Q*Bert and The Classics

Today's guest are Stephen Kick and Warren Davis.

Warren Davis began his video game career with Gottlieb in 1982 as designer and programmer of the smash hit Q*bert.  He followed up immediately with Faster, Harder, More Challenging Q*bert, but it was never released.  His next game, Us. Vs. Them, was an alien invasion themed laser-disc game which combined live action filmed sequences with computer generated graphics.   Moving to Williams/Bally/Midway, he took over the programming of Joust 2 and began exploring the use of digitized imagery in video games. 
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​He coded the display system for Williams' new 256 color system, first used on the game Narc, then left to become a consultant for Premier Technologies where he created the game, Exterminator, a surreal bug killing game which was critically acclaimed, but never went into full production. 

In 1991, Warren returned to Williams where he joined the team working on T2:Judgement Day, a first person shooter based on the hit movie.  His upgraded video digitization system was used for the Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam series of games, as well as virtually all of Midway's games in the early 1990's.  Warren's final project at Williams was Revolution X, featuring Aerosmith.   In 1995, Warren moved to Los Angeles and worked for Disney Interactive on a variety of titles.  

He left Disney in 2000 and has since worked on (among other things) console games, edutainment titles and previsualization software for films. 

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Stephen Kick is the founder and CEO of Night Dive Studios, a company dedicated to modernizing and publishing classic computer game titles. Some of the company’s successes include System Shock, Strife and Turok.

A graduate of the Art Institute, Stephen began his career in the games industry with SONY Online ​Entertainment. While on a vacation in Central America, Stephen was shocked to find out that no one had been able to secure the rights to the System Shock titles and that these games that inspired a genre were now abandoned. He began a quest to find and restore the great games of yesteryear.

​His company’s name, Night Dive Studios, derives from both a nighttime underwater tour that was part 
of the vacation and also serves as a reminder that in establishing his company to bring back classic game 
titles, Stephen was taking a risk, heading into the unknown. The gamble has paid off!

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