Snowball.ru

Background: Snowball Interactive is an old Russian game publishing house founded in May 1996 as a developer. Two years after they set their own publishing brand (known commonly as Snowball.ru) and dropped the development of games. Snowball.ru worked on game localizing and publishing, often in association with 1C Company. In 2010 Snowball was merged into 1C-SoftClub as the publishing brand.

1st Logo

(1996-1998)

Nickname: TBA

Logo: TBA

FX/SFX: TBA

Music/Sounds: TBA

Availability: Rare. Can be found on earliest Snowball Interactive games, for example, on Pike (1996). Video footage can not be found. Any video with this logo is welcome.

Editor's Note: This logo dosen't look too friendly here, but the 3rd logo is way worse.

2nd Logo

(1998-2010)

Nicknames: "A Cabin on One Snowy Night", "The Taiwan Symbol"

Logo: We fade in to a snowy night sky. "snowball.ru" (with trademark notice) with a snowflake on top of "ru", fades in, layer by layer. Below that we see a larger snowflake fade in, of which lights up. They later fade out. Then we see "ПРЕДСТАВЛЯЕТ" in layers (like the Snowball logo) fade in, layer by layer. The same snowflake reappears, repeating its previous actions. Fade out. The screen then letterboxes from 4:3 to 16:9, and fades to a different point of view from the sky, this time with our moon, clouds, and trees. We pan down to reveal a cabin, its lights left on. We then go by the cabin as if a cameraman is walking by, later entering the cabin, causing the screen to letterbox back to 4:3, and reveal a Taiwan Symbol on a gold background. Multiple pictures of the cabin, standing as it is as the weather changes, fade in, "snowball.ru" slides from the bottom of the screen, and the background turns green. We then fade to a dark forest, with the texts "технология" and "творчества", and the signature logo panning through the camera. Fade to black.

FX/SFX: It's too complicated to describe for now.

Music/Sounds: At the beginning, a xylophone (to some it may sound like bells) looping the following notes: A7, A6, E7, A6, D7, A6, E7, A6. Shortly after, we hear guitar notes, and following that is a low and quiet string note, becoming a dramatic theme. It culminates when we reach the inside of the cabin through the window, and the xylophone notes fade in again.

Availability: Uncommon. Can be found on Snowball Interactive games, mostly ones that are localized.

Editor's Note:Very nice CGI animation which still fits the limits of our current time period, except for the sudden letterboxing from 4:3 to 16:9 on the moon part and 16:9 to 4:3 on the cabin part. It'sunnecessary, also because of the dramatic soundtrack. However, this has a christmas-y feel to it, so it's not that unsettling. Other than that, this is an amazing logo, with amazing graphics.

3rd Logo

(2010-)

Logo: We see the new Snowball logo (a rounded red rectangle with the bold white name).

Variant: On the Russian version of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings the logo is seen smearing in and zooming slowly on a foggy yellow background. Roots start to grow on it. After a few seconds the logo zooms in and dissolves. Other logos in the versions of the game are stylized in the same manner.

FX/SFX: Mainly none.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on newer games released in Russia. The variant is only seen on the Russian version of The Witcher 2.

Editor's Note: For the variant, its animation and dramatic music is the most scary part, but The Witcher fans may make this (along with the other logos in the game) a favorite for them.