Software:Tiny Tank

From HandWiki
Short description: 1999 video game
Tiny Tank: Up Your Arsenal
Developer(s)Appaloosa Interactive
AndNow
Publisher(s)Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform(s)PlayStation
Release
  • NA: August 31, 1999[1]
  • PAL: February 4, 2000
Genre(s)Platformer, Third-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Tiny Tank (marketed as Tiny Tank: Up Your Arsenal) is a 1999 platformer-third-person shooter video game developed by AndNow and Appaloosa Interactive and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. Initially to be published by MGM Interactive in late 1998, they sold the rights of the game to Sony while retaining a producer credit.

In the game, the armed forces of planet Earth were merged into a large corporation during the 21st century. The company decided to create a robot army to fight humanity's wars instead of human soldiers. It also created the sentient tank Tiny Tank as a company mascot to boost its own popularity. In 2098, Tiny was supposed to face the rest of the company's army in an exhibition match. Due to a series of errors, Tiny was destroyed during the match, and a robotic opponent gained both self-awareness and control over the other robots. The new leader decided to cause human extinction, forcing his human enemies to retreat into underground shelters. In 2198, Tiny is revived and tasked with defeating the robot army and becoming humanity's latest savior.

Gameplay

The player controls Tiny as he traverses many levels, eliminating SenTrax forces as he goes. There are two bars at the top of the screen that show Tiny's health and the amount of nanometal acquired. Nanometal is essential for the on-board Fix-It Crabs to repair Tiny. If the nanometal meter runs out, health cannot be regenerated. There is also a map on the upper right hand corner identifying the surroundings, enemies, and mission objectives.

Tiny can pick up fallen parts from destroyed enemies:

  • Positronic Brains (P-Brains) - A robot's artificial intelligence system. Can be used to improve and upgrade equipped weapons.
  • Weapons - Fallen weapons can be attached to Tiny's four weapon hardpoints.
  • Debris (Nanometal) - Essential for the on-board Fix-It Crabs to repair Tiny.

There are also other upgrades that are placed around the levels themselves that can be acquired:

  • Invulnerability - Temporary invulnerability.
  • Nanometal - Essential for the on-board Fix-It Crabs to repair Tiny, but these possess much more material than enemy debris does. Appears as a gray rectangular container.

Tiny also has deployable "Teeny Weeny Tanks", even smaller versions of himself that can be manually controlled or set to hunt enemies, gather upgrades, or protect Tiny.

Plot

The game's plot takes place in sometime before 2098 A.D., all of Earth's armed forces were disintegrated into one large corporation, SenTrax. SenTrax vowed to create a robot army to fight humanity's wars, so mankind itself would not have to. However, they needed the peoples' vote to set this plan into motion, and thus developed the titular "Tiny Tank" - a small orange tank with an occasionally unfriendly attitude. The creation of this cute killing machine made SenTrax's popularity skyrocket, and won them the vote. As thanks, the corporation set up an exhibition showing their orange mascot fighting off the entire SenTrax army on July 4, 2098, broadcast live over the Internet. However, when the rehearsal began, one of the SenTrax robots had been accidentally fitted with live ammunition and destroyed Tiny with one shot. As a result, Tiny's "positronic brain" (his artificial intelligence system) shattered, and its shards gave "life" to the entire robot army. The robot that had fired the shot, now self-aware and calling himself Mutank, took control of the rampant robots and began to eliminate humanity so that machines could thrive. Humanity was forced to evacuate into underground asteroid shelters as the mechanical army conquered the surface.

But then on July 4, 2198 A.D., which was 100 years later, Tiny Tank was finally restored by automated SenTrax Fix-It Crabs, which were minuscule robots made to repair damaged machinery. Also as a result, a female artificial intelligence on board an orbital satellite reawakened Tiny, sent him to fight Mutank's robot army and save mankind once again, and gave him his mission briefing for his spying assignments to thwart the criminal conspiracy Mutank and his hitmen have started.

Development

The game was in development as early as April 1998, when it was picked up by MGM Interactive. AndNow founder Ed Annunziata had previously worked with Appaloosa Interactive on Ecco The Dolphin when he was at Sega. Sony acquired the rights to the game after the game had missed its planned release date in 1998.[2][3]

Reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
AllGameStarStarHalf star[4]
Game Informer5.5/10[7][8]
GameFan(1/99) 89%[9]
(10/99) 80%[10]
GamePro(B.F.) StarStarStarStarHalf star[11]
(iBot) StarStarStarStar[12]
GameRevolutionB[13]
IGN6.8/10[14]
Jeuxvideo.com13/20[15]
Next GenerationStarStarStarStar[16]
OPM (UK)6/10[17]
OPM (US)(1/99) StarStarHalf star[18]
(10/99) StarStar[19]

Many magazines gave early positive reviews while the game was still in development before Sony stepped in.[7][9][11][16][18] Next Generation, for example, said that the game "succeeds in what it sets out to accomplish, both [in] its humor and its gameplay."[16] After release, however, reviews were mixed.

References

  1. ↑ Nelson, Randy (August 16, 1999). "Tiny Tank: Up Your Arsenal (Preview)". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/1999/08/17/tiny-tank-up-your-arsenal-2. Retrieved October 9, 2020. 
  2. ↑ Fielder, Lauren (April 27, 1998). "AndNow, MGM Say: Up Your Arsenal". Archived from the original on December 5, 2000. https://web.archive.org/web/20001205053400/http://headline.gamespot.com/news/98_04/27_andnowvg/index.html. Retrieved November 10, 2022. 
  3. ↑ I. G. N. Staff (1999-02-18). "Tiny Tank Gets Sony's Helping Hand" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/1999/02/18/tiny-tank-gets-sonys-helping-hand. 
  4. ↑ Miller, Skyler. "Tiny Tank - Review". All Media Network. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141115232400/http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=14395&tab=review. Retrieved October 10, 2020. 
  5. ↑ Gaudiosi, Peyton (September 14, 1999). "Tiny Tank". CNET. Archived from the original on August 16, 2000. https://web.archive.org/web/20000816210730/http://www.gamecenter.com/Consoles/Sony/Tinytank/. Retrieved February 21, 2021. 
  6. ↑ Conlin, Shaun (October 28, 1999). "Tiny Tank". Greedy Productions. Archived from the original on November 12, 2003. https://web.archive.org/web/20031112173451/http://www.elecplay.com/review.html?article=1484&full=1#mr_toppy. Retrieved February 21, 2021. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 McNamara, Andy; Anderson, Paul; Reiner, Andrew (January 1999). "Tiny Tank: Up Your Arsenal". Game Informer (FuncoLand) (69): 50. https://gameinformer.com/reviews/review_detail.cfm?ITEM_ID=3231. Retrieved October 10, 2020. 
  8. ↑ Reiner, Andrew (November 1999). "Tiny Tank (Revised)". Game Informer (FuncoLand) (79). https://www.gameinformer.com/reviews/review_detail.cfm?ITEM_ID=4206. Retrieved October 10, 2020. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Mylonas, Eric "ECM"; Higgins, Geoff "El Nino"; Super Teeter (January 1999). "Tiny Tank". GameFan (Shinno Media) 7 (1): 16. https://archive.org/details/Gamefan_Vol_7_Issue_01/page/n17/mode/2up. Retrieved October 9, 2020. 
  10. ↑ Rodriguez, Tyrone "Cerberus"; Chau, Anthony "Dangohead"; Ngo, George "Eggo" (October 1999). "Tiny Tank". GameFan (Shinno Media) 7 (10): 17. https://archive.org/details/Gamefan_Vol_7_Issue_10/page/n17/mode/2up. Retrieved October 9, 2020. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Boba Fatt (January 1999). "Tiny Tank - Up Your Arsenal Review for PlayStation on GamePro.com". GamePro (IDG Entertainment) (124). Archived from the original on December 22, 2004. https://web.archive.org/web/20041222042651/http://www.gamepro.com/sony/psx/games/reviews/101.shtml. Retrieved October 10, 2020. 
  12. ↑ iBot (1999). "Tiny Tank Review for PlayStation on GamePro.com". GamePro (IDG Entertainment). Archived from the original on September 30, 2004. https://web.archive.org/web/20040930011240/http://www.gamepro.com/sony/psx/games/reviews/1445.shtml. Retrieved October 10, 2020. 
  13. ↑ Johnson, Sean (September 1999). "Tiny Tank Review". CraveOnline. Archived from the original on February 19, 2004. https://web.archive.org/web/20040219011651/http://www.game-revolution.com/games/sony/action/tiny_tank.htm. Retrieved October 10, 2020. 
  14. ↑ Perry, Douglass C. (September 3, 1999). "Tiny Tank: Up Your Arsenal". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/1999/09/04/tiny-tank-up-your-arsenal. Retrieved October 9, 2020. 
  15. ↑ Kornifex (February 14, 2000). "Test: Tiny Tank" (in French). Webedia. https://www.jeuxvideo.com/articles/0000/00000517_test.htm. Retrieved October 10, 2020. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 "Tiny Tank". Next Generation (Imagine Media) (50): 101. February 1999. https://archive.org/details/NextGeneration50Feb1999/page/n101/mode/2up. Retrieved October 9, 2020. 
  17. ↑ Nicholson, Zy (March 2000). "Tiny Tank". Official UK PlayStation Magazine (Future Publishing) (56): 125. https://archive.org/details/opm056/page/n123/mode/2up. Retrieved October 10, 2020. 
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 MacDonald, Mark (January 1999). "Tiny Tank". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine (Ziff Davis) 2 (4): 112. https://archive.org/details/Official_US_PlayStation_Magazine_Volume_2_Issue_4_1999-01_Ziff_Davis_US/page/n111/mode/2up. Retrieved October 10, 2020. 
  19. ↑ MacDonald, Mark (October 1999). "Tiny Tank". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine (Ziff Davis) 3 (1): 128. https://archive.org/details/Official_US_PlayStation_Magazine_Volume_3_Issue_1_1999-10_Ziff_Davis_US/page/n127/mode/2up. Retrieved October 10, 2020. 
  • Official website (archived)
  • 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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