Glider

Crash

Overall 4/10

Rosetta McLeod 4/10

CRASH COURSE Rosetta McLeod A LITTLE LEARNING LESSON FOR THE FESTIVE SEASON? This month, with the help of a panel of children, Crash Course looks at some Chrismtas Crackers! First of all, though, there is some good news on the educational front. A new organisation, British Educational Software Associates, has recently been set up to improve the availability and distribution of educational software. Eight firms (ASK, Bourne, Calpac, Collins, Griffin, Hill MacGibbon, MacMillan and Widgit) have formed this new marketing consortium to help selected retailers service a market which, according to Roy Davey, marketing director of Collins Soft and Hill MacGibbon, is 'diffused and frustrated'. He feels, quite rightly, that schools have difficulty in finding a retailer who offers a good choice of software together with a fast ordering service, and who allows the customer to view programs before purchase. BESA has now appointed 200 retailers throughout Britain who will stock a 'core list' of 40 programs and will be able to meet orders for other titles from some 250 in the catalogue within 48 hours. Support for retailers will be handled by Proteus, the leading educational software distributor. This is a very welcome move, both from the point of view of schools and of home users. Up till now, most of the high street stores have paid only lip-service to the area of educational software, and it is hoped that the promotion of BESA in local newspapers and in information hand-outs to schools will begin to rectify matters. If the experiment proves successful, the consortium would hope to expand in 1986. More information about BESA can be obtained from BESA at [redacted]. But now on to this month's software selection, I asked a panel of children, ranging in age from 7 to 13 years, to look at the programs with me, and to decide whether or not they'd like to get the games for Christmas. Each game was awarded a score out of 10. GLIDER Producer: Sinclair/Macmillan (Science Horizon Series) Retail Price: £7.95 Age Range: Upper primary Author: Five Ways This is probably the weakest of the three Science Horizons programs we looked at. Its aim is to acquaint the user with the scientific principles of gliding taking into account the need for rising currents of warm air (thermals) and how these are influenced by what is on the ground as well as by the weather conditions and the time of the day. When the program has loaded, the player can chose the time of day, and then, when ENTER is pressed, the glider is towed to the appropriate height and released. A variometer on the right of the screen shows the rate of climb or fall, and when you reach a thermal you should press H to circle and gain as much height as you can. A rough map of the island above which you are flying is shown in the booklet, with a key to the thoroughly confusing list of symbols used. You can get the Air Traffic Controller's report on your performance together with your final score at the end of the flight (you may have landed safely or crashed), which is a nice touch. COMMENTS Control keys: T, Y, U, G, J, B, N, M to change the direction of the glider, P to pause, C to continue, SPACE to choose your time of day at the beginning of the game, and for the report and final score at the end Keyboard play: good Use of colour: could have been used to greater effect Graphics: dull Panel's comments: a lot of room for improvement in the graphics and game play. The picture on the box makes the game look much more exciting that it really is. We wouldn't want it for Christmas.