Articles

• During 1990 2000AD ran a series of articles on gaming called Bitz. They make interesting reading today as they give a good historical snapshot of the industry as a whole at that time. First up, the machines.
  • Game Boy - A little gushing, perhaps, but given the eventual life span of the unit and its great popularity, the reviewer made a good assessment
  • Lynx - Again, this guy is on the ball. He highlights all the problem areas that stopped Atari's handheld competing with the Japanese devices.
  • NES - Very late on the scene in the UK, however, still an exciting prospect in 1990, it would seem. While casually remarking on the specs (52 colours, 8 bit processor 2K onboard RAM,) the vast quantity of games makes the NES a machine of the 1990s as far as the reviewer is concerned. Can you imagine a five year old machine getting a decent launch today? And receiving favourable reviews? No chance. Don't forget, though, that Commodore were still selling their C64 machines in 1990, a full eight years after launch. Things moved a lot slower in those days.
  • ATARI ST - I assume this article followed on from a review of the Amiga in Prog 713. Unfortunately, I am missing that Prog. The reviewer acknowledged that the battle between the two machines has been won, on most fronts, by the Amiga. The ST is recommended for MIDI applications. I can certainly remember ST's being used on Top of The Pops during that era. It's quite nostalgic to think back to a time when Microsoft and Apple did not control the whole industry.
  • PC Compatibles - This is my favourite Bitz article. The reviewer showed good powers of prediction when he claimed that the PC could become the definitive gaming micro. Don't you miss how we never call computers "micros" anymore? The rundown of the available graphics cards is hugely entertaining and will make even the owner of the clunkiest Windows 9X systems appreciate what they've got.
  • Sega and the Rest - Perhaps indicative of Sega's lack of prominence in Europe in 1990, the Master System and Mega Drive are reviewed together along with Commodore's C64GS, Amstrad's GX4000, and Neo Geo! (Either that or Tharg had decided that we Earthlets had had our fill of video game console reviews.) It amazes me that video games cost pretty much the same back in 1990 as they do today. However did the kids afford their carts?
• Having covered all the machines, Bitz went on to look at the games themselves.
  • Sega Mega Drive Games Reviews - Offering Mickey Mouse in the Castle of Illusion, Arnold Palmer's Golf Tournament,Super Monaco GP and John Madden's Football. Playing as Arnold Palmer in 1990 is not quite as appealing as playing as Tiger Woods today but he probably wasn't even born back then. Note the excited mention of the forthcoming Sonic the Hedgehog."Sounds weird but looks hot!", the reviewer exclaims. Can you even imagine a time before Sonic? He's been around forever, surely!
• And failing to review any games for the other machines, they got hold of some developers
  • Bitmap Brothers - They're not really brothers, you know. A bit hardcore for Bitz, this one. Coincided with the launch of Speedball 2 IIRC
• Earlier, in the late 80s, Tharg ran reader's computer art.

Dave.