Black Isle Studios
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Black Isle Studios | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Type | defunct |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | Orange County, California, USA |
| Key people | Feargus Urquhart: founder, division directer |
| Industry | computer and video game industry |
| Products | computer games, video games |
Black Isle Studios was a division of the computer and video game developer and publisher Interplay Entertainment, created specifically for the development of computer role-playing games. It was based in Orange County, California, USA.[1] The division was formed during 1996, adopting the name "Black Isle Studios" during 1998.[2] The idea for the division's name came from the Black Isle in Scotland - founder Feargus Urquhart's native country.[3] Black Isle Studios is most famous for working on the Fallout and Baldur's Gate series of computer role-playing games, though it only published the Baldur's Gate series.
Contents |
[edit] Closure
In 1998, several key members responsible for the division's first title, Fallout, left Interplay to form Troika Games after they "were unable to come to an agreement with Interplay as to how [their] next team should be structured".[4] On December 8, 2003, in the midst of serious financial difficulties, Interplay laid off the entire Black Isle Studios staff.[5] As of 2007, Interplay has neither explained the move nor clarified what the future holds for Black Isle Studios, but considering the fact that Interplay itself is (as of late 2007) not yet back into producing any video game properties, the future of the Black Isle name is uncertain. Many former Black Isle Studios employees now work at Obsidian Entertainment, a video game development company.
[edit] Products
- Fallout (1997)[6]
- Fallout 2 (1998)
- Planescape: Torment (1999)
- Icewind Dale (2000)
- Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter (2001)
- Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter - Trials of the Luremaster (2001)
- Icewind Dale II (2002)
- Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (2004)
- Last Kingdom (199?)
Among the products whose development Black Isle assisted are:
- Baldur's Gate 1998
- Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999)
- Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000)
- Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (2001)
- Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader (2003)
In addition to games developed in-house, Black Isle Studios has aided in the development of several computer role-playing games published by Interplay; the most notable being the Baldur's Gate series for Windows and Mac OS, and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube.
[edit] References
- ^ Black Isle Studios. IGN. Retrieved on July 25, 2006.
- ^ Cheong, Ian. Game Info. Lionheart Chronicles. GameSpy. Retrieved on July 25, 2006.
- ^ Keefer, John (January 2001). Black Isle Studios: We are not BioWare. GameSpy. Retrieved on July 25, 2006.
- ^ Blancato, Joe. The Rise and Fall of Troika. The Escapist. Retrieved on March 27, 2007.
- ^ Thorsen, Tor (2003-12-08). Interplay shuts down Black Isle Studios. GameSpot. Retrieved on May 1, 2006.
- ^ Black Isle Studios Website. Interplay. Archived from the original on 2003-06-04. Retrieved on July 25, 2006.
[edit] External links
- GameSpot: "Interplay shuts down Black Isle Studios" (8 December 2003)
- Black Isle Studios profile on MobyGames
|
|||||||||||||||||
