Neversoft

Article summary

Neversoft Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Woodland Hills, California. The studio was founded by Joel Jewett, Mick West and Chris Ward in July 1994, and was acquired by Activision in October 1999. Initially, the studio worked with Playmates Toys, where it worked on the game Skeleton Warriors (1996), which was based on an animated television series of the same name. Throughout 1996, the studio grew, and worked on projects with Crystal Dynamics and Sony Computer Entertainment, but due to internal conflicts, they were cancelled. After a meeting with Activision in 1998, the publisher agreed to enter into a deal with the studio to create Apocalypse, which used the game engine created by Neversoft for one of the cancelled Sony projects. During the game's development, Activision asked the studio to work on a prototype for a skateboarding game, and after an impressed reaction from Activision to the prototype, the publisher released the game as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater in 1999 to critical acclaim and acquired Neversoft at the end of that year. Neversoft developed a Spider-Man game for the PlayStation the following year, along with six Tony Hawk's games over the next several years. In 2004, the company split into two teams to work on two games at once, the upcoming Tony Hawk's and a new intellectual property, the western action-adventure game Gun.…

Key claims

1. date of foundation: 1994 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
2. date of foundation: 1994 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
3. employees: 50 employees — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
4. release date: 1999 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
5. release date: 2007 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
6. release date: 1999 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
7. release date: 2000 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
8. release date: 2001 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
9. release date: 2006 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
10. release date: 2007 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
2. The record states that the date of foundation is "1994". What evidence would count against this claim?
3. The record states that the date of foundation is "1994". What evidence would count against this claim?
4. The record states that the employees is "50 employees". What evidence would count against this claim?
5. The record states that the release date is "1999". What evidence would count against this claim?
6. The record states that the release date is "2007". What evidence would count against this claim?
7. The record states that the release date is "1999". What evidence would count against this claim?
8. The record states that the release date is "2000". What evidence would count against this claim?
9. The record states that the release date is "2001". What evidence would count against this claim?
10. The record states that the release date is "2006". What evidence would count against this claim?
11. The record states that the release date is "2007". What evidence would count against this claim?
12. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
13. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1368260932