Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cbmvax!rutgers!apple!bionet!agate!sandstorm.Berkeley.EDU!felixh
From: felixh@sandstorm.Berkeley.EDU (Felix Hack)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.games
Subject: F19 Stealth Fighter
Message-ID: <1990Oct26.000655.11560@agate.berkeley.edu>
Date: 26 Oct 90 00:06:55 GMT
Sender: usenet@agate.berkeley.edu (USENET Administrator)
Reply-To: felixh@sandstorm.Berkeley.EDU (Felix Hack)
Organization: ucb
Lines: 30


  Imagine my surprise earlier today when the UPS man delivered F19 to my
doorstep.  Microprose's official USA release data is sometime in mid-November,
so this seemed a bit early.  On opening the box I discovered why this could
happen; it was the UK version, complete with UK address for Microprose, a UK
address on the registration card, and no US Microprose information whatever.
  I had told the mail-order place (MicroGames, GA) specifically that
I wanted the US version when I placed the pre-order about two months ago.
I had figured that it might fix any bugs discovered in
the UK release, have a US warranty card, and follow Microprose's policy of
not having on-disk copy protection.
  Well, the UK version I got has heavy protection on both disks.  Worse,
the technical supplement says that rosters should be saved to one of them,
which I refuse to do with an original uncopyable disk.  There is some more
confusion, though, because the game says something about putting in a 
blank formatted floppy to save rosters, but when I try it the roster is
not saved.
  I called MicroGames and told them that if I discovered ANY differences
(whether in software or documentation) between the UK and US releases of
F19 I would insist on returning it, on the basis of their promise to only
ship the US version.
  Has anyone else gotten F19 yet?  Does anyone know about the US version,
whether the disk-protection will be stripped and the game made hard-disk
installable (like Pirates, Red Storm Rising, and M1 Tank Platoon)?  Call-
ing Micropose's US customer support was no help; the representative had
no clue about Amiga F19.  I intend to contact Microprose through GEnie
and get some definitive answers to help me decide whether to keep UK F19
and about the lack of hard-disk installation.  I also want to find out
how to save rosters to a separate disk because I find writing to a
protected disk totally unacceptable.