Locomotive Games

Background
The company was founded in Santa Clara, California by EA Sports founder Don Traeger and former Atari executive Dennis Harper in 1997, under the name of "Don Traeger Productions", but was quickly renamed to Pacific Coast Power & Light Co.. In 1999, they were acquired by THQ and renamed once again to Locomotive Games in 2005. Due to financial problems, THQ closed the studio in November 2008.

1st Logo (September 16, 1999-March 3, 2000)
Logo: On a black background, two bolts of lightning go off and strike a part of the screen, with orange sparks coming off of it. The bolts then lower as a stream of blue light strings emerge and curve over itself like a wave of water, right before the bolts disappear as well. The sparks remain until the entire light trail starts to swirl around with sparkles, eventually bursting into a flash of -edged white light that engulfs the screen. It eventually fades to white, then yellow, before a badge-like shape zooms out while surrounded by white sparks. The badge has a stylized image of a tidal wave with a white lightning bolt on the end, and it has a backdrop. On top of it is the text "PACIFIC COAST" bordered across the top in, and below it is a dark blue section with "POWER & LIGHT" stacked in it, and a small circle containing "CO.". The shield then loses the sparks, followed by its glow, revealing a dark blue outline, as the text "Pacific Coast Power & Light Co. Logo TM THQ Inc. All rights reserved." fades in below.

Variant: On Road Rash 64, the logo is missing the copyright info and is colored in black and yellow.

Technique: Simple computer animation effects.

Music/Sounds: Electric zapping, followed with a "magical" sound and drumbeats in the background, ending with radio code beeps.

Availability: Appeared on Jet Moto 3, Nuclear Strike 64 and Road Rash 64. The latter two games have the logo still on the final product.

2nd Logo (July 3, 2001-May 15, 2003)


Logo: We fade into a shot of a lighthouse during a rainy evening, with dark storm clouds rolling in and lightning striking in the distance. The camera starts to zoom in to the top of the lighthouse, where the beacon light is seen rotating, and then lightning strikes the top, causing the entire screen to turn white and an explosion appears. After the debris flies off-screen, the logo from before fades in, but now rendered in 3D and is a metallic purple and gold color. The logo shines and a THQ byline fades in below the logo.

Technique: Decent CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: Thunder, rain and a deep sea horn can be heard at the beginning, followed by a explosion sound for the thunder striking. It then ends with a deep synth note that is overlayed with the radio code beeps from before. Waves crashing can also be heard throughout the logo as well.

Availability: Appeared on MX 2002, MX Superfly and WWE Crush Hour.

3rd Logo (September 14-November 26, 2004)


Logo: On a white background, a line wipes in from the left side of the screen as a wave rises from it. Then a lightning bolt strikes the wave, making it yellow and zooms out to show a flat version of the previous logo fading in around the wave. As the logo stops, a THQ byline fades in.

Technique: Simple 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: The sounds of waves crashing and a thunder sound when the wave is struck.

Availability: Appeared only on Power Rangers Dino Thunder.

(June 6, 2006-March 7, 2008)
Logo: Fading in to a concrete floor lit by a off-screen spotlight, the text "locomotive" appears letter-by-letter as they spin around as well. Two rings (one of them is cut) zoom out and spin into place, and a  dot follows. Finally, the text "games" spins into place underneath the right side of the logo. The entire thing also pans slowly down throughout the logo.

Technique: Simple CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: The sounds of a plastic chip whirling.

Availability: It was seen on three games: Cars and Ratatouille, both for PSP, and ''Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed'' for Wii.