Amtix!

Amtix! was Newsfield’s magazine for the Amstrad CPC, and the shortest-lived of its titles. It ran from an issue 0 in October 1985 to issue 18 in April 1987 — nineteen issues in eighteen months, against the 117 that Amstrad Action managed on the same machine over the same decade.

Issue 0 announces itself plainly: “Newsfield Publications have launched a new monthly magazine for Amstrad owners.” It was published from 1-2 King Street, Ludlow, Shropshire — the same address as CRASH and ZZAP!64, by the same people.

Fast facts

• Publisher: Newsfield Ltd, 1-2 King Street, Ludlow, Shropshire.
• Run: issue 0 (October 1985) to issue 18 (April 1987).
• Award: the Accolade, Newsfield’s third house award after CRASH’s Smash and ZZAP!’s Sizzler.
• Named on the masthead: Roger Kean, Franco Frey as technical editor, Robin Candy.
• Machine: the Amstrad CPC.

Launched into a fight it lost

Amtix! and Amstrad Action both carry October 1985 on their first issues. Two magazines for one machine, launched the same month, by the two publishers who between them defined the British 8-bit press — Newsfield from Ludlow, Future from Somerton.

Future’s title ran for ten years. Newsfield’s stopped after eighteen months, and its final issue carries farewell features.

⚠ Why it closed is not established from the sources held here. The CPC had a smaller installed base than the Spectrum or C64, and Newsfield was already publishing two magazines; neither observation is the same as evidence.

Why it matters

The Accolade appears throughout this Vault as the third of the three Newsfield awards. When an entry says a game “took a CRASH Smash, a ZZAP! Sizzler and an Amtix! Accolade”, it is describing a clean sweep of one publisher’s judgement across three machines — and the shortest-lived of the three magazines is the one that makes the sweep possible.

See also

• Newsfield
• Amstrad Action
• CRASH
• ZZAP!64
• Roger Kean
• Amstrad CPC