Editorial Scene+ #10

Editorial

SCENE+ is published by:
L.C.D.
Prager Str. 92/11/12
A-1210 Vienna, Austria
Tel: (02) 272 34 63 within Austria, or +43 1 272 34 63 from abroad.

All classifieds and advertisements are free of charge as long as they are related to the Spectrum or SAM Coupé. They can take any format: text, screen, animation, etc.

Hello and welcome to SCENE 10/96!

A year ago, ASC came into existence as a neutral club in Austria, dedicated to supporting the slowly dwindling breed of Spectrum users and fighting for their survival.

A little bit of nostalgia: during the first two months, two 16-page paper magazines were published. It was hellish work—my sympathies go out to Wolfgang and Thomas, although admittedly, they usually don't have to write all their articles themselves.

What happened next? The paper magazine was dropped in favor of a disk magazine, and as it turned out later, that was the best decision. At last year's mega-meeting in Filderstadt, people predicted SCENE would last maybe a year. In reality, it only took two months before I gave up on SCENE; but then I had the idea for SCENE+, and this right here is our anniversary issue: 1 year / 10 months!

Unfortunately, producing a disk magazine is only slightly easier than a paper magazine, so I hardly have time for anything else anymore. Issue 9/96 (I'll never forget the joke with 9/86) was delayed a bit because I had no time to mail it out while the windows in my apartment were being replaced.

Right from its early issues, SCENE+ was voted one of the best diskzines around—the best in the German-speaking area and second-best in the world, though there were other opinions (No. 1 worldwide!). But the most important thing is that an insignificant paper mag turned into an outstanding disk mag distributed all around the globe, even if I would much prefer having more readers from Austria.

The reality, however, is that 90% of all Speccy users in Vienna use their Spectrum to control machinery (Have you seen the movie Peng! Du bist tot? There, a robot with a Spectrum as its control computer turns into a murderous beast!). The interests of these people (don't take it personally!) lie mainly in stepper motors and their control software (in Assembler). Thus, valuable knowledge and resources are completely wasted: instead of coding computer games, they are poured into building utterly pointless machines that might end up chopping up your mother-in-law (that was a joke!).

Back to the topic: SCENE+ has become very well known by now, but it has one major drawback: it is in German and not in English. Then again, what else do you expect from a German-language disk magazine?

Well, what can I say? ASC has just survived its first year, which quite a few people did not expect. Should I quit now? Not yet. Even though versions of SCENE+ were also planned for the PC and Amiga, as long as people remain actively involved with SCENE+, I will not abandon this disk magazine.

Regarding the dispute between the German clubs: it was brought to my attention that my remarks could easily have been interpreted as malicious, depending on how you read them. Since that is inappropriate for a neutral club, I hereby apologize. On a positive note, peace has been almost fully restored thanks to a few letters and reports. It might happen that some of my remarks could be interpreted as malicious in the future as well, but whenever I do that, my goal is to point out grievances and shake users awake. This approach is also used by major newspaper publishers and usually achieves its effect—just look at the SPÖ's election defeat in Vienna at the last election.

NEWS

Surprise of the year: Fountain PD declares peace with Prism PD! Until now, Fountain had sympathized more with Andy Davis and even took over the PD department from Alchemist, but now Dave Fountain has had enough of the constant bickering and extended his hand to Martyn Sherwood as a gesture of peace. By the way, PD Power from Prism PD is also available through ASC.

A new fanzine surfaced at the meeting in Wetherby: ZX-Files (a nod to The X-Files?). Frequency: quarterly; price per issue: approx. 3 DM. It is written by Paul White, who has been active in the scene before. Its solid sources make this paper mag irresistible, even if I have already had the games reviewed there for months. Well, whoever wants it can write to:

ZX Files, Paul White
30 The Rowans Off York Road
Wetherby, West Yorkshire
LS22 5EB, Great Britain

And here is a little joke:

South of Vienna, a serious accident occurred: a car crashed into a horse-drawn cart.

Three months later, the driver receives a hefty claim for damages and compensation for personal injury. The driver's insurance company hires a lawyer, who drives out to the victim's farmhouse. There sits the farmer, wrapped head to toe in bandages.

The lawyer grows suspicious and asks:
"Why didn't you report your injuries to the police officer at the scene of the accident when he asked you, instead of waiting until now?"

The farmer replies:
"Well, right after the crash, I was lying in the ditch by the road, and my horse was lying on the pavement with broken legs. When the police officer arrived at the scene, he first checked on the horse. Seeing the broken legs, he pulled out his service weapon and shot it dead. Then he walked over to me and asked if I was all right."

Well, that's it for this time!