Compute!’s Gazette – June 1989

Source: Compute!’s Gazette – Issue Number 72 – June 1989

Compute! is a multi-format computer magazine that was published throughout most of the 1980s and early 1990s. Compute! also had several spin-off publications that were specific to one particular computer or another. Most were relatively short-lived but Compute!’s Gazette for Commodore 8-bit computers (mostly the Commodore 64) was an exception. It was published from 1983 until 1990 as a stand-alone magazine and then it continued as an insert until 1993 and finally as a disk only publication until 1995.

The June 1989 issue of Compute!’s Gazette includes:

Features

Best Arcade Sports Games – An overview of sports games for the Commodore 64. For each sport there was a winner and one or more runners up. For baseball the winner was The Sporting News Baseball and the runner up was HardBall! For football it was 4th & Inches and John Elway’s Quarterback. For basketball it was Fast Break with Jordan vs. Bird: One on One and Slam Dunk both being contenders. For Hockey it was Superstar Ice Hockey and Powerplay Hockey: USA vs. USSR. For Golf it was Jack Nicklaus’ Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf (that’s a mouthful) with World Tour Golf, World Class Leader Board and Leader Board all being contenders. For boxing it was TKO with both Fight Night and Star Rank Boxing being contenders. The last category was “Olympic-Style Games” and the winner there was The Games: Summer Edition with World Games and Winter Challenge being the other contenders.

Guide to Commodore User Groups, Part 2 – Part 2 of a guide that includes contact information for user groups in every state.

Reviews

First Over Germany – This game involves piloting a B-17 but it is more of a mission simulator than a pure flight simulator.

Jordan vs. Bird: One on One – This was sort of an update to the earlier One On One game with Lary Bird and Dr. J that was also done by Electronic Arts.

Rocket Ranger – I played this game on the NES and thought it was pretty terrible. I don’t know if the Commodore 64 version was any better.

Predator – A game by Activision based on the movie of the same name. Like most licenses it isn’t great but it could be worse…

Deathlord – A fantasy RPG based on Japanese culture. Characters can be imported from Bard’s Tale or Ultima III (or of course you can create new ones).

Minimodem-C – A 1200 baud modem that plugs directly into the user port of the Commodore 64 or Commodore 128.

Game

Jericho II: The Revenge – A type-in program that gives you a two-player breakout style game.

Match Mania – A type-in program that gives you a one or two-player game that presents you with four images. You must pick the one that is different.

Programming

Grafix Converter – A type-in program that allows you to convert between various graphics formats used by various paint programs on the Commodore 64.

Ramdisk – A type-in program that gives you a 12K ramdisk on your Commodore 64.

Hi-Res 80 for the 128 – A type-in program for creating hi-res images in the Commodore 128’s 80-column mode.

SpeedCount – A type-in program that gives you a tool for counting words in SpeedScript.

BASIC for Beginners: Bugbusters – A tutorial on how to find bugs in your BASIC programs.

Power BASIC: 128 Monitor Enhancer – An enhancement for the Commodore 128’s build-in machine language monitor that adds commands to enable bi-directional scrolling, toggle processors speed and to read and write to any disk sector.

The Programmer’s Page: Self-Modifying BASIC – How to write BASIC programs that modify themselves.

Machine Language Programming: Laws of Motion – A machine language tutorial involving a program that encapsulates Newton’s laws of motion.

MacroBASIC – A type in program to give macro capabilities to your Commodore 64 or Commodore 128.

Departments

Editor’s Notes – An editorial about rumors…and truth.

Letters to the Editor – Readers ask about a GEOS publication, educational software, Commodore 128 games, copying disks and more.

Commodore Clips: News, Notes, and New Products – New products mentioned this month include gameshow software Hollywood Squares, Super Password and Double Dare; educational software for the Commodore 64; some new software for the Commodore 128 and news about a teen who hacked his way into a telephone company with his Commodore 64.

The GEOS Column: Help Pad – A type-in program to give you help functionality in GEOS, the GUI OS for the Commodore 64/128.

Feedback – Questions and comments about content from previous issues including Stereo SID chips, 64/PC compatibility and self-modifying BASIC among other topics.