HARDWARE/SOFTWARE THE NEW WAVE COMPUTERS

HARDWARE/SOFTWARE THE NEW WAVE COMPUTERS

A Complete Guide To The Next Step In Videogames And Personal Computers

RICHARD ROBINSON

After spending the last year establishing their basic product lines and promoting themselves so the public would know they were in business, the manufacturers of computer hardware and software have taken their second big step. Mixing consumer reaction to their products with what they hear from research & development, the circuit sellers have introduced their "Model Twos"—their second level products that "improve" the initial products with which they entered the market.

In home videogames, this means much more versatile hardware, more "professional" extras, and more reasonable prices as the competition heats up for your hardware/software dollar.

In personal computers, this means the arrival of all those accessories the manufacturers were only talking about last year, the introduction of new lines of personal computers from manufacturers who ore only now getting into the competition, and significant price cutting as manufacturers discover how much consumers really wont to pay for home computers as opposed to the price tags the manufacturers thought they could get a way with when their first products came on the market.

This VIDIOT Guide assumes you have a general knowledge of the game and computer action to date, so we won't bore you with the how or why, just feed you the what and how much._

VIDEOGAMES

ATARI: The dust has settled, not to mention the prices, and Atari is now the only videogame hardware company with two machines on the market. The original home game computer from Atari is their Atari CX2600 which is now sold for $99 or less. The 2600 comes with both paddle and joystick controllers and Atari's Combat game cart to get you started. Then there's Atari's new 5200 game machine, which is discounting for about $200 or less. The 5200, as noted in the last issue of VIDIOT, has improved graphics, sound, and player controls. In fact, the 5200 is the result of Atari's experiences with the 2600.

Game carts (the manufacturers called it "software") for the 2600 include programs from Activision, Coleco, Parker Brothers, and Atari. Prices, discounted, range from about $20 to about $30. Carts for the 2600 include such classics as Defender (Atari CX2650); Berserk (Atari CX2609); Zoxxon (Coleco 2454); Donkey Kong (Coleco 2651); Space Invaders (Atari CX2632); and Frogger (Parker Bros. 5300).

The 5200 game carts include some repeats from the 2600 cart list, but all the 5200 carts have improved graphics, gome sophistication, and other pluses that are inherent in the higher powered 5200 system. Carts for the 5200 can be gotten from about $25 to about $30 if you shop around. Among the carts now out for the 5200 (all from Atari) are: Missile Command (CX5202); Space Invaders (CX5203); Centipede (CX521 5); and 5200-upgroded versions of Defender (CX521 8) and Pac-Mon (CX5208).

COLECO: CoiecoVision offers their Coleco 2400 game machine, which is sold at discount houses for $ 1 80 or less. The 2400 comes with Coleco's latest tech controllers and can handle a number of expansion modules which make the system surprisingly versatile. These extra plug in modules include the Coleco 2405 (about $65) which allows the CoiecoVision machine owner to play all Atari 2600 game carts on the Coleco machine (see story below). There are also modules like the Coleco 2413 (about $65) which comes with a steering wheel/control pad and foot pedal/controller plus a Turbo game cart.

Coleco manufactures some arcade favorites in their own

game cart series. These include 'onkey Kong (Coleco 2411), Mouse Trap (2419), Lady Bug (2433), and Zaxxon (2435). ATARI VS. COLECO DUST SETTLES: Although the most game carts specifically designed for a particular home game system are found in the Atari catalog, ColecoVision has been able to claim that there are more games available for their game system than any other, because not only can you ploy ail the Coleco games on your CoiecoVision machine, but with the Coleco Expansion Module 2405 you can play all the games designed for the Atari 2600.

Needless to say, Atari wasn't smiling about this situation—and the result was what Variety reported as "$850,000,000 worth of lawsuits between the two." Thot's right, close to a billion bucks in lawsuits—you'd definitely need a computer to keep track of that. Basically Atari sued Coleco about the Coleco Expansion Module, but what happened next is being kept confidential. However, an agreement has been reached and Coleco will continue to produce the expansion module and other units that will be compatible with the Atari 2600 game carts, in return for which Coleco has worked out a licensing arrangement and royalty payments to Atari.

AUTO SOUNDS

Wiring up the automobile for stereo sound is o major electronics industry around the world. During the last decade, car sound ground rules have been set down, now it's a question of the refinements that make the difference between one set of car components and another. Mony of the new products for car use are as

sophisticated (and costly} as anything you might buy for your home stereo system. But there's no question that they deliver comparable quality as well. A case in point is the new SR 308 Electronic Auto Reverse Cassette AM/FM Stereo from the Sparkomatic Corp., with a retail list of $249.95. The SR 308 is a totally futuristic unit that pumps out 45 watts of sound power,a digital computerized

radio station memory to provide recall of 5 AM and 5 FM stations at the touch of a finger; built-in Dynamic Noise Reduction (DNR) to reduce audible tape hiss inherent in recorded cassettes and minimize noise present in radio broadcasts; and controls that include aulo reverse, automatic radio seek and scan, bass, treble, left-right balance, front-rear fader, and a half dozen others.

VECTREX; when you first see the Vectrex HP-3000 arcade game system you might think it's some kind of novelty item. But Vectrex is an interesting alternative to the game systems of Atari, Coleco, et al, and continues to hold on to a portion of the market place—probably because of its extremely reasonable price, its superior graphics, and the hard-hitting type of gome carts available.

Discounted at around $160, the Vectrex HP-3000 is a selfcontained unit that includes a display screen. Unlike other game systems, the player does not connect this system to his home TV set. Instead, the VecIrex has a special TV display screen which is especially designed to produce high resolution video graphics (similar in principle to the special computer terminal display screens), The result is graphic special effect potentials that home TV sets and other home game machines just aren't designed to produceincluding 3-D rotation and zoom.

Vectrex program carts discount for $30 to $35. The company does have some arcade "narrie game" carts such as Berserk (Vectrex 3302}; Star Trek (Vectrex 3107}; and Rip Off (Vectrex 3102), but most titles are originals, although the search-destroy type of program predominates, with titles like Cosmic Chasm, So/ar Quest, Space Wars, Star Hawk, and Hyper Chase.

INTELLIVISION: Mattel Electronics' Intellivision is the third of the big three home game cart systems. The Mattel Intellivision 5872 home game machine discounts lor about $ 160. It is known as the Intellivision II and it is reported as having "improved playing action, action sound effects, 3-part music and high resolution graphics." The controller is also Beefed up with a keypad, reset switch, and other features.

Like Coleco, Mattel's Intellivision has a special expansion module. The Mattel 3330 (about $65 discounted) plugs into the Intellivision or Intellivision II and provides amazing sound synthesis including the ability to synthesize the human voice. Mattel has created special game carts like Space Spartans (#3416) and 8/7 Bomber (#3884) which take full advantage of the sound synthesis module.

Game carts for Intellivision II sell at discount for about $30, and include classics such as Zaxxon (#2487), Donkey Kong Jr. (#2671), and Dungeons & Dragons (#3410). DISCWASHER and other

companies are creating accessories for game machines, expecially a number of upgrade controllers. If you aren't satisfied with your current joystick action, check out the Discwasher Pointmaster Pro or the Wico Command Control, either under $25 at discount houses,

HOME COMPUTERS

ATARI 400/800: The big news in Atari home computer circles is that the price keeps coming down at fne discount houses. So the cost of the Atari 400 16K basic computer is down to $200 and below at discount houses in New York City and elsewhere, while the Atari 800 can be had, for under $500, with 48K.

While both datacassette and disc drive have been available for the Ataris for some time, there are a number of new peripherals that have recently been introduced. Among them is the Atari 1025 Printer, which will sell for under $500 ond is an 80 column dot matrix printer; the Atari CX-488 (about $225 discounted) which is known as the Communicator II—it's a direct connect modem and includes a Telelink II cart and a free hour of time with a major phone-link data base,and the Atari 1020 40-column color plotter/printer, which will sell for around $250.

As far as software for the 400/800 Ataris is concerned, there continues to be an ever expanding list of both game and special interest/use programs from a number of manufacturers, including Alori, Synapse, CBS, Datasoft, and On-Line. Game carts include all the usuals, like upgrade versions of Pac-Mon (Atari CXL 4022) and Gar! (Rocklin]. There are also game carts that take advantage of the expanded memories of the 400/800 such as Sands Of Egypt (Datasoft 1180} which requires 16K RAM and comes on a disc.

Special interest software makes a fair stab at getting the Atari 800 owner feeling like an Apple owner, of sorts, with carts, cassettes, and discs like File Manager 800 (Synapse), Visicalc (Atari DX 5049), and Letter Perfect (UK). Prices for these kind of special interest programs range from $30 to $200, depending on who's producing it and what format it comes on.

COMMODORE: Com modore's Vic-20 continues to sell for less ond less—last year it cost $250 or so, this year the discount stores are selling it for $ 130 or so—which is enough to annoy those who paid for one when they could have bought two for the same price o year later.

Which is an object lesson about being the first on your block with a new electric toy—if you want to buy it for half the price, wait till next year.

Commodore also has the Commodore 64 out now, an upgrade from the Vic-20 that comes with 64K RAM and has a 1 79K disc capability. The 64 sells for about $380 at a discount (now, we should odd, because who knows what it will sell for next year, hey, you guys at Commodore, doesn't

this hurt your sales? Your image? Your credibility? It sure hurt our pocket book when we paid too much for your computer.)

Peripherals keep coming for the Vic-20 and C-64, including a new color prinfer/plolier, the Vic-1520, which will sell for under $200,

Game and special use software is available for the Vic-20, we can't soy much good for them—in fact they seemed pretty stupid, but then maybe we're brighter than the average Vic-20 game player. Don't forget: you may have to upgrade the memory to 8K or more on your Vic-20 before you can use some of the software. The C-64 has some game carts available, but the accent here is on things like Easy Calc 64 (#C64200), Easy File 64 (#054201), and Easy Script 64 (#C64207).

PANASONIC: The first big Japanese electronics firm to jump in with both feet. (Wnere's Sony?). The Panasonic JR-200 is a 32K personal computer that will sell for under $300 and will initially have a datacassette (RQ-8300), dot matrix printer (JR-02P), and modem (JRP10U) available for starters as peripherals.

To help get the JR-200 off ihe ground, Panasonic will offer □Iso three dozen programs on datacassette for the system, with prices ranging from about $ 15 to about $35. The accent will be very Atari 800-like with lots of games (Medieval Castle, Vortex, 3-D Maze) and a reasonable array of "home finance" type programs (Personal Bill Paying, Checkbook, Typing Teacher, Electronic Speed Reading are among the first inspirational titles).

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS:

The Tl 99/4A is holding its own in the home computer market with memory expansion, disc drive, and dot matrix printer available. There's also a speech synthesizer.

VARIATIONS

Panasonic has come up with yet another variation of the cassette/radio theme. This is their RX-1960 [about $) 35 discounted), which is a stereo cassette recorder/player with built-in AM/PM stereo radio and built-in stereo mike. With the RX-1960, which is really a mini-system, you also get a pair of stereo headphones, plus two speakers in separate boxes. So you can use the cassette/radio unit with the speakers, or leave the speakers home ond just go out with the cassette/radio and the headphones. Neat. And reasonably priced-

Tl 99/4A software includes some name value star carls such as E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (PHM 3125], and Mission Impossible (PHT 6047). But most cart games are of the B/osfo, Munchman, Voodoo Castle type, which means you haven't played them in arcades and don’t know what you're getting until you’ve spent your money (sorry no refunds on cart games}.

Tl also has the usual rundown of personal use programs with the usual names, like Checkbook Manager, Tax/Investment Record Keeping, and Cash Management.

TIMEX SINCLAIR: The

keyboard may not be big enough for human typewriter typers, but this spunky little computer, selling for way less than $100 [some ads in NYC have it at about $57 with rebate) is hanging on and even expanding. Not only is there a Timex Sinclair 1000 and a 16K RAM expansion module {about $40), but T/S has just come out with a thermal printer (Of-2040) which will sell for about $90.

While the number of programs available for the T/S T000 won’t exactly be known to you, there are o reasonable number and all are reasonably priced ($ 1 2 or less). Note that most of them require 16K, so you hove to buy the T/S 1000 and the 16K expansion module before you can get into the programs. While there are no arcade star games available for the T/S, there are the usual run of Star Battle, Robbers Of The Lost Tomb titles as well as the familiar-sounding personal use programs like Money Manager and Electronic Checkbook.

APPLE AND OTHER UPRANGE COMPUTERS: You can spend three times as much as the most expensive computer we've listed in this guide and still only be at the beginning of the computer buying spree. But if you're in ihe market for the new Apple lie, o Franklin-Ace, Osborne, TRX-80, or other $1,000$2,000 computer, you hopefully aren't relying on getting all the info you need from us.

RADIO SHACK

The TRS-80 computer people at Radio Shack continue to expand their line of computers and peripherals. Latest is the TRS-80 Model 100, which, at about $800, isn't meant to be anybody's first computer. It's actually a computer terminal of sorts—with a bjill in modem and a built-in large screen area liquid crystal display. If this interests you, visit your Radio Shack computer store. If not, pass Go and move to the next new product.

SOFTWARE SOFTENS

Prices are tumbling on blank and pre-recorded video cassettes, and the new low prices aren't just the result of retail stores cutting list prices to discount high mark-up items. In fact, prices seem to be leveling off at new lows. In the blank video tape market, there are a number of manufacturers now offering the standard VHS 2-4-6 hour T-120 cassette for about $8.00. If you're paying more than this, you're getting taken. In the pre-recorded video movie business, the movie makers themselves are lowering prices. Paramount Home Video started the ball rolling with the videocassette of An Officer And A Gentleman which sold for $39.95 on the VHS and $29.95 on beta. Now they're come back with the first $29.95 movie on VHS, the videocassette of Airplane II. The company says they've had to cut their profit margin to do this (hope none of them miss lunch), but it looks as if the days of the $59.95 to $79.95 movie on videocassette ore over at last.