Video Games of the 2000s, Part 1 Codexery

Big Buck Hunter

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Big Buck Hunter

Clarence E. Mulford · Public domain

The game is organized into groups of five screens called "treks," and players can choose from states with animals like antelope or moose.[1][2] Players fire at male animals that dash across the screen in this video game series, which takes inspiration from Duck Hunt.[3] The scoring system awards points according to the shot's precision, the animal's weight, and how far away it was.[4]

Making and release

Play Mechanix founder George Petro conceived the idea for Big Buck Hunter after noticing a lack of hunting games in arcades.[5] The developers contacted Raw Thrills in January 2006 for financial support to make Big Buck Hunter Pro.[6] An iOS version of Big Buck Hunter Pro was released in 2009, followed by an iOS version of Big Buck Safari in 2011.[7] Microsoft Studios released Big Buck Hunter Pro Adventure for Windows 8 in 2013.[8]

Up through 2005's Call of the Wild, all games in the series were released through a collaboration between Incredible Technologies and Play Mechanix.[5] Play Mechanix designed the initial Big Buck Hunter, which launched in 2001.[9] Roughly 7,500 units of the franchise had been sold by 2006.[5] Play Mechanix kept handling game design, while Raw Thrills assumed responsibility for manufacturing and distributing the titles.[6]

Trophy hunting in Africa was introduced with Big Buck Safari, which Raw Thrills put out in March 2008.[6]

What the cited sources add

A 2006 NBC News report stated that Big Buck Hunter Pro had become the hottest-selling coin-operated machine in bars and arcades across the country.[10] The fifth version used a PC platform, allowing more lifelike graphics.[10] A 2012 Salon article described over 40,000 Big Buck Hunter machines in bars and arcades across the U.S.[9] The Salon article also reported that the upper Midwest is the game's spiritual heartland, comparing Minnesota sports bars to Rio's favelas for soccer.[9]

The Thrillist article also noted that the average Big Buck superstar spends $1,200 in qualifying play, not counting travel costs.[11] A collaboration with Anheuser-Busch InBev created a special permit that grants access to a "Great White Buck" stage, with the money raised going to the National Forest Foundation.[12]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Big Buck Hunter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Poff, "Big Buck Hunter Pro for iPhone", Macworld, November 26, 2009 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Big Buck Hunter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Goldman, "Deer hunting game is a surprise hit", NBC News, July 25, 2006; "Big Buck Hunter", Killer List of Videogames; Hill, "The Hunting Party: Two Wild Days in Vegas at the 'Big Buck Hunter' Championships", Thrillist, December 22, 2017; Eisenband, "Big Buck Brings HD And Social Media Technology To Arcade Game", ThePostGame, July 19, 2012 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Big Buck Hunter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gallagher, "One Man's Mad Journey to the Big Buck Hunter Championship", May 5, 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Big Buck Hunter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Halpering, "Big Buck Hunter: Meet the world's best fake marksmen", Salon, November 25, 2012; Lipinski, "City Dwellers With Time to Kill", The New York Times, May 20, 2011 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Big Buck Hunter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gerdeman, "Shootout at the local pub: Big Buck Hunter is a direct hit", Pekin Daily Times, July 11, 2007 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Big Buck Hunter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Zimmerman, "'Big Buck Hunter' a trophy kill for Glen Ellyn company", Chicago Tribune, February 23, 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Big Buck Hunter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Chiappara, "Big Buck Hunter Pro Review", AppSpy, October 31, 2009; "Merge Interactive Launches Big Buck Safari on iTunes", Business Wire, October 14, 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Big Buck Hunter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "These are the best Arcade Games in the Windows 10 store", Windows Central, November 20, 2018 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Halpering, "Big Buck Hunter: Meet the world's best fake marksmen", Salon, November 25, 2012. facts only, no text reused. salon.com
  10. Goldman, "Deer hunting game is a surprise hit", NBC News, July 25, 2006. facts only, no text reused. nbcnews.com
  11. Hill, "The Hunting Party: Two Wild Days in Vegas at the 'Big Buck Hunter' Championships", Thrillist, December 22, 2017. facts only, no text reused. thrillist.com
  12. Wikipedia, "Big Buck Hunter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Paynter, "Drinking beer and killing virtual deer is now a good way to save America's wildlife", Fast Company, August 28, 2019 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Big Buck Hunter (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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