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                          PURE BOLLOCKS #22 NEWS DESK

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                     DATELINE: 19th Jan - 27th March 1993

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** SUPER FALCON =/= FALCON 040 (19/1/93) **

And you thought we were the  projected  Falcon  040 and 'Super Falcon' were one
and the same as we said in our last  issue? Well, OK- we were wrong, but it was
a strong rumour going about the place! The 'Super Falcon' is supposed to have a
68030 processor, which means it'll  be  a  souped-up  Falcon  030! It will have
similar features to what should appear on the  040 though, and there is talk of
an attempt to tweak it up to 25Mhz  like  the 040, though they might abandon it
if it costs to much!


** CRAZY CRAZY PRICE CUTS! (BUT NO CASE!) (19/1/93) **

Now this is really really unbelievable! The Falcon 1 meg 030 might take a price
cut to -300- when it's launched  in  bulk!  I  presume  the reason it'll be so
cheap is because it -won't- be  selling  in it's mega-ST style case!! Aaarrrgh!
The 4 meg version will also take a  price  cut- to 500 maybe? It'll make a lot
of first time Falcon owners who bought  their  1  meg for that price a bit sick
I'd guess!


** UNTOUCHABLES DEMO PREVIEW BEING SPREAD! (21/1/93) **

Well, we haven't heard much from Mat  recently,  but  we HAVE seen a preview of
their demo. This was a preview,  first  seen  at  the  Ripped Off Party, of the
loader for their "Cheese And Biscuits"  megademo,  which loads a demo screen on
the left hand side of the screen,  and has Gameboy-style graphics which you can
actually play, all whilst playing  a  module!  But  this preview has since been
spread by persons unknown as a  "Gameboy  Emulator"!!  OK,  it might be easy to
mistake since you can either play Tetris or  Space Invaders on it, but I'm sure
people might wonder what the big letters "LOADING" on the left hand side are in
aid of!!


** INQUIRY INTO 'NETWORK TRASH' SERVERS (24/1/93) **

One of our contacts has  informed  us  of  the  progress of an investigation by
Glasgow University  Computing  Science  Department  into  servers  operated  by
Network Trash. This group, as reported in PB #21, has successfully been running
networks under their noses for a couple of years now. However, we had reason to
suspect that they were starting to take a more determined stand against NT, and
what we have heard so far confirms that there is an official investigation into
NT, and it appears that those  in  charge (Apparently including Phil Wadler and
Nick Nei) are frustrated at the  lack  of  progress  in catching anyone, to the
point that they are trying to make an  example of two students who have nothing
to do with the group.
    The story (as far as we  understand)  is  that  one of the students found a
ramdisk NT server on one of the  computers  and downloaded the software off it.
Then on another day, a lab demonstrator  noticed him using ResEdit (a shareware
resource editor for the Mac), and asked him if he had permission to use it. (He
had.) Then James Jecocke, who was taking  part in the investigation, was called
in and asked a search of the  student's  disks. (This is actually illegal!) The
student nevertheless let  them  check  his  disks,  and  the  software from the
RAMdisk server was found. The student  protested his innocence, and since there
was quite obviously nothing  to  say  otherwise,  he  was  let  off with merely
writing a crawling letter of apology!
    However, this was complicated by the  fact that someone -seen- -talking- to
this student was also  called  in  for  questioning!  He  must  have had a weak
bladder or something  like  that,  because  he  broke  down  in questioning and
blubbed to nearly everything they  tried  to  pin  on  him! We've still to hear
what's happening to him.
    There have been rumours about  of  an investigation since mid-December when
the last NT server was shut down.  Genie  of  NT  had suggested he might set up
another server during the holidays, but due  to these rumours had decide to err
on the side of caution. When  he  heard  about  the latest events, he told Pure
Bollocks: "If they're this desperate to get  someone,  then it's just as well I
was so careful!"   The  staff  comittee  minutes,  previously  available to all
Computing Science students with an  email  account  (At the current moment, all
students except first years.), have  now  been  hidden,  an indication that all
staff talk on this matter is now top secret.


** ATARI ADVERTISE FALCON!! (26/1/93) **

Aaaarrrgh! I can't believe it! Guess what I  saw  in  ST User in pages 2 & 3! A
double page spread advert for the Falcon  030!!! Even more amazing, it was done
by Atari!!! Will wonders never cease!!!


** NO HUTCH IN ST FORMAT! (26/1/93) **

Just after we launch PB #21, we hear that  ST Format has a new editor. Her name
is Paula Richards, and she's been promoted from Features editor. No word as yet
about what happened to the hugely unpopular previous editor Andy Hutchinson! As
for what Paula has done to ST Format-  well,  she appears to have cut it down a
bit! There's only one cover  disk,  and  the  magazine  doesn't appear to be as
thick as usual! There's also a slightly  more reasonable attitude taken to some
subjects- there's an advert asking for contributions to an article about demos!
This feature will be in  the  'April'  edition  (which  will be released at the
start of March in Britain!) so we'll tell you more about that!


** FAST TURN OUT HEAVIES FOR TV BUST! (13/2/93) **

Another bust has taken place  in  the  Barras.  This  one  was different to the
others so far in that  TV  cameras  and  reporters from Scottish Televison (the
commercial regional channel  for  Central  and  West  Scotland) accompanied the
raid, and so FAST decided so up  the  'profile'  a bit by pretending to be much
more powerful than they actually are!
    Previously in busts in the Barras, an item of software would be bought from
the stall as evidence that  they  had  been  selling  pirate software. The tack
taken this time was that a FAST officer would go to a stall accompanied by 6 or
so 'heavies', slap down a 'warrant'  and  demand to see the stallholders disks!
The legal basis of the warrant is a  bit  shaky  to be honest, but it's hard to
argue when there's a few heavies around  to  enforce it! So FAST's actions were
not only draconian, but illegal and  intimidatory!  Again, every stall that was
open at the time was treated this way, even the 2 main PD stalls in the Barras!
Their customers must have been really surprised to see the stallholders treated
like shit by a group that claims to be in favour of legal software and have the
moral high ground!
    This sudden change in tack for  FAST  busts  is entirely for the benefit of
the cameras, given that the raid occured  on  Saturday morning at 11am, so that
the TV footage shot could be  shown  on  the midday and evening news summaries.
There were even shots  of  one  stallholder  trying  to resist the intimidatory
tactics of the FAST folk, and ending up on TV as a 'violent' stallholder. There
were also close ups of suitcases of  disks,  and people carrying a computer and
disks away. This gave the impression  that  a  whole  section of the stalls had
been busted. However, there was a small interview with one of the FAST officers
who said that not all of the  Barras  could  be covered. In fact, only 4 stalls
were busted, most of the rest had already  been alerted. Even of those that had
come in, the sight of  six  heavies  following  a  man  who was leafing through
various letters and looking at stall names was enough to raise suspicion!
    The main source of the alert to stalls seems to have been the March edition
of ST Applications (published as usual,  a  week into the month before.), which
noted the rise in FAST activity,  particularly  the  busts in Leeds and Glasgow
last year. It then said that the  first  bust  of  1993 marked a "return to the
Barrowlands"!! But there was no bust-  at  least  none  at the time of writing!
Since countries outside Britain would get  the  magazine by the start of March,
this would suggest that if there was to be a bust, it would happen before then.
The article in ST applications  notes  that  "more  raids are promised" for the
Barras. We shall wait and see.....


** FORMAT FALCON STORY MADE UP! (20/2/93) **

Hee hee! We have heard from one of  our contacts that the big ST Format feature
on the Falcon, which purported  to  be  an  in-depth  feature  on the Falcon ie
actually running stuff on it  and  looking  inside  it, was actually completely
made up! "Floormat" didn't really get  to  see  a Falcon- all they actually got
was a detailed spec sheet and a couple of pics, and pieced their story together
using just that! And we wonder why there's a new editor now! ....


** BACK ON CASE! (27/2/93) **

Soon after we hear  about  the  non-appearance  of  the  mega-style case on the
Falcon 030, we hear it's back on  again! Apparently, Atari have been talking to
their dealers, and their dealers are not at all happy at a major new multimedia
computer being sold in a crappy old ST case!


** SO SAD! (1) (6/3/93) **

Talk about disappointment!  The  "feature"  on  demos  promised  for  the April
edition of ST Format turns out to be about  a third of an A4 page long and only
features 3 demo coders! Two of  them  (Douglas  Little and Billy Alan) are good
coders, the other- James Boulton- I  haven't  heard  of  at all, but we know he
takes 12 hours over 4 days to  code  a  boring little "ST Format demo" screen I
could code in less than 2 hours!


** SO SAD! (2) (6/3/93) **

A couple of people have slagged  off  my slightly pessimistic stance on Atari's
ability to sell the Falcon. Well,  I  think  it's  been vindicated every time a
spokesman from  Atari  has  opened  his  or  her  mouth!  But  there's  also an
embarrasing band of apologists for Atari, so here's one called Derek Whitely, a
business lecturer no less, writing into ST Format:

    " 'Why are Atari not marketing  the  Falcon?'  people  moan and in the next
    sentence complain that they  cannot  get  hold  of one..... Precisely! What
    would you do if you  were  let  down  by  production  and could not satisfy
    demand? You  would  certainly  not  waste  good  money  advertising  it and
    whipping up more demand you cannot satisfy."

Quite apart from the fact that  Atari  HAVE  advertised  the Falcon in ST User,
everyone know's why there's  not  been  enough  Falcons  in  Britain to satisfy
demand: they haven't made a finished version of the fucker to mass-produce yet!
So don't try blaming the production side of things!

    "I suggest that when Atari  has  a  reasonable  quantity  of Falcons in the
    consumer case, they will advertise as much as they did in the early days of
    the ST..."

We'd suggest otherwise- they'd need a lot  more  money than they appear to have
at the moment.

    "...old figures show that Atari spent more on TV advertising than any other
    computer-related company in 1988 and 1989!"

And in 1990, they don't spend so much and  as a result sales of the ST, STE and
especially the Lynx start to  dive!  Anyway,  what about advertising OTHER than
TV?

    "In the meantime they will continue to sell all the Falcons they can in the
    old case to real enthusiasts. What  a  move  that  is, eh? They either wait
    until the middle of the year to  get  any  income at all from the Falcon or
    alternatively they sell x thousand   in  an  old  case to people who cannot
    wait. How  to  make  money  out  of  something  that  is,  in  reality, not
    finished!"

So do you still say Atari  were  let  down by production, eh? Selling something
that's not finished, eh? What a move  that  is,  eh? This says a lot about your
view of marketing!

    "I am a lecturer in marketing and would recommend anybody who looks at they
    way Atari are run that it is a prime example of how to stay in business."

Well, Forbes is a  very  well  respected  US  business  magazine,  and says the
complete opposite, and you can't really have looked very much at they way Atari
are run if you think they know how  to  run themselves! So go and stuff that up
your lecture notes!!!


** GROUP NEWS (14/3/93) **

As seen in the letters page, the  demo  crew  Tour De Force have disbanded, and
most of their members have  joined  a  sharware  games crew called Diget. We've
seen a copy of  their  latest  game,  called  "Meld",  and  it's  a pretty good
strategy game! We've also been  told  that  Agrajag  has  left Blue Harvest and
joined Digitech, and indeed one of our contacts says that he's been seen around
Phoenix PDL saying words to that effect.


** MORE FLOORMAT FIBS! (18/3/93) **

As reported above, DML of TPT was  featured in ST Format's miniscule feature on
demos- in fact he was the only one  that appeared to be quoted. It was reported
that he used Devpac 3 as an assembler,  and he was quoted as saying: "There are
some faster assemblers, but none are as easy  to use. Demos are an ideal way to
learn how your ST works. To  produce  a  game  you  need to know about the ST's
internals." Shortly after this was published, DML  called up one of the members
of Top Notch software (the group  Wheee  The  Fibble is in), and was apparently
not too pleased with STF! Why? Well, he  hadn't said the words he was quoted as
saying! In fact he hadn't even talked to Floormat!


** POOR OLD DML! (20/3/93) **

It can't be his month! Apparently  DML  was  working  on some top secret Falcon
games for Atari. One of his contacts, who had just got a Falcon, asked to see a
preview of  them.  Douglas  agreed,  as  long  as  his  contact  did  UNDER  NO
CIRCUMSTANCES give copies of them to anyone  else. So what does this person do?
He puts them on a bbs, and  adds  a  text  file claiming HE did them! Don't let
anyone believe this wanker, it was definately by DML!!!
    This is not the only person recently  to have ripped stuff off DML's Falcon
coding exploits! Griff of Electronic Images  was  on  the phone to DML recently
for a very long time on the subject of how to do a decent Falcon module playing
routine! Apparently DML told how to  do  it  step  by step! Then suddenly Griff
brings  out  "his"  latest  module  player  with  super  duper  Falcon  playing
routines!! Hmmmmm.......


** SCOTTISH PDL GETS FALCON! (20/3/93) **

Glasgow Barras stall Phoenix  PDL  has  officially  announced in it's catalogue
that it is now in possession of a  Falcon  030  4 meg with HD, making it one of
the few PDLs in Britain that  has  one-  even Caledonian has apparently not got
one yet! They are reported to be testing software with it to see what works and
what doesn't.


** CONSOLE PIRACY? WHAT CONSOLE PIRACY? (25/3/93) **

The crap magazine for teletext tossers  with  consoles, Digitiser has said that
it might be actually posible to  pirate  console games! What, have they finally
discovered that you can download  cartridges  onto  disks,  and that there have
been console pirate bulletin  boards  going  for  almost  a year now?!?!? Nope,
they're  only  talking  about  fake  cartridges!  You  sad  bunch  of  complete
tossers...


** WHERE IS THE 1 MEG 030 GONE? (27/3/93) **

There's been lots of reports of  4  meg  Falcons going around, and according to
the last issue of ST Report Online,  the  number of 4 megs being shipped across
is steadily increasing. But where is the  1  meg,  the Falcon that we had timed
this issue to coincide with? We've scoured the networks for any possible rumour
concerning the 1 meg 030, but the only  news  we managed to get was from Silica
Shop, who one of our  contacts  called,  and  got  someone telling them that it
would be available in  "a  couple  of  months"!!!  Now  this  might have been a
clueless PC user, but it's better than the news we've been getting so far about
it, which has been.... Well, fuck all!
    The lack of news about the 1  meg  versh  has prompted a nasty rumour going
round: that the 1 MEG FALCON DOES NOT AND WILL NOT EXIST! Now, we haven't heard
anything seriously to confirm or deny this, let's just say.... we don't know!


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                 UP OUR END- Demos we got whilst in production


SENTRY- Nerd House (Nuthouse Revenge)
CHAOS- Ambience
INNER CIRCLE- Music Demo 2
SYNDICATE- If Pigs Could Fly
FIREHAWKS- Copy Party Demo
FRAGGLES- Bird Mad Girl Show (?)
OVERLANDERS- Ventura Demo
OMEGA- Grotesque Demo
WILD BOYS- Dreamzone

    and finally....

The "Walking Bird" demo- our first ever Falcon Demo!


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