Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Atari Explorer Online Issue 1995 05
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Volume 4, Issue 5 ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE July 20, 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 ::
:: 8-bit Editor .............................. John Hardie ::
:: Sunnyvale Editor .......................... Adam Urbano ::
:: ::
:: Contributors: ::
:: """"""""""""" ::
:: Mark Steven Smith, 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 ::
:: ::
:: World Wide Web: http://www.mcc.ac.uk/~dlms/atari.html ::
:: http://www.bucknell.edu/~svensson ::
:: ::
:: ::
:: EMail Request address: AEO-by-EMail-request@maximized.com ::
:: ::
:: >>> To subscribe to AEO, send a message to the request ::
:: >>> address, with the following line (no subject): ::
:: >>> ::
:: >>> subscribe aeo-by-email ::
:: >>> ::
:: >>> and your address will be added to the list. To ::
:: >>> unsubscribe from AEO, send the following: ::
:: >>> ::
:: >>> unsubscribe aeo-by-email ::
:: >>> ::
:: >>> to the same request address, making sure you send ::
:: >>> it from the same address you subscribed from. ::
:: ::
:: AEO is also in file format on the Jaguar Mailing List ::
:: ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Table of Contents
* From the Editors ........................................ Fight For Games.
* Digital Briefs .............................. High tech items of interest.
* Fun 'N Games at Atari ........ Adam tells us what Atari showed the press,
and what you can expect to see this fall.
* Jaguar Tackboard ................. New Jaguar Mailing List - AEO's Jaguar
Development List - PRs - CatNips.
* Surfing the Jagged Edge ................... Dimitri sorts out online info
on new Jag games.
* Flip Out Preview .......................... Take a sneek peek at a Jaguar
puzzler with an alien twist.
* Reprint: Pinball Fantasies ............. Mark's look (from February) at a
recent Jag game release.
* Speed Of Light 3.8 ................. Review of the shareware image viewer.
* Rare Gems .......................................... Quotes worth quoting.
* Developing News .............................. MIST VII - July 29
DEUCE - October 7
C-LAB Falcons Through Toad
Atari CD Master from Homa
JetSpeed and OutBurST!
CD-Font Manager
* 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.com
------------------------------------------------------------------
It's been very active here at AEO Central of late. A hurricane,
several days of summer thunderstorms, a Jaguar CD with an advance
copy of Blue Lightning on its way... sometimes you have to put up
with the bad to appreciate the good.
Greetings, all. Welcome to another edition of AEO - your window on the
World Atari. It's been two months since the last issue, and now that
I'm back from my summer sabbatical, you can expect to get AEO on a
regular basis.
There's an awful lot of good Jaguar info inside this issue. Most
notably, Adam Urbano attended Atari's Fun 'N Games day on behalf of
AEO, and gives us his report on the games shown (including one of my
"will-be" favorites, Black ICE\White Noise), as well as a preview/
review of FlipOut! (My other "will-be" favorite? The awesome
BattleSphere!)
The big question online as I write this is, "What's going on with
Fight For Life?" The answer is, direct from Atari, "Fight For Life has
been suspended." A decision was made last week to stop work on FFL as
we know it, because the game didn't meet specific quality standards at
Atari.
A hubub has arisen over this, with some wondering if the Jaguar is
not capable of doing a poly-fighter on the lines of Virtua Fighter,
Tekken or Tohshinden. Rest assured that the Jaguar can, and more....
Much more....
I can't say any more about the matter now, but keep reading AEO for
future news on the subject.
Next up on the "Burning Question" list is, "Will Atari ship the CD
unit in August?" To that, I have to give an (99.999% positive :)
affirmative. As I said g/l/o/a/t/e/d/ earlier, there's a CD unit and
a copy of Blue Lightning on its way for editorial purposes. Other
games are close to being done, and with a less than two week "burn
time" to make CDs, it appears that there will be enough software done
in time to make the August debut possible.
What happens after August? Well, Atari will be doing what it can to
put "Jaguar64" in the minds of as many video game consumers as
possible, as more games arrive. It's going to be an interesting season
upon us. See you here next month.
--==--==--==--==--
||| Digital Briefs - Industry News
||| By: Albert Dayes
/ | \ CIS: 70007,3615 GEnie: AEO.1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Personal Online Billing - Intuit Inc. and 19 of the largest names in
""""""""""""""""""""""" American banking and financial services
announced that they are working together to enable individuals and
small businesses to bank, pay bills and perform other financial tasks
online through Intuit's Quicken personal finance software starting
this fall. Intuit currently has over 8 million Quicken users.
Music Net Retail - MNI Interactive continued its retail expansion
"""""""""""""""" plan for their MusicNet CD-ROM by announcing a
non-exclusive distribution agreement with International Periodical
Distributors (IPD) to distribute the quarterly CD-ROM in bookstores
and selected computer stores and chains as early as September, 1995.
IPD sells to such chains as Tower Books, Computer City, Micro Center
and Software Etc.
MNI has adopted a selling strategy for the MusicNet CD-ROM by
showcasing it in interactive magazine displays in high traffic book
and computer stores nationwide. Last month, MNI announced a
non-exclusive retail distribution agreement with Ingram Periodicals
and unveiled its new magazine-size packaging at the American
Booksellers Association Conference in Chicago. Previously, MusicNet
CD-ROMs were ordered by phone and distributed by mail.
The MusicNet CD-ROM is a quarterly interactive music previewing and
purchasing guide that enables consumers to try, through audio and
video clips, the latest music and then purchase CDs for home delivery.
Be Check Free - Checkfree Corporation, announced that it will team up
""""""""""""" with ADP, a leading provider of commercial payroll
services and electronic banking, to provide the first combined
electronic bill payment and banking service to the commercial
marketplace.
The new service will allow businesses to manage their banking
functions from their PC by linking up via modem with the Checkfree/ADP
processing facility. Businesses can view current bank account
information, transfer funds among accounts, pay bills electronically
and reconcile accounts. Business owners can know account balances
prior to deciding what bills to pay and eliminating the effort to
print, sign, and mail checks and remittance data.
Radio PC - A new IEEE (INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS
"""""""" ENGINEERS) 802-11 standard will allows PCs to communicate
with each other without using any wiring. This will allow one to take
the PC into the workplace and immediately start using it in a network.
The IEEE hopes that the new standard will be finalized by the end of
1995.
Digital Camera - Space Imaging, Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space and
"""""""""""""" Eastman Kodak Co. announced that Kodak will supply
the digital camera for Space Imaging's commercial remote-sensing
satellite (CRSS) system, scheduled for launch in late 1997.
Under the terms of agreement, Kodak will provide an integrated imaging
payload system that represents a ten-fold increase in existing image
resolution quality. The payload will enable one-meter panchromatic
(gray-scale) resolution and four-meter, four-band multispectral (red,
green, blue, near infrared) resolution instead of the ten- to 30-meter
resolution that is currently available.
The digital camera is comprised of a Kodak-designed and -manufactured
focal plane array and a lightweight telescope using a state-of-the-art
mirror fabricated with Kodak's advanced ion figuring technology. To
speed the downloading of data to Space Imaging's ground stations, the
original 11-bit data will be compressed using Kodak's proprietary
bandwidth compression technology. These features will enable the Space
Imaging satellite to acquire the highest resolution earth imagery
available for commercial entities.
E-mail vs. the FAX - FAX usage remains as high for U.S. Fortune 500
"""""""""""""""""" companies using E-Mail communications as those
without electronic mail capabilities, according to a recent
Gallup/Pitney Bowes survey. The survey found that FAX is the
communication method of choice being selected before E-Mail, Overnight
Courier and Voice Mail, when a Fortune 500 company needs a fast
response to urgent material.
SpiderNETWORK - Byron Preiss Multimedia Company announced the hiring
""""""""""""" of Danny Fingeroth, one of the most respected editors
in the comics industry, to head a new on-line service dedicated to
comics. Most recently Group Editor of Marvel Comics' Spider-Man
division, he has joined the company as Director of Virtual Comics(TM).
The division plans to develop new comics, characters and interactive
graphic storytelling techniques in on-line form. In this capacity,
Fingeroth will bring his years of experience to the development of
comics accessible by personal computers as well as to the adaptation
of existing comic properties.
Motorola HALTs - Motorola Cellular Infrastructure Group has launched a
"""""""""""""" new portfolio of cellular fraud solutions called
HALT!(TM). HALT! actually prevents cellular fraud by automatically
blocking fraudulent calls before a network crime is committed,
providing increased security for cellular carriers and their
customers.
HALT! cracks down on cellular phone fraud which, according to the
Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA), has become
the high-tech fraud of the '90s, costing the industry nearly $1.5
million per day. HALT! has unique prevention and post-call analysis
features that minimize cellular fraud.
Hayes Back Online - Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. Chapter 11
""""""""""""""""" proceedings made a major leap forward when Judge
Hugh Robinson approved the company's Disclosure Statement for its 100%
Plan of Reorganization, and a $45 million debtor in possession (DIP)
financial facility with General Electric Capital Corporation (GECC).
Hayes Plan of Reorganization is considered to be a '100%' plan because
it pays all valid creditor claims in full, plus interest. The filing
of this 100% Plan also means that all creditors are considered
"unimpaired, " and will not need to vote on the plan for it to be
confirmed.
Hayes, which announced the execution of a letter of intent for a
merger with Boca Research Inc. last week, will use the combined assets
of the two companies to obtain the approximately $60-85 million needed
to fully fund Hayes emergence from Chapter 11 in the fall.
Simon Says? - Ziff-Davis Publishing was sold to Simon & Schuster for
""""""""""" an undisclosed sum. Macmillian Computer Publishing (A
unit of Simon & Schuster) will work with the new Ziff-Davis Publishing
company to develop new computer books. The new computer books will
include Ziff-Davis brand names such as PC Computing, MacUser and PC
Magazine. Computing publishing is one of the fastest growing segments
of the market today according to Simon & Schuster's CEO.
--==--==--==--==--
||| Fun 'n Games at Atari
||| By: Adam Urbano
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.5 Internet: adamu@cue.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
The press hasn't quite been one of Atari's strongest supporters over
the past several years. Need a few examples? Start by picking up any
of the current magazines on the shelves. Most magazines have a six to
one ratio for PSX to Jaguar pages. An amazing statistic given that the
PSX isn't even available in this country yet. The majority of
magazines average about one to two pages of Jaguar coverage an issue.
This isn't related to a lack of available software to preview, since
Atari has 50+ titles scheduled to come out between now and December on
its release list. Realizing that this isn't the sort of representation
the company wants, Atari set out to remedy the situation with a press
day, or "Fun 'n Games" media day.
The basic premise was to get all the media together and show them what
Atari plans on doing over the next several months. This was provided
through speeches, hands on gaming, and conversations with the various
Atari employees and company representatives. Most of the major video
game magazines sent at least one representative to the show.
The presentation began about 9:30 in the morning at the Atari
headquarters. The press was seated in an area with two televisions in
front, displaying various charts, graphs, and bits of highlight text
from the speeches. Dorf & Stanton Communications started the speeches
out with a basic market overview, including the Jaguar's position in
this market. A poll was given by the company in which Video game
customers were called at random and asked if they would purchase a
$300-$400 video game system. Four percent were very likely to
purchase the system, nine percent were somewhat likely, 11 percent
were somewhat unlikely, and 76 percent were very unlikely to purchase
the system. This was followed by a series of demographic statistics.
In closing they listed the various advantages of the Jaguar. "Jaguar
offers to the consumer... 64-bit performance at a 16 bit price.
Amazing 3D graphics in 16.8 million colors. Emerging software library
approaching 100 titles. A modular system with the flexibility of an
add-on CD drive. A system manufactured in the U.S." And on the other
side of the spectrum, "Jaguar's offer to the retailer... A familiar
and accepted brand name. A low price that will guarantee inventory
turns. A gross margin that isn't tied to the Yen. 150 thousand units
already in US households to start supporting software sales
immediately." Atari will also be sending postcards to anyone who sent
in their registration cards. The first cards feature Super Burnout
and White Men Can't Jump.
It should be noted that by the end of this first speech, off in a
distant corner, Jeff Minter had settled down to a game of Defender
2000. The next speech was on the marketing of the Jaguar in the
second-half. Atari expects to achieve 400 million impressions during
their marketing blitz, 380 million on television, and 20 million in
print. Spot television ads will air from September through December
and reach 40% of US television households. These ads will reach 92%
of Atari's target audience, and will reach 83% of its target
audience 3+ times. These ads will appear during NBA, NFL, and NHL
games, and top popular shows like Rosanne, Baywatch, Home Improvement,
and Star Trek Voyager. These will be on syndicated shows, sports,
cable movies, and on MTV during Beavis and Butthead. The Jaguar will
also take part in the EGM Super Tour, the Sports Illustrated Campus
Fest from August 1995 to April 1996 , and the USA Video & PC Game Tour
from September through December.
//// Peripherals and "Bitness"
Next came a quick description of all the peripherals. Several news
items were presented.
[] The Jaguar CD will include Vid Grid, Tempest 2000 Audio CD, and
Blue Lightning. The unit should be available in early August for
$149. At the same time as the release, four titles will be available,
Creature Shock, Highlander 1, Myst, and Dragons Lair. New titles will
be available every month for the player. The Atari schedule has
Baldies, Battlemorph, Demolition Man, Hover Strike CD, Robinson's
Requiem, Soul Star, and Space Ace listed for release in September.
[] The Team Tap multi-player adapter will be packed free with White
Men Can't Jump, or available separately for $29.95. Other games
designed for four player play include Arena Football and Charles
Barkley Basketball. An included press release also adds that with 2
Jaguars and 2 Team Taps the number of players can be expanded to
eight.
The next speech was one that Atari wanted to make sure everyone
understood well. It was a clarification on the "bitness" of the
Jaguar. Given the general confusion that has been spread by the
various publications, it seemed like a good time to clear things up.
This was a lengthy report on the history of computer and video game
systems, with an explanation of what "bittage" each of the various
systems was. The general information can be summed up fairly quickly,
well, fairly quickly when compared to the 20 minute speech.
This is the same information that every member of the press was given.
This means that, assuming everyone wasn't zoning out and watching Jeff
play Defender, we can finally stop seeing misinformation in the
various publications. Before this article becomes a Simpson trial DNA
paper (or the video game equivalent), I'll switch to something a
little more exciting, the games. Travis has included the text of the
presentation elsewhere in this issue.
//// Cart Games
The first half of the gaming was limited to strictly cartridge based
games. The various press members had a number on their nametag, which
corresponded to the number of the game they were supposed to start
with. This organized system lasted the better part of two minutes, at
which point everyone scrambled to the game they wanted to see the
most. Each game was contained at a small "cubicle", or table set up
with a board around the outside.
The various areas were decorated with Atari memorabilia. Defender
2000, for example, had a can of Flossie's Funnel Cakes on the table.
POWER DRIVE RALLY should also enter production soon, and is set for an
August release. Nothing new has gone into the game, as it has been
nearly finished for quite a while now. It remains a blast to play, has
an excellent framerate, and approximately 40 tracks. The Time Warner
representative mentioned that the game should have split screen play
for 2 players, but also mentioned that by alternating the controller,
it might be possible to have up to six players racing.
BURN OUT was present, and as the review is featured in this issue, I
won't dwell on this one. The press seemed to be enjoying the game,
especially in the two player mode.
RAYMAN made an appearance in a near final, if not final form. The game
is fabulous, and not enough praise can be given to it. Animation is
silky smooth, the color palette is immense, and it is just plain
entertaining. The game has 60 levels total divided among six different
worlds and features a total of 50 different characters. This one is
set for an August release. The Rayman table also featured the Ubi Soft
press release folder. It contained press releases and photographs,
along with a Rayman Post-it notepad, a guitar pick, and a set of
Rayman stickers.
ULTRA VORTEK and RUINER shared a station, so very few people actually
saw Ruiner in action. That brings us to the delay of bringing Ultra
Vorte_k_ into production, the name. Turns out that there might have
been problems with the "Vortex" part of its name, so some switching
had to be done. On the plus side of this, however, is that VoiceData
modem code has been re-inserted. They weren't sure if it would be an
option or an easter egg, but it's back in for now. Everyone was
impressed by the graphics on the game, especially the backdrops.
However, the character animation turned off a chunk of the reporters,
the movement was somewhat jerky on the characters. Set for an August
release, the game was delayed for going into production due to a
variety of small reasons, such as the name change.
Ruiner was briefly displayed at the table, and its time there
immediately invoked memories of the Turbografx-16's Devils Crush. The
difference being that the game continuously scrolls up and down,
instead of jumping to different areas like in Devils/Aliens Crush.
The game was smooth and fast, but some work was still needed on it.
Some of the pinball table items are apparently going to be animated,
and that has yet to be implemented. This one is set for a September
release.
The next game came as somewhat of a surprise, BREAKOUT 2000. The game
is set in first person perspective, looking inwards towards the
bricks. The game board occupies a room with the floor covered in
bricks. The player's paddle is a clear rectangle that glides along in
front of these bricks, with the basic Breakout concept being to keep a
ball from going beyond this paddle. The game's setting is in space,
with a very high-tech look about the ship, the back of the screen is
made up of a window showing outer space. The game is still on the
fairly early side, and the power-ups have yet to be implemented. Some
of those which are going to be in the game, however, include bricks
that are unbreakable or require multiple hits, and an array of the
speed up/slow down variety of power-ups. The programmer has expressed
his desire to support a rotary controller, networking and possibly the
VoiceData Modem. A date wasn't given for this game.
DEFENDER 2000 was being shown by Jeff, with only the classic and plus
versions displayed. Jeff didn't want the press getting the wrong idea
about the 2K version, since it contained placeholder graphics. I'd
say everyone enjoyed this one. I caught several writers scrutinizing
the classic incarnation, this is one game that most of them seemed to
have very fond memories of. Jeff gave a description of his visions for
the 2K mode, and everyone seemed very pleased. One feature was the
ability to pick up people, and create a chain of them under the ship,
these people will then proceed to fire their weapons also. Looks
great, it's on cart, and Atari has it set for an October release.
PHASE ZERO (formerly, HOVER HUNTER) was on display, and was looking
sharp. The rep said the game was about 60 percent complete, and still
has a ways to go. What was shown was good, but what wasn't there was
even better. The terrain had a pixely/blocky look at times, but the
rep felt that this problem was in the process of being remedied. The
colors of the landscape were also undergoing some changes. Networking
wasn't available, but we were assured that it is a priority. The rep
also hinted at other -possible- options that might be in the final
version. These included a three TVs/three Jags mode in which the
player can be surrounded by the game. Virtual Reality was mentioned as
a -possibilty-. (Let's not count on it, and maybe we'll be surprised.)
An October release.
SPACE WAR 2000 was being alternated with Super Burnout, so it did not
see as much floor time as some of the other games. The ships' graphics
are very nice indeed. Each ship is fully texture mapped and looks very
nice. Upon exploding, the ships break into many different fragments
that go spinning around, one either really likes or really dislikes
the explosions. The framerate seemed fairly high at all times except
very close (touching) encounters. There are several views included
such as one behind the ship. The player can also purchase various
weapon upgrades as he or she earns money. Split screen was handled
through a vertical splice of the screen. There was one problem noted
with the two player mode. When an enemy player is killed, he or she
is forced to sit there until the other player finishes. I'm not
exactly sure how I feel about the game, but I feel that is mostly due
to amount of time available to play. Imagine sitting down and playing
Wing Commander for just a few minutes, it wouldn't give a fair
estimation of the game. I'll leave judgment of this game to a
previewer/reviewer. Expected release for Space War 2000 is in
September.
WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP was being shown along with the four player Team
Tap adapter. With four players around this game it was very amusing,
and with the adapter bundled with the game a large number of people
will be able to try this option out. Graphics are excellent and the
camera zooms steadily around. An all around great game that is
hampered in one area, a relatively poor framerate. At times it appears
to be choppy, which doesn't really bother one while playing, but it
can become annoying if one is just watching. However, that is the only
apparent problem I can immediately see about the game. This is listed
as a July release.
The other basketball game shown was CHARLES BARKLEY BASKETBALL. This
game has 20 characters to choose from including Charles Barkley, and
two separate modes of play. The first mode is the standard "versus
mode," where the player just chooses his character and plays. The
other mode is a tournament mode, where the player can end up endorsing
products on the way to the final against Charles Barkley. The game can
be summed up as a texture mapped NBA Jam without the special dunks.
This is another four player game, and is set for a September release.
The final cartridge game shown was BRETT HULL HOCKEY. The game is
actually listed for the CD player, so I'm not sure what the situation
on that is. Graphically, the game is similar to the Saturn hockey
game, with a very nicely drawn arena. The rendered players move around
the ice and the camera pulls back or zooms in to get a better view of
the action. November is the month when this should show up.
A copy of the Jaguar Virtual Reality game MISSILE COMMAND 2000 was up
and running, but the unit itself was going through some modifications,
so was not in use. The game itself is great, though. Silky smooth
throughout, with a large variety of enemy types. It even had bosses,
one of which looked like a dragon from the Saturn's Panzer Dragon.
One last cartridge game did make a last second appearance, but by the
time it showed up most of the press had left - PITFALL. This one, at
least from my first impressions, looked to be exactly like the SNES
version. The character may have been animated better, but it looked to
be a fairly straight port from what I saw.
//// Jaguar CD Games
After a while with the cartridge games it was time for the lunch
break. Lunch was pizza, just about every variety one can think of, and
beer. Given the legal drinking age, yours truly had a Mountain Dew.
While we inhaled the Round Table pizza, the various employees set up
the CD players for the second half of the gaming, the CD stuff.
I'll start with my personal favorite, HIGHLANDER. The first disc is
set for release in August, and the two sequels are expected to appear
one every three months. The actual game wasn't available, but a VCR
displayed a huge chunk of it. This Alone in the Dark style adventure
has some of the most gorgeous backdrops I have ever seen. They are all
fully rendered and have a look that is unprecedented in a video game.
The main character is made up of polygons, but he is currently
undergoing some changes. Shading will be added to make him appear more
realistic, and some minor texture maps on areas such as the face will
be included. The game seems quite large and is visually =very=
stunning.
The by-now very familiar FMV from VARUNA'S FORCES was being displayed,
but unfortunately, that was all that was shown on this game. A couple
other CD games were just showing the FMV, these included the Nerf MAX
FORCE game, and COMMANDER BLOOD.
DEMOLITION MAN was shown in a fairly incomplete form. The game is
apparently being made not to copy the 3DO version, but to improve on
it. Several details from the FMV quality, to the animation on the gun
in the shooting stages have been advanced.
The pack-ins, BLUE LIGHTNING and VID GRID, haven't undergone any
changes, so I'll skip those. MYST was on display also, and looked
exactly like the computer counterparts.
BALDIES was on display, and the rep said it should be available
whenever the CD player comes out. The game is a top down perspective
simulation/strategy type game, with fairly straightforward graphics.
There was no attempt to be made at hiding the games graphics, while
they are good, they aren't quite "64-Bit?" graphics. The game does
seem to shine quite nicely, however. The idea was to take the best
elements from every strategy game made, and roll them up into one tidy
package. Although that is a claim various video games have made for
quite some time, this one seems to succeed in some ways.
The player acts as an overlord, and controls the lives of little
characters. The gameplay has been kept very simple, each tool item
won't have more than three "layers" of depth. Click on a house, it
takes you to the interior, same with a click on a tree. The player
assigns each character one of three occupations, a carpenter, a
scientist, and one other which eludes me. One goal of the game is to
develop new technologies to use against the enemy. By picking up an
object and dragging it to the science lab new items will be invented.
A rock will make it rain rocks, a skunk will provide a skunk spray,
and objects can even be combined. The player has to go through many
levels in a number of different regions, such as Hell, the woodlands,
and the circus. The game isn't Jag exclusive, and it was mentioned
that it is coming out on nearly every platform known to man.
The last game was a very pleasant surprise, BLACK ICE\WHITE NOISE.
The game takes place in a very large virtual world, I believe about 40
or 50 game miles. Everything is nicely texture mapped and has a very
realistic look to it. The game engine is in 3D, but the player is
visible on the screen, the effect looks very nice. The player walks
around the city, and is capable of entering some of the buildings.
Along the way the player encounters various people, each represented
through a FMV conversation. The player can choose attitudes to hold
during the conversation, similar to Return to Zork. Many different
types of guns are available at the weapons shops scattered around the
city for the player's use. The game has a very Cyberpunk feel to it,
and that's just the impression it wants to make. The player can choose
how to live his or her life in the game, if the player takes on good
missions he won't have a wonderful "reputation", if the player chooses
assassination type missions, many civilians won't want to deal with
him or her. The whole game will have an imbedded plot that will be
uncovered as the player takes the various missions. This looks to be a
very, very hot release.
After previewing all the CD software, the press was given a collection
of materials and gifts. Each attendee received a Jaguar press video,
which featured several games not included at the show. These include
shots of Primal Rage, Thea Realm Fighters, Hover Strike CD, and
Dragons Lair. Also included was a Jaguar binder filled with Jaguar
information, including a copy of the presentation given, and a packet
dealing with Jaguar "bitness".
Each person was also given a sample of corporate goodies including the
Atari hat, pen, dufflebag, keychain, mug, bumper sticker, shirt, and a
Nerf gun. Finally, each magazine was given a copy of Flip Out and Blue
Lightning to take home. To complete the idea of "Fun'n Games", Atari
handed out a free pass and meal ticket to Paramount's Great America
theme park to all media/employees. So to end the day, everyone who
wanted, got to spend the evening enjoying the local coasters - Top Gun
being a personal favorite :). It seems fairly obvious that Atari has
recognized the problems with the media, and is doing what they can to
remedy them. Let's just hope everyone was paying attention to
everything.
--==--==--==--==--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- --==--==-- CompuServe Sign-Up Information --==--==-- --
-- --
-- To sign up for CompuServe service, call (voice call) (800) 848-8199. --
-- Ask for operator #198. You will be sent a $15.00 value CIS membership --
-- kit for free. --
-- --
-- --==--==-- CompuServe Sign-Up Information --==--==-- --
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--==--==--==--==--
||| Jaguar Tackboard
||| Confirmed information about Atari's Jaguar
/ | \ Compiled from online and official sources
-----------------------------------------------------------------
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Independent Association of Jaguar Developers
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The IAJD (Independent Association of Jaguar Developers) has started
accepting members on GEnie. The IAJD is a private group where
confidential discussions can be freely held. (Category 64 of the ST
RoundTable is the IAJD meeting place.) Consequently, membership in the
IAJD is limited to Jaguar developers who are registered with Atari
Corp. To apply for membership, send EMail to ENTRY$ on GEnie (or
<entry$@genie.com> if you're not on GEnie). Regular EMail
correspondence with the IAJD should be sent to IAJD$ (again, or
<iajd$@genie.com> if you're not on GEnie).
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// NEW Internet Jaguar Mailing List
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Tony's Jaguar mailing list has had to be taken down, but the
resourceful Christian Svensson picked up the message flow without
skipping a beat.
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@bucknell.edu>
With the following as the body message:
subscribe jaguar FirstName LastName
(Where "FirstName" is your real first name and "LastName" is your real
last name.)
You should then soon receive the subscription information including such
options as a digest (for those who have requested that in the past).
The actual list address is: <jaguar@bucknell.edu>. All mail will go to
the list server and be sent to the hundreds of 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 2.06
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Editor: The following list of game titles has been confirmed to
the best of AEO's ability as of July 17, 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,
"H"ardware, or "V"R software. (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 8/95 MidNite MidNite
C Alien vs. Predator: The CD 2/96 Atari
n Allegiance - Team 17
u Arena Football League 10/95 V Real Productions Atari
C Artemis Mid96 Springer Spaniel Springer
u Atari Kart 10/95 Atari
Attack of the Mutant Penguins 10/95 Atari
C Baldies 9/95 Atari Atari
C Batman Forever 4/96 Atari Atari
C Battlemorph 8/95 Attention to Detail Atari
u Battlesphere 10/95 4Play 4Play
u Battlewheels 1Q/96 Beyond Games Beyond Games
C Black ICE\White Noise 12/95 Atari Atari
C Blue Lightning 8/95 Attention to Detail Atari
C Braindead 13 10/95 Readysoft Readysoft
C Brett Hull Hockey 11/95 Atari
Casino Royale - Telegames Telegames
Center Court Tennis ? Zeppelin Games
Charles Barkley Basketball 9/95 Atari
n C Commander Blood 12/95 Atari
C Commando 11/95 Microids Atari
Conan - Arcade Zone
C Creature Shock 8/95 Argonaut Software Virgin
'Dactyl Joust 11/95 High Voltage Atari
C Dante 6/96 Atari
Deathwatch 12/95 Visual Design Atari
C Defender 2000 10/95 LlamaSoft Atari
C Demolition Man 8/95 Virgin Interactive Atari
C Deus ex Machina 12/95 Silmarils
C Dragon's Lair 8/95 ReadySoft ReadySoft
Droppings ? Delta Music Systems
C Dune Racer 1/96 Atari
Dungeon Depths ? MidNite
? Evidence ? Microids
C FIFA International Soccer - Electronic Arts
P Flashback 8/95 Tiertex Ltd. U.S. Gold
P Flip Out *8* Gorilla Systems Atari
C Formula Racing (was F1 Racer) 11/95 Domark Group Ltd. Atari
Frank Thomas Baseball 4/96 Acclaim Atari
C Freelancer 2120 Q3/95 Imagitec Design Atari
Galactic Gladiators ? Photosurrealism
n Gotcha! 1996
Hardball 3 - Atari Atari
u C Highlander I 9/95 Lore Design Ltd. Atari
u C Highlander II 11/95 Lore Design Ltd. Atari
u C Highlander III 1/96 Lore Design Ltd. Atari
Horrorscope - V-Real Productions
C Hover Strike CD 9/95 Atari Atari
Hyper Force - Visual Impact C-West
Indiana Jags - Virtual Xperience
C Iron Soldier II 1/96 Eclipse Atari
u Ironman/Exoman 4/96 Acclaim Atari
C Ishar Genesis 12/95 Silmarils
James Pond 3 Q2/95 Telegames
? Kick Off 3 ? Anco Software Ltd.
Legions of the Undead Q4/95 Rebellion Software Atari
? Lester the Unlikely ? DTMC
C Litil Divil - Gremlin Interactive
C Lobo ? Ocean Software Ltd.
C Magic Carpet 12/95 Bullfrog Atari
C Max Force 9/95 Atari
C Mind-ripper 2/96 Atari
V Missile Command VR 12/95 Atari
? Mountain Sports ? DTMC
C Mortal Kombat III 4/96 Williams Atari
H MPEG - Atari Atari
C Myst 8/95 Atari
NBA Jam TE - Acclaim Atari
Nanoterror ? Delta Music Systems
C Need For Speed - Electronic Arts
Nerves of Steel ? Rainmaker Software
u C Netwar 11/95 Atari Atari
? C Neurodancer ? PIXIS Interactive
u Phase Zero (was Hover Hunter) Q4/95 Hyper Image Atari
u Pitfall 9/95 Activision
u Power Drive Rally 9/95 Rage Software Time-Warner
C Powerslide 1995 Williams Brothers Telegames
C Primal Rage 11/95 Time-Warner Time-Warner
Rainbow Warrior ? 3D Games
u RayMan 8/95 UBI Soft UBI Soft
n C Return Fire - Alexandria
Return of Magic Q4/95 Virtual Artistry
C Return to Zork - Activision
C Rise of the Robots Q4/95 Williams Brothers Time-Warner
u C Robinson's Requiem 9/95 Silmarils Atari
n C Rocky Horror Interactive 6/96
n Rollcage - Team 17
Ruiner 9/95 High Voltage Atari
u Skyhammer 12/95 Rebellion Software Atari
u Soccer Kid - Krisalis Software Ocean
C Soulstar 9/95 Core Design Atari
C Space Ace 8/95 ReadySoft ReadySoft
u Space War 2000 10/95 Atari
C Starlight Bowl-a-rama 10/95 V-Real Productions
n Sudden Impact 12/95
Super Off-Road - Telegames
u Supercross 3D 9/95 Atari
T-Mek - Time-Warner
C Thea Relm Fighters 10/95 High Voltage Atari
Ultimate Brain Games - Telegames
u Ultra Vortek 8/95 Beyond Games Atari
C Varuna's Forces 11/95 Accent Media Atari
C Vid Grid 8/95 Atari Atari
Virtual Warriors ? Rainmaker Software
C Virtuoso 1995 Williams Brothers Telegames
Waterworld ? Ocean Software Ltd.
C Wayne Gretzky NHL Hockey 11/95 Time-Warner Time-Warner
P White Men Can't Jump 7/95 High Voltage Atari
Wild Cup Soccer 1995 Telegames
C Wing Commander III - Electronic Arts
n Witchwood - Team 17
World Class Cricket - Telegames
? World Cup ? Anco Software Ltd.
n Worms Q4/95 Team 17
n Zero 5 1996
V Zone Hunter - Virtuality Virtuality
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
Miniature Golf ? DTMC
Racing - Gremlin Graphics
Fighter - Level 7
C Sports - AM1 Atari
Movie tie-in -
//// 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
H Cat Box N/A Black Cat Design Black Cat
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
Double Dragon V 4 Williams Enter. Williams
Dragon 7 Virgin Interactive Atari
Evolution Dino-Dudes 6 Imagitec Design Atari
Hover Strike - Atari Atari
International Sensible Soccer - Williams Brothers Telegames
Iron Soldier 10 Eclipse Atari
Kasumi Ninja 8 Hand Made Software Atari
Pinball Fantasies 8 NEW Spider Soft C-West
Raiden 6 Imagitec Design Atari
Super Burnout 8 NEW Shen Atari
Syndicate - Bullfrog Ocean
Tempest 2000 10 LlamaSoft Atari
Theme Park 6 Bullfrog Ocean
Troy Aikman NFL Football 7 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.
//// The Short Term Schedule
Here's the Jaguar software schedule for the next few months. Please
bear in mind that these dates represent everyone's best assumptions.
July: White Men Can't Jump
August: Air Cars (?) September: Baldies
Jaguar CD Player Charles Barkley Basketball
Battlemorph Highlander I
Blue Lightning Hover Strike CD
Creature Shock Nerf Max Force
Demolition Man Pitfall
Dragon's Lair Power Drive Rally
Flashback (?) Robinson's Requiem
Flip Out Ruiner
Myst Soulstar
Rayman Supercross
Space Ace
Ultra Vortek
Vid Grid
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Press Releases
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// New Software Titles
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jessica Nagel or Tom Tanno
Dorf & Stanton Communications, Inc.,
(310) 479-4997 or (800) 444-6663
ATARI PRESENTS NEW SOFTWARE TITLES
AT "FUN 'N' GAMES" MEDIA DAY
SUNNYVALE, CA (JUNE 20, 1995)-Numerous new titles for the Jaguar
system and Jaguar CD were previewed at the "Fun 'N' Games" media event
at Atari Corporation headquarters today. Hands-on previews and
demonstrations were conducted by game producers and developers. In
addition, the event highlighted marketing strategy, technology
developments, and a presentation of peripherals including Jaguar VR.
Atari Corporation continues its Jaguar software library expansion,
approaching 100 titles for its 64-bit Jaguar entertainment system by
the end of the year. "We will have every kind of game that players
want, from the best developers and publishers in the world," comments
Atari President Sam Tramiel.
The titles demonstrated at "Fun 'N' Games" include:
=*= Blue Lightning (CD) =*=
Gamers pilot a chosen plane from a squadron of United Nations
operatives as they fight to stop General Drako, the UN member turned
terrorist. Players design flight plans and use their quick maneuvering
skills to destroy key enemy locations and bases. Players also protect
cargo planes and other UN planes transporting important government
officials.
=*= Hover Hunter (working title) (cart) =*=
The age of limitless resources and vast armies is over. The
battlefield now belongs to the elite; those with the speed, firepower,
reflexes and intelligence to get the job done fast and done right. As
pilot of a high-speed attack hovercraft, gamers man the most powerful
tool utilized in this struggle for complete global domination.
=*= White Men Can't Jump (cart) =*=
Trash talk runs rampant on this in-your-face, two-on-two, blacktop
basketball shoot-out. Automatic camera control zooms in and swings
around to catch all the action in this fast-paced, hard playing new
sports game for the 64-bit Jaguar.
White Men Can't Jump will be released bundled with the Team Tap, the
multi-player adapter for the Atari Jaguar, a $29.95 value.
=*= FlipOut! (Cart) =*=
A puzzle game with an alien twist. Take a tour of the Cheese Planet
(or as the citizens call it, Planet Phromahj) which includes nine
different areas of game play, with multiple games per area, and four
difficulty levels, from normal to psychotic. Whatever you do, watch
out for those mischievous little aliens. Some of them will try to help
you (if you can call it help), but most of them will try to trip you
up for the fun of it. If they weren't so cute, you'd wring their
necks.
=*= Highlander (CD) =*=
You are Quentin MacLeod, the hope of mankind. An immortal raised as an
ordinary child, your destiny was unknown until the day slave traders
destroyed your village, kidnapped the Dundees, and killed your mother.
As she died, your mother called you "The Highlander" and urged you to
seek out the stranger who would train you to fulfill your destiny--to
wrestle mankind from the grasp of the evil immortal, Kortan. You must
find this stranger, an immortal named, Ramirez, who will help you
gather the knowledge you need to defeat Kortan. Your first quest is to
rescue the Dundees from Kortan's stronghold.
Highlander includes original dialog from the actors in the animated
series and cinepaked sequences from the animated series as well.
=*= Myst (CD) =*=
Get lost in the worlds of Myst. Use your mind to unlock the secrets of
ages past. What happened to the worlds Atrus created? Is one of his
sons behind the destruction? It's up to you to find out. Take careful
notes. Everything you see or hear, no matter how insignificant, could
be the key to unlocking the mystery.
=*= SuperX (cart) =*=
Supercross enables the player to experience this exhilarating dirt
bike ride and race from a realistic first person biker's perspective.
The track is constructed from texture mapped polygons allowing full
360 degree 3D generation of the course. The game is based around three
main modes: practice, single race, and championship / tournament. The
riders have particular characteristics that affect performance,
including strength, weight, agility and accumulated factors such as
injuries and morale (based on recent from). Put on your helmet....
you're in for everything from tunnel jumps to triples... get out in
front quick and you'll have everyone freight-training behind you.
=*= Baldies (CD) =*=
Ever want to rule the world? With Baldies, you have the resources but
do you have the strategy and skill? Build your own society complete
with workers, builders, soldiers, and scientists, and use them to
create your own world and conquer the enemy.
Use your scientists to invent creative ways to kill the enemy.
Dropping a skunk into an enemy house to make them run out into a
minefield you've laid is just one way to get rid of them. You can also
drown them, electrocute them, and trap them, to name just a few of
their useful ploys.
You are only limited by your own imagination. This game is truly for
all ages. With its advanced AI, it can be a "fishbowl" where you
observe the baldies multiplying and living out their lives or you can
interact, decide to conquer the world and attack the bad guys (those
with hair). There are five areas of game play with literally hundreds
of levels, including secret levels and secret warps to get to other
levels.
=*= Robinson's Requiem (CD) =*=
This is the ultimate test of human endurance in an alien world--a
survival / adventure simulation set in a startlingly realistic virtual
environment the likes of which has never before been seen. You are
imprisoned on an alien planet --Zarathustra-- and your aim is to
escape. If you have to amputate one of your own limbs in order to
survive, then that's what you must do.
To escape, you'll need to use the environment and your cunning, and do
anything necessary to stay alive--including amputating your own limbs.
Features more than 100 variables in real time; your body temperature,
stress, fatigue, pain, coughs, malaria, poisoning, fractures,
gangrene, hallucinations... Deal with diseases and health hazards and
fight off predators.
This is no outward-bound weekend. Robinson's Requiem will test your
survival skills to the limit. Keep your wits about you Robinson, and
you just might make it.
=*= Charles Barkley Basketball (cart) =*=
Charles Barkley Basketball is an over-the-top, in-your-face two-on-two
basketball game. The player has 20 characters to choose from including
Charles Barkley. There are also two modes: versus and tournament mode.
In versus mode, pick your players and go at it. In tournament mode, if
you're good enough, you can even end up endorsing products as your
work your way through the tournament to meet Charles Barkley in the
finals to see who really is the best.
=*= Commander Blood (CD) =*=
Bob Morlock, the oldest being in the universe, is the boss of Kanary
Corp., a gigantic business he founded over two hundred thousand years
ago. All of his millions of employees were built by and for Kanary,
which spends colossal sums of money just to keep Bob alive. Bob has
felt the end approaching so it is time to delve into the meaning of
life, the central truth of existence. Bob has put together an
expedition through time to the final destination: the Big Bang. The
Kanary Research Corp. scientists have developed an amazing black hole,
name Oddland; a new era in space travel has dawned.
As Commander Blood, you take command of the Ark (the best spaceship
anyplace, anytime), aided by Hank, the onboard bioconsciousness, and
Olga, the onboard translator), with Morlock on board as well. Your job
is to fly through Oddland as often as it takes to get to the Big Bang.
However, black holes aren't just the natural boundary points between
universes, they're also political borders and are heavily guarded by
SCRUT ships. To make your trip a little easier, you have several
identities: frozen meat salesman, roadie for the famous "Migrators"
rock band, etc. Each universe contains not only business and military
vessels, but also a number of planets. You'll need to make friends, do
favors, or get involved in local wars to gather information you will
need. Good luck!
=*= Breakout 2000 (cart) =*=
Breakout 2000 is an update to Atari's classic game, Breakout. As in
the original, the game consists of a paddle, a ball, and a playfield
composed of bricks. The difference in Breakout 2000 is that it changes
the viewpoint by rotating the playfield back into a 3/4 3D
perspective. The objective will still be to get a high score by
clearing the playfield of all removable bricks and not losing your
turn by missing the ball.
To make this more difficult, there are bricks that are non-breakable
and some must be hit more than once to be broken. Also there are
power-ups which may give you an extra ball, speed up your ball, slow
down your ball, etc. If you loved the original, you'll love this.
=*= Vid Grid (CD) =*=
Here's a whole new way to "play" music videos. As you watch each
video, the screen is divided into squares that are all mixed up. You
have to unscramble each video while it's playing and before the music
ends. You choose to divide the screen by 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6 squares,
upside down, to name just a few of the options. Vid Grid features some
of your favorite full-length, uncut videos including Red Hot Chili
Peppers, Peter Gabriel, Aerosmith, Sound Garden and more. It takes
just minutes to learn, but provides hours of challenging
entertainment. (And to make it even better, it will be packed-in to
the Jaguar CD player at launch).
=*= Varuna's Forces (CD) =*=
Varuna's Forces is an action strategy game with elements of a "shoot
'em up". You are in control of a team of four soldiers of the United
Coalition of Planets, Marine Attack Division, nicknamed Varuna's
Forces. The team is equipped with helmet cameras and microphones
linked via radio to your tactical command console. You
see, on your
common screen, views from each of your soldier's cameras. Also at your
disposal is an overall view of a plan of the area with your troops'
positions indicated.
Your soldiers have his or her personal characteristics and
relationships with his or her teammates which change over time.
Sometimes command decisions must be made not just upon the physical
status of a particular soldier, but also upon his or her personal
attributes. You are given a number of scenarios from which to choose,
however, your objective is to successfully complete each one. You may
need to obtain the release of hostages, or capture an entire area or
base, or capture a particular piece of equipment.
=*= Battlemorph (CD) =*=
One of the most realistic 3D shooter/explorer games to date,
Battlemorph picks up where Cybermorph left off. This sequel will have
more unique worlds, more elaborate missions, and both underwater
regions and underground tunnels to explore. Players can use the
various formations of the War Griffon to battle into enemy territory,
using fighter, tank, and amphibious forms to gain the edge over
enemies.
=*= Space War 2000 (cart) =*=
As a space knight, gamers vie for glory, honor, fame and fortune in
this first-person perspective 3D adventure. With the proceeds from
each successful intergalactic joust, players can procure multiple
weapons to defeat the enemy and have their name cast for eternity in
"The High Score Table".
=*= Ultra Vortek (cart) =*=
Players become one of ten eye-popping, bone-crunching warriors of the
underground who battle it out in mind-bending arenas carved from the
living rock, with one goal in mind: Defeat the dreaded Guardian of the
Vortek. This game features a "lock-out" code to limit violence within
gameplay.
=*= Creature Shock (CD) =*=
The remains of the SS Amazon, a space-drifting ship abandoned in 2023,
is the setting for this fully rendered 3D animation Sci-Fi / Adventure
game. In the hopes of finding a new home for the dying planet Earth,
players must kill the deadly, crawling creatures which have inhabited
the ship, before the creatures literally slash and burn them first.
Created by Argonaut, designers of Nintendo's Special FX(tm) Chip.
=*= Demolition Man (CD) =*=
Based on the movie starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes, this
title features several different types of gameplay including shooting,
car chasing, tunnel hunting, and hand-to-hand combat. Players will
actually control cinematic-quality live action footage of Stallone as
Demolition Man in this game, which smoothly merges movie and video
footage. Includes footage of Stallone and Snipes filmed specially for
this interactive adventure.
=*= Black ICE \ White Noise (CD) =*=
No Respite. No Rails. No Rules.
In Black ICE \ White Noise players take the role of a street-level
cyberpunk in the urban blightscape of New San Francisco, walking a
barbed wire tightrope between the cysta line informational world of
C-Space and the grimy reality of The Street and The Meat. Gameplay
features include point-of-view C-Space hacking, full-motion video
encounters, and digitized video sprites of gangs, crazies, cops,
Corps... and corpses.
Play a good guy who fights the good fight...or a bad girl who left her
heart in San Francisco a long time ago. Ooops--your mission went bad
and you just blew away a cop. Now here come allllll his friends. Make
a note: Better do some creative hacking on that lengthy police record
of yours, after you get out of this alive.
If you get out of this alive...
=*= Defender 2000 (cart) =*=
This arcade classic (from the creator of Tempest 2000 for the Jaguar)
will feature autofire for the basic laser; loads of enemies;
additional weapons; bonus rounds; a graphically enhanced ship and
enemies; spectacular explosions; scrolling and warping backdrops; up
to four modes of play (including "CPU assist"); and, of course, great
music.
=*= Thea Realm Fighters (CD) =*=
As one of 12 digitized fighters, you must defeat all the others before
facing SurRaider, a powerful warrior from another dimension. Four or
more special moves and two "killer" moves will help you win your
battles against hidden SubBosses and 5 secret characters. Defeat up to
21 characters in a single game or SurRaider will conquer the planet
and add Earth to his vast empire.
=*= Brett Hull Hockey (cart) =*=
This 3D game offers the player two different perspectives and features
a camera which zooms in and out and moves in all directions to keep up
with the fast paced action. The power, colors, and speed of the Jaguar
and texture mapping will give the gamer a true 3D experience.
=*= Max Force (CD) =*=
This game takes place at the Max Force Virtual Training Facility where
you must be smart, quick, and accurate with over a dozen Nerf weapons
in order to become a member of the elite Max Force Team. While
shooting enemies and targets, collect all four pieces of the Max Force
medallion and destroy the boss in each level. Three dimensional
artwork and first-person perspective with action taking place in a
Virtual Reality Simulator guarantee lots of Nerf fun where no one gets
hurt.
# # #
Jaguar is a trademark of Atari Corporation. Atari is a registered
trademark of Atari Corporation. Other products may be trademarks or
registered trademarks of their owning companies.
Atari has been in the video game business for over twenty years.
Today, Atari markets Jaguar, the only American made, advanced 64-Bit
entertainment system. Atari Corporation is located in Sunnyvale, CA.
//// Ted Hoff, President of North American Operations
CONTACT: August Liguori
Atari Corporation
(408) 745-2069
Jessica Nagel and Patricia Kerr
Dorf & Stanton Communications, Inc.
(310) 479-4997 or (800) 444-6663
For Immediate Release...
ATARI CORPORATION NAMES
HOFF PRESIDENT OF NORTH AMERICAN OPERATIONS
SUNNYVALE, CA -- (June 26, 1995) -- Earlier this morning Atari
Corporation announced that Theodore M. Hoff has joined the company's
core management team as President of North American Operations. Hoff
will oversee Atari Corporation's North American operations, which
includes the United States, Canada and Mexico.
"We are very pleased to have Ted Hoff at Atari," said Atari
Corporation President/CEO Sam Tramiel. "His extensive industry
experience will play an integral part, both in the planning and
execution of our long and short term corporate strategies."
Prior to joining Atari Corporation, Mr. Hoff was Senior Vice President
and General Manager of Fox Interactive, a division of Twentieth
Century Fox. During his tenure, Hoff launched Fox's interactive
entertainment division, establishing the company's mission, structure,
five-year strategic and financial plans, and led the launch of
multiple titles based on their film and television properties.
From 1990 to 1994, Mr. Hoff held the key position of Senior Vice
President of Time Warner Interactive, Inc. (TWI), the home
entertainment software publisher subsidiary of Time Warner, Inc. At
TWI Hoff directed sales and marketing and established annual and
long-range strategies and financial objectives.
Hoff hired and directed senior staff, including directors of
marketing, sales, licensing and acquisition, and third party publisher
affiliates. Under Hoff's direction, Time Warner Interactive launched
15 to 20 new titles per year including arcade, theatrical, and sports
licenses.
Mr. Hoff's previous experience also includes senior management
positions at United Brands Co. and Philip Morris, where Hoff launched
new products and directed retail sales, marketing, and operations at
both corporations.
Atari has been in the video game business for over twenty years.
Today, Atari markets Jaguar, the only American made, advanced 64-Bit
entertainment system. Atari Corporation is located in Sunnyvale CA.
//// Atari & Activision Sign Deal
CONTACT: Jessica Nagel or Patricia Kerr
Dorf & Stanton Communications, Inc.
(310) 479-4997 or (800) 444-6663
_For Immediate Release_
Atari Corporation Inks Licensing Agreement With Activision
Inc. Deal yields release of classic Atari titles for PCs.
Sunnyvale, CA -- (July 17, 1995) -- Atari Corporation announced today
the finalization of a contract with Activision Inc., a Los Angeles
based leader in software development. Atari Corporation's pact with
the prestigious developer will bring consumers classic Atari titles in
multiple formats. The agreement will also result in the release of the
all-time American favorite, "Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure" for Jaguar
64.
"Our collaboration with Activison will offer exciting entertainment
for both Jaguar 64 consumers and PC users," said Ted Hoff, Atari
Corporation's President of North American Operations. "'Pitfall' is a
fine example of our continued commitment to provide Jaguar gamers with
top-quality titles."
The release of "Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure" for the Jaguar 64 system
will be an ideal showcase for the extensive capabilities of this
advanced home entertainment system. "Pitfall" reflects the power of
Jaguar's superior 64-bit technology, resulting in brilliant color,
intense speed, and stereo sound. The jungle adventure game has a
target ship date of mid September.
Numerous Atari classic games will soon be available to PC users when
Activision releases "Atari Action Pak II" for single-user IBM and PC
compatible computers. The special "Pak" will also provide consumers
with PC versions of such memorable Atari titles as: "Air Sea Battle";
"Breakout", "Super Breakout"; "Space War"; "Surround"; "Millipede";
"Combat"; "Yar's Revenge"; "Canyon Bomber"; "Gravitar"; "Maze Craze";
and "Night Driver".
The "Pitfall" release under the Activision agreement is one of the
many exciting games for the Atari Jaguar 64 library, which will
approach 100 titles by the end of the year. The expanded library will
include CD titles for the much anticipated Jaguar CD system, which
will be shipping in August.
For over 20 years, Atari Corporation has provided consumers with
high-quality, value- priced entertainment. Atari Corporation markets
Jaguar, the only American-made, advanced 64-bit entertainment system
and is located in Sunnyvale, California.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// How Many Bits is Jaguar?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
(And what does it mean anyway?)
The number of bits used to characterize a computing system is, in
general, a fairly straightforward issue. The candidates for the number
to use are:
1) The number of bits in the data bus. This is the number of bits that
can be transferred from one part of the system to another at one
time.
2) The number of bits in the ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit).
This is the number of bits that can be computed at once.
3) The number of bits in a data register. This is the number
of bits that make up a value when stored inside a chip.
The number usually used is the first one, the width of the data bus.
This is because there are bottlenecks in all systems. These need to be
avoided. The transfer of data is a vital aspect of performance and it
has been seen to be an important way to judge overall system
performance.
First, a bit of history. The first popular microprocessor was the
Intel 8080. It had an 8-bit data bus (meaning 8 bits of data could be
transferred at one time), an 8-bit ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit, so it
could compute 8 bits at once), and 8-bit wide registers. There was a
universal agreement that this should be called an "8-bit processor".
Another popular 8-bit processor is the 6502. Like the 8080, the 6502
has an 8-bit data bus, an 8-bit ALU and 8-bit registers. There was
also universal agreement that this should be called an 8-bit
processor. The 6502 is the processor used as the computation base of
many popular systems. These include: game systems such as the Atari
2600, 5200, 7800 and the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), as well
as computer systems such as Atari 400, 800, Commodore VIC-20, C-64 and
Apple II. These are the classic 8-bit machines.
Now the confusion starts. Consider the Intel 8088. The chip has an
8-bit data bus, a 16-bit ALU and 16-bit registers. Intel called this
an 8-bit processor because it has an 8-bit data bus to distinguish it
from the 8086 which is the 16-bit bus version. The 8088 was used in
the first IBM PC and IBM called it 16-bit. This was probably because
the Apple II was 8-bit and IBM wanted to be bigger. In this case, the
stretch is not completely ridiculous because the 8088 is identical to
the 8086 except for the width of the data bus.
Next consider the Motorola 68000. This has a 16-bit data bus, a 16-bit
ALU and 32-bit registers. It is also known as a 16-bit processor. The
68000 was the heart of the original Apple Macintosh. For reasons no
doubt similar to IBM's, Apple chose to call the Mac a 32-bit machine
(although no one really really believed them).
Intel actually worked a clever way around this problem when the 386
came out. The 386 is a true 32-bit chip with a 32-bit data bus, a
32-bit ALU and 32-bit registers. Intel also produced a version of the
386 that was identical except that it has a 16-bit data bus. Intel
called the 32-bit bus version the 386DX and the 16-bit version the
386SX. The performance difference between these two chips demonstrates
the validity of the data bus criterion. By the convention, the 8088
and 8086 should be called the 8086SX and 8086DX respectively. The
concept of system architecture is quite useful here. The 386 is a
32-bit architecture and the 386SX is a 16-bit implementation of that
architecture. Just to add confusion, Intel changed the meaning of DX
and SX with the 486. The 486SX is missing an on-chip coprocessor.
In the video game arena, things were quite a bit simpler. The Sega
Genesis used, as it main processor, the 68000. Either, as a result of
a failure of marketing imagination or due to Apple's failure to
convince anyone that the original Mac was 32-bit, Sega called the
Genesis a 16-bit machine. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System
(SNES) is based on a 65816, a 16-bit version of the 6502. This is also
a 16-bit system. Both of these systems use 16-bit graphic chips. This
means that the graphics chips in the system are capable of moving data
around the system 16-bits at a time. The NEC Turbo Graphics 16 is an
interesting machine. It used an 8-bit processor but contained 16-bit
graphics hardware. This is the first popular example of the bit size
of a system not being determined by the central processor, but by
other parts of the system. Another example of a 16-bit system
containing an 8-bit processor is the Atari Lynx.
To recap the discussion above, there are several different numbers
that can be used to classify a computing system. The one that has had
the best historical success, is the width of the data bus. At present,
this is relatively easy to do. Just count the number of wires
carrying data. As technology advances, this will become harder since
the busses will be on-chip. This means that the actual 64 wires may
not be visible on the circuit board, as they are now. The details may
change, but the basic principal will remain the same.
Now, how many bits is the Jaguar?
The heart of the Jaguar architecture is a 64-bit data bus. This
allows several of the system components to operate on 64-bits of data
simultaneously and pass those results around the same way. These
components are:
=*= Object Processor =*=
This system element takes an image from DRAM (main
memory) to draw it on the screen. It reads DRAM 64-bits
at a time.
=*= BLiTTER =*=
This moves data around the system. It is optimized for
the transfer of graphics data. The BLiTTER is capable of
64-bit reads and writes.
=*= GPU =*=
This is the true computational heart of the system. It
is a custom RISC processor, with a 64-bit data bus, a
32-bit ALU and 32-bit registers.
There are other support components in the Jaguar that are not 64-bit
in nature. This does not prevent the system from being 64-bit.
From this, it should be easier to see that the Atari Jaguar really is
a 64-bit system.
(This document issued at Atari's "Fun 'N' Games" press event held June
20, 1995 at Atari headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. Tradenames
used are Trademarks or Registered Trademarks of their owning
companies.)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Extract of CatNip
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[Editor: All of the following articles are taken from various
CatNips, and are written by Atari's own Don Thomas. Don does work
above and beyond the call of duty in keeping onliners informed of
newsworthy items and events.]
//// Fun N Games Day
On June 20, 1995 (yesterday as I write this), Atari Corporation hosted
an all day "Fun 'N' Games" event for select gaming industry press
members. Valued online publication representatives were invited as
well as the hard copy gaming magazines. After all the RSVPs were
narrowed down, about two dozen hard core gaming reporters were hosted
to an entire day of news, previews, and interviews. Events included
structured, one-on-one, face-to-face, closed-door, candid interviews
with Atari's most experienced programmers, producers and testers.
Guests were given opportunities to take their own exclusive
photographs and screen captures. Every visitor was provided an
extensive press package with E3 releases as well as brand new
material. Nagging questions were answered and undoubtedly new ones
were created. When the festivities wound down at the end of the
business day, Atari escorted the dazed bunch to Great America
amusement park for the rest of the evening and in through the night.
(Paramount's Great America, located in Santa Clara, California is the
one used in Beverly Hills Cop III. No, Eddie couldn't make it.)
(Regrettably, my son fell ill yesterday with some 24-hour stomach flu
so I was unable to do much more than work from home. Consequently, I
found myself playing catch up with everyone in the office today to see
how it went.)
//// Fall Retail Plans
SOME SMOOTH MOVES FROM A COOL CAT
While speaking to Mr. Garry Tramiel Friday, he said I could pass on to
everyone some GREAT news. Jaguar exposure on retail shelves and in
popular consumer catalogs will be outstanding. As always, information
is subject to change. The purpose of sharing this is to help keep
people informed...
The Jaguar will be featured in the new Sears Christmas Wish Book and
in upcoming Speigel and J.C. Penney catalogs. The Jaguar will also be
at ALL Venture locations sometime in October. Montgomery Ward will
carry Jaguar in their San Francisco and Los Angeles locations this
fall. A big St. Louis chain called Grandpa's will carry the Jaguar
within the next few months approaching the fall and Christmas. The
Jaguar will be in the top Software Etc. locations and K-Mart is
looking carefully at how the Jaguar does at a location where FunCo is
a concession operator in the store.
People in many areas have already told me they have noticed our
efforts to get the Jaguar's exposure in Toys R Us locations to expand
and improve. Look for similar successful efforts in many other retail,
chains too such as Tower Records, Electronics Boutique and the
Wherehouse locations.
There are a lot more pending success stories which are simply waiting
for the ink to dry on the paper.
//// Different Tees
Atari collectors and Jaguar gamers may like to look for page 133 of
the July issue of GamePro magazine. Crave Division: Rockabilla, Inc.
is offering a new variety of licensed Atari Jaguar T-Shirts including
one that features "Hover Strike", "Tempest 2000", "Iron Soldier" and
the Jaguar eyes. Each shirt is just $16.95 each and they sell Jaguar
hardware and software too. For a free catalog or to order, call
612/942-9920. These T-shirts are 3rd party and not available direct
from Atari.
//// Jaguar Gamer Guide Shipping
The official Jaguar Gamer's Guide published by Sandwich Islands
Publishing and written by the popular authors: Zach Meston and J.
Douglas Arnold is shipping now! Preorders should be fulfilled within
the next few days and store copies should be arriving wherever popular
game books are sold.
The guide includes special features such as gaming tips from Atari's
own gaming masters. It has exclusive maps, helpful tips and innovative
strategies.
If you cannot find a store accepting orders for the book and would
like a copy sent right away, call or fax your Visa or Mastercard
transaction to 808/661-2715. The price is only $18.95 including
shipping to N. American locations.
If you want in-depth play-by-play action coverage including strategies
and tips found no where else on almost 20 of the Jaguar's hottest
games, you must buy this book.
Orders by mail should be sent to:
Atari Jaguar Gamer's Guide
P.O. Box 10669
Lahaina, HI 96761
--==--==--==--==--
||| Surfing the Jagged Edge
||| By: Dimitri Mark LaBarge
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.6 CIS: 71501,3353 AOL: dimitril
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Well, we've finally plunged into the long, hot summer doldrums, but
fortunately, that doesn't mean that software for the Jag has dried up.
In fact, many of you are playing (and loving!) the blazing Super Burn
Out, with Flip Out and White Men Can't Jump confirmed to be in
production. Even better, WMCJ will come with a free 4-Player "Team
Tap" for maximum multi-playertude. Good news on the horizon - the
upcoming Power Drive Rally has just earned an absolute rave in the
recently reticent Die Hard Game Fan magazine. And with the JagCD still
on schedule for August, this season looks to have good reasons to be
optimistic....
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Rayman Future
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
By now, some of you have undoubtedly seen the promo boxes for Rayman
at your local electronics store, but have begun to wonder where the
game is, or worse, have heard the multitudes of rumors about this
long-awaited game. Frank Slater of UbiSoft, the software group behind
Rayman, answers some of the questions and concerns about this amazing
platform game.
To all Rayman fans,
Wow! I check in after a few weeks' absence and there are 67
messages about RAYMAN!
Here is the official story:
Rayman for the Atari Jagaur is currently in the very final phases
of quality control (a nice way of saying "debugging"). As you all
know, Rayman is the first game Ubi Soft has made for the Atari
Jaguar, and just like for any process, there is a learning curve to
programming and debugging a product on an unfamiliar system. The
delays that have taken place in our launch plan were not
intentional. There are no secret strategic implications
whatsoever, the delays to Rayman Jaguar have absolutely nothing to
do with the other versions of Rayman. We just wanted to make this
product the best game available for the Atari Jaguar, and that
objective forced us to take the time necessary to do things the
right way. We obviously wish we could have released this game many
months ago (believe me...!) but we didn't feel it was ready then.
Ultimately, you will be the judges - but I am certain that once you
play Rayman you will agree that it was well worth the wait.
As of the current schedule, Rayman for Jaguar will be ready for
production by the week of July 17th. Because we can't pin down an
exact date for its subsequent release into stores, we've been
saying "late summer." (It will theoretically be in stores 4 to 5
weeks after entering into production.) I'll try to visit this Forum
more often to keep you all informed. As we get closer to the end,
it will be easier to know the exact dates.
Rayman for Jaguar can be pre-ordered now at both Electronics
Boutique and Babbage's, and will be for sale in a wide variety of
retail stores once it is released.
I know it must be hard to be patient - as a marketing professional
for Ubi Soft I have had "punch-the-wall" moments myself over the
delays in this game! But I really think you'll all agree that it
was worth the wait.
I'll be looking forward to hearing what you think once it's
released.
Hopefully, this will quell some of those nasty rumors that always seem
to be floating out there.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Up Close - Beyond Games
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
First up, and more recently, Our Esteemed Editor (he makes me write
that!) spoke with Chris Johnson this week, and reports that the Gamers
Beyond have been very busy of late. It seems that they're working out
some kinks in Ultra Vortek voice modem performance over long
distance lines, and have fixed a awful glitch in the game that cut
frame rate 60% on PAL systems. So take those very low European reviews
you may have seen lately and toss them. Ultra Vortek should be
"golden" next week, and unless something nasty happens, the VoiceData
modem code should remain in as an Easter Egg. That's one for the
record books, kiddies.
This next bit came off the Knight-Ridder newswire a while ago. It's an
interesting look at the industry as a whole, but more importantly, it
features an in-depth look at one of the brightest hopes for the Atari
Jaguar - the team at Beyond Games.
Jun. 23--Chris Johnson hoped the first game produced by his
company, Beyond Games of Salt Lake City, would propel him into the
competitive video market.
But he soon discovered how brutal the video-game business can be.
Johnson, 28, and friends spent countless hours making "Battle
Wheels" for Atari's hand-held Lynx system. The machine was
discontinued shortly after "Battle Wheels" hit store shelves.
"We got no exposure," Johnson chuckled. "That machine had been out
two years, and they phased it out right when we released the game."
Now, Johnson and his crew are about to release "Ultra Vortex" for
Atari's Jaguar system.
"Ultra Vortex may not be a blockbuster," Johnson said. "But it will
definitely be a decent seller."
It's the dream of every small game manufacturer: produce a unique
game, get a big company such as Sega or Nintendo to buy it and cash
in on the voracious appetites of video-game buffs. In 1994,
Americans spent $21 billion on video machines and games.
Many try, but few succeed, says Ron Johnson of Electro Brain Corp.
in Salt Lake City.
It's been six months since his company produced a game. The market
is saturated, he said, and the only way to compete is to keep up
with changes in technology. And that costs money.
"Only a few companies capture 80% of the video-game market," said
Johnson, no relation to the Beyond Games owner.
Two Utah firms that have made it big are Sculptured Software Inc.
and Access Software, both of Salt Lake City. Sculptured converted
the game program for the popular, ultra-violent "Mortal Kombat"
games for Sega and Nintendo. Access stormed the market several
years ago with the "Links" golf series and recently, the
interactive personal computer game "Under a Killing Moon."
"There are literally tens of thousands of products out there," said
Mindy Cook, Access Software's marketing representative. "I am sorry
for anyone trying to get into the market."
Kelly Zmak, executive producer for Sculptured Software, said
video-game manufacturers - especially small ones - cannot focus on
past successes if they want to compete. The game industry, she
said, is getting too expensive to be passive.
"It can cost $3 million to $5 million to produce one game," Zmak
said. "It's not tough to get a single hit, but it is hard to be
consistent."
Beyond Games has spent nearly $100,000 to produce "Ultra Vortex."
Chris Johnson would not say how much Atari paid for the game, but
said his crew should "have some fun" with the money.
"Ultra Vortex," which took a year to make, will be shipped to Atari
in four days and should be on the market in July or August, Johnson
said. It will retail for $69.95.
The game is similar to "Mortal Kombat" and "Street Fighter" in that
different characters battle each other to the death. To make their
game unique, Beyond Games used 3-D computer renderings, stop-motion
puppets and costumed adults to create the movements of warriors
such as Grok, a rock monster, and Volcana, a woman who burns
everything in her path.
"Most companies only use one or two formats when making their
characters," said Clark Walker, who helped bring Grok to life.
Artist Jim Meier created several backgrounds for the game,
including two that mirror a Salt Lake City warehouse and the
burned-out Irving Jr. High School in Sugar House. He even drew his
colleagues into several scenes, either cheering on the combatants
or lying dead on the street.
Christopher Salmon put together working models for several
characters, while Dale Meier programmed music and sound effects.
Bruce Johnson, who came late to the project, is helping put
finishing touches on some scenes.
The crew, which looks more like fans of the grunge rock band Pearl
Jam than mainstream computer game creators, is already working on a
sequel to Atari's "Alien vs. Predator." They hope it will sustain
any success they may gain from Ultra Vortex.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Yakkity Yak
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Oy, what month would be complete with out the delightfully raving
observations of Jeff Minter, preferably Yak, and (as if you
didn't know it by now) programmer of the ever more anticipated
Defender 2000...
D2K Thangs for June
June 24: Ructions
Well, a lot of stuff has happened... some of it either good or bad
depending on your point of view, some of it irritating, but a lot
of it good, never fear.
First off, if you've been reading r.g.v.a. at all you'll probably
know about it already: we are now back off CD and onto a cartridge
format again. This means that you can kiss goodbye the redbook
audio and the FMV intros and cutscenes and the interview with Uncle
Eugene (although I could still do that as text, of course)... The
good news is that it probably won't affect the gameplay too much;
all that's really going to be cut is some bells-and-whistles. Fear
not 'coz there are still going to be plenty of levels and cool new
stuff in 2000 - I may do a few more algorithmically-generated
backdrops for levels than I would have done if I'd had a shitload
of space on the silver disk, but what the hey, I like that stuff
anyway.
As regards the audio, you can still count on that being excellent,
after all it *is* still gonna be by the same guys as did T2K's
audio, and the cart size is likely to be considerably larger, so
don't worry, it'll be top. Of course one side effect of all this is
that we now already have an audio-CD of the D2K music, which will
be made available much like the T2K CD. Also, I now have audio
hooks linking the CD tracks to the game levels, so I'll lleave them
in so that if you've got the CDROM, you can use the cart in
conjunction with it and you'll get your redbook audio. I'm thinking
of putting in a little edit screen which will allow you to use the
tracks from *any* CD, so that you could set up the game to play
with NIN or Floyd or whatever else you want. I think that'd be
kinda cool.
Ruction no. 2 is that my artist has up and resigned from Atari
right in the middle of the project, which as you can imagine is a
bit of a pisser. We're looking around for new art talent at the
moment, should be sorted in a couple of days hopefully. It's not as
bleak as it seems, 'coz we have all the art finished for Classic
and Plus, and the new guys can start fresh on 2000. One great thing
that my artist gave me before he left was the finished version of
the Robot Camel - it's *excellent*!
So, what's actually happening with the game? Well, 2K is fleshing
out a lot more, the tile generator looks like it's going to work
well with the game, I have six layers of parallax going at the
moment, and an absolute shitload of objects in gamespace, and
another shitload of projectiles and the resultant collision detect
logic going, and yeah, it keeps that magic 60frames. The 2K
equivalents of the main Defender enemies are in there - it was real
easy to put them in with my new game engine, the control logic is
probably about 1/10 of the size of the equivalent stuff in Plus.
The Pods are particularly nice, as the Swarmers are now carried
externally, orbiting around the Pod like electrons around an atom.
You snuff the Pod and they all fly off and come after you. There'll
be different kinds of Swarmers too in 2K, and as they're external
you'll be able to see just what trouble each Pod holds before you
open it, and hopefully be ready for the resultant hassles! It'll be
kinda cool to have Pods with a mixed load of Swarmers...
Humanoids play a lot more of an active role in 2K. For a start they
are going to be a lot more detailed, as with the
vertically-scrolling play area, I can have all the game objects
about twice as big as their Classic and Plus equivalents. The
Humanoids jump gleefully and wave when you rescue them. Best of
all, each successive Humanoid you collect dangles down in a chain
under your ship, which looks really cool when you've got a lot of
them up there. I intend to have different kinds of Humanoids too -
at the moment the idea is that you'll have 'civilian' Humanoids,
who will be like your classic Humanoid and passive; then 'soldier'
Humanoids, who you'll want to pick up, as each one will carry a
weapon which augments your firepower. Get a nice big chain of
Soldiers and you'll be nicely beweaponed! A third Humanoid
possibility is the 'General' Humanoid, who will be armed like a
Soldier but also smart, so he'll aim and fire at enemies
independantly. I may even give him the ability to 'command' any
Soldier Humanoids you have and direct their fire, so you'll have
quite a bit of AI on board.
As you know, I like to put nasty stuff in my games to take you by
surprise, so how's this for an idea: the decoy Humanoid. What will
happen is that occasionally a Lander will extrude a dummy Humanoid
and go through the motions of abducting it. You will diligently
streak to the scene of the crime, blow away the Lander and zoom to
the rescue, failing to notice that the Humanoid in question looks
*slightly* wrong. The moment you catch him, he'll begin *eating*
his way up your chain of dangling refugees, killing as he goes; if
you fail to dislodge him before he reaches your ship, it's dangling
cloth window coverings....
Keeping your Humanoids alive will be a top priority for all you
thumb-twitching space heroes. You see, whenever a Humanoid dies, he
doesn't just disappear: he leaves behind a tombstone. These will be
collideable, so they'll be a pain and obstruct clear flight near to
the ground. Worst of all, should you lose *all* your Humanoids,
and go to Hell, the tombstones will spew nasty ship-seeking ghosts
whenever you're around. Hell's gonna be a bad place. Be sure and
pack your asbestos undies...
Right, that's it for this time. I'm just about recovered from a
particularly good party last night at the gaff of a couple of the
Atari testers - I got absolutely hammered and had a splendid time.
You know it's a good party when the cops show up.
Llater...
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Mysty Eyed
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Scott Sanders posted this message about a month ago, describing his
work on porting Myst to Jaguar CD.
Myst is going well. You can play most of 'Myst Island' at this
point. I've spent the last few days adding some of the full-motion
video and will spend the weekend working on the sound engine.
I first played Myst on a MacTV which was unbearably slow. Since
then I've seen/played it on a PC and the Japanese Saturn version.
I'm glad to say that Jaguar is much speedier than the PC and the
Mac, in fact it outpaces the PowerMac 8100/100AV I use for graphics
conversion. The graphics are also 16-bit instead of 8-bit on the PC
and Mac.
The Saturn version is about as fast as the Jaguar version and they
use 16-bit graphics at well. For whatever reason, though, the
Saturn's graphics look like they went through some grainy filter.
True blacks are stippled grey. Also, the Cinepak movies look much
better on Jaguar.
Although many people I've talked to thought Myst was boring at
first glance, most of those same people spent hourse glued to their
PC after they found their first puzzle to solve.
Faster than the Mac & PC versions, and better looking than the Sega
Saturn version? Interesting, no?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Flip Over Flip Out!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
As we mentioned earlier, Gorilla Systems' first game for the
Jaguar, Flip Out!, is in production. We're happy to share with
you another press report, this time focusing on one of the game's
creators:
BRADENTON, Fla--Jul. 12--Palmetto college student Conrad Barski
invents aliens in his spare time - and his hobby is about to pay
off.
Atari Corp. will pay Barski $25,000 plus royalties for a video game
he conceived called "Flip Out!"
Players of the puzzle game attempt to move colored tiles into
particular sequences as alien creatures attempt to foil their
moves.
Barski said he came up with the idea for the game while working as
a part-time computer programmer at Gorilla Systems in Oldsmar.
He worked at the company for four years while attending the
University of South Florida as a full-time pre-med student, he
said. Over the past eight months, Barski joined four other
programmers and two artists at Gorilla Systems to build the game.
"The game took about eight months to develop until final
production," he said.
The new game is designed to run on the Atari Jaguar home
entertainment system, but Atari is working with Gorilla Systems to
develop a version for personal computers, said Jeanne Winding,
product marketing manager for Atari.
Winding said Flip Out! will be sold in retail stores for $49.99
beginning in mid-August. After graduating in August, Barski said he
plans to go on to medical school in Miami.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// BattleSphere tidbits
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
And it just wouldn't be an issue without some tasty toppers from our
good friends and geniuses at 4-Play, busier than ever on their space
extravaganza BattleSphere. Doug "Thunderbird" Engel writes:
Word has it that BattleSphere(tm) now has >MUCH< tighter collision
detection. Combine that with the really cool menu graphics I am
doing, and imagine what a great game this is becoming!!!
Despite Scott's monitor blowing up without warning, and his moving
to a new place which required cable TV hookup, he has still managed
to add the real collision code (yes, that in the E3 video was just
thrown together for the demo).
Now Scott's on semi-fulltime BattleSphere(tm) programming, so
you're gonna see some serious $h!+
And follows briefly with:
The Jun-TACH code is now up and running. It works great. Makes
things a lot more fun.
The user-adjustable volume settings now save to EEPROM and read
back really nicely.
BattleSphere(tm) R00LZ even MORE!
Of course, we at AEO certainly agree with this noble sentiment. But
let's hear from Scott LeGrand....
Subject: Be warned
in advance that the July 29th demo will probably have networking
disabled. However, you'll probably be too busy noticing all the
nifty new graphics and sounds and shark-like attackers to really
worry about this. Battle Sphere is anything but visually boring at
this point...
Those fighters are absolutely screaming. It's funny, last night
they were showing "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (bear with me).
One of his fantasies involved being a WWII fighter pilot in this
absolutely absurd dogfight which reminded me uncannily of what the
fighters in BS now do when they go evasive (really tight loops and
incredible bursts of acceleration)... We have something that I've
never seen anywhere but in the movies. You just have to see it to
understand and you will...
The most fun is setting all 15 robot ships to attack each other and
watch them dance in space around each other which reminds me a lot
of the Max vs Miriya dogfight in Macross.
Scott goes on further, describing some of the pleasures and pitfalls
of actually delving into the delicate balancing of gameplay that's
going on now...
AI progresses...
I'm having a bear of a time balancing 21 different ships against
one another. We have some clear mismatches already...
I'll probably settle it by computer. Let the computer do a bunch of
automated dogfights and if anything is really screwy, I'll adjust
the ships to compensate...
The Claw can run circles around the Starfire, I couldn't kill it
even on easy level...
The poor Annihilator = moving target.... Gonna give this guy a
really strange edge over the competition though...
You can usually tell the Telchine ship by the purple blur it makes
across your screen...
Oh well, back to work and soon to sleep...
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Zombie Lynx Games
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Atari announced the manufacturing of two new Lynx titles, Super
Missile Command and BattleZone 2000, which should ease the pain of
abandonment many Lynx owners have felt. "Private" Lance Lewis of Atari
Testing gives us a peek at Lynx BattleZone 2000:
Yes, BZ2K is coming soon. It should be going into manufacturing the
first week of July, and lemme tell ya... 4 player is a BLAST!! In
fact, comlynxed with even 2 or 3 players is a lot of fun. You can
customize the functions of your tank (choice of three) by
distributing points between fuel, ammo, and missile capacity. Get
the power-ups and watch out for rogue missiles!! And if you happen
to die before your friends, you can still drive around and witness
all the action as a "ghost tank"!! Very cool!!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Asta For Now!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
That's it for now... be sure to be back for the next ish for more
tasty tidbits. That's the dish for this ish!
--==--==--==--==--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- --==--==-- GEnie Sign-Up Information --==--==-- --
-- --
-- 1. Set your communications software for half duplex (local echo) --
-- at 300, 1200, or 2400 baud. --
-- --
-- 2. Dial toll free: 1-800-638-8369 (or in Canada, 1-800-387-8330). --
-- Upon connection, enter HHH. --
-- --
-- 3. At the U# prompt, enter XTX99436,GENIE then press <Return>. --
-- --
-- 4. Have a major credit card ready. In the U.S., you may also use --
-- your checking account number. --
-- --
-- For more information in the United States or Canada, call 1-800- --
-- 638-9636 or write: GEnie, c/o GE Information Services, P.O. Box --
-- 6403, Rockville, MD 20850-1785. --
-- --
-- --==--==-- Atari's Official Online Resource! --==--==-- --
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--==--==--==--==--
||| FlippingOut!
||| By: Adam Urbano
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.5 Internet: adamu@cue.com
---------------------------------------------------------------
Explaining FlipOut! is a daunting task, not to say that the game
itself is complex or difficult to understand, as the game is really
based on a few basic principles. What is dificult is explaining how a
game that is so darn simple can be any challenge. I'll try and explain
the basics of the game before I get into the difficulty levels.
FlipOut! is a puzzle game in which the player flips tiles into the air
in an attempt to match the color of a tile with its corresponding
color on the ground. At the start of each level the player will see a
square block of nine tiles on the ground. During the opening stage
these tiles are only two colors, but this changes soon enough. In
addition to these nine tiles, the playfield will consist of one extra
tile that is thrown into the fray once the game begins. The difficulty
of this "renegade" tile is that only one tile may occupy a given slot.
That leaves the player with 10 tiles and 9 slots, feel free to Do The
Math.
This little obstacle is overcome by keeping one tile in the air
at all times, if the player is foolish enough to let all the tiles
fall to the ground the level restarts. So, the player starts by
flipping the tile he or she wants to move, this then sends that piece
into the air for a brief period of time. While that piece is floating,
which can be a very brief period of time, the player must decide where
he or she wants that tile to land at. The player picks a tile on the
floor where that piece should land, and clicks on it. By doing this it
sends the "floating" piece to rest on that new tile location, and the
piece that previously occupied that space goes flipping into the air,
and the process repeats itself. So, the level ends when every colored
tile matches its corresponding color on the ground, and the "renegade"
tile is left floating in the air.
Whenever the player matches a correct tile with its correct color that
tile will glow, telling the player that tile has been dealt with
already. It really is much, much simpler to play than it is to
explain. That explains the basics behind the game, but the game does
get more complex than that. The game is made up of several different
areas, with each area containing one type of puzzle. This area may
contain from as many as 11 to as few as three puzzles, depending on
the difficulty.
//// Such A Cheesy Background
To explain the progression of the levels it might help to know some
background of the story. The citizens of the Cheese Planet have a
Great Tile Flipping Festival, which is fairly named since all this
festival consists of is flipping tiles in the manner described above.
These citizens like to relax from their busy lifestyle and visit
Earth. And to quote Fenesh XVII, First Scribe to King Fluffy of the
Cheese Planet, "While we're on Earth we visit places like Yellowstone
National Park, Mount Rushmore, and Easter Island. However, we are
creatures of habit, and we just feel the need to flip things."
It is from these many different areas that the game draws its various
levels. Each level starts off with a map screen representing the
various areas the player must travel to, and each area contains a
different type of puzzle, although these different puzzles all adhere
to the gameplay described above.
The Cheese Planet consists of the basic three by three grid which
reappears throughout the game. The next level is Yellowstone National
Park, where the player must match a citizen with its corresponding
geyser. Then comes Mt. Rushmore, where the player must reassemble the
faces of the four presidents. The final Earth level is Easter Island,
where the standard nine tile grid is changed by adding three Easter
Island statues that contain one tile space each, bringing the total
number of tiles to 12. These statues also make life more difficult in
the later stages by closing their mouths, meaning the player won't be
able to get at a tile he or she may need.
The first non-Earth bound level the player encounters is the Sphorkle
diner. This area is very similar to the geysers at Yellowstone, the
difference being that the player must match a given citizen with his
corresponding colored food rather than matching a colored geyser.
Planets Hoopla and Pigskin consist of the nine square block game
previously described. The final area is a real challenge, it is the
Zero-Gravity Arena. This area not only has the nine tiles on the
ground, but two walls made of nine tiles each. The last puzzle area
consists of only one puzzle, and is a showdown between the player and
King Fluffy to see who is the master of tile flipping. Let's just say
King Fluffy isn't that nice of a guy, and I'll leave the details for
you to discover. (Insert evil laugh, the sort of maniacal laughter
that can only be achieved through countless attempts at beating King
Fluffy....)
Graphicaly the game is above par. The backgrounds are all very nicely
done, although they aren't exactly eye popping. For a puzzle game,
they are some of the nicest I have seen, which really isn't saying
much since most puzzle games use bland backgrounds. What is truly
impressive are the little details, such as the light sourcing on the
tiles when they are flipped. The spectators and characters in this
game are also truly impressive, they look to be little Claymation-type
figures of various sorts.
//// Puzzle Game Baddies
It is in these figures that the games greatest difficulty comes out.
The game has various competitors whose only goal in life seems to be
to destroy the work the player has done. A rodeo riding guy, complete
with cowboy garb, will jump onto a tile and prevent it from flipping
into the air. The player must try and flip the tile several times in
order to buck him off. One character will jump onto the board and
pretend to be a tile, forcing the player to keep two tiles in the air
while he is in play. One character eats the tiles. Another character
flips tiles for you, making a real mess of things. These are just some
of the many characters the player will encounter along the way.
Each seperate character has its own great personality and sets of
animation. The tile eater, for example, starts out looking like a
fairly average raison-shaped spectator. He then jumps onto the board,
picks up a tile, which tends to be about the size of his whole body,
and swallow it. This leaves a little tile with arms and legs. Another
obstacle is the average spectator, who tends to walk right onto the
field of play. When a player flips a tile with a spectator on it the
spectator gets flung into the air also. But, more preferably, if a
spectator is caught under a tile that lands he will be smooshed like
the lump of clay that he appears to be. For a really little morbid
excursion from the actual game, grab a stopwatch and see how many of
the little buggers you can kill in a specified ammount of time. This
can even become a two player game, trying to see who can smash more.
:)
//// Wrap-up FlipOut
Sound effects are minimal, but when they are used they are really
great. Some examples include the wonderful smooshing sound of squished
spectators, the evil giggle of the little clay figure that keeps
score, and the insane "yee-haw" of the rodeo rider. The game also has
several different difficulty levels, and they get pretty tough (read:
impossible for mortals). The four levels of play are Normal, Hard,
Insane, and Psychotic. This is about as accurate a description as one
could ask for. In the Hard level, the tiles are the usual different
colors when flipped, but upon landing they all become the same color.
The Insane level keeps all the tiles the same color at all times, the
only way to distinguish them is when they flash, indicating that the
right piece is in the right area. Finally, the Psychotic level is
similar to the Insane level, except they will only flash one time when
placed in the proper place, meaning the player not only has to guess
correctly, but remember when the pieces match.
The game seemed finished, and is in fact in production now. Everything
is in place and I didn't discover a single bug. There is even an
endgame "cinema" already in. So expect this one to be on time, which
is currently set for mid-August.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Final Ratings
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Title: FlipOut JagNet: No
Design: Gorilla Systems Players: One
Published by: Atari Corp. Available: Mid-August
Price: $49.99
Here's the summary ratings:
"*" is a whole
"+" is a half
5 stars maximum
Control: ***** Quick and responsive, move the cursor and the action
is immediate. This is to be expected, however, since
there really isn't that much involved in the control.
Gameplay: ***+ A puzzle game with a bunch of variations on the
basic game premise. Not as deeply thought provoking
as a game like Lemmings, FlipOut bears more
resemblance to a game such as Concentration. Easy to
learn, quick, and enough difficulty levels to keep
occupied for a while.
Graphics: **** Ranked against other puzzle games this one has some
flashy graphics. Rendered objects, Claymation-like
creatures, and all the fancy trimmings.
Sound: ***+ The music samples are clean and varied, but nothing
to turn up the volume for. Some of the sound samples
are excellent, however, ranging from the maniacal
laughs of the "enemies" to the pleasent squish of a
flattened citizen.
Overall: **** A solid puzzle game that should entertain most
users. Nothing that is necessarily new or
groundbreaking, but it is certainly a fun game.
What they mean:
***** That quadruple bypass can wait until I beat this game.
**** WOOHOO! (This comment provided by Homer Simpson.)
*** I'll lock my door, dim the lights, close the blinds, and play it.
** Look! More DNA typing testimony on Court TV.
* I'd rather play with my new Tub Toaster.
--==--==--==--==--
||| Pinball Fantasies
||| Review by: Mark "Stingray" Santora
/ | \ GEnie: AEO.4 Delphi: SANTORA
----------------------------------------------------------------
//// Editor: This review of Pinball Fantasies was originally
//// published in AEO Volume 4, Issue 2, back in
//// February of this year.
Pinball is a game of skill, a little chance, and lots of noise; or at
least that is what pinball was. Now pinball is about LED-like screens
with subplots to the game which make you have to do more than hit the
ball around and get points. Pinball Fantasies is a very good video
game representation of both of these, and it's coming to Jaguar.
Before you get to the review of this game, I would like to point out
that this review was done using a Beta copy of Pinball Fantasies dated
from the end of December. I received it a little after WCES and was
told that it was very close to being finished and that a few minor
bugs had shown up. That was taken into account while I reviewed this
game.
Upon powering up the game you must sit through a barrage of opening
screens; who made it, who licensed it, who published it, the game
title (like you wouldn't already know...). After that you are
presented with the table selection screens. On the first you are given
the option of pinball table one, which is named "Partyland," or
pinball table two, which is named "SpeedDevils." On the second, you
are presented with the graphic for the "Billion Dollar Game Show"
table and the "Sticks and Stones" table. Regardless of the screen you
are on, you can choose whichever table you want by pressing 1 through
4 on your joypad.
Once at the table the program automatically scrolls up and down the
playing field waiting for you to enter the number of players. There is
support of up to eight players in Pinball Fantasies bu they all must
use controler one as there is no supporty for an additional
controller. You use the corresponding number on your joypad for the
number of players.
To play you need to know how to use the flippers. It is really quite
easy. By pressing the Directional Pad left or right you activate the
Left Flipper. The Right Flipper is accessed using the "B" button. The
"A" button will shake the table for you (yes you can tilt it). And the
"C" button makes use for the plunger. While the ball is waiting to be
launched you can scroll the length of the pinball table by pressing up
and down with the directional pad. Of course, the setup can be altered
from the main option screen.
You get many options. You can play with 3 or 5 balls, and the
difficulty can be swithced between Easy or Hard. The easier setting
causes the ball not to move as quickly. For all players, veteran or
novice, I would suggest starting on easy to get the swing of things.
There is also an option for scrolling. It is termed "Soft or Hard."
"Soft" scrolling does not follow your ball implicitly while "Hard"
does. I found the "Soft" setting to be rather useless as I was unable
to follow the game well enough while playing it in this mode to enjoy
it, yet alone play well. Putting it on the "Hard" setting and leaving
it there is my suggestion. Music and Sound F/X can be turned on and
off from the option screen and there is also a seperate Master Volume
control which can be raised and lowered in increments of 5 from 0% to
100%.
//// Launch Tube
The layout of all the tables has it so the bottom 5/6ths of the screen
are pinball machine. The top 1/6th of the screen is set up in line
with the modern day active matrix displays that have graphics,
scrolling information, bonus information, etc. It is nicely
incorporated into the game. I played Pinball Fantasies on a 13 inch TV
and a 27 inch TV and while a few might complain about the matrix field
on the larger screens as being too big, it really isn't. All the
tables are one screen wide (not including launch tube), and two to
three screens tall. All tables have raise chutes, multiple bonuses,
surprises, multiple flippers; everything you would expect in a pinball
machine, except there's no multiball. Now, to the tables.
[] Table 1: Partyland
A nicely laid out pinball table. This one is set in an amusement park.
There is a roller coaster, a sky ride, and a Demon's Mouth ride. My
favorite of the four tables in the game. Difficulty level is above
average.
[] Table 2: SpeedDevils
Race with your friends, try to get your car in gear and get off road.
This one is also a lot of fun but requires a bit more skill than the
other tables. Again, very sharp graphics and a very easy to read
table. It is also a more difficult table than Partyland. I consider it
the hardest table out of the four.
[] Table 3: Billion Dollar Game Show
This board is a cheesy game show board that has a cartoonish look and
a picture of a host. Not easy but not hard either. Ranks about average
on the difficulty scale.
[] Table 4: Sticks N Stones
This is the "Horror" themed table. As with all of the tables, it has
nice graphics and this one play really well. I also consider it the
easiest of the 4 tables. Ghosts, demons, and haunted houses will make
your skin crawl in this one.
//// Graphics
Everything is well defined in this game and there is lots of color. I
mean, as the board scrolls sometimes you think that you are in a
rainbow! Also, there is a certain amount of levity in the graphics.
They are all presented in a cartoon like fashion, never taking
themselves too seriously. They are part of a pinball game, not an out
of body experience.
//// Sound
If you play this one on a stereo you will notice that the left channel
has specifically sound f/x while the right channel has only music.
Strangely enough, running it through my surround processor produced a
rather strong rear signal. Checking with C-West, I discovered that the
game is NOT specifically set up for surround sound, but it is a nice
unintentional feature.
The in-game music fits each board. The Sticks N Stones board has
"scarey" music while SpeedDevils has "bouncy" music. Specific music
for all the title screens and highscore screens also exists as well as
different music for the opening and closing of each table. This is a
nice touch. However, the music is not T2K level.
//// Overall
This is a really nice game. It has a lot of playability and
replayability. With four tables you are sure to keep this around when
you just want to zone out and try something other than a first person
shooter. I don't consider it a "must own", but it is a great deal of
fun and I suggest it. This isn't a rent before you own, you'll be
playing pinball. Good pinball.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Final Ratings
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Title: Pinball Fantasies JagNet: No
Design: SpiderSoft Players: 1-8 using 1 pad
Licensed by: 21st Century Available: Now
Published by: C-West (US) Cart Size: 2 Megabyte
21st Century (European) Retail: $49.99 to $59.99
A Summary of ratings:
"*" is a whole
"+" is a half
5 stars maximum
Graphics - ***+ Sharp and nicely cartoonish. Fits the game well
and there is lots of color and smooth scrolling.
Audio - *** Clear audio, but the complete seperation of F/X
and music on left and right channels was annoying.
Control - ***+ Easy to play and the control is responsive. It's
pinball, not driving.
Gameplay - ****
Lots of fun. Looking forward to a sequel with
multiball. Hint, Hint, Hint.
Overall - **** The graphics will draw you in and the gameplay
will keep you there.
Key to Mark's Ratings:
(The ultimate state of mind.)
***** - "They've gone to Plaid" - 'Barf' in Spaceballs.
**** - "Kooky" - 'Ford Fairlane' The Adventures of Ford Fairlaine.
*** - "He'll live" - 'Terminator' in Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
** - "Sorry about the Mess" - 'Han Solo' in Star Wars.
* - "They Melvined Me" - 'Death' in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey.
--==--==--==--==--
||| Speed of Light 3.8 Review
||| Review by Mark Stephen Smith
/ | \ Internet: msh@dl.ac.uk or dlms@nessie.mcc.ac.uk
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Speed of Light has been around for many years now on the Atari.
Starting off as a GIF viewer it has developed into a powerful picture
viewer and colour editor. Its latest incarnation is version 3.8
containing mainly bug fixes over previous versions. Speed of Light, or
SOL as I will refer to it from now on, is Shareware and whilst
perfectly useable has some of the more advanced options crippled in
such a way as to encourage registration. The whole set of tools and
their use is too great to go into in detail, even in an review this
large, I will however try and give a flavour of their use and power so
you can get a feel for the program as a whole.
//// What is SOL and what does it offer?
SOL firstly is a picture viewer, within the program however it sports
a wide variety of features so as to get the best out of your pictures.
It works on all Atari formats (ST, Falcon, TT, Mega) and works in all
resolutions in up to 256 colours. It supports a wide variety of
formats and is one of the fastest GIF file handlers on an Atari. SOL
now supports the DSP in the Falcon for JPEG decoding. It is MultiTOS
compatible and recommended for maximum speed to be run in conjunction
with NVDI or Warp 9.
//// Registering the Program
This review is based upon the registered version of Speed of Light.
To register is simple, just start the program (see "Getting Started"
below). Upon loading you will be greeted with a screen allowing you to
enter your registratio n details. Enter your details and choose "Print
EZForm", this will create a document which can be printed or saved to
disk with your details which you send to the author (or local
registration handler) along with the registration fee. They in turn
will generate your registration key.
Once you have received this key load the program and enter it along
with your details, the program then becomes the registered version and
will work without any features being disabled. You only have to
register once, with subsequent loads taking you straight to the main
menu.
This form of registration is quick and easy and your details and
keycode only have to be entered into future versions for you to
receive a full registered upgrade.
//// Getting Started
The program is available from many PD libraries, FTP sites, Stuart
Denman's and my Atari Web pages, as well as making an appearance on
several Atari magazine coverdisks. What you get is the un-registered
version of the program, with all the documentation, supporting files
and image files.
Using the shareware version without registering offers all the
facilities you get with the full version with the difference that some
of the more advanced features such as warping will have blank lines in
the pictures at regular intervals, and that you are limited to only
loading one JPEG image per session. Other than these limitations
placed to encourage you to register you have full access to the
program.
Running the program couldn't be simpler. Just click on the program
file "SPOFLT38.APP", after a short while you will be asked to enter
your registration details, if you don't have any you can continue by
choosing "Cancel". This will now take you to the main options screen.
Whatever resolution you load in will be the screen size used by the
program, and the number of colours in that resolution will be used (up
to 256 colours). On all machines but the Falcon however you do have
the option to change the resolution from within the program.
//// Main Options Screen
From the main options screen all the options and access to the more
advanced options are available. Here's a quick summary of the main
options screen features (starting from the top left), some of which
I'll describe in greater detail later:
Picture Statistics - Various information on the picture such as name,
size and palette size.
"H" Button - Histogram of current image.
"P" Button - Optimises image palette.
Machine Specifications - Various machine information such as computer
being used, resolution, palette, and the
number of colours.
"Delta" Button - Allows the changing of resolution on ST's and TT's
within the program.
"3-Bars" Button - Allows setting of preferences and true colour
preferences.
Picture Number Slider - A slider to easily move through the pictures
in memory.
Display Mode Menu - A pop-up menu that allows you to select between
colour or shades (grey scale). On the TT "TTGrey"
mode is available which allows 256 shades of grey.
Downward Arrow Button - Makes image as close to original as possible
by setting sliders to zero and histograms to
1-to-1 transformation.
"Complex" Button (Colour Transformations) - Toggles between the
additive colour
transformation options and
the histogram colour
transformation options.
Additive Colour Transform Slider - Available when "Complex" is not
selected. These three sliders one
for each of the prime colours allow
you to add to or subtract the RGB
elements of the picture. If moved
equally together can be used to
brighten or darken the picture.
Colour Reduction Menu - If the picture contains more colours than the
display this can be used to decide how the
palette will be reduced. Frequency is the
default with "By Rank" and "Influence" being
the other choices.
Colour Rank "Button" - This switches to the colour rank histogram
editor so you can define the ranks of the RGB
planes.
Complex "Button" (Colour Reduction/Selection) - Toggles between simple
contrast slider bars
and histogram colour
contrast.
Colour Contrast/Separation Slider - These three sliders define the
minimum seperation between the
chosen colours used to display the
image.
Horizontal/Vertical Size - Allows you to enter the horizontal and
vertical pixel sizes for the images to be
scaled to.
Axis Effect Menu - Allows you to choose horizontal, vertical or both
with respect to how the buttons (below) effect the
axes.
"O" Button - Sets scaling to original size of image.
"A" Button - Calculates the aspect ratio based on the effected axis
when scaling.
"-" Button - Halves the selected axis.
"+" Button - Doubles the selected axis.
"Fltr" Button - Toggles filtered scaling on/off.
"Set" Button - Takes you to the filtered scaling dialogue for setting
filter type and scaling.
"Fit" Button - Makes the image fit the current resolution in size as
best as possible whilst maintaining the aspect ratio.
"Mous" Button - When highlighted the mouse will be displayed on the
display screen, otherwise it is hidden.
"SmDr" Button - Toggles on/off "Smooth Draw" mode. This is where
flickering is used to increase number of colours you
choose to turn it on or off when the image is being
drawn to speed up image draws.
"Warp" Button - Takes you to the Warp dialogue where you can set the
warping and stretching effects.
Flicker Contrast Slider - Sets the maximum contrast allowed between
flickering colours. When on the far left
flickering is off.
Dither Pattern Menu - This menu allows you to select different dither
patterns.
"Set" Button - Takes you to the dithering dialogue to give detailed
control over dithering.
"Desk" Button - Allows access to accessories or to other programs when
under MultiTOS. Options for SOL are also available as
drop down menus .
"?" Button - Displays credits, shareware information and amount of
free memory.
"Purge" Button - Allows you to remove the current image freeing
memory. When double clicked on removes all images.
"Colours" Button - Takes you to the colour editor (not allowed in
Shades, Greyscale mode or any resolution using less
than 16 colours).
">>" Button - Takes you to the slideshow dialogue where you can set
the different slideshow parameters such as start and end
images, pause length between images, and forwards or
backwards play. Once set up choosing "Display" from the
main options screen will go through the images for the
slideshow. Turn the slideshow off to view single images
again.
As you can see the program is packed to the brim with features, with
these just being a brief summary of the options available from the
main menu, that's before we even start to look at the advanced
features.
You may think that with all these features it difficult to use, but
the control for the most part is straight forward and intuitive
leaving the user only having to reference the manual to look at some
of the more advanced features and to see some of the possible
shortcuts and tips available to achieve better results.
//// Using SOL for the first time
Upon loading SOL you are most likely going to want to load some
images, to do this you select the "Add" button. You will be presented
with the file selector where you can choose an image or use wild cards
to load multiple images. Gettin g files into SOL is very easy. Apart
from the methods mentioned above it is also possible to load images by
dragging the files over the SOL program icon on the desktop (on later
versions of TOS), therefore starting the program with several loaded
images. There is even support for other file selectors such as
Selectric allowing multiple images to be selected and loaded in one
operation.
SOL supports the following image formats for loading:
- GIF (.GIF)
- JPEG (.JPG)
- Degas Uncompressed (.PI?)
- Degas Compressed (.PC?)
- Prism Paint (.PNT)
- GEM (X) Image Format (.IMG)
and the following for saving:
- GIF
- Degas Un/Compressed
- Prism Paint
- GEM (X) Image Format
The speed at which it handles GIF files is excellent and Falcon owners
are catered for with DSP JPEG decoding (although the reduction from
true colour to 256 colours does slow this down). Once you have an
image you will most likely want to view it. Selecting the "Display"
button will bring the image to the screen. If the image is larger than
the screen you can scroll the screen by moving the mouse pointer from
the centre of the screen. The further you move it from the centre the
faster the screen scrolls in that direction.
Pressing the right button returns you to the main options screen. If
you want to see the whole image at once clicking on the "Fit" button
will shrink the image proportionally to the screen. If the image uses
more colours than you have available SOL uses clever techniques to
expand the palette, however if the results still aren't good enough
then it is possible to improve the picture in a number of ways.
The first way to improve the image when lacking colours is to adopt
one of the many dither patterns. Clicking on the "Dither Patrn:" box
will bring up a menu with a choice of dither patterns with the default
being no dither pattern. This menu has two empty slots into which you
can load dither patterns. To access the dither options and to load a
pattern into one of the slots select the "Set" button next to "Dither
Patrn:", this will take you to the dither options screen.
SOL comes with 3 standard dither patterns with the option of loading
additional dither patterns as provided with the package. These dither
patterns are in the same format as that used by GemView and are
therefore interchangeable.
Once at the dither options screen you can do a number of things. You
have the choice of changing options on the FIS (Filtered Image
Scaling) or normal dithering patterns. The Filter (FIS) options allows
you to either choose no pattern, one of the defaults or to load one of
the files available. The normal dither options has the same options
plus the addition of being able to change the gradient steps and
contrast of the pattern chosen.
Other options that can be adopted to improve the image quality when
the current resolution doesn't support enough colours is to use the
"Flicker Contrast" slider. When moving this slider will define the
contrast level of the flicker and therefore the degree of flicker
visible. When moved to the far left it is off with possible values up
to 255. Using this increases the palette available and gives you extra
colours in which to display the picture. The disadvantage is a degree
of flicker is introduced into the image when viewed and it slows draw
time if flicker is not turned off with the "SmDr" button.
//// Short Cuts
There are many shortcuts available in SOL but keyboard shortcuts are
not available generally as a rule in the window and option screens.
This has been done deliberately so as not to clash with programs that
provide shortcuts automatically. However whilst viewing an image using
the "Display" button short cuts to perform a number of simple tasks
and to take you to different parts of the program become available.
This includes everything from changing what image is being viewed and
flipping or scaling it, to calling up the colour editor.
A thing that people often miss when viewing a picture is that pressing
and holding the left mouse button will bring up a list of features
available for manipulating the currently viewed image. This list
includes the keyboard shortcuts were applicable and makes the program
very user friendly as it saves time flipping between the picture and
options screens.
//// Colour Editing
The tools provided by SOL for colour editing and enhancing are its
most powerful features, and is what makes it stand out from other
picture viewers.
Colour editing is divided between the RGB additive sliders that add or
subtract from the RGB elements of an image in a linear fashion, the
complex RGB controls which use the histogram method of alterering the
RGB balance throughout the image, and the colour editor which gives
you direct control over the palette use d and the colours within it.
I will look in further detail now at the later two elements of the
package. Namely the "Histogram Editor" and the "Colour Editor."
//// The Histogram Editor
This is available for use to control either the colour or contrast of
a picture. I will look at its use when applied to the colour aspect of
an image. To access the Histogram Editor you must select the "Complex"
button in the colour options area. This replaces the RGB sliders with
3 histograms, one for each of the RGB elements. Clicking on any one of
the histograms will take you the the Histogram Editor.
On this screen the histogram of the colour selected is enlarged to
fill a large portion of the screen. Moving the mouse over the
histogram and clicking sets the level at that point. If the left mouse
button is held down whilst moving over the histogram you effectively
draw the histogram for that colour. Switching between the histograms
for changes to the three colours is easy using the three buttons at
the top of the screen to take you to the appropriate colour. These are
the "Red", "Green" and "Blue" buttons.
Along the bottom of the screen are several buttons for editing the
shape of the histogram, these are the "Stretch", "Squash", "Invert",
"Flip" and arrow buttons (where the arrow buttons scroll the
histogram). You can also "Copy" and "Paste" histograms to any of the
other histograms therefore copying the shape to one of the other
colours. It is possible to double click on the "Copy" button to
automatically copy the current histogram to the other two. All changes
can be reversed with the use of the "Undo" button. It is also possible
to automatically define the shape using either the "Linear" or "Gamma"
buttons.
Linear creates a step from left to right with a one-to-one slope and
gives you the shape you usually see, namely a triangle.
When you select Gamma for gamma correction you will have to enter the
gamma value into the popup dialogue. Selecting the "Generate" button
does the correction with values greater than one darkening the image,
and less than one brightening the image. Gamma correction does this
without creating washout in the picture.
Once you are happy with your changes you can select the "OK" button to
accept them and return the the main options screen or the "Cancel"
button to reject all changes made and return to the options screen.
There are several histograms available for you to load and try out.
//// The Colour Editor
To enter the Colour Editor from the main options screen you select the
"Colours" button. Once selected you will be taken to the Colour Editor
screen. Across the top of the screen ten colours are displayed with
the colour value above them. Using the "VDI Order" button you can
toggle between the colours being displayed in VDI order or
Device-Dependent order. You can scroll the ten colours through the
image palette by either using the Arrows at either side of the colour
boxes, or by using the Slider Bar just below the colour boxes.
Colours can be selected for editing by clicking on them in their boxes
(selected colours are highlighted with an inner box). To alter a
selected colour you move the three Slider Bars for the RGB elements.
Boxes marked with an "X" in th e palette are unused colours.
Buttons in this editor are divided into two areas, the upper-left
buttons for manipulating two or more colours (known as the "Toolbox"),
and the lower left/right hand buttons which are for switching to other
dialogue boxes, undoing, or for other global operations.
Buttons within the Toolbox are used in the same way. You must select
the range of colours you wish to apply the tool to. Colours selected
are reffered to as "hot" colours and once selected the tool will
perform the operation over the set of colours selected.
Tools available are:
"Copy" - Copies first colour to second.
"Swap" - Exchanges two colours.
"Fill"- Fills whole range with the first colour.
"<" Rotate - Rotates the palette left with wrap around.
">" Rotate - Rotates the palette right with wrap around.
"Sort Group" - Sorts the colours within the range into groups based
on their RGB values.
"Gradient" - Fills in all the colours in the range blending the
colour from the first to the last.
"Sort DK > LT" - Sorts the range from the darkest to the lightest.
"Sort LT > DK" - Sorts the range from the lightest to the darkest.
The functional buttons are the other group of buttons associated with
the Colour Editor. The functional buttons include:
"Match" - Toggle on/off. This causes SOL to match changes in the image
to the new palette. If it doesn't use one of the colours in
the map it will mark it with an X. When not selected changes
will appear in the displayed image.
"Display" - Display the picture.
"Undo" - Undoes any palette changes.
"Cpy/Swp" - Allows you to copy or swap the palette with another image.
"Image" - Allows you to edit another image's palette.
"Rescan" - Reverts back to the orignal palette.
"Select" - Allows you to click on any pixel in the image and return to
the editor with that colour selected for editing.
"Take" - Works the same as Select but colour currently being edited
takes on the colour that pixel had in the origianl image.
"Load" - Loads a .PAL palette file into the current colour map.
"Save" - Saves current palette in .PAL file.
"Cancel" - Aborts any changes made and returns to previous screen.
"Options" - Goes to the Options Dialogue.
//// Filtered Image Scaling
Filtered Image Scaling (FIS) is used to smooth out or alter images
that have been enlarged or reduced, whilst it will help improve images
that are scaled in this manner it has the drawback that it is very
calculation intensive and therefore takes a long time to draw. As such
it is not a quick way to view images but can be used to improve them.
To use filtering you must turn the filter on by selecting the "Fltr"
button and use the "Set" button to go to the FIS option screen. Once
on the option screen you will be presented with a selection of menus,
buttons and editable fields.
The first menu is the "Filter Type" which can be either "Standard" or
"Enhancing". The second menu is "Filter Curve" which has the options
of "Box", "Triangle", "Cubic", "B-Spline", "Lancos3", "Mitchell" or
"Nelson". With each offering a different filter curve. Other options
include toggle switches for "Filtering On/Off", "Flip Horizontal" and
"Flip Vertical", "Wrap Image at Edges" and "Scale Filter". Editable
fields are for the "Height", "Horizontal" and "Vertical". Information
is also given on the amount of memory required for the filter.
When the enhancing Filter Type is selected the Filter Curve menu
contains different filters specifically for enhancing the image.
These are "Sharpening", "Quad-Step", "Raised Edge", "Smooth Bias",
"Sharp Bias", "Linear Bias" or "Diffusion". Enhancing filters
generally work better when image scaling is a multiple of the original
image. Often you will get banding due to the inability of these
filters to shift phase.
Some filters such as Sharpening and Diffusion work best on the
original image whereas others work best on enlarged images. Some of
these other filters can be used to create interesting effects on the
pixels themselves such as the Sharp Bias filter which produces a 3D
pixel effect. Some of the filters are assymetric and can therefore be
flipped. Filters can also be wrapped at the edge of the image or
faded. Both have drawbacks in that fading will darken the edge of the
image whilst wrapped edges can produce duplicate pixels close to the
edges.
When reducing an image without FIS image quality is lost. Standard
filters are used to accurately take into account lost lines and
improve detail. When "Scale Filter" is selected it is possible to blur
filters. Small scaling values will not blur the filter but larger
values will increase level of blurring. Values less than one produce a
weird patterned darkening effect.
Filtering is a powerful tool within SOL and as such requires a lot of
experimentation to achieve the best results along with a lot of
patience. When working with FIS on large images it is ideal to have a
lot of memory available.
//// Image Warping
(Please note that image warping cannot be used in conjunction with
FIS).
Clicking on the "Warp" button will take you to the warp option screen.
Here you can enter a variety of values for "Width", "Horizontal
Shift", "Height" and "Vertical Centre". Along side these options are
the menus "Warping Pattern" and "Repeat". The first menu contains the
following list of warp transformations:
Off (No warping)
Flat
Linear
Cubic
B-Spine
Plateau
Sine Wave
The Repeat menu has the options of "Once" or "Periodic". Using Warping
scan lines are stretched and shifted in various ways in order to make
an interesting change in the image. All numbers entered are relative
to the image itself so if the image is enlarged twice the warping
figures will be scaled likewise. The warping is centred around what is
reffered to as the "bulge" and can be repeated using the periodic
bulge. This centre is usually the peak or lowest point of the curve
when warping.
Whilst the distortions provided prove no real practical value they are
fun to try and are worth experimenting with to achieve some
interesting effects.
//// Scripts
SOL has the ability to read special scripts which can be created by
the user, which are to be used in conjunction with the slideshow.
With these simple scripts it is possible to assign individual times
for images to stay on screen, as well as to select whether loaded
images stay in memory or are loaded each time to save memory. You can
even select files with wildcards for use in the slideshow.
You also have the option of viewing one image whilst the next is being
loaded and decompressed. Other features include the ability to define
how the image will look when displayed by making use of warping,
scaling, truecolour reduction, etc. SOL will follow all these commands
from a script without the user having to do anything.
This is a very useful and welcome additional feature within SOL.
//// Summary
SOL is an excellent program, with a wealth of features it will keep
you experimenting with it for some time to come. All the features are
very fast and provide excellent results. SOL must have the most
comprehensive set of colour features I've seen in a single package and
this alone makes it worthwhile to use. Combine this with its speed and
compatibility and you have a package that every Atari owner who likes
to view pictures should support.
Of course there are some limitations. There is no true colour support
and there is a limited number of picture formats supported. JPEG's are
memory hungry and can be slow but when put against the positive things
it has to offer these seem to fade away. This package is a winner.
//// Scores
[] Ease of Use = 82
Although designed well with many shortcuts and a good intuitive design
this doesn't score as high as it could due to the nature of the
package. Many of the more advanced features are difficult to use and
take a long time to master and although the program is well done these
problems can't be overcome with anything other than experimentation to
achieve the right results.
[] Features = 91
For a picture viewer this program is packed with features and
represents excellent value for money. Colour wise nearly every option
is supported that you could ever want and each area implemented has
been thought out very well and is very comprehensive. This said there
are some features in this current version that have yet to be
implemented and with these the score would be higher.
[] Use of Computer = 90
Despite the fact it is not aimed at any one machine and therefore
allowing for clever programming and optimisations for that machine
this does an excellent job of taking advantage of the extra facilities
of whatever machine you are on. This is shown by the support for the
TT and the DSP in the Falcon, making its use of machine excellent with
most operations being lightning fast whatever the system.
[] Compatibility = 96
What can I say it works with and makes the most of all the Atari
range. This review is based on the time I spent on the package on both
the ST and the Falcon. In all the time I spent on both machines the
only problem I ever had was on the Falcon and that turned out to be a
problem with the Overscan software I was running. It evens supports
file selectors, screen accelerators, MultiTOS, and some graphics
cards.
[] Speed = 92
Everything with the exception of FIS scaling is very fast (although
considering the intensive nature of this it is to be expected).
Warping can take a little time as can JPEG decoding but again this is
to be expected. Speed of Light certainly lives up to its name.
[] Documentation = 84
Overall the documentation is good but being included as a text file on
disk for you to print out does limit its ability to illustrate some
things clearly. The ability to see more screenshots and illustrations
of use along with some small tutorials would help more. Reading the
manual on its own can be a little confusing at times unless sat in
front of the computer trying everything out. Also some areas are
skimmed over too quickly in the manual.
[] Overall = 91
An absolute must for anyone with an Atari who views pictures and has a
need to enhance the palette or clear up pictures. With only a few
minor flaws, it is an excellent package with good support fast times
for use, very comprehensive tools, a well thought out design and
excellent cross platform compatibilty. Get this and register it now,
you won't regret it!
--==--==--==--==--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- --==--==-- 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 --==--==-- --
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--==--==--==--==--
||| Rare Gems
||| Compiled by: David A. Wright
/ | \ Internet: sf-centaur@genie.com
----------------------------------------------------------------
The following are the "Rare Gems (sm)" selections for June 25 to July
1, 1995. "Rare Gems" is a service mark (sm) of Rare Breed Noninc. and
David Alan Wright. (Internet: SF-CENTAUR@GENIE.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.
Music from the original soundtrack. --:Dave
Run-on headlines in the June 27 Hartford Courant, page A2:
"23 Texas Democrats defect" "Shuttle launch in the clouds" Thereby
foiling another nefarious Republican plot. Fortunately the Democrats
were unharmed due to the hot air inherent in politicians. NASA says
that in the future it will avoid scheduling one party's tour of the
shuttle at the same time as another party's tour of the control room.
"Betty Crocker is moist and easy." Should this be on TV? --Unknown
The glory of each generation is to make its own precedents.
--Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood
Find God? Why, is God missing? --Unknown
Sometimes you don't want sense. Sometimes the last thing in the world
you need is sense. Work a thing through till it makes sense and you
lose all the possibilities. --Charles de Lint
What you tried to do, Susan, is an awfully permanent answer to a
temporary problem. --Les about suicide, "Funky Winkerbean" strip by
Tom Batiuk
Charity begins at home, but should not end there. --Thomas Fuller
The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief. --"Othello"
by William Shakespeare
Children are entitled to their otherness, as anyone is; and when we
reach them, as we sometimes do, it is generally on a point of sheer
delight, to us so astonishing, but to them so natural.
--Alastair Reid
===
The following are the "Rare Gems (sm)" selections for July 2 to 8,
1995. "Rare Gems" is a service mark (sm) of Rare Breed Noninc. and
David Alan Wright. (Internet: SF-CENTAUR@GENIE.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.
Safety tested for children 3 and over. --:Dave
Each time we changed our environment, our environment changed our
behavior, and our new behavior demanded a new environment.
--Laurence J. Peter
Don't let your mouth say nothin' your head don't understand.
--Louis Armstrong
All politics is based on the indifference of the majority. --Unknown
I wish more singers would enunciate clearly. Trying to understand them
is a consonant struggle. --:Dave Wright
Perhaps a child who is fussed over gets a feeling of destiny, he
thinks he is in the world for something important and it gives him
drive and confidence. --Benjamin Spock
If men do not keep on speaking terms with children, they cease to be
men, and become merely machines for eating and earning money.
--John Updike
I fear that Christians who stand with only one leg upon the earth also
stand with only one leg in heaven. --Dietrich Bonhoeffer
===
The following are the "Rare Gems (sm)" selections for July 9 to 15,
1995. "Rare Gems" is a service mark (sm) of Rare Breed Noninc. and
David Alan Wright. (Internet: SF-CENTAUR@GENIE.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.
This product meets California standards for clean air. --:Dave
Oxymoron (n): Pimple cream for idiots. --Unknown
Statesmen think they make history; but history makes itself and drags
the statesmen along. --Will Rogers
Christians have burnt each other, quite persuaded That all the
Apostles would have done as they did. --Lord Byron
No kingdom has ever suffered as many civil wars as Christ's.
--Montesquieu
Many come to bring their clothes to church rather than themselves.
--Thomas Fuller
A good civilization spreads over us like a tree, varying and yielding
because it is alive. A bad civilization stands up and sticks out above
us like an umbrella - artificial, mathematical in shape; not merely
universal, but uniform. --G. K. Chesterton
The social moulds civilization fits us into have no more relation to
our actual shapes than the conventional shapes of the constellations
have to real star patterns. --"Jude the Obscure" by Thomas Hardy
--==--==--==--==--
||| Developing news!
||| Items of interest from TOS platform developers and supporters
/ | \ -------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// MIST VII July 29, 1995
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Double the Space,
Double the Fun
July 29 at Indianapolis
Mid-Indiana ST: MIST AtariFest VII
Two ballrooms double the space reserved for the 7th annual Mid-Indiana
ST MIST AtariFest in Indianapolis on the last Saturday in July...July
29.
Sponsors are the Atari user groups at Indianapolis, Bloomington, and
Purdue University in West Lafayette (ASCII, BL.A.ST, PAUG).
Jam-packed conditions last year with only one room called for
expansion to two ballrooms -- one for commercial vendors and
developers, and the other reserved for user groups and individual
Atari users.
Vendors expected again who came to last year's AtariFest VI are:
Toad D.A. Brumleve Missionware
Rising Star Systems for Tomorrow SKWare
Gribnif It's All Relative DMJ
Binary Sounds MegaType MTS Creations
Crawly Crypt Branch Always Clear Thinking
chro-MAGIC Mars Merchandising Micro Depot
Lexicor Micro Computer Depot ICD/Black Cat
Complimentary copies were distributed from Current Notes
and door prize donations came from Oregon Research.
User groups last year at AtariFest VI came from Illinois,
Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Indiana.
'Fest Time is from 10 to 3 Eastern Standard Time (which is the same as
Central Daylight Time in Illinois) or 11 to 4 Eastern Daylight Time
(in most areas north and east of Indiana).
Admission is still $3. Door prize drawings are planned at least every
half-hour. (User groups get two free tickets eligible for door prizes;
commercial vendors get two free tickets but those don't go in the door
prize drawings.)
Location for MIST AtariFest VII is the same top-quality Best Western
Waterfront Plaza Hotel that we've used the last two years. (Indoor
pool and a restaurant, but many other eating places are nearby.) The
Best Western is only 10 minutes north of Indianapolis International
Airport (and only two left turns away from the Indy 500 Speedway track
and museum). The hotel is on State Road 136 -- use the Speedway exit
from the Interstate 465 beltway at the northwest corner of
Indianapolis.
Hotel room rates are discounted for AtariFest guests, but you must
telephone the Indianapolis motel -- not Best Western's national
toll-free 800-number. Call 317/299-8400 ext. 393 and ask for the
"Catering Staff," then tell the Catering Staff that you are part of
the AtariFest. If you call at night or over a weekend, the Catering
Staff may need to call you back. Book rooms soon; the hotel filled up
early last year.
Mileage from Indianapolis: Chicago 185 miles
Detroit 285 miles
Cleveland 318 miles
Columbus 180 miles
Cincinnati 110 miles
Louisville 114 miles
St. Louis 246 miles.
For More Details or Space Contracts:
Charlie Sears, Co-Chair, MIST AtariFest VII
551 Mooreland, New Whiteland IN 46184
Voice: 317/ 535-4829 (If you get the answering machine, please
be sure to leave full name, mail address
and/or phone and Email details.)
Crossroads/BL.A.ST BBS:
317/ 878-4069 Southside Indianapolis
317/ 780-5473 West & NE Indianapolis
812/ 988-1069 Bloomington & Brown Co.
FidoNet 1:231/310.0
GEnie: s.huffman5
Internet: shuffman@ideanet.doe.state.in.us
or
s.huffman5@genie.geis.com
=-=-=-=-=-=
//// DEUCE October 7, 1995
=-=-=-=-=-=
The Atari Users of North Texas (AUNT) presents
the D/FW Exchange Underground Computing Exposition (DEUCE).
The show will be held in Dallas on October 7th in conjunction with
the monthly DFW XChange Corporation's "XChange Saturday" activities at
the beautiful Dallas InfoMart. As with all XChange Saturday
activities, admission is free and open to the general public. The one
day exposition will begin at 8:30 AM and run until 4:00 PM. Both a
Friday evening pre-show get together and a post show get together are
also being planned.
October is a great time to visit the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. For
one thing we probably have better weather in October than most of the
rest of the world. The DFW Xchange Corporation "XChange Saturday"
activities are monthly computer extravaganzas where thousands of
computer enthusiast get together, share their computer interests and
enjoy some of the best computer and high-tech electronic buys in
Texas. This October will be special for Atarians because many of our
finest developers and dealers will be participating in the activities.
The Dallas Infomart facility - a replica of the famous 1895 World's
Fair Grand Crystal Palace - is located in the heart of the Dallas
Market Center district. The facility is leased by the DFW Xchange
Corporation each month to provide a community service to all computer
users in the Metroplex area. The Atari Users of North Texas is one of
many participating user groups that help support this community
service by sharing our Atari computer interests, general computer
expertise and providing user assistance to our local Atarians and the
interested general public.
Vendors currently planning on participating include:
It's All Relative Systems for Tomorrow
chroMagic Crawly Crypt Corporation
Oregon Research Associates Dave Munsie
DMJ software Branch Always Software
and the list is growing.
Vendors and User Groups interested in participating can contact:
David Acklam
(214) 242-9655
GEnie ...... D.ACKLAM
Internet .... d.acklam@genie.geis.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// C-Lab Falcons Through Toad
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
When it became clear that Atari would no longer manufacture the
Falcon030, we were all glad to hear that C-LAB of Germany had licensed
the design and would be producing their own machines.
C-LAB then revamped the Falcon, cleaned up its audio circuitry and
added an internal SCSI bus to produce the 14MB C-LAB Falcon MK-II.
While the machine was aimed squarely at the digital audio recording
market, it seemed too expensive for most hobbyists and came in only
one configuration.
C-LAB has since revived the FALCON MK-I, and Toad Computers is
importing them, in addition to new designs of the FALCON MK-II, at
prices identical to our previous pricing! Without further ado, let us
summarize the new Falcon pricing schedule:
FALCON MK I: Original Falcon w/Audio & CPU Mods for Cubase Audio
================================================================
4MB, No Hard Disk $ 999.00
14MB, No Hard Disk $1,499.00
4MB, 170MB Hard Disk $1,299.00
14MB, 170MB Hard Disk $1,899.00
FALCON MK II: Enhanced Super-Falcon w/Internal SCSI 514MB HD
================================================================
4MB, 514MB Hard Disk $1,899.00
14MB, 514MB Hard Disk $2,799.00
Monitor Adapters
================
ST Monitor Adapter $ 14.95
VGA Monitor Adapter $ 14.95
The C-LAB Falcon (both MK-I and MK-II) has undergone many design
enhancements but is still compatible with all hardware and software
upgrades available for standard Atari Falcon computers.
C-LAB FALCON FAST FACTS:
* Imported to the U.S. By Toad Computers
* Available by 8/1/95
* Same case as Atari Falcon030
* Other Hard Disk Sizes Available, Please Ask
* Bundles w/Cubase Audio Available
* Pricing subject to change due to currency exchange rates
Pricing valid through 8/31/95
* All plugs & ports identical to Atari Falcon030
* Accepting Orders as of 7/14/95
For more information on the C-LAB Falcon or any product we sell,
please call Toad Computers at (410) 544-6943.
========================================================================
You're listening to the voice of underdog computing:
Toad Computers, America's Atari Source
570 Ritchie Highway
Severna Park, MD 21146-2925
(800) 448-8623 Orders (that's 448-TOAD)
(410) 544-6943 Info
(410) 544-1329 FAX
(410) 544-6999 BBS
(410) 544-0098 FaxBack (Known as ToadFAX)
Send E-Mail to: toad@charm.net
toad@charm.net@INET# (from GENIE)
toad@genie.geis.com
Web Home Page: http://www.charm.net/~toad/
THANKS from EVERYONE at Toad Computers!
Dave, Jennifer, Ray, Jamie, Jo Ann, Dale, Justin, Keith, Tom, Colin,
Tanya, Mark -- and Zoe the dog!
We appreciate your support!
========================================= (C) TC Inc 07/14/95 ==========
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Atari CD Master from Homa
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Homa Systems House is proud to announce a New product, the ATARI CD
MASTER (ACM). ACM is a an authoring system for a number of DOS/WINDOWS
popular CD ROMS. ACM has the following features:
- easy user interface, fully multitaksing in a window
- pictures are viewable on 2, 16 color, 256 color modes, including
graphics cards and the Falcon
- Powerful search features, with "narrow down" option. On the TIME
Almanac, you can search the whole CD for particular key words
- Up to 4 text windows open, with one picture window
- Save, print, ....
The following CDs are supported so far:
1- TIME ALMANAC OF the 1990s. This CD contains all the TIME magazine
articles from Jan 1 1989 to May 4 1994, will all the pictures. It
also has the TIME MAN OF THE YEAR, the CIA FACT BOOK (tonnes of
data/picture on various countries (>150), organizations, world
statistics), maps, Almanac charts and articles. View portrait profiles
on 12 major persons and events of the 20th century, highlights of each
decade and all the presidential elections, and more! This is a great
encyclopedia of world events. With ACM, you can access all the
datafiles, pictures on any ST with monochrome graphics, or on VGA 16
color or 256 colors (TT, Falcon, graphics cards) up to 1280x1024, save
and/or print them. You can also do a thorough search on all the
articles/pictures, and/or narrow down your selection to reach to your
desired information.
2- TIME ALMANAC, REFERENCE EDITION, This CD is very similar to the
1990s, except it only has the articles up to the end of 1993; however,
it has the complete TIME MAN OF THE YEAR, from year 1927 to 1993, plus
hundreds of other text and graphics.
3- UFO (I or II): This is an exciting CD with over 1300 articles, many
of them with amazing graphics describing UFO events from prehistoric
times to the present.
4- Space Missions: This CD contains over 1600 articles, with over 700
with astounding pictures on all the space missions form all over the
world (USSR, USA, CHINA, England, ...). Do you want to know about
Challenger? Just type in the key words, and you'll have everything
about the missions at your finger tips.
5- 1995 AUTO ALMANAC, This is an amazing CD, for someone who wants to
buy a new car, or just a hobbyist. This CD has complete descriptions/
specifications for over 350 different models of automobiles; from
European, to American and Japanese.... Each description comes with up
to 5 images for each car. It also has TOP 10s on best/worst cars, most
economical, best gas mileage... on how to buy/lease a new car, even a
glossary of terms, and more.... If you have a dream car, you would
most likely find anything there is to know about it on this CD!
6- Audio CD Master v4, "NOW IN 3D" which is the ultimate Audio CD
player on the ATARIs. With this program (or accessory), you can play
Audio CDs in the background of any application using any SCSI CD ROM,
even the popular NEC 25, which no other player supports. It requires
-> no <- other drivers (i.e., metados, extendos).
Version 4 has lots of new features/enhancements, 3D buttons. Audio CD
Master offers the following:
Play, stop, pause, resume, FF, REW, eject, track skip options.
Track options allow you to specify a range of tracks, i.e., from
2-11, or play a single track, or play programmable tracks. You can
assign up to 16 tracks to play, and also save them, so the next time
you insert the CD, the program automatically asks you whether you
want to play the previously saved sequences.
You can play anywhere within a track, i.e., track 4, minute 3, and
second 11, for ultimate control eg: for musicians.
Displays the track names (by their name of the albums/and tracks) for
the current CD, and also you can select tracks by their names (if you
have a lot of CDs, you don't need to memorize all the track numbers
anymore)
Works as a program or accessory, with any resolution above 640x400..It
is also multitasking. Has an alternate window (a much smaller one)
with all the main buttons (play, resume,pause, stop,track, rew,
ff,...) in order to have instant access from within any program, and
avoid cluttering.
ATARI TT, Falcon, ST (with ICD) is required.
Atari CD MASTER will have new drivers added to it periodically, for a
nominal fee. Pricing is as follows:
ATARI CD MASTER, complete 4 pack for only ...... 39.95 US$
Upgrade for Audio CD Master(v3) owners ...... 25.00 US$
Upgrades can be done by sending your disk directly to Homa systems
House or It's all Relative.
We can also supply you the CDs for $15 for Time Almanac (reference
edition or 1990s), 1995 AUTO ALMANAC ($18.00) and UFO. The price of
Space missions is not yet known, but will be around the same figure.
As mentioned previously, you can expect more CDs to be added to the
list (we are working really fast, there are two more CDs in the works,
estimated release time, two weeks)
At Homa Systems House, we are dedicated to bring you quality software
and hardware. If you want to be on our mailing list, please send your
name and address to one of the following:
Homa Systems House
P.O.BOX 52127
OTTAWA, ON K1N 5S0
CANADA
TEL: (613) 722-0901
FAX: (613) 722-9061
EMAIL:
genie: NIMA
internet: aa414@freenet.carleton.ca
You can expect to see ATARI CD MASTER on your friendly dealer's shelf,
or directly from us. We accept Visa/MC, or money order, or cheque for
methods of payment. 3% surcharge on credit cards.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// JetSpeed and OutBurST!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
A GDOS Printer Driver For LaserJet Compatibles
JetSpeed is a custom GDOS printer driver for HP LaserJet
compatible printers that delivers up to 600 dpi resolution.
The driver is customized to utilize OutBurST! and when combined
with that product can produce output speeds with GDOS
applications far beyond that available with the standard TOS
ROM routine. The table below shows the OutBurST!/JetSpeed
combination can yield output speeds from 10 to 18 times faster
than TOS.
Average Time to Print One Page (Seconds)
Resolution | TOS | OutBurST! | JetSpeed & OutBurST!
---------------------------------------------------------
300 dpi | 135 | 40 | 14
600 dpi | 575 | 127 | 31
The table above was based on printing of a five page document
to an HP LaserJet 4 using Atari Works on a Falcon030.
System Requirements: Any Atari ST, TT030, Stacy or Falcon030 with GDOS
or Speedo GDOS, HP LaserJet compatible printer.
Note: OutBurST! is required to achieve printout speed enhancement.
Ordering information at end of document.
__________________________________________________________________
Straight Edge is also announcing a new version of OutBurST! the
ultimate printer output accelerator for the Atari 16 and 32 bit
computers.
Background
----------
When the Atari ST was introduced the most common hard copy
output device in use was the dot matrix printer. The TOS
printer driver that came in the ROM of your ST which is used to
send data to the parallel printer port, while not being
optimized, was fast enough to send data to dot matrix printers
without adding unacceptable delay in printing. This is because
a dot matrix printer is not capable of receiving data at a
particularly rapid rate, and so although the driver was slow,
no significant printout speed penalty was incurred. Since that
time, the popularity of ink jet and laser printers has grown
substantially and many Atari ST, TT and Falcon030 users have
purchased them in the quest for high quality output. This
increase in print quality required an increase in the printers
output resolution. Unfortunately, the higher output resolution
increased the amount of data that had to be sent to the printer
for each page. This, coupled with the fact that the newer ink
jet and laser printers could accept data at a very high rate,
made the ST a speed bottleneck when it came to printing.
Enter - OutBurST! With OutBurST! this ST/TT030/Falcon030 speed
bottleneck is eliminated. If you have a high speed printer,
OutBurST! can reduce printout times by a very significant
amount. Testing with some printers while using Pagestream, has
given a printing time of 11 seconds compared to a standard TOS
1.4 printing time of 301 seconds. That is a reduction factor of
27 times. For a short 10 page document, the difference would
represent 48 additional minutes at your computer waiting for
the output! Clearly, OutBurST! can make your printing
considerably more efficient. OutBurST! includes an Auto-switch
Print Spooler that can be enabled or disabled depending upon
the type of application program being used. Applications using
graphical printer output (Pagestream, Calamus, GDOS
application, etc.) to form images or characters are not suited
for spooler use. Ascii text based applications (Word Writer,
Word Perfect, Steno, etc.) are most efficient when using a
spooler. Using the unique Auto-switch spooler in OutBurST! 3.3
allows you to optimize all of your printing tasks.
New Features
------------
Version 3.3 of OutBurST! adds several improvements. In order to
work effectively with multitasking, the spooler feature can be
locked to on or off so that it does not inadvertently change
when switching between application. The program has been
rewritten to further improve output speed and can result in
speed increases of 10 to 15% depending on the printer being
used. OutBurST! is compatible with any Atari ST, STe, Mega STe
Falcon030 or TT030 computer with TOS in ROM.
Requirements
------------
OutBurST! takes about 2K of memory plus whatever amount of
memory you allocate for the printer spooler. OutBurST!
speeds up output to the parallel printer port only. It cannot
and will not improve speed of printers that are attached to the
serial port.
Benchmark Results
-----------------
OutBurST! speeds up Pagestream significantly as shown in the
table below:
"Printing Page" Time in Pagestream in seconds
Printer | TOS | OutBurST!
---------------------------------------
HP LaserJet 4 | 323 | 10
HP LaserJet IIIP | 323 | 13
DeskJet 500 | 323 | 28
Canon BJ200 | 207 | 44
OutBurST! speeds up the printing for most Atari programs. Some
typical results using an HP LaserJet 4 are listed below:
Typical Results with HP 4 Printer (seconds)
Application | TOS | OutBurST!
----------------------------------
Calamus SL | 232 | 136
Atari Works | 371 | 111
Calamus 1.09 | 245 | 116
Papyrus | 423 | 237
Ordering Information
--------------------
JetSpeed is available for $19.95 plus $2.00 shipping and
handling.
OutBurST! 3.3 is available for $29.95 plus $2.00 shipping and
handling.
An upgrade to OutBurST! 3.3 for registered owners is available
by returning your master disk with $10.00 plus $2.00 shipping
and handling. Payment by check, Visa or Mastercard accepted.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Special Package Deal if you order before September 1, 1995!
-----------------------------------------------------------
JetSpeed and OutBurST! 3.3 combination for $39.95 plus $3.00
shipping and handling.
JetSpeed and OutBurST! 3.3 upgrade for registered owners for
$25.95 plus $3.00 shipping and handling.
Straight Edge Software
PO Box 6407
Nashua, NH 03063
Phone (603)672-8150
Mon-Sat 6 PM - 9 PM Eastern Time
Genie F.PAWLOWSKI
Internet flp@mv.mv.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// CD-Font Manager
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Fouch Software located in Erie, PA, long known for their popular
mailing list program, MAILING MANAGER ST, has announced the
availability of a new product.
CD-FONT MANAGER ST
CD-FONT MANAGER ST is a font manager designed to be a front end for a
popular CD-ROM font disk, 2000 Fantastic Fonts from Expert Software.
The CD-ROM contains over 2,000 fonts in both Postscript Type 1 and
TrueType formats.
CD-FONT MANAGER ST will allow the user to review all the fonts on the
CD-ROM. The user can also select any number of fonts to be copied by
the program to a hard disk for use with such programs as, Pagestream,
or any other program that supports Postscript Type 1 or TrueType
fonts.
CD-FONT MANAGER ST will run on all ST/STe/TT/FALCON computers. It
works in ST Medium, ST High, TT Medium, TT High, Falcon 640 * 480 * 16
color modes. A CD-ROM, driver, and hard drive are required to use the
program.
CD-FONT MANAGER ST can be purchased along with the 2,000 Fantastic
Fonts CD-ROM from your local Atari Dearler, or directly from Fouch
Software for $34.95. This works out to be less than 2 cents per font,
and with easy use of CD-MANAGER ST you may never have to buy another
font again.
CD-FONT MANAGER ST is a trademark of Fouch Software, Postscript is a
registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. TrueType is a trademark of
Apple Computer, Inc., Fantastic 2000 Fonts is a trademark of Expert
Software.
For more information on the CD-FONT MANAGER ST, contact Fouch
Software at:
1823 West 8th Street or (814) 455-1294
Erie, PA 16505-4938 M-F, 5-10pm, EST
GEnie Address: J.FOUCH
* Note: Due to a bug in NVDI 3.02, most fonts are ignored by NDVI.
--==--==--==--==--
|||
||| 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 Internet gateway into GEnie, you can reach us through the
Internet also. Append "@genie.com" to any of our GEnie addresses.
Until the next issue of AEO, I remain,
Your Editor
Travis Guy
Internet: aeo.mag@genie.com
--==--==--==--==--
(This issue printed on recycled photons)
--==--==--==--==--
DNFTEC
--==--==--==--==--
No Inflation Necessary
--==--==--==--==--
Sweet As Sugar
--==--==--==--==--
Atari Explorer Online Magazine is a monthly 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.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 5 ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE July 20, 1995 ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
