![Amiga Pro](aprohead.gif)
First issue release
date: June 1994 |
Final issue release
date: ?, 1994 |
Publisher: Aceville
Publications Limited |
Coverage: Serious
magazine, included games supplement for first 4 issues. |
Country published:
United Kingdom |
No. of issues: ? |
Medium: Paper |
Status: Dead |
Web Address:
None |
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Amiga Pro was a latecomer to the Classic Amiga magazine scene
being launched in June 1994. In a similar style to Amiga Shopper,
it covered serious Amiga issues, relegating Amiga games to a 52
page supplement called 32. In the first issues Editorial the
magazines focus was defined as covering serious issues, such as
industry movements, social implications, and development questions.
Its focus was on Amiga people rather than the Amiga itself, showing
that Commodore hadn't just created a computer, but a political
institution as well. In many respects it was ground-breaking,
covering a number of perspectives in the Amiga industry, including
a "Journalist comment" from the likes of Phil South, "retail
comments" from managers who ran Amiga-based companies, and
"PD/Shareware comment" such as 17 bit Software. The 32 supplement
continued this with regular columns penned by people in the games
industry, including the legendary Andrew Braybrook (Urdrium,
Paradroid) and Archer Maclean (Jimmy White's Snooker). An
interesting attempt at covering the Amiga industry from the inside?
The magazine itself had very few permanent staff, being written for
the most part by contributors. The majority of these were unknowns,
being based in the industry itself these writers were purported to
be experts in their field. It also included work by regular Amiga
writers such as Paul Rigby (editor), Larry Hickmott, Paul Overra,
and Phil South. Unlike other magazines it did not feel the need to
fill its pages with tutorials suggesting that "magazines are just
not cut out for them" It also promised never to include floppy
disks on the cover, although the reason for this was never
mentioned. The first issue covered how Index Information (famous
for their BoXeR system) were using the CD32 for multimedia. Regular
features included a complaints section where readers could complain
about a companies service called 'Gotta Gripe?', the problems in
finding an Amiga-friendly bureau. Despite their embargo on
tutorials they included a column on coding, covering the basic of
using the EXEC run-time library in issue 1. Despite the expert
knowledge the column presumed of its reader it jumped across many
points, demanding the reader to seemingly get into the mind of the
writer to understand what he was talking about. In a similar
fashion to Amiga Shopper, it dedicated quite a few pages to PD and
shareware, reviewing the best of the scene. One of the magazines
advantages was the quality of reviews. These were geared to
fulfilling specific tasks. In this aspect it was extremely
practical geared to providing information about what type of uses
the user would require.
![32 Logo](32head.gif)
As a supplement to Amiga Pro, a 52 page magazine was included
called 32, that reviewed 32-bit software. This was not restricted
to CD32 but also covered the A1200, but surprisingly missed out the
A4000, capable of running well written A1200 software. This is
understandable, even during 1994 the A4000 was seen as out of the
range of most gamers. As mentioned, the supplement included
comments from the industry, penned by the likes of Andrew
Braybrook, Archer Maclean, and John Hare (Cannon Fodder). These did
not necessarily always cover the Amiga as such, with the writers
given free range to talk about anything they liked. One writer
spent a column talking about their voting habits in a local
election. Game reviews were somewhat erratic, falling into the trap
of describing most games as 'brilliant'. It used an unusual rating
system, breaking away from the percentage system used by other
magazines but not going as far as too omit the rating system
altogether. It gave verdict in the form of text ratings, such as
'Brilliant' and 'PDG'. However there seemed to be little relation
between different awards given (Gold and Platinum awards seemed to
be interchangeable between these verdicts). The magazine also
seemed to have included a large number of games that never made it
to the market, despite showing screenshots. This could point to two
things- the screenshots were taken from the PC version and
indicated as the Amiga version, or the project themselves were
cancelled whilst in development.
The 32 supplement existed for an even shorter period than its
parent magazine, lasting for just 4 issues before being cancelled
because of the bad reception it got from the readers. In its place
were to be a series of specialist guides covering a specific
subject. This failed to appear and it is likely that the publishers
realized that they were losing money from the magazine and cut
funding. Despite its original concept it did not have the
established readership provided by other magazines of the time
along with the liquidation of Commodore leading to great
uncertainty in the market.
View Amiga Pro Issue 1 (182k)
View 32 Supplement, issue 1 (23.9k)
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