SPACE Newsletter

•Serving the Twin Cities Atari Community for Over Three Decades•

March 2015 Newsletter

The President's Corner

And now a word from a special fan of SPACE…

ByMichael Current

I recently purchased the Englishlanguage versions of the new 8-bit Atari-only magazine, Pro(C) Atari. The lead editor and publisher is Markus Roesner of Germany. It's quite a nice publication! Half A4 size, I believe, with glossy over and full color throughout. The first issue, Winter 2014, is 30 pages.

Notice Anything Different?

We have a new look for the SPACE Newsletter! I, Steve Peck, SPACE Secretary, have taken on the position of acting Newsletter Editor. As you can see, the new SPACE Newsletter has been completely revamped to The original language is German, so have a fresher look for the twentythe English language edition is first century. I hope that you like the entirely translated from the original. new SPACE Newsletter. Enjoy! Yes, you can tell sometimes, but it's not a big deal. I also congratulate Nolan Friedland for the outstanding job that he did on Content is a nice mix of product the previous Newsletter editions that reviews, news, and retrospectives he published. Kudos to you, Nolan! from several different authors. They Come back soon and thank you for hope that ongoing costs can be doing such a great job. covered via advertising and donations.

President's Corner: Treasurer's Report: Secretary's Report: 8-bit DOM Report: Latest Atari News:

And I'm aware that they've already sped up the rate of new issues, so it's somewhere between quarterly and bi-monthly at this point. They have a Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups /1555826578030196/. I'm not sure if there are any subscriptions, it appears you just buy issues as you decide you want them. Payment is by PayPal. So, if you long for the day when you could read a new print magazine covering your new Atari, you can re-live that thrill again! Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting, Friday, March 13, 2015.

Table of Contents: 1 2 2 2 5

Dr. Doom says…

(OR BE SQUARE!)

Captain Irata says: "Eat, drink, and be merry… AND PLAY ATARI GAMES! (That's an order, you SPACE cadets!)"

Treasurer's Report ByGregory Leitner Sorry I couldn't make it to the February SPACE meeting and thank you to Glen for covering for me. Our granddaughter's jazz dance team made it to the State Tournament held that Friday and Jackie and I had to be there.

Secretary's Report BySteven Peck

H E L L O W O RL D ! : D Well, it's time for another edition of the Secretary's Report, isn't it? So, with that, here I go:

The only members of the Club present at the February 13th They danced the best I had seen all meeting were Lance, Glen, and year and except for one judge, who myself. It was a short meeting scored them in tenth place while because there were the three of us. every other judge scored them fourth or fifth, they placed them We had a blast with the new DOM, ninth in the finals. It was nice to see however, and it was definitely a fun the other coaches tell us that we DOM to play. I will discuss it more were screwed out of the finals. in the 8-bit DOM Report in this issue of the Newsletter. As you probably saw on the Sunday news of that weekend there Our membership count stands at was much more controversy after ten members. There are no recent the triple A kick competition. So be renewals yet, but I encourage the politics even in high school people who need to renew to please sports. feel free. We like the camaraderie and it's good for the Club, too. :) Even though I wasn't at the meeting, I have news to pass on Greg, our treasurer, will be with us concerning our bank balance. I got on March 13th. I am happy that his the bill for the room rental for 2014 granddaughter did her best at the and they reduced our balance by dance tournament and I am sure $300.00. And then when I got our her family are proud of her. ^_^ bank statement, I found out that the bank is starting to deduct $2.00 for Well, fellow Atarians, that the paper statement. concludes this Secretary's Report. I will now close with this famous I want to discuss changing our bank salutation from Stan Lee: account to avoid the $2.00 per month charge, but I want to make E X C E L S I O R! sure you are all okay to do this. Also, the Falcon Heights Simon says… Community Center wants to charge $30.00 per month instead of the usual $25.00 per month room rental fee. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it adds up to another $60.00 for the year. Some things to consider for the March meeting. See you then.

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Buy a DOM. Support SPACE!

Atari 8-bit DOM Report BySteven Peck

Hi-ho, fellow Atarians! I am back with the Atari 8-bit DOM Report. Or Reports, I should say. I say that because I am going to report on two DOMs for this month because I need to catch up on my backlogged DOM Reports. Sorry about the hiatus with the Reports, by the way. I am going to start with the February 2015 DOM, then I will report on the January 2015 DOM. This way, I will eventually catch up on the DOMs from late 2014 as well. So, without further adieu, here we go with my Reports: February 2015 DOM, Side A: Rubacka vo Kopec: In this game, you have to position a tank battalion to destroy the enemy tank. I do not know if this is a two-player game or not. It seems like the game "Capture the Flag", or something on that order. I am not sure because I did not have another player against me, so I cannot say. It looks fun, but maybe a little easy. Unless it really is a two-player game, anyway. Here's my score out of a possible 40 points: Sound: 8 Graphics: 7 Gameplay: 6 Animation: 6 Total score: 27 out of 40 Bounce Ball M4: This is a Pong clone, with each player using two paddles each to get the ball into the opposing team's goal. I liked it personally. I just hope that other Newsletter Header

people do not think another Pong Animation: 2 clone is redundant. After all, there are a lot of them. Total score: 9 out of 40

Dragon Sign (by Factor6): This picture of a dragon logo is DUCHSKCZ: I can pronounce the impressive at the least. It is well name of this game, but I forgot how planned and implemented. I like it was really spelled. So, I will use the colors because they compliment its abbreviation as it is on the disk. each other. Excellent work.

Sound: 2 Graphics: 4 Gameplay: 7 Animation: 5 Total score: 18 out of 40 DRUTT M44: This is another Pong clone, but it's an improvement in graphics and gameplay. I enjoyed this over Bounce Ball. It is either one or two players. Great sound, too. But, I think it has a PAL problem. After all, it is from Europe and the Europeans do not use NTSC on their televisions. Sound: 10 Graphics: 10 Gameplay: 9 Animation: 9 Total score: 38 out of 40 Lunar Jetman: This is a difficult game. It has great sound and graphics to boot. You have to get items onto your lunar buggy without getting hit by space debris. It is quite a challenge, let me assure you about that fact. Sound: 10 Graphics: 10 Gameplay: 9 Animation: 10 Total score: 39 out of 40 Side B: Night Escape: I could not really figure this game out. It seems you have to dodge your enemies and try to get away from them. You have a gun to shoot them with, but they can regenerate and attack you all over again. I did not like this game very much because I could not figure it out. It could have been much better. Sound: 3 Graphics: 2 Gameplay: 2 Issue 1

Total Score: 8 out of 10

You basically do nothing but use the joystick button on this one. You play a heart trying to get ghosts coming toward you. Every time you press the button, you go to the top of the screen.

Graphics: 8 out of 10

It reminds me of a game on the Atari Jaguar by Reboot called Superfly DX, which has a similar premise. There is no sound, so it needs a soundtrack. The gameplay is spot-on, however.

I Care (by stRing): Well, this music lives up to it's name. Positive and upbeat, it sounds like it's caring music. Another nice sounding track.

Sound: 0 Graphics: 6 Gameplay: 10 Animation: 7

Let Me See You Dance (by LiSU): This peppy track actually lives up to its name. It's lively and danceworthy. It is short, but I enjoyed it.

Total score: 23 out of 40

Sound: 8 out of 10

Exoter: This is a text adventure with some graphics and even sound. I never thought I would like a text adventure, but this one was intriguing. It even has a user interface where you can decide what to do by selecting commands with a cursor. Pretty engaging for a text adventure, I must say.

Moving IT! (by Krapivin Dimitry): The sound was a problem, but I think that was a PAL problem. I like the patterns moving in real-time across the screen. But, the type on the side of the screen needs to be adjusted. The colors don't jive with me. They're almost hard on the eyes.

Sound: 10 Graphics: 8 Gameplay: 10 Animation: 1

Sound: 1 Graphics: 7 Animation: 9

Ghosts (by Factor6): When I first saw the title of this musical piece, I thought of this as sounding more "haunting". It's too lively for that. Actually, it sounds positive and If you hit the bottom of the screen, upbeat. Good track, wrong title. In you will crash and lose a life. You my opinion, anyway. must hit the ghosts as their eyes are closed or they will kill you. Sound: 7 out of 10

Total score: 29 out of 40

Sound: 7 out of 10

Total score: 17 out of 30

Pokey Forever (by PG): Another music track, but fast-paced and pulse-pounding. This is a good Be Strong! (by Gaetano Chiummo): track. I like it. Very nice. This little piece has some fast-paced music in it. It sounds quite Sound: 10 out of 10 triumphant, like a fighter in training. I liked it because of that. Rings (by MaPa PG): This intro January 2015 DOM, Side A:

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shows rings that show up one ring at a time on the screen all the way up to five rings. After they get done bumping around each other, they form the logo for the Olympics.

Graphics: 9 Graphics: 5 Animation: 2 (for the message ticker Animation: 5 at the bottom of the screen.) Total score: 15 out of 30 Total score: 21 out of 30 Beidny Pies Antony 2 (by Chory Sound: 3 Vseobecna Porucha (by LiSU and Odbyt): In this 2-player game you Graphics: 4 Tristesse): This music track is kind have to pick up dog droppings and Animation: 5 of light but peppy and fast. the dog keeps laying them all over Interesting music, and it sounds the place. Enough said. Total Score: 12 out of 30 quite lively. I like it when the tempo picks up in the middle of the track. Sound: 7 Rockford at the Olympic Games (by Impressive. Graphics: 5 Fandal): This demo shows Rockford Animation: 5 (from Boulder Dash) portrayed as Sound: 9 out of 10 Gameplay: 3 an athlete in the Olympics. It shows Rockford as a modern-day clothed With the Torch on Board (by Total score: 20 out of 40 Olympian, and as a "naked" Zdenek): I don't understand where Olympian from 88 B.C. It even goes the torch comes in concerning the Russian Roulette (by Miker and so far as to show two boulders title of this picture, but it's actually Sikor): In this game you point a gun underneath him. a depiction of a submarine under to your head and press the trigger. the sea with sea life. It's good and There's one bullet in the gun. Just I think that you know where I am fascinating. But, I think it could don't land on it! getting at here. So, I will stop there. have been better. For further explanation, please see Sound: 10 the demo… o_O Graphics: 4 out of 10 Graphics: 10 Animation: 9 Sound: 9 Boom 4K: this demo has a PAL Gameplay: 10 Graphics: 8 problem, but I was able to see its Animation: 7 premise. It shows a fancy comet-like Total score: 39 out of 40 anomaly in the starry sky spelling Total score: 24 out of 30 out "THE VISION RULES" in capital Speed Maza (by Husak): In this letters. Then, there is an explosion game, you need only to use the fire 15 Shades of Grey (by T.M.R.): You and a message at the top of the button to control the character in a know, for an 8-bit demo, this is an screen. This must be a 4 kilobyte maze. It's designed to test your impressive piece. The graphics are demo, hence the name. reaction time. This, in my opinion, outstanding! You will love the part is the best game on this side of the of the demo where it shows the Sound: 7 disk. It's funny, too. Especially twisting coils in real-time. Graphics: 6 when you crash (the character Animation: 9 shouts a implied expletive). Sound: 10 Graphics: 10 Total score: 22 out of 30 Sound: 10 Animation: 10 Graphics: 10 Dark Magic: This picture is very Gameplay: 10 Total score: 30 out of 30 striking. I like the detail and the Animation: 10 color gives it a forebodinng quality. STOCH ATARI (by Tristesse): This Total score: 40 out of 40 is a take on the infamous (and Graphics: 10 out of 10 eventually quite annoying) Nyan Sub Chase (by Koala): I don't know Cat demo. Instead of a cat's face, we 15 Hues (by T.M.R.) This demo if there was anything wrong with see a man's face on the cat. shows rainbow colors dancing up this game or not. There must be the and down. It does have a PAL issue, sinister PAL issue like in a lot of Sound: 8 however. I don't know. The music is European Atari programs. I really Graphics: 9 good, however. cannot rate this game because I Animation: 8 cannot really play it. Sound: 6 out of 10 Total score: 27 out of 30 So, this concludes the 8-bit DOM Side B: Review for this month. Have fun aSillyVenture Guru (by JAC!): This gaming! See you next month. demo would look better if there Wap-Niak 2K12: This is an invite to were no PAL issues inherent in the a get together for Atari users from programming. I like it, though. 2012 in Warsaw, Poland. The music Great music and graphics to boot. is Michael's Jackson's "Thriller". Sound: 10

Sound: 5

L a te s t A ta r i N e w s

blasting capabilities, while introducing a completely new premise and gameplay. Asteroids: Re-imagined "Asteroids" Game Outpost will appeal to both fans of Coming to PC: the classic Asteroids as well as Early Access for Asteroids: enthusiasts of immersive survival Outpost™, Multiplayer Survival games and expansive MMOs.” Game Coming Soon to PC. Developed by Salty Games, Welcome to The New Gold Rush! Asteroids: Outpost will be available on PC. To keep up with the latest NEW YORK – February 10, 2015 – on Asteroids: Outpost, visit Atari®, one of the world's most www.asteroidsoutpost.com. recognized publishers and producers of interactive Fans can also join the conversation by liking Asteroids: Outpost on entertainment, today announced the upcoming release of Asteroids: Facebook at https://facebook.com/ asteroidsgame and following Outpost™ for PC. This bold reAsteroids: Outpost on Twitter, imagining of the world-renowned @Atari_Asteroids. 1979 arcade shooter puts players in the role of a deep space miner, as ### they struggle for survival in the asteroid belt. Asteroids: Outpost reinvents the classic Atari title as an open world, sandbox style, survival experience, where players mine, build and defend their base and grow their fortune as they go “from rocks to riches”. Set in the distant future, Asteroids: Outpost thrusts players into a harsh deep space environment. While on a massive, unforgiving asteroid, players face the challenges of exploring the asteroid, collecting resources, scavenging for ore, crafting equipment, and expanding their territory as they build highly customized bases - all while forming alliances and fighting off other players in challenging multiplayer gameplay. Recurring showers of smaller asteroids represent a source of wealth and a threat as players shoot down these incoming projectiles to defend their claims and harvest their components.

The Next SPACE Meeting is on March 13, 2015. We hope to see you there!

“Asteroids is one of the most iconic titles in Atari’s portfolio of more than 200 games and franchises, and we’re looking forward to ushering the game into today’s digital gaming era,” said Fred Chesnais, Chief Executive Officer, Atari. “We’re paying homage to the original Asteroids by incorporating classic features such as asteroid Issue 1

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