Misplaced Pages

#261738

63-582: Moshi Monsters was a British children's web browser massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) aimed at children aged 6–12, with over 80 million registered users in 150 territories worldwide. Users could choose from one of six virtual pet monsters (Katsuma, Poppet, Diavlo, Luvli, Furi, and Zommer) they could create, name and nurture. Once their pet had been customized, players could navigate their way around Monstro City, take daily puzzle challenges to earn 'Rox' (a virtual currency ), play games, personalize their room and communicate with other users in

126-462: A Bejeweled -like tile-matching game, Puzzle Quest added elements of a computer role-playing game atop this. The player would take turns against a computer opponent, making matches on a common game board, with the types of tiles matched representing role-playing game elements like attacks, defense, and magic which the player used to battle their current enemy, the larger game component had the player improve their character and obtain gear that improved

189-602: A Moshi Monsters character known as Lady Goo Goo. The songs intended for release included the parody "Peppy-razzi", similar to the Lady Gaga hit " Paparazzi ". Justice Vos of the High Court ruled that Lady Goo Goo could appear in the Moshi Monsters game, but that Mind Candy could not release, promote, advertise, sell, distribute, or otherwise make available "any musical work or video that purports to be performed by

252-705: A game mechanic , rather than a distinct genre of games. The mechanism of matching game pieces to make them disappear is a feature of many non-digital games, including Mahjong solitaire and Solitaire card games. Video game researcher Jesper Juul traces the history of tile-matching video games back to early puzzle Tetris and Chain Shot! (later known as SameGame ), published in 1984 and 1985, respectively. While both are puzzle games, they differ in important design points such as time pressure, tile manipulation, and solving criteria. While there may have been earlier video games with tile-matching mechanics, Juul stated that

315-536: A break from looking after the Moshling Zoo, only to get their plane hit by thunder and to find out that the park is now abandoned in terrible condition, so they attempt to restore it to its former glory. Like the previous game, it also had a secret moshling unlock code. In July 2013, Mind Candy released Moshi Monsters Village on Google Play , a 3D city-builder published by GREE and developed by Tag Games . After GREE UK shut down, Mind Candy decided to take over

378-501: A browser. The most-used browser is Google Chrome , with a 67% global market share on all devices, followed by Safari with 18%. A web browser is not the same thing as a search engine , though the two are often confused. A search engine is a website that provides links to other websites. However, to connect to a website's server and display its web pages, a user must have a web browser installed. In some technical contexts, browsers are referred to as user agents . The purpose of

441-540: A character by the name of Lady Goo Goo, or that otherwise uses the name Lady Goo Goo or any variant thereon". Lady Goo Goo was later replaced with a new Moshling named Baby Rox, who is not a parody of any particular celebrity. In 2015, both Bin Weevils and Moshi Monsters were told to change the wording of their in-app advertisements by the Advertising Standards Authority , who said that

504-448: A given point on the board. King , which had made similar tile-matching games for browser-based games, explored a different approach with its first mobile app, Bubble Witch Saga , which had puzzle-oriented gameplay like Puzzle Bobble , but applied finite restrictions on the number of moves the player could take and setting target goals such as score or clearing the board. This enabled them to create numerous levels that could be completed in

567-432: A great variety of puzzle game experiences. This section discusses a number of these mechanics. Early puzzle games like Tetris were timed – that is, new tiles are continuously added and the player is under pressure to make matches before the board fills up. The rate of tile addition often increased as to make for a more difficult challenge in longer games. Untimed (turn-based) games, in which new tiles are added only after

630-446: A greater number of similar tiles. In some tile games, when tiles are matched and removed, pieces above them fall to fill the space (as with Bejeweled and Candy Crush Saga ). This creates the potential for additional matches and creating scoring combos, with all subsequent matches scored at higher point values. Some games drop tiles at random, others according to algorithms . In most tile-matching games, new tiles are randomly added to

693-406: A loss of £2.2m in 2013 due to a drop in sales from Moshi Monsters . The company's financial reports had shown that the profit declined by 34.8% from £46.9 million in 2012 to £30.6 million in 2013. In 2015, Mind Candy revealed that they were preparing to relaunch Moshi Monsters for an older target of ages 4-7, initially as animation with apps and toys to follow. However, no changes had been made to

SECTION 10

#1732801443262

756-484: A new type of tile-matching game based on creating games broken up into levels and establishing goals to reach within a limited number of moves. This "saga" approach also extended to other genres of mobile games. The second innovation in tile-matching games was the incorporation of their mechanic into other genres. One of the first such games was Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords released in 2008. While based on

819-429: A safe environment. The servers for the game were officially closed on 13 December 2019, due to the game requiring Adobe Flash Player , which ended support on 31 December 2020. Mind Candy continues to actively use the "Moshi" intellectual property in the mobile app Moshi , an award-winning younger children's app featuring bedtime stories, games and guided mindfulness meditations aimed at very young children. The game

882-531: A section in the menu for deleting cookies. Finer-grained management of cookies usually requires a browser extension . The first web browser, called WorldWideWeb , was created in 1990 by Sir Tim Berners-Lee . He then recruited Nicola Pellow to write the Line Mode Browser , which displayed web pages on dumb terminals . The Mosaic web browser was released in April 1993, and was later credited as

945-424: A short time, making the game ideal for mobile players, and apply a microtransaction model to provide players temporary boosts and power-ups for more difficult levels. This approach proved highly successful and King reused it for the tile-matching game Candy Crush Saga in 2012, itself which was inspired by Bejeweled . Candy Crush Saga became one of the most financially successful mobile games , and established

1008-542: A short trailer. On 10 October 2013, a short preview of the trailer was broadcast on ITV Daybreak . Later that day, the trailer was released on MSN . The film was released on 20 December 2013 in the UK and 20 February 2014 in Australia, and was a box-office bomb in both countries. The DVD and Blu-ray were released on 14 April 2014 in the UK and 3 April 2014 in Australia. The developer of Moshi Monsters , Mind Candy, suffered

1071-589: A survey referred to by Juul, tile-matching games were the second most popular game type in 2004 and by far the most popular in 2005. After that, their popularity declined: they were the fourth most popular of several genres in 2006 and 2007, and in 2008 a games publisher referred to them as a "niche" genre. But as they became well known and therefore assumed to be immediately playable by many people, tile-matching games migrated to other, more ubiquitous distribution channels such as cell phones and smartphones. Despite their commercial popularity, tile-matching games are among

1134-833: A sync service and web accessibility features. Common user interface (UI) features: While mobile browsers have similar UI features as desktop versions, the limitations of touch screens require mobile UIs to be simpler. The difference is significant for users accustomed to keyboard shortcuts . The most popular desktop browsers also have sophisticated web development tools . Web browsers are popular targets for hackers , who exploit security holes to steal information, destroy files , and other malicious activities. Browser vendors regularly patch these security holes, so users are strongly encouraged to keep their browser software updated. Other protection measures are antivirus software and being aware of scams . Tile-matching video game The core challenge of tile-matching games

1197-544: A web browser is to fetch content and display it on the user's device. This process begins when the user inputs a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), such as https://en.wikipedia.org/ , into the browser. Virtually all URLs on the Web start with either http: or https: which means they are retrieved with the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). For secure mode (HTTPS), the connection between

1260-460: Is based on Mozilla 's code. Both of these codebases are open-source, so a number of small niche browsers are also made from them. The most popular browsers share many features in common. They automatically log users' browsing history , unless the users turn off their browsing history or use the non-logging private mode . They also allow users to set bookmarks , customize the browser with extensions , and can manage user passwords . Some provide

1323-581: Is having the player shoot the tiles onto the board, such as in Plotting and its descendants including Zuma . The first method, which allows only moves that create a match, results in a more strategic, thoughtful style of play, whereas the second method requires hand-eye coordination in addition to pattern recognition skills, and makes for a more hectic style of play. In most tile-matching games, players obtain points for each match. Higher scores are awarded for more difficult matches, such as those involving

SECTION 20

#1732801443262

1386-534: Is the identification of patterns on a seemingly chaotic board. Their origins lie in puzzle games from the 1980s such as Tetris , Chain Shot! ( SameGame ) and Puzznic . Tile-matching games were made popular in the 2000s, in the form of casual games distributed or played over the Internet, notably the Bejeweled series of games. They have remained popular since, with the game Candy Crush Saga becoming

1449-433: Is to match two, three, or more tiles of the same type, which merges those matched tiles into a single tile with a different value that then can be matched further. For example, in 2048 , players are given random blocks with numbers 2 or 4 on them, and much match two blocks of the same number as to generate new blocks with values in the multiples of 2, with the goal to try to get a block with the value 2048 (2 ) or higher. While

1512-518: The Game Boy version of Tetris with the Game Boy handheld system upon its North American and European releases in 1989. The game helped to sell the handheld system, making it a killer application , and sold over 35 million copies over the Game Boy's lifetime. As it drew in players that normally did not play video games, Tetris is considered one of the first casual games . The popularity of

1575-498: The Moshi Monsters site during its lifespan, apart from the removal of the forums section and the removal of the game. From 2015 onwards, the decline of Moshi Monsters and the site's creator Mind Candy continued. The peak of Moshi Monsters ' popularity was in 2012 at £46.9m, and it continued to decline. In 2018, total revenues were £5.2m, compared with £13.2m in 2014. On 13 November 2019, Mind Candy announced that Moshi Monsters would be closing down on 13 December 2019 due to

1638-519: The Nintendo DS . The game is themed around moshlings and collecting and caring for them. It also came with an unlock code for a secret moshling to adopt in the main online game. In October 2012, they also released Moshi Monsters: Moshling Theme Park . The game takes place after the events of the previous title, and its plot involves the Monsters going to Moshlings Theme Park so that they can take

1701-408: The most popular browser. Microsoft debuted Internet Explorer in 1995, leading to a browser war with Netscape. Within a few years, Microsoft gained a dominant position in the browser market for two reasons: it bundled Internet Explorer with its popular Windows operating system and did so as freeware with no restrictions on usage. The market share of Internet Explorer peaked at over 95% in

1764-616: The Moshi Monsters game accordingly. We will continue to work with the ASA in any way possible." Web browser A web browser is an application for accessing websites . When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on a range of devices, including desktops , laptops , tablets , and smartphones . By 2020, an estimated 4.9 billion people had used

1827-632: The Moshling characters was released on iOS and Android . In early 2015, Mind Candy released an app called World of Warriors which was shut down in October 2018. In November 2016, Mind Candy released the Moshi Monsters Egg Hunt app, which is for younger children, alongside a companion storybook of the same name. In December 2017, Mind Candy released Moshi Twilight , a children's app featuring audio-based bedtime stories. The app

1890-657: The UK in 2011), a best-selling DS video game, 2 music albums, books, membership cards, bath soap, chocolate advent calendars , trading cards, figures of many Moshlings, mobile games, and a Moshi Monsters feature film . Eight Moshi Monsters toys were included in McDonald's Happy Meals in the United States and Canada in December 2012. The toys were exclusively available at Toys "R" Us . In November 2011, Activision released Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo for

1953-424: The adverts and phrases such as "The Super Moshis need YOU" pressured users to buy certain items inside the game. Mind Candy said that it took its responsibilities "very seriously with regards to how we communicate with all of our fans, especially children." It went on to say that Mind Candy had "been working with the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) to ensure that we adhere to best practice and have made changes to

Moshi Monsters - Misplaced Pages Continue

2016-513: The basis for many other browsers, including Microsoft Edge , currently in third place with about a 5% share, as well as Samsung Internet and Opera in fifth and sixth places respectively with over 2% market share each. The other two browsers in the top four are made from different codebases . Safari , based on Apple 's WebKit code, is the second most popular web browser and is dominant on Apple devices, resulting in an 18% global share. Firefox , in fourth place, with about 3% market share,

2079-466: The board continuously, either turn by turn or in real time. This may continue indefinitely or for a given period of time or number of turns. The player must continuously remove the newly added tiles through matching. The game may end with a loss when the board is filled with tiles or if there are no more possible matches. It may end with a victory when the player clears the board or reaches a given score. Among downloadable casual video games, according to

2142-494: The browser and web server is encrypted , providing a secure and private data transfer. Web pages usually contain hyperlinks to other pages and resources. Each link contains a URL, and when it is clicked or tapped , the browser navigates to the new resource. Most browsers use an internal cache of web page resources to improve loading times for subsequent visits to the same page. The cache can store many items, such as large images, so they do not need to be downloaded from

2205-405: The commercial success of both Tetris and Chain Shot! established the popularity of puzzle games, leading to a second generation of influential games – Puzznic , Columns , Dr. Mario and Plotting – which were published in 1989 and 1990. Another early Mahjong-style pair matching game was Shanghai (1986). The popularity of the puzzle genre was further boosted when Nintendo bundled

2268-449: The debut album Moshi Monsters, Music Rox! Jason Perry , formerly with the UK rock band A and head of Moshi Music, drove the new album. The Moshi Monsters series features music from Sonic Boom Six , Beatie Wolfe , The Blackout , Portia Conn, and songs such as "Moptop Tweenybop (My Hairs Too Long)", "Moshi Twistmas", and " Poesje Mauw ". Two albums are available on iTunes and Google Play , as well as on disc . One album contains

2331-659: The early 2000s. In 1998, Netscape launched what would become the Mozilla Foundation to create a new browser using the open-source software model. This work evolved into the Firefox browser, first released by Mozilla in 2004. Firefox's market share peaked at 32% in 2010. Apple released its Safari browser in 2003; it remains the dominant browser on Apple devices, though it did not become popular elsewhere. Google debuted its Chrome browser in 2008, which steadily took market share from Internet Explorer and became

2394-470: The end of support for Adobe Flash Player. On 13 December 2019, the game's servers had shut down as planned, and the website has been defunct ever since. In October 2011, Ate My Heart Inc, representing the musician Lady Gaga , were granted an interim injunction by the High Court of Justice of England and Wales to stop Mind Candy, the parent company of Moshi Monsters , from releasing music on iTunes by

2457-657: The first web browser to find mainstream popularity. Its innovative graphical user interface made the World Wide Web easy to navigate and thus more accessible to the average person. This, in turn, sparked the Internet boom of the 1990s, when the Web grew at a very rapid rate. The lead developers of Mosaic then founded the Netscape corporation, which released the Mosaic-influenced Netscape Navigator in 1994. Navigator quickly became

2520-417: The game as the publisher, leaving the development to Tag Games. The game was relaunched on Apple devices on 18 December 2013 immediately ahead of the release of the movie. In December 2013, Mind Candy published the companion app Talking Poppet , also developed by Tag Games. In February 2014, Moshi Karts was released on iOS by Mind Candy. In June 2014, Moshling Rescue a "match-three" game based on

2583-845: The game for combat-related actions. Both Push Panic and Heroes of Kalevala arrived in 2010. In 2011 New Puzzle Bobble was released for iOS while Bubble Safari , Ruby Blast , Gems with Friends and Puzzle & Dragons were first released in 2012. Juice Cubes , Tower of Saviors , Alien Hive , Marvel Puzzle Quest , Jelly Splash and Doctor Who: Legacy were released for mobile devices from 2013 onwards. In 2015 Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle , Ironcast , HuniePop , Hex Frvr and Sailor Moon Drops were all released. By 2016 millions of players were logging into titles such as Gardenscapes: New Acres . The genre continues to appeal to gamers, with numerous titles including Boost Beast (2017), Dr. Mario World , Crystal Crisis (2019), and Royal Match (2020) among

Moshi Monsters - Misplaced Pages Continue

2646-512: The game more accessible to less skilled players. With the introduction of Candy Crush Saga , games with levels featuring limits on the number of moves were introduced. In this, the player may be challenged to achieve a certain score, or match enough tiles of a specific color before running out of turns, or otherwise would have to complete the level again. Tiles may be arranged on a horizontal surface or vertically (that is, stacked atop one another, and dropping down when tiles below are removed). In

2709-406: The games with the lowest status among video game enthusiasts, to the point where reviewers have advised gamers not to be ashamed of playing them. This may be because critics consider that there are too many of these games, which differ only slightly from each other. It may also be because, as casual games, tile-matching games are designed to be easily accessible and simple to play, which conflicts with

2772-424: The goal is to create clusters of three or more identical items on a grid, was Shariki (1994). It led directly to the successful Bejeweled (2001), which became a very successful series and inspired many similar games including Zoo Keeper (2003), Big Kahuna Reef (2004), Jewel Quest (2004), and Chuzzle (2005). Later games such as Tidalis (2010) developed the idea further with 20 game modes and

2835-424: The goal of creating the longest possible chain of matching colors. Towards 2010, new trends in tile-matching games appeared. The first was driven by the popularity of mobile games. Prior to 2012, most tile-matching games had no end goal, instead challenging the player to continue as long as possible until the board reached a state where no turn was possible, or, in the case of Tetris , where tiles have filled up past

2898-542: The late 1980s puzzle games continued to bring new titles to the market, generally building on ideas introduced in these early games. Games building on Dr. Mario' s mechanics include Puyo Puyo (1991), Baku Baku Animal (1995) and Puzzle Fighter (1996). Building on the shooting mechanic introduced in Plotting , Dr. Mario also influenced Puzzle Bobble (1994), which in turn inspired Puzz Loop (1998), Hexic and Zuma (2003), and Luxor (2005). Columns

2961-566: The latter case, some games allow moving or rotating new tiles as they fall down from the top of the playing area, as in Tetris or Dr. Mario ; or they may allow only the manipulation of tiles that have already fallen, as in Yoshi's Cookie . Panel de Pon introduced, and Bejeweled popularized the mechanism of tile swapping, in which tiles may be moved by exchanging the position of two adjacent tiles. Another frequently used tile manipulation method

3024-498: The merging mechanic had been part of other video games since as early as Darwin's Dilemma in 1990, the genre saw a boost following the success of Threes on mobile platforms. Tile-matching games that are set in a fictional background are normally based in a "bright and positive" fiction, as opposed to the warlike background of strategy games or the fantasy background of massively multiplayer games. Tile matching game mechanics have been combined with other mechanics to produce

3087-402: The more recent. Many casual tile matching games continue to be published. Their development is characterized by gradual evolution, where new games makes only small changes, if any, to a formula known from previous games. In the highly competitive market for downloadable casual games, new entries must be familiar enough to appeal to players of earlier games, but innovative enough to differentiate

3150-513: The most popular browser in 2012. Chrome has remained dominant ever since. By 2015, Microsoft replaced Internet Explorer with Edge for the Windows 10 release. Since the early 2000s, browsers have greatly expanded their HTML , CSS , JavaScript , and multimedia capabilities. One reason has been to enable more sophisticated websites, such as web apps . Another factor is the significant increase of broadband connectivity in many parts of

3213-445: The most-played game on Facebook in 2013. Tile-matching games cover a broad range of design elements, mechanics and gameplay experiences. They include purely turn-based games but may also feature arcade -style action elements such as time pressure, shooting or hand-eye coordination . The tile matching mechanic is also a minor feature in some larger games. Video game researcher Jesper Juul therefore considers tile matching to be

SECTION 50

#1732801443262

3276-461: The new game from earlier ones. This leads to developers, according to Juul, "simultaneously trying to out-innovate and out-clone each other". A new style of tile-matching game arose from games like Triple Town (2010), Threes (2014), and 2048 (2014), typically called merge-style games. Here, the player either can place tiles in a limited area, or can manipulate tiles such as sliding all tiles as far as they can move in one direction. The goal

3339-430: The player has made a move, used to be the exception, although the 1985 game Chain Shot! already had an untimed mode. In untimed modes, the player is able to continue to make matches until they reach an unplayable state, in which case the game is considered over. The addition of an untimed mode to Bejeweled! was integral to that game's success, as well as one of its most important influences on subsequent games, as it made

3402-401: The server again. Cached items are usually only stored for as long as the web server stipulates in its HTTP response messages. During the course of browsing, cookies received from various websites are stored by the browser. Some of them contain login credentials or site preferences. However, others are used for tracking user behavior over long periods of time, so browsers typically provide

3465-488: The songs from Moshi Monsters: The Movie , and another album has some of Moshi Monster ' s first songs. 2 Single discs for "Moptop Tweenybop (My Hairs Too Long)" and "Moshi Twistmas" were also included free with the magazines in the UK. In 2013, Mind Candy announced a Moshi Monsters children's PG film. In September 2013, Issue 34 of the Moshi Monsters Magazine included a Moshi Music DVD with

3528-401: The value of the tiles they matched or created special effects on the tile board, such as removing all tiles of a specific type. Puzzle Quest was very popular and led to numerous games which uses the tile-matching as part of a battle system. While not directly influenced by Puzzle Quest , Puzzle & Dragons in 2012 was another successful mobile title that used the tile-matching part of

3591-405: The world, enabling people to access data-intensive content, such as streaming HD video on YouTube , that was not possible during the era of dial-up modems . Google Chrome has been the dominant browser since the mid-2010s and currently has a 67% global market share on all devices. The vast majority of its source code comes from Google's open-source Chromium project; this code is also

3654-605: The zoo. The in-game pets could also happily sing the Dutch nursery rhyme "Poesje Mauw" together while doing a Dutch folk dance, wearing wooden clogs, holding tulips, and wearing traditional Dutch outfits. This would happen if the player tapped the screen three times. Since its digital popularity, Moshi Monsters has grown commercially to include physical products, including games, toys, the Moshi Monsters Magazine (number one selling younger children's magazine in

3717-445: Was announced that Moshi Monsters would be closing down on 13 December 2019, due to the end of support for Adobe Flash Player. The Monsters (in-game pets) keep their own smaller pets, called "Moshlings". They came in a huge variety of themed sets, including Arties, Beasties, Kitties, and Spookies. Those who were not paying members could keep two "Moshlings" in their room, whilst paying members could keep up to six and visit other pets in

3780-439: Was created in late 2007 by Michael Acton Smith , and developed in 2008 by entertainment company Mind Candy and officially launched in April 2008. As of December 2009, there were at least 10 million players registered. In March 2010, Mind Candy announced that there were 15 million users and by September 2010, that number had surpassed 25 million. In June 2011, it was announced that there were 50 million users. On 13 November 2019, it

3843-419: Was later renamed Moshi and expanded to include guided mindfulness meditations. The app is aimed at very young children aged 0-5. In March 2012, Mind Candy confirmed a major partnership deal with Sony Music . The deal followed the recent launch of Mind Candy's own music label, Moshi Monsters Music. The deal saw Sony Music handle the distribution aspects of Moshi Monsters ' music releases, starting with

SECTION 60

#1732801443262

3906-617: Was released in 1995 containing a two player competitive game. Sega Swirl for handheld devices was released in 1999. Microsoft bundled Jawbreaker Windows Mobile 2003. Several multiplayer modes, both local and networked, featured in early tile-matching games such as Columns and Dr. Mario and later with TetriNET (1997) and Tetris Worlds (2001). Multiplayer introduced elements of race and competition as players were able to attacks opponents in various ways resulting in more difficult matchmaking for their opponent. The first of what eventually became known as "match-three" games, where

3969-495: Was the basis of a line of development of tile matching games based on shifting or swapping tiles. It includes Yoshi's Cookie (1992) and Panel de Pon (1995), which introduced the swapping mechanic. Puzzled included multiplayer games and was released for the Neo Geo console in the same year. 1994 saw BreakThru! and Gururin published with FlipOut! and Vid Grid released the following year. Hebereke's Popoitto

#261738