Software:Whacked!

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Whacked! is a 2002 party video game developed by Presto Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox. It was one of two original games to be made available for Xbox Live, and received mixed reviews. Whacked! was the last game developed by Presto Studios before it went defunct.

Gameplay

Whacked! is played as a series of arena style mini-games. The player competes with three other players, human or artificial intelligence, to complete a specific objective, and players can use a variety of weapons and power-ups to affect the game. Possible objectives include collecting stars for points, deathmatch, king of the hill, holding a trophy to earn points, and elimination style dodgeball. Single player has the addition gamemode of chicken, in which many flesh-eating chickens pursue the player, and the player has to destroy them first.

Arenas include the site of a car crash, the ceiling of a bathroom, a plaza, the space underneath a Christmas Tree, an oil pipeline, a heavily fortified front yard, a space station, a toy pirate ship in an electrified bathtub, an arena with spiked walls, the tops of skyscrapers, the back of a pickup truck during a police chase, and a kitchen sink. Hell is unlocked after completing the game.

Game show mode is the main single-player story mode, in which the player chooses one of three doors to determine the gamemode and arena. Each set of three doors makes up one stage, and each of the four stages becomes successively more difficult and the matches become longer. Battle mode allows players to play against one another and choose all of the settings the mini-game. As of the game's release, battle mode could be played through split screen, system link, or Xbox Live. While Xbox Live for the original Xbox was discontinued in 2010, Whacked! is now playable online using the replacement Xbox online servers called Insignia.[1][2]

Story

Whacked! takes place on the set of a game show in which seven contestants compete for The Prize, which will be anything in the world that the contestant desires. To win The Prize, the contestants compete across four stages of violent battles and competitions. While the contestants compete, Van Tastic speaks to his boss over the phone, reassuring him that it's impossible to win and that there is no prize. After the player's character wins the game, Van Tastic's boss calls him again and cancels the show. Van Tastic challenges the winner to a final competition for an even better grand prize. After the contestant agrees, Van Tastic destroys the set, revealing it to be Hell. He burns the other contestants to death, and reveals himself to be a demon. After the winner defeats Van Tastic, his boss calls him to renew the show.

Characters

There are seven playable contestants, each based on one of the seven deadly sins, as well as a host that becomes playable after completing the game.[3]

  • Lucky: A Scottish rabbit suffering from manic rage following the removal of his feet for good luck charms. He represents the concept of wrath. After winning, he receives a bionic arm with a gun.
  • Eugene: A flightless Canadian bird resembling a penguin that wishes he could fly. He lives with his mother and is outwardly meek, but his inner monologue is harsh and bitter. He represents the concept of envy. After winning, he receives cardboard cutouts of "everything in the world", which then leaves him still unsatisfied.
  • Toof: An unintelligible monster that was developed from a single cell to clean oil spills by eating the oil. He suffers from a constant hunger and is always looking for things to eat. He represents the concept of gluttony. After winning, he receives a giant hamburger.
  • Lucy: A manipulative woman that uses her sex appeal to her advantage. Her plastic dress bursts apart in the opening cut scene, and her character is covered by two censor bars throughout the game. She represents the concept of lust. After winning, she receives Otto's chair.
  • Lance: A humanoid lion that suffers from narcissism. He represents the concept of pride. After winning, he receives a duplicate of himself.
  • Charity: A spoiled little girl that attempts to take everything as her own. She represents the concept of greed. After winning, she receives countless wrapped gifts.
  • Otto: A slim, pale man that is asleep in his armchair for the duration of the game. His chair is self-aware and competes on Otto's behalf. He represents the concept of sloth. After winning, Otto's chair receives Lucy.
  • Van Tastic: The host, who appears to be a charismatic human but is revealed to be a demonic creature. He represents the concept of evil.

Development

The concept for Whacked! was first conceived in the mid-1990s as a casual multiplayer game to compete against Mario Kart 64, with a similar low barrier to entry and mechanisms to rubber band players between first and last place. During development, testers would regularly test different variations of each in-game element individually before allowing the art team to give it a design. It was also tested without artificial intelligence to prioritize the multiplayer experience and players to adjust to changes in real time without updates to AI. Development was held to a strict schedule, allowing the game to ship three weeks early. Whacked! was originally designed as a PC game, but the game was eventually ported to the Xbox. Development was complicated by two of the three creative designers leaving half way through the project.[3]

Whacked! was one of two games distributed to beta testers for the initial rollout of Xbox Live on the Xbox. The same Live enabled demos were originally given out for one year with the purchase of the Xbox Live starter kit.[4]

Whacked! was the final project released by Presto Studios before it went out of business in 2002.[5] Whacked! is backward compatible on the Xbox 360, albeit with some glitches, including graphics not loading properly or loading screens not displaying.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic59/100[6]
Review scores
PublicationScore
AllGameStarStarStar[7]
Eurogamer5/10[9]
Famitsu25/40[10]
Game Informer2/10[11]
GameSpot5.6/10[12]
GameSpyStarStarStar[13]
GameZone6.7/10[14]
IGN6.6/10[15]
OXM (US)7.3/10[16]
TeamXbox5.7/10[17]
X-PlayStarStar[18]

The game received "mixed or average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[6] Critic Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot praised the game's style and voice acting, but criticized the gameplay and soundtrack, saying that "The single-player mode is plain and simple, and the multiplayer mode, once you get over the novelty of shooting people over the Internet, really lacks depth."[12] Hilary Goldstein of IGN criticized the drawn-out gameplay and the inconsistency of the gameshow dynamic.[15] In Japan, where the game was ported for release under the name Whacked! Giliaba! Rantō Party Televee! (ワックド！ギリヤバ！乱闘パーティーテレビ！, Wakkudo! Giriyaba! Rantō Pātī Terebi!) on January 16, 2003,[19] Famitsu gave it a score of one six, one seven, and two sixes for a total of 25 out of 40.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Insignia - Whacked!" (in en). https://insignia.live/games/4d530027. 
  2. ↑ Xbox, Pure (2022-12-21). "Xbox Live 1.0 Replacement Adds More Supported Titles, 40 Games Now Playable" (in en-GB). https://www.purexbox.com/news/2022/12/xbox-live-1-0-replacement-adds-more-supported-titles-40-games-now-playable. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Saladino, Michael (November 14, 2002). "Postmortem: Presto's Whacked!". Informa. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/postmortem-presto-s-whacked-. 
  4. ↑ Parker, Sam (September 25, 2002). "Xbox Live starter kit games confirmed". Fandom. http://www.gamespot.com/articles/xbox-live-starter-kit-games-confirmed/1100-2881602/. 
  5. ↑ Cohen, Peter (September 2, 2002). "Game maker Presto Studios closes doors". Macworld (IDG Communications). https://www.macworld.com/article/155681/presto.html. Retrieved October 27, 2024. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Whacked!". Fandom. https://www.metacritic.com/game/whacked/. 
  7. ↑ Marriott, Scott Alan. "Whacked! - Review". All Media Network. http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=38166&tab=review. 
  8. ↑ MacIsaac, Jason (October 24, 2002). "Whacked!". Greedy Productions Ltd.. http://www.elecplay.com/review.html?article=9934&full=1. 
  9. ↑ Bramwell, Tom (January 22, 2003). "Whacked!". Gamer Network. https://www.eurogamer.net/r-whacked-x. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "January 10, 2003". January 10, 2003. http://www.the-magicbox.com/game011003.htm. 
  11. ↑ McNamara, Andy (December 2002). "Whacked!". Game Informer (GameStop) (116): 144. https://archive.org/details/game-informer-issue-116-december-2002/page/144/mode/2up. Retrieved November 1, 2024. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Gerstmann, Jeff (October 18, 2002). "Whacked! Review". Fandom. https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/whacked-review/1900-2895128/. 
  13. ↑ Williams, Bryn (October 19, 2002). "GameSpy: Whacked!". http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/whacked/594539p1.html. 
  14. ↑ Zacarias, Eduardo (October 19, 2002). "Whacked! - XB - Review". https://gamezone.com/reviews/whacked_xb_review/. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Goldstein, Hilary (October 17, 2002). "Whacked! Review". Ziff Davis. http://www.ign.com/articles/2002/10/17/whacked-review. 
  16. ↑ "Whacked!". Official Xbox Magazine (Future US): 90. January 2003. 
  17. ↑ Semsey, Rob (October 30, 2002). "Whacked! Review (Xbox)". IGN Entertainment. http://reviews.teamxbox.com/xbox/401/Whacked/p1/. 
  18. ↑ Bub, Andrew (December 9, 2002). "'Whacked' (Xbox) Review". TechTV. http://www.techtv.com/extendedplay/reviews/story/0,24330,3409832,00.html. 
  19. ↑ "ワックド！ギリヤバ！乱闘パーティーテレビ！" (in ja). Famitsu (Kadokawa Game Linkage). https://www.famitsu.com/games/t/9941/. Retrieved October 27, 2024. 
  • Whacked! on IMDb
  • 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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