Eastridge Technology
| Eastridge Technology | |
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| Founded | 1985 |
| Headquarters | 32 Nassau Street, Second Floor, Princeton, New Jersey, USA |
| Website | www.e-t.com |
| Other Names | Eastridge Design |
Eastridge Technology is an American company which was founded in 1985 in Princeton, New Jersey by Nick Eastridge, ran out of his apartment. The company started out by being contracted by Mindscape, and usually worked with Gray Matter. However, because the company was a ghost developer, never having their names in the games they worked on, most of their work goes uncredited, similar to Tose, and never put credits in their games. Nick Eastridge was the sole programmer, and had to single-handedly develop games for Mindscape under strict time limits. This resulted in many poor-quality games. In addition, most of the games were simply home console versions of computer games, but renamed, usually with movie IPs, such as The Last Starfighter (originally Uridium) and Mad Max (originally Road Radier).
While Eastridge Technology still operates today, the company no longer works on video games and instead focuses on computer software.
Games
Note: Eastridge Technology was not a publisher.
Music Development
GB
Nick Eastridge programmed a sound driver for the Game Boy, using the modified Z80 chip the Game Boy used. He probably wrote the music in assembly, and/or wrote a utility to convert MIDI files to his sound driver, like in Paperboy 2.
NES
Nick Eastridge programmed a sound driver for the NES. It came in at least 3 different variations. The music had to be entered in hexadecimal by hand. Musicians would send their music to Eastridge to convert to his driver. Some of these musicians included Peter Stone, Steven Samler, Elliott Delman, Rich Shemaria, and Scott Marshall.
SNES
Nick Eastridge programmed a sound driver that converted MIDI files to the SNES. One of the sound samples is the infamous Korg M1 Slap Bass patch.
Because of the way his sound driver was programmed, SPC files cannot be dumped for games using his sound driver, and instead must be ripped as SNSF files. Unfortunately, no SNSF rips of games with his driver exist. KungFuFurby reprogrammed Eastridge's sound driver to obtain the SPC rips for games that use his sound driver.
GEN
Nick Eastridge programmed a sound driver that was based off the infamous GEMS sound driver. It was only used on Wayne's World (GEN) where developer Gray Matter outsourced the driver to the company. The only musician hired was Peter Stone.
Audio Personnel
Because Eastridge Technology never put credits in any games they worked on, it is hard to know exactly who composed music to their games. Fortunately, a couple composers have come forward and identified themselves as composers for the company. However, the company never had in-house composers, and the composers listed below were only hired as freelancers.
- Nick Eastridge - Founder, sound driver programmer for all platforms the company worked on.
- Paul Butler - Composer for Infiltrator (NES).
- Rich Shemaria - Composer for Paperboy 2 and a few others.
- Scott Marshall - Composer for WWF King of the Ring.
