| "P.Y.I.", видеокассета: Видеокассета "Protect Your Investment" (защити свои инвестиции) - создана группой поддержки "M.U.N.C.H. 99ers of Worchester, Массачусетс " (в составе Джека Сегре (Jack Sughrue), Джима Кокса (Jim Cox), Брюса Вилара (Bruce Willard), Луи Холмса (Louis Holmes), Криса Джорджа (Chris George) и Корсона Ньюмана (Corson Nyman) для того, чтобы помочь владельцам программы "Protect Your Investment" для компьютера TI-99/4А. На кассете показано, как включить консоль компьютера 99/4A, протирать и собирать ее, как управлять настройкой изображения и т.п. Кассета появилась на свет в 1992 году по цене 9,95 долларов без стоимости упаковки и пересылки. | |
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PAC-MAN: игра, номер по каталогу "Atarisoft" RX8500,
выпущена в свет в 4 квартале 1983
г. по цене $44,95. Это был просто перенос оригинальной аркадной игры,
принадлежащей компании "Bally/Midway" и написанно Тору Иватани (Toru
Iwatani) в 1980 г. Компания
"Atari" лицензировала игру, которая была также перенесена на компьютеры
Apple
IIe, Atari 2600, VIC-20 (номер по каталогу RX8501) и "Commodore 64"
(номер по каталогу RX8502). Версия игры для "TI-99/4A" была написана
Говардом И.Широм (Howard E.
Sheer). Как написано в документации, на которой не указан каталожный
номер, "И вот в ваш дом пришел бесконечный кошмар". Цель игры - съесть
все точки в лабиринте, уворачиваясь от четырех хищных призраков -
Пинки, Блинки, Инки и Клайда. В
"Pac-Man" можно было играть одному или вдвоем, поскольку игра
поддерживала комплектные джойстики. По моему мнению, версия игры для
"TI-99/4A" значительно превосходила по качеству графики, возможностям и
общему впечатлению версию для компьютера Atari 2600. "Pac-Man"
был настолько популярен, что его
версии были созданы практически для всех компьютеров всех платформ.
Комментарий
пользователя: Это была вещь! Только если вы родились вчера, вы не
успели услышить про игру "Pac Man". С нее началась вся история аркадных
игр. Цель игры - обеспечить жизнь и пропитание пакмену, проживающему в
лабиринте. Пакмен начинает игру с 4 жизнями. Чем дольше он живет, тем
больше очков у вас на счету. Ваш очковый счет возрастает с каждым
объектом, съеденным Пакменом. Особенно быстро увеличиваются очки после
съедения призовых объектов вроде морковок, витаминок и призраков. Когда
Пакмен съест все объекты в лабиринте, он получает дополнительную жизнь
и лабиринт вновь заполняется объектами. Садитесь поудобнее и начинайте
игру. |
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PAC-MAN: призраки Пинки, Блинки, Инки и Клайд. |
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PACE MICRO SOFTWARE CENTERS:
компания, расположенная по адресу
345 East Irving Park
Rd Wood Dale, IL 60191 (312) 595-3860, которая рекламировала
пластиковые
крышки для консолей "TI-99/4A" в журнале "Compute!" (декабрьский
выпуск "Compute!", стр.223) |
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PACKARD,
DAVID: Дэвид Паккард - родился 7 сентября
1912 г. в г.Пуэбло, штат Колорадо; в сотрудничестве с Уильямом
Хьюлеттом (William Hewlett) создали высокотехнологичную компанию, получившую их
имена (Hewlett-Packard). Умер 26 марта 1996 г. в возрасте 83 лет. Его партнер
- Уильям Хьюлетт - умер 12 января 2001 года, когда ему было 87. |
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PAINT 'N PRINT:
paint 'n print A series of three graphics drawing/printing cartridges,
titled "A", "B", and "C" from Navarone Industries designed to provide
full-color drawing and full-color printing from the TI-99/4A. Which
cartridge you purchased depended upon the printer you owned. According
to the instruction manual, "Paint 'N Print is the most powerful and
versatile graphics program you can buy for your Home Computer. You can
now create works of art by using your computer and get print-outs in
full living color. The Paint 'N Print program comes ready to use in a
rugged cartridge. No fancy interfaces or special hardware is required.
The cartridge will operate on your TI-99/4A console without the need
for expansion boxes, additional memory or expensive adapters. You will
need joysticks or a trackball controller. You don't even need a
printer, however, to take full advantage of the power in this program
we strongly recommend using this program with a printer. Only the Axiom
GP-700A color printer can be used for color printouts, and the Axiom
GP-100 graphics printer for black and white. Many other popular
printers may be adapted when using the Extended Graphics package sold
separately on either diskette or cassette".
The Extended Graphics cassette or disk came with its own
instruction manual and was designed to work with pictures that had been
created with the Paint 'N Print cartridge software. It added the
ability to do Area Fills, Circles, Invert/Mirror, Texture, Color Swap
and Kaleidoscope the drawing.
Of course, if your printer did not support color printing, as in the case of the Axiom GP-100TI, which was really a Gorilla Banana printer, the output would not be in color, no matter what was on the screen. Unlike virtually every other Navarone product that I own, the documentation for Paint 'N Print is professionally printed, clearly written and not laced with multiple misspellings in each paragraph. No credit is given to the program author, nor to the writter of the documentation, but it should have been. My only complaint is that the same instruction manual written for the 1985 released "A" cartridge was provided with the 1986 "B" and "C" cartridges, with no changes listed for the new printers anywhere. My guess is that this is the result of cost-prohibitive reprinting of the documentation. |
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PALOMAR: PO Box
1924-FW Mission Road Escondido, CA 92025 (619) 747-3343 firm that
produced a Ham Radio Interface for the TI-99/4A in 1985.
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PANDA
EXPANSION BOX: A PC-like cabinet for TI Peripheral Expansion Box
cards that was offered by Bill Nelson 11662 Puryear Lane Garden Grove,
CA 82648 (714-768-6425) in April 1992. The PANDA EXPANSION BOX was
offered for $278, or $238 with your TI Peripheral Expansion Box as a
trade in.
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PARANOIDS
ANONYMOUS: Aardvark Action Software 2352 S. Commerce St. Walled
Lake, MI 48088 (313) 669-3110 released this game in Dec 1983. It is an
adventure where you are invited to the weekly meeting of Paranoids
Anonymous, but they don't tell you where the meeting is, nor how to get
in. Product # 5090, available on tape for $19.95, or disk for $24.95.
(Compute! Dec83, p.195)
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PARAPRINT:
Triton WABV - Released 1900 - MSRP $59.95 -- A parallel printer
interface in a cartridge from DataBioTics that plugs into the I/O port
of the TI-99/4A console.
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PAROD,
WILLIAM: Assembly language programmer of the software for the
ROBOTRON:2084 cartridge for the TI-99/4A. Currently with the Department
of Academic Technologies at Northwestern Univesity in Evanston, IL. The
history of the cartridge is outlined in the Bryan Roppolo to Bill Parod
email below from May 1st, 2000.Bryan Roppolo:"Dear Bill, I came across
your web-page and read you programmed "Robotron:2084" for the TI-99/4A.
Do you still have the code for that game anywhere? I collect TI-99/4A
cartridges and have quite a few Atarisoft ones and never ran across
"Robotron:2084". Did Atarisoft ever release a TI version? What happened
to "Robotron: 2084" after Roklan went out of buisness? Sincerely,
Bryan"Bill Parod: "Bryan, Sorry for the late reply.Roklan went out of
business about the time I finished Robotron. We had a short buglist
going with Atarisoft at the time. We were probably 2-3 weeks away from
finishing it off. But Roklan folded and so the game was never released.
I guess there were too many legal pitfalls in AtariSoft going ahead
with it. No cartridges were ever produced. We passed Eproms to
AtariSoft for testing. I still have a set, but I would like to keep
them. Thanks for your interest though. Bill"
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PARRYSOFT:
Firm that produced Breakout 99 and Super Kong Mini Memory assembly
language coded games for the TI-99/4A in 1984-85. See Winter/Spring
1985 Tenex Catalog, page 6 for game descriptions.
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User Comments: Fly into combat with the starship Parsec. Destroy rebel alien fighters and cruisers by out maneuvering them and laying down withering fire from you laser. Then try to survive the deadly asteroid belt. Parsec is made to work with or without the speech synthesizer. With it, it enhances the game by simulating an onboard computer in your starship. It warns you of oncoming alien craft and refueling tunnels, and it congratulates you for good performance. There are increasing levels of difficulty to challenge your strategy and skills as a starfighter. With great graphics, color, and action this is one of the best modules for the TI. Try it and you're hooked. |
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PARTY
TRIVIA GAME: Parallel Systems - PAR 108 -
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PASCAL
DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM: PHP 1280 -- The PASCAL Development System
includes the P-Code Card and all of the command modules required for
using UCSD PASCAL programs as well as developing your own programs in
PASCAL at a savings of $50.00 over buying the items individually. The
System includes: P-Code Card - $249.95; UCSD PASCAL Compiler- $124.95;
UCSD Assembler/Linker - $99.95; and the UCSD Editor/Filer/Utilities--
$74.95. Total value: $549.95 PRICE: $499.95 MANUFACTURER: Texas
Instruments PERIPH. REQ.: Periph. Exp. lox; Memory Expansion; Disk
System. (Unisource 1983)
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PC
OFFER: On December 7, 1984 Texas Instruments did a serial
numbered mailout to TI-99/4A software developers offering them special
pricing on a new Texas Instruments Professional Computer (TIPC). In
order to quality, one must have been a TI-99/4 or 4A owner, because a
seial number was required with the TIPC order, one must have developed
software for the TI-99 and have contributed to a Users Group exchange
library, or have produced commercial software for the TI-99, one must
agree to port their existing 99/4 or 4A software to operate on the
TIPC, one was required not to sell the TIPC for a period of 12 months
after purchase under this program. The TIPC offered actually was
available in several configurations. On the low-end, a $2494 system
could be purchased under the program for $1622. On the high-end a $3465
system could be purchased for $2252. The offer was accompanied by a
letter from IUG President Charles LaFara explaining where TI got your
name.
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PC
PURSUIT: A 1-800-TELENET service which allowed long-distance
telephone calls to be made at lower than normal rates so visits to
Bulletin Board Systems in other cities would not be so expensive. As of
January 1988 PC Pursuit nodes existed in the following cities:
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PCIF
WORD PROCESSOR: Text editing/word processing capabilities
available within the UCSD Pascal p-Code system. See also FREEFORM
spreadsheet.
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PEGASUS:
The product code name for the TI Professional Computer before its
release.
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PENGUIN
PRODUCTS: PO Box 7008 Roseville, MI 48305 (800) 732-0614 company
that advertised the Kcover keyboard cover for $9.95 for the TI-99/4A,
Apple, Atari, Commodore and TRS-80 computers. (see Compute! Dec 1983,
p.387)
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| PERCENTS: PHM 3097 - Released 1Q/1983 - MSRP $39.95 -- One of the twelve cartridges in the Milliken Math Sequences series of educational cartridges produced for the TI-99/4A by Milliken Publishing from 1982-83. According to the documentation (1053590-97), "A self-paced tutor which presents a variety of math problems involving percents. Suitable for children from grades 5 through 8." The program was written for Milliken Publishing by TI employee John C. Plaster. |  |
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PERCOM
DATA FOR ATARI: 11220 Pagemill Rd Dallas, TX 75243
(214-340-7081) company which advertised the AT-88 add-on disk drive for
the Atari 8-Bit series of computers in 1983, for $488.00. (Compute!
Jan83, p.015)
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PERIPHERAL
EXPANSION BOX: PHP 1200 - Released 1Q/1982 - MSRP $249.95 -- The
Peripheral Expansion System is the easy, convenient, compact and
economical way for you to expand your Home Computer's capabilities.
Lets you start simple, then gradually build up with different
peripheral cards that enable additional capabilities in one compact
system. Measuring 7 l/2'X12118', the System centralizes your hardware,
accommodating the disk memory system (capable of handling 90K bytes of
additional storage). Add 32K bytes of random access memory (RAM) with
the memory expansion card. The P-code card enables the use of programs
written in UCSD PASCAL, FORTRAN and PILOT. The RS-232 interface allows
you to use a printer to produce hard copies or to use a telephone to
communicate with other PRICE: $249.95 MANUFACTURER: Texas Instruments
(Unisource 1983)
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PERIPHERAL
EXPANSION BOX DISK DRIVE CONTROLLER: PHP 1240 - Released 2Q/1982
- MSRP $249.95 -- The Disk Controller Card is the part of the disk
memory system that allows you to add from one to three disk drives to
your system, each of the drive! capable of storing up to 92,000 bytes
of information and defining up to 127 films on each diskette. Included
is a command module that supplies all disk utilities and file
maintenance commands. Can be used with one disk drive that is inserted
in thu Peripheral Expansion Box plus one or two free standing drives or
with up to three free standing drives. MANUFACTURER: Texas Instruments
PERIPH. REQ.: Periph. Exp. Box; 1-3 Disk Drives (Unisource 1983)
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PERIPHERAL
EXPANSION BOX DISK DRIVE: PHP 1250 - Released 2Q/1982 - MSRP
$399.95 -- In conjunction with the Disk Controller Card, the use of one
to three disk drives allows you to quickly and efficiently store
additional information that you wish to keep and refer to at a later
time on 5.25 inch floppy disks. Each disk memory drive will store up to
92,000 characters of information on a disk. In addition, it allows you
to run many TI and third party software programs which are not
available in command modules or cassettes and to use those which
require the storage and manipulation of large amounts of data such as
Tax/Investment Record Keeping and Household Budget Management. Packaged
with PHM PHM 3089 Disk Manager II cartridge. MANUFACTURER: Texas
Instruments PERIPH. REQ.: Disk Contr. Card; Periph. Exp. Box (Unisource
1983)
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PERIPHERAL
EXPANSION BOX 32K MEMORY CARD: PHP 1260 - Released 2Q/1982 -
MSRP $299.95 -- Add 32K bytes of random access memory (RAM) (to the 16K
bytes available with the console) with the Memory Expansion Card.
MANUFACTURER: Texas Instruments PERIPH. REQ.: Periph. Exp. Box; one or
more of the following: Extended BASIC; LOGO; MiniRam; P-Code
Peripheral; Editor/Assembler (Unisource 1983)
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PERIPHERAL
EXPANSION BOX P-CODE CARD: PHP 1270 - Released 2Q/1982 - MSRP
$249.95 -- The P-Code Card enables the use of programs written in UCSD
PASCAL, FORTRAN and PILOT. UCSD Pascal is a highly structured,
efficient programming language that is faster, more logical, and
substantially more powerful than BASIC. The P-Code Card, together with
the Compiler command module, allows you to use existing PASCAL
programs; or write your own PASCAL programs with the Assembler/Linker
and Editor/Filer/Utilities command modules. PILOT is an easy to use
language for developing and using Computer Assisted Instruction (CA!)
lessons for educators utilizing the TI PILOT command module.
MANUFACTURER: Texas Instruments PERIPH. REQ.: P-Box, 32K, (Unisource
1983)
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PERSONAL
AUDITOR: PRK DataBasics - Released 3Q/1985 - MSRP $29.95 -- A
checkbook and budget management application for the TI-99/4A released
in August 1985. Author Bill Gaskill.
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PERSONAL
COMPUTING MAGAZINE: Born in January 1977 as a general interest
magazine for computing enthusiasts. Contained sparse and occasional
coverage of TI-99/4A products. Ceased publication in August 1990.
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All three programs provided support for the Texas Instruments Solid State Thermal Printer (PHP 1900) or a serial printer with the optional RS232 Interface (either PHP 1700 or PHP 1220) attached, for hard copy printouts. |
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PERSONAL HOME COMPUTER MARKETING PROGRAM:
125 Conant Road, Weston, MA 02193 (617-891-1238). A
Multilevel Marketing (pyramid sales technique) firm specializing in
TI-99/4A hardware and software in 1983.
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PERSONAL PERIPHERALS: 930
N. Beltline Suite 120 Irving, TX 75061 firm that produced the Super
Sketch peripheral for the TI-99/4A and Commodore 64 in 1984. (Home
Computer Magazine V4N5, p.43)
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PERSONAL
PROPERTY MANAGER: See W.R. Wilson Co.
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PERSONAL
REAL ESTATE: PHM 3022 - Released 1Q/1981 - MSRP $69.95 -- A Home
Management cartridge designed to provide quantitative analysis for a
variety of real estate investment scenrios from apartments to rental
houses to commercial property. Supports PIO output to a printer. In my
opinion, one of TI's best productivity efforts ever placed in cartridge
form, despite the fact that it was one of the early cartridges written
for the TI-99/4. According to the documentation (1037109-22) "Requests
information and performs complex calculations with speed and accuracy
to help you make informed real estate investment decisions". The tools
provided allow you to Define the investment, Evaluate loans, Make lease
calculations, Calculate, graph, and print depreciation schedules,
Evaluate the investment to calculate rates of return or analyze your
cash flow ir sales, Perform residential property analysis, Store all
information and results on cassette tape or diskette. Supports Thermal
Printer or RS232 connection to a printer.
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| PERSONAL RECORD KEEPING: PHM 3013 - Released 4Q/1979 - MSRP $49.95 -- This 24K cartridge based application is/was one of the more popular productivity cartridges produced for the TI-99 by Texas Instruments, although I never completely understood why? Perhaps because it was the only game in town early on, or because it could be used with only a TI-99 console and cassette recorder? At any rate, Personal Record Keeping or 'PRK' as it is commonly known, stores all data in memory, but it cannot access the 32K memory expansion available for the TI-99, which means the memory used is limited to the 16K of VDP RAM found in the TI-99 computer console. This of course limits the number of records that can be kept in a file. So no real database management could be attempted with PRK, but it served it's purpose, which was rudimentary file management in a computerized environment. According to the documentation (1037109-113) "The Personal Record Keeping command module brings you the convenience and simplicity of a computer-based filing system. Without programming experience or training, you can easily create, maintain, and utilize your own customized files. The variety of applications can range from small library management to household inventory, from stock and bond records to sports statistics, from teacher's grade book records to real estate listings." In the brochures TI hawked PRK by stating, "Create, maintain and utilize a computer-based filing system that is useful and convenient for a variety of applications -- including home inventory for insurance purposes, car maintenance records, medical and dental records, and a complete reference medium for birthdays, anniversaries, and other important occasions. Data storage system recommended." Note that in either description there is no mention of the most common home application for a data base manager...mailing lists. In reality, the PRK program could not print address labels, so it was no good for mailing lists. It could do number crunching, but doing so changed the actual file contents, so TI called the process "Math Transformations" and warned the user of the file contents changes. All this came about because the data file generated by PRK was a "Program Image" file for speedy loading/saving, that got changed any time number crunching was involved. PRK was one of the cartridge programs to receive a 'modernized' instruction manual cover, as well as a new cartridge casing and label. Like all other cartridge programs that received this update though, the original software (which in PRK's case was a combination of GPL and BASIC) was never upgraded. Why TI made the decision to use half of the available screen space for field name, leaving only the other half of the screen space for data (15 characters was as long as any data field could be) is a mystery that escapes me even today? Data input types included CHARACTER, INTEGER, DECIMAL and SCIENTIFIC NOTATION. PRK allowed 15 fields per record (what PRK called Pages) with only 15 characters of possible input per field. The program could only print in tables or lists. Mailing label format required that the Personal Report Generator be purchased, and that you design a mailing label format yourself. Overall, a poor substitute for a real data base manager. Released during the fourth quarter of 1979 at a suggested retail price of $49.95. |  |
| PERSONAL TAX PLAN: Personal Tax Plan PHD 5077 - Released 3Q/1982 - MSRP$99.95 -- Diskette and UCSD p-Code based program produced by Aardvark Software of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and released during the 3rd quarter of 1982 at a retail price of $99.95. The program produced for the TI-99/4A was version 3.0 of the software. The entire package consisted of an unprotected program disk and a data disk, along with instruction manual 1041582-1. Personal Tax Plan could be run from a single drive system, but two or more disk drives were preferred. The program was designed to maintain year-round tax planning records and to perform comprehensive tax calculations. |  |
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PETER
PAN'S SPACE ODYSSEY: One of the never released command modules
for the TI for which code actually exists. This program teaches about
the planets of the solar system, including facts about each planet and
the relative location of the planets with respect to each other. Music,
graphics and speech are all used superbly. The program carries a 1984
copyright date.
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PH
LISTS: PH followed by single letter were the product codes that
Texas Instruments assigned to TI-99/4 and 4A products. The list below
shows specfic coding for each line:
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PHA
LIST: Following are accessories available for the TI-99/4 and
4A computers:
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PHILLIPS, JOHN: TI assembly language
programming wizard who authored Hopper, Moonmine and Word
Radar and worked on Burgertime, Demon Attack, Munchmobile,
Jawbreaker, Facemaker, Treasure Island, Angler
Dangler, and Slymoids while at Texas Instruments.
Most people who have owned a TI-99 for more than a couple of
years have run across the name John Phillips before. He is a near
legend in the TI-99/4A cartridge and assembly language programming
community and can claim authorship, co-authorship or significant
involvement in over a dozen cartridge programs produced for the 99/4A,
not to mention numerous articles written about the inner workings of
the 4A's architecture.
John Phillips is 41 years old this year (2002) but he was only 21 when he was hired by Texas Instruments in 1982 right after graduating from Illinois State University. He started his career with TI in Dallas doing COBAL programming for business applications but it took him only 6 months to get a requested transfer to Lubbock where the "real" action was. John had purchased a 99/4 during his senior year in college and was already familiar with the Home Computer's architecture and he had wanted to program video games since purchasing his first cartridge, which was Munchman. Phillips didn't know TMS9900 assembly language but it didn't take him long to learn it. His first project at Lubbock was Moonmine, followed by Hopper, which he co-authored with Michael Archulata. Hopper was followed by Word Radar, which he wrote in 2 weeks, for Developmental Learning Materials (DLM), the firm started by Bill Maxwell and Jerry Chaffin. After completing Word Radar TI sent Phillips to Japan where he met with several companies who were being recruited to write software for the 99/4A. Following his return from Japan he became involved in almost every piece of software that was slated for production or that was actually produced for the 99/4A. When TI announced the end of the Home Computer Division Phillips was offered several incentives to stay at TI but turned them all down because none involved work with the 99/4A. Instead, he and fellow employee Michael Archuleta went to work for DLM, which had continued to work on products for the TI-99/4A even though it was no longer being produced. In December 1983 John Phillips announced to the TI Community that he was available to any User Group for seminars, demonstrations and question and answer sessions related to the TI-99/4A. He would travel to virtually any location if the User Group would pay round trip airfare from Dallas, Texas plus lodging? While he could only make himself available on weekends, it was a pretty generous offer. Both Phillips and Archuleta eventually left DLM (probably because the work there dried up too) and started their own firm in February 1984 called Video Magic. Video Magic also came to an end in too short a time, I suspect because it was becoming painfully obvious that one could not make a living trying to write software for the 99/4A. At Texas Instruments Michael Archuleta was responsible for the 99/4A Technical Hotline and for 99/4A software quality assurance. Phillips was a third-party software development consultant and programmer in the education/entertainment section of the Consumer Products Division. Both men would get together again in 1986 to collaborate on the 4A Flyer game cartridge that was commissioned by Triton Products. Archuleta and Phillips were involved in, or responsible for such TI-99 favorites as:
John Phillips comments: "I started working for TI in their "IS&S" division in Dallas in 1982 after graduating from Illinois State in 1982. I owned a TI-99/4 that I bought from JC Penney in 1981 and learned to program it in Basic and Extended Basic. During my on-campus interviews with TI at Illinois State, I mentioned that I really wanted to work in the Home Computer Division, but TI felt my strengths were best served elsewhere. They offered me a position in Dallas working for their "IS&S" division. While working in Dallas, TI announced an employee submissions program that would allow employees of TI to submit software for the Home Computer. Previously, TI employees were exempt from submisstions. There were two types: Class A and Class B. Class B was a one-time payment of $250 with no royalties. Class A was a 4-year royalty payment based on sales. I sent some Extended Basic games that I had written in college to Lubbock. They were accepted as class B and I received $250 a piece for 4 submissions. I called out to Lubbock and spoke with a man named Howard Hastings, who was the Development Manager for internal TI-99/4A software. I told him about my recent submissions and mentioned that I really wanted to work in Lubbock as a games programmer, but had been assigned to Dallas instead. Howard must have pulled some strings and he called me later to invite me to Lubbock to interview with the games development team. I was so young and naïve that I responded, "Sure! How far of a drive is it?" Howard chuckled and said that they'd be more than happy to fly me. He arranged a transfer from Dallas in November of 1982 (something that is generally not allowed until a TI employee had completed one year of service). I moved to Lubbock in November of 1982 and was there until June of 1994." A month to the day after TI's announcement orphaning the 99/4A, John Phillips was one of a valued few in the Consumer Products Division, who were assigned their own, serialized, Computer 99/8 for personal use and ownership. Via email, John Phillips was kind enough to provide the following answers to my questions: - What do you recall about some of the plans for cartridges from Disney, Sega, Activision, Imagic, Spinnaker, Sierra On-Line, DLM et cetera? "There were lots of plans for cartridges from everyone you mentioned. I personally worked on "Peter Pan's Space Odyssey" by Disney and completed the programming, but it was never released. There were two other titles by Disney, "Von Drake's Molecular Mission" and "Pinocchio's Great Escape." The graphics for all of the Disney software was done by an exceptional graphic artist by the name of Victor Raines. If you can locate him, you've found yourself a gold mine of information. DLM converted 6 educational pieces of software to the TI computer and I worked on one (Word Radar). DLM was so impressed by how quickly I had performed that conversion that they offered me a job when TI announced the end of the /4A. There was a Lubbock technical writer by the name of Karen Piper who also joined DLM before I did. I worked for her when I joined DLM. I honestly can't remember the names of many of the games that were planned for development, but I viewed almost all of them as they came into Lubbock. Fox Video's M*A*S*H, Data Easts' TREASURE ISLAND and ANGLER DANGLER, Aldebaran's MANCALA, Sierra's JAWBREAKER II and MOUSK ATTACK, Sega's STAR TREK, BUCK ROGER, CONGO BONGO." - Until 1983, TI never seemed to be willing to credit programmers for their efforts. We know a little about Jim Dramis, John Phillips, Michael Archuleta and John C. Plaster from published interviews. Can you provide any information about yourself and your collegues who were at TI during the heyday of the 99/4A? "When I joined TI, the big three programmers were Jim Dramis (Car Wars, MunchMan, Parsec), Garth Dolhite (TI Invaders) and Paul Urbanus. Garth was working on a 3-D Star Wars game for months and months that got dumped when he left ... it was quite remarkable using 3D to 2D translation algorithms. Jim, Garth and Paul left TI to form their own company and had a contract with Sega (I think). That group started writing their own software and also doing conversions (like Pole Position). Other programmers in the educational end were Janet Srmushman (Alpiner), Susan Powell (Germ Patrol), Pete Ngai and Mike Roll. The game progammers were me, Jim, Garth, Paul. Bob Hendren was a manager and a designer. The Group manager was Howard Hastings and he is the one who hired me away from TI Dallas (where I actually started employment). "There was another group that worked on utilities and apps. They consisted of Dean Powell, Jeff Jones, Pete Jaden, Alan Acree. There was another manager by the name of John Yantis who had personality conflicts with Charlie LaFara. They never got along. Don Bynum was the VP and had quite an ego, as I recall. Dale Osborne came in and worked for Don Bynum as a Division Manager. Bill Barniea was the Marketing Manager and Ed Wiest was a PR man (User Groups). According to John Yantis, who provided the information for this entry on November 6, 2002, "As he is on a number of other issues, Mr. Phillips is not quite correct about these individuals. Pete Jaden did, in fact work on "utilities and apps" (and a lot more) in Howard Hastings' Application Software Department, but Dean Powell worked only as an applications programmer in that organization. Jeff Jones wrote Device Service Routines in Johnny Acker's Systems Software Department, where Alan Acree was the Systems Software Design Manager. Of course, each of these people worked in groups with numerous other people, whom Mr. Phillips apparently has forgotten, or never knew, since he was with TI Lubbock for only approximately the last year of the Personal Computer Division. "Mr. Phillips is completely wrong about my relationship with Charlie LaFara. If there *was* a significant personality conflict, it was between Charlie and his original TI liaison, John Culhane -- Charlie and I got along famously from the first day of our association. I became his principal contact in the TI Personal Computer Division, and hosted him not only when he visited Lubbock, but also during the semi-annual Consumer Electronics Shows. We parted company as good friends, and have had several pleasant conversations over the succeeding years, in which we discussed current employment, the status of each other's family members, "the good old days", etc. "I started in TI Lubbock as a programmer, moved quickly into the third-party software organization, and eventually managed that organization. I also took over responsibility for User Groups from Brian Gratz (BTW, the encyclopedia's listing for Brian seems to be tacked onto the end of the listing for GRAPHX). When I was given broader responsibilities in the Division, I hired Ed Wiest to become the User Group Coordinator, and Bill Barniea to head up Third Party Software, both reporting to me. Ed never had anything to do with PR (which was contracted out to Rogers & Cowan), and Bill never had any responsibilities in either the Division Marketing Department, or the Group Marketing Division. "Mr. Phillips's statement, "Dale Osborne [sic] came in and worked for Don Bynum as a Division Manager." is also incorrect. Don Bynum was *the* Division Manager, and was eventually promoted to the rank of Consumer Group Vice President (the same rank as the other Division Managers in Consumer Products Group at the time), but I don't recall Dale Osborn ever working directly for Don, much less being "a Division Manager" -- all the supervisors who reported directly to Don were Department Managers. "Mr. Phillips is also quoted as saying, "There was a person, Dr. Granville Ott, who worked out there and was, apparently, a genius. I never understood exactly what he did, but he was well respected." Granville was unquestionably a genius, author of a number of patents fundamental to the Home Computer, and a Senior Member of the TI Technical Staff who headed up numerous Personal Computer Division Advanced Development projects. In his pre-TI career in academia, Dr. Ott was the Dissertation Committee Chairman for several candidates for PhD's in Electrical Engineering. If Mr. Phillips was as knowledgeable about the Home Computer or the Lubbock operation as this writeup appears to make him, then surely he'd recognize the man who invented the GROM, and Graphics Programming Language (GPL). In the final year of the Personal Computer Division, when I was Manager of Advanced Development and Strategy, one of the major projects under way in my department was a replacement for the computer display, based on the newly-invented TI Deformable Mirror Display device (which became the Digital Micromirror Device, and now is called the TI Digital Light Processor). This project, which, in the fall of 1983, actually had a TI-99/4A generating a full-screen display with nothing more than a light bulb, a lens, a DMD, and a couple of logic chips, was naturally headed by Dr. Granville Ott. It would add a lot of accuracy to the encyclopedia's "Brain Trust" entry to replace my name with Granville's." "Mike Archuleta was actually a supervisor in the QC (Quality Control) area, but was a brilliant coder with no degree. My wife was working for him and we met at a party. He really wanted to be a programmer and he initiated the idea of doing a game together. We decided to do a clone of a game called "Pengo" where a penguin pushed around ice cubes. We called our game 'Hopper' and that was the last thing Mike and I worked on together. It made it into production just days before the bail out. "There was a person, Dr. Granville Ott, who worked out there and was, apparently, a genius. I never understood exactly what he did, but he was well respected. One day a programmer from Sierra came in to show me his work on Jawbreaker. When I went to get him a blank disk, I came back and found him rifling through my disks. Bill Moseid came in one week to talk about development. He continued to call me after the bailout and I even sent him a 99/8 that was issued to me. I met Dominick Melphi (Submarine Battle) a couple of times." |
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PHILLIPS,
LOU: See MYARC.
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PHOENIX: THE FALL &
RISE OF VIDEOGAMES: A book written by Leonard Herman, published
by Rolenta Press 316 Pages, Trade Paperback, $19.95 ISBN 0-9643848-2-5.
A detailed chronological history of video and computer games, starting
with the prehistory of computer technology and evolving into a yearly
account of the interactive-entertainment world (stretching from 1970
through 1996). In this second edition of Phoenix, Herman has added over
100 black-and-white illustrations of various systems and games, a wise
addition for a book about such a visually-oriented medium. Herman also
claims to have fixed the typos and factual errors of the first edition,
although many remain. For example, Herman writes that the Intellivision
III "was able to produce an infinite number of colors on the screen at
one time," and that bank-switching on the Atari 2600 "read two
different 4K programs toggling back and forth between them so quickly
that the human eye couldn't follow." Wrong and wrong, respectively.
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PHYSICAL
FITNESS:
PHM 3010 - Released 2Q/1979 - MSRP $29.95 - A cartridge
program which, according to the original documentation (1037109-10)
"Helps you in planning (and staying with) an exercise program designed
especially for you. Based on guidelines from the President's Council on
Physical Fitness. Recommended ages: 13 and up". One of the first of the
TI-99/4 cartridges to be developed. Also one of the cartridges which
never had it's 'old-style' documentation updated from the original
1037109-xxxx product number to the newer 1053590-xxxx product number,
which also included a new, more colorful front cover.
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PICNIC PARANOIA: Atarisoft RX8517 - Released
4Q/1983 - MSRP $44.95 - This was a port from the original Synapse
Software game written for the Atari 800 by Russ Segal. It was licensed
by Atari. According to the documentation, which does not carry a
product number, you get to, "Experience New Thrills on the TI-99/4A."
You play George, and the object of the game is to swat ants who are
invading your picnic. Picnic Paranoia is a 1 player game that supports
the use of joysticks.
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PICOPROCESSOR:
"Picoprocessor is similar in function to an imaginary computer, called
PIP-2, outlined by Forrest M. Mims in the 1981 Electronic
Experimenter's Handbook (Ziff-Davis). PIP-2 was a simplified version of
PIP-1, another hypothetical machine described in Understanding Digital
Computers (Texas Instruments Learning Center)"
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PICTURE
PARTS: SF 31180 - Released 2Q/1983 - MSRP $39.95 -- Cartridge
based educational software from Scott, Foresman and Co. The object of
Picture Parts , a single-player game, is to complete a picture of a
face by answering problems correctly. The program offers three
challenging levels for your child's enjoyment, while teaching the basic
operations of addition, subtraction and multiplication. Strong use of
graphics and sound effects make the program a favorable choice for
learning and fun.
User Comments (provided by John E. Taylor and other members
of the Shoals 99er Uer Group in 1985): Picture Parts is a mathematics
game that allows practice in addition, subtraction, and multiplication.
In it you are presented with math problems ranging from hard to harder
to hardest. After entering your name you are shown a math problem at
the bottom of the screen. If you type in the correct answer you get to
pick a feature to add to a face. This is a rather simple
game/educational module. However at its current price you really can't
go wrong with it.
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PIERCE,
LARRY: Author of the TI XBASIC game Jet Storm for the TI-99/4A;
a cross of sorts between Asteroids and Parsec.
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PILOT:
An acronym for Programmed Instruction Learning Or Teaching.
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PINOCCHIO'S
GREAT ESCAPE: PHM 3135 - - One of the never released command
modules for the TI for which code actually exists. According to the
title screen, this is another " Walt Disney Personal Computer Software
Designed Exclusively For The Texas Instruments Computer." No copyright
date is indicated, but 1983 is suspected. The program is a language
arts module designed to teach children how to recognize and pronounce
long and short vowel sounds in printed words. Speech Syhthesis is
optional but highly recommended. A more complete description of this
program can be found in the April 1990 issue of Bits, Bytes &
Pixels, the newsletter of the Lima, Ohio User Group.
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PIPES:
One of nine titles announced by Funware president Michael Brouthers at
the June 1983 Consumer Electronics Show as forthcoming for the 99/4A by
September 1, 1983. The nine titles included: Ambulance, Ant Colony,
Astroblitz, Cave Creatures, Crisis Mountain, Driving Demon, Pipes,
Saint Nick and Trashman. Only three of the titles announced actually
made it into production (Ambulance, Driving Demon and St. Nick).
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PITFALL II: Activision - #D-007-09 - Released 1984 - MSRP $00.00 -- Sequel to David Crane's wildly successful Pitfall game. Commodore version written by Tim Shotter. Help Pitfall Harry find his niece Rhonda, the cowardly cat Quickclaw and the great Raj Diamond. On the way, grab all the gold bars you can and be on the look out for the pesky stone-aged rat. There is no time limit in the caverns. |
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PLANT
GENETICS: PHM 3173 - not released - The program, written by the
software development team at Texas Instruments, teaches basic genetic
principles using a garden pea family. It consists of a 3 option menu
that lists
1 for What
is genetics,
2 for How
does it work, and
3 for The
Mendelian Maze.
The program is geared toward high school age students and
carries a 1984 copyright date.A 1984 educational program by Texas
Instruments that never came to market. WHAT A SHAME! Although it is
mostly text, the program is just SUPERB! It's like going through the
encyclopedia for information on the topic, only its all here in one
place, instead of having to do the research on it. If we could only
convince TI to go back and make modules like this one again. Before
seeing it in the flesh, I had never even heard of this program. If this
is a sample of what TI had in the works for future educational stuff
then we really lost out when the 99/4A was orphaned. The program
contains three different levels of learning on the topic and it covers
them in a simple, understandable manner. I learned more about heredity,
dominant and recessive traits, phenotypes and genotypes in the few
minutes that I spent with the program than all of the years I spent in
school and college. Neat program!
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PLATFORM,
THE: A little-known accessory for the TI-99/4 and 4A owner from
Millers Graphics 1475 W. Cypress Ave San Dimas, CA 91773. It was a
solid wood platform measuring 17 1/2" wide, 11" deep and 2 1/2" high.
It allowed the user to elevate rear peripherals like the Expansion Box
and bring them close behind the console at a comfortable working
position. Retail price on The Platform was $19.95. It appeared only in
the early Millers Graphics catalogs in 1982.
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The first personal computer to have a Plato program written for it was the Apple II Plus followed by the Apple IIe. The earliest announcement I can find for TI-99/4A Plato products appears in the July 5, 1982 issue of InfoWorld on page 29. A feature article on Plato also appears in Volume 1, Number 6 of 99er Magazine, which would have been published around the same time, Summer 1982. A little known item of information about the TI/CDC agreement to produce Plato Courseware for the TI-99/4A was that TI agreed to allow Control Data Corporation to put their name on a Peripheral Expansion System produced by Texas Instruments, so that Control Data could market it as their Education WorkStation. Although I have never seen a CDC EWS (their name for it), TexComp's Jerry Price, who has been in the TI-99 business longer than anyone still around, has and he remembers them being marketed for about $2500! After
reading through all of the magazines I have at my disposal, I am
reasonably certain that Plato Courseware did not actually become
available for the TI-99/4A until December 1982 or even early 1983. The
first real attention paid to Plato in the personal computer literature
didn't start appearing until April 1983 when Computers and Electronics
ran a newsbyte about it on page 35 and Popular Computing ran a feature
article on Plato on page 151. Control Data advertising for Plato seems
to have been heaviest from late 1983 to early 1984, when it all but
stopped? According to Mike Wright's TI-Cyc, Plato Courseware was
divided into eight curricula:
A curriculum was divided into Subjects, a Subject consisted of one or more Packages, a Package consisted of one or more Diskettes and a Diskette contained a menu of topics. Plato categories that would run on the 99/4A were produced both by TI and by Control Data. All Texas Instruments produced diskettes were "flippy" disks, and all those produced by Control Data were the regular SS/SD disks. Control Data also offered an little known "Microcomputer Author's Guide" designed for educators who wished to produce their own PLATO Courseware. Jon Creviston of the Dallas TIHCG has actually seen one of the Authoring Guide kits produced for the 99/4A and tried to purchase it some years back, but with no success. Programs produced under the "Microcomputer Author's Guide" program could be distributed royalty free and remained the property of the person who created it. According to my Fall-Winter 1984 Plato catalog, which was released in September 1984, there were 199 actual titles which were offered as part of the PLATO Courseware product. TI-Cyc says that an estimated 503 diskette "sides" were produced in the Plato series. Plato Courseware was written for the Apple II Plus, Apple IIe, Atari 800, Control Data Corporation Education Worskstation, Commodore 64, IBM PC, and the TI-99/4A. With the exception of the Education Workstation, the TI-99/4A was the runaway-winner when it came to having the most categories/courses written for it. Texas Instruments produced Plato products from number PHD 5201 to number PHD 5308. Control Data Corporation also produced a number of titles for the TI-99/4A that were not part of the TI inventory of Plato products. These included titles in areas of Foreign Language, Computer Literacy and Mathematics, and can be found at the bottom of the TI-99/4A PLATO Software List. In order to use any of the PLATO titles on a TI-99/4A you needed the PLATO Interpreter cartridge, which came with a "Survey Disk" (overview of the titles available), and set you back $49.95. No other computer had this, but then no other computer required you to purchase a $49.95 cartridge to run the Scott Adams' Adventure software, and no other computer required a special cartridge to run Microsoft Multiplan either? Oh well? You also needed a disk drive, 32K Memory Expansion and of coursem, the TI-99/4A Home Computer. |
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PLASTER,
JOHN C.: Programmer of Chisolm Trail (PHM 3110) and the Milliken
Math Series cartridges.
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POLE POSITION:
Atarisoft RX8534 - Released 2Q/1984 - MSRP $44.95 - This was a port
from the original arcade game from Namco Ltd. It was licensed by Atari
and also ported to the VIC-20 (RX8535) and the C64 (RX8536). The
TI-99/4A version was written for Atarisoft by Paul Urbanus and Garth
Dollahite. According to the documentation, which does not carry a
product number, "Install your engine, And They're Off!". One assumes
that this is in reference to plugging the cartridge into your computer?
At any rate, the object of the game is to drive the race track in your
Formulas Racer and do so without crashing, in the shortest amount of
time possible. Pole Position is a 1 player game that supports
joysticks. Originally released in 1982 by NAMCO of Japan.
User Comments: Install your engine (cartridge) in your
computer and you're off and running. The object of Pole Position is to
pit yourself against th clock and the competition (other high
performance racers). now is your chance to prove you've got the nerve
and skill to be a professional race car driver. Use the keyboard or
joystick to steer and increase or decrease your speed and to change
from low to high gear. In the extreme upper rught-hand corner of the
playing screen is your current Lap Time Counter (0'00). The Time Clock
at the center, which determines the remaining time your car has to
cross the finish line, winds down as your Lap Time Counter increases.
Also, at the top right is the high and low gear indicator (Hi/Lo). Your
speed as shown can reach a max of 195MPH. you have 90 driving seconds
in the qualifying run, but must achieve a lap time of 73" (seconds) or
better to qualify for a race. Once you've qualified, the race that was
selected begins in a matter of seconds. so, put the petal to the metal,
gun it down the straightaways, downshift for the turns and may the best
driver win.
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| POPEYE: PB 1650 - Released 2Q/1984 - MSRP $19.95 - One of three very popular Parker Brothers game cartridges ported to the TI-99/4A from the arcade classics of the same name. The other two were Frogger and Q*Bert. A curiosity about the Parker Brothers games is that the only place the product number was found in on the packaging (the box) that the cartridge came in. Atarisoft adaopted this same policy? What makes it curious is the fact that most users throw the boxes for game cartridges away, and thus would never have a product number to refer to if they needed it. The TI-99/4A version was licensed from Nintendo of America for the game, and King Features Syndicate for the use of the 'Popeye' cartoon character. Popeye is similar in screen layout to Donkey Kong, but not really similar in theme. According to the documentation, which does not have a product number, "In this game, you're Popeye! And your goal is to catch all of Olive's hearts, notes and cries for H-E-L-P before they hit the water and sink - or before Brutus, the Sea Hag or some vulture knocks you overboard. Each time you complete a round, you'll automatically proceed to the next-and more difficult one. |  |
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PORTWOOD,
RAYMOND E.: A former Disney Animator and innovative computer
artist who, along with Lauren Elliott, helped create the landmark
learning games Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego and Where in the
U.S.A. is Carmen Sandiego while at Broderbund Software. Portwood died
July 17, 2000 at 66 years of age.
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POTTER,
MIKE: Programmer for Synapse Software.
http://www.dadgum.com/giantlist/archive/potter.html
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POWELL,
SUSAN: Texas Instruments programmer who wrote Germ Patrol and
Touch Typing Tutor while employed at TI, and Alien Addition while
employed at DLM Arcademics after the October 28, 1983 bailout by TI.
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| PRESS: press A word processing program that "...will be on your doorsteps by December, I promise", or so said a principle in Asgard Software in 1988, when the Press product failed to materialize at the November 1988 Chicago TI Faire 'as promised'. Press was perhaps the most hyped product that the TI Community had known since the failure of the Corcomp 99/64 or "Phoenix" computer to materialize in 1984 as the replacement for the orphaned TI-99/4A. Press is without a doubt the finest example of vaporware ever to invade the TI-99 community. Although there have been many other examples of vaporware, from firms or individuals who enjoyed a respectable level of credibility with 99ers, the failure of Press to materialize stands alone as the single biggest misstep by any entity promising something, to then not deliver. The program actually had some code completed, as you can see by the screenshot to the left. It is taken from the late Fall 1988 (aka Xmas issue) Triton Products catalog, where it was shown, listed and advertised as being available November 1, 1988. Press would be declared officially dead in July 1990. |  |
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PRK
BASIC: A series of subroutines residing in the Personal Record
Keeping (PHM 3013) and Statistics (PHM 3014) command modules that may
be called from TI BASIC. Through the use of these routines it is
possible to create a data file in TI BASIC that can be loaded into the
PRK or Statistics cartridges for manipulation. The routines that make
up PRK BASIC are:
* ACCEPT: Used to accept data entry from the console
keyboard and echo that entry to the screen at a specified location.
* DISPLAY: Used to display numeric values, character strings
or previously defined special characters on the screen at a specified
location.
* GETPUT: Used to write data to and read data from a file
which has been defined using the PREP and HEADER subprograms.
* HEADER: Used to write and/or read the information in the
file header.
* LOAD: Used to load data from an external device into the
area reserved by PREP.
* PREP: Used to define a fixed length data area in VDP RAM.
* SAVE: Used to save data from the area reserved by PREP to
an external device.
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PRINTER NAMES:
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PRODUCT STATUS:
Product
Status 1 and Product Status 2
-- These are two pages of product titles, product numbers, product
types and expected 4th quarter 1983 release dates for TI-99/4A products
announced by Texas Instruments. The charts themselves were sent to
retail dealers by TI.
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PRODUCT
SUPPORT REPRESENTATIVE: PSRs were "in the field" sales people
for the TI-99/4A, its software, accessories and peripherals. To give
PSRs a competitive advantage, Texas Instruments 'armed' them with a
Command Module Simulator, which was a shoebox sized device that allowed
any solid state software module to be run from a disk, which meant the
actual plug-in cartridge did not have to be carried around. (Although
I've never been fortunate enough to see one of these devices
'in-the-flesh', I have always pictured it as being an external disk
drive size and type of device). It also meant that the software could
be issued to PSRs before it even existed in cartridge form. PSRs were
also privy to inside information pertaining to the TI-99/4A product
line through TI's Product Support Review newsletter, a monthly
one-page, 2-sided flyer containing information on everything from the
Power Supply retrofit in March 1983 to the impending release of new
software such as TI Miniwriter. I personally own the March 1983 through
October 1983 newsletters, but have no information on how many other
issues exist.At the height of the program in 1983 there were over 1,800
PSRs working for Texas Instruments. (TI Merchandising Support document)
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PROGRAM
RECORDER: PHA 2700 - Released 1Q/1983 - MSRP $69.95 -- A
cassette tape recorder produced for Texas Instruments by General
Electric. It was actually the same as their exisiting Model 3-51528,
with Texas Instruments' name on it.
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| PROGRAMMING AIDS I: PHD 5004 / PHT 6004 - Released 4Q/1980 - MSRP $14.95 / $9.95 - The only one of three "Programming Aids" products to be released in both floppy diskette and cassette tape versions. According to the diskette instruction manual #1041554-504, Programming Aids I contains Catalog: catalogs diskette contents, I/O Subroutines: gives you complete control of the display screen through Display At, Accept At and Screen Print options, Lowercase: displays text in upper-case and lower-case letters, 2nd ASCII: can be used to highlight specified text messages, and Chardef: makes character definition quick and easy. |  |
| PROGRAMMING AIDS II: PHD 5005 - Released 4Q/1980 - MSRP $19.95 -- Consisted of four TI BASIC programs that were designed to add utility to the programmer's tool box. Contained DISK SORT, which was able to sort fixed-length data files in ascending or descending order using the disk as a sorting medium, RAM SORT, which also provided ascending or descending sorts of fixed-length files, but used the computer's memory as the sorting medium, MERGE, which showed how to combine two sorted fixed-length data files and DUMP, which was a program capable of displaying the contents of a data file in ASCII or hexadecimal notation. |  |
| PROJECT ACORN: The code name for IBM's Personal Computer prior to its unveiling in 1981. | |
| PROTECTO ENTERPRISES: Box 550 Barrington, IL 60010 (312) 382-5244 firm that was a discount broker for Commodore products during much of the 1980s. | |
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PROTECTOR II: Atarisoft
RX 8516 - Released 4Q/1983 - MSRP $44.95 - A port from the original
Synapse Software game. The TI-99/4A version was written by Mike Yantis.
According to the documentation, which has no product number, "It's war;
and the Xytonic Pulse-trackers, ravenous Chompers, rockets, meteroids,
lasers, the powerful Fraxullan Mother Ship, and the eruption of
Dragonmaw (the Volcano of Death) put your skill to the ultimate test as
your Needlefighters attempt the delicate evacuation of 18 stranded
survivors to the City of New Hope. But just as success seems assured, a
lava flow engulfs the city! Your only chance now is the blockaded
Verdan Fortress". Program cartridge was sold in a 10" X 7" dark yellow,
shrink-wrapped package. Protector II is a 1 player game that supports
use of joysticks.
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| PUNTER, STEVE: Author of the WordPro4 Plus word processor for the Commodore 8032 computer. (Compute! Oct82, p.1) | |
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PUZZLE 15: Extended
Software - Released 1982 - MSRP $9.95 -- Slide alphabetic squares into
order. Multiple squares may be moved. Computer keeps track of moves and
has a replay features. One of four games included in the Games Pak II
bundle, along with Artillery, De-Cypher and Flip Checkers.
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PYRAMID: Aardvark
Action Software 2352 S. Commerce St. Walled Lake, MI 48088 (313)
669-3110 released this adventure game in November 1983. Product #5002,
available on tape for $19.95, or disk for $24.95. (Compute! Nov83, p.91)
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PYRAMID PUZZLER: SF31186 - Released 2Q/1983
- MSRP $39.95 --
User Comments (provided by John E. Taylor and other members
of the Shoals 99er Uer Group in 1985): This module, by Scott, Foresman
and company, provides practice in multiplication for children in the 9
to 13 age range. The object of the game, for one or two players, is to
be the first to reach the top of the pyramid. In a two player game, you
race against your opponent. In the one player game, the computer is
your opponent. The pyramid is covered in a checkerboard pattern, and
the players start in opposite corners. In both versions of the game a
correct answer to a multiplication problem allows you to move one space
in any direction. You cannot move if your answer is incorrect. You can
"bump" your opponent further from the top of the pyramid by moving your
marker to his position. This feature puts some challenge, other than
multiplicaton, into the game. In the single player version of the game,
you move one space for each correct answer, and so does the computer.
However, if you answer the problem incorrectly you cannot move, but the
computer moves two spaces. If the computer moves its marker to the
space thay you are on, you are given an extra problem to answer. If you
get it right, the computer gets bumped. If you're wrong, you get
bumped. The module provides a fun way for children to practice
multiplicaton. With the three levels of difficulty that are available,
it should remain useful throughout the time a child is learning
multiplication.
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