Fred 39
Disk Magazine
Submitted by Dan Dooré on Monday, May 21, 2018 - 18:46.
Download
Release Year
1993
Copyrights
Copyrights Granted
Copyright Provenance
Description
Issue 39
Item | Author | Description |
---|---|---|
Menu | Brian McConnell | |
Magazine | Search: “Witching Hour, The” Solution, Sampaint | |
Letters | Trident Adventure Reviewed | |
Mqm Demo | Simon Cooke | Converted Spectrum Demo |
Waterworld | David Lewis | Games Master Arcade Game |
Astroball | Balor Knight | Playable Demo Of Revelation Title |
Wordsearch | John Eyre | Build Your Own Wordsearches |
Mwc Quotes | Brian McConnell | Qutoes From 'Married With Children' |
Binnie | Jon Binnie | Musical Antics With Jon Binnie |
Shredder | Colin Piggot | Stop People Unerasing Private Files |
Panic Attack | Paul Smith | Colourful Shoot-'Em-Up |
Vegas | Matt Round | Mouse-Only Card Game |
Outdex | BG | Contents Of Outlet Back Issues |
Magazine
BM Editorial Well, I made it. Despite grave doubts about my ability to spend any time on the SAM (or the Amiga for that matter) now that I'm at uni, FRED 39 is out and it's not even all that late. Is that dedication? Or is that simply the mercenary part of me that wants the monthly tuppence off Colin for slaving away for hours on end? Or am I simply off my rocker? Who can tell. Dr Gottlieb at the asylum seems to have formed a solid enough opinion, but between just you and me, he's not really human at all - he's the first of the martian prototypes come to take over the planet! Shhh! though, because we don't want to start a national panic; it can be our little secret. Yesssss. As I was saying, university's begun now, and it has been difficult, so if you find I've forgotten to include anything under a menu item it's only a symptom of nervous exhaustion. Nothing too serious. If anybody else is actually AT Dundee Uni, please get in touch, and we can go for a jar or something. I take it no-one else is actually in my Computer Science or Maths classes? BM News Hilton Computer Services, who brought you Personal Banking System, have just announced the release of Personal Filing System. So now you can have PBS and PFS. Presumably if they released a spreadsheet package it would be called PSS but don't quote me on that. Apparently: "The PFS is designed to be simple to operate but an effective tool at your disposal for most applications involving the storage and retrieval of information. "You could just use it to archive your ever-expanding music collection or perhaps just to store names and addresses for your club or society. The accent is on providing an uncomplicated tool which you can use to organise your affairs very easily." See over for a list of some of the features this package incorporates... BM News Features: * flexible and simple to use with WYSIWYG screen/printer options (WYSIWYG stands for What You See Is What You Get, fact fans) * page through records in summary form or zoom to detail format * label printing and mail merge facilities provided * extensive flexible enquiries - display or print * built-in field validation, totalling and table lookup * re-define your database structure, inc add new fields, at any time * files of more than 1 Meg available using 2 drives or one drive and 1 Meg RAM expansion, giving massive storage of records (with MasterDOS) - can also run with one drive * automatially detects number of drives and 1 meg RAM; auto- configures - no need to edit program statements * uses RAM files with indexes (with MasterDOS) * supplied with sample file structures * on line help plus 50 page manual * after sale maintenance FREE BM News Sounds smart huh? If you're ithing to get your paws on a copy then send a cheque for £19.95 to Hilton Computer Services Ltd [redacted] State which version you want - SAMDOS or MasterDOS. You need a minimum of 512k, which seems to be becoming the norm these days. Tsk. The march of technology eh? I believe Colin wants to get a little bit of news in this month. So here he is, the Gladiator of Love himself - Colin!! CM At last! Lemmings! We're now confident enough of the imminent release of this stunning game that we can now announce the price: £19.99. FRED subscribers can buy it for £18, BUT! if they buy it before the end of November, £17 is the asking price. These prices do not apply in conjunction with any other offer. So, why should you get Lemmings? Well, it's one of the best-selling computer games of all time; over 2 years of work have gone into the programming of this version; Psygnosis have only externally licensed Lemmings for two computers: Nintendo and SAM! Lemmings features all the levels from the Amiga/ST versions, and with graphics converted straight from the Amiga, you know it looks great! It works with joystick or keys, but if you're lucky enough to have a SAM Mouse, you can use that! Sadly, Lemmings only works with 512K. 256K upgrades available though... (hint hint) CM The 'L' word Incidentally, if you don't have a mouse, instead of buying Lemmings (RRP £20) and the Mouse (RRP £45) seperately, send a cheque to FRED for £55 and you can get them both - save £10! As I write this, the game itself is fully working. We still have to incorporate some of the front end, the introduction and music. The biggest problem of all, however lies with Psygnosis. Considering Lemmings is their biggest ever product, they're not going to let it go out without it being nothing short of excellent. As we're all aware, Psygnosis do have pretty high standards, but provided they're happy we're hoping to ship the first copies by the end of November. So once again, YES, we ARE finally taking orders for it. Now will everyone please stop phoning!! (and start writing cheques!) Psygnosis want FRED to sell 1,500 copies of this. Provided we get at least half that within 6 months they've said they'll talk about other licences, so if you're going to get it, get it NOW! CM And there's more! FRED has only just acquired the rights to "SAM Paint". Graham Burtenshaw (Enceladus fame) has spent almost two years developing this and now it's finished. Because this is not licensed by Psygnosis, the first copies will ship during November! The price is £24.99 although the price for FRED subscribers is a paltry £22. See what you get if you sub? Naturally SAM Paint works with keys but again, if you have a mouse, you're exceptionally lucky! As with Lemmings, we can offer the SAM Mouse and SAM Paint for a reduced price - £60. What features can you expect to find in SAM Paint then? Unfortunately, this is only getting put in FRED at the very last minute and we don't have time to give you a complete run-down of everything; we haven't even had time to create new screenshots of it, so this month we've used screens that were created over a year ago! And it's been improved since then as well! Like so many other titles now, SAM Paint is 512K only. CM SOME of it's features ... Gradient fills (horizontal, vertical, angled, radial...) Contour fills, random washes, cyclic and repeated gradient fills Screen squeeze, compression, airbrush, stipple Automatic anti-aliasing Comprehensive fill / brushes / patterns editors Can be zoomed by x2 up to x32 Block options: rescale, rotate, distort, skew, clip, mask grabbing, 2x magnification, perspective, bending Palette and ink cycling Smear brushes, brush mirrors , stencils Windows can be defocused, mixed, smeared and blended FOUR workscreens! Colour swapping, full RGB analysis Curve-fitting Adjustable plasma / marble effects Scalable fonts Perspective Tracing CM and more of SAM Paint's features... Bending Designed for MODE 4 but supports modes 1,2 and 3 Define up to 96K of animation and use it in your own programs! Animbrushes - change as you use them! Printing: offers a number of sizes, quality, printer modes, solid, shaded, pattern, stippled and COLOUR DUMPS! MasterDOS/ 1Meg users can access RAMdiscs! These are some of the special features you would only expect to see on Amigas! SAM Paint can also perform all the basics: rectangles, squares, circles, rotatable ellipses, triangles, parallelograms, polygons. X,Y grid. Palette grabbing. Full screen editing always available! Undo. Shadowing. Outlining. Both mouse or keys offer WIMP environment with single pixel movement. Fast fills. Colour locking. Curves.... We do have a fact sheet available giving more details than listed above, which you can get free with an SSAE or an order. BM Witching Hour Solution Thanks must go to Mat Phillips for sending in this solution to The Witching Hour. Start: get broom, get red potion, R, R, drop red potion, drop broom, L, through path, R, get ladder, L, L, get chalice, R, through path, R, R, R, give chalice, L, L, get broom, R, R, up, use ladder, get bible, down, R, use broom, R, R, R, R (over roof), get book, examine book, drop book, L, L, get key, L, L, L, L, L, use key, get red potion, drop bible, through door, get meat, use red potion, get rope, through door, drop rope, get bible, L, through path, R, drop bible, L, L, give meat, L, get green potion, R (use ledge but jump as you approach fire, there is a hidden hole), through path, R, get rope, R, R, up, climb ladder, use rope, down ladder, down, R, R, R, R, R, use green potion, get horn, L, L, L, L, L, down, get spade, up, L, L, L, through path, give spade, through path, R, R, R, down, R, R, R, give money, R, R, R, use horn, get blue potion, L, L, L, L, L, L, up, L, L, L, through path, drop horn, R, get bible, use blue potion, use bible, FINISH!! CM Astroball OK, we know it's not the latest of games, but Astroball didn't sell nearly enough as it deserved to when SAMCo pushed it out, so we thought we'd show you what it's like again because it just is, well, different. Revelation have been selling this for £9.95, but as a FRED subscriber, you can buy it before the end of 1993 for the ridiculous price of £4.95 This offer only applies when you buy it direct from Revelation, so here's their address : [redacted] The object of the demo is to collect the coins (use Joystick keys for control) and reach the platform at the top. BM Email Capers I'm doing Maths and Computing at uni, and as you'd expect we get to use computers. Yes, really - we do. Strange but true! We're also given unlimited access 24 hours-a-day to the electronic mail facilities. They positively encourage us to do so, in fact. This means: a)- I can spend the next four years reading tasteless joke files in BBSs around the world b)- you the general public can send me Email messages should the urge take you For the latter you may be interested in my address, which is: [redacted] or [redacted] depending on whether or not you live in the UK. Just try both, because I'm not actually sure which is right for each situation. I'll try to reply to any and all messages. If you want your email address printed in FRED, send it to us and we'll include it sometime. BM Chrimble Contributions We're now in November, which means that the Christmas preparations and adverts on telly have only been going for about two months. We like Christmas here at FRED, and we want you to enjoy it as well. We also know that in order to help you enjoy the season to its full potential you need a smart issue of FRED to tide you over while degenerates try to talk you into getting drunk and other unsavoury antics. Tsk. To cut a pretty waffly story short, we need more contributions. We're beginning to run out, you see, and we can't just pick them from thin air (unless Colin throws discs at me, in which rather contrived situation it is possible. Sort of). Please please send us something in. Unless we get more stuff, we may well have to consider going bimonthly, which we want about as much as you do (ie not at all). BM Disc Contents MQM is a music demo converted by Simon Cooke - yes, he's returned to the hallowed tracks and sectors of FRED! Once this has loaded, bash RETURN and SPACE a couple of times to get it onto the second part which comes with full instructions. Waterworld is the sequel to last month's Saucer Strike, and is again by David Lewis. Keys are 67890 for the usual actions. Bascially you've just got to shoot the big fuzzy things before they reach your base, and you've got to surface for air every now and again or you die. Simple eh? Astroball is a playable demo of the admittedly rather aging game from Revelation. The reason we've included it is because the boys at Revelation have annouced a special offer to FRED readers - you can get hold of this for only £5 now!!! Hurrah!!! Wordsearch by John Eyre is a sort of wordsearch grid construction kit. You'll see what I mean when you load it up. BM Disc Contents MWC is a selection of choice quotes from the fantastic "Married With Children" (ITV, various times/days). A little on the wrong side of family-orientated, but mostly harmless. E-Tunes is missing more to add a bit of variety to the proceedings than for any other reason (Steve Taylor's MC article was missing because he too is at uni - how's things down there Steve?), but we've got a few toons from Jon Binnie to keep your musical appetite more than satisfied. Shredder is by Colin Piggot, and basically it stops erased files from being unerased and used/read by unscrupulous types who want to discover your innermost secrets, or something. It can completely erase entire discs, or individual files. Panic Attack is another game, this time by Paul Smith. And it's very colourful and playble and well, we like it. BM Disc Contents Lastly for this issue, we have managed to get our mitts on the latest version of OUTDEX which'll probably be your best available guide to what's on which issue of the magazine. The viewer thing isn't quite as versatile as the one for FREDEX (mind you, I would think that wouldn't I - I'm not being Mr Objective here) but it's usable. Be prepared to wait, that's all I'm saying. Ooops! I said "Lastly" in the paragraph above, but it appears that I've neglected to mention the excellent mouse proggy Vegas. Yes patient rodent-owners, somebody out there's still thinking of you. This is a game pretty much in the patience vein (spot the link 2 lines up!) and is an example to us all in terms of presentation, lecture lecture. Thanks muchly to Matt Round for well, just being such a swell fella, really. BM Show of the Year This issue may be out too late to provide ample warning, but if you can, do go down (or up, I suppose) to the Gloucester show on Saturday the 13th November. Phone us here at FRED, or phone Bob Brenchley, but do make an effort - you won't regret it. You will of course be able to meet my good self at last, and spend the rest of your life wondering how any one person can be so utterly perfect (that is, of course, assuming that you meet Claudia Schiffer immediately afterwards - woah! etc.). No, do go. You know it makes sense. You'll probably be able to get some software bargains, and there may well be some exculsive Lemmings demos to be seen... BM Credits Editor: Brian "Totally knackered" McConnell Thanks to: Simon Cooke Jon Binnie Mat Phillips David Lewis Colin Piggot Bunj Wobl Revelation Paul Smith Frank Kirby John Eyre Matt Round Andrew Hodgkinson Blinkin' 'eck. That's not a lotta people. Hmm. The FRED address, and phone number, as usual. Ho hum. So predictable. FRED Publishing [redacted] [redacted] >>> music and comics >>> BM Music Section This month: Buffalo Tom and One Dove. I would have done the new Nirvana one, but I can't be bothered. Sorry! Buffalo Tom - Big Red Letter Day Even after last year's tremendous "Let Me Come Over" album, mentioning Buffalo Tom is still likely to get you nothing more than a puzzled "Who?" from most people, and sadly this looks like being another album which many people are going to miss out on. Buffalo Tom have, somewhat unfairly, been lumped in with the rest of the current "grunge" (look, it had to come in somewhere) bands, and were once tipped to be "the next Nirvana." Yeah, right. This group is to Nirvana what Throwing Muses are to L7, with a much calmer attitude than Cobain and his mates. This album has some excellent tunes on it and you can actually make out the lyrics, which makes a pleasant change. BM Buffalo Tom - Big Red Letter Day High points of the album are "Late At Night", "I'm Allowed" and "Latest Monkey" although the whole CD is of a consistently good standard. Buy Let Me Come Over before this album, but make sure that you get this one not long afterwards. 8/10 One Dove - Morning Dove White The debut album from this Glaswegian band has been due out for months, and thankfully it's now here. One Dove have been dubbed "The Orb with songs" and that's about as accurate a description as you're likely to find anywhere. The overall style is similar to St Etienne but with a slightly less poppy feel to it. This has a very unusual sound; the combination of styles - indie, pop and techno/ambient - works wonderfully though, and is a joy to listen to. If you want a sample before splashing out on the album, the new single, "Breakdown" has just been released so you could try listening out for that on the radio. BM One Dove - Morning Dove White If you're the sort who instantly dismisses anything which doesn't sit comfortably in the Indie/Metal section of the charts, give this one a swerve, but if you're looking for something a little bit different you could do a lot worse than this. 8/10 That's all from myself this month. Hope you enjoyed the magazine. Before I go though, an apology to Mr Bunj Wobl Esquire, whose article on comics went astray last ish. Sorry Bunj! Here it is though, in all its glory. BUNJ WOBLS COMIC SPOT CONTENTS: 1)Profile on Marvel and D.C. 3)COMPUTER GENERATED COMICS 2)Bunj Wobls Top 10 comics. 4)Comic Reviews Right then, last time we established that comics ARE NOT JUST FOR KIDS, and looked at comics in general. This month I'm sure you will get all excited to hear that I will tell you all about the different publishers of comics. You'll get Marvel and D.C. now and part two next month will have Image, Valiant and indies. MARVEL are currently the largest publisher of comics and regularly hold a 30 to 40 percent share of comic book sales each month. Marvel also publish the largest number of comics each month than any other publisher, the oldest being over 30 years old (including the Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk and the Amazing Spiderman). Their best selling comics are the "mutant" comics which are the X-Men, X-Force, X-Factor, Wolverine etc. (In the Marvel Universe mutants are a species of the human race born with special powers) The Marvel Universe is undoubtably the biggest universe, with countless numbers of characters, some with "super powers", some without. Most of the characters are situated on Earth, in real places. Those characters not from this Earth are either from other known planets or, more commonly from fictional planets, such as "Zenn-La", birthplace of the Silver Surfer. ________________________________________________________________ DETECTIVE COMICS (D.C.) have for a long time now been the second largest publisher of comics, behind Marvel, however, they have lately fallen to third place, holding around 15 to 20 percent of comic book sales each month. D.C. are older than Marvel, with characters such as Batman and Superman undoubtably being the most famous. At the moment their biggest selling comics are Superman and Batman titles. This is because of the storylines they have put into these books, generating interest: First they killed Superman, of course they had to bring him back- Surprise! He's alive again. Now, more recently, they as good as killed Batman by having a large bloke named Bane to brake his back. Now D.C. have a new character, Azrael taking on the role of Batman as Bruce Wayne remains crippled. Doing things like this really does generate interest in titles. Back issues that have anything to do with these Batman/Superman titles have shot up in price. For example, the first appearance of Bane in a comic called Vengeance of Bane has shot up from vertually nothing to a value of around $25! The D.C. universe isn't quite like the Marvel universe. Instead of having real places they have "Gotham City" for Batman and "Metropolis" for Superman etc. ________________________________________________________________ Next month:Image, Valiant and inependant publishers. **************************************************************** THE BUNJ WOBL TOP TEN. This month: Bunjs top ten comics. This is completely opinion based, but then my opinion is right! THESE ARE THE TEN BEST COMIC TITLES: 1) THE INCREDIBLE HULK (Marvel) Always the best! 2) THE MAXX (Image) 's wicked-more mature 3) PITT (Image) The best artistic comic 4) SPAWN (Image) Everyone elses favourite art 5) THE SILVER SURFER (Marvel) Good, established character 6) DEATHMATE (Img/Val) Interesting crossovers 7) WILDC.A.T.S (Image) Both the regular and mini 8) ALIENS (Dark Horse) All Aliens titles 9) SECERET WEAPONS (Valiant) Best Valiant I have read yet 10)X-MEN (Marvel) Both X-Men titles **************************************************************** COMPUTER GENERATED COMICS. Comics may not interest you, but this should interest everyone out there. CRASH (no relation to the Speccy mag) is a graphic novel published by Epic Comics featuring Marvels character, Iron Man. A "Graphic novel" has nothing whatsoever to do with being produced on a computer. It means that it is a book, rather than a magazine, which most comics are. A graphic novel is longer and of higher quality than the average comic. Crash is the first computer generated graphic novel and is completely made up on a computer with every panel made up of computer graphics rather than the normal pencil and ink. This is a good book with a good story and the graphics are very good. I advise this to anyone out there, even if you don't show a general interest in comics, it is interesting to see the computer graphics and read how it was done after the main story. This isn't a new book, it was published in 1988, but should be still available. If you can't find it in a comic shop, or don't know of any comic shops near you, its ISBN number is 0-87135-291-5. It is priced $12.95 (that's about £8, but you should be able to find it much cheaper- I payed £3 for mine!). Remember-this may seem a hefty price, but it isn't a normal comic, it's a book (with lots of pictures!). **************************************************************** BUNJ WOBLS REVIEWS. Oooo, what a selection I have for you this month. The first lot was bought on 28/8/93 and they are new comics at the time of writing this, but by the time you read this, they're all a little dated (as were the reviews in last months comic spot). Right then, here's the comics I bought on the 28th August: Super Patriot no.1 IMAGE app£1.40 A golden age super hero has been 'reborn',made into a kind of cyborg by the American government to carry out solo missions. The only problem is, he has a few glitches. I think it's a good story (although others would disagree) and looks set to get better. The art is interesting, but good. An overall good book, which I didn't expect. 7/10 Incredible Hulk no.410 MARVEL app 85p Being the best comic around, I was a bit disappointed with this issue. The Hulk attempts to break an old friend out of a high security prison. the artwork by Gary frank is, as usual, superb. Peter David, who I regard to be the best writer around isn't up to scratch, and could have done much better. 5.5/10 The Second Life of Doctor Mirage no.1 VALIANT app£1.70 Valiant books are renound for having very good, interesting and sophistocated story lines. This is no exeption. Although you don7t see much of the "hero" himself until the last few pages, it is a very good read and the art isn't bad either. One of the best Valiant books I have read so far. 7.5/10 Metamorpho no.1 D.C. app 85p In the many years I have been collecting comics, I have never bought a D.C. comic, until now. Metamorpho, "The Element Man" has the ability to change into any element or compound and in this mini series he goes in search of a cure for himself and his son. The story is actually quite good, the art is O.K, nothing special, but I loved the art on the cover. 7/10 Savage dragon no.2 IMAGE app£2.10 Oh dear! I had such high hopes for Savage Dragon after the excellent first issue, but unfortunately this one is rather crap. It features the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (how the hell they fit into the Image universe I don't know) and they're the only really good thing about it. The book has three stories: Savage Dragon-dissappointing, Star-total crap and Vanguard-O.K. Bigger than usual, but over priced. Give this one a miss. 2/10 Silver Surfer no.84 MARVEL app 85p The Surfer dies, meets his parents then comes back to life. Rather boring story, the usual artist hasn't come back so the art is still totally crap. SS is usually a good book, but this is one hell of an exception (due mostly to the art). 3/10 Warriors of Plasm no.1 DEFIANT app£2.10 A very impressive premiere comic from Defiant. Excellent story, good art, very original concept and down right weirdness make this issue extremely good and looks set to succeed.The story- On a strange, purely biological planet, "Lorca" brings 1000 people from Earth, but only five survive - The Warriors of Plasm. 8/10 Deathmate Blue VALIANT and IMAGE app£3.50 After DM yellow, I wasn't expecting much, but this is actually a very good book. I won't repeat the details of Deathmate that were in Fred 37. The price tag is a bit hefty. Not for first time comic buyers, but it is a spectacular comic. 7/10 The Maxx no.4 IMAGE app£1.40 The Maxx is wicked. It's strange, but it's wicked. Sam Kieth (Creator/Writer/Artist) does all of those things superbly. Although you don't see as much of the Maxx himself as in other issues, the story is still entertaining, mature and witty. One of the best books around. 7/10 X-O Manowar no.0 VALIANT app£3 The prequel to the popular X-O series gives the origin of the man himself. The 5th Century-Aric, a Goth is kidnapped by aliens while fighting Romans. He escapes, descovers the X-O armour and returns to 20th Century Earth (?). Excellent art by Joe Quesada and interesting story. The best thing about this comic though, is the cover. Aswell as being embossed with lots of shiny, metallic colours, the drawing of X-O himself is superb - Perhaps the best cover I have EVER seen. Although this comic has a hefty price tag, it' worth it, just for the cover! 7/10 Union no.1 IMAGE app£1.70 A bloke from a parallel universe comes to our Earth, only to descover that other blokes much like himself have been there, pretending to be citizens and these people aren't very nice..... This book really tells two stories - Union coming to earth and Union encountering Stormwatch. Well thought out script accompanied by very good art by Mark Texeira (I have a feeling he's going to become VERY big). Good book, boring in parts. 7/10 Seceret Weapons no.3 VALIANT app£1.60 YAWN! 3.5/10 Stormwatch no.0 IMAGE app£1.70 I didn't like Stormwatch no.1, but this is better. It tells the origin of the supergroup, with a completely different team to the one currently featuring in the regular title. The art is good, especially in the first part. The cover is excellent. The story is interesting, however, Stormwatch doesn't really appeal to me as much as other team titles, such as the superb WildCATS. Stormwatch no.0 comes bagged with a trading card (Ooo!) 6.5/10 That's it from me, so until next month, Hah-Fwibble. Bunj Wobl. (no,"erm Bunj" isn't my name erm, Brian!) (oops! time again. Sorry once more, Bunjy boy - Brian)
Letters & Reviews
Letter from David Lewis Dear FRED, I've just looked through FRED 39 and discovered you've published my SAUCER STRIKE game on the main menu. Cheers guys! Why didn't you publish Water World or Jetpac instead, they're miles better. On the off chance that you haven't got them you should find enclosed a disk with them both on as well as a sadistic version of Lemmings. Incidently do you still pay for main menu contributions...? I also read your reply to my letter about Stefan Drissen. Ok, point taken about sending money, but I still don't think its worth Days Of Sorcery. Having said that, Stefan's Speccy sampled tune, GAMEOVER, was good (it played in time thank goodness). The gamesmaster game, BOMB, on this issue was brilliant also. Right next point, Craig Turberfield won the compo for best E-Tune, hmmm. Well I reckon that E-Tune in FRED 37, GAS by John Hutchings was the best E-Tune so far. Letter from David Lewis Before I sign off, a sort of techy query..... Are there any programs available for SAM that will allow me to read MS DOS files (Word Perfect Text Files to be exact) and convert them into Sam Text/ASCII code files? There was a program by Stefan Drissen on an earlier issue of FRED which is supposed to do this but it doesn't work. The KE_Disk sector editor will read PC/MS-DOS disks but all the files are mixed together and cannot be sorted out. Thanks again for using my Saucer Strike, D.LEWIS BM Reply to David Lewis If you had a look through the contents of this issue you'll see that we have indeed decided to use Water World. I used Saucer Strike last issue simply because I liked it and I also Water World and it just happened that we used SS last ish and not WW (you do like your alliterative titles, David, don't you). As expected, we've had plenty much letters (sic - see "Mr Don and Mr George") saying "I think thingy's tune was the best", but the decision has been made, and Craig won. So no more moans on that score, thank you very much. Nobody was overly upset at John Vincent's Witching Hour taking 1st prize, which is not at all surprising when you see the game. You might like to try PC_Suite (reviewed #35) which if I recall correctly can convert between file formats. As it costs about £25 or £30, however, you may prefer just to buy Lemmings instead and be a good £5 better off. - BRIAN Letter from Mark Franklin Dear Colin/Brian, In issue 80 of YS it said that you were releasing the following during the year: a)- A MODE 4 shoot-'em-up; b)- A Role-Playing Game called the Tower; c)- A word processor called Wordmaster d)- A Kick Off-ish footy game; but as far as I know none of these have been released; where are they? Another question: are the any Speccy emulators for the SAM that DON'T use a working Spectrum? I though the FREDEX on #36 was very useful and now I know what back issues to get. Finally, you're doing a good job for the SAM community, and keep it up. BM Reply to Mark Franklin Here's what happened: a)- Come on. Parallax may not have been R-Type but it did get released. Many people even enjoyed it. b)- The Tower has been binned, but there is a Legend of Eshan in progress. Nearing completion in fact. c)- This emerged as Spellmaster, which is essentially a spelling checker with a pretty decent word pro chucked in for good measure. d)- This one has been binned with virtually no chance of a return. All the good Speccy emulators require a copy of the Spectrum ROM, which you might be able to get from your Spectrum. LERM's SAMTAPE uses this, and this is what I used before I got bored of all my Speccy stuff. - BRIAN Letter from G Robson Dear Brian, I noticed in a letter from Mat Phillips in FRED issue 38 that he had sent you a solution to "The Witching Hour". I wondered if it would be possible to obtain a copy of it? BM Reply to G Robson Having problems with your wizarding antics eh? Well, I can sympathise. I'm forever getting sick of these kinds of games because I can't get past 1% of the problems and then reading reviews saying, "This game is good but it's far too easy." So yes, it most certainly is possible to get hold of a copy; we've included it in the main magazine this very issue. - BRIAN Letter from Gary Davies Dear FRED, First things first: enclosed is a cheque for a subscription starting from issue 37 if that's possible. FRED is a great magazine and now that YS has disappeared it's the only way of staying in touch with the SAM scene. Has anyone out there got a program that can convert E-Tracker files to MasterBASIC Blitz sound strings, and vice versa? Talking of E-Trackerm how about some "rock" tunes, that's a polite way of asking for some punk stuff. I'd do it myself but I've got the musical talent of a housebrick - maybe that's the reason I listen to groups like The Exploited, GBH, Discharge etc. Well I would, but my hi-fi's given up the ghost. First both belts for the cassette decks snapped and now the turntable won't rotate at the right speed I've only recently started using the SAM again (it was sick); most of my money goes on records (vinyl - not much punk on CD!), Letter from Gary Davies role-playing games, figures, etc, and books of course (fantasy and those new Dr Who adventures). Incidentally I for one would be interested in a book reviews section and how about covering WCW as well as WWF? If anybody's got either Klax or Pipemania fo the SAM and wants to sell it, get in touch. BM Reply to Gary Davies If anybody can help Gary with the music program or with Klax/ Pipemania, write to him at: 35 Stringhey Road, [redacted] Letter from Roy Cochrane Dear FRED, My name is Roy Cochrane and I'm a member of staff at Roundhay Day Centre. I have been asked to ask you if there is any way that you could either ask the people who subscribe to your magazine, or if you yourself could possibly tell me where or how I may be able to get hold of a Speccy tape called "Draughts Genius". It has, so I've been told, a picture of Einstein on the front. I run a sort of Speccy club here for the members. We do not have very many tapes, a few shoot-'em-ups but not many of the members can handle them, so they are not very popular. We have a few role-play games but they last too long for some of the members. Chess is the game of the moment. Although we have four members who play quite well, they just play on the board. I don't know if you have a backgammon game for the computer, anything like that would be very much appreciated. Letter from Roy Cochrane I myself have tramped around the shops in Leeds, Wakefield and Weatherby, and I have asked a friend in Sheffield if he can find anything for me, but all we ever get if it is more than a few months old is that no-one stocks it. So if you can help in any way at all I will be most grateful. In fact, any old tapes will find a good home. BM Reply to Roy Cochrane Sorry Roy, I can't help, but if any readers know of this game, write to Roy at: Roundhay Road Day Centre, [redacted] BW TRIDENT ADVENTURE 1 Review by Bunj Wobl I was overcome with joy to find a package had come for me this morning, containing something from FRED for me to review. The game is a budget adventure game called "Trident Adventure". Right then, I suppose you want to know what it's about. O.K. You're this lad wandering around on a cold, windy night. You find a cottage and you start finding things that are a little out of the ordinary. Well, of course, you've got to figure out what's going on. Saying any more than that would really give the story away, and of course, you've got to find that out for yourself by buying the game! I haven't had that much experience with adventure games (I had one on my Spectrum, but my character kept getting his foot stuck in a bucket!), but I think that I am quite capable of giving an accurate review... BW TRIDENT ADVENTURE 2 Review by Bunj Wobl The first impression I had when loading the game up was, unfortunately, a bad one. The menu screen is just a black screen with a plain menu and no graphics. It's a shame - the programmer is capable of drawing good screens, as there is also a short slide show of P.D. screens on the disk. I think that presentation is important; could there not be a full mode4 graphical screen for a menu? Anyway, that aside, I loaded the "Tutor" option which clearly layed out exactly how to play the game and went through a demonstration game, showing the kind of things that can be done. This is very good. All too often a game will come with very poor instructions and you won't have a clue what to do in the game, or you'll miss things out in the game that would make life much easier. This tutor is the perfect way to put across what to do in the game. BW TRIDENT ADVENTURE 3 Review by Bunj Wobl Getting straight to the point, although the author's story writing is very good, the game is far too short. It's quite easy to complete the game by just examining everything you see and trying to use it any sensible way you can. It is hard to give examples, because that would give the story away. The format of the game is good, and could be put to use to make an absolutely superb game, but as I've said this game is much too short and there aren't enough things to do. I would definitely look out for future games from "Innocent Productions". If the game is longer, maybe better presented it could be excellent, but unfortunately Trident Adventure isn't. Verdict: 4/10 - mainly bacause it is too short, but it could also be better presented and made a little harder, making the gameplay much better. BW TRIDENT ADVENTURE 4 Review by Bunj Wobl Verdict (cont'd): Although the game is only £4, it would have been reviewed much more favourably if the price was half that. The Trident Adventure disk contains the game itself and a slide show of PD screens. Copies of Trident Adventure can be obtained by sending a cheque for £4.00 inc p+p (Non U.K. residents add £1.00 for postage) made payable to Wayne Coles to: Innocent Productions [redacted]
Bundy
Episode 412 & 413: It's A Bundyful Life --------------------------------------- Al:"Christmas isn't a time for regret. That's what anniversaries are for." Peg: "Come open your present, Al." Al: "Where is it?" Peg: "It's me!" Al: "Peg, why'd you get me the same old thing I didn't play with last year?" Guardian Angel: "You're going to have to give me a few moments on this - I thought I came down here to save a human soul" Guardian Angel: "Don't worry Bundy, I checked this guy's future. According to this by the time he's 50 his stomach will be so ulcer ridden that ... Oh that's you" Al: " Bud, quick what's more important: Money or Love" Bud: " Money, Dad. I can always rent love" Al: "Well this was great! What do we do now? Go to the night I should have been conceived and watch my father invent the condom?" Guardian Angel: " Well, I failed Bundy. I was supposed to come down here to give you a reason to live. I can't think of one. I am depressed" Peg: " Yes I saved myself for marriage" Al: " Oh come on! The Football team retired her (Peg) jersey" Guardian Angel: " No Bundy, much like a neutered dog, you don't get it" Al: " Peg, you recognize me?" Peg: " Of course I do, Al. Why do you think I didn't help you up?" Peg: " I knew it would pay to breast feed you (Bud) until you were nine" Episode 420: Al tries to break the Alley's record ------------------------------------------------- Al: " Bud, did you get your mom in the picutre?" Bud: " Yea, dad." Al: " Rewind" Kelly: " I am an aquarium!" Bud: " And an empty one." Episode 506: The Bundy Bounce ----------------------------- Al: " This's been the best two weeks of my life. The uncertainty is gone. Accepting your utter uselessness has freed me. Since I've been taking care of myself, the foods better, conversation is better and without sex, my hair is coming back!!" Peg: " It's not coming back honey, it's just growing up out of your nose...!" Bud: " I heard you that girls like to watch your weight. Care for a Bud Light?" Kelly: "I'm getting an idea! How about this: The neeeew .... what's the name of the stupid car?" Bud: "Kelly, why don't you just write it on your hand like you do your name?" Kelly: "Wait! Topeka! I have found it!!" Bud: "I ... I don't think you mean Topeka, Kel." Kelly: "Oh yeah, that's right, I meant...Urethra!!" Episode 521: Kids! Wadaya gonna do? ----------------------------------- Al: "You mean that was you Bundifying that girl over there?" Bud: " Buck, you and I are a lot alike." Buck: " No, I've had sex and at least I have the decency to die at 13." Bud: " Was it everything I told you it would be?" Girl: " No, but it was everything the other girls told me it would be." Al: "I spent three hours with you already. I watched you buy lingerie I wouldn't let you wear even if you weren't my wife." Marcie: "Why do you leave your front door open? A maniac can come in and kill you!" Al: "Like I get what I want." Marcie: " I guess you were mistaken when you came over to borrow something and we told you to take what you wanted... which leads us to our flatware." Al: " I didn't steal your bra." Episode 607: Al gets glasses ---------------------------- Al: " People who sell shoes to fat women in skirts should not have 20/20 vision." Al: " Does it occur to anyone that I read 'Bridge Ends Here' just fine and just floored it?" Bud: " Who is on the cover?" Al: " Raymond Burr." Bud: " That's Delta Burke." Al: " Raymond Burr, Delta Burke, tell me I'm the first one to make that mistake." Al: "There he is, Raymond Burr." Kelly: "That's Delta Burke." Al: "Raymond Burr, Delta Burke, city of Seattle, it's all the same." Al: " I'm going out and take in some of the beauty that our fair city has to offer...I'll be at the nudie bar." Al: " What the hell is this?" Bud: " That's mom." Al: " I didn't ask for all this!" Al: " I may not see too well; I may kill a few people and run into a river or two but it's better than looking stupid." Episode 618: Madame Zelda ------------------------- Al: " Oh, mighty one who created the heavens and the earth..." "and you who created my wife and kids, why does thou curse me with a TV yet no TV guide?" Al: " I have a woman so lame that she thinks that when I groan in bed that it has something to do with her. Bud wouldn't know the house was on fire if it wasn't on 'Nick At Nite,' and the only reason that Kelly has a head is to keep the rain out of her neck." Al: " I'm thinking of expansion." Jefferson: " What kind of expansion?" Al: " The kind where I keep my woman in ermine and pearls... and I won't forget you, Peg." Peg: " I have a gift. I've been touched." Al: " Not by me." Peg: " Al, you're meddling with powers which, like a woman's body, you know nothing about." Al: " Did you give the money to Madame Zelda?" Buck: " I used it for bail. Nobody told me it was impolite for humans, when they met a woman, to go up and niff their butt." Episode 713: Bud sleeps with cousin's Fiancee --------------------------------------------- Peg: " It just hangs there lifelessly" Al: " It's mine, Peg" Peg: " I'll straighten it out" Al: " It's too long" Peg: " Women like it long" Al: " I'm the one that's gotta lug it along" Kelly: " What did you do?" Bud: " A gentleman never tells. I had sex and I was good." Kelly: " Oh my God" Bud: " That's what she said. Twice" Kelly: " What, once when you undressed and once when you put your bunny slippers on?" Bud: " Save it for someone not getting any, like mom. Talk all you want, nothing can bring me down" Kelly: " You just had sex with your cousin Jimmy's fiancee." Bud: " That did it." Peg: " Say you love me." Al: " I love beer and bowling. I don't want to cheapen the word." Peg: " This is a historical first. We're in the bedroom and I'm waiting for you to finish." Marcie: " How are these kids gonna know right from wrong. They need a man in their lives." Jefferson: " What are you gonna do? Move in with them." Al: " I'd look good in makeup. I'd be a killer looking babe in a masculine sort of way. I could highlight my eyes. they're my best quality. Baby blue. Just like Sinatra, Newman, the sea. Then there's my second best quality. I'm known for my killer butt." Peg: " Yeah, it has more hair on it than your head." Al: " It doesn't wake up looking at you in the morning."