Irish connections in games

gouche

I played through Metal Gear Solid recently and had completely forgot about the end credits song being in Irish.

Any other references to Irishness in other retro games?

I seem to remember Tengen used to manufacture some of their Megadrive carts in Ireland - anyone any idea where?

Dr Bob

Well..
Atari were based here in the 80's in Limerick.A lot of VCS's and 2600s were made here (and there was even a version of the 2600 only ever sold here )
A lot of their arcade cabs were made made here (and oddly enough I've heard of some sega ones made here as well.)
Bushido blade on the PS1 had an Irish character, as does Tekken (Nina Williams and her sister). There was a leprechan arcade game were the stages were named after places like tara and the like ..have to search that one out though.
there was also Tir Na Nog ( a speccy game from the eighties)

sengoku

Atari have had a presence in Tipperary since the 1970's, making arcade cabs and 2600's. There is also a NAMCO connection with the same factory as well as building cabs for other companies e.g. Midway. Unfortunately it was closed in 1998.

Not my photo - http://www.flickr.com/photos/13370784@N06/3595615743/in/photostream

CiDeRmAn

The japanese love our music, turns up in Forever Blue as well.

I was showing some paintings on the green last weekend and got chatting to a guy who was originally involved in animation.
As we talked it turned out he was one of the founders of the Irish division of Funcom, a scandanavian owned games dev.
They made the terrible Impact Racing and the great Speed Freaks, both for the PS.
He told me all about the development and that Sony screwed them over, they put a lot of effort into Speed Freaks and just before E3 were told of Crash Team Racing, an almost identical racing game, there was talk of legal action as Funcom Ireland felt that a lot of their ideas were lifted wholesale into CTR, but it was never to happen and that was that, Funcom Ireland were simply shut, the offices closed with a minimum of notice.

Anyways, he was a really interesting guy and had lots to say about game development in the late 90's, a time when Sony really were the big bad bully on the playground.

Dr Bob

heres that aracade game I mentioned ...its not great
http://www.gamesdbase.com/game.aspx?mame=potogold
Oh yeah, theres a few gaelic references in some of the castlevania gba games
Cliamh Solas is one of the swords you can get ...and theres Balor(e)
http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Balore

Retr0gamer

Shiny Entertainments games were developed by Dave Perry, an Irishman hailing from the North. So that includes games like Earthworm Jim, MDK, Messiah and he was also responsible for the Megadrive games the Lion King, Aladdin, Jungle Book and Cool Spot. I think that the oft overlooked Speed Freaks for the PS1 was developed in Ireland (ah ciderdude got there first).

landsleaving

It's not retro, but Folklore for the PS3 was set in Doolin as well

Retr0gamer

Xbox games for europe used to be produced down the road from mein Balbriggan. Plenty would 'slip' out and Balbriggan was the place to be if you wanted to play Halo 2 over two months before it was launched. CD printing ha moved to Swords now.

Sega also produced Saturn games here. It's how I got my Panzer Dragoon Saga. The guy I bought it off had loads on unboxed saturn games and told me that it's because he worked in the place that Sega produced them.

There's always George Stobbarts visit to Ireland in Broken Sword.

If you like your game music then check out the Celtic Moon album which is a collection of Final Fantasy 4 music that is performed by Irish folk artists. It's a fantastic album and strange to see so many big names like the guys from Clannad doing videogame music back in the nineties.

Dr Bob

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Xbox games for europe used to be produced down the road from mein Balbriggan. Plenty would 'slip' out and Balbriggan was the place to be if you wanted to play Halo 2 over two months before it was launched. CD printing ha moved to Swords now.

Sega also produced Saturn games here. It's how I got my Panzer Dragoon Saga. The guy I bought it off had loads on unboxed saturn games and told me that it's because he worked in the place that Sega produced them.

There's always George Stobbarts visit to Ireland in Broken Sword.

If you like your game music then check out the Celtic Moon album which is a collection of Final Fantasy 4 music that is performed by Irish folk artists. It's a fantastic album and strange to see so many big names like the guys from Clannad doing videogame music back in the nineties.

I've a few celtic moon tracks in the "favourite video game music" thread.
Kind of a long shot but the name Cait sith from FF VII comes from an Irish legend
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_S%C3%ACth

Theres a section in one of the tomb raider games set in Ireland(A prequel bit in TR IV I think).
Clive Barkers :the undying a pac game from the late nineties, was set in an Irish castle (atrocious voice acting btw).
in one of the Street Fighter manga/anime/live action films M Bison is originally from Ireland..seriously!
(It was the risable chun li film :
http://streetfighter.wikia.com/wiki/M._Bison )

Dr Bob

Bit here about atari in ireland:
http://www.gamedevelopers.ie/features/viewfeature.php?article=45
i was on the radio talking with ex head of theirs a few years back , when there was a bit about arcades in Ireland to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Space invaders.
Its not archive on RTE any more though...boo!

gouche

Yeah remember reading about Speed Freaks developer Funcom in an Irish games mag when it came out (can't remember the name of that mag now actually). Remember playing it too and it was quite good.

Forgot about Nina Williams in Tekken! Not that she looked very Irish, more Scandinavian.

Actually searching for games set in Ireland brings up Siphon Filter 3 which has bits set in Dublin and dealings with the IRA. Never played it though.

Never knew about the Atari/Namco connection either. Are there any active developers making games in Ireland? Seeing as the government is trying to push the 'knowledge economy' and with a few colleges offering game development courses it'd be nice to see an Irish scene emerge.

Edit: It seems PopCap have an office in Dublin. Found this video on SiliconRepublic: http://www.siliconrepublic.com/video/v/510-ireland-as-video-games/

Can't watch it with sound in work so don't know what they're saying.

Retr0gamer

In the cancelled version of counterstrike condition zero the final level takes place in a skyscraper in Belfast against the IRA. They've loads of skyscrapers up there I hear.

7sr2z3fely84g5

Apple computers used to be made down in cork,so if you have one from the 90s take a look at the back

old archive page- http://www.rgaros.nl/computers/apple-cork/report-en.html

EA customer service galway- http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0526/breaking6.html

Some of sega cds where made in ire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCJ2BTtBWv8

Myrddin

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Shiny Entertainments games were developed by Dave Perry, an Irishman hailing from the North. So that includes games like Earthworm Jim, MDK, Messiah and he was also responsible for the Megadrive games the Lion King, Aladdin, Jungle Book and Cool Spot. I think that the oft overlooked Speed Freaks for the PS1 was developed in Ireland (ah ciderdude got there first).

Not Dave Perry of Gamesmaster fame, who used to commentate with Diamond on some of the chalenges etc? I think he was part of Sega Power or something...

trout

luas_dublin wrote: »

Tir Na Nog ( a speccy game from the eighties)

I used to love that game ... there was a prequel called Dun Darach. Made by Gargoyle Games, who also did Heavy on the Magik, and Marsport.

Must dig them out over the weekend ... good games, quite innovative in their day ... but they do all look a bit samey, with hindsight.

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy

In Maken Shao you have to go to Ireland and visit Dublin Mc Guinness.

luas_dublin wrote: »

Well Atari were based here in the 80's in Limerick.

I never knew that, that's ahsum :cool:

Retr0gamer

EnterNow wrote: »

Not Dave Perry of Gamesmaster fame, who used to commentate with Diamond on some of the chalenges etc? I think he was part of Sega Power or something...

Nope different person, same name. They get mistaken all the time

RedXIV

Activision's European HQ is here too, just off Parnell street

jill_valentine

There's a bit in one of the original Rainbow Six games where the IRA take over Big Ben, if that counts.

They're a lot thinner than their real world counterparts...

Dr Bob

Atari in Limerick
I was there once or twice ...albeit years later when I worked for Dell and it was their EMF1 plant.(' course I didnt know the buildings history otherwise I would have had a pope style ground kissing session in the car park.)

Welease

Hibernia realm in Dark Age of Camelot is based on Ireland (place names of Howth, Tir Na Nog, Shannon etc.) and its lore (druids, bards, firbolgs etc.)

K.O.Kiki

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Shiny Entertainments games were developed by Dave Perry, an Irishman hailing from the North. So that includes games like Earthworm Jim, MDK, Messiah and he was also responsible for the Megadrive games the Lion King, Aladdin, Jungle Book and Cool Spot. I think that the oft overlooked Speed Freaks for the PS1 was developed in Ireland (ah ciderdude got there first).

Dave Perry is one of the few creators I respect forever and ever.

And now I know he's Irish!
Awesome.

So... where are all the Irish devs then?
Apart from the VVVVVV guy (iirc).

Retr0gamer

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Apart from the VVVVVV guy (iirc).

Well you thought me something, didn't know he was Irish!

Jack burton

I was going to say broken sword 2 but someone already got there.

Not retro but Atlas was "Irish" in Bioshock wasn't he? Well pretend Irish anyway

Retr0gamer

He was. The actor that played him was american but he actually did the accent well enough that he fooled me.

CiDeRmAn

Yeah, the Atlas accent was spot on, made the end game all the more interesting with the "revelations", meant we felt it a little more than most I reckon!

Reckon there have been plenty of Irish surnames on the troopers in COD, COD2, COD3 and CODWaW, of course it was never long before they joined their comrades from other minorities, trying to suck air through a ruined set of lungs, but such is life.

Nearly forgot the "authentic" Irish in GTAIV, the Irish/American gang the McRearys, possibly the inept gang in the world!

jesus_thats_gre

EnterNow wrote: »

Not Dave Perry of Gamesmaster fame, who used to commentate with Diamond on some of the chalenges etc? I think he was part of Sega Power or something...

Different guy. Used to love the Emap magazines like Mean Machines that he used to write for. Read the Sega magazine that it split off to. The large format CVG was great too.

Can anyone remember the name of a magazine that was only around for a year or so. It was in the style of EDGE but would have been around around the time of the first Power VR 3D accelerator.

Firefox11

sengoku wrote: »

Atari have had a presence in Tipperary since the 1970's, making arcade cabs and 2600's. There is also a NAMCO connection with the same factory as well as building cabs for other companies e.g. Midway. Unfortunately it was closed in 1998.

Not my photo - http://www.flickr.com/photos/13370784@N06/3595615743/in/photostream

Not to forget the old Atari Plant in Limerick (Now owned by Dell)

CiDeRmAn

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Different guy. Used to love the Emap magazines like Mean Machines that he used to write for. Read the Sega magazine that it split off to. The large format CVG was great too.

Can anyone remember the name of a magazine that was only around for a year or so. It was in the style of EDGE but would have been around around the time of the first Power VR 3D accelerator.

I preferred the C&VG from the mid 80's to the change in the late 80's, didn't like it all after that and it never got it's cred back imho.

As for the latter mag, the one that appeared in the early-mid 90's, that mag was Maximum, a great great magazine, it had great articles on the upcoming Saturn and Playstation with brilliant features on Wipeout and GunGriffon.
The style was very like Edge but the art was amazing in it, not japanese or cheesy western stuff, more a cool technical style, wireframe of the various Wipeout tracks in the background of the text, that sort of thing.

I bought each issue as it was published, think it only lasted something like 6 issues before it vanished with a promise to return someday, still waiting!!

Retr0gamer

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Different guy. Used to love the Emap magazines like Mean Machines that he used to write for. Read the Sega magazine that it split off to. The large format CVG was great too.

Can anyone remember the name of a magazine that was only around for a year or so. It was in the style of EDGE but would have been around around the time of the first Power VR 3D accelerator.

Was it Arcade? That was a quality magazine and comparing it to Edge isn't right, it was far better and more fun to read that boring Edge.

Dr Bob

Retr0gamer wrote: »

He was. The actor that played him was american but he actually did the accent well enough that he fooled me.

nope
Karl Hanover , the uncredited (due to a SAG union snafu) voice of Atlas/Fontaine is Irish(from Glenageary in fact)
http://thegamingliberty.com/index.php/2010/11/06/bioshocks-atlas-speaks-an-interview-with-karl-hanover/