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''Rocket Science Games'' was a video game developer that created games for consoles and computers from 1993 to 1997. The company was responsible for games such as ''Obsidian'', ''Rocket Jockey'', and ''Loadstar''. ==History== Rocket Science Games (RSG) was an independent game studio founded by Steven Gary Blank and Peter Barrett in 1993 to combine the creative forces of Hollywood and Silicon Valley into compelling cinematic videogames. Sega Enterprises and the Bertelsmann Music Group infused RSG with $12 million in funding in May 1994, thus becoming RSG's North American and European publishers, respectively. Staffed with some of the brightest rising stars of the computer, comics and movie industries, RSG created a huge buzz even before the release of their first titles and claimed to be an on the verge of revolutionizing the video game industry using full motion video (FMV). Founded at the height of the FMV video game craze of the '90s, their first three games utilized the technology heavily. As a backlash grew against the technology, the games received mixed reviews and suffered poor sales. RSG then shifted away from consoles and FMV to concentrate on more traditional PC games. After the disappointing sales of their early games RSG received much needed funds from SegaSoft, who then became the sole publisher for their titles in development. Sega canceled about half of the titles RSG was working on to reduce costs and speed up releases, with a noticeable negative effect on their quality. ''Rocket Jockey'' shipped missing Local area network support that had been heavily promoted to the press and was even advertised on the box, but wouldn't be patched into the game for several months. ''Obsidian ''also suffered quality problems as it had several bugs present at the time of its release, including a few that prevented completion of the game. While some of the SegaSoft games were critically acclaimed,〔Computer Gaming World, May 1997.〕〔(''Obsidian'' ) at GameSpot, review is included.〕〔PC Gamer, May 1997.〕〔(Obsidian review ) at Four Fat Chicks, June 2002.〕〔(Obsidian review ) at Just Adventure, undated.〕 none of them did particularly well financially, and unable to secure additional funding, RSG was forced to close down in 1997.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=27753045 )〕 About a year before closing its doors, in February 1996, RSG announced a partnership with CyberCash, Inc. to launch a virtual arcade service based on micropayments.〔(The Free Library ) CyberCash and Rocket Science Games announce interactive pay-as-you-play for Internet games (full press release 1996)〕 CyberCash, a virtual currency company, would provide the financial infrastructure for the arcade and use it to jump-start their micropayment "electronic coin service". This announcement was heavily circulated by the media and, along with several other micropayment based services, was heralded as the next big thing in Internet commerce.〔(Wired Article:The Buck Starts Here ) Will nanobucks be the next big thing, or are we just talking pocket change?〕〔(CNET News ) Rocket Science unveils virtual arcade〕 The arcade was to be based on RSG "V3 Internet game engine" and feature at least 20 classic arcade games with a launch as early as the second half of 1996.〔(SFGate ) Virtual Arcade Games / Play the classics on the Internet〕 The unnamed service was never given a firm launch date nor were any specific titles mentioned. After the initial flurry of excitement the partnership failed to produce any further announcements and the service was never heard from again. It may have been a casualty of the cuts SegaSoft made later that same year when they acquired RSG. Later SegaSoft partnered with CyberCash and used their micropayment system, now named the CyberCoin service, for their Heat.net online gaming service.〔(Business Wire at BNet ) SegaSoft Selects CyberCash CyberCoin Payment System for HEAT and SegaSoft.com; Innovative Micropayment System Enables Cash Transactions Over the Internet; Players Can Point, Click and Buy Safely and Securely Without the Hassle of Phoning or Faxing Financial Data〕 Heat.net was shut down in 2000 when SegaSoft was restructured into Sega.com and CyberCash filed for bankruptcy a year later. Written by legendary game designer Steve Meretzky of Infocom fame, ''The Space Bar'' by Boffo Games was originally to be published by RSG but was transferred to SegaSoft after RSG closed its doors. ''Darwin Pond''〔(Darwin Pond webpage ).〕 was an unreleased title that was completed before the fall of RSG but was never commercially released; later its creator Jeffrey Ventrella released it for free over the Internet (a new version of ''Darwin Pond'' is currently being developed by Ventrella and Brian Dodd, who worked together at RSG; it is currently in a very early stage of development). Lastly, ''Rocket Jockey'' still receives some media and developer attention, with five different remake efforts on record, mostly games modded to recreate the original gameplay. In 2011, Arstechnica revisited the game in an article titled "Masterpiece: Rocket Jockey for the PC -- you heard me."〔(Arstechnica article ) Masterpiece: Rocket Jockey for the PC -- you heard me.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rocket Science Games」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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