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. There have been eleven different versions of the game since 1997. Some of the game titles that were created include Backyard Baseball, Backyard Baseball 2001-2010, and Backyard Sports: Sandlot Sluggers.
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 platforms in 2001. Additional games have been released on a variety of consoles, each sporting different characters and slightly altered gameplay mechanics.
Cavedog Entertainment was a PC game developer and publisher based in Bothell, Washington. Founded in 1995 as a division of edutainment game developer Humongous Entertainment, Cavedog was known for the 1997 release of Total Annihilation—which won several accolades, such as multiple Game of the Year honors—considered one of the "greatest games of all time" in 2004 by GameSpot.
Madden NFL is an American football sports video game series developed by EA Orlando for EA Sports. The franchise, named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden, has sold more than 130 million copies as of 2018. From 2004 until 2022, it was the only officially licensed National Football League (NFL) video game series, and has influenced many players and coaches of the physical sport. Among the series' features are detailed playbooks and player statistics and voice commentary in the style of a real NFL television broadcast. As of 2013 the franchise has generated over $4 billion in sales, making it one of the most profitable video game franchises on the market.
A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with video games, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize playing the sport, whilst others emphasize strategy and sport management. Some, such as Need for Speed, Arch Rivals and Punch-Out!!, satirize the sport for comic effect. This genre has been popular throughout the history of video games and is competitive, just like real-world sports. A number of game series feature the names and characteristics of real teams and players, and are updated annually to reflect real-world changes. The sports genre is one of the oldest genres in gaming history.
EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) with pictures or endorsements, it soon grew up to become a sub-label on its own, releasing game series such as EA Sports FC, PGA Tour, NHL, NBA Live, and Madden NFL.
Accolade, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher based in San Jose, California. The company was founded as Accolade in 1984 by Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead, who had previously co-founded Activision in 1979. The company became known for numerous sports game series, including HardBall!, Jack Nicklaus and Test Drive.
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.
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.
Spy Fox is a software gaming series from Humongous Entertainment starring a fictional anthropomorphic fox of the same name, intended for children 8 and up. The series follows the eponymous character, an anthropomorphic fox and secret agent tasked with stopping global crises. Many of the game's names and plot elements are spoofs of the James Bond and Get Smart series.
EA Sports College Football is an American football video game series developed by EA Sports in which players control and compete against current Division I FBS college teams. It served as a college football counterpart to the Madden NFL series. The series began in 1993 with the release of Bill Walsh College Football. EA eventually acquired the licensing rights to the NCAA name and officially rechristened the series with the release of NCAA Football 98.
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 and Spy Fox, which, combined, sold over 15 million copies and earned more than 400 awards of excellence.
Backyard Soccer, known in Europe as Backyard Football (PC) or Junior Sports Football (PlayStation) and in Australia as Junior Sports Soccer, is a children's association football video game developed and published by Humongous Entertainment; Infogrames published the PlayStation version. It is the second game in the Backyard Sports series, following Backyard Baseball. It was first released on September 26, 1998, for Macintosh and Microsoft Windows, in 2001 for the PlayStation, and in 2008 for iOS. The PC and PlayStation versions of the game, alongside the PlayStation 2 version of Backyard Basketball, were the only Backyard Sports titles released in Europe.
Atari, Inc. is an American subsidiary and publishing arm of Atari SA. Formed in 1993 as GT Interactive Software Corp., the video game publishing arm of GoodTimes Home Video, the company was subsequently majority acquired by Infogrames in 1999, and later renamed to Infogrames, Inc. As part of Infogrames's company-wide re-branding following its 2001 acquisition of Hasbro Interactive, which owned the rights to the Atari brand, Infogrames, Inc. became known as Atari, Inc. in May 2003. On October 11, 2008, Infogrames completed its acquisition of Atari, Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary.
Atari SA is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Once one of the largest video game companies in the world through an acquisition policy under Infogrames, Atari SA dealt with continuing pressures and difficulty finding investors which led to the company seeking bankruptcy protection under French law in January 2013 while subsidiaries in the United States sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as well. Since 2020, the company has seen a turnaround with a new focus on dealing with re-releases of older titles and the acquisition of companies that deal with the re-release of mainly abandonware video games.
Dexter Manley is an American commercial and video game voice actor. He has worked on 300 commercials and 25 video games. He worked extensively for Nintendo, providing voices for many Mario and Donkey Kong games; and for Microsoft, Boeing Company, Alaska Airlines, and others. Manley has also lent his voice twice to the Star Fox series, voicing ROB 64 in Star Fox: Assault. He appeared as a host on 2005 SIGGRAPH meeting, where he discussed voice acting topics. He is the president of Tenacious Media, media and marketing company operating in Seattle, Washington, and is also a film actor, usually filming in independent films.
Travis Michael Kelce is an American professional football player who is a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Chiefs in the third round of the 2013 NFL draft and later won Super Bowls LIV, LVII, and LVIII with the team. He played college football for the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Backyard Hockey is an ice hockey video game series created by Humongous Entertainment and Mistic Software that was published by Atari and Infogrames. It was first released in October 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 and final installment on Nintendo DS is regarded to be the first hockey video game released in North America for such platform.
RealSports is a series of sports video games originally developed and published Atari, Inc. The first games were released in 1982 for the Atari 2600, then the series expanded to the Atari 5200, Atari 7800, and Atari 8-bit computers. By the early 1980s, Atari's initial sports releases for the VCS — Home Run and Football — were dated in terms of visuals and gameplay, and targeted by an Intellivision ad campaign from Mattel. The RealSports series was an attempt by Atari to revitalize the sports game lineup for their consoles.
