Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 November 17

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From today's featured article
Metroid Prime is a video game developed by Retro Studios and Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube, released in North America in 2002 and in Japan and Europe the following year. It is the first 3D game in the Metroid series, the fifth main installment, and is classified by Nintendo as a first-person adventure rather than a first-person shooter, due to the large exploration component of the game and its precedence over combat. Like previous games in the series, Metroid Prime has a science fiction setting, in which players control the bounty hunter Samus Aran. The story follows Samus as she battles the Space Pirates and their biological experiments on the planet Tallon IV. The game was a collaborative effort between Retro's staff in Austin, Texas, and Japanese Nintendo employees, including producer Shigeru Miyamoto, who was the one who suggested the project after visiting Retro's headquarters in 2000. Despite initial backlash from fans due to the first-person perspective, the game was released to both universal acclaim and commercial success, selling more than a million units in North America alone. (Full article...) Recently featured: Hoodwinked! – David Suzuki: The Autobiography – Thomas Baker Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that samples of moon rock and lunar dust soil from the Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 missions, mounted on wooden plaque displays especially for Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Honduras, Ireland, Malta, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Romania, Spain, and Sweden, plus the states of Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii (pictured), Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and West Virginia, were later reported missing by many of the recipients? ... that British architect H. T. Cadbury-Brown served with the Royal Artillery in World War II but made it all the way from Normandy to Germany without firing a shot? ... that by the 1960s female leaders of women's football in Africa began to emerge? ... that Steve Pestka resigned his judgeship to run the real estate business his father developed after surviving the Holocaust? ... that pineapple coral growing in the Florida Keys was nearly wiped out by white plague in 1995 and has not fully recovered since? ... that Fred Humphreys attempted to photograph every species of Banksia, but died before the resulting book was published? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Xi Jinping (pictured) becomes General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and a new Politburo Standing Committee is inaugurated. Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari is killed in an Israeli military operation. A total solar eclipse occurs in parts of Australia and the South Pacific. Justin Welby is announced as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. Recent deaths: Rex Hunt Syrian civil war – Wikinews – More current events...
On this day...
November 17 1558 – Elizabeth I became Queen of England and Ireland, marking the beginning of the Elizabethan era. 1796 – French Revolutionary Wars: French forces defeated the Austrians at the Battle of the Bridge of Arcole in a manoeuvre to cut the latter's line of retreat. 1855 – Explorer David Livingstone became the first European to see Victoria Falls (pictured), one of the largest waterfalls in the world, on what is now the Zambia–Zimbabwe border. 1905 – Influenced by the result of the Russo-Japanese War, the Empire of Japan and the Korean Empire signed the Eulsa Treaty, effectively depriving Korea of its diplomatic sovereignty. 1968 – NBC controversially cut away from the American football game between the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets to broadcast Heidi, denying viewers in the Eastern United States from seeing the game's dramatic ending. More anniversaries: November 16 – November 17 – November 18 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now November 17, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

A diagram showing the structure of DNA, with detail showing the structure of the four bases: adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine, and the location of the major and minor groove. Along with RNA and proteins, DNA is one of the three major macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life. Most DNA molecules are double-stranded helices, consisting of two long polymers of simple units called nucleotides, molecules with backbones made of alternating sugars (deoxyribose) and phosphate groups, with the bases attached to the sugars.

Image: Richard Wheeler

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