Shiny Entertainment

Infobox Defunct company
company_name = Shiny Entertainment
company_
slogan =
company_type = Private
fate = Merger
Predecessor = Interplay Entertainment
Atari
successor = Double Helix Games
foundation = 1993
defunct = 2007
location = Laguna Beach, California
industry = Computer and video game industry
products =
key_people = David Perry
num_employees =
parent = Foundation 9 Entertainment
subsid =

Shiny Entertainment was a video game developer based in Laguna Beach, Southern California, and is the creator of several hits such as "Earthworm Jim", "MDK", "Sacrifice" and "". Shiny was founded by David Perry in October 1993. In 2007, Shiny Entertainment merged with The Collective to create Double Helix Games.

History

David Perry, a veteran game developer, was developing for Probe Software in London on the "Terminator" movie video game, the game was to be published by Virgin Games in Irvine, CA. Perry agreed to complete the work in the United States and so moved over in 1991. While in the states he developed McDonald's "Global Gladiators" (Sega's Game of the Year), 7-Up's "Cool Spot", early development work on "Disney's Jungle Book" and programmed "Disney's Aladdin". Aladdin became a number 1 hit around the world.

As these projects grew so did Perry's relationships with certain development team members.

At this time Perry got a USA Green Card and decided to form Shiny Entertainment Inc. To fund it, he signed a three game distribution deal with Playmates Interactive Entertainment, the three games became "Earthworm Jim", "Earthworm Jim 2" and "MDK". All three games were well reviewed, won awards and were highly profitable.

The first Shiny release was "Earthworm Jim", which won the Sega "Game of the Year" award and put Shiny front-row center as a developer to be watched. A TV show deal was signed with Universal Cartoon Studios, a TV output deal was signed with the Warner Kids Network, Playmates Toys made a complete action figure toy line, a home video collection was made by MCA, Carl's Jr. made a kids meal, Del Taco made a kids meal, Marvel Comics made the official comic books, Fruit of the Loom made clothing and bed coverings, there were even lunchbox, strategy guide, sticker deals etc.

After a sequel and a remake ("Earthworm Jim 2" and "Earthworm Jim Special Edition" for Sega CD and Windows 95), Shiny decided to move into the world of 3D with the game "MDK". At this time Interplay Entertainment Inc. (who had published "Earthworm Jim" for Sega CD) bought Shiny so co-published "MDK" with Playmates Interactive Entertainment.

Interplay had a previous relationship with Bioware (making "Baldur's Gate") and so Bioware made the sequel to "MDK", called "MDK 2".

In 2002, during the development of "Enter the Matrix", Shiny was acquired by Infogrames (which later changed its name to Atari), for $47 million. Atari purchased only the team and the rights to the "Matrix" franchise.

Perry kicked off a yet-to-be-announced Epic Next-Generation game, "Earthworm Jim" on Sony's PlayStation Portable, and a new fighting Game called "Age of Elements" at E3 2006 on Sony PSP.

Atari announced their interest in selling off all their development studios, so Perry resigned in an attempt to help Atari find a quality buyer.

Atari held on to Shiny, and so after a few months Perry started new companies called www.gameconsultants.com and www.gameinvestors.com, he is also directing a new MMO game called 2Moons.

On October 2, 2006, Foundation 9 Entertainment acquired Shiny Entertainment, so now Shiny joins the largest independent game development company in the world. [ [http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=11093 Foundation 9 Acquires Shiny From Atari] , "GamaSutra", October 2, 2006]

In 2007, Foundation 9 merged Shiny Entertainment with The Collective to form Double Helix Games.

Games

*"Earthworm Jim"
*"Earthworm Jim 2"
*"MDK"
* "R/C Stunt Copter", a game that made the PlayStation controller act just like a dual stick remote control helicopter transmitter. This game was bought from Interplay by Midway, then it was bought from Midway by Titus. Titus then bought Interplay as well.
* "Wild 9", an action game for the Sony Playstation. This game featured a weapon called the Rig, which allowed the main character, Wex Major, to attack his enemies in many sadistic ways. Sony Japan licensed the game from Interplay so they could release it themselves in Japan.
* "Messiah", a game featuring the hook of "possession" and a new real-time tessellation video game engine.
* "Sacrifice", Shiny's first online multiplayer game. This game won numerous awards and still is remembered as one of the best PC real-time strategy games of all time.
* "Enter the Matrix" returned Perry to licensing, based on the Matrix movie franchise. The movies' directors made around 1 hour of original "Matrix" footage just for the game. The game was commercially successful, selling an estimated 5 million copies. Reviewers were not too pleased, however, with the game's lack of polish and bugs.
* "" shipped by Atari, again based on the Matrix movie franchise, this time focusing on the lead character from the movies.
* "The Golden Compass" is Shiny's latest game. It's a video game based on the film "The Golden Compass". The game was released in December 2007.

Trivia

* The name "Shiny" was accidentally conceived while listening to the R.E.M. track Shiny Happy People on loop during the development of Aladdin for the Sega Genesis.
* Every single first generation iMac shipped with a copy of MDK in a distribution deal with Apple.

References

External links

* [http://www.shiny.com/ Shiny Entertainment official website]
* [http://www.mobygames.com/company/shiny-entertainment-inc "Shiny Entertainment"] profile at MobyGames
* [http://www.dperry.com/ David Perry - Founder of Shiny's Personal Website]
* [http://www.f9e.com/ Foundation 9 Entertainment - Current Owner of Shiny Entertainment]
* [http://www.atari.com/ Atari Inc - Previous Owner of Shiny Entertainment]
* [http://www.interplay.com/ Interplay Entertainment Inc - Past Owner of Shiny Entertainment]