Top 10k strings from Alchemist News - Issue 31 (1999)(Alchemist Research).tap in <root> / bin / z80 / software / Sinclair Spectrum Collection TOSEC.exe / Sinclair ZX Spectrum - Magazines / Sinclair ZX Spectrum - Magazines - [TAP] (TOSEC-v2007-01-01) /
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1 s the one I recommend people emulate onthe PC. It was a very hard conversion butwe knew what we were about by then. Iregret having had to sanitise the tradegoods for so-called political correctnessbut apart from that it
1 s a nice version. Ihaven't seriously played any otherversions, not even Arc Elite.
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1 m still battling away andfailing miserably in beating the mightyGoro who takes great pleasure inannihilating me every time. A wonderfuland extremely playable game that isdefinitely a top 5 contender in the Hallof Spectrum fighting games. Den and Sly Isalute you.
1 igo Ayo Sinclair ZX Spectrum emulator in 16/256 colors mode Code: Inigo Ayo 256c graphics: David Goti 1. - Introduction ------------------- The development of this emulator has madewithout no spirit of profit nor benefit ofany other type. It can and it mustdistribute in a free way. Use this programat your own risk. We dont't take anyresponsability of any damage this programmay produce. The changes that some games have sufferedare with the only intention to takeadvantage of the graphical power the PCsoffer us today. The texts that makereference to the original authors orcompanies never will be modified.
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1 bit of code which will stop the programdead in its tracks. Using DEVPAC, you justpress the W key. On a Multiface, you dothe same as a stack trace, by writing downthe two bytes at the place you want to puta breakpoint, then replacing them with #18and #FE. If you are using 007 disassemblerand/or STK, you'll need to put a jump tothe start of the program (#C3 #00 #40 for007 disassembler; STK varies depending onwhere you put it). So let's start with something relativelysimple.... BLEEPLOAD "Bleepload" first appeared on Firebirdgames around March 1987, and was used bythem on every release by them from then onuntil their demise in 1989. It emulatesaBBC loading system in that each fileloads in a series of blocks, which arenumbered in hexadecimal. The hardness isnot because it
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1 a del Crimen". In any case, we've to do: * Spectrum 128K emulation. * PSG AY-8910 sound through a SoundBlaster card. * Emulates different keys combinationswith the PC (delete, cursors,...) * Imrpove .Z80 & .SNA. formats. Do the128K versions. * Create new functions for the debugger. * Fix the bugs that appear in theemulator. * Make a Z80_GFX using True color. 10.- Known Bugs -----------------
1 You can download a lot of games fromInternet. More information in http://www.emulatronia.com Moreover, Spec256 v1.2 supports thefollowing games in 256 colors mode: JETPAC Jet Pac (Ultimate) SABREW Sabre Wulf (Ultimate) UNDERW Underwulde (Ultimate) KNLORE Knight Lore (Ultimate) GAMEOVE1 Game Over 1 (Dinamic) GAMEOVE2 Game Over 2 (Dinamic) PHANTIS1 Phantis 1 (Dinamic) ARMYMOV1 Army Moves 1 (Dinamic) ARMYMOV2 Army Moves 2 (Dinamic) PROFANAT Abu Simbel Profanation SOLOMONS Solomon's Key (Probe) CYBERNOI Cybernoid (Hewson) If you want to load any of these games youmust download
1 This routine is a decrypter, whichdecrypts some of the code we just loadedin from tape. 5B24 ED 5B E7 FE LD DE,(#FEE7) 5B26 21 40 5B LD HL,#5B40 5B2B 1A LD A,(DE) 5B2C AE XOR (HL) 5B2D 77 LD (HL),A 5B2E 1C INC E 5B2F 2C INC L 5B30 20 F9 JR NZ,#5B2B This code decrypts some more code loadedin from tape, but it puts it at #5B40,which is right in the middle of the codewe are working on at the moment. So put abreakpoint at #5B32 (the first instructionafter the decrypter), and jump to #5B00(because we haven't executed any of thecode from #5B00 onwards yet!) 5B32 21 00 00 LD HL,#0000 5B35 22 B0 5C LD (#5CB0),HL 5B38 2E 02 LD
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1 PW: Any versions that you were unhappywith? IB: The PC versions seem to me to lacksparkle. I've not tried the 68000 ones socan't comment. PW: Elite was a truly groundbreaking game,how much of an influence do you think ithas had on the gaming industry? IB: Not much. It opened a genre but thatgenre would have been opened anyway ISTM.Iget quite a lot of email from peopleattributing their careers in computing tohaving played the game as children. Theformative effect games undoubtedly have onchildren seems to me to generate aresponsibility that many game writers donot take at all seriously. I question theethicality of many current games. Elitehad piracy, murder, and implied slaverysure, but it was all abstract wireframe,and you had the genuine option ofmaintaining a
1 Oh oh! 3 button! yeah, high technology :))) Do these ports return the physical x-yvalue, or do they just return thedifference since the last read? And do anyinterrupts get generated by it? interrupts are not generated, you have tomanually check the ports for values. andports return physical values, not justdifference. APPENDIX i Non synchronised screen page flipping. well, that is a self-explained point ;).New demos use double buffering/high colorand high res effects. If your screenswapping isnt synchronised it will produceflicker. what else can i say ? maybe useof VGA back retrace will help. (in progswhich switchin
1 NOTE- there is no longer a part zero.
1 Matthew also wanted to leave Bug Byte.According to him, there was a small matterof royalties owing. "I would have beenquite happy to leave Manic Miner with thembut they bent the contract", he says. Alanexplains. "The royalties were to be paidfor the duplication of cassettes, nottheir sale. The contract was only a fewsentences. They were almost verbalagreements in those days." "They ran up a huge debt", says Matthew."It was
1 FE71 21 00 FC LD HL,#FC00 FE74 11 01 FC LD DE,#FC01 FE77 01 FF 01 LD BC,#01FF FE7A 36 00 LD (HL),0 FE7C ED B0 LDIR FE7E C3 00 80 JP #8000 This routine wipes out all the memory from#FC00 to #FC01, but in actual fact youdon't need to do this. Then it jumps to#8000, which is the start of the game. So,we can put a machine code routine to put aPOKE in, and then jump to #8000. However,we've got to find the POKE first, andthere's the problem that we can't useBASIC because it is overwritten. Luckily, there is a short routine you canuse which will cause a NEW to a certainaddress. Put it into the above program bytyping in the following: 1 FOR N=65137 TO 65144:INPUT A:POKE N,A:NEXT N
1 FC00 01 99 02 LD BC,#0299 FC03 21 13 FC LD HL,#FC13 FC06 11 14 FC LD DE,#FC14 This part of the program sets up all theinitial values for the decrypters in someof the registers. FC09 1A LD A,(DE) We've come across brackets before, butbriefly what happens here is that thecontents of the address with the value ofthe DE register (which starts of as #FC14)are put into the A register. So now the Aregister could contain any byte. FC0A AE XOR (HL) We haven't seen XOR before, so I'llexplain what it does. It is in technicalterms a Boolean Operation. You may haveseen XOR gates if you studied (or arestudying!) Physics, Electronics orComputer Scien
1 D2 - not used D3 - used for output in RS-232C D4 - extended RAM. set to 1 - connects RAMpage with number 8-15 in C000-FFFF. numberof page is given in gidits D0-D2 of port7FFD D5 - signal of strobe for interfacecentronics. to form the strobe has to beset to 1. D6-D7 - not used. ( yet ? ) with reset all digits of this port are dropped to 0. these two ports ( 7ffd and 1ffd ) cannotbe accessed thru basic. basic operator OUTwill hang or reset the machine. only oneexception - bits d2 and d5 of 1ffd. restof digits of these ports must be accessedusing machine code. *port FF -
1 COPYRIGHTED - NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN!
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1 6 3 + 5 * 3 5 * - . To see what's going on here, we'll writeout a line for each word (or number) thatFORTH executes, showing what the contentsof the stack are at each stage (we writethe contents of the stack as a list ofnumbers, with the topmost item at theright): 6 Stack: (empty) --> 6 3 Stack: 6 --> 6 3 + Stack: 6 3 --> 9 5 Stack: 9 --> 9 5 * Stack: 9 5 --> 45 3 Stack: 45 --> 45 3 5 Stack: 45 3 --> 45 3 5 * Stack: 45 3 --> 45 15 - Stack: 45 15 --> 30 . Stack: 30 --> (empty) Experiment with a few more expressions ofyour own, until you're happy youunderstand how arithmetic on the stackworks.
1 5BAA 3A 00 60 LD A,(#6000) 5BAD 32 5C 5B LD (#5B5C),A 5BB0 31 A7 61 LD SP,#61A7 5BB3 CD 8E 02 CALL #28E 5BB6 28 1D JR Z,#5BD5 This routine restores the value of #5B5Cthat was stored in #6000 right at the verystart. It then sets the stack to #61A7,and calls the ROM keycheck routine. If nokey is pressed (and there shouldn't be),the routine jumps to 5BD5. In fact, itmust jump there, otherwise it wouldattempt to load a normal headerless block,and there are none! 5BD5 C3 BC F5 JP #F5BC This is what we've all been waiting for-the JP to the game itself. You can simplyput POKEs on the end of #5BD5, and followthem with a JP #F5BC to load the game. Fornow, though, it might be a good idea toput the NEW routine up to #61A7 there,instead, and J
1 5B00 CD 00 CD CALL #CD00 5B03 CD 21 CD CALL #CD21 5B06 22 10 5B LD (#5B10),HL 5B09 C9 RET now wind the tape back to the firstBleepload block again, RANDOMIZE USR 23296and start the tape. When the OK messagecomes up, type PRINT PEEK 23312+256*PEEK23313, and you should get 65286 which isFF06 hex. Disassemble this address. FF06 C3 21 CD JP #CD21 This goes back and loads another block. Bynow, you might have guessed that the valueof HL will always contain the address of aJP #CD21 instruction - except for the lastblock which will jump elsewhere. Now wecan write a routine which will load anyblock as long as it jumps to #CD21 at theend. I'm putting the routine at #CCEC,because it's right next to the loadingsystem, and hence is unlikely to beoverloaded (al
1 25,000 at one time. I kept askingfor some of it. Whenever I called in theyeither fobbed me off or refused to see me.Eventually we agreed to cancel theagreement. I had sold Styx to them butthey only had a licence to produce ManicMiner, which I cancelled." Whatever the rights or wrongs of thebusiness, and business in Liverpoolcertainly seems unnecessarily complicated,Smith joined up with Alan Maton and hiswife Soo to found Software Projects.Liverpool entrepreneur Tommy Barton joinedthem and later Colin Stokes moved overfrom Imagine, following the notoriousbugging incident in which his telephonewas tapped. Alan is anxious to dispel ideas thatLiverpool is a sort of Silicon Dallas."It's a very friendly industry. There areno hard feelings between me and Tony Badonat Bug Byte, for instan
1 1999 A.Davis & Alch. Research
1 1 To Sir Clive Sinclair for designing anincredible machine. To Ultimate for developing games withadvanced technics you couldn't imagine ina Spectrum and release the best games inthe Spectrum history. 13.-Contributions ------------------- If the Spec256 project likes you and youare interested in improve your Spectrumfavorite game with 256 colors graphics,send us an e-mail (see Contact section)and we'll send you the information neededfor starting the project.
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1 - Snapshots format supported: - Snapshots loading - .Z80 format versions 1.45, 2.0 y 3.0(48K games) - .SNA format (48k) - .GFX extra format for 256 colors games. - Snapshots saving - .Z80 version 1.45 (48k) - .SNA format (48k) - .GFX extra format for 256 colors games. 5.- Keys & Menus -------------------- F1 - Help F2 - 16 colors
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1 DEC 1999
1 CC80 3E C9 LD A,#C9 CC82 32 5E CD LD (#CD5E),A This puts a RET in place of the JP (HL) at#CD5E so we can CALL the loading system. CC85 CD 00 CD CALL #CD00 This loads in the first Bleepload block. CC88 CD 21 CD CALL #CD21 This loads in another Bleepload block. CC8B 23 INC HL CC8C 7E LD A,(HL) CC8D 2B DEC HL CC8E FE 21 CP #21 CC90 20 02 JR NZ,#CC94 CC92 18 F4 JR #CC88 This checks to see if all the Bleeploadblocks have been loaded, and jumps aheadif they have,
1 MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR MICRODRIVE Part One: An Introduction With the abundance of cheap Spectrumequipment now on the market, now has neverbeen the time to invest in a Microdrivesystem. It's not perfect or 100% reliableby any means, but is well within the graspof us all, when compared with the Discipleor +D interfaces. One of the questions that a beginner tothe use of the Microdrive inevitably asksis, 'Why use the Microdrive?' The obviousreasons are not necessarily the mostimportant ones. The novice owner will seemore clearly the advantages of usingMicrodrives only after having spent sometime using cassettes. We'll start, then,by showing why the use of Microdrives isso important for the more advancedprogrammer and user alike. To start with,a Microdrive offers much faster operation.
1 LITTLE DESCRIPTION OF ZXVGS SYSTEM (c) 1999 BY YAREK ADAMSKI A man that has only one computer (meaningthat he doesn't use two different disksystems) will never see the reason to makea change. I use a SAM Coupe and a TIMEXFDD and can say with all theresponsibility that before my operatingsystem came into being there was 0% ofcompatibility between them. And when he wants to send something toother people he finds that any exchange ispossible only at tape level. But in thiscase he can say "bye, bye" to memoryextention, additional screen modes,printer, mouse, etc. because there's astandard for this. Usually in games there is menu like this: 1. Keyboard 2. Kempston
1 Russian clones of ZX Spectrum In this short article I'm going to tellyou about Spectrums are used in ex-USSR.Russia is the country where originalSpectrums aren't used. All ZX-fans useRussian clones of ZX. I'm going to tellabout the most popular ones. The most popular Speccy with 128Kb of RAMis a Pentagon 128. Demomakers considerthis machine as the best one fordemomaking. It is not suprising because itis the fastest Speccy. A Z80 isn't haltedduring accessing memory. A Pentagon hasmore time states per interrupt thanstandard Spectrum 128 because it has 320scanlines per frame (311 on a Spectrum128) and 224 time states per scanline (228on a Spectrum 128). So, a Pentagon has320*224=71680 (70908 on a Spectrum 128)time states per interrupt. On a Pentagonvideo controller reads border value everytime state (on
1 THE SINCLAIR USERS' FUTURE By The Editor 1999 was an awful year, it almost speltthe end of our community as we know it.Before it gets too late, I want to talkabout how I see the future ('What future?'I hear you ask). It has been bad. We saw the end of 8BIT,one of the finest magazines to grace ourscene. Martyn Sherwood's attempts to cashin on their closure with his own eight bitmagazine has not been the success it washoped. FORMAT did what nobody would expect - adisappearing act. Many readers contactedme asking if I knew anything but, likeeveryone else, I just assumed Bobbrenchley was running behind in issues.Mick Harrop tells me that he and a numberof others are
1 OXYCON 1999 DEMO RESULTS: GFX ------------ 1. 54b PRIDE (DIVER) 2. 28b BEAST (CVM) 3. 18b AIRGATE (HANNAH) 4. 15b BEACH (HANNAH) 5. 14b HELLBOY (DRON) 6. 11b DOG (YERZ/HOOY PRG) 7. 10b LOBO (TULEBY) 7. 10b ED (MAX) 8. 7b UFFFO (DUKE) 9. 4b DC99 KOMPO (FACTOR6) 10. 3b IN THE CITY (???) 11. 0b REALITY (DUKE) 11. 0b 4DOXY! (JOHNY X) MSX ----------- 1. 21b NUINFA (TDM) 2. 20b STRANGLED (JOHNY X) 3. 19b NAGUAL DNC (FACTOR6) 4. 17b NO AG
1 RUSSIAN SPECTRUM FAQ By Chaos Russia (former USSR) had different but notless interesting speccy life than othercountries (such as England, motherland ofSpeccy). Because of many reasons, such ashigh cost (for soviets), difficulty inrepairs and many many other problems,Russia had to create it's own computer.Soviet people went through various modelsof home made computers (usually notcompatible with each other) when theyfinally got their BEST (at a time) homemachine - spectrum. some people had realspectrums and they had friends -electronic engineers... well, guess whattheir friends did ? that's right, theycreated russian analogue of Spectrum.since then, sinclair was the only homecomputer for everyone (until sometime inlate 80s when people found their secondspeccy - AMiGA ;).
1 The eZ80 Processor "The new ZiLOG has shown real innovationin design-ing the eZ80. It enhances thevalue of the extensive installed Z80 baseby providing a step-jump increase inperformance for OEMs, enabling them toexpand on their existing Z80 expertise fornew product designs. What's more, the eZ80provides extensive new features whichmakes it a natural for next-decadeInternet appliances." Will Strauss, President, Forward Concepts Embedded engine for the Internet highway The eZ80 Internet family of processorsleverages the ZiLOG's expertise in digitalsignal processing (DSP), modem, andhigh-speed serial communication andestablishes a level of unparalleled 8-bitperformance
1 Ian Bell interview conducted by Paul White. Ian Bell co-created one of the gamingindustry's truly legendary games, one thatstill is as influential today as it wasover a decade ago. It is still regarded asa benchmark for other games to be comparedagainst in the same way that Doom andMario 64 are. I may be biased or evensuffering from some strange retro diseasebut I believe Elite is as fresh today asit ever was and is still a true classic. PW: Was computing something thatinterested you before it became a job thatpaid? IB: Very much so. I was fascinated by thelogic of it. I wrote programs as a hobby.Lots of odd stuff like Boot Hill for on amonochrome text display with animatedstick men running round shooting holes incacti and wa
1 Z88 Hints & Tips by Jack Lawrie Part Eleven Z88 to PCW Locofile - Transfer 1. Create intended Locofile file card asneeded. 2. Save Z88 file as plain text. 3. Send to PCW as ASCII file, using C.PORTor CPM transfer, PIP/MAIL 4. PCW. Create Locoscript file (F1) &insert text of ASCII file. 5. Edit file. Find and exchange all<--'(hard returns) except those to be used as`separators' in Locofile. e.g References<--' Keywords <--' Notes <--'
1 Z88 Hints & Tips by Jack Lawrie Part Ten Loading a filename into Pipedream Do you ever want to load a file intoPipedream and then find you can't rememberits name? And you know that if you get itwrong you will have to go to the Filer andmake a check? Well, to avoid this, proceedas follows , every time. In Pipedream,press <> and FL. Go to the Filer; put thecursor over the filename you want to load,then press TAB ESC []P and ENTER .....that's all! - probably less keypressesthan the filename alone ! Listing a program on paper. To print out a listing of a Basic programproceed as follows -
1 Z88 Hints & Tips by Jack Lawrie Part Nine Pipedream "fiddles" Isn't it annoying when you are looking fora word like `ring with <>BSE or <>BRP thatyou get many other words besides the oneyou're looking for? It can be avoided, but there is a slightdrawback; the search cannot be doneproperly in one attempt - more on thatlater. You may have seen the piece on"special sequences" in the manual at sometime but passed right on, as I did,several times. As I see it, there are two main uses forthese sequences. To cover the casementioned above and to speed up(considerably)
1 UK8 CANCELLATION Brian Watson Due to a sudden and substantial change ofcircumstances, the UK8 Convention (across-format event for 8-bit computerusers) which was to be held in Walsall inSeptember 1999, has had to be cancelled. Regrettably, it is not possible to arrangefor the event to be moved to ansatisfactory alternative venue on or aboutthe same date. However, it is expected that analternative venue will be found in timefor the event to be held early in 2000. All monies which have been paid to dateare being refunded. As you willappreciate, this will take some time, butit is expected that that side of thingswill be complete by the end of July at thelatest.
1 The FORTH Way by Garry Lancaster What exactly is FORTH? Many casualcomputer users and advanced programmersalike are completely unaware of itsexistence, whilst others know of it onlyvaguely as a rather odd programminglanguage for people who like writingthings backwards. FORTH is a rather well-kept secret in thecomputer industry. First designed forcontrolling radio telescopes, it is nowoften used in so-called "embedded"applications (such as in washing-machines,video-recorders and the like), and formsthe basis for "Open Firmware" (a standardused to connect modern computers tohardware peripherals) and PostScript, thelanguage used by high-quality laserprinters the world over. For computers
1 TRADING POST ************** Please enclose a SAE with your enquiry toall services. If purchasing from a privateindividual, make confirmation the articleis still for sale and try not to send cashunless a premium delivery service is used. If your group isn't listed, please get intouch and we'll add your details. * * * * * ADVENTURE WORKSHOP 36 Grasmere Road OLDHAM OL2 6SR (Adventure software distributor) ALBHAR 4 Bethune Close Farley Hill LUTON LU1 5LX
1 Mortal Kombat a review by Paul White Can it be that a version of the infamousbeat 'em up finally makes it onto thehumble Spectrum? Armed only with a pair ofDoc Martens and a rolled up copy of TheTimes I venture forth into territoryusually only occupied by geeky consoleowners. MORTAL KOMBAT By Den and Sly of AVS From the moment this game is booted up youknow that a lot of hard work has gone intoit. The opening introduction features somemajestic animations of the programmersheads rotating 360 degrees followed bysome splendid looking artwork from thenot-so great film. Lots of characterinformation and some pulsating music helpcreate a dazzling build-up to the gameitself.
1 JET SET WILLY THE MATTHEW SMITH MYSTERY By Arsen JSW Ultimate Fan Page!!! There is an obscure cloak of conspiracybuilt up around Matthew Smith, the guy whostruck gold writing Jet Set Willy andManic Miner and then disappeared without atrace... The people started to rumour that hedidn't actually exist, and that MatthewSmith was merely a clever code name for aTandy computer, on which Miner Willy wasborn. Although proven false, the storystill lingers on as a romantic legend. The general feeling, gained from theprevious times that people have attemptedto look for hi
1 Spec256v1.2 (C) 1999 by I
1 INDEX (1/3) AN31.1 : Editorial & Contents. AN31.2 : NEWS. AN31.3 : SPECTRUM CLONES. A guide to the most popular Spectrum clones, by Russian coder MEGUS. AN31.4 : EZ80. News and details about the new Zilog processor. AN31.5 : THE FUTURE OF THE SINCLAIR SCENE. The ed's feelings on the state of the community and it's future. AN31.6 : UK8 SHOW. Details about the show's cancellation a few months ago. AN31.7 : FORTH TUTORIAL. With CamelForthAN31.8 : the best new application and progr
1 HOW TO HACK By Richard Swann You might be wondering how you can tellthat the game is compressed. Well, thereare two things. Firstly, the JP from theloader (6160) is to a very low address inthe usuable RAM (which only starts at5B00). But more noticeable, you won't beable to do a forwards trace or a backwardstrace until you run the decompressor. Infact, in general, if you think you shouldbe able to forwards trace or backwardstrace a game for infinite lives, andhaven't overloaded any important code witha disassembler, but nothing happens, itsworth looking at the start of the codeexecuted and seeing if there's a JP a bitlater on to a completely differentaddress. So now, perhaps, we should write acomplete hack for the game.
1 THE ULA The heart of all Sinclair machines Of the many advances in electronic designthat have resulted from the microcomputerboom, one of the most significant has beenthe development of a type of chip calledan Uncommitted Logic Array (ULA). Thoughlargely unrecognised by the generalpublic, this quiet revolution has beengoing on for some years now, to the pointwhere it recently became possible to buildvery sophisticated computers and otherdevices with no more than four majorcomponents: a CPU, some RAM, some ROM andto tie these all together - a ULA. So what is a ULA? As the name suggests, itis a large number (an array) of logicgates, which are initially uncommitted butcan be modified to carry out almost anyoperation that the designer needs. The ULAcan be considered as a development of theROM, since the
1 NEWS This is one of the poorest issues so far,I cannot apologise enough, but there is solittle input into the Spectrum communityat present. Most contributions comecourtesy of Dave Fountain at CRASHED andour Eastern European friend BOOKOVSKY. DESERT ISLAND DISKS RELEASED Continuing to go from strength to strengthis the third issue of DID. (Still)expertly designed and produced by MichaelBruhn, the latest issue reviews oldiesViz & Switchblade, and new games Subscanand Eugene: Lord of th Bathroom. Plusthere's a review of the SPC show inMunchengladbach and the usual editorial,POKEs and news sections. An excellentread.