& LIGHT-YEARS! - TRS-80 Color Computer Archive

More documents

Recommendations

Info

stegosaurs, brontosaurs, and tyrannosaur rexes major moni tor stars. A new entry in the elec tronic dinosaur category is an entertaining and educational program called Return ofthe Dinosaurs (American Educa tional Computer. 7506 North Broadway Extension, Suite 505. Oklahoma City, Oklaho ma 73116; 800-222-2811: $39.95). Your friend, Professor T. Rex, has invented a time transporter, but the machine has malfunctioned. To save your hometown, you must identify and collect the dino saur that's slipped through a crack in time. In a process that's reminiscent of the Car men Sandiego series, you track down clues by going from place to place and by talking with the townspeople who have seen the beast. You move through four separate screens, combing Main Street, the Mu seum Park, the Museum itself, and the nearby countryside as you hunt for your next infor mant. With $60 in your pock et, you head out to converse with Sergeant Prime Evil in the police station: talk to Di nah, the rural mail carrier; and even gab with Auntie Sedcnt. The clock is licking, though, and you've got to find the di nosaur and zip it back in time by the end of the week. You can walk from place to place or. to save time, spend money and take a taxi or bus. Press Control-N to call up your notebook; then enter the clues you've uncovered. How large is the dinosaur? What does it eat? Does it walk on four legs or two? When you've gathered a few clues, you can use the Dinofile, a database of 70 dinosaurs, to determine the dinosaur's exact name, the period in which it belongs (so you can return it), and where it lived. The Dino file is the heart of the package, for it's there that children learn how to access a computerized database and extract infor mation from it. Return ofthe Dinosaurs offers passable graphics and meager sound so that it can run on the lowest-cornmondenominator Apple II sys tem—a 128K lie or He (and an Apple IlGS in He mode). Sound and graphics are good 56 COMPUTE COMPUTE!.. specific enough to hold a kid's interest, though. One plus is that the package contains both 5Vi-inch and 3'/2-inch disks. Using dinosaurs as its bait. Return ofthe Dinosaurs makes kids think through a problem; by showing children how to use a database, the pro gram helps them find the facts to solve that problem. Return ofthe Dinosaurs doesn't have a computer publishing jugger naut's advertising budget be hind it, but it deserves a look by teachers and parents. Up and Down Although Apple II sales during the 1988 Christmas season— typically the time of year when Apple pushes computers hard est at consumers—were off nearly 50 percent from 1987. software sales last winter were up significantly. Figures released by the Software Publishers Associa tion, a collection of 440 lead ing software publishers, show that Apple II software sales were up nearly 20 percent dur ing the last three months of 1988 when compared to the same period in 1987. Leading the increase were sales in the desktop publishing category, up almost 130 percent. Print It!, from Timeworks: Spring board Publisher, from Spring board Publishing; and geo- Publish, from Berkeley Softworks, are the front runners in the category. Not far behind was the in tegrated software category, which increased by 102 per cent. The release of Claris's AppleWorks GSduring the quarter undoubtedly played a major role in the sales jump, since the category only grew by 5 percent for all of 1988. AppleWorks GS's release may also have affected word pro cessor sales, which dropped by 9 percent—AppleWorks GS's word processing module is ar guably its strongest feature. Educational software went up 17 percent, while game programs crept up only 4 percent. The big losers were graphics packages; that catego ry dove 25 percent. For all of 1988. however. Apple II software sales were flat, crawling up only 4 percent (in fact, when inflation is taken into account, Apple II software sales probably declined slight ly). Yet Apple II owners can lake comfort in the fact that ihings are worse for someone else: Commodore 64 software sales grew by only 0.8 percent during the year. Micro Fun Home computer users are al ways on the lookout for good software at bargain prices. When you're spending your own money on Apple II soft ware, you want the most for your dollar. One source of inexpensive but still worthwhile education al software is Scholastic Soft ware, the publisher of a unique series of disks called Microzine and Microzine Jr. Long a sta ple in many classrooms, Microzine and Microzine Jr. make the transition to the home with ease. If you have kids and an Apple II computer in your house, check these out. Microzine is aimed at kids ages 9 and up. while the newer Microzine Jr. 's audience is children ages 6 to 9. Each issue of Microzine and Microzine Jr. includes four programs, either on two 5'/i-inch disks or on one 3'/;-inch disk. A booklet offers instructions and tips as well as program-related activi ties teachers and parents can do with their kids. One recent issue of Micro zine. for instance, included a certificate creator, a delightful (and fast-paced) math game based on percentages, a visualdiscrimination program much like those what's-wrong-withthis-picture pages in children's magazines, and a graphics ad venture story in the Twistaplot scries. A sample Microzine Jr. issue offered a mask maker, a Twistaplot adventure where kids take on the identity of various African animals, a ro bot simulation that mimics the game twenty questions, and a graphics screen where children locate inappropriate objects. Both Microzine and Microzine Jr. use a menu sys tem to select programs and the issue's other features, which range from Letters to the Edi tor to disk-formatting selec tions. The menu, while help ful, isn't the slickest around. For instance, you have to use the arrow keys to move the pointer, even if you have a mouse. The proof is in the pro grams, though, and, on that count. Microzine and Micro zine Jr. are definitely a par ent's good buy. Home versions of Micro zine and Microzine Jr. run $32.95 an issue (five issues are produced in a school year). To find out the current price of a year's subscription, contact Scholastic at 2931 East McCarty, P.O. Box 7502. Jef ferson City, Missouri 65102; (800)541-5513. — Gregg Keizer Who would have thought that Commodore Business Ma chines would ever become the darling of Wall Street? Well, that's what's happening, as an alysis scramble to explain the company's recent financial success. Earnings for 1988 were up 74 percent over 1987. sending the price of Commo dore stock to a four-year high that even beat Apple's current stock price. Sales of Amigas and Amiga peripherals ac counted for about 40 percent of the profits, and Commo dore's PC-compatible line brought in about 20 percent of the bacon. The rest was mainly from the Commodore 64 and 128. which, despite their aging technology, show no sign of imminent demise because of
....??"?H?_.196B Retail Outlet: Penn Station, Main Concourse L /-V!/o\S>iUftAnL (718)692-0071 (Beneath Madison Square Garden) NYC, NY 10001 Store Hours: MonJhurs8:30-8/Fri8:30-6/Sat-Closed,'Sun 9:30-7 or w Montgomery FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE FOR ORDERS & INFORMATION CALL TOLL FREE "Tro^y", MasfsSk?ar1 1-800-759-6565 I rifflfe ^cm^u.n^r Q!0er fours: Monday-Friday, 9:00am-7:00pm / Saturday-Closed / Sunday 9:30am-6pm NO SURCHARGE FOR CREDIT CARD ORDERS WE INVITE CORPORATE & EDUCATIONAL CUSTOMERS CORPORATE LEASING AVAILABLE'DISCOONTS TS FOR QUANTITY ORDEF AMiGA^ commodore Fi AMIGA 500 Ami«500w/512K SCJOQ Built-in 3-51 Disk &nb %*fcW AMIGA 500 RGB COLOR PACKAGE I Amiga 500w512K- Built-in ffSsil h.B'DiskDrive-Mouse.RGB j -Ij Color Monitor « Free Soft- s*&-2$ I ware /^v-""*^ $729 ^^; I AMIGA 500 Wlth10$4S $799 AMIGA 500 W/10B4S & 1010 3.5" Drive $979 AMIGA 2500.....$3199 [AMIGA 1010 DISK DRIVE...?189.95 IA-1680 MODEM. $99.95 ALL OTHER AMIGA PERIPHERALS IN STOCK COMPUTER PACKAGES COMPLETE PACKAGE COMMODORE C-64/C COMPUTER COMMODORE 1541-C DISK DRIVE COMMODORE COLOR PRINTER 12" MONITOR GEOS SOFTWARE PROGRAM *349 COLOR PACKAGE • COMMODORE C-64/C COMPUTER •COMMODORE 1541/C DISK DRIVE •COMMODORE COLOR PRINTER •COLOR MONITOR •GEOS SOFTWARE PROGRAM $459 O128ED AMIGA 2000 I computer packages ■ A-2000 Compiler w/Ksyboatd ■ 1MBFj
Page 1 and 2:
COft TE! The Leading Magazine of Ho
Page 3 and 4:
BFTgmas tiSg& :-■■■-■- ?m ^
Page 5 and 6:
COLUMNS Editorial License Science f
Page 7 and 8: Fabulous Ad Lib synthe sized sound
Page 9 and 10: Mean Mister Mustard vs. Macintosh T
Page 11 and 12: 1 5 sure steps to a fast start as a
Page 13 and 14: SUMMER, IT WON'T BE THE WEATHER THA
Page 15 and 16: HOT NEW SELECTIONS! OFFICIAL I BOOK
Page 17 and 18: Apple vs. Amiga Recently, while loo
Page 19: GREAT NEWS FOR IBM, TANDY, & PC COM
Page 22 and 23: •m- Hundreds of science programs
Page 24 and 25: SCIENCE! to remember, however, that
Page 26 and 27: SCIENCE! many inches of snow fall d
Page 28 and 29: FROM PRICE TO PERFORMANCE, THERE'S
Page 30 and 31: 28 COMPUTE!
Page 32 and 33: Games Aren't Books But are these ga
Page 34 and 35: etween the desire to put a lot of i
Page 36 and 37: Balance of Power: 1990 Edition This
Page 38 and 39: Heidi Aycock, Steven Anzovin, Gregg
Page 40 and 41: upgrade options, depending on your
Page 42 and 43: Amiga The recent explosive growth i
Page 44 and 45: Battlefront Strategic Studies Group
Page 46 and 47: MAGNAVOX CM8762 • 17% Larger Scre
Page 48 and 49: Lyco Computer Marketing & Consultan
Page 50 and 51: The Oregon Trail MECC Apple II, IBM
Page 52 and 53: COMPUTER DIRECT Since 1979 WE WON'T
Page 54 and 55: PC's Newest Norton; Latest 128 Deli
Page 56 and 57: arcade game, Powerplay com bines so
Page 60 and 61: their immense software base. The co
Page 62 and 63: with its parent, DAtabase; you'll p
Page 64 and 65: m reviews Tool DOS, Tackle Toons, L
Page 66 and 67: documents over to a full-featured w
Page 68 and 69: REVIEWS pers before the music stops
Page 70 and 71: H REVIEWS dents spend requesting ca
Page 72 and 73: m reviews hyped-up fanfare that ope
Page 74 and 75: P REVIEWS weasel. They giggle uncon
Page 76 and 77: n reviews As a parent or other adul
Page 78 and 79: n reviews mapped formats. You can u
Page 80 and 81: n reviews Right Side (3) Rear (2) L
Page 82 and 83: the Hercules graphics card. Display
Page 84 and 85: Players also have the opportunity t
Page 86 and 87: wempvductsi I available to encourag
Page 88 and 89: Cocaine can make you blind. Cocaine
Page 90 and 91: Turn On Your Computer and Throw Ope
Page 92 and 93: BUSINESS REPLY MAIL F1RSTCLASSMAIL
Page 94 and 95: COMPUTE! Reader Service P.O. Box 21
Page 96: Such Adventure Such Danger Such Won
show all

& LIGHT-YEARS! - TRS-80 Color Computer Archive

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?