ATARI NEWS

NEW VIDEO GAME TO STOMP THE
COMPETITION FLAT

When I saw the commercials this past Holiday season, with the competition 'knocking' ATARI's VCS, I knew ATARI wouldn't take this lightly. Well, their new game system is a lightyear ahead of the four-and-a-half year old VCS. The graphics & sound rival home computer capability, and later, an add on feature will give the game voice/speech ability. The console is a futuristic-style cabinet with storage areas for the hand held controllers. The game also automatically switches from TV to game; you never have to flip a switch on the television set. Also, when the game is shut off, there is no static/noise emitted from the TV. The hand helds combine joysticks, paddles, and keyboard controllers into one unit. The joysticks move in 8 directions to control both direction and speed of the objects on the screen. The integrated keyboard consists of 12 keys and can accept overlays if required. Release is scheduled for late this year along with over 10 game cartridges including Asteroids, Space Invaders, Galaxian, and several advanced sports games. $349.95 will be the retail price.

 

NEW PRICES

With the increased production of ATARI 800's comes a reduced list price. The old cost of $1080.00 has now become $899.00. On the other hand, increased cost of parts has raised the price of The Entertainer' kit to $109.95, and the Educator TM to $165.95.

Also most of the individual software prices have gone up an average of five dollars.

 

NEW PACKAGING

The 800 Computer, 810 Disk Drive, and 410 Program Recorder now come in attractive silver/full color packaging. At the same time, the instruction manuals follow the same silver and full color scheme to appeal to the average consumer. These are similar to the 400 packaging theme of last year (and are very nice).

And if you haven't received it yet, ATARI has produced a 'third party' software/hardware catalog of additional products for your computer. Those who mailed in their warranty cards should have received them by now.

 

WINTER CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW - Las Vegas

The biggest event in the consumer electronics industry saw the announcements and demos of many new ATARI products. Several new 400/800 software pieces, new VCS cartridges, and a totally new cartridge/game system. Check the VCS Update column for information on that product line.

Our main interest here, of course, is what is new for the ATARI 400 & 800 Computers during the first half of this year. Three new games: Caverns Of Mars TM to be released in April, PacMan* scheduled for May, and Centipede TM in June. Caverns Of Mars will be available on diskette only and retail for $39.95, with the typically excellent ATARI packaging. Though originally released through the ATARI Program Exchange, the game will be shipped under the ATARI label this spring.

PacMan & Centipede (to be reviewed next issue) are VERY close to the arcade versions of the same name. Both are cartridge based and have a minimum memory requirement of only 8K. List price is $44.95 each.

The ATARI BOOKKEEPER is an accounting package that generates professional style reports applicable to accounts receivable & payable, balance sheets, and profit & loss statements. The system is capable of handling up to 1000 transactions a month and 350 general ledger accounts. The BOOK-KEEPER System requires 48K of memory, BASIC cartridge, an 810 disk drive, and 850 interface module with printer. The package consists of four diskettes; one a sample data diskette allowing you to familiarize yourself with the program.

The HOME FILING MANAGER TM allows the user to create, edit, store, retrieve, & print data in 'index style' fashion. Search routines can be located via alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order, and by an item's title or specific word it contains.

Other items of interest include the release of a numeric keypad later this year. This add-on unit is a calculator style laid out keyboard allowing the user to enter in numeric data much faster than is possible on a "QWERTY" style keyboard ("QWERTY" is the standard typewriter key layout).

*PacMan is a trademark of Namco-America, Inc.