Editing Ultimate Play the Game (section)

===Press===
[[File:Ultimate Play the Game advertising.jpg|alt=Magazine advertisement for ''Ultimate Play the Game'', showcasing a composition of several game covers|thumb|An advertisement in the style commonly used by Ultimate]]
Ultimate had a reputation for secrecy that has continued to a lesser extent with successor Rare. Due to the small number of staff employed at Ultimate in the early days, the company had no time to speak to the press or attend trade events. The British computer gaming press even complained over how difficult it was to get hold of them.<ref name="cuser22" /><ref name="pcg14">{{citation | url=https://archive.org/stream/personalcomputergames-magazine-14/PersonalComputerGames_14#page/n19/mode/1up | title=The Ultimate Recluse | journal=[[Personal Computer Games]] | date=January 1985 | issue=14 | page=20 }}</ref><ref>{{citation |title=Frontlines |publisher=[[Dennis Publishing]]|journal=[[Your Spectrum]] | date=June 1985 | issue=15 | page=3 |url=https://archive.org/stream/your-spectrum-magazine-15/YourSpectrum_15_Jun_1985#page/n4/mode/1up }}</ref> As Tim Stamper later said:

{{cquote
| 2 = 20px
| 3 = 20px
| 4 = [[Tim and Chris Stamper|Tim Stamper]]
| 5 = ''CRASH'' magazine, April 1988
|...that's the way it turned out, we were so busy producing a few products a year and making sure they were right. I think while we were full-time Ultimate, we only had two Christmas mornings off, and that's how hard it was. We worked seven days a week, 8am till 1 or 2 in the morning. I don't feel it's any good having engineers who only work 9 to 5 because you get a 9 to 5 game.<ref name="Best of British"/>}}
This press blackout soon worked to the company's advantage. Due to their reputation for producing high quality products, along with speculation in the press and amongst gamers, anticipation for each release was high.<ref name="rgamer20"/> This was helped along by the full-page advertisements placed in magazines showing the cover art of the game in question, but no shots or description of the game itself. These ads would be run prior to and for several months after the release date.<ref>{{cite web|title=Promotional Material Published by Ultimate Play the Game|url=https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.php?cat=999&label_id=14923|website=SpectrumComputing|access-date=30 March 2018}}</ref> The magazines were not able to preview the games; the review copies, usually sent out just before general release,<ref name="rgamer20"/> would be the first opportunity for anyone to see them. Not talking to the press worked for Ultimate and it soon became policy.<ref name="rgamer20"/><ref name="Best of British"/> When a journalist reviewing ''[[Nightshade (1985 video game)|Nightshade]]'' for ''CRASH'' magazine asked Ultimate what the object of the game was, and how large the play area was, they responded with, respectively, "oh, we can't tell you that" and "it's pretty large".<ref>{{citation | url=http://www.crashonline.org.uk/21/nightshade.htm | title=''Nightshade'' review | journal=CRASH | publisher=Newsfield Publications | date=October 1985 | issue=21 | page=10 }}</ref>

====Lunar Jetman's trailer====
[[Image:Lunar jetman trailer.gif|right|thumb|256px|The ''[[Lunar Jetman]]'' "trailer" screenshot as published in ''CRASH'' magazine, February 1986]]

This air of mystery was increased when ''CRASH'' magazine published a reader's photograph of ''[[Lunar Jetman]]'' featuring Jetman's moon rover pulling a trailer.<ref>{{citation | url=https://wos.meulie.net/pub/sinclair/magazines/Crash/Issue25/Pages/Crash2500033.jpg | title= Found it, NYA NYA (Letters pages) | journal=CRASH | issue=25 | page=33 | publisher=[[Newsfield Publications]] | date=February 1986}}</ref> The possible existence of a trailer (as depicted on the game's cover art and loading screen) had been speculated on since the game's release, and many fans had searched fruitlessly for it. The Stampers shrugged off questions about whether this screen shot was genuine, but stopped short of actually denying it.<ref name="Best of British"/> There have even been suggestions that Ultimate themselves may have created the screen shot to generate more interest in the game.<ref name="rgamer20"/> It has since been proven that ''Lunar Jetman''{{'}}s code does not contain graphics for a trailer.<ref name="gamestm">Ultimate Play the Game – Company Lookback, ''Retro Micro Games Action – The Best of [[GamesTM]] Retro Volume 1'', pages 24–26. [[Imagine Publishing]], 2006</ref>