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We can take the time to talk about bringing programming back to schools. We can even take the wrong route and pontificate for pages on how wonderful new hardware like Raspberry Pi is for bringing programming to the masses, but when there is some software that could really do the job we sit back and watch it whether [sic] due to corporate lack of care and academic sloth. App Inventor is an easy-to-use way to create Android apps. It is based on Scratch and, as such, it is a wonderful way to introduce complete beginners to programming.!
{{
cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (
help); line feed character in |quote= at position 879 (
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We can take the time to talk about bringing programming back to schools. We can even take the wrong route and pontificate for pages on how wonderful new hardware like Raspberry Pi is for bringing programming to the masses, but when there is some software that could really do the job we sit back and watch it whether [sic] due to corporate lack of care and academic sloth. App Inventor is an easy-to-use way to create Android apps. It is based on Scratch and, as such, it is a wonderful way to introduce complete beginners to programming.
{{
cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (
help); line feed character in |quote= at position 317 (
help)
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Founded by
Ian Hetherington and David Lawson, the
Liverpool-based Psygnosis was indirectly born from the ashes of the defunct 8-bit game company
Imagine Software, where Lawson was one of the founders and Hetherington was Financial Director. After the collapse of Imagine in 1984, the name and trademarks were bought by
Ocean Software, while the rights of the software remained with original copyright owners. After Imagine, Lawson and Hetherington set up a new company called Finchspeed which took two unfinished games developed by Imagine, Bandersnatch (for the
ZX Spectrum) and Psyclapse (for the
Commodore 64), and fused them into one to become Brataccas, the first game published by Lawson and Hetherington's other new company, Psygnosis, .[1]
Psygnosis produced only one title in 1986 called Deep Space, a complex, difficult space exploration game. The box artwork was very distinctive with a black background and fantasy artwork bordered in red. This style was maintained for the best part of ten years, with a Psygnosis game being easily identifiable on a shelf of miscellaneous games. For the next few years, Psygnosis' releases contained increasingly improved graphics, but were marred by similarly difficult gameplay and control methods.
The original company headquarters were located at the Port of Liverpool Building at the Pier Head in
Liverpool, but soon moved to Century Buildings in Brunswick Business Park (also in Liverpool), and later moved down the road 200 metres to South Harrington Building in South Harrington Dock.
Although Psygnosis primarily became a game publisher, some games were developed fully or partly in-house. During the early days, artists were employed full-time at the headquarters, offering
third-party developers, who were often just single
programmers, a very high-quality art resource. This had the result of allowing Psygnosis to maintain very high graphical standards across the board, something for which the company became most famous. The original artists were Garvan Corbett, Jeff Bramfitt, Colin Rushby and Jim Bowers, with Neil Thompson joining a little later.
Closely following in the path of 1987 hit Barbarian with what was becoming a trademark high-quality introduction, Obliterator, released in 1988, contained an opening animation by Jim Bowers (now a digital matte painter for the movie industry) with the main character looking directly into the "camera". His face is animated with bewilderment that turns into anger, at which point he drops his guns and shoots at the observer. This short scene would further pave the way for many increasingly sophisticated intro animations, starting with 2D hand drawn sequences, and then progressing into
FMV and 3D rendered movies created with
Sculpt 4D on the Amiga. Eventually, Psygnosis would buy many
Silicon Graphics workstations for the sole purpose of creating these animations.
While most games companies of the mid-to-late 1980s (including Psygnosis) were releasing identical games on both the Amiga and Atari ST, Psygnosis started to use the full potential of the Amiga's more powerful hardware to produce technically stunning games. It was these technically superior titles that brought the company its early success, with the landmark title Shadow of the Beast bringing the company its greatest success so far in 1989. Its multi-layered
parallax scrolling and stunning
music were highly advanced for the time and as such led to the game being used as a showcase demonstration for the Amiga in many computer shops.
Later, Psygnosis consolidated its fame after publishing the
DMA DesignLemmings game franchise: debuting in 1991 on the Amiga, Lemmings was soon to be ported to a plethora of different computer and video game platforms, generating many sequels and variations of its concept through the years. After that, Psygnosis put unparalleled effort in producing Microcosm, a game that debuted on Japanese system
FM Towns and was to become technical showcase and flagship title for new Commodore
CD32 and SMSG
3DO multimedia consoles: although gameplay was never considered on par with technical aspects, graphics, music by
Rick Wakeman and long FMV introduction were among the finest in company history at the time.
Psygnosis also received top billing for creating the "Face-Off" games in the
Nickelodeon 1992 television game show, Nick Arcade, with such games as "Post Haste", "Jet Jocks" and "Battle of the Bands", among others.
In 1993, the company was acquired by
Sony Electronic Publishing.[2] In preparation for the September 1995 introduction of Sony's
PlayStation console in Western markets, Psygnosis started creating games using the PlayStation as primary reference hardware. Among the most famous creations of this period were Wipeout, G-Police, and the Colony Wars series, some of which were ported to PC and to other platforms.
The acquisition was rewarding for Sony in another aspect: development kits for PlayStation consoles. As it had previously published PSY-Q development kits for various consoles by
SN Systems, Psygnosis arranged for them to create a development system for the PS based on cheap PC hardware. Sony evaluated the system during
CES in January 1994 and decided to adopt it.[3]
As Psygnosis expanded after the Sony buyout, another satellite office was opened in Century Building with later offices opening in
Stroud, England, London, Chester, Paris, Germany, and Foster City in California (as the Customer Support & Marketing with software development done in San Francisco), now the home of Sony Computer Entertainment America. The company headquarters has resided at Wavertree Technology Park since 1995.
The Stroud studio was opened in November 1993 in order to attract disgruntled
MicroProse employees.
Staff grew from initially about 50 to about 70 in 1997.[4] Among the titles created at Stroud are
Overboard! and
G-Police.[4]
The Wheelhouse—its publishing name—was closed in 2000 as part of the
Sony Computer Entertainment takeover of Psygnosis. Some members joined
Bristol-based
Rage Software, but faced a similar demise a number of years later.
In 1999, the publishing branch of the company was merged into
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe as a whole, and the Psygnosis brand was dropped in favour of SCE Studio Liverpool, which marked the full integration of the studio within Sony Computer Entertainment. Psygnosis's Camden and Stroud studios were renamed Studio Camden (later merged with
Team Soho to form
SCE London Studio) and Studio Stroud.
The newly named SCE Studio Liverpool released its first title, Formula One 2001, in 2001. The game was also the studio's first release on the
PlayStation 2, and the first entry in the Formula One series after taking over from developer
Studio 33. From 2001 to 2007, Studio Liverpool released 8 instalments in the series between the PlayStation 2,
PlayStation Portable and
PlayStation 3. However, Sony Computer Entertainment's exclusive license with the
Formula One Group expired, without renewal, before the 2007 season, marking the end of any further Formula One series instalments from the developer.
Studio Liverpool also created Wipeout Fusion, the first of two installments of the series on the PlayStation 2, released in 2002. Next they developed Wipeout Pure for the PlayStation Portable, which launched alongside the handheld in 2005 to significant acclaim, with many media outlets heralding it a return to glory for the series. They followed up with the sequel Wipeout Pulse in 2007 which was later ported to the PlayStation 2 and released exclusively in Europe and the UK.
In 2008, they released Wipeout HD, a downloadable title for the PlayStation 3's
PlayStation Network service, consisting of various courses taken from both Wipeout Pure and Wipeout Pulse remade in high definition. An expansion pack for Wipeout HD named Wipeout HD Fury is currently available at PlayStation Network, including new game modes, new tracks, new music and new ship skins/models.[5]
On 29 January 2010, Sony made the following public statement: "It has been decided that production on a number of projects within Studio Liverpool will cease immediately due to project prioritisation. Our North West Studio Group has been and will continue to be a vital cog in the WWS family, with a history of producing genre defining games such as MotorStorm, WipEout, Formula 1 and WRC and this decision will have no impact of the role that the North West Studio Group will play in the future of all PlayStation platforms".[6]
XDev
XDev, Sony's external development studio is part of studio Liverpool and is responsible for managing the development of titles at developers that are outside of Sony's own developer group. It has won 8
British Academy (BAFTA) video game awards and
AIAS awards for LittleBigPlanet, 3 BAFTA awards for the Buzz! series and
Develop Industry Excellence Awards for MotorStorm and Buzz!.[7]
"Sony Electronic Publishing Co. has acquired Liverpool, England-based computer and video game software developer and publisher Psygnosis Ltd. Sony says the acquisition will 'significantly enhance its in-house development capabilities.' Psygnosis will continue to market and distribute software under the Psygnosis brand, as well as develop software for Sony Electronic Publishing's video game division, Sony Imagesoft."[8]
Psygnosis moved to London after acquisition and simultaneous launching of SEPL[9]
"Psygnosis, a Sony subsidiary, known for developing computer and video games [...]"Described as a Sony subsidiary[10]
"[Sony] also is integrating its software divisions, which develop CDROMs and video games under the Sony Electronic Publishing, Sony ImageSoft and Psygnosis labels."[11]
"Jonathan Ellis, a company director, formed Psygnosis with Ian Hetherington, a maths and physics graduate. Number one in the CD-rom market, they are owned now by Sony."[12]
"Sony is considering putting Psygnosis, the Liverpool-based computer games giant on the market. [...] Psygnosis has grown considerably since it was bought by Sony in 1993."[13]
"[...] Wipeout 2097, from Psygnosis in Liverpool [...]"[14]
"[...] the company's Web page at
http://www. psygnosis.com"[15]
"[...] former Psygnosis founder Ian Hetherington, shortly after Hetherington sold the Liverpoolbased business to Sony"[18]
"[...] game- industry veteran Ian Hetherington (founder of Psygnosis) [...]"[19]
"Evolution was founded in 1999 by games designers Martin Kenwright and Ian Hetherington, who used to run the Liverpool-based Psygnosis computer games software business, which was sold to Sony."[20]
"Jones is now chief executive and creative director at Realtime, alongside industry veterans [...] Ian Hetherington, former managing director of Lemmings publisher Psygnosis."[21]
"Sony restructured its Liverpool studio last year with the loss of dozens of jobs."[22]
"[...] Psygnosis - a Liverpool-based design firm which had been taken over by technology giant Sony the previous year"[23]
"Many of the new wave of city gaming firms were set up last year after Sony shed jobs at its Wavertree studio."[24]
"Founded in 1984 under the name Psygnosis, it was Studio Liverpool which brought futuristic anti- gravity racing in 1995 with Wipeout, a game that marked a shift in video gameplay."[25]
"Today Sony – which bought Liverpool company Psygnosis – is the region’s biggest video games employer, with hundreds of staff in Wavertree and Runcorn."[26]
"It has been big business in Merseyside for many years. Its growth was driven by the success of Psygnosis, which developed games including Lemmings and was sold to Sony in 1993."[27]