Hewson Consultants

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Hewson Consultants
Industry Video game
Founded1982
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, and are ranked seventh out of 109 companies reviewed by Your Sinclair with an average rating of 84%. Fourteen of their games were awarded "Megagame" by Your Sinclair , [1] and Paradroid is considered one of the best games ever released for the Commodore 64. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

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. [5] After learning to program, Andrew wrote the programming guide book Hints and Tips for the ZX80 . [5] Following the publication, bedroom coders began to send Andrew the games they had programmed on cassette tape, giving him the idea to publish the games. Hewson Consultants was born, and initially released games via mail order advertisements in computing magazines. [5] Andrew was also a columnist in Sinclair User magazine throughout the 1980s. [5]

Releases

Legacy

Andrew and other members of the Hewson management team went on to form 21st Century Entertainment [7] after Hewson shut down in the early 1990s, releasing several games such as Pinball Dreams , [7] 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.

References

  1. "Company Softography". Ysrnry.co.uk. Archived from the original on 31 August 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  2. "DEF Guide to Shoot 'em Ups", Zzap!64 (43): 105–108, November 1988
  3. "The Best and Worst of Six Years of the C64!", Zzap!64 (44): 124, November 1988
  4. "Zzap64 Def Guide To... The Best C64 Games Ever!", DEF Tribute to Zzap!64 (107): 10–11, March 2002
  5. 1 2 3 4 One Life Left. Season 9. Episode 6. 16 October 2013. Resonance FM.
  6. Clive Brooker
  7. 1 2 "Hints & Tips for Videogame Pioneers by Andrew Hewson & Rob Hewson « My Commodore 64". Mycommodore64.com. 28 October 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2016.