DATAZINE 4
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F R O M - * 2 T U F F * -
1 2 / 0 7 / 9 4- REVIEW OF `THE JAPANESE 3DO DEMO VIDEO(VHS)' BY [2TUFF]
- REVIEW OF `THE ARCADE PCB DEMO VIDEO(VHS)' BY [2TUFF]
- INTERVIEW WITH NICK ALEXANDER BY [EDGE]
- ADVERTISEMENT FROM RAVEN GAMES FOR SUPER GUN + ACCESSORIES [2TUFF]
- DATA-STREAM [RUN DOWN ON FACTS AND FIGURES] [EDGE]
- SOUNDS GOOD + THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR BY [2TUFF]
- ALIENS VS PREDATOR (REBELLION/JAGUAR) (PRESCREEN) [EDGE]
- APESHIT (OCEAN/JAGUAR) (PRESCREEN) [EDGE]
- PC ENGINE POWERS UP [EDGE]
- RELIABLE COMPANY NUMBER'S + ADDRESSES BY [2TUFF]
- SUPER WILDCARD SCENE WORTHWHILES! BY [2TUFF]
- SHORT AND SWEET MULTI-FORMAT REVIEWS/RATINGS BY [EDGE]
- GREETINGS BY [2TUFF]
- HOW TO CONTACT ME BY [2TUFF]
THE JAPANESE `3DO' DEMO'S ON VHS VIDEO-TAPE FORMAT!
Reviewed By: 2TUFF
Date: 12/07/94
Supplier: Raven Games London, Kent!
This is a sort of promotional video, but with the amateur side to it. It must have been done using a video camera cause the quality changes and bounces sometimes (but reasonable).
It don't last too long but contains some great visuals and considering the quality it proves how good the graphics really are on the real TV direct screen.
Heres whats on the Video and a brief description of contents:-
Dr Hauzer / RiverHill Soft, Matsushita
The excellent polygon adventure like Alone In the Dark, which whipes the floor with any version on PC! For a start EVERYTHING is polygons even the room is made of polygons, compared to the PC with only the character.
It is quite smooth and fast and the music sounds awesome and so realistic! Some real good sounds in there like something you would here in a Freddy Kruegar Elm Street film etc.
The demo shows the character walking through a few rooms, and playing with doors etc. Plus it shows you the character in full etc. (As reviewed in another Datazine by EDGE)
Monster Manor / Studio 3DO, Electronic Arts
Shows someone playing this awesome graphical game like Doom.
Pebble Beach Golf / T&E Soft, Matsushita
Shows the excellent graphics/FMV intro and then it playing for a short while. (As reviewed in another Datazine by EDGE)
Fire Pinball / Panasonic, Matsushita
Shows the great big scroller of an intro for this game, and then shows someone playing the game on the 1st table! It looks excellent you see the whole table as you would in the Arcade (not a screen/2 etc) and the sound/music rule and make it really atmospheric.
Ultra-Man / Bandai
A bit of a Surprise this one, it looks superb with great graphics and digitised monsters/creatures. The screen scalings in 2 levels and there a bit of parallax in there. The game plays at a decent pace but not quite as fast as Mortal Kombat or Way of the Warrior etc. It looked like it was fairly playable with plenty of special moves etc.
Japanese Story Book / ?
Real cartoon style graphics and shows different pictures and kenji text everywhere !!!!!!!!! NAHHHHHHHHHHH @@@@@@@@@
Wacky Race's / Future Pirates
Shows the intro for this great rendered graphical experience! (as reviewed in an earlier Datazine by 2TUFF *EXCLUSIVE*)
Japanese Rendered Game / Synergy
Really SMART visuals of rendered robots walking through and down space station corridors etc, and attacking each other. Whipes the floor with the visuals of Inferno/PC. If the game is this good when realeased (out now) then Sheeeeeeeeesh.
Whilst robots are in the rooms the screen spins round them and its all perfectly lighted and rendered!
The sound was nice with some ravey style beats down the line.
Threatre Wars / Scitron
Shows you some graphics from this boring Japanese game.
The Life Stage Virtual House / Matsushita
This was very awesome, a girl is in a room and theres a Panasonic player in the room. She has to go get a phone call and then the 3DO comes to life and makes up a virtual house from the building blocks scattered across the room. The he congratulates himself by drinking some tea and having crowds clapping him. The girl finally gets off the phone and comes up then the 3DO panics etc really smart and visuals were stunningly rendered looks really kewl FANTASTIC.
Japanese Cartoon / ?
Looks like a nice little kids education game?
Japanese FMV Murder Adventure / ?
A nice little FMV video of a murder at the dinner table. Then it shows you the game where you select options and have digitised pictures to guild you onto the mystery and hopefully solution.
Burning Soldier / Pack-In Video, Matsushita
SHHHEEE SHHHHEEE SHHHHHEEEE SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHH
This was awesome more scaling/rotation/panning/rendered graphic games. Its a shoot em up and the intro rocks g. Spaceships flying everywhere and moons scaling towards the screen. BRILLIANT.
Japanese Adventure / Humming Bird Soft
Just showed some nice pictures of weird monsters and graphics NICE.
Seal of The Pharoah / ?
Showed the main mummy guy beating the screen up and then some pictures off the game. Brill rendered graphics once again.
THE ARCADE PCB'S DEMO ON VHS VIDEO-TAPE FORMAT!
Reviewed By: 2TUFF
Date: / /94
Supplier: Raven Games London, Kent!
Contains clips from the following games (using a video camera again)
WWF WRESTLING, WILLOW, XEXEX, SPIDERMAN, GOLDEN AXE, UNDERCOVER COPS, RASTAN SAGA, E SWAT, SHADOW DANCER, TROJAN, WORLD CUP 90, SHINOBI, CARRIER AIRWING, GUNFORCE, MERCS, SKY SOLDIERS, CABAL, ROBOCOP, FORGOTTEN WORLDS, THUNDERCROSS I/II, BOMBERMAN, ALIENS 3, NEMESIS, SUPER SFII, COMBAT TRIBES, RENEGADE, TURTLES, WONDERBOY III, GOLDEN AXE II, DOUBLE DRAGON II, MOONWALKER, SUPER CONTRA, SALAMANDER, HAMMERIN HARRY, CAPCOM 3 WONDERS, STRIDER, P47, 1943, GURILLA WARS, MIDNIGHT RESISTANCE, SAINT DRAGON, R-TYPE LEO, PRE HISTORIC ISLE, MAGIC SWORD.
+ A description of Super Gun (arcade board to TV hardware) from U.K's Bad Influence computer show.
INTERVIEW WITH NICK ALEXANDER
Typed By: 2TUFF '94
Interview By: Edge Magazine U.K.
Anyone who's been involved to any extent with games during that last few years, whether as a player or as a producer, will at some time have felt the influence of Nick Alexander. As the founder of Virgin Games, and then the MD of Sega Europe, he has, in his own way, shaped the videogames industry.
Before he got into videogames, Nick worked for EMI, analysing market trends in the record business. This put him in a good position to look into the future of consoles in the UK for Sega. And over the last few years, where Sega have gone, others have followed. But last Christmas, following a long period of growth, Sega took a beating. After fighting the resulting fires, Nick decided it was time for a change, and moved into the video and magazines business as the MD of Pearson New Entertainment Europe. This has allowed him to take a breather from the videogames industry and the intense glare of publicity associated with it.
Nick is young for a managing director - he's not yet 40 - and must be one of the few executives who still reads the NME or has any kind of grip on popular culture. He lives in London, in a pleasant house by the Thames (his house, incidentally, used to be head-quarters of EMS, the company responsible for the first UK-built music synthesiser). He owns a Mega Drive and a Mega CD, obviously, and although he's between laptop's at the moment (his last one had to be returned to Sega and he's still waiting for a new one), he is currently in the market for a multimedia PC.
EDGE MAGAZINE = A-Z
NICK ALEXANDER = a-z
HOW DID YOU GET INTO THIS BUSINESS?
When I left university I went to be a graduate trainee at British Rail. I realised really rapidly that I'd made a mistake. I was sent off to an induction course, and we were lectured to about various different aspects of British Rail. Come lunchtime we'd all talk about trains and what we'd learned. On Friday lunchtime, having had to talk about trains all week long, I thought perhaps I could start to talk about something else, and I started a conversation about this very mainstream band I'd been reading about in NME. Silence fell across this table of people and the guy sitting opposite me said, with eyes like saucers: `I've always wanted to meet someone who reads the NME'. Then they went back to talking about trains, and I realised that perhaps this was not quite my view of the world. I decided that BR was not for me. I wrote to all the record companies and they all wrote back and said, `We don't employ people outside the record industry'. Eventually I got a job at EMI as a business planner, which was as near as I could get. Six months after that I got a job in the record company, again as a business planner. So within a year I was working for EMI Records. Eventually I got a job as a label manager, which was what I wanted to do. I went from there to HMV shops to be their marketing manager. My job there was trying to help them take business away from Virgin. In fact, we were very successful. Unsuprisingly, I got a call from Virgin asking me if I wanted to go and work for Virgin Retail.
SO HOW DID YOU END UP WORKING FOR VIRGIN GAMES?
I didn't want to do the job they offered me. I got a call from Richard Branson, because the managing director of Virgin Retail had left and he wanted to talk to me about that. I went to see him on his boat, and he offered me the job, and I said, `Actually I don't want to do that. I've been thinking about setting up a computer games company;. SO he said, `All right, we'll do that then'. So I started Virgin Games, which was in about 1983.
WHICH OF COURSE LED TO VIRGIN MASTERTRONIC AND THEN SEGA EUROPE. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN INTO GAMES PERSONALLY? EVER BEEN INTO CODING?
Actually, when I was at school there was a computer option, which I did. I tried to write a program which simulated the operation of the Metropolitan and District Railway, which I was very interested in. It was sort of at the end of my time at university that Pong came in, like 1975, and after that I used to spend a lot of time in a pub where there was one of those early driving games. One of the things I'm hoping to do is to find some time to play some of the games I like - more train games, I'm afraid, like A Train or Railroad Tycoon[laughs]. Okay, I liked trains, but I just wasn't as obsessed as the rest of them!
WHICH OF THE UPCOMING GAMES MACHINES DO YOU THINK IS THE BEST?
I actually think that Mars is the best-positioned games machine, because it enables people to get into 32bit without having to shell out all the money. The great problem is that everybody is aware that 32bit is just around the corner, and they're all a bit bored with 16bit. But what's happened in the last ten years is that we're making flashier versions of the same games that actually probably worked better on the Atari 2600 or the Sinclair Spectrum. There are very few game genres that have been developed. Games like Sim City and Tetris were a real breakthrough, but you can certainly count them on the fingers of two hands. If anything, it's the creative input that is lacking in many ways - technological improvement and the ability to take the business forward has become a surrogate for creative thought. I don't know what solutions to that are. Anyway, when the 32bit machines come out they're going to be #400, and that's not going to be a mass market. What Mars manages to do is let you buy for #150 something that gets your existing equipment up to 32bit. I think the tech spec of the Sony machine sounds very interesting, but I don't think there's much to choose between that and the Saturn. I don't think one should dismiss 3DO, and who knows what Nintendo will eventually come up with?
It's going to be very competitive and I think that's going to hold things back abit. People don't want to choose the wrong bit of hardware, and if there's one thing the consumer electronics industry has taught consumers, it is that if you wait till next year it'll be better, it'll be cheaper, and maybe it'll be easier to make a choice. I think it's going to be a bloody battle out there. I think we're a long way off a global standard - if anything, I think we're moving in the opposite direction.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE STATE OF GAME DESIGN?
I think it's looking for direction. I think for game design to move forward it needs input from other creative areas, and multi- media. What most people have been doing so far is seeing multimedia as something they can build a bigger game on, and they're thinking about interactive entertainment as being games. At the Computer Arena in March this year, something struck me then was that everyone was saying, `Well, we're in the games business'. We never used to talk about ourselves being in the games business; I think we're actually in a much broader industry than that. but we've got locked into games design as being about games, and games work like `this'. Now I'm getting into the video and consumer magazine publishing business, and I think that the influence and products that come from those areas, and incorporate some of the games stuff as well, will be the interesting thing which helps games take a step forward. This is what I'm going to do now with Pearson. I'm not intending to be involved in games in the immediate future, I'm stepping back from that and trying to acquire some knowledge and assets and property in those areas, which can then be blended in as and when there's a hardware base.
DO YOU THINK CONSUMERS ARE TOO SPEC-HUNGRY?
One of my chief bugbears in all of this is that, actually, all businesses aren't about technology; they're about markets and about what things to deliver to the consumer. I think the consumer gets frightened and they're getting behind in the technology, and clearly, if you're a high-tech company that's what you're trying to get across: you need us because we're the best. But very quickly, as soon as something new comes out, you're not the latest and the best, so one needs to find better values than that to really build the market. I think what people are looking for is entertainment, and the machines that deliver the best entertainment are going to be the most satisfying. But that doesn't mean that people aren't going to be tempted to try the new technology.
DO YOU THINK CONSOLES HAVE GOT A FUTURE AS SET-TOP BOXES?
Absolutely. Some people believe in `The Black Box' - that there will be a device which will control the entertainment that comes into the house, and all the manufacturers are gearing up for the big battle. I think that's completely misguided, and the world isn't going to be like that. I suspect that what we'll end up with is a domestic network with some kind of protocol to enable different things to communicate with one another, and that there will be endless devices in the home. Maybe there'll be a PC, the cable box, maybe a specialist games machine, video recorder, whatever. As a result there isn't a single war to be won. I think that simple machines for entertainment - let's call them consoles - are absolutely the way forward.
ADVERTISEMENT
RAVEN GAMES LONDON,
74 BROMLEY ROAD,
BECKENHAM,
KENT,
BR3 2NP,
ENGLAND.
Tel: 081 663 6810 081 663 6822
Fax Number: 081 663 0046
PRICE LIST JULY 1994
SUPER GUN DELUXE (Runs every P.C.B.)
For use with scart TV or Monitor #159.99
6 BUTTON JOYSTICK #54.99
NEO GEO (modified) JOYSTICK (3 buttons) #54.99
CAPCOM SIX BUTTON JOYSTICK (MODIFIED) #54.99
SWIVEL JOYSTICK #64.99
JOYSTICK EXTENSIONLEAD #14.99
MEGADRIVE JOYPAD #31.99
STEREO LEAD FOR STEREO BOARDS #14.99
ANTI STATIC BAGS #1.00
PCB LEGS #1.50
STREETFIGHTER II SIX BUTTON LOOM #9.99
PCB VIDEO Shows loads of old classics.... #4.99
FEATURES THE SUPER GUN DELUXE INCLUDES:
Compatible with every Jamma PCB - Taito, Konami, Sega,
Capcom, etc
Extra thick Jamma loom
High Quality "Mighty Power" PSU
Terminal for six button games
Excess contrast on games reduced
Seperate sound switch (Guarantees sound on all PCB's)
Full sound on all PCB's (originals and copies)
Non slip feet
Fully insulated from mains supply
Various joystick ports/leads available
Full back up service
Extras available:
HEAD PHONE SOCKET #20.00
COLOUR/CONTRAST SWITCHES X 3 #35.00
PLEASE RING TO CHECK ON AVAILABILITY OF PCB'S BEFORE ORDERING
WE DO PART EXCHANGE ON PCB'S (ORIGINALS ONLY)
PLEASE MAKE CHEQUES AND PO'S TO: RAVEN GAMES LONDON
PLEASE RING FOR P+P PRICES
DATA-STREAM
Typed By: 2TUFF '94
Article By: Edge Magazine
Copies of Striker for the SNES sold in the UK last year: 80,000
Commodore's turnover for the last quarter of 1992: $237.7Million (a loss of $77.2Million)
Commodore's turnover for the last quarter of 1993: $70.1Million (a loss of $8.2Million)
Atari's sales in the first quarter of 1994: $8.16Million
Electronic Arts' global sales for the year ending March 1993: 298.4Million
Electronic Arts' global sales for the year ending March 1994: 418.3Million
Amount Nintendo spent on TV advertising in the UK in 1993: #9.7Million
Amount Sega spent on TV advertising in the UK in 1993: #11.3Million
Number of Capcom cartridges for the SNES sold worldwide in 1992: 10.6Million
Number of Capcom cartridges for the SNES sold worldwide in 1993: 7.8Million
Percentage of US consumers with a videogame system: 40%
Money spent by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell to start up the company in 1972: $250
Percentage of Atari owned by Time Warner: 27%
Forecasted sales of Atari's Jaguar in the US last year: 50,000
Actual sales of Atari's Jaguar in the United States last year: 100,000
Biggest toy company in the world: HASBRO, INC
Hasbro's stake in Virgin Interactive Entertainment: 16.2%
Turnover of Virgin Interactive Entertainment for year ending July 1993: $99.1Million
Sega's marketing budget for 1993: #65Million
Number of Megadrives sold in the US in 1993: 5,900,000
Sales of Atari's Jaguar in just two US cities - New York and San Fransico - before Christman: 27,000
Increase in sales of Electronic Arts' games in Japan from 1993- 1994: 140%
Predicted total number of video game carts to be sold in the US in 1994: 112,000,000
Amount UK business Pearson paid for US entertainment software firm. The Software Toolworks: #310Million
Estimated cost to industry of software piracy per year: $1,640Million
Drop in sales felt by Nintendo Germany during 1993: 15%
The Rhino Group - holding company for the Future Zone retain chain turnover for 1992: #2.03Million
Rhino Group turnover for 1993: #21.7Million
Total amount Anco spent advertising Kick Off 3 in the UK: #200,000
Activision's profit in 1992: $118,000
Activision's profit in 1993: $483,000
Worldwide unit sales of Philips' CD-i at the end of 1993: 300,000
Sega's forecasted hardware sales for Hungary this year: 30,000-50,000
Total number of computer and videogame outlets in the UK: 4,000
Number of outlets owned by a major chain: 2,750
Average price of a game on floppy disk: #26
Average price of a game on cartridge: #45
Biggest selling game of 1993 on a single format: FIFA SOCCER (MD)
Biggest selling multiformat game of 1993: MORTAL KOMBAT
Sega's share of the software market in 1993: 20.4%
Nintendo's share of the software market in 1994: 10.9%
Percentage of the total software market taken by Megadrive games in 1993: 32.7
Percentage of the total software market taken by SNES games in 1993: 19.3
Percentage of the total software market taken by MEGA-CD games in 1993: 1
Biggest selling disk-based game of 1993: FRONTIER ELITE II (Amiga)
Net revenues for Silicon Graphics' fourth quarter, 1993: $370Million
Increase compared to same period, 1992: 37%
Number of challenger tank simulations ordered from Silicon Graphics by Victers in the UK: 62
Cost of one Challenger simulator: $40,000
Number of PC compatibles in the US with CD-ROM drives at end of 1993: 7Million
Number of Apple Macintoshes in the US with CD-ROM drives at end of 1993: 1.7Million
Actual number of unit sales for the UK home computer market in 1993: 705,000
Number of expected unit sales for the Uk in 1994: 785,000
Cumulative sales of Super Mario Bros 3: 14Million
Interplay's turnover in 1993: $50Million
Value of the console market in the UK in 1993: #750Million
SOUNDS GOOD + THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR!
Article By: 2TUFF
Sony's new 500,000 Polygons per second PS-X
Road Rash/FIFA Soccer by Electronic Arts on 3DO
Death to Atari Jaguar
Super Nintendo/Rare(Nintendo's) Donkey Kong Country
24bit Color graphics chip SNES cartridges
NEC's FX machine and DMA(Direct Memory Access)
TAOS system (idea of individual processors linked to one etc)
Games channels, Voicespan technology
The ULTRA 64 console from Nintendo and its gorgeous Killer Instinct
Death to the Tremiel family!
The loss and destruction of Commodore Worldwide
Future 3DO projects!
Way of the Warrior on 3DO
The lastest Edge Magazine from Future Publishing
Virtua Fighter on Sega Saturn
Ridge Racer on Sony PS-X
Animation on NEC's FX system
ALIENS VS PREDATOR! *PRESCREEN*
Typed by 2TUFF '94
Format: JAGUAR
Publisher: ATARI
Developer: REBELLION
Release Date: ?
Size: 1 CD
Origin: UK
Prescreen: EDGE MAGAZINE
Movie-licensed games have historically been a poor bunch. Rarely has a game brandishing a film logo managed to capture the excitement of its silver-screen counterpart. But, oddly, the film license genre continues to be one of the most lucrative avenues for software publishers to take.
Oxfore-based Jaguar developers Rebellion Software have joined the growing film licence brigade. But their effort, Aliens Vs Predator, is a genuine attempt to overcome the stigma attached to games of this type - and, in the process, give Atari's 64bit machine a boost.
Instead of taking the usual platform/beat 'em up approach normally associated with film-licensed games, Rebellion have chosen to go for a first person action/adventure game. And in doing so, they have set a graphical standard by which other Jaguar releases will be judged. Speed-wise, the 3D corridor graphics in AVP are no real improvement on Id Software's Doom, running on a DX2 PC. But the texture-mapped effects have a finer and more defined look about them. Everything is depth-cued, too: objects fade into and out of the screen smoothly and convincingly.
Jason Kingsley, Rebellion Software's creative director, reckons this is just a taster of what the Jaguar is capable of: `Although we've got Aliens Vs Predator running in 16bit colour [65,000 colours on screen], the Jaguar does have a true-colour mode which can display over 16 million colours. Trouble is, this eats up loads of processing speed.'
Jason adds that instead of drawing the background graphics onscreen (a laborious and time consuming process), they elected to make physical models of corridors and various parts of the ship's interior. These models were then photographed and digitised into the game proper.
`It took seven months to set up our Advance Texture Manipulation programme,'] Jason explains, `but after it was set up, we could texture mapp all bitmapped images with ease.'
Unlike Doom, AVP is more than just an attractive 3D shoot 'em up. Rebellion have added another dimension to the play mechanics by giving the player a choice of three characters to control: a Colonial Marine, an Alien, or a Predator. Each character has a mission: for example, the Marine has to rescue survivors and set the base to self-destruct. And each character moves and responds in a different way.
Jason explains: `It's something we've worked really hard on. We're trying to give each character their own personalities, their own inertia. So, if you play as the Predator, the screen will bounce a lot as you run through the corridors. He will take some time to get his top speed, and slowing dont won't be instant. But his armoury more than makes up for any of his physical deficiencies.'
Sound also plays a big part in creating the right atmosphere for this type of game. The visuals in Aliens Vs Predator may provide the requisite dark and sinister environment, but the sound has to add another dimension. The team hope to use samples from the movies in the game, but sadly, it looks like memory restrictions may get in the way: `We're hoping to utilise the samples we've gathered, but we'll have to wait and see if we have enough room', says Jason.
Let's hope they don't take too much time finding out - AVP is due for ? release.
CREDITS
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Jason Kingsley
PROGRAMMER: Mike Beaton
PROGRAMMER: Andrew Whittaker
GRAPHICS: Tony Harrison-Banfield
GRAPHICS: Stuart Wilson
SOUND: Chris Kingsley
APE SHIT! [JAGUAR] (PREVIEW/INFO)
Typed By 2TUFF '94
Article By: EDGE MAGAZINE
The cartridge project, Apeshit (a working title, we hasten to add) was originally undertaken by Warren Lancashire, who shaped the excellent Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt on the SNES. His return to the company after a break means he will continue to be involved with the project.
`A platform game with a difference' is hardly a description to inspire confidence, but if only for the wonderfully colourful graphics, Apeshit looks quite smart even at this early stage. While Crescent Galaxy might have given some indication of the Jaguar's sprite handling abilities, Ape could prove to be a benchmark parallax scroller for Atari's machine. Described by programmer Bobby Earl as `a mixture of Mario, Bomberman and Pang,' Ape is essentially a simultaneous twoplayer cooperative platform game with traditional console-style play mechanics.
With much of the game design yet to be implemented, the most appealing aspect of Ape is the silky smooth 16bit colour parallax scrolling. `All that requires is the 68,000 and the object processor,' reveals Bobby, `but we'll be using the GPU and the blitter for creating some clever 3D effects in the backgrounds.' The backgrounds in question were drawn freehand by artist Ged Cafferley before being scanned directly onto the screen.
PC ENGINE POWERS UP
Typed Up BY: 2TUFF '94
Article: EDGE MAGAZINE
NEC has released a high capacity memory upgrade card for the PC Engine's multifaced CD-ROM system. This will give this popular but dated system a much-needed hardware boost.
In fact, two cards are available - the `Arcade Duo' and the `Arcade Pro'. The Arcade Duo card is for the PC Engine's current Super CD-ROM system, running on the Duo, Duo R, and Super CD. It costs Y12,800 and includes 16mbits (2mb) of DRAM, taking the total available RAM to 18Mbits.
The Arcade Pro card for the older CD-ROM system is more expensive at Y17,800 it includes the same 16mbits of DRAM but also extra Bios ROM and 1.5Mbits (192K) of SRAM to compensate for the smaller RAM buffer.
This isn't the first time Engine CD-ROM owners have been called upon to upgrade. The Super System card released at the same time as the Duo was an expensive but necessary addition that allowed the old CD-ROM system to play newer (and better) Super CD-ROM games. Unfortunately, though this card is now redundant. According to NEC, an adaptor was planned but the expense was greater than the cost of including the Super System card's features on the Arcade Pro card itself. Which is exactly what has been done.
Naturall, NEC are counting on compatible software being available. Out the same day in Japan was Hudson Soft's Garrou Densetsu 2 (Fata Fury II), closely followed by Ryuukoo No Ken (Art of Fighting) with World Heroes 2 and Fatal Fury Special coming later.
The rationale behind the new system is all too obvious. Giving programmers more RAM to work in (eight times more in this case) means the current ranks of graphically intensive arcade fighting games won't go marching past the ageing console. In fact, the SNK deal by itself probably justifies the investment.
But does it mean an extended lifespan for the PC Engine? Thirdparty licensees aren't so sure. Of NEC's many contracted publishers, currently only six - Hudson, NEC Avenue, Human, Microcabin, Nihon Telenet and Artdink - are working on Arcade Card titles. Other companies, including Konami, Mediaring and Irem, are unwilling to comment, possibly due to uncertainty about the willingness of PC Engine owners to shell out for yet another upgrade.
PC ENGINE ARCADE CARD RELEASE SCHEDULE
12 March
FATAL FURY II (Hudson) Y6900
26 March
ART OF FIGHTING (Hudson) Y6900
March
WORLD HEROES II (Hudson) Y6900
May
STRIDER HIRYU (NEC Avenue)
July
FATAL FURY SPECIAL (Hudson) Y6900
No Dates Yet
POP'L MAIL (NEC)
3X3 EYES (NEC)
SAK3 (NEC)
RELIABLE COMPANIE'S TO CALL
Raven Games London +44 (0)81 663 6810 Mail Order
74 Bromley Road, +44 (0)81-663-6822 Credit Card Line/Fax
Beckenham,
Kent,
BR3 2NP,
England.
Console Concepts +44 (0)782-712759 Sales Hotline
The Village, +44 (0)782-714379 Fax
Newcastle-under-Lyme,
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England.
SUPER WILDCARD SCENE WORTHWHILES!
Wildguns from Natsume
Very arcade style Operation Wolf blaster, but with cowboys and futuristic robots etc! Very fast and graphics are impressive even though its SNES.
SIZE: 8MegaBits
Super Tecmo Baseball from Tecmo
Released by Premiere
Very good baseball game, with fast paced action and plenty of great mode 7 fielding angles etc!
SIZE: 16MegaBits
Mortal Kombat II Beta Version from Acclaim
Released by Anthrox
Great graphics and even blood! No need to explain you either know or can imagine!
SIZE: 32MegaBits
Super Street Fighter II USA Version from Capcom
Released by Paradox
More Characters, graphics and moves. Really nice graphics and the usual great Streetfighter II gameplay
SIZE: 32MegaBits
SHORT AND SWEET MULTI-FORMAT REVIEWS/RATINGS!
Typed By: 2TUFF '94
Reviews By: Edge Magazine U.K.
Format: MEGA-CD
Publisher: CORE DESIGN
Developer: IN-HOUSE [B A T T L E C O R P S]
Price: 50 POUNDS
Size: 1 CD EDGE RATING: 6/10
Release: JULY
Format: 3DO
Publisher: PANASONIC
Developer: RIVERHILL SOFT [D R H A U Z E R]
Price: 60 POUNDS
Size: 1 CD EDGE RATING: 7/10
Release: OUT NOW (JPN)
Format: SFC
Publisher: NINTENDO
Developer: IN-HOUSE [W I L D T R A X]
Price: CALL (IMPORT)
Size: 8MBITS EDGE RATING: 9/10
Release: OUT NOW (JPN)
Format: PC
Publisher: EA
Developer: BULLFROG [T H E M E P A R K]
Price: 45 POUNDS
Size: 6 DISKS EDGE RATING: 8/10
Release: OUT NOW (UK)
HI TO THESE KEWL GUYZ + OTHERS I KNOW
I.B.M. - HARMONICA - THE LEGEND - INTREQ - MAXIMILLIEN
PROTOCOL - BAZERKA - PRISONER - HOMER - CYPHER
EXECUTIONER - DAN - BIG BOSS - PANINARO - THE WHITE KNIGHT
SPIKE - SKELETON - TCM - MAZ - KID CURRY
MIXMASTER - NORKSE - DATASTREAM - KLAUS - DREAM MASTER
MICRO - POTHEAD - ANTHRAXUS - BLASTER - FASHION LIGHT
SEVEN7SEVEN - CYPHER - - - DREAM WARRIOR
HOW TO CONTACT ME
Call one of these great Bulletin Board System's WORLDWIDE!
Road-To-Nowhere(USA), Mirage(USA), Priority-One(USA)
Oasis(UK), Living-Hell(UK), Pet Semetary(SWD)
And leave mail to `2TUFF'
HOW DATAZINE IS CREATED
Machine: ANIX 486SX 33MHz Green Cache PC
Package: MS-DOS 6.2 Editor
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|| | ////| |\\\\ | / \/ \ / \/ __//__ /__ /__
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|| -2tuff N U M B E R # *1* MOTOR RACER (F1/INDY)
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