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April 25, 2002  





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AtariAge News archive for April 2002:

JagFest 2k2 Date Announced
Thursday, April 18, 2002

Posted by: Albert | Message Boards | Submit News

Visit the JagFest 2k2 HomepageDetails about the Sixth Annual Atari Jaguar Festival (JagFest 2k2) have been revealed. JagFest 2k2 will be held in downtown St. Louis, Missouri at the Mayfair Wyndham Historic Hotel. In a first for this event, it will be held over two days instead of one, spanning Friday, July 12th and Saturday, July 13th, 2002. Admission is $25 if paid in advance or $30 at the door. You can read the full press release here and visit the JagFest 2k2 Homepage for more information.

AtariAge T-Shirt Slogan Contest
Thursday, April 18, 2002

Posted by: Alex | Message Boards | Submit News

Yes, that's right, you can finally order gear with the AtariAge logo on it. T-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, hats, and other items are all available. Now you can look stylish (or something) and support AtariAge at the same time. You can see all the products at the AtariAge Gear Store. To kick it off, we're having a slogan contest for the back of the t-shirt. The winner will receive a free t-shirt of their choice with their slogan on the back. For all the details, go to the AtariAge T-Shirt Slogan Contest page.

Space HoRSE
Tuesday, April 16, 2002

Posted by: Alex | Message Boards | Submit News

Shrapnel Games is set to publish Space HoRSE, a strategy game from Gilligames inspired by the classic game M.U.L.E.. For those unfamiliar with it, M.U.L.E. is considered one of the best computer games ever, and the Atari 800 version is considered by many to be the best port. Get the ATR file for yourself and find out why. A demo of Space HoRSE should be available soon.

Castle Blast Winner
Sunday, April 14, 2002

Posted by: Alex | Message Boards | Submit News

Ronen Habot has selected Zanza's entry as the winner for the Castle Blast Label Contest. Congratulations to Zanza and thanks to everyone who entered, you can see all of the label submissions here. For his efforts, Zanza will receive a limited Special Edition version of Castle Blast. This Special Edition will be differentiated from the normal version as follows:

  • The owner's initials and serial number will be displayed on the top of the screen when pressing *.
  • The owner's initials and serial number will be displayed as a moving message at the bottom of the screen when the game is over.
  • Cheat mode where the player can select the level he/she wants to start playing at.

    MyAtari 2002 Award Results
    Saturday, April 13, 2002

    Posted by: Alex | Message Boards | Submit News

    AtariAge is proud to be awarded "Best Atari Web Site of the Year" by MyAtari.net. Thanks to all who voted (over 1700 votes cast), it's nice to be recognized among all the excellent web sites out there. For the complete results, go to the MyAtari awards page. A quick list of this year's winners:

  • Best Atari web site of the year: AtariAge.com
  • Best Programmer of the year: Carl Forhan (Songbird Productions)
  • Best Commercial release of the year: MagiC 6.20 by Application-Systems Heidelberg
  • Best Shareware release of the year: Aniplayer by Didier Méquignon
  • Best PD/Freeware release of the year: Steem Engine by Anthony and Russell Hayward
  • Best Game release of the year: Chu Chu Rocket by Reservoir Gods
  • Best Hardware upgrade of the year: CT60 by Czuba Tech
  • Best Atari supporting company of the year: Best Electronics
  • Best Atari magazine of the year: st-computer
  • Outstanding contribution to the Atari community: Anders Eriksson at Dead Hackers Society

    Atari Revival
    Friday, April 12, 2002

    Posted by: Alex | Message Boards | Submit News

    Infogrames has announced Atari Revival, a new multi-game title that features updated versions of Missile Command, Warlords, and Combat, as well as emulated versions of the original games. Unfortunately, Combat and Missile Command appear to be re-releases, or at least very similar to previous releases by Infogrames and Hasbro. Here is what Infogrames had to say about it:

    "To celebrate the 30th year of Atari®, three of the biggest arcade hits of the ’80s have been revived, renewed and recreated with colorful 3-D graphics and clever game twists. Each game remains true to the original but now feature even more levels, detailed graphics and power-ups. Are you ready to go for the high score?"

    Latest Atari Releases from Infogrames
    Wednesday, April 10, 2002

    Posted by: Alex | Message Boards | Submit News

    Test Drive, developed by Pitbull Syndicate, is the latest game to be announced under the Atari brand name from Infogrames. It is now listed under the product section of the official Atari web site, and you can also see more about the game at the official Test Drive web site. Test Drive is being developed for Playstation 2 and XBox, with a June 28 release date for PS2. Although they aren't listed on the Atari.com site yet, we've also seen ads for Terminator: Dawn of Fate by Paradigm Entertainment and Stuntman by Reflections Interactive sporting the Atari logo.

    Atari 130XE Space Harrier
    Wednesday, April 10, 2002

    Posted by: Albert | Message Boards | Submit News

    Visit the Atari 130XE Space Harrier Conversion Project PageFans of the popular Sega arcade game Space Harrier and Atari 8-bit computers will be delighted to learn that Chris Hutt (aka Sheddy) is working on porting Space Harrier to the Atari 130XE. Because of the amount of memory required for the conversion it's only targeted for the 130XE, but we think you'll agree that this is an ambitious project and the demo Chris has put together exhibits great promise. Please visit Sheddy's Atari 130XE Space Harrier Conversion Project page for more information about this project as well as a demo you can download. We've put some screenshots online here and you can discuss Space Harrier with Chris Hutt in our Atari 8-bit Forum.

    MyAtari.net April Edition
    Sunday, April 7, 2002

    Posted by: Alex | Message Boards | Submit News

    The April edition of MyAtari.net is now available. This issue features articles on How to Build your own Retro game (a mail order kit from Velleman), MIDIGEN, the Tip of the day, and Setting up a MIDI system. They also note that the winners of the MyAtari.net awards will be announced on April 12th.

    PhillyClassic Atari Museum Exhibit
    Saturday, April 6, 2002

    Posted by: Albert | Message Boards | Submit News

    Learn more about AHS' PhillyClassic 3 DisplayCurt Vendel of the Atari Historical Society has sent us some information and pictures of his Atari Museum exhibit at the upcoming PhillyClassic 3 show at the end of April. The Atari Museum booth will include an Atari trade show exhibit, reproductions of in-store Colecovision, Astrocade, and Odyssey 2 kiosks built from scratch, numerous large classic-gaming posters, and more. In addition, two never released Atari video game systems from 1980 will be unveiled to the public. More information and pictures can be found here. You can discuss the Atari Museum exhibit with other AtariAge visitors and Curt Vendel in our Classic Gaming Forum.

    Atari 800 Emu for Dreamcast v0.5
    Friday, April 5, 2002

    Posted by: Alex | Message Boards | Submit News

    boob! reports that version 0.5 of Christian Groessler's Atari 800 emulator has been released. The sound has been improved to address artifacting and speed issues. Download the Atari 800 emulator for Dreamcast at boob!'s download page.

    Javascript/DHTML Kaboom
    Friday, April 5, 2002

    Posted by: Alex | Message Boards | Submit News

    Hot on the heels of his Javascript Combat, Neil Pearce has written a Javascript/DHTML version of Kaboom. Here's what he had to say:

    "Had some good feedback from the JavaScript Combat nonsense, so have decided to convert my favorite Atari 2600 game Kaboom! Here's the result. If you score 15,000 or more then you will be awarded a special patch, just like the original. This also entitles you to honorary membership of the Kaboom! Bucket Brigade. Oh yeh, check the sneaky smile the mad bomber gives when you miss :)."

    If you want to ask Neil any questions, you might want to post them to the Javascipt Combat/Kaboom thread in our 2600 forum.

    2600 Connection Issues #70 and #71
    Friday, April 5, 2002

    Posted by: Albert | Message Boards | Submit News

    Two new issues of 2600 Connection are now available, Issues #70 and #71. Issue #71 is a bonus April Fool's issue being sent out free to subscribers. Here are some of the highlights of these two new issues:

    • Issue #70 (Jan/Feb 2002): Cuttle Cart Underground review by Al Backiel, Games Games Games by Russ Perry Jr, A Survey Of CX-2601 Label Variations by Joe Cody, News & Notes, Letters, Classifieds.

    • Issue #71 (Mar/Apr 2002): April Fools Spectacular! by Russ Perry Jr, featuring pictures by Lee Krueger, Ken Scott, Keir Howell, Christopher Drum, Philip R Frey, Christian Bogey, "Thrawn", Dale Crum, Kyle Pittman, Wade Summerlin, Ben Combee and Manu Parssinen.
    For information on how to subscribe to this printed newsletter, please stop by the 2600 Connection homepage.

    Javascript Combat
    Wednesday, April 3, 2002

    Posted by: Alex | Message Boards | Submit News

    Neil Pearce has written a Javascript version of Combat. Here's what he had to say:

    "Real bored last night, so tried to knock up a version of Combat using JavaScript and Dynamic-HTML... process has proved to show me just how inadequate they are for writing games, but fun all the same. Works fine in Internet Explorer, has problems in recent Mozilla/Netscape 6.xx due to a bug that it can't rapidly update images correctly, but older version maybe okay."

    If you want to ask Neil any questions, you might want to post them to the Javascipt Combat thread in our 2600 forum.

    Atari Anniversary Advance
    Wednesday, April 3, 2002

    Posted by: Alex | Message Boards | Submit News

    Infogrames has released Atari Anniversary Edition for Game Boy Advance. Here is their product description:

    "They were the games that captivated a generation — Asteroids®, Battlezone®, Centipede®, Missile Command®, Super Breakout®, and Tempest™ — Six of Atari’s greatest arcade games. Each game is reproduced down to the last detail, and each one is just as easy and fun to play. Whether you’re a diehard fan or a competitive newcomer, you’ve got to play the games that started it all!"

    You can also read Leonard Herman's short review in our Arcade Coin-Ops forum.

    SAP Music Player Updates
    Wednesday, April 3, 2002

    Posted by: Albert | Message Boards | Submit News

    Visit the Atari SAP Music ArchiveNew versions of SAP music players for Windows and MacOS are now available at the Atari SAP Music Archive (ASMA). A SAP player is one that allows you to play Atari 8-bit music with amazing reproduction, and there are versions available for most popular operating systems. In addition to the players, the latest version of the ASMA music collection contains over 1300 tunes from Atari 8-bit games, demos, and more. If you're an Atari 8-bit fan, this collection is a must-have. You can discuss the SAP players and archive with fellow AtariAge visitors in our Atari 8-bit forum.

    Atari 2600 Fellowship of the Ring
    Monday, April 1, 2002

    Posted by: Albert | Message Boards | Submit News

    Adam Thornton has created a text adventure for the Atari 2600 encompassing the entire plot of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic Fellowship of the Ring. Using a modified Dark Mage text adventure engine, Adam was able to squeeze a highly compressed version of the story into a 4K Atari 2600 ROM. This game represents Adam's entry into the 2002 Interactive Fiction IntroComp. Twice as much story is contained within when compared to Parker Brothers' unreleased Journey to Rivendell. The full source code is available here, and be sure to take a look at the manual Adam has written. You can discuss Fellowship of the Ring with other AtariAge visitors in our Atari 2600 Forum.

    Atari 2600 I, Robot Discovered
    Monday, April 1, 2002

    Posted by: Albert | Message Boards | Submit News

    AtariAge is proud to announce the revelation of another previously unreleased Atari 2600 game: I, Robot. This was probably the first arcade game to use 3D filled polygons, but unfortunately for Atari did not do very well in the arcades. However, believing this game would be a huge success, Atari was developing a version of the game in parallel for the Atari 2600. We have uncovered sample boxes (for PAL and NTSC versions), sample cartridge artwork, as well as a binary image of the work in progress that you can download and play. For all the images and further details, please have a look at the I, Robot page we've put together. You can discuss this amazing discovery with other AtariAge visitors in our Atari 2600 Forum. Enjoy!

    Castle Blast Label Contest Voting!
    Monday, April 1, 2002

    Posted by: Albert | Message Boards | Submit News

    The period for submitting Castle Blast labels is now behind us, and it's time to vote for your favorite label! At the bottom of the Castle Blast Contest Page you'll find all the labels (over thirty!) submitted to the contest. When you find your favorite, vote for it and you can see how it's doing relative to the other labels. Voting will run for two weeks, after which Castle Blast's author Ronen Habot will choose one of the top three labels as the winner. The winner of the contest will receive a limited Special Edition version of Castle Blast. You can discuss the contest with Ronen Habot and other AtariAge visitors in our Atari 5200 Forum. Good luck to everyone who entered!

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