Technology

Video games trivia | 100 did you know facts about famous series (part 3)

Video games have become a part of pop culture. With many titles gaining worldwide recognition and a rapid fanbase.

So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about these famous video game series.

FIFA is a series of association football simulation video games
It is developed and released annually by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label
Football video games such as Sensible Soccer, Kick Off and Match Day had been developed since the late 1980s
They were already competitive in the games market when EA Sports announced a football game as the next addition to their EA Sports label
The Guardian called the series “the slickest, most polished and by far the most popular football game around”
As of 2011, the FIFA franchise has been localised into 18 languages and available in 51 countries
Listed in Guinness World Records as the best-selling sports video game franchise in the world, by 2019
The FIFA series had sold over 282.4 million copies
It is also one of the best-selling video game franchises
When the series began in late 1993, it was notable for being the first to have an official licence from FIFA, the world governing body of football
The latest installments in the series contain many exclusively licensed leagues including leagues and teams from around the world, including the German Bundesliga and 2
Bundesliga, English Premier League and EFL Championship, Italian Serie A and Serie B, Spanish La Liga and La Liga 2, French Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, Portuguese Primeira Liga, Turkish Süper Lig, Dutch Eredivisie, Scottish Premiership, the Swiss Super League, Russian Premier League, Polish Ekstraklasa, Mexican Liga MX, American Major League Soccer, South Korean K-League, Japanese J1 League, the Chinese Super League, Saudi Professional League, Australian A-League, Chilean Primera División, Brazilian Campeonato Brasileiro Série A and Argentine Superliga Argentina, allowing the use of real leagues, clubs and player names and likenesses within the games
Popular clubs from around the world, including some teams from Greece, Ukraine and South Africa, are also included, without those nations’ entire leagues
The main series has been complemented by additional installments based on single major tournaments, such as the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA European Football Championship
As well as a series of football management titles
As of FIFA 20, Real Madrid playmaker Eden Hazard is the face of the franchise, appearing on the front cover of the series and in promotional campaigns and advertisements
He takes over from Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus who was the face of the previous two covers
Lionel Messi appeared on four straight covers from FIFA 13 to FIFA 16
Wayne Rooney has appeared in the most covers being on the cover of every game from FIFA 06 to FIFA 12
Since the release of FIFA Mobile in 2016, forward Marco Reus, Eden Hazard, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, and Paulo Dybala have appeared on the cover
FIFA 12 holds the record for the “fastest selling sports game ever” with over 3.2 million games sold and over $186 million generated at retail in its first week of release
The franchise’s latest release, FIFA 20, has been released worldwide on September 27, 2019
It is available for multiple gaming systems, including the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and the Stadia platform
Final Fantasy is a Japanese anthology science fantasy media franchise
It is created by Hironobu Sakaguchi
It is developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square)
The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science fantasy role-playing video games
The first game in the series was released in 1987
15 other main-numbered entries being released since then
The franchise has since branched into other video game genres such as tactical role-playing, action role-playing, massively multiplayer online role-playing, racing, third-person shooter, fighting, and rhythm
As well as branching into other media, including CGI films, anime, manga, and novels
Final Fantasy is one of the highest-grossing video game franchises of all time
Having grossed $10.9 billion in lifetime revenue, as of 2019
Final Fantasy installments are generally stand-alone stories, each with different settings, plots and main characters
The franchise is linked by several recurring elements, including game mechanics and recurring character names
Each plot centers on a particular group of heroes who are battling a great evil, but also explores the characters’ internal struggles and relationships
Character names are frequently derived from the history, languages, pop culture, and mythologies of cultures worldwide
The mechanics of each game involve similar battle systems and maps
The Final Fantasy video game series has been both critically and commercially successful
It has sold more than 154.5 million software units worldwide
Making it one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time
The series is well known for its innovation, visuals, and music, such as the inclusion of full-motion videos (FMVs), photorealistic character models, and music by Nobuo Uematsu
It has popularized many features now common in role-playing games, also popularizing the genre as a whole in markets outside Japan
God of War is an action-adventure game franchise
It was created by David Jaffe at Sony’s Santa Monica Studio
It began in 2005 on the PlayStation 2 (PS2) video game console
It has become a flagship title for the PlayStation brand
Consisting of eight games across multiple platforms
Based in ancient mythology, the story follows Kratos, a Spartan warrior who was tricked into killing his family by his former master, the Greek God of War Ares
This sets off a series of events that leads to wars with the mythological pantheons
The Greek mythology era of the series sees Kratos follow a path of vengeance due to the machinations of the Olympian gods
While the Norse mythology era, which introduces his son Atreus as a secondary protagonist, shows an older Kratos on a path of redemption, which inadvertently brings the two into conflict with the Norse gods
Santa Monica has developed all main entries, while Ready at Dawn and Javaground/Sony Online Entertainment-Los Angeles (SOE-LA) developed the three side games
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has published all games except the mobile phone installment
The mobile phone installment was published by Sony Pictures Digital
The first seven games make up the Greek era of the franchise
God of War (2005), God of War II (2007), and God of War III (2010) comprise its main trilogy
The first two were released on the PS2 with the third on the PlayStation 3 (PS3)
A prequel, Ascension (2013), was also released for the PS3
Other games include Chains of Olympus (2008) and Ghost of Sparta (2010) for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) and Betrayal (2007) for mobile phones that supported the Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME)
The Norse era began with the 2018 installment that was also titled God of War
It was released for the PlayStation 4 (PS4)
It was accompanied by a short prequel, A Call from the Wilds (2018), a text-based game through Facebook Messenger
Games in the series have been praised as some of the best action games of all time
The series has received numerous awards, including several Game of the Year recognitions for the 2005 and 2018 installments
Some games have also been remastered for newer PlayStation platforms
As of May 2019, the franchise has sold over 32 million games worldwide
Strong sales and support of the series led to the franchise’s expansion into other media, such as three comic book series and three novels
A film adaptation of the original installment has been in development since 2005
Merchandise includes artwork, clothing, toys, and prop replicas, as well as the games’ soundtracks
Including a heavy metal album, Blood & Metal (2010), featuring original music by various bands who were inspired by the series
Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is a series of action-adventure games
It was created by David Jones and Mike Dailly
Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut
It is primarily developed by British development house Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design)
It is published by its parent company, Rockstar Games
The name of the series references the term “grand theft auto”, used in the United States for motor vehicle theft
Most games in the series are set in fictional locales modelled on cities, usually either Liberty City, Vice City or San Andreas
These are stand-ins for New York City, Miami and the state of California, respectively
The first game encompassed three fictional cities, while subsequent titles tend to emphasise a single setting
Gameplay focuses on an open world where the player can choose missions to progress an overall story, as well as engaging in side activities, all consisting of action-adventure, driving, third-person shooting, carjacking, occasional role-playing, stealth and racing elements
The series focuses on many different protagonists who attempt to rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld, although their motives for doing so vary in each game
The series also has elements of the earlier beat ’em up games from the 16-bit era
The antagonists are commonly characters who have betrayed the protagonist or his organisation, or characters who have the most impact impeding the protagonist’s progress
Film and music veterans have voiced characters
Some well-known people that lend their voices to the games are Ray Liotta, Dennis Hopper, Samuel L. Jackson, James Woods, Debbie Harry, Axl Rose and Peter Fonda
DMA Design began the series in 1997, with the release of the Grand Theft Auto
As of 2019, the series has eleven stand-alone games and four expansion packs
The third main title, Grand Theft Auto III, is considered a landmark game
This is becasue it brought the series to a three-dimensional (3D) setting and more immersive experience
Subsequent titles have followed and built upon the concept established in Grand Theft Auto III, and received significant acclaim
They have influenced other open-world action games
They led to the label Grand Theft Auto clone on similar games
The series has been critically acclaimed and commercially successful
It has shipped more than 280 million units with an estimated gross revenue of over $9 billion
Making it the fourth-highest selling video game franchise of all time
Grand Theft Auto stands behing Nintendo’s Mario and Pokémon franchises and Tetris in the highest seling video games list
In 2006, Grand Theft Auto was featured in a list of British design icons in the Great British Design Quest organised by the BBC and the Design Museum
In 2013, The Telegraph ranked Grand Theft Auto among Britain’s most successful exports
The series has also been controversial for its adult nature and violent themes