|
|
| Founded By: | |
| Location: | Melbourne, Australia |
| Year Started: | 1985 |
| Year Wound Up: | |
| Titles in Database: | 4 |
| Rights Now With: | ? |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| Beam Software (now known as Krome Studios) is an Australian game developer. The company has obtained a bad track record, as it\'s known for Back to the Future (NES) and their other LJN-published titles for the NES. However, they are also known for developing gems such as Nightshade and Shadowrun.
When they first started developing NES games, there were no credits. This was due to their company policy, where they weren\'t allowed to put their names on it. Sometimes, the company name doesn\'t even appear in their games like TOSE.
When they developed Nintendo games exclusively in Australia, they published the games themselves under the name Laser Beam Entertainment.
Beam also had a UK division called \"Teeny Weeny Games\" created by Angela Sutherland. |
Titles per Year
Breakdown by Genre
Breakdown by Platform
|
Added: 25 May 2013
The following music composers worked at Beam Software:
Brian Post
Dominic Morabito
Gavan Anderson
Gavin Parker
Marshall Parker
Neil Brennan
Tania Smith
Trevor Nuridin
The only composers at Beam to write music on the NES were Neil Brennan, Gavan Anderson, Tania Smith, and Marshall Parker. The composers wrote the music in Music Macro Language.
|
Added: 21 May 2013
Home computer era
In the early years, two of Beam's programs were milestones in their respective genre. The Hobbit, a 1982 text adventure by Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler,[2] sold more than a million copies.[3] It employed an advanced parser by Stuart Richie and had real-time elements. Even if the player didn't enter commands, the story would move on.[3] In 1985 Greg Barnett's two-player martial arts game The Way of the Exploding Fist helped define the genre of one-on-one fighting games on the home computer.[3] The game won Best Overall Game at the Golden Joystick Awards, with the company also picking up Best Software House.[4]
In 1988 Beam's publisher, mother company Melbourne House, was sold to Mastertronic for £850,000.[5] Subsequently games were released through varying publishers. The 1988 fighting games Samurai Warrior and Fist +, the third installment in the Exploding Fist series, were published through Telecomsofts Firebird label. 1988 also saw the release of space-shoot'em-up Bedlam, published by GO!, one of U.S. Gold's labels, and The Muncher, published by Gremlin Graphics.
Shift to consoles and PCs
In 1987 Nintendo granted a developer's license for the NES and Beam developed games on that platform for US and Japanese publishers. Targeted at an Australian audience, releases such as Aussie Rules Footy and International Cricket for the NES proved successful. In 1991 they released the original title Nightshade (1991 video game), a dark superhero comedy game. The game was meant to be the first part in a series, but no sequels were ever made; however, it served as the basis for Shadowrun.
In 1993 they released Shadowrun, with an innovative dialogue system using the acquisition of keywords which could be used in subsequent conversations to initiate new branches in the dialogue tree. In the mid-to-late 90s, Melbourne House found further success with PC titles Krush Kill 'n' Destroy (KKND), and the sequels KKND2: Krossfire and KKND Xtreme.[6] Unfortunately, they released KKND2 in South Korea well before they released it in the American market, and pirated versions of the game were available on the internet before it was available in stores in the U.S. They were the developers of the 32-bits versions of Norse By Norse West: The Return of the Lost Vikings for the Sega Saturn, PlayStation and PC in 1996.[6] They also helped produce SNES games such as WCW SuperBrawl Wrestling, Super Smash TV and an updated version of International Cricket titled Super International Cricket.[6] They ported the Sega Saturn game Bug! to Windows 3.x in August, 1996.
1998 saw a return to RPGs with Alien Earth, again with a dialogue tree format.[7] Also in 1998, the studio developed racing games DethKarz[6] and GP500.
In 1999 Beam Software was acquired by Infogrames and renamed to Infogrames Melbourne House.
2000s
They continued to cement a reputation as a racing game developer with Test Drive: Le Mans and Looney Tunes: Space Race (both Dreamcast and PlayStation 2), followed by the technically impressive Grand Prix Challenge (PlayStation 2), before a disastrous venture into third-person shooters with Men in Black II: Alien Escape (PlayStation 2, GameCube).
In 2004 the studio released Transformers for the PlayStation 2 games console based on the then current Transformers Armada franchise by Hasbro. The game reached the top of the UK PlayStation 2 games charts, making it Melbourne House's most successful recent title.
The studio then completed work on PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable ports of Eden's next-generation Xbox 360 title Test Drive: Unlimited.
In December 2005, Atari decided to shift away from internal development, seeking to sell its studios, including Melbourne House.[8] In November 2006 Krome Studios announced that it had acquired Melbourne House from Atari and that the studio would be renamed to Krome Studios Melbourne.[9] |
Added: 21 May 2013
1978
Melbourne House (Publishers) Ltd established by Alfred Milgrom and Naomi Besen in the UK as a book publishing company
1980
Melbourne House Publishers become interested in distribution of US computer games and books for the UK market
Sinclair ZX80 released in the UK
Alfred Milgrom writes the first computer book for Melbourne House, '30 Programs for the Sinclair ZX80' and Melbourne House distributes the book in the UK
Alfred Milgrom and Naomi Besen return to Melbourne, Australia, and establish Beam Software as a computer development company
William Tang becomes first Beam employee in December 1980
1981
Sinclair ZX81 released
Melbourne House continues to develop computer books
Commodore Vic 20 released
Beam obtains the licensing rights to 'The Hobbit' by promising to release the book in conjunction with the game, and begins development of a new style of adventure game
1982
Sinclair ZX Spectrum (full-colour computer) released
Commodore 64 released
Adam Lancman joins Beam Software as Financial Director
Hungry Horace and Horace Goes Skiing released. These are packaged with the new Sinclair Spectrum and are the first arcade games for the Spectrum
The seminal game,The Hobbit, is released for the Spectrum. It reaches number one in Europe and creates an obsessive culture of fans
1983
The Hobbit gets converted to most computer formats
Sophisticated arcade game, Penetrator, is released
Melbourne Draw, a graphic toolkit created specifically for the ZX Spectum isreleased. It was user-friendly and had fast screen handling. It was a program that was considered useful to professional graphic artists and programmers
1984
Apple Macintosh released
HURG (High-level User-friendly Real Time Games) released. A revolutionary concept, HURG offered a menu driven program that enabled people with little or no programming knowledge to make their own games.
1985
Geoff Heath is appointed Managing Director for Melbourne House. By this time Melbourne House has 12 full-time employees in the UK.
The highly anticipated sequel to The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings is released. This is released for most formats and also came packaged with the book 'Fellowship of the Ring'.
The Way of the Exploding Fist, the first martial arts combat game for the home computer, is released. It immediately becomes the best-selling title across Europe.
Beam starts reverse engineering of the Japanese console, Nintendo Famicom.
1986
Beam International sales have 10% of the UK market across all formats.
Rock 'n Wrestle (Bop 'n Wrestle in the US), the first wrestling game for the home computer market released.
Sequel to text adventure game Mugsy, Mugsy's Revenge is released. The comic book style graphics were applauded.
Fist 2, sequel to The Way of the Exploding Fist is released.
Nintendo releases the Famicom into the US market under the name Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
1987
The UK company, Melbourne House (Publishers) Ltd, is sold to the Mastertronic Group.
Beam develops its own Nintendo development system as a result of its reverse engineering. Beam Software starts development for the Nintendo NES.
Street Hassle released on most formats including the NES (also known as Bop 'n Rumble and Bad Street Brawler).
Nintendo grants Beam Software a developer licence for the NES on condition that it discontinues sale of its development system. Beam becomes only the second non-Japanese company to be granted a Nintendo development licence.
1988
Melbourne House is included in the Virgin Group after Virgin's take-over of Mastertronic. Virgin ceases distribution of games under the 'Melbourne House' imprint.
Beam develops for Nintendo publishers in the US and in Japan.
T-Wrecks (aka The Muncher for commercial tie-in) released only on the Spectrum.
Bedlam! released.
Exploding Fist + released
1989
Nintendo releases Gameboy
Beam releases Aussie Games into the US market
Beams starts to develop games for the NEC PC-9801 and NEC PC-Engine for the Japanese market |
Added: 21 May 2013
Later Games
1998: NBA Action '98 (PC)
1997: Caesars Palace (PlayStation)
1996: 5 in One Fun Pak (GG); Wildcats (SNES)
1995: True Lies (GB, Genesis; SNES); The Dame Was Loaded (PC)
1994: WCW: The Main Event (Game Boy); Super Smash TV (GG, SMS); Solitaire FunPak (Game Boy); Cricket '97 Ashes Edition (PC); Radical Rex (SNES)
1993: We're Back BC (Game Boy); Agro Soar (Game Boy); Itchy & Scratchy in Miniature Golf Madness (Game Boy); Blades of Vengeance (Genesis); NFL Quarterback Club (Game Boy); Radical Rex (Genesis); Super High Impact (Genesis, SNES)
1992: NBA All-Star Challenge 2 (Game Boy); Tom and Jerry (GB), Super Smash TV (Genesis, SNES), George Foreman's K.O. Boxing (Game Boy)
1991: Hunt for Red October (Game Boy), Smash TV (NES), The Punisher (1991) (NES), Family Feud (NES)
1990: Back to the Future II & III (NES), Dash Galaxy in the Alien Asylum (NES), Boulder Dash (Game Boy), NBA All-Star Challenge (Game Boy)
1989: Back to the Future (NES) | The Retro Isle team
Added: 3 May 2026
Click here to view a list of titles we have in the database here at Retro Isle. | |
|
