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Text File | 1992-09-19 | 41.3 KB | 857 lines

Welcome to the ____ / ___) *StarShip* 5-MINUTE Weekend Newscast / (_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / ___) / (__ very weekend the *StarShip* on GEnie presents a new 5-MINUTE Weekend (_____) Newscast in Communications Room 10 in the Real-Time Conference Area. Featuring late-breaking stories from the Amiga community, these dynamic, scrolling newscasts cycle every 5 minutes, so you can stop by between 6PM and 3AM Eastern time on Friday, or 3PM and 3AM Eastern time on Saturday or Sunday and learn everything that happened during the preceding week. Industry news, product announcements, upgrades, rumors, special *StarShip* activities, trade show reports, GEnie usage tips, humor, recommended files to download... ... the works -- and it ONLY takes 5 minutes! Each 5-MINUTE Weekend Newscast is available on *StarShip* Menu #10 during the following week. Periodically, newscasts are combined and made available for downloading from the *StarShip Library. ____________________________________________________________ // \ || -*- IMPORTANT! -*- | || | || As long as individual stories are kept intact and credit | || is given, this material may be reproduced in ALL or PART | || on a privately owned BBS or in a user group newsletter. | || See wording for proper credit at the end of this Newscast. | \\____________________________________________________________/ || | || | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks to Denny Atkin, Editor, COMPUTE's Amiga Resource, for his generous assistance. Here we go!... DateLine: September 18, 1992 This 5-MINUTE Newscast presents the following stories: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. ASDG Announces "Retroactive Upgrade" 2. Motorola's 68040 Microprocessor Powers New Commodore Amiga 4000 3. Atari Demos its Newest: The Falcon 09/15/92 4. Next Week's *StarShip* Amiga Conferences 5. An Evening with OpalVision 6. Walnut Creek Introduces Biggest CD-ROM Literature Disc Ever: 2334 Works 7. Central Texas Amiga Show Set for November 8. Electronic Arts Announces Agreement to Acquire Origin Systems, Inc. 9. HOLLYWARE Entertainment Releases "Lords of Time" 10. GEnie Announces RSCARDS Club *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 1st of 10 Stories ASDG Announces "Retroactive Upgrade" of All ADPro Family Products in Support of the Amiga 4000 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Madison WI, September 17, 1992 Timed to coincide with Commodore's announcement of the Amiga 4000, ASDG announces that all of its ADPro family of image processing products already support the new Advanced Graphics Architecture (AGA) including the new video modes and color resolution. These capabilities, which have been present in the shipping versions _ for almost a year, automatically appear when running on AGA / \ equipped machines. / - \ / ___ \ (_/ \_)SDG Incorporated, the leading supplier of innovative color imaging solutions for cinema and video, announce an unusual upgrade for its Art Department Professional (ADPro) family of products. What makes this upgrade unusual is that all owners of ADPro Version 2 already have it. In support of the development of the Advanced Graphics Architecture (AGA), incorporated in the new Amiga 4000, ASDG added AGA support to ADPro and FRED almost one year ago. This support has been in the shipping version of ADPro since that time but this fact could not be revealed until Commodore's public release of the A4000 specifications. Those who attended the recent World of Commodore-Amiga show in Pasadena, got a chance to use ADPro on real Amiga 4000s. Commodore included ADPro in its demonstration suite to show off the dramatic enhancements in the new Amiga's graphical power. ADPro fully supports the new display and color resolutions including Super Hi-Res and eight bit HAM. ASDG's animation and batch processor FRED, is also AGA compatible. On AGA equipped machines it will show its preview images in 256 colors instead of 16. This provides for full motion video preview with excellent color fidelity. ASDG is certain that it speaks for all ADPro owners when it expresses its best wishes to Commodore Business Machines on the introduction of the A4000. The excellence of the technical support which Amiga developers have received in anticipation of the AGA is entirely responsible for ASDG's ability to provide this "retroactive upgrade." For more information about ASDG's color imaging solutions, contact Gina Cerniglia at ASDG Incorporated, 925 Stewart Street, Madison, WI 53713 or call (608) 273 - 6585. Art Department Professional is a registered trademark of ASDG Incorporated. Amiga is a registered trademark and Advanced Graphics Architecture is a trademark of Commodore-Amiga, Inc. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 2nd of 10 Stories Motorola's 68040 Microprocessor Powers New Commodore Amiga 4000 _ _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \/ \ Austin TX (SEPT. 14) PR Newswire / \ / /\ /\ \ (_/ \/ \_)otorola's High Performance Microprocessor Division today announced that its 68040 provides the processing power in Commodore Business Machines, Inc.'s new Amiga 4000 computer, which is designed to meet the demanding graphic and video-processing needs of multimedia computing. The Amiga 4000 is a full-scale multimedia system incorporating Commodore's Advanced Graphics Architecture(tm) custom coprocessor chipset, enabling users to display and animate graphics in multiple resolutions in up to 256,000 colors from a palette of 16.8 million. This array of colors and features brings life-like images and photo- quality colors to any document or presentation. In addition, the robust processing power of the Motorola 68040 microprocessor ensures that the Amiga 4000 is a high-performance, full-function computer with the power to execute data-intensive multimedia applications with ease. Motorola's family of microprocessors has been integral in the development of the Amiga product line since its introduction in 1985. "By utilizing the processing power of the 68040, Commodore is able to bring high-quality multimedia capabilities to their users -- both in the consumer and business markets," said Jim Reinhart, Motorola's manager of M68000 marketing and applications. "The power of the 68040 allows users to create exciting video effects and fast-paced animations -- in a fraction of the time and money it would cost on other machines relying on add-in cards for their additional processing power." Motorola's 68040 is an advanced single-chip processor incorporating more than 1.2 million transistors. Fabricated with Motorola's high-performance complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (HCMOS) process, the 68040 integrates an integer unit, a floating point unit, two memory-management units and two 4-kilobyte cache memories -- one for data and one for instructions. The two on-chip caches provide high-speed temporary storage of information most recently used by the processor. In data-intensive applications, such as those used on the graphically-based Amiga 4000, this allows the processor to work efficiently during the constant flow of information, thus making the 68040 the ideal microprocessor for such systems. Along with the 68040, the Amiga 4000 also incorporates the AmigaDOS(tm) Release 3, the newest version of Commodore's multitasking operating system. While this new version of the operating system takes advantage of the latest hardware features, it also maintains backward compatibility with Amiga software not specifically written for the Amiga 4000. The Amiga 4000 also contains CrossDOS, which enables users to read and write to MS-DOS(R) formatted floppy and hard drives. "Commodore remains dedicated to the 68000 Family because of the commitment we see from Motorola to continue to add power and speed conducive to multimedia applications," said James Dionne, president and general manager of Commodore Business Machines, Inc. "We are confident that the introduction of the Amiga 4000 will keep Commodore and Motorola at the forefront of multimedia technology." Available immediately with a 120 M-byte hard drive, 6 Mbytes of memory and a dual-speed high-density floppy drive, the Amiga 4000 is priced at $3,699. Having 1991 worldwide sales exceeding $3.6 billion, Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector is the largest U.S.-based broad line supplier of semiconductors, with a balanced portfolio of more than 50,000 devices. Motorola is one of the world's leading providers of electronic equipment, systems, components, and services for global markets. Products include two-way radios, pagers and telepoint systems, cellular telephone systems, semiconductors, defense and aerospace electronics, automotive and industrial electronic equipment, computers, data communications, and information processing and handling equipment. Motorola was a winner of the first Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1988, in recognition of its superior company-wide quality management process. Commodore Business Machines, Inc., based in West Chester, Pa., manufactures and markets a complete line of computers and peripherals for the business, education, government and consumer markets. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 3rd of 10 Stories Atari Demos its Newest: The Falcon 09/15/92 _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ Glendale, California -- Sept 15th / - \ / ___ \ (_/ \_)tari demonstrated the Falcon, its newly announced multimedia computer, to small but enthusiastic crowds at the Atari Show held this last weekend in the Glendale Civic Auditorium, Glendale, California. Atari's biggest claim for the Falcon is it is to bring "print-to-video" to the home user for less than a total of $2,000. The Falcon looks like the typical hook-up-to-your-television- and-play-games computer, but Atari's Bill Rehbock, director of applications software, had two Peripheral Land Incorporated (PLI) 1.2 gigabyte portable hard disks connected via a small computer systems interface (SCSI) II built into the falcon, as well as a set of stereo speakers and two microphones -- items your basic games computer couldn't handle. The Falcon has a Motorola DSP 56001, a separate digital signal processor (DSP) so the central processing unit (CPU), a Motorola 68030, doesn't have to handle the processing of sound. Atari pointed out that the only other two currently available computers that come with a DSP are the Next and a Silicon Graphics workstation. Rehbock demonstrated how the addition of the DSP enables the Falcon to play sound without tying up the CPU for other work by adding a 4-second audio sound to each press of a key on the keyboard. In fact, the audio capability of the Falcon enabled Rehbock to record his voice saying the name of several letters of the alphabet, like "A," and assigning the recording to the upper and lower case versions of the corresponding keys on the keyboard. He was then able to type at a normal speed, while the Falcon played back in his voice, the letters he was typing. Rehbock told Newsbytes any instrument that has an audio output, such as an acoustic guitar or acoustic piano, can be connected to the Falcon, and the output edited. The Falcon offers 50 kilohertz 16-bit sound. Voice tracks can also be laid over the instruments, so a musician can record all the parts in his own voice, put the instruments in and put the whole thing together himself, Rehbock added. Rehbock demonstrated the Falcon on the SC1224, a color monitor released for the Atari ST computer in 1985. An annoying flicker in the screen image was present and the same annoying flicker would be present when the Falcon is connected to a television set because the Falcon is outputting video graphics array (VGA) quality display output, Atari said. The company is offering a $10 adapter so a standard VGA monitor can be connected to the Falcon, but wanted home users to be able to user whatever they already had. The flicker disappears during the display of video or games and is only present in the Atari user interface. Atari said with software such as Chronos, Prism Paint, or a shareware program called Ray Shade, home users can "print to video" titles and computer generated animation on top of video. A video camera, a $120 adapter, and a video cassette recorder (VCR) are all that is necessary for a Falcon user to make their own titles and put animation over video or do special effects with still images, Rehbock told Newsbytes. A $200 digitizer and third party software not yet available are required for editing of video images on the Falcon, but Rehbock said the Falcon is fully capable of processing such video images. The DSP also allows the processing of the images to be done independent of the CPU as well, Atari added. Rehbock demonstrated to Newsbytes 16-bit True Color at 24 frames per second on the Falcon (broadcast quality is 30 frames per second). Atari says the capability is 320 by 200 pixel resolution and 32,768 colors, or 640 by 480 pixel resolution and 256 colors from a 264,144 color palette. Rehbock said the Falcon's DSP can decompress and display a 320 by 200 24-bit JPEG image in less than 1 second. JPEG compression is not built in and neither is MPEG, however, a slot for a processor to do real time MPEG compression is available on the Falcon and JPEG compression may be added as well, Atari said. Two models of the Falcon will be offered at the end of October. A $799 model will offer 1 MB of memory and a single 3.5-inch disk drive. A $1,399 model will include 4 MB of memory and a 65 MB 2.5-inch IDE hard disk drive. Atari said the unit will support larger capacity internal drives, but only in the 2.5- inch form factor. It will support any size external drive via the SCSI II interface, Atari added. Atari says it plans to demonstrate the video editing capability of the Falcon at Fall COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada in November, though the company doesn't expect the software for video editing to be available until January or February of next year. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 4th of 10 Stories _________________________________________________________________________ | | | *StarShip* Amiga Conferences | | ____ _ _ | | / ___) __/ ) / ) | | ( (__ ____ ____(_ __)___ __ __ / /_ ____ ___ | | \__ \ / __ )/ )/ / / __ )/ \/ \ / )/ __ )/ __) | | ___) )/ ___// /) // / / ___// /\ /\ \ / /) // ___// / | | (____/(____)/ ___/(_/ (____)(_/ \/ \_)(____/(____)(_/ | | (_/ | | | | IMPORTANT CHANGE: Hardware Clinic now at 9PM Eastern on SATURDAY! | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | | Except where noted, Conferences begin at 10PM Eastern Time in the Amiga | | Conference Rooms at Page 555. Amiga Programmers meet Wednesday nights | | at Pro/Am on Page 670. Amiga/GEnie HelpDesk EVERY Night at 9PM Eastern. | |_________________________________________________________________________| | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday| Humpday |Thursday | Friday | Saturday | | Help@9EDT| Help@9EDT|Help@9ED| Help@9EDT|Help@9EDT| Help@9EDT| Help@9EDT| |__________|__________|________|__________|_________|__________|__________| | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | | | | | | | | | |5-MIN News| | | AmiGames |vv-Video!| 5-MINUTE |9:Hardware| | 3PM-3AM | DeskTop | |with Zach!| with | Weekend | Clinic | | -*- |Publishing| Mike's | -*- | | News | -*- | |10PM:BEST | Amiga | Music |Programing| Yury & | |10: Party!| | of Amiga | Style! | Madness|at Pro/Am | Guests | 6PM-3AM | Party! | | Graphics | | | | | | Party! | |__________|__________|________|__________|_________|__________|__________| HelpDesk *EVERY* NIGHT @ 9PM Eastern Time! Got a problem? If you have questions about learning to use your Amiga, the *StarShip* or GEnie, we have answers! Stop by Conference Room 4 ANY EVENING from 9 to 10 EDT for live, on-the-spot help. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 5th of 10 Stories An Evening with OpalVision ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ____ by Carmen Rizzolo (_ _) / / _/ / (____) just picked up an OpalVision motherboard today, and boy am I having some fun! I'm sure some of you out there want to know the ins and outs of OV, so here's what I can see after just a few hours of messing with it... Installation was easy, just plug the thing into your video slot. When you plug the RGB cable into the back of the OV (with the other end going into your monitor), be sure to secure the little screws on the monitor plug, it's a real loose fit, and it fell out while I plugged the other end of the plug into the monitor. Woops. Software installation was easy, it used Commodore's installer proggy. You'll need about 9 MEGS of HD space to start out with. The Karate game takes 5 MEGS, the rest of it is mostly filled with JPEGS. You can thin out the extra pics and game to your desire afterwards. Oh yeah, the game has it's own installer.. You don't HAVE to install it, but I'm sure you will. :) The documentation is pretty good. There's a thin "getting started" manual, and a thicker reference manual. The manuals are plastic spiral bound, very attractive covers box. So far so good. Included in the software is OpalPaint, Opal Presents!, and a Function Key program, as well as some miscellaneous utils, such as a 24-bit viewer. Opal Presents! Is basically a souped-up slide show program. REALLY easy to use. It's got a handful of 'wipes' to break the monotony of image transitions. There are a couple of really slick wipes, such as one where the new picture drops in and bounces to a stop. Most of them aren't quite broadcast quality. In other words, you can see the scanlines drawn as it writes picture B over picture A. It's still pretty fast and you can use a slider to alter the time a transition takes. With some of its wipes, and the way you can alter the wipe time, its output reminds me a little bit of Deluxe Video III, except of course, in 24-bits. It does have an AREXX port with lots o' commands. It does load its images just before it shows each one, even if the same picture is used several times in your "script." Too bad you can control when to load and unload images. Of course, you won't want to use JPEGs in your script as they take longer to load. All the OV software does, however, load JPEG images pretty fast. I chuckled when I discovered that OV loads standard Amiga IFFS (including HAMs) slower than it loads IFF24 images! It probably does this because it would want anything going into it's RAM to be 24 (or 32) bit, and a different format would have to be converted. It's still kinda goofy tho! :) The Function Key software looks good too but I haven't taken the time to use it yet. Basically, it does things like loading images, showing 24-bit images, showing Amiga graphics on top of 24-bit images, all by F1 thru F10 from yer WB screen. Opal Paint is awesome!! I guess you could consider it a cross between DCTV paint and DPaint, but with many of it's own unique fun stuff. I've used the Firecracker's Light24, Dpaint (for over 5 years), ToasterPaint, DCTV Paint and other less popular painters. OpalVision blows them all away (with the exception of DPaint's animation features and some similar functions it does faster than OpalPaint)!! Here's what I've seen in the few hours I've used it so far (Thanks to the "Getting Started" manual).. The interface for OpalPaint - and the rest of the software, is very slick. 3-D buttony look, larger icon images of the tools we know and love from DPaint and the like. One neato feature is a two little text fields off to the right of the panel. Whichever button your cursor is hovering over, it's name will appear in one field, and it's keyboard equivalent in the field below. If you've ever used Light24, you'll know that brushes that are picked up don't actually DISPLAY while you're getting ready to stamp it down. Instead, you get a single-colour outline of the brush's shape. In Opal Paint, you get similar results. You have the outline, but you also get a "line-art" representation of the brush you cut out, still only one color. The Outline is optional as well. There is a bit of a lag when you stamp your brush down, even more so if you've got any bells and whistles on, such as stencil and anti-aliasing (more of them later). It's not too bad though. About a second for a large brush. Yes, there are some things that slow it down to make it seem not-so real-time, but other things that are lightening quick that you might think require a little lag. The biggest drawback of Opal Paint is that it will NOT paint it's images in overscan. Everything has a border, and you use Amiga-V to view the image in full overscan. And even nuttier still, when you do use Amiga-V and the whole screen is displayed, the pointer does not disappear until you hit the Delete Key (Like in DPaint). This is goofy because you use the Amiga-V to show the full pic, and you can't DO anything while it's showing it in overscan, just click the left one to get back. So there's no reason for the cursor to be there. It should disappear so that it can be recorded or whatever. This is a video device, right? The main drawback of not being able to paint in overscan is that you can't always tell what is the center of the screen. You'll paste some text in the center of the screen, use Amiga-V to view it in overscan only to find your text on the left side of the screen. And after Amiga-V, you've lost your undo safety net. Keep in mind there may be a provision for this problem that I haven't seen yet. If I'm overlooking anything, I sincerely apologize. If I come by any workaround for this quirk, I'll immediately post it. Keep in mind I've only been using it for a few hours. In Dpaint, you draw foreground colours with the left mouse button, and draw background colour with the right mouse button. In Opal Paint, the Right mouse button has a very unique feature indeed. Lets say you are drawing a long line and mess up at the very end. Hitting UNDO would destroy the line, the good with the bad. No more problem! Your right mouse button is an UNDO-Painter! Simply use the right mouse button and paint over the bad part of the line, leave the good stuff alone! You can use the right mouse button to UNDO-Paint using all the drawing tools, not just the freehand tool. Neato, eh? File requestors are really slick, 9 "thumbnail" images instantly appear to show you what your pictures look like before you load those JPEGS or whatever. There is slide bar also to slide down if there are more than 9 images in a directory. You can double-click on a thumbnail image to load and save as well! DPaint IV just introduced us to keeping a brush in a spare brush buffer for two brushes, OpalPaint has THREE BRUSH BUFFERS! You can copy brushes from one buffer to another, as well as BEND them like DPaint does. You can resize them as well as move its "handle" around. OpalPaint's palette requestor is really slick with a quarter-screen sized mixing area. You can load and save palettes (with the mixing areas saved along with them. The Pastella palette's mixing area looks like a real painting, Yow!). You can also take a color you like, give it a name and save it as a single color. Opal Paint comes with MANY of these "named colours" with names such as Murky Green, Olive Drab, Deep Azure, and powder blue. There are 20 colour wells visible at any time, but you can use bracket keys to scroll around to reveal a total of 260 wells. Just like in DPaint IV and DCTV paint, you can paint stencil masks. You can also use Colour excluding or including to define your stencil painting just like DCTV. Unlike DCTV, however, is the ability to set up to *6* base colors for your stencil painter to stick to or avoid! The one drawback (an advantage DCTV has) about stencil painting is Opal Paint is once you leave Stencil paint mode and enter paint mode with the stencil active, your stenciled area is invisible. Unless you don't mind doing the whole screen at once, you have to just "remember" where your stencils are/aren't. The manual actually tells you this, so I don't think there is an alternative. I put two fingers on the screen at the upper left and lower right area, entered paint mode then used my fill box. Hey, it works. AREXX is not yet implemented in OpalPaint. AAAAARGH!!! Well, that's all I can think of right now. If I discover anything else really cool, or something that contradicts what I've said today, I'll let you all know. If hope this helped you in you're deciding on a 24-bit device. I'm more than pleased with my $1000 purchase. Despite it's few quarks, you'll be happy as a clam if you get one too. Does anyone else out there have one yet? By the way, my text editor has a nice crumpled-paper 24-bit background now. :) -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 6th of 10 Stories Walnut Creek Introduces Biggest CD-ROM Literature Disc Ever with 2334 Works ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _ __ _ Walnut Creek, CA (Sept. 9) IDG PR SERVICE ( \/ \/ ) \ / \_/\_/alnut Creek CDROM today introduced "Desktop Library," a CD-ROM title that includes the complete text of 2334 works of literature. With a suggested retail price of $39-95, this is the lowest-priced disc of its kind; yet it contains more literary classics than any other CD-ROM disc ever produced. "You'd need a small fortune to get all the books that are on our new Desktop Library disc," said Jack Velte, vice president of Walnut Creek CDROM. "And unlike similar discs, Desktop Library is priced low enough so everyone can afford to own a complete library of the best novels, short stories, plays, poems and reference materials ever written." The fully indexed disc is loaded with ASCII files that are compatible with virtually every computer platform, including IBM-PCS and compatibles, Macintosh, Amiga, and Unix. Users can easily read the works using the included file viewers for MS-DOS and Amiga. The files can also be exported to word processors and printed. "Not only is our new disc the biggest collection of literature ever published on a CD-ROM, Desktop Library is also the biggest bargain," Velte said. "People can go out and buy a CD-ROM disc with the complete works of Shakespeare or the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, but they'll be able to find the complete text of both, plus many others, on Desktop Library." In addition to the hundreds of novels and works of fiction, the disc includes dictionaries, the complete text of the Bible, Koran, and other religious works. "One thing that sets Desktop Library apart from other CD-ROM titles is that it contains a wealth of useful materials not usually found on CD-ROMS -- important speeches, historical documents, U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and thousands of Internet text files of special interest to computer users." For more information about the Desktop Library or other titles available from Walnut Creek CDROM, call 1-800-786-9907. -*- *StarShip* Amiga *Flash* 7th of 10 Stories ______ Central Texas Amiga Show Set for November (__ __) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / / Austin, Texas -- September 15, 1992 / / (_/he Central Texas Amiga Computer Society is hosting it's FIRST Amiga Show! In an effort to demonstrate to the community that the Amiga is alive and well supported by vendors here, the Central Texas Amiga Computer Society is sponsoring an full-fledged, open-to-all Amiga Show. When: The Weekend before Thanksgiving Saturday & Sunday, November 21 & 22, 1992 10AM to 6PM both days Admission: $1 Per Person in Advance; $2 at the Door Where: Howard Johnsons North U.S. 183 and I.H. 35 Austin, Texas Already several top names in the Amiga industry have reserved some of the 30 vendors spots at this show. For those of you who couldn't make it to World of Commodore in Pasadena, we'll have some new Amiga "stuff" to exhibit! There are still a few exhibitor booths available for a small fee ($25.00) which is only to defray costs. We are also providing a Vendor Guide, so that new Amiga owners can get help right here in Austin. If the Society could afford to do all this for less we would, but someone's got to pay for the paper. Those interested in either attending or exhibiting should contact THE STATION in Austin, Texas, the local Commodore Amiga Dealer, at (512) 459-5440. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 8th of 10 Stories Electronic Arts Announces Agreement to Acquire Origin Systems, Inc. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ____ / ___) San Mateo, Calif, September 10, 1992 / (_ / ___) / (_ (____)lectronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) and Origin Systems, Inc. announced today that they have signed a definitive agreement whereby Electronic Arts will acquire Origin Systems, Inc. (Origin) of Austin, Texas. In this transaction, which will be accounted for as a pooling of interests, Electronic Arts will exchange approximately 1.3 million shares for all outstanding securities of Origin. The value of the deal at the time of signing was approximately $35 million. Origin was founded in 1983 by Robert and Richard Garriott to capitolize on the popularity of Richard Garriott's Ultima series of fantasy role-playing games. During the past three years, Origin has experienced strong growth in revenues and profitability. It completed its fiscal year ending February 28, 1992, with net revenues of $13 million and pre-tax profits of $3.2 million. Today, the 160 person company is one of the most successful and well-known in the interactive entertainment industry. To date, Origin has developed and published over 30 titles on multiple home computer and compact disc (CD-ROM) platforms, and has also developed titles for key video game platforms. Two of Origin's properties are recognized as leaders in the fantasy role- playing and action/simulation categories. The Ultima games combine fully-interactive worlds with compelling storylines. The series has sold more than 1.5 million units worldwide. The latest installment, Ultima VII: The Black Gate, is currently on best-seller lists from surveys of software retailers. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, a game with innovative continuous-motion, 3D technology, is also among the best-sellers. Origin's Wing Commander series set a standard for space combat simulation, combining movie-like special effects with advanced graphics. The Wing Commander series has sold more than 500,000 units worldwide. Origin's unique products will complement the strength of the Electronic Arts' entertainment line. Ultima I-VI and the Wing Commander series are currently available on CD. These types of multimedia products, well established on home computers, are some of the earliest available in the CD market, and will strengthen Electronic Arts' entry into the CD marketplace. In the new organization, Origin will be operated as a wholly owned subsidiary. Robert Garriott, President and CEO of Origin will continue in this role and becomes a Vice President of Electronics Arts. Richard Garriott, Senior Vice President/Creative Director of Origin will continue in this role and becomes an Executive Producer of Electronic Arts. "Origin is a highly successful publisher in the interactive entertainment industry with a strong record of growth and profitability. They have an excellent management team, and they have proven themselves in their nine-year history to be a great creative force with unique products. The acquisition of Origin by Electronic Arts is an excellent fit," said Larry Probst, president and CEO of Electronics Arts. "It will help launch Electronic Arts into the CD market and enhance Electronic Arts' position as the leading worldwide independent publisher of entertainment software." Robert Garriott added, "We believe the acquisition of Origin by Electronic Arts will allow us to move rapidly and to aggressively transfer the large-scale interactive entertainment products that we develop across a multitude of platforms around the world. We are excited about the prospect of becoming an integral part of Electronic Arts and becoming a part of a potentially bigger force in the future of interactive entertainment." Richard Garriott agreed. "Origin has been an industry leader in developing new, top-of-the-line properties and technology. When backed by Electronic Arts' worldwide multiple-platform distribution and marketing acumen, we believe our combined companies have an ever greater advantage over the competition." Electronic Arts is a diversified interactive entertainment company that develops, publishes and distributes worldwide. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 9th of 10 Stories _ HOLLYWARE Entertainment Releases "Lords of Time" / ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / / Marina Del Rey, CA - September 19, 1992 / / / (_ (____)ords of Time is a graphic adventure on a grand scale with a story line to match! Guide our time traveler, Major Thom, on a quest to return to his own world and time. Action adventure, danger, and magic are the essence of Lords of Time. Lords of Time Features: o Superb graphics with a 3-D overhead perspective and full animation allows the player to watch as Major Thom pursues his quest, and is pursued by dwarves, spiders, zombies and other harmful creatures. o Caverns, mazes, forests, mountains, islands, and castles make up a world of over 12,000 screens of smooth-scrolling animation to explore. o Select from an inventory of more than 50 items consisting of potions, weapons, and armor. Learn to cast over 20 different spells to help Major Thom survive. Learn valuable skills from over 24 classes available at the Guild shops that are needed to finish the quest. o An automatic save to memory feature simplifies game play and eases the frustration of dying at the worst possible moment. o The solutions to various key puzzles in this game are randomly selected each time the game is started, making this game worth playing again and again. Lords of Time is adventuring in its highest form!! Amiga Version Suggested Retail Price: $49.95. For more information contact HOLLYWARE Entertainment, 13464 Washington Blvd., Marina Del Ray, CA., 90291, Phone 310/822-9200 -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 10th of 10 Stories GEnie Announces RSCARDS Club _ __ _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ( \/ \/ ) \ / \_/\_/e are pleased to announce a new rate structure for RSCARDS Games on GEnie (Blackjack, Backgammon, Checkers, Poker, Reversi, and Chess). Effective October 1, 1992, GEnie subscribers will be able to access RSCARDS games via two options: 1) The standard $6.00 per connect hour non-prime time rate, or 2) As a member of the RSCARDS Club. RSCARDS Club membership will cost $30.00 per month, and entitles the member to a discounted rate of $3.00 per hour for unlimited non-prime time play of any RSCARDS games at speeds up to 2400 baud. As a member of the RSCARDS Club, you will be eligible for participation in all tournaments held in the products at the same discounted hourly rate (standard tournament entry fees will still apply). You will play in the same arenas as non-members, and will be able to converse freely with both club members and non-members during play. You will also be able to move freely between all RSCARDS games, while maintaining the same discounted hourly rate. The institution of the RSCARDS Club also marks the end of our seventh RSCARDS game, Basic*Chess, which will be discontinued on 10/1/92. After a year of offering Basic*Chess, we have decided to more widely distribute the benefits of discounted play among all of the RSCARDS games. As a bonus, anyone who played any of the RSCARDS games (including Basic*Chess) between June 15, 1992 and September 14, 1992 will be entitled to join the RSCARDS Club and have their first month's membership fee WAIVED if they sign up for the RSCARDS Club between 10/1/92 and 10/15/92. Hourly charges will still apply, and subsequent months' membership fees will be charged at the standard $30.00 per month. The RSCARDS system allows you to play real-time multi-player games with GEnie users from all over the world, in text or with an optional graphics driver program (available online for the Atari ST, the Commodore Amiga and 128 computers, the Apple Macintosh and //gs, and IBM compatibles). Full details of the RSCARDS Club, and signup information will be available on 10/1/92. Type RSCARDS at any menu page prompt or move to GEnie page 875. NOTE: Rates quoted are for 300/1200/2400 baud access from the United States. A Club Plan will also be implemented for Canada, and details will be announced shortly. Non-Prime time is from 6:00 PM to 8:00 AM local time Monday through Friday, and all day on Saturday, Sunday and holidays. Communications surcharges, if applicable, still apply. Discussion of the RSCARDS Club is taking place in the Multi-Player Games Bulletin Board, Category 29, Topic 10. (Type *MPGRT to get there, or move to GEnie page 1045;1). Howard Rosenman Product Manager GEnie Games and Entertainment -*- Over a GIGABYTE of Amiga files in our Library! Catch your limit of Fred FISH Disks from the *StarFish* Library. If you are after a SINGLE PROGRAM on a Fish Disk, SEARCH for it before downloading the disk. Most are available separately! _______________________________________________________________ | | | | | Permission is hereby granted to quote ALL or PART of this | | Newscast on a privately owned BBS or in a user group news- | | letter (*) provided you include the following credit: | | | | Reprinted by Permission from the 5-MINUTE Weekend | | News Network, a *StarShip*(tm) Production on GEnie(R). | | * /\ / | |_________________________________________________ ___/ \___ _| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ \ oo / ~ . \ \__/ / _ (*) We would like to know about it / \ if you do, and you can tell us \ /\ / *FREE* by leaving Feedback to / \/ \/ \ the SysOps on GEnie Page 555. *StarFish* Librarian The September issue of ViewPort, *StarShip* Monthly Newsletter, is available FREE on GEnie*Basic on menu option #9 on page 555! Open your buffer before selecting it. It is also available for downloading (as are back issues) in the Library as File #16840 (.LHA) or 16842 (.TXT). *StarShip* 5-MINUTE Newscasts are compiled periodically and made available for downloading as well. Search the Library using the term 5-MIN to locate the various files. Compiled July Newscasts are in File #16699. The current issue of ViewPort is FREE --- Don't miss it!