ENTERTAINMENT
The University Daily
KANSAN
April 3, 1984 Page 6
Cost may shoot down laser-disc video games
By PHIL ENGLISH
Staff Reporter
Dirk the Daring wields his golden sword just in time to cut off the head of an evil-looking crypt creeper.
The brave young knight proudly looks to his left, then to his right and continues on his journey to find the beautiful Princess Daphne, who is being held captive by a frightening dragon.
Dirk steps to a creaky wooden door, but all of a sudden, the floor drops from beneath
Although Dirk is dead, a video arcade patron need not worry for three more Dirks are waiting at their fingertips ready to be tortured by a slew of "giddy goons."
THE GAME IS "DRAGON'S Lair," the first classically animated laser-disc arcade game. Instead of erratic Pac Mans and Donkey Kung Fu, the game game projects a colorful movie-like cartoon.
"Dragon's Lair" was the creation of comptuist consultant Kyle Dyer and former Warner Bros. executive Steve Gansel.
"The disc is a fantastic machine," said Bluth. "Laser will give a person photographic, detailed information that will be better than any chip. That's the beauty of it.
"You can also notice it lot more effects in the productions, such as shadows and sparkles in
By feeding the machine 50 cents, the arcade controller can control Dirk's actions by moving a lever downward.
THE OPERATOR HAS complete control over everything Dirk does, except his possible death, which marks the end of the game. If Dirk slays the dragon, he receives a kiss from Princess Daphne amidst a shower of colorful fireworks.
Dragon's Lair is the first of more than 12 laser-disc video games that have been manufactured since it became the summer's bottest new arcade game last July.
Newsweek reported that single games were
"Our total revenue today is over $100 million from Dragon's Lair alone," said Hilary Clark, publicity头 of Don Bluth Animation. "There are a few more videos on their disc games, for hories and in the arcades."
making as much as $1,400 a week at their inceptions.
Local arcades, such as the New Yorker Restaurant, 1021 Massachusetts St., and Bally's LaMame Family Fun Center, 460 W. Egg Harbor Drive from the game when it first arrived in August.
THAT'S GOOD NEWS for the financially allying video game industry, which has been losing patrons to a flood of games on the market. This has increased use of personal home computers.
Copyright 1983 Don Bluth
Don Bluth is shown with 'characters Ace, Kimberley and Borf' from his newest animated laser-disc arcade game "Space
Arc" by Mogicom.
"Dragon's Lair," released last July, boosted the financially slumped arcade industry. But not all within the industry believe the laser disc is a savior.
Lauran Bromley, director of promotions for Stern Electronics, the makers of "Cliff Hanger" and "Goal to Go," said that through the company, they would be one well for the company, the creation would not last.
"The laser-disc games aren't a big deal," she said. "The success will eventually be limited. An arcade operator gets a game that costs him between $4,000 and $6,000, and he's taking a chance on its success. They're looking for a cheaper game."
Greg Soden, manager of Bally's LeMans Family Fun Center, said that games like "Dragon's Lair" peaked early and then leveled off.
John Warner, merchandising manager for Bally Electronics, which manufacturers and distributes the laser-disc games, "M.A.C.H. 3," "Astron Belt," "Firefox" and "Inter Starlar," agreed that the future of the games was unstable.
WARNER SAID THAT an invention known as Optical Magnetic Tape, which allows the owner of an arcade to program many different games into one machine, could keep the laser-disc from taking off.
"The cost of making, distributing and buying these games is very expensive," he said. "The large game room operators are the only ones who can afford them, while the small ones can't."
'the laser disc idea is too expensive for the home and the arcade,' he said.
Bluth admitted that the laser-disc arcade games would experience a slight backin on the near future, but it was because other manufacturers had "poisoned the water."
browning the success of "Dragon's Lair." Bluth said video arcades became swamped with similar live-action, animated laser-disc models, which were manufactured quickly and inexpensively.
originals," he said. "The arcade owners were then left with a lot of machines that weren't very good."
"THE GAMES DID NOT make a lot of money because they were not as good as the
"They poisoned the water." he said.
the publicly published world. The firm that takes cooperation from the competing companies to help and support the development of laser-disc arcade games, to help the creation last longer.
But some of the makers of the laser-disc games are not the only skeptics about their
"The biggest disappointment about the game is that there is always a conclusion." Turner said.
Achievement in a laser-disc game peaks once the game has been mastered. Turner said this signals the end of the video adventure.
"The games are hot when they first come out, but they die off, just like every other game," he said. "They're definitely not the savior of the industry."
Mortal Micronotz get national applause
By PHIL ENGLISH Staff Reporter
The Mortal Micronotz think that they have not reached their potential as a band or as musicians.
The band has played in front of sell-out crowds in Lawrence and Kansas City, and it has opened for groups such as Ramen Man, X, the Gun Club and the Deadheads.
Their self-titled debut LP and follow-up extended play record "Smash" have been top-selling independent-label records in the Midwest and have received rave reviews from music magazines and newspapers throughout the country, such as Trouser Press and New York Rocker.
AND NOW, THE MORTAL Micronotz are the subject of a 30-minute radio documentary at 7 p.m. tonight on KJKH radio. 91 FM.
With nationwide press attention, two albums and numerous recordings under their belts, one would think the Micronotz would be happy.
"We've gotten a lot of reviews from all over the country," said David Dale, 20-year-old bass guitar player. "Some have been really good, some have been bad, and some have really dragged us through the gutter.
Well, they are happy - sort of.
"We never really started out doing
this stuff seriously. We just enjoyed what we were doing and kept doing it."
The Micronozz do produce some of the best "psychedelic, punk, garage, rock n'roll music." Dale said. And their success is only beginning.
THE BAND FORMED WHILE all were students at Central Junior High School in Lawrence. Dale, and fellow Micronetzo John Harper, 17-year-old guitar player; and Dean Lubensky, 17-year-old vocalist; got together to play cover versions of Iggy Pop and the Ramones songs.
"One day we heard The Embrassment on the radio and that really gave us a lot of incentive to keep up." Dale said. "Somehow members of The Embrassment heard a tape of us just speaking and they asked us to open for them."
Soon after playing a four-song set for The Embarrassment, in December of 1981, the four micronote (with former drummer Graham Reece), ranging in age from 14 to 17 years old, began to make a dent in the Lawrence music
One month after the Micronzotta played their first gig, Fresh Sounds, a Lawrence independent record label, released six songs for a tape featuring area bands.
"AFTER THE TAPE, we started to take things seriously." Dale said "Our next step was played in Wichita with
the Embarrassment and going to Kansas City."
1982 was a busy year for the Micronotz. The band added drummer Steve Eddy, who is now a 19-year-old KU freshman. The band also began touring the Midwest and released its first full-length album.
"We never thought it would get to this level." Dale said. "We never planned on it, but we did."
"It was really a new thing to be in a band and to write my own music," Eddy said. "As long as I've been in the band, I'm enthusiastic have always been there."
With a critically acclaimed album under their belts, the Micronet toured most of the country, stopping in such cities as Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Chicago.
"The shows we do are never as good as they potentially can be," Dale said. "We're happy to have met so many famous people who are very normal."
THE BAND ALSO FOUND themselves opening for most of the popular progressive music acts in Kansas City and Lawrence.
In August, the Micronzont released an eight song EP, "Smash" and have continued touring the country. They have recently recorded two songs for a Boulder, Colo., compilation record, "I Told I Told You To Su-Up."
Vance Hiner, a disc jockey at KXXX, 96 FM and KANU, 92 FM, wrote and edited the documentary on the Micronetz as part of his radio-television-film master's project. He said that he originally had only a slight interest in the Micronetz, but with the demise of new music establishments in Lawrence, he was attracted to the "quintessential local garage band."
"MY ORIGINAL IDEA was to cover the entire Lawrence music scene," he said. "But as I progressed on the subject, the Opera House closed, Off-the-Wall-Hall closed and several bands broke up or left town."
"All of the people I began to interview made them look out of the ordinary. Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedy's is one of the biggest Micronotz supporters and has been pushing them on a national scale.
The documentary, which consists of interviews, histories and several exceptions of the band's music, is an account of an up and-coming local band.
Hiner said that because the band was so young and remained unaffected by the press attention they had received for their recordings, they served as an example for other struggling independent label bands.
"They're an example of a revolution taking place in music," he said. "They're not the only example, but one of the best."
Video novels provide enjoyment for readers
By MELISSA BAUMAN
Chief Recorder
Staff Reporter
Of all the gin joints in all the world, that dame had to walk into mine.
when a murder's been committed, they come to me — the best gumshoe in the country. And I didn't get this reputation for nothing.
THE READER COULD become a gumshoe detective solving a murder mystery, an adventurer searching for the lost pyramid, a sorcerer's apprentice sent to dethrone a wicked wizard, or a character from any of the other seven novels now on the market.
These lines could have come from any one of a thousand dstore-store novels. But these Bogart-like phrases are now appearing in video novels, in which the reader plays the main character with the aid of a microcomputer.
The reader is given a written scenario, she said. If the character is in the living room, the computer screen might read, "You are in a large room with three doors, with a large mirror on the north wall and a painting by a famous artist to your left."
"I would never have thought to call them video novels," said Debra Mecca, promotions supervisor for Addison-Wesley, distributor of the Infocom disks. "Video, to me, implies graphics, and there are no graphics."
The reader then types in a command telling the character to examine the painting, exit through a door or any other response he can think of, using elements from the description.
THE CORRECT MOVE ALLOWS the reader to delve further into the mystery, she said. An incorrect move could get the video novel enthusiast killed.
"I have starved to death, drowned, died from exhaustion, and been vaporized in an explosion," wrote a Chicago Tribune reporter after playing "Planetfall." "I was once beaten to death for striking a superior officer. I should have known better."
MECCA SAID THE computer did not have a response for every command a reader might give. But programmers tried to make a computer response for virtually any command the player could conceive.
Mecca said that to finish a novel required about 30 hours. Fortunately, the disk allowed the player to store the game and save his place.
After "you have died" flashes across the screen, the player can return to the beginning of the novel with the added knowledge he has gained.
"I thought when I drank the bourbon, that there would be no response. But, the machine said 'Oh, that tasted fine I needed a bracer.' I knew it was time and then is okay, but don't get carried away."
For example, while playing "Deadline," Mecca received a description of a room that included a bottle of bourbon.
Mecca said that a player could change the plot to a certain extent.
"Certain things are going to happen. The program might say that a phone call is going to come at midnight. But I've gotten into the situation where we've tried to answer the phone
before another character, and this would change the plot," she said.
Mecca said these games were innovative not only because they lacked graphics, but also because they allowed players to use longer joystick controls. The games process just two-word commands, she said.
ALTHOUGH A READER CAN change some events, he still must find the clues leading to the murderer to finish the novel, she said.
The novels have become quite popular and are selling well in computer soft ware stores, Mecca said. They sell for about $40 to $50 and have appeared at the top of Softalk magazine's Top 30 Software Chart.
Infocom has published 10 novels and two more are near completion, she said. The novels fall into four categories: science-fiction, mystery, fantasy and adventure.
In addition, the player has a vocabulary of about 600 words to work with.
THE ORIGINAL VIDEO NOVEL, called "Adventure," was developed by a group of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mecca said.
Infocom, founded in 1979, was the first software firm to develop these adventures for retail sale.
Mecca said that these games appealed primarily to the reader rather than the computer buff. She said that an Infocom survey identified 72 percent of its customers as avid readers.
"It's not fine literature," she said, "but some of them are pretty well-written."
BLOOM COUNTY
BY BERKE BREATHED