Penguin, Puffin, Collins, Heinemann, Hodder & Stoughton, Century, Arrow, Hutchinson, and Hill MacGibbon

The success of The Hobbit must have left book publishers wondering if they were also sitting on a fortune. The game cost £14.95, expensive at the time (less so today; it works out to just over £50) but the price didn't impact its success. Sales were being estimated at north of 100,000 copies by November 1983 [1]. What if everyone sat down and started singing about gold?

Mythos Games

19 The Rows, The High, Harlow, Essex, CM2

Julian Gollop quite rightly casts a long shadow over this blog. He created Rebelstar Raiders for Redshift, Chaos for Games Workshop, and, while I worked at Virgin Interactive Entertainment, I was lucky enough to be peripherally involved in the production of Magic & Mayhem. And then there's UFO: Enemy Unknown. Oh, UFO: Enemy Unknown. If there's one game that can eclipse my love for Highway Encounter, it's UFO: Enemy Unknown. It may be my favourite games ever. And it will be forever called UFO: Enemy Unknown, none of this X-COM nonsense.

Angus Ryall

 This isn't an obituary. Angus Ryall is not dead; as far as I know. So what's it for? Well, writing about Games Workshop made me go back and read again Angus Ryall's short lived Front Line column in CRASH and I think it's great and contains some of CRASH's best writing about games (and also, frequently, not about games). I just want to talk about it. Sorry, this is one for me.

Games Workshop

27-29 Sunbeam Road, London, NW10

Welcome traveller. You stand at the dungeon gates and reflect on the words of the priest who led you here. "Only the very brave or the very foolhardy would risk the journey you are about to undertake." These dungeons are famous throughout the land. You have heard the stories about the danger, and the monsters, and the traps. And the stories of the fabulous treasure and those who entered, seeking it. And yet you have not heard any stories about those who returned. The dungeon gates open in front of you. Only the very brave or the very foolhardy would risk the journey you are about to undertake. Which are you?

NOW READ ON!

Eidos Interactive

Wimbledon Bridge House, Hartfield Road, SW19

"Later, we IPOed the company by reversing into a shell called Eidos (hence the name change from Domark) on the London Stock Exchange." That's Dominic Wheatley, one of the two founders of Domark, describing on Reddit the baffling financial procedure which lead Domark to become Eidos. A common theme on this blog is the failure of any of the big players of the UK software industry to survive as independent entities; Gremlin, Ocean, Psygnosis, they all fell one-by-one. Would Eidos Interactive be the company to break that curse?

Red Shift

12C Manor Road, Stoke Newington, N1

[GRAMS: Symphony No. 6, Beethoven] Late December 1984. I am a lamb, plump with Christmas cash and skipping to the computer shop. I have money for a new game for my new ZX Spectrum. What should I buy? My eye is caught by a picture of a fearsome three-legged beastie looming over the Houses of Parliament. The Tripods! I love The Tripods. "Oh shop keep! Take my £12.95! Post haste!" [FX: record scratch]. This blog isn't just about nostalgia or getting me out of the house, sometimes it's about exorcising the ghosts of poor decisions made by young me.

Bulletin 1000

Eardley House, 182/184 Campden Hill Road, London, W8

"Hi, my name is Jeremy and I'd like to welcome you to the first issue of Bulletin 1000 Video Magazine which we're bringing to you from the Video Cafe here in the heart of London's West End. Over the coming months we will be bringing you details and indeed showing you advertisements featuring highlights of some of the best software from the leading software houses. In addition we'll be running competitions which could get your face here on this very screen and win you some great prizes such as software, monitors, computers, joysticks, and lots lots more. Including the chance to be a video disc jockey for the evening here at London's Video Care but more of that later."