STILL GOING STRONG in 2014! ___ ._ _______ · /\ _________) \________| \___________)__ /_________:__ :________ / \/\ __ \ ____ ___/| \______ \_ / _/___ \_ ____/ ¦__ \___ \ / / \ \__ \___ \ | | \ _/ __/ / /\__ \ |¦ | / \_| \ / \/ \_ \ \ ! \_| ! \_\ \_ / \ \ || |· /| \_ \___| ___\ /__ /l________ /_\ /__ /_____\ / |¦ | /_| / l____/-A×E\/ \___/_! \/ \ / \/ \/__|: ¦__ / l___/ ______ _____ \/ : ____ · : \/ ___) \___________) \__________:___ ¦____) \__________ \ _______ _______ \___ ____/ |\_____ \______ \ /\___ \/ | _) \/ ¦ |/ | \ | \ _/ ! \ | \ \_ | | ! \ | \ \______ \___ |_____\ /___ | ¦ \ | \_ \______/ \____! \ / \___| :________ \_| / \ / ¦ · \______/| / YOUVE HEARD ABOUT IT! \/ : · l_____/ MASTURBATiON STATiON AMIGA/PC/CONSOLE/ASCII-ANSI/C64 Telnet: bbs.masturbationstationbbs.com UPLOAD DATE: 04-26-16 TIME: 03:54:28 ON NODE: 1 UPLOADER: Black Beard LOCATION: mSTATION.servebbs.com @BEGIN_FILE_ID.DIZ.------------------------------------------. |Sony Playstation (PSX) Report V1.0 MAY-95 | +------------------------------------------+ |Hardware Information, Product-News, Facts | | Available & Upcoming Games (List/Infos) | `------------------------------------------' @END_FILE_ID.DIZ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SONY PLAYSTATION (PSX) REPORT V1.0 [Date: 22-MAY-95] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Written by : iRONCODE! A.Introduction B.Playstation Hardware Specifications C.Playstation Games Available D.Upcoming Playstation Games E.Top 10 Most Wanted Playstation Games F.Playstation News G.Greetings ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Try to contact iRONCODE! ------------------------ - By E-Mail : gronm@vega.isbiel.ch - My WWW-Page : http://www.isbiel.ch/~gronm/first.html - On IRC : join channel #amiga! - Or leave mail on one of these Boards: USA : Pirates Haven SWEDEN : Interchange FINLAND : Wasted Time GERMANY : Synergy SWISS : Castle Rock, Trelli Ikojenia, Dial Hard - If you are able to call my BBS .. do it! * cASTLE M/F rOCK BBs * 3 Analoge (28800/16800) * 2 Euro-ISDN (64000) * Private Numbers, NUP required! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A.Introduction -------------- Yo dudes, this is iRONCODE! with another mindblasting release: Sony Playstation (PSX) Report V1.0. Released : 22-MAY-95 In this first issue I wanted to write down some facts, news and infos about the available (and not available) games of this wonderful machine. Perhaps u know that I've never worked at Sony. So you can probably imagine how hard it is to get some interesting Playstation-facts. That's why I need your help! Try to contact me. (iRONCODE!) Please support me with the informations you have. I would like to continue this report and perhaps release a new issue every month. Thanx for your help! -iRONCODE!- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- B.Playstation Hardware Specifications ------------------------------------- 1. Introduction 2. CPU 3. 3D Geometry Engine 4. Data Engine (MDEC) 5. Sound 6. Graphics 7. Memory 8. CD-ROM 1. Introduction --------------- Thus didn't the Playstation come forth from the dark alleys of Tokyo... This is one serious gaming machine. SNES, Megadrive, 32X, Jaguar and 3DO all pale besides this monster. The PSX has 5 processors running concurrently, similar to the Atari Jaguar. Then main processor is the powerful LSI R3000A 32 bit RISC processor, running at 33.8 Mhz. In addition to it, there is a 66 MIPS High-speed Matrix Processor for calculating 3D polygons, there is a graphics processor for displaying sprites (2D) at 60 frames a second, a sound processor for doing CD quality sound and a 80 MIPS Data Expansion Engine for decompressing graphics and sound data from the CD-ROM. What does it all mean? Well, this machine is built for 3D! And since that is where the games are going, we're all set. (In all fairness it should be mentioned that the Sega Saturn is on par with, if not better than, the PSX on 2D scrolling games, note 2D only. However, this is not a problem since these machines are lightyears ahead of the competition anyways!) 2. CPU ------ * R3000A 32bit RISC chip @ 33.8mhz - Manufactured by LSI Logic Corp. * Clearing capacity: 30 MIPS * Bus bandwidth: 132 Mb/sec As stated above, a very kuel CPU, slamming the 68000 in the Jaguar and the ARM 60 in the 3DO, even the Hitachis in the Saturn! A high bus bandwith is important when using lots of colors in fast moving animations! (Like Tohshinden) 3. 3D Geometry Engine --------------------- * High speed matrix calculator * Clearing capacity: 66 MIPS * 1.5 million flat-shaded polygons/sec * 500,000 texture-mapped and light-sourced polygons/sec Ahhh, the key to the ultimate 3D performance. Note, however that the above specs are rather optimistic. There is a slight difference between displaying random polygons on screen and calculating whether or not a polygon will be visible or not as the arm is lifted in defense, then shown according to the position it is in. Toshinden achieves 80.000 of the latter polygons, a very impressive number for such an early game. Expect this to increase as the programmers really get to know the hardware. Luckily the Playstation development setup is hailed as being among the best in the industry. 4. Data Engine (MDEC) --------------------- * Clearing capacity: 80 MIPS * CPU, direct bus connection * Also compatible with JPEG, MPEG1, H.261 files A very important player. It even helps cutting down load time, since the data can be loaded from the CD in compressed form, then uncompressed on the fly by this baby! Note the support for industry formats, not just proprietary. 5. Sound -------- * ADPCM, 24 channels * Sampling frequency: 44.1 Khz CD quality sound! What more could you ask for... Well, since you ask, it would have been nice if it had a little bit better sound support. By all means, it is great for using sound of the CD, but more or less incapable of producing sound on its own. Oh well, you won't notice it! 6. Graphics ----------- * 16.7 million colors * Resolution: 256x224 - 740x480 * Sprite/BG drawing * Adjustable frame buffer * No line restriction * Unlimited CLUTs (Color Look-Up Tables) * 4,000 8x8 pixel sprites with individual scaling and rotation * Simultaneous backgrounds (Parallax scrolling) * 360,000 polygons/sec Why do people question these specs? OK, so the Saturn might be a bit better on 2D, but read the specs again. Parodius has some slowdown, NOT because of lacking hardware, but due to programmers not used to the system. Raiden has less slowdown, i.e. more experienced programmers. So in 6-9 months we should see no more slowdowns in 2D scrolling games. Relax, the hardware CAN handle it! 7. Memory --------- * Main RAM: 2 Megabytes * VRAM: 1 Megabyte * Sound RAM: 512 K * CD-ROM buffer: 256K * Operating System ROM: 512K * RAM cards for data save: 128K EEprom Hey, it's more RAM than any others console out there! Stuff can be stored in RAM in compressed form, then uncompressed on the fly in game. So don't expect that this will limit its performance. (You just can't compare how much RAM the PSX has vs. a PC. It is a totally different concept!) 8. CD-ROM --------- * Double speed * XA compliant It's faster than any of ther other CD systems out there! And they sometimes even let you play games while you are waiting. (We're talking 6-7 seconds.....) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- C.Playstation Games Available ----------------------------- What you see here is the list of games available in Japan. No, the system hasn't been released in the US just yet. When the US release draws close, I'll change this to reflect what's available here.... 1. Ridge Racer Just like the arcade! 2. A.IV Evolution Simulator 3. Crime Crackers RPG 4. Geom Cube Puzzle 5. Gokujyo Parodius Da! Shooter 6. Houma Hunter Lime Adventure 7. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball'95 Sports 8. Kings Field RPG 9. Mahjong Goku Tenjiku Mahjong 10. Mahjong Station Mahjong 11. Motor Toon Grand Prix Racing 12. Nekketu Oyako Fighting 13. PachiSlot Hunter Simulation 14. TAMA Action 15. Tohshinden Fighting 16. Twinbee Taisen Puzzle Dama Puzzle 17. Twin Goddess Lame Fighting 18. Kileak The Blood RPG 19. Raiden Project Shooting 20. Space Griffon VF9 3d Action RPG 21. CyberSled 3d Action Shooter 22. Myst A surrealistic adventure 23. Cosmic Race 24. Tekken "3D" fighting. Better than arcade!!! 25. Starblade Alpha 3D shoot'em up on rails 26. Uchu Seibutu Furoponkunn Space creature Furopon 27. Victory Zone Pachinko Simulator 28. Kutenkai Pinball 29. Twin Bee Yahoo Deluxe Pack Shooting 30. Jumping Flash! 3D Platform 31. Gunners Heaven Shooter 1. Ridge Racer -------------- - Type: Racing - Players: 1 - Released: Dec'94 - Rating(1-5): 4 - Price: 5,800Y Description: Wow! What a great game! If you liked the arcade, you'll like this too. The port is as good as it gets. It's fast, cool and SMOOTH. In fact, the whole game is loaded into memory, so only the music is played from the CD. And you can even pop in your own CD, and it will play tracks 2-6. (More or less.) Another feature worth noting is the game Galaxians you can play while the game is loading. It is a perfect port, a pity it isn't the whole game. And if you kill all the enemies, you can choose from all the cars! Great touch, Namco! 2. A.IV Evolution ----------------- - Type: Simulation - Players: 1 - Released: Dec'94 - Rating(1-5): 4 - Price: 7,800Y Description: A Sim City style simulation. The first game to use the Sony mouse. In fact, for 12,800 Yen you'll get the mouse and a memory card as pack ins. When you want to see your city from a different view, you can actually ride the train through the city! Cool! A winner for those into this genre of games! 3. Crime Crackers ----------------- - Type: 3D RPG - Players: 2 - Released: Dec'94 - Rating(1-5): 3 - Price: 5,800Y Description: None. 5. Gokujyo Parodius Da! ----------------------- - Type: Shooter - Players: 1 - Released: Dec'94 - Rating(1-5): 3 - Price: 5,800Y Description: Konamis first horizontal shooter. It's not your average sideways scroller, you'll be surprised. It is an arcade perfect conversion, even down to the slowdown.... Included is also the SNES version of Parodius(!) 11. Motor Toon Grand Prix ------------------------- - Type: Racing - Players: 2 - Released: Dec'94 - Rating(1-5): 3 - Price: 5,800Y Description: If you want a truly WHACKY driving game, this is the one for you! The graphics in this game will blow your mind. It will take some patience to get the controls right, but you'll get used to it. The kids will love this game. 15. Tohshinden -------------- - Type: Fighting - Players: 2 - Released: Jan'95 - Rating(1-5): 4 - Price: 5,800Y Description: This is what a 3D fighting game is all about. You have to see it to believe it! It's not just a 2D game looking 3D, it is true 3D. This is the first fighting game released for the Playstation, in fact, it's one of the first titles of any type released. And people are comparing it to Virtua Fighter 2, not just VF. It is truly a game that must be experienced. 16. Twinbee Taisen ------------------ - Type: Puzzle - Players: 2 - Released: Dec'94 - Rating(1-5): 3 - Price: 5,800Y Description: A very nice columns type game. Made in the typical Japanese way, with lots of funny/cute characters etc. Two player is a riot! 17. Twin Goddess ---------------- - Type: Fighting - Players: 2 - Released: Jan'95 - Rating(1-5): 1 (lame!) - Price: 5,800Y Description: The only awsome thing about this game is a very decent FMV intro. And that's it. It is a shame the cool hardware of the Playstation can be misused in this manner. Women fighting women, if that excites you. Looks like Kasumi Ninja on the Jaguar, ie. lame! 18. Kileak The Blood -------------------- - Type: 3D RPG - Players: 1 - Released: Jan'95 - Rating(1-5): 4 - Price: 5,800Y Description: If you thought Alien vs. Predator on the Atari Jaguar was intense, well, then this title is for you. Don't play alone, leave lights on, lock your doors. Your task is to destory an alien infestation in the Antarctica. Your a mech, alone, against their alien forces. Finally a title for us grownups! :) 19. Raiden Project ------------------ - Type: Shooter - Players: 2 - Released: Dec'94 - Rating(1-5): 4 - Price: 5,800Y Description: Another arcade perfect translation, beats the heck out of Raiden for the Jaguar. The CD contains both Raiden and Raiden II. If you're in the mood, you can even turn the TV on it's side to get the true arcade look, no kidding! Again, if you liked the arcade version, well, just get it! :-) If you wonder why it is such a good translation, well, the guys that made the arcade version did this one too! 21. CyberSled ------------- - Type: Shooter - Players: 2 - Released: Jan'95 - Rating(1-5): 3 - Price: 5,800Y Description: If you liked the arcade game, you'll go nuts over this one! In one player you even get texture mapping (optional) to make it look miles BETTER than the arcade. Blast those suckers! (Two player is another story, though...) 25. Starblade Alpha ------------------- - Type: 3D Shooter - Players: 1 - Released: Mar'95 - Rating(1-5): 3 - Price: 5,800Y Description: The aracade version was cool, this is cooler! Why? Texturemapping! OK, so your chair and joystick won't vibrate when energy is getting low, but it will be nice. So nice, in fact, that you might forget about the fact that is game is on rails. All you do is aim and fire... So if you liked Starfox on the SNES, this will BLOW YOU AWAY! 30. Jumping Flash! ------------------ - Type: Platform - Players: 1 - Released Apr'95 - Rating(1-5): 4 - Price: 5,800Y Description: You haven't played any platform games like this one! (Unless, of course, you own the game...) Imagine Doom and Mario in one game, 1st person jumping action. A truly original game, totally new concept. Try it! 31. Gunners Heaven ------------------ - Type: Shooter - Players: 1 - Released: Apr'95 - Rating(1-5): 4 - Price: 5,800Y Description: More or less a blatant rip-off of Gunstar Heroes for the Genesis. Jump, run, slide and shoot. Cool graphics, fast paced, but dang hard. Only for the truly dedicated.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- D.Upcoming Playstation Games ---------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spring 1995 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * 1950 American Dreams, SCE, Board Game * Aqua Note's Holiday, ARTDINK, Simulation * Arc the Lad, SCE, RPG * Blue Forest Story, Right Stuff, R2PG * Fujimaru Jigoku Hen, SCE, RPG * Ganbare Morikawakun Vol. 2,SCE, AI Puzzle * Poporo Kuroisu Mono Gatari, SCE, Adventure * Rayman UBI Soft, Platform Action * Red Plasm, SCE, Action * Shichu Suimei Pita Graph, Datam Polystar, Divination * Starflight Fantasy, TITLE, Simulation * Vampire (Darkstalkers), Capcom, Fighting ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Summer 1995 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Sazan (3x3) Eyes, Adventure * The HordeBGM Victor, Action * Off Road Interceptor, BGM Victor, Action * Princess Maker 3, Gainax, Simulation * Tokyo Shadow, TAITO, Adventure * Total Eclipse, BGM Victor, Action ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unknown Release Dates ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * The 11th Hour, Virgin Games, Adventure * Alone In The Dark II, BMG Victor, Action * Assault Rigs, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Future sports * Black Out, Toei System, Unknown Type * BLOXX, Technos Japan, Unknown Type * Bounty Arms,?, Arcade Shoot'em UP * Colors Mania, ArtPak, Puzzle * Crazy Ivan, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, 3D Mech * Cyber War, Coconuts Japan, Action * Dead Heat Road, Nichibutsu, Unknown Type * Demolition Derby, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Racing * Demolition Man, Virgin Games, Action * Derby Stallion PS-X, ASCII, Simulation * Discworld, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, ? * Formation Soccer, Human, Soccer * G-Police, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, ? * Game No Tatsujin, SunSoft, Unknown Type * Giensou Suiko Den, Konami, Unknown Type * Hissatu Pachinco, SunSoft, Pachinco * Hyperion, TAITO, Shooting * Hyper IGO, ASK, Igo * Indycar Racing, Virgin Games, Racing * Jumping Flash, SCE, Action * Kanaderu, Success, Unknown Type * Kidousenshi GUNDAM, Bandai, Action * Kowloon's Gate, Adventure * Live Remix, Pro Fire, Unknown Type * Lupin the 3rd, Cagliostro, Asmic, Adventure * Mortal Kombat III Fighting * Motocross, Coconuts Japan, Sports * Pachio kun, Coconuts Japan, Pachinco * Pachi Slot, Coconuts Japan, Simulation * Race Drivin', TWI, Driving * Sentient, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, ? * Sofel Fantasia, Sofel, Unknown Type * Star Flight Fantasy, TAITO, Unknown Type * Street Fighter The Movie, Capcom, Action * Super 301 S.Q., Nichibutsu, Simulation * Super Casino Special, Coconuts Japan, Table Games * Taikyoku Shogi Kiwame, LOG, Shogi * Tokyo 2020, Rainbow Japan, Unknown Type * Virtual Reality Mahjong, Nichibutsu, Mahjong * Virtua Mahjong, Map Japan, Mahjong * Wipe Out, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Future Racing * World Cup Striker, Coconuts Japan, Soccer * Zero Divide, Zoom, Action Mortal Kombat III ----------------- - Type: Fighting - Players: 2 - Release: Q3'95 ? Description: This must be the most eagerly awaited title in history. And aren't we lucky? The Playstation will get MKIII six months before ANY other 32 or 64 bit system! Ed Boon has seen the beta version of it and says it is ridiculously close to the original! Some have even hinted that it will be the pack-in for the U.S. release. However, this isn't very likely. Usually it takes over a year for a port to appear after the initial arcade version. For us, it will happen about Sep/Oct'95! :-) Rayman ------ - Type: Platform - Players: 1 - Release: Q2'95 ? Description: Join Jimmy, a 10 year old who escapes reality by entering "Hereitscool", a fantasy kingdom he has created within the realms of his computer. When in Hereitscool, Jimmy becomes Rayman, a superhero who gives animated life to everything around him, (mushrooms, insects, trees, rocks, mountains...) creating an unlimited amount of friends and kingdoms. But an evil power has entered Hereitscool and is out to destroy everything he has created. He must use his superhero powers to save his friends before it's too late! Rayman has more than 10 levels, each level is 40 screens long by 4 screens high giving it a huge capacity for horizontal and vertical scrolling, the speed is extremely fast (minimum 25 frames per second) and the graphics are stupendous, offering more than 16 million colors. There are more than 50 animated enemies Rayman must face, in addition Rayman himself has more than 50 animations including walking on his hands, doing a helicopter spin which enables him to fly, and when he gets impatient he dances or sticks his tongue out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- E.Top 10 Most Wanted Playstation Games -------------------------------------- Who says? I do! Hey, it's my report, and these are the titles I look forward to. I am , however, flexible, and if you feel that some title deserves to be on the list, then contact me! 1. Mortal Kombat III (Q3/95) Months before the others 2. Demolition Derby (Q3/95) You thought Daytona USA was fun! 3. Descent (Q3/95) Like the PC version, just a ton better! 4. Toshinden 2 (Q4/95) An improved Toshinden? Impossible! 5. Quake (Q1/96) You thought Doom II was cool? 6. Rayman (Q3/95) A very unique platform game! 7. Gunners Heaven (Q2/95) You gotta love those shooters! 8. Indycar (Q3/95) A Pro racing game! Yes! Puts the PC to shame! 9. Ridge Racer 2 (Q4/95) Now with rear wiew mirrors and link-up multiplayer action! 10. Ace Driver (Q4/95) REAL Formula 1! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- F.Playstation News ------------------ 1. The Sony Playstation II & III? 2. Is it possible to copy PSX-CD's ? 3. Playstation VS Saturn 4. Funny text of a PSX-Fan! 1. The Sony Playstation II & III? --------------------------------- What? There is a Playstation II and III coming? Well, should you wait for the "next" next generation? Absolutely 100% NOT! The Playstation II is slated for release in 1998 and the Paystation III in 2003. In the videogame industry, that is a very long time from now! Get the current Playstation when it is released, and rack up your software library. Rest assured that your software also will work on the new systems, years from now! By then, Tekken will bring fond memories from the past... Of course Sony is working on faster hardware. Who aren't? They haven't released any specs. of the new systems yet, and it will probably be some time before they do. But developers have been briefed on what is happening. Don't you worry, Sony is 100% comitted to the Playstation, and will not leave you out in the cold in 6 months. Get it know, before your neighbor does! (This fall, that is! :) 2. Is it possible to copy PSX-CD's ? ------------------------------------ [Text by : Darren at Dragon Video] The blackness is to keep counterfeiting from happening at all. You see, Sony writes "unformatted tracks" to the disk that the O/S checks for, you have to be able to write bad tracks to copy the disk but if you don't know where the bad tracks are, then you can't copy it. The blackness is so that you can't physically "eye-ball" where the bad tracks are to start looking to where to create your own on the bootlegs. They can be all over the CD. Try and read a Sony disk with Norton Disk Edit and you will see what I mean. Be warned, your computer will lock up solid so you will have to cold boot. Contrary to what has been said, there isn't any bootlegs going around of Playstation games. Sony wrote the book on CD technology so they know what they are doing to anyone from copying the disks. We've tried to copy the disks for shits and grins. You can't because of the bad tracks/sectors. Pretty damn smart/sneaky if you ask me. What I understand is that each disk is actually different. When Sony cuts the CD's they use an code that is internatl to the machine that cuts the CD's. No human knows this code and is random. Not even the operator of the machine knows the code and where the bad tracks/sectors are being written. When the CD's are read into the Playstation the decryption code on the header is then checked to see where the tracks/sectors are. If they are not exactly where they are supposed to be....lockup. To copy the disks, they would have to dump and decode the encryption scheme in the Playstation and then figure out where all the bad tracks are on the CD and then figure out what algerbra was used on that specific disk. All this takes minimal amount of time during playback on the Playstation. Smart. Very....Very...Smart. Darren at Dragon Video 3. Playstation VS Saturn ------------------------ [Author unknown!] I managed to pick up both the Sega Saturn, and Sony Playstation (P.S for brevity) upon their release dates. I also picked up what software looked good. Here are some random observations (as usual, unstructured..) Tire kicking: P.S (Playstation) wins hands down. Its smaller than the Saturn, pleasingly thin, it just feels higher quality. The Saturn box is better, coloured a nice gold, but boxes get thrown away, so thats a win for the P.S. I also got a 3 year guarantee with it for $10, so more points to the P.S. I noticed there is no s-video socket on the Saturn, but there is on the P.S. The P.S has three ports, a larger bus-type one behind a panel and two smaller ones. The Saturn has just one, marked "communication". Controllers: The Saturn controller is basically a slightly enhanced Genisis controller, otherwise unremarkable. Of course, both machines invent new standards for controller ports, so no using old controllers.. The sony controller, while looking a little awkward, feels great, the extrusions fit into the palms of both hands. We're still at the madly unwrapping plastic bag stage here, .. I wonder how the four buttons replacing the joypad will go in games? First Turn on: Turned on the Saturn, (both the units plug directly into the mains thank god, no power packs). The Saturn startup screen is nice, a swoopy control panel appears over a star field, with two spinning colored cubes. Very straight-forward to use, first surprise: a language feature: select "english" and all the instructions are in English! Bonus! [But, as the manuals state, both units are FOR SALE AND USE ONLY IN JAPAN, this doesnt bode well for international software swaps..]. Tried an audio CD, all the usual CD functions available, plus, the cubes pulsate in time to the music, if you dismiss the control panel, the starfield dominates the screen over a rotating nebula picture, and a spacey shuttle kinda plane makes random runs back and forth. Nice, but not as good as the 3DO light-synth. Oh well, maybe someone will write a light synth... Over the to the P.S: turn it on, and a lovely gold logo appears, to a very showy sound effect, all surround and echo. The resolution difference between the two machines is obvious straight away, the P.S stomps on the Saturn, delicate copyright-righting at the bottom show the finest of pixel sizes.... Trying an audio CD in the P.S is more disappointing, it also has all the normal CD functions, but absolutely nothing to look at while it plays. Oh well, the 3DO really spoiled me I guess.. Closer analysis: So, no S-video connection on the Saturn, you gotta buy a converter cable. There is one on the P.S! hooray! The Saturn cables are nice and long, but still both controllers sprout from the box in both units, so no daisy chain here. The P.S cables are very short, the machine begs to be put on the coffee table, rather than next to the TV. This isnt so stupid actually, as you do tend to do a lot of CD changing and so on with game machines, so its a pain to install it far away from the couch. The Saturn manual shows off some available peripherals, a multi-way controller box, a mouse, a joystick multi-button console, a ram pack. Sadly, all the extra controllers got sold out immediately, with no date for a refresh shipment, so there goes VF against a human for a while. The P.S shows off a mouse, cute little memory cards and, an RGB cable!!! I want to try *that* on the NEC multisync! Opening the covers of both units with a CD inside slows the CD to a halt almost straight away. The "access" light on the Saturn is almost invisible, certainly from a distance, and non-existant on the P.S. This is a good idea, as it doesnt get you fixated on the CD loading delay... Both units have a "reset" button. Strangeness! The P.S game CDS are BLACK on the non-label side!! actually, not black, if you hold them to the light you can just see thru them, the laser must be able to scan thru them..... I just tried one in the stereo and it works fine, so they must be standard anyway. Memory manager: Both units have a memory manager built in to the startup consoles, while the P.S also offers card->card transfer of data, which might become interesting in future. The P.S has no internal SRAM for save-games, you gotta buy at least one $24 ram-card. The Saturn used "17" of "500" I think, for storing VF high scores and play-results matrix, whatever that means! Playing the main Title: Virtua Fighter was first. Well, what can I say, "identical to the arcade" comes to mind. A few times, body polygons flicker out or disappear, but nothing bothering, the speed is certainly identical to the arcade, and all the characters and moves are there. While impressive, and certainly fun, its not texture mapped, and does not prove the Saturn can hold it against the P.S... it does prove however that its got it all over the 3DO at least for plain polygon rates. Ok, Switch to P.S, and try Ridge Racer. AWESOME.. oops, got ahead of myself! While its loading, (no more than 10 seconds), you get to play Galaxian... now _this_ is creative use of dead time. First surprise to me was, having loaded Ridge Racer, you can open the P.S, take out the CD, and put it away!!!! Ahh, what a joy after 3DO CD access blues! Of course, the Ridge Racer techno soundtracks are on the CD (5 tracks), but, guess what? you can put in _your_own _favourite_cd !! I just replaced the game CD with the best audio CD I could think of to match the racing, and listened to that instead of the Rotterdam hard-core which was getting a little annoying after the 20th repitition. I dont actually think they "designed this in", because the tracks are limited to the 2-6 from your CD, but its pretty cool feature/bug... Anyway, back to the game. Well, its Ridge Racer, almost a carbon copy.. The differences I could tell are: the textures are not quite as perfect as the arcade, the polygons are obviously a little larger (ie, there aren't as many). One other point of difference was distant skyline usually "pops up" when on the horizon, rather than always being visible, and the glass building over the tunnel doesnt reflect the scene in realtime, otherwise its ALL there, Smooth rounded car bodies with decals, the airplane taking off, night falling, the helicopter, the earth moving machinery. Its all there, with the announcer sound-bites, sound effects and so on ALL IN RAM, all read off the CD during an initial sub-10 second load! And of course you can drive backwards.. Plus, last but not least, the frame rate is there! Its LIQUID SMOOTH, it must be 24fps or more, from across the room from where I'm typing this, it looks like a movie! Actually, smoother than a movie, you know: when a movie pans, you notice the frames, well, with Playstation Ridge Racer there is no perception of frame-by-frame scene generation at all, anymore than there is in Sonic or any other 16bit platform game, it is just totally smooth. There also seem to be a few extras, at dusk, the buildings get yellow from the sunset, you can drive a mirror image of the course by driving at speed through a certain barrier, you can get a chase-car view whilst driving and you don't get wacked from behind as often as theoriginal. Oh yes, the roadside 'ads have changed, they now advertise Starblade and CyberSled upcoming for Playstation. This was also the first test of the controller and it works really well: at least with buttons for directions you know exactly what you are pressing and when... I rate it far better than the 3DO controller and a better than the Saturn one also. Of course, RR could do with a proportional joystick or wheel, but, its still easy to drive it smoothly with buttons. Let me repeat. Its so amazing to sit in your lounge room playing Ridge Racer on your own TV, learning the tricks that the arcade was too expensive to allow, all from a cream box 1/3rd the size of the 3DO... Anyway, so as you can tell, I'm mucho impressed with Playstation Ridge Racer, based on this evidence, the Sony can handle perfectly ALL the arcade titles currently out there, excepting maybe Virtua Fighter II. As if to prove a point, another title available on release date that I picked up was Gokujou Parodyusu-da, which is a two-pack, the original Paradyosu and the latest 1994 version. Well, I played the arcade 94 version a month ago, and this is a carbon copy, huge boss creatures, super power-ups, sound effects music and all. On the 3DO or any other console, this title would be a smash, with literally hundreds of sprites animating their way around the screen at once and two players simultaneously blasting everything to oblivion, but on the P.S, it is outshone by Ridge Racer and the upcoming title list. Other released titles: P.S The P.S has another killer title: A-IV. This is A-train version 4, it needs the mouse.. I didnt buy this, as its an intense sim-city style train construction simulation with probably an inch thick of Japanese documentation, but the queue in the shop testified to its popularity. A-train got ported by Maxis? I think to the Mac, and was pretty good as version 1. Version 4 is awesome. One feature of this game is that after your railways are up and running you can take a 3D ride on your any of your trains, through the cities and towns that have grown up around the railroad. Ah, well, I ho 32768...an english port The other titles for P.S included a Mahjong game with Virtua Fighter II type animated players, complete with finger tapping as they ponder the next move... Plus Nekketsu Oyaku, a one or two player beat-em-up. A few others also. Other released titles: Saturn Myst! yes, Myst for Saturn came out on release date. Probably same as a PC, but lower rez. Also, a car racing game, Gale Racer, which was ok, but not great, and a 3D 1st person adventure, "Shinsetsu Memikan", which sadly involves pre-rendered graphics, so is more a testiment to the CD storage capacity than the Saturn hardware. Thats basically it for the Saturn, and the expected release schedule is looking a little lame, save for the Sega titles like Daytona, and a Shockwave-style game where you get to fly a dragon. Other title info: Oh, P.S gets Myst also. (those Myst guys must be well into their 3rd million by now).. P.S has an AMAZING fighting game called Takara. This is Virtua Fighter with Weapons. I played it on the Playstations sitting for demo at the Ginza Sony Plaza [I recommend anyone in Tokyo to visit this place, if only to try this game]. The graphics are great, the characters are far nicer than VF style polygon robots, some of he clothes are translucent for example. The weapons and spells look and work great. I had far more fun playing this against a friend for 10 minutes than I ever had struggling with VF! This title is out Jan 2nd, and will be a smash, the mags are already raving about it, its more than an answer to the Saturns VF and Segas arcade-only VFII. Also noteworthy is a pachinko simulation, noteworthy because, of course, this is Playstation, so the entire pinball surface is 3D, you can twist and zoom right down to the level of the silver pins.. Also, a 1st person dungeon RPG, which I saw on the Playstation promo video, and it looks very smooth. Actually, there are two, one is kind of RPG oriented with orthogonal walls, and the other looks more system shock style, complex interior 3D. Summary: The Saturn is slightly disappointing, but these things almost never live up to the hype, so all in all, its still a pretty cool machine. There is definite power lurking there, twin Risc 30mip CPUS can do a lot, but its not earned its stripes yet. For me, the low res is annoying. I just got a 32" Sony wide-screen TV, and with all that screen real estate the Saturn looks a little pixellated. But, if Sega manages a reasonable Daytona, or the dragon game looks as fun as the video promo, owners will be well happy. The Playstation, on the other hand, EXCEEDS the hype. (there wasn't that much hype really). Its one awesome machine, and watching Ridge Racer spool away in the background the somewhat arbitrary "500 mips" listed for the graphics accelerator printed in the fine specs at the end of the manual don't look nearly so crazy. A R3000 CPU at 33mhz does the housekeeping, and this mysterious fat LSI is obviously doing an amazing amount of work... and the best thing of all ? Its the SMALLEST and the CHEAPEST of the 4 supposed "next generation" consoles. The other three are all at the $440-$500 price point in Japan, and the PS is sitting nicely at around $380. By the way, the P.S is a sellout.. Now we wait for the 28-odd titles spread throughout December/January, and the further 30-odd coming out through Febuary... So what about 3DO: 3DO has a catalog of titles, there is no doubt, but the action is with P.S. The new model 3DO looks very cheap, cheap plastic, cheap controllers. It needs a massive price drop, it doesnt have a killer game [SFII is not it], most of the title catalog looks, well, strange. Too few familiar titles, either arcade conversions or game themes, pick up the boxes, where are the shootemups? the platforms? the 3D flight sims? There are just a few, and they are hard to find in all the dross. In Japan, I think, the war is over. Thanks, 3DO, for providing interest in '94, but its worn out now. In homeland USA, it may last longer, but just because the Sony wont be available till 95 wont stop the news getting around.... In the local game shop here, the 3DO title rack, previously in prime real estate area near the cash desk has been shifted back next to the dusty Genisis CD rack. I'm sure the new location is coincidental.... on the other hand.... :-) happy gaming... 4. Funny text of a PSX-Fan! --------------------------- Hi video game players! Well, as I posted a few weeks ago (where has the time gone?) I said I will be getting my Sony PlayStation. I've been waiting for a while and finally got it! :) You can't tell how happy I was. I got mine directly imported from Japan for a considerably good price. If I had to buy it from another crummy import store, I wouldn't have bought it at all (Diehard, hint...hint). I recieved it yesterday (Tuesday) February 21st, I thought I would have to wait until (Friday) February 24th. So it came as a big supprize for me to get it yesterday. Of course I was extremly excited to get home and rip open the package. I arrived at home and ran for the PlayStation. I picked up the box and found it was VERY light (as well as a very small box!). It's about 1/2 the weight of the 3DO (or 1/4). My first thought was, "What's missing??" I imediatly ripped open the box and found that everything was there (2 controlers, TohShinDen, 1 PlayStation). First I ripped open the bag for a controler and put my hands around it....PERFECT! It takes some getting used to (the place of the buttons and design of the control), but once your used to it...Your in gaming heaven. The system and controler is very compact, sleek and sexy. The CDs are very intersting and match the the system and controler in being sleek and sexy, they have pitch black bottoms wich is really cool looking! The system and controlers look very high-tech to boot (which of course they are). I then hooked up the system fairly easily to my brand spankin' new Sony KV-20TS32 with SVIDEO, stereo the works... (a great TV allaround, also for a great price! if you want a 20' TV for video games look for this at a Good Guys near you). First I plugged in my Ridge Racer CD that I pre-purchased. I played RidgeRacer and my roomates began to gather around my TV... Soon everyone was yelling and screaming to watch out for a wall, speed up, slow down! Even the people who don't like video games were enthused. Everyone then was asking for there turns at RidgeRacer. Once they played they seemed in a trance, :) It was great. I then plugged in TohShinDen to see my dreams come true. TohShinDen was all I wanted and more, I had been dreaming about having it ever since I got a video of direct footage of it. I played Vs. Human mode with my bro for a while...to say the least, WE HAD A BLAST! Once used to the controler, we found it to be amazing for this fighting game and RidgeRacer. We got used to it's gameplay withen minutes (of course we changed the options of doing special moves by the touch of a button to just rolling). TohShinDen is the BEST fighting game in history (Yep, including against VF & VF2). I loved it, my brother loved it. It is AMAZING. Whoever says it lacks in gameplay...NO WAY, it rocks in all aspects. I especially liked the Gameplay, graphics, music, moves EVERYTHING. OVERALL we enjoy playing TohShinDen more than RidgeRacer. I am proud with my purchase of the Sony PlayStation. It is by far the favorite game system I have ever played...and to think these are only the first batch of games! This machine has to be seen to be believed... -Ben --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.Sum Messages: (A-Z order) --------------------------- AIRFORCE! - Hey! Where's Nadja? h0h0! BROS - Nice Snes-coding! Go on! DDT - Hey masta! Accession Rules! DIGITAL EXPRESSION - How was Eva's blow job? DRAGON - PSX - Thats our world .. rite? FLAG! - Snap your fingers, snap your neck! FURY - What about another Perfect Eleven ?! GAZZER - Did you see THE STAND ? HARDRIDER - Salu, Comment ca va? ICE TEA - Classic ? Whats that? KAMENSKI - Where's the tape? cum-on! PANINARO - Thanx for the Snes-sources. Cool Voice-chat! PhIL - What about sum PCA-Cookies ? :) PRINCIPE - Cya on Interchange soon :) RASH - Tekkno suxx :) ROPPE - eh hu snyg eller söt? SLAVER! - Hey Cosy .. Where are the warez :) SLEDGE - Hey Mr.Console .. guess what? SNIKE - Military suxx .. I know! STEVE - Na wie isses so im Red Bull Land? :) STORM - Back from military ? THE INVISIBLE - Thanx for the tape ULI - Hey olda! Open your BBS! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also greetings to every user of Castle M/F Rock and all I've forgotten. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------