|
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 ''Prince of Persia'' (all of which originated on the Apple II), as well as ''The Print Shop''—originally for printing signs and banners on dot matrix printers—and the ''Myst'' and ''Carmen Sandiego'' games. The company was founded in Eugene, Oregon, and moved to San Rafael, California, then later to Novato, California. Brøderbund was purchased by SoftKey in 1998. Many of Broderbund's software titles, such as ''The Print Shop'', ''PrintMaster'', and ''Mavis Beacon'', are still published under the name "Brøderbund". Games released by the revived Broderbund are distributed by Encore, Inc. ''Brøderbund'' is now the brand name for Riverdeep's graphic design, productivity, and edutainment titles such as The Print Shop, ''Carmen Sandiego'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Living Books Series
''Living Books'' is a series of interactive storybook, interactive read-along adventures aimed at children aged 3–9. Created by Mark Schlichting, the series was mostly developed by Living Books for CD-ROM and published by Broderbund for Mac OS and Microsoft Windows. Two decades after the original release, the series was re-released by Wanderful Interactive Storybooks, Wanderful Interactive Storybook for iOS and Android. The series began in 1992 as a Broderbund division that started with an adaptation of Mercer Mayer's ''Just Grandma and Me''. In 1994, the Living Books division was spun-off into its own children's multimedia company, jointly owned by Broderbund and Random House. The company continued to publish titles based on popular franchises such as ''Arthur (book series), Arthur'', ''Dr. Seuss'', and ''Berenstain Bears''. The next few years saw a saturated market begin to squeeze Living Books company's profits; in 1997 Broderbund agreed to purchase Random House's 50% stake ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lode Runner
''Lode Runner'' is a 2D puzzle-platform game, developed by Doug Smith and published by Broderbund in 1983. Its gameplay mechanics are similar to ''Space Panic'' from 1980. The player controls a character who must collect all the gold pieces in a level and get to the end while being chased by a number of enemies. It is one of the first games to include a level editor. After the original game, a number of remakes, spin-offs and sequels were published in the ''Lode Runner'' series for different computers and consoles, and by different developers and publishers. Tozai Games holds the copyright and trademark rights. Development Around late 1980, high school student James Bratsanos heard from a friend about a new arcade video game, ''Space Panic'' by Universal, which involves climbing platforms and ladders while digging holes to trap monsters. Bratsanos was intrigued by his friend's description of the concept, and wanted to develop it further. He began writing a Commodore PET program ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SoftKey
SoftKey International (originally SoftKey Software Products, Inc.) was a software company founded by Kevin O'Leary in 1986 in Toronto, Ontario. It was known as The Learning Company from 1995 to 1999 after acquiring The Learning Company and taking its name. SoftKey played a major role in the dissolution of the edutainment industry by the turn of the millennium. Contributing factors include its reduction of the market price by releasing shovelware discs of freeware and shareware, hostile takeovers of major edutainment software companies, reduction of these acquisitions to a skeleton staff, and questionable financial practices to maintain its stock price. In 1999, the company was acquired by Mattel in what ''Businessweek'' called one of "the Worst Deals of All Time". It was subsequently folded into Mattel Interactive. Products SoftKey published and distributed CD-ROM-based personal computer software for Windows and Macintosh computers during the late 1980s and 1990s. Its li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carmen Sandiego (video Game Series)
''Carmen Sandiego'' is a series of American educational software, educational mystery video games that spawned an Carmen Sandiego (franchise), edutainment franchise of the same name. The game released in 1985, ''Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? (1985 video game), Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?'', started off both the video game series and the franchise as a whole, which has continued up to the present day. Each game of the series has a particular theme and subject, where the player must use their knowledge to find Carmen Sandiego (character), Carmen Sandiego or any of her innumerable henchmen. This series was originally owned by Broderbund, but is now owned by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since its initial release the series has won over 125 awards and accolades. Design Background In 1983, the founders of Broderbund, Broderbund Software, Gary and Doug Carlston, publicly discussed a plan to make edutainment one of their company's three focus areas. The character of Car ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myst
''Myst'' is a graphic adventure/puzzle video game designed by the Miller brothers, Robyn and Rand. It was developed by Cyan, Inc., published by Broderbund, and initially released for the Macintosh in 1993. In the game, the player's character travels via a special book to the island of Myst. From there, solving puzzles allows the player to travel to four other worlds which reveal the backstory of the game's characters, one of which the player must eventually choose to aid. The Miller brothers got their start in video game development by creating titles for children. They conceived of ''Myst'' as their first game for adults, receiving funding from Japanese publisher Sunsoft. Development began in 1991 and was Cyan's biggest undertaking to date. Technical constraints of the time influenced the design of the game and the production of its graphics, which were state-of-the-art but mostly relied on static images. Robyn Miller composed 40 minutes of synthesized music for the soundtrac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Print Shop
The Print Shop is a basic desktop publishing software package originally published in 1984 by Broderbund. It was unique in that it provided libraries of clip art and templates through a simple interface to build signs, posters and banners with household dot-matrix printers.InfoWorld magazine, page 57 - 17 September 1984 Over the years, the software has been updated to accommodate changing file formats and printer technologies. The original version was for the Apple II and created signs, cards, banners, and letterheads. Designed by David Balsam and programmed by Martin Kahn, it became one of the most popular Apple II titles of all time. Versions for MS-DOS, Commodore 64, and the Atari 8-bit family followed, as did a variant for the Apple IIGS. Reception The Print Shop was very successful. In 1985, it and ''Ghostbusters'' were reportedly the two most widely pirated Commodore 64 programs. ''II Computing'' listed it seventh on the magazine's list of top Apple II non-game, non-educa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karateka (video Game)
''Karateka'' is a 1984 martial arts action game by Jordan Mechner and is his first published game, created for the Apple II while attending Yale University. The game was published in North America by Broderbund and in Europe by Ariolasoft. Along with ''Karate Champ'' and ''Yie-Ar Kung Fu'' (both also released in 1984), ''Karateka'' is one of the earliest martial arts fighting games. It was inspired by Japanese culture (Ukiyo-e art, Akira Kurosawa films, and manga comics) and by early Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Disney animated films and silent pictures. The player controls an unnamed protagonist attempting to rescue his love interest, Princess Mariko, from Akuma's castle fortress. The character walks and runs from left to right through a linear, side-scrolling level, dealing with attackers and obstacles, while moving deeper into the fortress. Each encounter with an enemy is one-on-one, as in a fighting game. Cinematic cuts show Mariko's situation and Akuma's actions prior to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prince Of Persia
''Prince of Persia'' is a video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner. It is built around a series of action-adventure games focused on various incarnations of the eponymous Prince, set in ancient and medieval Persia. The first two games in the series, '' Prince of Persia'' (1989) and '' Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame'' (1993), were published by Broderbund. ''Prince of Persia 3D'' (1999), named for being the first installment to use 3D computer graphics, was developed by Red Orb Entertainment and published by The Learning Company on PC; The Dreamcast version was developed by Avalanche Software and published by Mattel Interactive. Ubisoft bought the rights to the franchise in 2001 and rebooted it with '' Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time'' (2003). Ubisoft has since developed and published four additional entries in the series: '' Prince of Persia: Warrior Within'' (2004), '' Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones'' (2006), '' Prince of Persia'' (2008), and '' Prin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Choplifter
''Choplifter'' (stylized as ''Choplifter!'') is military themed scrolling shooter developed by Dan Gorlin for the Apple II and published by Broderbund in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family the same year and also to the VIC-20, Commodore 64, Atari 5200 (released in February 1984), ColecoVision, MSX, and Thomson computers. In 1985, Sega released a coin-operated arcade remake, which in turn was ported to the Master System and Famicom in 1986. ''Choplifter'' is one of the few games that first appeared on a home system and was ported to the arcades. Graphically enhanced versions for the Atari 8-bit family and Atari 7800 were also published in 1988 by Atari Corporation. Gameplay In ''Choplifter'', the player assumes the role of a combat helicopter pilot. The player attempts to save hostages being held in barracks in territory ruled by the evil Bungeling Empire. The player must collect the hostages (described in the backstory as "delegates to the United Nations Conf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doug Carlston
Douglas Gene Carlston (born April 30, 1947 in Boston, Massachusetts) is the founder and current CEO of Tawala Systems based in San Rafael, California. He was previously CEO, chairman, and co-founder of Broderbund Software, a software publishing firm that produced ''Lode Runner'', ''The Print Shop'', '' Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?'', ''Prince of Persia'', and ''Myst''. Broderbund was acquired in 1998 by The Learning Company (the company previously known as SoftKey) for $420 million, and the combined company was sold to Mattel for $3.6 billion. Biography Carlston received his bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1970 and also studied economics at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1975. Prior to founding Broderbund in 1980, he was an attorney. As of April 2008, he serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Public Radio International (PRI) and of the Carlston Family Foundation (forme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Encore, Inc
Encore Software, LLC ("Encore") is a Delaware limited liability company focused on software sales, distribution and software development. In November 2008, Encore announced an expanded license with Riverdeep. Under the terms of the agreement Encore now manages the Broderbund family of products as well as Broderbund's direct to consumer business. In May 2010, Encore acquired the assets of Punch! Software Previously, Encore was a wholly owned subsidiary of WYNIT Distribution, LLC which acquired the majority of Encore's assets from Speed Commerce, Inc. (previously Navarre Corporation) on approximately July 9, 2014. Navarre Corporation, had initially acquired Encore's assets from the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in August 2002. As a result of bankruptcy case 17-42726 of WYNIT Distribution, LLC, substantially all of Encore's assets were sold at auction on November 9, 2017, to Sereno Ventures, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, with offic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PrintMaster
PrintMaster was a greeting card and banner creation program for Commodore 64, Amiga, Apple II and IBM PC computers. History In 1986, PrintMaster was the target of a lawsuit by Broderbund, who alleged that PrintMaster was a direct copy of their popular The Print Shop program. The court found in favor of Broderbund, locating specific instances of copying. Since the early 1990s, the name has been used for a basic desktop publishing software package, under the Broderbund brand. It was unique in that it provided libraries of clip-art and templates through a simple interface to build signs, greeting cards, posters and banners with household dot-matrix printers. Over the years, it was updated to accommodate changing file formats and printer technologies, including CD and DVD labels and inserts and photobook pages. PrintMaster is available in Platinum and Gold variants. PrintMaster 2.0 is the first consumer desktop publishing solution at retail to offer Macintosh and Windows compat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Broderbund")
.jpg "Click for more on -> Doug Carlston")