magnussoft Deutschland GmbH is a German computer game developer and
publisher
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
. The company is seated in
Kesselsdorf
Kesselsdorf is a village in Saxony, Germany, part of the town of Wilsdruff. It is located close to the Saxon capital city of Dresden.
The village is known for the decisive Battle of Kesseldorf between Austrians and Prussians on December 15, 1745 ...
, close to the
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
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*
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peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
capital of
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
.
In Europe magnussoft are well known, primarily for their releases of collections of software for 8-Bit computer systems that were very popular in the 1980s:
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
, Commodore
Amiga
Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...
, Atari XL/XE, and
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...
. All required emulators are included so the software work on ordinary PCs although the programs are unaltered. There is a general collection called ''Retro-Classix'' that covers a bit of everything and collections that specialize on one particular system, like the ''Amiga Classix'' or the ''C64 Classix''. Several successors followed.
The company released more than 160 products over the past ten years. Among their assortment are adventure games, board games, strategic games as well as shoot’em up games and jump and runs. On the other hand, magnussoft also released computer applications and educational software. The software was brought under varied labels to the market in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Benelux countries, France, Great Britain, and the United States of America.
By 2008 magnussoft have gained access to the software market, especially in the lower budget and middle price range. They cooperate with acquainted German partners like for example "ak tronik Software & Services", "KOCH Media", and the "Verlagsgruppe Weltbild". In addition magnussoft has founded more subsidiaries in other parts of Europe. However, magnussoft does not publish outside of Europe, they leave that work to local companies.
magnussoft have created their profile through the release of
ZETA
Zeta (, ; uppercase Ζ, lowercase ζ; grc, ζῆτα, el, ζήτα, label= Demotic Greek, classical or ''zē̂ta''; ''zíta'') is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 7. It was derived f ...
, a broad range of retro games, and classic computer games like Aquanoid, Barkanoid or Plot's.
Games (selection)
* Amiga Classix
* Aquanoid
* Barkanoid
* Boulder Match
* Break It
* C64 Classix
* Colossus Chess
* Dr. Tool Serie
* Fix & Foxi Serie
* Jacks Crazy Cong
* Jump Jack
* KLIX
* METRIS
* MiniGolf
* Packs Serie
* PLOTS!
* Pool Island
* Retro-Classix
* Sokoman
* BURN
Applications (selection)
* Dr Brain series
* Dr. Tool series
* Driver Cataloger
* Easy Bootmanager
* Typing Tutor
Educational software (selection)
* Deutsch, Englisch und Mathe für Zwerge
* Deutsch– und Mathe Compilation
* Fahrschule
Criticism
In 2006 magnussoft incurred public criticism for ceasing the distribution and the funding of
BeOS
BeOS is an operating system for personal computers first developed by Be Inc. in 1990. It was first written to run on BeBox hardware.
BeOS was positioned as a multimedia platform that could be used by a substantial population of desktop users a ...
replacement
Magnussoft Zeta
magnussoft ZETA, earlier yellowTAB ZETA, was an operating system formerly developed by yellowTAB of Germany based on the Be Operating System developed by Be Inc.; because of yellowTAB's insolvency, ZETA was later being developed by an independen ...
OS because of its uncertain legal status.
Trademarks
* Amiga Classix
* Aquanoid
* Barkanoid
* C64 Classix
* Dr. Brain
* Dr. Tool
* Retro Classix
References
External links
magnussoft- official website
{{Authority control
Video game publishers
Video game companies of Germany
Companies based in Saxony
BeOS
Wilsdruff