So long and thanks for all the games..

Melbourne House, the company that helped a young retard learn how to break his spectrum, and how to make it show pretty colours on the TV, are no more. The collosal shite machine that is Atari are ploughing their fields of poorly sewn manure and are ripping up the history of computer games as it does so.

The company responsible for great programming books such as 'Over the Spectrum', 'Super Charge your Spectrum', and 'Advanced Spectrum Machine Language' (One of which still sits on my bookshelf looking very used) have been sold off by Atari to Krome Studios and must now go under the embrassing moniker of 'Krome Studios Melbourne'. No offense meant towards Krome, its just, you can't just go and rename a company who figure so much in the history of computer games.

For those who don't realise what Melbourne House games they have played heres a quick run-down of some of their most classic works:

• Way of the exploding fist. (Spectrum / C64 / etc..)
  The definitive beat-em-up. Before Street Fighter was a bloody glint in the postmans eye, WOTEF was allowing the hardcore to alienate all their friends, not letting them get one punch in and generally showing them up.
  
  
• Transformers. (PS2)
  Easily one of my favourite games on the Playstation2. Melbourne House show how technically proficient they are by pushing the PS2 to near breaking point. In a game where you control a giant robot that can transform at any moment into a vehicle, it's probably not that difficult to please, but the game takes it so much further making it a genuinely engrossing game (even if the character selection was a bit poo).
  
  
• KKND. (PC)
  Post-Apocalyptic RTS. Perhaps not quite as good as Red Alert but the graphics were absolutely georgeous. As close to a Mad Max RTS as you are gonna get. If you have a copy gathering dust in a drawer, I recommended you fire that bad boy up.
  
  
• Redhawk. (Spectrum / C64 / etc..)
  Mild, meek and very wimpish Kevin Oliver awakes outside a hospital with absolutely no memory at all. The puzzled reporter searches his synapses and finds three words: two of them make up his name, while the third is puzzlingly meaningless - 'KWAH'.
  
  
• Penatrator. (Spectrum / C64)
  What. A. Name.
  
  
• Terrormelinos. (Spectrum / C64 / etc..)
  Seriously, I'm not joking.

Okay, so maybe not all their games were classics, but they definitely deserve to be celebrated. Without their technical books I wouldn't be doing what I do today. So I can only hope that some bright spark at Krome has the notion to put the Hellboy game their way, that would almost make up for the loss of the name.

God bless you Melbourne House, May you rest in peace.

: D