Tom Kudirka: Difference between revisions
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#REDIRECT [[2015 (company)]] |
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{{Refimprove|date=June 2015}} |
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{{mergewith|2015, Inc.|date=June 2015}} |
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{{Infobox person |
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| name = Tom Kudirka |
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| image = tom_wiki.png |
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| image_size = |
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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1962|10|17}} |
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| birth_place = [[Omaha]], Nebraska |
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| death_date = |
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| death_place = |
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| occupation = [[Entrepreneur]] |
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| known = [[Medal of Honor: Allied Assault]]<br> [[Men of Valor]] |
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| spouse = Wannette Kudirka |
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}} |
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'''Tom Kudirka''' (born October 17, 1962) is an American [[Entrepreneur]] and founder of [[2015, Inc.]], the company that developed the video game ''[[Medal of Honor: Allied Assault]]''. |
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==Biography== |
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===Early Life=== |
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Kudirka was born and raised in [[Omaha, Nebraska]], and attended [[Bellevue West High School]]. After graduating he attended [[Metropolitan Community College]] earning an Associate Degree in Electronic Engineering Technology. After graduating in 1985 he worked for a startup computer company fixing [[Apple II series]] computers and building [[IBM PC compatible]] clone computers he sold to local businesses and through [[Computer Shopper (US magazine)|Computer Shopper]].{{cn|date=June 2015}} |
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Kudirka was then hired by [[AT&T]] working as a Field Engineer on data communication equipment. He moved to [[Memphis, Tennessee]] in 1987 and then to [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]] in 1988. The division of [[AT&T]] Kudirka worked for became [[Lucent Technologies]] and then [[Avaya]]. He invented several products ranging from the first FM Radio/TV tuner for the PC (RadioActive), a mail order catalog similar to [[The Sharper Image]] (Executive Toybox). One of the first e-commerce [[video game]] stores (Games, Etc.) and a [[speech recognition]] device for [[video games]] (Verbal Commander). <ref>{{cite web|title=Fire! Fire! Fire!|url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/archives/fire-fire-fire/article_98b7866c-a817-564d-a1d6-6d993a943f5a.html|last=Tiernan|first=Becky|work=[[Tulsa World]]|date=December 1, 1996|accessdate=June 26, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Executive Toybox|url=http://www.trademarkia.com/executive-toybox-73815387.html|last=Kudirka|first=Tom|date=July 28, 1989|accessdate=June 26, 2015}}</ref> |
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===Career=== |
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In 1997 Kudirka started [[2015, Inc.]]. He assembled a team of developers by researching people who were participating in the [[First person shooter|FPS]] mod community. After months of working online and mostly only communicating via [[ICQ]] instant messenger his team created a [[Quake engine|Quake]] mod as a playable demo. Kudirka sent the demo to [[Activision]], who awarded 2015 a contract developing the [[expansion pack]] to their upcoming game entitled ''[[SiN]]'', currently being developed by [[Ritual Entertainment]]. Kudirka moved all of his team members to [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]] to begin work on the expansion pack ''[[SiN: Wages of Sin]]''. It was published by [[Activision]] and released for the [[Windows]] platform on February 26, 1999. |
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In May 2000 Kudirka received a phone call from someone claiming to be [[Steven Spielberg]]'s assistant. They wanted to know if 2015 would be interested in developing a World War II [[first-person shooter]] video game with a story-line created by Steven Spielberg.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tulsapeople.com/Tulsa-People/July-2009/Powering-up-with-Tornado-Studios/|title=Powering up with Tornado Studios. A Tulsa-based company creates video games to attract a different set of players|publisher=TulsaPeople|date=July 2009|accessdate=4 January 2015|first=Tara|last=Lynn Thompson}}</ref> Development began on ''[[Medal of Honor: Allied Assault]]'' soon after. The game was published by Electronic Arts and released for the [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] platform.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/medal-of-honor-allied-assault-review/1900-2841761/|title=Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Review|publisher=[[GameSpot]]|date=23 January 2002|accessdate=10 August 2014|first=Erik|last=Wolpaw}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2002/01/19/medal-of-honor-allied-assault-2|title=Very few games leave you breathless and gaping in wide-eyed wonder. EA's latest is one of them|publisher=[[IGN]]|date=28 January 2002|accessdate=10 August 2014|first=Dan|last=Adams}}</ref> on January 22, 2002 in North America and on February 15, 2002 in Europe. The game was a critical and financial success with many considering it to have pioneered the cinematic first person shooter genre.{{Citation needed|date=June 2015}} The game provided a substantial push for Electronic Arts' ''Medal of Honor'' series.{{Relevance-inline|reason=Doesn't really have relevance on Tom Kudirka himself about how the game performed for EA|date=June 2015}} |
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Following the release, a group of developers left 2015 to form [[Infinity Ward]], a studio that would become known for the ''[[Call of Duty]]'' series based around the same concept. Tom Kudirka filed a lawsuit against [[Vince Zampella]] and Jason West due to conspiracy to breach contract.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2013/06/lawsuit-video-game-activision-zampella-west|title=Inside the Lawsuit-Filled Breakup of Video-Game Publisher Activision and Call of Duty Designers Vincent Zampella and Jason West|last=Chafkin|first=Max|work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|date=June 11, 2013|accessdate=June 26, 2015}}</ref> |
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In 2002, [[2015, Inc.|2015]] began development on its own IP: ''[[Men of Valor]]'', a first person shooter simulating [[infantry]] [[combat]] during the Vietnam era. ''Men of Valor'' was published by [[Vivendi|Vivendi Universal]] and released for [[Xbox (console)|Xbox]] on October 19, 2004 in North America and on November 5, 2004 in Europe. The game was released for [[Windows]] on October 29, 2004 in North America and November 12, 2004 in Europe.{{Relevance-inline|reason=Doesn't discuss or have relevance on Tom Kudirka|date=June 2015}} |
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===Tornado Studios=== |
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In August 2008, Kudirka opened a new development company called [[Tornado Studios]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/companies/tornado-studios|title=Tornado Studios|work=IGN|accessdate=June 26, 2015}}</ref> to focus on [[casual game]]s for the mass market.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newsok.com/tornado-studios-looking-past-stereotypical-gamers/article/3355781|title=Tornado Studios looking past stereotypical Gamers|publisher=[[The Oklahoman|NewsOK]]|work=[[Tulsa World]]|date=24 March 2009|accessdate=4 January 2015|first=Robert|last=Evatt}}</ref> The first game to be developed was Project Runway The Video Game. Based on the American reality television series [[Project Runway]]. The game was published by [[Atari]] and released for the [[Wii]] platform on March 2, 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/games/project-runway/wii-37767|title=Project Runway|work=IGN|accessdate=June 26, 2015}}</ref> |
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== Games developed == |
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{{relevance|Reason=Tom Kudirka is not a developer.|date=June 2015}} |
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{| class="wikitable sortable" |
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|- |
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! rowspan="2" |Year |
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! rowspan="2" |Game |
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! class="unsortable" rowspan="2" |Publisher |
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! class="unsortable" rowspan="2" |Genre |
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! colspan="5" |Platform(s) |
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|- |
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! style="width:3em; font-size:90%" class="unsortable" | [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] |
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! style="width:3em; font-size:90%" class="unsortable" | [[Mac OS]] |
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! style="width:3em; font-size:90%" class="unsortable" | [[Xbox]] |
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! style="width:3em; font-size:90%" class="unsortable" | [[Nintendo DS]] |
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|- |
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|1999 |
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|''[[SiN: Wages of Sin]]'' |
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| [[Activision]] |
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|[[First-person shooter]] |
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|{{Yes}} |
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|{{Yes}} |
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|{{No}} |
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|{{No}} |
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|- |
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|2000 |
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|''[[Laser Arena]]'' <small>(as Trainwreck Studios)</small> |
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| [[ValuSoft]] |
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|[[First-person shooter]] |
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|{{Yes}} |
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|{{No}} |
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|{{No}} |
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|{{No}} |
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|- |
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|2001 |
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|''CIA Operative: Solo Missions'' <small>(as Trainwreck Studios)</small> |
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| [[ValuSoft]] |
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|[[First-person shooter]] |
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|{{Yes}} |
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|{{No}} |
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|{{No}} |
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|{{No}} |
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|- |
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|2002 |
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|''[[Medal of Honor: Allied Assault]]'' |
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| [[Electronic Arts]] |
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|[[First-person shooter]] |
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|{{Yes}} |
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|{{Yes}} |
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|{{No}} |
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|{{No}} |
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|- |
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|2004 |
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|''[[Men of Valor]]'' |
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| [[Vivendi]] |
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|[[First-person shooter]] |
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|{{Yes}} |
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|{{No}} |
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|{{Yes}} |
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|{{No}} |
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|- |
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|2007 |
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|''[[Time Ace]]'' <small>(as Trainwreck Studios)</small> |
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| [[Konami]] |
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|[[Combat flight simulator]] |
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|{{No}} |
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|{{No}} |
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|{{No}} |
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|{{Yes}} |
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|} |
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== References == |
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{{Reflist|2}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kudirka, Tom}} |
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[[Category:1962 births]] |
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[[Category:Living people]] |
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Latest revision as of 20:32, 1 April 2023
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