¢...AND GOD CREATED ATARI:¢THE 1994 SPRING ALL MICRO SHOW¢¢A day in the life of Dan Baverstock, part owner of 'Oasis Design', proud owner of Atari 8-Bit, soon to be rich tycoon, ace Atari reporter, .....ahh, eh! I expect you'll be wanting to know about the show rather than my personal qualities. No, I hear you cry!¢¢¢ This is the first All Micro Show I have been to where you can actually see Atari software and hardware on show. You don't have to spend hours hunting under infinite numbers of stands for the odd knackered tape or ROM in an equally knackered 'KP Skips' box!¢¢ No siree(eh!), genuine Atari bargains, tapes 25p a time. (By the way, thanks to all at TWAUG for the lift)¢¢ I must admit that I was a little disappointed at the size and numbers of other computer formats (mainly the PC) in relation to the Atari stalls, but then it is an all formats show! Still, many Atari supporters turned up including Micro Discount, Gralin International, Page 6 New Atari User, Dean Garraghty (Hi Dean, love the beard!) and, to my delight, ANG from Holland and KE-Soft from Germany.¢¢ It's funny seeing those who you have written or spoken to finally in the flesh. They are, and indeed were totally different to what my twisted imagination had previously conjured up! Anyway, on with the show as they say.¢¢ I arrived at the show a full 40 minutes before opening, only to find it was already open and had been for around an hour!¢¢ To the right of the entrance was the Atari 'line', with the exception of Gralin who seemed to have got themselves lost amongst the PCs. With my large rucksack at hand, I wondered over to the Micro Discount stand where Derek & Pam (I assumed) were buried behind boxes of software and hardware, from Zepplin cassettes, ROMS old and new, manuals and disks, to ST external single sided drives for just six pounds.¢¢ The stands behind this were populated with all the products associated with Micro Discount, plus some new products (including the new Brundles editor and some new MD8 Tracker files modestly titled 'The Greatest Hits'). In the centre was a dismantled 130XE and a large TV.¢¢ After introducing myself to Derek as, and I quote, "The annoying git who keeps phoning you up", I asked if the 3.5" ST drive interface was going to be demonstrated, and if it was available that day as advertised. Unfortunatly, I had made an awful mistake and was talking to a complete stranger on the PC stall and... just kidding! Derek regreted to inform me that they had encountered technical problems with the interface, so it wasn't to be shown or sold today, but would be available shortly. It was going to be sold with an ST drive for 55 pounds on the day, so it remains to be seen whether this offer will stay the same. Oh well, and drawing a large gun I shot myself...Arrrrr...I have to stop these little wisecracks!¢¢ Swiftly moving on, I spotted the ANG mob setting up two 130XEs next door. Before long, the stall was covered in numerous titles, many available from Micro Discount such as The Curse, Hans Kloss, Kult, Eureka, as well as many additional titles.¢¢ I managed to grab one of the ANG crews' friends and proceeded to make him boot up practically everything on the stall. I briefly played the much advertised Humanoid game, SOS Saturn, Vicky, Inside, and many other titles. Overall, I was impressed with the titles, Humanoid looking promising judging by first impressions.¢¢ I was then able to play a demo version of the new T-34 Tank Battle (one of the first games I have seen that uses sampled sound FX) and a very impressive Terminator II like title screen.¢¢ The object of the game is to adust the angle and power of your tank's cannon via a joystick icon controlled panel (occupying the upper screen). You then fire a missle over a landscape to another tank (computer or 2nd player) situated somewhere along the route. The demo landscapes range from a forest to a city, and both are very well defined. What impressed me most was that the gameplay isn't limited to one screen, but over two, and you can scroll in four directions. T-34 tank battle will be out shortly as soon as the Polish programmers finish it.¢¢ While at the ANG stall, I subscribed to their Pokey disk magazine. Sixteen pounds gives you a four issue subscription and four free full price commercial games. I picked Hans Kloss and Eureka as my first two games. I am looking foward to my other two games, Humanoid and another Lemmings clone that promises better animation, graphics and gameplay than the addictive Brundles from KE-Soft. 'Tommings', once released, will cost around 4.50 pounds commercially. I can't wait!¢¢ After trying the mans patience, sanity, and no-doubt his drive's limits, I thanked him, warning him that I would return. Next stop, KE-Soft.¢¢ After aquainting myself with Kemal Ezcan, I had a look at the PD and software that was on offer.¢¢ The Brundles editor, disk mag Zong issue 1, a few commercial titles, as well as some PD titles (mostly utilities & sex cartoons!) were displayed; a little less than I had been expecting but nevertheless a valiant and encouraging effort. After all, Germany is a long way to come!¢¢ I finally bought Drag, Zebuland, Zong magazine and the Brundle editor (with a 2 pounds voucher off) and moved onto the TWAUG stall.¢¢ This was covered in cassettes & disks, all under 50p. As you can imagine I went wild, buying over 20 tapes, and a few ROMS for around 25-30p each. To name but a few: Dropzone, Electroglide, Stackup, Cavernia, Mr Do, Atari Space Shuttle, and many others.¢¢ The stand behind the stall held TWAUG PD and their magazine issues. The new Atari book 'The Complete & Essential Map for the Atari XL/XE' was plugged like mad and orders can be placed with TWAUG. (Hello to the author Andrew Thompson, or TOMO. How do you like the Time & Magik Compilation I sold you?)¢¢ I quickly nipped back to the ANG stall and purchased sixteen pounds of software (around 4.50 a game due to the special on the day of 10% off). Titles included Vicky, TML Drum Editor II, and the neatly boxed Artefact (for 5 pounds, and a game which I recommend). I also purchased issue 6 of Megamagazine. I had waited for issue 7 to be finished, but Frankenstien (its editor and member of ANG) despite typing away throughout the show, wasn't able to finish it. Ah well!¢¢ I approached Dean Garraghty Software and randomly picked out Dean from the rest of his posse because of his beard. I finally bought Superscript off him for 2.50 pounds, and later on in the show the Power Per Post SAM desktop system, utilites and spreadsheet for the discounted price of 22 pounds.¢¢ SAM is a great desktop system, although a little expensive, 13.95 for SAM alone! It has its limitations, such as its inability to load binary files, but has many additional features such as a very comprehensive wordproccessor, memo pad, memory monitor and art program.¢¢ The word proccesor has great print preview and editing features such as bold, italics, underlining, etc, which you can engage with the click of your mouse or joystick.¢¢ The paint program is good, but a little confusing due to its ability to display 128 colours using DLIs.¢¢ On a lasting note, SAM desktop has great potential (just like Diamond GOS had) and I can see it easily replacing the DOS systems with a few improved versions and if programmers write programs for it (which the desktop allows for). Sickening isn't it? All worship SAM!¢¢ The Page 6 NAU stall was very large; its whole PD, back-issue mags, and Accessory Shop on display. I bought Plastron for 1.50 and then went for a stroll around the shop floor. Well it was more of a stagger due to the growing weight of my sack. I dumped off a few games, a knackered 400, and a 2600 console at the bring 'n' buy corner (in which incidently, I never sold anything, so I had to lug it home!) and went off to find Gralin International.¢¢ I found them next to the London Atari Computer Enthusiasts' (LACE) stall. After talking about stereo upgrades and samples I tried the TML Drum Editor II on their stereo 800XL. I then bought the Stereo upgrade for 15 pounds, and a pre-drilled 800XL base for just a pound (insanity, or shopping on impulse, call it what you want!)¢¢ There was the odd stall that sold Atari tapes and I picked up tapes like Draconus, Super Zaxxon, TrailBlazer (a great game) and Speed Run for under a pound.¢¢ Being my first show, I enjoyed it very much. Spending over 100 pounds in one day does that to you! However, I was very disappointed with the lack of hardware at the show. I met one person at the show who managed to get a Happy or Lazer upgraded 1050 drive (Hi Dwain, hope I spelt the name right) and Gralin were selling a few decks, but there were no other drives or Atari's anywhere.¢¢ I talked to ANG and KE-Soft towards the end of the show and both told me they weren't likely to be coming to future English shows because of travelling expenses and the little profit they make. Lets hope they do come to AMS8 and that the show is bigger and better with a lot more hardware and software. After all, the software is useless without the hardware (clever, aren't I?)¢¢ I look foward to the new software available, especially Tommings and T-34 Tank Battle, and be sure I will be one of the first to review them.¢¢ As I make my way back to my seedy bed & breakfst in the heart of Stafford (thanks for the lift Pam) I am comforted by the knowledge that... this bloody rucksack is killing me!!!¢¢¢OASIS Design lives on!¢¢Daniel Baverstock,¢18th April 1994.¢¢
