25/01/2005 Interview with Alison Barclay-
PR & Marketing Co-Ordinator at
Astraware.
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Hi Alison- can
you tell us what attracted you to Astraware and a little bit about
yourself?
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I’ve been into Astraware
games for ages. My first purchase was Bejeweled, closely followed by Big Money,
both of which are still on my Tungsten T5. I was interested in returning to a
job in PR & Marketing (I worked for EMI previously) and so when I saw a
vacancy at Astraware I jumped at the chance. I already tell everyone how great
Astraware’s games are, and now I get paid for it too!
Aside from Astraware I’m pretty obsessed
with gadgets. My handbag contains 2 PDAs (T5 and Ipaq 4150), 2 mobile phones
(Samsung D500 and Siemens SX1), a Sony DSCU20 miniature camera and a Zen Micro
MP3 player – and that’s just what I carry every day! I’m also a
big fan of motorsport and most weekends during the summer I can be found
watching British Touring Cars. I love Las Vegas for holidays and my favourite
TV show is CSI (including CSI Miami and CSI NY).
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What’s your
history with PDAs? How many have you owned etc.
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My full history of PDAs runs as
follows: Psion 3c, then the 3mx, Psion Revo, Psion Revo Plus, Handspring Visor
Prism, Palm M515, Palm Tungsten T, Tungsten T2, Zire 72 and now Tungsten T5. On
the Ipaq side I’ve owned the 1910, 1940 and now have the 4150. I’m
currently coveting the iMate Jam and the Ipaq 2750. I’d like a device with
a VGA screen but they’re all too big for me right now.
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Zap Evolution-
when? Difficult question but everyone wants to know:)
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HOWARD: A number of things came
up during the (long) development, and so there isn't a current ETA. We'll be
sure to give everyone plenty of notice when we're close enough for people to
start drooling again.
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What is your
favourite Astraware game and your favourite PDA game by another developer?
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Oh, tough one. Bejeweled 2 is
obviously very addictive and looks beautiful, and I’ve been playing Shape
Shifter a lot lately too, but I think I’d go for Word Mojo as I’m not
very good at it and I like the challenge. From other developers I’d
probably select Plant Tycoon and Fish Tycoon by LDW as I love sim games.
I’d really like to see a fully updated version of Sim City for both Palm
and Windows Mobile too.
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Palm or Pocket
PC? Your view of the good and bad in each.
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Palm vs Pocket PC – now
that’s a really old argument these days. I’d say both platforms are
currently much closer than they’ve ever been before in terms of what
software is available for both and what you can do with them. Everyone has an
opinion on both platforms and everyone is entitled to that opinion. I’ll
keep mine to myself if you don’t mind, but given that I own one device in
each platform, you can tell I think they both have lots of great
features.
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What’s the
best book you have read and the best song you have heard?
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My favourite book of all time is
The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – it has something
in it for everyone to relate to.
Whilst I love loads of different bands, the song
I’d pick as the best is ‘You Get What You Give’ by the New
Radicals – brilliant lyrics, amazing production and a song that really
uplifts me every time I hear it.
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What one feature
would you like to see introduced in a new PDA?
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The ability to make me a cup of
tea every hour, on the hour.
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How long did
Bejeweled 2 take to make from start to finish?
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HOWARD: Design and development
choices were made early in 2004, with the serious development and artwork
happening in the last half of 2005. To hit the target, the team put in a lot of
effort in the few months before the release date! To time the release for just
one month after the PC version was available was a challenge!
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Do you consider
PDA web sites useful or a hindrance?
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PDA web sites are great. Whilst
their readership isn’t always representative of the public at large, they
are a great way to let the hardcore PDA fans know what’s happening with
their favourite gadgets and for them to interact with other users. Given the
differing levels of experience, they’re invaluable for new users to learn
tip and tricks for their devices that don’t come in the handbook.
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Anything you
would like to add?
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Time for a cuppa!
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| My thanks to
Alison for an imformative interview- it's always nice to deal with the guys at
Astraware and you can see details of their HUGE line up of games
here. |
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