.hack//---

".Hack//" or rather dot-hack, lets see if I can make this short and at the same time....interesting to read?

.Hack (pronounced "dot-hack") is a Japanese multimedia franchise that encompasses two projects; Project .Hack and .Hack Conglomerate. Both projects were primarily created/developed by CyberConnect2, and published by Bandai. The series is mainly followed through the anime and video game installations, and has been adapted through manga, novels and other related media.


The series takes place mainly within The World, a fictional MMORPG published and maintained by the also fictional CyberConnect Corporation, known as the CC Corporation. Players interact with The World using virtual reality headsets called HMDs (Head-mounted display) and a gamepad. It is the creation of German programmer Harald Hoerwick, who creates the first version, "Fragment", to help create his virtual daughter, Aura.
The World consists of a cluster of servers distributed around the world. When players log in, they materialize in the Root Town of the server they last used. Each server in The World has its own unique Root Town. They are the starting and ending point of any gaming session. In order to properly log out of the game, the player must be in a Root Town. Each Root Town has a Chaos Gate, a large revolving ring used to transport players to areas or other servers. To transport to an Area, a series of three keywords must be entered. These keywords determine such parameters as difficulty, terrain, and weather, amongst other habitat. Most keyword combinations result in a field and a dungeon.
In the series' 'Real World', Pluto's Kiss, a virus, caused a simultaneous crash of all computers and network control systems on the Internet that did not run on the ALTIMIT OS, which subsequently became the dominant operating system worldwide. The Twilight Incident, also known as Pluto Again, and the Second Network Crisis is the series of disasters depicted in the .hack//Games. It involves the massive blackout and system shutdown at Yokohama, which results in multiple car accidents, fires throughout the city, various other system malfunctions in other parts of Japan, and various players of The World ending up comatose. It is caused by the glitching Morganna System, though it is eventually resolved with the full awakening of Aura. Kazushi Watarai is held responsible, despite being hospitalized for the majority of the incident.



.Hack// started with the anime series called .Hack//Sign...
.Hack//Sign (trademarked as .Hack//SIGN) is an anime television series directed by Kōichi Mashimo and produced by studio Bee Train and Bandai Visual, that makes up one of the four original storylines of the .hack franchise. Twenty six original episodes aired on TV and three additional bonus episodes (Intermezzo, Unison, and Gift) were released on DVD as original video animations (OVAs). The series features character design by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, known for his work on Evangelion, and screenplay by Kazunori Itō, who penned the screenplay for the first Ghost in the Shell movie. The score was composed by Yuki Kajiura, marking her second collaboration with Kōichi Mashimo.
.hack//Sign is influenced by psychological and sociological subjects such as anxiety, escapism, and interpersonal relationships. The series focuses on a Wavemaster (magic user) named Tsukasa, a player character of a virtual-reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) called The World. Tsukasa wakes up to find himself in a dungeon in The World, but he suffers from short-term memory loss as he wonders where he is and how he got there. The situation gets worse when he discovers he is unable to log out and is trapped in the game. From then on, along with other players Tsukasa embarks on a quest to figure out the truth behind his abnormal situation.
The show premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo between April 4, 2002 and September 25, 2002. It was broadcast across East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Latin America by the anime television network, Animax; and across the United States, Nigeria, Canada, and United Kingdom by Cartoon Network, YTV, and AnimeCentral (English and Japanese) respectively. It is distributed across North America by Bandai Entertainment.
The storyline moves at a leisurely pace, and has multiple layers — the viewer is often fed false information and red herrings, potentially leading to confusion until the true nature of events is unveiled towards the end of the series. It relies on character development and has few action scenes; most of the time character interaction is presented in the form of dialogue. English language reception to .hack//Sign has been generally positive, but some of these sources have negatively criticised the series as a result of its slow pacing and character-driven storyline.

.Hack//Sign had the follow up of a game, that was divided in 4 volumes, .Hack//Infection/Mutation/Outbreak/Quarantine.

At the beginning of .hack//Infection, Kite's friend Orca invites him to play The World. In the first dungeon they visit, they encounter a girl in white being chased by a monster with a red wand. The girl attempts to entrust an item to Orca but the monster attacks him and The World's servers crash. Kite discovers that Orca has fallen into a coma following the attack and resolves to discover why. Meeting BlackRose at the Chaos Gate, they go to a cathedral area where they are attacked by a powerful monster. The legendary player Balmung appears and defeats it but it revives as a Data Bug. The Book of Twilight, the item that the girl gave to Orca, activates and gives Kite the Twilight Bracelet. The Bracelet uses Data Drain on the monster, allowing Balmung to kill it. However, Balmung accuses Kite of causing the viral infection spreading through the game and leaves. Kite and BlackRose decide to team up to help the coma victims. After investigating a number of leads, Kite and BlackRose track down the monster that put Orca into a coma. They defeat the monster, Skeith, but it transforms into a larger enemy called Cubia which they escape from.
In .hack//Mutation, the two encounter Lios, a system administrator, who declares Kite's Bracelet to be an illegal power. He attempts to delete Kite's character data but fails because of a mysterious encryption. The hacker Helba intervenes and convinces Lios to observe for the time being. Lios directs them to an area where they find Innis, a monster with the same powers as Skeith. Upon defeating Innis, Kite receives an e-mail from the girl in white, who is actually an AI called Aura. They travel to an area to meet her but are confronted by Cubia, whom they repel with difficulty. Short on leads, they contact an information broker named Wiseman who is intrigued by Kite's Bracelet. He suggests that Skeith and Innis are based on the Cursed Wave, an antagonistic force featured in the Epitaph of Twilight, an epic poem that forms the basis of The World. He helps grant them access to Net Slum, a place known as paradise for hackers and wandering AIs. Upon arrival, they are attacked by Magus, another Cursed Wave monster. They manage to defeat it, but when they return to the Root Town, they discover that the extensive corruption has spread to The World's main servers and the real world.
Balmung finally decides to join Kite in .hack//Outbreak, after realizing that he cannot halt the infection on his own. BlackRose reveals to Kite that her brother fell into a coma under similar circumstances as Orca, which renews both their determination. Wiseman formulates a plan to combat the Cursed Wave, enlisting the help of Helba. Their teamwork destroys Fidchell but the aftermath causes networks to malfunction in the real world. Aura contacts Kite again, but their meeting is cut short by the reappearance of Cubia. Lios, observing Cubia's power, agrees to join Kite, Helba, and the others to combat the Cursed Wave. Operation Breakwater begins as the team pool their resources to defeat Gorre, with no repercussions in the real world.
Server instability aborts a planning meeting at the start of .hack//Quarantine. Helba replaces the server with a copy of Net Slum to bypass this problem. At the bottom of a dungeon, Kite encounters Mia, a member of his party with a feline avatar. However, Mia is revealed to be Macha, a member of the Cursed Wave, whom he defeats with reluctance. Cubia assaults Kite's team once again, even more powerful than before. They fend him off but are unsure if they will fare so well the next time, based on its rate of growth. Operation Orca, on the other hand, is a success as they destroy the next Wave, Tarvos. Kite seeks the advice of Harald Hoerwick, the creator of the game, who survives beyond death through his AI incarnations. Aura appears and advises that Cubia is the shadow of Kite's Bracelet. Cubia ambushes them and destroys the AI Harald. In their final battle, Kite recalls Aura's advice and has BlackRose destroy the Bracelet, causing Cubia to fade away. Lacking the Bracelet, the final Wave member, Corbenik, attacks the party in Net Slum Root Town. With the aid of the spirits of the coma victims, Kite succeeds in penetrating Corbenik's barrier. Aura sacrifices herself to end the battle, restoring the network to normal and reviving all the coma victims.

pew...most of the info was taken of the wiki...Ill post more tomorrow ^. ^'