| Press Cuttings - Magazine
articles, news stories, letters and ads about Mastertronic
This is the
newest section of this website. Fresh links and scans will be added regularly
Where another website has original material
then I have supplied the link (and put my comments about it on this page).
Use the back button on your browser to return here when you are ready.
If the link reads "click here"
then the material is directly available from Guter.org and my comments
are on the appropriate page. Short articles have been scanned. Whenever
possible, long articles have been copied using OCR (to prevent huge image
files) and are reproduced as closely as HTML allows to the original.
|
| First
issue of Crash deals with Carnell Software - this is interesting in light
of what was to happen to that company |
Feb
84 |
|
| Will
Mastertronic bring down the price of games?, wonders Your Computer ("YC")
in the month after the company started trading. This is the earliest mention
of the company that I have found. |
May 84 |
|
| Sinclair
User ("SU") also notes the birth of Mastertronic. Nice quote from
Frank Herman "The other software houses - they hate us" |
Jun 84 |
|
| SU
reports Mastertronic (or to be exact the directors personally) bailing out
Carnell Software. |
Sep 84 |
|
| Piracy
and the price of games - a readers letter, Computer & Video Games ("C&VG"). |
Oct 84 |
|
| How the computer
buyer of a major retailer saw the future of personal computers (CPC 464
User) |
Oct 84 |
|
| An update on Virgin
Games and a nice photo of the Vernon Yard entrance, "Mediocre software
has become the hallmark of Virgin Games" said SU. |
Nov 84 |
|
| The
MasterAdventurer label is launched |
Nov 84 |
|
| Mastertronic takes
over the distribution of software from recycler Beau Jolly |
Dec 84 |
|
| Mastertronic
advertises for games and boasts about its American operations in Popular
Computing Weekly ("PCW"). The ad features Mistertronic (warning:
135k picture) |
Jan
85 |
|
| Firebird are reported
to be using Mastertronic's distributor Shuttlesoft, said PCW |
Mar 85 |
|
| Revealing comments
about Mastertronic in a review of Locomotion by PCW |
May 85 |
|
Action Biker
is launched with a tie-up with KP Skips. By an amazing coincedence, reports
SU, the game will be sold by the same outlets that sell the snack. I think
they were a little harsh to go on to say "KP Skips is probably the
only product which tastes worse than a Mastertronic budget special ..."
|
Jul 85 |
|
| Fascinating article
in SU about how to get a game accepted for publication. Quotes from Mastertronic
head of programming John Maxwell and author Stephen Curtis, amongst others.
Stephen correctly forsees the decline of the solo programmer and the rise
of software houses and development teams. |
Aug 85 |
|
| Mastertronic dabbles
with a word processor |
Nov 85 |
|
| Where to buy Mastertronic
games, asks a reader in PCW |
Jan 86 |
|
| Another major
feature, in SU. They lunched with John Maxwell, Finders Keepers author
David Jones, Alan Sharam (as usual, misspelled as Sharman)and PR people
Colin Johnston and Alison Beasley. Colin has a go at SU for panning Action
Biker earlier in the year. |
Jan 86 |
|
| Mastertronic takes
the unusual step of advertising for programmers in PCW. (warning: 160k picture) |
Feb 86 |
|
| Excellent article
in Amstrad User ("AU") with detailed quotes from Martin Alper,
Alan Sharam and John Maxwell. Also a picture of the legendary pinball table
in the office |
Aug 86 |
|
| The birth of Codemasters
is announced in PCW |
Oct 86 |
|
| The coming of
Sega and Nintendo, as it seemed in mid 1986 to C&VG. (warning: 105k
picture) |
Oct 86 |
|
Mastertronic's
takeover of Melbourne House is explored in detail in Crash. "Though
Melbourne House will retain most of its editorial and marketing staff, it
looks certain that they will be leaving their delightful HQ in leafy Hampton
Wick for Mastertronic's offices, which lie in a rather dingy City sidestreet.
However there could be a stay of execution on this move." MH did not
retain most of its staff, about half stayed and half left. They did indeed
migrate to our dingy street but sadly there was to be no stay of execution.
Very soon after the acquisition we closed the Hampton Wick offices As 'liquidators'
perks',. I acquired a rather smart artificial rubber plant that graced my
home for many years until my wife chucked it out in May 2003
|
Apr 87 |
|
| What happened
to Richard Bielby |
Apr 87 |
|
| We launch Mastersound
and Mastervision to an unimpressed Crash |
May 87 |
|
| An advert for
Mastersound (warning: 148k picture) |
Jul 87 |
|
| The growth in
budget games and the future for software pricing is explored in a major
feature in Crash |
Oct 87 |
|
| Will UK software
houses develop for consoles, asks The Games Machine, and gets predictable
answers (warning: 150k pictures) |
Oct 87 |
|
| Virgin buys a
slice of Mastertronic, reports The Games Machine |
Dec 87 |
|
| PCW interviews
Geoff Heath about tie-ins with fullprice publishers, arcade developments
and the prospects for 1988 |
Dec 87 |
|
| Should magazines
give budget games equal treatment with full price? Fascinating editorial
reply to angry readers' letters in Zzap 64 |
Dec 87 |
|
| A break with tradition
- a full page ad for Mastertronic products, including Sega. This one was
in PCW (warning:135k picture) |
Dec 87 |
|
| The first year
of Sega Master System sales reported in PCW |
Dec 87 |
|
| PCW report the
deal that brought Double Dragon to home computers |
Dec 87 |
|
| A major deal with
Activision for rereleases on the Ricochet label, and news about arcade games
licensing through Melbourne House, reports Crash |
Mar 88 |
|
| Major article
in Crash about Mastertronic, about 6 months after the takeover by Virgin,.
Interview with budget manager Andrew ("flat-top") Wright about
how solo programmers can still achieve success, mentions the "magic
postbox", the law of copyright and how contracts work. Also refers
to our games tester David George, (who failed to show for work one day and
was never heard of again), our ex-sales rep Milan Stajcic who tried to set
up a Yugoslavian software house (but never really got very far with it)
and the author of Advanced Soccer Simulator, Stephen Hannah. |
May 89 |
|
| Introducing a
T-shirt called Well'Ard, in Crash |
Aug 89 |
|
| The end of the
budget era, as Tronix replaces Mastertronic |
1992? |
|
| Well
well well. After 10 years it looks like the name of Mastertronic is set
to return. I will post some more comments when there is more flesh to this
story. I am impressed that the relaunch is to "adhere to the original
Mastertronic core values" ; these can be summed up as making lots of
money in a short a time as possible. Believe me on this. |
Aug 03 |
|
| A new magazine
for lovers of computing nostalgia, Retro Gamer, prints an 8 page history
of Mastertronic with cover inlays of the top 30 bestsellers. My history,
that you can read for free on this website if you do not have £5.99
for the mag. |
Jan 04 |
|
| Frank
Herman joins reborn Mastertronic as Chairman and is quoted with some very
familiar ideas about distribution and the revival of the MAD label |
Apr
04 |
|
