SPACE Newsletter

NEWSLETTER for April, 2004 President’s Corner

Treasurer's Report

by Michael Current April, 2004

by Greg Leitner For March, 2004

It was good to see everyone last month. At this point I'm shooting to make my next appearance in July, but you never know, I may show up some other time and surprise you! At the March meeting I ended up making two purchases from Video 61, Commando and Tower Toppler. My attempts at getting decent scores at home yielded 137,100 at Commando and 10,420 at Tower Toppler. These are some fun games! And Video 61 had others that had me highly tempted as well. I hope others who are still into gaming on the 8-bit Atari are giving themselves a chance to check these releases out. Because otherwise you're missing out! I've done a couple things for the club in recent days. I have now registered SPACE with the User Group Network <http://www.user-groups.net/>. (GregI guess they didn't need to confirm our emails after all!) I noticed that SCAT; the Atari group in Chicago was associated with the UGN, so I thought, Why not SPACE? I added links to content on their web site at the bottom of the SPACE main page. One of the points of the UGN is to help people find user groups in their local community, so perhaps this will yield new memberships for us, we can always hope. Here's what was published about SPACE in the UGN InfoManager newsletter for March 22, 2004, available at: http://www.user-groups.net/info/0403-22.html "UGN Salutes the St. Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts! SPACE is the hot spot for Atari users in the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota area, but would also love to hear from all Atari hobbyists no matter where you are. President Michael Current invites all interested computer enthusiasts to join and enjoy their monthly (printed and mailed) newsletter, BBS access, software demonstrations, group purchases, public domain disk(s), and all things in the world of Atari!" I've also started trying to make another round of contacts with other Atari clubs to get direct newsletter exchanges going. I heard back from Bryan Garcia of the new MIAUG (Miami), but their newsletter is only published online at this point. I did however make positive contact with Nick DiMasi of SCAT (Chicago), and hopefully we'll soon have a working exchange with them going. I also tried contacting ABACUS (San Francisco), with whom we thought we had an exchange going a couple years ago, but haven't heard back yet. There may be others out there too; I haven't exhausted the leads I was working with. Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting, Friday April 9, 2004.

It was a pleasant surprise to see eight members show up for the March 2004 SPACE meeting. Glad Mike could make the long trip. Of all the meetings, March is the hardest for me to attend. With the Boy's hockey tournament and the NCAA Basketball tournaments all going on at the same time I am usually a couch potato and I flip through three or four channels all the time. It drives my wife crazy. At least I don't line up multiple T.V.'s in a row and try to watch everything at the same time, so I guess I am getting a little bit better. Next week when the NCAA final 64 starts I will take a couple of vacation days to spend time with my son and some of his friends and catch as many games as physically possible. O.K., I have a hard time thinking of anything but hockey and basketball right now, but I promise I will be my old self by the next meeting. I really wanted to get on our B.B.S. this last month but with four grandkids coming and going constantly I don't ever seem to have time. Now it looks like April before I will get another chance. I am really looking forward to seeing what Nolan has put together. Now for the rundown of SPACE activity for the month of March 2004: Beginning balance for March 1, 2004 Receipts for the March meeting: Memberships Dom's

768.92

Total receipts for the month

63.00

Expenses for the March meeting: BBS for March

10.00

Ending balance for March 31, 2004

821.92

45.00 18.00

Looking good! Since we probably won't get the room rental bill and the newsletter bill for a few months we have a good opportunity to build on our bank balance.

If we all keep our memberships renewed on time, and if you could please support the Dom that Glen works really hard in producing, then we will be in good shape. $3.00 per month is not much to help support your own Club. I think that is the least we can all do. Well, I have to run. Tip-off is in five minutes and it won't be over until about midnight. And then tomorrow is the big day! The selection of the 64 teams. How am I going to find time to watch the finals of the Boy's hockey tournament? I just may have to go back to two T.V.'s. Life can be so cruel. See ya!!

Secretary's Report By Nolan Friedland For March, 2004

Meeting started at 7:40 PM. Nothing Received For This Month. Newsletter Editor

BBS Corner By Nolan Friedland For March, 2004

Welcome to the BBS Corner! Nothing Received For This Month. Newsletter Editor **************************************************

A-T-A-R-I Answers, Tips, And Relevant Information by Paul Alhart - paulalhart@hotmail.com 1988.6 As most of you know from my ads in this newsletter, I repair disk drives on the side. I started out working on Ranas because I own three of them myself. I got a lot of business because: "Where else can you go to get a Rana repaired?" Over the years I have worked on hundreds of Ranas and compiled extensive information on them. In an effort to share this information with others (and hopefully make a buck in the process), I have now written my first book. The "RANA REPAIR GUIDE." It covers topics such as cleaning, mechanical alignment, electrical alignment, repair, modification, and parts availability. It also includes a complete set of schematics. As far as I know there is no other source of schematics for the Rana Drive/Controller PCB in the world. If you own a Rana or work on disk drives for others you won't want to be with out this information. I will be advertising the RANA REPAIR GUIDE in Antic Magazine soon for $18.00. If you are interested in obtaining a copy, mention that you heard about it in the Atari Federation NewsLetter, and get your copy for only $15.00. Write to: Paul V. Alhart 524 North Zee St. Lompoc, Calif. 93436

**************************************************

LOS ANGELES – March 16, 2004 – Online PC gaming is Unreal again! Atari and Epic Games have shipped Unreal® Tournament 2004, the highly anticipated follow-up to last year’s Unreal Tournament 2003 and the third installment in the mega-selling Unreal Tournament franchise, to retail stores worldwide this week. The game has already received a 5 out of 5 stars on GameSpy.com and a 9.4 out of 10 on IGN.com, two of the premiere video game news and reviews Web sites. Both sites gave the game their Editor’s Choice Award. “With Unreal Tournament 2004, Epic, Atari, Digital Extremes and Co. have done more than return the series to its former glory - they've unleashed a monster that could dominate multiplayer gaming for the rest of 2004,” according to GameSpy.com’s review. IGN.com agreed, saying “Unreal Tournament 2004 is set to make a thunderous impact as big as (or bigger) than the one caused by the original Unreal Tournament.” Unreal Tournament 2004 was developed by Epic Games in conjunction with Digital Extremes. The game builds on the success of past installments, taking the franchise to the next level with the introduction of the hyper-charged Onslaught mode, the return of the fan-favorite Assault mode, which last appeared in the original Unreal Tournament, and the introduction of land-, airand space-based vehicles. Gamers worldwide made the free, downloadable demo of Unreal Tournament 2004 one of the most popular game demo downloads of all time, with more than 1.5 million downloads in the first week of availability. The official demo first hit the Internet on Wednesday, February 11, and was distributed on a worldwide scale. In Unreal Tournament 2004, players suit up as the ultimate techno-gladiator of the future, taking their fates into their own hands as they battle up to 32 other players in action-packed, fragfilled arenas. Unreal Tournament 2004 contains new maps for all established game modes, including Capture the Flag, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Bombing Run and Double Domination, as well as all new arenas for the two additional styles of play – Onslaught and Assault. In addition, Unreal Tournament 2004 contains all of the maps, mutators and game types -- such as Mutant, Last Man Standing and Invasion -- from Unreal Tournament 2003 and the free downloadable bonus packs for that game. Features in Unreal Tournament 2004 include: Onslaught Mode: Onslaught is an epic-in-scope team-based challenge that pits two teams in bitter warfare across massive terrain maps in a frag-filled battle to destroy, capture and hold key power nodes. Vehicles play a major role as war-hardened flying and driving machines transport combatants to the “front” and serve as mobile platforms to launch devastating attacks on the enemy. Assault Mode: In the completely redesigned Assault mode, gamers are challenged to complete a variety of mission objectives to attack or defend bases in a bigger and badder version of the Unreal Tournament classic; many Assault maps require the use of vehicles as a critical gameplay element. Vehicles: Unreal Tournament 2004 features a variety of land-, spaceand air-based vehicles, including buggies, tanks, hovercraft, aircraft and more.

Voice Technology: Integrated voice communications, including voice-over-IP technology to allow real-time chat with teammates and opponents during gameplay; voice recognition, allowing players to issue orders to computer controlled bots; and, text-tovoice conversion of typed chat. Voice chat includes 3D audio on supported sound cards, so players can sense where voices emanate from. New and Revised Weapons: The devastating arsenal of bonecrunching weaponry that Unreal has become famous for returns, with several enhancements, including model and texture updates as well as sound improvements. The game also includes all new weaponry for the massive Onslaught and Assault battles, including the armor-shredding AVRiL (Anti-Vehicle Rocket Launcher) to take down incoming vehicles, the Grenade Launcher, which discharges sticky explosives on enemy emplacements, vehicles and personnel, the Spider Mines, which are brutal arachnid bombs that scuttle the landscape searching for unsuspecting adversaries, and a completely redesigned and reintroduced Sniper Rifle, not seen since the original Unreal Tournament. Characters: New and classic fan-favorite Unreal characters join The Tournament to challenge players, including the vicious Skaarj and the infamous Xan Kriegor. New Maps: More than 100 levels are included in the game for all new and existing gametypes, featuring tons of new textures, static meshes and music. In total, Unreal Tournament 2004 ships with more never-before-seen maps than the entire number of maps that shipped with Unreal Tournament 2003! UnrealTV: A match broadcast system that allows for hundreds of people to view an Unreal Tournament 2004 match with minimal performance impact on a game server, creating a television sports like viewing environment for fans to watch professional and other matches. Voting: Complete end-user voting system allows users to choose game type, maps, mutators, rules and settings and enables players to remove troublesome competitors from the game. Custom clanmatch voting system allows clans to negotiate acceptable game settings prior to a competitive match. New User Interface: A completely redesigned user interface (UI) is easier to navigate and supports context-sensitive menus, an ingame login menu (to improve team balancing) and an improved server browser with enhanced server filtering options. The underlying user interface system has been reengineered to be easier for Mod authors to build menus and implement their own UI designs. Other Improvements: Tons of cool gameplay tweaks and refinements including unique crosshairs for each weapon, the ability to carry dual Assault Rifles, improved computer-controlled “Bot” team coordination and movement, network bandwidth usage optimizations and more!

Unreal Editor: Unreal Tournament 2004 will ship with the most powerful game creation toolsets ever released to the public – the same software the developers used to make the game. Amateur level designers and mod makers can use the Unreal Editor, including the Unreal Editor's “Matinee” tool, to make their own maps, new game modes and animated movies using the Unreal Technology.

Unreal Tournament 2004 is available worldwide this week, in both a standard and a “Special Edition” format. Unreal Tournament 2004 DVD Special Edition is a double-DVD set – disk one includes all of the game content while disk two includes hours of Video Training Modules (VTMs) from 3D Buzz that teach fans and amateur mod makers how to use the Unreal Editor to create custom game content. Unreal Tournament 2004 DVD Special Edition comes in a limited edition metal box and contains a Logitech Internet Chat Headset for use with the game’s exclusive voice-over-IP (voice chat) technology. For more information on Unreal Tournament 2004 or to download the free demo, please visit the game’s official Web site at www.unrealtournament.com. **************************************************

LOS ANGELES – March 4, 2004 – Atari and Epic Games are pleased to announce that development is complete on Unreal® Tournament 2004, the highly anticipated follow-up to last year’s smash Unreal Tournament 2003 and the third installment in the mega-selling Unreal Tournament franchise. The game is expected to be available at retail stores worldwide on March 15. “Get ready, PC gamers, because the biggest thing to ever hit multiplayer gaming is about to land on your hard drives!” said Peter Wyse, executive producer at Atari. “The granddaddy of all multiplayer competition is back and better than ever! The extra time was worth the wait – Epic has produced the biggest, baddest, and most exciting multiplayer title ever to grace the PC.” Unreal Tournament 2004 was developed by Epic Games in conjunction with Digital Extremes. The game builds on the success of past installments, taking the franchise to the next level with the introduction of the hyper-charged Onslaught mode, the return of the fan-favorite Assault mode, which last appeared in the original Unreal Tournament, and the introduction of land-, airand space-based vehicles. Gamers worldwide have already made the free, downloadable official demo of Unreal Tournament 2004 one of the most popular game demo downloads of all time, with more than 1.5 million downloads in the first week of availability. The demo first hit the Internet on Wednesday, February 11, and was distributed on a worldwide scale and is already one of the most played online PC games on the Internet. In the game, players suit up as the ultimate techno-gladiator of the future, taking their fates into their own hands as they battle up to 32 other players in action-packed, frag-filled arenas. Unreal Tournament 2004 contains new maps for all established game modes, including Capture the Flag, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Bombing Run and Double Domination, as well as all new arenas for the new styles of play. In addition, Unreal Tournament 2004 contains all of the maps, mutators and game types – such as Mutant, Last Man Standing and Invasion -from Unreal Tournament 2003 and the free downloadable bonus packs for that game.

Features in Unreal Tournament 2004 include: - Onslaught Mode: Onslaught is an epic-in-scope team-based challenge that pits two teams in bitter warfare across massive terrain maps in a frag-filled battle to destroy, capture and hold key power nodes. Vehicles play a major role as war-hardened flying and driving machines transport combatants to the “front” and serve as mobile platforms to launch devastating attacks on the enemy. - Assault Mode: In the completely redesigned Assault mode, gamers are challenged to complete a variety of mission objectives to attack or defend bases in a bigger and badder version of the Unreal Tournament classic; many Assault maps require the use of vehicles as a critical gameplay element. - Vehicles: Unreal Tournament 2004 features a variety of land-, spaceand air-based vehicles, including buggies, tanks, hovercraft, aircraft and more - Voice Technology: Integrated voice communications, including voice-over-IP technology to allow real-time chat with teammates and opponents during gameplay; voice recognition, allowing players to issue orders to computer controlled bots; and, text-to-voice conversion of typed chat. Voice chat includes 3D audio on supported sound cards, so players can sense where voices emanate from. - New and Revised Weapons: The devastating arsenal of bonecrunching weaponry that Unreal has become famous for returns, with several enhancements. Many existing weapons have received model and texture updates as well as sound improvements. The game also includes all new weaponry for the massive Onslaught and Assault battles, including the massive AVRiL (Anti-Vehicle Rocket Launcher) to take down incoming vehicles, the Grenade Launcher, which discharges sticky explosives on enemy emplacements, vehicles and personnel, the Spider Mines, the vile and brutal arachnid bombs that scuttle the landscape searching for unsuspecting adversaries, and a completely redesigned and reintroduced Sniper Rifle, not seen since the original Unreal Tournament.

game. Custom clan-match voting system allows clans to negotiate acceptable game settings prior to a competitive match. - New User Interface: A completely redesigned user interface (UI) is easier to navigate and supports context-sensitive menus, an in-game login menu (to improve team balancing) and an improved server browser with enhanced server filtering options. The underlying user interface system has been reengineered to be easier for Mod authors to build menus and implement their own UI designs. - Other Improvements: Tons of cool gameplay tweaks and refinements including unique crosshairs for each weapon, the ability to carry dual Assault Rifles, improved computercontrolled “Bot” team coordination and movement, network bandwidth usage optimizations and more! - Unreal Editor: Unreal Tournament 2004 will ship with the most powerful game creation toolsets ever released to the public – the same software the developers used to make the game. Amateur level designers and mod makers can use the Unreal Editor, including the Unreal Editor's “Matinee” tool, to make their own maps, new game modes and animated movies using the Unreal Technology. Unreal Tournament 2004 is expected to be available worldwide on March 15, in both a standard and a “Special Edition” format. Unreal Tournament 2004 DVD Special Edition will ship as a double-DVD set – disk one will include all of the game content while disk two will include hours of Video Training Modules (VTMs) from 3D Buzz that teach fans and amateur mod makers how to use the Unreal Editor to create custom game content. Unreal Tournament 2004 DVD Special Edition will come in a limited edition metal box and will contain a Logitech Internet Chat Headset for use with the game’s exclusive voice-over-IP (voice chat) technology, as well as an Unreal window sticker. For more information on Unreal Tournament 2004 or to download the free demo, please visit the game’s official Web site at www.unrealtournament.com. **************************************************

- Characters: New and classic fan-favorite Unreal characters join The Tournament to challenge players, including the vicious Skaarj and the infamous Xan Kriegor. - New Maps: More than 100 levels are included in the game for all new and existing gametypes, featuring tons of new textures, static meshes and music. In total, Unreal Tournament 2004 ships with more never-before-seen maps than the entire number of maps that shipped with Unreal Tournament 2003! - UnrealTV: A match broadcast system that allows for hundreds of people to view an Unreal Tournament 2004 match with minimal performance impact on a game server, creating a television sports like viewing environment for fans to watch professional and other matches. - Voting: Complete end-user voting system allows users to choose game type, maps, mutators, rules and settings and enables players to remove troublesome competitors from the

LOS ANGELES – March 18, 2004 – Atari and Stormfront Studios, under license from Hasbro, Inc., have announced plans to develop Forgotten Realms®: Demon Stone™, an action adventure game set in the popular Dungeons & Dragons® world created by Wizards of the Coast. Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone will place players in the middle of a heated battle between two demonic armies set to overrun the world of Faerun. The intense story setting in Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone will highlight the game’s use of an enhanced version of Stormfront’s powerful game engine, allowing for greatly improved graphics, faster gameplay and even more intelligent enemies. Scheduled for release in the fall of 2004, Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone will push action adventure on the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system to an entirely new level. “Stormfront Studios has proven itself to be one of the preeminent console developers with its work on The Lord of

the Rings™: The Two Towers™. In our search for a development partner that could bring an intense, actionoriented and cinematic D&D® experience to the PlayStation 2 – there was no equal,” said John Hight, executive producer, Atari’s Los Angeles studio. “Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone will raise the bar several notches with new engine technologies allowing for greatly enhanced gameplay. The next-gen engine will also allow gamers to play multiple characters with varying abilities throughout each encounter, as well as the ability to switch characters on the fly – a first for an action game of this nature.” In Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone, the player directs a party of three characters – Fighter, Sorcerer and Rogue. The player controls one party member at a time -- switching between them on the fly -- while the other party members are controlled by the engine’s sophisticated artificial intelligence. For example, when the player controls the Fighter, the Sorcerer and Rogue will continue to engage in combat, cast spells and assist the player in defeating all challengers. In many situations, the characters will be able to divide and conquer difficult objectives – while the Fighter holds back a horde of Yuan-Ti snakemen with brute force, the Sorcerer supports him with devastating ranged magic while the rogue sneaks above and behind them for a coup de grace. The player participates seamlessly in each critical moment as they are cinematically switched from one perspective to another. This real-time, on-the-fly character switching design allows Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone to challenge players with innovative and compelling encounters. In true D&D fashion, each of the characters excels at a certain type of gameplay. The Fighter thrives in melee combat, the Sorcerer is excellent at ranged and magical combat and the Rogue excels at jumping, sneaking and disarming traps. Players will be continually tasked with choosing the best character for each challenge as well as using each character’s gameplay specialty to maximum effect. “Console action game fans will be blown away by the depth and beauty of Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone,” said Don Daglow, president of Stormfront Studios. “The technology improvements, the fantastic gaming universe of D&D’s Forgotten Realms, and the wide variety of exciting cinematic gameplay all add up to one thing – a fun and compelling action-adventure.” Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone will utilize an extensive fighting system, which is both easy to learn, and visually stunning. Characters will perform amazing attacks and feats at the simple touch of a button, but the system has sophisticated features for advanced players who want to tailor their attacks to maximize their damage in specific situations. Unique special attacks, combinations, linked combos, super

attacks and even group super attacks allow advanced players to excel against their most fearsome foes. In addition, Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone will allow players to upgrade their characters with a branching path of new feats and combos as they gain experience and levels. Each character will feature a number of unique abilities, such as the Fighter’s combat skills and strength, the Rogue’s stealth and lock picking abilities and the Sorcerer’s plethora of new spells. For example, when upgrading the Fighter, the player might have the choice of upgrading his Strength, his Melee Skill or his Hand-to-Hand skill. Within those choices, there will be other dependencies, such as the requirement to earn Power Attack before Cleave can be acquired. Demon Stone’s intense, cinematic action is set entirely within the visually stunning Forgotten Realms fantasy world. Familiar characters, such as the famous drow Drizzt Do’Urden and the legendary mage Khelban “Blackstaff” Arunsun; terrifying monsters, including Dragons, Orcs, Slaadi, Yuan-Ti and Trolls; as well as geographical locations straight from the popular D&D campaign setting will make appearances and serve as backdrops throughout the game. The story of Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone revolves around the adventuring party’s unwitting intrusion into an age-old conflict between two warring demonic armies; one led by a Githyanki Princess and, the other, a Slaad Lord. After inadvertently releasing both demons back upon the world after eons of imprisonment, it becomes the adventurer’s quest to right their wrong and restore order to the world of Faerun. Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone is scheduled for release in the fall of 2004. **************************************************

Date: 30 Mar 2004 16:16:04 -0800 We've recently revamped our website and would like to invite everyone here to visit us at http://www.gamesplus.com/ We sell only new games that include media, instructions and box. We currently have the following catalogs available online: 3DO, Amiga, Atari 8-Bit, Atari ST, C64, Game Gear, Gameboy, Sega Genesis, Sega CD, Super Nintendo and VIC20. You can view our Atari 8-Bit catalog at: http://www.gamesplus.com/atari8-bit/ Thank you, Computer Games Plus http://www.gamesplus.com/