| 词条 | The Bitmap Brothers |
| 释义 |
| name = The Bitmap Brothers | logo = Bitmap Brothers logo.png | type = | foundation = 1987 | location = Wapping, United Kingdom | industry = Video games | key_people = Mike Montgomery, MD Eric Matthews Steve Kelly Mark Coleman Dan Malone Ed Bartlett John Phillips Jamie Barber John Kershaw | products = video games | homepage = http://www.bitmap-brothers.co.uk/ }} The Bitmap Brothers are a UK based video game developer founded in 1987.[1] The company entered the industry in 1988 with the scrolling shooter Xenon. They quickly followed with Speedball. Prior to becoming the publisher of their own games (under Renegade Software), early Bitmap Brothers titles were distributed by Image Works and Konami. The Bitmap Brothers released several games on the Amiga and Atari ST, and were one of the most successful companies on those platforms. They became known in particular for releasing games from a variety of different genres that usually came to be regarded as leaders in their respective fields. Their PC games have never matched the sales of their previous Amiga titles, despite garnering positive critical reviews in the press. They publicized themselves as rock stars, and were featured in the press posing in dark glasses standing next to the helicopter of Robert Maxwell, the owner of Mirrorsoft, the publisher of a number of their games. After 2002 the company also released ports of several of their games for both the Game Boy Advance and Pocket PC platforms, and since then they have been licensing their old games and properties to several other companies interested in attempting re-releases for modern platforms. HistoryThe Bitmap Brothers were based in Wapping, East London and were privately owned. The company's MD was Mike Montgomery, who had founded the company together with Eric Matthews and Steve Kelly. Mike Montgomery later went on to take sole control of the business. Mark John Coleman is a computer graphics developer who frequently worked with the Bitmap Brothers, and along with Dan Malone was responsible for the visual style that became a trademark of the Bitmap Brothers' games. Other key staff included Technical Director John Phillips, Art Director John Kershaw, Business Development Director Ed Bartlett and Creative Director Jamie Barber. The Bitmap Brothers became known for the high difficulty of their games. Montgomery later remarked that "all of the Bitmap Brothers games... they're probably a bit too difficult. The reason for that was we designed games that we wanted to play - for us it was actually quite hard to think that somebody would want to play something that's easy."[2] The development team was voted Best 16-bit Programmers of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards.[3] Speedball was also voted best 16-bit Game of the Year overall. Two former core members of the company — Mike Montgomery and John Phillips — went on to found Tower Studios (along with Sensible Software founder Jon Hare), and stated their involvement with Bitmap Brothers as having ended in 2004.[4] Business Development Director, Ed Bartlett went on to pioneer the in-game advertising industry, initially with Hive Partners and then with IGA Worldwide.[5] After years of silence a news post on the official website announced Speedball 2 Tournament which was released in November 2007 by Frogster Interactive, but failed to achieve the success of previous titles in the franchise. In October 2010, it was announced that Speedball 2 would be resurrected again, this time for the iPhone and iPad systems, with Vivid Games managing the conversion.[6] Following this, a mobile version of Z was developed by Peter Harrap and TickTock Games and was published by KavCom for devices running iOS and Android, with the touch screen usually available on these devices lending itself to a game of this genre.. It was released on iPhone and iPad in 2011,[7][8][9] with further releases on BlackBerry Playbook,[10] Android,[11] and Kindle in 2012. The mobile version remake by TickTock Games was also released for Mac in 2012,[12] and then published by Kiss Ltd and KavCom for Windows PC on Steam[13] and GOG.com[14] in July 4th of 2014, together with a Steam release of Z: Steel Soldiers the following month. On 2 July 2012 Speedball 2: Evolution was announced and released for Android in Google Play Store, and in 2013 The Chaos Engine was recreated for release on PC, Linux and Mac. TitlesIn chronological order:
References1. ^{{Cite web|title = The Bitmap Brothers - Our Games|url = http://www.bitmap-brothers.co.uk/company/index.htm|website =Bitmap-brothers.co.uk|accessdate = 2015-11-11}} 2. ^{{cite news | last = Locke | first= Phil | date = December 2013 | title = Creating Chaos | work = Retro Gamer | issue = 122 | pages = 71–73 | publisher = Imagine Publishing}} 3. ^{{cite web|url=http://live.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek/magazines/computer--video-games/92|title=World of Spectrum - Computer & Video Games-92|website=Live.worldofspectrum.org|accessdate=27 December 2018}} 4. ^[https://web.archive.org/web/20071109011648/http://www.tower-studios.co.uk/about.htm] {{dead link|date=December 2018}} 5. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.igaworldwide.com |title=engage new worlds | The world´s premier in-game advertising company |publisher=IGA Worldwide |date= |accessdate=2010-10-13}} 6. ^ {{dead link|date=December 2018}} 7. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.kavcom.co.uk/2011/04/03/kavcom-links-licensing-deal-for-the-bitmap-brothers-classic-z/|title=Kavcom links licensing deal for The Bitmap Brothers classic ‘Z’|publisher=KavCom|author=Tony|date=3 April 2011|accessdate=4 July 2012|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507102110/http://www.kavcom.co.uk/2011/04/03/kavcom-links-licensing-deal-for-the-bitmap-brothers-classic-z/|archivedate=7 May 2011|df=dmy-all}} 8. ^{{cite web|url=http://toucharcade.com/2011/03/03/gdc-2011-retro-alert-host-of-bitmap-brothers-games-coming-to-ios/|title=GDC 2011: Bitmap Brothers' Z, Gods, Xenon II, Chaos Engine, Magic Pockets Coming to iOS |publisher=TouchArcade.com |first=Blake|last=Patterson |date=3 March 2011|accessdate=4 July 2012}} 9. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.kavcom.co.uk/zthegame/|publisher=KavCom|title=Z - You'll love the smell of rocket fuel in the morning!|accessdate=4 July 2012}} 10. ^{{cite web|url=http://forums.crackberry.com/playbook-apps-games-f243/let-rip-boys-z-game-blasts-blackberry-playbook-714554/|publisher=crackberry.com |author=Craig Albeck|title="Let it rip boys", Z: The Game blasts on to the BlackBerry PlayBook|date=4 May 2012}} 11. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.androidauthority.com/z-origins-rts-android-game-kavcom-104545/|title=Kavcom revamps popular 90s RTS Z, releases it on Android as Z Origins |publisher=androidauthority.com|author=Adrian Diaconescu|date=31 July 2012}} 12. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.nineoverten.com/2012/03/29/bitmap-brothers-z-the-game-now-available-on-mac-app-store/|title=Bitmap Brothers’ Z: The Game Now Available on Mac App Store|publisher=nineoverten.com|author=Jason Lee|date=29 March 2012}} 13. ^{{cite web|url=http://hexus.net/gaming/news/pc/71813-bitmap-brothers-classic-rts-z-the-game-hit-steam-today/|title=Bitmap Brothers classic RTS Z The Game hit Steam today|publisher=hexus.net|author=Mark Tyson|date=4 July 2014}} 14. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.gog.com/news/release_z|publisher=gog.com|title=Release: Z|date=4 July 2014}} External links
3 : Video game development companies|Video game companies of the United Kingdom|Video game companies established in 1987 |
| 随便看 |
|
开放百科全书收录14589846条英语、德语、日语等多语种百科知识，基本涵盖了大多数领域的百科知识，是一部内容自由、开放的电子版国际百科全书。