The Game-shunary

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

Table of Contents
123ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQ RSTUVWXY Z

K
killer app – A piece of software (such as a game) which is highly popular and successful. Starcraft in Korea.
Kojima, Hideo – Currently working on his fourth last Metal Gear game.

L
lag – The time delay between sending and receiving online data. A popular excuse for suckage, anda popular feature of the Wii’s wi-fi support.
LAN party – A gathering of gamers who bring their PCs and set up a local area network to play multiplayer games. Also known as a sausage-fest.
LFG – “Looking for group,” the desperate cry of a lonely MMOG player.
localization – Any modifications (such as translation) made to a game in order to market it to a culture outside of the one it was originally developed for. Responsible for such gems as "All your base are belong to us."
lolercoaster – Worth the price of admission.

M
machinima- Never funny (Full Life Consequencesnot included).
mainstream media- Non-specialist publications which generally love Nintendo (the Wii is revolutionary!), think gamers are socially inept (unless they own a Wii!), and are subjected to more hate than even the worst forum trolls.
Miyamoto, Shigeru- The godfather of videogames. Has since lost his mind.
motion blur- When you just don’t feel like rendering anything.
MMO- Massively Multiplayer Online… what? Online what?
MMOG- Massively Multiplayer Online Game.
MMORPG- World of Warcraft, and the rest.
Molyneux, Peter- Designer of painstakingly complexdog AIs.

N
nerf - To f**k up.
next-gen-Oddly refers to the current generation of consoles.