››ATARI CONFIRMS RUMOR; SECRET MESSAGES DO EXIST!››  Sources at Atari have confirmed one of arcading's most persistant wild stories.  If a gamer sends a hero to a certain room in the VCS game "Adventure" and performs a specific action, a secret message revealing the designers name will appear on the screen.  Many had scoffed at the notion, citing that Atari doesn't credit designers, but it turns out to be true.››  Although the programmer in question didn't see fit to let his employer in on the joke, Atari is evidently taking the whole thing with grace.  In fact, it gave Steve Wright an idea for the future.››  "From now on," he told EG in an exclusive interview, "we're going to plant little 'Easter eggs' like that in the games. Eventually, we may have a real treasure hunt, with the clues hidden in various game cartridges!"   How will arcaders know when a cartridge contains such buried treasure?  By arrangement with Atari, Electronic Games will be able to let the gaming world know when to start hunting.  We'll tell you when an "Easter egg" is buried in a new release, but not how to find it.›››ATARI REPORT››  Will McDonalds be the first fast food chain to hop on the electronic gaming bandwagon in a big way? The hamburger king has approached Atari about the possibility of a computerized video monitor.  The device would take a meal order and then help the customer pass the wait pleasantly by playing a videogame.  One potential hitch: What happens if a player is on a hot streak when the Big Mac, fries and soft drink show up?...››  There's quite a story behind the release of the VCS Asteriods cartridge.  The version the company showed a year ago received such a frosty reception from those who got an advance peek that the designers went back to the drawing board.  They developed a special process that puts twice as much program (8K vs. 4K) on the cartridge as was previously possible.  It seems that Atari's wizards came up with a special bank switch that flips back and forth between the two, 4K programs, fooling the VCS into reading them both.››  RED BARON is the latest addition to the quadrascan series of Atari commercial arcade machines.  Gamers patrol the hi-res skies in a World War I bi-plane, firing at the enemy over the whirling propeller blade.  Fittingly, the control is a realistic joystick.  Start your engines, Atari aces...›››TOURNEY OFFERS $5O,OOO IN AWARDS››  The biggest tournament in the history of electronic gaming is scheduled to begin in Chicago on October 29.  The four day extravaganza, billed as the Atari World Championships, will reward the best players of that company's coin-op games with a total of $5O,OOO in cash and merchandise prizes.  Although the finals will coincide with the annual convention of the Amusement & Music Operators Assoc., preliminary rounds took place during the summer and early fall.  Participating commercial arcades sponsored the local events, which are sending contestants to the big showdown in the Second City.  Reportedly, high powered players who missed out on last year's hugely successful Space Invaders tournament are coming out of the woodwork to get a piece of this years action.›››Activision Closeup››  Steve Cartwright is the latest addition to the ever growing Activision design staff, which is already heavy with Arcade Award winners.  The new kid on the block, a protege of David Crane, will be showing his first cartridge before the end of the year.›››Computer Upgrade›  Runners get shinsplints, raquetball players come down with tennis elbow and computer gamers have-chronic under-byte.  Owners of some of the smaller computers, like the TRS-80 Color Computer, Atari 400, can surmount the limitations of restricted memory with new upgrade kits.›  First into the field is Axlon, Sunnyvale, CA., which is offering the 32K Ramcram for the 400.  Installable by even an electronics illiterate in less then 10 minutes, the Ramcram beefs up the Atari's memory enough to allow connection to a disk drive.  Intec is also reportedly offering an Atari 400 upgrade.›  Color Computer owners can also buy such kits, but many will probably choose to wait until Tandy's own "official" upgrade becomes available in 1982.›››Cosmos put on the shelf››  Those who where planning to give COSMOS to someone this holiday season had better start looking for a substitute present.  Although Atari lavished much advance publicity on its holographically enhanced stand-alone programmable, the company has shuttled it back to the design department for more work.›  Although the accomplishment of actually developing a commercially viable holographic process drew much admiration, the game itself received decidedly mixed reviews.  The chief complaint: The holograms served as mere decoration and did not directly affect play.  Critical reaction caused Atari to have second thoughts about the project.›  Reluctant to release any product not fully up to its high standards, the game maker decided it would be better to work on the concept some more before putting its reputation on the line.  The best guess is that, in light of Atari's enviable track record, it won't be too long before true holographic games become a reality.››››Electronic Games Hotline››Reprinted from ELECTRONIC GAMES›Volume 1, Number 1, WINTER 1981››File by: Randy Rhoads››