what is the point in purchasing an original game and before you ve even t y r ^ d POKE THAT L O A D " " you glimpse out of the comer of your eye this pokery POKE. No sooner have you seen the cursed hieroglyphics now etched on your feeble mind, than the game's once long life has been foreshortened to a few minutes and is no sooner started than finished. What a waste of money.
Poke, The Peekery, Pokingly.
Kef, Temple of Vran and so on, for ÂŁ 5 . 5 ^ v e n Level 9,'whose adventures are magnificent, could well charge lower prices and still make a profit. I'm only a recent subscriber but 1 find the playing tips both for arcade and adventure games just what I have been looking for, and your point the other day about not releasing POKEs as soon as you receive tnem is, I think, misguided. The more kids g e l to know how to get more enjoyment out of a game, the more tne word gets round and eventually the more games are bought. Isn't that what you and the software houses want? J.A. Lockertoy, A y l e a h a m , Canterbury, K e n t As far as Stop the Express is concerned. I've never been on a train before (long distance buses are more my price bracket), so I'm definitely not responsible for Sinclair's appalling spelling! I'm not sure whether programmers would agree with you that adventure games are easier to write (sounds like a question for Derek) than arcade, which could reflect on the price difference, but I do agree, that there is probably a thing about adventures having to cost more, because that's the way it so often seems to have been. On the other hand, there are many less adventures sold than a popular arcade games, and that means each unit has to cost a bit more, although some software houses do seem to keep the price down well.
The next writer disagrees the POKEs - terribly. .. LM
about
POKERITIS Just a short POKE letter hailing my concern, disgust, anger and utter POKE THIS frustration at your playing tips item. 1 have contracted Pokerttis. Though It is yet in its infancy, it spreads rapidly, classical symptoms being itchy fingers to get at the cheat page, a highly used 0 key and POKE key. As I wish to read, cover to cover, your whole magazine to obtain my money s worth (PEEK a boo), and as I wholeheartedly sympathise with Mr. Sutherland and Spiegal In the month's issue dated September and August respectively. I really feel I must echo their sentiments. I mean.
Well. I suppose but...
that's one view,
Dear Lloyd, In response to Richard Spiegel's letter (n issue 7, nobody is forcing him to read and use all the POKEs and things in playing tips. But please keep it tor those of us who don't want to cheat. And if he writes 140,000 words, he might just make to odd mistake as well. Mindless little M o r o n . . .
Martin Lelghton, Chester, Cheshire.
Now Now, Martin, we'll be losing more readers like that! Anyway, your sentiments were also echoed by the next reader. ..
ONE DAY, SAID SUTHERLAND Dear Lloyd. Having read every issue of CRASH I have become increasingly aware of the number of people that write in to complain about cheating. They claim that r printing of certain POKEs tor
^
lite lives etc.. and tips on how to complete a certain screen/game spoils their entertainment. However, I have never noticed anyone forcing me to read or even practice the tips given, and neither does the fact that I may know how to get infinite lives on a game spoil my enjoyment of the game, since, once again, I am not compelled to use the routine given. However, the final straw was In the September issue, when Chris Sutherland first writes a cynical letter complaining about such POKEs, and then also includes a routine t o g i v e 253 lives in Lunar Jetman I This is obviously a man who believes in the saying, practice what you preach! As a result of this, I have written a small poem to Mr. Sutherland; "I know," one day said Sutherland, As ball-point pen he held in hand, "I'll write to CRASH in cynical style, Uoyd Mangram I'll attempt to rile. I'll comment on POKEs and tips galore. And then, very quietly, through the back door. I'll post my routine for Lunar Jetman, On how to get 253 lives and then some.
No one will notice my lack of sincerity. On the topic of POKEing to gain immortality. And if someone does then what does it matter. The important thing is that CRASH publish my letter, Since then I may be the one to receive, ÂŁ12 of software with which to relieves, My urge to hack at somebody 's program, Until 253 lives I can store in my Spectrum."
R.E. Feagan, Anfield, Liverpool Unfortunately, as many readers have already noted, the egregious Mr. Chris Sutherland has probably had the last laugh in this matter, since the POKE he so kindly and cynically offered, doesn t work, and indeed tends to crash the game! Before leaving the subject of to POKE or not to POKE, here's a letter with a slightly differnt slant. ..
LM
A COMPUTER WITH BRASS HANDLES Dear Lloyd. I just thought I would write and say well done to Johan Kallum after his letter in September's CRASH. He asked for playing tips and signpost to be coded to make it a httle harder. You see Johan, we're not ail professors, and there are a lot of people like myself that cannot understand how to program, or break into programs, on their Spectrums. I have not yet managed to make anything happen using POKEs in playing tips, but I'm still trying. Perhaps at 27 I'm a bit long In the tooth to learn about computers. I expect
heavy metal objects and were as much use as an old sock. So all I'm saying is try to understand that magazines like CRASH are for all people with computers, and not just for those people that are so and capable that they find are getting bored a n d want to <e things harder and more challenging. Well if you want something more challenging, try beating my hi-score on Sabre Wulf. which is 207.369 at 97%, completed.
A computer wally, Keith Collls, Linton, Maidstone. Kent
you should worry, Keith, our screen photo person keeps sticking his head into the mam editorial room to ask. Sorry, can you tell me again how to get LOAD CODE''? Anyway, we've all got our problems, haven't we? My main one at the moment is that Derek Brewster is apparently furious at me having given the game away over Lords of Midnight in the Playing Tips. He reckons they should make me resign and give my salary to him. All I can say is, if Derek can get by on ten quid a week, he's welcome to it! (On the subject of money, the Powers that Be have taken away the tea and coffee and replaced the kitchen with a coin-op vending machine-now it costs 10p. a cup! Anyway, onto the subject ot ads in CRASH.,,
LM
BUNCH EM UP Dear Sir, Concerning the letters you seem to be getting lately about your G R E A T magazine having too many adverts. The obvious answer perhaps is to simply separate the editorial from the ads. Those who don't wish to read them can just skip past to the best bit. There is the room to fit more ads without complaint. More advertisements means more CRASH income, which means a better magazine, which means more readers, which means more a d s . . . Simple.
Mark Henry, Batlsbridge, Dublin.
you are very clever when it comes to this type of thing. Perhaps you learned all about computers at school. Well at my school even the calculators had handles that you had to turn - they were big
Sounds like a recipe for success - the last bit I mean! It's actually quite traditional for magazines (in any field) to bunch up ads at the front a n d rear usually. This makes it much easier to plan an issue as well. Unfortunately advertisers do not really like this, since the argument goes that they are paying to help the magazine exist by being there, so people should be forced to see the ads (whether they're read is up to the individual reader of course^, and it you get thirty or forty ads all next to each other, this doesn 't work. CRASH has always tried to scatter the ads throughout to give everyone the best of all possible worlds. LM
CRASH November 1984 33
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