History - I hope you will be interested in reading about, I’m not afraid of this word, the Chinese game industry on the Spectrum, because these companies were the authors of many masterpieces that continue to be played today.

         
                 
                 
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 :xx/0x/05: +--------+ | Sinc Re-Stared !
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!          (From the editor)
 I took the liberty of publishing
the following material. I hope you will
interesting to read about, I'm not afraid of it
words, The pillars of game development on the Spectrum,
after all, these companies were the authors of many masterpieces
ditch, which continues to be played today
Nya.                                       
 Material was kindly provided by Tas-
man. The original source is a site called
'All about the Enzi quests'. URL unknown.   
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 -=Domark=-                
location - Great Britain.          
 founded in 1984.           
                                          
 Founded Dominic Whea-
tley, online version of the magazine Crash! persistently
calls him Domonic) and Mark Strachan
(Mark Strachan) in London, England. Their per-
his project was the grandiose Eureka!,co-
the concept of which was written by the author of the book series
Fighting Fantasy and employee Games Work-
shop, Ian Livingstone, not
the last person in the future association
Domark with technology company Eidosand
since 1995 the president of the latter. Actually,
grandiosity Eureka! was not even
that it was done by 20 people, among whom
rykh was a professor of logic and an artist - about-
winnerOscar (as well as a group of Hungarian
programmers).  Prize for completing the game
was 25,000 pounds! You need to solve it
it was before December 31, 1985, that is, 14
months (release date - Z1.10.84), and for non-
how many months until the end of the game have you completed?
(and it was oh so difficult to do!), on-
by entering the required phone number,
someone Matthew Woodley, fifteen-year-old British
Nec. SoDomark yourself grandiosely nponuapu-
la. In 87 they released a text Not a
Penny Moge, Not a Penny Less based on 
bestselling novel of the same name Geoffrey
Archer (LordArcher, member of the British Parliament
Lamenta, later sat in prison for swearing
crime and wrote a book about it  A
Prison Diary)about how a group of investors
lost a millionpounds on a fraudulent transaction
nickname and wanted a refund. Attempt
the gameization of the bestseller did not bring the authors
gloryHitchkiker's Guide. Alas.            
Before the beginning of the 90s Domark published non-
few games forSpectrum andCommodore 64, you
stepping up as publisher for an action series with
the most important super agent of the planet in chief
role, then released as a collection - Ja-
mes Bond 007 Action Color (90), and also games
roizatsiya trilogy Star Wars for BBC Micro,
Spectrumetc. (87-88) and a couple of dozen art-
CAD, puzzle games and TV adaptations
rin(some under the Macsen label),including
includingTrivial PursuitfromVirgin Interacti-
ve. In 1987 Incentive Software created itsthe first three-dimensional engineFreescape,on-
Thor made a fantastic adventure game
Driller (87), and then a whole series of action
Shen/adventure games, including 3D shooter duologies
(!) Total Eclipse (88, 91) and fantasy Cast-
le Master (88, 90) with honest three-dimensional
spaces and action from the first person-
tsa. In 1991, even ЗD Construction Kit came out
based on Freescape.                      
In 1988, Domarkbegins working with label
scrap Atari Games - Tengen, created after-
days for noptuhra games from arcade machines
tov for home computers.  Practically
all conversions coin-or toys Atari public
forged in Britain preciselyDomark.          
 Coming to America in 9W(office in San Ma-
Teo), Domark creates an alliance with a subsidiary
company  Spectrum HoloByte  - conductor
of its games to the market, however, it begins to
prepare to acquire the giant US Gold/
CentreGold.                               
In 1995, Domark merged with Big Red
Softwareand Simis, and then with Eidos Tech-
nologies, which becomes a group of com-
pany Eidos,  and then a gaming monster
Eidos Interactive. However, in 1996 Domark
Software is still working on its products
ktami separately, creating for their direct dis-
spaces Strategic Marketing Partners
(SMP).  The first games released with SMP 
steel multiplayer racing Big Red
Racingandsimilar m/n action Total May-
hem.Shortly thereafterDomark as a label
ceased to exist.                   
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 -=Gremlin graphics=-         
location - Great Britain        
dates of life :) 1984-0З.1999       
                                          
The company was founded by Ian Stewart
Stewart and Kevin Norburn
burn) in Sheffield.  The studio is located in
several rooms not far from the property
national computer store Iena and Ke-
wines of Just Micro, and the first hired pro-
rpammepamu steelTony Crow-
ther) and Peter Harrapto co-
who were soon joined by Chris Kerry(Chris Kerry), Shaun Hollingworth (Shaun No-
llingworth) and Christian Ypkxapt (Christian
Urquhart).                                
Peter Harrap,who became a good friend
founding fathers as a result of frequent
visiting their store, wrote the first game,
Wanted!  Monty Mole ('84), which was
clone Manic Miner and became terribly popular
on. Fame to her (and, of course, to herself)
company) brought the fact that for registration
splash screen was "attracted"Arthur Scargill
(Arthur Scargill), leader of the miners' union
(and Sheffield, as you know, is located near
close to the South Yorkshire coal mines),
who just at that time was waging a “war” with
the then Prime Minister of Great BritainMarga-
pet Thatcher (Margaret Thatcher).  Exactly her
on the initial screen of the game he hammered in some kind of
then shovel into the ground the brave mole  Monty
(later the hero of several more tbope-
nyGremlin).  The game received a wide "re-klamu" in the paper press and was mentioned
in the program of the channel ITN "News at Ten". Ra-
Apparently, it immediately became a bestseller.
   Subsequently, Gremlin released more
hundreds of titles (mainly arcade and action games)
for various platforms (includingZX Spect-
rum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad SRS),  such
like the mentioned Wanted! Monty Mole, a also
Monty op the Run ('85),Tinderbox ('85),
Jack the Nipper ('86,'87), Basil the Great
Mouse Detective ('87), Gauntlet ('87). Before-
Quite often the heroes of the games were stars.
frills and characters from various comics and
cartoons, living examples of this Basil the
Great Mouse, Sam Stoat Safebreaker ('85),
Potty Pigeon ('84),Pink Panther ('88) and
(unreleased)Beaver Bob in Dam Trouble. From
"problematic" games - an adventure based on
printed"Duelmaster" - Blood Valley('91)
and earlier Way of the Tiger ('86), then-
by the same author. From other genres there were in
even football simulators -Gary Lineker'
Super Star Soccer('87),Footballer of the
Year ('87) and races - Tour de Force ('88),
Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge ('90).       
Gremlinsvery quickly became publishers
own games, also representing others
studios, in particular SpanishDinamic (We-
st Bank '85). In adjacent territories
they were published with the support of the monster that
time US Gold  (for which it was released
doublet Gauntlet/Gauntlet 2).Having mastered it well
market for 8-bit platforms, the company holding
fell for him for quite a long time, only in 1992
leaving the dying ZX Spectrum. Change the
oputetob (for 16-bit computers andIBM-
RS) resulted in a name change to Gremlin In-
teractive.                                
In December 1996 Gremlin acquired a small
ndskaya DMA Design (for the amount of about 4.2 million
pounds), the studio was famous for
series Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto etc.
subsequently became part ofRockstar. In the same
year their first title was released for Fox Intera-
ctive - Actua Soccer ('96),sold for
year with a circulation of 1.5 million. In the sports series
also released Actua Soccer II ("97), Ac-
tuaGolf ('96), Actua Golf II ('97) and Pre-
mier Manager ('97,'98). But both these games and
licenses forFox (including Men In Black
('97) diverged not so well).     
In 98 there was a pactoprhyt contract with Fun-
soft, European distributor Gremlin.
But a new partner has appeared - French
Infogrames. In the same year, a car was purchased
Strali Mainstream Interactive (for
ridiculous 0.5 million pounds). However, after pro-
shaft of the company's key games, including
Actua Soccer III andBody Harvest, actions
Gremlin fell noticeably (however, they fell
for about 2 years), and already at the beginning of 99
rumors about its sale were confirmed. Purchase-
the body turned out to be Infogrames,paid for
British veteran 24 million pounds. Sub-
exno Australian Melbourne House, studio
was renamed toInfogrames Sheffield
House and released several games (including
after UEFA Challenge '01), before May
On 2OOZ it was closed.                     
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 -=Melbourne House=-           
location - Australia            
date of foundation - 1977        
                                          
Based in Melbourne, Australia,Alf-
by Alfred MilgromandHaomu
Besen (Naomi Besen). In August 1980 they
published one of the first books in history
with 30 programs for personal computer Sinclair
ZX80.  The book was a huge success.  Since then
they have given the world a lotsimilar failures
rnikov for different systems.  Including:
Spectrum Hardware Manual and Spectrum Micro-
drive Book.  In addition, MN  released non-
bad graphic editor Melbourne
Draw.                                     
 In the 80s, the company released extremely
successful series based on Tolkien's books about the Middle Ages
earth. The circulation of one of the games, Hobbit, has reached
and exceeded the 500,000 mark.  InHobbit
(82), Shadows of Mordor (87) and the first game
about the famous detectiveSherlock (November
84),which, unlike many games of those
years, made 18 months (!), a first announcement
took place in February '84, was applied
parser interface named Englishand
recognized slang expressions, sometimes
Yes, it’s true, stumbling on the ordinary ones. On
English (vocabulary of thisengine sos-
about 800 words)  and a couple more
know-how AnimTalk and AnimAction - corresponding
Indeed, the opportunity to talk with others
characters and the ability of the latter pearu-
react to your actions according to their own
Behhomy understanding.                        
Early to mid-80s Melbourne House
held 10% of the market for games of all formats in Britain
tahuu and The Hobbit, and also The Way of the Ex-
ploding Fistwere in first place
European chart.                         
 In 90, Hunt for Red October was released - re-
first game forGameboy with head-head arca-
de action. In 91Super Smash TV for Nin-
tendo and SNES.                             
 In 93MH  completes two games according to
licenses FASA studio - RPG ShadowRun  and ZD-
action MechWarrior.  The first one laid a new one
direction for console adventure games. Among
games also released in the 90s: Cricket and EA
Sports Cricket for SNES, a couple more cri-
ketob, The Dame was Loaded (96) - one of
the first interactive games using
full motion video).                       
In 1999,Beam International sells Mel-
bourne HouseFrenchInfogrames,then
how Beamtakes the path of electronic
no commerce. After the sale the company became
la be called Infogrames Melbourne Houseandreleased several racing sims -Grand
Prix Challenge, GP500 (рс), Le Mans 24 No-
urs  (Dreamcast), and also actions - Men In
Black II: Alien Escape (PS2, 2002) and
Space Race under license Warner Brothers.   
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