Rod Fergusson
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Rod Fergusson
Rod Fergusson is a Canadian video game producer, best known for overseeing the development of the ''Gears of War'' franchise, originally at Epic Games and then as head of The Coalition. More recently, Fergusson moved over to Blizzard Entertainment to oversee development on the '' Diablo'' series. Career Early years and Microsoft (1996–2005) Fergusson grew up in Ontario, Canada, and while he had an interest in video games, he thought the industry was too far out of reach for him, though he had programmed his own multi-user dungeon (MUD). Fergusson started his career in 1996 at Microsoft, initially as part of its consulting services providing technical support to enterprise customers with Microsoft Solutions Framework before moving into the Redmond campus directly. While there, an opening at Microsoft Game Studios under Shannon Loftis opened up, which Fergusson was able to get. He joined Microsoft's internal simulations group, later renamed to Aces Game Studio, where one of th ...
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Game Developers Conference
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tutorials, lectures, and round Table, roundtables by industry professionals on game-related topics covering Video game programmer, programming, game design, design, audio, production, business and management, and visual arts. History Originally called the Computer Game Developers Conference, the first conference was organized in April 1988 by Chris Crawford (game designer), Chris Crawford in his San Jose, California-area living room. About twenty-seven designers attended, including Don Daglow, Brenda Laurel, Brian Moriarty, Gordon Walton, Tim Brengle, Cliff Johnson (game designer), Cliff Johnson, Dave Menconi, and Carol and Ivan Manley. The second conference, held that same year at a Holiday Inn at Milpitas, California, Milpitas, attracted abou ...
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Kuju (company)
Kuju Entertainment Ltd. is a British video game developer. The original company was Simis, formed in 1989 and purchased by Eidos Interactive in 1995. Kuju was formed in 1998 in Shalford, Surrey, England, after a management buyout of Simis from Eidos. Kuju has released titles across different devices, ranging from ''Art Academy'' on the Nintendo DS, '' The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest'' and '' Battalion Wars 2'' for the Wii, and an Xbox One title, ''Powerstar Golf'', History Ian Baverstock and Jonathan Newth opened Simis in 1989 and produced a number of flight simulator programs like MiG-29 Fulcrum (1990 video game). In 1995, the company was purchased by Eidos and operated as an in-house development studio. In 1998, Baverstock and Newth led a management buyout of the studio from Eidos Interactive, forming Kuju Ltd. The name "Kuju" originates from the initials of the founders’ first names: Ian Baverstock and Jonathan Newth. Jonathan was leafing through a Japanese dictionar ...
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Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information announced later that month at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). The Xbox 360 features an online service, Xbox Live, which was expanded from its previous iteration on the original Xbox and received regular updates during the console's lifetime. Available in free and subscription-based varieties, Xbox Live allows users to: play games online; download games (through Xbox Live Arcade) and game demos; purchase and stream music, television programs, and films through the Xbox Music and Xbox Video portals; and access third-party content services through media streaming applications. In addition to online multimedia ...
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Gears Of War (video Game)
''Gears of War'' is a 2006 third-person shooter video game, the first installment of the ''Gears of War'' series. It was developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios, initially as an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 in November 2006, before a Microsoft Windows version of the game, developed in conjunction with People Can Fly, was released in 2007. The game's main story, which can be played in single or co-operative play, focuses on a squad of troops who assist in completing a desperate, last-ditch attempt to end a war against a genocidal subterranean enemy, the Locust, and save the remaining human inhabitants of their planet Sera. The game's multiplayer mode allows up to eight players to control characters from one of the two factions in a variety of online game modes. Gameplay features players using cover and strategic fire in order to win battles. The game was a commercial success, selling over three million copies within ten weeks of its launch. It became t ...
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Turtle Rock Studios
Turtle Rock Studios (known as Valve South between 2008 and 2010) is an American video game developer founded in March 2002 by Michael Booth. It was acquired by Valve in 2008, but was re-founded in 2011 as an independent company by Phil Robb and Chris Ashton. Turtle Rock Studios is involved in the creation of original titles as well as the provision of consulting services to the digital entertainment industry. The company's most notable games are: the first ''Left 4 Dead'', which was published by Valve; and '' Evolve'', which was originally set to be published by THQ but was later published by 2K Games. The founder of the company had worked for Westwood Pacific, and assisted in the development of the ''Counter-Strike'' series. The company expanded from six employees to more than seventy staff members from 2011 to 2014 and opened a subsidiary company called Turtle Rock Garage in 2011, which specialized in developing casual and experimental games for platforms such as iPhone, Faceb ...
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Condition Zero
''Counter-Strike: Condition Zero'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by Ritual Entertainment, Turtle Rock Studios, and Valve, and published by Sierra Entertainment and Valve. The follow-up to ''Counter-Strike'' (2000), it was released in March 2004 for Windows. ''Condition Zero'' utilizes the GoldSrc engine and has a multiplayer mode, which features updated character models, textures, maps and other graphical tweaks. It also includes two single-player campaigns; ''Tour of Duty'' and ''Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes''. Alongside various other Valve titles, the game received versions for OS X and Linux in 2013. Gameplay Development ''Condition Zero'' started development in 2000 by Rogue Entertainment, and was initially announced in May 2001 at E3 of that year. Rogue's producer for the game, Jim Molinets, later that year moved to Sony and the development company went defunct, leaving Valve empty. Later, they gave it to Gearbox Software, the developers of the ''Half ...
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Ritual Entertainment
Ritual Entertainment was an American video game developer established in 1996 by Robert Atkins, Mark Dochtermann, Jim Dosé, Richard 'Levelord' Gray, Michael Hadwin, Harry Miller, and Tom Mustaine. Based in Dallas, Texas, Ritual Entertainment was formerly known as Hipnotic Interactive, during which period they began development of their signature video game ''SiN''. History Members of the Ritual Entertainment development team have contributed assets to other games such as ''American McGee's Alice'', '' Medal of Honor: Airborne'', '' Tomb Raider: Legend'', and ''25 to Life'', and are also the creators of "Übertools" for id Tech 3, which has been licensed for a number of other games. Shortly after signing Hipnotic, publisher Activision claimed that Hipnotic had been at the core of the ''Duke Nukem 3D'' development team. ''Duke Nukem 3D'' developer 3D Realms vigorously denied this, stating that only five members of Hipnotic Interactive were former staff of 3D Realms, and of these ...
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Counter-Strike (video Game)
''Counter-Strike'' (also known as ''Half-Life: Counter-Strike'' or ''Counter-Strike 1.6'') is a tactical first-person shooter game developed by Valve. It was initially developed and released as a ''Half-Life'' modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess Cliffe in 1999, before Le and Cliffe were hired and the game's intellectual property acquired. ''Counter-Strike'' was released by Valve for Microsoft Windows in 2000, and is the first installment in the ''Counter-Strike'' series. Several remakes and ports were released on Xbox, as well as OS X and Linux. Set in various locations around the globe, players assume the roles of counter-terrorist forces and terrorist militants opposing them. During each round of gameplay, the two teams are tasked with defeating the other by the means of either achieving the map's objectives or eliminating all of the enemy combatants. Each player may customize their arsenal of weapons and accessories at the beginning of every match, with currency ...
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Valve Corporation
Valve Corporation is an American video game developer, video game publisher, publisher, and digital distribution company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It is the developer of the software distribution platform Steam (service), Steam and the franchises ''Half-Life (series), Half-Life'', ''Counter-Strike'', ''Portal (series), Portal'', ''Day of Defeat'', ''Team Fortress'', ''Left 4 Dead (series), Left 4 Dead'' and ''Dota''. Valve was founded in 1996 by former Microsoft employees Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. Their debut game, the first-person shooter (FPS) ''Half-Life (video game), Half-Life'' (1998), was a critical and commercial success; with its realism, scripted sequences and seamless narrative, it had a lasting influence on the FPS genre. Harrington left in 2000. In 2003, Valve launched Steam, followed by ''Half-Life 2'' in 2004. With advanced Physics engine, physics systems and an increased focus on story and characters, ''Half-Life 2'' received critical acclaim ...
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Blood Wake
''Blood Wake'' is a naval combat video game released in 2001 for the Xbox as part of Microsoft's wave of launch titles. It was developed by Stormfront Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. Set in an Asian-themed fictional world, ''Blood Wake'' is a story-driven, mission-based high seas action game in which the player controls a series of small fighting vessels. First unveiled at E3 2001, the game received mixed reviews from critics according to the aggregate website Metacritic. It sold enough copies to be added to Microsoft's budget line, known as Platinum Hits. Gameplay The game features a wide variety of naval vessels, from tiny sampans to powerful speedboats and torpedo boats, on up to destroyers and a massive battleship. Over a dozen of these are playable and most have multiple weapon configurations. The weapon types include the standard chain guns, cannon, torpedoes, rockets and mines, plus some unique weapons that are unlocked as you progress through the ...
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Stormfront Studios
Stormfront Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer based in San Rafael, California. In 2007, the company had over 50 developers working on two teams, and owned all its proprietary engines, tools, and technology. As of the end of 2007, over fourteen million copies of Stormfront-developed games had been sold. Stormfront closed on March 31, 2008, due to the closure of their publisher at the time, Sierra Entertainment. The company received major awards and award nominations from The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, G4 (U.S. TV channel), G4 Television, BAFTA, The International Game Developers Association, IGDA Game Developers Choice Awards, The Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy, EMMA Awards, Sony Computer Entertainment America, SCEA, the Software Publishers Association and many magazines and websites. In 2008, ''Neverwinter Nights (1991 video game), Neverwinter Nights'' was honored (along with ''EverQuest'' and ''World of Warcraft'') at the 59th Annual Technology & ...
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Xbox (console)
The Xbox is a home video game console and the first installment in the Xbox series of video game consoles manufactured by Microsoft. It was released as Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market on November 15, 2001, in North America, followed by Australia, Europe and Japan in 2002. It is classified as a sixth-generation console, competing with Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's GameCube. It was also the first major console produced by an American company since the release of the Atari Jaguar in 1993. The console was announced in March 2000. With the release of the PlayStation 2, which featured the ability to playback CD-ROMs and DVDs in addition to playing games, Microsoft became concerned that game consoles would threaten the personal computer as an entertainment device for living rooms. Whereas most games consoles to that point were built from custom hardware components, the Xbox was built around standard personal computer components, using variations of Micro ...
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