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{subhead} AmigActive issue 1 put to the test{def}{p}
Article by Chris Seward
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This article was published on {link http://www.aio.co.uk}aio.co.uk{end} a few weeks
ago as an online article shortly after AmigActive issue 1 was released.
I am now putting it in the magazine for all those who missed it the first
time around.
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A while ago a new magazine claimed that soon we would see it hit the
shelves of main stores through-out the UK. This was a great shock to
many and i'm sure people hoped it would happen but doubted that it
really would. Lets face facts, these days Amiga magazines close they
do not open and even more so don't appear on the shelves of stores.
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The website of this magazine has been very active (excuse the pun) over
the last few months as the magazine built up more and more hype that
we where about to see the launch of a new magazine.
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Nearer the release date I was talking to Andrew Korn about the release
and he assured me that we would see the magazine released around the
30th of September. I was excited about the release but as always I really
only believe things once i've seen them and a new Amiga magazine on
the shop shelves seemed like something that would never happen, not in 1999.
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I had hoped it would happen and then on the 7th October I went to a
shop in Liverpool, UK and picked up the first issue of AmigActive from
WH Smiths for £4.95. It had arrived!
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Looking at the magazine you notice that it has no spine so it is a
stapled affair. This put me off slightly but when checking the amount
of pages which is 75 this only falls 24 short of Amiga Format which
charges £5.99 but I will explain the differences in a short while.
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One of the things you will notice is that AmigActive has quality paper
all the way through, not to say that the paper of say Amiga Format is
cheap but the paper in AmigActive is glossy, no not just the front
and back covers but every page in the magazine. I'm not sure if this
is such a benefit, it does look and feel nice but the cover price of
£4.95 does have text below it stating "Special Price". I'm not sure
if people will be prepared to pay more than that for 75 pages. I think
alot of people don't think that £5.99 warrants a 99 page Amiga Format
so if AA has the same price as AF or a similar price then I'll wait
and see how the sales of both magazine go. My point being that if
the main pages of the magazine where printed on lesser quality paper
then the price 'could' be cheaper or always £4.95 but i'm unsure about
that.
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The cover of the magazine shows a man with an Amiga boing ball flag
standing on top of the new Amiga base, or now the ex-new Amiga
base. It was slightly unfortunate for the release date because the
magazine has a picture of the now cancelled Amiga MCC and also talks
about the new Amiga MCC giving its specs but not mentioning that it
has now be cancelled completely.
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The magazine contains some interesting adverts including some that stopped
advertising in AF, namely Blittersoft and Weird Science. Inside the magazine
you will also find adverts from Power Computing, White Knight Technology,
Icon (Image Company), Wirenet, HiSOFT, Fore-Matt Home Computing, Alive
Mediasoft LTD, Epic Marketing, Eyetech and Amiga (OS3.5) taking bigger
adverts with Selectafont, AbelGratis and Classic Amiga taking some smaller
adverts. A few of these adverts are exactly the same as the AF version but
others being a new style or companies that don't advertise in AF anymore.
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The magazine has all the sections you would expect for games and utilities
reviews, news and features with other articles being found through-out
the magazine. What is included in the magazine is summed up on the first
pages of the actual 'written' magazine meaning straight after the first
advert so you can easily find what you are looking for. Turning the page
brings us to the news section which this month has stories on the new
BoXeR, Jim Collas resigning, Os 3.5 information plus more interesting
bits and pieces which you can read when you purchase this great new
magazine. One thing that did seem a bit odd was that the editorial comes
at the end of the news section in a small box, I would have rather seen
it nearer the start with a bit more writing but that is just my personal
preference.
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A nice article which comes after the news section is 'Rants and Raves'
which shows you which companies visited the AmigActive website to
read the Linux article, this is very interesting but I don't want to
spoil all the fun so you can see which major companies took a peek
when you read the magazine yourself. Afterwards we have a 5 page
article on the history of the Amiga, no not just a boring rip of the
stages of the Amiga but some interesting reading that might even
tell you something you never knew about the Amigas history. The page
opposite has the specs for the now already dead computer never to
appear, the Amiga MCC, as I said earlier this is a little downfall
of the magazine release date but we can't blame the team as they, like
everyone else could not predict the cancelling of the Amiga MCC. Following,
Chris Green puts Linux on trial which is less important to the Amiga now
it is never going to appear.
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After that we come to the first review of AA which is Photogenics 4,
followed by a 'Back2Back' also known as 'Head2Head' of Photogenics
4.2 vs. ImageFX 4.0. Image FX 4 is then reviewed making the Head2Head
in-between the reviews of either product. Then we have two pages
detailing some new Amiga gadgets like a new infra-red style keyboard
from Eyetech, PC mouse adapter, some wacky Cloanto t-shirts among
other things.
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Next up is a four page article on Zip and Jaz drives showing the benefits
of these compared to floppy disks and also scoring each drive from the
100MB Zip drive to the 2GB Jaz drive. Amiga Forever 3 is put through
the paces then a 3 page article on Graphics Cards. Voyager 3 is reviewed
with Ibrowse 2 also being reviewed then both go 'Back2Back' in-between
the two reviews. PFS3 rounds of the serious reviews section nicely.
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After that we have the PD section titled 'Active Shareware' which takes
a look at some of the more common add-ons we all shouldn't be without.
The next two pages are dedicated to some pictures of new 3D games which
will more than likely require a graphics card with a small piece of
writing detailing the pictures. T-Zer0 from clickBOOM is put to the
test with Superfrog and Eat the Whistle coming afterwards both on the
same page in some smaller reviews. Next we see Wasted Dreams reviewed
getting a better score than it received in AF.
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The games reviews end here as we go onto an article about ISDN, the
letters page with err, no letters yet, a gallery, online section
which takes a look at PGP and other privacy options as well as some
small online related news snippets. Your Guru is on hand over the
next two pages answering all the questions you needed to know.
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The magazine ends with how to subscribe, the editors list and a none
Amiga related article titled 'Retro Active'.
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AmigActive claims to be done slightly differently with reviews being
an insight into a product and not just the reviewers opinion which
of course would not be the same as yours.
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The cover CD comes in a thin plastic wallet and has some useful bits
on, like PPaint 6.6 full version, T-Zero playable demo plus some
other useful products taken from the Aminet and a readers section
plus more.
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Overall i'd suggest buying a copy of this new magazine, its early days
yet and i'll be awaiting to see how it evolves. Its good to see a new
Amiga magazine on the shelves and that is not just the selling point
of the magazine, you will find some really informative articles and
reviews, Amiga Format really has a contender on its hands!