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In the late seventies, sometime around '78, '79,

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I read a report about a booming market
amateur computers

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And it said that such a computer

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00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:29,360
has already built around 500 people in England.

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I mean Nascom, Compukit.

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MK-14s were another one of them.

7
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The advent of home computers

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he was very good for the British.

9
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And why we dominated the whole world

10
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it was because the British have the same
crazy creative ideas.

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Computers were great back then.

12
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It was all about ideas.

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It was about making things
which no one had done before.

14
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But he was also typically in it
british confusion

15
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I think there is something that the British
they love to make things work

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even if the solutions are not elegant.

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It's just that it just works.

18
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You mixed something up in meaning
"Done. It works."

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“Thanks.
Now let's deal with something else."

20
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I think in these things
we are very good.

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Home computers were on their own
primarily a hobby.

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Many people have become familiar with them

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through amateur radio.

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So they connected them to teletypewriters
and similar things.

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They were more interested in how to connect the relay
board than playing some games.

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MIKE AUSTIN: These first computers
they contained many separate components.

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Integrated circuits, resistors,
capacitors, etc.

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All of this had to be assembled by hand
on the knee and solder one by one to the board.

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Thousands of connections, large flat cables
and other things of that kind.

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It was a very difficult task

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and you could never be
sure that at the end of it all

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the computer will be functional.

33
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Britain's first home computer
there was something called Nascom 1.

34
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And when Nascom 1 was announced,
they did a roadshow across England

35
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and everyone was talking about

36
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how to solder the kit with 1200 connections.

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Then, just out of the blue, they asked
"Well, what can be done with all this then?"

38
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and someone did a little presentation, quite
a short one, in which it was stated, among other things,

39
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“Well, you can actually play games with computers.

40
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That was the development in computers

41
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which began to be offered to the public.

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ZX80

43
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was a real attack on customers.

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EVERISS: It was his fault
the invention of the microprocessor.

45
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You see, Intel made the 4040
and then 8080,

46
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Zilog then built the Z80
and then came 6502.

47
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And until devices like computers came along,
so those things were totally useless.

48
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Only when there were computers

49
00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:06,040
with those microprocessors
and when silicone became cheaper,

50
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only then was it possible to do these things.

51
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In Britain it was the ZX80,

52
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and it was almost like verifying that theory.
Here is the finished technology that works.

53
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We now have the ability to make a small, cheap computer,

54
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which people buy as a kit,
which they will assemble themselves

55
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and they can then in the home
operate your computer.

56
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The idea of having your own computer
she was fantastic for me.

57
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Then I would do the impossible
to get a ZX80.

58
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I saved 
I cleaned the offices for several months,

59
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to save up for a ZX80
and then I ordered it.

60
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Clive Sinclair Mail Orders
they always took forever.

61
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My ZX80 arrived exactly on the day
my graduation.

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It was fantastic.

63
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But everything wasn't so great
as it might seem at first glance.

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Could not display the moving picture,

65
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because every time you started
program, then the screen went black.

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EYLES: I remember that all the time
it flickered uncomfortably.

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It was good for hobbyists,

68
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but it was not a thing for the common man
who would like to use it in some meaningful way.

69
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If you didn't "eat" it and didn't want z
to squeeze out the soul, it was pointless.

70
00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,520
The ZX81 sold for £70,
which was great.

71
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It was sold in much higher numbers,
than the ZX80.

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Although it was a little more robust,
but from much better quality material.

73
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It was really a key device,

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which caused the creation
bedroom programming.

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I think the ZX81 has it all
really took off.

76
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The ZX81 was actually a bit of a mystery.

77
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You had a box like this 
with a really horrible keyboard,

78
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whose buttons you had to press
several times for anything to happen at all.

79
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Whenever you pressed something

80
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the wobbly RAM expansion module moved
and it caused the whole system to crash.

81
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But to be able to take such a simple one
an electronic kit and use it for something,

82
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which will change the plot on the TV screen
it was absolutely breathtaking.

83
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Because when you were kids
and your only entertainment medium

84
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during adolescence there was television,

85
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the ability to control that box
and create on her screen,

86
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own world was really special.

87
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And I think it got to me too.

88
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You wanted it to do something
and also what else is it capable of besides.

89
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And I think that's the basis from which
the entire British video game industry rose up.

90
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It was about children playing

91
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and wanted to change something, experiment,
to do something

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That led to everything else.

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00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:29,840
STEVE TURNER: Homemade games
they really started with the advent of the ZX81.

94
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People suddenly had the ability to write moveable
cheap pc games

95
00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:39,840
JON RITMAN: The Sinclair Handbook, which
came with the ZX81 was great

96
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and perfectly written.

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I doubt I would have made it as far without her
of what I have achieved in programming.

98
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She was so informative
and simply put together.

99
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That book told you so much that you are

100
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they could easily expand what was in it
was not and to do so far more.

101
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And you know it, you start creating
nested loops and stuff like that,

102
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and the first thing you do is
submarine game.

103
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Soon from "Hello Mom"
you move on

104
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and it all gives you infinite
number of options.

105
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It was like magic, enchanting
screen control.

106
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Because you could control what happened
on the TV screen,

107
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rather than just watching him passively.

108
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You could enter commands
and do whatever you want.

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I won with it. Because of 1KB RAM
you couldn't afford much.

110
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I remember doing the maze because
there were graphic symbols on the number row of keys.

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There were such squares, black and white,
image on each key.

112
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So I remember writing Labyrinth for
command line you just had to go through.

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Top row, second row, third row
and the maze was created as you went through it.

114
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And then the screen overflowed
and it screamed "Out of memory."

115
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The ZX81 came with a programmable
BASIC language,

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which was very elementary.

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There was no memory for it.

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It had 1KB of memory, which is when on
you look at it from today's perspective,

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crazy, like the Twitter icon
on your mobile it is about 8KB.

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So that gives you an idea of how much
memory for it all was there.

121
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Still, I was able to run with it
a few simple things

122
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such as leaving the letter "A"
fly across the screen

123
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and similar things that for me then
were a great success.

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No one understood what I was doing or why
i did it but it was fun for me.

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We persuaded the director,
to lend us the keys to the school.

126
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She was very amazed that children like us
they want to go to school to learn more.

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(LAUGHTER)

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But you know, we didn't see it as learning.

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So we went at half past eight,

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just to have some computer time.

131
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And then during the breaks and we're there too
they stayed after school.

132
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I didn't even know what programming was.

133
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When you start and find out
“I can control this.

134
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or, "It will do whatever it takes
I will."

135
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And I saw all of you around me
people playing games

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Those games were extremely simple.

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I mean you were then
the letter "A" or an asterisk 

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or something like that.

139
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Back then you had to have for playing games
enough imagination

140
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let's put it this way.

141
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But those games were very captivating,

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if you look at any of the
those first games

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such as 3D Monster Maze.

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Which is exceptional.

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It was the first first-person game,
in which you run from the clutches of a tyrannosaurus,

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which chases you around a maze on a ZX81.

147
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It was just about learning to program.

148
00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:26,840
So the first thing I did was
an algorithm for creating a maze.

149
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And then I thought
“I really don't know how this would look in 3D.

150
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And, "Can I view the maze in 3D on the ZX81?"

151
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So I tried it.

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Good evening. I would like to welcome you all
at the Hobby Computer Club.

153
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As I see there are some new faces here,
which we have not seen here before.

154
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Back then it was a matter of hobbyists.

155
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There were CB radios and computers,

156
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all these kinds of simple electronics
people had as a hobby.

157
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I mean, definitely
they weren't making money.

158
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Everything was just the way it was
become better at programming.

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MACLEAN: We had a computer club,
where I started going

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His name was ACC,
Amateur Computer Club.

161
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And I was member number 200 or so.

162
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Yeah, it was full of middle-aged dads
with a beard.

163
00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,920
Another person whose name is me
forgot...

164
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He was a one-handed lawyer, I remember.

165
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He had a TI-99.

166
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I often passed by his house

167
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and we wrote plays together
on his TI-99

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which had color graphics. Wow

169
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(LAUGHTER)

170
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It was a very marginal matter.

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Apparently I had...
I enjoyed playing games.

172
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I thought it would be nice
write some very simple games,

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just for yourself.

174
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And I understood that I had to
learn to program.

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So that was also very interesting.

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The only way to then
learn to program

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was writing programs directly into the computer.

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It put a bug in my head.

179
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I was still looking for programs to
transcribing to the computer,

180
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I poked around in them and
I wanted to make games.

181
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I just enjoyed it.

182
00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:04,200
We were looking for these magazines,
they were mostly magazines for hobbyists,

183
00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:08,040
which they always contained
several program listings.

184
00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:13,200
You looked at those listings and had the urge
"God, I could rewrite this program, for example."

185
00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:15,320
"I need to get one of those computers,"

186
00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:17,640
"I have to start rewriting programs on it
and program."

187
00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,800
Program listings were the main draw
these magazines.

188
00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:23,920
You got a full program,
which you could copy to your computer.

189
00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:27,160
And you had a working game for the price
one magazine issue.

190
00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:31,920
I don't know. We had about that
10, 15 games per month.

191
00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:36,520
So, a large part... maybe 60%,
70% of the magazine was just code.

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00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:39,360
Page after page full of code,
ready to be overwritten.

193
00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:41,800
You have to realize that it was not possible at that time

194
00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:45,640
just go to the store on the street and
just buy the game. 

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00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:47,200
You had to do something for it.

196
00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:49,400
So rewriting programs was
good way to do it.

197
00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:52,800
Your Computer.
We called it "Your Hex Dump."

198
00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:54,640
I remember some of the statements in it,

199
00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:56,960
just when we started doing v
Assembler, they were very good.

200
00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:59,360
CECCO: Huge blocks
hexadecimal numbers,

201
00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:01,560
from which it was assumed
that they will just work.

202
00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:03,680
And you just sat and copied them.

203
00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:07,320
I was going through the statements
in magazines,

204
00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:10,480
and I didn't even have a tape recorder
to be honest with you.

205
00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:14,000
So we just had to hope
that they won't turn off the power and start rewriting.

206
00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:16,200
And we're done sometime
around four in the morning.

207
00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:20,120
And there could be mistakes in it, so you are
they had to go back line by line.

208
00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:23,760
It almost bordered on a kind of obsession
compulsive behavior to make it work.

209
00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,400
You only saw the page
page after page, all full of data.

210
00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:28,600
You looked at it, it was a game of Double Dutch,

211
00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:30,800
but did you think
“I have to try it too.

212
00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:31,960
It was impressive.

213
00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:37,200
The final expectation of what it will actually be
was something really special.

214
00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:41,800
You enter words, numbers, all of them
special symbols,

215
00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:46,640
you'll create a mess of spells and blahs
that's how things work.

216
00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:04,960
Something appeared on the screen and
together it made some sense.

217
00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:08,560
"Ah, this part moves the characters around
screen,"

218
00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:11,640
"this part colors them and makes them flash."

219
00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:16,360
And that made you more hungry
after that, know more.

220
00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,600
There were often errors in the statements,
as they came off the printer

221
00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:24,200
and because of them you could not continue
and you slavishly substituted characters

222
00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:27,120
and they made sure it was the right sign,
which needs to be there for the game to work.

223
00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:29,520
So you actually had to
repair a foreign program.

224
00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:34,240
You tried to break it up and found out
how it actually works

225
00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:37,440
not blindly
"Ah, yes, that's just the way it is."

226
00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:42,560
But, “Oh, yeah, and if you do that and then
this, then this will happen."

227
00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:45,840
The result was always visible at the end.

228
00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:48,000
It was fascinating. It caught me.

229
00:16:48,040 --> 00:16:51,600
We could change the listings, you could
change and do with them what you wanted.

230
00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:54,200
Maybe you could start with something like this
like changing a few sprites...

231
00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:56,800
You started changing the rules and then
you've started adding your own.

232
00:16:56,880 --> 00:17:03,480
As a result, it freed you and they could
you can do whatever you want with it.

233
00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:04,840
I rewrote the listing.

234
00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:06,640
“Hey, that's pretty funny.
How about we make it a little better?"

235
00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:11,000
"What if we wrote Pac-Man?"
I was pretty confident. (LAUGHTER)

236
00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:12,600
With one kilobyte of memory.

237
00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:14,000
I wouldn't become a programmer

238
00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:17,160
if it weren't for those program listings in
magazines, illustrations and techniques.

239
00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:20,680
Those were the days of the internet.
But that was our time, you know.

240
00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:23,680
Fortunately, you could go to the magazine
send your own program listing

241
00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:27,280
and you hoped it would be in the next issue
imprinted then we saw him

242
00:17:27,360 --> 00:17:29,720
and our feedback was in the form of letters
readers to editors.

243
00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:31,880
The answer usually took us a while
two to three months.

244
00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:34,480
Today you have a blog post now
and a comment below it on the same day.

245
00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:36,400
And the next day you write about something else.

246
00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:38,160
Which is why we recently
they took such a step.

247
00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:39,240
But that was our internet.

248
00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:41,800
It's amazing that I still meet people
of his generation

249
00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:43,440
who are not programmers at all,

250
00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:46,800
they just dealt with life simply
something else.

251
00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:49,680
But they still remember how in
they were rewriting programs for fourteen years.

252
00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:52,880
And they still have an awareness of how
the code works

253
00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:56,360
things like, "IF something, THEN that, THEN..."

254
00:17:56,400 --> 00:18:00,680
"Yo, this! 10 PRINT "Ben is the best"
20 GO TO 10. Sure!"

255
00:18:00,760 --> 00:18:04,920
And that was the basic understanding of it
how the thing works

256
00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:08,240
it was just a box into which
you typed those things

257
00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:09,760
and she did what you wanted.

258
00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:14,600
that approach
he was the cause of that originality.

259
00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,800
Because there were many different people,
each of them did something different.

260
00:18:26,360 --> 00:18:27,880
One of the best things about it was

261
00:18:27,960 --> 00:18:30,600
that you could use POKE to enter
number directly into memory

262
00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:32,400
and then you saw how on
a dot appeared on the screen.

263
00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,400
The idea of having absolute control
above the TV screen

264
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:37,400
she was incredibly exciting for us.

265
00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:39,760
I remember getting the Acorn Atom

266
00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:43,400
and I moved the pixel around the screen

267
00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:48,960
Yeah, it was almost like the most exciting thing
sexual satisfaction that can be achieved.

268
00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:07,680
The interesting thing was that then

269
00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:10,000
could not get many games.

270
00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:14,840
So when you wanted to play a certain game,
it was best to write it yourself.

271
00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:16,520
We didn't have much money to buy games.

272
00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:19,880
Most of the games weren't very good,
so it was better to write them yourself.

273
00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:23,160
And that we wrote them ourselves
it fulfilled us in a certain way.

274
00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:25,200
You sat by it and, you know,

275
00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:27,800
"I know it looks like the letter 'V'
but that's not really it."

276
00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:29,640
"It looks like a spaceship or . . ."

277
00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:33,680
You had to take into account
what was available

278
00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:36,160
and develop your imagination.

279
00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:37,360
You have written a routine.

280
00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:40,240
You have written an extremely good one
scroll routine,

281
00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:42,320
or some parallax effect, something like that.

282
00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:44,280
And then you were just looking
some plot

283
00:19:44,360 --> 00:19:46,160
did you pick up a science fiction book or something

284
00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:49,600
and you are simply up to your own creation
implemented the ideas you found

285
00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:50,640
and so you had to.

286
00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:53,160
And then you could on that basis
start creating something bigger.

287
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:55,720
The games, let's be honest,
they used to be very simple.

288
00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:57,800
I remember making games
with zombies

289
00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:00,960
who could attack you
wherever you stood

290
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:03,480
and you had them
drop into holes

291
00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:05,000
When you are trying to learn to program,

292
00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:07,000
so it's one of the things
which are actually very good.

293
00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:09,800
What was good was that you
they didn't need any advanced graphics,

294
00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:13,240
no artwork
no marketing.

295
00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:18,600
It was enough to draw a spaceship
from ASCII symbols,

296
00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:21,000
which meant you could
focus on gameplay

297
00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:24,760
and other things you are
they didn't have to deal with that much.

298
00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:25,880
It was intoxicating.

299
00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:30,760
It was a crazy world
super powerful processors

300
00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:34,400
and a quantum of KILOBYTES of memory.

301
00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:05,800
You know, in those days nobody would
never thought

302
00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:11,840
that money could be made from it,
by what I was doing then.

303
00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:15,920
In fact, it was very devastating
consequences on my life.

304
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:18,160
You know, I didn't have a girlfriend

305
00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:20,000
I didn't really have any friends.

306
00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:24,160
I spent all my time
sitting at the computer

307
00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:27,560
by smoking cigarettes, drinking cola
and eating pizza.

308
00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:31,680
So I nicknamed myself
"Thunder Thighs" [thunder thigh]

309
00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:33,880
because I'm like that
lifestyle

310
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:36,400
gained a lot of weight.

311
00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:38,640
But it didn't occur to me that I could
make some money with this.

312
00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:42,680
I mean what you do for fun
usually not what feeds you

313
00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:44,120
things you just love to do.

314
00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:47,920
It's not about making money.
That's how I thought at the time.

315
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,160
There was no thought then,
that it should be a business.

316
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:54,640
it was just part of
what were we doing as nerds.

317
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:56,640
We saw it as it was just
little nerdy hobby

318
00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:59,280
which no one else in the world would
didn't care

319
00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:02,200
When the ZX80 arrived,

320
00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:06,280
you thought this would
maybe more people could be interested.

321
00:22:06,360 --> 00:22:09,520
And then came the ZX81 and stuff
they really started to move.

322
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:12,680
We used to go to the school library for them,
we disappeared from class

323
00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:16,200
and we went to the library to play
they had BBC and MZ80K there.

324
00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:19,800
The library staff found
that people go there more often.

325
00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:23,360
And so they said, "Well, let's get started
create software to sell to other schools."

326
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:25,760
So, I'm actually in the business
he found himself quite early.

327
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:27,240
Back then we actually made games

328
00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:29,760
not games
but educational software.

329
00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:31,560
And it was then sold to other schools,

330
00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:33,880
and then they invited us more and more often,
to go to lunch with them.

331
00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:34,960
So that was great.

332
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:40,320
I think it made it feel extreme
amateurism, and perhaps it was

333
00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:44,000
People made games, but on principle

334
00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:46,640
what attracted people's attention
were video games in arcades.

335
00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:48,400
The appearance of various variants of Pac-Man
and Space Invaders

336
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:52,400
to arcade games was a big moment.

337
00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:54,120
It changed everything.

338
00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:58,680
You could have for about £20
buy the equivalent in hand.

339
00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:01,200
But it was just a mess of flashing LEDs.

340
00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:03,360
But you wanted something better.

341
00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:05,720
You wanted it to be the same
like in that game room.

342
00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:09,200
So when arcade cabinets came along,
it changed all the other games.

343
00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:11,280
Arcades were very popular.

344
00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:13,840
It was so that at the end of the 70s you

345
00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:16,400
they used to go there with their friends to steam.

346
00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:17,600
And the games were part of it.

347
00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:20,760
But it was also a meeting place.

348
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:33,040
When arcades started appearing, 

349
00:23:33,120 --> 00:23:36,400
so that was the place you used to go
play and compete with friends.

350
00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:37,760
Almost everyone went there.

351
00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:38,840
There were mainly children,

352
00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:41,880
that went there to play.

353
00:23:42,120 --> 00:23:45,280
And I think the beginnings of the video game
business in Britain, de facto in Europe

354
00:23:45,360 --> 00:23:46,520
caused by arcades.

355
00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:50,880
It was the first time you got in
into a whole new reality which

356
00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:55,600
was reproduced on the screen
and you had some kind of control over her.

357
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:57,320
It took me a lot.

358
00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:00,040
JULIAN RIGNALL: Space Invaders.
I remember seeing them for the first time.

359
00:24:00,120 --> 00:24:02,000
I stood a little further from the machine

360
00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:05,480
and I watched the screen
with the invaders.

361
00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:07,840
I watched the boy play it
and my first thought was

362
00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:11,920
"How the hell can he control all that,
what's going on with those buttons?"

363
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:17,400
And then I looked closer and saw
that thing below is shooting

364
00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:21,920
and I thought to myself "That's the bomb!
That's absolutely great."

365
00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:27,640
The arcades were a great experience.

366
00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:30,120
You paid for every game.

367
00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:34,400
And it had to be the best one possible
hardware and the best software.

368
00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:37,800
These arcade machines were something
which had not been here before.

369
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:40,360
The games were colorful,
they had pounding sound systems,

370
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:42,000
pounding sound effects.

371
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:44,320
So when computers came along,

372
00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:46,320
because I have already seen and played
at those arcades

373
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:47,640
and I was fascinated by them

374
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,440
so it felt completely natural to me
that I would one such computer

375
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:55,120
wanted to go home and try to duplicate it on it,
what did those arcade machines do.

376
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:57,600
And of course it was an almost impossible task,

377
00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:00,880
because the arcade hardware was about enough
more advanced than home computer hardware.

378
00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:02,240
But it was a challenge.

379
00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:06,520
A lot of those games were exact copies
those originals from the arcades.

380
00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:07,800
Blatant copy.

381
00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:10,120
It was quite difficult to distinguish them from each other,

382
00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:14,040
including sound effects and everything.

383
00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:17,640
Countless Frogger clones, for example
on all possible platforms,

384
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,520
Hopper, Froggie, all these frogs.

385
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:24,200
There have been many clones and iterations
every kind of Space Invaders,

386
00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:27,360
any moving object,

387
00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:29,240
with the same beeping and whistling.

388
00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:32,400
A few of us realized
that it was just games.

389
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:36,840
You couldn't find a good version of Defender,
so you could write your own.

390
00:25:37,360 --> 00:25:39,240
We did it all for our own fun.

391
00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:42,800
I remember the version of Centipede,
which was in an arcade.

392
00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:45,840
We came there, we saw a caterpillar,

393
00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:47,880
as he runs down he avoids the toadstools

394
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:50,680
and we spent the following week over
attempts to remake it into a Dragon

395
00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:52,040
and we did a decent job.

396
00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:55,600
KENWRIGHT: It allowed you to
imitate these games

397
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:59,200
play with them, expand them,
develop them further

398
00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:00,840
and take them to a new level.

399
00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:15,040
Arcades were here and there was interest in them.

400
00:26:15,120 --> 00:26:17,880
But the real change came when
the Sinclair Spectrum computer arrived.

401
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:22,040
It was the first computer to which v
Britain has managed to become a mass platform.

402
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:24,800
And if we pass
that ridiculous rubber keyboard

403
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:26,840
people started writing plays
and earn money

404
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:30,200
which quickly created an entire market.

405
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:44,920
I think Specrum was probably
the most important thing

406
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:46,960
which video games in this country
they met.

407
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:48,200
I think that's probably the most important thing

408
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:50,160
for our programming at that time.

409
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,200
And I do not underestimate that
meaning of Commodore 64.

410
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:54,840
He was also very important.

411
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:56,960
But we had Sir Clive.

412
00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:58,640
KENWRIGHT: We should say thank you
Clive Sinclair for

413
00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:00,880
what he did for the gaming industry.

414
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:04,200
We have to appreciate that nothing like that here
it wasn't before that.

415
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:05,560
It was Sir Clive Sinclair.

416
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:09,800
I don't think he got a peerage
for your electric wheelchair.

417
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:11,920
He got it for Spectrum.

418
00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:14,800
A lot of other things came with the Spectre.

419
00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:16,640
Sinclair had excellent distribution.

420
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:18,840
You could buy it anywhere
everyone had one too.

421
00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:24,720
If Sir Clive Sinclair hadn't been here
with his perception of computers

422
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:27,800
and understanding that it must be above all
available,

423
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:30,840
we wouldn't have the industry, na
that we all grew up with

424
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:33,520
because thanks to him you could
for some 100 pounds

425
00:27:34,120 --> 00:27:36,920
buy your own computer at home.

426
00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:41,400
Introducing the Sinclair Spectrum computer
was a major event in its day

427
00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:44,320
the British gaming industry.

428
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:46,600
I think it was the first computer

429
00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:50,040
which was as available in sense
purchase prices for normal people,

430
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:54,600
and at the same time had huge potential to become
a platform for relatively sophisticated games,

431
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:58,800
because with the 48KB model you suddenly had
huge amount of memory available.

432
00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:02,760
40KB could be used for data
your program.

433
00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:03,880
That was amazing.

434
00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:07,000
It was cheap and it was powerful,
you could do a lot with it.

435
00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:08,800
When I saw the first ads
on Spectrum,

436
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,880
I was like, "Okay, one of those
I'll get the first Specter too."

437
00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:15,000
"I'll take it apart, find out how it works"

438
00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:16,680
"and I'll be one of the first to do it."

439
00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:20,400
So I was determined to become
one of the first.

440
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,440
When the Spectrum came,

441
00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:26,560
suddenly you had color and sound.

442
00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:28,760
It wasn't just any sound,
but he was there.

443
00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:32,400
And you had high definition graphics.

444
00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:35,400
So you could draw a sprite like

445
00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:38,280
as you intended and it didn't have to be just
a cluster of large squares.

446
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,440
Perhaps the most important thing was that he had
reliable tape input.

447
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:46,080
That opened the door wide open for me,

448
00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,120
because I could write programs
and store them on tape without worry.

449
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:50,720
It was quite an interesting time,

450
00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:54,120
before that people like me who
there are no artists

451
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:56,320
they could be completely over the top.

452
00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:59,960
I just made a few simple ones
squares and that was it.

453
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,160
But on Spectra, things took off much more...

454
00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:04,600
There you could draw every pixel
and I saw it right away

455
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,280
“Ugh, your graphics are really gross, David.

456
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:09,800
it was the moment i found out
“I need help with this.

457
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:12,000
"I can't do it myself anymore."

458
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:14,000
"I need help with graphics."

459
00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:16,600
That was when they started
form teams.

460
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:20,240
Suddenly there was a sound
“We need to make a team.

461
00:29:21,120 --> 00:29:22,680
48KB for the whole game?

462
00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:26,840
Today, 48KB would be enough to fill
10 minutes of programming.

463
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:28,360
One line of code would be enough.

464
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:32,200
Then you wrote the whole program
and you had to solve a lot of tricks.

465
00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:34,440
And that's what the Spectra games are all about

466
00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:38,320
they improved, they became more and more
complicated and refined,

467
00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:42,160
the way programmers were taught 
and they came up with new programming tricks.

468
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:45,120
AHMAD: I think he still is
many programmers

469
00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:47,720
from that time who benefit from absence

470
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:54,440
control mechanisms of the original
of Spectra 48K design.

471
00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:56,880
I think the difference between American
hardware and ours was in that

472
00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:58,600
that ours was designed with limited
means.

473
00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:01,840
There you had countless sprites,
countless colors

474
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:03,640
you had a display list

475
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:05,520
all this hardware was yours
served under your nose, right?

476
00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:09,800
But the Spectrum was just RAM, a processor,
screen and that was it.

477
00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:12,400
You had to start from scratch.

478
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:19,120
In my opinion, it completely opened the lid
creativity of British programmers.

479
00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:21,440
I remember when he was first announced.

480
00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:24,280
we thought
"48KB, that's the capacity of dreams."

481
00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:25,760
"No one can ever fill that."

482
00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:28,000
But people did it.

483
00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:31,120
And such a high bar of capacity
free memory enabled

484
00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:33,840
developers like Ultimate Play the Game,

485
00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:37,400
Imagine and more and more

486
00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:42,240
to make the most creative games that
the world has ever seen.

487
00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:47,720
Clive Sinclair said that every household
must own a computer.

488
00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:51,040
The level of entertainment on computers
with computer games

489
00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:54,760
she was very strong.

490
00:30:55,160 --> 00:30:57,360
We almost laugh about it today.

491
00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:59,120
But it didn't let me go

492
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:02,320
because I already saw that

493
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:07,480
Moore's Laws picking up speed
along with lowering the price are here

494
00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:09,520
right now and something was telling me

495
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:14,080
“One day this thing will be pretty powerful.

496
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:19,080
It was a real feeling that this was the beginning
something huge.

497
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:23,200
I think it caught my attention
every boy with us.

498
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:25,320
And it was a true British phenomenon.

499
00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:27,560
I think someone on stage somewhere
he said he was here approx

500
00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:32,040
100,000 developers,
teenage bedroom developers,

501
00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:34,520
who use ZX.

502
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:40,600
And that was probably the catalyst that
he opened the imaginary door.

503
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:45,120
I think they set the stage for
what was to come in the next few years.

504
00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:49,360
Spectrum had absolutely essential
influence on Great Britain,

505
00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:52,000
which was subsequently reinforced
BBC Micro machines,

506
00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:56,760
officially approved by the BBC
as a corporation for their TV broadcasts...

507
00:31:56,880 --> 00:31:58,000
And what next?

508
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:00,000
Well, now we have to upload the program
to the computer.

509
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:01,400
So we write "LOAD".

510
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:03,000
L-O-A-D?

511
00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:06,000
...which had the task of educating the public
and force her to buy a BBC computer.

512
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:09,960
Great BBC Micro.

513
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:12,640
It was an extraordinary computer.

514
00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:36,960
REPORTER: The government at the end of this year
seeks to expand computers

515
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:38,160
to every high school.

516
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:42,400
Last month was spent over
£9m to support expansion

517
00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:43,880
computers for elementary schools.

518
00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:47,800
According to the students' reactions, they are computers
beneficial in schools.

519
00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:51,400
REPORTER: How would you describe
Children's reaction to computers?

520
00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:55,520
Well, basically they are
very excited.

521
00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:57,600
As you could see for yourself,
computer club

522
00:32:57,680 --> 00:33:00,360
is usually flooded
very young children.

523
00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:04,360
BBC Micro came to our school at a moment when
when I left which was annoying.

524
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:05,880
(LAUGHTER)

525
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:09,200
But finally they got them and now
gained in popularity.

526
00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:11,480
Because one of the conveniences of the BBC Micro

527
00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:14,880
was that you could distribute the piece
software to each computer in the classroom

528
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:16,240
with a single command.

529
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:18,520
That was very, very powerful.

530
00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:20,880
Script driven, very simple.

531
00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:25,800
I think it was extreme
powerful because to program

532
00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:28,480
the previous computer was usually
much more complicated.

533
00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:30,680
They were almost impenetrable.

534
00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:33,920
And the BBC with its advanced BASIC

535
00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:37,600
and the ability to merge Assembler and
BASIC in one program,

536
00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:41,000
literally, your code could be the first

537
00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:43,360
written in BASIC and then you could
take his parts

538
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:46,560
and rewrite them in Assembler and achieve
thereby speeding up the program to run better.

539
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:48,400
And then more and more of it
could be Assembler,

540
00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:50,120
until the whole program was in Assembler.

541
00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:52,560
So it was a fantastic tool
for teaching programming

542
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:54,280
and writing really good code.

543
00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:57,840
we were so excited to
programming and computers and such

544
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:00,080
that we wanted to touch
BBC Model B.

545
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:02,920
He seemed to be the best.
It seemed to me good to have him,

546
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:05,800
than starting with something cheaper
machines.

547
00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:08,320
I really wanted to have something
with which something real can be done.

548
00:34:08,720 --> 00:34:11,960
GEOFF CRAMMOND: Everything on him
seemed better.

549
00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:16,960
So it was pretty easy to get started
create programs on it.

550
00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:18,800
It also had built-in graphics,

551
00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:23,520
which meant you could quite easily
create images and move them around the screen. 

552
00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:27,400
Then I started moving things around
on the screen really fast.

553
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:30,880
And it was quite an addictive thing.

554
00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:34,120
When you have success, you get a kick out of it.

555
00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:36,920
So I was quite happy

556
00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:41,960
that I fell into it and could
try to do something more challenging.

557
00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,360
BBC B was a nice, elegant platform.

558
00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:49,480
The way it was designed was
straightforward and very logical.

559
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:53,600
She almost had in a way
philosophical purity.

560
00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:55,200
Very well thought out,

561
00:34:55,240 --> 00:34:58,120
people started because of her
love programming

562
00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:00,400
and they wanted to support him.

563
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:04,160
And that's what BBC B was about.

564
00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:06,680
It was, um...
It was created by programmers.

565
00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:08,160
Plus it had the best games.

566
00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:09,280
(LAUGHTER)

567
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:09,280
The VIC-20 was an exceptional computer.

568
00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:13,080
He was just soon overcome
Commodore 64

569
00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:17,080
And that was a slightly better piece of plastic and silicon.

570
00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:20,000

[Are you with Commodore?]

571
00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:22,760

is keeping up with you
[..well the Commodore is with you]

572
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:28,400

and ever changing views
[In a world of fun and fantasy
and ever-changing opinions]

573
00:36:29,240 --> 00:36:31,960

[And computer terminology]

574
00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:34,480

[Commodore is new]

575
00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:36,840
ROB HUBBARD: When he showed up
Commodore,

576
00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:40,200
was announced with
that he has a lot of memory

577
00:36:40,240 --> 00:36:42,160
and a sound chip so i thought

578
00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:45,800
"That looks a lot more interesting,
than other computers."

579
00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:47,760
So I decided to get one.

580
00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:50,680
MINTER: Commodore 64 byl
much more attractive

581
00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:54,000
because it had an amazing sound chip,
hardware sprites

582
00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:57,840
and all the things they do
a programmer's life much easier.

583
00:36:58,720 --> 00:37:03,600
It had its own graphics chip, sound chip,
great processor

584
00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:06,040
a cleverly designed interrupt structure,
i loved him

585
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:08,920
MARK JONES: Scrolling, the way
how everything moved around the screen

586
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:10,000
was much smoother.

587
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:12,800
And besides, you could have more than
two colors in a character square.

588
00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:16,000
But it also had a bit of that
more angular graphics,

589
00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:17,400
which made it look a little ugly.

590
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:20,200
HEALEY: Specter owners enjoy it
of course they played pranks

591
00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:23,800
that Commodore 64 graphics
looks a bit square

592
00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:27,400
because they were in multi-color mode
pixels twice as wide as tall.

593
00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:31,360
But the programmers started doing tricks
using hardware sprites.

594
00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:34,160
You could have put black and white sprites
in hi-res through others

595
00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:36,680
and thus make them more colorful...
It could be done that way.

596
00:37:38,720 --> 00:37:40,560
Yes, my God.

597
00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:43,160
It put me in a pretty nostalgic mood.

598
00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:48,360
There was a very famous matter,
when people could

599
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:50,200
somehow place the sprites in the border. 

600
00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:54,800
The sprites in the border were made using
timing errors

601
00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:57,200
in the graphics chip.

602
00:37:57,400 --> 00:37:58,720
The people who built the Commodore

603
00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:00,840
they had no idea this was it
possible to do

604
00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:03,840
that it was possible to expand the image
to the full width of the TV screen.

605
00:38:03,920 --> 00:38:06,440
So that was the thing to
came up more like hacking,

606
00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:09,600
rather than some neat programming
according to the manual.

607
00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:13,920
We researched and hacked it
and watch what it does...

608
00:38:15,240 --> 00:38:17,320
I don't have a word for it, I just do
it turned it upside down, you know.

609
00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:20,200
It wasn't just that you were writing another play.

610
00:38:20,240 --> 00:38:24,360
It was about how much you could do
squeeze out of that processor.

611
00:38:24,720 --> 00:38:31,080
We are talking about an 8-bit machine
with 0.7 megahertz and 64KB RAM.

612
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:35,280
And we made it dance

613
00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:40,560
we did things that not even himself
Commodore, the manufacturer, couldn't believe it.

614
00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:52,400
SID chip as we all know
is the heart of the Commodore 64.

615
00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:53,920
Who else cares?

616
00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:57,040
I think SID made it possible
Commodore 64

617
00:38:57,120 --> 00:38:59,360
to become a full-fledged musical
tool.

618
00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:04,400
Because the sound wasn't the only thing here
primitive beeping.

619
00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:09,280
There were entire soundtracks that were very…
I wanted to listen to them.

620
00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:13,040
You wanted to know who wrote the music
to the latest game,

621
00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:14,680
and that could have been the reason for the purchase.

622
00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:18,800
Commodore 64 brought in three voices
sound synthesis

623
00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:21,560
and that was, that was totally…

624
00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:23,960
It was a cheap synthesizer.

625
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:27,720
And I could compose on it,
it was admirable.

626
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:43,800
It had a pulse width control
and circular modulation.

627
00:39:43,840 --> 00:39:47,080
Things you would assume
in a commercial synthesizer,

628
00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:48,680
like a Moog or something.

629
00:39:50,520 --> 00:39:52,880
And that gave the sound a lot of power,
it was unbelievable.

630
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:56,800
It took me a while to come
to all properties of the SID,

631
00:39:56,880 --> 00:39:59,640
because it is very sophisticated
piece of hardware.

632
00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:10,960
SID could do certain things,
such as hard sync 

633
00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:12,600
and circular modulation,

634
00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:15,720
which was something I knew because 
here before that he worked with synthesizers.

635
00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:18,400
There were a few other things too,
which they went to do

636
00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:21,600
and were not documented,
you just set a few bits correctly

637
00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:25,080
and you got a new, special sound out of it.

638
00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:30,040
And then I expanded it to be able to
use musically which...

639
00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:31,880
Which was a bit of a stretch because

640
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:37,600
due to a non-maskable interrupt
he was just certain, you know…

641
00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:39,640
A short section that could be done with,

642
00:40:39,720 --> 00:40:42,560
change the pitch in a short time
and get a richer sound.

643
00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:57,720
I more or less invented this technique,

644
00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:01,560
so that I could imitate the sound on the Commodore
chord and have more than three simultaneous notes at the same time,

645
00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:03,880
that I took one oscillator,

646
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:06,880
and gradually playing the notes over and over again

647
00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:09,400
very fast, something like
very fast arpeggio.

648
00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:27,720
Because I liked Jean Michel Jarre
and all this synth music.

649
00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:31,400
And one of the tricks I use all the time
used, were arpeggios or arpeggiators,

650
00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:34,880
and I played these short cycles of notes
and it sounded really cool.

651
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:37,200
I let Commodore play it
very fast.

652
00:41:37,240 --> 00:41:38,800
And if you are very fast,
so it sounds

653
00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:41,800
as if all the notes were playing
suddenly in one moment.

654
00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:45,880
Including the fact that she was in that sound
even such a strange strangeness.

655
00:41:58,720 --> 00:42:01,840
Each musician had their own little routine,
who did this...

656
00:42:02,080 --> 00:42:05,600
I have done various atrocities with it,
interesting effects etc.

657
00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:09,200
And yes, it was really fun then,

658
00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:13,600
squeeze something more out of that chip,
than he was capable of according to the documentation.

659
00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:19,160
We made it a simple machine
something that looked wonderful, sounded wonderful,

660
00:42:19,240 --> 00:42:20,400
something that would suck people.

661
00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:22,040
And I think coming back to it
what were you talking about

662
00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:27,880
"Why do people love music so much?
on a Commodore 64?"

663
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:31,320
Because they were squeamish and could
it's us.

664
00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:36,200
We sucked people into a world that
it was really made of small rectangles

665
00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:39,360
and raw sound, actually.

666
00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:22,000
I vividly remember the mood in Britain
at that time because

667
00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:27,720
it was like the punk era.

668
00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:30,800
They started something like
the punk era in computers.

669
00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:36,000
This feeling of being young and possibility
to become young

670
00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:39,400
it kept alive and the wave
she gradually started to move on.

671
00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:43,200
At the beginning of the eighties
somehow it knew that when you see

672
00:43:43,240 --> 00:43:47,440
opportunity and you have an idea
so something could actually come of it.

673
00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:51,520
We were in the position that we were
ready for anything.

674
00:43:51,600 --> 00:43:53,400
We had creative thinking.

675
00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:55,400
We were interested in electronics.

676
00:43:55,440 --> 00:43:59,440
We had home computers from which
some were made and created here.

677
00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:03,160
So we had enough
so that we can believe it.

678
00:44:03,320 --> 00:44:05,360
We knew that

679
00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:07,600
we can break through and spin with it
an imaginary turn of events.

680
00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:12,400
They were all over the country
thousands of children

681
00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:14,640
which used these new devices.

682
00:44:14,720 --> 00:44:17,240
It was excitement, it was fun.

683
00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:20,880
And I needed direction
and that was what it gave me.

684
00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:22,320
It gave me purpose.

685
00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:26,480
I wanted to work with it
because I was crazy about it.

686
00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:29,240
And I would do it like this
but suddenly i found out

687
00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:32,640
that they can also earn money,
and I can do it for a living.

688
00:44:32,720 --> 00:44:36,000
I could afford things
which I couldn't before.

689
00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:38,200
And that made it even more motivating.

690
00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:40,720
Then when you've earned some bigger ones
money, so you came to think

691
00:44:40,800 --> 00:44:44,760
"We should really recognize
that this is a real business."

692
00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:49,360
At that moment you are on the table
started buying all the ideas

693
00:44:49,400 --> 00:44:51,120
because you wanted to do it.

694
00:44:51,200 --> 00:44:54,000
I remember being far more involved

695
00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:56,040
game development rather than school matters.

696
00:44:56,120 --> 00:44:58,520
I think definitely until graduation.

697
00:44:58,600 --> 00:45:03,280
In the early eighties, none
the video game industry did not exist.

698
00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:07,720
So anyone who got close to it,
he actually created it.

699
00:45:07,800 --> 00:45:10,080
Nowhere was it written how to do it,

700
00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:14,440
There was no rulebook.
Basically, no one had experience with it.

701
00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:17,520
FERGUS MCGOVERN: In those years,
when the gaming industry started

702
00:45:17,600 --> 00:45:21,160
I felt there was an opportunity
start your own business.

703
00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:23,560
You didn't even have to have a lot of money,
if you worked really hard.

704
00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:25,600
There were no inhibitions that would you
they made it impossible to start doing it.

705
00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:30,200
All you had to do was buy a computer,
which you could program

706
00:45:30,240 --> 00:45:33,200
and some sort of duplicating device
for cassette recording

707
00:45:33,240 --> 00:45:34,560
and that was all.

708
00:45:34,760 --> 00:45:36,200
It was a lot of chaos

709
00:45:36,240 --> 00:45:39,200
and there were people who would sell everything
what they could

710
00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:41,040
because then they could buy everything again.

711
00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:43,960
Suddenly there was a market that was
hungry for software

712
00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:46,600
and honestly, people were trying to sell
every stupid thing.

713
00:45:46,640 --> 00:45:49,840
Bug-Byte advertised Asteroid,

714
00:45:49,920 --> 00:45:52,440
“Yeah. I'm quite fond of Bug-Byte.
This could be good.”

715
00:45:53,280 --> 00:45:56,720
So I bought an Asteroid.
It cost seven pounds. Seven pounds!

716
00:45:57,280 --> 00:45:59,520
I uploaded it to my computer
and it was appalling.

717
00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:02,000
It looked like asteroids
in character mode.

718
00:46:02,120 --> 00:46:05,000
And you didn't even have normal shots,
which would shoot from the bow of the ship.

719
00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:07,040
There were punctuation marks.

720
00:46:07,120 --> 00:46:09,520
And as you hit the fire button,
so the dots just appeared.

721
00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:11,040
And it made noises like a vacuum cleaner.

722
00:46:11,120 --> 00:46:13,640
It was a terrible game design.
very badly done.

723
00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:16,200
That was the game that forced me
think about

724
00:46:16,280 --> 00:46:19,480
“Well, we could do better.
Let's start our own software house."

725
00:46:19,560 --> 00:46:23,440
1982 was a boom year,

726
00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:27,520
when all British companies were founded.

727
00:46:27,880 --> 00:46:32,320
They arose as a result of the ZX81.

728
00:46:32,520 --> 00:46:36,240
And people were selling their games which
they wrote in their bedrooms

729
00:46:36,320 --> 00:46:39,800
and they sent them in small brown ones
paper bags.

730
00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:43,000
It was very, very exciting.

731
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:45,800
But you could see that something was starting to happen.

732
00:47:01,560 --> 00:47:02,840
ROGER KEAN:
They didn't have any of those games in stores.

733
00:47:02,960 --> 00:47:05,000
The Smiths didn't have them
Boots didn't have them,

734
00:47:05,040 --> 00:47:08,040
Minis, as they were then called,
you just couldn't buy the games.

735
00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:10,720
And so suddenly there was a demand for them.

736
00:47:10,800 --> 00:47:13,960
From magazines such as Computer and
Video Games was obvious

737
00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:15,400
that the demand is there.

738
00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:18,800
That's why we created the option
mail order.

739
00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:22,920
We just tried it, we entered
bare feet in the water, just the toe.

740
00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:24,520
And the response was very good.

741
00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:26,640
When Imagine was created,
games in Britain

742
00:47:26,720 --> 00:47:28,760
were not yet sold normally.

743
00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:31,000
Everything was through mail order.

744
00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:35,760
So we did our first one
the Arcadia game,

745
00:47:36,280 --> 00:47:39,280
and then when we advertised it,

746
00:47:39,400 --> 00:47:43,160
money started arriving in envelopes
£5.50 each.

747
00:47:43,920 --> 00:47:46,000
And we, each of us,

748
00:47:46,120 --> 00:47:48,840
we packed them, wrote addresses on them
and put in bags,

749
00:47:48,960 --> 00:47:50,280
to send them.

750
00:47:50,400 --> 00:47:55,400
Firms such as Hewson Consultants
came up with their own ads,

751
00:47:55,480 --> 00:48:00,000
they copied tapes for the Spectrum

752
00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:01,400
and then they sent them out.

753
00:48:01,560 --> 00:48:04,960
Bug-byte did the exact same thing.

754
00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:08,520
It was like being on a treadmill.

755
00:48:08,600 --> 00:48:11,440
Quicksilva Rod Cousens
it worked a long time ago.

756
00:48:11,600 --> 00:48:15,000
We were doing a small ad

757
00:48:15,040 --> 00:48:17,400
to Popular Computing Weekly

758
00:48:17,480 --> 00:48:22,280
and we sold games for 2.99; 3.99; 4.99;

759
00:48:22,360 --> 00:48:26,080
and sometimes he also sold himself
some kind of RAM pack.

760
00:48:26,200 --> 00:48:29,560
For Christmas 1983 we had
a really large number of orders,

761
00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:34,800
when we had to process daily
lots of cassette tape bags.

762
00:48:34,880 --> 00:48:37,080
It was completely absurd.

763
00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:40,920
Everyone had to contribute

764
00:48:41,000 --> 00:48:43,000
to pursue it.

765
00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:48,200
In addition to mail order, we
they also sold at the Microfair markets.

766
00:48:48,280 --> 00:48:49,800
And these markets

767
00:48:49,880 --> 00:48:53,200
they looked like a lot of stalls
next to each other

768
00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:58,520
and sometimes it was just a table with a few
posters in the back,

769
00:48:58,960 --> 00:49:01,840
but even that was enough to sell.

770
00:49:28,520 --> 00:49:32,360
The one who put it all together
there was a guy named mike johnston

771
00:49:32,600 --> 00:49:35,240
and during his Microfairs

772
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:40,280
has become a core of enthusiasts

773
00:49:41,240 --> 00:49:43,280
a group of sellers and customers.

774
00:49:43,360 --> 00:49:50,240
You could say that it's playful
industry in Britain in style

775
00:49:51,240 --> 00:49:54,160
"from bedrooms to billions"

776
00:49:54,200 --> 00:49:56,120
was formed by Johnston's Microfairs.

777
00:50:06,080 --> 00:50:09,400
And ZX Microfairy were
organized in London,

778
00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:10,840
where you could rent a table

779
00:50:10,920 --> 00:50:13,600
spread on it what you wanted
to sell, and people just kept coming.

780
00:50:13,640 --> 00:50:17,680
And let me tell you, normally, I stood
behind your desk and people

781
00:50:18,200 --> 00:50:22,360
they shoved twenty pound notes at me.
One after another.

782
00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:25,240
“Yes, fine, I'll take your £20.
What would you like?"

783
00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:31,520
And I thought, “Hmm, this is more
twenty pounders than I ever saw in my whole life.”

784
00:50:32,800 --> 00:50:36,840
So the ZX Microfairy was held
several times a year,

785
00:50:36,960 --> 00:50:40,920
and it was a way that the public could
to get what she so longed for.

786
00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:44,400
ROD COUSENS: We used to go there
we were setting up such pedestals

787
00:50:45,480 --> 00:50:47,720
with a cutting board across and over it
we had a black tablecloth

788
00:50:47,800 --> 00:50:50,920
and on it a bunch of tapes that we are
they sold for five pounds each.

789
00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:56,600
And that's how we earned it
so that they can start their own business.

790
00:50:56,680 --> 00:50:59,160
We went to Manchester

791
00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:02,240
at the Northern Computer Fair,

792
00:51:02,440 --> 00:51:06,720
and we came back with half a million
pounds in cash.

793
00:51:06,800 --> 00:51:11,520
We were at the Piccadilly Hotel,
we jumped on the beds

794
00:51:11,680 --> 00:51:16,400
and we squandered the money
into the air around the room.

795
00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:30,480
They were everywhere where new ones appeared
the games it was made on

796
00:51:30,600 --> 00:51:32,520
and so it went hand in hand...

797
00:51:32,720 --> 00:51:36,480
They were the contact points between
developers

798
00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:38,120
and consumers.

799
00:51:38,200 --> 00:51:39,840
And I liked it because

800
00:51:39,920 --> 00:51:42,600
are you with those people

801
00:51:42,680 --> 00:51:44,520
who we sold it to

802
00:51:44,600 --> 00:51:48,160
they came into contact face to face

803
00:51:48,240 --> 00:51:50,520
and you talked to them
they chatted about games and stuff

804
00:51:50,600 --> 00:51:52,160
and you even became friends with some of them.

805
00:51:52,200 --> 00:51:55,000
I have been there with many people
made friends, it was really good.

806
00:51:55,040 --> 00:51:58,040
It became a social issue,

807
00:51:58,120 --> 00:51:59,240
but still businesslike.

808
00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:03,560
It was on Microfairs, I think
first time ever

809
00:52:03,600 --> 00:52:05,840
we actually came into contact
with customers, with the audience face to face.

810
00:52:05,920 --> 00:52:10,960
We actually preferred to sell directly to people,
than by mail.

811
00:52:11,040 --> 00:52:14,640
Another important thing that happened then,
was the opening of the first brick-and-mortar store

812
00:52:14,720 --> 00:52:18,480
with games, which was the Buffer Micro Shop in London.
And he really was the first.

813
00:52:18,560 --> 00:52:21,920
Before that, there was no such store.

814
00:52:22,440 --> 00:52:26,720
We stocked him with games and sold them
is over him

815
00:52:26,800 --> 00:52:28,320
which was very convenient for us.

816
00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:30,440
They weren't enormous numbers,

817
00:52:30,520 --> 00:52:33,600
but I think that was the key
an indicator for what was to come.

818
00:52:33,960 --> 00:52:36,520
We heard stories from everywhere
and we found out

819
00:52:36,600 --> 00:52:39,400
that a new kind of market is emerging.

820
00:52:39,440 --> 00:52:42,400
Until then it was oriented
on mail orders.

821
00:52:42,440 --> 00:52:44,760
But then the games started to appear
on the shelves

822
00:52:44,800 --> 00:52:46,920
small shops,

823
00:52:47,000 --> 00:52:51,680
and you could walk down the street, visit
a few and take away a few games.

824
00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:56,160
Thousands turned up across the country
independent sellers,

825
00:52:56,200 --> 00:52:59,680
they were small shops on the floor above
Indian restaurants

826
00:52:59,760 --> 00:53:02,720
and on the corners next to the newsagents.

827
00:53:02,800 --> 00:53:04,600
They were tiny little shops
and they were everywhere.

828
00:53:04,800 --> 00:53:08,560
Finally I started
independent sales,

829
00:53:08,600 --> 00:53:11,080
as did many other people at the time.

830
00:53:11,160 --> 00:53:15,320
In the most impossible spaces like you
you can imagine, but it still worked.

831
00:53:15,400 --> 00:53:20,120
We specialized in selling computers
Sinclair Spectrum and software for them.

832
00:53:20,200 --> 00:53:23,000
I bought a few games that I
he sold himself

833
00:53:23,040 --> 00:53:24,920
from the guys who sold them
from the back door of the car

834
00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:28,160
and then we sold them ourselves
in a hole in the wall

835
00:53:28,200 --> 00:53:29,840
She was that way
business.

836
00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:33,280
There were no game distributors.
We sold games from Llamasoft.

837
00:53:33,360 --> 00:53:36,600
Jeff Minter's mother carried us
full boxes of games for sale.

838
00:53:36,640 --> 00:53:38,000
PETER STONE: It was a lot
wood business,

839
00:53:38,040 --> 00:53:41,440
because I remember, for example,
that we argued endlessly

840
00:53:41,520 --> 00:53:44,960
with parents of programmers

841
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:47,120
on how to correctly calculate VAT.

842
00:53:47,200 --> 00:53:49,400
Because the invoices were
constantly wrong.

843
00:53:49,480 --> 00:53:52,880
We had comic book stores,
we had record stores

844
00:53:52,960 --> 00:53:56,120
we had video stores
so we had to have game stores as well.

845
00:53:56,200 --> 00:54:00,080
And they were occupied the whole time

846
00:54:00,160 --> 00:54:03,920
almost exclusively young boys,
who were crazy about computers.

847
00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:05,520
if it weren't for them

848
00:54:05,600 --> 00:54:08,760
most likely this one would
the market did not see the light of day.

849
00:54:08,880 --> 00:54:11,800
You came to a shop near a
it was like a den

850
00:54:11,880 --> 00:54:15,800
because you were immediately sucked in
into that nerdy atmosphere.

851
00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:17,200
I used to go to the computer store.

852
00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:20,200
We always spent the whole afternoon there,

853
00:54:20,240 --> 00:54:23,680
from twelve to five, and we just talked about games.

854
00:54:23,800 --> 00:54:27,480
She wandered around the computer shops
hacker community.

855
00:54:27,560 --> 00:54:31,600
You came there and there was always someone
who knew a lot and chatted with you.

856
00:54:31,760 --> 00:54:35,800
A whole generation of young guys
inspired by going to the shops

857
00:54:35,840 --> 00:54:41,560
and writing, "10 PRINT 'Something obscene'
20 GO TO 10."

858
00:54:41,600 --> 00:54:46,160
It was very in for the whole
kind of young people.

859
00:54:46,200 --> 00:54:50,320
They were a meeting point for people
who played games

860
00:54:50,720 --> 00:54:52,400
even for those who wrote them.

861
00:54:52,480 --> 00:54:54,600
Children came to us

862
00:54:54,680 --> 00:54:58,320
they bought a computer and took it away
take him home

863
00:54:58,400 --> 00:55:02,360
They made their own game on it
and then they came to us again

864
00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:06,280
Saturday afternoons. It was
something like a youth club.

865
00:55:06,400 --> 00:55:11,120
They could play their games with each other
replace on cassettes.

866
00:55:11,240 --> 00:55:16,560
And that was the time when we
they started getting involved in that business

867
00:55:16,680 --> 00:55:18,320
the kids who made those games.

868
00:55:18,400 --> 00:55:20,840
To open my shop

869
00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:27,920
so I actually had to sell the house.

870
00:55:28,000 --> 00:55:29,960
It was a computer shop in Sheffield,
which mainly sold software

871
00:55:30,000 --> 00:55:31,840
and it was called Just Micro.

872
00:55:31,920 --> 00:55:35,800
Many children visited him and

873
00:55:35,880 --> 00:55:38,120
students from the surrounding area

874
00:55:38,200 --> 00:55:39,720
and they could show off their creations there,

875
00:55:39,800 --> 00:55:42,200
because we are for the people who came
they had their computers on.

876
00:55:42,240 --> 00:55:44,880
So we talked to some of them

877
00:55:44,960 --> 00:55:47,920
about what their plans are
and expectations, etc.

878
00:55:48,000 --> 00:55:53,080
In doing so, we selected a few people
that we could potentially employ

879
00:55:53,160 --> 00:55:55,080
and start developing your own product.

880
00:55:55,160 --> 00:55:58,080
One of them was Peter Harrap,

881
00:55:58,160 --> 00:56:01,960
who created the game
Wanted: Monty Mole.

882
00:56:02,000 --> 00:56:04,240
PETER HARRAP: Ian Stewart, Owner
and founder of Gremlin

883
00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:07,840
asked me to collaborate on a game,
whose main character would be a mole.

884
00:56:08,080 --> 00:56:10,760
And I thought, "Well, moles dig,
they conquer, they dig."

885
00:56:10,800 --> 00:56:13,360
I didn't like the games in which
something was digging underground

886
00:56:13,400 --> 00:56:14,640
but I liked Manic Miner.

887
00:56:14,720 --> 00:56:17,760
So I said, “Yeah, sure, I will
such a game. I enjoy it."

888
00:56:17,800 --> 00:56:20,000
"I enjoy playing games like this, I will
have fun doing that."

889
00:56:20,080 --> 00:56:22,640
And then came the commercial side of things,

890
00:56:22,720 --> 00:56:24,960
because they wanted to be the publisher of the game.

891
00:56:25,120 --> 00:56:27,240
From that moment everything took off.

892
00:56:27,320 --> 00:56:30,120
We have acquired employees

893
00:56:30,880 --> 00:56:32,560
as was Tony Crowther,

894
00:56:32,600 --> 00:56:36,920
and the company after several others
only grew over the years.

895
00:56:37,000 --> 00:56:43,040
The business at that time was formed from
mail order.

896
00:56:43,320 --> 00:56:49,760
To reach the mainstream market,
we needed to reach out to the seller. 

897
00:56:49,800 --> 00:56:52,400
We needed to make our games visible.

898
00:56:52,480 --> 00:56:55,760
The hardware was essentially sold
only in brick and mortar stores.

899
00:56:56,000 --> 00:56:58,040
It was clear to us for the first time that

900
00:56:58,120 --> 00:57:02,720
has actually become the video game market
big business

901
00:57:02,800 --> 00:57:08,120
when the games were sold to you by a chain store
like W.H.Smith.

902
00:57:08,200 --> 00:57:13,880
W.H.Smith had one of the
the most progressive buyers,

903
00:57:13,960 --> 00:57:18,400
which came from another segment,

904
00:57:18,440 --> 00:57:22,800
and who immediately sensed a new one
opportunity.

905
00:57:23,240 --> 00:57:25,760
It was John Rowland.

906
00:57:26,160 --> 00:57:29,760
He made contacts with
software publishers,

907
00:57:29,800 --> 00:57:32,040
which were purely hobbyist companies.

908
00:57:32,120 --> 00:57:36,520
We were all bedroom boys
you know, we did it in our spare time.

909
00:57:36,600 --> 00:57:39,000
And we failed half of the questions

910
00:57:39,040 --> 00:57:43,120
to answer when it came to
discounts or retail prices,

911
00:57:43,200 --> 00:57:45,480
structure, etc.

912
00:57:45,680 --> 00:57:47,960
So we talked about it.

913
00:57:48,000 --> 00:57:52,400
You know, we were just doing that business
home and so we fumbled about it.

914
00:57:52,760 --> 00:57:54,280
We were going to university at the time.

915
00:57:54,360 --> 00:57:56,320
And we didn't want to impress
as amateurs.

916
00:57:56,400 --> 00:57:58,800
Back then there were phone booths,

917
00:57:58,880 --> 00:58:02,240
where when you wanted to call, it beeped
and you had to throw in 10 pence,

918
00:58:02,320 --> 00:58:07,400
which seemed desperately amateurish when
you wanted to make a deal.

919
00:58:07,440 --> 00:58:09,280
And so we crawled through the whole thing
Manchester,

920
00:58:09,360 --> 00:58:11,520
to find booths that went
feed coins in advance.

921
00:58:11,600 --> 00:58:13,800
And then we called the main
to buyer W.H.Smith

922
00:58:13,880 --> 00:58:17,680
and we pretended to be very serious
business and were waiting to see if anything would come of it.

923
00:58:17,840 --> 00:58:21,160
I said, “Hello, John.
This is Charles Cecil from Arctic Computing.”

924
00:58:21,200 --> 00:58:22,760
"We would have a new adventure game."

925
00:58:22,800 --> 00:58:25,360
And he replied, “Great, that's something
like all the others?" "Yes."

926
00:58:25,400 --> 00:58:26,600
“Send us 5,000 pieces.

927
00:58:26,760 --> 00:58:29,880
And the production price for such a quantity,

928
00:58:29,960 --> 00:58:32,560
because the games were on tapes,

929
00:58:32,600 --> 00:58:37,440
was around 35 to 40 pence for one,

930
00:58:37,560 --> 00:58:42,960
and he gave us £3.50, £4.00 for it.

931
00:58:43,600 --> 00:58:46,800
The order was 5000 pcs in total.

932
00:58:48,600 --> 00:58:51,080
We were after such a deal
immediately in the package.

933
00:58:51,400 --> 00:58:56,280
Only after a few years did I
he realized how complicated they were

934
00:58:56,520 --> 00:58:59,600
those local computer shops,
when they started

935
00:59:00,640 --> 00:59:02,600
Big chains like W.H.Smith
and Boots completely engulfed them,

936
00:59:02,680 --> 00:59:07,360
when they found out what this one had
business potential

937
00:59:07,560 --> 00:59:11,040
and they really went big.

938
00:59:11,960 --> 00:59:14,600
In the sense that the purchase by mail
became redundant.

939
00:59:14,680 --> 00:59:18,320
I think it happened suddenly
between 1983 and 1984.

940
00:59:18,400 --> 00:59:22,240
Suddenly, all the important vendors
they started stocking games

941
00:59:22,840 --> 00:59:26,760
and people no longer had to order them
by mail through magazines.

942
00:59:26,920 --> 00:59:28,600
They just went to the store for them.

943
00:59:28,680 --> 00:59:32,800
Vendors like Microdeal appeared
and CentreSoft.

944
00:59:32,880 --> 00:59:36,240
They supplied stores directly, that was a change.

945
00:59:36,680 --> 00:59:41,240
CentreSoft's distribution grew
at a crazy pace

946
00:59:41,320 --> 00:59:45,000
thanks to many publishers from America.

947
00:59:45,120 --> 00:59:50,200
I was doing what I am
flipped through magazines like Compute! and others

948
00:59:50,680 --> 00:59:54,720
and looked for ads from American companies.

949
00:59:54,840 --> 00:59:57,760
They were all small then, he wasn't
nobody big.

950
00:59:57,800 --> 01:00:00,240
And they all offered some individual games.

951
01:00:00,800 --> 01:00:01,880
So I bought the games.

952
01:00:01,960 --> 01:00:04,280
And with that, I expanded my catalog.

953
01:00:04,600 --> 01:00:08,440
American developer for Cosmi
there was one man.

954
01:00:08,520 --> 01:00:09,760
Just one person.

955
01:00:09,800 --> 01:00:12,280
He wrote Forbidden Forest himself.

956
01:00:12,760 --> 01:00:16,080
Beach Head was also written by an individual,
Bruce Carve who was the owner

957
01:00:16,160 --> 01:00:20,240
firm and David Ashby was his
a merchant.

958
01:00:21,000 --> 01:00:24,200
So they only had a small business.

959
01:00:24,240 --> 01:00:28,480
It was a little weird
i remember

960
01:00:28,560 --> 01:00:31,280
as I said, "I want to buy
license for England."

961
01:00:31,360 --> 01:00:33,400
And they, "Yeah, take it easy."

962
01:00:33,480 --> 01:00:38,120
"What about England? They have a gaming industry?"

963
01:00:38,240 --> 01:00:41,520
So it was a trade for me... Actually
I didn't even know what the store looked like.

964
01:00:41,600 --> 01:00:44,920
I said, "Yeah, OK, well, I'll pay you,
I don't know, like $1 a game."

965
01:00:45,000 --> 01:00:48,200
"And I guarantee you,
that I will sell 10,000 of them.”

966
01:00:48,280 --> 01:00:51,800
I just made those numbers up off the bat.

967
01:00:51,880 --> 01:00:55,600
It was just numbers, and they
"That sounds good. We agree."

968
01:00:55,680 --> 01:01:01,240
Because they had no other choice,
how to sell your games in england

969
01:01:01,760 --> 01:01:05,960
If I hadn't come and knocked at theirs
door saying I'll sell them the games

970
01:01:06,000 --> 01:01:08,880
no one before me said

971
01:01:08,960 --> 01:01:11,880
“I have a distribution company
and I want to sell your products.”

972
01:01:11,960 --> 01:01:16,920
And then I thought
“OK, I want to merge these brands.

973
01:01:17,000 --> 01:01:21,720
So even though they were Access Software
and Cosmi and whoever else,

974
01:01:21,800 --> 01:01:24,000
I wanted it to be unified
like US Gold.

975
01:01:24,040 --> 01:01:26,600
And US Gold, that sounded valuable.

976
01:01:26,680 --> 01:01:29,120
We want to be the best, so US Gold.
(LAUGHTER)

977
01:01:29,200 --> 01:01:33,520
From that moment the games began
published under this brand.

978
01:01:34,480 --> 01:01:38,200
Beach Head and Forbidden Forest,
more or less at the same time.

979
01:01:38,840 --> 01:01:43,000
They carried that brand and that was the beginning
US Gold.

980
01:01:43,520 --> 01:01:47,360
The market quickly transformed from people who

981
01:01:47,440 --> 01:01:50,720
they called magazines, sent them games
and the magazines paid them for them,

982
01:01:50,800 --> 01:01:54,960
they did everything, like graphics and
designing the cassette packaging yourself,

983
01:01:55,000 --> 01:01:57,600
"I am a company, I make a game and I am myself
I distribute them,"

984
01:01:57,640 --> 01:01:59,600
"selling and everything else."

985
01:02:00,000 --> 01:02:05,000
And people from business came with
dealership offers.

986
01:02:05,080 --> 01:02:08,120
"We will do the marketing for you, we will design
advertising graphics and we'll make it for you."

987
01:02:08,200 --> 01:02:10,480
"All we want from you is just
to give us your game."

988
01:02:10,560 --> 01:02:16,000
“And in the near future, just expect
a check for a lot of money."

989
01:02:16,040 --> 01:02:18,680
And of course people heard about it.

990
01:02:18,960 --> 01:02:21,600
very quickly

991
01:02:21,680 --> 01:02:28,080
i think the market has started to consolidate
around these early publishers.

992
01:02:28,400 --> 01:02:31,880
So when I saw the ad,
"Send us your game, we'll rate it."

993
01:02:32,000 --> 01:02:35,920
I thought, "I could give them
all the games and make some money out of it."

994
01:02:36,200 --> 01:02:40,240
It was clearly the first time that people
began to have an inkling

995
01:02:40,320 --> 01:02:43,800
that it could work that way

996
01:02:43,920 --> 01:02:47,160
even if they didn't have a clear idea
what are they going for.

997
01:02:47,200 --> 01:02:48,840
And they had good games and good ideas.

998
01:02:48,920 --> 01:02:53,200
A lot of creativity, but gradually
it became more and more corporate

999
01:02:53,280 --> 01:02:54,360
and more market oriented.

1000
01:02:54,400 --> 01:03:00,240
And people increasingly thought quantitatively,
rather than, "I got a great game idea."

1001
01:03:00,320 --> 01:03:05,080
So it changed over time.
But that's every kind of business.

1002
01:03:05,200 --> 01:03:09,800
Around 1984 and 1985 they started to appear
parasites, people who didn't care about the games anymore.

1003
01:03:13,440 --> 01:03:18,640
Managers, agents, representatives of celebrities,
accountant,

1004
01:03:18,720 --> 01:03:24,240
bankers, lawyers, 
advertising agents.

1005
01:03:24,400 --> 01:03:25,600
These parasites attacked,

1006
01:03:25,720 --> 01:03:31,200
because they saw in it the thing that
which could siphon off money.

1007
01:03:31,280 --> 01:03:34,000
We have written several other games
and some we specified to create.

1008
01:03:34,080 --> 01:03:36,560
And we became quite a bad company,

1009
01:03:36,600 --> 01:03:39,000
with quite dubious lawyers
and lawyers.

1010
01:03:39,080 --> 01:03:42,560
Because everyone has seen how we are
they were innocently naive

1011
01:03:42,600 --> 01:03:45,360
and they cheated us as much as they could.

1012
01:03:45,640 --> 01:03:49,400
I was quite sad about it,

1013
01:03:49,560 --> 01:03:51,760
that it has become a full-fledged market.

1014
01:03:51,800 --> 01:03:56,400
Because enough of the playfulness and friendly
she took the rivalry as her own.

1015
01:03:56,440 --> 01:03:58,520
Suddenly it was much more serious,
with a lot more people

1016
01:03:58,600 --> 01:04:01,000
and it made a lot more money.

1017
01:04:01,040 --> 01:04:03,600
And then I was no longer interested.

1018
01:04:03,680 --> 01:04:06,040
Because I just wanted to make games
like Llamasoft, nothing else.

1019
01:04:06,120 --> 01:04:10,840
I didn't want to become a big software company
company or go to work for one.

1020
01:04:10,920 --> 01:04:14,840
So that made me sad.

1021
01:04:14,920 --> 01:04:18,560
But somehow I made up my mind
fight it and found a new place to survive.

1022
01:04:18,600 --> 01:04:21,840
But of course I never got rich
and never made a ton of money.

1023
01:04:21,960 --> 01:04:24,520
But I still enjoy what I do.

1024
01:04:24,600 --> 01:04:27,880
Entrepreneurs like the Hewson brothers,

1025
01:04:28,560 --> 01:04:30,840
Jon Woods, David Ward,

1026
01:04:30,920 --> 01:04:35,600
and a little later Steve Wilcox of Elite,
Ian Stewart from Gremlin,

1027
01:04:35,800 --> 01:04:38,240
these people saw the potential

1028
01:04:38,320 --> 01:04:42,720
and decided to gradually lead
coders with experience to

1029
01:04:42,800 --> 01:04:46,320
to be able to create a product,
which the market just expected.

1030
01:04:46,400 --> 01:04:49,960
So Imagine was one of the first
development houses.

1031
01:04:50,000 --> 01:04:52,400
In the beginning it was only four or
five people

1032
01:04:52,560 --> 01:04:54,960
in a Liverpool cellar.

1033
01:04:55,000 --> 01:04:56,720
But they started to grow very quickly.

1034
01:04:57,080 --> 01:04:58,920
Some guys from Bug-Byte,

1035
01:04:59,160 --> 01:05:02,720
like Mark Butler who worked for me
in Micro Digital

1036
01:05:03,200 --> 01:05:05,400
and David Henry Lawson, said,

1037
01:05:05,480 --> 01:05:09,200
"We are starting a new company.
Are you coming with us?"

1038
01:05:09,240 --> 01:05:13,600
And so they founded Imagine Software
and I joined.

1039
01:05:13,680 --> 01:05:18,080
And when I joined, that was it
in a hurry, we didn't even have furniture.

1040
01:05:18,160 --> 01:05:19,680
We sat on carpets.

1041
01:05:19,800 --> 01:05:22,200
Bruce has done a lot over the years
innovation.

1042
01:05:22,280 --> 01:05:24,960
He teamed up with Bug-Byte and helped out

1043
01:05:25,000 --> 01:05:28,400
them to improve their marketing.

1044
01:05:28,440 --> 01:05:32,240
He established some contacts with
packaging companies.

1045
01:05:32,440 --> 01:05:36,440
And their cassette booklets had
almost photographic quality

1046
01:05:36,520 --> 01:05:38,480
from basic graphic design,

1047
01:05:38,600 --> 01:05:43,160
up to full-fledged graphics in CMYK,
very professional.

1048
01:05:43,200 --> 01:05:45,600
Bruce made a point of saying,

1049
01:05:45,680 --> 01:05:48,480
"We need to make it more representative."

1050
01:05:48,560 --> 01:05:51,560
As the market grows and people become more demanding...

1051
01:05:51,600 --> 01:05:54,920
They were still hobbyists, but very much so
tolerant people were becoming

1052
01:05:55,000 --> 01:05:59,120
people who wanted more than cheap
looking product.

1053
01:05:59,600 --> 01:06:02,480
If you look at any of those
old ads you know

1054
01:06:02,560 --> 01:06:05,600
there was a little guy
or rough drawing,

1055
01:06:05,680 --> 01:06:09,680
and to that some three paragraphs of text
describing what the game is about.

1056
01:06:09,760 --> 01:06:12,840
And then Imagine came along with a very
colorful, professionally printed design

1057
01:06:12,960 --> 01:06:15,080
with minimal text underneath

1058
01:06:15,160 --> 01:06:19,000
and you watched it
“Wow, that must be really cool.

1059
01:06:19,160 --> 01:06:22,720
It was great professionally
done, with a fancy company logo,

1060
01:06:22,800 --> 01:06:25,880
just marketing that seemed
very tempting.

1061
01:06:25,960 --> 01:06:29,880
They knew how to make an ad that would
100% caught the attention of the players.

1062
01:06:30,480 --> 01:06:33,160
And I went shopping
with cassettes,

1063
01:06:33,200 --> 01:06:37,360
I offered them for sale there
and they were taking it, selling them.

1064
01:06:37,400 --> 01:06:40,080
I don't know exactly, they made hundreds
a thousand pounds

1065
01:06:40,160 --> 01:06:41,600
within a few weeks.

1066
01:06:42,200 --> 01:06:45,840
In time we started our own
distribution system.

1067
01:06:46,440 --> 01:06:51,600
And then we rented a business
house and salesman

1068
01:06:51,800 --> 01:06:53,800
and then we're done with postage
by selling.

1069
01:06:53,880 --> 01:06:55,600
So we made a change.

1070
01:06:55,640 --> 01:07:00,960
We have created a market in Britain
out of nowhere

1071
01:07:01,400 --> 01:07:05,240
and for all our competitors
that was an advantage

1072
01:07:05,400 --> 01:07:08,960
because they got on a bandwagon
because there was already a business network,

1073
01:07:09,000 --> 01:07:10,440
which we created for them.

1074
01:07:11,040 --> 01:07:14,480
We have doubled in size every month
while creating fun.

1075
01:07:14,560 --> 01:07:16,920
But if you look in the magazines,

1076
01:07:17,040 --> 01:07:20,920
people didn't even want to know about
events,

1077
01:07:21,000 --> 01:07:22,800
like other people.

1078
01:07:23,200 --> 01:07:26,560
We had Eugene here, who was
the youngest

1079
01:07:27,600 --> 01:07:31,720
he wrote plays for us.
So I reached out to him

1080
01:07:32,320 --> 01:07:34,600
and was tasked with

1081
01:07:34,800 --> 01:07:36,840
because he was the youngest and
he was making a lot of money.

1082
01:07:36,960 --> 01:07:38,720
EVANS: And then she appeared
payment.

1083
01:07:38,800 --> 01:07:40,960
I wasn't making that much money.

1084
01:07:41,040 --> 01:07:44,600
There was an opportunity to earn so much money,
but no one seemed to care.

1085
01:07:44,640 --> 01:07:49,160
We were determined and determined
have a successful business.

1086
01:07:49,320 --> 01:07:53,880
Bruce came up with it, wrote the article in
press and it came out.

1087
01:07:53,960 --> 01:07:57,000
I don't think any of us are
able to even assume

1088
01:07:57,080 --> 01:08:00,480
to what dimensions it will reach.

1089
01:08:01,480 --> 01:08:05,520
The next day the phone rang
for life.

1090
01:08:05,640 --> 01:08:07,800
And for the evening

1091
01:08:07,840 --> 01:08:12,600
we have already had press visits
perhaps from all national newspapers.

1092
01:08:12,920 --> 01:08:16,040
TV crews
they passed on the stairs.

1093
01:08:16,240 --> 01:08:18,560
So some came, others left.

1094
01:08:19,520 --> 01:08:23,000
It was amazing and Imagine it
made it very visible.

1095
01:08:23,160 --> 01:08:24,960
That's how it was back then.

1096
01:08:42,360 --> 01:08:44,400
Those first years were incredible.

1097
01:08:45,200 --> 01:08:48,320
I mean, the money that flowed from it.

1098
01:08:48,400 --> 01:08:50,720
Perhaps everyone owned a luxury car.

1099
01:08:50,800 --> 01:08:54,760
I think maybe even the cleaners had Porsches,
(LAUGHTER)

1100
01:08:54,800 --> 01:08:59,840
It was crazy, but on the other side
it had a dark side.

1101
01:09:00,360 --> 01:09:03,440
On the other end, no one is coming
he did not control the money.

1102
01:09:04,280 --> 01:09:07,440
So one day they came and the next day
they weren't anymore.

1103
01:09:07,520 --> 01:09:09,760
This was a major problem

1104
01:09:09,800 --> 01:09:12,520
but, you know, they were still boys

1105
01:09:13,600 --> 01:09:16,320
beneficial to start the entire industry.

1106
01:09:16,520 --> 01:09:21,320
Bandersnatch and Psyclapse had
save Imagine.

1107
01:09:21,400 --> 01:09:22,840
So they were really needed,

1108
01:09:22,920 --> 01:09:25,600
but I think he did not fulfill the result
expectations.

1109
01:09:25,680 --> 01:09:27,640
It wasn't good enough.

1110
01:09:27,720 --> 01:09:31,440
No one had any experience with it because
that was a huge mouthful.

1111
01:09:31,800 --> 01:09:34,400
And on top of that, hardware was needed
add-on for Spectrum,

1112
01:09:34,520 --> 01:09:39,200
but I don't think anyone really appreciated the amount
the work that went into their completion.

1113
01:09:39,240 --> 01:09:41,200
GIBSON: I was working on
Bandersnatch game

1114
01:09:41,800 --> 01:09:47,040
and the BBC were filming a report there
about a successful company.

1115
01:09:47,120 --> 01:09:50,960
A minute later, the bailiffs burst in
and took away all the equipment.

1116
01:09:51,000 --> 01:09:53,800
Take that foot out the door, please.
Thank you.

1117
01:09:56,160 --> 01:09:58,920
When Imagine laid down,
we took away the computers

1118
01:09:59,000 --> 01:10:01,640
and drove to Dave Lawson's house in Coldy.

1119
01:10:01,720 --> 01:10:03,600
With all those cars.

1120
01:10:03,640 --> 01:10:05,800
All Ferraris, Porsches.

1121
01:10:05,880 --> 01:10:09,320
We parked them opposite in
public parking garage.

1122
01:10:09,800 --> 01:10:12,600
One day Transit appeared there,

1123
01:10:12,640 --> 01:10:17,200
10 guys with baseballs jumped out of it
bats

1124
01:10:17,360 --> 01:10:20,160
broke into the house and said
"We're going to get the cars."

1125
01:10:20,400 --> 01:10:22,480
And I said, "Here are the sprouts." (LAUGHTER)

1126
01:10:30,400 --> 01:10:32,760
BROWN: The Stampers were
really interesting.

1127
01:10:32,800 --> 01:10:37,400
They were like Gilbert and George to me
from the world of art.

1128
01:10:37,480 --> 01:10:39,640
You know, nobody really knew them.

1129
01:10:39,720 --> 01:10:42,800
They made themselves.

1130
01:10:42,880 --> 01:10:48,000
During the entire time, they released perhaps only
ten games, so not many.

1131
01:10:48,440 --> 01:10:51,760
When we first got our hands on it
the first game since Ultimate Play the Game,

1132
01:10:52,400 --> 01:10:57,160
it was a real qualitative leap,

1133
01:10:57,200 --> 01:10:58,600
which we have not seen before on Spectra.

1134
01:10:58,800 --> 01:11:00,800
You could see it at JetPac

1135
01:11:00,840 --> 01:11:05,000
the real inspiration of the Stamper brothers
in arcade games.

1136
01:11:05,080 --> 01:11:08,400
For the first time, we saw graphics that
could be seen in arcades,

1137
01:11:08,480 --> 01:11:10,640
she looked like it was something
what we played on those machines.

1138
01:11:10,720 --> 01:11:14,560
Everywhere, including our office,
it caused something of a whirlwind.

1139
01:11:14,600 --> 01:11:15,760
It muddied the waters of the gaming industry at the time.

1140
01:11:15,800 --> 01:11:17,520
Ultimate did a few things very well.

1141
01:11:17,600 --> 01:11:23,720
First, they had top-notch ads and theirs
the games were no B's.

1142
01:11:23,880 --> 01:11:25,560
The first batch of their games

1143
01:11:25,600 --> 01:11:28,280
she was really selective.

1144
01:11:28,360 --> 01:11:30,760
They were simple, but
they looked very luxurious

1145
01:11:30,840 --> 01:11:34,320
and at first glance it was obvious that
have their roots in the arcade style.

1146
01:11:34,400 --> 01:11:36,920
And the graphics were simply beautiful.

1147
01:11:37,040 --> 01:11:39,960
They didn't care much about
attribute collisions.

1148
01:11:40,000 --> 01:11:42,160
Just like the graphics were really
captivating,

1149
01:11:42,240 --> 01:11:44,000
the animation was cute.

1150
01:11:44,160 --> 01:11:46,800
The game characters they created
they were lovely.

1151
01:11:47,800 --> 01:11:51,800
I was interested in ultimatums because
they had great graphics,

1152
01:11:51,880 --> 01:11:54,320
great animation and great humor.

1153
01:11:54,560 --> 01:11:56,200
They also had some creepy characters.

1154
01:11:56,280 --> 01:12:00,560
Ghosts combined with comics
monsters and the like.

1155
01:12:00,720 --> 01:12:03,240
Their intelligence I immediately
recorded.

1156
01:12:03,320 --> 01:12:05,800
It looked like every single one of them
she had an IQ of 400.

1157
01:12:05,960 --> 01:12:09,280
Chris was a programmer and
Tim was a graphic designer.

1158
01:12:09,520 --> 01:12:11,840
And they were very austere,

1159
01:12:11,920 --> 01:12:15,440
but every bit of the game, from the titles
through everything on the screen

1160
01:12:15,600 --> 01:12:18,400
every keystroke, every function
and every feature of the game

1161
01:12:18,440 --> 01:12:25,040
was worked out in detail and that
was a guarantee of their great success.

1162
01:12:25,320 --> 01:12:29,160
I remember Atic Atac, which was one
from the first games on Spectra that me

1163
01:12:29,200 --> 01:12:30,560
she totally got it.

1164
01:12:30,600 --> 01:12:32,600
Because she looked...

1165
01:12:32,640 --> 01:12:34,600
She looked exactly like you
they could see in arcades.

1166
01:12:34,640 --> 01:12:37,720
And this was at home and it was…

1167
01:12:38,400 --> 01:12:41,560
It was more than just a game,
whose goal was the highest possible score.

1168
01:12:41,600 --> 01:12:45,400
They gave the feeling that you were playing them with someone
goal.

1169
01:12:45,480 --> 01:12:49,280
GALWAY: The first batch of their games were
still in normal cassette boxes,

1170
01:12:49,360 --> 01:12:53,200
but when they came up with Knight Lore they started
use larger containers

1171
01:12:53,280 --> 01:12:55,600
and thus the price increased.

1172
01:12:55,680 --> 01:12:59,840
But they were so collegial, so friendly
with other market players,

1173
01:12:59,920 --> 01:13:02,600
that they were sending them free samples of their games.

1174
01:13:03,000 --> 01:13:07,160
I worked for Ocean and one day
a large box arrived

1175
01:13:07,200 --> 01:13:10,720
and there were ten copies in it
Knight Lore.

1176
01:13:10,800 --> 01:13:14,920
We watched in amazement,
how great it was

1177
01:13:15,000 --> 01:13:18,240
and it was in that spirit, as if by accident
they wanted to show how it should be done.

1178
01:13:18,320 --> 01:13:20,960
That's how I felt.

1179
01:13:21,000 --> 01:13:23,240
"Wow, these guys are so cool,
their game is so great"

1180
01:13:23,320 --> 01:13:24,640
"that they send it to their rivals."

1181
01:13:24,760 --> 01:13:27,400
AHMAD: If you look even today
to Sabreman animation,

1182
01:13:27,480 --> 01:13:29,000
you see him transform into a werewolf.

1183
01:13:29,080 --> 01:13:33,280
It's so impressive. It is...
Almost like in an animated movie.

1184
01:13:33,840 --> 01:13:36,720
And I think it's a fair statement,
plus about the Spectrum game.

1185
01:13:36,800 --> 01:13:39,640
So their graphics were top notch,
had elements of arcade games,

1186
01:13:39,720 --> 01:13:42,600
they had a nice, simple and
straightforward gameplay,

1187
01:13:42,640 --> 01:13:44,200
and they had no faults in them.

1188
01:13:44,280 --> 01:13:46,400
And there was an air of mystery around them.

1189
01:13:46,480 --> 01:13:47,880
No one knew who they really were.

1190
01:13:47,960 --> 01:13:49,400
And they kept getting better.

1191
01:13:49,480 --> 01:13:51,840
Tim and Chris Stamper and his sister,

1192
01:13:51,920 --> 01:13:56,960
I remember there was a gala dinner
at Mortons.

1193
01:13:57,000 --> 01:14:00,880
There was a celebrity guest,

1194
01:14:00,960 --> 01:14:03,240
it was actually because of the Ant Attack game,
because she got an award there

1195
01:14:03,320 --> 01:14:06,400
it was sometime in '83, '84.

1196
01:14:06,480 --> 01:14:12,880
That celebrity was Tony Blackburn.

1197
01:14:13,600 --> 01:14:17,280
There were quite a few of us there and he was there
presented those prizes and other things,

1198
01:14:17,360 --> 01:14:22,080
but the big thing for us, for what
we came there

1199
01:14:22,160 --> 01:14:26,200
was awarding a prize for
Ultimate Play the Game

1200
01:14:26,280 --> 01:14:28,120
for JetPac.

1201
01:14:28,200 --> 01:14:30,800
Because the Stampers have arrived
in a white limousine

1202
01:14:30,840 --> 01:14:33,600
they got out, reached the Mortons
take your prize

1203
01:14:33,680 --> 01:14:36,560
and then promptly left, mounted
into the limousine and drove off.

1204
01:14:36,680 --> 01:14:40,080
Both Stampers had a sense of...

1205
01:14:40,160 --> 01:14:41,920
They always looked to the future.
It was obvious.

1206
01:14:42,000 --> 01:14:44,720
That was why their games were considered
even by the Ocean.

1207
01:14:44,800 --> 01:14:47,760
They said, "There's no one like him
Ultimate Play the Game.”

1208
01:14:47,800 --> 01:14:52,160
Their stuff was simply the best and
everyone was just trying to be as good as them.

1209
01:14:52,200 --> 01:14:55,480
During that time of experimentation
there were a lot of people

1210
01:14:55,560 --> 01:14:58,240
who only watched from afar
and waited for the right opportunity

1211
01:14:58,320 --> 01:15:03,760
step in and lift it up with yours
knowledge of business and marketing.

1212
01:15:03,840 --> 01:15:08,160
It was a moment of rebirth

1213
01:15:08,200 --> 01:15:12,800
emerging publisher market
computer games

1214
01:15:13,000 --> 01:15:17,320
into real corporate business
of the highest class.

1215
01:15:17,440 --> 01:15:21,800
REPORTER: She was in Manchester a year ago
Ocean company founded by David Ward.

1216
01:15:21,840 --> 01:15:23,680
It acts as a software publisher,

1217
01:15:23,760 --> 01:15:26,800
focusing on games from the UK
programmers.

1218
01:15:26,840 --> 01:15:31,000
Jon Woods and David Ward were
friends from school.

1219
01:15:31,040 --> 01:15:33,960
You know, they knew each other when they were
together for some time in Liverpool.

1220
01:15:34,000 --> 01:15:37,160
But David had been in America for several years.

1221
01:15:38,200 --> 01:15:43,000
It was David's idea because he had
experience with arcade machines,

1222
01:15:43,040 --> 01:15:46,880
the ones for fun, not winning ones,

1223
01:15:46,960 --> 01:15:50,400
met them when in the States
he ran a disco on roller skates.

1224
01:15:50,440 --> 01:15:55,560
It sounds a bit funny, but it's true
it became the main profit generator.

1225
01:15:55,760 --> 01:15:58,000
So he knew all about arcades.

1226
01:15:58,080 --> 01:16:01,480
He came back sometime in '82, maybe '81,

1227
01:16:01,840 --> 01:16:04,560
and we were right back in business together.

1228
01:16:04,600 --> 01:16:07,480
So it was...

1229
01:16:07,640 --> 01:16:09,160
It was the master key.

1230
01:16:09,240 --> 01:16:13,520
We learned about all of those
Specters and Commodores, mainly

1231
01:16:13,600 --> 01:16:16,600
Spectres, which he mainly sold
W.H.Smith and people around.

1232
01:16:16,640 --> 01:16:20,920
So, we had the know-how that was
needed to dominate that market.

1233
01:16:21,200 --> 01:16:24,920
But they knew nothing about programming,
coding and such.

1234
01:16:25,480 --> 01:16:28,400
So they started advertising in Manchester,

1235
01:16:28,440 --> 01:16:31,680
not in Liverpool because here already
Bug-Byte, Software Projects were active

1236
01:16:31,760 --> 01:16:33,840
and Imagine,

1237
01:16:33,920 --> 01:16:35,600
so they moved to Manchester.

1238
01:16:35,680 --> 01:16:39,800
They were looking for programmers and people for them
they walked with their games

1239
01:16:40,600 --> 01:16:41,840
and game ideas.

1240
01:16:41,920 --> 01:16:45,840
They did market research to find out
what machines people use

1241
01:16:45,960 --> 01:16:48,200
which machines were popular
and what people want.

1242
01:16:48,280 --> 01:16:51,800
The results were dismal, there were some
games like Frogger, Missile Command

1243
01:16:51,880 --> 01:16:54,880
and so they thought they could
easily overcome.

1244
01:16:55,600 --> 01:16:56,760
And they decided to do it.

1245
01:17:11,000 --> 01:17:12,920
Jon was something of an engineer

1246
01:17:13,000 --> 01:17:15,000
and David was an entrepreneur with ideas.

1247
01:17:15,080 --> 01:17:16,840
But Jon got it going.

1248
01:17:17,040 --> 01:17:19,800
And it was also he who in the early days
came up with those

1249
01:17:19,880 --> 01:17:21,880
game licensing ideas,

1250
01:17:21,960 --> 01:17:25,120
like Rambo and Miami Vice.

1251
01:17:25,400 --> 01:17:28,640
I think it was important
moment for industry

1252
01:17:28,800 --> 01:17:31,040
that the licensing started...

1253
01:17:31,120 --> 01:17:33,920
Of course there were thousands of games.

1254
01:17:34,000 --> 01:17:36,240
You need something that the customer
he knows right away.

1255
01:17:36,320 --> 01:17:38,360
And it was worth paying for the license
use a familiar name or title.

1256
01:17:38,800 --> 01:17:42,720
From a business perspective, licensing
meant doing marketing.

1257
01:17:42,800 --> 01:17:46,880
And what we bought were brands,
we were buying awareness.

1258
01:17:46,960 --> 01:17:50,800
You can spend tens of thousands or
hundreds of thousands

1259
01:17:50,880 --> 01:17:54,960
back then it was millions, for
promoting an unknown product,

1260
01:17:55,000 --> 01:17:58,160
but if you take a name like Robocop
or the name of the coin-op arcade,

1261
01:17:58,240 --> 01:18:00,120
you get a ready-made brand right away

1262
01:18:00,200 --> 01:18:04,520
and awareness
an established brand,

1263
01:18:04,600 --> 01:18:07,400
which will save a lot of money in the end.

1264
01:18:08,440 --> 01:18:11,360
Yes, that business was built on a foundation
arcade games.

1265
01:18:11,400 --> 01:18:14,240
So we were able to license them.

1266
01:18:14,320 --> 01:18:17,080
Why would we spend resources on
marketing when

1267
01:18:17,160 --> 01:18:20,680
were there already famous movies or series?

1268
01:18:20,760 --> 01:18:22,680
And that's how it started.

1269
01:18:22,760 --> 01:18:26,120
You started looking around,
trying to license everything you can get your hands on.

1270
01:18:26,240 --> 01:18:29,120
What we could theoretically somehow integrate
into the game.

1271
01:18:30,200 --> 01:18:33,200
I think the first one was Hunchback,
it was a local arcade

1272
01:18:33,240 --> 01:18:34,480
manufactured in Manchester.

1273
01:18:34,560 --> 01:18:36,680
They found that it would work for them
was quite auspicious.

1274
01:18:37,160 --> 01:18:39,880
“Oh, we've acquired the maker of the coin-op game.

1275
01:18:39,960 --> 01:18:44,960
So they licensed Hunchback for the Spectrum
or VIC-20.

1276
01:18:46,040 --> 01:18:47,280
And it was a big hit.

1277
01:18:47,360 --> 01:18:51,480
And of course Daley Thompson,
who won the gold medal in 1984,

1278
01:18:51,560 --> 01:18:55,760
which was probably one of ours then
greatest games

1279
01:18:55,800 --> 01:18:57,920
and confidently gave us between
customer awareness.

1280
01:18:58,040 --> 01:19:01,520
Yeah, before the Daley Thompson Decathlon

1281
01:19:01,720 --> 01:19:06,200
we made the graphics much simpler
and less comic.

1282
01:19:06,440 --> 01:19:10,200
And I realized how the game
raised the quality bar.

1283
01:19:10,240 --> 01:19:15,000
She was refined for her time,

1284
01:19:15,040 --> 01:19:18,720
but when compared to titles which
followed, she was not so good.

1285
01:19:18,800 --> 01:19:21,400
But it's still a pretty nice piece.

1286
01:19:21,440 --> 01:19:26,200
I don't remember anyone telling me back then
he said to make it even more complex.

1287
01:19:26,240 --> 01:19:28,920
I thought that was enough.

1288
01:19:29,000 --> 01:19:32,560
You know, that's Daley Thompson.
It's a big deal, really.

1289
01:19:33,800 --> 01:19:37,800
Daley Thompson was licensed to Ocean,
and was very successful

1290
01:19:37,880 --> 01:19:39,960
but, naturally, Daley Thompson
was known only in Britain.

1291
01:19:40,000 --> 01:19:43,360
Nowhere else was it known who he was.
They wanted something bigger.

1292
01:19:43,680 --> 01:19:48,320
Ocean speculatively acquired some
scripts from film companies.

1293
01:19:48,400 --> 01:19:50,360
I got a significant one.

1294
01:19:50,400 --> 01:19:53,800
I read it, it got me
I immediately had an idea for a great game.

1295
01:19:53,840 --> 01:19:58,200
But Jon Woods kept the script
until the last days of Ocean.

1296
01:19:58,240 --> 01:20:00,880
It had a small one on the front
a note that said

1297
01:20:00,960 --> 01:20:02,800
"Read this. I think this might be it."

1298
01:20:02,840 --> 01:20:05,000
It was a movie called Robocop,

1299
01:20:05,080 --> 01:20:10,800
which became the first millionth game,
sold in Britain.

1300
01:20:10,840 --> 01:20:15,040
HOLLYWOOD: We had to construct
certain places from the movie,

1301
01:20:15,120 --> 01:20:16,600
which would be suitable

1302
01:20:17,360 --> 01:20:21,200
and replicate them in the game.

1303
01:20:21,280 --> 01:20:25,920
And also something that was at least a little
different?

1304
01:20:26,200 --> 01:20:30,720
Robocop was a huge hit and
massive game.

1305
01:20:30,800 --> 01:20:33,080
This skyrocketed Ocean's fortunes,

1306
01:20:33,160 --> 01:20:36,200
because they purchased licenses for
absolutely everything.

1307
01:20:44,200 --> 01:20:47,120
All rights reserved with
by what we did.

1308
01:20:47,200 --> 01:20:51,680
Arcade games, pinballs,
handheld games, with everything.

1309
01:20:51,760 --> 01:20:55,160
Even with things not yet invented.

1310
01:20:55,200 --> 01:20:57,560
Then we could make games

1311
01:20:57,600 --> 01:21:03,080
and sell them, be just like
themes or finished code,

1312
01:21:03,160 --> 01:21:05,360
to Japan and the United States.

1313
01:21:05,960 --> 01:21:08,640
So we kind of reversed the process.

1314
01:21:09,040 --> 01:21:13,080
It was the first time that a British firm
offered a license to Capcom or Taito

1315
01:21:13,160 --> 01:21:17,440
or anyone else.

1316
01:21:20,200 --> 01:21:24,240
It was a revolutionary business move
and Ocean became it

1317
01:21:24,320 --> 01:21:26,960
the world's largest software house.

1318
01:21:28,000 --> 01:21:31,840
I think they got together at that time
with Infogrames

1319
01:21:32,000 --> 01:21:37,240
and they were probably the first or second
the largest software house in the world.

1320
01:21:37,600 --> 01:21:40,800
In terms of turnover,
the numbers of people who worked for them,

1321
01:21:40,960 --> 01:21:43,600
in numbers of products and SKUs.
(Stock Keeping Unit)

1322
01:21:43,800 --> 01:21:45,160
It was colossal.

1323
01:22:27,400 --> 01:22:30,160
RIGNALL: It was interesting to watch
the evolution of journalism in the industry,

1324
01:22:30,200 --> 01:22:33,000
as well as customer behavior
in the early days.

1325
01:22:33,160 --> 01:22:35,400
Read Computer and Video Games,

1326
01:22:35,440 --> 01:22:40,000
all the cracker business
and find out that...

1327
01:22:40,600 --> 01:22:44,120
Absorb them with interest, but also
have some impression of them

1328
01:22:44,200 --> 01:22:46,960
that, for example, this was written by someone who
maybe he didn't quite understand that.

1329
01:22:47,480 --> 01:22:50,600
They were publishing giants
such as EMAP and VNU,

1330
01:22:50,680 --> 01:22:52,800
who to their journals
included gaming sections,

1331
01:22:52,880 --> 01:22:56,280
but those games were reviewed
some old dirty ass

1332
01:22:56,360 --> 01:23:00,000
who reviewed needle
printer a few pages early.

1333
01:23:00,080 --> 01:23:01,200
There was no joy in it.

1334
01:23:01,640 --> 01:23:06,600
The first impulse to make a magazine originally
was created at the instigation of the W.H.Smith chain

1335
01:23:06,680 --> 01:23:10,880
through a distributor who saw the catalog,
one of their mail order catalogs.

1336
01:23:11,000 --> 01:23:15,640
The name Crash was derived from the company
Crash Micro Games Action,

1337
01:23:15,720 --> 01:23:18,360
which was a postal company
orders.

1338
01:23:18,520 --> 01:23:23,280
We looked around at what others had to offer
magazines and Computer and Video Games,

1339
01:23:23,360 --> 01:23:25,680
apart from its name, it wasn't very interesting

1340
01:23:25,760 --> 01:23:28,800
articles and a very small number of game reviews.

1341
01:23:29,720 --> 01:23:31,880
And it was like that

1342
01:23:31,960 --> 01:23:36,600
25 to 30 were published then
new games per month,

1343
01:23:36,920 --> 01:23:41,640
whose quality ranged from absolute
horrors to pieces of genius.

1344
01:23:42,520 --> 01:23:46,280
And we thought we had to review
each of them.

1345
01:23:46,880 --> 01:23:49,800
We already had six months
consignment shop.

1346
01:23:49,880 --> 01:23:54,880
Something like 15, 20 people who would
they bought it regularly.

1347
01:23:56,200 --> 01:23:59,240
And their views on it were nice
noisy

1348
01:23:59,360 --> 01:24:02,360
for what for your money
they got

1349
01:24:03,000 --> 01:24:06,920
It was like some verbal
fight for life.

1350
01:24:07,000 --> 01:24:10,000
Most were lean unsalted,
but a few of them looked promising.

1351
01:24:10,320 --> 01:24:12,720
I recognized that it was unique
a thing that can be sold.

1352
01:24:12,800 --> 01:24:14,760
No other magazine had anything like it.

1353
01:24:14,800 --> 01:24:19,240
Nor rating points, which was
reasonably chosen model,

1354
01:24:20,880 --> 01:24:23,800
nor a direct evaluation of the target
products.

1355
01:24:23,840 --> 01:24:26,280
They got into it very quickly.

1356
01:24:26,360 --> 01:24:29,200
Even so fast that from approx
of the fifth issue of Crash

1357
01:24:29,240 --> 01:24:32,280
W.H.Smith took it and made it
your official game buying guide.

1358
01:24:32,440 --> 01:24:35,280
It was probably like your friend
from school reviewed the games you

1359
01:24:35,360 --> 01:24:38,400
not yet seen, not released,

1360
01:24:38,440 --> 01:24:40,640
and telling you which ones are good
and which bad ones

1361
01:24:40,720 --> 01:24:42,880
which you should save up for.

1362
01:24:43,920 --> 01:24:46,000
And of course you believed them.

1363
01:24:46,200 --> 01:24:50,000
Everyone was looking forward to it…
When Crash came out, it was a big day.

1364
01:24:51,320 --> 01:24:54,320
It was written to be for entertainment only.

1365
01:24:56,160 --> 01:24:57,880
And the opening cover reflected that.

1366
01:24:57,960 --> 01:25:00,880
It had to engage the reader in such a way that
as intended.

1367
01:25:01,000 --> 01:25:02,840
And the only way to do that is to

1368
01:25:03,200 --> 01:25:09,400
was that the motive had to be dramatic
and as realistic as possible.

1369
01:25:09,680 --> 01:25:11,160
What do you think? (LAUGHTER)

1370
01:25:12,600 --> 01:25:15,800
No, the envelopes were...
They were great.

1371
01:25:15,920 --> 01:25:18,560
The only rival in the field of quality
the envelope was

1372
01:25:18,640 --> 01:25:22,560
Personal Computer Games
Chris Anderson.

1373
01:25:22,640 --> 01:25:24,480
PCG was a good magazine.

1374
01:25:25,320 --> 01:25:28,360
It was multi-platform focused,
but he focused on games.

1375
01:25:29,400 --> 01:25:31,200
I always thought of him as
our closest rival.

1376
01:25:31,600 --> 01:25:33,400
In Personal Computer Games

1377
01:25:34,320 --> 01:25:39,640
we looked at it that way
content created by professionals

1378
01:25:39,840 --> 01:25:44,760
was gradually displaced by the content
formed by the players themselves.

1379
01:25:44,960 --> 01:25:49,000
At the end of the year there was a competition,

1380
01:25:49,080 --> 01:25:53,800
which was tasked with finding the best
video game players in England.

1381
01:25:54,600 --> 01:25:57,600
That was the public intent of the competition.

1382
01:25:57,720 --> 01:26:01,840
The secret plan was to find great people,
who would write reviews for us,

1383
01:26:01,920 --> 01:26:05,880
they were the best of the best
and they knew what they were talking about.

1384
01:26:06,080 --> 01:26:09,640
And the winners of that competition were

1385
01:26:09,720 --> 01:26:12,360
Julian Rignall and Gary Penn.

1386
01:26:12,480 --> 01:26:15,440
I think they were about 18 or 19.

1387
01:26:15,760 --> 01:26:20,560
And when I started Zzap!,
they were the two key reviewers I hired

1388
01:26:20,600 --> 01:26:23,280
along with Bob Wade,
who was also a young gamer,

1389
01:26:23,400 --> 01:26:25,200
who passed from
Personal Computer Games.

1390
01:26:25,280 --> 01:26:29,080
And yes, they had a very different view of everything.

1391
01:26:29,400 --> 01:26:34,320
The reason he had Zzap! before Crach
on top, there was a cult of personality.

1392
01:26:34,480 --> 01:26:37,680
So we didn't do it for…
We didn't have much direction until...

1393
01:26:38,160 --> 01:26:41,800
We were excited about it,
which was also a credit to Chris' talent.

1394
01:26:42,080 --> 01:26:45,760
No wonder he continued to do so
for Future.

1395
01:26:45,920 --> 01:26:47,040
The boy was a visionary.

1396
01:26:47,280 --> 01:26:50,720
And he wanted a game player,

1397
01:26:50,800 --> 01:26:54,440
because he believed he could do better
connect with readers.

1398
01:26:54,920 --> 01:26:59,400
You found guys a little older,

1399
01:26:59,480 --> 01:27:03,160
who were hard-core gamers.

1400
01:27:03,800 --> 01:27:08,320
In the beginning there were only a handful of us.
I mean, it was like a nightmare.

1401
01:27:08,600 --> 01:27:11,960
They threw chairs around the office,
they beat the walls and cursed.

1402
01:27:12,120 --> 01:27:14,080
That we were in a professional environment
we didn't care at all.

1403
01:27:14,240 --> 01:27:16,200
What we knew was that we knew
how to play games

1404
01:27:16,240 --> 01:27:20,240
and we had our opinions and big egos
who helped us write those reviews.

1405
01:27:20,600 --> 01:27:23,320
You got the "honest player."

1406
01:27:23,600 --> 01:27:26,800
It was the excitement of the authentic

1407
01:27:26,920 --> 01:27:31,960
"I do it because I enjoy it"
to writing game reviews.

1408
01:27:32,080 --> 01:27:38,680
That's why they were so involved
in Zzap!64, Crash

1409
01:27:38,760 --> 01:27:41,200
and some other magazines,
which began to appear

1410
01:27:41,280 --> 01:27:45,360
much more.

1411
01:27:45,520 --> 01:27:49,920
Those magazines had a huge influence,
just like computer fairy had.

1412
01:27:50,000 --> 01:27:55,120
Because without them, no one would know about yours
he didn't hear the new game.

1413
01:27:55,200 --> 01:27:58,000
It's not like now you just tweet about it

1414
01:27:58,080 --> 01:28:01,000
or write it on Facebook.

1415
01:28:01,040 --> 01:28:04,120
A lot of kids to take care of
gaming market covered

1416
01:28:04,400 --> 01:28:08,920
were just watching Zzap! and Crash,
where they looked for inspiration to buy games.

1417
01:28:09,400 --> 01:28:12,480
And how else could you have done it then
learn about a new game,

1418
01:28:12,560 --> 01:28:15,400
no YouTube and no download option

1419
01:28:15,480 --> 01:28:17,800
demo version from the internet?

1420
01:28:17,840 --> 01:28:20,640
It was only because of magazine reviews,
so they played an important role in that.

1421
01:28:21,600 --> 01:28:23,560
Looking back on CandVG,

1422
01:28:23,600 --> 01:28:26,040
it was a difficult time for us

1423
01:28:26,160 --> 01:28:29,760
because we had to sense
which of the platforms will be stronger

1424
01:28:29,800 --> 01:28:32,360
from the perspective of the user base
and which, on the contrary, will disappear.

1425
01:28:32,480 --> 01:28:34,920
So it was like that every month
careful juggling,

1426
01:28:35,040 --> 01:28:38,880
so that we have a balanced number of reviews
games for C64

1427
01:28:38,960 --> 01:28:40,840
also for Spectrum.

1428
01:28:41,160 --> 01:28:43,480
And those older computers, like the VIC-20,

1429
01:28:43,560 --> 01:28:44,760
although they were starting to disappear, but still

1430
01:28:44,800 --> 01:28:46,040
occasionally discovered a new game title

1431
01:28:46,120 --> 01:28:48,200
and still his review found its way
the audience.

1432
01:28:48,440 --> 01:28:50,800
At Zzap!64, we came up with an idea

1433
01:28:51,760 --> 01:28:54,800
as with the rating by numbers,

1434
01:28:55,000 --> 01:28:59,560
even with his own expression of feelings
reviewers smileys,

1435
01:28:59,960 --> 01:29:03,200
when there were little comics under the articles
pictures of faces representing ratings.

1436
01:29:03,320 --> 01:29:06,680
So for a five star rating
was like "Wow!"

1437
01:29:06,760 --> 01:29:11,000
And a sad face for one star.

1438
01:29:11,600 --> 01:29:16,880
It was a huge success.
People seemed to like it.

1439
01:29:17,400 --> 01:29:20,360
Everything you did had an effect.

1440
01:29:21,360 --> 01:29:24,000
Every review we've written,

1441
01:29:24,600 --> 01:29:29,640
every cover had some response.

1442
01:29:29,880 --> 01:29:32,000
The way publishers responded

1443
01:29:32,040 --> 01:29:33,360
and which readers

1444
01:29:33,400 --> 01:29:35,440
they said we really had something
what can he do with that area.

1445
01:29:36,600 --> 01:29:39,600
Like when we had a really bad game,
so we took her to the highest level.

1446
01:29:39,680 --> 01:29:40,960
We absolutely blew her away.

1447
01:29:41,000 --> 01:29:46,400
It was a terrible read for a man,
but great for readers as a whole.

1448
01:29:46,800 --> 01:29:49,520
I don't think we ever will
they said something like...

1449
01:29:50,200 --> 01:29:53,200
Maybe we were exaggerating

1450
01:29:53,240 --> 01:29:58,040
but she was always there at least between the lines
mention how we mean it.

1451
01:29:58,120 --> 01:29:59,720
We weren't rude for nothing.

1452
01:30:00,360 --> 01:30:04,400
There were one or two people then
and were to the number of copies

1453
01:30:04,720 --> 01:30:07,760
much closer.

1454
01:30:08,200 --> 01:30:11,960
Back in the Specter days you only had
Your Sinclair. Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

1455
01:30:12,000 --> 01:30:13,920
And suddenly you had Crash. Yooo!

1456
01:30:14,000 --> 01:30:16,080
There were wars between the magazines about

1457
01:30:16,200 --> 01:30:19,240
how which game they reviewed
and also between

1458
01:30:19,360 --> 01:30:21,320
Commodore 64 and Spectre.

1459
01:30:21,440 --> 01:30:22,960
I was Crash's guy.

1460
01:30:23,080 --> 01:30:27,160
I could go on and on and on
I can all their editors.

1461
01:30:27,200 --> 01:30:31,160
They walked and talked

1462
01:30:31,200 --> 01:30:33,160
with programmers who on those
peas did

1463
01:30:33,240 --> 01:30:37,440
whose names were in the headlines
on the images during recording.

1464
01:30:37,600 --> 01:30:40,760
Based on that, people just went,
and bought a new game from Jeff Minter.

1465
01:30:40,800 --> 01:30:43,520
Or by Jon Ritman.

1466
01:30:44,000 --> 01:30:50,960
We were aware that we could
introduce programmers as celebrities,

1467
01:30:51,200 --> 01:30:54,000
to say that these are the experts in the industry

1468
01:30:54,080 --> 01:30:57,600
who stand behind their creative work.

1469
01:30:57,680 --> 01:31:01,800
If you really like Manic Miner,
if you like this particular game,

1470
01:31:01,880 --> 01:31:04,360
then these people stand behind her
you created it.

1471
01:31:05,000 --> 01:31:09,600
We decided to make ads,
and one really succeeded.

1472
01:31:09,640 --> 01:31:13,880
Of course it was the one with the helicopter,
Maxwell's helicopter.

1473
01:31:14,040 --> 01:31:17,400
We got permission to do it on
the roof of the Mirror Group skyscraper,

1474
01:31:17,600 --> 01:31:21,840
so we only had 15 minutes
time after she landed

1475
01:31:22,200 --> 01:31:26,040
to photograph it all and then we are
they had to disappear quickly.

1476
01:31:26,200 --> 01:31:29,320
But it also meant we had to go there
wait all day for it to show up.

1477
01:31:29,480 --> 01:31:33,000
We were there from 9 in the morning until dark.

1478
01:31:33,320 --> 01:31:38,000
And we managed to take the best photos,
because he arrived just before sunset.

1479
01:31:38,240 --> 01:31:41,440
It couldn't be planned, but it happened
that fantastic.

1480
01:31:41,800 --> 01:31:44,200
And then we pitched it to magazines

1481
01:31:44,280 --> 01:31:47,280
and they could break to print it.

1482
01:31:47,360 --> 01:31:49,520
They made the stars

1483
01:31:49,600 --> 01:31:52,200
because the only thing that those magazines would
she sold, she was

1484
01:31:52,320 --> 01:31:54,440
that they interviewed the authors of the games.

1485
01:31:54,600 --> 01:31:58,160
It was in such a self-perpetuating spirit.

1486
01:31:58,280 --> 01:32:01,480
We wanted to learn about the games,
which were written about in the magazine.

1487
01:32:01,600 --> 01:32:04,760
We also wanted to learn about people
who made these games.

1488
01:32:04,880 --> 01:32:08,960
Well, the first personality that could have been
considered famous 

1489
01:32:09,000 --> 01:32:11,400
was Matthew Smith in early 1984,

1490
01:32:11,440 --> 01:32:14,960
who was no longer working for Bug-Byte at the time,
but for Software Projects.

1491
01:32:15,480 --> 01:32:18,200
At the time of Zzap!, 
Gary Penn and Julian Rignall

1492
01:32:18,240 --> 01:32:20,280
they were always away doing something
conversations with people.

1493
01:32:20,440 --> 01:32:24,640
Andrew Braybrook - Paradroid,
Hewson, all have been addressed.

1494
01:32:24,720 --> 01:32:26,360
The Sensitives - Jon Hare.

1495
01:32:26,400 --> 01:32:30,680
Archer MacLean, Mike Singleton.
Mike Singleton was interviewed by me.

1496
01:32:31,200 --> 01:32:32,520
It was one of my few interviews.

1497
01:32:32,600 --> 01:32:35,800
He did Doomdark's Revenge
and Lords of Midnight, of course.

1498
01:32:36,760 --> 01:32:42,040
They absolutely were for their time
great action adventure

1499
01:32:42,360 --> 01:32:43,760
and yet he spoke very modestly of them.

1500
01:32:44,120 --> 01:32:45,160
"Let's talk about..."

1501
01:32:45,200 --> 01:32:47,960
“Well, I'm just going to sit here and do it
and that and it's a game."

1502
01:32:48,600 --> 01:32:51,680
It was quite natural to do
interviews with the stars

1503
01:32:51,760 --> 01:32:54,840
and the stars were the who
they programmed those games.

1504
01:33:10,600 --> 01:33:12,320
MINTER: It was a weird feeling, actually.

1505
01:33:12,520 --> 01:33:15,120
But on the other hand it was nice
that people came and wanted

1506
01:33:15,200 --> 01:33:17,680
shake hands with someone who
you made the game.

1507
01:33:17,760 --> 01:33:20,400
You know, it just felt good.
And still is.

1508
01:33:20,480 --> 01:33:23,800
When someone comes and says
"I like to play those games",

1509
01:33:23,840 --> 01:33:27,400
and say thanks or buy you a beer,
it's really nice.

1510
01:33:27,800 --> 01:33:30,400
I used to go to those events a lot
because I loved it there.

1511
01:33:30,480 --> 01:33:34,200
People always came and asked
"Are you Tony Crowther?" and so on.

1512
01:33:34,400 --> 01:33:37,240
I remember how I am after several such events
he got the idea to make t-shirts.

1513
01:33:37,320 --> 01:33:39,520
And I had them imprinted with an inscription
“Yes, I'm Tony Crowther.

1514
01:33:39,800 --> 01:33:42,240
You are going to a computer game fair

1515
01:33:42,360 --> 01:33:45,800
and people recognize you and that's it
simply stunning.

1516
01:33:45,960 --> 01:33:49,280
A child came and he said
“I know Simon Nicol.

1517
01:33:49,800 --> 01:33:52,920
"Really?"
“Yeah, he's my buddy.

1518
01:33:53,000 --> 01:33:55,680
"Well, I don't know you."

1519
01:33:55,760 --> 01:33:56,800
"It's not you."

1520
01:33:56,880 --> 01:33:58,000
"I am."
“No, you're not.

1521
01:33:58,040 --> 01:33:59,960
"Oh yeah, it's really me."

1522
01:34:00,160 --> 01:34:04,400
(LAUGHTER) And so there it was.
People pretended to know you and stuff.

1523
01:34:04,680 --> 01:34:08,640
I remember being at the presentation
in London and all of Denton was there.

1524
01:34:08,720 --> 01:34:12,240
And I remember someone came up to me
and asked for my autograph.

1525
01:34:12,560 --> 01:34:14,240
I was completely amazed.

1526
01:34:14,400 --> 01:34:19,280
I think it was because of the graphics
on tape for the Zoom game.

1527
01:34:19,360 --> 01:34:22,520
There was my picture and that
someone recognized me

1528
01:34:22,600 --> 01:34:25,280
They wouldn't recognize me today.
I was very hairy back then. (LAUGHTER)

1529
01:34:25,560 --> 01:34:28,360
In many ways it was nice,
but a little awkward

1530
01:34:28,400 --> 01:34:31,600
but they recognized me again on the street
and again.

1531
01:34:31,680 --> 01:34:34,400
You know, the gamers used to come to me and stuff.

1532
01:34:34,600 --> 01:34:38,000
It was fun.
Those were good times and I have good memories of it.

1533
01:34:38,200 --> 01:34:39,200
HUBBARD: Strange things began to happen,

1534
01:34:39,280 --> 01:34:41,800
because it leaked between a few people
my phone number

1535
01:34:41,880 --> 01:34:45,040
I had calls in the middle of the night

1536
01:34:45,600 --> 01:34:48,760
from Japan, from the States and so on,

1537
01:34:48,800 --> 01:34:51,120
because they didn't think it existed
some time shift.

1538
01:34:51,400 --> 01:34:53,080
NICOL: Some guy picked up the phone

1539
01:34:53,160 --> 01:34:55,400
"Hello? Is this Rob Hubbard?"
"Yeah."

1540
01:34:55,840 --> 01:34:58,200
"Is that really Rob Hubbard?"
"Yeah."

1541
01:34:58,240 --> 01:35:00,200
"And damn it!" (LAUGHTER)

1542
01:35:00,240 --> 01:35:02,160
And hung up the receiver.

1543
01:35:09,240 --> 01:35:14,240
It was a glory that none of us had
he wasn't ready.

1544
01:35:14,320 --> 01:35:16,200
And a lot of people noticed it.

1545
01:35:16,520 --> 01:35:21,000
I think some programmers do
became famous very quickly

1546
01:35:21,040 --> 01:35:22,800
people like Matthew Smith,

1547
01:35:22,880 --> 01:35:27,080
I think it was hard to control
because they were just teenagers.

1548
01:35:27,160 --> 01:35:28,920
It wasn't just sudden attention.

1549
01:35:29,000 --> 01:35:31,920
It was an unexpected amount of money that
acquired

1550
01:35:32,000 --> 01:35:35,200
or a huge amount of money on which
they weren't used to it.

1551
01:35:35,240 --> 01:35:39,480
And great pressure was put upon them,
to come up with another hit as soon as possible.

1552
01:35:39,560 --> 01:35:43,600
And someone like Matthew Smith after success
with Jet Set Willy

1553
01:35:43,640 --> 01:35:45,240
it just didn't stop and
burned out on it.

1554
01:35:45,320 --> 01:35:50,600
There is a group of people they are for
the eighties the magical era

1555
01:35:50,680 --> 01:35:53,560
full of happiness and light.

1556
01:35:54,480 --> 01:35:57,000
But for me

1557
01:36:01,000 --> 01:36:04,000
it was no walk in the park.

1558
01:36:04,800 --> 01:36:06,200
My...

1559
01:36:06,640 --> 01:36:11,360
My expectations were exaggerated.

1560
01:36:12,240 --> 01:36:16,520
And that gear grinded me down

1561
01:36:16,600 --> 01:36:19,600
like most others.

1562
01:36:25,200 --> 01:36:29,760
So really, at the end of the eighties
we had absolutely everything.

1563
01:36:29,800 --> 01:36:31,480
A thriving ecosystem,

1564
01:36:31,560 --> 01:36:35,600
based on creators making money,
publishers making money,

1565
01:36:35,680 --> 01:36:38,720
who made the games the world wanted to play.

1566
01:36:38,880 --> 01:36:43,240
We had a fantastic industry
gaming magazines.

1567
01:36:43,320 --> 01:36:46,600
We had publishing companies,
design firms,

1568
01:36:46,680 --> 01:36:49,160
legal companies, we had accounting.

1569
01:36:49,240 --> 01:36:51,440
We also had a lot of other things,

1570
01:36:51,520 --> 01:36:53,280
which also formed this beautiful thing,
such as the gaming industry.

1571
01:36:53,360 --> 01:36:56,960
And we started incredible growth.

1572
01:36:57,600 --> 01:37:00,400
At the end of the eighties we faced
big change

1573
01:37:00,440 --> 01:37:04,040
because the new Amiga machines arrived
and the Atari ST.

1574
01:37:04,360 --> 01:37:08,560
There was also the influence of Japanese Nintendo,
but still mostly in Japan.

1575
01:37:08,600 --> 01:37:11,320
It started to go away, but not quite.

1576
01:37:11,400 --> 01:37:15,520
Sega wanted to break into England
and of course throughout Europe.

1577
01:37:15,600 --> 01:37:17,400
Of course, they were already known in Japan

1578
01:37:17,440 --> 01:37:19,640
with her Master System, which she was
console number one.

1579
01:37:19,720 --> 01:37:25,360
But we were primarily focused
on 16-bit like Amiga and Atari ST.

1580
01:37:25,760 --> 01:37:28,080
And suddenly it kicked everyone
a little more

1581
01:37:28,160 --> 01:37:31,280
because the quality of the games you are
were doing, it could have been much higher.

1582
01:37:58,800 --> 01:38:01,480
I think when it came to the Amiga, yes
the atmosphere has changed a lot

1583
01:38:01,560 --> 01:38:05,360
because from that moment there had to be games
much more advanced graphically.

1584
01:38:05,400 --> 01:38:11,200
So something like Shadow of the Beast was not
can be created by just a programmer.

1585
01:38:11,280 --> 01:38:13,000
You had to have a whole team of people to do it.

1586
01:38:13,240 --> 01:38:17,120
Shadow of the Beast was technically a lot
difficult game.

1587
01:38:17,200 --> 01:38:20,240
You know, it squeezes out of that hardware
quite enough.

1588
01:38:20,320 --> 01:38:23,120
I mean, I'd have to say the Amiga hardware
he was very good

1589
01:38:23,200 --> 01:38:24,320
and very flexible.

1590
01:38:24,400 --> 01:38:27,200
The guys who designed it
just great

1591
01:38:27,280 --> 01:38:30,440
So from that point of view, all tools
we had

1592
01:38:30,520 --> 01:38:32,960
It was just a matter of how to use them

1593
01:38:33,000 --> 01:38:34,960
as creatively as possible so that

1594
01:38:35,000 --> 01:38:38,600
they got the best results and our games
they looked really arcadey.

1595
01:38:38,680 --> 01:38:41,200
But it also came with a lot of experimentation.

1596
01:38:41,640 --> 01:38:44,840
The question is always how many of
design, graphics

1597
01:38:44,920 --> 01:38:47,840
and the sound system you really want to create.

1598
01:38:48,000 --> 01:38:51,000
If it's something you don't require
too much graphics

1599
01:38:51,080 --> 01:38:53,600
so the programmer can do it himself

1600
01:38:53,680 --> 01:38:55,600
in his bedroom.

1601
01:38:55,640 --> 01:38:58,600
When you have graphics in the game
and all that around

1602
01:38:58,680 --> 01:39:02,600
so suddenly you need a team of people
it is a longer and more formal process

1603
01:39:02,640 --> 01:39:06,320
and to a certain degree it then becomes
more difficult to make such a game.

1604
01:39:06,480 --> 01:39:08,760
So it was necessary to build a bigger team,

1605
01:39:09,080 --> 01:39:12,640
and coordinate them and somehow
is to drive.

1606
01:39:12,720 --> 01:39:16,720
And so I think...
That it was the last blow to the method

1607
01:39:16,800 --> 01:39:21,520
creating games in a one-person style
in the bedroom.

1608
01:39:21,640 --> 01:39:23,240
It started appearing very quickly

1609
01:39:23,320 --> 01:39:25,880
new equipment and accessories.

1610
01:39:25,960 --> 01:39:30,320
When you haven't kept up with it,
so you could have missed it.

1611
01:39:30,400 --> 01:39:34,800
And people to their new hardware
of course they wanted to buy the game too.

1612
01:39:34,840 --> 01:39:38,000
They wanted games immediately.
They wanted them in advance.

1613
01:39:38,040 --> 01:39:42,280
So you had to be up for it
ready and make games before

1614
01:39:42,360 --> 01:39:43,600
before there was a demand for them.

1615
01:39:43,880 --> 01:39:46,640
I used to go to normal work during the day

1616
01:39:46,680 --> 01:39:50,600
and then traveled to the other end in the evening
London to Bromley,

1617
01:39:51,200 --> 01:39:54,400
where they had their office and that's where I am
he was finishing his second job.

1618
01:39:54,440 --> 01:39:57,200
I worked at night, then I
there he slept on the ground

1619
01:39:57,240 --> 01:39:59,560
and I'm from there again in the morning
went to work...

1620
01:39:59,960 --> 01:40:01,520
And I think that's about it
two weeks

1621
01:40:01,600 --> 01:40:04,040
it began to take its toll on my health.

1622
01:40:04,120 --> 01:40:06,440
Where I slept at night
chased away the rats.

1623
01:40:06,520 --> 01:40:07,840
It was really terrible.

1624
01:40:08,600 --> 01:40:10,280
I was so stressed

1625
01:40:10,360 --> 01:40:13,440
that I had white stool in the toilet.

1626
01:40:13,520 --> 01:40:17,840
That's when I thought it wasn't good
that it's killing me

1627
01:40:18,320 --> 01:40:21,640
Things were changing, increasing,

1628
01:40:21,720 --> 01:40:25,080
so everything took up during development
much more time.

1629
01:40:25,160 --> 01:40:30,400
Because before you had 48KB and they will load
you worked with 512KB and more.

1630
01:40:31,240 --> 01:40:33,320
Every game we did

1631
01:40:34,000 --> 01:40:38,840
an exponential increase was seen
expenses.

1632
01:40:38,920 --> 01:40:41,680
So we were more and more
dependent on publishers,

1633
01:40:41,760 --> 01:40:46,000
who actually assisted us
in financing the game.

1634
01:40:46,040 --> 01:40:49,760
But at the same time, when they finally released her,

1635
01:40:49,840 --> 01:40:54,840
we only got a small fraction of the money back
which we put into it before that.

1636
01:40:55,040 --> 01:40:58,000
So it was kind of like we
were associated with publishers,

1637
01:40:58,040 --> 01:40:59,560
but we lost some freedom in doing so.

1638
01:40:59,800 --> 01:41:05,800
There was a feeling that the publishers
they were something of a necessary evil

1639
01:41:05,960 --> 01:41:10,320
quite a long time because
business did not go well

1640
01:41:10,400 --> 01:41:13,000
and they were adamant, under enormous pressure.

1641
01:41:14,400 --> 01:41:16,200
That was a tricky thing.

1642
01:41:16,240 --> 01:41:19,760
How it became a matter of money
it became very difficult.

1643
01:41:20,040 --> 01:41:25,800
Publishers got started very quickly
realize

1644
01:41:25,880 --> 01:41:29,200
that this is a real business for them.

1645
01:41:29,280 --> 01:41:33,600
And business as such works best,
when you have a repeatable model

1646
01:41:33,640 --> 01:41:36,640
and you gradually reduce costs,

1647
01:41:36,680 --> 01:41:39,360
that maybe after a year you the same thing
it will cost much less.

1648
01:41:40,320 --> 01:41:43,560
You don't have to invent the already invented.
You don't have to spend on research and development.

1649
01:41:43,600 --> 01:41:46,000
There is already a market for your product,

1650
01:41:46,120 --> 01:41:48,400
you just give it out, label it
and you sell

1651
01:41:48,440 --> 01:41:50,480
and our publishers were starting this
understand the strategy as

1652
01:41:50,560 --> 01:41:52,800
“It's just like any other store.
They were wrong.

1653
01:41:53,560 --> 01:41:57,120
Because publishers in the US have discovered
that it is not just austere business.

1654
01:41:57,200 --> 01:42:00,960
That it's about being ahead of the curve
waves of new technologies

1655
01:42:01,000 --> 01:42:02,400
and when you weren't, you were dead.

1656
01:42:02,480 --> 01:42:05,800
Americans got it
The Japanese got it

1657
01:42:05,880 --> 01:42:06,960
we just didn't get it.

1658
01:42:07,000 --> 01:42:12,160
They understood that it wasn't just about
selling goods,

1659
01:42:12,800 --> 01:42:16,280
but also about keeping up with the times and
latest technologies.

1660
01:42:16,600 --> 01:42:17,960
I don't think the publishers would understand that here.

1661
01:42:18,040 --> 01:42:20,880
Although they intended to do so,

1662
01:42:20,960 --> 01:42:23,880
but we didn't have the money for that.

1663
01:42:23,960 --> 01:42:26,280
So we were able to do it
less and less

1664
01:42:26,360 --> 01:42:30,200
and American publishers such as
Epyx, EA,

1665
01:42:30,280 --> 01:42:33,280
they wanted to invest.

1666
01:42:33,360 --> 01:42:36,040
We offered Fusion

1667
01:42:36,120 --> 01:42:40,560
and a very early version of Populous
local publishers,

1668
01:42:40,600 --> 01:42:42,920
and, I guess it was a Firebird,
they said "No."

1669
01:42:43,000 --> 01:42:46,760
So we looked for others,

1670
01:42:47,240 --> 01:42:50,400
until we got to EA and they took it away from us.

1671
01:42:50,560 --> 01:42:53,800
American publishers were ready
invest only in the best

1672
01:42:53,880 --> 01:42:56,000
and that required having large teams of people.

1673
01:42:56,040 --> 01:42:58,600
Smaller developers were no longer capable
continue on your own.

1674
01:42:58,680 --> 01:43:00,080
It was necessary to merge and create teams.

1675
01:43:00,200 --> 01:43:03,760
And those who made the teams
they were successful.

1676
01:43:03,800 --> 01:43:05,640
Those who didn't have a team gradually quit.

1677
01:43:06,320 --> 01:43:11,240
KENWRIGHT: The 16-bit era was really
massive in full swing.

1678
01:43:11,320 --> 01:43:15,440
But they started to buckle under the pressure
great expectations.

1679
01:43:15,520 --> 01:43:18,400
The PC format began to take shape.

1680
01:43:18,480 --> 01:43:25,080
The PC gave us the opportunity to really do everything
move to a much higher level.

1681
01:43:25,360 --> 01:43:27,960
So we developed for PC as
for the main platform.

1682
01:43:28,040 --> 01:43:30,400
And then we trimmed and simplified

1683
01:43:30,480 --> 01:43:33,400
for ST and Amiga needs.

1684
01:43:33,480 --> 01:43:36,800
So the big decisions were made by
how the games were made.

1685
01:43:37,040 --> 01:43:42,120
The problem was that when 16-bits disappeared
and the PC started,

1686
01:43:42,200 --> 01:43:45,160
so the PC was too expensive to begin with.

1687
01:43:45,200 --> 01:43:49,560
You were moving from something like a Commodore 64,
which cost £300

1688
01:43:49,640 --> 01:43:53,400
on a PC that was 1500 or 2000.

1689
01:43:53,720 --> 01:43:57,400
And it was too expensive to
to become a gaming machine.

1690
01:43:57,640 --> 01:44:00,600
If you look at what happened next
within five years, of course, prices have fallen.

1691
01:44:00,640 --> 01:44:05,120
But there was a huge gap between
by the commercially dead ST and Amiga

1692
01:44:05,400 --> 01:44:09,480
and the emerging PCs and later Macintoshes.

1693
01:44:10,000 --> 01:44:14,560
between which were only consoles,
which were actually viable.

1694
01:44:15,080 --> 01:44:20,680
Someone around '87, '88,
companies began to bet,

1695
01:44:22,040 --> 01:44:27,080
Which of the machines will become the main driver
of the gaming industry, whether Atari ST or Amiga.

1696
01:44:27,160 --> 01:44:30,720
What machine will people switch to from their old ones
eight-bit systems.

1697
01:44:30,800 --> 01:44:37,520
There were an incredible number of people who believed
that some of these 16-bits take over,

1698
01:44:37,600 --> 01:44:39,840
and it never actually happened...

1699
01:44:39,920 --> 01:44:43,040
If we compare the sales volumes of eight-bit
computers, 16-bits never reached them then

1700
01:44:43,120 --> 01:44:48,440
and most gamers have switched to consoles
and that changed the market.

1701
01:44:48,560 --> 01:44:51,960
People weren't ready for it,
they didn't foresee it

1702
01:44:52,000 --> 01:44:54,880
and the industry thus culminated.

1703
01:45:12,960 --> 01:45:15,560
So, as a game publisher, you're at the beginning

1704
01:45:15,600 --> 01:45:17,840
in the nineties they were faced with a decision.

1705
01:45:17,920 --> 01:45:20,080
Will you go the Nintendo or Sega route?

1706
01:45:20,200 --> 01:45:21,520
You couldn't have it both ways.

1707
01:45:22,840 --> 01:45:24,560
We chose Sega.

1708
01:45:24,760 --> 01:45:27,920
And people like Ocean planned
to work with Nintendo.

1709
01:45:28,000 --> 01:45:32,080
So it kind of split the industry
into two camps.

1710
01:45:32,400 --> 01:45:35,920
At that moment we realized
that it was a leap change.

1711
01:45:36,000 --> 01:45:39,000
Many publishers have quit,

1712
01:45:39,080 --> 01:45:43,600
partly because they couldn't afford it

1713
01:45:44,040 --> 01:45:45,200
license for Sega or Nintendo.

1714
01:45:45,280 --> 01:45:48,400
It just froze them.
It was very rough.

1715
01:45:48,480 --> 01:45:51,000
When you weren't smart enough
you didn't have a good reputation

1716
01:45:51,080 --> 01:45:53,960
you could not reveal the cards,
there was no money for cartridges,

1717
01:45:54,000 --> 01:45:55,280
so it laid you down.

1718
01:45:55,360 --> 01:46:00,000
So this really killed a lot of publishers
in Great Britain.

1719
01:46:00,600 --> 01:46:04,240
Mind you we had no money
for investments,

1720
01:46:04,320 --> 01:46:07,520
as the Americans had
for American publishers.

1721
01:46:07,600 --> 01:46:12,200
And so the gaming industry in England began
to decline

1722
01:46:12,280 --> 01:46:17,920
and only a few firms survived like
Ocean, U.S. Gold, Domark, Elite,

1723
01:46:18,040 --> 01:46:19,480
who were on top

1724
01:46:19,560 --> 01:46:22,080
because we are thanks to the money
were able to compete

1725
01:46:22,160 --> 01:46:23,240
and others just wrapped it up.

1726
01:46:23,280 --> 01:46:25,360
We started working with Sega,

1727
01:46:25,600 --> 01:46:28,800
then on their Master System.

1728
01:46:28,880 --> 01:46:30,240
And, well...

1729
01:46:31,200 --> 01:46:35,000
They told us how many games per year
we have to issue

1730
01:46:35,080 --> 01:46:37,840
They approved the games, their quality,

1731
01:46:37,920 --> 01:46:41,200
not an idea but a concept.

1732
01:46:41,240 --> 01:46:44,640
Only then the quality and tested them,

1733
01:46:44,680 --> 01:46:48,200
then they made them and we sold them.

1734
01:46:48,240 --> 01:46:50,920
When you look at it, that's what it means

1735
01:46:51,000 --> 01:46:54,840
first to undergo countless steps which
we didn't have to do that before

1736
01:46:54,920 --> 01:46:59,560
and secondly, we had an incredible time with it
extra costs.

1737
01:46:59,760 --> 01:47:03,600
Only big publishers like Ocean or U.S.Gold

1738
01:47:03,680 --> 01:47:06,320
they could afford their own production of cartridges.

1739
01:47:06,400 --> 01:47:09,760
When you were a small publisher,
so you weren't up to it.

1740
01:47:10,240 --> 01:47:11,760
It changed the market.

1741
01:47:13,040 --> 01:47:17,440
In that we knew how to deliver the game
we were always good on time.

1742
01:47:17,840 --> 01:47:20,800
But it couldn't be done that way with consoles.

1743
01:47:20,840 --> 01:47:25,520
Everything was pre-ordered,
an amount was set aside for this.

1744
01:47:25,600 --> 01:47:27,160
How could you know how many there are
then sell?

1745
01:47:27,200 --> 01:47:29,840
And even because of a small mistake you are
they could easily quit.

1746
01:47:29,920 --> 01:47:32,880
You don't have to make 50 thousand copies after
10 pounds that won't sell anyway.

1747
01:47:33,400 --> 01:47:36,640
The whole process was complicated,

1748
01:47:36,680 --> 01:47:40,560
because we worked with things
such as letters of credit,

1749
01:47:41,680 --> 01:47:44,760
which were not for small business
our kind

1750
01:47:45,200 --> 01:47:47,720
and with the effort we put into it

1751
01:47:47,800 --> 01:47:49,520
the things we were with
used to work.

1752
01:47:49,600 --> 01:47:53,880
And waiting two months to
when something moves and your game

1753
01:47:53,960 --> 01:47:56,640
will be approved and can
start selling.

1754
01:47:56,680 --> 01:48:01,640
So those were enormous changes
the entire industry

1755
01:48:01,720 --> 01:48:04,480
which were accompanied by onset
consoles.

1756
01:48:04,800 --> 01:48:08,440
And it was also the beginning of the end

1757
01:48:08,520 --> 01:48:12,960
many small, creative, smart ones
developers and at the same time a big commitment.

1758
01:48:13,040 --> 01:48:17,480
When you put in a few million pounds
to the development of your games,

1759
01:48:17,560 --> 01:48:18,840
then you don't just do them on a whim.

1760
01:48:19,080 --> 01:48:22,320
The gaming industry in England was completely
infested with consoles.

1761
01:48:22,400 --> 01:48:26,640
And there was no internet, so people couldn't…

1762
01:48:26,680 --> 01:48:31,240
They didn't know for sure what was going on
in other parts of the world.

1763
01:48:31,400 --> 01:48:37,280
I think we had about that
a ten-year quiet period,

1764
01:48:37,360 --> 01:48:41,360
when the UK market was claimed to be
very healthy, everything is going smoothly

1765
01:48:42,160 --> 01:48:43,920
selling enough games, new computers

1766
01:48:44,000 --> 01:48:46,840
they will come very soon and everything will be
in the best order.

1767
01:48:46,960 --> 01:48:50,880
We had a perfect system,

1768
01:48:52,080 --> 01:48:55,120
we could make cassettes and floppy disks
with our games,

1769
01:48:55,800 --> 01:48:59,360
we had a distribution system that we
were in full control

1770
01:48:59,800 --> 01:49:03,960
how many cartridges are currently needed
make etc.

1771
01:49:04,960 --> 01:49:07,200
And then there were the new consoles,

1772
01:49:07,280 --> 01:49:12,560
which had huge amounts
games from Japan and America

1773
01:49:12,640 --> 01:49:14,520
and which were very good.

1774
01:49:14,600 --> 01:49:17,920
The British games industry was really
beyond the zenith

1775
01:49:18,000 --> 01:49:20,440
except for a few exceptions.

1776
01:49:20,600 --> 01:49:24,800
Stampers, Ultimate Play the Game, Rare,
let's call them what we want.

1777
01:49:24,840 --> 01:49:26,680
I think they were some of the smartest back then.

1778
01:49:26,760 --> 01:49:28,560
They saw what was happening in Japan,

1779
01:49:28,600 --> 01:49:31,360
and found the same thing happening
in America.

1780
01:49:31,440 --> 01:49:35,520
And if they wanted to continue their success, they had to
start making console games.

1781
01:49:35,600 --> 01:49:37,560
Because it was becoming a big trend.

1782
01:49:37,640 --> 01:49:40,200
They were very influential.

1783
01:49:40,320 --> 01:49:44,240
Perhaps one of the most influential developers
in England, in the sense of

1784
01:49:44,320 --> 01:49:49,600
that their games people outside of England
actually noticed

1785
01:49:49,640 --> 01:49:51,960
in Japan and America.

1786
01:49:52,000 --> 01:49:55,080
MERRETT: Codemasters were cunning.

1787
01:49:55,200 --> 01:49:58,520
It was obvious that Codemasters were very
smart, for example on Mega Drive,

1788
01:49:58,600 --> 01:50:03,240
where they made extra ports, e.g.
Pete Sampras cartridge,

1789
01:50:03,280 --> 01:50:07,080
so you could play in four without
to have to buy an expensive hardware accessory.

1790
01:50:07,160 --> 01:50:11,720
It seemed like they were watching the market and telling themselves
“So this is thick.

1791
01:50:11,800 --> 01:50:15,280
"What can we do about it?
How can we make it our priority?"

1792
01:50:15,600 --> 01:50:19,320
We didn't cling to every penny.

1793
01:50:19,680 --> 01:50:23,920
Yens and dollars flowed to us,

1794
01:50:24,000 --> 01:50:27,600
because we no longer worked with the British
publisher.

1795
01:50:27,640 --> 01:50:30,200
We saw Mirrorsoft go bankrupt,

1796
01:50:30,280 --> 01:50:33,000
it had such an unpleasant aftertaste.

1797
01:50:33,040 --> 01:50:36,160
someone asked me

1798
01:50:36,240 --> 01:50:40,120
"Fergus, how do you manage?"

1799
01:50:40,200 --> 01:50:43,040
"How come the Probes got away with it?"

1800
01:50:43,800 --> 01:50:46,360
I think it was partly about
that we chose the product well,

1801
01:50:46,440 --> 01:50:48,760
they screwed up with the licenses

1802
01:50:48,800 --> 01:50:52,600
and we were also a little lucky.

1803
01:50:53,040 --> 01:50:55,080
The grain was separated from the chaff.

1804
01:50:55,160 --> 01:50:59,600
Those who did not want to change fell away.

1805
01:50:59,640 --> 01:51:03,880
it was rough to see friends who are
powerless and out of business.

1806
01:51:03,960 --> 01:51:07,240
But it was obvious that just for that
they don't have money

1807
01:51:07,320 --> 01:51:08,800
So just...

1808
01:51:08,880 --> 01:51:10,600
They just caught on and unfortunately

1809
01:51:10,680 --> 01:51:12,200
they paid the ultimate price for it.

1810
01:51:16,240 --> 01:51:20,400
BROWN: It was very hard to get
original products on the market.

1811
01:51:20,480 --> 01:51:24,800
You were dependent on a publisher,
who watched you and believed you

1812
01:51:24,840 --> 01:51:29,480
but when you weren't busy,
it cost you dearly and was risky.

1813
01:51:29,560 --> 01:51:32,440
In the console market

1814
01:51:32,520 --> 01:51:34,520
publishers had many options

1815
01:51:34,600 --> 01:51:38,440
how to fill the year with your products,

1816
01:51:38,560 --> 01:51:40,200
so they had to choose wisely.

1817
01:51:40,280 --> 01:51:45,200
And all the time it seemed that where it was
less risk, it was better.

1818
01:51:45,240 --> 01:51:47,560
They were all under a lot of commercial pressure,

1819
01:51:47,640 --> 01:51:51,400
publishers, their banks and all
the others.

1820
01:51:51,440 --> 01:51:54,640
All this from that imaginary hill
it fell like an avalanche on the developers.

1821
01:51:54,840 --> 01:51:59,240
There were often people called "game producers",

1822
01:51:59,280 --> 01:52:01,520
who led the work on the game.

1823
01:52:01,600 --> 01:52:04,200
We were making a battle tank game,

1824
01:52:04,280 --> 01:52:06,520
and they came and said

1825
01:52:06,600 --> 01:52:09,240
“We decided what your game
must be."

1826
01:52:09,280 --> 01:52:11,360
“It will be a tank racing game.

1827
01:52:11,640 --> 01:52:12,920
I'm like, "But that won't work."

1828
01:52:13,000 --> 01:52:14,280
"And why not?"

1829
01:52:14,360 --> 01:52:16,840
"Well, because as soon as the leader
the tank moves a little further,"

1830
01:52:16,920 --> 01:52:20,400
“the others start shooting at him because
is before them."

1831
01:52:20,440 --> 01:52:24,080
And that's just one example of that
game idea

1832
01:52:24,160 --> 01:52:29,360
but if you think about it for five minutes,

1833
01:52:29,960 --> 01:52:31,760
then you will find out that it is not a very good idea.

1834
01:52:31,920 --> 01:52:36,280
We are game makers, we are experts,

1835
01:52:36,640 --> 01:52:39,240
not those who have never written a play in their lives

1836
01:52:39,320 --> 01:52:44,280
or were just part of the composition process
games together.

1837
01:52:45,120 --> 01:52:49,040
This will give you a special kind of skill,
which others do not have.

1838
01:52:49,360 --> 01:52:52,640
"No, no, we can't do that.
That's not the kind of game that sells."

1839
01:52:53,360 --> 01:52:55,360
“It would stay on store shelves.

1840
01:52:55,440 --> 01:52:58,400
"No one will like it,
no one will understand."

1841
01:52:58,440 --> 01:53:02,280
It was absolutely heartbreaking.

1842
01:53:02,440 --> 01:53:07,040
Marketing people took over
work for developers at large

1843
01:53:07,120 --> 01:53:09,320
and they changed a lot of things.

1844
01:53:09,400 --> 01:53:14,840
One of the horror films that changed the scale
of the development process was

1845
01:53:19,840 --> 01:53:24,240
panicked fear of how everything will turn out
converted to money,

1846
01:53:25,480 --> 01:53:27,120
rather than doing something original.

1847
01:53:28,320 --> 01:53:33,040
“Hey, Quake sold well last year.
Make a game like Quake.”

1848
01:53:34,160 --> 01:53:37,200
"No, I got a great idea. Let's do it
something completely different."

1849
01:53:37,280 --> 01:53:40,600
“No, that's weird. Two to go
I won't give millions of pounds."

1850
01:53:40,640 --> 01:53:42,320
"It might not work out, so what?"

1851
01:53:42,440 --> 01:53:44,440
It was horrible.

1852
01:53:44,560 --> 01:53:47,840
Publishers began to dictate what they wanted
in the style of "No, I want the game like this."

1853
01:53:47,880 --> 01:53:50,760
“That's exactly what I want this game to appeal to
exactly this group of people."

1854
01:53:50,840 --> 01:53:55,960
"And if we get your idea
don't like,"

1855
01:53:56,040 --> 01:53:58,080
"then nothing will come of it."

1856
01:53:58,160 --> 01:54:02,080
So the idea was just to
make the kind of games you are about

1857
01:54:03,160 --> 01:54:06,040
they assumed they would sell well
and the same thing was done over and over.

1858
01:54:06,400 --> 01:54:08,240
At that moment I said

1859
01:54:08,280 --> 01:54:13,880
“Well, that's not why I'm in it
business at the beginning he went."

1860
01:54:14,080 --> 01:54:17,680
"I wanted to be creative and all,
all I have now is a bunch of people"

1861
01:54:17,760 --> 01:54:19,640
"who know not what they do and say,
what am I supposed to do."

1862
01:54:19,880 --> 01:54:22,200
Back then I had my own team

1863
01:54:22,240 --> 01:54:27,760
and our first publishers
they were selling out or completely discontinuing.

1864
01:54:27,840 --> 01:54:31,440
So not one program, but a whole series,
one after the other

1865
01:54:31,520 --> 01:54:33,760
were not properly published.

1866
01:54:33,920 --> 01:54:35,840
We were in real trouble.

1867
01:54:35,920 --> 01:54:38,600
We had debts, but we didn't
no money

1868
01:54:38,640 --> 01:54:42,440
so I pretty much lived paycheck to paycheck
to pay.

1869
01:54:42,560 --> 01:54:46,400
I was getting more and more worried
when i thought about it

1870
01:54:46,680 --> 01:54:48,840
what if some other bill comes.

1871
01:54:48,920 --> 01:54:50,840
It got worse and worse.

1872
01:54:50,920 --> 01:54:55,200
I was really trapped.

1873
01:54:55,360 --> 01:55:00,200
Still, it was a shame because
people wanted to work until the end.

1874
01:55:00,240 --> 01:55:03,480
I had to tell them
"Go home, I'm closing the business."

1875
01:55:03,560 --> 01:55:06,320
"The company is in decline."

1876
01:55:06,400 --> 01:55:08,800
"If I don't get the money, I won't
have on your wages."

1877
01:55:08,840 --> 01:55:13,560
People thought that somehow
I'm going to open a new company.

1878
01:55:13,960 --> 01:55:16,920
But all those years have worn me out.

1879
01:55:17,120 --> 01:55:19,200
And so,

1880
01:55:19,240 --> 01:55:23,240
I didn't want to experience the feeling anymore

1881
01:55:23,280 --> 01:55:25,200
that I can't pay my employees.

1882
01:55:25,320 --> 01:55:29,280
They were very talented people,

1883
01:55:29,560 --> 01:55:32,400
and I made it something like
a small factory or repair shop

1884
01:55:32,480 --> 01:55:36,480
to video games,

1885
01:55:36,560 --> 01:55:39,240
where everything was done as per
treadmill and that was not good.

1886
01:55:39,320 --> 01:55:43,960
When we finished Z and focused
we are on to other things

1887
01:55:44,200 --> 01:55:47,440
so the console market shut us out
from the market.

1888
01:55:47,640 --> 01:55:49,280
It was practically impossible.

1889
01:55:50,200 --> 01:55:54,960
Development costs were skyrocketing

1890
01:55:55,000 --> 01:55:57,920
and when the consoles came...

1891
01:55:58,000 --> 01:55:59,800
We made 25 grand.

1892
01:55:59,840 --> 01:56:03,840
For Xenon and we were in profit.

1893
01:56:04,400 --> 01:56:06,440
What was it like back then?

1894
01:56:06,800 --> 01:56:08,880
The development took half a day.

1895
01:56:08,960 --> 01:56:12,840
And as independent developers we are
they didn't have these millions.

1896
01:56:13,760 --> 01:56:17,840
When you saw the brain drain

1897
01:56:17,880 --> 01:56:20,880
during the early nineties,

1898
01:56:20,960 --> 01:56:24,200
a lot of them left.

1899
01:56:24,480 --> 01:56:30,160
They found jobs in the companies they had
distribution agreements 

1900
01:56:30,200 --> 01:56:35,000
with Nintendo and Sega.

1901
01:56:35,160 --> 01:56:39,280
They had great talent

1902
01:56:39,360 --> 01:56:42,240
and because they all grew up

1903
01:56:42,320 --> 01:56:46,640
on hacking and squeezing it
best of limited systems,

1904
01:56:46,680 --> 01:56:50,040
master those new consoles
she was a toy for them.

1905
01:56:50,160 --> 01:56:52,680
There was a lot of money and offers.

1906
01:56:52,760 --> 01:56:56,760
And you know, a lot of them were young.

1907
01:56:56,800 --> 01:57:01,240
They were unmarried and thirsty
after the adventure.

1908
01:57:01,440 --> 01:57:06,880
Enough of my acquaintances from England
went to work in the United States

1909
01:57:06,960 --> 01:57:09,360
and I think that's about it
telling.

1910
01:57:09,440 --> 01:57:12,440
England saw a big drop.

1911
01:57:12,480 --> 01:57:16,560
There was an exodus of talent,

1912
01:57:16,640 --> 01:57:19,040
which of course was sad

1913
01:57:19,120 --> 01:57:21,520
but here we are in this
very good

1914
01:57:21,600 --> 01:57:22,880
So...

1915
01:57:26,480 --> 01:57:31,040
I remember being on
Tokyo Game Show, I don't know what year.

1916
01:57:31,080 --> 01:57:33,600
Was it sometime in the beginning or
in the mid-nineties.

1917
01:57:33,680 --> 01:57:39,640
Sony was showing off their new one there
future console,

1918
01:57:39,720 --> 01:57:42,400
which later became the PlayStation.

1919
01:57:42,640 --> 01:57:46,800
And we were all amazed by it
The 3D dinosaur they were showing

1920
01:57:46,880 --> 01:57:50,040
which would seem enough today
comically.

1921
01:57:50,120 --> 01:57:51,920
But it was hugely impressive back then.

1922
01:57:52,000 --> 01:57:56,440
You must be aware that 8-bit a
16-bit machines never really handled 3D.

1923
01:57:56,520 --> 01:58:00,960
PlayStation was in 93 or 94
really the first system

1924
01:58:01,040 --> 01:58:05,440
which took the quality of the graphics
workstations in real time

1925
01:58:05,560 --> 01:58:08,440
and transferred it into the hands of the gamekeepers
developers.

1926
01:58:08,880 --> 01:58:10,960
Frankly, not always successfully.

1927
01:58:11,040 --> 01:58:16,040
Some developers understood the necessity
transition to 3D, some don't

1928
01:58:16,160 --> 01:58:20,320
and some were able to make that change
and the others don't.

1929
01:58:20,400 --> 01:58:24,960
You really needed a lot of people to
to make a good CD game.

1930
01:58:25,200 --> 01:58:28,760
And I think someone took it that way
they just ported the game from 16-bit,

1931
01:58:28,840 --> 01:58:31,800
they put it on CD and added a soundtrack to it.

1932
01:58:31,880 --> 01:58:34,920
And that was it.

1933
01:58:35,200 --> 01:58:37,600
But very soon it became clear that...

1934
01:58:37,640 --> 01:58:39,240
The players wanted more than that.

1935
01:58:39,320 --> 01:58:43,000
We had so much memory and so much
storage capacity on CD.

1936
01:58:43,600 --> 01:58:46,760
Which Sony has already done before

1937
01:58:46,800 --> 01:58:49,280
but Sony was the first to
got it right

1938
01:58:49,440 --> 01:58:53,960
with its CD production and model
just-in-time.

1939
01:58:54,040 --> 01:59:00,840
With the style, "We make exactly what you want,
what your market demands today"

1940
01:59:01,240 --> 01:59:02,680
"at a very low price,"

1941
01:59:02,840 --> 01:59:04,640
"and if you want more"

1942
01:59:04,720 --> 01:59:07,760
"you can have it in a few days,
not months, not years."

1943
01:59:07,840 --> 01:59:12,640
So the money that the publisher
invested in directing

1944
01:59:12,680 --> 01:59:16,520
cartridge consoles were huge,

1945
01:59:16,600 --> 01:59:18,840
it was in the order of hundreds of millions of pounds,

1946
01:59:18,960 --> 01:59:22,240
which lay in department stores
or in distribution centers.

1947
01:59:22,320 --> 01:59:26,280
And the CD system on the PlayStation
and later also on other consoles

1948
01:59:26,680 --> 01:59:28,760
exempted from these
unnecessary investments.

1949
01:59:28,840 --> 01:59:31,800
That meant you didn't have to
dispose of the money

1950
01:59:31,840 --> 01:59:34,160
and if you had them, you could have them
invest in development,

1951
01:59:34,240 --> 01:59:36,800
to marketing,

1952
01:59:36,840 --> 01:59:39,440
and so you could have done better
games on CD.

1953
01:59:39,520 --> 01:59:42,680
You could have made better games
and shook the entire industry.

1954
01:59:43,440 --> 01:59:47,480
And so suddenly they had huge teams of people.

1955
01:59:47,560 --> 01:59:51,400
And this American mentality started it
move even further.

1956
01:59:51,440 --> 01:59:53,800
Everything had to be bigger
teams were bigger

1957
01:59:53,840 --> 01:59:56,760
concepts were bigger,
everything was in three dimensions

1958
01:59:56,800 --> 02:00:00,160
which meant 10x more work than
work on 2D projects.

1959
02:00:00,200 --> 02:00:03,240
They were one and two year development cycles,

1960
02:00:03,280 --> 02:00:06,800
when the programmers sat on it.

1961
02:00:06,840 --> 02:00:08,280
They had to be given a lot of time,

1962
02:00:08,360 --> 02:00:10,800
because creating graphics and music
it just took so much time.

1963
02:00:11,440 --> 02:00:14,040
The teams grew to some
100 people

1964
02:00:14,080 --> 02:00:16,240
and then it started to get a little crazy.

1965
02:00:16,320 --> 02:00:19,840
Because it was in that spirit, right
it limited your creativity

1966
02:00:20,480 --> 02:00:22,840
and you couldn't afford to risk

1967
02:00:22,920 --> 02:00:25,480
because you were good
working on Colin McRae 2,

1968
02:00:26,480 --> 02:00:30,600
rather than wondering if
commission 100 people to deal with

1969
02:00:30,640 --> 02:00:33,680
implementation of tadpole trapping in Mexico.

1970
02:00:33,760 --> 02:00:36,120
Such a completely bizarre game.

1971
02:00:36,200 --> 02:00:39,160
You said to yourself, "Well, it can't really be..."

1972
02:00:39,240 --> 02:00:43,280
"We can't spend £10 million,
because that's too risky."

1973
02:00:43,360 --> 02:00:46,840
“So we better make a sequel.

1974
02:00:47,240 --> 02:00:50,840
"It's gonna be fun, it's gonna be a lot of fun,
although it won't be as innovative."

1975
02:00:51,040 --> 02:00:53,720
And at this stage it was becoming very demanding.

1976
02:00:53,800 --> 02:00:57,120
Sony sold a development kit,
development kits were expensive.

1977
02:00:57,200 --> 02:01:01,240
And because we had good ones

1978
02:01:01,280 --> 02:01:03,680
relations with Psygnosis and by extension with Sony,

1979
02:01:03,760 --> 02:01:05,520
we had those kits right from the start.

1980
02:01:05,600 --> 02:01:07,440
So we had whales.

1981
02:01:07,560 --> 02:01:10,440
We didn't have to pay anyone for them,

1982
02:01:10,560 --> 02:01:11,880
so...

1983
02:01:11,960 --> 02:01:13,800
Because the entry price was very high,

1984
02:01:13,840 --> 02:01:16,520
you had to be really sure
that you work

1985
02:01:16,680 --> 02:01:18,800
on a really quality game

1986
02:01:18,840 --> 02:01:22,360
with much higher standards,
than we had before that

1987
02:01:22,440 --> 02:01:25,200
in the days of 16-bit and 8-bit.

1988
02:01:25,520 --> 02:01:28,200
It was a desire to create
better games

1989
02:01:28,280 --> 02:01:30,280
but it was also needed
create anything at all

1990
02:01:30,360 --> 02:01:32,200
because all the investments went into it.

1991
02:01:32,280 --> 02:01:33,960
When you had longer production cycles,

1992
02:01:34,040 --> 02:01:35,960
when you spent more money
for graphics,

1993
02:01:36,040 --> 02:01:40,960
when you licensed music,
because you had it on CD and DVD,

1994
02:01:41,080 --> 02:01:43,440
costs were rising.

1995
02:01:43,680 --> 02:01:50,240
And publishers, quite logically,
they saw an opportunity

1996
02:01:52,240 --> 02:01:54,840
how to control the development even more.

1997
02:01:54,920 --> 02:01:58,560
They were the ones who took it upon themselves
financial risk, not banks.

1998
02:01:58,640 --> 02:02:00,520
It was not possible to get money from banks.

1999
02:02:00,840 --> 02:02:05,640
It was a combination of being ignored
and arrogance

2000
02:02:05,720 --> 02:02:10,640
partly in the financier community
and partly in the business itself.

2001
02:02:10,760 --> 02:02:14,760
Did the English make great plays? Yes.
Were the games supported? No.

2002
02:02:14,840 --> 02:02:17,800
Investors in England

2003
02:02:17,840 --> 02:02:20,360
they didn't understand the video game market

2004
02:02:20,440 --> 02:02:22,440
they didn't see potential in him

2005
02:02:23,040 --> 02:02:28,040
and this led to the fact that a lot
publishers lost interest over time.

2006
02:02:28,080 --> 02:02:33,160
It was obvious that the Americans were
strong and rich

2007
02:02:33,280 --> 02:02:36,400
and their investment community
she understood what it was all about.

2008
02:02:36,440 --> 02:02:38,400
I knew we were in
huge disadvantage.

2009
02:02:38,480 --> 02:02:41,160
And I think in the middle
the nineties,

2010
02:02:42,360 --> 02:02:45,840
when i was done
I needed to start doing something else

2011
02:02:47,840 --> 02:02:51,320
so things were starting to change.
It became more corporate.

2012
02:02:51,680 --> 02:02:55,200
And it wasn't all for me anymore.

2013
02:02:55,520 --> 02:02:57,920
We used to make our own decisions.

2014
02:02:58,520 --> 02:03:00,720
And that's how we ensured success.

2015
02:03:00,800 --> 02:03:04,400
We didn't have to go back and ask
if we can get paid more for so and so.

2016
02:03:04,440 --> 02:03:05,800
We just decided and did it.

2017
02:03:05,840 --> 02:03:07,880
And that was the big difference between
old and new times.

2018
02:03:07,960 --> 02:03:11,520
We had our own company, our own market,
your reputation

2019
02:03:11,600 --> 02:03:14,000
and everything fell right into our laps.

2020
02:03:14,640 --> 02:03:16,800
Consoles made games more expensive.

2021
02:03:16,840 --> 02:03:20,440
And yet, thanks to them, the market grew.

2022
02:03:20,520 --> 02:03:25,000
But a lot of British companies were
absorbed by foreign companies,

2023
02:03:25,040 --> 02:03:29,160
American, Japanese, French,
German ones

2024
02:03:30,680 --> 02:03:32,000
or simply went out of business.

2025
02:03:32,040 --> 02:03:37,160
So you could see how
were these publishers

2026
02:03:37,240 --> 02:03:40,000
swallowed up by corporations or died.

2027
02:03:40,040 --> 02:03:42,080
There were a few exceptions,

2028
02:03:42,160 --> 02:03:45,360
when those companies thanks to trade
they survived on the stock market

2029
02:03:45,440 --> 02:03:47,040
and one of them was Eidos.

2030
02:03:47,120 --> 02:03:52,440
But it was not easy for them

2031
02:03:52,480 --> 02:03:55,640
move on stock markets,

2032
02:03:55,680 --> 02:03:59,920
because they were not used to trading publicly.

2033
02:04:00,000 --> 02:04:01,920
When you have to be transparent
and communicate what your people are doing

2034
02:04:02,000 --> 02:04:05,160
in an environment full of uncertainties.

2035
02:04:05,240 --> 02:04:08,240
And so we witnessed…

2036
02:04:08,280 --> 02:04:12,800
In the early 1990s we were
witnessing the peak of the UK video game market

2037
02:04:12,840 --> 02:04:14,720
and in the late 1990s

2038
02:04:14,800 --> 02:04:18,160
almost all British publishers
they disappeared.

2039
02:04:18,320 --> 02:04:23,120
So as time went on I witnessed
of this evolution,

2040
02:04:23,640 --> 02:04:26,480
when in the beginning it looked more like
fad, up to something that

2041
02:04:26,560 --> 02:04:29,320
from an interesting hobby over time

2042
02:04:29,400 --> 02:04:31,240
transformed into a regular industry.

2043
02:04:34,600 --> 02:04:36,840
Today the market is huge.

2044
02:04:36,920 --> 02:04:38,640
Looks like we've reached the point

2045
02:04:38,720 --> 02:04:42,920
when certain games tend to make millions.

2046
02:04:43,000 --> 02:04:46,920
Look around you, all of you
Call of Duty, FIFy, Metal Gear Solidy,

2047
02:04:47,000 --> 02:04:48,920
they are all events now.

2048
02:04:49,000 --> 02:04:51,560
Today we talk about them as brands.

2049
02:04:51,640 --> 02:04:55,520
We are talking about titles that
three weeks after release

2050
02:04:55,600 --> 02:04:59,360
they earn over 20 million globally.

2051
02:04:59,440 --> 02:05:01,480
It's massive.

2052
02:05:16,720 --> 02:05:20,240
I think since the first PlayStation
that market has grown 

2053
02:05:20,320 --> 02:05:25,680
by 100 percent.

2054
02:05:25,760 --> 02:05:30,840
In 1994 you could with your game
earn around $500,000.

2055
02:05:30,880 --> 02:05:32,000
And it must have been a pretty good game.

2056
02:05:32,040 --> 02:05:34,240
I remember when we did Crash
and Spyro and...

2057
02:05:34,280 --> 02:05:36,880
We had to put in them
around two to three million dollars

2058
02:05:36,960 --> 02:05:39,560
and it was high-end back then.

2059
02:05:39,640 --> 02:05:41,320
But if you look at it today,

2060
02:05:41,400 --> 02:05:45,480
so it's no problem to put 60, 80,
even 100 million dollars.

2061
02:05:45,560 --> 02:05:47,640
Even before you release it
and you start bidding.

2062
02:05:47,920 --> 02:05:50,120
But you have to think about it
they reimbursed you for the expenses.

2063
02:05:50,200 --> 02:05:53,760
I think the revenue will be on launch day
can exceed

2064
02:05:53,840 --> 02:05:56,400
but it must come back to you, that se
it's not going to be Titanic.

2065
02:05:56,440 --> 02:05:58,960
I think people have learned from that
more invest and handle

2066
02:05:59,040 --> 02:06:01,160
much more reasonable with money.

2067
02:06:01,240 --> 02:06:04,040
It's a really big business.

2068
02:06:04,120 --> 02:06:09,920
Make a computer game today
same as you would like

2069
02:06:10,000 --> 02:06:13,600
shoot a movie.

2070
02:06:44,120 --> 02:06:47,000
Making a top game is not an easy task.

2071
02:06:47,040 --> 02:06:51,480
Sometimes even 200 people work on it
three whole years.

2072
02:06:51,560 --> 02:06:54,800
There are teams of computer scientists,
cartoonists, animators,

2073
02:06:54,840 --> 02:06:57,600
screenwriters, filmmakers,

2074
02:06:57,640 --> 02:07:01,840
voice actors, artificial intelligence programmers,
modelers.

2075
02:07:01,920 --> 02:07:05,080
It's stunning in many ways.

2076
02:07:05,160 --> 02:07:09,640
This holds it all together
a producer who strives

2077
02:07:09,680 --> 02:07:13,400
coach this massive team
budget, planning,

2078
02:07:13,440 --> 02:07:16,440
investors, the market,

2079
02:07:16,520 --> 02:07:21,360
and cooperates with advertisers and PR,
for the game to be published.

2080
02:07:21,440 --> 02:07:24,640
But when he does it well, hugely
it will come back.

2081
02:07:24,680 --> 02:07:28,240
The last Call of Duty se
it sold in the first 24 hours

2082
02:07:28,280 --> 02:07:32,360
four and a half million copies
only in England and the USA.

2083
02:07:32,440 --> 02:07:35,800
So the return can be monumental,

2084
02:07:35,840 --> 02:07:40,200
but it can also end in disaster,
when it's not done right.

2085
02:07:53,640 --> 02:07:57,160
MERRETT: As consoles continue to improve,

2086
02:07:57,240 --> 02:07:59,600
people still require in their games
more realism.

2087
02:07:59,640 --> 02:08:03,680
So she might have looked years ago
football game so

2088
02:08:03,760 --> 02:08:06,160
that the players looked like a mess
sprites that look the same,

2089
02:08:06,240 --> 02:08:09,200
whereas today people want ronaldo so
what the real ronaldo looks like

2090
02:08:09,240 --> 02:08:12,800
They want him to move his face to…

2091
02:08:12,840 --> 02:08:16,000
They want his shirt dirty
they want different kinds of kicks.

2092
02:08:16,040 --> 02:08:17,120
They want that kind of stuff.

2093
02:08:17,440 --> 02:08:18,800
And all this means to deploy
more people into development.

2094
02:08:18,840 --> 02:08:22,800
So as we long for a greater reality,

2095
02:08:22,840 --> 02:08:25,720
so we discover that there are still us
needed more and more to

2096
02:08:25,800 --> 02:08:27,160
for such a game to be created.

2097
02:08:27,240 --> 02:08:31,760
The days when all you needed was graphics
with a piece of squared paper they are gone.

2098
02:08:32,640 --> 02:08:37,400
It turns out that it starts all the time
promote specializations more.

2099
02:08:37,440 --> 02:08:44,240
If you look at Activision,
those focus on CoD and Skylanders.

2100
02:08:44,280 --> 02:08:46,240
When on EA, they are...

2101
02:08:46,320 --> 02:08:48,760
They have their sports games and Sims...

2102
02:08:48,840 --> 02:08:50,960
Everyone knows today that they have to do something
specialize.

2103
02:08:51,040 --> 02:08:54,520
It's no longer just a software house,
who can do everything.

2104
02:08:54,600 --> 02:08:57,400
That's it for other activities
very important decision

2105
02:08:57,440 --> 02:09:01,840
because someone might overtake you.

2106
02:09:01,920 --> 02:09:06,400
But I don't think anyone could
take over what we do here at Codemasters.

2107
02:09:06,440 --> 02:09:09,720
Regarding off-road racing games,
road or F1.

2108
02:09:09,800 --> 02:09:11,040
I don't think anyone cares about us.

2109
02:09:11,080 --> 02:09:16,320
It's unbelievable how the industry has grown
changed, from a boy sitting at a computer

2110
02:09:16,400 --> 02:09:19,400
forming something very simple but
putting a lot of time into it,

2111
02:09:19,440 --> 02:09:23,840
in the biggest entertainment industry,
which exists.

2112
02:09:23,920 --> 02:09:25,800
It's bigger than the film industry.

2113
02:09:25,840 --> 02:09:28,000
It's bigger than the music industry.

2114
02:09:28,040 --> 02:09:29,920
And those industries took notice.

2115
02:09:30,000 --> 02:09:32,840
It took them a while, but today
they want to be a part of it too.

2116
02:09:32,880 --> 02:09:35,840
Every movie studio wants to have
participation in the gaming industry.

2117
02:09:35,880 --> 02:09:40,480
We exchange talents, technologies
and we use them together.

2118
02:09:40,560 --> 02:09:43,080
So it's really impressive,
how it evolved

2119
02:09:43,400 --> 02:09:46,840
But the main thing
and brings that freshness to it

2120
02:09:46,920 --> 02:09:51,040
is talent and new blood that
is coming

2121
02:09:51,080 --> 02:09:56,240
and makes those games with new ideas
a new form of creativity.

2122
02:09:56,600 --> 02:09:59,640
We have fantastic in this country
development talents.

2123
02:09:59,720 --> 02:10:01,880
Not all of them are connected.

2124
02:10:01,960 --> 02:10:06,120
Actually, there are many fantastic developers,
who work on multiple platforms,

2125
02:10:06,200 --> 02:10:07,240
including consoles.

2126
02:10:07,440 --> 02:10:11,040
As other platforms emerge,
it requires greater agility and adaptability,

2127
02:10:11,120 --> 02:10:14,400
I mean things like iPhone, Facebook,

2128
02:10:14,920 --> 02:10:17,800
Steam, all those little devices,
which is produced today.

2129
02:10:17,840 --> 02:10:20,080
And programming languages

2130
02:10:20,160 --> 02:10:22,240
in which these games are programmed
are becoming more and more

2131
02:10:22,320 --> 02:10:25,240
uniform across those platforms.

2132
02:10:25,280 --> 02:10:28,800
People with their creativity

2133
02:10:28,840 --> 02:10:31,640
if we look at it in terms of
employment and creativity

2134
02:10:31,720 --> 02:10:34,280
with what is happening in the industry
they no longer completely orient themselves and get lost

2135
02:10:34,360 --> 02:10:36,760
and thus they are capable of it
jump in again

2136
02:10:36,840 --> 02:10:40,080
and do only what they really want
i.e. making works of art.

2137
02:10:40,160 --> 02:10:43,320
Yes, I think we had a lot
individual creative geniuses,

2138
02:10:43,400 --> 02:10:46,040
who were in the 80s and 90s
successful.

2139
02:10:47,240 --> 02:10:49,240
And we see them coming back.

2140
02:10:49,320 --> 02:10:52,360
You know, there are quite a few in England
good teams

2141
02:10:52,440 --> 02:10:55,680
who are very successful
and they do creative things.

2142
02:10:55,760 --> 02:10:59,400
I found a lot of people coming

2143
02:10:59,440 --> 02:11:01,000
through 'indie' projects.

2144
02:11:01,040 --> 02:11:05,440
Thanks to iOS, thanks to downloadable games.

2145
02:11:05,480 --> 02:11:07,400
There is a plethora of options.

2146
02:11:07,800 --> 02:11:10,520
Suddenly you can make your own games.

2147
02:11:10,600 --> 02:11:14,320
Without them, a single person would nowadays
he didn't make the game.

2148
02:11:14,400 --> 02:11:16,240
We have reached a stage where

2149
02:11:16,280 --> 02:11:20,480
when we download games digitally

2150
02:11:21,000 --> 02:11:25,600
where I, as a game developer, can have
fan base,

2151
02:11:25,640 --> 02:11:28,200
a circle of hobbyists who think that
Rebellion games are great

2152
02:11:28,240 --> 02:11:31,200
and they can share their contacts with us
and that's how we can get back to them

2153
02:11:31,240 --> 02:11:33,360
with a direct offer for a new game.

2154
02:11:33,440 --> 02:11:34,880
And they say, "Yes, please."

2155
02:11:35,000 --> 02:11:37,680
Across all platforms there are programmers,

2156
02:11:37,760 --> 02:11:41,840
who allow you to sell their games
around the world,

2157
02:11:41,920 --> 02:11:43,080
wherever you want.

2158
02:11:43,160 --> 02:11:48,600
But the most important thing is that you have
choice and you have control over it.

2159
02:11:48,640 --> 02:11:53,200
Just like it used to be in the beginning
The 80s when it all started.

2160
02:11:53,240 --> 02:11:54,640
And that's a really good thing.

2161
02:11:55,040 --> 02:11:57,280
And I think the nice thing about it

2162
02:11:57,360 --> 02:12:00,440
is that computer science is back
to the National Curriculum

2163
02:12:00,520 --> 02:12:03,360
Livingstone-Hope report.

2164
02:12:03,440 --> 02:12:06,240
When we started doing research
Next Gen,

2165
02:12:06,320 --> 02:12:10,160
Ipsos MORI,
we started in universities.

2166
02:12:10,240 --> 02:12:12,920
And we found out that, for example,
Cambridge University

2167
02:12:13,000 --> 02:12:17,440
was a ten percent drop in success rate
people studying computer science.

2168
02:12:17,480 --> 02:12:20,640
People were not successful because
they had no motivation

2169
02:12:20,720 --> 02:12:23,680
because they didn't learn anything about
computational thinking

2170
02:12:23,760 --> 02:12:28,520
or solving problems in the environment
computer science in schools.

2171
02:12:28,800 --> 02:12:31,880
It was information technology that
taught children to work with a digital office

2172
02:12:31,960 --> 02:12:34,520
such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel.

2173
02:12:34,600 --> 02:12:36,040
Although this could be useful,

2174
02:12:36,080 --> 02:12:39,520
it never gave them the basis for
a career in the gaming industry.

2175
02:12:39,600 --> 02:12:42,920
Within information technology

2176
02:12:43,520 --> 02:12:47,040
were computer science exams

2177
02:12:47,960 --> 02:12:50,840
and was taught in schools,
and that killed the talents.

2178
02:12:51,120 --> 02:12:56,920
And so we are despite all of those
children were made by people who had

2179
02:12:57,000 --> 02:12:59,640
wanting to create technology.

2180
02:12:59,720 --> 02:13:03,040
We taught them to read effectively, but
no more writing.

2181
02:13:03,400 --> 02:13:08,800
Young people in England will now be directed
to be creative.

2182
02:13:08,840 --> 02:13:13,160
Which I think is in the 21st century
really important

2183
02:13:13,240 --> 02:13:18,120
in the digital industrial century
revolution.

2184
02:13:18,200 --> 02:13:22,360
I think our young people need
to further double these abilities,

2185
02:13:22,440 --> 02:13:24,920
because those technologies are
all around them.

2186
02:13:25,000 --> 02:13:28,640
And while we used to be very good
then we slipped.

2187
02:13:28,800 --> 02:13:31,520
Having computer studies here again
it is really beneficial

2188
02:13:31,600 --> 02:13:33,240
but it's not just about coding.

2189
02:13:33,320 --> 02:13:36,600
It's also about great graphics
and great sound.

2190
02:13:36,640 --> 02:13:39,640
You can code a great game,
but you also need to have graphics in it.

2191
02:13:39,720 --> 02:13:42,000
You need to have a visual element.

2192
02:13:42,040 --> 02:13:44,960
You must be able to sell it,
you have to understand the way the game is played.

2193
02:13:45,040 --> 02:13:46,560
And that's a big concession. (remit)

2194
02:13:46,640 --> 02:13:48,240
That bonus

2195
02:13:48,320 --> 02:13:51,920
or the positive is understanding
computer think.

2196
02:13:52,000 --> 02:13:53,520
And these are the children who

2197
02:13:53,600 --> 02:13:56,560
it engages all that logical thinking
and the reasoning behind it.

2198
02:13:56,640 --> 02:13:58,840
People never talk very positively about games,

2199
02:13:58,920 --> 02:14:02,520
in them you have to solve problems, puzzles,

2200
02:14:02,600 --> 02:14:05,640
you intuitively learn to make decisions
and consequences of decision making.

2201
02:14:05,720 --> 02:14:08,000
One of the main benefits
using video games to help learn

2202
02:14:08,040 --> 02:14:10,440
it is a fact that children know it.

2203
02:14:10,520 --> 02:14:13,800
So a child who doesn't take it as learning,
they see it as a game.

2204
02:14:13,840 --> 02:14:15,840
And children have been playing games since ancient times.

2205
02:14:15,920 --> 02:14:18,600
They love it.
And since the beginning of time

2206
02:14:18,640 --> 02:14:20,040
they learn by playing games.

2207
02:14:20,080 --> 02:14:23,640
From counting, repeating nursery rhymes.

2208
02:14:23,680 --> 02:14:26,960
So from one point of view
it can give them imagination.

2209
02:14:27,040 --> 02:14:30,560
But they also learn to coordinate
eyes and hands to check

2210
02:14:30,640 --> 02:14:33,800
count, math, do
the right decisions.

2211
02:14:33,840 --> 02:14:36,240
“What if I make that decision? Why?
Can I take it back and change it?"

2212
02:14:36,320 --> 02:14:37,400
And also practicing.

2213
02:14:37,440 --> 02:14:41,280
Video games allow you to fail
under very safe conditions.

2214
02:14:41,360 --> 02:14:43,920
Failure in some exams

2215
02:14:44,000 --> 02:14:46,080
effectively a failure.

2216
02:14:46,160 --> 02:14:47,920
Children make mistakes while playing games,

2217
02:14:48,000 --> 02:14:50,240
because if they didn't
they wouldn't want to be better at them then.

2218
02:14:50,840 --> 02:14:53,840
I see enthusiasm and passion in it,

2219
02:14:53,880 --> 02:14:55,320
which, yes, there really is.

2220
02:14:55,400 --> 02:14:58,800
And also the desire to move on,
want to improve.

2221
02:14:58,840 --> 02:15:01,280
And that makes them more flexible.

2222
02:15:01,360 --> 02:15:03,080
But it is clear that it does not stop.

2223
02:15:03,160 --> 02:15:06,440
That interest in arithmetic reasoning
and enthusiasm goes along with them 

2224
02:15:06,520 --> 02:15:08,400
and they can take it as potential
career starter

2225
02:15:08,440 --> 02:15:11,040
and something they could do afterwards
to devote to the university.

2226
02:15:11,080 --> 02:15:13,040
I worked at Westminster
university.

2227
02:15:13,240 --> 02:15:14,480
I teach professional practice,

2228
02:15:14,560 --> 02:15:17,240
where people learn how to work in teams.

2229
02:15:17,320 --> 02:15:19,960
In various disciplines
game development,

2230
02:15:20,040 --> 02:15:24,240
such as programming, graphics, sound,
design and quality level.

2231
02:15:24,280 --> 02:15:25,840
There are six different industries.

2232
02:15:25,920 --> 02:15:27,760
When you get a job
in a development company,

2233
02:15:27,840 --> 02:15:30,760
so you are guaranteed to get a job
in one of those six areas.

2234
02:15:31,400 --> 02:15:34,840
Because in order to enter,
you have to learn the process.

2235
02:15:34,880 --> 02:15:38,720
This way, people will learn how to do documentation,
to work according to them,

2236
02:15:38,800 --> 02:15:40,120
how to work in teams.

2237
02:15:40,200 --> 02:15:41,840
When I'm a programmer, I learn...

2238
02:15:41,880 --> 02:15:44,680
How does a graphic designer, designer,

2239
02:15:44,760 --> 02:15:47,080
producer and compromises in between.

2240
02:15:47,280 --> 02:15:51,600
And I think there was a thing in England
business is always neglected.

2241
02:15:51,640 --> 02:15:54,240
So I would like to see a course,

2242
02:15:54,280 --> 02:15:58,240
specializing in key
things from design, programming,

2243
02:15:58,320 --> 02:16:00,840
but with a focus on 

2244
02:16:00,920 --> 02:16:05,040
understanding how it all works
in the video game business.

2245
02:16:0 5,120 --> 02:16:09,480
And when some fool shows up,
who doesn't care about the whole business side,

2246
02:16:09,560 --> 02:16:11,080
and plenty of people feel that way.

2247
02:16:11,160 --> 02:16:14,560
I know plenty of people who can't
fill the bath.

2248
02:16:14,640 --> 02:16:19,080
It is not a problem if it is found
partner who

2249
02:16:19,160 --> 02:16:22,360
it will allow them to do what they are good at
and not what they are not good at.

2250
02:16:22,440 --> 02:16:25,440
Together they can create
nice business.

2251
02:16:25,640 --> 02:16:30,240
It's like you can do your own thing
but do it smartly, realistically.

2252
02:16:30,280 --> 02:16:31,840
When three of you start a business,

2253
02:16:31,880 --> 02:16:34,240
so at least the first six months
you will not make a profit.

2254
02:16:34,280 --> 02:16:35,480
So make a good game.

2255
02:16:35,560 --> 02:16:38,000
No one will support you.

2256
02:16:38,040 --> 02:16:39,640
You won't be interested in anyone.

2257
02:16:39,680 --> 02:16:41,640
You have to work hard and work it out
to achieve success.

2258
02:16:41,680 --> 02:16:42,840
And it's kind of...

2259
02:16:42,880 --> 02:16:46,560
It is also the kind of learning that is
force to approach things

2260
02:16:46,640 --> 02:16:49,040
which they do realistically.

2261
02:16:49,200 --> 02:16:53,440
So even though we are in the making
good game

2262
02:16:53,520 --> 02:16:55,400
you can find someone far better.

2263
02:16:55,440 --> 02:17:01,040
And take our position
as a leader in game production.

2264
02:17:01,080 --> 02:17:03,840
The digital world is very exciting.

2265
02:17:04,880 --> 02:17:08,320
It's a little creepy feeling
but it's not that hard

2266
02:17:08,400 --> 02:17:11,240
which is gorgeous means that
we can always have new pioneers.

2267
02:17:11,280 --> 02:17:16,240
Perhaps they are among those
who are watching this now

2268
02:17:16,320 --> 02:17:18,640
and they are really interesting and
important

2269
02:17:18,720 --> 02:17:21,440
for game development in the next decade.

2270
02:17:21,480 --> 02:17:25,640
It's really exciting
because we, as pioneers,

2271
02:17:25,680 --> 02:17:29,320
we pass the baton to new people
and we look forward to what they come up with.

2272
02:17:29,400 --> 02:17:33,760
More emphasis will be placed in the future
for the experience of playing on better consoles,

2273
02:17:33,880 --> 02:17:37,680
but I'm not sure that applies to all
who just want to play games.

2274
02:17:37,760 --> 02:17:41,640
In the end, it's all about interaction
and the joy of playing.

2275
02:17:41,680 --> 02:17:45,200
I think when people so passionately
they remember

2276
02:17:45,240 --> 02:17:47,840
for playing retro games, for example,

2277
02:17:47,880 --> 02:17:51,520
it means it was about experiences
and not necessarily about how it looked.

2278
02:17:52,480 --> 02:17:56,800
I think the industry in England
is at that level

2279
02:17:56,840 --> 02:18:01,040
precisely because

2280
02:18:01,080 --> 02:18:03,360
that came from nothing that began
mold in bedrooms.

2281
02:18:03,600 --> 02:18:07,080
We used the best ones back then
technology,

2282
02:18:07,160 --> 02:18:12,640
what were available in the world and
those kids did wonders with it.

2283
02:18:12,760 --> 02:18:14,360
We were such an avant-garde.

2284
02:18:14,440 --> 02:18:17,480
It sounds pompous, but in reality
it wasn't like that.

2285
02:18:17,560 --> 02:18:19,120
There were no predecessors of ours.

2286
02:18:19,200 --> 02:18:21,480
There was no one we could
ask for advice.

2287
02:18:21,560 --> 02:18:23,040
It was truly revolutionary.

2288
02:18:23,120 --> 02:18:26,160
Like in Victorian times
with steam engines 

2289
02:18:26,240 --> 02:18:28,160
or in the time of King Edward
with the first airplanes.

2290
02:18:28,240 --> 02:18:29,920
It was exactly like that.

2291
02:18:30,080 --> 02:18:34,320
The media started talking about them as
about freaks and geeks,

2292
02:18:34,400 --> 02:18:40,400
they tried to box them in
like some fools.

2293
02:18:41,840 --> 02:18:45,400
He was amazing and they helped give birth
industry,

2294
02:18:45,440 --> 02:18:48,480
which has now become the most entertaining
industry in the world.

2295
02:18:48,560 --> 02:18:50,840
We had so many creative talents,

2296
02:18:50,920 --> 02:18:56,200
bunch of best programmers,
best graphics and great musicians.

2297
02:18:56,240 --> 02:18:58,960
They had all the cool and creative ones
ideas and came up with innovative ones

2298
02:18:59,040 --> 02:19:01,320
and pioneering products.

2299
02:19:01,720 --> 02:19:06,840
We set the trends for decades to come.
We were pioneers.

2300
02:19:09,040 --> 02:19:11,040
So we didn't know

2301
02:19:11,120 --> 02:19:14,880
but we knew we were doing
something unique and very different.

2302
02:19:15,280 --> 02:19:19,080
Developers from Britain, especially those
who started in the 1980s,

2303
02:19:19,160 --> 02:19:21,840
are scattered all over the world,
partly in the United States,

2304
02:19:21,920 --> 02:19:23,440
partly in Canada,

2305
02:19:23,520 --> 02:19:28,640
they are often technical leaders
or development team leaders.

2306
02:19:28,720 --> 02:19:32,640
Countless of those great American games

2307
02:19:32,680 --> 02:19:35,080
from American publishers and
American developers

2308
02:19:35,160 --> 02:19:37,400
they have British programmers,

2309
02:19:37,440 --> 02:19:39,920
British graphics and British
technical director.

2310
02:19:40,000 --> 02:19:45,720
So British developer talent
has an extraordinary success.

2311
02:19:46,240 --> 02:19:52,480
Britain had a definite influence on
the birth of what is called the gaming industry.

2312
02:19:52,560 --> 02:19:54,520
Absolutely without any doubt.

2313
02:19:54,600 --> 02:19:59,840
We were pioneers, we were
innovators and we still are.

2314
02:19:59,880 --> 02:20:03,960
So there is no doubt
that we would not be at birth

2315
02:20:04,040 --> 02:20:07,600
this beautiful, into the future
directed

2316
02:20:07,640 --> 02:20:09,520
great industry we are a part of.

2317
02:20:12,120 --> 02:20:13,280
That's right.

2318
02:20:31,280 --> 02:20:32,360
It was something very new.

2319
02:20:32,440 --> 02:20:36,440
It was a thing in the making
on the go.

2320
02:20:36,520 --> 02:20:40,320
It was a new challenge
it was a kind of new medium

2321
02:20:40,400 --> 02:20:43,040
there was also a piece of culture in it.

2322
02:20:43,120 --> 02:20:46,240
Anyone could do anything.

2323
02:20:46,480 --> 02:20:49,920
No standards were given, anyone
he could come up with anything new.

2324
02:20:50,000 --> 02:20:52,120
In that sense it was something
like the Wild West.

2325
02:20:52,880 --> 02:20:56,840
Every time you felt that
you are doing something completely new.

2326
02:20:56,920 --> 02:20:59,000
All you have done, no one before you
he hasn't done yet.

2327
02:20:59,120 --> 02:21:01,040
It was very wild.

2328
02:21:01,080 --> 02:21:05,080
We compared it to Wild
of the West and we were pioneers.

2329
02:21:05,160 --> 02:21:10,640
It was a new form of entertainment
industry,

2330
02:21:10,680 --> 02:21:13,680
a new medium, but we are then
so they didn't take.

2331
02:21:13,760 --> 02:21:16,240
And there were no rules. We are them
they created themselves.

2332
02:21:16,320 --> 02:21:19,880
Because we did great things
which no one has done before.

2333
02:21:19,960 --> 02:21:22,680
You got out of bed and
you wrote your play.

2334
02:21:22,760 --> 02:21:24,600
It was so exciting.

2335
02:21:24,640 --> 02:21:28,440
From today's point of view, we actually
they didn't care that it was great.

2336
02:21:28,520 --> 02:21:31,160
You know, every day we were
such dreamers.

2337
02:21:31,240 --> 02:21:34,480
Do things that no one has done before
did not make, invent or dream of them,

2338
02:21:34,560 --> 02:21:38,040
on hardware that was great at the time
and exciting.

2339
02:21:38,120 --> 02:21:42,360
Video games were made by a manufacturer,

2340
02:21:42,440 --> 02:21:44,040
but it was something we considered
for creations as from God.

2341
02:21:44,080 --> 02:21:46,520
You know, I didn't connect them back then
with some human activity,

2342
02:21:46,600 --> 02:21:47,920
that I could join.

2343
02:21:48,920 --> 02:21:51,680
It was a sort of innocent hobby hobby.

2344
02:21:51,840 --> 02:21:54,840
Nothing like this existed before.

2345
02:21:54,920 --> 02:21:58,720
The things we created could
be similar

2346
02:21:58,800 --> 02:22:00,440
but they were unique and new.

2347
02:22:00,640 --> 02:22:04,760
It was a madly spent hours,
absolutely crazy.

2348
02:22:04,840 --> 02:22:06,280
Day coder, night coder, no.

2349
02:22:06,360 --> 02:22:12,080
I was everything, day and night
I passed out at the keyboard once.

2350
02:22:12,160 --> 02:22:16,640
I hit my head on the radiator
and I was KO for several hours.

2351
02:22:16,680 --> 02:22:18,000
Then I woke up and... "Oh, oh!"

2352
02:22:18,040 --> 02:22:21,240
We were in such tiny
nasty office

2353
02:22:22,440 --> 02:22:25,680
and we all went to pee in the sink
because there was no toilet.

2354
02:22:25,760 --> 02:22:28,920
And we ate lousy, cheap food.

2355
02:22:29,000 --> 02:22:32,240
We didn't even have a phone
let alone a mobile phone like today.

2356
02:22:32,280 --> 02:22:34,520
We didn't have a phone in the house.

2357
02:22:34,600 --> 02:22:37,720
There was a public payphone on the ground floor

2358
02:22:37,800 --> 02:22:40,640
and it kept ringing and it was every time
order for Games Workshop.

2359
02:22:40,680 --> 02:22:46,280
Our landlord, some Irishman,
lived on the ground floor

2360
02:22:46,360 --> 02:22:49,680
and he was always drunk on Fridays.

2361
02:22:49,760 --> 02:22:51,880
And the phone rang

2362
02:22:51,960 --> 02:22:55,480
before we ran down, always late
and he picked it up.

2363
02:22:55,560 --> 02:22:58,760
He always said, "Hello,
You want Games Workshop, don't you?"

2364
02:22:58,840 --> 02:23:00,440
“Then go to hell.

2365
02:23:00,480 --> 02:23:01,640
And hung up.

2366
02:23:02,520 --> 02:23:06,080
And you remember and ask,
"Then what did we do?"

2367
02:23:06,160 --> 02:23:10,360
You know, we are our energy
donated to package packages,

2368
02:23:10,440 --> 02:23:13,280
we were up several nights.

2369
02:23:13,360 --> 02:23:15,040
And we drank Beaujolais.

2370
02:23:15,080 --> 02:23:18,240
We always drank it all
and we kept the empty bottles

2371
02:23:18,280 --> 02:23:21,000
and we had coffee that night,

2372
02:23:21,040 --> 02:23:22,680
because we thought it was cool.

2373
02:23:22,760 --> 02:23:24,680
The machines were great.

2374
02:23:24,760 --> 02:23:28,360
Frank Zappa on the turntable, that
it was before CDs!

2375
02:23:28,440 --> 02:23:31,400
Frank Zappa. Yeah. And coffee.

2376
02:23:32,920 --> 02:23:36,040
Screaming and roaring, it was wonderful.
Beautiful.

2377
02:23:37,360 --> 02:23:39,840
Yeah, there were just... no rules.

2378
02:23:39,880 --> 02:23:42,040
We just kept doing it.
We didn't know what we were actually creating.

2379
02:23:42,080 --> 02:23:44,920
We just kept doing it.
We didn't know what we were actually creating.

2380
02:23:45,000 --> 02:23:46,080
It was beautiful.

2381
02:23:46,160 --> 02:23:47,360
Those were happy times.

2382
02:23:47,440 --> 02:23:50,960
And it was great to work on the products,

2383
02:23:51,040 --> 02:23:54,480
on which, as I was later told,
people grew up.

2384
02:23:54,560 --> 02:23:56,200
I feel very good about it.

2385
02:23:56,240 --> 02:24:00,840
I met one of my ex-traders
parters because he was a fan of Nodes of Yesod.

2386
02:24:00,880 --> 02:24:02,440
And that was just...

2387
02:24:02,480 --> 02:24:05,720
I keep meeting people who
talking about retro games.

2388
02:24:05,800 --> 02:24:09,520
It's a great feeling that you are
they made someone happy

2389
02:24:09,600 --> 02:24:11,040
and worked on great games.

2390
02:24:11,320 --> 02:24:14,040
Things like this.
You were influencing people.

2391
02:24:14,120 --> 02:24:16,880
It's fun, it's supposed to be
it will be fun.

2392
02:24:16,960 --> 02:24:19,440
And it's great to be able to create
something like that

2393
02:24:19,520 --> 02:24:22,560
which had a really positive effect on people.

2394
02:24:22,640 --> 02:24:23,720
That's the best part about it.

2395
02:24:23,800 --> 02:24:27,040
Well, when you are in a very stressful situation,

2396
02:24:27,120 --> 02:24:31,640
and you play games to make it to Christmas

2397
02:24:31,680 --> 02:24:34,200
people in the programming team decided
that they will make a little joke out of it

2398
02:24:34,240 --> 02:24:37,440
and they paint the chef's head
Fergus.

2399
02:24:37,480 --> 02:24:41,760
He was a talented graphic artist
Paul Docherty,

2400
02:24:41,840 --> 02:24:46,040
drew on a Commodore 64
my head made of pixels

2401
02:24:46,080 --> 02:24:50,480
and the programmers then decided to
that they will make an easter egg out of it.

2402
02:24:50,560 --> 02:24:52,960
When you have done certain things in the game,

2403
02:24:53,040 --> 02:24:57,240
so in a certain level after pressing certain
buttons, the head appeared

2404
02:24:57,280 --> 02:24:59,440
and then there was a lot to do with her
ugly things

2405
02:24:59,480 --> 02:25:01,880
like beating her and kicking her...

2406
02:25:01,960 --> 02:25:04,240
No, I like FIFA, for God's sake, no.

2407
02:25:04,280 --> 02:25:06,880
So it was Fergus's head.

2408
02:25:11,040 --> 02:25:13,040
EDITOR: Great! This is just great!

2409
02:25:13,080 --> 02:25:14,080
(LAUGHTER)