Commodore Amiga Retro

Amiga Format

AMIGA FORMAT: Issue 78 Dec 1995
THE WORLD`S BIGGEST-SELLING AMIGA MAGAZINE:

NEW ORDER:

Just who are the new suits at Amiga Technologies ?
How can they resurrect the Amiga ?

COVER DISKS: Snap Maps and BlitzBombers

POWER COMPUTING: Advert -

1.76 XL Drive - £79.95
9GB SCSI hard-drive £2199
M-Tec hard-drive - £259
Overdrive 420Mb - £259
Zip Drive 100Mb SCSI - £179
A4000 Tower - £349
A4000 68060 - £829

SIREN: Advert - Apollo 1232/50 8Mb £239

THIS MONTH IN VIEW:

Nick Veitch is amazed at the quality of Team17`s
new game and astounded at all the excellent new
Amiga stuff in this issue.

We are almost swamped by Softwood products in
this issue with new versions of Final Writer
and Final Data.

TANDY TAKE PLUNGE WITH AMIGA:

A retailing coup for Amiga Technologies will
see the placement of the new Amiga Magic
packs in 130 Tandy stores placed strategically
throughout the UK.

SILICA A1200 BUMPER BUNDLE:

The A1200 Magic Pack may contain some stunningly
good serious software, but it seems that Silica
are not content, because they are going to be
supplying even more software with it.

... in addition supplying The Chaos Pack which
includes the following games: Chaos Engine, Syndicate,
Pinball Fantasies and Nick Faldo Championship Golf.

AMIGA GAMES ON-LINE BY JUNE:

Wireplay the new on-line gaming system backed
by British Telecom and implemented by Spec
Communications will be piloted in January 1996
and become accessible to the public in June.

" PC SOFTWARE IS CRAP ":

The curious headline above appeared in CTW, the
indispensable weekly for the computer industry.
The story concerned a recent report by the
Consumers Association berating software suppliers
and retailers selling bug riddled packages.

NEWTEK GO ON-LINE AS LIGHTWAVE 4 IS RELEASED:

Newtek the makers of the renowned Lightwave 3D
rendering system , have just finished work on
Ligtwave 4. Although this release has been postponed
by several months, the program should be available
by the time you read this...

Newtek`s Website contains details of their products..
http://www.webmaster.com/newtek or you can use the
link on Amiga Format`s FutureNet page.

SQUIRREL HITS THE NET:

To compensate for the inadequate serial port standard
on the Amiga, the next generation of Squirrel
interfaces will include a new high speed serial device.
HiSoft claim that this will be able work at speeds
of up to 300,000 bits per second, more than adequate
for the new generation of high speed modems being
launched. ... It has been given the name "Surf Squirrel".

THE SMITH COLUMN:

So the Playstation has had all the hype, but in
its own quiet little way the Amiga has sold out
in its first re-foray into the shops. This seems
to have missed the media`s attention. Now why
should that be ? Is it because, unlike the
undoubtedly brilliant ( yeah flame me, I can take
it ) Playstation, the Amiga is actually a computer ?
It seems, according to the mass media, that the only
computers that exist anymore are the kind that run
Mac89, sorry Windows95, complete with Rolling Stone
tunes and pseudo 32-bit code.

THE AGA EXPERIENCE:

The world`s first AGA-only CD-ROM has arrived.
The AGA Experience is a CD full of goodies for
owners of AGA machines and is therefore able to
take full advantage of the A1200 and A4000`s abilities.

THE BRADFORD COLUMN:

Since the take-over, we in the Amiga community
have been dancing naked around fires in jubilation
for the last few months. Its all right, Baby`s
coming back. And this time supported by a massive
( and massively successful ) company who threw
shitloads of money at their previous venture.
( Is there anyone who hasn’t had a `Man from Escom`
brochure stuffed through their letterbox?).

HISOFT LEAD WITH STAND-ALONE MPEG:

Amiga developers HiSoft, best known for their
programming languages and the excellent SquirrelSCSI
interface, are working on a device which will
allow anyone with a CD ROM drive to watch their
favourite movies from the CD.

NEW ORDER:

Trying to relaunch a machine that has been unsupported
for over a year is not easy. In this month`s special
feature we give you some insight into the battles
won by Amiga Technologies, and those yet to come.

On April 21st of this year, the Amiga was finally
rescued from the slow death in a dramatic courtroom
showdown. The new owners, German computer manufacturer
Escom, had paid over US$10 million for Commodore
International, including the rights to the Amiga
and all associated patents. Escom quickly established
a daughter company, Amiga Technologies, to overlook
the re-establishment of the Amiga brand. But six months
down the road, what have Amiga Technologies actually
achieved?

... DO YOU THINK THE AMIGA IS IN SAFE HANDS:

Discounting the fence-dwellers and the smart alecs
who promised to let us know in a few years time
the answer was a resounding "yes". One anonymous
respondent went so far as to say " I can`t think
of any bunch of people more committed to the
platform than the people at Amiga Technologies UK "

John Arundel amplified on this - " The main staff
at Amiga Tech are ex Commodore and all have a real
passion for the Amiga. They understand the product
and the market better than anyone "

JONATHAN ANDERSON : Amiga Technologies

" On behalf of Amiga Technologies we would like
to say ` Thank You ` to all of you who have
` hung in there `, we really do appreciate your
loyalty and support and we look forward to sharing
with you the next generation of the Amiga family "

HISOFT SYSTEMS: Advert -

Amiga Zip Tools exclusively from HiSoft
Amiga ZIP SCSI drive - £239 including Squirrel
1Gb hard-drive £349
Quad Speed CD-ROM £259

STARTING YOUR OWN DISKMAG:

Want to have your say on an issue ? Strike back
using words. David Crookes chats about diskzines
and gives some pointers about starting up your
very own mag.

Five Disk Mags You Should See:

Grapevine - Raw - Visual Intensity - Deadlock
and Total Irrelevance.

THE NEED FOR SPEED:

Fed up with being stuck in the slow lane when
it comes to Amiga games ? Join Steve McGill as
he takes a speculative look at current Amiga
games and delves into the world of expansions,
upgrades and accelerators.

OUR FAVE FIVE AMIGA EXPANSIONS:

The Falcon = 68040 clocked at 25MHz
The Apollo 1220 = 68020 clocked at 28Mhz
The Blizzard A1230-II = 68030 clocked at 40MHz
The Apollo 1230 Turbo = 68030 clocked at 50MHz
Power A500 68020ec = 68020 clocked at 28MHz

GAMES CHART:

1: Player manager 2 - Anco Virgin
2: Sensible World of Soccer - Renegade
3: Premier manager 3 - Gremlin
4: Ultimate Soccer Manager - Impressions
5: Colonisation - Microprose
6: Sensible Golf - Virgin
7: Super Skidmarks - Acid Software
8: PGA European Tour - Ocean
9: FIFA International Soccer - Electronic Arts
10: Starlord - Microprose

TOP CD32 GAME: - Gloom by Black Magic

GAMES REVIEW: ALIEN BREED 3D

Looking for some atmosphere, fear, excitement,
tension, apprehension, and fun ? Steve McGill
was. He found it when he reviewed Breed 3D.

AMINET: advert -

The Aminet CD-ROMS are published bimonthly
which means that six new valuable issues
are released each year.

Aminet Set 1 - £29.95 plus 6, 7 and 8 at £14.95

PD SELECT:

Typing Demon - Utility by Digitfreak
Push and Pull - Game by Amonn Philipps
Word 7 - Disk Mag by NFA
Pro-Football - Utility by Ali Prior
Digipix 8 - Slideshow by Pixel Digital
Galleons - Game by Stephen Greener
Netsurfer - Utility by Various

TOP 10 PD:

Grac v1.10
Shapeshifter v3.2
HD Games Installer 4
Doomer 2 - Speed AGA
HD Games Installer 3
Magic Paint Box ( F1 Gold )
Mosaic c2B
Magic WB Extras vol2
Master Blaster v2
Term v4.5

SERIOUSLY AMIGA:

Reviews: by Graeme Sandiford

Harmony 28,000 Modem
Final Calc
Imagine 3.3
Media Vision Portable CD-ROM Drive
CD ROM Round-up
Final Writer
Final Data 2
SnapMaps
10/10 Science

REPAIRS WHILE YOU WAIT: advert -

Analogic Computers ( UK ) Ltd
New low fixed price A1200 £49.95

FINAL CALC:

Born out of pure necessity, Final Calc has
a feature that were previously undreamt of
by most serious Amiga-users. Graeme Sandiford
gets calculating. Amiga Gold 94%

IMAGINE 3.3:

For under 100 quid Imagine 3 offers a fully
featured 3D rendering system. "Not bad"
enthuses Graeme Sandiford. - 85%

CD-ROM ROUND UP:

Speccy Sensations 93%
Sci-Fi Sensations 89%
Fresh Fish X 85%

FINAL WRITER 4:

Larry Hickmott picks up the latest version
of Final Writer to see what`s changed in this
popular Amiga word processor. AF GOLD - 90%

AMIGA SHOPPER - advert Dec 95 On sale now

WORKBENCH:

Upgrade advice... problems with the PCMCIA port
..Neither the Blizzard 1230 or 1220 should
interfere with the A1200`s PCMCIA port.

Speed question... In raw computing terms your
Amiga speed is somewhere between a Mac SI and
a LCIII. A comparable PC would be a 386 model.
However, you should bear in mind that these
machines don`t get the benefits of the Amiga`s
excellent Operating System and custom chipset.

REAL 3D TUTORIAL PART 2:

Adding virtual material to your 3D objects
makes all the difference, so John Kennedy
continues his series with a few `material` pointers.

AMIGA.NET - Making the most of the web:

Darren Irvine takes a look at what you can
actually use the World Wide Web for - other
than as a pretty tool to impress your non-
internet mates.

WAIS SITES ON THE WEB: A list of servers.

MAILBAG:

Feel Good Factor: Amiga Technologies makes its
first positive move with the new package for the
A1200! This is the sort of thing that Commodore
of old was good at and Amiga Technologies looks
set to continue the trend.

.....so that was it for 1995.
The world stands still for nobody
and the Amiga lost it`s big game
titles. Those new boys Escom looked
promising.... Read on tomorrow.

AMIGA FORMAT Issue 78 for Dec 95
was brought to you by:

Editor - Nick Veitch
Deputy Editor - Sue Grant
Production Editor - Anna Grenstam
Technical Editor - Graeme Sandiford
Staff Writer - Steve McGill
Art Editor - Julie Stuckes
Art Assistant - Linda Benson

Produced and published by
FUTURE PUBLISHING