Publishers
Publisher Information and Releases
ShareData
USA
ShareData Inc.
7400 W. Detroit St., C-170
Chandler, AZ 85226
USA
Year Founded: 1980
Year Defunct: 1995
Richard Frick was appointed vice president of ShareData in 1989.
Frick would be responsible for developing new recreational software titles.
Richard had previously worked at Tengen developing unlicensed Nintendo games; in early 90's he would leave to form his own company American Video Entertainment.
ShareData had produced a large line of game show titles for PC, C64, and Apple ][.
Some of the titles that Share Data had produced included Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Classic Concentration, and Card Sharks.
Eventually ShareData had lost the rights to produce these games.
Around this time, ShareData observed the potential market in producing Nintendo games. ShareData's luck in the computer market was slowly diminishing, and the Nintendo market was rapidly increasing.
In late 1991, ShareData decided to close their American Game Cartridges subsidiary.
ShareData went on for a few more years but in 1993 they filed for bankruptcy.
In 1995 ShareData merged with Aztor which is where they are today.
(Re)Publisher of low-cost software in the 1980s.
Games
Wipeout (1989)
All New Family Feud, The (1989)
Avoid the Noid (1989)
Classic Concentration: 2nd Edition (1989)
Classic Concentration (1988)
Jeopardy! New Sports Edition (1988)
Awesome Earl in SkateRock (1988)
Wheel of Fortune: New 3rd Edition (1988)
Wheel of Fortune: New Second Edition (1988)
Starquake (1988)
Dell Crossword Puzzles Volume III (1987)
Wheel of Fortune (1987)
Card Sharks (1987)
Family Feud (1987)
Jeopardy! (1987)
Hi-Res Adventure #2: The Wizard and the Princess (1986)
Trivia
Green Valley Publishing released some games for pre-Macintosh Apple II, IIC and IIE on 5 1/4" diskettes marked with bright labels of aluminum foil.
One disc (ZAG-0587-3.5) was named 'Chess Champion' and contained two games, Chess and Cribbage, the last one being a rudimentary card game which I never managed to understand.
Another (ZAG-0583-3.5) was called 'Lady Luck' and had 'Towers of Hanoi' and 'Casino' on it. The first one was a very simple puzzle game, Casino was rudimentary blackjack.
I clearly remember loading of Chess (the only one I played seriously) took several minutes on my Apple IIC. Graphics were monochrome (green) and each turn took at least 10 seconds to be completed. It wasn't very Kasparov either, because I managed to win often - and I'm a louse chess player.
Both games were released in 1985 and had the name and logo (a flatend globe) of ShareData on it and a disclaimer (Green Valley Publishing. A division of ShareData Inc., Minneapolis, MN 55344)
The manual was basic ("SOFTWARE OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS turn off machineinsert in diskdrive* Turn on Machine". You had to do this quite a few times because the Apple II was notorious for stalling while loading.
Green Valley Publishing was a provider of low-cost computer software in the mid-1980s for the Apple II, Atari, and Commodore computer systems, and published titles using the Load'N'Go! Software and One-Step Software labels.
Under its Load'N'Go! Software label, Green Valley published in 1985 an unauthorized commercial version of Eamon known as The Adventurer Series (also titled The Adventure: Only the Fittest Shall Survive). The game and its three adventures were essentially the same as Brown's Eamon with only superficial changes applied and with all references to the original creators removed.
Green Valley published several other text adventure games in and around 1985, most for the Commodore: Medieval Adventure and Stoneville Manor (grouped as Adventure Master) and African Adventure, Pirate Adventure, and King Tut's Tomb Adventure (grouped as Bits, Pieces and Clues). The company also published a variety of other software titles in the categories of entertainment, home management/productivity, and education.
ShareData
Green Valley Publishing was the software division of ShareData, which also manufactured and sold modems; both operated from offices on Shady Oak Road in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie. ShareData's president was H. John Zentz.
7400 W. Detroit St., C-170
Chandler, AZ 85226
USA
Year Founded: 1980
Year Defunct: 1995
Richard Frick was appointed vice president of ShareData in 1989.
Frick would be responsible for developing new recreational software titles.
Richard had previously worked at Tengen developing unlicensed Nintendo games; in early 90's he would leave to form his own company American Video Entertainment.
ShareData had produced a large line of game show titles for PC, C64, and Apple ][.
Some of the titles that Share Data had produced included Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Classic Concentration, and Card Sharks.
Eventually ShareData had lost the rights to produce these games.
Around this time, ShareData observed the potential market in producing Nintendo games. ShareData's luck in the computer market was slowly diminishing, and the Nintendo market was rapidly increasing.
In late 1991, ShareData decided to close their American Game Cartridges subsidiary.
ShareData went on for a few more years but in 1993 they filed for bankruptcy.
In 1995 ShareData merged with Aztor which is where they are today.
(Re)Publisher of low-cost software in the 1980s.
Games
Wipeout (1989)
All New Family Feud, The (1989)
Avoid the Noid (1989)
Classic Concentration: 2nd Edition (1989)
Classic Concentration (1988)
Jeopardy! New Sports Edition (1988)
Awesome Earl in SkateRock (1988)
Wheel of Fortune: New 3rd Edition (1988)
Wheel of Fortune: New Second Edition (1988)
Starquake (1988)
Dell Crossword Puzzles Volume III (1987)
Wheel of Fortune (1987)
Card Sharks (1987)
Family Feud (1987)
Jeopardy! (1987)
Hi-Res Adventure #2: The Wizard and the Princess (1986)
Trivia
Green Valley Publishing released some games for pre-Macintosh Apple II, IIC and IIE on 5 1/4" diskettes marked with bright labels of aluminum foil.
One disc (ZAG-0587-3.5) was named 'Chess Champion' and contained two games, Chess and Cribbage, the last one being a rudimentary card game which I never managed to understand.
Another (ZAG-0583-3.5) was called 'Lady Luck' and had 'Towers of Hanoi' and 'Casino' on it. The first one was a very simple puzzle game, Casino was rudimentary blackjack.
I clearly remember loading of Chess (the only one I played seriously) took several minutes on my Apple IIC. Graphics were monochrome (green) and each turn took at least 10 seconds to be completed. It wasn't very Kasparov either, because I managed to win often - and I'm a louse chess player.
Both games were released in 1985 and had the name and logo (a flatend globe) of ShareData on it and a disclaimer (Green Valley Publishing. A division of ShareData Inc., Minneapolis, MN 55344)
The manual was basic ("SOFTWARE OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS turn off machine
Green Valley Publishing was a provider of low-cost computer software in the mid-1980s for the Apple II, Atari, and Commodore computer systems, and published titles using the Load'N'Go! Software and One-Step Software labels.
Under its Load'N'Go! Software label, Green Valley published in 1985 an unauthorized commercial version of Eamon known as The Adventurer Series (also titled The Adventure: Only the Fittest Shall Survive). The game and its three adventures were essentially the same as Brown's Eamon with only superficial changes applied and with all references to the original creators removed.
Green Valley published several other text adventure games in and around 1985, most for the Commodore: Medieval Adventure and Stoneville Manor (grouped as Adventure Master) and African Adventure, Pirate Adventure, and King Tut's Tomb Adventure (grouped as Bits, Pieces and Clues). The company also published a variety of other software titles in the categories of entertainment, home management/productivity, and education.
ShareData
Green Valley Publishing was the software division of ShareData, which also manufactured and sold modems; both operated from offices on Shady Oak Road in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie. ShareData's president was H. John Zentz.