SPACE Newsletter

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

April 2015 Newsletter

The President's Corner

And now a word from a special fan of SPACE…

ByMichael Current

Great to see everyone last month, respond in kind and gladly offer my wasn't that a great meeting? Besides input on that. my demos, wasn't the SD drive-in-a1010 cool??? Also, if you want to, you can even go to the SPACE web site and look And as always, what great DOMs around, suggest things to improve it, Glen puts together! I'm still working or just give our buddy, Nolan, my way through the last batch, I feedback on the swell job he did always check out everything on constructing the SPACE wiki . I am every disk. Sometimes this goes very sure that he'd like that and would slowly when there are great games to honor requests if he is not too busy. try to master.Do you buy them every month and do the same thing? I hope You can always send an e-mail to me so! , or give web site feedback to Nolan at his e-mail address. Our addreses Thanks, keep using that Atari, and are in the back of the Newsletter. come to your next SPACE meeting, Friday, April 10, 2015. I will see you at the next SPACE meeting. Be cool, folks! (:D

A Special Request…

Steve Peck, SPACE Secretary and Acting Newsletter Editor

Table of Contents: President's Corner: A Special Request: Treasurer's Report: Secretary's Report: 8-bit DOM Report: Latest Atari News:

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Captain Irata says: That's right. If you have a knack for writing, cartooning, or anything for that matter, we can use your talent for the SPACE Newsletter. If you have requests for me on new articles to put in the Newsletter, I will

"President Current has issued an Executive Order get to your next SPACE Meeting, guys! Hoo-rah!"

Secretary's Report

Treasurer's Report ByGregory Leitner Well it's a done deal. I visited TCF bank the Monday following our March SPACE meeting and was lucky enough to get the teller who was also the manager with the most knowledge about new accounts. She suggested the Community Account which is totally free checking with no minimum balance. I mentioned the reasoning for wanting to make the change and she then proceeded to credit our account for $4.00 without me even asking. So we got credit for both February and March statement fees. The good thing about this type of account is that we can add or subtract a member for signing without having to change the account again in the future. So right now I am the only member with signing privileges, but as we discussed at the March SPACE meeting it would be appropriate to have an additional signer on our account. This would require another member to accompany me to one of the TCF bank locations preferably before one of our future meetings. This would insure that the SPACE funds are then available to the Club should something arrise in the future. I will leave it up to the membership to decide who that person should be. I have another suggestion that I ran by the TCF manager and she agreed to my idea, but I want to discuss it at the meeting and not here in print.

BySteven Peck

Because I wasn't at the February meeting I deposited the receipts for both February and the March meetings. This included $9.00 in DOM sales for February and $33.00 in DOM sales for March for a total of $42.00 deposited. Since I paid our room rental of $300.00 for 2014 our bank balance took the big hit for the year. Here is how it broke down for the last two months. Beginning balance for February 1, 2015: 481.49 Receipts for Feb. & March 8-bit DOMs: 42.00 Expenses for Feb. & March Room rental for 2014: 300.00 221.49

Ending balance for March 31, 2015:

H E L L O W O RL D ! : D It's here again - the Secretary's Report. So, I will commence with it and get started: The meeting commenced at 7:50 PM. We had a surprise: President Mike Current came to the meeting. He showed us some stuff he collected, including games for the Atari 8-bit and the Pro(C) Atari magazine from Germany. It was really interesting to see these collectibles from Europe. I enjoyed it myself. We have ten paid-up members, with one imminent renewal which would bring the total to eleven. There were a few we went over at the meeting, including the bank account (with an update on that in the Treasurer's Report) and whether or not we will bundle our past SPACE newsletters into one archive. We are still deciding. Lance demoed the game, "Secretum Labyrinth", for the 8-bit. It looks pretty good. There are still a few bugs to be taken out of the game. The room rental has been upped and we will need to compensate for that, which I am sure that we will. The meeting adjourned at 8:28 PM, lasting for thirty-eight minutes.

I still need to pay Nolan for January thru March for the website maintenance which is $30.00. I wanted to wait until I had the bank account changed so there would be no problems with outstanding checks. Now that it's been changed Well, that concludes the Secretary's I hope Nolan can make the April Report. I will now close with my If you were not at the March meeting and we can settle up for all favorite salutation from Stan Lee: SPACE meeting you really missed four months of 2015. out. The demos were terrific and E X C E L S I O R! very enlightening. The SD card for That's all all I have for now so I th 8-bit was unbelievable and hope to see you all in April. especially since it was built into an 1010 cassette recorder case. You have to see this because it looks $$$ very professional.

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Atari 8-bit DOM Report BySteven Peck

Rejoice, Atarians! I am back with another Atari 8-bit DOM Report. I am going to again report on two DOMs for this month because I need to catch up . I am going to start with the March 2015 DOM, then I will report on the December 2014 DOM. This way, I will finally be caught up on all the previous DOMs. So, here we go with my Reports: March 2015 DOM, Side A: ATARI: If this did not have a PAL problem, then it might have scored higher. It's the Atari Fuji logo on a blue background. Graphics: 5 out of 10 Zbrojny Czolg: This picture shows a futuristic-looking battle tank on its training maneuvers. It looks impressive. It really shows what the 8-bit can really do. Graphics: 8 out of 10 Sad Story in 8 Lines: In this demo, programmed in eight lines of BASIC, is a little story line. It does not seem sad, though. It was primitive, but fun. Sound: 10 Graphics: 7 Animation: 5 Total score: 22 out of 30 Latarnik: This picture shows a wizard with a spaceship taking off in the background. I love it. It looks really good. Graphics: 10 (being perfect)

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Boulder Dash Mugen 8: Well, we know all about Boulder Dash with out little friend, Rockford, mining for diamonds while keeping from getting crushed by boulders or trapped before he can get to the next level. This version is made more difficult than the original game. It has a different style to it. Sound: 8 Graphics: 7 Gameplay: 10 Animation: 7

Pies Gruszka: This picture is a cartoon rendering of a dog. It looks funny and I enjoy it. Graphics: 7 out of 10 Zork: This weird-looking creature may win the ugly prize, but scored well in my Review. It looks colorful, symmetrical, and it blends well. Graphics: 10 out of 10

Chimera: In this game, you play a robot trying to find its way out of a Total score: 32 out of 40 maze before death sets in. You have food and water, but the amounts go Side B: down as you progress in the game. Also, you can overheat to death. Lesny Stwor: This fun picture Typical adventure game, but shows a weird-looking butterfly on excellent. a spring day with what looks like a kite stuck in a tree. Sound: 10 Graphics: 8 Graphics: 7 out of 10 Animation: 8 Gameplay: 9 Fast Demo: This is a cool demo showing text scrolling up the screen Total score: 35 out of 40 vertically and a warping image of a man in an Atari T-shirt sleeping. December 2014 DOM, Side A: Well done. Nyan Cat: This is the infamous Sound: 10 Nyan Cat demo. Annoying as it Graphics: 10 eventually gets, it is actually a great Animation: 10 8-bit demo. It actually works for me. Total score: 30 out of 30 Sound: 9 Kosmos: This somewhat Graphics: 8 symmetrical design shows stars, Animation: 7 comets, and a planet on the bottom of the screen. It's good, but I think Total score: 24 out of 30 that it could be better. Perplexity: This game is a combiGraphics : 6 out of 10 nation of Pac-Mania and Chip's Challenge for the Atari Lynx. Try to ChipSpringTune 2: This music track clear the board and move the key sounds funny to me and is lively correctly to the door. Avoid the and fast as well. ghosts, of course. Quite challenging. Sound: 6 out of 10 Sound: 8 Minecraft: This picture is a drawing Graphics:8 representing the game "Minecraft". Animation: 8 For 8-bit, it looks alright. It could be Gameplay: 9 worse. Total score: 33 out of 40 Graphics: 7 out of 10 Catch the Skull: Use the Space Bar Page 3

to select when you see the skull on the screen. It has a PAL problem, but it is challenging. I will give it good reviews since it looked better at the SPACE meeting on the Club's computer. Sound: 8 Graphics: 8 Gameplay: 10 Total score: 26 out of 30 Fortification 2015 Demo: This is the invite to the Fortification 2015 Cook-out and Atari Party on April 30 - May 3, 2015. Great demo! Unfortunately, I don't think that any of us can afford that kind of trip. Sound: 10 Graphics: 10 Animation: 10 Total score: 30 out of 30 (perfect) Side B: Mary Poppins: In this game, you must guide Mary Poppins to the top of the screen so she does not get hit by the airplanes. Get her to her magic bag in time!

ducers of interactive enter-tainment, today announced the launch of Atari Fit™ for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Android devices. Available on the App Store and Google Play, Atari Fit is a rich fitness app that incentivizes users to get fit, stronger and healthier while earning points to unlock fanfavorite Atari games including Pong®, Super Breakout®, and Centipede®. According to research from NPD Group, more than 25 percent of US consumers use smartphone fitness apps. Furthermore, some of the most avid fitness app consumers (62 percent) include middle-aged women, who use their fitness apps three times more than the average customer - an audience of significant overlap with casual gaming. Unlike other exercise apps, Atari Fit motivates customers to reach their health goals with a gamified mobile experience that combines the best of the gaming and fitness industry. Atari Fit was developed in

collaboration with fitness expert Michael Porter, a National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM)-certified personal trainer Graphics: 7 and performance enhancement Gameplay: 8 specialist. featuring over 100 Animation: 6 exercises, 30+ workout plans and Sound: 7 customizable programs including full-body circuit workouts, running Total score: 28 out of 40 pograms, and conditioning routines, Atari Fit is designed to So, this concludes the 8-bit DOM challenge users at every level - from Review for this month. Have fun athose just beginning their fitness gaming! See you next month. journeys to the most active exercise enthusiasts. L a te s t A ta r i N e w s For April 2015 " Atari Fit provides a great balance of fitness and fun", said Porter. "The Atari® Enters Fitness Market with certified programs are safe, Launch of the Atari Fit™ App, a effective, and give users access to Robust Mobile Experience for really comprehensive fitness iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and routines, while additional features Android Devices like the tracking capabilities, daily tips, Atari games, and multiple Gamifies more than 100 Exercises and social components encourage users Motivates Players to Unlock Atari to engage with fitness in their Games, Earn Walgreens Balance® every-day life." Rewards Points, and Integrates with Atari Fit is compatible with the other Fitness Apps like FitBit and industry's most wearable health Runkeeper and fitness devices, including Fitbit, Jawbone, and Android Wear NEW YORK – March 19, 2015 – devices. It can also aggregate data Atari®, one of the world's most from world-renowned fitness apps recognized publishers and prosuch as RunKeeper, Apple Health,

and Google Fit - allowing users to aggregate all of their fitness activity in one location while tapping into the robust set of tracking capabilities to capture the user's distance, speed, pace, time, and calories burned within the comprehensive log book. Atari is working with Walgreens to bring real-world rewards through the Walgreens Balance® Rewards for healthy choices program. By engaging with Atari Fit, gamers and non-ganers alike can earn Balance Rewards loyality program points, which are redeemable at Walgreens locations nationwide or at Walgreens.com. Featuring mutiple social components, Atari Fit users can exercise individually or in collaboration with friends in multiplayer mode. Players can join a team, workout or race against each other, and track activity statistics for group encouragement. At the end of workouts, users can post updates on Twitter and Facebook to share achievements and personal fitness bests with friends. The unlockable Atari games also grant users access to worldwide leaderboards where they can rank their Pong, Super Breakout, and Centipede skills against other players. "With Atari Fit, players from around the globe can exercise, play and get healthy together by providing a gamified fitness experience unlike any other app currently available," said Fred Chesnais, Chief Executive Officer, Atari, Inc. "By the universal need to exercise and live healthfully with the entertaining experience unique to Atari games, we've created an app that proves fitness can be fun." Development partners for Atari Fit include 8BitFit, a company focused on the gamification of fitness, and Gametheory, an award-winning production studio. For the latest Atari Fit news and updates, visit www.AtariFit.com, follow @AtariFit on Twitter and like us at https://www.facebook.com/AtariF it on Facebook. The Atari Fit app is free to

download on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Google Play. ### About Atari Atari (www.atari.com) is an interactive entertainment production company. As an iconic brand that transcends generations and audiences, the company is globally recognized for its multiplatform, interactive entertainment and licensed products. Atari owns and/or manages a portfolio of more than 200 games and franchises, including world-renowned brands like Asteroids®, Centipede®, Missile Command®, Pong®, Test Drive®, and RollerCoaster Tycoon®. Atari has offices in New York and Paris. © 2015 Atari Interactive. All rights reserved. Atari Fit™ and associated trademarks are the property of Atari Interactive, Inc. About 8BitFit 8BitFit helps people reach their fitness goals with smartphonebased games that make exercise less boring and more fun. For more information, visit www.8bitfit.com. About Gametheory Gametheory is a development and ideas studio focused on bringing fun into the world. We produce games, apps, and gamification strategies. Gametheory believes the best future is one focused on natural engagementtransforming tedious and dull to satisfying and exciting. We believe in a karmic user connection: the more you give users to enjoy, the more time, data, and loyalty you get in return. For more information, visit http://www.gametheoryco.com/. Atari®Launches Asteroids: Outpost™ into Early Access Open World Multiplayer Survival Experience Blasts OffOn Steam!

NEW YORK – March 27, 2015 – Atari®, one of the world's most Issue 1 publishers and prorecognized ducers of interactive entertainment,

today announced Early Access availability for Asteroids: Outpost™. The sandbox, open world, multiplayer shooter is a dramatic reboot of the 1979 arcade classic. Set in the distant future, Asteroids: Outpost updates the asteroid-blasting action of the original by putting players in the role of deep-space miners, harvesting rare ore and expanding their bases, while protecting themselves from deadly asteroid showers and claim jumpers.

said Fred Chesnais, Chief Executive Officer, Atari. "during the Early Access period, Asteroids: Outpost will build on the current gameplay while adding compelling new elements and expanding on the open world." Key gameplay features available at the Early Access launch include: • Tool & Weapon Crafting – Using tech and ore, gamers craft upgrades to their tools to create advanced weapons.

Watch the launch trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch? • Base-Building & Degradation – v=ZRXSI2duZGw Serving as both a player’s mining headquarters and home, bases are To commemorate the original easily built in a square grid pattern release of Asteroids in 1979, by crafting and connecting modular Asteroids: Outpost is discounted 34 pieces. percent to $19.79 for a limited time. • Asteroid Showers – Recurring To find out more showers of smaller asteroids and download represent both a source of wealth Asteroids: Outpost, and a deadly threat, as players must visit the Steam page at shoot down incoming projectiles to http://bit.ly/Asteroids defend their claims and harvest OutpostSteam. components from the fallen rock. In Asteroids: Outpost, mankind has expanded its reach into the distant corners of the solar system. Nearspace vessels, heavy industry on the moon and thriving colonies on Mars extend humanity's empire into the great blackness of space. Our solar system's massive Asteroid Belt is a mother lode of resources, just waiting to be torn free and shipped home. "The Belt" is humanity's newest frontier, as wild and untamed as any that man has faced. Ambitious prospectors blast off with little more than an Outpost Module and a Mining Tool to break open fallen asteroids to find their fortunes. This bonanza doesn't come without risks and daily survival is a mere struggle. Asteroid storms bombard the surface, destroying Outposts, and hostile claim jumpers can appear at any moment. For the brave, there is a fortune to be made. For the foolish - there is only death. Welcome to the new Gold Rush.

" Asteroids: Outpost is bringing a completely new premise to the world-renowned Asteroids arcade shooter by combining survival and crafting gameplay mechanics in a multiplayer intergalatic setting,"

• Resource Gathering – Mine the asteroid’s surface or scavenge bases and crash sites to gather resources required to craft and upgrade materials. • Terrain Exploration – Utilize ingame suits and vehicles to explore the lunar terrain and search complex landscapes featuring craters, boulders, cliffs and valleys, crystal formations, lava flows, gas plumes, and more. • Attacking & Looting – Bases include resource refining equipment and storage areas that are susceptible to looting, meaning players not only need to protect the precious resources they’ve collected but they also have the opportunity to seek out and loot nearby bases. “This is part of our new strategy. We are going to be teaming up with young and innovative studios to take a refreshing look at each game from our extensive portfolio,” said Todd Shallbetter, Chief Operating Officer, Atari. “Releasing Asteroids: Outpost through the Early Access program will also help us get Page 5 feedback from the community. Asteroids is the first of a long series

of re-births, and we are considering doing the same for our other iconic games such as Warlords, Adventure, Tempest, Missile Command and many more.” “We’ve created this massive world with base-building, crafting, and blasting asteroids out of the sky and we believe this game has great potential,” said Peter Banks, Executive Producer, Atari. “We also understand we need players to make this world thrive and turn this game into a super fun experience. We want players to know the game will evolve over time and this is why we are releasing the game in Early Access.” Asteroids: Outpost is developed by

indie developer, Salty Games.

Players that participate in Early Access are encouraged to assist in the future development of Asteroids: Outpost, and can provide feedback at http://steamcommunity.com/app /330210/discussions/. For the latest news and releases on Asteroids: Outpost, sign up for email updates at www.asteroidsoutpost.com. Fans can also join the conversation by liking Asteroids: Outpost on Facebook at facebook.com/asteroidsgame, and following Asteroids: Outpost on Twitter at @Atari_Asteroids.

The next SPACE meeting is on Friday, April 10, 2015. We hope to see you there! Page 6

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