|
Read-Only Memory (publisher)
Read-Only Memory is a British publisher of art books on topics of video game history and culture. Following a resurgence of interest in 1980s and '90s British video game development, the company crowdfunded and produced four art books: an oral history of that Britsoft era, two books on British developers Sensible Software and The Bitmap Brothers, and a definitive volume on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, for which the publisher became best known. Read-Only Memory's books are archival anthologies, including original design documents juxtaposed with developer interviews and high-quality prints of in-game graphics. Reviewers were particularly impressed with each book's breadth of unreleased concepts. History and publications The 30th anniversary of the ZX Spectrum home computer in 2012 generated renewed interest in Britsofta "golden era" of British video game development, particularly in the 1980s and '90s, little publicised outside Britain. Between games republished on digit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Art Books
Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that utilize the form of the book. They are often published in small editions, though they are sometimes produced as one-of-a-kind objects. Overview Artists' books have employed a wide range of forms, including the traditional Codex form as well as less common forms like scrolls, fold-outs, concertinas or loose items contained in a box. Artists have been active in printing and book production for centuries, but the artist's book is primarily a late 20th-century form. Book forms were also created within earlier movements, such as Dada, Constructivism, Futurism, and Fluxus. Artists' books are made for a variety of reasons. An artist book is generally interactive, portable, movable and easily shared. Some artists books challenge the conventional book format and become sculptural objects. Artists' books may be created in order to make art accessible to people outside of the formal contexts of galleries or museums. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wizball
''Wizball'' is a shoot 'em up written by Jon Hare and Chris Yates (who together formed Sensible Software) and released in 1987 originally for the Commodore 64 and later in the year for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. Versions for the Amiga and Atari ST were released in the following year. Wizball was also ported to IBM PC compatibles ( CGA) and the French Thomson MO5 8-bit computer. ''Wizballs more comical sequel, ''Wizkid'', was released in 1992 for the Amiga, Atari ST, and IBM PC. Gameplay ''Wizball'' is set in the once colourful realms of Wizworld, where the evil Zark has stolen all the colour, making it dull and gray. It is up to Wiz and his cat Nifta to restore it to its former brilliance as Wizball and Catellite. ''Wizball'' is a scrolling shooter inspired by ''Gradius'' with an additional collection dynamic. It is a horizontally scrolling game taking place over eight levels, which involves navigating around a landscape and shooting at sprites. However, the aim of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yuji Naka
, credited in some games as YU2, is a Japanese video game programmer, video game designer, designer and video game producer, producer. He is the former head of the Sega studio Sonic Team, where he was the lead programmer of the original ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series on the Sega Genesis, Sega Mega Drive. Naka also led development on games including ''Nights into Dreams'' (1996), ''Burning Rangers'' (1998), ''Sonic Adventure'' (1998) and three games in the ''Phantasy Star'' franchise (1987–2000). In 2006, Naka left Sega to found Prope, an independent game company. He joined Square Enix to direct the platform game ''Balan Wonderworld'' (2021), which reunited him with the ''Sonic'' co-creator Naoto Ohshima. After the game underperformed critically and commercially, Naka announced he had left Square Enix. In 2022, he said he had been removed from ''Balan Wonderworld'' before it was released and sued Square Enix. In late 2022, Naka was arrested twice on suspicions of insider trading w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
OutRun
(also stylized as ''OutRun'') is an arcade driving video game released by Sega in September 1986. It is known for its pioneering hardware and graphics, nonlinear gameplay, a selectable soundtrack with music composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi, and the hydraulic motion simulator deluxe arcade cabinet. The goal is to avoid traffic and reach one of five destinations. The game was designed by Yu Suzuki, who traveled to Europe to gain inspiration for the game's stages. Suzuki had a small team and only ten months to program the game, leaving him to do most of the work himself. The game was a critical and commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing arcade game of 1987 worldwide as well as Sega's most successful arcade cabinet of the 1980s. It was ported to numerous video game consoles and home computers, becoming one of the best-selling video games at the time and selling millions of copies worldwide, and it spawned a number of sequels. ''Out Run'' is considered one of the most i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yu Suzuki
is a Japanese game designer, producer, programmer, and engineer, who headed Sega's AM2 team for 18 years. Considered one of the first auteurs of video games, he has been responsible for a number of Sega's arcade hits, including three-dimensional sprite-scaling games that used "taikan" motion simulator arcade cabinets, such as ''Hang-On'', ''Space Harrier'', ''Out Run'', and ''After Burner'', and pioneering polygonal 3D games such as ''Virtua Racing'' and ''Virtua Fighter'', which are credited with popularizing 3D graphics in video games, as well as the critically acclaimed ''Shenmue'' series. As a hardware engineer, he led the development of various arcade system boards, including the Sega Space Harrier, Model 1, Model 2, and Model 3, and was involved in the technical development of the Dreamcast console and its corresponding NAOMI arcade hardware. In 2003, Suzuki became the sixth person to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame. IGN lis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toejam & Earl
''ToeJam & Earl'' is an action game developed by Johnson Voorsanger Productions and published by Sega for the Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) console. Released in 1991, it centers on ToeJam and Earl—alien rappers who have crash-landed on Earth. As they attempt to escape the planet, players assume the role of either character and collect pieces of their wrecked spacecraft. It references and parodies 1980s and early 90s urban culture and is set to a funk soundtrack. ''ToeJam & Earls design was heavily influenced by the role-playing video game '' Rogue'' (1980) and derived various features from the game, such as the random generation of levels and items. As such, ''ToeJam & Earl'' is often considered to be an example of a roguelike game. The game was positively received by critics, who praised its originality, soundtrack, humor and two-player cooperative mode. It attained sleeper hit status despite low initial sales, and its protagonists were used as mascots by Sega. ''ToeJam & Ear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greg Johnson (game Designer)
Greg Johnson (born 1960) is an American video game designer who has worked for Binary Systems and Electronic Arts, was co-founder with Mark Voorsanger of ToeJam & Earl Productions Inc., and in 2006 founded his own company, HumaNature Studios. He is known for the iconic '' ToeJam & Earl'' series (1991–present), and his design credits additionally include ''Starflight'' (1986), Game of the Year '' Starflight 2: Trade Routes of the Cloud Nebula'' (1989), the multi-award-winning '' Orly's Draw-A-Story'' (1997), ''Kung Fu Panda World'' (2010), and '' Doki-Doki Universe'' (2013), '' Back in the Groove'' (2015), '' Early life Johnson was born in Passaic, New Jersey to an African-American father and a Jewish mother whose family had escaped Russia during World War II. He is one of five children, three of whom are step-siblings. His mother was an administrator for a special education school, and his father was a professor of philosophy and musicology. When Johnson was three, his p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Kalinske
Thomas Kalinske (born July 17, 1944) is an American businessman, best known as having worked for Mattel from 1972 to 1987, where he was credited with reviving the Barbie and Hot Wheels brands, launching Masters of the Universe, then being promoted to CEO from 1985 to 1987. He next became CEO of Matchbox, and then was recruited to be the president and CEO of Sega of America, Inc. from 1990 to 1996, and the CEO and COB of Leapfrog 1997-2006. His aggressive marketing decisions during his time at Sega, such as price drops, anti-Nintendo attack ads, and the famous "Sega Scream" TV campaign, are often cited as key elements in the success of the Sega Genesis video game console. The book ''Console Wars'' and the documentary film of the same name chronicles Kalinske’s strategies and success in competing with Nintendo. Tom was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame in 1997 and received a lifetime achievement award from People of Play in 2021. He has also been honored as ”Man of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hayao Nakayama
is a Japanese businessman and was the former President and CEO of Sega Enterprises, Ltd from 1983 to 1999. Early life and career Nakayama was born into a family of doctors, and was expected to pursue medicine as a career. However, Nakayama decided to drop out of college and not to pursue medicine further. Through an advertisement in a newspaper, Nakayama found a job as a jukebox leasing salesman for the V&V Hifi Trading Company. He rose to head of a new sales department at V&V, but when the company would not take his advice to begin distributing arcade games, Nakayama left with four of his salesmen to form a company called Esco Trading in 1967. Esco served as a distributor of coin-operated amusements and represented both smaller domestic factories that did not have their own distribution network and foreign manufacturers looking to place their games in Japan. Sega Enterprises, Ltd. was one of its suppliers. Career with Sega In 1979, Esco Trading was purchased by Sega, then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sega Genesis
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 System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan as the Mega Drive, and in 1989 in North America as the Genesis. In 1990, it was distributed as the Mega Drive by Virgin Mastertronic in Europe, Ozisoft in Australasia, and Tec Toy in Brazil. In South Korea, it was distributed by Samsung as the Super Gam*Boy and later the Super Aladdin Boy. Designed by an Research and development, R&D team supervised by Hideki Sato and Masami Ishikawa, the Genesis was adapted from Sega's Sega System 16, System 16 arcade board, centered on a Motorola 68000 processor as the central processing unit, CPU, a Zilog Z80 as a sound controller, and a video system supporting hardware Sprite (computer graphics), sprites, Tile-based video game, tiles, and scrolling. It plays a List ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gary Whitta
Gary Leslie Whitta (born 21 July 1972) is an English screenwriter, author, game designer, and video game journalist. He was editor-in-chief of both the UK and US editions of ''PC Gamer'' magazine and contributor to gaming magazine ''ACE''. Whitta was the screenwriter of ''The Book of Eli'' (2010), co-wrote ''After Earth'' (2013) with M. Night Shyamalan, and co-developed the story for ''Rogue One'' (2016). Career Whitta began his career as a writer and games journalist for ''ACE'' magazine. When ''ACE'' closed down in 1992, he became deputy editor of '' The One for Amiga Games'' and was involved with founding the original ''PC Gamer'' magazine in the UK. He subsequently served as the editor of Total Football. A few years later, he moved to the United States to become editor-in-chief of the newer, US version, of ''PC Gamer''. Magazine publishing Besides his involvement setting up ''PC Gamer'', Whitta has a long history of involvement with print and online magazines of all ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
