TENGEN | GAME OVER! - LOOKING BACK TO 1987
Atari Games was formed from Atari's arcade division. They could use the Atari name on arcade releases, but not on console or computer games. When Atari Games wanted to enter the console-game market, it needed a new label that did not use the Atari name. Enter TENGEN!
Going back to 1987…
In 1987/88, TENGEN released its first and only three cartridges licensed through Nintendo; R.B.I Baseball, Pac-Man and Gauntlet.
Meanwhile, TENGEN were secretly working to bypass Nintendo's lock-out chip, 10NES, that gave it control over which games were published for the NES. While numerous manufacturers managed to override this chip by zapping it with a voltage spike, TENGEN engineers feared this could potentially damage NES consoles and expose the company to unnecessary liability. Nintendo also made frequent modifications to the NES to prevent this technique from working. Instead, they tried to reverse engineer the chip and decipher the code required to unlock it, but the engineers were unable to do so.
The launch date for TENGENs first batch of games was rapidly approaching and still, they had no way around the Nintendo lock out program. With time running short, TENGEN turned to the United States Copyright Office, and their lawyers requested a copy of the Nintendo lock-out program, claiming that the company needed it for potential litigation against Nintendo. Once the documents were obtained, it used the program to create its own chip that would unlock the NES and allowed them to launch unlicensed versions of its games. Nintendo immediately sued TENGEN for copyright and patent infringement, which began a series of lawsuits between the companies.
TENGEN went on to produce games for a number of game console firms and licensed games for home computers but were best known for STUN Runner, Hard Drivin' and Klax. Eventually, their time was up when Time Warner bought a controlling stake and they were consolidated as Time Warner Interactive. GAME OVER! Thank you for playing!
Fast forward to the current day…
The gaming world has evolved and developed dramatically since then. Most notably, it has developed into the Internet of Things (IoT) - connecting devices over the internet, letting them talk to us, applications and each other. With advances in online gaming and virtual reality gaming among others, the gaming world is surely evolving into the IoT world.
As this trend continues to grow, cyber threats and cyber-attacks will continue grow directly alongside. However, there is help out there.
How can we help?
Renaissance are hosting Ireland's 1st Cyber Security Expo on 29th November 2017, at the Irish Management Institute, Dublin. Cyber Expo Ireland will be hosting over 20 exhibitors who will be demonstrating their latest tech in the cyber space. Furthermore, there will be Re-Seller Guidance, Expert Insights and the chance to book a 1-to-1 at an Expert Clinic.
Among our exhibitors will be Trustwave. They provide IoT solutions to their consumers and with more than 20 years of managed security services experience and their renowned SpiderLabs® team, no other security company can offer such a complete IoT assessment and monitoring solution.
IoT Security will be a key theme throughout this 1-day expo. All our exhibitors will be demonstrating their latest tech tackling the increasing cyber threats. There will be re-seller guidance sessions which will give you the opportunity to discover cyber products and solutions that best suit your needs and advice on how to use and implement them. Furthermore, our industry leading Security Experts will be sharing their insights and you will have the opportunity to book a 1-to-1 consultation with them to discuss and answer all your questions.
If you want to learn more about Cyber Expo Ireland, click here
To register for the event, click here