#1-3 01 января 1987

Outlook

- 1 -

OUTLET NEWS IN BRIEF

MICRODRIVE "DESKTOP" 
due out at the beginning of September, has been delayed- waiting for the manuals to be printed (it says here...).

"DESKTOP" FROM KEMPSTON 
was displayed at the Personal Computer World Show. It should sell for `25 (`70 with mouse) but it may be some time before it becomes available.

SCRABBLE DE LUXE 1ST ON THE +3! 
The first game specifically written for the new disc-based Spectrum is on sale at `15.95.

PLUS D,A CUT-DOWN DISCIPLE @ `50 
(or `130 with a 780K 3.5"" drive) without joystick or Interface 1 network ports comes in December from MILES GORDON TECHNOLOGY. The usual DISCIPLE will still be marketed by ROCKFORT PRODUCTS.

RIGHTSћ DK'TRONICS PRODUCTS 
has been acquired by RAM ELECTRONICS. The DK'Tronics name will continue.

THE FIRST ERASABLE OPTICAL DISC 
from TDK, using magneto-optical techniques to store 1 billion bytes on a disc should be shown at:- COMPEC COMPUTING EXHIBITION from 17th to 2Oth November at London's Olympia.What an OUTLET!

X CERT "JACK THE RIPPER"? 
CRL plan to release an adventure game this month showing scenes of mutilation that may earn it the dubious distinction of being the first censored software but would an X Cert. prevent sales?

SOFTWARE PIRACY COST:`15OMILLION 
(to the U.K. computer industry) claims the BMF who have mounted a major campaign against it. We have no idea how this figure was ""estimated"" so it must remain in doubt(See SHOUTBURST- OUTLET 2).

HEWSON LOSES TURNER & BRAYBROOK! 
Andrew Braybrook and Steve Turner, Hewson Consultant's ace programmers, have defected to BT. There is little Hewson can do as apparently no formal contract exists.

MIRA DO SPECTRUM PASCAL COMPILER 
which comes on tape but loads/ saves to microdrive for `15. MIRA SOFTWARE are at 24 Home Close, Kibworth, Leicestershire LE8 OJT [Well I think this is news!- BC]

- 2 - 

1.Exolon         BMX Simulator.6
2.Renegade       ATV Simulator.7
3.Run For Gold       Barbarian.8
4.Road Runner        Milk Race.9
5.Gauntlet     Back To Future.10

1. EXOLON   `7.95   HEWSON 
Space-suited hero has to penetrate 100+ levels. Excellent, colourful graphics with addictive gameplay. Lots to hold your interest.

2. RENEGADE   `7.95   IMAGINE 
Atmospheric, detailed graphics in a game that is pure street violence. Nicely animated thugs hurt you a lot.

3. RUN FOR GOLD   `1.99   ALTERNATIVE 
Running game in 3D. Looks OK at first glance but soon gets boring.

4. ROAD RUNNER   `8.99   US GOLD 
Reasonable runabout. Eat seed and get chased a lot game. Cartoon humour - Not baddish.

5. GAUNTLET   `9.95   US GOLD 
Bird's eye view, dungeon shoot- em-up with 1 and 2 player options. The fact that so many later games copied the style original to GAUNTLET speaks for itself. A highly-rated coin-op conversion.

6. BMX SIMULATOR   `1.99   CODEMASTERS 
POPULAR RACE-TRACK GAME FOR 1 OR 2 PLAYERS. ACTION REPLAY FEATURE. NICELY PRESENTED. MORE SKILL NEEDED THAN AT FIRST APPEARS. GOOD VALUE. (NOT MY CUP OF TEA! - B.C.)

7. ATV SIMULATOR   `1.99   CODEMASTERS 
Moderate dune buggy simulation. Not great but some enjoyment to be had.

8. BARBARIAN   `9.99   PALACE SOFTWARE 
1st Class combat game fought with swords on quality 2-colour background with multi-colour surround. Rated the best "fist" -type game, it takes time to master the many blows, chops, punches and kicks but has satisfying game-play when you do.

9. MILK RACE   `2.99   MASTERTRONIC 
Reasonable, smooth-scrolling bike race simulation. No lasting interest.

10. BACK TO FUTURE   `1.99   FIREBIRD 
Budget re-release loosely based on the film. No lasting interest.

- 3 -

A LOOK AT THIS MONTH'S MAGAZINES

INTRODUCTION 
OUTVIEW is intended to draw yourattention  to any items  in thismonth's magazines  that we thinkmay be of interest to the OUTLETreaders. In particular, hardwarereviews, listings,  useful info,utility software  reviews,  newsin detail. Most of the magazineshave extensive games reviews and game POKES, hints and tips so wecan do no more than occasionallymention a game that  we feel  issignificant... BE WARNED THAT WE EXPECT THAT INMANY OF THE PUBLICATIONS - THEREMAY  OFTEN  BE  LITTLE  WORTH  AMENTION!  (But  you already knewthat didn't you!) 

NOV. ISSUE YOUR SINCLAIR STREET DATE: 14.10.87
We're considering dropping YS from OUTVIEW as we can't usuallycover games-related material, the field is too wide, is adequately covered by such mags as YS and is outside OUTLET'S scope. When OUTLET started therewere remnants of computing material in YS but now they seemto be looking for new directionsso that they don't fade away when the Spectrum does! 

NOV. ISSUE CRASH, STREET DATE: 27.10.87
If, like me, you're into 3D thenget this month's CRASH which haspages and pages in 3 dimensions! It really is most effective! Back to 2D! - There's a rather interesting exploration of the auxiliary socket on the 128K Spectrum for you more technical-minded readers on p98 and on p99 is a review of MULTIFACE 3 and instructions on +2 tape head alignment if you'rehavingntrouble(this is alsomore generally applicable to most ordinary cassette recordersin my opinion-BC). Finally,I'm finding the ""historyof CRASH"" series quite absorbingreading. 

NOV. ISSUE SINCLAIR USER, STREET DATE: 22.10.87 
P.88 tells you how to program multi-channel sound. Reviews of MULTIPRINT, MULTIFACE 128 and MULTIFACE 3. SINCLAIR SURGERY covers worn sockets as well as what √to do with an Alphacom!Hewson explains the terms: 'buffer' and 'mask', how to define and how to get more, UDGSand ways to 'mirror' a byte. 

NOV. ISSUE PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD, STREET DATE: 17.10.87
FIDONET explained for you comms enthusiasts. Also a free poster!Is it BARBARIAN?- No! Is it thatnaughty GAME OVER picture? No! -It's the PCW BENCHMARKS!! 'Rah! 'Rah! (Seriously, THE definitivelist of benchmarks). 

NOV. ISSUE YOUR COMPUTER, STREET DATE: 10.10.87
Interview with Clive Sinclair, the adventure writing articles continue... YC is adhesive-boundrather than stapled - the photo between pp.30 and 31 is absurdlydistorted and the mag 'feels' uncomfortable to read- you can'tfold it back properly.