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Jaguar Explorer Online Volume 2 Issue 4
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Volume 2, Issue 4 JAGUAR EXPLORER ONLINE December 18, 1998 ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: ::
:: JAGUAR ............. News, Reviews, & Solutions ............. JAGUAR ::
:: EXPLORER ........... For the Online Jaguar .......... EXPLORER ::
:: ONLINE ................ Community ............... ONLINE ::
:: ::
:: Published and Copyright (c) 1998 by White Space Publishers ::
:: All Rights Reserved ::
:: """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" ::
:: Publisher Emeritus Plus .................... Michael Lindsay ::
:: Publisher Emeritus .............................. Travis Guy ::
:: Editor/Publisher ............................ Clay Halliwell ::
:: Lynx Editor .................................... Carl Forhan ::
:: Genie Uploader .............................. Clay Halliwell ::
:: CompuServe Uploader ......................... Richard Turner ::
:: America Online Uploader ....................... Lonnie Smith ::
:: FidoNet Uploader ................................ Troy Cheek ::
:: ::
:: Contributors: ::
:: (voluntary and otherwise) ::
:: """"""""""""""""""""""""" ::
:: Richard Turner, Jeff Minter, Doug Engel, ::
:: Fard Muhammad, Jeremy Wilburne ::
:: ::
:: Telecommunicated to you via: ::
:: """""""""""""""""""""""""""" ::
:: GEnie: ST/JAGUAR RT Library 15 ::
:: AOL: VIDEO GAMES FORUM Hints, Tips and Tricks II Library ::
:: CompuServe: ATARIGAMING and VIDGAME Forums ::
:: FidoNet: ATARI_ST and VID_GAME Echoes ::
:: ::
:: World Wide Web: http://www.atarihq.com/jeo/ ::
:: ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Table of Contents
* From the Editor ......................................... Happy New Year!
* 1998 End of Year Survey ..................... Hello? Is anyone out there?
* JEO Trivia Challenge IV: The Questions ............... Strain Your Brain.
* Jaguar Tackboard .................. Newsletters, Message Boards, Mailing
Lists, FAQs, Codes, Development
List, Mail Order Directory.
* CyberChatter .......................................... Overheard Online.
* BattleSphere News ..................................... 4Play Marches On.
* Llatest from Llamaland ........................................ Yak yaks.
* The Yank's Guide to Yak Speak ................................. Baaaaaah.
* State of the Lynx .............................. The Little Cat Purrs On.
* Interview: James Garvin .................................. Oh I say, OMC!
* Five Years of 64-bit Goodness .................... The Jag Turns Classic.
* Shareholder Memories ............................ First-Hand Foolishness.
* JEO Trivia Challenge IV: The Answers .............................. D'Oh!
* Shutdown ............................ Around the world and up your block.
--==--==--==--==--
|| From the Editor
|| By: Clay Halliwell
\__// earl.halliwell@dyess.af.mil
------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm one of those people who always skips the "From the Editor" section of
any magazine. I'm urging you not to skip this section this month though, as
there are rather a lot of froody tidbits below. Read on!
This is so cool. When I initially took ownership of JEO (nee AEO) my target
was four issues a year. Last year I missed that mark by one, and with the
huge gap between the first two issues of this year, it looked like I was
going to miss it again. But thanks to some last-minute scrambling, an
intriguing article idea, an unexpected item, and an unusually verbose
interview subject, JEO Volume 2, Issue 4 is a reality. Woo-hoo!
Amongst all this, I've been going through some personal upheavals. First of
all, my email address has changed from halliwee@dyess.af.mil to earl.
halliwell@dyess.af.mil. So be sure to update your address books! The
second, more dire change is that I hit thirty years of age last month. Oh,
the horror. If things keep up like this, I may have to eventually start
acting my age... nahh!
Something else we all love (grin) had a birthday this November. The Jaguar
hit its five-year mark. Happy semi-decade, you old cat you! Be sure to read
Fard's tribute in this issue.
Wait, that's not all! Computer Shopper also celebrated a birthday this
month. The December 1998 issue of Computer Shopper is their 20th
Anniversary Issue, and to commemorate the occasion, they have a few
"looking back"-type articles, plus a handful of "Flashback" sidebars. Guess
how many times Atari is mentioned? Okay, time's up: There is exactly ONE
reference to Atari in the entire 550-page issue. At least it was a positive
one... the introduction of the Atari 800 is listed as one of the Top 20
Events of the Last 20 Years. Such snubbing would be bad enough, but they
take it to the point of factual errors-- In an article on portable
computing, they cite the HP 95LX as, "a pioneer that put the then-dominant
operating system, MS-DOS, in a pocket-size package." This unit came out in
1991. As any diehard Atarian knows, the Atari Portfolio (which the 95LX
highly resembles) came out in 1989, two years before the 95LX.
Aaarrrggghhh...
Okay, enough ranting. I bet you're wondering about BattleSphere, right?
Well, it's still not out yet. Since the completion announcement a couple of
months ago, 4Play has gone into deep stealth mode. An inquiry by myself to
Scott Le Grand was greeted with a terse, "Yes, I have been quiet. I cannot
say anything more at this point." (hope you don't mind me quoting that,
Scott!). So, something mysterious is going on over there at 4Play.
Speaking of 4Play, Stephanie Wukovitz has a new website: <http://www.
stefcam.com>. Yes, it's yet another webcam site. Drop by and bear witness
to the awesome Towel Dance!
Speaking of Steph (and still speaking of 4Play), the BattleSphere
soundtrack petition is currently towering at 158 requests! If you still
haven't signed up, and want your very own CD of some of the best music for
one of the best games on the Jag, drop by <http://jaguar.holyoak.com/
bspetition.html>.
JTS may no longer be among the living. Their web site <http://www.jtscorp.
com> seems on the verge of going down, no-one is answering the phones, and
their stock was taken off AMEX a few months ago. There haven't been any
official announcements yet, but I'm betting it's only a matter of time...
For those of you wondering when VM Labs would bite the bullet and pick an
official name for Project X... well, they went and did it. It's "NUON". You
heard me right... "NUON". As in, "NEON but with a typo". Or, "NOUN
misspelled". Or, "NEW-YAWN". Yech. Along with the new name comes a new
logo, a goofy piece of work which I've been referring to as the "Nuon
Noodle". Check out the embedded circle-and-slash "NOT" symbol embedded in
the logo. How anyone ever approved this logo is beyond me.
The JEO website issue archive is still missing a few issues of Atari
Explorer Online, specifically AEO 1.12, AEO 2.2, AEO News Bulletins #2 &
#3, and possibly a few issues at the end of Volume 3 (last issue, 3.12, is
for October). If you have any of these issues, please email JEO a copy!
Also on the JEO website, the links section now has a pointer to an aerial
view of Atari's old HQ at 1196 Borregas Ave. Thanks to Microsoft's
TerraServer for the image.
Battle-Girl is one of the best shoot-em-ups ever. Never heard of it? Don't
be surprised-- this little gem of a game is a Macintosh exclusive. I was
exposed to it a while back on a friend's system, and instantly knew that it
would be perfect for the Jaguar. Now, I'm not normally one of those people
that goes around whining, "Gee I wish they would port [fillintheblank] to
the Jag!" As it turns out, the guys over at Ultra/United (the developers of
B-G) are big Jaguar fans. In interviews, they describe Battle-Girl as a
cross between Tempest 2000, Sinistar, Robotron, Defender, and the VLM (it
seems to have a touch of Star Castle in it too). It's all vector-graphic
based and runs in 256-color mode, so it would absolutely FLY on the Jag. I
sent Ultra/United an e-mail on the possibility of porting B-G, and this is
what they said:
Hey Clay,
Yeah, I'm a big Atari fan! T2K is the game that got me back
into videogames and was most influential for battle-girl. A Jag
port would be possible I think. The biggest issue first off is:
do the tools compile C++? The executable is 5.6 Mb, but there's
no sound or graphics compression(!). The music is almost 5 Mb
itself, tho. I think JagCD redbook might be more appropriate or
reorchestrating the MOD-type music files to contain fewer
samples. I think the Jag could handle the graphics, but all the
computation is floating point, so you might have to change that.
It would still be quite a lot of work. Keep the faith!
Scott
So there you have it. And now you know why I pester James Garvin about B-G
in his interview in this issue. Drop by the Ultra/United website <http://
www.ultra-united.com> for more info.
After I got over my initial excitement over the thought of Battle-Girl on
the Jaguar, I realized that there are really quite a lot of cool games on
the Mac just begging to be ported. Something that plagued the Jag
throughout its lifespan was that the many PC ports were perceived as stale
and outdated by the time they landed on the Jag. On the other hand, the Mac
market offers a plethora of quality titles that are little known outside
the Mac community. Since the Mac market is so much smaller, these Mac-only
games tend to be written by dedicated hackers who squeeze great graphics
AND gameplay out of their systems. Just like the better games on the Jag,
eh? Since Mac game publishers tend to be very small companies or even just
individuals, the process of licensing conversions is considerably
simplified. The end result is a proven game concept, ported with little
legal overhead, that seems brand-new to most gamers. Atari may have missed
the boat on this conversion cornucopia, but it's not too late for the Jag's
burgeoning second childhood. Amateur Jag developers, start checking out
those Mac game sites!
Joachim Vance, JEO's stalwart mailing list maintainer, seems to have
dropped off the face of the earth. So, sadly, you will no longer be able to
have fresh copies of JEO delivered direct to your mailbox. Joachim, I will
avenge you!
Included in the ZIPped edition of this issue is an image of the NUON
Noodle, a thumbnail screenshot from Battle-Girl (lots of full-rez
screenshots at the Ultra/United site), and a friendly holiday warning from
M.A.D.D.
--==--==--==--==--
|| 1998 End of Year Survey
|| By: Clay Halliwell
\__// earl.halliwell@dyess.af.mil
-----------------------------------------------------------------
What's this? Not another survey! Okay, originally this survey only had one
question-- "Do you read JEO?". I basically wanted to know how many people
out there were benefiting from the dozens of hours of work that I put into
each issue of Jaguar Explorer Online. But then I figured, if I'm going to
trouble people to send an entire email message, I may as well take
advantage of the opportunity to do a little intelligence-gathering on the
behalf of the Jaguar community.
So, if you're reading this, PLEASE take the two minutes or so to respond to
the questions below. If there's a question you don't know the answer to (or
don't care to answer), feel free to skip it. If you know a Jaguar-owning
friend without e-mail access, submit a survey for him too.
Send responses to "earl.halliwell@dyess.af.mil", with the subject "JEO
SURVEY". Results will be tallied and published in the next issue of JEO.
(paste survey into your email message, then fill in the answers)
JAGUAR EXPLORER ONLINE 1998 END OF YEAR SURVEY
----------------------------------------------
1. What is your age?
2. What is your gender?
3. Do you still play your Jaguar?
4. Is the Jaguar your primary game console?
5. Do you own the Jaguar CD attachment?
6. How many Jag cartridges do you own (approximately is okay)?
7. How many Jag CDs do you own (soundtracks don't count)?
8. How many of the post-Atari Telegames releases have you bought?
9. What is the most you would be willing to pay for a new Jaguar
game (in US dollars; round to nearest 10)?
10. Would you be willing to modify your Jaguar in some way (or
have it modified) to play new, user-written games?
11. What are your absolute favorite Jaguar games (three max)?
12. How long have you owned your Jaguar?
13. Were you an Atari enthusiast before getting your Jag?
14. What JEO sections do you like most?
15. What JEO sections do you like least?
16. What would you like to see JEO do to be even better?
17. What ONE game on any other platform (PC or console) would you
like to see ported to the Jag? Try to pick something the Jag
could do well.
Thanks for participating in the survey!
--==--==--==--==--
|| JEO Trivia Challenge IV: The Questions
|| By: Carl Forhan
\__// forhan@millcomm.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1. What was the name of the unreleased device that would allow a 2600
player to "control games with his mind"?
2. What is the most recent copyright year of any 7800 game?
3. What games have versions that exist on the 2600, 5200, 7800, and Lynx?
4. An official Atari 7800 light gun was never released, but what light
gun was fully compatible with the 7800?
5. Name the only light gun game for the 2600.
6. Name the companies that published both 2600 games and board games.
7. Name a CD that contains a game playable on an Atari home console-
based system *besides* the Jaguar CD unit.
8. Complete this phrase from an Atari ad: "Lynx Eats _____ Lunch."
9. What was the unreleased 32-bit console in development at Atari?
10. What was the "ticker symbol" used by Atari in the stock market prior
to the merger with JTS?
BONUS QUESTION: Name three games for any Atari cartridge-based console
that included entire, separate *games* as easter eggs. Identify the
easter egg games as well.
--==--==--==--==--
|| Jaguar Tackboard
|| Confirmed information about Atari's Jaguar
\__// Compiled from online and official sources
-----------------------------------------------------------------
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Jaguar Message Boards
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Anyone with web browsing capability can join in on the discussions on
several web-based Jaguar message boards out there on the net. Note that,
due to the rapid message turnover and instant-update nature of these
boards, they have a tendency to burn through topics in a matter of days
instead of weeks (or hours instead of days).
Just point your browser to:
Jaguar Interactive II (hosted by Atari Gaming Headquarters)
<http://www.atarihq.com/interactive/>
Atari Times Boardroom (hosted by The Atari Times)
<http://venus.beseen.com/boardroom/c/17653/Date>
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Jaguar Chat
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Anyone with web browsing capability who wants to chat in real-time with
their fellow Jaguar enthusiasts, but has no access to IRC, should take
advantage of this Jag chat page:
JFPN's Jaguar Chat
<http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/5916/chat.html>
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Jaguar FAQ
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Robert Jung <rjung@netcom.com> maintains the Jaguar FAQ (Frequently Asked
Questions) file, a continually updated list of Jaguar specs and facts. The
Jaguar FAQ is posted to rec.games.video.atari on Usenet around the first of
every month, and can also be found at <http://www.digiserve.com/eescape/
atari/FAQ_-_Jaguar>.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Jaguar Cheats and Codes
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Clay "No Handle" Halliwell <earl.halliwell@dyess.af.mil> maintains the
Atari Jaguar Game Cheats and Codes FAQ. It's available by e-mail request or
from Atari Gaming Headquarters <http://www.atarihq.com/jaglynx/jag/
jagcheat.txt>.
Lonnie "The Mage" Smith <themage1@aol.com> maintains the Concise Compendium
of Frequently Asked Codes, Moves, and Cheats (FACMAC). It's available via
FTP from <users.aol.com:/TheMage1/jaguar>, or from <http://users.aol.com/
TheMage1/jaguar/jagcodes.txt>.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// JEO Development List
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The following list of game titles has been confirmed to the best of JEO's
ability as of publication. Entries in the "S"tatus column reflect any
"u"pdates, "n"ew titles, or "?"uestionable listings since the last JEO
list. Entries in the "M"edia column reflect whether the title is "C"D-ROM
or "J"aguar Server/BJL (blank entries indicate cartridge software). "NEW"
indicates titles released since the last issue of JEO.
ETA dates are dates that have been provided by the developer or publisher.
//// Titles in Development or Limbo
S M Title ETA Developer Publisher
" " """"" """ """"""""" """""""""
n C Assassin, The 1999 OMC Games OMC Games
BattleSphere 1999 4Play 4Play
J Bong+ 1999 ? Just Claws Software
? Deathwatch ? Data Design
J Gorf 2000 ? Krunch Software
? Hyper Force ? C-West
J Jagmania (PacMania clone) ? Matthias Domin
J Jagmarble (Marble Madness clone) ? Matthias Domin
J JagTris (Tetris clone) ? Bastian Schick
n J Legion Force ? Force Design
J Painter ? Sinister
Protector 1999 Carl Forhan/Bethesda
? Skyhammer ? Rebellion
? C Soulstar ? Core Design Ltd.
? Space War 2000 ? Atari
//// Current Software Releases
M Title Rated Developer Publisher
" """"" """"" """"""""" """""""""
AirCars 5 MidNite ICD
Alien vs. Predator 9 Rebellion Atari
Atari Karts 6 Miracle Design Atari
Attack of the Mutant Penguins 6 Sunrise Games Ltd. Atari
C Baldies 6 Creative Edge Atari
C Battlemorph 10 Attention to Detail Atari
C Blue Lightning 6 Attention to Detail Atari
C BrainDead 13 5 ReadySoft ReadySoft
Breakout 2000 7 MP Games Telegames
Brutal Sports Football 6 Millennium/Teque Telegames
Bubsy 5 Imagitec Design Atari
Cannon Fodder 8 Virgin Interactive C-West
Checkered Flag 4 Rebellion Atari
Club Drive 5 Atari Atari
Crescent Galaxy 3 Atari Atari
Cybermorph 7 Attention to Detail Atari
Defender 2000 8 Llamasoft Atari
Doom 8 id Software Atari
Double Dragon V 4 Williams Enter. Williams
C Dragon's Lair 5 ReadySoft ReadySoft
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story 6 Virgin Interactive Atari
Evolution: Dino Dudes 6 Imagitec Design Atari
Fever Pitch Soccer 6 U.S. Gold Atari
Fight For Life 6 Atari Atari
Flashback 7 Tiertex Ltd. U.S. Gold
Flip Out! 6 Gorilla Systems Atari
C Highlander I 8 Lore Design Ltd. Atari
Hover Strike 5 Atari Atari
C Hover Strike: Unconquered Lands 7 Atari Atari
Iron Soldier 9 Eclipse Atari
C Iron Soldier 2 CD 10 Eclipse Telegames
Iron Soldier 2 10 Eclipse Telegames
I-War 4 Imagitec Design Atari
Kasumi Ninja 5 Hand Made Software Atari
Missile Command 3D 8 Virtuality Atari
C Myst 9 Atari Atari
NBA Jam: Tournament Edition 9 High Voltage Atari
Pinball Fantasies 6 Spider Soft C-West
Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure 8 Imagitec Design Atari
Power Drive Rally 7 Rage Software TWI
C Primal Rage 7 Probe TWI
Raiden 6 Imagitec Design Atari
Rayman 10 UBI Soft UBI Soft
Ruiner 6 High Voltage Atari
Sensible Soccer 6 Williams Brothers Telegames
C Space Ace 3 ReadySoft ReadySoft
Super Burnout 7 Shen Atari
Supercross 3D 5 Tiertex Ltd. Atari
Syndicate 7 Bullfrog Ocean
Tempest 2000 10 Llamasoft Atari
Theme Park 6 Bullfrog Ocean
Towers II 7 JV Enterprises Telegames
Troy Aikman NFL Football 6 Telegames Williams
Ultra Vortek 8 Beyond Games Atari
Val d'Isere Skiing & Snowboarding 7 Virtual Studio Atari
C Vid Grid 6 High Voltage Atari
C VLM 9 Llamasoft Atari
White Men Can't Jump 6 High Voltage Atari
Wolfenstein 3D 7 id Software Atari
C World Tour Racing 6 Teque London Ltd. Telegames
Worms 9 Team 17 Telegames
Zero 5 7 Caspian Software Telegames
Zool 2 7 Gremlin Graphics Atari
Zoop 6 Viacom Atari
Total Carts 51
Total CDs 14 (counting VLM)
Total Combined 65
Pts Stars JEO Ratings
""" """"" """""""""""
10 ***** THE ULTIMATE - Flawless, beautiful, deviously addictive.
9 ****+ EXCELLENT - Something to throw in the face of N64-heads.
8 **** SMEGGIN' GREAT - Something to kick on the shoes of N64-heads.
7 ***+ DARN GOOD - Plays as good as it looks.
6 *** DECENT - Plays better than it looks (or vice versa).
5 **+ TIME KILLER - If there's nothing else to do, you play this.
4 ** INEPT - The programmer's first Jag game?
3 *+ INCOMPETENT - The programmer's first game ever?
2 * UNPUBLISHABLE - Heaven help us!
1 + INCONCEIVABLE BAD - ...but someone conceived it. Too bad.
0 - EXECRABLE - This is an April Fool's joke, right?
//// Current Hardware/Firmware Releases
Item Manufacturer
""""" """"""""""""
Jaguar 64 Atari
Jaguar 64 CD-ROM Drive Atari
3-button PowerPad Atari
6-button ProController Atari
Team Tap Atari
Jag-Link Atari
Memory Track Atari
Jaguar System Test Cartridge Atari
Composite Cable Atari
S-Video Cable Atari
Stereo Audio Interface (proto) Atari
VoiceModem (proto) Atari/Phylon
Controller Extension Cable Best Electronics
CatBox ICD/Black Cat Design
Lap Cat/Lap Cat Pro joystick Ben Aein
Jaguar Extreme Joystick Dark Knight Games (modded Gravis Blackhawk)
Jaguar Server devkit Roine Stenberg (Istari Software)
Behind Jaggy Lines devkit Bastian Schick
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// JEO Mail Order Directory 1.3
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The following list of vendors carrying Jaguar software/hardware has been
confirmed to the best of JEO's ability. Please e-mail JEO for additions/
corrections.
//// B&C ComputerVisions
Mail 1725 De La Cruz Blvd #7
Santa Clara, CA 95050-3011
Voice 408-986-9960 (Tue-Fri, 10am-6pm)
Fax 408-986-9968
Email <myatari2@juno.com>
Web <http://www.myatari.com>
//// Best Electronics - UPDATED
Mail 2021 The Alameda, Suite 290
San Jose, CA 95126-1127
Voice 408-243-6950
Email <bestelec@concentric.net>
Web <http://www.best-electronics-ca.com>
//// Bits of Fun
Mail PO Box 12345
San Luis Obispo, CA
Phone 800-FUN-JAGS
Email <ddavis@cwest.com>
Web <http://www.cwest.com/atari>
//// Buy-Rite Video Games
Voice 919-850-9473
Fax 919-872-7561
Email <buyrite@interpath.com>
Web <http://www.buyrite1.com>
//// Demand Systems
Voice 805-482-7900
Orders 800-593-0059
Fax 805-484-3745
805-987-1998
Email <mbrown@demand-sys.com>
Web <http://www2.demand-sys.com/demand>
//// Dentec Computer Products
Mail 465 Milner Ave #3
Scarborough, Ontario M1B 2K4 Canada
Voice 416-292-2996
Fax 416-292-4075
416-292-248
Email <jaguar@dentec.com>
Web <http://www.dentec.com/warehousesale>
//// Flashback Video Games
Mail 2284 Kresge Drive
Amherst, OH 44001
Voice 216-960-1622
Fax 216-960-1663
Email <flashback@usa.net>
Web <http://www.sunmarkinc.com/products/flashback>
//// GameMasters
Mail 14393 E. 14th Street, Suite 208
San Leandro, CA 94577
Voice 510-483-4263
Email <mchaddon@game-masters.com>
Web <http://www.game-masters.com>
//// Game Pedler
Voice 801-273-0787 (ask for Internet Sales)
Fax 801-273-1357
Email <sales@gamepedler.com>
Web <http://www.gamepedler.com>
//// Games To Go
Mail 7632 Lyndale Avenue So.
Richfield, MN 55423
Voice 612-798-5879
Fax 612-869-5925
Email <sales@gamestogo.com> (orders)
<inquiries@gamestogo.com> (info)
Web <http://www.gamestogo.com>
//// Hardysoft
Mail 24 Lawnside Drive
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
Orders 609-883-1083
Fax 609-538-8674
Email <hardysoft@genie.com>
<hardysoft@prodigy.com>
<hardysoft@compuserve.com>
Web <http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/hardysoft>
//// Multimedia 1.0 - NEW
Mail 18 Saint Mark's Place
New York City, NY 10003
Voice 212-539-1039
Fax 212-539-1645
Email <sales@multimedia1.com>
Web <http://www.multimedia1.com>
//// O'Shea, Ltd.
Mail 330 West 47th Street #203
Kansas City, MO 64112
Voice 816-531-1177
Fax 816-531-6569
Email <billh@oshealtd.com>
Web <http://www.oshealtd.com>
//// STeve's Computer Technologies
Mail 405 Main Street
Woodland, CA 95695
Voice 916-661-3328
Fax 916-661-1201
Email <steves@woodland.net>
Web <http://woodland.net/steves/>
//// Telegames
Mail P.O. Box 901
Lancaster, Texas 75146
Voice 972-228-0690
Orders 972-224-7200
Fax 972-228-0693
Email <sales@telegames.com>
Web <http://www.telegames.com>
//// United Game Source
Mail 232 East Eau Gallie Blvd
Indian Harbour Beach, FL 32937
Orders 800-564-1458
Fax 407-777-3940
Email <unitedgame@aol.com>
Web <http://www.unitedgame.com>
//// Video Game Advantage
Mail 6861 Anthony Lane
Parma Heights, OH 44130
Orders 216-843-8815 (24-hr answering machine)
Email <vga2000@ix.netcom.com>
<vga2000@io.com>
<dw901@cleveland.freenet.edu>
Web <http://www.io.com/~vga2000>
//// Video Game Liquidators
Mail 4058 Tujunga Ave, #B
Studio City, CA 91604
Orders 818-505-1666 (9am-5pm PST)
888-944-4263 (toll free)
Fax 818-505-1686
Email <vglq@vglq.com>
Web <http://www.vglq.com>
//// The Video Games Source - NEW
Mail Salzbruecker Str. 36
21335 Lueneburg - Germany
Orders +(49) 4131-406278
Fax +(49) 4131-406278
Email <sales@atarihq.de>
Web <http://www.atarihq.de>
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Announcements and Press Releases
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// New Jag Games
Contacts:
James Garvin
omc@io.com
Sandro Sarang
sandro@omcgames.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OMC GAMES DIVISION TO RELEASE "THE ASSASSIN" FOR THE ATARI JAGUAR 64-BIT
GAME CONSOLE
AUSTIN, TX, October 21, 1998 -- OMC Games Division announced that they will
begin production of "The Assassin", which was previously to be released on
the Atari 8-bit, for the Atari Jaguar CD game console. With the upgrade in
hardware, "The Assassin" will allow for more spectacular effects and a
higher level of graphical and audio intensity.
With James Garvin moving to Japan, unforeseen problems arose in the
development of the Atari 8-bit version. "I was having some major
difficulties getting the antiquated RF system of the Atari 8-bit to work
with Japanese coaxial connections as well as technical problems that
resulted during my travels from the U.S. Needless to say, I had to make
some difficult decisions," stated James Garvin, owner of OMC Games
Division.
Though, the change in platforms has not extinguished efforts to bring to
life an Atari 8-bit version. "There will be an Atari 8-bit version, but it
will most likely have to wait until I get back to the States."
"The Assassin" is the prequel to "Orb Of Bengazi" which is based on the
upcoming futuristic cyberpunk world of "Blood City", a role playing system
to also be released 3rd Quarter 1999. This action/RPG features Chicago
detective, Michael Steele, as he searches for the murders of his brother,
but what he finds is a tangled web of intrigue and death which takes him
all over the world. For those looking forward to "Orb Of Bengazi", this
game should not be missed.
"The Assassin" will be released under the Hellified Games label of OMC,
with the project headed by James Garvin, and music composed by up-and-
coming musician, Arthur Lauritsen. OMC Publishing is also planning to
release a soundtrack sometime around the release of the game. More news and
screenshots will become available over the next couple of months.
OMC Games Division is a sole proprietorship based in Austin, Texas and
publisher of HieroGraphix Game Journal. Other game titles under development
include "Age Of Darkness" and "Orb Of Bengazi".
1998 OMC Games Div.
<http://www.omcgames.com/>
//// Doom Revisited
[from the Jaguar's Domain web site <http://www.millcomm.com/~forhan/
jaguar.html>]
Group Game Project
------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE: The mailing list may be found at www.onelist.com. The list name
is 'jaguar'.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proposal for a Group Game:
[] Based on Jaguar Doom source code obtained by Carl Forhan from id
Software under license.
[] Possibility of licensing an official Doom sequel from id Software,
but may be easier (from a licensing/publishing perspective) to use
source combined with new graphics, audio, and levels.
[] Work items (in order of priority):
1. Fix networking
2. Develop game theme
3. Create new levels
4. Improve code performance
5. Add new code for new AI, traps, switches, etc.
6. Create new graphics (enemies, weapons, textures, backgrounds etc.)
7. Create new audio
8. Double screen resolution
9. Anything else
[] Work will be done on a volunteer basis. However, approved contributors
should expect to receive a discount on the final product.
[] Communication will be in the form of a mailing list and perhaps a
web page. All contributors who are approved into the project shall
keep all project-related information confidential, as with any non-
disclosure agreement. No sense in spoiling the game for everybody
or dragging private matters into the public eye. Failure to respect
this may result in the person's removal from the project.
[] Please do not bother id Software. If this project is taken to
completion, we will have the opportunity to properly thank them at
that time for their help. If it doesn't make it, then there's no
point in bothering them now.
[] Development will be done using the original PC Doom only, to ensure
eventual compatibility with the Jaguar version. DeeP97 is the preferred
Doom editor; a group order for this product will be placed soon.
[] Team opportunities:
Level Team - Create entirely new levels consistent with the theme.
Music Team - Create multiple-voice compositions, MIDI and MOD formats.
Audio Team - Create/obtain royalty-free audio samples in WAV format.
Graphics Team - Create/obtain royalty-free graphics and animations.
Code Team - Fix networking, enhance game engine, new AI, powerups, etc.
Test Team - Test game betas. Appropriate Jag hardware required.
Web Team - Maintain web pages. Provide outlet for progress reports,
sample graphics/audio, etc.
Note that there will likely be a Team Leader for each team (if enough
people are involved to warrant such a position) who will be responsible for
integrating all the various pieces from their team together in a coherent
fashion.
[] Project Leader: Carl Forhan will be the Project Leader for this
effort. He may be reached at forhan@millcomm.com or on the web at:
<http://www.millcomm.com/~forhan/jaguar.html>
[] Proposed theme: Breeders universe as created and copyrighted by
Carl Forhan. In a nutshell, it's a Terran marines vs. intelligent
bugs set in deep space in a territorial conflict. More details on
the Breeders universe to follow, but for now, refer to following URL:
<http://www.fractal.mandarin.org/breeders/index.html>
[] Parting thoughts:
We all know there's very little money to be had in a new Jaguar game;
that's why I won't even pretend to have the ability to pay people to
participate. However, this is also a great opportunity to build on one of
the Jag's finest games and keep the console alive for another year or more.
This project would also allow people to get some experience working on a
console game without having to be responsible for everything in the game.
Sincerely,
Carl Forhan
//// If Atari Was Still Around, They'd Sue!
JAGUAR GAMING CORPORATION
Listing: OTC Electronic Bulletin Board
Symbol: JAGG
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Vancouver, B.C. April 8, 1998 - Jaguar Gaming Corporation (OTC - JAGG) is
pleased to announce it has completed its corporate reorganization plan. The
plan includes a name change to Jaguar Gaming Corporation, a consolidation
on a 5 for 1 basis of the Company stock, a 504 filing and the appointment
of Douglas Waugh, Robert Sim, Jon Hafezi and Malcolm Burke to the Board of
Directors. Mr. Waugh and Mr. Sim bring numerous years of gaming industry
experience to the Company, including ownership of International Gaming
Consultants as well as their association with Thunderbird Gaming Inc. Mr.
Hafezi, founder of Pars Gaming International, has extensive background in
developing electronic gaming equipment including the introduction of multi
game touch screen technology to the industry. Mr. Burke brings a wealth of
venture capital financing and gaming industry experience from his
association with Sky Games Inc. and Interactive Entertainment Limited.
Jaguar Gaming Corporation has completed the acquisition of Integrated
Systems Design LLC (ISD) of Fort Mill, South Carolina in exchange for
600,000 treasury shares. ISD, founded in early 1997 by Mr. Hafezi and a
group of engineers, designs and develops gaming software and electronic
gaming hardware.
Jaguar Gaming Corporation has also completed the acquisition of Phoenix
Gaming Technologies Inc. (Phoenix) of Regina, Saskatchewan in exchange for
470,000 treasury shares of the Company. Phoenix has exclusive distribution
rights for Unidesa electronic gaming equipment in Canada. Unidesa is one of
the world's largest gaming machine manufacturers with annual volumes in
excess of 60,000 units; 1997 revenues in excess of $800 million U.S.; and a
total staff of 3,600 persons.
Since acquiring the Unidesa distribution rights, Phoenix has sold and
installed machines and upgrade conversion kits to two Canadian casinos and
is currently short listed on proposals involving a potential of 4,000
additional machines. Unidesa equipment fully complies with all Canadian
provincial gaming equipment regulations. The Canadian electronic gaming
machine market is expanding rapidly and currently includes approximately
60,000 machines installed across all ten provinces.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Douglas Waugh
President
Contact: Jaguar Gaming Corporation
Phone: 1-877-718-5500
Web: http://www.jaguargaming.com
//// Just Say Nuon
For Immediate Release
October 27, 1998
VM LABS REVEALS "NUON" AS HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED OFFICIAL NAME OF PROJECT X
NUON(tm) to Define Convergence of Video and Interactivity in Tomorrow's
Home Entertainment Center
Los Altos, CA -- VM Labs today unveiled the long-awaited official name and
logo for its interactive digital video entertainment standard, until now
code-named "Project X." The new moniker, NUON, represents a powerful and
flexible technology that will transform digital video products such as DVD
players, digital satellite receivers and digital set-top boxes into
versatile interactive multimedia centers allowing consumers to enjoy games,
interactive software and other flexible applications all on the same
platform.
"The name NUON reflects the wide-reaching power of a technology capable of
introducing millions of consumers to interactive entertainment through
their television sets" said Richard Miller, CEO of VM Labs.
Like a proud parent, VM Labs has taken a great deal of time and care to
select the name NUON. As the company labored to come up with an appropriate
name for their cutting edge technology, many word combinations were tested,
including those relating to media processing, video games, unparalleled
speed and graphics, enriched audio and digital content. Ultimately it was
decided that no pre-existing word or combination of words could do justice
to the technology, therefore an entirely new word was required. VM Labs
enlisted the help of Lexicon, a world renowned branding firm which
developed such well known names as Pentium, Powerbook and Deskjet, to
create a name that would become synonymous with the advanced technology.
Focus groups found an immediate affinity to NUON, suggesting that the name
reflected something entirely new, powerful and futuristic.
The important task of developing a logo to complement such a dynamic name
was assigned to The Beeline Group in Newark, California, renowned for their
work with Hewlett Packard, Nike; and top companies in the videogame
industry. The logo was conceived from an early demonstration of the
technology's power and capabilities. A sample of real-time raytracing
showed a wavy body of water which would reflect the image and light source
from a series of spheres. The logo became a fusion of these strong graphic
elements, which also abstractly represents the name NUON.
"Consumers will come to recognize and look for the NUON logo on home
electronics hardware and software as an assurance they are getting the
advanced level of interactivity and digital video convergence only NUON
will provide," explains Greg LaBrec, Vice President of Marketing for VM
Labs. "The logo will appear as an icon on the front of enhanced hardware,
as well as on packaging, software, and traditional advertising media."
The NUON technology will add unprecedented programmable processing power to
digital consumer electronics devices, providing an advanced interactive
software platform for the living room. In addition to unsurpassed
interactivity, the architecture provides the raw horsepower to decode
digital video and audio, while delivering advanced trick modes and an
enhanced user interface. This highly parallel and scaleable processor is
capable of executing in excess of 1.5 billion instructions per second. The
first products are expected to be available in 1999.
VM Labs, founded in 1994, opened new company headquarters today to
accommodate a rapidly growing number of employees. The new building is
located at 520 San Antonio Road, Mt. View, CA 94040. The company represents
a winning business plan by licensing the NUON technology to leading
partners in the semiconductor, manufacturing and software development
industries. Licensing partners are pioneers of a new interactive digital
video standard that analysts predict will replace the current analog method
in the next five to ten years.
To download artwork, please visit the NUON Website at www.nuon-tech.com
# # #
Contact:
BENDER, GOLDMAN & HELPER
Jenny Rosas, Ext. 277
310/473-4147
jenny_rosas@bgh.com
Linda Thurmond
510/653-3010
lthurmond@earthlink.net
//// Toad Domain Up For Grabs
Toad Computers is no longer in the Atari business, we're sad to say. Lack
of supply of products has forced us out of the business, and we've moved on
to other things. We have not supported Atari products since late 1996.
We still have a great deal of fond memories of and affection for the Atari
community, however, and want to make sure that our Internet domain names
are carried forward by an avid Atari enthusiast.
So, we're contacting you first. First, take a look at the site.
www.ataricentral.com/www.atari.net are POPULAR sites with a LOT of traffic.
- 150MB/day traffic
- 9,271 Requests Per Day (average)
- 8,686 Distinct Hosts served since December 1
- See the stats yourself at http://www.ataricentral.com/stats
The site, and the domain names ataricentral.com and atari.net, are being
auctioned at Ebay. The auction closes in 3 days. Whoever has the highest
bid at the end of the auction will walk away with one of the most visited
Atari Internet sites, ever. Bids are starting at $132.50.
You can bid on the sites by visiting:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=46202978
** What do you get? **
Atari.net, Ataricentral.com transferred to your company or personal name.
You also get complete access to all files associated with both sites (about
50Mb of product graphics, etc.) You can also continue to host either or
both sites at ToadNet, our new venture, which has become one of the leading
Internet providers in the Washington, DC area.
We're looking forward to seeing the Atari vision carried forth, well into
the future.
Sincerely,
David Troy
Toad Computers, Inc.
======================================================================
Jag News Mail List is a Service of Toad Computers, Inc. (800) 448-8623
Subscribe: send email 'subscribe jagnews' to majordomo@lists.toad.net
Unsubscribe: send email 'unsubscribe jagnews' to majordomo@lists.toad.net
Questions: send email to info@toad.net!
//// Toad Domain: The Plot Thickens
From: David Troy <dave@toad.net>
Subject: Problem with eBay Auction
Date: Wednesday, December 09, 1998
As I think you all know, EBAY has been having major technical difficulties
over the last week with their cgi servers. This caused some of you to be
unable to bid during the last hour of the auction last night for
Ataricentral.com, which truly stunted the results.
I myself was unable to get through to check the auction's status during the
last hour, and ebays' message boards have been swamped with complaints
about the cgi servers.
I'm the first to say something like this should be conducted fair and
square and that in an auction environment, the highest bidder wins when the
gavel goes down.
However, what happened last night is tantamount to having thugs gag and bag
interested bidders, thus stunting the sale price. Obviously this is not
your fault, and I apologize if this affected you negatively.
I asked EBAY for an extension of the auction and have received no response.
So, I have decided to relist the auction, as is, for an additional THREE
DAYS ONLY to allow those of you who are interested to continue to bid.
The current winning bid is held by ffisher1 at $790.10. To beat Mr.
Fisher's winning bid, I will need to see at least two bids above $900 --
the bidding on the new listing starts at $900. Mr. Fisher does deserve
some consideration in this case, since he did win the auction, regardless
of the problems ebay may have had.
I hope that you find this an acceptable and fair solution, and hope you
understand the unenviable predicament that ebay has put me in.
The new listing is:
<http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=48163715>
Sincerely,
David Troy
Toad Computers, Inc.
//// JTS vs AMEX
[This is an item which really should have appeared last issue, but
unfortunately escaped my notice. From the SEC Edgar site <www.sec.gov>. --
Ed.]
ACCESSION NUMBER: 0001047469-98-022647
CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE: 8-K
PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT: 1
CONFORMED PERIOD OF REPORT: 19980511
ITEM INFORMATION:
FILED AS OF DATE: 19980602
SROS: NASD
FILER:
COMPANY DATA:
COMPANY CONFORMED NAME: JTS CORP
CENTRAL INDEX KEY: 0000941167
STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION: COMPUTER STORAGE DEVICES
[3572]
IRS NUMBER: 770364572
FISCAL YEAR END: 0202
FILING VALUES:
FORM TYPE: 8-K
SEC ACT:
SEC FILE NUMBER: 001-14442
FILM NUMBER: 98641282
BUSINESS ADDRESS:
STREET 1: 166 BAYPOINTE PARKWAY
CITY: SAN JOSE
STATE: CA
ZIP: 95134
BUSINESS PHONE: 4084681800
FORMER COMPANY:
FORMER CONFORMED NAME: JT STORAGE INC
DATE OF NAME CHANGE: 19960508
</SEC-HEADER>
<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>8-K
<SEQUENCE>1
<DESCRIPTION>8-K
<TEXT>
<PAGE>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
----------------
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of report (date of earliest event reported): May 11, 1998
JTS CORPORATION
(Exact name of Company as specified in its charter)
Commission File Number 0-21085
Delaware 77-0364572
-------- ----------
(State of Jurisdiction) (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
166 Baypointe Parkway, San Jose, CA 95134
(Address of principal executive offices and zip code)
Company's telephone number, including area code: (408) 468-1800
Not Applicable
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ITEM 5. OTHER EVENTS
JTS Corporation (the "Company") announced on May 11, 1998 that it is
consenting to the removal of its Common Stock and 5 1/4% Debentures from
The American Stock Exchange, Inc. ("AMEX").
This action became necessary because the Company no longer fully
satisfies all of the guidelines of the AMEX for continued listing. The
AMEX has advised that the last day for trading of the Company's securities
on the AMEX will be Friday, May 22, 1998.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1934, the
registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
Date: June 2, 1998
JTS CORPORATION
By: /s/ JOSEPH A. PREZIOSO
----------------------------------
Joseph A. Prezioso
Chief Financial Officer and
Secretary (Principal Financial
and Accounting Officer)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Worms, IS2: The Second Run
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
When Telegames published the Worms and Iron Soldier 2 cartridges, they only
produced a limited production run, which sold out quickly. For the last few
months rumors have been flying about a second production run, and that
Telegames is just waiting to collect enough pre-orders to justify another
run. I contacted Telegames to confirm this. This is what they said:
What you state is correct. We had hoped that the remaining
orders would come in by now so we could have the products by
Christmas, but that is becoming doubtful due to the lack of
response. It appears that too many enthusiasts are complaining
that they can't buy the product, but they won't step up to pre-
order it. They want to wait until they are available and then
they will buy. A classic Catch-22.
Regards
Telegames
It's simple, folks-- Show Telegames we're still interested and pre-order
now. We may yet get those few remaining unpublished games!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// New Cheats and Codes
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Super Burnout
Thanks to Super Burnout programmer Elysee Ade (via Fred Moreau).
Display Version Number:
While turning on the Jaguar, hold A+B+C.
--==--==--==--==--
|| CyberChatter
|| Random topics about the Jaguar
\__// Compiled from online public discussion areas
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This month's special guest quotee is Andrew Seed, formerly of Imagitec.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Saturn T2K
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Re: Tempest X for PSX vs T2K...
Author: Andrew Seed
Email: andrew.seed4@virgin.net
Date: 1998/12/08
Forums: rec.games.video.atari
I used to work for Imagitec Design (even wrote a couple of Jag games) and
Imagitec did the PC conversion, a Saturn conversion was started with the
intention of showing it to Atari and giving them a "cheap" game. They
decided to give it to another company (was it Interplay?) and asked for
source to the Saturn version. They were kindly told what they could do with
that idea 8-). Basically it was an enhanced version of the PC (not as good
as the original Jag version) and had the music from the Tempest 2000 CD. I
believe Jeff Minter would have been proud, but...
All the best
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Dino Toons
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Author: Andrew Seed
Email: andrew.seed4@virgin.net
Date: 1998/10/30
Forums: alt.atari-jaguar.discussion
When I was finishing Dino Dudes (as Jag was being launched) somebody had
been working on Tiny Toons. Atari had good Quality control - if anybody
didn't like a feature they would persuade the Tramiels it was bad
(apparently easy) and then it HAD to be changed, but the games which
Imagitec worked on, Atari tested to destruction.
Andrew Seed
Dave Homenuck Jr. wrote in message ...
>
>>beetleguise@webtv.net wrote in message
><15351-3637EC1B-64@newsd-154.iap.bryant.webtv.net>...
>>what happened??
>>this looked so great!
>>i still have the screen shots for this game.
>>was it produced?jaguar was showing this at the same time as avp.
>
>
>I'm sure somebody here will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe
>that this game was done twice, but didn't get past Atari's
>notorious(ly odd) quality control.
>
>Considering that stuff like Checkered Flag flew through this same
>QC, it was either a terrible game, or some genius at Atari decided
>not to release it.
>
>Dave
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Re: tiny toons
Author: Andrew Seed
Email: andrew.seed4@virgin.net
Date: 1998/10/30
Forums: alt.atari-jaguar.discussion
After I finished Bubsy, Atari asked Imagitec if they were interested in
doing Tiny Toons (I believe I would have been doing it) but after checking
how much memory was required for map blocksets, it was discovered that we
could have a map, some music, but no sprites or program unless we could
increase the size of RAM - not feasible.
Andrew Seed
beetleguise@webtv.net wrote in message
<15351-3637EC1B-64@newsd-154.iap.bryant.webtv.net>...
what happened??
this looked so great!
i still have the screen shots for this game.
was it produced? jaguar was showing this at the same time as avp.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Re: PAL Jaguar carts on US Jaguar ?
Author: Andrew Seed
Email: andrew.seed4@virgin.net
Date: 1998/09/18
Forums: rec.games.video.atari
Yeah carts work on any system - Atari had the good sense to ensure that
games worked on any machine. Note some early games such as Evolution: Dino
Dudes had two versions - one for the NTSC market and then a global version.
All the best
Andrew Seed
er'gain hobby wrote in message <36021068.77BA81A5@singnet.com.sg>...
>Anybody knows whether a PAL Format Jaguar can be play
>on a USA Jaguar system ?
>
>thanks
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Making Jag CDs
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Jaguar Interactive II
Re: WHAT IS THE SECRET TO MAKE CD FOR JAG ??
Posted by JustClaws X (134.171.69.199) on November 26, 1998 at 23:44:32:
In Reply to: WHAT IS THE SECRET TO MAKE CD FOR JAG ?? posted by fred on
November 26, 1998 at 10:11:26:
Hi.
>what is the format of the cd for jaguar?
> is it CD XA or cd-i or other ?
> what is the book ?(yellow , red , white ?)
It is basically RAW format, similar to CD-Plus format. The official term
for the nearest format is ORANGE book. (Really!)
> with my cd recorder can I make cd for jaguar ?
You could probably bit-copy one, but the chances of it working are small
because the lead-in and lead-out times, format of bytes, etc., is dependent
not just on the data, but also on the CD-recorder. (Really!)
Creating a new CD for Jaguar requires more:-
a) A Jaguar devkit
b) A Jaguar CD devkit add-on (Butch chip)
That includes an Atari Falcon with H/D, CD emulator
c) An in-depth knowledge of the format Atari required
Finally, to publish the CD for mass-market Jag-CD's:-
d) An encrypted track which check-sums the rest of the disk using a PGP
like format, just like a cart... The chances of Hasbro having that are also
debatable.
**********
HOWEVER...
**********
You CAN create CD's for Jaguar, quite easily, if they're not Jaguar games-
they can be Audio or CD+G.
I'd love to see somebody make a CD+G version of the Battlesphere
soundtrack, or a compilation of other audio tracks, maybe 'speeches' from
the JagFest, and put that on CD+G. You can encode in (16 colour) images
into the CD+G, and every Jaguar owner can then hear the presentation, read
text, see images, all courtesy of the CD+G (Karaoke CD) format CD's. No
programming required, just a CD+G creation tool!
Richard.
(JustClaws X)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Sounds Like Phase Zero
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Re: Legality of holding a publicly known name for a game title
Author: Scott LeGrand
Email: varelse@best.com
Date: 1998/11/12
Forums: comp.games.development.industry
I remember NovaLogic. These are the guys that came over to the Atari booth
at WCES 95 and started harassing the demo crew there showing a 20 fps
height field engine running on the jaguar. Later on, the president came
over to our kiosk and started talking about what a lousy job the demo crew
had done with their engine and that he could code a much better one. I
imagine he spread his message of cheer and goodwill to all the other jaguar
developers as well, but I wasn't there to see him dance the rest of his
happy height field jig.
Sounds like they're trying to drop pianos on you to shut you up, but of
course, you'll need to talk to a real lawyer rather than a bunch of us
useless coders. Perhaps what you really need to do is ship a product
called Force Recon tomorrow before they get anything to market and then
scream bloody murder about trademark infringement.
But again, alas it looks like lawyer time for you. All of the above is
groundless opinion of my own.
Scott
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Shadow Squadron
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Re: Shadow Squadron vs. Battlesphere
Author: Scott LeGrand
Email: varelse@best.com
Date: 1998/11/14
Forums: rec.games.video.atari
Shadow Squadron is as cool as Darklight Conflict, its PC spiritual brother.
Both have the best capitol ships I've ever seen in space battle games and
both are unappreciated budget titles. I got more enjoyment out of each of
these games than I got out of Colony Wars and Wing Commander Prophecy.
What I really wish is that I could get my hands on an import of the
Saturn's Shadow Squadron sequel if indeed it ever shipped.
In comparison to BattleSphere: well, their capitol ships are better, but
we're not mission-based, we look better graphically, we have multiple play
modes, and we network. SS is cool though and I think the only reason it
isn't cooler is that the 32X died before they could make a sequel.
Scott
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Atari, We Hardly Knew Ye
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Jaguar Interactive II
The TRUE meaning of Atari, from a Japanese Dictionary
Posted by RayDream (csp-co6-51.ix.netcom.com) on December 13, 1998 at
15:55:35
------
Here's exactly what it says in two different Japanese dictionaries I have
in my house: There are two different forms of atari, one with an accent
mark over the first 'a' and one without.
------
tari || neighborhood; vicinity; near;
-no tari ni || in the neighborhood of; near; about;
tari kam wazu || regardless of the people present.
------
And the most likely meaning:
atari || success; hit;
atari doshi || fruitfull (successful) year;
atari fuda || price-number ticket;
atari hazure || hit or miss; success or failure;
atari o t¢ru || to make a hit.
------
I think that should clear up what the meaning of Atari is, don't you?
RayDream
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// Lost Games
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Jaguar Interactive II
Re: Other Lost Games
Posted by Mark Stingray Santora (pool050-max9.ds19-ca-
us.dialup.earthlink.net) on December 12, 1998 at 09:07:29:
In Reply to: Other Lost Games posted by Jeff on December 11, 1998 at
15:19:42:
>I was looking through some old Gamepros, specifically the 2/94 issue.
>It was the issue that announced the 5 Accolade games that were to be
>made for Jaguar.
Atari had licensed 5 of the Accolade games and was working on several of
them. I believe they were
Bubsy (released)
Hardball (cart) (never
completed)
Jack Nicalus Cyber Golf (CD) (never completed)
Brett Hull Hockey (Cart/CD) (completed but never released)
I forget the last one. Sorry.
>They also listed some other games that were on the way, such as
>Nigel Mansell's World Championship from Gremlin,
Never completed.
>Battle Chess from Interplay,
Licensed by Atari but never worked on.
>Jimmy Connors Tennis from UBI Soft.
Unknown.
>None of these 3 games are mentioned in the Jaguar FAQ, or on the
>Lost Games page. And I don't remember ever hearing anything about
>them again. It was from their news section and not a rumors section,
>so I believe there must be at least some truth to the fact that these
>games were in the works at one point. Does anybody know anything
>about these games?
That's what I know.
-Mark
--==--==--==--==--
|| BattleSphere News
|| By: Doug Engel
\__// thunderbird@sprynet.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
//// BattleSphere Update
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[From Doug Engel's Thunderbird's Garage home page <http://home.sprynet.com/
sprynet/Thunderbird>. Note that this Update really should have appeared in
last month's JEO, but somehow slipped between the cracks. Oops! --Ed.]
//// 10/15/1998
NEWS FLASH! BattleSphere Has been Approved for Encryption by Hasbro!!!
I know it's been forever since I updated this page, but things really took
a turn for the worse for us since Hasbro Interactive bought out Atari Corp.
and things literally ground to a screeching halt, just as we finished the
game.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of many of our fans, and help from some of
the most unlikely of sources, we have finally been approved for encryption,
which is the first step on the way to manufacturing cartridges! Encryption,
for those of you who do not know, is the security that prevents
unauthorized companies from making games for a system without paying
royalties to the system manufacturer.
When you boot your console, the system decodes the encrypted game and then
runs it. Since only the system maker has the key (a sort of "password"),
only they can encrypt a game for their console.
The old Atari 2600 had no encryption whatsoever, and eventually there were
dozens of companies producing games for the console, which cut deeply into
Atari's game sales, and ultimately brought about the crash of the console
market in the early 80's.
When Hasbro bought Atari, they filed away all of the encryption tools and
moved on to other projects. Until they approved BattleSphere's encryption,
we could not do anything at all. Our hands were tied.
In the meantime, we could only sit back and wait for approval. Believe us,
we were as impatient and frustrated as our fans, but we had to be patient
and wait for the slow wheels of progress to turn.
Now that we have the approval to proceed, the next step is to put our
cartridges into production. Hopefully, this will not be a long and
complicated process. We do not know how long this will take, because this
time of year the chip foundries are working on production runs for
Christmas, and who knows when they will be able to produce our ROMs.
At least now it's not a matter of "if", but rather "when" the next hurdle
is crossed. and that's a great feeling.
Many of you offered to petition Hasbro (among other things), but we felt
that the time was not right for letter-writing-campaigns and such. Our
contacts with the management at Hasbro were tenuous at best, and we didn't
want to risk becoming a nuisance. We want to thank everyone for their
patience, and following our request for restraint.
While waiting for word, we've moved on to other projects and had the
opportunity to tweak our game in minor ways, to make sure it was just
perfect.
Meanwhile, the break in the action has provided 4Play with the opportunity
to search for some funding for a version of BattleSphere for the PC or some
other console. With rave reviews, such as Next-Generation's BattleSphere
Preview, we think we have a winner of a game on our hands, and it will only
be a matter of time before opportunity comes knocking on our door.
Many of you were able to see and play BattleSphere for yourselves at the
World of Atari show in Las Vegas, and even meet Scott and Steph. The Show
was a great success, and we appreciate all of the great things everyone had
to say about us after playing. We appreciate the kind words!
--==--==--==--==--
|| Llatest from Llamaland
|| By: Jeff "Yak" Minter
\__// net.yak@yak.net
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[All of the following postings are taken from Jeff Minter's web page, Yak's
Zoo <http://www.magicnet.net/~yak/zoo.html>. Check it out, and see what
else Jeff has yakked up lately.]
//// 1 Nov 1998
Well, here I am again, lazy sod that I am, even I thought I'd better get
around to another update. Winter, or at the very least late autumn, has
most definitely arrived in Wales; the last couple of weeks have seen a deal
of high winds and moisture descending from on high, and many villages in
low-lying areas have been subject to flooding - it's at times like this
that one is profoundly pleased that one lives up on a hill. (And speaking
of hills, didn't Damon do well today? But more about that later).
Of course, bad weather outside means that you're much more inclined to sit
indoors, snug in front of the monitor, playing games and banging out the
old code. Accordingly, Tempest is coming together quite nicely now - I
reckon that within the next week or two I should have just about all of
Classic Tempest running and playable on X, looking a bit nicer than the
original, of course!
I have to admit something: I have actually been using C for some things.
Yes, I know that's a heathen thing to the True Assembler Hacker, but hey,
it is useful for banging up some outer-level stuff I have to admit, and I
needed to make my stuff more C-friendly in order to be able to take
advantage of some of the other X library functions, so while I was about it
I used the dread lingo to knock up a few odds and sods, like a Web editor
[that's Tempest webs, not WWW webs --Ed.] and a really rather spiffy chill-
out mode, in which some of the params governing a particularly trippy
display are brought out to the joystick, ideal for relaxation after a day
coding - slap on the old chill-out mode, bung on some nice choons, and have
a good old fiddle with one's joystick, llovely :-).
Thanks to my snoot new Web editor and Web compression routines, I now have
the 16 "classic" Webs in there, and the beginnings of a nice transition
sequence between Webs running. The Webs compress down really small, so
there will be a gazillion of them in the final game - 'specially as the web
editor makes it easy and fun to bash out new Webs, much unlike all the
fossicking around with a biro and a pad of graphie that I used to do when
making T2K on the Jaggy.
Way back at the beginning of the year I wrote an X demo that had some nice
vector-text that could rez up and blow apart in a number of interesting and
froody ways. Since shortly I will need to have cool exploding messages and
pulsating, throbbing, zooming bonus points flying around, I'm resurrecting
that code (well, actually, I am re-writing it - I realised it would be much
more efficient to have the blowing-up-stuff directly embedded in the core
of my linedraw routine, since it only takes a few bytes. Actually the new
mode is not only more efficient, it's better - it will work on any
polyline, there is an extra param of "explodedness", and a longword that,
judiciously filled, allows one to create a glowing multiplicity of cool
explosion styles - kewlitude incarnate).
Right now I am working on levelsequencing - the stuff that determines the
structure of a level, what kinds of enemies come out and how frequently,
that kinda stuff. Once this is done I shall be able to belt out levels like
there is no tomorrow, and actually start to have a game going on here :-).
Tempest purists will be pleased to note the return of the Embryos - the
little dots that used to swirl about down at the bottom of a level,
indicating enemies as-yet unlanded on the Web edge. Looking down to see how
many Embryos were left would give you a good idea how much of the level was
left, and by watching them detach from the swarm and move towards the Web
edge, you could anticipate their landing and send a few shots down to greet
them :-). Somehow the Embryos got left out from T2K (it sure is nice to
have the original game to study this time around - thanks be to MAME!). My
Embryos are drawn using translucent, antialiased disks (natch), and when
they swarm at the bottom of the Web it looks like a flowing, corpuscular
ribbon of energy - kewls. As they get launched, they flare up brightly and
move towards the Web edge. When they get there at the moment, it crashes
and I get a register dump - there is a wee bug-ette in there that I must
nobble, but once that is done I should have level sequencing happening,
whoopee :-)
Well, enough work stuff. The onset of winter does not seem to bother my
beasties much - Flossie has a better jumper than any human, anyway, so any
cold windy weather bothers her pretty little head not one iota. I did
notice, though, that whenever Alastair went off on one of his
peregrinations (usually ending with me kicking him out of the pinball
room), Flossie, left behind in her field, would get quite agitated at his
absence, and run around the field, bleating vigorously for him. Since I
figured that she won't go far from wherever he goes, and they can't get out
on the road anyway, only into my other fields, I might as well just open
the gate of their field and let them wander around together at will.
They seem to enjoy this a lot more, and it is kinda cool to be wandering
out in the grounds, maybe having a bit of a ponder about some bug or tricky
routine, and to be interrupted by a loud bleat and importuned by a large
sheep for a skritch and a Digestive biccie :-). Of course, it also means
that the other day I was interrupted by not one but two bleats coming from
the pinball room - Alastair came in to visit and Flossie tagged right along
too!
Vindy is continuing to become larger and, like a true British dog, looks
forward to going down the pub at nights, to the extent that as soon as I
switch off the computer (or the monitor, I should say - I never switch off
my computer) she is waiting, usually with her tongue hanging out the side
of her mouth in a manner that makes her look completely stupid, by the
front door, ready to go out down the pub. She gets most put out on darts
nights, when she is not allowed down the pub, on account of she is just too
demented and would interfere with the game hehe...
My only disappointment with Vindy is that she doesn't like curry! I try to
give her the specially-treated, bio-hazard-strength etch-proof containers
that my takeaway Vindaloo comes in to lick out, and she takes one sniff,
then backs off, sneezing and giving me the kind of look that says "are you
totally, completely insane, you demented human" ? Oh well... maybe I should
start her out on a tikka and work upwards. Mind you, it's probably a good
thing for the state of my carpets that she doesn't eat Vindaloo, given the
powerful sphincter-loosening properties of that particular curry...
Speaking of Vindy and my local, there have been cool things happening down
the pub of late - they are getting wired! The other day they took the
plunge and finally bought a system, partly for themselves to use and have
some fun with, but also because soon my local is going to become a proper
cyberpub, and have a system available in the bar for denizens to use to
access the Internet or to have a good old game of some classic coin-op
(again, thanks be to MAME). Mine hosts are new to the wonderful world of
Windoze 98 (heh) but learning fast, and in my capacity as the guy in the
village who knows vaguely where to click, I've been helping them out from
time to time. We set up their email a couple of weeks ago, and to
demonstrate mail with attachments, I sent them a copy of a program which
usually gets sent to me by somebody once every month or so (like that Post
Office advert, "I saw this and I thought of you" [or ewe, in this case]).
You've probably seen it - it's a little desktop sheep that wanders around,
falls off your windows, sneezes, bleats, dives flaming across the screen
into a bath of water, kinda thang. Anyway, I duly showed them how to save
off the attachment into a folder, and then how to launch the sheep, but
unfortunately I didn't make it clear how to turn them off...
Anyway, one evening they were showing the system to some folks in the pub,
and thought it would be cool to run the sheep, which went fine... except
that they didn't know how to turn them off! And every time they tried...
they actually created another sheep, until in the end their system was
completely overrun with bleating sheep! They tried to call me to ask me how
to get rid of their rapidly-multiplying flock, but unfortunately I happened
to be out with some mates that night, and eventually they had to power down
to regain their machine from the rampaging herd. Suffice to say that next
time I was in there I explained properly how to kill a sheep (now I bet
that's something you never thought you'd read on this page!).
We should have their Web page up and running soon - when it's ready I'll
bung up a link, be sure and go and pay them a virtual visit, and have a
virtual pint of llovely unchilled proper British ale :-)
Well, today after a wait of 5 weeks, the Grand Prix championship finally
got sorted. I cooked myself my usual Sunday afternoon Grand Prix feast
(usually something like roast turkey, some spuds and some peas and a can of
beer) and settled down to watch the action for the last time this season.
And, much though many may dislike the German dude, one can't help but feel
a bit sorry for him this time around. Having some stupid technical glitch
stall the engine at start and therefore be demoted from pole to last is
pisser enough, but to come back from that, drive like a mad thing and claw
your way back up into third, only to get put out by an exploding rear tire
must be a complete bastard. Mind you, not to take it away from Hakkers, who
drove an excellent race and richly deserved to win, and who probably would
have won anyway even if Schui had performed the miracle and reeled him in,
given that all he had to do was come second to win the championship. Ol'
Hakkers even actually looked chuffed when he won, miracles will never
cease! I expect that even now he's working on a well-deserved hangover for
tomorrow. It's been a good season, and I'll miss my Sunday afternoon
ritual; oh well, just have to play GP on my Ninty during the winter, I
suppose.
I thought Damon did well, too, finishing in a very creditable 4th position,
and earning himself 6th in the Championship and Jordan a respectable
placing in the Constructors' Championship - something that seemed extremely
unlikely in the early stages of the season. Let's hope he and Jordan can
keep it up next season! Mind you, I thought that Ralf was a bit pissy when
he was interviewed after he went out with an exploding engine - complaining
that Damon didn't let his big brother pass with any degree of alacrity when
he was behind him. Come on, the two are rivals from way back, and Schui has
publicly dissed Damon before now, so no way was he going to let him off
easily - and it's not like it was mere delaying tactics out of spite
anyway, since at the time Damon was concentrating on trying to get past
Villeneuve, anyway. Put a sock in it Ralph, Jordan don't need the likes of
you anyway, and your brother is quite capable of standing up for himself!
Oh well, I could witter on for ages here, but it's Sunday, so I'd better
get this little lot uploaded and get ready to take Vindy down the pub.
Before I go, I shall shove in one final pic - the view from out of my
living room window, which explains more than any words I could possibly
write just how nice it is to be back in Wales at last :-)
Until next time, I'll cya...
//// 7 Nov 1998
Back in the early '90s, when the SNES was new and amazing and could only be
had from Japanese importers, I was at a computer show and I picked up one
of the new systems. I decided to buy a couple of games with it, and, being
as the place I bought it from did not have the canonical Super Mario World
game, I picked up Pilot Wings (which I thought would be cool as it used a
lot of the then-amazing Mode7 display mode) and a racing game I hadn't
heard of, but which looked quite good from the screenshots: F-Zero.
Later that night, myself and a couple of mates retired to the old hotel
room, to indulge in the customary Arcturan Narco-Weed and check out the new
goodies. First in was Pilot Wings; I still remember being blown away by the
scaling and rotation as the title zoomed onto the screen. Back then,
hardware rotation was a rarity, and a source of great wonderment to all who
beheld it, myself included. We had fun, working out what the various
Japanese options in the game meant, and flying around in various
contraptions, the way you do in Pilot Wings. After a while, we decided to
check out "the other game", fully expecting that it would probably not be
as good, and that we would soon be switching back to Pilot Wings.
We were dead wrong.
Although by modern standards F-Zero looks sparse in the extreme, back then
it was awesome - the Mode7 track that rotated smoothly underneath the
player ship was jaw-dropping stuff; but what really hooked us was the
gameplay. It was so smooth and playable - beautifully responsive controls,
interesting track layouts, challenging opponents you could really get to
love to hate... ISTR that we went out to get a burger at about 11pm, went
and ate it in a churchyard in Hammersmith (and probably had a bit more of
the ol' Narco-Weed), and then trundled back upstairs to F-Zero and the
waiting Blue Ship. I believe we finally ended that session at around 5am
(although my thumb went to sleep some time earlier). This set the pattern
for many, many nights to come.
Just to give you some idea of how addicted me and the lads got to F-Zero:
that summer, we all went on holiday down to the South of France. And, so
that our addiction not be compromised, we took along with us a PAL telly,
my SNES, and the cartridge, and then, when we should have been out enjoying
the French-stylee ambiance of an evening, we sat around in the apartment,
drinking wine and playing F-Zero, F-Zero, F-Zero. We played until we were
all Master Mode adepts and then we played some more, going to shave a few
hundredths off the best lap times.
Of course, the years passed, and along came other systems and games;
Wipeout came out on the 'Station, obviously inspired by good old F-Zero but
taking the graphics way further than the poor old SNES could ever dream of
(if one can refer to Nintendo hardware dreaming, anyway). But there was
always a goodly portion of the Yakly circulatory organ which harboured warm
feelings towards the Blue Ship, the Pink Chicken, Mute City, Port Town, and
accidentally flying off the track and ending up off in the background
graphics somewhere, a column of greasy black smoke marking the position of
the wreckage. In fact, in recent years, F-Zero has been my In-Flight SNES
Game of Choice on the little seat-back displays they have. Age may mean
that what once were revolutionary graphics now appear to be pants, but the
gameplay remains excellent.
When the N64 was announced, I hoped and prayed, deep down in my favourite
organs, that the new system would be host to a new and improved version of
F-Zero. And so it turned out, although we had to wait ages for it - it was
months after launch before we even saw any screenshots of it, and years
before the game finally emerged in Japan; then of course the customary wait
while they release it in the US (and having to endure reading how much fun
the Yankers are having with it on the Net) until, finally, on Saturday I
walked into Woolworth's in Carmarthen and made my customary beeline for the
videogame section... and there it was, all new and shrink-wrapped and
inviting, the hallowed words sanctifying the package: F-Zero X. I
immediately and without hesitation plied the Yakly plastic and, pausing
only to scarf down a meat and potato pastie, headed for home with the firm
intention of spending the remainder of the day planted firmly upon my arse,
playing the game until my eyes bled.
I plugged in the cartridge with a degree of trepidation... would I be
spoiled now by having played the likes of Wipeout XL? Would the new game be
as great as I remembered the old one to be, or would it suffer from Crappy
Sequel Syndrome? Was I about to enjoy a new and joyous communion with the
spirit of F-Zero, or would I soon be casting aside the Ninty joystick and
reaching for WOXL on my 'Station? I settled down in front of the telly,
cradled the Ninty 'stick in my mitts, told the dog to piss off trying to
lick me while I was playing videogames, and pressed the Start button...
Several hours later, the dog was mightily annoyed with me, since an endless
succession of doggie toys dropped into my lap as entreaties to enter Doggy
Play Mode had gone unheeded, my arse cheeks were feeling sore and mightily
abused from being relentlessly sat on for way too long, and the thumb on my
right hand had long ago ceased to register any sensations. I need not have
worried. F-Zero X is truly touched by the hand of Miyamoto. It is
demonstrably, totally the same game as the old classic, just way, way
better. After a lot of soul-searching, I have to humbly admit that Wipeout
XL has been de-throned in the palace of my racing-game affections. As of
now, F-Zero X is the new king.
So, what's it like, and why is it so good?
First off, the bad news: graphically, it's fairly sparse. Just the track in
front of you, the other racers and your ship, some trackside structures,
and a few, distant bits of scenery and texture planes denoting the ground
or sea. I have seen the game being criticized roundly on the net for the
graphical sparseness. Sure, the game is not as detailed in the surrounding
scenery as WOXL was; but IMO that's a shortcoming that I regard as less
than trivial. Firstly, it gives the game the same stripped-down, abstract
feel as original F-Zero, no bad thing. Secondly, and most importantly, it
has allowed the designers to keep the framerate at a rock 50FPS throughout
- very important in a game which moves this fast. And boy, does it move
fast... jeezus... kick in the boosters a few times and my God, the track
unrolls in front of you at a truly staggering rate... I have never known
any racing game, in coin-op or the home, that gives the sheer sense of
speed-rush that F0X does. When you read the game info and learn that the
ships max out at 1300KPH, it seems a bit unrealistic... until you play the
damn thing. Jeez, you're moving, and no mistake.
Believe me, you are not going to have time to worry that the backdrops
aren't as detailed as WOXL. If you even tried to look around to admire the
scenery, you would end up very, very dead, very, very quickly. Just keep
your eyes on the road and try to remember to breathe...
Equally impressive is the field of opponents - 30 in all, including you.
And yes, you can be in the middle of them all and the framerate doesn't
budge from 50FPS. And, of course, as they should be, they are all complete
bastards who think nothing of shoving you off one of the many bits of
dangerous track with no restraining edges, or having a go at you when your
shield's a bit down and causing you to blow up, the rotten smeggers. Of
course you can use the attack modes to dish out a bit of the same to
them...
In any game which moves as fast, and is as challenging as this, the
controls have to be nigh on perfect - and thankfully, they are. Ships are
responsive to the tiniest deflection of the controller, allowing you to
accurately steer your way through a giant herd of other racers at speeds
that border on the ludicrous. To give you some idea of the sheer speed of
the game - I was playing one game, lying in 17th place, jammed on a boost
and hit a pad in the road at the same time, and in the space of one second
I had cut through the pack and was out in front. (Schuey may think he is
good passing 11 cars in 2 laps last GP, but he's got nothing on the ol'
Mighty Gazelle). Of course, I then got a case of the speed-wobbles in the
halfpipe and flew out of the track and off into oblivion, but I sure had
fun doing it. There's always next time... and there will be many next
times...
The game consists of five Leagues of six tracks each; when you first get
it, three Leagues (Jack, Queen and King Leagues) are available, and a
choice of six cars. Beat these Leagues in Easy (something that a seasoned
SNES F-Zero player will manage without a problem at the first sitting) and
a new lot of six cars become available. Beat the Leagues again in Normal
mode, and six more cars become available, along with a new league, Joker
League. Beat that in Normal mode, and any one league in Expert, and you get
six more cars. Finally, beat all four leagues in Expert mode (pretty hard -
I have come very close a few times but as yet, no cigar) and you get the
final lot of six cars for a total of thirty; a new league, the X-League,
that features algo generated tracks that are different each time you play;
and access to Master difficulty mode.
In addition, there are time trial modes (which are quite cool, featuring up
to 3 ghosts on the track at once), practice modes, a combat mode where you
have to smash up all the other racers, and - hallelujah! a multi-player
mode for up to four players; a multi-player mode, my God, where the frame
rate doesn't go to hell via Basingstoke like in many games, too. I haven't
had a serious go at this yet, but I expect it will receive a proper caning
next time the lads come up and visit. Especially since I emailed one of
them yesterday informing him of the joyous release, and he duly sped out to
obtain his own copy, and is even now bashing his Ninty and swearing he'll
kick my arse all around Mute City next time we meet. We'll see. The Mighty
Gazelle takes no prisoners :-)
There are a few gameplay changes from the original game, but the designers
have made modifications tastefully and sensibly (Yak glares with a baleful
eye in the virtual direction of the creators of Tempest X) and the
resultant changes in strategy serve to make the game even more exciting.
Combat now plays a more major part than in the original, although not to
the extent of implementing full-on, weapon-based combat like in WOXL. F0X
combat is more physical - there is a spin-attack, which I don't use really,
because it slows down the ship too much for my taste; and my own
favourites, the bump-left and bump-right attack, which, judiciously
deployed, can send an irritating rival flying to a well-deserved doom off
the edge of the track, or smash him into a wall with sufficient force to
finish him off. The game even thoughtfully points out to you in the melee
of racers the chap who is closest to you in points for the Championship, so
you can single him out for your special hostile attentions :-). Banging him
off the track means that he will get zero points for the race, which
considerably enhances your own championship chances. (I wonder if Schuey
had a hand in the design of this game? ;-)
Of course, all the other drivers are only too happy to use the same tactics
on you...
The other significant change is to the availability of Boost. In the
original game, you earned one Boost for each lap completed, so you could
use one per lap, or save them all up for a mad dash to the finish. In F0X,
after the first lap, you can have unlimited Boosts... but each boost takes
a chunk out of your Shield energy. Using multiple boosts you can accelerate
to speeds that are quite clearly seriously deranged... but if you go for it
too hard, the slightest touch of the edge of the track, or another player
having a go at you, and it's explode-into-lots-of-ikkle-polygons time. This
makes for some seriously tense racing... you need to boost to catch the
leaders, but you gotta drive really accurately... at 1300KPH... to make it
safe to the next recharge point (and in the recharge points you BOOST LIKE
CRAZY cuz it's effectively free). The use of Boost can lead to some amazing
finishes... I have been lying in sixth and hit the energy zone, nailed a
boost and inside a fraction of a second robbed the leader who was just
about to cross the line of his victory hehe... (and I've had the same thing
happen to me, the bastards, the buggers).
The tracks are fairly short... or at least they seem quite short, but then
again, you are going at stupid velocity... but the track topography is a
far cry from the flat plains of the original game. Loops and corkscrews
abound, and the more interesting tracks contain cylinders that you race
along (and which it is possible to boost up and away from, if you're not
careful), tubes and halfpipes that it is also possible to misjudge and end
up flying right out of, especially if you're boosting like a demented
thing. Imagine going down a bobsled run, except that you've got a bloody
massive jet engine in full reheat strapped to your arse. Amazing.
And there are plenty of tracks... 24 in the main Leagues, and 6 algo ones
in the X-league that are different each time, so effectively unlimited
tracks. Just like in the original, the first time you play some of the
tracks in Expert you think it'll be impossible to get in first, but the
more you play the more you learn the track, and you start putting in good
laps, colliding with the sides less, outmaneuvering the pack, getting to
know the best place to use your boosts... then the game really starts to
flow and you settle into the Zone, and you can get totally off on the sheer
speed and lovely framerate and precision challenge of it all... yum yum yum
yum yum.
Audio-wize, although not in the class of WOXL (this is a cart, not a CD)
the tunes aren't that bad - I was pleased to hear a couple of reworkings of
some of the original F-Zero tunes on some tracks. The music is more rock
than the techno which has become the customary accompaniment to future-
racers, and some of the tunes even manage to have a distinctly Iron Maiden-
y quality. Don't be put off, even if you hate metal - the tunes suit the
game quite well, really. In-game sounds are simple but effective - the
sound of the crafts' engines, the clonk as some bastard attempts to do you
hurtage, the scream of your pilot as you get it wrong and plummet into
oblivion, kinda thang.
Bottom line: F-Zero X is a lovely, lovely videogame, and I want to shag it.
Bring it home and ram it in your slot. And if you remember all the good
times you used to have in Port Blue and Silence, you will enjoy returning
after many years' absence. It's like coming home :-).
So... what can I say after all that ranting?
Well, I have to retract what I said about Vindy last time - on Monday, I
had my customary curry, and, sated, laid the plate aside, secure in the
knowledge that Vindy would not touch it, given that she did not like curry.
But, to my amazement, I saw her sniff the plate... out came the unfeasibly-
large tongue for an exploratory lick... and, instead of recoiling or
running off to drink copious amounts from the bowl of the lavvy (another
delightful canine habit) she got right down to it, and licked the plate
clean, so clean in fact that I wondered if I would even have to wash it!
Hehe... The same thing happened with Friday's curry plate, so I know it's
not just a flush in the pan. Vindy really likes vindaloo! Excellent!
T3K continues to come along nicely too - Flippers, Fuseballs and Pulsars
are all apparent upon the Web now, and the level sequencer is working to
the extent where you can launch all the Embryos for a level and it will
launch and hatch Embryos at a rate commensurate to the level until they are
all gone. Interestingly, I dug up an old interview with Theurer talking
about old Tempest, and in it he states that "the more of an enemy you
shoot, the more of that type come out". This is quite cool, since it means
you can't just nail your scariest enemies at the start of the level,
because that will engender more. You might have to leave them awhile and
avoid them, or risk being overrun with what you fear the most... I will
make my sequencer do the same kind of thing, and see how it plays.
Working on the enemies has inspired me to make more additions to my already
overstuffed vector core... objects can now own a CLUT and do endpoint
colour loads out of that - although everything is in 32-bit, having a local
CLUT for an object is quite handy, since you can munge the CLUT in all the
trad ways and get nice cycling and pulsing happening within an object much
more easily than having to traverse the whole vectorlist and change all the
absolute colour loads. The vector stuff looks really yummy... 'specially
nice having intensity-interpolation between endpoints, means enemies can
have vectors that taper off into nothingness, looks like beams of light
coming out of the edge of the enemy... yummy yummy. And, since I moved the
shatter stuff inboard into vector core, now when you blow them up they
break up into a cloud of tumbling vector-debris. Cool.
Now I'll be going for finishing off the first few enemies' behaviour
routines, getting the level sequencer to initiate level transitions
automatically, and getting player deaths happening. At that point there
will be something that actually plays in a game-like manner and I will
prolly spend a week or two getting the initial balance of gameplay right...
the most crucial thing of all... and then I can just get into adding all
the 3K extras and goodies, of which there will be precisely one f*ckload
:-)
Oh, I love being a videogame designer. I love being a videogame player,
too. Ain't life grand sometimes?
Until next time, goodbye from Flossie, Alastair, Vindy (true curry-hound!)
and... the Mighty Gazelle!
--==--==--==--==--
|| The Yank's Guide to Yak Speak
|| By: Clay (JEO) Halliwell and Richard (JustClaws) Turner
\__// earl.halliwell@dyess.af.mil, JustClaws@Bowes.Co.Uk
-----------------------------------------------------------------
//// Divided We Stand
An anonymous wit once described America and England as "two countries
divided by a single language". Ask most Brits about the subject, and
they'll tell you we Yanks don't speak English, we speak American. They're
right, you know. Before widespread electronic communication made the Earth
a whole lot smaller, the world's two strongholds of English had well over a
hundred years to mutate the language in their own unique ways.
Fortunately, the two dialects are still convergent enough that conversation
across the pond is rarely difficult, and it helps that most of us are aware
of the more prominent differences. We all know, for example, that when a
lorry crosses the Atlantic it becomes a truck, that a lift might rise up to
become an elevator, a fag is something you smoke, and when your sexy
neighbor invites you to "knock her up" sometime, you shouldn't get all
excited.
Where English and American diverge most wildly is in the area of slang.
This is unsurprising, but can make informal speech fairly impenetrable to a
foreign reader. As longtime readers of Jeff Minters' "Llatest from
Llamaland" know, Jeff revels in littering his prose with all manner of
Britticisms which leave us Yanks scratching our heads. He also likes to mix
in the odd ten-dollar word to confuse everybody else ("ungulate", anyone?).
So, as a public service to Jaguar enthusiasts on both sides of the pond
(though mostly the American side), Richard Turner and myself got together
to provide this guide (also thanks to Margaret Middleton for the definition
of "Ghu"). But don't think of it purely as a glossary of Yak-Speak. Since
easily half the Jag's library was programmed by Brits, and the Jag itself
was designed by a British company, the American Jaguarian would be well
advised to acquaint himself with our sister vernacular.
//// On Abbreviations
Before we launch into the Guide proper, a short dissertation on British and
American abbreviation habits. This may come in handy for decoding Yak-terms
which aren't listed below.
In a nutshell, Americans like acronyms, while Brits favor diminutives. This
sometimes has the effect of making British informal speech sound like baby
talk, and American informal speech sound like a computer manual.
British: "I was keen to watch some footy and play some ninty on my new
froody telly."
American: "I tried hooking my old NES to my TV via my VCR, but it was
FUBARed."
//// And Now, the Main Event...
THE YANK'S GUIDE TO YAK SPEAK
Alastair (n) - One of Yak's goats. Formerly male, now eunuch status.
beastie (n) - Any type of furry mammal, up to and including Yak himself.
Biro (n) - Popular brand of pen in England; general term for cheap pen.
biscuit, digestive (n) - A sweetmeal biscuit, perfect with tea (and with
cheese) much favored by humans and other mammals.
bloke (n) - An unremarkable person, almost always male.
boanthrope (n) - Cow-Man (or Bull-Man). A composite of "bovine" (cow/bull)
and "anthropos" (man).
bog-roll (n) - Toilet paper. As in, "I need a bog-roll for my bung-hole!"
bogs (n) - Toilets, or marshy place, sometimes both at once.
bolshy (adj) - Stroppy, argumentative, uncooperative in the extreme.
bugger-all (n) - Nothing, or so little as to make no difference.
As in, "I know bugger-all about curry."
bugger off (v) - To geographically dislocate from one's current
coordinates. As in, "He was here, but he buggered off!"
Somewhat disrespectful or disdainful.
bumf (n) - Unnecessary (sometimes unwanted) literature and articles
related to a given subject. As in, "He's got loads of bumf about
that."
butcher's (v) - To take a look at something, perhaps without confidence.
As in, "I thought I'd better have a butcher's anyway"
cashpoint (n) - Bank cash machine, ATM, "hole in the wall".
caution (n) - A bit of a joker, unbelievable. As in, "He's a caution,
that goat"
cheek (n) - Impertinence, nerve, presumption.
chips (n) - French fries.
choons (n) - Music; derivation of tunes.
chuffed (adj) - Very pleased, delighted, as in, "I was chuffed to bits".
curry (n) - Ummm, this one is rather long. Brent Thompson, who is
highly knowledgeable on the subject and has lived in India,
writes:
"The term curry itself isn't really used in India, except
as a term appropriated by the British to generically
categorize a large set of different soup/stew preparations
ubiquitous in India and nearly always containing ginger,
garlic, onion, turmeric, chile, and oil (except in com-
munities which eat neither onion nor garlic, of course)
and which must have seemed all the same to the British,
being all yellow/red, oily, spicy/aromatic, and too
pungent to taste anyway"
In the west, curry is now usually characterized by the type of
curries popularized by restaurants. David Smith (maintainer
of the Curry House FAQ) defines a restaurant curry as:
"A dish made with dried and fresh spices cooked in oil
with a sauce made from pureed onions, garlic and ginger.
The variety of spices used can be extensive but the
commonest are chili, cumin, coriander and turmeric.
Other common ingredients are yoghurt, cream and ground
nuts."
dosh (n) - Money, implication being furthermore, that it's to spend.
dusted (v) - Finished, as in, "It's all done and dusted now."
emu (n) - A computer or videogame emulator (MAME, XL-It!, etc...).
faff (v) - Mess about, failing to conclude matters quickly and decisively.
flat (n) - Apartment, usually implying that it's not very big.
Flossie (n) - Yak's sheep, the Prettiest Sheep in the World. Present
in Defender 2000 via a cheat code.
Floyd, Pink (n) - The Yak's musical conglomerate of preference.
FOAF (n) - Friend Of A Friend.
footy (n) - Football, known to Americans as soccer (unfortunately).
fossick (v) - Tinker, as in, "I fossicked around with it all day, but
still couldn't get it to work."
froody (adj) - Neat, cool, and fun.
FUR (n) - Frame Update Rate. Yak Speak for "Frames Per Second".
gaff (n) - Home, or place of residence.
ghosht (n) - Mutton curry. For obvious reasons, Yak eschews ghosht.
Ghu (n) - The generic fannish deity. Particularly invoked when you
don't want to sound too serious about your swearing.
git (n) - Annoying or irritating person; friendly insult, "You git".
gnus (n) - Events of public interest which have occurred in the current
or near-current time frame. As in, "No gnus is good gnus".
gobsmackingly (adj) - Unbelievable, such that your draw drops in the
same way as it does after a severe impact to it.
grilf (n) - A female human who follows you around, lets you buy stuff
for her, and might occasionally let you touch her.
grok (v) - Understand. As in, "Do you grok what I'm telling you?" From
the Robert A. Heinlein novel, "Stranger in a Strange Land".
holiday (n) - A vacation. As in, "I really need to take a holiday."
hols (n) - The holidays (real holidays, not the fake vacation-holidays).
Jaggy (n) - The world's first 64-bit gaming console.
jammy (n) - Lucky, sometimes cool. As in, "There is also scope for
pulling off some totally ludicrous jammy survivals."
jiggery-pokery (n) - Something akin to magic, some clever actions.
knackered (adj) - Not just tired, but completely worn out. As in, "Let me
sit down a minute, I'm knackered". Knackers is also a slang term for
testicles, and a "knacker's yard" is a slaughterhouse for horses.
Thus, a worn-out horse is knackered, without hope.
korma (n) - A fairly mild, creamy curry; a "beginner's" curry.
lavvy - Lavatory, aka "the bathroom". As in, "After a caustic curry I need
to nip off to the lavvy".
lager (n) - English word for German/Norwegian beer. In England, beer is
most DEFINITELY not the same thing- lager is held in less esteem
than beer, and the best is imported.
lilo (n) - A (usually) inflatable bed, often to be found on beaches.
loo (n) - Toilet. See "lavvy".
Minter, Jeff (n) - Yak has sometimes been known to respond to this name.
naan (n) - Indian bread. Goes well with curry.
nick (v) - Steal, as in, "He nicked my idea."
nip (v) - Visit, but the emphasis being on speed and short duration.
Ninty (n) - Either the Nintendo Entertainment System, or the Nintendo 64.
nobble (v) - Sabotage, usually in some devious way, derived from the
use of the term in horse-racing, where a horse is drugged.
oik (n) - Git, stupid person, always derogatory.
pants (n) - Worthless, of no value. As in, "The 32X was absolute pants."
pappadom (n) - A crunchy, deep-fried, disk-shaped accompaniment to most
Indian meals, in particular curries; light and fragile.
penty (n) - An Intel Pentium-based computer.
peregrination (n) - Wandering, traveling.
phal (n) - A corrosive biohazard, or the hottest of the known curries.
You decide. Rumored to be Indian for "fatal".
poxy (adj) - An object or person held in great disdain. Derived from
the historical term, "the pox".
prat (n) - A person of great stupidity, usually harmless, makes errors.
Prettiest Sheep in the World, The (n) - See "Flossie".
quaff (v) - The oral ingestion of a comestible liquid. As in, "Don't
quaff and drive".
Red Ship, The (n) - Yak's car when he was living in the States. JEO
Data Collection Central Command was unable to determine exactly
what type of car it was. We're pretty sure it was red though.
ship (n) - Slang for "car".
skritch (n) - Scratch, particularly where most wanted, e.g. ears and nose.
slated (v) - Unforgivingly criticized, similar to slammed or panned.
smeg (n) - Verbal exclamation derived from the Brit telly show "Red
Dwarf". As in, "What the smeg is going on here?!" Based on the
word "smegma" (look it up).
snoot (adj) - Snooty means posh, perhaps meaning superior.
solicitor (n) - Lawyer, aka The Lowest Life Form On Earth.
Speccy (n) - The Sinclair Spectrum.
starfish, chocolate (n) - The egress terminus of the mammalian
digestive tract. The chocolate starfish hates curry vindaloo.
starkers (adj) - Sans both under- and outergarments. Nekkid.
telly (n) - A squarish plastic artifact with a cathode ray tube and
speakers mounted in its front face. Uses mysterious internal
components to convert electrical signals into images and sounds
for entertainment purposes.
tikka masala (n) - Yet another type of curry.
tindaloo (n) - Type of curry. Basically a very hot tikka masala.
Toilet (n) - The Atari Jaguar CD attachment, so named for its undeniable
facimilitude to the great porcelain temple. Not an insult!
trot, on the (adv) - Consecutively. As in, "He fell for that trick three
times on the trot".
ungulate (n) - Any hoofed mammal.
vindaloo (n) - Fairly common, very hot curry; one step down from Phal.
Vindy (n) - Yak's dog, a young Border Collie.
wanker (n) - Jerk, idiot. Term of disrespect and insult. As in, "Leonard
is such a wanker."
whiffy (adj) - Stinking, also applied to things of poor quality.
witter (v) - Ramble, but with a particular tendency towards complaint
As in, "He wittered on about it for ages."
wonga (n) - Money, implication being it is to spend.
Yak - A shaggy, goaty-smelling biped (suspected to be human). Likes to
write videogames and psychedelic lightshows (or best of all,
videogames that ARE psychedelic lightshows), eat curry, listen
to Pink Floyd, smoke narco-weed, and skritch Flossie. Sometimes
answers to the name "Jeff Minter".
X - The embedded multimedia processor now unfortunately known as NUON.
--==--==--==--==--
|| State of the Lynx
|| By: Carl Forhan
\__// forhan@millcomm.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
//// Preface
Dec 4, 1998
Is the handheld market taking off again? The GameBoy has been the
uncontested ruler of this arena for several years, but now we have a Color
GameBoy, game.com, and even a Neo-Geo handheld. Rather ironic that the Lynx
could still compete with these handhelds and was made waaay back in '89.
Nevertheless, the grass-roots support for the Lynx lumbers onward; see for
yourself...
//// Web Lynx
Bastian Schick is one of the most valued contributors in the hobby support
of the Lynx, and his accomplishments demonstrate this -- the BLL developer
cart, T-tris, and SIMIS are just some of his efforts. What you may not know
is all the work he's put into improving the cc65 C compiler for the
developer community, or that he was able to learn how to defeat the Lynx
encryption.
Check out Bastian's projects and tools online at:
<http://www.gp.fht-esslingen.de/students/elw5basc/>
//// Game Updates
I know, a bunch of you are still patiently awaiting the arrival of SFX.
Please bear with me as I resolve the manufacturing difficulties of getting
this cart produced, and thank you for the tremendous support for this cart.
Bastian recently revealed that the SIMIS cart supports game downloads (into
Lynx RAM) at the main menu! This hidden feature effectively turns your
SIMIS cart into a developer cart as well, you just need a hand-made serial
cable to download the code. Bastian also hinted that another game is hidden
in SIMIS somewhere...
Ponx is effectively COMPLETE at this point! After many months of avoiding
the game, I finally buckled down and finished writing the code to enable
intro screens, title music, and more hardware effects on this rather
enjoyable game. Look for publication details on this cart AFTER I get SFX
out of the way.
Links to all the above may be found at The Lynx Domain:
<http://www.millcomm.com/~forhan/lynx.html>
//// Ye Olde Rumor Mill
Telegames is still in the early analysis phase with regards to Hyperdrome.
Once the game has been tested sufficiently and the documentation either
located or written, then expect to see some official support for the
release of this game... my guess is mid-'99.
What if I told you, you could play new levels on an existing Lynx game AND
even design new levels yourself AND download them to that same Lynx cart
that's been sitting on your shelf for several years? Would you believe me?
Signing off,
Carl Forhan
--==--==--==--==--
|| Interview: James Garvin
|| By: Clay Halliwell
\__// earl.halliwell@dyess.af.mil
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Recently a company by the name of OMC Games announced a new game, "The
Assassin" for release on the Atari Jaguar. Now, we've seen more than our
share of fake product announcements for the Jag in recent years, so I
tracked down OMC owner/founder James Garvin to find out if OMC is for real.
It looks good folks... very good.
[JEO] Who is James Garvin?
[James Garvin] Hmmm... I was born in Louisville, KY, the bastard son of
a... well, maybe not. I'm 27, a writer, programmer, avid game player, and
currently I run OMC Games while going for my BA in Computer Engineering at
the University Of Texas. No small feat. I think the company has suffered
because of it, as well as my projects. I got a chance to travel to Japan
recently to work on VLSI chips and so that's where my current base of
operations is. The company is still in the same place though, but I'll be
spending the next year here in Sendai which is both a curse and blessing at
the same time. At least I get to be with my girlfriend.
I've been programming since 1982. Picked up TI BASIC on a TI 99/4A. Heh,
heh. Those were good days. Eventually moved up to Atari BASIC and Commodore
BASIC. Then someone told me that in order to be a serious programmer I had
to learn Assembly. I dabbled with it a little, but I took my cue at really
learning from some of the great games I played way back then and the guys
who wrote them, such as Alternate Reality (Philip Price), Wizard's Crown
and The Eternal Dagger (Paul Murray), and Ultima (Richard Garriot). I've
since had a chance to interact with these guys in some way and I admit that
like most idols they didn't live up to my expectations, but I owe them my
respect because they inspired me to go for the big game. Since '85 I've had
some interesting adventures with assembly language, but it's been worth the
ride. Recently, I've been questing to learn as many programming languages
as possible.
I live by the game, so to speak. I own more than half of all the game
systems ever released and have taken a habit to studying the market like an
analyst. That's where I got the idea for HieroGraphix. I think I've made
more enemies than anything else, but that's okay. The truth is a beautiful
thing. I look at games from a programming standpoint, and I've come to have
a lot of respect to those who really spend the time to program a good game.
Programming is everything, as well as vision. I've always been a fan of
Atari, and it stung me pretty bad that the company was run into the ground.
I've met or spoken to almost all of my heroes over the years and met some
people who've put together some great stuff. Though, I've never made a huge
name for myself. It's strange that it's worked out that way. If someone
ever took away games, I wouldn't have anything left. Heh, heh. It's funny
that my girlfriend totally hates games. Well... except Tetris.
[JEO] What is the HieroGraphix Game Journal?
[JG] HieroGraphix is a video game publication put together by OMC Games.
I'll admit that it's history hasn't been the most glorious as far as video
game magazines are concerned, but at least we try to present a different
view of the industry. HieroGraphix covers just about every system ever
released (2600, GameBoy, Saturn, Playstation, Jaguar, PC, Mac, etc.),
though there isn't always an article on every system, but we don't leave
out news just because it's on a system that's old or no longer mainstream.
I usually release about 2 or 3 issues a year, but after last year's fiasco
with my distributor, I'm not too thrilled about doing it again. Been
sticking to doing reviews and special features for the web site.
[JEO] What does OMC Games do?
[JG] That's a good question. I think that will be defined over the next
year or so. Currently, we publish. Mostly small periodicals, but we're
moving into games and such. There are currently two games on the roster,
The Assassin, and Age Of Darkness. Both for the Atari Jaguar. Eventually
I'm planning to do stuff for the Sega Dreamcast. Orb Of Bengazi might be
released for that system, but I'm still not sure yet.
OMC is also the medium for which I can express myself without going through
the HUGE companies who require you to fill out too many forms and force you
to compromise your own vision. Eventually, I hope to help others reach that
same plane. Let's face it, it's hard to get anything published these days,
so OMC will be an avenue for others to test out their talents and such and
get things released. Maybe it's too broad of a vision, but it's something I
feel strongly about.
[JEO] What type of game will "The Assassin" be?
[JG] The Assassin is really a testing of the Age Of Darkness engine, and
the prequel to Orb Of Bengazi. I've thought of it as a tribute to the
action greats John Woo, Chow Yun Fat, and Bruce Willis. I've designed a lot
of the stunts and action sequences with them in mind, though the main
character is more like a Bruce Willis character and a little Chow Yun Fat
mixed in for good measure. It will be awesome if I can get slow motion to
work.
It's 2D bird's-eye with about a 3 to 5 degree angle to give it a semi-3D
look. I used just about every button on the pad (ProController recommended)
and we're planning on adding a lot of gameplay elements such as changing
weather, time of day, getting tired, special moves which can be used to
perform stunts and such. It will be possible to use multiple guns, dive
over tables, jump off buildings, etc. Not to mention some extremely cool
gameplay elements that I'm keeping under wraps at the moment. I think a lot
of people will be pleasantly surprised.
The game is set in the year 2147 in a world which is basically the world as
we know it except orcs, elves, goblins, sprites, dwarves, dragons,
vampires, etc. are meshed into everyday life. The genre is specifically
cyberpunk. Picture JFK as an elf, or Martin Luther King as an orc. It's
based in the role playing world we put together entitled "Blood City" which
I'm hoping will be released simultaneously with The Assassin.
If all goes well I'm even going to attempt to do city movement, via
vehicles, in polygons. I figure I could put together some pretty
interesting car chases and provide a more interesting view of the various
cities I have planned. You will also be able to purchase vehicles and
weapons, as well as take missions or cases.
If I had to describe it, I'd say that The Assassin is more of an
RPG/Mystery/Action game. The action takes place in real-time, and there
will be a MAJOR storyline underneath that. There are subplots and extra
cases you can take for cash and personal satisfaction. It's an RPG, which
means you get experience and go up levels, also there are skills and you
can pick and mix them from the beginning (as you will see in the demo), and
acquire new skills as you progress through the game. We're even working on
adding an extremely difficult case that, if solved, could earn a lucky
person $500 and a free copy of Age Of Darkness. I'll add more details on
the day of release. I can't leave out the fact that the game is not for
kids. It's dark, depressing, violent, and extremely ruthless. Not much
different than games released these days, but the adult content (language,
nudity, etc.) is pretty high. We've tried hard to capture the real essence
of cyberpunk. I'm almost positive the ESRB will give it the highest rating
in the book, and I wouldn't settle for anything less.
The basic storyline is pretty simple. You take the role of Michael Steele,
a human Chicago detective, who goes to Austin, TX to investigate the death
of his brother. During his investigation he finds out his brother was
murdered and so he tracks down his brother's killer and murders him in cold
blood. He gets caught and sent to jail, where he goes to trial, and the
game starts there. This is the short version, but I'm sure you get the
idea. The story gets pretty complex, and you find out a number of things,
which set the stage for Bengazi.
Heh, heh. I apologize for being long-winded. There's just a lot to the
game.
[JEO] When did you decide to develop a game for the Jaguar, and why?
[JG] I actually had no plans on bringing it to the Jaguar. It was
originally an Atari 8-bit exclusive, but after I arrived in Japan, I found
that my 800XL wouldn't work here. I was more than irritated at that, and I
had to spend a number of days apologizing to my girlfriend for being an
ass. At that point I couldn't let all of our hard work go to waste, so
since I had also brought some Jaguar development materials with me, I
thought it would be more productive to just do a Jaguar version and wait
until I got back to the States before I finished the 8-bit version. I think
gamers will benefit from this transition as we can add a bit more "color"
to it than was originally planned.
[JEO] What was the trouble getting your 8-bit to work?
[JG] You know, I'm not really sure. I'm guessing it's voltage, because the
Sendai area is 100 V, 50Hz. The computer comes on, but I can't get a
display. I've even tried it on a couple of different TVs, but no luck. Of
course, it may also be the NTSC-J they use here in Japan. I find it
interesting that the switch box is considered an antenna by the TV or VCR
it's connected to. So while it's connected, we can pick up channels we
normally wouldn't be able to. This is quite different than in the States.
This means, that while it's connected, there's a conflict between the video
signals, and the stronger on is the local TV channels so it just blocks out
the 8-bit video signal. This is also speculation. The technician who helped
me try to solve the problem came to the same conclusions so it's one, the
other, or a combination of the two. Either way, the bottom line is... it
doesn't work.
[JEO] Do you have any experience with game development?
[JG] On a large scale, I'd say no. I worked on a game back in '86 for the
Atari 8-bit called "St. Lauril's Castle". It was a pretty impressive piece
of work, but it was a semi-text adventure type game (RPG elements, but no
actual graphics), and I couldn't get Electronic Arts or Datasoft to pick it
up. Decided to give it up. I think that's about the closest anyone here has
gotten. The Assassin is OMC's first major game project.
[JEO] Who is the team working on The Assassin?
[JG] Currently, there are four of us. Two programmers, a musician, and one
technician.
* I'm the lead programmer, and another guy works on doing other things, but
he's still a bit wet behind the ears so I'll keep his name anonymous a
little while longer. Heh, heh. I also wrote the story, script, and have
done most of the graphics.
* Sandro Sarang, the technician, handles pressing CDs and getting programs
to work with the CD dev kit. Sandro also handles any problems we have with
dev kits and such. He's not really an assembly programmer, so I try to keep
him away from writing too much code. He's been getting his hands into doing
graphics, and may take up writing some cases.
* Arthur Lauritsen is the musician and this is his first project. He's
good, and I think he'll do a good job. He was quite happy when I told him
he'd be using redbook audio instead of converting code on the 800XL. We're
going to have a few [samples of his work] on the OMC site in a couple of
weeks.
We're going to most likely be adding another programmer and a writer to the
ranks sometime soon. Heh, heh. Of course, I still don't have that artist...
[JEO] How did you obtain your Jaguar devkit?
[JG] You know, my journey towards getting a dev kit has been a long and
hard-fought one. And experiences such as that can ruin a person's
perspective on the whole industry. So everything I've gotten so far has
been from various places and cost quite a bit of money. Including B&C, some
people who I vowed I'd keep undercover, and I got my BJL from Scott
Walters. A pretty cool guy, I must say.
[JEO] What are the projected tech specs for The Assassin?
[JG] The Assassin is going to be mostly 320x240 resolution, with the
exception of the option screen which will be 640x480. Both resolutions will
be in 16-bit color using straight RGB instead of the CRY color system. I
haven't decided whether or not this is a bad thing or not, yet. Sprites are
currently at 256 color, but may change depending on the situation.
I'm shooting for about 30 FPS or something close. I think 60 FPS is
virtually impossible with the number of things going on especially during
combat. I'm using strictly GPU/DSP code which is quite fast, so there
shouldn't be any complaints about us not utilizing the processors to the
fullest. I would like to get the parallel processing working, but it takes
some serious timing to get it to work properly. We're still experimenting,
but to be honest, I'd be happy with 30 FPS.
The game will be on CD and I'm working with Hasbro now to make sure that
encryption issues won't be a problem in the future. There won't be any FMV,
so we're going to use the CD for nothing but game. Therefore it will be
impossible for the game to be crammed into a cartridge, unlike Iron Soldier
2. Heh, heh, heh.
[JEO] It sounds like The Assassin is basically going to be a scrolling,
tile-graphics based game with sprite, which the Jag excels at. What are all
these other things going on that will slow it down to 30FPS?
[JG] Constantly moving blocks of code with a lot of jumps back and forth
from main memory to GPU RAM, special effects in which the sprite is
modified (such as lighting effects, translucencies), constantly keeping
track of NPCs on the screen, character and background animations, and all
the extra things like weather, the clock (which is displayed on the
screen), collisions, etc. I haven't tested all of these things at this
point, so my actual speed may be better than I realize, but I figure it
would be better to start with something reasonable and if I get better
results then we'll all be happier.
[JEO] Will the use of RGB color let you do colored lighting effects?
[JG] As I've seen so far, yes. Of course, when it comes to the polygons,
I'll use CRY mode. The shading is much better.
[JEO] By all accounts the JagCD was almost impossible to develop for, even
for fully supported, licensed developers. What drove you to taking the CD
route? Are you confident CD development won't cause you any major problems?
[JG] The real problem with CD is that it doesn't use a file system so you
actually have to seek the disk like you were looking for a song, then
checksum the data to make sure you got the right stuff. It's a lot of trial
and error. That's why I have Sandro spending most of his time working on
that area. I knew about that headache before I even got started. Also,
Atari had a couple of tools that help in "padding" the tracks with the
right information, so you don't necessarily have to remember all of the
details that goes with adding files to your file pool. It may be tough, but
I don't think impossible.
The reason why I went for CD is so I didn't have to worry about limiting
the vision I had for the games. I really needed storage, and a cartridge
just wasn't going to give me enough, even at 6 MB. When each city eats up
1MB by itself, you can use it up fairly fast. Not to mention the there is
only 128 bytes of EEPROM space for storing game data. Definitely not enough
for an RPG. Heh, heh. Currently, The Assassin character file is 7,168 bytes
(7k). I heard that Atari was working on something larger, but I haven't
been able to dig up anything on it, so I'll just assume it doesn't exist.
Sure, the argument is you can compress graphics and sounds to take up quite
a bit less space, but then you have to worry about uncompacting the files,
and when you uncompact sounds you lose a little bit of the quality. Small
quibbles, but I don't want to worry about them. And you still have to worry
about that 6 MB (most of the times less) of total space. When you think
about a CD having in excess of 600 MB it seems like the obvious choice if
you have a HUGE game in mind. I think I could do a Super NES quality RPG in
6 megs, but a Jaguar quality one will require quite a bit more.
[JEO] In your talks with Hasbro, what sort of impression have you gotten
about their attitude toward the Jaguar?
[JG] That's a tough question, because I've been getting a bunch of mixed
signals since we began talking at this year's E3 show. But one thing has
been consistent... they only want to support current hardware: Playstation,
N64, and PC. On the other hand, there have been a couple of people on the
inside who have helped me out and I believe they set up someone
specifically to deal with my case, so I owe them something for that. I get
the impression they view the Jaguar as a bad coat of paint on the new house
they just bought. It would take too much work to repaint the whole house,
and it stands out too much to forget about, so they just have to live with
it even though it drives them crazy. They tolerate me, as they do the rest
of us, but I intend to get my games released, so they'll have me in their
lap until then.
[JEO] When are you projecting The Assassin to be released?
[JG] At the moment we're projecting 3rd quarter '99. This may be a bit
optimistic, but considering the amount of time I'll have to work on it and
the number of programmers involved, I think we might be able to make it.
Either way, it should make it sometime next year.
[JEO] One last question: What does "OMC" stand for?
[JG] Heh, heh, heh. The dreaded question. Well, if you can track down a man
by the name of Dilip K. Silva, he'll be more than happy to tell you, or you
can wait another 20 years when I turn 50.
[JEO] Okay, I'll bite: Who's Dilip K. Silva? And what happens in 20 years?
[JG] (grin) Dilip K. Silva was the co-founder of OMC back in 1990, but he
moved on to get his degree in Radio, Television, Film (RTF), got married,
etc. We had this thing that if someone was to ask him what it meant, he
would tell, but he was the only one who would since he was the one who
thought up the name to begin with. I haven't seen him in a number of years,
so if you find him be sure to tell him I said, "hello" and I've got the $20
I borrowed from him.
I figure if OMC is still hanging around when I turn 50, I'd just rename the
company to what it stands for (O***** M**** C*****), because I'd hate to
die and no one knew what it meant. Decided I'd make a party out of it.
Though it would be cool for a cruel joke to leave something dangling after
I'm gone. Besides, I'll be old enough to where I wouldn't care anyway.
[JEO] Is it: Oberon Meets Cthulu?
[JG] Heh, heh. That's probably the best one I've heard so far. But the
asterisks don't necessarily represent the number of characters in the name.
Heh, heh. Besides, OMC Games Division sounds much better than what it
actually stands for.
[JEO] I notice your website is composed on a Mac. Do you have a Mac? And if
so, have you ever played the game Battle-Girl?
[JG] Yeah, I use a Mac for virtually all my computer work. I even packed
her (Sherry, a.k.a. the Mac) halfway across the globe. I've heard of Battle
Girl and I thought the screen shots looked cool. I was quite impressed
especially considering it was a Mac game. Though, I never thought of
porting it over. That would be a cool idea. I'll have to check on that.
I've spied some games which were Mac exclusives that I think might make
good Jaguar ports...
[JEO] Thanks for the all info, James!
[JG] Honestly, I didn't think I had that much to say. Heh, heh. Perhaps I
had too much time on my hands. I normally dislike these kinds of things,
but I kind of like this one. I guess because it helped me straighten out
some points I'd been mulling over for the past week or so.
Talk to you later.
James Garvin
OMC Games
--==--==--==--==--
|| Five Years of 64-bit Goodness
|| By: Fard Muhammad
\__// ultimate-atarian@rocketmail.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
November 4th, 1998. Today is the 5th Anniversary of the Jaguar 64-bit
system.
They said it couldn't be done... "Atari? Releasing a _64_ bit system?
Impossible. Didn't they die after the Lynx bombed?"
However, in one final punch to the video game market, Atari decided that if
it were to go down, they were going down with a bang. That bang was to come
in the form of the Jaguar64. It was rumored to be released on November 4,
1993.
However, the "bang" turned out to be the sound of Atari shooting itself in
the foot, as the system never really caught on with the masses- mainly due
to lackadaisical marketing and horrible 3rd-party support.
But, a weird phenomenon occurred in the gaming community. A small group of
people who actually liked the Jaguar began to band together and fight for
their beloved dying system. It was this community that convinced 3rd-party
developers like Telegames and 4Play to continue building Jaguar games long
after the JTS merger in 1996.
Now, we celebrate the 5th Anniversary of the 64-bit behemoth. We can
honestly say that for a system that's supposed to be dead, it's having a
pretty good afterlife. Atari may be gone (for now...) but their last system
has drawn together a community that strives for the best in entertainment.
As we now wait for future games like BattleSphere and Protector to give us
new reasons to continue support for the Jag, we should take a moment to
consider the probabilities of all of us being here today still talking
about the Jaguar as if it were released a year ago. They are quite small.
We are very fortunate.
Happy 5th Anniversary, everybody. May the Jaguar growl for five years more
(at least ;)
In respect for the 5th Anniversary, the Realm is now closed for
reconstruction. See what's in its place at:
<http://members.tripod.com/~the_Ultimate_ATARIAN>
===
Fard Muhammad
"The Ultimate ATARIAN"
Chairman of Redemption
IIT Student
All around good guy ;)
--==--==--==--==--
|| Shareholder Memories
|| By: Jeremy Wilburne
\__// jwilburne@csus.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[This article originally appeared on Robert Jung's Atari Archive site
<http://www.digiserve.com/eescape/atari/Atari.shtml>. Reprinted with
permission.]
As a former shareholder, I attended the 1993, 1994, and 1995 Annual
Shareholder's Meetings at Atari Corp., not to mention the last Atari "Media
Day" event in 1995 under the direction of Ted Hoff (at that time, I was
working with John Marcotte on the ill fated Jaguar's Edge magazine -- my
reviews of Pitfall were never published...).
So here are some of the things that stand out in my mind:
//// 1993
The Jaguar was first introduced to us shareholders. At that time, the case
was gray, and IBM had just finished the final version of the plastic case
mold the day before the meeting. I got to play the prototype version of
Cybermorph. The Time Warner rep, wearing probably a $2000+ suit, had three
lackeys attending with him. He complained that the female Skylar character
(she had a different name) wasn't nude, so it wouldn't be selling well to
the teenage market.
John Skruch showed off the prototype version of Crescent Galaxy, and in
that, Trevor McFur was visible inside the ship. It was very cartoony, and
his spacecraft was the Atari Jaguar machine itself, with his head and torso
sticking out of the top of the ship. I believe they were doing that for the
Lynx character in the game as well, but they didn't show that. And if I'm
not confusing years, Atari also showed off a prototype of Tempest 2000, but
the only level finished at the time was the flat surface level, not the
regular circular levels.
I suggested to Sam Tramiel in front of everyone that Atari pull the old
Coleco strategy from the early 80s in coming out with a 3DO licensed
emulator for the Jag, thereby stealing users away from that system like
Coleco did with their 2600 emulator for the Colecovision. He didn't know
about that.
//// 1994
I pestered Sam Tramiel to license the Jaguar to Japanese manufacturers in
Japan for a pre-emptive strike in the home market of Sega, Nintendo and
Sony before they could bring out their game systems. I mentioned NEC and
Namco as viable candidates, but he sluffed off my recommendation to the
rest of the shareholders, saying that they were relying on the Japanese
trading company Itachu (who had a strategic alliance with Time-Warner) to
pump up the Jaguar in Japan. I said that Sega was having problems with the
design of the Saturn and they might enjoy the Jag, but it didn't register
with him. I also mentioned JVC as a good candidate since they were making
the Genesis/Sega CD compatible machine known as the X-Eye at the time, and
plus they were a registered third party developer for the Jag. This didn't
dawn on him.
When I mentioned that Atari should port all the classic Atari Games arcade
games to the Jaguar like they had done with the Lynx, he followed with the
statement that Atari Games had not had a decent arcade hit in a long time.
The truth was that Atari Corp. flaked out on back royalties owed to Atari
Games over the various conversions to the Lynx system, thus they couldn't
port any more titles until payment was made. This was in the shareholder's
annual report. Atari Corp. finally issued non-voting common stock which
they valued at $8 a share (when it was less than about $4 on the open
market at the time) to Atari Games Corp. as a settlement, and Time-Warner
forced Atari Games to settle for this.
Do you get the feeling that Sam Tramiel was a complete idiot? :)
You might want to know that in this same year, after I pitched the idea to
Sam Tramiel that Atari court Namco to use the Jag in arcade machines and
become a home licensee, J. Patton was sent over to Japan to show Namco the
machine firsthand and its capabilities. J. Patton even told me this
personally at the Sacramento Atari Expo.
The other highlight of the shareholders meeting was the wrath that Sam
Tramiel received by this old lady who was a shareholder and this hippie
over the gore in Kasumi Ninja. They said Atari should make non-violent
videogames. Sam, unabashed, said that was stupid. I agreed with him on
that, though.
//// 1995
More Sam Tramiel idiocy. He boasted that Atari was ready to release the
Jaguar II, with better graphics, more RAM, and a quad-speed CD-ROM to
counter the popularity of the Sony Playstation. Of course, it never
happened. Sometime between this annual meeting and the last Atari Media Day
in November 1995, Atari hung up the first prototype model of the
"Midsummer" chipset Motorola manufactured for the Jag II. It was hung up in
the lobby of the company with all the various awards Atari had earned from
the Consumer Electronics Show over the years. I believe the plaque said the
chips had been finished in June.
Second of all, Sam defended his position of lowering the price of the
Jaguar console in the face of angry shareholders. He said it was the same
gimmick he and his dad pulled at Commodore in the early 80s with the
Commodore 64, which didn't come with a disk drive but relied on cartridges.
The logic was lowering the Jaguar's price would entice people to buy the
CD-ROM, just like lowering the price of the Commodore 64 enticed people to
buy the 1541 disk drive. The thing that got me was that Sam never
understood that the computer and video game markets were different and that
the "lowest price" did not work in video games.
Oh, one other thing, regarding the Lynx. Back in 1990, Bob Brodie, who held
the publicity job before Don Thomas at Atari, came to my computer users
group to talk about Atari. Bob mentioned that he tried convincing the Atari
programmers to convert the Atari ST game Midi Maze over to the Lynx, since
it was so hot at the time as the pioneer of networked video games. The
programmers thought it was a stupid idea.
Four years later, the game surfaced as Faceball 2000 on the NES, SNES,
GameBoy, Game Gear, and Genesis. :)
--==--==--==--==--
|| JEO Trivia Challenge IV: The Answers
|| By: Carl Forhan
\__// forhan@millcomm.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1. What was the name of the unreleased device that would allow a 2600
player to "control games with his mind"?
MindLink
2. What is the most recent copyright year of any 7800 game?
1990. Almost ten titles were released that year.
3. What games have versions that exist on the 2600, 5200, 7800, and Lynx?
Asteroids, Ms. Pac-Man, Joust
4. An official Atari 7800 light gun was never released, but what light
gun was fully compatible with the 7800?
XEGS
5. Name the only light gun game for the 2600.
Sentinel
6. Name the companies that published both 2600 games and board games.
Parker Bros., Milton Bradley, Avalon Hill, Mattel
7. Name a CD that contains a game playable on an Atari home console-
based system *besides* the Jaguar CD unit.
"Stella Gets a New Brain", for the Starpath Supercharger (an Atari
2600 peripheral).
8. Complete this phrase from an Atari ad: "Lynx Eats _____ Lunch."
"Boy's". As in the Nintendo GameBoy.
9. What was the unreleased 32-bit console in development at Atari?
Panther.
10. What was the "ticker symbol" used by Atari in the stock market prior
to the merger with JTS?
ATC
BONUS QUESTION: Name three games for any Atari cartridge-based console
that included entire, separate *games* as easter eggs. Identify the
easter egg games as well.
Defender 2000 (Jaguar) - Plazma Pong
Rayman (Jaguar) - Ray Breakout
Electrocop (Lynx) - Asteroids, Breakout
Slime World (Lynx) - Pop the Zits
BattleZone 2000 (Lynx) - "Real" BattleZone 2000
--==--==--==--==--
||
|| Shutdown ....................... Power off, * + #, EOL, Game Over
\__// -----------------------------------------------------------------
Buzzword Index:
Buzzword Occurrences
HTTP 44
Texture 2
Bug 3
Network 4
Hasbro 8
BattleSphere 15
CD 54
Useless Fact O' The Month: The only two Jag games with "Super" in the title
are also the only two Jag motorcycle racing games.
Merry Christmas and Happy Fraggin' New Year!
Your Editor
Clay Halliwell
<earl.halliwell@dyess.af.mil>
--==--==--==--==--
(This issue printed on recycled photons)
--==--==--==--==--
It's a 64-bit Kiss.
--==--==--==--==--
The Atari Jaguar: You know... for kids!
--==--==--==--==--
Where do you want to play Atari today?
--==--==--==--==--
Jaguar Explorer Online Magazine is a seasonal publication covering the
Atari Jaguar community. Reprint permission is granted, unless otherwise
noted at the beginning of the article, to registered Atari user groups and
not for profit publications under the following terms only: articles must
remain unedited and include the issue number and author at the top of each
article reprinted. Other reprints granted upon approval of request. Send
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No issue of Jaguar Explorer Online Magazine may be included on any
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Opinions presented herein are those of the individual authors and do not
necessarily reflect those of the staff, or of the publishers. All material
herein is believed accurate at the time of publishing. We are the chorus,
we hope you like our show. We know you're rooting for us, but now we have
to go.
--==--==--==--==--
Atari, 400/800, XL/XE, 2600, 5200, 7800, ST, TT, Mega ST, STe, Mega STe,
Atari Falcon030, Atari Lynx, ComLynx, Atari Panther, Atari Jaguar,
AtariTel, Pong, and the Atari Fuji Symbol are all trademarks or registered
trademarks of Hasbro Interactive, Inc. All other trademarks and identifying
marks mentioned in this issue belong to their respective owners.
--==--==--==--==--
Jaguar Explorer Online Magazine
"Your Source for Jaguar News"
Copyright (c) 1998, White Space Publishers
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:: Volume 2, Issue 4 JAGUAR EXPLORER ONLINE December 18, 1998 ::
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