nStigate Games
| Industry |
Computer and video games Interactive entertainment |
|---|---|
| Founded | March 1998 |
| Headquarters | Marin County, California |
| Website | Official website |
nStigate Games (formerly Nihilistic Software) is an American video game developer based in Novato, California.
History
Nihilistic was founded in March 1998 by Ray Gresko, Robert Huebner, and Steve Tietze. Gresko and Huebner had formerly worked at LucasArts, and Tietze had worked at Rogue Entertainment. Many of Nihilistic's employees were drawn from LucasArts, working on games such as Jedi Knight.
The first game produced by Nihilistic was Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption, set in the a role-playing world created by White Wolf. Released in 2000, Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption was published by Activision for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh computers.
For their next project, Nihilistic began to develop StarCraft: Ghost, supervised by StarCraft creator Blizzard Entertainment. In mid-2004, Nihilistic ceased working on StarCraft: Ghost, although the circumstances behind this are not entirely clear. The project was taken up by Swingin' Ape Studios, which was later bought by Blizzard. Finally in March 2006, Blizzard Entertainment announced that StarCraft: Ghost was placed on indefinite hold.
Meanwhile in 2005, Nihilistic completed development on Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, a fighting game based on Marvel Comics' various superheroes. Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects was published by Electronic Arts, for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube.
Nihilistic released their first 'next-gen' title Conan for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game consoles. According to a preview article in the March 2007 issue of Game Informer, Conan is an action/adventure game based on Robert E. Howard's famous sword and sorcery hero, Conan the Barbarian. This title was released by the publisher THQ on October 23, 2007.
In the Fall of 2009, Konami publishes Nihilistic Software's first downloadable game, Zombie Apocalypse on Xbox Live for the Xbox 360 and on the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3. Zombie Apocalypse is multiplayer, arcade style dual stick shooter with zombies as the opponent.
They developed PlayStation Move Heroes for the PlayStation 3 (for the PlayStation Move) which was released in March 2011.[1]
On May 29, 2012, Nihilistic released Resistance: Burning Skies for the PlayStation Vita.[2]
On October 17, 2012, Nihilistic reorganized their business to focus on mobile gaming, changing their name to nStigate.[3]
On November 13, 2012, nStigate released Call of Duty: Black Ops – Declassified for the Vita.[4] The game was widely panned critically for poor design and crippling technical problems.
Games
| Game Title | Release | Platform | Metacritic | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption | 2000 | Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh | 74/100 | |
| Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects | 2005 | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube | 53/100 (PS2), 58/100 (Xbox), 54/100 (GameCube) | |
| Conan | 2007 | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | 69/100 | |
| Zombie Apocalypse | 2009 | PlayStation Network, Xbox Live | 61/100 (PSN), 66/100 (XBLA) | |
| PlayStation Move Heroes | 2011 | PlayStation Move (PlayStation 3) | 53/100 | |
| Resistance: Burning Skies | 2012 | PlayStation Vita | 60/100 | |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops – Declassified | 2012 | PlayStation Vita | 33/100 |
References
- ↑ Sony Computer Entertainment Staff. "Heroes On The Move - Games & Media". PlayStation.com. Sony Computer Entertainment. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
- ↑ James Ransom-Wiley. "Resistance NGP being developed by Nihilistic, isn't a port". Joystiq. AOL Inc. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
- ↑ "Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified developer Nihilistic reorganizing to focus on online and mobile games". Polygon. Vox Media Inc. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
- ↑ Moriarty, Colin. "Call of Duty's Vita Developer Has Been Revealed". IGN.