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Thalamus managed to survive the liquidation of
Newsfield, but funds were running low. With 8-bit gaming being superseded by 16-bit gaming, production costs were rising, forcing hundreds of independent publishers, such as Thalamus, to either close down or allow themselves to be consumed by a
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Thalamus capitalised on the success of the
Commodore 64 gaming scene by releasing their first batch of titles on this platform. Having established numerous contacts within the C64 development scene through the popularity of their
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Stavros
Fasoulas returned to Finland for National Service, so for their next release Thalamus turned to upcoming C64 programmer Martin Walker. Having already programmed the well-received C64 titles
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from the
Rowlands brothers, which have been lauded by several computer magazines for the strength of their gameplay and graphics on the aging machine. Cartoon-style platformers
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223:. Sanxion was the first release to bear the Thalamus name, and it garnered a Sizzler rating from Zzap!64 - this led to accusations of favouritism from rival publication
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were also released. In 1991, Newsfield ran into serious financial trouble. Newsfield were forced to halt publication of their popular gaming magazines.
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in 1993. With their various Amiga projects spiraling out of budget and no further income, Thalamus had no choice but to close down their operations.
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being released, but by this time the
Spectrum market was in decline and Thalamus decided to halt development of a number of Spectrum projects.
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development manager Paul Cooper was brought on board to head up the company and moved the offices from London to
Aldermaston in Berkshire.
365:, a platform game with an environmental theme by Paul O'Malley. A brief experimentation with the ZX Spectrum format saw conversions of
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marked the commercial debut of The Boys
Without Brains, a Dutch collective who had already made a name for themselves within the C64
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296:, Liddon and Wright both left Thalamus, with Wright returning to Activision and Liddon pursuing a career in games programming. Ex-
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loading system. Provided as standard on the cassette versions of each game (and as a bonus on the floppy disk versions), the
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stepped in to save the magazines, but they slowly died out over the next year or two as their respective markets dwindled.
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system allowed players to remix the loading music of the game, in real time, as the main program loaded in the background.
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As the 1980s drew to a close, Thalamus continued to release C64 games, including the surreal puzzle/shooter
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323:. Despite a favourable response from critics, the game didn't sell as well as previous Thalamus titles.
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800:"Thalamus Digital to release Creatures 3 for C64? Plus, Hunter's Moon on cartridge. Exclusive story!"
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In the second half of 1988, Thalamus returned from a period of relative silence with two new titles.
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PR Manager Andrew Wright was assigned the position of
Company Director and Newsfield staff writer
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334:. The game was a side-scroller with colourful graphics and a soundtrack from Jeroen Tel.
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was created by Gary Liddon in conjunction with Rob
Hubbard and derived from an idea by
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provided the music for the first two titles, while Matt Gray provided the music for
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346:, originally conceived as its own unique identity but publicised as a sequel to
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128:) was a British computer game developer that published titles for a number of
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Fisher, Andrew (December 2013). "The
Commodore 64 Games that Time Forgot".
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later included a full synthesised version on one of their cover cassettes.
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as an in-house software publishing label of British magazine publisher
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was appointed Technical Executive. The company was initially based in
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235:. "Thalamusik", the loading tune that accompanied the C64 version of
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Thalamus entered the 1990s with a few more C64 titles, including
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programmer Stavros Fasoulas to develop their first three titles,
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691:(1990, Spectrum) - a demo version of one level was released.
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Interview with former Thalamus programmer Richard Underhill
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publishing giant. Thalamus released their final C64 game,
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49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
905:Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom
136:platforms during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
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201:gaming magazine, Thalamus were able to sign up
849:"Arsenal FC (C64) - 1992 Thalamus - GTW64"
239:proved to be so popular amongst fans that
915:1986 establishments in the United Kingdom
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
910:Video game companies established in 1986
863:"Restrictor (Amiga/ST) - 1992 Thalamus"
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814:"Bamboo (C64) - 1989 Thalamus - GTW64"
772:"A celebration of C64 loading screens"
758:"A celebration of C64 loading screens"
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340:was a shoot-'em-up in the spirit of
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47:adding citations to reliable sources
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13:
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880:Thalamus history article at C64HQ
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361:, from the Rowlands brothers and
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890:Gordon Houghton's Zzap!64 pages
309:Rupert and the Toymaker's Party
250:popularised the concept of the
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34:needs additional citations for
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671:Q8 Team Ford Rally Simulation
607:Creatures II: Torture Trouble
538:Q8 Team Ford Rally Simulation
478:Armalyte: Competition Edition
392:Creatures II: Torture Trouble
679:(1990, Spectrum, C64, Amiga)
379:Final titles and dissolution
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502:Sanxion: The Spectrum Remix
172:, during the mid-1980s. Ex-
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739:(1993, Amiga and Atari ST)
357:, the horizontal scroller
290:During the development of
158:Newsfield Publications Ltd
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588:Armalyte: The Final Run
266:, author of well known
16:Computer games company
677:The Search for Sharla
507:Spectrum/Spectrum 128
43:improve this article
540:(1990, Amstrad CPC)
426:Commercial releases
246:The C64 version of
835:Imagine Publishing
725:Nobby the Aardvark
627:Nobby the Aardvark
414:Nobby the Aardvark
317:Back to the Future
802:. 30 August 2017.
774:. 12 August 2009.
760:. 12 August 2009.
653:Unreleased titles
616:(1992, C64/Amiga)
286:The staff changes
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60: –
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54:Find sources:
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32:This article
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192:First titles
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150:Thalamus Ltd
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122:Thalamus Ltd
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99:January 2014
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41:Please help
36:verification
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830:Retro Gamer
719:Beastmaster
697:(1990, C64)
695:Armalyte II
667:(1989, C64)
661:(1987, C64)
630:(1993, C64)
614:Winter Camp
610:(1992, C64)
566:(1990, C64)
560:(1990, C64)
558:Summer Camp
554:(1990, C64)
531:Amstrad CPC
498:(1989, C64)
492:(1989, C64)
486:(1988, C64)
480:(1988, C64)
474:(1988, C64)
466:(1987, C64)
458:(1987, C64)
450:(1987, C64)
401:Winter Camp
397:Summer Camp
229:Rob Hubbard
178:Gary Liddon
899:Categories
744:References
737:Restrictor
713:Arsenal FC
570:Venom Wing
564:Heatseeker
496:Retrograde
363:Heatseeker
359:Retrograde
332:demo scene
298:Quicksilva
260:Mix-E-Load
256:Mix-E-Load
252:Mix-E-Load
174:Activision
69:newspapers
683:Creatures
634:Creatures
620:Borobodur
594:Creatures
551:Creatures
405:Europress
386:Creatures
313:Chameleon
279:Firetrack
268:BBC Micro
182:Canonbury
701:Bombuzal
689:Armalyte
659:Starline
599:Atari St
582:Mindroll
526:Armalyte
471:Armalyte
337:Armalyte
126:Thalamus
596:(1992,
528:(1990,
516:(1989,
514:Hawkeye
504:(1989,
484:Hawkeye
436:(1986,
433:Sanxion
368:Sanxion
328:Hawkeye
241:Zzap!64
237:Sanxion
208:Sanxion
203:Finnish
199:Zzap!64
169:Zzap!64
145:Genesis
140:History
83:scholar
665:Bamboo
640:S.U.B.
455:Quedex
343:R-Type
300:&
270:games
233:Quedex
220:Quedex
134:16-bit
85:
78:
71:
64:
56:
519:Amiga
490:Snare
447:Delta
373:Delta
355:Snare
348:Delta
293:Delta
273:Frak!
248:Delta
214:Delta
163:Crash
130:8-bit
90:JSTOR
76:books
399:and
389:and
371:and
315:and
276:and
217:and
166:and
154:1986
132:and
62:news
439:C64
45:by
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645:PC
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186:LM
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