Accolade was a video game developer and publisher of the 1980s and 1990s. It was founded in 1984 by game industry veterans Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead. Miller and Whitehead founded Accolade after leaving another game developer and publisher they had founded, Activision, the first third-party game developer. Image File history File links Accolade. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates computer or video games. ... Video game publishers are companies that publish video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer. ... MacGyver - 1980s hero The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ... Seinfeld was a pop cultural phenomenon during the 90s and became one of the most popular TV programs ever. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The computer and video game industry is the economic sector involved with the development, marketing and sale of video and computer games. ... Alan Miller was an influential figure in the video game industry. ... Bob Whitehead is a game designer who worked for Atari in the late 1970s. ... Activision, Inc. ...

Early history

Hardball!, here seen on the Commodore 64, started a series that went onto become one of Accolade's most popular franchises.

According to legend, Miller and Whitehead named their company "Accolade" because it came before "Activision" alphabetically—implying that Accolade was superior to their previous company. Apparently when forming Activision, they chose that name because it came before "Atari." Later, a new game development company, Acclaim apparently formulated their name because it came before "Accolade." screenshot C64 Hardball, made myself. ... screenshot C64 Hardball, made myself. ... Hardball is a popular series of baseball computer and video games by Accolade, made for a variety of platforms. ... For the hip hop group, see Commodore 64 (band). ... Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. ...

Accolade developed for most 80s-era home computers, including the Commodore 64, Atari 400 & 800, the Amiga, Apple II and the PC. Accolade quickly became known for developing only top-notch games. Some of their first titles include Law of the West, Psi-5 Trading Company, The Dam Busters, Mean 18 Golf, Test Drive, and Hardball!. Test Drive and Hardball! went on to become two of Accolade's longest-running franchises. TRS-80 Color Computer II The home computer is a consumer-friendly word for the second generation of microcomputers (the technical term that was previously used), entering the market in 1977 and becoming common during the 1980s. ... For the hip hop group, see Commodore 64 (band). ... An Atari 800XL, one of the most popular machines in the series. ... The original Amiga (1985) The Amiga is a family of home/personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation as an advanced game console. ... The Apple II was one of the most popular personal computers of the 1980s. ... One of the first PCs from IBM - the IBM PC model 5150. ... Law of the West is a computer game for the Commodore 64 and the NES. The game is a kind of graphical adventure game taking place in the American Old West. ... The Dam Busters is a combat flight simulator set in World War II produced by U.S. Gold. ... Screenshot of Test Drive I, Atari ST version. ... Hardball is a popular series of baseball computer and video games by Accolade, made for a variety of platforms. ...

As the popularity of other systems waned, Accolade focused on PC and console development, including the NES, Sega Genesis, SNES and Sony PlayStation during those systems' popularity. A video game console is a dedicated electronic machine designed to play video games. ... Nes is: A municipality in the county of Akershus in Norway, see Nes, Akershus. ... The Mega Drive/Genesis was a 16-bit video game console released by Sega in Japan (1988), Europe (1990) and most of the rest of the world as the Mega Drive. ... The European SNES design is identical to the Super Famicom. ... The original PlayStation was produced in a light grey colour; the more recent PSOne redesign sports a smaller more rounded case. ...

All of Accolade's initial titles were developed in-house. But being a publisher as well as a developer, Accolade began to publish titles produced by other developers as well. By the mid-1990s, most of Accolade software development was done by third-party developers.

In 1992, Accolade was involved in a ground-breaking lawsuit regarding console development. Accolade was unhappy with the high development fees Sega and Nintendo were charging. Instead of paying the fees, Accolade reverse engineered the SNES and the Sega Genesis. Sega sued Accolade over the practice and won. Accolade, however, won on appeal. (See Sega Enterprises v. Accolade). 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Sega Corporation ) is an international video game software and hardware developing company, and a former home computer and console manufacturer. ... Nintendo (Japanese: 任天堂, ニンテンドー Nintendō; NASDAQ: NTDOY, TYO: 7974 ) is a multinational corporation founded on November 6,[citation needed] 1889 in Kyoto, Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards, for use in a Japanese playing card game of the same name. ... Reverse engineering (RE) is the process of taking something (a device, an electrical component, a software program, etc. ...

Notable series

Accolade was responsible for developing many highly noted and memorable games. These include:

• Star Control and Star Control 2
• The Test Drive series
• The Jack Nicklaus Golf series
• The Hardball series (original game was called Hardball!; subsequent releases were HardBall 2, HardBall III, HardBall 4, HardBall 5, HardBall 99, and HardBall 6 / HardBall 6 2000 Edition)
• The Bubsy series

The Star Control series is a trilogy of computer games with a cult following. ... The Star Control series is a trilogy of computer games with a cult following. ... Screenshot of Test Drive I, Atari ST version. ... Hardball is a popular series of baseball computer and video games by Accolade, made for a variety of platforms. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and conform with our NPOV policy, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Demise

During the early 1990s, Accolade started publishing a variety of games of differing genres which were undistinguished and lacked polish.

During a conference of management and producers, Accolade decided to focus only on sports games and simulations. Accolade already had several franchises based in these categories. Franchises in the sports genre included Hardball!, Unnecessary Roughness and Jack Nicklaus Golf. In the simulation category they had the long-running franchise Test Drive. But, by this time it was too late: fans had lost respect and trust in the company and its titles. Marginal sales managed to keep the company afloat, but only after rounds of layoffs. Wooden mechanical horse simulator during WWI. A simulation is an imitation of some real thing, state of affairs, or process. ...

Alan Miller left Accolade in 1995—Bob Whitehead had left shortly after the founding of the company. Before Miller left, the position of CEO was taken over by Peter Harris who quickly departed. Harris left the fate of the company in the hands of game industry neophyte, Jim Barnett. Under Barnett's direction, the company continued to flounder and endured numerous layoffs. But the company managed to stay afloat long enough to be purchased by French publisher Infogrames in 1999, right after publishing their last game Redline. Now all of Accolade's assets are owned by Atari (née Infogrames). 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the job of having the ultimate executive responsibility or authority within an organization or corporation. ... The computer and video game industry is the economic sector involved with the development, marketing and sale of video and computer games. ... Infogrames Entertainment SA (IESA) is an international holding company headquartered in Lyon, France. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Redline is a 1999 post-apocolyptic combination first-person shooter/racing computer game for Microsoft Windows. ... For the concept Atari (当たり) in the board game of Go, see Atari (go term). ...

Location

Accolade was located in the heart of Silicon Valley at: A view of downtown San Jose, the self-proclaimed Capital of Silicon Valley. ...

5300 Stevens Creek Blvd.

Suite 500

San Jose, California 95129

Flag Seal Nickname: Capital of Silicon Valley Location Location of San Jose within Santa Clara County, California. ...

Accolade

Many people were instremental in the success of, and finally acquisition of, Accolade throughout its history. The list below of individuals who have contributed to Accolade's products and history is incomplete.

Executive team

• Alan Miller : President, founder
• Bob Whitehead: Co-President, co-Founder
• Alan Epstein : Co-President
• Jim Barnett: CEO
• Stan Roach: VP Marketing, CEO

Alan Miller was an influential figure in the video game industry. ... Bob Whitehead is a game designer who worked for Atari in the late 1970s. ...

Operations

• Laverne Laws : Human Resources
• Luis Rivas: Supervisor of Mastering

Marketing

• Erica Krishnamurthy

Producers

• Steve Cartwright: Executive Producer
• Michael Berlyn: Producer
• Pam Levins: Executive Producer
• Gene Smith: Executive Producer
• Bob Smith: Executive Producer
• Sam Nelson: Executive Producer
• Robert Daley: Producer
• Kieth Orr: Producer
• Chris Bankston: Producer
• Shelly Safir: Producer
• Danny Pisano: Producer
• Michael Franco: Producer
• Matthew Ford: Producer
• Ted Tahquechi: Producer
• Ken Humphries: Producer
• Todd Thorson: Producer
• Daniel Tyrrell: Assistant Producer
• Matt Powers: Senior Producer
• Steve Ackrich: Executive Producer

Excerpts from Classic Gaming Expo. ... A game producer is the person in charge of overseeing development of a video or computer game. ... Michael Berlyn is an American computer game designer and writer. ...

Programmers

• Gary Strawn
• Bob Morrison
• Russell Shiffer
• Paul Kwinn
• Jim Mazrimas
• Dave Aufderheide
• Jack Ritter

Designers

• Mark Jensen: Designer/ Writer
• Dan Evans: Designer
• Sean Vesce: Creative Director/ Designer
• Jeff Gregg: Designer
• Mike Wikan: Senior Designer

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Artists

• Dale Mauk: Lead Artist
• Ken Capelli: Lead Artist
• Bob Busick: Lead Artist
• Heather Capelli: Lead Artist
• Brian Wanamaker: Lead Artist
• Lee Petty: Lead Artist
• Roseann Mitchell: Lead Artist
• John Xu: Artist
• Patricia Pearson: Graphics
• Justin R. Chin : Graphics
• Betty Cunningham: Graphics
• Steven Graziano: Graphics
• Jeff Wilcox: Animator
• Taunya Shiffer: Graphics
• Beckett Gladney: Graphics
• Steve Martinez: Graphics
• Dexter Dorris:Graphics
• Ken Macklin: Graphics
• Thomas Applegate: Graphics
• Scott Heckenlively: Graphics
• Trevor Grimshaw: Senior Artist
• Michael Khoury: Senior Artist
• Stephan Henry-Biskup: Senior Artist
• David Gustlin: Artist
• Ted Naifeh: Artist
• Kelly Pinson: Artist
• Chin-han Hsu: Artist
• Juan Ortiz: Artist
• Yongki Yoon: Artist
• Scott Burroughs: Artist
• Craig Marshall: Artist
• Pete Wong: Artist
• Arnold Doong: Artist
• Tom Denmark: Artist
• Shawn Monroe: Artist
• Molly Mcleod: Artist
• Chris Eckhert: Artist
• Judah Baron: Artist
• Seth Swanson: Artist
• Angus Wilson: Lead Artist
• Michael Parisi: Artist

Ken Capelli is a multitalented artist living in San Francisco, California. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Artech Studios. ... Ken Macklin is a designer, comic book artist and illustrator. ... Ted Naifeh is an American comic book writer and artist that gained notoriety for his elegant illustrations in the goth romance comic Gloomcookie. ...

Musicians

• Ed Bogas: Music
• Russell Schiffer: Music
• Richard Kelly: Music
• Rudy Helm: Music

Test

QA

External links

• MobyGames entry on Accolade
• The Underdogs' company profile for Accolade