Welcome to issue 8,

It seems a little odd as I am writing this editorial knowing  full 
well  that  issue  8 isn't yet finished,  however  I  have  a  few 
important things to say so I will proceed anyway.

It  has been an interesting past few months indeed,  issue  6  was 
very well received onto the Internet (and by most top PD libraries 
also)  and issue 7 has proved to be just as popular,  if not  more 
so.   I  guess  that this issue will be the pinacle of  my  Falcon 
career  so-far.   If everything has gone according to  plan  there 
should  be  a  very nice introduction sequence  to  the  magazine, 
although  it serves no real purpose it does look rather  wonderful 
and show's off a little of what your Falcon can do.  There is also 
a liberal dashing of Christmas artwork and a superb animation from 
Atari  themselves  along a Christmas theme.   Plus you  should  be 
listening to a great little festive composition right now in  true 
stereo!   Please don't forget to check out the credits page to see 
who  was responsible for helping to make this issue the success  I 
know it will be.

No  doubt the absolute hottest news feature this month is  of  the 
new  Atari super-computer the Milan (working name only  I  hope!).  
Who  knows if they will ever release this beast,  but it  sure  as 
hell  exists.   I for one would love to be at the German CeBit  95 
show to see if they have it on display.

It  would also appear that there are lots of Falcon games on  sale 
now  mainly  from  16/32  - so can I  recommend  rushing  out  and 
snapping up one of those Jaguar joypads now because you are  going 
to need one if you want to play any of these new titles!   Games I 
know for sure that are available are Llamazap and Steel Talons.  I 
hope  that  Road Riot 4WD and Dino Dudes will also  be  out  soon.  
There  are  also  wild rumours zooming  about  the  Internet  that 
Pinball Dreams is out and that Wolfenstein 3D is soon to follow  - 
however I WILL believe that when I see it.   It's a shame that the 
Atari  world has had to get to this level where we can't  trust  a 
press release until the product does actually finally arrive,  but 
I guess that is the way things are likely to stay.

As  you  all know I am now back at University (in  Stafford)  this 
means  I have lots of project deadlines coming up,  its  my  final 
year you see.  Therefore I cannot even begin to guess when issue 9 
will be coming out, but I have my sights set on a Feburary the 1st 
release date (1995 of course).   For old-time FOG members you  can 
also expect to see some form of new printed magazine flop  through 
your  letter-box within early 1995.   This will not be  a  regular 
thing and I will be taking no subscriptions for it, but it will be 
just  a way of saying thanks to all those that did support FOG  at 
least sometime during the past years.   Yes we will soon be in our 
third year of existence and it's been one seriously bumpy ride all 
the  way.   For those that are new to FOG you may  not  appreciate 
what  I am saying,  for those that joined right at the  start  you 
sure  as  heck will.   All I can say is that I am setting  my  own 
personal  goals for 1995 a lot more realistically that  they  were 
for 1994.   This means a more regular magazine but cutting back on 
the 'business' side of FOG - in other words letting you order your 
magazines from your favourite PD library or ftp site.  Of course I 
still  want  feedback  and contributions (not that  I'll  get  any 
because I know what you are mainly like) but I shall ask anyway.

For  those that want silly little questions about  their  Falcon's 
answered  please  feel  free to write in or email me  and  I  will 
compile a quick article for the next issue.   I guess there may be 
a few new Falcon owners this Christmas - well I certainly hope you 
have no purchased the 1meg machine, or if you have I hope its been 
upgraded  already,  because vast amounts of Falcon PD  just  won't 
work  on  the  1meg model (this disk  magazine  included  I  would 
assume).   If there is sufficient need I will compile some special 
1meg only disks of PD,  but you'll have to let me know if you need 
this.

Well  I  will add some more to this soon,  enjoy the rest  of  the 
issue and have a great Christmas.   Hopefully I'll see you in 1995 
with issue 9,  with the Jaguar reigning supreme lets hope that  it 
becomes  the  year of Ataris come-back.   I for one will  sing  to 
that.

Regards,


Richard

*******

Things don't always go _quite_ according to plan,  do they?!  Well 
this  issue is late.   Very late.   But there is little I  can  do 
about it except apologise and say - get out there and READ IT!!!!!

R.Davey - 2/2/95