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Virtua Everything: 2TUFF, & Protocol
Articles: 2TUFF, EDGE MAGAZINE U.K (FUTURE PUBLISHING)
This product number 8 in the series of Datazine is released for *NUMBERS*
[[------------------------------------------------------------------------]]
The DATAZINE issue #8 Contents:-
-----------------------------------
SUPER UFO DATA - Information on the new SUPER UFO
34 Mega-bit DSP copier for SNES
SONY PS-X EURO RELEASE DATE - Official european release date
for the mighty PS-X
TAOS - Information on how to buy and
licence for this great kit (OS)
`GLINT' A NEW GRAPHICS CHIP - Information on a new great
powerful polygon etc chip for PC
`MATROX' NEW GRAPHICS CARDS - Matrox team up with Criterion S/W
and make great new GFX Cards
DATASTREAM - Information and figures of
company projects etc etc
NEW DATE FOR PSX LAUNCH - Sony give forward release date
and info on games etc
SATURN COUNTS ON BIG GUNS - Info on partners of Sega Saturn
and games etc
NEO-GEO CD HITS THE STREET - Info on release of NGCD and game
info + SNK Tour info
SONY GO ALONE DURING ECTS - Info on PS-X and Sony dumping
the ECTS show haha
BALLY MIDWAY PLAY WITH SONY - Bally Midway also go to Sony
instead of Nintendo only
GREETINGS - List of greetings from author
-----------------------------------
+------------------------------------------------------+
| S U P E R U F O : S N E S B A C K - U P U N I T | Typed: 2TUFF
+------------------------------------------------------+ By: 2TUFF
* 18/26/34 MEGA-BIT RAM ON BOARD
* BUILT IN 3.5" DISK DRIVE
* BATTERY BACK-UP FUNCTION
* AUTO-DOWNLOAD FUNCTION ( CARTRIDGE DISK)
* I/O PORT FOR PC-COMPUTER
* WORKABLE ON SFC & SNES CONSOLE ( PAL & NTSC )
* X-TERMINATOR CODE FUNCTION
* GOLDEN FINGER FUNCTION ( GAME DATA MODIFICATION )
* SLOW MOTION FUNCTION
* INFINITIVE CONTINUE & REPLAY FUNCTION. ( REAL TIME & DISK )
* GAME CARTRIDGE STRUCTURE DISPLAY FUNCTION
* DOS FUNCTION: FORMAT, SAVE, RENAME, BACK-UP, DELETE
* COMPATIBLE FOR ALL KINDS OF DISK FORMAT
* DSP CARD * FX CARD ARE OPTIONAL
* KEEP MEMORY FUNCTION. ( EVEN WITH POWER OFF )
* BLOW-UP MENU SYSTEM, ICON DRIVEN
* EXTERNAL PSU FOR INTERNAL DISK DRIVE TO SAVE SNES POWER ETC.
This system is amazing and with the added protection of knowing you are
NOT dragging more than whats needed in power from the Super NES to run
the disk drive its a nice product.
The system is very low profile and is just above half a Wildcard in
height. The SUPER UFO uses what i would say is a better quality Disk
Drive than the Wildcards etc. It also has a detachable cartridge
connection rail.
The system will play as said above ANY kind of disk format. It has on
the screen UFO/SUPER UFO, GAME DOCTOR, PRO-FIGHTER but also does
MAGICOM and SUPER WILDCARD formats ?!?!??!
I have not come across anything that had a problem with the system
unless it had PAL protection etc!!!!!!! apart from MARIO FUN WITH #'s
Some games that have intros tagged on the end of them need to be
PADDED so that they change in size to the next 1megabit up i.e:-
USING *UCON V?*
Game: JAPPY.SMC
Size: 1058000
UCON p JAPPY.SMC /sn
This will now have changed JAPPY.SMC from just over an 8Megabit to
a 9Megabit file that the copier can understand!
Now and again you will come across a game with an intro on it that
won't need PADDING etc but thats around 2/10 haha :)
Overall i have only had the MAGICOM, WILDCARD(s), SUPER UFO and out
of them all bar having to mess around Padding software i would
prefer the SUPER UFO by miles! What with its built-in DSP and
onboard 34Megabits (wildcard only give you 32M) its a great machine
(also it shows the makers have taken people's intros into consideration
with the extra 2M they add to the various sizes).
Write up all by: 2TUFF
Rating: Well a nice copier like this may be great, but it cannot make
the machine (Snes) a better tool hahaha. As a copier for a
shit system its a great piece of kit, shame about 16bit crap
SNES hahaha. 8/10
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| Sony give a date for the European release of the PlayStation |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
As the Sony PlayStation nears its Japanese launch at the end of
December the company have already announced the machines European
release date - despite being some 11 months away!
SEPTEMBER 1st 1995 is the date in question,although its more than
likely we`ll be seeing over-priced import machines before that.
Source of Information:Digitiser
Typed by PRoToCoL
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+------+
| TAOS | Typed: 2TUFF
+------+ By: EDGE MAGAZINE
Development tools are now available for Taos, the revolutionary
operating system debuted in Edge 9. Taos allows programs to run
on machines with completely different CPUs and provides theoretically
limitless parallel processing potential.
Prices start from 95 (ex VAT) for a one-chip license and increase
according to the number of chips supported (100 chips running
simultaneously will set you back 5,460).
The full list of chips supported is as follows:
* INTEL: 386SX/DX, 486SX/DX, Pentium
* ARM: ARM2, 3, 6, 7
* LSI/MIPS: LSI LR33000 (MIPS R3000), LSI LR33050 (MIPS R3000) with
maths co-processor)
* INMOS: T400, T800, T9000
* POWERPC: By year end Licence queries are being dealt with by Tantric
through the `TAOS' CIX conference. If you are interested
in buying, contact Ian Thomas on +44 (0) 703-230340.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+-------------------------------+
| `GLINT' THE NEW GRAPHICS CHIP | Typed: 2TUFF
+-------------------------------+ By: EDGE MAGAZINE
3D Labs have created a new graphics chip which they claim bestows
workstation performance on ordinary PCs.
Called GLINT, it works be removing floating-point-intensive calculations
from the CPU and performing the maths itself. The result is that 300,000
24bit anti-aliased and texture mapped polygons/sec are available
independantly of the CPU, as well as Z-buffering and various special
effects.
The European marketing manager of 3D Labs, Tim Lewis, can be contacted
by E-mail on time.lewis@3Dlabs.com. or by phone on +44 (0) 784 470555.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+----------------------------------+
| `MATROX' MAKE NEW GRAPHICS CARDS | Typed: 2TUFF
+----------------------------------+ By: EDGE MAGAZINE
Canadian company Matrox have teamed up with Criterion Software to
produce a new range of graphics cards. The MGA Impression Plus
64bit graphics accelerators feature an inbuilt polygon engine that
is automatically detected and be used by Criterion programs. Matrox
claim they can handle 90,000 Gouraud-shaded polygons per second and
provide the best graphics performance of any sub-$500 card.
Matrox can be contacted in Canada through Caroline de Bie on
(514) 685 2630.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+------------+
| DATASTREAM | Typed: 2TUFF
+------------+ By: EDGE MAGAZINE
Sega's investment in their new Japanese theme park, Joypolis
$67 Million
Projected turnover of Joypolis in its first year of operation
$34 Million
Number of jukeboxes in France
20,000
Sales of first Mortal Kombat game on cartridge
6 Million
Average price of Mortal Kombat cartridge
50
Percentage of Atari sales accounted for by the Jaguar
70
Proportion of US homes with a SNES in 1993
9%
Proportion of US homes with a SNES in 1994
18%
Proportion of SNES players between six and 14
48%
Total box office take of US cinemas in 1993
$3,034,992,100
Bus bandwidth of the Sony Playstation
132 Mb/Sec
Bus bandwidth of the Silicon Graphics Onyx
1.2 Gb/Sec
The 3DO Company's losses during its first year
$60 Million
Apple's pre-Christmas marketing budget for the UK
200,000
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+-------------------------------------+
| NEW DATE SET FOR SONY LAUNCH (PS-X) | Typed: 2TUFF
+-------------------------------------+ By: EDGE MAGAZINE
The Playstation's Japanese release date has been brought forward by
more than a week to November 30. December 9 had originally been
pencilled in by Sony Computer Entertainment, but it now seems that
the company is aiming to take greater advantage of the fervent
pre-Christmas sakes period.
The machine, which recently made its first UK appearance in London
at Sony's ECTS event, could now be set to hit Japanese shelves on
the same day as the Saturn, which is also expected at the end of
November.
No price or firm release date had been divulged as Edge went to press,
although it is thought that a hugh marketing campaign is waiting in
the wings at Sony Computer Entertainment, which will air on national
TV and penetrate the multitude of specialist games magazines.
The momentum of Sony's worldwide Playstaion campaign is increasing rapidly
A leak from the US detailing a thrid Playstation coin-op developer,
Bally Midway, is sure to add greater impetus to the Sony cause.
Currently, the only companies developing coin-ops using the Playstation
chipset are Namco and Konami. Namco's coin-op operation - which
recently came under spotlight due to their recent poaching of three
key arcade developers from Sega - is working on a secret 3D beat 'em up
to run on the Playstation hardware. The game, which will be released in
December in coin-op form (and may make an appearance at JAMMA along with
a video wall of Playstation Ridge Racer) is expected to be a rival for
Sega's long-awaited Virtua Fighter 2. After its spell in the arcade,
it will be ported to the Playstation for a January consumer release.
As Sony Computer Entertainment prepare for judgement day in late
November, Namco have also given the company a shot in the arm with
confirmation that their highly anticipated Ridge Racer conversion will
arrive in time for launch, priced at an unusually low Y6,000 (35).
At launch
SCE are currently citing 21 games that will be available in the first
month. Highlights include:
Philosoma (SCE)
Motor Toon GP (SCE)
Tama (Tengen)
A.IV (Artdink)
Victory Zone (SCE)
Ultimate Parodius (Konami)
Power Baseball '95 (Konami)
Ridge Racer (Namco)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+---------------------------+
| SATURN COUNTS ON BIG GUNS | Typed: 2TUFF
+---------------------------+ By: EDGE MAGAZINE
With the launch of the Saturn just two months away, Sega of Japan have
made yet another tweak to the design of their supposedly finished
machine. Following a barrage of market surveys in Japan, North America
and Europe which indicated that the champagne shade was unpopular, the
machine has now received an all-over gunmetal finish. According to
Sega of Japan: `The change was decided to meet a variety of national
tastes, with the additional feature that the machine will be more
resistant to prolonged use' (ie the champagne model scrathed easily).
`We think we have achieved a colour which will fit in with people's
everyday living space with no loss of the machine's leading-edge
technology.'
In a seperate development to this minor cosmetic diversion, Sega's
marketing strategy for the Saturn has taken an ambitious turn.
Mirroring the 3DO approach of a licensed technology with multiple
manufacturers, Sega have granted hardware licences to their three
main Saturn development partners: JVC (who developed the machine's
CD-ROM drive), Hitachi (the manufacturers of the SH1 and SH2 chips)
and Yamaha (responsible for the 16bit sound board). This deal should
result in Saturn-compatible machines arriving from all three
manufacturers, and may even result in a major launch coup: the
licensing agreement makes it possible that different models of the
Saturn will be simultaneously available on day one.
Hitachi have founded a new company, Hitachi Mediaforce, specifically
to deal with the one million Saturns they hope to sell in the first
year. Sega and Hitachi have also announced a joint distribution
deal that will see Saturn machines onsale in Hitachi's Japanese chain
of high-street electrical stores.
Sega's lack of any heavyweight presence in the Japanese console
sector (the MegaDrive and Mega CD have a tiny userbase in Japan) is
a disadvantage; the hugh sales forecasted by the Saturn partners will
depend heavily on the quality of available software.
With Saturn's release date still hovering around the end of November
(and also, ironically, around Sony's new Playstation slot), SOJ are
preparing a national TV and press campaign to send the right signals
to potential buyers.
At launch
Saturn's line-up for the first week of launch looks exceptionally
healthy, with five main genres covered and the following titles
scheduled:
Virtua Fighter (Sega)
Clockwork Knight (Sega)
Victory Goal (Sega)
Race Drivin' (Tengen)
Tama (Tengen)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+----------------------------+
| NEO-GEO CD HITS THE STREET | Typed: 2TUFF
+----------------------------+ By: EDGE MAGAZINE
In the midst of the excitement surrounding the launch of the
Playstation and Saturn, SNK have rolled out their Neo-Geo CD
system in Japan at a price of Y49,800 (320).
The launch was initiated by a six-stop tour of Japan's major
towns designed to claw back some publicity from Sony and Sega.
The `Neo-Geo CD Live Tour', which kicked off in Hokkaido and
travelled through Osaka and Nagoya before its grand finale in
Toyko, was the gamesplaying public's first opportunity to get
their hands on the new machine since SNK announced its launch
at the Tokyo Toy Show in June. The unit itself and its initial
range of CD software were the main attractions, but SNK also
laid on fighting tournaments organised by helpers dressed as
well-known SNK videogame stars.
The Neo-Geo CD is currently a front-loading system which is
being pushed by SNK as a limited edition model - only 30,000
units have been manufactured. To ensure that support for the
new format continues, SNK have announced that they are
manufacturing a more affordable top-loading machine which is
expected to arrive around December this year.
SNK obviously feel that their ageing system still has what it
takes to be a viable contender in the videogame arena: apart
from the addition of seven megabytes (56Mbits) of DRAM and
re-jigged VRAM and SRAM, the Neo-Geo CD has the same internals
as the original cartridge unit.
The quality of most Neo-Geo software has never really been in
question, but the ridiculous price tags carried by some of the
games - Viewpoint costs 220, for example - was a good enough
reason for most gamers to give it a miss. With some cartridges
boasting huge memory usage - Art of Fighting 2 claimed 178 Mbits
- the cost of cartridges was always destined to be high. But
even the biggest Neo-Geo games will fit snugly onto a CD, and
they won't have the same impact on your bank balance, either: CD
conversions of older Neo-Geo games will clock in at an exceptionally
affordable Y4,800 (about 30), with the most expensive (and more
recent) CD games costing up to Y8,800 (56). And with thirdparty
developers ADK and Sammy onboard, the Neo-Geo CD can immediately
boast a huge range of affordable arcade-quality titles.
In some cases, SNK are re-recording and enhancing soundtracks from
exsisting Neo-Geo games to suit the CD format - although the
exceptional quality of the music in some cartridge titles (Last
Resort is a prime example) means that in most cases there will be
no noticeable change.
Owners of the exsisting Neo-Geo system are naturally concerned about
the Neo-Geo CD, especially as SNK are not releasing a CD-ROM add-on
for the exsisting cartridge machine (because of internal VRAM problems).
However, SNK stress that they will continue to support the cartridge
format. Games will always appear on cartridge first, with the CD
versions following between one and two months later. It's thought that
SNK are planning to release a UK version of the Neo-Geo CD sometime
next year.
Available now
-------------
Priced at 30
*NAM '75
*LEAGUE BOWLING
*PUZZLED
*ASO II
*TOP PLAYERS GOLF
*JOY JOY KID
*SUPER SPY
*BURNING FIGHT
Priced at 37
*FOOTBALL FRENZY
*FATAL FURY
*LAST RESORT
*BASEBALL STARS 2
*KING OF THE MONSTERS 2
Priced at 44
* ART OF FIGHTING
* FATAL FURY 2
Priced at 50
* SAMURAI SPIRITS
* FATAL FURY SPECIAL
* ART OF FIGHTING 2
* SUPER SIDEKICKS 2
* TOP HUNTER
* AERO FIGHTERS 2
Available '94
-------------
October
*ROBOARMY
November
*BASEBALL STARS
*GAN GAN
December
*SAMURAI SPIRITS 2
*GHOST PILOTS
Late '94
* MAGICIAN LORD
* RAGUY
* NINJA COMBAT
* THRASH RALLY
* CROSSED SWORDS
* NINJA COMMANDO
* MUTATION NATION
* THE KING OF FIGHERS '94
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+------------------------------+
| SONY GO IT ALONE DURING ECTS | Typed: 2TUFF
+------------------------------+ By: EDGE MAGAZINE
Due to a last-minute change of plans, Sony held their own show at
an entirely seperate venue five minutes away from the ECTS. Taxis
and buses ferried ECTS visitors to and from Sony's base at The
Brewery throughout the three day event (and consequently managed
to upset ECTS organisers Blenheim by pulling people away from the
show proper).
The software highlight of the Sony event was undoubtedly Psygnosis'
Ecstatica, which now includes a new rendering routine as well as
atmospheric sound. But the real star of the show was, of course,
the Playstation, presented to appease the UK trade, which will have
to wait a year for the British launch. The unit itself was locked
away in a glass cabinet, but mouthwatering demos of forthcoming
software were played once an hour on a large video screen, and
Sony treated selected individuals to private hands-on trials.
The video wall demos included a manta ray gliding over a beautifully
rendered sandy seabed, as well as the complete, fully animated version
of the dinosaur head seen in Edge 11, and an incredible scaling
and rotating animated character from SCE's polygon racer, Motor Toon GP
(formely Poly Poly Circus Gp).
Finally, Sony cheated a little by showing pre-rendered Silicon Graphics
chips from Psygnosis' Wipeout and Labyrinth. The latter (called
Legend when it was seen in Edge 9) featured some beautifully smooth
3D texture-mapped caverns which will apparently run at the same speed
in realtime in the actual game.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+-----------------------------+
| BALLY MIDWAY PLAY WITH SONY | Typed: 2TUFF
+-----------------------------+ By: EDGE MAGAZINE
As Williams prepare to roll out Nintendo's first Ultra 64 coin-op,
Cruis 'n USA, news has reached Edge of a potentially huge counterdeal
that could place the Nintendo/Williams alliance in jeopardy.
It is thought that Sony Computer Entertainment have scored a major
coup by tying up Illinois-based Bally Midway (the producers of
Mortal Kombat I & II and Cruis 'n USA) as a third Playstaion coin-op
hardware licensee (joining Namco and Konami).
Now Mortol Kombat III, previously expected to be an exclusive Nintendo
product for the Ultra 64, will be developed on the Playstation coin-op
hardware, with a portover to the home system scheduled for September
'95 (conveniently arriving in time for the US and European Playstation
launches).
With the SGI Ultra 64 chipset still a long way from finished (the 64bit
CPU is complete but the graphics chip won't be finalised until next year),
the newdeal could be attributed to Midway's fristration with Nintendo; in
inking a deal with Sony, they have linked up with a company that has
final working silicon. However, Bally are reported to be continuing work
on a 3D fighting game for Nintendo's home machine.
So far, Nintendo's return to the arcades seems to have been fraught with
difficulties. As reported in Edge 12, Cruis 'N USA ran on a proprietary
Williams 32bit arcade board when it debuted at the Summer CES, and a
recent US trade evaluation of its hardware (ie prising Nintendo stickers
off the chips) uncovered MIPS originals.
Similarly, although the second Ultra 64 coin-op, Rare's Killer Instinct,
will be the first game to bring Nintendo/SGI CPU into play, it will also
use existing SGI hardware to deliver the visuals. The game is expected
to arrive in mid- to late-November.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Greetings
+=-----=+
Seven7Seven, Maximilien, I.B.M, Yohan, Fabio, Intreq, Dream-Master, Dan
Protocol, Homer, Keanu, Data-Stream, Diabolik, Scrote, Mike, Phil-Douglas
Tom, Skeleton, Swayzar, Micro, Paradise King, Professor, Bluewater
Shredder, Oldman, Legend, Kreator, Big Boss, Dream-Warrior, Linebacker
Cypher, Kid Curry, Sober, Blaster, Anthraxus, Ice-D, No Carrier, Scott
Blue Aardvark, Talon, Trebenae, Sigma Seven, Lytox << OTHERS FORGOTTEN >>
Thanx for reading -2TUFF '94