Digital Leisure, Inc. is a Canadian
publisher of software. The company formed in 1997 with the aim to acquire, remaster and publish numerous classic video-based
arcade games
An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...
such as the
Don Bluth-animated titles ''
Dragon's Lair'', ''
Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp'' and ''
Space Ace''. Over time, they have acquired the publishing rights to various
full motion video
Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games feature FMVs as a way to present information duri ...
games, which they have re-released on a variety of modern formats. In more recent years, they have produced original games as well.
History
Digital Leisure was formed by former employees of
Readysoft. In its initial years of existence, Digital Leisure acquired the publishing rights to many full motion video games. In addition to the Don Bluth titles, the company acquired the North American rights to publish ''
Tender Loving Care'', an interactive movie on DVD-ROM and CD-ROM featuring
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
nominee
John Hurt
Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors. Director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in ...
in early 1999.
In early 2000, the company added the development and publishing rights of ''Dragon's Lair'' creator Rick Dyer's arcade game ''
Hologram Time Traveler'' which was released in the fall of 2000 on multiple formats. The game was the first arcade game to simulate 3D holographic images. Later that year, the company acquired the worldwide publishing rights to Dyer's ''Kingdom II: Shadoan'' for DVD-ROM, DVD-Video and CD-ROM.
In 2001, the company acquired the development and worldwide publishing rights to the entire
American Laser Games
American Laser Games was a company based in Albuquerque, New Mexico that created numerous light gun laserdisc video games featuring live action full motion video. The company was founded in the late 1980s by Robert Grebe, who had originally created ...
catalog of nine full motion video arcade titles including ''
Mad Dog McCree
''Mad Dog McCree'' is the first live-action laserdisc video game released by American Laser Games. It originally appeared as an arcade game in 1990.
The game gained considerable attention for its live-action video style, bearing similarities to ...
'', ''
Crime Patrol'' and ''
Who Shot Johnny Rock?
''Who Shot Johnny Rock?'' is a live-action full-motion video laserdisc video game produced by American Laser Games and released for the arcades in 1991, and then for the DOS, Sega CD, 3DO and CD-i platforms around 1994. As part of a series of si ...
'' These titles have been released on CD-ROM and DVD-Video with ''
Space Pirates
Space pirates are a type of stock character from space opera and soft science fiction. The archetype evolved from the air pirate trope popular from the turn of the century until the 1920s. By the 1930s, space pirates were recurring villains in t ...
'' and ''
Fast Draw Showdown'' released in late 2005.
Digital Leisure signed a distribution agreement with
Empire Interactive in 2003 to release the "Virtual Music Studio" brand
eJay to the North American market. In 2008, Empire Interactive was purchased by Silver Star Holdings and Digital Leisure ceased all distribution of the
eJay product line.
In 2007, Digital Leisure in partnership with Bluth Group Ltd, restored and remastered some of its more popular titles to
high definition
High definition or HD may refer to:
Visual technologies
*HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format
*HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format
*HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape
* HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
to be played in
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
and
HD DVD players.
The company began development on a line of
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...
-based titles in the summer of 2008, and released their first title, ''
The Incredible Maze'' on Nintendo's
WiiWare
WiiWare was a service that allowed Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii S ...
service on October 24, 2008. Digital Leisure followed up this release in November 2008 with ''
Sudoku Challenge!''. On March 27, 2009, Digital Leisure released ''
Texas Hold'em Tournament'' on the
WiiWare
WiiWare was a service that allowed Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii S ...
service.
In 2010, Digital Leisure began creating content for
PlayStation Home
PlayStation Home was a virtual 3D social networking, social gaming platform developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's London Studio for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) on the PlayStation Network (PSN). It was accessible from the PS3's XrossMediaBar (XM ...
. Over the course of the next four years they released Dragon's Lair and Space Ace branded content for the platform as well as their own original avatar clothing, private spaces and public gaming spaces including the Western Frontier and Paradise Springs Casino spaces. The Casino became one of Home's most popular spaces, with chip sales in the top 10 items sold for several months running. Due to the success of both this space and Texas Hold'em Tournament on the Wii, Digital Leisure began working on a new standalone social casino game. On Feb 18, 2015, after the announcement of Home's closure, Digital Leisure released the Early Access version of ''
The Four Kings Casino and Slots'' on
Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
.
Games
DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD
* ''
Dragon's Lair''
* ''
Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp''
* ''
Space Ace''
* ''
Thayer's Quest
''Thayer's Quest'' is a LaserDisc video game initially developed by RDI Video Systems in 1984 for their unreleased Halcyon console, and later released in arcades as a conversion kit for ''Dragon's Lair'' and ''Space Ace''. In 1995 it was ported ...
'' (also known as ''Kingdom: The Far Reaches'')
* ''
Time Traveler''
* ''
Kingdom II: Shadoan''
* ''
Tender Loving Care''
* ''
Mad Dog McCree
''Mad Dog McCree'' is the first live-action laserdisc video game released by American Laser Games. It originally appeared as an arcade game in 1990.
The game gained considerable attention for its live-action video style, bearing similarities to ...
''
* ''
Mad Dog II: The Lost Gold''
* ''
The Last Bounty Hunter''
* ''
Crime Patrol''
* ''
Crime Patrol 2: Drug Wars'' (also known simply as ''Drug Wars'')
* ''
Who Shot Johnny Rock?
''Who Shot Johnny Rock?'' is a live-action full-motion video laserdisc video game produced by American Laser Games and released for the arcades in 1991, and then for the DOS, Sega CD, 3DO and CD-i platforms around 1994. As part of a series of si ...
''
* ''
Space Pirates
Space pirates are a type of stock character from space opera and soft science fiction. The archetype evolved from the air pirate trope popular from the turn of the century until the 1920s. By the 1930s, space pirates were recurring villains in t ...
''
WiiWare
* ''
The Incredible Maze''
* ''
Sudoku Challenge!''
* ''
Texas Hold'em Tournament''
* ''
Word Searcher''
* ''
Copter Crisis''
* ''
Fast Draw Showdown''
* ''
5 in 1 Solitaire''
* ''
Chess Challenge!''
* ''
Mix Superstar''
* ''
Word Searcher Deluxe''
* ''
Overflow''
Wii
* ''
Mad Dog McCree Gunslinger Pack''
* ''
Dragon's Lair Trilogy''
Nintendo DSi/DSiWare
* ''
Dragon's Lair''
* ''
Space Ace''
* ''
Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp''
* ''
Sudoku Challenge!''
* ''
Word Searcher''
* ''
Word Searcher 2''
* ''
Word Searcher 3''
* ''
Word Searcher 4''
* ''
Chess Challenge!''
* ''
5 in 1 Solitaire''
* ''
21 Blackjack''
* ''
Mega Words''
* ''
Match Up!''
PlayStation Network
* ''
Dragon's Lair'' (PS3 & PSP)
* ''
Space Ace'' (PS3)
* ''
Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp'' (PS3)
* ''
Fast Draw Showdown'' (PS3)
* ''
5 in 1 Solitaire'' (PSP)
* ''The Casino'' (also known as ''The Paradise Springs Casino'' for the
PlayStation Home
PlayStation Home was a virtual 3D social networking, social gaming platform developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's London Studio for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) on the PlayStation Network (PSN). It was accessible from the PS3's XrossMediaBar (XM ...
)
* ''Dragon's Lair items'' (PlayStation Home)
* ''Space Ace items'' (PlayStation Home)
* ''Get Off My Lawn!'' (PS Vita)
* ''Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp items'' (PlayStation Home)
* ''
The Four Kings Casino and Slots'' (PS4)
* ''Mix Superstar'' (PS3)
Mobile devices
* ''
Dragon's Lair'' (
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
&
Android
Android may refer to:
Science and technology
* Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human
* Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system
** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
) (iOS versions were published by
EA)
* ''
Space Ace'' (iOS & Android)
* ''
Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp'' (iOS & Android)
* ''
Brain Dead 13'' (iOS)
* ''
Mad Dog McCree
''Mad Dog McCree'' is the first live-action laserdisc video game released by American Laser Games. It originally appeared as an arcade game in 1990.
The game gained considerable attention for its live-action video style, bearing similarities to ...
'' (iOS)
* ''
Sudoku 100,000,000'' (iOS)
* ''
Get Off My Lawn!'' (
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
&
Android
Android may refer to:
Science and technology
* Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human
* Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system
** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
)
Steam
* ''
Get Off My Lawn!''
* ''
The Four Kings Casino and Slots''
Nintendo Switch
* ''
Dragon's Lair Trilogy''
*''
The Four Kings Casino and Slots''
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Authority control
1997 establishments in Ontario
Video game companies of Canada
Canadian companies established in 1997
Video game companies established in 1997
Video game development companies
Video game publishers
Companies based in Richmond Hill, Ontario