PF.Magic, Inc. was a

video game developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...

founded in 1991 and located in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, United States. Though it developed other types of

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s, it was best known for its

virtual pet A virtual pet (also known as a digital pet, artificial pet, or pet-raising simulation) is a type of artificial human companion. They are usually kept for companionship or enjoyment, or as an alternative to a real pet. Digital pets have no conc ...

games, such as '' Dogz'' and '' Catz''. The company was able to make extra revenue by selling plush toys under the Petz trademark. It was bought out in 1998 by Mindscape, Inc. After changing hands a few more times,

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

now owns the

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

on its ''

Petz ''Petz'' is a series of single-player video games dating back to 1995, in which the player can adopt, raise, care for and breed their own virtual pets. Developed by PF.Magic, original ''Petz'' ( ''Dogz'' and ''Catz'') has sold over 1.5 million ...

'', '' Oddballz'' and '' Babyz'' titles. One of PF.Magic's earliest efforts was the 1994 video game '' Ballz'',

published Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

Accolade The accolade (also known as dubbing, adoubement, or knighting) () was the central act in the rite of passage Ceremony, ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages. Etymology The term ''accolade'' entered English by 1591, when Thomas ...

. The innovative game featured main characters composed completely of

sphere A sphere (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ) is a surface (mathematics), surface analogous to the circle, a curve. In solid geometry, a sphere is the Locus (mathematics), set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three ...

s. This early game failed in the marketplace, though it would inspire many of their following games, such as ''Petz''. PF.Magic's designer and programmer, Andrew Stern, created an experimental project with Michael Mateas and others for five years. The project became ''

Façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

'', a freeware game in which the player interacts with a couple whose ten-year marriage is in trouble.

History

PF.Magic was born out of a failed hardware venture with

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

and

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

to build a

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...

accessory called "The Edge", which was to allow for

online multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

over telephone lines. AT&T pulled out of the venture due to the cost of the device, leaving the company with half their initial funding. The company's predecessor was Interactive Productions, a company Fulop had founded in Foster City after his stints at

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...

and

Imagic Imagic ( ) was an American video game developer and publisher that created games initially for the Atari 2600. Founded in 1981 by corporate alumni of Atari, Inc. and Mattel, its best-selling titles were ''Atlantis'', '' Cosmic Ark'', and '' De ...

. With their hardware project cancelled, the company needed a new product to work on. Co-founder

Rob Fulop Rob Fulop is an American game programmer who created two of the Atari 2600's biggest hits: the port of arcade game '' Missile Command'' and 1982's '' Demon Attack'', which won '' Electronic Games Game of the Year award. While at Atari, Fulop ...

saw the controversy generated by ''

Night Trap ''Night Trap'' is a 1992 interactive movie developed by Digital Pictures and published by Sega for the Sega CD. Presented primarily through full-motion video (FMV), ''Night Trap'' has the player observe teenage girls having a sleepover visitin ...

'', a game he worked on, and wanted to make something that was the complete opposite of it. Fulop talked with a

mall Santa Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Christma ...

who told him that the number one gift children requested for Christmas was still a puppy. After this conversation, the idea of doing a title about animals came about, resulting in ''Petz'', which was based on the graphics technology they previously used in ''Ballz''. ''Petz'' was an enormous success, became one of the company's flagship products and has been credited with popularizing

Selected titles

Ballz

''Ballz'' is a two-player 3D action fighting game for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

, and the

3DO 3DO is a video gaming hardware format developed by The 3DO Company and conceived by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins. The specifications were originally designed by Dave Needle and RJ Mical of New Technology Group, and were licensed by third ...

. It was developed by PF.Magic and published by

in 1994. The 3DO version was released as a director's cut in 1995. ''Ballz'' offered three difficulty levels over a total of 21 matches. Its distinguishing quality was that each of the characters were composed completely of balls, with a pseudo-3D look.

Petz

''Petz'' (''Dogz'' and ''Catz'') is a series of games dating back to 1995, designed by Adam C. Frank and Ben Resner. The player can adopt, raise, care for and breed their own

s. The original ''Petz'' has sold over 3 million copies worldwide, and the brand has grown to over 22 million copies since coming under

. The player starts at the Adoption Center and chooses a Dogz or Catz to adopt of a Breedz and gender of their choice. Once the player has found a Petz, the user can adopt and name the new Puppyz or Kittenz. After around three days (real time) the Petz become adults. Adult Petz can then breed and have Kittenz or Puppyz of their own in ''Petz 3'', ''Petz 4'', and ''Petz 5''. Cross-breeding can create different types of Petz, called 'Mixed Breeds'.

''Oddballz''

''Oddballz'' is a

game created by PF.Magic in 1996 as an alternative to their ''Dogz'' and ''Catz'' titles. The game had 13 creatures that could be cared for. Along with the creatures, the game has various objects ('toyz') that the player and Oddballz can manipulate. Toyz have different uses ranging from playing to disciplining.

Babyz

''Babyz'' is a

computer game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual feedback from a display device, mo ...

in which one can play with and take care of a group of

babies In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to juveniles of ...

who live in a virtual house on the

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

. The game was released in 1999 by

The Learning Company The Learning Company (TLC) was an American educational software company founded in 1980 in Palo Alto, California and headquartered in Fremont, California. The company produced a grade-based line of learning software, edutainment games, and ...

, developed by members of PF.Magic working there at the time.

References

External links

Archived versions of the defunct PFMagic.com website

PF.Magic profile
from

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

Oddballz

Oddballz.co.uk
* {{Authority control Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game companies established in 1991 Defunct companies based in California Companies based in San Francisco 1991 establishments in California