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NASCAR Racing 2003 Season

Topic: Software

 From HandWiki - Reading time: 8 min

Short description: 2003 video game
Not to be confused with NASCAR Thunder 2003.
NASCAR Racing 2003 Season
Cover art featuring the 2003 cars of 2002 Daytona 500 front row starters Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick
Developer(s)Papyrus Design Group[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)Sierra Entertainment[lower-alpha 2]
Platform(s)Windows, Mac OS X
ReleaseWindows
  • NA: 11 February 2003[2]
  • EU: 15 February 2003
  • AU: 19 February 2003
Mac OS X
Genre(s)Sim racing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

NASCAR Racing 2003 Season, or NR2003 for short, is a computer racing simulator released in February 2003 by Papyrus Design Group for Windows and Mac OS X. The game was the last to be released by the company before EA Sports bought the NASCAR license exclusively from 2004 to 2009 (parent company Sierra's successor company, Activision Blizzard, reacquired NASCAR rights in 2011, with Software:NASCAR The Game: 2011). The game included all of the 2003 NASCAR season tracks and many of the drivers, including Dave Blaney, who was absent in NASCAR Thunder 2004. In May 2003, Papyrus published a free DLC for the game, containing three fictional tracks.[4]

Gameplay

Cockpit view

NASCAR Racing 2003 Season contains 42 Winston Cup teams that were anticipated to run throughout the season, with the exception of the cars from Chip Ganassi Racing, as well as 23 Winston Cup series tracks, putting the player behind the wheel of a NASCAR stock car. Players are able to choose between testing sessions, offline single racing, championship, and multiplayer options as well as car setup choices. The physics engine was refined and enhanced under consultation with NASCAR team engineers.[5]

Ownership

At the end of March 2004, NR2003 was pulled from shelves when Electronic Arts acquired the exclusive NASCAR rights. In May 2004, Papyrus was shut down, and David Kaemmer bought the source code and assets a couple months later for his company FIRST, LLC where it became the base code for iRacing.[6][7] In 2007, Sierra, the game's publishers, shut down the online servers.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic89/100[8]
Review scores
PublicationScore
CGMStarStarStarStarHalf star[9]
CGWStarStarStarHalf star[10]
GameSpot8.8/10[11]
GameSpyStarStarStarStarHalf star[12]
GameZone9.5/10[13]
IGN9.3/10[15]
Jeuxvideo.com16/20[16]
PC Gamer (US)95%[17]
X-PlayStarStarStarStar[18]

The game received "generally favorable reviews", according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[8]

According to Edge, the game sold at least 100,000 units in the U.S., but was beaten by NASCAR Racing 4's 260,000 sales in the region.[19] Total US sales of NASCAR Racing computer games released in the 2000s reached 900,000 units by August 2006.[19]

The game won PC Gamer US' 2003 "Best Racing Game" award. The magazine's Andy Mahood wrote that it "established a daunting new standard for PC racing simulations that may take years to eclipse".[20]

Notes

  1. ↑ Mac OS X version developed by Westlake Interactive[1]
  2. ↑ Mac OS X version co-published by Aspyr

References

  1. ↑ Cohen, Peter (28 May 2003). "NASCAR Racing 2003 Season demo available". Macworld (IDG Communications). https://www.macworld.com/article/166410/nascar-4.html. Retrieved 19 May 2024. 
  2. ↑ McNewserson, Newsey (11 February 2003). "NASCAR Racing Season 2003 Ships". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2003/02/11/nascar-racing-season-2003-ships. 
  3. ↑ "Sierra Insider". April 2003. http://newsletter.vugames.com/si0403nl01/. 
  4. ↑ "Sierra Entertainment - Downloads - Track Pack". 2004-04-17. http://www.sierra.com/downloadfile.do?gamePlatformId=271&mediaid=7371. 
  5. ↑ Deci, T.J.. "NASCAR Racing 2003 Season (Macintosh) - Overview". AllGame. http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=44166. 
  6. ↑ "FAQs". http://www.iracing.com/membership/faqs/. 
  7. ↑ "Papyrus Design Group, Inc.". Atari SA. https://www.mobygames.com/company/6/papyrus-design-group-inc/. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "NASCAR Racing 2003 Season". Fandom. https://www.metacritic.com/game/nascar-racing-2003-season/. 
  9. ↑ "Review: NASCAR Racing 2003 Season". Computer Games Magazine (theGlobe.com) (150): 78. May 2003. 
  10. ↑ Hermes, Wade (May 2003). "NASCAR Racing 2003 Season". Computer Gaming World (Ziff Davis) (226): 98. https://www.cgwmuseum.org/galleries/issues/cgw_226.pdf. Retrieved 19 May 2024. 
  11. ↑ Goble, Gord (6 February 2003). "NASCAR Racing 2003 Season Review". Fandom. https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/nascar-racing-2003-season-review/1900-2910398/. 
  12. ↑ Osborne, Scott (11 February 2003). "GameSpy: NASCAR Racing 2003 Season". IGN Entertainment. http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/nascar-racing-2003-season/5600p1.html. 
  13. ↑ Ovaldog (20 February 2003). "NASCAR(r) Racing 2003 Season Review". http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r20993.htm. 
  14. ↑ Cohen, Peter (1 January 2004). "The Game Room Macworld's 2003 Game Hall of Fame". Macworld (IDG Communications). https://www.macworld.com/article/169181/thegameroom-9.html. Retrieved 19 May 2024. 
  15. ↑ Magruder, Randy (11 March 2003). "NASCAR Racing 2003 [Season"]. Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2003/03/11/nascar-racing-2003. 
  16. ↑ Dinowan (April 2, 2003). "Test: Nascar Racing 2003 Season" (in fr). Webedia. https://www.jeuxvideo.com/articles/0000/00002995_test.htm. 
  17. ↑ Mahood, Andy (April 2003). "NASCAR Racing: 2003 Season". PC Gamer (Imagine Media) 10 (4): 94. http://www.pcgamer.com/archives/2005/07/nascar_racing_2.html. Retrieved 16 April 2020. 
  18. ↑ Jackson, Jonah (21 February 2003). "'NASCAR Racing 2003 Season' (PC) Review". TechTV. http://www.techtv.com/extendedplay/reviews/story/0,24330,3418112,00.html. 
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Edge staff (25 August 2006). "The Top 100 PC Games of the 21st Century (Page 3)". Edge (Future plc). http://www.edge-online.com/features/top-100-pc-games-21st-century/3/. Retrieved 16 April 2020. 
  20. ↑ "The 10th Annual PC Gamer Awards". PC Gamer (Imagine Media) 11 (3): 38–40, 42, 44–45. March 2004. 
  • 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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