Related Research Articles
BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, alongside Trent Oster, Brent Oster, and Marcel Zeschuk. Since 2007, the company has been owned by American publisher Electronic Arts.
Neverwinter Nights is a third-person role-playing video game developed by BioWare. Interplay Entertainment was originally set to publish the game, but financial difficulties led to it being taken over by Infogrames, who released the game under their Atari range of titles. It was released for Microsoft Windows on June 18, 2002. BioWare later released a Linux client in June 2003, requiring a purchased copy of the game to play. MacSoft released a Mac OS X port in August 2003.
Looking Glass Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was founded by Paul Neurath with Ned Lerner as Blue Sky Productions in 1990, and merged with Lerner's Lerner Research in 1992 to become LookingGlass Technologies. Between 1997 and 1999, the company was part of AverStar, where it was renamed Looking Glass Studios. Following financial issues at Looking Glass, the studio shut down in May 2000. Notable productions by Looking Glass include the Ultima Underworld, System Shock and Thief series.
Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Irvine, California. It was founded in June 2003, shortly before the closure of Black Isle Studios, by ex-Black Isle employees Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, and Chris Jones.
Minsc is a fictional character in the Baldur's Gate series of Dungeons & Dragons role-playing video games developed by BioWare. He originated from the pen-and-paper Dungeons & Dragons sessions held by the lead designer of Baldur's Gate, James Ohlen, and was expanded upon by the game's lead writer, Lukas Kristjanson. His video game debut was in Baldur's Gate as a companion character who can join the player's party. He also appears in the sequel, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, the expansion, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, and the 2015 game Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear, as well as in promotions relating to the titles. Minsc is voiced by Jim Cummings in his video game appearances.
Neverwinter Nights 2 is a role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari. It is the sequel to BioWare's Neverwinter Nights, based on the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy tabletop role-playing game. Neverwinter Nights 2 utilizes an adaptation of the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition rules. Players create player characters to represent themselves in the game, using the same character creation rules as found in the Dungeons & Dragons game. They may gain the assistance of additional party members, and they eventually acquire a keep that can be used as a base of operations. Neverwinter Nights 2 is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting—in and around the city of Neverwinter. The story is mostly unrelated to Neverwinter Nights and follows the journey of an orphaned adventurer investigating a group of mysterious artifacts known as "silver shards" and their connection to an ancient, evil spirit known as the King of Shadows.
MacSoft was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1993 by Peter Tamte as subsidiary of WizardWorks, specializing in the production of video game ports from Microsoft Windows to Macintosh operating systems, as well as productivity software. In 1996, WizardWorks was acquired by GT Interactive, with WizardWorks and MacSoft split into different operationals. On January 30, 2003, MacSoft was acquired by Destineer, and founder Peter Tamte again became the company's director.
Raymond Alexander Muzyka is a Canadian investor, entrepreneur and physician. Originally trained as a medical doctor and practicing as an emergency department and family physician after graduation, he is the co-founder of video game developer BioWare, and was CEO, senior vice president, and general manager of the BioWare label of Electronic Arts. In October 2012 he announced that he was embarking on a 'third career' mentoring and angel investing in technology, new media, medical and social entrepreneurs, and impact investing at ThresholdImpact.
Gregory Zeschuk is a former VP at Electronic Arts and General Manager at BioWare Austin. He co-founded video game developer BioWare in Edmonton in 1995 with Ray Muzyka and Augustine Yip, after all three earned their medical degrees from the University of Alberta. Zeschuk announced his retirement from BioWare on September 18, 2012. He is currently involved in a number of projects related to the craft-beer industry, including the production of a web-based interview show known as "The Beer Diaries." Greg is also the chairman of the board of the smart playground technology startup, Biba Ventures based in Vancouver, BC.
Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide is an expansion pack for Neverwinter Nights developed by Floodgate Entertainment and BioWare, and was released in June 2003. The expansion pack adds a new campaign and new features including new character classes, creatures, feats, and spells, and other nuances such as allowing the player to access and modify their henchman's inventory. The Windows version also included scripting options for the Aurora toolkit.
Drew Karpyshyn is a Canadian video game scenario writer, scriptwriter and novelist. He served as a senior writer for BioWare's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and lead writer for the first two Mass Effect video games. He left BioWare in 2012 to focus on his Chaos Born novels, and returned to it three years later in 2015. On March 9, 2018, he announced he was leaving BioWare once again to pursue his independent work.
Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark is an expansion pack for the role-playing video game Neverwinter Nights produced by BioWare and published by Atari. The follow-up to the Shadows of Undrentide expansion, Hordes of the Underdark adds a campaign, prestige classes, and other features. The Windows version also includes new scripting options for the Aurora toolkit.
James Ohlen is a video game designer. He was Senior Creative Director of BioWare where he worked for 22 years prior to starting the publishing company Arcanum Worlds in 2018. In 2019, Ohlen became the lead of a new internal development studio Archetype Entertainment under Wizards of the Coast to develop new intellectual property and video games for the company.
Neverwinter Nights: Kingmaker is an expansion pack released for BioWare's Neverwinter Nights which includes three premium modules: Kingmaker, Shadowguard, and Witch's Wake. Released in November, 2004, Kingmaker won the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences "PC RPG of the Year" award for Computer Role Playing Game of the Year for 2005.
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate (NWN2:MoW) is an expansion pack for the role-playing video game Neverwinter Nights 2. It was developed by Ossian Studios and published by Atari on April 29, 2009. The player creates a character and controls it, along with a group of three pre-designed companions, journeying through the game world. The gameplay is very similar to that of the base game. Mysteries of Westgate also includes new monsters, music, and other tools, which can be used by players to create their own Neverwinter Nights 2 levels.
Darkness over Daggerford is a premium module for BioWare's Neverwinter Nights role-playing video game. It was released for digital distribution on August 16, 2006. Considered a user-made mod, the game was created by Canadian company Ossian Studios, headed by former BioWare employee Alan Miranda.
Alan Miranda is an American computer game designer.
Ossian Studios Inc. is a developer of role-playing games for the Neverwinter Nights and Neverwinter Nights 2 franchise of PC games.
David Gaider is a Canadian Narrative Designer and writer. He was the lead writer and creator of the setting for the role-playing video game series Dragon Age.
References
- ↑ "About Floodgate". Floodgate Entertainment. Retrieved March 24, 2009.
- 1 2 "BioWare and ATARI announce Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide". BioWare. November 27, 2002. Archived from the original on July 20, 2008. Retrieved March 24, 2009.
- ↑ "Dark Messiah of Might and Magic". Floodgate Entertainment. Retrieved March 24, 2009.
- ↑ "Mo-Pets will host cat, dog, ferret and monkey talent shows on US phones". Sony BMG. November 2, 2006. Archived from the original on December 31, 2008. Retrieved March 24, 2009.
- ↑ "Zynga acquires Floodgate Entertainment".
 | This United States video game corporation or company article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |