''ACE'' (''Advanced Computer Entertainment'') is a discontinued multi-format computer and video game magazine, first published in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Future Publishing Future plc is a British publishing company. It was started in 1985 by Chris Anderson. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History 1985–2012 The company was founded by Chris Anderson a ...

and later acquired by

EMAP Ascential (formerly EMAP) was a British-headquartered global company, specialising in events, intelligence and advisory services for the marketing and financial technology industries. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was ac ...

History

ACE launched in October 1987, roughly the same time as Ludlow-based publisher Newsfield's own multi-format magazine ''

The Games Machine ''The Games Machine'' was a video game magazine that was published from 1987 until 1990 in the United Kingdom by Newsfield, which also published '' CRASH'', ''Zzap!64'', '' Amtix!'' and other magazines. History ''The Games Machine'' ran head ...

''. The magazine staff consisted mainly of ex-''

Amstrad Action ''Amstrad Action'' is a discontinued monthly magazine, which was published in the United Kingdom. It is about home computers from the Amstrad CPC range and later the GX4000 console. It is the first magazine published by Chris Anderson (TED), Chri ...

'' (AA) and ''

Personal Computer Games ''Personal Computer Games'' was a multi-format UK computer games magazine of the early/mid-1980s published by VNU. History ''Personal Computer Games'' was launched in July 1983. The magazine was part of VNU and had its headquarters in London ...

'' staff, including launch co-editors Peter Connor and Steve Cooke. Andy Wilton, ex-AA, was brought in as Reviews Editor, while Dave Packer and Andy Smith were hired as Staff Writers. Trevor Gilham, another ex-AA member, held the position of Art Editor. Between June and July 1989 (issues 21 and 22) the magazine was sold to EMAP, and Future Publishing redeployed the original ''ACE'' staff to work on their ''

Amiga Format ''Amiga Format'' was a British monthly computer magazine for Amiga computers, published by Future Publishing. The magazine lasted 136 issues from 1989 to 2000. The magazine was formed when Future split '' ST/Amiga Format'' into two separate pub ...

'' and '' ST Format'' titles. After the magazine was cancelled in April 1992, a number of the staff working on ''ACE'' at the time were moved to '' The One (for Amiga Games)'' to relaunch the latter magazine.

Content

Coverage initially included

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

, C64,

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

and

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for "Colour Personal Computer") is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spec ...

, but also included newer machines as they were released. Although games features were the mainstay, other articles on graphics and computer music were featured. A cover cassette, and later a floppy disk, was included with the magazine featuring games demos. Regular editorial features included Interface; News, Letters, The Blitter End. The Specials; features and Gameplay; Screen Test, Arcades, Tricks 'n' Tactics, Adventures.

Screen Test

Screen Test was the games review section. Games were rated (out of ten) on Visual effects, Audio, IQ Factor, Fun Factor and an overall rating. Games were seen by all the reviewers, and the overall rating was notable for scoring games out of 1000 rather than the usual percentage or mark out of 10. Also introduced was the Predicted Interest Curve graph where the game was given a line graph predicting the long term interest in the game over many months.

References

External links

Profile of ''ACE'' magazine
at Amiga History
''ACE'' Magazine Archive
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

{{Future plc Future plc 1987 establishments in the United Kingdom 1992 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Defunct video game magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1987 Magazines disestablished in 1992 Mass media in Bath, Somerset Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Video game magazines published in the United Kingdom

History

Content

Screen Test

See also

References

External links