Software:Cabela's Big Game Hunter: 2004 Season

Short description: 2003 video game

Cabela's Big Game Hunter: 2004 Season
Developer(s)	Sand Grain Studios
Publisher(s)	Activision Value
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release	August 26, 2003
Genre(s)	Sports

Cabela's Big Game Hunter: 2004 Season is the sixth sequel to the original Cabela's Big Game Hunter. It was developed by Sand Grain Studios and released on August 26, 2003. The game was published by Activision Value, in conjunction with hunting supply company Cabela's.

Synopsis

Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2004 Season is an open-world hunting game. It consists of eight maps across North America, 26 big-game mammals to hunt, and a large variety of firearms, bows, pistols, clothing, and equipment. The player embarks on a career hunt to bag each game mammal and complete each location. The player receives cash for each trophy bagged and uses the money to buy tags and additional weapons and equipment as needed. Upon completing the career hunt, the player will watch a compilation of pre-recorded game footage set to the theme music. In the movie library folder on the main menu, the player will unlock five pre-recorded demos of hunts done by the developers. The locations shown in the demos are British Columbia, Alaska, Montana, Quebec, and Texas .

Gameplay

The player can choose three to play from: Quick Hunt, Career Hunt, and Multiplayer.

The player must equip a set of clothing, no more than two firearms, and at least one tag - no greater than one tag per species per hunt. Weapons do not need to be sighted and ammunition is infinite. Upon spawning at one of the four preset spawn points to each location, the player will see a brief visual. A screenshot of the location in the season they have selected will be shown, along with the location name in a banner at the bottom of the screen. The compass will spin as the level loads, and the player can observe the game logo.

In easy and medium difficulty modes, the player has the option of using the trophy beacons – red dots that pinpoint an animal's location regardless of distance. In hard difficulty, the dots are off and are locked to that setting. The player can also choose to use the bullet camera – a slow motion camera lock on the bullet or arrow as it travels its trajectory once the player takes a shot. The bullet camera will only follow the bullet/arrow if it travels a distance greater than several feet. The bullet camera is advantageous for seeing the size and scope of the map, various distances required to trek, as well as what animals correspond to which dots.

The player will always spawn at the beginning of hunting hours with clear skies at the exact location they have selected, as well as by a cabin and within walking distance of a vehicle. The player cannot choose to spawn at any location other than the four preset starting points, and they cannot choose the weather and time at which they begin hunting.

Game spawns throughout each map in random quantities each hunt. No less than the minimum amount of game per level will spawn, and usually no more than 12–15 animals will spawn per level. Any animal bagged will respawn shortly after the player bags it. Lower spawn rate often requires the player to notice which dots respawn, especially when hunting multiples of the same species. Some game may spawn near the player as the player loads the level. If the player spawns next to a hostile species, there is a chance the player can be attacked while spawning in.

When the player wades into water deeper than waist-level, they will begin to swim. The same controls for walking and running on land apply. However, the player cannot use any items while in the water. If the player drives their vehicle into water, they cannot retrieve it without restarting the hunt.

The player will only take damage from overextending themselves physically, being attacked by a hostile animal, drowning, or crashing their vehicle. The player cannot take fall damage. The player can also not be damaged by cacti or other map assets. The player cannot take damage from falling into water.

Any objects used by the player, besides the weapons, are not actually shown being used, even in third-person. Food, water, tactical equipment, calls, and lures are not shown in the player's hands being used. Stock audio is played and an effect is given. Only weapons, ground blinds, tents, tree stands, and tripods are shown being used, but they do not require actual setup. There are no animations for players embarking or disembarking vehicles, or setting up tents and equipment.

External links

MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers". This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months. The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing. A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school. Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information. In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount. This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign. A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art). Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel, and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million. The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager. Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface. This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue. Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.

See also

• IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions