 | |
| Founded | 1984 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Manchester, England |
| Industry | Video Game Publisher and Developer |
| Employment | 23,000 |
Ocean Software Ltd (also known in the United States as Ocean of America, Inc.), commonly referred to as Ocean, is a British software development company, that became one of the biggest European video game developers/publishers of the 1980s, 1990s, and the 2000s. It is still one of Europe's largest video game developers and producers today. It was acquired by Infogrames in 1996. Infogrames then sold Ocean Software to Atari in 2004. The company was founded by David Ward and Jon Woods and was based in Manchester. Ocean has developed dozens of games for a variety of systems such as the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, MSX, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 16, Atari ST, Amiga, PC, and video game consoles such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System and Sega Mega Drive. Nowadays, Ocean develops and produces games for home and handheld consoles, such as the Stream, the Eclipse, and the Game Boy 3DS.
History[]
The company's early releases in 1984 (Moon Alert, Hunchback, High Noon, Gilligan's Gold, Daley Thompson's Decathlon etc.) were developed in-house, but later in that year Ocean Software acquired its former Liverpool rival, the defunct software developer Imagine, and focus shifted from development to publication of games. Also in 1984, Ocean struck a deal with Konami to publish their arcade games for home computers.
- In 1985, Ocean Software managed to secure the first movie licences, such as Rambo, Short Circuit and Cobra, as well as the TV show Miami Vice and RoboCop which spent about a year on the top of the charts.
- In 1986, a deal was signed with Taito and Data East for home versions of their arcade games such as Arkanoid, Renegade, Operation Wolf and The NewZealand Story.
- In 1986, Ocean Software created with Marc DJAN Ocean Software France. This 16-bit studio will create most of the 16-bit arcade conversation between 1986 and 1991 then became the French marketing and sales subsidiary of Ocean software Ltd.
- In 1987, Ocean Software published original games again, after a marginal season filled with licences, resulting in Head over Heels, Match Day II and Wizball.
- Ocean was voted Best 8-bit Software House of the Year 1988 at the Golden Joystick Awards.
- In 1996, Ocean Software published Cheesy for the PlayStation.
- Ocean was acquired by Infogrames in 1996 for £100,000,000.
- Ocean acquired Digital Image Design in 1998.
- Ocean was sold to Atari in 2004 for £50,000,000.
- Ocean joined forces with Disney Interactive Studios in 2010 to develop, produce, and license Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force: Herbert's Revenge and Club Penguin: Game Day!.
Tape Loaders[]
One of the most recognizable features of Ocean games on the Commodore 64 was the Ocean Loader. Since this computer used cassettes as storage, loading a game could take several minutes. Ocean used a special loading system that displayed a picture based on the game and played music while the game was loading. The Ocean loader music is still popular by fans of chiptunes. Five versions of the tune exist; 1 and 2 were composed by Martin Galway, 3 by Peter Clarke, 4 and 5 by Jonathan Dunn. The Ocean Loader was first used in the game Hyper Sports. Up to 1987 the Ocean Loader was written by the in house Ocean programmer Bill Barna, from 1987 to the end of the Commodore 64's commercial life the loader was replaced by "Freeload" written by in house programmer Paul Hughes.
On the ZX Spectrum, games after 1984 generally used the Speedlock protection system, which eventually included a countdown timer showing the time left to load a game.
Licensed Games[]
As of July 2013, Ocean is famous for often buying the rights to make video games from different arcade, movie and television franchises. Many license games combine several styles for example featuring platform action and car driving. The most well received license games by Ocean were RoboCop (1988), Batman The Movie (1989) and Robocop 3 (1992), which featured 3D graphics in 16-bit versions. Also the adventure game, Hook (1992) got positive reviews. The 1986 game Batman got a rating of 93% in Crash magazine. Among Ocean's license games are:
- The Addams Family
- The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt
- Addams Family Values
- Batman
- Batman: The Caped Crusader
- Batman: The Movie
- Cobra
- Cool World
- Darkman
- Dennis The Menace
- Eek the Cat
- The Flintstones
- Highlander
- Hook
- Jurassic Park
- Knight Rider
- Lethal Weapon
- Manchester United Championship Soccer
- Miami Vice
- Navy Seals
- Platoon (1988)
- Rambo
- Rambo 3
- RoboCop
- RoboCop 2
- RoboCop 3
- Short Circuit
- Total Recall
- The Transformers
- The Untouchables
- Waterworld
- WWF WrestleMania
- WWF European Rampage Tour
Other Titles[]
Although Ocean is best known for its licensed games, it has produced many other releases.
- Animal (1996)
- Battle Command (1990)
- Beach Volley (1989)
- Burnin' Rubber (1990)
- Cabal (1989)
- Chase HQ (1988)
- Chase HQ II (1989)
- Cheesy (1996)
- Chrono Cross (2000)
- Choplifter III (1994)
- Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force: Herbert's Revenge (2010)
- Club Penguin: Game Day! (2010)
- Combat School (1987)
- Daley Thompson's Decathlon (1984)
- Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge (1988)
- Daley Thompson's Supertest
- Disney's Arcade Frenzy (1999)
- Doom (SNES PAL) (1996)
- Eco (1987)
- EF2000 (1997)
- Elf (1991)
- F29 Retaliator (1990)
- Giants: Citizen Kabuto (2000)
- Gryzor (1987)
- Head Over Heels (1987)
- Hunchback (1984)
- Ivanhoe (1990)
- Inferno (1994)
- Jelly Boy
- Jersey Devil (1997)
- Kid Chaos, also known as Kid Vicious (1994)
- Last Rites (1997)
- Lego Island 2 The Brickster's Revenge (2001)
- Lost Patrol (1990)
- Midnight Resistance (1990)
- Mr. Nutz (1993)
- Mr. Nutz: Hoppin' Mad (1994)
- Mr Wimpy (1984)
- Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed (2000)
- Operation Wolf (1989)
- Operation Thunderbolt (1990)
- Pang (1990)
- Parallax (1986)
- Parasol Stars (1992)
- Pushover (1992)
- Rainbow Islands (1990)
- Resident Evil Code: Veronica (2000)
- RollerCoaster Tycoon (1999)
- Shadow Warriors (1990)
- Salamander (1988)
- Shogun: Total War (2000)
- Sleepwalker (1993)
- Space Gun (1992)
- Super Turrican 2 (1995)
- SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle (1999)
- Sword Maker 64 (1997)
- TFX (1993)
- The Great Escape (1986)
- The NewZealand Story (1989)
- Toki (1991)
- Weaponlord (SNES PAL) (1995)
- Wetrix (Nintendo 64) (1998)
- Where Time Stood Still (1987)
- Wizball (1988)
- Wizkid (1992)
- Worms (1994)
- Zero Divide (1996)