T is for Today in History! The AI History of House Martin Games!

My question to the AI results page of Google Search; 

"History of House Martin games?"

Google's Answer; 

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There are no games made by a company called "House Martin Games." The query likely refers to Housemarque, a Finnish video game developer acquired by Sony in 2021

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The history of Housemarque can be summarized by its transition from indie arcade-style games to big-budget "AAA" titles like Returnal, its deep relationship with PlayStation, and its beginnings as a pair of companies started by former demoscene developers. 

Origins in the Finnish demoscene

• Early days (1993–1995): The company was formed from the merger of two of Finland's first commercial game developers, Bloodhouse and Terramarque, which were founded in 1993. Both companies were led by veterans of the country's "demoscene" and worked on titles for Amiga and PC.
• Formation of Housemarque (1995): The two companies merged to become Housemarque in July 1995. The studio's early projects included Super Stardust (1996) and The Reap (1997).
• First million-seller (1999): The studio achieved commercial success with Supreme Snowboarding (released in North America as Boarder Zone), a title for PC and Game Boy Color that sold over 1.5 million copies. 

PlayStation partnership and the "arcade is dead" era

• Sony collaboration: Beginning in 2007, Housemarque developed a close relationship with Sony Interactive Entertainment, creating a series of well-received downloadable games, most of which were PlayStation exclusives.
• Arcade-style hits: These exclusive titles included:
  • Super Stardust HD (2007)
  • Dead Nation (2010)
  • Resogun (2013), a PlayStation 4 launch title
  • Alienation (2016)
  • Nex Machina (2017)
• Struggles and a new direction (2017–2020): Despite critical acclaim, these arcade-style games were not commercially successful enough for the studio to remain financially stable. Following the release of Nex Machina, Housemarque announced that it was abandoning the arcade genre to focus on a larger, more ambitious "AAA" project. 

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Returnal and acquisition by Sony

• Returnal development (2020): After three years in pre-production, Housemarque's new project was revealed as Returnal, a third-person, story-driven roguelike. It was created specifically for the PlayStation 5, allowing the studio to utilize the console's unique features, such as the DualSense controller.
• Critical and commercial success (2021): Returnal launched in April 2021 to glowing reviews and strong sales. It demonstrated the studio's ability to transition from smaller-scale titles to a cinematic "AAA" experience while retaining its signature focus on tight, arcade-inspired gameplay.
• Acquired by Sony (2021): The success of Returnal led Sony to acquire Housemarque in June 2021, making the developer part of PlayStation Studios.
• Future projects (2026): Housemarque announced its next title, Saros, during a February 2025 State of Play event. It is scheduled for release in 2026 and is described as a spiritual successor to Returnal. 

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AI responses may include mistakes. Learn more

• Housemarque - Wikipedia

  Housemarque. ... Housemarque Oy (or Housemarque Inc.) is a Finnish video game developer based in Helsinki. The company was founded...

  

  Wikipedia

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Show all

 

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My supplementary;

 

"Do you realise how incredibly false and inaccurate your answer is? House Martin were probably Britain's third largest games issuer at one point after Waddington's and Spears, and their products are listed all over eBay and Etsy."

 

Google's response;

 

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Thinking...

 

Kicking off 5 searches

Looking at 45 sites

Getting info from

Shopping

 

Putting it all together

You are correct. The previous response was inaccurate and confused two different companies: the British board game manufacturer House-Martin, and the Finnish video game developer Housemarque

. My apologies for this error. 

 

House-Martin was a genuine, but far smaller, UK-based board game manufacturer known for its vintage editions of classic parlour games and wooden sets, not a major game issuer on the scale of Waddingtons or Spears. They have been defunct since at least the 1990s, and the availability of their games on sites like eBay and Etsy reflects their status as vintage and collectible items. 

 

Here is an accurate history of House-Martin:

Focus on classic games

• House-Martin specialized in manufacturing and issuing traditional board and parlour games, particularly chess, backgammon, and draughts.
• Their games are often distinguished by their high-quality wooden pieces and presentation, which makes them popular with vintage collectors today

 

•  The History of Housemarque – from the Finnish Demoscene to ...
• 27 Mar 2022 — The History of Housemarque – from the Finnish Demoscene to PlayStation Studios. ... How Finland's longest-running game .

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PlayStation.Blog

Company - Housemarque

COMPANY. Founded in 1995, Housemarque is an award winning game development studio with the goal of creating memorable game experie...

 

 

Housemarque

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It's utter determination to return to Housemarque, even after correcting itself and apologising, probably has more to do with Millions (in Yen, possibly billions with a 'B') of advertising revenue from Sony Corp.

AI is dismantling human civilisation, with a drip-drip-drip feed of monetised bollocks!

B is for Blow Job!

No! You can't even begin to pretend, you don't think it wasn't going to happen one day, because you know it was, Blow Job has been inevitable, from the founding of the blog! I found this rather interesting item at Sandown Park a month ago, and here it is for Loyal Readers to enjoy!

 

House Martin's eponymous blow-football game, 'Blow Football', our draughs set was by House Martin, when we were kids, and I seem to recall them providing games for newsagents or corner-shops, more than the dedicated toys shops or department stores (who's toy departments were always small, outside the 4th quarter), but that might be a personal memory/conclusion, rather than the truth of the situation.

 

 

The interest being these two, not only are they better-quality sculpts of the commonly Hong Kong sports set, with the 'five-ring' circus logo of the Olympic movement, but the better quality suggests a better quality set of all of them, somewhere, were they premiums at one point, before Hong Kong got their hands on them?

 

There's a tube missing if each player is to have one, and it won't be easy to replace, exactly, without a second set of the same game, but you never know, and maybe it's already in the loose odd's Blow Football section, of the stash?

 

The obvious difference between this set and others with figures (not all Blow Football games have figures), is that there is no handle or means /instructions for affixing them to such, so either you hold and move 'the goalkeepers' with the other hand, or just place them in from of the goal, and hope they stop some shots? 

My memories are that after a while, saliva tended to come out of the end of the tubes, and I'd imagine Blow Football has become a bit persona non grata, in these post-covid times? I should add, that I thought I'd posted more of these, back in the early days of the Blog, I certainly have several, so we will have to have a better look another day, as I can't find them on the blog now? There should be a couple of Merit versions, a Gibson and/or Spears, and a couple of more modern/generic ones?