Hewson Consultants were one of the smaller software companies which produced video games for home computers in the mid-1980s. They had a reputation for high-quality games, and are ranked seventh out of 109 companies reviewed by Your Sinclair with an average rating of 84%. Fourteen of their games were awarded "Megagame" by Your Sinclair, and Paradroid is considered one of the best games ever released for the Commodore 64.
Hewson was founded by Andrew Hewson in the early 1980s. He became interested in computers while working at the British Museum when their first machine arrived. After learning to program, Andrew wrote the programming guide book Hints and Tips for the ZX80. Following the publication, bedroom coders began to send Andrew the games they had programmed on cassette tape, giving him the idea to publish the games. Hewson Consultants was born, and initially released games via mail order advertisements in computing magazines. Andrew was also a columnist in Sinclair User magazine throughout the 1980s.
Releases Space Intruders - 1981 - Space Invaders clone for the ZX81 Pilot - 1982 Nightflite - 1982 Heathrow Air Traffic Control - 1983 Nightflite II - 1983 Knight DriverClive Brooker - 1983 Quest Adventure - 1983 3D Space-Wars - 1983 3D Seiddab Attack - 1984 3D Lunattack - 1984 - Reviewed in Crash issue 4 - 90% Avalon - 1984 - Reviewed in Crash issue 10 - 91% Technician Ted - 1984 - Reviewed in Crash issue 13 - 96% Dragontorc - 1985 Astro Clone - 1985 Paradroid - 1985 Gribbly's Day Out - 1985 Firelord - 1986 Pyracurse - 1986 Quazatron - 1986 Southern Belle - 1986 Uridium - 1986 Technician Ted: The Megamix - 1986 Cybernoid - 1987 Exolon - 1987 Zynaps - 1987 Impossaball - 1987 Nebulus - 1987 Ranarama - 1987 Evening Star - 1987 Anarchy - 1987 Netherworld - 1988 Cybernoid II: The Revenge - 1988 Marauder - 1988 Zamzara - 1988 Eliminator - 1988 Battle Valley - 1988 Steel - 1989 Stormlord - 1989 Astaroth - 1989 Onslaught - 1989 Deliverance - 1990 Insects in Space - 1990 Zarathrusta - 1991
Legacy Andrew and other members of the Hewson management team went on to form 21st Century Entertainment after Hewson shut down in the early 1990s, releasing several games such as Pinball Dreams, Pinball Fantasies and Pinball Illusions. Andrew was also the founder of ELSPA (European Leisure Software Publishers Association) which continues to be the European regulating body for the video games industry.
References
External links (archived, 21st Century Entertainment)