Spectrum HoloByte

Spectrum Holobyte, Inc,

Former type	Public (defunct)
Industry	Video game industry
Fate	Acquired by Hasbro Interactive
Founded	1983
Defunct	1998
Headquarters	Alameda, California, United States
Key people	Gilman Louie
Products	Video games

Spectrum Holobyte, Inc. (stylized and commonly referred to as Spectrum HoloByte) was a video game developer and publisher. The company, founded in 1983, was most famous for its simulation games, notably the Falcon series of flight simulators and Vette! (1989) driving simulator. Spectrum HoloByte was founded in Boulder, Colorado but subsequently moved to Alameda, California.

Spectrum HoloByte published games for many platforms, including home computers of the 1980s and early 1990s, IBM PC compatibles, and some video game consoles.

The company published Solitaire Royale (1987), the first computer card solitaire program. They were the first to bring Tetris to gamers outside the Soviet Union and Sokoban to gamers outside Japan. It was also the distributor for Domark games before Domark set up its own US operations in San Mateo, California.

In 1992 Spectrum HoloByte received an investment from Kleiner Perkins, which let the company repurchase shares formerly owned by Robert Maxwell's companies, ending its ties to their bankruptcies.^[1] In December 1993, Spectrum HoloByte merged with MicroProse to form MicroProse Inc.^[2] For the following years, games from both companies were published under their respective brands, but in 1996 all titles were consolidated under the MicroProse brand.

Hasbro Interactive acquired the merged company in 1998, and what had been Spectrum HoloByte ceased to exist when the development studio in Alameda was closed in 1999.^[3] Hasbro subsequently sold all the assets of the various Hasbro Interactive studios to Infogrames, including the Atari brand itself.

The chairman of Spectrum HoloByte, Gilman Louie, also founded Nexa Corporation, a developer of entertainment software, which went on to merge with Spectrum HoloByte prior to the company's move from Colorado to California.

Games

Title	Release	Platforms	Description/Genre
Absolute Zero	000000001995-01-01-00001995	MS-DOS	Action
Absolute Zero	000000001995-01-01-00001995	Mac OS	Action
BreakThru!	000000001994-01-01-00001994	Game Boy	Puzzle
		Super Nintendo Entertainment System
		Sega Saturn
ClockWerx	000000001995-01-01-00001995	Mac OS	Strategy
ClockWerx	000000001994-01-01-00001994	Microsoft Windows	Strategy
Crisis in the Kremlin	000000001991-01-01-00001991	MS-DOS	Strategy
Curse of Dragor	000000001995-01-01-00001995	Mac OS	Role-playing
Dondra: A New Beginning	000000001987-01-01-00001987	Apple II	Adventure
Faces	000000001990-01-01-00001990	Amiga	Strategy
		MS-DOS
		Mac OS
Falcon	000000001987-01-01-00001987	Amiga	Combat flight simulator
		Atari ST
		CDTV
		MS-DOS
		Mac OS
Falcon 3.0	000000001991-01-01-00001991	MS-DOS	Combat flight simulator
Falcon 3.0: Operation: Fighting Tiger	000000001992-01-01-00001992	MS-DOS	Combat flight simulator
Falcon A.T.	000000001988-01-01-00001988	MS-DOS	Combat flight simulator
Falcon Gold	000000001994-01-01-00001994	MS-DOS	Combat flight simulator
Falcon Operation: Counterstrike	000000001989-01-01-00001989	Amiga	Combat flight simulator
Falcon Operation: Counterstrike	000000001989-01-01-00001989	Atari ST	Combat flight simulator
Falcon Operation: Firefight	000000001990-01-01-00001990	Amiga	Combat flight simulator
Falcon Operation: Firefight	000000001990-01-01-00001990	Atari ST	Combat flight simulator
Fields of Glory	000000001994-01-01-00001994	MS-DOS	Strategy
Flight of the Intruder	000000001990-01-01-00001990	Amiga	Combat flight simulator
		Atari ST
		MS-DOS
Formula One	000000001994-01-01-00001994	MS-DOS	Racing
GATO	000000001984-01-01-00001984	Apple II	Submarine simulator
		Atari ST
		Atari XE
		MS-DOS
		Mac OS
Gazillionaire	000000001994-01-01-00001994	Microsoft Windows	Financial simulator
Hornet: Naval Strike Fighter	000000001993-01-01-00001993	MS-DOS	Combat flight simulator
Intrigue!	000000001986-01-01-00001986	Apple II	Adventure
Intrigue!	000000001986-01-01-00001986	Commodore 64	Adventure
Iron Helix	000000001993-01-01-00001993	Mac OS	Adventure, survival horror
		SEGA CD
		Microsoft Windows
Knight Moves	000000001995-01-01-00001995	Microsoft Windows	Puzzle
Lords of Midnight	000000001995-01-01-00001995	MS-DOS	Adventure, role-playing, strategy
Lunar Explorer: A Space Flight Simulator	000000001986-01-01-00001986	MS-DOS	Action, simulation
MiG-29: Deadly Adversary of Falcon 3.0	000000001993-01-01-00001993	MS-DOS	Combat flight simulator
National Lampoon's Chess Maniac 5 Billion and 1	000000001993-01-01-00001993	MS-DOS	Strategy
Orbiter	000000001985-01-01-00001985	Atari ST	Educational, simulation
		MS-DOS
		Mac OS
Out of the Sun	000000001994-01-01-00001994	Mac OS	Simulation
Perfect Partner Bridge	000000001995-01-01-00001995	Mac OS	Card game
Perfect Partner Bridge	000000001995-01-01-00001995	Microsoft Windows	Card game
PT-109	000000001987-01-01-00001987	Mac OS	Naval simulation
PT-109	000000001987-01-01-00001987	MS-DOS	Naval simulation
Qwirks	000000001995-01-01-00001995	Mac OS	Strategy
Qwirks	000000001995-01-01-00001995	Microsoft Windows	Strategy
Reflux: Issue.01 - "The Becoming"	000000001995-01-01-00001995	Mac OS	Adventure
Reflux: Issue.02 - "The Threshold"	000000001995-01-01-00001995	Microsoft Windows	Adventure
Soko-Ban	000000001984-01-01-00001984	Apple II	Strategy
		Commodore 64
		MS-DOS
Soldiers of Fortune	000000001993-01-01-00001993	Sega Genesis	Action
Soldiers of Fortune	000000001993-01-01-00001993	Super Nintendo Entertainment System	Action
Solitaire Royale	000000001987-01-01-00001987	Amiga	Card game
		Apple IIGS
		MS-DOS
		Mac OS
Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity	000000001995-01-01-00001995	MS-DOS	Adventure, Strategy
Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity	000000001995-01-01-00001995	Mac OS	Adventure, Strategy
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Futures Past	000000001994-01-01-00001994	Game Gear	Adventure
		Sega Genesis
		Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Stunt Driver	000000001990-01-01-00001990	MS-DOS	Racing
Super Tetris	000000001991-01-01-00001991	Amiga	Puzzle
		MS-DOS
		Mac OS
		Microsoft Windows
Tank: The M1A1 Abrams Battle Tank Simulation	000000001989-01-01-00001989	MS-DOS	Vehicular combat
Tetris	000000001987-01-01-00001987	Amiga	Puzzle
		Apple II
		Apple IIGS
		Atari ST
		MS-DOS
		Mac OS
		ZX Spectrum
Tetris Classic	000000001992-01-01-00001992	MS-DOS	Puzzle
Tetris Classic	000000001992-01-01-00001992	Microsoft Windows	Puzzle
Tetris Gold	000000001993-01-01-00001993	MS-DOS	Puzzle
		Mac OS
		Microsoft Windows
Tetris Trio	000000001992-01-01-00001992	MS-DOS	Puzzle
TinHead	000000001994-01-01-00001994	Sega Genesis	Action
Top Gun: Fire at Will!	000000001996-01-01-00001996	MS-DOS	Combat flight simulator
		Mac OS
		PlayStation
		Microsoft Windows
Tornado	000000001993-01-01-00001993	MS-DOS	Combat flight simulator
Vette!	000000001989-01-01-00001989	MS-DOS	Racing
Vette!	000000001989-01-01-00001989	Mac OS	Racing
Welltris	000000001989-01-01-00001989	MS-DOS	Strategy
Welltris	000000001989-01-01-00001989	Mac OS	Strategy
WildSnake	000000001994-01-01-00001994	Game Boy	Strategy
WildSnake	000000001994-01-01-00001994	Super Nintendo Entertainment System	Strategy
Wordtris	000000001992-01-01-00001992	MS-DOS	Strategy
		Game Boy
		Mac OS
		Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Zig-Zag	000000001987-01-01-00001987	Commodore 64	Action

References

↑ "Spectrum HoloByte Buy-Back Launches Next Generation". Computer Gaming World. December 1992. p. 116. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
↑ "Spectrum + MicroProse = MicroProse Inc.". GamePro (56) (IDG). March 1994. p. 186.
↑ Freudenheim, Milt (8 December 1999). "Hasbro to Cut 20% of Its Jobs and Take $97 Million Charge". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 January 2014.

External links

Spectrum Holobyte, Inc. at MobyGames

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, April 17, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.