Welcome to the ____ / ___) *StarShip* 5-MINUTE Weekend Newscast / (_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / ___) / (__ very weekend the *StarShip* on GEnie presents a new 5-MINUTE Weekend (_____) Newscast in Communications Room 10 in the Real-Time Conference Area. Featuring late-breaking stories from the Amiga community, these dynamic, scrolling newscasts cycle every 5 minutes, so you can stop by between 6PM and 3AM Eastern time on Friday, or 3PM and 3AM Eastern time on Saturday or Sunday and learn everything that happened during the preceding week. Industry news, product announcements, upgrades, rumors, special *StarShip* activities, trade show reports, GEnie usage tips, humor, recommended files to download... ... the works -- and it ONLY takes 5 minutes! Each 5-MINUTE Weekend Newscast is available on *StarShip* Menu #10 during the following week. Periodically, newscasts are combined and made available for downloading from the *StarShip Library. ____________________________________________________________ // \ || -*- IMPORTANT! -*- | || | || As long as individual stories are kept intact and credit | || is given, this material may be reproduced in ALL or PART | || on a privately owned BBS or in a user group newsletter. | || See wording for proper credit at the end of this Newscast. | \\____________________________________________________________/ || | || | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks to Denny Atkin, Editor, COMPUTE's Amiga Resource, for his generous input. Here we go!... DateLine: December 11, 1992 This 5-MINUTE Newscast presents the following stories: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. AmigaWorld's Top 10 Freely Distributable Picks 2. Gail Wellington Joins OptImage Interactive Services as VP 3. Impulse Releases Visionaire! 4. Next Week's *StarShip* Amiga Conferences 5. The *StarShip* Arrives in Federation II Space 6. Directory OPUS 4.0: More Versatile, Infinitely Customizable 7. TURBOprint Dot Matrix Printer Enhancement Software 8. Conquer Dangers Lurking Beyond the Black Hole: INOVAgame's Vektor Storm -* BULLETIN! Important Letter from Commodore to All Amiga Users! *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 1st of 8 Stories AmigaWorld's Top 10 Freely Distributable Picks _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ December 10, 1992 - *StarShip* News Network / - \ / ___ \ (_/ \_)migaWorld's January 1993 issue features a listing of the Top 10 picks of freely distributable software for the Amiga. The *StarShip* would like to thank AmigaWorld for the special award and recognition of Aladdin in this list of some of the best software in all of Amiga-dom. Aladdin for the Amiga is supported in its own GEnie*Basic bulletin board at page 1055, and can be downloaded from the library at the AmiAladdin RoundTable at that same page. Aladdin for the Amiga automates routine GEnie functions like retrieving and sending replies to GE Mail and bulletin board messages, and checking for new downloads for you. Once you have selected the files you want to download and made your replies -- all offline -- Aladdin will log back onto GEnie and automatically do whatever you have asked it to do. You may configure it for as many or as few RoundTables as you like. Congratulations to Tim Purves for this fine honor, and thank you AmigaWorld! For your convenience, here are the *StarShip* Library file numbers for the rest of the featured picks of the year from AmigaWorld. LhA version 1.38 [or higher] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No. File Name Uploader Bytes ----- ------------------------ ------------ ------- 16893 LHA138.READ.LHA S.LUTNES 1280 16894 LHA_E138.RUN S.LUTNES 109184 17024 LHAXV142.LHA PETER-CPM 5120 Desc: LHARC/LHA extractor (2.x Only) Rend24 Version 1.04f ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 14421 REND24.LZH M.HALL33 58496 Desc: Converts 24-bit IFF to HAM or IFF View 3.2 ~~~~~~~~ 17624 VIEW34.LHA BOOMER.T 48896 Desc: Latest AGA compat. Anim/Pic Viewer 17213 VIEW_V3.2.LZH BLUE-KNIGHT 51968 Desc: View animation Viewer V 3.2 EdPlayer 2.1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ 17600 EDPLAYER21.LHA A.CCOOK 225664 Desc: V 2.1 of Ed Mackey's MOD player! Parnet ~~~~~~ Pro/Am File: [MOVE 670;3] 810 PARNET24.LZH BAEDER 28980 Desc: Parallel connection of two Amigas Companion file from the *StarShip*: 12825 PNETKEYS.LZH TOMW 5120 Desc: Use mouse & keyboard through Parnet GadToolsBox ~~~~~~~~~~~ Pro/Am File: [MOVE 670;3] 1028 GADTOOLSBOX.LHA D.WAER 318848 Desc: Creates source for gadgets.2.0 Only SysInfo ~~~~~~~ 16531 SYSINFO273.LHA J.HANNA5 40448 Desc: Version 2.73 of SysInfo 17043 SYSINFO301.LHA D.VAILLANCOU 39168 Desc: System Info 3.01 -- new features -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 2nd of 8 Stories Gail Wellington Joins OptImage Interactive Services as Vice President _____ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / _ ) Des Moines, IA -- December 9, 1992 / / ) / / (_/ / (_____/ptImage Interactive Services Co. L.P. Wednesday announced that Gail Wellington has joined the company as vice president of marketing and sales. Wellington will be responsible for expanding the successful sales and marketing programs for OptImage's line of Compact Disc Interactive (CD-I) authoring tools. "We are extremely pleased to have someone of Gail Wellington's caliber join us at OptImage," said Tim Wahlers, president of OptImage. "Gail's experience with multimedia product introductions and developer programs will compliment OptImage's commitment to the CD-I developer community." Wellington comes to OptImage from Commodore International Services Company where she served as director of special projects and was responsible for managing the team which brought CDTV to market. During Wellington's twelve years at Commodore she was responsible for the development of the AmigaVision authoring system, the Commodore Applications and Technical Support (C.A.T.S.) program, and the launch of the Amiga computer in Europe and North America. Wellington holds a B.S. degree in Industrial Management and Mechanical Engineering from Northeastern University. "I'm looking forward to bringing OptImage's powerful and creative multi-platform CD-I development tools to market," said Wellington. "The advent of full screen/full motion video makes this an especially exciting opportunity that will ensure OptImage's position as the world leader in CD-I development solutions." OptImage Interactive Services Co. L.P. was formed by N.V. Philips, of the Netherlands, and Microware Systems Corp., of Des Moines, to provide leading edge authoring solutions for developers of CD-I software titles for the consumer and professional markets. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 3rd of 8 Stories Impulse Releases Visionaire! _ _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ( \ / ) December 1992 -- Minneapolis, MN \ \_/ / \ / \_/isionaire is available NOW from Impulse, Inc. Some of its features include: - Morphing, Warping and Dissolving; - Range of effects is limited only by your imagination; - Morphing and Warping using animations as input (to create warpings and morphings of moving subjects, like in the "Black or White" clip); - Color and Shape Mixers give total visual control over the progress of the warping or morphing, limited only by your imagination; - Exclusive Local Color and Shape Mixers allow the warping or morphing of different parts of the images at different times (a *must* for professional results!); - Sophisticated 2 level antialiasing, the best for dramatic deformations; - The best and most complete alpha channel support, for transparencies and background compositing; - Support for 24-bit displays and single-frame video tape recorders. - Unlimited Undo/Redo capability; - Full support for Workbench 2.0 and beyond, including ARexx, public screens and special display modes; - Intuitive, easy-to-use user interface, including an Expert Mode; - Fully configurable keyboard shortcuts and macros; - Completely customizable with many preferences-like requesters. - Includes predefined ARexx macros that allows you to create special effects without knowing anything about ARexx. - Includes ready-to-use effects such as Sphere, Wave and Twirl, and you can easily create your own effects, too. The effects are naturally integrated with the rest of the package, and can be combined with all the other features. - Comprehensive 180 page user and reference manual, including many tutorials and examples, and also a reference for all menus, requesters and ARexx commands. For more information contact Impulse, Inc., 8416 Xerxes Ave. North, Minneapolis, MN 55444, telephone 612/425-0557, FAX 612/425-0701. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 4th of 8 Stories __________________________________________________________________________ | | | *StarShip* Amiga Conferences | | _ | | _____ / ) | | / __ )____ ____ ____ _ _ / /_ ____ ___ | | / / / // __ )/ ___) / __ )/ \/ \ / )/ __ )/ __) | | / /_/ // __ // (__ / ___// \ / /) // ___// / | | (_____/(____)(_____)(____)(_/\__/\_)____/(____)(_/ | | | | | | Except where noted, Conferences begin at 10PM Eastern Time in the Amiga | | Conference Rooms at Page 555. Amiga Programmers meet Wednesday nights | | at Pro/Am on Page 670. Amiga/GEnie HelpDesk EVERY Night at 9PM Eastern. | |__________________________________________________________________________| | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Humpday |Thursday | Friday | Saturday | | Help@9EST| Help@9EST|Help@9EST| Help@9EST|Help@9EST| Help@9EST| Help@9EST| |__________|__________|_________|__________|_________|__________|__________| | 13 | 14 Amiga | 15 | 16 |17 | 18 |19 | |5-MIN News| | | |vv-Video!| New |5-MIN News| | 3PM-3AM | | Amiga | AmiGames | . ' . |*StarShip*| 3PM-3AM | | | DeskTop | Music! | ------ |` * | 5-MINUTE | | |10PM:Syl's|Publishing|Internals|Programing|Babylon 5| Newscast |9:Hardware| | Graphics | Night | & MIDI |at Pro/Am | Night | 6PM-3AM |10: Party!| |__________|__________|_________|__________|_________|__________|__________| DON'T MISS THESE EXCITING DECEMBER *StarShip* EVENTS! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Saturday Dec.12: Visit the *StarShip* (yes! a real ship!) in Orbit in GEnie's multi-player game Federation II. Thursday Dec.17: v-v-Video! Special Guest, Ron Thornton of Warner Bros. Babylon 5 to be televised in Feb. 1993. Learn how special effects were produced using the Amiga! Remember! Holiday rates (non-prime) on GEnie 24 hours a day from Christmas Eve through New Year's Eve -- all DAY December 24th through December 31st! HelpDesk *EVERY* NIGHT @ 9PM Eastern Time! Got a problem? If you have questions about learning to use your Amiga, the *StarShip* or GEnie, we have answers! Stop by Conference Room 4 ANY EVENING from 9 to 10 EST for live, on-the-spot help. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 5th of 8 Stories ____ The *StarShip* Arrives in Federation II Space (_ _) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / / December 10, 1992 - *StarShip* News Network _/ / (____)n late spring of '92, *StarShip* officers realized that the *Starship* would pass near FED Space before the year was out and so they contacted Federation authorities to make arrangements to orbit the planet Agnus during their stay in FED space. A *StarShip* officer by the name of Kimos was ordered to the Federation to finalize plans for the *StarShip*'s arrival. Orders in hand, Kimos arrived in FED SOL space during the middle of June and proceeded to move on his mission directives. While working his way through the ranks he also labored on details of the pending orbit of the planet Agnus. Since 1985 the *Starship* had maintained an alliance with this planet and any visit to Federation space that did not include accepting Agnus hospitality was unthinkable. Well, late summer arrived and along with it the unthinkable. Politics and technology being what they are, a alliance had been forged with the planet Alice and it was obvious that the *Starship*'s time with Agnus was coming to a close. Plans to bring *Starship* to Federation space were put on hold while operation orders to orbit Alice were hastily drawn up. Ambassador Lorraine was sent to Alice to open diplomatic relations. Recalled to *StarShip* in mid September, Kimos spent most of the next two months assisting in preparing her for the FED visit. During the first part of December on a routine visit back to the Federation, Kimos was caught in a time travel experiment and found himself trapped in the past on Horsell. With the *StarShip*'s ETA but one week away, he was able to make it back to the present and just in time to receive an emergency transmission recalling him to *StarShip*. He moved quickly to enter the Ooma, a Federation ship he owned. As Kimos and the Ooma touched down on the *Starship* Landing Deck he received a tightbeam communication from the *StarShip*'s Captain asking him to join her on Deck Four in Ambassador Lorraine's quarters. Ambassador Lorraine had performed well in forging the new relationship with Alice but from all reports Kimos had received, was bearing the brunt of the bashing from angry Agnusites. As he exited the Main Turbo Lift on the Quarters Deck and walked north to meet with his Captain, he noticed an unusually large contingent of Marine guards in the area. A few more steps and the smell of an electrical fire began to fill the air around him. At this moment Kimos began to realize that meeting the Captain on Deck Four instead of her office on the Bridge Deck was serious business. Kimos nodded his way past the guards and entered the Ambassador's quarters. It was obvious that there had been a large explosion and after a quick survey of the room his eyes froze on the Captain conferring with a number of officials in the corner. Before long she saw him, made excuses all around and moved toward his location. "Lorraine's been killed. It would seem the break with Agnus is proving to be rather painful for some." As the Captain continued to talk Kimos could see how really disturbed she was over the situation. "More problems... the Gold Disk the Ambassador was to take to Agnus is missing. We're also looking for Lorraine's Security Pass... Seems that too has fallen through the cracks. Finally, the explosion has done some serious damage the main power pulse conduits and, well, you're not going to believe the areas we've got to place off-limits while we're in FED Space." About this time the Captain realized that Kimos had been traveling for sometime without benefit of a sonic wrap. She put her hand on his arm and suggested that after he freshened up, she would like to meet the new Squire of *StarShip* at Huggo's for dinner. This was the first Kimos had heard about his pending appointment to Squire. He had always figured the Captain would take this position. Later as Kimos walked the circular corridors of Level Three on his way to rendezvous with the Captain at Huggo's, he began to realize that in addition to setting up the economy on *StarShip* and Alice, he would need to make sure that the Golden Disk was found. During dinner that evening, the Captain was in complete agreement about the need to locate the Golden Disk as quickly as possible. To make sure this happened she mentioned that a gift of something in addition to Groats should be offered as a reward. Kimos suggested time. The Captain smiled and agreed that a Gift of Time would make a lovely enticement. As the Captain continued to eat, Kimos sat back in his chair. It felt good to be on the *Starship* again. To the west another eatery was feeding *Starship* crew members and guests while south of that location workmen were putting the final touches on the *Starship* Exchange. The ETA for Alice orbit was December 12th. There was much to do before *Starship* would enter Federation Space. ====================================== Starting December 12, 1992, the *StarShip* will be in FEDERATIONII Space on GEnie. FederationII is one of GEnie's multi-player games and can be found on Page 220, (M 220). It's a space trading game with plenty of space trucking and socializing. Not only can you make your way through the ranks to someday own your own planet, you can design it and watch other players move about on it. If you like to play smart, it is suggested that you download the FED docs and read them prior to entering the game. Although this is not necessary it will make things a lot more enjoyable and you can read these off-line at your leisure. There are picture/map files in this library for various computer systems. One such file for Amiga owners is entitled FEDSSHIP.LHA (#17745). It contains a hi-res gray-scale 3D picture (object originally created in LightWave) of the immediate areas you will come in contact with during your first *StarShip* visit in FED. The same picture/map is available to IBM owners as FEDSSHIP.GIF (#17747). Likewise Mac owners can download FEDSSHIP.TIFF (#17748) [LZW compression used]. Presented as a type of cutaway map with semi-transparent walls, you will have a head up on others in moving about to find the missing items and claiming the Gift of Time that is to be awarded. For those of you with Amigas and 24 bit picture showing capabilities who would like to see the full *StarShip* in color, download FEDSSHIPC.JPEG (#17746). The 256 color IBM version is FEDSSHIPC.GIF(#17654). Gift of Time??? Did someone say Gift of Time? Being the first to find the Golden Disk that Ambassador Lorraine was to deliver to Agnus will land you a $50.00 Gift of Time on GEnie. During the arrival party to be held on the 12th of December, Squire Kimos of *StarShip* will be on hand to help any new players. Be sure to stop by, even if just to say hello. New players always start their FED adventure on Earth in the *StarShip* Cantina. A nice friendly watering hole that should make any Amigatroid feel right at home. When you arrive there a room description will be given along with the names of any other players who might be there. To talk to someone in the same room merely place an apostrophe, (') before your message. If you are alone in the Cantina you can see who is in FED by typing WHO followed by a carriage return. You have a communicator that allows you to talk to people who are not in the same room. To speak to everyone in FED type: COMM (message). To speak privately with someone type: TELL (name) (message). If you're interested in more of the commands, I suggest you download those online docs. Hope to see you on the *StarShip* (in FED) soon. Squire Kimos -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 6th of 8 Stories Directory OPUS 4.0: More Versatile, Infinitely Customizable ____ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (_ _) December 4, 1992 - World of Commodore, Toronto / / _/ / (____)NOVAtronics announces Directory OPUS 4.0, a major revision of their best-selling Amiga disk and file management utility. Along with A4000 and A1200 compatibility, increased audio/image file support, and many other new features, Directory OPUS 4.0 is now more intuitive, more helpful and more flexible than before. You can even completely re-configure the interface to suit the way you want to use the program. Graphics Compatibility, Improved File Support, Other New Features Directory OPUS 4.0 now supports all Amiga graphics hardware, including the AGA and AA chipsets used in the Amiga 4000 and Amiga 1200. Graphics and Audio support have also been expanded. Now you can use Directory OPUS 4.0 to play Anim and Anim Brush files, or view images saved in all ILBM formats. You can also play sound files stories as Noisetracker, SoundTrackers, ProTracker, and MED w/MIDI, Oktalyzer, 8SVX or Raw Data. Together with expanded ARexx support (now over 100 commands), Directory OPUS now has a convenient Hotkey feature for launching any Amiga application from the keyboard, so long as OPUS is either running or iconified. (Amiga-D, for example, could be set to launch DeluxePaint.) Directory OPUS 4.0 now also lets you print individual frames from full screen and brush animations. Also new: a new Font View facility that lets you print out an entire alphabet of any font you select, including Amiga and Compugraphic Bitmap fonts under Kickstart 2.04 and beyond. Other new features include improved documentation, players for CanDo decks, and a completely revised approach to using system resources. Instead of loading the entire program at once, OPUS now runs individual functions as they are called for. This not only reduces demands on system RAM, it gives users a way to access individual program features directly from the CLI, without ever having to load Directory OPUS. Infinitely Configurable, More Easily Configurable Directory OPUS 4.0 is now very user-configurable, meaning that you can optionally modify the interface to suit your needs or personal preference. You could, for example, configure as many buttons or add as many actual or virtual devices as you'd like, modify the size of each directory window, or minimize the program so that only one, or two or three rows of buttons are visible. Directory OPUS 4.0 now lets you select any screen font for use in any part of the interface. You can also filter the files you see displayed -- such as only file names that match the DOS pattern "#?.doc." Configuring OPUS to meet your needs is a lot easier than you might expect, thanks to an extensive new configuration system that gives instant on-line assistance for whatever you need to do. For instance, if you are in the middle of attaching an AmigaDOS command to an onscreen button, you could instantly call up a list of executable command names. Whatever you're doing in OPUS, help is always close at hand. And (under AmigaDOS 2.0) configuring buttons to run programs also got easier; just drag any program icon over any OPUS button, and release! We Didn't Kill a Good Friend Most important, the new features added to Directory OPUS 4.0 won't put off users of previous versions for day-to-day tasks -- like formatting floppy disks, copying or deleting files, viewing directory lists, viewing image, text and HEX files, or playing sound files. "We didn't kill off an old friend," says Tim Martin, the new president of INOVAtronics. "Many upgrades make changes that kill the usability that made people like the program in the first place. With Directory OPUS 4.0, we solved this problem by making everything optional, and by making it extremely easy for OPUS owners to use any or all of the new features they want. Despite all the changes," Tim says, "OPUS will remain the most useful tool on your Amiga computer." New Price and Upgrade Policy Directory OPUS 4.0 carries a new retail price of $99.95, and will be available after December 4, 1992. Registered owners of Directory OPUS version 3.4 or later can upgrade for $40, plus $5 for shipping and handling. If you own a version of Directory OPUS prior to 3.4, the upgrade is $50, plus $5 shipping and handling. Directory OPUS 4.0 works with any Amiga with one Megabyte of RAM or better, running any version of Kickstart. To learn more, contact INOVAtronics, 8499 Greenville Ave. #209B, Dallas, TX 75231; telephone 214/340-4991, fax 214/340-8514. You can now communication directly with INOVAtronics on the *StarShip* Bulletin Board! Type M555;1 from any numbered GEnie page prompt. At the bulletin board prompt, type SET 28 to reach Category 28. Then type TOPics for a list of ongoing discussions between INOVAtronics representatives and GEnie members. READ whatever topics interest you by number, such as READ 1. The company is also available on GEnie by leaving GE Mail to INOVATRONICS. -*- *StarShip* Amiga *Flash* 7th of 8 Stories INOVAtronics Announces TURBOprint Dot Matrix Printer Enhancement Software ______ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / __ ) December 4, 1992 - World of Commodore, Toronto / / ) / / /__/ / (______/on't blame the printer if your dot matrix output usually includes unaesthetic horizontal banding, jaggies, unintended machine-like dot patterns or colors different from those you saw onscreen. The problem may not be in the hardware but in the quality of your Amiga printer driver software. To help your dot matrix printer live up to its full output potential, INOVAtronics announces TURBOprint 2.0, a new multi-featured Amiga printer driver package for both color and black & white dot matrix printers. TURBOprint lets you output monochrome or color text and graphics to the highest possible resolution of your printer. There is a special half-line mode that minimizes horizontal banding, while two optional levels of smoothing algorithm eliminate the stairstep "jaggies" normally associated with printing Amiga text. For better image output, TURBOprint provides 14 distinct kinds of rotatable print dithering (including halftone, TV-like rasterized, and 2 high resolution Floyd-Steinberg types). For color printing, TURBOprint comes with tools that provide a large degree of direct control over color correction and brightness, thanks to a flexible "gamma-curve" tool. It also does exceptional color seps. Other features built into TURBOprint include the ability to posterize and print wall-size images in any proportion, and up to 64 pages (8 x 8 pages). You can print selected sections of a screen, or save sections as IFF files. You can even print out reversed images of graphics -- such as for printing T-shirts with a transfer ribbon. TURBOprint is easy to learn and use, works with all Amiga software and has drivers for almost all current printers. Resident and reset-proof, TURBOprint can be called up with a single keystroke and lets you interrupt printing as necessary. Written in the more efficient 68k Assembler, TURBOprint's small code size and intelligent algorithms allow fast parallel port transfer rates for printing with minimal delays. Priced at $129.95 and now shipping, TURBOprint is compatible with any Amiga running Workbench 1.3 or 2.0. TURBOprint is published by IrseeSoft of Irsee, Germany. To learn more, contact INOVAtronics, 8499 Greenville Ave. #209B, Dallas, TX 75231; telephone 214/340-4991, fax 214/340-8514. You can now communication directly with INOVATtronics on the *StarShip* Bulletin Board! Type M555;1 from any numbered GEnie page prompt. At the bulletin board prompt, type SET 28 to reach Category 28. Then type TOPics for a list of ongoing discussions between INOVAtronics representatives and GEnie members. READ whatever topics interest you. The company is also available on GEnie by leaving GE Mail to INOVATRONICS. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 8th of 8 Stories Conquer Dangers Lurking Beyond the Black Hole _ _ with INOVAgame's new Vektor Storm ( \ / ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ \ \/ / December 4, 1992 -- World of Commodore, Toronto \ / / / (_/ou can't travel through a Black Hole and survive, according to Stephen Hawking, the Cambride University astrophysicist. But if you could "come out" on the other side, what kind of a universe would you find? That's the premise of Vektor Storm, the first Amiga entertainment software title from the new INOVAgames division at INOVAtronics. Vektor Storm makes you commander of a small space exploration fleet that accidentally falls through a Black Hole. On the other side, reality is turned upside down as you discover an alternate, fragmented universe where truth is false and right is wrong. Even the very laws of physics have changed. Lurking in the infinite darkness, an army of nasty alien life forms waits to destroy you and your fleet. To return to this universe, you and your ships must first meet the challenge set before you by your alien adversaries -- beat them at their own game. Your four ships must fight against an arsenal of intelligent weapons on a series of battlegrids. The rules are simple; the stakes are life and death itself! Vektor Storm is fast-paced action with dizzying perspectives, graphics, animation and impressive stereophonic sound. Priced at $39.95, Vektor Storm is available now and runs on any Amiga computer with at least 512K RAM, running Kickstart version 1.3 or higher, including machines running AmigaDOS 2.0. To learn more, contact INOVAtronics, 8499 Greenville Ave. #209B, Dallas, TX 75231; telephone 214/340-4991, fax 214/340-8514. You can now communicate directly with INOVAtronics on the *StarShip* Bulletin Board! Type M555;1 from any numbered GEnie page prompt. At the bulletin board prompt, type SET 28 to reach Category 28. Then type TOPics for a list of ongoing discussions between INOVAtronics representatives and GEnie members. READ whatever topics interest you by number, such as READ 1. The company is also available on GEnie by leaving GE Mail to INOVATRONICS. -*- *StarShip* News BULLETIN! Important Letter From Commodore to All Amiga Users ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TO: All Amiga Users FROM: Commodore Business Machines, Inc., Marketing Department 1200 Wilson Drive West Chester, PA 19380 Commodore Business Machines, Inc. was recently surprised that the magazine NEW MEDIA 1993 Multimedia Tool Guide (November issue date) omitted covering any information on Amiga product. Perhaps NEW MEDIA is not aware just how many Multimedia users own and respect Amiga product for their diverse uses? And . . . perhaps it would be beneficial for NEW MEDIA to have our users tell them about Amiga and its Multimedia capabilities. For comments to NEW MEDIA, you can write to: David Bunnell, Editor in Chief New Media Magazine 901 Mariner's Island Blvd. Suite 365 Phone: (415) 573-5170 San Mateo, CA 94404 FAX: (415) 573-5131 Over a GIGABYTE of Amiga files in our Library! Catch your limit of Fred FISH Disks from the *StarFish* Library. If you are after a SINGLE PROGRAM on a Fish Disk, SEARCH for it before downloading the disk. Most are available separately! _______________________________________________________________ | | | | | Permission is hereby granted to quote ALL or PART of this | | Newscast on a privately owned BBS or in a user group news- | | letter (*) provided you include the following credit: | | | | Reprinted by Permission from the 5-MINUTE Weekend | | News Network, a *StarShip*(tm) Production on GEnie(R). | | * /\ / | |_________________________________________________ ___/ \___ _| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ \ oo / ~ . \ \__/ / _ (*) We would like to know about it / \ if you do, and you can tell us \ /\ / *FREE* by leaving Feedback to / \/ \/ \ the SysOps on GEnie Page 555. *StarFish* Librarian *StarShip* 5-MINUTE Newscasts are compiled periodically and made available for downloading as well. Search the Library using the term 5-MIN to locate the various files. November's 4 Newscasts are in file #17777.