BMK BMK The Bitmap Kid Presents ------------------------- T H E A T A R I JJJJJJJJ AA GGGGGGGG UU UU AA RRRRRRRR JJ AA AA GG UU UU AA AA RR RR JJ AA AA GG GGG UU UU AA AA RRRRRRRR JJ JJ AA AA AA GG GG UU UU AA AA AA RR RR JJJJJ AA AA GGGGGG UUUUUU AA AA RR RR ENTERTAINMENT MACHINE OF THE FUTURE? (Note: I declare writing this article on the 7th of September 1993, just in case somebody thinks it is 'cobbled down' from a magazine...) After experiencing the immense power of the Jaguar at such low cost, it really brought home to me what rip-offs the Megadrive and SNES really are. I always knew that console games were massively over-priced, but after seeing how poor these consoles are compared to the Jaguar, I really do have something against S & N now. Yeah, sure, technology moves on and prices change, but the way S & N have handled their markets, dramatically over-pricing for something that basically isn't all that amazing, strikes me as being somewhat sinful considering the whole thing is aimed at kids. Nolan Bushnell saw a gap in the electronics industry and pounced. A technical wizard he created the first ever console, the VCS-2600. The thing is, this was way back in the early 1970s, the computering world but an infant. Nolan started a company and called it 'Atari', and soon made a fortune. Atari, despite their original console success, have been out of that game for years now, but they are coming back with a punch with the first ever 64-bit console. Once again Atari are pioneering a machine well ahead of its time - the Jaguar. 'Master - it lives!' 64-bit POWER! ------------- It seems, to me, that it was only yesterday (well, not quite) when 8-bit machines ruled the high street stores and the Christmas TV advertising. Then, before you can say 'Plug me into a Sega!' up comes the mighty 16-bits and the 8-bits are completely obsolete. It just goes to show you how quickly things can change in the electronics industry. 64-bit power means the Jaguar is an amazing four times faster than the present consoles at the most basic of levels. At the heart of the Jaguar is Atari's own RISC processor, a fast, powerful CPU which processes data simply and efficiently. The Jaguar boasts five processors (68000, Blitter, Object Processor, DSP and GPU) on three chips designed specifically for the machine. Two of the chips are called Tom and Jerry. Tom is 64-bit and mainly deals with the graphics, while Jerry's 32-bit and is a more general chip incorporating the Digital Signal Processor (or DSP). Graphics. --------- The Jaguar has a massive 32-bit True Colour (photographic quality) palette of over 16 million colours. The Jaguar can produce in-game shaded polygons and texture mapping for the ultimate in action and adventure games alike. Not only that, but it can spit out those graphics at high-definition TV standard!! Many people have been dumbfounded at some of the 16-bit games that have come along recently. At least one even contains real film-like pictures moving throughout! Okay, sure, you have a fairly good game here, but put a game like that on the Jaguar and you've got a game that is literally mind-blowing. 'Did somebody say something?!' Audio. ------ There are some boundaries that won't ever be passed, because you already have the ultimate. The Jaguar's better CD quality sound is truly amazing. This machine is truly unbeatable (at least for a loooooooong time!) So what does all this mean?! ---------------------------- 'Entertainment' is a word that covers a lot of things in modern-day life. TV, films, games, music, virtual reality ... perhaps even communications could be included in the list. The Jaguar is more than capable of all of these; playing satellite, cable and TV programs through your Jaguar; films, using the MPEG2 system giving full-length laser-disk quality images; games - much better than ANY you've ever seen before; music outputing at a quality that your CD player is just not capable of; and even full-blown virtual reality including helmets and sensor-gloves. The DSP can even act as a modem opening up even more possibilities. The Jaguar comes in a futuristic sexy black case, similar in size to the Megadrive 2 and has a 17-key controller pad as standard. The machine can communicate with the up and coming Digital Audio Tape (DAT) as well as double speed CD-ROM with audio, karaoke (oh no!!) and photo-CD capabilities. The Jaguar's ports include a DSP and 32-bit expansion port for endless upgrades and peripherals. Games will come on 'MegaCarts' and will cost less than the 16-bit carts (despite the vast superiority) and also, of course, CD-ROM etc. Ten games (at least) are being created at the moment, and ten games is a lot considering how young the Jaguar is. 'Contenders, READY!' The Competition. ---------------- The only real competition at the moment is the 3DO. Which at the same time ISN'T competition! The Jaguar is VASTLY superior and at one third of the price the 3DO is just out of the main race. Other consoles of the future are not only a very long way off, but also, by all independent accounts, also Jaguar-inferior! Lets do a head to head Jaguar-3DO. I'll include the SNES to show the power of the present consoles compared to the Jaguar too. ================================================================== Jaguar 3DO SNES ------------------------------------------------------------------ Approx. price: $200 $700 $150 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Rendering/ Animation speed: 850+mps 64mps 1mps ------------------------------------------------------------------ Bus Bandwidth: 106.4 Mb/sec 50 Mb/sec ? Jaguar 3DO SNES ------------------------------------------------------------------ Colours: 16.7 Million 16.7 Million 256 ------------------------------------------------------------------ True Colour: Yes, 32-bit Yes, 24-bit Yes, 16-bit ------------------------------------------------------------------ Processors: 5: 4: 2: GPU - DSP ARM60 - DSP 65C816 Object Proc. Graphics Proc.(2) DSP Blitter 68000 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Stereo 16-bit CD-quality Sound: Better than Yes No ------------------------------------------------------------------ Custom Hardware for 3D Objects: Yes No No ------------------------------------------------------------------ Object Proc.: Yes No No Jaguar 3DO SNES ------------------------------------------------------------------ S-Video Out: Yes Yes Yes RF: Yes Yes Yes Composite: Yes Yes Yes ------------------------------------------------------------------ Resolution 720x576 640x480 512x448 ================================================================== So there, the facts speak clearly for themselves. I've heard some very Atari-sceptical people praising the Jaguar no end so it's all looking good for Atari! THE ATARI JAGUAR ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM - $199 (about œ150) AVAILABLE ON FULL-RELEASE (UK) AUTUMN 1994 BMK BMK Jaguar Update follows on next frame. BMK BMK The One Who Nintendo Owners Hate Presents... -------------------------------------------- Atari Jaguar Update - 1 -------------------------- No sooner than I finish my report than up comes some more news - isn't it always the way?! 'What news is this?!' I hear you cry! Well, a very important list was dropped through my door the other day, this list telling of the Jaguar developers! The list, as you can see, consists of some of the biggest names around: Anco Software, Beyond Games Inc, Dimension Technologies, Eurosoft, High Voltage Software, Krisalis Software, Loriciel, Maxis Software, Microiods, Midnight Software, Ocean Software, Rebellion Software, Retour 2048, Simarils, Telegames, Tiertex, Titus, Tradewest, Trimark Interactive and even US Gold. So that's AT LEAST 20 titles in the long term from top people, but there should at least 15 by January. One game will be bundled with the Jaguar at first with five titles available separately straight away. The amount of support that has appeared for the Jaguar so suddenly has made Atari think about releasing the Jaguar quicker than they had planned, let's just hope they do, eh? This is all very good for the Jaguar since the only thing that could have stopped it is lack of support - I can't see a lack of support here - can you?! Thanks go to Atari UK for their help in all matters Atari and also anyone who has sent stuff to me on the subject (if they ever happen to read this). BMK BMK