ST FORMAT REVIEW ~BALLS.FIL~ 'Don't hunt for high positions but for the knowledge to occupy them' Confucius ~FALCON.BLK~ ----------------------------------------- ~FALCON.BLK~ ST FORMAT (SEPTEMBER ISSUE 1994) REVIEWED ----------------------------------------- by Slimer The Atari community begins to run thin on papermagazines these days as many have folded. Some of the bigger and more successful onces are left, and among them is the English 'ST Format'. This particularly magazine is much criticized by many participants of the 'scene' (i.e. democrews and the like) on account of their dubious way of reviewing. It's ofcourse logical that coders who receive a bad review of their program will not display a burst of mirth, or any other symptoms of joy. It's not only the reviewing part that causes irritation, it are also the topics and articles as a whole who call upon the dark side of the human spirit ! All this makes 'ST Format' ripe for a close examination by yours truly..... CONTENTS, Before I start to sum up the contents of this issue, I wanted to ask your attention first for a small piece of text in the lower right corner at page 5. It reads, 'YOUR GUARANTEE OF VALUE' BETTER ADVICE: Our titles are packed with tips, suggestions and explanatory features, written by the best in the business. STRONGER REVIEWS: He have a cast-iron policy of editorial independence and reviews give clear recommendations. CLEARER DESIGN: You need solid information fast. So our designers highlight key elements by using charts, diagrams, summary boxes, annotated photographs, and so on... GREATER RELEVANCE: At Future, Editors operate under two golden rules: Understand your readers' needs, Satisfy them. MORE READER INTERACTION: We draw on reader's contributions, resulting in the liveliest letters pages and the best reader tips. Buying one of our magazines is like joining a nationwide user group. More pages, more intelligent staff, better quality-magazines you can trust. Ahum, eehh, this almost seems perfect, a bit to perfect for my taste, so, even greater cause for some healty suspicion. Don't expect a full review on every article though, as I'm much to lazy to do them all, just some highlights. Well here comes the contents in a nutshell, A couple of REVIEWS on mostly art/graphics related stuff. The FEATURES include some articles about custom computing, 3DIY(how to create a 3D world), Classified Bargain (a guide to classified ads), DIY video port(How to add video and stereo ports to your STE or FM) and some stuff about TOS 2 and Midi. Some of the REGULARS: the (take)Cover disk, News, American show report, Public Sector and Feed Back. Time to enter the exciting world of 'ST Format' as we turn the first page. We stumble upon the Coverdisk contents and one (professional) glance at the titles and pictures quickly underlines what I already feared..... 8 programs on offer and 5 of them are totally and utterly CRAP !! I'm talking about a Chessprogram, 'Fastcopy 3','Albion'(rename your files and disks), 'Synth Sounds'(10 samples), 'TUC' (an WP file converter), A Digit song, 1 Mb. (switches a higher Mb. machine back to one) and the 'Cover Disk Backup'. I could be wrong here, but the already ancient 'Fcopy 3' has been around the world for at least a thousand times. 'Albion' gives you the possibility to rename files and give them abnormal long names. What the hell do I need 10 samples for, I can easily get 10 disks full of them. A Digit song, how wonderful, the Atari community is virtually drowning in modules and other sampled or sequenced stuff. Who needs a Cover disk backup program, ofcourse I will be the only one who can live without it, or am I ? Yes, I'm criticizing the Coverdisk because there is much better quality software available on the Atari. Just take a look in our review corners to see the prove. Why not put 'Everest' on a Coverdisk, I think that the author would kindly give permission for it (hey just an example) ! Turn page, Headline: ELSPA prove they're rock hard I never figured that ELSPA was actually a hard rockband !? Anyway, the ST, STE series are going down the drain and that's not because of the piracy. They are just outdated after 9 years of success and they get wiped out by better computers. What's the point of filling every issue with articles about piracy, 90% of all the pirate crews have left the ST/STE ! 'ST Format' is at least 4 years overdue with their pirate articles. I get the impression that 'ST Format' has trouble filling their magazine, this is not that strange as the Atari community is shrinking quite fast. There is almost no real news on these pages.... Turning multiple pages.... Aahh, the regular 'How to upgrade my old ST' article that somehow always seems to manage to slip by the editor(s). It must have appeared in hundreds of different disguises. They are quite inventive at the editorial office and have absolutely brilliant ideas ! Just put your ST in a tower, add 25 Mb. of memory, a 2 Gig. Harddrive, connect a multisync monitor to it and paint the whole lot purple ! I can buy a 16 Mb. Falcon and a Jaguar for that kind of money !! Your in serious need of a brain transplant when you upgrade your old ST for a couple hundred pounds ! Turning half of the magazines pages.... What do we have here.... It's the infamous 'Public Sector', the reason that I bought this particularly issue. There is this simply gorgeous screenshot in it that shows a big D.B.A. logo ! The intelligent comments underneath the picture made me almost choke laughing in the shop ! I decided to buy the issue immediately and laughed all the way home. I never realized that 'ST Format' was that funny, my neighbours were close to calling an ambulance when I read the small review part of our 'Rave the Christmas Demo'! A small demo that was ment to be a electronic christmas-card gets a review in the middle of the summer ! The reviewer 'Simon Forrester'(who sounds like something from the BOLD and the Beautiful) is quite a funny character. I'm not going to say anything about the review as I fully agree with the verdict. But he sure missed the clue ! The prove that this guy can't be taken serious comes with some dubious reviews on demo's that were converted, straight from the P.C. ! 'The Hands' demo from 'Brainstorm' got the highest possible rating !! They also contradict each-other; Simon comments on 'Music Compilation', as I quote, 'Sorry, Did someone say music? I can't quite hear due to this monotonous whining' Just guess what they offer on the Coverdisk (10 samples and a digitune) ! Well, I decided to confront the man by sending this magazine to the him and see what he's got to say about it (If he's up to it, that is) ! It would force me to buy that particular (and expensive) issue, lets not make a habit out of it.... Wait, a good and interesting article, Ohh uuhh, sorry its an advert for the Jaguar.... Now for the serious part, 'ST Format' isn't actually that bad but needs some re-tuning here and there. The layout and articles of the magazine are clear and well written. However, I would advice to hire some people from the demoscene to do the reviews. This concept is not entirely new as many other papermagazines (ST Computer, ST Magazine etc.) make use of the 'expertise' of well-known names of the scene ! These people are taken seriously by their fellow coder/painters/musicians as they speak from their own experience ! That's all I like to say about it really .... ~GREEN.PAL~