Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 December 18

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From today's featured article
Final Fantasy is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi. It centers on a series of fantasy and science fantasy role-playing video games (RPGs), but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise. The first game in the series, published in 1987, was conceived by Sakaguchi as his last-ditch effort in the game industry; the title was a success and spawned sequels. The video game series has since branched into other genres. Although most Final Fantasy installments are supposedly independent stories with different settings and main characters, they feature identical elements that define the franchise. Plots center on a group of heroes battling a great evil while exploring the characters' internal struggles and relationships. The series has been commercially and critically successful; it is Square Enix's best selling video game franchise, with more than 100 million units sold, and one of the best-selling video game franchises. It was awarded a star on the Walk of Game in 2006, and holds seven Guinness World Records in the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008. It has also introduced many features now common in role-playing video games and has been credited with helping to popularize console-based RPGs in markets outside Japan. (Full article...) Recently featured: "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" – 1950 Atlantic hurricane season – Common toad Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that Antoine de Bosc de la Calmette (pictured) excavated Møn's Neolithic burial mound, Klekkende Høj, in 1797 while he was governor? ... that following the death of Pope John Paul II, some 40,000 Catholics gathered in front of the Bishop's Palace in Kraków for a night vigil and prayer? ... that Pringle Stokes, captain of HMS Beagle on its first voyage, and Robert FitzRoy, captain on the second voyage, both committed suicide? ... that numerous Olympic and World weightlifting champions from Armenia hail from Gyumri, a city with a population of 150,000? ... that Kučuk Alija killed Hadži Mustafa Pasha, a vizier of the Belgrade pashalik, at the end of 1801? ... that Marty Friedman left Megadeth only to get mixed up with bodacious space pirates? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Shinzō Abe (pictured) is elected Prime Minister of Japan as the Liberal Democratic Party gains an absolute majority in the House of Representatives. Twenty-eight people, including the gunman, are dead following a shooting at an elementary school in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Twenty-three people are injured in a knife attack at a primary school in the Chinese province of Henan. In Denmark, the discovery of "The Tallow Candle", a previously unknown story by author Hans Christian Andersen, is confirmed. North Korea successfully launches its first satellite, Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2, using a Unha-3 carrier rocket. Recent deaths: Daniel Inouye – Dina Manfredini Syrian civil war – Wikinews – More current events...
On this day...
December 18: Republic Day in Niger (1958); National Day in Qatar (1878) 1892 – The first performance of the fairy tale-ballet The Nutcracker was held at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. 1912 – Amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson announced the discovery of fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human, known as Piltdown Man, which later turned out to be a hoax. 1939 – Second World War: The German Luftwaffe victory over the Royal Air Force in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight greatly influenced both sides' future air strategy. 1966 – Epimetheus (pictured), one of the moons of Saturn, was discovered, but was mistaken as Janus. It took 12 years to determine that they are two distinct objects sharing the same orbit. 1996 – The school board of Oakland, California, passed a controversial resolution officially declaring African American Vernacular English as a separate language or dialect. More anniversaries: December 17 – December 18 – December 19 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now December 18, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

The structure of a quick response (QR) code, a type of matrix barcode that can encode virtually any kind of data. Originally developed for the automotive industry to track vehicles during the manufacturing process, it has since become one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. The QR code is detected as a 2-dimensional digital image by an image sensor and is then digitally analyzed. The processor locates the three distinctive squares at the corners of the image, and uses a smaller square near the fourth corner to normalize the image for size, orientation, and angle of viewing. The small dots are then converted to binary numbers and validity checked with an error-correcting code.

Image: Richard Wheeler

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