Lobotomy Software, Inc. was an American video game developer founded in 1993 and based in Redmond, Washington. The company ported '' Quake'' and ''

Duke Nukem 3D ''Duke Nukem 3D'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by 3D Realms. It is a sequel to the platform games ''Duke Nukem (video game), Duke Nukem'' and ''Duke Nukem II'', published by 3D Realms. ''Duke Nukem 3D'' features the adventures ...

'' to the Sega Saturn and developed the first-person shooter ''

PowerSlave ''Powerslave'' is the fifth studio album by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 3 September 1984 through EMI Records in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in North America. It was re-released by Sanctuary and Colum ...

'' (titled ''Exhumed'' in Europe). Lobotomy Software was acquired by

Crave Entertainment Crave Entertainment was an American video game publisher founded in 1997 by Nima Taghavi. Its headquarters was in Newport Beach, California. It was acquired by Handleman Company in 2005 in a deal valued up to $95,000,000 but was then sold to Fil ...

in 1998 and renamed to Lobotomy Studios which closed a year later.

History

Lobotomy Software was founded in 1993, when a group of friends working at

Nintendo of America is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing card ...

left to form their own company, becoming the creative department of Lobotomy, with the programmers coming from

Manley & Associates Manley & Associates was an independent video game developer founded in 1982 in video gaming, 1982, which developed over 70 titles for video game publishers, including Electronic Arts, Activision, Disney, GameTek, Publishing International, and Spec ...

(a developer acquired by Electronic Arts in 1996, renamed Electronic Arts Seattle, and shut down in 2002). They originally worked out of co-founder Paul Lange's apartment, but after a few months set up an office in Redmond, Washington. The team began working on various game demos, one of which later became the

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the p ...

''. Shortly after ''PowerSlave'' was released, Sega secured the rights from

GT Interactive GT, Gt or G-T may refer to: Arts and entertainment Games * GT Interactive, an American video game developer * GameTrailers, a video game website * ''Golden Tee Golf'', golf video game * ''Gran Turismo'' (series), a series of racing video games ...

to publish ''Duke Nukem 3D'' and ''Quake''. Sega originally handed the projects to two other developers, but were unhappy with their work. Deadlines for the two games were set just a few months apart, and as such their development considerably overlapped. The Saturn ports of ''Quake'' and ''Duke Nukem 3D'' both use the SlaveDriver engine Lobotomy created for the console versions of ''PowerSlave''. Lobotomy Software had ported ''Quake'' to the Sony PlayStation, but could not find a publisher, which exacerbated their financial troubles. In 1998, Lobotomy Software was acquired by

and renamed "Lobotomy Studios." The team worked on a Caesars Palace gambling game for the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...

, but after a year of development, the game was postponed and eventually cancelled. At that point, Lobotomy Studios was closed and employees were let go or given the option to be relocated to another position at Crave Entertainment. The next title that the team would have worked on was a sequel to ''PowerSlave'' simply titled "PowerSlave 2," which was going to be a

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D computer graphics, 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. ...

and use a different game engine.

Games

;Original *''

'' (September 26, 1996) Saturn, MS-DOS, PlayStation. Includes hidden mini-game '' Death Tank''. ;Ports to Saturn *'' Quake'' (October 31, 1997) *''

'' (October 31, 1997). Includes hidden mini-game ''Death Tank Zwei''.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official websiteLobotomy Software
at MobyGames Video game development companies Defunct video game companies of the United States Software companies based in Washington (state) Defunct companies based in Washington (state) Defunct companies based in Redmond, Washington Video game companies established in 1993 Video game companies disestablished in 1998