Ultimate Play the Game

 Ultimate Play the Game was started in the Leicestershire town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in 1982 by Tim and Chris Stamper. their friend John Lathbury, and Tim's girlfriend (later wife) Carole Ward. The company was initially located in a home near the family-owned newsstand. Tim and Chris both Tim and Chris had been employed in the field of arcade game development, including, according to one article Konami's Gyruss and were credited as "the most knowledgeable gaming design team for arcades in Britain" before tiring working for others and quit to establish Ashby Computers and Graphics. The first venture of ACG was the creation of a conversion kit for arcades before ACG entered the home market to create games under the Ultimate Play the Game trademark. Blue Print for Bally-Midway, Dingo, Grasspin and Saturn for Jaleco were the first arcade games to be released by Ashby. The first release of Ultimate, Jetpac, was May 1983 for 16K Spectrum. In an interview in 1983, Tim Stamper said that they deliberately targeted 16K machines as their smaller size meant development time was shorter and they could create two 16K games in one month and one game with a 48K resolution. Jetpac was a huge commercial success. It sold more than 300,000. Spectrum versions alone. Jetpac, Pssst and Tranz Am were the only four of 10 games that were ever released with 16K ROM formats. They were also published on cassettes, sporting distinctive silver inlay cards by Sinclair Research for inclusion in ZX Spectrum bundles.Ultimate's first 48K releases included Lunar Jetman - a sequel to Jetpac which was a sequel to Jetpac - as well as Atic Atac, both of which came out in late 1983. Both games were well-received by the gaming press. CRASH magazine praised Ultimate's utilization of the additional memory Lunar Jetman included. [15] Sabre Wulf appeared in 1984. It was the first Sabreman title , and also the first to be released at a recommended retail price of PS9.95. The price of Ultimate games had been only PS5.50 that was the norm for Spectrum arcade-style games at the time This increased price was to discourage piracy, with the idea that if players were paying more for a game, they'd be less inclined to share copies. It was also that Ultimate introduced the "big box" packaging. It was introduced for subsequent Spectrum releases prior to Gunfright as well as other games for other platforms. The company believed this would help justify the price increase and make it easier for gamers to not copy the game. Sabre Wulf was able to sell more than 350,000 copies on the Spectrum. The sequel to the Sabreman series came out in 1984. Underwurlde followed quickly by Knight Lore. Knight Lore was a significant breakthrough in the gaming for home computers market. It was a forced-perspective isometric camera, dubbed Filmation. The style was to be extensively copied in other games, such as Batman and Head Over Heels by Ocean Software. Knight Lore and some of its Filmation sequels Alien 8, were actually developed prior to Sabre Wulf. Ultimate however believed that it might have an adverse effect on Sabre Wulf's relatively primitive sales which is why it was put off until the latter half of 1984.