Atari is about to unleash a major assault on the software market with games and business programs due for all leading machines - including arch-rival Commodore's Amiga.

Four separate labels are to be unveiled, covering specific software areas. Atari is currently despatching games scenarios and the like to numerous software developers. Pro grams are also being imported from Europe and North America

Over the next year 24 titles will appear on the ST, nine on the PC and another nine on the Amiga. The games will also be licensed out to interested parties for release on the Spectrum and C64

Atari is hoping that its name and financial clout can propel it into the software superleague of the likes of US Gold and Ocean

The firm also argues that its hard ware push up market will provide a platform for PC software sales The four labels consist of Atari Frames (arcade games), Atari Mindgames (intellectual games and puzzles) Atari Вашеѕсареѕ (wargames) and Atari Hyper Series

(business and graphics pack ages) Atari Frames will kick off

with some 16-bit conversions of old Atarisoft 8-bit games such as

Star Raiders. New games are being developed by Liverpool based programming house

mes (hence the name) rames' past experience includes work for the Imagine label.

Mindgames first offerings include Japanese board game Go-Moku as well as Backgammon. Battlescapes it is claimed by Atari, will cover wars from Trafalgar to the future

On the business front Atari has immediate plans for graphics pro grams, as well as Calamus DTP from Germany, a database from Canada

€ PC Ill: Back to the past

ASSAULT

"| expect us to be

likes of US Gold" = senior Atari figure

and another package from Poland First up though will be an ST paint program. One senior Atari figure told press: "An awful lot of develop: ment money has gone into this and I expect us to be competing with the likes of US Gold. As a hardware manufacturer weve come to accept that we also be a software house

On the droll notion of producing software for the Amiga from arch rival Commodore, he said: "Its always nice to be able to make money out of them

He added: "By next Christmas. people will look at us as a powerful software publisher. We want to be as independent as possible." To that end Atari is planning to move its software development side com pletely away from its UK HQ in Slough

A few years back, software acti ty was commonplace from hardware manufacturers. Sinclair, Commodore, Acorn and Amstrad all dabbled with games and business packages at some stage. Each cut back, variously citing a desire to concentrate on

can

6 ST: 24 new packages from Atari over the next year

hardware, problems in attempting to compete with software specialists.

Only Amstrad is currently still active in software, though on a much more modest scale than before. For Atari, the move represents a return to the days of Atarisoft – though that name won't be used this time round.

financial difficulties ог

Just the merest glimmer of hope on the chip front has been signalled by PC clone manu facturer Opus

Abiding D-Ram chip problems have var- iously made chips scarce, expensive, or both for micro firms this year. But now Opus has detected a lull, and has lopped £100 off some of its machines £995 and the PC V is back down to £1,295

Prices were originally increased by the firm in the spring, and Atari hikes.

The PC Ill reverts to

in line with the Amstrad

competing with the

ATARI PREPARES SOFTWARE

Gambling Cascade stakes reputation on bookies’ bet

High street bookmaker William Hill has thrown down the gauntlet to soft ware house Cascade which Claims that its horse racing tipster program has a 72 per cent success rate.

William Hill is offering Cascade £50 in free bets. If the Form Master program makes a profit then Cas- cade gains the winnings (and the prestige). If it fails to score then William Hill feels it has made its point.

Either way the bookie is donating the money to a charity of New Computer Express's choice.

The duel is taking place this Wednesday with a

computer set up in William Hill's Harrogate branch - near Cascade's offices.

The challenge comes as a direct response to Саз cade boss Nigel Stevens claiming that major book ies are displeased about Form Masters success. Allegedly, Cascade's longest losing streak is only nine races,

When contacted by us, William Hill's Graham Sharpe retorted: "People have had systems since the year dot and we're still in business. There's no way we would be concerned by this gentleman's computer program.”

Nevertheless, Cascade reckons that the Depart- ment of Trading Standards has given Form Master the 72 per cent success rate. One employee at the firm claimed to be £900 up on 50р and £1.00 stakes.

But Stevens warned that Form Master is best for a whole season and could not be tested properly on the basis of five bets. He said Cascade would take up the gauntlet to enter the spirit of things,

Form Master is current: ly available through mail order at £99.95. It should be in the shops by Christmas on most major formats,

Return of the Ultimate Wulf

Golden oldies from Ultimate such as Atic Atac and Sabre Wulf are soon to appear as 16-bit games courtesy of new software house

Chrysalis.

And hard-nosed 2000AD character Rogue Trooper has once again become the focus for an ambitious com- puter game project via a Chrysalis licence deal with IPC magazines. The original game was published by doomed software house Piranha and failed to impress. Chrysalis’ version is promised to be "completely different”.

The original Spectrum versions of Atic Atac and Sabre Wulf (circa 1984 ) were number one hits for Ulti-

mate and will be on the ST and Amiga by next Easter.

гіл с

ЕЕЕ NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS > 12 NOVEMBER 1988

SSeS ESSE NE AS ШЫН

Г WAAURIITER) tulati | Д7СОМРОТЕВ sekk.

the magazine that's about to set the world of computing on fire.

New Computer

LSP

PC2000: Early arrival

@ SIX REASONS NOT TO BUY IT (and why they're wrong!)

Express is || "It's a computer weekly, so it must aimed at anyone afflicted pe brer Im | в by the computer bug. It е standard о! computer weeklies 2. І has been transformed. As of now. offers a comprehensive

news, reviews and advice

"It's not just for my computer." A a No, but it offers a surprising amount for | Service that's very fast and your machine (for starters check out very distinctive. We predict the machine-specific columns starting you'll find it the most

| оп page 54). More than that, it'll give . up-to-the-minute you far deeper insights into the dynam-

ic wider world of computing. Do you > understandable really want to spend your life іп a ghet А money-saving

Amstrad's new range of 286 PCs has machine

to? i arrived in the UK - months earlier As a supplier of Amstrad comput- || ° Ы revealing

than publicly stated by Alan Sugar ers Comet is becoming increasingly | "It doesn't look boring enough to * entertaining himself. important. It is already the exclusive be authoritative." . exhilarating

As of this week the machines are seller of the low end Amstrad PC available in 80 Comet Business Cen- 200. It has been suggested that рге шев across the country. This conflicts vious Amstrad favourite Dixons has with earlier gloomy statements from fallen from grace having filled its Sugar that supplies would be slender shelves with competitors’ machines until the new year. When the PC2086 such as Olivetti's low cost PC

line up was unveiled on

September 13th he warned It offers too many tempting оррог-

that the continuing D-Ram tunities for me to spend money” Ө VALUE FOR MONEY shortage would hamper True. With all the speed of a weekly itll — If you ever have a few minutes free, try availability, saying that few

Neither does Mike Tyson. Both pack one helluva punch

computer publication "Computer magazines are neve! you've ever read. So why

re never "m 4 comprehensible.” not try it? You have nothing

You got this far, didn't you? Try the to lose, but your change. beginners section, page 43.

bring you the very latest bargains оп this experiment. Lay Express next to

would be here until January the very latest products from Britain's another computer magazine and com- at the earliest The much talked about BBC emulator for leading advertisers - backed up by a pare the number of words on a page. One explanation for what È the Amiga will cost £50 when it finally remarkable voucher scheme which You'll be amazed just how much infor.

has happened with the [| becomes available at the end of this year. allows you to more than recoup the mation we manage to pack into the PC2000s is that Amstrad had E x å c e- $ is strad hi oteren oui vant at мелі price of this magazine on your first pur- magazine - it's actually substantially

publicly painted the picture ) Å chase. You'll just have to spend, that's тоге than some monthlies costing over blacker than it needed to, in |) Week's Commodore Show with Commodore all double the price

order to make the eventual [| itself boasting that it will run Beeb soft- | #„ costs only 48р, so it can't be Loads of computer users would like "early" arrival seem like a vic- # ware on the Amiga faster than the Beeb any good.” to get a fresh supply of info every tory against the odds for the | itself. You're about to have your prejudices — Week, yet are reluctant to pay the exor firm. This was foreshadowed There has also been talk of the emulator shattered. bitant rates charged by some of our D AUGURI t being bundled with the Amiga at some competitors, Well now you can have the time of the launch, It || stage in the future. Commodore is merely © THE INCREDIBLE TIME ^" cake and eat it

contained shipment expecta- [| Calling that "a possibility". ADVANTAGE

tions which directly conflict Currently, the software is working The time advantages New Computer @ SHOPPERS' PARADISE

ed with Sugars own public § under the name Beebulator although that Express has over computer monthlies Апуопе shopping for computers, add.

view. will be changed, Commodore's top brass are unbelievable. ons or software should look no further Comet is selling four mod. feel it's "too frivolous" for the stuffy educa- Not only does it come out four than the ad pages in this magazine, For

els of the 286 ranging from È tion establishment toward which the emu- | | times as often, it is also printed and — two reasons. the £749 double disk drive Mi ыыы anad. distributed at far greater speed (23 * Express's weekly schedules mean Тро version ta А S days instead of 2-3 weeks.) This that advertisers can rush in their last bard drive: colour, шопо means we're able to report most minute special offers, plus details of events some FIVE WEEKS ahead of a е latest, hottest product launches. typical monthly * This magazine's unique voucher

In the fastmoving world of comput- scheme means you'll always be able to ing that is a lethal advantage buy things cheaper in Express than If you're serious about discovering elsewhere. the latest developments and product Many of our advertisers already releases for your computer, you need ^ offer incredible discounts - add to that to read this magazine. It's not called — the voucher discount and youre laugh Express for nothing ing. All the way to the bank

Shoot from the Lip... tne weeks most quotable sayings

"Konix could easily be the next Amstrad, I hon- pared with Top of the Pops. They've still got estly believe that. What's more, they'll be bigger some of the spotty kids in the bedroom about and better than Amstrad. them.

Bruce Everiss of Codemasters (and not of Konix. Programmer David Elite, Virus Braben

Well, not yet...)

Es:

Itially, inn

owerProject provide: The PC 200 is mediocre at best and the CGA nificant innovations in project s graphics are just appalling for games. To the пер е since the I argument It may be rubbish but look at all the Asta Development, making the rashest claim software, I have to say 1. It is rubbish 2. No, this century there arent so many games and 3. If you stand it side by side with an Amiga or an ST, you'd have "You want m; to be a real idiot to buy the PC 200. You aint having all about Jack Schofield, editor of the Computer Guardian market and there's no у I'd tell you. A senior Amstrad person who will remain ‘Computer games are very boring when viewed anonymous if he sends a cheque to Express from the outside Theyre very dry when com- Blackmail Corner at the usual address

the most sig: LAUNCH EDITOR Chris Anderson » CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Peter Worlock + NEWS EDITOR Colin

Campbell « REVIEWS EDITOR Andy Storer - STAFF WRITER Rik Haynes « PRODUCTION EDITOR Rod

Lawton- ART EDITOR Julia O'Shea» ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER Mark Salmon SALES EXECUTIVES Jenny Evans, Sophie Lankenau * AD TYPESETTING Di Tavener + PUBLISHER Greg Ingham

Future Publishing Ltd - 4 Queen Street, Bath, BAT 1EJ « Tel: 0225 446034 + Fax: 0225 446019

he market?

| New Computer Express comes from the publishers of Britain most dynamic computer tiles: — | PC Plus • 8000 Plus • Amstrad Action + ST Amiga Format «ACE | | |

(FUTURE PUBLISHING Magazines programmed for the "906.

12 NOVEMBER 1988 • NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS

Computer users will soon be able to write longhand onto their PCs.

Wang has launched a sys- tem called Freestyle which enables users to write on a plastic pad using a lightpen. The data then appears on screen. Voice comments can also be transmitted onto the monitor.

Wang is is claiming that Freestyle will revolutionise documentation and is reck-

Commodore is planning to launch a low cost games machine based on

ons its "as easy to use as writing on a piece of paper or picking up a telephone".

Now the bad news. The system, including plastic tablet, pen and software costs around £1,200 with a voice module weighing in at just under £1,000.

Wang expects Freestyle to be here by early spring. It works on any high resolution mono, or black and white monitor.

Nonetheless, well-placed sources have told Express that a console is

ҮТҮ

AMIGA GAMES

EXPRESS EXCLUSIVE

by Colin Campbell

ONSOLE PLANNED

Commodore's UK boss Franklin would neither confirm nor deny that any console plans exist

Steve

SHOCK SEX ҮРЕ SCAM PROBE

Adult computer games are being imported from America by UK com- pany A-Soft.

Its boss Tim Harris sees a grow- ing market for titles such as Sex Vix- ens from Outer Space. Based on graphics and text, the adventure game is claimed to feature plenty of nudity and squalid innuendo.

However, this appears to be little more than a scam. Harris admitted to Express that "the sexual aspect is just a bit of hype".

He added: "И took me four days before | saw anything worthwhile.” Nevertheless A-Soft is set to contin- ue importing these games from the States with a new one appearing every ten weeks.

Amiga-owning pervies wanting Sex Vixens will have to pay £24.95,

But he hinted that any console under

the Amiga. due in the next few months. One Developments are under way in possible launch date would be Jan the US but it is understood that the uary next year, at the Consumer

machine is still at an embryonic stage. Details such as price and time of availability have yet to be decid ей

There has long been talk of a C64 console — but with Atari, Sega and Nintendo launching 16-bit games machines this would have been seri ously outdated. It is known that Commodore has been disturbed by Nintendo's extraordinary success in the States.

Some have argued that the Ami ga's profile as a multi-purpose com- puter would be damaged by the arrival’ of such a machine. Com: modore itself has argued in the past that it is a computer firm, rather than a games machine company.

Electronmics Show in the US.

Commodore's news follows 16-bit devel- opments from all the other major con- sole firms.

€ Atari: As revealed by Express last week (in preview issue bundled with ACE magazine) Atari plan next year to be launching an ST console at under £100. That should be here in force well before Christmas '89.

development “wasn't a C64" adding 1 can't say any more than that

16-bit: the console giants begin to stir

ing Sega software.

€ Nintendo: A new machine is claimed to be ready but it won't be seen here for two or three years. The company is waiting for a software base to develop. € Konix: Though not 16-bit, Konix's first console is believed to be scheduled for- launch early next year with a price tag close to £150. Pre-production versions are currently understood to be wowing software developers.

TOP TEN b

FROM SPAGE

аек

€ Vixens: А scam?

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ES + NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 12 NOVEMBER 1988

———=20000E" >> rm

Ocean picks up

The Gauntlet...

Ocean's penchant for licences contin- ues with the news that kids' TV show | Run The Gauntlet has been tied up.

Featuring а whole range of weird amphibious vehicles and off beat rac- ing events the game, it is claimed, will stick closely to the TV formula.

The show has gained some success amongst younger viewers with а series of motor buggies, water cycles and difficult courses.

A game though won't be seen until next Easter - about the time when å new series starts.

This latest deal follows Ocean tie ups for Schwarzenegger movie Red Heat and gangster film The Untouch- ables.

and Grandslam

grabs Greavsie

TV soccer dinosaurs Saint and Greavsie are to appear on a computer game next Easter.

Grandslam will be forwarding the twosome in a sports quiz title similar to the board game, Always one for the licences, Grandslam is reckoned to have forked out a fair whack for the use of the names.

Meanwhile, the firm is on the verge of tying up another footballing licence likely to appear at around the same time as Saint and Greavsie.

joing the quizness

D-RAM WINDFALL BRINGS FORWARD NEW ATARI PCs

The launch of Atari's PC4 and РС5 machines has been brought forward by three months as a result of the firm easing its dire D-Ram chip sup- ply headache. The supply improve- ment will also allow more STs to be put on sale before Christmas.

Atari says that its D-Ram problem has been solved following agree ments with two chip manufacturers erman based Siemens and a Far stern firm

Chip problems have constrained the firm for much of this year. Avail: ability of the PCs has been delayed with those D-Rams in Atari hands being used in STs

The improvement in ST supplies is a direct contrast to the situation this time last year. Shortages were rife and at one point Atari was actually forced to airfreight batches of machines into the UK. Hardware

The new machines PC4

80286-based microprocessor; switchable clock speed 12MHz to 8MHz; 512K RAM expandable to 1Mb; VGA, EGA, CGA, MDA, HGC 720 x 348 mono graphic, 80 x 24 mono text; 5.25" floppy disk; exter- nal connector for ST and PC drives; two serial ports; and one parallel port. РС5

Intel 32-bit 80386; clock speed 6MHz and 16MHz; 1024K of RAM; 64K of ROM; 5.25" floppy disk; optional VGA, EGA, CGA, MDA and and HGC; and optional mouse, serial port and parallel port.

Multi-tasking? Logotron's game

How useful is a multi-tasking game? Logotron reckons it's a cork er of an idea and in an attempt to prove it, is launching the first such offering for the Amiga

Prospector from Logotron is in fact a broader version of maze game Xor already available on 8- bit machines and the ST. This ver sion though has been tweaked hither and thither with a few more

mazes and the like. Also, those who undertake low level produc. tivity work on their Amigas can dip in and out of the game at will — that at least is the theory.

You can do a couple of things at once," offered Logotrons Herbie Wright. "People working on their

Amiga might feel like some recre- ation so they can easily spend half an hour on Prospector."

manufacturers though are AH H Toce e P Efficient chips shortages since such talk

generally aids sales. This Never mind the D-Ram chip shortage - the super policy appears to have chips are coming. Wee beasties the size of a finger-

been rejected for the com- ing selling season.

The PC4 286 and РС5 386 will be generally avail able from the end of this month with retail prices of £1,299.99 and £2,999.99 respec tively.

nail which can store the contents of more than five average paperbacks are due to tested by Japanese giant NEC. Or, to put it another way, these chips can hold 16 millidn bits of basic information - around 600,000 words. And to put that another way, around half a year's worth of this magazine could be fitted onto a single chip.

Digging the Amiga

The impossibly cold months are upon us and outdoor activists are scuttling into shelter - not least among them are the archaeologists.

Diggers working on an Anglo-Saxon and Roman site in North York- shire are keeping busy by studying the entire site on an Amiga, A 2D map of the whole seven acres is kept on an A2000's database and archaeologists can zoom in on any particular area and go into full analytical mode.

Also, they are keeping video sequences and stills of finds on the machine. That whole caboodle is soon to be presented as an educa- tion database for budding antiquarians to ponder over.

12 NOVBEMBER 1988 • NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • ра

NEWS SS

Games written for home computers aren't yet good enough for the arcades.

That's the view of would be games to coin-op converter Alan Nel son. His company East Midlands Leisure has spent the best part of this year trawling around the pub: lishers for software to use in ST based coin-op machines. The idea was that games could be changed regularly within the cabinets by sim ply swapping software

Programs which speak to the bind

Blind computer users, hardly sur- prisingly, face numerous problems not fully appreciated by most soft- ware houses.

So developer ACK Data pre- sented its Text to Speech PC pro- gram to various associations for the visually handicapped to be tested.

They pointed out that when errors occur blind people cannot know what's going on. On screen error messages are useless.

The upshot? ACK is now revis- ing the £300 program so that it uses its speech facility to explain and help put right any errors as they occur.

Ace pack on the cards Archimedes graphics freaks may be interested to learn that Ace has upgrad- ed its £45 3D Euclid package to incor porate new lighting, shading and con trast effects.

Amiga to hear more

A new music composition language which uses straight code as opposed to hanging notes on bars is soon to be launched by Ariadne for the Amiga. Opus 1 should suit seasoned midi buffs and will cost around £50.

Hybrid drives hard bargain A range of hard disk drives for the Atari ST will soon be available from music specialist Hybrid Arts. For those on a tight budget it's worth noting that the

ARCADES: ST GAMES NOT GOOD ENOUGH

However the games havent sparked, taking an average of only £1.20 a day - something like a quarter of a normal arcade machine. Nelson says most software doesn't grab peo ple in the same way that the Japanese coin-op games do. The games involved include

€ Thunderbird from Elite one of the least popular.

€ Backlash from Novagen "boring" says Nelson

€ Barbarian from Palace - high yield

put still falling short of expectations. Star Ray and Better Dead Than

Nonetheless Nelson is undaunt- Alien from Entertainment Interna ed. He claims to have found a lack of tional. "The response for the others enthusiasm from the software hous- has been poor. I believe ST games es themselves. One deal which fell can run on arcade machines. We just

through after lengthy negotiations was with English Software (US Gold)

& Backlash: Too boring for coin-ops?

— о 5. ©

for the old favourite Leviathan. He's hopeful to sign up Logotron's

need games which can be taken at face value.

A chance for the boss to do better

Spare a moment for the boss. It's possible that he may even be

aware of his shortcomings in handling employees.

With this in mind Ivy Software is offering six £50 PC packages geared to helping managers handle their people properly. The menu driven course is said to cover most of the potential "them and us" disasters and includes written tests.

If you see one of the packages in your boss's office, you'll know he's trying

British Rail has found the itself in something of a tight spot after losing an

ST User.

presumably s

ished lay outs

% One they made earlier

to Red Star which had ^ unenviable

FIVER FAVOUR

Two Mini Office programs for the ST have had a fiver lopped off their price - before they've even been launched.

The spreadsheet and communications modules have both been dropped from £29.95 to £24.95. Publisher Database puts

this down to "recognising that at the lower price more will be sold". Or, to put it another way, recognising that at the higher price rather fewer would be sold.

Each of the budget priced modules is complete with the likes of a text editor and calculator. Database reckons it's cheaper than anything else available and “technically more

task of delivering the fin- to printer. Much to the dis:

Not the person that may, even horror, is, but the monthly mag- Database, the thing was azine. Publisher mislaid. Database entrusted the Databases шп whole December edition nate journos had

advanced"

entry level desk top HDX77 Megabyte version costs £1,449.95. Yes, really

IBM patents

are a virtue

Taiwanese PC clone manufacturer Mitac has followed Amstrad's lead and signed a patents agreement with IBM.

This, in theory, gives both compa- nies the right to use each others intel- lectual property. However, central to the deal is IBM's PS/2 technology which Mitac will be using for a new range of machines currently under development.

The deal will cost Mitac between one and five per cent of all sales depending on the product and where it is sold.

Also, IBM has gained a one per cent royalty on all prior Mitac PC sales as recompense for the use of its patents. IBM has long been threaten- ing that it will seek compensation from companies infringing patents without prior agreement. It has been trying to use the lever of PS/2 rights being dependent on paying an MS- DOS royalty.

Although a number of leading manufacturers have signed PS/2 rights, there is still a body of opinion that the new standard faces a long struggle before it can be deemed to have succeeded.

imple task of redoing the whole edition of ST User Hardly surprisingly the publisher is absolutely livid with BR and is tak ing legal advice in order to gain "not insubstan tial’ compensation.

its

fortu the

and frantic

- ince

gout

Mini Office: Cut to fit

Бег + NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS + 12 NOVEMBER 1988

SPECTRUM

THE ARCADE SENSATION OF THE YEAR - Six levels of thrilling coin-op attempt to liberate the prisoners COMMODORE

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mission which takes you through steaming bottles, hidden supplies, rocket grenades AMSTRAD jungles and enemy strongholds as you and much, much more.

Ocean Software Limited -6 Central Street- Manchester -M2 5NS- Telephone 061 832 6633- Telex 669977 OCEANS G

The Atari 520STFM

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EEE EXPRESS ANALYSIS am

A school crammed with Archimedes

new era in learning is being A ushered in by the Governmen-

ts education officialdom, and with it a new model student - the fully computerised version.

Its flagship is a ‘new’ school in Soli- hull - Kingshurst — paraded as the first City Technology College.

In essence, the establishment is an extraordinary learning centre crammed with Archimedes comput ers, a barrage of technical trappings and a modern office look throughout quite alien to the familiar classroom structure. Mr Chips has finally been replaced by silicon chips.

The Department of Education and Science is planning two more CTCs next year and others to follow,

Not surprisingly, the arguments are furious. Education traditionalists say that computers, whilst necessary, are only a minor aspect of schooling.

Industrialists say that a complete overhaul of the system is needed to produce a computer-literate genera- tion of fresh faced employees.

Heaven sent

In the classrooms of Kingshurst, pupils are kitted out with masses of Archimedes, many of which are net worked across the school. There's also talk of providing the students with computers for the home at dis- count prices. Acorn can only raise its eyes thankfully to heaven

Then there's expensive kit in the science and languages departments (including satellite TV)

Subjects in which computers are used during lessons include the sci ences, mathematics, geography and even English Whether Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge will replace athletics isn't yet clear.

The Government is funding the CTC project through industry. Well, thats the theory. Industry hasn't been so generous as had been hoped.

Each school costs between £6 mil- lion and £7 million to set up. A fistful of companies mostly based in the midlands (or with plants there) con- tributed about half that figure.

Best of British? The choice of the Archimedes and, to а lesser extent, Research Machines, is an obvious one. The government has long believed that education would be better served by British companies (even if Acorn is a whol- ly-owned subsidiary of Italian firm Olivetti).

Still, US firms also have a look in.

As 180 11-year-olds begin lessons at the first

of a string of heavily

computerised schools, COLIN CAMPBELL tunes in to a debate which could crucially affect Е

both education апа com-

puting in Britain. E

Three voices in the debate

€ The Politician

Like his superior Kenneth Baker, JOHN BUTCHER has moved over from the Department of Trade and Industry. His background is in the computer industry.

Why were these schools introduced? "People need to be aware of the computer as an all-important tool. It affects every business, industrial and management process, There is a need to be aware of what they do. No 16 or 18 year old school leaver should have any reason to be afraid or nervous of computers - which was the case in previous years."

But isn't this wealth of technology being dished out to the select few to the detri- ment of other schools?

"There is a very generous provision of computers across the state sector in secondary and junior schools."

Are the CTCs a technologyled form of the old grammar school system?

"CTCs are not selective. There is no 11 Plus. The recommendation for Students comes from teachers together with the express wishes of parents."

Have you been surprised by the level of criticism aimed at the CTC scheme?

"Not at all. It's the usual forces of opposition locking in. Parents in Labour-controlled local authorities don't like anything that smacks of speciality or excellenc:

€ The Local Headmaster MICHAEL CORRIGAN is the principal of the largest Comprehensive in Soli- hull - Archbishop Grimshaw. It cur- rently has some 3,100 students and is kitted out with some Beebs and an Archimedes. Corrigan sees this as sufficient.

What's your objection to the CTCs?

"To put so much into one school is immoral and not cost-effective. It's a kick in the teeth for the comprehen- sive system and it's been created in the teeth of verbal opposition.

It's part of the current philosophy that State education is a failure. The CTC is a flagship which, Kenneth Baker has pinned his colours to."

Do you expect the CTC to affect the aver- age intelligence of your pupil intake?

"I expect we'll lose a few but not too many. But it's difficult for parents to resist all the hype and media cover- age. It's hard for parents who want the best for their children."

But isn't it good to use computers in this way?

"With the: resóürces available to us we've been able to make broad use of information technology with tech- nical courses and media studies courses. But | don't think I'd want my 10 year old to be sitting in front of a computer all day."

€ The Industr

ALAN CARTER is the chairman and managing director of Hiton interna- tional, a company which makes gear boxes. He donates £500 a year to the CTCs, presumably rather less than fellow sponsors such as Austin Rover and Hanson.

Presumably you support the CTC?

"I'm in favour of what the Govern- ment is doing, but it's a shame that industry has to pay. | mean it's a laugh. it's all wrong."

If you take that view why has Hiton become involved?

"| disagree with the way it's been done but you can't duck out of responsibilities. We haven't donated much but if everybody did something then we wouldn't have such a short- age of skills. That's a problem we face every week."

But will computers help increase the level of skilled workers?

“Frankly I'd prefer to see managers and engineers going in and having some input. | mean the world isn't about computers. It's more than that. Academics teach everything possible except how to earn a living."

Are you surprised by the criticisms laid at the Government's door?

"If you don't do anything you get crit- icised and if you do something you get criticised. | could rant for two hours over that...”

—

Theres an IBM mainframe installed at Kingshurst as well as PS/2s using 2.11 version of Novell And the Amiga is under review for CTC art and design departments.

In the North of England, the 'hands on' ratio of students and computers is 70:1. In the CTCs it's likely to be

4:1 or even less.

Nationwide, schools have an aver- age of 18 computers - many of which have seen better days. Kingshurst has well over a hundred brand, spanking new micros

Logically, that would suggest that the CTC students will step out

armed with rather more than GCSE passes. And, it follows, they'll have tather more than their counterparts in the likes of Archbishop Grimshaw Comprehensive.

The employers of tomorrow will be left to decide whether or not CTC is a euphemism for grammar school.

12 NOVEMBER 1988 • NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS >

PROUD OWNER

Im the proud owner of a Tandy TRS- 80 (with 16k memory expansion pack and added sound-board) and l'm disgusted to note that you have not devoted a single col umn inch (apart from this one - Ed) to cov- ering this machine.

Are you oblivious to the fact that there's а huge body of incredibly active TRS-80 own- ers out there?

Aren't you aware of the remarkable pro- grams now available for this machine, such as the Noughts and Crosses simulator

column at the back of your organ. Is Simon Williams а god? It seems incredible that an ordinary mortal human could know so much about so many things!

Please pass on the enclosed £50 note as a contribution to his expenses and then

| answer me this question: Why is it that you

have to print the words of this genius in such tiny print? The only way | am able to read his column is by cutting out the page and inserting it under a microscope. This of course is well worth the effort, however one jog on the elbow and a whole paragraph may be passed over.

Yours in frustration

| Mrs $ Williams, Black Torrington

released by my company DeadSoft only last

year? Dafydd Llangwynydd, Bridgend

Yes. No.

I HATE YOUR GUTS Dear Express

Luse the word ‘dear’ solely because it is the traditional way of opening a letter. It is most definitely not intended as a term of endearment

The fact is | hate your guts.

For years now I have been able to discov- |

er all the interesting bits printed in comput: er magazines without actually buying them. Whenever a new issue comes along | take great pleasure in flicking through it at Mr Bhopal's local newsagency, noting the bits of value and satisfying myself that I would be wasting my money to actually buy it. I have saved myself a fortune this way.

Now yours comes along, | try the same technique - and it fails. The fact is it took me an hour and a half to get through the first 22 pages and by that time Mr Bhopal was giving me even dirtier looks than the chap next to me perusing Mayfair.

How dare you pack so much into a maga: zine so that | now have to fork out 48p a week on it? That money could have been well spent — on half a pint of a downmarket lager for example (I can make that last an hour and a half as well, you know, especial ly when it's my round next).

Please try to make your magazine a bit less interesting in future,

Ivor Meanstreak, Glasgow

We quite see your point, Ivor. No

doubt there are other popular computing weeklies you could look at instead.

PRINT TOO SMALL I own an Amstrad PC and am overwhelmed by the quality of writing in the PC Update

Simon denies being а god and we can confirm this. No god would be so unethical as to accept a £50 bribe - even from its wife.

The print is small precisely because the writing is so good. There is a fixed, limited space for each of the 10 machine-specific colums (otherwise they'd take over the whole magazine) and within that space we want to cram in as much info as possible. Bigger print, fewer words.

TEETHING TROUBLES

I have just bought an Amstrad PC 1640 to run my business but have not had much luck yet in actually getting the thing up and running.

The first thing I did when it arrived through the post from Boxshift Mail Order was unpack it and put it all together. But there's one cable Im confused about. It has three coloured wires protruding from it - brown, blue and a sort of stripey green and yellow one. I have tried poking this into the disk drive slot because | had heard that pokes were important їп computing. Howev. er, nothing seems to have happened.

Since my business involves offering

| investment advice to pensioners | would be

grateful for your help as soon as possible. Dr Matthew Golddigger, Broadmoor

You've baffled us with that one, Doc. Perhaps one of our readers can help?

PEN PALS

Hil Im a 19-year-old Swedish girl just visit ting England for a six month computor stud- ies coarse. | lov to play games with my Atari ST and | have akcess to a wide range of softwear. Plez could you put me in contakt with other ST peeple in this area to carry out compatibility tests

Ingrid Svendsen, Box 58, Soho

Nice photo, shame about the spelling.

DISTURBED

Am I alone in being disturbed by the fre- quent use in your publication of the word programme" spelt without its last two let ters?

Prof. Anthony Archibald-Smythe, Oxford

Yes.

WICKED

Hey! Your mag is WICKED. The reviews are mega-cool and the voucher scheme is brill I have cancelled my subscription to the Beano so | can buy yours every week instead,

R S Licker, London

PS. Do I win this week's prize?

No.

PATHETIC Your new rag is pathetic. Fancy having а computer magazine without any program listings. What are we supposed to do with it? Read it?

You must be joking.

Please cancel my subscription. Adam Bonehead, Southampton

What subscription?

CONFUSED I am very confused about graphics stan- dards on the PC. Just what does all this stuff about EGA, CGA, and VGA actually mean? And why is it that none of the 1ВМ- compatible’ programs | buy for my IBM: compatible’ ever runs?

Please run a feature on this topic as soon as possible. A Sugar, Brentwood

Yours is just one of thousands of let

ters we've received recently on this sub ject. By a remarkable coincidence we have the very feature you're looking for in this issue! Page 29.

What's going on at Amstrad? Is Alan Sugar mad?

Just look at the facts. In 1986 he snaps up rights to the Sin- clair name and takes over manufacture of the best-selling Spectrum. His marketing people trumpet the fact that now Amstrad can use the Amstrad label for the more serious/bor- ing business machines while the Sinclair label will do nicely to ав a marketing angle for the thronging millions of youngsters from whom ‘Sinclair’ means 'game-playing computer’.

In 1987 he muddies the waters somewhat by bringing out the Sinclair Spectrum Plus 2 and Plus 3, neither of which manages to excite anyone particularly, although they can at least run Spectrum software.

But now in 1988 he goes and launches the ‘Sinclair Profes- sional’, the so-called games machine that also has serious applications.

Games Machine?! Codswallop. This nasty little unit can only generate four colours. Four?!!! That's 12 fewer than the Spec- trum managed in 1982. And what colours are they? Well, one of them is black and frankly that shouldn't count as a colour

IS ALAN SUGAR MAD?

at all! And the other three are normally white - which also doesn't count - a nauseating light-blue so-called ‘cyan’ and an even more nauseating pinkish so-called ‘magenta’! Can't even play Pac-Man properly on that setup unless you want one of the ghosts the same colour as the maze!

Even the sound is little better than the classic Spectrum beep which at least had no pretensions. Frankly any existing Sinclair owner who thinks he's upgrading by buying that thing is in for a nasty shock. C Sinclair, Cambridge

Perhaps Mr Sugar has concluded Sin- clair owners of old are now looking to do much more on a computer than just play games. Perhaps he thinks many of them аге now on the lookout for an industry-standard PC, so why not offer them one bearing the Sinclair name they love so well

There again, perhaps he's mad.

DISGUSTING PRICES

I would just like to spout on for a page or three of virtually illegible writing about the disgustingly high price of games software it's no wonder so many people pirate games when it costs over £8 just to get one crummy title and even more on the Amiga which my friend has so why don't the software houses do something about it before (that's enough spouting - Ed) Spotty Youth, Dorking

HOW DARE YOU

How dare you publish a picture of a Spec- trum when everyone knows the machine is utterly useless?! My Commodore 64 is far better, even if the Basic is pathetic and central processor does run at half the Speccy's speed. At least it has a decent sound-chip and doesn't suffer from attribute-clash and (that's enough mu-slinging - Ed)

Captain Zardos, Bognor Regis

TECHNOLOGY CONVERT

Being totally unfamiliar with computers, it was with enormous trepidation that, three years ago to the month, I bought my Amstrad PCW 8256 with a view to typing up the unpublished novel I've been work- ing on in my spare time over the last 23 years. Yet my fears proved totally ungrounded. It took me only five weeks to understand the first three pages of the manual, and now | find | can load in a disk and type in a paragraph from scratch totally unaided in less than the time it used to take my secretary to finish off a complete chapter on her Remington portable!

Please find enclosed my life history and (for your interest) the first 22 paragraphs of the navel, all of which - as you can see from the dirty smudges at the top of the pages - have genuinely been printed out оп the Amstrad PCW printer (except for paragraph 15 which I had to ask my sec- retary to retype on her Remington because it contained a spelling error.)

I am now a total convert to the new technology and can barely wait to begin laying out my local golf club s monthly newsletter using a 'Desk Top Publishing’ program | have recently ordered and on which | would like to ask the following 38 questions - | have enclosed a stamped addressed envelope for your reply and (That's enough agony - Ed)

Colonel Henry Bagshott, Cheltenham

Now it's your turn admit it. These are made up. ТІ after all, issue 1 Ve'd much rather print uine ones, so why not oblige by giving us your views on anything to do with th world of computing or New

a mystery pack- es for their соп

ЕСЕ Mail, 4 Queen St, Bath, Avon BA1 1EJ

* NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 12 NOVEMBER 1988

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Peter Worlo: master

The day of the PC compatible as home computer has been a long time coming but it's here with a vengeance now. Hard on the heels of Amstrad's Sinclair Professional comes the Euro PC from German manufacturer Schneider - former friends and partners now in head to head competition.

You cant get the price of a PC down to home computing levels without cutting a few comers in the process. So the question is, what exactly are you getting for your money?

Smart, modern appearance Physically, the computer itself is a single unit, rather like an overweight PC keyboard, and includes a more or less standard keyboard but with twelve function keys rather than the usual ten. These are arrayed horizon- tally across the top rather than in the more common vertical position on the left.

The most noticeable difference is the wide extension on the right which houses a single 3.5 inch floppy disk drive offering 750K of storage. This faces forward, a better arrange- ment than the right hand side option used by both the Atari STs and Com- modore's Amiga A500.

At the rear of the keyboard is a comprehensive collection of expan- sion ports, providing interfaces for parallel printer, RS232C serial for modem or printer, an external floppy disk drive, an external hard disk, and а mouse/joystick port. Sadly, по mouse is supplied with the machine

The whole unit is styled in an off- white plastic with a raised rear edge diagonally slashed for ventilation giving the Euro PC a very smart modern appearance. If the competi- tion between it and the Sinclair Pro was a beauty contest the Eufo PC would win hands down

Very nippy Documentation is comprehensive and - unusually — well done. The

FIRST

HANDS ON TEST!

the PC clone, assesses

introduction to the hardware is clear- ly written, with the welcome addi- tion of complete pin out diagrams for all the interfaces. The MS-DOS and GW-Basic manuals are standard Microsoft but even these appear to have been specially typeset for Schneider and are much better than some I've seen.

Inside the machine (not that youre ever likely to see it) the main proces- sor is an 8088 clocked at 4.77MHz, 7.16MHz and 9.54MHz and the speed cab be changed from the keyboard. This makes it very nippy at the top rate, but gives you the option of slowing down games and other speed-sensitive software.

Graphics are handled by a custom video adaptor built in to the PC and offering either Hercules compatible monochrome or CGA displays. The latter provides 16-colour text and four colour graphics modes, but text can be difficult to read over long periods. The Euro PC comes with either mono or colour monitor and the review machine was supplied with a 14 inch CGA unit that provid- ed a sharp, bright, rock steady dis- play. (The down side is that you can't buy a Euro PC without monitor, so if you buy an EGA display youll have one more monitor than you need or want.)

Expansion problems

The Euro PC comes with 512K of main memory which is best described as adequate. Most PCs take up to 640K or 1Mb on the moth- erboard but because the Schneider is a closed box this isnt an option here. If you want more memory, you have to use an expansion card - and this is where the aforementioned short- cuts raise their heads.

The single greatest benefit of the PC standard is its expandability, and most PCs offer anything from three io five slots for expansion cards. However, those cards take up a great deal of space — and were obviously the first thing to go in the Schneider

VARE

REVIEW

£399+VAT.

The Euro PC Spec

€ 8088 processor running at up to 9.54 MHz.

€ £549+VAT including CGA colour monitor. © Available with mono (Hercules graphics) monitor for

Schneider are also distributing the ‘Tower AT' range which consists of 14 models ranging in price from a remarkable £799 to £1999 +VAT.

expansion card.

the (v

design. What youre left with is a sin- gle slot for a PC half length card Schneider has accommodated this

Give it the Works

Bundled software tends to have a poor reputation, often consisting of a rag bag of very old or second rate pro- grams the are barely worth the price of the disks theyre held on. With Microsoft Works however, Schneider has done buyers a real favour.

Works is a powerful integrated pack- age offering word processing, database, spreadsheet with graphics and communications all in one. Each module is a full featured application in its own right, but you can mix and match data from each. It means that once you've added a printer to your Euro PC, you can immediately get down to some serious computing.

And since Works normally sells at more than £100, it makes the Schnei- der look like particularly good value.

aggressivel

The Schneider gambit

in elegant fashion: a section of the case on the left side slides out revealing a standard card connector. Your card is easily slotted into place lying flat and horizontally across the case. The case section slides back

into position, leaving the output ports from the card visible from the rear of the PC. This leaves Amstrad's solution for the PC200 looking like a bodge (because although the Sinclair takes two cards, you have to perma- nently remove the top of the case and have your cards sticking out where they are exposed to dust, pry- ing finders and sudden impact from any stray object).

The single slot limitation is really the key to weighing up the Euro PC. On the one hand, Schneider has already provided most of the things you'd normally use a slot for; mouse port, and serial and parallel inter- faces. Оп the other hand, the slot is too small to take a hard disk card. You'll really have to think about what

riced Euro Р!

that slot gets used for. If you add an EGA graphics adaptor (highly attrac- tive) you can't expand the memory. And so on.

And when the slot is filled, all fur- ther expansion has to be external. A fully expanded Euro PC promises to be a thing of supreme ugliness. And even the largest expanse of execu- tive mahogany will vanish under the PC, a monitor, a floppy drive, a hard drive, a modem, a printer, a mouse and all the associated cabling

Express Verdict First there's the question of whether you want a PC compatible at all. If your main interest is playing arcade games, or dabbling in computer graphics, you'd be far better choos- ing an Amiga or ST. The Schneider is aimed at those with a more serious use in mind (although there is the growing range of PC games as an added bonus).

As a simple PC compatible the

Euro PC has a lot HIGHLIGHTS

going for it. At £399 for the mono version, and £549 for the colour, it's fast, it looks good and it gives you access to the enormous range of PC soft. ware. If your ambitions for the machine are low, theres not much to criticise. And the bundled copy of Microsoft Works is a definite plus

However, if you think you'll eventu- ally want more from the machine, there are real problems. The lack of expansion slots, and the need to have lots of peripherals cluttering up your desk, make it much less attrac- tive than а traditional PC compatible like the Amstrad PC2086, PC1640, or any of the dozens of other sub £1,000 systems available. е

Works © Fast, relatively power- ful entry level system

DRAWBACKS

12 NOVEMBER 1988 * NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS *

Free copy of Microsoft

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Complete the five stages — down winding tracks, through verdant forests and over precarious mountain ranges — with the additional hazards of night driving and fog.

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aS ee COVER FEATURE EN

Express talks in depth to the people who control what computing will be like in five years' time.

As 1988 draws to a close, the world of personal computing gives every impression of surging vitality.

* More people are buying computers than ever before.

+ A wider variety of tasks is being entrusted to computers by a wider variety of users.

* Most areas of the market are reporting growth, excitement and a constant flow of remarkable new products.

+ The terrifying plunge of 1984-5 which saw literally hundreds of computer- related companies go bankrupt has been all but forgotten.

But where is it all heading? Will the machines around today still be making the grade next year? In five years' time?

Are games consoles about to take the UK leisure industry apart? cum

Will IBM's PC standards further strengthen their stranglehold in serious com- С puting?

Can 8-bit computers survive another 12 months?

And what about Atari and Commodore's 16-bit machines? Will they move from strength to strength or be swallowed by the all-conquering PCs?

We spoke in depth to seven of the UK computer industry's most influential people who offered intriguing, detailed predictions of where the four main strands of personal computing — PCs, other 16-bit machines, 8-bit machines and games consoles - are headed: .

Now you too can gaze into the future. 07

12 NOVEMBER 1988 • NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS +

t= Cont from previous page

DEFINITION: Any machine compatible with the personal computers produced by IBM. EXAMPLES: Amstrad 1512, 1640 (pictured), and 2000 ranges, Sinclair PC200, plus numer- ous machines from Tandon, Compaq, etc. FACT: PCs have massive domination in the business market worldwide. In the United

States they are also the leading leisure

machines (excluding consoles).

QUESTION: How will PCs develop in the UK

over the next five years?

DEFINITION: A range of second-generation computers with very fast and power- ful central processors. EXAMPLES: Atari ST, Com- SNC modore Amiga. \ FACT: STs have to date sub- „д stantially outsold Amigas in the UK (perhaps 130,000 units to 50,000). But in most of Europe and America, the Amiga is the big winner. QUESTION: Which machine will win

long term? And how bright a future does either have?

DEFINITION: The original generation of home computers - relatively simple central processors and limited memory. EXAMPLES: Sinclair Spectrum, Com- modore 64 (pictured), Amstrad CPC.

FACT: Despite all the talk of 16-bit, the UK leisure computing market remains heavily dominated by the 8-bit machines (around 75% by value).

DEFINITION: A computer without a key- board, marketed as a game machine. EXAMPLES: Nintendo, Sega (pictured). FACT: The latest profits recorded by Nin- tendo exceeded the combined worldwide sales of all leisure software publishers.

QUESTION: Having conquered America and Japan, will Nintendo (and other consoles) now take over in the UK?

"The PCs dominate in the UK business mar- ket partly by default. The Mac has not been sold well over here, with Apple going for small numbers and high prices. But the domination will not continue: there'll be an increasingly bloody battle with the non PCs making a strong impact at the lower level. "PCs suffer greatly from what I'd call soft- ware drag. Companies can't afford to throw them out, and so the technological generations take much longer than in the games market. If you can sustain revolu- tions, you can have progress at a terrific rate. That's why home machines will become so much more powerful than small business micros, where they are commit- ted to continuity, software portability and all that crap. IBM are having an awful time trying to persuade people that DOS was

Sector 2. 16-bit – Leisure takeover?

“People are still finding ways to utilise today's generation of machines like the ST and Amiga. There's still a lot of life left with an expanding software base. They'll still be there in three years. In two years some- thing new will come along but it will need to wait two years for an established software base - which is the lifeblood of hardware.

"In three years’ time there should be a crossover point where RISC, parallel pro- cessing or 32-bit will become state of the art volume products

“Much depends on the future cost of computer memory. The ST uses а 16-bit micro processor and to be effective it needs 512K of memory. To have a 32-bit micro you need to double or quadruple that. At today's memory chip costs, that would have a dramatic effect on its final price. But if semi-conductor supply meets demand and prices come down, people will get more power for their money. Bob Gleadow

Sector 3. 8-bit – Dead or alive?

“The Spectrum and 64 are quite respectable games machines, even after all this time. They're as good as the Ninten do or Sega and they'll still do OK once their prices drop down below £100. But they're tape based — and all tape machines will die by next Christmas.”

Jeff Minter

"Look at the 64, There's a machine that Could've been dead two or three years

"People have finally become aware and accept that the chief use of computers in the home is to play games. The hope to program has now gone: hence the rise of consoles.

"Come the mid-19905 there will be a new super-duper all singing, all dancing console linked with CDI so that you can have real life videos. | also suspect that there'll be an increasing range of related peripherals, such as high definition TV screens and a mirroring of the arcades - tilt, swivel and more that will take you closer to a more

[ҮЛ

last year's thing. They ve still got main- frames in place that people have been using since the 60s!

"PCs will also be eroded by the splintering of the market — that if people want say DTP, they'll choose the Mac; for music, the ST; and for graphics the Amiga. In any case in the future, the PC sector will not be as homogeneous. It'll actually break in half with the cheap DOS machines at the bot- tom. The top will split a further four ways: SuperDOS - the DeskView, Windows 386 area; 05/2 - simply because IBM and Microsoft are behind it, it'll make some impact (even though it shouldn't); Unix — because it clearly has a lot of advantages; and then the next level of Macintoshes.

‘At the lower end, the PC200 is mediocre at best and the CGA graphics are just

Victory for either Commodore or Atari is both unlikely and unimportant. The compe- tition between them matters more. Both will do better and more interesting things with their machines. If one wins, it'll be a disaster. Just look at how boring the educa: tion market became once the BBC took over.

‘And it doesn't matter as much as people think that the ST and Amiga haven't done well in the States. In the old days the States used to account for 80 per cent of the computer market. Now it's less than half and declining, The days when if you didn't make it in the States it was а matter of great concern have gone for good

"As for Amstrad, | wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if they produce the definitive 68000 based machine which given 15 min- utes and a fair wind could run both ST and Amiga software.”

Jack Schofield

If only Archie were cheaper, it could really

ago. But we expect to sell 120,00 this year in the UK alone. That just shows you Bit is going to continue for some time because the software base is already there.

Steve Franklin, Commodore UK boss

The 8-bit machines have been caught badly between games machines which are becoming more powerful and the 16-bit machines which offer you business stan

Sector 4. Consoles: Primed for explosion?

complete entertainment experience. Nick Alexander

"There's been talk of consoles becoming predominant for some time but nothing's happened. | think people want a home com- puter as a concept. People say look at the US but they have more spending power than us. Father has his Apple and the kids have a console. But that won't happen in the UK."

Steve Franklin

| NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS + 12 NOVEMBER 1988

UTURE?

appalling for games. To the argument ‘It тау be rubbish but look at all the soft- ware’, | have to say 1. It is rubbish 2. No, there aren't so many games and 3. If you stand it side by side with an Amiga or ST, you'd have to be a real idiot to buy the PC 200. The machine flies in the face of my thesis of nichemanship — that people are now using different computers for very dif- ferent tasks, rather than using one machine for everything.”

Jack Schofield, Computer Guardian editor

"We've had more than enough technologi- cal innovation. Even so, it will continue in the same vein. PCs will be sold cheap, bun- dled with cheap take it or leave it software. Off the shelves Tescos stuff — you only

score. A cut-down version at £250-300 - but no, we're talking about Acorn.” Jeff Minter

"The attitude now is very much concentrat- ed on graphics and images and visuals and less on gameplay. | would imagine that people will be more interested in having fun. For now though the market is plagued by plagiarism. Once someone has a good idea then it gets copied.

"Computer games are very boring when viewed from the outside. They're very dry when compared with Top of the Pops. It still has some of the spotty kid in his bed- room about it. I think in the next four years it will become more socially acceptable - probably through more powerful machines.

“But people simply haven't exploited 16- bit machines at all. There is a preponder- ance of 8-bit conversions and the only advancements have been Starglider 2 and Elite |Вгаһеп 5 game] which is simplistic. Games like Carrier Command could easily

dard facilities. They'll be squeezed next year. The Spectrum has traditionally out- sold the 64 here and it will be supported longer.”

Bob Gleadow

"Тһе Spectrum hasn't changed that much but its audience has grown younger. When

have to look at the States to see what will happen here.

"Тһе most progress will be with laser printers. Everyone will have one and the dot matrix brigade will quietly disappear. The communications side will inevitably come up. But people still haven't digested the systems and software that they have now.”

William Poel, business market pundit

"PCs are mutating into Macintoshes." Jeff Minter, cult programmer.

"Next year 80286 will be the volume seller. In two years, 80386 will be the volume sell- er. Don't forget that MS-DOS already has five years of power upgrades.”

Bob Gleadow, Atari UK boss

it first came out there were quite serious people who were convinced that they could run their payroll packages on it: it wasn't just a games machine. Now | reckon it appeals to the 8-11 year old band, with the 64 reaching the 11-15 year olds. But though the 64 is a more sophisticated machine, it has never gone anywhere. It's still the same machine as it ever was.” Jack Schofield

“There are 32 million consoles worldwide and I wouldn't like to guess how many there will be in five years. People are going to have dedicated machines for dedicated tasks and they're not going to use the key- board computer for everything just to justi- fy the investment. They will use computers for legitimate computing purposes and consoles for gaming.”

Mike Wensmann, Nintendo UK direc- tor

have been written in 8-bit.

“The turning point will come when the quality of software isn't dictated by hard- ware restrictions but by creativity. Then it will be fun.”

David Braben, state of the art pro- grammer.

"One mistake that is often made about 16- bit is that it is viewed as new. Yes the Spectrum and 64 are six years old, but the ST and Amiga have been around for two, maybe three years already.

"By the 9065 we'll be talking about Trans- puters and 32:54 games, which will be highly challenging for the software produc- ers. Currently we seem to spend at least half our time trying to condense down what's been written into what's available. If there's a larger memory size then it won't in itself mean that our costs will have to expand enormously to provide the software to run on it.

"In any case it's much better to use only

"Мете not seeing any dramatic drop off, but rather а long slow decline with а greater proportion of budget title sales. | don't think there are any real indications of the Spectrum or the 64 now appealing to å younger market. Possibly that will change in 18 months time if and when Amstrad brings out a £39 version of the Spectrum.” Nick Alexander

“The problem faced by Konix (reported to be entering the console market) is that British programmers are not as good as the Japanese. If Konix get that right then | know they'll do really well because they ve got a tasty machine. Nintendo will come through when they actually get round to releasing their vast library of software. But the one to watch out for is the PC Engine. It's absolutely outrageously good and at £100 it should wipe the floor.

"Consoles are a good entry level for some people. But there are enough who'd

"РС games are definitely а goer, but not necessarily via the PC 200. It's in a very cluttered market and essentially the games impetus comes not from kids but from businessmen. That makes it a much older, much different market. It also means that the PC won't become the dominant games medium over here."

Nick Alexander,

Virgin/Mastertronic boss

half the power of a Transputer and produce something at a price that everybody can afford, than a fully technology-driven prod- uct that no one can buy.”

Nick Alexander

“I'd be very surprised if there aren't up to three quarters of a million Amigas in the UK by 1992. We expect to sell 90,000 this year. People are becoming more attracted to 16-bit machines and they're being used by young people who've never had a com- puter before. They appeal to a whole spec- trum of age groups as well as the young not only because they're sexy machines with good graphics,”

Steve Franklin

@ Alexander: A long, slow decline.

CaS eee ee ee

just be bored shirtless who'll want to get ‘on and do something with their machines.” Jeff Minter

“There are more and more kinds of machines for more and more niches. That doesn't mean that something like consoles are going to take over or replace home micros, but rather that the market will become increasingly diverse.” Jack Schofield

12 NOVEMBER 1988 • NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS +

COVER FEATURE INE

Е-19 STEALTH FIGHTER will turn your PC into the hottest machine on today’s electronic battlefront. The graphics are that vivid ... the animation that smooth . . . and the feeling of flight that convincing. But F-19 is no joy ride. Dramatic game play challenges you with a lifetime of action. Fight your way through hundreds of missions packed into the real-world regions of Libya, the Persian Gulf, the North Cape and Central Europe.

Combat will dazzle you as never before. Steer modular glide bombs with your joystick and follow them all the way to impact. In heart-stopping dogfights, use TrakCam to lock onto enemy MiGs. Engage TactiVue for an outside perspective that always keeps you and your target in sight.

Plus, learn the secrets of stealth flying — maintaining a low electromagnetic profile to evade enemy radar and mastering the tactics that only a stealth pilot dares to try.

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EEE PREVIEW БЕНЕН

Commodore's Christmas Extravaganza

RIK HAYNES previews the

12th official Commodore Show

The Commodore Show is back at its favourite venue later this month, boasting over 75 exhibitors and an exciting batch of new hardware and software. Coming just 30 shopping days before Christ- mas, it looks like an ideal opportunity to trawl for bargain presents. If only the organisers would supply visitors with a Computer Show Recovery Pack - consisting of foot plasters, jostler's elbow soothing cream, aspirin (large bottle) and a four-ton truck to transport home all the leaflets, carrier bags and brochures collected during the day.

ng the show to launch several new Amiga games: Turbo-Trax (motor-racing simulation), Fright Night - The Arcade Game (based on the horror movie) and International Soccer (no prizes for guessing). Microdeal will also have ide range of older Amiga titles (and latest addition to its repertoire: computer available for Visitors to the Microdeal stand will also have the opportunity to talk to Steve Bak, programmer of many popular Amiga games such as Goldrunner, Leathernecks and Return To Genesis, now working Microdeal's Fright Night game. Stand 2

Commodore will parade its obligatory proces- Mierodeal is sion of famous stars (Adam Faith and Anita Dob son from the latest West End musical Budgie among others) as well as its range of computer product. As usual, pride of place will be given to the Amiga, with a Graphics Workshop and Music Room (complete with industry experts) displaying the Amiga's audio-visual capabilities. Another new feature will be the Xmas Card Design Com petition (using Amigas), with a daily prize award ed to the best entry. Stand 44

its

accessories) sale.

on Product h Com:

The Independent Commodore Users Group (ICPUG), in conjunction

modore, is celebrating ICPUG's tenth anniversary Hisoft is due to launch its new Ba compiler for by presenting a series of seminars. Topics cov- the Amiga which fully supports the Amiga's ered include: MIDI For Beginners, How То Get library routines and works within the Amiga's The Best Out Of A Database and Programming In multi-tasking environment. Hisoft will also ha

COMAL. ICPUG will also host regular question and answer sessions on visitors queries across the entire Commodore range. Stand 102

ac П (full review sion of Ив popul: Amiga. As ап add!

in this issue), the new ve ssembler package for th i bonus Hisoft will be offerir

| 20th, 10am-6pm (4pm Sun)

older versions of Devpac at 'very special prices according to Hisoft's managing director David Link. Stand 68

Anco has a new selection of Amiga software on sale at the show: Micro Text and Micro Base (both reviewed in this issue), Robbeary (platform game) and Maniax (based on the classic arcade game Qix). Maniax on the C64 should also be available. Stand 156

Precision Software is presenting Superbase Personal П, the latest development to its range of Amiga database software (enhancements to its predecessor include built-in text editor and com munications software). Precision is also launching three new Amiga products: Superplan (spread. sheet with Superbase-compatible data files), Pro fessional Animation Sequence Editor (animates IFF-compatible picture files) and Charon 5 (game mixing strategy and shoot'em-up). Stand 34

The UK Amiga User Group will provide visi tors with technical help and advice and will be offering special show discounts to prospective members. Stand 87

Trilogic will be selling its new Amiga sound sampler to the public for the first time. The apr priately named Amiga Audio Digitiser is sold w > necessary lead to connect to musical equip: it doesnt come with any software. This deficiency can be forgiven bearing in mind the very competitive £24.99 price tag (with an extra £2.98 needed for A1000 users). Fortunately AAD is compatible with many existing (and public-domain) music software such Aegis Audiomaster, Eidersoft Prosound and Datel Prosampler. Stand 157

commercial

HB Marketing is presenting two new Amiga products, the much-acclaimed ComicSetter (novel DTP package) and Design 3D (CAD program) Stand 57

Sensible Software — à programming team mak ing its show debut — will launch a new C64 soccer game published by Microprose. Also for sale ('at ludicrously cheap prices") will be Sensible's older C64 hits such as Wizball, Parallax (both published by Ocean) and The Shoot'em-up Construction Kit (published by Outlaw). The weird and wacky trio at Sensible (Chris Yates, John Hare and Martin Galway) will also be introducing a new feature to the show - very, very loud music — provided by a myriad of sound equipment. Stand 120

Arnor will be launching the Amiga version of its popular word-processor, Protext. "The PC version has been taking the market by storm" said Arnors sales manager, Douglas Thompson, “ће Amiga version has been under development for over two years now and we believe it to be the best Amiga word-processor available’. Stand 132

WHERE

The Novotel (Champagne Suite and tion Centre), Hammersmith, London W6 WHEN

Friday, November 18 - Sunday, November

HOW MUCH

£5 adults, £3.50 under-16s.

TRAVEL

Nearest underground is Hammersmith (Pic: cadilly, Metropolitan and District Lines) ORGANISER

Database Exhibitions (Tel 0625 878888)

IOVEMBER 1988 • NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS

LONDON’S LARGEST MAIL ORDER DEALER

NEW LOW PRICES

Mono CGA EGA опо CGA EGA

IBM/PC/XT’S COMPATIBLE Retail Retail Retail Mame o Akhter PC1000 single drive 497 N/A 789 (New) Amstrad PC2286 20Mb hard disk Akhter PC1500 dual drive 599 N/A 865 14" monitor N/A N/A у Akhter PC3000 dual 720K drives 620 М/А 875 AMT 286/10 Mhz 30Mb hard disk 1440 N/A Akhter PC2000 20Mb hard disk 839 М/А 1105 AMT 286/20 Mhz 40Mb hard disk 1761 М/А Amstrad РС1512 single drive 370 500 М/А Barbatan 286/10 Mhz dual drive 1052 1217 Amstrad PC1512 dual drive 499 639 М/А Barbatan 286/10 Mhz 20Mb hard disk 1239 1424 Amstrad РС1512 20Mb hard disk 643 750 М/А Barbatan 286/10 Mhz 40Mb hard disk 1415 1590 Amstrad PC1512 30Mb hard disk 699 799 М/А Barbatan 286/16 Mhz 20Mb hard disk 1515 1690 Amstrad РС1640 single drive 499 650 750 Barbatan 286/16 Mhz 40Mb hard disk 1657 1806 Amstrad РС1640 dual drive 550 699 810 Commodore 286/10 Mhz single drive 1319 1410 Amstrad PC1640 20Mb hard disk 720 850 950 Commodore 286/10 Mhz 40Mb hard disk 2032 2166 Amstrad PC1640 30Mb hard disk 750 879 999 Opus РС5 286/10 Mhz 30Mb hard disk 1295 N/A (New) Amstrad PC2086 SD 12” monitor 554 714 804 ‘Packard Bell 286/10 Mhz single drive 1100 1240 (New) Amstrad PC2086 DD 12” monitor 699 860 960 “Packard Bell 286/10 Mhz 20Mb hard disk 1234 1317 (New) Amstrad РС2086 20Mb hard disk 12” "Packard Bell 286/10 Mhz 40Mb hard disk 1420 1550

monitor 950 1099 1150 "ЅВС AT 286/10 Mhz single drive 900 1050 (New) Amstrad РС2086 SD, 14” monitor N/A N/A 900 *SBC AT 286/10 Mhz dual drive 999 1150 (New) Amstrad PC2086 DD 14” monitor N/A М/А 1050 *SBC PC 286/10 Mhz 20Mb hard disk 4250 1400 (New) Amstrad PC2086 20Mb HD 14" monitorN/A М/А 1290 “SBC AT 286/10 Mhz 40Mb hard disk 1450 1649 AMT 88/10 Mhz single drive 536 N/A 811 "ВС AT 286/10 Mhz 1.2Mb floppy + 720K (гіме 1436 1620 AMT 88/10 Mhz 30Mb hard disk 961 М/А 1225 “SBC AT 286/12 Mhz. As above with 20Mb Barbatan PC dual drive 605 770 920 hard disk 1800 1900 Barbatan PC 20Mb hard disk 839 984 1134 *5вс AT 286/12 Mhz. As above with 40Mb Barbatan PC 40Mb hard disk 960 1110 1260 hard disk 1866 2046 Commodore PC1 single drive 302 N/A 404 Walters AT 286/10 Mhz single drive 976 1153 Commodore PC10 single drive 520 668 805 Walters AT 286/10 Mnz dual drive 1070 1260 Commodore PC10 dual drive 649 799 949 Walters AT 286/10 Mhz 20Mb hard disk 1393 1610

Commodore PC20 20Mb hard disk 949 1099 1245 Walters AT 286/10 Mhz 40Mb hard disk 1600 1807 Hyundai Super 16 single drive 568 667 760

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"Beat This" prices are fully inclusive of membership and UK postage and packing.

ST or AMIGA ST or AMIGA Pack 4 ВЕ Раск 5 ВЕТ Раск 6 ШҮ

Chrono Quest 29.95 Dfndr of the Crown29.99 Jewels of Darkness 19.95 Menace 19.95 Lancelot 19.95 Chrono Quest 29.95 Captain Blood 24.95 Mortville Manor 24.95 Fed of Free Traders29.95 Jewels of Darkness 19.95 — Dfndr of the Crown 29.99 Golden Path 24.95

Special Reserve 4.00 Special Reserve 4.00 SpeciaReserve 4.00 Special Reserve 4.00 SpecialReserve 4.00

Total 78.85 [Beat This | Total83.89 [Boar This | Total 43.90 [Bear This | Total 63.94 Total 53.90 41. к х Раск 7 (ШҰ) Over Раск 8 ШЕ) Rocket Ranger 29.99 | Раск 23 ЗИТ Black Lamp 19.95

Dfndr of the Crown 29.99 О, Menace 19.95 Зра Reserve 4.00 GAMESTAR SPECIAL 70 Yo off Special Reserve 4.00

Total 63.98 Championship Baseball 24.99 Total 43.90 GBA Championship Basketball 2499 ВЧу a pack for GFL Championship Football 24.99 Christmas

Раск 9 ДЕ (атепсап вооа Pack 10 ДЕ Starglider 2 24.95 EM Pack 24 MES Sargon 3 Chess 24.95 Star Wars 19.95 Beat This Total 78.97 Silicon Dreams 19.95 Special Reserve 4.00 22 99 INFOCOM SPECIAL Special Reserve 4.00 is | Total 48.90 E Sherlock 24.99 Total 48.90 Lurking Horror 24.99 Bureaucracy 24.99

Pack 11 ШЕ j Special Reserve 4.00 Раск 12 WS

E ACCEPT Starglider 2 24.95 - Dungeon Master 24.95 Starglider 24.95 EXPRESS Beat This [Total 78.97 D.M. Solution Book ' 6.99

Special Reserve 4.00 VOUCHERS 22 99 Special Reserve 4,00 Total 53.90 È Total 35.94

Pack 13 ШЕН Ш Раск 14 ШЕ Ш Раск 15 ШЕШ Ш Раск 16 ШЕШ F Pack 17 EG

Fish! 24.95 Sargon 3 Chess 24.95 Trivial Pursuit 19.95 Hostages 24.95 Infocom Solid Gold 24.99 Silicon Dreams 19.95 е Sentinel 19.95 New Trivial Pursuit 19.95 Отаг of the Crown 29.99 Hollywood Hijinx 29.99

Special Reserve 4.00 Special Reserve 4.00 Special Reserve 4.00 Special Reserve 4.00 Special Reserve 4.00 Total 48.90 Total 48.90 Total 43.90 Total 58.94 Total 58.98

Раск 18 (EWG Pack 19 EG Раск 20 EG Раск 21 EG Pack 22 EG

Sargon 3 Chess 24.95 Universal Mil Sim 24.95 Elite 24.95 — Football Manager 2 19.95 Lancelot 19.95 Trivial Pursuit 24.95 Tracker 24.95 Starglider 24.95 GFL Champ F/ball 24.99 Knight Orc 19.95

leserve 4.00 Special Reserve 4.00 Special Reserve 4.00 Special Reserve 4.00 Special Reserve 4.00

Total 53.90 Total 53.90 Total 53.90 Total 48.94 Total 43.90 4 А 21.95

АП packs include membership to Special Reserve, that's our amazing club, it normally costs £4.00 to join. Membership includes 3 issues of our Buyers Guide (written by experts), a folder and membership card, and of course our catalogue of over 600 products, most at half price plus post and packing. That's right, we even sell many of the latest and the best games individually at half| price plus a standard charge of £1.50 postage and packing Й (£2.00 if you phone your order іп). We're miles cheaper than S ecial Re serve elsewhere, so cheap that we can't advertise our individual prices. If you don't believe us (many don't) please phone or

send a stamped addressed envelope for details.

Dept NEWB, Special Reserve, P.O. Box 847, Harlow, CM21 9PH or phone 0279 600204

Send in your order or phone us. There аге no extra charges to ада to our "Beat This" prices. Existing membere pleasg deduct £4.00 from the prices shown. Please make Cheques or Fostal Orders payable to Special Reserve, or pay by Access, Visa or American сс Please write clearly our name, address, post code, e of computer and pack number required. Special Reserve is а ading name of Inter-Mediates Limited, registered in England number 2054713. Orders S EEC countries accepted, please add £3.00 surcharge and make payment by credit card. l offers subject to availability, all games chosen for quality, all products individually boxed and new.

mds

mm APPLICATION REVIEWS БЕНЕН

Devpac 2

Assembler/Debugger System

Amiga 6 £59.95dk

Also on ST 6 £59.95dk

Hisoft € The Old School, Greenfield, Bedford MK45 5DE. Tel: (0525) 718181

Amiga owners now have the chance to sample the new version of this assembler — already high- ly regarded by ST users — from the market leader in home computer assembly language packages. Devpac2 is a 68000 assembly language develop- ment system for the Commodore Amiga which comprises macro-assembler, text editor, debug- ger, linker and operating system "include" files The package consists of two disks containing the necessary programs and а 157-page manual.

User Interface

Devpac2 allows you to write, run and debug machine code programs. This process can basical- ly be divided into four stages: source code edit ing, program assembling, program execution and program debugging. With its predecessor these stages were loaded into memory separately — wasting valuable development time - but now these tools are memory resident, saving time con- siderably.

Is it for you?

This is how we think different levels of user will react to the program.

@ Beginner

Devpac2 is not designed to be a tutorial to assembly language programming, so if you have по previous programming knowledge, learning 68000 language may prove too daunting a task - especially with the Amiga's audio-visual pro- cessors to cope with as well. Perhaps you should start by learning to program a high-level lan- guage such as Amiga Basic.

€ Intermediate

Devpac2 provides the perfect upgrade to users of Amiga Basic, 'C' or other Amiga assemblers. In fact users of 'C' will be able to link and debug their old programs using BLink and Monam - thus enjoying the best of both worlds.

@ Advanced

Devpac2 is the only real choice for the advanced assembler programmer and even includes a pocket guide to the 68000 instruction set for quick reference. All the include files are available, and the improved features of Monam really help at the crucial debugging stage.

The editor, assembler and debugger are easily mastered, extremely efficient and support а wide range of options

Features What made the original version of Devpac 50 suc cessful were its excellent text editor, fast macro

assembler and useful range of debugging tools. These features have been improved in four main ways

* Editor, assembler and debugger are now fully integrated. * Uses ARP (Amiga-

HIGHLIGHTS

Integrated fullscreen text edi- tor, macro assembler and multi-

DOS Replacement | window debugger. å Project) File | € Optional stand-alone version of Requester. the assembler.

* Maximum assem- bly time has doubled to 75,000 lines per minute (average time being 35,000 lines per minute).

* Numerous changes to the debugger such as improved user interface, multi-win- dow display апа stand-alone or assembler-resident operation.

DRAWBACKS

space.

Documentation

The manual covers everything from making а backup of the disks to giving advice on the best Amiga technical books, and takes you through the package's features in а steady and easy to understand way. For advanced users there are various reference sections - presenting technical information in а clear and concise way.

Verdict An almost essential purchase for the serious intermediate to advanced assembly language pro grammer.

9090999

Replay 4

Atari ST @ £79.95dk Microdeal 6 Box 68, St Austell, Corn- wall, PL25 4YB (0726 68020)

There seems no end to the list of sound samplers currently available for the ST. Nor, indeed, to the list of forthcoming samplers. While Replay isn't new, the 4 is. The 4 referring to the software ver-

So what's improved?

The new package has a wide range of improve- ments: MIDI facilities allow up to 10 samples individually assigned to different MIDI keys, real- time pitch shift (bend) and much better effects (echo, reverb and so on) control.

The Replay 4 package also includes the Drum- beat sample sequencing software. This lets you store 16 samples in memory and replay them three at a time (three-channel polyphonic). Up to 99 drum patterns can be stored in memory at once along with 70 song entries.

And are the major additions to the Replay digi- tising software: © Maximum sampling rate 5OkHz @ Adjustable sample-input triggering € Low-pass software filtering (low frequencies pass unhindered while higher frequencies are chopped) on samples held in memory © Real-time oscilloscope to monitor incoming sound © Real-time spectrum analyser © Ten samples can be held in memory © Selectable waveform display

Desk File eq Output Displa

et for input, the other for output

MAGNIFY 4040 RESET 40408 |^

Sampling rates are fixed — 5, 7.5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 and 50kHz. АП frequen cies, except the highest two, can be replayed through the computer's mon: itor. You'll need to hook Replay to an amp and speakers if

SAMPLE MI | LISTEN БЕРІЛУ LOOP 5С0РЕ | REDRAW

TRIGGER о 1 © you want to hear the

highest ^ playback

BLOCKS. copy INSERT | | DELETE Mj | CLEAR MM | FILTER

MIDI сн |<] 1l ^M frequencies.

REVERSE Bj | OVERLAY MI | FADE IN FADE OUT | SPECTRUM

Editing facilities

MIOI 81 MIDI 82 include reverse, fade

PRESET Mf 18 f 26 SL зы ғ?

sion

Replay 4 grabs sounds from powered sources (that's amplified noises from CD, record, tape and so on) and converts what it hears to digital equivalents. Digital sounds are stored in the computers memory as numbers. Because numbers are what the computer under-

HIGHLIGHTS

43 із fio PITCH in/out, merge, filter

copy, cut and paste

Documentation

Contents page, properly defined sections and even an index - a luxury indeed. Many hardware peripherals offer little more than a photocopied sheet. The only thing missing is pic- accompany the

@ Manual lacks index and glos-

sary. © Single-drive users may find the include files take up too much disk

stands best, almost any oper- ation can be performed on these values

explanatory text.

Verdict

User interface

Functions are selected by clicking on pretty icons or by clicking on items in drop down menus. It's a vast improvement over the old ver- sion; much easier to use and more logical. The manual is almost unnecessary.

Range of features Two phono sockets exist on the Replay board which slots into the ST's cartridge port. One sock-

DRAWBACKS

@ Manual could do with pictures to back-up text € Sample rates are preset

There's excellent provision for programmers wishing to incorporate samples into their programs, with source files in assembler and examples in all major versions of BASIC

A complete sampling and MIDI outfit rolled into one. Good value compared to simi- lar offerings. The software works efficiently and only lacks compression and audio monitoring facilities.

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ST To SCART Cable £12.00 Pools-System £40.00 Scribble (Brown Waugh)-Amiga 85.00 Atari SLM804 Laser Printer +SLMC804 £1129.99 Hi-Soft Basic Atari. £69.00 Organize (Brown Waugh)-Amiga £85.00 Epson NLX800 DOT Matrix 9 Pin Print £277.50 Power Basic Atari £46.00 BBS-PC! (Brown Waugh)-Amiga. £85.00 Star LC10-Mono/DOT Matrix 9 Pin £240.00 APL68000 Atari £86.25 Publisher 1000 (Brown Waugh)-Amiga £160.00 Star LC10-Colour/DOT Matrix! 9 Pin £260.00 Fast ST Basic (Rom) Atari £76.68 Music Studio (Activision)-Amiga. £29.00 Star LC24-10/24 Pin-Multifont £387.55 Fast ST Basic (Disk)-Atari £38.27 Lattice C (Metacomco)-Amiga £99.00 Star Laser Printer 8 (IMB Standard) £1740.89 + VAT Run Time Disk (Fast Basic)-Atain £10.64 Lattice C Prof (Metacomco)-Amiga £230.00 Eider Soft Graphic Tablet - Atari/Amiga .. £239.03 + УАТ Back Раск (Rom)-Atari £44.85 Studio Magic- Amiga 850.00 Amiga 500 + Starter Kit £318.00 + VAT Lisp (Metacomco)-Atari /Amiga £143.75 Pro Sound Designer (Complete)-Amiga. £65.00 As Above + Modulator £336.00 + VAT Pascal(Metacomco)-Atar/Amiga £83.95 Pro Sound(Software only Amiga £27.00 Amiga 500+1084Colour Mon+Starter £548.30 + VAT Expert Systems(Infogrms)-Atari £75.90 Pro Sound Designer with Midi Amiga £76.00 Amiga 500 Business Pack (A500 + Mono Forth MT(Abacus)-Atari £42.55 Pro Midi (Midi Sampler for PSD)-Amiga £27.00 Monitor «Printer + The Works+ Transformer. FTL Modula 2 (Hi-Soft)-Atari £62.10 Pro Sound Тоо! Kit-Amiga £27.00 Mono Text ІВМ-РС EMUL) £559.23+ VAT FTL Editor Toolkit -Atari £39.97 ‘Amiga 500 as above but with A1084 colour GFA Basic Interpreter-Atari £40.25 monitor instead of the Mono Monitor £674.00 + VAT GFA Basic Compiler-Atari £40.25 Amiga Modulator A520 £23.50 Lattices (Motacomoop-Atari £89.70 Atari 520 STFM (new) 1MB Drive with FREE £400 8501 БХР Bota VÅR ОЮК £110.00 Devpac ST-V2.00-Atari/Amiga £49.45 Worth of Software (plus Compusiop 1 Starter КІ. Amiga 1084 Colour Monitor £245.21 + VAT Logistix (Grafox)-Atari £95.45 6349.00. Atari 520 STFM as above plus Pools- Amiga 2000 £976.50 + VAT Masterplan (Ditek)-Atari £69.00 System -£359.00 Amiga 2000 -1084 Colour Mon £1151.75 + VAT VIP Professional Gem-Atari £110.40 Amiga 20MB Hard DRive for 2000 £620.00 Superbase Professional-Atari £190.23 Micron 2MB Mem.Expansion -A2000 £370.42 « VAT Superbase Personal-Atari/Amiga £77.29 Atari 1040STFM(New)+Compushot 1 Starter ...£449.00 Micron 2 MB Mem.Expansion Fleet Street Publisher-Atari £98.51 Atari 1040STFM as above + Pools-System ..... £459.00 А500/А1000 £391.72« VAT Signum (Signa)-Atari £160.00 Atari 104 STFM + Mono Mon. £533.00 Pro RAM2000 (8MB RAM) Unpopulated . £198.00 +VAT 1st Word Plus (GST)-Atari £65.00 Atari 1040STFM + Mono + PLSTM £549.00 Flicker Fixer £281.50 «VAT Wordwriter (Timeworks)-Atari £65.00 Atari Mega ST2 + Compushot 1 Starter £775.00 Genlock A5000/A2000- (A8802) £212,60 +VAT ST Doctor (Computer Concepts) £16.00 Mega ST? as above + Pools-System £785.00 Proff. 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Colour/Mono Switch ) £33.48 Mega ST2 + Mono + Laser Printer + Monitor Station (Tit & Swivel) for ай Turbo ST (Software Blitter) Atari £33.48 Fleet St Publisher « 1st Word « Starter £1999.00 Ла тоа £18.95 PC-Ditto-Atari (IBM EMUL.) £60.98 Mega ST2 as above + PLSSTM 2009.00 Monitor Master (Best in the market for any Атап — Flash-Bak & Flash-Cache (High Speed Hard Disk Mega ST4 + Mono + Laser Printer +Fleet St 57,520,1040 Mega STs-Colour/Mono Switch Box.£30.00 Utilities) For the Atari ST £28.43 Publisher Ist Word«20MB Hard Disk+Starter .£2698.00 Mouse Master (Unique Mouse & Joystick Saved! (The Desk Accessory)-Atari £24.20 Mega 574 as above + PLSSTM 6271000 Switch, Allows connection of 2 Joysticks & Hi-Soft WERCS. (Wimp Environment Resource Triangle 1MB 2nd Drive-Atari £95.00 а Mouse or any other Controller with any Construction Set. Easy to use and powerful RCS. Triangle Dble 3.5" Drive-only for the Atari STs combination that you'll require. No unplugging Works in any resolution. Intuitive environment and STMs-not for the STFMs £179.00 cables. The best Mouse/Joystick Port Contrilier) 8 complete facilities) 24.20 Triangle 2.5" Drive 40/80 Track Atari £130.00 AtarvAmiga £21.00 TWIST The best software switcher. Up to 14 programs Triangle 5.25" with PC Ditto Atari £199.00 Mouse Path (The best Mouse Mat around resident at the same time-Atari £24.20 Triangle IBM 2nd Drive Amiga £85.00 Special anti-static & unique surface for STAC . The best adventure creating program Triangle Internal A2000 31/2" Kit £79.00 a better grip & short distance travel. Perfect for the Atari. Creating your own adventures Cumana IMB 2nd Drive Atari £112.90 for any Mouse on any Computer) £5.50 for fun ог sale £29.08 Cumana IMB2nd Drive-Amiga £125.00 Monitor Stands ( Very elegant and specially made Acquisition-Amiga £183.90 Атап 20MB Hard Disk Drive (SH205) £548.00 to fit any Atari ог any Amiga computer) £24.00 Digi Paint (PAL)-Amiga £34.91 Triangle 20MB Hard Disk Drive-Atari £435.00 Unistand Printer Stand £9.50 Digi View V 3.0 (Inc Adapter) - Amiga £136.00 Triangle 40MB Hard Drive-Atari £603.18 PVC Dust Cover - Mega STs £750 Digi Droid-Amiga. £56.50 Supra 20MB Hard Drive £502.57 PVC Dust Cover - 520STFM, 1040STFM £4.00 Photon Paint-Amiga £53.50 Supra 30MB Hard Drive. £633.40 PVC Dust Cover -5С1223, SM125 £5.00 Express Paint V.2,0-Amiga £46.30 Miracle WS2000 MODEM (Atari-Amiga) £115.00 Disk Boxes; 40 * 35° Disks, £8,95 Face 11 Amiga £19.00 Miracle WS4000 MODEM (Atari-Amiga) £169.00 Disk Boxes: 80 * 3.5" Disks £10.95 F-Basic -Amiga £55.50 Linnet MODEM (Atari-Amiga) £140.00 Disk Boxes: 100 " 3.5" Disks £12.95 X CAD Amiga £333.50 Series Four 2123S MODEM (Atari-Amiga) .......£260.00 Disk Boxes: 120 * 3.5: Disk £13.95 Pro Write V.2.0 - Amiga £65.00 Nightingale MODEM (Amiga) Man. Dia £110.00 Disk Boxes: 50” 5.25" Disks £8.95 Kind Words-Amiga £39.50 RS232 MODEM Cable (Atari-Amiga) ©1200 Disk Boxes: 120: 5.25" Disks £13.95 Analyze! V.2.0 (Brown Waugh) Amiga £107.75 Printer Cable (Amiga/ST) £12.00

New Atari РСЗ IBM-PC compatible with switchable clock speed-4.77 MHZ or 8МН2 8088 Micro Processor. ЕСА CGA«Hercules Graphics Modes. Built in Twin Drive. 640KRAM. MS DOS 3.2 Operating System, Optional 8087 Maths Co-Processor Socket. Detachable XT Style Keyboard. Includes Parallel 8 RS232 Serial Ports. 256K Screen RAM . Supplied with Mouse Mono Screen Resolution of 720"350. Colour Screen Res. 640"350. Palette of 64 Colours. 16 can be displayed at the same time. Works with any CGA. MDA.EGA or Multi Frequency Monitor. Comes with FREE Software 8 FREE Manual. R.R.P. = £647.49. Our price is only £580.00 inclusive! Atari РСЗ as above + EGA Mono Monitor R.R.P.= £747.49. Our price is only £670.00 inclusive!!! Atari РСЗ + EGA

Mono Monitor + 30 MB Hard Disk R.R.P. = £10.92.49. Our price is only £819.99 + VAT!!! All prices are inclusive of VAT & Delivery unless otherwise stated. Access Prices inclusive of VAT & deliver unless otherwise stated. These are only some examples, for more information call : COMPUSHOP 1 ОМ: —01-738-8400 ғ ~ If you do not see it, it does not mean we do not have it. Please call us and you will not regret it. P

Prices are always fluctuating up or down. Call for the latest information and for availability. Май Order Only. Speedy Delivery. No Hidden Extras

STOP PRESS. Look 3 1/2" Disc(DSDD): 10 for £11.00. 20 for £21.00. 40 for £40.00, and 50 for £47.50. For the best prices for all Atan-Amiga Hardware (Computers, Peripherals and Accessories call: Compushop 1 at 01-736.8400. (Маке Chas/P.O.s payable to Apolonia Software) and send to: Apolonia Software. DPT NCE 11, South Bank Business Centre, Unit 25(M). Thames House. 140 Battersea Park Road. London. SW11 4NB.

APOLONIA SOFTWARE -THE COMPANY THAT CARES

BARCLAYCARD

PC GRAPHICS

SPECIAL FEATURE БЕНЕН |

WHY won't this ЛЮ program run?

he earliest personal computers, from the ZX81 onwards, used the easiest possible method of generat- ing а screen display: а simple video chip driving а domestic TV set. For many years that set-up was sufficient.

However, as users demanded increased resolution, а greater range of colours and better image definition, display adaptors became more complex and the TV set became inadequate. Today's systems, typi- fied by the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga, generate high-resolution, multi- colour graphics requiring dedicated video monitors to display the resulting images.

But from the user's point of view, even these systems are fairly simple to use: you simply buy the appropriate monitor for your machine. For users of IBM PCs and compat- ibles, however, things aren't that simple.

When IBM launched the PC in 1981, the basic system had no display adaptor at all, although two plug-in video cards were available as ‘optional’ extras: the Mono Dis- play Adaptor (MDA), and the Color Graph- ics Adaptor (CGA). As the name suggests, the former displayed a monochrome pic- ture, but it was also a text-only adaptor. The ССА was IBM's first attempt at meet- ing demand for graphics and colour.

However, these features were achieved only at the expense of text displays, and CGA is far from ideal for text-based appli- cations. This led to a third attempt, the Enhanced Graphics Adaptor (EGA).

With the introduction of last year's PS/2 systems, IBM moved on. The low-level models in the range, the Models 25 and 30, use a system called the Multi-Color Graph- ics Array (MCGA), while the 'true' PS/2 machines use the new standard, the Video Graphics Array (VGA).

The MDA, CGA and EGA adaptors are all

The three most lieet standards —————

available as plug-in cards, and with gen- uine IBM PCs you must buy one before the system is usable. However, most clone manufacturers equip their machines with one or more adaptors as standard, and with the PS/2 machines IBM now builds the dis- play adaptors into the basic hardware.

The picture is further complicated by dis- play adaptors from third-party manufactur- ers. Many of these have dedicated applica- lions in computer-aided design and desk- top publishing, for example, but some, like the adaptors from Hercules, have become

TECH SPECS

PC Display Standards: the breakdown

Because it uses a graphics standard that's incompatible with your PC. There are more than SIX such standards, so it's no wonder PC users tear their hair out. To ease the pain PETER WORLOCK, him- self still surprisingly hairy, gives you this complete guide.

alternatives to IBM's standards.

The end-result of this confusion means good news, and bad, for PC owners. The good news is that, unlike Amiga owners, for example, youre not stuck with one graphics system. If you need more resolu- tion, or more colours, you can simplybuy a more powerful plug-in-and-go adaptor.

The bad news is that not all software is compatible with all adaptors, and that as the adaptors become more powerful, you need to buy more powerful and more expensive, monitors.

Hercules

Text modes 1

Graphic modes

Text colours 2

Graphic colours

5 5 3 кә [es ||

Palette size

263,000

Мах resolution

SUITABILITY FOR APPLICATIONS

640x200 | 640x 350 | 640x480 | 720x348

Word-processing

Business ^

Games

DTP

CAD

RANGE OF SOFTWARE AVAILABLE

Word-processing

Games

DTP.

CAD

Ф EGA - that's more like it. 16 colours on-screen

12 NOVEMBER 1988 • NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS + em

| МЕШИНИ SPECIAL FEATURE es

| | | | | |

MDA: Mono Display Adaptor

The MDA is the simplest display adaptor and so limited that it is virtually unavail- able today. Producing 80 x 25 character text displays in two colours, it does provide highly readable text but no graphics.

CGA: Colour Graphics Adaptor The CGA represents a minimal improve- ment. It's 80 x 25 text display can use 16 pre-set colours, but the smaller character matrix results in a loss of definition that makes text displays very tiring on the eyes over long periods. Definitely not recom- mended for word processing or spread- sheet work.

The CGA provides two graphics modes. A 640 x 200 display in black & white only, and a 320 x 200 mode with four colours. Unfor- tunately, colour selection is limited to a choice between two colour palettes green/red/brown/one other, or white/light blue/purple/one other. In each case, the ‘other’ colour can be one of the 16 text- mode shades.

EGA: Enhanced Graphics Adaptor With the EGA, IBM got it right. To start with, the EGA can emulate both MDA and CGA adaptors, so software written for those will run perfectly. But it also does things neither of its predecessors can do. Resolution is 640 x 350, and it can display 16 colours from a palette of 64, even in its highest-resolution graphics mode.

This means that text displays are highly readable, but quality graphic images can also be generated.

MCGA: Multi-col. Graphics Array The adaptor used in the PS/2 Models 25 and 30 is a logical development of its pre- decessors. Resolution has again been stepped up, to 640 x 480 pixels, and much more powerful colour facilities are provid- ed. The MCGA uses analog RGB to display up to 256 colours at once, from a total palette of 262,144 shades, which puts even the Amiga in the shadows.

VGA: Video Graphics Array Essentially, MCGA is a sub-set of the VGA standard which in turn is a sort of ‘enhanced EGA’ so that many programs written for EGA will run unmodified on a VGA system. However, the VGA offers many extra modes, including 720 x 400 text modes, 640 x 480 graphics modes, and the same colour system as the MCGA.

A range of VGA adaptors are now avail- able which means that even a humble £500 PC clone is capable of producing very high quality displays unrivalled by any other machine (with the exception of a £10,000 Macintosh II), provided it is equipped with the right monitor.

Hercules

Manufacturer Hercules came up with its own solution to the problems set by the MDA. The Hercules card is а mono adaptor capable of producing high-quality text dis- plays and high resolution graphics. For many applications, the lack of colour is not a problem, so the Hercules card has

become а popular alternative to IBM's own display adaptors. That popularity in turn has meant that many software publishers have supported the Hercules card, estab- lishing it as а standard in its own right.

Further developments include the HGC+, which provides for customised fonts - quicker and more economical on RAM than graphics-generated fonts; the Hercules Color Card which is effectively a CGA card; and the Hercules InColor Card which is an EGA version of the mono card.

Others

Several third-party manufacturers offer graphics adaptors that exceed even VGA in screen resolution and available colours. For example, card maker Genoa has a SuperV-

GA card with resolution up to 1024 x 768 in 16 colours, and 800 x 600 in 256 colours.

Often, these super graphics cards have such unusual displays that manufacturers bundle them with special monitors. NEC, for example, has the MonoGraph system, featuring 1024 x 1024 graphics, bundled with a paper-white monitor specifically for desktop publishing applications.

The problem with these systems is soft- ware compatibility. Generally, the manufac- turer will have to convince software pub- lishers to include support for these odd graphics modes, and few publishers are willing. Therefore, you must check that the software you regularly use will be compati- ble with your would-be graphics system @

When you buy a PC, you should make sure you get the display mode most suitable for your needs. Most manufacturers (Amstrad has been a key exception - see below) allow you to 'mix and match’.

For example, if you buy a low- cost PC clone you could ask

How to get kitted out

your dealer to fit it either with a CGA card costing £50-100 (many such cards now also include Hercules and MDA thrown in), or with an EGA card (which may again include less Powerful standards) for £80- 150.

You could even opt for a VGA

card at £200-250, although there is little point in putting such sophisticated graphics into a £500 PC - it would lack the processing power to run VGA at an acceptable speed.

If you are kitted out with more than one graphics standard, you can use MS-DOS to switch between them, although you will need to have a suitable monitor connected for the one you are running.

The main price to be paid for the PC's graphics flexibility is the com- plication of finding the correct mon- itor,

At the simplest level, you can connect all display adaptors to a monochrome monitor. Although there is obviously no question of colour display, systems like the CGA, EGA and VGA cards will oper- ate in mono mode, substituting up to 64 shades of grey for the usual colour shades:

Ascending the scale of graphics power also takes you up the price scale. The cheapest PC colour

monitor problem

monitors are CGA-compatible sys- tems - digital RGB monitors capa- ble of displaying 16 colours. Although these monitors are colour- compatible with EGA, the higher vertical resolution of the EGA cards mean CGA monitors don't work.

Dedicated EGA monitors are also digital RGB, but have a higher scan- ning frequency to get the extra lines onto the screen.

The introduction of the VGA stan- dard brought a matching develop- ment in monitor technology: the multisync monitor. These models have much higher frequencies

capable of displaying the very high resolutions of the VGA modes, and are also analog RGB types, neces- sary for the large range of colours supported.

But if these monitors displayed only the VGA modes, they would be unusable with the earlier CGA and EGA adaptors. Therefore they need to be able to change scanning fre- quency according to the graphics mode in use. Unfortunately, these advanced features don't come cheap.

As a rule of thumb, monitor Prices rise in £100 units: a mono monitor might cost £100, a CGA unit £200, an EGA unit £300, and upwards of £400-for a multisync model.

There is a broader issue of soft- ware compatibility with all video adaptors. Clearly, software writ- ten for a powerful adaptor will not work on a simpler system. More frustrating is the reverse, software that will not run on тоге powerful systems even in

Software Compatibility

its original, graphically crude, form.

Although there is a large overlap, e.g. between VGA and EGA, in most respects adaptors differ from each other in crucial ways. Screen memory can be in different locations, so that any

program that alters video RAM is unlikely to work on other adaptors. This is common with games software.

There are particular problems with Hercules mono graphics adaptors. Although the vast majority of applications - such as word processors, spread- sheets and databases - will run happily on Hercules systems, again few games will.

Owners of the older Amstrad PCs (1512 and 1640) have а peculiar set of problems when it comes to graphics adaptors. At the root of many of these difficulties is Amstrad's decision to put the sys- tem power supply in the monitor — a practice it has thankfully stopped in its new PC2000 range. Although the PC1512 supports both mono

Where Amstrad got it wrong

and CGA displays, you can't simply Swap your mono monitor for a CGA unit without also buying a standard PC power supply for your system unit.

Things are further complicated by the fact that Amstrad hard-wired the video circuitry to the main motherboard, which means that you're stuck with the graphics stan-

dards supplied with your machine. The only way 1512 owners, for example, can move up to EGA is to sell their entire system and buy an EGA-equipped PC.

Although Amstrad did provide its own 16-colour mode, ostensibly meeting some of the demand for EGA, it is completely non-standard and therefore precious little soft- ware takes advantage of it Amstrad itself recognised the prob- lem and no longer supports this 16- colour mode.

* NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS + 12 NOVEMBER 1988

TIMES HAVE . CHANGED...

But the problems havent

There was a time when all you needed to create the right impression was а good typewriter. Times have changed since Jim got his Home Portable, but the problems are still the same. From multi-national companies to the local squash club, everyone wants their printed material to be the best.

Until now Jim wouldn't have had much choice. He could do the job himself on his trusty Home Portable - or his word processor - or put the work out to а design studio and have it typeset. And he'd pay the price - with low quality or high costs. Now there's a new choice. One that gives you the quality you'd expect from a studio, at a price less than some people might pay for а word processor! Timeworks Desktop Publisher turns your PC and printer into an instant electronic print shop.

What's even better is the unique blend of publishing power, versatility, and ease of understanding that Timeworks Desktop Publisher gives you. And there’s a Guided Tour tutorial to get you up and running in under an hour! No need for sophisticated hard- ware either. Timeworks Desktop Publisher works equally well on a 512k twin floppy PC with a 9-pin matrix printer, or the latest 386 PC or PS/2 driving a Postscript laser printer. So you don't need to throw your software away when you upgrade your

system.

€ Easy to use pull-down menus and on-line help.

plus on-screen rulers to show you exactly where you are.

Wide variety of built-in fonts, sizes and sty

€ Import text from leading word processors including Ist Word Plus, WordStar, Word Perfect and Microsoft Word, plus ASCII files.

9 Typesetting functions include kerning and leading.

aragraph tags allow you to repeat styles easily.

FONTS, SIZES & STYLES ұлыды ышы ын)

36р! Swiss roman

Jim would have loved Timeworks Desktop Pub- lisher. Isn't it just what you’ve been waiting for?

“То my mind its ease of operation and flexibility probably make this the most powerful DTP package around”.

Claire Mainwaring, Amstrad Professional Computing, September 1988 “The software supports all the major features offered by Ventura, plus a few more . . . Timeworks DTP seems to represent remarkable

value for money”. Desktop Publishing, March 1988

22,0 1

PUBLISHER

NCE

Е ==

Please send me further information on the Timeworks Desktop Publisher. Timeworks Desktop Publisher includes the GEM*/3 Desktop. NAME Timeworks Desktop Publisher is a trademark of Timeworks, ADDRESS

Inc. and GST Software Products Ltd. GEM 3 is a registered trademark of Digital Research Ltd. All other manufacturers’ trademarks or registered trademarks are acknowledged.

POST CODE

Electric Distribution, 8 Green Street. Willingham, Cambridge, CB4 51А. Telephone: 0954 61258 Telex: 81113 (PMPROF G) Fax: 0954 80318.

ENTERTAINMENT

REVIEW

М elcome to the New Computer Express games section, the liveliest, most up-to-the-minute reviews pages for miles. You'll notice that our reviews are laid out differently from run-of-the-mill computer mags. We:

@ use a simple, no-holds barred, no-fuss star rating system, where only the very best games get the coveted five-star rating. © break up reviews into easily-digested sections relating to scenario, gameplay, graphics etc. - no more hunting through great wodges of text to find out what you

want to know.

© take version differences seriously. You'll always know what machine the game's being reviewed on, but we'll give you information about other versions too. give games of particular merit their very own box, together with a flash to say what's so good about them.

944 TURBO CUP

LORICIEL

ST + £19.99/22.99dk Also on Amiga, CPC Versions planned for PC, Spec, C64

@ It's turbo time as you push that Porsche on course

Coming firmly back to Earth after the hover- ing hi-jinks of Space Racer, Loriciels' 944 sets out to simulate top French racing driver Rene Metge's skills at the wheel of his 250 b.h.p. Porsche Turbo.

As Monsieur Metge is the man who rescued Mark Thatcher from the Sahara, you might well expect this game to feature plenty of brainless driving. But you'd be wrong. € GAMEPLAY You can choose between four circuits of varying dif- ficulty after qualifying for your start position from a practice lap where you're the only car on the course. Then you're up there with the pros and pushing that joystick for all it's worth to steer your way to first place within the two laps that constitute each race. Control is pretty responsive and can either be effected by keyboard or one or two joy- sticks.

Two joysticks ? Yes, one for acceleration, braking and steering - the other for gear changes - but don't despair if you don't have two, gear changing will be automatic.

Gunning your way round practice laps is fine - after a little practice the Porsche settles down to your grip — but it's in the racing that things get a lit- tle hairy. The other drivers weave all over the place and it's all too easy to collide and difficult to over- take. To make matters worse, you seem to be the only driver who's car is vulnerable - all other vehi- cles career on without a dint in sight! Take a bend too fast and you spin out of control, hit one of the immortals and you lose valuable time while your car miraculously regenerates trackside.

@ GRAPHICS AND SOUND

944 comes on two discs, the first containing a load up screen and some of the best digitised music you're likely to hear on an ST - Captain Blood's

intro included. Then it's down to the purring of the Porsche as you punish it around the scrolling cir- cuits. Your view of the action is from over and behind the car you're driving rather than the more usual cockpit viewpoint. But despite feeling as though you're manning a helicopter camera, you soon get the feel of the wheel. All cars are solid chunky sprites set on backgrounds featuring grand- stands, signs and arrows beside two and threeJane roads.

@ OTHER VERSIONS

The ST, Amiga and PC versions will come with an optional model Porsche, hints and tips from Rene Metge on each of the courses and tech-specs on the Porsche for an extra £4. If you want these on the &bits you'll have to send off for them. It's too early to say what the other versions will be like yet but it's a fair bet that the Amiga one will take pole Position by employing stereo FX.

@ EXPRESS VERDICT

Frame update ain't spectacularly fast and control is a little finnicky but neither really detract from an above average speedo-sim. Half a dozen more cir- cuits and a bunch of drivers who hit the tarmac from time to time would improve it no end. 944 scores high in the Road Wars when up against the likes of Out Run but it's a close race against the realism of cockpitview sims.

ооо

TOMAHAW

ALIN ATION

PCW 9512, £19.95dk Also on PCW 8256/8512, CPC, C64, Spec

| Detailed instrument panel and fast-moving 3D graphics make this а graphic treat on the PCW

Tomahawk is rather long in the tooth for review now, but for the fact that the PCW ver- sion is now 9512 compatible.

@ VERSION UPDATE

The PCW version of Tomahawk is reckoned by many to be the best of those available, and although it's now a couple of years old, it's still an excellent game - particularly on a machine where

new games releases are few and far between.

The game is a helicopter combat/flight sim based on the U.S. Army AH-64 Apache Advanced Attack Helicopter. Four missions are available, ranging from simple flying training through combat to strate- gic domination of the whole map area.

In addition to this, four difficulty levels can be selected, not to mention a range of different flying conditions - day/night, clear/overcast, height of cloudbase, crosswinds and turbulence. The last option is recommended for the experienced pilot only.

Tomahawk is about as accurate a helicopter simu- lation as the hardware permits, so don't expect to be able to sit down and fly your Apache like а veter- an within the first five minutes - or five days, for that matter.

Those four missions give you а great deal to do, and with the various difficulty levels and flying condi- tions available it'll take а long, long time to burn this game out. Unless you've got absolutely no patience with instruction books, the message for PCW own- ers is simple. Buy it.

0000

Rod Lawton

GUERILLA WAR

IMAGINE

Spectrum • £8.95cs, £9.95dk Also on C64, CPC Out soon on ST, Amiga

их 100000

Imagine's latest offering is a conversion of the Shin Nihon Kikaku Corp. (SNK) arcade coin-op Guerrilla War, which is a multi-level, vertically scrolling shoot'em-up іп the Commando/Ikari Warriors mould.

@ GAMEPLAY

You take the role of a marine assigned to rescue some helpless inhabitants of a tropical island taken hostage by an evil dictator (and his minions) known only as The Tyrant.

ee NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS * 12 NOVEMBER 1988

ENTERTAINMENT

REVIEW

Armed only with a machine gun and grenades, it's your duty to kill on sight any enemy forces that try to stop you. On your mission through swamps, rivers, and ruined towns you'll not only encounter ‘grunts’ (foot soldiers to me or you) but also tanks, emplacements and devious traps. Fortunately, armament improvements can be found along the way, such as bazookas, flamethrowers and the ulti- mate toy — your very own tank,

Each of the five levels contains a different style of enemy attack pattern and end-oflevel guardian - who is tougher than your average mercenary, requiring approximately 32 shots to kill.

At the end of the fifth level, you'll fight The Tyrant within the splendour of his grand palace © GRAPHICS AND SOUND The individual sprite and background definitions are good, but are let down by their merging together during play - making it hard to see your marine іп the heat of the action. The vertical scrolling is com- petent rather than exceptional.

Guerrilla War is accompanied by a funky little soundtrack on the title screen with functional sound- effects during play.

@ OTHER VERSIONS

The C64 and CPC versions should be available as you read this, with the ST and Amiga versions fol- lowing shortly afterwards. No other details are cur rently available.

€ EXPRESS VERDICT

Guerrilla War replicates its arcade parent quite Closely in the audio-visual departments, but despite the simultaneous two-player option, it fails to pro- duce a really playable game due to the sprite-back- ground merging factor.

Guerrilla War is one for fans of the arcade game or Commando genre only, and is definitely one to try before you buy.

ооо

Rik Haynes

Amiga • £14.99dk No other versions planned

The first of nine 16-bit games to be released by this German company via а tie-up with Microprose, Crystal Hammer is а Breakout clone high on style.

How does it match up to its definitive predecessor - Arkanoid? - or for that matter Crack, Impact, Tonic Tile and Giganoid? € GAMEPLAY Bat and ball screen games have been around for so long there shouldn't be anyone out there who does- n't know what you have to do. Crystal Hammer fea-

% Crystal Hammer's stunning backdrops and fast animation push ‘screen updates to the maximum

out soon on Amiga, PC

Over the years there have been umpteen car-racing games released onto a market that's not too choosy about the level of simu- lation involved. Recent outings along the lines of Roadblasters, Overlander and Fire and Forget have added blast-em- up features to the endless circuit driving. Release a variation that combines depth, skill and strategy and you're onto a winner. Aren't you ? € GAMEPLAY The full Lombard RAC Rally has you driving your 300bhp Sierra Cos- worth against the clock around all 15 stages of the 5 legs comprising the event. But you must first prove your com- petence by playing all five legs in any order you wish and win at least one prize overall by finishing first, second or third in any one of them. Each of the 5 legs consists of 3 sepa- rate stages - road, mountain and forest - and on selection

you are given dis- €Upinto third for the long haul along the mountain edge

plays of the route map, thé route type and conditions (daylight, night and fog), the prescribed times, the prize money for achieving those times and the competi- tion you're up against.

Driving the Cosworth with a joystick is pretty straightforward; you steer by pushing left and right and accelerate or brake by pushing for- wards or backwards. Changing up or down the Bears is achieved by clicking on fire while moving the stick forward or back.

Effective gear-changing is the key to Lombard – the twists and turns, hills and valleys, and variable visibility all combine to require some fast reflex action. It's all too easy to miss a bend or mis- judge your braking and thereby leave the road surface or hit a passing tree — varying damage to your car will result and you'll lose valuable time. This means youll need to keep an eye on the State of your engine, bodywork, suspension and tyres because sooner or later you'll have to enter the workshop for repairs. And, of course, repairs cost money.

If you don't have much luck finishing anywhere, let alone іп the first three, you can opt to ‘appear’ in a TV interview where correctly answering a series of questions will top up your cash balance. € GRAPHICS AND SOUND Getting to grips with the Cosworth's handling characteristics is made more difficult by the size

of the windowed view of the road ahead. Only the top third of the screen is devoted to the route at hand - the remainder comprising a view of the cockpit interior replete with convincingly animated steering wheel, dials and gear changes.

The view ahead, whilst scrolling smoothly enough, could perhaps have been a little larger but then this does have the effect of speeding up

the action considerably and compounding the sense of urgency when you're bat: tling for a winning time.

Each of the three terrains is welldepicted - the mountain sequences being especially worthy

of note. A nice inclusion is in those

stages where you're driving through fog -

the distance you can see ahead is entirely depen- dent on the state of repair of your headlights. It's

ШЕ]

neat touches like that which add a degree of real- ism to Lombard and underline its attempt at authenticity. But sound effects are less convinc- ing - it's not easy to hear when you're over- rewing and need to change gear because differ- ent rpm sounds tend to be largely indistinguish- able.

@ EXPRESS VERDICT

Lombard/RAC Rally is a great attempt to convey the peaks and pitfalls of the world of rallying. If you're tired of the same old tracks and bored with highway hijinks, then this one's well worth a look. The variety of gameplay and attention to detail should ensure its success.

0000 Andy Storer

12 NOVEMBER 1988 + NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS + mm

TIME TO TALK

PRINTERS or s

+15% VAT = £149.95 +15% VAT = £199.95

The size of а mouse but the capabilities of а photocopier. Just slide the scanner over text EXPR or graphics to copy onto your screen. EXPRESS Includes software for converting scanned text to ASCII file & graphics editing

Type? (b/w scanning only) .... £199.95 inc. vat

i : я Å Type 3 (16 grey scales) £299.95 inc. vat | : It's time to talk about quality of service. Lots of companies are (with window омен the s е ard байар ing advertising lots of products at excellent prices. But we believe that AFUlPaga Scanner £590.00 inc. vat our customers deserve more than that. We believe that you have FA en the right to demand an honest, in-depth appraisal of а product's Scanner. strengths and weaknesses before you buy. We believe you should get а description in terms that you can understand and perhaps an expert comparison with rival products. And if you decide to buy, you need to be assured of first-class service afterwards. Not just if a product is faulty, but also if you need help in installation or if you simply come up against a problem that stumps you.

We ACCEPT

EXPRESS VOUCHERS

Printers to suit every pocket and every computer — from 9-pin to laser printers, ‘normal or wide carriage. Free connection cable with every printer sold.

The Star LC10 in mono or colour with paper- park and font-select buttons.

The Citizen 120D — sold to 70% of UK schools. The new 180E — faster printing, font

select, 2 year guarantee. At MGT we've got the time to talk to you. We only sell products

Typical prices (inc. VAT) that we like and use ourselves. We understand what we sell, and

StarLC-10 £239.95 every one of our sales team is trained to help you, whether before

StarLC-10 £269.95 you buy or after. And even if we don't know the answer to your a Citizen 1200 £149.95 question, or if we don't stock the product you're looking for, we'll MGT BRAND 3.5 Citizen 1808 АЛ £199.95 find out about it for you. DSDD DISCS Citizen MSP 15E (wide carriage)........£299.00 = 5 м а Citizen HOP 40 (24- pin) £499.00 And the time to talk can be almost any time. Our phone lines are

Citizen Overture 110+ £1449.00 open till 7p.m. Monday to Friday in case you want to call us after (laser printer running at 10 pages per minute = 900 CPS work — even after that, there's ап answer-phone. Just leave a MITES а T message and we'll call you back.

Ask for our detailed brochures on these and other printers in our range.

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3.5” DRIVES

MGT Name - MGT quality, with a lifetime for the 1512/1640 quarantee! Sold individually or in plastic

are supplied + 15% VAT = £99.95 Suddenly everyone's wiha Simple boxes of 10 with labels turning from 5.25 to 3.5 instruction sheet. Ex-Vat W/Vat Transfer images from a video camera drives. Now MGT offers you Б All you'll need is a 1 Disc £147 £ 1.69 or video recorder to your screen, save а neat, easy-to-install + 15% VAT = £99.95 screwdriver, and you'll 10 Discs £13.00 — £14.95 the image as a file or print it in solution to convert your be able to use 3,5" discs 20 Discs £24.30 — £27.95 internal Amstrad drive to a immediately. You won't even 30 Discs £33.00 £37.95

newspaper qualily with 16 levels of shading. fe

3.5” version with a top quality Citizen mechanism. All internal mountings, cables and screws (just 6 of them)

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REVIEW Ee

lures 30 levels of blocks which need to be destroyed and 8 types of invading obstacles designed to make that objective a great deal more difficult. There are all the usual 'feature-capsules you must catch — giving you lasers, triple balls, extra lives and so on. Where Crystal Hammer dif- fers slightly is that some of these capsules auto- matically switch you to the next level while others destroy you.

€ GRAPHICS AND SOUND

Dense block arrays on super-solid backgrounds make Crystal Hammer an enjoyable visual feast. Whilst the animation of the ball is both ultra-smooth and, at times, incredibly fast, that of the moving obstacles has ап intended flicker — which unfortunately veers towards epileptic frequencies. Spot sound effects only add atmosphere to visuals of this quality and serve to rescue you from com- plete and utter mesmerisation.

@ EXPRESS VERDICT

If Breakout clones are your scene and as Arkanoid - Revenge of Doh has yet to appear on the Amiga, Crystal Hammer may well be worth a look. Of course you may have already purchased Giganoid in which case you probably won't bother. But if the dif- ference between 15 and 20 quid is a big one for you then Crystal Hammer's the one. Don't forget the Optrex!

ооо Andy Storer

CAVEMAN UGH-LYMPICS

ELECTRONIC AR

C64 + £14,95dk No other versions planned

% What will the Anti-Sexist Software Committee say about the Mate Toss event?

Caveman Ugh-Lympics takes the familiar joy- stick-waggling sports-sim genre and places it in a new scenario - prehistoric times. € GAMEPLAY After choosing your caveman from a selection of six athletes — each with their own strengths and weak- nesses - it's time to compete in each of the await- ing events: Mate Toss, Clubbing, Dino Vault, Dinosaur Race, Firemaking and Sabretooth Tiger Race. € GRAPHICS AND SOUND Ugh contains a wide variety of cartoon-style sprite designs. Unfortunately, their definition is blocky, with very few frames of animation. The backdrops are simple but effective.

Soundtracks and sound effects are very rudimen- tary - with some soundtracks being intentionally awful.

THE MARS $

No other versions planned

Compared to the exotic locations of most fantasy role-playing games, The Mars Saga takes place almost on our own back doorstep.

Your task, as adventurer Tom Jetland, is to learn what fate has befallen one of Mars' four cities, Proscenium, the farthest outpost on the newly- colonised red planet. € GAMEPLAY You start your adventure in the Martian city of Primus, basically penniless, friendless and Clueless. You will gain experience points only from your travels and encounters with other residents — not the easiest of things, bearing in mind Mars has been colonised by convicts brought in to work in the Martian mines. It's difficult to travel far in the city without being accosted by muggers or hoodlums. !

The first phase of the game is largely explo- ration, as you move about the city. Your Position is shown in a window in the top right of the screen, on a map made of a grid of squares. These are all blank to start with, but as you move through the city they disappear two blocks- ahead of where you're ‘looking’ to show the layout of build- ings and streets.

Top left is a window showing the view as seen through Tom Jetland's eyes. Below these two win- dows are the readouts for Tom's Might, Agility, Stamina and Health (as you recruit followers, their attributes are displayed too). At the bottom of the screen is a command box.

There is actually quite a range of buildings, including bars, armories, hospitals, combat train- ing centres and many more. If you sustain injuries during combat it's not a bad idea to trot along to the hospital to get yourself fixed up, while a visit to an armoury could see you better prepared next time...

Combat is almost a sub-game in itself, and can be handled either automatically by the computer or manually, The map screen is replaced by a blow-up of the combat area, and both you and your assailant are represented on-screen by small, viewed-from-above animated characters.

To recruit followers to assist you in your quest

Тһе combat screen - not that уои

AGA

you'll need to frequent the many local bars and eye up the customers. All mining operations have just been suspended (rather conveniently), so there are plenty of prospective allies kicking their heels at the moment. Once you've assembled your party and you're moving through the city, you can readily swap items from one to the other, and change the leader according to the hazards you face.

A code wheel is supplied with the packaging, and you'll need this once you're ready to leave the city to get the correct access code. A subtle form of copy protection perhaps? © GRAPHICS AND SOUND Given the nature of the gameplay, the graphics

arent the game's most important feature, and they are more than adequate for the job. The map window is rather basic (but that's all it needs to be anyway), while the action window is interesting only when there's some- thing happening. The combat screen is possibly the most interesting visually, though in the early stages you'll proba- bly be just watching the computer do work. Sound is good too, with a pleasant – if odd - musical accompaniment. @ EXPRESS VER- DICT There's only space here to give a glimpse of what the game s about. In fact Saga is the right name for it. There's so much to do and explore, with so many options to investigate it'll keep you going for a long, long time. The control method is simple and effective, without some of the horribly repetitive command sequences that mar other role-playing efforts. All in all, it's a good 'un.

0000

ER MOVE ORDERS

1 get to nick much from a beggar!

Rod Lawton

uiii pee БЫ

MIGT топ

JETLAND

ТІКЕ

9 Your view as you plod the streets of Primus

@ OTHER VERSIONS

Ugh is only available on C64 disk at present, but a C64 cassette version is currently under considera- tion. No other versions are planned.

@ EXPRESS VERDICT

Ugh is a novel twist on the old sports-sim theme,

using a very original and humorous approach. Short-term appeal is assured but long-term interest is doubtful. Ugh is probably a game for younger gamesters only.

ооо Rik Haynes

12 NOVEMBER 1988 NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS +

| ENTERTAINMENT

REVIEW

TURN OF

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far | away....well 1988 UK, actually - yes, that's right, The Force is with us again thanks to the guys at Domark.

Return of the Jedi is the third in a trilogy of home computer conversions - of the arcade games - of the movies - of the books - of the ideas - of George Lucas's Star Wars saga.

Get this - it's 2045, the Earth is dying and you, your family and friends have been assigned the task of carrying civilisation to the only known planet fit for human habitation out- side the solar system - Genus 2.

However, it has been agreed that only those who have a superior knowledge of ‘Genus Trivia’ will be admitted. Sound a little convoluted? You ain't heard nothing yet! € GAMEPLAY You and the other players are depicted by small robots who blast off through a starfield on your way across six galaxies to join the Mensa clones on Genus 2. Each galaxy has a bunch of planets which you can select to ‘land’ оп and have a question asked of you on a range of subjects.

It's largely a hitand-miss affair as to what type of question you'll be asked there, but there are sup- posed to be clues lurking in the planetary names to signify the subject.

Once you've selected your planet, you are greet-

€ GAMEPLAY Jedi is different to its predecessor in that it's not a vector-graphic game — images are in a psuedo-3D, diagonal- scrolling shoot'em-up style in a similar vein to the old classic Zaxxon.

During the different stages of the game you control the various Rebel charac- ters in an attempt to , destroy the емі Emperor and his Imperial Deathstar.

First it's Leia оп her Speederbike, batting it ой against Imperial Speeders and nat- ural hazards оп the forest moon of

. Chewbacca in an Imperial Scout Walker attacking the bunker pro- tecting the Death- Stars shield and Lando Calrissian in the Millennium Fal- con in a fight in

ed by a bizarre alien who produces a 'question bub- ble' out of thin air, You then answer out loud and click the mouse, whereupon the correct answer is displayed оп “5сгееп and you're asked to confirm whether you answered correctly or not – you'll have to rely on either your playmates or your conscience to rule out cheating here. If youre wrong, play passes to the next player, if you're right, you go on to the next planet in that sytem. Some planets contain objects such as scrolls and microscopes which you can collect if you answer the posed ques tion correctly, whereupon you're miraculously trans- ported to another galaxy. And the next series of

Pisa will have fallen over before this gets to No. 1

questioning begins. Find all six objects and you're off to Genus 2 where you're greeted by six white- haired dwarfs with beards who represent different

( ST: Leia and Imperial Stormtrooper sorting the wood from the trees

space against Imperial Tie Fighters and Star

Destroyers.

The final stage consists of Lando travelling through the inner workings of the DeathStar until he reaches the reactor — blasting it - and then doing a runner before the whole DeathStar blows. @ GRAPHICS AND SOUND Jedi's visuals bear a very close resemblance to their arcade parent, with very smooth animation and scrolling throughout.

Audio consists of adequate sound effects with snatches of the many Star Wars tunes. Also includ- ed are digitised speech extracts from the movie, which can only be recommended by virtue of quan- tity rather than quality.

@ OTHER VERSIONS The Amiga and 8bit versions of Jedi should be available as you read this. % EXPRESS VERDICT Jedi is a playable and easy to get into game, with only lasting interest doubtful - so check-it out, and "May the force be with you’. 90090

Rik Haynes

subject questions.

To win the game you have to answer all six ques- tions correctly, one after another. It's no good just getting 5 right — next time it's your turn you'll have to tackle all 6 again.

! @ GRAPHICS AND SOUND Graphics are for the most part quite laughable - but then for Trivial Pur- А suits you'd hardly expect state of the art solid 3D multi-plane scrolling would you? What's there probably Р doesn't tax the Amiga anymore than updating it's internal clock. Okay, so the effect the authors are after is cartoon strip - and in terms of humour that's what they've achieved. Some of the questions are accompanied by short musical bursts sounding as though an orchestra's been recorded down the phone whilst others come with primitive graphic representations even mem- bers of Densa could have drawn. @ OTHER VERSIONS Available also on the ST, Spectrum, C64, and CPC, A New Beginning is probably better suited to the 8- bits where it's low-rent appearance won't be so apparent as on the most powerful of the bunch. @ EXPRESS VERDICT Not really worth buying unless (a) you're a terminal trivia addict; (b) you're under ten; (c) you want a good laugh; (d) a combination of all three. We just can't wait for the next installment - Escape from Genus 2?

оо

The Express Crew

Be NEW COMPUTER EXPRESS • 12 NOVEMBER 1988

ШТАНБІ ж

ЬУ ) vv

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AMSTRAD 454 пс colour including modulator dock radio & desk £399.95 AMSTRAD 6128 + 17 games + joystick + mono montor £29995 COLOUR MONITOR VERSION £99995, AMSTRAD 6128 colour + modulator dock rado а desk 149900 NEW AMSTRAD PC 2286 and PC2386 due п

FROM THE WORLD | %У LEADERS IN INK JET PRINTERS MRP £699.95

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