Warthog Games
Encyclopedia
Warthog Games Limited was a UK-based video game developer, located in Cheadle Hulme
, Stockport
, with studios in Sweden and the USA.
The developer later developed titles as Gizmondo Europe, before the company disbanded; and key staff formed Embryonic Studios which later became TT Fusion
.
(which sold over 330,000 units, mainly on PC) and Star Trek: Invasion
(achieving over 230,000 units on PlayStation
). Since 1999, the company also developed expertise in children's titles, with releases based upon well known franchises such as Tom and Jerry
, Looney Tunes
, Harry Potter and Asterix
.
In later years, Warthog purchased several other companies. First, in 2002, they purchased 42-Bit, which became Warthog Sweden. Also in 2002, they purchased Zed Two. Then in 2003, they purchased U.S.-based Fever Pitch, which became Warthog Texas. In 2004, Warthog itself was acquired by Tiger Telematics
and became a part of Gizmondo Studios
. Collectively, the Cheadle and newly acquired Sweden studios became known as Gizmondo Europe, with the recently acquired Warthog Texas becoming Gizmondo Texas. Their focus from then on would be on the Gizmondo
handheld console.
After Gizmondo
went bankrupt, key staff from the original team established a new development company, Embryonic Studios. This company was then acquired by TT Games in 2006, and renamed TT Fusion
, where the team continued to developed console and handheld titles.
Warthog were affiliated with the Manchester Metropolitan University
course Computer Games Technology. They provided feedback on course content and a selection of placement jobs for third year students.
Cheadle Hulme
Cheadle Hulme is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. It is southwest of Stockport and southeast of the city of Manchester. It lies in the Ladybrook Valley on the Cheshire Plain, and the drift consists mostly of boulder clay, sands and gravels...
, Stockport
Metropolitan Borough of Stockport
The Metropolitan Borough of Stockport is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, in north west England, centred around the town of Stockport. It has a population of about 280,600 and includes the outyling areas of Cheadle and Cheadle Hulme, Marple, Bredbury, Reddish and Romiley...
, with studios in Sweden and the USA.
The developer later developed titles as Gizmondo Europe, before the company disbanded; and key staff formed Embryonic Studios which later became TT Fusion
TT Fusion
TT Fusion is a software house based in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England...
.
History
Warthog was founded in April 1997, the core of the development team composed of ex-Electronic Arts personnel responsible for, amongst other titles, the hit Privateer 2: The Darkening. With this as the basis, Warthog began to develop something of a speciality in space-flight sims, with follow-up titles StarlancerStarlancer
Starlancer is a space-based science fiction flight simulator computer game, created by Erin Roberts, under the auspices of Digital Anvil.-Overview:It is the year 2160...
(which sold over 330,000 units, mainly on PC) and Star Trek: Invasion
Star Trek: Invasion
Star Trek: Invasion is a videogame, released in 2000 for the Sony PlayStation console. The game was developed by Warthog Games for Activision...
(achieving over 230,000 units on PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
). Since 1999, the company also developed expertise in children's titles, with releases based upon well known franchises such as Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
, Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
, Harry Potter and Asterix
Asterix
Asterix or The Adventures of Asterix is a series of French comic books written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo . The series first appeared in French in the magazine Pilote on October 29, 1959...
.
In later years, Warthog purchased several other companies. First, in 2002, they purchased 42-Bit, which became Warthog Sweden. Also in 2002, they purchased Zed Two. Then in 2003, they purchased U.S.-based Fever Pitch, which became Warthog Texas. In 2004, Warthog itself was acquired by Tiger Telematics
Tiger Telematics
Tiger Telematics or Tiger, was a Swedish electronics company, best known for the failed Gizmondo handheld game console.-History:In 2000, Carl Freer formed Eagle Eye Scandinavian, a small electronics distribution business in Sweden...
and became a part of Gizmondo Studios
Gizmondo
The Gizmondo is a handheld gaming console which was released by Tiger Telematics in March 2005. The electronics design was undertaken by Plextek Limited and the industrial design by Rick Dickinson....
. Collectively, the Cheadle and newly acquired Sweden studios became known as Gizmondo Europe, with the recently acquired Warthog Texas becoming Gizmondo Texas. Their focus from then on would be on the Gizmondo
Gizmondo
The Gizmondo is a handheld gaming console which was released by Tiger Telematics in March 2005. The electronics design was undertaken by Plextek Limited and the industrial design by Rick Dickinson....
handheld console.
After Gizmondo
Gizmondo
The Gizmondo is a handheld gaming console which was released by Tiger Telematics in March 2005. The electronics design was undertaken by Plextek Limited and the industrial design by Rick Dickinson....
went bankrupt, key staff from the original team established a new development company, Embryonic Studios. This company was then acquired by TT Games in 2006, and renamed TT Fusion
TT Fusion
TT Fusion is a software house based in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England...
, where the team continued to developed console and handheld titles.
Warthog were affiliated with the Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
course Computer Games Technology. They provided feedback on course content and a selection of placement jobs for third year students.
List of Games by Warthog
| Name | Year | Platform | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| Star Trek: Invasion Star Trek: Invasion Star Trek: Invasion is a videogame, released in 2000 for the Sony PlayStation console. The game was developed by Warthog Games for Activision... |
2000 | Playstation | Activision Activision Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles... |
| Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Saves the Day Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Saves the Day Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Saves the Day was the first Tiny Toon Adventures-related game released on the Nintendo Game Boy Color... |
2001 | Game Boy Color | Conspiracy Games Conspiracy Games Conspiracy Entertainment is an American third-party developer video game publisher, publishing games from smaller companies that would face difficulties distributing games themselves... |
| Tiny Toon Adventures: Wacky Stackers Tiny Toon Adventures: Wacky Stackers Tiny Toon Adventures: Wacky Stackers was the first Tiny Toon Adventures-related game released on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. It was released on December 30, 2001 and was developed by Warthog and published by Conspiracy Games... |
2001 | Game Boy Advance | Conspiracy Games Conspiracy Games Conspiracy Entertainment is an American third-party developer video game publisher, publishing games from smaller companies that would face difficulties distributing games themselves... |
| Tiny Toon Adventures: Plucky's Big Adventure Tiny Toon Adventures: Plucky's Big Adventure Tiny Toon Adventures: Plucky's Big Adventure is the third Tiny Toon Adventures-based game, released on the PlayStation, released on September 21, 2001 in North America, and developed by Warthog and published by Conspiracy Games.-Features:... |
2001 | Playstation | Conspiracy Games Conspiracy Games Conspiracy Entertainment is an American third-party developer video game publisher, publishing games from smaller companies that would face difficulties distributing games themselves... |
| Loons: The Fight for Fame Loons: The Fight for Fame Loons: The Fight for Fame is a cell-shaded beat'-em-up game for the Xbox based upon the classic Looney Tunes series.- Story :Rocky and Mugsy, a pair of gangster antagonists from the Looney Tunes cartoon series, try to ruin a film studio through making extremely expensive movies so that they can buy... |
2002 | Xbox | Infogrames Infogrames Infogrames Entertainment SA was an international French holding company headquartered in Paris, France. It was the owner of Atari, Inc., headquartered in New York City, U.S. and Atari Europe. It was founded in 1983 by Bruno Bonnell and Christophe Sapet using the proceeds from an introductory... |
| Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, also known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in North America, is an Electronic Arts multi-platform action-adventure video game developed by KnowWonder, Warthog, Griptonite, Argonaut, Eurocom and Westlake Interactive... |
2003 | Multi (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube) | EA Electronic Arts Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers... |
| Rally Championship Rally Championship Rally Championship is a rally video game, and the last game of the Rally Championship series. It was released for PlayStation 2 in 31 May 2002 and Nintendo GameCube in 7 February 2003. It is developed by Warthog Games and published by SCi... |
2003 | Multi (PS2, Gamecube) | SCi SCi Square Enix Limited, doing business as Square Enix Europe, is a British publisher of video game software wholly owned by Square Enix. Square Enix Europe has its head office in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton.... |
| Rally Championship Xtreme Rally Championship Xtreme Rally Championship Xtreme is a rally computer game which is part of the Rally Championship series. The game was released for Windows in 2 November 2001... |
2003 | PC | SCi SCi Square Enix Limited, doing business as Square Enix Europe, is a British publisher of video game software wholly owned by Square Enix. Square Enix Europe has its head office in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton.... |
| Battlestar Galactica Battlestar Galactica (video game) A number of video games have been released based on the various incarnations of the Battlestar Galactica franchise.-"Space Battle" & "Space Attack":... |
2003 | Multi (PS2, Xbox) | VU Games |
| Looney Tunes: Back in Action Looney Tunes: Back in Action Looney Tunes: Back in Action is a 2003 American live action/animated adventure comedy film directed by Joe Dante and starring Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Timothy Dalton, and Steve Martin. The film is essentially a feature-length Looney Tunes cartoon, with all the wackiness and surrealism typical... |
2003 | Multi (PS2, Gamecube, Game Boy Advance) | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction Robot Wars: Extreme Destruction was the last of the Robot Wars video games to be released. The version created for PC and Xbox was developed by Futuretech Inc. and released by BBC Multimedia in 2002. A separate version of the game was released for Game Boy Advance, but the gameplay, arenas and... |
2003 | Game Boy Advance Game Boy Advance The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China... |
Crawfish Interactive |
| Future Tactics: The Uprising Future Tactics: The Uprising Future Tactics: The Uprising is a turn based tactical shooter video game by Zed Two. Once known as Pillage, this colourful turn based shooter was stuck in development for a number of years before being picked up by Crave for a US release, followed shortly by JoWood for a European release... |
2004 | Multi (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube) | Crave Entertainment Crave Entertainment Crave Entertainment is an American video game company. It was founded in 1997 by Nima Taghavi. Its headquarters is in Newport Beach, California... |
| Richard Burns Rally Richard Burns Rally Richard Burns Rally is a sim racing game, published by SCi and developed by Warthog with advice of WRC driver Richard Burns.-Summary:It simulates both classic and modern rallying, and is best known for its realistic physics engine.... |
2004 | Multi (PS2, Xbox, PC) | SCi SCi Square Enix Limited, doing business as Square Enix Europe, is a British publisher of video game software wholly owned by Square Enix. Square Enix Europe has its head office in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton.... |
| Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter is a first person shooter on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Microsoft Windows. It was going to be developed for the GameCube too, but was eventually cancelled. .... |
2004 | Multi (PS2, Xbox, PC) | Vivendi Universal |
| Animaniacs: Lights, Camera, Action! Animaniacs: Lights, Camera, Action! Animaniacs: Lights, Camera, Action! is an action game for the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance. It was developed by Warthog and Ignition Entertainment. The game was released on November 14, 2005. The game in the UK was originally to be rated 12+ due to its mild cartoon violence & comic mischief but... |
2005 | Game Boy Advance Game Boy Advance The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China... |
Ignition Entertainment Ignition Entertainment Ignition Entertainment Ltd. is a British video game publisher formed in April 2002. It was created from a selection of smaller developers and publishers, such as Archer MacLean's Awesome Studios.-History:... |
| Animaniacs: The Great Edgar Hunt | 2006 | Multi (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, PC) | Conspiracy Entertainment |
Cancelled titles
- BattleBotsBattleBots (video game)BattleBots was a video game based on the BattleBots license for PlayStation 2 and GameCube. It got fairly far in development. Many screenshots were released to media outlets and it obtained a rating from the ESRB, but it was ultimately cancelled after the show was cancelled....
- Momma Can I Mow The LawnMomma Can I Mow The LawnMomma Can I Mow The Lawn is a video game which started off in development for formats such as the PlayStation 2, but after the developer Warthog Games was purchased by Tiger Telematics to produce titles for the Gizmondo handheld console, it was moved to the Gizmondo...
- Johnny WhateverJohnny WhateverJohnny Whatever is a video game by Warthog Texas. It started off in development for formats such as the PlayStation 2, but after the developers were purchased by Tiger Telematics to produce titles for the Gizmondo handheld console, it became Gizmondo exclusive...
- X10
- Conquest 2: The Vyrium Uprising