Alexey Pazhitnov
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Alexey Pazhitnov (Алексей Пажитнов, born 1956, Russia), whose last name is sometimes transliterated Pajitnov, is a Russian computer engineer, who developed the popular game Tetris while working for the Computing Centre of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, a Soviet government-founded R&D centre.
Biography
Pazhitnov created Tetris with the help of Dmitry Pavlovsky and Vadim Gerasimov in 1985. The game, first available in the Soviet Union, appeared in the West in 1986. Pazhitnov also created the lesser known sequel to Tetris, entitled Welltris, which has the same principle but in a three dimensional environment were you see the "board" from above. Screen shots are available [here]. The Soviet bureaucracy licensed and managed Tetris, and advertised it with the slogan "From Russia with Love". Because he was employed by the Soviet government, Pazhitnov did not receive royalties. Pazhitnov, together with Vladimir Pokhilko, moved to USA in 1991 and founded the Tetris Company with Henk Rogers.He helped design the puzzles in the Super NES versions of Yoshi's Cookie and designed the game Pandora's Box, which incorporates more traditional jigsaw-style puzzles.
He began working for Microsoft in October 1996. He worked for the Microsoft Entertainment Collection Puzzle Pack and MSN Mind Aerobics. As of 2004, he is part of the [Microsoft's Zone Group], which creates games for MSN.
On August 18 2005 WildSnake Software announced[link] Pazhitnov will be collaborating with them and releasing a new line up of puzzle games.
Most recently, Pazhitnov's new, enhanced version of Hexic, "Hexic HD," was included with every new Xbox 360 Premium package.
Works
| Game Name | First Released | System Name(s) | Pazhitnov's Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tetris
| 1985 | Electronica 60, IBM-PC | Original Concept (with Vadim Gerasimov & Dmitry Pavlovsky) |
| Welltris
| 1989 | Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, Macintosh & ZX Spectrum | Designer (with Andrei Sgenov) |
| Faces
| 1990 | DOS, Macintosh | Original Concept (with Vladimir Pokhilko) |
| Hatris
| 1990 | PC, Arcade, Game Boy & NES | Original Concept |
| El-Fish
| 1993 | DOS | Original Concept (with Vladimir Pokhilko) |
| Breakthru!
| 1994 | DOS, SNES & Windows 3.x | Designer |
| Knight Moves
| 1995 | Microsoft Windows | Idealist |
| Clockwerx
| 1995 | Microsoft Windows | Original Concept |
| Pandora's Box
| 1999 | Windows | Designer |
| Microsoft Puzzle Collection Entertainment Pack
| 2000 | Windows & Game Boy Color | Designer |
| Hexic HD
| 2005 | Xbox 360 (Pre-loaded on every Xbox 360 hard drive) | Designer |
| Dwice
| 2006 | Windows | Designer |
References
- Angela Gunn (December 9–15, 1999). "[Game boy]". Seattle Weekly.
External links
- [Alexey Pazhitnov - The Father of Tetris]
- [Alexey Pajitnov] profile at MobyGames
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