Jolt Online Gaming
Encyclopedia
Jolt Online Gaming is an online gaming company hosted in the UK. Its main site provides news, reviews, and interviews concerning upcoming games on consoles and computers, while its gaming network Jolt Online Gaming Network hosts and publishes free-to-play browser based games. Notable works include Utopia, Utopia Kingdoms, Legends of Zork
, and NationStates 2.
, with server
s across the USA
. Jolt is known as one of the pioneers of the supply of rent
able servers to online gaming clan
s. Jolt was acquired by OMAC Industries, a company based in Dublin, Ireland in June 2008. On November 8, 2009 the website Silicon Republic confirmed that Gamestop
had acquired a stake in Jolt, making a major, undisclosed investment.
The Jolt Online Gaming Network has been noted for releasing browser-based games using the names and fictional worlds of older games or franchises. Their business models often employ micropayment
systems, as well as basic banner advertisements.
website
. It was officially released on Wednesday, June 1st 2011 by Jolt Online and developed by Beautiful Game Studios
.
The game is the most successful game that Jolt currently has, with a user base of 50,000. Jolt has announced updates including player vs. player gaming, which will allow friend's teams to play against each other.
. It was first officially brought online in 1997 and acquired by Jolt through the 2008 sale of Swirve.com to Omac Industries.
In 2008 Jolt acquired this game along with Swirve's Utopia. On November 4, 2009, Jolt announced that they would no longer be continuing the game when the current rounds end in December, citing an over abundance of technical problems which allegedly made continuing support untenable. The game was recreated by fans as Earth Empires.
In 2009 Jolt recoded the game in an effort to remedy gameplay issues that Jolt reported as being a result of hacker
attacks. The new code was brought online as beta version of the game, the first since 1996. Jolt passed development and maintenance of the game to Frontsquare solutions in 2010.
, announced it officially on November 11th, 2010 in the game's Facebook page. The original official forum announcement was lost due to data failure on or around December 21st, 2010, the forum announced a second "welcome" to current Utopia Kingdoms players on December 22nd, 2010. Which was thought to be the "official" release of the game, although it wasn't.
was a casual adventure game that was released in April 2009 that took place in the Zork
universe, a text-based adventure game created in the 1980s for the PC. It was released on April Fool's Day, 2009, to mixed reviews, with some saying that it had little to do with the original Zork. Other, more recent reviews of the game were more positive, describing later features added to the game "with puzzles that would make the original Zork developers proud." Finally on May 24th, 2011, two years and one month after it's release; Jolt Online announced the game closure to players in-game.
, a Swedish-based
sports game, agreed to allow Jolt to host their game and make it available to more countries including the U.S., U.K., Ireland, and Australia.
to point out cities they visited or pass on their drives. On 16 November 2010 Jolt announced that Trukz would be discontinued after the 31st of January 2011, citing lack of development resources.
around November 30th, 2010. The game was released after Jolt failed to launch the long promised Playboy Manager game that they had planned in conjunction with Playboy
since 2009. The game consisted in the player being a talent agent managing supermodels in an attempt to beat other agents to a prized spot as a Playboy
supermodel. It was announced in May 2009 and garnered media coverage from well-known publications such as The Wall Street Journal
and Forbes
. The original Playboy Manager website contained the options to pre-register, beta sign-ups and subscription to updates, as well as promotional content. The Playboy Party game in Facebook was poorly managed, requiring a reset that made players start from scratch on March 31st, 2011. It was closed six months later on September 12th, 2011.
. NationStates 2 was unpopular next to its predecessor, suffering from technical issues and was later discontinued. After it was taken down, the owner of NationStates, author Max Barry
reclaimed the domain and encouraged users to return or try the original version which was "now proudly Jolt-free".
Legends of Zork
Legends of Zork was a popular browser-based online adventure game, based on the legendary Zork universe.-Production:A Zork massively multiplayer online game was originally announced in January, 2009. However, the developers recanted that MMO statement, calling it a "casual adventure game", instead...
, and NationStates 2.
History
Founded in 1999, Jolt Online Gaming is based in EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, with server
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
s across the USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Jolt is known as one of the pioneers of the supply of rent
Renting
Renting is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for all property charges regularly incurred by the ownership from landowners...
able servers to online gaming clan
Clan (computer gaming)
In computer and video gaming, a clan or guild is an organised group of players that regularly play together in a particular multiplayer games. These games range from groups of a few friends to 1000-person organizations, with a broad range of structures, goals and members. The lifespan of a clan...
s. Jolt was acquired by OMAC Industries, a company based in Dublin, Ireland in June 2008. On November 8, 2009 the website Silicon Republic confirmed that Gamestop
GameStop
GameStop Corporation is an American video game and entertainment software retailer. The company, whose headquarters is in Grapevine, Texas, United States, operates 6,500 retail stores throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New...
had acquired a stake in Jolt, making a major, undisclosed investment.
The Jolt Online Gaming Network has been noted for releasing browser-based games using the names and fictional worlds of older games or franchises. Their business models often employ micropayment
Micropayment
A micropayment is a financial transaction involving a very small sum of money and usually one that occurs online. PayPal defines a micropayment as a transaction of less than 12 USD while Visa prefers transactions under 20 Australian dollars, and though micropayments were originally envisioned to...
systems, as well as basic banner advertisements.
Championship Manager: Rivals
Championship Manager: Rivals is a football (soccer) game playable through the FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
. It was officially released on Wednesday, June 1st 2011 by Jolt Online and developed by Beautiful Game Studios
Beautiful Game Studios
Beautiful Game Studios is a computer game development studio based in London, England. The studio is an internal development team within Square Enix and was set up in late 2003 by Eidos Interactive to develop the Championship Manager series...
.
The game is the most successful game that Jolt currently has, with a user base of 50,000. Jolt has announced updates including player vs. player gaming, which will allow friend's teams to play against each other.
Earth:2025
Earth: 2025 was a browser based massive multiplayer internet-based strategy game, originally created and run by Swirve.comSwirve.com
Swirve.com was a website offering browser-based games. Two of its products were Utopia and Earth 2025. The site won the People's Voice Webby Award in the Games category in 2002 and 2003.In 2008, Swirve was accquired by Jolt Online Gaming....
. It was first officially brought online in 1997 and acquired by Jolt through the 2008 sale of Swirve.com to Omac Industries.
In 2008 Jolt acquired this game along with Swirve's Utopia. On November 4, 2009, Jolt announced that they would no longer be continuing the game when the current rounds end in December, citing an over abundance of technical problems which allegedly made continuing support untenable. The game was recreated by fans as Earth Empires.
Utopia
Utopia is a browser based massive multiplayer internet-based strategy game, originally created and run by Swirve.com. It was first officially brought online in 1998 and acquired by Jolt through the 2008 sale of Swirve.com to Omac Industries.In 2009 Jolt recoded the game in an effort to remedy gameplay issues that Jolt reported as being a result of hacker
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
attacks. The new code was brought online as beta version of the game, the first since 1996. Jolt passed development and maintenance of the game to Frontsquare solutions in 2010.
Utopia Kingdoms
Utopia Kingdoms is an online strategy game related to the universe of Utopia which was released in early 2009 and originally promoted as a kind of sequel. Utopia Kingdoms allows players to pick a race from the original game and build a kingdom, juggling buildings, resource manufacturing, and high-risk combat. It was made in conjunction with XS Software and is based on their game, Khan Wars. On 16 November 2010 Jolt announced that Utopia Kingdoms would be discontinued after the 31st of January 2011, citing lack of development resources. Around the same time, Jolt Online who had already been developing a re-release of Utopia Kingdoms game on FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, announced it officially on November 11th, 2010 in the game's Facebook page. The original official forum announcement was lost due to data failure on or around December 21st, 2010, the forum announced a second "welcome" to current Utopia Kingdoms players on December 22nd, 2010. Which was thought to be the "official" release of the game, although it wasn't.
Legends of Zork
Legends of ZorkLegends of Zork
Legends of Zork was a popular browser-based online adventure game, based on the legendary Zork universe.-Production:A Zork massively multiplayer online game was originally announced in January, 2009. However, the developers recanted that MMO statement, calling it a "casual adventure game", instead...
was a casual adventure game that was released in April 2009 that took place in the Zork
Zork
Zork was one of the first interactive fiction computer games and an early descendant of Colossal Cave Adventure. The first version of Zork was written in 1977–1979 on a DEC PDP-10 computer by Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, and implemented in the MDL programming language...
universe, a text-based adventure game created in the 1980s for the PC. It was released on April Fool's Day, 2009, to mixed reviews, with some saying that it had little to do with the original Zork. Other, more recent reviews of the game were more positive, describing later features added to the game "with puzzles that would make the original Zork developers proud." Finally on May 24th, 2011, two years and one month after it's release; Jolt Online announced the game closure to players in-game.
Hattrick
HattrickHattrick
Hattrick is an online, browser-based, football management game developed in Sweden. Currently the game contains 128 different countries, each with its own league pyramid, and 51 different language versions...
, a Swedish-based
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
sports game, agreed to allow Jolt to host their game and make it available to more countries including the U.S., U.K., Ireland, and Australia.
Trukz
Trukz was a text-based game that allowed the player to create a truck driver and simulate the multitude of struggles cargo truck drivers endure on the road, the goal being upgrading their vehicle with commissions earned from the shipping and earning achievements for playing. The game used Google MapsGoogle Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
to point out cities they visited or pass on their drives. On 16 November 2010 Jolt announced that Trukz would be discontinued after the 31st of January 2011, citing lack of development resources.
Playboy Party
Playboy Party was a short lived online game released on FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
around November 30th, 2010. The game was released after Jolt failed to launch the long promised Playboy Manager game that they had planned in conjunction with Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
since 2009. The game consisted in the player being a talent agent managing supermodels in an attempt to beat other agents to a prized spot as a Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
supermodel. It was announced in May 2009 and garnered media coverage from well-known publications such as The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
and Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
. The original Playboy Manager website contained the options to pre-register, beta sign-ups and subscription to updates, as well as promotional content. The Playboy Party game in Facebook was poorly managed, requiring a reset that made players start from scratch on March 31st, 2011. It was closed six months later on September 12th, 2011.
NationStates 2
NationStates 2 was an unauthorized sequel to the popular society simulation game Jennifer Government: NationStatesJennifer Government: NationStates
Jennifer Government: NationStates is a multiplayer nation simulation browser game. It was created by Max Barry and was publicly released on 13 November 2002, based loosely on his novel Jennifer Government. The game has hosted over 3 million nations...
. NationStates 2 was unpopular next to its predecessor, suffering from technical issues and was later discontinued. After it was taken down, the owner of NationStates, author Max Barry
Max Barry
Max Barry is a contemporary Australian author. He also maintains a blog on various topics, including writing, marketing and politics...
reclaimed the domain and encouraged users to return or try the original version which was "now proudly Jolt-free".