Live Circuit

CHEERIO ACTIVISION!

Activision UK is to release just two more Speccy games before it says goodbye to the Speccy world forever; and goodbye to the Amstrad, C64, ST and Amiga world too. Employing 34 staff not long ago, Activision will be drastically slimmed down to a two-person operation dealing in the distribution of Nintendo and PC products. Mmmmmmm (maybe it should have advertised in CRASH a little bit more). But before it goes on said diet, the two games up for launch are Dragon Breed and Atomic RoboKid.

Dragon Breed from the Irem coin-op, is the story of a young King called Kayas and his huge fire breathing battle dragon. It would seem that Kayas’ kingdom has been invaded by myriad nasty alien creatures. So the good king and his unusual steed take it upon themselves to kick ass. The game splits into six levels full of bloodthirsty aliens. Our lad sits astride the dragon and is capable of firing his little gun in five directions, whilst the dragon breathes flaming bolts from its mouth and is able to shield Kayas with its tail. November is the release date, watch out for a preview very soon.

Popping up in November is Atomic RoboKid. The hero of the title is a state of the art robotic war machine just graduated from the Universal University of Space Combat. His first mission is to travel deep into enemy territory and destroy everything that gets in the way (sounds like a good simple plan). You control Robo as he travels through 21 levels collecting add-on weapons while frying alien scum. Robo has two modes of locomotion: flying or walking and can inflict as much damage in either mode. And collect as many weapons as possible ’cos every third level pits you against a terrifying end of level creature. Again watch out for a preview soon.

CRASH GETS NEW SISTERS!

From the belly of the heeeuuuge Newsfield publishing empire come two new magazines, giving CRASH twin sisters. Aw. The first new arrival was launched in July and is called GAMESMASTER INTERNATIONAL — the Independent Fantasy Gaming Monthly. Yes, it’s for weirdos who enjoy pretending to be trolls, orcs and suchlike. A snip at £1.75 every month, GMI brings you all the latest news, reviews and features of all that’s hot in the crazy, crazy world of RPGs, FRPGs, PBM, LRP and GURPS (whatever that lot means!)

Actually, it’s rather good. T’other babe wrapped in swaddling clothes goes under the name of RAZE and is all about the brilliant games out on the consoles and swank 16-bit machines. Costing £1.95 every month, RAZE is launched September 27, replaces THE GAMES MACHINE and should shake up the gamesplaying world as it’s completely brilliant, and ’cos it comes with four mega posters every month! Coo! Billions of copies of both mags are flooding into the newsagents, but, if they’re all sold out before you get a chance to grab, you can obtain a copy, at cover price, from Newsfield.

DREAMING OF A GOLD XMAS

Festive spirit abounds at US Gold as it announced the star line up for the Crimble season. Final Fight stars three guys — Cody, Hagar and Guy — who stalk city streets and kick seven shades of blue out of attacking baddies. Sounds original. Line of Fire is a two-player Operation Thunderbolt derivative where you and a pal can grab the Uzis bolted to the cabinet and blast away at the on-screen bad guys. And finally Eswat sees you as a member of a futuristic police force stomping around in the latest combat armour and carrying a range of large and very lethal weapons. Remember kids, stay out of trouble.

CHEAP STICKS

Spectravideo, the creators of the hugely popular Quickjoy joystick range have announced they will soon be dropping the prices of their complete 11 joystick range. Changes will range between £1 and £10. This is mainly because sales over the last six months have rocketed. So those of you in search of a new stick should look no further.

CRASH IS GREAT

It was confirmed today that, indeed, CRASH is great. Selling almost 62,000 copies every month with a readership of over 200,000 — 200,000!!! — means CRASH’s sales have risen 17% in the last year! Hurrah! It’s not only the great British public who think CRASH is skill, the retailers reckon CRASH is the tops in the world of Speccy mags too! In a recent Computer Trade Weekly feature, CRASH was the only Speccy mag in a chart listing ‘the top 15 magazines read by the retail trade’ and the top of the three Spec mags in a chart showing ‘magazines aiding stocking decisions’! CTW also commented that the other two Speccy mags were ‘disappearing without trace’ from the charts, which we thought was jolly funny. Haw! Haw!