Pre-2000s real world history
This page details the real world history of the MediEvil series and the studios behind it from the inception of Millennium Interactive in 1989 up to the end of the year 1999 when promotion for MediEvil 2 began.
Legend
- - Events related to Millennium Interactive.
- - Events related to MediEvil.
- - Events related to MediEvil 2.
- - Events related to SCE Cambridge Studio.
Timeline
1989
- July 27: Millennium is legally incorporated.[1]
1990
- Jason Wilson begins working for Millennium as a freelancer.[2]
1993
- Jason Riley and Katie Sorrell (née Lea) join Millennium.[3][4]
1994
- July: Chris Sorrell leaves Vectordean and joins Millennium.[5]
1995
- Date unknown: MediEvil is conceptualised.[citation needed]
- September: Paul Donovan joins Millennium.[6]
- December 21: Version 2.2 of the MediEvil Design Document is completed.[7]
1996
- Date unknown: Nina Kristensen and Mike Philbin join Millennium.[8][9]
- January: MediEvil enters development, with art design being the main focus. Jason Wilson creates elaborate level design maps.[10]
- February: Matt Johnson, already a part of Millennium, joins the MediEvil development team.[11]
- March: James Busby joins the MediEvil development team.[12]
- September: The PlayStation version of MediEvil enters development.[10]
- November 11: Millennium Interactive release Creatures.[citation needed] An image of Zarok can be found under the Windmill in Albia, because Jason Riley was responsible for touching up the background model for the game after it had been scanned in and digitised.[13]
1997
- June 19 - June 21: An early demo of MediEvil is playable at the third E3 in Atlanta, Georgia.[14]
- July 4: SCEE buys the Millennium game development studio from Cyberlife Ltd for about £6 million, due to their experience of working with the team through the preliminary months of MediEvil. The SCE Cambridge Studio is formed. At this time, the studio works on MediEvil to be published by SCEE, and Beast Wars and Frogger to be published by Hasbro.[15][16]
- July 15: Creatures is released in the USA.[citation needed]
- July 17: Sony's acquisition of Millennium is covered by The Times.[16]
1998
- January: Joypad CD Vol.4 - Les musiques de MediEvil is released in France. Mike Froggatt joins SCE Cambridge Studio.
- January 9: MediEvil is classified as a PG game by the Australian Classification Board.[17]
- April: Derek Pollard leaves SCE Cambridge Studio.
- May 28 - May 30: A demo of MediEvil is playable at the fourth E3 in Atlanta, Georgia.
- August 8: MediEvil is classified as a game suitable for children aged 12 or above by the German Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle.[18]
- September: A sequel to MediEvil is first considered at this time.[19]
- October 8: Chris Sorrell and Jason Wilson answer questions in the MediEvil Team On-line Interview on the official MediEvil website.[20]
- October 9: MediEvil is released in Europe.
- October 19: The Funeral advert, created by TBWA Simons Palmer to promote MediEvil in the United Kingdom, is classified as suitable for viewing by people aged 15 or above by the British Board of Film Classification.[21]
- October 21: MediEvil is released in North America.
- October 22: IGN's review of MediEvil is published.
- October 23: GameSpot's review of MediEvil is published.
- November: Absolute PlayStation's review of MediEvil is published.
- November 16: All entries into the MediEvil Hangman contest were to be received by this date.[22]
- November 19: Sony Computer Entertainment America and Pizza Hut announce a nationwide promotion. Customers who bought Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust Pizza had the opportunity to win a grand prize cash jackpot of $200,000 and a wide assortment of PlayStation prizes, including 100 PlayStation game consoles with Crash Bandicoot: WARPED, as well as 2,000 copies of PlayStation's most popular games, including MediEvil.[23]
- November 22: The nationwide promotion by SCEA and Pizza Hut begins. As part of this promotion, consumers were able to sample some PlayStation-exclusive titles when they received one of the 3.5 million PlayStation demo discs available through Pizza Hut, the largest number ever manufactured by SCEA by that point.[23]
- November 23 - December 26: SCEA advertises the nationwide promotion with Pizza Hut using TV adverts and one million direct mail pieces.[24]
- December 3: The Toronto Star runs a PlayStation Giveaway, giving people who send in a postcard the chance to win a Sony PlayStation game console with Dual Shock controller, memory card, and three games: Crash Bandicoot: Warped, MediEvil, and Gran Turismo.[25]
- December 17: This was the cut-off date for the Toronto Star's PlayStation Giveaway.[25]
- December 24: The winner of Toronto Star's PlayStation Giveaway is announced on this day.[25]
1999
- Date unknown: Tom Oswald leaves SCE Cambridge Studio.
- June 17: MediEvil is released in Japan.
- July: Work begins on Common Tales, a joint research project of the National Film and Television School London, SCE Cambridge Studio, and the Cambridge University Moving Image Studio as part of the Digital Studios. Common Tales is realised using the engine developed for MediEvil.[26]
- July 7: PSX Extreme's review of MediEvil is published.
- August: Matt Johnson leaves SCE Cambridge Studio. Richard Talbot-Watkins joins SCE Cambridge Studio.
- September 5 - September 7: MediEvil 2 is unveiled at ECTS.[27][28]
- October: MediEvil is re-released as a platinum title in Europe and Australia. The re-release includes a poster of MediEvil 2.[29]
- November 1: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe publishes a press release about MediEvil 2.[30]
- November 18: The MediEvil 2 Website's domain name is registered.
- December 15: An interview with James Shepherd is published on the GameSpot website.
See also
References
- ↑ CREATURE LABS LTD. - Overview (free company information from Companies House) on beta.companieshouse.gov.uk.
- ↑ "I started at the studio as a freelancer in the Millennium days in 1989/90. My first visit was at the London office above a pub in 1989/90 before opening the Millennium Cambridge office." — Jay Gunn on Facebook. Published January 12, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
- ↑ Sorcerers - Jason Riley on MediEvil Official EU Website (archived version).
- ↑ Sorcerers - Katie Lea on MediEvil Official EU Website (archived version).
- ↑ Sorcerers - Chris Sorrell on MediEvil Official EU Website (archived version).
- ↑ Sorcerers - Paul Donovan on MediEvil Official EU Website (archived version).
- ↑ MediEvil's Design History, 2:17.
- ↑ Sorcerers - Nina Kristensen on MediEvil Official EU Website (archived version).
- ↑ Sorcerers - Mike Philbin on MediEvil Official EU Website (archived version).
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 The Making of MediEvil.
- ↑ Sorcerers - Matt Johnson on MediEvil Official EU Website (archived version).
- ↑ Sorcerers - James Busby on MediEvil Official EU Website (archived version).
- ↑ Successful multi million selling AAA-games I have worked on. on Artificial Lens. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
- ↑ E3 Preview MediEvil on PSX Nation. Published June 21, 1997.
- ↑ Development on MediEvil 2 Official EU Website (archived version at Internet Archive Wayback Machine).
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Jason Nisse, Sony spends £6m on research base on The Times. Published July 14, 1997.
- ↑ MEDIEVIL on Australian Classification Board. Published January 9, 1998.
- ↑ MediEvil on Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle. Published August 5, 1998.
- ↑ MediEvil 2 Director Interviewed on GameSpot. Published December 15, 1999.
- ↑ Chat on MediEvil Official EU Website (archived version).
- ↑ SONY PLAYSTATION - MEDIEVIL COMPUTER GAME - FUNERAL on British Board of Film Classification. Published October 19, 1998.
- ↑ MediEvil Contest on MediEvil Official US Website (archived version at Internet Archive Wayback Machine).
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 "Sony Computer Entertainment America and Pizza Hut announced today a nationwide promotion that teams up the world's largest pizza restaurant company with the world's best-selling videogame system." — Sony Computer Entertainment America and Pizza Hut Team Up for the 'Pizza-Powered PlayStation Giveaway' in Business Wire. Published November 19, 1998.
- ↑ "A TV-based Pizza Hut promo runs Nov. 23-Dec. 26, offering 3.5 million PlayStation sampler CDs with purchases of its stuffed crust pizza, plus a scratch-and-win contest gives customers a chance to win a $200,000 grand prize, with PlayStation consoles and games as secondary prizes. Sony buttresses the promo with one million direct mail pieces via Rapp Collins, Dallas, to lure its customers to Pizza Hut." — Elkin, Tobi, BIG PLAY in Adweek. Published September 7, 1998.
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 PlayStation Giveaway in Toronto Star. Published December 3, 1998.
- ↑ Nitsche, Michael, Welcome on Common Tales. Published October 30, 2002. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
- ↑ Sam Kennedy and James Mielke, Sony Announces Medievil 2 on GameStop. Published September 7, 1999.
- ↑ Douglass Perry, In case you missed it: Sony announces the successor to Medievil for a spring 2000 release. on IGN. Published September 10, 1999.
- ↑ Official UK PlayStation Magazine No. 50, page 27. Published by Future Publishing in October 1999.
- ↑ Press Release on MediEvil 2 Official EU Website (archived version at Internet Archive Wayback Machine).
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