THE AMIGA ¹Ok, so the PC has got "Doom." But we have got "Alien Breed 3D" and others which are just as good, and allow you to play two player head-to-head, which Doom won't do. Apart from the "first-person perspective" games, look at games like Super Stardust, Canon Fodder, Lost Eden, TFX, Megarace, Tower Assault, Bloodnet... the list goes on and on and on. All these games are better on the Amiga than on any other platform, particularly the PC which, in general, uses sad VGA graphics due to the fact that Super VGA takes up huge amounts of memory, which the average user does not have. The Amiga however usually uses Hi-Res graphics, which, as its name suggests, is higher resolution. In general, though, the Amiga is far superior games wise. With its advanced Graphics chipset, the Amiga is particularly good at scrolling games as well as 3D and other games. Note that the CD32 is particularly good at 3D graphics due to its Akiko chip. After all, what computer was it that classics like "Lemmings", "Monkey Island", "Cannon Fodder", "Sensible Soccer", "Sensible World of Soccer", "Settlers" and many, many more came out on first? Yes, it was the Amiga. However, in general most games will come out on all platforms, although the graphics in many Amiga games are noticably better than the PC version. ¢CD-ROM Software ²--------------- ¹At present the PC has more CD-ROM software than the Amiga. This is because the PC has a large CD-ROM userbase, whereas the CD32 has only just been released and the number of A1200 CD-ROM drive owners, although increasing, is small. However, this does not mean that there is no software for the Amiga CD-ROM. There is, of course, all the CDTV software, and all the CD32 games that are available. As well as these, there are lots of Multimedia CDs for use with programs such as Lightwave, Imagine, Desktop Publishers, Art programs and even AMOS. The PC has loads of CD-ROM software. The downpoint is that if you buy a PC CD-ROM, you have to install at least some of the files from the program onto your hard disk. Why? Who knows. Another point is that, as with 99% of PC peripherals, you need a CD-ROM driver to make it work. And this has to be made not to conflict with the sound card or graphics or anything else you may have added. Furthermore, you have to make sure that you do not use up your valuable 640k memory limit that you have when running MS-DOS. ¢OPERATING SYSTEM ²---------------- ¹The Amiga's operating system is far superior to the PC's Windows and MS-DOS and I am not just saying this. The Amiga uses Workbench and AmigaDOS which integrates into one thing. Both systems use Icons, which are small pictures used to represent programs. But Windows is really only just a menu, whereby you can select a program that you have had to add to the Program Manager. Workbench on the other hand uses icons to display the contents of a disk drive, whether it be data files, programs or tools. This is far more powerful because it allows file management to take place directly within the operating system, as opposed to loading a seperate program to do so. Underlying Windows is MS-DOS. This is the basic operating system of the PC, and it is from here that file operation can be carried out. However, it does not integrate with Windows, and Windows programs cannot be loaded through MS-DOS. AmigaDOS on the other hand takes a completely different approach. AmigaDOS will integrate perfectly happily with Workbench, and Workbench programs can be loaded from AmigaDOS. AmigaDOS is also far more flexible that MS-DOS. For example, you have the ability to set up Assigns that enable you to create virtual drives containing the files of your choice. ¹AmigaDOS is also a ROM based system, i.e. it resides in the computer's hardware and does not require software to run. This allows it to be very fast indeed, far faster than the hard disk based MS-DOS. The Amiga's operating system is also fully pre-emptive Multitasking, unlike the PC's operating system which simulates being multitasking by quickly flicking backwards and forwards between Applications, thus overburdening the CPU and causing a vast reduction in speed. ¢SOUND SOFTWARE ²-------------- ¹There is plenty of sound sotware on the Amiga: OctaMED, Bars and Pipes Pro; Deluxe music 2; Quadra Pro; etc. Deluxe Music Construction Set 2 is also one of a kind, allowing the composer to simply place appropriate notes on a score, and set it up as one would when composing a standard score. But how much does this cost? Well, actually it costs absolutely nothing. OctaMED and Quadra Pro are available through any good PD library. The music that you hear when you start this program is a standard computer "mod", or "module", which wass written in one of the aforementioned programs. The PC also has a small amount of sound software but seeing as the PC does not have sound as standard (other than an annoying beep) there is not really an incentive for companies to produce audio software for the PC. ¹Programs like Bars & Pipes Pro show that there are things that can only be done on the Amiga, other than Graphics All Amigas come with sound as standard. The A500, A500+, A600 and A1200 all have 8-bit, 4-channel sound, whereas the A4000 has 16-bit sound. All of these can be upgraded using modules such as the Aura or Clarity 16 to give improved sound accross the board at very low cost. ²Please turn page... ¶¶¹The basic PC, on the other hand, has a small internal speaker (capable of little more than the average error beep) to its name. However, if you are willing to pay the price of a brand new A1200, you can upgrade to a 32-bit sound card for your PC. But the sound card then requires drivers and devices to control it which fill up the PC's tiny 640K MS-DOS conventional memory limit. ¢TELEVISION/VIDEO ²---------------- ¹It is very easy to connect your Amiga to a television. In fact, this is how most users do view the ouptut from their Amiga. This is due to the fact that the A1200 has a built in TV modulator, and the A500 comes with one. It also has an RGB port (Red, Green and blue) which is for a monitor. It is also possible to use both at once. It is very difficult and very expensive to connect a PC to a television, and the quality is quite low. ¹The ease with which you can plug your Amiga into a TV opens up a whole new range of possibilities: video titling; digitising; recording animations to video; etc. Films made with the Amiga (often using the Video Toaster system): ¶³* ¾Star Trek "Generations" ³* ¾Babylon 5 ³* ¾Seaquest DSV ³* ¾The Wrong Trousers (video control) ³* ¾"Electric" Television Adverts ³* ¾"Crunchie" Television Adverts ³* ¾"Chewits" Television Adverts ³* ¾Numerous American Network TV shows ³* ¾Cyberjack ³* ¾Quantum Leap ³* ¾Batman Forever These are just a few of the films produced with the Amiga. Most are made with Lightwave and the Video Toaster from NewTec. The Video Toaster system is also used by Meridian Television, the regional TV station for the South East of England. ÿ