Magnetic Pages Article | 1993-02-25 | 16KB | 26 lines
MPARTICLE
87ZB`,
' This is a review of the Dec.92 / &Jan.93 first issue of NZAmiga Magazine.' It's not my intention to make a 'habit of reviewing stuff other than 'public domain and shareware software 'but I will make exceptions if I think 'something is of interest to PD users &or should be more widely known about'in the Amiga community. As an example 'I will be reviewing Tobias Richter's '"Space Wars" video in the next issue 'as I'm sure most PD users have seen 'some of his ray-traces and will be 'interested in the video despite it 'being a commercial product. Most 'commercial reviews I will leave up to
the paper mags.' Last year I received free through 'the post a complementary copy of the 'NZ produced PC World magazine. It's 'an excellent magazine and I've even 'bought the occasional copy despite 'never having used a PC but there's no 'mention of the Amiga in it's pages. I 'wrote and thanked them and added a ps. 'to the letter suggesting that as they 'were a PC magazine they were duty 'bound to review Mark Tomlinson of &Christchurch's $50 shareware IBM'emulator for the Amiga - IBeM. They 'surprised me by printing the letter, 'which I've never seen, the result of 'which was I received two phone calls - 'one from a Hastings resident and one 'from the editor on behalf of someone 'else - asking about PC emulation for &the Amiga. This was a bit'embarrassing as I had only added the 'ps. as a bit of cheek and I have never &actually seen IBeM! Sorry Mark,'should you read this, but I've never 'had a use for one. Perhaps I got you an order.' I also bemoaned the fact there was 'no NZ Amiga magazine and suggested 'that there must be some journalists 'willing to take some money off us '$19.95 Amiga Format buyers - or words 'to that effect. And low and behold, 'just in time for Christmas, there on &the magazine racks is NZAmiga'Magazine. Who says there's no Santa 'Claus? And yeah, I've finally got to "the point! So on with the review.' The first issue of NZAmiga Magazine '(their spelling) is a glossy 50 plus &pages of mostly black and white'articles. The only colour used apart 'from in the advertisements and on the 'front cover is in a centrefold spread 'called Art Gallery. Submissions for 'it are welcome so all you Kiwi Amiga 'artists now have somewhere to show off 'your talents. In the first issue they 'have filled it with 24 bit ray-traces &of very little originality -&reflective spheres on transparent'spheres etc. Could this be why in the 'editorial there are thoughts on the 'subject of whether ray-tracing is art? &The cover picture on Amy PD Review'was mostly done with my Turbo Silver 'ray-tracing program so I feel I can 'comment on this. Art I think has 'nothing to do with the tools used - 'it's all about the vision in the 'artist's mind prior to starting the 'work. You do however need to know how 'to use your tools - you just have to 'put in the time. I like ray-tracing 'because I find it easy to visualize in '3D as opposed to drawing what's in my 'mind's eye on a 2D screen. When 'trying to explain ray-tracing to an 'accomplished paint and canvas artist I 'described it as being like sculpture 'but with the end product being a photo 'or movie of the sculpture, not the &sculpture itself. But as with'anything knowing what you want at the
start is the important thing.' I suspect however that some artists 'dislike any form of computer art due 'to the medium itself. It's naturally 'subversive due to the fact there can 'be no original copy of something when &perfect copies can be made ad'infinitum. There will never be any '"digitally re-mastered" versions of 'Space Invaders. Commodore used Andy 'Warhol at the launch of the Amiga (the 'patron saint of the Amiga? -beats a 'fake Charlie Chaplin any day) where I 'believe he drew a portrait of Debbie 'Harry. Anyone know what happened to 'it? I assume it wasn't pirated or 'placed in the public domain but if it 'had been how would you place a value 'on it? Computer art will never be 'High Art because the relatively poor 'will be able to own it as easily as 'the rich. As the song says - "I think 'images are worth repeating and
repeating and repeating".& If the producers of NZAM'(pronounced enz-am?) happen to read 'this please accept this as my response 'to your editorial. I would have 'subscribed by now but getting this 'magazine out has done terrible things 'to my spare time and even worse things
to my disposable income.' NZAM is coming out every two months 'until they are established enough to 'publish monthly. Sounds familiar. It 'has a good News/New Products section 'plus the usual reviews and in this 'issue previews of the new Amiga 4000 &and 1200 which make the front cover.'Full reviews of both promised in the &next issue. Fully reviewed (and'accurately) in the first issue is the 'A600 and A600HD, the latter of which 'passes for my high-end machine around 'here. The rest of the magazine is 'made up of specialist columns. These &are a curious mix of high-end and low-&end topics. The Workbench column for-'instance is three pages devoted to 'formatting disks while in the video 'column we read - "All this power takes 'oodles of memory, the more the better. &Think about 64 megabytes as a'starting figure." The Video column
was a good read though.' There's also a Beginners column 'which is a bit misnamed as it's an '"attempt to explain various computer 'fundamentals" which is something most 'new users would not want to know 'about. The beginners this issue have 'four pages to read on "How Computers 'Count". I may be wrong but I suspect 'people with their first computer want 'to know the best way to use their new &word-processing, painting or other'software, or how to get past level 'nine, not how to count up to nine in
binary.' Which takes us on nicely to games 'reviews - or the lack of them. "We &will not be doing games reviews'initially and may not ever do them" 'it's stated in the editorial. Are 'they mad?! Rightly or wrongly I 'suspect most Amigas in New Zealand are 'used by young males who mostly play 'games on them. I know the English 'magazines cater well for gamers but 'they cost twice as much as NZAM and it 'makes sense for a magazine to look &after their future long-term'customers. Some games players will 'move away from computers but others 'will start to find the other articles 'interesting and they will stick with 'the NZ magazine that respected their 'interests when they were younger. Go 'on NZAM, give them half a dozen games 'reviews an issue - before they've been
reviewed in the overseas mags.' There are also columns on books, 'music making, assembler programming, 'hardware and one for Blitz Basic 2 'programmers. Blitz Basic 2 is a NZ 'made Basic and the column is written &by the marketing manager of Acid'Software - the company that publishes 'it! Oh well - NZ is a small country 'and there's only so much talent to go 'around. Full marks to NZAM for making 'the connections known, as they have &done with some of the other'contributors. And anyway, this review 'is being written by the marketing &manager of CyberCraft! And the stamp-&licker. I had better state my&connections while I'm on the subject.'Other than the PD library side of 'CyberCraft I have no other connections 'and never have had any with a computer 'related business of any kind. I have 'been but a humble peasant in all my 'previous endeavours - and still am in
the other world.' All in all NZAmiga Magazine is a 'well made magazine with no apparent 'padding. It is obviously put together 'by Amiga enthusiasts and not just a 'means to sell advertisements. I for 'one now know how hard it is to get a 'first issue of a magazine out - A &paper mag must be ten times worse.'Before the first issue comes out you 'are trying to make sure you have not 'forgotten anything important. After 'it comes out you are trying to get it 'as well known as possible instead of 'concentrating on the second issue so I 'guess it's the third issue before you &start to really have the time needed'to make the magazine look like you 'want - assuming you are still in
business by then!' So if you live in New Zealand and 'haven't yet seen NZAM then check your 'local magazine stand - it's the best &Christmas present the NZ Amiga'community could have had. And my 'apologies for this review rambling so
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