Beam International   #158 Games developed: 12 Games published: 1 Period: 1983 - 1998

"Melbourne House established itself as a world leader in the field of computer game publishing and development producing over 80 computer game titles following its establishment in 1980 with its first computer game for the Sinclair ZX-80. An impressive 50 of these titles sold over 250,000 units, across a variety of platforms from hand-held to Playstation to PC.

Notable developments include the mid 1980s titles The Hobbit and The Way of the Exploding Fist. Both of these games reached the Number 1 best-selling position throughout Europe - each with sales in excess of 500,000 units. At the time the Company held 10% of the UK market across all game formats.

In 1990 Melbourne House completed Hunt for Red October - the first Gameboy game to feature head-to-head arcade action , and in 1991 Super Smash TV for Nintendo and SNES (this game being recognised as the first featuring fast arcade action on the SNES platform).

In 1993 Melbourne House completed two games based on FASA licences - ShadowRun and MechWarrior. ShadowRun was acclaimed as a new direction in adventure gaming on consoles and MechWarrior as the best 3-D fighting game. Other games developed during the 1990s included top selling SNES Cricket and EA Sports Cricket 1996, two NES titles Aussie Rules Footy and International Cricket, The Dame was Loaded (one of the world's first interactive, full motion feature film entertainment products), KKND and Dethkarz."

In 1999 Melbourne House was sold by Beam International to French computer game powerhouse Infogrames Entertainment as part of Beam's transformation into an e-commerce business. For more information on the company's early years as Spectrum powerhouse, read this CRASH article.

Related companies: Mastertronic, Beam International, Synergistic Software