Virgin Interactive

Virgin Interactive was a British video game publisher. It was formed as Virgin Games Ltd. in 1981. The company became much larger after purchasing budget label Mastertronic in 1988 to form Virgin Mastertronic. It was part of the Virgin Group. In 1994, it was renamed Virgin Interactive.

It published games for PC and systems, including the Amiga, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, C64, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive, Sega Game Gear, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast.

It helped the career of many developers, including Westwood Studios (who developed the Command & Conquer series and the PC port of Resident Evil) and Synergistic. Also, many workers for Shiny Entertainment, including David Perry, worked for Virgin before splitting off to create Earthworm Jim. Also among Virgin Interactive alumni are famed video game composer Tommy Tallarico, artist Doug TenNapel, designer David Bishop, animator Bill Kroyer, animator/artists Andy Luckey and Mike Dietz and programmer Andy Astor.

In 1993 Virgin Interactive created the "Digicel" process, originally for an unpublished game called "Dynoblaze". Key to developing the process were Dr. Stephen Clarke-Willson, David Perry, designer David Bishop, animator Bill Kroyer, animator artists Andy Luckey, animator Mike Dietz and programmer Andy Astor. The technology was first released to the general public in Disney's Aladdin for the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis and subsequently on such projects as The Lion King video game.

The British studio operations were acquired in a management buyout led by former Managing Director Tim Chaney in 1998. The U.S. operations were sold to Electronic Arts as part of its acquisition of Westwood Studios that same year. The company's assets were acquired in 1999 by the French publisher Titus Software—its name was changed to Avalon Interactive on July 1, 2003.

In May 2002, the Spanish division of Virgin Interactive, known as Virgin Interactive España, was purchased by Tim Chaney along with former Spanish president and founder Paco Encinas. The branch was then separated from the main Virgin Interactive company, already part of Titus Software, and kept its own identity as a Virgin brand. Renamed Virgin Play in October 2002, this Spanish publisher remains as the sole representation of the Virgin Group in the video game industry.

Softography

Master System

• Speedball (1990)
• Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe (1991)
• Xenon 2: Megablast (1991)
• Chuck Rock (1992)
• Marble Madness (1992)
• Super Off Road (1992)
• Mick & Mack as the Global Gladiators (1993)
• Wolfchild (1993)
• Cool Spot (1993)
• The Jungle Book (1993)
• RoboCop Versus The Terminator (1994)
• Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1994)
• The Lion King (1994)
• Fire & Ice (1995)
• Battletoads in Battlemaniacs (1996)

Mega Drive

• Xenon 2: Megablast (1990)
• Chuck Rock (1991)
• Cyber-Cop (1992)
• Mega lo Mania (1992)
• Muhammad Ali Heavyweight Boxing (1992)
• Out of This World (1992)
• The Terminator (1992)
• European Club Soccer (1992)
• World Trophy Soccer (1992)
• Disney's Aladdin (1993)
• Caesars Palace (1993)
• Chi Chi's Pro Challenge Golf (1993)
• Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck (1993)
• Cool Spot (1993)
• Mick & Mack as the Global Gladiators (1993)
• RoboCop Versus The Terminator (1993)
• Two Tribes: Populous II (1993)
• Dune: The Battle for Arrakis (1994)
• Jammit (1994)
• Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker (1994)
• The Jungle Book (1994)
• Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1994)
• The Lion King (1994)
• Earthworm Jim 2 (1995)
• Flux (1995)
• Pinocchio (1995)
• Spot Goes to Hollywood (1995)

Mega CD

• Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck (1993)
• Dune (1993)
• The Terminator (1993)
• Heart of the Alien: Out of This World Parts I and II (1994)
• Links: The Challenge of Golf (1994)
• Trivial Pursuit Interactive Multimedia Game (1994)
• Demolition Man (1995)

Game Gear

• Super Off Road (1992)
• Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck (1993)
• Mick & Mack as the Global Gladiators (1993)
• Wolfchild (1993)
• Cool Spot (1993)
• The Jungle Book (1994)
• RoboCop Versus The Terminator (1994)
• Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1994)
• The Lion King (1994)

Saturn

• Chaos Control (1995)
• Black Fire (1995)
• Black Dawn (1996)
• Earthworm Jim 2 (1996)
• F1 Challenge (1996)
• Grid Runner (1996)
• hyper 3-D Pinball (1996)
• Ryougae Puzzle Game Moudjiya (1996)
• Spot Goes to Hollywood (1997)
• Crimewave (1997)
• Grand Slam (1997)
• NHL Powerplay '96 (1997)

Dreamcast

• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2000)
• European Super League (2001)
• Jimmy White's 2: Cueball (2002)

Promotional material

Mega Drive/Master System software library print advert in Computer & Video Games (UK) #134: "January 1993" (1992-12-15)

References

NEC Retro has more information related to Virgin Interactive