004 in Paris.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: A special issue "Commemorating John Kenneth Galbraith's Centenary" of the "Review of Political Economy" was dedicated in 2008 to Galbraith's contribution to economics.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: Three days before his death, Galbraith urged his son, economist James K. Galbraith, to "write a short book on corporate predation"; the younger Galbraith completed "The Predator State" in 2008.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: Galbraith's work in general, and "The Affluent Society" in particular, have drawn sharp criticism from laissez-faire supporters since the time of their publications. Neoliberal and Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman in "Friedman on Galbraith, and on curing the British disease" views Galbraith as a 20th-century version of the early-19th-century Tory radical of Great Britain. He asserts that Galbraith believes in the superiority of aristocracy and in its paternalistic authority, that consumers should not be allowed choice, and that all should be determined by those with "higher minds", commenting: "Many reformers—Galbraith is not alone in this—have as their basic objection to a free market that it frustrates them in achieving their reforms, because it enables people to have what they want, not what the reformers want. Hence every reformer has a strong tendency to be averse to a free market."


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Solow, in a review of "The New Industrial State", points at Galbraith's lack of empiricism and selectiveness in his use of evidence. He points out that "It may be unjust and pointless to consider the degree of literal truth of each of the assertions that make up this argument. One would hardly discuss Gulliver's Travels by debating whether there really are any little people, or criticize the Grande Jatte because objects aren't made up of tiny dots. Nevertheless, it may help to judge the truth of Galbraith's."


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: Richard Parker, in his biography, "John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Economics, His Politics", characterizes Galbraith as a more complex thinker. Galbraith's primary purpose in "Capitalism: The Concept of Countervailing Power" (1952) was, ironically, to show that big business was now necessary to the American economy to maintain the technological progress that drives economic growth. Galbraith knew that the "countervailing power", which included government regulation and collective bargaining, was necessary to balanced and efficient markets. In "The New Industrial State" (1967), Galbraith argued that the dominant American corporations had created a technostructure that closely controlled both consumer demand and market growth through advertising and marketing. While Galbraith defended government intervention, Parker notes that he also believed that government and big business worked together to maintain stability.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: Paul Krugman downplayed Galbraith's stature as an academic economist in 1994. In "Peddling Prosperity", he places Galbraith as one among many "policy entrepreneurs"—either economists, or think tank writers, left and right—who write solely for the public, as opposed to those who write for other academics, and who are, therefore, liable to make unwarranted diagnoses and offer over-simplistic answers to complex economic problems. Krugman asserts that Galbraith was never taken seriously by fellow academics, who instead viewed him as more of a "media personality". For example, Krugman believes that Galbraith's work, "The New Industrial State", is not considered to be "real economic theory", and that "Economics in Perspective" is "remarkably ill-informed".


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: Thomas Sowell wrote in his 1995 book "The Vision of the Anointed" that Galbraith was a notable "teflon prophet" alongside American biologist Paul R. Ehrlich, and institutes like the Club of Rome and Worldwatch Institute; they were utterly certain in their predictions, yet completely disproven empirically, though their reputations remained perfectly undamaged. Sowell first noted that in "The Affluent Society", Galbraith argued that discussions of income inequality in the United States appeared to be declining in urgency. However, Sowell contended that since 1958, the year Galbraith's book was written, preoccupation with income distribution had been at an all-time high. Next, Sowell criticized Galbraith's claims in "The Affluent Society" and "The New Industrial State" that large corporations are invincible to competition. Sowell refuted this claim by citing Toyota and Honda's takeover of the United States' automobile market at the expense of General Motors, the previously dominant and allegedly infallible car company. Sowell also pointed out the decline of "Life" magazine, the disappearances of W.T. Grant and Graflex, the folding of Pan American, the collapse of newspaper companies in cities all across the country, the near extinction of Chrysler, and overall, the displacement of almost half of the firms in 1980's Fortune 500 in the 1990 edition. Sowell's third point of refutation was against Galbraith's assertion in "The New Industrial State" that successful corporate management was immune to corporate shake-ups, Sowell penned that, in reality, heads were "rolling in corporate suites across the land". The fourth of Galbraith's claims that Sowell believed to not have stood up to the test of time is Galbraith's contemptuousness towards the idea of a lone entrepreneur starting up a new, powerful company; Sowell used multibillionaires Steve Jobs and Bill Gates as counterexamples.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: The first edition of "The Scotch" was published in the UK under two alternative titles: as "Made to Last" and "The Non-potable Scotch: A Memoir of the Clansmen in Canada". It was illustrated by Samuel H. Bryant. Galbraith's account of his boyhood environment in Elgin County in southern Ontario was added in 1963. He considered it his finest piece of writing.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: Galbraith memoir, "A Life in Our Times" was published in 1981. It contains discussion of his thoughts, his life, and his times. In 2004, the publication of an authorized biography, "John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics" by a friend and fellow progressive economist Richard Parker renewed interest in Galbraith's life journey and legacy.


title: John Kenneth Galbraith

text: John Kenneth Galbraith was one of the few people to receive both the World War II Medal of Freedom and the Presidential Medal of Freedom; respectively in 1946 from President Truman and in 2000 from President Bill Clinton. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1952 and the American Philosophical Society in 1980. He was a recipient of Lomonosov Gold Medal in 1993 for his contributions to science. He also was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1997 and, in 2001, awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, for his contributions to strengthening ties between India and the United States.


title: M. Bison

text: M. Bison, also known as the Dictator (for international tournaments), is a fictional character created by Capcom. First introduced in "", he is a recurring character in the "Street Fighter" series of fighting games, acting as one of the series' main antagonists.


title: M. Bison

text: A would-be world dictator and megalomaniac, M. Bison's ultimate ambition is to control the world's governments through his covert crime syndicate, . He hosts "Street Fighter II"s fighting tournament and is the last opponent fought in the game. Throughout the series, several characters—including Ryu, Guile, T. Hawk, Cammy, Rose and Chun-Li—have their personal vendettas against M. Bison and have entered the tournament in the hopes of facing him personally. M. Bison wields an inherently evil energy known as "Psycho Power", in contrast to Ryu and Ken's "Hadou".


title: M. Bison

text: Despite not appearing until the release of "Street Fighter II", Bison is widely considered to be the true main antagonist of the "Street Fighter" series, having filled the role in the "Street Fighter II" and "Street Fighter Alpha" series and "Street Fighter V" and acting as the force behind the events of the "Street Fighter IV" series, where the main villain, Seth, is revealed to have been Bison's unwitting pawn all along.


title: M. Bison

text: In a variety of media, Bison has been portrayed by Raul Julia, Neal McDonough and Silvio Simac and voiced by Tom Wyner, Richard Newman and Gerald C. Rivers. Julia was nominated for a posthumous Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.


title: M. Bison

text: In Japan, the character is named , derived from the star of the same name. However, during localization of "Street Fighter II" for the English language market, Capcom's North American branch felt that the name did not sound threatening enough to North American audiences for the game's final boss, and thus was more suitable for the Spanish cage fighter. At this same time, another concern arose that the name of another character, Mike Bison, conceived as a parody of real-life boxer Mike Tyson, would be a legal liability for Capcom. As a result, the characters' names were changed, and the game's final boss was dubbed M. Bison for international appearances of the character. Though the "M" originally stood for "Mike" in Japan (for the boxer character), Capcom has never explained what it stands for in Western releases, calling it "part of the character's mystery". Regardless, Bison has been addressed as Master Bison in "Street Fighter Alpha 3" repeatedly, as well as in the animated movie. In his introduction before a fight in "(Super) Street Fighter IV", he refers to himself as "The Mighty Bison". In endings in "Alpha 2", he is referred to by a henchman as Commander Bison. In "Street Fighter V", he is referred to by F.A.N.G. as Lord Bison.


title: M. Bison

text: When developing "", it was decided to give him a more muscular appearance, rather than have him resemble "a middle aged man", while his face was modified to appear somewhat demonic. This appearance was later carried onto the "Street Fighter Alpha" series, featured as his original appearance before the "Street Fighter II" series.


title: M. Bison

text: The first source of inspiration for M. Bison's design came from the character General Washizaki, one of the main villains of the popular martial arts manga "Riki-Oh". However the final realized concept (a shadowy mystic with a long, stony visage wearing 20th century East Asian military garb) is widely believed to be a homage to Yasunori Katō, the supernatural villain of the influential "Teito Monogatari" franchise.


title: M. Bison

text: Bison first appears in "Street Fighter II: The World Warrior" as the final computer-controlled opponent in the single-player mode, following the player's defeat of the other three Grand Masters. The battle takes place at a temple in Bangkok, Thailand in front of several monks, where he poses with his cape, which he throws off prior to battle. He became a playable character from "" and onward, while maintaining his position as the final boss until "Super Street Fighter II Turbo", in which a hidden character named Akuma defeats Bison and challenges the player as an alternate final boss, if certain gameplay conditions are met.


title: M. Bison

text: The storyline through the numerous versions of "Street Fighter II" characterizes Bison as the leader of a criminal organization called "Shadaloo" who sponsors the World Warrior tournament. A few characters who participate in the tournament have a personal vendetta against Bison. Chun-Li and Guile are both seeking to avenge the deaths of their loved ones (Chun-Li's father and Guile's best friend respectively), while T. Hawk wants to avenge both his homeland and his father, that were destroyed and devastated by the villain; the amnesiac Cammy, on the other hand, believes that Bison is connected to her past and learns in her ending that she was once one of his agents (changed to being lovers in the original English localization of the arcade, and then changed into being a DNA copy made for the purpose of impersonating him in the Game Boy Advance version).


title: M. Bison

text: Bison later appears in the "Street Fighter Alpha" trilogy, a prequel to the "Street Fighter II" series. In "Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams", Bison appears as the final boss for certain characters and a hidden playable character available via a code. Two characters with ties to Bison were introduced: Rose, a fortune teller with spiritual ties to Bison, whose Soul Power is the opposite of Bison's Psycho Power; and Charlie (Nash in Japan), Guile's deceased war buddy previously mentioned in "Street Fighter II", who seeks to track him down. Bison, as he appears in the Alpha games, fights wearing a cape, and gains a teleport and a projectile move. "Street Fighter Alpha 2", released the following year in 1996, follows the same plot as the original "Alpha", but features completely revamped endings. Bison is featured in this game as a playable character without any cheat codes required. In "Street Fighter Alpha 3", released in 1998, a powered-up version of M. Bison serves as the final boss of the game. He is the final boss for every character in the game except for Evil Ryu, whose final boss is Shin Akuma, and his final opponent is Ryu himself. Several revelations are made in this game, including the fact that Rose is the good half of Bison's soul and the fact that Cammy is a female clone of Bison. In the canonical story of "Alpha 3", Bison is revealed to be dying due to the strain of Psycho Power on his body and the only thing keeping him alive is his Psycho drive, which brings him to search for Ryu, whose body he has deemed worthy of possession due to Ryu's struggles against the Dark Hadou, which Bison believes will sustain him. In the story, depicted in more than one ending, Bison fights Ryu and very nearly possesses him, but Ryu, with his memories of Rose, Akuma, Sakura, Chun-Li and Ken, is able to counter Bison's Psycho Power with his Hadou and ultimately overcomes the warlord, while Rose punches a hole in Bison's body. Before he can be destroyed, Bison transfers his soul into Rose's body, rendering her unconscious before his body disintegrates. Rose's body is recovered by Guy while Bison is presumed dead. Similar endings apply to the game's other characters.


title: M. Bison

text: Bison returns in "Street Fighter IV", set between "Street Fighter II" and "Street Fighter III". The "Street Fighter IV Training Guide" reveals that Bison was destroyed by Akuma's Shun Goku Satsu and now inhabits a new body created for him by his scientists. Unlike his previous bodies, this one is capable of withstanding the full strength of his Psycho Power. In "Street Fighter IV", the main villain is Seth, an android previously created for Bison's soul to inhabit but went rogue and usurped the leadership of S.I.N., a subsidiary of Shadaloo. It is later revealed, however, that Bison is actually the true mastermind behind the game's events, and was secretly manipulating Seth to further his own agendas before revealing himself again. Ryu eventually destroys Seth once and for all, unknowingly allowing Bison to retake control of Shadaloo. Bison also appears in the sequels/updates, "Super Street Fighter IV" and "Ultra Street Fighter IV".


title: M. Bison

text: Bison appears in "Street Fighter V", set between "IV" and "III", where he is depicted with grey hair. Shadaloo enacts a plan known as "Operation C.H.A.I.N.S." in which seven artificial satellites known as the "Black Moons" are constructed to cause various cities around the world to lose power, thereby creating commotion which fuels Bison's Psycho Power due to negative emotions. When the plan is ultimately foiled, a resurrected Charlie sacrifices himself to weaken Bison, leaving Ryu to fight him one last time. After a fierce battle, Ryu finishes Bison once and for all with the Power of Nothingness, and his body disintegrates as he laughs at the irony, leaving only his cap behind to be buried under crumbling Shadaloo base. After his death, Bison becomes Phantom Bison, a ghost empowered by Psycho Power.


title: M. Bison

text: Bison appears at the halfway point for the Capcom vs SNK games as a mid-boss (along with Geese Howard) if the player has accumulated enough points. He has the psycho crusher as a standard attack and gains the kick throw from the EX series.


title: M. Bison

text: Bison also appears as a trading card in the handheld collectible card game "" (1999). Most recently, he was included as a playable character in "" (2003).


title: M. Bison

text: In some versions of "Street Fighter" games, the player will face an alternate version of M. Bison, usually as a computer controlled opponent in the games single-player mode. In "Street Fighter Alpha 3", a more powerful form of M. Bison with stronger abilities and fewer weaknesses appears as the final boss for every character except Evil Ryu, who fights Shin Akuma, and M. Bison himself, who fights Ryu. Should the player lose and not continue, an edited version of M. Bison's ending will play, and the game will end. There also are some minor differences with this form aside from damage output. His fierce punch attacks send out a wave of energy and his Psycho Crusher Super Combo fills the whole screen with a devastating streak of blue flames. This improved Psycho Crusher is much faster and stronger than its normal counterpart, cannot be blocked in the air, and inflicts severe damage even when blocked; it is the most powerful move in the game. The player is also able to choose this version of M. Bison as a 4th ISM, dubbed Shadaloo-ISM (or S-ISM), in the console versions of "Street Fighter Alpha 3", by choosing Bison with the select button.


title: M. Bison

text: In "Street Fighter EX2 Plus" for the arcade and PlayStation, another version of Bison appears called "Bison II" (or "Vega II") as a secret final opponent in single-player mode. If the player defeats the regular version of Bison at the end, Bison will resurrect himself as Bison II and challenge the player. Bison II can be distinguished from the regular version of Bison by the white-colored outfit he wears back in "EX2", and the background which changes to a colorful light stream coming out of the floor in a pure black room. In "EX3" he sports a black uniform, gold plates, and has orange-tinted skin. Like "Alpha 3" M. Bison, the player cannot continue after losing against Bison II in "EX2".


title: M. Bison

text: In "Street Fighter EX3", Bison II returns as a playable secret character. His move set is identical to that of his normal counterpart, with the exception of two additional "Psycho Cannon" attacks.


title: M. Bison

text: A third, computer-controlled only version of the character, known as "Shin-Bison" (or "True Vega"), is also included in "EX3". Shin-Bison appears with pale, purple-tinted skin, blue-green plates, and a white uniform. In addition to an overall speed increase, he has an infinite amount of SC energy, the ability to cancel most of his attacks, and a new Knee Press Nightmare "Meteor" combo where he creates three copies of himself, one above and two beside him, which gives the move a massive range boost. This incarnation is considered to be his most formidable.


title: M. Bison

text: In the "Street Fighter: The Movie" home video game, a super-powered version of Bison serves as the final boss of the Movie Battle mode, but his only advantage is his super combo gauge being constantly full.


title: M. Bison

text: Raúl Juliá played Bison in the 1994 live-action film adaption of the series. Julia perceived Bison in the same vein of villain as Richard III, and approached the role with a Shakespearean tone. In the film, Bison is a British psychopathic drug kingpin and notorious military dictator who controls not only Shadaloo (here depicted as his hostile dictatorship instead of his organization) but also the drug industry with an iron fist. One of his goals in the film is to produce supersoldiers to take over the world and establish a new order known as "Pax Bisonica" using his drug profits. His ambitions have led to a war in Shadaloo with the Allied Nations (AN), led by Colonel Guile, the movie's main character who has been sent to place Bison under arrest for his war crimes. In the film, while Ryu plays a vital role in Bison's downfall by helping to lure Guile to Bison's base, Bison and Ryu do not fight, though at one point, Ryu attempts to fight Bison alongside Ken, Chun-Li, E. Honda and Balrog. In the climax, he fights Guile and very nearly kills him with his uniform's built-in electromagnetism (the film's stand-in for Bison's Psycho Power), but he is defeated when Guile kicks him into his gigantic monitor screen and leaves him to die when the base explodes. A post-credits scene only available on the home-video release shows Bison resurrected through a solar-powered life support machine.


title: M. Bison

text: For the role, Raúl Juliá studied the lives and personalities of various dictators and drug lords, and as such mimicked many of their hand movements and body language to incorporate into the M. Bison character, most notably Benito Mussolini's hand gestures, Joseph Stalin's mannerisms and strict demeanor, Adolf Hitler's love of art, and Pablo Escobar's elusiveness. Other dictators and drug lords incorporated by Juliá include Fidel Castro, Muammar Gaddafi, Idi Amin, and Saddam Hussein.


title: M. Bison

text: The film was Julia's final role before his death, and a dedication to him is included in the end credits. Julia claimed in an interview that he accepted the role for his children, who were huge fans of the games, helped him prepare for the role and were on set with him each day of filming. Although the film was largely panned by critics and fans, Juliá's performance was widely praised and he was nominated for a posthumous Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.


title: M. Bison

text: In the Japanese dub of the film, he is still called "M. Bison" as opposed to "Vega", his name in the original Japanese versions of the series, as the film was a mostly American production, and Bison, Balrog and Vega were all named onscreen with their American names.


title: M. Bison

text: This version of Bison appears in the arcade game based on the film, "", as well as in the home video game bearing the . In the home version, he is the main antagonist of the Movie Battle mode, and a non-playable super-powered version of him serves as the final boss. He also serves as the final opponent in the Street Battle mode, following Zangief, Dee Jay and Sagat, even if one plays as Bison himself. In his ending, he is said to have crushed Colonel Guile in personal combat and defeated his AN Forces, and subsequently brought the world under the control of his Pax Bisonica empire. In the game, Bison is physically portrayed by Darko Tuscan, who served as Raúl Juliá's stunt double in the film, and cutscenes of Juliá as Bison are shown throughout the game. Out of respect for Juliá, Bison is the only character in the game whose actor is left unnamed.


title: M. Bison

text: Pakistani rapper and music producer Adil Omar has also incorporated an M Bison alter-ego inspired by Juliá's portrayal, most notably in his music video for "Mastery". He has also named his Islamabad studio Bisonopolis.


title: M. Bison

text: Neal McDonough portrayed Bison in "". He appears as the main antagonist once again, this time opposite Chun-Li. The film shows Bison donning a business suit rather than his signature costume and is depicted as a crime boss and secret drug kingpin disguised as a Thailand-based multilingual Irish international businessman instead of a military man, although he is also shown to be in charge of his own paramilitary force. In a backstory told by Gen, Bison was abandoned by his Irish missionary parents in Thailand when he was an infant and lived his entire life engaging in acts of theft. He then sacrificed his pregnant wife in the bowels of a supernatural cave, where he imbued his daughter, Rose, with the goodness of his soul, thus ridding himself of any sense of conscience. Bison's raw physical power is seen to borderline on supernatural, as he usually only required one punch or kick to send an opponent hurtling through the air. His power is first exhibited during his introduction where his spiritual energy was so immense, it heralded his arrival by a soft breeze inside Chun-Li's family manor. He is killed at the end of the film in front of his daughter when Chun-Li twists his head around by use of her legs.


title: M. Bison

text: "Shadaloo" as it is referred to, is a multi-leveled criminal syndicate which is a plutarchy of an unknown number of powerful crime families that have connections ranging from the locale mafiosos of the countries to even factions of the government (in the film's current case, the department of commerce). Though Bison's full goals are not divulged, his first order of business is to buy up an entire waterfront district and restructure it specifically for the wealthy and elite, thus further adding to the funding of his operations. He first appears as a simple mob head, only to skyrocket through the ranks after killing off a number of allied families and usurping their power for himself. He is depicted as being uncomfortably upbeat about everything, as he usually reveals shortly afterward that he is in control of almost every element of espionage and intrigue he is involved with. There is a moderately less supernatural background with Bison than there was with his video game and anime counterparts.


title: M. Bison

text: Silvio Simac portrayed Bison in "" appearing in the final episode observing Ryu, Ken, Laura and Nash through a battered Decapre's eyes while sitting down on his throne behind a massive spherical object before burning a chess piece with his Psycho Power and proclaiming that he shall let them come.


title: M. Bison

text: Actor Kevin Porter portrays M. Bison in this official crossover between "Power Rangers" and "Street Fighter" with the famous YouTube channel "Bat in the Sun" filming and being produced by Hasbro, Allspark Pictures, nWay Games, and Saban as a promotion for the popular mobile game. Also starring Jason David Frank as Tommy Oliver (MMPR Green Ranger, MMPR White Ranger, Zeo Red Ranger, Turbo Red Ranger, Dino Thunder Black Ranger), Ciarra Hanna as Gia Moran (Megaforce Yellow), and Peter Jang as Ryu (RuyRanger).


title: M. Bison

text: Bison is the main antagonist of the anime film "", voiced by Takeshi Kusaka in the Japanese version and Tom Wyner in the English dub with a Trans-Atlantic accent. Bison's organization, Shadaloo (here named "Shadowlaw"), is stated as being an international terrorist organization, employing a great deal of scientific technology, including cyborgs (known as "Monitor Cyborgs") which pose as humans while broadcasting live images to Bison. As in the games, the "M" in his name is not revealed, although his scientist, Senoh, refers to him as "Master Bison". Intrigued by Ryu's fighting skills after seeing him defeat Sagat, Bison orders a nationwide manhunt to capture and brainwash him to work for Shadowlaw, but after failing to locate him, he abducts and brainwashes Ken in his stead, while instructing Vega to assassinate Chun-Li. In the film's climax, Bison enters the battlefield by setting Ken on Ryu and fighting Guile. He defeats but spares Guile as an insult, just as Ken manages to overcome Bison's brainwashing. Bison disposes of Ken and faces Ryu, toying with the warrior when he refuses Bison's offer to work under him for Shadaloo. Ken recovers and Bison fights both Ryu and Ken hand-to-hand, and is defeated when he is struck with a combined Hadoken. Bison survives the attack, however, and reappears in the film's final scene, driving a truck towards Ryu, who prepares to fight Bison again as the film ends.


title: M. Bison

text: Bison appears in the second half of the anime series "Street Fighter II V". In the ADV Films dub, he is voiced by Markham Anderson and then later on by Mike Kleinhenz, while Tom Wyner reprises his role from the animated movie for the Animaze English dub. In the series, he sports a dark blue uniform instead of his traditional red one. He is still the leader of Shadowlaw, which now has numerous subdivisions, such as the Ashura Syndicate under his associate, Mr. Zochi but has no major history with Guile nor Chun-Li as opposed to other versions. When Ashura is destroyed by Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Fei-Long and Inspector Dorai (Chun-Li's father), Bison orders Dorai murdered and Ken kidnapped and held ransom after witnessing him defeat Vega in a very dramatic fashion, and later sends his henchman, Zangief, to capture Ryu, whom Bison had seen on the beach practicing Hadou, and have him brainwashed into becoming his enforcer and surrogate son. In the meantime, Bison succeeds in brainwashing both Chun-Li and Ryu and setting them on Guile and Ken, respectively, after killing Charlie Nash after a botched rescue. In the end, Ken manages to break Bison's control on Ryu, and the two take on Bison. Bison, clearly the superior fighter, easily handles both Ryu and Ken, until they discover that Bison can be damaged with their Hadou powers. Ken is knocked unconscious while Ryu battles on. Bison prepares to finish off Ryu with a Psycho Crusher, but is intercepted by Ken using his Hadou Shoryu. Ken's strength is depleted and Ryu takes on Bison one-on-one, who is still not fully recovered from Ken's attack. Ryu uses a series of moves to defeat a defenseless Bison. As Bison prepares a final Psycho Crusher, Ryu counters with a Hadouken, which hits Bison square in the chest and presumably destroys him.


title: M. Bison

text: Voiced by Richard Newman, Bison's portrayal in the American "Street Fighter" animated series is considerably close to his portrayal in both the live-action film and significant aspects of the video game. His primary nemesis is Guile, as in the movie. In the first season, Bison's attack on Chun-Li's village (referenced in the live-action film), appears in a flashback, revealing how he killed Chun-Li's father, who attacked him in futile defiance. Bison later reveals to a vengeful Chun-Li that he also murdered his own father in cold blood. The second season explored Bison's relationship with Cammy in the same manner as the games and the anime movie, with Cammy being triggered as a "sleeper agent" in the opening episodes. She discovers that Bison had murdered her parents after discovering they were MI5 agents and brainwashed her into becoming a sleeper agent in the series finale, but not before she reestablishes her romantic bond with him. Bison seems to worship a Thai deity that instructs him on what to do with his resources, and in the finale, Bison convinces himself he has been told to destroy the Earth through the launching of nuclear missiles. Bison eventually engages Guile in a showdown which concludes when Guile, in a manner reminiscent of the 1994 film, kicks Bison into a computer and fires a sonic boom at him, unleashing a strong magnetic force that pulls Bison into the computer, which explodes afterwards, destroying him completely.


title: M. Bison

text: Bison is heavily featured as the primary antagonist of the UDON-published "Street Fighter" comic series. His story is mostly unchanged from the official version, portraying him as the dark and sinister leader of Shadaloo. He operates behind a veil of various agents and associates who do his bidding as well as having numerous enemies (such as Chun-Li and Guile). Bison is the student of a mysterious woman whose tribe has mastered the art of Soul Power. After being exiled from further training, he studies the forbidden texts of their people and learns the nature of Psycho Power, the negative half of Soul Power. He returns to her later in life and uses this power to massacre his mentor's tribe, leaving only one survivor (Rose). Like the official story, Bison has a great interest in Ryu after watching him defeat Sagat at the last Street Fighter tournament and observing the nature of the "Satsui no Hadō". At the end of the first series of comics, Bison is defeated in a battle with his own creation (Charlie, who had been empowered with Shadaloo technology) when Charlie sacrifices himself to plunge Bison into a river. Bison survives the fall and his body is reanimated with the Psycho Drive, whereupon he resumes his role as Shadaloo dictator. As the comic moves forward, Bison announces his "Street Fighter II" tournament, the second global gathering of martial artists, and is documented in the "Street Fighter II Turbo" series of comics. The tournament itself runs smoothly up until what would have been the final battle between Ryu and Bison. At this point, Akuma intervenes (much like the official story) and demands a fight with Ryu. Bison senses the amount of great power Akuma carries and attempts to subdue him in combat, only to be halted by Rose's spirit who restrains him while Akuma delivers the final blow and seals Bison's soul for good.


title: M. Bison

text: M. Bison makes a cameo appearance in the Disney film "Wreck-It Ralph" with Gerald C. Rivers reprising his role from "Street Fighter IV" onwards. He and Zangief appear as members of the villain support group Bad-Anon. During a meeting, he sits between Clyde, Doctor Eggman and Bowser. When Ralph contemplates rebelling against his programming as a villain to become a hero, Bison warns him against it, asking if he is "going Turbo", referencing how notorious racing game character Turbo crashed RoadBlasters out of jealousy, resulting in both of their games being unplugged.


title: M. Bison

text: Shadaloo, named Shadowlaw in early localizations, is a fictional crime organization that is run by Bison. Its insignia is a winged skull with a lightning bolt—forming an "S" for Shadaloo—etched onto its forehead. The symbol can be seen on Bison's cap from "Champion Edition" onwards, as well as in numerous cutscenes. The Four Main members of Shadaloo are Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and Bison himself. Balrog and Vega were recruited by Bison with the promise of massive wealth, whereas Sagat was motivated to join by the prospect of revenge for his defeat at the hands of Ryu in the first Street Fighter tournament. In "Street Fighter II", Bison ostensibly hosts the game's fighting tournament to seek out new talent for Shadaloo. Bison's end sequence in "Super Street Fighter II" sees him establish a new world order.


title: M. Bison

text: Bison and Shadaloo feature more prominently in the "Alpha" series of games. New Shadaloo henchmen are introduced, including the Dolls, a group of female fighters who are programmed to serve Bison. Cammy was bred as a member of this group, but eventually broke from the group and fled to England. The character Birdie joins Shadaloo during his ending sequence in the first "Street Fighter Alpha" game, but turns against Bison and leaves in "Alpha 2".


title: M. Bison

text: In "Street Fighter Alpha 3", Bison's headquarters is located in the interior of a Thai statue depicting a female deity. During the game over sequence, the face of the statue crumbles away, revealing a skull-like robotic head. The robot's eyes fire a laser into the stratosphere, which is intercepted by Bison's satellite and deflected back toward Earth.


title: M. Bison

text: In "Street Fighter EX", C. Jack is a member of Shadaloo who seeks to escape the organization. In his ending in the first game, he derails a Shadaloo train.


title: M. Bison

text: In "Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie", Shadaloo (here named Shadowlaw) plays out the same role as in the game series. In the film, a politician named Ed Pressman (named after one of the producers of the 1994 live action film) is mentioned as secretly working with Shadowlaw and running for President of the United States to make M. Bison ruler of the country in all but name. In the English dub, however, it is implied that Bison is merely a figurehead for Pressman, who is referred to as Shadowlaw's true master. Pressman's fate after Bison's defeat and Shadowlaw's fall is unknown.


title: M. Bison

text: In "Street Fighter II V", Shadowlaw is shown with various subdivisions, one of which is known as Ashura, operating primarily in Hong Kong under Mr. Zochi, who himself answers to Bison. Ashura is destroyed by Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Fei-Long, which brings them into conflict with Shadowlaw later in the series. Shadowlaw is also shown to have moles and spies in various organisations, such as when Balrog is shown infiltrating the FBI and secretly reporting to Bison. Shadowlaw's fate after Bison's defeat is unknown.


title: M. Bison

text: In "Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation", the organisation is not present, but the villain, Dr. Sadler, is said to have connections with Shadowlaw.


title: M. Bison

text: In the 1994 live-action "Street Fighter" film, "Shadaloo City" is a fictional location and a hostile dictatorship under General M. Bison, here depicted as a drug kingpin and war criminal opposed by the Allied Nations led by Guile. According to maps shown during the film's opening, it is a fictitious country located in a segment of present-day Burma in Southeast Asia. It can be surmised, from a song sung by Bison's soldiers and two posters ("ĝeneralo Bison", "teroristo"), that the official language of Shadaloo is Esperanto. Despite this, Bison still surrounds himself with fighters to serve as bodyguards, most notably Zangief and Dee Jay, and later inducts Sagat, Vega, Ryu and Ken (though the latter two are infiltrating the organization to help Guile track Bison down). Bison's nationality is not revealed in the film, although it can be assumed that he is British, given his use of a perfect English accent and his desire to conquer England first after defeating Guile and the Allied Nations. In the video game adaptation of the film, Bison is fought as the last of the Four Grand Masters, though succeeded by Zangief, Dee Jay and Sagat instead of Balrog (who is a protagonist) and Vega (a minor antagonist).


title: M. Bison

text: In the 2009 live-action film "", Shadaloo (in this case, Shadowlaw) was a major crime syndicate operating out of (but not limited to) Bangkok, Thailand dealing mainly with narcotics, extortion, and several legal fronts such as high priced commercial and residential real-estate. Bison (portrayed by Neal McDonough) rose to power of this organization by hiring Vega to decapitate all the other shareholders to the company, and then later placed their heads on a platter to be discovered by interpol agent Charlie Nash. Bison's appearance in this film is severely altered as well being changed to that of a blonde haired, blue eyed Irish immigrant to Thailand due to his parents being religious missionaries to that country.


title: M. Bison

text: Since he appeared in "Street Fighter II", M. Bison has received mostly positive reception. IGN ranked Bison fourth on its list of the "Top 25 Street Fighter Characters", praising his role as a villain in the series that did not rely solely on his henchmen. IGN would also list him as the 19th best video game villain, describing him as a formidable boss and one who has endured for years as a mainstay in the "Street Fighter" series. GameSpot listed him at number five on its "Top 10 Video Game Villains" list, stating a preference for his attack set while bemoaning his portrayal in the live action film. He was also featured in GameSpot's Top Ten Boss Fights with editors describing him as "cheap." "GamePro" placed him at number thirty in its "47 Most Diabolical Video-Game Villains of All Time" article, stating "This guy had the nerve to look you dead in the face, threaten your very soul and then tell you he represents an organization called Shadaloo. That's brave, man." "Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition" listed M. Bison as 17th in their list of top 50 Villains. GameDaily named Bison one of its favorite Capcom characters of all time, calling him "one of the best end bosses ever." It later listed Bison at number five on their "Top 20 Street Fighter Characters of All Time" article, describing him as "One of the most vile, powerful end bosses ever put into a video game". He was also 2nd in GamesRadar's "The 12 most misunderstood videogame villains" with comments on the various sub-stories Bison is involved in the "Street Fighter" series. UGO Networks placed M. Bison at #14 on their list of Top 50 Street Fighter Characters", stating "Bison is the second (Street Fighter's last boss was Sagat) and only true villain in the series. Other bosses in the series are motivated by one thing or another, but Bison's true goal is to oppress the world for his own selfish benefit." 1UP.com listed him as of the characters they wanted to see in "Street Fighter X Tekken". Complex ranked M. Bison as the "45th Coolest Video Game Villain of All Time", as the "24th Hardest Video Game Boss", as the "5th Best Street Fighter Character", as the "3rd Most Dominant Fighting Game Character", his boss battle in "Street Fighter Alpha 3" as the "4th Coolest Boss Battle", and his Psycho Punisher as the "12th Most Revolutionary Killing Move in Video Games", and "6th Coolest Fighting Game Super Combo", while Prima Games ranked it as the "9th Greatest Fighting Move in Video Game History." Den of Geek ranked M. Bison as the "13th Best Street Fighter Character", with comments "Bison is so sinister that he literally made himself purely evil through magic just so he wouldn’t be distracted by his conscience. He’s just so infectiously cheery about being an absolute dirtbag. It’s hard not to get behind his one-liners that bring out his zest for kung-fu treachery." Arcade Sushi ranked him as the "20th Best Video Game Villain", adding "M. Bison would always be there, ready to unleash his “Psycho Power” on anyone foolish enough to challenge him." In their rankings of Street Fighter characters, Paste placed M. Bison at 29th place, commenting "He’s not empathetic or nuanced. Bison is the Saturday morning cartoon villain of the Street Fighter series, and for the most part, it works." "Digital Spy" named him the "9th Best Street Fighter Character", stating "Bison is a great villain because of the many individual rivalries he has with the heroes of the universe. He has wronged so many people on a personal level to the point where he is irredeemable." GamesRadar named M. Bison as one of the hardest fighting game bosses, commenting "In that context--the fighting game genre's infancy--M. Bison was one of the most infuriating opponents imaginable." In 2014, Capcom UK named M. Bison the "4th Most Powerful Street Fighter Character", while in 2016, Screen Rant named M. Bison the "3rd Most Powerful Street Fighter Character", stating "As the main antagonist of the series, it’s only natural M. Bison would also be one of the most powerful characters of the franchise—he’s even proven capable of getting the better of Ryu." "GamesRadar" staff described M. Bison as the best villain in video games, stating that "Vega, Master Bison, Dictator - no matter what you call him, anyone who harnesses the destructive might of Psycho Power energy has got to be bad news."


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a 2012 action role-playing video game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 developed by Big Huge Games and 38 Studios, who also published the game with Electronic Arts. It was the only game released by 38 Studios before they filed for bankruptcy.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: Ken Rolston was the game's executive designer; R. A. Salvatore created the game universe and lore, with Todd McFarlane working on the artwork, and Grant Kirkhope creating the musical score. The game was released in 2012, to generally favorable reviews.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: On September 6, 2018, the rights for the series were purchased by THQ Nordic, who released Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, a remaster of the game, on September 8, 2020 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A Nintendo Switch version was released on March 16, 2021. In early December 2021, it was announced that the game would receive its third DLC expansion, entitled "Fatesworn", just shy of the original game's tenth anniversary.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: "Kingdoms of Amalur" features five distinct regions, four playable races, and three class trees with 22 abilities per tree. The four playable races are the Almain (Civilized Humans), the Dokkalfar (Dark Elves), the Ljosalfar (Light Elves), and the Varani (Nomadic Humans). The player starts off as a "Fateless", but can afterwards choose a class among the three available in the game, which are divided into Might, Finesse, and Sorcery; they correspond to the fighter, rogue, and mage classes respectively. As the player fights and gains experience, additional levels are unlocked. With each level gained, the player gains three ability points which can be invested in the skill-tree system to unlock or augment their abilities, or put points into one of the other trees. By completing Faction quests and investing ability points in certain amounts in minimum combinations in the various skill trees, the player can also unlock various "destinies", which add positive buffs to the player.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: Combat is based on the timing of button presses, similar to an action role-playing game, with occasional quick time event cutscenes. The combat includes a 'fate' system which allows players to accumulate 'fate points' and ultimately enter 'Reckoning Mode', a slow motion mode that allows the player to quickly dispatch enemies. The Reckoning Mode may end on player's command, with the depletion of the fate bar or by the act of 'Fateshifting' an enemy. Fateshifting involves performing a brutal finishing move on a single enemy. During the cosmetic Fateshifting phase, the player may rapidly tap a random button (chosen and displayed by the game) to increase the experience yield up to 100%. After the Fateshifting, all weakened enemies also die.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: The player can travel on land, jump down from predesignated spots and swim in the water. The player has the ability to communicate with, rob or kill NPCs; each of these actions have their own consequences. Lead combat designer Joe Quadara emphasized that "twitch skill is only going to get you so far. Strategy and proper RPG playing is going to get you farther." 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling said that the style of the game would be a marriage between "God of War" and "".


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: Weapons and armors can be purchased from shops, looted from fallen enemies or discovered among hidden treasures. Rarer and better ones are awarded as part of quests. However, the best weapons and armors are only achieved through crafting. While high-quality crafting material are rare and expensive, the extended length of the game means that the player inevitably comes into possession of an inordinate number of weapons and armors, from which the needed crafting parts can be salvaged. Thus, the necessary high-quality crafting material are bound to occur. In addition, the crafting quality depends on two of the player character's skills: "Blacksmithing" and "Sagecraft". Each of these can be upgraded throughout the course of the game up to ten levels. The former is directly involved in improving the results of salvaging or crafting, while the latter improves the ability to create magical gems. These gems can be inserted into socketed gears, or consumed during the crafting process for their magical properties.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: "Reckoning" is set in the Faelands, one of the Kingdoms of Amalur and home to the immortal Fae of the Summer and Winter Courts. Immortality doesn't mean that they cannot die, it means that their essence will be reborn in another body, repeating the past, endlessly. The Faelands are divided into a number of separate regions; the forests of Dalentarth, the Plains of Erathell, the canyon territories of Detyre, the marshes of Klurikon and the crystal kingdom of Alabastra. Throughout the Faelands exist settlements belonging to the mortal races: the human Almain and Varani; the Ljosalfar and Dokkalfar, light and dark Alfar (elves) respectively; and the gnomes. It is these mortal races that the Gadflow's Tuatha Deohn–corrupted Winter Fae–seek to exterminate in their "Crystal War", not only in the Faelands but in the neighbouring kingdoms as well.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: Amalur is also home to a species of supernaturally-gifted people called "Fateweavers." Fateweavers can look into an individual's future and tell what they see, often with special attention paid to the individual's eventual death. For a number of years before the game's outset, the fate of "everyone" in the Faelands has been, "Slain by the Tuatha Deohn," suggesting that the Winter Fae will win their war of conquest.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning" follows the story of a mortal known as the "Fateless One", who, having died before the game's outset, is revived in the experimental "Well of Souls" by the gnomish scientist Fomorous Hugues. The first and only success of the experiment, the Fateless One escapes the facility when it comes under attack by the Tuatha Deohn, a subsect of the immortal Winter Fae, who are currently waging a "Crystal War" on all the mortal races in the name of their new god Tirnoch. After escaping the facility, the Fateless One–having no memory of their life before their death–is briefed on the intricacies of the Faelands and the Tuatha Deohn's ongoing war by Agarth, a Fateweaver. Agarth is astounded and pleased to realize that he cannot read The Fateless One's future: having already died, the Fateless One's return from the grave has taken them out of "Fate's weave"; theirs is the only life in the world without a predetermined end. This power also allows the Fateless One to alter the fates of others, as Agarth discovers when the Fateless One saves him from his fated, "lonely" death at the hands of a native creature.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: It is eventually decided that the only way the Fateless One can uncover the truth of their death is by locating the scientist who revived them, Fomorous Hugues, who went into hiding following the Tuatha attack on his laboratory. The Fateless One is opposed in this by Gadflow, the king of the Tuatha Deohn.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: Meeting with Hugues' patron, a gnomish Templar (a sect of Mages) named Ligotti Octienne, the Fateless One is directed to a former laboratory of his, deep inside the gnomish territories of Detyre. After locating Hugues, the two are ambushed by assassins sent by Octienne. Surviving the ambush, they make plans to publicly reveal Octienne's betrayal and, in turn, prise the location of another gnomish scientist, Ventrinio, who Hugues believes might know the details surrounding the Fateless One's death.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: Travelling to the gnomish city of Adessa, the Fateless One confronts Octienne and forces his true allegiance into the public, in the process learning that Ventrinio was previously spirited away by Octienne to the region of Klurikon, deep behind Tuatha Deohn lines. In order to reach him, the Fateless One is directed to the Alfar city of Rathir, and then on to Mel Senshir, the besieged Alfar city in Klurikon at the centre of the Crystal War. Once again defying the dictates of Fate, the arrival of the Fateless One and their allies breaks the siege and turns the tide of the war in favour of the Alfar, earning the moniker of 'Siege-Breaker'. Together with Alyn Shir, an Alfar who admits to knowing the Fateless One from their previous life, and Cydan, one of the few immortal Winter Fae unaffiliated with the Tuatha Deohn, the Fateless One locates and confronts Ventrinio, who reveals that they had previously entered Alabastra, the centre of Gadflow's empire, in an attempt to collect the valuable prismere crystals which not only powered both Fomorous' and Ventrinio's own respective Well of Souls, but guide the Tuatha armies.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: Determined to return to Alabastra, the Fateless One and their allies–Agarth, Alyn Shir, Cydan and Ventrinio–help spearhead the Alfar counter-attack through Klurikon and into Alabastra. Splitting up, each makes their way into the heart of Gadflow's kingdom, with the Fateless One eventually happening upon Alyn Shir and a dead Ventrinio. Alyn Shir reveals that the Fateless One was her fellow member of a non-descript organization dedicated to protecting the secret of Tirnoch's existence and her true nature, silencing any who might learn it and ensuring Tirnoch's continued imprisonment. She reveals that Tirnoch is a dragon, with powers that rival those of Amalur's gods, who had previously foreseen the Fateless One's dedication to their mission to destroy Tirnoch, as well as the fact that the Fateless One was fated to fail and die. Tirnoch helped revive them through the Well of Souls, freeing the Fateless One of the dictates of Fate, so that the Fateless One might return and be used to set her free.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: Deep beneath the Bhaile, capital of the Tuatha Deohn and former home to the Winter Fae, the Fateless One fights and slays Tirnoch. They awake several days later in the city of Rathir and learns from Agarth that Alyn Shir had extracted them from the rubble of Bhaile before disappearing. Agarth also reveals that, following the battle, many Alfar soldiers had approached him for readings, but that he had been unable to provide them, indicating that all are now free of the dictates of Fate.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: 38 Studios, owned by former baseball pitcher Curt Schilling, originally began developing the Amalur universe with a 10,000 year history created by R.A. Salvatore for use in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) codenamed "Copernicus." However, this game was later scrapped after 38 Studios and Big Huge Games were shut down. In 2009, they acquired Big Huge Games as Ken Rolston and his team had already been working on an RPG while Big Huge Games was part of THQ. The studio decided to retool their existing single-player role-playing game (RPG) to be set within the same universe in order to introduce the Amalur MMORPG. 38 Studios shut down in May 2012.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: A playable demo was released on January 17, 2012 for Windows through Steam and Origin, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Playing the demo unlocks special items for use in the full version of the game, as well as in "Mass Effect 3". The demo quickly garnered attention for being, according to Curt Schilling, "way more buggy than anything anyone should ever release", with wide-ranging glitches affecting even the simplest gameplay.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: On February 7, 2012 netcaster Sean "Day9" Plott held a day long streaming event called "Day of Reckoning" where prominent netcasters from the gaming community would share livestreams of the game on the Online Video Platform Twitch. 38 Studios promoted the event by offering free game keys for netcasters to give out throughout the day and organised raffles via polls from their official website. Sean Plott was joined by Felicia Day early in the day and had live interviews with R.A. Salvatore, Todd McFarlane, Ken Rolston and Curt Schilling as the event progressed.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: In January 2012, an article on "Destructoid" revealed that the game includes an online pass which allows players to download seven single-player quests, along with Commander Shepard's armor from "Mass Effect 3". This spurred an online controversy as players felt that this was "day one DLC", or content that was created prior to release but intentionally locked until the user paid an additional fee. Others felt that this unduly punished players who purchased the game pre-owned (as the code is presumably redeemed by the original owner, thus making it unusable to later purchasers). 38 Studios boss Curt Schilling defended "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning"s online pass on the game's website, saying that the Day 1 DLC was to be free for buyers of a new copy of the game, "promoting early adopters".


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: On March 20, 2012 Electronic Arts released downloadable content as a companion to the game, with exclusive features. The additional game content, entitled "The Legend of Dead Kel", gives players access to a new island called Gallows End, adding over 15% more landscape to the game, with new quests and side quests. There are also a number of new enemies, a new dungeon type called Dverga Fastings, and dozens of new items. The add-on also opens up what EA is calling "the ultimate player housing". Instead of players using a small hut to store their belongings, they are offered a large fortified estate with several buildings and many servants who have their own side quests, the expansion also gives the ability to marry a female Ljosalfar called Sunhilda Lorelle.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of "The Legend of Dead Kel" received "favorable" reviews, while the PC version received "average" reviews according to Metacritic.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: Additional downloadable content entitled "Teeth of Naros" was released on April 17, 2012. The new content focuses on a new race of beings called the Kollossae, a new region called the Teeth of Naros as well as the floating city of Idylla. In addition to new weapons and armor, this downloadable content also adds a new damage type called Primal.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: The Xbox 360 version of "Teeth of Naros" received "generally favorable reviews", while the PC version received "mixed" reviews, according to Metacritic.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: In late 2021 it was announced that "Kingdoms of Amalur" would receive a third DLC expansion, entitled "Fatesworn", on December 14, 2021.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: "The Weapons and Armor Bundle" downloadable content adds three different armor sets for Finesse, Might, and Sorcery respectively. In addition, it adds one new weapon for each weapon type.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: The game received "favorable" reviews on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: The few reviews published before the release of the game were positive: IGN praised the game's customizable gameplay, gorgeous environments, and engrossing story, while criticizing the game for some minor technical issues. GameSpot praised the gameplay and visuals, but felt it was too generic.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: After release, reviews were generally good but polarized, with a large difference between highest scores and lowest scores. GameTrailers said of the Xbox 360 version: "Though it leans a little too heavily on well-trod genre conventions, there's no denying that Reckoning has a whole lot to offer in terms of sheer breadth. Similarly, though the challenge tapers off dramatically toward the end, its combat is welcoming, gratifying, and hypnotic." "Joystiq" praised everything the same console version had to offer. "Edge" gave said console version six out of ten and felt that it did not reinvent anything, and had several issues, writing that ""Reckoning"s appeal soon wanes" and that it "never quite balances accessibility with the depth expected from an RPG either." Digital Trends felt that said console version did not reinvent anything, but liked the combat system. GameZone gave the same Xbox 360 version 8.5 out of 10 and said it was "most definitely worthy of the hype it's been getting. If the "Fable" series had a baby with "Skyrim", "Reckoning" might just be that end result—taking a little bit of gameplay mechanics from both, yet refining it into an extremely enjoyable, entertaining and challenging experience."


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: "Digital Spy" gave the PlayStation 3 version a score of all five stars, saying, "There's never a dull moment in "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning". There's a new item at practically every turn, and you can't travel more than a few feet without stumbling upon a side-quest. Players always have one skill or another that they can be honing, and the option to visit the Fateweavers is always there for a change of pace." "The Guardian" gave the PC version a similar score of all five stars and called it "a triumph that makes the prospect of a future MMO based on the same world and engine all the more enticing." "The A.V. Club" gave the Xbox 360 version a B+ and said, "There's nothing groundbreaking about "Reckoning", but fans of "The Elder Scrolls" will still find a lot to love." "The Escapist" gave said console version four stars out of five and stated that "The weight of all its parts threatens to pull it down, but the rigid skeleton holds strong." "The Digital Fix" gave it a similar score of eight out of ten, saying that it was "a more than compotent introduction for a new IP. Flawed but filling the gap nicely between "Skyrim" and "Mass Effect 3", gamers can be content in having a constant flow of RPG goodness. Hopefully this is just the beginning for the franchise as it is off to a fine start." In Japan, where the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions were ported and published by Spike Chunsoft on September 20, 2012, "Famitsu" gave both console versions each a score of one nine, two eights, and one nine for a total of 34 out of 40.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: On March 10, 2012, it was projected by NPD that the game sold over 330,000 physical copies in the U.S. and Curt Schilling later tweeted that it had sold 1.2 million by the 90-day mark. Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee claimed that the game was a failure as it needed to sell over 3 million copies to break even.


title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

text: A sequel was in pre-development according to an inside developer, but the company filed for bankruptcy after a missed loan payment, which left the IP in the hands of the taxpayers of Rhode Island. According to the 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling, the governor of Rhode Island, Lincoln Chafee, calling the game "a failure" caused a publisher to pull out of a $35 million deal that could have paid for a sequel. On September 6, 2018 THQ Nordic bought the rights to the franchise, as well as the assets of "Project Copernicus", from 38 Studios. In relation to the original game, THQ Nordic stated that the publishing rights still belonged to Electronic Arts. THQ Nordic announced plans to release a remastered version in September 2020 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with the port developed by Kaiko, who had previously done remasters of the "Darksiders" series. The remastered edition includes all previously released DLC and was released on 8 September 2020.


title: Samsung Galaxy Note 20

text: The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (stylized and marketed as Samsung Galaxy Note20 and Galaxy Note20 Ultra) are a series of high-end Android-based phablets designed, developed, produced, and marketed by Samsung Electronics as part of their Samsung Galaxy Note series, succeeding the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 series. The phablets were announced on 5 August 2020 alongside the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, Galaxy Watch 3, Galaxy Buds Live and Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 during Samsung's Unpacked Event. It was the final model in the Galaxy Note series, with Samsung beginning to integrate the functionality from the Note series into its S series "Ultra" models, starting with the Galaxy S21 Ultra.


title: Samsung Galaxy Note 20

text: Due to restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic on public and social gatherings, the Note 20 range were unveiled virtually at Samsung's newsroom in South Korea. At the event, Samsung announced that the smartphones include support for 5G connectivity, which allows for higher-bandwidth and lower-latency mobile connections where 5G network coverage is available. The Note 20's S-Pen has up to 4× better latency than that of previous generations. Mystic Green, Mystic Bronze, and Mystic Grey are colour options for the Note 20; Mystic Bronze, Mystic Black and Mystic White are colour options for the Note 20 Ultra. Unlike its predecessor, the Note 20 range does not feature a "+" model.


title: Samsung Galaxy Note 20

text: The Galaxy Note 20 series also include a number of new software features, which include performance optimization for mobile gaming, wireless sync with desktop and laptop PCs, and improved DeX features for remotely connected to compatible devices.


title: Samsung Galaxy Note 20

text: The Galaxy Note 20 series maintains a similar design with the Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy S20, with an Infinity-O display (first introduced on the Galaxy S10) containing a circular punch hole in the top center for the frontal selfie camera. The rear camera array is located in the corner with a rectangular protrusion like the Galaxy S20, housing three cameras.


title: Samsung Galaxy Note 20

text: Unlike their predecessors, the Note 20 Ultra is the first Samsung phone that uses stainless steel as the frame material, while the regular Note 20 sticks to the more classic anodized aluminum. The Note 20 uses Gorilla Glass 5 for the screen; the back panel is reinforced polycarbonate, which has not been seen on a Note series phone since the Note 4 and Note Edge. The Note 20 Ultra has Gorilla Glass Victus for the screen. Global color options are, Mystic Bronze, Mystic Grey, Mystic Green, Mystic Black and Mystic White. Moreover, the Mystic Green, Mystic Bronze and Mystic Grey color options on the Note 20, have a matte finish, whereas, only the Mystic Bronze on the Note 20 Ultra, has a matte finish. Mystic Bronze is available on both models, whereas Mystic Grey and Mystic Green, are limited to the Note 20; Mystic Black and Mystic Crush White are limited to the Note 20 Ultra. For the Note 20, Aura Red is exclusive to SK Telecom with 256 GB of storage, replacing Mystic Green in South Korea; Prism Blue will be sold in India.


title: Samsung Galaxy Note 20

text: The Galaxy Note 20 line comprises two models with various hardware specifications; international models of the Note 20 utilize the Exynos 990 system-on-chip, while the United States, Korean and Chinese models utilize the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+. Both of the SoCs are based on a 7 nm+ processing technology node. The Exynos chipset comes with the Mali-G77 MP11 GPU, whereas the Snapdragon chipset comes with the Adreno 650 GPU.


title: Samsung Galaxy Note 20

text: The Galaxy Note 20 does not feature a curved display like the one found on the Note 20 Ultra. The Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra feature a 6.7-inch 1080p and 6.9-inch 1440p display, respectively. Both use an AMOLED with HDR10+ support and "dynamic tone mapping" technology, marketed as Super AMOLED Plus for the Note 20 and Dynamic AMOLED 2X for the Note 20 Ultra. The Note 20 has a fixed 60 Hz refresh rate, however, the Note 20 Ultra offers a variable 120 Hz refresh rate. The settings have two options, 60 Hz and Adaptive, the latter of which uses a variable refresh rate that can adjust based on the content being displayed, enabled by a more energy efficient LTPO backplane. Unlike the S20 series, the display will remain at 120 Hz regardless of the device's battery level, and can handle slightly higher temperatures before switching to 60 Hz. Adaptive mode is limited to a FHD resolution, requiring users to switch to 60 Hz mode to enable QHD resolution. Both models utilize an ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint sensor.