Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Atari Power Entertainment Online Issue 03
*****************************************************************
* ** **
* A PPPP EEEEE O * ****** *
* A A P P E N * ******* *
* A A P P E L * ** oo *** *
* AAAAAAA PPPP EEEE I * * ++ *** *
* A A P E N * * ==== ** *
* A A. P. EEEEE. E * ******* *
* ** **
*****************************************************************
Atari Power Entertainment Online- A Monthly On-Line supplement to the
A.P.E. Newsletter
JULY 94(Summer CES 94 Special)
Issue 3
Atari Rocks at Summer CES
**************************
As you walked into McCormick Place North(the hotbed for video games and
electronic entertainment), the large Nintendo booth was to the left,
Acclaim's big, loud section(obviously they felt they had to make up for
in the noise department since Sega didn't have floor space this show), and
just to the right was the very noticeable Atari area.
Black and Red were the colors of preference and yellow cat's eyes were
everywhere. Located at the SouthWest corner of the booth was a Jag kiosk
with the long awaited Jag CD churning away. Two 19 inch monitors flanked
the unit and they were showing the same display as the kiosk's monitor.
The Jag CD was running some of the best full motion video I've ever seen
(that didn't have the assistance of an MPEG cart). This was all being done
with the built-in Cinepak compression and it was much better than 3DO and
light years beyond chunky Sega CD video). You could tell that it wasn't
quite VHS quality(some mild pixelezation was present) but it was more than
good enough to make people's jaws drop wide open. This was usually followed
by the person going up and looking(to make sure the CD was really running)
and then they'd grab a Jag CD info sheet. I saw this scene repeated 100s
of times over the 3 days.
The continuously running FMV display consisted of:
A letterbox sized sequence of the climax of "Jaws" when Roy Scheider blows
the shark to bit.
Next, came a full screen sequence of the tie fighter/Millenium Falcon
dogfight from "Star Wars".
Then, the action sequence from the conclusion of "Back to the Future 3"
where Doc rescues his girlfriend with the hoverboard, the Delorean hits
88 and leaves the flame trail off the unfinished train tressle, and then
the train engine dives into the ravine and explodes.
Finally, it finsished up with the entire preview from the Maverick movie.
Along with the great video, the sound was tremendous(unlike the audio
during FMV on the Sega CD). Not bad for a $200 CD-Rom drive. Unlike a
lot of drives, it won't have some built-in wimpy amount of battery backed
up ram to save games with. Instead, it uses seperate carts(something the
Sega CD was supposed to have by now) for game saves, high scores, etc.
Don't look for a power supply to come with it because it gets all the
power it needs supplied direct from the Jag.
Behind the FMV display, the Jag CD was showing off it's built-in Virtual
Light Machine program as it did some incredible graphics to all kinds of
different music. If you were lucky, you might even get a demo from Jeff
Minter himself. Minter mania was running wild at the show as tons of
people wanted to meet the man behind Tempest 2000. I even saw someone
have him sign their game manual. No, I'm not kidding.
At the SouthEast corner of the booth, Atari had a BIG tv(I'd guess 35 to
40 inches) setup with a killer sound system. They used this to show off
their showcase titles. Tempest 2000 spent a lot of time here(blowing
people away with it's incredible music and action). AvP got demoed and
people got mindblowing looks at the awesome new fighter Ultra Vortex and
the amazing polygon fest that is Iron Solider(more on these 2 killer
games later). The game that owned this display for the third day was the
long awaited Kasumi Ninja. People crowded around trying to get a glimpse
of the very bloody beat'em up. Even though it only had half of it's
characters done and was still lacking it's in-game music, people were
captivated by it. Atari also had one of the coolest promo items at the
show in the form of it's Kasumi Ninja headband. This beauty features
the Kasumi Ninja logo across the front with the Atari fuji at one end and
the Jag logo at the other end. I managed to get one on my second try
(although I think the guy may have taken it easy on me).
Lynx enthusiasts should take heart in the fact that 6 Lynx units were
on display but nothing new was being shown except for a limited edition
title from Telegames called Bubble Trouble(which was quite good)which will
be out in July. Atari is wisely putting all it's efforts into the Jag
right now and will worry about the Lynx once they've got the Jag established.
Along with the first 5 games, about 20 new Jag titles were being shown
(actually more people had titles but there just wasn't enough room to
accomodate).
Atari Titles
*************
Alien Vs. Predator is getting ever closer(they figure it'll be finsished
up in 4 more weeks). This was a constant draw throughout the show and
people were consistently blown away by it's smooth detailed graphics,
the killer animation of the Aliens and the Predators, and digitized sounds
straight from the movies(the motion tracker was extremely effective).
You can really get into this game. I saw more than one person jump when
something lunged at them. Believe the hype.
Checkered Flag has some very smooth, fast, Virtua Racing style graphics.
The control still needs some work(I'm betting a driving controller might
be the answer)and it only had one track(the famous...or infamous bow-tie).
Actually, they're probably not even going to use that one and the final
version will have 10 tracks. They're also going to be improving the sound
effects and adding a pit stop with a working pit crew.
Blue Lightning was on display in early form. It was running off a cart(it's
going to be a CD game) and looked pretty good. A lot of good looking
texture mapping(especially on the mountains). In the final game you'll
have a choice of 8 different aircraft. An A-10 Warthog for tank busting,
F-14 and F-18s for dogfighting, and some European and Soviet fighters(it's
a multi-national operation). The final game will also have 36 levels.
Club Drive still needs some work on it's San Francisco section and the
futuristic skate park or stunt track(whichever it's going to be). The
house and wild west sections do appear to be done or very close and they
rock. Fast 3-d polygons, cool different viewpoints, and excellent control.
The 2 player, split-screen tag game is a blast. The game has built-in
support for a steering controlller and will also utilize the upcoming Jag
voice modem for two player games.
Kasumi Ninja attracted quite a bit of attention at the show for it's
excellent graphics and cool fighting gameplay. By the end of a round, the
ground is covered in blood and the fatalities they have so far are real
attention-getters. For those who wish to screen their kids from such things,
it will feature a parent programmable password to turn off the gore.
In the final game, you'll gain opponent's powers as you defeat them as you
make your way to the evil boss bad guy. There's going to be hidden characters
and a secret Turbo mode for those who prefer their fighting faster.
Battle Zone 2000 was still very early but looked promising with a ton
of texture mapped 3-d.
Also early along was a 2 player split-screen space dogfighting game
tentatively titled Space War. The graphics looked very promising with
texture mapped space craft that explode in a shower of polygons. I saw
a lot of people really getting into this early title.
Yet another early promising looking title was an overhead driving game
called Rally. It uses a slightly angled perspective and looks as good
as a coin-op arcade game.
The big suprise from Atari was the awesome 3-d polygon game called Iron
Soldier. 3-d graphics that are a huge jump from Cybermorph(no things
pooping in the distance all of a sudden on this). You pilot a large robot
warrior with your view from about his head level. There was only 1 level
on display but it was something. You guide your mech through a city,
complete with skyscrapers. You fight enemy robots(to see one of these
walking around is a thing of beauty), artillery units, tanks, and some of
the best ploygon attack choopers I've ever seen(which are also texture
mapped). When you blast a buliding, it explodes in a rain of a ton of
polgon cubes. As your robot walks, you can move your view so you can look
up or down. If you look down, you'll see your beautifully animated robot
legs chugging along as you step on enemy forces. The game will also support
the voice modem and the Jag's network capability for 2 player action.
This is going to be VERY,VERY, VERY HOT!
Beyond Games
*************
They blew us away with Battlewheels on the Lynx and now they're going to
show Jag owners what is what with their new fighting game, Ultra Vortex.
UV uses digitized fighter that look incredible and have some excellent
moves. Stunning photorealistic animated backgrounds, rocking techno music,
and one of the most deep, evil announcer voices you've ever heard. This
is also going to be whopping 32 megabits(4 megabytes for computer enthusiasts)
and it shows. They're still adding characters(they're going to be doing
some awesome characters using clay animation and other techniques that will
knock your socks off) and they hope to be done in 2 more months. Look for
hidden stuff in this as well and a wide range of fatalities(and a parental
thing similar to Kasumi). This and Kasumi will both be worth buying for
fighting fans. Mortal what?
Id
***
Wolfenstein 3d was on display in finished cart form and it looks and sounds
great. Look for it in the next couple of weeks.
Doom was only being shown the first day(it kept locking up if you'd press
thr wrong thing) but it looked good and it was very smooth and fast. Still
a lot of work to go on it but so far so good. It will also support the
voice modem and we're hoping for 4 player network capability(cross your
fingers).
Telegames
**********
They were the first third party developer to release a game for the Lynx
so it's not strange that they're also going to have the first third party
Jag game with Brutal Sports Football. This Euro import is sort of like
Speedball meets football meets rugby meets soccer meets Mortal Kombat. It's
a lot of fun, especially with 2 players going at each other. Some gorgeous
arcade quality graphics and the music is really good.
Telegeames was also showing an unplayable demo of a game based on a sport
that you're probably not too familiar with. I'm talking about World Class
Cricket. Yes, you heard me right, Cricket. Could be interesting.
Telegames will also be releasing their chess/checkers/backgammon game
Ultimate Brain Games, World Class Soccer, and a gambling game called Casino
Royale. They have also announced 3 more Jag games. Something called
Virtuoso(?), one of the James Pond sequels, Operation Starfish, and Elite's
3-d driving game called Powerslide.
Williams Entertainment
***********************
This new company which consists of an allegiance of Tradewest and Bally
Midway, had their fighting game, Double Dragon V. It's very street
fighterish and shows potential. The cartoon character fighters though don't
stack up well graphically against Kasumi Ninja and Ultra Vortex.
An unplayable demo of Troy Aikman NFL Football was also being shown and it
looks very promising. The setup screens look great.
V-Reel
*******
This firm was showing an unplayable demo of their football game based on
the Arena Football league. It looks promising as well and they plan for
it to support the voice modem.
High Voltage
*************
High Voltage was showing an early along pinball title called Ruiner that
showed potential.
They also showed an early version of their in-your-face one-on-one street
basketball game, White Men Can't Jump for Trimark Interactive. It utilizes
digitized players and a field that scales as you head down the court towards
the net.
Imagitec
*********
The folks at Imagitec are busy doing not one but two conversions of
popular run and jump mario-style contests. They're handling Zool 2 for
Gremlin and Accolade's Bubsy for Atari. They both look quite good so far
and based on the music they did for Tempest 2000, sound expectations are
quite high.
Ubi Soft
*********
One of the true shockers at the show was Ubi Soft's stunning mario-type
game called Rayman. The game has gorgeous 24 frame per second animated
characters who look like they stepped out of a cartoon combined with
24-bit True Color backgrounds with multiple layers of parallax scrolling
that look like they're out of a Disney film. When magazines start running
their CES coverage you will be hearing about Rayman for the Jag.
US Gold
********
US Gold had an early version of Flashback for the Jaguar running in their
own booth. I was a little disappointed at first since it looked just like
the Genesis version(although the animation sequences were much faster).
Especially after I caught a glimpse of the new Sega CD version with better
music and new workstation generated FMV sequences(mind you they were
the typical chunky Sega CD quality). I was bummed until I read in their
press kit that the Jag version isn't going to be a cart but a CD. So we
can expect those new animated sequences only of a much higher quality.
4Play
******
This is a new company who is dedicated to making high quality Jag titles
that use the systems full capabilities(texture mapping, polygons, voice
modem play, network multiplayer, etc.). They were running an early demo
of their tentatively titled Star Battle game. The 3-d light shaded ploygon
ships on display looked great(I'm especially fond of the axe-blade shaped
craft called the Castrator(ouch)). The game should be very Star Raiders-ish.
I do have some extra info I picked up at the show but I'm gonna save that
for the printed edition of APE(due early July). If you're a subscriber,
keep your eye out for it. If not, check out the special deal coming up.
Magazine Watch
***************
There's not much of interest in current issues of game magazines for Jag
onwers(besides, all the really hot stuff just happened at CES).
I do have to tell you to skip the upcoming July issue of Diehard GameFan.
For the first time in months, the cupboard is bare. There's a little
something on the Jag version of Cannon Fodder in the Europa column but
that's it.
CES Followup
*************
This was the best CES(Atari-wise) that I ever attended. The Atari area
was constantly packed with people and games like Kasumi,Ultra Vortex, AvP,
Tempest 2000, Iron Soldier, and RayMan were blowing people's minds. 3rd
party developers were there in force checking things out and I wouldn't
be suprised if you see more big names hopping on the 64-bit bandwagon.
Buyers and stores were also extremely interested in the Jag as well so
don't be too suprised when it starts showing up in more and more locations.
The looks on people's faces when they saw the Jag CD's FMV in action or
when they spotted somebody doing a fatality in Kasumi were priceless.
It's a whole new world folks.
Get a Free YEAR of APE
************************
In an attempt to get a larger subscriber base, I've decided to be a little
bold. Instead of just getting 1 issue to check out, you can now get a
free 1 year subscription to APE. To get your free subscription, all you
have to do is give me your mailing address. You can GE-Mail the info to
me at Genie via C.SMITH89 or through the Internet at
c.smith89@genie.geis.com
If you don't have access to Genie or Internet you can mail your free
issue request to:
APE Newsletter
2104 North Kostner
Chicago,IL 60639
You'll receive your subscription starting with issue 16(the Summer CES
issue due early July) and you'll get a back issue order form. Hopefully,
once your year of issues is done, you'll be interested in renewing.
Unfortunately, I can only extend this offer to people in the USA and
Canada(overseas mailing costs would kill me). Also, former subscribers
to APE can only take advantage of this if your subscription ran out over
a year ago.
Please feel free to pass this around to any other information services or
bulletin boards where interested Jag and Lynx owners might be.
