Star Tech Journal

______;,,S'TAR*~ JOL.11~"11,.A.11111...._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ e _ _ _ ~
'TI£ Pl.AYER
By John 'Root' Pilarchik
Pennsauken, NJ
IA 110nthly analysis of pinball machines,
currently out on play, froa a players
point of vietd.
FIREPOWER by Williams
This is a fast playing machine with not
■uch ti ■e between flips. The playfield is
set up to keep you on guard at the
flippers at all tilleS. There is a ra■p
shot for the free ball when lit, which is
a nice touch, although this player does
not care 11uch for mystery scores.
There are tNO ways to go for a special and
you can 1110rk on 2x, 3x and 5x point
■ultiples but, after each ball you have to
start from scratch.
The ■achine takes so■e getting used to,
finding the best point shots are not so
obvious. The score settings, however, seeM
fair enough at 881 1 098 for the first ga■e,
and 1 1 5'!10 1 88 for the second. I 1110uld
i ■agine hitting three ga11e5 on score is
soaething of the past.
If you like to play a ga■e with plenty of
lights, this is the one for you. I also
found the sound effects to be nerve
wracking.
Although I a■ sure ■any players will find
this ■achine to be alot of fun, this
player Just didn't care for it.
Play on ... Root.
UIPHY' S LAI 1718
Sooner or later, the 1t0rst possible set of
circU11Stances is bound to occur.
NEWB---
ATARI CORP. !separate fr011 Atari Ga■esl
has na■ed an executive (for■er Pres/CEO)
fr0111 EPYX nc. I a software ga■es COlllpany,
to ■anage a new Atari division offering
electronic entertainment products ...
NEWS2---
A graphics chip fr011 Texas Instuments Inc.
can supply 16 different colors for each
line of a bit-■apped graphics-display
systeaa. The nts3't070 provides the colors
fr011 its palette of 4 1 096 colors. The
22-pin chip, which is being introduced
this 110nth 1 contains on-board
digital-to-analog converters to directly
drive the red, green and blue inputs of
video ■onitors. A lookup table allCMS
software to change the group of 16 colors
line by line for greater display
capabilities. Colors are selected by a
4-bit 1t0rd. In 188 piece quantities, the
36-ftlz 34870 costs $24 each and a 20--lilhz
version sells for $16.40 each ...
VIIJIES/ISIIES
SoE back issues and e011plete volu■es
reaain in our inventory. COllplete Volumes:
$42 (ttJS). Single Issues: $5 (ttJS).
ff¾ Send self-addressed sta11ped IMl.39)
envelope 1111 or larger} for co■ plete
index of all articles covered since l'lar79.
Availability: COllplete Volulll!S (twelve
issues bound under one cover>;
11 (Mar79-Feb88>,
12 1Mar88-Feb8ll 1
13 (Mar81-Feb82> 1
14 (l'lar82-Feb83l.
Single Issues lnl=newsletter>:
May84 1 Jun84 1 Jul84 1 Aug84, Nov/Dec84 1
Jun851nl> 1 Jul85(nl) 1 Aug85(nl> 1
Sep85