ST New Products

By Gregg Pearlman, Antic Assitant Editor

PRODIGY

Prodigy, which Antic saw demonstrated at the West Coast Computer Faire in April, 1988, may well revolutionize online information gathering – and especially online shopping. Trintex, along with IBM and Sears, Roebuck and Co., offers a truly interactive service featuring colorful graphics screens and easy menus 150; all for $9.95. No, not $9.95 per hour, $9.95 per month. How? That's where the "shopping" part comes in. Across the bottom of each screen is a text "commercial" from which you can buy merchandise directly.

The main drawback to Prodigy is that it's not available for the ST – yet. Antic has run Prodigy's IBM demonstration software on an ST using PC-Ditto, but it's mighty slow.

Prodigy might develop an ST-specific version of the software needed to access the service. With its graphics capabilities, the ST should be a natural for Prodigy. If you agree, you might give Trintex a gentle nudge via a tastefully written letter.

Trintex
445 Hamilton Avenue
White Plains, NY 10601
(914) 993-8800

AUTOGRAPHS, ANYONE?

At Spectrum Holobyte's booth at the West Coast Computer Faire, Dondra's heroine, Terna, the Polythene Pam of the graphics-adventure game set, posed for pictures and signed autographs. At home in futuristic Dondra, she's the last of the Tellasien race. Dondra is full of colorful cartoon-style graphics. As Terna, you'll fight Mutoids and encounter a strangely attractive lioness, but you'll have to keep an eye out for a wildebeest with a grudge.

$39.95
Spectrum Holobyte
2061 Challenger Drive
Alameda, CA 94501
(415)522-0107

SQL

The SQL Database Add-On for LDW BASIC is a relational system for the ST. It extends the instruction set of LDW BASIC by adding commands to store, retrieve and modify information saved in a set of data-bases. No special knowledge of database programming is needed – anyway, the 36-page manual includes a large tutorial.

$30
Regent Software
7131 Owensmouth #45A
Canoga Park, CA 91303
(818) 882-2800

BECKEMEYER PAIR

SDS (Software Development System) lets you develop sophisticated applications that take advantage of the multitasking features of Beckemeyer's MT C-Shell. Written in Mark Williams C, SDS includes several Unix-compatible routines to help in porting Unix applications to MT C-Shell, and the package also provides sample programs. SDS costs $59.95, but registered MT C-Shell owners can get it for $49.95.

MT C-Shell UUCP (Unix to Unix Copy) is a file and electronic mail facility that can talk to any Unix or UUCP-compatible system. Once you've set it up, you can send and receive electronic mail, telexes, news and data files of all kinds. UUCP costs $49.95, but registered MT C-Shell owners can get it for $35.

Beckemeyer Development Tools
478 Santa Clara Avenue
Oakland, CA 94610
(415) 452-1129

PLATOON

Based on the Oscar-winning film, Platoon is a realistic simulation of the war in Vietnam – and here, just as in the movie, there's no winner.

In Platoon, you'll find yourself leading your five cohorts through six increasingly hazardous situations. First you traverse a jungle to blow up a bridge, keeping an eye out for booby traps and snipers. Searching a village for a hidden trap door is the next challenge. Then you must navigate through underground tunnels, shooting the guerrrna fighters on sight.

You'll also find yourself in a bunker night-fight, surrounded by the enemy. Your platoon must find a safe jungle foxhole before a napalm airstrike. Finally, the platoon must use grenades to take out a sergeant who betrayed them.

The factors of your condition include morale, hits (the number of "strikes" you can sustain before you become "retired in action"), ammunition and score.

$44.95
Data East USA, Inc.
470 Needles Drive
San Jose, CA 95112
(408) 286-7074

QUIZMASTER ST

EZuse has ported its popular and inexpensive 8-bit Quiz Master Construction Set over to the Atari ST. The new Quiz Master Construction Set ST combines all of the standalone 8-bit programs into one ST program that allows multiple choice answers, prints a score at the end of the game and has four ways to print the quiz.

$11.50
EZuse Software
2850 Enea Way
Antioch, CA 94509
(415) 754-6026

JUGGLER REDUX

Juggler II partitions the memory of your ST into two, four or eight equal sections, each of which acts as if it were the only one in the computer. Pushing [SHIFT] [ALTERNATE] suspends operations in the active partition before moving to the next one, so you can load and swap programs between partitions – you could even juggle, say, seven GEM programs and one non-GEM program. Owners of the original Juggler can receive free upgrades.

$49.95
MichTron
576 S. Telegraph
Pontiac, MI 48053
(313) 334-5700

CUIDADO! LLAMAS!

Artworx' Spanish Verb Tutor helps both the beginning student and the fluent Spanish speaker handle all Spanish verbs, including all modes, tenses and persons of all regular verbs and some irregular verbs. Each lesson is followed by a practice quiz. Spanish Verb Tutor furnishes the exact forms of over 12,000 verbs – giving you more than a million Spanish words.

$39.95
Artworx Software
1844 Penfield Road
Penfield, NY 14526
(800) 828-6573
(716)385-6120

QUESTRON II

You have the dubious fortune of being in possession of the Evil Book of Magic, which you stole from Mantor the nut in Questron, and which is SO evil that it can't be destroyed in the way you might normally destroy books. Now in Questron II you must go back in time to Landor to ensure that the book is never created. You must use weapons and spells (such as sonic whine and time sap) to defeat the various creatures you'll encounter.

$49.95
Strategic Simulations Inc.
1046 N. Rengstorff Avenue
Mountain View, CA 94043
(415) 964-1353

VROOM VROOM

Zoom from Florida to California in your Mercedes 560 SEC – or one of three other Crazy Cars: a Porsche 911 Turbo, a Lamborghinl Countach 500 S and a Ferrari GTO. Crazy Cars features 72 skill levels and 3-D action as you do your best to beat not only the clock but every other car you see.

$39.95
Titus Software Corp.
20432 Corisco Street
Chatsworth, CA 91311
(818) 709-3692

FOUNDATION'S WASTE

Escape a hostile planet in a stolen spaceship and defeat your captors in Foundation's Waste, Scorpion's new arcade game featuring colorful graphics and the planet's scrolling background.

$39.95
Scorpion
19 Harbor Drive
Lake Hopatcong, NJ 07849
(201) 663-0202

MINI-LEDGER

Rascom's GEM-oriented Mini-Ledger for small businesses features an integrated expense sheet, income sheet and final profit/loss summary sheet to document your activities. Control the data with search, sort and update functions. Other features include built-in help screens, an integrated spreadsheet and report capability.

$30
Rascom
22128 Newkirk Ave.
Carson, CA 90745

ST VIDEOS

Video SIG has produced three instructional video tapes for the Atari ST: "Dr. T's Music Sofiware," "MidiSoft Studio" and "The Amazing Atari ST." The first two demonstrate and explain those ST music packages, and the third gives an overview of the ST and explains various software packages that can be used with it.

$14.99 ($39 for all three)
Video Software Interest Group
1030 E. Duane Avenue, Suite C
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(408) 730-9291

M

M is an interactive composing and performing system that lets you specify basic musical material as notes and chords, then determine ways to transform that basic material and perform the music via screen controls and a MIDI keyboard. You can also "conduct" with the mouse in a multidirectional grid.

$200
Intelligent Computer Music Systems
P0. Box 8748
Albany, NY 12208
(518) 434-4110