Sender: a15@nikhef.nl (Peter Heymens Visser)





  PORTABLE ADDICTION Issue #01 May 15 by Tjerk Heymens Visser and Yiri Kohl

           The newsletter for the Atary Lynx and the Atari Portfolio

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Hi folks,

This is the second issue of Portable Addiction. We've had good reactions, so

we'll carry on with the newsletter. It will come out around the middle of the

month.

We had many requests from people who wanted to know what the computer market 

is like in Europe. For that reason we have started a regular column.

This month we have alot of Portfolio news, like reviews on PBasic 3.0, Portboot

and the Portfolio Toolkit.

If you have any questions about the Lynx or Potfolio just send them in and 

we'll try to answer them in the letter section.

Here comes...



                                        Tjerk Heymens Visser 

                                        Editor.



NEWS AND GOSSIP

---------------



The Portfolio II was not on the CeBit in Hamburg, so it will not be released 

in the comming 2 years.



Hewlett Packard has made it's own portfolio, it has already 0.5 meg RAM 

built in and it has also Lotus standard (!).

It is as big as the Portfolio and runs on 2 penlites. Detailed info when we

have it.



There is said to be bigger memory cards for the Portfolio to be released

soon, they will be up to 1 MB and they will NOT be extremely expensive, they

might even be cheaper (!!).



Warbirds was released in the USA on 10 May, we've heared that it is a very

good game. It has been designed by Robert Zdybel. 

It will take about 2 month untill it reaches Europe, we'll have a review

in issue 03.



Blockout is probably the next game for the Lynx to come out.



Hole in one and Big Run were to be released in March for the Super Famicom,

Super R-Type and Darius Twin will be released in 1991, we don't know when.



There is a new video games magazine in Europe, it has reviews on games of all

consoles. It is called Video Games (by the makers from Power Play).

It is German, it has been available since May and it will be a monthly.



LYNX SOFTWARE RELEASE DATES !!!!

--------------------------------



We just got these dates and they have not been confirmed by Atari Holland, and

the March and April games have not been released yet in Europe.



MARCH:  Blockout              APRIL:  Superbowl Football

        Warbirds                      Checkered Flag

        Xybots                        Vindicators

                                      

MAI:    Tournament Cyberball  JUNE:   Scrapyard Dog

        Worldclass Soccer             Turbo Sub

        Ninja Gaiden                  Viking Child

        A.P.B.                        Bill and Ted's excellent adventure

        Gridrunner                    Rolling Thunder

        Pinball Jam/Shuffle 

        720 Degrees

        Casino

 

JULY:   Toki                  AUGUST: Ishido

        S.T.U.N. Runner               Baseball



OCTOBER:Ice-Hockey

        Basket Brawl

        Geo Duell



NOVEMBER/DECEMBER: No releases planed yet



Further games to be released in 1991: 

        Pac Land 

        Pit Fighter

        Hydra

        Hard Drivin'  

        Raiden

        Leaderboard

        Super Skweek



LYNX review GAUNTLET III

------------------------



I think that never ever before a games reviewer has been bored so much by having

to test such a dispickable game. OK, so the title screen is nice, and the 

graphics are quite well, but even these factors can't save the pathetic attempt

at a game. Nice when you start with it, but it gets SOOOOOOOO boring!!

Rush through 40 mazes filled with gold and monsters without losing all your

lifepoints? Nice concept, but 40 mazes can get SOOOOOOOO dull!!

   

                       Graphics: 6_ Quite nice

                          Sound: 3_ Irritating in-game music

                    Playability: 3_ Boring    

                    Lastability: 1_ About 1 week

                        Overall: 3_ ************





LYNX review KLAX

----------------



SOUND, VOICES !!!!!

These are the most beautifull voices I've ever heard on any system.

The calls for the waves, the cries when you get a five-in-a-row Klax; It's

like it's live. At first the game play becomes second placed, but when you

get going you'll never want to stop. The graphics are nice, the tiles are 

clear and the background is beautifull. You don't need to read the instructions

before you start playing, at the beginning of the first level everything is 

explained. You must make rows of 3 tiles(horizonally, vertically and diagonally)

At the beginning of the wave the voice tells you what the wave objective is, if

you make a klax that does not match the objective you'll get the points but

it will not count towards completing the wave. The game does not get dull, even

after 100 waves, that's because of the various wavetypes, like Klax, Points,

Horizontal, Diagonal and Tile Waves. So this is a game that won't disappoint you.



                       Graphics: 8_ Background is static but stil nice

                          Sound: 9_ Great voices

                    Playability: 8_ Simple functions 

                    Lastability: 8_ 100 levels so it'll take a while before you 

                                    you'll reach the end.

                        Overall: 8_ Great, simple, fun. Best falling blocks 

                                    game ever.



LYNX review ROAD BLASTERS

-------------------------



I was septic at first, but since I've played it it's heaven (till CHECKERED

FLAG is released that is).

The sound is not KLAX-quallity, but it's still nice.

The play is fast (scaling!!!) and it get's more fun when you catch a special

weapon, like nitro-injectors, cruise-missiles and uzi-cannons. It's a nice game

and it's not only attractive to those who like race games. Personally I

doubt that it is worth the full Dutch price (HLF 90,- = $ 45,-), but because it

is the first driving game on the LYNX , and it will take a while untill 

Checkered Flag, Hard Drivin' and S.T.U.N. Runner are released I think that it 

will be popular. 



                       Graphics: 8_ Full use of scaling

                          Sound: 7_ Real radio like

                    Playability: 8_ Smooth driving, good shooting

                    Lastability: 6.5_ It's fun but 50 levels of the same

                                    can get boring (but good to watch)

                        Overall: 7_ First racing game on the LYNX but still

                                    waiting for CF and HD.   

COMLYNX -SLIME WORLD

-------------------



A nice idea of the designer of the game was to change some of the levels.

Level 2 changes from exploration into cooperate, where you have to work 

together to find the end(you can't shoot each other but you can clean your 

partner with your water pistol).

In level 3 you have to compete with each other, there are no extra slime-

shields so the first Todd gets to pick up the shields and gems. There are 

special icons that make you shoot slime, so you can kill other Todds.

Level 5 becomes a COMBAT level, this level is totally different from the single

player mode. There are not much aliens in this level but there are lots of 

mega bombs and slime icons, the goal is to blow up other Todds as many times as

you can. We only tested in two-player mode(we couldn't find more people with

Lynxes)and each player has 5 lives, but maybe in more-player-mode each player 

has more lives(we don't know). When you ComLynx Slime World this is the most

recommended level.



SCREEN SCENE EUROPE

-------------------



This month Screen Scene is a report of our visit to Germany.

Till one year and a half ago Germany was still devided in east and west. Then 

the wall came down and suddenly western things flooded the eastern part of

Germany. We have visited east and west, and compared.

Western Berlin has lots of light-adds on the street(The whole city is like a 

Cyberpunk story!!). Eastern Berlin however has always been isolated, there were

only 2 types of cars and computers were totally out of the question (though we

met someone who made one himself!).

When "The Wall" came down western companies came to the east and started to

make big money there. For that reason you'll find the Lynx in every shop in the

eastern part of the city. But we didn't see a Lynx in the west (which has 

ofcourse more shopping districts), even in "Das Kaufhaus Des Westens", the 

biggest mall in Germany, there was no Lynx!! Argh!!!

Games cost DM 80,-, which is about $45,-.



Next month we'll have a full story on how Nintendo failed in Europe, and why 

Sega has been so succesfull. Plus information on PC Engine, Gameboy, and the 

normal computers. 



PORTFOLIO DEPARTMENT:



Portfolio Toolkit v2.0

----------------------



This "Toolkit" contains a number of utilities for the Portfolio. Personally I

didn't find them all very usefull, but there certainly is something for 

everybody.

The utility that comes in most handy is the new DIR command, to make the

directory more easy to read. It's a real good replacement for the old DIR 

command, as this wasn't very hot to say the least.



There's also PORTBOOT. This command needs no parameters. It just pops a reboot

menu which let's you do a warm reset, cold reset or no reset at all. This can 

come in very handy.



A nice little utility is PORTTONE, a tone generator. You can even program the 

notes into a file and then replay it later! WARNING: Sound drains the batteries. 

The other utilities can be nice if you have any use fore them. Just check the 

package out, it's freeware. You might have to search a little while before you

find it, and the only thing we can say is that the package is made by

Centennial Software Systems. If you really can't get it anywhere just send us a

diskette envelope with enough stamps included for the postage back and your

address to:

         

         Yiri Kohl

         Liendenhof 113

         1108 HE Amsterdam Z.O.

         The Netherlands



PORTRIS

-------

This is a nice little Tetris for the Portfolio. The Portfolio is held vertical

(Hey! It allmost seems like a Lynx!)and the falling blocks are controlled by

the keyboard. This is not the most sophisticated Tetris version, but if you

are a true addict you'll probably like it.

Again if you can't find it anywhere, you can allways order from Yiri Kohl.



PBASIC 3.0

----------

This basic for our alltime favourite palmtop was also programmed by our

good ol' BJ Gleason (This guy must be programming all day! I like him!).

It works with the build-in editor to save memory, and supports all mayor basic

commands. Version 3.0 has full string handling, except for the Inkey$ command.

PBasic is more or less QuickBasic compatible, which makes it possible to 

program while on the run! Yeah! There are also a lot of Portfolio-only commands.

you can easily draw an error window, or check the revision number, get the 

current cursor position, switch between display modes ect...ect...



Conclusion: I think that every self respecting Portfolio owning basic programmer

should have this tool in his Portfolio. It takes around 30K, so that isn't much

either.



If you want to download PBasic 3.0 you must have PKUnzip or something like that.

You can find the PBas1.zip on CIS and GEnie, but I think it is already spread

all over the world.



~~~~~~~~ADVERT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you need graphics for your own games, and you can't draw? Well fret no more!

write to:  Lethal Graphics

           Rijnstraat 126'''

           Amsterdam

           The Netherlands



                  LETHAL GRAPHICS FOR ALL YOUR ARTWORK !!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   

If you want to give us comments/criticisms about our newsletter and you can't

write to our Use-net address, you can send them to:

           Tjerk Heijmens Visser

           Jacob van Lennepkade w.s. "Tjerk" t.o. 36

           1054 ZX Amsterdam

           The Netherlands 

           

LETTERS!!

---------



James Hague:

>For example, you gave RoboSquash a 5 but the note next to the number says it's

>"pathetic." Please don't write weenie reviews by always trying to come up

>with something positive.

And:

>If something really stinks, please say so.

Reaction: A game can be pathetic but it can be saved by it's music or graphics.

Maybe you're happy with the Gauntlet III review.

>Why a newsletter about both the Lynx and Portfolio? They have ABSOLUTELY 

>nothing in common except that they are portable and produced by Atari. SO WHAT!

>One is a "real" computer and one is a game machine; there is no overlap 

>between the two user bases.

Reaction: You're right but it can be interesting to read something about the

Portfolio even if you don't have one. BTW have you seen PTetris??



Corey Liu:

>Nice job guy's! The more I hear about the Lynx, the harder it is to resist

>the temptation to get one!

Reaction:Just what we need, more Lynx fanatics!!!



Na Choon Piaw:

>Looks interesting, but the tips section doesn't seem to cover anything 

>not covered already in rec.games.video

Reaction: You're right but we live in Holland(do you know where that is?)

and all the news(like magazines and new games)arrives later here. 



Thanks to everybody who replied to us about the newsletter, we are sorry we 

can't answer each of you personally or react to your comments in the newsletter

because we had lots of reactions even from Cyber Labs!!).



Special thanks to: Andre "ALU" Luyer

                   And everybody who have spread our newsletter on the various 

                   BBS'

          

Here follows a questionaire because we would like to know how our readers like 

the newsletter.



1) Which systems do you own?

                  PC

                  Atari ST/TT

                  Amiga 500/2000/3000

                  Portfolio

                  Lynx

                  Game Boy

                  Game Gear

                  Famicom

 

2) Do you find PA: boring 

                   mmm

                   nice

                   megagreat

 

3) Do you wish PA to appear: weekly

                             once in every 2 weeks   

                             monthly



4) Do you want PA to be: longer 

                         shorter

                         as it is



5)What do you think of PA's reviews?

                  I wipe my but with them, they stink

                  too dated

                  not enough info

                  good

                  mega great



a15@nikhefh.nikhef.nl

Yiri Kohl and Tjerk Heijmens Visser

c/o Peter Heijmens Visser

National Institute for Nuclear Physics

and High Energy Physics ( NIKHEF-H )

Computer Department

Postbox 41882

1009 DB Amsterdam - Netherlands.

.





