kek@mgweed.UUCP (Kit Kimes) (05/09/84)
[] According to the Wall Street Journal, May 9, 1984, Atari announced the forthcoming release of two new video games that have been developed by Lucasfilm Ltd. They have been under development for nearly two years under a joint venture between Atari and Lucasfilm. Atari executives said the games are among several new products, including new video game and computer hardware, that the company will introduce this year. Atari is hoping the Lucasfilm video games will help rekindle consumer interest in video games. One official said these games are the most significant thing to happen in video games since "Pac-Man". The games are designed to be played on existing hardware systems. They use more sophisticated computer graphics and animation techniques and have more of a three-dimensional appearance than most existing games. They use computer-generated music and sound effects. The games are named "Ballblazer" and "Rescue on Fractalus" and will retail for about $35. That is a little hard to believe since most of Atari's new games go for $49.95 retail. I plan to attend the Consumer Electronic Show here in Chicago next month. I'll report on what's new for Atari. Kit Kimes AT&T Consumer Products Montgomery Works Aurora, Il. 60507 ..!ihnp4!we13!mgweed!kek
grw@fortune.UUCP (Glenn Wichman) (05/14/84)
[]
Okay, I'll tell. I've seen early versions of both the lucasfilm
games, and played one of them quite a bit. They are tentatively called
"Behind Jaggai Lines" and "Ballblaster". They are without any doubt
the greatest games I have seen on any home computer system. BJL is
a shoot the aliens game, and BB is a bumbercar soccer game. Both have
3-D graphics, with the screen looking like a viewport into the real
world. BJL has a better flight simulator than the ones running on
the IBM-PC. BB is fast, exciting and an incredible amount of fun.
Definitely the biggest thing since pacman. You can stop wondering.
-Glennmerlyn@sequent.UUCP (05/16/84)
> From: grw@fortune.UUCP > Message-ID: <3298@fortune.UUCP> > Date: Mon, 14-May-84 12:33:24 PDT > > Okay, I'll tell. I've seen early versions of both the lucasfilm > games, and played one of them quite a bit. They are tentatively called > "Behind Jaggai Lines" and "Ballblaster". They are without any doubt > the greatest games I have seen on any home computer system. BJL is > a shoot the aliens game, and BB is a bumbercar soccer game. Both have > 3-D graphics, with the screen looking like a viewport into the real > world. BJL has a better flight simulator than the ones running on > the IBM-PC. BB is fast, exciting and an incredible amount of fun. > Definitely the biggest thing since pacman. You can stop wondering. > > > -Glenn I too have played both games. Definitely HOT. Jaggi still amazes me about the number of necessary calculations in realtime necessary to get the picture on the screen. I dunno how they can even *approach* the computational complexity that it appears to have with the poor ole' 6502. Sounds, talk about sounds! The ship flying through space makes great sound stuff. The music on Blaster is really great (not the standard arcade quality music either... these guys go full out). And the pace of Blaster (even on you vs. the machine) is something that even my world-class video champ brother Ron (who scored the record for Defender @ 25M points last year) is challenged by. It's hard to find a game that keeps Ron interested any more... Blaster succeeded. That's a statement in itself. Those guys at Lucasfilm are pretty hot. I hope they come out with LOTSA good games that astound and amaze me as much as Star Raiders did 5 years ago. (How do they do those things with the Atari processor?) -- A particularly personal and original observation from the thought-stream of Randal L. ("blasted ball") Schwartz, esq. (merlyn@sequent.UUCP) (Official Legendary Sorcerer of the 1984 Summer Olympics) Sequent Computer Systems, Inc. (503)626-5700 (sequent = 1/quosine) UUCP: {decwrl,ogcvax,pur-ee,rocks34,shell,unisoft,vax135,verdix}!sequent!merlyn