Allied Leisure
TCW Podcast Episode 163 - California Pacific
We look at the company California Pacific. Founded by Al Remmers the company played a large role in launching the careers of Bill Budge and Richard Garriott. Al Remmers was in a unique position as a publisher. He had contacts with retailers spanning the entire country. In a way California Pacific was both one of the first distributors and used the EA model of programmers as rock stars. Promoting the games made by talented people, and promoting the individuals themselves. Unfortunately California Pacific had a too high royalty to those same programmers, and once dedicated distribution companies started to take over business declined. Al Remmers struggled with delegation, and unfortunately he developed a drug addiction. Though not well known today California Pacific did play a vital role during a crucial stage of the computer video game industry.
A little Energon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy_6yo04Hjc
Overview of the S100 BUS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVblKM9bJxA
Super Invader/Apple Invader: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNSFD7mC-Oo
Bill Budge's Trilogy of Games: https://archive.org/details/wozaday_Bill_Budge_Trilogy
Picture of the packaging: https://web.archive.org/web/20220530014930/https://www.ebay.com/itm/203822308767Bill Budge's Space Album: https://archive.org/details/wozaday_Bill_Budge_Space_Album
Akalabeth: https://archive.org/details/Akalabeth_1980_California_Pacific_Computer
World Of Doom Akalabeth Packaging: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/apple-ii-akalabeth-world-doom-1889507320
Who is Lord British: http://www.softalkapple.com/more_to_the_story/remember-when-softalk-asked-who-lord-british
Ultima 1: https://archive.org/details/Ultima_I_1981_California_Pacific_ComputerNew episodes are on the 1st and 15th of every month!
TCW Email: feedback@theycreateworlds.com
Twitter: @tcwpodcast
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theycreateworlds
Alex's Video Game History Blog: http://videogamehistorian.wordpress.com
Alex's book, published Dec 2019, is available at CRC Press and at major on-line retailers: http://bit.ly/TCWBOOK1Intro Music: Josh Woodward - Airplane Mode - Music - "Airplane Mode" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/song/AirplaneMode
Outro Music: RolemMusic - Bacterial Love: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Rolemusic/Pop_Singles_Compilation_2014/01_rolemusic_-_bacterial_loveCopyright: Attribution: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/