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 the promotional push 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
1988
- Date unknown: Millennium Interactive is co-founded by Michael Hayward and Ian Saunter. It is formed from the remnants of Logotron Entertainment and initially focuses on distributing and publishing games picked up on an ad-hoc basis, usually from "bedroom independents."[1]
1989
- July 27: Millennium Interactive is legally incorporated.[2]
1990
- Date unknown: Jason Wilson begins working for Millennium as a freelancer.[3]
1993
- Date unknown: Jason Riley and Katie Sorrell (née Lea) join Millennium.[4][5] Millennium also shifts its focus entirely on game development and abandons its publishing arm.[1]
1994
- July: Chris Sorrell leaves Vectordean and joins Millennium.[6]
1995
- September: Paul Donovan joins Millennium.[7]
- December: MediEvil is conceptualised after Chris Sorrell is finished working on The Snowman and Father Christmas edutainment games.[8][9]
- December 21: Version 2.2 of the MediEvil Design Document is completed.[10]
1996
- Date unknown: Nina Kristensen and Mike Philbin join Millennium.[11][12]
- January: MediEvil enters development, with art design being the main focus. Jason Wilson creates elaborate level design maps.[13]
- February: Matt Johnson, already a part of Millennium, joins the MediEvil development team.[14]
- March: James Busby joins the MediEvil development team.[15]
- August: MediEvil is publically unveiled for the first time in an Edge magazine interview with Millennium's business development manager, Anil Malhotra. The game is said to be targeting both Windows 95 and the Sega Saturn.[1]
- September: Millennium secures Sony as MediEvil's publisher.[8] The PlayStation version of MediEvil enters development.[13] Development of the Windows 95 and Sega Saturn versions ceases.[8]
- October 25: Millennium Interactive is legally renamed to CyberLife Technology.[2]
- November 11: CyberLife Technology release Creatures.[16] An image of Zarok can be found under the Windmill in Albia. This is due to Jason Riley being responsible for touching up the game's background model after it had been scanned in and digitised.[17]
1997
- June 19 - June 21: An early prototype version of MediEvil is playable at the third E3 in Atlanta, Georgia.[18]
- July 4: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) buys the Millennium game development studio from CyberLife Technology for about £6 million, due to their experience of working with the team through the preliminary months of MediEvil. The Sony Computer Entertainment 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.[19][20]
- July 15: Creatures is released in the United States of America.[21]
- July 17: Sony's acquisition of Millennium is covered by The Times.[20]
1998
- January: Joypad CD Vol.4 - Les musiques de MediEvil is released in France.
- January 9: MediEvil is classified as a PG game by the Australian Classification Board.[22]
- 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.[23]
- September: A sequel to MediEvil is first considered at this time.[24]
- October 8: Chris Sorrell and Jason Wilson answer questions in the MediEvil Team On-line Interview on the official MediEvil website.[25]
- 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.[26]
- 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.[27]
- 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.[28]
- 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.[28]
- November 23 - December 26: SCEA advertises the nationwide promotion with Pizza Hut using TV adverts and one million direct mail pieces.[29]
- 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.[30]
- December 17: This was the cut-off date for the Toronto Star's PlayStation Giveaway.[30]
- December 24: The winner of Toronto Star's PlayStation Giveaway is announced on this day.[30]
1999
- 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.[31]
- July 7: PSX Extreme's review of MediEvil is published.
- September 5 - September 7: MediEvil 2 is unveiled at ECTS.[32][33]
- October: MediEvil is re-released as a platinum title in Europe and Australia. The re-release includes a poster of MediEvil 2.[34]
- November 1: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe publishes a press release about MediEvil 2.[35]
- 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
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 An audience with... Millennium in Edge, Issue 35, page(s) 22-26. Published August 1996 by Future Publishing.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 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).
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 The Making of... MediEvil in Retro Gamer, Issue 49 (PDF file), page(s) 60-63. Published March 2008 by Imagine Publishing. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
- ↑ The Snowman in PlayStation Plus, Volume 1 Issue 3, page(s) 12. Published December 1995 by EMAP Images.
- ↑ 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).
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 The Making of MediEvil.
- ↑ Sorcerers - Matt Johnson on MediEvil Official EU Website (archived version).
- ↑ Sorcerers - James Busby on MediEvil Official EU Website (archived version).
- ↑ CyberLife History on CyberLife and the Official Creatures Web Site (archived version). Retrieved November 6, 2022.
- ↑ Successful multi million selling AAA-games I have worked on. on Artificial Lens. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
- ↑ E3 Preview MediEvil on PSX Nation (archived version). Published June 21, 1997.
- ↑ Development on MediEvil 2 Official EU Website (archived version at Internet Archive Wayback Machine).
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Jason Nisse, Sony spends £6m on research base on The Times. Published July 14, 1997.
- ↑ US release information on CyberLife and the Official Creatures Web Site (archived version). Retrieved November 6, 2022.
- ↑ 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).
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 "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.
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 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).
External links
- History at the Creatures Wiki.
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