Wikipedia

Ultimate Play the Game

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Miremare (talk | contribs) at 21:35, 2 July 2007 (→Early history and rise: added bit about early history + ref.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Ultimate Play The Game (often shortened to just Ultimate) was a video game developer of the early home computer era. "Ultimate Play The Game" was actually the trading name of Ashby Computers & Graphics Ltd. (ACG), a software company founded in 1982 by two ex-arcade game developers Tim and Chris Stamper. Ultimate released a series of successful games for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, MSX and Commodore 64 computers from 1982 until their closure in 1987. Ultimate are perhaps best remembered for big-selling titles Jetpac and Sabre Wulf, which sold over 300,000 copies each in 1983 and 1984 respectively, and their groundbreaking series of isometric arcade adventures utilising a technique termed Filmation.

Ultimate Play The Game
Company typeVideo game developer (inactive)
IndustryComputer and video game industry
Founded1982
HeadquartersUnited Kingdom Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
Key people
Tim Stamper (director, artist)
Chris Stamper (director, coder)
Carol Stamper née Ward (director)
John Lathbury (director)
ProductsJetpac, Lunar Jetman, Sabre Wulf, Underwurlde, Knight Lore, Alien 8
OwnerMicrosoft/Rare Ltd.

By the time of the label's last use in 1988 on a retrospective compilation, Ultimate had evolved into Rare, and moved on to developing titles for Nintendo consoles, eventually becoming one of the most famous video game developers in the world. Rare was purchased by Microsoft in 2002, and in 2006 revived the Ultimate Play The Game name for an Xbox 360 Live Arcade remake of Jetpac named Jetpac Refuelled.

History

Early history and rise

 
Knight Lore, the first Filmation title.

Ashby Computers & Graphics was founded in the Leicestershire town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in 1982 by Tim and Chris Stamper, John Lathbury (a college friend of theirs) and Tim's girlfriend (later wife) Carole Ward. Other members of the Stamper family were also involved in the early running and support of the company.[1] Both Tim and Chris had worked in arcade game development and claimed to be "the most experienced arcade video game design team in Britain", until tiring of working for others and leaving to start ACG.[2] This led to AGC's initial trade being creating arcade conversion kits,[3] before moving into the home computer software market developing games under the Ultimate Play The Game name.

Ultimate's first release was Jetpac in 1983 for the 16K Spectrum, BBC and Commodore VIC20. It was a huge commercial success; the Spectrum version alone selling more than 300,000 copies to a market of (at the time) only one million Spectrum owners.[4] This was followed by three further 16K releases, Pssst, Tranz Am, and Cookie, before Ultimate stepped up to the 48K Spectrum.

Jetpac, Pssst, Tranz Am and Cookie were four of only 10 games ever to be released on the 16K ROM format for use with the ZX Interface 2. They were also republished on cassette, with distinctive silver inlay cards, by Sinclair Research for inclusion in ZX Spectrum bundles.

File:Sabre wulf box.jpg
The distinctive "big box" packaging of Ultimate's middle-period titles.

Ultimate's first 48K release was Lunar Jetman in 1984, a sequel to Jetpac, which was very well received by the gaming press with CRASH awarding it a score of 94%.[5] Later that year came the first of the Sabreman series, Sabre Wulf, which was released at a then unprecedented recommended retail price of £9.95. The price of Ultimate titles had previously been just £5.50, which was typical for Spectrum games at the time. This increase was in order to discourage piracy, with the idea being that if customers paid more for a game they would be less inclined to give away copies. This coincided with the introduction of the distinctive Ultimate "big box" packaging (used with all further Spectrum releases until Gunfright, and various releases on other platforms), which the company felt might also help justify the price increase and encourage gamers to buy the game rather than copy it. The strategy paid off as Sabre Wulf went on to sell over 350,000 copies on the Spectrum alone.[6] This was followed by the simultaneous release at the end of 1984 of the next two instalments in the Sabreman series, Underwurlde and Knight Lore. Knight Lore was something of a revolution in the home computer game market, using a forced-perspective isometric viewpoint branded Filmation, which would be extensively copied by other games, notable examples being Batman and Head Over Heels from Ocean Software.[7] Knight Lore (and some of Alien 8) was actually written before Sabre Wulf but Ultimate decided that it could have a potentially negative effect on sales of the comparatively primitive Sabre Wulf, so Knight Lore was postponed until late 1984 for a simultaneous release with Underwurlde.[8]

Ultimate ran into some criticism in the gaming media for their repeated used of the Filmation technique in subsequent games such as Alien 8, Nightshade, Gunfright and Pentagram,[9] though Nightshade and Gunfright used a variation on the engine, Filmation II, resulting in a significantly different style of gameplay.

Decline and fall

With the consistent success of Ultimate's releases there were rumours of a buyout by Ocean, until it was announced in 1985 that the Stamper brothers had sold the Ultimate catalogue to U.S. Gold,[10] who would continue to develop games under the Ultimate label. Later titles such as Martianoids and Bubbler were seen by the gaming press as not up to Ultimate's previously high standards and sales fell. U.S. Gold released no new Ultimate games after Bubbler in 1987. A final Sabreman game, Mire Mare was trailed in previous games and advertised, but was quietly dropped. In late 1988 ACG/Rare Ltd. bought back all the rights sold to U.S. Gold and were reported to be developing games again.[11] Future releases were to have included Solar Jetman, which would eventually appear only on the Nintendo Entertainment System, although home computer conversions for the Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, and Atari ST were completed but not released.[12]

Rare

Main article: Rare (company)

Shortly before the U.S. Gold buyout the name of another company "Rare Ltd." began appearing on the credits of some Ultimate releases. This was another company set up by the Stampers to develop for the label and would evolve after Ultimate's demise into a high profile developer for the Nintendo Entertainment System. This led Nintendo to purchase a stake in the company, whose success was furthered with such classic SNES and Nintendo 64 releases as Donkey Kong Country and Goldeneye 007. In 2002 Rare was purchased by Microsoft[13] for $377 million and currently develops games for the Xbox 360 console. At the end of 2006 Tim and Chris Stamper left Rare to "pursue other opportunities",[14] ending a 24 year involvement in developing home video games.

Ultimate's return?

In 2004, Rare revived Ultimate's Sabreman franchise with the release of Sabre Wulf for the Game Boy Advance, and in 2007 they released the fourth game of the Jetman series Jetpac Refuelled for Xbox Live Arcade. They are currently rumoured to be developing a racing game based on the Ultimate universe titled Sabreman Stampede.

On 8 December 2006 and 16 January 2007, Rare's owners Microsoft Corporation filed US and EU (respectively) trademark claims on the Ultimate Play The Game name and logo. The registered purpose is "entertainment services, namely, providing an on-line computer game".[15]

Authorship

The company's secretive tendencies also extended to the question of who wrote the games. Whereas most games of the time would list those responsible on the cassette inlay cards or even on the front of the box (one notable example, Football Manager even going as far as to feature a picture of author Kevin Toms on the front of the box), no Ultimate title ever mentioned any names at all, and the authorship of some of them remains unclear.

The Ultimate titles up to Gunfright were written primarily by Tim and Chris Stamper. Tim provided the graphics and Chris the programming, though later titles were also contributed to by others at the company. Tim also created the cover art for the games, including the famous Ultimate Play The Game logo. The Stampers retained the major creative roles until the purchase by U.S. Gold, who brought in their own programming teams to create Martianoids and Bubbler. The exact authorship of Pentagram and Cyberun is known only to those involved; often considered U.S. Gold games, they are both possibly Stamper games.[16] This remains a possibility as although Chris Stamper has said in an interview, "What was the last one we developed as a team? It was Gunfright, I think",[17] Ultimate had already admitted to developing games in an order different to that of their release, as with Knight Lore and Sabre Wulf.

The authorship of the Commodore 64 titles is even more uncertain. The conversions of existing Spectrum games Sabre Wulf, Underwurlde and Nightshade were by Firebird, and Imhotep was submitted to Ultimate in a virtually complete form by Manuel Caballero, who had previously written Batty Builders and Firefleet.[18] Ultimate did not make any announcements regarding the authorship of the other Commodore games, and nobody has yet come forward publicly to claim them as Caballero did.

Relationship with the press and fans

File:Nightshade ad.jpg
The press ad for Nightshade. A typically non-descriptive Ultimate advertisement showing only the game's cover art, price and where the game could be purchased.

Press

Ultimate had a reputation for secrecy that has continued to a lesser extent with successor Rare. Due to the small number of staff employed at Ultimate in the early days they didn't have the time to talk to the press or attend trade events. As Tim Stamper later said:

...that’s the way it turned out, we were so busy producing a few products a year and making sure they were right. I think while we were full-time Ultimate, we only had two Christmas mornings off, and that’s how hard it was. We worked seven days a week, 8am till 1 or 2 in the morning. I don’t feel it’s any good having engineers who only work 9 to 5 because you get a 9 to 5 game.

— Tim Stamper, CRASH magazine, April 1988

This press blackout soon worked to the company's advantage. Due to the usual high quality of the end products, speculation in the press and amongst gamers would increase the anticipation of each release. This was helped along by the full-page advertisements placed in magazines showing the cover art of the game in question, but no shots or description of the game itself. These ads would be run prior to and for several months after the release date.The magazines wouldn't even be able to preview the games; the reviews themselves would be the first opportunity for anyone to see them. Not talking to the press worked for them and it soon became policy.[19]

Lunar Jetman's trailer
 
The Lunar Jetman "trailer" screenshot as published in CRASH magazine, February 1986.

This air of mystery was increased when CRASH magazine published a reader's photograph of Lunar Jetman featuring Jetman's moon rover pulling a trailer.[20] The possible existence of a trailer (as depicted on the game's cover art and loading screen) had been speculated on since the game's release, and many fans had searched fruitlessly for it. The Stampers shrugged off questions about whether this screen shot was genuine, but stopped short of actually denying it. There have even been suggestions that Ultimate themselves may have created the screen shot to generate more interest in the game. It has since been proven that Lunar Jetman's 48K of code does not contain graphics for a trailer.[21]

Fans

Ultimate received so much fan mail at their peak that they had to take on a full-time employee to deal with the 50 to 60 letters per day. They were known for their positive attitude to fans, always replying to their letters and responding to requests for merchandise by sending posters, sweatshirts and caps free of charge.[22]

Commodore 64 releases

The main series of games produced by Ultimate were all released on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, with most from Sabre Wulf onward also on the Amstrad CPC and MSX, and most early games up to and including Nightshade also on the BBC Micro. Only three of these (Sabre Wulf, Underwurlde and Nightshade) were released on the other major platform of the time, the Commodore 64, however a series of C64-exclusive titles were published by Ultimate:

The Staff of Karnath, Entombed, Blackwyche and Dragonskulle all concern the adventures of Sir Arthur Pendragon.

References

  1. ^ Jones, Darran and King, Ryan. XBOX360 Magazine supplemental: Rare - The Ultimate Story, page 9. Highbury Entertainment, 2005
  2. ^ Personal Computer Games, issue 1, page 5. Summer 1983
  3. ^ CRASH, issue 51, page 35. Newsfield Publications, April 1988
  4. ^ CRASH, issue 62, page 9. Newsfield Publications, March 1989. Jones and King quote this figure as being 330,000.
  5. ^ CRASH, issue 1, page 88. Newsfield Publications, February 1984
  6. ^ The Games Machine, issue 27, page 116. Newsfield Publications, March 1988
  7. ^ Retro Gamer, issue 34, page 76. Imagine Publishing, 2007
  8. ^ Rollings, Andrew. The ZX Spectrum Book 1982-199X, page 77. Hiive Books, 2007
  9. ^ Sinclair User, issue 52, page 43. EMAP, July 1986
  10. ^ CRASH, issue 51, page 36. Newsfield Publications, April 1988
  11. ^ CRASH, issue 62, page 9. Newsfield Publications, March 1989
  12. ^ "Solar Jetman - The Creators Speak". gtw64.retro-net.de. Retrieved 2007-06-17.
  13. ^ "Microsoft buy top games producers Rare". CBBC Newsround. Retrieved 2007-05-01.
  14. ^ 1UP.com. "Rare Founders Leave to 'Pursue Other Opportunities'". Retrieved 2007-01-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ "United States Patent and Trademark Office". tess2.uspto.gov. Retrieved 2007-06-17. Due to the nature of this government site, the relevant page cannot be directly linked to, so a search must be manually performed. The EU trademark may be found here: [1]
  16. ^ Rollings, Andrew. The ZX Spectrum Book 1982-199X. Hiive Books, 2007
  17. ^ CRASH, issue 51, page 36. Newsfield Publications, April 1988
  18. ^ Ultimate-Wurlde.com. "Interview with Manuel Caballero".
  19. ^ CRASH, issue 51, page 36. Newsfield Publications, April 1988
  20. ^ CRASH, issue 25, page 33. Newsfield Publications, February 1986
  21. ^ Retro Micro Games Action, Volume 1, page 26. Highbury Entertainment, 2006
  22. ^ CRASH, issue 51, page 36. Newsfield Publications, April 1988
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ultimate_Play_the_Game&oldid=142097942"