Melbourne House: Difference between revisions

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Background

Melbourne House was an Australian video game company that began in 1977. The same year, Beam Software was founded as its subsidiary. In 1987, the Melbourne House brand was sold to Mastertronic, which used it until 1989, when it was folded into Virgin Interactive and the Melbourne House brand was shut down. In 1996, Virgin managed to put off the brand and it was picked up by Beam Software, the former subsidiary to Melbourne House, to be used as a publishing name for some of their games. Its first reappearance was in 1997, but the two names were always used separately. In 1999, Melbourne House was sold to Infogrames and was renamed "Infogrames Melbourne House". Beam Software soon went out of gaming business. In November 2006, Melbourne House was acquired by Krome Studios and became "Krome Studios Melbourne", but closed down in 2010.

Melbourne House

Contents

1st Logo (1984-1987)	2nd Logo (1987-1989)	3rd Logo (5 March 1997-13 October 1999)

Infogrames Melbourne House

Contents

1st Logo (13-27 November 2000)	2nd Logo (22 June 2001-8 April 2003)	3rd Logo (22 November 2002)	4th Logo (25 February 2004-13 April 2007)

Melbourne House

1st Logo (1984-1987)

Visuals: Usually in-credit, it shows a TV-tube shape made up of several multi-colored segments, with a large typewriter "M" at the bottom of it in white. No company name can be seen.

Variants:

The colors of the logo differ for each game.
On some games, the "M" is bigger and only the top half of the tube is present.
At the end of Redhawk, the logo is seen in monochrome and the text "MELBOURNE HOUSE" is seen stacked below it.

Technique: A still, sprite-based graphic.

Audio: None or the opening theme of the game.

Availability: Seen on several C64 and ZX Spectrum games from the time, like Gyroscope, Rock N Wrestle, and The Shadows of Mordor.

2nd Logo (1987-1989)

Visuals: On a black background, a beveled stone grey rectangle is seen with a coarse texture, with a large red sphere embedded into the top of it. Below, the text "MELBOURNE HOUSE" can be seen stacked below it.

Variant: Sometimes, the logo can be seen in-credit.

Technique: A still pre-rendered image.

Audio: None.

Availability: First seen on Roadwars for the Amiga, and can be seen on the PC versions of Magic Johnson's Fast Break, Xenon, War In Middle Earth, among others.

3rd Logo (5 March 1997-13 October 1999)

Visuals: Starting off on a screen filled with static, it zooms out to reveal a dark blue eye, with the static inside of a TV that acts like the iris. Above it, 5 dark blue lashes are seen with the 3rd and 4th lashes being gold and red respectively, and "Melbourne House" is seen below. The eye then blinks, turning the static screen dark blue. Everything casts a shadow.

Variants:

On KKND2: Krossfire, the entire logo is recreated in CGI. After the normal animation occurs, 4 bullet holes appear around the eye as it looks in surprise, with the static returning in the eye as result. It then grows a pair of legs and arms, puts a match in its "mouth", and pulls out a pair of guns to shoot back at whatever's off-screen.
An later version has the logo altered to be a brighter blue color, the eye is smaller and more smooth in appearance (without a screen either), and the text moved to the bottom while also becoming larger. The animation is changed to have the name fade in below first, followed by the eye appearing by a slight shine to it.
- On Dethkarz, the eye is shown in full 3D and on a full set of wheels, driving on-screen before stopping and blinking once. It then drives around the reflective room before skidding out and cross-fading to the final result, with a ding for the shine appearing.

Technique: 2D animation. CGI for the variants.

Audio: The sound of static plays throughout as a drone plays for the logo zooming out, and a chime for the logo blinking. The variants have extra sound effects correlating with the actions, and the later version has no static.

Availability: Seen on Dethkarz, GP 500 and on the KKND game series.

Infogrames Melbourne House

1st Logo (13-27 November 2000)

Visuals: On a white surface illuminated by a spotlight, the Infogrames shield is seen at the top left, with "Melbourne House" aligned to the right below it. At the bottom right, a blue armadillo with a abstract red/white scale pattern on its back is seen walking, with its blue footprints trailing from the logo.

Technique: A still 3D graphic.

Audio: None.

Availability: It was only used on 2 Dreamcast games, Test Drive Le Mans/Le Mans 24 Hours, and Looney Tunes: Space Race.

2nd Logo (22 June 2001-8 April 2003)

Visuals: On a white background, the camera zooms out from the back of an old-fashioned cartoon-style CRT TV monitor and pans out to reveal a pale pink short-whiskered armadillo playing video games on the TV, mindlessly hitting buttons and rocking the joystick on the (Atari 2600 reminiscent) controller on a blue/bright purple globe. Everything is upside-down at first, but the camera cuts to a view of a kangaroo copying the same deed the armadillo is currently doing, viewed right-side up. The animals sit on opposite hemispheres of the globe. The kangaroo sits on the top of the globe, and vice-versa. However, everything is upside down yet again when the stacked words "MELBOURNE HOUSE" in an odd cartoon font appear over it, each word going around the globe from opposite directions. Suddenly, the animals freeze and look at the screen frighteningly, as the globe rotates 180 degrees and change poles. After the animals blink a couple times, the "MELBOURNE HOUSE" text revolves around the world (a la the Universal Pictures logo) and the text "INFOGRAMES", in the same style behind the globe, joins in. Despite this, the animals continue playing on their consoles until the logo fades out.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The sound of tapping buttons with a bouncy cartoon synth soundtrack that stops when the animals stop and resumes when the text rotates. Comical sound effects are also included.

Availability: Appears on the PlayStation 2 ports of Le Mans 24 Hours and Space Race (and the PC port of the former title), and Men in Black ll: Alien Escape for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube.

3rd Logo (22 November 2002)

Visuals: On a black background, a tire is seen spinning quickly as it zooms out and fades it, with flames beginning to line the inside of the tire, briefly turning the rims orange. The tire then burns some flames, with more of them appearing behind it, and the entire thing flashes to form the Melbourne House Racing logo. It features a monochrome drawing of a tire in a white box, with a red backing filling the rest of it. Below, "RACING" can be seen on the tire, as well as "MELBOURNE HOUSE}}" below in the white box.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: Racing car sounds, followed by a crowd cheering, which is all cut off by a cut-off "boom" noise.

Availability: It was only used on Grand Prix Challenge for the PlayStation 2.

4th Logo (25 February 2004-13 April 2007)

Visuals: On a black background, blue neon lines flow through the darkness before they start to glow brightly, eventually shining brightly to fill it with ocean blue and white as it swings to the right. The flash causes the background to turn white, and the object settles into place, revealing itself as the new Melbourne House logo. It consists of a rounded ocean blue rectangle with a oddly-shaped "MH" in white on it, and "melbourne house" is seen to the bottom right of it.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: An ethereal synth chime sounder with whooshes.

Availability: Seen on Transformers (the 2004 game based on the Armada series) for PlayStation 2 and the PSP and PlayStation 2 versions of Test Drive Unlimited.

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 |Melbourne House|
 {{ImageTOC
+||1st Logo (1984-1987)
-|Melbourne House (1988) (From - War in Middle Earth).png|1st Logo (Late 80s-1989)
-|Melbourne_House_(1997)_(From_-_KKND).png|2nd Logo (5 March 1997-13 October 1999)
+|Melbourne House (1988) (From - War in Middle Earth).png|2nd Logo (1987-1989)
+|Melbourne_House_(1997)_(From_-_KKND).png|3rd Logo (5 March 1997-13 October 1999)
 }}
 |Infogrames Melbourne House|
@@ Line 19: / Line 20: @@
 ==Melbourne House==
-===1st Logo (Late 80s-1989)===
+===1st Logo (1984-1987)===
+'''Visuals:''' Usually in-credit, it shows a TV-tube shape made up of several multi-colored segments, with a large typewriter "{{font|Courier|'''M'''}}" at the bottom of it in white. No company name can be seen.
+'''Variants:'''
+* The colors of the logo differ for each game.
+* On some games, the "{{font|Courier|'''M'''}}" is bigger and only the top half of the tube is present.
+* At the end of ''Redhawk'', the logo is seen in monochrome and the text "{{font|Courier|'''MELBOURNE HOUSE'''}}" is seen stacked below it.
+'''Technique:''' A still, sprite-based graphic.
+'''Audio:''' None or the opening theme of the game.
+'''Availability:''' Seen on several C64 and ZX Spectrum games from the time, like ''Gyroscope'', ''Rock N Wrestle'', and ''The Shadows of Mordor''.
+===2nd Logo (1987-1989)===
 <gallery mode=packed heights=200>
 Melbourne House (1988) (From - War in Middle Earth).png
 </gallery>
-'''Visuals:''' There is a 3D border shield made of stone. It can be {{color|tan|light brown}} or {{color|gray}}. A {{color|red}} dot lies on the shield, designed as a 3D object. Below the dot, we read "MELBOURNE HOUSE".
+'''Visuals:''' On a black background, a beveled {{color|grey|stone grey}} rectangle is seen with a coarse texture, with a large red sphere embedded into the top of it. Below, the text "{{font|Times|'''MELBOURNE {{big|HOUSE}}'''}}" can be seen stacked below it.
+'''Variant:''' Sometimes, the logo can be seen in-credit.
-'''Technique:''' None.
+'''Technique:''' A still pre-rendered image.
 '''Audio:''' None.
-'''Availability:'''  It's seen on ''War in Middle-Earth'' and ''Obliterator'', among other games, mainly for Amiga.
+'''Availability:''' First seen on ''Roadwars'' for the Amiga, and can be seen on the PC versions of ''Magic Johnson's Fast Break'', ''Xenon'', ''War In Middle Earth'', among others.
-===2nd Logo (5 March 1997-13 October 1999)===
+===3rd Logo (5 March 1997-13 October 1999)===
 <gallery mode=packed heights=200>
 Melbourne House (1997) (From - KKND).png
@@ Line 40: / Line 58: @@
 {{YouTube|id=Xci0CGcxPJU|id2=i5tG4tvUdiA}}
-'''Visuals:''' The screen is full of white noise. The camera zooms out and a {{color|blue}} drawn eye with a TV in its eyeball appears. There are five eyelashes, two of them being {{color|red}} and {{color|gold}}. Under the eye is the text "Melbourne House". The whole picture is in 2D.
+'''Visuals:''' Starting off on a screen filled with static, it zooms out to reveal a dark blue eye, with the static inside of a TV that acts like the iris. Above it, 5 dark blue lashes are seen with the 3rd and 4th lashes being gold and red respectively, and "{{color|darkblue|{{font|Times|Melbourne House}}}}" is seen below. The eye then blinks, turning the static screen dark blue. Everything casts a shadow.
 '''Variants:'''
-*In ''KKND: Krossfire'', the whole animation is in 3D and the eye is being shot. After this, it makes arms and legs and starts to shoot back.
+* On ''KKND2: Krossfire'', the entire logo is recreated in CGI. After the normal animation occurs, 4 bullet holes appear around the eye as it looks in surprise, with the static returning in the eye as result. It then grows a pair of legs and arms, puts a match in its "mouth", and pulls out a pair of guns to shoot back at whatever's off-screen.
+* An later version has the logo altered to be a {{color|blue|brighter blue}} color, the eye is smaller and more smooth in appearance (without a screen either), and the text moved to the bottom while also becoming larger. The animation is changed to have the name fade in below first, followed by the eye appearing by a slight shine to it.
-*In ''Dethkarz'', the eye has four wheels and rides all over the screen before bumping into its normal position.
+** On ''Dethkarz'', the eye is shown in full 3D and on a full set of wheels, driving on-screen before stopping and blinking once. It then drives around the reflective room before skidding out and cross-fading to the final result, with a ding for the shine appearing.
 '''Technique:''' 2D animation. CGI for the variants.
+'''Audio:''' The sound of static plays throughout as a drone plays for the logo zooming out, and a chime for the logo blinking. The variants have extra sound effects correlating with the actions, and the later version has no static.
-'''Audio:''' None.
-'''Availability:''' Used on ''Dethkarz'', ''GP 500'' and on the ''KKND'' game series.
+'''Availability:''' Seen on ''Dethkarz'', ''GP 500'' and on the ''KKND'' game series.
 ==Infogrames Melbourne House==
@@ Line 58: / Line 77: @@
 </gallery>
-'''Visuals:''' On a spotlight is the Infogrames shield with "'''''{{color|blue|Melbourne House}}'''''" aligned to the right below it. Below are the footsteps of a {{color|blue}} Indian armadillo with its {{color|red}} Indian blanket.
+'''Visuals:''' On a white surface illuminated by a spotlight, the Infogrames shield is seen at the top left, with "'''''{{color|blue|Melbourne House}}'''''" aligned to the right below it. At the bottom right, a blue armadillo with a abstract red/white scale pattern on its back is seen walking, with its blue footprints trailing from the logo.
-'''Technique:''' None.
+'''Technique:''' A still 3D graphic.
 '''Audio:''' None.
@@ Line 72: / Line 91: @@
 {{YouTube|id=DlKL_mClVMA}}
-'''Visuals:''' On a white background, the camera zooms out from the back of an old-fashioned cartoon-style CRT TV monitor and pans out to reveal a pale pink short-whiskered armadillo playing video games on the TV, mindlessly hitting buttons and rocking the joystick on the (Atari 2600 reminiscent) controller on a {{color|blue}}/{{color|darkviolet|bright purple}} globe. Everything is upside-down at first, but the camera cuts to a view of a kangaroo copying the same deed the armadillo is currently doing, viewed right-side up. The animals sit on opposite hemispheres of the globe. The kangaroo sits on the top of the globe, and vice-versa. However, everything is upside down yet again when the stacked words "{{color|orange|'''MELBOURNE HOUSE'''}}" in an odd cartoon font appear over it, each word going around the globe from opposite directions. Suddenly, the animals freeze and look at the text frighteningly, as the globe rotates 180 degrees and change poles. After the animals blink a couple times, the "{{color|orange|'''MELBOURNE HOUSE'''}}" text revolves around the world (a la the [[Universal Pictures]] logo) and the text "{{color|orange|'''INFOGRAMES'''}}", in the same style behind the globe, joins in. Despite this, the animals continue playing on their consoles until the logo fades out.
+'''Visuals:''' On a white background, the camera zooms out from the back of an old-fashioned cartoon-style CRT TV monitor and pans out to reveal a pale pink short-whiskered armadillo playing video games on the TV, mindlessly hitting buttons and rocking the joystick on the (Atari 2600 reminiscent) controller on a blue/{{color|darkviolet|bright purple}} globe. Everything is upside-down at first, but the camera cuts to a view of a kangaroo copying the same deed the armadillo is currently doing, viewed right-side up. The animals sit on opposite hemispheres of the globe. The kangaroo sits on the top of the globe, and vice-versa. However, everything is upside down yet again when the stacked words "{{color|orange|'''MELBOURNE HOUSE'''}}" in an odd cartoon font appear over it, each word going around the globe from opposite directions. Suddenly, the animals freeze and look at the screen frighteningly, as the globe rotates 180 degrees and change poles. After the animals blink a couple times, the "{{color|orange|'''MELBOURNE HOUSE'''}}" text revolves around the world (a la the [[Universal Pictures]] logo) and the text "{{color|orange|'''INFOGRAMES'''}}", in the same style behind the globe, joins in. Despite this, the animals continue playing on their consoles until the logo fades out.
 '''Technique:''' CGI.
@@ Line 85: / Line 104: @@
 </gallery>
-'''Visuals:''' On a black background, there is a wheel spinning, and flames stick all over it. Eventually, the screen flashes and we see the wheel in a box inside a {{color|red}} background with a white box. The large white word "RACING" appears on the bottom of the wheel, and "MELBOURNE HOUSE" appears on the bottom of that.
+'''Visuals:''' On a black background, a tire is seen spinning quickly as it zooms out and fades it, with flames beginning to line the inside of the tire, briefly turning the rims orange. The tire then burns some flames, with more of them appearing behind it, and the entire thing flashes to form the Melbourne House Racing logo. It features a monochrome drawing of a tire in a white box, with a red backing filling the rest of it. Below, "{{big|{{font|Impact|RACING}}}}" can be seen on the tire, as well as "{{font|Impact|MELBOURNE HOUSE}}}}" below in the white box.
 '''Technique:''' 2D computer animation.
-'''Audio:''' Racing car sounds.
+'''Audio:''' Racing car sounds, followed by a crowd cheering, which is all cut off by a cut-off "boom" noise.
 '''Availability:''' It was only used on ''Grand Prix Challenge'' for the PlayStation 2.
@@ Line 99: / Line 118: @@
 {{YouTube|id=SsG_nrktsnY}}
-'''Visuals:''' Over a black background are {{color|blue}} lines which are apart of a shape, which reveals to be the MH logo in {{color|blue}}, then a flash happens inside the MH and the background turns white with "{{color|blue|melbourne house}}" appearing on the bottom of the MH. The box around it vanishes and the MH turns 2D.
+'''Visuals:''' On a black background, blue neon lines flow through the darkness before they start to glow brightly, eventually shining brightly to fill it with {{color|dodgerblue|ocean blue}} and white as it swings to the right. The flash causes the background to turn white, and the object settles into place, revealing itself as the new Melbourne House logo. It consists of a rounded {{color|dodgerblue|ocean blue}} rectangle with a oddly-shaped "'''MH'''" in white on it, and "{{font|Century Gothic|{{color|dodgerblue|melbourne house}}}}" is seen to the bottom right of it.
 '''Technique:''' CGI.
-'''Audio:''' A synth sounder.
+'''Audio:''' An ethereal synth chime sounder with whooshes.
-'''Availability:''' Was used on ''Transformers'' for PlayStation 2 and the PSP and PlayStation 2 versions of ''Test Drive Unlimited''.
+'''Availability:''' Seen on ''Transformers'' (the 2004 game based on the Armada series) for PlayStation 2 and the PSP and PlayStation 2 versions of ''Test Drive Unlimited''.
 [[Category:Australian video game logos]]
 [[Category:Australia]]
 [[Category:Video game logos]]
+[[Category:English-language logos]]