BBS in a Box 4/BBS in a Box - Macintosh - Volume IV (January 1992) (BBS in a Box).iso/Files/Word/C/Computer Entertainer

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In The JANUARY issue of Computer Entertainer...

The News
~~~~~~~~
New Cluebook for Starflight
New Mindscape Division
Chess On Your Laptop
Original Chocolate Byte Back
New Products Coming from Baudville
500XJ Joystick for More Systems
New Offerings from Epyx
British Invasion, Part Two
Commodore to Feature Amiga at Consumer Electronics Show
Conversions Available from Electronic Arts
New Products from Access
A New Magazine from Electronic Arts


Reviews
~~~~~~~
FLIGHT SIMULATOR CO-PILOT (Book/Paperback)
Z-PILOT for Commodore
MAIL  ORDER MONSTERS from Electronic Arts,  converted for Atari
THE  BATTLE  OF CHICKAMAUGA for Commodore
ROMMEL BATTLES FOR TOBRUK for Commodore, Atari
GUNSHIP for Commodore, IBM, Atari ST/XE/XL, Amiga, Apple
NORTH ATLANTIC '86 for Mac, Apple II
THE KING OF CHICAGO for MacPlus, Amiga, Apple IIGS
RADIO BASEBALL for IBM
THE PAWN for Amiga. Commodore, Atari, IBM, Mac
DARK CASTLE for Mac
WORLD GAMES for Amiga, Atari, IBM, Apple II
CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING for Atari, Apple II
SPACE QUEST CHAPTER 1 for Amiga, Atari, IBM, Apple IIgs
NEW TECHNOLOGY COLORING BOOK for Amiga, Apple II, IBM
GATO for Atari, Apple, Amiga, Mac, IBM
SDI for Atari, Amiga, Apple, Mac, IBM
KARATE KID PART II: THE COMPUTER GAME for Atari ST
GHOSTS'N GOBLINS for Commodore, Apple II


(c) 1987 Computer Entertainer
Used By Permission
All Rights Reserved

For subscription information, contact:
        Computer Entertainer Newsletter
        12115 Magnolia #126
        P. O. Box 4702
        North Hollywood, CA 91607

        [phone] (Voice-California)
        [phone] (Toll-Free)
        [phone] (Data/24 Hours)


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LATEST NEWS....

SOFTWARE BUYER BEWARE
  Among the software we received for review during the past month
was SUB MISSION (Tom Snyder Productions for Mindscape, MSR $39.95
for IBM PC/PCjr, Apple II). It involves submarine wargames with a
warlord to free two human captives. The catch? The captives can
only be revived once each if killed during the wargames. If
killed a second time, they are permanently erased from the disk.
Your only recourse is to send $7 for a new disk to Mindscape!
Even if it is very difficult to kill the captives, there is no
excuse for destroying a $39.95 disk because a gamer fails to
achieve the program's goals. This is the first time in nearly
five years of reviewing software that we have rated a program
"Not recommended" without reviewing it, but a disk capable of
self-destruction is not worth our reviewers' time.

NEWS FROM BRODERBUND

  All the software companies are moving into high gear for the
Christmas season, and Broderbund is no exception. Appropriate to
the season, they're releasing yet another PRINT SHOP GRAPHICS
LIBRARY disk, this one a very special "Holiday Edition." However,
this add-on contains much more than just Christmas artwork to use
with THE PRINT SHOP. It also includes plenty of material for
every holiday during the year, from Valentine's Day to Mother's
Day and Independence Day.
  More New Titles
  Broderbund's four announced titles for the new Apple IIGS are
in development (THE PRINT SHOP, NEWSMAKER, DRAWING TABLE, and
FANTAVISION). Coming soon for Apple IIe/IIc is Dan Gorlin's
newest action game, AIRHEART, as well as ANIMATE!, a companion
program to "Dazzle Draw." The company is also ready to release a
learn-to-type program (TYPE!) for Apple, IBM, and Commodore
64/128. We don't know about you, but we find it difficult to get
excited about yet another me-too typing program. Fortunately, the
people at Broderbund feel that way, too, so TYPE! promises a
different approach. Based on extensive research showing that
people learn to type most easily with actual passages rather than
meaningless groups of letters and symbols, the exercises in TYPE!
go straight to "real" typing and incorporate a unique diagnostic
feature. You type a passage, the program tells you where your
problems lie, and then it provides customized exercises to help
you improve those weaknesses. The diagnostic feature also works
in the game included within the program.
  Delayed Titles
  Two previously announced Broderbund titles have been delayed
until early 1987: the Apple version of THE ANCIENT ART OF WAR and
the new menu-planning program for Apple and IBM, VARIABLE FEASTS.


NEW RELEASES FROM ACTIVISION

  Activision has one of the most ambitious pre-Christmas release
schedules of any software company, befitting their growth and
acquisition of other companies during the past year. A new series
of creativity programs begins with PAPER MODELS: THE CHRISTMAS
KIT for Macintosh, IBM PC/PCjr/Tandy 1000, and Apple II (MSR
$29.95) and for Commodore 64/128 ($24.95). (The Macintosh version
is reviewed in this issue.) Also reviewed this month is
Gamestar's CHAMPIONSHIP BASEBALL for C64/128 ($34.95), which
features a high degree of player control. Versions for several
other systems are expected before Christmas.
  Games Based on Movies
  As we told you in July, Activision acquired exclusive rights to
develop software based on four movies. In the meantime, summer
moviegoers have voted thumbs-up on only one of the four, ALIENS.
(Programming for the ALIENS game is well underway.) No doubt,
Activision hopes that the games based on BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE
CHINA, LABYRINTH, and HOWARD THE DUCK will fare better than the
movies. (The game based on BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA may be
released only in Japan and Europe, because the movie is doing
much better there than it did in the U.S.) We'll know about
LABYRINTH: THE COMPUTER GAME very soon, because it will be
available this month for Apple II ($39.95) and C64/128 ($34.95).
Developed by Lucasfilm Games, the animated graphic adventure lets
you control a male or female character in a maze full of goblins,
magical characters, and puzzles.
  Simplifying Term Paper Writing
  New from Personal Choice Software, an Activision label, is TERM
PAPER WRITER. ($59.95 for Apple II and IBM PC/PCjr/Tandy 1000; a
version for C128 will follow.) It's a four-in-one program that
promises to make the task of writing a term paper or research
paper much easier. The Notetaker section is an electronic card
file for collecting information by source and topic. The
Outliner helps in the organization stage. The Writer is a
full-featured word processor which even keeps a running word
count during the development of a paper. The Footnoter and
Bibliography Compiler inserts footnotes on appropriate pages and
compiles information for the bibliography directly from The
Notetaker. Also coming soon from Personal Choice Software is one
of Activision's first two programs for the new Apple IIGS,
WRITER'S CHOICE ELITE. The other program is PAINTWORKS PLUS, an
Activision creativity product.

PREVIEWS

PREVIEWS (these games not really reviewable yet, but something
can be said based on demo disks--actual review copies to follow)

THE PAWN from Firebird Licensees, previously available for Atari
ST and Amiga, is coming soon in a version for Commodore 64 and
128. (The C128 version will be enhanced and sold separately from
the C64 version.) Although review copies of the completed program
are not ready yet, we were sent a demo disk of the C64 version,
which gives us the opportunity to share with you our initial
impressions. (It is our policy NOT to write full-fledged reviews
based on only the portion of a program portrayed in a demo disk.)
  Good Graphics
  Especially if you've seen this program on an Atari ST or Amiga,
we think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how good the graphics
look in the C64 version. This is an illustrated text adventure
with full-screen pictures that slide down over the text, much the
way a window shade works. When the picture is rolled back up out
of the way, the text occupies the entire screen, except for a
small, thumbnail-sketch version of the picture that remains in
the upper right corner of the screen. While these high-res
pictures look quite good, the real core of this program is the
story and your interaction with it via a truly amazing language
parser. The best way we can illustrate the parser is to quote
from the portion of the game we saw. At one point, you find
yourself in a garden shed, where you're told, "There is a hoe, a
trowel, a rake, and a wheelbarrow here." If you type, "Take the
tools," the program does not respond, "You don't see any tools
here" (because you didn't use the same words used by the
program). Instead it responds with a list of the tools which are
now in your possession. If your next command is "Look at them," a
query that would stump most parsers, the program responds with an
item-by-item description of each tool.
  Amazing Parser
  As fascinated as we were by that exchange of commands and
comments, we were totally unprepared for the program's ability to
understand even awkwardly phrased commands. Standing by a tree
stump in another portion of the game, you have three different
hats, three keys, and several kinds of bottles. After a series of
actions in which you have placed one hat on the stump, another
inside it, and then proceeded to place different bottles in each
hat and keys inside each bottle, you get what must be one of the
most convoluted commands imaginable: "Put the key that is in the
bottle that is in the hat that is IN the stump inside the bottle
that is in the hat that is ON the stump." (Emphasis for clarity
is ours.) At this point, most programs would roll over and play
dead or make nasty comments about your inability to express
yourself understandably. Not THE PAWN. It calmly replies, "The
blue key is now inside the green bottle," as if you had simply
asked it directly to put the blue key inside the green bottle.
See what we mean by amazing? We expect to be able to feature a
review of the completed program in a future issue.

(c) 1986 Computer Entertainer
Used By Permission
All Rights Reserved

For subscription information, contact:
        Computer Entertainer Newsletter
        12115 Magnolia #126
        P. O. Box 4702
        North Hollywood, CA 91607

        [phone] (Voice-California)
        [phone] (Toll-Free)
        [phone] (Data/24 Hours)


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