Software:Harms Way

From HandWiki
Short description: 2010 video game
For the 1988 video game, see In Harm's Way (video game). For other uses, see Harm's Way (disambiguation).
Harms Way
Developer(s)Bongfish GmbH
Publisher(s)Microsoft Game Studios
Composer(s)Die Mognstuambuam
Platform(s)Xbox 360 (XBLA)
ReleaseDecember 8, 2010
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Harms Way is a racing advergame developed by Austrian independent software developer Bongfish GmbH for the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade service. It was released on December 8, 2010, for free as one of the finalists of the Doritos-sponsored "Unlock Xbox" competition for 2010, alongside Doritos Crash Course.[1] Originating from a hybrid racing/shooting game concept by Ogden, Utah gamer Justin Carpenter, this game has a wasteland-like setting and tone, similar to Mad Max. On December 29, 2010, it was announced that Harms Way lost to Doritos Crash Course in the second "Unlock Xbox" competition. However, due to positive feedback on both games, Frito-Lay decided to give both Carpenter and competition winner Jill Robertson the same US$50,000 consultation prize each.[2] The soundtrack for the game was provided by Austrian thrash metal band Die Mognstuambuam.

On May 6, 2017, the game was added to the backwards compatibility program, making it playable on Xbox One.[3]

Gameplay

In Harms Way, players take on the role of either driver or shooter.

Driver

Drivers ride across one of three courses in a three-lap race with power-ups and shortcuts to help lead them to their victory. To win, a driver must finish in first place out of 4 ranks. Drivers can drift to earn nitro boosts and do barrel rolls for shields, which prevent drivers from receiving damage and may ricochet gunfire back to snipers. The time it takes for drivers to finish a race can represent their ranks in the leaderboards.

There are four vehicles, each with three attributes: speed (which affects top speed and acceleration), armor (which affects the amount of damage the vehicle can take), and handling (which affects steering and drifting).

  • Buggy - Has good speed and handling, but the worst armor.
  • Pickup - Has average speed and armor, but the best handling. It is recommended for beginners.
  • Truck - Also has average speed as well as handling, but the best armor.
  • Bus - Has the best speed and good armor, but the worst handling.

Shooter

Shooters can snipe other vehicles and damage them. The shooters' goal is to damage and destroy the vehicle as badly as possible. A fatal hit to the windshield of a vehicle will instantly destroy it, giving the shooter 5000 points. Shooters can also hit wheels to stop or slow down a vehicle for 250 points. Shooters can also shoot at power-ups on the track to either prevent drivers from using them or to upgrade their own turrets with new weapons. The number of points snipers earn can represent their ranks in the leaderboards.

There are four weapons for each shooter, each available after certain number of upgrades:

  • Sniper rifle - A powerful single shot from a sniper rifle can cause windshield kills and flat tires. Also has good zooming capabilities and a laser pointer that's also visible to drivers, though it's slow to reload. This is the weapon that shooters start out with.
  • Burst Shot - A machine gun which rapidly fires relatively weak rounds. Has some zooming capabilities and is prone to overheating. This is the first weapon that shooters receive from upgrading.
  • Air Strike - Launches a group of land mines from the air and onto the track, detonating automatically if untouched for five seconds. This weapon is earned after two upgrades.
  • Missile launcher - A rocket launcher that can lock onto moving targets and cause heavy damage, which is strong enough to knock down objects that can fall onto drivers and block the road. It fires in straight lines by default. This is the last weapon that shooters can earn, requiring three upgrades.

Power-ups

There are five power-ups in the game that affects both drivers and shooters:

  • Nitro - Give vehicles a small amount of nitrous that allows drivers to gain speed when they want to use it.
  • Shield - Give vehicles temporary invulnerability and may cause gunfire from shooters to ricochet back to them.
  • Smoke - Drops a smoke bomb on the nearest turret, making it harder for that shooter to see.
  • Turret Upgrade - Can be earned from either a shooter or a driver, this power-up upgrades all sniper turrets for the team who gets it. It is not available in single-player driving mode.
  • Turret Downgrade - Like the Turret Upgrade, but causes all teams' turrets to be downgraded except for the team that collects it. It is only available in multiplayer.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic65/100[4]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Jeuxvideo.com15/20[5]
VentureBeat4/10[6]
VideoGamer.com6/10[7]

The game received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[4]

K. Alexander Smith of Paste called it "surprisingly innovative" as well as a "rare example of a corporation trying to do good while doing well" with regards to the circumstances behind its creation.[8]

Since its release, the game sold 347,375 units worldwide by January 2011.[9] Sales of the game moved up to 800,752 units by the end of 2011.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Fahey, Mike (December 8, 2010). "Which Free Doritos Xbox Game Is The Cheesiest?". G/O Media. https://kotaku.com/which-free-doritos-xbox-game-is-the-cheesiest-452571536. 
  2. ↑ "Fans Select 'Doritos Crash Course' as Winner of Doritos Unlock Xbox Challenge". PR Newswire (Press release). December 30, 2010. Archived from the original on March 27, 2023. Retrieved January 13, 2025.
  3. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (May 4, 2017). "Five More Games Added to Xbox One Backwards Compatibility Program". Fandom. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/five-more-games-added-to-xbox-one-backwards-compat/1100-6449817/. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Harms Way". Fandom. https://www.metacritic.com/game/harms-way/. 
  5. ↑ Aurio (April 1, 2011). "Test: Harms Way" (in fr). Webedia. https://www.jeuxvideo.com/articles/0001/00014682-harms-way-test.htm. 
  6. ↑ Conway, Ryan (December 29, 2010). "Corporate Sponsorship 101: Harm's Way [sic & Doritos Crash Course"]. https://venturebeat.com/community/2010/12/29/corporate-sponsorship-101-harms-way-doritos-crash-course/. 
  7. ↑ Orry, Tom (December 10, 2010). "Harms Way Review". Resero Network. https://www.videogamer.com/reviews/harms-way-review/. 
  8. ↑ Smith, K. Alexander (October 16, 2011). "Selling Your Soul for Fun and Profit: The 10 Best Advergames". Paste. https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/selling-your-soul-for-fun-and-profit-the-10-best-advergames/. Retrieved January 13, 2025. 
  9. ↑ Langley, Ryan (January 27, 2011). "In-depth: Xbox Live Arcade's 2010 Sales Revealed". Informa. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/in-depth-xbox-live-arcade-s-2010-sales-revealed. 
  10. ↑ Langley, Ryan (January 20, 2012). "Xbox Live Arcade by the numbers - the 2011 year in review". Informa. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/xbox-live-arcade-by-the-numbers---the-2011-year-in-review. 
  • 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.[1] 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".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] 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.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

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.[6][7] 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.[5] 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.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] 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).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] 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.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

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

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ 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. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "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/. 
  14. ↑ "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/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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