Lights, Camera, Action!

Update: I've long since lost these videos. Has anyone got them to share? Thx

ST Video Player is one of those programs that will drop your mouth wide open with amazement. You just won't believe that your humble 512kb 8Mhz Atari STE (with a hard drive) can produce such amazing high-colour movies.

This piece of magic was written by Cyg of BlaBla (the creators of some of the best Atari ST/e demos that I've ever seen). Movies come in the format of .CAV files so just drag & drop one onto the program and prepare to be amazed. I hope to see more videos released for the Atari STe - very soon! Download from Demozoo and Pouet.

Atari ST magazines

( my virtual Atari Falcon w/ MiNT and three PDF magazines being displayed using zView )

An era long gone

The Atari ST had some of the best magazines the world has ever seen, and I still find it helpful in referring back to old issues for their features, reviews, and other information. Thankfully, many websites have scans of this golden era covering ST Action, ST Format, Atari World, ST User, The One, etc...

So enjoy the 16-bit reading, and cover disks!!

Grab a magazine from the rack...

AtariMania is always a great resource, as they have a fantastic magazine section.

A wonderful website dedicated to Atari ST Review, including their coverdisks.

Kiwis World seems to have bucketloads of Atari ST magazines.

Exxos has a page for ST Format and Atari World with coverdisks.

The Zogging Hell website has a great collection of various magazine coverdisks.

Of course, there's always the newest Atari ST magazine on the block - AtariCrypt!!

Starglider

Unplug the TV!

If I had to name an Atari ST game that defined the 1980s, then Starglider would be up there with the best of 'em. This 3D shooter somehow appeared from out of nowhere and rewrote the book on how a shooter should be. A whole new generation of gamers witnessed this explosion of 3D aesthetics like never before.

Today I wanted to show you a lesser-known aspect of Starglider. It supports the ST’s crisp Hi-Resolution mode, sacrificing colour for increased definition thanks to the 640x400 display. A legendary game running on a display, unlike anything else at the time. Of course, everything else remains unchanged, including the gameplay.

I've always loved Starglider as it's a perfect blend of action and strategy. The mouse controls are spot-on, and the combination of using both buttons to fire/move is extraordinarily efficient. The sound effects are superb and feel somewhat arcade-like to me. However, it's the opening music that many remember the most. What can I say... Staaaaaaaarrrrrrgliiiiiderrrrrrr from Rainnnnnnbirrrrrrd (insert echo effect)!!!

This is still a jaw-dropping shooter, which plays every bit as well as I remember. Everything from the smooth framerate to crisp sound effects to exciting gameplay style. It's challenging yet a constantly enjoyable shooter. In fact, it's timeless. Play it by downloading either the floppy or hard disk versions. Yes, right now.