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==History== ===Early history and rise=== [[Image:Knight lore 3.gif|thumb|right|256px|''[[Knight Lore]]'', the first [[Filmation engine|Filmation]] title.]] Ashby Computers & Graphics was founded 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.<ref name="Jones King"/><ref name="Retro Gamer 20">A Rare Breed, ''[[Retro Gamer]]'', issue 20, pages 26-33. [[Imagine Publishing]], 2006.</ref> Other members of the Stamper family were also involved in the early running and support of the company, which was initially located in a house next to the family-run [[newsagent]].<ref name="Jones King">Jones, Darran and King, Ryan. ''[[X360]] Magazine'' supplemental: ''Rare - The Ultimate Story'', page 9. [[Highbury Entertainment]], 2005.</ref><ref name="Retro Gamer 20"/> Both Tim and Chris had worked in arcade game development<ref name="Retro Gamer 20"/><ref name="CRASH 62 p9"/> and claimed to be "the most experienced arcade video game design team in Britain", until tiring of working for others and leaving to start ACG.<ref>''News item, [[Personal Computer Games]]'', issue 1, page 5. Summer 1983.</ref> This led to ACG's initial trade being in creating arcade conversion kits,<ref name="Jones King"/><ref name="Retro Gamer 20"/> before moving into the home computer software market developing games under the Ultimate Play The Game name. Ultimate's first release was ''[[Jetpac]]'' in [[1983 in video gaming|1983]] for the 16K Spectrum, BBC and [[Commodore VIC-20]]. It was a huge commercial success; the Spectrum version alone sold more than 300,000 copies to a market of only one million Spectrum owners at the time,<ref name="ZX Spectrum Book">Rollings, Andrew. ''The ZX Spectrum Book - 1982-199x''. Hiive publishing, 2007. Jones and King quote the Jetman sales figure as being 330,000.</ref> and providing the fledgling company with a turnover in excess of [[Pound sterling|Β£]]1 million.<ref name="Retro Gamer 20"/> This was followed by three further 16K releases, ''[[Pssst]]'', ''[[Tranz Am]]'', and ''[[Cookie (video game)|Cookie]]'', before Ultimate stepped up to the 48K Spectrum. ''Jetpac'', ''Pssst'', ''Tranz Am'' and ''Cookie'' were four of only ten games ever to be released on the 16K [[Read only memory|ROM]] format for use with the [[ZX Interface 2]]. They were also republished on cassette, with distinctive silver inlay cards, by [[Sinclair Research]] for inclusion in ZX Spectrum [[product bundling|bundles]]. [[Image:Sabre wulf box.jpg|thumb|left|200px|The distinctive packaging of Ultimate's middle-period titles.]] Ultimate's first 48K release was ''[[Lunar Jetman]]'', a sequel to ''Jetpac'', which was released in late 1983 and was very well received by the gaming press, ''[[CRASH (magazine)|CRASH magazine]]'' in particular praising what Ultimate had managed to do with the extra memory the game utilised.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.crashonline.org.uk/01/jetman.htm | title=''Lunar Jetman'' review | publisher=''Newsfield Publications, February 1984 | work=[[CRASH (magazine)|CRASH]]'', issue 1, page 88 }}</ref> In [[1984 in video gaming|1984]] came ''[[Sabre Wulf]]'', the first game of the ''[[Sabreman]]'' series, which was the first Ultimate game released at a [[suggested retail price|recommended retail price]] of Β£9.95. The price of Ultimate titles had previously been just Β£5.50, which was typical for Spectrum arcade-style games at the time.<ref name="Retro Gamer 20"/> This increase was in order to discourage [[software piracy|piracy]], with the idea being that if customers paid more for a game they would be less inclined to give away copies.<ref>Jones, Darran and King, Ryan. ''[[X360]]'' supplemental: ''Rare - The Ultimate Story'', page 13. [[Highbury Entertainment]], 2005.</ref> This coincided with the introduction of the distinctive Ultimate "big box" packaging (used with all further Spectrum releases until ''[[Gunfright]]'', and with various releases on other platforms), which the company felt might also help justify the price increase and encourage gamers to buy the game rather than copy it. The strategy paid off as ''Sabre Wulf'' went on to sell over 350,000 copies on the Spectrum alone.<ref>Ultimate Play The Game feature, ''[[The Games Machine]]'', issue 27, page 27. Newsfield Publications, March 1988.</ref><ref>[http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=85625 ''Sabre Wulf''] at [[Eurogamer.net]]. Retrieved on October 30, 2007.</ref> This was followed by the simultaneous release at the end of 1984 of the next two instalments in the Sabreman series, ''[[Underwurlde]]'' and ''[[Knight Lore]]''. ''Knight Lore'' was something of a revolution in the home computer game market, using a forced-perspective [[isometric projection|isometric]] viewpoint branded [[Filmation engine|Filmation]], the style of which would be extensively copied in other games, notable examples being ''[[Batman (video game)|Batman]]'' and ''[[Head Over Heels (video game)|Head Over Heels]]'' from [[Ocean Software]].<ref>The Making of Head Over Heels, ''[[Retro Gamer]]'', issue 34, page 76. [[Imagine Publishing]], 2007.</ref> ''Knight Lore'', and some of its Filmation follow-up ''Alien 8'', was actually completed before ''Sabre Wulf'' but Ultimate decided that it could have a potentially negative effect on sales of the comparatively primitive ''Sabre Wulf'', so it was postponed until late 1984 for a simultaneous release with ''Underwurlde''.<ref name="Retro Gamer 20"/><ref name="ZX Spectrum Book"/> {{cquote|''Knight Lore'' was finished before ''Sabre Wulf''. But we decided the market wasn't ready for it. Because if we released ''Knight Lore'' and ''Alien 8'', which was already half-finished, we wouldn't have sold ''Sabre Wulf'' ... There was a little bit of careful planning there ... We just had to sit on it because everyone else was so far behind|20px|20px|[[Tim and Chris Stamper|Tim Stamper]]|''CRASH'' magazine, April 1988}} Ultimate ran into some criticism in the gaming media for their repeated use of the Filmation technique in subsequent games ''[[Alien 8]]'', ''[[Nightshade (video game)|Nightshade]]'', ''[[Gunfright]]'' and ''[[Pentagram (video game)|Pentagram]]'',<ref>''Pentagram'' review, ''[[Sinclair User]]'', issue 52, page 43. [[EMAP]], July 1986.</ref> though ''Nightshade'' and ''Gunfright'' used Filmation II, a variation on the engine, resulting in a similar visual style, but significantly different gameplay, with scrolling around a large world and arcade-like play, rather than the room-based puzzles of the earlier Filmation titles. ===Decline and fall=== With the consistent success of Ultimate's releases there were rumours of a buyout by [[Ocean Software|Ocean]], until it was announced in [[1985 in video gaming|1985]] that the Stamper brothers had sold the Ultimate catalogue and name to [[U.S. Gold]],<ref name="Best of British">{{cite web | url=http://www.crashonline.org.uk/51/ultimate.htm | title=''The Best of British'', | publisher=''Newsfield Publications, April 1988 | work=CRASH'', issue 51, pages 35-38 }}</ref> who would continue to develop games under the Ultimate label. Later titles such as ''[[Martianoids]]'' and ''[[Bubbler (video game)|Bubbler]]'' were not seen by the gaming press as being up to Ultimate's previously high standards and sales fell. U.S. Gold released no new Ultimate games after ''Bubbler'' in [[1987 in video gaming|1987]]. A final Sabreman game, ''[[Mire Mare]]'', was trailed in earlier Sabreman games and was mentioned by [[Sinclair User]] as being next up for release,<ref>''Mire Mare'' "preview", ''Sinclair User'', issue 63, page 108. [[EMAP]], June 1987.</ref> but was quietly dropped during development. In late [[1988 in video gaming|1988]] ACG/Rare Ltd. bought back all the rights sold to U.S. Gold and were reported to be developing games again.<ref name="CRASH 62 p9">News item in ''CRASH'', issue 62, page 9. Newsfield Publications, March 1989.</ref> Future releases were to have included ''[[Solar Jetman]]'', which would eventually appear only on the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]], although home computer conversions for the Commodore 64, [[Commodore Amiga]], and [[Atari ST]] were completed by Storm Software, but not released.<ref name="Solar Jetman">{{cite web|title= Solar Jetman - The Creators Speak | publisher=gtw64.retro-net.de | url=http://gtw64.retro-net.de/Pages/s/Creators_Solarjetman.php | accessdate=2007-06-17}}</ref> ===Rare=== {{Main|Rare (company)}} Shortly before the U.S. Gold buyout, the name of another company "Rare Ltd." began appearing on the credits of Ultimate releases. This was in fact another company set up by the Stampers to develop for Ultimate, but not be subject to any Ultimate takeover. Rare (initially under the banner ''Rare: Designs on the Future'') would evolve after Ultimate's demise into a prolific developer for the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]].<ref name="CRASH 62 p9"/> This led Nintendo to purchase a stake in the company, whose success was furthered with such classic [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|SNES]] and [[Nintendo 64]] releases as ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' and ''[[Goldeneye 007]]''. In [[2002 in video gaming|2002]] Rare was purchased outright by [[Microsoft]]<ref name="Microsoft">{{cite news|title= Microsoft buy top games producers Rare | publisher=CBBC Newsround | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/sci_tech/newsid_2283000/2283354.stm | accessdate=2007-05-01 | date=2002-09-26}}</ref> for [[United States dollar|US$]]377 million, a record fee for a video game developer, and currently develops games for the [[Xbox 360]] console. At the end of [[2006 in video gaming|2006]] Tim and Chris Stamper left Rare to "pursue other opportunities",<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3156140 | title = Rare Founders Leave to 'Pursue Other Opportunities' | accessdate = 2007-01-02 | author = 1UP.com}}</ref> ending a 24 year involvement in developing home video games. ===Ultimate's return?=== In [[2004 in video gaming|2004]], Rare revived Ultimate's [[Sabreman]] franchise with the release of ''[[Sabre Wulf (GBA game)|Sabre Wulf]]'' for the [[Game Boy Advance]]. A new version of ''Sabre Wulf'' for the [[Xbox]] was also rumoured,<ref>[http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=85983 Sabre Wulf on Xbox?] at computerandvideogames.com.</ref> though it was never released or even officially announced. In [[2007 in video gaming|2007]] Rare released the fourth game of the [[Jetman]] series ''[[Jetpac Refuelled]]'' for [[Xbox Live Arcade]]. They have been rumoured for several years to be developing a racing game based on the Ultimate/Rare universe titled ''Sabreman Stampede''.<ref>[http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=89908 Secret Rare racer revealed!] at computerandvideogames.com.</ref> On 8 December 2006 and 16 January 2007 respectively, Rare's owners [[Microsoft Corporation]] filed US and EU trademark claims on the Ultimate Play The Game name and logo. The registered purpose is "entertainment services, namely, providing an on-line computer game".<ref name="US Trademark">{{cite web|title=United States Patent and Trademark Office | publisher=tess2.uspto.gov | url=http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=login&p_lang=english&p_d=trmk | accessdate=2007-06-17}} Due to the nature of this US government site, the relevant page cannot be directly linked to, so a search must be manually performed. The EU trademark may be found here: [http://oami.europa.eu/CTMOnline/RequestManager/en_Result_NoReg]</ref>
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