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SCES Report from David Haupert <dhaupert@gate.net
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Hi All!  I just got back from the SCES last night so I'm not sure what
else has been said but here's my thoughts on it:
***********  WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD *************
   Atari Booth:
        Atari had a surprisingly large section with very good placement in
the North building of McCormick Place.  There were some huge yellow eyes
staring above the booth and from behind the booth there was a big sign
that said:
          8 bits.  (Claw marks across it)
          16 bits. (Claw marks across it)
          32 bits. (Claw marks across it)
          You've been through the preliminaries.
          Let the Games Begin.
  (I thought that was neat!) They also had a 4 page ad in one of the CES
papers there with the same text and then a list of all the developers.
   Atari Hardware:
      The CD-ROM was there looking sleek as can be, showing off Jeff Minter's
Virtual Light Machine which was really nice.  You could press a number key
on the controller and it would change the pattern base to a different one.
Some looked like fireworks, others melt-o-vision, others plasma, etc.  I
can't wait to be able to play my CD's on the big screen TV!
    They were also demo-ing their CINEPAK routines by showing Back to the
Future 3, Jaws, Maverick, and STAR WARS.  It looked about VCR quality
until you looked up close to it.  It was the closest thing to MPEG I've
seen with or without additional hardware.  I heard people talking about
how great their MPEG video looked and it wasn't even MPEG!!!
    They also had the JagDaptor there in a box, the Cat Box was floating
around on back of one Jag (looked cool yet it didn't have a cover), and
the voice modem (VODEM ;)) was being demoed with Club Drive.
   Atari Games:
(I thought I'd go into as much detail as I could remember.  Sorry if it
seems like rambling but I'd like to be as complete as possible :) )
   BUBSY:
   This looked just like a regular SNES or Genesis game to me.  It was fun
to play but didn't seem to offer much in the way of advanced programming.
Every time you died it would pop back to a title screen.  This game seemed
nearly finished though due to the fact that the level I played had more
than enough monsters (or whatever) and obstacles.  It's possible that they
still need to add levels but the one I played seemed complete enough.
   ZOOL 2:
   This game seemed similar to yet better than Bubsy.  It is a very fast
side scroller and the little guy can do all sorts of ninja moves: climbs,
spins, jumps, etc.  This seemed to be pretty far along as well.
   TEMPEST 2000:
   Need I say more- except that I watched Jeff Minter play and admired the
fact that he still seemed to really enjoy the game!  How's that for
replayability?  :) :)
   TREVOR McFUR:
   Watched a little kid play it for about 30 seconds then leave.  ;)
   CYBERMORPH:
   There was a "Take the 3D0 challenge" section over at the 3D0 booth in
the other building.  They had SEGA CD Silpheed, 3D0 Total Eclipse, and Jag
Cybermorph.  There was nobody playing Silpheed or Total Eclipse but there
were a couple of people playing Cybermorph!  (They also had SNES SFII,
SEGA MK and the non-released 3D0 WOTW, not too fair of a comparison I
thought.  If they were going to compare vapor to established titles then
where was Ultra Vortex or Kasumi Ninja ;) I thought so! ).  Don Thomas of
Atari told me that they got lots of people coming over from the 3D0 booth
who had never even _heard_ of the jag until they saw it over there, and
they wanted to know more about it.  It's like deja vu of the WCES!!!
   DINO DUDES:
   Not a lot of activity near this one...
   RAIDEN:
   Still some people trying this one...
   PINBALL by High Voltage Software (I don't remember the title name, sorry):
   This was a _very_ early pinball title that was in working condition but
not much farther along than that.  It had a huge scrolling vertical area
(probably 2x the actual screen size) and several multi-level bumpers.  It
kinda reminded me of that old pinball adventure game on the NES (the one
where you would try to get the ball out of each area and upwards).  The
title screen for High Voltage Software was real sweet though.  It had a
flaming background behind it.
   WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP: (Trimark/High Voltage Software)
   This was a fairly early version of half-court BBALL with super graphics
so far.  There was no ball on the court yet but the players (currently
one-on-one but the HVS guy said it will be 2 on 2 when finished) could run
around and dribble the air pretty well! :) The court looked great.  The
beginning of each match will show the court from afar and then it zooms in
perfectly to a close up of the court.  It was a really nice effect.  There
were bikini clad girls in the background and a beachfront view.  The HVS
guy (who was constantly available to help answer any questions BTW) said
there will be different court backgrounds and settings.  Looks promising
but I can't say much for the gameplay as their is none yet. :) BTW, the
guy said it should be a Christmas release.
   WORLD CLASS CRICKET: (Self-running demo by Telegames)
   What's cricket anyway?!!  The Telegames guy told me he didn't expect
cricket to be a big U.S. seller but rather a European seller.
   ARENA FOOTBALL:  (Self-running demo by VREAL)
   This game looks like it will have some pretty good graphics.  Currently
it would just run a play and it was pretty slow at that.  Seems like it
has a long way to go.
   TROY AIKMAN FOOTBALL (Self-running demo by Tradewest (Williams?):
   These graphics looked less photorealistic than the ARENA football, but
the plays ran considerably faster.  Plus I guess this one was licensed by
the NFL so it will be a better simulation.  This one has a while to go
also.
   STAR BATTLE (Self-running demo by 4Play):
    This game uses ghourad shaded polygons to create smooth looking
spacecrafts with such likes as sperms, castrators, and other cool stuff.
It was just a demo showing the ships and most likely has a long way to go.
   BATTLEZONE 2000:
    This game is pretty much what you think it will be.  A Battlezone type
game with a texture mapped landscape.  The grounds reminded me of ORION
OFF-ROAD for 3D0 (I think it's now called OFF-ROAD INTERCEPTOR).  I had a
lot of trouble getting over the mountains as my tank kept slipping down
the sides.  The graphics looked pretty promising.
   BLUE LIGHTNING:
    Blue Lightning uses texture mapping just like the picture in EGM
showed!  What?  You couldn't see that picture?  It was too blurry????
Well, it has a texture mapped mountainscape and there are clouds you can
fly through.  This game reminded me of afterburner or starfox.  Forced
forward is not really my type of game though.  (I'm not 100% sure this is
really on rails as it may have just felt like it.)
   CHECKERED FLAG (Rebellion):
    The graphics on this baby look sweet.  They are just like the arcade
Virtua Racing- Crisp as can be.  The frame rate seemed quick as well.  The
only problem I had with it was the control.  The steering is too tight.
Everybody I talked to said the same.  You would crank down the
straightaway and then have no ability to turn whatsoever.  I know that in
a simulation, you would have a similar problem but I don't believe this
should happen to this degree in an arcade type racing game.  _PLEASE_
Rebellion, pretty please, loosen up that steering.  It will make for a
great high-speed game.  This one has _great_ potential, just don't blow it
with impossible steering.
  SPACE WAR: (Working Title (was Star Raiders 2000))
     I kept passing this game up because there was just a split screen
with two cockpits looking out into a colorful starfield.  Didn't _seem_
like much to me.  When I actually played it, I noticed there was no radar
so I couldn't find any ships to battle.  So I left it again.
     But then, I came back to it with a buddy and we decided we'd try to
seek eachother out.  It was then when I found out how much fun this game
is.  I came upon a group of ships and noticed they were polygon based with
a high level of detail.  (Higher than X-Wing in my opinion).  I noticed
one of them firing in the same pattern as my friend's screen so I used my
superbrain to figure out that must be him and went after him.  We got into
a dogfight that consisted of me chasing him, him braking and me passing
right by him, him chasing me, me braking and him passing right by me, etc.
It was a lot of fun.  Something I always wished wing commander or X-wing
had was 2 player capability and here it is.  The game seems to have a ways
to go though, but I'm looking forward to it's release.
   ****  Hold on they're getting better now!!!!  ****
   DOOM:
   Looked like the PC version to me.  I've tried experimenting with low
and high detail on the PC version and I've concluded that it looked better
than the low detail but not as good as the high.  It moved about as quick
as my 486-DX33.  There were no monsters or obstacles in the version they
were showing (yet) and the graphics supposedly hadn't been redone to take
advantage of the 16 bit color.  So when finished it should still look
better than the PC version in high detail.  There was a status bar added
though.
   I talked to Jay Wilbur at the show (while helping Tal with his AEO
video filming) and he seemed like a really nice guy.  He seemed to have a
very high opinion of the jaguar.  So even though the id posts sometimes
display a dislike of some features of the jaguar, this doesn't mean
they're lazy or they're quitters looking for an excuse to make shortcuts.
They are interested in putting out a quality product just as they have
been known to in the past.  This is still my favorite game of all time, so
I'm yet to lose faith in the guys at id!!
   WOLFENSTEIN 3D:
   Looked better and faster the the PC version to me.  (Just as we
expected) It had a nice intro screen and the between level screens were
nice stills with scrolling text overlayed on them.
   The sound has much more clarity than that of the PC's version.
Everything is crystal clear.  The only disappointing thing about this
aspect was that I miss the original muffled Achtung (sp?) of the PC's
version. ;)
   This cartridge was a _real_ cartridge which along with Brutal Sports
Football was the only non-released game not running on EPROMs or Alpine
boards.
   BRUTAL SPORTS FOOTBALL (Telegames):
   Easily the most underrated game in existence (at the show I guess!).  I
didn't think much about this title until I actually played it.  It has
some of the most intense gameplay I've seen (a'la NBA Jam: No fouls or
timeouts to slow the action down).  I had a blast playing it with both the
computer and my buddy.  There were 12 different teams, some looked like
dinosaurs, some like alligators, etc.  The idea is to get past the
opponent and into the goal in any way.  You can throw, kick, or run it in.
You can shuttle pass the ball in the direction you are headed, which can
be right to your opponent!  You can lob kick the ball and hope to get just
over the goalie's head but he usually blocks it.  I found the best way to
score is to pick up the bombs on the field while you have the ball and run
up to the goal.  Chances are, the goalie or some defense guy will attack
you so you, him, and the his close buddies will all go up in smoke.  Then
you run another guy up and he has a clear path into the goal!  You can
also throw the bombs and the other players for no reason other than mass
destruction!  There are swords on the field in which you can chop off the
opponents head.  The head will stay around so you can kick that if you
want to!  There are also bunnies that come on the field that are like
turbo-powerups.  I originally thought it was the Energizer bunny and tried
to throw a bomb at it. ;) There are also turtles which slow you down.  All
in all this is a _super_ game.  Definately a sleeper hit.  There was a
press release on the kiosk saying it was the first
   3rd party game in production (just as Telegames was with the Lynx).  It
will supposedly be in stores on July 27th!  Yous wants dates, I gots 'em
rights hea!  (Actually that was the only date I got!)
   KASUMI NINJA:
   I was worried about this game lacking any good gameplay for the sake of
gratuitous blood and gore, but I was worried for nothing.  The gameplay is
there and so are the graphics, oh my!
   The game starts out in a labrynth (with full 360 degree control and
floors and ceilings!!!!) where each player can choose their fighter (or a
one player gamer will also choose his opponent).  There is great theme
music for this part.  When the players have selected their fighter a door
opens and you can run down the hall to the fighting area.  The area you
fight in depends on who is chosen for player 2.
   There were two ninja fighters, a visigoth, and a big indian ("native
american").
  The indian reservation looks the best for the backdrops.  It has a
beautiful mountain scene in the back, with teepees (sp?), horses, and
campfires (that are animated) which looks like a perfect picture and
scrolls with multi-level parallax.
  There is a canyon type background which according to Ted Tacquehi (sp?)
at Atari, is the only background which has been optimized fully.  (There
was really noticeably faster fighting going on in it).
  Then there are the two oriental style backgrounds which are hard to
describe.  I'm sure you've seen the one with the chinese dogs and drapes
in the background.  The other is a nicer one though.
  Now for the fatalities!!
     (As for who does what, don't ask)
     There was a foot stomping neck breaker.
     There was the visigoth's exploding dynamite stick placed in the
     loser's mouth.  (Nice!)
     There was some punch or kick through the loser's chest.
     (That's all I can remember)
   Okay Sven (FAQ writer), here's some previews of the new characters to
   come:
      An Amazon woman who is really a beautiful model and black belt
   holder.  She was wearing a lacy bra and g-string undies for her
   digitization.  She did all sorts of cool moves on her hands.  Ted
   seemed excited just talking about her!!!
      A scottish guy in leather and kilt (a 'la Rowdy Roddy Piper of WWF
   fame!). That's all I know about him.
   There was no music done during the fighting sequences yet which was why
it wasn't running on the big screen TV.
   Ted said that the maze part of the game would play a bigger part in the
completed version of the game.  You will get keys as you defeat each
character.  Having all the keys will let you get out of the labrynth if
you can find your way out (to the master Boss).
   All in all, I would describe the game as like watching a 3-d movie.
Perfect backgrounds, colors, and digitized fighters.  Truly amazing
graphics.
   BTW, the version said 0.32 so it must have a long way to go!
   IRON SOLDIER:
   This game came as a surprise to me and a _lot_ of others!  It had the
smoothest polygon engine I've seen on a home system.  I kept imagining
this game using the CyberMaxx helmet so when you turn your head downwards
you'd see you feet and so on.  It had some really nice effects like
shattering buildings, robots, copters, etc.  There were trees and small
tanks crushing under your feet and copters hovering over you.  You would
launch your fire on the copter and this loud missile would take off
towards it and shatter the thing to pieces. Awesome!  This will be one
hell of a 2 player game.  I can tell you that Battletech in North Pier
just didn't compare.
