Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Amy Today Volume 04 Issue 01
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Amy Today
A text-file magazine for all Amiga lovers
Volume #4, Issue #1, October 10th
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Editor : John Rydell
Writers: David Motowylak & Lancelot
Address all correspondence to: "Amy Today"
C/O John Rydell
GEnie address: J.Rydell1 640 Willowglen Rd.
(#54790) Santa Barbara, CA
93105
Plink address: J*Rydell
GEnie discussion in category #2, topic #29
Plink discussion in Section #2
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Contents:
1. A Message From the Editor John Rydell
2. Distributing "Amy Today" John Rydell
3. Amiga Happenings John Rydell
4. Rocket Ranger Review Lancelot
5. Awesome Arcade Pack #1 David Motowylak
6. AmiExpo Report John Rydell
7. Trading Galore!! John Rydell
8. Amy Gurus John Rydell
9. Newsletter Trading John Rydell
10. Advertising John Rydell
11. In the Future John Rydell
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
A Message From The Editor:
Hello. And welcome to issue 4-1 (October 10th) of Amy Today.
I'm about 4 days late with this issue because I wanted to wait
until I had enough information of AmiExpo to give a good report.
I have received some votes as to whether I should make Amy Today
longer and the majority of people have said that if the content
is good, it should be longer. BUT, it should not be longer just
for the sake of including more information. I still have not
made up my mind.
I am looking for reader-support in the way of articles or short
programs you would like to share with the Amiga community. If
you would like to contribute please contact me at one of the
locations printed in the magazine's cover/title section. All
good PD/shareware software will also be mentioned or reviewed if
it is sent to Amy Today.
John Rydell
(Editor)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Distributing "Amy Today":
Amy Today is what I call a public domain file-based magazine.
This means that I would like to be given credit to anything taken
from the magazine and I request that the magazine remains "AS
IS". Please do not modify it in any way if you are going to
distribute it.
About Distributing: Please upload Amy Today EVERYWHERE! This
magazine simply will not flourish if it is not uploaded whenever
possible. Every issue is kept under 15,000 bytes ARCed so that
upload/download time should never be a problem. So, please, if
you have the chance spread the magazine around the country! Give
a copy to your friend! Keep Amy Today alive and going strong!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Amiga Happenings:
(John Rydell)
New Animation-
I was recently given a copy of a new demo named "DOC" that was
supposedly imported from Europe. This demo which contains
fantastic graphics as well as some great music is now available
for downloading from Plink. It is file #13947. It is pretty
long but if you like animations you might want to download it. I
plan to make this animation available on Amy Today Picture
Trading Disk #3 or I'll send you a copy as part of the Trading
Galore. This demo really shows off the Amiga!
Arkanoid-
I recently received my update from the old version of Arkanoid
(with only 33 levels) to the new version. Discovery will make
this trade for free to old registered users. The new levels
continue the excellence of the first 33. Some of the new
backgrounds are unbelievable! I have not yet played all 33
levels so I don't know if any special prizes await a good player.
AmiExpo-
The conference was held this last weekend and looks to have been
a success. Look for our coverage later in this issue.
Pict1-
Joe Larson sent me the first of his new pictures, music, and
animations disks. He plans to eventually have a whole series of
these disks. The first disk looks very nice and includes... You
can obtain a copy in the following ways:
1. Sending $5 to Joe
2. Sending a SASE plus disk to Joe
3. Sending a disk with good material on it
Joe Larson
6121 St. Croix Ave. N.
Golden Valley, Minn. 55422
Sky Fox II-
EA recently released SkyFox II: The Cygnus Conflict. The game
is now available and retails for $39.95. "Skyfox II boasts a new
plot, better graphics and sound, faster action, and a more
realistic sensation of flying than its predecessor." For those
of you who liked the original Skyfox (and evidently, MANY people
did), you'll probably enjoy the sequel.
Lattice-
On October 10, 1988 Lattice released information about a major
upgrade of the Lattice C compiler for the Amiga. Version 5.0 of
the compiler will be available in November and it will feature
"an integrated editor and compiler, a new source-level debugger,
global optimizer, significant enhancements to the compiler and
Blink overlay linker, plus many new utilities." From the look of
Lattice's report this upgrade will be fantastic. (Let's see what
Aztec can do in return...) Suggested price is $300.00 but
registered users can update for $75.00 and registered owners of
Aztec can upgrade for $150.00 with turn in of their original
software and manual.
Workbench 1.3-
As far as I can tell, WorkBench 1.3 is finally shipping. I'm not
sure which companies actually have the software, but the disks
are now being shipped. The price for the disks and small manual
retails at $29.95 and the ROM chips for the A500 and A2000 will
go for $45.00.
Fred Fish-
About eight more Fred Fish disks have been released. Next issue
I'll give a complete rundown on what is contained on these disks.
Amiga Happenings is a column dedicated to giving you information
on what is happening in the Amiga community. Some of the
information could possibly be wrong due to the fact that I am
trying to get early information. I do not in any way guarantee
that the information will be accurate although I will try my
hardest to protect the innocent.
>>If you have some new information you would like to share please
submit it to Amy Today.
###############################################################
# Amy Today Trading Galore! Trade public domain or shareware #
# software with Amy Today. Look for more information later #
# in this issue. --The trade is going strong...participate #
# today! #
###############################################################
Rocket Ranger Review:
(Lancelot)
<Taken with permission from The Knightly Knews. The monthly
newsletter of ART--The Amiga Round Table.>
Well folks, it looks like the people at CinemaWare have outdone
themselves yet once more. Rocket Ranger, which puts the player
in the role of a Nazi-bashing hero in the early 1940's, is
undoubtedly CinemaWare's best title to date.
Rocket Ranger places you in the star role of a mild-mannered
bomb-sight inventor to ... you guessed it, Rocket Ranger! It's
1940, and the world is rapidly being consumed by the black stain
of Nazi fascism. Brave scientists from a century into the future
(the year 2040) have sent you several important items (via time
machine); a radium-powered rocket backpack, a radium pistol, a
supply of fuel, a booklet, a secret decoder wheel, and a
computerized wristwatch. The rocket pack, when fastened securely
to your back and fed the proper amount of fuel, allows you to
zoom through the sky like a P-51 Mustang. The radium pistol
allows you to fire powerful bursts of energy at your opponents
(Hitler's "Godless Goose Steppers"), the secret decoder wheel
computes the correct amount of fuel to be fed into your rocket
pack, and the wristwatch tells you your current position and
notifies you of any special events. The story the booklet
relates is a dark one; 100 years ago, in 1940, the Nazi's won
WWII and plunged the world into a century of Fascist terror and
brutality.
A team of brave scientists has sent you these supplies in the
hope that you will be able to alter the course of history and
free the Earth from its forebody future. If you accept the
challenge, you'll soon be treated to a spectacle of both
scintillating graphics and ear-tingling sound.
The entire plot revolves around the use of Lunarium. Lunarium
gas has a strange effect upon men; it lowers their IQ's by about
30 points, turning most men into drooling idiots. Strangely,
Lunarium has no effect upon women. That's okay with the Nazi's;
they have other, more dastardly plans for the women. Anyway, the
Nazi's have made Lunarium bombs and are flying their dreaded
Zeppelin fleet around the world, bombing the Allied countries
into submission. The Zeppelins fly much too high for fighter
planes to intercept them, so the world is at the Nazi's mercy.
You, Rocket Ranger, are based in Ft. Dix New Jersey. Only here
can you access the following game options: War Room, Rocket Lab,
Fuel Depot, and Takeoff.
In the War Room, you'll see a map of the world which shows you
what month and year it is, where the Nazi Zeppelin fleet
currently is located, which countries are under Nazi control,
your current location, and the location of the five secret agents
that are under your command. These agents help you find rocket
parts, enemy targets, and enemy bases. Once an agent has
infiltrated a country, he will shortly begin giving you any
information he has discovered. If you use your agents well,
you'll be able to find the two secret Nazi lunarium bases (which
you raid for Lunarium), and the location of the five rocket
parts. These rocket parts, when assembled into a rocket ship,
will allow you to go to the heart of the Nazi's power: their
base on the moon!
The rocket lab allows you to see how much of your rocket ship is
assembled and whether you have enough Lunarium to go to the moon
-- you need 500 units of lunarium and a completed rocket ship to
make it to the moon.
The fuel depot is where you transfer lunarium from storage to
either your rocket pack or your rocket ship.
Whenever you leave Ft. Dix, you must go through the takeoff
sequence. Choosing takeoff from the Ft. Dix menu will bring up
the "destination" screen. This is where the "Secret decoder
wheel" comes in. You have to enter the correct amount of
lunarium from the wheel to travel to the location you wish to fly
to. If you enter incorrectly, at best you could end up in the
country and end up wasting two months time looking for something
that isn't there; at worst you could run out of fuel and fall to
death.
Someone said that "War is Hell". In this game, that quote holds
true; to win the game, you can't just jet around the globe
stealing rocket parts and raiding Nazi fuel depots. The Nazis
aren't out of play pattycake, either. So keep your Radium pistol
handy and your mind clear.
You'll find yourself flying through the air in savage dogfights
with German fighter planes, chasing Zeppelins across the
Atlantic, engaging in fisticuffs with a burly Nazi guard,
blasting a secret South-American lunarium base with your pistol,
or launching a night-time raid against a base in Africa,
dodging flak and searchlights. Who knows what awaits you on the
moon: I've played the game for about three weeks now, and I
still haven't managed to get up there!
Rocket Ranger is the only other game I've played (aside from EA's
Interceptor) that makes you feel like you're actually there,
doing all of these fantastic things in person. The graphics are
beyond compare, (just wait until you see beautiful Jane
Barnstorff, a damsel in distress you have to rescue. The artists
must have seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit and modeled Jane after
Jessica Rabbit!) the sound is excellent with actual digitized
character's lips! Rocket Ranger is both an excellent arcade game
and a challenging game of strategy. After playing the game as
long as I have (about a month), I still haven't been able to get
to the Nazi base on the moon. In summary, to quote two of
cinema's best-known film critics, "We give it two thumbs up."
You just can't miss with Rocket Ranger. HIGHLY recommended.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The Awesome Arcade Action Pack Volume One:
Arcadia
Distributed by Electronic Arts
Suggested retail price $49.99
(David Motowylak)
Being the arcade fanatic that I am, I just had to pick up
Arcadia's latest release, entitled THE AWESOME ARCADE ACTION PACK
VOLUME ONE. After a long and tiresome workout, here's what I
found.
The package contains three disks, each holding a separate
action-packed game. Documentation comes in the form of a small
black booklet, and while it contains some useful information, it
is certainly not needed to enjoy the games. These are "arcade
games" -- they are meant to be easy to play and understand. As
the packaging reads, the games are "easy to pick up, impossible
to put down."
The first disk is SIDEWINDER, a vertical scrolling shoot'em up,
similar to Xevious, Mission XXX, and a million others. The goal
is to shoot your way through five levels of an alien spacecraft,
destroying fuel tanks, buildings, and enemy fighters. Along the
way you'll pick up various "power packs" that make your spaceship
temporarily more powerful (rapid fire and power shots are some).
The graphics are very sharp and colorful, especially from level
three onward. Play can get pretty hectic as the game progresses
... I still haven't made it past level five yet. I'm dying to
see what happens! SIDEWINDER is definitely the best of the
bunch, offering the best game play and graphics.
XENON, the next disk, is *another* vertical scrolling shoot'em
up. Here you have the option of switching between a ground based
hovercraft and a fighter plane. Again, you pick up "power packs"
to strengthen your craft, such as invulnerability, lasers, and
speed. The object still is to destroy the enemy defenses and
make your way through the various levels. At the end of each
sector you must face a large "sentinel" that has only one
vulnerability. After finding its weak spot you move on to the
next level. I'm still puzzled why Arcadia chose to include two
vertical scrolling games in their game pack. The games feel
quite different, but the general objective is the same. I think
for the sake of variety there would be a wider selection.
Finally, BLASTABALL, the third of the set, is described as a
"Hitech" ice hockey from the far future. The setting is on a
metal play arena, much like a hockey rink without the ice. You
control one of ten craft, each with different abilities, trying
to score more goals than your opponent. Goals are made by either
shooting "homing missiles" at a steel puck that cause it to move,
or by pushing the puck with your craft. Guiding the puck into
the opponents goal area scores points. Play continues for three
minutes, or until one player scores nine points. A nice feature
is that either one or two people can play ... I found playing
"head to head" the most fun. Overall, play is somewhat slow and
the graphics are not quite up to par (for example, the fans are
represented by large round circles). C'mon guys, this is an
AMIGA! BLASTABALL is fun, but could use a lot of touching up.
Even at its suggested retail of $49.99, The Awesome Arcade Pack
is a great buy. The games will definitely keep you busy for
awhile, and while each game may not be perfectly polished, you'll
still get great arcade action that will satisfy anyone.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
AmiExpo Report:
(John Rydell)
Yes, AmiExpo has finally come and gone. Although I was
personally unable to attend I have picked up a lot of second hand
information which I would like to share. I hope the news is
enjoyed but remember that I wasn't actually at the show so I
cannot confirm any of the rumors.
ASDG: They were displaying their new line of twin-x based
products. The SHARP JX-450 scanner supposedly looked fantastic.
ASDG & Bill Seymour of CMI: The two have multiple serial port
boards that are almost ready to go.
GVP: Had a large line of SCSI based boards on display.
CMI: They were displaying a nice, polished MIDI interface.
Price of $79.95.
C Compilers: Both Aztec and Lattice were fighting together once
again as Lattice talked about 5.0 and Aztec talked about v 4.0
which will be available December 1.
WorkBench1.3: A couple of "real" 1.3 disks were given out to
developers who were in the right place at the right time.
Publishing Partner: PP has been renamed "PageStream" but no
release date has been set.
New Horizon: PostScript is now shipping.
CygnusED Professional: Marketed by ASDG, this program is now
shipping. The editor is very powerful and is using AREXX.
NAG: Richard Lee Stockton's shareware program has gone
commercial.
Dragon's Lair: I guess the final product was not ready for sale
but a demo was running off of six (yeah, six) disks. The game
should ship pretty soon. ((By the way, I just got a demo disk of
Dragon's Lair from Wild Wares and the graphics look FANTASTIC!
It would have been hard to believe 5 years ago that I'd ever have
a computer that could do a good job of reproducing a game like
Dragon's Lair.)
NewTek: NewTek was showing off their new demo. I have to
presume that it is fantastic.
Commodore: Besides being pushed against a wall, they had little
to say except that 1.3 would be shipping with in a week or two.
They might have also been displaying their new SCSI controller
and monitor but I'm not sure on this information.
Other Products: SuperBase 4.0 was at the show and supposedly
looked very nice. Sculpt 4-d was being shown and a beta version
of Photon Paint II was on display.
MicroFiche Filer Plus: The new version supports HAM mode and
uses ARExx. It should be nice.
Magazines: AmigaWorld, AmNews, Amazing Computing, Ami Exchange
Magazine, Compute, Ahoy, and British Amiga User International
were all present and showing off their magazines.
Friday afternoon the crowd was not very big at the show but I
presume it picked up over the weekend. In general I think the
show was a success. Hopefully I will news from a first-hand
source next issue.
This indirectly from UseNet, Harv Laser, and a couple of local
users.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Trading Galore:
First we had a picture trade. Users were urged to send in a disk
full of pictures and, in return, were given a disk full of the
best pictures that had been collected so far. The picture trade
was, and will hopefully continue to be, a GREAT success!
Because of this, I have decided to open up a new trade which
allows everyone to participate--not just those of us with
pictures. Send me a disk full of anything you want. (Music,
Art, Animations, Sound files, and Public Domain/Shareware
software...anything!) Include a SASE (please remember the
stamps!), and I will send your disk back to you filled with
whatever you want. Just tell me whether you want music, art,
software (you can even specify a specific pd/shareware program
but I can't guarantee that I have it), and I'll send it back. On
request, I'll even send disk copies of all issues of Amy Today.
Send your disk and a SASE to:
Amy Today's Trading Galore
640 Willowglen Rd.
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
<<Any requests or submissions of illegally copied software will
be burned!>>
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Amy Gurus:
(John Rydell)
It looks as if I have made it so that every Amy Today icon will
not work properly. I feel bad that it took me so long to catch
this error. The problem is that the icon files are named ".Icon"
with a capital "I". WorkBench 1.2 will not accept this.
Therefore, to fix the problem just rename the files as ".icon"
with a small "i". Sorry for the inconvenience.
This causes another problem, though, because 1.2 will not change
a file name if you only change the case of one of the letters.
You must rename the file to "xxx" and then back to
"AmyToday.icon". (Sorry for the confusion)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Newsletter Trading:
(From Issue 1-1)
I am looking for Amiga user groups who would like to trade
newsletters with me. Every month I will send you three issues of
Amy Today and, in return, I would like a copy of your
newsletter. I know a lot of this trading takes place and would
love to get involved. The more articles and information that I
have about the Amiga, the better I can make Amy Today. If you
are interested please drop me a line on GEnie, Plink, or by mail.
I would really appreciate a sample newsletter and will mail you
Amy Today in return.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Advertising:
Amy Today is open to advertising at VERY affordable prices.
Large and small companies both have a great opportunity for
quality advertising while supporting a public domain Amiga
magazine. If you are interested please write to:
Amy Today
ATTN Advertising
640 Willowglen Rd.
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
In the Future:
A review of Bard's Tale II
A review of Professional Page 1.1
A review of Modula-2
A review of a CLtd 33 meg hard drive
A review of a Supra 2400 baud modem
Yes, another review of F/A-18 Interceptor
An interview with a shareware programmer (Guess who?)
Maybe even more interviews, also
And hopefully numerous articles from you--the readers.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Amy Today" is copyright 1988 by John Rydell. Portions of
the magazine may be reprinted but the content of this magazine
may NOT be changed without the expressed consent of John Rydell.
Yet everyone is encouraged to distribute it AS IS. Please give
credit to "Amy Today" as well as to the individual author when
reprinting material. "Amy Today" as well as any of its authors
are not responsible for any damages that occur because of errors
or omissions. Articles reprinted from other newsletters, as
noted, are not property of Amy Today but are under the control of
their original authors.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
