Zeppelin Games/Merit Studios Europe/Eutechnyx/Zerolight

25 Osbourne Road, Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2

"The north-east is a bit of a remote outpost for UK software now that Tynesoft has bitten the dust. This last bastion of Geordie publishing specialises in budget software." That's how THE ONE described Zeppelin Games, entry number one in their Software Landmarks of the UK article in October 1991. It's a short entry for a company which ended up being a big player in the UK games industry although I'm not 100% sure the company is still running today. I'll get to that later.

Realtime Games Ltd

Prospect House, 32 Sovereign Street, Leeds, LS1

"Why would you order a taxi from where I don't know where it is? Why didn't you order it from the station?" The person on the phone outside Leeds station was having a bad day. Don't drive to Leeds I was told but public transport apparently carried its own frustrations. I left him to it, and headed towards Prospect House which I was delighted to discover was barely five minutes walk from the station. If only they could all be this easy.

Design Design / Crystal

125 Smedley Road, Manchester, M8
 

 "I look upon Design-Design as a viable commune," S. Brattel. 

There was always something different about Design Design (née Crystal). The games were great but the twiddly bits round the edges seemed more important; obscure references on high score tables, the password to SPECTACLE, was/is Big Simon taller than Kevin Toms, and so on. Design Design built a loyal fanbase on these details and through a good relationship with CRASH magazine cultivated a reputation as a subversive company who were seriously irreverent about games. I'm tap dancing around the word cult here, because that's a term normally associated with niche interests and Design Design were never niche.

Micromega

230-236 Lavender Hill, London, SW11

Pop quiz hotshot. It's 1983. You've been given £7500 to promote a new-ish software house. What do you do? If you were Neil Hooper, newly appointed sales manager at Micromega you'd spend £4000 of it on television advertising. HOME COMPUTER WEEKLY (7 June 1983 page 37) went into more detail. "Though TV ads for videogames are nothing new, Micromega is the first home computer software company to advertise its wares on television." Sadly this historic advert hasn't survived or, if it is lurking out there on a videotape (go and check now!), it hasn't made the leap onto Youtube. Micromega were understandably proud of their small step into a new medium and for the next few months their print adverts carry the strapline "AS SEEN ON T.V.!!"