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Uridium
''Uridium'' (released on the NES as ''The Last Starfighter'') is a science fiction side-scrolling shoot 'em up originally designed by Andrew Braybrook for the Commodore 64, and later ported to other 8-bit machines. It consists of fifteen levels, each named after a metal element, with the last level being called ''Uridium'' (a fictional metallic element, not to be confused with the real metallic element iridium). The manual quotes Robert Orchard, who invented the name as saying "I really thought it existed". ''Uridium'' was later released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990. Mindscape purchased a license to release a game based on the film ''The Last Starfighter''. Rather than program a new game, however, Mindscape decided to take an easier route by recycling an older, relatively obscure game. The title screen, sprites, and soundtrack were modified, but the levels and gameplay were identical. In 2003, it was re-released on the C64 Direct-to-TV. In 2008, the C64 versi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uridium
''Uridium'' (released on the NES as ''The Last Starfighter'') is a science fiction side-scrolling shoot 'em up originally designed by Andrew Braybrook for the Commodore 64, and later ported to other 8-bit machines. It consists of fifteen levels, each named after a metal element, with the last level being called ''Uridium'' (a fictional metallic element, not to be confused with the real metallic element iridium). The manual quotes Robert Orchard, who invented the name as saying "I really thought it existed". ''Uridium'' was later released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990. Mindscape purchased a license to release a game based on the film ''The Last Starfighter''. Rather than program a new game, however, Mindscape decided to take an easier route by recycling an older, relatively obscure game. The title screen, sprites, and soundtrack were modified, but the levels and gameplay were identical. In 2003, it was re-released on the C64 Direct-to-TV. In 2008, the C64 versi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uridium Screenshot
''Uridium'' (released on the NES as ''The Last Starfighter'') is a science fiction Side-scrolling video game, side-scrolling shoot 'em up originally designed by Andrew Braybrook for the Commodore 64, and later ported to other 8-bit machines. It consists of fifteen levels, each named after a metal element, with the last level being called ''Uridium'' (a List of fictional elements, materials, isotopes and subatomic particles, fictional metallic element, not to be confused with the real metallic element iridium). The manual quotes Robert Orchard, who invented the name as saying "I really thought it existed". ''Uridium'' was later released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990. Mindscape Group, Mindscape purchased a license to release a game based on the film ''The Last Starfighter''. Rather than program a new game, however, Mindscape decided to take an easier route by recycling an older, relatively obscure game. The title screen, sprites, and soundtrack were modified, but the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graftgold
Graftgold was an independent computer game developer that came to prominence in the 1980s, producing numerous computer games on a variety of 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit platforms. History The Hewson Era The studio Graftgold was formed in 1983, when Steve Turner quit his day job as a commercial programmer to concentrate on producing computer games. When the work became too much for him to do alone, he hired a close friend, Andrew Braybrook, to work for him. After a small period of time developing games for the Dragon home computer, Graftgold soon turned their attention to the more lucrative Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum markets. Much of Graftgold's early success came about through their association with Hewson Consultants. Formed by Andrew Hewson in the early 1980s, Hewson Consultants became one of the UK's most successful computer game publishers. Whereas many publishers at the time relied on larger parent companies to handle the manufacturing of their products, Andrew Hewson owned ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Fictional Elements, Materials, Isotopes And Subatomic Particles
This list contains fictional chemical elements, materials, isotopes or subatomic particles that either a) play a major role in a notable work of fiction, b) are common to several unrelated works, or c) are discussed in detail by independent sources. Fictional elements and materials Fictional isotopes of real elements Fictional subatomic particles See also * Computronium * Neutronium * List of discredited substances * List of ''Star Trek'' materials References External linksElements from DC Comics Legion of Super-heroes – lists comic book uses of real elements Periodic table from the BBC comedy series |
Dominic Robinson
Dominic Robinson (born 1965) is a computer game programmer. He came to prominence as an in-house programmer for Hewson Consultants when he converted '' Uridium'' to the Spectrum (a feat previously considered impossible) in 1986. This was followed by another classic Spectrum shoot-em up, ''Zynaps'', and a puzzle/shooter, ''Anarchy'', both of which were released in 1987. After leaving Hewson, he joined Graftgold to work on the Spectrum conversion of ''Flying Shark'', as well as the Amiga and Atari ST versions of ''Simulcra'' and ''Rainbow Islands''. Robinson left Graftgold to pursue his interest in 3D graphics, moving to Leeds-based Vektor Grafix. This company was later absorbed into Microprose. When Microprose closed their Leeds studio, he went on to form Wayward Design, which he later sold to Rage Software. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Braybrook
Andrew Braybrook (born 1960) is a software engineer and former game programmer. He created video games such as ''Paradroid'', ''Gribbly's Day Out'', '' Fire and Ice'', ''Uridium'' and ''Morpheus''. He also programmed the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST conversion of the arcade game ''Rainbow Islands''. In 1986 Braybrook was voted Best Programmer of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards. Career Braybrook started out writing accounting programs for GEC Marconi using COBOL in 1979. In his spare time he wrote games in BASIC for the ZX80, ZX81 and Dragon 32. His first foray into professional games came while he was playing bass guitar in a rock band with Steve Turner. Turner was writing games for the ZX Spectrum in his spare time and decided to make his break into full-time games production by starting the company which went on to become Graftgold. A few months after its inception, Turner asked Braybrook to join him in September 1983. Braybrook was commissioned by the magazine ''Zzap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
C64 Direct-to-TV
The C64 Direct-to-TV, called C64DTV for short, is a single-chip implementation of the Commodore 64 computer, contained in a joystick (modeled after the mid-1980s Competition Pro joystick), with 30 built-in games. The design is similar to the Atari Classics 10-in-1 TV Game. The circuitry of the C64DTV was designed by Jeri Ellsworth, a computer chip designer who had previously designed the C-One. Tulip Computers (which had acquired the Commodore brand name in 1997) licensed the rights to Ironstone Partners, which cooperated with DC Studios and Mammoth Toys in the development and marketing of the unit. Released in late 2004, QVC purchased the entire first production run of 250,000 units and sold 70,000 of them on the first day that they were offered. Versions There exist multiple versions of the C64DTV. DTV1 (NTSC television type) comes with 2 MB ROM. It first appeared in late 2004 for the American/Canadian market. DTV2 (called ''C64D2TV'' sometimes) is a revised version for the Eu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Turner (game Programmer)
Steve Turner is a former computer game musician and designer. His development team, Graftgold, mostly wrote for games published by Hewson Consultants during the 1980s. The first computer he bought was a ZX80 which had to be assembled by hand. At school he was a member of a computing club where he learnt the Algol 60 programming language. During the 1970s he added Cobol to his repertoire from a government funded training course. He went on to a programming job in the Civil Service. Turner was 30 when he decided to move into games development. His first game was written whilst he was still employed as a programmer and he handed his notice in when he received his first royalty cheque. He also wrote a series of articles for '' ZX Computing'' between August 1986 and January 1987, called ''The Professional Touch''.http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek.cgi?regexp=Programming%3a+The+Professional+Touch&loadpics=on Andrew Hewson had previously written for the magazine but got too ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1986 In Video Gaming
1986 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as ''Super Mario Bros. 2'', along with new titles such as ''Arkanoid'', ''Bubble Bobble'', ''Castlevania'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Ikari Warriors'', ''The Legend of Zelda'', '' Metroid'', ''Out Run'' and '' R.B.I. Baseball''. The year's highest-grossing arcade video games were ''Hang-On'' in Japan, ''Hang-On'' and '' Gauntlet'' in the United States, and ''Nemesis'' (''Gradius'') in London. The year's bestselling home system was the Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom) for the third year in a row, while the year's best-selling home video games in Western markets were ''Super Mario Bros.'' in the United States and ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' in the United Kingdom. Financial performance In the United States, the home video game industry recovered with the arrival of the third generation of video game consoles led by the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Highest-grossing arcade games Japan In Japan, the following titles were the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hewson Consultants
Hewson Consultants were one of the smaller software companies which produced video games for home computers in the mid-1980s. They had a reputation for high-quality games which continually pushed the boundaries of what the computers were capable of and can be compared favourably with other ground-breaking software houses like Ultimate Play the Game and Beyond. Fourteen of their games were awarded "Megagame" by ''Your Sinclair''. Hewson was founded by Andrew Hewson in the early 1980s. He became interested in computers while working at the British Museum when their first machine arrived. After learning to program, Andrew wrote the programming guide book ''Hints and Tips for the ZX80''. Following the publication, bedroom coders began to send Andrew the games they had programmed on cassette tape, giving Andrew the idea to publish the games. Hewson Consultants was born, and initially released games via mail order advertisements in computing magazines. Andrew was also a columnist in ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Last Starfighter
''The Last Starfighter'' is a 1984 American space opera film directed by Nick Castle. The film tells the story of Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), a teenager recruited by an alien defense force to fight in an interstellar war. It also features Robert Preston, Dan O'Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart, Norman Snow, and Kay E. Kuter. ''The Last Starfighter'', along with Disney's ''Tron'', has the distinction of being one of cinema's earliest films to use extensive "real-life" computer-generated imagery (CGI) to depict its many starships, environments and battle scenes. ''The Last Starfighter'' was Robert Preston's final role in a theatrical film. The character of Centauri, a "lovable con-man", was written with him in mind and was a nod to his most famous role as Professor Harold Hill in ''The Music Man''.''Crossing the Frontier: Making "The Last Starfighter"'' (behind-the-scenes retrospective), Universal Studios Home Video, 1999. There was a subsequent novelization of the film by Alan D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mindscape Group
Mindscape was a video game developer and publisher. The company was founded by Roger Buoy in October 1983 in Northbrook, Illinois, originally as part of SFN Companies until a management buyout was completed in 1987. Mindscape went public in 1988 and was subsequently acquired in 1990 by The Software Toolworks, eyeing Mindscape's Nintendo license. When Toolworks was acquired by Pearson plc in 1994, Mindscape became the primary identity for the development group. Mindscape was then sold to The Learning Company in 1998 and bought out by Jean-Pierre Nordman in 2001, becoming headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. Following the poor performance of its products, Mindscape exited the video game industry in August 2011. Notable titles released by Mindscape include the MacVenture series, '' Balance of Power'', '' Moonstone: A Hard Days Knight'', ''Legend'', '' Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat'', '' Warhammer: Dark Omen'' and ''Lego Island''. History Early years (1983–19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |