Hewson re-lived

[RobHewson]

I'm not really sure where to put this thread, so I thought general would be best!

My name's Rob, my dad founded & ran Hewson Consultants so as you can imagine I grew up on a very biased C64 diet! I got to play a lot of games growing up and go along to expos etc so it's obviously had a big impact on my life.

However until now I've never actually gone back to re-live my C64 days (aside from the odd flirt with the Wii VC versions).

Thanks to Roysterini (who I work with) I now have a C64 and have slowly started to re-live the good old days! I'll be slowly but surely posting a few impressions of re-visiting the games that defined my youth and may post up the odd photograph of original artwork found in the cupboard at my parents house and some inside stories for anyone that's interested in Hewson related stuff

That's it really... better get the C64 setup!

[motrucker]

Far out! I, for one, will be interested in your perspective on the C-64 world these days.

[Hidron]

Probably belonged in Member Introductions (2nd from bottom in base forum list). Its just an area to say hello. If this thread disappears, a mod might have moved it there.

I know there are some hardcore Hewson people around here, but looking at the list of games, I have only played Paradroid & Uridium. Both great games.

Glad to hear you are getting back to your roots, and most of us love to see & hear about the good old days.

[Elvir]

Hewson rules!!

[szu]

Their Artwork on games was legendary.

I remember first time i saw the intro screen to Cybernoid felt like i was at the arcades at that time. I had the Beastie Boys crack of it.

[Mayhem]

Hello Rob, welcome

I think we'll be leaving this thread where it is, given the potential in the future for it to be a whole bundle of random, fascinating stuff about the company.

Especially the artwork. Would like to see the originals, and find out who was responsible. Hope to hear some more soon

[Macc]

Yes, welcome Rob! Get your dad to spill the beans!

[Neo-Rio]

Ok, so what's the history of the company? Mr Hewson started doing consulting (what kind exactly?) and how did this lead into game publishing?

[RobHewson]

Especially the artwork. Would like to see the originals, and find out who was responsible. Hope to hear some more soon

I've got the original airbrush arkwork for the last Hewson logo on my wall, which would have been the original source for duplicating this logo:



In the early days (long before CGI) airbrushing was just coming in as an exciting new technique for artists. Almost all of the Hewson artwork was airbrush work. I think dad found a few local artists who he went back to time and again.[/img]

[satanshollow]

Wow, sweet. Welcome aboard!

[Sith-Smasher]

Hewson was great. So many great games published. Uridium, Paradroid, Zynaps, Exolon, Ranarama, Cybernoid... the list goes on.
It was one of the companies I was most fond of together with Ocean.

I did prefer the blocks logo with a letter in each one though for the company. It was a logo that caught the eye.

[RobHewson]

Ok, so what's the history of the company? Mr Hewson started doing consulting (what kind exactly?) and how did this lead into game publishing?

It was actually called Hewson Consultants at the beginning because he had been doing consultancy work on the side (he was a government scientist and had learnt to program in FORTRAN and BASIC) and I guess he thought it made sense to use the same label for the books. Eventually the Consultants bit was dropped but Hewson stuck.

He actually started out by writing a book called Hints and Tips for the ZX80 and took out tiny adverts in computer magazines for it. He went on to write two more books, Hints and Tips for the ZX81 and 20 Best Spectrum Programs. Because he was taking out adverts people started to send him cassettes to sell on - so that's when he realised he was a publisher! That's really how it all started.

[RobHewson]

I did prefer the blocks logo with a letter in each one though for the company. It was a logo that caught they eye.

Yeah I don't have the original artwork for that one... I'm not sure it survived! There's actually a lot more 21st Century Entertainment artwork back home (dad's second company in the Amiga days) than Hewson stuff. But there are a few nice Hewson ones up on his wall like these:

[Roysterini]

What have I started, Rob?

Still, it nice to see the embers igniting again

I'm in a similar boat. Only about a month before you, I got back into the C64 thing and it feels nice

Dunno why I left it for so long!

[RobHewson]

What have I started, Rob?

You've started a trip down memory lane! It's great