High Voltage Software

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High Voltage Software
Type Independent Game Developer
Founded 1993
Founder Kerry Ganofsky
Headquarters Hoffman Estates, Illinois, U.S.A.
Industry Interactive entertainment
Owner Kerry Ganofsky
Employees 130+
Website Official homepage

High Voltage Software (or "HVS") is a game development company located Illinois' Hoffman Estates. Established in 1993, it now employs approximately 130 staff members. Red Eye Studios, a motion capture facility, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of HVS.[1] Is known to develop many games, such as Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, Starfleet Academy and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Typically producing completely new and unrelated products back to back, "Inside Drive" and "Hunter" are the only products this decade to have seen sequels, and the company typically works with a number of different publishers as each project ends. The company's recently announced full-featured project The Conduit for the Wii console has been entirely self-funded and without a publisher at this time.

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[edit] Reception

Since launching in 1993, High Voltage Software has had a review average of 66% across all tracked products. Typically most interviews, screenshots, and videos, are handled by the publishers funding the development of the company's current games, with High Voltage Software employees remaining relatively behind the scenes.

Recent efforts have been made by High Voltage Software to generate buzz at media outlets like IGN [1], and Joystiq [2], around their upcoming Wii titles "The Conduit," "Animales de la Muerte," and "Gyrostarr." To help build anticipation and discussion by each outlet's community, High-Voltage has granted interviews, screenshots, and videos directly to the outlets willing to cover their upcoming self-funded Wii projects.

In recent interviews with IGN, Chief Creative Officer Eric Nofsinger commented on the state of graphics in today's Wii games "Most of the games on the Wii look like crap. We want to change that, so we've invested heavily in our Wii tech over the past year," and Founder Kerry Ganofsky was quoted as stating "We believe that third-party developers need to step up to the plate and deliver. The Wii platform is capable of a lot more than what consumers have seen so far. We're hoping to raise a new bar."[2]

CCO Eric Nofsinger also mentioned Florida attorney Jack Thompson in a recent interview. Nofsinger expressed his belief that Jack Thompson will have issues with the content in "Animales de la Muerte," specifically stating "I suspect Jack Thompson may have a thing or two to say about Animales de la Muerte. And let him say all he wants. That's the wonderful thing about First Amendment rights. It allows us creators to express ourselves while we entertain millions and it affords him the opportunity to prey off of the suffering of a few victims' families and espouse misinformed diatribes against artists and creators..." [3] To date, Jack Thompson has not made any comments related to Animales de la Muerte, and the content featured within Animales is planned to be drastically different than that which exists in the past and current Grand Theft Auto products.

[edit] Company layoff

After terminating thirty six employees in January of 2006, High Voltage Software reported to Gamasutra that the company had "right sized" their staff from 156 employees to 120. Post layoff, Founder Kerry Ganofsky stated to Gamasutra editors "High Voltage has long been one of the biggest and most established independent game developers, but we had grown to a size where our focus and quality was suffering. It’s imperative that we have the right people and the right critical awareness to make certain that we make great games." [4]

[edit] Games

Year Title Developers Publisher Platform Genre Average Score
2009 The Conduit HVS TBA Wii FPS TBD
2008 Animales de la Muerte HVS HVS Wii (WiiWare) Shooter TBD
2008 Gyrostarr HVS HVS Wii (WiiWare) Shooter TBD
2008 V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack HVS HVS Wii (WiiWare) Casino game 50% [5]
2008 Go, Diego, Go!: Safari Rescue HVS 2K Play PlayStation2, Wii Adventure TBD
2007 America's Army: True Soldiers HVS, Red Storm Entertainment UbiSoft Xbox 360 FPS 44% [6]
2007 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 HVS UbiSoft PSP Shooter 63% [7]
2007 Ben 10: Protector of Earth HVS (Wii, PS2, and PSP), 1st Playable Productions (NDS) D3 Publisher PlayStation 2, Wii, PSP, Nintendo DS Action-adventure 58% [8]
2007 Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law HVS Capcom PlayStation 2, Wii, PSP Visual Novel 62% [9]
2006 Family Guy Video Game! HVS 2K Games, Fox Interactive Playstation 2, Xbox, PSP Adventure 50% [10]
2006 Blitz: Overtime HVS Midway PSP Sports 61% [11]
2006 The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy HVS Midway Games Nintendo GameCube, PS2, Game Boy Advance, Wii Fighting 60% [12]
2005 Codename: Kids Next Door - Operation: V.I.D.E.O.G.A.M.E. HVS Global Star Software GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2 Platformer 53% [13]
2005 Call of Duty 2: Big Red One HVS (Content Port) Activision GameCube FPS 79% [14]
2005 50 Cent: Bulletproof G Unit Edition HVS (PSP), Genuine Games Sierra Entertainment, Vivendi Games (PSP) PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox Action 54% [15]
2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory HVS Global Star Software PS2, Xbox, PC, GBA, GCN Action-adventure 39% [16]
2005 Zathura HVS Take 2 PS2, Xbox Action-adventure 45% [17]
2004 Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude HVS Sierra Entertainment PlayStation 2, PC, Xbox Adventure 61% [18]
2004 Duel Masters HVS Atari PlayStation 2 CCG Video Game 65% [19]
2003 The Haunted Mansion HVS TDK Action-adventure 69% [20]
2003 NBA Inside Drive 2004 HVS Microsoft Sports 75% [21]
2003 Hunter: The Reckoning: Redeemer HVS Interplay Xbox Action, Hack and slash 73% [22]
2003 Hunter: The Reckoning: Wayward HVS Interplay PlayStation 2 Action, Hack and slash 68% [23]
2002 Hunter: The Reckoning HVS Interplay Xbox, GameCube Action, Hack and slash 72% [24]
2002 Disney's Stitch: Experiment 626 HVS Disney Interactive PlayStation 2 Action 63% [25]
2002 NBA Inside Drive 2002 HVS Microsoft Sports 78% [26]
2002 Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction HVS Ubisoft PC Vehicular Combat N/A
2002 Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance HVS (Content Port) Interplay GameCube RPG 79% [27]
2000 NFL Quarterback Club 2001 HVS Acclaim DreamCast, N64 Sports N/A
2000 All-Star Baseball 2001 HVS, KnowWonder Acclaim N64 Sports 85% [28]
2000 Ground Control: Dark Conspiracy HVS, Massive Entertainment Sierra Studios PC Real-time tactics 81% [29]
2000 NBA Inside Drive 2000 HVS Microsoft Xbox Sports N/A
1999 Lego Racers HVS LEGO Media PSX, N64, PC Racing 66% [30]
1999 Paperboy HVS Midway N64 Action 67% [31]
1997 NCAA Final Four '97 HVS Mindscape PSX, PC Sports 46% [32]
1997 World League Basketball HVS Mindscape PSX, PC Sports N/A
1996 Tempest X3 HVS Interplay PSX Arcade 63% [33]
1996 Tempest 2000 HVS Interplay Sega Saturn, Macintosh Arcade 78% [34]
1996 NBA Hang Time HVS Midway PC 57% [35]
1996 Fight For Life HVS Atari Atari Jaguar N/A
1996 NBA Jam: Tournament Edition HVS Midway Atari Jaguar 69% [36]
1996 NHL Open Ice HVS Midway PC Sports N/A
1995 Vid Grid HVS Jasmine Atari Jaguar, Macintosh N/A
1995 Star Trek: Starfleet Academy HVS Interplay Sega 32X N/A
1995 Ruiner Pinball HVS Atari Atari Jaguar N/A
1995 White Men Can't Jump HVS Atari Atari Jaguar N/A

High Voltage Software is are currently working on four Wii titles, including the first-person shooter The Conduit, and the Wiiware games Gyrostarr and Animales de la Muerte. All games will use the Quantum3 engine, developed specifically by High Voltage Software for the Wii.[37][38][39]

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