The Simpsons video games

The Simpsons video games are a line of official video games that use the characters from the animated television show "The Simpsons".

The popularity of "The Simpsons" motivated the video game industry to turn to the characters and world of Springfield. While critical and public reaction has been mixed, several of the "Simpsons" games did very well commercially, most notably Konami's arcade game "The Simpsons" and Acclaim Entertainment's "".

Simpsons video games have spanned all sorts of video game genres and systems, including "The Simpsons Hit & Run", "The Simpsons Road Rage", "Simpsons Skateboarding", "Virtual Springfield", "Bart vs. The Juggernauts" and "Krusty's Super Fun House".

There were very few, actually 2 known, Simpsons titles during the Fifth generation of video game consoles, only "Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror" for Game Boy Color and "The Simpsons Wrestling" for the PlayStation were released, the latter being considered by critics as a poor game; There were no Simpsons titles for the Nintendo 64 or Sega Saturn/Sega Dreamcast.

The recent generation has been somewhat more well-received by the general public, starting with "The Simpsons Road Rage" (based on "Crazy Taxi"): While not widely considered an excellent game, "Road Rage" was generally conceded to be an improvement on previous games using the license. Perhaps the most well-regarded "Simpsons" game is another vehicle-based game (also released very close in time to ‘‘Road Rage’’) "The Simpsons Hit & Run", which incorporated the free-roaming environment made popular by the Grand Theft Auto series as well as the involvement of "The Simpsons" writing staff, creating an authentic, interactive Springfield that was praised by critics and the fanbase alike.

There are at least two "Simpsons" pinball games; one released after the first season, and the other still available.

Vivendi Universal Games, the publisher of recent "Simpsons" games, announced shortly after the release of "The Simpsons Hit & Run" that there was a sequel in the works. However, no news or any development has been announced since then. The plans by Vivendi to create a sequel were no doubt cancelled when Electronic Arts announced in November 2005, that they would purchase the exclusive licensing rights to publish future "Simpsons" video game titles, including a potential tie-in to the upcoming "Simpsons" feature film, as Electronic Arts has successfully overseen many film-to-video game projects. [ [http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/a42665/simpsons-to-become-years-top-seller.html 'Simpsons' to become year's top-seller?] ]

In May 2007, EA announced the release of a new title, "The Simpsons Game", expanding the franchise to consoles including the Wii, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3. [cite web |url=http://www.ea.com/simpsons/news.jsp |title=EA's The Simpsons Game Unveiled Alongside The Simpsons 400th Episode |accessdate=2007-05-09]

Also in May 2007, Microsoft announced the release of a limited-edition "The Simpsons" Xbox 360. According to "The Simpsons Channel", Microsoft only gave away 100 units of the promotional system. [cite web |url=http://www.simpsonschannel.com/#newsitemEEZllZEypFWQcseqQo |title=Limited Edition Simpsons Xbox 360| accessdate=2007-05-11]

List of games

This list only includes sanctioned games, and not unofficial ones made by anybody.

References

External links

* [http://www.all-top-games.com/gamecategories/Simpsons_games.html Free online Simpsons games]
* [http://www.uvlist.net/groups/info/thesimpsons "The Simpsons" games for each system]
* [http://www.ea.com/xxii/ Website for the new The Simpsons game.]
* [http://www.thesimpsonsmobile.com/ Official website for the Simpsons mobile game.]
* [http://noiseland.net/news.php CBG's video game collection]