BMK BMK The Bitmap Kid Presents ------------------------- T H E A T A R I JJJJJJJJ AA GGGGGGG UU UU AA RRRRRRR JJ AA AA GG UU UU AA AA RR RR JJ AA AA GG GGG UU UU AA AA RRRRRRR JJ JJ AA AA AA GG GG UU UU AA AA AA RR RR JJJJ AA AA GGGGGG UUUUUU AA AA RR RR The World's FIRST 64 - bit Entertainment System Jaguar and Atari News -------------------------------------------------- (07/12/93) Cuff Lynx Become Fashionable! It is now becoming quite clear that Atari are (re?!)-launching the Lynx (2) on the back of the Jaguar, with even a lean series of TV ads. Atari had originally planned to launch the Lynx on the back of another machine, unfortunately this never came to be and so the Lynx was left "hanging around in the corners of stock rooms". Now however, the Lynx will ride on the back of the Jaguar, and Atari are hoping this will give it a better name than it has managed to pick up. Now that the Jaguar is leaping into popular existence, then it looks like their hopes may become reality, software support for the Lynx isn't massive, but it's there (five more games have just been released only recently) and with a better name (eg what people think of it, as opposed to renaming the console!) and some marketing.... Jaguar Handheld? Even as Atari plan and even put into action this for the Lynx, they are also working on a Jaguar handheld itself. The Jaguar, using only two major chips, could be come even more compact than it is already and fit into something more like a handheld casing + controller + Lynx screen. The problem at the moment, Atari have found, is that the Jag, being so powerful, takes up too much power than a battery (like?) pack can provide. This problem, although fairly major, shouldn't be too difficult to overcome and I personally think there may be a Jaguar handheld by next year, perhaps released along with this Jaguar 2... More Jaguar 2 news. Although it would have been nice for Atari to go for a 128bit (128bit - can you imagine THAT?!), they have decided against it for mainly cost reasons, in fact the Jag 2 will remain 64-bit with a few higher-level speed upgrades. The other main differences are a little most subtle, like a dedicated processor to texture mapping. Although the Jag is very much capable of texture mapping at the moment, a separate processor for this and a few other 3D functions will speed up the system even more and make it simpler to program for. New Competition? Sega's attempt to stop Atari from "whipping their ass" is (code?)named the Saturn, unfortunately for Sega, it's still only a 32-bit-er, and so although Sega still have a massive name which may attract some Megadrive "oiks" to it, I just can't see it ever being a real threat to Atari's plans, especially when you consider that all independent developers also see the Saturn as far inferior, even though it is said that the Saturn is based on the Vertua Racing coin-op. In fact, it's being over-hyped, as usual for desperate attempts, which is sad because it gives it even less chance of getting anywhere. Sega hope to have it out in the far east in November, costing about the same as the Jag. Poor fellows. As for Nintendo, again, it is said to be Jaguar-inferior, however my first impression is that it will do far better than the Saturn, if both ever come into existence, although Nintendo are still keeping their 'wonder machine' very much under wraps. Said to be released in Japan in December. How's it go? It has now been decided that the Jaguar will be released fully here (Europe) in March. On the 15th to be exact. As always, it was hoped to be sooner, but Atari have got all the big names like Dixons to stock them. The pre-release Jaguars have sold out already in all the places it has appeared, and shops have had many orders already, although the demand isn't expect to be met for a short while at least. And the test sales? Atari had hoped to have 30,000 machines in Europe for its test run, however only about 10,000 looks like they've made it, but Atari isn't worried about this. Screen. One thing I don't think I have mentioned about the Jaguar is that it uses the whole screen (eg the screen won't have a border around the picture like on the ST and most other systems), and can be used with most TVs and monitors too. Although it may be some time before the appropriate leads for other VDUs come into being, the Jaguar, as you would expect does come with a standard TV aerial lead. Ha! The makers of the 3DO are hoping that people will shell out the $700 for the machine instead of buying a CD music system as well. But surely this can't be true?? I mean, if the 3DO WAS more on the $200 side, then yeah, sure it would get somewhere, but most people already have CD music systems and if they don't would they spend $700 all at once? (Especially when you take into account that the Jag with ITS CD-ROM drive, will STILL be $400 cheaper!) No, the 3DO, however much I try to be unbiased towards it, just CAN'T get anywhere, it is merely going to go down the road of the Neo-Geo, only the Neo-Geo didn't have a more powerful machine at less than half its price when it was released... MORE support? Yes, every month developer support for the Jaguar grows, here is the updated list: Numbers in brackets means number of games (I KNOW OF) being produced by that company. Accolade (5), Activision (1), All Systems Go (1), Anco (1), Beyond Games (2), Broderbund (1), 3D Games (1), Domark (1), DTMC (1), Elite (1), Epic Megagames (1), Gremlin (2), Handmade Software (2), ICD (1), ID Software (1), Iguana (1), Infogrames (1), Interplay (2), Krisalis (1), Loriciel (2), LucasArts (1), Maxis (1), Microids (2), Microprose (2), Millenium (1), Ocean (2), Origin (1), Phalanx Software (1), Photosurrealism (1), Retour 2048 (2), Spectrum Holobyte (1), Sunsoft (1), 21st Century (1), Telegames (2), Tradewest (1), Trimark (1), UBI Soft (1), US GOLD (1), V-Real (2), Virgin (1) and Williams/Medway (1). At a quick count, that's 50 titles, excluding Atari's own of about 40. Not too bad for the first two months of the Jag's life eh? Some titles I've homed in on, as well as some additions to the list: Return to Zork (Jag-CD format game); Zool 2; Mortal Combat; Alone in the Dark (CD); Battle Chess; Another World; Star Trek - The Next Generation (from Spectrum Holobyte); Epic Pinball (as seen on PC); Battle Wheels; Casino Royale; Jukebox; Kick Off 2; Zozziorx; Double Dragon; Mechtiles; Brutal Football; Indiana; Doom; Soccer Kid (a distant relation); Arena Football; Navy Commando; Pinball Fantasies; Horrorscope; Power Side; Gunship 2000; Aero the Acrobat; Al Michaels' Hard Ball; Batman; Battle Zone 2000; Blue Lightning; Bubsy; Car Wars; Commando; Dracula the Undead (CD); Dungeon Depths; European Soccer Challenge; Evidence (CD); Robinson's Requiem; Space Pirates (CD); Ultimate Brain Games; Ultra Vortex and Flashback. A good many of the titles will be available by the summer too - gooooodeeey! Addition: Atari have proudly picked up no less than five top awards for its hardware and software recently: Best New Games System, Best New Hardware System, 1993 Technical Achievement of the year, Best Print Advert and Tempest 2000 gained Best Game of the [Vegas CES] show. Certain members of the Atari UK crew were seen to be smiling like a certain cat in 'Alice in Wonderland' recently. The Atari Jaguar 64-bit Entertainment System (and Cybermorph game) - around œ199 Available in the UK and Europe on March 15 - All major stores. Atari CD-ROM drive for Jaguar - œ100-œ200 Available later in '94 BMK BMK - o -