The BBC's Classic British Videogames - How many have you played?

"How British video games became a billion pound industry"

The BBC has taken time out from its shameless, freedom-of-speech-hating, leftie schedule, to talk about Britain's contribution to games, in the form of a timeline of some key moments and defining titles.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/zt23gk7

The BBC wrote:Creativity, ingenuity and global triumph

The global video games industry is estimated to be worth £80bn. While America and Japan dominate the market, the UK video games sector employs over 12,000 people, generating an annual revenue of £2.5bn.

From a handful of hobbyists coding in their spare time to big teams, big budgets and million dollar profits, the story of British video games is one of fantastical imagination, irreverent humour and the coding skills of some standout personalities.

The fifteen classic games listed are:

I have only played five of those. :oops:

Three of them I haven't even heard of! Also, I can't believe it's a year-and-a-half since GTAV came out already.

Surprised at the barren years of the noughties. Tomb Raider makes it onto the list but only in film format (there are some non-game events listed as defining moments on the timeline).

Everything up until about GTA, barring Populous & MUD.

Which is to say, I spend a substantial amount of time playing A MUD, but not the original MUD.

The noughties saw much british development talent absorbed by larger multinationals.

Surprised there's no Tomb Raider on there. Burnout could have made it too. As could have Theme Park or maybe Rollercoaster Tycoon.

I've played 8 of them.

Played:

Not played:

Last edited by jawafour on Thu Mar 12, 2015 1:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I guess there's always going to be lots of "I can't believe they didn't include..." when it's a relatively small list. But I can't believe they didn't include Knight Lore, Tomb Raider (the game, not the movie), Banjo-Kazooie, Burnout or Lego Star Wars.

Played 9:

Not played 6:

Dan. wrote:The BBC has taken time out from its shameless, freedom-of-speech-hating, leftie schedule,...

.

12 not including GTA V which is still shrink wrapped on the shelf.

jawafour wrote:
Dan. wrote:The BBC has taken time out from its shameless, freedom-of-speech-hating, leftie schedule,...
.

Sorry - forgot to include a

for clarity.

Corazon de Leon

Ian Livingstone looks like one angry man.

"HERE. LOOK AT THE strawberry floating GAME I DESIGNED IN NINETEEN SEVENTY-FUCKING-FIVE"

Like strawberry float are those the 15 best British games ever made.

That's not really what they were going for, though.

How is Moshi Monsters in any way a 'classic'?

Rolando is basically a poor man's LocoRoco.

Ironhide wrote:How is Moshi Monsters in any way a 'classic'?

Ask the kids who've grown up playing it?

I'm slightly out of it's demographic.

I think given how huge it got, Moshi Monsters is worthy of the spot. I did think Rolando was one of the stranger choices but I've never played it, just seen it looks a lot like a Loco Roco clone.

Multi User Dungeon (Autumn 1978) Yup
Manic Miner (September 1983) Yup
Elite (September 1984) Yup
Barbarian (June 1987) Yup
Populous (June 1989) Yup
Lemmings (February 1991) Yup
WipEout (September 1995) Yup
Goldeneye 007 (August 1997) Nope
Grand Theft Auto (October 1997) Yup
Runescape (January 2001) Nope
Moshi Monsters (April 2008) Nope
LittleBigPlanet (November 2008) Yup
Rolando (December 2008) Nope
Grand Theft Auto V (September 2013) Yup
Monument Valley (April 2014) Nope

I've played Lemmings, Wipeout, Goldeneye and GTA, the rest are either a little before my interest in games took off or games I have no interest in playing.

Played them all, except MUD, Runescape and Rolando.

Multi User Dungeon (Autumn 1978) Not born yet
Manic Miner (September 1983) nope
Elite (September 1984) Acorn Archemedes version
Barbarian (June 1987) nope
Populous (June 1989) yes
Lemmings (February 1991) hell yes :wub:

WipEout (September 1995) n64 version
Goldeneye 007 (August 1997) God Yes
Grand Theft Auto (October 1997) Yes
Runescape (January 2001) Noe
Moshi Monsters (April 2008) Nope
LittleBigPlanet (November 2008) Yup
Rolando (December 2008) Nope
Grand Theft Auto V (September 2013) yes
Monument Valley (April 2014) Nope but I did watch an ASMR lets play of it. it's an interesting game (nice MC Escher vibe) maybe i should pick it up.;

TheTurnipKing wrote:
Ironhide wrote:How is Moshi Monsters in any way a 'classic'?

Ask the kids who've grown up playing it?

I'm slightly out of it's demographic.

I don't care who grew up playing it, its not a classic and neither are Barbarian, LittleBigPlanet, Rolando or Monument Valley.

For different reasons, I think a 'classic' has to have a particular impact and be particularly good, those 5 don't qualify. Its stupid because there are loads of UK developed games that would fit the bill.

Gemini73

Classic is the wrong word here.

The only one I've never played is MUD.

Is there a way to play it now?

i've played ten of them, Barbarian was bloody brilliant as well. I'd forgotten all about that game.

The BBC's Classic British Videogames - How many have you played?

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