Given the question: Information: - NHL 2K is a series of hockey games by 2K Sports for the Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, iPhone, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and the Wii. Initially discontinued after the release of NHL 2K11 in 2010, the brand was revived on mobile devices in 2014. The games are officially licensed from the National Hockey League and NHL Players Association. While its games were released on consoles, its main competition was EA Sports' NHL video games. - In the history of video games, the sixth-generation era (sometimes referred to as the 128-bit era; see "Bits and system power" below) refers to the computer and video games, video game consoles, and video game handhelds available at the turn of the 21st century which was from 1998 to 2008. Platforms of the sixth generation include the Sega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Microsoft Xbox. This era began on November 27, 1998 with the Japanese release of the Dreamcast, and it was joined by the PlayStation 2 in March 2000 and the GameCube and Xbox in 2001. The Dreamcast was discontinued in 2001, the GameCube in 2007, Xbox in 2009 and PlayStation 2 in 2013. Though the seventh generation of consoles started in November 2005 with the launch of the Xbox 360, the sixth generation did not end until January 2013, when Sony announced that the PlayStation 2 had been discontinued worldwide. - Japan ("Nippon" or "Nihon" ; formally "" or "Nihon-koku", means "State of Japan") is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, It is lying off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland (east of China, Korea, Russia) and stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and near Taiwan in the southwest. - The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team is one of the "Original Six" league members. They are owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, Ltd. and are represented by Chairman Larry Tanenbaum. In February 1999, they moved to the Air Canada Centre, which replaced Maple Leaf Gardens, the team's home since 1931. - The original console in the series was the first video game console to ship 100 million units, 9 years and 6 months after its initial launch. Its successor, the PlayStation 2, was released in 2000. The PlayStation 2 is the best-selling home console to date, having reached over 155 million units sold as of December 28, 2012. Sony's next console, the PlayStation 3, was released in 2006 and has sold over 80 million consoles worldwide as of November 2013. Sony's latest console, the PlayStation 4, was released in 2013, selling 1 million consoles in its first 24 hours on sale, becoming the fastest selling console in history. - A video game is an electronic game that involves human or animal interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor. The word "video" in "video game" traditionally referred to a raster display device, but as of the 2000s, it implies any type of display device that can produce two- or three-dimensional images. Some theorists categorize video games as an art form, but this designation is controversial. - Microsoft Corporation (commonly referred to as Microsoft or MS) is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington, that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, consumer electronics and personal computers and services. Its best known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, Microsoft Office office suite, and Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers. Its flagship hardware products are the Xbox video game consoles and the Microsoft Surface tablet lineup. As of 2016, it was the world's largest software maker by revenue, and one of the world's most valuable companies. - The PlayStation 3 (abbreviated as PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the successor to PlayStation 2, and is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It competed with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November 17, 2006 in North America, and March 27, 2007 in Europe and Australia. - 2K Sports, Inc. is a division of 2K Games that develops and publishes sports video games. It comprises a single development studio, Visual Concepts, which was purchased from Sega in 2005 after Sega Sports shut down. 2K Sports mainly develops and publishes American sports video games; such as "NBA 2K" series, the "NHL 2K" series and the "WWE 2K" series. It previously produced the "MLB 2K" series. - The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii competed with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others. , the Wii leads its generation over PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in worldwide sales, with more than 101million units sold; in December 2009, the console broke the sales record for a single month in the United States. - Madison Square Garden (often called MSG or simply The Garden) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Located in Midtown Manhattan between 7th and 8th Avenues from 31st to 33rd Streets, it is situated atop Pennsylvania Station. It is the fourth venue to bear the name "Madison Square Garden", the first two (1879 and 1890) of which were located on Madison Square, on East 26th Street and Madison Avenue, with the third Madison Square Garden further uptown at Eighth Avenue and 50th Street. The Garden is used for professional basketball and ice hockey, as well as boxing, concerts, ice shows, circuses, professional wrestling and other forms of sports and entertainment. It is close to other midtown Manhattan landmarks, including the Empire State Building, Koreatown, and Macy's at Herald Square. It is home to the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League, the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association, and residency to singer-songwriter Billy Joel. - The PlayStation 2 (abbreviated as PS2) is a home video game console that was developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the successor to the PlayStation, and is the second installment in the PlayStation lineup of consoles. It was released on March 4, 2000 in Japan, October 26, 2000 in North America, November 24, 2000 in Europe, and November 17, 2000 in Australia. It competed with Sega's Dreamcast, Microsoft's Xbox, and Nintendo's GameCube in the sixth generation of video game consoles. - The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998 in Japan, September 9, 1999 in North America, and October 14, 1999 in Europe. It was the first in the sixth generation of video game consoles, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox. The Dreamcast was Sega's final home console, marking the end of the company's 18 years in the console market. - Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the parent company of the Sony Group, which is engaged in business through its four operating components electronics (video games, network services and medical business), motion pictures, music and financial services. These make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. Sony's principal business operations include Sony Corporation, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Mobile (formerly Sony Ericsson) and Sony Financial. Sony is among the Semiconductor sales leaders by year and as of 2013, the fourth-largest television manufacturer in the world, after Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and TCL. - The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team plays its home games at Madison Square Garden, located in the borough of Manhattan. The Rangers are one of three NHL franchises in the New York metropolitan area, along with the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders. The club is also one of the oldest teams in the NHL, having joined in 1926 as an expansion franchise. They are part of the group of teams referred to as the Original Six, along with the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Rangers were the first NHL franchise in the United States to win the Stanley Cup, which they have done four times, most recently in 199394. History. Early years. George Lewis "Tex" Rickard, president of Madison Square Garden, was awarded an NHL franchise for the 192627 season to compete with the now-defunct New York Americans, who had begun play at the Garden the previous season. The Americans (also known as the "Amerks") proved to be an even greater success than expected during their inaugural season, leading Rickard to pursue a second team for the Garden despite promising the Amerks that they would be the only hockey team to play there. The new team was quickly nicknamed "Tex's Rangers". Rickard's franchise began play in the 192627 season. The first team crest was a horse sketched in blue carrying a cowboy waving a hockey stick aloft, before being changed to the familiar R-A-N-G-E-R-S in diagonal. Rickard managed to get future legendary Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe to assemble the team. However, Smythe had a falling-out with Rickard's hockey man, Col. John S. Hammond, and was fired as manager-coach on the eve of the first seasonhe was paid a then-hefty $2,500 to leave. Smythe was replaced by Pacific Coast Hockey Association co-founder Lester Patrick. The new team Smythe assembled turned out to be a winner.... - 2K Games, Inc. (shortened as 2K) is an American video game publisher. Notable titles include "Borderlands", "Civilization", "The Darkness", "BioShock", "NBA 2K" and "WWE 2K". 2K Games is a publishing subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive. It was created on January 25, 2005 after Take-Two acquired developer Visual Concepts and its wholly owned subsidiary Kush Games from Sega for . The name "2K Games" comes from Visual Concepts' sports game lineup, typically referred to as the "2K series". - The New York Americans, colloquially known as the Amerks, were a professional ice hockey team based in New York City, New York from 1925 to 1942. They were the third expansion team in the history of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the second to play in the United States. The team never won the Stanley Cup, but reached the semifinals twice. While it was the first team in New York City, it was eclipsed by the second, the New York Rangers, which arrived in 1926 under the ownership of the Amerks' landlord, Madison Square Garden. The team operated as the Brooklyn Americans during the 194142 season before suspending operations in 1942 due to the World War II and long-standing financial difficulties. The demise of the club marked the beginning of the NHL's Original Six era from 1942 to 1967, though the Amerks' franchise was not formally canceled until 1946. - The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. The Xbox 360 competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information divulged later that month at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). - Visual Concepts Entertainment is a video game developer based in Novato, California best known for developing Take-Two Interactive's "2K" series of sports games. After the success of the series, they were acquired by Sega and became a wholly owned studio with Sega, usually termed a first-party developer. However, Sega at the time termed non-internal studios that the company either set up or purchased as "1.5 development studios" in order to differentiate them from their own internal studios. In January 2005, Visual Concepts was sold to Take-Two Interactive along with their wholly owned subsidiary Kush Games. With the purchase of Visual Concepts, Take-Two created 2K Games, a new publishing label. Although the company started out developing quirky titles such as "Lester the Unlikely", development efforts are now primarily centered on sports titles such as Basketball and Wrestling. - NHL 2K9 is an ice hockey simulation made by 2K Sports , part of the NHL 2K series , and published on the PlayStation 2 , PlayStation 3 , Wii , and Xbox 360 consoles . It features New York Rangers , former Columbus Blue Jackets left winger Rick Nash on its cover . - EA Sports (stylized as EA SPORTS) is a brand of Electronic Arts that creates and develops sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) with pictures or endorsements with real commentators such as John Madden, it soon grew up to become a sub-label on its own, releasing game series such as "NBA Live", "FIFA", "NHL", "Madden NFL", and "NASCAR". The best selling EA Sports series is the "FIFA" series with over 100 million units sold. - Abandoning previous ventures in favor of toys in the 1960s, Nintendo then developed into a video game company in the 1970s, ultimately becoming one of the most influential in the industry and Japan's third most-valuable company with a market value of over $85 billion. From 1992 until 2016, Nintendo was also the majority shareholder of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners. - The is a home video game console released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001; in North America on November 18, 2001; in Europe on May 3, 2002; and in Australia on May 17, 2002. The sixth-generation console is the successor to the Nintendo 64 and competed with Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox. - iPhone is a line of smartphones designed and marketed by Apple Inc. They run Apple's iOS mobile operating system. The first generation iPhone was released on June 29, 2007; the most recent iPhone model is the iPhone 7, which was unveiled at a special event on September 7, 2016. - Constantine Falkland Cary Smythe, MC (February 1, 1895 November 18, 1980) was a Canadian businessman, soldier and sportsman in ice hockey and horse racing. He is best known as the principal owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1927 to 1961 and as the builder of Maple Leaf Gardens. As owner of the Leafs during numerous championship years, his name appears on the Stanley Cup eight times: 1932, 1942, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1951 and 1962. After reading the paragraphs above, we are interested in knowing the entity with which 'nhl 2k9' exhibits the relationship of 'developer'. Find the answer from the choices below. Choices: - 2k games - apple inc . - ea sports - leaf - lg electronics - microsoft - nintendo - produce - samsung - sega - sony - sony computer entertainment - square - success - taiwan - visual concepts
The answer is:
visual concepts