GIF/GFX News

First image from the November / December 1991 Release

Between 1988 and 1995, Eric Hsiao, published GIF News. This free magazine was in GIF format and would usually get released once every two months. Each issue generally has four images and cover a variety of computer topics. Games, hardware, and technology updates are a regular focus. In 1994 the magazine was renamed GFX News.

The EGA images are originally 640 x 350 but have been slightly enlarged in the below pages to make them easier to read. Unfortunately, due in part to this (and/or Google's compression) there is some blurring here which is not in the original files. In 1991 one image per issue was released in VGA and sized at 320 x 200. As the releases continued they eventually go up to 640x480 and 256 colors.

Eric Hsiao appears to have attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute along with some of the contributors to the magazine.

The ability to submit for free advertisements in the magazine was always highlighted. It's interesting to see the trend of advertisements which appeared in the magazine over the years. Advertisements for BBS were the primary ads which appeared (in the free size), however, there were also ones for computer hardware. Channel 1 had several ads including a featured article and full page spread. The most unusual ad which appeared is a text file for boomerangs in Issue #20.

You can see the trend in online services change over the years. GIF News is originally a strictly BBS item, but as the years go on it's also advertised as being available on FTP and later the web.

Based on file lists I know I am missing all issues from 1988 and 1989. I suspect several are missing from 1993, and don't know if any were released after Volume 2, Number 2 of GFX News. If you can fill in any of these missing entries or provided more background on this magazine please contact me.

1988

Issue #1 - November / December ** Searching For**

Reviews of Leisure Suit Larry II, Fire Power, and Sentinel Worlds, a short autobiography of Hsiao & Hunter, Inc.

1989

Issue #2 - February / March ** Searching For**

Virus protection safeguards, review of Police Quest II, "Are MS-DOS Games Getting Better" editorial, game hints to Leisure Suit Larry 2.

Issue #3 - May / June ** Searching For**

Industry news, Space Quest ]I[ review, 1st annual Sight & Sound Awards, "Taito Games Are Terrible" editorial.

Issue #4 - July / August ** Searching For**

Nintendo Game Hints (Super Mario Bros 2, Rad Racer, Karnov), Reviews of 4 different driving simulation games (Vette, Test Drive 2, Lombard Rally, F40 Pursuit Simulator), Review of the game Caveman Ugh-Lympics, a short overview of Lotus 123 Release 3.

Issue #5 November / December ** Searching For**

Review of Maxis' Sim City, the new Tears For Fears CD "Seeds of Love", and a review of Sierra's Manhunter II.

1990

Issue #6 - January / February

A Look back at the eighties, review of Sierra's the Colonel's Bequest, and a overview of music cards (AdLib, GameBlaster, SoundBlaster, & Roland), the best VGA games.

Issue #7 - March / April

"Do Sound Cards Really Sound that Good?" editorial, a profile of the Channel 1(tm) BBS in Cambridge, MA, review of Access' Crimewave and Bitmap Bros' Xenon II, look at digitizing sounds.

Issue #8 - May / June

Detailed look at the VGA and VESA video standard, the Ultima VI built-in cheat, the World of Amiga show in New York City.

Issue #9 - July / August

Request for BBS distribution sites, Computer Industry News, a look at the Sound Blaster card, a review of Spectrum Holobytes' Faces game.

Issue #10 - September / October

Review of the games Atomix & Puzznik, a look at Battlechess II and future game releases, v.42 & v.42bis - what their advantages are.

Issue #11 - November / December

Look at the TrakBlaster program, new Flight Simulator scenery disks, Reviews of games Spellcasting 101 and Jones in the Fast Lane, the Amiga Video Toaster by NewTek, Being a Game Designer for Electronic Arts.

1991

Issue #12 - January / February

V.32bis standard, XGA, LaserDiscs, the controversial Lotus-Equifax CD-ROM CD, "Boo to Disney Software" editorial, FD-Format, review of the game Hard Nova.

Issue #13 - March / April

Look at Workstations, BBS's pay business rates on their phone lines, JMPlayer review, Amiga 24 bit graphics, the first VGA page ever.

Issue #14 - May / June

The Prodigy STAGE.DAT controversy, review of TrakBlaster v2.0, MediaVision's Pro-Audio Spectrum, Amiga News, Review of Lemmings.

Issue #15 - July / August

The PC Expo in NYC, look at Creative Labs' Voice Edit program, hints to the adventure game Time Quest, a review of the game Armor Alley, Internet News, and the first-ever GIF News contest.

Issue #16 - September / October

Sound Blaster Pro Vs. AdLib Gold, "High Prices for Game Software" Editorial, Internet News, Contest Winners Announced.

Issue #17 - November / December

Closer look at AdLib Gold, Windows 3.1 news, Wing Commander II Built-in cheat, Police Quest III, WordTris, Internet sites, new releases for various computers.

1992

Issue #18 - January / February

AdLib Gold Delayed, Brief Windows 3.0 program review, Oh No More Lemmings!, 1992 planned releases, best graphical adventure game company, first SVGA page, Internet Archie Server.

Issue #19 - March / April

Reviews of two VGA shareware games: Scorched Earth and Galactix, short look at two multi-media groups, the new US Robotics 16.8K Modem, SupraCorp's v32bis modem, industry news, coming Apogee releases, $49 CD full of share-ware and public domain software.

Issue #20 - May / June

IBM/compatible sound cards reviews. Pro Audio Spectrum 16, AdLib Gold 1000, Sound Blaster Pro comparison chart.

Issue #21 - July / August

PC Expo #10 - news straight from the show! Reviews of Dagger of Amon Ra & Classic Tetris Soundcard news on Gravis Ultrasound and telecommunication news on V.fast standard and US Robotics new line of modems.

Issue #22 - September / October

Special Telecommunications issue, covering modems, BBS software, and communication terminal programs for PC's, Amigas, and Macs.

1993

Issue #23 - January / February

Nintendo threatens PC Board sysops, US Robotics lowers some prices, Wordup Graphics Toolkit review, soundcard news on new Aria wavetable cards, and Lemmings 2: The Tribes review.

1994

In 1994 is when GIF News became GFX News and went from Hsiao & Hunter, Inc. to just Eric Hsiao.

Volume 1, Number 1 - January / February

[*] GFX News -- Premier Issue -- 1/94 [*] A NEW magazine that brings you the latest computer NEWS and REVIEWS in full-screen high-resolution GraFiX! Guaranteed to be fun and interesting to read! Download me!

Volume 1, Number 2 - March

A NEW magazine that brings you the latest computer NEWS and REVIEWS in full-screen, Super VGA, high-resolution GraFiX! Truly, a cut above the rest of the 'zines out today!

Volume 1, Number 3 - September / October

A NEW magazine that brings you the latest computer NEWS and REVIEWS in full-screen, Super VGA, high-resolution GraFiX! This issue: Gravis Phoenix flightstick, Turtle Beach Tropez, over 10 soundcards evaluated, US Robotics 28.8K Modem,& more!

Volume 1, Number 4 - November / December

A NEW magazine that brings you the latest computer NEWS and REVIEWS in full-screen, Super VGA, high-resolution color GraFiX! ===>This issue: Zenon Pentium 90, OS/2 Warp, Mosaic and Netscape internet browsers, and SLIP internet connections.

1995

Volume 2, Number 1 - January / February

A NEW magazine that brings you the latest computer NEWS and REVIEWS in full-screen, Super VGA, high-resolution color GraFiX! ===>This issue: BBS's on the Internet, Rich Heimlich's latest soundcard patchset rankings, 28.8K modems, Intel Pentium price drops for 1995, Unisys GIF Tax, and Wing Commander III tips.

Volume 2, Number 2 - March

A NEW magazine that brings you the latest computer NEWS and REVIEWS in full-screen, Super VGA, high-resolution color GraFiX! ===>This issue: Linux Expo '95, Star Trek CD-ROM Game Delayed, Register for Comdex Online, IBM PCs now come with OS/2, Atari 2600 Does Windows, IRC Rejects IPhone, and MOD4WIN Windows MOD player reviewed.