JoWooD Productions

Background: JoWood was a game company headquartered in Liezen, Austria. It was founded in 1995 by Andreas Tobler. In 2006 the company expanded into North American market with the purchase of DreamCatcher Interactive. In January 2011 JoWood declared bankruptcy and after a short struggle was fully acquired by Nordic Games on 16th August 2011. It was announced that JoWood and DreamCatcher would become publishing labels, but they weren't used in games yet.

1st Logo (1995-2000's)

Nickname: "Earth Zooming"

Logo: We see Earth zooming towards the camera, and when it leaves, the JoWood logo zooms out. It's the plate with deep blue right section. White words JoWooD and Productions are written there. On the cyan-colored left side, there's an image of sun rising over water, surrounded by seven dots.

FX/SFX: Too rough and simple even for the time.

Music/Sounds: An electronic jingle with single beat.

Availability: Extremely rare; can be seen on the earliest games. Appears on Mayday, Traffic Giant and Industry Giant.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1998-2002)

JoWood (2001)

Nicknames: "Planet Parade", "Wonderful Planets", "JoWood Sunrise I"

Logo: We see a surface of water, with vague reflection of JoWooD over it. Then we move up to see orange sun rising from water horizon. Seven various planets pass by and stop around the sun. Then it splashes and shows the original JoWood logo, zooming out a bit. The logo then shines.

FX/SFX: Very good concept, but made enough poorly. Though this is normal among 90's games.

Music/Sounds: An original fanfare soundtrack with some wind sounds of the planets.

Availability: Seen exclusively on PC games likeRally Trophy, Alien Nations, Zax: The Alien Hunter, Beam Breakers and Panzer Elite among other games.

Editor's Note: None.

3rd Logo (1999?-2007)

JoWood (2001) Nicknames: "Meteors", "JoWood Sunrise II", "Planet Parade II", "Wonderful Planets II", "Enhanced JoWood Sunrise"

Logo: The basic concept is similar. We see water, but with improved visuals and without word reflection, then rise up through the clouds. The screen trembles and the fire meteor passes really close, followed by other meteors to the rising sun. The sun splashes and turns into the complete logo.

FX/SFX: Much better animation than before, all made in amazing CGI.

Variants: On Soldner, the meteors are replaced with helicopters, and the music contains war drums. On Legend of Kay, the still logo had some glow behind. On various games like YetiSports, Neighbors from Hell and it's sequel, and on the European versions of Future Tactics and Kao the Kangaroo Round 2, the logo is still. Music/Sounds: Same as in the 2nd logo, but with some loud whooshing sounds from the meteors. Sometimes the end part of the fanfare is shortened.

Availability: Common. The animated version appears on games such as Spellforce, Arx Fatalis, Ski Racing 2005, Ski Racing 2006, Freak Out: Extreme Freeride (even though the next logo appears on the entire packaging) and Michael Schumacher World Tour Kart 2002, among others.

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (2007-2011)

JoWood (2009)JoWood (2010)

Note: The video above contains two JoWooD logos. The second logo is the one described below. Nickname: "Merging Plates"

Logo: On a crystallized blue background, two plates join each other, one contains JoWooD now in slightly different font, another had the sun also made differently. There are eight dots above the curve line. The logo shines.

FX/SFX: Two parts of the plate join each other with a splash. After the previous logo, this is a big step back.

Music/Sounds: Background rustling and loud junction sound.

Availability: Seen on newest games. Was spotted on Spaceforce Captains.

Editor's Note: None.