U.S. Gold was a British computer and video game publisher and developer from the early 1980s through the mid-1990s, producing numerous titles on a variety of 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit platforms. US Gold may refer to: US Gold, gold mining company U.S. Gold, video game company Category: ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The 1980s refers to the years from 1980 to 1989. ... For the band, see 1990s (band). ... 8-bit refers to the number of bits used in the data bus of a computer. ... In computer science, 16-bit is an adjective used to describe integers that are at most two bytes wide, or to describe CPU architectures based on registers, address buses, or data buses of that size. ... 32-bit is a term applied to processors, and computer architectures which manipulate the address and data in 32-bit chunks. ...

History

Fort Apocalypse, a SynSoft game distributed by U.S. Gold.

U.S. Gold was founded in Birmingham in 1984 by Geoff Brown as the publishing division of Centresoft, a computer game distribution company he founded in 1983. Their primary purpose was to publish popular American Atari and Commodore 64 games in the UK and Europe and later convert them to other popular 8-bit home computer formats in the European market, such as the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. This business plan proved to be an instant success, prompting U.S. Gold to expand by acquiring smaller developers and seeking out licences that they could commercialise. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... // What is Fort Apocalypse? Fort Apocalypse is a 2D 4-way side-scrolling computer game written for the Atari 8-bit family by Steve Hales of Synapse_Software in 1982. ... Synapse Software Corporation (also known as SynSoft) was an American computer game development and publishing company active during the early-1980s. ... Geoffrey Brown is a Scottish businessman and current chairman of St. ... This article is about a corporate game company. ... C-64 redirects here. ... Children playing on a Amstrad CPC 464 in the 1980s. ... The ZX Spectrum is a home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd. ... The Amstrad CPC was a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad during the 1980s and early 1990s. ...

The publisher continued to expand their operation well into the 1990s. However, a number of their more lucrative licensing deals, particularly one with LucasArts (formerly Lucasfilm Games), fell through, threatening to affect their income. In order to help consolidate their finances, they joined forces with UK software distributor CentreSoft to form the CentreGold Plc Group. Internal game development studios owned by U.S. Gold were the internally formed Silicon Dreams and acquired Core Design. LucasArts is an American video game developer and publisher. ... Official LucasArts logo LucasArts Entertainment Company (sometimes shortened to LEC), is a video game developer and publisher. ... CentreGold was a three-way partnership between two video game publishers ( U.S. Gold and CentreSoft) and a video game developer ( Core Design). ... Silicon Dreams Studios Ltd. ... Core Design is a video game developer best known for creating the popular Tomb Raider series. ...

The three-way partnership at the heart of CentreGold didn't last long, however, as the group was acquired by Eidos Interactive in April 1996. Eidos sold off CentreSoft and maintained Core Design as a developer but decided to discontinue the U.S. Gold brand. Silicon Dreams was sold back to U.S. Gold founder Geoff Brown and became the keystone for his new development venture Geoff Brown Holdings (GBH). Eidos Interactive is a publisher of video and computer games with its parent company based in the United Kingdom. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... Silicon Dreams Studios Ltd. ... Geoff Brown Holdings Ltd was a holding company established in the late 1990s for game development. ...

The last retail game to bear the U.S. Gold logo was Olympic Games: Atlanta 1996, released in June 1996 for the Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC and 3DO. The remaining U.S. Gold games awaiting publication at the time of their acquisition by Eidos were released in August 1996 with the exception of Dream Team Basketball. Dream Team Basketball was to be released on the Sony PlayStation but was cancelled. The original PlayStation was produced in a light grey colour; the more recent PSOne redesign sports a smaller more rounded case. ... It has been suggested that Arcade Racer Joystick be merged into this article or section. ... The Columbia MPC was one of the many IBM PC compatibles offered on the US market. ... 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (most commonly referred to as the 3DO) is a line of video game consoles which were released in 1993 and 1994 by Panasonic, Sanyo and Goldstar, among other companies. ... The original PlayStation was produced in a light grey colour; the more recent PSOne redesign sports a smaller more rounded case. ...

U.S. Gold licences

World Cup Carnival

See also: World Cup Italia '90, World Cup USA '94 This article is about a computer game. ... The 1994 Football World Cup was held in the USA. It was won by Brazil, who beat Italy 3-2 on penalties, after the game and extra time ended 0-0. ...

U.S. Gold's most embarrassing moment came in 1986 with the release of World Cup Carnival on the C64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. The company had acquired the rights to produce the official computer game of the Mexico 86 World Cup football competition well in advance of the planned release date. The game was to be developed in-house, but programming and marketing problems arose that were unable to be overcome in time for the game's release. At the eleventh hour, U.S. Gold acquired the rights to Artic's World Cup Football, a somewhat mediocre football game that had been released a couple of years earlier. U.S. Gold made a few modifications and released it just in time to capitalise on the popularity of the World Cup competition. For the club competition, see FIFA Club World Cup. ... Initial cover art for Adventure A In the 1980s, Artic Software, also known as Artic Computing was a software development company based in Leaven near Hull, responsible for various ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC computer games. ...

Having been promised a revolutionary World Cup football game, gamers, critics and retailers alike saw through U.S. Gold's thinly-veiled attempt to repackage an older game. U.S. Gold responded to this initial criticism by suggesting that their game had significantly improved an old classic, but they later admitted their folly. Despite their poor handling of the Mexico 86 licence, U.S. Gold were awarded the official FIFA license to produce games for the Italy 90 and USA 94 World Cup tournaments.

Winter Olympics (1994), the official Lillehammer Olympics video game.

Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, were celebrated in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway. ...

Olympics

U.S. Gold were synonymous with Olympic computer and videogames for many years. The company enjoyed enormous success in the 1980s with their publication of the classic Games series from American developer Epyx. Comprising Summer Games, Summer Games II, Winter Games, World Games, California Games, California Games II, The Games: Summer Edition and The Games: Winter Edition, there was no denying U.S. Gold's ability to successfully market a high profile sporting game. Olympic Gold was the first officially licensed game Olympic videogames is the usual name given to sports video games including more than one event of several sports. ... Epyx, Inc. ... Summer Games on the Commodore 64 Summer Games is a sports video game developed by Epyx and released by U.S. Gold based on sports featured in the Summer Olympic Games. ... Screenshot from Winter Games (C64): the Hot Dog event. ... IWGA logo The World Games, first held in 1981, are an international multi-sport event, meant for sports that are not contested in the Olympic Games. ... California Games is a 1987 Epyx sports video game for many home computers and video game consoles. ...

When Epyx went out of business in 1989, U.S. Gold were eager to continue publishing Olympic themed games. They decided to take advantage of their reputation as a publisher of quality licensed titles by seeking the official video game licence for the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympics. The resulting game, Olympic Gold was released in 1992 for the Sega Game Gear and Sega Master System, and the 16-bit console Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. The game was a critical and commercial success, which led to U.S. Gold producing similar titles for the Lillehammer 1994 Winter Olympics and Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics (Winter Olympics and Olympic Summer Games respectively). The latter would be the last game to bear the U.S. Gold logo. The 92 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were held in 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. ... Olympic Gold is the official video game of the XXV Olympic Summer Games, hosted by Barcelona, Spain in 1992. ... The Sega Game Gear is a handheld game console which was Segas response to Nintendos Game Boy. ... The Sega Master System ) or SMS for short (1986 - 2000), is an 8-bit cartridge-based video game console that was manufactured by Sega. ... The Sega Mega Drive ) was a 16-bit video game console released by Sega in Japan (1988), Europe (1990) and most of the rest of the world. ... The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, were celebrated in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway. ... The 1996 Summer h Olympics, formally known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and informally known as the Centennial Olympics, were held in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. ... This article is about a video game, for the actual Olympic Games see 1994 Winter Olympics Winter Olympics (Lillehammer 94 is added informally and is not part of the official title) is the official video game of the XVII Olympic Winter Games that were held in Lillehammer, Norway in 1994. ... Olympic Summer Games was the 16-bit edition of the official video game of the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games (the 32-bit and PC being Olympic Games: Atlanta 1996). ...

Strider

U.S. Gold licensed from Capcom the rights for porting Strider to different computers. In addition, they also were allowed to make a new game, though they couldn't use the main character (Strider Hiryu) due to Moto Kikaku's ownership. The result, developed by Tiertex, was Strider Returns. Hiryu's sprite colors were changed to make a slighty different character. The game is generally regarded as vastly inferior to the original Strider, with uninteresting level design, bland gameplay, and poor controls.[1] For the original NASA meaning, see capsule communicator. ... Strider, also known as Strider Hiryu, is an arcade game produced by Capcom in 1989. ... Moto Kikaku (formerly Motomiya Kikaku) is a group of manga artists, founded by Hiroshi Motomiya. ... Strider Returns (also known as Journey From Darkness: Strider Returns, and released as Strider II in the PAL region) is a sequel to Capcoms arcade game Strider, released for various video game consoles and computer platforms in the Western market only. ... In computer graphics, a sprite (also known by other names; see Synonyms below) is a two-dimensional/three-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene. ...

Trivia

• The C64 cassette versions of U.S. Gold's games had a very characteristic loading screen (loading games from cassette usually took several minutes): the computer's SID synthesizer would play renderings of "The Star-Spangled Banner", "Yankee Doodle", and "Dixie" repeatedly, in that order, until the loading of the game finished and gameplay could commence. While playing the music the screen would display a countdown of the remaining number of 256-byte "blocks" to be loaded, along with a scroll text advertising other recent and upcoming U.S. Gold games.

C-64 redirects here. ... The Commodore 1530* (C2N) Datassette (a portmanteau of data + cassette), was Commodores dedicated computer tape recorder. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... MOS Technology SIDs: The right image shows a 6581 from MOS Technology, at the time they were known as the Commodore Semiconductor Group (CSG) and the left image shows an 8580 from MOS Technology. ... The Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the United States, with lyrics written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key. ... Yankee Doodle is a well-known American song, often sung patriotically today . ... Sheet music cover, c. ... In computer science a byte (pronounced bite) is a unit of measurement of information storage, most often consisting of eight bits. ... This article needs cleanup. ...

External links

• U.S. Gold profile on MobyGames
• U.S. Gold at World of Spectrum
• Dream Team Basketball review on The PlayStation Museum]