Distinctive Software Inc. (''DSI'') was a Canadian

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 ...

established in

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, by

Don Mattrick Donald Allan Mattrick (born 13 February 1964) is a Canadian businessman known for being the former CEO of social gaming company Zynga, as well as a member of its board of directors. Previously, Mattrick was the president of the Interactive Enter ...

and Jeff Sember after their success with the game ''Evolution''. Mattrick (age 17) and Jeff Sember approached

Sydney Development Corporation Sydney Development Corporation ("SDC"), was the first publicly-traded software company in Canada. Founded by Tarrnie Williams, SDC developed an online real-time project management system for the IBM System z mainframe computer, then various d ...

, who agreed to publish ''Evolution'' in 1982. Distinctive Software was the predecessor to

EA Canada EA Vancouver (formerly known as EA Burnaby, then EA Canada) is a Canadian video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened as Distinctive Software in January 1983, and is also Electronic Arts's largest and ...

. Distinctive Software was best known in the late 1980s for their

ports A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific goa ...

and

sports game A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport (s ...

s, including the ''

Test Drive A test drive is the driving of a motor vehicle to assess its drivability or roadworthiness, and general operating state. A person who tests vehicles for a living, either for an automobile company, automotive media for review purposes, or a moto ...

'' series and '' Stunts''. DSI also made sports games like ''

4D Boxing ''4D Sports Boxing'' is a 3D boxing video game of the ''4D Sports'' series, with motion capture animation, developed by Distinctive Software. The game is part of the ''4D Sports'' series along with '' 4D Sports Driving'' and '' 4D Sports Tennis' ...

'', and the second title in the ''

Hardball Hardball, in English, more specifically American English, generally refers to baseball (as opposed to its variant softball), especially when played very competitively. Metaphorically, it refers to uncompromising and ruthless methods or dealings, ...

'' series, ''

Hardball II ''HardBall II'' is a baseball video game developed by Distinctive Software and published by Accolade for IBM PC compatibles (1989). Macintosh and Amiga version were released in 1990. It is the sequel to ''HardBall!'' which was released in 1985. G ...

''. In 1991, DSI was acquired by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

in a deal worth US$10 million and became

Trade-named as Unlimited Software, Inc., and lawsuit

In 1989, programmers Pete Gardner and the "Old Kid" (Amory Wong) of DSI, under the pseudonym USI (Unlimited Software, Inc.), converted

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

's arcade game ''

Out Run (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 (comp ...

'' into a

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

version. For ''Out Run'', they used several

software libraries In computer science, a library is a collection of non-volatile resources used by computer programs, often for software development. These may include configuration data, documentation, help data, message templates, pre-written code and subro ...

they had developed for ''Test Drive II''. Consequently, Accolade charged that DSI violated a working agreement, and sued. Accolade sought a preliminary injunction against the distribution and sale of ''Out Run''. Distinctive Software argued that it had only used

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...

that did routine functions, such as clearing the video screen and that Accolade did not own a

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

on those functions. Accolade argued that their contract for ''Test Drive II'' gave them the ownership and copyright of the final product—the game—and the source code used to create it. Distinctive Software won; the court ruled that "the licensing agreement transfers to Accolade the copyright to the concept and design of the video game but not the underlying source code." The court also found that Accolade had failed to demonstrate that the balance of hardships was in its favor.

Notable games

References

External links

* Electronic Arts Video game development companies Video game companies established in 1982 Video game companies disestablished in 1991 Defunct video game companies of Canada Companies based in Burnaby Defunct companies of British Columbia 1982 establishments in British Columbia 1991 disestablishments in British Columbia Canadian companies established in 1982 Canadian companies disestablished in 1991 {{Canada-videogame-company-stub