Short description: American video game developer Snowblind Studios Type| Subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Industry| Video games Fate| Merged into Monolith Productions Founded| 1997 Defunct| 2012 Headquarters| Kirkland, Washington, U.S.[1] Parent| Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Website| snowblind.com (archived) Snowblind Studios was an American video game developer located in Kirkland, Washington.[1] They were founded in 1997, specializing in role-playing video games. In February 2009, Snowblind Studios was acquired by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.[2] Originally located in Bothell, Washington, after the Warner Bros. acquisition, the studio was relocated to Kirkland. Following the release of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, the studio was merged in with Monolith Productions in 2012. ## Contents * 1 Game engine * 2 Games developed * 3 References * 4 External links ## Game engine The Snowblind engine, also referred to as the Dark Alliance game engine, is a game engine created by Snowblind Studios for perspective correct overhead third person view role-playing games. It was first used by Snowblind Studios to create Baldur's Gate. The previous Baldur's Gate games used the Infinity Engine which was created by BioWare for isometric role-playing games. The first game to use the engine was Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, a joint collaboration between Interplay Entertainment and Snowblind Studios. Interplay then used the engine for all their ports of the game except the Game Boy Advance version, which used its own game engine. These ports of the game greatly expanded on how much content the game was able to use and the amount of save slots present in the game. The engine was then used by Snowblind Studios in its EverQuest games starting with Champions of Norrath. Snowblind improved the engine in their own ways, such as adding new features such as character creation and online multiplayer. Interplay, however, continued to use the engine, due to the fact they partly owned the engine, for their console games. Interplay used the engine for their sequel to Dark Alliance, Baldur's Gate, which was developed by Black Isle Studios. This sequel once again improved on the engine's capabilities and added more features, improved graphics and better audio; it added features from the Infinity Engine Baldur's Gate games such as Companions. Interplay then released Fallout and The Bard's Tale; both games improved on the engine in their own way. Brotherhood of Steel added a reputation system to the game and The Bard's Tale improved on other features of the engine, such as audio. The Bard's Tale was the Dark Alliance Engine's first PC release. Interplay was developing a sequel to Brotherhood of Steel, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2. This game would have added the features of sniping, stealth and a more advanced reputation system. It was, however, canceled. Snowblind Studios then released Champions, which refined the online multiplayer and changed the linear portion of the games released for the engine and allowed characters to change the ending. Around this time, Snowblind began to license the engine out to indie developers; however, of these developers, only one could make a game. The game was met with a lawsuit by Titus Software, the owners of Interplay, and Acclaim Entertainment but in the end, it was ultimately released as Combat Elite. Snowblind then created Justice League Heroes with the same engine in 2006. The game was released around the time the next gen of video game consoles was out, but due to it being created for the previous gen, it was released for Xbox and PlayStation 2. A portable version of the engine was used for the PlayStation Portable. The Game Boy Advance version, which was released as Justice League Heroes, used its own engine, and the Nintendo DS version did the same thing. To fit the superhero theme of the game, Snowblind Studios put most of their effort into the length of the game, thereby taking out many features of the engine.[3] ## Games developed Year | Title | Platform(s) | | 1998 | Top Gear Overdrive | Nintendo 64 2000 | Top Gear Hyper Bike 2001 | Baldur's Gate | PlayStation 2, Xbox 2004 | Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest | PlayStation 2 2005 | Champions 2006 | Justice League Heroes | PlayStation 2, Xbox, PlayStation Portable 2011 | The Lord of the Rings: War in the North | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows ## References 1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "About Snowblind Studios". Snowblind Studios. http://www.snowblind.com/Studio/. 2. ↑ "WarnerBros.com | Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group Acquires Snowblind Studios | Press Releases". https://www.warnerbros.com/news/press-releases/warner-bros-home-entertainment-group-acquires-snowblind-studios. 3. ↑ "JLA Heroes, Snowblind uses the Dark Alliance Engine". http://www.411mania.com/games/reviews/46932. ## External links * via Internet Archive * Snowblind Studios' profile at MobyGames * v * t * e Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Franchises| * Asheron's Call * Batman * Blood * Condemned * Defender * F.E.A.R. * Game Party * Gauntlet * Harry Potter * Injustice * Joust * Lego * Middle-earth * Mortal Kombat * Rampage * Scribblenauts * Spy Hunter * TouchMaster Subsidiaries| * Avalanche Software * Monolith Productions * NetherRealm Studios * Portkey Games * Rocksteady Studios * TT Games * Traveller's Tales * WB Games Boston * WB Games Montréal * WB Games San Francisco Former subsidiaries| * Midway Games * Snowblind Studios * Surreal Software Related articles| * Eidos Interactive * List of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment video games * Time Warner * Warner Bros. * Ed Boon * Sefton Hill * Jon Burton * Diane Nelson * v * t * e Monolith Productions Games developed| | Blood| * Blood * Plasma Pak * Blood II * The Nightmare Levels | No One Lives Forever| * The Operative * No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way * Contract J.A.C.K. F.E.A.R.| * F.E.A.R. * F.E.A.R. 2 * Reborn Condemned| * Condemned * Condemned 2 Middle-earth games| * Guardians of Middle-earth * Middle-earth * Middle-earth Other games| * Aliens versus Predator 2 * Claw * Get Medieval * Gotham City Impostors * Gruntz * Sanity * Shogo * Tex Atomic's Big Bot Battles * Tron 2.0 * The Matrix Online Games published| * Maabus * Rage of Mages * Gorky 17 * Septerra Core Companies| * 3D Realms (Q Studios) * GT Interactive Software * Fox Interactive * Buena Vista Interactive * Sierra Entertainment * Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment * Snowblind Studios * Surreal Software * Sandlot Games * HipSoft People| * Jace Hall * Daniel Bernstein * Guy Whitmore * Joe Ybarra * Stephan Weyte Related| * Cate Archer * LithTech * Priest * Betrayer 0.00 (0 votes) Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowblind Studios. Read more | Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Company:Snowblind_Studios&oldid=2708944" *[v]: View this template *[t]: Discuss this template *[e]: Edit this template