Talk:Mindscape (software publisher)

Re: "Mindscape was formed in 2001" - that certainly isn't correct. E.g. the linked mobygames page says "Mindscape Entertainment - European name used since mid-nineties" and lists games published by them as early as 1983. Can anybody throw light on the correct year? ThomasHarte 00:33, 30 August 2005 (UTC)
 * It seems that there are at least two entries for Mindscape in Mobygames, one Mindscape Inc. and the other Mindscape International Ltd. I guess they are the same company. It seems that Mindscape Group was the name used from 2001 and later, after it was bought from LEarning Group (or the other way round). Pictureuploader 00:13, 12 November 2005 (UTC)
 * A related question is if Mindscape Group is the same publisher that put out the MacVenture games, Shadowgate, Deja Vu et. al? This was in 1985-1989 Arru 19:58, 27 December 2005 (UTC)
 * Maybe, the logo is the same of the Mindscape logo appearing in Moonstone etc. Pictureuploader 01:09, 21 March 2006 (UTC)
 * True. I'm changing the article to reflect that the current Mindscape is, at the very least, the same trademark as used in the 80s. Arru 17:49, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Merge from The Software Toolworks
Some quick checks show that half of Mindscape's history (pre-1995) is missing because it was named The Software Toolworks prior to that. There is a substantial article on The Software Toolworks, I'm merging it here because both companies have rightfully used the Mindscape trademark at one time or another - and the Software Toolworks article has Mindscape bolded as if written with this intention. Great! Arru 18:06, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I worked for Software Toolworks from 1987 to 1990. Mindscape was a separate company operating at the same time. Mindscape bought Software Toolworks sometime around 1990. in 1988, Software Toolworks bought out DataSoft. I'm not going to add that to these facts to the article cause that would be OR. --Glenn R. Wichman Capmango 21:47, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Describing Software Toolworks as a computer game publisher is far to restrictive. While they had a range of games they also sold a lot of general productivity software, as well as a range of compilers and debuggers. The first software I ever bought was their C/80 compiler and Lisp/80 interpreter for the Osborne 1. Geira (talk) 12:01, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

I think this was a real mistake to merge the two companies. Although the stories intertwine, the history of Software Toolworks itself is deep and relevant. Wikipedia is the lesser for not having that information.

Also, on the Mindscpae front. I worked at Software Toolworks in 1993 and I remember we used the logo in Wing Commander but otherwise not much was involved. We internally were known only as Software Toolworks and it was a suprise to many of us on the dev teams that they were using the Mindscape logo for the Wing Commander release. Also, I am almost certain that we didn't in any way shape or form own SSI at the time. I know this because one of my best friends (an artist) worked for SSI at the time I worked for Software Toolworks, and the two companies were not in any way related. User:Allenxyz[Allenxyz (talk) 12:08, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Mindscape in the 1980's
I worked at Mindscape from August, 1986 through December, 1990. Mindscape began (in 1983, I believe) as a division of publisher Scott Foresman; it published educational software then. In 1987, it was spunoff as an independent company. Roger Buoy was our president and CEO, and we were located in Northbrook, Illinois. As an independent company, we continued publishing educational software, but moved quickly into entertainment software as well. We were, as Arru speculates above, the publishers of Shadowgate and DejaVu. Other titles I remember: Infiltrator, Balance of Power, Paperboy, Gauntlet, Defender of the Crown. Mindscape did not buy Software Toolworks - it was the other way around. I think we were told of the sale in December, 1989. Except for a few executives and a few people who chose to move to California, we all lost our jobs. I was one of the last to leave the Northbrook office in December, 1990.--Two Tars (talk) 07:29, 26 July 2008 (UTC)

The Ship to be latest game
Recently, Outerlight has finally announced their Europian publicher, Mindscape!

Cleanup
The following was rewritten into a timeline to make it more comprehensible. Some pieces of this information did not make it into the timeline.

In 1994, the company purchased RPG publisher SSI and changed its name to Mindscape. The lot was purchased by The Learning Company in 1995, which was then purchased by Broderbund, and then the whole thing was sold to Mattel in 1999 for around US$3.6 billion, causing a strong impact to Mattel's stock price and the ouster of its CEO. Mattel subsequently sold it all to Gore Technology Group for nothing but a share of the profits that Gores could obtain by selling the properties. As a result, Ubisoft continues to publish Chessmaster titles, and Riverdeep continues to publish new versions of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. New versions of these products no longer use the Software Toolworks brand.

Mindscape was made a separate company in 2001 following the purchase of the international division of The Learning Company from the Gore Technology Group by Jean-Pierre Nordman. In April 2002 Montparnasse Multimedia was purchased by Mindscape.

Some of the statements (from the previous Mindscape article) sound a bit dubious, review by someone knowledgeable is needed. Arru 20:07, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Mindscape-2.PNG
Image:Mindscape-2.PNG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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Fair use rationale for Image:Mindscape-1.PNG
Image:Mindscape-1.PNG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 04:17, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Logo
The article states the logo is from 1994, however Legend (Four crystals for trazere) uses this logo, and that game is from 1992. Mamen (talk) 17:30, 1 May 2009 (UTC)