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112-456: The Pip-Boy has been named one of the most iconic tools of Fallout and video games as a whole, and is praised for its design, as well as being compared with real wearable computers. In 2015, Bethesda released a replica Pip-Boy as part of a limited run of collector's editions of Fallout 4 . This replica could house a smartphone, allowing the player to control their in-game device through a phone application. A Pip-Boy 2000 Mark VI replica D.I.Y kit

224-403: A 3 ⁄ 16 -inch-wide (4.8 mm) strip of wax-covered paper that was coated by dipping it in a solution of beeswax and paraffin and then had one side scraped clean, with the other side allowed to harden. The machine was of sturdy wood and metal construction and hand-powered by means of a knob fastened to a flywheel . The wax strip passed from one eight-inch reel around the periphery of

336-549: A card battle game titled The Elder Scrolls: Legends in 2017 and a first-person role-playing game titled The Elder Scrolls: Blades in 2019. When Nintendo unveiled its new hybrid console, the Nintendo Switch , Bethesda expressed support for it and released ports of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Doom for that system in November 2017. A year later, it also ported Fallout Shelter , and has future plans to do

448-469: A cassette for storage. The use of magnetic tape for sound recording originated around 1930 in Germany as paper tape with oxide lacquered to it. Prior to the development of magnetic tape, magnetic wire recorders had successfully demonstrated the concept of magnetic recording , but they never offered audio quality comparable to the other recording and broadcast standards of the time. This German invention

560-576: A loudspeaker . The first wire recorder was the Telegraphone invented by Valdemar Poulsen in the late 1890s. Wire recorders for law and office dictation and telephone recording were made almost continuously by various companies (mainly the American Telegraphone Company) through the 1920s and 1930s. These devices were mostly sold as consumer technologies after World War II. Widespread use of wire recording occurred within

672-484: A smartphone , which would operate as the Pip-Boy's display. Timothy J. Seppala of Engadget called it a "glorified smartphone case", and said that while it was comfortable to wear, the Pip-Boy app functioned better on a larger screen, stating that while " cosplayers (and eBay resellers) will likely eat this up [...] once the novelty of the Pip-Boy wears off, the rest of us won't use it much." The limited availability of

784-424: A tape recorder , is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present-day form, it records a fluctuating signal by moving the tape across a tape head that polarizes the magnetic domains in the tape in proportion to the audio signal. Tape-recording devices include the reel-to-reel tape deck and the cassette deck , which uses

896-400: A "Deluxe Bluetooth Edition". At Bethesda's first E3 media briefing in 2015, Todd Howard stated that Bethesda would be releasing a deluxe version of Fallout 4 containing a Pip-Boy, stating, "The Pip-Boy is an important part of Fallout and we love it so much we made a real one." However, this led to criticism when it was revealed that the Pip-Boy was a non-functional plastic enclosure for

1008-507: A "case-by-case" basis, but that the merger would also allow Bethesda's existing back-catalog of titles to become available on Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass service for console, PC and cloud, and that select future games from the publisher would become exclusives for Windows and the Xbox Series X/S consoles, which simultaneously launched that November. The acquisition of ZeniMax Media was formally completed on March 9, 2021. Following

1120-494: A "limited integration entity" that would now report to Matt. In December 2023, Jill Braff was appointed to the role as head of Bethesda and ZeniMax Media's development teams, while simultaneously retaining her existing duties as the General Manager of Integrations and Casual Games for Xbox Game Studios . In May 2024, Microsoft announced that they were closing Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks and Alpha Dog Games as part of

1232-606: A Blattnerphone at Avenue House in September 1930 for tests, and used it to record King George V 's speech at the opening of the India Round Table Conference on 12 November 1930. Though not considered suitable for music the machine continued in use and was moved to Broadcasting House in March 1932, a second machine also being installed. In September 1932, a new model was installed, using 3 mm tape with

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1344-563: A division of Media Technology on June 28, 1986. The formation was described as an experiment "to see if the PC market was a viable place to develop games". Weaver originally named the company "Softwerke" but found that the name was taken by a company based in Virginia . Weaver and the owner of that company agreed to co-exist rather than fight over the title, and Weaver changed the name of his company to Bethesda Softworks. He had considered creating

1456-490: A failed attempt to produce a sequel to Doom 3 . Later that year, Zen Studios released virtual pinball adaptations of three games that Bethesda released during the decade thus far ( The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim , Fallout 4 and the 2016 reboot of Doom ) as the Bethesda Pinball collection for its pinball games. Bethesda went on to release two more free-to-play mobile games based on The Elder Scrolls series,

1568-468: A few hundred copies distributed in plastic bags was sold out within one week, to the surprise of Bethesda Softworks. Early games scored respectably in the gaming press. Electronic Arts was working on the first John Madden Football , and hired Bethesda to help finish developing it, and acquired distribution rights for future versions of Gridiron! . In June 1988, after no new cross-console version of Gridiron! had been released, Bethesda stopped work on

1680-415: A largely mixed to negative reception, with scrutiny directed towards the uninspired narrative, the overall repetitiveness in objectives during the campaign, and consistent technical problems. In September 2023, Bethesda published Starfield for Windows and Xbox Series X/S. Developed by Bethesda Game Studios, the game marked the studio's first wholly original intellectual property in over 25 years. Upon

1792-406: A lawsuit against ZeniMax, claiming he was ousted by his new business partners after giving them access to his brand and was owed US$ 1.2 million in severance pay. ZeniMax filed counterclaims and moved to dismiss the case, claiming Weaver had gone through emails of other employees to find evidence. This dismissal was later vacated on appeal, and the parties settled out of court. Weaver remained

1904-508: A lengthy legal battle the lawsuit was settled in January 2012, with Interplay receiving US$ 2 million while Bethesda Softworks gained the right to develop a Fallout massively multiplayer online game, as well as the rights to Fallout , Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel after December 31, 2013. Tape deck An audio tape recorder , also known as a tape deck , tape player or tape machine or simply

2016-547: A major shareholder in the company; as of 2007, he said that he still owned 33% of ZeniMax's stock. Providence Equity bought 25% of ZeniMax's stock in late 2007, and an additional stake in 2010. In 2004, the Fallout franchise was acquired by Bethesda Softworks from Interplay Entertainment and the development of Fallout 3 was handed over to Bethesda Game Studios. Fallout 3 was released on October 28, 2008. Five downloadable content packs for Fallout 3 were released in

2128-660: A necessity to keep their gaming business growing through periods of transition and industry stagnation, as a reason for the studio closures. Addressing Tango Gameworks directly, she proposed that the varying metrics for success on a game-by-game basis was examined when deciding to shut the studio down. Despite Tango's closure, Matt Booty reiterated the necessity for Xbox to house smaller budget titles for "prestige and awards" much like Hi-Fi Rush . On August 12, 2024, South Korean publisher Krafton announced they had entered an agreement with Microsoft Gaming and Bethesda to revive and acquire Tango Gameworks in its entirety, which also included

2240-701: A pair of electrodes which immediately imprinted the modulated sound signals as visible black stripes into the paper tape's surface. The audio signal could be immediately replayed from the same recorder unit, which also contained photoelectric sensors, somewhat similar to the various sound-on-film technologies of the era. Magnetic recording was conceived as early as 1878 by the American engineer Oberlin Smith and demonstrated in practice in 1898 by Danish engineer Valdemar Poulsen . Analog magnetic wire recording , and its successor, magnetic tape recording, involve

2352-450: A partnership with CBS Enterprises to produce the first-ever true companion PC series of games for the television series Pensacola: Wings of Gold . By December 1997, the first CD-ROM game was still in production. In 1997 and 1998, Bethesda released two The Elder Scrolls spin-offs based on Daggerfall 's code— Battlespire and Redguard —neither of which enjoyed the success of Daggerfall and Arena . The downturn in sales

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2464-666: A popular film franchise, was The Terminator for MS-DOS. The title was released in July 1991, coinciding with the theatrical release of the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day . In 1994, the company released its best-known project at the time, The Elder Scrolls: Arena . The game, the first in The Elder Scrolls role-playing video game series was the work of Programmer Julian Lefay , Director and Producer Vijay Lakshman as well as others. Several sequels have been released since including The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall , which

2576-406: A problem solved by gramophone discs . Franklin C. Goodale adapted movie film for analog audio recording. He received a patent for his invention in 1909. The celluloid film was inscribed and played back with a stylus, in a manner similar to the wax cylinders of Edison's gramophone. The patent description states that the machine could store six records on the same strip of film, side by side, and it

2688-567: A pulley (with guide flanges) mounted above the V-pulleys on the main vertical shaft, where it came in contact with either its recording or playback stylus . The tape was then taken up on the other reel. The sharp recording stylus, actuated by a vibrating mica diaphragm, cut the wax from the strip. In playback mode, a dull, loosely mounted stylus, attached to a rubber diaphragm, carried the reproduced sounds through an ear tube to its listener. Both recording and playback styluses, mounted alternately on

2800-588: A recording time of 32 minutes. In 1933, the Marconi Company purchased the rights to the Blattnerphone, and newly developed Marconi-Stille recorders were installed in the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in March 1935. The quality and reliability were slightly improved, though it still tended to be obvious that one was listening to a recording. A reservoir system containing a loop of tape helped to stabilize

2912-642: A remaster of Doom 64 was also launched as both a standalone release, and as a pre-order bonus for the former game on the aforementioned platforms. The re-release was co-developed by id Software and Nightdive Studios , and includes a new post-campaign expansion. In September 2020, Microsoft entered an agreement to acquire Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax Media for $ 7.5 billion, gaining ownership over all of Bethesda's associated development teams, now as part of Microsoft Gaming . The agreement stipulated that Bethesda continued to finance and self-publish their games and that titles on other platforms would be decided on

3024-504: A sequel to the 2016 reboot for PlayStation 4 , Windows , Xbox One and the Stadia games streaming service from Google . The game's release was one of many that was affected by the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the games industry , prompting retailers such as GameStop to begin selling physical copies a day in advance of its general release to minimize crowding of customers. To coincide with Eternal 's original release,

3136-572: A significant organization restructure of Bethesda's operations. Xbox Game Content and Studios head Matt Booty explained that the shuttering of the studios reflected a desire to prioritize the development of "high-impact titles" and investing more in Bethesda's catalogue of blockbuster franchises. Mobile developer Roundhouse Studios also ceased activity, with its team being consolidated into ZeniMax Online Studios . Development of all DLC content for Redfall also ceased. Xbox president Sarah Bond cited

3248-571: A successful hostile acquisition of Arkane Studios before that. According to a report from IGN , ZeniMax started purposefully failing Human Head's project milestones so that they would not get paid, allowing ZeniMax to buy the company at a reduced rate. They were accused of doing the same thing with Arkane Studios, although in Arkane's case, the studio gave in and allowed themselves to be bought. The failed hostile acquisition of Human Head Studios led to cancellation of Human Head's Prey 2 , according to

3360-476: A unique name, such as one using the word "magic" after a quote from Arthur C. Clarke , but "Bethesda Softworks" ultimately stuck. Unlike VideoMagic, Bethesda Softworks was entirely self-funded, starting with roughly US$ 100,000 , and was not attached to any business plan. Gridiron! was released as the company's first game later in 1986 for the Amiga, Atari ST , and Commodore 64 systems. The initial release of

3472-454: A year. ABC agreed to let him use transcription discs for the 1946–47 season, but listeners complained about the sound quality. Crosby realised that Mullin's tape recorder technology would enable him to pre-record his radio show with high sound quality and that these tapes could be replayed many times with no appreciable loss of quality. Mullin was asked to tape one show as a test and was subsequently hired as Crosby's chief engineer to pre-record

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3584-611: Is an American video game publisher based in Rockville, Maryland . The company was founded by Christopher Weaver in 1986 as a division of Media Technology Limited. In 1999, it became a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media . In its first 15 years, it was a video game developer and self-published its titles. In 2001, Bethesda spun off its in-house development team into Bethesda Game Studios , leaving Bethesda Softworks to focus on publishing operations. In March 2021, Microsoft acquired Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax Media, maintaining that

3696-458: Is used for the capstan and one for driving the reels for playback, rewind, and fast forward. The storage of an analog signal on tape works well, but is not perfect. In particular, the granular nature of the magnetic material adds high-frequency noise to the signal, generally referred to as tape hiss . Also, the magnetic characteristics of tape are not linear . They exhibit a characteristic hysteresis curve, which causes unwanted distortion of

3808-465: Is usually called a tape recorder or – if it has no record functionality – a tape player , while one that requires external amplification for playback is usually called a tape deck (regardless of whether it can record). Multitrack technology enabled the development of modern art music and one such artist, Brian Eno , described the tape recorder as "an automatic musical collage device." Magnetic tape brought about sweeping changes in both radio and

3920-570: The COVID-19 pandemic reached the United States, following a series of delays for polish after the negative reception of Fallout 76 ' s initial launch. In November 2019, Human Head Studios shut down while Bethesda established a new studio, Roundhouse Studios, offering all Human Head employees a position within it. In 2016, Bethesda had released its own application launcher for PC. Fallout 76 and Fallout Shelter were exclusives to

4032-456: The Fallout series. Upon its initial release, it was given mixed reviews for its poor quality and was embroiled in several other controversies, including problems with tie-in products and a data breach. The following year saw Bethesda announce sequels to Rage and Doom , Rage 2 and Doom Eternal . The former was released on May 14, while the latter released in early 2020 shortly after

4144-623: The National Cable Television Association and created its Office of Science and Technology, where he helped design high-speed data communication systems for several member companies of the association. Eventually, Weaver became the chief engineer for the United States House Energy Subcommittee on Communications and Technology , where he influenced legislation that affected the telephone, television, and cable industries. In

4256-474: The 1950s. Consumer wire recorders were marketed for home entertainment or as an inexpensive substitute for commercial office dictation recorders, but the development of consumer magnetic tape recorders starting in 1946, with the BK 401 Soundmirror, using paper-based tape, gradually drove wire recorders from the market, being "pretty much out of the picture" by 1952. In 1924 a German engineer, Kurt Stille, developed

4368-571: The Brush Development Company in the United States, where work continued but attracted little attention until the late 1940s when the company released the very first consumer tape recorder in 1946: the Soundmirror BK 401. Several other models were quickly released in the following years. Tapes were initially made of paper coated with magnetite powder . In 1947/48 Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company ( 3M ) replaced

4480-525: The EMI TR90 and a Philips machine which was lightweight but very easy and quick to use. Bush House used several Leevers-Rich models. The Studer range of machines had become pretty well the studio recording industry standard by the 1970s, and gradually these replaced the aging BTR2s in recording rooms and studios. By the mid-2000s tape was pretty well out of use and had been replaced by digital playout systems. The typical professional audio tape recorder of

4592-555: The Pip-Boy Edition was also criticized, as the replicas sold out almost as soon as they were put on sale, angering fans and quickly being listed on eBay by scalpers . However, as a replacement, some fans created 3D-printable Pip-Boys with space for a custom computer inside and a working tape deck . The fact that it did not work with larger phones was cited as an additional hurdle in getting the replica to function properly. Bethesda Softworks Bethesda Softworks LLC

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4704-519: The Poulsen wire recorder as a dictating machine. The following year a fellow German, Louis Blattner , working in Britain, licensed Stille's device and started work on a machine which would instead record on a magnetic steel tape, which he called the Blattnerphone. The tape was 6 mm wide and 0.08 mm thick, traveling at 5 feet per second; the recording time was 20 minutes. The BBC installed

4816-729: The World Wide Web. In 1997, Bethesda acquired XL Translab, a Washington, D.C. , graphics company that stemmed from the Catholic University School of Architecture and Planning . It was moved to Bethesda Softworks' Rockville headquarters. XL Translab had previously done work for PBS and Fortune 500 companies. By 1996, the company had become the third-biggest player in the privately held PC publishing industry after LucasArts and Interplay Entertainment with 75 employees by that year and revenues of $ 25 million by 1997. In June and July 1997, Bethesda announced

4928-639: The ability to pre-record their broadcasts with the high quality of tape, and the recording ban was lifted. Crosby invested $ 50,000 of his own money into the Californian electronics company Ampex , and the six-man concern (headed by Alexander M. Poniatoff , whose initials became part of the company name) soon became the world leader in the development of tape recording, with its Model 200 tape deck, released in 1948 and developed from Mullin's modified Magnetophons. The BBC acquired some Magnetophon machines in 1946 on an experimental basis, and they were used in

5040-493: The affair, but Bethesda refused to pay. In the end Madia decided not to take it to court. Pete Hines, VP of PR at Bethesda, stated that Madia presented misleading allegations about Bethesda's role as publisher of Echelon in North America and that Bethesda had no contractual obligations to Madia. Bethesda Softworks and ZeniMax Media have been accused of attempting a hostile acquisition of Human Head Studios , as well as

5152-473: The amended terms. Both titles were eventually released on Xbox Series X/S a year following their respective PlayStation 5 versions. In January 2023, Bethesda announced and released Hi-Fi Rush from Tango Gameworks. The publisher purposely kept the game's development secret by due to possible skepticism and uncertainty regarding audience feedback. In May 2023, Bethesda launched Redfall for Windows and Xbox Series X/S from Arkane Austin, though it received

5264-523: The biggest launch period in Bethesda's history as a publisher. In October 2023, Bethesda's head of publishing Pete Hines announced he would be retiring. Later that month, a corporate restructuring of the newly formed Microsoft Gaming subsidiary took place following Microsoft's acquisition of Activision-Blizzard , that saw the promotion of executive Matt Booty from president of Xbox to overseeing their entire Game Content and Studios business, with Jamie Leder still retaining supervision over ZeniMax Media as

5376-508: The broadcasts had to be transcriptions, but their audio quality was indistinguishable from that of a live broadcast and their duration was far longer than was possible even with 16 rpm transcription discs. In the final stages of the war in Europe, the Allies' capture of a number of German Magnetophon recorders from Radio Luxembourg aroused great interest. These recorders incorporated all

5488-426: The coils of the tape head creates a fluctuating magnetic field. This causes the magnetic material on the tape, which is moving past and in contact with the head, to align in a manner proportional to the original signal. The signal can be reproduced by running the tape back across the tape head, where the reverse process occurs – the magnetic imprint on the tape induces a small current in the read head which approximates

5600-407: The company acquired an Amiga personal computer with which the two began to experiment. Fletcher was a fan of American football and suggested that they develop a football video game for the system, which Weaver supported despite no interest in the sport. Fletcher developed the game, later named Gridiron! , out of Weaver's house in Bethesda, Maryland, in roughly nine months. His initial approach

5712-486: The company expanded publishing operations, with games from independent third-party developers such as Rebellion Developments 's Rogue Warrior , Artificial Mind and Movement 's Wet , Splash Damage 's Brink , and inXile 's Hunted: The Demon's Forge . In 2011, Bethesda filed a lawsuit against Mojang (developers of Minecraft ) for using Scrolls as the name of a new digital card game, which sounded too close to The Elder Scrolls trademarked by Bethesda. In

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5824-674: The company opened a European publishing arm in London, named ZeniMax Europe, to distribute titles throughout UK/EMEA territories under the Bethesda Softworks brand. This was followed in by opening publishing offices in Tokyo, Frankfurt, Paris, Eindhoven, Hong Kong, Sydney and Moscow in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2018 respectively. On June 24, 2009, ZeniMax Media acquired id Software , whose titles, including Rage , would be published by Bethesda Softworks. Between 2009 and 2012,

5936-487: The company will continue to operate as a separate business. Part of the Microsoft Gaming division, Bethesda Softworks retains its function as the publisher of games developed by the different studios under ZeniMax Media. Before founding Bethesda Softworks, Christopher Weaver was a technology forecaster and a communications engineer in the television and cable industries. After finishing graduate school , he

6048-610: The decades spanning from 1940 until 1960, following the development of inexpensive designs licensed internationally by the Brush Development Company of Cleveland, Ohio and the Armour Research Foundation of the Armour Institute of Technology (later Illinois Institute of Technology ). These two organizations licensed dozens of manufacturers in the U.S., Japan, and Europe. Wire was also used as a recording medium in black box voice recorders for aviation in

6160-538: The designer Bruce Nesmith, Altman was principally interested in Bethesda's web development business at Vir2L Studios, not the game development aspect. ZeniMax acquired Media Technology in July 1999 and Bethesda Softworks was reorganized as a division of ZeniMax. By then Bethesda employed nearly 100 people. In 2001, Bethesda Game Studios was established as the development team, leaving Bethesda Softworks to focus on all publishing operations of ZeniMax Media. In 2002, Weaver stopped being employed by ZeniMax. He later filed

6272-1166: The early 1950s used 1 ⁄ 4  in (6 mm) wide tape on 10 + 1 ⁄ 2  in (27 cm) reels, with a capacity of 2,400 ft (730 m). Typical speeds were initially 15 in/s (38.1 cm/s) yielding 30 minutes' recording time on a 2,400 ft (730 m) reel. Early professional machines used single-sided reels but double-sided reels soon became popular, particularly for domestic use. Tape reels were made from metal or transparent plastic. Standard tape speeds varied by factors of two: 15 and 30 in/s were used for professional audio recording; 7 + 1 ⁄ 2  in/s (19.1 cm/s) for home audiophile prerecorded tapes; 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 and 3 + 3 ⁄ 4  in/s (19.1 and 9.5 cm/s) for audiophile and consumer recordings (typically on 7 in (18 cm) reels). 1 + 7 ⁄ 8  in/s (4.8 cm/s) and occasionally even 15 ⁄ 16  in/s (2.4 cm/s) were used for voice, dictation, and applications where very long recording times were needed, such as logging police and fire department calls. The 8-track tape standard, developed by Bill Lear in

6384-401: The early 2010s, Bethesda Softworks published games such as Dishonored , Wolfenstein: The New Order , and The Evil Within . In the mid-2010s, Bethesda began to experiment with new kinds of games, releasing Fallout Shelter , its first mobile, free-to-play game in the summer of 2015. A year later, it released a reboot of id Software's Doom , after several years of development as

6496-454: The early access launch, the game reached a peak of 230,000 concurrent players on Steam within two hours. Xbox CEO Phil Spencer announced on launch day that the game subsequently became the most played Xbox Series X/S-exclusive game since the console's launch, as well as the most wish-listed game on Steam for either Xbox or Bethesda in their respective histories. Starfield reached ten million players across Xbox and PC by September 19, making it

6608-488: The early stages of the new Third Programme to record and play back performances of operas from Germany. Delivery of tape was preferred as live relays over landlines were unreliable in the immediate post-war period. These machines were used until 1952, though most of the work continued to be done using the established media. In 1948, a new British model became available from EMI: the BTR1. Though in many ways clumsy, its quality

6720-417: The engine as a true 3D engine that delivered above any other engine in its lighting in that it uses real-time phong shading, which means that light effects from fires, explosions, the moon, or whatever will bleed off and light up anything the light will touch. The Terminator: Future Shock was the first game to use the engine, and also the first 3D PC game to use the now popular mouse-look interface, which

6832-450: The fidelity of the reproduced sound, magnetic tape has been the highest quality analog recording medium available. As of the first decade of the 21st century, analog magnetic tape has been largely replaced by digital recording technologies. The earliest known audio tape recorder was a non-magnetic , non-electric version invented by Alexander Graham Bell 's Volta Laboratory and patented in 1886 ( U.S. patent 341,214 ). It employed

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6944-425: The flutter the more noise that can be heard causing the quality of the recording to be worse. Higher tape speeds used in professional recorders are prone to cause head bumps , which are fluctuations in low-frequency response. There is a wide variety of tape recorders in existence, from small hand-held devices to large multitrack machines. A machine with built-in speakers and audio power amplification to drive them

7056-565: The heavy paper reels warped. The machine's playback head was also missing. Otherwise, with some reconditioning, they could be placed into working condition. The waxed tape recording medium was later refined by Edison's wax cylinder , and became the first widespread sound recording technology, used for both entertainment and office dictation. However, recordings on wax cylinders were unable to be easily duplicated, making them both costly and time consuming for large scale production. Wax cylinders were also unable to record more than 2 minutes of audio,

7168-454: The holding company ZeniMax Media . In an interview with Edge , he described the company as being a top-level administrative structure rather than a "parent company" for its holdings, explaining that "ZeniMax and Bethesda for all intents and purposes are one thing. Bethesda has no accounting department, we have no finance, we have no legal, our legal department [and] our financial department is ZeniMax, we all operate as one unit." According to

7280-527: The innovative pop music studio-as-an-instrument recordings of artists such as Frank Zappa , the Beatles , and the Beach Boys . Philips advertised their reel-to-reel recorders as an audial family album and pushed families to purchase these recorders to capture and relive memories forever. But the use for recording music slowly but steadily rose as the main function for the tape recorder. Tape enabled

7392-577: The introduction of the first commercial tape recorder, the Ampex 200 model, launched in 1948, the invention of the first multitrack tape recorder , brought about another technical revolution in the recording industry. Tape made possible the first sound recordings totally created by electronic means, opening the way for the bold sonic experiments of the Musique Concrète school and avant-garde composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen , which in turn led to

7504-538: The key technological features of modern analog magnetic recording and were the basis for future developments in the field. Development of magnetic tape recorders in the late 1940s and early 1950s is associated with the Brush Development Company and its licensee, Ampex . The equally important development of the magnetic tape medium itself was led by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M) corporation. In 1938, S.J. Begun left Germany and joined

7616-418: The launcher before eventually released on Steam. In 2022, Bethesda shut down the launcher. The launcher was mostly met with negative reception. PC Gamer said that "Bethesda's launcher seems to be designed more as a pretty interface to purchase Bethesda's games than a way of managing them. [...] the client feels more like a store than anything." In March 2020, Bethesda Softworks published Doom Eternal ,

7728-401: The lead designers of Fallout at Interplay, stated that he designed the Pip-Boy more towards his personal preference for "old, clunky technology" than any trend towards retrofuturism . The design was meant to seem like it "wasn't all that dependable" and "kind of hacked together" to show that "the world wasn't quite working". The user interface was meant to feel like an in-universe object, which

7840-455: The major radio networks didn't permit the use of disc recording in many programs because of their comparatively poor sound quality. Crosby disliked the regimentation of live broadcasts 39 weeks a year, preferring the recording studio's relaxed atmosphere and ability to retain the best parts of a performance. He asked NBC to let him pre-record his 1944–45 series on transcription discs , but the network refused, so Crosby withdrew from live radio for

7952-920: The meantime, Weaver also founded VideoMagic Laboratories with a friend from the Architecture Machine Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They authored and assembled a 400-page business plan to commercialize their prior lab work and, through the Industrial Liaison Office at MIT, came in contact with a wealthy family in the electronics industry that provided VideoMagic with venture capital . The company developed several technologies, including location-based entertainment systems, that Weaver deemed "radical and cutting-edge" but put out prematurely, causing little commercial return. The funding family, having financial issues of its own, dropped out of

8064-625: The merger's completion, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer clarified that future titles from Bethesda would primarily ship on any platforms hosting Xbox Game Pass. In September 2021, Bethesda published Deathloop , a first-person shooter with time-warping mechanics from Arkane Lyon . The following March, Bethesda released Ghostwire: Tokyo , a first-person horror-themed action-adventure game developed by Tango Gameworks. Both games were announced as being timed console exclusives for PlayStation 5 before Microsoft purchased ZeniMax Media, an existing contractual obligation that would be honored by Microsoft despite

8176-569: The mid-1960s, popularized consumer audio playback in automobiles in the USA. Eventually, this standard was replaced by the smaller and more reliable Compact Cassette , which was launched earlier in 1963. Philips 's development of the Compact Cassette in 1963 and Sony 's development of the Walkman in 1979 led to widespread consumer use of magnetic audio tape. In 1990, the Compact Cassette

8288-559: The notoriety of the Pip-Boy has stemmed from its design, which has reflected the rise of later real-world wearable technology, and has also directly inspired the creation of functioning devices, both by fans and engineers. In 2010, Sean Hollister of Engadget compared the General Dynamics Itronix GD300 wrist-mounted GPS unit with the design of the Pip-Boy, saying, "no word on whether it will pick up post-apocalyptic radio stations as your mission unfolds". Similarly,

8400-498: The original signal and is then amplified for playback. Many tape recorders are capable of recording and playing back simultaneously by means of separate record and playback heads. Modern professional recorders usually use a three-motor scheme. One motor with a constant rotational speed drives the capstan . Usually combined with a rubber pinch roller, it ensures that the tape speed does not fluctuate. The other two motors, which are called torque motors, apply equal and opposite torques to

8512-409: The original, in order to make it fit on the player's arm. These elements, however, make a return with Fallout 76 's Pip-Boy 2000 Mark VI. The Pip-Boy is a defining symbol of the Fallout series. Khee Hoon Chan of USgamer called the Pip-Boy "one of the most iconic tools in video game history", also stating that "the gadget's transformation is [...] emblematic of the series' divergence." Much of

8624-406: The paper backing with cellulose acetate or polyester , and coated it first with black oxide, and later, to improve signal-to-noise ratio and improve overall superior quality, with red oxide ( gamma ferric oxide ). American audio engineer John T. Mullin and entertainer Bing Crosby were key players in the commercial development of magnetic tape. Mullin served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and

8736-487: The project and sued Electronic Arts for US$ 7.3 million , claiming EA halted the release while incorporating many of its elements into Madden . The case was resolved out of court. Courteney Cox , later known for her role in the sitcom Friends , worked at the publisher briefly in the 1980s. In 1990, the company moved from Bethesda to Rockville, Maryland. By February 1993, the company employed 40 people. The first game Bethesda published and developed, based on

8848-600: The prototype wrist-mounted OLED screens developed by L-3 Display Systems for use in the United States Army were compared to Pip-Boys by Mike Fahey of Kotaku , who called them "just another fine example of PIPBoy technology in real life". Fans have created numerous working replicas, utilizing technology such as Raspberry Pi . In 2014, a team of coders created a working replica for NASA 's SpaceWearables: Fashion Designer to Astronauts' challenge. Replicas were also built for commercial sale, with ThinkGeek designing

8960-465: The radio industry for the first time to pre-record many sections of program content such as advertising, which formerly had to be presented live, and it also enabled the creation and duplication of complex, high-fidelity, long-duration recordings of entire programs. It also, for the first time, allowed broadcasters, regulators and other interested parties to undertake comprehensive logging of radio broadcasts for legislative and commercial purposes, leading to

9072-411: The recording industry. Sound could be recorded, erased and re-recorded on the same tape many times, sounds could be duplicated from tape to tape with only minor loss of quality, and recordings could now be very precisely edited by physically cutting the tape and rejoining it. In August 1948, Los Angeles-based Capitol Records became the first recording company to use the new process. Within a few years of

9184-570: The report. Bethesda also pressured developer No Matter Games to change the name of their game Prey for the Gods to Praey for the Gods , as Bethesda felt the initial title infringed upon the trademark of their own game, Prey . Pete Hines, who serves as Bethesda's VP of marketing, said Bethesda would have risked losing their Prey trademark if they had not requested the title change. In September 2009, Bethesda Softworks sued Interplay Entertainment over Fallout trademark infringement . After

9296-509: The rest of the series. Crosby's season premier on 1 October 1947 was the first magnetic tape broadcast in America. He became the first major American music star to use tape to pre-record radio broadcasts, and the first to master commercial recordings on tape. The taped Crosby radio shows were painstakingly edited through tape-splicing to give them a pace and flow that was wholly unprecedented in radio. Soon other radio performers were demanding

9408-639: The rights to the Star Trek series of video games. The first game published by the company was Star Trek: Encounters , released in 2006. In September 2009, Bethesda filed a lawsuit against Interplay Entertainment, after being unsatisfied with Interplay's development of the Fallout massively multiplayer online game project. Bethesda stopped funding the project, and Interplay was forced to abandon work on it. Between 2007 and 2010, Bethesda raised US$ 450 million in new capital from Providence Equity Partners to fund expansion efforts. In February 2008,

9520-537: The same for its two Elder Scrolls mobile games. Games such as Prey , Dishonored: Death of the Outsider , The Evil Within 2 , and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus have not sold as well as compared to Fallout and The Elder Scrolls according to Bethesda's Pete Hines. In late 2018, Bethesda announced and released its first massively multiplayer online game, Fallout 76 , a prequel to

9632-482: The same two posts, could be adjusted vertically so that several recordings could be cut on the same 3 ⁄ 16 -inch-wide (4.8 mm) strip. While the machine was never developed commercially, it somewhat resembled the modern magnetic tape recorder in its design. The tapes and machine created by Bell's associates, examined at one of the Smithsonian Institution 's museums, became brittle, and

9744-521: The signal. Some of this distortion is overcome by using inaudible high-frequency AC bias when recording. The amount of bias needs careful adjustment for best results as different tape material requires differing amounts of bias. Most recorders have a switch to select this. Additionally, systems such as Dolby noise reduction systems have been devised to ameliorate some noise and distortion problems. Variations in tape speed cause wow and flutter . Flutter can be reduced by using dual capstans. The higher

9856-511: The speed of the recording. Despite these drawbacks, the ability to make replayable recordings proved useful, and even with subsequent methods coming into use (direct-cut discs and Philips-Miller optical film the Marconi-Stilles remained in use until the late 1940s. Magnetic tape recording as we know it today was developed in Germany during the 1930s at BASF (then part of the chemical giant IG Farben ) and AEG in cooperation with

9968-404: The speed. The tape was 3 mm wide and traveled at 1.5  meters/second. They were not easy to handle. The reels were heavy and expensive and the steel tape has been described as being like a traveling razor blade. The tape was liable to snap, particularly at joints, which at 1.5  meters/second could rapidly cover the floor with loops of the sharp-edged tape. Rewinding was done at twice

10080-498: The standard in recording rooms for many years and was in use until the end of the 1960s. In 1963, the Beatles were allowed to enhance their recordings at the BBC by overdubbing. The BBC didn't have any multi-track equipment; Overdubbing was accomplished by copying onto another tape. The tape speed was eventually standardized at 15  ips for almost all work at Broadcasting House, and at 15 ips for music and 7½ ips for speech at Bush House. Broadcasting House also used

10192-536: The state radio RRG . This was based on Fritz Pfleumer 's 1928 invention of paper tape with oxide powder lacquered onto it. The first practical tape recorder from AEG was the Magnetophon K1 , demonstrated in Berlin, Germany in 1935. Eduard Schüller  [ de ] of AEG built the recorders and developed a ring-shaped recording and playback head. It replaced the needle-shaped head which tended to shred

10304-516: The supply and take-up reels during recording and playback functions and maintain the tape's tension. During fast winding operations, the pinch roller is disengaged and the take-up reel motor produces more torque than the supply motor. The cheapest models use a single motor for all required functions; the motor drives the capstan directly and the supply and take-up reels are loosely coupled to the capstan motor with slipping belts, gears, or clutches. There are also variants with two motors, in which one motor

10416-710: The tape. Friedrich Matthias of IG Farben/BASF developed the recording tape, including the oxide, the binder, and the backing material. Walter Weber, working for Hans Joachim von Braunmühl  [ de ] at the RRG, discovered the AC biasing technique, which radically improved sound quality. During World War II , the Allies noticed that certain German officials were making radio broadcasts from multiple time zones almost simultaneously. Analysts such as Richard H. Ranger believed that

10528-787: The transferral of the Hi-Fi Rush license. Publishing rights to either the original Hi-Fi Rush or Tango Gameworks' previous games remained with Microsoft. XnGine is a 3-D graphics engine that was developed by Bethesda in the 1990's. It incorporated technology advances that made games more realistic. The engine featured quicker action, unrestricted viewing angles and freedom of movement. Its proprietary technology integrates 360-degree rotation with fully textured polygons, SVGA/VGA graphics and specialized video effects. XnGine can generate weather effects, such as snow, sleet and fog; realistic shading; and textured, contoured terrain. In an Interview with PCM&E Magazine in 1996, Todd Howard described

10640-416: The use of a magnetizable medium which moves with a constant speed past a recording head. An electrical signal, which is analogous to the sound that is to be recorded, is fed to the recording head, inducing a pattern of magnetization similar to the signal. A playback head can then pick up the changes in magnetic field from the tape and convert it into an electrical signal to be amplified and played back through

10752-823: The venture and sold off some of VideoMagic's properties. After leaving the House Subcommittee some years later, Weaver established Media Technology Associates, Limited (renamed Media Technology Limited in March 1988) in June 1981. The company provided engineering and media consulting for private companies and government organizations. Media Technology had offices in Maryland and New York. At Media Technology, Weaver worked with Ed Fletcher, an electrical engineer with whom he had collaborated at VideoMagic, on video games for LaserDisc -based systems until that industry crashed in 1984. While waiting for potential new contracts,

10864-566: The year following its release — Operation: Anchorage , The Pitt , Broken Steel , Point Lookout , and Mothership Zeta . Obsidian Entertainment 's new Fallout title, Fallout: New Vegas was published in 2010. Fallout 4 was released on November 10, 2015. Between 2004 and 2008, ZeniMax's subsidiaries Mud Duck Productions and Vir2L Studios released four bowling games for various platforms — AMF Bowling 2004 , AMF Xtreme Bowling 2006 , AMF Bowling World Lanes , and AMF Bowling Pinbusters! . In January 2006, Bethesda acquired

10976-402: Was Bing Crosby's technical director, Murdo Mackenzie. He arranged for Mullin to meet Crosby and in June 1947 he gave Crosby a private demonstration of his magnetic tape recorders. Bing Crosby , a top movie and singing star, was stunned by the amazing sound quality and instantly saw the huge commercial potential of the new machines. Live music was the standard for American radio at the time and

11088-401: Was a chance visit to a studio at Bad Nauheim near Frankfurt while investigating radio beam rumors, that yielded the real prize. Mullin was given two suitcase-sized AEG 'Magnetophon' high-fidelity recorders and fifty reels of recording tape. He had them shipped home and over the next two years he worked on the machines constantly, modifying them and improving their performance. His major aim

11200-490: Was good, and as it wasn't possible to obtain any more Magnetophons it was an obvious choice. In the early 1950s, the EMI BTR 2 became available; a much-improved machine and generally liked. The machines were responsive, could run up to speed quite quickly, had light-touch operating buttons, forward-facing heads (The BTR 1s had rear-facing heads which made editing difficult), and were quick and easy to do fine editing. It became

11312-497: Was hired by the American Broadcasting Company , where he wrote several memos about "the importance of alternative distribution systems and how satellites and broadband networks would impact network television", which landed him the position of manager of technology forecasting. After several national magazines quoted his articles on "the exciting prospects for cabled distribution systems", he was recruited by

11424-611: Was initially unpopular with gamers. The engine was later used in Terminator: SkyNET , Daggerfall , XCar: Experimental Racing , and other titles. In 2001, Bethesda Softworks published Echelon in the United States, a video game developed by the Russian development studio Madia. Madia stated that Bethesda did not pay for boxed sales of the game, as was allegedly specified in the contract. The developers at Madia wrote an open letter to Bethesda in which they have detailed

11536-404: Was not limited just to The Elder Scrolls franchise, and the company considered filing for bankruptcy as a result. In October 1999, Pete Hines joined Bethesda to head up its marketing department, running it as what he described as a one-man band . At the start of his tenure, the company had employed around 15 people in its Rockville headquarters. In 1999, Weaver and Robert A. Altman formed

11648-466: Was possible to switch between them. In 1912, a similar process was used for the Hiller talking clock . In 1932, after six years of developmental work, including a patent application in 1931, Merle Duston, a Detroit radio engineer, created a tape recorder capable of recording both sounds and voice that used a low-cost chemically treated paper tape. During the recording process, the tape moved through

11760-476: Was posted to Paris in the final months of WWII. His unit was assigned to find out everything they could about German radio and electronics, including the investigation of claims that the Germans had been experimenting with high-energy directed radio beams as a means of disabling the electrical systems of aircraft. Mullin's unit soon amassed a collection of hundreds of low-quality magnetic dictating machines, but it

11872-476: Was rare at the time. Anthony Postma, another Interplay designer, created the device's layout. When Bethesda Softworks acquired the franchise, they increased its retrofuturistic themes. The redesigned Pip-Boy 3000 reflected the Streamline Moderne aesthetic, and looked sleeker and more polished, while still being relatively bulky. The new Pip-Boy also lacked the drawn mascot and exposed vacuum tubes of

11984-633: Was released in September 1996. Between 1994 and 1997, Bethesda was developing a space combat game titled The 10th Planet . It was a collaboration between Bethesda and Roland Emmerich's Centropolis Entertainment . During development, Centropolis chose to stop working on the game due to the company's commitments to its films. The project was never released. In 1995, Bethesda Softworks acquired Noctropolis developer Flashpoint Productions, which Brent Erickson had founded in 1992. In July 1995, Bruce Nesmith joined Bethesda as Senior Producer. In August 1995, Bethesda Softworks launched its website on

12096-488: Was sold to commemorate the release of Fallout 76. In the Interplay Fallout titles, the Pip-Boy serves as a stand-in for a menu screen. In the Bethesda titles, it is attached to the player character's arm and is looked at from a first-person perspective. The newer Pip-Boy models contains a map, quest tracker, a radio and a light-up screen function, serving as a sort of flashlight. Leonard Boyarsky, one of

12208-465: Was the dominant format in mass-market recorded music. The development of Dolby noise reduction technology in the 1960s brought audiophile-quality recording to the Compact Cassette also contributing to its popularity. Since their first introduction, analog tape recorders have experienced a long series of progressive developments resulting in increased sound quality, convenience, and versatility. Due to electromagnetism , electric current flowing in

12320-548: Was the start of a long string of innovations that have led to present-day magnetic tape recordings. Magnetic tape revolutionized both the radio broadcast and music recording industries. It gave artists and producers the power to record and re-record audio with minimal loss in quality as well as edit and rearrange recordings with ease. The alternative recording technologies of the era, transcription discs and wire recorders , could not provide anywhere near this level of quality and functionality. Since some early refinements improved

12432-467: Was to interest Hollywood studios in using magnetic tape for movie soundtrack recording. Mullin gave two public demonstrations of his machines, and they caused a sensation among American audio professionals; many listeners literally could not believe that what they heard was not a live performance. By luck, Mullin's second demonstration was held at MGM Studios in Hollywood and in the audience that day

12544-405: Was to use lookup tables to map player inputs to predetermined outcomes. Weaver disliked this concept and, at his behest, he and Fletcher devised a more realistic, physics-based system. No artists or animators were involved in the project, which gave the game a sub-par graphical presentation for the time. Weaver formed Bethesda Softworks "on the proverbial kitchen table" of his Bethesda home as

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