Official Feedback Issue 91

[NorthWay]

I'd love a 6 page feature on the TI-99 a machine I know virtually nothing about and have never owned.

It is basically a MSX/Colecovision gfx+chip system with a severely botched version of a TI mini-machine CPU IIRC.

There are really not many unique machines out there even if it really felt so in the 70s/80s. Gfx chip TMS9918 or family, sound chip AY-3-8910 or family, CPU Z80 or 6502. Even BBC B and CPC have same family gfx. Mix that together and you have 80-90% of all old machines.
Among the exceptions are the VIC-20, C= 64, A8 series, Atari 7800, and the Enterprise. (ZX and 2600 are a bit too simple to include IMO.) The TI-99 is unique for the CPU. The Vectrex for the display. The ZX for the microdrives. The ADAM for the tape system. Of course the NES and later among the consoles are not off-the-shelf products typically.

BUT, the TI-99 is interesting IMO. Hasn't there been a feature on it though? What is more interesting (IMNSHO) is how so many systems with similar chips managed to get versions of the same game looking and sounding so different.

[merman]

The Texas machines would be good candidates for the Obscura Machina feature.

[bsg]

And while we are on the subject - get the TRS80 CoCo's done as well - particularly the model III,as most people in the U.K are unaware of what a great machine this was.(we are talking Amiga class here).

WHAT??? 'Amiga Class'???

hmm, I think your view of them may be a little Hazy... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je9UsL1A ... re=related looks significantly inferior to the C64 version (okay, it's a demo... but if you are gonna do a demo, make it beat the 20 year old game!)

[ncf1]

my friend used to have a TRS-80 model III. I am no longer friends with him and I do actually think there is a correlation.

[PanzerGeneral]

And while we are on the subject - get the TRS80 CoCo's done as well - particularly the model III,as most people in the U.K are unaware of what a great machine this was.(we are talking Amiga class here).

WHAT??? 'Amiga Class'???

hmm, I think your view of them may be a little Hazy... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je9UsL1A ... re=related looks significantly inferior to the C64 version (okay, it's a demo... but if you are gonna do a demo, make it beat the 20 year old game!)

Well now - when I got my first Amiga500, the first game I got was Galactic Conqueror and it was one of the worst looking and worst playing games I had ever come across and left me wondering what the hell I had just shelled out £400 on.
Point being - I can selectively make any machine look crap or earth shatteringly brilliant depending on what I pick to show running on respective machines.
The Tandy CoCo3 has some excellent games and demo's that are far in advance of the other 8bit machines of the time - therefor, the best comparisons that I can draw are between the ST/Amiga and possibly Apple IIgs.
Also bear in mind that the CoCo3 was technilogically hamstrung by Tandy themselves so as not to take focus away from their PC compatibles, the amazing stuff you see and hear on the machine is as close to a technilogical miracle as you could hope to see - considering the machine had no dedicated sound or graphics chips.

[TMR]

Point being - I can selectively make any machine look crap or earth shatteringly brilliant depending on what I pick to show running on respective machines.
The Tandy CoCo3 has some excellent games and demo's that are far in advance of the other 8bit machines of the time - therefor, the best comparisons that I can draw are between the ST/Amiga and possibly Apple IIgs.

Sorry, you're going to need to provide examples to back statements like these up; granted, the Last Ninja preview was probably written with backward compatibility in mind so won't be utilising the CoCo 3 to the full but you've not offered up anything that does so far and i've spent about an hour searching YouTube, Pouet (since you mentioned demos) and the web trying to find something that could be described as "Amiga class" without any joy.

Edit: just found this YouTube video, listen to the narration because he claims it's "these were some of the best quality games " - not exactly what i'd call "Amiga class" personally, but your mileage and all that...

[Havantgottaclue]

I had the impression that the Color Computer 3 was more akin to the "enhanced" 8-bit machines that started to be produced in the mid to late 1980s, like the MSX2 range, Thomson TO-8/MO-6 and the CPC Plus. The closest it gets to even the likes of an Atari ST is having a choice of 16 colours on-screen from a palette of 64, though even a Sega Master System beats this, IIRC (okay, that's a console not a computer, but it's still an 8-bit machine). I can't see that it's a patch on the ST in any other respect.

I couldn't find any indication as to whether the CoCo 3's improved graphics chip (the "GIME") has sprites or hardware scrolling but if it did I would've expected the Wikipedia article to mention it. Other enhancements over the CoCo2 included 80-column modes (and the respective hires mode) but the CPC and BBC Micro had this; increased memory but the BBC Micro was expandable to 512K (I have such a device somewhere, I think - it also came with a 10Mhz Intel 8086 chip).

[delbert_trout]

Great read so far - loving the Sonic feature and Back to the 80s/90s is excellent as usual. Looking forward to getting stuck into the rest of the mag later.

And, think I may fancy getting one of those Mario mushroom USB lampshade things in the 'Vault'.

[Cafeman]

Just got this in the USA . Its a great issue for me - I have enjoyed the Sonic articles, the awesome interview with Michal Ancel (I loved Rayman/Rayman2/King Kong/Beyond Good & Evil), and the article on Treasure in particular. Still reading ..

[NorthWay]

Did someone replace a Bandai-o picture with Intensity(? Andrew Braybrook game)

[van]

came to USA bookstore just last week.

One word... Outfoxies

Every month, I look for the "Uncoverted" games in my MAME collection. This is easily one of the best yet.

[Gibberish Driftwood]

The "Spectrum games that time forgot" article was really interesting to read. Please tell me you are making more of these. I would love to see a similar article about C64 games.

[LuminousMoon]

I flicked through at the store and the RPG in the homebrew section caught my eye. The on the third page in the column on the left hand side. I jotted down the site http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ however i couldnt find it :>(

[TMR]

I flicked through at the store and the RPG in the homebrew section caught my eye. The on the third page in the column on the left hand side. I jotted down the site http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ however i couldnt find it :>(

That link has been built to point at the current Ludum Dare competition, another installment has happened since RG91 was published; this 'ere link will take you to the game Let Me Save You! Your Faithful Companion directly.