MSX Magazine website launched!

ASCII launched a new website dedicated to MSX, MSXPLAYer and the MSX Magazine that is due to be released in december this year.The new MSX Magazine will have articles about the history and future of MSX, and it will come with a free CD-ROM. The CD-ROM features the MSX PLAYer and some free software. The full list of software as mentioned on the site is:

ASCII: Bokosuka Wars, The Castle, Castle Excellent, Theseus, Pairs, Rotors, Eligus, Scope On, Tawara-kun, Trial Ski, Pai Panic, Rise Out, Red Zone
Game Arts: Thexder, FirehawkBit2: Quinpl, Famicle Parodic 2, Graph Saurus v2.0

Further contents of the book are a small interview, an explanation on how to use MSXPLAYer, and how to run commercial - thus excisting MSX Software - on MSXPLAYer. There will also be articles on BASIC and on how to create games (in BASIC), a comic collection and several columns. On the site you can also read articles on the history of MSX, and about the demonstration at the WPC Expo 2002. All in Japanese of course ;).

The article about the WPC Expo describes how many visitors of the ASCII booth felt very nostalgic, some of them laughed about the idea of an MSX revival, others responded very seriously. Many visitors contributed to a small questionnaire which proved that MSX is still loved by many generations. The article is accompanied by some pictures. More pictures of the MSX Magazine booth at WPC Expo 2002 can be found at ZDnet

Another article on the site is about the history of MSX and MSX Magazine. It starts with the announcement of the MSX 1 specification in june 1983 and the sale of MSX Magazine nr. 0 in october 1983. In a timeline that leads to the release of MSX PLAYer in 2002, we can see some interesting milestones in MSX history, like...

• The first MSX computer featuring a built-in diskdrive. (A Sony MSX in november 1984)
• The announcement of the MSX2 specification in may 1985
• The first MSX2 computer on the market (A Toshiba MSX in june 1985!)
• The 1 million MSX campaign in october 1985 (I assume that at this time, one million MSX machines were sold already)
• The arrival of low-priced MSX models from Sony and Panasonic in october/november 1986
• The announcement of the MSX2+ specification in september 1988, to be produced by Sanyo, Sony and Panasonic
• The arrival of an official ASCII MSX harddisk interface in july 1989
• Over 4 million of MSX computers sold in january 1990
• The announcement of the MSX turboR specification in september 1990
• The first turboR computers arriving in october 1990
• The 'final' issue of MSX Magazine in may 1992

The new, official MSX PLAYer logo can be found at the lower right of this table.

Thanks go to atalurum (ukyo) for mentioning the site on #msx, and thanks to guyver800 for translating the game titles.

http://www.ascii.co.jp/pb/ant/msx/