Backbone Entertainment

Backbone Entertainment
Private
Industry Video game industry
Founded 1992
Headquarters Emeryville, California, USA
Website www.backboneentertainment.com

Backbone Entertainment is an American independent video game development company located in Emeryville, California.

History

Digital Eclipse logo

Backbone Entertainment is the result of a 2003 merger between Digital Eclipse Software, Inc and ImaginEngine. Digital Eclipse Software specialized in arcade game emulation and handheld video games, and formerly had studios in Emeryville, California and Vancouver, British Columbia. ImaginEngine specializes in children's software, formerly having studios in San Francisco, California and Boston, Massachusetts. The San Francisco and Emeryville teams were combined at the Emeryville location upon execution of the merger.

One of their first franchise projects as Backbone Entertainment was Death Jr., for the PSP. They have also produced a sequel, Death, Jr. II: Root of Evil, and a Nintendo DS version of the franchise entitled Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom. When Death Jr. was first announced, the CEO of Backbone spoke on making DJ a full-featured franchise, with comic books, a TV show, action figures, and more. According to GameRankings, the average review score for the three games in the franchise is a 59%, with Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom scoring the lowest overall.

Foundation 9 Entertainment era

In 2005 the company merged with another video game developer, The Collective, Inc. in Newport Beach, CA to form a new conglomerate, Foundation 9 Entertainment.

The Foundation 9 Entertainment conglomerate initially used the Backbone Entertainment brand for its original titles, the Digital Eclipse brand for its arcade emulation titles, and ImaginEngine for many children's titles. Currently, the name ImaginEngine is used for products from the Boston-based studio of Foundation 9 Entertainment,[1] while Backbone Entertainment is used for their Emeryville, California-based studio. The Digital Eclipse brand is no longer in use, and its website redirects to Backbone Entertainment.[2]

An additional studio was formed in 2006 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, but was spun out in 2007 to become Other Ocean Interactive.[3] The Vancouver, British Columbia-based studio of Backbone Entertainment was scaled back in September 2008 and ultimately closed in May 2009, ending the company's presence in Canada.[4] Among that studio's later projects were Sonic Rivals and Sonic Rivals 2.

They developed Bomberman Live and Shrek N' Roll for the Xbox 360, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Sega Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable and its follow-up compilation, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. They also created the Halo 3 interactive bonus disc included with Collector's and Legendary versions of the game.

Another studio was added, KnowWonder, formerly owned by Amaze Entertainment, best known for The Sims 2 DS and The Sims: Bustin' Out.

Games developed

Year Studio Video game Platform(s) GameRankings score
2000 --- Alice in Wonderland Game Boy Color 73.50%
2001 --- Batman: Chaos in Gotham Game Boy Color 63.50%
2001 Vancouver Spyro: Season of Ice Game Boy Advance 71.75%
2002 --- Lilo & Stitch Game Boy Advance 75.58%
2002 --- Phantasy Star Collection Game Boy Advance 76.09%
2002 Vancouver Spyro 2: Season of Flame Game Boy Advance 77.97%
2002 Emeryville Spider-Man: The Movie Game Boy Advance 77.56
2003 Vancouver Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs Game Boy Advance 74.50%
2004 Emeryville Grand Theft Auto Game Boy Advance 70.87%
2004 Boston The Incredibles: Escape from Nomanisan Island PC
2005 Vancouver Rifts: Promise of Power N-Gage 73.57%
2005 Emeryville Death Jr. PSP 63.24%
2005 Vancouver Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary PlayStation 2, Xbox, Gamecube, PC, Game Boy Advance 63.43%
2006 Vancouver Age of Empires: The Age of Kings Nintendo DS 79.80%
2006 Boston Charlotte's Web Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance 61.00%
2006 Emeryville Death Jr. II: Root of Evil PSP 70.65%
2006 Emeryville NBA Ballers: Rebound PSP 69.78%
2006 Vancouver Sonic Rivals PSP 65.95%
2006 Emeryville MechAssault: Phantom War Nintendo DS 64.75%
2007 Vancouver Bomberman Live XBLA 85.24%
2007 Vancouver Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom Nintendo DS 50.62%
2007 Emeryville Sonic the Hedgehog iPod
2007 Emeryville Brooktown High PSP 49.11%
2007 Emeryville Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix PSN, XBLA 84.00%
2007 Vancouver Sonic Rivals 2 PSP 62.90%
2007 Emeryville Shrek n' Roll XBLA 45.70%
2008 Vancouver Monster Lab Wii 72.85%
2008 Emeryville Death Jr. II: Root of Evil Wii 70.25%
2008 Emeryville Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 PSN, XBLA 67.36%
2008 Emeryville 1942: Joint Strike PSN, XBLA 71.03%
2008 Emeryville Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix PSN, XBLA 88.75%
2009 Emeryville, Vancouver Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection/Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection Xbox 360, PS3 81.11%
2009 Emeryville G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Nintendo DS
2009 Emeryville Rock Band Unplugged PSP 80.03%
2009 Emeryville Lego Rock Band Nintendo DS 78.86%
2009 Emeryville Marvel vs. Capcom 2 PSN, XBLA 83.81%
2010 Emeryville Rock Band 3 Wii, Nintendo DS 90.67%
2011 Emeryville Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon PSN, XBLA
2011 Emeryville Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone PSN, XBLA
2012 Emeryville Dance Central 3 Xbox 360
2012 Emeryville Midway Arcade Origins Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Ports

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/23/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.