Retro Magazine of Atari Videogames
MAY/JUNE 1982
Atari News
All the games that are fit to play
VOLUME 1 NO. 1
Atari Gains Exclusive Home Rights EPROM Report To Adapt Centuri Electronic Games
Reinforcing its leadership poe Agreement Includes Phoenix, tion in offering cartridge versions
Let's start out by answering the obvious question--what's an EPROM?
The letters stand for Erasable
Memof hit coin video games, Atan has Vanguard, Other Arcade Hits signed an exclusive agreement with Centun, Inc., for the rights to adapt current and future games created by Centuri, a leading American manufacturer of ar- cade games.
The first Centun games to be available from Atan for its home video game system will be
Beautiful eggs ap- pear on the screen, then hatch into deadly Phoenix war birds. Protected by a convoy of these feathered enemies, the lone alien dares you to destroy his ship.
VANGUARD-A space jour- ney of the highest order. Players soar through dangerous tunnel zones while fending off the en- emy Kemlus who lurks in the for- bidding Bleak Zone
Atari already has exclusive agreements with many of the world's foremost coin video game makers, including Namco (Pac Man). Taito (Space Invaders). Williams (Defender), and Stern (new game coming soon).
PHOENIX
Atari Computer Camps Open Summer '82
"Alright, campers' Swim time is over Let's towel off and head for the computers"
That's what you'll hear this summer in East Stroudsburg, PA, San Diego, CA, Sheboygan, WI, and Asheville, NC, thanks to an innovative summer camp con- cept being launched by Atan.
Atan Computer Camps will combine the full range of tradi- tional camp activities with a unique opportunity to learn about computers. Some of America's top computer scientists and in- structors have designed a meaningful curriculum especially for this project. While Atan provides the computer expertise, the day- to-day operation will be super- vised by Specialty Camps, Inc., an organization which has run both theme and traditional camps for 25 years
Campers 10 to 18 years old will have plenty of opportunity for hands-on computer experience, including 10 hours a week of for malinstruction tailored to their in- dividual levels of experience and knowledge. All of the computers and software will also be avail- able during campers' free time
VANGUARD
Plans call for small teaching sessions with Atari 400 and 800 computers Working in teams will be encouraged-Atan feels this not only makes learning more fun, but helps campers learn more as well
Public reaction to the an- nouncement of Atan Computer Camps has been extremely en- thusiastic-hundreds of inquir- les were received on the day the first newspaper advertisement appeared. It seems that the idea of combining software and soft- ball for the summer is a hit.
For further information call toll- free 1-800-847-4180 (in NY and Canada call collect. 212-889- 5200) or write Atanı Computer Camps, Department TAC, 40 East 34th St., NY, NY 10016.
VCS, an EPROM performs just like an ordinary game cartridge.
with one major difference-Atan engineers can program it to play a game, then erase it and pro- gram it again with a new game. EPROMS are used to test new games before they're produced for the general public. And they're borrowed by eager mag- azine editors who want to get a first look at those games and let readers know what's coming.
With that said, on to Defender This cartridge version of the pop- ular Willams Electronics coin video game has more people here saying "Can I borrow that than any other new game on the shelf-and with good reason.
Defender is, quite simply, the best space game on the market today. There is more going on at once here than in any other home game You've got six different kinds of enemies You've got a laser cannon, hyperspace, and a scanner (the screen shows only one fifth of the action, the scan- ner shows the full scene in miniature).
And those aliens aren't just shooting at you--they're snatch- ing nice little guys off the planet surface and turning them into mu- tants! That makes your job even harder-find the little guys in trouble, then shoot their kidnap- pers and catch the intended vic- tums before they fall.
Atari's designers have really captured the look and feel of the onginal arcade machine's game- play with this cartridge And in one important way, they may even have improved the game. Instead of five different control buttons, it's all been put together into the single VCS joystick. For at least one fumble-fingered edi- tor, this makes home Defender a lot more fun than its coin video cousin.