| Gremlin |
WALLY WEEK of Automania and Pyjamarama embarrasses his Mikro-Gen pals in bad taste pic of the month. Wally is peeved that the universe does not think his games are better than Jet Set Willy or Kokotoni Wilf and wants readers to vote on the matter. Wally is the one on the left. |
REPORTS begin to filter through of strange happenings at Sir Clive's London residence earlier in the summer. While the final details to the refurbishment were being carried out, the basement flooded. Workers carrying pot plants to the roof garden were stuck in the lift. To cap it all, Sir Clive's jacuzzi wouldn't work. How galling it must he to come home from a hard day dealing with QL complaints only to discover your hi-tech bath is bugged as well ...
We cannot imagine Sir Clive relaxing in his jacuzzi without some form of mental stimulation. As a tamer alternative to dipping Acorn big-wig Chris Curry in the pool - as reported in Microscope - he might enjoy reading the first issue of Micro Arts. The foreword of this extremely pretentious magazine was penned by one Clive Sinclair, and contains a lyrical exposition of the therapeutic qualities of hacking. "It is the Computer personality who dares face change without feeling the sense of loss that goes with the departure from the womb" rambles 'Clive'. We know he wants to abolish doctors and schoolteachers in favour of computers, but the Spectrum as a substitute for mother-hood? ...
Talking of mothers, Ferrari-lover Bruce Everiss, former operations director of Imagine, has been holding forth to any journalists still prepared to listen to the 'true' story behind the downfall of Imagine. In the interests of simplicity, Everiss omits to mention such obscure events as the bugging of Colin Stokes' telephone, the dawn raid on his house, the accusations flying around that Imagine went so far as to hire private detectives to report on the plans of other software companies. The Gospel according to Bruce now has it that Imagine's directors were simply young, green, and foolish enough to actually believe all the harmless untruths - sorry Bruce, totally justifiable marketing hype -that St Bruce was telling about the company ...
Next, according to Bruce, is the possibility, of a book about how the games industry works. Readers are invited to send in their ideas for the title - 20,000 unused copies of Schizoids for the best entries ...
MARK FIDDIAN of recently launched Streetwise Micros tries to flog a Spectrum+ to Topo the redundant robot. Next month, when the organisers finally persuade Topo to turn the black box upside down, we shall expect further news on what happens when all the keys fall on the floor. |
Liverpool hype is not the only hype around. Haresoft, producer of the intensely boring Hareraiser competition game, has informed a stunned world that a clue to the puzzle was revealed by TV personality Anneka Rice in Harrods one Saturday. Who, if anybody, was there to hear the golden girl's words of wisdom is not stated on the press release, but if anyone did perhaps they could let us know what the clue was and we can pass it on to whomever, if anybody, has bought the game ...
A further item from the prolific Haresoft PR people sheds light on the decision to release the game in two parts: "To make it fun and enable competitors of all ages to participate." Bet you thought it was just to make more money ...
What with hackers infiltrating Phil's Prestel account, it seems the Windsors are getting plenty of free publicity from the micro-world. Now comes news of Di's Baby, a new game from Bad Taste Software. Gremlin will report further as soon as a convenient bedroom window is left open ...
Great news for Spectrum+ owners. Cheetah, flushed with success at abolishing everybody else's joysticks with the toothless infra-red RAT, has announced that all its software and hardware is compatible with the new Spectrum. Not only has the company achieved full compatibility incredibly quickly following the Spectrum + launch, it has even managed to do it without spending so much as a penny on the operation - excepting of course the cost of writing the press release ...
Brazen Backslappers' award for January must surely go to Hewson Consultants. The company has presented a gold cassette - no, not Alchemist with the game wiped off - to its own programmer Mike Male for selling 100,000 cassettes of his games Nightflite II and Heathrow ATC. Mike has made so much money out of the games, we are told, that he has been able to buy his own aeroplane ...
Finally, to prove we can play the game as well as anyone else, hot news from the Turkish desert via the back pages of Computing magazine. Apparently one of the paper's correspondents was on holiday in the remote east of the country and seeking an English newspaper to read over his curd cheese and olives. The only paper available in the whole town was Sinclair User - copy upon copy. If you know anything more about the great yearly migration of computer magazines along the caravan routes to the mystic Orient, please write to: Gremlin, Oasis 37, The Road to Samarkand, Babylonia ...