News

#### The latest happenings in the Atari world

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LAPD Licenceware payout of over œ700

LAPD, the successful Atari PD library has announced its total royalties due to licenceware over the period of 1 March 1996 to 31 May 1996.

Over this period, royalties equalled an impressive œ722.46. This is a œ161 increase over the same period last year. Sales in the previous two quarters were œ1051.34 and œ1107.93 respectively. The drop in sales is most likely due to seasonal slow down as always happens in the summer months, and sales should pick up again in the final two quarters.

The top selling licenceware program for the quarter was Desert Hawk. Croft Soft's own game Trader came joint seventh with two other programs, Circuit and World at War, making it our best selling licenceware game to date.

## Atari Shows

We have some more information on the 1996 Atari Shows organised by Mike Goodman of Goodmans PDL, and sponsored by ST Format.

The Birmingham show will once again take place in the Motorcycle Museum which is next to the NEC on Saturday 28th September. The London show will be at the Osterley Hotel in Isleworth, Middlesex on Sunday 29 September.

Exhibitors who have confirmed their bookings include System Solutions, Titan Designs, HiSoft, FaST Club, The Falcon FacTT File and The Upgrade Shop. This list will probably increase, so we will keep you up to date.

## Another nail in the Jags coffin

Developer Hyper Image has dropped development of the forthcoming Jag game Phase Zero. The company has switched platforms, and is now developing for the Saturn, Playstation and Windows 95. It is very unlikely that further Jaguar software development will take place.

It is also unlikely that the long awaited Battlesphere by 4Play will be released. The game has been in development for over two years, and was looking very impressive.

Caspian Software, developer of Rock n Roll Clams and Zero 5 on the ST, have announced that they have stopped development of the long awaited Jag version of Zero 5. The ST version received a lot of praise, and the Jaguar version looked to be a corker!

There is some good news however, US Based Telegames have confirmed that they are to distribute the long awaited RPG, Towers 2. The game, programmed by JV Enterprises, is a improved version of the popular Falcon game. Team 17 have also announced that the highly rated Worms will be released on the Jaguar in August or September.

## New products from Titan Designs

### Nemesis Accelerator

Black Scorpion's new Falcon accelerator from Titan Designs, Nemesis, is currently in pre-production and is likely to be released in June. The accelerator is primarily aimed at Apex users, but will also be effective with other programs. The company is also investigating the possibility of releasing an enhanced version which operates at 60MHz. It would be released as an upgrade if it proves reliable.

#### Provisional Specification

Bus - 24MHz - faster than most other accelerators and enables APEX 3 to achieve 640x480 (or higher), true-colour, non-interlaced on a VGA monitor. The higher Bus speed should also allow Expose' frame rates of 25fps at 256x160!

CPU - 24MHz - a lower CPU speed ensures total reliability. Exceeding 32MHz can prove unreliable in any case.

FPU - switchable between 24MHz and 48MHz - to ensure compatibility with different processors, i.e. FPUs rated at 16MHz may not 'take the strain'. DSP - 48MHz - much more important to APEX than CPU speed, as all versions of APEX are mainly machine-coded for the DSP.

The product should be available as you read this, and it is thought to be priced at around œ40-œ50.

### Afterburner

Titan Designs have recently been appointed as the official UK distributor for the Afterburner040 Falcon accelerator.

The Afterburner040 can be supplied with either a 68LC040 or full 68RC040 processor. The main difference between the 'LC' and 'RC' versions is that the higher spec processor comes with an internal 68882 maths co-processor.

Prices (for the UK, incl. VAT & carriage):

68LC040 - œ449.00
68RC040 - œ539.00

Afterburner040 gives an enormous increase in sheer processing power and is very compatible with a wide range of software - existing APEX Media/Intro users can also upgrade free of charge to v2.2 for an amended version of the when they purchase an Afterburner040.

Black Scorpion Software, in conjunction with Titan Designs, will also be evaluating the possibility of running both the NEMESIS accelerator WITH the AFTERBURNER to increase the CPU, Bus and DSP speeds even further!

#### Afterburner technical specification

- Motorola 68040 or 68LC040 CPU producing 32/64MHz
- Two 72-pin SIMM sockets for optional memory expansion up to 128MB Fast-RAM
- Falcon Bus throughport for Expose, Screeneye, FalconSpeed, etc.

Although a larger case will be required, Titan Designs will also be handling the new C-Lab Falcon Mk.X case upgrades which are ideal for use with the Afterburner040. More details on the Mk.X case upgrades when available.

GemBench Figures

### New low memory prices

New lower prices on memory is making that Falcon upgrade an even more realistic proposition. All prices quoted are for 72-pin, 70ns (or faster) devices, which are fully compatible with Afterburner, and incl. VAT & carriage.

4MB - œ37.00
8MB - œ75.00
16MB - œ149.00
Falcon 14MB upgrade board - œ39.95

This means, of course, that a 16MB upgrade for the Falcon is now well below œ300! But, as an added incentive, Titan will supply both 16MB SIMM and the Falcon upgrade board for only œ279.00.

### 28.8K Modems

Titan Designs are spreading the Web! They can now supply 28.8Kbps modems with full BABT and CE approval, and compatible with the Atari, for only œ169.00.

If your pocket doesn't stretch this far, then they can also supply a 14.4Kbps modem (again with BABT & CE approval) for a mere œ109.00.

Call Titan on: 0121 6936669 for more information.

Titan also have a web page, it can be found at:

    http://ourworld.compuserve.c/homepages/TITANWEB/

## Zetnet Internet Service

Zetnet, the Internet Service Provider, is currently looking for Atari users who want to join the Information Superhighway. They offer full SLIP connection using Dynamic IP addressing.

Joining costs a one off fee of œ25, followed by a reasonable monthly fee of œ6. They provide a pre-configured version of the Internet Access Pack enabling easy quick connection. There is also on line support from David Henderson of the N.ST.COMMS echo.

Call Zetnet on: 01595 696667.

If you are already surfing the net, point your browser at:

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     Mike Kerslakes proposed new Atari magazine.
    User Groups
    Dissapointing news from the User Group world this month. Paul Walsh has decided to shut down his TOS User Group which was set up just over two months ago. He has decided to spend his time writing articles for various Atari diskzines instead - hopefully, we'll be among them!
    On a lighter note, Wessex Atari Group has set up an internet web page. For more information, point your browser at:http://www.compulink.co.uk/~mrgs/wag/welcome.htm