Ultimate Play the Game

 Ultimate Play the Game, a Leicestershire-based game, was launched in Ashby-de-la-Zouch by Tim Stamper and Chris Stamper in 1982.[8] They were friends with John Lathbury and Tim’s girlfriend (later wife), Carole Ward. Others from the Stamper family were also involved in the early management and the support of the company that was initially based in a building next to the family-owned newsagent. Chris and Tim were both experienced in the development of arcade games. Chris was, according to one source, Konami's Gyruss. They claimed to be the "most skilled arcade game design team in Britain" prior to deciding to leave their jobs to establish Ashby Computers and Graphics. The company's first trading in arcade conversion kits, and later expanding into the home computer software market creating games under the Ultimate Play the Game name. Blue Print for Bally-Midway, Dingo, Grasspin and Saturn for Jaleco were the first arcade titles released by Ashby. The first Ultimate release, Jetpac, was May 1983 and was a 16K Spectrum. Tim Stamper, in 1983 interview, said that 16K computers were chosen because their smaller sizes meant they could develop more quickly. They could create one or two 16K games within one month. Jetpac was a massive commercial success. The Spectrum version alone sold over 300,000 copies providing the fledgling company with a revenue of over PS1 million.This was later followed by three other 16K releases: Pssst in June, Tranz Am, and Cookie in the fall, and then Ultimate moved to the 48K Spectrum. Jetpac, Pssst and Tranz Am were among the ten games to ever be released in 16K ROM format. The four games were made available by Sinclair Research on cassette with distinctive silver inlay cards for inclusion in ZX Spectrum bundles. Both games were well-received the media for gaming. CRASH magazine praised Ultimate's use of the memory Lunar Jetman provided. In 1984, came Sabre Wulf, the first game in the Sabreman series and the first game to be released at a recommended retail price of PS9.95. The price of Ultimate titles had previously been only PS5.50 that was the norm for Spectrum arcade-style games at the time This price increase was intended to deter pirates, the reasoning that if consumers were paying more for a game, they'd be less likely to share copies. This was also the time of the introduction of the unique Ultimate "big box" packaging (used for all future Spectrum releases until Gunfright, and with various games for other platforms) The company believed would assist in justifying the increase and encourage users to purchase the game instead of copying it. This strategy worked in the end, as Sabre Wulf went on to sell over 350,000 copies on the Spectrum alone. This was followed by the release in the latter half of 1984 of the following two installments in the Sabreman series, Underwurlde followed by Knight Lore. Knight Lore is a forced perspective isometric viewpoint that was called Filmation which was a huge breakthrough in the home game market. Other games would follow the same path, including Batman and Head Over Heels, both made by Ocean Software. Knight Lore and a portion of its Filmation follow-up Alien 8, was actually finished before Sabre Wulf but Ultimate decided that it could have a negative impact on sales for the more basic Sabre Wulf, so it was delayed until late 1984.