Vicious Cycle Software
 | |
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry |
Video game industry Interactive entertainment |
| Founded | Chapel Hill, North Carolina (2000) |
| Headquarters | Morrisville, North Carolina |
Key people |
Eric Peterson, Founder/President and CEO Wayne Harvey, Founder/VP/CTO Dave Ellis, Founder/Senior Game Designer |
| Products | Video games |
| Parent | Little Orbit |
| Website |
www |
Vicious Cycle Software is a video game development company based in Morrisville, North Carolina, United States.
History
Vicious Cycle was founded in 2000 by Eric Peterson, Dave Ellis, Marc Racine and Wayne Harvey after layoffs at the local MicroProse development studio (then a Hasbro Interactive studio) forced several game developers into finding other work. Racine resigned as Vice President and Director of Production in the Spring of 2005 to pursue other ventures. Ellis left the company in the Summer of 2000, but returned in 2005 to take a position as game designer. Vicious Cycle has released titles for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and PlayStation Portable systems as well as the Microsoft Windows platform.
In 2005, Vicious Cycle announced the opening of their Monkey Bar Games division. Monkey Bar Games is focused on providing mass-market games to gamers of all ages. Thus far, Monkey Bar Games has released video games incorporating licensed characters from Ben 10, Dora the Explorer, and Curious George. A game was also released in late 2006 to coincide with the release of the Flushed Away animated feature film.
Also in 2005, Vicious Cycle announced the release of their Vicious Engine game engine. The Vicious Engine is a complete game development middleware solution for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo GameCube, Wii and Microsoft Windows. The Vicious Engine is one of the first game engines to offer full support for the PSP and Wii platforms.
On June 20, 2007, Vicious Cycle was acquired by D3 Publisher, making Vicious Cycle Software a subsidiary of D3Publisher of America and a second‐tier subsidiary of D3 Inc.[1] Vicious Cycle released Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on February 26, 2009. On October 1, 2009, they announced Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond for Xbox LIVE Arcade and the PlayStation Store for winter 2009.[2]
The second version of the Vicious Engine, Ve2, was released on March 25, 2009 at the Game Developers Conference. It specifically features improvements for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.[3]
In Spring of 2014, Vicious Cycle was acquired by Little Orbit.[4]
Products
| Title | Year | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Robotech: Battlecry | 2002 | PS2, GameCube, and Xbox |
| Dinotopia: The Sunstone Odyssey | 2003 | GameCube and Xbox |
| Robotech: Invasion | 2004 | PS2 and Xbox |
| Spy vs. Spy | 2005 | PS2 and Xbox |
| Dora the Explorer: Journey to the Purple Planet | 2005 | PS2 and GameCube |
| Curious George | 2006 | PS2, GameCube, Xbox and Win |
| Flushed Away | 2006 | PS2 and GameCube |
| Marvel Trading Card Game | 2007 | PSP and Win |
| Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords | 2007 | PSP & XBLA |
| Dead Head Fred | 2007 | PSP |
| Ben 10: Alien Force | 2008 | Wii, PS2 and PSP |
| Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard | 2009 | Xbox 360 and PS3 |
| Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond | 2010 | XBLA and PSN |
| Despicable Me: The Game | 2010 | PS2, PSP and Wii |
| Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon | 2011 | Xbox 360, PS3 and Win |
| Ben 10: Galactic Racing | 2011 | Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PlayStation Vita and 3DS |
| Ben 10: Omniverse | 2012 | Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and Wii U |
| Adventure Time: Finn & Jake Investigations | 2015 | Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Win, Wii U and 3DS |
| Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends[5] | 2015 | Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Win, Wii U and 3DS |
References
- ↑ Press Release: D3 Inc. Acquires Vicious Cycle Software from D3 website
- ↑ Press Release Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond Coming to XBLA press release from TeamXbox.com
- ↑ http://games.ign.com/articles/958/958281p1.html Press Release
- ↑ "Little Orbit Acquires Vicious Cycle Software" (Press release). Little Orbit. September 4, 2014. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
The acquisition occurred in Spring of 2014...
- ↑ Little Orbit (May 4, 2015). "Little Orbit Kicks Off Totally Epic Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends Video Game" (Press release). PR Newswire iReach. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
External links
- Vicious Cycle Software official site
- Monkey Bar Games official site
- Vicious Engine official site
- Vicious Cycle Software entry at MobyGames