A handheld TV game or plug and play game is an integrated home video game console and game controller, usually battery powered, which connects directly to a television. The game software is built directly into the unit, which is typically designed to look like a toy or classic game console controller with the addition of a composite video cable to connect the unit. These systems usually contain either a collection of classic games or original games based on licensed properties. Because the game software is integrated into the game unit and almost never designed to be changed by the user, these game systems are typically marketed as electronic toys or collectibles rather than game consoles.
Paul Reiche III is an American game designer. His career started in the pen and paper RPG industry, where he collaborated with artist Erol Otus on games such as Dungeons & Dragons and Gamma World. He then transitioned into video games, working with Jon Freeman to establish Free Fall Associates and developed titles like Mail Order Monsters, World Tour Golf, and Archon. Later, he left Free Fall to establish Toys for Bob with Fred Ford. Their first collaboration resulted in Star Control. After a successful sequel, they declined to make a third installment, instead focusing on other projects including the successful Skylanders franchise.
The EyeToy is a color webcam for use with the PlayStation 2. Supported games use computer vision and gesture recognition to process images taken by the EyeToy. This allows players to interact with the games using motion, color detection, and also sound, through its built-in microphone. It was released in 2003.
Warthog Games Limited, or Warthog plc, was a British video game developer, located in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, with studios in Sweden and the United States.
Radica Games Limited was a Hong Kong company that produced electronic games, founded in 1983. It began by producing electronic souvenir games for casinos. In the late 1990s, it became known for its Bass Fishin line of games. On October 3, 2006, Mattel, Inc. announced the completion of their acquisition of Radica. While Radica produced electronic handheld games based on casino or card games, it has branched out into toys, board games, and video game accessories.
Child's Play is a charitable organization that donates toys and games to children's hospitals worldwide. It was founded in 2003 by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, authors of the popular video games-related webcomic Penny Arcade. The charity is seen as a way to refute mainstream media's perception of gamers as violent and antisocial. As of 2022, Child's Play had processed over $55,147,529.24 in donations since its inception.
The Gizmondo is a handheld gaming console developed by Tiger Telematics. It was released in the UK, Sweden and the U.S. starting in March 2005. Its first-party games were developed in studios in Helsingborg, Sweden, and Manchester, England. Gizmondo Europe, Ltd. was based in London, England, and was a subsidiary of Florida-based Tiger Telematics, whose chairman Carl Freer led Gizmondo's development.
Tiger Telematics, or Tiger, was a Swedish electronics company, best known for the failed Gizmondo handheld game console.
Richard Burns Rally is a sim racing game, published by SCi and developed by Warthog with advice of WRC champion Richard Burns (1971–2005).
Future Tactics: The Uprising is a turn based tactical shooter video game by Zed Two. Once known as Pillage, this turn based shooter was stuck in development for a number of years before being picked up by Crave for a US release, followed shortly by JoWood for a European release. It plays similarly to the Worms 3D games and has a story penned by Paul Rose. The game features a geo-mod system in which almost anything can be destroyed, leaving battlefields scarred by craters. It was released on PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube and Windows.
Kuju Entertainment Ltd. is a British video game developer. The original company was Simis, formed in 1989 and purchased by Eidos Interactive in 1995. Kuju was formed in 1998 in Shalford, Surrey, England, after a management buyout of Simis from Eidos.
Carl Johan Freer is a Swedish businessman and technology entrepreneur primarily known for founding the American company Tiger Telematics, which created the handheld game console Gizmondo. Freer is also the founder of Singapore-based medical-device company, Aluminaid and co-author of several patents.
Gator Golf is a children's miniature golfing game. It was released in 1994 by the American game company Milton Bradley. In the game, children take turns putting into the mouth of a motorized plastic alligator figure, which then flings the ball off its tail and spins around, creating a new challenge for the next player. Gator Golf's commercial tag line was "Gator Golf - what could be greater than playing a game of golf with a gator?" It was released again in 2008, then in 2009 under the "Elefun and Friends" banner. It was then re-released in 2019 by Goliath Games. The game was then re-released again in 2020 by Toy City in the UK and its name was "Gator Golfers".
Sticky Balls is an action puzzle game published by Gizmondo Studios and developed in Manchester and designed by John and Ste Pickford in 2005 for Gizmondo, and later ported to iOS in 2014.
Crocodile Dentist is a game made for young children, first published by Milton Bradley in 1990. A smaller travel version of the game was released in 1993 and is currently being produced by Winning Moves. The game was conceived by Robert B. Fuhrer, who later created Gator Golf, and many other toys and games.
Zoë Mode was a subsidiary studio of Kuju Entertainment based in Brighton, England. Zoë Mode's games portfolio covered a variety of genres and comprised big-brand entertainment, original social games and innovative gameplay use of motion capture technologies such as the PlayStation EyeToy and Xbox 360 Kinect. They developed EyeToy: Play, SingStar, Disney Sing It and Zumba franchises in music and party games. Zoë Mode was also known for creating Crush, Chime and Haunt.
Exient Entertainment is a video game developer and publisher based in the United Kingdom and Malta. Developing for handheld, mobile, console, VR and PC platforms, Exient grew a name for designing and developing popular series' games to portable systems. It is known for its ports of various games in the Madden NFL, FIFA, Need for Speed, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour series for Electronic Arts and for developing numerous titles in the Angry Birds series. The company was incorporated in 2000 and began operations in January 2001.
Fathammer was a video game publisher and developer based in Finland. They have developed 3 D game SDK, X-Forge, which was provided to Nokia N-gage cell phones, the Tapwave Zodiac, and also the Gizmondo. Fathammer's publishing business was acquired by Telcogames in June 2006, and X-Forge game development environment developed by Fathammer was sold to Acrodea in Japan. Fathammer's largest owners were the investment companies 3i and Nexit Ventures. The Finnish Independence Fund Sitra also invested more than EUR 1 million in the company, which had offices in Helsinki and Seoul, Korea.
Hockey Rage 2005 is a hockey game for the Nokia N-Gage and Gizmondo handheld game console. The game features Bluetooth two player option.
