Magnetic Fields (computer game developer)

Magnetic Fields (Software Design) Ltd.

Type	Computer game Developer
Industry	Computer and video games Interactive entertainment
Founded	1988
Headquarters	Chester, Cheshire, United Kingdom
Key people	Shaun Southern (Programming director) Andrew Morris
Products	Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge Super Cars Trailblazer Rally Championship
Website	(http://www.magneticfields.co.uk/ www.magneticfields.co.uk)[dead link]

Magnetic Fields (computer game developer) was a British game development company founded by Shaun Southern and Andrew Morris in February 1982.^[1] The company was originally named "Mr Chip Software" but renamed "Magnetic Fields (Software Design) Ltd." usually simply referred to as "Magnetic Fields", in 1988. Between 1982 and 1984 they released the developed games themselves with limited success. In 1984 they ceased publishing games themselves and instead developed for Publishers Mastertronic and then later for Alternative Software, Gremlin Graphics and other publishers. Probably the best known game released under the Mr. Chip Software company name was Trailblazer which led to several sequels and ports to other systems. Most of the other games released under the Mr. Chip Software label were already focused on racing like Kikstart 2, but also some non-racing games found a fanbase like P.O.D.. Although early development was focused on the Commodore 64 and Commodore VIC-20 platforms the company widened the number of target platforms for their games in the mid 1980s. With the switch to the "Magnetic Fields" name the company also switched from 8-Bit systems to the rather new 16-Bit systems. While developing games belonging to many different genres, Magnetic Fields soon focussed on racing games. The 1985 release of "Formula 1 Simulator" was already technically on par with the competing racing games of that time.

The company became well known in 1990 for their releases of Super Cars and Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge on most common home computer systems of the time. Especially the strong sales on the Amiga 500 and Atari ST platforms led to sequels in 1991. In 1996 the company released Network Q RAC Rally Championship for the MS-DOS platform which received many favourable reviews^[2][3]and led to several expansions and sequels. The last release of the company was Mobil 1 Rally Championship for Windows and Playstation platforms in 1999.

In 2000 Shaun Southern, Andrew Morris and Neil Critchlow founded a new company called "Eugenicy" to develop more racing games but the company was closed down before anything was ever released.^[4] Andrew Morris released the original promotional trailer for Eugenicy on his youtube channel in 2009.^[5]

The company has agreed to let fans distribute their releases for 8-Bit systems as long as no profit is made from these. This has led to additional interest^{[citation needed]} in the company among users of emulators for such older hardware.^[6]

References

1. ^ Moby Games Company Description: Magnetic Fields, Moby Games
2. ^ expert Reviews: Network Q RAC Rally Championship, expert Reviews
3. ^ Gamespot Review: Network Q RAC Rally Championship, Gamespot
4. ^ Internet Archive - Snapshot of Eugenicy Website, Internet Archive
5. ^ Youtube - Eugenicy Promotional Trailer, Youtube
6. ^ C64 Game Guide - Available MCS/MF 8-Bit releases, C64 Game Guide

External links

• Moby games Company Description
• Official Company Website - No longer reachable^{[dead link]}
• Official Eugenicy Website - No longer reachable^{[dead link]}