Software:Voyeur (video game)

From HandWiki
Voyeur
Developer(s)Philips POV Entertainment
Publisher(s)Philips Interactive (CD-i)
Interplay (MS-DOS)
MacPlay (Mac)
Director(s)Robert Weaver[1]
Designer(s)David Riordan[1]
Composer(s)Garry Schyman
Platform(s)CD-i, MS-DOS, Macintosh
Release1993: CD-i
1994: Mac
December 2, 1994 (DOS)[2]
Genre(s)Interactive movie
Mode(s)Single-player

Voyeur is an interactive movie video game released in 1993 for the Philips CD-i. It was ported to MS-DOS compatible operating systems and Macintosh. A major selling point for the game was the "mature" content of the full-motion video sequences, with a number of simulated sex scenes.

A sequel was released for MS-DOS and Macintosh, Voyeur II,[3] and a finished beta version of the sequel for Philips CD-i has been discovered.

Plot

The player takes on the role of a private investigator hired by a member of the wealthy Hawke family in order to gain enough evidence to bring down the corrupt Reed Hawke (played by Robert Culp), CEO of Hawke Industries. Hawke has gathered his family together for the weekend to prepare for his announcement that he will be running for President of the United States. The player controls a video camera located in a building opposite to spy on the Hawke family home in an effort to gather enough evidence to destroy Reed Hawke's career. The player character's client is randomly selected each time a new game is started, and the storyline also changes according to the player's actions.

Development

The design of Voyeur was inspired by the Alfred Hitchcock film Rear Window starring Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, and Raymond Burr. In the film, L. B. Jeffries (Stewart) looks into the rear windows of a building across the interior courtyard from his apartment. He is able to see only some of what is going on in the apartments. He has to imagine the rest. He eventually thinks a murder has been committed in one of the apartments. In his effort to get evidence on the murderer, he puts himself and his girlfriend, Lisa Fremont (Kelly), in mortal danger.

This dramatic device was the basis for the design of Voyeur. The player can only see partial scenes playing in the windows of the Reed Hawke mansion at any point in time in the narrative. They must decide what is happening and what they want to do about it based on this partial information. The design also makes use of a ticking clock. Scenes appear in the windows of the Hawke mansion only for a brief period of time. If the player misses any of them or chooses to look at something else, their sense of what is going on could be incomplete. The player has the weekend to stop the nomination of Reed Hawke for president. If they guess wrong about which member of the family is betraying Hawke, the player is killed by Chantal, his personal assistant.

Reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
Next GenerationStarStarStar[5]
CD-i95%[4]

In 1993 Voyeur Cd-i was featured in Time (magazine) – September 27, 1993 – Attack of the Video Games. In 1994, Voyeur CD-i won seven Interactive Academy Awards including best director, best design and best actors male and female.

Reviewing the Macintosh version, a Next Generation critic remarked derisively on the limited interactivity of full motion video based games, but said that Voyeur is a superior game by the standards of its genre due to the solid acting. He gave it two out of five stars.[6]

Next Generation reviewed the CD-i version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "Although it won't appeal to action fans, this title has enough depth and replay value to be a valuable addition to any CD-i library."[5]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Southwell, Ben (September 1994). "Voyeur". CDi Magazine (Haymarket Magazines Ltd.) (1): 10–12. https://archive.org/stream/CDIMagazineIssue011994/CD-i_Magazine_Issue_01_1994#page/n9. 
  2. ↑ "Voyeur PC- Press Release". 1997-10-08. http://www.interplay.com/press/voyeurpr.html. 
  3. ↑ "Voyeur II for DOS (1996) - MobyGames". http://www.mobygames.com/game/voyeur-ii. 
  4. ↑ Southwell, Ben (1994). "Voyeur Review". CD-i (1): 10–12. https://archive.org/details/CDi01SepOct1994/page/n11/mode/2up. Retrieved April 5, 2022. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Finals". Next Generation (Imagine Media) (1): 94. January 1995. 
  6. ↑ "Voyeur". Next Generation (Imagine Media) (13): 168. January 1996. 
  • 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 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]

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.[18]

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. 
  18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628. 
  • No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.



Warning: Default sort key "Voyeur (Video Game)" overrides earlier default sort key "Mobygames".



Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Software:Voyeur_(video_game)&oldid=727471"