Shiny Entertainment

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Shiny Entertainment
Former type Private
Industry Computer and video game industry
Fate Merged
Predecessor(s) Interplay Entertainment
Atari
Successor(s) Double Helix Games
Founded 1993
Defunct 2007
Headquarters Laguna Beach, California, United States
Key people David Perry
Parent Foundation 9 Entertainment

Shiny Entertainment was an American video game developer based in Laguna Beach, Southern California, and the creator of several popular titles such as Earthworm Jim, MDK, Sacrifice and The Matrix: Path of Neo. Shiny was founded by David Perry in October 1993. In 2007, Shiny Entertainment merged with The Collective to create Double Helix Games.

The name Shiny was conceived while listening to the R.E.M. track Shiny Happy People on loop during the development of Disney's Aladdin for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis.[citation needed]

Contents

History [edit]

David Perry, a veteran game developer, was developing for Probe Software in London on the Terminator movie video game for the Mega Drive/Genesis. The game was to be published by Virgin Games in Irvine, CA. After a proposal was done to him, Perry agreed to complete the work in the United States and so moved over in 1991 to join the Virgin Games USA development team. While in the states he developed McDonald's Global Gladiators (Sega's Game of the Year) and 7-Up's Cool Spot, did early development work on Disney's The Jungle Book (which was eventually completed by Eurocom) and finally programmed Disney's Aladdin in a joint venture of Virgin Games USA with Sega of America. Disney's Aladdin became a number 1 hit around the world.

At this time Perry got a US Green Card and decided to form Shiny Entertainment Inc. To fund it, he signed a three game distribution deal with Playmates Interactive Entertainment, the three games became Earthworm Jim, Earthworm Jim 2 and MDK. All three games were well reviewed, won awards and were highly profitable.

The first Shiny release was Earthworm Jim, which won the Sega Game of the Year award and put Shiny front-row center as a developer to be watched. A TV show deal was signed with Universal Cartoon Studios, a TV output deal was signed with the Warner Kids Network, Playmates Toys made a complete action figure toy line, a home video collection was made by MCA/Universal Home Video, Carl's Jr. made a kids meal, Del Taco made a kids meal, Marvel Comics made the official comic books, Fruit of the Loom made clothing and bed coverings, there were even lunch-box, strategy guide, sticker deals etc.

In 1997, former Shiny employees Nick Bruty (President) and Bob Stevenson (CEO) left to form the company Planet Moon Studios.

After a sequel and a remake (Earthworm Jim 2 and Earthworm Jim Special Edition for Sega CD and Windows 95), Shiny decided to move into the world of 3D with the game MDK. At this time Interplay Entertainment Inc. (who had published Earthworm Jim for Sega CD) bought Shiny so co-published MDK with Playmates Interactive Entertainment.

In 2002, during the development of Enter the Matrix, Shiny was acquired by Infogrames (which later changed its name to Atari), for $47 million. Atari purchased only the team and the rights to the Matrix franchise.

Perry kicked off a yet-to-be-announced game, Earthworm Jim on Sony's PlayStation Portable, and a new fighting Game called Age of Elements at E3 2006 on Sony PSP.[1]

Atari announced their interest in selling off all their development studios,[2] so Perry resigned in an attempt to help Atari find a quality buyer. On October 2, 2006, Foundation 9 Entertainment acquired Shiny Entertainment.[3] In October 2007, Foundation 9 merged Shiny Entertainment with The Collective to form Double Helix Games.[4][5]

Games [edit]

  • Earthworm Jim (1994)
  • Earthworm Jim 2 (1995)
  • MDK (1997)
  • Wild 9 (1998), an action game for the Sony PlayStation. This game featured a weapon called the Rig, which allowed the main character, Wex Major, to attack his enemies in many sadistic ways. Sony Japan licensed the game from Interplay so they could release it themselves in Japan.
  • R/C Stunt Copter (1999), a game that made the PlayStation controller act just like a dual stick remote control helicopter transmitter. This game was bought from Interplay by Midway, then it was bought from Midway by Titus. Titus then bought Interplay as well.
  • Messiah (2000), a game featuring the hook of "possession" and a new real-time tessellation video game engine.
  • Sacrifice (2000), Shiny's first online multiplayer game.
  • Enter the Matrix (2003) returned Perry to licensing, based on the Matrix movie franchise. The movies' directors made around 1 hour of original Matrix footage just for the game. The game was commercially successful, selling an estimated 5 million copies. Reviewers were not too pleased, however, with the game's lack of polish and bugs.
  • The Matrix: Path of Neo (2005) shipped by Atari, again based on the Matrix movie franchise, this time focusing on the lead character from the movies. It is generally considered to be better than Enter the Matrix and is viewed as something of an "apology" to fans who felt cheated by not being able to actually control Neo at all during Enter the Matrix.
  • The Golden Compass (2007), based on the film of the same name.

References [edit]

  1. ^ Q&A: Dave Perry's shiny new gig, Gamespot, May 17, 2006
  2. ^ February 17, 2006 (2006-02-17). "Video Game Features, PC Game Features". Gamedaily.com. Retrieved 2009-11-02.  Text " By: James Brightman " ignored (help); Text " More " ignored (help)
  3. ^ Foundation 9 Acquires Shiny From Atari, GamaSutra, October 2, 2006
  4. ^ Foundation 9 merges Shiny, Collective, Gamespot, October 9, 2007
  5. ^ Shiny, The Collective twisted into Double Helix, Gamespot, March 27, 2008

External links [edit]

Portal icon Greater Los Angeles portal
Portal icon Companies portal
Portal icon Video games portal
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