Current software market

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Current software market
ASM Logo.png
description Video games magazine
publishing company Tronic publishing house
First edition March 1986
attitude February 1995
Frequency of publication per month
Editor-in-chief Manfred Kleimann
Peter Schmitz
executive Director Axel Grede
ISSN 0933-1867
ZDB 54673-2

The magazine Aktueller Software Markt (ASM) was one of the first German-language magazines specifically about computer games ; previously, such test reports were only published in general computer magazines. It was published from March 1986 to February 1995.

history

The first issue of ASM appeared in March 1986, at the time it was the only, but not the first, German-language magazine that mainly dealt with computer games. From 1982 to 1985 TeleMatch was a short-lived magazine with a similar focus, but it was not able to establish itself on the market in the long term.

The ASM was published by the founder and managing partner of Tronic-Verlag in Eschwege , Axel Grede. The concept, structure and further development of the magazine were implemented by editor-in-chief Manfred Kleimann from the first issue. The cover pictures were drawn by the English artist Mark Bromley .

The articles with the game tests ended with an info box that marked the graphics, sounds, game idea and game motivation. There were categories such as the game flop of the month, reports from the computer scene and overviews of the best-selling games and the high scores of readers.

Over the years, the magazine achieved a high level of loyalty to readers, partly due to the relaxed writing style of the editors and the above-average space that was given to the printing of letters to the editor. Because of this high level of loyalty, the magazine still had numerous fans more than a decade after it was discontinued, some of whom posted scans of the test reports and editorial articles online.

The Space-Rat -Comic, which was included in the magazine from 1988 and drawn by Mathias Neumann, was also popular with readers .

At the end of 1991, long-time editor-in-chief Manfred Kleimann left the editorial office, and was succeeded by Matthias Siegk . From issue 5/1993 on, Peter Schmitz took over the post of editor-in-chief, who managed ASM until it was hired. From issue 12/1993 the magazine was called ASM - The Fun Magazine , from Issue 11/1994 ASM - The Computer Fun Magazine .

The last issue appeared in February 1995; As of March, the ASM was discontinued in favor of the new PC game magazine , which in turn appeared for the last time in December 1996.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Interview with Manfred Kleimann 19.3.2005 on kultboy.com, accessed on April 14, 2017
  2. ↑ Biography of Manfred Kleimann on writehall.com, accessed on April 14, 2017
  3. ↑ Current software market - Monument to the coolest game magazine on retropie.de, accessed on April 14, 2017
  4. ^ ASM - Current Software Market No. 9 Nov./December 1986, TRONIC-Verlag, Eschwege
  5. ↑ Space Council - The coolest rat in the galaxy! on comicguide.de, accessed April 14, 2017
  6. ↑ PC game on kultboy.com, accessed on April 14, 2017

Web links

  • kultpower.de - all ASM covers and over 330 test report scans
  • kultboy.com - all ASM covers, over 600 test report scans and information about editors
  • kultboy.com - Interview with Manfred Kleimann (March 2005)
  • kultmags.com - various scanned issues as PDFs