Future of the Amiga Games Market - Poll results.
Special Issue 3 Supplement

Amiga Review 2000

Looking back over the last twelve months it has been almost like a dream, if not a nightmare, at some of the goings on in the Amiga world.

Dream
It was almost 12 months ago to the day that Amino bought the name and a license to the Intellectual Property. I still recall how I found out - about a week later than most! I had decided not to bother going on line over Christmas since I was depressed about the whole Amiga situation. ( Collas out, and Schmuck, Sorry Schmidt, in - Very depressing). Anyhow, I logged back on to retrieve my emails, went on line and found out that I had missed the Amino Scoop by about 6 days!
Still it was a pleasant surprise. So far I am very impressed with the new Amiga team, two versions and an update to the SDK as well as the launch of OS39 Add to that, the hiring of Gary Peak, and Dean Brown, two people very much with the name Amiga etched in their psyche.

Sadly, not everything has obviously gone Amiga's way, Bill McEwen bemoans the fact that the dot com crash has prevented Amiga from raising the required capital to make their plans work properly (see the very short Christmas Executive update) Let's not kid ourselves, Amiga are short on money and concerned enough for this fact to be mentioned in an executive update.
You have been warned.
On a side note, I wonder why Amiga decided to withdraw their shares offer to the community? Obviously a complex issue, but one that I wish they would have given reasons on why they chose not to.
Let's remain on the positive side, This year have seen announcements on new hardware, AmigaOne 1200/4000 from Eyetech and the new mysterious Amiga DE only machines from Bplan. 2000 also saw the release of Heretic II, Code Name HellSquad, the excellent, but unwanted Bubble Heroes (see survey) and a few other notable games. Sadly, the sales numbers were really low on all these titles.
On the Applications front, the excellent Drawstudio 2 made a re-appearance thanks to Kickstart, the bad news is it hasn't been updated. At any rate, If you haven't got this excellent package, why not? for thirty pounds, its a bargain.

Nightmare. Well, for starters there was the Alive Mediasoft fiasco, of which not much more will be said, other than the fact that everyone concerned were losers on this. Rumours and accusations also surfaced this last year on at least three other Amiga companies, which has really rocked consumer confidence in the Amiga market place at a time when it can ill afford it.

Also a Sad loss in 2000 was the death of Amiga legend Bob Cosby, the demise of Phase 5 and the disappearance of many Amiga users to other platforms. The tragic inability of DCE to satisfy consumer demand for the former Phase 5 PPC boards and the severe lack office applications on the Amiga.
No, Amiga Writer, still isn't worth the money and to cap it all, Ibrowse, could be dead too. Amiga Classic OS 3.9 will also, most likely, be that last incarnation of the current line. I think it will be unrealistic to expect any further updates if the trigger target is 50,000.

Looking Ahead, There is much to be optimistic about, but then, one always is when looking to the future at this time of year. I hope the Amiga DE comes out and sets about gaining market share. Something I am sure that the Microshaft Dirty tricks department will put pressure on to crush once it's out.

Belated Merry Christmas! Or if you prefer, Happy Holidays, Sorry, this issue was meant to be out Christmas Eve However, I am suffering from some sort of bug which has left me feeling low. (Ya wimp! I hear you say)
It has been a long while since issue 2, this has been in part to myself being busy and in part due to lack of articles to include. This issue you will notice, is a bumper one, with many things for you to read. As a matter of fact you will find the results of the "Future of the Amiga Games Market" Poll, which in itself is so massive that I have included it as a separate supplement so that those who are not interested don't waste valuable on-line costs. (But it is good - honest!)
It's hard to believe that Amihoo.com and this magazine is not even a year old yet and so far nearly 23,000 hits have been achieved since the launch on the 20th of July this year.

Not that it hasn't gone unnoticed, thanks to your loyal support, the commercial sector has started taking an interest and I am pleased to announce that I have secured some short and long term sponsorship for the site. As of the 1st week in the new year you will start noticing a new look Amihoo.com logo featuring our sponsor's name as well as certain "charged for" banner ads. One of these is arguably a biggy, ebay.co.uk, with whom I have signed a contract for click through payment. What this means is that for every time you click on the ebay banners and go there, I will receive cash for every click to their site. I very much doubt if this will change my life, (I wish!) but it will hopefully pay for my running costs as well as allow me to make this site better in terms of...

• Payment for Amihoo Magazine Articles, I am in the happy position of being able to pay contributors £4 per article written. (£48 a year for writing around 500 words a month) Currently, I have a vacancy for the European correspondent and possibly the Canadian position. Not a lot I admit but that's just for starters, depending on how successful Amihoo.com and Amihoo Magazine become.
• Giveaway Prizes! Depending on how many click throughs ebay.co.uk get from this site, I will store most of the money and channel it as a monthly giveaway prize. - My minimum aim is to get enough money to be able to giveaway a prize every month. Please help, me to help you by occassionaly visting ebay.co.uk when the banners go up and if at all possible, using their service. - Thanks

Regards.

Amiga in 2000. - An Australian Perspective

Well the year is drawing to a close and it's almost 2001. The world didn't end, the hype surrounding Y2K was mostly vapor (we'd be quite familiar with this as Amiga users) and the Olympics have come and gone. And oh yeah - it's probably been the biggest year for Amigas in Australia (and the world even) in a long time. Last year was a good start - the Canberra Amiga user group ran the ADU show (first proper Amiga show in a long time) and OS 3.5 was demo'd and pre-released there.

Then this year was even bigger - the ACE show was held in Melbourne and Bill McEwen an nounced OS 3.9 and the AmigaOne specs/rough release dates. He also demo'd what the AmigaDE would be capable of.

Pretty good I guess - considering that in past years I sometimes felt that the rest of the Amiga world had forgotten about us down here in Australia.(not by Amihoo you weren't - Ed)

Hopefully next year will be even bigger and more successful - for Amiga users in general and for Amiga users in Australia - hopefully. (No Amigan can be without at least a bit of cynicism from years of waiting and hoping..!)

All the best for a Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Regards
Ross.

Music and Pipes and lots of miggy woes!

The time is rapidly nearing where I will need to make a decision regarding what hardware/software I will be using to fulfill my computing needs. Let me back up a second, and go over some of what I said last time that I wrote in [which, I know was some time ago. I need to keep to deadlines better: sorry Mikey ;-)] about what my computing needs are/will be.
Sorry if I seem to digress at times, but I tend to do that when I write [I tend to use parenthesis a lot, too, as you will soon see or have seen if you read what I wrote last time]. - Issue 1 - Ed.
Anyway... as I was saying, my computing needs [oh, one last thing before I start: I will try to keep the ex-wife jokes down this time ...try, no promises, though].
They can basically be summed up in one word: music. I use my computer for [almost exclusively] music. So you can see why I love the Amiga so much. I don't care what anyone says there is nothing [but nothing] for PC or Macs that comes close to Bars & Pipes Pro and Music-X
[at the time of this writing I've learned that the code for B &P is being released, which opens up the possibility for it coming to the other platforms. I will go into that more, later].; especially when you consider the cost of music programs for the other platforms [I guess that some people never heard the term starving musicians...$500 for a program...don't get me started]. Making music with my Amiga is not only easy, it's a pleasure. Now I know that there is more to computing than music, but I figure that if I need to do word processing or some such office related work, I will do it on the PC that I'm forced [they twisted my arm, really!] to use. As much as I hate to admit it, Microscoff does do word processing [and other office related stuff] well. And since I have access to that at work, why do I need it at home? I mean it would be great if the Amiga had a comparable program [I know I'll get shot for saying this, but Final Writer does not come close to Word. Yes it does kill me to say something good about MS, but fear not: I will go to Temple after I finish this to cleanse myself].
Hmm...I see that I'm wildly digressing
[and I have even mentioned the ex once, outside of the initial 1st Paragraph. I won't mention her a bit in the next paragraph]. So, if I haven't made myself clear let me just say that: I want a computer that is easy and fun to make music with.

I know I could just shut up and keep using what I have, but I'm also looking to the future. Being of The Faith, I know that the new AmigaDE is just going to kick butt. And, with the source code becoming available I'm hoping that Bars & Pipes pro will come out with a version for it.
Who knows, maybe someone will come up with something that is even better. If so, it will happen for the DE, not the Mac or PC. So, that just leaves what hardware will I use for it.
My first choice is my current Amiga [a stock A3000 with a '030]. I have a sound card for it [an old WaveTool card]. I haven't tried to install it since the software for it was e-mailed to me at work and I haven't tried to get my external floppy to read PC disks [my internal one died]. And since I do want to use the new DE I know I will have to upgrade [since AI has made it clear that only PPC Amigas will run the DE].

There in lies my problem: it doesn't seem that they are going to be making an AmigaOne card for the 3000, just the 1200 and 4000. So that just leaves one of the PPC cards and they are just too much money to put into a machine that is already having problems and will just get harder and harder to get parts for. For that amount of money it would seem like I be better off getting a [I'm holding my nose as I type this] PC.

I know that I will be able to run the DE on a PC, but there are problems with this solution, besides the fact of it being a PC [actually, I don't really have anything against a PC, itself. It's Windblows and Microscoff that I have a problem with].
The biggest problem is that I wouldn't be able to use all of my Amiga programs [even with UAE you can't use Amiga disks with a PC, not without special hardware].

Even if I could get a copy of Bars & Pipes [which I think I can] on a PC to use with UAE, I've heard that you can't really use MIDI with UAE, so what's the point?.
Though, as mentioned earlier, with the code for B&PP becoming available, there might soon be a PC version. THAT just be the thing that finally tips the scales and convinces me to buy a PC....someday [since there is also the point that I just don't have the money to buy a PC in the first place].

I do, however, have a PowerMac at home [it was given to me, OK?]. That would seem to be my answer, but Noooo. It seems [now, I could be wrong, so don't take my word as gospel] that AI has no plans to have the DE work on a Mac. Too bad: I could use the Mac [since it does have a PPC] to run the DE and keep my A3000 for running old Amiga stuff.

So, assuming certain things happen [Bars & Pipes comes to the PC, I come into some money, my ex doesn't take said money (Ha! I finally got one in! Merry X-mas dear )] it seems that my best option would be the PC path; with the hardware needed to run my Amiga stuff. I guess that this wasn't the most informative piece, but now you know where I'm coming from [and where I'd like to go]. And, if I can get [and keep] my life together long enough, I'll have something further to say and won't make Mikey have to keep after me ;-). That would be nice - Ed :)

And lastly, I'd like to wish a Merry Christmas to all those who have made it to this point: it means you hung in there and read it though to the end.

And a special Merry Christmas to my daughter, Alchemy.
[who I'm getting to spend Christmas with, the first with her since me and the ex split up 6 years ago. And, though it pains me to say it, I guess I do owe the old ex a round of thanks for allowing me to spend this Christmas with her: she didn't have to, there was no court order, she did it out of her own heart. Thanks Cheryl.]

We want your views! Tell us about anything Amiga related, including Amihoo and the Magazine. The best views will be published here every week with the writer of the best letter, over the month, winning a *£20 Epic Voucher