| Type | Limited |
|---|---|
| Industry | Interactive entertainment |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Luton, England |
| Key people | Paul Andrews, CEO Matt Bateman, Head of Creative Development Chris Bailey, Head of Technical Operations |
| Products | Eternity's Child GT Racer (GBA) Etrom Power of Destruction Concrete Surfer (DVD) Johnny Morris: The Magic Memoirs (DVD) |
| Website | www.alten8.com |
Alten8 Limited is a British video game developer and publisher, with offices in Luton. It produces both licensed retro games and current format video games. As of 2008, Alten8 has been under contract to develop the emulation code for C64 titles on Nintendo's Virtual Console service[1].
The company was formed by the former CEO Paul Andrews after his involvement with the website Retro-Trader, which lead him to be commissioned to gather retro game licenses for a plug-into-TV video game console using games such as Ant Attack (originally on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum). For financial and business reasons out of the control of Andrews, this was never realised. He then formed Alten8 to make use of the gathered licenses. Since then, it has expanded its remit, gaining Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Wii and xbox360 developer status, as well as other formats and publishing following [2]. An initial GBA release, GT Racer, through another publisher convinced Alten8 to self-publish all titles where possible from that point onwards, or to develop console titles under contract only from major publishers. Alten8 now bills itself as the "Alten8 way of publishing games".
Alten8 now publishes over 500 licensed retro games across formats such as the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amiga and other computers. With many mobile phone games [3], both developed and owned by Alten8, and with other licensed PC and Nintendo DS games also published across the globe, including the DS remake of the popular homebrew Dreamcast game, Cool Herders [4]. As well as developing the code for several retro titles on the VC, Alten8 has also worked with new pioneering mobile phone companies such as Greystripe and Vollee. As well as video games, Alten8 also licenses content for release on DVD, as well as publishing its own DVD content. DVDs like the upcoming Johnny Morris DVD; "The Magic Memoirs". Magic Memoirs in particular is a poignant release, as it was the last recorded Johnny Morris episode, and was co-hosted by TV's Terry Nutkins. In 2008, Alten8 restructured its corporate layout to accommodate the many new staff and many new directions the company was heading in[5]. Whilst the name of the company is the same, Alten8 itself is more of an umbrella term for the many studios underneath its banner, as well as the publishing brand for upcoming releases. Games development created with new IP will be created by the Skull Monkey Games division, whilst Retro-Soft will take care of the licensing and recreation of classic game brands owned by the company, such as the virtual console conversions and some upcoming retro content for the iPhone. Film and CGI group mangledpixel provide the group with FMV for all internal projects, as well as the creation of external projects like shorts and 4D films; with its first outing, A Dream of Christmas 4D debuting at Babbacombe Model Village[6]. Audio division Octave Sound audio to internal development efforts as well as outside clients. Media manufacturer and distributor Entain8 will act as the sister-company to Alten8, catering to the needs of both its sibling company and other external clients.
Alten8 is also involved with the production, licensing and eventual distribution of an upcoming, major movie production, Multiple Destiny. Recently Alten8 has 'bucked the trend' of larger dev companies shedding employees, and has actually expanded by some 300% [7] by taking on a range of new starters for all roles.
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In March 2006, Alten8 declared it would be publishing the mobile phone game, Office Massacre. This precluded a torrent of community and media backlash, with many people feeling offended at the potentially gory and violent content. Bethesda Softworks founder Christopher Weaver even went to lengths of name-calling Alten8 "...[a] bunch of idiots who don't understand the first thing about social responsibility"[8]. The game was quickly cancelled, with Alten8 CEO and founder Paul Andrews stating "No offence...was intended by this game, and we resent the comments made [and] the unfair and unjust comparison of this game to other extreme games."[9]. Office Massacre re-appeared, some months later as a reskinned, censor-friendly Office Zombies[10], not too dis-similar to the controversy (and subsequent solution) surrounding Stainless Games' Carmageddon.
More recently, Alten8 has come under fire for stating that they are to publish Luc Bernard's holocaust-themed DS game, Imagination Is The Only Escape, which immediately met with a media 'controversy' storm, with everyone from Destructoid to the New York Times having an opinion[11]. According to several erroneous internet sources, Nintendo themselves claimed that the game would never be released, however this was not the case[12], and the game is still in development. Imagination and it's intentions was strongly backed by Alten8[13], though whether the game will ever be finished and/or published is yet to be confirmed.