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NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2024 15:21:47 +0000
From: Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Re: Well, that's unexpected (Speedball reboot)
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2024 10:21:47 -0500
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On Sun, 10 Nov 2024 11:59:58 +0000, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

>On 02/11/2024 05:13, Justisaur wrote:
>> On 10/30/2024 2:33 AM, JAB wrote:
>>> On 29/10/2024 16:16, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Remember "Speedball"? You probably don't.


>I can't say I remember playing it in the arcades but by then my visits 
>to them where in decline. I did play Xenon when I visited the computer 
>museum in Cambridge though!

The Bitmap Brothers had a string of hits, mostly on the Amiga and
Atari ST. They were more successful in Europe, where the 8-bits
reigned supreme while IBM/PC compatibles, Apple and consoles were
second fiddle. "Speedball" (1 and 2), "Gods", "Cadaver", "Xenon" (1 &
2), "Chaos Engine" (a.k.a. Soldier of Fortune), "Steel Soldiers" and
"Z" were all extremely well-reviewed games. 

But they never really transitioned to the 'modern era' of gaming;
their skills were with bitmaps and fast blitters, and the new era of
3D gaming left them behind. (I'd argue that changes in game style left
them behind too; Bitmap Brothers were always fairly simplistic
one-note games, but as years went on people started demanding deeper,
more complicated mechanics). 

The last real game (as opposed to remakes and compilations) they
developed was "WW2 Frontline Command" in 2003, a pretty forgettable
RTS. A sad coda to a proud company.