Gaming Ads: Access Software

Access Software, founded by Bruce Carver in 1982, is best known for the Links golf games and Tex Murphy adventure series. I remember playing Mean Streets, the first Tex Murphy game, on the Commodore 64 for eight hours straight, getting stuck, and never going back to it. I'm fairly certain I was near the end but just couldn't figure out what to do. This was before there the Internet and when you got stuck on a game back then you either had to figure it out yourself, find a magazine with a strategy guide, or fail. Perhaps my save file still works and I'll go back and finally finish it at some point as I'm sure the answer is online today or maybe I can actually figure it out myself now.

When you think of Links you might think first of Microsoft and that's because Microsoft purchased Access in 1999 and continued the series, as well as re-published many of the earlier Links games. Microsoft renamed Access to Salt Lake Games Studio and had the studio develop its first console games for the Xbox (Amped, Top Spin). In 2004 Microsoft sold the developer to Take-Two Interactive and its name was changed to Indie Built. The developer continued to work on the Amped and Top Spin series before being shut down in 2006. Some of the employees who worked for the studio over the years would later found Big Finnish Games in 2012 and release Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Adventure in 2014.

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