In the history of home computing there are numerous examples of innovative and technically impressive companies appearing and then suddenly disappearing without trace, usually because of financial reasons. One of these companies was Andy Walker's Taskset, with the obscure slogan ‘Taskset – the bugs stops here!” – a company that was way ahead of its time which developed highly original, technically sophisticated software for the Commodore 64 computer, way beyond what other companies were producing at the time.

With the huge success of computer games in the early 80’s a company which started in the 1970's suddenly appeared on the Commodore 64 scene called Electronic Speech Systems (ESS). This amazing and innovative company enabled a Commodore 64 to speak using software code and did not require any special hardware.

Activision were one of the greatest software houses in the 80’s during the home computer boom. They developed games for all the major 8-bit computer formats. One of the advantages that they had was employing the game programmer and designer David Crane – an innovative, clever guy, who created some of the best games to grace a home computer. David was behind some of the best selling computer games of all time – including the tremendously successful Pitfall, Ghostbusters and Little Computer People.

Game database for the Commodore 64. Featuring information on popular C64 games mentioned throughout the TCZ website, database currently contains around 1050 games. Visitors can rate, comment and search game information in the database.

What can be said about this gaming genius that has not been said before. Jeff Minter was a huge hit in the early years of the Commodore 64. The main reason for his success was that he had original ideas combined with a wild and vivid imagination. In fact, it's fair to say that his creations are probably among the most novel computer games ever produced. Who else could dream up “Attack of the Mutant Camels”or “Sheep in Space” !

The other feature that set Jeff's games apart from his competitors was playability. The games tended to have great game play and could be very addictive. Although Jeff’s games were not technically as impressive as some other games at the time, originality and playability were the key to his success. The music for his games, like Hover Bovver and Revenge of the Mutant Camels, were composed by a college friend James Lisney, who was a pianist.