Tim Wright, known professionally as CoLD SToRAGE (stylised as CoLD SToRAGE), is a Welsh video game music composer best known for his work on '' Wipeout 2097''. His compositions for the game drew on 1990s UK

big beat Big beat is an electronic music genre that usually uses heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns – common to acid house/techno. The term has been used by the British music industry to describe music by artists such as the ...

and electronic music trends, influenced by artists such as

The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands in Manchester in 1992. They were pioneers in bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture. Originally known as The Dust Brothers, th ...

. This style helped define ''Wipeout 2097'''s futuristic racing soundtrack and contributed to the popularisation of electronic music in video games. Wright has also contributed to the soundtracks of '' Shadow of the Beast II'', ''Agony'', ''Lemmings'', and '' Colony Wars''. Wright’s career began in the early 1990s, with his first commercial works created using the

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 ...

computer and featured in computer games published by

Psygnosis Psygnosis Limited (; known as SCE Studio Liverpool or simply Studio Liverpool from 1999) was a British video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher headquartered at Wavertree Technology Park in Liverpool. Founded in 1984 by Ian Het ...

. He left Sony in 1997 to form

Jester Interactive Jester Interactive is a video game developer based in Flintshire, Wales in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1997 as a trading arm of Morgan Computing Limited. It would later trade under the name Jester Interactive Limited, and after going ...

, developing music creation software for home consoles, such as ''Music'' and ''Music 2000'' for 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 ...

and

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, and ''Music Generator'' and ''Music 3000'' for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

, before leaving with his brothers to form Checkmate Solutions Limited. At Checkmate, Wright developed several musical sequencing products for Empire Interactive plc. under the eJay brand. He subsequently left to form his own company, Tantrumedia Limited, where he composes music, designs music sequencing software and oversees the production of websites and other multimedia projects.

Career

Wright worked as a computer programmer for Littlewoods/Index the Catalogue Shop in the late 1980s, writing compositions for computer-based

demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * Plural for Demo (computer programming ...

. His composition " Puggs in Space" brought him to the attention of Ian Hetherington, managing director of

, who hired him to create music for a number of Psygnosis's Amiga 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 ...

games, some of which won awards. He eventually left Littlewoods to work full-time at Psygnosis, as senior sound artist on projects such as ''

Lemmings A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also incl ...

'', '' Wipeout'', '' Wipeout 2097'' and '' Colony Wars''. Leaving Psygnosis in 1997, Wright was involved in the formation of

, with the intention of bringing music creation and mixing to Sony's original PlayStation console. The resulting MUSICtm and MTV Music Generator series received industry awards, and several editions of the MUSICtm Software were released. Eventually Wright left with his brother

Lee Lee may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lee'' (2007 film), Tamil-language sports action film * ''Lee'' (2017 film), Kannada-language action film * ''Lee'' (2023 film), biographical drama about Lee Miller, American photojournalist * ''L ...

to form Checkmate Solutions, in order to design a new range of

eJay ''eJay'' is a series of musical arrangement software, and video games, primarily for Microsoft Windows. The first edition, ''Dance eJay'', was released in 1997. It supports eight tracks of audio and, as with its successors, permits the arrange ...

music sequencing software. In 2003, Wright formed his own multimedia company, Tantrumedia Ltd., involved in web space provision, website creation, software production, design, and music released under the named CoLD SToRAGE; the name "Cold Storage" came from his office studio in Wavertree Technology Park during his time at Psygnosis, which was a poorly insulated small room with tin sheets. In 2005, he released the CoLD_SToRAGE double album ''Melt'', and also designed a new version of the dance/hip hop

music software for Empire Interactive, and made a return to ''Wipeout'', this time for the Sony PSP with ''

Wipeout Pure ''Wipeout Pure'' (stylised as ''wipE′out pṳrE'') is a 2005 racing video game developed by Studio Liverpool and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable. It was released as a launch title for the platform in North ...

''. In 2006, Wright created music for games on the

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

, PSP and PC. In 2008, Wright released his ''Android Child'' and ''Cold Storage HD'' albums. In 2009, Wright wrote music for more games on the DS,

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

and

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

, including '' Gravity Crash''. He also released his fourth studio album, ''Project Moonbounce 2009'', which features sounds created by bouncing radio signals off the moon, to mark World Moonbounce or Earth Moon Earth (EME) day. The soundtrack album to ''Gravity Crash'' was released in 2010 as ''Gravity Crash Anthems'', Wright's fifth studio album. This was followed soon after by his sixth studio album, ''Tik Tak''. Wright's track "Tangerine" was given away as a free limited edition download as part of the 2010 Cold Storage Easter Promotion. It was unavailable to the public until it was released on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

in spring 2015. Early in his career, Wright was the victim of plagiarism. Keyboardist Stian Aarstad copied the title track of the Amiga game "Agony" when he was recording an album with Norwegian band

Dimmu Borgir Dimmu Borgir () is a Norwegian symphonic black metal band from Jessheim, formed in 1993. The name is derived from Dimmuborgir, a volcanic formation in Iceland, the name of which means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic lang ...

; Aarstad also stole from other artists for this album. Wright was not compensated for this plagiarism.

Awards and accolades

Golden Joystick Awards The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be voted ...

1995 : "Best Game Music - WipEout on Sony PlayStation" *

1997 : "Best Sounding Game - WipEout 2097 on Sony PlayStation" * Official PlayStation Magazine Awards 1999 : "MUSICtm - Most Innovative Game" * Sony Computer Entertainment America Awards 2000 : "MTV Music Generator - Most Innovative Game" * BAFTA Nomination 2000: "Interface Design : MUSIC 2000 by Jester Interactive" * Remix64 ROTY Awards 2015: "Best Newcomer (C64 or AMIGA) CoLD SToRAGE" * Gained BAFTA Membership in June 2023

Video games

* '' Awesome'' (

, 1990) * ''Carthage'' (Amiga, 1990) * ''Tentacle'' (Eldritch the Cat, Amiga, 1990) * '' The Killing Game Show / Fatal Rewind'' MV Intro/small> (Amiga, 1990) * ''

'' (Amiga, 1990) * '' Shadow of the Beast 2'' (Amiga, 1990) * '' Armour-Geddon'' (Amiga, 1990) * ''

Powermonger ''Powermonger'' is a real-time strategy video game developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts. Originally released in 1990 for the Amiga and Atari ST, it was derived from the '' Populous'' engine but presented using a 3-d ...

'' (Amiga, 1990) * '' Leander / Galahad'' (Amiga, 1991) * ''Amnios'' (Amiga, 1991) * ''Lost Soul'' (

, 1991) * '' Agony'' (Amiga, 1992) * ''Aquaventura'' (Amiga, 1992) * '' Shadow of the Beast 3'' (Amiga, 1992) * ''Lemmings & Oh No! More Lemmings'' (Amiga, PC,

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

, PlayStation, 1992) * ''Holiday Lemmings'' (Amiga, DOS, Macintosh, 1992) * ''

Puggsy ''Puggsy'' is a 1993 puzzle-platform game developed by Traveller's Tales and released by Psygnosis on the Mega Drive and Mega-CD consoles, as well as the Amiga home computer. ''Puggsy'' is the name of the title character, an orange space hopp ...

'' (Amiga, 1993) * ''

Last Action Hero ''Last Action Hero'' is a 1993 American fantasy action comedy film directed and produced by John McTiernan and co-written by Shane Black and David Arnott. It is a satire of the action genre and associated clichés, containing several parodies ...

'' ( Mega-CD, 1993) * ''Combat Air Patrol'' (PC, 1993) * ''Phoenix Rising'' (Mega-CD, 1993) * '' Sensible Soccer'' (Mega-CD, 1993) * ''Mary Shelley's Frankenstein'' (Mega-CD, 1994) * ''Bram Stoker's Dracula'' (Mega-CD, 1994) * '' Microcosm'' (

Amiga CD32 The Amiga CD32 (stylized as Amiga CD32) is a home video game console developed by Commodore as part of the Amiga line, as well as the final hardware to be developed by the company. Released in September 1993 in Europe, Australia, Canada, and B ...

, 1994) * '' No Escape'' (Mega-CD, 1994) * ''Mickey Mania'' (Mega-CD, 1994) * ''Magician's Castle'' (Amiga, 1994 - Unreleased) * ''Championship Soccer 94'' (MegaCD, 1994) * '' Wipeout'' (

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...

, PC, 1995) * ''Flink'' (Amiga CD32, Sega Mega Drive, Sega Mega-CD, 1995) * '' Wipeout 2097'' (Amiga, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC, 1996) * '' Krazy Ivan'' (PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC, 1996) * ''Formula One'' (PlayStation, PC, 1996) * ''Adidas PowerSport Soccer'' (PlayStation, 1996) * ''Lemmings for Windows 95 & Lemmings Paintball'' (PC, 1996) * ''Necromantics (formerly Magician's Castle on AMIGA)'' (PC, 1996) * ''Adidas PowerSport Soccer International 97'' (PlayStation, 1997) * ''Chomper'' (Psion 3, Psion 5, Psion Revo, 1997) * ''Thunder Truck Rally'' (PlayStation, PC, 1997) * '' Codename: Tenka'' (PlayStation, 1997) * '' Colony Wars'' (PlayStation, 1997) * ''Brainless'' (PlayStation, 1998) * ''WipEout64'' (N64, 1998) * ''

Music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

'' (PlayStation, 1998) * ''Tellurian Defence'' (PC, 1999) * '' Music 2000 / MTV Music Generator'' (PlayStation, PC, 1999) * '' MTV Music Generator 2'' (PS2, 2001) * ''Supertruck Racing'' (PS2, 2002) * ''Pocket Music'' (

Game Boy Color The (GBC or CGB) is an 8-bit handheld game console developed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and to international markets that November. Compared to the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color features a color TFT scre ...

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

, 2002) * ''Music 2002 Slinky Club Edition'' (PC, 2002) * '' Music 3000 / Funkmaster Flex's Digital Hitz Factory'' (PS2, 2003) * ''Jet Set Willy'' (

J2ME Java Platform, Micro Edition or Java ME is a computing platform for development and deployment of porting, portable code for embedded system, embedded and mobile devices (micro-controllers, sensors, gateways, mobile phones, personal digita ...

, 2004) * ''

'' (

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...

, 2005) * ''Ring Factory'' (PC, 2005) * ''Dance eJay 7'' (PC, 2005) * ''HipHop eJay 6'' (PC, 2005) * ''Techno eJay 5'' (PC, 2006) * ''R&B eJay 1'' (PC, 2007) * ''eJay Virtual Music Studio'' (PC, 2007) * ''Sudoku'' (NDS, 2007) * ''TT Superbike Legends'' (PS2, 2008) * ''eJay eQuality'' (PC, 2008) * ''Spellbound Party'' (Wii, 2009) * ''Spellbound'' (NDS, 2009) * '' Gravity Crash'' (PS3/PSP, 2009) * ''

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is a 2010 kart racing video game developed by Sumo Digital and published by Sega. It was released for Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, and Windows, featuring characters from multiple Sega franchises. The game is the third title in the ...

'' (

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

PS3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

/ DS/PC/Mobile, 2010) * ''Skillz'' (Xbox/PC, 2010) * ''Sodium 2'' (PS3, 2011) * ''Psychroma'' (

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

, 2011) * ''Extreme Bingo'' (

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

, 2012) * ''Adventure Dungeon'' (iOS, 2012) * ''Travel Bug'' ( PS Vita, 2012) * ''Boxbeats'' (PS3, 2012) * '' Table Top Racing'' (iOS, 2013) * ''Write Your Own Music'' (Xbox 360, 2013) * ''Slipstream GX'' (PC, 2013) * '' Table Top Racing'' ( Android/PSVita, 2014) * '' Gravity Crash'' (PS Vita, 2014) * ''Dynablaster Revenge'' (PC, 2014) * '' Gravity Crash Ultra'' ( PS4/PS Vita, 2014) * '' Formula Fusion / Pacer'' (PC/PS4/

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

, 2017)

Film scores and soundtracks

* ''Traveller: RED'' (Merkelbach Films, 2006)

References

External links

*
DiscOgs Page

Tim Wright
profile on

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Tim Living people Amiga people British expatriates in Switzerland Welsh composers Welsh male composers People from Wrexham Chiptune and tracker musicians British video game composers 20th-century British composers 21st-century British composers 20th-century Welsh male musicians 21st-century Welsh male musicians Alumni of the University of North London Year of birth missing (living people)