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Post by Mark Jones Junior on Jan 9, 2009 20:58:18 GMT -5
Well, some of us! "One of the most famous software houses of the 80s and early 90s was Manchester-based Ocean Software. Several former employees of the company will be appearing at Byte Back to share their memories - professional and otherwise - of working for Ocean in it's heyday. Confirmed panel members so far are: * Bill Harbison - graphic designer on games such as Chase HQ and Dragon Ninja on the Spectrum and Batman: The Movie on the Amiga, Bill helps keeps the spirit of Ocean alive with his Ocean Experience website. * Jonathan Smith - 'Joffa' as he is affectionately known was responsible for programming games such as Daley Thompson's Supertest, Batman the Caped Crusader and Midnight Resistance - a full list of games he worked on can be found on his website. * Mark R. Jones - A talented artist, Mark was responsible for memorable Ocean loading screens including Wizball and Arkanoid II, and also produced in-game graphics for The Vindicator and Gryzor amongst others. Check out Mark's artistic work on his MySpace and YouTube pages. *Simon Butler - One of the most prolific contributors to Ocean games, Simon was responsible for in-game graphics for more than 15 titles on the Spectrum, C64 and Amiga including Target Renegade, Platoon, Combat School, Elf and Navy Seals. We hope to confirm more names for "Ocean Reunited" as the event approaches, so stay tuned! " www.byte-back.info/event_guests.htmlSo who else is going to come? We can see it as a dry run and good practice for the upcoming event at the Urbis in May!
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Post by Paulie on Jan 10, 2009 16:10:58 GMT -5
Joff mentioned this to me today... Hmm - best check my schedules (I could heckle y'all from the back!)
What's the Urbis thing?
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Post by Mark Jones Junior on Jan 13, 2009 15:57:18 GMT -5
Yeah come along Paul! The Urbis thing is a Retro Gaming exhibition and the focus is going to be on Ocean, due to the Manchester connection. The word on the grape vine is that a 2009 Ocean reunion will be arranged to coincide with the opening. Including a Q&A session. Be good to have a test first (this one) cos A) we can see how it goes and b)I've never done one before, be good practice and C) Should be interesting and a laugh!
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Post by ecnirp on Jan 16, 2009 18:29:15 GMT -5
Sounds fun, I'll come along for a good heckle !
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Post by crookiemonster on Feb 12, 2009 14:33:34 GMT -5
More about the exhibition at Urbis.
Although this press release doesn't state so - watch out for further announcements - there will be a large Manchester and Ocean bias to the exhibition.
Ocean figures highly with a celebration of all that was great regarding your wonderful software house.
Mark Jones, Bill Harbison and Gary Bracey are in the know and although the exhibition has grown massively to include British gaming in general, we have original artwork from Bob Wakelin, original design documents, a BBC video with Ocean, Ocean games, Ocean posters, Ocean original game boxes and tapes, biogs of key people, photographs and more.
David Crookes
Videogame Nation
Urbis, Manchester
14 May – 13 September 2009
Manchester’s stunning contemporary exhibition centre Urbis encourages visitors to grab the controls with a new exhibition that celebrates the best of British video gaming from its birth in the 1970s to the present day.
Videogame Nation brings together games spanning the last 30 years, from ‘Manic Miner’ (1983) to ‘Grand Theft Auto IV’ (2008), taking players on a thrilling ride through the UK’s gaming generations, tracing the journey of computer programming from the hidden realm of the bedroom to what has become a multi-billion pound industry.
Interactivity is the name of the game as visitors to Videogame Nation will be able to play early games such as ‘Jetpac’ (1983) for the BBC Micro or ‘Jet Set Willy’ (1984) on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in an authentic bedroom setting. Visitors can also try their hand in a seaside-style arcade; take a seat in a football stadium to play ‘Sensible World of Soccer’ (1994), the first video game to cover the entire professional football world in one game; or loiter in a bus shelter to witness gaming on the go with handheld games.
Games on show will both thrill the tech-heads and enlighten the uninitiated, enabling visitors to learn fresh facts and discover games they don’t know. It will highlight the innovative hardware produced by British companies, from the ZX Spectrum (1982) - one of the first mainstream home computers in the UK - and its competition at the time, the Amstrad CPC, while tracing the transformation of gaming with innovations such as the Nintendo DSi which has yet to be released outside Japan.
David Crookes, consultant curator of Videogame Nation and a leading writer on UK gaming, comments: “Gaming has become a hugely significant part of many people’s lives worldwide and this exhibition highlights the contribution British developers have made to the industry and the cultural influence it holds today. Right from the very beginning when games were produced by people in their bedrooms, imagination has been at the forefront but with the powerful consoles we have today, that creative thought is being unleashed like never before. Visitors to the show will see just how far the industry has come and that games are limited only by our imaginations.”
British gaming companies and designers have led the way with imaginative and exciting concepts, many of which will be shown in the exhibition including the pioneering platform game ‘Manic Miner’, and space trading computer game ‘Elite’ (1984). Games which many assume to be American but are firmly British will be on display. ‘GoldenEye 007’ (1997), developed by British company Rare, was the first game to successfully bring the first person shooter genre from PC to console, while Edinburgh based Rockstar North produced trend-setting ‘Grand Theft Auto III’ (2001), popularized 3D go anywhere, open city gaming and was one of the first games to feature a working in-car radio as well as on-air chatter that would coincide with events in the game’s story.
‘Tomb Raider’ (1996) was developed by Derby based Core Design and ‘Little Big Planet’, was developed in 2007 for the Sony PlayStation 3 by the award winning studio Media Molecule who are based in Guildford.
The vanguards of the gaming age in 1980s Britain were often talented teenagers. Richard and David Darling were just two of this new generation, founding their company Codemasters in 1985. Later that year they met The Oliver Twins who started to professionally develop computer games while they were still at school and published their first game, ‘Super Robin Hood’, for the Amstrad CPC, Spectrum, Commodore 64, Atari ST, Amiga, Nintendo NES with Codemasters. They formed part of the creative core in the industry which has gone on to produce some of the most well known and loved games; ‘Daley Thompson's Decathalon’, ‘LEGO Star Wars’, ‘Donkey Kong Country’, ‘Perfect Dark’, ‘Banjo Kazooie’, and ‘WipEout’ being just a selection from the last 40 years.
These games and their creators are honoured throughout the exhibition with exclusive interviews with developers including point-and-click adventure game supremo Charles Cecil, industry stalwarts The Oliver Twins and David Braben, creator of ‘Elite’; original artwork from Oliver Frey, designer for Crash, Amtix and Zzap!64 magazines; framed posters and game guru’s biographies – among them Peter Molyneux, Matthew Smith, Jon Ritman, Jon Hare and David and Richard Darling - adding to the collection of memorabilia which will illustrate the history and depth of gaming in the UK.
Pollyanna Clayton-Stamm, Head of Creative Programmes at Urbis said: “There is no other cultural institution in the UK that can show in one year an exhibitions programme that explores cutting edge contemporary visual art from New York, the ubiquity of trainers, British gaming and the explosive but often misunderstood phenomenon of Hip Hop, alongside a showcase of the best creative talent emerging from Manchester. Videogame Nation will be exactly the kind of exhibition Urbis has become known and trusted for – a collision of what people would traditionally consider to be ‘high art’ and popular culture – that confluence of cultures that makes living in cities so stimulating.”
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Post by Gary on Feb 17, 2009 9:27:44 GMT -5
I wanted to attend the Byte-Back expo but won't be able to because of a previous commitment the evening of the 7th (and also because Everton have a cup-tie that day). However, I would heartily endorse this event and urge anyone who is even slightly interested to attend. In addition to Joffa, Mark, Bill and Simon they also have Jon Hare ('Jops') from Sensi going along so should be a great craic. Sorry I won't be there myself, but I do wish Mat every success with the event. Next year...!!!
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jof
New Member
Make me day, lad.
Posts: 19
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Post by jof on Mar 2, 2009 10:43:01 GMT -5
You big girl Gary!
If I'm willing to die on stage, then I see no reason why you shouldn't!
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Post by Mark Jones Junior on Mar 4, 2009 7:34:00 GMT -5
Mr Bracey! Get yaself a VHS and record it!
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jof
New Member
Make me day, lad.
Posts: 19
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Post by jof on Mar 4, 2009 7:52:21 GMT -5
Oh, he's too old! He can't possibly work a video recorder!
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Post by psj3809 on Mar 8, 2009 15:00:10 GMT -5
Cheers to everyone who went to Byte-Back. Was really good listening to the stories and that from those golden years ! Thanks for coming along to that, was very interesting listening to it, as a kid back then in the 80's i was jealous as hell of the people who worked for Ocean creating games !
Anyway thanks again, looking forward to the Manchester Urbis one later this year
Had a good chat with James Bagley as well, top bloke, Cabal and Midnight Resistance were two of my favourite games ! Cheers
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jof
New Member
Make me day, lad.
Posts: 19
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Post by jof on Mar 9, 2009 12:07:47 GMT -5
It was a really good do.
Met loads of people and stuff!
Bad for me!
But what the hell!
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