The Game-shunary

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GR's guide to gaming terminology, insider lingo, and technobabble

Welcome to the Game-shunary, GamesRadar's truly epic gaming dictionary. The goal of the Game-shunary is not to tell you a bunch of crap you already know (gee, what’s a joystick?). You’re smarter than that. The Game-shunary is a portal into the bloody, juicy heart of gaming culture. The Game-shunary is knowledge. The Game-shunary is power. The Game-shunary ate a dragon for breakfast and washed it down with lighter fluid.

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BIOS – A computer system’s Basic Input/Output System. The BIOS configures devices (such as a keyboard) and boots the operating system. Don’t mess with it – you’ll probably break something.
Blezinski, Cliff - Wearer of ironic t-shirts, founder of Epic MegaGames (now simply Epic), the mastermind behind the Unreal and Gears of War series, putter of chainsaws on guns, andthe owner ofthe coolest frosted hair in the industry.
bloom effect - The official effect of next-gen games.
bloatware – Software which consumes a needless amount of hard drive space and RAM, also known as iTunes.
Blu-Ray – The winner of the high definition video format war, and yet another piece of technology your grandmother will never understand.
Boll, Uwe PhD. – Infamous video game movie director, who turns tolerable games into intolerable movies, and has an inexplicable affinity for warehouses and islands.
brown - The official color of next-gen games.
bullet time – The speed time moves at when you concentrate really, really hard. Popularized by the Matrix, and then used in Max Payne, and then Timeshift, and then FEAR, and then Tony Hawk, and then Burnout, and then everything. Also known as the official time of next-gen games.