This week, we let the Bitmap Brothers introduce themselves to you...

Founded in 1987 by Eric Matthews, Steve Kelly and Mike Montgomery, the Bitmap Brothers were the original 'rock star' developers - a small, but highly successful development team that prized quality over quantity, and depth over glitz. Continually striving for originality, attention to detail and new levels of playability, the company have been responsible for several of the games industry's most memorable titles, released on a range of formats that have included the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amiga, Atari ST and PC.

The first game from the Bitmap Brothers, Xenon, was released in 1988, a sophisticated shoot 'em up that, through a combination of cutting-edge graphics and challenging gameplay, became the first Amiga game to enter the UK top 40 charts. In the same year, the Bitmap Brothers followed up the success of Xenon with the futuristic beat 'em up ballgame Speedball, a mesmerising arcade sports sim praised as one of the greatest two-player games ever designed. Eight further games - Magic Pockets, Gods, Cadaver, Xenon 2, Speedball 2, The Chaos Engine, The Chaos Engine 2 and, most recently, the top-down, arcade strategy wargame Z - complete the company's award-winning back catalogue to date. A sequel to Z and a third Speedball title, Speedball 2100, are currently in development and due for release in 2000.

Split into two studio sites - one in Wapping, London, the other in Harrogate in the north of England - the Bitmap Brothers continue to produce original, quality titles for today's computers and consoles. While Matthews and Kelly have both stepped down from the board to concentrate on games design and programming respectively, under the leadership of MD Mike Montgomery, the Bitmap Brothers have been investing in personnel and equipment that will enable the company to develop a new range of next-generation games software. Employing over 20 designers, programmers and artists, the Bitmap Brothers remain fiercely independent and are entirely privately owned.

Visit the Bitmap Brothers on the web at: http://www.bitmap-brothers.co.uk