Audiogenic was the name of two related UK-based businesses involved in video game publishing and development from the late 1970s until 1997. The original business started out as a recording studio and cassette duplication service which moved into video game publishing from the late 1970s onwards. Following its demise, a new company, also trading as Audiogenic, was formed in 1985 to acquire its assets. It published its last new title in 1997, after the core of the development team was taken over by

Codemasters The Codemasters Software Company Limited (trade name: Codemasters) is a British video game developer and former publisher based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts and managed under the EA Sports ...

to create '' Brian Lara Cricket'' on the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

. The company is still in existence and continues to license its portfolio of titles to third parties for conversion onto new formats. Though almost unknown in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the company was successful in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

with a line of

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

games, some versions of which were licensed to other publishers. Several games were also published under licence in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, including ''World Class Rugby'' for the

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania a ...

, and a follow-up, ''World Class Rugby 2'', both of which were published by Imagineer.

First company

The original company, Audiogenic Limited, was started as a recording studio called Sun in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...

in 1975 by Martin Maynard. It was one of the first 8 track studios to operate outside

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. By comparison with modern studios the recording equipment was very basic; however, it still recorded for bands including

The Vibrators The Vibrators were a British punk rock band whose greatest success was in 1977–1978 with the albums ''Pure Mania'' and ''V2 (album), V2''. Their first Epic Records single "Baby Baby (The Vibrators song), Baby Baby" is considered a punk cla ...

XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (vocals, guitars) and Colin Moulding (vocals, bass), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing ...

, Stadium Dogs,

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...

Alan Clayson Alan Clayson (born 3 May 1951, Dover, Kent) is an English singer-songwriter, author and music journalist. He gained popularity in the late 1970s as leader of the band Clayson and the Argonauts. In addition to contributing to publications such as ...

and

The New Seekers The New Seekers were a British pop group, formed in London, in 1969, by Keith Potger, after the break-up of his group, the Seekers. The idea was that the New Seekers would appeal to the same market as the original Seekers, but their music wou ...

. It offered an

audio cassette The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

duplication service and the company also made arrangements for pressing

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

. Terry Clark recently performed (February 2008 JonesFest) a song about the studio at a tribute concert for Garry Jones at the South Street centre in Reading. Around 1979 Audiogenic became interested in the

Commodore PET The Commodore PET is a line of personal computers produced starting in 1977 by Commodore International. A single all-in-one case combines a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor, Commodore BASIC in read-only memory, keyboard, monochrome monitor ...

computer and gained a contract to duplicate computer software on cassette. Subsequently

Commodore International Commodore International Corporation was a home computer and electronics manufacturer with its head office in The Bahamas and its executive office in the United States founded in 1976 by Jack Tramiel and Irving Gould. It was the successor compan ...

gave Audiogenic the software manufacturing and selling rights, but this arrangement came to an end with the advent of the

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit entry level home computer that was sold by Commodore International, Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commod ...

. Martin Maynard flew to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and signed agreements with United Microware Industries, Cosmi, Creative Software and

Broderbund Broderbund Software, Inc. (stylized as Brøderbund) was an American maker of video games, educational software, and productivity tools. Broderbund is best known for the 8-bit video game hits '' Choplifter'', '' Lode Runner'', '' Karateka'', and ...

, some of the biggest suppliers of VIC software at that time. Audiogenic published software successfully in the UK, but a decision to diversify by importing peripherals, notably the

Koala Pad The KoalaPad is a graphics tablet, released in 1983 by US company Koala Technologies Corporation, for the Apple II, TRS-80 Color Computer (as the TRS-80 Touch Pad), Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, and IBM PC compatibles. Originally designe ...

and the Entrepo Quick Data Drive (a continuous loop storage device for the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

) contributed to a decline in profitability which led to the company ceasing to trade in 1985. Martin Maynard returned to the audio duplication business, and is still operating Sounds Good Ltd now located in Southport, Merseyside.

Second company

The second Audiogenic, Audiogenic Software Limited was formed to acquire the assets and goodwill of the original company. Although financed and controlled by

Supersoft Supersoft is a software and computer game developer and publisher founded in England in 1978. It was founded by Peter Calver and Pearl Wellard to develop and publish software primarily for the Commodore PET. History The earliest Supersoft catalo ...

, run by Peter Calver and Pearl Wellard, a minority stake was held by Martin Maynard. At this time the company employed Darryl Still, who produced a number of successful releases for the BBC Micro, such as Psycastria and Thunderstruck, written by former members of the Icon Software team in North East England. Peter Scott and Gary Partis amongst them. Maynard left the board in 1987 and Still went on to manage the launch of the Atari ST, Lynx handheld and Jaguar consoles in Europe, before stints with Electronic Arts and Nvidia. In 1996 the Audiogenic came to an arrangement with

as a result of which the latter acquired the development team behind the Brian Lara series of cricket games, and the following year the company ceased developing new titles. Peter Calver still owns

and Audiogenic, but now runs ''LostCousins'', a

family history Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

website.

Games

Audiogenic published and/or developed many popular games for a variety of computers and games consoles. The company's first release in 1985 was '' Graham Gooch's Test Cricket'', which had been developed by

, and the company continued to release sports games. For many years it was the world's leading producer of cricket games: '' Brian Lara Cricket'' and '' Lara '96'' were developed by Audiogenic for the

Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...

and released by

- both reached No.1 in the UK charts. Other sports titles included '' Emlyn Hughes International Soccer'', '' Graham Gooch World Class Cricket'', '' Allan Border Cricket'', ''European Champions'', ''Lothar Matthäus'', ''Super League Manager'', ''Rugby League Coach'', ''World Class Rugby'', ''European Champions'', ''Wembley International Soccer'', ''Wembley Rugby League'', ''Shane Warne Cricket'', and ''Super Tennis Champs''. With '' Emlyn Hughes International Soccer'' in 1988 Audiogenic pioneered the concept of a fast-moving sports simulation featuring on-screen commentary, named players and management elements; later with ''World Class Rugby'' and then ''European Champions'' Audiogenic introduced the concept of sports simulations with a choice of viewpoints. Other titles included ''Exterminator'' (a coin-op conversion), ''Helter Skelter'', ''Impact'', ''

Krusty's Fun House ''Krusty's Fun House'' is a puzzle video game based on the animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. Gameplay The player directs small rats to an extermination area through complicated maze-like levels. The player controls Krusty the Clown, who must na ...

'', ''Bubble & Squeak'', ''

Exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

'', and ''

Loopz ''Loopz'' is a puzzle video game designed and programmed by Ian Upton for the Atari ST in 1989. He previously worked as head game designer for Audiogenic, who acquired exclusive rights to the game, then in 1990 arranged for Mindscape to publish ...

''. ''

'', designed by Ian Upton, is one of the few computer games to have been converted to a coin-operated

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...

, and whilst Capcom (the licensee) never brought the game to market, a video of the completed game exists. It was also licensed to Barcrest for release as a skill-with-prizes amusement machine, but this version also failed to make it to market. However versions were released for 18 different computer and video game formats including

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the List of IBM Personal Computer models, IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible ''de facto'' standard. Released on ...

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

and

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

. A follow up game, ''Super Loopz'', was licensed to Imagineer for the

and was published for the

by Audiogenic.

References

External links

*
BBC Games Archive page for AudiogenicAudiogenic
at ehis64.net *{{MobyGames company, company=audiogenic-software-ltd British companies established in 1985 Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom Video game development companies Video game publishers

First company

Second company

Games

See also

References

External links