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  • VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (February 1993)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: VideoGames & Computer Entertainment – February 1993

    VideoGames & Computer Entertainment was my favorite magazine in the years that it was published (late 1980s to early 1990s). It was really sort of the successor to the original Electronic Games magazine, at least until Electronic Games was actually rebooted. The February 1993 issue includes:

    Features

    • A Matter of Chaos: Player’s Guide to Dungeon Master, Part I – VG&CE had some pretty great game guides. However, you had to be disciplined about looking at them because they could ruin the game for you. This one covers the first part of Dungeon Master for the Super NES.
    • Much Ado About 3DO: The Real Story – It’s a shame the 3DO didn’t have more success. This article is a first look at the machine with some technical details and a look at its capabilities.
    • VG&CE’s Best Games of 1992 Awards – Sonic the Hedgehog 2 won VG&CE’s Video Game of the Year award with other awards going to Street Fighter II (SNES), Warsong (Genesis), F22 (Genesis), The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES), Loom (TG16), Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun (Genesis), Mick & Mack as the Global Gladiators (Genesis), Contra III – The Alien Wars (SNES), Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (computer game of the year), Hardball III, Wolfenstein 3D, Comanche: Maximum Overkill, V for Victory, Star Control II, The Secret of Monkey Island, Wizardry: Crusaders of the Dark Savant, Dune, LINKS 386 Pro, plus numerous honorable mentions and other lists (such as worst games of 1992).

    Previews & Reviews

    • Video-Game Previews – Brief previews of Flashback (Genesis), Bonk 3 (TurboGrafx-16), Street Combat (Super NES), Dungeon Explorer II (TurboGrafx-16), Zen Intergalactic Ninja (NES and Game Boy), Lethal Weapon (NES and Game Boy), Cool World (Super NES and Game Boy), Congo’s Caper (Super NES), Malibu Bikini Volleyball (Atari Lynx), Spot – The Cool Adventure (Game Boy), and Exile 2 (TurboGrafx-16).
    • Video-Game Reviews – Reviews of The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse (Super NES) – Capcom made some great Disney licensed games and this was one of them, Mega Man 5 (NES) – and there would still be one more Mega Man game on the NES, Roger Clemens’ MVP Baseball (Genesis), Cybernator (Super NES), Buster Bros. (TurboGrafx-16 CD), Dragon’s Lair (Super NES) – a platform game not really like the arcade version, PGA Tour Golf II (Genesis), Super Strike Eagle (Super NES), Aerobiz (Super NES), Samurai Ghost (TurboGrafx-16), The Adventures of Willy Beamish (Sega CD), Tiny Toon Adventures Cartoon Workshop (NES), and Universal Soldier (Super NES) – another bad licensed game.
    • Computer-Game Previews – Short previews of Ultima VII Part 2: The Serpent Isle, Caesar – I think I actually have this one somewhere though I’ve never played it, Betrayal at Krondor – my roommate in college spent many hours on this game, and Pirates! Gold.
    • Computer-Game Reviews – Reviews of The Terminator 2029 – only a few years away now, The Incredible Machine, Dune II – the first RTS I ever really saw, The Humans, WaxWorks, Mega lo Mania, Amazon: Guardians of Eden, MicroLeague Action Sports Soccer, Discovery, and Task Force 1942.

    Departments

    • Editor’s Letter – A look at what’s ahead in 1993 including the 3DO, Atari Jaguar, the PlayStation (which at the time was essentially an SNES console with CD-ROM), and more.
    • Reader Mail – Letters from readers about RPGs, Nintendo’s 32-bit CD-ROM system, portable systems, and more.
    • Tip Sheet – Hints and tips for Night Trap (Sega CD), The Guardian Legend (NES), and Cosmic Fantasy 2 (TurboGrafx-CD).
    • News Bits – Radio Shack debuts a new interactive CD player called the Memorex MD-2500 VIS, Nintendo cleared of antitrust charges, classic games re-released for the NES (Zelda, Zelda II, Punch-out, Metroid) for $29.99 each, Sunsoft licenses The Pirates of Dark Water, Atari drops price of Lynx to $79.99, and more.
    • Easter Egg hunt – Secrets revealed for Batman Returns (Atari Lynx), Super Mario Kart (Super NES), Dead Moon (TurboGrafx-16), Faceball 2000 (Game Boy), Cobra Command (Sega CD), Toki (Atari Lynx), Alisia Dragoon (Genesis), Magic Sword (Super NES), Wacky Races (NES), and Crystal Mines II (Atari Lynx).
    • Destination Arcadia – A guide to the secrets of Mortal Kombat.
    • Computer Strategies – A strategy guide for The Ancient Art of War in the Skies.

    …and more!


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  • VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (February 1991)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: VideoGames & Computer Entertainment – February 1991

    VideoGames & Computer Entertainment was my favorite gaming magazine in the late 1980s to early 1990s. EGM was great then too but this one was my favorite. It was sort of the spiritual successor to the original Electronic Games as it had many of the same people involved though Electronic Games itself would make a return for a little while. The February 1991 issue of VG&CE includes:

    Features

    • Hot Circuits: The Arcade Museum – “Hot Circuits, A Video Arcade” was a traveling arcade museum created by the American Museum of the Moving Image in New York City. It included arcade machines dating back to 1971 all of which were playable by patrons.
    • Looking for the Light: A Player’s Guide to Final Fantasy, Part II – The second part of a strategy guide for Final Fantasy on the NES. Spoilers included.
    • VG&CE’s Best Games of 1990 – Winners and runners up in several categories as determined by the editors of VG&CE. Phantasy Star II for the Genesis won game of the year, Bonk’s Adventure for the TurboGrafx-16 won action game of the year, Whip Rush for the Sega Genesis won best science-fiction video games, Devil’s Crush won best simulation video game (as a pinball simulation), Herzog Zwei (Genesis) and Military Madness (TurboGrafx-16) tied for best military-strategy video game, It Came From the Desert won best computer game, Prince of Persia won best computer action game, Battles of Napoleon won best computer military-strategy game, and there are a number of other categories as well as honorable mentions in each category.

    • Super Glove Ball, Part I – The first part of a strategy guide to Super Glove Ball, a game designed for the Power Glove.
    • Giving Crime the Boot – A feature on crime related games. Some of the titles covered include The Punisher, Search for the King, Police Quest, The Colonel’s Bequest, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Clue: Master Detective, David Wolf: Secret Agent, Countdown, Rise of the Dragon, and more.

    Reviews

    • Video-Game Reviews – Reviews of Bart Simpson vs. the Space Mutants (NES), Battle Squadron (Sega Genesis), The Punisher (NES), Shadow Dancer (Sega Genesis), Galaxy 5000 (NES), Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom (NES), Krazy Kreatures (NES), Burning Force (Sega Genesis), Ultima: Quest of the Avatar (NES), Arrow Flash (Sega Genesis), and Pac-Mania (NES).

    • Computer-Game Reviews – Reviews of Wing Commander (DOS, Amiga), Spot (Commodore 64, DOS), Ishido (Amiga, DOS, Macintosh), It Came From the Desert II (Amiga), Altered Destiny (Amiga, DOS), Anarchy (Amiga, Atari ST), Unreal (Amiga), Stunt Driver (DOS), and Stormovik (DOS).
    • Computer-Game Strategies – Brief strategy guides for Brainblaster (Amiga, Atari ST, DOS) and Turbo Out Run (Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS).

    Departments

    • Editor’s Letter – Andy Eddy talks about his experience with an Activision event to promote F-14 Tomcat.
    • Reader Mail – Readers write in about alternate uses for the Game Boy and Atari Lynx, the used game market, Tecmo Bowl for the NES, Pit Fighter, and more.
    • Crash & Boom – A comic featuring taunting turtles.
    • Tip Sheet – Tips for Alien Syndrome on the Sega Master System, Snake’s Revenge on the NES, and Ninja Spirit on the TurboGrafx-16.
    • News Bits – Accolade sponsors golf course design contest for Jack Nicklaus’ Unlimited Golf; retailers increasingly carrying 16-bit systems and software; Commodore’s CDTV; Commodore reduces price of Amiga; new arcade game from Williams (Hit the Ice); and much more.
    • Easter Egg Hunt – Tips and tricks for Klax (TurboGrafx-16), Loopz (NES), Gilligan’s Island (NES), Super Star Soldier (TurboGrafx-16), Gargoyle’s Quest (Game Boy), Narc (NES), Devil’s Crush (TurboGrafx-16), Mondu’s Fight Palace (Genesis), and Chip’s Challenge (Lynx).
    • Fandango – Reviews of recent fanzines including Porta-Play #1 (covering the Game Boy and Lynx), Genesis Masters #2 (covering the Sega Genesis), Dan-Man’s Game Review #3 (covering the Sega Genesis), and The Subersive Sprite #5.
    • Destination Arcadia – A report from the 1990 Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) Expo. New games shown include Mad Dog McCree (American Laser Games), Bio-Ship Paladin (American Sammy), Double Dragon 3 (American Technos), Race Drivin’ (Atari), Pushman (American Sammy), Pit Fighter (Atari), Shuuz (Atari), Carrier Airwing (Capcom), Magic Sword (Capcom), The Adventures of Edward Randy (Data East), The Simpsons (Data East), Blood Brothers (Irem), Hammerin’ Harry (Irem), Cisco Heat (Jaleco), Earth Defense Force (Jaleco), Escape Kids (Konami), Over Drive (Konami), Punkshot (Konami), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Konami).
    • Inside Gaming – A look at the year past, including the awards process for the awards in this issue, and a look into the next year with predictions.
    • Game Doctor – Questions answered about the TurboGrafx-16’s technical capabilities, the future of NES software, Nintendo’s upcoming 16-bit system, state of the art PC games, programming video games, and more.

    …and more!


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  • PC World (July 1988)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: PC World – July 1988

    Computer magazines were pretty bulky back in the day. This issue of PC World, one of the more popular magazines at the time, from July 1988 weighs in at nearly 300 pages. It includes:

    Data Management

    • Omnis Quartz 1.13 – This was the first relational database manager for Windows.
    • Q&A 3.0 – The features included in the latest update for this database manager include better performance, overlapping windows, and better backup capabilities.
    • DataEase 2.5 release 3 – This database manager includes the use of forms and menus for all functions as well as its own command language.
    • Paradox/386 – An updated version of Paradox 2.0 that performs two to ten times faster by being able to directly address up to 16MB of extended memory.
    • FoxBase+/386 – Similar to dBASE III Plus but faster and includes improved developer tools.

    Word Processing

    • DisplayWrite 4/2 – A version of the DisplayWrite word processor for OS/2.
    • XyWrite III Plus 3.53 – This version of Xywrite adds desktop publishing features, a thesaurus and spell checker.
    • Nota Bene 3.0 – A word processor that was once popular in academic settings, it includes fast indexing, lots of style and formatting commands, and foreign language processing.
    • Q&A Write 1.03 – A relatively inexpensive (which at the time meant $199) and easy to use word processor that still has lots of features.
    • Microsoft Pageview 1.0 – A utility for Word that allows the import of graphics and previews of different font styles and column layouts.
    • ABC Word 1.0 – An electronic dictionary and thesaurus.
    • Microsoft Bookshelf – A digital reference library on CD that includes The American Heritage Dictionary, The World Almanac and Book of Facts, The Chicago Manual of Style, Roget’s II: Electronic Thesaurus, and Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations plus Houghton Mifflin’s grammar checker (Usage Alert) and Spelling Verifier and Corrector. The software cost $295 and also came as a packaged with a CD-ROM drive, interface and software (not at all common in 1984) for $1099.

    Spreadsheet Add-Ins

    • Lucid 3-D 1.0 – A pop-up spreadsheet that includes file linking, auditing functions, and more.
    • SQZ Plus – Helps you to save disk space and secure your data.
    • 3-2-1 Bastoff 1.0 – Speeds up recalculations in Lotus 1-2-3.
    • 4Views 1.0 – Adds better sorting, easier data entry features, and reporting features to Lotus 1-2-3.
    • The Worksheet Utilities – A collection of utilities than include autosave, file manager, and much more.
    • Cambridge Spreadsheet Analyzer 2.0 – Helps you find errors in Lotus 1-2-3 worksheets.
    • 101 Macros for 1-2-3 – A bunch of macros for Lotus 1-2-3 that add various capabilities.

    Desktop Publishing

    • PagePerfect – Combines the features of a word processor and page-layout program.
    • Publisher’s Type Foundry 1.02 – A font editor that works with LaserJet and PostScript.
    • Corel Tabin 1.00, Table Manners 2.2, VP/Tabs 1.0 – A collection of programs that help import Lotus 1-2-3 worksheets into Ventura Publisher.
    • Corel Ventura Utilities – More tools for Ventura Publisher that help with reorganizing files, creating macros and use laser printers.

    Business Graphics

    • Business Graphics Roundup – A category of software that was mostly consumed by Power Point. Products looked at here include Freelance Plus 2.0, GEM Presentation Team 1.0, Microsoft Chart 3.0, 35mm Express 4.1, and Windows Graph 1.0.

    Departments

    • In This Issue – A preview of this special “Software Update” issue.
    • Top of the News – The latest PC related news including: a new IBM Model 5535 laptop featuring a 10 MHz 286, 1 MB RAM, 1.44MB floppy, and 20MB hard drive for $4000; Ashton-Tate creates new dCAL language for dBASE; the debut of SuperCalc 5; new Full Impact spreadsheet program for Macintosh; new 2400bps and 9600bps Smartmodems from Hayes; new 286 based laptop from Mitsubishi; and more.
    • David Bunnell – The potential threat that Apple’s lawsuits against Microsoft and HP pose to creativity and innovation in the computer industry.
    • Letters – Letters from readers about the recent format change in PC World, a review of SmartKey, VP-Planner, Quattro vs. 1-2-3 benchmarks, public e-mail services, faxing vs. e-mail, and more.
    • Richard Landry – Vendors and proprietary “standards”.
    • Next In PC World – The next issue of PC World focusses on “low-cost computing”.
    • Stewart Alsop – IBM’s marketing hype for their Micro Channel bus included on PS/2 computers.
    • On IBM – A look at IBM’s strategy vs. Compaq’s strategy and how Compaq in winning.
    • Industry Outlook – The first Micro Channel clones arrive including machines from Tandy and Dell; Lotus 1-2-3 still leads spreadsheet sales; sales of DOS based spreadsheet programs expected to increase through 1989; Intel introduces lower cost 386SX CPU; Tandy introduces THOR, an erasable optical technology; memory prices rise dramatically; and more.
    • Preview – A preview of dBASE IV which includes a built-in compiler, 240 new commands, and support for SQL.
    • Product Outlook – Previews of upcoming products including ColorScript 100 (a postscript compatible color printer), SideKick Plus (memory resident utilities), AT&T WorkGroup System (a new powerful machine from AT&T meant for the Starlan network), DeskScan 2000 (A cheaper, lower-res scanner that uses ambient lighting), and more.
    • Briefly Noted – A brief look at Netremote (a Crosstalk compatible program that allows up to 15 PCs to share files and peripherals), Star 2 (low-priced printer), NX-1000 Rainbow (a 7-color dot-matrix printer), RamQuest II and RamQuest Extra (memory expansion boards for PS/2 computers offering up to 8MB of additional RAM), and more.
    • Update – A brief look at the latest versions of various products including Lap-Link Plus/Desk-Link (allows sharing resources between two computers), PopDrop 3.1 (provides info on memory resident programs), SuperProject Expert/2 (enables the use of 16MB of expanded memory), Powermate 1 (a program for the Powermate Portable that allows switching clock speeds and expanding memory to 10.6MB), and more.
    • The Hardware Shelf – A look at new hardware including the Stanford Systems 286-16 (a 12 MHz 286 base system with 1MB of RAM and 5.25″ floppy drive for #1479), the Hyundai Super-16 XT-Turbo (a 8-MHz 8088-2 based system with 640K RAM for $999), the NEC Multispeed HD (a laptop featuring a V30 CPU @ 9.54 MHz, 20MB hard drive and 640K of RAM for $3895), and more.
    • The Upgrade Path – A look at CSSL’s Awesome I/O Card which plugs into the back of an AT, Deskpro 386 or compatible and provides 128K cache (expandable to 512K) and also remaps the data structure if your hard drive resulting in a 25% increase in performance. Plus a look at a 1.2MB floppy drive upgrade for PC and XT computers.
    • The Help Screen – Questions answered about using a U.S. PC in Switzerland, leaving laser printers on, character conversions in PageMaker and the LaserJet Series II printer, the Tandy 1000SX and assembly programming, and using 1.44M 3.5″ drives in an IBM PC.
    • Sourcebooks – Reviews of books including Desktop Publishing Bible, The Illustrated Handbook of Desktop Publishing and Typesetting, and The Brady Guide to CD-ROM.
    • Another Angle – A criticism of shareware. The author seems to think that only free software and commercial software are valid options and other options are “greed”. And also that apparently time invested in something doesn’t count as a business expense. To be fair, some valid criticisms are made like unclear licensing terms, programs that expire without warning, etc.

    …and more!


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