Armchair Entertainment were a group of Australian entrepreneurs who published sports simulation games in the 1980s. Micro Forte’s “Arnie’s America Cups Challenge” (1986) and “Arnie’s Armchair Howzat! Cricket Game”(1884) that was later republished in the UK by Tynesoft as “Ian Botham’s Test Match” (1985).
John De Margheriti has been a significant contributor to the Australian games development industry both as a games developer and in fostering the local industry. He co-founded Micro Forté studios in 1985. Their first game “Arnies America’s Cup Challenge” or “The Official America’s Cup Sailing Simulation” was designed for the Commodore 64 and was distributed internationally by Electronic Arts.
John Reidy was one of the four founders of Micro Forté in 1985 as they launched their studio to create “Arnies America’s Cup Challenge” for the Commodore 64 and Amstrad. Reidy worked on the technical side of memory and graphics for the game.
Stephen Lewis was one of the four founders of Micro Forté in 1985 with John De Margheriti, Steve Wang and John Reidy. Lewis was originally the artist/programmer on the team when in 1985 they made their first game Arnies America’s Cup Challenge (1986) also known as the Official America’s Cup Sailing Simulation.
Steve Wang co-founded Micro Forte and BigWorld. Games that Wang has worked on include: “Demon Stalkers” (1987), Electronic Arts, Inc.; “Fire King” (1989), SSG Strategic Studies Group Pty Ltd.; “The Official America’s Cup Sailing Simulation” (1986), U.S. Gold Ltd.
The American publishers Electronic Arts (EA) was founded in 1982 by Trip Hawkins. Previously employed by Apple, Hawkins left – taking a number of other Apple employees – to establish an independent publisher supporting the many talented but unknown “software artists”…
Micro Forté was founded in 1985 by university friends John De Margheriti, Steve Wang, Stephen Lewis, and John Reidy. The studio’s first title, “Official America’s Cup Sailing Simulation”, was developed for Australian entrepreneurs Armchair Entertainment and picked up by Electronic Arts…
U.S Gold was a United Kingdom-based software company which published American games in the United Kingdom, often converting them to platforms that were popular in that country. Founded in 1984 by Geoff and Anne Brown, U.S. Gold acquired popular American game titles for consoles such as the Atari…