• Tag Archives Amiga

  • MicroIllusions (1987)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Info – Issue Number 15 – July August 1987

    One of the great parts about flipping through old computer or video game magazines are the ads. This particular ad is from the July/August 1987 issue of Info though it no doubt appeared in other issues and other magazine titles. Info was a magazine dedicated to Commodore computers including the Commodore 64 and Amiga so obviously that is what the vast majority of ads in this magazine were related to. This ad features a company called MicroIllusions and some of their software products.

    I am familiar with MicroIllusions mostly via The FaeryTale Adventure. I never actually played it but remember seeing ads for this game many times. This was one of those games that was in my wanted list for a long time but just never got around to obtaining or playing. They must have advertised that game for at least a couple of years. I’m guessing because it was a fairly popular title for them and the releases for the multiple platforms it was available for was probably spread out over time to some degree. I was mostly reading RUN and Commodore Magazine at the time so that’s where I would have seen ads for this game.

    I’m not as familiar with other titles in this ad and don’t really recall seeing ads for them. That doesn’t mean I didn’t of course but these titles definitely weren’t advertised as heavily as The FaeryTale Adventure. The FaeryTale Adventure also had the advantage of being ported to the Sega Genesis.

    The FaeryTale Adventure was a fantasy role playing games along the lines of something like the Ultima series, the Bard’s Tale series or the AD&D Gold Box series. The other titles in this ad include Land of Legends which appears to have been another RPG, and Discovery which appears to have been a space themed educational series. There are also brief mentions of Dynamic CAD 2.3, Dynamic world, Music X, The Planetarium, Micro MIDI, and Dynamic Publisher though I am not really familiar with any of those.

    The ad states that all of these products were currently being developed for the Amiga and would soon be available for the Commodore 64, PC, Apple, and Atari ST though I would be surprised if all of these titles were available for all of those systems.


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  • Compute! (March 1990)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Compute! – Issue Number 118 – March 1990

    Compute! Covered many computers over its long life. At one point, it specialized in 6502 based computers. By 1990, Compute! was becoming more PC centric but it was still covering other popular computers including the Apple II, Commodore 64, Amiga, and Macintosh.

    Contents

    • Buy Low, Sell High – An article on using your PC for investing. It covers dedicated software like Market Manger Plus 2.0 as well as subscription services like Value/Screen II which included software and monthly data disks. This data wasn’t cheap though. $396 for a year. There are 15 software packages and online services examined here.
    • My View – A guide to the kind of equipment and software you would need for financial planning type activities. These include a fast 8088 based to 80286 PC preferably with a hard drive, a 2400-baud modem, dot matrix printer, and various software.
    • Smart Money – An overview of six personal finance software packages to help you balance your checkbook.
    • Buyer’s Guide: Tax Preparation Software – A look at the then available tax preparation software including Andrew Tobias’ Tax Cut, DivorceTax, EasyForm W-4, EasyTax, Estate Tax Planner, J.K. Lasser’s Your Income Tax 1990, MacInTax 1040, 1990 Personal Tax Preparer, Swiftax, Tax Advantage, Tax Command, Tax Command Planner, Tax Ease Individual, Tax-Magic Personal, Tax-Magic Plus, Tax Preparer, Tax Shop 1040 Personal, TaxSmith: Family, TaxSmith: Full, and TaxSmith: Quick. I think today there are like two practical choices so there has definitely been a lot of consolidation.
    • Resources – Resources for increasing your investment knowledge, including lists of TV programs, periodicals, books, and more.

    Departments

    • News & Notes – Toolworks and Mindscape merge, Xerox sues Apple, Spectrum Holobyte sues Accolade over Tetris clone, Atari and other third parties sue Nintendo over marketing and licensing practices, new TurboTax/Quicken bundle, IBM cuts 10,000 jobs, Hot Circuits video arcade museum opens in Astoria New York, and more.
    • Letters – Letters from readers about a QuickWrite review, a Zip code database, Game Blaster and Killer Kard (which became Sound Blaster before its release and was released at $239.95), and more.
    • MS-DOS – Organizing files on disk, PC-Kwik Power Disk disk optimizer, Vq2 search retrieval tool, the OmniKey/102 keyboard, and more.
    • Commodore 64/128 – The 1989 world of Commodore Show, RAMLink from CMD, GEORAM 512K memory expansion for GEOS, and more.
    • Apple II – The Oregon Trailer on sale from MECC for $39.95 (I had this for the Commodore 64), Dino Days graphics and word processing software for kids, and more
    • Amiga – VoRecOne voice recognition add-on, F-16 Combat Pilot from Electronic Arts, Jet Instrument Trainer, and more.
    • Macintosh – The Grappler and JetWriter printer interfaces, Broderbund’s Playmaker Football, and more.
    • Reviews – Fiendish Freddy’s Big Top O’ Fun (Amiga, Atari ST, DOS), Tandy WP-2 notebook sized word processor, The Cycles (Commodore 64, DOS), Laser PC3 PDA, If It Moves, Shoot It! (Amiga, DOS), Broderbund’s Bannermania (DOS), Spectrum Holobyte’s Tank (DOS), Algebra I First Semester and Algebra I Second Semester (Apple II, DOS), Activision’s DeathTrack (DOS), QuickLook (DOS), Starglider II (DOS, Macintosh), Serra’s On-Line terminal software (DOS), Broderbund’s Joan of Arc: Siege and the Sword (Amiga, Atari ST, DOS), Electronic Art’s John Madden Football (DOS), Broderbund’s The New Print Shop (DOS), Fire Brigade (DOS), Dolphin Boating Simulator (DOS), Data East’s Robocop (DOS), Eye of Horus (DOS), Toshiba ExpressWriter 301 laptop printer, and more.
    • New Products – hDC Card Designer (Windows), PowerBasic from Borland (DOS), CheckIt 2.1 diagnostic utility, Sierra’s Leisure Suit Larry 3: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectoral (DOS), Decisive Battles of the American Civil War Volume III: Wilderness to Nashville (DOS), Canon’s Navigator PC/Fax Machine/Phone/Answering Machine combo, The Norton Backup (DOS), SSI’s Dragons of Flame (DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64), and more.
    • Hotware – Top ten software titles in a variety of categories. Taking the top spots are Quicken (Home Productivity), Flight Simulator (Home Entertainment), and Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing (Home Learning).

    Productivity

    • Compute! Choice – A comparison of Lotus Spreadsheet for DeskMate and Lotus 1-2-3.
    • Mail-Order Smart – The advantages and common issues with purchasing computer software and hardware via mail order. I was buying stuff for my Commodore 64 via mail order around this time. Items I know I got that way include a new power supply, modem, printer, monitor, and a couple of games.
    • PC Primer – PC hints and tips including getting cheap composite output, patching early versions of DOS to work with a mouse, and sorting.

    Learning

    • Compute! Choice – A review of Super Solvers Midnight Rescue! from The Learning Company.
    • Preschool Precepts – A guide to selecting good preschool software including an overview of various titles.
    • Homework – Creating a kid friendly keyboard with an old XT keyboard, creating note cards via the PC, and more.

    Entertainment

    • Compute! Choice – A review of Lucasfilm Games’ The Battle of Britain: Their Finest hour for DOS.
    • Take Off! – An overview of the latest flight simulators including Flight Simulator 4.0, F-15 Strike Eagle II, A-10 Tank Killer, Blue Angels, and UFO.
    • Gamescope – Gaming hints and tips for Empire and John Elway’s Quarterback.

    Columns

    • Editorial License – The results of a reader survey six months into the latest Compute! redesign.
    • Conversations – Choosing the right home educational software.
    • Impact – Using AppleLink to bring the world closer together.
    • Discoveries – Useful multimedia in education. From Print Shop to generating screen dumps to using video cameras and digitizers, and more.
    • Gameplay – Orson Scott Cards writes about what makes a good gaming sequel.
    • Off Line – Computer gremlins, phantoms, and monsters…

    …and more!


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana 📎and tagged

  • Info (November/December 1989)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Info – Issue Number 29 – November/December 1989

    Info was a magazine that covered Commodore computers, primarily the Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Amiga. It wasn’t as popular as a few others but still had a significant presence. The November/December 1989 issue includes:

    Features

    • Info Top Ten – Info’s first annual top ten game list. The top 10 games of all time as selected by the editors of Info in a variety of categories. Top Arcade Games: Arkanoid (Amiga), The Sentry (C64). Top Simulations Games: Starglider II (Amiga), Pinball Construction Set (C64). Top Adventure Games: Dungeon Master (Amiga), Zork Series (C64). Top Traditional Games: Blockout (Amiga), Risk (C64). Plus each of the editors pick their own personal top 10.
    • Interview: Chris Crawford – Chris Crawford developed a number of influential games such as Balance of Power. It’s interesting to read some of his predictions here. Some were spot on while others were way off.
    • Adventure Road – The best adventure games of 1989 are discussed including The Magic Candle, Might and Magic II, Tangled Tales, Neuromancer, Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, King’s Quest IV, Space Quest III, and more. Adventure Road was a regular column published in Commodore Magazine but they ceased publication it moved over to Info. RUN magazine received much of Commodore Magazine’s other Commodore 64 content.

    Departments

    • INFOtorial – A look at European game development philosophy vs. U.S. game development philosophy.
    • Reader Mail – Readers write in about the C64 vs. NES, reviews of application software, Amiga sales, rumors of the “64GS”, Project: Firestart, QLink and Club Caribe, and more.
    • New Products – A brief look at 5100 C128 Questions: Answered (book), The Diamond Text and Diamond BASIC Editors, Fortran-80 (C-128 CP/M), MIDI Delay Processor, Digitalker 128, Fractal Navigator, Icon Magic 1.0, and lots more.
    • News & Views – Software sales for the Commodore 64 drop 26% in the second quarter of 1989 from the previous year (to $15 million), Commodore adds more dealers for MS-DOS machines and Amigas, Epyx reorganizes to become software developer an will no longer be a publisher and will concentrate on games for the NES and Lynx, Apple opens television studio called Apple TV, and more.
    • Games for Amiga – Reviews of Amiga games including The Jetsons, Blockout, Space Quest III, Jigsaw (preview), Beyond Dark Castle (preview), Space Ace (preview), Shufflepuck Cafe (preview), The Kristal, Planet of Lust, Times of Lore, Spherical, Sim City Terrain Editor (unrated), Jinks, Axe of Rage, Mickey Mouse, Tom & Jerry, Balance of Power: 1990 Edition, The President is Missing, Red Lightning, Project Neptune, Wayne Gretzky Hockey, F40 Pursuit Simulator, Dr. Doom’s revenge, Shoot ‘Em Up Construction Kit, War In Middle Earth, and Omega.
    • Games for C64 – Dr. Doom’s Revenge, Shoot ‘Em Up Construction Kit, War In Middle Earth, Omega, Speedball, Metal Blocks, Gauntlet II, Arkanoid II, Dark Side, Revenge of Defender, Might & Magic II, Presumed Guilty, Where in Europe is Carmen Sandiego, AD&D Curse of the Azure Bonds, Eliminator, Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade, Rambo III, Chessmaster 2100, Kings of the Beach, Snow Strike, Apache Strike, Shinobi, Afterburner (preview), Fire King, Jordan Vs. Bird: One On One, and Omni-Play Basketball.
    • Public Domain – A look at recent public domain titles including a bunch of Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 software available via Quantum Link and both Commodore 8-bit and Amiga software available via PeopleLink.

    Reviews

    • SFX Sound Expander – A plug-in cartridge for the Commodore 64 than includes a nine-voice FM synthesizer chip and an interface for an optional 61-key keyboard from Philips.
    • The Write Stuff 128 – An excellent word processor for the Commodore 128.
    • The Amiga Companion – A book with tons of useful information on the Amiga.
    • Toshiba ExpressWriter 301 – A portable thermal printer for $489.
    • RawCopy – A disk copy program for the Amiga that can reproduce copy protection schemes.
    • Mac-2-Dos – Software that can convert Macintosh text and graphic files for use with Amiga programs and vice versa.

    Etc.

    • INFO Update – A look at recent software (and other) updates including Sim City 1.1, Muscle Cars and European Challenge add-ons for Test Drive II, an updated version of Pen Pal, an updated support disk for the Super Snapshot cartridge, Professional page 1.3, PixelScript 1.1, and more.
    • BRYCE – Bryce’s 3D Adventure comic.
    • INFO Mania – Tips from readers for tons of games including Batman, Robbeary, Aaargh!, Sinbad, Double Dragon, Crystal Hammer, Mindroll, Marble Madness, Dragon’s Lair, Pacmania, Karnov, Neuromancer, Ghosts ‘N Goblins, Guerrilla War, Heavy Metal, Robocop, John Elway’s Quarterback, Pirates, and Zak McKracken.
    • Show Reports – An overview of AmiEXPO in Chicago. New products shown their for the Amiga include Elan Performer, Interactor, TV*SHOW, Mideo System, Mac-2-DOS, Professional Page 1.3, Space Ace, Fiendish Freddy’s Big Top O’ Fun, Gauntlet II, Tom and Jerry, the SupraModem 2400zi, 150 MB Streaming Tape Backup and 32 MHz 68030 card from GVP, A1000 Rejuvinator, and much more.
    • Real World – Lamenting the fact that standalone electronic spell checkers seem to be better than what you can get in software.

    …and more!


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