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Ask many former Sinclair ZX Spectrum users to name their favourite dozen or so games from the machine's vast catalogue, and invariably they will say that 3D Death Chase, by Mervyn J. Estcourt, is one of them.

This piece of entertainment software was released for the 16k machine way back in 1983. Loosely based on the famous Endor racer scene from the blockbuster movie Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi (of the same year), the task in hand is to patrol a forest at top speed, while avoiding the oncoming trees and shooting down the other bikers, as well as helicopters and tanks which will appear intermittently to increase your cash prize. It was simple, playable and very addictive, becoming more compulsive as you progressed through the game.

Now, thanks to Richard Wilson, the creator of the Amstrad CPC emulator WinAPE, this true 80's classic has been remade for the Sir Alan Sugar's famous 8-bit micro computer, hopefully containing all of the endearing gameplay too, though it certainly looks the part. I say 'hopefully', because at the time of writing, the link is not working, but as soon as CPCZone is back online (which should be around about when you're reading this), point your web browser at cpczone.net/boards/viewtopic.php?f=484=1736 and the download is contained in the thread. This may seem an odd way to release software, but it's becoming increasingly popular for the 8-bit programming fraternity, meaning that it's a good idea to sign up to as many forums as possible. Expect my verdict to follow shortly...!

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There are a couple of new games in the offing for the Atari XE/XL 8-bit micros. The first that attracted my attention was a project called Kolony 2106, which is based on a strategy game released back in 1990 by the name of Kolony) and created by Atari enthusiast Janusz Bien. The aim is to build a new colony on a planet under your control. Up to four other players (computer- or human-controlled, from what I gather) can participate, with trading, mining, and technological and fiscal development among the tasks to complete, and compete in. The game is due to be released in the following languages: Polish, Czech, German and English, as the Atari XE/XL was quite a popular machine in Eastern Europe during the 80s and early 90s.

The other project that caught my eye is a port of New Rally-X, a game by Namco released in 1981, which is by all accounts considered quite a scarce arcade machine nowadays. It's played from a birds'-eye view, and the plot is to drive a racing car around a multi-screened maze to collect the flags while avoiding the other car and hazardous objects within. There's a downloadable demo to try out with this one, and it's already looking like it'll be a lot of fun.

To be kept up-to-date on these, go to the Atari Age forums. Navigate down to the Atari 8-bit Computers sub-forum, and there you should find the relevant threads. There's also a playable beta release available directly from www.devweb.cl/atari/nrx2.xex of New Rally-X for your emulator.