Traveller's Tales is a British software house found in 1989 and fully established in 1990 and based in Knutsford, Cheshire.
It is part of the TT Games group—after the merger of publisher Giant Interactive and the developer Traveller's Tales—along with TT Games Publishing. Although, in its early years, the software house developed various games based on original contents, since 1999 it mainly focused on the development of tie-ins based on movies, TV shows and television series.
History[ | ]
Traveller's Tales started developing games with Psygnosis, which they were most notable for creating 3D effects, possibly in order to add minor realism. Their first game was Leander, also known as The Legend of Galahad. With Psygnosis they also did a video game adaption of Bram Stoker's Dracula, as well as other original productions like Puggsy. And thanks to an agreement between Psygnosis / Sony Imagesoft (because of Sony already owning Psygnosis at that time) and Disney, Traveller's Tales could produce several games based on Disney's properties, such as the original Mickey Mouse game Mickey Mania and other games based on Pixar movies like Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and Finding Nemo (the latter two thanks to agreements with Activision and THQ).
However, Traveller's Tales was best known in the 90s for their second-party collaboration with Sega to develop games based on the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, resulting in Sonic 3D and Sonic R, which were produced in close effort with Sega's Sonic Team. Both games were regarded as technical achievements in the Mega Drive (Sonic 3D) and the Sega Saturn (Sonic R), ensuring them in a high-tech development status they already had with games like Puggsy, Mickey Mania and Toy Story.
In the most recent years, they are renowned because of the hugely successful Lego Star Wars: The Video Game. Their recent work includes the popular franchise Crash Bandicoot, The Chronicles of Narnia, Super Monkey Ball Adventure, Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, and WRC and F1 for the PSP. They have sold over 60 million games to date, and have won two BAFTAs; one for Gameplay with Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, and one for Children's Videogame of the Year for Lego Batman: The Video Game.
The company was purchased by Warner Bros. at the end of November 8, 2007, but will continue to operate, with the development of Lego Batman: The Video Game, which came out in September 2008. One of their most recent releases is Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4.[1][2] while Lord of the Rings has been rumored.[3]
The company was originally located in a small office in Southport, England, but later moved to larger offices in Knutsford, in Cheshire.
Titles[ | ]
| Name | Year | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Leander | 1991 | Psygnosis |
| Bram Stoker's Dracula | 1993 | Psygnosis/Sony Imagesoft |
| Puggsy | 1993 | Psygnosis |
| Mickey Mania | 1994 | Psygnosis/Sony Imagesoft |
| Disney's Toy Story | 1995 | Psygnosis/Disney Interactive |
| Sonic 3D | 1996 | SEGA |
| Sonic R | 1997 | SEGA |
| Rascal | 1998 | SCEI |
| Disney/Pixar's A Bug's Life | 1998 | Disney Interactive |
| Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue | 1999 | Activision/Disney Interactive |
| Muppet RaceMania | 2000 | Midway |
| Buzz Lightyear of Star Command | 2000 | Activision/Disney Interactive |
| Toy Story Racer | 2001 | Activision/Disney Interactive |
| Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex | 2001 | Universal Interactive Studios |
| Haven: Call of the King | 2002 | Midway |
| Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo | 2003 | THQ/Disney Interactive |
| Crash Twinsanity | 2004 | Vivendi Universal Games |
| Lego Star Wars: The Video Game | 2005 | Lucasarts |
| WRC (PSP version) | 2005 | SCEI |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | 2005 | Buena Vista Games |
| F1 Grand Prix | 2005 | SCEI |
| Super Monkey Ball Adventure | 2006 | SEGA |
| Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy | 2006 | Lucasarts |
| Bionicle Heroes | 2006 | Eidos Interactive |
| Transformers: The Game | 2007 | Activision |
| Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga | 2007 | Lucasarts |
| Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures | 2008 | Lucasarts |
| Lego Batman: The Video Game | 2008 | Warner Bros./DC Comics |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian | 2008 | Disney Interactive Studios |
| Guinness World Records: The Video Game | 2008 | Warner Bros. |
| Lego Battles | 2009 | Warner Bros. |
| Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues | 2009 | Lucasarts |
| Lego Rock Band | 2009 | Warner Bros./Electronic Arts |
| Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 | 2010 | Warner Bros. |
| The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest | 2010 | Warner Bros. |
| Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars | 2011 | Lucasarts |
References[ | ]
- ↑ http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/987/987872p1.html
- ↑ http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/warner-confirms-lego-harry-potter_9
- ↑ Ben Fritz (2009-03-12). "Lord of the Rings game rights now at Warner Bros.". Variety. http://weblogs.variety.com/the_cut_scene/2009/03/lord-of-the-rings-ga.html. Retrieved 2009-03-14.