News First of all, my apologies for not covering Hound of Shadows and Mystery of the Mummy in this issue as promised in Issue 4. Due to a disastrous software order given to Third Coast Technologies (I make no apologies for naming them here as they have caused me a load of problems!) I was unable to get hold of the games in time. Still no sign of Loom or Midwinter as I write but Demon's Tomb is now available - as is Ultima V! Yes, that's right, the game we thought would never appear on the ST is finally here. I only had a brief look at it and was very impressed with the opening scenes and the greatly improved graphics but I've been told that it is very hard ...... much harder than the earlier games. BSS Jayne Seymour is the fascinating name of a forthcoming RPG from Gremlin. Set in space on a biological survey ship, it looks very much like Dungeon Master - certainly more so than Bloodwych which was heralded as being similar to DM when it was released. Though Anita Sinclair has been giving interviews lately, she has been very cagey about Magnetic Scrolls' new game, their first in a long time and the first one under the Virgin/Mastertronic banner. All we can glean from the interviews is that it will be released in June, is written with their new system, will have some animated graphics, no typing, and will be b-i-g .... about 1.3 megabytes! There are plans for a further three releases during 1991. The Final Battle, the sequel to Legend of the Sword, which features 3D isometric graphics, should be released at the end of April. Suzar has escaped from his "prison" at the end of Legend and you and your companions will have to defeat him yet again - hopefully for good this time. MicroProse have several new products in the pipeline. One is UMS II which allows over 16,000 units per side (UMS only permitted a paltry 60!) and up to 127 players (computer or human) can simultaneously control 525 provinces. You'll be able to port world and battle data between different machines too. StarLord, also from MicroProse, will be out in the summer and is a space simulation game allowing up to 15 human players (or 1 human/14 computer players). It's based on Mike Singleton's PBM game of the same name and you compete against rebel Starlords for the title of Galactic Emperor. Interactive Technology are keeping very busy. Hard on the heels of Dead End comes A Dark Sky Over Paradise, set on the MoonBase at the time of great economic and ecological problems on Earth as Mankind plans to colonise Mars. It will be reviewed in the next issue of SynTax. Their next game will be Weird Tales, a pair of fantasy horror stories (one based on HP Lovecraft) using their ZEN system. It's due for release in April and there's a demo of the ZEN system on PD disk 51. Zenobi Software, already well known to Spectrum adventurers, has branched out into 16-bit software, starting with three classics - The Jade Stone, the Domes of Sha Tri-pack and Whiplash and Wagonwheel. Two more adventures which will soon be added to Zenobi's catalogue are The Adventurer and Souldrinker. The Adventurer casts you in the role of a TV show contestant who reaches the final of the "Adventurer of the Year Quest". Can you solve the problems that lie in the world you enter during the contest and find your way back to claim your prize? Souldrinker has a completely different scenario. When your family and friends are killed and your village destroyed by the evil Boris and his minions, only the satanic sword Souldrinker will help you avenge them - if you can find it. Finally, the RPG BAT (or is that B.A.T.?) from Ubisoft is due out soon. Set in the near(ish) future, it contains over 1100 locations as you seek to overcome an evil character called Vrangor who is planning to blow up the capital city of the planet Selenia unless his demands are met. Sue