Digital Pictures Explained

Digital Pictures
Founders:	Lode Coen Mark Klein Ken Melville Anne Flaut-Reed Kevin Welsh Tom Zito
Hq Location City:	San Mateo, California
Hq Location Country:	U.S.
Industry:	Video game industry
Products:	Interactive movies

Digital Pictures was an American video game developer founded in 1991 by Lode Coen, Mark Klein, Ken Melville, Anne Flaut-Reed, Kevin Welsh and Tom Zito.^[1]

The company originated from an attempt to produce a game for the failed VHS-based NEMO game system. One of its first titles, Night Trap, was originally produced as a title for the NEMO, before being converted for use with Sega's new Sega CD. The mature-themed content of Night Trap made it the source of some controversy. Nevertheless, the title was a bestseller. Digital Pictures went on to create other full motion video-based titles primarily for Sega hardware, and are regarded as a pioneer of the interactive movie genre.^[2] The company declined in the mid-1990s due to waning interest in full motion video games. Its final title, Maximum Surge, went unreleased and was later repurposed into a film called Game Over.

Full motion video games

The founders of Digital Pictures met in the late 1980s while working at a division of the toy manufacturer Hasbro originally called Hasbro Interactive and later renamed Isix. The Isix team developed a video game system called NEMO (a code name abbreviation for "never ever mention outside") that used VHS tapes rather than cartridges, which allowed games to offer live action and interactive full motion video. They also developed a software prototype called Scene Of The Crime, which led to the production of two full-length titles, Night Trap and Sewer Shark.

After Hasbro executives declined to bring the NEMO system to market, closing its Isix division, key members of the Isix team purchased the NEMO software assets from Hasbro and later, in 1991, founded Digital Pictures. Digital Pictures converted Night Trap and Sewer Shark from their video-tape-based format to the Sega CD platform.

Throughout the 1990s, Digital Pictures continued to design interactive full motion video games for the CD-ROM format.^[2] Steve Russell worked for the company for a time.^[3] Several celebrities, including actors Steve Eastin, Corey Haim, Debbie Harry, Yasmine Bleeth, R. Lee Ermey, and Dana Plato; sports stars Scottie Pippen and Mike Ditka; and musical acts INXS, Kris Kross, C+C Music Factory, and Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, appeared in Digital Pictures games.

In 1994, when the company was on its height of its popularity, Digital Pictures signed a partnership with Acclaim Entertainment whereas Acclaim would bought out a stake in the company and enabled Acclaim Distribution to handle its titles.^[4]

Controversy

In the early 1990s, Night Trap was singled out by numerous interest groups and by U.S. senators Joseph Lieberman and Herbert Kohl as evidence that the video game industry was marketing games with graphic violence and other adult content to minors. Concern about Night Trap and several other games such as Mortal Kombat helped to bring about the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board video game rating system.

Decline

By the late 1990s, consumer interest in full-motion video games, which accounted for the majority of the company's profits, was in decline. After the collapse of the company, its assets were acquired by Cyber Cinema Interactive. The new company intended to re-release the games for DVD but that never came about.^[5] The only actual production for Cyber Cinema was the direct to video film Game Over – also known as Maximum Surge Movie. It used footage from an unreleased video game called Maximum Surge as well as clips from other Digital Pictures games. Although the film boasted stars such as Yasmine Bleeth and Walter Koenig, they only appear in the segments that had been pulled from the FMV sequences of the game, which suffer from lower image quality than the original footage.^[6]

Re-releases

Flash Film Works later acquired the rights to some of the games. They remastered and re-released Double Switch and Quarterback Attack for iTunes and Google Play in late 2016 before partnering with Screaming Villains and Limited Run Games to release PlayStation 4 remasters starting in 2018 with Double Switch and 2019 with Corpse Killer.^[7] Screaming Villains separately re-released Night Trap and Ground Zero Texas (two of the games not owned by Flash Film Works) through Limited Run Games.

Games developed

List of games developed by Digital Pictures and all subsequent releases of the games either by them or successor companies.

Title	Cast	Date of release	Format	Reference
Citizen X	Sharee Gregory, Charley Hayward, Peter Kent, Rob Narita, Mark Withers	2002	Sega CD	^[8] ^[9]
Corpse Killer	Vincent Schiavelli, Jeremiah Birkett, Bridget Butler	1994	Sega CD	^[10]
			Sega 32X	^[11]
		1995	3DO	^[12]
			Macintosh	^[13]
			Sega Saturn	^[14]
		2019	PlayStation 4	^[15]
			Microsoft Windows	^[16]
		2020	Nintendo Switch	^[17]
Double Switch	Corey Haim, Deborah Harry, R. Lee Ermey, Irwin Keyes, Camille Cooper	1993	Sega CD	^[18]
		1995	Sega Saturn	^[19]
			Windows 95	^[20]
		2016	Google Play	^[21]
			iTunes	^[22]
		2018	PlayStation 4	^[23]
			Microsoft Windows	^[24]
		2019	Nintendo Switch	^[25]
	Steve Eastin, Leslie Zemeckis, Scott Lawrence, Christopher Bradley, Rick Aiello	1993	Sega CD	^[26]
		2021	PlayStation 4	^[27]
			Microsoft Windows	^[28]
Kids on Site	Larry Grennan, Scott McClain, Robin Joss	1994		^[29]
			Macintosh	^[30]
			Sega CD	^[31]
		2022	PlayStation 4	^[32]
			Microsoft Windows	^[33]
Make My Video: INXS	INXS	1992	Sega CD	^[34]
Make My Video: Kris Kross	Kris Kross	1992	Sega CD	^[35]
Make My Video: Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch	Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch	1992	Sega CD	^[36]
Maximum Surge	Yasmine Bleeth, Walter Koenig, Michael Champion, Andy Hirsch	N/A	3DO	^[37]
			Macintosh
			Sega Saturn
			Windows 95
Night Trap	Dana Plato, Tracy Matheson, Debra Parks, Allison Rhea, Christy Ford	1992	Sega CD	^[38]
		1994	3DO	^[39]
			DOS	^[40]
			Sega 32X	^[41]
		1995	Macintosh	^[42]
		2017	PlayStation 4	^[43]
			Microsoft Windows	^[44]
		2018	Nintendo Switch	^[45]
			PlayStation Vita	^[46]
		2022	PlayStation 5	^[47]
Power Factory Featuring C+C Music Factory	C+C Music Factory	1992	Sega CD	^[48]
Prize Fighter	Jimmy Nickerson, Manny Perry, Billy Lucas, Ben Bray	1993	Sega CD	^[49]
Quarterback Attack with Mike Ditka	Mike Ditka, Keith Neubert, Peter Kent	1995	3DO	^[50]
			Sega Saturn	^[51]
		1996	DOS	^[52]
		2016	Google Play	^[53]
			iTunes	^[54]
Sewer Shark	David Underwood, Robert Costanzo, Kari G. Peyton	1992	Sega CD	^[55]
		1994	3DO	^[56]
Slam City with Scottie Pippen	Scottie Pippen, Keith Gibbs, Malcolm Ian Cross, Keith Neubert, Dana Wilkerson	1994	Sega CD	^[57]
		1995	DOS	^[58]
			Sega 32X	^[59]
Supreme Warrior	Vivian Wu, Richard Norton, Roger Yuan, Chuck Jeffreys, Ron Yuan, Chaplin Chang	1994	3DO	^[60]
			Sega 32X	^[61]
			Sega CD	^[62]
		1996	DOS	^[63]
			Macintosh	^[64]
What's My Story?	Jill Wright	1996	Macintosh	^[65]

External links

• Digital Pictures at MobyGames
• History of Digital Pictures at Sega-16

Notes and References

1. June 2010. The Making of.... Edge. 215. 111–113.
2. Is This the End of FMV as We Know It?. Next Generation. 10. Imagine Media. October 1995. 6–7.
3. The Next Generation 1996 Lexicon A to Z: Russell, Steve. Next Generation. 15 . Imagine Media. March 1996. 40.
4. News: September 1994 . Acclaim And Digital Pictures Agree . 163 . . September 22, 2023.
5. Web site: Maximum Surge. flashfilmworks.com. November 5, 2019.
6. Web site: Digital Pictures Unreleased FMV Game, Maximum Surge, Went To DVD As Game Over. 8 Bit Central. November 5, 2012. November 5, 2019.
7. Web site: William Mesa Presents Flash Film Works. flashfilmworks.com. November 5, 2019.
8. Web site: Citizen X for the SEGA CD. Good Deal Games.
9. Web site: Citizen X – Hardcore Gaming 101.
10. Web site: Corpse Killer (Sega CD). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
11. Web site: Corpse Killer (Sega 32x). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
12. Web site: Corpse Killer (3DO). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
13. Web site: Corpse Killer (Macintosh). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
14. Web site: Corpse Killer (Sega Saturn). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
15. Web site: Limited Run #279: Corpse Killer (PS4) [PREORDER]]. Limited Run Games. November 5, 2019.
16. Web site: Corpse Killer - 25th Anniversary Edition. Steam. November 5, 2019.
17. Web site: Switch Limited Run #87: Corpse Killer Collector's Edition. Limited Run Games. October 28, 2020.
18. Web site: Double Switch (Sega CD). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
19. Web site: Double Switch (Sega Saturn). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
20. Web site: Double Switch (Windows). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
21. Web site: Double Switch (Android). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
22. Web site: Double Switch (iphone). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
23. Web site: Limited Run #194: Double Switch 25th Anniversary Edition (PS4). Limited Run Games. November 5, 2019.
24. Web site: Double Switch - 25th Anniversary Edition. Steam. November 5, 2019.
25. Web site: Double Switch: 25th Anniversary for Nintendo Switch. limitedgamenews. July 18, 2019. November 5, 2019.
26. Web site: Ground Zero Texas (Sega CD). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
27. Web site: Limited Run #385: Ground Zero: Texas - Nuclear Edition Classic Edition (PS4). Limited Run Games. January 15, 2021.
28. Web site: Ground Zero Texas - Nuclear Edition. Steam. March 24, 2021.
29. Web site: Kids on Site (DOS). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
30. Web site: Kids On Site (MAC CD-ROM Macintosh). Amazon. November 5, 2019.
31. Web site: Kids on Site (Sega CD). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
32. Web site: LIMITED RUN #457: KIDS ON SITE (PS4). Limited Run Games. June 9, 2022.
33. Web site: Kids On Site - Hard Hat Edition. Steam. September 28, 2022.
34. Web site: Make My Video: INXS (SEGA CD). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
35. Web site: Make My Video: Kriss Kross (SEGA CD). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
36. Web site: Make My Video: Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch (SEGA CD). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
37. Web site: Maximum Surge. Sega Retro. June 4, 2019. November 5, 2019.
38. Web site: Night Trap (SEGA CD). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
39. Web site: Night Trap (3DO). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
40. Web site: Night Trap (DOS). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
41. Web site: Night Trap (SEGA 32X). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
42. Web site: Night Trap (Macintosh). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
43. Web site: Limited Run #74: Night Trap (PS4). Limited Run Games. November 5, 2019.
44. Web site: Night Trap - 25th Anniversary Edition. Steam. November 5, 2019.
45. Web site: Switch Limited Run #8: Night Trap [PREORDER]]. Limited Run Games. November 5, 2019.
46. Web site: Limited Run #193: Night Trap Classic Edition (Vita). Limited Run Games. November 5, 2019.
47. Web site: PS5 LIMITED RUN #27: NIGHT TRAP. Limited Run Games. June 9, 2022.
48. Web site: Power Factory featuring C+C Music Factory (SEGA CD). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
49. Web site: Prize Fighter (SEGA CD). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
50. Web site: Quarterback Attack (3DO). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
51. Web site: Quarterback Attack (Sega Saturn). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
52. Web site: Quarterback Attack (DOS). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
53. Web site: Quarterback Attack (Android). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
54. Web site: Quarterback Attack (itunes). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
55. Web site: Sewer Shark (Sega CD). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
56. Web site: Sewer Shark (3DO). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
57. Web site: Slam City with Scottie Pippen (SEGA CD). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
58. Web site: Slam City with Scottie Pippen (DOS). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
59. Web site: Slam City with Scottie Pippen (SEGA 32X). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
60. Web site: Supreme Warrior (3DO). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
61. Web site: Supreme Warrior (SEGA 32X). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
62. Web site: Supreme Warrior (SEGA CD). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
63. Web site: Supreme Warrior (DOS). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
64. Web site: Supreme Warrior (Macintosh). Moby Games. November 5, 2019.
65. Web site: What's My Story. FMV World. November 5, 2019.