News

Classic Gaming EXPO 2002
Press Release from CGE Services, Corp

The organizers of Classic Gaming Expo have announced the dates of the 2002 show to take place at Jackie Gaughan's Plaza Hotel. On Saturday August 10th, and Sunday August 11th, the computer and gaming industries most innovative pioneers will gather in Las Vegas to attend Classic Gaming Expo 2002. Dubbed "CGE2K2", the fifth annual event will celebrate multiple historical anniversaries and is inspired by a strong, continued commitment to classic game updates and re-releases by the industries major publishers.

Heading up this years celebration are several historical video game anniversaries, most notable of which is the thirty-year anniversary of the founding of Atari. Officially formed in 1972, Atari has become a name synonymous with video games and is still in existence today under the guidance of parent company Infogrames. In addition to the formation of Atari, 2002 also marks twenty-five years since the release of their Atari 2600 game system, one of the best-selling consoles of all time.

Other milestones being celebrated at this years Expo include the twenty-year anniversaries of the release of both the Coleco and the Vectrex game systems. These systems, released in 1982, helped to revolutionize the video game industry. "It's amazing to think that all of these important historical events have anniversaries in 2002" said Sean Kelly, co-promoter of Classic Gaming Expo. "In addition, there are several smaller events to commemorate - including our fifth year of organizing CGE".

Other items of interest at this years show include an updated museum exhibit, numerous additions to the guest speaker list, and the release of several new games for various classic systems. The Classic Gaming Expo museum encompasses hundreds of items including many one-of-a-kind prototypes. The museum contains the largest public display of classic game hardware, software, and memorabilia in the world. "What makes the Classic Gaming Expo Museum so special is the fact that it's comprised of items belonging to dozens of individuals", states co-promoter John Hardie. "This is not just a single person's collection but rather a grouping of items on loan from enthusiasts as well as many of our distinguished guests".

Aside from the numerous keynote speeches by various industry legends throughout the show, CGE 2002 will play host to a large number of classic video game vendors and exhibitors. While many of them will be selling mint-condition hardware and software from the days of old, others will be presenting new products for sale for systems such as the Vectrex, ColecoVision, Atari 2600, 5200, Lynx, and Jaguar as well as many modern-day consoles. Other show highlights include various classic console game stations, tournaments, raffles, door prizes, live music, and an incredible number of classic coin-operated video games, all set on free play for the attendees. "We're thankful for the ongoing support and interest shown by the video game industry", notes co-promoter Joe Santulli. "We feel it's vital that this history be preserved for generations to come".

Now in its fifth year, Classic Gaming Expo remains the industries only annual event that is dedicated to celebrating and preserving the history of electronic entertainment; bringing together industry pioneers, gaming enthusiasts, and the media for the ultimate experience in learning, game-playing and networking. Visit www.cgexpo.com for further information.

Steem v2.2 released

Steem v2.2 has arrived. Although v2.1 was only released a short time ago, its authors, Anthony and Russell Hayward, have already managed to fix a host of bugs and add even more features into this fantastic ST emulator. If you are after a reliable and stable Atari ST emulator, Steem will do you proud.

Download the latest version at http://steem.atari.org.

alive! 4 mag released

After several months development, alive! mag 4 was recently released. The Atari ST/Falcon disk-based magazine is packed with over 70 articles, chip music and more besides. Highlights of the issue include reports from Paracon 3, ALT3 and E-JagFest 2001 as well as articles on Tempest (upgrade for Falcon owners) and the forthcoming CT060 by Czuba-Tech.

The latest issue of alive! also includes interviews with the Highwire team, Spex of Escape, Mr Pink of Reservoir Gods and ST Cooper of The Coolest Paradise. For all this and more, download your copy at http://alive.atari.org.

AtarICQ v0.153 released
This month sees the release of a new version of AtarICQ. ICQ has already taken the internet by storm and proudly claims several million users. Why is ICQ so popular? Well, how else can you chat with other internet users anywhere in the world in real-time?!

MyAtari reviewed an earlier version of AtarICQ back in December 2001. To find out what you are missing, download your copy at http://aicq.atari-users.net

Aniplayer v2.19 released

Aniplayer, the popular shareware media player for the ST/Falcon has recently been updated. It supports a variety of video formats including QuickTime (MOV), Video For Windows (AVI), Autodesk Animator (FLI/FLC/FLH) and MPEG 1/2 (MPG).

Aniplayer also supports a good selection of audio formats including Audio Visual Research (AVR), Microsoft RIFF-WAVE (WAV), Apple Interchange File Format (AIF), DVSM Falcon Winrec (DVS), Real Audio (RA 14.4K and 28.8K), MPEG 1/2 Audio Layer 1,2,3 (MP1/2/3) and Ogg Vorbis (OGG).

Download your copy at http://aniplay.atari.org.

DDP announce latest translations
By Derryck Croker

That dedicated band of Atari enthusiasts DDP Translations have released two more English translations of programs originally in German.

The first of these is the resource file for ASH's Emailer 2.3h. ASH recently published an update to their email and news client  to overcome a folder creation bug, and to bring some text from the binary into the resource file. This will be the last update to this easy-to-use program, and DDP Translations recommend that users download the upgrades from ASH's web site and the resource file from DDP Translations.

In second place is Papillon. ASH have for some time had our translated resource files for this art program available for download, but now thanks to Richard Gordon Faika of Arthur and Luna fame we can now offer a patch to translate the remaining German that was compiled into the binary. Richard's TTP and a simple text file are all that's needed.

Both these downloads are available from the DDP section at http://www.cix.co.uk/~derryck which also hosts the home page of the Cheshunt Computer Club.

Black Ice White Noise Video Clips released
News has reached us about an unleased Jaguar prototype game entitled, Black Ice White Noise. Jagcube (http://jagcube.atari.org) has recently released five video clips of the game (by Atari) which look stunning as the screen-shots below show. Anyone interested completing the project?

To find out more about the game and download the video clips, check out http://jagcube.atari.org.

DX Android released as freeware
By Tim Conrardy

Looks like this is a good month for Atari MIDI fans. I have been working in conjunction with David Leaver to produce a copyright free version of DX Android by Tom Bajoras. He was finally able to take out the copy protection, so now we have a working edition of this fabulous program.

The program was originally named DX-Droid, but had to change its name to appease George Lucus and friends, so the final version was called DX-Android. There were even adverts in the electronic music magazines at the time with a picture of a droid (very akin to Star Wars) playing a DX7 and ST computer along with a TX816 rack! Those with DX7 synths today can still use this excellent program. DX-Android was one of the first programs to incorporate Random Patch generation, thus making it a landmark application in its time.

For further information, please visit Tim's Atari MIDI World at http://tamw.atari-users.net.

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MyAtari magazine - News, March 2002