Why did 20th Century Fox Games change Alpha Shield to SpaceMaster X7?

[Atari PAC-MAN Fan]

Hey Guys!

 

I was playing SpaceMaster X7 by 20th Century Fox Games. Later, when I was looking for roms online for my Atari 8-bit emulator, I stumbled across a game called Alpha Shield by Sirius Software. I downloaded it, and gave it a whirl. When I booted it up, I saw that it was the exact same game as SpaceMaster X7 on Atari 2600. Why do they have different names?

 

SpaceMaster X7- Atari 2600: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia4rGNuIh1g

 

Alpha Sheild- Atari 8-bit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDTJWvIaP-8

[ThomH]

If Wikipedia is trustworthy then Sirius Software, the developer of both titles, is at least partly known for "its ... quick collapse in 1984 after 20th Century Fox ... failed to pay over USD$18 Million in owed royalties". So if the answer isn't something as simple as Fox not being interesting in home computer rights, possibly some element of acrimony is involved?

Edited March 22, 2017 by ThomH

[+KaeruYojimbo]

20th Century Fox didn't have in-house developers, so when they wanted to enter the 2600 market they turned to Sirius, who ported some of their games. 20th Century Fox then changed the names of some of those games to tie in with movies. Alpha Shield became Spacemaster X-7. Spider City became Flash Gordon. Final Orbit became The Earth Dies Screaming. Someone in marketing must've thought using the names of obscure movies would help sales somehow.

Edited March 22, 2017 by KaeruYojimbo

[Atari PAC-MAN Fan]

You Know 20th Century Fox. Always trying to promote their damn movies.

[BassGuitari]

You Know 20th Century Fox. Always trying to promote their damn movies.

Well...yeah. Why wouldn't they?

[high voltage]

Surprised WB didn't push more movies to VCS

[moycon]

Someone in marketing must've thought using the names of obscure movies would help sales somehow.

Perhaps 20th Century Fox already owned the rights to those films and though fans of said films would be interested? It would have been in the 80's so a film like Earth dies Screaming would have been around 20 years old. Flash Gordon was only a few years old at that time and was a big budget film not obscure at all. Sure something like Earth Dies Screaming is a low budget flick, but I'm almost positive some people at the time would recall the film. I wasn't even born in the 60's but am aware of the films even now just because I'm a fan of the genre. Seems to me using the names of films could help sales, just because you'd have a built in audience....In theory anyways. I was always a HUGE fan of Atari games based on movies just because I'm somewhat of a film buff. 20th Century Fox is one of my favorite 3rd party for that reason.

[+save2600]

…and then you have a game like Fast Eddie (Sirius), that isn't based on any of their movies. Love that game too! One of their best releases for sure.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

Perhaps 20th Century Fox already owned the rights to those films and though fans of said films would be interested? It would have been in the 80's so a film like Earth dies Screaming would have been around 20 years old. Flash Gordon was only a few years old at that time and was a big budget film not obscure at all. Sure something like Earth Dies Screaming is a low budget flick, but I'm almost positive some people at the time would recall the film. I wasn't even born in the 60's but am aware of the films even now just because I'm a fan of the genre. Seems to me using the names of films could help sales, just because you'd have a built in audience....In theory anyways. I was always a HUGE fan of Atari games based on movies just because I'm somewhat of a film buff. 20th Century Fox is one of my favorite 3rd party for that reason.

 

I know Earth Dies Screaming, Spacemaster X-7 and Fantastic Voyage were all 20th Century Fox releases. The only one I was aware of as a kid was Fantastic Voyage. I learned the other 2 were movies years later when I got into collecting 2600 games in college. I suppose some older kids with later bedtimes might have seen them on the late night cheesy movie show, or maybe some parents remembered them, but I doubt a lot of kids my age would have been motivated to buy Spacemaster X-7 because they loved the movie. I suppose another possibility would be that Fox wanted to use the names to keep copyrights from expiring (I'm not sure if that's actually how it works though) or maybe drum up interest in old movies as home video was starting to become a thing. I'm sure they didn't lose any sales by using the movie names. Spacemaster X-7 sounds a lot cooler than Alpha Shield if you ask me.

[Zwackery]

Witnessing the mounting profits reaped from video games by Warner Communications coupled with the rise of commercially successful third party software developers, film studio Twentieth Century Fox created the subsidiary Fox Video Games (with its trademark “Games of the Century”) to enter the lucrative gaming market. While unaddressed until now, the smash success of the Atari 2600 game based on The Empire Strikes Back (1980) – a film which was distributed by Twentieth Century Fox while the game was developed and released under license by Parker Bros. – probably helped motivate the studio’s decision to review their large film catalog with an eye towards game adaptation.[1] Since game development typically takes a substantial investment of resources, Twentieth Century Fox was looking for a shortcut to getting its name into the minds of consumers, and so it struck a licensing deal with another game developer, Sirius Software, to release the games it had already developed under the Fox Video Games imprint. These first four games – Beany Bopper, Deadly Duck, Fast Eddie, and Worm War I – were not based on any Fox films, but the releases did enable Fox to promote their line of video games, including upcoming releases based on films such as 9 to 5 (1980), Alien (1979), The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Entity (1981), MegaForce (1982), Porky’s (1982), and Six Pack (1982) as well as some non-film related titles like Crypts of Chaos, Turmoil, and Tough Enough.[2] Since Twentieth Century Fox had a large selection of science fiction films in its library – some from production and others through distribution rights – and since this genre lended itself to game adaptation and strong sales much more readily than other genres, a large number releases were derived from science fiction films: The Earth Dies Screaming (1965), Fantastic Voyage (1966), Flash Gordon (1980), and SpaceMaster X-7 (1958).[3] For Crash Dive, Fox used the title of its 1943 film and concept of a submarine but with a decidedly futuristic improvement over the original WWII vessel. Revenge of the Beefsteak Tomatoes appears to be inspired by Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! (1978). A few more titles were put into development but never released, including Alligator People, Planet of the Apes, and The Entity, although these have been discovered as prototypes. Both Porky’s and M*A*S*H appear to be Fox’s only games based on films outside of science fiction despite announcements of 9 to 5 and Six Pack.[4] Interestingly, Fox licensed one of its film properties, The Towering Inferno, to US Games, which itself was a subsidiary of Quaker Oats.[5]

[1] In turn, MCA/Universal Home Video noted Twentieth Century Fox’s video game success and planned to enter the market with games based on Dracula, Frankenstein, and Jaws, but these were never developed (Stern, 103).

[2] Purchases of the early Sirius games received a catalog featuring current and upcoming releases that also included a coupon for a free MegaForce movie poster.

[3] Flash Gordon was not a Fox property but was instead controlled by Universal Studios under license from King Features Syndicate, Inc.; it is unclear how Fox solicited the license agreement from Universal.

[4] Another Fox title, Bank Heist, reputedly started as an adaptation of Bonnie & Clyde but was altered during development. An examination of the game cartridge label art strongly suggests the origin of the game.

[5] Fox also attempted to further diversify itself by releasing a trio of games whose proceeds were intended for environmental groups: Save the Whales, Dutch Elm Defender, and Attack of the Baby Seals. Only the first was actually programmed, but it was never released and no money was sent to Green Peace, the named beneficiary (atariage.com).

 

[moycon]

 

I suppose some older kids with later bedtimes might have seen them on the late night cheesy movie show, or maybe some parents remembered them, but I doubt a lot of kids my age would have been motivated to buy Spacemaster X-7 because they loved the movie.

Absolutely, I would agree with that part about the kids. If the Atari 2600 user base were exclusively children I'd agree with you 100%, but I don't recall it that way. My memories of the Atari at that time was that everyone was wanting to play. My father loved Atari and would play with daily when I would stay with him. (He is a gamer to this day) and my mother, who has had zero interest in video games since the Atari 2600 was known to play often at that time, as did my stepfather who bought home games frequently in those early days. It would be interesting to see the adult to child ratio of players back then. It seemed like many of the commercials and ads were aimed at adults. Pick up Playboys around that time and flip through them, you'll come across (No pun intended) plenty of ads from Atari. These would be the people who would remember those older movies, and for younger people, newer movies like Flash Gordon and the always AWESOME Megaforce would no doubt sell millions!! Makes perfect sense to me.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

Absolutely, I would agree with that part about the kids. If the Atari 2600 user base were exclusively children I'd agree with you 100%, but I don't recall it that way. My memories of the Atari at that time was that everyone was wanting to play. My father loved Atari and would play with daily when I would stay with him. (He is a gamer to this day) and my mother, who has had zero interest in video games since the Atari 2600 was known to play often at that time, as did my stepfather who bought home games frequently in those early days. It would be interesting to see the adult to child ratio of players back then. It seemed like many of the commercials and ads were aimed at adults. Pick up Playboys around that time and flip through them, you'll come across (No pun intended) plenty of ads from Atari. These would be the people who would remember those older movies, and for younger people, newer movies like Flash Gordon and the always AWESOME Megaforce would no doubt sell millions!! Makes perfect sense to me.

 

I do agree with you about adult gamers. The first person I knew who owned a 2600 was a friend of my dad who, at the time, didn't have kids. The point I was trying to make was more that these were not only fairly obscure movies, but also pretty old by 1982. If you're just going to slap a movie title onto an already existing game to improve sales, those seem like odd choices. It would be like developing a game today that had something to do with a amnesia and calling it Blank Slate. Some people our age remember that movie, a few liked it and if you own the rights it doesn't cost you anything, but I doubt too many buying the game are doing so because of the movie.

 

I think it would be interesting, in addition to the ratio of adult to child gamers, to see who had more influence over game choice in households with both.

Edited March 23, 2017 by KaeruYojimbo

[+davidcalgary29]

Well, they should have changed gameplay mechanics and graphics while they were at it, because Alpha Shield is a craptacular A8 release. I bought it at a Kay-Bee video game closeout special when I was 12 in 1984: I hated it then, and hate it now. One of the laziest ports for the A8, ever. No offence meant if the A8 coder is lurking around here!

[the_wizard_666]

Maybe it wasn't so much to attract fans of the movies so much as to make the movies relevant again for a future VHS rerelease? I mean, a 30 year old B movie license probably won't drum up a ton of interest in the game from non-gaming sources, but I would imagine that if someone liked the game and then happened upon a movie with the same name, they might be more inclined to check it out. Perhaps it wasn't so much about drumming up interest in the game as it was about maximizing revenue from multiple sources on a license that would otherwise be stagnating.

[SoulBlazer]

moycon, on 22 Mar 2017 - 11:30 PM, said:

Absolutely, I would agree with that part about the kids. If the Atari 2600 user base were exclusively children I'd agree with you 100%, but I don't recall it that way. My memories of the Atari at that time was that everyone was wanting to play. My father loved Atari and would play with daily when I would stay with him. (He is a gamer to this day) and my mother, who has had zero interest in video games since the Atari 2600 was known to play often at that time, as did my stepfather who bought home games frequently in those early days. It would be interesting to see the adult to child ratio of players back then. It seemed like many of the commercials and ads were aimed at adults. Pick up Playboys around that time and flip through them, you'll come across (No pun intended) plenty of ads from Atari. These would be the people who would remember those older movies, and for younger people, newer movies like Flash Gordon and the always AWESOME Megaforce would no doubt sell millions!! Makes perfect sense to me.

 

Not only that, but during the golden age of video gaming there would be reviews of games in Playboy. In fact, the success of the game Utopia for the Intelivision is credited to the game getting very high marks in the review that appeared in Playboy the year it came out, even winning the 'best video game of the year' from then. And while kids can enjoy Utopia for sure, I'd always considered that more of a adult title.

[Atari PAC-MAN Fan]

Did Playboy magazines have reviews of the Atari porn games?

[FOX2600]

I was always a HUGE fan of Atari games based on movies just because I'm somewhat of a film buff. 20th Century Fox is one of my favorite 3rd party for that reason.

I couldn't agree more. Fox happens to be my favorite 3rd party (if you couldn't tell by my username). I wish the bond between movies and games didn't get such a bad rap, I think a lot of them are fun! And when it comes to box art, I know most if not all 2600 box art is amazing but 20th Century Fox games really stand out to me.

 

I mean "Alien" c'mon how cool to see THAT movie poster on the box! And the M*A*S*H art always brings a smile to my face

[Jess Ragan]

If Wikipedia is trustworthy then Sirius Software, the developer of both titles, is at least partly known for "its ... quick collapse in 1984 after 20th Century Fox ... failed to pay over USD$18 Million in owed royalties". So if the answer isn't something as simple as Fox not being interesting in home computer rights, possibly some element of acrimony is involved?

 

Bastards! Sirius deserved better. They made some pretty good games, Bandits being one of the highlights. They also pioneered the first person action game with Capture the Flag and Wayout.