Starfire Soccer Challenge | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Purple Moon |
Release | 1998 |
Starfire Soccer Challenge is a video game by Purple Moon, released in November 1998. [1]
The game sees the player control an all-girls soccer team. The game sees a continuation of the characters from Rockett's New School and Secret Paths . [2]
The game's pioneering design was, like other Purple Moon titles, built off of years of research. [2] [3] At the time, American women were close to winning the World Cup, and women's soccer had become important to the target market. [4] The research impacted both the plot and the user interface (UI) of the title. [4] It became the first sports CD-ROM designed for girls. [5] While boys' sports games have superstar athletes, this game was designed to have girl next door characters that the player could relate to. [5] Sarah Stocker served as the game's producer. [6]
The game received a more positive reception from feminists than Purple Moon's other games. [1] Brenda Laurel: Pioneering Games for Girls noted the game took a fresh take on the sports game. [2] The journal article Stuck on Screens: Patterns of Computer and Gaming Station Use in Youth Seen in a Psychiatric Clinic described the game as an "outstanding example of digital technology supporting positive emotional development". [7]
The game received a nomination for "PC Children's Entertainment Title of the Year" at the 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. [8]
Tiger Electronics Ltd. was an independent American toy manufacturer best known for its handheld electronic games, the Furby, the Talkboy, Giga Pets, the 2-XL robot, and audio games such as Brain Warp and the Brain Shift. When it was an independent company, Tiger Electronics Inc., its headquarters were in Vernon Hills, Illinois. It has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1998.
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.
FIFA 2000 is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts. It was the seventh game in the main FIFA series. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation. A version was also released for the Game Boy Color, developed by Tiertex Design Studios and published by THQ.
Labyrinth: The Computer Game is a 1986 graphic adventure game developed by Lucasfilm Games and published by Activision. Based on the fantasy film Labyrinth, it tasks the player with navigating a maze while solving puzzles and evading dangers. The player's goal is to find and defeat the main antagonist, Jareth, within 13 real-time hours. Unlike other adventure games of the period, Labyrinth does not feature a command-line interface. Instead, the player uses two scrolling "word wheel" menus on the screen to construct basic sentences.
Women in computing were among the first programmers in the early 20th century, and contributed substantially to the industry. As technology and practices altered, the role of women as programmers has changed, and the recorded history of the field has downplayed their achievements. Since the 18th century, women have developed scientific computations, including Nicole-Reine Lepaute's prediction of Halley's Comet, and Maria Mitchell's computation of the motion of Venus.
Brenda Laurel is an American interaction designer, video game designer, and researcher. She is an advocate for diversity and inclusiveness in video games, a "pioneer in developing virtual reality", a public speaker, and an academic.
Michael Owen's WLS 2000 is an association football video game developed by Silicon Dreams Studio and published by THQ for the Nintendo 64. Released on 10 November 2000, the game stars English footballer Michael Owen.
Purple Moon was an American developer of girls' video games based in Mountain View, California. Its games were targeted at girls between the ages of 8 and 14. The company was founded by Brenda Laurel and others, and supported by Interval Research. They debuted their first two games, Rockett's New School and Secret Paths in the Forest, in 1997. Both games were more or less visual novels and encouraged values like friendship and decision making. Purple Moon's games were part of a larger girl games movement in the 1990s, initiated largely by the surprise success of Mattel's 1996 CD-ROM game Barbie Fashion Designer.
Mattel Interactive was a video game publisher and software distributor.
The American Girls Premiere is an educational computer game developed and published by The Learning Company for American Girl. The game allows players to create theatrical productions featuring characters from American Girl's Historical collection, along with scenes and other elements unique to each of the girls' respective time periods.
Massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game (MMORTS) mixes the genres of real-time strategy and massively multiplayer online games, possibly in the form of web browser-based games, in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual world. Players often assume the role of a general, king, or other type of figurehead leading an army into battle while maintaining the resources needed for such warfare. The titles are often based in a sci-fi or fantasy universe and are distinguished from single or small-scale multiplayer RTSes by the number of players and common use of a persistent world, generally hosted by the game's publisher, which continues to evolve even when the player is offline.
Anastasia: Adventures with Pooka and Bartok is a Fox Interactive puzzle video game based on the 1997 animated film Anastasia. Released on November 25, 1997, it was produced by David Wisehart. Wisehart also served as voiceover director. The game had an estimated budget of US$800,000.
The Oregon Trail 3rd Edition is the second sequel to the 1985 edutainment video game The Oregon Trail after Oregon Trail II. It was developed by MECC and released in 1997.
The D.I.C.E. Awards is an awards show in the video game industry started in 1998 and commonly referred to in the industry as the video game equivalent of the Academy Awards. The awards are arranged by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) and held during the AIAS' annual D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas. "D.I.C.E." is a backronym for "Design Innovate Communicate Entertain". The D.I.C.E. Awards recognize games, individuals, and development teams that have contributed to the advancement of the multi-billion dollar worldwide entertainment software industry.
Madeline is a series of educational point-and-click adventure video games which were developed during the mid-1990s for Windows and Mac systems. The games are an extension of the Madeline series of children's books by Ludwig Bemelmans, which describe the adventures of a young French girl. The video-game series was produced concurrently with a TV series of the same name, with characters and voice actors from the show.
Barbie Fashion Designer is a dress-up computer game developed by Digital Domain and published by Mattel Media for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS in 1996. The game allows players to design clothing and style outfits. Players can then print off their designs and create clothing for their real-world Barbie dolls. Barbie Fashion Designer was the first commercially successful video game made for girls. After its success, many other girl games would be made, leading to the girls' games movement.
Let's Talk About Me is a 1995 girl-oriented activity centre video game developed by GirlGames Inc. and team smartyPants!, and published by Simon & Schuster Interactive. It was released on Macintosh, Windows, and Windows 3.x. A sequel entitled Let's Talk About Me Too was released in 1997.
Rockett's New School is a 1997 girl-oriented video game developed by Silicon Valley-based Purple Moon. It was directed by Brenda Laurel.
Secret Paths in the Forest is a video game developed by Purple Moon. The game was designed to be episodic, and spawned sequels entitled "Secret Paths to Your Dreams" and "Secret Paths to the Sea”, which were released under Mattel after its 1999 acquisition of Purple Moon.
Rugrats Adventure Game is an educational adventure point and click video game based on the Rugrats television series released for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh on September 30, 1998. It was developed and published by Broderbund. The game follows Tommy Pickles and friends Chuckie, Phil, and Lil as they try to rescue Tommy's beloved toy Reptar from being thrown out as garbage. The game incorporates point and click gameplay, with characters and objects appearing in different locations even after the player has visited them once. Angelica, the series' main antagonist, appears in the game to help further the story and ultimately become the game's main villain.