Ultimate Play the Game

 In the year 1982, Ultimate Play the Game was founded in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, by Tim and Chris Stamper. [8] Their friends John Lathbury and Tim's girlfriend, Carole Ward, founded the business. The company was initially located in a home near the family-owned newsstand. Chris and Tim were both employed in the development of arcade games, such as Konami's Gyruss. Chris claimed to be the "most skilled arcade videogame designer team in Britain". After exhaustion of working for different companies and leaving, he founded Ashby Computers and Graphics. The first business ACG traded was arcade conversion kits. After that, ACG moved into the home software market and created games under the Ultimate Play the Game brand. Blue Print was released by Ashby for Bally-Midway and Grasspin for Dingo. The Ultimate Play the Game's initial launch was Jetpac for the 16K Spectrum in May 1983. Tim Stamper stated that 16K machines were selected because they're smaller and allow the development of games faster. They could create two games in 16K each month, or one 48K game in one month. Jetpac was a commercial hit. The Spectrum version sold more than 300,000 copies, which provided the company with a sales of more than PS1 million. Jetpac, Pssst and Tranz Am were only four of 10 games ever released with 16K ROM formats. The four games were published by Sinclair Research on cassette with distinct silver inlay cards for inclusion in ZX Spectrum bundles. The games were well-received from the gaming media. CRASH magazine was particularly amazed by the feats Ultimate did with the additional memory Lunar Jetman was equipped with. [15The game Sabre Wulf was released in 1984, the very first game in the Sabreman series, and was priced at the suggested retail price (PS9.95). The initial price for Ultimate games was PS5.50. It was the norm in Spectrum arcade-style games at the time. This was done in order to deter pirates. It was also that Ultimate launched the "big box" packaging. It was introduced in all subsequent Spectrum releases prior to Gunfright as well as other games for other platforms. Ultimate believed that this would justify the price increase and also encourage players to not duplicate the game. This approach worked, since Sabre Wulf sold over 350,000 copies during its first year on the Spectrum. The following installment in the Sabreman series came out in 1984. Underwurlde was followed shortly by Knight Lore. Knight Lore was a significant breakthrough in the gaming for home computers market. It was a forced-perspective isometric perspective, also known as Filmation. The style was to be extensively copied in other games like Batman and Head Over Heels by Ocean Software. Knight Lore as well as its Filmation sequels Alien 8 were actually completed prior to Sabre Wulf. However, Ultimate believed that it might negatively impact Sabre Wulf's sales, and so it was put off until the end of 1984.