Difference between revisions of "Western Technologies Inc."

Latest revision as of 08:37, 29 November 2023

Western Technologies

Founded: 1978-09-19^[1]

Merged into: Wanderlust Interactive (1997-02)

Headquarters:

#255, 5301 Beethoven Street, Los Angeles, California 90066, United States^[1]

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Western Technologies, Inc. was an American video game development tool designer and game developer, most notable for producing the pioneering Vectrex and Microvision systems. It also operated a separate development subdivision, Adrenalin Entertainment.^[2]

Company

Founded in September 1978^[1], Western Technologies was an early pioneer in development tools for video game systems. Founded by American engineer Jay Smith (owner of Smith Engineering, a company consisting of only himself and used to patent his designs), Western Technologies first achieved success with their creation of the pioneering Vectrex and Microvision game systems, and additionally, found a niche developing audio applications and sound algorithms for early speech synthesis in a variety of software.

Initially, the company developed games for Western Technologies would later enter into a contract with Sega of America to produce portions of the Western development kit for the 16-bit Sega Genesis^[3], and are also believed to have been responsible for production of the system's first-party light gun, the Sega Menacer.^[3] Western also collaborated with third-party companies to develop original games for peripherals like the HeartBeat Catalyst, and even opened a separate game development division in September 1994, Adrenalin Entertainment.^[2]

Western Technologies and Adrenalin Entertainment were acquired by Wanderlust Interactive in February 1997. In May of the following year, Wanderlust renamed itself Adrenalin Interactive to capitalize on the brand's greater recognition with customers. Ultimately, the new Adrenalin was unable to remain profitable, and was forced to declare bankruptcy sometime in the second quarter of 2000.

Softography

Mega Drive

Art Alive! (1991)
Joe Montana II Sports Talk Football (1991) (sounds)
NFL Sports Talk Football '93 Starring Joe Montana (1992) (sounds)
Sports Talk Baseball (1992) (as Western Technologies) (sounds)
X-Men (1993)
Outback Joey (1993) (as Western Technologies)
Outworld 2375 AD (1994)
World Series Baseball (1994) (as Western Technologies) (speech)
Math Blaster: Episode 1 (1994) (as Western Technologies) (production)
Spider-Man (1995)

Mega-CD

Trivial Pursuit: Interactive Multimedia Game (1994)

List of staff

Extension:DynamicPageList (DPL), version 3.3.3: Warning: No results.

References

[https:.2F.2Fopencorporates.com.2Fcompanies.2Fus_ca.2F0873721-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/0873721

[https:.2F.2Fbusinesssearch.sos.ca.gov.2FDocument.2FRetrievePDF.3FId.3D01751095-4468647-2] 2.0 ^2.1 https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/Document/RetrievePDF?Id=01751095-4468647

[http:.2F.2Fwww.smspower.org.2Fforums.2Fviewtopic.php.3Fp.3D71777-3] 3.0 ^3.1 http://www.smspower.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=71777

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[2]

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{CompanyBob
 | logo=WesternTechnologies logo.png
-| width=
+| title=Western Technologies
-| founded=
+| founded=1978-09-19{{ref|https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/0873721}}
 | defunct=
-| tseries=
 | mergedwith=
-| mergedinto=Wanderlust Interactive (1997)
+| mergedinto=Wanderlust Interactive (1997-02)
-| headquarters=
+| headquarters=[[wikipedia:Los Angeles, California|#255, 5301 Beethoven Street, Los Angeles, California 90066, United States]]{{ref|https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/0873721}}
-}}
+}}{{stub}}'''Western Technologies, Inc.''' was an American video game development tool designer and game developer, most notable for producing the pioneering [[wikipedia:Vectrex|Vectrex]] and [[wikipedia:Microvision|Microvision]] systems. It also operated a separate development subdivision, [[Adrenalin Entertainment]].{{ref|1=https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/Document/RetrievePDF?Id=01751095-4468647}}
-'''Western Technologies, Inc.''' was an early pioneer in development tools for gaming systems. It was founded by Jay Smith who also owned Smith Engineering as a sole proprietorship. (Smith Engineering was Mr. Smith's private company under which he could patent his own designs, projects or inventions, such as the Microvision, one of the earliest hand-held game consoles.)
-Western Technologies developed the Vectrex console system, licensed and distributed first by General Consumer Electric (GCE), and then by Milton Bradley Company after their purchase of GCE. In addition, the company developed sound applications and algorithms for system speech in games and other software.
+==Company==
+Founded in September 1978{{ref|https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/0873721}}, Western Technologies was an early pioneer in development tools for video game systems. Founded by American engineer [[Jay Smith]] (owner of Smith Engineering, a company consisting of only himself and used to patent his designs), Western Technologies first achieved success with their creation of the pioneering [[wikipedia:Vectrex|Vectrex]] and [[wikipedia:Microvision|Microvision]] game systems, and additionally, found a niche developing audio applications and sound algorithms for early [[wikipedia:speech synthesis|speech synthesis]] in a variety of software.
-They also [http://www.smspower.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=71777 produced] portions of the [[Sega Mega Drive]] development kit, and are also believed to have been responsible for the [[Menacer]] (TODO).
+Initially, the company developed games for Western Technologies would later enter into a contract with [[Sega of America]] to produce portions of the Western development kit for the 16-bit [[Sega Genesis]]{{ref|1=http://www.smspower.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=71777}}, and are also believed to have been responsible for production of the system's first-party light gun, the [[Sega Menacer]].{{ref|1=http://www.smspower.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=71777}} Western also collaborated with third-party companies to develop original games for  peripherals like the [[HeartBeat Catalyst]], and even opened a separate game development division in September 1994, [[Adrenalin Entertainment]].{{ref|1=https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/Document/RetrievePDF?Id=01751095-4468647}}
-Initially the company developed games for the Atari, [[Genesis]] and Nintendo, and later for the [[Game Gear]], [[PlayStation]], DOS and Windows released under the [[Adrenalin Entertainment Inc.]] division, also founded by Smith.
+Western Technologies and Adrenalin Entertainment were acquired by Wanderlust Interactive in February 1997. In May of the following year, Wanderlust renamed itself Adrenalin Interactive to capitalize on the brand's greater recognition with customers. Ultimately, the new Adrenalin was unable to remain profitable, and was forced to declare bankruptcy sometime in the second quarter of 2000.
-Western Technologies was acquired by Wanderlust Interactive in February 1997.
+==Softography==
+{{CompanyHistoryAll|{{PAGENAME}}|Western Technologies}}
-==Softography==
+==List of staff==
-===[[Mega Drive]]===
+{{StaffList|Western Technologies|{{PAGENAME}}}}
-* ''[[Art Alive!]]'' (1991)
-* ''[[Menacer 6-Game Cartridge]]'' (1992)
-* ''[[X-Men]]'' (1993)
-* ''[[Math Blaster: Episode 1]]'' (1994)
-* ''[[World Series Baseball (Mega Drive)|World Series Baseball]]'' (Sound engine) (1994)
-* ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]]'' (1995)
-===[[Mega-CD]]===
+==References==
-* ''[[Trivial Pursuit Interactive Multimedia Game]]'' (1994)
+<references/>
 [[Category:Third-party software developers]]