ST Report: 18-Aug-95 #1133
From: Bruce D. Nelson (aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 09/07/95-09:48:21 PM Z
From: aa789@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: ST Report: 18-Aug-95 #1133
Date: Thu Sep 7 21:48:21 1995
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From the Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
A week from now, all that'll be left is the gnashing of teeth by the
warpo's, naysayers and Gates haters. It'll be the 24th of August. The
day of the new beginning and the day the words "Clubwin Member" will take
on a whole new meaning. It'll be the day those who have volunteered to
assist the new users in getting the very best performance out of Windows
95. So, where ever you encounter someone who addresses themselves as a
member of Clubwin bear in mind they are there to help.
Also on the 24th of August a game console will receive a mate. The
CDRom player for the Atari Jaguar 64bit game console is slated to begin
shipping on that day. The Jaguar, the only game console made in the USA,
is reported to be the most powerful available to users worldwide. There
is an Atari section in STReport where you can obtain all the latest news
relative to the gaming community and especially the Jaguar.
As a point of information, this week, as a test.. I took the lead or
master IDE hard drive out of one of our test systems and replaced it with
a new blank hard drive. The point being, "what if a user wished to
replace his Win'95 setup hard disk with a larger unit while keeping his
slave unit?" The procedure, while intimidating at first actually worked
out to be a "cakewalk". First, I copied Win95's windows folder from my
current drive "C" to a partition on the slave drive. Second, I copied the
Win95 setup folder from the Windows 95 CDRom to the slave drive.
I had originally hoped to be able to simply change the jumpers and
redesignate the slave drive as the master. No way Jose... So, I installed
the new mechanism as the master, booted the system using the Win'95
"start-up" disk. I then proceeded to FDISK it and format the new 1.6 gb
IDE drive. I made four partitions and then did a fresh installation of
Windows 95 from the install folder I had previously copied from the
Windows CD. With Win'95 freshly installed.. I then proceeded to use
Windows 95 to copy itself from the slave to the new Windows 95 folder on
the new drive "C" partition. I had to do this in this manner to preserve
the "long filenames". It worked like a charm. I was back up and running
at full tilt in less than forty minutes.
Did I hear someone holler out.. "Why didn't you use a backup of your
drive?? I had one but felt I had to find a way to accomplish this task
without the "convenience" of having used a backup. Actually, after
finishing, I believe the way I did it would have been faster than using a
tape backup.
Adobe Acrobat version 2.0 is the file format we shall be using
henceforth for our enhanced publication. It works quite well, is easy to
install and produces satisfactory results. Of course, the ascii version
will be available until further notice.
Ralph..
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STR INDUSTRY REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
Computer Products Update - CPU Report
------------------------ ----------
Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
Issue #33
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
******* General Computer News *******
-/- Paper Says Apple Faces Shortage -/-
Analysts say Apple Computer Inc. is facing widespread shortages of
its products because of poor planning in 1994.
Writing in The Wall Street Journal this morning, reporter Jim
Carlton says Apple "badly underestimated demand for its products more
than a year ago," and, "scrambling to catch up, it hasn't been able to
find enough components to build more machines, a problem compounded by
the fact that it's a loner in the PC business, using a lot of
customized parts that aren't in great supply."
Carlton says the mistake "hammered Apple's Christmas sales last
year, and its adverse effects continue."
Dealers told the wire service Apple will lose a lot of sales in
the back-to-school season, and may miss out in the upcoming Christmas
sales surge.
"These woes," comments the Journal, "come on top of Apple's most
fundamental problem: that it's losing market share to the legion of PC
makers using Intel Corp.'s chips and Microsoft Corp.'s operating
systems, the Wintel standard."
Carlton reports that at the end of the period ended June 30, Apple
had amassed about $1 billion in unfilled orders or about 500,000
machines, "a record amount more than double the level in the spring of
1994."
He says CompUSA Inc. in Dallas reports widespread shortages of new
Performas and Power Macintoshes throughout its chain of computer
superstores and shortages of nearly all Apple's newest models also were
reported by 14 stores, retail chains and corporate resellers surveyed
recently by ARS Inc. of Irving, Texas.
As noted, earlier this month Apple cut prices of a new family of
Power Macs by as much as 40 percent, "an aggressive strategy that will
only add to shortages unless Apple can lick its supply problem,"
Carlton observed. However, Apple officials told the Journal the newest
Power Macs will be in short supply for about two months.
-/- Motorola Denies PDA Pullout Plan -/-
Despite reducing the work force of the wireless data group by
about 20 percent, Motorola Inc. denies reports it is giving up on its
personal digital assistants.
At its Schaumburg, Ill., headquarters, Motorola officials told
United Press International the company actually is increasing the
marketing and advertising budgets for the hand-held computing and
communication devices.
Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal, in reporting the
restructuring of the wireless data group, characterized it as "another
blow to the personal digital assistant."
However, Mil Ovan, director of marketing for the wireless group,
told UPI, "While it's always traumatic to reduce employment, we've
signaled our continued commitment to the marketplace." (He said most of
the 180 employees have found employment within Motorola in the four
weeks since the restructuring began. Most of the groups employees were
engineers.)
Ovan added Motorola is expanding its marketing for the PDA in an
effort to educate consumers about the product.
UPI comments that PDAs from other manufacturers, including Apple
Computer, "have failed to live up to their expectations in the past,"
noting that Motorola makes two PDAs, Marco and Envoy, which can operate
on Motorola's Ardis network as well as other networks.
PDAs are exactly where cellular phones were 10 years ago in terms
of consumer awareness and market potential, Ovan said, and "it takes a
certain amount of time."
-/- AOL Sued Over Rate Structure -/-
America Online Inc. has been hit with a class action suit by First
Mortgage Corp., which alleges the Vienna, Va., online service
overcharged its subscribers.
Reporting from the Delaware Chancery Court in Wilmington, Del.,
writer Rita Farrell of the Reuter News Service quotes court papers as
alleging AOL was "secretly adding charges for millions of minutes per
month to its subscribers' collective bills," a billing practice it
contends constituted "unfair business."
Reuters says First Mortgage, identified in the papers as First M.
Corp, further alleged in the documents that AOL:
-:- "Does not charge its customers' accounts for only the actual
time used...(but) adds on to the charge for their time" by rounding off
one to 45 second increments to the next full minute and by rounding off
and adding a full minute to incremental time of 46 to 59 seconds.
-:- "Intentionally causes AOL users to incur additional,
undisclosed charges for online time" by billing for delays caused by
America Online's software, charging for access to "free" areas and
"failing to refund unearned membership charges to members who have
terminated use of the AOL Services."
First Mortgage also alleges an AOL customer is charged a full
minute for every two to three-second sign-on to check for electronic
mail messages, called a "flashsession."
The wire service says First Mortgage seeks class action status, a
declaration the billing practices are violations of consumer laws in
Delaware, Pennsylvania and other states, and unspecified but tripled
statutory damages and punitive damages.
-/- Online Services to Thrive -/-
The online services market will not fall victim to a mass exodus
to the World Wide Web, but will instead continue to grow to $3.3
billion in 1997, forecasts market researcher Dataquest Inc.
Despite the evolution of the World Wide Web, online service
providers will continue to provide useful services for online consumers,
although at lower prices, says the San Jose, California-based firm.
"While consumers may access online services in different ways,
such as a proprietary network or the Web, they will be willing to pay
for quality content, ease of use, organization and convenience once
they arrive," says Rick Spence, an industry analyst at Dataquest.
"Online service prices will come down as sponsorship-based services
and price competition begin to proliferate," he adds.
Although Dataquest predicts that the online service market will
increase by nearly 10 million subscribers over the next two years,
total market revenue will rise by only $600 million.
-/- AT&T to Sell Internet Services -/-
Phone giant AT&T Corp. has joined the field in the race for the
Internet market, announcing plans to start selling access to the global
computer network next year.
"While late to the Internet frenzy, AT&T has missed little,"
business writer Evan Ramstad of The Associated Press comments in a
story this morning. "Most U.S. households do not have a personal
computer and only about one in five of those that do are connected to
an online service of any kind."
President John Petrillo of AT&T's business communication services
told Ramstad, "The Internet has established itself as the golden
standard for public networking," but, he added, "there's work to be
done," saying the Internet can be hard to use and is not secure for
some communication and most transactions.
Approaching on three fronts, AT&T says it will:
-:- Begin testing its main Internet access operation, called AT&T
WorldNet, next month and make it available nationwide next year.
-:- Create a "hosting and transactions" operation that will help
businesses develop services using the Internet.
-:- Start a "content services" operation that will include its
fledgling online services, AT&T Interchange and the Imagination Network.
"The fit of those services into its broader Internet service was
unclear," Ramstad writes.
Petrillo said AT&T will remain focused on its main skills as a
network company and work with all media companies, adding, "Our
attitude is let's build the whole industry rather than try to
vertically control it."
-/- Name the Net and Win $5,000 -/-
MCI Communications Corp. and New Corp. are offering $5,000 to the
person who comes up with the best name for their new online service.
But if you have an idea, move fast: the deadline for entries is Friday
night.
"We're appealing to one of the most discriminating -- yet
democratic -- segments of our society to help us name our new service,"
said Scott Kurnit, newly appointed president/CEO of the joint venture
in a statement from Washington announcing the contest. "The cyber
generation spends its time flaming, lurking and posting, so we thought
it would be fun to involve them in shaping the future."
As reported earlier, MCI is merging its online business with News
Corp.'s Delphi system in Cambridge, Mass. The joint venture will
include 250 employees of MCI and 450 from Delphi Internet Services Co.
and its online game unit Kesmai Corp. and combine some 200,000 MCIMail
customers with the 100,000 Delphi subscribers.
Kurnit says net surfers entering the "Name the Net" contest can
submit suggestions online at World Wide Web address:
http://www.internetMCI.com/venture.
Entries must be received in English by midnight Friday and the winner,
receiving $5,000, will be announced by Aug. 31.
-/- Sears Looking to Dump Prodigy? -/-
Sears, Roebuck and Co. is reportedly reevaluating its stake in
Prodigy Services Co., the online service provider based in White Plains,
New York.
CNN says Sears is considering selling its 50 percent share in
Prodigy, which it holds jointly with IBM Corp. The Reuter news service
says a new executive team is managing Sears' investment stake in
Prodigy and is examining the company's ownership position in the
service.
"We are assessing our investment in Prodigy as you would any
strategic business," Sears spokesman Ron Culp told Reuter. According to
the news service, Sears shifted management of its Prodigy stake to a
group including senior vice president of finance Alan Lacy when the
company's merchandising division assumed control of Sears' corporate
functions earlier this month.
"It's too early to say anything other than we're working with the
new management team at Prodigy," added Culp.
Reuter notes that rumors have swirled since January that Sears was
considering shedding its half of Prodigy's management control.
-/- Microsoft Taps Computer Pioneer -/-
Microsoft Corp. says Gordon Bell, former head of research and
development at Digital Equipment Corp. and a computer pioneer, has
joined its Microsoft Research Group.
While at Digital, Bell led the development of the VAX minicomputer
and was responsible for the design and development of various other
minicomputers and mainframes. Additionally, as the first assistant
director for computing at the National Science Foundation, he led the
National Research Network panel that became the National Information
Infrastructure/Global Information Infrastructure (NII/GII), and wrote
the High-Performance Computer and Communications Initiative.
Bell is the author of numerous books and papers and a member of
the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences. He was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 1991.
"I am thrilled that Gordon Bell has decided to join Microsoft,"
says Nathan Myhrvold, group vice president of the applications and
content division at Microsoft. "He is one of the truly legendary
pioneers in this industry and was a mentor to many of our top people.
His energy, enthusiasm and vision will be tremendous assets to our
research group."
Microsoft says Bell's responsibilities at the software giant will
include exploring the use of video and high-speed networks to expand
and facilitate human-human interactions and to reduce physical travel.
He will also continue his work on scalable computing.
-/- HP to Roll Out Home PC System -/-
Hewlett-Packard Co. is set to roll out its new Pavilion computer
line, its first intended for the burgeoning home PC market.
According to The Associated Press, the new models will be based
chiefly on Intel Corp.'s Pentium microprocessor, although some will use
100MHz 486 chips by Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
HP officials told the wire service the machines will become
available later this month after the official rollout of Microsoft
Corp.'s Windows 95 operating software.
"The company hired an outside design firm to give its PCs an
appealing look," AP says, "and has installed customized software to
help families keep children from certain files, such as financial
programs."
The Wall Street Journal reports this morning the line consists of
eight models, with the low-end model priced at $1,499. Features include
40 software titles, multimedia capability and a personal page "shell"
that increases ease of use for novices.
Greg Jones, North American marketing manager for the group, told
the paper his employer plans to ship 250,000 units by the end of this
year, and will sell the product internationally starting early next
year.
Analyst Philippe de Marcillac of Dataquest Inc. told the Journal,
"It's pretty indicative that HP's going to be a force in the home-PC
business."
Shipping 520,000 PCs in the second quarter of this year, HP now is
the world's sixth-largest PC vendor. The company's shipments grew at an
industry-leading 55 percent from a year earlier, according to Dataquest.
-/- U.S. to Alter Encryption Policy -/-
The White House is expected to announce today that it will relax
its policy on government access to computer communications, which
should help U.S. companies export encryption systems. However, even
under the new policy, law enforcement officers will still require
access under certain circumstances.
Reuters reports that the government now prevents exporting
encoding systems that are stronger than law enforcement officers'
ability to break them. This is done in an attempt to keep the upper
hand against security threats. However, U.S. software manufacturers
say the policy means they are losing ground abroad to foreign
manufacturers who are not subject to the same restrictions.
The new policy will alter an earlier policy called Clipper, which
proposed that commercial encryption products must use algorithms
provided by the government.
-/- NeXT Inc. to Offer Web Tools -/-
Looking for untapped opportunities in the Internet market, Steve
Jobs' NeXT Inc. is planning to offer programming tools to help companies
design complex services on the World Wide Web and to tie them into
corporate databases.
Jobs "believes his company can help bring Web pages to life in new
ways," reporter Don Clark writes in The Wall Street Journal this
morning.
"Most Web pages are predetermined selections of still images,"
Clark continues. "They don't respond to free-form questions or give
information that is tailored to individual PC users. But some companies
want to use the Web for such functions as delivering personalized
newspapers or offering selections of goods to customers based on
preferences they disclose. Still others see a new way to communicate
with their own workers, using Web browsers as a way to tap into
corporate data without buying special-purpose programs."
He says NeXT has developed a new product called Web Objects that
Jobs says can accomplish such tasks in one-tenth the usual time.
"Customers and industry executives who have been briefed on the
product say it shows promise, assuming NeXT can deliver it in next
year's first quarter as promised," the paper comments.
Eric Schmidt, chief technical officer of Sun Microsystems Inc.,
called the NeXT product "a very powerful breakthrough," adding, "It's
the first company to automate programming of that kind of activity."
And there's a certain poetic justice in NeXT's courting of the Web.
The Journal notes Tim Berners-Lee, the researcher widely credited with
inventing the World Wide Web, did his work on the NeXT system.
Also today NeXT is to announce new technology that allows software
objects created with its OpenStep system to work with programs created
with a more-popular object technology from Microsoft called OLE.
"Using the two products together," Clark writes, "a Web browser on
one computer, for example, could send a message to a Microsoft Excel
spreadsheet on another computer to carry out calculations for such
purposes as getting an auto loan."
-/- 'Dilbert' Creator Loses Day Job -/-
Scott Adams -- whose "Dilbert" cartoon strip is a favorite among
many Net surfers -- has been laid off from his post at Pacific Bell's
San Ramon, California, office, causing some to speculate on whether he
drew himself out of a job.
Adams, a computer engineer at Pacific Bell long before he created
the popular comic strip as a sideline, was laid off earlier this summer,
ostensibly for cost-cutting reasons. Neither Adams nor Pacific Bell
representatives have commented.
The Sacramento Bee observes, "Adams, whose comic strip runs in
500 newspapers, including The Bee, often skewers pompous and
incompetent supervisors. He told The Bee last year that many of the
models for his strip come from within his own office."
The paper added, "While some of his bosses were not amused by the
portrayals, he said, others asked him to autograph the strips, even
though they may have been the objects of his ridicule. He said his
immediate supervisor was understanding and had a good sense of humor."
It's unlikely Adams is frantically looking for work, though. The
Bee notes that in addition to his newspaper clients, he has five books
of "Dilbert" comics in print, and "Dilbert" has created merchandising
spinoffs and speaking engagements for his creator. "Not bad for a guy
who gets his cartooning done in about two hours a day," the paper adds.
On CompuServe, the Dilbert newsletter is carried in the libraries
of several forums, including the Comics and Animation Forum (GO COMICS)
and the Office Automation Forum (GO OAFORUM).
And on the Internet World Wide Web, you can reach the Dilbert Zone
at Web address http://www.unitedmedia.com/comic s/dilbert/. CompuServe
members now have access to the Web through the NetLauncher software.
GO NETLAUNCHER for details.
-/- Some 450 Books Tout Windows 95 -/-
Much has been made of Windows 95's boon to software and hardware
industries, but the book business isn't exactly crying the blues. At
least 450 new computer books offer to tell us how to use Microsoft
Corp.'s new operating system.
In fact, officials with the Barnes & Noble bookstore chain told
reporter Alessandra Galloni of The Wall Street Journal the Windows 95
deluge could put sales in the computer-book category on a par with
those of fiction and juvenile books -- or even surpass them in some
branches -- by the fourth quarter.
"I can't find any more adjectives to describe how huge this will
be," Vice President David G. Israel of Macmillan Computer Publishing
USA told the paper.
And here's a news flash: The Journal says, "Some of the books are
bound to be redundant."
Vice President Larry Carpenter of Ingram Book Co., a book
distributor based in Lavergne, Tenn., told Galloni, "Out of the total
450, there may be overlap in 150."
Adds the Journal, "For example, International Data Group Books
Worldwide's 'Windows 95 for Dummies,' Macmillan's 'The Complete Idiot's
Guide to Windows 95' and Sybex Inc.'s 'Windows 95, Quick and Easy' all
contain similar information for a beginner-level audience."
Microsoft Press itself plans to publish about 30 Windows 95 books
by year's end to augment its slim -- "some would argue inadequate,"
says Galloni -- 100-page instruction manual.
Books with the highest expectations -- such as "Dummies" and
Microsoft Press' "Microsoft Windows 95 Resource Kit" -- already have
initial press runs of 250,000 each, by far the biggest initial runs for
any computer book, publishers told the Journal.
Carpenter commented, "More than 100,000 (first-run) copies of any
book indicates a bestseller (and) 250,000 copies for a computer book is
totally unheard of."
The paper says Macmillan alone plans to release 161 titles on or
related to Windows 95 and its applications by the end of the year. By
comparison, says Israel, when DOS 6.0 was released two years ago,
Macmillan published 30 books, and "we thought we were overpublishing."
Micrografx NEWS STR FOCUS!
Micrografx ABC Graphics Suite Certified
for
Windows 95 and Office 95 Logos
Micrografx's Value-Oriented Integrated Graphics Software
Among the First to Receive Logos
Richardson, Texas (August 14, 1995) - Micrografx(R), Inc. (NASDAQ: MGXI)
today announced the Micrografx ABC Graphics Suite(TM) is certified for
both the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 95 logo and the Microsoft Office for
Windows 95 logo. The certification, recently completed by independent
software testing center Veritest Inc., allows Micrografx to use the logos
in all product collateral and advertising.
The ABC Graphics Suite is the first integrated offering of award-winning
diagramming, flowcharting, clipart management, painting, image editing,
and drawing tools, with an interface designed for Microsoft Office for
Windows 95.
By giving every Windows 95 user instant access to the fullest range of
graphics capabilities, Micrografx ABC Graphics Suite provides unlimited
creative capabilities to PC users worldwide. The product employs a "use
what you know" SM metaphor which helps Microsoft Office for Windows 95
users easily access Micrografx's powerful tools to create, enhance and
place graphics in a familiar, productive setting.
"Micrografx's long history of 32-bit product development has paid clear
dividends in making ABC Graphics Suite one of the first applications to
receive both the Windows 95 and Office 95 logos," said Bob Gutekunst,
senior director of development of Micrografx. "This continues both our
strong leadership in Windows software development, and our close
relationship with Microsoft."
Customers wanting an early look at the ease, power and integration of the
Micrografx ABC Graphics Suite can purchase a Preview CD-ROM for $9.95 by
calling 1-800-765-7859. The Preview CD-ROM will also be available at the
Micrografx Windows 95 launch, including the 25+ Microsoft district events
across the country. Additional information can also be accessed via the
Internet at http://www.micrografx.com.
Micrografx and Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Announce Creative Greeting Card Software on CD-ROM
Hallmark Connections Card Studio Provides Fun
and
Enrichment for the Entire Family
Richardson, Texas (August 16, 1995) - Micrografx(R) Inc. (NASDAQ: MGXI)
and Hallmark Cards Inc. today announced Hallmark Connection(TM) Card
Studio(TM) (Card Studio), a CD-ROM that offers an easy and enjoyable way
to create high-quality, uniquely personal cards, announcements,
invitations, signs and certificates. A must-have application for every
home computer, the new Windows(R) 3.1 and Windows 95 compatible CD-ROM
helps everyone easily create special messages for any occasion or event.
"Card Studio offers the most fun and convenient way to create completely
personalized greetings on our home computer," said Jeff Maynard. "In
addition to the cards we buy, we are making cards for all kinds of unusual
occasions -- including individual congratulations to all the kids on my
daughter's tennis team."
Fun to Create and Share Personalized Cards
Whether it's a relative's graduation or congratulations on a recent
promotion, Card Studio marks the occasion with thoughtfulness, humor and
warmth. The product offers more than 1,000 unique cards, invitations,
announcements, signs and certificates featuring ever-popular Hallmark
characters, scenery and messages. Hallmark, home of the world's largest
creative staff, has also provided 40 specially selected greeting card
fonts. In addition, Card Studio users can easily import favorite images
or family photos for a one-of-a-kind greeting.
Card Studio also makes it easy to remember important dates. The product
includes Event Minder(TM), which combines calendar and address book
functions. After associating certain days on the calendar with specific
people in the address book, the Event Minder reminds people of approaching
birthdays, anniversaries and other events immediately upon entering
Windows.
"Hallmark Connections Card Studio is designed with the family in mind,"
says Curtis Crawford, Hallmark Connections president. "Computer users,
with or without much experience, find the program easy and fun to use.
And they seem to enjoy the process as much as the finished product."
To get people started making cards for family and friends, a selection of
high-quality paper stock and envelopes will be included with Card Studio.
An order form and toll-free number will also be provided for ordering
additional supplies.
Quality Color with New Canon Printers
An exclusive limited edition of Hallmark Connections Card Studio --
Hallmark Connections Everyday Greetings(TM) -- will be included with the
three new color Bubble Jet(TM) printers from Canon Computer Systems Inc.:
the BJC-210, BJC-4100, and BJC-610. Hallmark Connections Everyday
Greetings gives Canon printer users the ability to immediately make use of
their new color printer, and find out how fun it is to create and print
cards for everyday occasions.
"By offering Hallmark Connections Everyday Greetings with the new Canon
printers, Micrografx continues to expand the creativity of computer users
worldwide," said David J. Wilson, product manager at Micrografx.
"Everyday Greetings is the perfect way for families to try out creating
cards at home, and we expect many of them will want the full Card Studio
program for its extra artwork and messages as well as the Event Minder."
Availability and Pricing
Card Studio is available directly from Micrografx or via distributors
including Ingram Micro and Merisel and retailers including CompUSA,
Computer City, Best Buy, Office Depot and Babbages. Card Studio has an
estimated retail price of $49.99.
Hallmark Connections Card Studio is the second joint venture for Hallmark
Cards, Inc. and Micrografx in the home computer marketplace. The two
companies also collaborated on Crayola(R) Amazing Art Adventure(TM) and
Crayola(R) Art Studio(TM) -- two top-selling creativity products providing
children with exciting new ways to express themselves and have fun on the
computer.
Hallmark Cards, Inc., headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., is the world
leader in the personal expression industry, and is among the largest
privately held U.S. companies. It is the world's largest manufacturer of
greeting cards, creating about 21,000 greeting card designs annually and
distributing them through more than 40,000 specialty and mass-channel
stores and to more than 100 countries.
Micrografx develops and markets graphics software to meet the creative
needs of everyone who uses a personal computer. Founded in 1982,
Micrografx has become a leading software publisher by responding quickly
to customer and worldwide market needs. The company's U.S. operations are
based in Richardson, Texas, with a development office in San Francisco.
International subsidiaries include Canada, the United Kingdom, France,
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, and Japan.
# # #
Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. Crayola
Amazing Art Adventure and Crayola Art Studio are trademarks of Binney &
S m ith Properties Inc. Hallmark, Connections, and Card Studio are
trademarks of Hallmark Licensing, Inc.
COREL 6.0 WIN 95 STR InfoFile
Corel Corporation Announces
CorelDRAW( 6 Suite for Windows 95
Ottawa, Canada --August 10, 1995-- Corel Corporation and its subsidiaries
today launched CorelDRAW( 6. Designed for Microsoft Windows( 95,
CorelDRAW 6 is a 32-bit graphics package that includes five fully-featured
applications for illustration, photo-editing and painting, business and
multimedia presentations, 3D rendering and animation. It carries a
suggested list price of $695 US for the CD-ROM version. The English
package will be shipping through Corel distributors worldwide by the end
of August, 1995. Approximately 10 localized versions are planned for
release at a later date.
"The CorelDRAW 6 graphics suite represents an incredible value and is far
beyond being merely a re-write of 16-bit applications. It's a well
integrated suite of native 32-bit applications designed for Windows '95,"
said Dr. Michael Cowpland, president and chief executive officer of Corel
Corporation. "The development team has created a product which is
fully-compliant with the minimum Windows 95 requirements and goes several
steps further by highlighting and enhancing the benefits of this 32-bit
operating system."
"Users will quickly discover that CorelDRAW 6 is a faster, more robust and
completely customizable suite. The customizable user interface will help
increase productivity and the new, easy-to-use 3D animation, modeling and
rendering capabilities will add a fresh aspect to graphics, advertisements
and multimedia presentations," said Dr. Cowpland.
"During the development of Windows 95, Corel has been working closely with
Microsoft on CorelDRAW 6," said Brad Chase, general manager of the
personal systems division at Microsoft. "CorelDRAW 6 takes full advantage
of the Windows 95 user interface and 32-bit power, enabling graphics users
to be more productive."
CorelDRAW 6 contains the following full-featured applications which are
tightly integrated through 32-bit architecture, a common interface and
Windows 95 features:
CorelDRAW: a vector-based drawing application.
Corel PHOTO-PAINT: a paint and photo retouching application.
Corel PRESENTS: a New business and multimedia presentation application.
Corel DREAM 3D: a New 3D modeling and rendering application.
Corel MOTION 3D: a New 3D animation application.
CorelDRAW 6 also includes the following new or improved utilities and
value-added features:
CorelDEPTH: A New 3D logo creation utility.
Corel SCRIPT Editor: A New OLE scripting language used to create add-on
utilities for CorelDRAW.
Corel SCRIPT Dialog Editor: A New utility used to create dialogs that can
be used in conjunction with Corel SCRIPT.
CorelMEMO: A New OLE compliant utility which gives users the ability to
attach notes to their drawings or documents without altering the original
graphics or text.
Corel FONT MASTER: A New font management program for True Type and Adobe
Type 1 fonts.
Corel MULTIMEDIA MANAGER: Used to manipulate and manage files in albums.
Corel OCR-TRACE: an enhanced optical character recognition/raster to
vector conversion utility.
Corel CAPTURE: Used to capture all or custom areas of a screen.
Corel PRESENTS Runtime Player(: Used for distributing presentations.
25, 000+ clipart images and symbols
1000+ TrueType and Type 1 fonts
1000+ photos
750+ 3D models
50 CorelDRAW templates
300+ full-colored bitmap textures
125+ natural media brushes for Corel PHOTO-PAINT
260+ video clips
1500+ actors, props and sounds
100+ floating objects
80+ chart types
200+ chart samples
300+ presentation backgrounds
50 presentation templates
Development and Key Common New Features
The CorelDRAW 6 suite was developed for the Microsoft Windows 95 operating
system. The following list outlines the key common New features in the
CorelDRAW 6 suite:
32-bit Architecture: Provides support for long file names,
multi-threading, accuracy to 0.1 of a micron and MDI (Multi-Document
Interface). Windows 95 Features: Extensive right mouse button support
provides easy access to preference settings and property sheets, while
enhanced support for OLE component software technology helps increase
efficiency across applications. Additional features include e-mail/fax
enabling through MAPI/TAPI, improved multi-tasking and automated
installation and uninstall capabilities.
Import/Export Capabilities: CorelDRAW 6 is also compatible with many other
applications. New import/export filters include the following: icons and
cursors, PP4, PSD, WVL, FLI and AVI. It includes more than 80 import and
export filters that support AI, EPS, PSI (Interpreted), GIF, PCD, all
standard bitmap formats such as PCX, BMP and TIFF, Word 6.0, WordPerfect
6, RTF, PowerPoint, Freelance, Harvard Graphics, FLC, MPG, WAV and VOC.
Multi-Document Interface: Lets users open multiple documents or multiple
views of documents as well as drag and drop between Windows or different
views.
Customizable User Interface: CorelDRAW, Corel PHOTO-PAINT and Corel
PRESENTS offer customizable toolbars, hotkeys, status bar, roll-ups and
menus.
Text Toolbar: Gives users access to common text functions.
Tool Tips: Bubble hints that help the user.
Automatic text effects
Corel Color Manager: Corel's color management system has been enhanced
and now includes a Wizard to guide users through the setup.
CorelDRAW -- New Features
CorelDRAW is a comprehensive vector-based drawing application that
includes the following new features:
Tools: The Knife and Eraser tools let users: slice objects, cut along an
irregular path, slice filled objects into closed paths and erase sections
of objects. The Polygon tool gives users the ability to easily create live
multi-sided objects such as polygons and stars. Other new tools include
Panning, Spiral, Graph Paper, Angular Dimension Lines and Connector Lines.
Lenses: Fish Eye, Wireframe, Custom color map with Freeze and Viewpoint
options.
Objects: Users may select objects by touching or surrounding or by
attributes such as object type, fill type, outline, color and special
effect. All objects may also be treated as filled. These options help
users find attributes in a complex graphic and then apply a global change
to those attributes.
Preset Features: Users may load separate Preset files, change the key
color, edit the outline/fill attributes or upgrade/regenerate thumbnail
previews.
Roll-Up Customization: Users may group roll-ups together and arrange them
in order that the top roll-up never covers up the ones beneath them.
Improved layer control: The management of layers is now easier and
faster. Users may now select layers, rename them, make them active,
visible, editable or print them: all within the first level of the
roll-up.
Distribute Command: This command is customizable. Users may specify
whether to distribute by space between left, right, or middle of objects.
Seamless Texture Fills: Seamlessly tiling bitmap textures that represent
natural materials such as wood, stones, sand, flowers, grass or marble.
Bar Code Generator: Includes seven industry standard bar codes and 79
fonts.
View Manager: For easy navigation between zoomed views on the same page
or between zoomed views on multiple pages.
Symmetric Live Editing of Regular Polygons and Stars
Easier Weld, Trim and Intersection
Control of fountain fill midpoint
Slanted guidelines
Automatic text wrap around graphics
849 Label Formats
Simplified Styles and Templates
Preview of Postscript Fills
Non-rectangular bitmap cropping
Bitmap color masking
Corel PHOTO-PAINT -- New Features
Corel PHOTO-PAINT 6 is a powerful paint and photo retouching application
that features the following new features:
Tools: New natural media brushes such as Pencil, Pen, Charcoal, Chalk and
Crayon.
Filters: 77 different effects filters to help users perform image
correction, noise reduction and special effects. Key filters are Terrazzo,
Paint Alchemy, Tone Map, Emboss, 3D stereoscopic, Canvas and Desaturate.
New filters include Zig-zag, Lens Flare, Lighting Effects, Replace Color,
Color Balance, Tinted grayscale and Watercolor. Also includes third-party
plug-in support for 16 and 32-bit filters.
Live and fully editable text
Color Models: HLS, YIQ
Color Matching Palettes: DIC, TOYO, DuPont
Image Navigator: Work in zoom view and use the Image Navigator window as
reference point when zooming and panning across the image.
Command Recorder: Gives users the ability to record and edit any series
of commands performed within Corel PHOTO-PAINT 6. This script may be
played back using the Macro Player.
For example, this utility allows users to save time by working on a low
resolution image and then playing back the edits on a high resolution
image.
Unlimited file size
Multiple object selection and grouping
Frame by frame editing of AVI and FLC animation files
Enhanced masking controls
Duotone support
Multi-tasking and full OLE automation
Corel DREAM 3D -- New Application
Corel DREAM 3D is a 3D modeling and rendering application that allows
users to easily create 3D illustrations with the predefined models and
surface textures. Corel DREAM 3D was ported to the Windows 95 platform
from the popular RayDream Designer program for Windows and Macintosh. Key
features include the following:
Objects: Corel DREAM 3D includes a ready-made sphere, cone, cube,
cylinder and a polyhedron with 20 faces (icosahedra) to simplify the
creation process for beginning artists. Users may rearrange objects in the
hierarchical view or master and clone objects. 3D painting on objects is
also supported.
Rendering: Includes batch queue rendering, spot rendering or the ability
to render individual objects. Rendering options include Gouraud, Phong or
Ray Trace.
Modeling: Modeling options include spline-based, scaling extrusion,
lathing extrusion, cross-section extrusions, complex sweep paths and
skinning. A modeling wizard has also been included to help guide new
users.
Lights: Users may manipulate light settings such as Distant, Spotlight,
Ambient, Procedural Gels or Multiple Lights to adjust the angle and types
of lighting in their scene.
Shading: Shading options include Flat shading and the Shaders Browser.
Users may drag and drop preset shades from the Shaders Browser into their
scene.
1000 True Type fonts: Users can import Adobe Type 1 fonts from CorelDRAW.
Streamlined, intuitive user interface.
Over 300 new seamless shaders/textures.
3D models or shading characteristics can be dragged and dropped into a
scene.
Over 750 professionally-designed 3D models.
Corel PRESENTS -- New Application
Corel PRESENTS is a new business and multimedia presentation application
with powerful charting, animation and drawing tools. Professionally
designed templates and backgrounds make creating a presentation a breeze.
Key features include the following:
Wizards: Built-in wizards help guide new users through all the steps to
create a presentation. An on-line tutorial is also included.
Outline View: Using the Corel PRESENTS Outline View, users may drag and
drop fully-styled text from any OLE word processor and promote and demote
text for automatic bullet creation. Text may also be inputted directly in
this view.
Text Support: Includes forced justification of text, automatic text
effects such as caps, small caps and change case, hanging punctuation and
precision typographic controls including word spacing, letter spacing and
alignment. Underline, strikeout, superscript and subscript functions are
also available.
Editable Geometric Shapes: Includes 3D as well as 2D objects.
Charting: Includes over 79 chart types and a powerful data manager.
Mapping: Corel PRESENTS includes mapping capabilities that let users
display demographic data and statistics in the form of a graphical map.
Animation: Features entry/exit path-based animation, complex animation
path, preset animation paths, custom path tool, timelines and improved cel
sequence. Corel PRESENTS also supports direct import of Corel MOTION 3D
files or other applications that create AVI files.
Large Libraries: Includes more than 50 presentation templates, preset
layouts and backgrounds that are editable, 1200 animated actors, 300
backgrounds, 70 sounds, 1000 photos, 260+ animation and video files.
Extensive Fill Options: Includes uniform, fountain fills, bitmap and
texture fills.
Extensive Drag and Drop Support
Runtime Player: A royalty-free utility that lets users replay
presentations created with Corel PRESENTS.
Annotation Pen: Key points in a presentation may be highlighted in color
with this tool.
Corel MOTION 3D -- New Application
With Corel MOTION 3D users may animate 3D objects and text. Corel MOTION
3D can be used in conjunction with CorelDRAW or Corel PRESENTS to add
another dimension to clipart or enliven a presentation. Key features
include the following:
Views: Users may view the scene from the side, top and front to aid in
object placement. Custom arrangements of objects may be saved.
Objects: Manipulation tools include squash/stretch, uniform scale, shape
and surface morphing, and rotation capabilities. Primitive objects are
also included so users can automatically access 3D objects such as spheres
or text.
Stage Hands: Predesigned lights, cameras and props are available to help
simplify the animation process for users. Lighting and Camera effects are
built-in to help users automatically animate the text or objects in the
scene. Users may apply more than 25 special effects such as Blush, Fade or
Rainbow to change the object's appearance.
Blush gives the object a rosy glow, while Rainbow gives the object a
multi-colored look. The surface look of objects may be altered with
adjustable effects such as glow, reflectiveness, metallicity and specular
highlight.
Lighting and Camera Controls: Point lights and spotlights may be added to
the scene and adjusted in terms of color, intensity, angle and focus. The
camera controls include Pan, Move In, Zoom, Rotate and Tilt. Users may
navigate around their object using the Pan, Zoom In or Zoom Out controls.
Animation Controls: These controls include a timelines dialog to control
and adjust the timing of the animation, event marks which may be created,
deleted or repositioned and a Punch In/Punch Out control which renders
portions of the animation. Users may also set the Keyframe, create
hierarchies and preview the animation to the screen before rendering.
Rendering Modes: These include Bounding Box, Wireframe, Fast Render,
Better Render and Ray Trace.
Movie Creation: Users may create compressed or uncompressed AVI or FLC
movies and preview them in single frame or full animation mode.
System Requirements
Users will require a minimum of a 486 (486 DX2 66 Mhz or higher
recommended), 8 MB of RAM (16 MB recommended), a CD-ROM player
(double-speed recommended), a Mouse or Tablet, VGA display (800 x 600
pixels, 256 colors or higher recommended) and Windows 95. Users may
customize the installation to suit their purposes by choosing options such
as minimum or full install. Uninstall is also easy for those users who do
not use the program on a daily basis and want to free up additional hard
drive space.
Pricing and Availability
Shipping in late August, CorelDRAW 6 is available from CorelDRAW
distributors worldwide for a suggested list price of $695 US for the
CD-ROM version. CorelDRAW 6 registered users may purchase the equivalent
of 40 diskettes through Customer Service centers as a special order item
for the additional price of $149 US.
CorelDRAW 5 users may upgrade to CorelDRAW 6 for $249 US for the CD-ROM
version. The equivalency in diskettes may be purchased as a special order
item through Customer Service centers.
There will be a single upgrade path to CorelDRAW 6 from CorelDRAW 3 and 4.
The suggested retail price of the CorelDRAW 6 upgrade will be $425 US for
the CD-ROM version.
New Technical Support Policy for CorelDRAW 6
Corel has implemented the following adjustments to its technical support
policies. Corel will offer 90 days of free support on a toll line from the
official release date of the product. Thereafter, customers, who do not
call within the first 90 days, will be offered 30 days of free support on
a toll line from the date of their first technical support call.
Corel has expanded its in-house support team and will provide all customer
support during the warranty period. Extended support will be offered by
third party providers after the initial warranty period has expired.
Existing support plans will remain in effect for all other products.
Corel provides these additional support options:
IVAN: Corel's Interactive Voice Answering Network that provides customers
with rapid access to the most current product information. Customers can
obtain this service, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, on a toll line by
calling (613) 728-1990.
Bulletin Board Service (BBS): A 24-hour information resource that lets
customers access product information and helpful program files. To
contact the BBS, customers dial (613) 728-4752 or (613) 761-7798.
Automated Fax System: Customers may obtain faxes of technical information
by dialing (613) 728-0826 ext. 3080 and requesting document number 2000.
CompuServe Information Services: CompuServe( subscribers can access the
Corel Technical Support forum by typing GO COREL.
Corel's Home Page: An Internet World Wide Web site with product and
technical information. Customers may access Corel's site at
http:\\www.corel.ca.
Microsoft Network (MSN): Corel will have a technical support presence on
the MSN. More details will follow.
***A note regarding Corel VENTURA 6***
The Corel VENTURA module will not be included in the CorelDRAW 6 box. It
will only be offered as an independent standalone product.
Corel VENTURA 6 should be available by November of 1995 and is being
designed to meet every user's publishing needs from the creation of small
brochures to large documents.
It will include full SGML capabilities so that users can easily create a
single document that may be used to produce books, electronic Help
screens, Internet Web pages or CD-ROMs.
Corel Corporation
Incorporated in 1985, Corel Corporation is recognized internationally as
an award-winning developer and marketer of PC graphics and multimedia
software. CorelDRAW(, Corel's industry-leading graphics software, is
available in over 17 languages and has won over 200 international awards
from major trade publications. Corel ships its products through a network
of more than 160 distributors in 60 countries worldwide. Corel is traded
on the Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol: COS) and the NASDAQ--National
Market System (symbol: COSFF).
All company or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of
their respective companies. Microsoft and Windows are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or
other countries. CorelDRAW, Corel PHOTO-PAINT, Corel PRESENTS and other
Corel marks are trademarks of Corel Corporation Corel is a registered
trademark of Corel Corporation..
Creative Updates! STR InfoFile
Creative Announces Its Own 6x Speed CD-ROM Drives
SINGAPORE -- August 4, 1995 -- Creative Technology Ltd. (Nasdaq:CREAF)
today announced that it has begun production of its own 6x speed CD-ROM
drives. Creative's 6x CD-ROM technology offers a significant jump in
performance over the latest high-speed 4x drives common in the
marketplace.
These new 6x drives will allow users to further enhance their multimedia
experience and improve productivity in CD-ROM usage. Creative plans to
produce approximately 30 percent of its high technology drives this
holiday season, including over 70 percent of its 6x drives.
"With the in-house development and manufacturing of its own 6x speed
CD-ROM drives, Creative is leading the market, surpassing most major
CD-ROM manufacturers," said W.H. Sim, chairman and CEO of Creative
Technology. "Our in-house manufacturing also provides a significant
advantage to us as we now can better control both cost and supply of one
of the most crucial components of our multimedia kit line."
According to Joseph Liow, head of Creative's Advanced Peripheral Product
division who leads the development effort of Creative's CD-ROM drives, the
company will extend the high quality manufacturing standards
characteristic of its 2x and 4x speed drives to the production of its
leading-edge 6x speed CD-ROM drives. Creative has been manufacturing 2x
and 4x speed drives in-house for over a year now.
Creative Technology Ltd. develops, manufactures and markets a family of
sound, video, software telephony multimedia products for PCs under the
Blaster family name, and the ShareVision line of desktop video
conferencing products for Macintoshes and PCs. The company's Sound
Blaster. sound platform enables PCs to produce high-quality audio for
entertainment, educational, music and productivity applications, and has
been accepted as the industry standard sound platform for PC-based
software.
Creative Technology Ltd. was incorporated in 1983 and is based in
Singapore. Creative Technology's U.S. subsidiaries include Creative Labs,
Inc., E-mu Systems., Inc., Digicom Systems, Inc. and ShareVision.
Technology, Inc. Creative also has other subsidiaries in Australia, China,
Europe, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. The company's
stock is traded on Nasdaq under the symbol CREAF and on the Stock Exchange
of Singapore.
Creative Announces Innovation in PC Music Synthesis
Unique CQM Audio Technology Offers An Enhanced Alternative to FM Music
Synthesis And Significant Cost Savings
SINGAPORE -- August 4, 1995 -- Creative Technology Ltd. (Nasdaq:CREAF)
today announced CQM, Creative Quadratic Modulation, a new audio technology
for the PC marketplace. Developed by E-Mu Systems., Inc., Creative's U.S.
subsidiary and audio technology center, CQM is an innovative technology
that delivers richer quality sound than traditional FM music synthesis.
CQM
bridges the gap between traditional FM synthesis and higher end wave table
synthesis, at a lower cost than FM synthesis.
"CQM will heighten the low end music synthesis capabilities of the PC,"
said W.H. Sim, chairman and CEO of Creative Technology. "CQM provides
improved richness and fidelity over traditional FM music synthesis sound
in existing software without requiring any re-programming. CQM will
provide higher quality audio at a lower cost to Creative's OEM customers
and promises the prospect of cost reductions across Creative's own retail
Sound Blaster product line."
While delivering higher quality sound, CQM is fully compatible with FM
music synthesis as is found on almost all sound cards, including the full
range of Creative's Sound Blaster products, the de facto sound standards
in the industry.
Creative plans to integrate CQM into all of its chip and board based Sound
Blaster. 16 products. The simpler circuitry and internal sourcing of the
silicon will significantly reduce Creative's costs in both the OEM and
retail markets. Products incorporating CQM are expected to ship in volume
in the Fall of 1995.
CQM, was developed by E-Mu Systems under the direction of Dave Rossum,
E-Mu founder and chief scientist. CQM is the second technology developed
by the pro-audio experts at E-Mu that will be productized in the Sound
Blaster audio card line for mass market appeal. The first was the EMU8000
music synthesis technology, found in the Sound Blaster 32 and the award
winning Sound Blaster AWE32 products. With over 20 years experience in the
high-end electronic music arena, E-Mu Systems was the first to pioneer
several breakthrough technologies in this area. It now owns numerous
patents in digital audio and music synthesis technologies. E-Mu's CQM
technology has patent applications currently pending.
Creative Technology Ltd. develops, manufactures and markets a family of
sound, video, software telephony multimedia products for PCs under the
Blaster family name, and the ShareVision line of desktop video
conferencing products for Macintoshes and PCs. The company's Sound
Blaster. Sound platform enables PCs to produce high-quality audio for
entertainment, educational, music and productivity applications, and has
been accepted as the industry standard sound platform for PC-based
software.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Theresa Pulido Lisa Kimura
Creative Labs, Inc. Copithorne & Bellows
(408) 428-6600, ext. 6416 (415) 284-5200
Sound Blaster is a registered trademark and Blaster is a trademark of
Creative Technology Ltd. E-mu is a registered trademark of E-mu Systems,
Inc. and ShareVision is a registered trademark of ShareVision Technology,
Inc. All other products mentioned herein are trademarks of their
respective owners and are hereby recognized as such.
Visual Dbase 5.5 STR InfoFile
BORLAND SHIPS VISUAL dBASE 5.5 AND COMPILER
ANNOUNCES NEW VISUAL dBASE CLIENT/SERVER
SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. - Borland International Inc. this week will begin
shipping its Visual dBASE 5.5 database and Visual dBASE Compiler for the
Microsoft Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 operating systems. The company also
announced a new product: Visual dBASE Client/Server, which is targeted
specifically to developers of front-end applications for corporate
database servers.
Visual dBASE Client/Server will be available in August. Visual dBASE is a
significant upgrade to the dBASE product line, said Mark De Visser,
Borlands director of dBASE marketing. The rich feature set, ease-of-use
and powerful data-manipulation capabilities make it the leading RAD
desktop database. It offers users a new level of visual productivity for
developing Windows database applications. The new client/server version
goes even farther, by offering native drivers for all the major database
servers, as well as a local version of the InterBase database server --
providing a complete client/server prototyping environment.
Announced last month at PC Expo, Visual dBASE 5.5 is the only
second-generation, object-oriented Xbase database. Based on leading-edge
visual tools and a flexible, yet easy, programming language, Visual dBASE
provides business professionals and application developers with the
productivity and power to control their data.
Besides support for both Windows 3.1 and Windows 95, Visual dBASE features
new productivity tools for users and developers, significant performance
enhancements, and robust client/server capabilities. The separate Visual
dBASE Compiler allows developers to create and deploy stand-alone .EXE
applications royalty-free to users. (For more details on Visual dBASE and
the Visual dBASE Compiler, please refer to the June 20 announcement press
release on Borland Online, Borlands World Wide Web site, at
http://www.borland.com.)
Visual dBASE Client/Server
The new client/server version of Visual dBASE combines all the development
tools necessary for creating sophisticated front-ends to existing Oracle,
Sybase, Microsoft SQLServer, Borland InterBase, and Informix database
servers. The product includes Visual dBASE, The Visual dBASE Compiler,
native Borland SQL Links, a single-user Local InterBase Server and
Borland's new Data Pump Expert.
The real strength of Visual dBASE Client/Server is that you can do the
vast majority of your development, testing and prototyping on your desktop
without having to connect to a server, said Terry Crow, an Oracle and
dBASE developer for a major insurance company based in Ohio. Plus, Visual
dBASE gives me the scalability to be able to take a small application that
uses local database tables and upsize it into a front-end to our Oracle
server -- without a whole lot of extra work.
The components of Visual dBASE Client/Server are:
Visual dBASE -- For Application Development
Visual dBASE 5.5 brings advanced client/server features to a scalable
environment for easy front-end development and SQL database access. It
allows experienced dBASE and client/server developers to:
Access local and remote data easily, using the same user interface and
applications with each; Use SQL commands interactively or embed them into
dBASE programs for better client/server performance;
Mix-and-match SQL and dBASE commands, for greater flexibility and power;
Access server-based stored procedures; Take advantage of relational
database features such as primary keys, referential integrity, data
dictionary capabilities, data encryption and security, and database
administration; Build applications that access the widest range of
corporate data, including desktop databases, SQL RDBMs, and all
ODBC-compliant data sources.
Visual dBASE Compiler -- For Application Deployment
Allows developers to create and deploy stand-alone client applications
royalty-free to users.
Borland SQL Links 2.5 -- For High-Performance Connectivity
High-performance native drivers for connecting client applications to
Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server, Informix and InterBase database
servers. A SQL Link deployment license is available separately from
Borland. Visual dBASE also supports third-party ODBC drivers.
Local InterBase Server -- For Offline Development
The Local InterBase Server allows developers to build front-end
applications without having to physically connect to a remote server. The
Local InterBase Server is a complete ANSI SQL-92 compliant server
that runs under Windows 3.1, Windows 95 or Windows NT with a footprint of
less than 6MB of hard disk space.
Data Pump Expert -- For Bulk Data Moving
Borlands new Data Pump Expert helps client/server developers move their
data to the location and format that is needed -- anywhere in the
enterprise. With the Data Pump Expert, data can be upsized from a
desktop data source to a database server, moved from one server to
another, or downsized from a database server to a local database table.
Pricing and Availability
Visual dBASE 5.5, the Visual dBASE Compiler, and Visual dBASE
Client/Server are available through all major distribution channels. The
estimated street prices for Visual dBASE 5.5 and the Visual dBASE Compiler
are $349.95 each. Special upgrade prices are available for current users
of dBASE and competitive products.
The estimated street price for Visual dBASE Client/Server is $695. For
more information or to place orders, customers can call Borland at
800-233-2444. All estimated prices are in U.S. dollars and apply only
in the United States and Canada. Dealer prices may vary.
Contact:
Steve Curry
Borland International Inc.
(408) 431-4863
scurry@wpo.borland.com
Pat Lucas
Borland International Inc.
(408) 431-4872
plucas@wpo.borland.com
Borland:
Making Development Easier Borland International Inc. (NASDAQ:BORL) is a
leading provider of products and services targeted to software developers.
Borland is distinguished for its high-quality software development tools,
which include Delphi, Borland C++, Visual dBASE, Paradox and InterBase.
Borlands award-winning products are supported through comprehensive
programs for small- and large-sized software developers, corporate
developers, value added resellers and systems integrators. Founded in
1983, Borland is headquartered in Scotts Valley, California. For more
information on Borland products and services, customers can access Borland
Online, Borland's World Wide Web (WWW) site, at http://www.borland.com.
BORLAND ANNOUNCES VISUAL dBASE 5.5 AND THE VISUAL dBASE COMPILER
Greater Speed, New Productivity Tools, Robust Client/Server
Capabilities, and Support for Both Windows 3.1 & Windows 95
PC EXPO/NEW YORK -- Summer, 1995 -- Borland International Inc. introduced
Visual dBASE 5.5, a major new upgrade to its award-winning dBASE
relational database management software, for the Microsoft Windows 3.1 and
Windows 95 operating systems. Visual dBASE and a separate executable
(.EXE) compiler for Visual dBASE developers are scheduled to ship next
month. Borland will be demonstrating the new products this week at PC Expo
in New York, Jacob Javitz Center hall 1C, booth #139.
"Visual dBASE is a mature, all-purpose database application development
environment," said Mark DeVisser, Borland's director of dBASE marketing.
"Regardless of the size or complexity of a project -- from building
quick-and-easy desktop applications to advanced client/server front-end
development -- Visual dBASE provides the right database solution."
Previously known by its code-name, Voyager, Visual dBASE 5.5 is the only
second-generation, object-oriented Xbase product. Based on leading-edge
visual tools and a flexible, yet easy, programming language, Visual dBASE
provides business professionals and application developers with the
productivity and power to control their data. Besides support for both
Windows 3.1 and Windows 95, the database features new productivity tools
for users and developers, significant performance enhancements, and robust
client/server capabilities.
The separate Visual dBASE Compiler allows developers to create and deploy
stand-alone .EXE applications royalty-free to users.
"The Rapid Application Development tools in Visual dBASE are amazing. No
other database development platform even comes close," said Alan Katz,
president of Ksoft Inc., a software publishing and consulting firm in
Johnson City, New York. "For the first time in my 12 years as a Clipper
and Xbase programmer, everything I need -- including a compiler and
installer -- is available in a single development environment. Im writing
programs in one tenth of the time, with one tenth the code that are ten
times better than anything Ive ever done before. Ive never before achieved
this kind of productivity."
Second Generation Object-Oriented Xbase
Compared to its competition, Visual dBASE 5.5 is the only object-oriented
Xbase product in its second release. Because of this, Visual dBASE
includes more than 100 new features based directly on users' real-world
testing of its award-winning predecessor, dBASE 5.0 for Windows, making
Visual dBASE faster, easier-to-use, and even more powerful.
One of the most significant innovations in Visual dBASE 5.5 is the
addition of Visual Inheritance, the ability to visually create libraries
of custom forms and controls that can be reused throughout developers'
applications. If changes are made to an object -- for example, the color
and size of a push-button -- all applications that use that button will
automatically inherit those changes, without programming. This greatly
improves consistency in applications and decreases the time needed for
application maintenance.
Performance Enhancements
Greater speed is a major benefit in the new release of dBASE. Due to
Borland's new patent-pending Exclusivity Simulation Protocol (ESP)
optimizing technology, Visual dBASE 5.5 is up to four times faster than
dBASE 5.0 for multi-user data access over a network. Through other
optimization, Visual dBASE is up to two times faster in almost all other
areas -- including important every-day database tasks such as browsing
data, loading forms, and running queries.
"One of the first and most dramatic improvements we noticed was the speedy
performance," InfoWorld Magazine reported in its June 5 First Look review
of the new dBASE. "Programs written in Visual dBASE have a snappiness
we're not used to seeing in applications built by anything less than a
full optimizing compiler, such as Delphi. List boxes and browse windows
were populated with data almost instantaneously as we scanned through the
records of multi- table order-entry forms on our 66-MHZ 486."
Productivity Tools for Users and Developers
Visual dBASE has many new tools to help both users and developers get
their work done better and faster, without programming. Among these are
new Experts for creating tables, reports and labels; an enhanced Form
Expert; over 20 new Visual Property Builders; and improvements to the
Two-Way Form and Menu Designers.
New Experts
The Table Expert guides users in creating new database tables by
suggesting common business table and field structures. It allows them to
mix-and-match fields from any of the sample templates to easily create a
sophisticated, yet customized database. Besides dBASE and Paradox (.DBF
and .DB) tables, the Visual dBASE Table Expert can also create SQL and
other popular database formats by using ODBC or Borland SQL-Link drivers
(available separately).
The Report Expert provides a quick and consistent way to create four
different types of report layouts: detail or summary, tabular or
columnar.
The Label Expert gives users an easy and fast way to print mailing labels
from their database on one of over 45 pre- defined Avery label standards.
The Quick Address feature scans the database table for common field names
such as "FNAME" and "ZIP" and can automatically design an address layout
for the mailing label.
The enhanced Form Expert is now fully customizable to add just the right
look-and-feel to a user's forms. Color schemes, controls, and fonts are
now completely editable in the Form Expert. Another addition is the
ability to automatically create tabbed, multi-page forms with a click of
the mouse.
Visual Property Builders
Visual dBASE 5.5 includes over 20 new and enhanced Visual Property
Builders. As opposed to Experts, which help users complete a specific task
step-by-step, these intuitive dialog-type boxes are specifically designed
to help developers customize and fine-tune their applications.
Traditionally time-consuming tasks for developers, such as building
arrays, creating a list of fields, and assigning graphical resources to
controls, can now be done much faster, visually.
Robust Client/Server
Visual dBASE brings advanced client/server features to a scalable
environment for easy front-end development and SQL database access. It
allows experienced dBASE and client/server developers to:
* Access local and remote data easily, using the same user interface and
applications with each;
* Use SQL commands interactively or embed them into dBASE programs for
better client/server performance;
* Mix-and-match SQL and dBASE commands, for greater flexibility and
power;
* Access server-based stored procedures;
* Take advantage of advanced relational database features such as primary
keys, referential integrity, data dictionary capabilities, data encryption
and security, and database administration.
Through the Borland Database Engine, common to all of Borland's Windows
products, Visual dBASE enables users to access the most popular corporate
databases, including dBASE and Paradox, Oracle, Microsoft/Sybase SQL
Server, Informix, Borland InterBase, and all ODBC-compliant data sources,
such as DB2, Access, and AS/400.
Windows 3.1 & Windows 95 Support
Visual dBASE provides an ideal development solution for developers during
their client's transition from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 because it
supports both operating systems. A native 16- bit product, Visual dBASE
has been architected to automatically detect whether the computer is
running Windows 3.1 or Windows 95, and then takes advantage of that
operating system's capabilities and user interface. In addition,
applications developed with Visual dBASE and distributed with the Visual
dBASE Compiler will also automatically support Windows 95 features.
Visual dBASE and applications developed with Visual dBASE support many
Windows 95 features, including long file names, OLE 2.0 Automation, the
Application Key, extended file attributes, the universal naming convention
(UNC), and Microsoft interface standards such as context-sensitive menu
and icon bars, right-click context menus, system metrics, and tool tips.
"Visual dBASE gives me and my clients a huge advantage because it allows
us to manage the move to Windows 95 when we are ready," said Jim Sare, a
database developer based in the Detroit area. "For those customers who
want to stay with Windows 3.1 for a while, I'm able to distribute
sophisticated applications that run in only six megabytes of RAM. For
clients moving to Windows 95 early, I'll be able to deploy
high-performance applications with the new look-and-feel on the day that
the operating system ships. The real beauty of the Visual dBASE
solution is that this transition is automatic and transparent -- it
requires virtually no extra work on the developer's part."
Visual dBASE Compiler
The Visual dBASE Compiler includes all the tools and utilities that
developers need to distribute sophisticated, stand-alone Visual dBASE
applications as royalty-free .EXEs to their end-users. Available as a
separate product, the Visual dBASE Compiler seamlessly integrates into the
Visual dBASE environment to provide an all-in-one application development
and distribution package, complete with Help Compiler, Resource Workshop,
and Application Deployer.
With the Microsoft Help Compiler, developers can use Word, WordPerfect, or
the Windows 95 WordPad to generate HLP files and create context-sensitive
Windows Help systems for their applications.
The Borland Resource Workshop includes a set of intuitive tools that lets
the developer build commonly-needed resources, such as bitmaps and icons
for splash-screens and program group icons.
The Application Deployer completes the last step of the development
process by asking developers which files need to be distributed,
compresses them, and splits them into 3.5-inch, 5.25-inch, or CD-ROM-ready
disk images. The Application Deployer also adds the famous "freeway"
install engine that Borland's own products use.
"The new Visual dBASE Compiler is a dream come true Borland has lived up
to my high hopes for this product," said Erik Breiter, a database
consultant/programmer based in Simi Valley, California. "My clients judge
my work by the usefulness and professional appearance of my applications.
Visual dBASE gives me the tools to write real programs that people can
really use and the Application Deployer can package them up into very
polished install disks that I'm proud to deliver to my customers."
Pricing and Availability
Visual dBASE 5.5 and the Visual dBASE Compiler will be available next
month from Borland and through all major distribution channels. The
estimated street price for Visual dBASE 5.5 is $349.95. The estimated
street price for the Visual dBASE Compiler is also $349.95. Special
upgrade prices will be available for current users of dBASE and
competitive products. For more information or to place orders, customers
can call Borland at 800-233-2444. All estimated prices are in U.S.
dollars and apply only in the United States and Canada. Dealer prices may
vary.
System Requirements
Visual dBASE 5.5 requires a 386-based (or higher) personal computer with
six megabytes of RAM, and a hard disk with 30 megabytes of free space for
full install. Borland recommends eight megabytes or more of RAM.
Applications distributed with the Visual dBASE Compiler have similar RAM
requirements. The Compiler needs Visual dBASE 5.5 to be installed.
Preliminary fact sheet for Visual dBASE
FEATURES
Up to twice the performance of dBASE for Windows in most areas
True event-driven, object-oriented development
Supports Windows 95 features
Enhanced, fully customizable Form Expert
New Table, Report & Label Experts
Over 20 new Visual Property Builders
New multi-page form support
Robust client/server support including embedded SQL
New & enhanced built-in classes
New visual class inheritance
DESCRIPTION
New Visual dBASE, the powerful second generation of the award-winning
dBASE for Windows, is up to two times faster in most areas.
It also incorporates the latest thinking in user-interface design and
leading-edge visual tools with a sophisticated, yet easy programming
language.
Easier-to-use two-way-tools, new Experts, new Visual Property Builders,
enhanced built-in classes, robust client/server support, and Windows 95
support increase your productivity and make building powerful database
applications for Windows faster and easier than ever.
UP TO TWO TIMES FASTER
New Visual dBASE has up to twice the performance of dBASE for Windows in
most areas, such as form loading, running queries, client/server access
and more.
NEW EXPERTS SAVE TIME & WORK
Visual dBASE includes new Experts for creating tables, reports, and
labels, as well as a much enhanced Form Expert.
The new Table Expert guides you through selecting common table and field
definitions. You can mix and match fields from any of the common table
structures, addyour own tables, or modify any of the included tables to
customize the Table Expert to your exact needs.
The new Label Expert (with over 45 Avery label definitions) gives you
work-saving label features including Quick Address and Calculated Fields.
Quick Address automatically scans your tables for fields such as Name,
Street, and Zip, and organizes them into a standard address layout.
For easier reporting, the new Report Experts reduce designing reports to
simply filling in the blanks.
Plus, the Form Expert is now fully customizable.
If you have too many fields, the Form Expert can create a scrollable
single-or multi-page form with the new TabBox Control. You can even use
and create schemes of colors and fonts.
NEW VISUAL PROPERTY BUILDERS MAKE FINE-TUNING A SNAP
Visual dBASE has over 20 new and enhanced Visual Property Builders to do
the fine-tuning for you.
Intuitive dialog boxes let you complete time-consuming tasks like
specifying the look of your forms, creating arrays of values for your
listboxes, setting the color schemes and more, in a flash and all without
programming.
NEW & ENHANCED TWO-WAY-TOOLS INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY
Two-way-tools let you work inter-changeably between your visual design and
dBASE source code to make inspecting and setting properties a snap.
When you use the visual tools to create objects such as forms, queries,
and menus, Visual dBASE generates object-oriented code for you. You can
edit and customize these classes visually, or line-by-line.
MORE REUSABLE CODE
The enhanced Form Designer's new visual inheritance feature makes building
applications easy by letting you visually create and use new classes as
the base class when creating forms.
And, instead of starting from scratch each time you build a form, you can
use your base classes as templates for designing new data entry forms.
You can also make any control a custom control right from the Form
Designer with a single command.
You can add the new control to an existing library, or make a new custom
control library to fit your needs.
The enhanced Form Designer comes with a wide selection of layout schemes
that automatically set the colors and fonts of your forms and controls.
MORE PROGRAMMING POWER
Visual dBASE builds on the programming power of dBASE with new built-in
classes that give you access to a wider range of powerful capabilities,
including:
- MenuBar to create and edit Windows' menus found in applications that
conform to the MDI model.
- PopUp Designer to create Speed-Menus that appear on demand, such as when
you right-click a mouse.
- Associative Array that lets you use character strings as the index to
the array.
- TabBox which gives you the same tab controls we use in our own products
to create multi-page dialogs and forms.
- OLEAutoClient so you can use the dBASE language to control OLE 2.0
applications that provide server automation such as Microsoft Word.
- PaintBox which lets you harness the power of the Windows API to create
your own controls.
Visual dBASE also features expanded properties for existing classes to
give you control over the record buffer, key processing, window handling,
colors, and positioning.
Plus, the Visual dBASE debugger now lets you inspect and modify values
contained in local and static variables, and change properties of a form,
with-out leaving the debugger.
EASILY SCALE UP TO CLIENT/SERVER
Visual dBASE brings advanced client/server features to a scalable
environ-ment for easy client/server development.
Now you can use SQL commands directly in your dBASE programs, call stored
pro-cedures directly from a dBASE program, and take advantage of
server-specific trans-action isolation levels.
You also get new interactive tools to breeze through administering
relational integrity rules, setting up table security, and inspecting
extended field attributes.
WINDOWS 95 SUPPORT, TOO
With Windows 95 support, new Visual dBASE is truly your complete Windows
development solution for both today and into the future. It runs
flawlessly under Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows NT to fill all your
programming needs.
When you run Visual dBASE on Windows 95, you'll take full advantage of
Windows 95-specific features such as long file names, extended attributes
and universal naming conventions for easier file management.
Your applications automatically detect whether they run under Windows 3.1
or Windows 95, so it's easy to develop applications that need to run on
both.
Plus Visual dBASE adapts to Windows 95's new emerging interface standards
such as icon tips, a document-centric user interface, and support for the
application key found on newer keyboards.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
An Intel 386-based PC or higher
Microsoft Windows 3.1, Windows 95 or later, 100% compatible version.
Minimum memory 6Mb (8Mb or more recommended)
Minimum 10Mb available hard disk space for application only
VGS/SVGA monitor and graphics adapter
Networks Supported
Novell NetWare 3.11, 3.12, 4.1 and Personal NetWare
Windows for Workgroups 3.11
Banyan VINES 5.0
IBM LAN Server 3.0
Microsoft LAN Manager 2.1
Lantastic 6.0
Preliminary fact sheet for Visual dBASE Compiler
CREATE AND DEPLOY EXES VISUALLY
The Visual dBASE Compiler is your one-stop solution for compiling and
distributing Visual dBASE applications.
This complete set of distribution tools seamlessly integrates into the
Visual dBASE environment to give you the power to create full application
packages complete with help and install utilities.
VISUALLY CREATE ROYALTY-FREE .EXE FILES
The compiler tool gives you extended commands and dialogs for visually
creat-ing royalty-free .EXE files.
To save you time and work, it automatically descends through your
application to find and link all relevant files without needing a make or
project file.
You can specify an icon and a splash image, and dynamically customize .EXE
files by using an INI file with the same name as the executable.
EXTRA TOOLS TO FINISH THE JOB
When you have compiled your application you are ready to add the finishing
touches and then deploy your application. With the MS Help Compiler you
can generate HLP files and connect the contents to your form with each
control's Help ID property.
The Borland Resource Workshop includes a set of intuitive tools that let
you build commonly needed resources such as bitmaps, icons and fonts.
When it's time to deploy your application to your users, the Application
Deployer asks you what files you need and then compresses it all and adds
the famous Borland "freeway" installer to the setup disks.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
same as Visual dBASE above.
The Upgrade Guide, Chapter 2, "What's new in Visual dBASE".
Visual dBASE is Borland's second generation, award winning,
object-oriented, event-driven database manager. Visual dBASE has enhanced
usability, more programming power, and more robust database support. In
addition, an EXE compiler is now available separately. Visual dBASE
provides all the tools required for RAD (Rapid Application Development),
while the compiler provides rapid application deployment.
Read this chapter for an overview of the new and enhanced features you
will find in Visual dBASE.
- ROBUST DATABASE SUPPORT allows comprehensive database administration and
offers client/server features including embedded ANSI SQL92 and access
to stored procedures. Visual dBASE is the only Xbase development tool to
include an ANSI SQL-92 compliant implementation of SQL. The data
administration tools help you to setup table security and design
referential integrity rules.
- EXPANDED VISUAL TOOLS includes an overview of each expert and
enhancements to the two-way-tools. the new Experts allow users to
complete comprehensive tasks by answering a few simple questions.
Enhancements to the Two-Way-Tools let you visually create and inherit
from reusable components such as base form sets and custom controls.
- MORE PROGRAMMING POWER introduces the new and enhanced stock classes
that ship in Visual dBASE, allowing programmers easy access to a wide
range of powerful capabilities.
- WINDOWS95 SUPPORT explains how Visual dBASE can exploit the new
interface and file system of Windows95.
- APPLICATION DISTRIBUTION describes the Visual dBASE compiler, Help
compiler and application deployment technology. These tools integrate
into the dBASE environment to compile your applications files into a
single EXE file and create installation and setup systems for diskette
and CD-ROM.
ROBUST DATABASE SUPPORT
Visual dBASE brings advanced client/server features to a scalable
environment. It provides the tools required for serious client/server and
file-based application development. Visual dBASE lets you leverage the
unique strengths of back-end servers and gives you more control over the
DB and DBF table formats. In addition to the pass-through SQLEXEC( )
function, you can now embed ANSI SQL-92 commands in any dBASE program,
creating a tight bond between the dBASE data environment and your server.
If your data resides in a server supporting stored procedures you can call
them directly from a dBASE program. You can also take advantage of server
specific transaction isolation levels. Visual dBASE also contains new ANSI
language drivers and interactive tools for administering relational
integrity rules, setting up table security, and inspecting field
attributes.
- EMBEDDED ANSI SQL-92 works seamlessly within dBASE programs. There is no
need to SET SQL ON or create separate PRS files. Embedded SQL works with
any data source including DB, DBF, the Local InterBase Server, and
remote servers attached via ODBC or SQL-Link drivers. The result set of
an SQL Select statement is a standard dBASE work area that you can
continue to work with using the traditional Xbase DML. Unlike
traditional client/server tools that create temporary tables from SELECT
statements, dBASE can create a full read/write cursor into the source
tables. dBASE allows you to mix and match embedded SQL, pass-through SQL
and traditional Xbase DML.
- STORED PROCEDURES on a server can extend the dBASE language as external
functions. Visual dBASE uses the EXTERN command to declare both stored
procedures on a server and functions in a DLL. If your server can
provide information on stored procedures, an AUTOEXTERN option is
available. Servers capable of providing the necessary AUTOEXTERN
information include Oracle 7 and InterBase 4.0.
- TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVELS give developers the option of taking
exacting control over transactions. Depending on your server, you can
work with uncommitted changes, committed changes, or full repeatable
reads.
- REFERENTIAL INTEGRITY TOOLS gives database administrators a visual
interface to examine and change the integrity rules occurring between
tables. Administrators can set rules for parent and child tables with
options for cascading or restrictive updates. Rules appear at the
database level for database servers and at the directory level for
Paradox tables.
- TABLE SECURITY protects sensitive tables through encryption and a
password system. Database Administrators can set up to eight privilege
levels at both the table and field level. The security system is
compatible with the encryption schemes found in both dBASE for DOS and
Paradox.
- THE FIELD INSPECTOR is a new tool for creating column integrity rules
while in the table designer. Field Inspector provides an interface that
is consistent with the Form Designer's object inspector. You can set
field properties such as default value, maximum, minimum, and if the
field is required or not. The properties available depend on the type of
table you are opening and the driver you are using to open the table.
- TRUE NULL SUPPORT is now available for working with Paradox and SQL
tables. You can search for and update tables with NULL values, create
NULL variables, and use NULL in any comparison or expression.
- ODBC CONNECTIVITY is now a standard feature of the Borland Database
Engine. The new Borland Database Configuration utility lets you define
database alias names for any standard ODBC driver. You can use this
feature to work with other PC table formats such as Access, Btrieve, and
FoxPro as well as database servers such as DB2 and INGRES.
- ODBC DATABASE ADMINISTRATION is supported throughout Visual dBASE. You
can create ODBC tables using the table designer and the Table Expert.
You can examine and update Referential Integrity rules in ODBC
databases. If your ODBC driver supports Stored Procedures, you can work
with them just as you can work with Stored Procedures through SQL-Link
drivers.
- ANSI LANGUAGE DRIVERS provide international customers with seamless
integration into multi-lingual SQL and ODBC systems. The new drivers
also offer a significant performance boost in applications that
previously required OEM/ANSI conversion routines.
- THE UPSIZING EXPERT, sold separately, helps developers migrate tables
and integrity rules between local, network, and database servers. Since
the Upsizing Expert works through the Borland Database Engine, it is
fully compliant with all the data sources that are available to Visual
dBASE. Contact Borland at 1-408-431-1000 for information on availability
and pricing.
EXPANDED VISUAL TOOLS
Visual dBASE has new Experts for creating tables, reports, and labels.
There are also many new options for customizing the Form Expert. Experts
present the user with a logical series of steps for defining a new file
and use the same consistent interface that allow the user to move back and
forth through steps to change any option before creating the new file.
- THE TABLE EXPERT guides you through the table design and creation
process. You can use the Table Expert to select common table and field
definitions. The Table Expert allows you to mix and match fields from
any of the table templates. You can modify table templates to customize
the Table Expert for your organization. In addition to native DB and DBF
support, the Table Expert offers the ability to create tables using ODBC
and SQL-Link drivers.
- THE FORM EXPERT is now fully customizable. The Form Expert is capable of
creating a wide range of layouts. It provides four basic layouts:
columnar, form, browse, and one-to-many. Layouts can appear as either
single or multiple page forms. Control associations let you change what
control appears for each field type. You can also apply custom color and
font schemes. The schemes are similar to the color schemes found in the
Windows control panel.
- THE REPORT EXPERT guides you through designing the detail, grouping,
summary, and grand total sections of a report. It includes an easy way
to get complex statistical information such as standard deviation by
region and distinct count within a department. The Report Expert runs
within the Visual dBASE Desktop and creates Crystal compatible reports
without opening the Crystal designer.
- THE LABEL EXPERT provides advanced features such as Quick Address and
Calculated Fields. The Quick Address feature shown in Figure 2.3, scans
your tables for fields such as 'Name', 'Street', 'Zip' and organizes
them into a standard address layout. You can accept the default address
layout or continue customizing it from the Expert environment. To create
calculated fields, enter simple expressions or open the Expression
Builder for assistance with complex calculations. The Label Expert
provides over 45 Avery label definitions.
Visual dBASE includes extensive refinements that make it easier to
leverage the dynamic object model. You will find significant enhancements
that allow the Two-Way-Tools to support completely visual subclassing and
inheritance. The designers also include many improvements based on
customer feedback.
- THE CUSTOM FORM CLASS DESIGNER is a new Two-Way-Tool for visually
creating base form sets. A base form set is a collection of custom form
classes. Custom form classes work like style sheets when creating new
forms. When you usestart with a custom form class, the new form inherits
properties, methods, and controls from the custom form class. The
dynamic object model insures that any modifications made to a custom
form class automatically ripple down to derived forms.
- VISUAL INHERITANCE lets you use the Form Designer to derive new forms
from custom form classes. For instance, you can set the Form Designer to
use a custom form class containing a group of speed buttons. When you
set a custom form class, it's controls, properties, and events appear in
any form you open or create with the Form Designer. If you later change
the custom form class to add a new speed button, it appears in any
derived forms. The Form Designer also allows you to switch the base form
of existing forms to other custom form classes or back to the stock FORM
class.
- VISUAL CUSTOM CONTROL DESIGN is now possible right from the Form
Designer. You can save any control as a custom control by simply
selecting it and picking File | Save as Custom. You get the option of
adding to an existing library or making a new custom control library. As
with forms, saving a control creates source code that you can modify
with any text editor. Since Visual dBASE relies only on source code when
working in the designers, any changes you make to the custom control
source code automatically transfer to the control palette.
- THE CONTROL PALETTE is now fully customizable. You can dynamically dock
the palette on the top or bottom of the form designer or keep it in a
resizable window. Controls can appear in bitmap only mode with SpeedTips
(tool tips), with textor as text only. VBX controls now appear on a
separate tab. You can save screen real estate by removing the tabs. When
tabs are off, all controls appear on a single page. The Control
Registration table (CREG0009.DBF) allows you to create your own custom
control groups and specify a bitmap for each custom control.
- THE FIELD PALETTE gives you an easy way to add controls for each field
in the active view. When you add controls from the field palette, dBASE
automatically sets up the DataLink and DataSource properties. Like the
Control Palette, the Field Palette can be docked or used as a floating
window.
- CONTROL AND FIELD ASSOCIATIONS determine what controls are used for what
data types. For instance you can associate either an EntryField or a
SpinBox with numeric fields. This association is used by both the Form
Expert and the Field Palette. You can change the associations at any
time.
- FONT AND COLOR SCHEMES give you a quick way to try out different font
and color combinations. Visual dBASE provides a wide selection of
schemes that you can apply to existing forms. The colors in a scheme can
be specific or relative. Relative colors correspond to the desktop
colors set in the Windows control panel. If you use relative colors,
your application will conform to the desktop colors in use at run time.
You can also create and save new schemes from the scheme dialog.
- NEW IMAGE support for ICO, EPS, TIF, and WMF files in addition to PCX
and BMP files. You can use any of the supported formats with the IMAGE
class, Binary fields, the Navigator, and the RESTORE IMAGE command.
- MORE VISUAL PROPERTY BUILDERS for inspecting and setting properties.
Throughout Visual dBASE, many dialogs including the Inspector have the
option of entering values directly or using a Visual Property Builder
for guidance. Experienced developers can enter values directly while new
users can use Visual Property Builders to learn all the options
available for a given property or expression. You can use the new Visual
Array Builder to create an array for a ListBox or ComboBox without
leaving the Inspector.
- DESIGNVIEW is a new form property for setting up design time data
environment. It provides you with the tables and relations you need to
design a form that inherits an existing data environment at run time.
You can use DesignView in place of View to create forms that share a
single data environment.
- NEW UTILITIES include the SQL Statement Builder and an enhanced
Component Builder. The SQL Statement Builder is an interactive tool for
creating and learning about SQL commands. The Component Builder now
supports conversion of both dBASE III PLUS and dBASE IV files including
forms, reports, labels, programs, and menus.
MORE PROGRAMMING POWER
The second generation of the Visual dBASE object and event model adds a
wealth of new stock classes to complement the existing set of user
interface, array, DDE and OLE classes. Existing stock classes also get new
properties for multiple page forms and more control over event processing.
Greater encapsulation is now available through protected properties and
member functions.
- MULTIPLE PAGE FORMS are a great way to separate large groups of
controls and options into logical pages. Visual dBASE uses multiple
page forms for tools such as the Inspector, the Controls window, and
the Desktop properties dialog. The form designer allows you to quickly
place controls on different pages and navigate between pages. Any
control can appear on any page or on all pages. Visual dBASE provides a
special page zero for controls you want on all pages. Developers have
complete control over page navigation. The most common technique for
page navigation is the TabBox control, however developers can also use
any other control such as PushButtons, Menus, SpinBoxes, and VBX
controls.
- TABBOX is a user interface class that gives you the same tab controls
that Visual dBASE uses in its desktop. Although the TabBox is normally
associated with multiple page forms, the Visual dBASE implementation
does not limit it to any specific use.
- MENUBAR acts as the root object of a completely object-oriented menu
tree. It works with the new Menu Designer to automatically create the
Edit and Window menus found in applications that conform to the MDI
model. The Edit menu items (undo, cut, copy and paste) automatically dim
based on the contents of the clipboard and if any text is selected. The
Window menu lists all MDI windows and can switch focus to any selected
window.
- POPUP menus appear on-demand. A common use of popup is a menu that
appears when you right-click. The SpeedMenus that appear when you
right-click in the dBASE Desktop are popup menus. The Popup Designer is
a new Two-Way-Tool for visually programming a custom popup class. The
Form class has a new PopupMenu property that makes creating SpeedMenus
as easy as attaching a MenuBar to a Form.
- SHAPE is a simple user interface class that you can use to draw shapes
(circles, ellipses, squares, etc.) on a form. The properties, methods,
and behavior are similar to those of the line class.
- PAINTBOX is for advanced developers that want to harness the Windows API
to create their own controls. This class provides a generic control that
developers can use as a device context for Windows API functions. The
developer controls all actions of a PaintBox: what is displayed, how
keystrokes are handled, etc. Visual dBASE keeps track of where the
control fits in the Z-Order, what page it appears on and provides a wide
array of events such as focus, mouse, keyboard, and paint messages.
- OLEAUTOCLIENT complements the OLE field support and the OLE control. You
can now use Visual dBASE's dynamic object model to control OLE 2
applications that provide server automation. For example, a dBASE
program can create an instance of the OLEAutoClient class that points to
MS Word. After establishing a connection to MS-Word, the properties of
the instance variable are WordBasic commands. The dBASE program can then
start controlling Word by issuing WordBasic commands.
- ASSOCARRAY or Associative Array is a new array class that lets you use
character strings as the index to the array. Like the standard array
class, AssocArray contains a complete set of methods and properties for
navigating through and manipulating the array. The AssocArray class
dynamically resizes the associative array as you add and remove
elements.
- EXPANDED PROPERTIES for existing classes not only provide for multiple
page forms, but also give you exacting control over the record buffer,
key processing, window handling, colors, and positioning.
- STRONG ENCAPSULATION is now available for any subclassed object. You can
hide or protect any member of a class. Only the methods of the same
class can read or write to a protected member.
- Debugging is now easier than ever. The dBASE debugger now lets you
inspect and modify values contained in local and static variables. You
can use this feature to change properties of a form without leaving the
debugger.
- Literal Array Declaration lets you create and populate arrays with a
single statement. The following command creates an array with three
character elements:
ColorArray = {"Red","White","Blue"}
Note: To accommodate the new array syntax, code blocks must begin with a
semicolon or the pipe character. dBASE 5.0 allowed code blocks containing
values without an initial delimiter. Visual dBASE treats value-only code
blocks without initial delimiters as single element literal arrays.
WINDOWS95 SUPPORT
Visual dBASE supports Windows95 specific features such as long file names,
extended attributes, and universal naming conventions.
- LONG FILE NAMES are one of the biggest changes in the Windows95 new file
system. When running under Windows95, Visual dBASE automatically
supports the new system's long file names. The Navigator and all other
dialogs adjust to fit long file names and maintain case sensitivity.
- EXTENDED ATTRIBUTES are another feature new to the Windows95 file
system. The dBASE language has a new set of corresponding methods and
functions for working with the extended file attributes.
- EMERGING INTERFACE STANDARDS appear throughout Windows95. These changes
include placing the file name first in the windows caption and support
for the application key found on newer keyboards such as Microsoft's
Natural keyboard. The application key opens the SpeedMenu, while
Alt-Application opens a property sheet for the current object. Shift-F10
substitutes for the Application key on keyboards without the Windows
specific keys.
APPLICATION DISTRIBUTION
The Visual dBASE Compiler includes the compiler technology and utilities
you need to distribute your dBASE applications as easily installable
royalty free EXE files. The Visual dBASE Compiler comes with the compile
and build extensions for Visual dBASE, a help compiler, and an application
deployment system.
- THE dBASE COMPILER gives you an easy way to compile your dBASE
applications into EXE files. The compiler extends Visual dBASE with new
commands and dialogs that can create royalty-free EXE files. The
compiler can automatically descend through an application to find and
link all relevant files without the need for a make or project file. The
dBASE compiler also lets you specify an icon and a splash image. You can
dynamically customize your own EXE files using an INI file. In keeping
with dBASE tradition, all the options for creating executables are
available from both the language and visual tools. Like other Visual
dBASE dialogs, the compiler dialogs help you learn the new syntax by
displaying the new commands in the Command window.
- THE HELP COMPILER generates HLP files that can connect your Visual dBASE
applications to the Windows Help system. You can create context
sensitive help systems for your dBASE applications by setting the HelpID
property of any control to a topic in your HLP file. You can use any
editor that saves to RTF (Rich Text Format) to create your help system.
RTF capable editors include Word, WordPerfect, and the Windows95 WordPad
accessory.
- THE APPLICATION DEPLOYMENT SYSTEM completes the last step of the
development process. For the first time, you can use the same install
engine that Borland uses to create your own setup diskettes. The install
engine includes a special version of the famous 'freeway' setup program
customized for compiled Visual dBASE applications. When you deploy an
application, the install engine provides data compression, group
creation, database drivers, and options to brand the setup program with
an application and company name. The resulting disk set provides a clean
distribution system with no changes to your end-user's WINDOWS or
WINDOWS\SYSTEM directories other than a program group and optional VBX
and OLE2 support files.
A T T E N T I O N--A T T E N T I O N--A T T E N T I O N
FARGO PRIMERA PRO COLOR PRINTERS - 600DPI
For a limited time only; If you wish to have a FREE sample printout sent
to you that demonstrates FARGO Primera & Primera Pro SUPERIOR QUALITY
600dpi 24 bit Photo Realistic Color Output, please send a Self Addressed
Stamped Envelope [SASE] (business sized envelope please) to:
STReport's Fargo Printout Offer
P.O. Box 6672
Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6155
Folks, the FARGO Primera Pro has GOT to be the best yet. Its far superior
to the newest of Color Laser Printers selling for more than three times as
much. Its said that ONE Picture is worth a thousand words. Send for this
sample now. Guaranteed you will be amazed at the superb quality. (please,
allow at least a one week turn-around)
A T T E N T I O N--A T T E N T I O N--A T T E N T I O N
___ ___ _____ _______
/___| /___| /_____| /_______/
/____|/____| /__/|__| /__/
/_____|_____|/__/_|__|/__/
/__/|____/|__|________|__/
/__/ |___/ |__|_/ |__|_/_____
/__/ |__/ |__|/ |__|______/
________________________________________
/_______________________________________/
MAC/APPLE SECTION John Deegan, Editor (Temp)
NetScape 1.2 STR FOCUS!
NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR
Netscape Navigator provides access to all major Internet resources with a
single, easy-to-learn graphical user interface. This interface allows you
to browse information and conduct secure electronic commerce easily on the
Internet.
The fastest growing segment of the Internet is the World Wide Web. The Web
consists of thousands of servers, each containing a collection of
multimedia documents published in electronic form. A single page in one of
these documents can include its own hypermedia content and hyperlinks to
other pages. The multimedia information on a page may include color
pictures, hypertext links, audio clips, graphics, digitized movies and
more. Today, companies are using the Internet and World Wide Web to
develop an online presence for a wide variety of applications.
Using Netscape Navigator, you can access information ranging from software
updates to product information to company financial records. You can buy
products securely, using your credit card, at one of the many merchants
already doing business on the Internet. By combining Netscape Navigator
with Netscape servers, you can set up highly secure corporate internal and
external communications for confidential financial information, sensitive
human resource information and future product plans.
You can save printing costs by publishing electronic information on a
global scale. Have your customers use Netscape Navigator to reach your
Netscape servers for the latest information rather than reprinting
expensive brochures. Anything from marketing literature to your favorite
vacation spots can be made available to people on the Internet. Link
arbitrary documents and media types together to present a rich multi-media
experience to the people viewing your information.
If you are a small business, you can set up a presence on the Internet by
publishing a Web page with a local Internet service provider. Then, when
your customers use Netscape Navigator, they have direct, online access to
you, your company, your products, and current information.
Netscape Navigator has a common feature set and interface across Windows,
Macintosh and UNIX. It is the most widely used network browser in the
world today. Independent statistics show that over 75% of the browsers
currently used on the Internet are Netscape Navigators. Today, millions of
people are navigating the Internet with Netscape Navigator.
NEW FEATURES AND BENEFITS FOR
NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR 1.2
Netscape Navigator Version 1.2 includes new features that enhance users'
ability to access information, communicate, and conduct commerce on the
Internet. This release of Netscape Navigator is available for both the
Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 platforms. New features include:
Enhanced bookmark interface. Provides a drag-and-drop, folder-based
interface for saving and accessing your favorite Internet sites. Users can
drag and drop links from any Web page into the bookmark window and arrange
them according to their needs.
Improved FTP interface. Provides the user with greater feedback on the
status of an FTP download, the ability to route the file to a particular
destination, and the ability to perform multiple downloads simultaneously.
Windows 95 features. The 32-bit version of Netscape Navigator has been
designed to take full advantage of the new user interface and advanced
features in Windows 95, including:
Internet shortcuts. Users can create Internet shortcuts to their favorite
Internet sites simply by dragging and dropping a link from a Web page to
the Windows 95 desktop, where it appears as an icon that can be stored
anywhere on the user's hard drive. From the desktop, users just double
click the Internet shortcut icon and Netscape Navigator takes the customer
directly to that site. Users can also create shortcuts from mouse-driven
pop-up menus.
Microsoft Exchange support. Users can send and receive email, create
address lists, and include enclosures from within Netscape Navigator using
the Microsoft Exchange mail client.
FEATURES AND BENEFITS
HIGH PERFORMANCE
Netscape Navigator was designed from the ground up for low-bandwidth
(14.4k bps) environments. As a result, it offers excellent performance.
Some of the methods that enhance performance include:
Multiple, simultaneous loading of text and images (progressive rendering)
Continuous document streaming
Intelligent three-level persistent caching
Native JPEG decompression
OPEN STANDARDS AND INTEROPERABILITY
Netscape Navigator provides an integrated network browsing solution for
corporate or personal use, regardless of the specific requirements:
Full support of all World Wide Web standards and interoperability with
most common network servers
Native support for HTTP, FTP, Gopher, and NNTP (news), so you don't need
separate applications
Cross-platform development that guarantees a common interface and common
behavior (see list of supported platforms)
INTEGRATED SECURITY
Netscape Navigator uses the open Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol and
RSA encryption technology to enable commerce and secure communications on
the network. This multiprotocol security method is currently implemented
to provide secure versions of NNTP (news) and HTTP. SSL has been adopted
by major Internet venders, financial institutions, and certification
authorities. It provides:
Server authentication, which verifies the identity of the server through a
certificate and a digital signature
Encryption, which ensures the privacy of client/server communications by
encrypting the data stream between the two entities
Message integrity, which verifies that the contents of a message arrives
at its destination in the same form as it was sent.
EASE OF USE
Netscape Navigator is designed to be used by beginners-not just computer
and network experts. It provides simple point-and-click access to all the
information on the network and a number of advanced interface elements to
make accessing that information easier and more pleasant:
User-configurable graphic user interface (GUI)
Toolbar for frequently used commands
Bookmark facility that lets users maintain, index, and search a
hierarchical list of favorite network sites
Pop-up menus that provide context-sensitive access to advanced features.
ADVANCED FEATURES
Netscape Navigator implements standards-based features that place it at
the leading-edge of commercial browsers:
Full HTML 3.0 tables support
Fully threaded news reading
MIME-compliant news reading and posting to allow multimedia news articles
Cross-platform API support to allow integration with third-party
applications
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Full compliance with network standards - serves as a drop-in replacement
for any HTTP-compliant network browser
Interoperability with common network servers (HTTP, Gopher, FTP, NNTP,
SMTP)
Ability to display richly formatted hypermedia documents (using HTML 2.0)
Advanced document layout capabilities via HTML 3.0 tables and graphical
backdrops
Full cross-platform support, which provides a common look, feel, and
behavior across the most popular computing platforms
Sophisticated remote control and interapplication communication
capabilities via OLE/DDE (Windows), AppleEvents (Mac), and X events
(Unix/X) APIs
Advanced interface design delivering state-of-the-art ease of use
User-configurable GUI
Bookmark facility that lets users maintain, index, and search a
hierarchical list of favorite network sites
Context-sensitive pop-up menu attached to right mouse button to allow the
user to perform a variety of common operations on documents, links, and
images
Enhanced Usenet news interface, including hierarchical newsgroup browsing
and searching, usability options for low-bandwidth connections, and
transparent MIME message handling for multimedia and hypermedia news
postings
Multiprotocol, standards-based security built-in
Support for HTTP over Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to provide secure
transfer of Web pages and forms data
Secure Usenet news/conferencing capabilities via SSL support for NNTP
Ability to route SSL-based connections (HTTP or NNTP) through proxy
servers
Support for Japanese text in documents
Dynamic documents - the ability of a server to push new data down to a
Netscape Navigator window, for continuously or regularly updated
information: stock quotes, weather maps, and the like
Native AU and AIFF sound support (Windows only)
PLATFORM REQUIREMENTS
Processor Disc Space Memory (Minimum) Memory (Recommended)
Windows 386sx 386sx 1MB 4MB 8MB
Macintosh 68020 2MB 4MB 8MB
Unix N/A 3MB 16MB 16MB
SUPPORTED PLATFORMS
Intel (x86) based:
Windows 3.1
Windows for Workgroups 3.11
Windows 95
Windows NT
Apple Macintosh:
Macintosh System 7 or later
MacOS
PowerPC
Unix:
Digital Equipment Corp. Alpha (OSF/1 2.0)
Hewlett-Packard 700-series (HP-UX 9.03)
IBM RS/6000 AIX 3.2
Silicon Graphics (IRIX 5.2)
Sun SPARC (Solaris 2.3, SunOS 4.1.3)
386/486/Pentium (BSDI)
Find out more about Netscape at info@netscape.com
or call 415/528-2555.
Copyright 1995 Netscape Communications Corporation
ApproveIT STR Spotlight
ApproveIT, the First Secure, Hand Written Signature,
Approval System for MS Word using Intelligent
Signature Technology
Montreal, Quebec-Canada--July, 1995. Silanis Technology Inc. announced
today, that they are shipping ApproveIT for Microsoft Word for Windows.
ApproveIT was designed to provide the missing link between digital
signatures, which protect the integrity of a document in the electronic
domain, and paper signatures which approve the printed contents of a
document. ApproveIT brings companies one step closer to their elusive
quest for the Paperless Office, without sacrificing the familiarity,
security and ease of use of hand written signatures on paper documents.
ApproveIT is for all users who generate signed paper documents such as a
letters, agreements, faxes, purchase orders, etc. Traditionally, these
original documents are identified by a signature and any tampering or
altering of data may be detected through a visual examination of the
signed documents.. "ApproveIT, enables users to create and securely sign
documents electronically, produce signed paper copies if required, and
eliminate the need to generate a printed copy to be archived. Signatures
are added to the documents directly from a variety of pen-based input
devices or from a signature capture file, using a password." says Tommy
Petrogiannis, Director of R&D of Silanis Technology Inc..
The Signature Intelligence of ApproveIT ensures that the document contents
are preserved at the exact moment of signing. If an electronic document
was previously signed using ApproveIT, it is verified to ensure the
contents have remained unchanged since that prior approval. If a document
is modified after approval, the intelligent signature detects the change
and will not print or display the signature with the altered document.
Furthermore, the electronic signatures are protected from tampering and
copying utilizing sophisticated encryption technology.
Document management costs are significantly reduced by allowing users to
completely manage the creation, revision and approval of documents
electronically. ApproveIT is easily integrated into existing document
management systems with minimal procedural modifications, thus enabling
companies to finally bridge the gap between the electronic document world
and the paper document world. The need for paper copies and forms can
almost be eliminated, thereby dramatically reducing document storage and
handling costs.
Dave Hastie, Senior CAD officer of Ontario Hydro, Canada, wrote, When
fully installed and incorporated with our document management system,
we would expect the electronic signature system to save Ontario Hydro at
least one million dollars per year in reduced printing costs
Craig Downing, President of New World Solutions, Monterey, Mexico, said,
Companies currently using paper-based approval systems can use ApproveIT
to approve documents electronically, without having to completely change
their approval procedures. Since many firms are moving towards achieving
ISO-9000 quality standards, signature approval is definitely an issue.
ApproveIT will alleviate a major concern of generating significant amounts
of paper documents.
ApproveIT sells for $149 US and currently supports Microsoft Word for
Windows versions. 2.0 and 6.0. in English. French, Spanish and German
versions will be released in Qtr. 3/95. ApproveIT for WordPerfect will be
released June 30, 1995. Future releases in 1995 will support, Lotus Notes,
Lotus 1-2-3, Delrina Form Flow, Excel and a number of popular databases..
Copies and licenses may be ordered through authorized dealers, or by
contacting Silanis Technology Inc. at Tel: (514) 369-4161,
Fax: (514) 624-4793 or CompuServe 71163,3712
Editorial Contact:
Joseph Silvester -- Phone: 514-626-0029
Fax: 514-624-4793
CompuServe 71163,3712
Silanis Technology was founded in 1992 to design and develop signature and
other personal identification software utilizing pen-computing and imaging
technology, to work in conjunction with electronic document management
systems. ERA, the ERA logo, ApproveIT and Silanis are trademarks of
Silanis Technology Inc. All other trademarks used in this document,
registered or otherwise are hereby acknowledged. ApproveIT and Silanis are
trademarks of Silanis Technology Inc. All other trademarks used in this
document, registered or otherwise are hereby acknowledged.
ATARI/JAG SECTION Dana Jacobson, Editor
From the Atari Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!"
Hurricane Erin seems to be a memory, but now Felix seems headed
our way on the eastern coast to remind us just how screwy the weather
can be these days! What a summer! What a vacation! It's probably
going to be some time before I get some more "mental health" days off,
but that's okay. These occasional weeks off this summer have served
its purpose - rest and relaxation (for the most part!).
Well, let's get down to work, shall we. We've got a large and
interesting segment for you this week, so I'm not going to waste much
time getting right into it this week. The computer scene has been
quiet lately regarding the Atari line. It seems that Microsoft has
been dominating the news lately (not that we're overly interested!) and
Windows '95 will be arriving soon. Yawn...
I've got a CDROM up and running on the new Falcon, so I'll be
getting to some CD reviews shortly. One of the first CDs that I have
received has been the Suzy B's collection. I'll tell you, this 2-CD
collection is jam-packed with some terrific software! Look for
information about this set, and others, in the weeks to come.
Well, it's time to stretch out the few remaining hours left of
this vacation, so excuse me while I grab a cold beer and relax!
Until next time...
Delphi's Atari Advantage!
TOP TEN DOWNLOADS (8/16/95)
(1) MEMWATCH 4 (6) CD_LIST UPDATE - JULY 1995
(2) IN-TOUCH 1.52 *(7) REJOINDER
(3) HCOPY 1.6S (8) CALENDAR TEMPLATE
(4) DIAMOND EDGE PATCH *(9) OCR V.1.4
(5) ATARI COMMUNITY EMAIL LIST *(10) DUFTP - WWW BROWSER
* = New on list
HONORARY TOP 10
The following on-line magazines are always top downloads, frequently
out-performing every other file in the databases.
ST REPORT (Current issue: STREPORT 11.32
ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE (Current issue: AEO: VOLUME 4, ISSUE 5)
Look for the above files in the RECENT ARRIVALS database.
Dallas Atari Show! STR Show Update!
For those who missed it, or who just need to be reminded, here are the
details on this October's Atari show in Dallas.
The Atari Users of North Texas Computer Exposition
The Atari Users of North Texas (AUNT) presents the D/FW Exchange
Underground Computer Exposition (DEUCE). The show will be held in
Dallas this October in conjunction with the monthly DFW XChange
Corporation "Super Saturday" activities at the beautiful Dallas
Infomart. Show date is Saturday, October 7th. The exposition, along
with the Super Saturday activities, is free and open to the general
public. The one day exposition will begin at 8:30 AM and run until
4:00 PM. Both a Friday evening pre-show get together and a post show
get together are also being planned.
October is a great time to visit the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. For
one thing we probably have better weather in October than most of the
rest of the world. The DFW Xchange Corporation "Super Saturday"
activities are a monthly computer extravaganza where thousands of
computer enthusiast get together, share their computer interests and
enjoy some of the best computer and high-tech electronic buys in Texas.
This October will be special for us Atarians because many of our finest
developers and dealers will be participating in the activities.
The Dallas Infomart facility - a replica of the famous 1895 World Fair
Crystal Palace - is located in the heart of the Dallas Market District.
The facility is leased by the DFW Xchange Corporation each month to
provide a community service to all computer users in the Metroplex
area. The Atari Users of North Texas is one of many participating user
groups that help support this community service by sharing our Atari
computer interests, general computer expertise and providing user
assistance to our local Atarians and the interested general public.
Vendors currently planning on participating include: It's All Relative,
Systems for Tomorrow, chroMagic, Crawly Crypt Corporation, Oregon
Research, Dave Munsie, DMJ Software and Branch Always Software.
Vendors interested in participating can contact:
David Acklam
(214) 242-9655
GEnie ...... D.ACKLAM
Internet .... d.acklam@genie.geis.com.
AUNT will be publishing a small format (8.5 X 5.5) Program Guide for
the DEUCE show. The main purpose will be to provide ad space for
Atari-related product dealers and software publishers. Due to the rules
of the D/FW XChange, these ads will be AUNT's only source of income
from the show. You need not be a show participant to advertise in the
Guide, any Atari-related advertising or advertising from companies
marketing Atari products will be accepted.
All ads will be monochrome (black & white). The advertising rates will be
the same per square inch as the new lower rates charged for ads in our
monthly newsletter, AUNT BYTES:
11 X 8.5 double page $12.00 US
5.5 X 8.5 single page $7.00 US
5.5 X 4.25 half page $4.00 US
Pages will have .25" margins all around, but double page ads need not
allow for a center margin. Ad copy can be submitted "camera ready" for
paste-up or in a number of digital formats including:
Calamus(1.09, SL, NT) PageStream
1st Word, 1st Word+, Word Writer ASCII Text
RTF (AtariWorks or ANSI) WordPerfect
IMG GIF TIFF IFF
BMP CVG GEM EPS
PI[1-3] PC[1-3, X, D] PNT MAC
NEO TN[1-3] TGA AIM
RAW ???
Aw heck, just send whatever you have; somebody down here will be able
to do something with it to make you look good.
Send it (hardcopy, 720K or 1.44MB floppy] to:
John L. Battey
717 Juniper Ln.
Lewisville, TX 75067283517
USA
or electronically to:
GEnie GEMail J.BATTEY1
Internet j.battey@genie.geis.com
or j.battey@genie.com
AUNT BBS [2144469733] J. L. Battey
If you are inclined to data compression, use any compression technique
that seems safe to you. If I can't decompress it, I'm sure our Sysop
can.
John L. Battey
Dal.I-Dotter
UK National Lottery Companion 2! STR InfoFile! Available Now!
UK National Lottery Companion 2!
Following on from Lottery Companion 1 which achieved 60% in ST Format,
Lottery Companion 2 is now available.
The program is arguably the most powerful and comprehensive National
Lottery Program available for the Atari range of computers, and even
runs on the Falcon.
Complete UK statistics including Ball Set, Draw Machine, Draw Order and
Date of Draw are included.
It uses a friendly combination of Windows, Drop-down menu's and
Resource fields and buttons on top of a powerful number generation and
statistical engine.
Random, Manual, Range, Hot, Cold, and Wheel with 0 to 5 Bankers can be
used to select over 7000 number sets per file. you can have as data
files as you like with personal or syndicate number sets.
The program is Shareware with Registration and six months Support from as
little as five pounds.
But why not look for yourself? - Message a request for a copy of the
program personally to me, and I'll be happy to mail it back in UUE
format. Alternatively send a Disc and S.A.E. to LC2, 8 Brookside,
LE10 2TL.
Note: This is not a ruse to add your name to a mailing list, I am an
independent Shareware author who has been writing for the Atari 16/32 bit
range since 1988. I will only contact you again if invited to do so.
It's great to see such a thriving Atari community of the NET, and I look
forward to becoming involved in the many On-Line discussions.
I hope to hear from you soon.
--
Mark Butler
Spooky Sprites 4! STR InfoFile! - Falcon True Color Sprites!
From: Johan Karlsson <d92jk@efd.lth.se> on the Usenet:
Spooky Sprites is a true colour sprite creator for Atari Falcon. It's
freeware and has been uploaded to ftp.cnam.fr.
Some of the changes from the the last version are:
The largest change is that you can use the sprite editor in double
pixel mode (768*240) if you use a rgb monitor or tv. The video mode
is changed in the preferences menu. Switching between ntsc and pal on
rgb now works as it's supposed to do (you cannot do this on vga
monitors). Doubling and halving of sprite width is now implemented.
This allows you to convert medium resolution sprites to low res and
vice versa. New paste mode Merge. Pictures can now be saved in a run
length encoded format. Faster sprite loading. Flood fill added. Can
be installed as TRS application and load sprite files automatically.
You may now create a picture containing all sprites. Some multitasking
during the most time consuming operations. Lots of minor bugs removed.
Hope you like it!
Johan
JAGUAR SECTION
Ted Hoff Speaks Out Again! CATnips!
Battlesphere! Gaming News!
Atari 2nd Quarter Results!
And Much More!
From the Editor's Controller Playin' it like it is!
The Atari online community is going to see some amazing changes
and activity real soon. It's going to be exciting for the online
Jaguar userbase, especially. In the next couple of months, STReport
will be bringing it all to you as it happens, so stay tuned.
The JaguarCD is less than a week away! It's been a long time
coming, but our patience will soon be rewarded. Let's hope that the
machine matches up to the hype we've all been hearing for the past few
months! Personally, I believe that it will. I'm excited, and looking
forward to this additional Jaguar hardware. We're still waiting for
our review unit and games, and I'm told that this should be taken care
of soon. Reviews, as soon as they're ready, will be in abundance.
This past weekend played host to the second Jaguar conference held
on CompuServe by the Jaguar Journal's publisher, Jeff Norwood. It was
a lot of fun on and behind the scenes. In fact, the conference lasted
for SIX hours! We've got the majority of the transcript in this issue
(I may have missed the last 15 minutes or so!).
So let's get to it! Lots of interesting bits of news and
information for you this week.
Until next time...
Jaguar Catalog STR InfoFile What's currently available, what's
coming out.
Current Available Titles ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CAT # TITLE MSRP DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER
J9000 Cybermorph $59.99 Atari Corp.
J9006 Evolution:Dino Dudes $29.99 Atari Corp.
J9005 Raiden $29.99 FABTEK, Inc/Atari Corp.
J9001 Trevor McFur/
Crescent Galaxy $29.99 Atari Corp.
J9010 Tempest 2000 $59.95 Llamasoft/Atari Corp.
J9028 Wolfenstein 3D $69.95 id/Atari Corp.
JA100 Brutal Sports FtBall $69.95 Telegames
J9008 Alien vs. Predator $69.99 Rebellion/Atari Corp.
J9029 Doom $69.99 id/Atari Corp.
J9036 Dragon: Bruce Lee $39.99 Atari Corp.
J9003 Club Drive $59.99 Atari Corp.
J9007 Checkered Flag $39.99 Atari Corp.
J9012 Kasumi Ninja $69.99 Atari Corp.
J9042 Zool 2 $59.99 Atari Corp
J9020 Bubsy $49.99 Atari Corp
J9026 Iron Soldier $59.99 Atari Corp
J9060 Val D'Isere Skiing $59.99 Atari Corp.
Cannon Fodder $49.99 Virgin/C-West
Syndicate $69.99 Ocean
Troy Aikman Ftball $69.99 Williams
Theme Park $69.99 Ocean
Sensible Soccer Telegames
Double Dragon V $59.99 Williams
J9009E Hover Strike $59.99 Atari Corp.
J0144E Pinball Fantasies $59.99 C-West
J9052E Super Burnout $59.99 Atari
White Men Can't Jump $69.99 Atari
Flashback $59.99 U.S. Gold
Available Soon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CAT # TITLE MSRP DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER
Ultra Vortek $69.99 Atari
Flip-Out TBD Atari
Rayman TBD UBI Soft
Power Drive Rally TBD TWI
Jaguar CD-ROM $149.99 Atari
Hardware and Peripherals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CAT # TITLE MSRP MANUFACTURER
J8001 Jaguar (complete) $189.99 Atari Corp.
J8001 Jaguar (no cart) $159.99 Atari Corp.
J8904 Composite Cable $19.95
J8901 Controller/Joypad $24.95 Atari Corp.
J8905 S-Video Cable $19.95
CatBox $69.95 ICD
Industry News STR Game Console NewsFile - The Latest Gaming News!
-/- Rating Board Marks Milestone -/-
The Entertainment Software Rating Board reports that it has rated
over 800 personal computer and video software products since it opened
its doors less than a year ago.
The New York-based ESRB assigns products a rating in one of five
categories: Early Childhood (ages 3+), Kids to Adults (ages 6+), Teen
(ages 13+), Mature (ages 17+) and Adults Only. The ESRB also applies
content "descriptors" where appropriate -- short phrases that give more
information about a product's content.
"The ESRB's goal is to give consumers the information they need to
make informed purchasing decisions about interactive entertainment
titles," says Arthur Pober, the ESRB's executive director.
According to Pober, the ESRB has evaluated 508 video games and
304 floppy disk and CD-ROM titles.
-/- 180,000 Copies of Game Shipped -/-
Activision Inc. says it has shipped over 180,000 copies of its
new Mechwarrior 2 game to retail outlets across the U.S. and Canada,
marking one of the largest entertainment CD-ROM releases this year.
The 3-D combat-simulation, which was released on July 24, is being
carried in over 10,000 stores, says the Los Angeles- based software
publisher. Translated and localized versions of Mechwarrior 2 for the
international market are scheduled to ship in September.
A space battle game, Mechwarrior 2 allows dual users to compete
head-to-head in real time via a modem link. As many as eight players
can battle cooperatively or competitively over a local area network.
"Mechwarrior 2 looks like the strongest title of the summer," says
Jerry Madaio, senior buyer for retailer Electronic Boutique.
-/- Video Game Systems Set to Soar -/-
Dataquest Inc. is forecasting a soaring market for video game
systems.
The market researcher, based in San Jose, California, notes that
as video game companies begin to focus on 32-bit and 64-bit platforms,
video game console shipments will climb from less than 5 million units
in 1995 to nearly 18 million by the year 2000.
Dataquest reports that while overall shipments of 8-bit and 16-bit
video game consoles have fallen, shipments of next- generation consoles
are expected to brake the overall market slide in 1995. In late 1997,
says Dataquest, new 32-bit and 64-bit consoles will begin to drive new
market growth.
The company notes that soaring console shipments should also
benefit chip manufacturers. It forecasts that chip sales for the
next-generation machines will reach $2.3 billion by 2000.
-/- Star Trek Software Deal Set -/-
Viacom New Media says it has formed a strategic alliance with
entertainment software developer Looking Glass Technologies Inc. and
has taken a minority equity position in the company.
The deal calls for Looking Glass to develop several titles on
multiple platforms for Viacom. The first title, scheduled for release
in 1996, will be a program based on the Star Trek: Voyager television
series.
"Looking Glass is an outstanding creative and technical
organization with a strong track record of developing breakthrough
entertainment software," says Michele DiLorenzo, president of Viacom
New Media.
Looking Glass has emerged as one of the premier creators of
interactive entertainment, independently producing and publishing the
recently released Flight Unlimited and the upcoming Terra Novea Strike
Force Centauri. The company is headquartered in Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
Viacom New Media currently publishes several Star Trek CD-ROM
titles, as well as titles based on The Indian in the Cupboard and
Congo feature films and MTV's Beavis and Butthead cartoon series.
-/- Mindscape: Games for Windows 95 -/-
Mindscape Inc. has unveiled 10 multimedia software titles that
make use of Microsoft Corp.'s new Windows 95 operating system, reports
Dow Jones News.
The first of the 32-bit products is Al Unser Jr. Arcade Racing, a
game that will be released on or soon after Aug. 24, the launch date
for Windows 95. The game will cost $39.99.
Mindscape developed this game along with Warhammer, CyberSpeed,
Chessmaster 5000, and USS Ticonderoga using Microsoft's Windows 95
game software development kit, which Mindscape helped to define and
shape.
Other titles that will carry the Windows 95 logo are Adventures of
Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing!
Version 4.0, Mindscape Complete Reference Library, Mindscape U.S.
Atlas Version 6, and Mindscape World Atlas Version 6.
The CD-ROMs will be available this fall at prices that range from
$34.99 to $49.99.
ATARI CORPORATION GOES TO BAT FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
COMMUNITY FUND
SUNNYVALE (August 1, 1995) -- On Saturday, August 12, Atari Corporation
will donate $10,500 to the San Francisco Giants Community Fund. With
over 300 Atari Corporation employees and their families in attendance,
Sam Tramiel, President and C.E.O. of Atari Corporation, will present
the donation to Giants' third baseman Matt Williams as the team faces
the Chicago Cubs at Candlestick Park. Last year, Atari Corporation
committed to donate $250 for every home run Matt Williams hit. Williams
met Atari Corporation's challenge, hitting forty-two home runs, and
raising a grand total of $10,500 for the Giants Community Fund.
"Atari Corporation is a proud supporter of the Giants Community Fund.
It is a vital organization, as it champions key programs for all ages,"
comments Atari Corporation President Sam Tramiel.
The San Francisco Giants Community Fund is a non-profit organization
dedicated to the improvement of local communities through the funding
of the Jr. Giants Baseball Program and other charitable endeavors. In
1994, the Junior Giants program, which focuses on self-esteem training,
ethics and teamwork, served nearly 5,000 children in more than 50
communities.
Since its inception in 1991, the San Francisco Giants Fund has donated
hundreds of thousands of dollars to non-profit organizations throughout
Northern California. Recipients of the 1995 grant awards include Golden
Gate Senior Services, Friends of Recreation and Parks, Hospice of Marin,
and the San Francisco Consortium for Elder Abuse Prevention.
Contact: Jessie Nagel or Jennifer Hansen
Dorf & Stanton Communication, Inc.
310/479-4997 or 810/444-6663
For over 20 years, Atari Corporation has provided consumers with
high-quality value-priced entertainment. Atari Corporation, located in
Sunnyvale, CA, markets Jaguar, the only American-made advanced 64-Bit
entertainment system.
# # # #
ATARI CORPORATION ANNOUNCES SECOND QUARTER 1995 RESULTS
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Atari Corporation (AMEX:ATC)
today reported its financial results for the second quarter ended
June 30, 1995.
Net Sales for the second quarter of 1995 were $3.0 million, as
compared to the sales for the second quarter of 1994 of $8.2 million.
As a result of the low sales volume, the company incurred a Net Loss of
$4.0 million for the second quarter 1995 as compared to a Net Loss of
$3.4 million for the same period of 1994.
Commenting on the report, Sam Tramiel, Chief Executive Officer said,
"The results were as expected, as the industry is currently going
through a transition from older 16-bit systems to higher-technology
32-bit and 64-bit system. We believe the Jaguar is competitively
priced and well-positioned to take advantage of this transition."
Commenting on marketing and sales, Ted Hoff, President of Northern
American Operations, said, "Our focus is on creating compelling
software for Jaguar and in July we commenced shipment of 'Super
Burnout' and 'White Men Can't Jump.' Additionally, third party
developers shipped 'Flashback' and 'Pinball Fantasies.' During August,
Atari will ship 'FlipOut!' and 'Ultra Vortek,' and we will commence
shipments of the Jaguar CD Player for a retail price of $149.95. The
Jaguar CD Player will include two free games, 'Blue Lightning,' 'Vid
Grid,' and a demo version of 'Myst,' plus an audio CD of the soundtrack
from the hit Jaguar game 'Tempest 2000.' In September, Atari will be
increasing distribution in the mass marketing channels and will launch
a dynamic marketing campaign.'
Atari Corporation has been in the video game business for over
twenty years. Today, Atari markets the 64-bit Jaguar, the only
American-made entertainment system. Atari Corporation is based in
Sunnyvale, California.
ATARI CORPORATION
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
(in thousands, except per share)
Quarter Ended Six Months Ended
June 30, June 30, June 30, June 30,
1995 1994 1995 1994
Net Sales $ 3,015 $ 8,194 $ 7,762 $16,350
Operating Income (loss) (4,890) (3,887) (10,048) (7,259)
Exchange Gain (loss) (8) 580 (3) 852
Other Income (Expense) Net 648 168 1,003 2,560(a)
Interest Income Net of Interest
(Expense) 263 (259) 635 (478)
Net Income (loss) $(3,987) $(3,398) $(8,413) $(4,325)
Earnings Per Common and Equivalent Share:
Net Income (loss) $ (0.06) $ (0.06) $ (0.13) $ (0.07)
Weighted Average number of shares
used in computation 63,687 58,511 63,687 57,865
(a) Includes settlement of litigation of $2.2 million.
-0- 8/14/95
CONTACT: August J. Liguori of Atari Corporation,
408-745-2069 or 408-745-2173
(ATC) CO: Atari Corp. ST: California IN: CPR SU: ERN
-* Beyond Games *-
Salt Lake Company Takes Video Games to the Next Dimension
From Utah Computing, Vol. 1 Issue 1
Salt Lake City, UT computing newspaper
(c) Copyright 1995, by Utah Computing
Permission granted to re-publish article in STReport
by Amber McKee
(Reproduced by Marty Mankins)
I am standing out in the middle of the street - a scantily clad
blonde names Volcana, with tall boots and toned muscles - poised to
beat the crud out of the granite-faced Grok. A crowd of cheering
ruffians looks on, leering and cheering on my somewhat inevitable
destruction, being a newcomer, as I am, to this game.
Grok comes at me with a rock-hard fist. I feint and aim a
well-placed, full-legged kick at his head. He's momentarily stunned,
but recovers with a punch to my abdomen. I'm knocked off my feet and
melt into the pavement.
Oh, that's right, I'm Volcana.
Restored to the playing field, I throw a fireball or two at Grok's
head, which keeps him at bay momentarily. He lunges, trying to wrap me
in a death-grip. Down into the pavement I melt again - this time on
purpose - popping up behind Grok, which catches him off guard. I take
advantage and knock him out with a couple of flaming fisted uppercuts.
It's over! I've won! A deep, raspy, evil-sounding voice says
nastily, "Volcana is victorious!"
The young game designer, whose keypad motions animated the stone
warrior, looks at me dubiously and says, "Are you sure you've never
played before?"
The game in question is Ultra Vortex (tm), the newest endeavor of
the Salt Lake City-based company, Beyond Games. Ultra Vortex is an
action-packed "platform-type" fighting game designed for the Atari
Jaguar, and is - as of this writing - due to be out on the shelves in
June.
This game and Beyond Games are the brainchild of 27-year-old
computer programmer and game designer Kris Johnson, whose former forays
into game production include BattleWheels (tm), a three-dimensional
shoot 'em up, which was scrapped in order to facilitate production on
Ultra Vortex.
Although Beyond Games is still a small company, its achievements
belie the fact. BattleWheels won the Innovations Award and raves from
excited gamers at the 1993 Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. It
also garnered the attention of Atari, who will be doing all the
marketing and licensing for the upcoming Ultra Vortex.
"This time," Johnson explained, "we want to focus on the product,
although I'm not ruling out marketing for the future."
Additionally, Johnson and Beyond Games are currently in
negotiations with Atari to produce a CD-ROM-based sequel to
Alien vs. Predator. If an agreement is reached, Atari would finance
the production, with creative direction coming from Twentieth Century
Fox.
As for Ultra Vortex, well, Atari Jag devotees can smugly enjoy its
arcade-game action. It is a home video game player's dream, with its
variety of characters to choose from - some animated, some video-taped.
Others are computer animated like the Terminator.
Still others, Johnson said, are puppets, photographed frame by
frame until the myriad of motions necessary to animate the game have
been captured on film. Using stop-motion puppets, he added, "was new
to me. There's a learning curve. It takes a while until you're
getting the lighting just right and know which frames to use."
The Final Guardian, whose evil rasp - courtesy of Beyond Games'
Tym Hunttsman - declared Volcana's victory and whom Vortex junkies
must defeat to ultimately triumph at the game, is one of those
stop-motion puppets. (Albeit, an ugly one.)
As of late April, it wasn't quite working yet, although Johnson
assures me that when it is, it will be "brutal. We need to add a few
more moves to really tweak it out."
After Ultra Vortex is out of production and on to store shelves
across the country, Beyond Games is planning to release a Jaguar
version of its successful Lynx game, BattleWheels. However, that
poses its own set of problems, since part of the appeal to BattleWheels
is its ability to provide six different players with a "go" at the
field simultaneously.
In fact, it was that multi-player, "linked" format which
originally drew Johnson to the Lynx as a vehicle (no pun intended) for
his game. "That, to me - multi-player, interactive games - is an
ultimate goal. Whether that's tied in or through modems," he explained.
The Jaguar version is due out sometime this fall. Hard on its
heels will be the newest game venture, a thus-far unnamed 3-D adventure,
similar at least in format to Mario Bros. or Sonic.
Fans can expect the same "arcade quality" movements and rendering
out of this game as well. "We are pushing the number of frames we can
use," Johnson said. 'Typical games utilize four or five per second.
We have up to 30 frames for specific moves [in this game]."
Beyond Games utilizes "high-end" Macintoshes and Silicon Graphics
for its art, animation and 3_D rendering, while all development and
code-writing for the games is PC-based.
Johnson himself has been programming since Tandy's TRS-80 was the
latest in sophisticated equipment.
"I've been designing video games since I was eight years old," he
said, quipping, "I've been working a long time toward a quality
product."
But how does a game go from a good idea to a finished, quality
product? "It's really tough sometimes. You take a handful of ideas,
and start out by writing out the feasibility of each idea," Johnson
said. "Then you pick one of the games. [Using] preliminary, working
demos, you choose the one with the best feasibility."
Sometimes - such as was the case with CyberVirus - a game even
makes it off drawing table and into production before it is scrapped
for a better project.
"A good game has got to have playability and a good ending. It's
vital to have a good ending. There has got to be some kind of pay
off," he explained. "You also have to be able to pick it up and
instantly be able to play - enough to enjoy it, that is. There's got
to be room for advancement."
To evaluate its efforts, Beyond Games utilizes a handful of Beta
testers - that is people who try out preliminary versions of the game
and report their opinions back. Additionally, Game Peddler has a
version in the store, Johnson said, for customers who want to give a
precursory Ultra Vortex a try. "They give us good input," he said.
What lies ahead? Well, games and more games, of course. Johnson
and his staff are vigilantly keeping their eyes out for the
competition's new games and new systems which challenge the
norm - although Johnson doesn't seem too worried.
"There are very few, very hot games. I can't really put my finger
on one particular game...." he hesitates a moment then adds, almost
jubilantly, "Doom! Doom is great! I like a lot of arcade action. It
has good control and is reasonably innovative."
He adds, that while game programming is a field with "massive
competition, I do feel like we have an advantage: We are all thorough
game players. There's a big difference in a company whether it's
marketing-run or creatively-run."
Volcana Would probably agree (or maybe just give you a swift kick).
[For more information on Beyond Games, write P.O. Box 2754, Salt Lake
City, UT 84110]
Jaguar Online STR InfoFile Online Users Growl & Purr!
A message from;
MR. TED HOFF, PRESIDENT ATARI NORTH AMERICA
A couple weeks back, I sent out a public response to the on-line
concerns and confusion I was hearing about "Fight For Life". I want
you to know that I appreciate the megabytes of feedback everyone sent
back through the channels. You helped reassure me that I was hearing
you properly from the beginning and the decision to re-examine the
"Fight For Life" project was a good one.
Now that I have been with Atari for a short while, I find myself very
glad I came on board with my sleeves already rolled up. The people I
counseled with told me that consumers were concerned about very
specific aspects of Atari development and support. I was told Atari
Jaguar users were happy, but they were also hungry and I realized that
one of my highest priorities was to set the table. I have now taken a
hard look under the hood and I can tell you I agree. The Atari engine
needs a tune-up. On the other hand, I found a lot of high-quality
polished steel and we have a heck of a lot going for us. Of course all
the improvements we need to make will not all happen overnight. I know
you've all heard this before, but we continue to need a bit more of
your valued patience.
I hope everyone realizes I cannot share everything I am working on, but
I do feel obligated to stay in touch with our most faithful users.
Please allow me to share some of the things I am working on.
Not too long ago, Atari hosted a media day at Atari which turned out
being a fun and very worthwhile event. It was an opportunity to speak
directly to the gaming industry's most prominent media personalities,
grant them unusual interviews, offer them previews and answer their
questions. I am sure you have read about the event in one of the
on-line publications already. Based on that success and addressing my
eagerness to entice more publications to cover the Jaguar, Ron Beltramo
and our PR agency are helping me to arrange a big media presentation
next month.
The decision to provide the Team Tap peripheral with "White Men Can't
Jump" seems to very popular. I will be looking hard at similar ways to
give our loyal gamers great stuff like that in the future. Please check
this title out. Don Thomas just sent out a CATnips with an accumulation
of kudos collected from all the major on-line services. Look for the
latest on-line publications for reprints of that lengthy file.
We have just updated our snail mail list again and we have very
definite plans to use it soon so watch your mailbox. I have heard from
retailers telling me their customers are walking in to stores with the
postcards in hand so I know they seem to be working. I think you'll see
that entire campaign become more frequent and improve as we integrate
the mechanism into our routine.
We are taking a hard look at exploiting the growth of the Internet to
provide more timely news, unprecedented levels of support and access
to our company. I think we have a really cool company and I want people
to experience that with us.
You should all realize that right now is a very critical 4th quarter
planning time. There's the CD-ROM and a lot of software tumbling out
of the factories fast. To do it right, we are discussing specific
strategies with key retailers to accommodate their marketing plans.
Some brand new local and national retailers are coming on board...
names you've been telling us need to carry the Jaguar. Don Thomas has
been persistent with me with a request to let him know as soon as we
can make announcements. I've promised him I will keep him informed.
By the way, the Jaguar CD-ROM is still scheduled to begin shipping on
August 24th. I know there were once a lot of debates about VidGrid
(which just so happens to be a lot of fun), but "Blue Lightning" and
the "Tempest 2000" Soundtrack will also be tossed in the mix. On top of
that, I've seen to it that a playable Demo of "Myst" is included. The
"Myst" demo will help highlight visual aspects of the complete
CD-ROM/Jaguar 64 system that are nothing less than astounding. The
software which adds up to over $100 value is all part of the CD-ROM
package.
I am going to make an effort to regularly issue a statement like this
to keep people up-to-date. I'm sure you understand I cannot answer
everyone's questions individually, but I don't want to be moving
forward without knowing how you feel. Make sure your
forum/roundtable/topic SysOps collect your questions and forward them
to Don Thomas [75300.1267@compuserve.com]. If he cannot answer the
question right away, I'll see what I can do to answer it for everyone.
Finally, it is most important to once again say "thanks". I want you to
know that your word-of-mouth support of the Atari product line is
valued very much.
--Ted Hoff
President, North America Operations
Atari Corporation
CATnips... Jaguar tidbits from Don Thomas (95.08.15)
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
We are fast approaching August 24th and the BIG day... the long
awaited launch of the Jaguar 64 CD-ROM. Yea! I'm told everything is
lined up perfectly for the launch and large batches of units will be
on store shelves by the first week of September.
I received my copy of "Flashback" a couple days ago. I guess anyone
who has spent time with this popular title on another gaming platform
might feel they've already played the game out. For me, however, it's
an all new experience and I am enjoying it a lot. I love watching the
guy jump up to higher platforms, crouch down and roll... all with an
animated smoothness that's hard to describe unless you've seen it.
Even the tiny gun spits out empty shells when you shoot it.
"Flashback" is published by U.S. Gold and is in stores right now.
On this past Sunday, Master Jeff Norwood, publisher of Jaguar Journal,
hosted his second live interactive conference on Compuserve. The event
began at 5 pm my time (Pacific Time) and lasted a full 6 hours.
Participants included myself, Mr. Dana Jacobson of STReport, Mr. Travis
Guy of Atari Explorer Online forum regulars and converted lurkers.
Three copies of the new Jaguar strategy Guide were awarded as prizes
(courtesy of Sandwich Islands Publishing and Atari Corporation). One
of the winners, Mr. Dana Jacobson, donated his prize to a valued
STReport reader. Many of us exchanged private messages during the
conference and we all had a lot of laughs and a lot of fun. Look for
an ASCII compilation of the conference in the libraries on CompuServe
soon.
A particularly special conference event is being planned right now on
GEnie for September 6 in conjunction with Atari's launch of the
Jaguar 64 CD-ROM. Anticipated participants include a great number of
regular GEnie Roundtable members, Mr. Laury Scott, Mr. Ron Beltramo
and yours truly <g>. We'll see who else we can stir up too.
Speaking of GEnie... here's a recent post I thought noteworthy...
CAT: The Jaguar - Atari's latest Game Console!
TPC: Atari JAGUAR, 64-bit RISC Game Console
TO: ALL
FRM: JOHN.KING.T
DTE: August 8, 1995
Here is a story I think most of you will enjoy... A few
months back I gave a friend's son a Jag and six games for
his birthday present. The boy is 11, a perfect age for a
Jaguar. :-} Well anyway, he has been the most popular
kid on his block singe getting the Jag.
Two weeks ago his neighbor, also 11, got a Saturn for his
birthday. This neighbor's father bought him the Saturn
because the salesperson at the game store praised it as
the best system "for the money." The neighbor boy did not
like the Saturn as much as Jag. So the father returned
the Saturn and got his son a Jag plus four additional
games in exchange for the Saturn.
Now the two boys have ten different games between the two
of them plus multiple DOOMS so they can play
head-to-head.
--JKT
Don't forget to check out "White Men Can't Jump" and the special sell
through pack which includes the Team Tap free.
So far, it looks as if gamers like the special bundles and, if the
trend continues, we'll have to look at doing similar deals with other
peripherals in the future. BTW, if playing WMCJ with the Team Tap, be
certain to turn the system on with the controllers already connected.
Otherwise the software may not detect your joypad configuration
properly.
### END OF FILE ###
From CompuServe's Atari Gaming Forums, an update on Battlesphere from
4Play's Tom Harker:
Sb: BattleSphere Rocks!
Fm: [ICD, Inc.] 76004,1600
To: Gil Gulick 76347,110
>>I saw battlesphere on several E3 tapes. And, that title definitely
looked and sounded (in terms of gameplay) like it could be a real hit.
I really hope that title turns out to be an excellent game.
>>It would be a real blast networked, but I don't know anyone else who
owns a Jag. It is going to support the modem, right? <<
BattleSphere is a blast to play and the game is not even close to
completion yet. We are running at 30fps with no slow downs.
Network and modem support has been planned all along but has not been
implemented yet. We hope to have networking back up and running in the
next week.
Watch for new screen shots and possibly QT video soon.
- TOM -
(also one of 4Play)
CompuServe Atari Gaming Conference! - "Fun in the Sun" Live!
WELCOME TO THE 1995 "FUN IN THE SUN" JAGUAR CONFERENCE!
[Editor's note: This is not an official transcript of the conference. The
following has been edited for clarity, spelling, and format. Some of the
online activity may have been removed during "informal" segments of the
conference.]
Early attendees:
User User ID Nod Area Name
---- ------------- --- -------- -------------------
1 100344,1070 LEX Rm 1 Janet
2 71051,3327 BXK Rm 1 Dana @ STReport
3 75442,3453 IIK Rm 1 Randy Baer
4 76702,1076 RCF Rm 1 (SysOp) BobP
5 73522,3004 OXM Rm 1 Mitch@Demand System
6 74447,531 WRZ Rm 1 Jeff N (H)
7 75300,1267 SOS Rm 1 Don@Atari
8 76004,1600 RFF Rm 1 Tom @ 4Play/ICD
9 70007,3615 DJB Rm 1 Travis @ AEO
10 102352,145 WFM Rm 1 Becki Obrego'n
11 75013,2254 LLU Rm 1 Jason Stanton
12 100344,1070 VNO Rm 1 Christian Lenikus
13 100620,2673 LFR Rm 1 Fatal Design
15 102364,2167 MSZ Rm 1 Chris
Jeff N (H): WELCOME!
Welcome to the 1995 "Fun in the Sun" Jaguar Conference!
Don@Atari: Yea!
Jeff N (H): I am your host for tonight's exciting conference.
Joining me is my assistant and wish-he-was-a-Jag-owner
brother Dave!
(Could we please stop talking, I'm not done yet!!!)
Tonite's conference is brought to you by DEMAND
SYSTEMS and GAMEWARE EXPRESS
Lets find out who you are and where you come from.
I'm Jeff Norwood, from Auburn, MA
(I'm done)
Dana @ STReport: Dana P. Jacobson, Atari Editor for STReport - Boston
Jason Stanton: Jason Stanton from Long Island, NY
Becki Obrego'n: Ruben Obregon using my Wife's account.
Port Chester NY.
Mitch@Demand System: My name is Mitch Brown. I work for Demand
Systems in Camarillo CA.
I am here with my friend (and boss) Tim McCoy
Chris: My name is Chris Morin and I'm from Chicopee, Massachusetts.
Fatal Design: Baumann Loic from Fatal Design, France !!!
Tom @ 4Play/ICD: Tom Harker from Rockford, IL (it is HOT here!)
Travis @ AEO: Travis, from (fadingly) Sunny NW Florida!
Don@Atari: Don Thomas of Atari Corporation
(SysOp) BobP: Bob Puff from Rochester, NY. About 72 degrees at the
moment.
Christian Lenikus: Christian, from Vienna/Austria/Europe.
Jeff N (H): Okay, anyone else?
Now, I'm moving on, so hold up on the talk
Tonight, unlike the big cool Companies like Sega <g>, we
are graced with presence of many Atari Jaguar developers
who CARE about the..Jaguar owners.
Could I have a roll call on the "guests" please
Instead, why don't anyone representing a company please
say "here".
Mitch@Demand System: I am here from Demand Systems
Don@Atari: Here.
Dana @ STReport: Here!
Fatal Design: here
Don@Atari: Here.
Tom @ 4Play/ICD: Here from 4Play/ICD/Black Cat Design
Jeff N (H): Don - do you know if Laury and Loic are going to
come late?
Don@Atari: I assumed Laury would be here. I have NO idea
about Loic. Sorry.
Jeff N (H): Okay, in that case, I have a schedule for the conference,
and the next thing is: A Free-For-All
Mitch@Demand System: How long?
Jeff N (H): Just talk, and I'll close the floor in a few minutes
for some formal stuff
Don@Atari: Jeff, just so you know, there was a corporate night
for Atari at the Giants/Cubs game at Candlestick
last night. I imagine a lot of people were shifting
schedules to make the event.
Jeff N (H): Yes I do. I heard Atari donated $10,800 ... it was in
my local paper.
Don@Atari: Cubs 3-0 unless someone scored in the ninth. We
left after the eighth.
Becki Obrego'n: I have to go. I guarantee that a **temporary** $99.00
and $150 W/Rayman packin in will take the VG market
this XMASS. Who can pass this deal up? Making it
temporary will cause a rush to buy it as well as more
games! Make the money on the games, lose on the
system for a few weeks.
Randy Baer: How's Battlesphere going?
Tom @ 4Play/ICD: Great!
Randy Baer: Details?
Jeff N (H): Questions will not be answered until the spotlight,
so please hold off on any questioning until then.
Thanks
Tom @ 4Play/ICD: 30fps, 16 ships in a free for all.
Chris: I thought we were going to talk about Atari situation?!
Tom @ 4Play/ICD: Oops
Mitch@Demand System: I suppose we will soon.
Travis @ AEO: Tom, have you tried Scott's "Advanced New Killer AI"
yet? How goes it?
Tom @ 4Play/ICD: The Killer AI kills me pretty fast.
Travis @ AEO: SO, you're not going to insist Scott puts in a
special "boss code"? ;)
Tom @ 4Play/ICD: There will be lots of easter eggs.
Jason Stanton: Hey Jeff, when do we GET FORMAL?????
Jeff N (H): Dave says "Atari is pretty good, except for the fact
that they are too slow on their game manufacturing"
(we get formal in about 3 minutes)
Mitch@Demand System: Has anybody tried WMCJ?
Chris: I never heard of doing street fighter moves for Super
Dunks in WMCJ.
Jason Stanton: All I know is we need Japan, texture-mapping,
money, and advertising, otherwise nothing.
Mitch@Demand System: Ok, just wondering.
Jeff N (H): Wait, what country are you from (France?)
Travis @ AEO: Cool. I like a game that kicks butt, and doesn't
apologize for it.
Mitch@Demand System: OH, so that is why you are so lucid.
(SysOp) BobP: Christian: thanks for staying up! Hope you are a
night person! <g>
Mitch@Demand System: Or lack there of.
Randy Baer: Jason - we need a new WWF game too...just ask Jeff!
Jeff, have you seen the new WWF arcade game?
Jason Stanton: WWF WWF WWF WWF WWF
Jeff N (H): I'll be on live TV tomorrow nite! Monday Night Raw
in Worcester
Mitch@Demand System: Sucks.
Jason Stanton: I forgot WWF, Randy!!
Randy Baer: MONDAY NIGHT RAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW...
Cheer Lawler on for me!
Tom @ 4Play/ICD: Who are you wrestling Jeff?
Chris: I guess there's nothing important to talk about at Atari
because no one is talking about Atari situation.
Randy Baer: I did! I want a WWF game for the Jag right now!
Mitch@Demand System: My boss is getting bored.
Randy Baer: *pouting*
Chris: So am I>
Red Wolf: Jeeze.. WWF?
Mitch@Demand System: As am I.
Jason Stanton: LETS GET FORMAL
Fatal Design: Sorry, but compuserve has break down, you've seen
my last msg (game dev!)
Travis @ AEO: "But of course...."
Mitch@Demand System: I don't want to talk about the WWF. I want
to talk about Atari.
Jeff N (H): Okay, 1 minute for the floor
Randy Baer: Cool, let's talk
Chris: Let's start taking this serious since I'm paying money for
this.
Red Wolf: RIght on, Mitch!
Jason Stanton: Jeff, you said you had about 30 or so topics...
lets start soon please.
Mitch@Demand System: So am I.
Jeff N (H): QUIET F L O O R CLOSED!
Okay, next is a series of poll questions, which should
take all of 10 minutes or less Just answer ... no
commentary on it until later
Question 1:
What's your favorite Jaguar game?
Mitch@Demand System: Zool2
Jeff N (H): Tempest for me, AvP (Dave)
Chris: AVP
Tom @ 4Play/ICD: BattleSphere
Randy Baer: Tempest 2K
Travis @ AEO: (Does VLM count?)
Christian Lenikus: Iron Soldier
Dana @ STReport: Pinball Fantasies
Jason Stanton: Not out yet
Richard H. Murray: tempest 2000
Red Wolf: Tempest 2000!
Fatal Design: AVP
Jeff N (H): (Current games only! No VLM doesn't)
Don@Atari: ALL OF THEM <G>
Jeff N (H): That it?
Tom @ 4Play/ICD: Tempest 2K then (BattleSphere DQed)
Red Wolf: Well, doom is cool too, but..
Jeff N (H): Good job
Mitch@Demand System: Tim likes Iron Soldier
Travis @ AEO: Tempest/Iron Soldier/Tempest
Mitch@Demand System: Good speakers mandatory on ALL Jag games.
Travis @ AEO: I just like to blow things up. (Blue Lightning is
cool in that regard also.)
Jeff N (H): Okay ... Question 2:
What are you looking forward to more:
Rayman or The Jaguar CD??
Tom @ 4Play/ICD: Rayman
Christian Lenikus: Jaguar CD
Mitch@Demand System: That one is a tough one.
Fatal Design: Jag CD
Dana @ STReport: CD!
Don@Atari: BOTH <G>
Mitch@Demand System: I guess Rayman
Randy Baer: Rayman - Jag CD if they can get Primal Rage as the packin
Jeff N (H): Jag CD for me, Rayman (Dave)
Travis @ AEO: Since I have a Jag CD, I'd say Rayman... <G> but
the CD is a better choice.
Mitch@Demand System: Tim is waiting for the CD.
Jeff N (H): Don - just one, you'll have to chose <g>
Chris: Since Rayman is better on PSX, I want the Jag CD more
Chris: now.
Jason Stanton: Whoa, I got disconnected for some reason.
Christian Lenikus: Don, please be more specific: all of them and
both is kind of broad! :)
Danny Miskin: Jag CD for me, and hi everyone.
Richard H. Murray: jaguar cd
Travis @ AEO: Don's a broad kind of guy! <evil grin>
Don@Atari: I'm biased. I'm obligated to want both equally for
different reasons. <g>
Jeff N (H): Evil? How nice of you! <g>
Anymore answers?
Mitch@Demand System: I would let him go with these because he
works for Atari. He is SUPPOSED to say
these things.
Travis @ AEO: (Glad to meet you too! :)
Jason Stanton: Jeff, please, continue.
Mitch@Demand System: Next ? please.
Jeff N (H): Question 3:
3 - What do you want Atari to do next?
How do you think the Jaguar's future is going to turn
out? (Great, Good, Okay, Poor, Not so Good, Fail,)
Mitch@Demand System: Okay.
Christian Lenikus: Good
Randy Baer: Okay
Don@Atari: FANTASTIC <G>
Jeff N (H): Good (me), Okay (Dave)
Jason Stanton: Okay
Red Wolf: Okay
Danny Miskin: Good.
Richard H. Murray: Okay
Fatal Design: okay
Travis @ AEO: Great.
Dana @ STReport: good
Mitch@Demand System: Tim says Okay.
Danny Miskin: Nice answer Travis.
Tom @ 4Play/ICD: Great.. if Sam drops the price to $129 with
killer pack-in for Xmas.. otherwise OK
Travis @ AEO: Ok then.
Red Wolf: Question 3.5: Should the Jaguar be renamed the Squishy
Panda 50000?
Danny Miskin: No
Fatal Design: boarf
Red Wolf: Good Answer, no go on, Jeff
Randy Baer: next (real) question?
Chris: no
Jason Stanton: Next question
Red Wolf: Next
Jeff N (H): Okay, here's a little timeout from a sponsor .. so
quiet!
Jeff N (H): DEMAND SYSTEMS...hello
Hold on guys, taking a few seconds. After this, its
complete formalness
Red Wolf: |~~\/~~| Ok, Jeff
Don@Atari: Wait, let me get my tie.
Mitch@Demand System: I am here sorry
Mitch@Demand System: I represent Demand Systems in Camarillo CA.
We offer all Jaguar items at GREAT prices.
Most games are 20 to 30% below retail prices.
If you wish to order, call 1800-593-0059.
We also have an Internet home page.
Chris: How much is shipping though?
Mitch@Demand System: The address http://www.fishnet.net/~drumbra
Don@Atari: Chris, if you're out of CA, there wouldn't be tax.
Danny Miskin: Bye all, oh Don I received my copy of WMCJ, very
nice so far..
Don@Atari: Danny, I'm having fun playing WMCJ too.
Jeff N (H): Okay everyone, it's SPOTLIGHT TIME
Mitch@Demand System: We will have pricing and other info on-line
soon.
Jeff N (H): FORMAL TIME .. get those ties
Red Wolf: <DUHN DUH>
Mitch@Demand System: I thought it WAS formal time.
Don@Atari: SPOTLIGHT time... sunglasses everyone.
Red Wolf: (Scary Music)
Jason Stanton: f o r m a l
Travis @ AEO: Now it's EXTRA SPECIAL FORMAL time.
mike lipson: Before I take my telescope out, I thought I'd stop by...
Don@Atari: Now it's SCARY time.
Don@Atari: TELESCOPE time
Jason Stanton: f o r m a l
Mitch@Demand System: I hope you all got that.
Jeff N (H): Okay, is John Mathieson here?
Chris: Red Wolf: Are you the red beer from Budweiser?
Red Wolf: Sorry, got the name before the beer.
Jeff N (H): Let me explain the rules right now!
Don@Atari: John Mathieson is not here. Is it JOHN time?
Red Wolf: It's Miller time!
Jason Stanton: RULES EVERYONE
Chris: I'm drinking Molson Golden.
Don@Atari: RED DOG time
Red Wolf: Ok Jeff.. It's all yours..
Jeff N (H): To ask a question, type "?" ...
Mitch@Demand System: ?
Don@Atari: EXPLAIN THE RULES time
Jeff N (H): then wait in line to be called on...
Mitch@Demand System: I guess so.
Travis @ AEO: Molsen Golden? Nectar!!! :)
Jeff N (H): When you are called on, ask the question to the
person in the "spotlight". DON'T INTERRUPT ME PLEASE
NO OTHER TALKING, and NO talking without being called
on...
for "follow-ups", type "f?", and you will be called
on ahead of the order ...
but don't use it unless you have a follow up question
just to get ahead of the waiting line ...
If you do, you may be asked to leave the conference,
and that would be bad.
Now, Formal Stuff is effective NOW.
Red Wolf: Very, Very Bad.
Jeff N (H): Is Pradip (Atari) here?
Travis @ AEO: Not unless he's hiding.
Jason Stanton: ?
Jeff N (H): Okay, next on the list is Don Thomas
Don@Atari: Jeff, you know how to call up a list of who is
present?
Travis @ AEO: ?
Jeff N (H): He is in the "spotlight" -- please, no interrupting
or else...!
Randy Baer: ?
Mitch@Demand System: ?
Jeff N (H): Go ahead Stanton
Chris: When are we going to find out some info. on Atari?
Jason Stanton: Okay Atari, I have several topics that REALLY need
to be addressed. #1, to compete in Japan...
and Atari HAS to, I feel the only way possible is for
Atari...to set up an Atari of Japan (AOJ), if you will
Why? Generally speaking..software companies won't
support a system that is not available or popular
on their own shores....so how else can Jaguar attract
the cutting edge, hi-tech companies that Japan has to
offer such as Capcom and Konami.? f?
Don@Atari: What if I have to go to the bathroom, Jeff?
Chris: Get a urinal, Don!
Jeff N (H): Where a diaper .. now I don't want to break my own
rules ... Jason's talking
Jeff N (H): Don, answer the question first, then we'll follow up
Don@Atari: Is this question for me?
Jason Stanton: The question..
(Hi Don), is for whoever can answer it best
Jeff N (H): yes - you're in the spotlight
Jeff N (H): Want to make an intro? Go ahead
Don@Atari: Atari has a long haul before we set up worldwide
facilities in Japan, Taiwan, etc. again. We are an
American company with worldwide distribution and I
think we need to find ways to capitalize on that...
You will see that strategy pay off with new retailers
to be announced soon. -ga
Jeff N (H): (ga=go ahead)
Red Wolf: ?
Jason Stanton: Don, we never found out how the trip to Japan...
went, you know how important I feel Japan...
is to becoming a successful, and respected...yes?
gaming company.
What happened in Japan on the last trip?
any new licencees???
Jeff N (H): JASON!
Never mind ... wrong person
Don@Atari: Is that the question?
you ended with ...
give me a sec to type a reply...
Jason Stanton: GA, for now
Fatal Design: f?
Red Wolf: ?
Don@Atari: Bill Rehbock is one of several people who make
worldwide trips for a great number of reasons
including fact finding and negotiations. You're right
that there's no news of the trip I am aware of
because there is simply no news to tell as of yet.
ga
Jason Stanton: Ga,
Next, for now...next person
Chris: Me?
Jeff N (H): No
Red Wolf: Me?
Jeff N (H): Travis, ga
Travis @ AEO: Thanks Jeff! Glad to be here tonight. My only
question: Don, is Ted Hoff a nice guy to work for?
GA
Don@Atari: need a sec to type...
Tom @ 4Play/ICD: ?
Travis @ AEO: That's ok. I'll go grab a Coke and spit some. ;)
Don@Atari: My wife was introduced to Mr. Hoff last evening at
the Giants/Cubs game. Ted made a point to come
down from his more secluded seats and sit with us
a while and meet my family. He asked good
questions and told my wife I'm a good worker. I
suppose I think he's a great guy. GA
Jeff N (H): Baer .. go ahead
Travis @ AEO: Thank you for your answer, Mr. Thomas!!
Chris: ?
Randy Baer: Since several upcoming Atari games...
several Jag games resemble old Sega Games
Konan = Golden Axe
FFL = Virtua Fighter
SBO = Super Hang-On
Why not use the Sega deAL,...
where Atari is supposed to get rights to five Sega
games a year....if I remember correctly...
and make them titles people have heard of?
Name recognition, as it were...
GA
Don@Atari: give me a sec...
Randy Baer: ok, thanks
Don@Atari: First off, I don't know how many ways to make
games that don't somehow resemble something
that may have been done before, but otherwise I
think you're right and you WILL see popular names
as time goes on. There are several reasons that
unlicensed names are faster to make...
1) No specific standards to follow...
2) No licensing to negotiate...
3) Less people to test for standards...
etc..
ga
Randy Baer: Any idea on the Sega titles atari is converting?
ga
Jeff N (H): New rule for easy reading .. when you are done
typing, type GA at the end. GA
Don@Atari: I've heard a lot of titles raised from around closed
doors, but I do not know if the titles have been
decided or if they are trying to keep them hush until
the games are complete.
GA
Jeff N (H): Next up - Mitch .. GA
Mitch@Demand System: I have several questions, so I guess I will
just ask one. Does Atari have ANY plans of
EVER bringing out another computer product?
I really don't like the idea of Atari being
a GAME machine company.
GA
Don@Atari: Mitch, I have very deep computer roots myself and I
know very well what you mean...
I also know Atari has a much better chance
competing with value-packed game technology than
bargain PC assembly shops...
I do not foresee computers being launched in the
short term anyway.
GA
Mitch@Demand System: f?
Chris: I HATE TO INTERRUPT, BUT HOW DO I KNOW WHEN
Chris: IT'S MY TURN?????????
Jeff N (H): Red Wolf - you're on the air!
Red Wolf: Hey Don, Are there any plans of Atari EVER making a
cool Encoder Wheel controller for Tempest 2k?
'Cause it would be awesome.
GA
Don@Atari: Red Wolf, there are plans to look at a wide variety of
controller options and, yes, that is one we keep
bring back up....
Hardware doesn't offer a profit margin like software
does so we have to launch peripherals not only
when people want them, but when they make sense
with compatible software to make use of them.
GA
Red Wolf: I made one myself and it's awesome.. I know a lot of
other people want something like that to bring back
Arcade memories. :)
GA
Don@Atari: Red Wolf, I agree with you, but while we sold a lot of
Tempest 2000, we cannot count on everyone of
those people also buying a special controller just
for that one game. I think you'll see one forthcoming,
but not this year.
GA
Red Wolf: Yeah Don, I understand.. Thanks.
Jeff N (H): Next up -- Fatal, you have a question for Don? GA
Fatal Design: for everyone who can answer, let's go:
there's no two HITS games on the jag....
in europe there's no promotion, the jag can't
works !!! the latest question is why the current
games are so lame!
Don@Atari: Fatal, I respect your opinion that Jaguar games are
lame and I would agree if the ones so far were all
CD titles. I do feel you are wrong, however, which
makes it impossible to answer your question. GA
Fatal Design: have you seen the psx and saturn games??? they
are better !!! the jag need two good games, with a
low price, and it'll be sold
Don@Atari: They are CD as I mentioned in my reply. Like I said I
respect your opinion. I do not agree.
Jason Stanton: Hate to jump in but I think a lot of us would
actually LIKE too see an eye-candy only game just
to see what in fact the Jag is actually capable of.
Don@Atari: Jeff, Can we reestablish the GA protocol?
Red Wolf: Rayman Should nice for that... Lots of Color
Fatal Design: I know the team who made RAYMAN, ubi soft is a
French company!
Jeff N (H): Yeah - the GA is still in effect guys. And no jumping
in! Type "?" if you have a question
Don@Atari: What is the last question and from whom?
Jeff N (H): Fatal, are you finished?
Chris .. go ahead (Don, you've got 2 more after that)
Fatal Design: I just want to know WHEN Good GAMES will be
released!!! (I'm finish)
Don@Atari: Okay Jeff.
Don@Atari: Jeff, I think Fatal has made his point. Call up the
next question.
GA
Hello?
Jeff, ?
Mommy?
Am I online?
Jeff N (H): Is Chris here?
Larry Tipton: ?
Dana @ STReport:?
Jeff N (H): Tom is next, go ahead Tom (@ 4 PLAY)
Tom @ 4Play/ICD: Don, how many Jaguar units have been sold to
date? Do you have any 'real' numbers for us?
ga
Chris: Yes
Don@Atari: Tom, No the honest answer is I have no honest
update since Sam's numbers at E3. I suspect
because numbers grow most heavily during Holiday
times and there's usually not much to brag about
during off seasons.
GA
Tom @ 4Play/ICD: Thanks .... next ..ga
Don@Atari: (someone spellcheck me before re-publishing this
<g> PLEASE!)
Jeff N (H): Chris, you are here. Ask your question
(I will Don) GA
Chris: I want to know if the 6 button controller will have the
keypad still?
Don@Atari: (Jeff, thanx! <g>)
Chris, stand by...
Your question could actually be answered simply,
yes, but people who know me also know I cannot
answer questions with a simple one word answer,
but please rest assured the reply is in the
affirmative. GA
Red Wolf: HAAHahhaha
Jeff N (H): Okay, Don, your final question...
drum roll please..
it is from Dana P. Jacobson @ STReport. GA Dana
Dana @ STReport: Hey, I feel honored to get the last question....
Don@Atari: Dana, whopps gotta go.
just kidding.
okay sorry.
Dana @ STReport: Now that the JaguarCD is lessthan two weeks
away.... SIT! <g>
Don@Atari: (legs crossed.)
... or the earliest question for the next conference...
<g>
Dana @ STReport: What CD games will be ready to be releasedat
the same time, or shortly following it's debut?
GA
Chris: Is it true what I heard that when the Jag CD is released
that there wont be any extra games on the store shelves?
GA
Don@Atari: Chris, it's Dana's turn.
Dana, your question is no more helpful than Chris'
<g>
Stand by...
Jeff N (H): Sorry if Chris stole your "last question" honor ... :(
(to Dana) GA
Dana @ STReport: f?
Jeff N (H): Dana ...wait til he answers your first question!
Larry Tipton: f?
Jeff N (H): Don??? GA
Don@Atari: Dana,
We are working hard to get the CD out on the
August 24 deadline set by Ted Hoff and I think it
looks good to make it too. I do not yet have Ted's
review of other games because he has imposed a
new QA standard and it is affecting some games. I
know Myst is forthcoming and a demo of that game
will be in the CD-ROM. I'm not sure about other
titles. People can call 800/GO-ATARI for regular
updates as we get them. GA
Dana @ STReport: So, other than the anticipated games as pack-ins,
nothing else has been announced? GA
Jeff N (H): Larry, your follow up?
GA
Wait for Dana to finish first, Larry. MY FAULT
(Jail me!) GA
Red Wolf: .
Jason Stanton: ?
Don@Atari: Dana, there have been a lot of games announced,
but your question was related to which ones would
be out at launch. That's the part I don't know. GA
Thomas J. Eisenmann: ?
Jeff N (H): Ok Dana.
DON - you are a bit more popular than I thought, so
hang in there.
Red Wolf: .
Jeff N (H): Larry, go ahead. Eisenmann and Stanton, your on hold.
Wolf, you want something?
Don@Atari: Jeff, no prob, but you don't have to pull the
popularity BS. <g>
Larry Tipton: Don, Is it true that the Jag CD requires its own
AC power supply? Reports earlier indicated that
it would run off the console juice.
GA
Red Wolf: Yes please, Some Nachos and a Beer
Jason Stanton: Don, you also know I feel the exposure outlets
like Block Buster Video offer. What has been done
to reestablish shelf space in BlockBuster video
outlets.
SORRY
Jeff N (H): Wolf -- you're being bad ... follow the rules or no
more booze for you!
Stanton - WAIT!
GA Don
Jason Stanton: DISREGARD
Don@Atari: Larry,
Yes, I can confirm the CD-ROM has it's own power
supply since it needs a bit more juice than we want
to pump through the edge connector to remain safe.
GA
Jeff N (H): Stanton, now GA
Jason Stanton: sorry. Don....
uh, read my above statement which...
was accidentally pushed on through and please
answer it.
Don@Atari: Jason, stand by...
Jason,
Whoops.. stand by...
Jeff N (H): Standing...<g>GA
Don@Atari: Jason,
Blockbuster has cleared their shelves of 3DO, CDi,
and many other specific game related items
including Jaguar for their own corporate
merchandising reasons. We (Atari) feel they will
re-examine the Jaguar rental market when there's
ample software for their patrons to choose from. GA
Jason Stanton: f?
Jeff N (H): GA Stanton .... Thomas Eis... you are after, wait please
Jason Stanton: Don, Jeff and I, and I have been asking for
awhile.....
how bout licensing a WWF title....
I'm not asking for playability so much or game
depth...
its all about eye-candy and the HIGH PROFILE.....
of a WWF licence. How bout it????
GA
Jeff N (H): Cheer MONDAY NIGHT RAW, WWF! <gg>
GA
Don@Atari: Jason,
I agree a WWF title would be cool. Unfortunately, I
can jeopardize the efforts of our licensing team by
making announcements until specific things come
together. GA
Jason Stanton: ;)
Jeff N (H): Thomas Eis.. you are next. GA
Thomas J. Eisenmann: Good evening, everyone. Any word on the next
cart releases. I've heard that Rayman and UV
are in production. Any confirmation?
GA
Don@Atari: Thomas, stand by...
Jason Stanton: <my feet hurt>
Don@Atari: Thomas,
I'm sure you know Rayman is a UBi Soft title. I think
they announced RAYMAN was in production, but I'm
not 100% on that. Ultra Vortek is in production if I
remember as is Blue Lightning, Flip Out and some
others.
GA
Jeff N (H): Okay, Don, you are going to go from "spotlight" to
regular.
It's Morphin time!
Don Thomas Junior is from Atari, the Director of
Customer Service at the company.
Don@Atari: Yes sir thanks to everyone for stopping by and
supporting Jeff's conference!
Jeff N (H): I'm sure he enjoyed answering your questions...
but there are others to come.
Jason Stanton: Don, define others, please
Don@Atari: Jeff, Jr. is not usually spelled out. FYI.
Red Wolf: I'm back!
What did I miss?
Jeff N (H): Here is who's next:
Don@Atari: Jason,
Sorry. I don't have the list here at home.
Jason Stanton: oTay
Jeff N (H): Demand Systems, followed by Faran Thomasson (Atari)
and Fatal Designs
Mitch@Demand System: Is it my turn?
Jeff N (H): So, please welcome Mitch Brown, and his boss, to
the spotlight.
Mitch@Demand System: Cool.
Fatal Design: yes?
Mitch@Demand System: Can I make introductions (again).
Jeff N (H): Ask if have q's.
Fatal - you will be coming in the spotlight soon.
Before you intro Everyone can stretch for 20 seconds.
GA
Mitch@Demand System: Thanks.
Bill Manning: ?
Mitch@Demand System: <-------------Is stretching
(SysOp) BobP: zzz
Jeff N (H): Okay, stop stretching ... back to formal stuff.
Go ahead MANNING, GA
Mitch@Demand System: Huh?
Red Wolf: Back to Stretching!
Mitch@Demand System: Ga
Jeff N (H): Manning, ask your questions
Bill Manning: Thanks I'd like to know how the jag cd compares to
Bill Manning: the playstation and saturn ?
Jeff N (H): I don't think Mitch can answer that
Mitch@Demand System: Is the GA rule still in effect?
Jeff N (H): Save it for later
Mitch@Demand System: No, I can't. I have not seen it.
Jeff N (H): Mitch, make your Intro.. GA
Mitch@Demand System: My name is Mitch Brown. I am from Demand
Systems in Camarillo, CA. My boss is also
here. He is Tim McCoy.
Bill Manning: Also, is Atari ever going to get companies like
capcom to make games for them?
GA
Mitch@Demand System: I can answer any question about pricing, or
shipping info or whatever. I also know
quite a bit about the games, so ask away.
GA
Red Wolf: ?
Jeff N (H): Manning, don't ask questions unless MITCH can
answer them.
Jeff N (H): Red Wolf, GA
Red Wolf: Exactly how many colors does Rayman Utilize, O master
of games? ::)
Jeff N (H): Red Wolf bad boy. No nachos for you
That is not for Mitch or Tim.
Mitch@Demand System: Sorry, as I have not seen the game, I can't
answer that other than to say I have HEARD
it looks GREAT! GA
Jeff N (H): Does ANYONE HAVE QUESTIONS FOR Mitch?
Demand Systems is a company that sells Jaguar games
Larry Tipton: ?
Red Wolf: Jeeze... It was a joke, A Jest per se
Mitch@Demand System: In California. GA
Jeff N (H): Sorry - do u really have a question!??
Thomas J. Eisenmann: ?
Red Wolf: Nah, forget it
Jeff N (H): Okay - no hard feelings
Edward Mazmanian: is this the conference
Jeff N (H): Tipton, GA
Larry Tipton: Mitch, what will the Jag CD cost shipped overnight
Larry Tipton: GA
Mitch@Demand System: It doesn't matter for overnight packages.
It is the same everywhere. GA
Larry Tipton: OK, shipped then? GA
Mitch@Demand System: Tim is getting the shipping chart. Hold on.
Thomas J. Eisenmann: ?
Mitch@Demand System: Can we go to the next question in the
meantime?
Jeff N (H): Eisenmann, GA
Mitch@Demand System: I will look that up for you Larry.
Thomas J. Eisenmann: Mitch. with many trade in offers around,
what is Demand Systems offering? GA
Fatal Design: is there anybody here who have a Falcon030?
Mitch@Demand System: Hold on Thomas.
We will be doing the same deal as many other
dealers will (I believe). Our supplier is
accepting old Sega, and Nintendo games in
trade for a discount on the Jag CD (I
THINK). It might just be the games though.
I have to call on Monday and find out the
exact details though. GA
Don@Atari: Jeff,
Will Dana Jacobson be one of the guests?
Jeff N (H): Yep, later on
Don@Atari: Sorry to interrupt. Thanks.
Jeff N (H): Dana,GA
Dana @ STReport: Did I have a question? Not at this time, sorry!
Jeff N (H): Sorry!
Dana @ STReport: No problem, I mistyped!
Mitch@Demand System: Jeff
Jeff N (H): Well, that's it for Mitch.
Yes Mitch
Mitch@Demand System: The Jag will be priced at $140 from Demand
Systems. Just to answer Larry's question.
GA
Jeff N (H): Okay
Mitch@Demand System: Any other questions?
Larry Tipton: ?
He wants to know when he can leave!!
Jeff N (H): Tipton, GA
Larry Tipton: Do you have any third party controllers for the
Jaguar for sale? GA
Mitch@Demand System: YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have a GREAT joystick called the SAS
Super Pro Stick.
IT IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thomas J. Eisenmann: ?
Mitch@Demand System: Sorry, MAS.
Mitch@Demand System: I will tell you the price, hold a sec.
Jeff N (H): Well, that's it for Mitch.
Yes Mitch
Okay
Mitch@Demand System: Price is $118. Do you want to know what it
has on it? GA
Larry Tipton: Yes, please tell all. GA
Jeff N (H): Mitch reps Demand Systems, as does Tim McCoy.
Thanks for joining us online. What is your number
again?
Jeff N (H): Any more Q's for Mitch?
Thomas J. Eisenmann: ?
Mitch@Demand System: It is basically a standard joystick like you
would have in an arcade. It has three
buttons (as on the Jag pad). It also comes
with an extra pad attached so you can use
the keypad.
It is REAL GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mitch@Demand System: Our number is 1-800-593-0059.
Jeff N (H): Thomas J. GA
Thomas J. Eisenmann: Mitch, do you carry the Cat Box? If so, what
is the price...
Mitch@Demand System: Yes.
Hold a sec, and I will get the price.
The price is $64. GA
Thomas J. Eisenmann: Thanks
Jeff N (H): Thank you Mitch and Tim for joining the conference.
I guess you can see that we have a very good support
group of Jaguar owners.
Any other Q's for them?GA
Mitch@Demand System: Do you all want our home page address?
Jeff N (H): GA, give it to'em
Red Wolf: Catbox.. Catbox..
Thomas J. Eisenmann: YES. Sorry for interrupting GA
Mitch@Demand System: Address: http://fishnet.net/~drumbra
We will have a lot of great Jag stuff
available soon. So check it out. GA
Red Wolf: I shall
Mitch@Demand System: Thanks for your time all.
Jeff N (H): Ok, listen up all.
Thomas J. Eisenmann: http://fishnet.net/~drumbra
Jeff N (H): I see that there are a lot of Jaguar owners still
here after 2 hours...
Red Wolf: Yep
Mitch@Demand System: yes Thomas.
Jeff N (H): Next up is Fatal Design, but first...
Dimitri M LaBarge: (And some are just showing up...) Hi all!
Red Wolf: Is Don still here?
Don@Atari: yep.
Mitch@Demand System: He is.
Red Wolf: Cool
Mitch@Demand System: Bye all. Gotta go.
Jeff N (H): there will be THREE copies of the new Strategy
Guides given away tonight. ONE is autographed.
They are donated by Atari
Fatal Design: bye!
Jeff N (H): Stay here to find out how to get a copy!
Red Wolf: COoL
Jeff N (H): Okay, time for a 20 second stretch ... then Fatal
Design takes the floor ... stretch out! GA
Red Wolf: Strrrreeeeeccchh
Jeff N (H):) Getting prepared here ... 20 more seconds
Jeff N (H): GA
Dana @ STReport: Quick beer run!!
Don@Atari: Dana, while we're waiting, do you need help with
how to use the send command?
Larry Tipton: Tim for a quick game of Yar's Revenge
Jeff N (H): Enough beer.
(SysOp) BobP: heheh
Red Wolf: :)
BobR: Beer run.. getting it, or returning it..? :)
Jeff N (H): Okay everyone, please welcome a relatively new
Jaguar developer (as far as I know), Fatal Design...
Jeff N (H): Fatal Design designs Jag games. Remember: because
of company policy, he may not be able to answer
some of the questions thrown at him...
He is in France right now, and this makes this an
international conference ... it's past 4:00am there
I think!
Fatal Design: yes!
Jeff N (H): Please Welcome>..< FATAL DESIGN!!! <clap> GA
Red Wolf: Oh yeah? I'm in Guatamala
Jeff N (H): Sorry, forgot about you.
Red Wolf: It's Ok
Don@Atari: Yea.
Red Wolf: Sorry Fatal, no one cares about you. :)
Larry Tipton: ?
Jeff N (H): Tipton, GA
Red Wolf: ?
Jeff N (H): Red Wolf, he's French, so he may take that a bit
serious! Not to insult you Fatal.GA
Larry Tipton: Fatal,
What kind of Jaguar games are you developing?
Nothing terminal I hope. GA
Fatal Design: The only thing I can tell you it's we're
developing 3D games with our 3D engine!
SO I think it's better that Atari's one!
Jeff N (H): Red Wolf, your turn GA
Red Wolf: Does your Design assist in the killing of people?
'Cause..
Fatal Design: ???????????????????????????????????????
Larry Tipton: f?
Red Wolf: You know how people hate to get killed while playing
games. GA
Fatal Design: No comment, kid!
Thomas J. Eisenmann: ?
Fatal Design: yes?
Dimitri M LaBarge: ?
Jeff N (H): Eisenmann, GA
Thomas J. Eisenmann: Have you had any problems with the Jaguar's
hardware in your game designs or your 3D
engine? Any things you would like Atari to
change or improve??
Fatal Design: The jaguar is very complex!!!
but it's powerful, if you know how to code it!!!
It's a big problem, coz many developer is
scared by it's 5CPU!!! It's not easy to control
all of it!
Jeff N (H): Fatal, have you or your company developed games for
any other video game or computer systems? GA
(Please type GA when you are done typing, thanks)
GA
Fatal Design: The 3D engine of atari, is not powerful, Jag can
make 10 time better !!! So every company must
record an 3D engine, it makes a lot of wasted
time! Jaguar and PC only !!!!(maybe PSX one DAY)
GA!
Jeff N (H): Dimitri, you are next GA
Dimitri M LaBarge: What are your plans for utilizing modem or
networking connections, such as the CatBox? GA
Larry Tipton: ?
Fatal Design: In europe, the network cost a lot of money!!! We
study the possibility to take advantage of catbox!
but network is only for US!!! GA
Jeff N (H): What titles has Fatal Design released for the PC, if
any? GA
Dimitri M LaBarge: ?
Red Wolf: ?
Fatal Design: We make just professional product as 3D API, no
games on PC!! GA
Jeff N (H): Dimitri, GA
Larry Tipton: ??
Dimitri M LaBarge: A lot of companies have been criticized for
relying on the 68000 too heavily. Do you plan
to heavily utilize the Jag's architecture in
all programming aspects? GA
Fatal Design: Yes all codes are realize in pure ASM, we don't
use 68000 !!!! It slow down the jag, all the 3D
engine run with GPU/DSP/Blitter and obj proc Pure
ASM Code ! GA
Jeff N (H): Am I still here? GA
Red Wolf: What the %$#@ was that?
Jeff N (H): Wolf, sorry. Your turn, GA
Red Wolf: DO you know what you're talking about, Much less do
anything? And if so, what?
Fatal Design: What??? Explain pleaze, I'm a little frenchy, I'm
not a king in english!
Red Wolf: GA OK.. THat's fine
Jeff N (H): That line, Fatal, deserves "Best Line of the
Conference!". GA
Red Wolf: Does Fatal Designs DO anything? And If so, What?
Has it done anything...Will it do anything
And what will it do if it ever does anything
And what did it do if it has done anything GA
Fatal Design: Yes, we try, We're making an 3D Games in Jaguar,
It's all I can tell to ya!
Red Wolf: You are making? Oh sheeeeeesh..
Jeff N (H): Just to inform you, Red Wolf...
Fatal Design: Yes it takes some time ya know!!!!
Jeff N (H): Fatal Designs I believe has designed items for the
PC in europe, and now is focusing on the Jaguar with
software....
Red Wolf: Like...
Jeff N (H): His company allows him NOT to talk about it publicly.
When he does, I assure you The Jaguar Journal, AEO,
and STReport will have the first scoop. GA
Dana @ STReport: You betcha, Jeff!
Fatal Design: Yes !!! Cauz US is not the center of the world !!!
Red Wolf: OK..
Dimitri M LaBarge: And how! :>
Red Wolf: so he can't tell me what he HAS done?
Jeff N (H): Fatal, what HAS your company done in the past? GA
BobR: If you check your scrollback buffer, I believe you'll find
that Fatal Designs has done 3D APIs for the PC...
Fatal Design: ATM Application for PC !!!! Pro 3D engine for Real
Time application, we also realize some different
application for Falcon 030!!! GA
Red Wolf: ok
Jeff N (H): Bob, he may have missed it. Red Wolf has been in
and out a few times. Any other questions for Fatal
Design?
I guess not.
Thomas J. Eisenmann: ?
Dimitri M LaBarge: I believe Larry had a question a while ago!
Jeff N (H): Wait!
Thomas J. GA
(Then Larry - I forgot about you)
Dimitri M LaBarge: ?
Thomas J. Eisenmann: Fatal, how do you compare the capabilities
of the Jaguar with the other 'next
generation systems' like the Sony
PlayStation? GA
Fatal Design: these two system have the same capabilities, but
PSX is more easy to code, SONY gives all the
library, company like it for that, it's easy to
develop on PSX! GA
Red Wolf: (Turns on T2K)
Thomas J. Eisenmann: Thanks... GA
Jeff N (H): Larry GA
Larry Tipton: Fatal Design,
Are the games that you are developing CD, Cart or
both? Could you categorize the game/games...
Are they Simulation? Arcade? Sports? RPG? GA
Fatal Design: We're developing only on cartridge system
the games we're develop are simulation, arcade.
Fatal Design: I study the possibility to make a RPG, coz
there no good one on jag (if I know well!) GA.
Jeff N (H): Dimitri GA
Dimitri M LaBarge: Regarding your 3D engine, what color depth
and frame rate are you aiming for? Are you
planning to use texture-mapping primarily, or
are you leaning towards gouraud and phong
shading? GA
Fatal Design: The 3D engine work in different color depth but
65k is the most current!!!
the rate frame is very variable... Due to the
number of polygon, the size, the render method....
But 1700 Quad Gouraud per frame are possible!
The texture mapping is exploited...Gouraud to,
but phong is now necessary for real time games!!!!
GA
Jeff N (H): When should your first title arrive on the Jaguar? GA
Fatal Design: I can't tell you the title, sorry !!! GA
Red Wolf: Sheesh
Jeff N (H): Do you know WHEN the unnamed title will be released
for the Jaguar? 1996? GA
Fatal Design: yes current middle of 96!!! or end off 96 if
we're late! GA
Jeff N (H): Good to hear. Anymore questions for Fatal Design? GA
Red Wolf: Television is the Retena of the Mind's Eye
Jeff N (H): Okay, Thank You Fatal Design for attending the
conference, even though it is close to sunrise in
France!
Fatal Design: last word :
Jeff N (H): I hope to see you around here more often, and at
the next conference around Christmas. Last word...
go ahead GA
Fatal Design: it's 5h00 AM, I'm tired, so I go to sleep, sorry
to speak bad english!!! Goodbye!
Craig Harris: Howdy, folks...just got in.
Jeff N (H): That's okay with me. I can't speak French!
Dimitri M LaBarge: Thanks for coming! It's appreciated! :>
Jeff N (H): Thanks for coming, good night.
Dana @ STReport: Thanks, FD!!
Jeff N (H): Craig, the formal rules are in effect - remember
last conference!
Don@Atari: Is Dana next? <g>
Jeff N (H): Actually, not yet Don.
Fatal Design: Thanx to all of ya!!! Et la prochaine fois on la
fait en franncais la conference hein red
Fatal Design: wolf?
Don@Atari: okay.
Jeff N (H): First a 20 second stretch, and then a chance to win
the first off three strategy guides, so stay tuned...
Dimitri M LaBarge: Gee, I only got about half of that... <g>
Larry Tipton: hehehe
Don@Atari: Dana, where's your CIS user's manual?
<g>
(SysOp) BobP: heheh
Dana @ STReport: We're on CIS???!!?!! <g>
Larry Tipton: Wha? I thought I was on the Microsoft Network! <g>
Steven Bernhard: Hello everyone.
Dimitri M LaBarge: Hi Steve!
Keith H.: Hey Steve
Larry Tipton: Hi Steve ---
Jeff N (H): Okay, here comes Strategy Guide Chance #1.
Larry Tipton: A:42
Jeff N (H): Listen to the rules
Red Wolf: Hold on!
Jeff N (H): I am going to ask you a question Jaguar-related...
Answer the question by using the private "Talk"
button this way no one else will see the answer...
Those who get it right will be put into a drawing...
My assistant, Dave, will draw a name from a New
York Yankees Baseball hat...
He will pick the name, and I will announce the name
online right here...
Red Wolf: The first person to smile completely... Wins
Don@Atari: Jeff, be sure winners know to send
their snail mail address to you in EMail.
Jeff N (H): I'm not biased (I hate everyone equally <g>) so do
not worry about bad judging or picking...
That's right, what Don said...
Don@Atari: I got kicked off the system. I didn't know. Sorry.
Jeff N (H): send me your addresses via E-Mail within 48 hours
or you will forfeit the prize..
Don@Atari: Am I eligible. I want one.
Jeff N (H): Atari employees are ineligible..Nah, what the he**!..
Red Wolf: Sorry Don, you work for Atari! :)
Jeff N (H): You guys can win too...
Dimitri M LaBarge: Of course you're eligible! (Of course, you'll
have to give all winnings to moi... <g>)
Don@Atari: Cool Then I save postage on the one I send to me! <g>
Jeff N (H): Wait, lets vote. Should we allow Atari reps to be
eligible ... Yes or NO? GA
Larry Tipton: Is this open book?
Red Wolf: YES
Thomas J. Eisenmann: Sure. Why not.
Larry Tipton: Sure
Craig Harris: Depends on if I'm eligible, too...<g>
Keith H.: YES
Jeff N (H): (Two Dana)!
Craig Harris: What the hey.
Dimitri M LaBarge: What the heck! Sure.
Larry Tipton: Don works for Atari!?!?
Don@Atari: Jeff, My dinner was just delivered. Gotta
go. If I win, pull another winner. You
had a great conference. Great job.
Thanks to everyone for stopping by.
Jeff N (H): Okay ... reply via "Talk" because you don't want to
lessen your chances...
Jeff N (H): Bye Don!...
Dimitri M LaBarge: Thanks Don and thanks!
Don@Atari: Bye.
Red Wolf: Later Don!
Craig Harris: Eat hearty, Don!!
Thomas J. Eisenmann: Bye, Don
Dimitri M LaBarge: And bye too! <g>
Jeff N (H): You must respond in 60 seconds or less...
Larry Tipton: L8R D
Jeff N (H): Ready, here it comes ...
Red Wolf: OH jeez
Craig Harris: <drum roll>
Craig Harris: <really long drum roll>
Jeff N (H): The JagDoom advertisement shown on television...
Larry Tipton: True
Jeff N (H): has a priest preaching to the followers who are
against-Satan....To stop the demons, he says you
must do what?...answer via Talk, now!
Craig Harris: Hey, stop looking over my shoulder...
Jeff N (H): Times up!
Jeff N (H): Some of you may have never seen the commercial, and
I understand...
however, there are still two chances left to win a
strategy guide...
Dimitri M LaBarge: That's okay. Can we still win one of em
strategy guides? <g>
Jeff N (H): Only one person got it right!
Keith H.: And the answer?
Jeff N (H): No drawing needed ...
Frank Heller: go midicven
Red Wolf: ME!!
Jeff N (H): the winner is .. Dana, I told you not to tell, NOT!!!
Craig Harris!
Dana @ STReport: Yea!!!!!
Red Wolf: Not to tell not?
Jeff N (H): Craig, what is the answer ... tell 'em all
Red Wolf: this is confusin
Craig Harris: Blast 'em between their beady little eyes.
Dana @ STReport: I was close!!
Red Wolf: Yeah, now I remember
(SysOp) BobP: heh
Steven Bernhard: Congratulations Dana!,<G>
Craig Harris: Gawd, I watch too much TV.
Dimitri M LaBarge: I remember now...sorta...a bit. Urf.
Jeff N (H): Craig, e-mail me in 48 hours with your full
mailing-address.... at 74447,531. Good job!
Craig Harris: No problem.
Red Wolf: Eat Jelly sounded good to me..
Jeff N (H): And, it was on the AEO at E3 tape!
Craig Harris: My cat helped me out.
Jeff N (H): Faran, are you here?
He just left!
I was "Talking" to him, and he left!
Dimitri M LaBarge: I *never* get strategic alliances with *my*
cats like that...
Red Wolf: Yep
Red Wolf: What a b*****d!
Jeff N (H): Hopefully he comes back soon.
Dimitri M LaBarge: Modem disconnect?
Jeff N (H): Next up...back to Formal Stuff now...
Dana P. Jacobson of STReport!
Dimitri M LaBarge: <another drum roll>
Jeff N (H): STReport recently went under a format change that
is very good inn appearance. Blast'er with
questions (right between her beady little eyes!) GA
Dana @ STReport: her?? My wife will debate that with you!
Keith H.: ?
Jeff N (H): Sorry Dana! She is a he, I keep getting confused.
Talking about he/shes <g>, where is Laury Scott? GA
Dana @ STReport: You want me to do an intro, or just take
questions?
Jeff N (H): Intro, then take the q's
Dana @ STReport: Okay.....thanks for the invite and for holding
the CO....As many of you may know, I am the
Atari editor for STReport....online magazine - we
cover the PC, Mac, Atari computers, as well as
the Jaguar.
I've been on the staff for over 5 years now, and
editor for about two.
We're a weekly magazine, and we've been around
since 1987. Happy to answer...any questions
that I can! Go ahead!!
Steven Bernhard: Can someone give a brief overview of what went
on for those that missed the first part?
Rather, did any info come out that is new?<g>
Craig Harris: When's my next article due? <G>
Dana @ STReport: Wednesday!! GA!
Red Wolf: FOR-MAL
Jeff N (H): Okay, I'm first. What do you think of some of your
older competition, AEO? And newer online mags like
The Jaguar Journal? GA
Dana @ STReport: Can I plead the 5th, or drink one?
All kidding aside.....
I read them both and feel that we all have
something to contribute to the...
online community. Both AEO and JJ help keep me
on my toes! GA
Jeff N (H): In turn, STR keeps me on my heels. Good job by
your staff - and I really like your editorials GA
Questions for Dana GA
Dana @ STReport: Your check is in the mail! <g>
Keith H.: ?
Jeff N (H): Keith, ga
Dimitri M LaBarge: ?
Keith H.: Are you going to make the STR anymore Netscape aware?
Dana @ STReport: Keith, if you're asking me whether or not we'll
be enhancing STReport even...more than it is
now - the answer is yes. We plan to....
add graphics, etc.
Keith H.: In terms of reading on-line.
Dana @ STReport: Online stuff? You'd have to ask Ralph
Mariano, the publisher - he's the one who
would have those specific details, sorry. GA
Jeff N (H): Dimitri, GA
Dana @ STReport: Be nice, Dimitri!!
Dimitri M LaBarge: This is a little bit off the beaten track,
but I think we'd like to hear what goes into
being an editor of an online mag. :>
<sweet'n'cuddly mode activated> GA
Dana @ STReport: Y'mean Travis never told you the nightmares? <g>
That's a good question - let me try to give you
the quick and dirty....
I try to develop a staff with good writing
skills and bribe/convince them...
Jeff N (H): And don't ask me now! <g>
Dana @ STReport: ...to write well, and often. Establish contacts
with my target audiences....
Establish online contacts, such as CIS...
gather information online, etc.....
get material from staffers....put it all
together in a fashion that....
looks presentable.....and pray that you all
read and enjoy it!!
There's more, but it's boring! <g> GA
It's a full-time and timely endeavor - usually
thankless!
But somebody's got to do it! GA
Red Wolf: Hehe.. Bribe..
Dimitri M LaBarge: Thanks, Dana! I feel educated! <g> GA
Jeff N (H): How come you get pre-release copies of games and I
DON'T??? GA
Dana @ STReport: Jeff, I wish that I got "pre-release" copies
as much as you think I do! <g>
We're on a review copy program which...
does allow us to get games ahead of release,
or shortly after. We're not as lucky as the
hard copy mags....yet! GA
Dimitri M LaBarge: Hey, how come you and Travis get pre-release
copies of games and I DON'T??? <g>
Jeff N (H): I wish I got them!!! <g>
Yeah, but we're better!
Dana @ STReport: Onliners? You betcha!
Dimitri M LaBarge: Amen!! <straightening tie>
Jeff N (H): Of course, the policy I have is not to review a
game until its out on the shelf .. shelf copy.
Yours is to have two reviews, right? GA
Dana @ STReport: We try to have two reviews of each game, for
diversity. One opinion is okay, but two is
better.
Next ?
Jeff N (H): That's a good thing to have.
Craig Harris: And mine is the best.
Dana @ STReport: Yep! <g>
Jeff N (H): Funny thing is, most mags agree in a certain range
about a game,, but mags like EGM are so far off and
yet people believe them.
Dana @ STReport: The hard copy mags are commercial - people
figure if they're buying the mag, it must be
right! NOT! I don't read them.....often.
Jeff N (H): Anymore questions for the Dana-burger?
Steven Bernhard: Is everyone here familiar with Gameware Express.
Well if you are not then you may want to read
further. We are the only Mail Order company to
advertise in a major video game magazines that
is actually Jaguar friendly. We have the
most and the best info on Jag related topics.
We want Atari to be on top....Our prices are
discounted below MSRP and if you can find a
lower price we will match it.
Jeff N (H): <g>
Craig Harris: mmm...burger.
Dana @ STReport: Wow, I got overrun!!
Jeff N (H): Steve ... how rude!
Dana .. hold on.
Dana @ STReport: holding.....
Jeff N (H): Steve is the other sponsor for the conference, so
we'll let it slide.
Steve, what's your phone #?
Steven Bernhard: I'm very sorry. I accidentally pressed return.
Dana @ STReport: <g> No problem!
Steven Bernhard: Sorry Dana ooops<G>
Jeff N (H): Dana, put the gun down, it was an accident <g>
Dana @ STReport: Disarming!!
Jeff N (H): Anyway, Steve, hold up for a minute.
Steven Bernhard: Please forgive me.
Jeff N (H): Anymore questions for Dana (the burger with extra
cheese, Ketchup, Tomatoes, Pickles, and Sesame Seeds)
Dana @ STReport: Can I ask one of the audience? or 2?
Jeff N (H): Yes you can ... in a minute.
Dana @ STReport: Dealing with STReport, that is!
Jeff N (H): First, Steve, you can advertise now!
Dana @ STReport: Go to commercial and get back to me!!
Steven Bernhard: Well, I'm finished now,<G>
Dana @ STReport: In more ways than one!! <<rbg>>
Jeff N (H): Could you post Gameware Express'es phone number so
that we may call if we want something!
Steven Bernhard: lol
Sure, 504 926-1413....And I'll let word of
mouth do the rest.
Jeff N (H): Okay.
Dana @ STReport: Where is that, Steve?
Keith H.: ?
Steven Bernhard: In cajun country...Baton Rouge, LA
Dana @ STReport: Spicy - thanx!
Jeff N (H): Now, before the Dana-burger (I got that from TV a
few weeks ago!!) continues, and Keith can ask his
question, its time to give...
out the second Strategy Guide donated by Atari.
Dana @ STReport: Dana-burger???? scrumptious-sounding!!
Craig Harris: with bacon.
Dana @ STReport: even better!
Jeff N (H): Alien vs. Predator is the Jaguar's most sold game ...
Red Wolf: It is about time for another Strategy Guide
Jeff N (H): Repeat:
Jeff N (H): Alien vs. Predator is the Jaguar's most sold game ...
Steven Bernhard: Will Doom catch up?
Jeff N (H): AvP2 is coming out on CD, developed by Beyond Games,
Inc...
Who developed the first Alien vs. Predator game for
the Jaguar?
Craig Harris: D) All of the Above
Jeff N (H): Answer via Talk
Randy Baer: Rebellion
whoops I'm a dork
Sorry guys
Steven Bernhard: I've got you beat, Randy <g>
Craig Harris: <g>
Randy Baer: <<--puts on dunce cap
Steven Bernhard: Save one for me, Randy.
Randy Baer: Dagnabit...I'll NEVER beat AvsP now...
I needed that AvP guide!
Jeff N (H): Okay, because my hat friend is gone, I will give
each of you who answered a chance to guess a number
0-50...in order you answered...
Steve, did you answer...
I will tell Craig, the first winner, the number I'm
choosing...So hold on. GA
Steven Bernhard: no, I'm not eligible.<G>
Red Wolf: Hold on Go on
Craig Harris: hint...it's not 12,335
Jeff N (H): Actually, you are, but too bad, you missed out!
Everyone is eligible
Keith H.: Let him guess too
Steven Bernhard: Well I be ready next time.
Jeff N (H): Okay: Keith, Guess GA
Keith H.: 42
Jeff N (H): Nope - Randy Baer (dunce man)
Randy Baer: 19
Jeff N (H): Sorry - Red Wolf
Red Wolf: 23
Jeff N (H): Guess you're a bit drunk - Dimitri
Dimitri M LaBarge: 7
Jeff N (H): No - Dana
Dana @ STReport: 16
Jeff N (H): DING DING DING!
Jeff N (H): He did it!
Dana @ STReport: I had a feelin'!!
Red Wolf: COOl!
Jeff N (H): Dana P. Jacobson of STReport wins the second copy.
Randy Baer: Congrats
Jeff N (H): Craig, is it true - need your confirmation
Dimitri M LaBarge: <applause>
Craig Harris: um, er, um....ah...ye-ah...<g>
Yes, the number was 16.
Randy Baer: Craig - say the number was 19 and I'll rip out the
pages for Club Drive and send them to you!
What a deal, eh?
Red Wolf: OK..for a chance to win a Free copy of ET for the 2600
Randy Baer: What company put out Porky's for the 2600?
Craig Harris: Complete with landfill slime? Count me in!
Jeff N (H): Dana, make sure you send me your address via E-Mail...
Red Wolf: What was the 2nd Video game system Ever!
Answer Via Talk!
Time is running low!
Becki Obrego'n: Hello
Red Wolf: Time's Up!
Jeff N (H): Answer is
Red Wolf: No one got it and one person tried
Jeff N (H): Well, what's the answer!
Red Wolf: The Answer is The Odyssey.. developed by
Randy Baer: Magnavox
Jeff N (H): Okay.. Keith, you have a question for somebody...
ITS FORMAL NOW!
Dana @ STReport: I have my questions, regarding STReport!!
Craig Harris: <Formal Switch On>
Keith H.: I just wanted to emphasize that word of mouth thing
about Gameware Express, and say that Steve has always
provided me with excellent service for probably close
to a year that I have been dealing with him.
But no real question. GA
Red Wolf: Made by Ralph Bayer
Jeff N (H): I'll agree there.
Red Wolf: No, The Odyssey 1, Randy
Jeff N (H): Okay, Formal is officially over!
Steven Bernhard: Thanks Keith. I appreciate that.
Craig Harris: <Formal Switch Off>
Jeff N (H): Now we go on to a few more survey/poll questions,
then a chance to win an AUTOGRAPHED edition of the
Strategy Guide, again, donated by Atari.
Here goes question one:
Craig Harris: Doesn't Dana have any questions???
Jeff N (H): What title are you anticipating most?
Craig Harris: A really really good title.
Jeff N (H): (We'll get Dana's stuff done in a few minutes)
Dana @ STReport: RPGs!!
Jeff N (H): Rayman
Red Wolf: Rayman
Jeff N (H): (title name please)
Craig Harris: Club Drive II
Keith H.: Windows 95 (sorry), Battle Sphere
Dana @ STReport: Black Ice...
Randy Baer: Return of Kasumi Ninja
Craig Harris: Club Drive II: This Time We're Serious.
Red Wolf: Heheh
Jeff N (H): Back to FORMAL!
Dimitri M LaBarge: Battlesphere
Steven Bernhard: lol
Randy Baer: Checkered Flag II: The Steering
Jeff N (H): Please welcome Pradip (Atari) to the conference!
Hi Pradip!
Red Wolf: Hey Pradip
Jeff N (H): You the last guest!
Keith H.: Welcome Pradip
Jeff N (H): FORMAL MODE IS ON.
Red Wolf: 60 seconds to answer for a free copy of ET for the
2600:
Jeff N (H): Pradip, let me just explain ... people may have
questions for you (Red Wolf, stop it now!)
Red Wolf: What year did ET The Extra Terrestrial come out for
the 2600?
Jeff N (H): Answer if you can, type "ga" when you are done
typing an answer
Dana @ STReport: Pradip's gone!
Jeff N (H): Never mind then
Red Wolf: Randy Wins!
Craig Harris: Geez, Dana...do you have a rapid-fire "update"
button? <g>
Dana @ STReport: hehe, I just didn't see him! Prolly got cut off.
Jeff N (H): What the *&^%$ is his problem? I wish he could stay.
Steven Bernhard: Dana, used all the ammo on me already.<G>
Jeff N (H): He develops CD games including Black Ice/White Noise
Randy Baer: Let's have some more questions!
Red Wolf: Jeeze Jeff.. Calm down! And now.. Back to formal
with Jeff.
One Question:
Craig Harris: <Formal Switch On> (c) CH 1995
Jeff N (H): Dana, you had questions for everyone. GA
Dana @ STReport: Yes, I did. Since we were talking about STReport.....
Dimitri M LaBarge: Yes, Dana, I am remarkably handsome. Next.
(SysOp) BobP: heh
Craig Harris: <lol>
Dana @ STReport: I was curious as to how many people here were
readers and what, if any thing, people would
like to see added to the Atari coverage.
Especially Jaguar-related, if that be the case.
Red Wolf: Who would buy a nice Encoder Wheel to play T2K with?
Jeff N (H): Would you all please listen to Dana?
Red Wolf: OK Sorry, I can't read
Craig Harris: I'm a reader, you're a reader, he's a reader, she's
a reader; wouldn't you like to be a reader too?
Randy Baer: Jeff Minter Moment...he could discuss llamas and
world politics
Dana @ STReport: Did that come thru okay?
Randy Baer: interviews with atari developers, seriously...
Dana @ STReport: We are lining some up, Randy - they're tough
to get pinned down and talk for awhile!
Randy Baer: I bet...cool!
Dana @ STReport: Or, they don't/can't say anything!
Steven Bernhard: Jaguar info that's not readily available.
(Like insider info)
Dana @ STReport: How about interviews with Atari personnel?
Interested?
Randy Baer: How about an interview with Sam conducted by Ralph?
Dana @ STReport: Never happen!
Randy Baer: *vbg*
Dana @ STReport: But I'd like to see it!
Randy Baer: Awww..that would be GREAT
Better than a Tyson fight
Dana @ STReport: <<grin>>
Pradip (Atari): Hi everybody
Craig Harris: I'll provide the boxing gloves!
Dana @ STReport: He's back!!
Dimitri M LaBarge: Aw jeez, are you trying to hasten the
apocalypse? <g>
Pradip (Atari): Who's back?
Dana @ STReport: YOU! <g>
Dana @ STReport: Any more questions before Jeff gets to Pradip?
Craig Harris: But I don't think it's a good idea for Ralph to
handle small, blunt objects around Sam.
Pradip (Atari): Oh, have any question for me? I was just trying
to fix some dinner. sorry for being late
Dana @ STReport: Any questions/comments, feel free to leave
them for me in the Forum!!
Craig Harris: ?
Jeff N (H): Where is Pradip?
Dana @ STReport: he's here
Jeff N (H): User 10? Who are you?
Dana @ STReport: Yes, ID 10 is Pradip.
Pradip (Atari): I am Pradip and I work for Atari
Jeff N (H): Oh, hi Pradip
Red Wolf: Hey
Pradip (Atari): Hi Jeff, I am trying to get a hang of the
conference room <<G>
Red Wolf: What do you do for Atari?
Jeff N (H): Pradip, you develop CD games if I'm not mistaken
(first conference, eh? We'll take you through it).
Jeff N (H): Guys - please return to Formal Mode
Pradip (Atari): I am involved with CDROM development from the
beginning and now I am doing the Black ice/White
Noise
Jeff N (H): <formal switch on>
Craig Harris: (c) 1995 CH
Jeff N (H): Pradip - when you are done typing a sentence, type
"GA" which means go ahead
Pradip (Atari): Jeff, how does this formal thing work.
I will do that now, GA
Jeff N (H): The current people here will type a "?" to ask a
question
Craig Harris: ?
Randy Baer: ?
Jeff N (H): I'll call on them in order they ask, and you can
answer if you can (company policy may restrict you).
When a person is done typing his sentence,e he will
type GA as well so you know he's done. GA
Red Wolf: !!!
Jeff N (H): Harris, GA
Pradip (Atari): Hi Guys, I am listening... GA
Jeff N (H): Harris, you may ask your question. GA
It's slow ...hold on there Pradip
Craig Harris: I've seen screenshots of Black Ice/White Noise
for a long time. Does this game utilize a 3D engine
like Doom, or does most of the cityscape come off
of the CD...can't think of the word...braincramp...
Dimitri M LaBarge: Spooled?
Craig Harris: Aw, heck...<ga>
Dimitri M LaBarge: Prerendered?
Pradip (Atari): I wrote a new engine for Black Ice. It renders
the 3D landscape on the fly. No it is not
pre-rendered. GA
Craig Harris: On-the-fly...that's the word.
Jeff N (H): Baer, GA
(Dimitri, don't interrupt!)
Craig Harris: Hey, he was only helping!
Keith H.: ?
Randy Baer: Any idea on what will be out after Black Ice, also
when will Black Ice be released?
Pradip (Atari): Data gets loaded in certain format and rendering
is done in real time .GA
Randy Baer: GA
Jeff N (H): (I know, but we have to set a good example for Pradip)
Craig Harris: ?
Pradip (Atari): I can not answer for what will be out after
Black Ice GA
Randy Baer: Any idea on a release date? ga
Pradip (Atari): Black Ice is scheduled for Xmax GA
Jeff N (H): Red Wolf, GA
Red Wolf: Time for some Quick Trivia
Dimitri M LaBarge: ?
Red Wolf: Where does the word Atari come from and what does it
mean? (I know the answer)
Craig Harris: C'mon, Red Wolf...this is Pradip's spotlight.
Jeff N (H): Red Wolf - I do not think Pradip is in that
department!
(SysOp) BobP: sigh
Red Wolf: I am asking everybody It's a trivia Question
Jeff N (H): If you continue to interrupt this, you not only will
look bad, but make the hold conference look bad.
Pradip (Atari): I think "Atari" is a Japanese word ga
Jeff N (H): Trivia ISN'T for Now
Jeff N (H): Keith H. GA
Red Wolf: Hahaha
Red Wolf: Well, It's from the Game GO, And it means Prepare
to be Attacked..
Jeff N (H): Keith, you may ask a question. GA
Red Wolf: I'm going now so I'll see you all later
Keith H.: Can you give us an overview of the game. Plot, etc. GA
Pradip (Atari): see ya Red Wolf
Red Wolf: Later Pradip
Jeff N (H): bye RW
Red Wolf: Live with the Ages.. The classics
Jeff N (H): Pradip, Keith H. asked you a question. GA
Pradip (Atari): Plot is based in future San-Francisco. it's a
cyberpunk type of game where you play as one of
the characters GA
Jeff N (H): Craig, you have a q. GA
Keith H.: wait!
Craig Harris: Two, actually...
Jeff N (H): Craig ... hold up ... sorry Keith finish up GA
Keith H.: Can you give a little more info, like what is the
object of the game? GA
Pradip (Atari): It is a non linear game where there is one
main plot and various sub-plots.
You interact with various characters in the
game and by solving sub-plots gain reputation
and proceed toward the main goal. GA guys
Jeff N (H): Okay Keith... now it's Craig's turn. GA
(you can get back in line tho)
Craig Harris: One based on my last q...if you are allowed to
answer this, can you tell us what the latest
approximate framerate of the 3D engine is?
Jeff N (H): Second Q, Craig GA
Pradip (Atari): 3D engine give about 30 frames a second GA
Craig Harris: Second, this game looks like it would go
hand-in-hand with heavy metal music...any
big-named band(s) doing the BGM? GA
Pradip (Atari): We are working on those - but
I can not tell you any names right now.
Jeff N (H): Dimitri, GA
Pradip (Atari): GA
Dimitri M LaBarge: Can you tell us a little bit about how the
game as it's being developed now differs from
the original concept of the game? GA
Pradip (Atari): Yes, it is a little different compare to the
original concept, but rescaling is always done
when implementation starts. the basic concept
is still the same. GA
Jeff N (H): Dimitri with a follow up question, GA
Pradip (Atari): ga
Dimitri M LaBarge: Can you be specific about some of the
differences, or is all just lost in the mix?
GA
Pradip (Atari): the basic differences, mostly came into picture
when we started the development. most of the
plots and sub plots are still the same. GA
Jeff N (H): Do you think CD is easier or harder to develop games
on?
Keith H.: ?
Jeff N (H): GA
Pradip (Atari): I think, it's the same. Except for the increase
in the volume of data and lack of extra memory
as they are available in cart based games. GA
Craig Harris: ?
Jeff N (H): Keith, GA
Keith H.: The $64 question: How do you like the Jaguar, in terms
of programmability, speed, graphics power?
Pradip (Atari): I love programming on Jag. It's an excellent
piece of hardware. It has a lot of potential
and we learn as we go. ga
Dimitri M LaBarge: ?
Keith H.: ga
Jeff N (H): Harris, GA
Craig Harris: In a past issue of Next Generation, they made a
half-assed comparison of BI/WN to the really bad
game Virtuoso. How does BI/WN *really* compare to
Virtuoso in terms of playability?
That is, if you've actually seen Virtuoso... GA
Pradip (Atari): I have never seen Vistuoso. ga
Jeff N (H): Dimitri, GA
Craig Harris: (Gilda Radner Voice) "Never Mind..."
Dimitri M LaBarge: How are you planning to incorporate
peripherals like the CatBox, six button
controller, and save game carts into
Black Ice? (Or are you? :>) GA
Pradip (Atari): CDs will have generic save game carts (NVRAMs)
and BIWN will use them like any other CDROM
based game. Cat box is a generic peripheral,
six button controller will be a great help
during fighting sequences. GA
Craig Harris: ?
Jeff N (H): Harris, GA
Steven Bernhard: ?
Craig Harris: Back to the 3D engine. <G> In your words, what is
it capable of...degrees of motion, resolution,
lighting, special effects, etc. GA
Pradip (Atari): The 3D engine we have supports motions in all
directions and it does depth cuing very well.
Out screen resolution currently is 320/2000 and
the game play window is 224/180 and the rest is
used for control panel stuff. Ga
Keith H.: ?
Craig Harris: Can you look up and down as well? GA
Jeff N (H): Steve, GA
Pradip (Atari): the game play does not require it. ga
Jeff N (H): HOLDON!
Craig Harris: GA
Jeff N (H): Please hold the questions for a minute or two.
I am going to give away the last AUTOGRAPHED
Strategy Guide RIGHT NOW!!!
Here comes the questions: ANSWER VIA "TALK".
Pradip, you will be ineligible. If anyone answers
publicly, you will be DQ'd and the question will be
scratched and re-asked.
READY! ...
Name the 5 processors in the Atari Jaguar, NOW - via
"Talk" (to me)
Craig Harris: eeesh...thank god I'm sitting this one out. <g>
Dana @ STReport: me too! I was gonna say "food"! stumped 'em
all!
Jeff N (H): Anyone ... I've gotten no answers yet!
I'm giving 30 seconds...
20
10
Craig Harris: Well, there's one made of silicon...there's a
rather large one, a somewhat smaller one...
Jeff N (H): 5
TIMES UP!
Cody Maloney: <g>
Jeff N (H): Hold on a sec...
Jeff N (H): Dimitri and Keith H. both got the correct answer.
Pradip, since you develop on the Jag, tell'em
what's inside GA
Dana @ STReport: As they all load up their Jag FAQ!!
Pradip (Atari): Jag has a GPU, Object processor, a blitter,
DSP and a 68KK. ga
Jeff N (H): That's right! There's a tie ... time to pick a lucky
number From 1 - 100
I'll tell someone the answer. Hold up.
Craig Harris: Geez, what's with the dice rolling?? <g>
Dana @ STReport: Vegas anyone?!
Jeff N (H): Dimitri, guess
Dimitri M LaBarge: 27
Jeff N (H): BUZZZZZZ
Jeff N (H): Wrong
Jeff N (H): Keith?
Keith H.: 28
Jeff N (H): Nope.
Jeff N (H): Dimitri
Dimitri M LaBarge: 42
Jeff N (H): Guess again (Keith)
Craig Harris: (this could go on All night)...
Keith H.: 79
Jeff N (H): No.
(SysOp) BobP: Keith, you have won the toss.
Jeff N (H): One more guess each or a tie - breaking question
will be thrown
Craig Harris: THe Price Is Right!
Jeff N (H): Dimitri, guess
Dimitri M LaBarge: 18
Craig Harris: Survey says...
Jeff N (H): C'Mon
Keith H.: 51
Pradip (Atari): I thought Keith got it right...
Jeff N (H): The winner, in the toss, is KEITH!
Pradip (Atari): congratulations Keith!
Dana @ STReport: YEA!!!! congrats!
Keith H.: Thanks!
Dimitri M LaBarge: Congrats, Keith! :>
Craig Harris: zzzz...<sn>..huh? Hey! Congrats, Keith!
Pradip (Atari): Jeff, what's next?
Jeff N (H): Let me thank all of you for coming, and I hope to
see everyone at Christmas. Stay in the lobby for
about 3 minutes for an unrecorded surprise (you too
User 10) Good nite! GA
Pradip (Atari): what's that? and where is the lobby?
(SysOp) BobP: see ya all
Dimitri M LaBarge: Great CO, Jeff!
Craig Harris: Hey, steve had a q!
Pradip (Atari): Great job Jeff, see ya all.
Pradip (Atari): Thanks for coming.
Jeff N (H): Is Pradip still around?
Pradip (Atari): it's great to be back.
Dimitri M LaBarge: Whoo-hoo!
Steven Bernhard: Pradip, I hope we are not taking time away
from Black Ice.<GG>
Pradip (Atari): not at all. It's my day to relax after 5 days
of hard work
Craig Harris: Pradip...are you a programmer, producer,
tester...what's you're official line?
Pradip (Atari): I am a programmer
Dimitri M LaBarge: What's a chip like you doing in a factory
like this? <g>
Pradip (Atari): Officially I am Software engineer
Craig Harris: I've always liked that title...
...so official.
Pradip (Atari): It sounds nice...
still don't see Jeff around. He is lost.
Steven Bernhard: Someone should fill in for Jeff until he gets
back. Dana?
Dana @ STReport: If I had any idea what he was going to do!!
Craig Harris: I hope to be blown away by Black Ice...don't
disappoint me, Pradip! <g>
Dana @ STReport: Any questions for Pradip while we wait?
Pradip (Atari): We are trying hard to make it a very interesting
title.
Dana @ STReport: I can't wait for the game, myself!!
Steven Bernhard: ?
Dana @ STReport: Go ahead Steve
Craig Harris: How's it comparing to comparable Saturn or PSX
games?
Pradip (Atari): me neither
I do not know really. I have not played many
Saturn or PSX games myself
Pradip (Atari): Hey, Jeff is back
Pradip (Atari): yes I can now.
Craig Harris: (he's talking to voices)
Craig Harris: (be afraid)
Dimitri M LaBarge: He's Cathy's Clown...
*%&$*(&% keyboard...
Craig Harris: Yeah, that's it...it's the KEYBOARDS fault...yeah,
that's the ticket...
Dimitri M LaBarge: My keyboard is possessed by the devil, and I
have the papers to prove it. Nyah.
Craig Harris: George C. Scott will take care of the keyboard for
yah...
Dimitri M LaBarge: Feh. It's only a minor inconvenience.
Craig Harris: *pound pound pound*
Pradip (Atari): Jeff is lost again
Craig Harris: sound of Jeff knocking on the door.
Dimitri M LaBarge: A likely story... (tapping foot)
Craig Harris: Open the doggy flap!
Trying another conference room.....
Craig Harris: Now Pradip's going to be left behind...watch.
Dimitri M LaBarge: Hoo-whoo!
Keith H.: he's here
Jeffrey Norwood: hi
Dimitri M LaBarge: I show him as in here!
Craig Harris: Oh, Pra-dip!!!
Boy, is *he* going to have a bad taste in his mouth
after all this is through...
Pradip (Atari): I can see you now Jeff
Jeffrey Norwood: Good!
Dimitri M LaBarge: Roll call!!
Craig Harris: Hey, hey, the gang's all here...
Pradip (Atari): now 7 of us are in here
Keith H.: look, pradip!!!!!
Pradip (Atari): I think we can start again
waiting for questions of course if there is any
Jeffrey Norwood: Oh, okay. Lets do questions for Pradip first,
then an Atari Trivia Tournament.
Dimitri, you did have the next question for Pradip
GA
Dimitri M LaBarge: Me? I thought it was Steve.
Steven Bernhard: I thought it was me too.<G>
Jeffrey Norwood: Okay, fine - Steve, GA
Steven Bernhard: How many people are involved in the Black Ice
project and what's the run down?
Also how many hours do you work a week? GA
Pradip (Atari): Three programmers, three full time artists and
a bunch of contract artists
I work around 50 hrs a week GA
Steven Bernhard: ga
Jeffrey Norwood: Dimitri - now its your turn.
Pradip (Atari): Keith left,
Jeff N (H): I know.
Dimitri M LaBarge: What other CD-ROM projects have you worked on,
Pradip? GA
Pradip (Atari): I did a number of test routines for CDROM
earlier and then II did CD+G for the CDROM
bootrom
Craig Harris: ?
Dimitri M LaBarge: More questions?
ONLINE WEEKLY STReport OnLine The wires are a hummin'!
PEOPLE... ARE TALKING
=====================
On CompuServe
-------------
compiled by
Joe Mirando
CIS ID: 73637,2262
Hidi Ho friends and neighbors. Another week has come and gone and we've
got a lot of things to talk about this week... most of them Atari computer
related.
I know that, of late, there hasn't been a lot of news flying around about
our favorite computer, but there is still interest in it. And as long as
there's interest, I'll be here to keep you up to date on what's happening
here on CompuServe. It's really a great place for Atari users to be.
The support provided by Ron Luks and his Sysops is top-notch, as is the
support provided by both commercial and shareware authors and
distributors.
These folks come in second only to the users who steadfastly stand by
their machine of choice. Although the numbers of both developers and
users are shrinking, there are many (such as myself) who will continue to
use the ST series of computers until they no longer do what they are
needed to do. And isn't that really the important thing? Sure, "eye
candy", bells and whistles are nice, but do they really make your computer
easier to use for whatever you use it for? If they do, by all means, trot
right out and buy a new system. You owe it to yourself to get the best
tools you can get. But a tool shouldn't be a status symbol, it should be
exactly what you need it to be (unless of course, you need a status
symbol). And for me, my STE is what I need: A very easy-to-use system
with all the utilities I need. When I need something that this platform
can't provide, sure, I'll "jump ship". But I can't imagine what I might
need that this puppy can't provide. How 'bout you?
Well, let's get on with the reason for this column: All the news, hints,
tips, and info available every week right here on CompuServe.
From the Atari Computing Forums
===============================
Lloyd Pulley posts this about Online Services:
"Each service has its pluses and minuses. If/when I ever get a PC,
I'll probably join AOL and Prodigy because they (and GEnie) have areas
that I want and need, and CIS doesn't. Which doesn't mean that I'll
drop CIS. It has other features that I like."
Our Editor/Publisher, Ralph Mariano, who last week said that he found
America Online to be too structured, tells Lloyd (who is our Current
Affairs Editor):
"Agreed, but I wasn't talking about the individual providers on AOL or
anywhere else. I was talking about the demeanor of the overall
management. There is a difference. Its easily detectable the moment
one logs on to other services... either antique looking and slow
running or, instant rigidity with walls and ceilings plastered with
hype among other impressions..."
Lloyd replies:
"Different strokes for different folks. At the current time, I believe
that AOL and Prodigy are setup better for the computer novice and those
who just want to use their computer for a tool, and not learn
'computerese'."
Peter Joseph jumps in and tells Ralph:
"Structured...maybe that's what it is. One of the things that ticked
me off right from the start was that the fastest node in Maine is
2400bps and =that's= long distance for me. Worse yet was the fact that
90% of the time I was on during my free trial was spent waiting while
they downloaded new artwork. After I cancelled my membership I got a
call from them and I voiced this feeling. They gave me some extra free
time so I took it and logged on via one of their (outtastate) 14.4
nodes but was still unimpressed. As far as I'm concerned, I've given
them more than a fair shake and I won't bother anymore. I just format
the disks and use 'em whenever I get them now."
Huh? I thought that I was the only one that did that. Meanwhile, Ralph
tells Peter that he's...
"Gotta agree... I must have at least fifty of their disks in use in one
way or another. Case cries about MSN, but his tactics, including
flooding the world with disks, are a real pia and an ecological
danger."
Someone named James tells Ralph:
"... But after reading the latest quarterly report, it seems to be a
successful marketing coup. Pretty incredible really, something like
tripling their earnings.
The one thing I do like about AOL is creating up your own discussion
forum/chat room. There is often a musician room and a Green Bay Packer
(yes I am a die hard) room which I like to participate in.
Waiting for art to download drives me nutty, I'd rather have it on CD
and update twice a year."
Ralph replies:
"I'm receiving more than five disks per week from the wildest of
areas. Steve Case and his buds have NO room to squawk about MSN when
this sort of jazz is going on. I wrote a very stern letter to the DOJ
this week about the obvious self centered complaints lodged by Case and
friends. I also detailed the disks and freebies hours offers by Case
and buds that are everywhere. Support documentation was included as
was an offer for affidavit support.
>> The one thing I do like about AOL is creating up your own discussion
forum/chat room. There is often a musician room and a Green Bay
Packer (yes I am a die hard) room which I like to participate in. <<
That can be done in differing ways on any service. Its nothing fancy.
Same old same old in different clothes.
>> Waiting for art to download drives me nutty, I'd rather have it on
CD and update twice a year. <<
That makes sense... you'll never see it though."
I don't want to seem to be service-bashing here (perish the thought),
but I fully agree with the sentiment that some services are best enjoyed
by the "un-initiated". While, at first glance, this doesn't seem to be
a bad thing, think about it: You don't have to _learn_ anything to use
these services. Learning is the important thing, not what we learn. My
teachers used to call this "expanding your horizons". It reminds me of
an in-law who used to complain about the trend of specialization by
saying "If people keep learning more and more about less and less, soon
we'll be a nation of people who know everything about nothing". Those
words are finally hitting home. Keep your guard up!
On a different subject, Andrew Wright posts:
"Atari World magazine is now on Compuserve so if you've any queries
regarding distribution, comments about the way the mag is shaping up
or ideas for future issues, we'd be glad to hear from you.
I'm particularly interested in feedback from users/readers in the
States - can you get hold of Atari World? Does it carry useful
reviews/features etc?
Vic Lennard's departure has put me fairly and squarely in the hot seat
and I'm always looking for new contributors. Anyone on CIS fancy
writing for Atari World? Feel free to e-mail me, even if you've never
had anything published before.
Regards
Andrew Wright
Editor, Atari World"
Simon Churchill tells Andrew:
About time you made it on here, here I am sending all the gosip about
a new mag to these guy's and giving it as much hype as possible and
they love it!
Nice to see you, I am a sub and got TW 2 still have not installed it.
A question, how long is the 2.04 offer on till?? Pay day is still a
week away at least, so any set cloing date?
The mag is shaping up to be a good rival to STF, I did notice this
month that STF changed from a spin to staple binding, thing's must be
looking down for them. Or is just our small market.
What type of thing's are you looking for as contributions? I have a
towered STFM with just about every mod con you can think of! From the
T28, 1.44Meg floppies, Autoswitch Overscan to twin TOSes and a built in
270Meg drive. (All work done by me) You could even send down a
photographer! Hmmm, well perhaps not. 8-)
Glad to see you on line, your number has been saved for future
reference.
ps - There are some text files by me in the lib's, fairly lengthy
helping with peoples prob's, but the sysop wanted to capture them
so I said o.k., If you have the time search for my name."
Andrew tells Simon:
"There's no closing date AFAIK so don't worry about that. As for STF,
I'm happy that there are two mags in the market and will continue to
keep on improving AW where I can.
As for contributions, mail me an idea and I'll consider it. I'm after
writers who will chase their own stories and provide good ideas for
features and reviews."
In a gesture of friendship, our own publisher, the afore-mentioned Ralph
Mariano, tells Andrew:
"You are welcome to re-print anything (with credits) you care to from
STReport you have my blanket permission."
Martin Shaw asks about the future on CompuServe:
"More and more Compuserve services demand the use of a CIM program.
Does anyone know of a way of accessing these with an Atari or do I have
to buy an IBM type pc?"
Chris Roth tells Martin:
"It seems that there will no be CIM for the Ataris ever. It's a shame
but obvious reality."
My first impulse is to yell "foul", but you must admit that in the
Bang-For-The-Buck department, writing a program specifically for us
Atari users doesn't make much sense from their point of view. Oh well,
back to that "expanding your horizons" thing again.
Peter Boyle tells us:
"I want to convert some Atari ST files for use on PC. The source
format is the old Data Manager ST program by Timeworks. Since this was
a database application, I would like to get my files into readable form
in *any* DOS/Windows database (Paradox, etc) or even a spreadsheet
(Lotus 1-2-3, etc). I can take it from there. I have already copied
files from the Atari to a DOS diskette using the STTOPC program that
was recommended to me in this forum (thanks). So, specific questions:
1.) Is there a DOS/Windows program that can read or convert a Data
Manager ST file? (I've tried several already, to no avail.)
2.) Is there an Atari ST program that converts Data Manager files to
any PC-compatible programs?
3.) Is Timeworks still in business?"
Albert Dayes, our good friend at Atari Explorer Online Magazine, tells
Peter:
"I do not recall if there is any ST program that reads Data Manager ST
files. I think Informer II or Superbase might have had that capability
but not sure. There might be a PC version of Data Manager but not sure
on that issue either.
It is probably better to get an Atari ST run Data Manager and then
print to disk to get the data into a usable format.
Another possibility is using Data Junction for Windows #5 (By tools and
techniques) and create a custom script for converting the files to a
usable PC database format. It might require some reverse engineering
but that is another alternative."
Chris Roth asks:
"Can anybody recommend a spreadsheet program? It should run on a
Falcon and be MultiTOS compatable."
Albert Dayes of AEO tells Chris:
"I believe HiSoft makes a spreadsheet that is compatible with the
Falcon. Not sure about Multi-TOS however. Compo is working on an
upgrade to LDW Power spreadsheet (no release information has been given
yet)."
When Terry Cano asks about TOS-compatible machines, Simon Churchill
tells him:
"Both the Medusa and Eagle system's are full ST/TOS compatable
machines, they have the STFM's and STE's Sound system's and all the
rest.
They are of a modular design which mean's you can upgrade your
graphics card, processor card, etc. They seem to be running with a
68030 or 68040 with full 32 AND 16 bit busses for back compatability.
The motherboard's run like a PC, say 32Mhz with the chip's doing either
64Mhz or 32Mhz! There are ideas to make up a 68060 processor board!
Speed freak here!!!!
They are of course in a tower case and designed in such a way as to
support extra types of processors. For instance if a daughter board
was designed with a 486DX 66/2 then it would be plug in and go. You
have either an ST compatable of a PC, ALL within the same case.
Naturaly these system's can have some software problem's due to the
chip's they use but with the speed that can be produced by the chip AND
motherboard operating at higher speed's the simplicity of GEM will
result in some VERY fast running application's.
High speed serial port's and probably full digital sampling along with
14Meg ST memory and 128Meg (ish) of TT memory mean's you just can't run
out of memory! (You specify how much and what type of memory you
require) These system's are probably faster than the new Falcon MK II
but it is design more to the sound proffesional. Whoever when price
comes into it the Falcon also win's hand's down! But, it's NOT in a
tower case. (YET)
Hope this shed's some light on them for you, if you want
names/address just ask and I'll see what I can find."
Edward Hagihara posts:
"I have an Iomega SCSI Zip drive, and am interested in knowing if
there are any drivers that are compatible with an Atari Mega 2 that I
have. Also, if available, what do I need in terms of hardware to run
it? Any help would be appreciated."
Albert Dayes of... well, you know, tells Edward:
"The only driver I know of is from ICD and I believe it is still in
beta test. It requires and ICD host adapter (AdSCSI series) or LINK2."
Edward tells Albert:
"OK, so basically, all I have to do is wait for it to come out.
That's fine, because I'm already running my ST from two twenty meg mfm
hard drives. I'd just like to be able to transfer the information to my
zip drive before these things crash. Thanks for the reply!"
Jerry Coppess tells Edward:
"The read.me file in the ZIP folder of the lataest ICD PRO boot
utilities says that the program is not fully tested(use at your own
risk), but at least one person had succesfully used it."
Well folks, that's about all for this week. Tune in again next week,
same time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying
when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
STReport's "EDITORIAL CARTOON"
A "Quotable Quote" A true, "Sign of the Times"
"We can give advice...
but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it!"
STReport International OnLine Magazine
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STR OnLine! "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" August 18, 1995
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