{fb1000000Footnote : As the modem is chugging away in the background downloading a rather large file I thought what better time to start writing articles for Spectrum. So here you go; the first article written by myself for Spectrum issue three.
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There are a number of ways which I could write this article, I could either write in detail what I did during the day or I could write a more serious (and interesting?) report on the new develop- ments and releases. I have opted for the second option because Kirky tried the first, and made a complete cock up of it.
It seems that Acorn's finest hour this year was the launch of the RiscPC, so how would they top that at this year's Acorn World? Well the answer is simple, they didn't. Instead they left it up to the third party developers. The first thing which struck me about the new releases at the show was the amount of quality games that have sprung up within the last few months. Most of these got a show release.
The bigest crowd puller had to have been Wolfenstien 3D as most of the time the Powerslave stand was surrounded by eager game players wanting to have a go on this PC classic. Once I had mangaged to get through the crowd, I got the hard sell ie. "£25, its a bargain", "buy it now", "it is much faster and smoother than the PC version" and "have you read the reviews?". After that sales pitch you had to buy a copy to shut them up, but was it worth it? YES (for a more detailed answer, read the review).
The next big games release at the show was FedNet's 3D epic _StarFighter 3000_"Reviews.Games.Che/SF3000". I must mention the chap (or chapess) dressed as a monk walking round the show with a sign advertising StarFighter 3000. Anyway FedNet seemed also to be doing a roaring trade.
Krisalis had Cannon Fodder and the RiscPC version of SimCity 2000. The 4th Dimension were out in full force celebrating their birthday by selling everything for £10, which included E-Type II. Also for sale at silly prices were Stunt Racer 2000, _Virtual Golf_"Reviews.Games.VirtGolf" and even the nine disc flight sim Birds of War. Gamesware had _Simon the Sorceror_"Reviews.Games.Simon" for sale and although it still had a few (minor) bugs it has been worth the wait. Gamesware were also demonstrating DuneII, although when we looked at it it was a menu (an impressive menu!) and in the corner of the monitor was a sticker saying "coming soon to the Acorn". Me thinks that there was a PC hiding somewhere on the Gamesware stand.
TBA, who had some time off after the show in Harrogate, were out in full force giving demonstrations of their forth coming release, CyberApe, as well as having the 3D Race game, Formula Two Thousand (FTT), on sale. They also had their wide range of _joypads_"Reviews.Games.JoyPad" on sale.
So what did the show have on offer for the serious user? Well for a start the theme of this years show was geared towards publishing, with Acorn doing demonstrations of using a profesional printing set up with a RiscPC at its heart.
Computer Concepts were running demonstrations (or small workshops) showing the power of applications such as _Impression Style_"Reviews.Apps.Style1", _Publisher_"Reviews.Apps.Publisher1" and Artworks. They were also demostrating their new multi-media range of software and hardware.
One thing which supprised me was the large presence of the PD scene. There were numerous representives of PD libraries such as _The Datafile_"Reviews.Apps.ProArt242", APDL, Arch Angel, _Five Star Marketing_"Features.DiscMags" and the Arm Club PD Library. There was also a chance to attend the PD meet which showcased new demos and games. Tom Cooper, or Berty as he now calls himself, released his new _shoot 'em up_"Reviews.Games.WaveLength" (although it is a commercial game). There were also PD groups and programmers around the place such as Cobra, Chris Jackson and Kuldip Pardesi who showcased his new demo (although I wasn't present for this so I can't say if it happened or not).
But the question I can hear you all asking is 'was it a success?'. According to my press sources over 10,000 people attended over the three days. Also according to my source, over 30% of the stands for next year's show have already been booked. I think this indicates how much of a success that the show was! But for me, I entered the show a rich man and left a poor one!
