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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 05 Issue 31
Volume 5, Issue 31 Atari Online News, Etc. August 1, 2003
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2003
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Paul Caillet
Jayson Hill
Martin Elsaesser
To subscribe to A-ONE, change e-mail addresses, or unsubscribe,
log on to our website at: www.atarinews.org
and click on "Subscriptions".
OR subscribe to A-ONE by sending a message to: dpj@atarinews.org
and your address will be added to the distribution list.
To unsubscribe from A-ONE, send the following: Unsubscribe A-ONE
Please make sure that you include the same address that you used to
subscribe from.
To download A-ONE, set your browser bookmarks to one of the
following sites:
http://people.delphiforums.com/dpj/a-one.htm
http://www.icwhen.com/aone/
http://a1mag.atari.org
Now available:
http://www.atarinews.org
Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
http://forums.delphiforums.com/atari/
=~=~=~=
A-ONE #0531 08/01/03
~ Online Sales Tax Nears ~ People Are Talking! ~ More Adamas News!
~ Napster To Make Return ~ New Mac Disk Utility! ~ A New Era for PGP!
~ Mac Mailblocks in Beta ~ Matador Takes On Spam! ~ PC TOS/PCGEM News!
~ MSN Search Beefing Up! ~ Classic Gaming Expo ~ Hormel Spam Fight!
-* Classic Gaming Expo 2003! *-
-* Backlash Predicted in Swapping War! *-
-* Committee Approves Internet Access Tax Ban *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
It's been a weird week. I had to go in to work earlier in the week for some
training on our new systems that affects part of my department. It was
fine, and I get to extend my vacation for those two "lost" days. The
weather has been great all week, until this weekend (or so they predict!),
but I'll take it! I got in some golf and a few other activities. Well,
since my mind is still in vacation mode, I'll not take up any more time,
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
Adamas 1.8 Pre-Release 23
Hello,
(7/28/2003)
Adamas 1.8 Pre-Release 23
http://draconis.atari.org
This Pre-Release is a Release-Candidate of the final version 1.8. (See
list of changes for details) For installation you need an installed
version 1.7, because the 1.8 files are only replacements or extensions
to it.
(list of changes)
http://draconis.atari.org/draconis/archives/adachg.txt
(68000)
http://draconis.atari.org/draconis/archives/ada18dev.zip
(68030)
http://draconis.atari.org/draconis/archives/ada18d30.zip
New Marathon & FTP Release
=========================
Since today there is a new release of Marathon 2.0 Pl:8 and
DRACONIS-FTP 2.0 Pl:1 available for download. Mainly it fixes the
problem that DRACDLG.SLB was not correctly unloaded with MiNT/MagiC.
There is an installation package and a ZIP file for a manual
installation available.
(Marathon)
http://draconis.atari.org/draconis/archives/mara2.lzh
http://draconis.atari.org/draconis/archives/mara2_ni.zip
(FTP)
http://draconis.atari.org/draconis/archives/dracftp.lzh
http://draconis.atari.org/draconis/archives/dracftp_ni.zip
Best regards,
Paul CAILLET
PCTOS.LIB 0.5.0 and PCGEM.LIB 0.9.0 for PureC
Hello,
the two libraries PCTOS.LIB and PCGEM.LIB, nearly 100% compatible
replacements of the PureC original libraries, are available: PCTOS 0.5.0
and PCGEM 0.9.0.
*PCTOS 0.5.0*
- Binding for all (X)BIOS and GEMDOS functions, PAMsNet, MiNTNet
for which I have any docu
- Compatible to the PureC library PCTOSLIB.LIB (nearly 100%)
_Download_
MausNet: MAUS LL (++40-8192-9969999, im GPT M.C.A.Programmieren)
Internet: http://acspro.atari.org
_Archives_
PCTOS050.LZH 88488 Bytes 2003-07-29 20:16:48 Uhr (lib incl. src)
PCTOS050.ASC 470 Bytes 2003-07-29 20:17:24 Uhr (PGP signature)
*PCGEM 0.9.0*
- Binding for all VDI-Funktionen (incl. NVDI 5) for which I
have any docu
- Binding for all AES-Funktionen (incl. N.AES 2.0, MagiC 6)
for which I have any docu
- Multithreading save (integrated MT_AES.LIB)
- Compatible to the PureC library PCGEMLIB.LIB (nearly 100%)
- wind_get/wind_set compatible to PureC library, but without
the problems of PureC for the newer modes
- Pure multithreaded Version of the library without the
compatibility functions
I'm merging the library PCGEM.LIB into the GEMLIB but with a interface
nearly 100% compatible to the PureC original library. This is only a step to
this goal.
_Download_
MausNet: MAUS LL (++49-8192-9969999, im GPT M.C.A.Programmieren)
Internet: http://acspro.atari.org
_Archives_
PCGEM090.LZH 263997 Bytes 2003-07-29 10:04:12 Uhr (lib incl. src)
PCGEM090.ASC 470 Bytes 2003-07-29 10:05:58 Uhr (PGP signature)
Greetings
Martin
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho, friends and neighbors. I'm going to keep it short again this
week because I'm still going nuts with both home and work... Yeah, like
I'm the only one that knows THAT feeling these days, right?
Anyway, I do want to mention something that struck me this past week.
Don't prepare yourself for anything deep or philosophical. I'm sure that
at least most of you have noticed it too, and it's not that the
realization only came to me this week. But it was this week that I
noticed that it wasn't getting any better. "Okay, John-Boy", you're
probably saying, "What the hell are you talking about?"
Well, the subject this week, children, is intolerance. I've always known
that there was intolerance in the world, and that it wasn't just in some
far-away land. It's right here, right around the corner, and it always
has been.
It just seemed to me that with all of our technology that we should be
getting better at putting up with each other. It used to be that people
with 'odd' customs were far away... so far away that you never even
thought that you might actually meet. Or so far away that by the time you
heard about something, it was over and done with.
Today we get news instantaneously. And we not only hear about things
almost instantly, we can actually see them almost in real time. I always
thought that being able to see people in the midst of a crisis or a
triumph would make it real for us, make their joy or pain easier for us
to identify with. To be sure, it may be hard to understand different
cultures and sensibilities, but joy and sorrow are sort of universal
emotions and I figured that this alone should allow us greater
understanding.
Unfortunately, that ain't the case. We still project our mores and
restrictions upon just about everyone we meet, see, or hear about. We see
it all the time in others and decry it as small-mindedness or prejudice.
In ourselves, however, it looks more like moral strength or more evolved
sensibilities or even the grace of God.
The fact that I don't understand a decision or a mindset should not mean
that it's wrong. It SHOULD serve as a reminder that the world doesn't
revolve around us (and that applies to both sides of the pond, so don't
be too quick to smirk) and that there is always more than one way to look
at a situation, and usually more than one way to react.
As a general rule of thumb, I find that if someone can resolve or try to
resolve a situation without resorting to violence, they deserve my
respect if not my understanding. I have no problem with the intelligent
application of force, but indiscriminate violence is never productive and
always more expensive than it's worth.
That's one of my favorite phrases, by the way... "The intelligent
application of force". Cool, isn't it? It covers everything from
Archimedes (give me a lever long enough and I'll move the world) to
resolving global disputes.
Even doing nothing can be an application of force. Of course, which side
of Archimedes' lever you happen to be on can color your perception of the
force. And if you want to get "Zen" about it, you could even be the lever.
What does all of this mean? I have no idea, to tell you the truth. But
think about how nice it would be if you didn't have to explain to your
wife why you wanted the computer where you put it, or explaining to your
boss about why you're doing what you're doing the way you're doing it.
And once you've thought about that, think about the next time you make a
judgement call on what someone else is doing.
Well, that's enough of that. Let's get on with the new, hints, tips, and
info from the UseNet.
From the comp.sys.atari.st NewsGroup
===================================
John Garone asks about NVDI for a Hades:
"A friend needs NVDI that will run on a Hades. Anyone know where to find
it?"
Steve Sweet answers simply;
"http://www.nvdi.de/gb/Produkte.html"
Alexander Beuscher adds:
"The Behne brothers seem to be out of business IMHO.
So if you want to order NVDI get in touch with atari dealers.
ASH has been the "major" NVDI dealer, so if you fail to get in touch with
the Behnes or to find an atari dealer in your country, try here:
http://www.application-systems.de/nvdi/index.html
It's german only, sorry. There is a link to the online shop and to the
latest freshup If you need assistance, let me know.
If you already own a NVDI Version 5 then you can find the latest freshup
(V 5.03) on the Behnes' site as well:
http://www.nvdi.de/gb/News.html "
Joseph Place adds:
"I think NVDI may be available through Europe Shareware, but the Atari
portion of the site appears to be down???
Also try 16/32 Systems."
Pascal Ricard tells Joseph:
"The PHP/MySQL servers of our ISP may have problems from time to time,
sorry."
Peter West posts this about a strange mouse problem:
"Came across a strange problem when a new member brought one of his
Falcons up to the club (Chesham Computer Club) this week, which I
though might be helpful to others:
He had only recently bought it second-hand, and when booted off
the hard drive (which had a lot of software already installed)
everything worked fine at first. But as soon as you changed the
screen resolution (to ST med or any other SVGA mode from the one
at boot-up), the mouse refused to work. One could still move the
cursor with the Alt+arrow keys, but even a substituted known-good
mouse refused to work
After disabling all ACCS and AUTO apps and reinstalling them
individually, the culprit turned out to be NEMESIS.PRG and/or
NEM_HI.PRG. Without these all was fine. I can only presume that
this was because the Nemesis board was not fitted to this machine
- he wasn't sure as he has two Falcons, one of which at least has
it built in. Or it could be faulty/wrongly installed, I guess.
This is a public service announcement in case anyone else finds
they have a similar problem."
Derryck Croker tells Peter:
"That'll be the _Cheshunt_ Computer Club, of course.
One of the benefits of joining a computer club; you have the assembled
masses to help with any problem."
Neil Chester asks for help with printing in color:
"I have a query about printing in colour on an Epson Stylus 600
Color printer I have using with PhotoTip 3.11Beta. According
to the Epson manual this printer can print up to a maximum
resolution of 1440x720dpi - but I have found that I cannot get
the printer to print at anything like this res!
With PhotoTip and using the last NVDI (5.03) and a printer
driver for the 600 it gives me the option of printing at the
higher res (Best - 720 & Best - 1440) but when selected either
all I get is a brief alert box flashing up on the screen
"Initialising Printer" or some such, and then nothing happens!!
The maximum res I can print at is Normal - 360dpi, even with
the best glossy paper in the printer.
I have a Falcon CT2b with 14Mb and 64Mb FastRAM so I thought I
must have enough memory for printing at the higher
resolutions?
What am I doing wrong?
Also does the "Epson GDPS_SC" scanner driver which Dennis
mentioned about recently work with both the Epson GT9500 and
an Atari Falcon running Magic 6.20? I know it is shareware
but where can it be obtained? I am interested in using it in
conjunction with PhotoTip for scanning in old non-digital
photos."
Dennis Vermeire tells Neil:
"No, the Epson GDPS_SC driver doesn't work with the Falcon, it only works
with a TT and Milan with SCSI card (possibly the Hades also). The driver
works under TOS, MagiC and MiNT. It recognizes all the Epson GT scanners
and also some (not all) of the later models.
I've found it on a now defunct German BBS.... if anyone wants a copy just
drop me a mail (I've translated it in English). Although the software is
shareware the author can't be found. Letters are returned and his email
address doesn't exist anymore... the driver itself isn't crippled in any
way.
You need minimum 128Mb RAM but to be on the safe side I would
say 180Mb is even better. If you haven't got that amount of free RAM then
the only option left is to use NVDI's spooler.
Check that you've set the spooler path correctly and that there is a folder
called "spooler" present. Also make sure that there is at least 200MB free
space on the partition where the spooler is located. Printing at 720*1440
garbles up memory....
Oh and if you have a dog, take it for a large peewee, printing an A4 in
that resolution can take quite some time...."
Tony Cianfaglione asks about using a ZIP drive on his Falcon:
"What do you need to connect a Falcon and an Iomega zip drive?
I have the hardware including a scsi cable to go between them but what do
I need in software? Did someone make an Iomega driver for the ST?"
Robert Schaffner tells Tony to use...
"HDDriver. Older AHDI releases do not accept SCSI IDs like, 0,1,6
so you have to use it in line: 0,1,2,.. as example.
Zip drive can only set to ID 5 or 6 if i'm not wrong.
Last point, a lot of Zip devices do not terminate SCSI bus well."
Steve Sweet adds:
"And if you're using a device such as a Link you will need to provide
termpwr to the bus.
ZIP's can be modified with a diode to achieve this."
Tony asks Steve:
"What is a link and why would I need it? The zip plugs directly into the
Falcon. It just doesn't see it right now."
Derryck Croker tells Tony:
"For a Falcon you don't need a Link - that's for the ST range and converts
Atari's version of SCSI to a more understandable version.
As has been said, the Zip can be set to ID 5 or 6 only, and it has its own
termination via a small switch on the back.
Make sure that you've connected your Falcon to the correct port on the
drive (the one marked "Zip") and try an external termination block if it's
the last thing in your chain) with the termination switch set to "off"."
Graham Stoneman asks about the evolution of the Atari desktop:
"Many years ago I used an Atari 520STFM, with a whopping 1Mb of RAM. A few
days ago I thought I'd return to my roots, so dug it out and fired it up,
but I'd forgotten how horrible the desktop was...
I remember reading in Atari magazines, adverts for a product called MagiC -
it had a screenshot of a glorious high resolution, full colour desktop with
lots of windows, open applications, full colour icons etc... (much like a
modern Mac desktop looks like).
Now I'm guessing that those screenshots weren't from an Atari 520ST (what
with it only having a 320x200x4bit screen). What hardware and software do
I need to have an Atari desktop like the ones in those adverts? Does
anybody else remember them? How is it possible to have an 800x600, or even
1024x768 full colour desktop on any Atari system?"
Maurits van de Kamp tells Graham:
"Well you're mentioning a lot of different aspects at once.
The screenshots of Magic in glorious high resolutions are usually made in
MagicMac, which runs on a Mac in any resolution supported by the Mac itself.
On the ST, there's not much you can do to achieve those resolutions. On a
Falcon you can (using accelerators to increase the bus speed), or on a TT
with a video card.
Furthermore, you mention the desktop itself. There are replacement
desktops even for the ST, like Thing and Jinnee. Magic is mostly used with
Jinnee or the default MagicDesk.
Then the looks of the GUI itself, the last versions of Magic as well as
N.AES (a gem-environment for use with MiNT) support "Themes", in which
you can basically control the complete look of the GUI, down to the
bitmaps displayed in the window fuller/closer etc.
But anyway, for the fancy high resolutions, you'll need to resort to more
powerful Ataris (TT, Falcon, Milan, Hades), or an emulator on the PC or Mac. "
Graham tells asks Maurits:
"Thanks for the reply - would either a TT, Milan or Hades be able to run ST
software (I know the Falcon often has problems).
That must have been a misleading advert I saw all those years ago then,
using Mac screenshots in an Atari mag, advertising an Atari product..."
Maurits replies:
"Actually the Falcon is (supposed to be) the most ST-compatible of them
all. (This is why they made the somewhat strange step backwards from the
TT, with a 16-bit bus and a 16MHz processor). With cleanly written
software, none of those systems has problems. As the software gets older
and dirtier, the Milan/Hades, TT and Falcon will fail (in that order).
Modern Atari software should run on all those systems. Stuff like Calamus
actually kinda depends on the memory and resolution possibilities of a TT
or Falcon, although it should still run on a 4MB ST (barely).
It all boils down to what you want to use your Atari for. If it's all
about old ST games, stick to the ST.
The German magazine "ST Computer" (of which the last issue came out a
month ago, now it is a supplement in a PC magazine) does this all the
time. Emulator users are considered a serious group of "Atari users"."
Well folks, that's it for this time around. Tune in again next week, same
time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they're saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Sony PSP Offers Wireless Network!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 'Madden' To Enter Hall of Fame!
AvP: Extinction! CGE 2003 News!
And more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Sony Hand-Held PlayStation Offers Wireless Network
Sony Corp said on Tuesday its new hand-held PlayStation console would be
equipped with a wireless network system which allows users within a close
area to play games together and download game characters.
Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), Sony's game unit, mapped out technical
details of the upcoming "PSP" hand-held platform, which will compete
head-to-head with Nintendo Co Ltd's dominant Game Boy Advance handheld
console.
"We will be using some challenging technologies including wireless LAN,"
SCE President Ken Kutaragi said at a meeting of game software makers and
retailers.
"The PSP is a product with huge potential, following PlayStation and
PlayStation 2. The video game market may change in a big way," he said.
Kutaragi said the PSP, scheduled to debut in the fourth quarter of 2004,
would employ "the latest and the most cutting-edge technologies" including
two powerful micro-processors and an advanced 3D-effect graphics engine.
The new device will process data ten times faster than the original
PlayStation console, SCE said.
Kutaragi also said the PSP would adopt advanced security technology which
will help protect the copyright of game developers.
Sony, the dominant force in the $30 billion video game market, took
industry watchers by surprise in May by unveiling its plan to launch the
PSP, which features a color screen and a new high-capacity optical disc
created especially for it.
The move puts Nintendo and its Game Boy hand-held platform directly in its
sights, just as in 1995 when Sony first ventured into the game console
business.
Sony has not set a price for the PSP, a multi-media unit that also plays
movies and music, but analysts expect it to sell for 19,000 to 30,000 yen
($159-$251), well above the 12,500-yen price tag for Game Boy Advance SP,
Nintendo's smaller version of its hot-selling device launched in February.
SCE plans to start distributing PC-base software emulator tools to game
developers this autumn, followed by the final hardware tool next spring,
Kutaragi said.
"We plan to demonstrate our prototype version of the PSP at the E3 trade
show in the United States next May, and a software line-up at the Tokyo
Game Show, ahead of the worldwide launch in the fourth quarter of 2004,"
Kutaragi said.
'Madden' Video Game to Enter Hall of Fame
John Madden may have been legendary as a professional football coach, but
it took the cover of a video game to put him in the sport's greatest
shrine.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame said on Tuesday it will honor the "Madden
NFL Football" video game at its facility in Canton, Ohio, with an exhibit
that chronicles its history while letting fans play along.
"It's an exhibit with Madden Football, with PlayStations (game consoles)
in it, with a brief history of the development of the game itself," Hall
spokesman Joe Horrigan told Reuters.
The "Madden NFL Football" series has sold more than 30 million copies in
various incarnations over the last 14 years, and has become a guaranteed
best seller for its publisher, Electronic Arts Inc. The latest version of
the games, "Madden NFL Football 2004," is due to be released next month.
The former Oakland Raiders coach and current TV commentator is involved
with the video game's development every year, consulting on design and
content.
While Madden is not a Hall of Fame member, he was honored last year with
the Pete Rozelle Radio and Television Award for broadcasting. Madden's
attention to linemen and the dirty work of blocking and tackling - in
contrast to the flash and dash of running backs and quarterbacks - has
proven a hit with fans.
In his coaching days, Madden led the Raiders to victory in Super Bowl XI in
1977.
The Hall of Fame exhibit will open this Saturday, Horrigan said.
Aliens vs. Predator: Extinction
It really seemed as if the Aliens vs. Predator franchise would escape the
curse that plagues most movie licensed games. The original SNES game was a
decent action platformer, and the Atari Jaguar incarnation was one of the
only good titles for that system. On PC, Aliens vs. Predator spawned two
excellent first-person shooters, which were absolutely drenched in
atmosphere. So when EA announced it was publishing a new Aliens vs.
Predator game - a real-time strategy title, no less! - we were intrigued.
Would it work? Sadly, no.
On paper, an Aliens vs. Predator RTS sounds like a great idea - no one
could argue that one of the world's best-selling strategy games, Starcraft,
was heavily inspired by the franchise. Had Extinction shipped with the same
kind of polish that characterized Starcraft, it would have been a must-have
game. But it hasn't. The game mechanics are so badly crippled that it
probably doesn't even deserve to be called a strategy game.
The core problem with Extinction is the unit control. Now, granted,
consoles can never offer the fine level of control that players will find
on PC, but an RTS game should emphasize easy unit management no matter what
platform it's on. Extinction fails miserably in this regard.
Selecting a single unit is challenge enough, especially when they are
moving, but trying to get a distinct group can be a nightmare. To select a
group, you hold down the selection button on one unit, and then a circle
will expand out and "lasso" everything in close proximity. Don't even
bother trying to add units individually... you'll drive yourself crazy.
Oh, and micromanagement during a battle? An exercise in futility.
Unit AI is little better. Players can tell their units to act defensively
or aggressively, however, this has barely any effect on the outcome of
battles. Moving characters from one section of the map to another can also
be a problem. When in motion, your units will ignore most attackers,
preferring to keep walking like mindless zombies and simply take damage.
And units that are too far back will simply sit there, instead of walking
forward to join the battle. Braindead doesn't even begin to describe it.
To make up for the poor control system and the utter lack of AI, the
developers decided to balance the play system by making it easy to acquire
new units. Unfortunately, this band-aid style approach did nothing to help
the game, instead killing what little semblance of strategy Extinction had
left.
Because of the inherent flaws in the game design, the best way to play
Extinction is cannon fodder style - build up a large force and send it at
the enemy. As your forces thin due to attrition, simply order up more of
them. While it is cool the first time you send a massive legion of space
marines into battle against hordes of acid-blooded Aliens, the tactic
quickly becomes boring.
Viewing the bestiary, it is easy to see that a lot of work went into the
character models. Not only are they detailed and well animated, all of the
new units feature full profiles - something that is sure to please the
hardcore fans. Oddly, those highly detailed character models are only found
in the bestiary, as the main game units are small and easily confused.
Often the only way to identify a character in a group is to highlight it
and see what name pops up on the screen.
With 21 levels to complete (seven per race), Extinction feels a mite
rushed, and due to the simplistic nature of the mission design, most
players should be able to walk through them rather quickly. Zono made an
attempt at telling a story, but it is little more than a shell. The levels
do not tie together in any meaningful way and the in-mission updates are
mere alerts that tell you what to do next. About the only positive aspect
is the excellent artwork that displays on the screen next to a mission
briefing.
If Extinction was ported to PC and given a complete overhaul - a brand new
AI system and expertly designed levels - it could make one hell of a game.
After all, the premise is rock solid, only the execution killed this one.
Maybe Aliens vs. Predator fans will get some mild enjoyment out of it, but
once you remove the license, there is little worth noting.
Released:
29/07/03
Platform:
Xbox
Price:
$39.99, 39.99
Pros:
Based on a great franchise
Good character profiles
Cons:
Frustrating controls
Poor in-game visuals
Lack of depth
Terrible AI
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE Gaming Online - Online Users Growl & Purr!
"""""""""""""""""""
Last Reminder for Classic Gaming Expo 2003
Hi All!
Just a little more than a week until Classic Gaming Expo 2003 and it's
really shaping up to to be a great show.
Our sponsors, exhibitors and distinguished guests have really shown an
outpouring of support. Attached are sheets detailing these groups as they
stand right now. I think you'll agree we have a real class-A list of
supporters.
In case you have not been monitoring http://www.cgexpo.com/, I wanted to
let you know that CG Expo will also the debut of several classic video
game related products, including Intellivision Productions new
Intellivision 10 and Intellivision 25 units that plug directly into the TV
and allow players to relive those great Intellivision games.
In addition there will be over 50 arcade games set for free play and
tournaments and contests of all sorts.
It is my sincere hope that I'll see many of you at the show and we can
share the love of classic games.
Jayson Hill
Director of Media Relations
Classic Gaming Expo 2003
(978) 922-1059
media@cgexpo.com
CLASSIC GAMING EXPO 2003
DISTINGUISHED GUESTS & SPEAKERS
MR. KARL ANDERSON
Atari coin-op programmer on pre-Firefox laserdisc-based games like The Last
Starfighter.
DR. ROBERT BROWN
Bob was one of the founders of the Atari consumer division. He directed the
development of the Atari 2600 and the first 25 games. He also founded
Starpath which produced the Supercharger and 12 cassette based games.
MR. STEVE CARTWRIGHT Activision designer responsible for the Atari VCS
games Megamania, Barnstorming, Plaque Attack, Frostbite and Seaquest.
MR. GARTH CLOWES Founder of Entex Industries, makers of numerous handheld
games as well as the highly sought after Adventurevision console.
MR. DAVID CRANE Co-founder of Activision in 1979, where he designed such
classics as Pitfall!, Dragster, Decathlon, Fishing Derby, Freeway and
Ghostbusters.
MR. DON DAGLOW Designed and programmed the Intellivision game Utopia (the
first sim game) before being named director of software development for
Mattel. He later co-designed Earl Weaver Baseball at EA and Neverwinter
Nights (the first online graphic RPG) for AOL. In 1988 he founded
Stormfront Studios, which recently created The Lord of the Rings: The Two
Towers for EA, based on the film from New Line Cinema.
MR. WARREN DAVIS Best known for the arcade hit Q*Bert while at Gottlieb,
Warren was also responsible for Joust 2 and Us vs. Them.
MR. BRAD FREGGER The first computer games producer at Activision (possibly
the world, for that matter) and the producer for games designed by David
Crane, Alan Miller, and Steve Cartwright. Additionally, he was the producer
who discovered Shanghai, is directly involved in the history of Tetris, and
is the inventor of Computer Card Solitaire.
MR. ANDREW FUCHS Andrew joined Atari in 1981 where he was a sound designer
and software engineer for dozens of 2600 and 5200 games. He also designed
several sound editors for the Atari 800.
MR. JOHN HARRIS Developed Jawbreaker, Frogger, Mouskattack for the Atari
8-bit line of computers and Jawbreaker for the Atari VCS.
MR. KEITHEN HAYENGA Atari 5200 game designer best known for incorporating
speech in RealSports Baseball at a time when most home games required a
separate voice synthesizer add-on.
MR. MATTHEW HUBBARD Designed Submarine Commander and Double Dunk for Atari
and popular Dolphin for Activision. Also created Activision's Zenji for the
Atari 400/800.
MR. JIM HUETHER Designed Atari 2600 classics Flag Capture, Sky Diver and
the Sears exclusive Steeplechase, is credited with the co-design of
RealSports Volleyball, designed RealSports Football and Xevious for the
Atari 5200 SuperSystem and published many games with Epyx and Sega
including The Sporting News Baseball, California Games II, the StreetSports
series, Cartoon Maker, Joe Montana Football, Castle of Illusion starring
Mickey Mouse and many more.
MR. ARNIE KATZ Co-founder of Electronic Games Magazine, the first and most
popular publication devoted strictly to electronic entertainment.
MR. JOE KING Created the graphics for the Intellivision games Motocross,
Loco-Motion and Space Shuttle, and co-designed Magic Carousel and Hover
Force.
MR. GARRY KITCHEN Creator of Space Jockey, Keystone Kapers and Pressure
Cooker for the Atari 2600. For the Commodore 64 computer, he wrote The
Designer's Pencil and Garry Kitchen's Gamemaker.
MR. DAN KRAMER Worked in the hardware division of Atari in the early
1980's. Best known for designing the Atari 2600 and 5200 Trak-Ball
controllers.
MR. BILL KUNKLE Co-founder of Electronic Games Magazine, the first and
most popular publication devoted strictly to electronic entertainment.
MR. FRANZ LANZINGER Programmed & Designed the incredible Crystal Castles
arcade game as well as numerous other titles for various consoles. Franz
was the world record holder for Centipede in 1981 and is currently the
Chairman of Actual Entertainment.
MR. MARK LESSER This is the man responsible for the handheld Mattel
Football and Mattel Baseball, and he's credited with numerous other Mattel
handhelds. He also designed the Atari 2600 games Frogger II and Lord of the
Rings and enjoyed further success for Electronic Arts developing for the
Sega Genesis platform with John Madden '93 and the NHL Hockey series from
'94 to '97.
MR. RICK LEVINE Mattel programmer with PBA Bowling to his credit. After
moving on to Imagic, Rick designed and programmed both Microsurgeon and
Truckin'.
MR. ALAN MILLER Alan Miller wrote several 2600 games for Atari before
co-founding Activision where he authored such classics as Checkers, Tennis,
Ice Hockey, Starmaster, and Robot Tank.
MR. BOB NEWSTADT Designed Pinball for Intellivision.
MR. PAUL NORMAN Best known for his work at Cosmi from 1982 through 1989.
His hits included Forbidden Forest, Aztec Challenge, Caverns of Khaftka,
Super Huey Helicopter, Beyond the Forbidden Forest, Huey II, Def Con 5,
Navy Seal, and The President Is Missing. Since then he has been involved
in numerous, diverse gaming projects.
MS. KAREN NUGENT A talented artist who designed the graphics for
BurgerTime, Super Pro Football, Mission X, Scooby Doo's Maze Chase and
Flintstone's Keyboard Fun. Currently with Disney, working on animated
feature films.
MR. BOB POLARO Responsible for the Atari computer hit Lemonade Stand as
well as such 2600 classics as Defender, RealSports Volleyball, Desert
Falcon, Road Runner, Rampage and Sprintmaster.
MR. MARK RICHARDS The original host of Starcade, cable television's first
original TV game show featuring arcade games. Mark hosted the first 26
weeks of the series that aired on Ted Turner's WTBS from December 1982
through June 1983.
MR. KEITH ROBINSON Intellivision programmer while at Mattel Electronics
and designer of TRON Solar Sailer for the system. Co-founder of
Intellivision Productions, makers of "Intellivision Lives!," a CD-ROM
compilation of the original games for play on the PC and Mac.
MR. STEPHEN RONEY Co-designed and co-programmed the Intellivoice games
Space Spartans, B-17 Bomber and Space Shuttle, designed and programmed
the unreleased Intellivision game Hypnotic Lights and programmed the
Aquarius version of Utopia.
MR. ED ROTBERG Best known for his work with both Atari and Sente's coin-op
division, he designed Atari Baseball and Battlezone during his first stint
with Atari, then Snake Pit, Goalie Ghost, and Hat Trick with Sente. He
later returned to Atari to design S.T.U.N. Runner and Blasteroids and
co-design Steel Talons with Ed Logg.
MR. TIM SKELLY Vector graphics arcade game extraordinaire while working
for Cinematronics. Created Star Hawk, Warrior, Rip-Off, Sundance, Armor
Attack and Star Castle. Also designed Reactor for Gottlieb.
MR. TOM SLOPER Designed Spike and Bedlam for the Vectrex, Mechwarrior for
the SNES, Blast Chamber for Playstation, the NES Ghostbusters series, and
many more.
MR. JAY SMITH Founder of Smith Engineering, where he was the mastermind
behind the Vectrex, a cartridge-based game system which featured a 9-inch
vectorscan display. Founder and CEO of Adrenalin Interactive, Inc.
MR. ROBERT G. SMITH Created Video Pinball while at Atari and Star Voyager,
Riddle of the Sphinx, Dragonfire, and Moonsweeper for the Atari 2600 while
at Imagic. Also programmed Star Wars: The Arcade Game (2600) for Parker
Brothers.
MR. DAVID STIFEL Intellivision programer at Mattel Electronics, where he
programmed the 1983 Intellivision Demonstration Cartridge. His next
assignment was Game Factory, on the ECS component, which he completed
literally on the final day Mattel Electronics shut its dooors for good.
MR. DAVE WARHOL David worked with other "Blue Sky Rangers" at Mattel
Electronics, designing and writing Mind Strike, co-writing Thunder Castle,
and contributing to the music and sounds of a number of other games. He
went on to found Real time Associates, which produced all of the 25+
post-Mattel INTV series of games with other ex-Mattel alumni. His music and
audio can also be found in C64, Atari 400/800, Apple II, and Amiga
products.
MR. HOWARD SCOTT WARSHAW Atari 2600 game programmer/designer who produced
Yar's Revenge, Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. The Extra Terrestrial.
MR. BILL WENTWORTH Although Bill doesn't like to brag about his skills, he
is a true graphics genius. Bill has almost 20 years of experience in the
graphic design field and has inked some of the best game covers around
including numerous titles for Absolute Entertainment. He is currently the
Vice President of Creative Development at Skyworks Technologies. MR. STEVE
WOITA Designer of Taz, Asterix and Quadrun for the Atari 2600, Kid
Chameleon and Sonic Spinball (Genesis) and Waterworld (Virtual Boy).
MS. JOYCE WORLEY Co-founder of Electronic Games Magazine, and
concurrently published Electronic Games Hotline, a bi-weekly newsletter
which covered the latest news surrounding the hobby.
MR. ROB ZDYBEL Rob is one of the great programmers of our time. Starting
with his work on the Atari VCS which included such hits as Realsports
Football for Atari and Star Trek for Sega, Rob maintained the highest
standards in game development. He later wrote the Operating System for
the Atari 5200 and programmed that system's version of Missile Command.
Rob continued working on various Atari systems over the years (he even
did Lynx software) and is now one of the finest programmers at 3DO.
CONTEMPORARY GUESTS & MODERATORS
MR. LEONARD HERMAN Videogame historian, freelance writer and author of
Phoenix: The Fall And Rise Of Videogames and ABC To The VCS.
MR. ZACH MESTON A videogame journalist for over ten years, Zach writes
for dozens of different publications and Web pages. He has also written
over 40 strategy guides.
CLASSIC GAMING EXPO 2003
VENDORS AND EXHIBITORS
While at Classic Gaming Expo, be sure to visit our exhibitors.
Atari2600.com
Supplier of classic videogames with a huge inventory of classic systems
from the Fairchild Channel F to the Atari 7800.
www.atari2600.com
1350 N. Valencia Dr.
Chandler, Arizona 85226
B&C Computervisions
Sales and service of Atari products for over twenty years. Quality customer
service and reliability.
www.myatari.com
5917 Stope Way
El Dorado, Ca. 95623-4716
CDW Game Source
Formerly United Game Source and ClassicGameSource, CDW Game Source is a
reputable dealer of classic and contemporary games. You're always going to
find something unusual for your collection at this booth.
CGE Services Corp.
Sales of Classic Gaming Expo-related memorabilia, new video game releases,
new-old stock cartridges, and more.
www.cgexpo.com
Digital Press
The Bio-degradable Source for Videogamers. DP has been producing a
bi-monthly video game publication since 1991 and is the publisher of the
Classic Video Game Collector's Guide. Digital Press is also CGE's host for
Classic Video Game Jeopardy and a few new event surprises this year.
www.digitpress.com
DKAtari
During the early 1980's, Dan Kramer was a member of Atari's consumer
hardware engineering staff, designing Trak-Balls for the 2600 and 5200 plus
providing trade show technical support. He recently has launched his web
site at www.dkatari.com, which features rare prototypes and images,
unusual sale items and amazing tall tales of his adventures within Atari's
walls.
www.dkatari.com
Fresno Commodore Users Group
Robert Bernardo will be on-hand from the Fresno Commodore user group
promoting the illustrious history of Commodore and showing off some
interesting Commodore items.
The GameTrader
The GameTrader opened its first retail store in 1999, and now has six
stores in two states and plans for further expansion. In addition to
providing the same products and services as gameswitch.com Web site, our
stores also have regular monthly game tournaments and large selections of
merchandise not yet available in our online store, such as collectible
cards, figurines, toys and game-related T-shirts.
gameswitch.com
4417 Lorino St. Suite #103
Metairie, La 70006
(866) 261-GAME
Good Deal Games/OlderGames.com
A retro-gaming community encompassing Classic Gaming Interviews, Articles,
Puzzles, Humor, an Online Arcade, Video Game Radio, News, Sales and so much
more. Hosting a HUGE inventory w/ very competitive prices, plus all profits
go to support new releases for classic systems. When you support GDG you
support your hobby!
www.gooddealgames.com
OlderGames and it's companies exist to serve video game enthusiasts an
unparalleled level of support and become the world's first mainstream
classic/modern game developer & game publisher, releasing and developing
new games for gaming systems that have since been orphaned.
oldergames.com
HanaHo Games Inc.
With more than 100 years of combined building experience, HanaHo Games is a
leading manufacture of Arcade cabinets for the commercial coin-op industry
and the home market. Our Flagship product the ArcadePC, continues to be the
best selling home arcade game cabinet in the world.
www.hanaho.com
13854 Bentley Place
Cerritos, California 90703
High-Voltage Software
You may know HVS from their early days with the Atari Jaguar such as Ruiner
Pinball, Vid Grid, or the coin-op translation of NBA Jam Tournament
Edition, but they are the name behind many current popular titles as well,
including LEGO Racers, Microsoft NBA Inside Drive 2000, Paperboy, All Star
Baseball 2001, NBA Hangtime, and many more!
www.high-voltage.com
2345 Pembroke Avenue
Hoffman Estates, IL 60195
(847) 490-9567
Home Arcade Classics
The developers of Home Arcade Classics, a full-sized home arcade machine,
both upright and cocktail units with 10 classic game titles pre-installed
(Defender, Joust, Root Beer Tapper, Sinistar, Centipede, Millipede,
Rally-X, Gorf, Bubbles, and Toobin').
Individual Computers
The company from Germany is the production partner of the C-One project,
and also has some things in the pure gaming sector to show: The 4-player
adapter for the C64, a controller for today's PC's that allow you read the
old, original C64 disks, and use of digital joysticks on a PCI-based
computer. A perfect emulation tool! The just-released 10MBit networking
card for the C64 enables patches of classic games to run in a networking
environment. It shows that a 1Mhz classic machine has enough power to
compete with today's LAN games! Well, fun-wise.
www.jschoenfeld.com/
Intellivision Productions
An organization consisting of some of the original Mattel Electronics video
game programmers. Publisher of the Intellivision Lives! CD for PSX, PC and
Macintosh.
www.intellivisionlives.com
Intellivision Productions, Inc.
1104 Highland Avenue, Suite L
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
(877) INTLVSN (877-468-5876)
Las Vegas Pinball Collector's Club
Tim Arnold hosts a raffle to benefit the Las Vegas Salvation Army. Grand
Prize is a full-size arcade machine including shipping in the U.S.
Additional prizes include loads of arcade flyers and other products to be
won throughout the day.
Lost Levels
Lost Levels is a new, not-for-profit gaming magazine making its debut at
this year's show. This gang of miscreants will have a plethora of
newly-discovered, unreleased games available for free play, as well as
hundreds of NES games for sale and a prize raffle with prizes including
authentic prototype cartridges!
www.lostlevels.org
Malinche Entertainment
Game designer Howard Sherman will have his new title Pentari: First Light
available, an epic text adventure game in the grand Infocom tradition
awaits you. Interactive Fiction makes its triumphant return to the
commercial game market!
www.malinche.net
1070H Route 34 #190
Matawan, NJ 07747
(877)-299-7999
micromusic.net
Micromusic.net is an international hub for artists and musicians who love
old school videogame style music and art, also known as chiptunes! This
year the entourage includes Seth, FirestARTer, and the C-Men, with
additional 80's tunes spun by DJ Shey.
www.micromusic.net
Midway Games Inc.
Midway has been a leader in the industry since the dawn of the video game
revolution, with early breakthrough titles including Defender, Sinistar,
Tapper, and Spy Hunter. Recent blockbuster titles include Ready 2 Rumble
Boxing, Hydro Thunder, NFL Blitz and the Mortal Kombat series. Midway Games
Inc. is a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment
software. Midway videogames are available for play on all major videogame
platforms including the PlayStation(r)2 computer entertainment system,
Xbox(tm) video game system from Microsoft, Nintendo GameCube(tm) and Game
Boy(r) Advance.
www.midway.com
10110 Mesa Rim Road
San Diego, CA 92121
(858) 658-9500
MobyGames
MobyGames is the largest, most ambitious and comprehensive gaming database
on the Internet: MobyGames goal is to meticulously catalog all relevant
information about all electronic games ever made. MobyGames is about the
user, for the user, by the user. 100% of all content in MobyGames is
contributed by the people who use MobyGames.
www.mobygames.com
Attn: MobyGames
Berk & Hirt Consulting
3 First National Plaza #1400
Chicago, IL 60602
(312) 214-6133
NeoGeoFreak
Since 1996, Dion Dakis and Chris Ray have been recognized as the only true
world authority for anything relating to the NeoGeo (games, collectibles,
and history). The NeoGeoFreak booth will be displaying rare and
one-of-a-kind collectibles for fans to see and photograph along with
original game artworks, concept art, prototype units, as well as a large
inventory of games, magazines, mooks, posters, and collectibles. They will
also be debuting an unreleased "lost game," to be seen to most for the
first time ever. Free game play and give-aways, along with a raffle will be
part of the NeoGeoFreak Festivities.
www.neogeofreak.com
Cassidy Nolen
Cassidy is an independent collector and arcade game aficionado who will
have some surprises for CGE guests.
Northwest Classic Games Enthusiasts (NWCGE)
Rick Weis, Hans Reutter, and Lee Krueger will be promoting their Northwest
Classic Gaming Enthusiasts collector's group and future events.
www.nwcge.org
1-Up Zine
1-Up is the zine about video game culture: personal stories and comics
about triumph and defeat, losing quarters, and staying up late. Content
ranges from interviews with the Minibosses and Billy Mitchell, a comic
about a Pac Man addicted mom, and a feminist reading of Um Jammer Lammy.
1-Up is been distributed internationally and has been featured in The Face,
G4 Media, XLR8R, Giant Robot, Xbox Nation, and Official Playstation
Magazine. The mammoth 100 page third issue even includes a
hand-silkscreened video game trading card!
www.1up-zine.com
Raina Lee
P.O. Box 361135
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Packrat Video Games
Packrat Video Games prides itself in providing vintage video game systems
and games to its customers at the best prices around. We stock Atari,
Intellivision, Colecovision, Commodore, Odyssey, Sega, TI-99, and much
more.
www.packratvg.com
380 N. 1020 E. #209
Provo, UT 84606
(801) 358-1764
RetroGaming Radio
RetroGaming Radio is a monthly internet radio show all about classic
gaming - interviews, news, hardware and software reviews, flashbacks,
editorial commentary, and more! Since 1998, our goal has been to provide
the classic video gaming community a quality program that is exciting,
entertaining, and informational. Come find out why thousands of people
choose RetroGaming Radio every month for their source of classic gaming
news and information.
www.retrogamingradio.com
Selectsoft Publishing
Selectsoft Publishing is one of the largest independent publishers of
licensed educational and family entertainment software from top-brand
publishers. By selecting the "best of published software" Selectsoft
Publishing has licensed CD-ROM software from major publishers such as The
Learning Co., Broderbund, Britannica, Simon & Schuster, Atari Interactive,
Sesame Street, Crayola, & many more. Selectsoft Publishing has created a
new brand - Selectsoft Games - to bring out the best in classic arcade
games to the PC - starting with Pocketware (featuring Atari) & Capcom.
www.selectsoftusa.com
Songbird Productions
Songbird Productions was founded in 1999 by well-known Atari fan and hobby
developer Carl Forhan to develop and publish games for all Atari consoles,
from the 2600 to the Jaguar. Carl does develop directly for the Lynx and
Jaguar and a primary emphasis of Songbird Productions is to finish up those
games and get them out the door and into consumers' hands. However,
equally important is the opportunity to work with other hobby developers,
who may have the skill to develop a beta-quality game but need some help in
certain areas (audio, graphics, playtest, etc.) or even a release-quality
game, but don't have the contacts or funds necessary to get a game
published for an Atari system. Songbird Productions has the skills and
contacts necessary to release games for virtually any Atari console.
songbird-productions.com
1736 Chippewa Drive NW
Rochester, MN 55901
Telegames USA
Telegames USA is a leading online and direct mail retailer of video game
hardware and software with headquarters based in Texas. Telegames USA is
involved in all aspects of video games and computer software, from
publishing to retail sales and distribution.
www.telegames.com
P.O. Box 1855
DeSoto, Texas 75123
972-228-0690
TheyLive.com
Supercool, original retro T-shirt designs.
www.theylive.com
780 N. Golden Springs Unit G
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
Twin Galaxies
Founded in 1981, Twin Galaxies is the Official Scoreboard For The World Of
Video Game And Pinball Playing and publisher of the Official Video Game &
Pinball Book of World Records.
www.twingalaxies.com
600 North Third Street
Fairfield, IA 52556
(641) 472-1949
Ubi Soft Entertainment
Ubi Soft was formed in 1990 in Montreuil, France as a small developer but
quickly caught the eye of the industry in 1994 with the release of their
game Rayman, a technological wonder with superb play mechanics and - gasp
- a personality! In 1996 they teamed up with several large publishers,
including Warner Brothers Interactive (on Batman) and Disney (on Donald
Duck, Jungle Book and others) and by 2000 had created a legacy all their
own. They further acquired Red Storm (who is best known for their Tom
Clancy book-to-game translations), TLC GAME Studios, and Blue Byte
Software. It seems the best is yet to come with Ubi Soft, who proves to be
a stronger presence year after year. We took note all over again when they
produced Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, a remarkable game in many areas, from
attention to detail to outright graphic mastery.
www.ubi.com
CLASSIC GAMING EXPO 2003
SPONSORS
Classic Gaming Expo 2003 is made possible by the generous support of the
following sponsors:
Atari, Inc.
New York-based Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR) develops interactive games for
all platforms and is one of the largest third-party publishers of
interactive entertainment software in the U.S. The Company's 1,000+ titles
include hard-core, genre-defining games such as Driver, Enter the Matrix,
Neverwinter Nights, Stuntman, Test Drive, Unreal Tournament 2003, and
Unreal Championship; and mass-market and children's games such as Backyard
Sports, Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues and Dora the Explorer, Civilization,
Dragon Ball Z and RollerCoaster Tycoon. Atari, Inc. is a majority-owned
subsidiary of France-based Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext 5257), the
largest interactive games publisher in Europe. www.atari.com 50 Dunham Road
Beverly, MA 01915 (978) 921-3700
Digital Eclipse
Digital Eclipse is a developer of console and computer software that
includes impeccably-emulated compilations of classic gaming content as well
as original games such as the Game Boy Advance versions of Spider-Man: The
Movie for Activision and Phantasy Star Collection for THQ.
www.digitaleclipse.com 5515 Doyle Street Suite No. 1 Emeryville, CA 94608
(510) 547-6101
Intellivision Productions Inc.
An organization consisting of some of the original Mattel Electronics video
game programmers and publisher of the Intellivision Lives! CD for PSX, PC
and Macintosh. www.intellivisionlives.com Intellivision Productions, Inc.
1104 Highland Avenue, Suite L Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 (877) INTLVSN
(877-468-5876)
Skyworks Technologies, Inc.
Since its inception in 1995, Skyworks has been recognized as the Internet's
premier source for captivating games, high-end consumer websites, and
promotional microsites. Our expertise in the development of compelling
interactive entertainment results in promotional websites with monthly
visitors in excess of one million and single games with hundreds of
thousands of monthly visitors. Our staff's hundreds of man-years of
experience in crafting interactive entertainment products is unequaled in
the AdverGaming industry. Ford, Pepsi, Microsoft Network, MTV, Nabisco,
Kraft, Post, ESPN, Fox Sports and many others rely on Skyworks to attract
large website audiences, increase repeat visits, sustain visitor length of
stay, and to effectively promote their brands in a cost-effective manner.
skyworkstech.com 505 Main Street Hackensack, NJ 07602 (201) 457-1000
Telegames USA
Telegames USA is a leading online and direct mail retailer of video game
hardware and software with headquarters based in Texas. Telegames USA is
involved in all aspects of video games and computer software, from
publishing to retail sales and distribution.
www.telegames.com P.O. Box 1855 DeSoto, Texas 75123 (972) 228-0690
Tips & Tricks Magazine
Published by L.F.P. Inc., Tips & Tricks was founded in 1994 as a
specialized publication for video-game enthusiasts who want more
game-specific information than anything else. Unlike most mainstream
video-game magazines, Tips & Tricks doesn't concentrate on game reviews,
industry news, gossip or rumors. Instead, its goal is to help players get
more out of the video games they've bought or are thinking about buying.
www.tipstricks.com P.O. Box 15397 Beverly Hills,
CA 90209
Twin Galaxies
Founded in 1981, Twin Galaxies is the Official Scoreboard For The World Of
Video Game And Pinball Playing and publisher of the Official Video Game &
Pinball Book of World Records.
www.twingalaxies.com 600 North Third Street Fairfield, IA 52556
(641) 472-1949
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Backlash Predicted in File-Swapping Wars
Responding to the music industry's threats of legal action against a mass
of individual P2P users, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has created a
Web page where users can check to see if they are being targeted by the
RIAA, the industry trade group bringing the suits. The EFF's Web page
enables users to check for their user names before a subpoena reaches them.
At least two ISPs say that if a user responds within seven days, the ISP
can deny the RIAA's subpoena and refuse to turn over personal contact
information.
The move by the EFF followed a new offensive by the RIAA; the group has
sent out over 900 subpoenas to ISPs since July 26th to gain the information
necessary to file civil lawsuits against individual file swappers.
Although some industry observers say the RIAA's targeting of individuals
will create a backlash, RIAA spokesperson Jonathan Lamy told NewsFactor the
group's efforts are working. "If you look at the lawsuits we filed against
four college students who were running mini-Napster networks, within days
of that announcement nearly two dozen similar networks across the country
came down."
But Yankee Group analyst Mike Goodman told NewsFactor that "this is going
to make a lot of people unhappy. And who do you think these people will
turn to? Their congressman. At that point, all the PAC [political action
committee] money in the world won't save you.
"I would love to see the first time a senator's or a congressman's kid gets
a subpoena," Goodman said.
At the EFF site, users can enter their file-sharing moniker to see if they
are being subpoenaed. The site queries a database that includes a list of
subpoenas filed in the Washington, D.C., district court.
If an individual's moniker is in the database, that does not necessarily
mean they are being subpoenaed. Many file-sharing nicknames are used by
more than one person.
For each nickname used, the EFF lists a link to the PDF file of the
subpoena. This includes the ISP name, the IP address of the individual, and
the list of songs an individual has distributed.
For those individuals involved, the Subpoena Defense Alliance lists
attorneys and additional legal information.
The RIAA's new wave of subpoenas is intended to target heavy P2P users,
according to the trade group. But what precisely constitutes a heavy user
is unclear.
Experts say the action is most likely to target users who have a T-1
connection, keep their systems on continuously, and share thousands of
files. Also most likely to be targeted are supernode P2P users, individuals
whose systems are used as major network connection points for services like
Kazaa.
Although such users are most commonly found in universities, any user with
a high-speed connection may fit these profiles.
The RIAA will begin filing these suits in late August or early September,
coinciding with the start of the new school year. As for the penalty,
"we'll leave it up to the court to decide" dollar amounts, RIAA's Lamy
said.
The RIAA's court filings show the organization is likely to use snapshots
of a P2P user's shared file folder as evidence in lawsuits.
Under the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a copyright owner can
issue a subpoena to force an ISP to turn over the name of suspected
copyright infringer.
Verizon, an ISP, has been attempting to overturn this law. Verizon, along
with another ISP, SBC Communications, has informed users that they seven
days to challenge a subpoena. If the ISP does not hear from the user's
attorney in that seven-day period, it will turn over the information to the
RIAA.
"This is one of those wars where they're going to win every battle and lose
the war," Goodman said of the RIAA's efforts to combat P2P piracy. "P2P
networks are like cockroaches. As soon as you eliminate one, a dozen new
ones come scurrying forth."
As an alternative to legal action, Goodman said that digital rights
management [DRM] software could be used to create files to be posted on P2P
networks that would create profit for the music industry. Users would pay
for such files because they are virus free and clearly labeled, he said.
He pointed to Altnet, which runs in conjunction with the Kazaa network and
charges fees to downloaders. As of two months ago, "they were doing about
two million licenses a month, and about a third of them are paid," Goodman
said.
Napster 2.0 Ready for Holiday Relaunch
Napster is set to rise like a phoenix from the ashes this Christmas holiday
season, but this time with its legal affairs in check, Napster owner Roxio
said Monday.
The fallen song-swapping service, which was knocked offline last year after
a prolonged legal battle with the record industry over copyright
infringement allegations, will re-emerge as a legal paid music service
Napster 2.0.
At launch, the new Napster will boast access to up to 500,000 tracks
through individual download, or through a monthly subscription to Internet
radio, Roxio said.
The service will be offering its music content through deals with all five
major record labels and a variety of independent labels, Roxio said, in
stark contrast to the service's freewheeling days when it offered users
the ability to trade their music for free.
Santa Clara, California-based Roxio has been laying the groundwork for a
Napster relaunch since it bought the service's remaining assets late last
year.
Since then, it scooped up online music subscription service Pressplay for
$39.5 million and added eLabs president and music veteran Larry Kenswil to
its board. ELabs is the new-media and technologies division of Vivendi
Universal's Universal Music Group.
Roxio Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Chris Gorog said in a release
that the early prototypes of Napster 2.0 are progressing well and that more
details of the service will be revealed closer to launch. Gorog was due to
speak further on the company's Napster strategy in a keynote address at
Jupiter Research's Plug.In digital music conference in New York later
Monday.
Napster 2.0 will be available at Napster.com.
The Jupiter Plug.In
conference takes place Monday and Tuesday in New York City.
Mac Version of New E-mail Service Now in beta
Monday Mailblocks launched a beta Mac version of its spam-free, Web-based
e-mail service called Challenge/Response 2.0. A free, 30-day trial of the
beta software is available for downloading and test driving.
Mailblocks launched four months ago with the goal of eliminating spam,
overcoming the small storage space and attachment quotas of e-mail
services, and increasing the speed of e-mail use. Though broadband is all
the rage, most people still have dial-up connections, said Mailblocks CEO
Phil Goldman, a veteran of such companies as Apple, General Magic, and
WebTV.
"Before we started the company, we looked around and saw there were a lot
of great Internet services available, such as Google for searching and
Amazon.com for e-commerce," he told MacCentral. "However, no one seemed to
be doing a really good job on e-mail. My professional opinion was: they all
stink and never seem to get any better. In fact, with the onslaught of spam
they seem to be getting worse. So our modest goal was to create the world's
greatest e-mail service."
Mailblocks' challenge/response technology uses a blend of automated
technology and human involvement to stop spam. E-mails sent from new people
who aren't in your address book are put in a "Pending" folder and
automatically sent a request to authenticate (called a "challenge").
Machine-generated e-mail can't reply to the challenge e-mail, so spam
doesn't reach your in-box. New users can respond once to a challenge in
order to be recognized in the future. The only e-mail that you see is from
recognized correspondents or new contacts who respond to the challenge
e-mail.
Challenge/Response is compatible with Mac OS X (using Safari 1.0 and
Internet Explorer) and Mac OS 9.2 (using Internet Explorer).
"We've done a tremendous amount of work to make our e-mail service work
with these browsers," Goldman said. "We've really had to get up close and
personal with them. We're certainly Safari experts now. We know exactly
what Apple's browser is and what it does best."
You can use the Mailblocks service to consolidate existing Yahoo!Mail, AOL,
Hotmail and POP3 accounts into one Universal Inbox. Mailblocks provides 6MB
attachment capacity and offers e-mail access from an application-like Web
interface - or through Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, or
Apple's Mail. This means you can keep your current e-mail addresses.
When consolidating multiple accounts, you can choose to "Reply From" your
Mailblocks address or any vanity domain you own. Plus, you can read all
your e-mail with your preferred e-mail client or through a Web browser. You
can switch back and forth between the two methods if you wish.
Mailblocks with Challenge/Response 2.0 automates the challenge/response
process. New senders to Mailblocks' subscribers are no longer challenged
on an ongoing basis. Unless a sender begins sending spam, they will never
be challenged again, Goldman said. Challenge/Response 2.0 incorporates a
patent-pending technique to verify humans and allows "trusted senders" to
send e-mail without being challenged.
Challenge/Response 2.0 includes additional capabilities to:
* Customize Challenge messages with personalized text;
* Automatically correct false positives from external accounts
(caused by inaccurate anti-spam techniques used in Hotmail, Yahoo!
and AOL when mail is consolidated in a Mailblocks account);
* Set mail policies for auto-deletion in the Pending folder,
eliminating the need to manually manage unconfirmed e-mail and
leaving more room for e-mail you want.
Challenge/Response gets rid of 100 percent of spam and offers an
"ultra-fast user experience," Goldman said.
"We're faster on dial-up than other e-mail services are over broadband," he
said. "We're focused on innovation and that's why we wanted to make sure
that the Mac community is involved, because Apple is all about innovation."
Goldman said the Mac beta program will end in late summer, when the
finished, fully-qualified version of the Mailblocks service will be made
available to Mac users for standard pricing of US$9.95 per year with 12MB
of storage or $24.95 per year for 50MB of storage. You can sign up for a
free trial online.
Matador Takes Spam By The Horns
MailFrontier released Matador 3.0, a desktop anti-spam product that
increases in accuracy over time and stops spam from invading wireless
devices.
Spam has gotten more deceptive, dangerous and invasive with pop-ups,
spyware and other malicious code. Consequently, Matador 3.0 monitors
incoming e-mail and analyzes each message to learn more about specific
patterns and vocabulary that distinguish good and bad e-mail. The software
creates a custom rule set for each individual user, which adapts over time,
according to the Palo Alto, Calif.-based vendor.
Spammers also increasingly use Windows Messenger Service to send pop-ups,
blocking users' screens and often spamming them with offers to eliminate
pop-up spam. MailFrontier said that version 3.0 prevents that invasion. In
addition, Outlook users can also filter incoming e-mail before it gets
downloaded to a wireless device.
Matador costs $29.95 and is available now. A free trial download is
available at http://www.mailfrontier.com.
A New Era for PGP
Years after the federal government dropped its investigation of him for
trying to export his pioneering Pretty Good Privacy encryption software,
Phil Zimmermann still has no love for the folks in Washington. Nor is he
very happy with his former colleagues at Network Associates Inc.
In his keynote speech on the first day of the Black Hat Briefings here
Wednesday, Zimmermann ripped NAI for all but shelving PGP after the
security conglomerate bought Zimmermann's company in the late 1990s.
"I used to get a lot of e-mails from people worried that PGP would fall
into the wrong hands. It did fall into the wrong hands at Network
Associates," Zimmermann said, drawing a big laugh from the assembled group
of hackers, security specialists, crypto enthusiasts and law enforcement
officers in the audience. "Why do you laugh when I mention NAI? I see this
is a knowledgeable crowd. That was a dark chapter in PGP's history. But the
dark times are over."
PGP Corp., a new company formed last year, now sells the commercial version
of PGP. Zimmermann began work on the encryption software in the mid-1980s
as a human rights project. He was looking for a way to help activists in
countries under oppressive regimes to protect their electronic
communications. Over the years, he has been contacted by numerous people
who have described how the use of PGP helped save their lives or the lives
of others.
But at the same time, the government decided that Zimmermann's software was
too dangerous to be exported and opened an investigation into whether he
had violated the Arms Control Export Act when he uploaded it to the
Internet. Prosecutors maintained that criminals and terrorists would use
PGP to defeat government eavesdropping efforts, which outweighed the
potential good the software might do.
Zimmermann, and many thousands of his supporters, disagreed. However, he
readily admits that PGP has in fact been used by criminals.
"That was the central question of the debate during the 1990s. We came to
a decision that society is better off with crypto," Zimmermann said. "I
wish criminals and terrorists didn't use crypto, and specifically I wish
they didn't use PGP, but they do. You have to look at the big picture. It's
saved lives around the world. It's a decision we made with our eyes open."
Responding to a question about whether the government's policy on allowing
the use and export of strong encryption might change now that it has become
ubiquitous, Zimmermann said no, but warned that there could be other
scenarios on the horizon that are just as troubling.
"We might see some effort by the government to force you to give up your
private key if you are the target of a criminal investigation," he said.
"But I would submit that under stress you might forget your passphrase."
Zimmermann also had a direct message for the government representatives in
the audience. "A lot of you in the audience work for the federal
government, or so I'm told. Let's not throw the baby out with the
bathwater when it comes to the erosion of our civil rights. We have seen
the worst erosion of our civil rights in the last two years," he said,
drawing a loud round of applause.
Microsoft Takes Sides on Search
Microsoft is beefing up its MSN search engine to go head-to-head with
Google, but at the same time has no immediate plans to cancel its agreement
for paid search listings with Overture Services, which was recently bought
by MSN rival Yahoo.
"MSN Search falls into the category of our [key] businesses," said Lisa
Gurry, group product manager for MSN in an interview at Microsoft's
Redmond, Washington, headquarters on Friday. "We are working on building
our own search engine from scratch."
While seeking to compete aggressively with Google, Microsoft appears to be
taking a different tack with Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo. Microsoft,
for now, continues to use technology from Yahoo-owned Inktomi for MSN
Search and has no plans to pull its agreement with Overture for paid search
listings on MSN Search.
In fact, Microsoft appears to be following a course for its commercial
search technology that is similar to its plans for its Web search engine.
For now the software titan will work with Overture, but in the long term
it could develop its own paid listings technology, said Yusuf Mehdi, the
head of Microsoft's MSN Personal Services and Business division, at
Microsoft's financial analyst meeting on Thursday.
Yahoo announced an agreement to buy Overture of Pasadena, California,
earlier this month.
Some of Microsoft's work in Web search has already been noted by Web site
owners, who have spotted an "MSN bot" indexing their sites. However, the
MSN Search project is far from done, according to Gurry, who did not detail
when the new MSN Search should hit the Web.
"This is not a short-term project, it is a pretty extensive project," she
said. "It is a strategic area for the [MSN] group; and we are increasing
the number of employees in that area, far greater than in any other group
in MSN."
Microsoft believes Web search can be done much better than any search
engine does it today. "Our research indicates that only 30 percent to 40
percent of the Web is indexed and that people's questions [to search
engines] go unanswered half the time," Gurry said.
Analysts with San Francisco-based investment bank SoundView Technology
Group earlier this year were among the first to report on Microsoft's
increased investment in Web search.
Xtar Lets You Clone, Back Up Mac OS X Disks
Helios Software GmbH has released HELIOS Xtar for Mac OS X, a free utility
that can be used to clone a Mac OS X system disk for backing up and
restoring disks, files and folders - all with full HFS (Mac OS Standard)
support.
The HFS disk format stores data and meta-data (such as the Finder and
Resource info) within one file, standard Unix applications can only see the
data part, and the Resource information is lost using standard Unix,
according to Helios. The result? Copies will be incomplete and some
operations - booting, previewing from EPSF files, applications detecting
their own files, etc. - won't work.
Xtar saves each HFS file as two files in a container format that preserves
all special attributes and additional data. During a restore with "Xtar" on
an HFS volume, the resource and finder information are restored into valid
HFS files containing all information. This means there is no missing data,
and the volume is bootable after being restored.
Xtar can be scripted to allow you to: clone a Mac OS X system disk,
backup/restore a disk, and backup/restore files and folders. It also allows
for the duplication of Mac OS X HFS bootable disks.
Legislatures Move Closer To Online Sales Tax Collection
A system that will let states collect sales tax from online purchasers
should become operational next year. More than enough state legislatures
have passed laws this year to implement the Streamlined Sales Tax Project,
said Dianne Hardt, project co-chair and Wisconsin's tax administrator, at
a briefing Tuesday.
Legislatures in 20 states, representing about a third of the population of
the 41 states participating in the project, have enacted laws to conform
with provisions of the tax-collection program. An agreement approved by the
states' tax officials last year calls for execution of the sales-tax
collection system once 10 states representing 20% of the population of
sales-tax-collecting states approve the project.
Though that threshold has been reached, Hardt said, it will take months to
verify if each state's law conforms with project standards. She expects the
program to become effective either April 1 or July 1.
Many online businesses don't collect sales tax from buyers who live in
states where the companies aren't based. Legally, buyers are required to
pay a sales tax, known as a use tax, to the state in which they reside,
but few do so unless sellers collect the levies. States lose an estimated
$200 million a year in uncollected sales taxes from online purchases. The
system devised by Streamlined Sales Tax Project establishes processes in
which the taxes are collected and distributed to the states.
Businesses have three choices of the technology they can use to collect and
disperse sales tax: contract with a project-certified service provider,
purchase and deploy project-certified software, or have tax authorities
certify a homegrown system.
States participating in the project must agree to the same definitions for
taxed items. For instance, fruit juice is defined as a beverage containing
at least 50% or more fruit juice. Wisconsin exempts fruit juices only if
they contain 100% fruit juice. If the state wants to participate in the
project, it would have to agree to exempt fruit juice as defined by the
project. Having a single definition for an item makes it easier for
businesses serving customers in multiple states to know what to tax.
Though the project has defined for tax purposes most commodities and
services, it's still working out definitions for digital property such as
downloaded music.
Hardt said businesses will benefit once the tax-collection mechanisms take
effect because it will simplify the tax structure, provide greater accuracy
for tax calculations, indemnify business from errors, and reduce the scope
of potential audits. Because of these benefits, Hardt said, "the business
community will put pressure on states that aren't participating to
participate."
Senate Committee Approves Internet Tax Ban
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday toughened an existing ban on
Internet access taxes by voting to make it permanent and requiring nine
states to repeal existing taxes on access fees.
The measure would make permanent a ban on the access taxes currently due to
expire in November, and would require states that have existing taxes in
place to remove them within three years.
Access taxes - levied on the monthly fees Internet users pay to providers
like EarthLink Inc. - have been prohibited under a temporary ban since
1998, but nine states who had such taxes in place before the ban was
enacted are currently allowed to keep them.
The nine states - New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South
Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin - take in between $3.6
million and $45 million each year from such taxes.
The committee also extended the ban to include all forms of Internet
access, closing a loophole that Internet businesses had feared could be
used to tax wireless and high-speed service.
The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee approved a similar bill
two weeks ago. The measure must be passed by both houses of Congress and
signed by President Bush before it becomes law.
The ban does not apply to online sales taxes, which are prohibited by a
Supreme Court decision unless the retailer has a substantial presence in
that state.
Many states, facing revenue crunches, have argued that the Internet is now
a mature business like any other and should be taxed accordingly. But their
appeals to allow online access or sales taxes have found little support
this year.
Several high-tech trade groups praised the committee vote, as did two Bush
administration officials who have been pushing to make the ban permanent.
"As policy makers, we need to encourage the roll-out of new Internet
services and not stifle innovation by imposing new taxes," Treasury
Secretary John Snow and Commerce Secretary Don Evans said in a joint
statement.
Hormel Fights to Defend Spam Name
Hormel Foods has a message for a Seattle software company: Stop, in the
name of Spam!
The canned-meat company filed two legal challenges with the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office to try to stop SpamArrest from using the decades-old name
Spam, for which it holds the trademark.
SpamArrest, which specializes in blocking junk e-mail or "spam," filed
papers to trademark its corporate name early this year. Hormel then sent
the company a warning to drop the word "Spam." SpamArrest refused.
"If you ask most people on the street, they're going to say junk e-mail as
opposed to the luncheon meat as their first description of what spam is. I
think they're overstepping their bounds," said Brian Cartmell, SpamArrest's
chief executive.
Cartmell says his company's use of the word has nothing to do with Hormel's
product, first produced in 1937. Hormel officials disagree, arguing that
the company has carefully protected and invested in the brand name, and
that the public could confuse the meat product with the technology company.
It filed its challenges in late June.
Hormel acknowledges that its brand name has taken on new meaning, and it
outlines on its Web site what it considers acceptable uses of the word.
It says it doesn't object when "spam" is used to describe unsolicited
commercial e-mail, but it does object when pictures of its product are used
in association with the e-mail term.
Douglas Wood, who practices intellectual property law in New York,
estimates Hormel has only a 50-50 chance of prevailing. He points to a
recent case involving Victoria's Secret and a male adult novelty shop
called Victor's Secret. Victoria's Secret sued, using the trademark
infringement argument. But Wood says ultimately the company lost in court.
"The court in that case was saying, even though they may have a famous
mark, Victoria's Secret, and may have a particular association as soon as
you hear it, Victor's Secret was not enough - the confusion or potential
damage to their mark - to constitute infringement," Wood said.
The case will be heard by the Trademark Trial and Appeals Court in
Washington, D.C., probably next year.
SEC Probes AOL Tally Of Members For Padding
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether America
Online Inc. improperly inflated its subscriber count through questionable
practices ranging from the inclusion of hundreds of thousands of nonpaying
customers on its membership rolls to the use of deeply discounted "bulk
sales," sources familiar with the probe said yesterday.
Inside America Online's Northern Virginia headquarters, employees were
warned this week that the SEC wants them to retain, and not destroy, "hard
copy and electronic documents, e-mail, and computer contents pertaining to
bulk subscription arrangements, as well as any documents and other
materials relating to the company's practices, policies and procedures for
counting subscribers," according to an e-mail from AOL's legal department.
AOL Time Warner officials declined to comment yesterday.
The expansion of the SEC probe comes as federal investigators continue to
examine America Online's aggressive methods for reporting revenue, profit
and advertising, before and after its merger with Time Warner Inc. in
January 2001.
The SEC's increased scrutiny follows two recent events: AOL Time Warner's
disclosure last week that America Online recently had purged more than
400,000 customers from its ranks who had been included in its subscriber
numbers even though they were nonpaying, and a published report that the
firm had used bulk sales to ramp up its subscriber count, sources said.
The nonpaying customers were counted even though they had been suspended
for service violations such as spam or foul language, or because they
failed to complete the process of signing up for AOL, sources said. They
were not being billed for service.
Yesterday, Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Jessica Reif Cohen said that
shortcomings in America Online's subscriber figures were being addressed
as AOL Time Warner officials applied more rigorous internal standards. "As
part of the broad restructuring of the AOL business segment...the company
has provided increasingly detailed disclosure, including its subscriber
count," Cohen wrote to investors.
The fresh SEC request for information from AOL also stems from a story in
the Wall Street Journal last week disclosing the Internet firm's use of
bulk sales to jack up its subscriber count in 2000-2001. During that
period, AOL increased its subscriber rolls by selling hundreds of thousands
of cut-rate subscriptions to Sears, Roebuck and Co., Target Corp. and J.C.
Penney Co., which in turn sold them to their own employees, sources said.
AOL added about 800,000 subscribers to its rolls during that period through
the aggressive bulk sales, which it made reference to in its annual SEC
disclosure in 2001. The initiative was born out of the company's difficulty
maintaining its base of about 25 million subscribers due to massive
turnover each year.
The company's churn of more than 40 percent of subscribers annually means
that AOL must replace more than 10 million of its 25 million customers just
to stay even, Wall Street sources said. The turnover is due in part to
millions of people grabbing AOL software and signing up for free service
for 45 days but failing to become paying customers.
At any given time, AOL counts millions of trial users as subscribers, even
though they have not begun to pay. Yesterday, Merrill Lynch estimated that
AOL has about 4 million trial subscribers included in its current
membership count.
While AOL's goal was to convert employees of Sears, Target and J.C. Penney
into long-term users, the program failed to be an effective retention tool.
But it had a big enough impact on the subscriber count in 2001 that America
Online made a passing reference to it in an SEC filing, noting that a price
increase at the time was "partially offset by an increase in certain
marketing programs designed to introduce the AOL service to new members,
including...the sale of bulk subscriptions at a discounted rate to AOL's
strategic partners for distribution to their employees."
AOL identified Sears, Target and J.C. Penney as partners because the giant
retailers all aided in the distribution of America Online software to
shoppers. Cohen said the bulk sales initiative did not affect the current
subscriber count, which was down 840,000 in the second quarter, since most
of those who had signed up "cycled out" by the end of 2002.
=~=~=~=
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