Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 December 30

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From today's featured article

Thief II: The Metal Age is a 2000 stealth game developed by Looking Glass Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. Like its predecessor Thief: The Dark Project, the game follows Garrett, a master thief who works in and around a steampunk metropolis called the City. The player assumes the role of Garrett as he unravels a conspiracy related to a new religious sect. In response to feedback from players of the original Thief, the developers placed a heavy focus on urban stealth in the sequel, and they minimized the use of monsters and maze-like levels. Looking Glass neared bankruptcy as the game was created, and the company was kept running by advances from Eidos. Thief II received positive reviews from critics and its initial sales were stronger than those of its predecessor, but the game's royalties were processed slowly, which compounded Looking Glass's financial troubles. As a result, the company closed in May 2000, with plans for Thief III canceled. The third game in the series, entitled Thief: Deadly Shadows, was developed by Ion Storm and published by Eidos in 2004. Thief 2X: Shadows of the Metal Age, an expansion mod for Thief II, was released in 2005. (Full article...)

Part of the Looking Glass Studios video games series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics.

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that puffbirds (pictured) have been nicknamed bobos (Spanish for "dummies") due to their propensity to sit motionless waiting for prey?
... that Garratt Road Bridge is the longest extant timber bridge in Western Australia?
... that during the Indian National Congress campaign for Indian general election, 2014, Priyanka Gandhi called Manmohan Singh the "Super PM"?
... that World War II veteran Lowell Steward was a childhood friend of Jackie Robinson?
... that because of antisemitism, the Lorelei Fountain, honoring German poet Heinrich Heine, was placed in New York City instead of in Heine's hometown of Düsseldorf?
... that a South Korean organisation named Fighters for a Free North Korea has sent out gas balloons containing materials such as transistor radios, DVDs, and brochures to North Koreans?
... that problems with a brutalist gray elephant were "like a five-car accident at an intersection. You just can't tell what caused it"?

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In the news

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 (aircraft pictured) goes missing en route to Singapore with 162 people on board.
A militant attack on tribal people and subsequent retaliations in Assam, India, kill at least 85 people.
Beji Caid Essebsi wins the Tunisian presidential election.
India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk III successfully completes its first flight, carrying the crew vehicle demonstrator CARE.
U.S. aid worker Alan Gross and three members of the Cuban Five are released by Cuba and the United States, respectively, as both nations move to resume diplomatic relations.

Ongoing: Ebola outbreak – Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Recent deaths: Leo Tindemans – Edward Greenspan – K. Balachander

On this day...

December 30: Rizal Day in the Philippines (1896)

1460 – War of the Roses: Richard, Duke of York, was killed in the Battle of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, and his army was destroyed.
1702 – Carolina colonial governor James Moore abandoned the siege against the Castillo de San Marcos at St. Augustine, Spanish Florida, and retreated to Charles Town in disgrace.
1896 – Philippine Revolution: Nationalist José Rizal (pictured) was executed by a firing squad in Manila after Spanish authorities convicted him of rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy.
1965 – Ferdinand Marcos, who went on to rule the Philippines for 21 years, took office, beginning his first term as President.
2006 – Basque nationalist group ETA detonated a van bomb at Madrid-Barajas Airport in Spain, ending a nine-month ceasefire.

More anniversaries: December 29 – December 30 – December 31

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It is now December 30, 2014 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

The Half Dome is a granite dome in California's Yosemite National Park, whose summit at elevation 8,844 ft (2,696 m) is more than 4,700 ft (1,400 m) above the floor of Yosemite Valley. Known to the local Native Americans as "Tis-sa-ack", the dome was first summitted by George G. Anderson in October 1875. It is now widely ascended, with more than 50,000 people a year climbing the class 3 "Cable Route".

Photograph: David Iliff

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