Questioning CCS
Let's continue discussing some titles from the publisher that I like most of all - CCS.
Let's also keep this discussion to what it's about, or I'll have it locked. :)
There are five titles in the list that puzzles me. First, the four MIAs:
180
Shift Shaft
Voffy
Wizard's Curse
During my research and hunting, I've not seen these mentioned anywhere but on the MIA-list. Does anybody have any sort of proof on or reference to these? I would really like to know. :) I would really like to have them, too. ;)
Secondly, Air-Raid published by CCS - was it ever released? The game exists obviously, but all I can find is the Pulsonic release. Nowhere have I found indications that CCS published this by themselves. Is there any proof for this one? I'd love to hear about it. :)
I've had my doubts on The Open too, I see now that you've listed it. It's been reviewed in one magazine as you correctly reference it to, though that is all I've heard of it. Prior to your listing it I had always thought this was a case of a cancelled release (reviewed prior to it), but now I'm not sure since you listed it. Well, we'll see if it turns up, hehe. It is a bit strange that it's reviewed in one magazine and then it disappears off the Earth.
You have three missing entries for CCS too:
Games of Strategy I
Games of Strategy II
Solitaire
These certainly exist, I have all three, something that at least Paul can testify too. ;) Sorry, hehe. They're not in my hands yet, at a friend's in the UK for now, so I can't give any more details for now. Games of Strategy are compilations obviously, I don't know what's on them yet, but I'll find out shortly. Most likely a reissue of the Charlie Charlie releases, I bet. (the ones in red inlays, i.e. Ace Low, Maverick, Cube and so on)
Finally, can we try to summarize what is known about disk and microdrive releases? I know some of the later ones were advertised for these formats, but I haven't seen much of them. Andy, perhaps you have some info here? :)
Let's also keep this discussion to what it's about, or I'll have it locked. :)
There are five titles in the list that puzzles me. First, the four MIAs:
180
Shift Shaft
Voffy
Wizard's Curse
During my research and hunting, I've not seen these mentioned anywhere but on the MIA-list. Does anybody have any sort of proof on or reference to these? I would really like to know. :) I would really like to have them, too. ;)
Secondly, Air-Raid published by CCS - was it ever released? The game exists obviously, but all I can find is the Pulsonic release. Nowhere have I found indications that CCS published this by themselves. Is there any proof for this one? I'd love to hear about it. :)
I've had my doubts on The Open too, I see now that you've listed it. It's been reviewed in one magazine as you correctly reference it to, though that is all I've heard of it. Prior to your listing it I had always thought this was a case of a cancelled release (reviewed prior to it), but now I'm not sure since you listed it. Well, we'll see if it turns up, hehe. It is a bit strange that it's reviewed in one magazine and then it disappears off the Earth.
You have three missing entries for CCS too:
Games of Strategy I
Games of Strategy II
Solitaire
These certainly exist, I have all three, something that at least Paul can testify too. ;) Sorry, hehe. They're not in my hands yet, at a friend's in the UK for now, so I can't give any more details for now. Games of Strategy are compilations obviously, I don't know what's on them yet, but I'll find out shortly. Most likely a reissue of the Charlie Charlie releases, I bet. (the ones in red inlays, i.e. Ace Low, Maverick, Cube and so on)
Finally, can we try to summarize what is known about disk and microdrive releases? I know some of the later ones were advertised for these formats, but I haven't seen much of them. Andy, perhaps you have some info here? :)
Post edited by osgorth on
Comments
I've been trying to compile an MDR and even WDR list, but not with much luck.
Similarly +D and Opus. I guess I need to go read some mag ads ;-).
I know there's many +3 disks missing from the SDP list. I tend to add them when I see them on eBay and the likes, usually they stay on their cos I loose the auction :-)
I'll probably add MDR/WDR to STP or extention of that as they are kind of tapes ???
Then +D/Opus to SDP as they are disks.
Seems there's a few CCS titles floating around... it's always a pleasure to hear of missing titles spotted though.
Cheers
Andy
I can confirm The Open does exist though, I remember it was amongst a pile of games in an Ebay auction a few years ago and I forgot to bid on it - Doh!
However, I did download the picture of the games in which it's visible and can send you it on e-mail if you wish.
Graz: the following games are confirmed Charlie's:
Ace Low
Cube
Dix Mille
Keycode
Matching Pairs
Maverick
Rainy Day
Whodunnit?
I think those are it.. I don't remember if Broodslayer is, it has a red inlay (as all Charlie's do) but I don't recall at the moment.. I don't have it handy either, sorry.
Perhaps they appeared on a compilation?
The 3 missing titles have been added to the database (as MIA).
Regarding Charlie Charlie Sugar, the inlays also say CCS next to it, so should I treat Charlie Charlie Sugar as a publishing label or as a series name (such as PSS's Wargamers, etc)?
You're a star, cheers Peo!
I guess this just goes to show you that your original instinct is correct and that its a dangerous game removing MIA's on someone say so..
I also have The Golden Cobra which is also on the Charlie Charlie Sugar label.
cheers
Paul
oh and I also have The Tomb of Akeheaten, this is also on Charlie Charlie Sugar
I'd say Charlie would fit in better as a series name. It is after all, the same company. Some great games there... A big hole in my collection which needs to be filled!
I had no idea Nuke Lear and Golden Cobra were Charlie tapes, that's nice to know! Could be that I don't have them yet. :) Akhenaten I did know in fact, but forgot to mention it, sorry. Looking for that one too. ;)
@Peo
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=Crash/Issue37/Pages/Crash3700092.jpg
There's a LOT of info in all these mags thanks to Mort!... it's just sifting through them and extracting the info.
I've just identified like 10+ MIAs... look at the Classified section in Your Sinclair etc.. full of info... probably wish I didn't look :-)
Cheers
Andy
Hey ... I hope the thread doesn't get locked as promised on page one ;-) but here is a topic/question indirectly related to what is being discussed:
Is there a check-list of magazines which have been completely exhausted for this sort of information or have not been scoured through?
If not then why not make an Excel-like listing with the appropriate fields, and perhaps the name of each person contributing to the "list" i.e. what info was found or mentioned, what page, which mag etc.
Something like this perhaps:
MAGAZINE:_________________PAGE:_____INFO FOUND:
My Rubber Speccy #8, 1984_____ 16 _______ SqwearSuft plans to release yet another dot-collecting game in December, 1984. Game not named yet.
Then perhaps in another mag there would be info saying that the game was cancelled or perhaps even hailing it as the best game ever bar Cookie. The listings could be cross-referenced so one could see the "history" of each game missing and/or found.
Yes?No?
Skarpo
:-)
I really thought this had all been done, when I learned of SPOT and all the work that's been done in the past. Seems there's time to browse through the mags again, hehe! I bought most of Mort's discs a while back, but haven't had time to go through them yet - sounds like I should, sooner than later. :)
And yeah, get your scanner fired up Paul, we want to see those gems!!
Skarpo, what you suggest is basically what SPOT did, but personalized for our use. I think it's an excellent idea, and it grooves well with the Biotoxin stuff we talked about earlier.
Martijn, if you read this, how about adding a way to add comments to any item in Infoseek, like adding a reference to a magazine or something that isn't already listed? Interactivity in Infoseek would be a great thing, I believe. We could separate user entries and WoS-sanctioned entries too, so stuff that hasn't been verified won't be taken literally. What do you think?
Depends of what info is considered important. You'd have to have a database for every topic which is being researched. If its just MIA games, then that'd be quite easy. But while scanning through the mags, you ,may as well jot down every news snippit you come across and pop it in its relevent database...And then begins a mighty task! I started doing this about 8 years ago, but only managed about 6 whole issues of Crash info, before my mind wandered to other hobbies. Deffinately a group effort is required.
Exactly! In the past I have started similar hobby projects but gone on to other things, often leaving half-finished lists behind me.
The beauty of WoS is that we have many interested people willing to help with something like this. Perhaps the way to tackle a project similar to this is to assign a mag to each willing user (or people can choose their mag).
That way, no matter how long it may take, a database will start to form. As each person sends in info per page, article, mag etc, it can be ticked off in the Db, and perhaps verified by the people in charge of the project.
And if a person has not replied within half a year or a year (give or take a decade ;-) ) with info pertaining to their mag then another person can take over.
Is this something similar to the SPOT list? And if not, is this something which should be done via WoS (like the aforementioned Infoseek "interactivity") or independently?
Skarpo
:-)
With WoS basically being a one man operation, you can probably imagine how much work is on my plate already. Hence, I couldn't possibly imagine taking on any more projects as it stands.
That said, there's no reason why anybody else couldn't run a project such as the one proposed...
You just make WoS seem like a co. with dozens of workers ;-)
Keep up the excellent work Martijn! and I better stop rambling before I seem to overuse the word seem, seemingly etc, etc.
Skarpo
:-)
Basically, every page of every mag will be indexed and where possible OCR'd into a database. This will serve to reduce bandwidth as text versions will be available. It'd be the ideal time to do what's been suggested.
Oh, hey, yeah! I remember that project ... I had started OCRing a mag but it didn't come out properly. Hmmm, better try and find that thread ... it was under the Support files, right? I think I'll drop a comment on it.
Erm ... Foggie ... that thread disappeared during the forum move-over :-(
Skarpo
:-)
I think it's pretty clear that microdrives were not widely adopted by the main stream software houses so I think the amount of releases would be negligable. However, the smaller "utility" cottage industries (eg Lerm, Kobrahsoft) did seem to cater for microdrive users - it was normally your choice to pay a couple of quid more and get something on microdrive rather than tape... that's how I got Kobrahsoft SD5 (which BTW, is still in the UK). IIRC it seemed just to be a dump of all the utilities straight to microdrive - there wasn't even a fancy "run" type menu :(
I guess finding Shift Shaft and 180 highlights the dangers of removing MIA's on nothing more than a 'feeling'. Keep them in infoseek unless we can prove for certain they were not released! thats what I say...
cheers
p.s. 180 is a Charlie Charlie Sugar release, I do think these should be classed as a sub-branch of CCS (their budget label)
Yeah, I agree, let's keep them in!
[OT]
I did find some info about Cue Boy and Slicks on the Codemasters label listed as MIA, the articles would make out that they weren't released on their own but as part of a compilation. Who knows if the compilation was released at all ? So these MIA's could be questionable by themselves as the only 'apparently' appeared on a compilation:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=SinclairUser/Issue130/Pages/SinclairUser13000036.jpg
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=SinclairUser/Issue128/Pages/SinclairUser12800040.jpg
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/showmag.cgi?mag=SinclairUser/Issue128/Pages/SinclairUser12800041.jpg
[OT]
Cheers
Andy
I've got a pretty large collection of 1980's mags and I would be quite happy to help out by working through them and providing and info which is required.
If anybody's interested I would be quite happy to start straightaway.
Indeed it's a shame we can't add a confirmation note/flag/reference that some MIAs exist cos we know they do. Of course once we get our grubby mits on them loan or otherwise they'll change from MIA status and be available for free download.
Keep yer eyes out for the next Vault update.
Cheers
Andy
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseek.cgi?regexp=^Open,+The$&pub=^CCS$
Probbaly as you lot are CCS mad these days ;-)
There's also a Micro Adventurer review, though I've not read it (dunno if we have the page scanned in the archive).
Thanks Peo.
Solitaire
Masters Of Strategy I
Masters Of Strategy II
If needed..
Don't forget the Upload section of WoS.