It’s about time I had something Origin on here so I’ve had a route around to see what else hasn’t made it onto the blog. I haven’t got much left that is on the more glamorous end of collectibles. Instead I present this unassuming “Hot Releases Flyer” folder from 1989.

I’ve shown a few press releases on here before but this is particular flyer was aimed at dealers. This doesn’t appear to have been standard practice for Origin at the time as it starts with an email from Fred Schmidt (VP at Origin) who wants a covering flyer of some description to be sent along with copies of all Origin’s games to various dealers that are being targeted to sell Origin games. It has a first stab at the cover text which would be largely redone later.

By the time of this second email, Marten Davies (Sales Director) has had a go at rewriting it and a further enhanced version is typed up on a Mac and printed on Origin headed paper.

That gets a border stuck round the edge, printed out on cheap paper and presumably sent off for approval coming back with a few suggested amendments ultimately leading to the flyer on the right printed on nice thick linen paper. The folder says 100 copies on the front so presumably this got sent out to numerous dealers back at the end of 1989. I always tend to think of the development side of making games but with Origin self-publishing they ultimately were responsible for the whole process at this point in their life.

As for the flyer itself, there is nothing too exciting in the content. You may note that the C64 and Apple II were coming before the PC at this point which wouldn’t last much longer. The Ultima games are substantially more expensive than all their other titles, (even the new releases). There is no question what made the money at Origin in the 80’s.

The other thing I noticed on here was the IIGS port of Omega. Only two Origin games were ever ported to the IIGS, Windwalker being the second. I fired both of these up out of curiosity expecting some enhancements but they are exact ports of the versions I’ve already played taking no advantage of the IIGS graphics or sound. In fact, due to the slow processor of the IIGS they would be a little painful to play so I’ll leave those well alone for now. Both of these games were ported by Micromagic who had a fairly short lifespan doing this sort of project but worked on some major titles around this time including Starflight 1 & 2, Curse of the Azure Bonds and Pools of Darkness.