Richard Spitalny is an American film producer and the founder of First Star Software. [1]
He co-produced Rhinestone , starring Dolly Parton and Sylvester Stallone, for 20th Century Fox as well as other films, prior to 1982.
As the president of First Star Software, he was responsible for the sale of part of the company to Warner Software (a Warner Communications Company) in 1983. Although Warner no longer maintains ownership equity, the companies continue to work together in the exploitation of the three Spy vs. Spy computer games created by First Star based on Mad ‘s Spy vs. Spy characters. Spitalny was also responsible for the acquisition of Boulder Dash and continues to oversee all production, distribution, marketing and/or licensing of games based on this intellectual property throughout the world.
The Bourne Identity is a 1980 spy fiction thriller by Robert Ludlum that tells the story of Jason Bourne, a man with remarkable survival abilities who has retrograde amnesia, and must seek to discover his true identity. In the process, he must also determine why several shadowy groups, a professional assassin, and the CIA want him dead. It is the first novel of the original Bourne Trilogy, which also includes The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum.
First Star Software, Inc. is a Chappaqua, New York based video game development, publishing and licensing company, founded by Richard Spitalny, Billy Blake, Peter Jablon, and Fernando Herrera in 1982. It is best known for the series' Boulder Dash, which began on the Atari 8-bit family, and Spy vs. Spy, which first appeared on the Commodore 64. Games were ported to or written for home computers, consoles, and later for Macintosh, Microsoft Windows, and portable devices. Millions of units have been sold in both the Boulder Dash and Spy vs. Spy series of games.
Spy vs. Spy is a wordless comic strip published in Mad magazine. It features two agents involved in stereotypical and comical espionage activities. One is dressed in white, and the other in black, but they are otherwise identical, and are particularly known for their long, beaklike heads and their white pupils and black sclera. The pair are always at war with each other, using a variety of booby-traps to inflict harm on the other. The spies usually alternate between victory and defeat with each new strip. A parody of the political ideologies of the Cold War, the strip was created by Cuban expatriate cartoonist Antonio Prohías, and debuted in Mad #60, dated January 1961. Spy vs. Spy is currently written and drawn by Peter Kuper.
GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameSpy brand to other video game publishers through a newly established company, GameSpy Industries, which also incorporated his Planet Network of video game news and information websites, and GameSpy.com.
Warner Bros. Television Studios is the television production and distribution arm owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment, a subsidiary of AT&T's WarnerMedia. Alongside ViacomCBS' television arm CBS Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW, though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on Showtime. As of 2015, it is one of the world's two largest television production companies measured by revenue and library.
Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher owned by The Walt Disney Company through Disney Interactive. Prior to its closure in 2016, it developed and distributed multi-platform video games and interactive entertainment worldwide.
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.
1984 saw many sequels and prequels along with new titles such as 1942, Boulder Dash, Cobra Command, Jet Set Willy, Karate Champ, Kung-Fu Master, Tetris, Yie Ar Kung-Fu and Punch-Out! The year's highest-grossing arcade games were Pole Position in the United States, for the second year in a row, and Track & Field in the United Kingdom. The year's best-selling home system was Nintendo's Family Computer (Famicom), which was only sold in Japan at the time.
Surreal Software was a video game developer based in Kirkland, Washington, United States, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, known for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Suffering and Drakan series. Surreal Software employed over 130 designers, artists, and programmers. Surreal was acquired by Warner Bros. Games during the bankruptcy of Midway Games in July 2009. After a significant layoff in January 2011, the remaining employees were integrated into WBG's Kirkland offices, along with developers Monolith and Snowblind.
Traveller's Tales is a British video game developer and a subsidiary of TT Games. Traveller's Tales was founded in 1989 by Jon Burton and Andy Ingram. Initially a small company focused on its own content, it grew in profile through developing games with larger companies such as Sega and Disney Interactive Studios. In 2004, development on Lego Star Wars: The Video Game started with Giant Interactive Entertainment, the exclusive rights holder to Lego video games. Traveller's Tales bought the company in 2005, and the two merged to create TT Games, with Traveller's Tales becoming the new company's development arm.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is an American video game publisher based in Burbank, California, and part of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. WBIE was founded on January 14, 2004 under Warner Bros. and transferred to the Home Entertainment division when that company was formed in October 2005. WBIE manages the wholly owned game development studios TT Games, Rocksteady Studios, NetherRealm Studios, Monolith Productions, WB Games Boston, Avalanche Software, and WB Games Montréal, among others.
Nolan North is an American actor most notable for his voice acting roles.
Astro Chase is a multidirectional shooter written by Fernando Herrera for the Atari 8-bit family. It was published by First Star Software in 1982 as the company's first game. Parker Brothers licensed it, releasing cartridge versions for the Atari 8-bit family and Atari 5200 console in 1983 and a Commodore 64 version in 1984. Exidy licensed it for arcade use with its Max-A-Flex cabinet.
Wolfenstein is a series of World War II video games. It was originally created by Muse Software, before being revived by id Software. The first two games in the series, Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein, were developed by Muse Software and focused on stealth-based gameplay from a top-down perspective. Beginning with id Software's Wolfenstein 3D, Wolfenstein games became fast-paced first-person shooters, and are widely regarded as having helped to popularize the first-person shooter genre. Further games in the series include Return to Castle Wolfenstein, developed by Gray Matter Interactive, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory by Splash Damage, and 2009's Wolfenstein by Raven Software. After ZeniMax Media acquired id Software, including the Wolfenstein franchise, Swedish developer MachineGames became the series' primary developer. Wolfenstein games developed by MachineGames include Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, and Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot.
The Working Man is a 1933 pre-Code American comedy film directed by John G. Adolfi and starring George Arliss and Bette Davis. The screenplay by Charles Kenyon and Maude T. Howell is based on the story The Adopted Father by Edgar Franklin. The film is preserved in the Library of Congress collection.
Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was responsible for the formation of the video arcade and modern video game industry.
The musical short can be traced back to the earliest days of sound films.
When Johnny Comes Marching Home is a 1942 musical film directed by Charles Lamont and starring Allan Jones and Jane Frazee. The film is loosely based on the song with the same title.
Long Vo is an entrepreneur, freelance illustrator, producer and creative/art director.
Godzilla vs. Kong is a 2021 American monster film directed by Adam Wingard. A sequel to Kong: Skull Island (2017) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), it is the fourth film in Legendary's MonsterVerse. It is also the 36th film in the Godzilla franchise, the 12th film in the King Kong franchise, and the fourth Godzilla film to be completely produced by a Hollywood studio. The film stars Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison, Lance Reddick, Kyle Chandler, and Demián Bichir. In the film, Kong clashes with Godzilla as humans lure the ape into the Hollow Earth to retrieve a power source for a secret weapon to stop Godzilla's mysterious rampages.