If there is one thing to be learned from many of the stories of Italian software houses is that developing games in the 80s was quite difficult. But even harder was finding a publisher, as there was no way anybody could find a public with DIY. In researching the history of Idea Software and the…
From its humble beginnings in Francesco Carlà’s private home, seen in Part I, Simulmondo managed to merge talent and business into a successful company which grew almost bigger than the size of a developer like Electronic Arts at the time. From 1992 on, because of the CEO’s stubbornness in continuing to pursue the selling on…
Throughout 2000 years of human history, since mankind understood it was possible to package and sell a work of art, a single struggle has resisted, immortal, rearing its ugly head time and time again: the artist against the system. It’s a timeless tale, used in books and screenplays, that of the desperate toil of artists…
Arcade conversions on Commodore 64, despite often ending up being quite disappointing for most players, were a major source of revenue for many publishers at the time. Naturally, most coin-ops from the mid 80s were way beyond the limited reach of the beloved breadbin’s hardware. Plenty of times, the C64 received subpar or unplayable conversions,…
Samurai Warrior: The Battles of Usagi Yojimbo, created by Stan Sakai as an homage to japanese culture and cinema, it sits among the cult comic books of the 80s. Still being published today, the episodic comics revolve around the adventures of an antromoporphic samurai rabbit, with a mature and serious approach to japanese folk legends…
Z by the Bitmap Brothers is probably not one of their most well known title. The team was one of the more (in)famous British developers of the early 90s, their games instantly recognizable by the in-your-face “cyberpunk” style punctuated by aggressive techno beats. Unfortunately, with that style being outdated by 1994, they never managed to…
The first game I’ve ever reviewed in my life, way back in 1996 when I was 12, was actually 4D Sports Boxing. Or at least I thought that’s what it was called, even though supposedly the official name is just “4D Boxing”. I was downright ecstatic about it, ranting “mamma mia it’s so good!” over…