Empire Interactive

Credits

Editions by
Chow Woon Gan

Video captures courtesy of
Introsation and Broken Saw

Background

Empire Interactive was a publishing brand in UK, created in 1987 when Oxford Digital joined Entertainment International Ltd., and it remained the trademark of the latter. Empire distributed mostly budget titles and had some subsidiaries, including Xplosiv, Sick Puppies and Razorworks (latter two were development studios). The company was purchased by Silverstar in 2006, after the financial struggle, and closed for good on 4th May 2009.

1st Logo (1987-1993)

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Visuals: On a black background, there is a grey and red symbol containing the text "EMPIRE". The red portion of the logo is arranged in a wavy fashion.

Technique: A still, sprite-based graphic.

Audio: None or the opening theme of the game.

Availability: Seen on earlier games from the company. ^[Examples?]

2nd Logo (1993-November 5, 2001)

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Visuals: Just the word "empire", with "INTER ACTIVE" below, separated with the pin of the letter "p".

Variants:

• Later games had the logo relief.
• On Spin Jam for the PS1, the background is white, and copyright info is seen below. A pencil sketch of Wigsey (a character from the game) resting on his ball is seen on the bottom right above the copyright info.
• On some games, the logo is 2D.
• A copyright notice usually appears below.

Technique: A still, digital graphic.

Audio: None.

Availability: It's seen on their games from the company at the time, such as Spin Jam and Sheep.

3rd Logo (2000-October 6, 2009)

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  Pipe Mania copyright screen

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Visuals: Many red and white objects cross the screen, including curves and circles, drawing the elements of the logo, until a big "E" zooms in the center, and silvery "EMPIRE INTERACTIVE" is drawn below.

Variants:

• On GBA games and some NDS games, the logo is still and appears on a black background or a white background.
  • On the Starsky & Hutch video game for the Game Boy Advance, the logo is white on a red background.
• On Vegas Tycoon, the logo appears on a casino roller.
• Ghost Master had the logo appearing from the green misty cloud coming up.
• Another version had the red mist transforming into the letter "E".
  • On the Starsky & Hutch video game, this version was used and copyright info appears below the logo.
• On Big Mutha Truckers, the letter "E" bounces from the left to the center. When it stops bouncing, the company name fades in, alongside the copyright info.
• On Ford Racing 2, the still logo is seen with "p r e s e n t s" below.
• On Pipe Mania, during the copyright screen that precedes this and Razorworks logo, their logos are seen below the copyright notice.

Technique: 2D computer animation. For the version with the red mist, CGI. For the still version, a digital graphic.

Audio: Soft electronic sounds. For the version with the red mist, wind sounds are heard, then a whoosh. For the still version, none.

Availability: Can be seen on Taito Legends for PC, the FlatOut series, the Ford Racing sequels, and the games mentioned above.