Simpsons Darts / Billiards, The First Simpsons Mobile Games
Aug 19, 2023 0:16:51 GMT
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Post by bronzeisbored on Aug 19, 2023 0:16:51 GMT
While I was doing research into the early history of licensed mobile games, I accidentally uncovered a pair of lost games that I'm surprised have barely any documentation anywhere online. According to the archived About page on the site for developer 1C Wireless [link], they partnered with THQ's wireless division to create both a darts game and a billiards game based on The Simpsons at some point before mid 2006. The only other reference to these games in particular can be found in a LinkedIn page for one of 1C's former developers [link] (the company was a subdivision of Cybiko until 2005, so their names are often used interchangeably), claiming that at least one of these games was being developed during his time at the company from January of 2001 to March of 2003. The earliest documented Simpsons mobile game, Minutes To Meltdown, released in July 2007. That means that Simpsons Darts or Simpsons Billiards could actually be the real first ever Simpsons mobile game, which makes the fact that there's literally nothing about them anywhere even more interesting. According to THQ's old website [link], they did announce a partnership with FOX to develop Simpsons mobile content in March of 2003, though no mobile phone material created by THQ based on The Simpsons has resurfaced, including these two games. Despite early mobile games overall being an under-documented area of media history, I was genuinely surprised that a lot of early licensed phone games like these have gone unarchived. I get that darts and billiards aren't particularly enticing premises for games to archive, especially with how abundant they were on phones back in the day, but even the most dedicated Simpsons wikis or fan sites I've searched through have no mention of these games, or FOX's partnership with THQ's wireless division in general. Regardless of how uninteresting a Simpsons mobile phone darts game is as a concept, the fact that a big piece of Simpsons history was potentially just completely forgotten is fascinating.