DK'Tronics Games Controller

Sinclair User

SLOW MOVING JOYSTICK DEVICE The Nidd Valley Slomo was a good idea, as was the Kempston joystick standard. DK'tronics has brought out the Games Player, a combined slow motion/Kempston compatible joystick interface. The Kempston standard is available on most popular games and the ability to slow down a game to a manageable speed is a boon to finger-bruised alien zappers. The interface has a joystick socket, speed control and slow motion on/off switch on the top. Unlike Slomo you can not freeze the action completely but you can slow it down more than enough for most needs. At £14.95 it is good value. Meanwhile Nidd Valley has stated that if their UK Patent application is successful slow motion peripherals will only be available from them. The ensuing wrangle could be interesting. DK'tronics, [redacted].

Crash

Franco Frey

INTERFACE IMPROVEMENTS We take a brief look at a couple of developments on the edge connector. DK'Tronics Decelerate This could escalate. We've been using the Nidd Valley Slomo for yonks now to stop games so that they can be photographed. Then DK'Tronics came up with their Games Player joystick interface for the Spectrum, which allows you to connect a joystick to the computer and use it with Kempston compatible software. The Games Player also has a slow motion facility - and ever since it arrived in the office the Slomo has been ousted from our Software Editor's desk. In fairly exhaustive tests, the Games Player interface won out over the trusty basic Slomo, not least because we didn't manage to crash any of the games that were being photographed for this issue of the magazine. The Slomo allows you to stop programs dead in their tracks (which Games Player doesn't), but you sometimes pay the penalty of having to reload the proggy after you try to carry on from where you paused the action. The DK'Tronic interface allows the slow motion facility to be switched in and out at will so it can be used as a straightforward Kempston compatible joystick interface. When the slow motion facility is switched in, with a slider switch on the top of the box, the speed of action is controlled by a rotating knob. Cunningly, this arrangement means that you can preset a speed, and play a game at full speed until you come to the tricky bit when the slow speed action can be engaged by flicking the switch. OK, so it's not a programmable interface - you're stuck with Kempston protocol and the design wizards at DK'Ironics could have earned themselves extra brownie points if they'd added a LED to the whole contraption which lit up when the slow motion controller was switched in, and stayed off when the speed controller was deactivated. For the price however, £12.95, the Games Controller's not a bad deal if you're an inveterate cheat, need or want to photograph or examine other people's games, or just like to play games a little more gently until you've got to grips with their super fast action.