Classic Computer Magazine Archive COMPUTE! ISSUE 42 / NOVEMBER 1983 / PAGE 313

TI-99/4A Peripherals And Software

Texas Instruments has changed its marketing strategy for TI-99/ 4A Home Computer peripherals. Prices for peripheral equipment and some software have been cut, and TI has begun selling its disk-storage related peripherals as a package.

The Disk Drive Memory System, which now has a suggested retail price of $550, consists of the peripheral expansion box, the disk controller card, one disk drive, and a 32K memory expansion card. Under TI's old pricing system, the suggested retail price for the above combination of equipment was $1,200.

Other reductions include: the P-Code Card, cut from $250 to $100; the RS-232 card, reduced from $175 to $100; the telephone coupler, from $200 to $100; the Impact Printer, from $750 to $500; and TI Logo II, from $129.95 to $99.95.

In other news from TI, the company has signed manufacturing and marketing agreements for software from Brøderbund Software, Spinnaker Software, and Sega Enterprises. Under the agreements, the software makers will supply programs to TI, and TI will translate them to ROM cartridge and market them.

As a result of the agreements, TI's software library soon will include Brøderbund's Choplifter, a daredevil rescue game, and David's Midnight Magic, a high-resolution pinball game simulation.

Spinnaker's first offerings to TI are Facemaker, an educational game for 4- to 12-year-olds, and Story Machine, a program that teaches children to write sentences, paragraphs, and simple stories, and then brings the stories to life through color graphics and sound.

Sega, a recognized leader in coin-operated amusement games, will provide TI with Congo Bongo, a cartoon-like adventure that takes players over and through jungle obstacles; Star Trek, in which the player controls the starship Enterprise against the Klingons; and Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom, a space adventure filled with challenging tunnels and channels to negotiate and bizarre aliens to outsmart.

Most of the above software is expected to sell for $39.95 in cartridge format.

Texas Instruments, Inc.
P.O. Box 53
Lubbock, TX 79408
(800)858-4565