From the Editor’s Desktop
News, Rumors, and Other Issues

VISA and MasterCard Added to IMG!
Due to overwhelming demand, we've added VISA and MasterCard to our billing options. If you would like to subscribe to IMG or order back issues using your VISA or MasterCard, just fill out the subscription order form, US mail or e-mail it to us,  or call (708) 486-0636 to place your order.

Current subscription rates are:

$24/year for 12 issues (domestic, high density disk)
$30/year for 12 issues (domestic, double density disks)
$32/year for 12 issues (international, high density disk only)
$18/year for 12 issues for Internet subscription (Internet e-mail only)
Back issues are $3 each (currently 4 back issues available)

Contest Winners!
In last month’s contest, Philip Thomas of San Jose, California, won a free copy of the Gravis MouseStick II. In our game poll contest, Darryl DeGraaf of Houston, Texas, won a free copy of SSG's Carriers at War. Congratulations! Prizes compliments of Advanced Gravis and Strategic Studies Group.

How To Enter This Month’s Contests.
In this month’s contest you can win a free copy of Spectre Supreme by sending in your IMG game poll. Also, by subscribing to IMG, you can win a copy of  Eight Ball Deluxe. To find out how you can win, see this month's “The IMG Game Poll” and “Subscription Order Form" sections.

Coming Soon
Cyberdreams is about to release their award-winning graphic/sci-fi/horror adventure Darkseed. The game uses artwork by H.R. Giger, who is known for his work in the movie Aliens. What separates Darkseed from other adventure games is that the graphics are full-screen (640x400) on 13" monitors, unlike the enlarged, jagged graphics found in other adventure games. Cyberdreams has set a release date for Darkseed for the Mac on May 29. • Spectrum HoloByte has tentative plans to do a Mac version of their Star Trek: The Next Generation game, which is due out for MS-DOS systems later this year. So don't expect the Mac version until sometime next year. The game is said to be an adventure/role-playing/flight sim game all in one. It will use the regular characters, each with their own distinct personalities. • Leviathan Corporation, makers of Blade, is working on a new action/adventure game featuring a fire-spitting boy entitled, what else, Dragon Boy. It is scheduled to be released in mid-August. Looks HOT! • Seven Hills Software has been in the Apple II market for about ten years now, but come July they will be releasing their first Macintosh game entitled Gate. It's a gauntlet-type adventure featuring 256 colors, smooth animation, and great sounds. • LucasArts is working on a Mac version of Day of the Tentacle. It's the sequel to Maniac Mansion and should be released sometime in the Fall. • Can't get enough of those Lemmings? Well, in September Oh No More Lemmings! is scheduled to be released featuring another 100 or so levels that will scream oh no! • Lastly, we had heard a rumor that Accolade was developing Jack Nicklaus Unlimited Golf for the Mac, but a call to Accolade dispelled those rumors. In their words, “No games are being developed for the Macintosh.” Say bye-bye, Accolade :-). • If you have any rumors or tidbits about upcoming Macintosh games, please drop us a note. All sources will be kept confidential. —TD & PN  

Advertising in IMG?
We'd like to thank you all very much for all the comments and suggestions regarding advertising in IMG. Most might think that because IMG is an electronic publication, it costs very little to produce. This couldn't be further from the truth. The entire staff at IMG communicates through voice, direct connect modem, and e-mail. In addition, we spend bushels of money uploading IMG to as many BBS systems and online services as possible each month. Needless to say, our phone bills are astronomical! We do save money on printing, and those savings our passed along to our subscribers through the lowest possible prices.

Although subscription revenue provides us with a means to reach many people, we strongly feel the need to enhance our readership by advertising our magazine in other publications. We can only afford this by increasing revenue. Since we want to keep subscription rates as low as possible, the only alternative is to accept vendor advertisements and sponsorships in IMG. 

So far, we've had surprisingly positive feedback to this idea (see this month's Mailbox section). It might actually be cool seeing electronic advertisements of hot new games! Although our disk subscribers are our first priority, we're also concerned with any possible increase in download times for our free preview edition. We'll take every measure possible to ensure that download times are kept to a minimum, but please remember, the preview edition is for evaluation and was never designed to save you money. The only way you can do that is to subscribe if you like what you see (and read).

So here we go. All advertisements will be contained within one or two separate sections. We won't have your reading pleasure disrupted by slicing up reviews and articles to make way for ads. You will not see “Continued on page xxx” anywhere. Of course, we'll continue to provide the most comprehensive and insightful reviews available, and ad revenue will never take precedence over quality and objectivity. —JB

Special Thanks
The editors of IMG would like to thanks all our writers, Neil Shapiro, Gregory Wasson, Steven Lundin, Daniel Augustine, Rod Whitten, Ross Scott Rubin, Bob Nordling, Mark Rubin, Trey Smith, Jeff Morgan, Christopher Breen (congratulations!), Keith Zabalaoui, Gregor Whiley, Ian Klimon, Rustle Laidman, Mark Wall, M.J., Iain and Ann Noble, software companies that support the Mac, and all of you who have given us your support.
 
A special thanks to Aladdin Systems for allowing us to use the StuffIt Installer.