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Post by dougal on Oct 20, 2005 14:34:03 GMT -5
My love for Ocean games started when i upgraded from a crappy (At least during 1992) atari xe to the Amiga ..
All my fave games where from Ocean .. Here are some of my favorites ... WiZKiD , Beach Volley , Midnight Resistance , Bart VS Space Mutants (Free with my A500+) and much more !!
Me and my mate used to raise our right arms with a clenched fist and shout out "OCEAN" when we`d see the Ocean logo come up on the screen .. LOL sounds funny but then again we were only about 11 or 12 years old at the time .
Anyway great site and i`d love it if Ocean one day re-releases its old games , remakes for the PC / PS2 etc.. and also re-releases for the Amiga ..
Great stuff Keep it up
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Post by Gary on Oct 23, 2005 1:55:04 GMT -5
Me and my mate used to raise our right arms with a clenched fist and shout out "OCEAN" when we`d see the Ocean logo come up on the screen Funny. We had to do that every morning when we came into work.  Thanks for the kind words, Dougal. I'm sure it means a lot to every ex-Ocean person that reads your post. |
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Post by Simon Butler on Oct 23, 2005 2:35:36 GMT -5
Oddly enough...or not, depending on your point of view...wherever I go on my strange meanderings through the Industry people still say "Oh you worked for Ocean?" and there's a touch of awe in their voices.
Because regardless of the rubbish we produced, and to be brutally honest we did produce some woefully bad titles, we also made some pretty damn fine games every now and then and people remember them fondly.
I'm currently working in a company in Hamburg and am surrounded by guys considerably younger than myself, which isn't too difficult as only David Ward and Cro-magnon man (and I don't mean Jon Woods) are older than myself.
I won't ruffle Jon's feathers...he's having enough of a bad time with his football team at the moment...Damn! just did what I said I wouldn't.
But anyhoo...
Ocean is one of those words, one of those companies that still conjures up very fond memories, almost exclusively with guys of locking themselves in their bedrooms and spending hours involved in an activity that worried their parents immensely...playing computer games.
I won't go as far as to say I enjoyed every waking moment while at Ocean; skipping into the office while a smile and a carefree song on my lips...it just isn't true.
But I will say that my tenure at Ocean on both tours of duty in the hallowed halls was quite possibly the most fun I have ever had in the games industry.
There were harsh words and raised voices, there were tanturms, hissy fits and screaming conniptions, but there werealso days when you barely noticed the time go by because it was just good fun.
We enjoyed what we did and for the most part really cared about what we were doing and if things never turned out how we planned it rankled at times.
I still wear my Ocean badge with pride and it puts a little spring in my ricketty old feet when people say "Wow! did you work for Ocean?"
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Post by fgasking on Oct 23, 2005 9:10:40 GMT -5
But Simon, I thought you said that Active Minds was the best place you had ever worked? |
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Post by Ringostarr on Oct 23, 2005 11:47:37 GMT -5
wow Simon.. for once I actually agree with your sentiments. The early days at Ocean are truly unforgettable, not least because of your hissy fits and trantrums!
Active Minds - now there was a company!
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Post by dougal on Oct 24, 2005 4:49:19 GMT -5
[/quote] Funny. We had to do that every morning when we came into work. Thanks for the kind words, Dougal. I'm sure it means a lot to every ex-Ocean person that reads your post.[/quote] My pleasure Gary and thank you for all the great games i grew up with  I remember typing your name in Beach Volley to cheat and skip levels .. lol nauughty me |
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Post by Mark Jones Junior on Oct 24, 2005 5:05:59 GMT -5
Me and my mate used to raise our right arms with a clenched fist and shout out "OCEAN" when we`d see the Ocean logo come up on the screen .. LOL sounds funny but then again we were only about 11 or 12 years old at the time That's gotta be the best quote of the whole board! |
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Post by Bill Harbison on Oct 24, 2005 5:41:15 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Ocean!!![/glow]  It's spreading! |
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Post by Gary on Oct 24, 2005 8:05:52 GMT -5
;D
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Post by Simon Butler on Oct 24, 2005 16:59:20 GMT -5
Ah Active Minds....
happy days.
If ever a company was badly named it was them.
Dear Lord....
Just being in work every day was like watching a runaway train full of shit with no brakes.
You just couldn't tear your eyes away for fear of missing something...
Every day was a little rollercoaster of excitement.
At the very least was the company secretary who I was told was something of a catch.
Very true if you'd gone looking for one of nature's mistakes.
Sweet Jesus of Nazareth! It was like a bear in a woman suit...an ill fitting one at that. But the Company Director loved her...a little little Emily and Bagpuss I imagine.
She had a face like a welder's bench.
Ah...the perils of meeting over CB radio.
The only good thing ever to come out of the debacle that was my stay at "Active" Minds was that I wound up back in the hallowed halls of Ocean again.
So there truly is a silver lining to every cloud.
God! I feel grubby just thinking back to that shower of wassocks.
anyhoo...nighty night chums!
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Post by Gary on Oct 25, 2005 5:44:30 GMT -5
Simon,
Was the guy who ran that the one with the initials, DC - a not-dissimilar name to that of one of our own veteran programmers?
If it's the one I'm thinking of, he was a real tw@t.
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Post by Simon Butler on Oct 25, 2005 9:38:29 GMT -5
Indeed he was oh wise and erstwhile leader...
it's enough to give you the colley-wobbles...
(dear lord!)
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Post by Gary on Oct 25, 2005 10:07:18 GMT -5
Boom-boom!!
Heh.
;D
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Post by Mark Jones Junior on Oct 27, 2005 2:03:10 GMT -5
When ever I was there the aforementioned DC always looked as if he was about to sh*t himself! He was very nervous. But then he did, at this point, have Simon Butler breathing down his neck!! |
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Post by Simon Butler on Oct 27, 2005 14:59:57 GMT -5
I think I was way down on his list of things to be concerned about...
Taking money from Jon Woods and giving very little if anything in return is never one of the great and clever things to do in life.
But he never gave me the impression that he had a full complement of chairs around his table did that lad.
Last time I saw him, which was about 5 years ago maybe...he was at ECTS and STILL in the industry!!
Blimey...what a thought!!
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