XOR Corporation (pronounced ) was a

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, founded in 1982 by Glenn Diamond. XOR was active until 1990 and primarily released games for DOS and

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...

, but also released the DOS

business application Business software (or a business application) is any software or set of computer programs used by business users to perform various business functions. These business applications are used to increase productivity, measure productivity, and perf ...

s ''Blu Chip'', a stock portfolio manager, and ''Thoth'', a database manager, and the C

utility As a topic of economics, utility is used to model worth or value. Its usage has evolved significantly over time. The term was introduced initially as a measure of pleasure or happiness as part of the theory of utilitarianism by moral philosopher ...

''C Tools''. Two games published by XOR Corporation for Macintosh, ''MacGolf'' (1986) and ''MacSki'' (1990), were inducted into the ''

Macworld ''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macint ...

'' Game Hall of Fame in the "Best Sports Game" category. ''MacGolf'' was a top-selling Macintosh game upon its release and had sold 70,000 copies by 1988; it was still the best-selling Macintosh game in September 1988. In 1985 XOR released ''NFL Challenge'', an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

simulation game officially endorsed by the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

, for DOS and Macintosh.

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

used ''NFL Challenge'' to simulate games for its '' NFL Dream Season'' television show, playing each game 100 times to determine the outcomes. ''NFL Challenge'' was the first software officially licensed by the NFL. In the wake of ''NFL Challenge''s success, XOR CEO Glenn Diamond approached the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

in 1985 about an official endorsement and collaboration for an upcoming video game. The CIA rejected his proposal. In 1985, XOR corporation collaborated with Timothy Leary on an unreleased video game, book, and possible companion album by

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...

with the working title ''The Brain Game''. The game intended to use Leary's brain models to increase the player's intelligence via a symbiotic process of psychological testing and self-reflection.

Release history

Games

*''St. Hippolyte's Wall'' - 1984, DOS *''Edo'' - 1984, DOS *''

NFL Challenge ''NFL Challenge'' is a video game for MS-DOS released in 1985 by XOR Corporation. It uses statistical models for not only the NFL season, but also the outcome of a single football game. Game play Unlike most football games, this one was more a ...

'' - 1984, DOS; 1986, Mac *''MacGolf'' - 1986, Mac *''MacCourses''- 1986. Mac *'' Basketball Challenge'' - 1987, DOS *''Bermuda Square'' - 1987, DOS *''MacRacquetball'' - 1987, Mac *''Oligopoly'' - 1987, DOS *''PRO Challenge'' - 1987, DOS; 1987, Mac *''

Lunar Rescue ''Lunar Rescue'' (ルーナー・レスキユー Runā Resukyū) is an arcade game released by Taito in November 1979. The gameplay has some resemblance to both Taito's own 1978 hit ''Space Invaders'' and Atari, Inc.'s ''Lunar Lander'' (release ...

'' - 1988, Mac *''Road Racer'' - 1988, Mac *''Roboman'' - 1989, DOS *'' TaskMaker'' - 1989, DOS *''MacGolf Classic'' - 1989, Mac *''MacSki'' - 1990, Mac

Business and utilities

*''Thoth'' - 1984, DOS *''Blu Chip'' - 1984, DOS *''C Tools'' - 1984, DOS

References

{{Videogame-company-stub 1982 establishments in Minnesota Companies based in Minnetonka, Minnesota American companies established in 1982 Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game development companies Video game publishers