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Ultimate Play The Game
Ashby Computers and Graphics Limited, trading as Ultimate Play the Game, was a British video game developer and publisher, founded in 1982, by ex-arcade game developers Tim and Chris Stamper. Ultimate released a series of successful games for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, MSX and Commodore 64 computers from 1983 until 1987. Ultimate are perhaps best remembered for the big-selling titles ''Jetpac'' and ''Sabre Wulf'', each of which sold over 300,000 copies in 1983 and 1984 respectively, and their groundbreaking series of isometric arcade adventures using a technique termed Filmation. ''Knight Lore'', the first of the Filmation games, has been retrospectively described in the press as "seminal ... revolutionary" ('' GamesTM''), "one of the most successful and influential games of all time" ('' X360''), and "probably ... the greatest single advance in the history of computer games" (''Edge''). By the time of the label's last use in 1988 on a retrospective compilation, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lunar Jetman
''Lunar Jetman'' is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed and published by Ultimate Play the Game. It was released for the ZX Spectrum in 1983 and later on the BBC Micro. In this sequel to ''Jetpac'', the second installment of the ''Jetman'' series, Jetman has to destroy alien bases whilst simultaneously defending himself, along with Earth, from a hostile alien race. It was met with critical acclaim upon release for its addictive gameplay and range of colours. The game was followed by a third episode, '' Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship'', released for the NES in 1990. It was later included in Rare's 2015 Xbox One retrospective compilation, ''Rare Replay''. Gameplay Once again taking on the role of Jetman, players find themselves on the surface of a small purple Natural satellite, moon. Similarly to its predecessor, the player can move around slowly on foot, or use a jetpack to leave the ground and navigate the moon faster. However, unlike ''Jetpac'', Jetman's j ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knight Lore
''Knight Lore'' is a 1984 action-adventure game developed and published by Ultimate Play the Game, and written by company founders Chris and Tim Stamper. The game is known for its use of isometric graphics, which it further popularized in video games. In ''Knight Lore'', the player character Sabreman has forty days to collect objects throughout a castle and brew a cure to his werewolf curse. Each castle room is depicted in monochrome on its own screen and consists of blocks to climb, obstacles to avoid, and puzzles to solve. Ultimate released ''Knight Lore'' third in the Sabreman series despite having completed it first. The Stamper brothers withheld its release for a year to position the company advantageously in anticipation of the game's effect on the market. ''Knight Lore'' novel image masking technique, Filmation, let images appear to pass atop and behind each other without their contents colliding. This created the illusion of depth priority, which the computer did no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gunfright
''Gunfright'' is an action-adventure game developed by Ultimate Play the Game and published by U.S. Gold. It was first released for the ZX Spectrum in December 1985, then released for Amstrad CPC and the MSX the following year. The player takes the role of a sheriff in the town of Black Rock and is tasked with eliminating outlaws who are scattered throughout the settlement. The game was developed directly after '' Nightshade'', and re-uses the latter game's Filmation II game engine that allows images to be rendered without overlapping each other. The game received mostly positive reviews upon release; praise was directed at the graphics and presentation, but criticism was directed at the game's similarity to ''Nightshade''. It was later included in '' Rare Replay'', Rare's 2015 Xbox One retrospective compilation. Gameplay The game is presented in an isometric format and set in the fictional town of Black Rock. The player takes on the role of Sheriff Quickdraw, whose main ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sabre Wulf
''Sabre Wulf'' is an action-adventure game released by British video game developer Ultimate Play the Game for the ZX Spectrum home computer in 1984. The player navigates the pith-helmeted Sabreman through a 2D jungle maze while collecting amulet pieces to bypass the guardian at its exit. The player does not receive explicit guidance on how to play and is left to decipher the game's objectives through trial and error. Sabreman moves between the maze's 256 connected screens by touching the border where one screen ends and another begins. Each screen is filled with colourful flora, enemies that spawn at random, and occasional collectibles. Ultimate released the game for the ZX Spectrum at an above-average price to combat piracy. Its premium product packaging became a company standard. The developers had finished ''Sabre Wulf'' sequels in advance of its release but—in keeping with their penchant for secrecy—chose to withhold them for marketing purposes. The sequels were sw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atic Atac
''Atic Atac'' is an arcade-adventure video game developed and published by Ultimate Play the Game, released for the ZX Spectrum and the BBC Micro in 1983. The game takes place within a castle in which the player must seek out the "Golden Key of ACG" by unlocking doors and avoiding enemies. It was Ultimate's second game to require 48K of RAM; most of their previous games for the Spectrum ran on unexpanded 16K models. The game was written by Tim Stamper and its graphics were designed by brother Chris Stamper. ''Atic Atac'' received praise from critics upon release, mostly for its graphics and gameplay. It was later included in the 2015 release by Rare on the Xbox One retrospective compilation, '' Rare Replay''. The game served as inspiration for the critically acclaimed adventure game show ''Knightmare''. Gameplay The game is presented in a top-down perspective and is set inside a labyrinth of a complex castle. The player has been trapped inside and needs to collect three piece ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Video Game Developer
A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with employee responsibilities split between individual disciplines, such as Video game programmer, programmers, Video game design#Game designer, designers, Game art design#Video game artist, artists, etc. Most game development companies have video game publisher financial and usually marketing support. Self-funded developers are known as independent or indie developers and usually make indie games. A developer may specialize in specific Game engine, game engines or specific video game consoles (such as Nintendo's Nintendo Switch, Switch, Microsoft's Xbox Series X and Series S, Sony's PlayStation 5), or may develop for a number of systems (including personal computers and mobile devices). Video game developers specialize in certai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Your Computer (British Magazine)
''Your Computer'' was a British computer magazine published monthly from 1981 to 1988, and aimed at the burgeoning home computer market. At one stage it was, in its own words, "Britain's biggest selling home computer magazine". It offered support across a wide range of computer formats, and included news, type-in program A type-in program or type-in listing was computer source code printed in a home computer magazine or book. It was meant to be entered via the keyboard by the reader and then saved to cassette tape or floppy disk. The result was a usable game, ...s, and reviews of both software and hardware. Hardware reviews were notable for including coverage of the large number of home microcomputers released during the early 1980s. References External links ''Your Computer'' at the Internet Archive 1981 establishments in the United Kingdom 1988 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Video game magazines published ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tim And Chris Stamper
Brothers Tim and Chris Stamper are British entrepreneurs who founded the video game companies Ultimate Play the Game and Rare. They first worked together on arcade conversion kits, which were licensed to companies, but later became developers for the ZX Spectrum home computer in the early 1980s. Chris programmed the games, while Tim designed the graphics. They found success as Ultimate with games including ''Jetpac'' and ''Knight Lore''. After reverse engineering the Nintendo Entertainment System and deciding to shift their focus to console development, the brothers founded Rare in the mid-1980s. They became Nintendo's first major Western developer, for whom they developed licensed games and ports. Over the next two decades, Rare enjoyed a close relationship with Nintendo and developed multiple major titles for the company, including ''Donkey Kong Country'' and '' GoldenEye 007''. Microsoft acquired Rare in 2002, and the brothers left the company in 2007. After spending sever ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colour'' and ''ZX82'', it was launched as the ''ZX Spectrum'' to highlight the machine's colour display, which differed from the black and white display of its predecessor, the ZX81. The Spectrum was released as six different models, ranging from the entry level with 16 Kilobyte, KB RAM released in 1982 to the ZX Spectrum +3 with 128 KB RAM and built in floppy disk drive in 1987; altogether they sold over 5 million units worldwide (not counting List of ZX Spectrum clones, unofficial clones). The Spectrum was among the first home computers in the United Kingdom aimed at a mainstream audience, and it thus had similar significance to the Commodore 64 in the US and the Thomson MO5 in France. The introduction of the ZX Spect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Micro
The British Broadcasting Corporation Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers in the 1980s for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. Designed with an emphasis on education, it was notable for its ruggedness, expandability, and the quality of its operating system. An accompanying 1982 television series, ''The Computer Programme'', featuring Chris Serle learning to use the machine, was broadcast on BBC2. After the Literacy Project's call for bids for a computer to accompany the TV programmes and literature, Acorn won the contract with the ''Proton'', a successor of its Atom computer prototyped at short notice. Renamed the BBC Micro, the system was adopted by most schools in the United Kingdom, changing Acorn's fortunes. It was also successful as a home computer in the UK, despite its high cost. Acorn later employed the machine to simulate and develop the ARM architecture. While nine models ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the German-speaking parts of Europe. The series spawned a total of six distinct models: The ''CPC464'', ''CPC664'', and ''CPC6128'' were highly successful competitors in the European home computer market. The later ''464plus'' and ''6128plus'', intended to prolong the system's lifecycle with hardware updates, were considerably less successful, as was the attempt to repackage the ''plus'' hardware into a game console as the ''GX4000''. The CPC models' hardware is based on the Zilog Z80A CPU, complemented with either 64 or 128 KB of RAM. Their computer-in-a-keyboard design prominently features an integrated storage device, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 games of skill and include arcade video games, Pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games or merchandisers. Types Broadly, arcade games are nearly always considered games of skill, with only some elements of games of chance. Games that are solely games of chance, like slot machines and pachinko, often are categorized legally as gambling devices and, due to restrictions, may not be made available to minors or without appropriate oversight in many jurisdictions. Arcade video games Arcade video games were first introduced in the early 1970s, with ''Pong'' as the first commercially successful game. Arcade video games use electronic or computerized circuitry to take input from the player and translate that to an electronic display such as a monitor or telev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
