Independent 8-bit software developer Atlantis Games Group (AGG) is developing quite a few titles for the Atari 8-bit, with some already reported in previous weeks (such as Tempest Xtreem). However, many of the group's projects haven't been updated for some time now, and one of these is an unofficial port of Sega's classic Arcade game OutRun. AGG claims that it was down to Atari's mismanagement during the 1980s that meant the game never appeared on the XE/XL range. Because of this allegation, the group started to port it to the micro computer last year, with the most recent official news update appearing back in December 2007.

Thankfully, there's progress, albeit at a pedestrian pace - one of the members of AGG, Sal 'Manned' Esquivel, is directing the OutRun port, and also converting the musical scores to play through Atari's much underrated POKEY sound chip, has posted new screenshots on the AtariAge forums (found at www.atariage.com/forums) clearly showing a binary interpretation of the Ferrari Testarossa convertible, complete with the famous thrill-seeking blonde who just wants to enjoy the ride. Although nothing is playable yet, there are some files (such as the in-game music, screen shots and a rolling preview) are available through AGG's official site at www.atlantisgamesgroup.com.

Keeping with Atari for a moment more, the news portal at www.atari.sk has news of a Lynx collection of public domain games being released for use on emulators only (at the moment, anyway). I've not had the chance to try them myself yet, but if you need an emulator for the powerful 16-bit colour handheld games console, Handy (for Windows) is available from tinyurl.com/Ly8ndf. Further information about this emulator can be found at the previously mentioned AtariAge website, as it might be difficult to set up for first-time users.

For some (myself included), Creative Micro Designs' SuperCPU accelerator upgrade for the Commodore é4 (and later, the 128) was the future of computing and gaming on the aged machine. Adding a 65816 16-bit processor clocked at 20MHz, and increasing the directly accessible memory up to 16MB was a dream, and would surely carry the C64 forward from the 1990s to the new century. And although there was a lot of initial support for it, as programmers considered what to do with a performance C64, this largely resulted in productivity software for GEOS (a windows-type operating system), rather than entertainment wares.

In fact, there's been only one game specifically created for the upgrade - the sublime shooter Metal Dust, released back in 2005 by Protovision (www.protovision-online.de). By then, the hardware was approaching a decade old, and with it being virtually discontinued, due to apparent problems at www.cmdrkey.com, few could taste the future of C64 gaming unless they had deep pockets, and found someone willing to part with their SuperCPU. Since then, the upgrade itself has become a sought after, sometimes mythical and often misunderstood, device.

Well, for those of us who are lucky enough to own one, there could yet be some new software released for it. Mike Dailly, creator of Xenon TriOxide (www.xeod.org), has been experimenting with the SuperCPU, as well as the unexpanded C64, and the PC Engine. His musings make for an interesting read, and as he states on his weblog (dailly.blogspot.com), "I think you need to do something really different - something that would be impossible on a stock machine." As for what that is, who knows, but Mike has promised to upload a demonstration of his coding in due course.

And for those who hunt the SuperCPU, there are whispers of a possible replacement for the device being made at some point in the future. However, with it taking nine years for the first full game to be released for it, the wheels obviously turn very slowly, so don't hold your breath.