Bubble Bus Software

87 High Street, Tonbridge

This is why I'm not allowed to make jokes.

Commodore Business Machines (UK) Ltd

675 Ajax Avenue, Slough, SL1

I'm paddling in my ignorance here. I don't know much about Commodore and my usual sources aren't helping. Much of the information online is about the history of the US parent company, Commodore International, rather than their UK arm and the sheer popularity of the Commodore 64 tends to swamp any list of results I generate. Even the normally reliable Companies House is letting me down. Their register tells me this about Commodore Business Machines (UK) Ltd; company number 00956774. 

Company name COMMODORE BUSINESS MACHINES (U.K.) LIMITED
Company number 00956774
Incorporated on 24 Jun 1969
Dissolved on 05 Dec 2000
Registered office address at dissolution Not available
Download Report Not available

Six facts and two of those are "Not available". This is going to get worse before it gets better.

Lookback at 2023

Happy Christmas. Last year December 25th intruded rudely on the publishing schedule of the blog. This year it's Christmas Eve but I like the idea of casting a self-indulgent eye backwards over the last 12 months.

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?"

Bullfrog

3 Bridge Street, Guildford, GU1 4RY

Early Electronic Arts games used to include a high minded mission statement on the inlay:

"We're an association of electronic artists who share a common goal. We want to fulfil the potential of personal computing. That's a tall order, but with enough imagination and enthusiasm, we think there's a good chance for success. Our products, like this one, are evidence of our intent."  

It's present on EA's first UK game, PHM Pegasus, but (unfortunately for irony) I can't find any examples of it being used on Bullfrog games because, famously, Electronic Arts killed Bullfrog. The paradox of course is that EA only wanted the best for Bullfrog and without their patronage we'd never have seen Populous, Syndicate, Magic Carpet, Theme Park, Theme Hospital, or Dungeon Keeper. EA nurtured Bullfrog. EA grew Bullfrog. EA supported Bullfrog. EA killed Bullfrog.

Eye of the Moon

Eye of the Moon should have been the third part of Mike Singleton's trilogy which began with Lords of Midnight and continued with Doomdark's Revenge and then just stopped. The game was always talked about as being just on the cusp of release but Beyond kept diverting Mike Singleton onto other projects. Then the programmer fell out with the company, following the sale of Beyond by EMAP to Telecomsoft.

Beyond Software

Competition House, Farndon Road, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, LE19

Lords of Midnight. Lords of Midnight. Lords of Midnight, Lords of Midnight. Lords. Of. Midnight. Lords of. Midnight. Lords of Midnight. Lords of Midnight. Lords; of Midnight. Lords, of, Midnight. Lords of Midnight -Lords of Midnight. Lords of Midnight.

Lords of Midnight.

Lords of Midnight.

Lords of Midnight.

Lords of Midnight. 

Lords of Midnight. Lords of Midnight Lords of Midnight. Lords of Midnight.

Doomdark's Revenge.

Sir Clive Sinclair's Quantum Leap

This week I have mostly decided to be obsessed with the TV advert for the Sinclair QL and I'm going to look at it in an excruciating level of detail. Off the top of my head I'm not really sure what the point of this article will be. It might be helpful to go through the advert looking for any clues as the where it was filmed or I might point at stuff and try and show how clever I think I am. Who knows. Here we go. Theorising that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Sir Clive Sinclair stepped into 

Sinclair Research

25 Willis Road Cambridge, CB1

"No dessert until you've eaten your greens." Well this post is my dessert. I wanted this blog to be more than Sinclair focused nostalgia (although that's my origin story) so I made sure to eat my greens first with articles about Amstrad and Enterprise plus, still on the to-do list, Commodore, Acorn, and Jupiter Cantab (no, really). Even better, I can use the cover of another of my favourite games Stop the Express. Which, to continue the dessert-based metaphor, is the equivalent of smothering a big scoop of chocolate ice cream in jam, evaporated milk, jelly, spangles, etc, and then be told to stop running round shrieking or I won't be allowed to watch Blake's 7.

Papers, Please

This post is a shameless attempt to piggyback on a better article about the history of one of Yes, Prime Minister's best and most well known routines.

Argus Press Software

KNOWLEDGE CHECK! Which magazine publisher was the first to open a software house? If you said Thalamus, the label from Newsfield Ltd, then sit down because they weren't founded until 1986. Mirrorsoft is not right but it's a better guess than Thalamus, as is Beyond Software, owned by East Midlands Allied Press (or EMAP to their friends), both companies were founded around the same time in late 1983. Obviously the correct answer is Argus Press Software because that's who this update is about.

Vortex Software

Vortex House, 24 Kansas Avenue, Salford, M5

I've written before that the foundation of this blog was a list of companies I wanted to cover for different reasons; some were big names, some had an interesting story, some were of niche interest, and some hit my nostalgia button. This is the latter. I've got a huge soft spot for Vortex Software. I spent hours playing T.L.L. and even more playing Highway Encounter. I love Highway Encounter. I think it's brilliant. It's a real neglected gem of a game as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't get talked about anywhere near enough when the ZX Spectrum is mentioned. It's a Top 10 title. It looks great. It plays great. Its got some really clever gameplay elements. And that ending! We'll get to the ending later.

Enterprise / Entersoft

31-37 Hoxton Street, London, N1 

Once upon a time there was a company called Samurai Computers Ltd. Unfortunately for boring business reasons it had to change its name to Elan. This name also didn't stick and the company briefly toyed with the name Flan but everybody laughed. So the company changed its name again, to Enterprise. And then it finally released the computer it had been developing for nearly three years.

Legend

1 Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4

Legend's first game Valhalla was steeped in Norse mythology. Players were sent on a quest around Asgard searching for six mythical objects (Ofnir, Drapnir, Skornir, Skalir, Felstrong, and Grimnir) and encountering gods and heroes. Of course, given the way the company fell, the legend they should have been paying attention to was Icarus.

Electronic Arts

"American Invaders on the Way," was how COMPUTER & VIDEOGAMES announced the existence of Electronic Arts to British computer owners. "Electronic Arts is the name of a new American software house set up by a group of independent games designers." (January 1984 page 16 ). The news was a little out of date. The company had been founded two years previously by ex-Apple Director Trip Hawkins. Now, for the first time, its games would be available in the UK, distributed by Centresoft, who would go on to launch US Gold later in 1984. "If US are Gold then we must be Platinum!" Trip Hawkins later told C&VG*