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Air Bucks

Topic: Software

 From HandWiki - Reading time: 8 min

Air Bucks
North American cover art
Developer(s)Impressions Games
Publisher(s)Sierra
Programmer(s)Edward Grabowski
Artist(s)Erik Casey
Platform(s)Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS
Release
Genre(s)Business simulation
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Air Bucks is a business simulation game about running an airline. It involves purchasing landing rights for cities around the globe.

In 1993, an enhanced version was released for the Amiga as Air Bucks v1.2.

Gameplay

The game begins in 1946, after the Second World War. Using default settings, the player controls the airline "Air Bucks" with three AI competitors; all are based in the city of Miami.[1] Each player purchases landing rights for a surrounding airport not more than 1,000 miles away, as the only plane available at the beginning (the Douglas DC-3) has a range of 1,000 miles. Usually the first landing rights purchased are in either New York or Washington D.C. Aside from the initial base airport (Miami by default, but customizable) only two airlines can have landing rights to any one airport.

While waiting for landing rights to be awarded, which takes one month at the beginning of the game and two to three months later on, the player can acquire airplanes and adjust each plane's LOPA (layout of passenger accommodations) by altering the number of first class and coach seats.

Once landing rights are established the player creates a route between two or more cities, sets coach and first class ticket prices, and then assigns planes to the route. The ticket price and service amenities can be constantly adjusted until optimum revenue is generated.

As time progresses, new models of airplanes become available for purchase, such as the Douglas DC-6, Boeing 747, and Aérospatiale Concorde.

The game's demand model calculates passenger demand for each route based on ticket pricing, plane speed, size of destinations, plane age, service quality (as a function of employee wages), advertising spend, aircraft reliability (as a function of maintenance spend) and other factors. The game also simulates fuel price fluctuations based on historical inflation data, and periodically generates weather events and strikes which temporarily close particular airports.[2]

The default computer companies are "Transglobal Inc", "International GT", and "Great Times". The number and selection of computer and human players is customizable, as are the company names and logos, starting site, and difficulty.

Reception

Computer Gaming World gave Air Bucks a negative review. The magazine criticized the interface, version 1.0's slow game speed, and poor computer AI and economic model.[3] In 1993 Impressions released version 1.2, advertising that it was a "New Air Bucks!" with "the features you want", including better VGA graphics, interface, computer AI, and economic model. The company ("Committed to customer satisfaction") offered the upgrade for free to registered owners of the game.[4]

Cities in Air Bucks

Air Bucks represents 128 airport sites: 6 in Australia; 2 in New Zealand; 8 in the South Pacific; 25 in Asia; 7 in Africa; 33 in Europe; 1 in Greenland; 1 in Bermuda; 14 in Latin America; 5 in Canada; and 26 in the United States. While the game includes a number of small historical "technical stop" destinations such as Wake Island, Canton Island, Gander, the Azores, Shannon and Recife, some major cities such as Dubai, Casablanca, Tel Aviv and Brisbane are absent. There are also some minor spelling and geographical errors in the game; for example, sites include both "Fiji" (which appears to be closer to Nouméa, New Caledonia on the map) and "Nandi" (Nadi International Airport is actually the main airport on the main island of Fiji).

Since no more than two airlines can acquire landing rights to any one airport, competition is keen for large-market airports and, early in the game before airplanes have trans-oceanic range, for tech-stop airports.

References

  1. ↑ Olafson, Peter. "Air Bucks version 1.2". http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue156/100_Air_Bucks_version_1.php. 
  2. ↑ "Air Bucks". https://www.scribd.com/document/120481106/Air-Bucks. 
  3. ↑ Brooks, M. Evan (January 1993). "Impressions' Air Bucks". Computer Gaming World: 72. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1993&pub=2&id=102. Retrieved 5 July 2014. 
  4. ↑ "Check out the New Air Bucks!". Computer Gaming World: 41. April 1993. http://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/index.php?year=1993&pub=2&id=105. Retrieved 6 July 2014. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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