120-553: Atari Interactive, Inc. is an American subsidiary of Atari SA which is the current owner of the Atari brand name, which it licenses to its parent company. The company was originally founded by toy company Hasbro in 1995 as Hasbro Interactive, Inc. , based in Beverly, Massachusetts ; it was sold to Infogrames at the beginning of 2001 becoming Infogrames Interactive, Inc. before adopting its current name in 2003. Hasbro Interactive
240-594: A 50% stake in the publisher, with the intentions to invest 50 million F into creating titles based on Canal+ 's licenses. Infogrames made major purchases for 1999, beginning in March with the purchase of the Gremlin Group for $ 40 million in March, who owned developers Gremlin Interactive and DMA Design ., with Gremlin rebranding as Infogrames Sheffield House. On April 5, Psygnosis ' Paris development studio
360-512: A TV interview, they then used a mix-and-match computer program to suggest other names, one of which was "Infogramme": a portmanteau of the French words "informatique" (information technology) and "programme" (computer program). The final choice, Infogrames, was a slightly modified version of that suggestion. The company logo and mascot is an armadillo ( tatou in French), chosen when the company
480-461: A deal to potentially purchase MobyGames for $ 1.5 million through to the end of March 2022. The purchase was completed on March 8, 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager. In March 2022, Atari ended all ties with former CEO Chesnais and CBI. The following month, they also announced the termination of all license agreements with ICICB, including the end of hotel licenses, and the dissolution of their blockchain joint venture. The Atari Token
600-479: A growth of just 20% over the previous year. Late in 1999 with several game projects underway and dozens of new employees , many of whom moved just to work for the company, Hasbro Interactive shut down several studios in a cost-cutting move. The studios affected included the former MicroProse offices located in Alameda, California , and Chapel Hill, North Carolina . A game development company, Vicious Cycle Software ,
720-475: A large increase in ridership, taking many cars off the roads. Several hybrid and articulated buses have been added recently. All buses carry GPS transmitters to report their location in real-time to a tracking web site. Buses can transport bicycles and have wheelchair lifts. In 1993, the town celebrated its bicentennial and founded the Chapel Hill Museum . This cultural community resource "exhibiting
840-596: A licensing agreement for various Nintendo consoles, notably the Game Boy Color . Majesco and Hasbro also worked on the Sega Dreamcast adaptation of Q*bert . In April 1999, the company secured a licensing deal with Namco to develop and publish titles based on over 11 Namco franchises. Hasbro Interactive became the number 3 video game publisher within three years of its founding. But in 1999, Hasbro Interactive lost $ 74 million on revenues of $ 237 million
960-442: A major part of the economy and town influence. Local artists have created many murals in the town. The Occaneechi Indians lived in the area of what is now Hillsborough , north of Chapel Hill, prior to European settlement. The area was the home place of early settler William Barbee of Middlesex County, Virginia , whose 1753 grant of 585 acres on the north and south side of "Lick Branch" from John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville
1080-455: A major publisher. Ocean International consisted of British developer and publisher Ocean Software and its North American division Ocean of America. After the deal was closed, Ocean became a standalone subsidiary of Infogrames and continued releasing its own titles distant from those of Infogrames. Both Ocean subsidiaries soon became the official distributors for Infogrames in both territories. In 1997, Infogrames Télématique launched Oceanline,
1200-537: A maximum of twenty titles. later on in the year, the company purchased the video game division of the Australian-based Beam Software , and rebranded it as Infogrames Melbourne House. On 29 September, Take-Two Interactive purchased DMA Design from Infogrames for US$ 11 million and transitioned it over to their Rockstar Games subsidiary, soon becoming Rockstar North . In December 1999, Infogrames made their then-largest purchase with
1320-531: A month later. On November 7, GameSpot reported that Atari was beginning to run out of money, losing 12 million dollars in the first fiscal quarter of 2008. On 6 March 2008, Infogrames made an offer to Atari Inc. to buy out all remaining public shares for a value of US$ 1.68 per share or US$ 11 million total. The offer would make Infogrames the sole owner of Atari Inc., making it a privately held company. On 30 April, Atari Inc. announced its intentions to accept Infogrames' buyout offer and merge with Infogrames, which
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#17327808475291440-592: A new focus on dealing with re-releases of older titles and the acquisition of companies that deal with the re-release of mainly abandonware video games; it also abandoned its cryptocurrency and casino divisions, which the company had focused on during previous leadership. The company was founded by Bruno Bonnell and Christophe Sapet. They wanted to christen the company Zboub Système (which can be approximately translated to Dick System in English), but were dissuaded by their legal counsel. According to Bonnell in
1560-465: A period of 15 years plus an option for an additional 5 years based on performance. The deal was completed on January 29, 2001. Majesco had ended its relationship with Hasbro once Infogrames took over the gaming company. Following the purchase, Infogrames renamed Hasbro Interactive, Inc. as Infogrames Interactive, Inc., and rebranded many of its subsidiaries under the Infogrames brand. Distribution of
1680-520: A plan to fully reenter the console and handheld game publishing industry and reduce emphasis on free-to-play and mobile games, leading to possible titles being closed or sold, alongside the closure of Atari Casino. Chesnais later resigned from the company, though remained as a consultant through his new company, Crypto Blockchain Industries (CBI). On November 24, Atari announced they had invested $ 500,000 in retro gaming streaming platform Antstream, and
1800-568: A portfolio of over 100 titles and IPs mostly belonging to Accolade and MicroProse , Atari's Math Gran Prix , Humongous Entertainment 's "Junior Adventure" titles, and the Accolade and GT Interactive brands. Other companies that bought assets were Rebellion Developments purchasing Atari's Battlezone franchise and Humongous title MoonBase Commander , Devolver Digital purchasing Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure , Epic Gear LLC (and later Day 6 Sports Group LLC) purchasing
1920-608: A regrouping of "Infogrames' distribution operations in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America." This new entity consisted mainly of Infograme's distribution network in the PAL region . Distribution Partners was 34% owned by Namco Bandai and 66% owned by Atari. Later in May 2009, Namco Bandai acquired Atari Europe from Infogrames. Its sale and marketing personnel were transferred to Distribution Partners. In March 2009, Infogrames announced that it
2040-510: A separate deal with Atari for the expansion of their Dungeons & Dragons license. On August 22, Atari, Inc. sold Humongous Entertainment to Infogrames Entertainment SA for shares worth US$ 10.3 million . With this, Infogrames laid off all remaining employees at the company and transferred the Humongous assets to a self-owned subsidiary Humongous, Inc. with intentions to sell off the assets outright. Atari would continue to distribute
2160-567: A traditional-style mall with a mix of national and local retailers is located at University Place . Hailed as one of America's Foodiest Small Towns by Bon Appétit , Chapel Hill is rapidly becoming a hot spot for pop American cuisine. Among the restaurants noted nationally are Mama Dip's ( Food Network 's $ 40 A Day With Rachael Ray ), Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen ( The Splendid Table ), caffè Driade (Food Network's $ 40 A Day With Rachael Ray ), Lantern Restaurant ( Food & Wine , Southern Living , etc.), and Vimala's Curryblossom Cafe. In
2280-546: A website that would offer simplified online versions of Infogrames titles. On February 3, Infogrames announced that they would purchase the French division of Phillips Media BV for 191.5 million F with the deal closing on June 9. Phillips Media France, in addition to holding a 20% shareholding stake in Infogrames, also owned the distributors Ecudis (France), Leisuresoft (UK), Bomico Entertainment Software (Germany and Holland), and German publisher Laguna Video Games. Leisuresoft
2400-514: A whole remained under its name, and became a holding company for the Atari assets. Atari, Inc.'s majority shareholder was California U.S. Holdings, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Infogrames Entertainment SA. and had exclusive publishing and sublicensing in North America to release titles from Infogrames or its subsidiaries, including Atari Interactive. In September 2003, Atari announced
2520-426: Is North Carolina's best-educated municipality, proportionately, with 77% of adult residents (25 and older) holding an associate degree or higher, and 73% of adults possessing a baccalaureate degree or higher. Chapel Hill uses a council–manager form of government. The community elects a mayor and eight council members. Mayors serve two-year terms, and council members serve staggered four-year terms, all elected by
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#17327808475292640-526: Is a town in Orange and Durham County, North Carolina , United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 census , making Chapel Hill the 17th-most populous municipality in the state. Chapel Hill and Durham make up the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 608,879 in 2023. When it's combined with Raleigh , the state capital, they make up
2760-484: Is bounded on the west by the town of Carrboro and on the northeast by the city of Durham. However, most of Chapel Hill's borders are adjacent to unincorporated portions of Orange and Durham Counties rather than shared with another municipality. According to the United States Census Bureau , the town has a total area of 21.75 square miles (56.3 km ), of which 21.60 square miles (55.9 km )
2880-554: Is land and 0.15 square miles (0.39 km ) (0.69%) is water. As of the 2020 census , there were 61,960 people, 20,369 households, and 10,552 families residing in the town. At the 2010 census , there were 57,233 people in 20,564 households residing in the town. The population density was 2,687 people per square mile (1,037 people/km ). The racial composition of the town was 72.8% White, 9.7% African American, 0.3% Native American, 11.9% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 2.7% some other race, and 2.7% of two or more races. About 6.4% of
3000-793: Is named after the town. The University of North Carolina has been very successful at college basketball and women's soccer , and a passion for these sports has been a distinctive feature of the town's culture, fueled by the Tobacco Road rivalry among North Carolina's four ACC teams: the North Carolina Tar Heels , the Duke Blue Devils , the NC State Wolfpack , and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons . The two largest sports venues in
3120-758: Is the flagship of the University of North Carolina System . The state's main youth orchestra, Piedmont Youth Orchestra , is based in Chapel Hill. Also located in the town is the Chapel Hill Public Library, directed by Atlas Logan. Though Chapel Hill is a principal town of a large metropolitan area, it retains a relatively small-town feel. Combined with its close neighbor, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area has roughly 85,000 residents. Many large murals can be seen painted on
3240-653: The Backyard Sports franchise, Wargaming purchasing the Total Annihilation and Master of Orion franchises, and Stardock purchasing Star Control . The Test Drive franchise and publishing rights to the RollerCoaster Tycoon franchise were also put up for sale, although no bids were offered for either franchise. In October, Eden Games reopened as an independent developer by its founder, David Nadal. In 2014, all three of
3360-596: The Driver franchise were sold to Ubisoft for $ 21.6 million. On September 1, Atari, Inc. announced that its stock faced delisting from the Nasdaq stock exchange due to its price having fallen below $ 1.00. On September 5, 2006, David Pierce was appointed as new CEO of Atari, replacing Bruno Bonnell . Pierce previously worked as an executive at Universal Pictures , Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , Sony Pictures , Sony Music , and Sony Wonder . On October 2, Shiny Entertainment
3480-582: The V-Rally series to BigBen Interactive with an announcement of a new entry in the franchise from the latter. On 19 September, THQ Nordic announced they had acquired the Alone in the Dark franchise and Act of War . In March 2020, Wade Rosen, the founder of Ziggurat Interactive, became the new chair of the board of directors upon purchasing a substantial share of the company from Chesnais. Within that year,
3600-592: The Accolade , MicroProse , GT Interactive, and Infogrames catalogues that were formerly owned by Tommo/Billionsoft. This included the Bubsy series and the Accolade and GT Interactive brands. The copyright and trademarks of these titles transitioned to a holding business named GT Interactive, LLC. In May, the company obtained rights for over a dozen M Network games, including Armor Ambush , Astroblast , Frogs and Flies , Space Attack , and Star Strike . Within
3720-742: The Atari and MicroProse brands and titles such as Civilization , Falcon , RollerCoaster Tycoon , Centipede , Missile Command , and Pong , MicroProse's owned developers, the Games.com web portal, third-party video game licenses including Thomas the Tank Engine , Family Feud and various Namco properties, as well as a fifteen-year licensing deal to develop and publish titles based on Hasbro IP such as Dungeons & Dragons , Monopoly , Mr. Potato Head and My Little Pony , with an option for an additional 5 years based on performance. The deal did not include Avalon Hill , which
Atari Interactive - Misplaced Pages Continue
3840-564: The Atari Group moniker, is a French holding company headquartered in Paris that owns mainly video gaming related interactive entertainment properties. Atari SA's core subsidiaries include the publisher and marketer Atari, Inc. , developers Nightdive Studios and Digital Eclipse , and publisher Infogrames, It also has a blockchain division, Atari X, and additionally owns the websites MobyGames and AtariAge . Through these divisions,
3960-448: The U.S. Census Bureau , over the three-year period of 2005 through 2007, the median income for a household in the town was $ 51,690, and for a family was $ 91,049. Males had a median income of $ 50,258 versus $ 32,917 for females. The per capita income for the town was $ 35,796. About 8.6% of families and 19.8% of the population were below the poverty line , including 8.6% of those under age 18 and 5.6% of those age 65 or over. Chapel Hill
4080-467: The 2008 fiscal year the company posted €51.1 million ($ 72.17 million) in net losses and for the 2009 fiscal year, which ended in March, Infogrames posted losses of €226.1 million ($ 319.33 million). During their fiscal year meeting in May 2009, IESA announced that it would be changing its corporate name to an Atari branded name, in line with the use of the name for its subsidiaries. In reference to this, Atari, Inc.'s CEO Jim Wilson said: "We've gotten rid of
4200-530: The 88th-best high school in the nation, and the highest-ranked standard public high school in North Carolina. The small portion of Chapel Hill located in Durham County is part of Durham Public Schools . There are several private K-12 schools in Chapel Hill, including Emerson Waldorf School . Founded in 1789, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university and
4320-459: The Atari brand and Hasbro's Games.com division, developer MicroProse and all of its software titles up to that point except for the Avalon Hill property. Hasbro Interactive's sale price was $ 100 million, $ 95 million as 4.5 million common shares of Infogrames and $ 5 million in cash. Under the terms of the sale agreement, Infogrames gained the rights to develop games based on Hasbro properties for
4440-468: The Atari brand name to publish retro-themed remake titles. On the 21st of that month, Hasbro announced that a remake of Centipede would be released for the PC and PlayStation . Throughout 1999 and 2000, games like The Next Tetris , Missile Command , Pong: The Next Level , Q*Bert , Glover , Nerf Arena Blast and Breakout would be released under the Atari branding. On August 4, 1998,
4560-407: The Atari brand would focus within a core 18-34-year-old male audience, while children's and casual games would retain the Infogrames banner. In April 2002, the company's Japanese division Infogrames Japan K.K. signed a Japanese distribution deal with Konami for select titles and soon relaunched the Atari brand in the country with the publication of Splashdown , TransWorld Surf and V-Rally 3 in
4680-757: The Ayr Mountaineers, Hollow Rock String band, Watchhouse (formerly known as Mandolin Orange) , Steep Canyon Rangers , Mipso , the Tug Creek Ramblers, Two Dollar Pistols , the Fuzzy Mountain String band, Big Fat Gap and the Red Clay Ramblers . Chapel Hill was also the founding home of now Durham-based Merge Records . Bruce Springsteen has made a point to visit the town on four occasions. His most recent appearance
4800-569: The Coast IP Magic: The Gathering ; while securing Atari a seven-year year license for titles based on the Hasbro board game portfolio, consisting of Monopoly , Scrabble , Game of Life , Battleship , Clue , Yahtzee , Simon , Risk and Boggle . Atari's exclusive video game license for Dungeons & Dragons was extended for another ten years, allowing Atari to continue publishing titles based on
4920-619: The Coast properties as leverage to increase revenues. Hasbro Interactive embarked on both internal and external development, and acquired some smaller video game developers and publishers along the way. On February 23, 1998, JTS sold the Atari brand name and intellectual properties of Atari Corporation to HIAC XI, Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary created in Delaware for the purpose of the purchase. Hasbro Interactive then renamed HIAC XI, Corp. as Atari Interactive, Inc. in May 1998 and would use
Atari Interactive - Misplaced Pages Continue
5040-560: The Cross , Gimghoul Neighborhood Historic District , Alexander Hogan Plantation , Old Chapel Hill Cemetery , Old East, University of North Carolina , Playmakers Theatre , Rocky Ridge Farm Historic District , and West Chapel Hill Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Chapel Hill is located in the southeast corner of Orange County , with a small part extending east into Durham County . It
5160-623: The Dark , a 3D horror adventure game , to international attention. By 1995, Infogrames was held by many shareholders, including a 20% stake from Pathé Interactive (joint-venture between Phillips Media and Chargeurs ) and 3.3% by Productions Marcel Dassault. By August, Phillips Media acquired Chargeurs' stake in Pathé Interactive, which led to the 20% shareholding stake of the company transferring fully over to Phillips. In 1996, Infogrames embarked on an acquisition campaign that would last seven years and cost more than $ 500 million;
5280-492: The Infogrames and Atari duality, the confusion around that. We are one simplified company, under one management team, under one brand." Infogrames' 29 May earnings report stated: An earnings press release on 24 July 2009 also provided clarification regarding the ensuing name change that was initially announced some two months prior, rebranding themselves as Atari, SA from Infogrames Entertainment, SA. Furthermore, this release also stated their intentions of henceforth utilising
5400-522: The Infogrames, Inc. subsidiary licensed the Atari name and logo from Atari Interactive and changed its name to Atari, Inc. using it to develop, publish and distribute games for all major video game consoles and personal computers under the Atari brand. Infogrames would still maintain ownership of the original Atari properties received through Hasbro which are kept in their Hasbro Interactive originated placeholder, Atari Interactive, Inc. Following major money losses throughout Infogrames Entertainment SA,
5520-581: The Intellivision catalog on the system. On 26 June 2024, Infogrames acquired the Surgeon Simulator IP from tinyBuild. On 1 November 2024, Atari acquired Transport Tycoon from Chris Sawyer and was followed with Infogrames acquiring the publishing rights to Bread & Fred from Apogee Entertainment . Information about developers owned by Atari, Inc. and Atari Interactive are listed on their pages. As of 2018, Atari SA owns
5640-600: The North American Atari subsidiaries emerged from bankruptcy under the ownership of Frédéric Chesnais, who headed the slimmed-down companies with their entire operations consisting of a staff of 10 people. Atari announced in March that they had entered the social casino gaming industry with the launch of Atari Casino. In 2015, Atari announced a new turnaround strategy that would focus on "download games, MMO games, mobile games and licensing activities, based in priority around traditional franchises." Projects within
5760-502: The acquisition of a 70% stake in publisher GT Interactive Software for $ 135 million, and assumed GT's $ 75 million bank debt. IESA justified the purchase by stating that GT Interactive provided Infogrames with a "distribution network for all of its products in the United States, as well as a catalog of products that includes Driver , Duke Nukem , Oddworld , Unreal Tournament and Deer Hunter . The deal also included
5880-400: The appeal hearing took place on May 1, 2008. Atari was expected to raise its value to $ 15 million USD from the period of December 20, 2007 through to March 2008. Atari received notice of its absolute delisting on September 12, 2008. In September 2008, Namco Bandai Games and Infogrames formed a joint venture called Distribution Partners . Distribution Partners was defined by Infogrames as
6000-519: The blue represents the town and the University of North Carolina (whose colors are Carolina blue and white); the green represents "environmental awareness"; and the "townscape" in the inverted chevron represents "a sense of home, friends, and community." The town's seal, has, since the 1930s, depicted Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and protector of cities. Having gone through several revisions,
6120-509: The brand. In May 2003, following the success of this initial run of Atari branded products, Infogrames Entertainment SA announced that it would rebrand all its subsidiaries under the Atari banner. To prepare for this change, the existing Atari Interactive, Inc. subsidiary was merged with Infogrames Interactive, Inc. and gained the Atari Interactive, Inc. name, being a wholly owned subsidiary of Infogrames Entertainment, SA (IESA). while
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#17327808475296240-508: The buildings. Most of these murals were painted by UNC alumnus Michael Brown. Also, for more than 30 years, Chapel Hill has sponsored the annual street fair , Festifall, in October. The fair offer booths to artists, craftsmakers, nonprofits, and food vendors. Performance space is also available for musicians, martial artists , and other groups. The fair is attended by tens of thousands each year. The Morehead Planetarium and Science Center
6360-649: The character and characters of Chapel Hill, North Carolina" includes among its permanent exhibits Alexander Julian , History of the Chapel Hill Fire Department , Chapel Hill's 1914 Fire Truck , The James Taylor Story , Farmer/James Pottery , and The Paul Green Legacy . In addition to the Carolina Inn, the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House , Chapel Hill Historic District , Chapel Hill Town Hall , Chapel of
6480-476: The closure of MicroProse's UK studio, then named Infogrames Chippenham. On October 2, the company closed Infogrames Lyon House. and on October 22, had acquired the remaining 80% of Eden Studios for $ 4.1 million,. In the fiscal year of 2002, IESA had a net loss of $ 67 million on revenues of $ 650 million, and in 2003 the net losses increased to $ 89 million. On January 30, 2003, Infogrames sold their Mac publishing division MacSoft to Destineer . On May 1,
6600-652: The closure of the Hunt Valley (the former headquarters of MicroProse) development studio. and Legend Entertainment On October 2, following the closure of Sheffield House, Atari sold a majority of Gremlin Interactive's catalogue alongside their brand, logo and trademark, to Zoo Digital Publishing , a then-new publisher founded by Gremlin co-founder Ian Stewart. On December 18, Atari announced that they would shutter Legend Entertainment in January 2004. Atari continued to close and sell off franchises in 2004. On March 30,
6720-713: The closure of their Santa Monica and Beverly publishing offices and that publishing would be reassigned to their main North American offices in New York City . On May 2, after signing a new deal with Firaxis Games , 2K announced that they had fully acquired from Atari the full Civilization and prior back catalog of titles. They also announced that they had acquired the publishing rights to the then-recent Sid Meier's Pirates! . On June 9, Hasbro announced they had purchased back Atari's exclusive digital gaming rights to their properties for $ 65 million. As part of
6840-494: The company acquired the rights for 300 games when they purchased Avalon Hill for $ 6 million, and followed this up on August 14 by purchasing MicroProse for $ 70 million. With those acquisitions Hasbro Interactive revenues increased 127% in 1998 to $ 196 million and profits of $ 23 million. In July 1999, the company purchased UK-based educational software publisher Europress . In 1998, Hasbro signed an agreement with Majesco Sales , whereas Majesco would publish/distribute games under
6960-470: The company announced they would publish games for the PlayStation . In 1997, revenues increased 145% going from US$ 35 million to $ 86 million. Hasbro Interactive was growing so fast that there was talk of reaching $ 1 billion in revenues by 2002. and began to engage in some other video game licensing, such as licensing Frogger from Konami . They sought to use Hasbro board game brands and Wizards of
7080-479: The company began to sell most of its operations to pay off its debt. On June 9, 2005, the company reevaluated its licensing agreement with Hasbro by selling back its fifteen-year video game licensing agreement for $ 65 million. Hasbro re-acquired the rights to produce video games based on the Transformers , My Little Pony , Tonka , Connect Four , Candy Land and Playskool IPs, alongside Wizards of
7200-432: The company had operations in 50 countries and 17 dedicated offices. In December 2008, Infogrames bought Cryptic Studios for $ 26.7 million in cash plus performance bonuses. Cryptic Studios is a massively multiplayer online game developer and its acquisition is in line with the company's new business strategy which focuses on online games. Despite restructuring, Infogrames continued to struggle to become profitable. For
7320-617: The company launched the Atari Token Cryptocurrency the Atari Token was launched by Atari, in equal partnership with the ICICB Group. The group was licensed to launch an online gaming platform using crypto currencies, including the Atari Token. Also, Ziggurat Interactive acquired dozens of ex-Atari-owned titles, including Deadly Dozen . In March 2021, Atari extended its partnership with ICICB Group for
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#17327808475297440-433: The company owns the rights to many video game properties that originated from Accolade , Atari, Inc. , Atari Corporation , GT Interactive, M Network , Intellivision and others. It is the sole owner of the Atari brand since 2001, through its subsidiary Atari Interactive Inc. which licenses the brand to other entities in the group. Infogrames published numerous video games during the 1990s and eventually became one of
7560-592: The company shuttered its Minneapolis development studio, formerly WizardWorks, and announced that its titles such as the Deer Hunter franchise would transition off to Atari Interactive. On July 29, 2004, Epic Games announced that it had ended its publishing agreement with Atari, Inc. for the Unreal , and instead signed a new three-game publishing deal with Midway , beginning with Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict in 2005. Atari would continue to publish
7680-653: The company shuttered the Infogrames Sheffield House development studio. On 7 May 2003, Infogrames officially reorganized all its subsidiaries under the Atari banner. Its two publishing divisions in the United States - Infogrames, Inc., based in Santa Monica (the former GT Interactive) which handled a majority of the company's "core" titles such as Enter the Matrix , Dungeons and Dragons (including Neverwinter Nights ) and other movie tie-ins,
7800-441: The company's products was taken over by their North American and European branches. Newer games based on franchises and licensed IP that had previously been released through Hasbro Interactive would feature the company's new name as the copyright holder. In October 2001, Infogrames Interactive, Inc. licensed out the Atari brand to Infogrames' North American and European operations, which would allow them to publish new games under
7920-400: The company's titles for a period until March 2006, and was later extended to March 2007. During this period, Atari's most profitable titles in the North American market were Dragon Ball games , which accounted for the largest share of Atari's earnings at the time. Infogrames through the remainder of 2006 sold intellectual properties and some studios in order to raise cash and stave off
8040-594: The console. According to an official company statement of 22 June 2017 the product was to initially launch via a crowdfunding campaign in order to minimize financial risk to the parent company. In March 2018, the Ataribox was renamed the Atari VCS and it was released in June 2021. It was developed by a new subsidiary based in the U.S., named Atari VCS, LLC. Within the same month, it was revealed that Atari had also sold
8160-644: The corners of the Research Triangle (officially the Raleigh-Durham- Cary , NC Combined Statistical Area ), which had an estimated population of 2,368,947 in 2023. The town was founded in 1793 and is centered on Franklin Street , covering 21.3 square miles (55 km ). It contains several districts and buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places . The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care are
8280-426: The day of the announcement of is departure IESA's shares jumped 24%. In the same year, Infogrames fired the majority of Atari's directors and laid off 20% of its workforce. For the 2006–2007 fiscal year, Atari posted a net loss of $ 70 million. In July 2007, Atari sold their exclusive licensing deal with Hasbro back to them for $ 19 million, which concluded with Hasbro signing a new casual game deal with Electronic Arts
8400-534: The developers SingleTrac , Humongous Entertainment , Cavedog Entertainment , WizardWorks , MacSoft , Legend Entertainment and Reflections Interactive ; Infogrames began the new millennium of 2000 with a new identity and branding, while in February GT closed down Cavedog Entertainment as part of its restructuring. In June, The company invested another $ 30 million in GT Interactive, and renamed
8520-512: The development of Atari branded hotels, with the first hotels to be constructed in Dubai , Gibraltar and Spain . The licensing agreement includes potential additional countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia. In April, Rosen replaced Chesnais as CEO and restructured the company into two units: Atari Gaming, who will focus on video games, and Atari Blockchain, who will focus on blockchain and other businesses. On July 5, 2021, Atari Gaming announced
8640-552: The existing Unreal back catalog. On November 25, 2004, Infogrames Entertainment SA announced they had sold the Civilization franchise to an undisclosed buyer for $ 22.3 million., In January 2005, it was revealed that the buyer for the Civilization franchise was Take-Two Interactive , who acquired distribution rights to the then-upcoming title Civilization IV under their 2K label. On February 10, Atari announced
8760-464: The following week CEO Fred Chesnais confirmed the company was developing a new game console – the hardware was stated to be based on PC technology, and be still under development. In mid July 2017 an Atari press release confirmed the existence of new hardware, referred to as the Ataribox . The casing design was inspired by the original Atari 2600 , with a ribbed top surface, and a rise at the back of
8880-635: The franchise owners Pokonobe Associates. On January 21, 2013, Atari, Inc. and Atari Interactive, Inc. filed petitions for relief under Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. All three Ataris emerged from bankruptcy one year later. Hasbro Interactive published and distributed its own titles in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany and Australia. Outside these markets, distribution
9000-444: The franchise. On January 3, 2017, TMZ reported that Frontier Developments , the developer for RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 , sued Atari, Inc. for not paying the company enough for royalties for the game; Frontier reported that they only received $ 1.17 million when they needed $ 3.37 million. Frontier's Chief Operating Officer David Walsh confirmed the report in a GameSpot interview, stating that they had previously attempted to resolve
9120-471: The franchise. With continued money problems, in July 2007 Atari announced they had sold back the remainder of their Hasbro agreement back to them for $ 19 million. The following month, Hasbro announced they had entered into a new multi-year casual publishing deal with Electronic Arts . However, Atari retained its Dungeons & Dragons license and also announced to publish a video game based on Jenga under
9240-488: The issue without legal action since April 2016. In 2017, Piko Interactive acquired several titles from Atari: 40 Winks , Bubble Ghost , Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Priestess , Death Gate , Drakkhen , Eternam , Glover , Monty Mole , Hostage: Rescue Mission , Marco Polo and Time Gate: Knight's Chase . On June 8, a short teaser video was released, promoting a new product; and
9360-404: The largest video game companies in the world through an acquisition policy. However, later, as Atari SA, it dealt with continuing pressures and difficulty finding investors which led to the company seeking bankruptcy protection under French law in January 2013 while subsidiaries in the United States sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as well. Since 2020, the company has seen a turnaround with
9480-483: The latter part of 2023, the company also formed a partnership with and made a minority investment into Playmaji, Inc. the company behind the Polymega retro console, acquired AtariAge , a website dedicated to the history of Atari games, Awesomenauts and Swords & Soldiers from Ronimo Games and Digital Eclipse , a developer that specialized in remakes of older games. On April 2, 2024, Atari re-purchased
9600-433: The much more recognisable 'Atari Group' moniker with all Atari-related brands and similar such subsidiaries already under their control. On 21 October 2010, Atari announced Atari's reference shareholders BlueBay Value Recovery (Master) Fund Limited and BlueBay Multi-Strategy (Master) Fund Limited are exploring a disposal of the shares and equity-linked instruments held by them. However, BlueBay shareholders later interrupted
9720-533: The new label. Atari also took a 7.9% ownership stake in tinyBuild around the same time. On May 23, Atari announced the acquisition of the Intellivision brand name and its game library from Intellivision Entertainment. This respective company and the Amico console were not included in the sale, and would be renamed. The company would secure a licensing deal with Atari to continue to release updated versions of
9840-501: The objective was to become the world's leading interactive entertainment publisher. While the company's debt increased from $ 55 million in 1999 to $ 493 million in 2002, the company's revenue also increased from $ 246 million to $ 650 million during the same period. In July 1996, the company announced that it would purchase the British-based holding company Ocean International Ltd. for $ 100 million, beginning Infogrames' status as
9960-410: The population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 20,564 households, 51.1% were families, 26.2% of all households had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.2% were headed by married couples living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.9% were not families. About 30.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.7% had someone living alone who
10080-703: The publisher as Infogrames, Inc. On June 30, Infogrames purchased developer Paradigm Entertainment for $ 19.5 million and placed them within Infogrames, Inc. operations. and soon afterwards purchased in-flight games developer Den-o-Tech Int. (DTI) for $ 5.6 million, renaming them as Infogrames DTI. Infogrames was also one of the interested companies in purchasing Eidos Interactive . On December 6, 2000, board game manufacturer Hasbro announced that they would sell their struggling Hasbro Interactive division to Infogrames for $ 100 million, $ 95 million as 4.5 million common shares of Infogrames and $ 5 million in cash. The deal included all of Hasbro Interactive's product library,
10200-439: The publishing rights to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 from Frontier Developments as part of RollerCoaster Tycoon' s 25th anniversary, giving Atari full publishing control of the series once more. Later that month, Atari relaunched the Infogrames brand as a second publishing label to publish titles outside the main Atari brands, along with the acquisition of Totally Reliable Delivery Service from tinyBuild , to be published under
10320-481: The realm of popular music, James Taylor , George Hamilton IV , Southern Culture on the Skids , Superchunk , Polvo , Archers of Loaf , Ben Folds Five , The Kingsbury Manx , Spider Bags and more recently Porter Robinson , are among the most notable musical artists and acts whose careers began in Chapel Hill. The town has also been a center for the modern revival of old-time music and bluegrass with such bands as
10440-483: The region. On April 25, Infogrames purchased Shiny Entertainment from the struggling Interplay Entertainment for $ 47 million, alongside the exclusive publishing rights to publish games based on The Matrix . On August 28, Infogrames purchased the remaining shares in OziSoft for $ 3.7 million and rebranded the distributor as Infogrames Australia and Infogrames New Zealand. On September 12, 2002, Infogrames announced
10560-452: The restructuring of the debt and capital structure of the Atari group. As part of the agreement, the €20.9 million Credit Facility Agreement was extinguished via €10.9 million loan forgiveness from BlueBay Value Recovery (Master) Fund Limited and Atari's payment of €10 million; the cancellation of the dilutive effect of the ORANEs held by BlueBay; €20 million capital increases to be submitted to
10680-460: The rights to the following games and game franchises. The majority of these are original works by Atari , Hasbro Interactive or Infogrames, however the most notable outside of these are a large number of intellectual properties formerly belonging to Ocean Software , to which Atari SA never lost the rights. Some former franchises, such as Test Drive and Alone in the Dark , have since been sold. Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill
10800-639: The sale process of its holding in Atari. BlueBay later converted the conversion of a portion of the ORANEs held by them. On April 4, 2012, Glu Mobile acquired the Deer Hunter franchise from Atari. On April 12, Eden Games began negotiations as an attempt to separate from Atari SA following a prior strike after Atari laid off a majority of the studios' employees the prior April. On September 28, Atari, SA, BlueBay Value Recovery (Master) Fund Limited, and The BlueBay Multi-Strategy (Master) Fund Limited reached an agreement following their negotiations regarding
10920-540: The sale, Hasbro purchased back the video game rights to the Transformers , My Little Pony , Tonka , Magic: The Gathering , Connect Four , Candy Land and Playskool franchises and brands, while Atari would obtain a seven-year exclusive agreement to produce video games based on select Hasbro board games, including Monopoly , Scrabble , The Game of Life , Battleship , Clue , Yahtzee , Simon , Risk and Boggle . Hasbro also secured
11040-696: The same day, the company announced a two-year distribution deal with Canal+ Multimedia to distribute the company's titles in the UK, France and Germany. Later on in the year the company purchased the distributors ABS Multimedia, Arcadia, and the Swiss Gamecity GmbH and ending the year off with the purchase of a 62.5% in Australian game distributor Ozisoft , following its then-recent relinquishment from Sega . On February 10, 1999, Infogrames extended its partnership with Canal+ Multimedia by purchasing
11160-505: The seal, which also serves as the town logo, was most recently updated in 2005 to a visually simpler version. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools covers most of the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro , along with portions of unincorporated Orange County, and is recognized for its academic strengths. East Chapel Hill High School , Carrboro High School , and Chapel Hill High School have all received national recognition for excellence, with Newsweek in 2008 ranking East Chapel Hill High as
11280-699: The service, and fees are collected through UNC Parking. The connecting services are fee-based, but subsidized for UNC students, staff, and faculty. Go Triangle provides connection to the rest of the Triangle ( Raleigh , Durham , and Hillsborough ), of which the Hillsborough service is operated by Chapel Hill Transit, and supplemented mid-day by a county shuttle. The Durham–Orange Light Rail line , which would have run between Chapel Hill and Durham, entered planning and engineering phases in August 2017. The project
11400-532: The strategy included Alone in the Dark: Illumination , RollerCoaster Tycoon World , and a mobile game based on Lunar Lander . On December 14, 2016, fellow-French publisher Bigben Interactive announced they had purchased the Test Drive franchise from Atari. The deal allowed for BigBen to publish new installments in the franchise, while Atari would retain all rights to previous entries in
11520-589: The studio down. On May 23, Atari announced that they would sell their game assets, developers, the famous "Fuji" logo, and the Atari name in a bankruptcy auction. Prior to the bankruptcy sale in July, Nordic Games purchased the Desperados franchise and Silver on June 24 while Appeal Studios purchased the full rights to Outcast on July 4. The company's bankruptcy sale took place on July 22, 2013, leading to different titles gaining new homes. A majority of Atari's assets were sold to Tommo , which included
11640-586: The threat of bankruptcy. On May 10, 2006, the company began their sales of their studios and properties with the sale of the Games.com website to AOL , Paradigm Entertainment and the Stuntman franchise to THQ and the publishing rights to TimeShift to Vivendi Games . The sales generated $ 25 million in revenue. On June 17, Midway acquired the back publishing rights to the Unreal back catalog from Infogrames and Atari. In July, Reflections Interactive and
11760-547: The town at large; town elections are held in November of odd-numbered years. Mayor Jessica Anderson , a former council member, succeeded four-term mayor Pam Hemminger in 2023. In 2015, Hemminger defeated incumbent Mark Kleinschmidt , who had been elected in 2009 as the first openly gay mayor of Chapel Hill, succeeding outgoing four-term mayor Kevin Foy . The town adopted its flag in 1990. According to flag designer Spring Davis,
11880-819: The town both house UNC teams. The Dean Smith Center is home to the men's basketball team, while Kenan Memorial Stadium is home to the football team. In addition, Chapel Hill is also home to Carmichael Arena which formerly housed the UNC men's basketball team, and currently is home to the women's team, and to the new Dorrance Field , home to men's and women's soccer and lacrosse teams. Many walking/biking trails are in Chapel Hill. Some of these include Battle Branch Trail, Morgan Creek Trail and Bolin Creek Trail, Chapel Hill's oldest trail and most popular greenway. Chapel Hill has no-fee intracity bus service via Chapel Hill Transit . Park & Ride lots provide financial support for
12000-572: The university are seen throughout the town, even in the fire departments. Each fire station in Chapel Hill has a fire engine (numbers 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35) that is Carolina blue. These engines are also decorated with different UNC decals, including a firefighter Rameses . Chapel Hill also has some new urbanist village communities, such as Meadowmont Village and Southern Village . Meadowmont and Southern Village both have shopping centers, green space where concerts, movies, and other outdoor events have taken place, community pools, and schools. Also,
12120-498: The university's largest donor. Chapel Hill has developed along a hill; the crest was the original site of a small Anglican "chapel of ease", built in 1752, known as New Hope Chapel . The Carolina Inn now occupies this site. In 1819, the town was founded by the NC General Assembly to serve the University of North Carolina and developed around it. The town was chartered in 1851, and its main street, Franklin Street,
12240-677: The vote of Atari shareholders (of which €10 million with preferential subscription right). On 21 January 2013, the North American divisions of Atari SA - Atari, Inc., Atari Interactive, Inc., Humongous, Inc. and California US Holdings, Inc. all filed petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The following week on January 29, Eden Games filed for judicial liquidation , effectively closing
12360-464: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.98. In the town, the population was distributed as 17.4% under the age of 18, 31.5% from 18 to 24, 23.6% from 25 to 44, 18.4% from 45 to 64, and 9.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 25.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.6 males. According to estimates released by
12480-406: Was acquired by Foundation 9 Entertainment for $ 1.6 million. The last studio put up for sale - Atari Melbourne House, was sold to Krome Studios in November, and was renamed to Krome Studios Melbourne. Atari retained ownership of Eden Games , while Infogrames still held the assets of Humongous, Inc. In April 2007, Infogrames' founding chairman Bruno Bonnell left the company after 24 years; on
12600-475: Was completed by October 9. With that acquisition Infogrames was the only owner of the Atari brand. Infogrames said that it planned to reduce administrative costs and to focus on online gaming. On May 9, 2008, it was revealed that NASDAQ would be removing Atari from the NASDAQ stock exchange. Atari has stated its intentions to appeal the decision. Atari was notified of NASDAQ's final decision on April 24, 2008, and
12720-499: Was disclaimed as "unlicensed" and a replacement would be developed. In 2023, Atari began a series of IP acquisitions. In March, they acquired the intellectual property rights to 12 Stern Electronics titles, including Berzerk and Frenzy . Later that month, Atari announced that it would acquire Nightdive Studios for $ 10 million. Nightdive had released several ports and remasters of Atari's divested games. The following month, they had re-acquired over one hundred video games from
12840-472: Was formed late in 1995 to allow Hasbro to enter the video game market. Several Hasbro properties, such as Monopoly and Scrabble , had already been made into successful video games by licensees such as Virgin Interactive . With Hasbro's game experience, video games seemed like a natural extension of the company and a good opportunity for revenue growth. Hasbro Interactive's objective was to develop and publish games based on Hasbro properties. In January 1997,
12960-494: Was getting out of the distribution business in the PAL region with its decision to sell its 66% stake at Distribution Partners. According to an Infogrames press-release, this sale allowed "Atari to focus its financial resources and creative energy exclusively on developing and publishing online-enabled games". In July, the deal valued at €37 million was completed; Distribution Partners was renamed to Namco Bandai Partners . At that time
13080-688: Was handled by various third parties including Ubi Soft in France, Leader S.p.A. in Italy, CD Projekt in Poland and Brasoft in Brazil. Under the Hasbro Interactive name, the company published over 160 games on several interactive media. Included among them are: Atari SA Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA ( French pronunciation: [ɛ̃fɔɡʁam] )), also known under
13200-582: Was however not included in the sale, and was shuttered following the purchase. On January 30, 1998, Infogrames signed a licensing deal with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to publish and develop five titles based on the Looney Tunes franchise. On February 8, Infogrames rebranded its subsidiaries under its own banner, with Ocean Software becoming Infogrames United Kingdom, Ocean of America becoming Infogrames Entertainment, Inc. and Bomico Entertainment Software becoming Infogrames Deutschland. On
13320-473: Was moved to Villeurbanne . Bonnell commented: "This dinosaur [ sic ] is our symbol. The armadillo has always survived changes to its environment, from the melting of glaciers to the worst of heat waves." In the late 1980s, Infogrames was noted for its French computer games that often featured original game ideas and occasionally humorous content. They had acquired several licences for popular Franco-Belgian comics . In 1992, they released Alone in
13440-531: Was named in memory of Benjamin Franklin . Four in ten Chapel Hillians were enslaved at the start of the Civil War , and about half of the town was Black. In April 1865, as the war ended, the 9th Michigan Cavalry rode into Chapel Hill and occupied the university and the town for more than two weeks. In 1969, a year after the town fully integrated its schools, Chapel Hill elected Howard Lee as mayor. It
13560-418: Was on September 15, 2003, at Kenan Memorial Stadium with the E Street Band . U2 also performed at Kenan on the first American date of their 1983 War Tour , where Bono climbed up to the top of the stage, during pouring rain and lightning, holding up a white flag for peace. The 2011 John Craigie song, " Chapel Hill ", is about the singer's first visit there. One song from Dirty , a Sonic Youth album,
13680-494: Was purchased. The company's first major purchase of the year came on April 20, with the purchase of publisher Accolade for $ 60 million in order to gain a major North American distribution network. Accolade was rebranded as Infogrames North America, with the company's former North American distribution arm (the ex-Ocean of America) being folded into it. On June 24, the company extended its Looney Tunes licensing deal with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for five years, with
13800-869: Was rebranded as Atari, Inc. , and Infogrames Interactive, Inc., based in Beverly, Massachusetts, which focused on children's and casual titles such as games based on the Dragon Ball franchise and their Hasbro license, was renamed Atari Interactive, Inc. , merging with the previously existing Atari Interactive, Inc. which held all rights to the Atari brand. Other subsidiaries that rebranded included Infogrames Australia Pty, Ltd. rebranding as Atari Australia Pty, Ltd. , Infogrames United Kingdom Limited rebranding as Atari United Kingdom Limited, Infogrames Europe rebranding as Atari Europe and development studio Infogrames Melbourne House Pty Ltd becoming Atari Melbourne House Pty Ltd. The Infogrames Entertainment SA company as
13920-433: Was retained by Hasbro. The deal was closed on January 29, 2001, and Hasbro Interactive was rebranded as Infogrames Interactive, Inc. On October 2, 2001, Infogrames announced that they would reinvent the Atari brand as a second major publishing label with the launch of three new games featuring prominent Atari branding on their boxarts: Splashdown , MX Rider and TransWorld Surf . Infogrames titles released under
14040-684: Was started by employees laid off in the North Carolina Hasbro Interactive studio closing. In 4 years, Hasbro Interactive's revenue increased 577%. By the middle of 2000, the dot-com bubble had burst, Hasbro share price had lost 70% of its value in just over a year and Hasbro would post a net loss for the first time in two decades. Faced with these difficulties, on December 6, 2000, Hasbro announced they would completely sell off their Hasbro Interactive division to French software company Infogrames . The sale included nearly all of their video game related rights and properties,
14160-596: Was the first majority-white municipality in the South to elect an African-American mayor. Serving from 1969 to 1975, Lee helped establish Chapel Hill Transit , the town's bus system, and the Mountains-to-Sea trail . Some 30 years later, in 2002, the state passed legislation to provide free service to all riders on local buses. The bus operations are funded through Chapel Hill and Carrboro town taxes, federal grants, and UNC student tuition. The change has resulted in
14280-477: Was the first of two land grants in what is now the Chapel Hill-Durham area. Though William Barbee died shortly after settling there in 1758, one of his eight children, Christopher Barbee, became an important contributor to his father's adopted community and to the fledgling University of North Carolina . In 1792, he offered the trustees of UNC 221 acres on which the university is now built, making him
14400-465: Was the first planetarium built on a U.S. college campus. When it opened in 1949, it was one of six planetariums in the nation and has remained an important town landmark. During the Mercury , Gemini , and Apollo programs , astronauts were trained there. One of the town's hallmark features is the giant sundial, located in the green square in front of the planetarium on Franklin Street. Influences of
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