Mire Mare

vader · July 2003

This could have been posted before, but
What is the myth surrounding this game..i've read reviews off different people and some say it was finished and they had played it and others say it wasn't made at all....Was it made? and if so where is it now?

Cheers

[ This Message was edited by: vader on 2003-07-08 01:12 ]

Arjun · July 2003

Mire Mare was never released by Ultimate. Not sure how people can claim they played it when it wasn't released!

Dunno if it was completed but not released. I think the definitive answers can be given only by Ultimate (now Rage) themselves.

Zagreb · July 2003

Aren't Ultimate known as "Rare" these days, or have they gone and changed their name *again*?

Arjun · July 2003

Arrgghh! My mistake. Rare it is indeed. Just me turning senile that's all. :)

_________________
What Next?
>

[ This Message was edited by: Arjun on 2003-07-08 11:42 ]

Mikal · July 2003

Ultimate underwurlde has the answers plus the cover art. An interview with an ex programmer says it existed.

[ This Message was edited by: Mikal on 2003-07-08 15:37 ]

chaosmongers · July 2003

I have a copy!

Oh...hang on...no it's not Mire Mare, it's MAKE-A-CHIP.

Cimbalo · July 2003

How much would you pay to Rare for an official release of Mire Mare ?
The same as an XBOX game ?

I think that 50 euro would be acceptable.

Zagreb · July 2003

In all seriousness, Rare should consider actually writing Mire Mare for the new generation games consoles. There are a *lot* of people out there who remember the old Sabre Man games and nostalgia sells.

MatGubbins · July 2003

I dunno, but while out walking today I noticed that there was a great deal of audio tape scattered around the pathways.
Maybe if I collected it, placed it onto new reels and played it, maybe, just maybe it contains Mire Mare... or the Great Giana Sisters... or some other long lost unreleased speccy fave.
Maybe the Stamper brothers scattering this tape around the UK in hope that someone will actually collect the tape and find that long lost game.

It`ll probably be just some boring boom-boom-boom music though...

Anyway, back to the padded cell for me

Andrew Barker · July 2003

On 2003-07-08 15:37, Mikal wrote:
Ultimate underwurlde has the answers plus the cover art. An interview with an ex programmer says it existed.

[ This Message was edited by: Mikal on 2003-07-08 15:37 ]

Hmm, probably the art work that someone copied and pasted onto a box for that e-bay auction of late ;). Seems good enough quality to have done it looking at the artwork you mentioned:
http://www.ultimate-wurlde.com/misc/artwork/miremare.jpg

Regards

Andy Barker

steven · July 2003

That was my thought too, I had the artwork and auction picture in Photoshop for at least an hour, jury was out :)

TygerBC · July 2003

The odd thing about that 'artwork' is that it looks completely computer-generated but you would expect it to be a scan. Doesn't seem quite right to me although it's also how you'd perhaps expect the cover to look. It's not too contrived.

bcass · July 2003

Maybe someone should start an internet petition to get RARE to finish then release MireMare on the Spectrum. Internet petitions are used all the time in Japan to hassle companies to release curios and they are often successfull.

cyborg · July 2003

Not Going To Happen.

Zagreb · July 2003

On 2003-07-12 19:58, bcass wrote:
Maybe someone should start an internet petition to get RARE to finish then release MireMare on the Spectrum. Internet petitions are used all the time in Japan to hassle companies to release curios and they are often successfull.

I have to agree with Cyborg. There simply isn't any money in releasing it for the Spectrum. However, nothing is stopping them for releasing "Mire Mare" for the new generation machines. Like I said before, nostalgia sells, and there are probably a heck of a lot of European (and some American) PC/console owners who remember Sabre Man and would like to see the unreleased part of the series...

Mikal · July 2003

I doubt whether it would really be very good. Personally speaking I didn't think the last few games Ultimate made (and I'm not counting the ones that were made after they sold the label to us gold) were very good. Nightshade and Gunfright were OK but certainly not up to the high standards of Alien 8 or Knightlore or even Atic Atac.

The nearest anyone is going to get to seeing what its like is to get Rob Uttley of Ultimate Underwurlde to question the rare chap who said he remebers seeing it up and running and to ask him what it looked like. Whether it was isometric or side on etc.

Having said that I would love to see what it looks like.

Also what with all this remake stuff going around here I would have suggested someone coming up with a take on what Mire Mare could have been. But seeing how strict Rare are this idea of a is definetly a no-no.

The cover art is intriguing and does suggest a kind of a continuation of underwurlde with a volcano and maybe a pirate setting? Who knows? Their artwork was always very enigmatic. Looking at many of them you would never be able to guess what the actual game was like.

It all reminds me of this program they showed on bbc2 the other day about a medieval book that no one can decipher. Some people devoted their lives and reputations trying to crack it but it looks like it was probably a hoax anyway.

Why do people dwell on things like Mire Mare? All evidence suggests it would not have been ground breaking!

[ This Message was edited by: Mikal on 2003-07-12 21:31 ]

Yednab · July 2003

On 2003-07-12 21:29, Mikal wrote:

Why do people dwell on things like Mire Mare? All evidence suggests it would not have been ground breaking!

Ground breaking or not - this is a game that all Ultimate fans want to see.

karlth · August 2010

From Rub Uttley:

It was never completed, but from what I've been told a basic framework was
developed and if it hadn't been for the attitude of US Gold at the time,
the game might have seen the light of day. As it was, AC&G seem to have
been a bit naive about USG's intentions, and when they realised the back
catalogue was going out on cheapy KIXX they told USG that Mire Mare was too
far from completion to bother with.

Apparently that simply wasn't true - the game was about 60% complete and
lacked some gameplay features, sound, graphics and 'polish' - but the basic
framework was in place and parts of the game were in an early, playable
form. Also (so I'm told), the game was more in the style of Underwurlde
than the isometric games.

It seems that Mire Mare was going to be the big Spectrum swan-song title,
but the acquisition of the UPTG trading name and back-catalogue went
through much quicker than everybody at AC&G anticipated. (This was just
after the release of Gunfright). Mire Mare was due to be published in the
old-style 'big box', and the artwork that was prepared was done so with
this type of packaging in mind.

But in the end, the status of Mire Mare was kept secret, and AC&G decided
to 'can' it rather than let USG to 'complete' and 'publish' it. And thus it
passed in Spectrum folklore. :-)

I've heard this first hand from an "ex-UPTG employee" but until I can get
some kind of proof/confirmation of this person being an ex-staffer, I'm
reluctant to repeat /everything/ I've heard.

psj3809 · August 2010

Mikal wrote: »

Why do people dwell on things like Mire Mare? All evidence suggests it would not have been ground breaking!

I agree, dont think it would have been ground breaking but its just a big title from a huge company back in the 80's. Bit like Willy meets the taxman, people would have liked to have seen that game as a demo etc

apenao · August 2010

I'm pretty sure it was never released but I do believe the game was already finished or in it final stages.

Someday I will find time to load that Mire Mare tape I bought in a charity shop years ago and we'll find what's true and what's not in all this.

beanz · August 2010

Games don't need to be groundbreaking to be good.

Tetris....hardly ground breaking technically.

Graz · August 2010

Death Pit turned out to be an excellent game. Such a shame it was never released. I can see Mire-Mare having a similar reception.

psj3809 · August 2010

Graz wrote: »

Death Pit turned out to be an excellent game. Such a shame it was never released. I can see Mire-Mare having a similar reception.

Thanks, totally forgot about Death Pit. Playing it now

apenao · August 2010

apenao wrote: »

I'm pretty sure it was never released but I do believe the game was already finished or in it final stages.

Someday I will find time to load that Mire Mare tape I bought in a charity shop years ago and we'll find what's true and what's not in all this.

Well, It doesn't look bad after all.

Vampyre · August 2010

karlth wrote: »

I've heard this first hand from an "ex-UPTG employee" but until I can get
some kind of proof/confirmation of this person being an ex-staffer, I'm
reluctant to repeat /everything/ I've heard.

I still go by this thread I started late last year. My source is 100% an ex-Rare employee.

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/showthread.php?t=27767

Sokurah · August 2010

apenao wrote: »

Well, It doesn't look bad after all.

Whatever this is, Mire Mare for real, or a mockup, it looks lovely and I'd like to see more. :)

apenao · August 2010

Sokurah wrote: »

Whatever this is, Mire Mare for real, or a mockup, it looks lovely and I'd like to see more. :)

Well, I must admit I don't own Mire Mare :(

The picture is from a game currently in development by the guy who did Black Horse (Digital Brains iirc) and the graphics are a tribute to the filmation games by Ultimate.

Dwayne Dibley · August 2010

Am I the only one to be glad that Mire Mare has never been found? It could never live up to the expectations and hype - even if complete - and would be one more nail in the coffin of disproven myths over the years. Let it lie in peace with all those other 'what ifs...' and reside in the place it will play the best the ; our own individual imaginations.

beanz · August 2010

Dwayne Dibley wrote: »

Am I the only one to be glad that Mire Mare has never been found? It could never live up to the expectations and hype - even if complete - and would be one more nail in the coffin of disproven myths over the years. Let it lie in peace with all those other 'what ifs...' and reside in the place it will play the best the ; our own individual imaginations.

Well there would have been no hype if it had be released back then..the hype has grown since.

The quality of the game at this point is really of little importance rather than securing it. I think regardless of the game quality people would be very happy to see it surface...much like if the Arc of the Covenant surfaced and it was just a tea chest.

Lee Fogarty · August 2010

Dwayne Dibley wrote: »

Am I the only one to be glad that Mire Mare has never been found? It could never live up to the expectations and hype - even if complete - and would be one more nail in the coffin of disproven myths over the years. Let it lie in peace with all those other 'what ifs...' and reside in the place it will play the best the ; our own individual imaginations.

My imagination is shit.. so I want my money back now for the crap game I just played in my mind.

apenao · August 2010

Dwayne Dibley wrote: »

Am I the only one to be glad that Mire Mare has never been found? It could never live up to the expectations and hype - even if complete - and would be one more nail in the coffin of disproven myths over the years. Let it lie in peace with all those other 'what ifs...' and reside in the place it will play the best the ; our own individual imaginations.

I quote you word by word ... But I love to read the urban legends and speculations about this game. Do anyone know another game that has his own legends and myths?

Mire Mare

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