 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(October 2010) |
 Cinemaware logo from 2008 | |
| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Founded | January 1986 [1] |
| Founders | Robert Jacob Phyllis Jacob |
| Defunct | 1991 |
| Products | Defender of the Crown It Came from the Desert Wings |
| Website | cinemaware.com (archived) |
Cinemaware was a video game developer and publisher. It had released several titles in the 1980s based on various film themes. The company was resurrected in 2000, before being acquired by eGames in 2005.
The company was founded in January 1986 by Phyllis and Robert “Bob” Jacob. Cinemaware's first title was Defender of the Crown , a strategy computer game originally released for the Commodore Amiga. Bob Jacob was a film buff, and Cinemaware released other games based on classic film genres which were made as an attempt to emphasize action, graphics, and ease of play. [1] Its games generally debuted on the most graphically powerful home computers of the era, the Amiga, Apple IIGS, and Atari ST, and then ported to others, such as the Commodore 64, PC (running under MS-DOS), and the Nintendo Entertainment System. Defender of the Crown is the most ported Cinemaware game. [2]
Cinemaware expanded to sports games, with its "TV Sports" line, which featured elements of sports telecasts such as studio announcers. The "TV Sports" line covered basketball, ice hockey, and football. Some of the titles were only known by the generic name "TV Sports" in Europe such asTV Sports: Boxing and TV Sports: Baseball, which were released in the United States by Data East as ABC Wide World of Sports Boxing and Bo Jackson Baseball , respectively. In 1989, the company debuted its Spotlight Software label in order to release foreign titles for the American market, most notably Speedball . [3]
By 1990, the NEC owned 15% of Cinemaware. [4] Cinemaware went bankrupt in 1991. While porting S.D.I. to another system, one of the company's owners demanded the programmers add more features, increasing the programming time and delaying the product's release.[ citation needed ] Coupled with falling sales of their other titles amid an economic downturn, the company suffered. The company also suffered from software piracy, threatening to stop publishing Amiga games at several points because of the ease by which video games could be copied. Many of their games, including Wings , were cracked and spread amongst gamers before release.[ citation needed ]
Cinemaware's titles include the following:
Lars Fuhrken-Batista later bought the Cinemaware trademark and associated intellectual property, founding Cinemaware Inc. in 2000. [5] Cinemaware developed recreations of its past titles, updated for Microsoft Windows and the Apple Macintosh. Dubbed the "Digitally Remastered" editions, these games feature the same gameplay as the originals, but with updated graphics. They also ported some of their older games to handheld systems, such as the Game Boy Advance. On their website, they have also released disk images of their original titles for use with emulators and some are emulated via Macromedia Shockwave.
The new Cinemaware developed newer versions of their classic games. Their first game in this endeavor was Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown , featuring an improved 3D engine and was released in September 2003 for Windows, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. Since the 1.02 patch for Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown in December 2003, Cinemaware has made no official announcements for its other games. One developer made a statement in the website's forums in October 2004 stating Cinemaware is still working on these projects, but no other announcements have been made since. [ citation needed ]
On October 6, 2005, Cinemaware was acquired by predominantly family-oriented game publisher eGames, Inc., and Lars Furken-Batista became Vice President of Development. [5] Shortly after the acquisition, eGames announced the launch of Cinemaware Marquee, a publishing label to be used to bring new games to the U.S. market. Their first published game was Space Rangers 2 , a critically acclaimed space adventure. Under their new label, they have brought Darwinia from Introversion Software, Moscow to Berlin from Monte Cristo, and Neighbours from Hell: On Vacation and Buccaneer's Bounty from German publisher Ascaron to the American market. In 2007, eGames released an Adobe Flash version of Defender of the Crown , allowing more users to play the game. The website was titled Defender of the Crown: Heroes Live Forever. [6]
In May 2016, Swedish game developer and publisher Starbreeze acquired all Cinemaware intellectual property rights from Cinemaware.
The rights include all brands, websites, existing products, and licenses including the Cinemaware label. [7]
In January 2024, Lithuanian game developer and publisher Nordcurrent acquired all Cinemaware intellectual property rights from Starbreeze. The company states that this aligns with the company's vision to establish its division Nordcurrent Labs in the PC and console games publishing sector. [8]
Defender of the Crown is a strategy video game designed by Kellyn Beeck. It was Cinemaware's first game, and was originally released for the Commodore Amiga in 1986, setting a new standard for graphic quality in home computer games.
Artworx was a Naples, Florida software company that produced and supported a line of computer games from 1981 to 2015. It is named after the founder's given name. At first the company published a variety of games, including titles in adventure and arcade-action genres, but were later best known for a strip poker series.
Puzznic is a tile-matching video game developed and released by Taito for arcades in 1989. It was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, PC Engine, X68000, Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, and ZX Spectrum between 1990 and 1991. Home computer ports were handled by Ocean Software; the 2003 PlayStation port was handled by Altron. The arcade and FM Towns versions had adult content, showing a naked woman at the end of the level; this was removed in the international arcade release and other home ports. A completed Apple IIGS version was cancelled after Taito America shut down.
The Three Stooges is a video game released by Cinemaware in 1987 for the Amiga based on the comedy trio of the same name. Players control Stooges Moe, Larry, and Curly in minigames based on Stooges films with the aim of raising enough money to save an orphanage. It was ported to the Apple IIGS, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, NES and Game Boy Advance. The game has been praised as a faithful adaptation of the Stooges films, but has been criticized for repetitive gameplay and limited replay value.
Transylvania was the name of a trilogy of computer games released for several home computers of the 1980s. The games were graphic adventure games created by Antonio Antiochia and produced by Penguin Software/Polarware.
The King of Chicago is a 1986 action-adventure video game by Doug Sharp. Based on numerous Hollywood mobster movies, this game is set in the 1930s, but some sequences towards the end of the game take place in 1986. The Macintosh version of the game is animated using claymation, while other versions utilize drawn graphics.
Last Ninja is a series of video games published by System 3. The first game in the series titled The Last Ninja, was released in 1987 for the Commodore 64 and was one of the most successful games for the system. In 1988, System 3 released Last Ninja 2, and in 1991 the third game in the series, Last Ninja 3. In 1990, Last Ninja Remix was released for 8-bit systems. This was Last Ninja 2 with new music, a new introductory sequence, slightly changed graphics and fixed bugs. Confusingly, the 16-bit versions of the original The Last Ninja game were also released in 1990 as Ninja Remix.
Winter Games is a sports video game developed by Epyx, based on sports featured in the Winter Olympic Games.
Wings is a World War I video game developed and published by Cinemaware. It was released for the Amiga in 1990. The action sequences are similar in style to those of the 1927 silent film Wings.
Thexder is a run and gun video game from Game Arts, originally released for the NEC PC-8801 in 1985. It was ported to many systems, including the Famicom.
MacVenture is a series of four adventure games with a menu-based point-and-click interface. They were originally developed for the Macintosh by ICOM Simulations:
The Amiga computer can be used to emulate several other computer platforms, including legacy platforms such as the Commodore 64, and its contemporary rivals such as the IBM PC and the Macintosh.
Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon is a 1987 action-adventure game developed and published by Cinemaware. Set in an Arabian Nights-esque world, the player assumes the role of Sinbad the Sailor, and is commissioned by The Princess to rid the land of the Dark Prince. The game was designed and programmed by Bill Williams for the Amiga, who also wrote Mind Walker. Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon was ported to the Atari ST, Apple IIGS, MS-DOS, and Commodore 64.
The Last Ninja is an action-adventure game originally developed and published by System 3 in 1987 for the Commodore 64. It was converted to the Apple IIGS, MS-DOS, BBC Micro and Acorn Electron in 1988, the Apple II series in 1989, the Amiga and Atari ST in 1990, and the Acorn Archimedes in 1991.
Mean 18 is a golf video game designed by Rex Bradford with graphics by George Karalias, both of Microsmiths, and released by Accolade for MS-DOS compatible operating systems in 1986. It was ported to the Amiga, Apple IIGS, Atari ST, and Macintosh. It includes an editor allowing players to create their own courses. In 1989, Atari Corporation published a port for the Atari 7800 console. A version for Atari 8-bit computers was in development in 1989 but was cancelled.
MicroIllusions was a computer game developer and publisher of the home computer era. Based in Granada Hills, California, the company was a strong supporter of the Amiga and typically released titles on that platform before porting it to others.
Shanghai is a computerized version of mahjong solitaire published by Activision in 1986 for the Amiga, Atari ST, Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, classic Mac OS, Apple IIGS, and Master System. Shanghai was originally programmed by Brodie Lockard. It was released as an arcade video game by Sunsoft in 1988.
Final Assault, known as Chamonix Challenge in Europe, originally Bivouac in French, is a mountaineering simulation distributed by Infogrames and Epyx in 1987 for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple IIGS, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Thomson and ZX Spectrum. The original release of the game was copy protected.
TV Sports: Football is a 1988 video game by Cinemaware for Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, and TurboGrafx-16.
Jacob pulled the trigger on Cinemaware at last in January of 1986
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