April 1983

PLUG IN

You may not believe it, but turn AIR FORCE ONE around and you're face to face with CHRIS DIFFORD, formerly of the British group Squeeze and a Battlezone fan from way back. "At least since a minute ago," he'd probably add if we asked him—so we didn't!

CONTENTS

Upfront

VIDIOTS, If it seems slightly misleading to have the Beatles on the cover of what you perceive as a videogame magazine...well, that's the point. VIDIOT isn't just a videogame magazine. There are too many of those. It's an interesting situation here, putting out VIDIOT.

Letters from VIDIOTS

MORE VEEJA YS! You wanted letters? Well, you have one now. I don't normally purchase Videorelated magazines, my tastes being aimed toward more literary mags, but I was perusing one that my younger brother bought, and came upon your article on MTV.

VIDIOTS IN THE NEWS

NEW YORK—Boardrooms at Warner Communications are still reverberating from shock waves following the announcement that its fourth quarter profits would drop some 50 percent due to Atari's inflated sales projections. Two stockholders, Meryl and Richard Glovin, recently filed suit against Warners here, charging that Chairman Steven Ross sold some 140,000 shares of his stock prior to a Dec. 8 announcement that Atari would not perform to expectations.

THE VIDIOT ....VOCABULARY....

DOUG HELLER

As a Vidiot, you already know what we're talking about. But as a service to some of our newer readers just noticing the world of video that's surrounding them—and interested in learning more about—we're providing a list of words commonly used in video.

STOCKS AND BOMBS

P. GREGORY SPRINGER

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the stock market, not a space creature was selling, not even Atari. Actually, it was December 8th when Warner Communications Inc., parent corporation for Atari video games, admitted that their year hadn't been that hot, that-in fact-stockholders could probably expect their shares to be about a dollar down from expectations, from $5.25 predicted to maybe $4.25 or less.

HARDWARE/SOFTWARE

RICHARD ROBINSON

As an electronic swami of sorts, I get quite a few phone calls from friends, friends of friends, and strangers who've been given my phone number. These calls all center around the big question: "I've got the money, I want to buy a new machine, but I don't know which one to get!"

ARCADE CHIC

A true vidiot realizes that, above all else, style and elegance count the most. Style and elegance expressed not only through game-playing, not only through the active pursuit of leisure, but through the dress and wearing apparel that marks one throughout life.

Pick It Up While It's Hot!!

Now that you've picked up the latest issue of VIDIOT, we'd like to know what you think! As fellow vidiots in this thing together, we created VIDIOT especially for you! That's right. It's your magazine! Is there something that you'd especially like to see in VIDIOT?

ARCADE ACTION

P. GREGORY SPRINGER

JUNGLE HUNT—Who greased that grapevine? Taito's barbarians in the jungle are holding their own against the popularity of this generic jungleman. Because the Edgar Rice Burroughs foundation holds an invincible right to the name of the original jungle lord (i.e. "Tarzan"), Taito had to avoid going to court when Burroughs swooped down on their original game, Jungle King.

JOHN COUGAR

With two hits in the Top 10 at the same time, Mr. Cougar probably made enough money this post year to buy his own video arcade ! If nothing else, it would keep him and his boys off the street and out of trouble. Seen here in front of one of his fave rave games, this vidiot offers the philosophy according to Cougar: "Everyone needs a joystick to hold onto" and "Oh, yeah, the game goes on, long after the thrill of playing is gone !"

ARCADE ACTION CLOSE-UP

I admit it. I am a Q*Bert burnout. After two days on the suicidal pyramid of cubes, it became impossible to recognize the tops from the bottoms. Once one has flunked the ground/figure psychology test, unable to see the vase instead of the two faces kissing there's no going back.

THE BEATLES

THE COMPLEAT BEATLES

BILL HOLDSHIP

As a rock 'n' roll fanatic, I originally bought a video recorder hoping to collect a lot of vintage rock footage. Although I've enjoyed recording everything from The TAMI Show to Monterey Pop to Rock 'N' Roll High School for posterity's sake, my main ambition has been to obtain classic clips of Elvis Presley, especially from the '50s (which is another column) and, of course, the Beatles from every phase of their career.

THE FAB FOUR ON FILM

Listed below are films that either feature the Beatles or are related in some way to the band. (Ringo's feature films, everything from Candy to Caveman, have been excluded for space reasons.) Not all are commercially available as videocassettes, only those indicated—the others can be found on television or as bootlegs.

COLECO STANDS ALONE (NO KIDDING)

RICK JOHNSON

Take it from me—coming up with feature ideas about videogames is Desperation City. After all, each one of them is basically a variation of the three "classic" games, Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Logging Blimp. Once you get past that, it's mainly pretty colors and quaint names.

ARCADE MACHO PICK UP OR SHUT UP

MARK J. NORTON

Ever got into a fight over a girl? Sure you have! As a red-blooded American guy, would you stoop to wimpdom by allowing some geek to steal your girl without a bloodletting fight? Of course not! Whether on the dance floor, football field, street or arcade we are fighting for but one thing: Women!

EYE HAND WHAT'S NEW FOR VIDIOTS

Rick Johnson

Here's a new game that's even more fun than luring E.T. into the Eat Candy Zone and then melting his crummy Reese's Pieces with rocket exhaust. For starters, it's an EZ learn. There you sit in the usual partially-mobile spaceship, blasting waves of missile-spitting aliens that can attack from three directions.

THE NAME GAME

J. KORDOSH

Two things got me interested in the Name Game. The first is the rather obvious tendency for vidgames to fall into certain categories, going strictly by their names. I leave it to the reader to guess what Space Invaders, Moon Patrol, Asteroids, and Galaxian have in common.

Inside the NAME FACTORY

All these screwball names must be pretty hard to come up with, right? Of course not! Getting paid for gurgling seems to be one of the legitimate thrills around the old vid-game farm. Jack Hubka of Gottlieb explains: "It's really pretty simple—we get about 30 people standing around and we bounce things off each other."

ROCK VIDIOCY WHAT YOU CAN'T SEE (You Can't Buy)

DAVE DiMARTINO

Back a few months ago, something unusual happened: Captain Beefheart was on TV. That may not sound like much, but it was. Near as I can figure, it must've been only the third or fourth time Beefheart—aka Don Van Vliet —has ever had a television audience.

CAPT. VIDIOT Electronic Q & A

I've been reading the ads in the papers for the Atari, Intellivision, and ColecoVision video game machines, and frankly I'm confusedl I know that none of the game carts for one system work with the other systems, but what I can't figure out is which system has the most games available.

TANÉ CAIN IS A VIDIOT!

New singing sensation Toné looks like she may be a newcomer to vidiocy as well, concentrating here on Donkey Kong Junior as opposed to the Kong's mighty dad! We don't know what her favorite game is, but we'd bet that one of 'em is the new Journey Escape game, since she probably gets a big kick out of trying to keep those evil, electronic groupies away from hubby Jonathan Cain !