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Atari Explorer Online Issue 1995 04
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:: Volume 4, Issue 4 ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE March 28, 1995 ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: ::
:: ATARI .............. News, reviews, & solutions ............ ATARI ::
:: EXPLORER ............ for the online Atari .......... EXPLORER ::
:: ONLINE ................. Community .............. ONLINE ::
:: ::
:: Published and Copyright (c) 1993-1995 by Subspace Publishers ::
:: All Rights Reserved ::
:: """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ::
:: Publisher Emeritus ........................... Michael Lindsay ::
:: Editor/Publisher .................................. Travis Guy ::
:: Assistant Editor GEnie......................... Ron Robinson ::
:: Assistant Editor CompuServe................... Albert Dayes ::
:: Assistant Editor Internet.................. Timothy Wilson ::
:: Assistant Editor AOL.................. Dimitri M. LaBarge ::
:: Assistant Editor Delphi.................... Mark Santora ::
:: Unabashed Atariophile .............. Michael R. Burkley ::
:: Atari Artist ............................. Peter Donoso ::
:: User Group Coordinator .................... Ron Whittam ::
:: Jaguar Editor ...................... Christian Svensson ::
:: UK Correspondent .................. Darren "Dooz" Bates ::
:: 8-bit Editor .............................. John Hardie ::
:: ::
:: Contributors: ::
:: """"""""""""" ::
:: Randy Magruder, David A. Wright ::
:: ::
:: Telecommunicated to you via: ::
:: """""""""""""""""""""""""""" ::
:: GEnie: ST/JAGUAR RT Library 38 ::
:: AOL: VIDEO GAMES FORUM Hints, Tips and Tricks II Library ::
:: CompuServe: ATARIGAMING Library 10, VIDGAME Library 15 ::
:: Delphi: ATARI ADVANTAGE & WORLD OF VIDEO GAMES Libraries ::
:: Fnet: AEO Conference, Node 319 ::
:: AtariNet: AEO Conference, Node 51:1/10 ::
:: ::
:: FTP recent AEO issues from: rahul.net:pub/wilsont/AEO ::
:: Search gopherspace under "aeo" for back issues ::
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:: World Wide Web: http://www.dl.ac.uk/MISC/ATARI/atari.html ::
:: http://www.bucknell.edu/~svensson ::
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:: EMail Request address: AEO-by-EMail-request@maximized.com ::
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Table of Contents
* From the Editors ................................. David, David and David.
* California 4Play ................. Mark Santora talks with the West Coast
half of the BattleSphere Dream Team.
* The Hype on Hyper Image ................ Sven shares a Dew with the young
gang behind Jaguar Hover Hunter.
* Jaguar Tackboard ......... Seventeen new titles on the Jaguar Development
List (including some surprises!) - Atari Press
Releases - Codes for Kasumi Ninja &
Val d'Isere - Atari CS Offers.
* Cuppa with the Dooz ................ Darren prepares for ECTS - Interview
with Power Drive's Rage Software.
* Surfing the Jagged Edge ........... News on WMCJ, FFL, D2K... has Dimitri
had too much alphabet soup lately?
* Troy Aikman NFL Football .......... Video football comes full circle with
Atari thanks to Williams' new release.
* Atari Artist ....................... News from the Meese - C-Lab Falcon -
Reviews of Apex Media & Neon Suite -
More News from Wizztronics.
* Results from the 3rd Annual AEO Readers Survey ...... Vox Populi, Vox Dei.
* The Unabashed Atariophile .................... PD and Shareware files for
=your= Atari computer.
* From a Saved Backup ......................... Profiles of nine online TOS
developers/boosters.
* Rare Gems .......................................... Quotes worth quoting.
* Developing News ....................... ACE'95 in Toronto
New ExtenDOSes
TLC Support Change
More CD Support from IAR
Calamus SL Update
Upgrade Calamus 1.09 to SL
DMC's Line Art 1.5
PhotoFX for Calamus SL
3D StereoMagic Module for Calamus
* Shutdown ............................. Around the world and up your block.
--==--==--==--==--
||| From the Editors ........... Atari Explorer Online: Jaguar Voyagers
||| Travis Guy
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.MAG Delphi: AEO_MAG Internet: aeo.mag@genie.geis.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Greetings! Thanks for picking up another issue of Atari Explorer
Online Magazine. We're available a week later than originally
planned, due to external events - one personal and several public.
Well, it's the end of March, time for me to pick up and hook up my
new Jaguar CD-ROM unit and pilot my War Griffin to victory, or
dogfight in the skies over... somewhere, or to start on my quest to
be The One, or to finally slide David Lee Roth's chestal area into
place. Errrr, maybe not.
But I'm not doing any of that. (Much to mine & David's mutual relief.)
Why? Just because the software's not done yet. Oh it's close. This
past weekend's ECTS showed off many Jaguar CD titles, but none of
them were completed. My contacts inside Atari all point to a
sufficient quantity of titles being completed in approximately a
month's time to start pegging the arrival of the CD-ROM unit from the
end of April to early May.
Call it last minute jitters. Call it attention to detail. (NO pun
intended.) Call it yet another waiting period. Call it whatever,
whatever it is, it's not fun. It's not going to make anyone happy.
But it's there. No amount of money can be thrown at it to make it go
away. No whips can be cracked to lessen the time. Time is what it's
going to take, and so far, time is all we're giving.
//// Once Here, What Then?
I've had a few EMails appear asking me what games I'm really looking
forward to. Depending on when I answered them, and what was announced
at that time, my list has changed. Let me see if I can come up with a
Top Ten list of Jaguar CD games I'm personally looking forward to.
In alphabetical order:
Alien Vs. Predator 2 - In the early planning stages now, this game
"""""""""""""""""""" should wind up being what we all hoped last
October's AvP -could- have been!
Black ICE\White Noise - I'm a sucker for cyberpunk, I guess. This
""""""""""""""""""""" adventure takes place 40 years in the future
on city streets where everything has a price, even your reputation.
The two words associated with this game should be, "Merry Christmas."
Out around then.
Defender 2000 - Jeff Minter, 700 megs of Jaguar CD storage. 700 megs
""""""""""""" of Jaguar CD storage, Jeff Minter. BOOM! I've heard
this one play and I want it already! Next to black-and-white Atari
Football, Defender was my favorite old arcade game. Now with it being
Minterized, who knows what wildness to expect? It's gonna be a long,
hot summer.
FIFA International Soccer - But that's an EA gam... yes it is.
""""""""""""""""""""""""" According to Dooz, who was at ECTS, the
papers have been signed, and several EA games are coming to Jaguar CD.
This one has been a head turner ever since it debuted last year on
3DO. I'm not one for soccer myself, but I can recognize nice concept.
Highlander - This trilogy is being produced by AvP's Purple Hampton,
"""""""""" and was shown at ECTS also. Imagine "Alone in the Dark"
with backgrounds taken from an animated TV series and a polygon
character derring-do. Should be one of the first finished JagCD games,
so the wait won't be so long here.
Magic Carpet - Nice game, no PC on my desk. That's what the Jaguar's
"""""""""""" for. It'll be interesting to see if the developers go
the distance on this one. VR? Why not?
Mortal Kombat III - Why ask why? Just be the first on the block.
Need For Speed - Isn't that another EA ga... good eyes there, sport.
"""""""""""""" The first game I ever wanted to play so badly that I
wrote the program myself was an "avoid/outrun the highway patrol" game
on my TRS-80. All done in glorious monochrome text.
SoulStar - A very slick shooter done up with SGI-rendered sprites and
"""""""" a programming team that's very keen on Jaguar. Out by
summer they say, and a sure one to pick up.
Varuna's Forces - I liked the concept of controlling a squad of
""""""""""""""" soldiers from a central location as portrayed in
Aliens. This game sounds like a finely done simulation of that. An
early title as well.
//// On With The Issue
I did finish compiling the reader survey responses, and have started
taking action on them. First up is Rare Gems. Rare Gems it seems, is
well though of by many of you, and well disliked by many others. It
was started on GEnie about a year ago by David Wright, a gentleman I
respect for his wit and taste. I asked him for his permission to
include it in AEO, explaining that AEO was an online Atari magazine
and I thought that Rare Gems would add some wit to the proceedings.
After reading the comments of many of you questioning the placement
of Rare Gems in AEO (sample: "What do they have to do with Atari?"),
my answer is: they're here to provide a little color, a laugh or two,
perhaps a pause to think.
They have been moved however, and no longer follow this editorial.
Also following with comments made, I hope to be able to boost Atari
computer coverage, and with the addition of an 8-bit editor, to even
include something for the oldies out there. (I can say that, I'm one
of you.)
There's an exceptional Atari Artist in this issue, along with two
extensive interviews with third-party Jaguar developers. (Dooz
manages a short chat with a third himself in his pre-ECTS column.)
Seventeen new Jaguar games grace the development list, there's a
recap of the best of PD/Shareware softs, Dimitri brings us more news,
Troy Aikman NFL Football is looked at in depth, and CatBoxes ship
tomorrow, just as Jeff Minter settles in for an RTC on GEnie.
Nothing's perfect, but all seems well here from the viewpoint of AEO
Central.
//// Drive Safely, Goodnight Everybody
Best line on last night's Oscars. David Letterman to viewers,
explaining the reason for doing a particular joke: "I just wanted to
say in front of one billion people, 'Bite me'."
Welcome to your window on the World Atari. See you next time with at
least two new Jaguar reviews, and news aplenty.
--==--==--==--==--
||| California 4Play
||| Interview by: Mark "Stingray" Santora
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.4 Delphi: SANTORA
----------------------------------------------------------------
While recently in Los Angeles on business, I was able to get together
with some of the 4Play programming team. 4Play is made up of Scott
LeGrand, Doug Engel, Stephanie Wukovitz, and Tom Harker (of ICD).
Scott LeGrand and Stephanie Wukovitz both live and work at UCLA in
Westwood. After meeting for dinner, we went back to their apartment
and got down to talking about their first Jaguar title, Battlesphere.
[] AEO: Tell me about the setup for Battlesphere.
SCOTT: One of my favorite games of all time is Star Raiders for the
Atari 800. Star Raiders is the reason I bought an Atari 800 and I am
pretty sure that it is the reason that Doug bought one as well. I just
played it for months and months. There really hasn't been a good
sequel to Star Raiders ever since it came out. There were a few things
on the PC like LightSpeed and there is a game called Elite. It's kind
of like Star Raiders but not really. It's more a role playing game in
space. Then on the PC there is a game that we love called Tie Fighter.
But we also like networking games. So, we thought what would we get if
we took all of those games and ideas and threw'em together? A
multiplayer Tie Fighter-like game. That's what the basic plot of
Battlesphere is. Now unfortunately networking games haven't really
caught on, yet - but I think that they are in the next few years. They
are the next wave no matter what anyone in the industry thinks.
STEPHANIE: Multiplayer games are very popular on the Net. Net-Trek for
example.
SCOTT: The problem is that not a lot of people have access to games
like Net-Trek or any other of those types of games out there. They are
very popular in their limited audience that they get to. So we decided
that we would do a networking game with Tie Fighter graphics sort of
follow the plot of Star Raiders. You're in a ship and have to take out
an invading fleet of enemy ships coming for your starbases before they
get you.
One of the problems with writing a networking game is that while
networking hasn't caught on yet, you also have to write a game that
one person can play and have a good time. So our solution to that was
to have a bunch of different scenarios within the game.
1st, an all out "Arena" type game, like Battlewheels in space.
Everyone gets a ship in the beginning. They can fight networked or
against computer ships. As they win battles they can take the winnings
and upgrade their ship.
2nd, single player or co-op known as "Gauntlet." It is kind of like
Missile Command in Space. You have 4 or more starbases and you have
these arcade like waves of ships coming at the starbases. As you
complete a level, you move onto the next one. Every couple of levels
you will encounter level bosses. However if you do not like level
bosses you can bypass them and leave the level immediately. But
killing the boss will get you the big points.
3rd, "Alone Against the Empire." This level is the Star Raiders-like
mode. Single player or Co-op networked. The universe is broken up into
sectors and in each sector is either a starbase, an enemy armada
coming for your starbases, or an enemy starbase. The enemy armadas
head for your starbases and destroy them. Once your starbases are
destroyed, the game is over and you lose. The enemy starbases can open
worm holes to the enemy's home world and bring in reinforcements, so
the idea is that if you don't kill the enemy starbases, the game will
never end. It kind of resembles Star Raiders II when you have to go
and destroy the planets.
4th mode is a Campaign Mode.
[] AEO: How many players will Battlesphere play, maximum?
SCOTT: Eight players, maximum. Any more than that and you are going to
tax the hardware too much and bring down the frame rate.
[] AEO: So, what do you plan the frame rate to be in the final
product?
SCOTT: If we can get 20fps with eight people networked, we'll be very
happy. Right now in single player it is usually running at 30fps. If
you stick like ten starbases on top of you, you are going to crash the
frame rate down. And there are going to be situations like that in the
gameplay and there are going to be people on the Net who say, "Oh what a
horrible game because the frame rate drops." But we'll laugh, all
games do this and you can't get away from it. Graphics engines have
finite limits.
[] AEO: What is the control going to be like?
SCOTT: First thing is that you can play it one player with one
controller. But if you don't have it networked and you have a friend
and you want to play against him, one of the best ways to play Star
Raiders was to have one person man the joystick while the other mans
the keyboard. You could just scream commands at each other and curse
each other out when something went wrong. So, what we are going to do
is mirror all of the functionality of the keypad on both joypads
simultaneously, so you can have a co-pilot manning all the tactical
functions while you are piloting the ship around and firing. On top of
that, the joypad on the second controller will optionally control a
second crosshair. Both players will be able to fire lasers but the
second player can fire the lasers in a direction where the ship isn't
pointing so that you can fire at a ship that crosses your field of
view without having to turn your ship.
[] AEO: How long has Battlesphere been in development?
SCOTT: Well, conceptually, it's been in development since August 1993.
That's when we were still looking for backers for the game. We had a
20 page proposal that we sent to Atari and a bunch of other companies.
And nothing really panned out until we got to Tom at ICD. We all got
together and made it happen.
[] AEO: How did 4Play come about into existence?
SCOTT: Ah, you want the whole story. That's probably the most
interesting thing I can tell you. About two years ago Doug Engel
(Thunderbird) and I decided that we were going to write another video
game. It was probably going to be a space battle game because I wrote
a space battle game back in the eighties on a High School mainframe,
which was an absolute compulsion for all those that played it - they
planned their days around it.
At the time Doug and I were wanting to do our game, the only new
system that we knew was coming out was the 3DO. So, I went and got all
the information on how to become a developer for the 3DO. Around July,
Atari announced the Jaguar. We were heading for the 3DO at this point,
but we started looking into the Jaguar. We figured we might as well
find out about it. Atari was looking kind of dead but we figured, "Who
knows?" The more we found out about the Jaguar the better it looked.
Then we needed someone to fund us and support our development. So we
started advertising on the 'Net that we were interested in Jaguar
Development. And that is how we met Tom Harker - who heads ICD and has
been dealing with Atari since forever. We all got together and set
ourselves up and it went from there.
[] AEO: Had you been using Atari products before your involvement with
the Jaguar?
SCOTT: All of us in 4Play have been Atari users for a very long time.
Both Doug and I go back to the original 2600. I have one of the ones
from Sears in 1977 with a big piece of wood inside of it. $180. After
that, we both had Atari 800's and started programming. I did a game
for the 800 called "Death Run." When I moved to the ST, I did a
program for the ST, way back there, called "Genesis Molecular
Modeling." Doug did a bunch of stuff, too. He designed the Tweety
Board for the ST, an unreleased game for the ST called "Mechanaught"
and he did an 800 game called "Rocks."
[] AEO: Stephanie, what is your involvement in 4Play?
STEPHANIE: Most of it is music. A little bit has to do with
algorithms. If Scott has a question he can come ask me, but
unfortunately at this time, music is all I can really do with classes
and all.
[] AEO: Do you have any say in game design or ships??
STEPHANIE: Sure. Doug does the design but when we get them, I can say,
"this should be blue." Or, "I don't like that fin there." Doug does
such quality work that it isn't really a problem.
SCOTT: We just throw an idea at Doug and out comes beautiful artwork
or a beautiful ship. He has basically done all the artwork. Doug also
does coding. He has done the networking code and the music code and
some of the initial code as well.
[] AEO: Why did you choose to use the PC development Platform versus
the Atari Platform?
SCOTT: The situation is that the 486 is a lot faster than the Falcon.
So when you are doing a lot of compiles, it is a lot more convenient
on the 486 because the compilations will take a minute versus five
minutes on the Falcon. Not that I don't like the Falcon, it is a
wonderful machine with great audio.
[] AEO: How is programming the Jaguar?
SCOTT: It does take a little bit to learn the hardware, but once you
learn it, it is a great little system to play with. It is very
flexible and there isn't anything to get in your way. Whatever you can
push the hardware to do it OK. That's what I really like about the
Jaguar.
[] AEO: How long did it take you to get comfortable with the Jaguar?
SCOTT: A couple of months. Not extremely long.
[] AEO: Have you pushed the hardware to its limits?
SCOTT: No. Battlesphere is too committed at this point, but if we were
to re-write it from the ground up we could easily up the frame rate
higher. Not that there is a problem with the frame rate now. On our
future Jaguar games, they will be better than Battlesphere as far as
the coding. I know a lot more now than I did a year ago.
[] AEO: Do you think the 68000 in the Jaguar hampers its performance?
Not at all, it can be literally turned off if desired. We prefer to
use it as a smart controller to read the joysticks and a couple of
other menial tasks....
[] AEO: What is the resolution and color level of Battlesphere?
SCOTT: It runs in 320x240 resolution. I think on a TV there isn't any
point to going higher on a video game system. It uses the 16-bit CRY
color system.
[] AEO: How long would you expect average Jaguar development to take
after getting past the learning curve?
SCOTT: About the end of March last year is when I really started to be
able to code the thing, instead of doing demos, and the first polygon
codes started appearing. I would guess that it will take just under a
year and a half to finish the game. We work days, and do programming
as our second job.
[] AEO: How is it working with Tom and ICD?
SCOTT: It's great. Tom knows Atari better than anyone in the world.
If we need to get something, Tom is the man to go to. Tom is an Atari
veteran and has a really good reputation throughout the Atari
community.
STEPHANIE: When we needed the second Falcon for music, he got it for us.
[] AEO: Will there be any easter eggs in the game?
SCOTT: Well, we will probably have an invincibility code of some sort.
But we are not going to rely on keypad combinations for them. We want
to make people go looking for the easter eggs. We will drop subtle
little hints that if a player flies off in a certain direction he
might see something interesting. Luckily, we are the producers of our
own game so we decide what we want to put in it.
[] AEO: How would you say the Jaguar stands up to the Saturn,
PlayStation, and 3DO?
SCOTT: I personally think the 3DO is dead. It costs too much at $400,
even if it does drop to $300, it still wont make make it. Even if they
do have the $200 add on upgrade (a'la 32x) for it which brings it up
to the performance level of the PSX - that'll make it $600 for the
game system and I don't think that will fly.
The Saturn is going to open at $350-$450 according to the Wall Street
Journal, and unless they change that I don't see it going anywhere.
I think the PSX is going to fly when it does get to the US. I think it's
a really nice system. If they meet the rumors and sell it for $300,
they've got some serious quality there. Luckily Atari has dropped the
price on the Jaguar to $150 or else the PSX would have killed them, but
I don't think so now. I think you could do Ridge Racer or Tohshinden on
the Jaguar CD, but it's certainly not what I've done in my first
generation effort. Certainly, I think Francois is right about being
able to match Tohshinden - but it would be a lot of work.
[] AEO: Do you think that Virtual Fighter 2 is possible on the Jaguar?
SCOTT: Virtua Fighter 2 is a little more complex than Tohshinden.
Tohshinden relies a lot on gouroud shading. Virtua Fighter 2 is mostly
textures and that would be more difficult. At worst, you could lower
the resolution which at worst would be like Jag Doom, which I think
looks fine.
[] AEO: Do you think Atari rushed the Jaguar to market too early?
SCOTT: That's a tough question. Atari faced a Catch 22. Either they
fade into oblivion or they get a new system to the market. So, they
got the system to market. They had to get the system on the market to
attract the developers. If the system hadn't been out there would be
no developers. If it had been released say last summer, we would have
seen Cybermorph in 1994 rather than Cybermorph in 1993. But now we
have a lot of developers who have signed onto develop real projects.
I think what happened with Atari is that they didn't have any money or
they weren't willing to spend the money; but after the settlement with
Sega probably a lot of things got into motion and it is now starting
to come out like the Mortal Kombat 3 deal.
[] AEO: There are a lot of big publishing companies out there like
Electronic Arts that have been in the business for so long
that some of their stuff is starting to feel tired. Do you
consider the Jaguar with its unique processing set up and "to
the metal" programming techniques to be the type of system
where the next generation of programmers and hackers would
embrace it?
STEPHANIE: Well, the people from Hyper Image Productions are doing a
game called Hover Hunter and it looks really nice. They seem to be
able to do incredible things with the Jaguar. I don't know if you
would call them the next generation of "hackers," but they are really
good. They seem to be having a real blast programming the Jaguar.
SCOTT: Yeah, their game is looking really nice. For the next
generation of programmers, the Jaguar is a very nice system, but
because of the architecture, it does take some time to learn.
[] AEO: Stephanie, are you planning on moving into coding after
Battlesphere?
STEPHANIE: Yes, but Graduate School tends to get in the way of
learning the Jaguar. I'm learning a little at a time.
[] AEO: What are you studying?
STEPHANIE: Right now I'm going for my Ph.D.. As an undergrad, I went to
Penn State as a math major. I went to Cornell Graduate School for two
years studying Pure Mathematics and Computer Science but I decided
that I would rather be working on applied projects and got involved
with someone here at UCLA who had met Scott. When Scott told him about
me, I got together with that person and now I am working with him in
his lab as a bio-chemistry stenographer. I program more during the
day than I do at home. I hope to have my Ph.D. done in June 1997. I am
currently investigating the mathematical rules governing how proteins
form crystals, and in general applying mathematics to chemistry and
molecular biology.
[] AEO: Scott, I know you have your Ph.D., but what is your scholastic
background?
SCOTT: B.S. Biology, Siena College.
Ph.D. Biochemistry, Penn State University.
Currently a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA.
[] AEO: With Doug and Scott, and eventually Stephanie programming,
does 4Play plan on possibly doing more than one project at a
time?
SCOTT: I am against that myself. I think that it's good to stay small
and focused on one project. And this game is sort of an obsession to
us. We spend eight hours a day at our job and then come back home get
something to eat, and code for six to eight hours.
STEPHANIE: I'm against that as well. You end up with quality over
quantity.
[] AEO: Any ideas on the type of music?
STEPHANIE: I have some ideas. I come home and play the keyboard for a
while. But I'm limited since we are using a cart. I'm forced to use
MOD files. Eventually, if we do a CD game, I think I will enjoy that
more. If we can sound as good as Tempest 2000, I'll be happy. Most of
the music will be done in the next two weeks between the school
breaks, so it won't be holding the game up.
[] AEO: Are you designing the sound F/X?
STEPHANIE: No. But I will be doing the computer voice. Scott and Doug
have been friends for a long time and have some very specific ideas
about the F/X. Some of them are in jokes.
SCOTT: Some of our effects are taken from a tape we made back when we
were thirteen. We would stick firecrackers into things, like R2D2's
leg, and blow it up.
[] AEO: When do you expect release on Battlesphere?
SCOTT: Well, we announced 2nd Quarter 1995, but we are hoping for the
end of June. Remember, we do this after our day jobs.
[] AEO: Any specific limitations to the cartridge format?
SCOTT: Well, obviously we are stuck with MODs instead of Red Book
audio. But we have plenty of room for explosions and textures and F/X.
That's what I consider to be the video game experience. Just try to
make a really good interface for the player and give him a real show.
We'll bump the cart up to a 4 Meg cart when we need to. But right now,
while we code there isn't much need for it.
[] AEO: What form of networking will Battlesphere support through the
Catbox?
SCOTT: The Catbox supports CatNet and an RS232 interface. You should
will be able to shove any standard Hayes compatible modem onto the
Catbox and use the software in the program to call another Jaguar. We
wanted to do that because from the beginning, Battlesphere was designed
to be networked. Since I have always been a fan of networking, as soon
as we got the Jaguar, Tom and Doug, who are very good with hardware,
we had them working on an interface. That's how the Catbox emerged.
Along the lines of developing the networking and modem interfaces, Tom
decided it would be good to put audio and video options on there to
give it some wider appeal. Then we found out the 3DO had headphone
jacks and volume control. So, that ended up on the Catbox as well.
[] AEO: Are you happy with the final Catbox?
SCOTT: Oh yeah, I think it's great.
[] AEO: Are you going to support the Voice Modem as well?
SCOTT: Yes. Two player.
[] AEO: Do you have a Voice Modem for testing?
SCOTT: We don't have it at this time. But it is perfectly good enough
to debug modem code using the Catbox and a Hayes modem. Those will
most likely be more wide spread than the Voice Modem finally gets out
there. But, I don't know what the story is with it.
[] AEO: Do you foresee yourself moving to CD-ROM?
SCOTT: If the Jaguar does well with the CD, than we will. There will
be some sort of expansion module into Battlesphere that we will use if
we sell enough copies of Battlesphere to make it a success. By using a
CD expansion, you can load the ships off of the Cart faster than the
CD-ROM and that will cut the access time. Then we will include more
music and different missions, like they've done with X-Wing and
Tie-Fighter.
[] AEO: Do you think the Jaguar is capable of doing a Tie-Fighter?
SCOTT: Oh yeah. Easily. Our polygon engine rocks.
[] AEO: How good is it? How many polygons are you getting?
SCOTT: That's a really bad thing to ask. The way many benchmark a
polygon engine is that they put a lot of really tiny objects on the
screen, like 10x10 pixel polygons. Then they spin them around and
that's how you get your rendering rate. What I think the way that you
measure a polygon engine should be, is that you play a game and see
when it slows done. Our game doesn't slow down much at all, even when
the ships are big. That's more of a measure of a polygon engine to me.
[] AEO: How would you rate it to the Checkered Flag engine or the Club
Drive engine or the Cybermorph/Battlemorph engine?
SCOTT & STEPHANIE: (laugh) [a lot] Cybermorph has a pretty decent
engine in it - a lot better than Checkered Flag or Club Drive. I would
think that ours is faster than Cybermorph by about a factor of two;
but then again, Cybermorph has a land and we don't. I haven't seen
Battlemorph.
[] AEO: What is your favorite game on Jaguar?
STEPHANIE: Definitely Tempest 2000. I am not a big fan of the Doom
Style games. Doom looks really nice as does Wolfenstein 3D and Alien
vs. Predator. But Tempest 2000 is just a very different game, and it
is really nicely put together. I love the music.
SCOTT: Iron Soldier. I just love getting in a Robot and smashing
everything to hell. Very male I suppose. It is just a really well done
game and the first "robot" game that actually fun to play as opposed
to the Battletech games on the PC and Metal Head on the 32x. Metal
Head lacked the feeling of immersion and lacked walking motion. It
also had a pretty low frame rate. Metal Head reminded me of
Wolfenstein 3D except you are in a robot. Wow. [understated] Tempest
2000 comes in a close second to Iron Soldier though.
[] AEO: What is your least favorite game that you've played on Jaguar?
Without getting mean. Actually, sure get mean if you want.
STEPHANIE: I haven't played them all, but looking at them all Club
Drive seems to miss something.
SCOTT: Air Cars.
[] AEO: With Scott and Stephanie here on the West Coast, how do Tom
and Doug fit into all of this?
SCOTT: Doug is in Albany, New York and Tom is in Rockford Illinois, So
we call ourselves the West Coast, East Coast, and Mid West offices of
4Play. That makes it sound really official. We communicate by phone
and GEnie and the Internet regularly. Right now we are into setting up
Internet nodes at our address so we can use that to send stuff back
and forth whenever we want. Those aren't up yet though.
[] AEO: Will 4Play have it's own World Wide Web page?
STEPHANIE: Eventually. Yes.
[] AEO: How difficult is it to put together another controller for the
Jaguar like a rotary controller for Tempest or a flight stick?
SCOTT: Not that difficult. All you have to do is find someone who is
willing to do it.
[] AEO: What do you think of "Controller 2" from Atari? Will the set
up in Battlesphere take advantage of the newly mapped buttons on the
keypad?
SCOTT: I'm not a really big fan of fighting games, so I'm not the right
person to ask that. I like Virtual Fighter and Mortal Kombat, but
that's it. We set up Battlesphere's control on the keypad to take
advantage of it. The 1,4,7,* will be engine power. That makes sense.
The middle column will be for target selection and the last for weapon
selection. You can also access the weapon selection through the red
buttons, but you most likely will be able to prioritize the strips for
your liking. There will also be other options like pressing "C" and a
keypad button for communications, they are all logically related to
one another. There are a total of about 36 different options on the
keypad.
Playtesters will get copies of it around the E3 show.
[] AEO: On GEnie a while back there was a big discussion about pausing
the game in network mode. What was the final decision on that?
SCOTT: There is going to be a pause. Team captains will be the one to
pause.
[] AEO: Are you thinking of supporting the Lynx as a smart controller?
SCOTT: If the Lynx had ever taken off - and it is a great system, I
own two - I would support it. But I don't think that there are enough
people out there with Lynx's to support the development of the Lynx
cart to run with Battlesphere. It would drive the cost of the package
up way too high. I would guess around $100.
[] AEO: What was a moment in the last five years of video games where
you said "WOW" about something?
SCOTT: Well, I used to love the stuff coming out of Atari Games. I
loved Hard Drivin' because it had the first responsive controller.
Then they started making fighting games and I've only really liked
Primal Rage since. I also liked Street Fighter II because it was a
fighter with good control, finally. Until then I really never played
fighters. I also loved Doom because of the 3D interface.
STEPHANIE: A lot of the stuff Sega has been putting out impressed me.
I got to try R360, and I thought that was great. I also got to try
Desert Tank and it's really neat.
[] AEO: What do you think of the Virtuality Helmet that Atari is going
to put out?
SCOTT: I don't know. I don't think you can do a good headset for under
$1000 right now. I think it is just going to look like two up close
Lynxes. I'd love to support, but I don't have a lot of faith in a good
VR helmet for under $200.
[] AEO: What do you like to do when you're not working on anything?
Hobbies, TV, Books....
STEPHANIE: We both very much like Babylon 5 - That's been a lot of
inspiration of the music in the game - and the X-Files. I read a lot
of hard core science fiction; no fantasy. I tend to change on my
favorite writers. I went through a Greg Bear phase, then David
Brinser. I cook.
SCOTT: I love to play video games. I have since I touched a computer
in 1971 and played a game called Colony which probably no one
remembers. I have done everything I could since that point to get near
video games. I guess I'm getting more selective in my old age as I
like VR games. I also like Daytona a lot. My favorite authors right
now are Bruce Sterling and David Brinser. I like watching all the
weird people on Usenet. If you really want to see the weirdness on
Usenet you have to go over to alt.alien.visitors. It's very
entertaining. We've been on the Net since 1987-88. We actually met on
the net.
[] AEO: Do you see 4Play expanding in the future?
SCOTT: We do have a lot of those concepts were playing with and it
might be nice to farm some out. Keep it small and intense.
[] AEO: What is your next project?
SCOTT: We don't know what our next game is going to be. We all have ideas
on what we would like to do next. Personally, I have about ten
concepts flushed out and none of them have never really been done in
the arcades or anywhere else. But we haven't decided, yet. We want to
get this one done first, and make sure it rocks.
[] AEO: Well, good luck on all your endeavors! Thanks for the
hospitality.
--==--==--==--==--
||| The Hype on Hyper Image
||| Interview by: Christian Svensson
/ | \ GEnie: EXPLORER.5 Internet: svensson@bucknell.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------
[] AEO: Who are the members of Hyper Image and what are they
responsible for there?
Jeremy: There are lots of people who help make Hyper Image go, the
main contributors include the following people:
Paul is responsible for directing the design of our projects, Jeremy
is responsible for external relations and directing the technical
aspects of our projects. Otavio handles engine prototypes and
implementation, Matias is responsible for both design and art,
Sterling is responsible for translating it all into English for us.
Andy Carlson is responsible for the soundtrack for Hover Hunter. Bill
is Hyper's right hand man ;)
[] AEO: How did each of you get into computers and eventually the
gaming industry? Sort of a little history section. Things like
education, gaming interests, etc.
Jeremy: I started programming around age seven on Commodore PET's,
Apple II's, and Timex Sinclair 1000's. My latest gaming breakthroughs
include Breakout and Race for the TI-85 graphics calculator ;) My
first real programming job was programming SGI's for the DOD. None of
any programming skills I have can be attributed to my formal education
at University of Maryland.
Paul: He lies. The OS class Jeremy? Otavio and I are brothers, and our
mom was heavily into computers from around the time the Apple II's
came out. From then on, we were both quite into computers: Otavio for
the programming, me for the graphics/special effects, and both of us
for the games.
[] AEO: Is Jaguar development Hyper Image's first foray into gaming
development?
Jeremy: Yes, this is our first effort as a team.
[] AEO: What prompted you to begin Development on the Jag? Are you
licensed developers for any other platforms presently?
Jeremy: At the time of our signing on the Jaguar, it was, and still is
one of the most technically impressive platforms. We are currently
licensed to develop on the Jaguar, Sony Playstation and the 3DO. We
are also currently investigating other platforms.
[] AEO: What is your perception (be honest) of Atari and their
efforts to:
1. Aid 3rd party developers on their projects?
Jeremy: Atari has been very supportive of us; technical support has
been great, and the development environment continues to be very
diverse, they support different OSes and are pretty cool about looking
towards the future with their tools. They do listen to their
developers feedback which is very cool.
2. Successfully market and distribute the Jaguar?
Jeremy: I've been relatively impressed with their market penetration,
seeing Jag commercials on primetime MTV, and systems in Toys'R'Us is
pretty cool. You have to admit, the Doom commercial is just too cool
;) The posters are also a nice touch ;)
3. Solicit additional third party developers and licensees?
Jeremy: Uhhh... like ask Paul or something... I dunno.
Paul: Like I know... we went after them.
4. Develop impressive (from a marketing stand-point) and
powerful (from a developer standpoint) hardware and
peripherals?
Jeremy: The reason we initially chose the Jaguar was due to the fact
that it was the only system available that could handle what we wanted
to do. Since we signed on, there are lots of other powerful systems
that have hit the market. We are definitely interested in looking at
the new systems, however we will continue to support the Jaguar,
because we think it is a very powerful system with tons of untapped
potential.
Paul: I want to say, in general about Atari, everybody knows they are
not where the big bucks are right now, and they have their problems,
but they are the absolute best company to work with as far as freedom
to do what we want with our project. They support innovation and fresh
ideas, not just games done by the book. If it wasn't for Atari's open
arms, we would not be where we are today.
[] AEO: Hover Hunter is your current project. Can you provide a
description of the game for us?
Jeremy: Uhhh, Paul?
Paul: You are sitting in the cockpit of a super high-tech hovertank,
and you fly over a variety of landscapes in a series of missions.
There will be big loud explosions, high speed, lots of weapons, lots
of other hovercraft, beautiful landscapes, slick heads-up displays,
and the option for networked battles. What more could anyone want in
an action/simulator? =] I am really not good at describing the game,
because the parts of a game that are important to me have to be seen
or played. I recommend everybody check out http://www.hyperimage.com,
and everybody buy Hover Hunter when it comes out. =] (The screen shots
are available via anon ftp also, and hopefully we'll be putting more
up soon, via ftp.hyperimage.com.)
[] AEO: How was overcoming the "learning curve" of the Jag's hardware?
Do you think it may possibly cause delay of Hover Hunter?
Jeremy: I don't think that the learning curve of the Jaguar was too
big of a factor in the time it is taking to develop Hover Hunter. The
technical aspects of Hover Hunter are by far the easier aspects, and
don't account for the bulk of the development time.
[] AEO: Will Hover Hunter utilize the JagModem at all or only Jagnet?
Jeremy: Hover Hunter will definitely be supporting head to head serial
linking of two Jaguars. We have several CatBoxes, and I have every
plan to support multiplayer networking. Supporting the JagModem is
still a possibility, however we have no specific plans to support it
at this time. We are currently on schedule for a summer release,
however its final release date depends on our publisher.
[] AEO: Were there any interesting stories/anecdotes that you could
tell us about that happened in the course of Hover Hunter's
development?
Jeremy: Well, we did make a pretty kewl networked version of "64-bit
Cyber Deluxe Pong Kombat" for the Jaguar. And I suppose most people
would find our daily Mountain Dew consumption pretty disgusting. (We
have at least two literal "walls" of empty cans that we've been
building, gotta remember to call Pepsi up for a sponsorship ;)
Paul: That's "Deluxe X-tra Cyber Super 64-bit Pong Kombat".
unfortunately, the stuff we find really funny we wouldn't want to
announce to the world for various reasons. We did start in a two-
bedroom apartment with four people in it, and have now moved up to a
four-bedroom house with eight people in it.... Ummm... MOUNTAIN DEW!!!
Jeremy: Someday my bed will be more than four feet from my work. ;)
[] AEO: Given the Jaguar's exclusive networking capabilities, is it
possible that Hover Hunter will be showing up on any other
consoles in a non-networkable format?
Jeremy: Hover Hunter will be a really cool game, with extremely
diverse gameplay. Network play will definitely enhance the game,
however I believe that the game will be able to stand on its own with
no problems.
Paul: Good dodge, Jer... I say: anything is possible, but we have no
plans right now.
[] AEO: At the WCES, it was rumored that both Novalogic and Nintendo
offered obscene amounts of money for Hyper Image to
discontinue Jag development and start development with one or
both of these companies.... Is this correct? (I heard the
Novalogic guys were drooling all over themselves when they saw
your demo... couldn't have been a pretty sight to see grown
men and women drool :)
Jeremy: Ack! The rumor mill is a strange thing. I believe that someone
from Novalogic did check out our demo (the Jaguar area had lots of
traffic!), but there was absolutely no offer from them of that nature.
Incidentally, although I believe their heightfield technique is
different from ours (ours takes advantage of the Jag's bus and
blitter) I'm still trying to figure out how they manage it on the
SNES! More seriously, the Nintendo rumors are absolutely false. Hover
Hunter did draw interest from lots of people but there were no
"obscene amounts" offered by Nintendo :(
[] AEO: After Hover Hunter, what is next for Hyper Image? More Jag
development (I hope)? Any gaming concepts waiting in the
wings?
Jeremy: Umm, confidential for now :( But that CD is looking pretty
cool...
[] AEO: What are some of your favorite games (present, classic,
whatever)? This is something I ask all of my interviewees
mostly for my own curiousity....
Jeremy: Riiiiidge Racer, Toshinden, DOOM, Moria (kinda like Nethack),
Battle Tetris Gaiden (even though I always get my butt kicked),
Karateka and any version of Breakout.
Paul: current: Ridge Racer(PSX), bomberman, Virtua Fighter 2,
Aliens-TC (an =incredible= DOOM conversion). General: Tempest 2000!!,
tetris - specifically tetris battle gaiden, a japanese famicom game
where you can cast spells on your opponent =], Thunder Force II,
Metroid (all of them), Race Drivin'. Personal favorites that have
influenced the design of Hover Hunter: DOOM!, Wing Commander / X-wing,
Cybersled, Syndicate, Red Planet / Battletech.
[] AEO: Is there anything else you would like to say in closing to our
readers? Hyping Hover Hunter or other upcoming games, a
prediction of the future for yourselves and/or Atari?
Jeremy: Nice CD unit, pretty CD unit. 700+ megs of 64-bit networkable
Pong Instinct, but you have to stack your four televisions in a cube
configuration, for a larger than life combined playfield...
Paul: Hover Hunter will kick ass. If we don't have fun playing it we
won't release it. I think Battlesphere will do the same. I =know=
Ultra Vortex is cool, and I don't think theres a doubt in anyone's
mind about D2K. =]
Atari's future? who knows...? I don't have a better crystal ball than
anybody else. If they can keep getting the Jag price WAY below
everybody else, and get some more really kickin titles, they should do
pretty well.
Our future? We will continue to make THE most incredible, well-
designed, well-programmed, fun-to-play games we possibly can, for as
long as we can. Each of us has ideas for really cool games we would
like to do, and I think we can do all of them in the near future.
Until the ultimate game in the universe is done, we're not planning on
quitting.
My future? Why, world domination, of course. come along, Pinky, we
have much work to do....
Jeremy: Ok Brain....
--==--==--==--==--
||| Jaguar Tackboard
||| Confirmed information about Atari's Jaguar
/ | \ Compiled from online and official sources
-----------------------------------------------------------------
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Independent Association of Jaguar Developers
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The IAJD (Independent Association of Jaguar Developers) has started
accepting members on GEnie. The IAJD is a private group where
confidential discussions can be freely held. (Category 64 of the ST
RoundTable is the IAJD meeting place.) Consequently, membership in the
IAJD is limited to Jaguar developers who are registered with Atari
Corp. To apply for membership, send EMail to ENTRY$ on GEnie (or
<entry$@genie.geis.com> if you're not on GEnie). Regular EMail
correspondence with the IAJD should be sent to IAJD$ (again, or
<iajd$@genie.geis.com> if you're not on GEnie).
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Internet Jaguar Mailing List
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Anyone with Internet EMail access can join the discussions on the
Jaguar mailing list. To "subscribe" to the list, send an EMail to
the following address: <listserv@ctrc.fs.saci.org>
Leave the subject line blank. In the body of the EMail, include this
line:
subscribe jaguar-l FirstName LastName
(Where "FirstName" is your first name and "LastName" is your last
name.)
To send mail to be read on the Jaguar list, address your letter to:
<jaguar-l@ctrc.fs.saci.org>. It will go to the list server and be
sent to the over 250 readers of the list.
IMPORTANT: If your mail server charges you by the character or by the
letter, please be aware that the Jaguar list can generate dozens, and
up to a hundred EMails in a day.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Jaguar FAQ
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Robert Jung <rjung@netcom.com> maintains the Jaguar FAQ (Frequently
Asked Questions) file, an updated list of Jaguar specs and facts. The
Jaguar FAQ is posted to rec.games.video.atari on Usenet around the
first of every month, and can also be found via FTP, address:
ftp.netcom.com, in Andy Eddy's /pub/vidgames/faqs directory.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// AEO Development List 2.04
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Editor: The following list of game titles has been confirmed to
the best of AEO's ability as of March 27, 1995. Entries in the "S"tatus
column reflect any "e"rrors, "u"pdates, "n"ew titles, titles that are in
"P"roduction, or "?"uestionable listings since the last AEO list.
Entries in the "M"edia column reflect whether the title is "C"D-ROM or
"H"ardware. (Blank entries are assumed to be cartridge software.)
ETA dates are dates that have been provided by the developer. AMMV.
//// Titles in Development
Rating/
S M Title ETA Developer Publisher
""" """"" """ """"""""" """""""""
P AirCars 4/95 MidNite MidNite
n C Alien vs. Predator 2 - Atari
Arena Football League - V Real Productions V Real
C Artemis Mid96 Springer Spaniel Springer
C BIOS Fear - All Systems Go
C Baldy Q2/95 Atari Atari
Batman Forever Q3/95 Atari Atari
u C Battlemorph Q2/95 Attention to Detail Atari
u Battlesphere Q3/95 4Play
Battlewheels 1995 Beyond Games Beyond Games
u C Black ICE\White Noise Q4/95 Atari Atari
u C Blue Lightning Q2/95 Attention to Detail Atari
n C Brain Dead 13 - Readysoft Readysoft
C Brett Hull Hockey Q2/95 Atari
u Burnout (not Super Burnout) 5/95 Virtual Xperience Atari
Casino Royale 4/95 Telegames Telegames
P H Cat Box 3/95 Black Cat Design
C CD League Bowling Q2/95 V-Real Productions
Center Court Tennis ? Zeppelin Games
Charles Barkley Basketball Q2/95 Atari
u C Commando - Microids
Conan - Arcade Zone
C Creature Shock Q2/95 Argonaut Software Virgin
'Dactyl Joust Q2/95 High Voltage Atari
Defender 2000 8/95 LlamaSoft Atari
u C Demolition Man 6/95 Virgin Interactive Atari
n C Deus ex Machina 12/95 Silmarils
Dino Dudes 2 ? Imagitec Design Atari
u Double Dragon V 4/95 Williams Enter. Williams
u C Dragon's Lair Q2/95 ReadySoft ReadySoft
Droppings ? Delta Music Systems
Dungeon Depths ? MidNite
? Evidence ? Microids
F1 Racer - Domark Group Ltd.
n C FIFA International Soccer - Electronic Arts
Fight For Life Q2/95 Atari Atari
P Flashback 3/95 Tiertex Ltd. U.S. Gold
n Flip Out - Gorilla Systems
n Formula 1 - Teque
n Frank Thomas Baseball Q4/96 A
C Freelancer 2120 - Imagitec Design Atari
Galactic Gladiators ? Photosurrealism
Hardball 3 7/95 Atari Atari
u C Highlander 5/95 Atari Atari
C Highlander II - Atari Atari
C Highlander III - Atari Atari
Horrorscope Q2/95 V-Real Productions
C Hosenose and Booger ? All Systems Go
Hover Hunter Q2/95 Hyper Image Hyper Image
P Hover Strike 4/95 Atari Atari
Hyper Force Q2/95 Visual Impact
Indiana Jags - Virtual Xperience
P International Sensible Soccer 3/95 Williams Brothers Telegames
n C Ishar Genesis 12/95 Silmarils
C Jack Nicholas Cyber Golf ? Hand Made Software Atari
James Pond 3 Q2/95 Telegames
? Kick Off 3 ? Anco Software Ltd.
Legions of the Undead Q2/95 Rebellion Software Atari
? Lester the Unlikely ? DTMC
C Litil Divil - Gremlin Interactive
C Lobo ? Ocean Software Ltd.
C Magic Carpet - Bullfrog
Mad Dog McCree ? American Laser Games
? Mountain Sports ? DTMC
n C Mortal Kombat III Q2/96 Williams
H MPEG - Atari Atari
n NBA Jam TE Q4/95
Nanoterror ? Delta Music Systems
n C Need For Speed - Electronic Arts
Nerves of Steel ? Rainmaker Software
? C Neurodancer ? PIXIS Interactive
? Phear ? H2O Design Corp.
P Pinball Fantasies 4/95*8*Spider Soft C-West
u Pitfall 2: The Mayan Adventure Q3/95 Activision
u Power Drive Rally 6/95 Rage Software Time-Warner
C Powerslide 1995 Williams Brothers Telegames
C Primal Rage Q4/95 Time-Warner
Rainbow Warrior ? 3D Games
u RayMan 5/95 UBI Soft UBI Soft
C Redemption Q2/95 Atari Atari
Return of Magic Q4/95 Virtual Artistry
u C Return to Zork - Activision
Rise of the Robots Q4/95 Williams Brothers
C Robinson's Requiem H2/95 Silmarils Atari
Ruiner Q2/95 High Voltage Atari
Skyhammer Q2/95 Rebellion Software Atari
u Soccer Kid Q2/95 Krisalis Software Ocean
C Soulstar 5/95 Core Design Atari
u C Space Ace - ReadySoft ReadySoft
u Space War 2000 5/95 Atari
Super Off-Road ? Telegames
Supercross 3D 6/95 Atari
n T-Mek - Time-Warner
C Thea Realm Fighters Q3/95 High Voltage Atari
Tiny Toons Adventures Q2/95 Telegames Atari
Ultimate Brain Games 4/95 Telegames
u Ultra Vortex 5/95 Beyond Games Beyond Games
Valus Force ? JVC
u C Varuna's Forces 5/95 Accent Media
u C Vid Grid Q2/95 Atari Atari
H Video Jukebox ? All Systems Go
Virtual Warriors ? Rainmaker Software
C Virtuoso 1995 Williams Brothers Telegames
Waterworld ? Ocean Software Ltd.
Wayne Gretzky NHL Hockey Q4/95 Time-Warner Time-Warner
u White Men Can't Jump Q2/95 High Voltage Atari
Wild Cup Soccer 1995 Telegames
n C Wing Commander III - Electronic Arts
World Class Cricket 4/95 Telegames
? World Cup ? Anco Software Ltd.
Zzyorxx II - Virtual Xperience
//// Unnamed Titles in Development
S M Title ETA Developer Publisher
""" """"" """ """"""""" """""""""
H Jaguar / PC card ? Sigma Designs Sigma
3D shooter ? iThink
Football - Atari
H IR controller station - All Systems Go
Miniature Golf ? DTMC
Racing - Gremlin Graphics
Fighter - Level 7
C Sports - AM1 Atari
n Movie tie-in -
n Kart racer -
Cyberdreams
n VR title 12/95 Virtuality
n VR title 12/95 Virtuality
//// Current Releases
M Title Rated Company Publisher
" """"" """"""" """"""" """""""""
Alien vs. Predator 9 Rebellion Atari
Brutal Sports Football 7 Millenium/Teque Telegames
Bubsy 6 Imagitec Design Atari
Cannon Fodder 7 Virgin Interactive C. West
Checkered Flag 5 Rebellion Atari
Club Drive 7 Atari Atari
Crescent Galaxy 3 Atari Atari
Cybermorph 7 Attention to Detail Atari
Doom 9 id Software Atari
Dragon 7 Virgin Interactive Atari
Evolution Dino-Dudes 6 Imagitec Design Atari
Iron Soldier 10 Eclipse Atari
Kasumi Ninja 8 Hand Made Software Atari
Raiden 6 Imagitec Design Atari
Syndicate - NEW Bullfrog Ocean
Tempest 2000 10 LlamaSoft Atari
Theme Park - NEW Bullfrog Ocean
Troy Aikman NFL Football 7 NEW Telegames Williams
Wolfenstein 3D 8 id Software Atari
Val d'Isere Skiing... 5 Virtual Studio Atari
Zool 2 7 Gremlin Graphics Atari
Pts Stars AEO Ratings
""" """"" """""""""""
10 ***** GAMING NIRVANA!!! - You have left reality behind... for good.
9 ****+ Unbelieveable GAME!! - Your family notices you're often absent.
8 **** Fantastic Game!! - You can't get enough playtime in on this.
7 ***+ Great Game! - Something to show off to friends or 3DOers.
6 *** Good game - You find yourself playing this from time to time.
5 **+ Ho-hum - If there's nothing else to do, you play this.
4 ** Waste of time - Better to play this than play in traffic.
3 *+ Sucks - Playing in traffic sounds like more fun.
2 * Sucks Badly - You'd rather face an IRS audit than play this.
1 + Forget it - ... but you can't; it's so badly done, it haunts you.
0 - Burn it - Disallow programmer from ever writing games again.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Atari Press Releases
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Jaguar to get Mortal Kombat III
CONTACT: Ron Beltramo Terry King
Atari Corporation Williams Entertainment Inc
408/745-8852 903/874-2683
For Immediate Release
"MORTAL KOMBAT III" WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THE ATARI JAGUAR
SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 13 - Atari Corp. and Williams Entertainment
Inc. are pleased to announce that Atari will be publishing "Mortal
Kombat III" for the Atari Jaguar 64-bit multimedia system. "Mortal
Kombat" is one of the most frequently requested video game titles from
Jaguar enthusiasts.
"Letters have been pouring in daily telling us that gamers want
`Mortal Kombat' for the Atari Jaguar," indicated Sam Tramiel,
president of Atari Corp. "We at Atari are dedicated to the mission of
giving the enthusiastic Jaguar game players exactly what they are
looking for and `Mortal Kombat III' will give them the latest version
of the `Mortal Kombat' series of arcade hits."
"Mortal Kombat III" is the third in a series of outstanding coin-op
games incorporating true-to-life graphic images into a challenging
fighting experience. Williams Entertainment Inc. is the home video
subsidiary of WMS Industries Inc., the company that created "Mortal
Kombat" and "NBA Jam" for the arcades.
"Mortal Kombat III" for the Atari Jaguar will feature true-color
graphics and all the sounds and action of the arcade version of
"Mortal Kombat III." Planned release will be within the second quarter
of 1996.
Williams Entertainment already has other popular video game titles
scheduled for release on the Jaguar platform. "Troy Aikman Football"
is currently available to be followed up shortly by "Double Dragon V."
Electronic Gaming Monthly says of "Troy Aikman Football," "... the
Jaguar version is the best yet." Saturday morning cartoon fans will
recognize the fighting lineup in "Double Dragon V" with eye-popping
animated action.
Other software hits being developed in partnership between Williams
Entertainment and Atari Corp. include new adaptations of classic games
such as "Joust" and "Defender." "Defender 2000" is being developed
with three distinct play modes (the classic favorite, "Defender Plus,"
and "Defender 2000") for the Jaguar by Jeff Minter of "Tempest 2000"
fame. According to Bill Rehbock Atari's VP of Software Business
Development, "`Dactyl Joust' will bring the classic game alive as a
first person perspective, fully texture-mapped Joust in a realistic,
three dimensional environment." Atari will market these games for the
64-bit Jaguar system while Williams Entertainment will license and
market them for high performance PCs.
These distinct agreements between Atari Corp. and Williams
Entertainment are indicative of the strong relationship these two
companies have established. Williams Entertainment is one of the first
third-party licensees to begin working with Atari on the Jaguar 64-bit
platform and remains a strong supporter of the system with top
software titles.
Atari Corp. markets interactive multimedia entertainment systems,
including Jaguar, the world's first and only 64-bit system and the
only video game system manufactured in the United States. Atari is
headquartered at 1196 Borregas Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94089.
Jaguar is a trademark of Atari Corp. Atari is a registered trademark
of Atari Corp. Other products named may be trademarks or registered
trademarks of their owning occupancies.
//// Atari Corp. Fourth Quarter 1995 Earnings
CONTACT: August J. Liguori Sam Tramiel
Atari Corporation Atari Corporation
408-745-2069 408-745-8824
ATARI CORPORATION ANNOUNCES RESULTS FOR THE YEAR AND FOURTH QUARTER
1994
SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 13 - Atari Corporation reported today its
results for the year and fourth quarter ended December 31, 1994.
For the year ended 1994, NET SALES were $38.4 million as compared to
$28.8 million for the year ended 1993, an increase of 33%. Increased
sales were a result of the sales of Jaguar, the Company's 64-bit
multi-media interactive entertainment system and related software.
Primarily as a result of settlements of patent litigations, the
Company reported NET INCOME for the year 1994 of $9.4 million as
compared to a NET LOSS for 1993 of $48.9 million.
For the fourth quarter 1994, NET SALES were $14.9 million as compared
to $8.5 million for 1993, a 75% increase. Primarily due to significant
marketing expenses of $8.0 million and an inventory valuation
adjustment of $3.6 million, the Company incurred an operating loss of
$12.6 million in 1994 as compared to $21.9 million operating loss for
the fourth quarter of 1993. As a result of the Company's ongoing
research and development, the wholesale price of Jaguar was reduced in
the first quarter of 1995 to allow retailers to sell Jaguar at a price
of $159.99. Accordingly, the Company has adjusted the value of its
existing inventory and anticipated purchases through the period until
cost reductions become effective. During the fourth quarter of 1994,
the Company closed its transactions with Sega Enterprises Ltd. which
resulted in an income item of $29.8 million after contingent legal
expenses and the sale of approximately 4.7 million shares of the
Company stock for $40.0 million. As of December 31, 1994, the Company
had $81.0 million in cash and marketable securities and shareholders'
equity of $67.1 million. As a result of the items previously
discussed, the Company reported for the fourth quarter of 1994, NET
INCOME of $17.6 million as compared to a NET LOSS of $22.6 million for
1993.
Commenting, Sam Tramiel, Atari Corp. president, said, "We are very
pleased to offer Jaguar for $159.99, thereby making new 64-bit
technology competitively priced against older 16-bit systems.
Although we are disappointed that our expectations for Jaguar were not
met in the fourth quarter due to delayed game software, we believe we
have taken corrective actions to ensure an ongoing stream of software
through 1995 and beyond. Today, we have announced a publishing
arrangement with Williams Entertainment for 'Mortal Kombat III' and
will be announcing another significant arrangement with a major
software publisher shortly. Those titles, along with some of Jaguar's
current hit titles such as 'Tempest 2000,' 'Alien vs. Predator,' 'Doom'
and 'Val d'Isere Skiing' will be added to the list of titles that will
be available for Jaguar."
ATARI CORPORATION
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
(in thousands, except per share)
Three Months Ended Twelve Months Ended
Dec 31, Dec 31, Dec 31, Dec 31,
1994 1993 1994 1993
Net Sales $14,921 $8,525 $38,444 $28,805
Operating Income (loss) (12,595) (21,861) (24,047) (47,499)
Exchange Gain (loss) (5) (709) 1,184 (2,234)
Other Income (Expense) Net 77 288 484 854
Settlement of Patent
Litigation 29,812 -- 32,062 --
Interest (Expense) Net
of Interest Income 316 (291) (289) (251)
Income (Loss) Before
Income Taxes 17,605 (22,573) 9,394 (49,130)
Credit for Income Taxes(a) -- -- -- (264)
Net Income (loss) $17,605 $(22,573) $9,394 $(48,866)
Earnings Per Common and
Equivalent Share:
Net Income (loss) $0.30 $(0.39) $0.16 $(0.85)
Weighted Average number
of shares used in
computation 59,460 57,177 58,962 57,148
(a) No income tax expense as a result of the utilization of the
Company's Net Operating Loss Carryforward and Deferred Tax Assets.
//// New Jaguar Pricing
CONTACT: Ron Beltramo
Atari Corporation
408/745-8852
For Immediate Release
ATARI ANNOUNCES MASS MARKET PRICE FOR 64-BIT JAGUAR
SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 21 - Atari Corporation today announced that
the 64-Bit Jaguar Interactive Multimedia system will have a suggested
retail price of under $160. This Atari Jaguar system will be called
the "64-Bit Power Kit" and includes the Jaguar console, a controller,
power adapter and video cable (game cartridge not included). "64-Bit
Power Kit" packages will be specially marked to highlight the
"Mega-Power, Maximum Value" that the new price point represents.
"With this new Jaguar price, and the great software now available in
stores - with more to come - the Atari Jaguar will lead the next
generation of video games into the homes of America. This price puts
the 64-Bit Jaguar within the grasp of a broad market looking for the
most advanced system at an affordable price," said Sam Tramiel,
President of Atari.
Technological advances have allowed Atari to take this aggressive
pricing action, as the cost of components has been reduced through a
planned chip set integration and further design advances.
Tramiel further stated, "We are very excited to provide these great
values, and look forward to strong sales for both the 64-Bit Jaguar
Hardware and Jaguar software. The current library includes such major
hits as 'Tempest 2000,' 'Alien Vs. Predator,' 'Doom,' 'Troy Aikman
Football,' 'Val D'Isere Skiing' and 'Iron Soldier'. As the Jaguar
software library increases with great titles like 'Fight For Life,'
'Hover Strike,' 'Rayman' and 'Super Burnout', we expect solid hardware
sales growth. Our Retail Dealers are equally excited about the new
pricing, and anticipate that a broad base of consumers will rush to
the store to buy the Jaguar."
To launch the new Jaguar unit, Atari will deliver a targeted marketing
campaign to build awareness of the new Jaguar system value and the
great current games (and pending new titles). Advertising is scheduled
to commence in the spring. Special in-store merchandising materials
have been developed to reinforce the Mega-Power/Maximum Value message
and encourage the consumer to "Do the Math."
Atari Corporation markets the Jaguar, the world's first and only
64-Bit interactive multimedia entertainment system. Atari is
headquartered at 1196 Borregas Avenue, Sunnyvale, California 94089.
NOTE: Jaguar is a trademark of Atari Corporation. Atari is a
registered trademark of Atari Corporation. Other products named may be
trademarks or registered trademarks of their owning companies.
//// Atari/Acclaim Deal
Contact: Ron Beltramo,
Atari Corporation
(408) 745-8852
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ATARI AND ACCLAIM JOIN FORCES IN MAJOR SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTION
AGREEMENT
Sunnyvale, CA, March 22, 1995 -- Atari Corporation and Acclaim
Entertainment, Inc. are proud to announce an agreement which
will bring the most popular contemporary video game titles to
the 64-bit Atari Jaguar Multimedia system. The new alliance
includes three stellar Acclaim titles that Atari will distribute:
* NBA Jam - Tournament Edition
- planned release: fourth quarter, 1995
* Frank Thomas 'Big Hurt' Baseball
- planned release: fourth quarter, 1995.
* The third title will be announced later this year for release in
early 1996.
"Atari's focus will continue to be to deliver great software on the
world's best video game system available. The agreement with Acclaim
is substantial milestone in our commitment to the Jaguar gamer,"
stated Sam Tramiel, CEO of Atari Corporation. "We are delighted to
work with Acclaim and to include these titles in the expanding
library of Jaguar sports and action games."
NBA Jam - Tournament Edition
With more than 100 NBA players, cross-court slam dunks,
new codes and secret characters, Jaguar gamers will not
only play basketball, they'll feel it with this
fast-paced action experience that features incredible
graphics.
Frank Thomas 'Big Hurt' Baseball
Two-time MVP Frank Thomas headlines this innovative title
that will feature Thomas' actual baseball movements using
Acclaim's motion capture technology.
Atari Corporation markets interactive multimedia entertainment
systems and software including Jaguar, the world's first and only
64-bit system, and the only video game system manufactured in the
United States. Atari is headquartered at 1196 Borregas Avenue,
Sunnyvale, California 94089.
Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. with offices in Canada, France, Germany,
Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom, is a leading worldwide
entertainment publisher of software and peripherals for major video
game hardware systems, personal computer and CD-ROM software,
coin-operated arcade games, and comic books. Acclaim also operates
motion capture and blue screen studios and A.D.I., a global sales and
distribution company for products from a variety of entertainment
publishers, including Acclaim, Digital Pictures and Marvel Software.
Acclaim, which recently formed a new company with
Tele-Communications, Inc. is publicly traded on the NASDAQ National
Market System under the Symbol AKLM.
###
Jaguar is a trademark of Atari Corporation. Atari is registered
trademark of Atari Corporation. Other product named may be
trademarks or registered trademarks of their owning companies.
//// Tempest 2000 CD
Contact: James Grunke Ron Beltramo
Atari Corporation Atari Corporation
408/745-2014 408/745-2000
For Immediate Release
TEMPEST 2000 SOUNDTRACK NOW AVAILABLE ON COMPACT DISC
SUNNYVALE, CA (March 27, 1995) -- Atari Corporation has remastered
and issued on compact disc (CD) the soundtrack of its best-selling
video game "Tempest 2000". The special edition audio compact disc is
available at select Atari retailers and from Atari's Customer Service
Department. The game music has proven to be a favorite among dance
and rave audiences worldwide.
"Game players liked the soundtrack to 'Tempest 2000' so much, they
asked us to issue it on audio CD," said James Grunke, Director of
Music and Audio at Atari Corporation. "The music composed for video
games and the musicians who perform it are gaining increasing and
well-deserved recognition. We believe that the Tempest soundtrack is
a masterpiece and a milestone in video game music."
"Tempest 2000 Soundtrack" contains a total of 12 tracks based on the
music from different stages of the "Tempest 2000" video game.
Hallucinatory, hypnotic, and sometimes harrowing, the "Tempest 2000
Soundtrack" includes new and expanded versions of the game music, as
well as new compositions. The 12 selections are as follows:
1. Thermal Resolution 3:59 7. Future Tense 5:54
2. Mind's Eye 4:52 8. Digital Terror 5:07
3. T2K 5:23 9. Hyper Prism 4:26
4. Ease Yourself 7:52 10. Glide Control 5:12
5. Tracking Depth 5:04 11. Ultra Yak 4:00
6. Constructive 12. 2000 Dub 7:31
Demolition 4:05
The CD is produced and published by Atari Corporation. The executive
producer of The Soundtrack is John Skruch. The production director is
James Grunke. The "Tempest 2000 Soundtrack" CD features music
originally composed by musicians from Imagitec Design, Inc., West
Yorkshire, U.K..
For more information or to order a copy, write "Tempest 2000
Soundtrack", Atari Corporation, P.O. Box 61657, Sunnyvale, CA
94089-1657. The compact disc is priced at $12.99 plus $3.50 shipping
and handling. Inquiries from distributors and radio stations are
welcome.
Atari Corporation markets interactive multimedia entertainment
systems, including Jaguar, the world's only 64-bit game system, and
the only video game system manufactured in the United States. Atari
is headquartered at 1196 Borregas Avenue, Sunnyvale, California
94089.
###
Jaguar is a trademark of Atari Corporation. Atari is a registered
trademark of Atari Corporation. Other products named may be
trademarks or registered trademarks of their owning companies.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Cheats & Codes
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Kasumi Ninja "Sensible Fighter #1" Mode
Note: This requires two controllers plugged in to your Jaguar.
Note: You should already have entered a Gore Code; if not, pick a very
easy one to remember, like "111111".
[] Go to the "options" screen.
[] Access the "change code" option.
[] You will see the dialog box asking you to enter a code.
[] While holding the "A" & "C" buttons on Player #2's controller,
enter "7" "4" "3" "8" "7" "2" on Player #1's controller.
[] The words "Wrong code" will appear (unless that is your Gore Code),
and you will hear a "swoosh" as confirmation.
[] Exit from the "options" screen.
Go ahead and start any one or two player game. Player 1 will appear as a
=very= tiny fighter. Collision detection and thrown weapons will act the
same as for a full-sized fighter. (Senzo's head stomp looks perfect,
however.)
//// Val D'isere "Black Options"
At the main option screen where you select your race and number of
players, enter the following: 4,0,8,5,7,4,1,4. (The music will toggle
when you press the "0" key.) This will bring you to a SECOND, black
option screen. This is a listing of what is available.
0 = Music On/Off
1 = Podium Screen
2 = End of Ride Screen
3 = Gold Cup Screen
4 = Silver Cup Screen
5 = Bronze Cup Screen
6 = All Runs Open (Free Ride)
7 = Show Game Over Screen
Select A Challenge - Fire A and number
Select A Race - Fire B and Number
Select Music - Up/Down on Joypad
Select Sound F/X - Right/Left on Joypad
Same Sound F/X - Fire C
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Offers from Atari Customer Service
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Iron Soldier Posters
Atari Corporation has started mailing out copies of its cinema-quality
Iron Soldier promotional poster. For those who don't know about Iron
Soldier, the phenomenal new 64-bit Jaguar game due to arrive in stores
as early as this week, you are in for possibly the most incredible
game of 1994. As the pilot of a mammoth robot, you have been assigned
one of many challenging missions... sometimes to protect and often to
destroy. Look down at your feet as you walk, but not too long, there
are virtually real helicopters, tanks and convoys out to get you
within the crowded cities and open countryside.
Mr. Greg LaBrec was so highly praised for his work on the Alien Vs.
Predator Poster that he has been inspired to produce an awesome poster
for Iron Soldier. The poster looks just like a poster you would see at
a theater and is intended for retail store windows and promotions.
If you want one of these great Iron Soldier posters, I'll send you one
FREE if you prepay Atari's minimum shipping and handling charge of
$4.95. That covers the tube, postage and the raw costs to get it out
the door.
Here's how to request an Iron Soldier poster (or an Alien Vs. Predator
poster)...
Send $4.95 ($6.95 U.S. funds for Canada) in the EXACT amount. Payment
may be received in Money order, check, MasterCard or Visa. Please
remember to include mailing name and address, online address and
daytime phone number.
REQUESTS BY EMAIL with CREDIT CARD:
75300.1267@compuserve.com
-or-
jaguar$@genie.geis.com
REQUESTS BY BBS with CREDIT CARD:
private SysOp mail on
CATscan @ 209/239-1552
REQUESTS BY FAX with CREDIT CARD:
408/745-2088
REQUESTS BY MAIL: (checks payable to Atari)
Don's Crazy Iron Soldier Poster Sellout
P.O. Box 61657
Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1657
(offer good while quantities last and limited to North American
mailing addresses only.)
Note that the posters are delivered to Atari one per tube. I cannot
double up posters. Everyone can request as many tubes they like at
$4.95 S&H per tube, but please do not request for more than one per
mailing tube.
//// Tempest 2000 Audio CD
The Tempest 2000 Audio CD has already received rave reviews. Don't care
for our puns? Drown us out by cranking up on this pulse-pounding,
techno-rave CD, that marks Atari's first ever video game soundtrack.
They're in stock, and ready to go right now.
[] Song List
1. Thermal Resolution 3:59
2. Mind's Eye 4:52
3. T2K 5:23
4. Ease Yourself 7:52
5. Tracking Depth 5:04
6. Constructive Demolition 4:05
7. Future Tense 5:54
8. Digital Terror 5:07
9. Hyper Prism 4:26
10. Glide Control 5:12
11. Ultra Yak 4:00
12. 2000 Dub 7:31
[] How Much?
The Tempest 2000 Audio CD is priced at $12.99, and if you order now,
$3.50 for shipping and handling. (California residents, add the 8.25%
state sales tax.) That comes to a total of $16.49. ($17.56 in CA.)
Mastercard, Visa and money orders accepted. (Checks and money orders
should be made payable to Atari Corporation)
[] Where To?
To order, US Mail your order to:
Thomas' Terrific Tempest Tunes Deal
Atari Corporation
P.O. Box 61657
Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1657
OR contact Don via the Internet on GEnie at:
jaguar$@genie.geis.com
OR via the Internet on Compuserve at:
75300.1267@compuserve.com
OR via private E-Mail (to the SysOp) on:
CATscan BBS ........ 209-239-1552
OR fax your request to:
Atari Customer Service Fax ..... 408-745-2088
The CD is produced by AtariMusic; a division of Atari Corporation. The
executive producer is Mr. John Skruch. The director of audio is Mr.
James Grunke.
//// New Dealer Demo Video
Atari has a brand new VHS preview tape and it's better than ever! Over
30 Jaguar titles have been captured on video tape. This tape has been
meticulously produced under the direction of Mr. Greg LaBrec using
state-of-the-art direct-to-tape equipment and techniques. The action
sequences selected were provided by the game producers or the guidance
of the third party developers. Okay, okay... forget the hype... it's a
darn cool tape and it has a cool plastic box and label too.
This November 14th edition video updates the previously released
software preview videos with exciting captures to show off last
minute changes to games that are now in production. There are
incredible sequences featuring action games such as Iron Soldier and
high-resolution fantasy games such as Rayman by Ubi Soft.
Although this tape has been developed primarily for the use of Jaguar
retailers, I have twisted marketings arm and they (actually he) have
agreed to sell copies to our faithful online Jaguar fans.
Want more info? Here's the video menu...
Approx.
Tape
Pos. SEGMENT AVAIL. IN STORES
===========================================================
:20 TEACHER SPOT
:49 Doom EARLY DECEMBER
2:34 Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story LATE NOVEMBER
4:00 Checkered Flag EARLY DECEMBER
5:45 Iron Soldier MID DECEMBER
7:42 Zool 2 LATE DECEMBER
8:57 Kasumi Ninja LATE DECEMBER
10:25 Club Drive LATE NOVEMBER
11:56 ALIEN VS. PREDATOR SPOT
12:27 Alien Vs. Predator AVAILABLE NOW
15:34 Ultra Vortex (Beyond Games) DECEMBER
17:06 Val D'Isere Skiing and Snowboarding EARLY DECEMBER
18:49 Bubsy LATE DECEMBER
20:05 Double Dragon V (Williams) DECEMBER
21:30 Flashback (US Gold) DECEMBER
22:49 Brutal Sports Football (Telegames) DECEMBER
23:50 Sensible Soccer (Telegames)
25:03 TEMPEST 2000 SPOT
25:34 Tempest 2000 AVAILABLE NOW
26:58 Wolfenstein 3d AVAILABLE NOW
28:06 Cybermorph AVAILABLE NOW
29:20 Raiden AVAILABLE NOW
30:32 Evolution: Dino Dudes AVAILABLE NOW
31:35 Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy AVAILABLE NOW
32:50 Syndicate (Ocean) DECEMBER
33:47 Theme Park (Ocean) DECEMBER
34:35 Air Cars (Midnight) DECEMBER
35:39 Troy Aikman NFL Football (Williams) DECEMBER
36:34 Cannon Fodder (Virgin) DECEMBER
37:43 Dragon's Lair (Readysoft)
38:31 Hover Strike
39:20 Fight For Life
40:00 Burn Out
40:43 Rayman (ubi Soft) DECEMBER
41:52 VLM (Virtual Light Machine) DECEMBER
Okay, okay... here's the deal. The cost is $8.95 plus $4.95 shipping
and handling. That's a total of $13.90 ($14.64 in California) ($15.90
in Canada). Mastercard, Visa and money orders accepted (Checks and
money orders should be made payable to Atari Corporation. NOT IN MY
NAME! <g>. I can ship to any location in North America including U.S.
and Canada. To order, send your order to:
Atari Corporation
P.O. Box 61657
Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1657
OR contact me via Internet or on GEnie:
jaguar$@genie.geis.com
OR contact me via Internet or on Compuserve:
75300.1267@compuserve.com
OR send me private E-Mail (to the SysOp) on:
CATscan BBS ........ 209-239-1552
or fax your request to:
Atari Customer Service Fax ..... 408-745-2088
I also have Alien Vs. Predator posters remaining. There is one for
each shipping and handling fee of $4.95 ($6.95 in Canada). These are
cinema-size posters and I've already heard back from gamers who have
had theirs laminated, mounted and framed.
By the way, you can help a LOT even if you don't want to order the
tape or request a poster by passing this offer electronically to
another Forum, Roundtable or BBS or make a hard copy and give to
friends. Thanks!
--Don Thomas
Atari Corporation
--==--==--==--==--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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||| Cuppa with the Dooz
||| By: Darren Bates
/ | \ Internet: dooz@batesg.demon.co.uk
----------------------------------------------------------------
[Editor: This column was written to run last week, before ECTS.
Dooz has already been there and returned, and will have a -full-
report in the next issue, covering such things as the signing of
the Atari/EA deal, and the first public discussion of Alien vs.
Predator 2 CD!]
Well folks, another few weeks have past, and the Jaguar scene is
really beginning to heat up. The quiet period is just about over, and
you'd better prepare for some major titles. The UK teams are really
busy producing quality games for your Jaguars, and soon you will be
able to see for yourselves.
As mentioned in past AEO issues, the European Computer Trade Show
(ECTS) is bearing down on us here in the UK. Only a few days to go
until Atari put on their biggest UK show appearance so far. On Atari's
floor space will be the Jaguar CD unit getting its official launch.
Darryl Still of Atari UK is hoping to have half a dozen CD games on
display, a few of which may be totally complete, the others being only
a few weeks away from completion.
BattleMorph, Blue Lightning, Varuna's Forces, Soulstar, Defender 2000
and perhaps a few more which I won't mention just yet, should all be
making appearances which should rock the ECTS. Don't forget the humble
cartridge games which will also be there in full force. Rayman will be
featuring heavily at the show, as will Fight for Life, Hover Strike,
Spacewar 2000, Power Drive Rally (read about this one later on!),
BattleSphere, Burnout and White Men Can't Jump... to name just a few.
Is this looking good or what?
Obviously, AEO will be there to report all the latest Atari news, and
perhaps even come up with a few surprises! Look out for the next AEO.
Ubisoft, Time Warner Interactive, 21st Century Entertainment, Elite,
Ocean, Virgin and many other software companies will also be there to
spill the beans. I'll be listening.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Shift Into Power Drive
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
As mentioned above, Power Drive Rally is coming out for the Jaguar,
and what a corker it is too. It seems the Jaguar could do with a good
racing game, and this is the one to fill that position. Therefore we
spoke to the lead programmer himself, Peter Johnson of Rage (and what
a nice chap he is too).
AEO : Peter, we've all heard about Power Drive coming out for the
Jag, some have even seen the preliminary version at the WCES.
How far has it come since then?
Peter : The game is now virtually complete. I have yet to do the
coding for the damage and repair to the cars that is an
integral part of the game. The rest of the game is all done,
bar some bug-testing and the normal quality procedures. I
anticipate the coding should be complete in about four weeks
or so.
AEO : It's always interesting to ask programmers how they fared with
the Jaguar architecture. How did you get on with your first Jag
project? What are your opinions of the machine?
Peter : It's an excellent piece of equipment actually, with a lot of
raw processing power. As it is my first Jag game, I am still
learning about its capabilities. If I had to do Power Drive
again on the Jag, I would probably go about it a different
way. My coding relies heavily on the object blitter chip which
controls just about everything in the game. I would not rely
so much on the one processor if I did it again.
AEO : So exactly what is the object processor doing during the game?
Surely it does not take to much processing power to control a
driving game like this?
Peter : You'd be surprised! The blitter has to control up to six
layer of independant graphics. There is the background (i.e.,
flowing rivers), the track itself, the car, the dashboard
overlay, the shadow layer (which produces some excellent
shading effects) and also the environment layer which is
relative to which weather condition you are playing in. All
that, as well as tracking collision detection, damage to all
areas of the vehicle and more takes up quite a bit of work.
AEO : Sounds good! Tell us more about the game itself, what color
modes are you using throughout the game?
Peter : The presentation screens are in either 16-bit or 24-bit color.
It's been redrawn since the other console versions to take
advantage of the Jaguar's palette and screen resolutions. The
track graphics are in 256 color mode, which is more than
adequate to produce some very realistic and detailed scenery.
The dashboard overlays are in 16-bit color which show current
speed, gear, revs and the like. The onscreen gearknob is
rendered in 3D Studio.
AEO : The quality of the graphics is obviously not in doubt Peter.
What sort of sound effects can we expect in the game. Are there
any improvements in this area too?
Peter : Of course! Do you think we'd waste that awesome Jaguar
soundchip?
AEO : How dare I even think it!
Peter : The in-game music has been re-orchestrated, but not in a big
way. In my opinion, the sound effects are the most impressive
part, along with a running commentary from your co-driver who
announces each corner as they approach. It's something the
16-bitters just could not handle with such ease as the Jag
does. The speech makes the game that extra bit special.
AEO : It seems that you've covered most the bases. How about the
playability and longetivity of the game? Is it any differnt to
the older versions?
Peter : Well, the game has 28 tracks, which is less than the 16-bit
versions, which had up to 48 tracks. Don't take that as a down
point though, as the Jaguars tracks are up to four times as
big! There are six cars to use throughout the game, if you've
got the green to get them, and there is a detailed repair and
enhance garage section, where your car can be altered in many
ways to improve its performance.
AEO : I don't think I need any more convincing about this game (creep,
creep), but just for the readers, can you shout out the frame
rate so they get the message?
Peter : (Shouting) OK, it's 50 frames per second! Smooth, eh? With a
game like this, you can't spoil it with a crappy frame-rate.
The plan from the start was to make this smooth as silk
underpants.
AEO : Thanks very much Peter, I think we've got their attention out
there now.
Well, suffice to say that AEO has nabbed another exclusive on one of
the top future Jag games. Power Drive Rally should hit the stores in
June, and should be one to look out for.
I'm not going to disclose any more news for now, the ECTS will be the
biggest bearer of news for a long time, so I suggest you tune in next
issue!
Seeya
--==--==--==--==--
||| Surfing the Jagged Edge
||| By: Dimitri Mark LaBarge
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.6 CIS: 71501,3353 AOL: dimitril
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Greetings Atariphiles, young and old and new alike... and my goodness,
there are more than a few new ones of you out there, aren't you?
Yessir, all of a sudden we find ourselves with a mighty attractive
$149 core system, and Syndicate, Troy Aikman Football, and Theme Park
newly gracing your local shelves. Is it any wonder that retailers
continue to report good sales for our cat? The news just continues to
improve and improve and improve... and now let me finish typing and
get to the real news, as constant playing of TA Football has worn my
joints into raw little croutons.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// CatBoxes Ahoy!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
With the arrival of the first batch of cases, Tom Harker proudly
announced that starting March 29, ICD/Black Cat Design would begin
shipping CatBox - the all-in-one audio/video/networking accessory for
Jaguar. Please allow me a commercial appeal here, and list the prices
for Tom's products.
CatBox $69.95
Atari13 adapter $14.95
Amiga23 adapter $14.95
HD15S adapter $9.95
Custom adapter $19.95 (you supply pinouts)
Headphone extension cable $9.95
Null modem cable 25ft. $9.95
CatNet cable 25ft. $4.95
CatNet terminator $4.95 (standard equipment)
For more information contact Tom Harker at:
ICD, Inc.
1220 Rock Street
Rockford, IL 61101
815-968-2228 ext. 222
fax 968-6888
GEnie: ICDINC
CompuServe: 76004,1600
Delphi: ICDINC
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Yes, We Can Jump Too Dept.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Seeing as two weeks ago saw the release of the first real sports game
yet for the Jaguar, Troy Aikman Football, it seemed an opportune time
for updating the status of the upcoming game, White Men Can't Jump.
>From the programmer of this basketball simulation:
The game is coming along well. All the state engines and gameplay
programming are finished as well as the rendering engines. I am
currently working on finishing up AI (defensive AI is complete but I
am working on the full computer "offensive" AI) and tournament mode
game play and then the game will be done from a programming
perspective. Should be completed near the end of March... give a
couple months after that for the general beta test and cartridge
production and you have a early summer release.
The game is looking really good right now. I have optimized and
optimized the game everywhere and right now it runs at about 15 fps
at a resolution of 320x220. However, this could be faster if I
didn't need to unpack all the character animations on the fly but
since there are 12-15 Megabytes of sprite frames, I need to keep
them compressed and unpack them immediately before they are
displayed. This amounts to megabytes of compressed data being slung
around which obviously requires some additional work ;)
However, the game looks very good and has a very smooth feel to it
with the AI camera tracking the characters and all their moves. The
entire zooming thing is amazingly non-annoying (I've played games
with continuously moving cameras and most tend to make you a bit
dizzy or simply detract from your ability to control the game).
Finally, I have been spending a lot of time fine-tuning gameplay and
paying attention to little details (such as the the rim actually
bending when the ball bounces off of it).
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Sucked Into the Vortex
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Okay, some of you know that I'm not the world's biggest fan of
fighting games (which is a prettified way of say I despise them). And
yet, once in a while, something will come along and grab my interest
in a way that transcends the genre. And the futuristic, Gigeresque
elements of Beyond Games' Ultra Vortex have pushed it into an area of
uniqueness. But it's been awhile since we've heard word on this
beauty. So for your edification, a posting from the Net that should
answer many of your questions about the status of this game, as well
as Beyond Games' other future plans...
>>1) Do you have any more information on when UV should be
released? At first I heard February, then March, now I hear
rumblings of June? I would rather get the answer straight from the
source than through the 'Net grapevine...
Well....It's looking like late April early May. AAARRRGGGHH!!!
Sorry! Don't hit me! I know...I'd like to be done with the game as
well. We just keep polishing and polishing and finding more things
to do, but have finally drawn the line and began chopping certain
things that would take even longer to do.
>>2) Last time I talked to you, you couldn't really discuss
Battlewheels for the Jag. Has that gag order been lifted? If so,
what can you tell me about it, and what time frame does Beyond
Games have for it's release?
We still haven't figured out what, exactly, we are going to do
with it. Something else just came down the pipe for us, so our
plans might do a 180* twist. And no, I can't say a word.
>>3) Can you offer any other juicy tidbits on other Jag games in
the works?
We've been kicking around the idea of a platform game using 3-D
rendered characters/backgrounds. The idea is still in early infant
stages, so I'm loath to start and vaporware rumours.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Virtua Crusoe
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Simarils' Robinson's Requiem made its debut on the PC several months
ago to decidedly mixed reviews, and much speculation has unfolded
about how it would make its debut on the CD. This week, the Internet
received its first update on this JagCD project, and it's decidedly
more encouraging that rumors that had been bandied about. Let's tune
in now and find out what Jag contributions we can expect from Simarils
this year:
We already knew about "Robinson's Requiem", but now it is much
faster than the other versions and is graphically far superior with
the many textures that have been added to it, lots of good FMV,....
Should be out by the end of May.
"Deus ex Machina" is the Robinson's sequel. With a better life
simulation module, graphically improved, the possibility to fly
above the 3D scene with the Vitaspro technique in the Magic Carpet
style, automapping, weather simulation, lots of good FMV,... Should
be out for Christmas 95.
"Ishar Genesis": a more classic (in the good sense) RPG than the
first two. The story takes place many centuries before the trilogy.
New interface, new perspective. Fully textured mapped. Automapping.
Light sources simulation. FMV with good actors... Should be out for
Christmas 95.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Rehbock and the Atari Gang
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
As always, it's a pleasure to welcome the input of those in charge of
Atari, who have kindly ensconced themselves into a regular online
presence. AEO is proud to bring you a sampling of their comments from
throughout the online world. This time, we start with Bill Rehbock and
comments about the much-talked about voice-modem:
Laury Scott (and his crew, of course) are banging away, getting the
modem "dialed-in" (no pun intended :-) for final production run.
Pre-production units are at selected development sites world-wide
and there is software up and running with it.
The production engineering and "consumerizing" of something like
the Voice/Data modem _is_ rocket science, so I'm sorry, but I won't
venture to guess at release dates.
Bill follows up with a progress report on the forthcoming Activision
games, which confirms their close working relationship with those at
ATC (and brings up a bit of [ulp] sentimental history to those of us
who remember eagerly playing a game of vine-swingin' Pitfall)...
Pitfall 2: The Mayan Adventure should be a very early summer
release. It is very cool working with Activision on this (and RTZ)
because of the history of the original Pitfall and 2600, etc. It
brings back memories of when I worked part-time security at
McCormick Place for CES back in 1978 and played with an Atari 800
for the first time. It's incredible to see things come full circle
and falling into place.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Fight For Codes
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Again with the fighting games! Since this column seems to have entered
into a theme of hotly-debated-sight-unseen projects, why not throw in
Fight for Life, which finds itself under scrutiny with the
Playstation's Tohshinden and Saturn's VF on sale in Japan. How will
the Atari entry into this genre fare? The game's programmer, Francois
Yves-Bertrand, comments on the controversy and remarks on his game's
features:
A lot of work has been done on FFL (maybe not a ton, but not far),
and I really think that our texture are better than the one in Toh
shin den. I am not talking about the graphic style itself (you like
or you don't like it) but about the model on which you put the
texture. In Toh Shin Den, legs of character are square, we use 8
polygons. In T.S.D. the chest of a character is made by 2 or 3
polygons (look the victory pose, and you will see what I am talking
about). In FFL Jenny's breast is made with 18 polygons, all texture
mapped, and whatever angle you look at her, you can see that this
girl is really a.... girl, not just an image. Virtua Fighter 2 is a
great arcade game, but after what they did with VF on the Saturn
(on the graphic side), I really doubt that you will ever see a
perfect conversion on this system.
Well, I guess he commented on more than just the features of the
game... <g> But graphic power and stylistic choices aren't everything
that make up a game; one of the distinguishing features of Fight for
Life is the simply phenomenal selection of fighters that the player
can put together by earning attributes of different characters
(choices rumored to be in the =millions=). More on how this system
might be achieved:
Concerning the password system in FFL, it's a ten character long
password using all the alphabet and numbers. I could make a
password using only number and use the keypad to enter it, but it
will be 20 characters long... Any feedback on this? You get a new
password every time you beat a computer and after the selection of
your new move. This password is saved in the battery RAM, so you
don't have to enter it every time you play.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Fight For Tohshinden
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
No, it's not a new joint Atari/Sony project, but the interview with
Francois Bertrand in last issue's AEO has stirred a small stinkpot
online. It seems that Francois' comment that the Jaguar =could= do
Tohshinden was not taken well. Jag-bashers scoffed, but then again,
some never remember to Engage Brain Before Putting Mouth in Motion.
Raphael Lemoine of Brainstorm, had these comments to share with us
recently:
Toshinden was written by a TEAM of several programmers (I don't know
how many, but 8 or 9 were working on VF2-Saturn for almost 2 years).
Fight for life was written by ONE programmer, who touched a Jaguar
for the first time in March-April 94, and began to work on this
project aproximately in May.
You want Toshinden? Very easy, indeed. Take 5 or 6 good Jaguar
programmers, with Francois-Yves as the manager (since he knows well
this kind of game), a 3D-Studio genius for the characters, and 1 or 2
good 2D graphists for the mappings. Wait 8->12 monthes, put
everything on a CD, and you'll have something better as Toshinden, on
a Jaguar.
FFL was an unexpected Atari project. When he came to Atari, FYB was
supposed to work on Kasumi-Ninja lifebars handler (this is true!!).
instead of that, he started to write a 3D engine. That's how FFL
project began.
I don't say that a Toshinden-like fighter is going to be done on the
Jaguar, but that it could be done: The Jaguar hardware can handle
this kind of game with no problem at all.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Sunny Minter
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I give up. Maybe it's something magical in Flossie Fur, but I'm
always amazed at what Jeff Minter has to contribute to the Atari
community. Now to the warped SGI, British-euphemismed world of
Defender 2K:
Well, after a slowish start, what with the fag-end of jetlag and a
nasty cold, got some nice stuff running this week. Started out with
an overhaul of the graphics - my artist has re-done a lot of the
stuff he'd drawn by hand as rendered models, and they look pretty
cool. In particular, the Phish has been replaced by this *massive*
rotating space-station affair which just looks gorgeous. I have
modified its behaviour, to reflect the characteristics you'd expect
from such a huge enemy - now it takes a lot more shots to kill, and
has a nasty habit of lurking off the bottom of the screen until you
appear, when it zooms up and surprises you - nasty. The 250 and 500
bonuses also look a lot cooler now, as they're little rendered
rotating 3D digits.
All this tarting-up is leading up to D2K's first public outing,
which is going to be at the ECTS in London at the end of this month.
By that time Defender Plus should be largely done, and there may be
some early progress on the 2K mode to be seen, too.
Finished up the week by starting into the tiling generator for doing
the multilayer parallax in 2K. At the moment there's a screenful of
parallax- scrolling Flossies on the screen of my Jaguar... got the
object builder and tile map reader bits running now, just going to
add a bit of optimisation in the object list builder section, to
ensure that the OLP only has to traverse objects it really really
needs on any given scanline, and then I'll be ready for a full test,
running the existing game over the scrolly background, to find out
just how much background I can put in there before I max out the OLP
or drop out of my lovely fluffy 60Hz...
Next week: some more new graphics and more work on the tiling
routine. We're also expecting some new sound FX soon, and... the
first three tunes on CD! We're hoping to have the game running off
CD and playing the tunes by ECTS. Apparently Imagitec got a bit
freaked out when they knew that they were composing for CD instead
of cart, and begged for a bit more dosh from Atari... to pay for all
the session musicians they've had to get in now, to do screaming
guitar solos and that sort of thing... yum yum yum!
\
(:-) - Maybe they'll get in Dave Gilmour for my *next* game.....
/
Jeff will be the Guest of Honor at a Real Time Conference on GEnie,
Wednesday, March 29th. There's a GEnie ad floating around somewhere
in this issue of AEO, so if you want to quiz the Yakman yourself,
sign up now.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Nighty-Night
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
As always, more Atari news, gossip, rumors, features and all-out
Jaguar concentration next time. That's the dish for this ish!
--==--==--==--==--
||| Troy Aikman Football
||| By: Randy Magruder
/ | \ CIS: 70720,663 AOL: randyborl
------------------------------------------------------------------
Troy Aikman Football for the Atari Jaguar is finally here. Produced by
Williams Entertainment, and developed by Telegames (of Brutal Sports
Football fame), the Jaguar version is the long awaited port of the
16-bit versions of the same game.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Standard Features
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The following are the features which you would expect to see in most any
NFL console football game. Following are the standard features available
in TAF.
[] One or two players, as Player or Coach, or Demo mode.
[] Three modes of play: Pre-season (exhibition), 94-95 season (Aikman
for the 16-bit consoles had 93-94 season), custom generated (and
editable) season.
[] FlashRAM backup to store season records and team (not player)
stats.
[] Three skill levels: Rookie, Pro and Veteran.
[] New rules changes including 2 pt conversion and kickoff from the 30.
(When playing 94-95 season.)
[] Varying quarter lengths: 2, 5, 10 or 15 minutes.
[] Playing surfaces: Grass, Mud, Dirt, Snow, Rain and Turf.
[] Multi-game injuries.
[] Three user-defined offensive plays.
[] Missing features: NFLPA license, player numbers, individual player
ratings.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Special Features
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[] Troy's Analysis: Troy Aikman rates each team by the following
positions: quarterback, halfback, fullback, wide receiver, tight end,
kicker/punter, offensive line, safety, cornerback, linebacker and
defensive line. Players are rated with one to four stars. *=Weak,
**=Average, ***=Strong, ****=Outstanding. The ratings for each team
are provided in the back of the manual.
[] Ratings tied to salary: As you might expect from a millionaire
quarterback, the quality of a position is directly related to how well
you pay your players. Each rating corresponds to a salary range. You
may re-allocate money from one position to another, but you take a net
loss when doing so, because you are only credited with half the money
you took from one position to apply to another. So robbing Peter to
pay Paul isn't going to work too well unless you're in real trouble.
Also, injuries will often knock off a star. The Miami Dolphins I took
to the Super Bowl started out with two star running backs, and were at
one star for most of the season anyway because of injuries (sounds
ominously familiar to Miami's =real= season!). You do earn money for
winning games. The manual suggests waiting until halftime to allocate
the money to positions where you might have had injuries, but I always
just load up my players at the get-go.
Play design: Unlike most other console football games, Troy Aikman
Football contains a play editor. You can change your blocking,
position your receivers and running backs, change the make-up of the
offensive set, assign blocking and pass routes, and even put a man in
motion (crossing, or doubling back). You may design up to 3 special
plays. As long as you don't power down your Jaguar, your plays are
saved. It's a shame this wasn't added to the backup system! I have
little patience for re-designing my plays every time I want to play a
game. This feature is great if the other team is shutting you down and
you need to draw up something that you think will work. Yes, you can
edit your plays DURING a game, but it costs you a timeout to do so.
Editing is free before the game and at halftime.
Computer clock management: Aikman is the first console game (even for
the Aikman series!) to automatically accelerate the play clock down
to a couple seconds before snap when the computer has the ball. (I've
even seen the computer take a delay of game penalty when it couldn't
get its play off in time!) This prevents the computer from running an
excessive number of plays just because it doesn't use up the play
clock. Unfortunately, no option was provided for the user to
accelerate the play clock, so you have to either run 2-3 times as many
plays as is realistic, or wait to pick your play, or patiently let the
clock wind down while you stand there yelling "Hut Hut Hut".
Miscellaneous noteable features which set Aikman apart from Brand X:
Aikman will let you down the ball in the end zone (what a concept!).
You also have a button on the keypad to throw the ball away if you are
the quarterback, a button to switch the QB to a runner instead of
having him shuffle around back there. You can stiff arm both to the
left and to the right using the keypad. This is an addition to the
standard buttons, used for juking, spinning, hurdling, a burst of
speed, jumping in the air, attempting a catch, and so on.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Graphics
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Player images: The players are acceptably well drawn, but few colors
are used, basically just a couple of base colors and a bit of shading.
Don't expect striping or helmets here. There are faint etchings of
numbers on the jerseys, and the players do look correctly sized. It's
hard to say why these graphics look amateurish in spite of being
accurate in many ways. There just appears to be a lack of polish and
sizzle to them. But they are okay overall. I just wish more time would
have been spent on creating more detail and less blur.
Field images: The field comes in grass, turf, snow, mud and dirt. This
basically changes just the overall tone of the field. The numbers on
the field are chunky and high contrast. Very little (or no) effort
went into anti-aliasing the field graphics to make them look more
realistic or pleasing to the eye. The pixellated field lines and
numbers make the game look very 16-bit in graphic quality. The Jag can
do far better than this field.
Views and scrolling: The view is a closer view than what you might be
used to with the 16-bit softs, and though it makes for bigger,
easier-to-see players, you pay for this in not being able to see your
wideouts or in not getting a bird's-eye view of the field. It would
have been nice to have a panning out view of the action - ala ESPN
SNES Sunday Night Football - but no, the view you get is the ONLY
view. It's a shame that with the Jaguar's graphic capabilities,
nothing more was added in the view options. How about a nice side
view, especially for replays? How about zoom-in/zoom-out in instant
replay? Nope. The field scrolls smoothly and the action is fairly easy
to follow, but a little diversity would have been nice here.
Animation: The players benefit from a great deal of variety in the
player animations. Players use several frames when running, 3-4 frames
in a tackle animation, 3-4 in a kicking animation and so on. Why count
the frames? Because at full speed they help give the illusion of
motion. No one likes to see tackles that just happen in a single
frame. People just don't fall flat on the ground. It's nice to see
some attention was paid to developing solid player animation. It's not
as smooth as what it might have been had it been rotoscoped, but
better by far than the 16-bit excuses for animations. Players do seem
to fall a little =too= flat on the field, and there are areas where
the animation is quirky, such as the kicker approaching the ball for a
kick off. The guy looks like he's hopping and skipping around. Also,
tackles seen from the side appear to happen even before the tackler
touches the carrier, so a few more frames in there would have been
nice.
Overall graphics: The field really dragged down the overall score
here, and these graphics won't sell the game, though they are
competent enough. On an SNES or Genesis, these graphics are an 8 or a
9. On a "64-bit Multimedia System" they are a letdown.
=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Sound
=-=-=-=-=-=
Sound effects: The sound effects are your basic deep bass "oomph"
variety. The QB audibles sound fairly accurate, but the repetitive
"hut hut hut" can drive one crazy when running down the clock. It
would have been nice to have something like "Blue 32! Red 85" or
something to pass the time. (Though you do get that if you call an
audible.) The referee's whistle is a truly pathetic imitation of a
real whistle. There are also low "whoosh" sounds during passes, and
nice thumps for kickoffs. The crowd does cheer great plays, and gives
a sad "awwww" when a field goal misses. However, they don't seem to be
particularly partisan towards the home team. This crowd seems to enjoy
action whether it's for you or against you! The sound effects are
basically unspectacular.
Music: The opening music has sort of a college football band sound,
which segues into the main menu music, which is just a port of the
16-bit music onto the Jaguar. Won't get you pumping the way NBA Live
95 does on an SNES, that's for sure. During the game you'll even hear
hockey style organ music, and this completely drives me nuts, as
anyone who knows anything about NFL Football knows that they
don't let
organs in the stadium, let alone the PA system. If there was ever
something someone included in a game that just screamed: "Shoot us,
we're clueless", it's the organ music during the football. Football
fans should feel that their intelligence =is= being insulted. I sure
do.
Voiceovers: The voiceovers are simple and range from "Touchdown", "No
good", "Tipped ball", "Interception", "Knocked Away" and so on. You
won't find colorful Maddenisms here. What's worse, the voice sounds
like a badly sampled imitation of someone with a Madden-like voice.
What good's the voice without the colorful commentary? Not only that,
but the voiceovers fall out of date in a hurry. You'll hear "knocked
away" just before an interception, but the interception won't be
reported. You'll have to read that in the play summary. Overall, a
pathetic attempt at voiceovers.
Overall: As you may have guessed, this game suffers badly from the
sound department. I wish I could give it a higher score, but
regrettably, this isn't one for cranking up the ol' stereo system.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Game Mechanics
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Playcalling
The playcalling screen is a simple scroller with 3 plays per screen,
selected by A, B and C. You may also call one of three custom plays
you have designed (see Special Features, below). You may also "flip"
any play so that run left becomes run right, tight end lines up on the
right instead of left, etc.
The scoreboard shows the hashmark that the ball is on, so you can
decide which side of the field you want to run towards, a nifty
feature. [Editor's nitpick: Whenever you start an offensive series,
you always do so in the middle of the field.] The play diagrams are
easy to read. Troy's plays have a Dallas Cowboy star under them, a
departure from at least the SNES version of Aikman. You can also hit
Option to access instant replay, game statistics, call a time out, or
edit the custom plays.
There's not anything much else I would do to the playcalling system to
make it better. The clock gives you 30 seconds in Pro and Vet modes
(40 in rookie) to select your play. In a two player game, once you've
selected a play, the playbook is replaced by NFL logo shields to hide
the page of three plays you selected from.
There's even an option to play a game as Coach only. When you select
this play mode, you pick an offensive or defensive play. If you're
playing offense, you can call an audible and snap the ball. From there
on out, the CPU controls the flow of the play. If you're playing
defense, you can move one defensive player around before the ball is
snapped, and that's pretty much it. Oh, you can call defensive
audibles also.
//// Passing System
The passing interface is a windowless system. Each receiver has a
letter under him (A,B,C). To pass the ball you just hit the letter of
the receiver you want to throw to. Since the game is windowless, you
can actually follow a receiver through his pattern, provided that he
fits in your current view. This is where the problem with the
close-ups occur. Because you're so close to the action, you can't
easily tell what's going on off-screen.
To help you throw to off-screen receivers, the letters of the
receivers will stay at the top or top right/left of your screen to
show you the general direction of that receiver. If the receiver's
letter is red, he's covered. Don't throw to him. Otherwise air it out
and hope! This is where the difficulty level of the game comes in. At
the rookie level, your guys will generally catch the passes. At Pro
level, it's more important that the receiver be open. At Veteran...
you have to take over and catch the ball. This means pressing B to
throw, B again to assume the receiver, navigate him to the crosshatch
on the field, and press B again to catch. I have to date completed TWO
passes over 50 attempts using Veteran passing. I just have no idea
what they expect me to do here, as what I've tried in the manual just
isn't getting it done. I rate Veteran passing nigh impossible until
someone tells me otherwise.
The ease with which you can control the passing game also depends upon
the quality of your receivers and quarterback and the quality of the
opposing defense's defensive backfield and linebackers. (More on this
below).
The quarterback actually drops back nicely in this game (in contrast
to that 32-bit football game), and he will move around in the pocket,
scanning down field, looking for a receiver. Looks great. My Marino
does a nice little shuffle, and finds Keith Jackson in a hole in the
zone 20 yards down field. He zips the ball to Keith who gets tackled
at the goal line. Touchdown, and worth an instant replay to boot!
It's easy to see when a receiver on the screen is being covered. The
game quite nicely models picking up a blitz and throwing to the
inevitably open running back coming out of the backfield. Great touch!
The passing system would get higher marks if you could pan back from
the field at will, and if Veteran was just a tad more controllable by
normal humans. Perhaps I'll acquire the touch necessary.
//// Running the Ball
Running the ball is a fairly straightforward affair. You can press "2"
on your numeric keypad to hike and automatically hand off if the
running play has a default running back. Or you can take the ball
yourself and hit the button corresponding to the letter of the running
back. Like passers, running backs can have letters. This allows you to
run quarterback options and give your back time to get further outside
before you hit him with the pitch. But beware! Defenders will
sometimes cover the back and slam him to the turf for a big loss. Make
sure he's open before you gamble!
You can cut back and find holes easily in this game. There are buttons
on your keypad for throwing stiff arms, or you can use the C button to
get a burst of speed, the B button to spin and the A button to hurdle
(I hope I got those straight!).
The Jag could badly use a controller with more of the keypad buttons
duplicated as frontal controls (ala SNES) and three more buttons with
the first three. The keypad is a poor substitute. [Editor: Such a
controller is on its way.] Also, you can escape tackles for a long
period of time... perhaps too long! Some guys are just hard as heck to
bring down. However, its worth it when you find a hole and cut back,
doing a nice little Barry Sanders escape trick for big yardage,
forcing a defender to dive at you to bring you down. This is the best
running game I've seen in a console football sim.
//// Defending
A lot of games are defensive pushovers. Find the right play, call it
over and over, and you can beat the defense. However, a human
controlled (or even computer controlled) defense, can be pretty
competent. Of course, this is subject to player ratings (more later).
In Jaguar Troy Aikman, you can pick from a wide variety of defenses,
though not as many as some of the competitions' games. You can change
which defender you wish to play and may audible to another defense.
Defending is pretty tricky against the run and the pass. Running into
a pile to stop a running back is no guarantee he won't squirt free and
hurt you. Since the B button switches the defender to the one nearest
the ball, you have to be careful or you'll take control of a guy
poised to make a tackle, do something wrong, and miss the tackle
completely.
I've been toying with letting the computer do its job if my player
gets taken out of the play, so that I won't do something foolish and
allow the computer to get away. I haven't seen many runaway plays yet,
such as a receiver going all the way down field beating everyone. The
defense seems to run receivers down even when they get burned deep.
This is actually rather nice, and another welcome departure from the
free-for- alls in games like Madden.
There is a rather annoying problem, though. To jump up in the air is a
press of the "2" key on the keypad. This just doesn't cut it. I keep
hitting the option key by impulse. Things are happening entirely too
fast to use the A,B,C buttons and then reach down and hit "2" to
deflect a pass. What's worse, if you press the B button after hitting
the Option button, you will call a time-out. Oops! I'd love to see the
fingers on the testers of this game! Also, it seems that the game is
biased towards completing passes too often (Troy's doing?), so
sometimes it doesn't matter even if your coverage is perfect. I
haven't been able to sack the quarterback very often, either, though
Travis says he can.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Computer AI
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
There are two components to AI: playcalling strategy and clock usage.
In playcalling strategy, Aikman is a VERY solid game. There is no
doubt that a lot of time and energy went into making sure that the
computer tried to win. Unlike every other console game I've tried, the
computer will do what it has to beat you, going for it on 4th down,
calling fake punts and field goals, calling passing plays on long
yardage situations, running the ball when ahead, passing the ball when
behind, using quarterback sneaks to gain critical inches for a first
down, etc.
It also manages the play clock intelligently, using up all but 4
seconds at the beginning of the game, and as the game progresses,
using much less. For instance, I was ahead by 14 points in the third
quarter and the computer started leaving 15 seconds on the play clock.
Then later when it fell further behind it started leaving 20, then 24
seconds (the minimum for it). It calls its time outs when it needs
them, goes for 2 point conversions, has players run out of bounds to
stop the clock when under 2 minutes, etc.
In playcalling and clock usage, this game is hard to beat. This is the
first time I felt like there might be a human being on the other side
of the field trying to beat me, and not just a random number generator
calling plays at random. Defensively, I haven't noticed the same
patterns, but the computer will play a fairly competent defense.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Play execution
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
This embodies how well the computer executes a play. Do the blockers
block? Does the quarterback move well in the pocket? How easy is it to
complete long passes or run for big yardage? What about turnovers and
penalties? Well, in the passing game, I found that in Pro mode it was
very easy to complete passes with Dan Marino even to 2 star receivers.
There is a higher chance of an incompletion or interception based upon
ratings, and whether the receiver is covered, double covered, or even
triple covered.
I found that the teams I played differed in their quality. Some teams
I could pass the bomb against effectively; other teams required me to
find short dump off passes and quick outs which would work against
their defense. The problem is, through Pro mode it still only took me
perhaps a quarter to find the play that would break the defense's back
time and time again, and once that was discovered, I could run up
ridiculous scores. [Editor: Computer defenses would often adapt to
me.]
The running game is nowhere near as easy to execute, though. You CAN
get solid yardage with plays like Troy's pitch, but I've found teams
that just shut my running game down well. Again, it depends upon your
tenacity and your running back's ratings, but while I could generally
run the ball well, it was by no means the kind of killer that the
passing game was. One very nice aspect of Aikman is that blockers
really do block well. If you are trying to tackle a guy receiving a
kickoff, you better dodge the blockers first, or they will box you out
and stop you from getting where you want to go. This is true
throughout the game.
Also, weather has a dramatic impact on the physics of the game. More
turnovers are generated on wet or snowy fields (see below). Also,
players tend to slip and slide a lot. I picked off a pass with my
linebacker because both the receiver and the corner covering him
slipped and fell on the snow while trying to make a cut. My linebacker
had a clean shot at the ball and didn't disappoint me! It definitely
makes the game seem more human when people, even the quarterback, slip
and fall on their keister trying to get footing in the treacherous
field conditions.
//// Giving It Away
Now we come to the major problem with this game: Turnovers. Whatever
random number generator determines the likelihood of a turnover, it's
wayyyyy off. I have seen more than 20 turnovers a game - we're not
just talking bonehead passes by yours truly, we're talking freak
mishaps. Often, I've seen it happen a few times in a game where the
holder fumbles the ball and an extra point fails. Sometimes, once or
twice a game a kick returner watches the ball bounce off of him,
usually into the hands of a cover guy who scoops up the ball and runs
in for the score (which can be against NFL rules, depending upon
whether a fair catch was signaled).
There are regular fumbles in pileups, tips resulting in interceptions,
and so on. The latter is the most frustrating because instead of
falling incomplete, the ball will be nabbed by a diving defender for
the pick. Granted, these are all realistic occurrences, but they just
don't happen as often as this game generates them. One of the thing
that keeps the scores down in this game is the rampant turnovers. This
just isn't reasonable, and I'd have to say that in many ways this
completely offsets the gains made by the strong AI of the game.
[Editor again: I've seen games where there would be a high turnover
rate, then games that are executed almost flawlessly.]
So how can I rate something which is so incredibly good and so
incredibly bad at the same time? Play execution score: 6. It would be
a 9 if not for the turnovers, but the turnovers just kill it.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Comparison to Madden 3DO
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Finally, the inevitable question: How does this game stack up against
Madden 3DO? Here are my comparative scores:
Troy Aikman Madden 3DO
----------- ----------
Standard Features: 8 9 (Player #'s)
Special Features: 9 5 (vanilla)
Graphics: 6 8 (more detailed, smoother)
Players 7 8
Fields 4 6
Views 5 8 (zoom in/out)
Animation 7.5 6
Sound: 4 8
F/X 6 6
Music 4 7
Voice 3 8
Game Mechanics: 8 5 (super slo mo beach ball tips!)
Playcalling 8 8
Passing 8 6
Running 9 7
Defending 8 6 (too easy...)
Overall Challenge: 6 2
Computer AI: 10 3
Play execution: 6 6
Overall Sound/Graphics: 5 8
Overall Gameplay: 8 4
I have to go with Aikman because of its strong AI, varied animations,
special options, and superior clock management. But it doesn't
challenge Madden for graphics.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Final Ratings
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Title: Troy Aikman NFL Football JagNet: No
Programmers: Telegames Players: 1-2
Published by: Williams Entertainment Available: Now
MSRP: $69.99 Age Rating: K-A
Here's the summary ratings:
"*" is a whole
"+" is a half
5 stars maximum
Control: **** Fairly crisp play control. Lots of player control
options available through the keypad. Near impossible
to catch passes in Veteran mode though.
Gameplay: *** Nice console AI. Play "normal" or just coach a
team. One of the best feels for heading a NFL team
on any gaming console. Too many turnovers.
Graphics: *** Ugly field, large players, fixed view. Step-by-step
instant replay is a plus. Nice variety in player
animations. No passing windows, but receiver
"openness" is noted easily.
Sound: ** Serviceable. 'Nuff said.
Overall: ***+ Not an amazing football simulation, but one of the
best console video football games around. Look past
the graphics, and give this game a chance.
What they mean:
***** "I'M GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!"
**** Marino drops back... he lets loose a bomb....
*** Three yards in a cloud of dust.
** They're running a =triple= reverse?
* "DAMNIT REGGIE!"
About the Author: Randy Magruder is a professional software developer
and a diehard football fan. He lives in Santa Cruz, CA with his 3 cats
and expectant wife. He runs the Jaguar and Portables section of the
VIDGAM Forum on Compuserve. His favorite football team is the Miami
Dolphins, and his least favorite team is the San Francisco 49ers. He
also runs an online football league in the SPRTSIMS forum on Compuserve
using Front Page Sports Football: Pro '95 by Dynamix for the PC, where
he can often be found agonizing over playcalling strategy to win Dan
Marino his ever-elusive Super Bowl ring. (Even if its only virtual.)
Randy deals with league losses by taking it out on poor, defenseless
console football games.
--==--==--==--==--
||| Atari Artist
||| By: Peter Donoso & Fadi Hayek
/ | \ GEnie: EXPLORER.2
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A T A R I = A R T I S T = A T A R I = A R T I S T = A T A R I = A R T I S T
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A T A R I = A R T I S T = A T A R I = A R T I S T = A T A R I = A R T I S T
It's been a bit of a break but... we're back! Those of you who have
been faithful readers of AA these past few years may notice we're
sportin' a brand new look. We really needed the past two months just
to hone and perfect it - yeah. Well, that's the great thing about this
country - everyone has the right to believe whatever they're so
inclined to.
Atari's recent announcement - they no longer have any Falcons left in
the warehouse and have no plans to manufacturer any more - has cast
somewhat of a pallor over the otherwise party animal Atari user
community. Although Atari has licensed manufacturing rights to the
European-based C-Lab, it is not clear whether this music-oriented
"clone" (14 megs in a stock Falcon case with an added 500 meg internal
SCSI HD and altered -10db input/output line-level) will be distributed
widely outside of Germany.
The estimated street price ($3,000 U.S. equivalent) makes one wonder
whether anyone ever bothered to tell C-Lab that the practice of
licensing to clone manufacturers holds the promise of delivering equal
or better product than the original, with one important difference -
at a competitively-reduced price!
This new/old hybrid represents the original machine with a few
on-board alterations that any Atari repair house could just as easily
effect (larger SCSI HD, maxed memory, etc.) But when you take the
original cost of a 1 meg Falcon and add that to the individual cost of
the improved stuffing in this bird, there appears to be roughly $1200
left over which I, despite all my efforts, can't seem to find the hard
goods to justify. Hmmm... Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
We've got the latest updates on Wizztronics' Barracuda 040 along with
a mini-review of Zero-X. We've also got a report on the recent Music
Messe in Germany, the country which - as the legions of devoted German
Atari computer owners have been moved to otherwise refer to it -
easily earns the monikered title of "AtariLand!" As you might imagine,
there's more new things Atari in that thar heavenly place then
Horatio's pessimistic philosophy ever dreamed of naysaying.
In the Atari graphics arena the latest buzz concerns two very
impressive programs that have recently been released for the Falcon -
Apex Media (now available here in the US) and Neon (available in
Europe only at that moment). The first product offers a 2-D paint,
graphics and animation/ morphing environment, while the second is a
3-D animation, rendering and ray tracing suite. These exciting new
products are very impressive, both in the number of powerful features
and a flexible environment in which you can create and manipulate
graphic objects to produce some very professional-looking
masterpieces.
And away we go....
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_/ _/
_/ M U S I C N E W S _/
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_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/ FALCON REBORN AT GERMANY'S MUSIC MESSE
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C-Lab's Falcon MKII held center court at Germany's recent Music Messe
(Europe's version of our annual NAMM music expo) this past February,
as a steady stream of showgoers flocked to get a glimpse of the heir
apparent as it emerged from the shadows for its maiden flight.
Reaction from "AtariLand"'s loyal subjects ranged from optimistic to
ecstatic that the obligations of carrying the torch in manufacturing
the Falcon are being taken up by a third-party company wearing an old,
familiar face.
For those newcomers to the Atari world, C-Lab made Atari synonymous
with MIDI production throughout Europe - as as well as here in the
States - with their popular line of music sequencing & notation
software. Best known for Notator, unquestionably the first Atari music
application (could very well have been the first one on any computer
platform) which brought together unparalleled notation and scoring
flexibility and feature-driven sequencing power under a sophisticated,
unified working environment, C-Lab was king of the hill in the early
years. Although the last version released before the program was taken
over by U.S.-based E-Magic is certainly no match for the dazzling
interfaces and capabilities of today's MIDI music applications, there
are literally tens of thousands of die-hard, devoted Notator users out
there, even as we speak, who refuse to entertain the notion of ever
using anything else!
What is somewhat ironic is that, back in the days of the sequencing
wars - yes, Virginia, there was once a great wall which split the
heart of Germany right down the middle and a great MIDI program battle
which raged day and night there as well - it was all Germans could do
just to have a moment's peace without being woken from their dreams or
distracted from their work by the bellowing cries of, "We'll bury you
alive!" and, "Your name is history!" echoing back and forth between
the headquarters for C-Lab and Steinberg. Needless to say, there was
no love lost between these two major competitors.
Given enough time, the saying goes, even the worst of former enimities
are worn down into the best of friendships - although, sadly, the
reverse is also true. At first, walking towards the Steinberg booth,
which dominated it's location with an impressively large, centrally-
located booth, you wouldn't have suspected anything other than the
eagerly-awaited surprises Steinberg would be premiering at this event.
But, once you began to explore the rather formidable perimeter of the
Steinberg booth, those who remember the old days were knocked on their
kopfs to see C-Lab hawking their wares right within the bosom of their
old adversary! As if that wasn't enough of a total surprise, upon
closer inspection, it became apparent that C-Lab occupied what many
would consider (given their former relationship) a rather generous
section of Steinberg's real estate.
C-Lab's Falcon MKII features the C-Lab logo prominently displayed on
what is actually an exact replica of the Falcon's original 1040-styled
case. That's because C-Lab has officially assumed supervision of
Atari's former manufacturing plant in Taiwan, and licensed rights and
access to all the original molds and schematics for the Falcon. At the
helm of this ambitious undertaking is C-Lab founder and PR wizard,
Burkhart Burgerhoff, who's fire, intensity and desire to succeed were
clearly evident as he carried on business meeting after merchandising
session after media interview practically non-stop throughout the
entire length of the show.
Apart from limiting choice of memory strictly to 14 megs, replacing
Atari's stock 80-meg internal IDE drive with a 500 meg internal SCSI
drive (which means you can now easily save your audio files to your
internal drive with a bit of room to spare) and making a much-needed
improvement on the specs for the Falcon's easily signal-overloaded
stereo in/outs, a number of minor improvements have also been
addressed in the MKII.
All the timing fixes which plagued a number of both original and
subsequent machines have been implemented in this latest incarnation
of the Falcon. In addition, a software plug-in has been added which,
when placed in your AUTO folder, allows for switching between 1040 and
Falcon modes so as to be able to successfully use C-Lab's Notator,
Creator (Notator without the notation features) and all of C-Lab's
well-known hardware peripherals. Prior to this clever software
solution, you couldn't run any of these products successfully on the
Falcon, due to a number of inconsistencies between the program code,
the 030 and the Falcon's architecture.
Burgerhoff apparently sees two initial markets for his MKII. One is
obviously the musician or small studio who's looking for a turnkey
system which can provide digital audio and MIDI capabilities. They're
also handling 14" VGA monitors offering a paper-white display in ST
high rez mode, as well as a variety of both fixed and removable
Syquest SCSI drives in a variety of sizes. Improved -10db input/output
line-levels and compatibility with older MIDI software will certainly
make the machine more appealing to those users who, up to now, would
rather stay with their older machines in order to use their favorite
programs.
The addition of an internal 500 MB SCSI hard drive not only offers
direct saving and accessing of your digital audio files, but offers
roughly 40 minutes of stereo recording at industry standard rates, 10
minutes of linear audio across 8 tracks or roughly 10 minutes of audio
across 16 tracks by utilizing the 030 for data compression and
decompression. There's actually room for approximately 46 minutes of
stereo recording and 12 minutes of 8/16 track recording - but you'll
need to set aside enough space for a C: partition to hold your AUTO
folder, system-related programs and accessories, along with your music
sequencing, notation and editor/librarian software.
The other market is obviously those tens of thousands of Notator/
Creator owners who would love to upgrade their Atari to the next
level, but have been reluctant to do so because of its inability to
run C-Lab's former products. Will this be enough to keep the Falcon
flying at a $3,000 U.S. price point? I guess we'll know next year how
the market will respond.
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_/ Future C-Lab Developments
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C-Lab is also looking ahead towards future product releases. They were
showing a Falcon installed within a 2-space high rack unit. Additional
features will include 8 balanced audio outputs, PDIF/ADAT optical
interface for direct connection to Alesis' ADAT digital 8 track
recorder, 4 independent MIDI outputs, a digital I/O for connecting
directly to a DAT machine and a 540 meg internal SCSI drive. Options
will include a 1 Gig internal SCSI drive and an on-board SMPTE/VITC/
MIDI time code sync card.
In an attempt to kick up the video output to accommodate larger
displays, C-Lab is also claiming that the rack will also offer the
additional option of being able to accommodate a video card with
enough on-board V(ideo)-RAM to hook up a 19" monitor directly. Anyone
who uses Cubase Audio, or any other program which offers plenty of
windows for a variety of editors, tool palettes and sequence files
knows what a joy it is to work on a big screen and have all that room
to really spread things out.
For further information on current and upcoming products contact:
C-LAB Digital Media GmbH
P.O. Box 700 303
Hamburg, Germany 22003
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_/ COPSON DATA SHOWS LATEST VERSION OF ZERO-X
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Adding to the confusion, Steinberg also graciously allocated a modest
portion of their booth to Copson Data, Swedish developers of Zero-X.
This truly amazing digital sample processing software package is
something that will make all you Cubase Audio Falcon and sample
aficionados out there really jump up and shout to the rafters!
Apparently Steinberg feels Avalon (covered in the next entry directly
after this one) and Zero-X compliment each other rather than compete.
After taking a close look at both programs, I tend to agree. though
they may share similar functions in a few areas, each program has
unique features which will make the serious digital audio/sampling
computerist consider having both.
Although it can be used on any Atari computer, from a 520 on up,
Zero-X is really custom-made for the Falcon 030. The program was
written to take full advantage of the Falcon's DSP hardware - simply
because it processes so fast - and, as we all know, 16-bit audio
playback quality is superior to 8-bit, the otherwise maximum sound
quality achievable on all of Atari's earlier models.
The other aspect of the program which makes the Falcon ideal is that
if you plan to work with sample files of 2 megs or more - not an
uncommon size these days - the program will require access to that
14MB of RAM! This is especially true if you'll be cutting and pasting
between samples.
Zero-X needs this amount of memory because it loads audio chunks
directly into RAM for all editing and processing of your sample(s).
Copson Data, the original Swedish developers of the program, has
confirmed that they are indeed planning to implement virtual memory
which will allow loading playback and saving directly from hard disk
in a near-future version.
Zero-X fully supports such software accelerators as Warp9 and NVDI, as
well as BlowUp 030 and Screen Blaster video enhancers. As an
alternative to the Falcon's less than professional digital-to-analog
converters, Zero-X also supports playback using either Soundpool's
Falcon Digital Interface or Steinberg's Falcon Analog-8, giving you
the pick of studio-quality DA converters.
The program currently supports both MIDI and SCSI interfaces for
sample transfer. Support for two other sample transfer interfaces,
Atari's older ACSI hard disk interface which is featured on pre-TT 030
machines, and Yamaha's RS422 for use with their TX16W sampler are
expected to be added for the next update.
MIDI-wise, Zero-X supports sample dump standard, v1.0 closed loop in
12 and 16 bit formats, as well as S-50/550, ASR-10, EPS, EPS-16 and
Akai's series of both 12 & 16 bit samplers. Also supported is SDS.
Though somewhat of a universal format, some samplers may miss pre-set
crossfades and loop settings in a sample using this format. Zero-X
also has a cool feature which lets you transmit data right up to the
loop end part of the sample as an individual chunk. You can then
assign this as a loop in your sampler later on.
SCSI-wise, Zero-X lets you send and receive samples via the Falcon030
or the TT030's SCSI interface. On the receiving end though, your
sampler or sound module has got to support Akai's S series or Peavey's
SMDI (SCSI MIDI Device Interface) in order for SCSI communication to
be established.
A great feature is the Convert Control, which lets you load and
convert single or multiple files in no less than 7 different formats.
These include: Atari's .AVR, CuBase Audio .AIF (non-compressed),
Avalon .SD, (Sound Designer 1) PC/Windows .WAV, WinRec's .DVSM,
Digidesign's Samplecell .WAV, .RAW files (sans header), Dame's .TKE
and 8/16 bit, Stereo/Mono, Signed/Unsigned. Large files are read off
your hard drive in sections equal to available memory, so you're not
limited by the actual size of the file itself!
Zero-X has a number of features which you'd normally find on most hard
disk recorders, including Cut, Copy and Paste. Also included are
Optimize, which maximizes a sample's volume without creating the usual
added distortion, as well as such features as Silence and Fade Out,
which come in handy for knocking a highlighted area to down to zero
volume.
There are also some additional features in Zero-X which really make
the program unique on the Atari platform. You can convert a sample
rate without changing the pitch as well as convert a sample freely
between mono and stereo. Zero-X's digital noise gate feature allows
you to scan a sample for audio which is below a user-determined noise
level and wipe those portions from the overall sample. You can reverse
a blocked portion of a sample, and use the program's gate feature to
reverse natural decay! This produces really smooth, endless sounding
sustains, even from a really short sample!
But, as if that weren't enough, what's really amazing is how well
Zero-X makes it so easy to sample and synchronize a beat loop to a
sequence. An Auto Drum Loop option lets you create perfect loops the
first time around, with almost effortless ease.
To top that off, Zero-X also features a Drum Split function to slice,
dice and otherwise separate a loop into individual drum sounds, which
you can then save as individual samples and map these to individual
keys, using Cubase Audio Falcon's built-in sampler. Rather
"individual" features, wouldn't you say?
You can also create a standard MIDI file right from these split
points, so you can capture the actual rhythmic "feel" of the loop as
well. Quantize it, push up or back a kick or two and hey... instant
DNA Groove templates!
If you'd like to check out Zero-X, you can download a demo of this
great program on either GEnie or Compuserve. The file is listed as:
Zerox395.zip.
For more information contact: Wizztronics
P.O. Box 122
Port Jefferson, NY 11776
(516) 473-2507 Voice & Fax Mail
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/ STEINBERG DEMOS AVALON 3
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After months of talk, speculation and delays, Steinberg surprised
showgoers with an actual running demo of its long-awaited sample
editing program, Avalon. Steinberg really played this card from close
to their vest, because even their roster of highly-regarded U.S.-based
beta testers never saw a single version during the development of
this popular application. This fact leads us to believe that it was
done totally in Germany and on the QT.
Whatever the reasons, there are a lot of die-hard Avalon users and
fans out there who will undoubtedly be tying up the phone lines at
Steinberg/Jones to order their updates. For those of you out there who
are not familiar with Avalon....
Avalon's intensively graphic environment follows the ground-breaking
tradition of Cubase, offering a Universal Sample Editor which
currently supports 22 different sampler models. You can edit your
samples on-screen using a wide variety of tools, such as Cut, Loop and
Optimize, or use Avalon's intelligent Time Correction to create a new
pitch while keeping the length of the sample, as well as the reverse.
Avalon's Resynthesis feature lets you manipulate your samples by
processing them through a variety of filters and envelopes. You can
even design your own synthesizer based on AM/FM/PD or other sound
creation principles, and a mixer/editor.
A powerful system for sound creation, editing, and archiving, Avalon
also follows Cubase in offering a modular structure - the specific
modules which manage the selected forms of processing for your samples
can be individually loaded into memory, leaving enough space for your
actual samples.
As a control center, the combination of Avalon and Steinberg's
MidexPlus functioned as a central sample routing system, which might
include a number of samplers, sample players and data storage devices,
all controlled via a single user interface. Avalon organizes data
transfer between samples from different manufacturers and
automatically converts all formats between 8-bit mono and 16-bit
stereo, from 5 to 65 kHz.
Avalon's Unique Synthesis page, reminiscent of DigiDesign's SoftSample,
there's a multitude of powerful sound creation and editing functions at
your disposal, such as:
[] Additive Synthesis
[] Karplus Strong-Synthesis
[] Fractal Sound Generator
[] Wave Transformation
[] Amplitude modulation
[] Frequency modulation
[] Ring modulation
[] Phase Distortion
[] Envelope with up to 255 Points
[] Envelope Follower
[] Cutoff Filter
[] EQ
[] Delay
[] Wave shaper
[] Pitch Shifter
[] Amp
[] Mixer
These functions can all be freely combined to simulate sounds from
popular synthesizers or, if you're really adventurous, you can create
exciting new synthesis concepts. You can start from scratch, or use
your samples as basic material for sound creation. Sounds can
immediately be monitored, sent to a connected sampler, or loaded into
one of Avalon's various Editors. There's also a set of Library
functions which make sound management a lot easier, allowing you to
store all your sounds in a large Library so you don't have to deal
with specific instrument or mass storage device types.
You should take note here that this particular section is nor for
everyone, however. There's no simplified "Push This Button" feature in
Avalon which automatically produces cool synth patches on-the-fly.
These set of tools, although certainly powerful, are really best
utilized by those musicians who, the minute they buy a new synth, love
to dump the factory patches and start creating new ones from scratch.
If that's what you're into, then you'll love building sounds with
Avalon!
Avalon has a number of editors which offer wide control over different
aspects of your samples' shape and contents:
The Time Domain Editor module lets you perform a large number of
digital processing and altering functions on samples, using a variety
of tools:
[] Fade In/Out
[] Revert
[] Optimize
[] Redraw
[] Resampling
[] Truncate
[] Filter (Peek, Notch, Lowpass, Highpass)
[] Programmable Cross-Fade
[] Stereo Editing
[] Loop Set and Find (up to eight loops supported)
[] Block Functions (Cut, Erase, Add, Subtract, Mute, Delay)
[] Zoom
[] Overview
[] Loop Split
[] Marker
[] GoTo commands
[] Play Block/Window/Sample
[] Pitch Detection
You can edit up to 9 samples simultaneously, memory permitting, and
Avalon supports sample display on large screen monitors with various
screen resolutions (e.g. Atari SM194, Matrix 110).
The Frequency Domain Sound Editor module offers high-resolution Fast
Fourier Transformation, allowing specific editing of single
frequencies in the micro domain and manipulation of the total
spectrum, utilizing such macro functions as:
[] Spectral Animation
[] Threshold
[] Pitch Shift
[] 3-D Filter
The accuracy of the Fourier Transformation can be further increased in
Avalon's Professional mode. 3-D spectrum analysis can be viewed from
any angle and also be impressively displayed on large screen monitors.
As an alternative to a 3-D plot, spectral values can also be displayed
as a Sonogram.
The Frequency Domain Editor's Play Timeslice feature allows you to
hear what you see by making single time slices audible. The various
tone colors of single sound sections can be monitored both visually
and aurally.
The Time Correction Editor module allows you to shorten or lengthen a
sample without changing its pitch. Both subtle and drastic changes are
possible. The Pitch Detection function displays the pitch of a sample
in musical notation.
Some additional Avalon features:
[] Many keyboard equivalents
[] An Undo function
[] Virtual MIDI Keyboard
Steinberg also offered a number of hardware options for Avalon 2 as
well. A 16-bit D/A board for Mega STs let you immediately monitor any
changes or processing of a sample in 16 Bit Stereo quality, without
the need to transfer sample data back to your instrument first.
An optional external SCSI controller connected to the ST's cartridge
port increased sample transfer rates as much as 250 times, as well as
allowing Avalon to communicate directly with a variety of SCSI
external hard disks, removable cartridges and optical disks.
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/ So... What's New In Version 3?
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
I thought you'd never ask!
[] Realtime monitoring of sample edits
[] Bidirectional SCSI transfer
[] Virtual memory
[] Built-In Akai editor
[] Expanded sound synthesis & sound harmonics features
As you may have guessed, Avalon 3 adds full support for the Falcon
030! This means that the aforementioned additional hardware options
you had to pay extra for (or were drooling over as you pressed your
nose up against the music store window) are now available to all
Falcon owners. This is a major improvement over Version 2. Most users
relied on using the far slower MIDI Sample Dump standard to send and
receive their samples.
In addition to direct SCSI transfer and instant monitoring capability
for edits or changes as soon as you apply them to your sample, Avalon
also supports Virtual Memory! Avalon no longer limits the size of your
sample based on how much RAM your computer has on-board. This means
you can edit those long Cubase Audio files with no problem. Avalon 3
reads and writes sample data directly to your hard drive, offering
unlimited sample editing capabilities.
As well as supporting MIDI Sample Dump Standard, Avalon is compatible
with following samplers:
[] Akai S1100, S1000, S950, S900, S700, X7000
[] Casio FZ1
[] Dynacord ADS, ADD2
[] EMU Emax III/II
[] Ensoniq EPS, EPS Plus
[] Kurzweil K2000
[] Prophet 2000
[] Roland S50, S550, S330, S770, S750
[] YAMAHA TX 16W
For more information, contact:
Steinberg/Russ Jones Marketing,
17700 Raymer Street, Suite 1001
Northbridge, CA 91325
(818) 993-4161
(818) 993-4091
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/ Other Messe Stuff To Check Out
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Soundpool, manufacturers of Steinberg's Falcon Digital Interface
(FDI) also have plans to release a Falcon-In-A-Rack. Their 2-space
deep green unit will come with a detachable keyboard and 19" monitor
support and - what else of course but a built-in FDI, along with 4
independent MIDI Outs. They were also demonstrating Audio Master, a
software-based master list system which will allow assembly of play
lists from different digital audio files, and a preliminary of their
Falcon 8-track digital audio recorder/editor along the lines of
DigiDesign's Sound Tools. No word on actual release dates or
availability.
Friendship (yup, that's their real name) debuted a number of great
hardware peripherals for use with the Falcon. A number of them include
software to provide direct access through your Atari interface. Their
products included a hardware sample rate converter, a MIDI
multi-output port expander (MO4) offering 4 MIDI outs, and a hardware
digital routing switcher featuring 8 RCA in/outs and 2 optical in/out
SPDIF ports - all at a surprisingly low price point.
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/ Download Watch
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Finally, a way to grab sound files directly from any audio CD in
digital format! There's a file circulating on most BBSs, CDREC v 1.0,
a CD-Recorder application which lets you capture those digital sample
loops and sound bytes with no generation loss. The program let's you
save these "bytes" in a variety of format choices. Choose from either
.WAV or .AVR, stereo or mono, 8-bit or 16-bit and either 22Hz or 44.1
Hz.
This particular version comes with documentation in German, but the
program seems to employ English menus and dialog boxes. Since it
requires a CD-ROM you might use METADOS, though I highly-recommend
getting ExtenDOS (Anodyne Software), which really makes using a CD-ROM
with an Atari a breeze.
For information on ExtenDOS, contact:
Anodyne Software
6 Cobbler Court
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1V 0B8
(613) 523-7498
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_/ _/
_/ H A R D W A R E N E W S _/
_/ _/
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/ BARRACUDA UPDATE
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The new board routing's been done (I've lost track of which version
this "new" is - there've been so many obstacles to overcome with this
project), and the logic's been worked out and was being compiled as of
the writing of this issue. Wizztronics' president Steve Cohen plans to
treat Canadian ACE showgoers to dazzling runs of a fully-operational
unit. Atari Artist's own Pete Donoso had the pleasure of joining Steve
recently as his guest for the recent Wizztronics RTC on GEnie not long
ago, and attendee questions were both fast and insightful.
Steve revealed some additional enhancements which have been
implemented along the way to 040-hood. A number of built-in video
resolution enhancements have been added which will allow for a wider
range of resolutions - up to 1280x1024 (monitor-dependent, of course)
which will be configurable through included software. This is similar
to the kind of results achieved by such screen resolution enhancers as
BlowUp 030 and Screen Blaster.
Unfortunately, getting True Color mode to work without having that
annoying flickering on your screen is really a memory-related problem
which is dictated by the Falcon 030's initial architecture. Rather
than designing the machine with its own separate video RAM, Atari
decided that the Falcon could use a varying portion of the machine's
installed memory. In addition, the Falcon's on-board chips can only
sync to a limited frequency band. There are a number of other aspects
of the Falcon's architecture which also contribute to its limited
video capabilities, but that's another article in itself.
These decisions, though efficient for a number of functions,
ultimately killed any possibility for directly expanding the video
capabilities of the machine without redesigning it from the ground up.
To make things more complicated, the Falcon's proprietary use of
internal RAM is 16-bit, while the 040's architecture dictates that any
efficient maintenance of speed requires 32-bit FastRAM, as is the case
in using the optional RAM Expansion Board. There IS a solution down
the road for this dilemma, waiting in the wings. For now though, the
fix for delivering jitter-free True Color is still-to-come.
Probably the singularly most impressive aspect to The Barracuda 040's
design is the direct result of a particularly difficult hurdle to
overcome: how can the OS, optimized for an 030 instruction set to
access at a 16-bit bus width, successfully communicate with an 040
processor's instruction set which requires access at 32-bit bus width?
Steve and his team of Wizztronics' engineers came up with what can
only be described as a truly brilliant solution: transfer a copy of
the OS to another chip, one which is optimized to communicate with the
040! This'll be accomplished through the one-time execution of
specially written software which will read the Falcon's TOS and then
pass it along to a separate ROM, which employs Flash Memory, on the
Barracuda board. This, in effect, creates a full 32-bit TOS which the
040 can address exclusively as its sole, proprietary OS.
As an added bonus, this will also afford users a hassle-free procedure
for upgrading to the next generation of TOS, should there be one. Any
future OS upgrades can now be effected through software - no more
having to open up your machine to pull out your old TOS chips in order
to install a newer version!
Users will have the additional option of purchasing a toggle switch
kit which will allow switching between 030 and 040 modes. It should be
noted that installation of The Barracuda 040 does not require removal
of the 68030 and, although a fairly simple plug-'n-play installation,
there is presently a minimal total of 8 wires involving simple
solders. In the interests of keeping the product as close to a true
plug 'n play unit, the engineers at Wizztronics are working on
reducing that number down to whatever the Barracuda's design can
practically accommodate. Since the original TOS chips remain in place
and fully functional, down-shifting your Falcon 030 to accommodate
applications which are not compatible with the 040 is as easy as the
simple flick of a switch.
Preliminary benchmark testing using Quick ST's benchmarking program (a
widely-respected standard in the Atari industry) yielded some
impressive results. The Barracuda 040 showed an overall system
performance increase of 500% - estimates with the RAM Expansion Board
are slated at over 900%.
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/ Built-In Upgradability
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
As mentioned earlier, the Barracuda 040 also offers three built-in
on-board expansion slots for additional options and future upgrades.
One is a VME 96-pin expansion slot for interfacing with Wizztronics'
RAM Expansion Board, which is capable of holding an additional
whopping 128 megs of 32-bit FastRam.
The second slot is a 96-pin Local 32-bit Bus port, which can be
utilized by any third-party developer, though Wizztronics initially
has it slated to accommodate their optional PC emulator card, which
will offer users the capability of running both DOS and Windows-based
software and CD-ROMS. Apart from its on-board 486DX processor (the PC
card will require 32-bit FastRam in order to reach and maintain true
486DX performance), a RAM expansion board will already be integrated
onto this emulation card. Wizztronics will offer an upgrade via a
trade-up path for those customers who bought the RAM expansion board
by itself and decide later on that they really want the 486DX PC card
as well.
As if each of these two add-on slots were not amazing in and of
themselves, there's room left over for a third option - a 50-pin
(sometimes referred to as a dual 25-pin) IDC slot which will easily
allow for the addition of Wizztronics' forthcoming Video Funnel.
Essentially a video-expansion bus, this card will enable both direct
still and moving video to be captured off of any external video
source.
Another upcoming add-on option is Wizztronics' video display card,
which will feature 4 megs of on-board RAM and will support up to
1024x768 true color. These expanded video modes will be attainable
using any software that does not otherwise directly address or
exclusively dependent on the Falcon's hardware for video. For those
who are already using one of the many third-party video cards
available for a variety of Atari computer models, if the program works
with your current video card, it will work with this one as well.
Steve plans to design this add-on card so that, even if all three
slots are occupied by the previously mentioned cards, the video card
can still be used. This will be achieved via a pass-through feature
will already be built-in to these cards - still another example of
Wizztronics' forward thinking and excellent design! The first two
expansion cards are done and awaiting The Barracuda 040's final logic
compiling and code debugging. The Video Funnel is near completion, and
awaiting the launching of the accelerator board.
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/ _/
_/ G R A P H I C N E W S _/
_/ _/
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/ APEX MEDIA
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Apex Media is the first program that qualifies as being custom-geared
for the Falcon, both in the way it utilizes the DSP and also works
within and exploits the limitations of the Falcon's video
capabilities. Originally developed by Black Scorpion Software as the
ill-fated Chroma Studio 24, due to a variety of difficulties it never
saw the light of day.
Although similar in features to Chroma Studio 24, Apex's effects
engine is much faster and an estimated 15 functions directly employ
the use the Falcon's DSP, which allows Apex to perform many of those
special-effects transformations, like Block Distorting and Animation
Filtering, almost as fast as if they were being carried out in real
time.
Just take a look at some of Apex's impressive features:
[] Realtime image processing
[] Analog mask filtering
[] Realtime block manipulation for distorting/rotating//scaling
[] Vector-based font interface for scalable type faces
[] Ultra-fast fieldwarp morphing and distortion
[] Frame-by-frame animation processing
[] Direct-disk editing of FLIC & ANIM animations
[] Supports hardware interface for single or video frame grabbing in
True Color at 786x576
[] Animation formats supported include FLI, FLH, FLX, ANM (Chronos)
plus APX, Apex's own proprietary format
When you first boot up the program, Apex Media automatically shifts
the VDI down to 320x200. ST 40 column true color mode is achievable,
but only on a super VGA multisync. The program supports virtual
screens as large as 1024x768, which are viewed or moved to by clicking
and holding down the mouse in any section of the work area and
dragging the mouse to scroll around the screen. A single work window
dominates the majority of the screen, featuring a fixed palette of
tools located on the left hand-side and an additional functions button
bar along the top of the window. Right-clicking on a tool brings up a
configuration box for that tool.
Apex uses an iconic toolbar interface, similar to Calamus. Selecting
an icon turns the left-hand side of the tool area into a nest of icons
which cover a varying number of related options. Developers at Black
Scorpion opted to go for speed, which required abandoning the
comparatively sluggish GEM display routines in favor of a more
responsive, open-ended interface which has the added advantage of
using a lot less memory. This affords a very impressive level of image
processing with a minimum of only 4 Megs of RAM on a 1040STe, although
it's a lot slower than using a Falcon.
Located on the top tool bar are a roster of standard drawing tools
covering lines, shapes and fills, block manipulation, color palette
manipulation and the video-digitising interface. Following that are
the non-linear tools; airbrush and masking, image and film filters,
morphing and distortion tools and outline text tool, which uses
Calamus-supported font formats.
Tools include a Pen, Pencil and Poly Bezier Curve, as well as Square,
Circle, Ellipse, Triangle and Polygon Line Tools. An Interpolator Tool
allows you to resize a shape and perform a gradient fill based on the
colors that lay beneath it.
Gradient Fills can also be accomplished by selecting a range of
various colors from the color palette. The Realistic Airbrush provides
control over both speed and dispersion by using the right mouse click
feature. The Realistic Brushes and Fill Tools include options for
applying a thin wash. A powerful set of Masks options allow for, among
other functions, shapes to appear or be contained within a defined
area.
A Bitmap Manipulation Marquee (dotted line outline) allows you to
copy, cut, paste, flip, skew, distort and proportional resize any area
of your work selected. Using the left mouse button selects and sizes
your selection, with multiple selection supported, while the right
mouse button commits the results of the manipulation to be pasted to
your work. Similar direction isolated re-sizing and positional
placement can be achieved by clicking anywhere other than in the
corner of your selection. There's a De-noising Tool which renders
either sharper edges or smoother, softer edges to a photo, as well as
affect a foggy, out-of-focus result.
Morphing capabilities are awesome! You can establish a start and end
frame and Apex automatically generates the fill-in frames - the
number
of which are user determined. Morphs are achieved by selecting two
images and then positioning and manipulating any number of morph
points to both images. A single 640x480 frame takes approximately ten
minutes, while a 5-minute animation would take approximately 24 hours
to render in that resolution. This is reminiscent of the kind of
processing time need for sophisticated ray tracing. The program comes
with a number of sample morphs, including a woman changing into a
leopard and a parrot becoming a flamingo.
Built-in interfaces for capturing video include support for the
European-based Matrix ScreenEye and Expose video digitizing cards.
Apex also has some unique capabilities for processing images. A
special sampling feature allows images to be rescaled to fit the Apex
canvas without losing any of either the original file's detail or
color depth.
Apex Media really goes to town in the area of video. Reminiscent of
some of the effects which can be achieved in Fractal Design's
impressive Painter 3, Apex's motion-blur filters produce some
impressive effects when working with animations and digital video.
Additional filters include smoothing, anti-aliasing, noise removal and
a set of almost intuitive interpolative tools that can track and
isolate underlying color changes between layers.
Animations originally created in Apex's proprietary 320x200 resolution
can be played back in modes ranging from 256 color to True Color at
70Hz using a VGA, SVGA or multisync monitor and external players/
viewers can achieve overscan (768x576) True Color on professional
broadcast monitors and television monitors. The program also supports
320x400, 640x200 and 640x400 resolutions with 256 colors, as well as
16-bit or even pseudo 24-bit palettes.
Apex loads a wide variety of images. Supported formats include:
[] Targa
[] GIF
[] IFF
[] Spectrum 512
[] Photochrome
[] MTV raytrace
[] JPEG
Both images and animations can be overlaid either on top of or behind
each other, and the color palette features full control in either RGB,
CMY or HSB modes. One of the most exciting features of Apex Media is
the extent of cross imaging application of palettes. You can take a
palette from a JPEG or TIFF file, for example, and apply it to true
color animations very easily and quickly through the use of various
matching options.
The manual translates the incredible number of functions in Apex Media
fairly well, and includes tutorials. Late-breaking additions to the
program include a full set of picture and animation viewers. Some are
specifically Falcon-related, such as:
[] A 256 color, 16-bit True Color FLIC Direct Disk Animation Viewer
(supported formats include .FLI, .FLC, .FLH, .FLT, .FLX and
AutoDesk)
[] A DSP-based 24-bit Color JPEG Viewer
[] Two GIF Viewers
[] A Targa Viewer For Both Compressed and Uncompressed formats (4096
colors on the ST, 32768 colors on the STE, and 16.7 million colors
- 24-bit color! - on the Falcon)
[] A CPX for translating images between the Targa, GIF & PPM formats,
in either batch or single-mode as well as offering a number of
options for tuning quality and filtering during conversion.
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
_/ NEON 3-D SUITE
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Whereas Apex Media is a 2-D graphics and animation program, Neon
brings the world of 3-D rendering , raytracing and animation to the
Atari platform with a vengeance. Graphics image processing often
requires a fast processor, a fair amount of RAM and a math
co-processor (FPU). With this in mind, you really need to run Neon on
a TT or a Falcon (preferably with a math-coprocessor installed in
either machine) to get a hands-on idea of what makes this program so
great!
Neon actually consists of two separate programs. One is where you
perform all modeling operations and the other is for mapping out your
animations. Each has a similar interface, with three windows -
front/back, sides and top/bottom - which offer a preview of your work
in either wireframe, shaded or full rendering mode.
A fourth window lets you view your work in 3-D, fully-rendered
movements in real time, but is only available in resolutions which
support 256 colors. Most of the time, you'll want to perform the
majority of your basic work in wire-frame mode, since the redraws are
instantaneous and and it requires the least amount of processing time.
In the modeler you can create objects using automatic primitives,
such as cubes, spheres, doughnut toruses and a number of other
dimensional objects. There's even a "chess board" primitive which
creates a 3-D plane. You can Stretch, Rotate, Move, Deform and Insert
to combine objects or add additional new objects to the workplace, as
well as add beveling to any object you designate.
Neon's Texture Mapping capabilities are quite stunning, and the
program provides a preview window to view the finished result. You can
apply this operation to either a flat surface or a sphere, and the
program gives you a fine amount of control over such aspects as
lighting and reflectivity.
There are a full compliment of on-board texture samples, including
marble, turbulence, linear, random, fire, soft turbulence, wood with
control on x, y and z axis with transparency, and filtered effects and
control of light bending through the object when working with
transparency effects. Neon supports importing Targa files for mapping
them directly onto your shapes. A unique feature enables you to even
deform the face of an object to create bump maps based on the on-board
selection of texture maps.
The Animation application allows you to total 360 degree control
Neon's animation camera, including lens size and perspective view. You
can create and define multiple light sources, as well as choose colors
in fine increments, apply them to parallel and spot light sources and
select a choice of resulting shadow, complete with depth and fade
parameters. What's amazing here is the depth of control over the most
minute of atmospheric effects and conditions. Such aspects as Ambient
lighting offers a range of controls from the subtle to the overt.
Time Spline offers free control of the animation tracking path, as
well as movement, speed and placement of an object in animation
relative to start and end positions. Animations can be viewed in real
time. There's a sample animation of rippling water which has to be
seen to be believed. If you've ever watched Star Trek: Deep Space
Nine's Odo revert to liquid flowing form, then you'll have an idea of
what's in store.
Time restraints originally slated the amount of time for checking out
Neon's features and capabilities to an hour at best. Once I launched
the application and more or less familiarized myself with Neon's
interface, however, I looked up at the clock and was shocked to see
that almost five hours had passed while I was playing and exploring
with its myriad of operations. Along the way, there were a number of
"oohs", "aahs", and more than a few "wows!" released in reaction to
all the amazing things you can do with this program.
Both Neon and Apex Media require a good deal of persistence in
exploring the incredible number of features and powerful graphics
processing they both possess. They are also equally remarkable in the
high level of control, complexity of achievable results and relative
speed of operations which they afford the user. Despite their ability
to run on an 030 with more than acceptable performance, they are
crying out for an 040 accelerator, or better. All in good time...
_/ _/ _/
Well, that's it for this edition. Next issue we'll have more of the
latest in all your favorite subjects.
Until next time, this is Pete Donoso & Fadi Hayek reminding you that...
-_/-=-_/=-_/-=-_/=-_/-=-_/=-_/-=-_/=-_/-=-_/=-_/-=-_/=-_/=-_/-
= =
_/ "Today is the Tomorrow you dreamed about Yesterday." _/
= =
-_/-=-_/=-_/-=-_/=-_/-=-_/=-_/-=-_/=-_/-=-_/=-_/-=-_/=-_/=-_/-
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_/ _/
_/ C R E D I T S _/
_/ _/
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ATARI ARTIST endeavors to bring you the latest news on what's happening
on the Atari platform in areas that concern the arts:
_/ Music & MIDI
_/ Video Editing
_/ Graphics Drawing & Painting
_/ Rendering & Animation,
_/ Raytracing & Texture mapping
We try to keep current with all the new or soon-to-be releases, both
here and in Europe.
Atari Artist keeps a somewhat loose publishing schedule, which roughly
translates to around once a month. The staff consists of Peter Donoso
and his partner, Fadi Hayek. They both live and work in New York City.
If you have any questions or suggestions concerning anything related
to the contents or subjects covered here in Atari Artist, you can
leave E-Mail for either Pete or Fadi on GEnie at EXPLORER.2 or through
the Internet at explorer.2@genie.geis.com.
_/=_/=_/=_/=_/=_/
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||| Results of The Third Annual AEO Readers' Survey
||| By: AEO Magazine
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.MAG Delphi: AEO_MAG
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Wow. We received hundreds of responses, and it took quite a bit of
time to sift through all of the answers. Pardon us for this being so
lengthy, but there were a lot of people with a lot on their mind.
Many, many thanks to each and every one of you who took the trouble
to answer the survey!! We at AEO will try to take steps to bring our
magazine more into line with what you want from us.
Don't wait until the next survey to voice your opinion. If at any
time during the year, you want to drop us a line, feel free to EMail
us (at our group address, aeo$@genie.geis.com) and give us a piece of
your mind about how you feel the magazine is doing.
And now to your responses....
I. Please mark where you generally receive your copy of AEO from:
29.1% A. GEnie
5.0% B. CIS
1.9% C. Delphi
38.6% D. Internet EMail subscriber
5.4% E. WWW (please specify address found at)
11.5% F. FTP (please specify address found at)
0.0% G. Internet (other - please specify)
0.0% H. AtariNet
0.0% I. FNet
8.5% J. Other (please specify)
[Editor: Typically, America On Line]
//// Comparing these figures with the figures available for
//// downloads/accesses, I have to say that our GEnie audience was a
//// bit more vocal than others, while Delphi and the BBS nets were
//// quiet. Otherwise, the two curves followed one another fairly
//// closly.
II. ZIP Rules. We know that now. :)
III. In each of the topics listed below, indicate on a scale of 0 to 5,
your interest.
Topic Your Rating (0-5)
""""" """" """""" """""
News from Atari (Press Releases, Interviews) ------------------4.7
News from TOS Developers (Press Releases, Interviews) ---------4.1
News from Atari User Shows ------------------------------------3.5
News from Atari-attended Trade Shows --------------------------4.6
Computer Industry (non-Atari) News ----------------------------3.4
Online News (Recaps of the major Online Atari Nets) -----------3.4
Online Conference Reprints ------------------------------------4.6
Jaguar Material (reviews, news) -------------------------------4.5
Lynx Material (reviews, news) ---------------------------------3.2
Portfolio Material (reviews, news) ----------------------------2.1
Editorial -----------------------------------------------------4.0
Atari Computer Product Reviews --------------------------------4.2
"Build-it-Yourself" Hardware Articles -------------------------3.5
//// Not too different from last year's numbers. The Portfolio
//// continues to be dismissed. Too bad, as it is a nice little
//// machine.
IV. Many readers get AEO for Jaguar/Lynx coverage and don't care for
Atari computer coverage. Then again, many readers get AEO strictly
for its Atari computer coverage, and don't care about video games.
Please indicate, through a percentage breakdown, how you would
balance the two types of coverage.
41.8% Atari computer coverage
58.2% Atari gaming coverage
V. This is the essay portion of the survey. Please answer the
following questions.
A. What did you like _most_ about AEO in 1994? Be as chatty as
you like:
//// Product reviews, benchmark tests, and rumors.
//// It's as though you take the best information (that in fact costs
me time and money to try to locate) and put it in one place. Enjoy
reading software reviews. Your reviewers are very well qualified.
The interviews with developers were very informative (I'm a Jag owner)
and was anxious to find out the story behind the software and
hardware.
//// I _LOVE_ the Atari Artist feature. They really seem to work HARD
to get useful material... and it interests me a lot... I'm a
musician...:-)
//// I got an access to the Internet just 2 months ago, so I haven't
read a lot of AEO issues, but I liked the list of PD programs for
ST/Falcon. I don't know how is it called, but it it really a useful
article. The thing I missed was that there was no FTP-site address,
where can I download the files from. The other thing I liked was the
list of Jaguar developers, it's rather interesting article to read.
Rare Gems are quite good. The Jag articles were very good.
//// The Unabashed Atariophile Installments
//// Actually I was really interrested in the logs of AvP conferences
and such. Any new info (rumors and such) related to the Jag grabs me.
And of course reviews are indespensible.
//// Interview w/ John Mathieson (and others related to Jag or Lynx).
Behind the scenes info. Although I liked Greg LeBrec's tape better, I
really appreciated the chance to see direct feed from jag games as in
AEO CES - I want new tapes to come out quarterly! Want direct feed,
full hi-fi stereo sound and want each tape to be as cumulative as
poss. Outrageous size - even though it is hard to fit reading of AEO
in my busy schedule, I'm information hungry and like to read lots
about subjects that interest me (namely jag & lynx) AEO reeks of
quality journalism, completely unlike the majority of video game
publications out there (online or otherwise)
//// Only had access to them recently, but I found the news and
reviews most useful. Knowing whats coming for the Jag/Lynx and whats
worth getting.
//// That you're still here! I used to subscribe to nearly every
Atari computer magazine around. One by one they've died. Now I get all
my Atari print-news from AEO and Current Notes. That it's reasonably
current.. Even when the print magazines were plentiful, they were
always months behind AEO with news. The mini-reviews of public domain
software. (in "The Unabashed Atariophile") The transcripts of on-line
conferences.
//// Down-to-earth coverage and style. Able to pinpoint negatives
without crucifying Atari or trying to start a crusade. Continued
coverage on all Atari formats.
//// Detailed coverage of Jaguar, presented in entertaining manner.
Especially liked the high fact content of the articles. Also like
Rare Gems.
//// Interview with jag designer
//// The articles I laugh the most about and enjoy very much are the
"Rare Gems" you put in. Please keep doing so!
//// Atariophile, I think
//// Everything having to do with Atari Computing. As a result of our
decrease in numbers, we've been deprived of the magazines I used to
read on a regular basis. All input is appreciated!
//// Atari computer and business related news.
//// Online conferences from online services, especially from
services I am not a member of (GEnie conferences with Bill Rehbock
(sp)). The 3rd parties are Atari's lifeline, imho, and very important
to keep readers aware of. I enjoy the computer coverage, although i'm
not an Atari computer user; I still enjoy it as i am curious about
nonApple, non IBM computer platforms' new products and technology.
//// M.Burkley's column.
//// didn' read enough issues, but will do in 95!
//// It's free, I get it sent directly to my email address so it's
easy to read. It also covers the Jag very well, a bit too well
actually.
//// I liked the 'behind-the-scenes' discussions on the development
of the Jaguar hardware and games. I also liked the reprints of the
transcripts of thr Atari online conferences on Delphi, GEnie, etc. I
like the editorials and info on the state of the Atari company. AEO is
the only source I know of to get information on my favorite computer
and videogame company!
//// Just having the nice service that it is.
//// News about the Falcon and Jaguar and reviews of new games and
software. Although I haven't got much to say, I do like reading AEO.
//// News about the Falcon 030 machine and reviews of software and
hardware for it, news about Atari corp. estrategies in the computer
market, some interviews with developers for atari. I look eagerly for
MIDI tools on atari machines.
//// Jag reviews are great, if a little overly kind in the final
mark. Travis seems to be able to get all the best news on jag titles!
I like the quick news posts to usenet & the jag list... It's all well
written - every last article.
//// Mainly being able to receive news about Atari from people who
actually know what they are talking about! There were many
developments for the Jaguar in 1994 and I anxiously awaited each and
every AEO to find out the lastest gossip and get the scoops on new
releases. The writers are very good too, I especially enjoy the
editorial. Sometimes I don't agree with the reviewers but I still see
their points of view.
//// Good Jaguar articles and very cool online conferences! We want
more of it! I also like Interviews with people of Atari!
//// The online conference reprints. I only wish people would ask more
technically questions when they attend them. A global online
conference through internet would be great! I also liked the interview
with John Mathieson and all the stuff from GEnie about Jeff Minter and
4Play.
B. What did you like _least_ about AEO in 1994? Again, be as
chatty as you like:
//// Those Rare Gems quotes.
//// The irregularity of issues, and the fact that most articles in
each issue were about the Jaguar, which doesn't interest me much.
//// That I really had to "dig" to find a location to get AEO from
America On Line.
//// I know 1994 has been a very important year for Atari, in terms of
surviving. The Jaguar has dominated the Atari-world. But I can't say
anything else that I feel that the once so excellent ATARI-COMPUTER
on-line magazine has become a LITTLE-OVER-OPTIMISTIC-ATARI-JAGUAR
magazine. OK. I'm a bit unfair. But some issues have been a little too
raving about the Jaguar and it's games.
//// Delayed issues. (Other mags cover very little of Jag related
subjects, but they do have pictures, thats the only reason I would buy
one, (pictures can lie though))
//// The Jaguar stuff
//// Although I am an owner of a 1040 and 520 ST it depresses me to
have further info on those systems. I feel like a sell out and
generally hate myself for not keeping abreast of this stuff myself.
But, quite frankly, I almost never turn them on anymore.
//// Godawful sections that have nothing to do with Atari; namely the
outrageously long Quirky Quotes. I absolutely hated this and hated
scrolling by its huge length and was upset it was near the beginning
of the issue. Can you tell it bothered me? :-)
//// Long descriptions of new PD computer programs. I appreciate the
effort involved but would prefer a one or two line description.
//// I didnt really have a problem with any of it. If however, I HAD
to pick something it would be the shareware descriptions.
//// I really don't care for the non system related fluff, ie. Rare
Gems and such, that's about it.
//// Some issues seemed 'cluttered' with things like 'Rare Gems'. I
like these, but not a year's worth in one issue. :)
//// Can't really think of anything that I didn't like.
//// Toward the end of the year the coverage was very heavily Jaguar
oriented. There seemed to be less and less Atari computer coverage.
//// Not much. I read just about everything in each issue.
//// Those quote thingies that have nothing to do with Atari or the
Jag... :) Also had little/no interest in ST stuff, though that would
change if I buy a Falcon.
//// I guess I don't really care for the Jaguar game reviews since I
don't have a Jaguar. But I either glance through them or skip them.
It's no big deal. I'm glad that they are there for those that want
them.
//// Although the Jaguar coverage was great, I would have enjoyed
more computer coverage. Especially more software reviews. Or articles
involving how to get the most out of a particular piece of software or
hardware. I could also do with less of the Rare Gems section of AEO.
//// I'll have to pick the Lynx stuff. Never wanted one, never will.
I do glean the Jag stuff, as I may not be able to get a high-end
computer for some time, & the Jag would fulfill my gaming needs for
the interim.
//// It doesn't come out regularly enough. I realize that dealys will
always occur, they're inevitable and should be expected from time to
time. AEO is worth the wait as it offers excellent writing, news, and
reviews.
//// Jaguar coverage - I have no, zilch, interest in game machines.
//// Lack of 8-bit coverage.
//// The lack of computer coverage. There is too much Jaguar stuff. I
mean, the whole world isn't interested in just games.. especially
Europeans.
//// The huge list of quotes each issue (GEMs or something they were
called)
//// At this time, the only stuff that I don't read are the the
Unabashed Atariophile [sp] listings. I do have a 520ST at home, but
currently have no time for trying out new software. I do forsee
possibly utilizing the info from this column in the future, so I do
hope that the archive of AEO issues on the Net is maintained.
//// It was unfortunate that they didn't come out on a frequent
basis. It was nice last summer when a short version was done to fill
the gap. Given the effort it takes to make AEO, maybe instead of a
spectacular AEO issue (like this past one), maybe smaller ones can be
done more frequently.
//// The reviews are too long and are far too positive. Look at the
review Kasumi Ninja for example! There aren't enough real
(e.g.programming) articles. Less of the latest FTP releases too.
//// Since I'm in Engalnd, all that stuff about Atari User Groups was
a waste to me. & although I generally like the computer file reviews
at the end of many AEOs I'm kindof more interested in the Jag & Lynx
these days. Oh yea, what the hell happened to the release dates?!
You started the year at quite a rate but then ended up releasing every
month or so... but I suppose the size made up for it!
//// There really isn't all that much to say against AEO!
//// There's a lot of material about the Atari computers, I just skip
all that. It would be nice if AEO were in two distinct halves, rather
than just with some Jag chapters and some computer chapters. Actually,
three halves (er, thirds). One for Atari news, one for gaming news
(Jag & Lynx) and one for computer news. Still, its not big deal since
its just a bunch of character text I can skip. The List of Developers
was horrid, but thats already been updated and now looks much nicer!
Lastly, all those stupid Rare Gems quotes at the front of the magazine
- irritating. Get rid of them!
//// Sometimes you are a little bit biased..
//// That the computer related material has dropped to almost NUL.
C. Please complete the following sentence. "In the next year, I
would like to see AEO cover...."
//// More German hardware such as the PAK3, Multi-Board, VOFA 4000,
etc. This is where the exciting hardware is coming from, please keep
up with the news.
////More stuff about atari computers, especially falcon, since I own
one.
//// Jaguar, hardware and software reviews. I rely heavily on what
your gifted reviewers have to say about products that are available.
Developer interviews. The Janus board (the ST-PC emulator). Keep
including those game cheat codes!
//// In the next year, I would like to see AEO cover......ohh umm
ahh. You pretty much cover much of what I want to know. But one thing
I would like is more screen shots of games being developed, such as
Rayman (who doesn't?), or provide ftp adresses where they can be
found.
//// I wish I could meet and talk with the people you get to work
with. Any chance of a conference on AOL sometime? (hint, hint, hint)
[Editor: Not until they issue Atari online software.]
//// Jaguar, Jaguar, Jaguar!!
//// Interview at least one developer per issue.
//// the Windows platform. [Editor: As soon as Microsoft releases
Windows 95 for Atari, we will. ;)]
//// I'd like to see AEO try to get more info from the third party
developers about their products, mostly for the Jag but also the
computer lineup.
//// TOS TOS TOS TOS TOS TOS
//// Pretty much more of the same, except less game console related
stuff...
//// ... The Jaguar like no mag has done before. :) Have a GREAT year!
P.S. I loved your current issue of AEO, I vote it was best issue of
95! :)
//// what Atari and the Atari user community is up to, the latest
Jaguar, Lynx, Falcon, TT, ST and Portfolio products. I would also like
to see more coverage of the major Atari computer shows that continue
to take place here in the States and in Europe.
//// commercial software reviews, CD Rom coverage, and most
importantly, more focus on the computing environment.
//// Atari's continuing struggle to get the Jaguar into the
mainstream of gaming.
//// Jag games as soon as you can get the dirt on em!
//// How to setup and use the LYNX line-oriented WWW browser on an
upgraded 1040STe, also DIY hardware upgrades!
//// More developers and rumours and neat stuff like that. Uhm...
//// I'm glad to see -occasional- news from the outside computing
world. I wish that to continue (though let's not make this a DOS or
Mac magazine!) [Editor: No worries, mate!]
//// I would also like to see a review of Atari Print magazines. An
ongoing review of Atari "Classic" games would be nice. There are a lot
of inexpensive games available now which are old, but still good.
//// Atari's computer line a little more.
//// releases of software for the Atari computers (STs, STes,
Falcons, TTs). Even many shareware products are worthy of reviews, as
there have been some excellent releases that I've stumbled on, which
weren't reported or reviewed here or elsewhere. Hardware releases
should be considered as well.
//// more focus/interview articles on Atari developers and other
Atari movers and shakers. Also more software/hardware reviews, tips,
and applications. I'd be interested in reading about customized Atari
computer set-ups. You know, hot-rodded, re-cased, lots of peripherals,
and what they do with them after going through all that trouble.
//// Thanks for keeping up the good work! We really do appreciate it.
//// In the next year, I would like to see AEO cover Atari's takeover
of the videogaming industry as well as a strong surge in stock price
:). Seriously, keep up the great work--more interviews with developers
and Atari employees (maybe with the Tramiel brothers).
//// More computing and less gaming...
//// International Atari activities (i.e. things that happen in
Europe)
//// Any other interesting news concerning computers, like what Star
Trek episode does Bill Gates like the most etc.
//// ummm... more stuff on Jag II, uncovering Atari's secrets (with
exclusivity of course) and a graphical issue (non-ASCII based)
complete with screen shots, developers pictures, trade show
pictures... Maybe something cross platform using MacDocument Maker
(see Inside Mac Games for a good example).
//// Interviews with major Atari executives giving us a view of where
the company is headed;
//// Maybe come out more frequently as a smaller issue; each issue
doesn't always have to have all columns. Sometimes, I don't finish
reading an issue until after the next one comes out!
//// All news about the corp., the Jaguar, the ST's (got one), the
falcon, the milan (or whatever new computer).
//// If AEO doesn't change I can't say I'll be all that bothered!
It's great as it is.
//// more Interviews more online conferences, more Jaguar Infos...
--==--==--==--==--
||| The Unabashed Atariophile
||| By: Michael R. Burkley
/ | \ Delphi: MRBURKLEY GEnie: M.BURKLEY1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This issue's review is going to be mostly a look at more of my
favorite PD and Shareware Games (and a few utilities). I've not had a
chance to review many new programs (and there have been a lot of
them!) because I've been too busy compressing my collection of PD
files. Have you ever had to ZIP compress nearly 11,000 programs and
files? I haven't... yet... but give me another three or four days and
I'll have joined that rarified group. (Has anyone else ever done this?
Probably not!)
In doing this I've gained a new appreciation for my Atari STE (with
Geneva, NeoDesk, a T-25 accelerator board, 2.1 Gig hard drive, and
host of other easy-to-use utilities). The reason for this new
appreciation is that I've had to do all of this work on a 486DX 80MHz
machine with Windows 3.1 installed (for a variety of reasons connected
with the two volumn CD my wife and I are putting out). In the past
I've wondered if I've been missing out on the ease which Windows
brings to the computer world. Friends tell me how great it is with
Windows.
Well, now that I've been using this 486DX for over a week I can say
that TOS (and NeoDesk, UIS, Maxifile, et.al.) is SO much easier and
feature filled than Windows. Simple things like moving files from one
directory to another are difficult, and finding the total size of all
the folders and files within a folder is impossible (at least no one
online or at computer stores can tell me how to do it). STZIP v.2.6
has a much nicer interface than the ZIP program I am using on the PC.
About the only advantages I can see is the speed of the processor
(which is _fast_) and the graphic capabilities (which I don't need to
compress files!).
Maybe someday I'll get my own clone computer, but I'm not looking
forward to that day (I'll still be "The Unabashed Atariophile" even
then)! Thanks for all of your encouraging notes about my articles.
Keep up the good work!
On with my descriptions.... These are some of my favorite utilities.
I've recommended them before to you, but I'll do it again! You'll be
able to find them on a wide variety of online services, commercial and
private. Since I am just pulling these descriptions out of my archives
I don't know where I found them in the first place.
[] SILKMOUS is SilkMouse v.3.2 by Mark Slagell (dated September 22,
1993). YOU CAN QUIT READING THIS DESCRIPTION AND JUST GET THIS
FILE!!...Now on with the description! It is another upgrade to a
uniquely smooth, fast, well-behaved mouse accelerator that also
incorporates a great two-stage screen saver. Run from the desktop or
the AUTO folder, SilkMouse is the most usable, most highly
configurable mouse accelerator available. Have you ever found that
when using a mouse accelerator that you can no longer use the
Alt-arrow key combination to move your mouse pointer about? SilkMouse
doesn't interfere with that at all. The two-stage screen saver is one
that darkens the screen after a set period of time (fully
configurable), but which allows whatever is on the screen to still
remain visible (he has now updated this to allow the two stage saver
with the mono screen as well). After a longer period of time the
screen completely darkens. I like that feature. The accelerator may be
configured through a CPX module or an .ACC (both supplied). One (of
many) feature is that you can make any program hold its final screen
before exiting. This is very handy for those programs which flash a
screenful of text before you in one-tenth of a second and expect you
to read it! This program used to be Shareware (I registered, and don't
regret it!), but Mark is now giving it away (I still recommend that
you send him some money as an encouragement). Color or mono.
ST--Falcon/ MultiTOS compatible. I HIGHLY recommend this program. I
think that if you try this for an hour you will never want to use any
other mouse accelerator!
[] MDISK694 is M-Disk v.6.94. JUST GET THIS FILE! This is an excellent
.ACC reset proof (or not - you choose) RAM disk. I use this program
every day (it's how we copy Suzy B's Software disks). It does A LOT!
M-Disk provides you with:
- a sizable removable multi-function ramdisk
- a floppy disk copy program (with virus detection logic which
Prevents viruses being transferred!)
- It will format _and_ copy a RAM disk to floppy in 120 seconds--
which is as fast as most format options, and yet retains all verify
features (THIS is Wonderful!--the previous program we used took
180+ seconds!).
- a fast disk "wipe" option
- a fast ramdisk load/save program
- a harddisk backup/restore program
- a PS/2 compatible floppy disk formatting program; and
- a boot sector virus destruction program
- a "reverse" formatter, starting at a high track # going down to 1
(this can save some of your data if you mistakenly start a
format)
MiNT and MultiTOS (KAOS, too) compatible. ST--Falcon compatible.
Extensive docs that do a very good job of explaining even the little
details of the program are included. I have now moved this file into
the "boot up with" category. Excellent!
[] MB49BIN is MasterBrowse v.4.9 by Michel Forget of Electric Storm
Software (dated January 1, 1995). Master Browse is an EXCELLENT
program which completely replaces the desktop's SHOW routine for any
ST--Falcon. It will allow you to search, mark blocks of text (a new
easier way to do this in v.4.5), cut and paste using the Atari
Clipboard, print out your selected text(s) in a multiplicity of ways,
and piles more features (in part the docs are so extensive simply
because there are so many features! If you want a text file viewer to
do something, this probably already has that feature!). MasterBrowse
can be configured to call an alternate viewer for special types of
files, such as pictures or sound files. It is _Fast_ and smooth, and
can take full advantage of GDOS/SpeedoGDOS, the features of MultiTOS,
MultiGEM, Mag!X, and Geneva, as well as the alternative desktops such
as NeoDesk, TeraDesk, and Gemini.
Another nice feature is that MB supports Peter Seitz' View Protocol,
which allows other programs to instruct MB to display a file instead
of using their own default viewers. A REALLY nice feature new in this
version is that MB will emulate the TOS 1.4 Item Selector for all of
you TOS 1.0 and 1.2 users out there. Keyboard (he deleted the user
configurable feature in this version, but it will be coming back in
the future) or mouse controlled. Online help (using the ST-Guide
.ACC). It has an easy-to-use installation program. Shareware ($15).
SUPPORT SHAREWARE AUTHORS! (If you register this program you get a $5
credit from Suzy B's Software). Color or mono. This will work on
floppy or hard drive systems.
I uncompress a lot of files, so here are my favorite compression
utilities...
[] LHA310 is LHarc v.3.10 by Christian Grunenberg (dated May 25,
1994). Termed "The Faster Than Light" compression/uncompression
utility this LZH compatible (lh-0 to lh-5) is in my opinion the best
LZH compression/uncompression utility available. I haven't found any
LZH files which it hasn't been able to uncompress, even those
compressed on other platforms. It is extremely fast, both in
compressing files and in uncompressing them, is almost as efficient as
ST ZIP v.2.6, and now comes with an easy to use GEM shell (all in
English) compatible with Geneva. You can even make self-extracting
files using an included utility! This archive contains both English
and German programs and "THE EXPLORER'S GUIDE TO LHarc" by Alan
Kennedy as well as German docs. Color or mono. ST--Falcon compatible.
Shareware. This is definitely a recommended program.
[] DCX220C is the newest version of DC Xtract v.2.20c by Paul W. Lee
(dated July 23, 1993, but just uploaded Sept. 1994). This formerly
commercial ("bought through a store") program is now commercial
SHAREWARE ("paid for because you are honest"). DC Xtract is a
Wonderful archiving utility. I thought it was great when I bought it
as a part of DC Utilities, and I can see it's even better now. Now
this handles all of the newest ARC, LZH, ZIP, and ZOO formats. I
recommend this program to you! It's great! One feature I like is that
the program will automatically choose the correct compression/
de-compression routine based on the name of the file you are
manipulating. Another is the graphical progress report you get as you
compress/uncompress your files (it makes everything seem to go
faster). Mouse and/or keyboard controlled. Docs included. This program
is now TOS 1.0 compatible. But see below concerning problems with
this version.
[] DCX22B is DC Xtract v.2.20b by Paul W. Lee. This is not the newest
version, nor is it TOS 1.0 compatible, but I'm still including it here
because there is a bug in the LH5 routine of DCX220C, the latest
version included on this CD. Actually, if you don't select the LH5
option on DCX220C you will be fine. Sometimes when selecting the LH5
option in that version you will actually end up with a larger file
than one produced by this file. So...now you can choose! This formerly
commercial ("bought through a store") program is now commercial
SHAREWARE ("paid for because you are honest"). DC Xtract is a
Wonderful archiving utility. I thought it was great when I bought it
as a part of DC Utilities, and I can see it's even better now. Now
this handles all of the newest ARC, LZH, ZIP, and ZOO formats. I
recommend this program to you! It's great! One feature I like is that
the program will automatically choose the correct compression/
de-compression routine based on the name of the file you are
manipulating. Another is the graphical progress report you get as you
compress/uncompress your files (it makes everything seem to go
faster). Mouse and/or keyboard controlled. Docs included.
[] STZIP26 is STZip v.2.6 by Vincent Pomey (dated April 27, 1994).
This version fixes a number of bugs that crept into v.2.5, so get this
file! This is one fantastic compression utility, and he keeps on
making it better! ST ZIP is cross plaform compatible with PKZIP 2.04
(from the MS DOS world), and the Unix Info-Zip programs Zip 1.9/Unzip
5.0. Using an excellent GEM interface (with keyboard hotkeys), it
compresses as well or better (!) than the newest LZH utilities. This
version is MultiTOS and Geneva compatible, allows up to 65536 files in
a zip (given adequate memory), allows you to extract files to a
corresponding folder automatically, now supports Unix's Info-Zip, and
much more. This file includes a program that creates self-extracting
archives, and a small, stripped down version (a real memory saver)
that is accessed only through a command line interface. I highly
recommend this program for any of you who deal with .ZIP files. Docs
included. Color or mono. ST--Falcon compatible.
Here's my bug report: I find that even with 2 meg+ of free RAM some
large archives with multiple files fail to uncompress. I get an
"insufficient memory" message. The trouble is that this is not
consistent from file to file! Some huge files uncompress file while
some others don't (it seems more to do with the number of files in the
archive than in their size alone). If I reboot to get almost 4 meg of
RAM free I never have this problem. When that happens I generally use
DC Xtract v.2.2b (DCXTR22B) to uncompress the file or I uncompress it
bit by bit (which is a pain). Nevertheless, I think this is a "must
have" program. PostCardWare (Come on! Brag a bit and send him a
postcard showing the sights of where you live!)
On with the other utilities (some just for fun, too!)
[] SIREN3 is Siren - It's the Cops! by John Eidsvoog (it's gotta be
good if one of the CodeHead's made it!). SIREN3 is an accessory which
periodically sends a little police car driving across the bottom of
your screen, complete with siren and engine sounds. Who wrote it first
is not knows, by JE has rewritten it with a vengence. It now works in
both color and mono, registers like a normal accessory, and is user
configurable as to the time in which it appears. This is a fun .ACC,
especially when you sneak it on to a friends boot disk!
[] MARCEL23 is an update (features added, bugs squashed) to the
GEM-based Marcel Word Processor v.2.3.4 (dated July 26, 1994). Marcel
has loads of features, like auto-reformatting, instant-access writer's
note pad (saved with file, but not printed or exported), easy
accented-letter entry, easy keyboard selection of clauses, sentences,
and paragraphs, word erase, and hundreds of other features, many not
found in other word processors. You can import text from all sorts of
programs, from ASCII, 1st Word/WordWriter, ST Writer, WordPerfect
v.4.1, and Rich Text Format (RTF) (and export in 7 or 8 bit ASCII,
RTF, and 1st Word), you can select and see various type styles
(italic, bold, etc.) right on screen, mark blocks, scroll through text
(very fast!), auto-reformat your paragraphs, easily select
pre-installed page designs (like letter, legal, business, term paper,
etc.), insert date and time into your texts and much more.
Spell checking (the American and British dictionaries are described
below, and now you can add your selected words to them!), printing (in
a wide variety of printers including Epson and compatibles, HP
LaserJet and InkJets, the Atari Laser and PostScript), and literally
100's of other features. Marcel is an excellent program with a very
nice "feel." Tutorial included. Color or mono. Not limited in any way
from the registered version (you get the manual and free support on
registering (only $10 in North America, and you get a $5 coupon ).
Requires at least 512K of RAM (1 meg recommended), a DS disk drive (it
works great on a hard drive, too!), and a ST med. res. display or
higher. Any ST-Falcon, MultiTOS and Geneva compatible. Check this one
out!
[] ACCENT by Ken Badertscher is a program that adds a little spice to
your text files... Accent takes a text file and regurgitates it to
appear as if it were being read with whatever accents are specified.
It will run from the desktop or from a shell. From the desktop you are
presented with a dialog with icons representing the various options,
and have your choice of writing to the screen, to a disk file or to
your printer. The accent options are: -J(apanese) -C(hinese)
-G(erman) -I(talian) -P(ig Latin) -K(cocKney) -S(tutter) -L(isp)
-D(nerD) -O(bscene/censored) -R(andom) and -N(pass Nroff commands).
Here's an example (from Pig Latin): Accentway akestay away exttay
ilefay andway egurgitatesray itway otay appearway asway ifway itway
ereway eingbay eadray ithway ateverwhay accentsway areway ecifiedspay.
Itway illway unray omfray ethay esktopday orway omfray away ellshay.
Omfray ethay esktopday youway areway esentedpray ithway away ialogday
ithway iconsway epresentingray ethay ariousvay optionsway, andway
avehay yourway oicechay ofway itingwray otay ethay eenscray, otay away
iskday ilefay orway otay yourway interpray. Jefferson Modula 2 source
code included. This program is a riot! Color or mono. Docs included.
[] OCULT32B is Ocultar v.3.02b by Carl J. Hafner (Dated June 10,
1994). Ocultar can best be described as an all in one bootup utility!
It not only allows you to restrict access to your system through the
use of passwords (with up to 10 seperate users!), it also allows you
to choose from up to 40 different bootup configurations! Simply press
a key and Ocultar will activate and/or deactivate any auto programs
and accessories, copy any DESKTOP/NEWDESK.INF files, delete any
unneeded files, copy up to 8 extra files per setup (320 total), plus
more!!! You can even configure Ocultar to display either a DEGAS or
NEOCHROME picture at bootup. A special accessory is also included in
the event someone tries to bypass Ocultar Security itself !!!
ST/STe/TT compatible in ALL resolutions! I liked this program so much
I registered it, and use it everytime I boot up. Shareware. Docs
included.
[] ORACLE_D is Delphi Oracle v.1.00 by Paul Lefebvre (dated Sept. 14,
1993). I use this program every day (registered, too!). If you have
STalker and you use Delphi, then you should have this BackTalk Script
that automates Delphi. Using this script you can get and send mail
messages, read and reply to BBS conversations, and download
files...all in the background, and all while you are asleep in bed (if
you wish). It is very easy to set up and configure. If you have STeno
(another excellent program) this script will take full advantage of
its power. This Shareware program is worth getting (and registering -
I have). Requires STalker 3.0x or higher (and since STalker works on a
Falcon this should as well). Detailed docs included. (See ORACLE_G for
the GEnie specific script).
Now, on to the games! First of all, two of my favorite games - which
only work with TOS 1.0! I would REALLY LIKE someone to write all TOS
compatible versions of the below two programs! They are really
excellent!
[] LUNRLNDR is a wonderful game! Lo-rez color only. TOS 1.0 only
(sorry!). If you have TOS 1.0 and a joystick get this (a color monitor
helps as well!). You try to land your Lunar Module on the Moon at a
variety of landing sites. Three levels of difficulty. This is a very
challenging game. Enjoy!
[] RIPCORD is a fun game. An airplane drops you out and you fall until
you open your parachute (you keep falling if you don't open it -
splat!). The object is to land on target. A simple, but quite
challenging game. I like it. Color and TOS 1.0 only.
[] 3_SHOOTS by Juergen Reichenwallner of Bavaria, Germany are three
shoot-em-up low res joystick controlled games. They must be run from a
floppy. These are all scrolling type games, each with a separate and
distinct theme. GALACTIC concerns space battles (the aliens are
dropping down on you and you blast them away - like Space Invaders,
but more advanced), HUNTING is a Duck Hunt clone, and RIVER is a
rescue mission with a military theme (much like Swiftar). These are
will done, and will keep your interest for quite a while. Docs
included.
[] AKS by A.K.Schiebereien and S.B.Werninger is a mono only puzzle
program that will provide you with hours of challenging puzzles (I
have this from the English docs by D.A. Brumleve, the noted ST
programmer!). You must shove barrels around a warehouse and place them
in the proper locations. It is much like Chip's Challenge.
[] ANDURIL is a very nice game. You use the keyboard to control your
movements as you fly through a maze, picking up treasures along the
way. Mono only. Instructions included in game.
Even though I just reviewed the following program last issue, I _like_
it!
[] ASTR_ST is Asteroidia ST for all ST/STe/TT/Mega STe users, by David
Munsie. This is one of those "must have" games. It's the best
Asteroids style game I've ever seen. If you don't know what that is
I'll tell you (I'll tell you anyway!). You fly around in near-Earth
space trying to destroy all the asteroids that are heading towards
home. You'll also have to contend with little alien thingys that want
to destroy your ship! Zap them all with your energy cannon. The
rotating 3D asteroids are astounding and the debris when you blast
them are cool (and sometimes dangerous!). The sound effects are
excellent (and on the 2 meg+ STE/TT you can use the separate ASTR_DMA
file to get even better sound) and the background picture of the earth
is beautiful.
This takes advantage of my accelerated STE for faster and smoother
play, and exits cleanly back to the desktop. STE owners can use the
Jaguar joypad for control, everyone else uses the standard joystick
(note: if you are using the joystick don't select the Joystick/Joypad
option or you won't be able to do anything on the computer until you
re-boot). Shareware with docs and registration information included.
Until you register you only get one life per game. Any color res.. I
recommend this game!
[] BALLER is the BEST cannon game around. You choose your castle, the
amount of powder you put in your cannons, how you will spend your
money (to buy more powder, shells, guns, oil wells, men, etc.). The
wind varies with each turn. You may play against the computer or a
human opponent. The object is to hit the King in the other castle.
Unfortunately the game is in German, but you can figure it out - I
have (but then again I'm brilliant [modest, too]). Mono only.
[] BLOCKADE is one of my favorite games. The object is to completely
uncover a background picture within a stated time limit. Not hard,
right? Wrong. Unfortunately for you there is this little nasty thing
(LNT) bouncing around the screen. You leave a line as you cross the
picture. If you get to the other side before the LNT touches you or
your line, you are OK. BUT, if it touches you before you reach your
destination, you're sunk. You get three chances. Every time you cut
off a section of the screen more of the picture appears, and you start
again. I really like this one. The pictures are low res Degas pics, so
you can change them to anything you wish. Color only. Three levels.
STe compatible.
[] BODYSHOP by F. Hundley is a program designed to help students learn
Human Anatomy as required in most Elementary or Junior High School
science courses. The names and locations of all the major bones and
organs of the body are taught using both common everyday terms and the
more technical medical terms. You can "learn the parts" or "build the
body." This is both a learning experience and a fun game (but then
again, shouldn't most learning experiences be fun?!). Mouse
controlled. Color only. Docs included.
[] BOING by K. Walsh of Unique Software is maze, thinking, and quick
reflex oriented game. Using a joystick to guide your bouncing ball
through a series of vertical mazes, you try to collect the fruit on
each level and then leave by the exit. You must watch out for the
rising temperature. Collecting fruit will cause it to stop rising, for
awhile, but if it gets too hot you're done for. Extra lives and score
bonuses can be earned by completing the bonus levels. Remember you
have a fire button on your joystick (hint)! I enjoy playing this game.
Docs included. Color only. TOS 1.0--1.62 compatible (at least).
[] BOUNCE by Paul Bininda is a wonderful mono only game. All sorts of
objects are dropping on you from above. Avoid them and then blast away
at them! Keyboard or joystick controlled. German docs within program,
but here's a hint: use "A" and "S" to move, and the space bar to fire
(or just use the joystick, but the keyboard is faster). I think this
is an excellent game. Works with mono emulators, too. TOS 1.0--1.62
compatible (at least). Does not work with the TT.
[] BUBBLE v.1.1 by Bob Silliker is a color or mono game in which you
move a bubble through a room filled with obstacles - pointed
stalagtites and stalagmites, dripping acid, stinging bees and more.
You have a limited supply of air with which to blow your bubble along.
Well done. I like this game.
[] CLEWSO15 is Inspector Clew-So ST v.1.51 by R. Van. This is an
excellent "Clue" type game where you play the bumbling Inspector
Clew-So. Of course you solve the case! By asking questions and
visiting the various rooms of the house you can find out when, where,
and by whom the murder was committed. Color or mono. Docs within
program. Well done.
[] CLRSPACE is Colourspace ST by Jeff Minter. "In the beginning was
PSYCHEDELIA on the C64, which begat COLOURSPACE on the 8-bit Atari,
which led to this version, COLOURSPACE ST. COLOURSPACE was the first
ST incarnation of the light-synthesiser concept. The basic idea is
simple: the light-synthesiser is an 'instrument' which produces
dynamic patterns and colour sequences under the direct control of the
operator. The lightsynth is generally used in conjunction with music;
it's nice to sit down and mellow out with your favourite sounds and
use the lightsynth. It is compatible with all STs (it even runs on the
TT). There are 20 preset Colourspace modes programmed in when you
load up the system. To see them, press any of the function keys or any
of the number keys 0-9 on the main keyboard. The presets show various
Colourspace effects and the use of NeoChrome images as foregrounds and
backdrops. Color only. Lots of interesting Docs (interesting meaning
that the author talks about his views on Atari, Shareware (it's been
successful at Llamatron, his company, and more). SHAREWARE.
***note***I'm trying to find out where to send shareware
registrations for Jeff Minter's programs. He's here in the US, but
where? If anyone can help me here I would appreciate it!
[] DALEKS is a superb, excellent, wonderful program by Brian
McClendon of Bloom County Software. Based on the TV program, "Dr. Who"
you fight for your life avoiding the attacking Daleks. Color or mono.
GET THIS ONE! SHAREWARE.
[] DMLTN_2 is Demolition Man v.2.0 by Clayton Walnum. He's done it
again. This man is as bad as Charles Johnson (of ARCHSHELL fame). He
keeps on improving an excellent game!. In this color or mono game you
play a bomb demolition expert who tries to discover where all the
bombs are hidden without exploding any of them unintentionally
(especially when the are under you!). There are EASY, HARD, and AGONY
levels! Mouse controlled. You have to use your brain to win this game.
The only trouble is is that you want to keep playing. You just know
you'll do better the next time! Docs included. SHAREWARE. C.W. is the
author of _C-MANSHIP COMPLETE_, the only programming manual for the
Atari ST that teaches both basic C programming and GEM applications
programming. Are you a POPULOUS fan? He has also written _Master
Populous_. Finally (for now) he has written _The ST Assembly Language
Workshop, Vol. 1_. This guy knows his stuff!
[] DRIVENT is Driventure by Bob Dolan (dated Sept. 3, 1987). You drive
your car down a winding road, avoiding running off the road by adroit
movements of your mouse. It's interesting to see how the impression of
speed is given by a simple jiggling of the road. The view is from
above. Very simple animation, but you need to keep constant attention
on the screen in order to avoid crashes. There's just enough leeway to
keep the game playable without being boring. This is one of the
simplest games I know of that is interesting! Color only. Docs
included.
[] DUNGEONL is DungeonLord by Patrick Maidorn. In this game you stand
at the dawn of the 7th millenium. Mankind has stretched its power
across the universe, and has gathered god-like knowledge and wisdom.
Reaching out across the gulfs of time and space, the interdimensional
company INTERSPACE sends its agents into the future and past of the
known universe, both exploring and protecting it. But sometimes
mistakes are made. And each time something goes wrong, a daring
INTERSPACE agent is sent through time to repair history and save the
universe from destruction. That agent is you! Save the planet Thago
(very much like Earth) from the evil Lord Shrax. Penetrate deep within
his dungeon, withstand all the monsters he throws at you, destroy the
TimeWarp machine (accidentally left in the past by the death of a time
agent and captured by Shrax) and return to Earth. Excellent 3-D
graphics and digitized sounds and 10 levels to challenge you! SAVE
your game often! Color only. At least 1 meg of RAM required. Docs
included (1st Word format).
[] FLIMBO is a playable demo of Flimbo's Quest. It is a platform type
game with beautiful graphics and parallax scrolling. Color. Docs
included. I liked the demo so much I bought the program!
[] FOREST_F is Forest Fire by M.D. Davis. Try to stop out, douse out,
or whatever the forest fires that are raging through your precious
wilderness. Using your mind, your mouse and all your firefighting
skills you can succeed. Color.
[] GROOMY is a wonderful mono only game from Germany. Mouse
controlled, you try to move your mouse pointer around the board
collecting little somethings. The only trouble is that there are walls
blocking you from getting those items. A bouncing brick breaker comes
to your rescue, if you can guide it to the blocks you want broken.
It's easy enough to figure out how to do that. You play against the
clock and for points. This is one of those "I'll-try-it-once-more-
'cause-I-know-I-can-do-better" games. Docs are in German, but you
really don't need them.
[] HTSHOT18 is HotShot Checkers v.1.8 by Don Middleton. This is a very
good implementation of the game of Checkers. 5 skill levels for the
computer are available along with the ability to pause games and to
edit the board. Play you and your ST. Well done and fun to play.
[] JEPARDY3 is the final version of Jeopardy by Dave Burns. This
public domain program faithfully reproduces the TV game show of the
same name (except it's better!). It now includes a dispute key so you
never get penalized for an answer which is correct, but misspelled.
Four new games to play are included. This is the ultimate game for
Jeopardy lovers. Color only. Online help included.
[] KLATRIX is a Columns type clone create by Mats Hogberg of Sweden
using STOS. In this game groups of three colored tiles fall from the
top of the screen. By pressing the fire button on your joystick you
rotate the tiles so that you end up with the color order you wish, top
to bottom (you hope). By aligning three of the same color, in any
direction, you cause them to vanish (which is the goal!) This is well
done. Color only. SHAREWARE. Docs in Swedish (but they aren't
necessary). I like this game a lot.
[] LASRSPIR is the famous "Laser Spirography" Simulator by Chris
Gadda. Watch as a Helium-Neon Laser beam is shot into three spinning
mirrors and is then projected onto your screen. SHAREWARE. Docs
included. Color only.
[] LAZERBLL is Laser Ball by Mike and Ryan Slemko. I really like this
game. It's a variation of Breakout, but with a new twist. You have to
catch the laser beam (visible as a glowing line, either moving slowly
[or so the authors say!] or moving rapidly). You bounce your beam back
with two mirrors, one at the top of the screen, the other at the
bottom. Yes, that's right! You have to reflect the beam twice! Once
at the bottom of the screen and again at the top. No rest for you if
you play this game! To make it more difficult there just happen to be
various mirrors and other obstacles in the middle of the playing field
that cause your beam to shoot
off in another direction. Color only.
Docs included in program.
[] MAXTOWER is wonderful game. You begin with three towers and a
number of differing sized rings on one of the towers. Your task is to
move those rings to another tower, always keeping the larger rings
under the smaller. Color or mono. Needs GFABASRO.PRG to run.
[] MEGAROID is an EXCELLENT adaptation of an "Asteroids" type game.
Using the keyboard you blast away at huge asteroids that come your
way. You have to watch out for the alien ships, too! Lots of fun.
Color.
[] NOVA is an excellent shoot-'em-up arcade game by Arunan
Thaya-Paran. Blast everything that moves. Don't look at the stunning
graphics too much or you will be distracted and destroyed! Color.
Joystick or keyboard controlled.
[] OTRPLACE is OTHER PLACE v.1.2 by Jonathan Corey using GFA BASIC
v3.5E (dated April 20, 1992). Fly your spaceship through a maze of
caverns, seeking the jewels from the central cavern. Avoid the
Guardians, walls, and the growing "Central Objects." Keyboard and
mouse controlled. This is another good game. It combines both thought
and quickness in order to achieve your goal. Color or mono. Docs
included. This just fixes one bug from v.1.1. If you have that version
and it works, don't get this!
[] PLUTOS is a one level fully playable demo of the game Plutos. I
really like this "oldie" game, so much that I went out and bought the
company (opps, the game). One or two players fly their spaceships in
this vertical scroll game. Shoot all the aliens that come your way
(and they do come, a lot of them and fast!). Color only.
[] PRFMATCH is Perfect Match, the Shareware edition by Mark Nelson.
Perfect Match was originally distributed by Michtron, but not the
author has improved it and released it as SHAREWARE. This is an
educational/ fun Concentration type program in which questions and
their answers are mixed behind 8, 16 or 24 panels. You try to match
them up. I really like how they are displayed (very small in the
panels and then popping up in a readable form on the side.) This is a
very well done program. Comes with several game files. Registration
brings you a program to make your own files and more. Get this one!
[] REFLEX is a program that tests your reflexes (at least your mouse
clicking ones). You are given five tests and your reflex time is
determined by their average (My best was .215 seconds). The only
problem with this program is that you keep trying to better your last
score! Color only. Docs within program.
[] RIPCORD is a fun game. An airplane drops you out and you fall until
you open your parachute (you keep falling if you don't open it -
splat!). The object is to land on target. A simple, but quite
challenging game. I like it. Color and TOS 1.0 only.
[] ROBIN is a wonderful program for children! Non-Violent! Control the
mother Robin as she eats flies and gathers her children from various
nests. She must avoid hazards such as candleflames and spiders. The
game was designed by Juergen Reichen-wallner, and the graphics are
absolutely outstanding! Highly recommended for ages 3 and up. Color
only. Docs included.
[] ROBUGS13 is Robugs v.1.3 by Brad Heide (Dated March 14, 1992).
Robugs is a fascinating game where you design and build miniature
robots out of simple logic components. The robugs (i.e., robots)
interact on a 2 dimensional playfield which you the player also design
(include all sorts of great functionalities!). There is no score or
goal to this game. The purpose is to have fun designing and watching
your own robug worlds live, die and change. In addition, you can learn
a little about simple binary logic. GEM based. Color or mono. Docs
included. ST/STe/TT compatible.
[] ROCKFALL is Rockfall by Jason Brasier with Philip and James Brown
using the Devpac 2 assembler. Rockfall is a game based on the classics
Boulderdash and the Repton series. Collect all the diamonds without
having the boulders crash down on you or trap you. Watch out for the
monsters and the pulsators. Lead them into traps or crush them with
falling boulders. Some of the diamonds are hidden away. Find them ALL
or you will be stuck on that level FOREVER (or at least until the game
timer runs out!). Five lives per game, 48 levels (all are possible to
complete!). Color only. Docs included. Joystick controlled. Well done.
[] SENSORI by Michael Fordermair, Alex Metz and Eric Thoner of Magic
Soft. This program is a fancy version of Super Simon where you hear a
tone and see a colored panel flash. The object of this game is to
remember the order the tones and flashes occur and repeat them back.
Color only.
[] SEX might have been programmed by someone who thinks that sex is a
FRUSTRATING thing! Or so I suspect it since this little joke-on-you is
very frustrating. It doesn't bomb your system, so don't worry. It
just communicates an inappropriate message and fools around with you.
Color or mono.
[] SHERLOCK is a color or mono game in which you are Sherlock Holmes,
the famous sleuth. You are asked to solve a murder case that happened
in the house you will see laid out on the screen. Ask all people where
they have been at different times, on what time they've seen the
murdered one at last, etc. Can you solve this mystery? There are over
270 different mysteries in this game! By Rudolf Tiemann.
[] STARBATL is the first game on the ST that I played. It's a fast
paced, keyboard or joystick controlled "shoot-'em-up" game. Different
screens of dastardly aliens drop bombs on you while you shoot at them.
You try to avoid their bombs, and they dash around the screen avoiding
your shots (but they move in predictable ways!). Color.
[] TAKETWO is a very interesting game by Marco Feikert (dated April
1990). You are presented with a board much like Mahjong (the Chinese
tile game, see the DRACHEN2 and DRACHNM2 in this listing). In this
game in order to remove the tiles they must be touching or able to be
connected by a line which bends once or not at all. Color only. This
is another game that you say, "I'll try it once more..." Color only.
Limited docs in game.
[] THNKWORK is a mind stretching, stimulating game. You are a little
person pushing balls around a maze towards a storage area. Don't push
them against a wall where you can't move them again! Excellent
graphics, keyboard or joystick controlled. If you have seen Chips
Challenge, this game is somewhat like that (a simplified version).
AKS, found in our catalog, is a mono game based on similar principles
(though an entirely different game). Color only. Recommended.
[] WHEELV2 is a series of programs (shareware) that allow you to
create and edit puzzles, and play an adaptation of the popular game of
Wheel of Fortune. This is a well written adaptation. Lots of puzzles
included. Color monitor required.
[] XENON_II is an excellent, playable demo of the game Xenon 2,
Megablast, by the Bitmat Brothers. "Fly" your submarine through an
alien sea, blasting away at the sea creatures who are, in turn, trying
to wipe you out. Excellent scrolling graphics, joystick control, and a
two player option. Much like Blood Money, but faster paced with better
graphics (but I like them BOTH). Color only.
[] 3_YAHOO is Triple Yahoo v.1.0 by Stuart Denman (dated March 20,
1994). Triple Yahoo is an excellent game! The docs say it is "a highly
addictive multi-player GEM Triple Yahtzee game for Atari ST/STE/TT and
Falcon Computers." I would tend to agree! It supports digitized DMA
Sound (over 130K of sound files included), 3D buttons, SPEEDO/GDOS
fonts, and colored icons if available. Works in ALL resolutions and
all color modes including graphics cards. It also runs under MultiTOS
and Geneva. There are a _multitude_ of features available in this
game. The documentation is superb (I wish more authors would do even
half as well). Recommended! Shareware.
[] ABOMB is Abombinaball, a fast paced and infuriating puzzle game by
Martin Brownlow. The game has no plot, which is good, but it consists
of fifty levels of brainbending puzzles. Each level is made up of a
series of tiles, which more often than not make up a crude picture.
Most of these tiles will disappear when you jump off of them. On some
tiles there are bombs, and the aim of each level is to defuse all the
bombs by landing on them. The only problem is you can only defuse a
bomb while it is "counting down", and only one bomb can count down at
a time. In short, you have to collect the bombs in the right order and
before its timer runs out. Things get a little hectic! One nice thing
is that every fifth level you are given a password so you don't have
to start all the way back at the beginning. If you like the game music
you can save it to disk in .MOD format (what a great idea!). Color
only. Joystick controlled. Docs included.
[] ACCGAMES is the Desktop Entertainment Pack - Volume 1 by G.A.
Szekely. It contains three .ACCs (or rename as .PRG) for the ST--TT
computer. Each game was designed to appeal to children between 5 and
13 years of age (but I like them, too!) They are: Puzzle Slide where
the player tries to put fifteen sliding tiles in alphabetical order
(single person), Tic Tac Toe, and a variation of the board game
Othello called Flip Flop (TTT and FF are two player games, with the
option of having the computer be one or both players). Color or mono.
Docs included. Shareware.
[] BATSUB from Batsoftware is a multi-level SeaFox clone with sound
(dated 1993). I like this game because it involves some brainwork as
well as quick reflexes. Move your submarine throughout the sea using
either your joystick or keyboard. Fire torpedoes to sink the moving
ships (of various sizes) on the surface. The smaller the ships the
bigger the points. Also the lower you are in the sea the higher your
score. Of course, you must avoid the fish _and_ the depthcharges!
Color only. Online docs. STE--TT compatible (at least).
[] CALLFIX is v.1.00 of a "get this one!" program by Tom Nolan (dated
July 29, 1992). I say that because CallFix allows some old software to
run under newer versions of TOS (2.0x and above). If you get a crash
when you run an old program that used to work, and you have a new TOS,
CallFix may be for you. Just run it from the desktop or from your AUTO
folder and then run your errant program. It just might work again! In
old versions of GEMDOS, some registers were preserved across calls.
Some programmers relied on this, even though Atari said not to. Now
things have changed, and these programs crash. CallFix preserves
registers d0-d2/a0-a2 on the stack. Color or mono. Not TT compatible.
Docs included.
[] COPNROB2 is the complete Cops and Robbers Too (i.e., "Cops, and
Robbers, as well") by Kevin L. Scott distributed by PAC (Programs from
Atari Consumers). This is a two player game (there aren't enough of
those out there - and this is a good one!). In this game you and your
opponent are both trying to get the upper hand. As the robber you must
find and rob five banks in the city. As the cop, you must patrol your
city looking for the robber. The police officer has his/her radio and
radar to help locate the robber, but robbers have resources as well
(like a souped up car that is faster than the police vehicle)! The
city is divided up into 32 city blocks consisting of 8 across and 4
down. A complete city is provided for you to play with. A built-in
editor is included which allows you to modify or create your own
cities. Color only. Two joysticks required. Docs included. ST--Falcon
compatible (but TT and Falcon owners may find the game playing too
fast - use one of the programs designed to slow down games such as
NEWSPED2 or SLOWDOWN. At least one meg of RAM required. I had this
game when it was commercially distributed, but now it's inexpensive
shareware (only $5!). My son and I enjoy playing it together, and I
recommend it to you.
[] CUDLEE is Cud Lee's Quest v.1.0 by Robert Dytmire (dated Feb.,
1993). This game is basically a platform game aimed at the younger
generation. Use the joystick to move our hero, Mr. Cudd Lee, through
four different worlds (of 25 screens each). You move, jump, fight, and
explore your worlds, trying to reach the exit and move on. By
completing the game you save the poor lit'l elves (they need your
help!). But wait! This game is more than sheer entertainment. It has
an educational portion as well. The game can be configured to ask you
questions each time you open a door or move from one world to another.
It keeps track of your answers, too, and will return again and again
to those questions with which you have difficulty. You can use the
simple addition/subtraction questions that are included or create your
own questions on any topic you wish (R.D. uses it to keep up to speed
on his Calculus!). The game also has an Adult Mode, which increases
the difficulty significantly. Color only. Docs included. SHAREWARE
(and one which is going to cost me some money <sigh>). ST--STE
Compatible (at least). 512K RAM or more.
[] DUNGEONZ by Ben Clark is a color only Arcade & Strategy game. The
aim of this game is simply to guide Bertie the bouncing bomb around
the Dungeons of Zorkrath. On his way he must collect tele-gems to open
various portals. Only after each level is clear of gems will the
portal to the next floor open. For each level there is a strict time
limit so watch the clock carefully (remember, stop-watches can be a
great help). If, however, time is running out it is possible to drop
dynamite. In this way Bertie can blast his way through the maze,
always remembering to stand well back! When all the gems are absorbed
Bertie will begin to glow, it is at this point you should head for the
exit. If you don't make it Bertie will explode and you will lose a
precious life (oh no!). You only begin with three so be careful! Good
graphics. It does help to read the docs! I like this game!
[] ENTOMBED by Nick Concannon (dated 1991) is a very interesting
maze/dungeon type game. It begins by presenting you with a choice,
"Select the Tomb you Want to Die In." "Some choice," you say. Me too!
Despite that I have really enjoyed playing this game. It's one of
those "I'll try it just one more time" games that I like. You, as an
small Egyptian looking man walk through the tomb of your choice
picking up various objects that will slow your demise. I don't know if
you can ever get out once you begin (I haven't gotten that far -
yet!), but I suspect that you can, even though the beginning monolog
doesn't seem to indicate that! Low rez color only. TOS 1.0(512K) to
STe compatible (maybe TT?). Now including a doc file from the author.
[] FIT_ACC is a TERRIBLE puzzle .ACC!! The name of the .ACC file is
HAVEAFIT.ACC and it's aptly named! It gives me FITS by providing me
with twelve blocks representing the twelve possible shapes you can
make with five square blocks (using all of them each time). Then, by
using your mouse you try to place these blocks in a 5 by 12 square
grid, not leaving any space free. It's impossible to do (I'VE never
done it!) and yet... there are 2339 different ways of positioning
those blocks so that they fit in that rectangle (I don't think I am
exaggerating here - I remember reading an article in "Scientific
American" on the topic and in a book by Arthur C. Clarke, "Imperian
Earth"). ST--TT compatible. ST low, medium or high, but not any TT
resolutions. Don't try this unless you have LOTS of time available.
Excuse me while I try it again!...
[] GNCIPHER is GNCIPHER - CHALLENGES FROM THE CRYPTO by The Good News
Software Co. It is a phrase decoding game which is mouse driven and
comes with a large library of pre-entered phrases called CIPHER
CHALLENGES (500 of them!). This is an excellent and challenging game.
You have to decide, based on letter frequency and position, which
letters represent the correct letters in the uncoded phrase (sort of
like "Wheel of Fortune" with clues--for example FIID might represent
TOOL - of course you could only find that out from a larger sample
which is why phrases are used instead of words). You will find that
some of CIPHER CHALLENGES vary from the easy to the extremely
difficult. You can easily create your own phrase dictionaries for
inclusion in GNCIPHER. Color or mono. Docs included. The info section
of this program includes a concise and clear presentation of just what
it means to be a Christian, and how to become one. TOS 1.0--1.62
compatible (at least). SHAREWARE (with 100% of the Shareware fee going
to registered charities!).
[] GRAV2 is GRAV 2, an Excellent game by Martin Brownlow (dated July
27, 1992. Joystick or keyboard controlled. Grav is a "rotate and
thrust" game, similar in concept to Thrust and Oids. Choose between
four different worlds to "save" with multiple levels within each
world. Allocate your resources among various weapon systems. Color
only. Excellent graphics and sound. Joystick and keyboard controlled.
I really like this one. Docs (along with a "mission briefing" online).
SHAREWARE.
[] HURRY_V1 is Hurry! v.1.0 by J. Peach (dated Aug. 8, 1991). This is
an excellent, easily playable game (though _very_ hard to win!). The
object is to place 36 shapes into their slots within a certain amount
of time (three levels of difficulty allowed). If you don't get it done
in time, "BOOM!" ST compatible (STE compatible with STOSFX30, see
below). Color only. Docs included. This is another of those games
about which you say, "I'll try it one more time!" SHAREWARE.
[] ISOLA3 is ISOLA v.3.32, an excellent strategy game by Thierry
Grellier. I like this game. You are presented with a 6x8 grid on
which you and your opponent (either the computer or another human).
The goal of the game is to place blocks in your opponent's path so
that he or she cannot move (to isolate them). Of course, they're doing
the same thing to you! I found the computer quite smart in this game
(with four levels of game play), giving me a "run for my money" (in
other words I lost sometimes!).
One funny thing is that when you win the computer says you're a lucky
stiff (or words to that effect) and that it just let you win to be
nice, but when it wins it says "Honor to the winner. Shame to the
loser." Geesh! Sour grapes in a game! You can even save and load your
games from disk (to replay them to find out how you could have done
better). Mouse and keyboard controlled. This file now includes 1st
Guide, an .ACC hypertext help system (and more) by Guido Vollbeding
for you to use with the English and French documentation (with IMG
files detailing program features, too). I've heard about 1st Guide,
but never have seen it before now. Unfortunately, even though the
author of Isola mentions the docs for 1st Guide as being included,
someone has removed them from this archive. I'll have to keep hunting
for it. In any case, this file is worth getting both for the game and
for the 1st Guide .ACC! Online help (with suggested moves if you ask
for them). ST--Falcon and Geneva compatible. Color or mono.
Uncompresses to 347K.
[] MOONLORD is Moonlord ST by Clayton Walnum (the author of C-Manship
Complete and numerous other books for the ST). This is one excellent
game that is tough to beat (I haven't succeeded yet!). Travel about
the galaxy, destroying the enemy fleets as you find them. This is not
an arcade action game, rather its appeal is in the strategy needed to
win. Find the 25 alien fleets hidden in the 144 galactic sectors,
husband your energy levels and equipment, and make needed trips to the
two friendly starbases (you have to find them first!). Excellent
graphics (by Maurice Molyneaux) and mouse controlled. I like this one.
The SHAREWARE payment is going out! Color only. St/STe/ and I'd expect
everything else compatible. Over 190K uncompressed. Docs and an
interesting story line included.
[] MYSTERY is Mystery Mania by Steven M. Low. This game generates up
to 32,001 murder mysteries for you to solve. There are five levels of
difficulty (from the sort of easy to the kind that would keep Sherlock
Holmes hopping!). You choose which mystery number to solve each time.
The option to print out a hard copy of the mystery is present. Online
docs. Not STe compatible. Color only.
[] NEWSPED2 is NewSpeed II (dated Sept. 25, 1994) by Bruce Noonan, the
author of ST Writer, the freeware Word Processor and its commercial
successor, MultiWriter (and numerous other programs as well). NewSpeed
II is a Terminate-Stay Resident (TSR) program which can be either run
from an AUTO folder or from the desktop. It will allow you to slow
down your computer's speed so that you can run your games at a pace
comfortable for you. This is especially good for those games that run
too fast on an accelerated machine. ST--Falcon compatible (but not
MultiTOS compatible). Assembly source code included. Assembled with
Mad Mac. Docs included.
[] OZONE by Nick Harper is an excellent game in which you play this
cute little guy with big sneakers. Guide your alter-ego throughout the
stone mansion, gathering all the objects you find (well, you don't
gather the monsters - you avoid them) and advance through the various
levels. Sometimes you need to turn a switch at the start of a level to
effect something you need at the end of the level to exit. It's back
to the beginning if you forget! Despite what the online description
says, the game does have sound (read the docs). Colorful, and easily
controlled via joystick. Play from within a folder named OZONE in the
root directory of Drive A. TOS 1.0--1.62 compatible (at least). I like
this game, and so do my kids. Shareware. I suspect that this will work
with 1/2 meg of RAM, but I haven't checked it out.
[] OUTOFTHS is the full version of "Out Of This Word" by Vince
Valenti of PAC (Programs from Atari Consumers). This is an excellent
typing tutor/fun game. Playing this game places you in a ship with
which you must defend yourself. Defend yourself from what? From those
maniacal monster letters (and punctuation marks) which are advancing
towards your ship. This game has three different levels of challenge.
As you type a letter a miles-thick column of energy so raw, so stark,
so incomprehensibly violent rages out and utterly destroys those
letters (wups, I've been reading too much of E.E. "Doc" Smith's
"Lensman" series! I recommend you check out the Lensman series - it's
fun! Unfortunately you can only find copies of the books in used
bookstores or in your library - and no - I won't sell you mine!).
If you don't get the falling letter typed in time there are shields
which can protect you to a limited extent, but don't count on them for
long! I thought this was an excellent tutoring program, and I
recommend it to you. It's important for kids (and grown-ups, too) to
know how to type today. This program can make it a little bit easier.
ST--Falcon compatible. Only 512K of RAM required. Color only.
Suggested for ages 12 and up (though my nine year-old likes it). This
formerly commercially distributed program is now inexpensive Shareware
(only $5!).
[] PEARL_93 is the 10 level "demo" of Super Dark Pearl by Dave Munsie and
Majic Soft. This excellent program is a greatly expanded version of
Dark Pearl which was uploaded last year (see DARKPERL). This game
requires you to guide your bouncing ball (as seen from above) over a
grid of squares and collect various objects (jewels, et. al.) and
points along the way (there are 70 screens for you to cover in all!).
Watch out if you miss that landing - it's a LONG way down! If you
don't collect all of the jewels you get sent back to the beginning of
the level to try again. Joystick controlled. This runs and exits
nicely from a hard drive or floppy. Color only. Requires at least one
meg of RAM. TOS 1.0--1.62 compatible (at least). Docs (and online
help) included. This game was written in GFA Basic 3.5e with the
M.A.G.E. (Magic Arcade Game Machine) (formerly the GP_GRAPHICS ENGINE)
also by Dave Munsie. The upload docs say to disable screen
accelerators, but I haven't had any trouble with Warp 9 and this
program (or at least none that I see). Recommended. The commercial
version of this game (how could it get better?), and nine other arcade
hits are coming soon!
[] PLAYTHNG by Michael Ferrara is a game that tests your mouse
clicking abilities to the limit! You score by pointing and clicking
your mouse on a highlighted Atari Fuji emblem. The only thing that
keeps me from getting an awesome score it that the highlighting keeps
jumping around! STe compatible (at least). 11K.
[] PMJ_ENG2 is Premium Mah Jongg II (the English version) by Jens
Schulz & Thomas Grube (dated Oct. 10, 1993). Mah Jongg is an old
chinese board game in which you seek to remove pairs of tiles from a
set of 144 tiles stacked in a five level pyramid. The game itself
might be old, but Premium Mah Jongg II is anything but old. It is full
of features, has excellent game play and graphics, and is
unfortunately quite addictive! It will run in all ST and TT res, and
up to 256 colors on Falcons and graphic cards. I can't begin to list
all the features (but I'll try anyway): First of all, there are
excellent English Docs which explain all the rules of Mah Jongg II and
all the features of the game. Next, the program will tell you all the
free tiles available if you wish (only in the solitaire,
non-tournament mode). It will even check, in real-time if you have
reached a dead end in your play (if it doesn't tell you you're
finished then there is a matching tile SOMEWHERE!). It will repeat
your game for you and allow you to replay your game from any point. If
you don't like the color of the tiles or background you can change
them!
This game has a solitaire practice mode, a tournament mode, and a
"happening" mode. The happening mode is where the game produces
multiple copies of the exact same set of games for as many players as
desired. These players then each play the games and the times are
compared. The fastest player wins (and as a prize gets taken out to
dinner by the other players!). This game is shareware, but you only
need to pay if you get so good that you can beat the highest tourney
level (or participate in a "happening"). Recommended. Floppy or hard
drive installable. On a personal note I was surprised to see my name
listed in the docs! Joseph M. Turner (ATARIPOWER7 on Delphi) and I
were thanked for the help we've give Jens (Joseph has done much more
than me!). Also mentioned was the fact that Mah Jongg II cannot be
distributed by any Commercial PD company except Suzy B's Software.
707K uncompressed.
[] VALENCY is Only! Valency by Jens Schulz (dated Dec. 24, 1994). I
especially like Only! Valency (O!V) because it reminds me of my
chemistry background. But as the opening screen of this game says,
"You will love and curse this game at the same time." It sure is a
challenge! You don't have to be a chemist to play O!V, all you need is
quick reflexes, both mental and physical. O!V is a boardgame which
presents you with 300 levels of molecules which you need to build
using the atoms at hand. Unfortunately, molecules aren't nice 2
dimensional beings. They are 3D and so are the O!V molecules. As you
build your molecules to match the pattern goal you need to rotate your
molecule to bring the next link into view. This gets complicated...and
fun! Of course, the above would just be too easy, so Jens has added
all sorts of traps and dropouts to slow you down. There are solitaire
(without time limits) and several Tournament modes (with decreasing
time limits) options. This excellent game will play on any ST--Falcon
from ST Low res through VGA 640*480 16/256 colors (including CrazyDots
and Matrix graphic cards). Keyboard or mouse controlled. Shareware.
English and German versions included (and their respective docs). As
with anything by Jens I recommend this.
[] PSY_PIG2 is Pyscho Pig II from AnimalSoft. This is an excellent
platform-style game. It's quite large, ending up on two disks. You
play the role of Pyscho Pig, the SuperPig who has taken on the task on
the task of rescuing a clutch of baby crocodile from an evil bird who
wants to turn them into purses! Battle across four different
landscapes gathering everything you need to save the day. Jump, float,
fly, bounce from platform to platform, climb hills, burrow through the
ground - in short everything you see on any "Super NES" machine is
right here. Shareware, and well worth it. Color only. A STOS game (you
will need STOSFX30 in the NEWGAMES category to make it compatible with
TOS 1.62 and up).
[] PUNT_II is a fun game. It's really quite easy to play (at first!).
All you have to do is kick all the green changlings into the cages on
each level. The only problem is that they keep moving and dropping off
of the levels to which you kick them. Docs in text and in the game.
Color only. Joystick controlled. ST--Falcon compatible.
[] PURLOG11 is Pure Logic v.1.1 by A. Martin (dated March 1992). Have
you ever wondered what a Vulcan like Mr. Spock on Star Trek would do
in his Leisure Time?!? He (or she) might play Pure Logic. This Logic
puzzle game is based on Boolean Logic and requires you to quickly
solve eight logic expressions by deciding what values a set of
variables takes depending on the expressions given. There are eight
levels of play. This is one excellent game that works your brain! Read
the excellent docs for the information you need to play the game. Play
with up to eight players or just by yourself. Color only. STOS (TOS
1.0--1.62).
[] RAYOID by Raymond Hill (dated Nov.20, 1992) is a SHAREWARE program
offering three different games in one. As soon as you double-click on
this program you find yourself in outer space, piloting a singleship
through a crowded asteroid belt. This program is a remake (and more)
of the program "Asteroids." Your job (in RAYOID I) is to avoid the
asteroids while blasting them into smaller pieces. Not to make things
complicated but you also need to defend yourself against the marauding
aliens in their flying saucers. One part I especially like about this
version is that your singleship has a brake. You can stop on a dime
(wonderful!).
RAYOID II pits you against another human opponent in a fight where
victory belongs to the most skillful of the two players linked
together either by modem or MIDI (you can even pass messages back and
forth). The goal is simple, destroy your opponent before he destroys
you! Blast him down! Watch out for those flying asteroids!
RAYOID III is a strategy and action game for two players linked
together by modem or MIDI. The object of the game is to conquer and
take control of a space zone before your opponent. To do that, you
must explore, colonize, attack enemy bases and defend yourself against
your opponent's attacks. Keyboard controlled.
RAYOID will run on any ST/STe/TT with a color monitor (RAYOID I will
run with 512 K of RAM, the others need at least 1 meg of RAM). On the
STe and TT it will make use of DMA sound. It can be played via modem
(12k or 24k baud) or using MIDI cables. All the sound samples are at
6300 KHz and the animation is refreshed at 60 images per second. This
program is in both English and French. I am amazed that the author was
able to fit all of this into one program. Excellent and recommended.
I liked it so much that I registered it! This game appears in the Suzy
B's Software catalog by permission of the author.
[] REACTION is Chain Reaction by Stephen Taylor and Colin Whitehead.
The object of Chain Reaction is to be the only person left with atoms
on the board at the end of the game. This game is for two to six
players (you can play it by yourself and your ST). Try to capture
adjoining grid cells by building up critical mass levels of atoms.
Arrange them so they spread and blow your opponents strategies away!
You can defend yourself by setting up blocking cells. This is another
thinking game. Color only. SHAREWARE. Docs included (you get more
extensive docs when you register).
[] ROB is "Robert is in a fire factory" v.1.00 by Harald Siegmund
(dated 1991). This is a game in which you are a firefighter in a
burning factory. Move up and down the levels dousing the fires. Search
through the building for the squares that provide you with a shield
against the fire. Numerous levels included with the ability to create
even more. Color only. German docs included (you don't need them).
ST/STe but not TT compatible.
[] ROBOTFIX is RobotFix by Tom Nolan (v.1.00 dated July 29, 1992). It
is a program that will allow you to play the excellent PD game ROBOTZ
under newer versions of TOS. Just run it from the same directory as
ROBOTZ and you're off! Details as to why this happens and what the fix
is (as well as some handy cheats for ROBOTZ) are included in the doc
file.
[] ROBOTZ is a fast-paced game that places you on the deep space
exploration vessel Darwin 8. Your ship has been invaded by hostile
alien robots. You are the last surviving crew member and you must deal
with his disaster! The game view is from above. Move about the rooms
in the ship destroying your foes. It's not just "blast away" though.
This game requires thought to win. I like it! Joystick controlled.
Color only. Docs included.
[] ROBRPARS is Robot Repairs, by Kevin and Larry Scott. This is a two
player game (there aren't enough of those out there - and this is a
good one!). You and your opponent are fellow employees of Robot
Repairs, Inc.. A valuable experimental robot has been disabled by a
virus. Your job is to be miniaturized and search out and destroy these
virus particles. You have to watch you energy level, energy surges,
mutated virus particles, and much more. Oh yes, you and your co-worker
don't get along and so you try to mess each other up. Remember to
charge up at the battery! This game is a lot of fun. Color only.
Joysticks required. On-screen docs included.
[] RUNLOW13 is Run Low v.1.3 (dated July 22, 1993) by Anthony Watson
of Mountain Software (the author of The Recipe Box and other fine
programs). Run Low lets you run most of your low resolution programs
directly from the medium resolution desktop! Run Low saves your
current desktop colors, switches to low rez, and runs your program.
This program provides you with up to five different ways of running
your low rez programs, depending on your preferences. I especially
like the feature of Run Low that will allow you to click on a file
(say a GIF file), and will run the program (in this case the GIF
viewer) that uses that file in low resolution. When you leave your
program, Run Low switches back to medium and restores your desktop
colors. ST--Mega STe compatible (at least). Docs included.
[] SHOCKER2 by M. Hintzen and J. Verwohlt is an EXCELLENT game! I
recommend it to you. First of all it allows two players to play with
each other or against each other as they attempt to solve the puzzles
in 100 different levels (via MIDI or Modem). Of course, one player can
play by him/herself. The first ten levels are free, but after that you
need to register to get the clues you need to continue. Mouse
controlled, this ST--Falcon compatible game is easy to use and a lot
of fun. I warn you, it's one of those "I'll try it one more time" type
games. You roll your ball about the screen negotiating various mazes,
picking up a variety of objects, and avoiding all the bad-guys. If you
liked OXYD, then you will like this game. German or English (you
choose). Mono only. Online help and documentation included. You need
to uncompress this to a hard drive or 800K floppy (788K uncompressed).
[] SLEUTH is Sleuth by Gary Neal. This "whodunnit" mystery pits you,
the famous detective, against a houseful of guests, one of whom killed
Sir Harry Grimley. Can you solve the mystery? Only time will tell!
Over 300 different endings! Color only. Docs included. This must be
run from a floppy from within a folder SLEUTH.
[] SOSHANG is SOS HangMan v.2.02 by John R. Duckworth, the well known
author and programmer (dated Aug 21, 1993). This is an .ACC version of
this well-known game will now run on any ST--Falcon. Boot up with this
.ACC (or use MultiDesk Deluxe, Geneva, DC Stuffer, or Chameleon to
load and unload at will, but you must keep the data file in your
bootup drive). Guess the letters of the word until you die or get the
word right! There are seven categories of puzzles (with over 400
puzzles included): Cinema, Personalities, Literature, Television,
Music, Toons, and Arcade. Thanks for a nice diversion John (and I like
your taste in music, too). Color or mono. Docs included.
[] STBALL16 is v.1.6 of STarBall by Dave Oldcorn. This is perhaps the
best pinball game I have ever seen! I recommend it to you highly. The
play area is three screens high (with three sets of flippers), and
there's a lot of action, surprize bonuses, and much more! The scene is
in outer space and as you play the pinball game you are forming a
starfighter (by hitting all the objects about, gaining points, and in
general, surviving!). The controls really work (meaning you can
control the direction of the ball by skillful use of the paddles). The
graphics and sound are excellent. If you have a Falcon, the game is
even better, as it will allow you to play .MOD files in the background
and display 50 frames per sec for ultra smooth operation (you can also
get the 50 fps with an accelerated ST - great!). There are three
levels of play with three amazing bonus levels and one "amazing secret
barking mad bonus screen." This version fixes the bug when running
from a Hard drive (on some machines), you can save your scores, and
more. ST (even a 512K machine)--Falcon compatible. Docs included. Get
this! Shareware. An excellent sound file for this game for STE, TT,
and Falcon users may be found in STARBLFX.
[] STFBALLS is STF Balls, by Simon Carter with Electralyte Software,
Ltd. (the programmers of Druid, Cloud Kingdoms, and Warlock). This
shareware game (dated 1992) gives you a simple, and yet difficult
task. You must guide one (or more balls) around the numerous obstacles
on the top-view screen, picking up all of the orange pods scattered
about (in hard to reach places!), and then allowing just one of the
balls to get to an exit. You must use "mirrors" to reflect the balls
just were you want them to go. Excellent graphics with appropriate
sounds (nothing overly fancy). Color only. Docs included. Shareware.
Programmed using STOS and compatible with TOS 1.0--1.62 (at least).
This is one of those games about which you say, "I'll try it one more
time!
[] STONDLX2 is a great game by John Hinkey! This newer version now
works with the STe! It was one of my early favorite games! You travel
around the board trying to eat all the cabbages while avoiding getting
trapped or smashed by falling boulders. A one or two player maze game
and a race against time. Docs included.
[] STOSFX30 is STOS FIXER v.3.0 by Robert Quezada (dated May 10,
1994). This program will take your STOS programs, Run-time or
compiled, and allow you to update them for any TOS release (almost -
see below). It's a very handy thing to have when you have a nice STOS
program that won't run on your TOS! In order to update programs to run
on TOS's higher than 1.62 the original program must be at least
compatible with TOS 1.62 (this is due to other, unfixable, problems
with the pre-STE compatible STOS program). Once you update a program
for your TOS it will no longer work for lower TOS versions (you can
fix any program again for other TOS versions by running STOS Fix
again). Color or mono. The program must not be compressed for this to
work (so get the New De-pack v1.1 - NDP11 (in the UTILITYS category)
by Mike Watson to uncompress any packed programs). ST--Falcon MultiTOS
and Geneva compatible. Docs included.
[] TOWERS_1 is part one of two making up Towers v.1.4, a 3D one or two
player Dungeon Game from JV Enterprises. To use this excellent game
you will need to order TOWERS_2 as well. If you liked Dungeon Master
you'll like Towers. Choose from one of four characters and then travel
through the Tower/Dungeon gathering up the supplies you find on the
way, battling enemies who seek you out, and trying to find your way to
the end--and to survival. The graphics are nice, the controls (mouse
and/or keyboard) are easily used and controlled), and the sounds are
excellent (who is that tapping on that door?). Towers will only run on
a completely bare one meg system. Towers will run from a hard drive or
floppy (Double-Sided only). It allows you to save and load games, too.
Connect with another Atari computer using a null-modem or MIDI cable
for dual player action (on TOS 1.04 and above you need more than one
meg of RAM for dual player modes). People have asked, and JV
Enterprises has listened...and worked! You wanted to play Towers over
the modem, and now you can! If you have a Hayes AT command compatible,
14.4k Error Correction modem or better. Get ready to play Towers
(ver.1.4) over the phone. This feature does require a 2 meg machine
(actually 1.1meg) to play either the null-modem, MIDI, or modem games.
Towers 1.4 even includes a simple text routine so you can communicate
with your partner without two lines!! It also improves the game saving
by allowing you to use numbers in game descriptions. ST--Falcon
compatible. Detailed docs. Color only. Like OXYD (another excellent
game!), you can play several levels of Towers for free, but after that
to progress in the Tower you need to buy the manual for $15. Seems to
be a pretty good deal! You can register Towers through JV Enterprises
or through: Suzy B's Software; STeve's Software, and B&C Computers. In
the UK you can register it through Goodman International.
[] TOWERS_2 is is the second archive of Towers v.1.4, a 3D one or two
player Dungeon Game from JV Enterprises. To use this excellent game
you will need to order TOWERS_1 as well. For more information see the
description of TOWERS_1.
[] TWRPTCH4 is an archive which will allow you to patch any version of
Towers, the 3D One or Two player Dungeon Game from JV Enterprises to
version 1.4. Simply copy the files from this archive to your Towers
disk. People have asked, and JV Enterprises has listened...and worked!
You wanted to play Towers over the modem, and now you can! If you have
a Hayes AT command compatible, 14.4k Error Correction modem or better.
Get ready to play Towers (ver.1.4) over the phone. This feature does
require a 2 meg machine (actually 1.1meg) to play either the
null-modem, MIDI, or modem games. Towers 1.4 even includes a simple
text routine so you can communicate with your partner without two
lines!! It also improves the game saving by allowing you to use
numbers in game descriptions.
[] TREKPARO is a Star Trek parody combining elements from "Star Trek,
The Next Generation" and the original Star Trek. It comes down pretty
hard on The Next Generation. Fun reading.
[] UK_MATCH is Match Maker by Dave Cobbledick (dated October, 1992).
This color game is an excellent adaptation of Concentration. This
program not only provides you with excellent graphics and digitized
sounds, it gives you a challenge as well! You are given the task of
finding the matching pairs of symbols that lie hidden behind a grid of
squares. Finish one level and you are advanced to the next level
(with lots more squares to keep track of). There are six levels with
five "lives" in all (I've reached level three so far). Mouse
controlled. Very well done. I recommend it to you. Written in STOS,
and compatible with TOS 1.0--1.62. I recommend STOSFX30 (see above) by
Robert Quezada for all of you with higher TOS versions which will
easily adapt this program (and all other STOS programs) to your
version of TOS. SHAREWARE.
All of these files can be found on one or more of the following
on-line services: Delphi (MRBURKLEY), GEnie (M.BURKLEY1) The CodeHead
BBS (818) 980-6763), Toad Computers BBS (410-544-6999), and at Toad
Hall, now the official BBS of the Boston Computer Society
(617-567-8642) (as Michael R. Burkley).
Drop me a line!
Michael lives in Niagara Falls, NY. He is a former Polyurethane
Research Chemist and is presently the pastor of the Niagara
Presbyterian Church.
--==--==--==--==--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- --==--==-- Delphi Sign-Up Information --==--==-- --
-- --
-- To enroll as a Delphi subscriber, modem call 1-800-365-4636. Press --
-- [Return] until you see "Password:", then type IP26 [Return] --
-- --
-- Answer all of the questions, and you'll be cleared for Delphi --
-- access in a few days. If you have questions about Delphi services, --
-- give a voice call to Delphi Member Services at 1-800-544-4005. --
-- --
-- --==--==-- Delphi Sign-Up Information --==--==-- --
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--==--==--==--==--
||| "From a saved backup...."
||| By: Ron Whittam
/ | \ GEnie: EXPLORER.4
-----------------------------------------------------------------
In this column I hope to foster communication and support for 8-bit
and ST computer owners... presenting a positive and directive
approach. This will help to strengthen the users group base and
encourage the executive element.
If you have a question you would like me to answer, or a
topic you would like to see covered; send me an EMail!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Look Who's Doing It
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ever wonder what kind of help is available for Atari computer owners?
I have. I have also looked for help... and I found some. The
following list of people and companies is in no way a complete list of
those who support and help Atari computer users. However, if you are
looking for help, here are a few people who are willing to help you
with your Atari. They are Tomas Ensley, Gregory J. Kopchak, Anthony W.
Watson, Nathan Potechin, Rod McDonald, Walter Wilson, Roger F.
Burrows, John Hutchinson, and Melinda Turcsanyi. These nine people are
known to frequent the Atari ST area on GEnie, as well as other
services. They are easily accessable with Electronic Mail over the
Internet since GEnie is connected to the Internet.
//// Tomas Ensley
Tomas Ensley supports the Atari computer owner with Retail/Mail Order,
as a Consultant/Trainer, and General Help, Advice and Info. He works
for CodeHead Technoloties. But in addition to working for CodeHead
Technologies, he does installations, repairs, maintenance, trouble-
shooting and consulting in the Southern California area for owners of
Atari and other consumer electronics products.
Internet: muse@genie.geis.com
Phone: 818-798-5284
Fax: 818-798-5284
//// Gregory J. Kopchak
Greg works for It's All Relative and does all kinds of support for the
Atari platform. Developer/Programmer, Retail/Mail Order, Newletter,
General Help, Advice, and Info. There products and services include
CD rom support and software, Photo Show Pro - Kodak Photo CD for the
Falcon and STe, View_PCD - Kodak Photo CD desktop viewer, Audio CD
Master, SARA CD rom interface, Art For Kids - 'The World's LOUDEST
Paint Program', View II, It's All Relative Genealogy Software, All the
latest and greatest Atari specific CD discs from all over the world.
Internet address: greg@genie.geis.com
Voice Phone number: (314) 831-9482
Mailing Address: It's All Relative
2233 Keeven Lane
Florissant MO 63031 USA
//// Anthony W. Watson
Anthony W. Watson works for (or is) Mountain Software. He supports
the Atari computer owner with his innovative development/programming
skills. He has Commercial Products for sale. Mountain Reader II is a
QWK/Bluewave offline message reader. The Recipe Box is a Recipe
Database/Meal Management System. Anthony also has a host of Shareware
Products:
Easy Base - General purpose database
Easy Go - Easy to use program launcher.
Manualizer - Prints text files in booklet form
Movies at Night - Animated Screensaver system
Mountain View - General purpose text viewer
Learn My Numbers - Educational game for children
Pen Pal - Text Editor
Tuzzle - Sliding Tile puzzle game
Mission Software also supports the Atari computer owner with free
sotfware for their use. His copyrighted Freeware Products include:
BC Converter - File sorting utility for BB/ST
Clipset - Clipboard definition utility
DMA Sound - STE Digitized Sound Sample player
Fast Arc - Archiver shell utility
Mountain Time - Clock setting utility
Run Low - Run ST Low programs from ST Medium
SharpCon - Configuration Utility for Sharp JX-9500H
S-10 Converter - Sound sample translator for Roland S-10
Internet address: a.watson6@genie.geis.com
awatson@pacifier.com
GEnie Address: A.WATSON6
BBS Phone Number: Bear Cavern BBS (360) 573-2054
(Email to Anthony Watson)
Mailing Address: Mountain Software
6911 NE Livingston Road
Camas, Washington 98607 USA
//// Nathan Potechin
Nathan Potechin works hard at supporting Atari computer owners in the
selective nitch market of Desktop Publishing. He is well known for
supporting DMC's Calamus products. His list of products and services
include the following (for pricing, contact Nathan):
Calamus SL (NEW PROMO) Outline Art 3.0
Outline Art 3.0 Upgrade from 1.0 S/N The Calamus Font Editor
INVISION Elite Color Upgrade S/N INVISION Elite
Vector Graphic Module SpeedLine Autotrace Module
Color Separation Module PageTool
Blend Module Brush Module
Mount Module Bridge Module
Mask Module Gridplay Module
Toolbox/Clipboard Module Line Art Module
StarScreening Module Allcurve Program
Simple Pleasures EPS2CVG
Kodak Photo-CD Driver for Calamus SL
Focoltone Color Swatch Book
Focoltone Set of 16 Color Charts
Focoltone Color Specifier ChipBook
Vector Graphic Clip Art Library (800+ files)
DMC Font Catalog
and over 2,000 Original Typesetters Fonts for Calamus
USER to USER TIPS Volume 1
USER to USER TIPS Volume 2
USER to USER TIPS Volume 3
Phone: (905) 479-1880
Fax: (905) 479-1882
Compuserve: 76004,2246
Delphi/GEnie: DMCPUBLISH
Internet: dmcpublish@genie.geis.com
Address: DMC Publishing,
2800 John Street, Unit 10
Markham, Ontario
Canada L3R 0E2
//// Rod McDonald
Rod McDonald is the publisher of one of the best Atari magazines,
supporting 5,000 Atari computer subscribers with ST Informer. Rod has
been active with his Atari magazine since May of 1987, and will
continue to "Keep On Keepin' On"!
For those folks with a need to advertise, Rod offers a comprehensive
media kit with a lot of the how-to needed to successfully reach
readers in the Atari ST marketplace.
Call Rod at (503) 476-0071 if you desire pricing on subscriptions or
services offered by ST Informer Magazine, or software offered thru his
subsidiary, A&D Software.
ST Informer Magazine
909 NW Starlite Place
Grants Pass, OR 97526
Internet: st-informer@genie.geis.com
GEnie: ST-INFORMER
//// Walter Wilson
Walter Wilson is an Atari enthusiast. He says he "will be for _some_
time to come." He writes about our Atari world, from time to time. He
writes GEnie Notes for "Current Notes," and usually does the Atari
STRT LiveWire submissions, as well as software reviews. He does some
programming in GFA BASIC 3.5e, particularly in supporting utilities
for Fnordadel/STadel BBS's. He plans to soon to be using Personal
Pascal, as well. His current programs (all copyrighted freeware) are:
Accessory Swopper - double-click on accessories to dis/enable
accessories for the next reboot.
Desktop Dropper - double-click on different NEWDESK.INF files to
have them copied onto the root of your boot
drive, and then offer to reboot.
Fnordadel Shell, - complete user-friendly shell and shell config
program to run Fnordadel BBS and handle all
external events (such as nightly backups and
utility running).
ACCessoryz - Allows useage (via a BBS door) of desk
accessories for STadel/Fnordadel (and, possibly,
other BBS).
Append 3.0 - Rotates STadel/Fnordadel CALLLOG.SYS files daily
to allow daily caller info, yet still maintain
a complete CALLLOG historical archive.
Killer 1.6 - There used to be no easy way for a Sysop to
delete files from within Fnordadel/STadel.
Now there is (door program).
Gator Term 0.6 - Fledgling terminal program with capture file,
dial directory, external program access, etc.
Internet: st.wally@genie.geis.com
wally.w@genie.geis.com
//// Roger F. Burrows
Roger Burrows works for ANODYNE SOFTWARE. ANODYNE SOFTWARE is a
developer of Atari software. They currently offer ExtenDOS & ExtenDOS
Pro, which provide CD-ROM access for all Atari systems.
Internet address: r.burrows1@genie.geis.com
Voice Phone number: (613) 523-7498
Fax Phone number: (613) 236-9983
Mailing Address: 6 Cobbler Court
Ottawa
Ontario K1V 0B8
CANADA
//// John Hutchinson
John Hutchinson ("Hutch") is the owner of Fair Dinkum Technologies.
His current Atari ST/STe/TT/Falcon products include Crossword Creator
II, Word Search Creator, Puzzle Pack, The Cryptographer, and InfoDisk.
His products are distributed exclusively through Missionware Software.
voice: (505) 662-7236
Internet: hutch@genie.geis.com
GEnie: HUTCH
Address: Fair Dinkum Technologies
P.O. Box 2
Los Alamos, NM 87544
Distributor:
Missionware Software
354 N. Winston Drive
Palatine, IL 60067
(708) 359-9565
//// Melinda Turcsanyi
Melinda Turcsanyi works for the developer and software retailer,
MUSICODE SOFTWARE. She supports the Atari computer owners with some
very impressive products. She also has a demo of BlackJack Plus 3
uploaded to the Atari ST Library #10 on GEnie called JBDEMO.ARC. Her
music orientated software includes the following (for pricing, contact
Melinda):
BLACKJACK PLUS 3 - The greatest blackjack game available! Now it's
fun and easy to learn how to win at the game. All the features of a
real casino. Teaches what to do in every situation. Lets users try new
strategies, compiles results in statistical file, & much more!
VOICE DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM - Custom designed editor/librarian for
Yamaha (4-op)& Kawai K1 & K4 synths. When it was compared to the
others, this program came out on top!
GEnie Address: M.TURCSANYI
Internet: m.turcsanyi@genie.geis.com
CompuServe: 72060,3321
Voice Phone number: (209) 966-3477
Mailing Address: 40108 Highway 49, Suite C-280
Oakhurst, CA 93644
Well that's nine of the many developers working hard to keep you busy
on your Atari computer. I hope this has been as informative for you as
it was for me as I gathered this information.
+----------------------------------------------------+
| Speak up! |
| If you are supporting the Atari platform, |
| send me a brief bio and how you can be contacted. |
+----------------------------------------------------+
Until next time. . .
------------
Ron Whittam is a Customer Support Specialist for a small software firm
in Boise, Idaho; and the President of the Atari Boise Users Group.
He can be contacted on GEnie (EXPLORER.4), on the Internet at
<r.whittam@genie.geis.com>, or on ApC BBS (208-362-1790).
--==--==--==--==--
||| Rare Gems
||| Compiled by: David A. Wright
/ | \ Internet: centaur@hartford.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
The following are the "Rare Gems (sm)" selections for Feb. 26 to
March 4, 1995. "Rare Gems" is a service mark (sm) of Rare Breed
Noninc. and David Alan Wright. (Internet: CENTAUR@HARTFORD.COM)
Compilation copyright 1995 by same. All Wright's rights reserved.
Each weekly collection may be distributed freely as long as this
notice is retained. No other format may be distributed without further
authorization. All quotes covered by "fair use" of copyright law. To
subscribe by Internet email, send "SUBSCRIBE" in a message to
RAREGEMS-REQUEST@HARTFORD.COM. Absolutely no one will be seated during
the intense "hot pants" scene. --:Dave
The more we do, the more we can do. --Unknown
If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have
to do is wake up. --Unknown
David's Three Rules of Reality: 1) The past was never -that- good. 2)
The present is never -that- bad. 3) The future is never -that-
certain. --Peter David
Maybe someone should label the future, "Some assembly required."
--Garibaldi, Babylon 5 episode "Hunter, Prey"
Out of mind, back in five minutes. --Unknown
I owed the government $3400 in taxes, so I sent them two hammers and a
toilet seat. --Unknown
I wasn't born Republican, Democrat, or yesterday. --Unknown
===
The following are the "Rare Gems (sm)" selections for March 5 to 11,
1995. "Rare Gems" is a service mark (sm) of Rare Breed Noninc. and
David Alan Wright. (Internet: CENTAUR@HARTFORD.COM) Compilation
copyright 1995 by same. All Wright's rights reserved. Each weekly
collection may be distributed freely as long as this notice is
retained. No other format may be distributed without further
authorization. All quotes covered by "fair use" of copyright law. To
subscribe by Internet email, send "SUBSCRIBE" in a message to
RAREGEMS-REQUEST@HARTFORD.COM. Will work for money. --:Dave
A person's concepts should exceed their vocabulary, or what's a
metaphor? --Unknown
Sick, sick, sick - the humor of the Beast. --Unknown
When your purpose in life is to entertain the gods, there's nothing
to do but to put on a good show. --Unknown
If you know what you're doing, how long it will take, or what it will
cost, it isn't research. --Unknown
666...999 The quotation marks of the Beast. --Unknown
In the beginning there was nothing, and God said, "Let there be
light." And there was still nothing, but you could see it. --Unknown
Nature knows no politics, but nature always votes. --Unknown
===
The following are the "Rare Gems (sm)" selections for March 12 to 18,
1995. "Rare Gems" is a service mark (sm) of Rare Breed Noninc. and
David Alan Wright. (Internet: CENTAUR@HARTFORD.COM) Compilation
copyright 1995 by same. All Wright's rights reserved. Each weekly
collection may be distributed freely as long as this notice is
retained. No other format may be distributed without further
authorization. All quotes covered by "fair use" of copyright law. To
subscribe by Internet email, send "SUBSCRIBE" in a message to
RAREGEMS-REQUEST@HARTFORD.COM. This copy of "Rare Gems (sm)" has been
unregistered for 0 days. --:Dave
There are no answers, only cross-references. --Unknown
Truth comes as an enemy only to those who have lost the ability to
welcome it as a friend. --Unknown
First-rate people hire first-rate people. Second-rate people hire
third- rate people. --Unknown
Customers aren't always right, but they do get an unnatural amount of
slack. --Unknown
The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also
be only the beginning. --Ivy Baker Priest
Every exit is an entry somewhere else.
--"Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead" by Tom Stoppard
A man's behavior is the index of the man, and his discourse is the
index of his understanding. --Ali ibn Abi-Talib
===
The following are the "Rare Gems (sm)" selections for March 19 to 25,
1995. "Rare Gems" is a service mark (sm) of Rare Breed Noninc. and
David Alan Wright. (Internet: CENTAUR@HARTFORD.COM) Compilation
copyright 1995 by same. All Wright's rights reserved. Each weekly
collection may be distributed freely as long as this notice is
retained. No other format may be distributed without further
authorization. All quotes covered by "fair use" of copyright law. To
subscribe by Internet email, send "SUBSCRIBE" in a message to
RAREGEMS-REQUEST@HARTFORD.COM. Post no bills. --:Dave
Fine conduct is always spontaneous. --Seneca
He does not believe that does not act according to his belief.
--Thomas Fuller
Whatever I said in anger,
Whatever I shouted in spite,
I'm sorry I spoke so quickly -
I thought up some worse ones tonight. --Sunshine Magazine
We regret we are unable to give you the weather. We rely on weather
reports from the airport, which is closed because of the weather.
Whether we are able to give you the weather tomorrow depends on the
weather. --Arab News
There is just one thing I can promise you about the outer-space
program: Your tax dollar will go farther. --Wernher von Braun
I live by simple edicts - If it howls, feed it; if it cries, love it.
--Clifford Meth
A foundation is a large body of money completely surrounded by people
who want some. --Dwight MacDonald
--==--==--==--==--
||| Developing news!
||| Items of interest from TOS platform developers and supporters
/ | \ -------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// ACE'95 in Toronto April 1, 1995
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
**** SPECIAL TO AEO ****
"If you miss ACE'95 ... you're going to miss it all!"
******************************************************
NEWS RELEASE 18: THE TORONTO ATARI FEDERATION PRESENTS - ACE '95!!
******************************************************
==========================================================
ACE '95 *** THE SHOW OF THE DECADE *** ACE '95
=========================================================
LLLLLLLL
LLLLLLLL EVERYTHING YOU WANT WILL BE AT ACE'95!
LLLLLLLL JAGUARS
LLLLLLLL COMPUTERS
LLLLLLLL MIDI
LLLLLLLL THOUSANDS of programs, applications, games,
LLLLLLLL IDEAS & products
>ACE'95 is being held at the North York Civic Center. It is a GREAT
>complex: Shopping, Restaurants, Subway, Theatres, Hotel and - of
>course - MEMORIAL HALL & ACE'95!! THE NOVOTEL HOTEL is located
>directly adjacent to the Exhibition area. It's a great place to
>stay! PLAN ON TAKING IN ALL OF ACE'95 (... you really should!!).
>The *GREATEST*ATARI*EXHIBITION*IN*YEARS* is happening on April
>1st & 2nd, 1995, in TORONTO!! This is the ACE '95 Exhibitors
>List:
LLLL Gribnif Software (NEODESK 4, Geneva!)
LLLLL TOAD Computers (just your basic SUPERSTORE!)
LLLLLL Branch Always Software (GEMulator!)
LLLLLLL Cybercube Research (Cyrel Sunrise Card, CaTTamaran!)
LLLLLLLL DMC Publishing (Calamus, Outline Art 3, Invision Elite!)
LLLLLLLLL Scarborough Computers (*THE* Toronto Atari Dealer!)
LLLLLLLLLL Missionware Software (Flash II, lottODDS, Cyberdrome!)
LLLLLLLLLLL ICD INC/4Play/Black Cat Designs!
LLLLLLLLLLLL It's All Relative (every CD imaginable, Photo Show!)
LLLLLLLLLLLLL ABC Solutions (SARA, Edith Professional, tbxCAD)!
LLLLLLLLLLLLLL Esquimalt Digital Logic (OMEN!)
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLL GEnie Information Services!
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Suzy B's Software (& CDs!)
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL chro_Magic (RAM Gizmo, Pianistics, Crawly Crypt!)
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Clear Thinking (EditPlus!)
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Schauzmoll Soft (ORBIT - The first GUI BBS)!
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Anodyne Software (ExtenDOS, ExtenDOS Pro)!
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Oregon Research Associates (Diamond Edge 2!)
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Computer Direct! (DirecTT030, MagicMAC and an
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL enormous lineup of Atari products!)
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Binary Sounds (SMPTE, Edit Track Platinum!)
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Fine Tooned Engineering (MIO2, Sweet 16!)
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Compuworld (Service, Parts, Drives, Upgrades!)
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Encore Music (Falcon MIDI systems, Cubase!)
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Wizztronics (The Falcon Rack, Barracuda!)
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Steinberg/Jones!
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL SKWare One Software (Seurat!)
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLL BEST Electronics (every Part imaginable!)
LLLLLLLLLLLLLL COMPO (That's Write 3, SpeedoGDOS 5!)
LLLLLLLLLLLLL SPECTRUM Atari Group of Erie (SAGE!)
LLLLLLLLLLLL STUG (ST User Group of Winnipeg!)
LLLLLLLLLLL The ExtremiST (the NEW independent Atari Newsletter!)
LLLLLLLLLL Red Hot BBS (Atari Support Network!)
*W*H*A*T *A* *G*R*E*A*T* *L*I*N*E*U*P*
There are some SEMI-EXHIBITORS(?) we should mention too: ASTMUM
(Atari ST/Mega Users of Montreal), will be represented by Kest
Carter-Morgan. Kest is providing support for ESQUIMALT DIGITAL
LOGIC (OMEn), and SCHAUZMOLL SOFT (ORBIT Tele-Information
System). Nima Montaser will be showing his superb AUDIO CD
Player in the IT'S ALL RELATIVE booth (and Damien Jones will be
running the *brand new* TT version of Photo Show Pro in the It's
All Relative booth!)
>>>>>>>>>> *it doesn't get much better than this* <<<<<<<<<<
=-=-=-=-=-=-
The ACE'95 SEMINAR/LECTURE SCHEDULE:
=-=-=-=-=-=-
SATURDAY APRIL 1 SUNDAY APRIL 2
------------------------------------------------------
9 AM | Telecommunications &
| Internet with
| Stephen Christian
10 AM Cybercube Research | National Atari Newsletter
Ralf Dowich | User Group Co-operation
| Reg Loeppky
11 AM Branch Always Software | Suzy B's Software/CD
GEMulator | Michael Burkley
Darek Mihocka
12 NOON Missionware, Flash II | Secrets of ... Everything!
John Trautschold | Al Fasoldt
1 PM DMC Publishing | Binary Sounds
Calamus SL | MIDI for Beginners
Mario Georgiou | Rick Ladage
2 PM SARA CD Software | Esquimalt Digital Logic
Peter Zalesak | OMEn
Craig Carmichael
3 PM Gribnif Software | Xwindows/Xmosaic
Neodesk 4 & Geneva | for Atari! Internet
Dan Wilga | Sam Mesbah
4 PM Oregon Research
Diamond Edge 2
Bob Luneski
5 PM Steinberg Jones
Cubase
Ray Williams
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> What a TERRIFIC lineup! Some of
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the GREATEST PROGRAMMERS who ever
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> keyed in a line of code! Atari
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> users are lucky to have these
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> guys! Don't miss this RARE
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> OPPORTUNITY to hear the LATEST
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> AND GREATEST!
=-=-=-=-=-=-
Check our WORLD WIDE WEB pages: http://www.io.org/~schrist/taf.html
=-=-=-=-=-=- or http://www.io.org/~schrist/ace95.html
MIDI, DTP, Wordprocessing, Graphics, JAGUAR GAMES, Power
Computing, Software Libraries, Utilities, Accessories, Databases,
Spreadsheets, Accounting, Animation, Custom Solutions, Games,
Education, Internet, BBS, Networks, Accelerators, Emulators, 6502
support, 68000 support, 68030 support, 68040 support, Mosaic,
Modems, Upgrades, Telecommunications, JAGUAR STATION, User Group
Center, INCREDIBLE SALE PRICES, Software, Hardware, Advice,
Service and EVERYTHING you need to get the VERY BEST out of your
Atari!
================================================
GETTING TO ACE'95 IS *EASY*. Toronto is directly
accessed by Highway 401 or the Queen Elizabeth Way,
or Highway 400/69. Crossing the US/Canada border
at Detroit, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Ft. Erie,
Ogdensburg, Kingston, etc., will lead you directly
to Highway 401 or the Queen Elizabeth Way. Take the
Yonge St. Ramp north off the 401 and drive to 5110
Yonge St. (5 lights) If you take the Queen Elizabeth
Way, follow the signs to get to Highway 401. *ANY*
AAA or CAA or other Motor League can provide you with
a map of Toronto, Ontario & Canada. Please call us
if you have any trouble! Pearson International
Airport is only 15 minutes away! Toronto Transit
subway access is direct, too - there's a subway
stop at the Civic Center!
================================================
BOOK YOUR HOTEL & YOUR TICKETS IN ADVANCE! Call
or e-mail for info: for INDIVIDUALS, USER GROUPS,
ORGANIZATIONS, DEVELOPERS & DEALERS! The Show Site
(North York Civic Center, Memorial Hall Exhibition
Facility) has hotel, shoppping, restaurants and more!
NOVOTEL HOTEL: $89 Cdn PER NIGHT
(single OR double occupancy)
** Call Novotel direct* @ 416-733-2929 and ASK FOR
A ROOM WITH THE TORONTO ATARI FEDERATION GROUP! **
ACE'95 TICKETS: $6 PER DAY
$10 WEEKEND PASS
SHOW HOURS: Saturday April 1 - 9 AM to 6 PM
Sunday April 2 - 9 AM to 5 PM
You can also call 416-752-2744 FOR HOTEL or TICKET RESERVATIONS
================================================
Meet Dan Wilga, Darek Mihocka, Bob Luneski, Peter
Zalesak, John Trautschold, Craig Harvey, Nathan
Potechin, Mario Georgiou, Greg Kopchak, Al Fasoldt,
Rick Ladage, Jim Fouch, David & Jennifer Troy,
Michael Burkley, Roger Burrows, DARLAH, Craig
Carmichael, Tom Harker, Chris Krowchuck, Jim
Collins, Ralf Dowich, Shawn Tedder, Mike Wilhelm,
Mike Hohman, Christian Ernst, Michael Snape, Ray
Williams, Stuart Watt, Stephen Christian, Steve
Cohen, Jeff Neveu, Sonny Ang, Bill Annand, Stuart
Watt, Robert Engberson, Suzy B, Nima Montaser,
Damien Jones and couple of thousand show visitors!
Don't miss it!
"ATARI *IS* THE GREATEST!"
================================================
ACE'95 IS BEING HELD AT:
North York Civic Center
Memorial Hall Exhibition Facility
5110 Yonge St. (at Parkhome Ave.)
Toronto, Canada
April 1-2, 1995 *CALL US* 416-752-2744 or 416-225-5823 *CALL US*
Saturday 9AM - 6PM
Sunday 9AM - 5PM
~~ Howard Carson, ACE'95 Chief Organizer ~~~
E-Mail: GEnie - H.Carson1
Atarinet - Howard. Carson@51:5/6
Internet - h.carson1@genie.geis.com
howard.carson@canrem.com
hcarson@io.org
TAF Online - Howard. Carson
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// New ExtenDOSes
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// ExtenDOS v1.22
Supported hardware:
Atari systems: ST, STe, Mega, TT, and Falcon. The ST/STe/Mega
require a host adapter that can pass the entire
SCSI command set, such as the ICD AdSCSI+ or Link.
CD-ROM drives:
Multisession photoCD:
Apple CD-300/CD-300+/PowerCD
Chinon 535
Sony 561
NEC 38/74-1/84-1/210/3Xe/3Xi/3Xp
Plextor/Texel 3028/5028/4plex
Toshiba 3401/4101
Single-session photoCD:
Chinon 435
NEC 37/74/84
Plextor/Texel 3024/5024
Toshiba 3301
No photoCD:
Toshiba 3201
NEC 25/35/72/77/80/82
Sony 541/6211/8022
Any fully SCSI-compatible drive
Supported software:
Operating environments: TOS, MultiTOS, Geneva, and Mag!X.
CD-ROM file formats: ISO9660 and High Sierra.
Other features:
Configurable cache.
Updates to ExtenDOS (bug fixes, enhancements) are typically
distributed electronically at no charge.
The next update will support more drives, including Chinon 525,
Mediavision Reno, Sony 55S, Toshiba 3501/5201.
Extendos v1.22 lists at $29.95(North America).
//// ExtenDOS Pro v2.0B
Supported hardware:
Atari systems: ST, STe, Mega, TT, and Falcon. The ST/STe/Mega
require a host adapter that can pass the entire
SCSI command set, such as the ICD AdSCSI+ or Link.
CD-ROM drives:
Multisession photoCD:
Apple CD-300/CD-300+/PowerCD
Chinon 535
Sony 561
NEC 38/74-1/84-1/210/3Xe/3Xi/3Xp
Plextor/Texel 3028/5028
Toshiba 3401/4101
Single-session photoCD:
Chinon 435
NEC 37/74/84
Plextor/Texel 3024/5024
Toshiba 3301
No photoCD:
Toshiba 3201
NEC 25/35/72/77/80/82
Sony 541/6211/8022
Supported software:
Operating environments: TOS, MultiTOS, Geneva, and Mag!X.
CD-ROM file formats: ISO9660 and High Sierra.
Other features:
Configurable cache.
Updates to ExtenDOS Pro (bug fixes, enhancements) are typically
distributed electronically at no charge.
Audio support for all the above drives (except the Chinon 435 at
this time). This support includes an audioCD player (both as
program and accessory) and the capability of controlling the CD-ROM
via a user-written program.
The next update, due out in April 1995, will include the following
features:
An installation/reconfiguration program.
Support for multi-LUN drives (changers) such as the Pioneer 60x.
Support for more drives, including the Chinon 525, Mediavision
Reno, NEC 4x, Pioneer 602X/604X, Sony 55S, Toshiba 3501/5201.
Audio support for any SCSI-2 compatible drive.
Extendos Pro lists at $39.95(North America). Owners of ExtenDOS may
upgrade to ExtenDOS Pro at a special rate (currently $15 in North
America).
=======================================================================
>From now till April 1, get a CD starter pack of ExtenDOS Pro and three
CD's to get you going for $39.99 US, Postpaid, from:
It's All Relative
2233 Keeven Lane
Florissant MO 63031.
Been waiting to get a CD drive? Better start shopping around.
The CD starter pack requires a Kodak Photo CD ready drive.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// TLC Support Change
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
To All Atari users:
Please be advised that I have recently purchased all the copyright
rights and source code to all the TLC Software from Tom Hayslett
(Atari users lost a good programmer when he had to leave the market).
The new contact address is as follows:
Jeff Wisniewski
P.O. Box 1243
Newtown, PA 18940-0871
E-Mail Addresses:
GEnie: J.WISNIEWSK2
Internet: j.wisniewsk2@genie.gen.com
Any questions, comments, suggestions, or Registrations should be sent
to me at the above address.
I am currently accepting suggestions and/or bug fixes that you might
have.
I plan to support the users that have registered with Tom Hayslett (I
will be contact these users in the near future). And I also plan to
keep adding improvements and bug-fixes to the whole line of software.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Time: 3:54:30 pm
^^^^ JSW ^^^^ Date: Wednesday, March 22, 1995
^^^^ ST'er ^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// More CD Support from IAR
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
At the TAF show in Toronto we will be releasing a new set of CD's by
American MPC Research with Atari Falcon support.
The CD's are:
U.S. Airforce Aircraft
U.S. Navy Ships
U.S. Navy and Marine Aircraft
U.S. Marine Corps
Each of the CD's contain 500 true color images with narration.
Selected themes and groups of images can be viewed via menu entry or
the entire disc played as a show running about two and one half hours
per CD with narration all in true color.
It's All Relative is proud to bring another "first of its kind" group
of CD's to the Atari market.
Each CD with Atari Falcon player on floppy disk has a suggested retail
of $19.99 or $59.99 for the set of four CD's.
The Atari player requires a Falcon, CD rom drive, and either TV,
broadcast monitor, or SC-1224 color monitor or equivalent. Image
viewing is in the 640 by 400 Falcon true color mode.
The images on the CD can also be viewed with any Atari program that
supports 24 bit Bitmap format images.
Windows viewing software is also included on the CD for 386 (486
suggested) or better machines, true color card with at least 512 k of
video ram, double speed CD rom drive, sound card that is Sound
Blaster compatible, and 4 meg or more of machine ram.
Please let me know any quantity you require as soon as possible as the
first order of the CD's is just about spoken for and we want to make
sure we have sufficient quatities available for the TAF show.
It's All Relative
2233 Keeven Lane,
Florissant, MO 63031
(314) 831-9482
GEnie: GREG
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Calamus SL Update
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
March 1, 1995 For further information, contact:
Toronto, Ontario, Canada Nathan Potechin - President
DMC Publishing
~~ Calamus SL now US $200.00! ~~ Tel: (905) 479-1880
Fax: (905) 479-1882
Calamus SL, the premier desktop Compuserve: 76004,2246
publishing program on the Atari Delphi/GEnie: DMCPUBLISH
computer now retails for US $200.00, Internet: DMCPUBLISH@GENIE.GEIS.COM
$280.00 Cdn. This includes a 600+
page manual and 4 disks containing approximately 1,000 features. For
those of you that have been considering a desktop publishing program
for your Atari computer, or that have been waiting for the opportunity
to add to your existing desktop publishing program, the time is now
and the price is right!
Calamus SL offers a new concept in design and functionality, providing
great creative control while allowing for the addition of modules for
specific tasks.
Some of the standard features in Calamus SL include:
- A wide range of manipulation and rastering facilities. - Freely
definable page layout. - Open and edit up to 7 documents
simultaneously. - User definable and automatically generated
registration and crop marks. - Total typographical control to 5
decimal places. - Work with color, greyscale or monochrome images. -
Tiling. - 16.7 million colors. - 4-color separation plus adornment
colors. - Mix and save color palettes. - Load standardized color
models. - Extended raster control with freely definable raster angles
and widths. - An integral histogram allows you to optimise an image
for your output device. - 14 professional typesetter fonts in
Calamus' CFN font format.
Besides all the standard elements and menu's, Calamus SL comes
standard with the following modules:
Clipboard - put frames, text or text rulers on the clipboard for later
retrieval.
Page - allows you to define the fundamentals of your layout (page
format, page and chapter numbering), and process entire pages or
layouts.
Frame - contains commands for creating and editing frames and
guidelines. Each frame type contains its own special functions.
Text - is used for entering, formatting and piping text over one or
more pages.
Text Style - allows control over font size, color, fill patterns,
attributes and effects.
Line - offers functions for the creation and manipulation of lines,
arrows, curves and corners.
Raster Area - allows you to work with circles, rectangles and other
shapes. You can also select the color and fill pattern
for a raster area.
Document Converter - is used to, transparantly to you, convert Calamus
CDK document files created in earlier versions of
Calamus.
System Parameters - modifies a number of internal features such as:
font directory, system paths, screen resolution,
system memory and more.
Focoltone - is a patented color system which was designed to allow
accurate color specifications for process color printing.
Printer Driver Generator - is actually an auxiliary program supplied
with Calamus SL designed to allow users to
create and modify printer drivers for their
own specific printer. Note that dozens of the
more popular printer drivers come standard
with Calamus SL.
PKS Write - is a sophisticated text editor containing features such
as: search and replace text, block functions, search and
replace text style; insert and edit control codes, define
macros for text, style and rulers; footnote, index and
reference entries; user-definable kerning and more.
Vector Graphic - allows you to create and modify vector graphics. 15
pre-defined shapes are available, as are tools for
creating objects. Distort and rotate objects, resize
proportionally, cut and paste to an object clipboard
and perform copy functions. Tools for editing paths,
setting and moving points, changing path direction,
closing and smoothing paths, and filling polygons,
cutting and pasting paths, exchanging lines and Bezier
curves, showing tangents and control color and fill
pattern settings.
Raster Generator - allows the manipulation of shape, angle and size of
raster points. This results in giving you great
precision and control over printed output.
Color Separation - eight control lines are built into this module to
define the relationship between the theoretical
values in the computer image and actual output. Use
this module to output color and adjust and correct
information sent to the printer including: black, CYM
and UCR values using the respective control lines.
Brush - is an editor that can be used to clean or touch up a raster
graphic. It contains two command groups, one for brush types,
the other for choice of color/fill patterns.
CYMK Swap - contains a single but powerful function to allow you to
swap or exchange the color planes in a 4-plane CYMK color
graphic.
Rotate - is designed to provide the precise rotation of raster
graphics in any degree. Using this module, moire effects are
minimized when rotating raster graphics. It contains an option
to reduce aliasing caused by such rotations.
Color List Converter - checks all colors used in your document and
catalogs them in each Color List of the various
command areas.
Compress - reduces the demands on memory and disk space by reducing
the size of your graphics, usually between 25% - 50%. When
you re-load your document saved with compression, the
graphics are automatically uncompressed.
Linearity - is used to optimize color output for your printer. It
allows you to set a control line for each color plane and
save specific setup files for optimal printing based on any
given color printer.
All modules may be loaded or unloaded from memory at any time. When
you remove a module not currently in use, the memory will be returned
to you automatically and immediately.
Join the thousands of Calamus SL owners and get this program today.
Place your order by fax or email, telephone or mail. We look forward
to hearing from you.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Upgrade Calamus 1.09 to SL
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
March 1, 1995 For further information, contact:
Toronto, Ontario, Canada Nathan Potechin - President
DMC Publishing
~~ UPGRADE 1.09x to Calamus SL ~~ Tel: (905) 479-1880
~ for US $150.00, $210.00 Cdn. ~ Fax: (905) 479-1882
Compuserve: 76004,2246
Calamus SL, the premier desktop Delphi: DMCPUBLISH
publishing program on the Atari GEnie: DMCPUBLISH
computer now retails for US $200.00, Internet: DMCPUBLISH@GENIE.GEIS.COM
$280.00 Cdn. This includes a 600+
page manual and 4 disks containing approximately 1,000 features. For
those of you that have been waiting for the opportunity to upgrade
your existing Calamus 1.09x, save a further $50.00. The price is right
and the time is now. Place your UPGRADE order today. Your cost to
upgrade from your existing Calamus 1.09x to the latest version of
Calamus SL is US $150.00, $210.00 Cdn.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// DMC's Line Art 1.5
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
March 2, 1995 For further information, contact:
Toronto, Ontario, Canada Nathan Potechin - President
DMC Publishing
DMC announces Line Art 1.5 Tel: (905) 479-1880
for Calamus SL Fax: (905) 479-1882
************** Compuserve: 76004,2246
Delphi/GEnie: DMCPUBLISH
DMC, who bring you Calamus SL, the Internet: DMCPUBLISH@GENIE.GEIS.COM
premier desktop publishing program
on the Atari computer, is pleased to announce an upgrade to a most
valued member of the Calamus family, Line Art. Line Art, version 1.5,
is now available.
The Line Art module is an advanced vector editing tool that combines
features found in both the Vector Graphic module and Outline Art 3.0,
and then some. The Line Art module is the definitive tool for creating
and editing vector graphics without leaving Calamus SL.
Line Art features the creation of graphic primitives, blends, text
objects, paths and transformation nets which allow the distortion of
objects using these nets. Vector objects can be created by using
either the included vector editor or one of the Calamus primitives.
New primitives include: lines, outlines and circular segments. The
vector objects can also be defined using a variety of writing modes
which include outline on/off, fill on/off, and EOR for intersecting
paths. You can also define corners as either bevelled or sharp.
Objects can also be defined as color blends, allowing the
transformation and rotation of these objects by using the functions in
the blends command area.
The types of blends include horizontal, vertical, rectangular corner
origin blend, circular and transformational blend with starting and
ending angles as well as starting and ending colors (as well as a
definable transition color). Text can be made to follow paths inside
or outside and to include/exclude the kerning values in the font or
allow manual adjustment of the character spacing. You may also justify
text left, right or center and change the text direction. The text may
then be converted to a path object for further manipulation.
New Features now available in Line Art, Version 1.5
---------------------------------------------------
Line Art, version 1.5, contains a number of new features that should
excite our Calamus SL customers; the new Toolbox type alignment
functions, for use in both creation and editing of vector objects, is
one example. Line Art's new Toolbox command group includes relative
positioning in both absolute and relative measurement options and
more.
The gradient fill section has been improved in both speed and
functionality. In terms of features you can now change the angle of
gradient fill with real time preview for any of FOUR gradient types:
circular, rectangular, linear and the new conical style.
Here is a partial list of the new features in Line Art 1.5:
1. Any objects, text paths or groups can now be filled with a
gradient. The gradients can be viewed as new fill patterns.
2. New options for gradients: angle of gradient, offset of the start
and end, and position of the gradient in the vector object.
3. Conical gradient pattern added to linear, circular and
rectangular.
4. You can also move the origin point on either X or Y axis. For
linear gradients, you can move the left or right edge IN or OUT of
the object. This is like "windowing" the gradient pattern.
5. For the radial gradients, the center of the gradient can be moved
anywhere on the X or Y axis. The same is true for the conical
gradient.
6. Uniframes, i.e.; StarScreened frames, can now be used inside
vector objects.
7. Exact placement with enhanced Toolbox options plus the ability to
move objects forward and backward.
8. Objects can be automatically sized to the same width or height.
9. Objects can be sorted and placed with even horizontal or vertical
spacing.
10. Objects can be placed along a selected path.
11. All Toolbox functions have UNDO.
12. The object alignment functions are straightforward: Edge
Alignment, Center Alignment plus relative positioning (object to
object).
13. The new functions include instant matching of height or width for
one or more objects. You can also Distribute Objects Horizontally
or Vertically with a group of three or more objects.
The Line Art Module costs US $150.00, $210.00 Cdn. For those of you
that already own Line Art, version 1.0, upgrade to version 1.5, for US
$50.00, $70.00 Cdn. Place your order today.
Note: You must have the latest version of Calamus SL (Oct. 94) in
order to use this or any other new module.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// PhotoFX for Calamus SL
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
March 2, 1995 For further information, contact:
Toronto, Ontario, Canada Nathan Potechin - President
DMC Publishing
DMC announces the PhotoFX Tel: (905) 479-1880
Module for Calamus SL Fax: (905) 479-1882
********************* Compuserve: 76004,2246
Delphi/GEnie: DMCPUBLISH
DMC, who bring you Calamus SL, the Internet: DMCPUBLISH@GENIE.GEIS.COM
premier desktop publishing program
on the Atari computer, is pleased to announce a new member in the
family. The newest addition to the Calamus SL family of modules,
PhotoFX is now available.
This new module allows you to apply special effect filters to images
from within Calamus. Four filters, for use in the Calamus PhotoFX
Module, come standard; Sharpen/Blur, Effect, Emboss and Generic
(Matrix).
Sharpen/Blur allows you to increase the detail or to Blur the
currently selected image.
The Effects filter creates a variety of special effects such as
texturise, exposure and image streaking. The effects will vary
depending on the image.
The Emboss module will create an emboss affect on any image.
The Generic Matrix filter is based on a user definable mathematical
matrix that allows you to define your own filters. It is quite
powerful and allows an enormous amount of possibilities. Six Matrix
filters are included.
Sample images with some PhotoFX's applied to them, have been uploaded
to a few of the main bulletin boards.
Your cost for the new PhotoFX Module for Calamus SL is US $50.00,
$70.00 Cdn.
Note: You must have the latest version of Calamus SL (Oct. 94) to use
this or any other new module.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// 3D StereoMagic Module for Calamus
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
March 2, 1995 For further information, contact:
Toronto, Ontario, Canada Nathan Potechin - President
DMC Publishing
DMC announces the 3D StereoMagic Tel: (905) 479-1880
Module for Calamus SL Fax: (905) 479-1882
********************* Compuserve: 76004,2246
Delphi/GEnie: DMCPUBLISH
DMC, who brings you Calamus SL, the Internet: DMCPUBLISH@GENIE.GEIS.COM
premier desktop publishing program
on the Atari computer, is pleased to announce a new addition to the
Calamus SL family of modules, 3D StereoMagic.
The 3D StereoMagic module allows you to create Random Dot Stereograms
and other 3D magical illusions. The images can be created using random
dots, irregular dots, repeating textures, images, computer renderings
and even photographs of yourself!
The latest craze in art is now available to you from within Calamus
SL. Create your own 3D stereo design with this interesting new
module. Combine your favorite texture and image to create this
exciting special effect.
Your cost for the new 3D StereoMagic Module for Calamus SL is US
$50.00, $70.00 Cdn.
Note: You must have the latest version of Calamus SL (Oct. 94) to use
this or any other new module.
--==--==--==--==--
|||
||| Shutdown ........................... Power off, EXIT, BYE, Logoff
/ | \ -----------------------------------------------------------------
We welcome feedback from all of our readers; feedback both positive
and negative. Whatever you think of our efforts, we sincerely would
like to know. Our EMail addresses are sprinkled throughout each
issue - with the new Internet gateway into GEnie, you can reach us
through the Internet also. Append "@genie.geis.com" to any of our
GEnie addresses.
Until the next issue of AEO, I remain,
Your Editor
Travis Guy
Internet: aeo.mag@genie.geis.com
--==--==--==--==--
(This issue printed on recycled photons)
--==--==--==--==--
DNFTEC
--==--==--==--==--
No Inflation Necessary
--==--==--==--==--
Sweet As Sugar
--==--==--==--==--
Atari Explorer Online Magazine is a bi-weekly publication covering the
entire Atari community. Reprint permission is granted, unless
otherwise noted at the beginning of the article, to registered Atari
user groups and not for profit publications under the following terms
only: articles must remain unedited and include the issue number and
author at the top of each article reprinted. Other reprints granted
upon approval of request. Send requests to <aeo.mag@genie.geis.com>.
No issue of Atari Explorer Online Magazine may be included on any
commercial media, nor uploaded or transmitted to any commercial
online service, in whole or in part, by any agent or means, without
the expressed consent or permission from the Editor or Publisher of
Atari Explorer Online Magazine.
Opinions presented herein are those of the individual authors and do
not necessarily reflect those of the staff, or of the publishers. All
material herein is believed accurate at the time of publishing.
--==--==--==--==--
Atari, ST, Mega ST, STE, Mega STE, TT030, Atari Falcon030, TOS,
MultiTOS, NewDesk, BLiTTER, Atari Lynx, ComLynx, Atari Jaguar, Atari
Portfolio, and the Atari Fuji Symbol are all trademarks or registered
trademarks of Atari Corporation. All other trademarks and identifying
marks mentioned in this issue belong to their respective owners.
--==--==--==--==--
Atari Explorer Online Magazine
"Your Source for Atari News"
Copyright (c) 1993-1995, Subspace Publishers
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
* * *
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: A E O :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Volume 4, Issue 4 ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE March 28, 1995 ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
