Shiny Entertainment
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Shiny Entertainment is a video game developer based in Newport Beach, CA, and is the creator of several hits such as Earthworm Jim and Enter The Matrix. Shiny was founded by David Perry in 1993 and is currently a division of Atari, Inc. The name 'Shiny' was conceived after having the R.E.M. track Shiny Happy People on loop during the development of Aladdin for Virgin Interactive.
Perry, already an experienced developer, established Shiny Entertainment two years after leaving London for the United States. After showing the early prototypes of what would become Earthworm Jim, Shiny signed a publishing deal with Playmates Interactive Entertainment. The game, released a year later, was an immediate hit and received several Game of the Year awards. The game spawned numerous sequels on various video game platforms.
Shiny was acquired by Interplay in 1995, and released MDK in 1997 (whose 6-man team split off from Shiny shortly thereafter to form Planet Moon Studios), Wild 9 in 1998, Messiah in 2000 and Sacrifice in 2000, the last of which garnered more than 45 industry awards.
In 2002, Shiny was acquired by Infogrames (which later changed its name to Atari), for $47 million. The following year, Shiny released Enter The Matrix, a video game designed as an integral part of the films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, the sequels to the 1999 film, The Matrix. Buoyed by its unique appeal as being part of the film trilogy, Enter The Matrix was one of the top-selling games of the year, eventually selling nearly 6 million units worldwide. However, it was also critically panned for being unpolished and extremely buggy.
Shiny's most recent release was on November 8th, 2005.
The studio is currently up for sale by Atari. Perry has resigned from the company to attract potential buyers and will rejoin the company when it has been sold.
External links
- [Shiny Entertainment official website]
- [Shiny Entertainment] profile at MobyGames
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