Software:Death Jr.

From HandWiki
Short description: 2005 video game
Death Jr.
North American packaging artwork
Developer(s)Backbone Entertainment
Publisher(s)Konami
Producer(s)Jessi Harrison
Designer(s)Micah Russo
Composer(s)Robert Baffy
Platform(s)PlayStation Portable
Release
  • NA: August 16, 2005[1]
  • EU: February 10, 2006
  • AU: March 17, 2006[2]
Genre(s)Action, hack and slash
Mode(s)Single-player

Death Jr. is a 2005 video game for the PlayStation Portable. The PSP iteration was the first PSP game shown publicly and advertised as a killer-app. It was released to a mixed reception and noted for numerous problems about the camera, gameplay and uninspiring graphics, but was praised for its Tim Burton-esque themes and quirky characters. Slightly better received was the comic book adaptation by Gary Whitta and Ted Naifeh, which includes two three-issue miniseries. The game was followed by Software:Death Jr. II: Root of Evil in 2006 and Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom in 2007.

Death Jr. was conceived during experiments with the engine of the cancelled game Prime 8, a planned spin-off to the Spyro The Dragon series. [3]

Gameplay

In the game, the player has a variety of guns ranging from pistols to a rocket launcher. The controls are simple. The player moves around with the analog nub and attacks people with the square and circle buttons. There is a lot of emphasis in the game on the combos which can be achieved by linking attacks to each other in rapid succession.

Plot

The game and comic book are about the teenage son of the Grim Reaper, named Death Jr. (DJ for short). His father tried many times (all of them failed) to stop his son from creating chaos at every school he has been in. Now is DJ's last chance. If he creates chaos one more time, he'll be sent to military school. He meets new friends at this school: Pandora, a girl with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and a thing for locked boxes; Stigmartha, a girl who has holes in her hands and bleeds from them whenever she's nervous; Smith and Weston, conjoined twins who are very smart and conjoined at the head; the Seep, an armless, legless, foul-mouthed kid in a vat; and the Dead Guppy, a character who speaks for himself.

The friends go on a field trip to a museum, where they find a locked box that Pandora wants opened, so DJ opens it to impress her. Unfortunately, all hell breaks loose and demons run amok. It's up to DJ to stop them and revert the town back to normal, all the while making sure Dad doesn't find out.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings63.30%[4]
Metacritic61/100[5]
Review scores
PublicationScore
1Up.comC+[6]
Edge4/10[7]
EGM4.83/10[8]
Game Informer7/10[9]
GameProStarStarHalf star[10]
GameRevolutionC−[11]
GameSpot6.5/10[12]
GameTrailers7.1/10[13]
IGN7/10[14]
OPM (US)StarStarHalf star[15]
CiN Weekly68/100[16]
Detroit Free PressStarStarStar[17]

The game received average or mixed reviews, as GameRankings gave it a score of 63.30%[4] while Metacritic gave it a score of 61 out of 100.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Adams, David (2005-08-16). "Death Jr. Swings to Retail" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/08/16/death-jr-swings-to-retail. 
  2. ↑ Jastrzab, Jeremy (March 13, 2006). "Updated Australian Release Lists, 13/03/06". http://palgn.com.au/article.php?title=Updated+Australian+Release+Lists%2C+13%2F03%2F06&id=4054&sid=7b6aa57eb03484e07e54922342ab01e8. 
  3. ↑ "Agent 9 / Prime 8 [PS2 - Cancelled] - Unseen64". 16 June 2009. https://www.unseen64.net/2009/06/16/agent-9-prime-8-ps2-cancelled/#comments. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Death Jr. for PSP". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/psp/920140-death-jr/index.html. Retrieved 2014-01-08. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Death Jr. Critic Reviews for PSP". https://www.metacritic.com/game/death-jr/critic-reviews/?platform=psp. Retrieved 2014-01-08. 
  6. ↑ Nutt, Christian (2005-08-16). "Death Jr.". http://www.1up.com/reviews/death-jr_5. Retrieved 2014-09-14. 
  7. ↑ Edge Staff (November 2005). "Death Jr.". Edge (155): 113. 
  8. ↑ EGM Staff (September 2005). "Death Jr.". Electronic Gaming Monthly (195): 116. 
  9. ↑ "Death Jr.". Game Informer (149): 115. September 2005. 
  10. ↑ Ouroboros (2005-08-17). "Death Jr. Review for PSP on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on 2006-01-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20060104163911/http://www.gamepro.com/sony/psp/games/reviews/47744.shtml. Retrieved 2014-01-08. 
  11. ↑ Reilly, Mike (2005-08-31). "Death Jr. Review". Game Revolution. http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/death-jr. Retrieved 2014-01-08. 
  12. ↑ Navarro, Alex (2005-08-16). "Death Jr. Review". Archived from the original on 2007-02-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20070207090654/http://www.gamespot.com/psp/action/deathjr/review.html. Retrieved 2014-01-22. 
  13. ↑ "Death Jr., Review". GameTrailers. August 26, 2005. http://www.gametrailers.com/reviews/2flnzo/death-jr--review. Retrieved 2014-01-08. 
  14. ↑ Nix, Marc (2005-08-12). "Death Jr.". http://www.ign.com/articles/2005/08/13/death-jr. Retrieved 2014-01-08. 
  15. ↑ OPM Staff (September 2005). "Death Jr.". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine: 93. Archived from the original on 2014-01-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20140108055426/http://www.1up.com/reviews/death-jr_4. Retrieved 2014-01-08. 
  16. ↑ Hruschak, PJ (2005-09-21). "Death Jr.". CiN Weekly. Archived from the original on 2005-12-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20051201050417/http://www.cinweekly.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20050921%2FENT09%2F509210343%2F1063. Retrieved 2014-01-08. 
  17. ↑ Schaefer, Jim (2005-09-04). "THAT LITTLE DEVIL: In 'Death Jr.,' the Grim Reaper's boy must undo the trouble his mischief caused". Detroit Free Press. Archived from the original on 2005-09-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20050917233710/http://www.freep.com/entertainment/videogames/game4e_20050904.htm. Retrieved 2014-01-08. 
MobyGames
Logo since March 2014
Screenshot
Frontpage as of April 2012
Type of site
Gaming
Available inEnglish
OwnerAtari SA
Websitemobygames.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedJanuary 30, 1999; 26 years ago (1999-01-30)
Current statusOnline

MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] The site is supported by banner ads and a small number of people paying to become patrons.[2] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It is currently owned by Atari SA.

Content

The database began with games for IBM PC compatibles. After two years, consoles such as the PlayStation, were added. Older console systems were added later. Support for arcade video games was added in January 2014 and mainframe computer games in June 2017.[3]

Edits and submissions go through a leisurely verification process by volunteer "approvers". The approval process can range from immediate (minutes) to gradual (days or months).[4] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copyediting.[5]

Registered users can rate and review any video game. 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 subforum.

History

Logo used until March 11, 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999 by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, then joined by David Berk 18 months later, three friends since high school.[6] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience.

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[7] This was announced to the community post factum and a few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.

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).[8] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel.[9]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[10] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[11][12]

See also

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

References

  1. ↑ "MobyGames Stats". https://www.mobygames.com/moby_stats. 
  2. ↑ "MobyGames Patrons". http://www.mobygames.com/info/patrons. 
  3. ↑ "New(ish!) on MobyGames – the Mainframe platform.". Blue Flame Labs. 18 June 2017. http://www.mobygames.com/forums/dga,2/dgb,3/dgm,237200/. 
  4. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  5. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/32856/Report_MobyGames_Acquired_By_GameFly_Media.php. 
  8. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  9. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/207882/Game_dev_database_MobyGames_getting_some_TLC_under_new_owner.php. 
  10. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  11. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site’s Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  12. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 





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