Wikipedia:Main Page history/2022 January 22

the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

From today's featured article

Bob Bates in 2015

Legend Entertainment Company was an American developer and publisher of computer games, best known for creating adventure titles throughout the 1990s. The company was founded by Bob Bates (pictured) and Mike Verdu. Legend also negotiated licenses to popular book series and earned a reputation for comedic adventures. Industry changes led to increased competition by the mid-1990s and expenses for graphics rose without a similar increase in sales. As a result Legend outsourced marketing and distribution and focused on development. While the studio's adventure titles suffered, working with game publishers allowed it to experiment with more action-oriented titles. Legend fully pivoted to first-person shooters thanks to a relationship with Unreal developer Tim Sweeney and an acquisition by publisher GT Interactive. Sales continued to dwindle, followed by the commercial failure of Unreal II: The Awakening in 2003. The studio was shut down in January 2004, with staff moving to other game companies. (Full article...)

Recently featured:

Did you know ...

Freedom

... that the 7,000-pound (3,200 kg) sculpture Freedom (detail pictured) offers visitors a photograph opportunity?
... that calypsonian Mighty Bomber believed that the judges denied him the Trinidad and Tobago Independence calypso monarch title in 1962 because he was born in Grenada?
... that the windows of St. George's Episcopal Memorial Church in Bismarck, North Dakota, contain stained glass fragments collected from English churches damaged during World War II?
... that Zdzisław Najmrodzki, a thief in 1970s–1980s Poland, escaped from law-enforcement authorities and prisons on 29 occasions?
... that according to the book To Kill a Democracy, when democracies destroy their social foundations, they lay the foundations for despotism?
... that Ching Hammill died less than two months after making his National Football League (NFL) debut?
... that the wedding of Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands and Claus van Amsberg was marred by protests over Amsberg's German heritage and past membership in the Hitler Youth and the Wehrmacht?
... that Crackhead Barney picked a dead rat up off the street before confronting the National Guard at the inauguration of Joe Biden?

In the news

Hunga Tonga eruption

Belgian-British pilot Zara Rutherford becomes the youngest woman to fly solo around the world.
Microsoft announces its forthcoming acquisition, pending regulatory approvals, of video game company Activision Blizzard.
A 5.3 magnitude earthquake in Badghis Province, Afghanistan, kills at least 28 people.
The Hunga Tonga volcano erupts (satellite animation shown), causing damage in Tonga and tsunamis across the Pacific Ocean.

On this day

January 22: Day of Unity of Ukraine (1919)

Depiction of a 19th-century Swiss Guard

1506 – The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards (example depicted) arrived in Rome to provide security for the pope.
1689 – The Convention Parliament met to decide the fate of the throne after James II, the last Catholic monarch of England, fled to France following the Glorious Revolution.
1906 – SS Valencia was wrecked off the coast of Vancouver Island, Canada, in a location so treacherous it was known as the Graveyard of the Pacific.
1987 – After being convicted of receiving bribes, Pennsylvania state treasurer R. Budd Dwyer shot and killed himself in front of television cameras during a press conference.
2012 – Croatia held a referendum, in which it voted to become a member of the European Union.

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (d. 1552)
Frigyes Riesz (b. 1880)
Pope Benedict XV (d. 1922)

More anniversaries:

Today's featured picture

Charaxes jasius, the two-tailed pasha, is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Occurring in maquis shrubland in southern Europe and northern Africa, the larva typically feeds on the leaves of the strawberry tree. It has a wingspan reaching 76 to 83 mm (3.0 to 3.3 in) in males, with females being slightly larger. This butterfly of the subspecies C. j. jasius was photographed in Sithonia, Greece.

Photograph credit: Charles James Sharp

Recently featured:

Other areas of Wikipedia

Community portal – Bulletin board, projects, resources and activities covering a wide range of Wikipedia areas.
Help desk – Ask questions about using Wikipedia.
Reference desk – Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects.
Site news – Announcements, updates, articles and press releases on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Teahouse – To ask your first basic questions about contributing to Wikipedia.
Village pump – For discussions about Wikipedia itself, including areas for technical issues and policies.

Wikipedia's sister projects

Wikipedia is written by volunteer editors and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other volunteer projects:

Commons
Free media repository
MediaWiki
Wiki software development
Meta-Wiki
Wikimedia project coordination
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals
Wikidata
Free knowledge base
Wikinews
Free-content news
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations
Wikisource
Free-content library
Wikispecies
Directory of species
Wikiversity
Free learning tools
Wikivoyage
Free travel guide
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus

Wikipedia languages

This Wikipedia is written in English. Many other Wikipedias are available; some of the largest are listed below.

1,000,000+ articles
- العربية
- Deutsch
- Español
- Français
- Italiano
- Nederlands
- 日本語
- Polski
- Português
- Русский
- Svenska
- Українська
- Tiếng Việt
- 中文
250,000+ articles
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Bahasa Melayu
- Bân-lâm-gú
- Български
- Català
- Čeština
- Dansk
- Esperanto
- Euskara
- فارسی‎
- עברית
- 한국어
- Magyar
- Norsk Bokmål
- Română
- Srpski
- Srpskohrvatski
- Suomi
- Türkçe
50,000+ articles