Ultimate Play the Game

 In 1982, Ultimate Play the Game was established in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, by Tim and Chris Stamper. [8] Their acquaintance John Lathbury and Tim's girlfriend, Carole Ward, founded the company. The company's headquarters were in a house close to the family-owned newsstand. Chris and Tim were both employed in the development of arcade games, such as Konami's Gyruss. Chris claimed to have been the "most knowledgeable arcade videogame designer team in Britain". After exhaustion of working for different companies, he left to open Ashby Computers and Graphics. This led to ACG's initial business being the creation of arcade conversion kits, before expanding into the market for home computer software making games under the Ultimate Play the Game name. Ashby launched four arcade games, Blue Print for Bally-Midway, as well as Grasspin, Dingo and Saturn for Jaleco.Ultimate's initial release was Jetpac in May 1983, for the 16K Spectrum. In an interview with the company in 1983 Tim Stamper said that they deliberately targeted 16K machines as their size was smaller, which meant development time was much shorter, claiming they could produce two 16K games in one month or one 48K game. Jetpac was a massive commercial success; the Spectrum version alone sold more than 300,000 copies providing the fledgling business with a revenue in more than PS1 million.This was then followed by three additional 16K games, Pssst in June,Tranz Am, and Cookie, before Ultimate stepped up to the 48K Spectrum. Jetpac, Pssst, Tranz Am and Cookie were four of the ten games ever released in the 16K format for use with the ZX Interface 2. They were also republished on cassette, with distinctive silver-colored inlay cards made by Sinclair Research for inclusion in ZX Spectrum bundles.Ultimate's first 48K releases included Lunar Jetman - a sequel to Jetpac as well as Atic Atac, both of which were released in the latter half of 1983. They were very well received from gaming media. CRASH magazine was particularly satisfied with the things that Ultimate was able to achieve with the additional memory Lunar Jetman had. [15] In 1984 came Sabre Wulf, the first in the Sabreman series and the first game released with a retail recommendation of PS9.95. The initial price for Ultimate titles was only PS5.50. It was standard for Spectrum arcade-style games of the day. The reason for this was to deter copying. This was also the time that Ultimate launched the "big box" packaging. It was offered with all subsequent Spectrum releases , including Gunfright and other releases on other platforms. Ultimate believed that it would serve to justify the cost and encourage gamers to not copy the game. This approach worked, as Sabre Wulf sold over 350,000 copies in its first year on the Spectrum. The next installment of the Sabreman series was released in 1984. Underwurlde followed quickly by Knight Lore. Knight Lore was a major milestone in the gaming for home computers market. It employed a forced perspective isometric view, also known as Filmation. This style would be copied extensively in other games, such as Batman and Head Over Heels by Ocean Software. Knight Lore and certain of its Filmation sequels Alien 8, were actually completed prior to Sabre Wulf. Ultimate however believed that it might be detrimental to Sabre Wulf's rather modest sales therefore it was delayed until late 1984.