Martin Kenwright | |
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Born | Liverpool, England, UK |
Years active | 1987–present |
Martin Kenwright is a British video game designed and the founder of British-based virtual and augmented reality innovation company vTime Limited, digital media, entertainment and technology company Starship, and video game development studios Digital Image Design (DID) and Evolution Studios. He created seminal computer games such as F29 Retaliator and EF2000. He is also responsible for the World Rally Championship franchise and PlayStation 3 launch title, MotorStorm, along with its respective franchise.
Kenwright began life in the video game industry as a 2D graphics artist and game designer in 1987, working at Rowan Software on games such as Falcon [1] and Tetris [2] straight after leaving Widnes Sixth Form College in Cheshire.
Kenwright founded Digital Image Design (DID) in 1989 with Philip Allsopp in Runcorn, Cheshire. The studio specialised in flight simulation titles, with military using the technology from EF2000 as a training tool. His original IP, F-22, won the "Milia D'Or" [3] for 'Best Game' and 'Best Flight Simulator' in 1997. [4] Wargasm won the "Milia D’Or" for Best Action Game in 1998. [5]
The studio broke new ground with the world's first 3D accelerated game in EF2000 and the world's first Pentium accelerated game with Wargasm
The studio was acquired by Ocean Software in 1998, who became Infogrames in 1999. [6]
Kenwright went on to form Evolution Studios with Psygnosis founder, Ian Hetherington as chairman. The fledgling company was immediately enlisted as Sony Computer Entertainment's first European external development team. Evolution were subsequently handed the World Rally Championship video game licence, the first official FIA licensed World Rally Championship game in the series for the PlayStation 2 using official drivers, cars and tracks from the 2001 season. [7]
The franchise earned two BAFTA nominations for WRC 2 Extreme [8] in 2003 and one BAFTA nomination in 2004 for WRC 4. [9]
The success of the WRC franchise gave Kenwright the freedom to work on original IP in the form of MotorStorm, a PS3 exclusive launch title. The title was a global number one [10] and earned two British Academy of Arts (BAFTA) nominations. [11] The MotorStorm franchise spawned four more titles, including the BAFTA nominated MotorStorm: Pacific Rift. [12]
Both Evolution and Bigbig Studios were acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in September 2007. Kenwright left the company, embarking on a five-year enforced sabbatical. [13]
Kenwright was also a major shareholder in Evolution's satellite studio, BigBig Studios, based in Warwickshire. BigBig developed titles such as the critically acclaimed Pursuit Force series and Motorstorm: Arctic Edge.
Kenwright returned to the industry in 2013, announcing new digital entertainment studio Starship in March 2014. [14] Developing original content across the VR, games, entertainment and lifestyle sectors, Kenwright announced details of the studio's first products, CyberCook and Playworld [15] in May 2014. [16] [17]
With Kenwright as CEO, Starship unveiled Playworld Superheroes in January 2015 [18] and released VR demo CyberCook Taster on the Gear VR in February, 2015. [19]
Kenwright announced new product vTime in August 2015, before launching the virtual reality social network on Samsung Gear VR on 22 December 2015. vTime Limited was established as a standalone venture in April 2016 with Kenwright as CEO, having been housed previously under the umbrella of parent company Starship Group. [20]
In April 2018, Kenwright announced that vTime Limited had raised $7.6 million (£5.4 million) in a series A funding round [21] and announced plans for the studio to release a social augmented reality experience later in 2018. [22]
Kenwright appeared in The Times Tech Track 100 in 2005 and 2006, [23] and in IGN's Next Generation Hot 100 Developers in 2007. [24]
Tetris is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. It has been published by several companies for multiple platforms, most prominently during a dispute over the appropriation of the rights in the late 1980s. After a significant period of publication by Nintendo, the rights reverted to Pajitnov in 1996, who co-founded the Tetris Company with Henk Rogers to manage licensing.
Tetsuya Mizuguchi is a Japanese video game designer, producer, and businessman. Along with ex-Sega developers he is the one of the co-founders of the video game development firm Q Entertainment. He formerly worked for Sega as a producer in their Sega AM3 'arcade machines' team, developing games like Sega Rally Championship and Sega Touring Car Championship, before moving on to become the head of Sega's United Game Artists division, the team responsible for Rez and Space Channel 5. Mizuguchi is better known for creating video games that incorporate interactive synesthesia into his game design, regardless of genre, evidenced by Rez, Lumines, Child of Eden, and Tetris Effect.
Digital Image Design (DID) was a British video game developer founded by Martin Kenwright and Phillip Allsopp in 1989. It was originally based in Runcorn, Cheshire in England. The company specialized in aircraft simulator games, mostly published by Ocean Software. DID expanded following the release of TFX, Inferno, and EF2000, and subsequently moved offices to Warrington. During this period, the technology from one of its products was spun off into a military laser designation simulator and they would also produce professional flight simulators for customers such as the Royal Air Force and British Airways.
V-Rally is a racing video game developed by Infogrames Multimedia and released for the PlayStation console in 1997. The first game in the V-Rally series, it is based on the 1997 and 1998 World Rally Championship seasons, and features officially licensed cars and tracks inspired by real locations of rally events. Players drive rally cars through a series of stages spread over eight different locations, ranging from European countries like England, Spain or Sweden, to island countries such as Indonesia and New Zealand. As a simulation game, V-Rally places a strong emphasis on replicating the behavior physics of real cars and generally requires more practice than arcade-style racers.
MotorStorm is a 2006 racing video game developed by Evolution Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the Sony PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system. Announced at E3 2005, the game was released in Japan on 14 December 2006 and worldwide in March 2007. MotorStorm has sold over 3 million copies. Two sequels were made, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift in 2008, and MotorStorm: Apocalypse in 2011. Another game was also created, MotorStorm: Arctic Edge, for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. As of January 2012, the online multiplayer servers for the game have been permanently shut down.
Evolution Studios Ltd. was a British video game developer based in Runcorn, Cheshire. The company was founded in 1999 by Martin Kenwright and Ian Hetherington, following the purchase of their studio Digital Image Design's publisher Ocean Software by Infogrames. Kenwright then left Digital Image Design with six members of staff to form Evolution Studios.
MotorStorm: Pacific Rift is a racing video game by Evolution Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It is the sequel to MotorStorm and is followed by MotorStorm: Arctic Edge for the PlayStation 2 and PSP, and MotorStorm: Apocalypse. The game was announced by Sony after their acquisition of Evolution Studios and it was released on 28 October 2008 in North America. The game has sold over one million copies as of 9 December 2008. As of 1 October 2012, the online servers for the game have been permanently shut down.
MotorStorm: Arctic Edge is the third game in the MotorStorm series of video games, developed by Bigbig Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2, which was released in 2009.
MotorStorm is a racing video game series developed by Evolution Studios, BigBig Studios, Virtuos and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The titles were off-road racing games featuring different types of vehicles with their own strengths and weaknesses and tracks with different terrains which may either hinder the vehicles' handling or improve it.
PlayStation Studios is a division of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) that oversees the video game development at the studios owned by SIE. The division was established as SCE Worldwide Studios in September 2005 and rebranded as PlayStation Studios in 2020.
World Rally Championship is a rally racing video game series. To date, three series of video games with the official license have been released.
MotorStorm: Apocalypse is a 2011 racing video game by Evolution Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It is the fourth game in the MotorStorm series and the third for the PlayStation 3. The title was revealed shortly before the beginning of the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010 on the PlayStation Blog by Evolution Studios on 6 June.
WRC 3: The Official Game of the FIA World Rally Championship is a racing video game developed by Evolution Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2003 as a part of the World Rally Championship series. The game was released for PlayStation 2 on November 21, 2003 in Europe, and later on May 27, 2004 in Japan.
WRC 2: FIA World Rally Championship is the official racing video game of the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship. It was developed by Milestone srl and features improved details, visuals and new modes to be the most realistic rally simulation. The game was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows in Europe on October 14, 2011, and in North America on April 24, 2013.
MotorStorm: RC is a 2012 racing video game by Evolution Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita computer entertainment systems. The fifth and most recent game in the MotorStorm series.
WRC 3: FIA World Rally Championship is the official racing video game of the 2012 World Rally Championship season. It was developed by Milestone srl.
Driveclub is a racing video game developed by Evolution Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 4. It was announced during the PlayStation 4 press conference on 20 February 2013, and, after several delays, was released worldwide in October 2014.
WRC II Extreme is a 2002 off-road video game released for the PlayStation 2. The game was developed by Evolution Studios and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.
Starship Group is a British digital media, entertainment and technology company based in Liverpool, UK. The development studio, based in the city's Baltic Triangle area, specialises in creating next-generation original content across the games, entertainment, lifestyle, virtual reality and e-health sectors. The studio is an umbrella company housing several smaller studios each currently developing original content.
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