• Tag Archives PC

  • Maximum PC (February 2000)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Maximum PC – February 2000

    Maximum PC is my favorite current PC magazine. It has been published since 1998 and really since 1996 when you take into account that it is a revamped version of boot which started in 1996. Given the relative lack of computer magazines these days, this one amazingly still survives. The February 2000 issue includes:

    Features

    • MP3 Guide – This article includes an overview of software to create MP3s from CDs, tips on the best settings to use, how to create audio CDs, where to find MP3s online (Napster, Usenet, FTP servers), some of the legal issues surrounding MP3s, and more.
    • Online Trading – A beginner’s guide to online trading. These days anyone can trade for free via services like Robinhood but back at the turn of the century it wasn’t quite so easy. There were still brokerages that allowed you to trade online but they typically had minimum amounts to open an account as well as fees that could really add up.
    • The Sexy Type – How to make your boring web site look better. An example is given using Macromedia’s Flash 4.

    Reviews

    • Hardware
      • Falcon Northwest Mach V – Known for making high-end gaming PCs, this Falcon Northwest model gets pretty mediocre reviews here. Specs includ a 750MHz Athlon, 256MB of PC100 SDRAM, a Guillemot 3D Prophet with nVidia GeForce video card with 32MB of SDRAM, an Optiquest V95 19-inch CRT monitor (max 1600×1200 resolution), a Western Digital 27.3GB 7200-RPM UDMA/66 hard drive, a Toshiba 6x SD-M1212 DVD drive, a 100MB Zip Drive, a 56K US Robotics ISA modem, a Diamond Monster MX300 sound card, and more. All for $4,500.

      • Dell Inspiron – A review of the Inspiron 7500 which includes a 500MHz Mobile Pentium III, 128MB SDRAM, ATI Rage Mobility with 8MB of SGRAM, a 1280×1024 display, a 25GB IBM hard drive, and more for $4,301. It gets a good review here with the primary complaint being the boxy physical appearance.
      • Sony Spressa USB CD-RW – An external USB CD-RW drive from Sony (USB CD-RW 411 4U) for $330 that gets an excellent review.
      • HP CD-Writer Plus 8200e – Another external CD writer that also gets a good review though a bit lower than the Sony and it is also a bit more expensive at $350.
      • Diamond Viper II Videocard – A video card based on S3’s Savage 2000 graphics processor. Specs include a 125MHz bus, 143MHz memory, 350MHz RAMDAC, AGP 4x, 32MB SDRAM, and more. It would set you back $200. It gets an ok review here with bad drivers seeming to be the biggest problem.
      • Imation Superdisk USB – This USB Zip Drive competitor featured smaller sized slightly higher capacity disks (120MB) than the Zip drive, and could also read normal 3.5″ disks but it was more expensive at $170 and slower. Plus everyone had a Zip drive.
      • Iomega Zip 100 USB – The Zip drive had been around awhile by this point but the original ones connected via the parallel port or a SCSI interface. USB was far more convenient as a portable solution.
      • Altec Lansing ACS 56 Speakers – A nice set of 4.1 speakers for PC with 3D sound support and S/PDIF input for $150.
      • Labtec LCS-2514 – A lower cost set of Labtec speakers which were ok for the price ($80).
      • Palm Vx PDA – Before the age of the smartphone, Palm devices were pretty awesome. Features of the Vx include 8MB of RAM, a 160×160 16-level grayscale, and a 20MHz Dragonball EZ processor.
      • Microstar 6167 Slot A Motherboard – This $199 motherboard features the Athlon 750 chipset and supports Slot A Athlon processors. This one seems to have been a rock solid choice.

      • FIC SD11 – Another Slot A motherboard but this one seems to be a little slower and have more compatibility problems than the Microstar motherboard. It uses the AMD 750 chipset + VIA 686A.

      • Logitech Cordless Mouse Special Edition – A $50 wireless (using RF, this is before Bluetooth) optical mouse that includes different color snap on covers.
    • Software
      • MusicMatch Jukebox – According to Maximum PC, the best CD ripper and MP3 encoder ever but a terrible player.
      • Real Jukebox Pro – Another CD ripper, MP3 encoder, music player but this one gets a terrible review.
      • Audiocatalyst – Yet another all-in-one ripper/encoder/player, this one being pretty mediocre.
      • Audograbber – This piece of software focusses purely on ripping CDs. It’s not that great though.
      • Sonique – A highly rated media player.
      • Winamp – One of the best and most well known media players that ever existed. Particularly for MP3s.
      • Canvas 7 – An affordable (well, $375) graphics design app for the web. Requirements include a Pentium with 32MB of RAM running Windows 95/98/2000 and 80MB of free drive space.
    • Games
      • Quake III: Arena – At one point it seemed like the Quake games would go on forever. Quake III: Arena allowed for 32 players on a LAN which added to the fun.
      • Unreal Tournament – Another terrific sequel to a terrific first person shooter.
      • Half-Life: Opposing Force – An expansion to half-life that did not live up to expectations. And yes, it seemed like virtually every game at the time was an FPS. I’m not sure much has changed in that regard.

    Voices

    • Ed Word – Editor-in-chief Jon Phillips talks about the Maximum PC lab. Apparently there was an online version in which they went a little crazy with the novelty of hyperlinks.
    • Comm Port – Letters from readers with topics such as game packaging, emulation, Athlon coverage, camping, and more.
    • Fast Forward – How you trade personal data for dollars when you make discount purchases online.
    • Net Sensei – Web sites to help you plan parties and get togethers.
    • Game Theory – A look at recent and upcoming releases including Diablo II, Daikatana, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, and Ultima IX Ascension.>
    • Glitch – A tongue-in-cheek look at office assistants that could have taken Clippy’s place.

    Tech Files

    • Watchdog – Complaints about an Endeavor EX system from Crossline, and Microworkz. Plus, Guillemot acquires Hercules, a Toshiba class action lawsuit about faulty controllers in notebooks and more.
    • Lab Notes – Testing the 2D performance of 3D video cards. Cards tested include the Creative Labs 3D Annihilator Pro, 3D Labs Permedia 3 Create!, MAtrox Millennium G400 Max, Guillemot Maxi Gamer Xentor 32, 3dfx Voodoo3 3500 TV, S3 Viper 2, and ATI Rage Fury Pro.
    • Ask the Doctor – Questions about removing heatsinks from video cards, CD/DVD drive terminology, using nVidia GeForce cards with Athlon systems, upgrading a Pentium II in a Intel Seattle SE440BX motherboard, single vs. multiple DIMM performance, AGP 2X vs. 1X, and more.
    • Terminator – A glossary of tech terms.

    Products

    • Peripheral Vision – A look at new tech gadgets including the LP 330 “Dragonfly” LCD projector, the CamPrint device which allows printing photos directly from your camera, and USB PC RADIO which adds FM radio to your PC.

    …and more.


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana 📎and tagged

  • ACE (October 1991)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: ACE – Issue Number 49 – October 1991

    While ACE stood for “Advanced Computer Entertainment”, this was a magazine that covered gaming on the Amiga, Atari ST, PC (DOS), as well as the MegaDrive (Genesis), Game Boy, Atari Lynx and Super Famicom (Super Nintendo)…at least in 1991. The October 1991 issue includes:

    Reviews

    • Buster Douglas Boxing (MegaDrive) – Buster Douglas was the big heavyweight name after Mike Tyson but the game itself is not so great.
    • EA Hockey (MegaDrive) – The first of the EA hockey games on the Genesis. Sports games were something EA was very good at for a while.
    • F117A: Stealth Fighter 2 (PC) – A sequel to the 1989 original. While I love older games, the relatively low frame rate and low polygon count sims of old don’t hold up all that well.
    • Magic Pockets (Amiga) – Not a game I am really familiar with, this is a side scrolling platform type game for the Amiga.
    • Mega lo Mania (Amiga) – A strategy game reminiscent of Populous.
    • Microprose Golf (Atari ST) – An ok golf game for the Atari ST. This one tries to combine the best element of serious golf games and more simplified arcade oriented titles like Leaderboard.
    • Robin Hood (PC) – Another Populous inspired strategy game.
    • Storm Lord (MegaDrive) – A side-scrolling adventure that at least in looks reminds me of Ghost ‘N Goblins. However, from this review it doesn’t sound nearly as good.
    • The Simpsons: Bart vs. The Space Mutants (Amiga) – A port of the NES game of the same name. It gets a pretty mediocre review here that cites its lack of humor among other flaws.
    • Wing Commander II – Sequel to Origin’s original space combat flights sim. If you liked the original then you’ll like this one too.

    Features

    • Gore Blimey! – A sort of “best of” in terms of gore in computer and video games. Games mentioned include Persian Gulf Inferno, Lemmings, Oids, Barbarian, Technocop, Indianapolis 500, NARC, and Warzone.
    • Spaceship Warlock (Macintosh) – An interactive movie of sorts with a 1950s B movie theme for the Macintosh, a platform that didn’t see too many game releases at the time, relatively speaking.
    • Sensible Soccer (Preview) – One of the more popular soccer (football) games, at least in Europe.
    • Konsole Kick-Off!!! – Big Match, another popular soccer game for the Amiga and Atari ST, makes its way to various consoles, including the Super Nintendo, Nintendo, Sega Master System, Game Boy and Game Gear with a MegaDrive version in the plans as well.
    • In The Works – A brief look at some games currently still in development including Daemonsgate, Godfather, Grand Prix and Hudson Hawk.

    Regulars

    • ACE Games News – Upcoming games announcements including The Simpsons, Castlevania IV for the Super NES, Super Tetris for the PC (I remember playing that one on the ancient PC XTs at school), The Killing Cloud for the PC, Amiga and Atari ST (set in the sci-fi future of 1997), Crisis in the Kremlin (PC), Mercenary III, Planet’s Edge, Guardian Angels, Shoe People, Might and Magic III (PC), Super Space Invaders, Super Fulcrum (PC) and Double Dragon II for the Game Boy.
    • ACE Tech News – Amstrad releases an all-in-one PC with a 16MHz 286 processor, 40MB hard drive and 1MB of RAM. Also included are the games Links, F-15 Strike Eagle II and Prince of Persia. Also, game developers in Japan complain of a lack of developers, Yamaha releases the SY99 Synth and JVC releases what could be thought of as a predecessor to the GoPro, the Super VHS SC-F007.
    • Letters – Comments on Terminator 2, console game reviews, and consoles vs. computers among other topics.
    • Tricks ‘n’ Tactics – A detailed guide for The Secret of Monkey Island, plus hints for Supercars 2, Horror Zombies From The Crypt, Pang, Toki, Predator 2, Stormball, Navy Seals, Spirit of Excalibur, Operation C, and Wizards & Warriors.

    …and lots more!


    📂This entry was posted in Amiga Atari ST Computer Arcana DOS Game Boy Retro Games Sega Genesis Super Nintendo (SNES) 📎and tagged

  • Hexen II

    Posted on by Azrael Comment


    Source: https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/677739782287343616/oldgamemags-aopcalyptic-hexen-ii-pc


    First there was Heretic, then there was Hexen, the sequel to Heretic…then there was a Heretic II and a Hexen II to make things really confusing. Of those two, Hexen II was probably most like the first two games. At least it remained an FPS style game instead of going towards a 3rd person Tomb Raider like point of view as Heretic II did…

    Anyway, this series is (mostly) a fantasy based FPS. Hexen II plays very much like Hexen but features an extra class and some RPG elements. It’s not really an RPG but you character does gain experience and power as the game progresses. Classes include Paladin, Crusader, Necromancer and Assassin. The class system was reworked somewhat from the previous game and there are four classes now instead of three. The level structures is also similar to the previous game in that it consists of a hub that connects multiple levels. The actions you perform in one level may affect the other levels as well.

    Hexen II used a modified version of the Quake engine just as the original Heretic used a modified version of the Doom engine. Like all good FPS games, there is a single player game and a multiplayer mode. I would argue that the single player games were better than the equivalent single player Doom and Quake games. However, a lot of exploration is required and some of the tasks you must do can be hard to figure out so if you are not a patient gamer than Hexen II is probably not for you. There’s nothing wrong with deathmatch either however the level design always made it feel more like a game of hide and go seek to me.

    Hexen II was originally released for Windows in 1997 with a Macintosh port following quite a bit later in 2002. It received mixed but mostly positive reviews at the time. There was also an expansion pack titled ‘Portal of Praevus’ released in 1998. Activision acquired the rights to release versions for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn but these were never released. I don’t know if any work was done on those ports. Sadly, Hexen didn’t do that well commercially selling only around 30,000 units whic might explain why ports for the PlayStation and Saturn were never completed. If you want to give Hexen II a try, fortunately it is easy and cheap to do. Hexen II is available on gog.com for a mere $4.99 and will work with any version of Windows from 7 to 11.


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana Retro Games 📎and tagged