Scene News

NEWS:

CRASHED is improving in quality: recent issues featured a color cover and have been coming out reasonably on time. Simon Cooke, who used to run the SpecTec Jnr column in Your Sinclair where he also dealt with cracks, will now be writing for CRASHED as well. Currently, Simon is also one of the editors of the hardware magazine Based on an Idea.

ZAT 2 seems to be becoming a reality. Mat Beal, former publisher of FISH and CRASHED, seems to have taken it over after ZAT 1 was shut down by its previous publisher due to lack of time.

SUC seems to have advertising for itself on the Internet, and ASC wants to follow the same path. At the moment, I'm still searching for a suitable Internet café and considering buying a PC. Perhaps this way I can reach Austrian Speccy users.

Wolfgang Haller, head of SPC, is preparing another new game. He promised to send it to me, so there will be a review of "JAGDSPIEL". Well, Wolfgang, keep it up! I just hope I didn't paralyze the SPC editorial team with my Pyramid Patience! Insiders will know what I mean.

FORMAT, one of the fanzines with the largest circulation (around 4,500 readers), has already cleared up the misunderstandings with SUC. The main issue was that FORMAT refused to report on the new hardware from SINTECH. Then, due to poor communication, the Speccy Show in Gloucester took place on the exact same day as the gathering in Filderstadt. Thank goodness no new war broke out.

Adventure Coder II – The Preceptor looks to be an interesting magazine for adventure fans; it will cover not only 8-bit, but also 16-bit systems.

Prism PD seems to be gaining ground in the CPC market as well; a CPC version of PD Power should be available soon. Unfortunately, my data got a bit jumbled due to the move, so I'll only receive the last two issues of Spectrum PD Power shortly.

SPELLUNKLER Enchanted Realms is finally being continued — and people still claim that the Spectrum is dead?

Datel Electronics had delivery difficulties with +D interfaces due to too many orders coming in before Christmas. So if you're still looking for a disk interface and don't want to wait any longer for the DX1 or MB02/MB03, you should buy it well ahead of next Christmas.

Omega is planning to code another megademo and is calling on all coders worldwide to contribute a part and send it to him. His address:
Jan Palenicek, Sumice 110, 68731 Okr. Uh. Hradiste, Czech Republic.
Please write in English. Knowing people's willingness to contribute, he'll probably scrape together at most three parts and code the rest himself. I'll see whether this situation can be used to promote ASC.

La Lettre Du Spectrumaniac, a French-language fanzine, is folding. Contrary to all rumors, this has nothing to do with nuclear tests, but with something far more insidious that shakes the very foundations of our society: the PC plague.

Software for the Spectrum is still being produced, and I don't mean just public domain, but commercial releases as well. After Fishpaste 1+2, Fish is putting out another compilation, Microspec has new utility software on offer, MDL Software and others are releasing titles too. However, that cannot conceal the fact that Spectrum users simply don't get enough new software. Users aren't completely blameless either, as profits from Spectrum software sales are not very high. On the other hand, the distribution infrastructure is also poor, as shops stocking Spectrum software at all are extremely rare nowadays.