Carlos Alberto Valderrama Palacio, also known as "El Pibe", is a Colombian former professional footballer and sports commentator for Fútbol de Primera, who played as an attacking midfielder. Valderrama is considered by many to be one of the greatest South American players in history and one of the best players of his era. In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.
Backyard Sports is a video game series released for consoles, computers, and mobile devices created by Humongous Entertainment. The series is best known for starring a diverse cast of fictional children as well as child versions of famous professional sports athletes, such as Albert Pujols, Paul Pierce, Barry Bonds, Tim Duncan, Clint Mathis, Kevin Garnett, Tom Brady, David Ortiz, Joe Thornton, and Andy Macdonald. The Backyard Sports series was previously licensed by the five major professional American sports leagues: Major League Baseball (MLB), Major League Soccer (MLS), the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL), as well as their affiliated players associations. The series has changed ownership and developers several times since Humongous's 2005 closure; it is currently owned by a dedicated company called Backyard Sports LLC, which bought the series' rights in 2021. Playground Productions is the series' current publisher, having rebooted the series in 2024.
Backyard Baseball is a series of baseball video games for children which was originally developed by Humongous Entertainment. It was first released in October 1997 for Macintosh and Microsoft Windows. Later games were featured on Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Wii, and iOS. It is part of the Backyard Sports series, of which this series serves as its first sub-series.
Backyard Basketball is a series of entries into the Backyard Sports franchise of video games. The first game was developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Infogrames for Microsoft Windows and Mac in 2001. Additional games have been released on a variety of consoles, each with different characters and slightly altered gameplay mechanics.
FIFA is a discontinued football video game franchise developed by EA Vancouver and EA Romania and published by EA Sports. As of 2011, the FIFA franchise has been localized into 18 languages and available in 51 countries. Listed in Guinness World Records as the best-selling sports video game franchise in the world, the FIFA series has sold over 325 million copies as of 2021. On 10 May 2022, it was announced that EA and FIFA's partnership of 30 years would come to an end upon the termination of their licensing agreement, making FIFA 23 the last entry to the franchise under the FIFA name. As a successor to the FIFA series, EA launched the EA Sports FC franchise, with EA Sports FC 24 being the first installment under the new name.
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 play on Sega's line of "Virtua" titled games, which included Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing and Virtua Striker.
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.
ISS Pro Evolution 2 is the fourth video game in the ISS Pro series and the second installment of the ISS Pro Evolution series, developed exclusively for the PlayStation by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, a division of Konami it was available in Europe and Japan but not available in North America due to the previously released enhanced remake version of the previous entry in the series, ISS Pro Evolution, retitled ESPN MLS GameNight with MLS licenses.
Hogs of War is a 2000 turn-based tactics video game developed by Infogrames Sheffield House and published by Infogrames for the PlayStation and Microsoft Windows. The game is set in the First World War-era where anthropomorphic pigs engage in combat. Hogs of War features 3D graphics and both a single-player career mode and offline multiplayer, with voice artistry by British comedic actors Rik Mayall and Marc Silk.
Backyard Soccer MLS Edition is a children's soccer video game developed by Humongous Entertainment and released in 2000 as part of the Backyard Sports series. It is the second game in the Backyard Soccer subseries and the fifth Backyard Sports title overall. Unlike the first Backyard Soccer, this game features Major League Soccer (MLS) teams and players, as well as three women from the United States women's national soccer team that won the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, the first time that female professional athletes were represented in the Backyard Sports series. Aimed at children ages 5 to 10, the game includes international soccer players such as the Dallas Burn's Jason Kreis and female player Brandi Chastain, but with the added twist that all the MLS and USWNT players are drawn as child caricatures in the game. The game was released for the Macintosh and Windows platforms. A planned release for the Game Boy Color was cancelled. In 2003, a third Backyard Soccer title called Backyard Soccer 2004 was released.
Backyard Football is a series of video games for various systems. The series was developed by Humongous Entertainment and published by Infogrames, Atari, and The Evergreen Group. It is one of several sub-series in the Backyard Sports franchise and is the first to feature professional players as kids, examples being Steve Young and Barry Sanders. The series currently has eleven titles.
Humongous Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Bothell, Washington. Founded in 1992, the company developed multiple edutainment franchises, most prominently Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish, Pajama Sam, Spy Fox, and Backyard Sports, which, combined, sold over 15 million copies and earned more than 400 awards of excellence.
Microsoft International Soccer 2000 is a sports game developed by Rage Software and published by Microsoft. It was released in 1999 for Windows. The player takes the role of manager of an international football team in a competition such as the FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Football Championship. The game was developed in conjunction with several football coaches, and released in the United States for $20. Reception of the game was generally positive. Its graphics were rated highest, though reviewers also enjoyed the simplicity of play. However, gameplay aspects such as AI earned a mixed response.
eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer, known as eFootball Winning Eleven in Japan, was a series of association football simulation video games developed by Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. and published by Konami.
NFL Quarterback Club 97 is an American football video game released in 1996. The game was released on the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and DOS systems. The game was also released in Japan on the Saturn. The game's cover features former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino.
Backyard Hockey is an ice hockey video game series created by Humongous Entertainment and Mistic Software that was published by Infogrames/Atari. It was first released in 2002 for Microsoft Windows. Additional titles were released for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. A total of four Backyard Hockey games have been released, and these include the original Backyard Hockey, Backyard Hockey 2005, Backyard Hockey for Game Boy Advance, and Backyard Hockey for Nintendo DS. The original and updated computer releases of Backyard Hockey were developed solely by Humongous Entertainment, but the two Hockey games for Nintendo handhelds were co-developed with Mistic Software. The fourth installment on Nintendo DS is regarded to be the first hockey video game released in North America for such platform. A remastered version of the original Backyard Hockey entitled Backyard Hockey '02 is planned to release on Steam; Mega Cat Studios is the remaster's developer, with Playground Productions as the publisher.
Mega Cat Studios is an American video game development and publishing company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 2015 by James Deighan, Nick Mann, and Zack Manko.
Backyard Baseball is a baseball video game developed and published by Humongous Entertainment. It is the first video game released for the Backyard Sports franchise and the long-running Backyard Baseball series. The game was released on a hybrid Windows and Macintosh CD-ROM on October 10, 1997.
Backyard Baseball 2001 is a baseball video game developed and published by Humongous Entertainment. It is the fourth installment of the Backyard Sports franchise, the second installment of the Backyard Baseball series, and the first Baseball installment to include Major League Baseball teams and a MLBPA license. A remastered version of this game, retitled as Backyard Baseball '01, is planned to release for Windows via Steam in the future, following Backyard Baseball '97. Cal Ripken Jr. appears on the game's cover, along with other fictional characters.
