More Assorted Lynx stuff
Robert A. Jung
Lynx games in action. Didn't get that, unfortunately, but I managed to snag
some Lynx/Jaguar news that might be of interest to various people here...
Personal high points:
* Getting in for free. Yeah, it's only $6, but what the hey.
* 4-player WARBIRDS, 4-player and 5-player SLIME WORLD. Now THIS is one big
reason I love the Lynx. (Howard, you sneaky little so-and-so...)
>Ahem<
LYNX KIOSKS. Anyone remember the Lynx kiosks from two years ago? Well,
they're baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack, and this time redesigned for the Lynx II units.
The one I saw was also slightly modified for Atari's current "Grey Matters"
campaign, with a list of current and upcoming Lynx games and assorted bits
of advertising propaganda. There's an attempt by Atari to get them into more
stores. Apparently some of the electronic gaming stores use the kiosks, but
big chains like Toys 'R Us are hesitant due to the risk of shoplifting.
JAGUAR. Official word from Atari mouthpiece Bob Brodie is that it's slated
for a "sometime in 1993" release. Nothing else, including how many games it
will be released with. The corporate line is that it's expected to leapfrog
the current consoles on the market today. Dunno how valid that statement
would be if Nintendo unveils a 32-bit NES system, tho.
BATMAN RETURNS SHORTAGE. Atari acknowledges that some people have still not
received their free copies of BATMAN RETURNS yet. The problem appears to be
because (a) Atari didn't anticipate such a huge demand for the game (sales
and mail-in coupons), and (b) Atari's management shuffling of Lynx operations
from Chicago, IL to Sunnyvale, CA. Atari intends to make good on all of the
BATMAN coupons ASAP, however.
NEW GAMES AND ADVERTISING. Not much word here, except that the personal
speculation of Mr. Brodie is that there will be more Lynx coverage in the
gaming magazines in the months to come. He repeated Atari's claim to try for
a total of 70 Lynx cards available by the end of the year (48 games out now;
to make 70, they'd need 22 games to be released, at the rate of 2 games per
week. Not too likely, IMO). The influx of new games, so goes the theory, will
result in more coverage in the gaming press. Uh-huh.
MORE DIVERSE GAME SELECTIONS. Atari's most recent focus on the Lynx library
has been more towards arcade game conversions, and less towards anything
else. However, this seems to be changing, however -- upper management is now
beginning to be convinced that Lynx players will buy games of all types,
regardless of whether they're conversions of arcade titles or not. Which
leads into...
MIDIMAZE ON THE LYNX. Yes, Atari does know that people want to see a version
of Midimaze/Faceball 2000 on the Lynx machines. Some people in Atari Corp.
have been actively pushing for it, but with little result so far. With Atari
abandoning their exclusively-arcade-game-conversions focus, though, there is
a good chance that this might change.
Not quite as good as a hands-on bout with PINBALL JAM or BASEBALL HEROES,
if you ask me, but it's better than no news at all...
--R.J.
B-)
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Send whatevers to rj...@usc.edu | If it has pixels, I'm for it.
--------------------------------------+------------------------------Lynx up!
"You weren't chosen because you are the best pilot in the Air Force. You were
chosen because you are the class clown and frankly, you're expendable."
Howard Chu
>Well, hiked down to the Glendale Atari Faire today, hoping to see some new
>Lynx games in action. Didn't get that, unfortunately, but I managed to snag
>some Lynx/Jaguar news that might be of interest to various people here...
>
>Personal high points:
> * Getting in for free. Yeah, it's only $6, but what the hey.
> * 4-player WARBIRDS, 4-player and 5-player SLIME WORLD. Now THIS is one big
> reason I love the Lynx. (Howard, you sneaky little so-and-so...)
Heh, just call me Mr. Slime. (Nothing like a few well-placed mega-bombs
to start an adventure, I must say.... }-) Besides, at least you didn't have
to suffer the terrible fate of landing on mud while being chased by another
slime-shooter...
>MIDIMAZE ON THE LYNX. Yes, Atari does know that people want to see a version
>of Midimaze/Faceball 2000 on the Lynx machines. Some people in Atari Corp.
>have been actively pushing for it, but with little result so far. With Atari
>abandoning their exclusively-arcade-game-conversions focus, though, there is
>a good chance that this might change.
Wouldn't it be cool if such a game were made with a ComLynx to MIDI adapter,
making it compatible with the ST version... Actually, I think what MIDIMAZE
needs now is to support both MIDI and RS232. Then you could play on clusters
of STs in geographically remote locations. (E.g., cluster of 4 STs linked by
MIDI, plus modem on one connecting to another cluster of STs somewhere else...
Doesn't seem like much chance to get 16 players into one game any other way.)
Of course, if I ever get on the ball and get this KA9Q socket library going,
all of that could be done transparently thru TCP/IP...
--
-- Howard Chu @ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
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::To the owner of the blue Mazda, license 742-XLT, your headlights are on...::
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