It's Christmas again. Now in recent years that has meant a few weeks off work in which I've caught up on all that's happened in cyberspace that touched the BBC and Electron computers (Well, alright, maybe not all but most of it!), typed up a That Was The Year That Was article and put together a new issue of EUG. This year however, you've already had two helpings, so if EUG #71 was your starter and EUG #72 your main course then EUG #73's your Christmas pudding. Tuck in.

The talk of BBC/Electron land at the moment is RetroSoftware's long long long (repeat word long ad infinitum) awaited release of Repton The Lost Realms and we've borrowed Kecske Bak's thoughts on the artwork, loader and main game here, plus the obligatory contents page that you're reading and our summary of That Was The Year That Was 2010.

Last issue, Tom Walker's music catalogue has inspired Dave E to give the Rainbow Islands Theme a makeover and it has proved so popular that he's done the same for the Batman Theme Demo. Tom Walker's music catalogue is extensive - we've worked out that coupling every musical theme with a piccie will probably keep us in 'new and improved' music demo versions for the Beeb until at least 2034.

Now there have been some grumbles over the years that Christmas at EUG has always been a rather sombre, understated occasion. Yup, we stand convicted... It's a trap that Acorn User also fell into although not Electron User or The Micro User. So we've got a bundle of our favourite Christmas games out of the companion discs library and stuck them all into this Christmas issue. Alas, the best we could find were Chimney Drop, Father Christmas, Rudolph's Nose and Snow Vaders. Hmmmm. So we added long-lost professional release Egghead In Space and a revamped version of the Acorn User classic Castle Of Nightmares too. Happy now? ;-)

After the heavy BBC bias of EUG #72, Dave E has been casting his eyes far and wide for purely Electron items to review for this issue, meaning a rich review of the "tapestry of Christmassy Elkness" (If you have English as a second language, I suspect that phrase will have any of your EFL teachers baffled!). Don't forget to pay particular attention to Repton The Lost Realms too - no Elk version of this yet but the BBC version is ready to ship.

Another assortment of foraged Classic Adventure Solution Archive parchments allow you to walk your way through all of those extremely frustrating Electron adventures.

Last issue, EUG was graced with a Mode 2 opener in the style of the artwork used on CDs and DVDs devoted to the Hedkandi, Ibiza nightclub mixes. These always include simplistic designs, mostly primary colours and sexy girls. Here at EUG, this is a combination which we love.

Sticking with a good thing then, this issue we bring you another two pieces of Hedkandi art, this time done in four colour Mode 1, which allows for a lot more detail. As usual, ported back to your Electron with IMAGE2BBC. Flip the image on the right by moving over it with your mouse.

Dave E