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.

Todd Mozer’s expertise in speech synthesis came from his work at Electronic Speech Systems (ESS) based in Berkeley, California, USA, in the early 80’s. A company that developed software speech technology, built primarily on the research of his Father, Professor Forrest Mozer.

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.

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.

During the early 80's home computer boom, a number of young computer game programmers appeared on the scene, each home computer format had their own prominent stars. One of the most well known and certainly popular, was the boy genius Antony ‘Tony’ Crowther (aka Ratt), who quickly became a legend on the Commodore 64 game scene - not only with what he could achieve visually on the Commodore 64, but also because of his ability to create a good game in just a few weeks of coding!

I think its fair to say that there were not many musicians on the Commodore 64 music scene that could rival Rob Hubbard, who set a very high benchmark on the C64. But there was one notable exception, a young and talented computer musician, that could not only rival Hubbard, but at times even surpass him! It is of course Martin Galway (nephew of the famous flutist Sir James Galway).

I think it would be impossible to write an article that could over emphasise just how inspirational Rob Hubbard was to computer music. Before Rob Hubbard, most game music was a series of pitiful beeps and bleeps! Simply put there was no one prepared for what Mr. Hubbard was to bring to the Commodore 64 game scene.

A classic platform game. It may have some crude graphics and sound, but the game play is top notch. In it's day it was highly regarded and even now still holds up amazingly well. Simply, one of the best platform games ever written for a home computer. The level design is well thought out, and the in-game obstacles, like streaming pan lights, electrical charges and moving vines are genius. Some nice graphical touches, like turning the lanterns off and the T'sung-lin bushes that are activated by running over them. Includes a 1 or 2 player option.

Ghettoblaster is  a game by ex-taskset programmer Tony Gibson and musician Mark Harrison. In the game you play the part of Rockin' Rodney, moving around streets, searching for music tapes, in a town called Funky! The graphics and sound are in typical Taskset style, with bold and colourful characters, nicely drawn streets and some suitable dance beat music. The game is fun and certainly entertaining for a short-while, but boredom soon sets in, due to the constant going back and forth to collect music tapes, it just becomes a bit tedious.

This is a game based around the story of the legend of Zorro, including all the classic Zorro ingredients, a kidnapped senorita, an evil enemy leader and his henchmen and of course the obligatory swordfight! The same company that brought you the mighty Bruce Lee developed this game. The graphics are similar, crude but functional. The sound is quite basic, with rather timid sound effects and the music is short and repetitive. This game has been very harshly treated since its release and in my opinion, totally underrated.