Software:Time Gentlemen, Please! (video game)

From HandWiki
Time Gentlemen, Please!
Developer(s)Zombie Cow Studios
Publisher(s)Zombie Cow Studios
Designer(s)Dan Marshall
Ben Ward
EngineAdventure Game Studio
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
ReleaseJuly 2, 2009
Genre(s)Point-and-click adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Time Gentlemen, Please! is a point-and-click adventure game developed by Zombie Cow Studios. It is the sequel to the freeware game Ben There, Dan That! and was commercially released on July 2, 2009. As with the first game, Time Gentlemen, Please! was created using the Adventure Game Studio engine.

The game features a darkly humorous, at points surrealistic setting. Of note is the consistent referencing of other classic adventure games: posters from Sam & Max and Full Throttle were seen in the first episode, the characters often quote dialog from e.g. Monkey Island or Day of the Tentacle, Ben refers to Dan as "the Glottis to my Manny!", and the first episode features a zombie child called Gilbert. The game also satirizes the "adventure game logic" (i.e. carrying around a variety of useless items in hopes of combining them to be useful), with Ben and Dan often breaking the fourth wall and directly referring to not needing certain items in their inventory.

A sequel, Lair of the Clockwork God, was released in 2020.

Plot

In-game screenshot

The events of Time Gentlemen, Please! continue from Ben There, Dan That!; in the first game, while attempting to rig a makeshift television antenna made out of a coathanger to watch a Magnum, P.I. marathon, Ben and Dan find themselves transported aboard an alien spacecraft. Eventually, they discover the spacecraft was simply a mockup built in a warehouse, designed to keep them busy. The plan was crafted by the future selves of Ben and Dan, who had traveled back in time to install their earlier selves as leaders of a mind-washed world.

Time Gentlemen, Please! continues from this point; Ben and Dan accidentally convince the world to simply watch the Magnum, P.I. marathon, eventually killing off the entire world population. Realizing this was a mistake, they decide they must go back in time and prevent the creation of the coathanger such that their future selves would have never been able to teleport them to the fake alien craft. After discovering the time device their future selves used, they spend two weeks (relative to themselves) travelling through time to attempt to correct their error, but instead find themselves having made things worse, as in 1945, Adolf Hitler has come to rule the world with his army of anthropomorphic dinosaurs due to the power of the Golden Coathanger. Hitler captures the two and takes the time device away, using it to further assure his power but further damaging the time stream. Ben and Dan work through the time paradoxes in order to defeat Hitler and recover the time device. Realizing now that preventing the creation of the coathanger is disastrous, the two go back in time and stop their earlier selves before the coathanger is invented. However, this creates yet another paradox and causes the universe to disappear. God appears to the two, noting how they have mucked about too much in the timelines and that he will have to reset the universe for them. The two find themselves back at their flat and their world returned to normal.

Development

The game was designed by Dan Marshall and Ben Ward.[1]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic84/100[2]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Adventure GamersStarStarStarHalf star[3]
Eurogamer9/10[4]
GamesTM7/10[5]
GamezeboStarStarStarStar[6]
JoystiqStarStarStarStarStar[7]
PC Format87%[8]
PC Gamer (UK)87%[9]
PC PowerPlay9/10[10]
PC Zone90%[11]

The game received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[2]

Critics mostly praised the game for its humour and writing, while its scatalogical humour and swearing were "not for everybody".[7][12][13] PC Zone said, "It's one of the most outrageous games I've ever played and for that alone I love it."[11]

IGN UK named it one of the "best of 2009 so far" in August 2009.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Phill Cameron (October 12, 2009). "Interview: The Adventure Game Resurrectionists Of Zombie Cow". Informa. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/pc/interview-the-adventure-game-resurrectionists-of-zombie-cow. Retrieved January 18, 2023. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Time Gentlemen, Please! for PC Reviews". Fandom. https://www.metacritic.com/game/time-gentlemen-please/critic-reviews/?platform=pc. Retrieved January 18, 2023. 
  3. ↑ Luke Jensen (August 19, 2009). "Time Gentlemen, Please! review". https://adventuregamers.com/articles/view/18323. Retrieved January 18, 2023. 
  4. ↑ Dan Griliopoulos (July 1, 2009). "Time Gentlemen, Please!". Gamer Network. https://www.eurogamer.net/time-gentlemen-please-review. Retrieved January 18, 2023. 
  5. ↑ "Review: Time Gentlemen, Please!". GamesTM (Future plc): 123. October 2009. 
  6. ↑ Jim Squires (August 12, 2009). "Time Gentlemen, Please! Review". https://www.gamezebo.com/reviews/time-gentlemen-please-review/. Retrieved January 18, 2023. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Griffin McElroy (July 16, 2009). "Review: Time Gentlemen, Please!". Yahoo. Archived from the original on July 16, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090716190257/http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/16/review-time-gentlemen-please/. Retrieved January 18, 2023. 
  8. ↑ "Time Gentlemen, Please!". PC Format (Future plc) (232): 101. November 2009. 
  9. ↑ John Walker (September 2009). "Time Gentlemen, Please!". PC Gamer UK (Future plc): 74. Archived from the original on June 16, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110616052817/http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/time-gentlemen-please/review/time-gentlemen-please/a-20090722133438832001/g-20090722131830813030. Retrieved January 18, 2023. 
  10. ↑ "Review: Time Gentlemen, Please!". PC PowerPlay (Next Media Pty Ltd) (172): 86. January 2010. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Review: Time Gentlemen, Please!". PC Zone (Future plc): 67. October 2009. 
  12. ↑ Daemon Hatfield (July 2, 2009). "Indie Pick of the Week: Time Gentlemen, Please!". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/07/02/indie-pick-of-the-week-time-gentlemen-please. Retrieved January 18, 2023. 
  13. ↑ Matt Wales (September 1, 2009). "More Dan and Ben from Zombie Cow". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/09/01/more-dan-and-ben-from-zombie-cow. Retrieved January 18, 2023. 
  14. ↑ IGN UK staff (August 13, 2009). "Best of 2009: So Far". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/08/13/best-of-2009-so-far. Retrieved January 18, 2023. 
  • Game entry on the Adventure Game Studio database
  • Short description: Video game database
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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