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Telecomsoft
Telecomsoft was a British video game publisher and a division of British Telecom. The company was founded by Ederyn Williams in 1984 and operated three separate labels: Firebird, Rainbird, and Silverbird. The first employee was James Leavey, seconded from elsewhere in BT, who, along with Tony Rainbird, became the driving force behind the company in the early days. History Telecomsoft was founded in 1984 when computer games were the fastest growing sector within the computer software market at the time. Despite a turnover of over £6 million in 1987/88, British Telecom sold the three labels to MicroProse in 1989 in a deal reported to be worth around £2,000,000 after a failed management buyout. MicroProse sold the Silverbird label soon after acquisition, but continued to use the Rainbird and Firebird labels for a short period. Labels Firebird British Telecom brought in Tony Rainbird, owner of budget software publisher Micro-Gold, to help set up the first Telecomsoft la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chimera (video Game)
''Chimera'' is an action-adventure video game written by Shahid Ahmad and published by Firebird in 1985. Plot A huge spaceship threatens to destroy Earth. One person must board the vessel and activate its self-destruct mechanism to make it explode, saving Earth. Gameplay In ''Chimera'', the player moves through an isometric maze of 8 x 8 screens. The player must gain access to hidden or blocked areas of the spaceship, often by finding items in order to circumvent various obstacles. Once the obstacles are disabled, the player may use items to create a warhead and carry it to one of the "blue" rooms of the ship. Upon activation of all four warheads, the player must reach the green room in order to complete the quest. The player must also avoid running out of food or water, which are consumed more quickly while carrying something or when in a hot room. Both water and food can be found in the maze occasionally. If the player runs out of food or water, or tries to disable an o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Booty (video Game)
''Booty'' is a platform game published in 1984 for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Commodore 16, and ZX Spectrum. The game was one of Firebird's initial releases. Gameplay The player takes on the role of a cabin boy who attempts to steal a hoard of treasure from his pirate masters. A variety of hazards must be avoided including pirates, parrots and booby-trapped treasure. Should the player manage to collect all the treasure, he is given 45 seconds to find a final key, which will restart the game. There are a total of 20 screens in the game which contain a mixture of collectable treasure, doors to other screens, and doors which act as obstacles and can only be unlocked by collecting the appropriate numbered key. Some rooms contain non-player character pirates, contact with which will cause the loss of one of the player's three lives. Reception The game was positively reviewed by '' Crash'', which awarded it a "smash" rating of 93%. The main features the magazine cited wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Starglider
''Starglider'' is a 3D video game published in 1986 by Rainbird. It was developed by Jez San under his company name Argonaut Software. The game is a fast-moving, first-person combat flight simulator, rendered with colourful wireframe vector graphics inspired by San's love of the 1983 Atari coin-op ''Star Wars''. ''Starglider'' was originally developed for the 16-bit Amiga and Atari ST. Rainbird commissioned Realtime Games to produce 8-bit versions for the Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, and ZX Spectrum (128K, with a cut-down 48K version without sampled speech or special missions), and for the IBM PC compatible with CGA. Solid Images were commissioned to produce versions for the Commodore 64 and Apple IIGS. It was followed in 1988 by a sequel, '' Starglider 2'', which uses filled-polygon graphics. The series inspired Argonaut to partner with Nintendo in creating the Super FX chip for Super NES in order to power the '' Star Fox'' series of hit games. Story The game takes ove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MicroProse
MicroProse is an American video game publisher and video game developer, developer founded by Bill Stealey, Sid Meier, and Andy Hollis in 1982. It developed and published numerous games, including starting the ''Civilization (series), Civilization'' and ''X-COM'' series. Most of their internally developed titles were vehicle simulation game, vehicle simulation and strategy video game, strategy games. In 1993, the company lost most of its UK-based personnel and became a subsidiary of Spectrum HoloByte. Subsequent cuts and corporate policies led to Sid Meier, Jeff Briggs and Brian Reynolds (game designer), Brian Reynolds leaving and forming Firaxis Games in 1996, as MicroProse closed its ex-Simtex development studio in Austin, Texas. In 1998, following an unsuccessful buyout attempt by GT Interactive, the struggling MicroProse (Spectrum HoloByte) became a wholly owned subsidiary of Hasbro Interactive and its development studios in Alameda, California, and Chapel Hill, North Caroli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnetic Scrolls
Magnetic Scrolls was a British video game developer active between 1984 and 1990. A pioneer of audiovisually elaborate text adventure games, it was one of the largest and most acclaimed interactive fiction developers of the 1980s, and one of the "Big Two" with Infocom according to some. The company's games were known for their complex puzzles, intricate storylines, and immersive gameplay. Games developed by Magnetic Scrolls include The Pawn, The Guild of Thieves, and Jinxter. History Formation Formed by Anita Sinclair, Ken Gordon and Hugh Steers in 1984, London-based Magnetic Scrolls initially dabbled with development on the Sinclair QL home computer before deciding to take advantage of the emerging Atari ST and Amiga gaming platforms. Having secured a publication deal with Rainbird, a British software label owned by Telecomsoft, they began work producing an ambitious text adventure game that would become ''The Pawn''. During the mid-1980s, the text adventure market was t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elite (video Game)
''Elite'' is a space trading and combat simulator, space trading video game. It was written and developed by David Braben and Ian Bell (programmer), Ian Bell and was originally published by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers in September 1984. ''Elites Open-ended (gameplay), open-ended game model, and revolutionary 3D graphics led to it being ported to virtually every contemporary home computer system and earned it a place as a classic and a genre maker in gaming history. The game's title derives from one of the player's goals of raising their combat rating to the exalted heights of "Elite". ''Elite'' was one of the first home computer games to use Wire-frame model, wire-frame 3D graphics with hidden-line removal. It added graphics and twitch gameplay aspects to the genre established by the 1974 game ''Star Trader''. Another novelty was the inclusion of ''The Dark Wheel (novella), The Dark Wheel'', a novella by Robert Holdstock which gave players insight in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wild Bunch (video Game)
''The Wild Bunch'' is a computer game released in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum and 1985 for the Amstrad CPC by Firebird Software. Despite its name, it has no relation to the 1969 film but is set in the Wild West. The title refers to a fictitious gang of outlaws featured in the game, loosely based on the real Wild Bunch gang who were prominent in the 1890s. The game music is the cowboy ballad " Streets of Laredo". Gameplay ''The Wild Bunch'' is a text-based adventure game, with limited use of graphics. The player controls a protagonist who finds a dying man who was attacked by a member of the Wild Bunch gang. Before dying he describes the culprit and gives the player his Colt 45, just as the local sheriff arrives on the scene. The player is assumed to be the murderer and the sheriff tries to arrest them, but they escape. The object of the game is to prove the protagonist's innocence by tracking down the real murderer and handing him over to the law. Along the way the player can also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argonaut Software
Argonaut Games is a British video game developer founded in 1982. It was known for the Super NES video game '' Star Fox'' and its supporting Super FX chip, and for '' Croc: Legend of the Gobbos'' and the ''Starglider'' series. The company was liquidated in late 2004, and ceased to exist in early 2007. It was relaunched in 2024. History Founded as Argonaut Software by teenager Jez San in 1982, the company name is a play on his name (J. San) and the mythological story of '' Jason and the Argonauts''. Its head offices were in Colindale, London,Company Summary . Argonaut Games. 29 October 1996. Retrieved on 21 May 2016. "Argonaut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ederyn Williams
Ederyn Williams (born 21 September 1946) is a British academic, commentator and writer whose work focuses on social presence theory and technology transfer. Early life and education Williams is the son of the Welsh academic and television critic Raymond Williams. Williams earned a DPhil in Psychology from the University of Oxford in 1971. Social presence theory Williams, along with fellow social psychologists Bruce Christie and John Short, developed social presence theory in 1976. Social presence theory is defined as "the degree of salience of the other person in the interaction and consequent salience of the interpersonal relationships." This theory argues that media differ in their ability to convey intimacy and immediacy. Social presence theory is a key theory in understanding interpersonal communication and has found to be a strong indicator in satisfaction. Career He worked at British Telecom on a 'viewdata' system called Prestel. This was similar to the much more suc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dark Sceptre
''Dark Sceptre'' is a strategy adventure video game by Mike Singleton's design team Maelstrom Games, for Beyond Software. It was published by Firebird Software for the ZX Spectrum in 1987 and for the Amstrad CPC in 1988. Gameplay The task in ''Dark Sceptre'' is to recover the eponymous artefact. The player controls a company of warriors by assigning them specific tasks, and is hindered by six other computer-controlled factions. The main display shows a side-view of the currently watched warrior, which scrolls and tracks him as he moves through the game world. Each warrior has a rank, ranging from Thane Thane (; previously known as Thana, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city located on the northwestern side of the list of Indian states, state of Maharashtra in India and on ..., the team leader, to Thrall, the pawn of the game. Other ranks include Mystics, Heralds, Savages and Assassins. Play is real ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Singleton
Mike Singleton (21 February 1951 – 10 October 2012) was an influential British video game designer who wrote a number of well-regarded titles in the 1980s, as well as being a contributor to games in the 21st century. His titles include '' The Lords of Midnight'', '' Doomdark's Revenge'', ''Dark Sceptre'', '' War in Middle Earth'' and ''Midwinter''. Before developing video games, Singleton was an English teacher in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, England. Early work Singleton was originally a teacher and started programming in the late 1970s, and writing ''Computer Race'', a horse racing game he designed for a betting shop on the Commodore PET. Moving on from this, he began working on arcade games for the Pet, working with PetSoft, where he wrote ''Space Ace'' entirely in 6502 machine code. The game broke sales records of the day by selling three hundred copies. Singleton's association with PetSoft turned out to be short-lived, as PetSoft, who had been due to enter into a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Revs (video Game)
''Revs'' is a 1985 Formula Three simulation written initially for the BBC Micro by game designer Geoff Crammond and published by Acornsoft that is notable for its realistic simulation of the sport and as a precursor to its author's later work on ''Formula One Grand Prix (video game), Formula One Grand Prix'' and its sequels. Technical consultancy was provided by Formula Three driver David Hunt (racing driver), David Hunt, whom Acornsoft's parent company Acorn Computers had sponsored during the British Formula Three International Series, British Formula Three Championship. Gameplay Unlike most contemporaneous racing games, ''Revs'' features selection of aerodynamic settings by the player and a full three-dimensional environment. The player is allowed to drive the wrong way around the track or even away from it completely. Unusual for the time, the track and terrain are not planar, but undulations in the ground are reproduced. The game was noted for its use of the BBC's hardware in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
