Live Circuit

Well, we’ve moved into our new offices by the river, and what do I find? Do I get an office of my own, with new shiny black ash desk like Them Who Must Be Obeyed get? No! I get slung back in a corner with someone else’s shabby old desk which has I Love Julie scrawled all over it. So. as of now, the Campaign For Mangram To Get Shiny New Desk is underway — your support is most welcome. In the meantime, I’m pocketing this month’s £40 Letter of the Month money towards it, as no one else deserved it!

SCUBA PLEA

Dear Lloyd
Please, please can you get hold of a copy of Scuba Dive. I’ve played it once, and it was really good, but my friend had to take it away and I have not seen it again. I’ve looked in every shop and store and no luck. So please, please, please can you help me.
Iestyn Morris

Why, certainly! I’ll just rummage through this box of cassettes, hold on (Dum-dedum...). Ah ha! Here we are! Slap it on the Powertape... one copy of Scuba Dive! Don’t say I never do anything for you.
LM

TOO YOUNG?

Dear Lloyd
Me and my mates, John Davey and David Mordue, want to program a game for the Spectrum. We are all 10 years old. Are we too young? How much will it cost? Will we be able to market it if the game is successful? Will we need an adult?
Colin Hepton

You’re never too young to start programming! But it will cost time and effort to write a good game. And rather than trying to market a game, which is an expensive business, why not send it to software houses for evaluation?
LM

SEXY LEGS!

Dear Lloyd
It’s alright for some ain’t it? I’ve been saving up for a Coupe for absolute YONKS, but there are some people (no offence intended) who can just ask their dad for a Coupe and get it and then expect others to be treated the same. Huh! Pigs might fly. I will have to wait another YEAR before I can get mine. So when the people with the Coupe say, ‘Oh, hasn’t it got sexy legs, it’s got really soft keys, I can’t wait to see the printer, you should see the graphics, oh and the sound’ it gets very tedious for the people like me who have to save up. Hoping that you will see other people’s points of views.
John Sartin

Sounds like a touch of envy to me — anyway what’s wrong with saving? And what’s wrong with a Speccy!
LM

WITS END

Dear Lloyd
I am at my wits end, I always get CRASH because it’s so totally brill fab etc. BUT!! I don’t know how to load a game if it is second or third on one side of a tape. I have only had my Sinclair Spectrum +2A since Christmas but have 14 games I don’t know how to load. This recent freebie tape is brill, I love Gilligan’s Gold, but can’t or don’t know how to load 1985 or Mission Fallout. One other query, what are Pokes and Pokemania? It’s driving me nuts.
Felicity Gaizely

Ever so simple really — as soon as the first game on the tape has loaded, stop the tape immediately! Then, when you’re ready to load the next game reset the Speccy, go into 48K mode, type LOAD "", press return, start the tape and, hey presto!, the next game should load. Nick has promised to explain poking in playing tips.
LM

WHEELIE BIN!

Dear Lloyd
I think that Mark Caswell is a softy, as when he reviews a game he always gives a higher rating than Nick. I think that this is because Mark is scared that the software companies will send the heavies around to his wheelie bin (his what? — LM) and beat him up! Nichola Martin from last issue (74) is totally wrong about Olibugs not liking to beat each other up. Last week I happened to be going past CRASH Tower when two Olibugs jumped out of a window and landed in my pocket. I took them home and put them under my bed and went out. When I came back they were flying around the room beating each other up and they haven’t stopped yet!!! I still think an Olibug fan club should be formed.
Darren James

It’s not so much that Mark is a softy — it’s the fact that Nick is a grumpy old sour puss (Watch it, Mangram! — Nick). And there is an Olibug fan club — it’s called CRASH and comes out once a month at the measly price of £1.70. Bargain.
LM

POKES FOR SALE

Dear Lloyd
I have collected POKEs for about two years for my Spectrum +2, but now I want to sell them. However I don’t know where to advertise them or how much to sell them for, so need your help.
Huw Ovens

You need the classifieds — check ’em out.
LM

ADDICTED

Dear Lloyd
I am Timmy the +2, and I have a serious problem ie, an addiction! I am looking for psychiatric help to stop me — perhaps you are the man. I am addicted to DIZZY!!

Yes, this seemingly nice and cute egg has destroyed my life. Ever since my owner Tom Suiston bought Dizzy 1, all I have thought about is Dizzy, Dizzy, Dizzy... SLAP!!! (Ah, that’s better). Please, please could you tell me if there is a Dizzy fan-club, and who to contact.
Timmy

CodeMasters, who publish the Dizzy games, are launching a club very soon! It’s called the Cartoon Time Club and has loads of stuff on Dizzy and all the other software stars from the Cartoon Time games series. To join you have to collect five barcodes from Cartoon Time games and post them off to CodeMasters. However, there is a slight problem at the moment as there are only four Cartoon Time games around!
LM

FRUITY

Dear Lloyd
I have only been reading CRASH for a couple of months and I have only one question to ask you.

In CRASH issue 74, on page 46 there was a preview of Fruit Machine Simulator 2, and I would like to know where I could get it from.
Lee Cruse

The game is published by CodeMasters, and you can order it from the CRASH HyperMarket for £2.99.
LM

Right, so much for this month! As stated before: no letter of the month this time round, none were controversial enough. Go on, write something we can all argue about sensibly! Are computer games bad for you, does listening to Pink Floyd turn you into a namby pamby, will poll tax affect Spectrum gaming — whatever! Send your missives to me at NEWSFIELD, LM’s LIVE CIRCUIT, CRASH, LUDLOW.

AGENTS GALORE!

Hot news from Manchester based Ocean! Data East’s Secret Agent — Sly Spy is one of the next coin-op licences about to burst forth. Based on the exploits of a James Bond type agent, we’re promised lots of gadget-filled cars, beautiful female companions and dastardly villains.

‘Say no to drugs’ is the message William’s Narc coin-op conveys. The creators of legendary Defender returned last year with this tale of (one or two) drug busting coppers fight against an evil Mr Big and his henchmen. Summertime sees the release of the computer version: two body-armoured and armed-to-the-teeth players can blast the living daylights out of all and sundry (We can hardly wait). More news when we get it.

PROMISES, PROMISES...

Whilst we all wait for The Punisher from The Edge, they proudly announce more big licensing deals they’ve just grabbed. Based on the current Yorkshire Television show, Yellowthread Street will follow the lives of the Hong Kong police force. Asterix the Gaul is being signed up to join The Edge’s line up of classic cartoon characters, and The A-Team will, we are assured, be crashing onto a computer near you in the future. Yes, ok guys, but where is The Punisher?!

TAPS AND WASHERS

Ever fancied being a plumber? Well, thanks to the kind souls at Empire, PipeMania is on the way: a puzzle game filled with all sorts of strange pieces of plumbing paraphenalia. Your job is to connect all the pieces of piping together within the time limit, or you will be given your marching orders. The water works should be gushing at you very, very soon... Originally titled Epoch, Betrayal from Rainbird is well underway. Set for a summer release this is a story of love, politics and intrigue. The game is played if I remember correctly on a chequer board style screen. The aim is to overthrow weak monarchs or bishops and become ruler (and set up your own puppet government). But expect trouble, a strong right arm is needed as well as lightning reactions. Betrayal will be priced £14.99/£19.99, not much to ask for your very own country.

COMPUTERS — EVERYWHERE!

The All Formats Computer Fair is happening again — this time on April 28 and 29. It’s the best hunting ground for all those software and hardware bargains, and you’ll be able to get hands-on experience of the SAM Coupe because MGT are creating a whole ruddy Coupe village! So, get your travel stuff organised and get yourself to The New Hall Of the Royal Horticultural Society Greycoat and Elvedon Streets, Westminster, London. Doors open at 10.00 am.

COMIX

This month’s comic rack is full of ghosts and predators as Mark Caswell discovers...

7

Ghost Rider
Marvel Comics, £1.00. Monthly

On a midnight visit to Cypress Hills Cemetery and the gravesite of the Great Houdini, Dan and Barbara Ketch are attacked by a gang of teenagers, then witness a battle for a case containing three cannisters between the minions of the world’s two worst crimelords, Death Watch and The Kingpin (yes Spidey’s old enemy). Dan and sis are spotted and — Barbara badly wounded, just as an horrific figure screams out of the darkness on a burning motorbike!

Ghost Rider — he wears leather cycling gear, but his face is a burning skull — self styled protector of the innocent. Quickly despatching the villains, he takes Barbara to hospital, while one of the teenage gang picks up the cannisters. Next morning Dan Ketch cannot remember the night before, until he sees the same kids being attacked again — and becomes Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider isn’t new, but maybe the style’s grown up: the content is a little violent for very young readers, but the artwork and storyline are both first rate.

Predator
Dark Horse, £1.00, Monthly

Aaaaagh, the Predator is back. Not the one big Arnie killed in the Colombian jungle, but a few of its friends. It’s a hot summer in New York — made even hotter by a spate of mysterious deaths, investigated by Dutch Schaefer’s cop brother and partner. He’s attacked by a Predator and shoved out of a window.

Surviving the fall, he finds the Predator has ‘tagged’ him with a strange metal object. The cop decides to go to Colombia to find out just what happened to his brother and his squad. Narrowly avoiding another death by Predator, he suddenly discovers he is being tested by the military... but why?

Apparently following the plot of movie Predator this US comic is very colourful with lots of gun toting action. Read and wait for the movie...