Ariolasoft recently released the ST version
of SKYFOX, a well respected and successful 8-bit program from
Electronic Arts but shortly afterwards lost the licence for
Electronic Arts products. Electronic Arts have set up their
own U.K. offices. Good news? Maybe not as the company are quoted as
saying that the ST will be the least supported of their range. They
intend to concentrate on Commodore and IBM.
The Desktop Publishing fervour continues
with rumours rife that Atari's own system will be available very
soon. What will the software be? Publishing Partner? Fleet Street
Editor? Apparently not. An Atari source stated that Atari's software
will be 'a totally new product'. There are also two more U.K.
produced desktop publishing packages in the offing as well as
another from the States. Maybe Apple had better watch out!
The Mega ST series was launched just a few
days ago at the Atari User Show in London. 1, 2 and 4 megabyte
models are available and are said to be 100% compatible with
existing ST's. The Mega series is housed in a new package comprising
of a unit containing the CPU and a floppy drive measuring 22" by 22"
and only 2" high. The keyboard is separate and detachable. The
system is designed to allow full access to the 68000 bus enabling
expansions to be added and with the potential of up to 16 megabytes
of RAM. A battery backed clock is included as standard. The blitter
chip will not be included at first but there will be an empty socket
ready and waiting. Prices were not available at the time of writing
and were due to be announced at the show.
Microdeal continue at breakneck pace
with an agreement with Quickview Systems to distribute Zoomracks
and Zoomracks II in this country. Also available will be
starter packs of ready made templates for home and business use. If
you are interested in sound digitising, Microdeal can supply you
with DIGIDRUM and REPLAY produced under licence from 2
Bit Systems. REPLAY can sample your voice, the TV, musical
instruments and more and allows samples to be included in programs
written in machine code, Fast Basic, Atari Basic or GFA Basic. Other
releases due include Tanglewood, in which you control five(!)
different characters in a 'real-time' adventure, and Airball
which is a sort of 'mystical arcade game' in which you have to find
a wizard's spellbook.
PSS have announced the first U.K. produced
wargame for the ST. Annals of Rome is to be converted from
8-bit machines where it, apparently, was well respected. Price is
£24.95 and the game is 'the first of the PSS range'.
Precision Software launched a new database
at the Hanover Fair called Superbase Personal. It uses the
GEM environment and has no limit on the number of fields or on the
size of the records. As many files as are needed can be opened up to
build a relational report. Price is £99.95. If it is anywhere near
as good as Superscript on the Atari 8-bit it must be a winner.
Incidentally, Precision have no plans at present to convert
Superscript to the ST. A pity because they could have been the first
to produce an ST word processor to rival those on the ATARI 8-bit!
Precision Software have also taken over
distribution of the Abacus range of books and software from
the U.S.A. and Germany. Software includes Chart Pak enabling
business graphics to be produced direct or from other software,
Paint Pro with enhancements and PC Board Designer. The
whole range of Abacus books will also be available including several
new titles.
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