Video games

This clears my re-write of nasty video game questions on titles that I will probably never play. Must be thirty years since I cheesed with E. Honda and Blanka on “Street Fighter II”…

Questions

Featuring voice work from Chow Yun-fat and “The Mummy” actor Arnold Vosloo, which 2007 third-person shooter video game that had John Woo on its production team is a sequel to that director’s 1992 action film “Hard Boiled”?

STRANGLEHOLD

Capable of manipulating electricity, Kessler is a villain from which 2009 video game that features a Karma system where you make choices that determine whether your character is good or evil?

INFAMOUS

A rival to protagonist Squall Leonhart, Seifer Almasy is a villain from which video game that is set on continents such as Esthar and Balamb?

FINAL FANTASY VIII

Once a paladin in the Order of the Silver Hand, Arthas Menethil became known as which villain who featured in the title of a 2008 video game?

LICH KING

Sporting a fancy golden mask and sure to turn up every now and again in a meme, Dagoth Ur is a villain from which 2002 video game that had the expansion packs “Tribunal” and “Bloodmoon”?

ELDER SCROLLS III: MORROWIND

Intimidating RPG players with his large and sharp claws, Dark Falz is a recurring antagonist in which video game series that first appeared in 1987?

PHANTASY STAR

Giving its name to a short-lived subsidiary of Square Enix that had aimed to provide cloud-gaming services, which electric power company are the corporation that Avalanche fight against in “Final Fantasy VII”?

SHINRA

Taking place 20 years after the events of the first game, what was the 2003 sequel to 2000’s “Deus Ex”? This edition in the series sees Alex Denton navigating a world with futuristic factions that include the World Trade Organisation and the Knights Templar.

DEUS EX: INVISIBLE WAR

A prequel to the first “Deus Ex” game that is set in the year 2027, what was the 2011 third game in the “Deus Ex” series where you control Adam Jensen, a security officer for Sarif Industries?

DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION

Ben Saxon is the protagonist who explores and does battle in Panama City during which fourth game in the “Deus Ex” series that was released in 2013?

DEUS EX: THE FALL

First developed in 1973 and later playable with multiple people over the ARPANET, which game along with “Spaism” is considered to be an original ancestor of the first-person shooter genre?

MAZE / MAZE WAR

“Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond” was the first video game to be nominated for and win an Oscar for its content. Its title coming from a French forename, which 24-minute long film won the Best Documentary Short Subject at the Academy Awards ceremony held in 2021?

COLETTE

Captain of a pirate crew, what is the name of the incarnation of Zelda in “The Wind Waker” who aids Link on his quest?

TETRA

Actually the King of Hyrule in disguise, what is the multi-word term for the talking boat that features in “The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker”?

THE KING OF RED LIONS

Specific released on the Nintendo DS like its predecessor, what is the name of the sequel to “The Phantom Hourglass”? Its name comes from the method Link uses to cross the overworld as he travels between dungeons.

SPIRIT TRACKS

Introduced in the 1993 game “Mortal Kombat II”, Kitana uses what objects not usually associated with fighting as her primary weapon, though those who practise the martial art of tessenjutsu will be well aware of how lethal they can be?

(STEEL) FANS

A love interest of hero Liu Kang in the “Mortal Kombat” games, Kitana is introduced as which Emperor of Outworld’s daughter? Only later does she learn that her father was murdered by this ruler.

SHAO KAHN

Introduced in “Mortal Kombat II”, who is the clone of the steel fan wielding Kitana, their choice of weapons being a pair of sai?

MILEENA

In the “Mortal Kombat” series Mileena is the love interest of which Tarkatan warrior, whose distinctive feature is long metal blades that retract into his forearms?

BARAKA

Named for series creator Ed Boon’s sister, which “Mortal Kombat” ‘traitor of traitors’ is an occasional love interest of Mileena?

TANYA

Known as the ‘Empress of the Elements’, which champion from “League of Legends” had a skin designed by Nicolas Ghesquière of Louis Vuitton in 2019?

QIYANA

As well as designing a skin for the character Qiyana, Louis Vuitton designer Nicolas Ghesquière provided a skin for which “League of Legends” character who is known as ‘The Redeemer’? Their name is shared with the surname of a famous sportsman.

SENNA

First appearing as the main antagonist in “Street Fighter III: New Generation”, who is the leader of the Secret Society and an enemy of Russian rubber man Necro, a character on whom he had performed experiments?

GILL

What she wears being predominantly red, which non-playable character in the “Street Fighter” series wields a chainsaw and is the girlfriend of the electricity producing character Necro?

EFFIE

First appearing in “Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike”, which shapeshifting humanoid weapon is sent by the Secret Society to hunt down Necro at any cost?

TWELVE

Video games

Probably the subject I’m most likely to score an obscure answer on, but have managed to miss “Nethack” despite often being tempted by roguelikes.

Questions

It being the same as Blinky the three-eyed fish in “The Simpsons”, what colour is the ghost known as Clyde in the “Pac-Man” games?

ORANGE

Meaning ‘Path of Ascension’, what is the main religion of the Protoss in Starcraft? Involving a psionic link, permanently disconnecting from it is impossible except for severing nerve cords.

KHALA

Also the name of a German company that sells drinks such as Glüh & Gin, which software platform was Nokia’s attempt to compete with Apple and Android?

MAEMO

Tying her hair into horns and having purple featuring prominently in her colour scheme, which female “Street Fighter” character is a Taekwondo expert from South Korea?

JURI

First depicted as a playable character in “Resident Evil 7: Biohazard”, who is the troubled hero of “Resident Evil Village”?

ETHAN WINTERS

Following an aristocrat called Faraday who sets sail to try and find a better future for his people, which platform game released in 2021 was developed by the one-man Skeleton Crew Studios?

OLIJA

Retrieving the Amulet of Yendor is the goal in “Nethack”, one of the most highly regarded roguelikes in the genre’s history. In the game this artifact was stolen from Marduk by which Canaanite god who is mentioned in “Leviticus” and is associated with sacrifice?

MOLOCH

Retiring as CEO of Activision Blizzard after its acquisition by Microsoft, who once said at a conference that his goal was “to take all the fun out of making video games”? He had a role in “Moneyball” as Oakland Athletics owner Stephen Schott.

BOBBY KOTICK

First appearing in the “Super Street Fighter II” edition of the legendary fighting game, which Hong Kong addition to the character roster is reminiscent of Bruce Lee and was voiced by Bryan Cranston in “Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie”?

FEI LONG

Who is the main character in the Wii game “Xenoblade Chronicles”, wielding the sword Monado against the Mechons? He gained additional popularity after his inclusion in “Super Smash Bros”.

SHULK

Nemesis is the subtitle to which 1999 video game, this being taken from the name of the persistent villain who the player must get the better of? A remake was released in 2020 with that character’s motion capture provided by former “Hollyoaks” actor Neil Newbon.

RESIDENT EVIL 3

Using his inhuman strength to pummel survivors and throw heavy objects, Tank is a villain from which first-person shooter brought to us by Valve in 2008?

LEFT 4 DEAD

KAMAZ

Time for some industrial action…

Questions

The Russian vehicle manufacturer KAMAZ is particularly notes for its success in which category of the Dakar Rally, having won the most of any manufacturer?

TRUCKS

The Russian truck manufacturer KAMAZ takes its name from the Kama river, the longest left tributary of which other river, actually being longer at their confluence?

VOLGA

Formerly known as Molotov and situated near the Ural Mountains, which fifteenth-largest city in Russia lies on the Kama river and is a major railway hub, lying on the Trans-Siberian Railway?

PERM

Home to the KAMAZ plant that is the largest vehicle factory in the world, Naberezhnye Chelny was briefly known as Brezhnev in the 1980s, and lies in which Republic, of which it is the second largest city?

TATARSTAN

Contrasting to the conventional truck where the engine is mounted in front of the driver, KAMAZ is known for what type of truck with the initialism CO, being characterised by a semi-hood with alternative names including the Canadian ‘flat nose’ and British ‘forward control’?

CAB OVER

The world’s second largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment after Caterpillar, which Japanese company that takes its name from a city in Ishikawa prefecture and has a name that means ‘small pine tree’ in one of the suppliers for KAMAZ facilities?

KOMATSU

Still entirely owned by its namesake family, which equipment manufacturer with their headquarters at Bulle in Switzerland has 130 companies under its umbrella divided into divisions such as earthmoving and maritime cranes? They are one of the suppliers for KAMAZ facilities.

LIEBHERR

Taking its current name following a 1905 merger between two companies named for their founders followed by the words ‘Drill Company’, which American multinational company operates two business segments, Industrial Technologies and Services (ITS) and Precision and Science Technologies (PST)? They are one of the suppliers for KAMAZ facilities.

INGERSOLL-RAND

Founded by the unoriginally named Göran Göransson in 1862, which Swedish engineering company specialise in products for areas like mining, rock drilling and metal cutting? One of the suppliers for KAMAZ facilities, they are named for a town in Gävleborg County.

SANDVIK

Technology

Ugh, as if I know how to ‘exploit’ anyone or anything.

Questions

Which Reddit co-founder with the username ‘spez’, also founded the now disbanded travel search engine hipmunk?

STEVE HUFFMAN

Which Danish-Canadian invented PHP, the general-purpose scripting language geared towards web development in 1994?

RASMUS LERDORF

What does recursive acronym PHP stand for now, originally standing for ‘Personal home page’?

PHP: HYPERTEXT PREPROCESSOR

With the first names Paul and Joseph, which brothers founded Motorola in Chicago in 1928, with Paul’s son Bob succeeding him as CEO until 1986?

GALVIN

Apple’s M1 chip is an ARM system-on-a-chip, with ARM previously standing for what?

ADVANCED / ACORN RISC MACHINE

What is Tor short for in the name of the browser popular with those that surf the Darknet?

THE ONION ROUTER

Having variants from A to F, which 2003 worm is the second fastest to have gone nuts on the internet, only being surpassed by mydoom?

SOBIG

What term involving exploiting a bug or design flaw gives increased access to resources that should be blocked to an application or user?

ELEVATION OF PRIVILEGE / PRIVILEGE ESCALATION

A possible result of someone taking advantage of an exploit, in the extended acronym dDoS, what does the first d stand for, with DoS standing for ‘Denial of Service’?

DISTRIBUTED

What name is given to a hacker who violates laws or ethical standards, the term originating from 1950s westerns where they distinguished the bad guys from the good guys?

BLACK HAT

What term is used for an exploit found when a new piece of software is released but the developers are unaware of it, with patches usually being created to resolve it once it has been discovered?

ZERO DAY

Primarily known for its Pegasus spyware, which Israeli cyber-intelligence firm had a complaint filed against it by Apple in 2021 for allegedly developing the ‘zero-click’ exploit known as FORCEDENTRY?

NSO GROUP

What kind of test also known as ‘ethical hacking’ is an authorised simulated cyber attack on a computer system, performed to identify security weaknesses as well as strengths?

PENETRATION TEST / PENTEST

What does the TCP stand for in TCP/IP, with the IP standing for Internet Protocol?

TRANSMISSION CONTROL PROTOCOL

One of the core communication protocols of the Internet protocol suite, what does UDP stand for?

USER DATAGRAM PROTOCOL

A term borrowed from transportation, what is the part of transmitted data that is the actual message, with headers and metadata used to enable this to be sent? After using this in an exploit, this would enable pivoting to expand the attack surface of the target.

PAYLOAD