October 2014
NEWSLETTER for October 2014
President’s Corner by Michael Current
The only Atari news I found for this month was that yet another "Atari Flashback" is coming out now from AtGames. This version is very similar to the Flashback 4 (from 2012) with the same 75 2600 games by Atari, plus another 12 titles by M Network, plus 5 homebrew titles, for a total of 92 games. And wireless controllers. Hope to see you this month as we all help Greg clear out his basement! Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting, Friday October 10, 2014.
Treasurer's Report
Secretary's Report
by Greg Leitner
by Steve Peck for September 2014
I can't believe it's going to be October at our next SPACE meeting. With a family now of twelve not counting Jackie and myself we will have to start our Christmas shopping this month so we won't be rushing around the last quarter of the year. We figure we need around 140 presents for this Christmas. We had a very interesting meeting in September. Four members were present and most of the evening was taken up with demoing of the August and September 8bit DOMs. Great games on both DOMs and if you haven't already purchased them you really should ASAP. You won't be disappointed with the games and you will really be surprised by the programmers who wrote them. We spent a good portion of our meeting talking about the credit card fraud problems coming to light within the last few months. Home Depot is the latest to suffer with 60 million users being affected topping Target's 40 million. There have been many others, Cub Foods, Michaels, Dairy Queen, etc. There looks to be plenty more in the near future, if what the news is reporting is any indication. It looks like the only way to be completely safe is going back to using cash. As far as the Treasury for September, there weren’t any expenses for the month as Nolan couldn't make the meeting. We did sell five 8-bit DOMs for $15.00 and adding to our last month's balance of $305.48, we now have $320.48 in our bank account. I think that's pretty good going into the last quarter of the year. Next month I will bring the Dorsett tapes and accessories since Michael and Lance have both indicated interest in them. Lance gave the impression that he would probably defer to Michael on them. Also, I will bring in the software that Lance donated to the Club for auctions years ago along with a few other software items that didn't get bids at past auctions. I have a few other items that I may dispose of if no members show any interest in them. These include: monitor station, VGA monitor, Epson RX-80 printer, Tac-2 joystick, powerpad, Hayes 300 Smartmodem and 5 1/4 disk empty case holders. If any item is recommended for another auction I will hold in until then, but I really want to get this stuff out of my basement. Anyway, that's it for this month. See you all October 10th.
Well, I am back with another report. The meeting began at 7:30 PM. We talked about, for old business, credit card security and retail stores being hacked by identity thieves, how PCs really have back doors for hackers to exploit (thanks to bad design), the software and web sites having the same problem, and how Atari computers were Y2K-compliant during the Millennium Bug scare. Scary stuff, but we also discussed how we can protect ourselves from ID theft. Understood, not a lot of Atari stuff yet. Things are pretty still in the Atari realm. But, in other business, there will be new products on the way for Atari systems. Keep posted as this comes up! Lance will have more information when the time comes. The membership stands at nine. I will renew next month since I am due then. Again, great DOM from Glen. I will post on that later in the newsletter in my DOM Review. Also, our Treasurer, Greg, said that he will have to get rid of many Atari products. He has collected a lot of stuff in his house over the years and it mostly must go. I am sure that he will have more information on that as time goes by. The meeting adjourned at 8:10 PM. Well, that concludes my Secretary's Report. In the words of the Comic Book Maestro: EXCELSIOR!
ST DOM Report by Nolan Friedland
Greetings and welcome to another edition of the SPACE ST DOM. Enjoy!
Overdrive is an overhead-view racing game for one player against two computer cars. There are 25 different tracks. The first thing to do after pressing SPACE on the title screen is to enter your initials (up to three characters). You will then be shown a map of the first track. The fire button will start the race. The game is joystick controlled: left and right to steer, fire to accelerate. Colliding with the sides of the track or the other cars will slow you down, but you can't crash or go off the road completely. Each track consists of five laps. Points are awarded at the end of each track: three for the winner, two for second place and three for third. You don't have to win each race, but to stay in the game you must remain at the top of the scoreboard; as soon as you drop into second, the game ends. The aim is to score as many points as possible by staying in the game for as long as you can. If you complete all 25 tracks, you will start again at Track 1 but the computer cars will be faster.
The Adventures of a Crazed Hermit is an unfinished freeware fan-created game using Sierra's Adventure Game Interpreter (AGI) engine. The game follows a crazed hermit who comes to his senses after being deserted on an island, as he decides to get off the island and return home.
Eventually, it becomes impossible to win any races, but if you've built up enough of a lead, you can still stay in the game. When you start a game after the first, the display of initials will contain whatever you entered the first time. Press RETURN to leave them or use ESC or BACKSPACE to clear them and enter new initials. To quit the game, press the space bar during a race, or if you really can't wait, CONTROL-C will work at any time except during the title music.
CLUB OFFICIALS
Michael Current
President: (608) 787-8548 michael@mcurrent.name
Vice President / Webmaster / Newsletter Editor (763) 689-3737 Nolan Friedland ilmarinen1976@hotmail.com
Steve Peck
Secretary: (651) 408-1096 artisan213574@gmail.com
DOM Librarian / Membership Chairman: (763) 786-4790 Glen Kirschenmann kirsch@netzero.net
Greg Leitner
Treasurer: (651) 455-6550 greglites@hotmail.com
Saint Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts (SPACE) 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 around 7:00 PM.
S.P.A.C.E. c/o Gregory Leitner 3407 78th St E Inver Grove Heights, MN 55076-3037
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