Actua Sports

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Actua Sports
Actua Sports Logo.png
Genre(s) Sports
Developer(s) Gremlin Interactive
Publisher(s) Gremlin Interactive
Platform(s) MS-DOS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS
First release Actua Soccer
1995
Latest releaseActua Golf 3
1999

Actua Sports is a sports video game series published by Gremlin Interactive which competed with Electronic Arts EA Sports label during the second half of the 1990s, until Gremlin was acquired by Infogrames. The term "Actua" is a (seemingly marketing-related) play on Sega's line of "Virtua" titled games, which included Virtua Fighter , Virtua Racing and Virtua Striker . [1]

Contents

The first game in the series was the 1995 milestone title, Actua Soccer , which quickly became one of the most important titles for the company. It was later joined by the rebirth of the Premier Manager franchise and the club version of Actua Soccer. In 1996, the first non-football game was released, Actua Golf , followed by the sequels Actua Soccer 2 in 1997, now endorsed by English international Alan Shearer and Premier Manager 98. The third installment in the Actua Soccer series and the Ninety-Nine edition of Premier Manager followed in 1998, the year a new title debuted in the series: Actua Ice Hockey , the official video game of the Nagano Olympic Games ice hockey tournament, followed by Actua Tennis in the same year.

After Gremlin was acquired by Infogrames, the series went into dormancy. The now-named Infogrames Sheffield House continued to develop sports games that functioned as successors to the Actua Sports games: PGA European Tour Golf, UEFA Challenge and Slam Tennis, which were all published by Infogrames in 1999–2000, 2001, and 2002 respectively, with Premier Manager 2000 releasing in April 2000. Infogrames shuttered Sheffield House at the beginning of May 2003.

In 2002, Zoo Digital Publishing, the video game division of ZOO Digital, purchased the Premier Manager franchise from Infogrames and began to release new titles in the series. A year later in October, the now-named Atari sold a majority of Gremlin's former assets to the publisher, who in Late-2003, re-released select titles including some Actua Sports installments on the PlayStation and Windows under the "Zoo Classics" budget range. [2]

Titles

Actua Soccer series

Actua Soccer (1995)

The first title's biggest claim to fame was its full 3D graphics engine, used for the first time in a home console football game (the first full-3D football game being Sega arcade Virtua Striker ); although other console games had used a 3D field, players were commonly still 2D sprites but in Actua Soccer players were polygonal. The game was developed with close ties to a local football club Sheffield Wednesday: their players provided hints to the programmers, and three players, Chris Woods, Graham Hyde and Andy Sinton, also served as motion capture models. [3]

Actua Soccer featured only national teams, with squads of 22 players from each of 44 national sides, However a follow-up version with English Premier League teams named Actua Soccer: Club Edition was released in 1997 using 20 players from the 20 Premier League teams from 1996–97. The Actua Soccer match engine was also used to display matches in Premier Manager 64 . [4]

The first game was a bestseller in the UK, [5] [6] where it was backed by what journalists called "the most expensive advertising campaign ever mounted" for a console game. [7] Tommy Glide of GamePro , while criticising the game's lack of flashy special moves and mild sound effects, deemed it the most well-rounded PlayStation soccer game to date, saying it offered a good combination of FIFA's deep strategy and Goal Storm 's sharp visuals and accessibility. [8]

Actua Soccer 2 (1997)

Actua Soccer 2 (known as Fox Sports Soccer '99 in North America), once again included national teams, but a more polished engine (optimised in the PC version for 3D graphics cards), (in some versions) the full Italian Serie A league, and a new "scenario" mode assured good sales and mostly positive reviews. It also included a team creator mode, which enabled the player to make up to 128 custom teams. Barry Davies was joined by Trevor Brooking on the commentary, [9] and the game featured England football team captain and striker Alan Shearer not only on the cover, but also providing interviews about the game in the press. Michael Owen and Simon Tracey provided motion capture for the players. The game also featured menu music and a cameo appearance from Welsh rockers, Super Furry Animals, which could only be unlocked after entering a cheat code. Actua Soccer 2 was also bundled with Creative Technology's Voodoo 2 graphic cards, which helped to achieve widespread distribution and popularity.

Actua Soccer 3 (1998)

Actua Soccer 3 arrived in late 1998. For the first time, both club and national teams were present, plus other teams (such as Arsenal LFC) and various joke teams. While its predecessor had been criticised for the absence of club teams, Actua Soccer 3 featured a total of 25 leagues with 450 national and international teams, more than any game of the time except the earlier Sensible World of Soccer as well as over 10000 players. The graphics used a slightly improved version of the Actua Soccer 2 engine with much improved weather effects. Motion capture was provided by Sheffield United players David Holdsworth and Simon Tracey. [10] Trevor Brooking was replaced by Martin O'Neill as Barry Davies' commentary partner. "Let Me Entertain You" by Robbie Williams was the only in-game soundtrack, while the classical operatic theme Cavalleria Rusticana (Rustic Chivalry) by Pietro Mascagni was played during the game's introduction video.

Actua Golf series

Actua Golf (1996)

Actua Golf (known as VR Golf '97 in North America) is a sports video game developed by Gremlin Interactive for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. It was released in 1996. [11] [12] [13] [14]

Actua Golf 2 (1997)

Actua Golf 2 (known as Fox Sports Golf '99 in North America), also developed by Gremlin Interactive for the PlayStation and Microsoft Windows, was released in 1998. Actua Golf 2 received mixed reviews. Aggregating review website GameRankings gave the PC version 70.50% [15] and the PlayStation version 38.75%. [16]

Actua Golf 3 (1998)

Actua Golf 3 was developed by Gremlin Interactive and released on the PlayStation in October 1998. [17] The game received an average score of 70.50% at GameRankings, based on an aggregate of 2 reviews. [18]

Actua Golf 4 (cancelled)

In January 1999, IGN reported that a fourth Actua Golf title was in development. [19] The title was planned on being the first to utilize the PGA European Tour license and the first to appear on the Nintendo 64. [19] However a month later, [20] Gremlin Interactive was bought out by Infogrames, who ditched the Actua brand. Despite that, the game remained in development but was released under the name PGA European Tour Golf for the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 in late-1999 in Europe, while North America got the Nintendo 64 version the following year as PGA European Tour. [21]

Actua Ice Hockey series

Actua Ice Hockey (1998)

Actua Ice Hockey was developed by Gremlin Interactive for the PlayStation and Windows in 1998 and was the official video game for the Nagano Winter Olympics 1998 ice hockey tournament.

Actua Ice Hockey 2 (1999)

Actua Ice Hockey 2 was developed by Gremlin Interactive for the PlayStation and Windows in 1999. It was originally intended to be Fox Sports Hockey and was being developed by Gremlin for Fox Interactive, who had obtained an NHL license. Just over halfway through development, Fox pulled out taking the NHL license with it. Above the objections of some of the developers, development of the game continued. All references to NHL were changed to GHL (Gremlin Hockey League), all player names were modified by substituting vowels (Svoboda became Svaboda, for instance), player faces were randomized and a whole new front-end was developed.

Other Titles

Actua Tennis (1998)

Actua Tennis was released for the PlayStation in September 1998 and Windows in 1999. [22] A Saturn version was also announced, [9] but never released. The game featured players which were motion captured from real tennis players and commentary by Sue Barker and Barry Davies. [9] The game received a score of 8/10 from PC Gaming World . [23]

Actua Pool (1999)

Actua Pool was developed by Gremlin for PlayStation and Windows in 1999. The game was also released under the name Pool Shark. A sequel was developed in Europe in 2004 for the PlayStation 2 and Windows under the name Pool Shark 2 by Blade Interactive. It was not a part of the Actua series as the series had ended years prior, and Gremlin had closed. In 2007, a port of Actua Pool was released for the Nintendo DS, named Underground Pool in North America.

Actua Poker (cancelled)

On 1 February 2013, Ian Stewart's new publisher Urbanscan announced plans to create Actua Poker as a free Facebook-based browser game that would intend to start a new revived lineup of Actua Sports titles. [24] [25] The project was backed through Kickstarter but two weeks following the initial announcement the project was withdrawn from the site, with the Actua Sports Facebook page confirming that investors were interested in the project and had fully backed it up ready for its launch in the spring. [26] Despite the release window, the title never saw any additional announcements and was never released.

Related Research Articles

<i>Virtua Tennis</i> (video game) 1999 sports video game

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<i>Premier Manager</i> Association football management simulation video game series

Premier Manager is a series of a football management simulation video games started in 1992. Published by Gremlin Interactive, it was first developed by Realms of Fantasy, later passed to Spanish company Dinamic Multimedia. The later games were later published and developed by Zoo Digital Publishing, who bought the rights from Infogrames and hired some members of the original Gremlin staff. The latest releases in the series were developed by Urbanscan Limited, a company established by Gremlin founder Ian Stewart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gremlin Interactive</span> British software developer

Gremlin Graphics Software Limited, later Gremlin Interactive Limited and ultimately Infogrames Studios Limited, was a British software house based in Sheffield, working mostly in the home computer market. Like many software houses established in the 1980s, their primary market was the 8-bit range of computers such as the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Commodore 16 and Commodore 64. The company was acquired by French video game publisher Infogrames in 1999 and was renamed Infogrames Studios in 2000. Infogrames Studios closed down in 2003.

<i>Sega Worldwide Soccer 97</i> 1996 video game

Sega Worldwide Soccer 97 is a football video game by Sega released for the Sega Saturn in 1996. It was followed by three more titles: Sega Worldwide Soccer '98 still on the Saturn and two editions of Sega Worldwide Soccer 2000, the second being Sega Worldwide Soccer 2000 Euro Edition for the Dreamcast.

<i>Actua Soccer</i> 1995 video game

Actua Soccer is a sports video game developed and published by Gremlin Interactive for MS-DOS, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn.

The UEFA European Championship has its own video games licensed from European football's governing body, UEFA. Eight games have been released so far, with the first game released in 1992. Originally held by TecMagik, it was then held by Gremlin Interactive in 1996, EA Sports from 2000 until 2012. Konami had the rights for 2016 and 2020. EA Sports have again had the rights since 2024.

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<i>Premier Manager: Ninety Nine</i> 1999 video game

Premier Manager: Ninety Nine is a football management simulation video game for PC, PlayStation, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo 64. It was released in Europe in 1999, and was developed by Dinamic Multimedia and published by Gremlin Interactive. It is part of the Premier Manager series and was endorsed by then England national football team manager Kevin Keegan.

<i>Premier Manager 3</i> 1994 video game

Premier Manager 3, also known as PM3, is a football management simulator video game for the Amiga and MS-DOS platforms. It was released in 1994 by Gremlin Interactive. The objective of the game is to manage a football club successfully within the top 5 divisions in the English football league system, starting from the 1994–95 football season. The game was re-released a year later to include updated teams and player details for the 1995–96 football season. Gremlin also released Premier Multi-Edit System, a software that allows the user to edit the statistics of football players and teams in Premier Manager 3 to their liking. Premier Manager 3 followed Premier Manager 2. There is an AGA version of Premier Manager 3 as well as a standard version for all Amigas.

<i>Actua Golf</i> 1996 video game

Actua Golf is a sports video game developed and published by Gremlin Interactive for PlayStation and Sega Saturn.

<i>Actua Golf 2</i> 1997 video game

Actua Golf 2 is a sports video game developed and published by Gremlin Interactive for PlayStation and Microsoft Windows. Development of the game was underway as of August 1997, and it was released in September 1997 in Europe, and in June 1998 in North America. A Sega Saturn version was planned, but eventually cancelled.

<i>Virtua Tennis 4</i> 2011 sports video game

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<i>Virtua Tennis</i> Video game series

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<i>PGA Tour 97</i> 1996 video game

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<i>Actua Soccer 2</i> 1997 video game

Actua Soccer 2 is a sports video game developed and published by Gremlin Interactive for PlayStation and Microsoft Windows.

<i>UEFA Euro 96 England</i> 1996 video game

UEFA Euro 96 England is an association football video game developed by Gremlin Interactive and published by Sega for MS-DOS and the Sega Saturn in 1996. The title is an officially licensed tie in with the football tournament of the same name.

<i>Premier Manager 2000</i> 2000 video game

Premier Manager 2000 is a football management simulation video game for PlayStation. It was released only in Europe in 2000 and was developed by Infogrames Sheffield House and published by Infogrames. It is part of the Premier Manager series.

<i>Premier Manager 98</i> 1997 video game

Premier Manager 98 is a football management simulation video game released for the PC in 1997 and the PlayStation the following year. It was developed by Dinamic Multimedia and published by Gremlin Interactive. It is the fifth game in the Premier Manager series.

References

  1. ↑ "The Essential 50 Part 35: Virtua Fighter". 1UP.com . archive.is. Archived from the original on 2012-07-19. Retrieved 2018-01-08.
  2. ↑ "Investegate |Zoo Digital Group Announcements | Zoo Digital Group: Acquisition".
  3. ↑ Thomas, Aarud (2005-01-01). "Actua Soccer History" Actua Soccer History". Archived from the original on 2007-08-20. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  4. ↑ Hiranand, Ravi (1999-07-07). "Premier Manager 64 IGN preview". IGN . News Corporation . Retrieved 2018-01-08.
  5. ↑ Gallup UK Playstation sales chart, May 1996, published in Official UK PlayStation Magazine issue 6
  6. ↑ "Adidas Power Soccer: Extended Play". Maximum: The Video Game Magazine (6). Emap International Limited: 25. May 1996. Both games went on to become massive sellers, with FIFA storming the Christmas charts and Actua going on to become the third fastest-selling CD game in history...
  7. ↑ "Actua Soccer: Fantastic Football Action with Next-Gen Graphics!!". Maximum: The Video Game Magazine (2). Emap International Limited: 134. November 1995.
  8. ↑ "Newest Soccer Contender Fields a Strong Team". GamePro . No. 92. IDG. May 1996. p. 76.
  9. 1 2 3 Yeo, Matt (August 1997). "Actua Sports". Sega Saturn Magazine . No. 22. Emap International Limited. pp. 24–26. Retrieved November 25, 2018.
  10. ↑ Perrett, Dave (January 1998). "Preplay: Actua Soccer 3". PlayStation Official Magazine – UK (Football Special). Future Publishing: 41.
  11. ↑ "Team EGM Box Scores: VR Golf". Electronic Gaming Monthly . No. 88. Ziff Davis. November 1996. p. 277.
  12. ↑ "VR Golf '97". GamePro . No. 99. IDG. December 1996. p. 181.
  13. ↑ Allsetter, Rob (October 1996). "Review: Actua Golf". Sega Saturn Magazine . No. 12. Emap International Limited. pp. 68–69.
  14. ↑ "VR Golf '97". GamePro . No. 102. IDG. March 1997. p. 92.
  15. ↑ "Actua Golf 2 for PC". GameRankings . CBS Interactive . Retrieved 2018-01-08.
  16. ↑ "Actua Golf 2 for PlayStation". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2018-01-08.
  17. ↑ "Actua Golf 3". Gremlin Interactive . Archived from the original on 28 January 1999. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  18. ↑ "Actua Golf 3 for PlayStation". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2018-01-08.
  19. 1 2 "Gremlin on par with European PGA License". 2 February 1999.
  20. ↑ "Armadillo Eats Gremlin". 25 March 1999.
  21. ↑ "PGA European Tour". 13 October 1999.
  22. ↑ "Actua Tennis". Gremlin Interactive . Archived from the original on 27 April 1999. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  23. ↑ Bacon, Elvis (November 17, 1998). "Actua Tennis Review". PC Gaming World . Archived from the original on January 23, 2001.
  24. ↑ "Actua Sports series reborn: Gremlin founder announces Actua Poker Kickstarter campaign". February 2013.
  25. ↑ "Gremlin founder to revive Actua brand". Digital Spy . February 2013.
  26. ↑ "Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
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