If your Atarisoft Pac Man is lonesome on the shelf next to your TI computer, take heart. Ms. Pac Man will soon be available to cozy up next to him, according to a spokesperson for Atari. Currently, Atarisoft titles for the T199/4A are Pac Man, Dig Dug, Centipede, Defender, Donkey Kong, Robotron: 2084, Stargate, Shamus, Picnic Paranoia, Protector and Super Storm. Scheduled for release at various times throughout the spring are Joust, Pole Position, Ms. Pac Man, Moon Patrol and Jungle Hunt. Atari will release educational and home applications titles for the TI-99/4A later in the spring, but the spokeswoman declined to give specific titles. At this point, Star Raiders does not seem to be among the games to be translated for the TI. She said she is unaware of any plans for development of hardware or disk or cassette-based software for the TI. The list price for the Atarisoft cartridge games for the TI is $44.95.

Bruce Entin, Atari’s vice president for corporate communications, says the company has met with ‘very good response’ to Atarisoft from both consumers and dealers. Now that Texas Instruments is out of the market. Entin says. ‘‘consumers who own those machines are asking. ‘What are we doing for software’.’’ ‘‘Dealers recognize that there’s something like two million TI machines out there,” he adds. Despite Atari’s plans to add non-game software later this year, Entin feels that games are always going to be an important part of the home computer software market. He says that about 60 percent of the time people use a home computer is spent on entertainment.

The challenge he says is to develop software that provides an "entertainment crescendo". ”Now that the novelty of home computers is wearing off, marketers are becoming more aware of the need to compete with the hundreds of other leisure-time activities available to consumers. To be competitive among all these choices, he says, software needs to be “especially compelling.” Entin feels that there will be no more computer price wars such as those of the recent past. “The home computer market went through a phase of a downward spiral of prices. We think that’s over,” he says. “Manufacturers and consumers alike are looking at computers for what they can do rather than how cheaptheyare,” he says. LB

What The Games Are About

As for the games that are available: It seems almost superftuous to describe Pac Man, a game that inspired a popular song, a television show and a breakfast cereal, but for those who have just returned to civilization from some remote corner of the globe and want to catch upon the computer era. Pac Man is a chomping circular creature who eats dots and sometimes energy tablets which enable him to immobilize the ghosts which chase after him.

Dig Dug burrows tunnels in search of fruits and vegetables that he eats to score points. As the player guides him horizontally and vertically across the screen to dig new tunnels, he is attacked by monsters that lurk behind the fruits and vegetables.

When you play Centipede, the screen is a mushroom patch and you live at the bottom. Centipedes, scorpions, spiders and fleas descend from the top of the screen to attack you, so you have to shoot fast or be stung.

In Defender the player is the pilot of a spaceship shooting through the galaxy at hyperspace speeds whose mission is to fly along the surface of a dangerous planet and save the humanoids there from an assortment of strange invaders.

In Donkey Kong (another game with its own breakfast cereal and TV cartoon series), Mario the carpenter bounces, climbs and rides up girders and elevators, trying to get to the top of a building where his sweetheart is being held by the gorilla Donkey Kong. The player tries to keep Mario from falling or being bumped off as he heads or the top of the building.

When you play Robotron:2084 you are the only one who can save the world from the Robotrons, a swarm of robot monsters bent on destroying humanity. The object is to rescue the remaining humans before the Robotrons destroy them.

Stargate is a sequel to Defender, in which the player pilots a space ship to a planet where aliens try to capture helpless humanoids. As an array of creatures attacks constantly, the choice must be made between fighting the attackers and saving the humanoids.

Shamus is a detective who is pitted againsta horde of robot henchmen controlled by the Shadow. The player guides Shamus through a deadly maze, using only razor sharp daggers as a defense against the enemy’s laser blasts. Successful plavers will ultimately come face to face with the Shadow for a final conflict.

Ants, wasps and spiders swarm the screen as you try to enjoy a picnic in Picnic Paranoia. You have to swat them furiously to keep them from carrying off the food, but they can paralyze you with their bites if you aren’t careful.

In Protector, the player is a space fighter pilot manuevering through meteoroids, lasers and rockets whose mission is to rescue 18 survivors stranded near a volcano before the volcano erupts. Alien attackers complicate the mission and try to destroy the pilot.

In Super Storm, the Earth is being invaded by creatures who are trying to drown all life by raising the levels of the oceans. The player controls a fleet of warships representing the planet’s only defense.

And here are the story lines for the new games:

In Joust, the player is tested against natural disasters, armed riders from the Dark Region and birds of prey. Astride an ostrich and armed with a jousting pole, the player tries to knock the outlaw knights off their buzzards.

Pole Position puts the player in the driver’s seat of a race car. Drivers have the option of four levels of difficulty, and compile points for meters driven, seconds left over at the end of the race and bonus points for each car passed.

Ms. Pac Man is similar to Pac Man, with the chomping, circular character portrayed as a female.

Moon Patrol turns the player into the captain of a land cruiser patrolling the moon’s surface. Alien spaceships try to thwart the player’s mission as he defends himself while maneuvering through craters and boulders which could destroy the moon buggy.

In Jungle Hunt, the player performs such feats as swinging on ropes from tree to tree and battling with alligators to save a dam- set in distress. LB