35 years ago, I was having a lot of fun with this platform-puzzler created by the legendary @PitfallCreator. As far as I know, it was the first video game to feature a fully controllable pet - which was able to shape-shift into a variety of extremely helpful forms. Great game!

Here's the game's title tune, which should give you an idea why we rated the sound so highly.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_gO...

35 years ago I was playing Software Creations' Solstice, an NES isometric 3D platform-puzzler presented in classic mid-80s Rare style. I was a big Rare fan back in the day and liked the game a lot, while Matt found its rock hard difficulty somewhat frustrating but still fun.

I’d begin with clueless and end with fucks. I think that just about covers it.

At the end of the day, narrowing down to a window is a great way of doing it I think. It maintains reasonable accuracy while also allowing for the crazy variances that existed back then.

Yeah, that’s all I was cautioning as I’ve seen incorrect Wikipedia stuff being positioned as definitive. It’s a minefield ultimately. I mean, Knight Rider was advertised for 18 months, but reviewed in late 86 about seven weeks after it hit shelves. An extreme case but shows the potential variance!

Another thing. Release dates didn’t exist back then as they do now because software distribution was incredibly slow and inefficient. Stuff could appear on shelves quickly in one area but sit in a warehouse for days/weeks in another. By the 90s release dates were more reliable. 80s? Not so much.

I thought he was abysmal. I can only assume you were an easily amused wee kid at the time. 😁

Mobygames has comprehensive records of period reviews and their published date and is the resource I use when trying to figure out when a game with no official release date might have hit the shelves.

Also, if I negotiated an exclusive review, we could get a game months before other mags.

I’d recommend using a game’s review period to create a window when the game was likely seen as finished rather than trying to create definitive-sounding release dates that could be actually be way off.

However, I would caution using mag reviews to narrow down release dates as there are numerous scenarios that could make that guess highly inaccurate. Sometimes a game appeared several months after we reviewed it (perhaps it was reworked based on the review or was delayed due to cash flow issues).

Content could technically be done on the day of deadline (but happened rarely). Mags went to the printers in sections during the week leading up to the deadline, so you might send off a section one day, a section the next day, two the day after that etc.

Sure. Thanks to mag printing and distribution being super efficient back then, deadline to being on the shelves could be as quick as five working days when the stars aligned. Subs took several days longer because getting on shelves was the priority.

That was well out of order even back then. I was seriously pissed off when I read that. Just not funny.

Six fingers and a bbblubbberry shake plz.

Actually, I posted the wrong page. I have posted the correct one. 🤪

Posted a wrong page for this (from the prior month's programmer challenge). This is the correct third page.

This is the correct page

Don’t bother. I just uploaded the wrong page. No idea how - on X it was the right page.

Nah. Fakkin' raaahbish tech innit? They should focus on makin' a new Beeb computer.

40 years ago, ZZAP! held a staff challenge which included prior month's programmer challenge winner Jeff Minter. He chose Mama Llama to confound us, but I knew the game and had no problems with it, eventually emerging the winner ahead of the hairy one himself. Super fun day!

40 years ago, more Amstrad-Sinclair buyout details emerged, including why Sinclair employees were angry and the QL survival "seeming likely" (it wasn't). Meanwhile, Acorn was moving ahead with its RISC tech. Not seen as important at the time, but this was huge for the company.

I think you missed some of the things I said. I was clear about how bad my speeding was. You also misinterpreted my MTX and Nintendo comments. Not gonna explain as I don’t have the space here - but you’ve definitely got the wrong end of the stick. Appreciate the feedback tho’ and you buying my book.

Yeah. I think music is far more subjective than video games. As I just said to someone else - one person’s iconic music is another’s person’s bland tunes.

It’s iconic to you. Technically good but bland for me.

35 years ago I was being totally blown away by F-Zero, which was both a brilliant game and a fantastic SNES demo. And before you start complaining, sometimes peoples' taste in music is different to yours. We weren't super-keen on the game's music. If you loved it, good for you!

Either way, the comment was about the fact that the tune wasn't in the game.

Here's that Dr Who review. Interesting game. Certainly more so than the TV show of the era which was struggling as Colin Baker shapeshifted into Sylvester McCoy. It was taken off the air just a few years later before being successfully resurrected some two decades later.

Back in the days when trestle tables could support about four tons of monitors.

Beg to disagree. It really was hard competing against superb, incredibly interesting and eye-catching covers like this... 😂