benw@bocar.UUCP (B Weber) (06/10/85)
I understand that this fourth Antic Online report may not have gotten out or at least may not have been widely distributed, so I am reposting this and part 5. There have been no new reports on Compuserve as of 2AM 6/10/85 (yawn)! Ben Weber AT&T Technologies at BTL Holmdel (but posting thru a Piscataway machine!) ANTIC ON-LINE SPECIAL BULLETIN Summer Consumer Electronics Show Copyright 1985, Antic Publishing Inc. Permission to reprint is hereby granted if article is printed in its entirety and credited to Antic Publishing. Tuesday, June 4, 1985 by Michael Ciraolo Chicago, IL -- As companies debut new products for the Christmas buying season, there is enthusiastic interest in developing for both the new and old Atari computers. First the new: The complete line of Infocom text adventure games will be available with the 16-bit Ataris. Batteries Included announced a major commitment to the ST machines with their "IS" integrated software based on the GEM environment. According to Michael Reichmann, the company's director of product development, the entire line will work at an intuitive level, so that users will not have to memorize any commands. According to the early announcement, the IS line will include a word processor with a built-in spelling checker, a combined spreadsheet and graphics package, a database manager, and a stock portfolio manager. The screen structure and layout are the same for all programs. All programs in the IS series will be released for the Atari STs and the IBM PC and compatible market. The first program, "Portfolio", will be available for the STs shortly after September 1, according to Batteries Included. The Software Publisher Sierra On-Line will market the submarine simulation game GATO for the STs. GATO puts puts the player in the role of a World War II submarine commander, searching out and attempting to destroy the Japanese Imperial Fleet. Sierra president Ken Williams said "We want to see exactly how large these two new markets are. We figure the best way to test the unknown waters is to publish a proven product (already out on the IBM, Macintosh and Apple 128K) with a broad appeal for maximum market penetration." The flight simulator producers SubLogic said they would produce a simulator called Jet, and Electronic Arts is expected to release a financial cookbook, both products for the STs. FTL Software, producers of the Apple II game Sundog, Frozen Legacy, are converting the game over to the Atari STs. The game won Family Computing's award for hybrid games last year--it is a role-playing economic simulation space adventure. Many of these products were simply announced, with no date or price specified. Several products for the 8-bit line of computers, including the 130 XE, were also announced. Batteries Included, producers of PaperClip, announced an 80-column display, the "BI-80", for Atari 400/800, XL and XE computers. The BI-80 plugs into the Atari cartridge slot and requires extremely little special programming or software switching to use. The cartridge is expected to cost about $80. ~Developers said the BI-80 produces a clean, crisp display ideal for writing professional-quality documents. Paperclip will be the first software package released for the Atari BI-80. There was a functioning version of 80-column Atari Paperclip shown at their booth. According to John Skruch, product manager for the XE line, demand for the new 8-bit computers is so high he can't keep machines on warehouse shelves for over 18 hours. The new XE products Skruch mentioned include programs from First Star Software, Synapse Software, and Adventure International. Atari is also getting ready to release AtariWriter Plus, currently in final testing, a home productivity package called Silent Butler, and a proofreading program. Skruch said this fall will also see the release of a planetarium program for the XEs that includes over 17000 plotted stars. The program will let users move through time, choose viewing angles, see constellations, track Halley's comet, and so on. The programs sought by Atari Corp. continue to be application and education software, not games. "Atari Incorporated was a video game company that happened to make computers. We're a computer company that happens to make video games," Skruch said. "There aren't enough applications for the Atari." Skruch also said his company has not released any 65XEs yet, as the nearly identical 800XLs are still available. When the last 800XLs are sold, Atari will start producing the 65XE. "But at the price, the 130XE is still the machine of choice," Skruch said.