The BBC Games Archive - digital memories

This is where you can find out all about what has happened with the site since its creation, the newest stuff is at the top of the page, and as the site gets older, I'll move some of the news to an old news page.

Fixed the mailing, and errors since upgrading to latest php.

Apologies, but if you've sent me email in the past 4 months I wont have got it due to a misconfiguration of my mail settings on the contact page. Please send again!

Added a basic search facility (finally!) and updated a couple of images. It's been a while!

Added an add for CG EXPO - come and see us on the 13th August! We'll be there with a bunch of old beebs so come and relive your memories! Check out the site here

Also rejigged the menu a little, and fixed a few links.

The site has been fully redesigned! I hope you like it this way, it will certainly be a lot easier to maintain from now on. Look out for lots of new features, including the ability to play games direct from the site!!!

Added info about the CG EXPO 2004 which we were recently attending. Also fixed the description of Mr Wimpy that Jeremy has been pointing out to me for ages! More developments on the way soon - so lookout!

4Mation page updated with more info.

DACC history added, kindly provided by Derek Ashton (founder). Also full information on MRM added, check those out! Also put up some lovely little Xmas decorations - Merry Christmas!

Items of interest added about Audiogenic/ASL, Icon, Top Ten, Godax, Supersoft - interesting stuff, read on!

Another big update, i've added descriptions of over 170 games, some company info and a new Battle of the Games at last!

Thanks go to:

• Ken Bailey: for the Statsoft info.
• Jeremy Grayson: for copious amounts of company information!
• Mike Goldberg, formerly of MRM for the interesting company information, the MRM page is now well worth a read for the information.
• Dave Palmer, for the brilliant 'life and times of Alligata that he e-mailed me with, this makes fascinating reading.
• Mike Flynn: more Firstbyte information.

Massive new update - info on over 200 games updated and about 70 new box covers amongst other things.

Thanks go to:

• Jeremy Grayson - box scans, games to try out, hunting down the rarest of the rare :)
• Stairway To Hell - the update wouldnt have been possible without the recent addition of loads of tape and disk images, that site is the best out there.
• Jon Hirst - for the Firstbyte info and scans, we need more people like you :)
• Everyone else who emailed and liked the site!

Stay tuned for a new update coming soon - a new battle of the games and about 150 gamesworth of info added :) I still have about that many games to go through from the Stairway To Hell update!

Over 100 new box scans added to various pages, some thanks this time:

• Jeremey Grayson, for those box scans :), copious amounts of info and the interesting emails!
• Clive Feather, for this Black Box rules
• Daniel Beardsmore, for the Awari rules
• Iain Garfield, for having a good bash at beating some high scores :)

Also fixed some broken links etc - enjoy!

Some more high scores, a few broken links fixed, and a new battle of the games! I should have some more stuff to upload after my exams are over :) Enjoy!

Permission to kill webmaster of this site I hear you say? Permission denied - the site is back! After a very very very long time without a proper update I have now added some new stuff! Yep, the Superior and Acornsoft games are making an appearance! And you probably won't believe this, but we have a winner for the mammoth battle of the games!! Only lasted about 2 years lol. And also a new battle of the games between Chuckie Egg and Manic Miner! Also loads of new reviews and downloads, about 120 in all, so take a look around! Oh and I've totally re-coded the site in XHTML 1.0, it doesnt look much different now but it should allow for lots of exciting changes in future! Enjoy, and if you have any problems, don't hesitate to mail me.

Ok, now that was the mother of all breaks!!!! Seems we've gone 10 monthes without any updates to the site..whoops! Anyway i'm slowly editing the site again, all I've uploaded is a much updated high score table this time - that new battle of the games is coming soon ;) Check back often from now on!!!

Yipes! That was some break, over 3 monthes have passed since the last time I updated the site!! Sorry about that one guys! Anyone, a huge update this time, a new Battle of the Games, some new games and info have been added to various pages, and I've updated a whole lot of things on the site. Now that its summer, nothing much is happening in the Beeb world, but I'd still like to hear from you all with your stories of yesteryear! It's something that never fails to interest me!

Another month, another update, I know I should be updating more often, but there never seems to be much to add anymore! Anyway, this update is quite a biggy, I've added about 120 new scans of box covers, and about 10 new games, most of this is thanks to Matt Keyworth, thanks Matt!! Another thing is that there is a new site about BBC Micro games, click here to visit it. You might want to check out the Micropower page, as the ubiquitous Dr Who And The Mines Of Terror is making an appearance! Oh, and the Battle Of The Games competition has been extended until next week, sorry for the delay!

Finally I have enough stuff to make a site update worthwhile, 1999 certainly isn't a good year so far for BBC stuff! Thanks to those of you that do write to me with stories of yesteryear, and those people who wrote games for the Beeb, there are some great stories and people out there. A few company pages have been updated, Boulder Dash from Tynesoft is one new game you might want to check out. Oh yeah, and the search for an 80t disc drive has opened up again, the heads just went on one of my drives - anyone got a spare they might want to sell?

Interest in the BBC Micro seems to have gone a bit flat since about November, come on people, wakey wakey!! I love reading you mails about the old days, and you telling me your info!! Come on, this site thrives on interaction with readers, so - Interact!! Tell me what you want from the site, and what you do and don't like about what's already here, and most of all, contact me. Anyway, in this update there are only a couple of changes and additions, Enthar7 should be downloadable in a few days.

Ahh, the first update of the new year! Well, now we're in 1999 I expect a lot more input from you guys!! Yes, it was great last year, but theres always room for improvement!! For the new year there is a new Battle Of The Games, some updates to a few pages, and a few little bits and pieces here and there. Apart from that, have a good new year, and keep the BBC Alive!

The BBC Games Archive christmas update is here! Lots of nice Christmassy images to make you feel all sentimental. Anyway, aside from that, a few more games available for download, some more companies, additions to some companies information, and an interview with gamesmaster Peter Scott, the perfect present!

Quite a large update this time - there's an interview with ex-bbc games writer Gary Partis, creator of Psycastria amongst other things, and numerous updates and additions to games pages. The biggest of these is the amalgamation of the Adventure International and Digital Fantasia pages into the Adventuresoft UK page, something I was unsure about doing, but decided to as I have info that Adventuresoft UK were the company who released this games in the UK.

Well, thats about it for this week, I can tell you though that week will be a Christmassy update to the site, and perhaps an interview with someone mentioned rather a lot on these pages....wait and see!

Not much to update this week, just a couple of additions and corrections to the archive, and I've added a way to send your votes for the Battle Of The Games page on-line - maybe some more people will vote now?

Grrr, missed a weeks update because my phone line wasn't working, oh well. Anyway, I've returned with something special, an interview with The Mad Hatter!! Yes, the Adventure gaming guru speaks out about his column. Also, I have more info on VTOL, the unfinished game by Peter Johnson, so you may want to check out the unfinished games section too. Also I have added a few more images of various games.

Huge update this time, all of the games companies pages have now been finished, so now I really need you guys to dig around in your attics and cellars, and find some of the games that I have no info on, sell/loan/trade/copy them for me, so I can rate them, and then tell me about it! Also any interesting stories, bits of info on various games, anything! I've also had a bit of a clean-up of various existing pages, obvious spelling mistakes removed from some pages (do tell me if you find any more, I won't call you a nitpicker!) and at last I've added a mention of PAS18, which I kept meaning to do for ages, but never got round to it!

Another thing I've added is a page for unreleased games & demos, which will provide information on all those games that you probably heard about, but never got released commercially, for whatever reason!

Another quite big update, this time I have started adding all the companies which are listed, but have no page. I only have the titles of the games they produced, not any info on them , as I have been unable to get hold of these games, so if you can get a copy of any of the for me, I would be most grateful, please get in contact!! I have also updated the Battle Of The Games Page, so go there and vote!

A massive update today, I've finished filling in the information for all the games I currently have in my possession, now it is up to you to send me games that aren't in the archive so I can review them for myself. Also, any info on the companies or any odd facts about the games themselves - I'd love to hear! I've also had to remove some links because the games are still being sold by ProAction a company run by David Bradforth - more on that next week!

Sorry for yet ANOTHER long wait for an update on my site, I've been settling down to A-level work (boring). But I'm back with a vengeance and I've added info on a lot more games whose company pages I added last update, I'm far from finished, as you can see from all the unavailable company pages on the left frame - but don't worry these will all be filled in in time! I've also added an interview from Jonathon Griffifths, the creator of Snapper, Rocket Raid and JCB Digger, so take a look on the interview pages!

Almost a month since the last update and what have I done? Well, quite a lot actually! There are now two more interviews for you to read, by Steve Hanson and Adrian Stephens, the mind behind such classics as Mr Ee and Killer Gorilla. Also, I have added pages for about 90 more smaller companies, all the games I know about that they did are included, but I havent yet had time to do most of the descriptions for the games, which I will be doing over the next few weeks! Enjoy the site, and don't forget to tell me what you want to see, or if there are any mistakes.

Lots of new stuff added! I've just generally been adding new descriptions of games, redoing ones which I thought were a bit crap, and adding a load of new box covers. Over 70 games have had descriptions added or replaced, and there are a number of new entries for games that I have discovered exist, but never seen a copy of. If you have any of the games for which I have listed "no info" then please mail me a copy of the game or I will offer to buy it from you.

A new Kitting Out page added with Info on how to get Beeb Hardware! High Score table updated, and the Acornsoft section has been tweaked - again! Also removed advert from front page stating 'Now with links to ftp downloads' and a new one put up 'Electron Wanted' - yep, I'm after an Electron!

Almost a month without update, but now my GCSE's are over! And to celebrate it, I've done loads of work on the site, all the games now have links to the File Archive so you just have to click on the title to download them! Also, the Acornsoft section has been updated, there is a new battle of the games section, and I updated the No Frames version of the site to be completely up to date with the rest of the site, enjoy!

Another two week wait for an update, I'm really sorry, but I have been very busy these last few weeks. Well, here we are again, and I've added a load of new games to the pages, including a new company - Atlantis. There are also some minor updates to different pages. Its been a bit quite with your questions and info lately, come on!

Sorry about missing last weeks update, I was too busy at the weekend to find time to upload! Well, things have been moving along quite nicely, we have the first winner in the battle of the games page, so check that out! Also, there is a lot of new info on games, just have a look! More pictures have also been added, thanks goes to Tim Strong for those!

Lots of things added this week! Battle Of The Games page, do you like Castle Quest or Citadel More? Vote! High scores page added, tell me all your high scores. Lots of aesthetic additions including a no frames version of the site, some animated GIFs added, and Steve Hanson of Superior Software has kindly given a 40% discount to all customers who mention this website! Also I have put up the Interview with Richard Hanson, managing director of Superior Software, click here to see!

The crisis is averted - I managed to get hold of a brand spanking new second hand disk drive from Martin Wilson - cheers Martin! With that I can go back about my normal BBC related duties! Incidentally, I have all the games from the archive on BBC disk, so if you have a query about a game, then just mail me and I will reply with my best answer as soon as possible.

I have finished off typing up information for the rest of the games companies, well the main players anyway. I will soon move on to the rest of the smaller companies, maybe with multiple companies on a single page (for those companies who only did one or two games) and maybe move up. Also, soon I will start creating links to ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/bbc which is where all these games are stored! I'm looking for pictures in .jpg or .gif format of any game companies logo's, also I still need more pictures of BOX COVERS!!!

A lot of additions this week, just take a look at all the signs on the pages! The Superior Software section is now almost as complete as I can get it, so take a look there. Remember, if you have any covers of boxes you can scan in, please send them to me! The site searcher is still out of order, so if anyone knows how I can get it to work?? The page is more popular than I thought it would be - over 100 hits this week! There is now a link to this site in Aarrgh! and eventually it will be reviewed! Also I added a link to Utopia Software, Richard Hanson's (former Managing Director of Superior Software) page.

Added loads of pictures to the Superior section, tell me if it takes too long to load and I'll split the section up as it is so big! Also added info to Micropower, Audiogenic and Superior pages. I also added this site to loads of search engines, and added a counter to the page. I'm off school until the 25th of April, so I'll have plenty of time to add to the site and answer queries - between revising for my damn GCSE's!!!

Aprils Fools Day! But Michael surely isn't a fool because he sent me a load of games to try out, and loads of box covers for Superior and other companies games! I added a search page to the site, but I can't get it do do anything, please tell me how to get it working!!

Finished adding all the companies pages onto the site! Most of them don't have much info in yet, but at least you can see what games they produced! I also added loads of information the Alligata, Micropower and Visions pages.

Richard Talbot-Watkins sent me a load of info on various companies, thanks Rich! I updated them, including some interesting facts about 4th Dimension.

I added a lot to the page, included pictures of the covers of some of the games, which I got from The BBC Lives! website.

The site is added! I hardly told anyone because it is still in Beta, and the page isn't finished. Only a few companies pages are available.

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