Amiga Computing - Commodore Is Awesome

Mad as a March hare, ESP
takes a look at the many letters
sent in by you, the readers.
RADE NOW
I have been an Amiga user for nearly 4 years and have been on a low income
for most of that time. When I read in magazines about other people saying it's
too expensive to upgrade their Amigas, 1 have to laugh. In the past two years
I have bought for my Al 200 ( nearly 4 years old and not a mishap ) a Blizzard
Al230MklV(179 including a free game), 8mb ram under 100, Power CD-ROM
179, 850mb Seagate hd 110 and a 33600 modem 119 and Internet connection.
As you can see I now have a much more powerful Amiga for about half the price of a PC. I
have had more fun out of upgrading it myself than if I'd gone to a PC box shifter, got it home
and then found out I had to pay a lot more for graphics cards etc to do the same things the
Amiga can do for half the price. So, it can be done. Nobody ever said computing was a cheep
hobby - but it can be if you shop around.
Ian McDonald macca@enterprise.net
P.S Get Netted Or Get Left Behind;-)
Good for you. Let's hope others will decide to follow suit If people have
high-spec Amigas it may encourage more development - especially on the
games front as it gives the developers more to work with. Take for instance
A the Doom clones that required more powerful machines - I'm sure they
impressed those other than Amiga users. And I'm sure upgrading isn't nearly as
expensive as many people think.
TOP YOUR MOANING
I've never written to ESP
before as my ponderings
have always been
answered by some other
like-minded soul before I
could put pen to paper. This
time though I've had enough. Why do people
write in moaning all the time? This is the one
thing that will put half-hearted users off!
If I was flicking through a PC magazine
and the readers pages were constantly harp
ing that 'the end was nigh', 1 wouldn't touch
a PC with a barge pole. Potential users are
(easily) influenced by information from all
sources so if the people who use the
machine are flaming it what hope is there?
The market is shrinking but it's not half as
bad as some of these turncoats would have
you believe. I co-run an Amiga User Group
and PD library in the North West and in our
first year of operation we have attracted a
new member virtually every week.
Visitors to the club are predominately from
within a 5 mile radius and if this is extrapo
lated, it's safe to assume there are still thou
sands of active Amiga followers up and down
the country. Most are what you would call
typical Amiga users - innovative and enthusi
astic - but it is becoming increasingly obvi
ous that a lot are new to computers in gen
era! and they have bought Amigas second
hand.
In short, the Amiga audience has changed
but not gone away completely. I mean, let's
face it, nobody throws away their old Amigas
- there are still hundreds of thousands of
them out there. We just have to wait until
they filter through to the people who want to
use them.
Consider the recent events to be stream
lining - we are simply getting rid of the 'band-
wagonners' - the people who used their
l/2mb A500's when it was trendy to do so.
We will be left with a core of hi-specced ded
icated fans that are happy with what they've
got and as a result the user base will not
shrink further.
Simon Brown Email -
simon@ssamiga. warp. co. uk
For details of the user group, please write
to:
S8S Amiga User Croup, 79 Woodnook Road
Appley Bridge,, Wigan, Lanes. WN6 9JR
I can understand people
wanting to whinge about
the current situation - we
just want to see the Amiga
bought and in the hands of
someone who wants to do
something positive with the platform.
However, it's a very good point you are
making about the new users who have
bought an Amiga second hand.
1 think a lot of people new to computing
are picking up A1200's for around £100
and wanting to get as much information as
possible on their new machine. It doesn't
help when they find out that many users
are constantly moaning about the Amiga
market and current situation. The more
new users we can attract at the moment,
the better.
t
Write in!
If you have something you need
get off your chest then put
pen to paper and write to
ESP, Amiga Computing,
Media House, Adlington
Park, Macclesfield, SK10
4NP. You can also Email
us at ESP@acomp.
demon.co.uk We have various software bundles to give away for the
best letters (please indicate whether you'd prefer serious software or
games). We do try to reply to al! Emails and letters, but at busy peri
ods this is sometimes not possible so please bear with us
Amiga Computing
MARCH 1997
CTION
REPLAY
When I first read in your
magazine that Amiga
Action would be incorpo
rated into Amiga
Computing, I was quite
worried. I can't say that I am
an avid fan (although I do enjoy the occa
sional new release) and I was concerned
that the whole magazine would be over-run
with infantile games coverage - sorry, but I've
seen past issues of Amiga Action, and I don't
want to see my £4.50 a month wasted on
Horse posters.
However, I was pleasantly surprised when
I saw the new games section because:
1: It is roughly the same size as System
2: The pages are bright and colourful and
breaks up the magazine nicely
3: You have managed to bring in more fea
tures which will help keep the market alive
(I've noticed that many mags just fill in space
with reviews of inferior games).
I just have a few grumbles though (you
knew they were coming, didn't you?). I
would like to see some kind of Action chart
included which rounds up the best releases
of the last few months - I don't buy many
games but it wouid be nice to be able to see
at a glance which I should go for when I do
make a purchase. Also, I think it wouid help
in a review to compare a game to a classic
game in the same genre ■ whether it is bet
ter or not and so on. Just a suggestion...
George Preston, Derby
Thanks for your comments.
I've passed them on to our
resident games guru who'll
see what he can do - keep
an eye on future issues.