MSX Magazine 3 needs your help

Continuation of this newspost

After the well-received earlier editions of MSX Magazine, ASCII and the MSX Association have decided to extend the series with a 2004 edition. Currently, a lot of work is going on behind the scenes to once again produce an entertaining issue.

As some may know, last year's issue included a six page article on MSX outside Japan. Special attention was paid to three countries: the Netherlands, Spain and Brazil. Writing this article was only possible because of the kind cooperation of Nestor Soriano (Konami Man) and José Lucio Gama aka SLotman, who provided detailed information on the MSX situation in their countries. In this forum thread you can see some of the results of last years efforts.

The MSX Magazine team would once again like to introduce some 'foreign MSX computing' to the Japanese audience. This year, the focus will be on Russia and the Arabic countries.

Google, archived personal mail and books already produced quite a lot of fruitful information. Yet, some material is still missing, and the MSX Magazine 3 team would like to ask your help to fill the gaps.

First, the Russian section:

- could someone confirm the existence of games which support the
Yamaha classroom network?
- were there any Russian-specific peripherals released for the Russian
MSX machines (printer with the cyrillic characterset for example)?
Pictures are more than welcome.
- does anyone have a list of software produced in Russia? The MSX
Resource Center mailbox is wide open for Russian software which is
either declared freeware, or for which the contributing party holds
the rights.
- were there any publications in Russia about the MSX? If so, are
pictures of these books/magazines available somewhere?
- we would like pictures taken on Russian universities, usermeetings
etc. which are in some way related to MSX to include in the article.

The Arabic countries:

- high on our wishlist: any information on non-educational Arabic software for the MSX, such as games and utilities. We would sure like to get a copy of the software as long as this does not infringe the rights of the copyright holder.
- although some larger pictures are available on the net, the MSX Magazine team would very much appreciate clear, high-resolution photos of the various Arabic-language machines. We still don't have a picture of the Perfect machines suited for publication. Also, a shot of a Megadrive/MSX Hybrid machine in full action would be very much appreciated :-) .
- more photo requests:
1) clear pictures of Arabic MSX cartridges, both boxed and unboxed. We are still missing a high-resolution picture of the Koran cartridge.
2) pictures of Arabic language MSX magazines, brochures etc.
- our sources provide contradictory information. What was the name of the second firm marketing MSX in the Arabic countries other than Al Alamiah: was it Bawarth co. or was it a firm called Ba Khashwain?
- did Al Alamiah and its competitor operate in all Arabic-language countries, or were yet other parties involved?
- what is the complete story of the court case between Universal and Ba Khashwain mentioned by the MSX FAQ?
- finally, could someone please help us with our Arabic?
- Al Alamiah: universal
- Al Mithali: perfect
- Sakhr: ?
- Bawarth: ?
- Ba Khashwain: ?
- of course, we also welcome any other information which might be worth including.

Representing the MSX Magazine 3 team:

Sander Zuidema
Bernard Lamers