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Today's featured article Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss is a first-person role-playing video game released in March 1992 for IBM PC compatible systems running DOS. Set in the fantasy world of the Ultima series, it was developed by Blue Sky Productions (later Looking Glass Studios). The protagonist has to find and rescue a baron's kidnapped daughter from an underground cave system that contains the remnants of a failed utopian civilization. It introduced many technological innovations and has been hailed as the first first-person perspective role-playing game with 3D computer graphics. Although it was not an immediate commercial success, the effects of critical acclaim and word of mouth caused sales to reach nearly 500,000. The game has been highly influential. It is said to have inspired "all 3D RPG titles from Morrowind to World of Warcraft", and the designers of BioShock, Tomb Raider and other major 3D games have cited it as an inspiration for their own work. It resulted in one sequel, 1993's Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds. (more...) Recently featured: Titan – Birth control movement in the United States – Gorgosaurus Did you know... From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that, at the age of 89, producer and director Abel Gance (pictured) viewed a restoration of his French epic silent film Napoléon in Telluride, Colorado? ... that Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen, author of The Land and Freshwater Mollusca of India, was an early President of the Malacological Society? ... that while the city of Wilsonville, Oregon, was incorporated in 1969, it did not have a library until 1982? ... that English adventurer Sir Francis Verney spent two years in the Sicilian slave galleys before being rescued by an English Jesuit priest? ... that Bermuda fish chowder is the national dish of Bermuda? ... that 40 Jews live in Mauritius?

In the news The Nationalist Republican Alliance, led by Alfredo Cristiani (pictured), wins a plurality in the Salvadoran elections. An American soldier's shooting spree kills 16 Afghan civilians. Direction – Social Democracy wins a majority in the Slovak parliamentary election. The Egyptian Football Association cancels the remainder of the 2011–12 Egyptian Premier League season as a result of the Port Said Stadium disaster. The United Democratic Party, led by Prime Minister Dean Barrow, wins a majority in the Belizean general election. Businessman Allen Stanford is convicted of running a US$7 billion Ponzi scheme. On this day... March 14: New Year's Day (Sikhs); White Day in Japan; Pi Day 1489 – Queen of Cyprus Catherine Cornaro (pictured) was forced to abdicate and sell the administration of the island to the Republic of Venice. 1794 – American inventor Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin, the first ever machine that quickly and easily separated cotton fibers from their seedpods. 1910 – Oil prospectors in Kern County, California, drilled into a pressurized oil deposit, resulting in the largest accidental oil spill in history. 1931 – Alam Ara, the first Indian film with sound, was released. 1991 – The "Birmingham Six", wrongly convicted of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings in England, were released after sixteen years in prison. More anniversaries: March 13 – March 14 – March 15 It is now March 14, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture The eastern bettong (Bettongia gaimardi) is a marsupial whose natural range includes south-eastern Australia (where it has been extinct) and the eastern part of Tasmania. Sometimes referred to as a "rat-kangaroo", it is relatively small, rarely exceeding 2 kg (4.4 lb), but will travel up to 1.5 km (0.93 mi) from its nest to find food. Photo: JJ Harrison Recently featured: Alitta succinea – Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, aged ten or eleven – Mycena inclinata mushrooms

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