Big K Magazine, September 1984. Contents. GAMES PROGRAMS: LASER DEFENCE for ORIC, COMMODORE OPEN for CBM 64, HANG GLIDER for SPECTRUM, STORM for BBC, RIVER for ATARI, CROSS FIRE for VIC-20. UTILITY PROGRAM: ALARM CLOCK for BBC. SOFTWARE REVIEWS: Pick of the Month, Review Pages, Empire. HARDWARE: Amstrad Review, Ikon Ultradrive. FEATURES: Computer Magic, Vive le Computing!, Interhack, Hands-on With the Maharaja, Joystick Round-up, Micros and Movies, After the Crash, A.I. is Coming to Get You, Back in the U.S.A.. REGULARS: On-Line News, Arcade Alley, He Wrote One, Charts, Dorkslayer!, Zip Code, Taylor-Made Graphics, Classic Games of Our Time, 68000 Assembler Part 3, Letterbase. PICTURE CAPTIONS: BIG K in the land of J.R. and computer comics, From hang gliding to meteor bashing, BIG K games listing. STAFF: Tony Tyler - Editor, Richard Burton - Assistant Editor, Ian Stead - Art Editor, Nicky Xikluna - Features, Andy Green, Kim Aldis - Technical Contributor, Steve Keaton, Richard Cook, Richard Taylor, Bernard Turner, Dave Rimmer, John Conquest, Nigel Farrier, Paul Walton, Tony Benyon, Trevor Spall, Barry Leverett - Publisher, John Purdie - Publishing Director, Luis Barlett - Group Advertising Controller, Robin Johnson - Advertisment Manager (01-261 5119). EDITORIAL ADDRESS: BIG K IPC Magazines Ltd., Kings Reach Tower, Stamford Street, LONDON SE1 9LS. PHONE: 01-261 5818/6249, 01-261 5660 (Advertising). THE END IS NOT NIGH: You may have noticed that we're a bit late this month. Our apologies. The reason was a reappearance of that perennial Bug in The Great British Operating System- an Industrial Dispute. This caused a wholesale crash within the IPC mega-network, and affected hundreds of magazines, not just BIG K. However, by dint of late nights and unbelievable amounts of tepid coffee we got it together- our largest issue yet. If you find a bug or two...don't call us. We already know about it. We've also cleaned up (by popular demand) our Reviews Ratings system (see page 18-30). We hope you'll approve. This month's Cover Story concerns the long-predicted disaster that's overtaken two archetypal computer/games companies- one American, one British (see page 43). In America some pessimists are saying It's All Over. We don't think so- though it is clear that we're going through the end of the First (or is it Second?) Age of Personal Computing. On reflection, it was probably necessary to shake out some of the old assumptions, so that the survivors can clean up their acts. A great example of what lies just around the corner can be found on page 90. In our view, this- and not just more games- holds a clue or two to the computer future. May it arrive sooner rather than later- and, one hopes, without any more tragedies and disasters. TONY TYLER.
