Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

June 18, 2008

The founders of UK developer Codemasters have been honored by Queen Elizabeth II.

As reported by the BBC, David and Richard Darling were named Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for their "services to the computer games industry".

The brothers founded the firm as teens in 1986 (see pic at left) and exited in 2007. Among Codemasters' best-known titles are the Colin McRae Rally and Sensible Soccer series, as well as Lord of the Rings Online. Rod Cousens, who now runs the company, praised the Darling brothers:

[They are] one of the video game industry's great British success stories... Their drive and passion for creating the best in interactive entertainment will always be part of the industry's heritage and this recognition is well deserved.

GP: Codemasters has a fascinating history. Their Wikipedia entry is definitely worth a read.

Thanks to: GP correspondent Colin "Jabrwock" McInnes.

Posted in U.K. Video Game Industry/Economics

Comments

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by Anonymister (not verified) on Thu, 06/19/2008 - 03:00.

Rockstar Ate My Hamster, Micro Machines, and Cosmic Spacehead

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by Manuel deBettencourt (not verified) on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 17:11.

My hats go off to those two. They have made some of the best simulators I have ever played and one of them is OFP which is the best military game next to ArmA: Armed Assault I have ever played.

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by HalfShadow on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 13:46.

Dude, I thought they broke up years ago.

Oh. The Queen.

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by Arashi (not verified) on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 13:11.

What a coincidence! I just recently managed to get a copy of one of the Dizzy games. Neat.

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by kaemmerite (not verified) on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 13:01.

When I first saw the headline I thought that it was talking about the band Queen.

But I guess this is pretty okay too.

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by Loudspeaker on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 12:04.

OMG! I love that picture! It's been ages since I've seen a Commodore 64.

-Loudspeaker
"Volume helps to get a point across but sharp teeth are better."

"Volume helps to get a point across but sharp teeth are better."

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by ZippyDSM on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 11:50.

Goes to show if you can make bad games for 10+ eyars you will be knighted...i guess they still hand out darkknight awards....

I is fuzzy brained mew

http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

(in need of a bad overhaul)

I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by Chuma (not verified) on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 11:43.

Dennis:

Further to my thoughts on this, Sensible Soccer was written by Sensible Software, which to my recollection did Wizball, Wizkid, Cannon fodder and other such games on the Amiga. The front two for those games were Jon Hare and Chris something-or-other. These games were out ages before the company got sold, so probably not really fair to claim it as a Codemaster's title.

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by Chuma (not verified) on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 11:36.

Hmm.. When I think of 2 brothers working for Codemasters I immediately think of the Oliver Twins who wrote all the Dizzy games back in the day. Have to say I'm never heard of this pair.

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by odc04r (not verified) on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 09:59.

It's all about Micro-Machines and Dizzy tbh.

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by Terraja (not verified) on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 12:48.

Is this the subthread for the tape deck wrinklies, then? Let us show our respect for the Codies with a three and a half minute BWOOWEEOOOeeeeee fanfare.

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by GdRobotUs (not verified) on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 15:32.

Or sing the ZX Spectrum loading song...

NyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeDIP!

Nyeeeeeee...Diddleiddleiddleiddle!

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 10:30.

Not to mention Fruit Machine Simulator ;)

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by Aliasalpha on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 10:56.

Pro BMX simulator was the best game they ever made. Well that or Operation Flashpoint, slightly different target audience...

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by StealthMaster86 (not verified) on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 09:32.

This is good news in a line of good news. First Grid has gotten good reviews and now this... Things are looking up for CodeMasters.

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by AM on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 09:33.

It's worth noting that Lord of the Rings Online is a Codemasters title in the same sense that Oblivion is an Ubisoft title--publication only, not development. LotRO is published by Codemasters in the UK, but it was developed by Turbine. In the US, it was published by Midway.

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by Aliasalpha on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 09:31.

Well you'd at least get the right to say "That's SIR to the likes of you, lowly peon!"

If nothing else, these guys are one of the reasons england was so highly respected back in the 8bit era

Re: Codemasters Founders Honored by Queen

Submitted by Zero Beat (not verified) on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 09:20.

I thought that the CBE designation was for non-British citizens only. Still, good job on their part.

Just curious, do you get anything for being knighted? A sword, perhaps?

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james_fudge: I hope you some said something sassy! Where's the link?02/09/2012 - 7:46pm

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james_fudge: Thanks for the heads-up DorthLous02/09/2012 - 4:33pm

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