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Industry | Video game |
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Founded | 1982 United Kingdom |
Headquarters | United Kingdom |
Hewson Consultants were one of the smaller software companies which produced video games for home computers in the mid-1980s. They had a reputation for high-quality games which continually pushed the boundaries of what the computers were capable of and can be compared favourably with other ground-breaking software houses like Ultimate Play the Game and Beyond. [ citation needed ] Fourteen of their games were awarded "Megagame" by Your Sinclair . [1]
Hewson was founded by Andrew Hewson in the early 1980s. He became interested in computers while working at the British Museum when their first machine arrived. [2] After learning to program, Andrew wrote the programming guide book Hints and Tips for the ZX80 . [2] Following the publication, bedroom coders began to send Andrew the games they had programmed on cassette tape, giving Andrew the idea to publish the games. Hewson Consultants was born, and initially released games via mail order advertisements in computing magazines. [2] Andrew was also a columnist in Sinclair User magazine throughout the 1980s. [2]
Andrew and other members of the Hewson management team went on to form 21st Century Entertainment [4] after Hewson shut down in the early 1990s, releasing several games such as Pinball Dreams , [4] Pinball Fantasies and Pinball Illusions . Andrew was also the founder of ELSPA (European Leisure Software Publishers Association) which continues to be the European regulating body for the video games industry.
Graftgold was an independent computer game developer that came to prominence in the 1980s, producing numerous computer games on a variety of 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit platforms.
Ocean Software Ltd was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and publishers of the 1980s and 1990s.
CDS Software was an independent publisher and developer of computer game software based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, UK.
Exolon is a run and gun game programmed by Raffaele Cecco and published by Hewson in 1987 for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amstrad CPC. It was later converted to the Enterprise 128, Amiga, and Atari ST.
Bug-Byte Software Ltd. was a video game company founded in 1980 in Liverpool, initially producing software for the Acorn Atom and ZX80. Bug-Byte's first hit was Don Priestley's Mazogs which was one of the most successful titles for the ZX81. In 1983, it published Manic Miner, considered to be one of the most influential platform games of all time. The company went into liquidation in 1985 but their name and logo were purchased by Argus Press PLC for use as a budget software label.
Technician Ted is a platform game for the Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum home computers that was written by Steve Marsden and David Cooke and published in 1984 by Hewson Consultants.
Stephen Crow is a game programmer who worked in the 1980s on the ZX Spectrum platform, programming for companies such as Hewson Consultants and Bubble Bus Software. He also worked with members of the Graftgold team. More recently, he was the lead artist working for the now-defunct Monkeytropolis.
Quicksilva was a British games software publisher active during the early 1980s.
Crystal Computing, later renamed Design Design, was a British video game developer founded in 1982 by Chris Clarke and Ian Stamp while students at the University of Manchester. Graham Stafford, Neil Mottershead, Simon Brattel and Martin Horsley, joined the company as it expanded. The company's first software release was a compilation of games for the Sinclair ZX81, though it was with the ZX Spectrum that Crystal found its greatest success. A deal with the machine's manufacturer Sinclair to distribute Crystal's Zeus Assembler gave the company sufficient funds for a major marketing campaign for their next product, Halls of the Things, an arcade adventure game that became their most successful title.
Loriciel was a French video game developing company that was active from 1983 to the early 1990s. The name is a combination of logiciel, the French word for software, and Oric which was the first computer they wrote software for.
Raffaele Cecco is a British video games developer who has created numerous video games since 1984, including Cybernoid and Exolon. He grew up in Tottenham in North London. Spurred by an interest in computers, he received his first computer, a Sinclair ZX81, as a birthday gift from his parents in 1981 and began programming simple games in BASIC.
Costa Panayi is a former computer game programmer active during the 1980s. He founded Vortex Software with Paul Canter, publishing games for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC.
Steve Turner is a former computer game musician and designer. His development team, Graftgold, mostly wrote for games published by Hewson Consultants during the 1980s.
Don Priestley is a teacher and former video game programmer who wrote over 20 commercial games for the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum home computers between 1982 and 1989. Despite successful releases for DK'Tronics, such as 3D Tanx and Maziacs, Priestley returned to teaching in the late 1980s, claiming changes in the video game industry did not suit his style of work.
The Seiddab Trilogy is a series of video games designed by Steve Turner for the ZX Spectrum and published by Hewson Consultants. It consists of 3D Space-Wars (1983), 3D Seiddab Attack (1984), and 3D Lunattack. All three games were later published together as The Seiddab Trilogy by Hewson for the Rotronics Wafadrive. The series name is derived from the word "baddies" being spelt in reverse.
Cybernoid II: The Revenge is a shoot 'em up released by Hewson Consultants in 1988 for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum home computers. It was later ported to the Atari ST and Amiga. It is the sequel to Cybernoid.
Personal Software Services (PSS) was a British software company based in Coventry, founded by Gary Mays and Richard Cockayne in 1981. The company was acquired by Mirrorsoft in 1987. PSS produced video games for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, Atari 8-bit computers, Amstrad CPC, Oric computers, and IBM PC compatibles.
The United Kingdom has the largest video game sector in Europe. By revenue, the UK had the second-largest video game market in Europe in 2022 after Germany, and the sixth-largest globally. By sales, it is Europe's largest market, having overtaken Germany in 2022. The UK video game market was worth £7.16 billion in 2021, a 2% increase over the previous year.
3D Space Wars is a space combat video game written by Steve Turner for the ZX Spectrum and published by Hewson Consultants in 1983. It is both the first game written by Turner and the first in the Seiddab Trilogy.