Software Vault: The Gold Collection

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Text File | 1993-05-22 | 45KB | 841 lines

This month's issue of SBHQ is dedicated to "Quantum Leap" and the end of an era... If you're not familiar with the MS-DOS Editor, let me explain... Simply use Page Up and Page Down to scroll through this magazine... When you're done, hit ALT-F, then select EXIT... Thanks for reading SBHQ. Thanks for downloading another issue of: (T) SSSSSSSSSSSSSS BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB H H QQQQQQQQQQQQQ S B B H H Q Q S B B H H Q Q S B B H H Q Q S ound B laster B H ead H Q uarters Q SSSSSSSSSSSSS BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Q Q S B B H H Q Q S B B H H Q Q Q S B B H H Q Q Q S B B H H Q Q Q SSSSSSSSSSSSSS BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB H H QQQQQQQQQQQQQ Q (all rights reserved) Q Q The monthly electronic magazine for Sound Blaster enthusiasts! Q -------------------------------------------------------------------------Q / THE source for the latest Sound Blaster news and reviews / (i) Issue information: SBHQ Volume 1, Issue 2 May 22nd, 1993 Editor-In-Chief: John Townsend Co-Editor: Ken Krouner Reviews: John Townsend Ken Krouner *Archangel* MOD Gurus: John Townsend *Archangel* Columnists: John Townsend Ken Krouner *Archangel* (ii) Table of Contents: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From the desk of the Editor-in-Chief, by John Townsend *1* (Notes from me :>) Introduction, by Ken Krouner *3* (Welcome to the second monthly issue of SBHQ! Official intro...) Commercial Game Reviews, by John Townsend and Ken Krouner *5* (X Wing, Serpent Isle, Strike Commander, Classic Hoyle, KQ5 MPC) PD/Shareware Game Reviews, by John Townsend and !Archangel! *15* (Hexxagon, Zone 66) PD/Shareware Utility Reviews, by John Townsend and Ken Krouner *19* (Protected Module Player v2.10, Dual Module Player v2.46) Calliope Music Vision, VOC Thing) The MODule Corner, by John Townsend and !Archangel! *23* (Digitized music corner) The Demo Scene, by John Townsend and !Archangel! *25* (The latest gfx/sound demos... This month: Future Crew's Unreal) The SBHQ BBS list, as of 5/22/93, by John Townsend and !Archangel! *27* (A monthly compiling of the editors' favorite Sound Blaster bulletin boards) Letters to the Editor, compiled by John Townsend *28* (iii) What's Ahead?, by John Townsend *29* (The future of SBHQ) The Survey, by Ken Krouner *30* (We are always glad to hear from our readers) :> File Request Summary, compiled by John Townsend *33* (For people looking for files mentioned in SBHQ...) Closing, by John Townsend *35* (Wrapping it up...) This month's included files are: WinMOD, a MOD player for Microsoft Windows v3.1... MIDLALTA, a nice small MOD that I felt like including for people who've never heard one before... :> On to the issue! SBHQSBHQSBHQSBHQSBHQSBHQSBHQSBHQSBHQSBHQSBHQSBHQSBHQSBHQSBHQSBHQSBHQSBHQSBHQ (1) From the Editor-in-Chief ;> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to the second issue of SBHQ! There are a few things I want to make note of... First, if you've never heard of SBHQ before, and haven't seen the first issue, you can be sure it can be found on almost any BBS listed in the SBHQ BBS list at the end... Second, our review section has been expanded... Now the game summary and hardware requirements will be followed by ratings and explanations of those ratings from both of us... Third, we now have a section for letters from SBHQ readers... We will do our best to answer all mail about anything concerning SBHQ or the Sound Blaster... We always need contributors for SBHQ, so if you have an article, or a new program or new song to review, or if you run a BBS and want to be listed in SBHQ, all letters/disks can be sent to: John Townsend (Of cousre, your generosity 45 West Erie Street will be rewarded... Albany, NY 12208-2426 Somehow...) :> (2) It seems that SBHQ 1 was widely distributed, and I hope that all people who enjoy SBHQ (as I hope you will) will again take the time to upload it to their favorite Sound Blaster BBS's... Also, if anyone has trouble finding any of the Shareware programs we review or MOD's we talk about in any issue, check the file request section near the end of the issue... Finally, I'd like to welcome our newest columnist and reviewer, the great *Archangel*, to the staff... I hope you enjoy his articles and reviews... Well, that basically takes care of this article for this issue... See you next month... - John Townsend - Editor-in-Chief Introduction by Co-Editor Ken Krouner (3) ~~~~~~~~~~~~ John: Welcome to... Ken: Another fun filled... John: Action packed... Ken: Treasure filled... John: Death defying... Ken: Highly dangerous... John: Well not really dangerous... Ken: Or death defying... John: Or treasure filled... Ken: Or action packed... John: But it's kind of fun... Ken: And you are welcome to... John: Another issue of..! Ken: Sound Blaster Head Quarters! Well, how's it going, guys? We hope you like the new and improved SBHQ. We've extended the reviews so you get a wider range of opinion. We've added new sections to bring even more enjoyment <chuckle>. To clear up something, the addresses are as follows: (4) For letters to the editor, comments, surveys: Ken Krouner 69 Brookline Ave. Albany, NY 12203 For program/song/article/BBS listing submissions... John Townsend 45 West Erie Street Albany, NY 12208-2426 Dedications Each issue will be dedicated to to some thing or someone. Just mail your entry to me and we will decide the most worthy dedication(s). In the event of a tie we will have a double, triple, etc. dedication. So mail those entries today. $.29 is a small price to pay to have something important to you seen all over the world! (5) Commercial Game Reviews ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ X-Wing from LucasArts, summary by John Townsend (average price $44.95) One of the hottest flight simulators out on the market right now is X-Wing, from LucasArts... X-Wing, as you probably know, is a 3-D space combat sim based upon the Star Wars Universe... You can fly the X-Wing, the Y-Wing, or the A-Wing in over 50 missions, in addition to the proving grounds, also known as the "Maze"... X-Wing has beautiful 256-color VGA graphics, and impressive animation (as can be expected from LucasArts) and a wonderful soundtrack (based on the original Star Wars soundtrack) using iMUSE, which allows for smooth transitions between songs... Unfortunately, there is no SB Pro stereo (Are you LISTENING out there?) as is the case with most games. However, this game is excellent... Superior to WC in every way (not bashing WC, one of my favorite games, but X-Wing is just more recent technology) but the campaign... Rather than the complex campaign structure of WC/WC 2, X-Wing uses a simple must-beat-one-mission-to-advance-to-the-next system... Sort of detracts from the experience, but not enough to ruin this magnificent game... 286-12 or better (386-25 or better recommended), 640K RAM (1 meg recommended) 12 meg HD space... You MUST have a joystick if you want this game playable... (6) X-Wing Ratings: ▒▓│John│▓▒ Graphics: A (Cinematics are beautiful, flight graphics amazingly smooth) Music/Sound: A- (No SB Pro stereo!!! ::sigh::) Challenge: A+ (Look up challenge in the dictionary and you'll see X-Wing) :> Lasting Interest: A (This is a very replayable game) Overall: A (The other ratings should speak for themselves) ▒▓Ken▓▒ Graphics: A (Good graphics, good animation) Music/Sound: A- (Speech and inflight music are great! 256k EMS required) Challenge: A (Very challenging, but some missions are easier than others) Lasting Interest: A+ (It will have my interest for a VERY long time) Overall: A (Hey, it's just a great game) (7) Ultima VII Part 2: Serpent Isle, from Origin (average price $49.95) Serpent Isle is the latest installment in the extremely popular Ultima series from Lord British (Richard Garriot). As with all the other Ultima games, Serpent Isle is truly magnificent. With a huge world containing hundreds of people to interact with, this is one of those games that truly draws you into the story. The plot is as follows... Lord British has discovered evidence that the evil Guardian and his cohort Batlin have fled to the mysterious Serpent Isle to plan some devious scheme. Lord British sends you, the Avatar, along with your longtime adventuring companions Dupre, Shamino, and Iolo, to the Serpent Isle to find out what exactly is going on... With beautiful 256 color VGA graphics and a magnificent soundtrack, this game lives up to the high standards of Origin. The interface is an improved version of the original Ultima VII system, with a much-improved character/inventory system. Although as with most releases, there is no SB Pro stereo, the quality of the music compositions will make you forget that, almost... :> All in all, this game is worthy of the name "Ultima"... :> -System requirements- 386-SX or better, 386-25 or better STRONGLY recommended, 2 MB RAM (4 MB recommended), mouse **HIGHLY** recommended, 25 MB free hard drive space... (8) Serpent Isle Ratings -()John()- Graphics: A (Highly detailed, nicely animated, full-screen 256-color VGA) Music/Sound: A (Great soundtrack, but no A+'s unless I get my SB Pro stereo!) Challenge: A+ (Ultima games are known for their challenge... No exception...) Lasting Interest: A+ (Better expect to play this for a LONG while...) Overall: A+ (I'm a sucker for Ultima games... SI is great. Need I say more?) -()Ken()- Graphics: A+ (Smooth flowing graphics, the best 3/4 view I've ever seen... and I'm not partial to 3/4 views...) Music/Sound: A- (Better than decent, but worse than awesome) Challenge: A (Very challenging game) Lasting Interest: B (This game didn't hold my interest extremely long, but don't take my word for it, I'm not a big fan of Ultima games...) Overall: A- (A really good game, considering Ultimas usually make my ill.) (9) Strike Commander, from Origin (average price $54.95, speech $23.95) Strike Commander is an absolutely amazing flight sim from Chris Roberts, who you might/might not know as the designer of what might be the most popular computer game series ever, the Wing Commander games... The story is like this... It's the year 2011 AD... The world is in sorta bad shape... :> You are a mercenary pilot, a member of Stern's Wildcats, an elite mercenary squadron run by James "Hawk" Stern... The Wildcats, while a very skilled squadron, are struggling because, unlike other mercenary squadrons, only take missions that are "morally good" :> It's up to you and the other Wildcat pilots to keep your squadron alive, and clean up the world a little too... This flight sim is really amazing... While most sims are not known for their detail, Strike Commander has some of the most detailed graphics I have EVER seen... And the music, while not SB Pro stereo, has to be some of the best I've ever heard... A major plus for Strike Commander is the digitized voices, with the optional Speech Accessory Pack... Finally, as with Wing Commander, a strong plot told in great cinematic scenes after EVERY mission really adds to the enjoyment. -System Req's- 386SX or better required, fast 386DX or 486 STRONGLY recommended, 4 MB RAM, joystick strongly recommended, 27 MB hard drive space, 35+ MB recommended. (10) Strike Commander Ratings --/*John*/-- Graphics: A+ (Ever fly low over a city in a flight sim and see parking lots?) Music/Sound: A (It pushes my rule of not giving A+'s unless there's SB Pro support, but I'm sticking with it...) Challenge: A+ (Variable difficulty settings for you aces...) Lasting Interest: A+ (40+ missions, and intriguing cinematics to keep you going...) Overall: A+ (Maybe not for all of you, but definitely for me... :>) !~/Ken/~! Graphics: A+ (Very nice resolution and scaling) Music/Sound: A (Nice music and sound... :>) Challenge: A- (A really tough game from what I see, even though I didn't play myself.) Lasting Interest: A (If I actually owned the game, it would hold my interest for years to come :>) Overall: A (It looks like a good game, the best flight simulator I've seen.) (11) Hoyle's Classic Card Games, from Sierra Well Sierra amazes us again. This wonderful game is, well, WONDERFUL! If anybody out there played Hoyle's Book of Cards I, you know it was a great game. Well Hoyle's Classic is the same with some improvements. For starters they added 2 new games, Bridge and Euchre. Secondly there are all new characters with the exception of Roger Wilco, Leisure Suit Larry, and King Graham. Then, as if that wasn't enough, they added VGA graphics. But the best thing and reason this game is in here is it is one of the only contemporary games to support SB Pro stereo. (12) Hoyle Classic Ratings -*Ken*- Graphics: A (This game has very smooth flowing graphics) Music/Sound: A+ (SB Pro support and very realistic voices) Challenge: A (YOU get to pick the skill level of your opponents) Lasting Intrest: A+ (I love cards so how can I NOT love this game?) Overall: A+ (This game is well worth twice its cost!) /\John/\ Graphics: A- (You'll feel like you're really playing cards...) :> Music/Sound: A- (Great music, but WHY doesn't it play when you're actually playing the card games?) Challenge: A (Being able to pick your own opponents is a NICE touch) Lasting Interest: A (Card games are hard to get bored with) Overall: A (You couldn't ask for a better program of this type...) (13) King's Quest V (MPC version), from Sierra On-Line Well, looks like another CD-ROM review from me... Al Franken. Er, sorry I'm just having a split personality this issue. And this split personality report was brought to you by me... Al Franken... AAAAAAHHHH HHGGGGGGG!!!!!! Sorry I'm back to reality now. I'm here again to review King's Quest V for the remainder of this I will call it KQ5. Now KQ5 is a Sierra On-Line game and runs pretty much the same way the other Sierra games run. At the start of the game you are King Graham. The evil Mordack has captured your castle and you must quest to get it back. Here's the cast: King Graham: Good guy (you) Cedric: Your fearful but faithful owl assitant Mordack: Bad guy [Cameos] Valanice: Your wife Alexander: Your son (and star of KQ3, KQ6) Rosella: Your daughter (and star of KQ4) (14) King's Quest V Ratings :(Ken): Graphics: B+ (Very good graphics could have been improved for CD-ROM) Music/Sound: A (Wonderful sound, music, and voices) Challenge: B (Not the most challenging game and some puzzles are impossible without clues) Lasting Interest: A (Still not bored after 2 months!) Overall: A (Better than the average CD-ROM game due to Sierra's excellent idea of installing partially to the hard drive to reduce CD-ROM access time) *-John-* Graphics: A (Very detailed 256-color VGA...) Music/Sound: A+ (Excellent CD audio soundtrack, great voices...) Challenge: B (Quite a challenging game, for an animated adventure) Lasting Interest: B (Even though you'll have gone through the puzzles already, the cinematic aspects of this game will have you coming back for more...) Overall: A (A top-quality MPC game...) (15) Hexxagon, from Argo Software (distributed by Epic MegaGames) Hexxagon is an wonderfully made strategy game from Argo Software... Here's a brief summary of how it's played... You can play against the computer at 3 difficulty levels or against another player. The object of the game is to take over the board (i.e. when the game's over, to have more of your gems on the board as your opponent does)... You can either move your gem one square (in which case it duplicates) or move it two (in which case it doesn't)... Moving your gem next to any of your opponents gems converts their pieces to yours... The game is set up in a hex grid with a few spaces in the center... That's the default board, at least, you can create your own. The game board is nicely animated, with hopping gems and lasers which change the pieces when you land near them... No music, but fairly nice sound effects, although that's not really the main point in a puzzle game. 286 or better, 640k RAM, 1 meg +/- HD space, VGA, mouse recommended. (16) Hexxagon Ratings: !-John-! Graphics: B+ (Well detailed and animated...) Music/Sound: B- (No music, sparse sound effects...) Challenge: A+ (This is a game with a lot of strategy and planning involved.) Lasting Interest: A (If you like strategy games, you should really like this one...) Overall: A (Technical aspects not overwhelming, but the strategy aspects are what make the game.) (17) Zone 66, from Renaissance (distributed by Epic MegaGames) -with extra comments from *Archangel* Zone 66 is an intense shoot 'em up from Renaissance and Epic MegaGames. In Zone 66, you fly a fighter plane (of your choice) in a full 360-degree scrolling battlefield. You choose your armament and take off, trying to clear the area of all enemy targets. But accomplishing this is not easy, as there are anti-aircraft guns and enemy fighters everywhere. Don't expect to finish a mission in less than an hour. With full 256-color VGA graphics and a digitized Sound Blaster soundtrack with digitized sound effects, this game really kicks. *Archangel*'s Comments: This game is non-stop action. Don't expect much rest unless you quit. The music was especially good, with sort of a hardcore background with guitars leading. My personal favorite plane was the DFA Bomber, which had the biggest payload out of any ship. This game could be as big a hit as Wolfenstein 3-D. -Extra Info: (system req's) 386, 2 MB RAM, 2 MB HD space Shareware version comes with 1 mission, $30 for 1-4, $25 for 5-8, $45 for all (18) Zone 66 Ratings **-John-** Graphics: A (360-degree smooth scrolling battlefield, great explosions too) Music/Sound: A (Excellent rockin' digitized soundtrack) Challenge: A+ (Don't expect to be through this one fast. With the extra mission packs, this game could be one of the most challenging games out there) Lasting Interest: A+ (With the extra mission packs, this game could keep anyone busy for quite the while...) Overall: A+ (The best shareware I've ever seen... EVER.) **-Archangel-** Graphics: A- (360-degree scrolling adds a new dimension to gameplay, but enemy graphics get repetitive) Music/Sound: B+ (Music is good, but doesn't offer as many choices as Wolf 3D) Challenge: A (I found myself being killed constantly as a new player but it still happened a few more times after I got the hang of it) Lasting Interest: B+ (Repetitive but expect more with new missions) Overall: A- (This game brings Shareware to a new dimension) (19) PD/Shareware Utility Reviews ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Protected Module Player v2.10 by Jussi Lahdenniemi and Otto Chrons PMP is a new module player from Jussi Lahdenniemi and Otto Chrons, using the new DSMI interface. With PMP, you can load modules into extended/expanded memory, allowing you to play MOD's of any size, without conventional memory restrictions. PMP also lets you shell to DOS, with over 550k of memory free. With PMP, you can load MOD's into the background, and run other programs while playing them. PMP also is a very high-quality MOD player, with some of the clearest sound of any player I've seen. SB Pro owners can hear their mods in stereo. John: Visual Display: C (Text display, with little visual feedback) Quality of Music: A (Excellent quality) Ken: Visual Display: D+ (Not much to look at...) Quality of Music: B+ (Pretty good sound quality, not the best I've heard) (20) Dual Module Player v2.46 by Otto Chrons )-386 required-( DMP is simply the highest quality MOD player I've ever used. The visual display is nothing spectacular, a text display with instrument names, file info, and REAL volume bars. But the graphics aren't what make this MOD player great. The sound quality is crystal-clear, and you have full panning control, something I've never seen in any other MOD player. One of the most unique features of DMP is that it plays not only MOD's but also AMF's, 669's, STM's, and S3M's... Included with DMP is a program that lets you rip MOD's from most demos... 3 batch files are included to automatically rip MOD's from 3 of Future Crew's demos: Unreal, The Party Intro, and Panic. John: Visual Display: B (The display is text, but it gives a lot of info...) Quality of Music: A+ (The highest quality MOD player I've seen) Ken: Visual Display: D (Again, not much to look at...) Quality of Music: A+ (The best I've ever heard.) (21) Calliope Music Vision, by Melvin Douglas Calliope is a single-track MIDI player for your Sound Blaster by Melvin Douglas... I would like to publicly thank Melvin for sending this program, along with VOC Thing, to me, as they are well-programmed and a great addition to my SB Library... Calliope plays .MDI songs (single-track MIDI). While these files are not as high-quality as MOD's, they are still quite nice, and MUCH smaller... Now let me talk about the program itself. I have never seen an MDI player (or ROL or CMF for that matter) with this many features in my life... It has file tagging options, multiple replay options, and a LOT of visual feedback about what's going on with the song, including byte info, percentages, etc... A major plus for this program is that with all these new programs requiring high-end computers, it's nice to see a program that can play good music on older DOS machines... John: Visual Display: B+ (ANSI display, but a lot of information...) Options: A (You can do a LOT with this program.) Registration is only $20 and includes 100+ music files. (22) VOC Thing, by Melvin Douglas VOC Thing is a VOC player/recorder for your Sound Blaster from Melvin Douglas... Thanx again, Melvin, for being the first programmer to let me sample same programs... :> VOC Thing is a basic VOC utility which allows you to record anything you want and put it into standard VOC format... You can also play any VOC file through this program, giving (of course) some of the best quality you can get out of your SB, as these are true digitized sounds... Both of these programs can be ordered from Melvin Douglas, at the following P.O. box: Melvin Douglas Post Office Box 141 Uniondale, NY 11553-0141 Calliope Music Vision is $20, including 100+ .MDI music files. VOC Thing is $9. (23) The MODule Corner :> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to another installment of the MOD Corner, with your hosts John Townsend and Archangel. This month, we'd like to deviate a little from the usual MOD discussion to talk about other digitized module formats, like S3M's and 669's... Maybe you've seen some of these modules and wondered what they were, how good the quality of music was, how to play them, etc., and I hope we can answer those questions in this column... S3M's are Scream Tracker 3.0 modules... (BTW: If anyone has Scream Tracker 3.0 and could send it to me us or tell us where to find it, we'd be very appreciative, and you would be WELL rewarded...) S3M's are digitized music modules with 4-8 channels... The quality you get from these modules is excellent, and they are the format most commonly used in graphics/sound demos, like those of Future Crew (we'll be talking about one of their demos, Unreal, in a later article)... 669 files originate from Composer 669, an excellent program by Tran of Renaissance that I hope to review next issue... 669 modules are 8 channel, and contain digitized samples just like S3M's and MOD's... Both of these module formats, although not widely in use in most parts of the U.S., allow for even higher quality (24) music files than the average 4-channel MOD... There aren't a whole lot of players out there that can handle these two formats... Obviously, S3M files can be played with Scream Tracker 3.0, but I know I can't find it, and I know how successful others will be in their searches... DMP is the only MOD player I know of that could also play S3M's, but it's widely distributed, and you should able to find a copy on a BBS near you... If not, again, just write me... 669's can be composed and played by Composer 669, which can be found on Music Connection (check the BBS list) if you can't find it anywhere near you... DMP (as I mentioned in its review) can handle 669's as well... We'll close out this month with a new top MOD list, so you aspiring MOD collectors out there know what the top MOD's are, at least in our opinion... *John*: *Archangel*: 1. Beyond Music (BEY.MOD) 1. Space Debris (SPACE.MOD) 2. Space Debris (SPACE.MOD) 2. Snapower (SNAPOWER.MOD) 3. Klisje Paa Klisje (KLISJE.MOD) 3. This is Thrash (THRASH.MOD) 4. Resonance II (RESNANCII.MOD) 4. Defeat the Beat (DEFEAT.MOD) 5. Mig-29 (MIG.MOD) 5. Castle Master (CASTLE.MOD) (25) The Demo Scene ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This month: Future Crew's UNREAL... Well, this is a new feature for SBHQ... In this column every month, we'll be talking about some of the latest graphics/sound demos... I thought the best demo to start out with would be Unreal, by Future Crew... This is a demo that truly lives up to its name... At this point in time, I've never seen better graphics on my system... Here's a brief description of the graphics seen in the demo... I'm not exactly "in the know" when it comes to graphics and how they're done, so I'll describe it in layman's terms... After the introduction, it starts out with a section titled "World Vector"... In this part, it shows various spaceships flying around a square "world"... The world rotates and scales as smooth as I've ever seen as the ships fly around it. This creates an amazing 3-D effect that, like most of this demo, must be seen to be believed. After this comes Vectorballs... If you haven't seen vector balls before, they are small balls that can be scaled, rotated, etc. to create unbelievable 3-D qualities... Again, you'll have to check out the demo for yourself... The next part of the demo is entitled "Wormhole"... This part is an interesting effect which gives the general appearance of a (26) grid being sucked into a central point... After this comes ShadeBobs, which is a remarkable shading effect with colors that sort of overlap on the screen... After that comes RealColorPlasma, which is an amazing effect where a mixtur of red, green, and blue "plasma" writhes around the screen with an almost hypnotic effect... :> Then Real Plasma, after that, in which the screen sort of scrolls along this "real plasma", another very 3-D effect that's very hard for a layman like me to describe, especially in an article like this... One of the most impressive effects of the demo is in the next part, "Something", in which this 3-D "wire" of color moves and rotates around the screen (on top of this nice outer space type background picture)... After this comes "Texture", which consists of amazing rotation and scaling of objects such as a cube, a disk (that sort of dances around, twists, spins), and even a digitized image of a person... The demo concludes with Landscape, an incredibly 3-D landscapre which scrolls and rotates... This demo also contains some of the best music I've ever heard in my life, making for the ultimate graphics and sound experience for your PC... :> Unreal requires a 386 (preferably a fast DX) or better, a VGA card of course, 600,000 bytes free conventional memory, and about 2 megs of hard drive space, give or take a few 100k... SB Pro stereo is also supported :> (27) SBHQ BBS List, 5/22/93 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Music Channel 203 646 3058 Music Connection 214 964 3743 Channel 62 518 783 1742 Waveform 518 381 4417 Sound Barrier 718 979 6629 Computer Connection (Australia) Int (+618) 326 2388 From Aus. (08) 326 2388 Dragon's Lair 518 346 1427 Other Worlds 518 583 9291 Fire and Ice Connections 518 373 1577 If you would like your BBS listed in the SBHQ BBS list, send your BBS name and number to: John Townsend 45 West Erie Street Albany, NY 12208-2426 The only requirement for being listed in this magazine is that your BBS have a reasonably substantial Sound Blaster file library. (28) Letters to the Editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well, this section (while basically empty now) will be where we put the readers' letters in future issues... If you have any questions about SBHQ or anything Sound Blaster related, send the letters to us at: Ken Krouner 69 Brookline Ave. Albany, NY 12203 I'd like to thank both Melvin Douglas and Vicki Crawford for writing to me and giving me their opinions on our magazine... I'm glad you liked it... Melvin, thanks for the two programs... They were well-programmed and as you've seen, that was reflected in my reviews... :> Vicki, if you can't find Ken's Labyrinth anywhere, I'll be happy to mail it to you... Also, if you're looking for a certain Sound Blaster program or music file, feel free to write to us and we'll try our best to locate it for you and get it to you somehow (possibly include it with a future issue of this magazine). (29) What's Ahead? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well, there's quite a bit in the future of SBHQ... The first thing I'd like to mention is the possibility of offering subscriptions in the future... This won't be for a while, as right now there's not enough support to convince me to offer these, but maybe in a year or so I'll reconsider... Another thing I'd like to talk about is advertisements... I had no idea how widely distributed SBHQ 1 was until I got a letter from Australia... :> But since it seems like this magazine is getting around, some people might want to advertise here... If you would like to advertise your BBS, program, game, or anything else SB-related in here, just write me at the address given earlier. Lastly, I'd like to talk about the official SBHQ distribution BBS that will be going up soon, Death's Gate... Death's Gate will feature a huge Sound Blaster file library, CD-ROM's full of SB stuff, SB message subs, and much much more. The board will hopefully be going up some time in June, and will be 2400 for the first few months, hopefully upgrading to 14.4k in a while... We will be subscribing to quite a few nets, so we hope to see you on a SoundBlaster sub in one of them... I'm looking forward to chatting with some of the people who read this magazine... Well, that's it for the preview section, I'll be back with another update next month... (30) Poll/Survey, by Ken Krouner OK, time for another new addition. In this section you will be participating in a new part of our magazine. We will ask you a number of questions and you mail the questions back with your answers. Now this isn't like trivia, just a viewer response so we know who's reading this and what you like... The address for this is the same as the one for letters to the editor: Ken Krouner 69 Brookline Ave. Albany, NY 12203 For all you may indicate one or more than one. 1. What is your age? a)10-18 b)19-25 c)26-45 d)46-55 e)56+ 2. What type of PC do you own? (31) a)XT b)286 c)386SX d)386DX e)486 3. What is your sex? a)Male b)Female 4. Sound Blaster: a)own b)just bought c)are planning to buy d)have better e)won't buy f)are selling 5. Sound Blaster Pro: a)own b)just bought c)are planning to buy d)have better e)won't buy f)are selling 6. Sound Blaster 16 ASP: a)own b)just bought c)are planning to buy d)have better e)won't buy f)are selling 7. What is your favorite commercial game company? a)Sierra/Dynamix b)LucasArts c)Electronic Arts/Origin d)Access e)Microprose f)Maxis g)SSI h)Other (specify):__________________ (32) 8. What do you think of Ken Krouner's reviews? a)love 'em b)like 'em c)fair 'em d)suck 'em e)chuck 'em 9. What do you think of John Townsend's reviews? a)love 'em b)like 'em c)fair 'em d)suck 'em e)chuck 'em 10. What do you think of SBHQ in general? a)love 'em b)like 'em c)fair 'em d)suck 'em e)chuck 'em OK that's it so come on, spend the $.29, make your forefathers proud, save this country on... oops wrong speech. Anyway come on mail it today! Done by: Ken Krouner (33) File Request Summary ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Looking for programs or song we mentioned? Write us, giving us the names and a disk/disks capable of holding them and we'll send it to you, no problem. No extra charge as of yet... :> Filename (description) Estimated ARCHIVED size ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Zone 66 (Intense shoot 'em up game) 1.2 megs +/- Hexxagon (Intriguing strategy game) 500k + PMP v2.10 (Load MOD's into high memory) ? 80-120k ? DMP v2.46 (Top-quality module player, many formats) 82k +/- Calliope Music Vision (Single track MIDI player) ? 50-100k ? VOC Thing (VOC recording/playing utility) ? 50-100k ? Beyond Music (My #1 MOD) 400k + Space Debris (My #2 MOD, Archangel's #1) 350k +/- Klisje Paa Klisje (My #3 MOD) ? 225-275k ? Resonance II (My #4 MOD) 120k +/- Mig-29 (My #5 MOD) 100k +/- Snapower (Arch's #2 MOD) ? 375-425k ? (34) Defeat the Beat (Arch's #3 MOD) 180k +/- This is Thrash (Arch's #4 MOD) 150k +/- Castle Master (Arch's #5 MOD) 70k + Unreal (Amazing demo by Future Crew) 1.2 megs +/- Composer 669 (8-channel digital music composer) 90k +/- SBHQ 1, TXT file ONLY! (If you can't find it) 15k +/- SBHQ 1, the whole thing (Ditto) :> 50k +/- WinMOD (If for some reason left out of this archive) 15k Middle Alta (Ditto) :> 22k - The plus or minus is basically self explanatory, + means it's probably a bit bigger, - means it's probably a bit smaller (both proportional to file size, i.e. 500k + might mean 500-570k whereas 20k - probably means 17-20k)... The ?'s are for files that I haven't archived recently (or at all) and I can't provide accurate numbers... The range should suffice... File Requests are sent to: John Townsend 45 West Erie Street Albany, NY 12208-2426 (35) Closing ~~~~~~~ Well, that basically wraps it up for the second issue of Sound Blaster Head Quarters... I hope you enjoyed this issue just as much as, or more than the last one, and I hope you'll continue to read SBHQ and distribute it to your favorite BBS's... Let me just reiterate some of the things I've mentioned this issue... 1) If you can't find a program mentioned in any issue of SBHQ, or even if you're looking for one that wasn't mentioned, write us... :> 2) Please give us feedback... We like to know how we're doing... 3) We really would like to see any SB programs/games/music that's out there. so if you have something for us that you'd like us to review, or just would like us to see, again, let us know... 4) We're definitely looking for contributing writers, so, by all means, if you have something SB-related to talk about, please send it to us... :> See you next issue, guys... -John Townsend, Editor-in-Chief