• Tag Archives atari

  • Computer Gaming World (December 1987)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Computer Gaming World – Issue Number 42 – December 1987

    Computer Gaming World was really the best computer gaming magazine available for most of its life. In its earlier days it covered multiple platforms but eventually became a PC only magazine. The December 1987 issue includes:

    Features

    • Plundered Hearts – A run-through of Plundered Hearts, an adventure game from Infocom which is sort of a spoof on pirate romance.
    • The Electronic Gridiron – A survey of the various computerized football games available at the time. Games covered here include 4th & Inches, GFL Championship Football, Gridiron, Football, Head Coach, Mac Pro Football, Super Bowl Sunday, 3-in-1 Football, Instant Replay, Computer Quarterback, and NFL Challenge.
    • 1987 CGW Game of the Year Awards – The 1987 Computer Gaming World Game of the Year awards were presented at DragonCon where there was also discussion of the future of computer gaming and a gaming tournament. Award winners include The Bard’s Tale II (Electronic Arts), Starflight (Electronic Arts), Leather Goddesses of Phobos (Infocom), Trinity (Infocom), Might and Magic (New World Computing), Hardball (Accolade), Marble Madness (Electronic Arts), Earl Weaver Baseball (Electronic Arts), Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon (Cinemaware), Gunship (Microprose), Defender of the Crown (Cinemaware), Under Fire! (Avalon Hill), Balance of Power (Mindscape), BattleCruiser (SSI), Gettysburg (SSI), Battlefront (SSG), and the overall winner, Ultima IV (Origin).
    • Project: Stealth Fighter – A review of this combat flight simulator for the Commodore 64/128.
    • Beyond Zork – Review of this classic adventure game from Infocom for a variety of systems. This was one of the last games in the long running Zork series of interactive fiction games.
    • Secret Agents, Man! – A look at The Spy’s Adventures in Europe and The Spy’s Adventures in North America. These are two games in a series of educational adventure games for the Apple II.
    • Victory At Sea – The second part of a strategy guide for SSI’s Warship, a naval strategy game.
    • Battles In Normandy – A review of this World War II strategy game from SSG for the Commodore 64 and Apple II.
    • Firepower – Review of this arcade tank game from MicroIllusions for the Amiga (coming soon for the Commodore 64, Apple IIgs, and Dos).

    Departments

    • Editorial – An overview of recent changes to the magazine including both content and layout changes as CGW moved to an IBM AT and desktop publishing.
    • Taking A Peek – Previews of new and upcoming games including Thunderchopper (Apple II, Commodore 64), Wings of Fury (Apple II), California Dreams (Apple II, Commodore 64, Atari ST, Amiga), Vegas Gambler (Apple II, Commodore 64, Atari ST, Amiga, Apple IIgs, DOS), Shirley Muldowney’s Top Fuel Challenge (Commodore 64), Dark Lord (Apple II, Commodore 64), Force 7 (Commodore 64), Tomahawk (Atari, Commodore 64), Street Sports Basketball (Apple II, Commodore 64, DOS), Heartland (Commodore 64), Silicon Dreams (Apple II, Atari, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, DOS), Solar Star (Atari), Plutos (Amiga), Terrorpods (Amiga, Atari ST), 3D Helicopter Simulator (Dos), Thexder (DOS), Connect (DOS), and Halls of Montezuma (Apple II, Commodore 64).
    • Game Ratings – A list of the top 50 strategy and top 50 action/adventure games as rated by CGW.

    …and more!


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  • VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (February 1993)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: VideoGames & Computer Entertainment – February 1993

    VideoGames & Computer Entertainment was my favorite magazine in the years that it was published (late 1980s to early 1990s). It was really sort of the successor to the original Electronic Games magazine, at least until Electronic Games was actually rebooted. The February 1993 issue includes:

    Features

    • A Matter of Chaos: Player’s Guide to Dungeon Master, Part I – VG&CE had some pretty great game guides. However, you had to be disciplined about looking at them because they could ruin the game for you. This one covers the first part of Dungeon Master for the Super NES.
    • Much Ado About 3DO: The Real Story – It’s a shame the 3DO didn’t have more success. This article is a first look at the machine with some technical details and a look at its capabilities.
    • VG&CE’s Best Games of 1992 Awards – Sonic the Hedgehog 2 won VG&CE’s Video Game of the Year award with other awards going to Street Fighter II (SNES), Warsong (Genesis), F22 (Genesis), The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES), Loom (TG16), Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun (Genesis), Mick & Mack as the Global Gladiators (Genesis), Contra III – The Alien Wars (SNES), Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (computer game of the year), Hardball III, Wolfenstein 3D, Comanche: Maximum Overkill, V for Victory, Star Control II, The Secret of Monkey Island, Wizardry: Crusaders of the Dark Savant, Dune, LINKS 386 Pro, plus numerous honorable mentions and other lists (such as worst games of 1992).

    Previews & Reviews

    • Video-Game Previews – Brief previews of Flashback (Genesis), Bonk 3 (TurboGrafx-16), Street Combat (Super NES), Dungeon Explorer II (TurboGrafx-16), Zen Intergalactic Ninja (NES and Game Boy), Lethal Weapon (NES and Game Boy), Cool World (Super NES and Game Boy), Congo’s Caper (Super NES), Malibu Bikini Volleyball (Atari Lynx), Spot – The Cool Adventure (Game Boy), and Exile 2 (TurboGrafx-16).
    • Video-Game Reviews – Reviews of The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse (Super NES) – Capcom made some great Disney licensed games and this was one of them, Mega Man 5 (NES) – and there would still be one more Mega Man game on the NES, Roger Clemens’ MVP Baseball (Genesis), Cybernator (Super NES), Buster Bros. (TurboGrafx-16 CD), Dragon’s Lair (Super NES) – a platform game not really like the arcade version, PGA Tour Golf II (Genesis), Super Strike Eagle (Super NES), Aerobiz (Super NES), Samurai Ghost (TurboGrafx-16), The Adventures of Willy Beamish (Sega CD), Tiny Toon Adventures Cartoon Workshop (NES), and Universal Soldier (Super NES) – another bad licensed game.
    • Computer-Game Previews – Short previews of Ultima VII Part 2: The Serpent Isle, Caesar – I think I actually have this one somewhere though I’ve never played it, Betrayal at Krondor – my roommate in college spent many hours on this game, and Pirates! Gold.
    • Computer-Game Reviews – Reviews of The Terminator 2029 – only a few years away now, The Incredible Machine, Dune II – the first RTS I ever really saw, The Humans, WaxWorks, Mega lo Mania, Amazon: Guardians of Eden, MicroLeague Action Sports Soccer, Discovery, and Task Force 1942.

    Departments

    • Editor’s Letter – A look at what’s ahead in 1993 including the 3DO, Atari Jaguar, the PlayStation (which at the time was essentially an SNES console with CD-ROM), and more.
    • Reader Mail – Letters from readers about RPGs, Nintendo’s 32-bit CD-ROM system, portable systems, and more.
    • Tip Sheet – Hints and tips for Night Trap (Sega CD), The Guardian Legend (NES), and Cosmic Fantasy 2 (TurboGrafx-CD).
    • News Bits – Radio Shack debuts a new interactive CD player called the Memorex MD-2500 VIS, Nintendo cleared of antitrust charges, classic games re-released for the NES (Zelda, Zelda II, Punch-out, Metroid) for $29.99 each, Sunsoft licenses The Pirates of Dark Water, Atari drops price of Lynx to $79.99, and more.
    • Easter Egg hunt – Secrets revealed for Batman Returns (Atari Lynx), Super Mario Kart (Super NES), Dead Moon (TurboGrafx-16), Faceball 2000 (Game Boy), Cobra Command (Sega CD), Toki (Atari Lynx), Alisia Dragoon (Genesis), Magic Sword (Super NES), Wacky Races (NES), and Crystal Mines II (Atari Lynx).
    • Destination Arcadia – A guide to the secrets of Mortal Kombat.
    • Computer Strategies – A strategy guide for The Ancient Art of War in the Skies.

    …and more!


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  • Compute! (March 1981)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Compute! – Issue Number 10 – March 1981

    Compute! was a popular multi-format magazine that covered various computers throughout its long life which started in 1979 and lasted until the 1990s. Throughout its early life, it strictly covered computers based on the 6502 processor. The March 1981 issue includes:

    Table of Contents

    • The Editor’s Notes – The editor opines on software piracy vs. the right to back-up software that you buy.
    • A 6502 Version of the Winter Consumer Electronics Show: January ’81 – News related to 6502 based computers at the Winter CES. The biggest product introduced that year was the Commodore VIC-20.
    • The Beginner’s Page – Some beginner information about BASIC, operating systems, ROM, RAM and storage media.
    • Computers and Society – A look at communications between user and computer via programming languages. LOGO and PILOT are emphasized while BASIC and PASCAL are also mentioned.
    • Taking the Plunge – Machine Language Programming for Beginners – An introductory guide to machine language on the PET though it is applicable to other machines of the time as well. The differences between BASIC, machine language and assembly code are discussed.
    • Computer Communications Experiments – An article on building an RS-232C interface which can be used for modems and other things.
    • Basics of Light Pen Operation – In the early days of computing, light pens were a fairly common user interface option. This article describes in technical detail how they work.
    • Getting the Most from your Pet Cassette Deck – The kinds of cassettes you should use, how to shorten they time it takes to search for programs, and more.
    • The Mysterious and Unpredictable RND – Part 3 – Part 3 of a multi-part series on random number generation in BASIC on the PET. This part demonstrates a dice rolling program using multiple dice.
    • A CAI Program Called Linear Equation – A type-in program for Computer Aided Instruction of Linear Equations.
    • Hex Conversion Using the 6502’s Decimal Mode – A machine language method for converting to and from hexadecimal numbers.

    The Apple Gazette

    • Clearing the Apple II Low-Resolution Graphics Screen – Several BASIC methods for clearing the screen.
    • Fun with Apple and PASCAL – A type-in PASCAL arcade style shooter game for the Apple II (basically shoot at the falling shapes).
    • Flipping your Disk – A guide to making your single side disks double-sided. Essentially, this could be accomplished just by clipping a notch in the side of the disk that didn’t already have one. This worked for a variety of 8-bit computers. Drives were generally single sided so you still had to flip the disk over to read and write data to the second side.

    The Atari Gazette

    • Designing Your Own Atari Character Sets – Creating custom character sets on the Atari 8-bit.
    • Atari Basic: A Line Renumbering Utility – A type-in utility for renumbering the lines of a BASIC program. This was important sometimes because you could run out of line numbers. Every line of code in basic started with a line number. If you needed to add code in between two lines then there would have to be available numbers to do so. If you were unwise enough to make every line number consecutive, that could be problematic. It was common practice to number lines by 10s (first line is 10 second is 20, etc.). However, you never know when you might need more extra line numbers in between.
    • Atari Memory Dump and Dissassembler – A type-in program that will both dump the contents of memory locations to disk or disassemble lines of code.
    • Formatted Output for Atari BASIC – An article with two subroutines for helping you to produce nicely formatted output from BASIC.
    • Random Color Switching while Idle – A method to prevent Atari’s built-in color switching screen saver from kicking in. Pressing a key resets the time for this but when playing a games, you may not be pressing any keys.

    The OSI Gazette

    • A Small Operating System: OS65D the Kernel – The final part in a series on the OS65D operating system.
    • A Six-Gun Shootout Game for the OSI C1P – A type-in BASIC game that sounds a bit like Outlaw on the Atari 2600.

    The PET Gazette

    • Learning About Garbage Collection – Garbage collection (memory reclamation) was necessary on PET machines with certain ROM revision in order to reclaim memory used by strings. Here are a couple of short routines to do that.
    • PET Machine Language Graphics – A machine language graphics subroutine for the PET that provides a variety of graphics functions.
    • Disk File Recovery Program – A type-in program for the PET that can recover accidentally deleted files.
    • PET Exec Hello – A type-in program for automatically executing commands when booting from disk.
    • A Flexible Input Subroutine – A type-in subroutine in BASIC that can handle various types of input.
    • Universal Tape Append for PET/CBM – A type in program that allows for one program to be appended to another on cassette.

    The SBC Gazette

    • Experimenting with the 6551 ACIA – Information for interfacing, operating and controlling a 6441 ACIA with a 6502. The 6551 is used primarily for communications.
    • A Vocal Hex Dump for the KIM-1 – A program designed to work with a speech synthesizer to speak the data in a given memory location.
    • Expanding KIM Style 6502 Single Board Computers – Part 3 of 3 – The final part in a series on expanding the KIM (and KIM-style) single board computers. Basically a series on how to use the bus expansion connector of these machines.
    • Cassette I/O with AIM-65 BASIC – How to make your BASIC program read and write to/from cassette on the AIM 65.

    New Products

    • New Products – Commodore releases disaster relief software used during the fire at the MGM Grand Hotel on November 22, 1980, Personal Software Inc. releases MicroChess and Checker King for the Atari 400/800, Cimarron Corp. announces Legal Time Accounting (accounts receivable and matter tracking for the legal profession) for the Commodore 8032, Microcomputer Software Inc. releases The Landlord apartment management software for the Apple II, Microware releases Scientific Plotter graph producing software for the Apple II, Axlon announces 32K RAM expansion for the Atari 400/800, and much more.

    …and more!


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