Hasbro Interactive

I have two reasons for covering Hasbro Interactive. One, because it is the missing piece in the jigsaw story of MicroProse, and Firebird and Telecomsoft, and Beyond Software. Two, because it will be easy.

Gizmondo Europe

The story of the Gizmondo handheld console and it's parent company Tiger Telematics Inc is massively entertaining. A steamy mixture of crime, car crashes, Sting, million dollar salaries, and a racehorse. Obviously most of that falls outside of the remit of this blog but I do have pictures of office buildings. Imagine the story of Gizmondo is the most amazing party in the world. Well this blog is in the flat next door trying to sleep with a pillow over its ears.

Nintendo

Having looked at Atari, and Sony, and SEGA, and 3DO, there's only one possible choice to do next. Nintendo. A company about whom I know very little indeed. I hope this is easier than writing about SEGA. Fortunately for me, much of the initial hard work has been done by some kind soul who created this page. Thank you. I'll try to build on your work and not just copy it.

The (Mystery) Machine

December 1991. THE ONE magazine published an article by Dave Gruisin about a Los Angeles conference with the grim name of InterTainment 91 (was there ever an InterTainment 92?). The hot news at this industry shindig concerned something called "The Machine". The Machine was protected behind a wall of non-disclosure agreements and yet somehow everyone knew all about it even though no one was talking. According to Dave Gruisin: "The Machine is quite simply going to revolutionise home-computer entertainment." So what was it?

3DO

Here come some absolutely gross assumptions guaranteed to make experts wince. The Mega Drive and SNES are commonly referred to as part of the fourth generation of consoles, but in the UK it was the second generation at best. The eighties were dominated by 8-bit computers, not consoles. It was only really as the eighties ended that Virgin Mastertronic began to have some success selling the SEGA Master System. Around the same time, home grown companies had a go at cracking the console marker. Konix really tried to be a contender with the Multisystem in 1989. Amstrad had a go with the GX4000 console in 1990. But nobody cracked it because consoles didn't break into the wider public consciousness until the period kickstarted by the release of Tetris for the Game Boy, in September 1990, and consolidated by the June 1991 release of Sonic the Hedgehog. That's when the UK market became ripe for plucking.

SEGA

I assumed SEGA was going to be easy. I sat down with the expectation that I'd have a couple of addresses to check out and then I could move on, job done. I wallowed in my ignorance. What is there to say about SEGA's presence in the UK? Megadrive, Saturn, Dreamcast? That's it, isn't it? Obviously the answer is no. I was dealing with two separate SEGAs and nine addresses after a couple of hours of basic research on Companies House. Plus, I needed not to forget about SEGA World London, and another one in Bournemouth, and Virgin Mastertronic. Pass the aspirin.

Computer Games Ltd

Computer Games Ltd, CGL House, Goldings Hill, Loughton, Essex, IG10

Computer Games Ltd (CGL) were electronics importers in the early eighties; in the days when the UK market seemed to small for the big international companies to bother doing it themselves. They imported everything from Nintendo Game and Watch to chess computers to the Sord M5 computer. If you had an electronic handheld game in the early eighties there is a good chance it came from CGL.

 

Gremlin Graphics

 Alpha House, 10 Carver Street, Sheffield, S1

It's the eve of the millennium and you fall into conversation with an 8-bit time traveller from 1985. "What happened to all the software companies?" The traveller wants to know. "What happened to Ocean?" "Gone," you tell the traveller. "Lost two years ago."
"US Gold. They must still be around."
You shake your head, "US Gold were taken over by Eidos, who were themselves formed out of Domark."
"Mirrorsoft! A company supported by Robert Maxwell's business empire must be flourishing!"
"Gone, and there's quite a story attached to that."
"Ultimate Play the Game?"
"Gone."
"Melbourne House?"
"Gone."
"I loved Highway Encounter. What happened to Vortex?"
"Gone," you sigh.
"Mastertronic?"
"Gone."
"A&F Software?"
"Gone."
"CRL?"
"Gone?"
"Hewson Consultants?"
"Gone."
"Beyond?"
"Gone."
The traveller looks frightened and lost. "Is there no one left?" They whisper.
"Oh yes," you answer, "there's Gremlin Interactive, although you'd have known them as Gremlin Graphics."
The traveller looks confused. "The Monty Mole company?"