Products update

Compiled by Tom Byron
START Associate Editor

			Miniature golf was never like this! In Zany Golf, the latest game from Elec- tronic Arts, you must skillfully maneuver through windmills and past jumping hamburgers. Watch out for some sur- prises.

New Arcade Games for the ST

From Electronic Arts comes miniature golf with a twist. In Zany Golf, you maneuver your ball through nine of the wildest holes ever imagined. Get your ball past the dashing lights and crazy bumpers of the Pinball hole, or putt under a jumping burger at the Hamburger hole. At the Energy hole you must dodge laser beams, particle rays and transporter pads where balls careen unexpectedly, or disappear in a burst of fireworks. Watch out for surprises. Zany Golf, $39.95. Electronic Arts, 1820 Gateway Drive, San Mateo, CA 94404, (415) 571-7171.

Swiftar, from Accustar, is an arcade shoot-em-up with 10 vertically scrolling and constantly changing landscapes. Stunning animation and detailed graphics provide non-stop action. Swiftar, $39.95. Accustar Software, Inc., Box 457, Rochester, MI 48308, (800) 777-1690.

Psyclapse has just released Ballistix, a thrilling new game that's going to blast all the other so-called soccer-type ball games right off the board. All you've got to do in Ballistix is score more goals than your opponent, whether it's another humanoid or the computer. Simple? Well, not quite . . . Ballistix, $34.95. Psyclapse (a division of Psygnosis), distributed by Computer Software Service, 2150 Executive Drive, Addison, IL 60101, (312) 620-4444.

COBOL for the ST

COBOL/MST brings to the ST and Mega computers the power and portability of the most popular business computer language in a package designed to take advantage of the features of the GEM environment.

Major features of the package include: the Edit/MST programmer's text utility for full-screen source-code maintenance; the Shell/MST command-line interpreter that simulates the MS-DOS/UNIX environment; and a fast, specialized assembler and a compiler that generates native 68000 code. COBOL/MST, $199. Castech Software Systems, P.O. Box 147, Grandview, MO 64030, (816) 767-1233.

New Graphic Adventures for the ST

Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders is the latest in Lucasfilm's line of comedy/thriller adventure games. As the title character, you're a journalist who writes for a supermarket tabloid, the National Inquisitor. You love to invent stories about possessed toasters, two-headed turtles, Martian minestrone recipes and vegetarian vampires. But when you discover that an Inquisitor story about space aliens who've taken over the phone company and plan to reduce our IQs to single digits is actually true, you're off on the adventure of your life. Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, $44.95. Lucasfilm Games (distributed by Mediagenic), 3885 Bohannon Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025. (415) 329-0800.

The newest game from Magnetic Images is The Lost Dutchman Mine, a graphic adventure set in the Old West among the legendary Superstition Mountains of Arizona. A century ago an old German prospector named Jacob Waltz discovered a fabulous gold mine, but the secret of its location died with him. Ever since, countless hopefuls have searched for the Lost Dutchman Mine. You get to be the old prospector in search of the mine. The Lost Dutchman Mine, $49.95. Magnetic Images Co., P.O. Box 17422, Phoenix, AZ 85011, (602) 265-7849.

Dream Zone is an intriguing new graphic adventure game that casts you as the prisoner of your own dreams. Dream Zone includes over 100 locales to explore, and you'll converse with a variety of people, animals and things either by typing in commands or clicking on objects and action icons with the mouse. Logic, imagination, persistence and sense of humor are required to locate and overcome the source of the dream-zone nightmare. Dream Zone, $49.95. Baudville, 5380 52nd Street SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49508, (616) 698-0888.

	Spectrum HoloByte extensively researched NASA's space-shuttle oper- ation and designed Orbiter to be as realistic as possible without sacrificing playability. Players not only participate in a space-shuttle launch, but actually develop an in-depth understanding of space flight and missions.

Orbiter, the Space Shuttle Flight Simulator

Realism from launch to landing is the cornerstone of Spectrum HoloByte's space-shuttle simulation, Orbiter.

Since the 1950s, space flight has fascinated the world. Interest has reached a new peak with the recent resumption of space-shuttle flights, but until now most people couldn't even hope to participate in a launch. With Orbiter, players can command a shuttle launch, travel in orbit, complete various missions and return the shuttle to earth. Spectrum HoloByte extensively researched NASA's space-shuttle operation and designed the program to be as realistic as possible without sacrificing playability. Players not only participate in a space-shuffle launch, but actually develop an in-depth understanding of space flight and missions. Orbiter, $39.95. Spectrum HoloByte, 2061 Challenger Drive, Alameda, CA 94501, (415) 522-3584.

Overhead Projection for the ST

Now you can have flicker-free, evenly spaced, "true" grays for lifelike overhead displays on the ViewFrame II+2 line of Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) projection displays from nView Corp.

Since high-resolution color displays are not yet possible using liquid crystal technology, nView has implemented its proprietary gray-scale design in their projection displays. The result is a very realistic and clear projection of a computer image for presentations at business meetings, trade shows and schools.

The ST version is compatible with all three resolutions and uses a proprietary scanning technique that doubles the vertical lines. Primary colors and their derivatives are presented in eight shades of gray. ViewFrame II+2, $1,850. nView Corporation, 11835 Canon Blvd., Suite C-101, Newport News, VA 23606, (804) 873-1354.

Do you have a new ST product? If so, we'd like to hear from you. Please send any press releases and product photos to Products Update, START, 544 Second Street, San Francisco, CA 94107.