Big Blue Disk
 | |
| Categories | Disk magazine |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Monthly |
| First issue | 1986 |
| Final issue — Number |
1998 141 |
| Company | Softdisk |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Shreveport, Louisiana |
| Language | English |
| ISSN | 0893-2212 |
Big Blue Disk was a monthly disk magazine that was published by Softdisk Publishing[1] between 1986 and 1998.
History and profile
The magazine was started in 1986, getting its name from the nickname for IBM, "Big Blue". The magazine was based in Shreveport, Louisiana.[2] It carried various games and applications for DOS as well as reviews and various extras. Some of them were freeware or shareware, or demo versions of commercial programs, but other material was original to the disk magazine. When it began, it was published on 5¼" floppy diskettes, but it was later published on 3½" disks and CD-ROMs. Sometimes, but not always, the disks were actually blue as the title implied. Notably, it carried some games from Apogee, including Kingdom of Kroz and its sequels. In 1991, on issue #57 it was later changed to On Disk Monthly and then again renamed to Softdisk PC on issue #91. The series ceased publication in 1998. Softdisk for Windows was a spinoff publication for the Microsoft Windows operating system which outlasted it by a year. Other short-lived spinoff publications included the business-oriented PC BusinessDisk and the recreational Gamer's Edge, the latter of which had on its original staff the people who soon founded id Software. There was also briefly a separate version for users with CGA and EGA graphics adapters, when the main publication (formerly compatible with CGA and even text-only MDA monochrome systems) moved to a graphical interface that required VGA graphics.
Publishing rights in some countries were licensed by Softdisk to other companies, which released adapted versions including PC Disk Downunder in Australia and New Zealand, and El Usuario in Latin America.
Games
- Battleship
- Castle of Kroz
- Catacomb
- Caverns of Kroz
- Chagunitzu
- Color War
- Conflagration
- Dark Designs
- Dark Designs II
- Dinosorceror
- Dungeons of Kroz
- Galactic Battle
- Kingdom of Kroz
- Legends of Murder
- Legends of Murder II: Gray Haven
- Magic Boxes
- Moraff's Revenge
- Murder in the Museum - An Infocom-style interactive fiction game with a murder mystery theme
- One that flew over the Cuckoo's Nest - (text adventure style similar to Murder in the Museum, bout a house with gems and drunken partying sailors)
- Pyramids of Egypt
- Relix
- The Lost Crown of Queen Anne
- Twilight Treasures
- Willy the Worm
- Zappa Roidz
Entertainment
- Adventures of Alfredo
- Alfredo's Lost Cause, (Softdisk 36, Softdisk 96, Big Blue Disk 7)
- Alfredo's Transport Troubles, (Softdisk 43, Big Blue Disk 8)
- Alfredo's Laser Lament, (Softdisk 44, Big Blue Disk 9)
- Alfredo's Digestive Dilemma, (Softdisk 45, Big Blue Disk 10)
- Alfredo's Crushing Curiosity, (Softdisk 46, Big Blue Disk 11)
- Alfredo's Whopping Wattage, (Softdisk 47, Big Blue Disk 12)
- Alfredo's Fiery Fiasco, (Softdisk 48, Big Blue Disk 16)
- Alfredo's Hulking Hubris, (Softdisk 49, Big Blue Disk 17)
- Alfredo's Nuclear Nuisance, (Softdisk 51, Big Blue Disk 25)
- Alfredo's Moriferous Mortality/Mentality, (Softdisk 53, Big Blue Disk 32)
- Alfredo's Faulty Finale, (Softdisk 55, Big Blue Disk 34)
- Alfredo's Miserable Moniker, (Softdisk 71, Softdisk 96, Big Blue Disk)
- Alfredo's Stupendous Surprise, (Softdisk 98, Big Blue Disk)
Applications
- Family Tree
- PC Gourmet (Big Blue Disk 39)
- GeoTutor by Cregg S. Hardwick
Utilities
- Conversion Tables
- DOS Manager
- Tidbits System Utilities ODM Issue #64
- Periodic Table of the Elements by Dan Harrison