EDITORIAL
Since the first issue of START, we've heard one request from you over and over: Publish more issues! We added four Special Issues this last year, but still you wanted more. You've made us the leading ST magazine in the country and sent our subscription list through the roof. Thanks! And because of your fantastic support, we're able to announce that beginning with the next issue, START will be a monthly! Look for the October, 1988 issue of START on sale September 1st.
What does this mean for you? It means we'll have more editorial pages to cover the ever-expanding uses of the ST and Mega. It also means that we'll be able to bring you four more disks each year full of great programs. And it means that no matter what else happens in the ST magazine marketplace, START will be here to inform, educate and entertain you. But now let's get on to the issue you're holding--it's all about Games and Entertainment . . . and more.
Any programmer knows that it takes flat-out computing power to run sophisticated ST-caliber games; in "Go Play a Game," David Plotkin looks at Dungeon Master and other favorites of his and explains the whys and wherefores of the ST's game power.
If games are really your thing, check your START disk this issue: you'll find Naval Battle, the complete Battleship game; Slider, which makes any DEGAS picture into a "15" puzzle; and Discovery, an outstanding educational program that thinks it's a game (or vice versa).
Life's not all games, of course; you need music, too. Check out the reviews of Sonicflight's new MIDI patch editors and "M" an amazingly intelligent MIDI composer. But if you're not into MIDI yet, plug into Guitar Solo on your START disk and let your mouse run up and down the strings!
Of course, we also have special programs and our regular features and columns. Here's just a sample:
- On your START disk is The Byte Mechanic, a unique disk utility for the power ST user and the neophyte. Now you can examine and modify disk files of any type easily.
- In our Getting Started column, you can learn the basics of hard disk drives and how to choose one for your system.
- Is your floppy disk drive operating at the right speed? Out of Dave Small's tool box comes SPEED to help you examine your drive's RPMs.
- Jim Pierson Perry explains how to transfer text files from Mac to ST to PC and back.
- Tom Hudson's RESTART is a tiny 395-byte program that stays in memory and lets you do a cold boot any time from your keyboard! What a convenience, especially to you Mega owners with normal-length arms!
And there's still more than I can describe here. Your START Editor sez, "Check it out!"
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Andrew Reese |