Global Star Software

Background

Global Star Software was founded in Canada as a software publisher in 1995 by Craig McGauley and Damian Cristiani. Since September 1, 1999, the company was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive Software and published budget game titles. In 2003, Global Star moved its headquarters to New York City, USA. In 2007, the company was reorganized under Take-Two's 2K brand and became its casual publishing arm known as 2K Play.

1st Logo (1997-2003)

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Visuals: The logo is a toothed golden medal in the form of a circle. The words "GLOBAL STAR" and "SOFTWARE" are written inside the circle. Also, there is a star with a picture of the planet Earth inside at the very center. Sometimes, the company's website appears below.

Variants:

• On Worlds of Billy, the Earth ball jumps into a CD and blows it to form the logo.
• Another animated variant was found on a yet unspecified Palm OS CD-ROM game. A cellphone lands on a lighted floor, then the Global Star logo is projected from it as a hologram above the phone. The hologram then gets sucked back into the phone.

Technique: Generally a still graphic. CGI for the variants.

Audio: Generally none.

Availability: Seen on Search and Rescue 4, Airport Tycoon 2, Siege of Avalon, among others. Nearly all of them are long out of stores.

2nd Logo (Late 90's-2003)

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Visuals: The camera moves around and see many cogs working over a blue background. One of the gears is the logo, which comes into full view and rotates, while the others fade away.

Technique: Choppy CGI.

Audio: Humming synth with the gears working.

Availability: It was seen on Kayak Extreme.

3rd Logo (May 25-October 30, 2003)

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Visuals: There is a black rectangle with "Global Star" written over its bottom, and "SOFTWARE" below the plate. There is a stylized image of a golden eye in the plate, which has a star inside the eyeball.

Variant: On some games, the logo shines.

Technique: A still digital graphic.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen on Muscle Car 3, Mall Tycoon 2, Jetfighter V, and Airport Tycoon 3.

4th Logo (November 18, 2003-September 28, 2007)

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Visuals: On a black background, a golden "G" fades in, then a white "S" fades in, overlapping the "G". The name "GLOBAL STAR SOFTWARE", with "SOFTWARE" under "GLOBAL STAR" in spaced-out letters, appears below in a simple white font.

Trivia: The styling was used for the current Take-Two Interactive logo since 2003.

Variants:

• Later games have the letters in gradient colors and in a 3D effect. This time, the letter "G" overlaps the letter "S".
• On Dora the Explorer: Barnyard Buddies and Carnival Games, the background is white.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: A short rock tune or none.

Availability: This logo appeared on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Jetfighter 2015, Mall Tycoon 3, and other budget titles. The last game to use this was Carnival Games for the Nintendo Wii; later prints of the game plaster this with the 2K Play logo.

Global Star Software

2K Play ►