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Monolith Soft
trading as Monolith Soft, is a Japanese video game development studio originally owned by Namco (later Bandai Namco) until being bought out by Nintendo in 2007. The company was founded in 1999 by Tetsuya Takahashi with the support and cooperation of Masaya Nakamura, the founder of Namco. Their first project was the ''Xenosaga'' series, a spiritual successor to the Square-developed ''Xenogears''. Multiple Square staff would join Takahashi at Monolith Soft including Hirohide Sugiura and Yasuyuki Honne. In addition to the ''Xenosaga'' series, Monolith Soft worked on other projects including '' Baten Kaitos'' and ''Namco × Capcom'', the precursor to their later '' Project X Zone'' series, along with assisting on projects from other developers. While several of its games have released on the PlayStation 2, the majority of its games have released on Nintendo platforms. As of 2019, Monolith Soft operates four studios. Its main studio is in Meguro, Tokyo that produces the company' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monolith Productions
Monolith Productions, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Kirkland, Washington. The company has been a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment since August 2004. History Monolith Productions was founded on October 25, 1994 by Brian Goble, Brian Waite, Bryan Bouwman, Garrett Price, Jace Hall, Paul Renault, and Toby Gladwell. Co-founder Brian Goble had this to say regarding the company name. The company is best known for the ''Blood'', ''No One Lives Forever'' and '' F.E.A.R'' series. Monolith developed the LithTech game engine which was used for most of their games starting with '' Shogo: Mobile Armor Division'' in September 1998. Between 1997 and 1999, Monolith also published games–some developed by the studio, some by third parties. In 2004, Monolith Productions was acquired by Warner Bros. In 2014, the company released the title '' Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor'' with a sequel entitled '' Middle-earth: Shadow of War'' being released in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Namco
was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Namco Taiwan in Kaohsiung, and Shanghai Namco in mainland China. Namco was founded by Masaya Nakamura on June 1, 1955, as beginning as an operator of coin-operated amusement rides. After reorganizing to Nakamura Seisakusho Co., Ltd. in 1959, a partnership with Walt Disney Productions provided the company with the resources to expand its operations. In the 1960s, it manufactured electro-mechanical arcade games such as the 1965 hit '' Periscope''. It entered the video game industry after acquiring the struggling Japanese division of Atari in 1974, distributing games such as '' Breakout'' in Japan. The company renamed itself Namco in 1977 and published '' Gee Bee'', its first original video game, a year later. Among Namco's first major hits was the fixed shooter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Square Enix
is a Japanese multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game franchises, among numerous others. Outside of video game publishing and development, it is also in the business of merchandise, arcade facilities, and manga publication under its Gangan Comics brand. The original Square Enix Co., Ltd. was formed in April 2003 from a merger between Square and Enix, with the latter as the surviving company. Each share of Square's common stock was exchanged for 0.85 shares of Enix's common stock. At the time, 80% of Square Enix staff were made up of former Square employees. As part of the merger, former Square president Yoichi Wada was appointed the president of the new corporation, while former Enix president Keiji Honda was named vice president. Yasuhiro Fukushima, the largest shareholder of the combined corporation and founde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enix
was a Japanese video game publisher that produced video games, anime and manga. Enix is known for publishing the ''Dragon Quest'' series of role-playing video games. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975, as . The name "Enix" is a play on the words " phoenix", a mythical bird that is reborn from its own ashes, and "ENIAC", the world's first digital computer. The company merged with rival Square in 2003 to form Square Enix. History Enix was founded on September 22, 1975, as Eidansha Boshu Service Center by Japanese architect-turned-entrepreneur Yasuhiro Fukushima. The company initially published tabloids that advertised real estate. On February 5, 1980, Eidansha Boshu Service created a wholly owned subsidiary Eidansya Fudousan for the purpose of specializing in real estate trading and brokerage. Eidansya Fudousan took the name Eidansha Systems on August 18. 1981. The following year, on August 30, 1982, Eidansha Systems was renamed Enix Corporati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nihon Falcom
is a Japanese video game developer, best known for their '' Ys'', ''The Legend of Heroes'', and ''Trails'' series. The company was founded in March 1981, making them one of the oldest active video game companies. They are credited with pioneering the action role-playing and Japanese role-playing game genres, as well as popularizing the use of personal computers in Japan. History Nihon Falcom was founded by Masayuki Kato in 1981. They are credited with laying the foundations for the action role-playing and Japanese role-playing game genres. ( cf. ) The name Falcom came from the Millennium Falcon and the final "n" was changed to an "m" to fit naming trends of that time. The word Nihon, taken after one of the native names of Japan, was added to make it sound more complete. Falcom's first role-playing game (RPG) was ''Panorama Toh'', released for the PC-8801 in 1983 and created by Yoshio Kiya, who would go on to create the ''Dragon Slayer'' and ''Brandish'' franchises. While ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the city had a population of 1.46 million. The city is the cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Kyoto, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 3.8 million people. Kyoto is one of the oldest municipalities in Japan, having been chosen in 794 as the new seat of Japan's imperial court by Emperor Kanmu. The original city, named Heian-kyō, was arranged in accordance with traditional Chinese feng shui following the model of the ancient Chinese capital of Chang'an/Luoyang. The emperors of Japan ruled from Kyoto in the following eleven centuries until 1869. It was the scene of several key events of the Muromachi period, Sengoku period, and the Boshin War, such a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 30 November 2000. It is the successor to the original PlayStation, as well as the second installment in the PlayStation brand of consoles. As a sixth-generation console, it competed with Nintendo's GameCube, and Microsoft's Xbox. It is the best-selling video game console of all time, having sold over 155 million units worldwide. Announced in 1999, Sony began developing the console after the immense success of its predecessor. The PS2 offered backward-compatibility for its predecessor's DualShock controller, as well as its games. The PlayStation 2 received widespread critical acclaim upon release. A total of over 4,000 game titles were released worldwide, with over 1.5 billion copies sold. In 2004, Sony released a smaller, lighter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Namco × Capcom
(pronounced as "Namco Cross Capcom") is a tactical role-playing (RPG) crossover video game developed by Monolith Soft for the PlayStation 2 and published by Namco in 2005. The gameplay combines tactical RPG and action sequences during battles, featuring characters from video game series owned by Namco and Capcom. The narrative sees original characters Reiji Arisu and Xiaomu, operatives for paranormal investigative group Shinra, confront distortions bringing characters from other realities into their own. The project was proposed by Monolith Soft to celebrate Namco's 50th anniversary, and Capcom was contacted as a partner due to their large character roster. Development began in 2003, directed and written by former Banpresto staff member Soichiro Morizumi. The artwork was cooperatively designed by ''Soulcalibur'' artist Takuji Kawano, Kazue Saito of ''Super Robot Wars'', and veteran artist Kazunori Haruyama. The soundtrack uses arrangements of themes from the represented series ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xenogears
''Xenogears'' is a 1998 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation video game console. It is the debut entry in the larger ''Xeno (series), Xeno'' franchise. The gameplay of ''Xenogears'' revolves around navigating 3D environments both on-foot and using humanoid mecha dubbed "Gears". Combat is governed by a version of the turn-based "Active Time Battle" system. The story follows protagonist Fei Fong Wong and several others as they journey across the world to overthrow the all-powerful rule of Solaris and uncover mysteries concerning their world. The story incorporates Jungian psychology, Freudian thought, and religious symbolism. Created by Tetsuya Takahashi and his wife Soraya Saga, Kaori Tanaka as a proposal for ''Final Fantasy VII'', it was allowed to be developed as its own project; first as a sequel to ''Chrono Trigger'' and then as an original game with a science fiction premise. It was d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Square (video Game Company)
(also known under its American brand name SquareSoft) was a Japanese video game development studio and publisher. It was founded in 1986 by Masafumi Miyamoto, who spun off part of his father's electronics company Den-Yu-Sha. Among its early employees were Hironobu Sakaguchi, Hiromichi Tanaka, Akitoshi Kawazu, Koichi Ishii, Kazuko Shibuya, Nasir Gebelli and Nobuo Uematsu. After several other projects, all of these employees would work on ''Final Fantasy'', a 1987 game for the Nintendo Entertainment System which would bring commercial and critical success and launch a franchise of the same name. Later notable staff included Yoshinori Kitase, Takashi Tokita, Tetsuya Nomura, Yoko Shimomura and Yasumi Matsuno. Initially developing for PCs, then exclusively for Nintendo systems, Square broke with Nintendo in the 1990s to develop for Sony's in-development PlayStation. Their first PlayStation project, ''Final Fantasy VII'', was a worldwide success, going on to sell ten millio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spiritual Successor
A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product line or media franchise of its predecessor, and is thus only a successor "in spirit". Spiritual successors often have similar themes and styles to their source material, but are generally a distinct intellectual property. In fiction, the term generally refers to a work by a creator that shares similarities to one of their earlier works, but is set in a different continuity, and features distinct characters and settings. Such works may arise when licensing issues prevent a creator from releasing a direct sequel using the same copyrighted characters and names as the original. The term is also used more broadly to describe a pastiche work that intentionally evokes similarities to pay homage to other influential works, but is also distinct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masaya Nakamura (businessman)
was a Japanese businessman and the founder of Namco. He was the company's president up until 2002, where he took a ceremonial role in its management. Following the formation of Bandai Namco Holdings, Nakamura would retain an honorary position in the video game division, Bandai Namco Entertainment. Born in Tokyo, Nakamura graduated from the Yokohama Institute of Technology in 1948, having earned a degree in shipbuilding. Nakamura would found his own company in 1955, Nakamura Seisakusho, Ltd., which produced pop-cork guns and coin-operated mechanical rides for Japanese department store rooftops. In 1974, Nakamura purchased the Japanese division of Atari from Nolan Bushnell, seeing it as a perfect opportunity to get into the market, and were allowed to release the company's games in Japan. His company would be renamed to "Namco" in 1977, and a year later would release its first video game produced in-house. Under Nakamura's leadership, Namco would become one of the most dominant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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