SHOWS REMEMBERED
CiH'S Computer Shows Nostalgia data bank!
This is the follow-up article hinted at strongly in the last issue's coding
party retrospective. In here, are as many of the past computer shows and
related events that I attended. This will probably not be a hundred percent
record, as some of the very early shows may well have slipped completely out
of my brain. After 1990, I developed a useful habit of documenting the shows
that I went to, for this funny diskmag thing called "Maggie", so the record
should be more or less complete from there. Anyway, here we go.
Show #1
Personal Computer World Show.
Olympia London.
Summer 1985.
Here's where it all begins, right here..
You never forget your first time (ahem!) and that goes for the first
computer show you go to as well. In my case, this was the 1985 Personal
Computer World (PCW) show which was held at Olympia in London. At that time,
I had no interest in Atari, indeed the ST was only just being launched that
year. I don't even remember seeing it there, but it might have been, in a
behind closed doors shown only to a select few fashion. At that time, the
interesting but obscure 8-bit computer with some cool custom chips and a
funny half-melted look called the 'Enterprise' was my computer of choice.
It was a glorious sunny day, sometime in July or August, perfect summer
weather in fact, and I travelled down with a C64 owner called Clive, who I
was friendly with at the time. Most usefully, he had a car, which I didn't
back then. We even managed to find our way through central London, never a
great place for traffic, without much trouble at all.
Once we got in, we found that the Enterprise computers people had organised
a big stand for the show. As the retail presence for Enterprise wasn't too
awe-inspiring on the street, this was the perfect opportunity to catch up
with the new software that was coming out for it. The majority of games
tended to be ports from the ZX Spectrum, the route of least resistance, but
I most remember being impressed by a game called 'Sorcery' which used the
available hardware a lot more (which was in fact a conversion of an Amstrad
CPC game, but never mind!) There was also a neat version of Speccy vector
line favourite '3D Starstrike'. To round up, there was an entirely home-
produced Manic Minor sudden death dungeon game called 'Devils Lair', which
did Lemmings sized tiny sprites dying in dozens of positions of sudden
agonising death wonderfully. I loved them all, and glanced around at some of
the funny little programs that people had brought in with them to show the
Enterprise big cheeses. Remember that there wasn't such a thing as a formal
'demo scene' at that time, but some of these things were getting close.
I don't remember a lot about the rest of the show, apart from a general
feeling of being impressed enough to want to go back in the future. I may
even have had my first Jeff Minter sighting there, but memory is unclear on
this point? The last notable memory from this first show, is of nearly
getting killed in a motorway pile up on the way home, but Clive was able to
slam on the brakes in good time, at the cost of clouds of burnt rubber
drifting slowly skywards. Oh how we laughed, once we'd stopped shaking...
Show #2
Personal World Computer Show.
Olympia London.
Summer 1986.
It all collapses, but there is a taste of things to come...
There was a revisit for the following year's PCW in 1986. By that time, the
company known as Enterprise computers had collapsed, (like many others.) The
remnants had coalesced around the 'Independent Enterprise User Group' (IEUG)
who gathered together in a twilight sense not unknown to readers of this
magazine in a similar context with fuji-badged hardware? They had somehow
managed to blag stand-space, which was a big pile of noise and semi-coherent
happenings. There weren't any organised releases, but people bobbed up and
showed off their half-finished but oh-so-interesting homebrew products, then
disappeared again.
This turned out to be a hell of a lot of fun, in a beleagured romantic "Us
against the world" sense. This was my first encounter with the minority non-
commercial world, it would not be my last! Much bigger fixes of that sort of
thing were on the way!
That was really the end of that cycle of show-going, but things were all
going to change again in the next few years..
Show #3
Personal Computer World Show.
Earls Court London.
Summer 1988?
April 1987, a big box turns up that changed directions. Inside, there is a
smaller grey box, with white keys, and a fuji logo on it. The rest you can
guess by now!
Many of my early memories of ST ownership were tied up with an organisation
that I occasionally mentioned in one or two issues of Maggie called the
Wellingborough computer club. I first found out a lot of things there, the
first ST/Amiga rivalry, a great supply of "try before you buy" (ahem!)
software, and some of my first contacts with the products of the demo scene
at that time.
Back in the late eighties, they were a big and well organised outfit, and
even managed to run a coach trip to the big autumn computer show, which was
still known as the PCW, having grown bigger and grander, and moving to the
more prestigious venue at Earls Court by this time.
In fact, some of us went quite a bit further and registered as trade
visitors, managing to fit a preemptive visit in during a less crowded
weekday. This was not the first time I used this trick, as later parts of
this article will reveal. I went down midweek with a chap called Gary
Marden, he got into ST ownership early, (but got out and into PeeCee's quite
early too..)
The ST was at its height as a mainstream commercial games machine. The
abiding memories of attending the shows at this time include lots of big
stands showing lots of games. I remember being keen to see what Rainbird,
the stars behind 'Carrier Command' were up to next. Somehow in amongst all
the entertainment, a couple of Lost Boys had sneaked in a tiny tatty stand
of their own in there!
We ended up doing two or three like that before things changed again.
In 1990, my show attendance started to hit warp speed, the early and middle
'90's reveal an insane dedication to catch as many Atari events going on as
possible. 1990 in particular was very very significant, as my going to the
16-Bit Show was to change the nature of my participation on the Atari scene
forever!
Show #4
The Atari 90's Show.
Royal Horticultural Halls London.
June 1990.
This was different from the run of shows that I previously attended. This
was a pure Atari show. As Shiuming Lai, for whom this was his first show,
said, there was "None of that Amiga crap there!" Indeed, Atari dominated the
proceedings with a big stand overwhelming the hall, showing off their new
models, the Portfolio, and the brand new handheld super-console, the Lynx.
Atari Corp were in a bullishly self-confident frame of mind in those days,
even going so far as having Atari-equipped musicians doing their stuff on
stage, and running various seminars and teach-ins. But for me, this was my
most significant UK show for a number of other good reasons.
I had my first contact with the beast called "Maggie". We had been Lost Boys
spotting at previous events, but this was their biggest and most successful
presence yet. Quite apart from Maggie, they had just freshly released the
Mindbomb demo, and were selling a huge swathe of new demos that hadn't been
seen before. From there, my entire diskzine writing career started. I had
been interested in the demo scene for a year or so previously, as far as my
limited contacts via the computer club and the Page 6 PD library had
allowed.
Suddenly, Maggie pushed this interest ten times faster, and I wanted to get
in really deeply. I couldn't code or draw, and had a tin ear for music, so I
did the one thing that I could do, which was to write, and the rest you all
very well know about!
There was the little matter of looking for a replacement for my first dying
STFM, and the STe purchased is still here today! I haven't repeated my
mistake in letting go of my Enterprise 64, one such error in a lifetime is
just too many! Sammy Joe wrote this one up pretty well, in the second issue
of Maggie.
Show #5
European Computer Entertainment Show.
Earls Court London.
September 1990.
The renamed PCW show, now titled the "European Computer Entertainment Show"
(ECES) followed in Sept 1990. This involved a return visit to Earls Court,
where we were treated to some hugely crushing crowds, glimpses of A.N.
"disappointing in the Flesh" Cool showing off his TCB Tracker (my main
motivation for going, and all too brief hi there's aimed at those demo scene
personalities that you could pick out of the surging crowds. (Said greetings
to be returned by blank expressions of "Who the hell are you?!") This one
was reviewed twice, in issue three of Maggie by Sammy Joe, and most
entertainingly, by Mr Pink in Maggie 4. Me and him in the same hall, and we
had no knowledge of each other whatsoever!
Show #6
Computer Shopper Show (Xmas Shopper).
Alexandra Palace London.
December 1990.
Following on from that was the very memorable and enjoyable Computer Shopper
Xmas 1990 Show, where I got to spend some "quality time" with Maggie
Meister, Sammy Joe. Precise memory is unclear on this point, he may have
introduced me to Mr Pink for the first time, or that may have been a
tragically undocumented early 1991 16 Bit Show Novotel edition?
Sammy Joe went on a rabid freebie blag frenzy, and we tore into the paper
coated mess that was the press centre, all in the name of "review material".
I was sorely impressed, but only managing to end up with a STampede
subscription for myself. Otherwise, boxshifters predominated, albeit ones
with games that were fresh and interesting.
After the massive enjoyment that the previous year had given, 1991 turned
out to be something of a letdown. The warning signs were there, with a poor
turnout, product-wise for the Spring Shopper show, the most memorable thing
about that event was the abundance of cool people there. There was also the
case of the cancelled Autumn show, which turned into a subdued trade only
effort, and a totally lame Xmas Shopper to close with.
(Retrofit note:- The comments above have to be modified slightly, as I
subsequently "found" a pair of 16-Bit Show reviews for the winter and late
spring period. These were not ground-breaking shows, but pleasant enough
events, which go quite a way to redressing the previous downbeat assessment
for 1991.)
Show #7
Computer Shopper Show (Spring Shopper).
Alexandra Palace London.
May 1991.
Another memorable show came about at Alexandra Palace.This was the late
Spring 1991 Shopper Show. This was not so great for the quality of the
exhibits, mainly being of interest to purchasers of replacement keyboards.
But it was a really cool 'people' show. Jez San, of Starglider, and a whole
lot of other things fame turned up to get *his* replacement keyboards here,
but stopped in the bar with the rest of us. A large chunk of the UK demo
scene, Lost Boys, Subhumans in Turkey, Fingerbobs, and a lot more filled the
small space, and the talk got taller as more alcohol got consumed. We also
did get to see a prescreen of the Lost Boys final demo "Ooh Crikey, Wot a
Scorcher!"
This was the first show that I really felt like I was inside the inner
workings of the Atari demo scene. This was shortly before the dispersal of
that talented band into many diverse areas of the software entertainment
industry. This show was quite well covered, with reviews by Sammy Joe in
issue 5 of Maggie, and myself writing in issue 7.
Show #8
The European Computer Entertainment Show (Trade only!)
Earls Court London.
September 1991.
My second (or third?) event of 1991 brought about a bit of a major change.
The major event in the annual showgoing calender, the ECES abruptly locked
its doors to the public, and went to being a trade only event. Undeterred,
some of us sneaked in, with the help of a falsified name badge, the owner
being taken ill just before the show.
It was a solitary visiting party that reported on the strange scene for
Maggie 9. At that stage, I was very unconfident, never getting to do
anything about a business card given to me by a female distributors rep, who
was pretty tasty. I think my chances of bedroom action with her, seriously
thinking about it, would have been pretty good, if I had ordered 4000 boxes
of US Gold produced tat under my shop manager disguise, done the deed, and
then fled the country before the consequences came knocking at my door!
The show itself showed a games industry in transition, moving away from the
ST/Amiga 16 bit duopoly, and giving the 16 bit consoles, particularly the
Sega Megadrive centre stage.
Show #9
Xmas Shopper Show.
Wembley Arena London.
December 1991.
Next up was the next Computer Shopper Show, this was the 1991 Xmas
edition.My Maggie 9 review was pretty disparaging, finding little of Atari
related interest at Wembley Arena. The comment "Pisspoor recession special"
sums it up pretty well.
After the desert of the last year, surely things were going to get better?
Well it started to, then fizzled out. We began with a very interesting 16-
bit show which gave us Atari in their last big public UK appearance, but the
trend was a steep decline following that, with an unspectacular Autumn show,
and a frankly crap Xmas Shopper.
Show #10
The 16-Bit Show.
Wembley Arena London.
February 1992.
There were new signs of something interesting by February 1992. This was the
time of the umpteenth 16 Bit show at the traditional venue of the
Wembley Arena. For the first time in a long time, Atari attended with
a show-dominating stand. Seen on there for the first, and possibly the last
time, was an early version of the 'ST Book', a neato ST laptop, and a Lynx
development kit, which consisted of a Lynx hooked up to an Amiga!
In a further concession to enlightened attitudes, they allowed user access
and interaction with some of their display machines. In this light, Mr
Pink got busy in some STOS related outrage! We also managed to show off
Maggie 8, the New Mode new shell edition, which was spotted by Mr Atari UK,
and suitably impressed him. It impressed him to the point where he took a
copy and their press and PR department decided to recycle parts of it for
their next new machine announcement! Who remembers the STEE?!
I think that was the sort of payback they were looking for, for letting us
play with their kit? I managed to write up these happenings in a strange
'alphabetti' styled review for Maggie 9.
Show #11
Future Entertainment Show.
Earls Court, London.
November 1992.
Not a lot happened until November 1992, when we went down to the
replacement event for the cancelled ECES, the "Future Entertainment Show",
which took over the empty space at Earls Court. This was my first event
attended with the doyennes of the later era Wellingborugh Computer Club.
Mark and Dave James, often known under a series of pseudonyms in the
twilight software redistribution industry! This show was very crowded, even
by sardine special standards, lots of people without pre-ordered tickets
were simply locked out at the front gates. Apart from the usual silliness,
we were seriously Falcon spotting, 1992 being the year of waiting for the
Falcon. And we managed to find the Hisoft (or Rombo?) machine, with a German
language keyboard. It was chained down (curses!) and resisted our attempts
to 'give it a new home'!
Show #12
Xmas Shopper Show.
Olympia London.
November 1992.
For some reason, in the latter part of November, I did it all again. This
was the Xmas Shopper Show at Olympia. This was even more of a total dead
loss than last year's non-event, as my Maggie 11 write-up revealed. It was
interesting to read back to see how far back the dreaded PeeCee dominated,
and it was doing so even at that early stage.
1993 was a transition year. We saw the pattern of events going from the old
style big consumer shows, to smaller scale and more intimate shows. The old
events such as the 16-bit show were on their way out, but we kick off with
another one of those life-changing events, and one coming from some
seemingly unpromising surroundings...
Show #13
The 16-Bit Show.
Wembley Arena London.
February 1993.
The February 1993 16-Bit show was a format in decline and nearing the end of
its natural life. it was also the show in which the Falcon was first seen
properly in the UK. Atari pulled off the amazing feat of launching a new
machine with absolutely no budget to spare, and a guest spot by Darryl
Still, the Atari UK marketing (ho ho!) manager wielding a wonky microphone.
The bulk of the work was done by Compo, and those brave exhibitors who were
actively interested in the new machine, such as HiSoft, Gasteiner etc. For
reasons connected with acute maschochism and extreme desire to purchase a
Falcon, I managed to do so, from a stand being run by a world famous music
store, the Brixton Exchange Mart. They didn't actually have hardware to sell
there and then, no that would have been far too easy!
In spite of the unsparing description, and extreme claustrophobia caused by
the exhibitors determination to economise on floor space, it was fairly
enjoyable. Old style Maggie remnant, Alan Johnson, Felice, and Mark and Dave
were involved at various stages, Alan and I deciding to go *twice*! - Why?
I'm still not sure? This one was covered by Felice, in a quick and to the
point report in Maggie issue 11, and by me, in a recycled from the aborted
HP Source magazine rambling epic for Maggie 12.
Show #14
The L'est Get Serious Show (Ohh Dear!)
Hammersmith Novotel London.
August 1993.
The first of the new style mini-shows kicked off in August 1993 in a room at
the Hammersmith Novotel. This was the "L'eST get Serious" show, a clear
award winner for the clumsiest title champions cup. This turned out to be
something of a niche show for those rich GEM enthusiasts looking to do
something hefty with image processing on their new Falcons. Any gaming or
demo scene presence had been almost squeezed out of the door, Sinister
Developments clinging by their fingernails to a spot near the front
entrance. A good point in my Maggie report, was that all of the stuff on
show there was actually available to buy, even if most of it favoured TT
owners with desktop publishing ambitions.
Show #15
The London Atari User Show. (With an event at Manchester seen by Mr Pink.)
Alexandra Palace London
September 1993.
In a not dissimilar vein, the "London Atari User Show" kicked off in one of
the smaller function spaces at Alexandra Palace in September. Points to note
include wide distribution of new style Maggie 12 to as many people as
possible. The ST Review editor took a copy, and then did a diskmag round-up
with Maggie 9 as the example issue! (Caaah!) This show was where Felice
acquired his Falcon. he wasn't silly, waiting until the prices had dropped a
little bit from their initial sky-high levels! The reportage was nicely
covered by Felice in Maggie 13.
Show #16
The 16-Bit Show.
Wembley Arena.
November 1993.
The November '93 16-Bit Show confirmed that this event was well past its
use-by date, and beginning to smell a little bit. It played at the Wembley
Arena like a seriously thinned out version of the previous 'L'est get
Serious' show, with other formats, predominantly PeeCee, and spread all over
Wembley.
It got a short write up in issue 13.
Now 1994 was a lot more interesting than the bland pasteurised crop of GEM
applications biased events, that 1993 had brought us. We went to our first
real trade shows, and the first wave of a new sort of Atari show that had
something to appeal to everybody. This year is also notable for the sheer
number of different events, with five shows, not to mention a Science
Fiction convention (Inconceivable) taking place this year, no wonder I never
got to go to any coding parties back then, where would I have got the time!?
Show #17
The European Computer Trade Show (ECTS)
Islington Design Centre London.
April 1994.
We went to our first 'proper' trade show, The European Computer Trade Show,
henceforth to be known as the ECTS in April '94. This was held at an
entirely new venue, the Islington Design centre. The attending team included
the tried and tested James brothers combination. At that time, our
mainstream interest was heavily focused on the exciting things that Atari
were going to be doing with the Jaguar. We did manage to get to see it, but
not really close up, as Atari were operating a strict door policy on their
stand, excluding anyone who didn't look like Sam Tramiel. Still, we peered
into the far distance, catching hopeful glimpses of Jaguar related
happenings onscreen.
And of the Tramiel family, we encountered Sam the man on the stairs, decided
he looked less impressive in real life, and left him to it. This was
adequately covered in Maggie 14. There was an unfortunate afterpart, as a
bout of post-Tramiel stress disorder manifested itself in a fit of sudden
onset food poisoning for poor old Mark!
Show #18
"Atari Show"(?) Not sure of official name for it?
Hammersmith Novotel London.
July 1994.
Back to reality, from the glitzy heights of corporate thingydom in July '94.
This was the latest Atari Show at the Novotel. A new organising team
breathed fresh life into the concept, and reintroduced the missing from last
year element of fun. This turned out to be quite a small scale show, but
also a successful attempt at revival. Notable attendees included Caspian
Software with STe enhanced 3-D blaster 'Zero 5'. Local boys Impact Software
with ultimate footy sim 'Team', and Merlin PDL showing off the fantastic
'Obsession'.
In the kick-ass corner, was Doug Little, Neil Stuart, and Dave Encill
showing off Apex Media, with Doug sneaking in some never seen demo routines
for the Falcy. Most of the usual suspects, from Compo, to System Solutions
were there, with a decent and convincing range of stuff. Felice travelled
down with me, and we met up with James Mathews, who had yet to go to
Taunton. Covered in Maggie 15, this was a good 'un!
Show #19
The European Computer Trade Show.
Islington Design Centre London.
September 1994.
The next step was back to the ECTS, the Autumn edition. This burst all over
a stunned Islington in September. This event had high entertainment
potential, starting with us sharing an entrance queue with Chris Hulsbeck,
one of the demigods of C64 music. Of course, we were far too lame and
unconfident to dare to speak to him! Shame!
The official reason for our attendance was a bit of a let-down. There was no
Atari presence whatsoever, and not very much Jag stuff in evidence, apart
from a lavishly appointed Ubisoft stand showing off Rayman. We also spotted
a dummy issue of a never appearing 'Jaguar Interactive gaming' console
magazine.
This show managed to make up for the Atari content deficit by amusing us in
other ways. For example, there was the distressing case of the PR girls
using prostitute disguises too successfully! Or was that prostitutes
dressing up as PR girls?! We also had our first encounter with the dismal
corporate jargonspeak that would fill far too much of the trade press. Now
that's what I call 'Infotainment'!
Dave played a PeeCee game called Magic Carpet against the man that Mr Pink
would come to call "boss" in distant future times, Peter Molyneux himself.
Mark 'Luke Skywalker' Hamill walked into a cupboard in front of me on the
Electronic Arts stand and disappeared from the show! Oh how we all scratched
our heads in puzzlement! Dave managed to crash Doom 2 which was running as a
preview, what a little hooligan he was! But it turned out that the God of
Trade Shows was actively wrathful against Mark for a second time, as his
wallet went walkies in a busy London street afterwards! This was written up,
ladies of the night dragged out of their natural street corner habitat and
screaming into the daylight and all, in Maggie 15.
Show #20
Future Entertainment Show.
Olympia? Don't remember the venue that well?
October 1994.
We picked up on the aftermath of the ECTS, open to the general public, and
known as the Future Entertainment Show shortly after in Oct. This show had a
more convincing Atari/Jaguar presence. We got a big splash, with an entire
stand devoted to the release of Aliens vs Predator on the Jag. There was a
large amount of of PeeCee stuff and adult themed Seedy Roms caught the
interest of our visiting party, made up of a large chunk of the
Wellingborough Computer Club. I would describe this show as okay but
generally unspectacular. A report was seen in Maggie 16.
Show #21
Atari Show (Xmas Edition.)
Hammersmith Novotel London.
December 1994.
And bringing up the rear in a packed show programme for 1994, was the Xmas
Atari Show, once again at the Novotel in December. The big news, that set
hearts beating in righteous indignation, was the forced merger of GEM-
daddish but popular newstand magazine 'ST Review' with the glossy but
increasingly innacurate and annoying ST Format. This was a move which was
liked by nobody! A cunningly disguised 'forum', or stand up argument was the
highlight near the end, which allowed people to vent their anger against the
Future Publishing Representatives! There were some other major
announcements, such as the acquisition of the Falcon technology and
manufacturing by C-Lab.
There was a lot to see apart from the verbal fireworks, with established
favourites complemented by plenty of new stuff on sale properly. So we were
able to purchase Apex Media if we could afford it. The missing Jeff Minter
'official' Atari commissioned game for the Falcon, Llamazap finally turned
up, as did the equally missing Pinball Dreams. Obsession was available, and
a smart Wolfenstein styled fantasy adventure called Towers II. On the
serious side, we were seeing a lot of MagiC. This edition of the Atari Show
was spiky, but fun! We saw it all in the company of James Mathews and
friends, and wrote copiously about it in Maggie 16.
1995 represented something of a slowdown from the manic activity that had
characterised 1994. This year was going to be make or break for Atari, and
there didn't seem to be quite the same amount or quality of events around.
Still, never mind, don't forget this was the year of the Maggie 5th birthday
party.
Show #22
The European Computer Trade Show.
Olympia London
March 1995.
It was the the Spring ECTS in March that we first turned to. This had got a
venue upgrade, as it was now back at the very familiar environs of Olympia!
I personally preferred the Design Centre at Islington, it was classier and
less barn-like, but too small in the end I suppose. As if to make up for
their neglect of the previous ECTS, Atari were back in town, and how! They
had a satisfactorily large stand with lots of games for the Jaguar, much of
it half or quarter finished. I managed to beat some Atari UK dude at
JagDoom with a little touch of rocket-launcher lurking in dark corners!
Atari were showing their CD-ROM add-on off, with lots of games, that were
interesting but mostly not really that next-gen to be honest. Lots of cool
people turned, up too. We saw Tyrem of the Respectables, Marc Rosocha of
Eclipse, also Gordon Gibson from Sinister Developments. We talked to these
for quite a while. The default combination of Dave and Mark came down, with
Felice following behind. We also bumped into the Merlin PDL people, who
stuffed a handout showing a first impression of 'Sub Station' into our
freebie packs, and we were impressed.
There was a lot to see that was non-Atari too. We got our first large scale
and close up sightings of the console that was to sweep all before it, the
Sony Playstation. Sony were really out to impress, managing to colonise one
end of the main hall. We managed to make some of our own entertainment, with
the tragically short-lived "Flight of the 'Amazon Queen' paper replica
aeroplane" from the top balcony. This was another packed show, impression
wise, and it turned up for review in Maggie 17.
Show #23
The Spotlight Show.
Hammersmith Novotel London.
June 1995.
The first 'real world' show that year was the rather downbeat Spotlight
Show, which kicked off in June, in some disused Novotel basement. It was a
queasy combined Atari and Amiga event, somewhat low budget, and patronised
(all meanings of that word operative!) by disgruntled moaning low-browed
Amiga owners.
Main events included a determined effort by Merlin, with lots of Sub Station
and Amiga versions of their other games, which were not appreciated by the
asshole Commodore element of the attending public. Talk about ingratitude!
There was also a confirmed sighting, and trying out of a proper C-Lab badged
Falcon. The head dude of Gasteiner, the main organisers, mistook me and
James Mathews for proper journalists! A mistake which people are generally
very careful to avoid making! This one ended up in a celebratory themed
Maggie 18.
Show #24
Atari World Show.
National Motorcycle Museum Birmingham, and Marlborough Hotel London.
December 1995.
We managed a return to the Atari World show before the year was out in
December. This diverged somewhat from the previous 1994-style shows in
venue. As we got two days worth, consisting of one day each in Birmingham
and London. This could be considered to be the prototype of the Goodmans
format which was to be seen over the following couple of years. The first
day started off at a venue with which we were to become very familiar with,
the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham.
Myself and Felice attended, soon to be surrounded by a large attendance of
the Maggie team faithful. It seemed like a rerun of the 5th Birthday party,
without the heat, gross overcrowding, or early morning road drill noises!
The Reservoir Gods, Kev 'Taff' Davies, and Mike Noyce danced attendance
here. This event had more of a serious bias. The Afterburner '040 was the
expensive must have item there, and we got to see lots of nice Systems
Solutions kit there too. There were still new games showing, with a couple
of fresh puzzlers specially flown in from 'Confused' German coders.
Sunday transferred to London, in a very crowded small room in the
Marlborough Hotel, off Tottenham Court Road. We got to play with an unseen
Black Scorpion Jaguar overhead viewed shootemup. We also ran into Rich
Davey, and John VoGue Nott. Tronic could be heard somewhere across the
crowds. Atari VCS consoles were on sale for a tenner, ahh, happy days! This
went to press in Maggie 19.
Our extravagant showgoing habit came back roughly down to earth in 1996,
there was just one Atari related event in the UK, yes, just the one! To some
extent, we weren't worried, as this was the year that we started going to
international coding parties, such as the event called S*posi*m at Easter.
There was also a revived local and club scene, which was enjoyable, but the
deep decline of bigger UK based events was very very worrying
There was an expected Spring Atari show, along the lines of the previous
years Autumn show, but this got cancelled abruptly at the death of the Atari
World magazine. There was a serious attempt to put some heavyweight
sponsorship behind a possible Autumn show, but this went west when ST Format
suddenly went down! This was very nearly the early death of any organised
national scale UK atari activity, but frenzied activity during the summer
ensured both a new paper magazine, which was to become the subscription only
'Atari Computing', and a new backer for the Autumn show, when an unlikely
middle-aged knight on an off-white charger called Mike Goodman stepped
in!
Show #26
Autumn Atari Show ("Goodman Show").
National Motorcycle Museum Birmingham, and Four Pillars Hotel Osterley.
September 1996.
The Autumn Atari Show, known informally as the 'Goodman Show' took place in
September of 1996. The year off had provided useful rest and refreshment for
the concept, and interest in the show, from both the punters and exhibitors,
was pleasingly high.
This was yet another bite at the Atari revival cherry, as we saw the launch
of the new paper magazine 'Atari Computing'. This show has another
significant 'first', as Mike Goodman somehow judges us fit to occupy our own
stand space there! In those days, the Maggie Team was a superb production
machine, and we managed to organise an entire issue in six weeks almost from
scratch to launch at the show! The resulting Maggie 21 was a masterpiece,
with a heavily reworked ST menu shell and stunning dentro-sized intro given
to us by Tat. There was a cool Falcon intro from Hydroxid, and loads of
articles from the rest of the team, all done just in the nick of time!
We were back at last year's venue. the National Motorcycle Museum for
Saturday, with a visit to Osterly on Sunday. Felice and Dave 'ST plus'
Hollis travelled over as part of the stand crew. We found that a large
display sized telly was great for showing off Tat's intro, but it was a lot
of work to carry! Our stand space for the Birmingham leg was very limited,
but we managed. It largely acted as an impromptu cloakroom for the UK atari
demo scene. Apart from the old favourites, one of them showing preview
screens for a demo called Sono', we first met Ed Cleveland here. he was
showing a very early version of his Donkey Island. We also saw Apex 3 in
prototype form, the very powerful Hades '060 TOS clone, something like Magic
PeeCee emulation, and lots of boxes were shifted.
Lots of paper was shifted too, Atari Computing was a wild success and they
sold out...
Over to Sunday in London. We group at the Four Pillars Hotel in Osterley,
which was quite near to Heathrow Airport, I drive down in the lashing rain,
with Felice, but without Mr Hollis. We meet Matt Smith for the first time,
and Arto turns up to see how his intro looks. Felice also manages to annoy
the arse off Merlin PDL, whose peaceful contemplation of the show is rudely
shattered by outbursts of the Obnoxious Demo. Must be something to do with
our stand being set up on a stage, and bringing out theatrical tendencies in
Mr Felice!? The final minutes turn into a massive device chaining copy
party, with the active assistance of the Black Scorpion dudes.
With the entire weekend, and week before, counting Maggie 21 taken up by it,
this show was great fun, but extremely hard work. It was an interesting
'insiders' window into how these things worked. We weren't deterred from
doing more like this, as the rest of this account will reveal. It was
described by me in some detail in Maggie 22.
During 1997, the Goodman shows were maintained, more or less in the same
format that we saw in the autumn of 1996. Some of us were going to
Siliconvention that spring, and screaming "Yesss!" when a certain demo
beginning with 'S' was shown onscreen. Not me though (grrr!) I was in the
throes of upgrade related turmoil, as we will see!
Show #27
Spring Atari Show.
National Motorcycle Museum Birmingham, and Four Pillars Hotel Osterley.
April 1997.
The Spring Atari Show came along shortly after Easter. This was the second
Goodmans show, which followed the same format for days and venues.
Birmingham Saturday, Osterley on Sunday, nice easy rhythm to it. We were
given stand space and were exhibiting once again. This time, my main
machine, and pride and joy Falcy was out of commission, owing to a bodge
fitted nemesis upgrade. It was in the sick computer hospital waiting for
some soldering iron inspired rescusitation. In the meantime, I had buggerall
to show, apart from a hastily improvised "preview" of the 90 percent
completed Maggie 23. This ran, using a semi-custom GEM shell, hacked around
a bit more, on my crappy old STFM. People came and saw, and for some reason,
thought this was an entirely new shell to replace Tat's modified Delta Force
masterpiece! I got tired of explaining it wasn't, approximately halfway
through...
This we time in direct competition with the adjacent ST Plus stand. Dave was
launching a new issue of his mag, inspired by our effort at the last show,
methinks! We played too much Sonoluminescenz instead of Obnoxious, but still
couldn't get enough! Many nice Atari scene dudes turned up, with Mr Pink
showing off his Godboy for the first time in public. We had managed to get
hold of the ultimate Falcy 3D game 'Running', and that got a lot of screen
space on Felice's Falcon.
Back to Osterly again on Sunday. Matt Smith smugly revealed his successfully
self-Nemesised Falcon! Damn him! There were no really big products ready in
time for this show, apart from some exotic Pro-music hardware. We did see a
nearly ready Apex 3, or Apex Alpha, (which subsequently didn't..) and the
odd new Jaguar game such as Falcon favourite, Towers II on a Jag cartridge.
This was a good follow-up to last Autumn show, especially with the friendly
rivalry from the ST Plussers next door, with a promise of more to come in
that vein. We wrote it up, both days, in Maggie 23.
Show #28
Autumn Atari Show.
National Motorcycle Museum Birmingham, and Four Pillars Hotel Osterley.
October 1997.
We were back for the Autumn Atari Show in October, which had another Maggie
issue released there, this time, Maggie 24, with the work in progress Falcon
shell rewrite, and swish looking intro from New Beat. We were back at our
usual places, Birmingham on Saturday, Osterley for Sunday. This incarnation
was a bit more tired and lower profile in some respects. The Stunning Apex
Alpha was no more. There was more general bargain-orientated box-shifting
going on, although those dudes from the Console Centre had quite a lively
Jaguar based display, with the Jag version of Zero 5 getting a lot of
attention in particular. System Solutions were lobbing out CAB in its brand
new 2.5 version, which was of direct interest to me now I'd got online.
The new generation of TOS clones, such as Milan and Phenix were being talked
about, but unfortunately not seen here. Maggie 24 turned out to be one of
the few wholly new productions there! Mr Pink was taking the art of Godboy
games to new heights with a very slick and polished looking 'Kirbys
Adventure'. Indeed it was mistaken for a professional product by some
console kidz who asked which company produced it! The Reservoir Gods led
scene people were slightly bored by this show and spent most of their time
in the bar upstairs. Down in the main hall, a huge bloke wearing a kilt
roamed freely!
Sunday took a strange turn at Osterly, as John Hayward, a figure more
recently associated with coding parties donated a crumbling Toshiba Laptop
for a slightly odd realtime article. Some genuinely interesting people, such
as Mike MUG UK Mee made it here, as does Mike James, the most senior of them
all! It culminated in an end of show gathering in the Osterly hotel bar,
where much arm wrestling, and ripping the piss from Tronic took place! The
Sunday was the more interesting and enjoyable of the two days, which was a
reversal of the normal running order for this sort of event. Saturday was
flat and lacking in atmosphere. The after show report in Maggie 25 is most
memorable for *that* photo of Felice in his heroin addiction days.
This was to be the final Goodmans show, what was coming next??
The outlook for gathering together the Atari faithful under one roof went
vague and undecided for a while in 1998. We had a major expedition to sunny
Finland to keep us busy in the early part of the year, internet based
activities were coming more to the fore, but a good old fashioned get
together seemed to be out of the question, at least until those nice Atari
Computing people, previously happy to stick at being a major attraction at
someone else's show, decide to take matters into their hands. The Autumn
Atari Computing Convention (ACC), held within the confines of the All Micro
Show (AMS) is the result.
Show #29
Atari Computing Convention (Inside the All-Micro Show.)
The County Showground, Stafford.
November 1998.
We had a long wait for this one! All the way to November 1998 in fact. With
the new organisers, came a new venue, this was in freezing Stafford. We
managed to get stand space again, but with nothing pre-planned, as Felice
and Pete Augustin. a former ST Plus loyalist, were sneaking in a bit of
discreet box-shifting of surplus kit on their own behalf. This show not was
not a a purist Atari event, but it combined with a whole bunch of assorted
box shifters, second, third and fifth hand hardware resellers, and user
groups for those machines even deader than ours. Did anyone say Einstein at
this point?
This did the Atari part no harm, to be part of something bigger, it got a
wider audience than the same smallish band of people who kept coming to
Atari only events out of herd loyalty.
The venue was at the rather outdoorish County Showground in Stafford. This
was a very big and very cold place to be at in November. Still, may have
helped a lot of those pentium machines with insufficient cooling fans!? In
another life-change from previous conventions, I was accompanied by babe-
femme Nicky person, whilst she was still in the blind devotion stage of the
relationship, IE. before she knew better. Boy did she suffer! We met up with
Matt Smith and his 1968 vintage camper van. The ACC was a good shopping
trip for me personally, I managed to acquire the captive Floppyshop Falcon
before doors-open time! Pink and a large Res Gods contingent manage to make
it, along with several others. It was at this event, we have the last
confirmed Atari related sighting of Tat, and Kev Taff Davies.
The extended break did the format some good, as people had new things to
show at last. There was quite a bit of new hardware. Some of those fancy
Milan machines were in action, and Dave Encill was showing the Eclipse
graphics card, and of course, the Centurbo CT2 was available from System
Solutions. Atari Computing impressively organised themselves, indeed, outdid
themselves from previous shows, with a very professional looking stand. The
level and quality of the Atari presence in the hall was upbeat and lively.
This followed on to an interesting after show party in an adjacent bar. The
realtime article, sponsored by Matt Smith dragged up some anecdotes from
some very very drunken Res Gods people by the end... (Almost) all was
revealed in Maggie 27.
I tend to remember 1999 mainly as the year of Error on Line, where the demo
loving part of the Atari scene got more hardcore, and dug in. There were
still some moments of UK show related happenings, but with a sense that
things were winding down gently to a stop..
Show #30
Atari Computing Convention (Inside the All-Micro Show.)
The County Showground, Stafford.
April 1999.
There was another AMS in April. This was a lesser category event in every
category from the bigger and more important pre-Xmas version of the show.
Fewer exhibitors, less Atariness, and not really any major memories from
this event. We didn't take a stand this time, which suited the female
freezing person more, as I was able to spend most as the time with her. It
had the handy benefit of not being at Fallingbostel sleeping tent
temperatures, which contributed to the feminine contentment factor greatly
as well.
Show #31
Atari Computing Convention (Inside the All-Micro Show.)
The County Showground, Stafford.
November 1999.
What were we to expect from the first anniversary of the hit 1998 AMS Show?
Well the fabled, much lusted after, and nearly mythical Phenix super-Falcon
was finally seen here for the first time! Well the motherboard was, and it
wasn't doing anything apart from showing a black and yellow chessboard
pattern. It was also the last time it was seen, as the whole project died on
its arse shortly afterwards, in a spew of defecting Dolmen O/S developers.
The presence of Rodolphe Czuba on the System Solutions stand did have
another benefit though as he finally patched my CT2 to run properly at last.
We did take up more stand space, combining some box-shifting on Felice's
part, with a selection of classic demos, and EIL '99 releases on my
hardware. This was paired up with the stunning "Whip!" sound to light
software, piping the demo soundtracks through Whip! just to do something
different.
This was also a big farewell to the Atari Computing magazine. Their final
issue could be picked up from here. They had lasted three years, which was
blummin' good, and were quitting whilst they were ahead, a sensible move in
retrospect. The Console Centre were back, and had Jaguar and Lynx on sale at
bargain prices (like 15 quid a time!) Lots of exhibitors, such as Titan were
missing. Lots of the Atari-loving people were missing too. The Reservoir
Gods didn't quite make it, but we did get to see Spiny of Torment. We also
had Rob Goldsmith sitting next to us, who turned out to be a nice dude. He
was in the preliminary stages of developing Highwire, before it went quiet
for a long while, but hearteningly, making a strong return in very recent
times. Requiem, and a returning John 'VoGue' Nott, no longer looking like
Penfold out of Dangermous gawped at the EIL generation of ST demos wondering
how people could get so much out of 8 mhz.
We also saw the Return of Tony Greenwood in a more 'corporate' capacity than
we were accustomed to, on behalf of Cyberstrider Online. The inevitable QL
and Einstein user groups were back out of their boxes, with just a little
more dust on them than before.
We could sense that this was getting stale again, and would need a rethink
on how to survive in the post Atari computing era. Would this be
forthcoming? We covered it all in Maggie 28.
"I think this is it.."
The doctor looks briefly at the comatose patient. He then turns to the group
of concerned relatives next to the bed, a brief curt tilt of his head tells
them all they need to know.........
There was almost too much going on in 2000. We somehow found the time to
take in three overseas parties, plus the epic struggle to get the 10th
anniversary issue of Maggie out, not to mention the work involved in
starting a new diskmagazine (the one you're reading right now, pay
attention!) Anything else would be an afterthought. Still, we struggled to
the November edition of the AMS, which would turn out to be (probably) the
final UK-based large scale Atari gathering of any distinction.
(Spring Show footnote:- I think there was one for 2000? But there was so
little of interest, I don't think it merited a report? Another of those
nether region non-events that leave just the odd fragment of ghost memory?)
Show #32
Atari Computing Convention (Inside the All-Micro Show.)
The County Showground, Stafford.
November 2000.
It did survive the loss of Atari Computing, but only just. There was a major
difference in the travel and stand arrangements. Felice was committed
elsewhere, didn't make it for the first time in a long long time. Instead, I
shared stand space with Chris Crosskey of Abingdon Synthesis Projects (ASP)
and lengthy Robot Wars anecdotes fame. Chris stayed overnight at my place,
we skirted massive flood warnings in his van on the journey up. This was one
of the wettest and maddest weeks in the UK. The flood warnings, and likely
imminence of waterlogging kept a lot of people away. Deez, working in the
UK, was allegedly down for a visit, but kept away, no Reservoir Gods made it
either, but they may have been working most Saturdays at that time?
So we set up next to Carbon and Atarimad, who were busy selling off the
remnants of Atari Computing. We set out to play a bunch of demos old and new
alike, and nearly manage to offend good taste and public decency with an
extremely loud rendition of the H-Demo-IV. It is debatable if the vividly
early '90's oldschool acieed style soundtracked 'Techno Drugs' demo was a
suitable way to commemorate our glorious war dead in two minutes of
armistice day silence, but the organisers didn't let us find out.
A few people braved the soggy conditions and landed up at our stand, the
faithful Torment guys did make it. Also there were several nice if lesser
known bods. There was not a lot of Atari left at the show, the main interest
for those who did turn up, was that the Jaguar and Lynx were now seven quid
a go! Apart from ASP, the people next door, and some odds and ends, the only
other memorable stand was the Atari Portfolio Owners Club, a line of
hardware not really widely understood outside the Atari Portfolio Owners
Club. The end was nigh, and this final AMS gathering was surely the last
ever organised UK Atari show in any venue larger than someone's front room!
I'm pretty sure this squeezed into the 10th Anniversary edition of Maggie.
And that seems to be the end of a long and eventful story..
The future for any future UK event attending, seems to be bleak No new
events have been planned since the ACC ended. The whole 'All Micro Show' got
canned from there, not just the Atari part. There have been some hopeful
noises made, mainly at an individual level on the lines of "Please can we
have another show?!" but nothing concrete ever emerges.
JUST HOW MANY!
So just how many shows did he go to?
The official total of thirty two shows obtained from this article does not
quite cover the whole topic. I made references to some shows which I barely
remember in a very fragmentary fashion. Of these, there was almost certainly
another Wellingborough Computer Club PCW inspired trip, my recording of the
various 16-Bit Novotel Shows seems to be patchy too, as a couple seem to
have escaped being written down properly (Including the one at which I was
first introduced to Mr Pink by Sammy Joe). I seem to have trouble trying to
tell these events apart, that far back. There could have been a final Spring
2000 edition of the Atari Computing Convention at Stafford, but the Atari
content may have been so negligeable as to make it not worthwhile recording,
or remembering?
Therefore, in addition to the thirty two reliably accounted shows, there are
an estimated four to six other shows which escaped documentation, which
makes it a hell of a lot of these things that I went to in fifteen years!
Show #33
The 16-Bit Show.
Hammersmith Novotel London.
January 1991.
The author of this piece belatedly remembers that he 'hid' some of his show
reviews inside other more general columns. Not in chronological order
anymore, but never mind.
Look inside the 'Rottspot' column in Maggie issue 7 for this one.
And I was introduced to Mr Pink at this show, who was just known as plain
old "Leon O'Reilly" back then. Sammy Joe had a semi-official presence on the
Budgie UK stand, along with the other two core members of the Lost Boys,
Spaz and a prematurely greying Manikin. The show was a generally pleasant if
uneventful affair. There was a variation in travelling companionship, as I
went down with an old schoolmate who had got into ST ownership called Stuart
Bray. Plans to stay behind for an after-show party with Sammy Joe and the
other demo scene pals got killed off by threats of blizzard like conditions
cutting off rail services, so I had to regretfully go home with Stuart.
Show #34
The 16-Bit Show.
Hammersmith Novotel London.
Spring 1991.
Look, this is getting very silly now, isn't it!
Smuggled into the Maggie issue 8 Rottspot column, where I forgot to look
until it was too late..
I travelled down with a gentleman called Nathan Gould, possibly one of the
greatest mystery 'what might have been' coders, who turned out to be
terminally lazy and embroiled in some very complicated femmes. He was also
the chap who donated his nametag so I could get into the 1991 Trade only
version of the ECES.
We were looking for a hard drive for my STe, yes, I had pockets, with money
induced burn-holes in them back then, and Audio Sculpture, the new and
fabulous sound tracker supporting STe enhanced modes. We found Sammy Joe,
under threat from a sleepless zombie collapse, having been up all night to
put the finishing touches to Maggie 7. We came away with some 1 Meg Simms
for my STe, not fancying lugging hard drives around a very crowded floor. We
encountered a whole bunch of French scene guys on their own stand selling
Audio Sculpture, or rather, taking orders for it in a very crude and
haphazard fashion. I might add that Nathan is *still* waiting for his copy!
The Lost Boys were selling their new game through the new Eclipse label,
"Monster Business", and we saw an early run-through demo of what was to
become Lethal Xcess, Wings of Death 2.
The show report also contained another confirmed Jeff Minter sighting.
COMPY SHOW
CHARTS!
Here is a series of best of, worst of listings, sort of to put things in
some kind of ranking system. Where one or more Atari related articles are
gathered together, then the temptation to categorise stuff becomes
overwhelming.
The most enjoyable show.
1. 1st Ever PCW Show (1985)
2. June 1990 Atari 90's Show
3. September 1996 Autumn Atari Show
4. May 1991 Spring Shopper Show
5. February 1993 16-Bit Show
To explain this category, that first PCW show was a time of innocence, of
not quite knowing what to expect, and enjoying the end result hugely. June
1990 was my first big contact with the demo scene. The third placed Autumn
Atari show was the first time we were on the other side of the stand. May
1991 was probably the best 'people' show, and February 1993 needs no other
comment!
The most significant show.
1. June 1990 Atari 90's Show
2. February 1993 16-Bit Show
3. January 1991 16-Bit Show
A bit of a shift-around from the first category here. The June 1990 Atari
90's Show was my first contact with Maggie, and the motivator to start
writing and take an active part in the scene. And I'm still here! February
'93 persuaded me to get that Falcon '030, and this extended the Atari
appreciation of my computing lifestyle for a very long time after. The
January 1991 16-Bit show creeps in third place, why? Well it was the first
time I met Mr Pink, which developed into a very long and interesting
creative relationship!
The most expensive show.
1. Feb '93 16-Bit Show
2. November 1998 ACC
3. June 1990 Atari 90's Show
By which, I mean the one at which I did the most shopping at. Most of the
time, I managed to keep my costs for going to these things under reasonable
control. The winner here was the show where I parted with nine hundred green
ones for my Falcon, didn't get anything else there, I daren't! I went into a
shopping frenzy at the 1998 ACC, picking up the Floppyshop Falcon, and
lovely "official" versions of lots of applications there. The third place
winner, quite apart from introducing me to Maggie, left me 300 UKP down
after getting a new STe.
The least expensive show.
1. Various ECTS Shows, and Later Computer Shopper Shows.
A dead heat here! These are the places where I didn't spend a bean, apart
from things like transportation costs, and the odd overpriced bite to eat.
The ECTS spending deficit is logical, it was a trade show, with nothing to
buy there, unless you were signing for very big amounts of money! The later
Computer Shopper Shows simply had nothing of interest to offer.
The most interesting show from a demo scene perspective.
1. All pre-1993 16-Bit Shows
2. Spring 1991 Computer Shopper Show
3. September 1996 Autumn Atari Show
The 16-Bit Shows, a general strong all-rounder in most previous categories
are grouped together for a mass award here. It was at these shows, that the
demo scene personalities of the time were most likely to be gathered, and to
have their own official presence on the ground. The Spring 1991 Shopper
managed to maintain this companionship, and an otherwise mediocre show was
transformed into one of the cooler events of the time. The September 1996
Autumn Atari Show get in here, as a tribute to the hard work and interest of
the later personalities of the UK Atari scene in bringing about Maggie 21.
The best show venue.
1. Design Centre Islington (Early ECTS Shows)
2. Novotel
3. Motorcycle Museum Birmingham
Best venue eh? It's like asking about the best motorway service station
plastic cup! Earls Court was a sweaty hole, and Olympia was a barn! Still,
if we must, I liked the Design Centre Islington as a nice modern venue. If
you got the right bit of the Novotel, preferably the bit that had plush
seating areas and well appointed bars just off the show, this was more
bearable than most. The Motorbike museum, spiritual and physical home of the
Goodman era shows, was memorable for its upstairs bar, and (almost)
neverending supplies of Tiger Bitter.
The coldest show venue.
1. Stafford County Showground (ACC series)
One clear winner here. The prevailing environment at places like Earls Court
and the Novotel was always on the warm side. I also remember Alexandra
Palace tending to act like a giant greenhouse with the merest hint of sunny
weather. In these cases, any clothing that was perfectly fine for outdoor
conditions, was always too warm there. Stafford reversed that simmering
complacency, with a cold-store of a venue that had everyone shivering into
their boots, hats, and coats by the end.
The best dressed show-goer.
1. The Cancelled ECES Trade Show thing, 1991
2. Goodman Atari Shows
There wasn't a formal dress code for any of these shows. The thing was to
dress for comfort as much as possible. Having said that, I did dress up a
bit for the aborted ECES trade show at Earls Court. The Goodman Atari show
gets into this strange category, with an extra-special "Huge bloke in a
kilt" award!
The most pretentious event.
1. ECTS (who else!)
Most of our Atari shows were pretty down to earth events, with no airs and
graces assumed, and no attempt to assert a dubious superiority. The
exception to this refreshing approach, would be the ECTS, where the great
and good of the software entertaiment (or infotaiment, edutainment etc)
industry were gathered. The 'suits' tried to push to the front of the queue,
the PR was just that bit more annoying, the ECTS was not a place to be a
raggedy rebel...
Shows which saw a release of a Maggie issue.
1. June 1990 Atari 90's Show - Maggie first ever issue!
2. June 1991 16-Bit Show - Maggie 7
3. Sept 1996 Goodman Show - Maggie 21
4. Oct 1997 Goodman Show - Maggie 24
5. Nov 1999 ACC/AMS - Psycho Babble Project
June 1990, 'nuff said already. This was amazingly for a notoriously lazy
Sammy Joe, followed one year later with issue 7, made ready for release
through great nocturnal efforts. It wasn't until a long time later, when we
got our own stand space, that Maggie 21 came together as a show special. We
did it all again a year later with Maggie 24. The Psycho Babble Project
special issue gets a mention here, as it limped out late from an expected
Error in Line release earlier in that year. The final ACC/AMS (Nov 2000)
*almost* saw the release of the first issue of Alive!, as Seb had nicely
got it ready just in time, but the download connection wasn't working that
well on the morning, so it didn't. (Damn!)
Coolest of them all.
1. The Sept 1996 Goodmans Show!
You might think this is a difficulty category to choose just one winner
from. What a range of choice, from the earliest days of the PCW Show,
through to the companionship to be found at the early 16-Bit shows. You
might think that some of the events where I made major purchasing decisions,
such as the February '93 16-Bitter may get a look in. And what about the
final revival attempts by the Atari Computing Convention?
Well I would say close but no banana, or fruit of any other kind. In fact,
the show with the max, was the first show where we started doing it for
ourselves, with a big fat issue of Maggie lobbed in, with all sorts of tasty
improvements brought in by the fantastic hard working Maggie Team, that, is,
the issue 21-tastic original Goodmans Show!
And that is all for this report. You might like to check out the mercifully
shorter companion-piece in this issue, which is all about the Science
Fiction events that I went to.
CiH, For Alive! Mag,Aug '02.
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