¢ATARI 8-BIT MEMORIES¢A Celebration of Continued Life!¢¢¢ Yes, it's another new column! This time we'll recall fond (or horrible) memories of Atari 8-bit computing. I begin below with one of my many fond memories of this wonderful computer system.¢¢ Do you have a computing moment in time which you recall now and again when using your trusty Atari 8-bit? It could have happened in 1979 or yesterday - the time is irrelevant; it is the memory which will hold the interest.¢¢ Please send your recollections to me for inclusion in the column. If possible, send them in as a text file on disk (I'll return your disk). Hardcopies are OK too. If your memories are used you will be sent a free NOSAUG PD disk of your choice! Now, let us return to the dizzy heights of 1983...¢¢¢AN 8-BIT MEMORY¢by Stuart J. Murray¢¢ I remember brousing through the new Virgin Megastore in Aberdeen. If I remember correctly, it was a sunny day in the late Autumn of 1983. I went downstairs to have a look at their new computer games department. Wow! An Atari 400/800 section! I remember my excitement as I walked down the blue shelving to the end and glanced round to see it offering Atari 8-bit disks, cassettes and cartridges. I stood there staring at the boxes with great excitement; the kind that can only be felt as a young teenager discovering the new world of home computing!¢¢ Previous to Virgin, the only sources of Atari 8-bit software in Aberdeen were Boots and a small selection in a local computer store called Holburn Software (a horrible store with unfriendly Commodore-loving staff!). Both of these only offered the usual small selection of Atari Corp. cartridges and the odd English Software cassette. Everywhere else was dominated by the Spectrum, BBC and C64! At last, I thought to myself, Atari 8-bit support in Aberdeen!¢¢ The 8-bit section in Virgin was small but nevertheless VERY welcome! On that day they had Preppie and Preppie II by A.I., Zork by Infocom, Shamus by Synapse, Crush Crumble & Chomp by EPYX, Gorf by Roklan, and a few others. These were the sort of titles I'd always read about in Computer & Video Games and Silica Shop catalogues! Computing was never the same again!¢¢ I bought Preppie and Preppie II that day (after examining every word on every Atari software box in the store!) and returned on numerous occasions to purchase classics such as Hitch-Hikers Guide, Archon, Summer Games, etc., etc. Thank-you Richard Branson! Now, where is the XL/XE section in your new Virgin Games Store? Dream on!¢
