In 1990 the magazine went through another change dropping C64 support
altogether to become CU Amiga. It was a time of rebirth for the magazine
becoming one of EMAP's premier titles. The Amiga was at its peak as
a consumer machine, beginning to beat the Atari ST in the computer
market. The A500 was wowing the low-end while the A2000 was showing
the Amigas power at the high-end of the scale. 1991 was a prosperous
time for games, beating the consoles with a range of fantastic titles,
including Robocop 3, First Samurai, and Populous 2. Games that would
become classics. In terms of readership the magazine was not quite
at its peak with a circulation of of 78,266 over the period January-
June 1991. This jumped by almost 12,000 during July - December and
broke the 100,000 barrier reporting sales figures of 101, 923 for
January - June 1992. Over 22,000 more readers than the previous year!
It was a prosperous time for the Amiga with a string of highly successful
bundles and TV advertising campaign in the UK (selling the A500 as
a game machine). The magazine increased its page count to a whopping
292 pages in the December 1991 issue, as well as doubling the number
of cover disks. This was an irregular occurrence at first but soon
became standard every issue. The 'CU Collection' provided a mix of
game and utility software. In face of increasing competition from
Amiga Format and other magazines, CU Amiga made a series of changes
to the cover disk. The 'Collection' title was dropped with the introduction
of commercial game demos and serious software.
  
The increase in circulation and a price rise of 20p allowed the magazine
great freedom to develop some of the magazine design layout. The pages
increased in width by 2 CM, adding an extra column to most pages.
This was a fairly popular practice at the time that EMAP were late
to capitalize on. Older titles had a difficult time converting from
the established layout designed for A4. This inevitably had an effect
on the number of pages found in an issue, dropping from 292 (December
1991) to 180 during 1992. The layout had also become much simpler-
the contents page actually became useful for navigating the magazine
(the 1991 issues were plagued by a sense of being lost trying to find
a review).
Throughout CU Amigas' history it was always interested in showing
the readers how to be productive, proclaiming the magazine 'the
complete guide to the Amiga' on the cover of every issue. This creative
impulse covered both software and hardware projects. The October
1991 cover explained 'HOW TO INVENT AMIGA GADGETS'. A topic that
would be picked up again during 1995 in CU Amiga Magazine.
The software side was supported by a number of tutorials, ranging
from Octamed to ARexx. These were divided from the rest of the magazine
in a familiar layout (for anyone that read the later issues), comprising
of Screen Scene (game reviews), Get Serious (technical software),
and the Blue Pages.
The Blue What!?
The Blue Pages were a separate section at the back of the magazine
set aside for tutorials, technical questions + answers, BackChat letters
page, buyers guide and Points of View. These, as the name suggests,
were printed on cheap blue paper.
The pages were particularly influenced by the design of the recently
purchased multi-format magazine, A.C.E. from Future Publishing. The
Blue Pages were more technical orientated than its replacement 'Amiga
Workshop', covering subjects such as electronic surveillance and dyslexia
education. The style treated the Amiga as a tool rather than the final
word in computing.
As 1991 rolled into 1992, changes were afoot that would change
the magazines course. Steve James left the editors chair and was
replaced by Deputy Editor, Dan Slingsby. Nick Veitch moved to the
magazine to become technical editor, replacing Mat Broomfield who
took an advisory role, spending less time on the magazine. Steve
Merrett became deputy editor for a short time only to join a Sega
magazine a few months later.
The new Amigas were revealed in the June 1992 edition of CU Amiga
giving them an opportunity to have their very own cover girl. Announcing
'Commodore's Double Whammy', the link was almost as tenuous as PC
Format's insistence on putting beautiful women on their magazine.
The boxing metaphor was used to introduce the Commodore A570, a
CD-ROM drive that allowed CDTV software to be used with the Amiga,
and the A600.
Building upon the development if 1992, the next year was very successful
for CU Amiga with a series of guides to the technical side of the
Amiga, covering RAM expansion (August 1993), animation packages
(September 1993), monitors and an investigation of Full Motion Video.
Although the quality of games were improving, the number of classics
seemed to have dropped in comparison to the year before. Many will
be remembered for the wrong reason. The review of Frontier (November
1993) received a lot of criticism from readers accusing CU of overrating
the game, citing various problems with docking and autopilot. After
the mammoth increase in circulation the previous year it was hoped
that influx of people would increase sales again. The results were
not quite as dramatic as the previous year but CU Amiga had still
managed to increase its readership by almost 100,000, totalling
111, 408 (ABC Jan - June 1993). Circulation peaked towards the second
half of this year with 112,780 (July - December 1993). The magazine
regularly included over 180 pages per issue. The magazine gained
quite a reputation for its CD32 coverage, with a section dedicated
to the console, titled CD32 Zone. This was soon killed off when
it became apparent with the demise of Commodore came the death of
the Amiga as a competitor to the console market. The year has been
described as the Amigas greatest moment, with a string of fantastic
software behind it and bankruptcy ahead.
It does not take a genius to remember what happened in 1994! The
January edition reported the rumour that Commodore would be broke
up and sell the Amiga to the highest bidder. Jason Holburn interviewed
Commodore UK regarding its financial situation, as well as an interview
with Jim Sachs. CU Amiga was going from strength to strength but
cracks were beginning to appear in the magazine defence. Whilst
Amiga Format focussed a specific market, CU Amiga became even more
wide ranging. In an attempt the beginners market, tutorials covered
DPaint (one of the longest running tutorials, lasting 12 issues),
Aegis Animator, Blitz Basic 2, and video titling. Many readers felt
turned off by the simplicity of the tutorials in comparison to earlier
issues.
The year saw the first decline in software releases. The blame cannot
simply be associated with the death of Commodore. A lack of advertising
by the parent company, attack from the console market, and the PCs
movement into the home market. The PC threat that Amiga users had
recognized during 1992 had moved onto the home ground. CU Amiga
did not ignore the threat, turning the PC market to the Amigas advantage.
The November 1994 issue began a PC conversion series on using PC
software and hardware with the Amiga.
Over the years CU always had a good relationship with Commodore.
Even back in February 1985 they were the Amiga users ears to the
words of the parent company. Both CU Amiga and Amiga Format featured
columns written by David Pleasance. This continued towards the end
of 1994 with an investigation of the future under the renamed Commodore
UK company, Amiga International in the November issue. The times
were changing but CU Amiga were not changing with it.
The departure of Dan Slingsby and his replacement Alan Dykes gave
the magazine a much needed update. During the last few months of
1994, CU began to experiment with designs to use the best to its
best. For the first time in years CU Amiga were forced to reduce
the number of pages from 180 to 164. The magazine redesigned itself
in its final phase. Regular readers would notice little difference
but the changes for the next few years as the magazine focused upon
technical issues, in contrast to Amiga Format's game coverage.
CU Amiga entered its fifth and final phase as it refocused upon
its audience, beating its old enemy Amiga Format in the circulation
wars. The Amiga market was in decline. The Amiga was without an
owner and without a hope. The next few years would be a time of
decline, but out of defeat, CU Amiga would grasp victory.
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