Ubisoft 2000 Annual Report Download - page 43

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Game play:
the features included a game (scenarios, riddles, actions) to make it
sufficiently interesting but not so difficult as to discourage the
player.
Artificial Intelligence:
the set of techniques which allow a computer to be used to solve
problems for which there is no known correct or effective algorithm,
particularly form recognition (images, speech).
The Internet:
a set of interconnected computer networks which generally use a
variety of physical platforms but communicate using the same
protocol, particularly IP (Internet protocol).
Localization:
linguistic and cultural adaptation of software for a foreign country.
Module:
an independent part of a computer program.
Engine:
a software kernel which cannot function without a more or less inde-
pendent front end. This is the heart of a game, which allows all the
animations, graphics and sound to function and be used, and ensu-
res the software’s interactivity.
N64 (Nintendo 64):
64-bit game console designed by Nintendo in 1995 as part of the
“new generation” (64-bit consoles).
Platform:
a unit consisting of an operating system and a computer (hardware
architecture).
PlayStation®:
Sony’s 32-bit game console, also called PSX, which came out in
1995. It uses CDs for games (unlike cartridge consoles).
PlayStation®2: (PS®2)
Sony game console which replaced the PlayStation. It was launched
in Japan in November 1998 and in October and November 2000 in the
United States and Europe respectively. It is based on a 128-bit pro-
cessor called the “Emotion Engine” and a DVD-ROM drive.
Porting:
the action of porting a program, in other words adapting an applica-
tion to a system different to that on which the program was original-
ly developed (and for which it was designed), from one environment
to another.
Processor:
a small silicon wafer (based on refined crystallized sand) which does
all or almost all the work in a computer, particularly the calculations.
It is also used to manage the flow of data in the machine, and the
processor in the average computer generally contains several
million transistors.
Production:
period during which the software is developed (animation of charac-
ters, integration of data into the engine, etc).
Computer program:
text written in a programming language and describing an algo-
rithm, a set of instructions used to carry out one or more tasks, to
solve a problem, or to manipulate data. The computer translates the
program from the programming language into a written language
with instructions that the machine can carry out based on its own
machine language. More simply, the program is the expression of an
algorithm in a given language for a given machine.
Internet network:
an international public information network linking a large number
of local, national and international networks using common proto-
cols, thus allowing files and messages to be transferred between dif-
ferent types of computers.
X-box:
Microsoft’s game console, equipped with a 128-bit processor.
Launch is scheduled for November 2001 in the United States and
spring 2002 in Japan and Europe.
Sources: Sciences-en-Ligne “Editions de l’Analogie”, a scientific and technological
terminology glossary based on the “Dictionnaire interactif des Sciences
et Techniques” by P and J ROBERT. (www.sciences-en-ligne.com).
Le Jargon Français v 3.2.119, by Roland Trique (www.linux-France.org/prj/jargonf.).
Ubi Soft Entertainment, 2001.