My Toronto blogger friend, Lyndon from Lyndonology, tagged me last week with the Six Unspectacular Quirks meme. I don’t do this kind of meme very often, but sometimes they are kind of fun and I think they give readers a better idea of who the blogger is, so I decided I’d give it a whirl. If you’d like to participate in this meme go right ahead. Here’s the rules: 1. Link to the person who tagged you. 2. Mention the rules. 3. Tell six unspectacular quirks of yours. 4. Tag six bloggers by li
Circus Circus Las Vegas 2880 Las Vegas Blvd South Las Vegas, NV 89109 Number of rooms 3,774 Theme Circus Gaming space 101,100 ft² (9,392.19 m²) Permanent show(s) Signature attraction(s) Circus Circus Adventuredome Notable restaurant(s) The Steakhouse Blue Iguana Owner MGM Mirage Date opened October 18, 1968 Casino type Land-Based Major renovation(s) none Previous name(s) none Casino website Circus Circus Las Vegas Circus Circus Las Vegas is a circus-
Fridays at Club Iguana! a M.S. Entertainment, CNR Productions & Rick Carrion Event
M.S. Entertainment, CNR Productions & Rick Carrion Event Fridays with DJ Charlie Cabranes joining us in the mix. Come join us for Dining & Dancing on the 2nd floor. Doors open at 5pm. We have Fania CD's on sale all night! Sponsored by Fania/Emusica . Fridays at Club Iguana!! DATE: Friday, July 11, 2008 TIME: 5pm LOCATION: 240 W. 54th Street, NY, NY TAKE THE STAIRS UP TO THE 2nd floor MORE: Free b4 8pm, $5 from 8-10pm and $10 AFTER FOR MORE INFO CALL 347-452-1767/917-806-
A bloodless bullfight is set for the Greater Houston Area to raise money for scholarships for Hispanic students. The World Class Tejas Bullfights event will be held July 5 in Rosenberg, Texas. The bullfight ring at the Ft. Bend County Fairgrounds will showcase two renown Mexican matadors Longinos Mendoza and Enrique Delgado who will fight four bulls. The bulls will not be killed or hurt. To score a win, the matador will demonstrate his style and skills by plucking a rose placed between the
video games for Nintendo, Sega, Sony video game consoles
Key people
Founders: Jeff Spangenberg, CEO & President Beth Spangenberg, CFO Darrin Stubbington, VP Matt Stubbington, Art Director J. Moon, Business Development Manager John Carlsen Iguana UK: Darren Falcus, Jason Falcus Others: Russell Byrd, Mike Daubert, Craig Galley, Cyrus Lum
Former Parent
Acclaim Entertainment
Subsidiary
Iguana UK, Acclaim Studios Teesside
Iguana Entertainment was a video game developer operating from 1991 to 2004 in Santa Clara, California, Sunnyvale, California, Austin, Texas and Teesside, England. They were best known for developing the Turok, NBA Jam, NFL Quarterback Club, and South Park video games.
Company history
Iguana Entertainment was first incorporated in Sunnyvale, California on August 14, 1991 by Jeff Spangenberg. Other Iguana Entertainment founders include Mary Beth Campbell (later Mrs. Beth Spangenberg), John Carlsen, James Moon (known to most as J. Moon), and brothers Darrin Stubbington and Matt Stubbington.
"Punk" roots
Prior to incorporating Iguana Entertainment, Mr. Spangenberg had run Punk Development. Based in Sunnyvale, Punk Development was the product development arm of RazorSoft, Inc., an Oklahoma-based video game distributor. All of the Iguana founders named above (with the possible exception of Ms. Campbell) and many early employees of Iguana Entertainment worked for Punk Development.
Punk Development was originally called Team Design until a conflict arose with another local firm having the same name. According to rumor, the other Team Design had complained of young "punks" hijacking its name.
Origins of the "Killer" Iguana brand
President Jeff Spangenberg kept his pet iguanas, Killer (the oldest), Spike and Squirt (the baby) in a large tank in the lobbies of the Punk and Iguana offices. When RazorSoft closed the Punk Development office, the Iguana name was selected, and Matt Stubbington painted on canvas the original company logotype, which included a portrait of the original Killer.
Clients
Iguana Entertainment's major clients included Acclaim Entertainment and SunSoft.
Move to Texas
In September 1993, Iguana Entertainment moved to Austin, Texas, becoming Austin's second-largest developer of computer games, smaller only than Origin Systems, which was already part of Electronic Arts. Iguana Entertainment became a Texas corporation on December 10, 1993.
The original pet iguanas could not be easily moved between states and were given away. Once in Texas, a new tank and iguanas were added to the lobby. Cyrus Lum created an updated company logotype (featuring a portrait of the new iguana named Killer) and animation that appears in many Iguana games.
Mergers
Also in 1993, the company acquired Optimus Software Ltd of Teesside, England which became Iguana UK. Iguana UK proved a valuable resource, both for "porting" arcade games including NBA Jam to home video game consoles and for recruiting and preparing employees for transfer to the US office.
In 1995, owners Jeff and Beth Spangenberg sold Iguana Entertainment to its largest customer, Acclaim Entertainment for $25MM ($13MM cash, the balance in Acclaim Entertainment stock) and the stipulation that Iguana Entertainment would retain its own independence; in the following years, the two Iguana studios became Acclaim Studios Austin and Acclaim Studios Teesside (AST).
Financial trouble
During its 1995 spending spree, Acclaim Entertainment also purchased Sculptured Software in Salt Lake City, Utah (until then, the largest independent video game developer in North America) and Lazer-Tron (a maker of coin-operated redemption games), and formed Acclaim Coin-Operated Entertainment despite the well-documented (even at the time) shrinking of the coin-operated game industry. By suddenly overextending itself financially in 1995, Acclaim Entertainment's stock value quickly dropped about 90%, which alienated its merger partners and signaling to many the beginning of the end.
Rolling studio heads
Following the Iguana-Acclaim merger, Jeff and Beth Spangenberg left the company, starting a procession of new studio heads at Acclaim Studios Austin.
Spin-off companies
Also following the Iguana-Acclaim merger, several Iguana Entertainment employees founded their own Austin-area companies:
President Jeff Spangenberg founded Retro Studios (now part of Nintendo) in 1998.
Directors Russell Byrd, Cyrus Lum and Craig Galley formed Inevitable Entertainment, which is now part of Midway Games.
Turok lead programmer Rob Cohen founded Edge of Reality.
Animator Mike Daubert founded The Animation Farm.
Art director Matt Stubbington founded Big Sesh Studios and co-founded the Gemini School of Visual Arts and Communication in 2003.
Tools engineer John Carlsen founded Syncopated Systems in 2004.
Closure of Iguana UK
In 2000, Jason and Darren Falcus left to form Atomic Planet Entertainment Ltd., Acclaim Entertainment made a sharp cut in the number of employees at Acclaim Studios Teesside, which was finally closed in 2002, with many staff being relocated to Acclaim Studios Cheltenham.
Bankruptcy and liquidation
When parent company Acclaim Entertainment went bankrupt in September 2004, most employees of Acclaim Studios Austin found out when they showed up for work but the building's manager had locked them out of their offices. Acclaim Studios Austin was closed and subsequently liquidated.
Systems targeted
Iguana Entertainment developed games for:
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and Nintendo 64 (N64)
Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Sega Titan
Sony PlayStation (PS1)
In addition, Iguana Entertainment created its own proprietary software and hardware tools for:
Atari Jaguar
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Sega Titan
Sony PlayStation
Games developed
During its 13-year history, Iguana Entertainment developed many games under both the Iguana Entertainment name (for both US and UK studios) and the Acclaim Studios Austin name.
As Iguana Entertainment (US)
Aero the Acro-Bat (SunSoft 1993: Super NES, Sega Genesis; 2002: GBA)
Batman Forever: The Arcade Game (Acclaim 1996: Sega Titan (arcade), Sega Saturn)
College Slam (Acclaim 1996: Super NES, Sega Genesis)
Iggy's Reckin' Balls (Acclaim: Nintendo 64)
Machines
NFL Quarterback Club '96 (Acclaim 1995: Super NES, Sega Genesis)
NFL Quarterback Club '97 (Acclaim 1996)
NFL Quarterback Club '98 (Acclaim 1997)
NFL Quarterback Club '99 (Acclaim 1998)
Re-Volt (Acclaim, 1999)
Side Pocket
South Park
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter (Acclaim 1997: Nintendo 64)
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (Acclaim 1998)
WWF War Zone (Acclaim 1998)
WWF Attitude
Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel (SunSoft 1994: Super NES, Sega Genesis)
