Difference between revisions of "Datel"

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| headquarters=Govan Road, Fenton Industrial Estate, Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom, ST4 2RS
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| headquarters2=Stafford Road, Stone, United Kingdom, ST15 0DG
 
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'''Datel''' (previously '''Datel Electronics''') produced a wide range of hardware and [[peripheral]]s for home computers in the 1980s, for example replacement keyboards for the ZX Spectrum, the PlusD disk interface (originally designed and sold by Miles Gordon Technology) and the [[Action Replay]] cartridge.  
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'''Datel ''' (previously '''Datel Electronics''') produced a wide range of hardware and peripherals for home computers in the 1980s, for example replacement keyboards for the ZX Spectrum, the PlusD disk interface (originally designed and sold by Miles Gordon Technology) and the [[Action Replay]] cartridge.  
  
 
Datel was and still is the brainchild of Mike Connors, who has been mentioned in the ''The Sunday Times'' (UK) as one of the country's top 100 richest people.
 
Datel was and still is the brainchild of Mike Connors, who has been mentioned in the ''The Sunday Times'' (UK) as one of the country's top 100 richest people.
  
 
== History ==
 
== History ==
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Datel Electronics was formed in the early 1980s by Mike Connors, selling AM citizens band (CB) radio devices in the United Kingdom{{magref|megapower|1|74}}. While a 27MHz CB radio band had been operating in the United States since 1958 (being adopted by small businesses, truck drivers and radio enthusiasts), the UK did not establish a similar band until 1981. Prior to this, all CB radio equipment imported from the US was deemed illegal, but the opening up of this market gave Connors and Datel an opportunity to capitalise on this new market.
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Datel started off selling AM Citizens' band radio radios in the UK. These AM band radios were made illegal in the UK and even the importing of them was deemed illegal. Datel then started to import the C.B. radios in component form and build them up.  Datel started to manufacture products related to home computers that were popular in the 1980s such as the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. One of their first commercial successes was joystick interfaces for the ZX Spectrum.  The greatest commercial success of Datel was the Action Replay. First for the Commodore 64 and then the Commodore Amiga. The Commodore 64 version was designed by Richard Bond. There were six versions of the Commodore 64 version of [[Action Replay]]. The Commodore Amiga version was authored by two German students known as Boham and Zanger who had been inspired by the earlier Commodore 64 version.
 
  
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The Commodore 64 and Amiga Action replays included the ability to save the entire contents of a home computer's memory to floppy disc or compact audio cassette, and then to reload very quickly. This proved extremely popular with people, especially when the Commodore 64 could take 20 minutes to load a game from notoriously unreliable tape. It also did not escape people's attention that you could use Action Replays to copy games.  The name [[Action Replay]] referred to the fact that you could instantly restart a game from the position that you had saved it.
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Some years later, Datel began expanding their business into the world of home computing, designing and manufacturing peripherals for the [[ZX Spectrum]] and later [[Commodore 64]]. The company would strike gold with the release of the "Action Replay", a device for the Commodore 64 which allowed software to be modified in real time; this would spawn a range of devices for computers and consoles alike over the next twenty years.
  
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Another feature the Amiga and Commodore 64 versions had in common was the ability to add Pokes, or cheats. They also had an ingenious system for finding pokes called a Pokefinder, or trainer.
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Datel became interested in the video game console market in the early 1990s and the launch of the [[Sega Mega Drive]]. While the Mega Drive launched in Japan in 1988, it took nearly two years to officially arrive in the UK, however demand was high, giving birth to a so-called "grey market" in the intervening years, with many gaming enthusiasts owning imported Japanese (and later North American) consoles and games. Attempts at region locking (such as the physically different shape between Japanese and European Mega Drive cartridges) led to Datel to create the [[Mega Drive region converter cartridges|Universal Adaptor]], a device that would allow imported titles to run on a European Mega Drive (and vice versa).
  
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Datel also made numerous unique copy devices for various systems that proved extremely popular. Devices such as the Syncro Express as well as the Action Replay exerted a heavy toll on the fledgling Video Games industry. It has been said that Datel in part was responsible for the demise of the home computer games market. Hundreds of thousands of Syncro Expresses, each copying 10 to 100 games may have had an impact.  The 1988 Act Copyright law of the United Kingdom was designed to halt the casual copying of games in this way.
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Datel would follow the Universal Adaptor up with a Mega Drive [[Action Replay (Mega Drive)|Action Replay]] cartridge in 1991, which could intercept instructions between software and hardware and modify games on the fly. It was not the first device to offer such features to console users; US-based [[Galoob]] had released the Game Genie for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990, however the Action Replay (and especially its pro models) was more flexible and beat the [[Game Genie (Mega Drive)|Mega Drive Game Genie]] to market.
  
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During the 90s many companies started to struggle that had been successful in the 80's. Miles Gordon technology sold their innovative PlusD drive to Datel to assist their ailing SAM Coupé project. Also the OCP Art Studio painting software bought by Datel is worth mentioning. Datel added what was then a somewhat unfamiliar mouse. People bought it to make their home computers feel like a personal computer.
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Datel never obtained an official license from [[Sega]] to sell its devices, and for a while were only obtainable directly from Datel through mail order. While attempts were made to establish a foothold in the US, the company would eventually form a relationship with [[InterAct Accessories]], selling its Action Replay products with "GameShark" branding. This was a huge success for InterAct's business until 2001, where troubles with InterAct's parent company saw the brand sold to rivals [[Mad Catz]].
  
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During the mid 90s home computers, that were almost exclusively used for games, started to be replaced by video game consoles. Datel took the Pokes and Pokefinder features of the earlier Action Replays and created Action Replay for the [[Sega Mega Drive]]. This was followed shortly after by the Action Replay Pro, this used a superior system sometimes referred to as RAM stuffing. This combined with a built in Trainer allowed users to easily find their own codes.
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In 1993 '''Datel Design & Development Ltd.''' was established, becoming the front face of the business.
  
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The Action Replay was in competition for some time with [[Codemasters]]' [[Game Genie]] which was distributed by [[Galoob]]. At first Codemasters tried to protect the Game Genie as they had filed a patent on cartridge cheat devices, Datel defended this by saying that they had been cheating at games way before the Game Genie existed.  Action Replay improved on the Game Genie's functionality by adding an enable/disable switch. The cheat codes, at the time, were published in a more logical hexadecimal format compared with Codemasters obfuscated system. This meant that users, along with the trainer could make their own cheat codes.
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The company was still producing similar region lock-out and cheat software for consoles as late as 2013, and remains involved in the video game business to this day.
  
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Ultimately Codemasters and [[Galoob]] dropped the Game Genie entirely leaving Datel as the only cheat device manufacturer in the world.
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==Accessories produced==
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{{CompanyHistoryAll|Datel|type=accessories}}
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After numerous unsuccessful attempts at breaking into the huge USA market, Datel finally started dealing with Interact Accessories with a new name, the [[GameShark]]. The GameShark was hugely successful.  By now Datel had produced dozens of cheat devices for numerous systems. The most successful being the ones for the [[Game Boy]], and the PlayStations [[PlayStation|1]] and [[PlayStation 2|2]].
 
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Datel, creators of the MaxMedia line, also makes hard drive add-ons and wireless adapters for [[PlayStation Portable|PSP]] and [[Nintendo DS]].
 
  
 
== External links ==
 
== External links ==

Latest revision as of 14:47, 4 March 2023

https://segaretro.org/images/6/6e/DatelElectronics_logo.png

DatelElectronics logo.png
Datel
Founded: 1981[1]
Headquarters:
Govan Road, Fenton Industrial Estate, Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom, ST4 2RS
Stafford Road, Stone, United Kingdom, ST15 0DG

Datel (previously Datel Electronics) produced a wide range of hardware and peripherals for home computers in the 1980s, for example replacement keyboards for the ZX Spectrum, the PlusD disk interface (originally designed and sold by Miles Gordon Technology) and the Action Replay cartridge.

Datel was and still is the brainchild of Mike Connors, who has been mentioned in the The Sunday Times (UK) as one of the country's top 100 richest people.

History

Datel Electronics was formed in the early 1980s by Mike Connors, selling AM citizens band (CB) radio devices in the United Kingdom[2]. While a 27MHz CB radio band had been operating in the United States since 1958 (being adopted by small businesses, truck drivers and radio enthusiasts), the UK did not establish a similar band until 1981. Prior to this, all CB radio equipment imported from the US was deemed illegal, but the opening up of this market gave Connors and Datel an opportunity to capitalise on this new market.

Some years later, Datel began expanding their business into the world of home computing, designing and manufacturing peripherals for the ZX Spectrum and later Commodore 64. The company would strike gold with the release of the "Action Replay", a device for the Commodore 64 which allowed software to be modified in real time; this would spawn a range of devices for computers and consoles alike over the next twenty years.

Datel became interested in the video game console market in the early 1990s and the launch of the Sega Mega Drive. While the Mega Drive launched in Japan in 1988, it took nearly two years to officially arrive in the UK, however demand was high, giving birth to a so-called "grey market" in the intervening years, with many gaming enthusiasts owning imported Japanese (and later North American) consoles and games. Attempts at region locking (such as the physically different shape between Japanese and European Mega Drive cartridges) led to Datel to create the Universal Adaptor, a device that would allow imported titles to run on a European Mega Drive (and vice versa).

Datel would follow the Universal Adaptor up with a Mega Drive Action Replay cartridge in 1991, which could intercept instructions between software and hardware and modify games on the fly. It was not the first device to offer such features to console users; US-based Galoob had released the Game Genie for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990, however the Action Replay (and especially its pro models) was more flexible and beat the Mega Drive Game Genie to market.

Datel never obtained an official license from Sega to sell its devices, and for a while were only obtainable directly from Datel through mail order. While attempts were made to establish a foothold in the US, the company would eventually form a relationship with InterAct Accessories, selling its Action Replay products with "GameShark" branding. This was a huge success for InterAct's business until 2001, where troubles with InterAct's parent company saw the brand sold to rivals Mad Catz.

In 1993 Datel Design & Development Ltd. was established, becoming the front face of the business.

The company was still producing similar region lock-out and cheat software for consoles as late as 2013, and remains involved in the video game business to this day.

Accessories produced

Master System

Mega Drive

Game Gear

Mega-CD

Saturn

Dreamcast

External links

References

  1. ↑ Edge, "December 1995" (UK; 1995-10-26), page 93
  2. ↑ Mega Power, "August 1993" (UK; 1993-07-29), page 74
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