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102-554: U7 or U-7 may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media [ edit ] Ultima VII , a computer game taking place in Brittania Science and technology [ edit ] U7 small nuclear RNA , an RNA molecule Haplogroup U7 , a human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup Transportation [ edit ] Transport lines [ edit ] U7 (Berlin U-Bahn) ,

204-610: A lich , Yew, Moonglow and Buccaneer's Den. The Avatar eventually learns of an astronomical alignment of importance that is supposed to happen very soon, and about the three evil Generators that the Guardian has created, which have been causing most of the problems of the land. After destroying them, he and his companions follow several leads to the Isle of Avatar, where members of the Fellowship are waiting. The Fellowship has fashioned

306-428: A pointer in two dimensions in a graphical user interface (GUI). The mouse turns movements of the hand backward and forward, left and right into equivalent electronic signals that in turn are used to move the pointer. The relative movements of the mouse on the surface are applied to the position of the pointer on the screen, which signals the point where actions of the user take place, so hand movements are replicated by

408-475: A black moongate out of blackrock on this island to allow the Guardian to enter Britannia when the astronomical alignment happens. The Avatar confronts the Fellowship members and defeats them. As the astronomical alignment begins and the Guardian starts to loom behind the moongate, the Avatar destroys the gate just in time, preventing the Guardian from entering Britannia. As the moongates had been rendered useless by

510-432: A cable, many modern mice are cordless, relying on short-range radio communication with the connected system. In addition to moving a cursor , computer mice have one or more buttons to allow operations such as the selection of a menu item on a display. Mice often also feature other elements, such as touch surfaces and scroll wheels , which enable additional control and dimensional input. The earliest known written use of

612-434: A complete fantasy world has been fully realised here." In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the game 72nd on their "Top 100 Games of All Time." Forge of Virtue was an expansion pack that adds a quest to Ultima VII in which the Avatar must pass a series of tests to revalidate himself in the three principles of Truth, Love, and Courage, and destroy the last remnants of Exodus . With the expansion, an earthquake takes place at

714-499: A custom DOS extender called "Voodoo" which puts the CPU in an unreal mode and is incompatible with other DOS extenders following the DPMI standard. Computer Gaming World ' s Scorpia in 1992 praised Ultima VII: The Black Gate ' s "first-class" graphics, sound, and realism, called the story "engrossing", and liked the mouse- and keyboard-based user interface, but criticized

816-471: A disgusting or gruesome scene, they may groan and vomit; sufficient intake of strong alcoholic beverages will also result in visible nausea. Ultima VII allows free exploration of the game world, featuring a main plot and several other major subquests and tasks for the player to complete. It is a markedly open-ended game, where following the main plotline is inessential to the purposes of enjoyment, exploration, and character advancement – once

918-503: A drawer or backpack will show the contents of the container on screen, allowing the items within arranged freely with the mouse. Gumps are also used for books, scrolls, the spellbook, the status display, maps, and character equipment management; double-clicking on the Avatar opens his or her inventory, after which the inventories of other party characters can be opened by double-clicking them in turn. In Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle ,

1020-470: A few hours of time to Ultima VII ' s estimated more than 200 hours, the magazine described it as "sort of a 'cheat' program ... mak[ing] a great game even better" that made completing the main plot easier by giving players higher stats and powerful new gear. The various parts of Ultima VII have been published in at least the following forms: Original release: Re-releases: In addition, it has been published as part of collections: The Black Gate

1122-661: A large organization believed at first that his company sold lab mice . Hawley, who manufactured mice for Xerox, stated that "Practically, I have the market all to myself right now"; a Hawley mouse cost $ 415. In 1982, Logitech introduced the P4 Mouse at the Comdex trade show in Las Vegas, its first hardware mouse. That same year Microsoft made the decision to make the MS-DOS program Microsoft Word mouse-compatible, and developed

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1224-498: A metal ball rolling on two rubber-coated wheels was ever built, and the device was kept as a military secret. Another early trackball was built by Kenyon Taylor , a British electrical engineer working in collaboration with Tom Cranston and Fred Longstaff. Taylor was part of the original Ferranti Canada , working on the Royal Canadian Navy 's DATAR (Digital Automated Tracking and Resolving) system in 1952. DATAR

1326-555: A mouse as well. The third marketed version of an integrated mouse shipped as a part of a computer and intended for personal computer navigation came with the Xerox 8010 Star in 1981. By 1982, the Xerox 8010 was probably the best-known computer with a mouse. The Sun-1 also came with a mouse, and the forthcoming Apple Lisa was rumored to use one, but the peripheral remained obscure; Jack Hawley of The Mouse House reported that one buyer for

1428-580: A mouse device named Rollkugelsteuerung (German for "Trackball control") was shown in a sales brochure by the German company AEG - Telefunken as an optional input device for the SIG ;100 vector graphics terminal, part of the system around their process computer TR 86 and the TR 440  [ de ] main frame. Based on an even earlier trackball device, the mouse device had been developed by

1530-407: A mouse rather than entered on keyboard; in previous games, whether at random or due to having external knowledge about the game, the player can enter keywords and trigger dialog and events before they are intended to be. In Ultima VII , the keywords only appear when they are actually learned beforehand in the game due to the plot – for example, "thief caught" dialogue option won't actually appear until

1632-505: A pair of light beams, located so that a given beam becomes interrupted or again starts to pass light freely when the other beam of the pair is about halfway between changes. Simple logic circuits interpret the relative timing to indicate which direction the wheel is rotating. This incremental rotary encoder scheme is sometimes called quadrature encoding of the wheel rotation, as the two optical sensors produce signals that are in approximately quadrature phase . The mouse sends these signals to

1734-403: A similar product. Modern computer mice took form at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) under the inspiration of Professor Jean-Daniel Nicoud and at the hands of engineer and watchmaker André Guignard . This new design incorporated a single hard rubber mouseball and three buttons, and remained a common design until the mainstream adoption of the scroll-wheel mouse during

1836-457: A substantial portion of the screen for text, dialogue, buttons, icons, and the like. The game is the first in the series that is entirely mouse -driven, with optional keyboard hotkeys for some common actions. This is in contrast to earlier entries that are entirely keyboard-driven, and to Ultima VI , which supplements keyboard commands with on-screen command icons. While in Ultima VI ,

1938-539: A subway line in Berlin, Germany U7, the IATA call sign for Uganda Airlines , the national airline of Uganda Vehicles [ edit ] Aiways U7 Ion, a Chinese electric concept minivan German submarine U-7 , one of several German submarines Luxgen U7 , a Taiwanese mid-size SUV Beijing U7 , a Chinese saloon See also [ edit ] 7U (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Topics referred to by

2040-602: A thief is actually caught. The gameworld of Ultima VII is highly interactive: virtually everything not nailed to the ground and not excessively heavy can be moved, taken, or interacted with in some way. It is possible, for instance, to bake bread, to forge weapons, to play musical instruments, to paint a self-portrait, and to change a baby's swaddling by dragging and dropping things in the game world. The Avatar and his companions, if not fed regularly, will complain of hunger pangs and severe thirst, and will even perish if these matters are not attended to eventually. If they come across

2142-419: A user can drag and drop a picture representing a file onto an image of a trash can, indicating the intention to delete the file. This intuitive and visual approach to interaction has become synonymous with organizing digital content and simplifying file management tasks. Standard Semantic Gestures In addition to the drag and drop gesture, several other semantic gestures have emerged as standard conventions within

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2244-486: Is "mice"; the online Oxford Dictionaries cites a 1984 use, and earlier uses include J. C. R. Licklider 's "The Computer as a Communication Device" of 1968. The trackball , a related pointing device, was invented in 1946 by Ralph Benjamin as part of a post- World War II -era fire-control radar plotting system called the Comprehensive Display System (CDS). Benjamin was then working for

2346-399: Is a hand-held pointing device that detects two-dimensional motion relative to a surface. This motion is typically translated into the motion of the pointer (called a cursor) on a display , which allows a smooth control of the graphical user interface of a computer . The first public demonstration of a mouse controlling a computer system was done by Doug Engelbart in 1968 as part of

2448-547: Is also playable in x86 DOS emulators such as DOSBox . Exult is a cross-platform recreation of the Ultima VII engine, licensed under the GNU GPL-2.0-or-later , which allows the game to be played on modern machines and across different operating systems. Exult's array of tools have enabled fans to take the game apart and modify it, for instance for fan translation projects. Exult contributors have also expanded

2550-491: Is certainly worth playing". Charles Ardai acknowledged the widespread sentiment that after six installments the Ultima series had been done to death, but argued that " Ultima VII is not more of the same. It is daring and unusual, has a sophisticated interface and story, takes full advantage of both its own history and the conventions of the genre, and manages to be at once grounded in tradition and unpredictable". Ardai praised

2652-457: Is controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), and the desired behavior can be chosen for each character (for example, stronger characters can be ordered to autonomously waylay the toughest opponents, while more vulnerable characters will keep their distance), and there is also the option to choose manual targeting for the Avatar. Though the combat is real-time, the player can take their time in performing certain actions – for example,

2754-425: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Ultima VII The Black Gate was critically acclaimed and commercially successful, being widely lauded as a high point in the series and is also regarded as one of the best video games ever created . In an interview with GameSpot , Richard Garriott stated that Ultima VII "was the most masterfully executed of

2856-401: Is the drag and drop gesture, which has become pervasive across various applications and platforms. The Drag and Drop Gesture The drag and drop gesture is a fundamental gestural convention that enables users to manipulate objects on the screen seamlessly. It involves a series of actions performed by the user: This gesture allows users to transfer or rearrange objects effortlessly. For instance,

2958-454: Is typically designed to be plug compatible with an analog joystick. The "Color Mouse", originally marketed by RadioShack for their Color Computer (but also usable on MS-DOS machines equipped with analog joystick ports, provided the software accepted joystick input) was the best-known example. Early optical mice relied entirely on one or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and an imaging array of photodiodes to detect movement relative to

3060-617: The Guide to the Isle of Fire pamphlet. FCI / Pony Canyon published the Super NES version of Ultima VII , simply titled Ultima: The Black Gate , which was created by a small team inside Origin Systems. The game producer and part of that team previously took part into the development of Ultima: Runes of Virtue II . This version is largely different from the original, since the PC version of

3162-853: The Leibniz Supercomputing Centre in Munich in 1972 are well preserved in a museum, two others survived in a museum at Stuttgart University, two in Hamburg, the one from Aachen at the Computer History Museum in the US, and yet another sample was recently donated to the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum (HNF) in Paderborn. Anecdotal reports claim that Telefunken's attempt to patent the device

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3264-464: The Mother of All Demos . Mice originally used two separate wheels to directly track movement across a surface: one in the x-dimension and one in the Y. Later, the standard design shifted to use a ball rolling on a surface to detect motion, in turn connected to internal rollers. Most modern mice use optical movement detection with no moving parts. Though originally all mice were connected to a computer by

3366-476: The Mozilla web browser will follow a link in response to a primary button click, will bring up a contextual menu of alternative actions for that link in response to a secondary-button click, and will often open the link in a new tab or window in response to a click with the tertiary (middle) mouse button. The German company Telefunken published on their early ball mouse on 2 October 1968. Telefunken's mouse

3468-547: The Ultima series". He has also often stated that the game was, along with Ultima IV , his own favorite installment overall. Ultima VII introduced major changes in the Ultima series. The most serious alteration is that as far as the player is concerned, the world is no longer tile and grid-based; tiles are still used internally (in a largely improved way where the tiles themselves are smaller and frequently grouped), but they no longer affect character and monster movement or

3570-458: The 1990s. In 1985, René Sommer added a microprocessor to Nicoud's and Guignard's design. Through this innovation, Sommer is credited with inventing a significant component of the mouse, which made it more "intelligent"; though optical mice from Mouse Systems had incorporated microprocessors by 1984. Another type of mechanical mouse, the "analog mouse" (now generally regarded as obsolete), uses potentiometers rather than encoder wheels, and

3672-457: The AI will make a party member drop their weapon to the ground before retreating. Ultima VII: The Black Gate is the first game in the mainline Ultima series to use dialogue trees. The first trilogy only allows simple interaction while the second trilogy uses a keyword-based dialogue. Ultima VII retains the old keywords themselves, but uses a dialogue tree where dialogue options are picked with

3774-522: The Avatar gets to meet several members of a new religious organization called the Fellowship. Eventually, in Britain, he meets Batlin , one of the founders of the Fellowship. He also meets Lord British , who urges the Avatar to join the Fellowship, which, according to him, has done a lot of good things. It also turns out most of the mages of the realm have gone completely insane without any good explanation, and their magic doesn't work as it should. Most of

3876-549: The Avatar if he goes about committing wanton crimes incessantly. The Guardian will sometimes appear and mock the player after they commit a criminal act. This makes sense in light of the final installment 's revelation that The Guardian is in fact the alter-ego, the subconscious mirror, to the Avatar himself. The Black Gate features a deed system, where the Avatar must purchase and carry a title to any horse-and-carriage or ship that he or she wishes to board. The Serpent Isle does not have this deed system; instead, ships, barges, and

3978-499: The British Royal Navy Scientific Service. Benjamin's project used analog computers to calculate the future position of target aircraft based on several initial input points provided by a user with a joystick . Benjamin felt that a more elegant input device was needed and invented what they called a "roller ball" for this purpose. The device was patented in 1947, but only a prototype using

4080-486: The Serpent Gates are all triggered by the plot. The game begins with what appears to be the game introduction on the Avatar 's own computer screen. Suddenly, the screen is filled with static, and a red creature who calls himself The Guardian proclaims: Avatar! Know that Britannia has entered into a new age of enlightenment! Know that the time has finally come for the one true Lord of Britannia to take His place at

4182-533: The Year" award, which ultimately went to Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss . They wrote that Ultima VII "pushed the technological envelope with its new AI routines for party movement, as well as its object-oriented approach to the game map. GamePro gave the Super NES version a mixed review. They praised the gameplay interface and controls, but criticized the fact that monsters and chests respawn whenever

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4284-522: The beginning of the game. After speaking to Lord British about the tremors, the player will be given free use of a ship called The Golden Ankh , and can visit the Isle of Fire to begin the expansion subquests. The Isle of Fire was previously the site of Castle Exodus in Ultima III , and reappears only during this game. The main plot of the subquests involves destroying the Dark Core, which contains

4386-854: The command to delete the selected shape. This gesture-based interaction enables users to perform actions quickly and efficiently without relying solely on traditional input methods. Challenges and Benefits of Gestural Interfaces While gestural interfaces offer a more immersive and interactive user experience, they also present challenges. One of the primary difficulties lies in the requirement of finer motor control from users. Gestures demand precise movements, which can be more challenging for individuals with limited dexterity or those who are new to this mode of interaction. However, despite these challenges, gestural interfaces have gained popularity due to their ability to simplify complex tasks and improve efficiency. Several gestural conventions have become widely adopted, making them more accessible to users. One such convention

4488-523: The company in 1966 in what had been a parallel and independent discovery . As the name suggests and unlike Engelbart's mouse, the Telefunken model already had a ball (diameter 40 mm, weight 40 g ) and two mechanical 4-bit rotational position transducers with Gray code -like states, allowing easy movement in any direction. The bits remained stable for at least two successive states to relax debouncing requirements. This arrangement

4590-420: The computer system via the mouse cable, directly as logic signals in very old mice such as the Xerox mice, and via a data-formatting IC in modern mice. The driver software in the system converts the signals into motion of the mouse cursor along X and Y axes on the computer screen. The ball is mostly steel, with a precision spherical rubber surface. The weight of the ball, given an appropriate working surface under

4692-463: The course of the tests, and after completing the quest, Lord British grants the player double strength on top of that. The Golden Ankh contains many extra supplies and the Avatar can use it for the rest of the game, making it unnecessary to purchase deeds from shipwrights. In later releases of Ultima VII , this add-on was always included. Computer Gaming World stated that the expansion improved combat and other aspects of gameplay. As it only added

4794-538: The destruction of one of the generators, the Avatar has to remain in Britannia, with no means to return to Earth. Ultima VII was the first game where Richard Garriott did any sort of planning ahead for future games in the series, laying out a preplanned trilogy which would conclude with Ultima IX . Elements of Ultima VII were inspired by game developer Origin Systems ' conflicts with competitor (and later owner) Electronic Arts . Origin Systems' corporate slogan

4896-522: The device was based on an earlier trackball-like device (also named Rollkugel ) that was embedded into radar flight control desks. This trackball had been originally developed by a team led by Rainer Mallebrein  [ de ] at Telefunken Konstanz for the German Bundesanstalt für Flugsicherung  [ de ] (Federal Air Traffic Control). It was part of the corresponding workstation system SAP 300 and

4998-435: The drag and drop convention, form the building blocks of gestural interfaces, allowing users to interact with digital content using intuitive and natural movements. At the end of 20th century, digitizer mice (puck) with magnifying glass was used with AutoCAD for the digitizations of blueprints . Other uses of the mouse's input occur commonly in special application domains. In interactive three-dimensional graphics ,

5100-630: The earlier trackball device. The device was finished in early 1968, and together with light pens and trackballs , it was commercially offered as an optional input device for their system starting later that year. Not all customers opted to buy the device, which added costs of DM  1,500 per piece to the already up to 20-million DM deal for the main frame, of which only a total of 46 systems were sold or leased. They were installed at more than 20 German universities including RWTH Aachen , Technische Universität Berlin , University of Stuttgart and Konstanz . Several Rollkugel mice installed at

5202-420: The few axes of movement mice can detect. When mice have more than one button, the software may assign different functions to each button. Often, the primary (leftmost in a right-handed configuration) button on the mouse will select items, and the secondary (rightmost in a right-handed) button will bring up a menu of alternative actions applicable to that item. For example, on platforms with more than one button,

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5304-531: The file in a window. Different ways of operating the mouse cause specific things to happen in the GUI: The Concept of Gestural Interfaces Gestural interfaces have become an integral part of modern computing, allowing users to interact with their devices in a more intuitive and natural way. In addition to traditional pointing-and-clicking actions, users can now employ gestural inputs to issue commands or perform specific actions. These stylized motions of

5406-633: The first PC-compatible mouse. The Microsoft Mouse shipped in 1983, thus beginning the Microsoft Hardware division of the company. However, the mouse remained relatively obscure until the appearance of the Macintosh 128K (which included an updated version of the single-button Lisa Mouse ) in 1984, and of the Amiga 1000 and the Atari ST in 1985. A mouse typically controls the motion of

5508-427: The forward-backward motion of the mouse and the other the left-right motion. Opposite the two rollers is a third one (white, in the photo, at 45 degrees) that is spring-loaded to push the ball against the other two rollers. Each roller is on the same shaft as an encoder wheel that has slotted edges; the slots interrupt infrared light beams to generate electrical pulses that represent wheel movement. Each wheel's disc has

5610-557: The game 4 out of 5 stars. Jim Trunzo reviewed Ultima VII: The Black Gate in White Wolf #33 (Sept./Oct., 1992), rating it a 4.5 out of 5 and stated that "Overall, Ultima VII: The Black Gate continues to advance the series in every sense of the word. For most fantasy gamers, it will be a 'must experience' event. However, be sure that you have the system required to enjoy the product before you buy it." Computer Gaming World nominated Ultima VII for its 1992 "Role-Playing Game of

5712-586: The game by enabling Serpent Isle paper doll graphics in Black Gate , and fixed some of the bugs and design flaws found in Serpent Isle , which were originally left in due to the rushed release. There are some features of the original game still to be implemented (for example, the way NPCs interact with the game world is not fully recreated) and some extra features added by the Exult team. The Exult project

5814-466: The game impossible to finish. However, the game simulates a society that sticks to some of the virtues: NPCs  – either the party members or the people of Britannia – react to killings of innocents and stealing whenever they became aware of it; party members may leave the group if they witness too much bloodshed and larceny and will refuse to join the party until the player redeems themself. They may even openly revolt and attack

5916-463: The game is composed of the Avatar's investigation of the Fellowship and the Trinsic murders. During the game, the Avatar finds more and more clues that implicate the Fellowship in shady dealings; more murders appear on the way, and the Avatar himself goes undercover by entering the Fellowship. His quest takes him to most of the cities and towns of Britannia, including Minoc, a destroyed Skara Brae run by

6018-432: The game pauses when the player prepares to use an item from their backpack. The AI occasionally executes some self-defeating moves (such as firing a triple crossbow into a crowd of allies), but it saves the player the need to micromanage up to eight different characters in battle. The AI can decide on its own to change what weapon a party member has been equipped with if there is a different weapon in their inventory. At times,

6120-416: The game was a then-huge 20 megabytes , yet this translation could use only one megabyte of memory for all of the game data and program. The game is largely real-time action, bearing many similarities to Ultima: Runes of Virtue I & II . The maps and many usable items and plotlines had to be redesigned from scratch, and the game program had to be rewritten entirely in assembly language. The 'party' system

6222-667: The gestural interface paradigm. These gestures serve specific purposes and contribute to a more intuitive user experience. Some of the notable semantic gestures include: Crossing-based goal: This gesture involves crossing a specific boundary or threshold on the screen to trigger an action or complete a task. For example, swiping across the screen to unlock a device or confirm a selection. Menu traversal: Menu traversal gestures facilitate navigation through hierarchical menus or options. Users can perform gestures such as swiping or scrolling to explore different menu levels or activate specific commands. Pointing: Pointing gestures involve positioning

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6324-452: The head of His people! Under my guidance, Britannia will flourish. And all the people shall rejoice and pay homage to their new ... Guardian! Know that you, too, shall kneel before me, Avatar. You, too, shall soon acknowledge my authority - for I shall be your companion ... your provider ... and your master! The Orb of the Moons glows, and the Avatar finds that a red moongate has appeared behind

6426-419: The house. The Avatar thus returns to Britannia through the moongate, and arrives in Trinsic, where he meets Iolo . Iolo tells him that two centuries have passed since he left. The whole town is shocked due to a ritualistic murder that occurred the preceding night - the body of the blacksmith Christopher was found in the stable. Finnigan, Mayor of Trinsic, asks the Avatar to investigate the incident. In Trinsic,

6528-457: The initials "E" and "A". Electronic Arts would acquire Origin later that same year, on September 25, 1992. The religious cult the Fellowship is inspired by Scientology . Richard Garriott also said it was inspired by the action role-playing game Times of Lore and the first-person role-playing game Dungeon Master . Ultima VII cost $ 1 million to develop. The game credits have been made to look as movie-like as possible, with all of

6630-668: The inventor of the computer mouse. Engelbart was also recognized as such in various obituary titles after his death in July 2013. By 1963, Engelbart had already established a research lab at SRI, the Augmentation Research Center (ARC), to pursue his objective of developing both hardware and software computer technology to "augment" human intelligence. That November, while attending a conference on computer graphics in Reno, Nevada , Engelbart began to ponder how to adapt

6732-403: The inventory view uses a paper doll concept: equipping items will change the character inventory display to show the worn or held items in place. Another major change from earlier entries is that the game is completely real-time , and only pauses when the inventory, the menu, or a dialogue is open, significantly affecting combat. The combat system is altered accordingly: every party character

6834-409: The item placement the same way. The maps are also more visibly multi-layered, and objects and things can be stacked on top of each other. This can also affect movement, and be part of puzzles; some places are inaccessible unless the player stacks items to form stairs. A striking visual change is that the gameworld now takes up the entire screen in its original DOS environment, while previous Ultimas used

6936-467: The keyboard". In 1964, Bill English joined ARC, where he helped Engelbart build the first mouse prototype. They christened the device the mouse as early models had a cord attached to the rear part of the device which looked like a tail, and in turn, resembled the common mouse . According to Roger Bates, a hardware designer in English, another reason for choosing this name was because the cursor on

7038-465: The last remnants of Exodus. In order to do so, the Avatar must obtain three talismans of Truth, Love and Courage, by passing their respective tests. The concave and convex lenses from Ultima VI are also required to complete the quest. The player is rewarded with a powerful weapon, the Black Sword, during the test of Courage. The Avatar also gains maximum strength, intelligence, and dexterity in

7140-597: The magazine's list of "The 100 Best PC Games of All Time" in a 2011 survey. In 1998, PC Gamer US declared it the 37th-best computer game ever released. The editors wrote, "If you're looking for the best of the greatest computer role-playing series ever, this is the game you want." In 1994, PC Gamer UK named The Black Gate and Serpent Isle collectively the 39th best computer game of all time. The editors called it "absolutely enormous—we are talking months of play here—with complex, absorbing and involving multiple sub-plots and storylines. Garriott's commitment to creating

7242-405: The mouse became widely used in personal computers. In any event, the invention of the mouse was just a small part of Engelbart's much larger project of augmenting human intellect. Several other experimental pointing-devices developed for Engelbart's oN-Line System ( NLS ) exploited different body movements – for example, head-mounted devices attached to the chin or nose – but ultimately

7344-456: The mouse cursor over an object or element to interact with it. This fundamental gesture enables users to select, click, or access contextual menus. Mouseover (pointing or hovering): Mouseover gestures occur when the cursor is positioned over an object without clicking. This action often triggers a visual change or displays additional information about the object, providing users with real-time feedback. These standard semantic gestures, along with

7446-459: The mouse cursor, known as "gestures", have the potential to enhance user experience and streamline workflow. Mouse Gestures in Action To illustrate the concept of gestural interfaces, let's consider a drawing program as an example. In this scenario, a user can employ a gesture to delete a shape on the canvas. By rapidly moving the mouse cursor in an "x" motion over the shape, the user can trigger

7548-495: The mouse won out because of its speed and convenience. The first mouse, a bulky device (pictured) used two potentiometers perpendicular to each other and connected to wheels: the rotation of each wheel translated into motion along one axis . At the time of the "Mother of All Demos", Engelbart's group had been using their second-generation, 3-button mouse for about a year. On 2 October 1968, three years after Engelbart's prototype but more than two months before his public demo ,

7650-617: The mouse's motion often translates directly into changes in the virtual objects' or camera's orientation. For example, in the first-person shooter genre of games (see below), players usually employ the mouse to control the direction in which the virtual player's "head" faces: moving the mouse up will cause the player to look up, revealing the view above the player's head. A related function makes an image of an object rotate so that all sides can be examined. 3D design and animation software often modally chord many different combinations to allow objects and cameras to be rotated and moved through space with

7752-568: The mouse, provides a reliable grip so the mouse's movement is transmitted accurately. Ball mice and wheel mice were manufactured for Xerox by Jack Hawley, doing business as The Mouse House in Berkeley, California, starting in 1975. Based on another invention by Jack Hawley, proprietor of the Mouse House, Honeywell produced another type of mechanical mouse. Instead of a ball, it had two wheels rotating at off axes. Key Tronic later produced

7854-618: The player has to specifically use a "move" command to move an item from place to place, or "drop" to drop it on the ground, in Ultima VII , items are simply dragged and dropped to their desired locations. While the game can be played entirely with a keyboard, doing so is very difficult, and in-game characters recommend the player use a mouse. Ultima VII introduces Graphical User Menu Pop-ups ("gumps"), which are on-screen representations of containers, later employed in Ultima VIII , Ultima IX and Ultima Online . For example, clicking on

7956-438: The player is free from their starting location of Trinsic, a walled city. The Black Gate is highly nonlinear; although there is a linear storyline, this is complemented by the ability to explore the map in any order when coupled with the many subquests. Ultima VII features less emphasis on behaving virtuously than other installments in the Ultima series. The Avatar can steal and murder to his heart's content, without making

8058-412: The player leaves an area, pointing out that this allows players to easily accumulate massive amounts of loot simply by repeatedly leaving and reentering a room with a chest. They rated the graphics and sounds as decent but unimpressive, and concluded the game to be "nicely crafted fun". The Black Gate was listed as one of "The 50 Best Games Ever" in a 1997 issue of PC Gamer , and ranked number ten on

8160-465: The plot as the best in the series, stating that it is highly original, evokes genuine emotion, and serves as an allegory for problems in the real world. He also generally praised the game's puzzles, simple interface, and pacing. Ultima VII: The Black Gate and Forge of Virtue were reviewed in 1993 in Dragon #191 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave

8262-420: The pointer. Clicking or pointing (stopping movement while the cursor is within the bounds of an area) can select files, programs or actions from a list of names, or (in graphical interfaces) through small images called "icons" and other elements. For example, a text file might be represented by a picture of a paper notebook and clicking while the cursor points at this icon might cause a text editing program to open

8364-447: The same term This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title formed as a letter–number combination. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=U7&oldid=1222248296 " Category : Letter–number combination disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

8466-408: The screen was also referred to as "CAT" at this time. As noted above, this "mouse" was first mentioned in print in a July 1965 report, on which English was the lead author. On 9 December 1968, Engelbart publicly demonstrated the mouse at what would come to be known as The Mother of All Demos . Engelbart never received any royalties for it, as his employer SRI held the patent, which expired before

8568-404: The slow performance ("I estimate that the slow speed of the game added about a week to my playing time"), several serious bugs, and combat ("one of the least fun aspects of the game"). She concluded that the game gives "me very mixed feelings ... Getting through this Ultima will require a certain amount of patience and forebearance". In 1993 she wrote that "the game has its annoying aspects ... it

8670-488: The standard disclaimers and elements found in movie end credits. The credits, notoriously, also include the mention that a soundtrack CD is available from Origin, while it actually wasn't released until 1993 (as Origin Soundtrack Series volume 2 ); in reference to this mistake, the credits of Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle say, "Soundtrack CD NOT available from Origin, so don't ask!" The Black Gate uses

8772-472: The term mouse or mice in reference to a computer pointing device is in Bill English 's July 1965 publication, "Computer-Aided Display Control". This likely originated from its resemblance to the shape and size of a mouse , with the cord resembling its tail . The popularity of wireless mice without cords makes the resemblance less obvious. According to Roger Bates, a hardware designer under English,

8874-410: The term also came about because the cursor on the screen was, for an unknown reason, referred to as "CAT" and was seen by the team as if it would be chasing the new desktop device. The plural for the small rodent is always "mice" in modern usage. The plural for a computer mouse is either "mice" or "mouses" according to most dictionaries, with "mice" being more common. The first recorded plural usage

8976-553: The terminal SIG 3001, which had been designed and developed since 1963. Development for the TR ;440 main frame began in 1965. This led to the development of the TR 86 process computer system with its SIG 100-86 terminal. Inspired by a discussion with a university customer, Mallebrein came up with the idea of "reversing" the existing Rollkugel trackball into a moveable mouse-like device in 1966, so that customers did not have to be bothered with mounting holes for

9078-532: The tracks and sent the resulting data to other ships in a task force using pulse-code modulation radio signals. This trackball used a standard Canadian five-pin bowling ball. It was not patented, since it was a secret military project. Douglas Engelbart of the Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International ) has been credited in published books by Thierry Bardini , Paul Ceruzzi , Howard Rheingold , and several others as

9180-470: The underlying principles of the planimeter to inputting X- and Y-coordinate data. On 14 November 1963, he first recorded his thoughts in his personal notebook about something he initially called a " bug ", which is a "3-point" form could have a "drop point and 2 orthogonal wheels". He wrote that the "bug" would be "easier" and "more natural" to use, and unlike a stylus, it would stay still when let go, which meant it would be "much better for coordination with

9282-607: The underlying surface, eschewing the internal moving parts a mechanical mouse uses in addition to its optics. A laser mouse is an optical mouse that uses coherent (laser) light. The earliest optical mice detected movement on pre-printed mousepad surfaces, whereas the modern LED optical mouse works on most opaque diffuse surfaces; it is usually unable to detect movement on specular surfaces like polished stone. Laser diodes provide good resolution and precision, improving performance on opaque specular surfaces. Later, more surface-independent optical mice use an optoelectronic sensor (essentially,

9384-486: The way to light sensors, thus detecting in their turn the motion of the ball. This variant of the mouse resembled an inverted trackball and became the predominant form used with personal computers throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The Xerox PARC group also settled on the modern technique of using both hands to type on a full-size keyboard and grabbing the mouse when required. The ball mouse has two freely rotating rollers. These are located 90 degrees apart. One roller detects

9486-482: Was "We Create Worlds", while the main antagonist of the story – the Guardian ;– is presented as a "Destroyer of Worlds". The three evil "Generators" created by the Guardian in the game take the physical shapes of the contemporary Electronic Arts logo: a cube, a sphere, and a tetrahedron. Elizabeth and Abraham, two apparently benevolent characters who later turn out to be murderers, have

9588-430: Was chosen so that the data could also be transmitted to the TR 86 front-end process computer and over longer distance telex lines with c. 50  baud . Weighing 465 grams (16.4 oz), the device with a total height of about 7 cm (2.8 in) came in a c. 12 cm (4.7 in) diameter hemispherical injection-molded thermoplastic casing featuring one central push button. As noted above,

9690-447: Was noticed and positively commented upon by Richard Garriott . There have been a few projects to make Ultima VII fan remakes in other game engines, but so far the majority of these projects have not been successful. GOG.com has made the game available in a manner that allows it to work on modern operating systems, through a custom DOSBox installation. Computer mouse A computer mouse (plural mice , also mouses )

9792-479: Was one of the first computers designed for individual use in 1973 and is regarded as the first modern computer to use a mouse. Alan Kay designed the 16-by-16 mouse cursor icon with its left edge vertical and right edge 45-degrees so it displays well on the bitmap. Inspired by PARC 's Alto, the Lilith , a computer which had been developed by a team around Niklaus Wirth at ETH Zürich between 1978 and 1980, provided

9894-555: Was rejected by the German Patent Office due to lack of inventiveness. For the air traffic control system, the Mallebrein team had already developed a precursor to touch screens in form of an ultrasonic-curtain-based pointing device in front of the display. In 1970, they developed a device named " Touchinput - Einrichtung " ("touch input device") based on a conductively coated glass screen. The Xerox Alto

9996-454: Was released in English , German , French and Spanish . Like other Ultima games, Ultima VII came with a trinket, a cloth map, and in-universe manuals. The trinket was a triangle-shaped Fellowship medallion. The cloth map was of Britannia. It included the Fellowship book. It also included a demo-disk for Ultima Underworld . Its expansion pack, Ultima VII: Forge of Virtue , included

10098-483: Was released in the United States on November 14, 2006. Both parts of Ultima VII used a non-standard DOS memory management extension called Voodoo Memory Manager . This was not a typical DOS extender ; therefore, Windows 95 and later are completely incompatible with the game in its original form, unless rebooted into DOS mode. The game can be run with fan patches in modern operating systems. The game

10200-523: Was scrapped; instead, the Avatar journeys alone. Also, the story was largely changed in accordance with Nintendo's content guidelines: instead of murders, the Avatar is asked to investigate kidnappings. In August 2006, GameSpot reported that Electronic Arts would be porting Ultima: The Black Gate (the SNES version of Ultima VII ) to the PlayStation Portable as part of EA Replay . It

10302-460: Was similar in concept to Benjamin's display. The trackball used four disks to pick up motion, two each for the X and Y directions. Several rollers provided mechanical support. When the ball was rolled, the pickup discs spun and contacts on their outer rim made periodic contact with wires, producing pulses of output with each movement of the ball. By counting the pulses, the physical movement of the ball could be determined. A digital computer calculated

10404-493: Was sold as optional equipment for their computer systems. Bill English , builder of Engelbart's original mouse, created a ball mouse in 1972 while working for Xerox PARC . The ball mouse replaced the external wheels with a single ball that could rotate in any direction. It came as part of the hardware package of the Xerox Alto computer. Perpendicular chopper wheels housed inside the mouse's body chopped beams of light on

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