SPACE Newsletter

/ NEWSLETTER April, 2001 President's Corner

Treasurer's Report

by Michael Current

by Greg Leitner

April, 2001

For March, 2001

With a month off from auctions, our April meeting may provide a good time to think together more carefully about the club's future. At our March meeting we agreed in principle to the idea of putting together a CD-ROM of software and files from the MAST disk library. One of our members, who is remote but has been in contact with Lance, is willing to do much ofthe work, but we'll still need to come up with volunteers to make copies ofthe disks to send to him. It sounds like we may have enough volunteers for this task! Ifthe entire project can be pulled oft: the MAST CD-ROM could generate a new revenue source for the club, at least for a while. But my guess is, we will soon need to face other possibilities as well, and the time to start talking seriously and making some plans and decisions seems to be here. At our next auction in May, I'll be throwing in some Atari ST stuff an old friend sent me recently. It looks to be an "original" 520ST, with SM124 monitor, and two external floppy drives, both SF354's I think. I don't even know how to run an ST! But I hope someone will be interested. I'll also have some C-64 cartridges, I certainly don't need them! George? Our May meeting may be our last auction for a while.

Well I just got back from Disney World and it was really hard adjusting back to reality. Believe me there is nothing quite like fa'lltasy and we got plenty ofit. Anyway, waiting for me in the mail on our return was the first quarter room rental for 200 I . This follows right on the heels of our room rental bill from the la:.1 quarter of 2000. So our bank balance really got taken to the cleaners with having to pay for six months room rental within the last 30 days. At least we are now caught up and won't have to worry about another bill for the room until sometime in the summer. Thanks to the members who attended the March meeting and their support in the buying of our Club's DOM' s and their support in the auction. There will not be an auction in April but we will discuss the remaining items that we have for a future auction. These items include the Club's ST DOM' s and a very large library of Dorsett educational tapes. I think our Club members should have a say on how these are to be auctioned. Here is the breakdown for the March meeting: Beginning balance for March 1, 2001 :

1,130.69

Receipts:

DOM sales Wasn't that another great DOM in March? Thanks Glen! Love those music tracks, especially when they're coming out of my Atari! It's strange, I've been playing an Atari game a whole lot lately, but on my PC. I got hooked on Tempest 2000 for PC, Atari's final product as a standalone company before buying/merging into ITS. It's really a fantastic game. After playing most days for several weeks, I've beat the high score it comes with (by YAK aka JeffMinter the original author ofT2K for the Jaguar), but I haven't even seen half the levels yet. Very addicting. And purchased at a SPACE auction, thanks Brian! Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting, Friday, April 13, 2001.

18.00 Auction sales

25.00

Total Receipts for March

43.00

Expenses:

Room Rental for last qtr. 2000 Room Rental for first qtr. 2001

195.00 195.00

Total Expenses for March

390.00

Ending balance for the month ended March 2001 :

783.69

So you can see what effect the room rental has on our treasury and it is now more important than ever that our current members keep up their memberships and help support the Club with DOM purchases. We are looking into more ways to help the Club continue to stay healthy and we will be discussing these issues in the next meeting. Your support at these meeting

along with your suggestions are greatly needed and appreciated. See you all in April.

Secretary's Report By Mike Weist For March, 2001 Space meeting for March opened at 7:30 PM. Michael Current, Space club president, welcomed members to the meeting. Michael asked for a secretary report. Mike Weist, Space club secretary, recapped minutes printed in March Space newsletter. Michael then asked for a treasurer report. Greg Leitner, Space club treasurer, gave a report. Greg stated there were no • membership renewals for February 2001. Greg stated the auction for February took in $58. The club sold 4 DOM's at $3 each. The total income was $70. Greg said the club paid out $163.56 for newsletter, BBS, and Post office box. This brought the treasury down to $1130.69. Also $195 was paid out for room rent. The treasury now stands at $935.69. Another room rent payment will be due soon for $195. The club may have one more auction. Michael asked for a DOM report. Glen Kirschenmann, DOM chair, gave a report. This DOM will have the last German program from the German folder on club CD. Side A is a program from a American war veteran called HULKOUT. Side B is a high quality German music program. Michael asked for a membership program. Glen Kirschenmann, membership chair, gave a report. Glen stated there are 13 paid up members. 4 members need to renew. Michael asked for a BBS report. Lance Ringquist gave a report in place ofNolan Friedland. Nolan was not present at meeting. Lance said the BBS has been UP and DOWN.

OLD BUSINESS: Lance suggested that the club buy CD disks and put Atari programs on them for sale to anybody who would like to buy them. Lance said this would be a great way to make money for the Space club. This would probably take 6 months to setup if the club is interested. Greg Leitner said the club has about 1O months worth of funds to stay alive. Michael Current, Space club president said the club has to think about certain thing----How much would club charge for CD's? Who would do CD copying? How much would copier charge the club for making CD's for Space club? How many Atari programs does club have?

Mike Weist again mentioned the Midwinter Madness Show coming up at the Concordia Arena.

NEW BUSINESS: Mike Weist mentioned he had a friend who wanted to know how to get on the Internet with a Atari Computer. Mike was told a Atari browser and a Atari ISP would be needed. An Atari ISP was probably not available anymore. The browser program is called ICE TEA. Meeting adjourned at 8 PM. Space club auction followed.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Subj: Infogrames Entertainment Announces Financial Results For First Six Months Ended December 31, 2000 Date: 01-03-16 17:25:41 JiST From: mcurrent@c!IJ'leton.edu (Michael Current) LYON, France, March 12 /PRNewswire/ - Infogrames Entertainment SA (Euronext 5257) today announced that consolidated net loss for the first six months of fiscal 2001 ended December 31, 2000, improved to $20.7 million, an increase of$63.3 million from the (GTIS included) proforma figure for the same period last year. Summary of consolidated income statement of group operations (in millions US $) First Six First Six First Six Months Ended Months Ended Months Ended December 31, December 31, December 31, 2000 1999 1999 proforma As published (GTIS 6month included) Net revenues Gross margin R&D Sales & Marketing G&A Operating income Group net profit

325.4 167.0 50.9 84.9 42.8 (11.5) (20.7)

376.2 136.4 43 .5 110.6 50.7 (68.5) (84.0)

257.6 112.2 24.8 51.7 19.1 16.6 15.2

Please note that INFOGRAMES ENTERTAINMENT took over the US company GT Interactive Software ("GTIS") in December 1999 and it currently holds an 89ll/o stake. •(All figures converted at EUR/USD closing rate as of December 31, 2000: 0.9305) SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE PERIOD: Confirmation of the Successful Recovery of US Operations The first half of the financial year was marked by the significant recovery in the Company's US operations. Infogrames, Inc (Nasdaq: IFGM - news) showed an increase in turnover and most of all a return to profitability in the second quarter.

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These good results are due to the successful integration of GTIS within Infogrames and, more specifically, to a renewed US management team, the restructuring of operations and the implementation of a focused strategy in the US. Purchase ofHasbro Interactive In December 2000, Infogrames announced the acquisition of the interactive division of Hasbro Inc, thus becoming the leader in the publishing of interactive games for the family. The new operation has three main points to note: *

*

*

The acquisition of Hasbro Interactive, a subsidiary of Hasbro, includes 250 titles and 600 franchises - all well known such as Monopoly, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, My Little Pony, Mr. Potato Head, Action Man. The acquisition of Atari's titles and intellectual properties. The 20-year exclusive licensing of current and future Hasbro Inc. intellectual properties on all interactive formats.

Excellent Performance of the Catalog In a competitive marketplace, Infogrames' titles such as: Unreal Tournament for PlayStation··2; Le Mans 24 Hours and Space Race for Dreamcast; Martian's Revenge, The Smurfs and Lucky Luke for Game Boy Color; Bugs and Taz for PC and Playstation·· had excellent feedback from the game-playing public. Driver 2 for Playstation·· jumped to the top of the world's sales charts with 2 million copies sold at the end of December, also giving renewed strength to Driver for Playstation··, which has been on the market since 1999. PERSPECTIVES: The 2001 integration and restructuring ofHasbro Interactive began at the end ofJanuary with the implementation of a series of actions to ensure a return to profitability.

Infogrames is a global publisher ofvideogames for the whole family, with a catalog that includes popular franchises (Driver, Alone in the Dark, V-Rally, Unreal Tournament, Test Drive, Roller Coaster Tycoon) and many international licenses (Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes, Paramount's Mission: Impossible, the Brazilian national football team, LeMans 24 Hours, and the world and European champion French national football team. Infogrames, led by Bruno Bonnell, distributes its games in about 60 countries worldwide with a particular strength in Europe and the U.S., where Infogrames possesses an outstanding distribution network. With its US subsidiary Infogrames, Inc. {Nasdaq: IFGMnews), Infogrames Entertainment (Euronext 5257) has become a contender for worldwide industry leadership with the recent acquisition of the interactive assets ofHasbro, the American toy giant.

·~················································ Subj: Atari810Wm Beta announce! Date: 01-04-07 16:16:46 EDT From: mcurrent@carleton.edu (Michael Current) From: "Dan Vernon" <danv@whoever.com> Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 12:21 :21 -0700 Just wanted to Jet the interested Atari fans to know that I have just posted this first beta release of Atari810Wm available at the moment only for Wmdows NT 4.0 & 2000. The program is similar in functionality to the excellent SI02PC program by Nick Kennedy, and requires the use of an SI02PC cable to emulate an Atari 8-bit disk drive using disk images files on your NT box. Enjoy! Please let me know about any thanks, bugs, problems, or wish-lists you have. The source code is forthcoming and will be released soon under the GNU GPL license. get it at:

The beginning of the second half of2001 was characterized by the successful launch ofFinal Fantasy 9, from Square Soft and distributed by Infogrames with more than 600,000 copies sold in Europe in less than one month. The second half of the year will also see the launch of the famous Digimon from Bandai, also distributed by Infogrames in Europe; and the international launch of the fourth installment of the Alone in the Dark franchise, Alone in the Dark -- The New Nightmare. ABOUT INFOGRAMES Infogrames is a major international publisher and distributor of video games for consoles (Microsoft, Nintendo, Sega and Sony), PC CD-ROMs, and Macintosh hardware, as well as all interactive platforms such as interactive television, Internet, WAP devices, and in-flight entertainment systems.

http://www.bitsofthepast.com/atari -Dan Vernon

CLUB OFFICIALS President: mcurrentecarleton.edu Vice President: gregliteshorldnet.att.net Secretary: MikeLuvFooejuno.com DOM Librarian: BBS Operator: friedndtcfreenet.org Membership Chairman: SPACE Treasurer: SPACE Newsletter Editor: mschm.65612eaol.com

Michael Current

(507)663-9029

Greg Leitner

(651)455-6550

Michael Weist

( 651}777-6794

Glen Kirschenmann (612)786-4790 Nolan Friedland (763}691-0626

meets on the second Friday of each month at 7:30 PM

in the Falcon Heights Community Center at 2077 West Larpenteur Ave. Doors open at 7:00 ?M.

Falcon Heights Community Center 2077 W. Larpenteur Ave. "d

Museum

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Published by the Saint Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts (SPACE), an independent organization with no business affiliation with ATARI Corporation. Permission is granted to any similar organization with which SPACE exchanges ne1'8lettera to reprint material from this newsletter. lre do however ask that credit be given to the authors and to SPACE. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily refiect the vie'WS of SPACE, the club officers, club members or ATARI Corporation.

Glen Kirschenmann (612)786-4790 Greg Leitner (651)455-6550 Michael Schmidt (612)757-4192 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

Saint Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts (SPACE)

Gibbs

DISCLAIMER

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North

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You can/f~d the Club's home page at:

http: ; www.Space.atari.org

Articles for Publication must be received by the Newsletter Editor two weeks prior to the Club' s meeting.

SPACE BBS BBS Phone: (763)-691-0626 Sysop:

Nolan Friedland

Larpenteur Avenue

7

Supporting: U of M St. Paul Campus

ATARI 8-Bit Computers ATARI ST Computers

S.P.A.C.E. P.O. Box 120016 New Brighton, MN

-

55112

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