Little bugs in the database 5

[StooB]

Erbe 88

adverts for this compilation appear in

Micromania Segunda Epocha No 6 November 1988 page 9

and

Megajoystick, No 2 November 1988 page 63

Neither of these magazines seem to be indexed here.

[druellan]

I don't think Rockman https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/4 ... um/Rockman is inspired by Boulder Dash, seems a confusion with another title.

[Rorthron]

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/8 ... der_Attack

Per inlay author should be Martin Smith, not Michael Smith, as listed in the Crash review.

[Einar Saukas]

Mr Wimpy missing from Burger Time, btw.

And Blade Alley from Buck Rogers.

And Sharpshooter from Carnival.

[Joefish]

There is the list of Arcade coin-op conversations (based on a license) that Einar extracted from the database a few days ago:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/references.php

Seem to be some errors in there, under the "BOOK" section - Terry Pratchett is listed as a book on his own, linked to by an adventure called Ankh-Morpork, which should rather link to the correct entry of "The Colour of Magic, by Terry Pratchett".

The author Marc Peirson is listed on a line on his own. The game-related reference is to his children's book 'The Whitefeather Cloak', sometimes referred to as a poem as the whole thing was written in verse.

The book "The 39 Steps" is missing its author, John Buchan.

The Jules Verne rip-off book "Plutonia" is missing its author, Vladimir Obruchev.

The reference to Hitchcock and 'Rear Window' should either be in films, or reference the short story "It Had to Be Murder" by Cornell Woolrich. I presume it should be about the film, since the game uses the name of the film.

Author Stephen King is listed as "Stephen King [US] (USA)" - the two country references seem excessive.

"Paddington" by Michael Bond is not a book. If anything, the reference should be to the title of the first Paddington Bear Book, "A Bear Called Paddington".

I'm also a bit disappointed that the 'Thomas the Tank Engine' references the TV series and not the original books, but I guess that's what it was sold on, and the loading screen credits Britt Allcroft as owner of the franchise. Although her trying to sue the Bluebell, Talylynn and Ffestiniog railway lines for daring to have engine names dating back 90 years that the author borrowed for the books written about them, and were given permission to stick faces on them by the Rev. W. Awdry himself, strikes me as v. tawdry on her part.

[Einar Saukas]

These references came from old WoS. I will make these adjusts, thank you!

I'm also a bit disappointed that the 'Thomas the Tank Engine' references the TV series and not the original books, but I guess that's what it was sold on, and the loading screen credits Britt Allcroft as owner of the franchise. Although her trying to sue the Bluebell, Talylynn and Ffestiniog railway lines for daring to have engine names dating back 90 years that the author borrowed for the books written about them, and were given permission to stick faces on them by the Rev. W. Awdry himself, strikes me as v. tawdry on her part.

Welcome to the corporate world

A similar case is LEGO stealing the idea from Kiddicraft, then many decades later buying bankrupted Kiddicraft for peanuts just to have the right to sue everybody else that did the same.

[Joefish]

I think worst example is Saul Zaentz trying to sue John Fogerty for sounding too much like that guy in Creedence Clearwater Revival, what's-his-name, oh that's it, John Fogerty. He lost. He also tried to sue 'The Hobbit' pub in Southampton over use of the name, but the f***er's dead now.

[StooB]

3-2-1 aka Un Dos Tres Responda Otra Vez

The UK re-release of this is currently listed as published by Cheetahsoft but was actually published by "Micro Computer Incorporated" who don't appear to have published anything else.

https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/3-2-1-quiz-game/

[StooB]

also:
Cheetah MIDI Interface
Cheetah Sound Sampler
SpecDrum
SpecDrum - Afro Kit
SpecDrum - Electro Kit
SpecDrum - Latin Kit

are all published by Cheetah Marketing rather than on their games label CheetahSoft.

[Stu]

Powerplay has a BBC Micro version.

✓ processed

[8BitAG]

Pepsi Cola
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/6 ... Pepsi_Cola

is not a Quilled game.

✓ Processed

[Stu]

Powerplay has a BBC Micro version.

nvm, I've just spotted that [mention]pavero[/mention] has updated the preservation tool to accept other platforms so I've used that to submit this change

[StooB]

Confuzion
The Covenant
Gobbleman
Helichopper
Throne of Fire
William Wobbler

All have re-releases listed from Ricochet without any evidence (no scans, no tzx, no magazine refs).

[Stu]

There's an eBay listing here for Throne of Fire -- it looks to be identical to the original Melbourne House release, just in a Ricochet blister pack. No idea about the others.

[StooB]

Confuzion
The Covenant
Gobbleman
Helichopper
Throne of Fire
William Wobbler

All have re-releases listed from Ricochet without any evidence (no scans, no tzx, no magazine refs).

Turns out Anthony Guter (of Mastertronic) has been asked about these before in the Facebook Mastertronic group:

There's an eBay listing here for Throne of Fire -- it looks to be identical to the original Melbourne House release, just in a Ricochet blister pack. No idea about the others.

Also confirmed as no official release:

[PeterJ]

Should Black & White be linked up with the Pat Morita Team?

This is their itch.io page:

https://greenwebsevilla.itch.io/

This is our Black & White page:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... _and_White

And this is our Pat Morita page:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/list?label_id=18937

[Alessandro]

Che-Man

https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... um/Che-Man

was authored with MT Engine MK3, as stated in the game's page on the Mojon Twins website:

https://www.mojontwins.com/juegos_mojonos/cheman/

* * *

Duck Tales Webby To The Rescue

https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... the_Rescue

was not authored with MT Engine MK3, but with the (superseded) version 3.99.2 of MT Engine MK1 (check the loading screen picture).

[PeterJ]

Spectral ROM Decoded is marked as written by David Webb, but all the advertisements say L Francis.

https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... OM_Decoded

Edited by PJ

[Stefan]

Spectral ROM Decoded is marked as written by David Webb, but all the advertisements say L Francis.

https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... OM_Decoded

Edited by PJ

There’s also an advert in ZX Computing June/July 1983 page 6 by Fulcrum Products - http://retro8bitcomputers.co.uk/Content ... l_1983.pdf

The author is NOT L Francis, that is part of the address, 1 Francis Ave, St Albans.

The seller / publisher / maybe author is Mine of Information Ltd.

[PeterJ]

Thank you [mention]Stefan[/mention],

How foolish of me! I definitely need another eye test.

There is certainly no obvious link to David Webb though. Unless anyone has any additional information to the contrary.

Regards Fulcrum Products, they do have an entry in the database, so could this could be added as a release entry by them.

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/list?label_id=4966

[PeterJ]

Just by chance I was contacted by Mark Freeman to thank us for publishing his 'Collect A Key Game' that he submitted to Sinclair Programs:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... lect-a-Key

I took the opportunity to ask him if he had anything to do with Airborne Ranger (He is listed as a contributor):

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/list?label_id=19589

His reply was in the negative. Therefore there needs to be a separation between these two people please.

Finally Mark did say he did create two other games for magazines at the time (He was only 15), but can't remember their names and they are not in the database. Any help much appreciated.

I will keep the emails as evidence.

[Stefan]

There is certainly no obvious link to David Webb though. Unless anyone has any additional information to the contrary.

Regards Fulcrum Products, they do have an entry in the database, so could this could be added as a release entry by them.

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/list?label_id=4966

Agreed, Mine of Information Ltd is still trading and have a website, unfortunately the historical documents contains no relevant references for this case.

[PeterJ]

Thanks [mention]Stefan[/mention],

I checked the company out too for the list of people. That's a very 1990s website. I don't think I would use them for web design!

[Stefan]

Thanks @Stefan,

I checked the company out too for the list of people. That's a very 1990s website. I don't think I would use them for web design!

I /think/ the author is Richard Ross-Langley - at the time managing director of Mine of Information Ltd (see advertisement in Sinclair User Nov 1982) who also wrote The Spectrum Machine Code Reference Guide.

[moroz1999]

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/list?label_id=1305
Art-Top is not a company, it's a person.
Artem Topchiy from Gatchina, Russia.

edit: I've published SQL for label type changing, but there seems to be no way to add Artem Topchiy as owner.