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A term used in the video game industry, hitscan, or hitscan weaponry refers to a simple technique where you determine whether a target is hit by the weapon or not. Simply said, at the exact moment the player pulls the trigger, the game will check whatever is at the other end of the reticle and mark that target 'hit'. This means there are no other forces such as gravity etc that impact the shot - due the simple nature of this calculation (a straight line) it is often used with most weaponry in (modern) FPS's. Other, more complex calculations with projectile, take bullet speed, gravity, and other forces into account, which means that the bullet doesn't go in a straight line per se, and doesn't impact instantly.
The Half Life 2 SMG uses a Hitscan technique to determine whether it hits a target or not, but the Crossbow fires a projectile which uses a more complex calculation and takes many variables into acccount.
Hitscan by Sindital January 7, 2012
Related Words

Hiscantspeakspanic 

A 2nd or 3rd generation descendant of hispanic blood,(excluding spain, brazil, and other non-spanish speaking countries of the americas) that claim to to be very culturally hispanic when in reality they can't even speak spanish themselves.
They occasionally throw out a few words to deceive people that can't speak spanish, but when they encounter an actual spanish speaking person or a real latino, they are put to shame.
Tom: Damn this neighborhood is pretty scary!
Ernesto: Man, I'm a tough latino motherf*cker! I'm used to seeing this sh*t all the time!
Tom: Ernesto shut up! You're a hiscantspeakspanic! Even Skyler beats you on spanish tests!
Ernesto: Yo shut up fool! Everyone knows those tests are racist