March 2021
SECRETARY’S REPORT By Steven Peck
•March 2021 Edition•
HELLO WORLD! As over a million people have been already vaccinated in Minnesota at this writing, we are still waiting to have our regular meetings. But, I will still keep people informed about when we will return to regular meeting in-person. Anyway, I am happy that people are being inoculated against this terrible pandemic. It has cost thousands of lives, millions of jobs, and billions of dollars in lost revenue. Not to mention, being away from real SPACE meetings really sucks! Anyway, soon we will return to regular routine with SPACE. When that happens, I will have more to write. I hope you are all safe and sound, and ready to return back to regular routine. With this, I will close. I hope that you enjoy the Newsletter. In the undying words of the late, great comic book maestro Stan Lee… EXCELSIOR! TRIVIA TIME! Atari tried to experiment with the Mindlink controller to use the mind to play video games. It was worn on the player’s forehead to try to sample the player’s thoughts. It never had left the prototype stage. The Atari 2600 had a controller that the player used his/her feet in the classic Mogul Maniac. It was called the Amiga Joyboard, and was used interactively to simulate skiing.
Table of Contents: Page 1: Secretary’s Report & Tech Talk Page 2: Atari Multi-Platform Game Review & SPACE Comics Section Page 3: Special Notice on DOMs and Memberships
TECH TALK
By Steven Peck Today in Tech Talk, we will discuss LaserDiscbased arcade games. LaserDisc-based technology was really big in the 1980s for entertainment purposes. It was mostly used for movies, but was also used in gaming. It’s amazing how a beam of light can read video information off of one of these types of mass storage. They were the precursors to DVD and BluRay, after all. They could hold lots of video information. I think, though, it was a cool thing to use as an interactive game. People were looking for realism in gaming. The full-motion video in a disc was more advancedlooking and more realistic than an 8-bit computer. So, people experiemented with it and came up with some really cool games, like Dragon’s Lair, Astron Belt, and Space Ace. The trick was to play the movie on the disc in such a way hat it was like playing a video game. The movie had all the moves in the game. So, there had to be a routine programmed to select the correct sequence of movie clips to finish the game. So, in reality, you are not really playing a game at all, but selecting the correct movie to play to the desired end, which leads to victory. Atari even tried to utilize LaserDisc technology with games like Firefox, Road Runner (which was released as an arcade game without the video sequences), and Battlestar Galactica (a prototype game that was never released by Atari). Eventually, games like Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace made it to home consoles. As DVD and BluRay technology improved, the games started looking better. they became more widely available to the home consumer. At first, they wer put on CD, and needed video compression to make the movies small enough to fit on the discs. But, as the technology improved, the discs were made larger in capacity and could fit more information on the discs. The data was more dense on the DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, so more information could be fit on there. Miniaturization made things more readily available, so more people could enjoy these classic games. The LaserDisc game has become a cult classic. It revolutionized the way games could be made and produced. It lead to other game productions, like Mad Dog McCree, and the unreleased games Caves of Fear and American Hero for the Atari Jaguar CD. But, could this technology still be used today to create some really cool games? I am sure, but nowadays we have computers with better graphics cards to produce realistic simulations, virtual and augmented reality, and the graphics look more cinematic nowadays.
Message from Captain Irata: “Don’t just sit there! Play Atari! Be Victorious!” HOO-RAH!
Although the LaserDisc seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur, I could see something like it being more interactive, with better graphics and even VR mixed in, so it doesn’t have to be set but more immersive. That’s where it seems to be going anyway for now. This concludes Tech Talk. See you next month for another edition. Have a Happy!
SPACE COMICS SECTION! The Misadventures of A-Man and C.D. By Steve Peck
ATARI MULTI-PLATFORM GAME REVIEW By Steve Peck Welcome to the March 2021 Multi-Platform Game Review! Today, we are going to review the classic game Demon Attack for the Atari 2600! Demon Attack was created in 1982 by Imagic. It looks simple, but it is very difficult to play. You pilot a spaceship in this game, and shoot at the flying demons. At first, the demons drop bombs and it seems very easy to play. However, it does get harder, as demons can fire lasers, burst into smaller demons, and the smaller demons can swoop down and crash into you! Every time you complete a wave by shooting all of the demons, you will get an extra ship to play with in your reserve. If you do not complete a wave without losing a ship, you do not win an extra ship. Believe me, the AI tries to fake you out from doing just that! Although it lacks some things that other versions of Demon Attack has, the A2600 version shines (for example, you fight the Devil in the Intellivision version and in Super Demon Attack for the Texas Instruments). I suppose that extras were left out from this version due to menory constraints. But, it’s still a very fun game for the A2600, has interesting graphics, and devious AI. Definitely a classic you wouldn’t want to miss out on! Here is my score for this game: SCORE: Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Sound:
7 10 8 8
TOTAL:
33/40
So, that concludes the Game Review. I will be back with another edition in April of the MultiPlatform Game Review. Until then, have a happy, and seize the day! Thanks for reading.
Angel, Bandit, and Their Ferret Fracas By Steve Peck
A Special N otice A bout DOM Mailing : I have been creating the DOM each month and was just looking at the supply building up. T hen I got to thinking about how many DOM s I will have by next J anuary or later. I t could be a year or twelve months and that would be twelve DOM s at $3.00 each or $36.00 for twelve and some might be reluctant to pay that for yearold DOM s in addition to their past-due memberships . S o, I was thinking about mailing . I have about two dozen empty 3M disk boxes, and they had ten disks each but could easily hold eighteen . I put twelve disks plus some bubble wrap and brought it to the Post Office as a test, and it came to $4.60. I then asked how much for just the empty box she said $3.80. S o, that comes to just 6.7 cents per disk . T he exact amount might vary depending on how many disks, but it would be close to $3.80 plus 7 cents per disk, so eight DOM s would be $28.36, or $3.00 per DOM plus $4.36 postage. E ach Member would have to email me as to which DOMs they would want and their current mailing address . A lso, a personal check for your calculated amount should be sent to G regory Leitner, then he could email me to acknowledge payment and I could mail the DOM s . For any difference in the actual mailing cost and your calculated amount could be carried on a ledger by G regory to be resolved at a later actual meeting . Sincerely, G len Kirschenmann DOM Librarian and Membership C hairman S aint Paul Atari C omputer E nthusiasts (SPACE) P.S. To pay for DOMs and membership renewals, you can send your personal check to this address: SPACE c/o G regory Leitner 3407 78th Street E. I nver G rove H eights, MN 55076-3037 T hanks ! buy a DOM, renew your memberships, and support SPACE! See you soon ! NOTE: T his message will be posted in the newsletter until we return to normal meetings together.
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