THE GAMES AT HOME

THE GAMES AT HOME

Maybe the lines are too long in the arcades, or maybe you just don’t have the time. But if you have the quarters — lots of ’em -you’ll be able to play some of your favorite games in the privacy and comfort of your own home. No one’ll be standing behind you huffing and puffing while you figure out the basic rules and—who knows?— it might be more fun than matching The Love Boat. Here's the home game rundown:

ATARI' THE HOME CHAMP?

One of the most popular Video computer systems, Atari offers a fine selection of Game Program cartridges to provide an impressive variety of action plays no matter what your interest.

Like all the other major game systems, once you own the Atari Video Computer System, you can acquire whatever program carts strike your interest. Prices for the carts vary with the particular program provided and with the newness and popularity of the game. As we go to press, the Pac-Man cart from Atari is selling like hotcakes in New York City, with discount electronic houses selling the $39.95 list cart for as low as $23.95 plus tax.

Perhaps the most exciting of all the Atari cart series are those based on intergalactic premises, with Atari modifying the arcade game slightly to work in the home game computer TV format. Recommended in this category are:

Asteroids (CX2649) which puts you in control of a spaceship dealing with the hazards of deep space including alien ships and deadly asteroids. The cart gives 66 variations of the basic game. Missile

Command (CX2638) is another space game, this one like Space Invaders (CX2632), both of which allow you to protect the home planet from the deadly forces of the unknown. Another Atari space game is Space War (CX2604) which puts you in command of a starship.

Coming up in the space war game category from Atari are Yars' Revenge (CX2655) which should be in the stores by the time you read this. Yars’ Revenge is an exciting new game taking place in another solar system where Yars £which Atari describes as ‘mutant house flies’) are battling the enemy, known as the Qotile. The Yars have every chance to win, as you control the Yars scout as it eats through the protective shield that the Qotile has put up and the laser cannon that allows you to blast the Qotile.

The popular arcade game from Williams, Defender, will also soon be available from Atari (CX2609). Defender gives you attack rockets with which to keep the aliens from turning the citizens of the planet into dangerous mutants.

When it comes to eye/hand skill games, Atari has a good number of them available on cart. Among the most exciting are Super Breakout (CX2608) where you blast your way out of impossible situations in your starship; Human Cannonball (CX2627) where you calculate exactly how to shoot the man out of the cannon so he winds up in the water tower; Sky Diver (CX2629) in which you can score big points if you can parachute into the bullseyethat’s if you can get your chute open!; and the hot new addition to the Atari line, Pac-Man (CX2646) which allows you go gobble along with Pac any hour of the day or night.

What Atari describes as their ‘Classics’ are an impressive selection of the best of traditional brain games, all on convenient carts. You can pick games like Backgammon (CX2617); Video Chess (CX2645); Video Checkers (CX2636) or 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe (CX2618); or you can go for sophisticated Atari creations on cart like their version of the popular Othello (CX2639).

Atari has carts in lots of other categories. There are action games like Haunted House (CX2654) where you try to avoid the hazards and horrors of the haunted house in the dead of night and Adventure (CX2613) where you try to outwit the evil magician. There are plenty of sports-oriented games, like fndij 500 (CX2611) Street Racer (CX2612), and Night Driver (CX2633) put you on the track at the speed of your choice; Homerun (CX2623), Pete's Soccer (CX2616) and Football (CX2625) for plenty of indoor sports action; and Atari’s Video Olympics (CX2621) where you’ll find fifty games, among them the latest development of the original Pong.

Video soldiers of fortune won’t be disappointed with Atari’s combat games. Among them are the classic Combat (CX2601), Outlaw (CX2605) for cowboys) Canyon Bomber (CX2607) for flyboys; Air-Sea Battle (CX2602) for those of you who want to sink a few ships; and Warlords (CX2610) for sword and sorcery fans.

In a way, the most exciting Atari carts are some of those that aren’t necessarily designed as action games. The Atari home video game system is a computer, after all, and so the company has created a number of programs that reflect its brainier talents. There is even one cart. Brain Games (CX2664), that generates nineteen games that will stump you if you don’t think out each move you make.

Basic Programming (CX2620) lets you, as Atari says, “talk to the computer.” That’s right, even without a keyboard, you can learn some basic programming moves using this cart. Among the effects generated are actually printing out messages on the TV screen. Now, did you know your Atari could do that?

ATARI'S TOP SECRET!

Top Secret: System X is on the way and will probably be in the stores by the end of the year. System X? That’s right, X —scattered newapaper re ports indicate that Atari has a new game computer system nearing production that they’re calling “System X.” The new system will be setting some new standards for home game computers if the reports are accurate.

Of course the new Atari will have improved picture qualities. The graphics will be more detailed and the image will be sharper. But that’s to be expected with the present advances in the state of the art.

What’s exciting about the new of System X is that Atari has been busy developing additional variables to make the gam.es more exciting. The most incredible is the Universal Controller which will offer considerable advantages over the current joystick controller. The Universal Controller will be a hand-held unit somewhat like a pocket calculator, and will allow the player to give extremely accurate and detailed instructions to the game on the screen. With the new controller, the old four-direction game piece movement will be increased to eight directions, and the player will be able to regulate the speed as well as the direction of the piece.

With this new controller, plus the possibility of speech synthesized sounds as well as generally improved audio, and a hotter, more detailed picture, System X may well be the home game computer that begins to make arcade players turn their heads in the direction of home play, for it is no doubt that System X will bring home game play closer to the current level of arcade play.

Atari has created a thoroughly enjoyable home game computer with their present system. They have kept up to date with the latest in arcade favorites and created some fascinating programs of their own. With news of the System X, they are taking another step towards the goal of making their game computer the best computer possible for the cost involved.

With the new system, Atari will continue to keep a rapid pace in the release of game cartridges. Plans reported underway include the release of many new and classic space games, arcade favorites, and sports games for the system.

Now that home video is firmly established (with thanks to Atari), the time has come for it to get even better; there’s no question that System X will do that for it.

THIS DOES NOT COMPUTE...

Space pirates can get bigger and bigger computers to play more spectacular games if Atari has anything to say about it. Atari offers their Video Computer System with 45 Game Program cartridges at one of the lowest prices for a home game computer. As noted elsewhere they will now produce a higher priced home game computer with advanced controls as the Atari Video System X. The step after that is the Atari 400 home computer, followed by the Atari 800.

Players who have Atari's basic Video Computer System are already assured of a full catalog of catalog programming, with more carts on the way in the future.

Those players who get the Atari Video System X will have a computer with better microprocessor chips able to perform functions (like human voice synthesis) that aren’t available with the VCS basic system. This means Atari can update some of their most popular games into more complex computer programs, with the result that the games take on new dimensions. It’s reported that among the first game carts for the System X will be an advanced version of Space Invaders that will have improved graphics and actual computer animation.

The Atari 400 and 800 personal computer players have new game carts and discs to look forward to, like PacMan, Centipede, Cavern. Of Mars, and Star Raiders—the last game being described as turning a TV screen into a space ship! These kind of effects are possible because at this level you are using a powerful home computer as your game machine.

Atari is making it easy for game wizards to turn themselves into computer wizards. They’ve created a step-by-step process, providing an array of computer technology for the player to suit most skill levels and bank accounts.

INTELLIVISION: THE ALTERNATIVE

Mattel Electronics’ trademarked video game system is called Intellivision. It is a system that offers some attractive options to the video game player. Most important of these is the eventual addition of a keyboard to turn the modestly priced Intellivision into a fully programmable computer.

Mattel’s Intellivision appeals to the game player who knows that eye/hand games are only one facet of the vast playercomputer potential.

There are many game cartridges available for Intellivison. Space game fans will enjoy Space Battle with its terrific graphic effects. Sports games fans hit a home run with the many game programs from Intellivision. There are NFL Football. NFIL Hockey, NBA Basketball. PGA Golf. U S. Ski Team Skiing, and Major League Baseball. The baseball game is especially fun, since it harks back to the other wonderful mechanical ball games found in arcades, mainly because of the faithfulness of its graphic display to an actual playing field. Add the computer electronics and the result will take you past the seventh inning stretch as you try to keep your no-hitter going.

Brain game fans will find games where lady luck steps in, such as Las Vegas Roulette or Las Vegas Blackjack And Poker\ as well as games like ABPA Backgammon and Checkers to outwit.

Action combat fans will be interested in the two Intellivision cartridges that create battle conditions: Tank Battle and Sea Battle.

Intellivision’s superior graphics really excel themselves when the Intellivision Keyboard Component is added to the system. Programs available will teach you French, keep you in shape, and help you manage your investments. There is even a Guitar Lessons program if you’re musically inclined.

The ability to expand the Intellivision game component into a home computer system poses the problem of when a video game becomes a home computer, and reminds us that even home computers have their happy side, where they can provide more entertainment than helping you figure out which bills you can’t pay.

Intellivision demonstrates the truth of this from the game computer viewpoint allowing the player to turn him or herself into a programmer, with the addition of a second component to the system.

Plans call for a lot of new action carts, such as Night Stalker, Tron, and Space Flawks, to be released, hopefully by the time you read this. In all, 12 new carts will be introduced for the Intellivision system—dozen more reasons to be a game player.

The new action games include Night Stalker where the player is caught in a maze with some mad manic robots; Space Flawks puts the player in his starship, trying not to use up his protective shields as he deals with the realities of space travel; and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons leaves you in a computer controlled labyrinth with a big dragon.

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS: STILL DEVELOPING

The Texas Instruments Home Computer, like the Apple and Radio Shack computers, is designed to be a home computer as well as a sophisticated game machine. Priced in the same category as the basic Radio Shack and Apple 400 computers, the Texas Instruments’ TI-99/4A Home Computer gets you started with a keyboard and memory, but like other basic units, peripherals and accessories before the basic computer expands to its full usefulness as a home computer system. Fortunately for the games players, most of these accessories aren’t needed to play the games available.

Texas Instruments has a number of games programs including Mind Challenger. AMazing. and Hunt The Wumpus. In addition, Milton Bradley has created a number of program carts for the TI computer. These include Attack. Blasto, Hustle. Zero Zap. and Yahpzee.

One particularly interesting accessory for the TI computer is the Solid State Speech Synthesizer. This allows the computer to talk as well as produce graphic information. The programmer will find this an exciting addition to the capabilities of the computer with a great deal of potential in creating new games.

Among the new game programs that Texas Instruments is offering are a high-speed car race game called Car Wars that sounds definitely out of the ordinary as far as drive-a-car games are concerned. It could lure some players into an area they haven’t worked before; Invaders Command Module which will give plenty of home eye/hand action as you are in charge of the guns that will save the planet from an alien space invasion; Tombstone C/ty takes you to a ghost town in the old west and the frightening prospect of having to protect yourself from Morgs, little green things that seem to be everywhere. A fitting theme for these Texan microchip wizards.

Since the Texas Instruments home computer system has many non-game uses as a powerful personal computer, it is good to see that the company continues to develop new game carts for use with the system.

THE BIG APPLE

The Apple Computer is a relatively expensive home computer that interfaces with numerous accessories to do just about anything you’d want a computer to do. Because it is a “real” computer, albeit a home computer, it has an incredible potential as a games machine. Fortunately the people at Apple are well aware of this and can knock your socks off with the kind of games the Apple will play.

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COMMODORE'S VIC-20: VICTORY?

The walls of the maze seem to block you In every direction, and as you move along the maze you sense that there’s something searching for you. With a good deal of skill, you should be able to blast them before they blast you. The game is called Vic Super Alien and it’s one of the game carts available to play on Commoiore’s low priced VIC-20 home :omputer.

Like the Texas Instruments, ladio Shack, and Atari 800, he VIC-20 offers games as well as personal computer pro trams. Besides Super Alien, here’s Super Lander where pu pilot your landing module into a mysterious planet, keepng your retro rockets warm in :ase of an emergency; VIC \venger where you can pracice knocking the invading aiens out of the sky; Radar Ratrace which is definitely anaz-ing; Blue Meanies From Outer Space are both blue and nean, can you get them before hey take over?; Midnight Drive s an action car racing game, lince you press down on the accelerator to bum rubber in the niddle of the night as a darkenid road confronts you only lluminated by your headlights ind the markers on the sides of he road; Superslot if you want o turn your TV into a slotnachine (game, that is); and Hither/Superslither which has i colorful game board and ilenty of action.

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Altogether over a dozen different software firms offer games programs that can be played on the Apple. This is in addition to Apple themselves who have such programs as Apple Stellar Inuaders to whet your appetite for the unknown.

With your Apple system you have the choice of some of the most sophisticated (and incredible) games programs ever invented by the mind of man and machine. There’s Automated Simulations’ programs which include Temple of Apshai and Hellfire Warrior; Avalon Hill Game Co.’s Major League Baseball) Cavalier Computer’s Star Thief; Muse’s Robot War and Three Mile Island; On Line Systems’ Mystery House, Gobbler, and Pegasus II and Sirius Software’s Gorgon. Epoch, and Space Eggs. In all, there are an estimated 40 or so game programs that can be

used with the Apple Computer.

Of special interest to game graphic fans is the fact that among the game programs available from On Line Systems are four that feature high resolution which will provide astounding detail on high resolution TV monitors, (such as the high resolution TV monitors with computer green screen display from NEC and Electrohome.)

Of course the Apple Computer has more practical uses than game play, and there are all sorts of programs for business and home-organization applications. So if you’re more interested in checking your inventory than repelling space invaders, the Apple is just as valuable.

As a real home computer, the Apple points up the incredible potential of games with in-depth programs. The results are some of the most devious, clever, entertaining, amusing, and astounding game programs yet written. While some may be a little subtle for eye/hand hot shots, others can create multidimension graphics that you just won’t find in current arcade games.