title: Timeline of historic inventions

text: The timeline of historic inventions is a chronological list of particularly important or significant technological inventions and their inventors, where known.


title: Timeline of historic inventions

text: The dates listed in this section refer to the earliest evidence of an invention found and dated by archaeologists (or in a few cases, suggested by indirect evidence). Dates are often approximate and change as more research is done, reported and seen. Older examples of any given technology are often found. The locations listed are for the site where the earliest solid evidence has been found, but especially for the earlier inventions, there is little certainty how close that may be to where the invention took place.


title: Timeline of historic inventions

text: The Lower Paleolithic period lasted over 3 million years, and corresponds to the human species prior to the emergence of "Homo sapiens". The original divergence between humans and chimpanzees occurred 13 (Mya), however interbreeding continued until as recently as 4 Ma, with the first species clearly belonging to the human (and not chimpanzee) lineage being "Australopithecus anamensis". This time period is characterized as an ice age with regular periodic warmer periods – interglacial episodes.


title: Timeline of historic inventions

text: The dawn of "Homo sapiens" around 300 kya coincides with the start of the Middle Paleolithic period. Towards the middle of this 250,000-year period, humans begin to migrate out of Africa, and the later part of the period shows the beginning of long-distance trade, religious rites and other behavior associated with Behavioral modernity.


title: Timeline of historic inventions

text: 50 ka has been regarded by some as the beginning of behavioral modernity, defining the Upper Paleolithic period, which lasted nearly 40,000 years (though some research dates the beginning of behavioral modernity earlier to the Middle Paleolithic). This is characterized by the widespread observation of religious rites, artistic expression and the appearance of tools made for purely intellectual or artistic pursuits.


title: Timeline of historic inventions

text: The end of the Last Glacial Period ("ice age") and the beginning of the Holocene around 11.7 ka coincide with the Agricultural Revolution, marking the beginning of the agricultural era, which persisted until the industrial revolution.


title: Timeline of historic inventions

text: During the Neolithic period, lasting 8400 years, stone remained the predominant material for toolmaking, although copper and arsenic bronze were developed towards the end of this period.


title: Timeline of historic inventions

text: The beginning of bronze-smelting coincides with the emergence of the first cities and of writing in the Ancient Near East and the Indus Valley. The Bronze Age starting in Eurasia in the 4th millennia BC and ended, in Eurasia, c.1300 BC.


title: Timeline of historic inventions

text: The Late Bronze Age collapse occurs around 1300-1175 BC, extinguishing most Bronze-Age Near Eastern cultures, and significantly weakening the rest. This is coincident with the complete collapse of the Indus Valley civilisation. This event is followed by the beginning of the Iron Age. We define the Iron Age as ending in 510 BC for the purposes of this article, even though the typical definition is region-dependent (e.g. 510 BC in Greece, 322 BC in India, 200 BC in China), thus being an 800-year period.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a compilation of first-person shooter video games in the "Halo" series. The collection was released in November 2014 for the Xbox One, and later ported to Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X/S. The collection was developed by 343 Industries in partnership with other studios and was published by Xbox Game Studios. The collection includes "", "", "Halo 3", "", "", and "Halo 4".


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: Each game in "The Master Chief Collection" received graphical upgrades. "Halo 2" received a high-definition redesign of its video, audio and cutscenes to celebrate its tenth anniversary. The game includes access to the live-action series "" as well as the "" multiplayer beta that ran in 2014–15.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: At launch, critics generally praised "The Master Chief Collection" for its updated audio and visuals, as well as its quantity of content. Glitches and bugs in the multiplayer and matchmaking experiences led to an apology from 343 Industries and numerous post-release updates. Many of these technical issues were later fixed in post-release patches.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: "The Master Chief Collection" originally consisted of "", "Halo 2 Anniversary", "Halo 3", and "Halo 4", complete with their full catalog of extras, including all multiplayer maps and gameplay modes. There have been no story or gameplay changes to the original releases. The games are first-person shooters with vehicular combat that takes place from a third-person perspective. Each campaign has four difficulty levels and access to gameplay modifiers known as "Skulls".


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: All four campaign modes can be played alone or cooperatively via split screen or Xbox Live on Xbox One and Series X/S. The Microsoft Windows release does not have split screen capability, but it can be played cooperatively online with Steam friends and Xbox friends.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: As in "Combat Evolved Anniversary", "Halo 2" players can swap between the original and upgraded graphics on the fly. Additions to "Halo 2"s campaign mode include "Terminals", and new prologue and epilogue cutscenes to link the series for "Halo 5"s debut. Since only six of the game's multiplayer maps were remastered, there are two "Halo 2" multiplayer modes. The "Halo 2" anniversary multiplayer mode uses the six remastered maps, while the standard "Halo 2" multiplayer mode includes all of the original game's released maps with a full graphical update but no remastering. The "Collection" multiplayer includes Mission Setlists, curated lists of levels selected from throughout the series.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: The Extras menu includes access to live-action video series "" via the Halo Channel and the "" multiplayer beta, until it was removed prior to the game's release. The compilation features new Achievements, and all difficulty and play modes are unlocked from the start. The game launched with a total of 4,000 Gamerscore spread across 400 Achievements—the largest amount of Gamerscore given to a game since its introduction.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: 343 Industries studio head Bonnie Ross pushed for "Halo 4" to be a launch title for the Xbox One, but it instead released in 2012 for the Xbox 360. The timing left a gap in the release schedule between "Halo 4" and "Halo 5". Having previously developed "" for "Combat Evolved"s tenth anniversary, the initial plan was to release a similar standalone "Halo 2 Anniversary" within the first few years of the new console's lifecycle.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: The collection was developed by 343 Industries, Certain Affinity, and Saber Interactive, with development assistance by United Front Games and new cutscenes by Blur Studio. Following the announcement of "The Master Chief Collection" at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2014, Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft's Xbox division, stated that the collection originally began as just a remastering of "Halo 2" to celebrate its 10th anniversary. 343 Industries decided that it would be a great opportunity to release the other main "Halo" titles for the Xbox One in preparation for the 2015 release of "Halo 5: Guardians". All of the games run at 60 frames per second and have received lighting upgrades; all but the "Halo 2" remake have a native resolution of 1080p. On October 18, 2014, the game had been declared gold, indicating it was being prepared for duplication and release.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: "Combat Evolved Anniversary" is based on the high-definition remaster of the original game released in 2011 for Xbox 360. Kinect features from the Xbox 360 version are not supported in the Xbox One collection. Stereoscopic 3D features from the Xbox 360 version are not supported in the Xbox One collection. Ruffian Games was responsible for developing the "Halo 3" and "Halo 4" ports. "Halo 3" and "Halo 4" received only a simple lighting upgrade, and an increase in both frame rate and rendering resolution. 343 Industries designed the interfaces and online networking. United Front Games worked on the unified interface that works across all games. Coinciding with the release of "The Master Chief Collection", 343 Industries developed the Halo Channel, an application for the Xbox One and Windows. It is a successor to the Halo Waypoint app that was released on the Xbox 360. The Xbox One app is integrated with the collection, allowing players to access "Halo: Nightfall" and "Terminal" animations, unlock rewards for the game, and launch the games directly from the app.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: Saber Interactive, which co-developed "Combat Evolved Anniversary", assisted in the remake of "Halo 2"s campaign. It received a complete visual overhaul. The game's soundtrack and sound effects, such as weapon audio, were updated as well. The refined "Halo 2" cutscenes, as well as two new cutscenes created to complement the "Halo 5: Guardians" storyline, were produced by Blur Studio. They feature the same structure and timing of the originals, and motion capture was utilized for the animation.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: "Terminals", a feature first introduced in "Halo 3", were added to the "Halo 2: Anniversary" campaign. Their purpose was to create a "connective tissue" for stories within the "Halo" universe that explores the relationship between the different races within the Covenant and extensively covers the events portrayed in "Halo 2". Terminals also gave 343 Industries the opportunity to introduce Spartan Locke, a main character in "Halo 5: Guardians". Visual effect studio The Sequence Group collaborated with 343 Industries to provide the animation; the group had previously performed similar work in "Combat Evolved Anniversary" and "Halo 4". Several voice actors reprised their roles including Keith David as the Arbiter, John DiMaggio as the Heretic Leader, and Tim Dadabo as 343 Guilty Spark. Mike Colter provided the voice-over for Spartan Locke.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: Once the "Halo 2: Anniversary" project was green-lit, executive producer Dan Ayoub at 343 Industries reached out to Max Hoberman of Certain Affinity for assistance on the multiplayer component. Hoberman originally designed "Halo 2"s multiplayer and founded Certain Affinity after leaving Bungie in 2006. Certain Affinity was asked to remake several of the multiplayer maps from "Halo 2". The team found it difficult to decide how many of the original 24 maps to redesign and eventually settled on six – two small, two medium, and two large – to provide some variation.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: Along with the visual upgrade, "Halo 2"s original score was re-recorded with the San Francisco Symphony at Skywalker Sound studio. Guitarist Steve Vai returned to the franchise to play on additional tracks with Periphery guitarist Misha Mansoor. The "Halo 2: Anniversary" soundtrack was released on November 11, 2014.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: On June 9, 2014, "Halo: The Master Chief Collection" was announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo with a trailer titled "Hunter and the Hunted". The trailer was created by animation company Digital Domain, which had previously collaborated on other "Halo" commercials. The trailer recreates a moment from "Halo 2", in which the Master Chief rides a bomb into a Covenant ship. It is narrated by Keith David, who voices the Arbiter. Several other trailers were released prior to launch, showcasing the updated cinematics and Terminals featured in "Halo 2: Anniversary", and gameplay from all titles across the collection. On October 31, 2014, 343 Industries released a documentary, "Remaking the Legend – Halo 2: Anniversary", chronicling the history of "Halo 2" and the development of "Halo 2: Anniversary"; it also features interviews with developers at Bungie and 343 Industries. The documentary was initially broadcast on Twitch, and was later available on the Halo Channel, Xbox Video, and YouTube.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: In August 2014, UK retailer Game revealed two special editions of "The Master Chief Collection". The "Limited" edition includes a steel book case, a map book, and an in-game modifier, while the "Mjolnir" edition includes all the content from the Limited edition, along with a statue of the Master Chief. In October 2014, Microsoft announced a white "Master Chief Collection" Xbox One bundle for Brazil and other "select markets". A second Xbox One bundle containing the collection was announced for release in the United States during March 2015.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: The collection was released worldwide in November 2014. 343 Industries confirmed that the collection would be available to download from the Xbox Games Store on the day of release. A 15-gigabyte patch went live to those who had digitally preordered it through the Xbox Games Store on November 6, 2014. Players who preordered through the Xbox Games Store also received early access to the "Boom" Skull, which provides double the explosion physics in the "Halo: Combat Evolved" and "Halo 2" campaign mode; it became available to all other users on December 12, 2014.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: At launch, many players experienced problems with online matchmaking modes. 343 Industries released numerous updates to address these issues. On November 24, 2014, Bonnie Ross, head of 343 Industries, issued a public apology noting issues "that have resulted in a frustrating experience, including long matchmaking times and low session success rates". On December 19, 2014, Microsoft announced that as an apology for the issues, it would give a free month of Xbox Live Gold, a special avatar and nameplate, and a free downloadable copy of the "Halo 3: ODST" campaign to those who played the game between its launch and December 19, 2014. The campaign mode of "ODST" was released to the public on May 30, 2015, and with it, 100 additional Achievements. It is available to purchase separately to those who are not eligible for a free code for the add-on.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: Spartan Ops, the episodic content originating in "Halo 4", was released as free downloadable content for "The Master Chief Collection" on December 22, 2014. Additional Achievements for Spartan Ops and the multiplayer mode were released on January 8, 2015.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: "Halo: Nightfall"—a series of weekly, episodic digital videos directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan and produced by Ridley Scott—launched soon after the collection was released. The series was designed to connect the stories of previous "Halo" games to the upcoming "Halo 5". The "Halo 5" beta launched on December 29, 2014, and ran until January 18, 2015.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: With the release of "The Master Chief Collection", Microsoft and 343 Industries announced an official esports league, the Halo Championship Series (HCS). 343 Industries partnered with the Electronic Sports League, live-streaming platform Twitch, and other tournament organisers to foster the competitive multiplayer community in "Halo". The first season of HCS, featuring "Halo 2: Anniversary"s multiplayer, launched in November 2014 and ran until March 2015. It served as a test bed for ideas and future plans that 343 Industries had for esports in "Halo 5".


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: In April 2018, the MCC Insider Program was launched to playtest upcoming changes to "The Master Chief Collection", notably the various improvements to its interface and to its multiplayer modes. As a part of the various changes, 343 Industries introduced patches to bring back well-known "Halo 2" glitches from the original Xbox version, such as sword flying in the campaign. This led to an increased interest in speedrunning the game on the MCC version. On August 27, 2018, the changes were published for all players.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: In August 2020, 343 Industries announced that Xbox-PC crossplay will be made available by the end of 2020, based upon input-based matchmaking. The crossplay option was made available with the release of final game in the collection on November 17, 2020.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: On March 12, 2019, following a series of teases, Xbox Game Studios announced on the "Inside Xbox" live stream that "The Master Chief Collection" would be coming to Windows via the Steam digital distribution platform in addition to the Microsoft Store. Splash Damage and Ruffian Games aided 343 Industries in the development of the port. Xbox Game Studios plans to roll out the individual games in the collection separately, starting with "Halo: Reach" and then proceeding chronologically from "Combat Evolved". Upon this announcement, 343 Industries' offices in Redmond, Washington were overwhelmed by pizza delivery orders from anonymous users, particularly from Reddit.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: The collection was released on Steam and Microsoft Store on December 3, 2019. Only "Halo: Reach" was playable at launch, but subsequent titles became available over the following year. 343 Industries had set out to have the collection playable on PC before the launch of "Halo Infinite" in 2021. This goal was met with the release of the PC version of "Halo 4" on November 17, 2020.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: An enhanced edition of the console version of the collection was released on November 17, 2020 for Xbox Series X|S. It features various graphical and gameplay improvements, including some features introduced with the PC release, such as the variable field of view and running at 120 FPS in both single player and multiplayer modes, with support for 4K resolution on Xbox Series X. Players can also cross-play between Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: "Halo: The Master Chief Collection" received generally positive reviews. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave it a score 85 out of 100 based on reviews from 69 critics. Reviews praised the graphics, frame rate, and content included in the bundle, but criticized the prominent matchmaking issues that prevented players from playing online multiplayer modes on release day.


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: The technical issues deeply affected the game's online experience. "Forbes" Paul Tassi wrote the game on release "was just flat out broken", and though improvements have been made, it "may very well be the worst major game release in a decade." Stuart Andrews of Trusted Reviews commented that ""Halo 3" looks and feels surprisingly dated" when compared to the rest of the collection, particularly "Halo 2" and "Halo 4".


title: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

text: Following the announcement of "Halo: Reach" being added to "Halo: The Master Chief Collection" and the announcement of the game coming to Windows, 343 Industries was sent pizzas from fans as a token of appreciation. Brian Jarrard, community director at 343 Industries, eventually pleaded fans to stop sending pizzas, as the number of pizzas being delivered was becoming overwhelming.


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: Paolo Sorrentino (; born 31 May 1970) is an Italian film director, screenwriter, and writer. His 2013 film "The Great Beauty" won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe, and the Bafta Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In Italy he was honoured with eight David di Donatello and six Nastro d'Argento.


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: Sorrentino's direction and screenplays, including "Il divo", "The Consequences of Love", "The Family Friend", "This Must Be the Place" and the 2016 TV series "The Young Pope", have received three Cannes Lions, four Venice Film Festival Awards and four European Film Awards.


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: He works with authors and producers including Francesca Cima and Nicola Giuliano, Toni Servillo and Luca Bigazzi. Actors in his films have included Sabrina Ferilli, Fanny Ardant, Isabella Ferrari, Elena Sofia Ricci, Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, Riccardo Scamarcio, Jude Law, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Nanni Moretti, Filippo Scotti, Carlo Verdone, Antonio Albanese and Frank Langella.


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: He has also worked with songwriters Antonello Venditti, Paloma Faith and Mark Kozelek and written three books published in Italian.


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: Sorrentino was born in the Arenella district of Naples in 1970, and was orphaned at age 16 after losing both of his parents. His first film as a screenwriter, "The Dust of Naples", was released in 1998. He also began directing short movies, including "L'amore non ha confini" in 1998 and "La notte lunga" in 2001. His feature-length debut was "One Man Up", for which he was awarded the Nastro D'Argento prize.


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: He achieved international recognition in 2004 for his thriller "The Consequences of Love". The film, which explores the mindset of a lonely businessman being used as a pawn by the Mafia, won many awards and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: Sorrentino's next feature, "The Family Friend", was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May and the London Film Festival in October 2006; it tells the story of a malicious septuagenarian loan shark who develops a fixation with the daughter of one of his customers.


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: Sorrentino made his acting debut with a cameo appearance in Nanni Moretti's film "The Caiman", which was also shown at the 2006 London Film Festival.


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: Sorrentino's following film, "Il Divo", is a dramatised biopic of Giulio Andreotti, the controversial Italian politician. The feature, which won the "Prix du Jury" at Cannes Film Festival, sees Sorrentino reunited with "The Consequences of Love" star Toni Servillo, who plays the part of Andreotti.


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: In 2009, Sorrentino wrote the screenplay for a film version of Niccolò Ammaniti's "Ti prendo e ti porto via" ("Steal You Away").


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: "This Must Be the Place" marked the English-language feature debut of the Italian filmmaker. The plot centres on a middle-aged, wealthy rock star, played by two-time Academy Award winner Sean Penn, who becomes bored in his retirement and takes on the quest of finding the guard of the German camp where his father was imprisoned, who now lives in hiding in the United States. The film was co-written by Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello, and premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: His 2013 film "The Great Beauty" won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in the 2014 Academy Awards. It won the Bafta award for Best Film Not in the English Language in the 67th British Academy Film Awards. It also won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. The film also received several accolades at the 2013 European Film Awards, including "Best Film" and "Best Director" for Sorrentino.


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: "Youth" (2015) is Sorrentino's second English-language film, and features Michael Caine as a retired orchestra conductor. It competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: In 2019, it was announced that Sorrentino would be directing Jennifer Lawrence as mob informant Arlyne Brickman in "Mob Girl." The film is an adaptation of the book of the same name by Teresa Carpenter. Sorrentino will also be working as a co-producer on the film with Lawrence, as well as co-writing the screenplay.


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: Sorrentino’s 2021 feature, "The Hand of God", filmed in Naples, contains autobiographical elements. In an article about the film, "The Guardian" called it a coming of age story that was Sorrentino's "most personal" film to date, representing a departure from the detached style of some of his earlier work. Sorrentino also called the film "a completely different movie" in terms of style and, regarding the autobiographical elements, acknowledged that "almost everything is true." The film, which reunited Sorrentino with Toni Servillo, was selected as the Italian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: As announced in 2021, Sorrentino will next direct the biopic "Sue" starring and produced by Lawrence as well. The movie — to be written by Lauren Schuker Blum, Rebecca Angelo and John Logan — will chronicle the life of Hollywood agent Sue Mengers as Apple Studios backs the film. In a fierce bidding war for the film between Apple and Netflix, the package offers ranged from $80 million to $95 million for the budget.


title: Paolo Sorrentino

text: In 2015, Sorrentino was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters at the American University of Rome.


title: Menelaus

text: In Greek mythology, Menelaus (; , 'wrath of the people', ) was a king of Mycenaean (pre-Dorian) Sparta. According to the "Iliad", Menelaus was a central figure in the Trojan War, leading the Spartan contingent of the Greek army, under his elder brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. Prominent in both the "Iliad" and "Odyssey", Menelaus was also popular in Greek vase painting and Greek tragedy, the latter more as a hero of the Trojan War than as a member of the doomed House of Atreus.


title: Menelaus

text: In the account of Dares the Phrygian, Menelaus was described as ". . .of moderate stature, auburn-haired, and handsome. He had a pleasing personality."


title: Menelaus

text: Menelaus was a descendant of Pelops son of Tantalus. He was the younger brother of Agamemnon, and the husband of Helen of Troy. According to the usual version of the story, followed by the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" of Homer, Agamemnon and Menelaus were the sons of Atreus, king of Mycenae and Aerope daughter of the Cretan king Catreus. However, according to another tradition, Agamemnon and Menelaus were the sons of Atreus' son Pleisthenes, with their mother being Aerope, Cleolla, or Eriphyle. According to this tradition Pleisthenes died young, with Agamemnon and Menelaus being raised by Atreus. Agamemnon and Menelaus had a sister Anaxibia (or Astyoche) who married Strophius, the son of Crisus.


title: Menelaus

text: According to the "Odyssey", Menelaus had only one child by Helen, a daughter Hermione, and an illegitimate son Megapenthes by a slave. Other sources mention other sons of Menelaus by either Helen, or slaves. A scholiast on Sophocles' "Electra" quotes Hesiod as saying that after Hermione, Helen also bore Menelaus a son Nicostratus, while according to a "Cypria" fragment, Menelaus and Helen had a son Pleisthenes. The mythographer Apollodorus, tells us that Megapenthes' mother was a slave "Pieris, an Aetolian, or, according to Acusilaus, ... Tereis", and that Menelaus had another illegitimate son Xenodamas by another slave girl Cnossia, while according to the geographer Pausanias, Megapenthes "and" Nicostratus were sons of Menelaus by a slave. The scholiast on "Iliad" 3.175 mentions Nicostratus and Aethiolas as two sons of Helen (by Menelaus?) worshipped by the Lacedaemonians and another son of Helen by Menelaus, Maraphius, from whom descended the Persian Maraphions.


title: Menelaus

text: Although early authors, such as Aeschylus refer in passing to Menelaus' early life, detailed sources are quite late, post-dating 5th-century BC Greek tragedy. According to these sources, Menelaus' father, Atreus, had been feuding with his brother Thyestes over the throne of Mycenae. After a back-and-forth struggle that featured adultery, incest, and cannibalism, Thyestes gained the throne after his son Aegisthus murdered Atreus. As a result, Atreus' sons, Menelaus and Agamemnon, went into exile. They first stayed with King Polypheides of Sicyon, and later with King Oeneus of Calydon. But when they thought the time was ripe to dethrone Mycenae's hostile ruler, they returned. Assisted by King Tyndareus of Sparta, they drove Thyestes away, and Agamemnon took the throne for himself.


title: Menelaus

text: When it was time for Tyndareus' stepdaughter Helen to marry, many kings and princes came to seek her hand. Among the contenders were Odysseus, Menestheus, Ajax the Great, Patroclus, and Idomeneus. Most offered opulent gifts. Tyndareus would accept none of the gifts, nor would he send any of the suitors away for fear of offending them and giving grounds for a quarrel. Odysseus promised to solve the problem in a satisfactory manner if Tyndareus would support him in his courting of Tyndareus's niece Penelope, the daughter of Icarius. Tyndareus readily agreed, and Odysseus proposed that, before the decision was made, all the suitors should swear a most solemn oath to defend the chosen husband in any quarrel. Then it was decreed that straws were to be drawn for Helen's hand. The suitor who won was Menelaus (Tyndareus, not to displease the mighty Agamemnon offered him another of his daughters, Clytaemnestra). The rest of the suitors swore their oaths, and Helen and Menelaus were married, Menelaus becoming a ruler of Sparta with Helen after Tyndareus and Leda abdicated the thrones.


title: Menelaus

text: Their supposed palace (ἀνάκτορον) has been discovered (the excavations started in 1926 and continued until 1995) in Pellana, Laconia, to the north-west of modern (and classical) Sparta. Other archaeologists consider that Pellana is too far away from other Mycenaean centres to have been the "capital of Menelaus".


title: Menelaus

text: According to legend, in return for awarding her a golden apple inscribed "to the fairest," Aphrodite promised Paris the most beautiful woman in all the world. After concluding a diplomatic mission to Sparta during the latter part of which Menelaus was absent to attend the funeral of his maternal grandfather Catreus in Crete, Paris ran off to Troy with Helen despite his brother Hector's prohibition. Invoking the oath of Tyndareus, Menelaus and Agamemnon raised a fleet of a thousand ships and went to Troy to secure Helen's return; the Trojans refused, providing a "casus belli" for the Trojan War.


title: Menelaus

text: Homer's "Iliad" is the most comprehensive source for Menelaus's exploits during the Trojan War. In Book 3, Menelaus challenges Paris to a duel for Helen's return. Menelaus soundly beats Paris, but before he can kill him and claim victory, Aphrodite spirits Paris away inside the walls of Troy. In Book 4, while the Greeks and Trojans squabble over the duel's winner, Athena inspires the Trojan Pandarus to shoot Menelaus with his bow and arrow. However, Athena never intended for Menelaus to die and she protects him from the arrow of Pandarus. Menelaus is wounded in the abdomen, and the fighting resumes. Later, in Book 17, Homer gives Menelaus an extended "aristeia" as the hero retrieves the corpse of Patroclus from the battlefield.


title: Menelaus

text: According to Hyginus, Menelaus killed eight men in the war, and was one of the Greeks hidden inside the Trojan Horse. During the sack of Troy, Menelaus killed Deiphobus, who had married Helen after the death of Paris.


title: Menelaus

text: Book 4 of the "Odyssey" provides an account of Menelaus' return from Troy and his homelife in Sparta. When visited by Odysseus' son Telemachus, Menelaus recounts his voyage home. As happened to many Greeks, Menelaus' homebound fleet was blown by storms to Crete and Egypt where they were becalmed, unable to sail away. They trapped Proteus and forced him to reveal how to make the voyage home. Once back in Sparta, he and Helen are shown to be reconciled and have a harmonious married life—he holding no grudge at her having run away with a lover and she feeling no restraint in telling anecdotes of her life inside besieged Troy. Menelaus does seem to be pained that he and Helen have no male heir, and is shown to be fond of Megapenthes and Nicostratus, his sons by slave women. According to Euripides' "Helen", Menelaus is reunited with Helen after death, on the Isle of the Blessed.


title: Menelaus

text: Menelaus appears in Greek vase painting in the 6th to 4th centuries BC, such as: Menelaus's reception of Paris at Sparta; his retrieval of Patroclus's corpse; and his reunion with Helen.


title: Menelaus

text: Menelaus appears as a character in a number of 5th-century Greek tragedies: Sophocles' "Ajax", and Euripides' "Andromache", "Helen", "Orestes", "Iphigenia at Aulis", and "The Trojan Women".


title: BNY Mellon

text: The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, commonly known as BNY Mellon, is an American investment banking services holding company headquartered in New York City. BNY Mellon was formed from the merger of The Bank of New York and the Mellon Financial Corporation in 2007. It is the world's largest custodian bank and securities services company, with $2.4 trillion in assets under management and $46.7 trillion in assets under custody as of the second quarter of 2021. It is considered a systemically important bank by the Financial Stability Board. BNY Mellon is incorporated in Delaware.


title: BNY Mellon

text: Through its Bank of New York predecessor, it is one of the three oldest banking corporations in the United States and among the oldest banks in the world, having been established in June 1784 by a group that included American Founding Fathers Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. T. Mellon and Sons Bank, was founded in Pittsburgh in 1869 by Thomas Mellon and his sons Richard and Andrew, the latter of whom later became Secretary of the US Treasury.


title: BNY Mellon

text: The first bank in the U.S. was the Bank of North America in Philadelphia, which was chartered by the Continental Congress in 1781; Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were among its founding shareholders. In February 1784, The Massachusetts Bank in Boston was chartered.


title: BNY Mellon

text: The shipping industry in New York City chafed under the lack of a bank, and investors envied the 14% dividends that Bank of North America paid, and months of local discussion culminated in a June 1784 meeting at a coffee house on St. George's Square which led to the formation of the Bank of New York company; it operated without a charter for seven years. The initial plan was to capitalize the company with $750,000, a third in cash and the rest in mortgages, but after this was disputed the first offering was to capitalize it with $500,000 in gold or silver. When the bank opened on June 9, 1784, the full $500,000 had not been raised; 723 shares had been sold, held by 192 people. Aaron Burr had three of them, and Hamilton had one and a half shares. The first president was Alexander McDougall and the Cashier was William Seton.


title: BNY Mellon

text: Its first offices were in the old Walton Mansion in New York City. In 1787, it moved to a site on Hanover Square that the New York Cotton Exchange later moved into.


title: BNY Mellon

text: The bank provided the United States government its first loan in 1789. The loan was orchestrated by Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, and it paid the salaries of United States Congress members and President George Washington.


title: BNY Mellon

text: The Bank of New York was the first company to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange when it first opened in 1792. In 1796, the bank moved to a location at the corner of Wall Street and William Street, which would later become 48 Wall Street.


title: BNY Mellon

text: The bank had a monopoly on banking services in the city until the Bank of the Manhattan Company was founded by Aaron Burr in 1799; the Bank of New York and Hamilton vigorously opposed its founding.


title: BNY Mellon

text: During the 19th century, the bank was known for its conservative lending practices that allowed it to weather financial crises. It was involved in the funding of the Morris and Erie canals, and steamboat companies. The bank helped finance both the War of 1812 and the Union Army during the American Civil War. Following the Civil War, the bank loaned money to many major infrastructure projects, including utilities, railroads, and the New York City Subway.


title: BNY Mellon

text: Through the early 20th century, the Bank of New York continued to expand and prosper. In July 1922, the bank merged with the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company. The bank continued to profit and pay dividends throughout the Great Depression, and its total deposits increased during the decade. In 1948, the Bank again merged, this time with the Fifth Avenue Bank, which was followed by a merger in 1966 with the Empire Trust Company. The bank's holding company was created in 1969.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In 1988, the Bank of New York merged with Irving Bank Corporation after a year-long hostile take over bid by Bank of New York. Irving had been headquartered at 1 Wall Street and after the merger, this became the headquarters of the Bank of New York on July 20, 1998. In 1922, Irving Trust opened an account with Vnesheconombank, now known as VEB, and beginning on October 7, 1988, when the merger was approved, the Bank of New York was able to conduct transactions with the Soviet Union and later in 1991 Russia. Natasha Kagalovsky (née Gurfinkel) with the pseudonym "Gurova", who had been an employee at Irving Trust since 1986 and was in charge of the banking with the Soviet Union, became a senior vice president at the Bank of New York heading the Eastern European operations from 1992 until October 13, 1999, when she resigned.


title: BNY Mellon

text: From 1993 to 1998, the bank made 33 acquisitions, including acquiring JP Morgan's Global Custody Business in 1995. Ivy Asset Management was acquired in 2000, and the bank acquired Pershing LLC, the United States' second-largest trade clearinghouse, in 2003.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In the 1990s, or "Mickey" Galitzine (; 1942-2018, born Belgrade) with the pseudonym "Vladimirov", whose father was a director of the Tolstoy Foundation, established and headed the Eastern European Department at the Bank of New York until 1992 and hired many Russians. He mentored many new bankers in Hungary, the former East Germany, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria and travelled extensively to capital cities in the former Soviet Union or the CIS to assist new bankers especially in Russia to where he travelled for his first time in 1990, Ukraine, Latvia, Georgia, Armenia, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. In 1960, he joined the Bank of New York and worked as an accountant in its International Department but later headed the Russia team as a vice president of the bank. His wife Tatiana Vladimirovna Kazimirova (; b. 1943, Berlin), an employee at the Bank of New York whom he married in 1963, worked very closely with him. He traveled for his first time to Russia in 1990. He worked closely with banks in Greece, Malta, and Italy and was an expert in cotton, gold, silver, and other raw materials financing.


title: BNY Mellon

text: Bank of New York had correspondent accounts for several Russian banks including Inkombank (), Menatep (), Tokobank (), Tveruniversalbank (), Alfa-Bank (), (), Moscow International Bank () and others.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In 2005, the bank settled a US federal investigation that began in 1996 concerning money laundering related to post-Soviet privatization in Russia. The illegal operation involved two Russian emigres, Peter Berlin and his wife Lyudmila "Lucy" (née Pritzker) Edwards who was a Vice President of the bank and worked at its London office, moving over US$7 billion via hundreds of wires. Through accounts created by Peter Berlin for Alexei Volkov's Torfinex Corportion, Bees Lowland, which was an offshore shell company created by Peter Berlin, and Benex International Company Inc, numerous irregular wire transfers occurred at the Bank of New York. In October 1997 at Bologna, Joseph Roisis, also spelled Yosif Aronovizh Roizis and nicknamed "Cannibal" as a member of Russian mafia's Solntsevskaya Bratva with businesses in Czechoslovakia, explained to Italian prosecutors that 90% of the money flowing through Benex accounts at the Bank of New York is Russian mafia money. Alexei Volkov was charged in the United States but fled to Russia which has no extradition treaty with the United States and later the charges were dropped. Svetlana Kudryavtsev, a Bank of New York employee that was responsible for the proper operation of the Benex accounts in New York which had ties to Semion Mogilevich and through which passed $4.2 billion from October 1998 to March 1999, refused to cooperate and resigned during an internal audit of the matter but was later indicted by the FBI for her role in which she received $500 a month from Edwards for her services. Alexander Mamut's Sobinbank, which since August 2010 is a subsidiary of Rossiya Bank, was raided on October 10, 1999, in support of United States investigations into money laundering at the Bank of New York. The Vanuatu registered Sobinbank Limited facilitated transfers between December 1997 and February 1999 for Benex accounts. Edmond Safra of the bank Republic New York, which is a longtime rival of the Bank of New York, alerted the FBI to the money laundering scheme which also involved Russian banks including Sobinbank and the Depozitarno-Kliringovy Bank (DKB) or the Russian Deposit Clearinghouse Bank () which was created by Peter Berlin and had the same address as the Bees Lowland offshore shell company. $3 billion went from both Russian DKB and Sobinbank accounts through the Igor and Oleg Berezovsky owned Italian firm "Prima" based in Rimini and, through Andrei Marisov at the Grigory Luchansky associated French firm "Kama Trade" which had accounts with the Société bancaire arabe (SBA) to accounts at the Peter Berlin created Sinex Bank in Nauru.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In 2006, the Bank of New York traded its retail banking and regional middle-market businesses for J.P. Morgan Chase's corporate trust assets. The deal signaled the bank's exit from retail banking.


title: BNY Mellon

text: Mellon Financial was founded as T. Mellon & Sons' Bank in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1869 by retired judge Thomas Mellon and his sons Andrew W. Mellon and Richard B. Mellon. The bank invested in and helped found numerous industrial firms in the late 1800s and early 1900s including Alcoa, Westinghouse, Gulf Oil, General Motors and Bethlehem Steel. Both Gulf Oil and Alcoa are, according to the financial media, considered to be T. Mellon & Sons' most successful financial investments.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In 1902, T. Mellon & Sons' name was changed to the Mellon National Bank. The firm merged with the Union Trust Company, a business founded by Andrew Mellon, in 1946. The newly formed organization resulting from the merger was named the Mellon National Bank and Trust Company, and was Pittsburgh's first US$1 billion bank.


title: BNY Mellon

text: The bank formed the first dedicated family office in the United States in 1971. A reorganization in 1972 led to the bank's name changing to Mellon Bank, N.A. and the formation of a holding company, Mellon National Corporation.


title: BNY Mellon

text: Mellon Bank acquired multiple banks and financial institutions in Pennsylvania during the 1980s and 1990s. In 1992, Mellon acquired 54 branch offices of Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, the first savings bank in the United States, founded in 1819.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In 1993, Mellon acquired The Boston Company from American Express and AFCO Credit Corporation from The Continental Corporation. The following year, Mellon merged with the Dreyfus Corporation, bringing its mutual funds under its umbrella. In 1999, Mellon Bank Corporation became Mellon Financial Corporation. Two years later, it exited the retail banking business by selling its assets and retail bank branches to Citizens Financial Group.


title: BNY Mellon

text: On December 4, 2006, the Bank of New York and Mellon Financial Corporation announced they would merge. The merger created the world's largest securities servicing company and one of the largest asset management firms by combining Mellon's wealth-management business and the Bank of New York's asset-servicing and short-term-lending specialties. The companies anticipated saving about $700 million in costs and cutting around 3,900 jobs, mostly by attrition.


title: BNY Mellon

text: The deal was valued at $16.5 billion and under its terms, the Bank of New York's shareholders received 0.9434 shares in the new company for each share of the Bank of New York that they owned, while Mellon Financial shareholders received 1 share in the new company for each Mellon share they owned. The Bank of New York and Mellon Financial entered into mutual stock option agreements for 19.9 percent of the issuer's outstanding common stock. The merger was finalized on July 1, 2007. The company's principal office of business at the One Wall Street office previously held by the Bank of New York. The full name of the company became The Bank of New York Mellon Corp., with the BNY Mellon brand name being used for most lines of business.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In October 2008, the U.S. Treasury named BNY Mellon the master custodian of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailout fund during the financial crisis of 2007 to 2010. BNY Mellon won the assignment, which included handling accounting and record-keeping for the program, through a bidding process. In November 2008, the company announced that it would lay-off 1,800 employees, or 4 percent of its global workforce, due to the financial crisis. According to the results of a February 2009 stress test conducted by federal regulators, BNY Mellon was one of only three banks that could withstand a worsening economic situation. The company received $3 billion from TARP, which it paid back in full in June 2009, along with US$136 million to buy back warrants from the Treasury in August 2009.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In August 2009, BNY Mellon purchased Insight Investment, a management business for external funds, from Lloyds Banking Group. The company acquired PNC Financial Services' Global Investment Servicing Inc. in July 2010 and Talon Asset Management's wealth management business in 2011.


title: BNY Mellon

text: By 2013, the company's capital had steadily risen from the financial crisis. In the results of the Federal Reserve's Dodd-Frank stress test in 2013, the bank was least affected by hypothetical extreme economic scenarios among banks tested. It was also a top performer on the same test in 2014.


title: BNY Mellon

text: BNY Mellon began a marketing campaign in 2013 to increase awareness of the company that included a new slogan and logo.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In 2013, the bank started building a new IT system called NEXEN. NEXEN uses open source technology and includes components such as an API store, data analytics, and a cloud computing environment.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In May 2014, BNY Mellon sold its 1 Wall Street headquarters, and in 2015, moved into leased space at Brookfield Place. In June 2014, the company combined its global markets, global collateral services and prime services to create the new Markets Group, also known as BNY Markets Mellon. The company expanded its Hong Kong office in October 2014 as part of the company's plans to grow its wealth management business.


title: BNY Mellon

text: Between 2014 and 2016, BNY Mellon opened innovation centers focused on emerging technologies, big data, digital and cloud-based projects, with the first opening in Silicon Valley.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In September 2017, BNY Mellon announced that it agreed to sell CenterSquare Investment Management to its management team and the private equity firm Lovell Minnick Partners. The transaction is subject to standard regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed by the end of 2017.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In January 2018, BNY Mellon announced that it was again moving its headquarters location, less than four years after its prior move. The headquarters location was announced as 240 Greenwich Street, a renaming of the already BNY Mellon-owned 101 Barclay Street office building in Tribeca, New York City. BNY Mellon had owned the office building for over 30 years, with control of the location obtained via 99-year ground lease. The same year, the company purchased the location from the city for $352 million.


title: BNY Mellon

text: The following graphs represent the net income and assets and liabilities for the years 2000 to 2016 for the Bank of New York Mellon, the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation's New York state-chartered bank and an FDIC-insured depository institution.


title: BNY Mellon

text: BNY Mellon operates in 35 countries in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Asia-Pacific. The company employed 51,300 people as of December 2018. In October 2015, the group's American and global headquarters relocated to 225 Liberty Street, as the former 1 Wall Street building was sold in 2014. In July 2018, the company changed its headquarters again, this time to its existing 240 Greenwich Street location in New York (previously addressed 101 Barclay St). The group's EMEA headquarters are located in London and its Asia-Pacific headquarters are located in Hong Kong.


title: BNY Mellon

text: The bank's primary functions are managing and servicing the investments of institutions and high-net-worth individuals. Its two primary businesses are Investment Services and Investment Management. The bank's clients include 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies. The company also serves 77 percent of the top 100 endowments, 87 percent of the top 1,000 pension and employee benefit funds, 51 percent of the top 200 life and health insurance companies and 50 percent of the top 50 universities.


title: BNY Mellon

text: The bank's Investment Services business represents approximately 72 percent of the company's revenue and it has $31.1 trillion under its custody or administration as of September 2016. The financial services offered by the business include asset servicing, alternative investment services, broker-dealer services, corporate trust services and treasury services. Other offerings include global collateral services, foreign exchange, securities lending, middle and back office outsourcing, and depository receipts.


title: BNY Mellon

text: The company's subsidiary Pershing LLC handles securities services, including execution, settlement, and clearing. It also provides back office support to financial advisors.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In 2014, the company formed a new Markets Group, which offers collateral management, securities finance, foreign exchange and capital markets. The group is now known as BNY Mellon Markets.


title: BNY Mellon

text: BNY Mellon's Wealth Management unit handles the private banking, estate planning, family office services, and investment servicing and management of high-net-worth individuals and families. As of 2014, it ranks 7th among wealth management businesses in the United States. Starting in 2013, the unit began expansion efforts, including opening eight new banking offices, increasing salespeople, bankers, and portfolio managers on staff, and launching an awareness campaign for wealth management services through television ads.


title: BNY Mellon

text: Charles W. Scharf was appointed CEO in July 2017 and became Chairman after former CEO and Chairman Gerald Hassell retired at the end of 2017. Hassell had been Chairman and CEO since 2011, after serving as BNY Mellon's president from 2007 to 2012 and as the president of the Bank of New York from 1998 until its merger. Scharf stepped down in 2019 to become the new CEO of Wells Fargo. Thomas "Todd" Gibbons served as BNY Mellon's CEO from 2020 to 2022. Robin Vince took over as the new CEO in 2022.


title: BNY Mellon

text: Karen Peetz served as president (the bank's first female president) from 2013 to 2016, when she retired; the company did not appoint a new president when she retired. Thomas Gibbons served as CFO between 2008 and 2017, when he also served as vice chairman. In 2017, Gibbons was replaced as CFO by Michael P. Santomassimo. BNY Mellon's Investment Management business is run by CEO Mitchell Harris, and the company's Investment Services business was led by Brian Shea until his retirement in December 2017.


title: BNY Mellon

text: As of July 2017, the company's board members were Linda Z. Cook, Nicholas M. Donofrio, Joseph J. Echevarria, Edward P. Garden, Jeffrey A. Goldstein, Gerald L. Hassell, John M. Hinshaw, Edmund F. (Ted) Kelly, John A. Luke Jr., Jennifer Morgan, Mark A. Nordenberg, Elizabeth E. Robinson, Charles W. Scharf and Samuel C. Scott III.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In 2008, BNY Mellon formed a Board of Directors corporate social responsibility committee to set sustainability goals. The company's corporate social responsibility activities include philanthropy, social finance in the communities the bank is located in, and protecting financial markets globally.


title: BNY Mellon

text: The bank's philanthropic activities include financial donations and volunteerism. The company matches employee volunteer hours and donations with financial contributions through its Community Partnership program. Between 2010 and 2012, the company and its employees donated approximately $100 million to charity. In 2014, the company worked with the Forbes Fund to create a platform that connects nonprofit organizations with private businesses to solve social challenges.


title: BNY Mellon

text: The company received a 100 A rating in 2013, 2014 and 2015 by the CDP, which measures corporate greenhouse gas emissions and disclosures. BNY Mellon was named on the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and the World Index in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Another one of the company's focuses has been building efficiency. As of 2014, the company has saved $48 million due to building efficiency. Five of its buildings have achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED-EB) certification and 23 have interiors that are LEED certified.


title: BNY Mellon

text: The company has business resource groups for employees that are focused on diversity and inclusion. In 2009, Karen Peetz co-founded the BNY Mellon Women's Initiative Network (WIN), a resource group for female employees' professional development. As of 2013, WIN had 50 chapters. Other groups include PRISM for LGBT employees, IMPACT, which serves multicultural employees and HEART for employees with disabilities. The bank has services for returning military, including a tool to help veterans align military skills and training with jobs at the company. In 2014, it was recognized for its diversity practices by the National Business Inclusion Consortium, which named it Financial Services Diversity Corporation of the Year.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In 2009, the company began an innovation program for employees to suggest ideas for large-scale projects and company improvement. Ideas from the initial pilot program generated approximately $165 million in pretax profit. The program results in an annual contest called "ACE" in which teams pitch their ideas.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In October 2011, the U.S. Justice Department and New York's attorney general filed civil lawsuits against the Bank of New York, alleging foreign currency fraud. The suits held that the bank deceived pension-fund clients by manipulating the prices assigned to them for foreign currency transactions. Allegedly, the bank selected the day's lowest rates for currency sales and highest rates for purchases, appropriating the difference as corporate profit. The scheme was said to have generated $2 billion for the bank, at the expense of millions of Americans' retirement funds, and to have transpired over more than a decade. Purportedly, the bank would offer secret pricing deals to clients who raised concerns, in order to avoid discovery. Bank of New York defended itself vigorously, maintaining the fraud accusations were "flat out wrong" and warning that as the bank employed 8,700 employees in New York, any damage to the bank would have negative repercussions for the state of New York.


title: BNY Mellon

text: Finally, in March 2015, the company admitted to facts concerning the misrepresentation of foreign exchange pricing and execution. BNY Mellon's alleged misconduct in this area includes representing pricing as best rates to its clients, when in fact they were providing clients with bad prices while retaining larger margins. In addition to dismissing key executives, the company agreed to pay a total of US$714 million to settle related lawsuits.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In May 2016, multiple plaintiffs filed suit against the bank, alleging that the company had breached its fiduciary duty to ERISA plans that held American Depositary Receipts by overcharging retirement plans that invested in foreign securities. In March 2017, the presiding judge declined to dismiss the suit. In December 2017, another lawsuit alleged that BNY Mellon manipulated foreign exchange rates was filed by Sheet Metal Workers' National Pension Fund. BNY Mellon agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle the 2016 lawsuit in December 2018.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In February 2008, BNY Mellon suffered a security breach resulting in the loss of personal information when backup tapes containing the personal records of 4.5 million individuals went missing. Social security numbers and bank account information were included in the records. The breach was not reported to the authorities until May 2008, and letters were sent to those affects on May 22, 2008.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In August 2008, the number of affected individuals was raised to 12.5 million, 8 million more than originally thought.


title: BNY Mellon

text: On Saturday, August 22, 2015, BNY Mellon's SunGard accounting system broke down during a software change. This led to the bank being unable to calculate net asset value (NAV) for 1,200 mutual funds via automated computer system. Between the breakdown and the eventual fix, the bank calculated the values using alternative means, such as manual operation staff. By Wednesday, August 26, the system was still not fully operational. The system was finally operational to regular capacity the following week. As a result of a Massachusetts Securities Division investigation into the company's failure and lack of a backup plan, the company paid $3 million.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In December 2016, another major technology issue caused BNY Mellon to be unable to process payments related to the SWIFT network. As of the time of the issue, the bank processed about 160,000 global payments daily totally an average of $1.6 trillion. The company was unable to process payments for a 19 hours, which led to a backlog of payments and an extension of Fedwire payment services.


title: BNY Mellon

text: According to a New York City Comptroller audit in April 2017, BNY Mellon was in violation of a privately owned public space (POPS) agreement for at least 15 years. In constructing the 101 Barclay Street building in Lower Manhattan, BNY Mellon had received a permit allowing modification of height and setback regulations in exchange for providing a lobby accessible to the general public 24 hours a day. Auditors and members of the public had been unable to access or assess the lobby for many years, and were actively prevented from doing so by BNY Mellon security.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In September 2018, the company began to permit public access to a portion of the lobby. However, BNY Mellon remains in violation of its agreement, as the lobby must be accessible to the public 24 hours a day. As of early 2021 the city Comptroller reported that company security personnel prevented auditors from entering or photographing the lobby and was seeking to have the "public lobby" designation removed.


title: BNY Mellon

text: BNY Mellon settled foreign bribery charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in August 2015 regarding its practice of providing internships to relatives of officials at a Middle Eastern investment fund. The U.S. SEC found the firm in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The case was settled for $14.8 million.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In March 2019, BNY Mellon staff considered legal options after the company banned employees from working from home. In particular, staff cited concerns regarding the impact on childcare, mental health, and diversity. The company reverted the ban as a result of employee outcry.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In September 2009, BNY Mellon settled a lawsuit that had been filed against the Bank of New York by the Russian government in May 2007 for money laundering; the original suit claimed $22.5 billion in damages and was settled for $14 million.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In 2011, South Carolina sued BNY Mellon for allegedly failing to adhere to the investment guidelines relating to the state's pension fund. The company settled with the state in June 2013 for $34 million.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In July 2012, BNY Mellon settled a class action lawsuit relating to the collapse of Sigma Finance Corp. The suit alleged that the bank invested and lost cash collateral in medium-term notes. The company settled the lawsuit for $280 million.


title: BNY Mellon

text: In December 2018, BNY Mellon agreed to pay nearly $54 million to settle charges of improper handling of "pre-released" American depositary receipts (ADRs) under investigation of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). BNY Mellon did not admit or deny the investigation findings but agreed to pay disgorgement of more than $29.3 million, $4.2 million in prejudgment interest and a penalty of $20.5 million.


title: BNY Mellon

text: As of 2015, BNY Mellon was the world's largest custody bank, the sixth-largest investment management firm in the world, and the seventh-largest wealth management firm in the United States. In 2018, BNY Mellon ranked 175 on the Fortune 500 and 250 on the Financial Times Global 500. It was named one of world's 50 Safest Banks by "Global Finance" in 2013 and 2014, and one of the 20 Most Valuable Banking Brands in 2014 by "The Banker".


title: BNY Mellon

text: The bank says it is the longest running bank in the United States, a distinction sometimes disputed by its rivals and some historians. The Bank of North America was chartered in 1781, and was absorbed by a series of other entities until it was acquired by Wells Fargo. Similarly, The Massachusetts Bank went through a series of acquisitions and ended up as part of Bank of America. The Bank of New York remained independent, absorbing other companies, until its merger with Mellon. BNY Mellon is at least the third-oldest bank in the US.


title: BNY Mellon

text: Since 2012, BNY Mellon has expanded its number of sponsorships. BNY Mellon was the title sponsor of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race from 2012 to 2015. The company also sponsors the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. In 2013, the company became a 10-year sponsor of the San Francisco 49ers and a founding partner of Levi's Stadium. The company is a regular sponsor of the Royal Academy of Arts in London.


title: Flag of Saudi Arabia

text: The flag of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia () is the flag used by the government of Saudi Arabia since 15 March 1973. It is a green flag featuring in white an Arabic inscription and a sword. The inscription is the Islamic creed, or "shahada": "There is no deity but God; Muhammad is the Messenger of God".


title: Flag of Saudi Arabia

text: The Arabic inscription on the flag, written in the calligraphic Thuluth script, is the "shahada" or Islamic declaration of faith:


title: Flag of Saudi Arabia

text: The flag is manufactured with identical obverse and reverse sides, to ensure the "shahada" reads correctly, from right to left, from either side. The sword also points to the left on both sides, in the direction of the script. The flag is sinister hoisted, meaning that when viewed from the obverse (front) side, it is hoisted to the left of the flagpole.


title: Flag of Saudi Arabia

text: The usual color of the flag's green was approximated by Album des pavillons as Pantone 330 C, while the color used on flags at United Nations is approximately Pantone 349. At the 2012 London Olympics, Pantone 355 was used.


title: Flag of Saudi Arabia

text: Because the "shahada" is considered holy, the flag is not normally used on T-shirts or other items. Saudi Arabia protested against its inclusion on a planned football to be issued by FIFA, bearing all the flags of the participants of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Saudi officials said that kicking the creed with the foot was completely unacceptable. Similarly, an attempt by the U.S. military to win favour with children of the Khost Province of Afghanistan by distributing footballs adorned with flags, including that of Saudi Arabia, ended in demonstrations.


title: Flag of Saudi Arabia

text: The flag is never lowered to half-mast as a sign of mourning, because lowering it would be considered blasphemous. Similarly, the flags of Afghanistan, Iraq and self-declared Somaliland are also never at half-mast.


title: Flag of Saudi Arabia

text: The normal flag cannot be hoisted vertically according to Saudi legislation. Special vertical flags are manufactured where both the inscription (the creed) and the emblem (the sword) are rotated, although this is rare, as most Arab countries traditionally do not hoist flags vertically.


title: Flag of Saudi Arabia

text: The precursor states to Saudi Arabia were Nejd and Hejaz. The state flag of Nejd followed today's Saudi flag pattern very closely. The state of Hejaz followed the patterns seen in countries like Palestine and Sudan. Caliphates such as the Rashiduns, the Umayyads and the Abbasids used other flags with only one color. After the Sack of Baghdad in 1258 by the Mongols, the primary caliphate became the Mamluk Sultanate. In 1517, the Ottomans invaded Egypt and inherited Hejaz and ruled it until the Great Arab Revolt of 1916. From 1902 until 1921 a different Arabic inscription was used. One of the primary opponents to the Saudis was the Emirate of Jabal Shammar of the Al Rashid family in the north of the peninsula, until their defeat in 1921.


title: Flag of Saudi Arabia

text: The Al Saud, the ruling family of Saudi Arabia, has long been closely related with Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. He and the people who followed him, since the 18th century, had used the "shahada" on their flags. In 1921, Abdulaziz Abdulrahman Al-Saud, leader of the Al Saud and the future founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, added a sword to this flag. The design of the flag was not standardized prior to March 15, 1973, and variants with two swords and/or a white vertical stripe at the hoist were frequently used. By 1938, the flag had basically assumed its present form, except the sword had a different design (with a more curved blade) and it, along with the "shahada" above, took up more of the flag's space.


title: Flag of Saudi Arabia

text: The Royal Standard consists of a green flag, with an Arabic inscription and a sword featured in white, and with the national emblem embroidered in gold in the lower right canton of the year 1973.


title: Flag of Saudi Arabia

text: The script on the flag is written in the Thuluth script. It is the "shahada" or Islamic declaration of faith:


title: Flag of Saudi Arabia

text: The civil ensign, for use by merchant vessels at sea, is a green flag with the state flag in the canton with a white border. The royal standard is the state flag with the palm tree and swords in the canton.


title: Ōkami

text: Set in classical Japan, "Ōkami" combines Japanese mythology and folklore to tell the story of how the land was saved from darkness by the Shinto sun goddess, named Amaterasu, who took the form of a white wolf. It features a sumi-e-inspired cel-shaded visual style and the Celestial Brush, a gesture-system to perform miracles. The game was planned to use more traditional realistic rendering, but this had put a strain on the graphics processing of the PlayStation 2. Clover Studio switched to a cel-shaded style to reduce the processing, which led to the Celestial Brush concept. The gameplay is modeled on "The Legend of Zelda", one of director Hideki Kamiya's favorite series. The game's name is a pun, as ""ōkami"" can mean either or in Japanese.


title: Ōkami

text: "Ōkami" was one of the last PlayStation 2 games released prior to the release of the PlayStation 3. Although it suffered from poor sales, the game received critical acclaim, earning "IGN"s 2006 Game of the Year. The Wii version earned similar praise, though the motion control scheme received mixed reviews. A high-definition port, remastered by Capcom and HexaDrive, was released on the PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Network in October 2012 and for retail in Japan in November, supporting the use of the PlayStation Move motion controller. The port was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in December 2017 worldwide, for the Nintendo Switch in August 2018, and for Amazon Luna in April 2022. Mainstream adoption of the game has improved with the release of these remasters, and "Ōkami" is considered to be one of the best video games ever made, as well as an example of video games as an art form, aided by the improved art details and graphics resolutions.


title: Ōkami

text: A spiritual successor on the Nintendo DS, "Ōkamiden", was released in Japan in September 2010, followed by North America and Europe in March 2011.


title: Ōkami

text: The player controls the main character, Amaterasu, in a woodcut, watercolor style, cel-shaded environment, which looks like an animated Japanese ink-illustration (known as ink wash painting, or ) with other styles of art. The gameplay style is a mix of action, platform, and puzzle gaming genres, and has been noted by many reviewers to have numerous similarities in overall gameplay style to "The Legend of Zelda" series, an inspiration that director Hideki Kamiya, a self-proclaimed "Zelda" fan, has admitted has influenced his general game design. The main story is primarily linear, directed by Amaterasu's guide Issun, though numerous side quests and optional activities allow for players to explore the game world and take the story at their own pace. By completing quests, side quests, and small additional activities (such as making trees bloom into life or feeding wild animals), Amaterasu earns Praise, which can then be spent to increase various statistics of the character, such as the amount of health and number of ink wells for Celestial Brush techniques.


title: Ōkami

text: Combat is staged in a ghostly virtual arena, and Amaterasu can fight enemies using a combination of weapons, fighting techniques and Brush methods to dispatch the foes. At the end of combat, money (as yen) is rewarded to Amaterasu, with bonuses for completing a battle quickly and without taking damage. The money can be spent at merchants and dojos across the land, featuring healing goods, better weapons, tools, key items for completing quests, and combat techniques.


title: Ōkami

text: Rare Demon Fangs can be earned through combat which can be traded for unique items that are beneficial in gameplay but not required to complete the game. Weapons inspired by the Imperial Regalia of Japan (the Reflector, the Rosaries, and the Glaive) can be equipped on Amaterasu as either main or sub-weapons (one each), and used in addition to other melee attacks that the player can have Amaterasu learn through the course of the game.


title: Ōkami

text: A game mechanic unique to "Ōkami" is the Celestial Brush. Players can bring the game to a pause and call up a canvas, where the player can draw onto the screen, either using the left analog stick on the DualShock controller, or pointing with the Wii Remote, Joy-Con, touchscreen, or PlayStation Move controller in subsequent ports. This feature is used in combat, puzzles, and as general gameplay. For example, the player can create strong wind by drawing a loop, cut enemies by drawing a line through them, or fix bridges by painting on the broken one. These techniques are learned through the course of the game by completing constellations to release the Celestial Brush gods (inspired by the Chinese zodiac) from their hiding spots. It is possible to upgrade or modify certain Brush powers later in the game; for example, the Celestial Brush power "Inferno" can gain a new power called "Fireburst", which has a different drawing pattern, and allows players to create flames without relying on torches or other related items. The player's ink for drawing is limited by the amount available in special ink wells, preventing the player from solely using Brush techniques to defeat enemies; ink is restored in the wells over time when the Brush is not used.


title: Ōkami

text: The player controls Ōkami Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun, in the form of a white wolf. Amaterasu is referred to in the Japanese and European version of the game as a female, while in the North American version she is genderless although she is referred as the "mother of all". When endowed with ink power, Amaterasu is seen by the player with red markings, cloud-like fur on her shoulders, and weapons on her back. Most of the human characters in the game only see her as a plain white wolf; some believe Amaterasu to be the reincarnation of Shiranui (the white wolf that fought Orochi 100 years prior to the game's present), and do not recognize her spiritual nature. If the player depletes power by overuse of the Celestial Brush, Amaterasu will temporarily revert to this mundane white form. Issun, an arrogant, inch-tall "wandering artist" seeking out the thirteen Celestial Brush techniques for himself, accompanies Amaterasu (whom he calls "Ammy" or "furball"). He serves as a guide, dialogue proxy, and as comic relief. He grows in character along with Ammy throughout the game, becoming her true friend, inspiration, and eventually her savior.


title: Ōkami

text: At the end of the game, Amaterasu encounters Yami, the main antagonist and final boss of the game who resembles a small fish inside a huge sphere, whose design is altered through the different stages of the battle. Yami is also the ruler of the demons. Before battle, he drains Amaterasu of her powers and leaves her as a plain white wolf. Amaterasu regains her powers throughout the fight, but, after the fourth round, Yami destroys them all again and leaves Amaterasu in a near-dead state. However, when Issun gets everyone to believe in Amaterasu before the fifth and final round, she changes into her most powerful form and battles Yami, vanquishing him forever. In the final battle, Yami has a huge clawed hand, which demonstrates the evil which comes from humans' hands. The word "Yami" means "darkness" in Japanese.


title: Ōkami

text: Two other characters reappear several times within the quest. Waka appears to Amaterasu several times in the game as a beautiful young flute-playing man in costume resembling a tengu (dressed like a yamabushi). He is aware of the goddess's true identity, foretells her future, and at times battles with her. He leads the Tao Troopers whose members Abe and Kamo are based on the two famous onmyōji Abe no Seimei and Kamo no Yasunori. Waka's dialogue, dropping French affectionate terms at times, conveys a sense of familiarity with Amaterasu, as it turns out that Waka is much older than he appears and has walked with Amaterasu on the Celestial Plain hundreds of years ago. The other is Orochi, the eight-headed demon and a major villain within the game which the player will encounter several times. Orochi repeatedly has threatened Kamiki village, demanding a sacrifice of a young woman. Each of its eight heads is infused with a different elemental magic power, but the entire demon is susceptible to a special brew of sake available only at Kamiki Village, allowing Amaterasu to defeat it while in its stupor. Amaterasu trusts Queen Himiko, the ruler of "Sei-an City", who is killed by one of the demons.


title: Ōkami

text: Throughout the game, the player encounters several other characters that are inspired from Japanese folklore.


title: Ōkami

text: The game is set in Nippon (Japan) and it is based on Japanese folklore, beginning one hundred years in the past. A narrator describes how the white wolf Shiranui and swordsman Nagi fought and sealed the eight-headed demon Orochi at the cave, to save Kamiki Village and Nagi's beloved maiden Nami.


title: Ōkami

text: In the game's present, Nagi's descendant and self-proclaimed greatest warrior, Susano, refuses to believe in Nagi's legend and frees Orochi, who escapes and curses the lands, sapping the life from Nippon. Sakuya, the wood sprite and guardian of Kamiki Village, summons the long-dormant Amaterasu in the form of a reincarnated Shiranui, and asks her to remove the curse that covers the land. Accompanied by the artist Issun (an inch-high creature known as a Poncle), Amaterasu begins to restore the lands to normal state.


title: Ōkami

text: Throughout their journey, Amaterasu and Issun encounter Waka, a handsome and strange but powerful individual who seems to have the gift of foresight, and further teases them to his own mysterious ends. Additionally, Amaterasu locates several Celestial Gods hidden in constellations, who bestow upon her their powers of the Celestial Brush to aid in her quest.


title: Ōkami

text: After regaining some of her power and reviving the land, Amaterasu and a changed Susano defeat Orochi to save Kushi. Orochi's spirit floats northward, leading Amaterasu and Issun embark on a journey across Nippon to follow it. They first arrive at Ryoshima Coast and Sei-an City, the capital of Nippon; there, they work with the beautiful priestess Rao, the legendary submarine Dragon Kingdom, and the reclusive Queen Himiko to rid the coastline and city of Orochi's remaining influence, which includes stopping a demonic plague and retrieving a mystical weapon from a sunken trading ship. However, it is revealed that the real Rao was killed before Amaterasu arrived, and the Rao they had accompanied was the demonic fox god Ninetails, who kills Himiko and returns to her fortress on the elusive Oni Island. Amaterasu and Issun defeat Ninetails, noticing that her spirit, like Orochi's, travels to the icy northern island of Kamui. The two decide to travel northward to find the source of the demons.


title: Ōkami

text: In Kamui, Amaterasu assists the Oina tribe to defeat two recently revived demons, Lechku and Nechku, who were creating a deadly blizzard that threatened to destroy the island. In addition to this, Amaterasu discovers that Issun ran away from his home of Ponc'tan to escape his responsibility of being a Celestial Envoy—a messenger of the gods—and his grandfather; additionally, the duo learn that Shiranui was in fact Amaterasu in a previous incarnation, who sacrificed herself to kill Orochi with the help of Issun's grandfather. After defeating Lechku and Nechku, Amaterasu discovers the wreckage of a flying ship made of iron: the "Ark of Yamato", trapped in the frozen plains of Kamui. Waka appears and reveals himself to be a member of the Moon Tribe, a long-living race who used the Ark to sail the stars. They helped the Celestials—minor and major gods—escape from the Celestial Plain after Orochi invaded, but the demons snuck onto the Ark beforehand, allowing them to kill the rest of the Celestials before the Ark fell to earth, releasing the demons upon the mortal world. Amaterasu boards the Ark alone, defeating the spirits of the felled demons onboard. Amaterasu finds Waka in battle with Yami, the machine-esque leader of the demons who led the genocide of the gods ages ago; Waka is knocked unconscious and Amaterasu takes his place. After a long battle, Yami drains her power and nearly destroys the Celestial Gods. Before it can do so, Issun accepts his role as a Celestial Envoy, and encourages all those they have helped to send their thoughts and prayers to Amaterasu, who regains her powers and defeats Yami, ridding Nippon of all demons. Amaterasu and Waka take control on the Ark and sail back to the Celestial Plain, determined to rebuild the land of the gods.


title: Ōkami

text: "Ōkami" resulted from the combined ideas of Clover Studio. The game was originally built around "depict[ing] a lot of nature", but had no central concept or theme, according to lead designer Hideki Kamiya. Kamiya created a minute-long demonstration movie showing a wolf running about a forest, with flowers blossoming in its wake, but still lacking any gameplay. Kamiya and other members of the team introduced ideas around the nature aspect and eventually led to the game's initial prototype, which Kamiya admitted was "incredibly boring to play". Kamiya suggested that he allowed so many ideas from the team that resulted in the development moving off-target, including creating more of a simulation. Eventually, they settled onto the gameplay found in the final product.


title: Ōkami

text: The art in "Ōkami" is highly inspired by Japanese watercolor and wood carving art of the Ukiyo-e style, such as the work of Hokusai. "Ōkami" was originally planned to be rendered in a more photorealistic 3D style, but Clover Studio determined that the more colorful sumi-e style allowed them to better convey Amaterasu's association with nature and the task of restoring it. The change was influenced by limitations in the PS2 hardware to render the photorealistic 3D graphics. As a result of the switch to the watercolor style, the idea of the Celestial Brush came about. Atsushi Inaba, CEO of Clover, noted that "once we fixed ourselves on a graphical style and got down to the brushwork, we thought 'Wouldn't it be great if we could somehow get the player involved and participate in this artwork instead of just watching it?' That's how the idea of the Celestial Brush was born". Original concepts for enemies included the use of dinosaurs, but the designs settled onto more demonic characters.


title: Ōkami

text: Amaterasu's initial designs were aimed to avoid having the character look like "your pet wearing clothing". The developers had considered having Amaterasu metamorphose into a dolphin when in the water and a falcon when jumping off a cliff, but dropped these ideas. Sakuya, designed around a peach motif, was envisioned with what were called "level 2" and "level 3" designs where the character would wear less clothing as the story progressed, but the "level 3" appearance, effectively naked, was vetoed by Inaba. Waka's character was aimed to be a Tatsunoko-like character, with the hood designed to be reminiscent of those worn by the Gatchaman. Orochi in Japanese mythology is a gigantic creature, so lead character designer Sawaki Takeyasu designed the back of the demon to include a garden and palace; this inspired the game designers to include a bell in those structures that would be Orochi's fatal weakness in the game.


title: Ōkami

text: The localization team had to translate 1500 pages of text to make sure it made sense in a "native check", because of lack of plurals in the Japanese language and the large number of characters and conditional conversations that the player could interact with. The team recognized that certain elements of the game would not be recognized by Western audiences, but left enough text and details to allow the players to look up the information for themselves. Only one puzzle in the game had to be changed as it required knowledge of the steps in drawing a kanji character which would be readily known for Japanese audiences; for the Western release, these steps were demonstrated in the game. The team noted that personalities of characters could be easily conveyed in Japanese text simply by the way sentences were constructed or slurred, a feature that could not directly be applied to localization. Instead, working with Kamiya, the team scripted the localization to either recreate the personality to match the Japanese version, or to create a whole new set of mannerisms for the characters as appropriate.


title: Ōkami

text: "Ōkami" was shown at the 2005 E3 Convention, approximately 30% complete, with a planned release in 2006. At this point, the game had much of the core gameplay, including the Celestial Brush and the combat system in place. The game was released a year later, with its release in Japan on 20 April 2006, North America on 19 September 2006, in Europe on 9 February 2007, and in Australia on 14 February. However, just a few weeks following its release in North America to strong critical reception, Capcom announced the closure of Clover Studio.


title: Ōkami

text: The "Ōkami: Official Complete Works" art book was published by Udon in May 2008. The game was re-released under Sony's "Greatest Hits" in Japan in August 2008.


title: Ōkami

text: The title of the game is a pun; the word in Japanese means "wolf". The kanji characters , pronounced identically, mean "great deity", so the main character is a great wolf deity. Although pronounced differently, the same characters (大神) are used in the honorific name of the Shinto sun goddess .


title: Ōkami

text: The localization team opted to use shorter versions of Japanese names (for example, a boy named "Mushikai" was localized as "Mushi") instead of replacing the names with Western-style ones. Issun's informal name for Amaterasu in the Western translation, "Ammy", was inspired by Kamiya, and is similar in tone with the Japanese informal name, "Ammako".


title: Ōkami

text: Throughout the game, "Ōkami" includes several references (in visual effects, animation, or dialogue) to other Capcom games such as "Viewtiful Joe", which Clover Studio also developed. For example, Mrs. Orange's technique for making cherry cake parodies "Street Fighter"s Akuma's Shun Goku Satsu, complete with a kanji word displayed on screen with her back-facing the screen. There are in-jokes regarding the Clover staff. For example, an non-player character aptly named "Animal Lover" lost his rabbit named "Inaba", the last name of the head producer Atsushi Inaba. To further convey the joke, Inaba the rabbit can be seen falling out of a tree directly underneath Atsushi Inaba's name during the closing credits.


title: Ōkami

text: The music in "Ōkami" was inspired by classical Japanese works. The final song, played over the credit sequence, "Reset", is sung by Ayaka Hirahara. In May 2006, Capcom released a 5-disc soundtrack for "Ōkami" in Japan. In the North American and European release, the player can unlock a jukebox to hear the in-game music upon completion of the game. "Ōkami" won the best score award at the 2007 BAFTA Video Games Awards.


title: Ōkami

text: Suleputer has published another album, a piano arrangement, "Ōkami Piano Arrange". It was released on 30 March 2007. Mika Matsura both arranged the 10 songs, and performed it on the piano.


title: Ōkami

text: With the release of "Ōkami HD" for the Nintendo Switch, Data Disc prepared a vinyl four-disc compilation of over 60 of the game's musical tracks for release in October 2018.


title: Ōkami

text: The characters' speech in the game is created by scrambling samples of voice actors' speech, with more emotional lines being created from voice work given in that emotion.


title: Ōkami

text: The gameplay function of "drawing" or "painting" strokes on the screen led several journalists and gamers alike to believe that "Ōkami" would be well-suited for the Nintendo DS or Wii, both of which feature controls capable of creating drawing motions freely. After the game's release, industry rumors of the game being ported to either console persisted, though Atsushi Inaba of Clover Studio said that "Ōkami"s action-based gameplay would not translate well to the console and Capcom stated that there were "no plans for "Ōkami" on Wii".


title: Ōkami

text: However, at the 2007 UK Gamers Day, Capcom announced that Ready at Dawn would oversee porting and development of a Wii version of "Ōkami" originally scheduled for release in March 2008 but subsequently pushed back to April. Christian Svensson, Capcom's Vice-President of Strategic Planning and Business Development, stated that Capcom had received numerous requests from fans for the development of the Wii version, and that the ported game "specifically exists because of that direct communication, especially those we receive on our message boards (even if they're sometimes mean to us)". Ready at Dawn president Didier Malenfant said that, aside from the control scheme, the Wii version will be "an exact port of the PS2 version". The lack of enhancements for the game caused several complaints from gamers, which Svensson addressed, stating this:


title: Ōkami

text: In November 2007, Svensson said that the engine had been ported to the Wii, writing that "there are still several systems getting set up properly but there's most definitely a Wii-driven Amaterasu running around Wii-rendered environments as we speak". He confirmed that unlike in the PlayStation 2 version, all of the text will be skipable. A listing posted at Capcom's website for the game in February 2008 revealed that the Wii version would support 480p and widescreen output, and IGN confirmed that the motion sensing of the Wii Remote would be used to perform the Celestial Brush features within the game. IGN's hands-on cited small changes to the game such as additional motion-sensing controls using both the Wii Remote and Nunchuck attachment, and the ability to skip cutscenes, but reported no other changes in content of the game.


title: Ōkami

text: Svennson noted that Capcom would not use television advertising for "Ōkami" on the Wii, but would use online marketing, including art contests and a new website with "all sorts of things for fans to use to make stuff". This site was made live on 3 April 2008, featuring wallpapers, character artwork, and fan-created art for the game. Svennson further noted that "if ["Ōkami" for the Wii] did the numbers that we did on the PS2, I'd be very happy. This doesn't need to be a mainstream success for this to be a success for the company".


title: Ōkami

text: A paper parchment filter applied to all on-screen elements that is readily apparent in the PlayStation 2 version is in the Wii version, but the effect is much less significant. To help with drawing with the Celestial Brush, two different buttons on the Wii controllers have brush functionality; one button provides free-form strokes, and the other draws a straight line from the starting point.


title: Ōkami

text: Following a delay, the Wii port of "Ōkami" was released in North America on 15 April 2008, Australia on 12 June, Europe on 13 June, and Japan on 15 October 2009.


title: Ōkami

text: The final credits that is in the PlayStation 2 version of the game was removed from the Wii version, much to Kamiya's regret as it removed the "omoi", "a combination of thoughts, emotions, and messages": "[The staff roll was] the "omoi" of everyone who worked on the project, put together in a moment of bliss held out just for those who completed the journey. It was a special staff roll for a special moment. And now it is gone. All of it. ...It's incredibly disappointing and sad". A Capcom representative stated that the credits, a pre-rendered movie, had the Clover Studio logo within it, and they had "no legal right to use the Clover logo in a game they were not involved with directly". Since they lacked the source to the credits, they opted to remove them entirely from the game. Ready at Dawn's co-founder Didier Malenfant claimed that the Wii version of "Ōkami" took up much more space on the game media than the PlayStation 2 version, and that the movie was cut in order to fit everything on a single game disc. The credit sequence was restored in the Japanese release of the Wii version and revealed that the port was co-developed by Tose, having provided additional planners, designers, programmers, and test players. The images from the credits, although not the credits themselves, are still available as unlockable art.


title: Ōkami

text: Players have discovered that the cover of the North American Wii version of "Ōkami" includes a watermark from IGN, and traced the source to an image taken from IGN's site. To make up for the error, Capcom offered for a limited time to replace the cover with one of three high-resolution covers free of charge to users in North America. Because of delays in fulfilling the offer, Capcom shipped copies of all three covers to those that registered. The company has since discontinued the offer, but has made the cover images available worldwide in high-quality PDF files for users to download and print themselves. The European PAL version of the cover has no such error.


title: Ōkami

text: In 2012, Capcom unveiled a high-definition remastering of the game, "Ōkami HD" ("Ōkami Zekkei-ban"; roughly translated, "Ōkami Magnificent Version"), to be released worldwide for PlayStation 3 on 30 and 31 October the same year; a retail product was released in Japan, while the game is available for download through the PlayStation Network in Europe and North America only. The remastered edition supports the PlayStation Move peripheral, and Trophy support has been added. While the remastered edition restored the ending credits sequence of the original PS2 release, the Clover Studio logo was removed and the ending song, "Reset", was replaced on non-Japanese copies by an instrumental remix of the Ryoshima Coast background music. The remastering was done between Capcom and HexaDrive, who had previously worked on the high-definition remastering of "Rez".


title: Ōkami

text: Capcom later released "Ōkami HD" for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on 12 December 2017 worldwide, built off the PS3 remaster. This version was developed by Buzz Co., Ltd. and Vingt et un Systems Corporation. The Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One versions include both digital and retail editions, and the Xbox One version was released as a download in Japan. This version supports 4K resolutions, though locked at a 30 frames-per-second framerate, and includes an optional widescreen presentation alongside the 4:3 aspect ratio of the original game. The high-definition remaster was released for the Nintendo Switch on 9 August 2018. This version uses the Switch's touchscreen controls for some features including the Celestial Brush, and supports the Joy-Con's motion controls. The Nintendo Switch port has both a standard physical retail and a limited edition release exclusive to Japan, whilst the game is an eShop-exclusive in other regions. A version of the game was released exclusively in the United States for Amazon Luna on 20 April 2022.


title: Ōkami

text: Sales of "Ōkami" were considered somewhat poor for justifying a sequel; in July 2009, in response to users' questions on the possibility of a sequel, Svensson stated that "I think we need a lot more people buying the current version before we seriously consider a sequel". After the appearance of a Japanese trademark by Capcom on the word "Ōkamiden" a few months before the Wii version of "Ōkami" in Japan, many speculated that a sequel was pending. The September 2009 issue of "Famitsu" announced that "Ōkamiden" was indeed a sequel to "Ōkami" for the Nintendo DS, to be released by Capcom in Japan in 2010, though without the input of the Clover staff. The game takes place nine months after the end of "Ōkami", with the player in control of Chibiterasu, a wolf cub with the same powers as Amaterasu, but not yet at his full potential, and features the same style of gameplay, including the Celestial Brush using the DS's touchscreen controls.


title: Ōkami

text: At the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016 during an interview with "Metro", Kamiya, now at PlatinumGames, said that he had ideas for "Ōkami 2" and "Bayonetta 3", though did not confirm if either game was in active development. In October 2019, following on financially successful releases of "Resident Evil" and "Monster Hunter" games, Capcom indicated that it was looking to revive some of its "dormant" properties. Shortly after this announcement, Kamiya, along with Ikumi Nakamura, who had worked on "Ōkami", stated on Twitter that ""Ōkami" is going to be back". In an interview in June 2020, she stated that she planned to approach Capcom about an "Ōkami" sequel, with the only insistence she planned to fight for was to make sure Kamiya took the leading role in the development.


title: Ōkami

text: GameSpot gave it a 9 out of 10 and selected it as an Editor's Choice, citing that its "visual design instantly stands out, but it turns out to be just one of many inspired aspects of this impressive action adventure game". IGN gave the game a 9.1 out of 10, as being "beautiful, charismatic, engaging and one of the most original games you'll play anytime soon". Electronic Gaming Monthly's three reviewers gave it a 9, 9.5, and 9 out of 10, with one saying: "I'll be surprised if you can find a better game on any system this fall". "Newtype USA" named "Ōkami" its "Game of the Month" for October 2006, heralded the pacing as "nearly flawless" and proclaimed ""Ōkami" is that rarest of beasts: a game without any obvious flaws. Clover's creativity and attention to detail are on full display here. Shame on any gamer who passes up this divine adventure". Eurogamer scored the game 10/10 saying: "Right from the start it conjures an atmosphere of being something special, but to keep that level of quality up consistently over 60 hours ensures that this will be a game that will be talked about for years to come". In 2007, "Ōkami" was named eighteenth best PlayStation 2 game of all time in IGN's feature reflecting on the PlayStation 2's long lifespan. "Famitsu" gave the game a near perfect score of 39 out of 40, the 15th game to date to receive this score from the publication.


title: Ōkami

text: Conversely, the game was noted to have some flaws. The game was criticized for its uneven difficulty. Reviewers have noted some difficulty in getting the game to recognize the correct Celestial Brush patterns, as well as excessive amounts of dialog, particularly at the introduction, which was hampered by the use of computer-generated voices instead of voice acting.