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philipj

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Posts posted by philipj

  2. Posted

    You'd have to modify a lot of stuff, the sound hardware was a bit weak (though flexible, using DAC with the CPU -no dedicated sound processor or DSP- is limited -the CoCo did this too).

     

    You'd also have to modify the video hardware, I don't know if it was capable of higher resolution, but the 16-color limit is certainly significant. Plus, it would still be pushing against the Genesis's release date and still have to cut through Nintendo's tight market. (which really wasnt acheived until 1991 by Sega)

     

    I'm not sure whay they released dev tools for the Amiga only (did they release other later?), it would seem a little odd to limit themselves like this. (granted I would assume the Amiga decision would have been made prior to Atari picking it up -other wise that really makes no sense)

     

     

    in the line of a home console, it would have been better to go with something derived from the ST line, I'm not sure how much it could have been optimized and modified for the task (stripping it down and altering some of the video and audio features to better support this), but at minimum it could have used the same video, added an FM synth chip, some nice controllers, and a good case design. (with a consolidated board with perhaps 256 kB of RAM)

    Basicly released in place of the XE Gaming System- in 1987. (you could even use a similar case design, though honestly I'd alter the color scheme a bit, perhaps the traditional Atari black, seperating it from the compuer, and making it more reminicent of their game consoles)

     

    I beleive '87 and '88 were the 7800's most successful years as well, so this would give it time to pick up steam before becoming the main system. (and a good head start over the Genesis and SNES, not to mention lacking the issue of clashing with the Jaguar, as a Falcon based console might)

     

     

    Again this is getting off topic, and as I already mentioned, IMO the bast hardware change on the Lynx would be elliminating the backlight in favor af a reflective screen, and a more compact design using fewer batteries. (preferably smaller than the Game Gear)

    To me, the backlight was one of the best features, not having backlight is why the Gameboy was awful. Still don't understand why people bought it. Lynx and Game gear were superior for playing. You could see the Da** game!

     

    Yea I agree... The backlight was very much an asset to the Lynx.

     

    I think they made Lynx tools for the Atari ST latter on during the systems life span. I do know for a fact that the Lynx sound system used a "Sound Programming Language or SPL." According to some documents I found some time ago it was a tool "by musicians for musicians" which was created to somehow take advantage of the Lynx unique sound system, which was very similar to the 2600 sound chip if I'm not mistaken, but a little better then the 2600. I've physically opened a Lynx 2 system and found that the CPU is a nice size chip; I wonder sometimes could a 68000 be put in there, but then that's just my own personal curiocities.

     

    The Lynx graphics chip "Suzy" allows for roughly 75 frames-per-second with a resolution of "160 x 102 standard resolution (16,320 addressable pixels)" according to Wikipedia. If you double that resolution it equals 320 x 204, which could mean that the frame rate would be reduced in half to roughly 38 frames-per-sec? The Neo Geo standard screen resolution size is "320 x 224," which is just a little more then the Lynx if "Suzy" was to do Neo Geo style resolution. The Lynx is a little power house, which is why it used up so many batteries so quickly, but I think the backlit had something to do with that. As far as the 16 simultaneous colors goes... I have no answer for that one other then to do what many did on the Genesis which is to allow for colors to be changed randomly per scanline. The Lynx will only display 12bits of color.

  3. Posted

    Another thing was the fact that Atari programmers had to use the Amiga to program an Atari Lynx... I often wonder if the Lynx was turned into a home console with a 68000 CPU instead of a portable device, could it have gone head to head with SNES or Neo Geo for that matter. It had a 16bit data bus with a graphics chip and a 16bit coprocessor for multiply and divide stuff, but only used an 8bit CMOS as a CPU. The only thing I see that could hinder the system is the sound chip... That little system had serious potential it just needed the games and third party support for longevity. I look foward to getting one those new USB flash carts.

  6. Posted

    True, it's cheaper now. But it was plain ridiculous back in the 90's with the system costing $700 and the games $200+ each... The Jag was only $100-$250 with the games being $50-$70, and better variety imo (Atleast by mid to late 1995 :P)... :)

     

    And even still, the common and junk Neo games still go for $20-$50. Most Jag games are $5-$10. Neo system still going for about $200, for the Japanese version. American version a lot more, like $300+ Jag only going for about $40-50, or even less than that.

     

    I know the MVS route is somewhat cheaper in the long run, but still pretty pricey.. And don't get me wrong, I think the Neo is a cool system for sure. Has awesome collectibility and WOW factor just seeing the system and behemoth carts. However, I just get tired of the typical Jag bashing and put downs, and constant praise for the Neo like it's some godly system... ;) The Neo didn't live up to the hype for me at all... I guess it would have been different had I owned one back in the early-mid 90's.

     

    Interesting stories you have there. ;) I was a big coin collector too, but sold a lot and kinda lost interest. However something really cool happened the other day. I got a freaking BUFFALO NICKEL back in change from this mexican food place I go to frequently. I had never gotten one in change or even heard of anyone getting it in change. Plus it is in awesome condition. I actually made a vid of it and put it on YouTube. :P

     

     

    Oh almost forgot, I was born and raised in San Jose. ;) I grew up right next to the Raging Waters, in ghetto east SJ LOL... Moved to Fairfield when I was 7 or 8... Still live here now. About an hour and 15 minutes north of SJ.

     

    You ever been to the SJ flea market at the drive in movies? I always wonder if they have a lot of videogames there...

     

    Holycrap... 1935 nickle??? I don't collect coins I collect comic books; but I know a collectors item when I see it... That's wild. :D

     

    I remember back in 93 when I got my first summer job I remember hearing about the Neo Geo in magazines but no toy stores had any where in the south. It would've taken a whole two weeks pay check to get a Neo Geo back then... I was like the "The heck with that." The following summer I cut grass and put a Genesis on lay-a-way and paid for it using lawnmower money. The following year the Jag comes to town and I don't have any money to buy a Jag. It sucked. :D

     

    Comparing the Neo Geo with the Jaguar is like comparing apples and oranges technical wise; but what kept the Neo Geo going were the games. I think SNK used the same formula that Atari use during their early days of arcades; make the games easy to play, hard to beat and when you lose, you lose in complete utter humiliation kind of like Defender Arcade. :D I guess the goal is the keep the quarters comming.

  8. Posted

    I think the market place tends to become a hard and unemotional task master when trying to fulfill the competitive nature of supply and demand. It seems that usually when a company starts out with that creative momentum at the start, I think the business aspect can quickly become the cruel reality check that can cause that creativity to lose it's momentum for the sake of supply and demand. Most true artist often have to compromise for the sake of time in order to meet the consumers immediate needs; one would have to be totally committed and resolved right from the start to keep as much of that creative edge through out the business aspect that's predominant in the market place. I think that kind of commitment goes beyond just the business aspect of (quote) running a business just for the sake of business as usual... That's more or less an integrity issue then a business issue and sometimes integrity and business doesn't always mix depending on who you're dealing with. The moral of business and the moral of creativity probably need to be balanced out before any real business takes place otherwise I think the bureaucracy of trying to keep a company going might become the difference between selling innovative product that you believe in or just trying to make a dollar. What might be creative opportunities for one person is just a dollar sign for someone else who trying to pay bills... Atari was losing in the market and rushed the Jag 64 out the door trying to make a name for themselves as the "comeback king" in the console market. I think you hit the nail right on the head carmel_andrews.

  13. Posted

    I though golden axe was a slightly better game

     

    It would be simpler... The graphics would be basic but there's always room for improvement especially when it comes to the Jag.

     

    Most Genesis fans I know were bigger fans of the Streets of Rage series.

    Golden Axe 1 was great -- but most people I talk to about Sega were disappointed with Golden Axe 2.

     

    I've really never heard anything negative about Streets of Rage 1, 2 or 3. Most people pick Streets of Rage 2 as their fav.... I am

    a bit partial to the first one -- since it started it all.

     

    Golden Ax 2 was a little dissapointing, I still wouldn't mind using the engine and tweaking it a bit for the Jag. SOR 2 was the game that made the biggest impact to me.

  17. Posted · Edited by philipj

    Gorf quote:

    What was NOT brilliant was the execution, follow-up and developer/retailer

    support. This was not only during the Jaguar timeline but well before when

    the Tramiels were notoriuos for not supporting retailers and forgetting to pay

    developers on time if at all. Tools are a laughing stock in the VG industry

    only second to Sony's PS3 tool(they get 1st place because they should have

    learned from the Jag toolset on this one.)

     

    The difference between the PS3 and the Jag is that there's enough stuff about the PS3 that'll keep the programmers busy for sometime... That nine core processor is a big temptation untapped for both the scientific and entertainment industry so the hardware isn't going anywhere any time soon. It's just a matter of time before Sony go down on the price and when that happens, you'll start seeing a lot of model 2 PS2 systems at the fleamarket.

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnCZl6NNUBc

  19. Posted

    I think a good place to start with a project like that would be to look at the "Native Spirit Code" and see how it's sprite engine. I believe RAM was an issue with that game thus probably being the reason why it was never released. It was a very impressive looking game when it first hit the scene it certainly made me want to dev for the Jag. :)

  20. Posted · Edited by philipj

    Philip, I know all about the 32X tech demo. The reason they were able to pull of those graphics, is because they used all of the 32X's power and focused it ONLY on graphics in that demo. There is: no sound, no AI, no anything except a graphics demo. It's pretty impressive, but not realistic of the type of game the 32X is capable of.

     

    Its not even that impressive

    Look at the draw distance people, its absolutely miniscule. No wonder it can cope with drawing the tiny amount of data required for that demo.

     

    It's looked better then the games that was released on the 32X... Probably wouldn't have been good for a racing or something of that nature, but it would've good for Virtua Fighter, Zaxon, space games that wouldn't require a lot of detailed 3D background provided that a 3D artist sticks to a good polygon budget and be very mindful of camera angles.

     

    Gorf

    WRONG. 3D0 was a 50 megabyte per second system, The Jaguar is a 106 megabyte per second system.

    The Jag is MORE THAN TWICE AS ABLE.....next fabel.....The JAguar was easily as powerful as the Saturn

    and only 26 mb /sec slower than the PS1(133.mb/sec). Get your facts right.

    THe 32 X is not even half the machine of what is in the Jaguar. CD32? See an eye doctor and a specification

    interpreter.

     

     

    The issue with the Jaguar was not its silicon, it was it tools. You could not find a more horses ass, horrid

    toolset than what was perpetrated on the Jaguar developers....yes it was a crime.

    3d0, 32x, and PS1 had tools FAR SUPERIOR in every way possible. Give me those superior tools

    for the Jaguar in 1992 and Sony, 32x or 3do would have been distant seconds in the day.

    In fact if we have SMAC, thre would be a BIG Difference...also not one developer new how to

    run code on the GPU reliably in main RAM ...this alone would have been enough to compete

    and beat any competition.

     

    With the Cojag using an entire hard-drive to store it's game data just for video playback, it would've been cool to see that data used for more then just video playback. The KI arcade machine used a combination of both video playback and realtime 3D engine on a hard-drive using the Ultra 64 machine that turned out to not even become the N64 latter on. The Jag was/is more then able to handle it which is why I'm glad I got a Skunkboard with USB support. I think if the Jag was utilized similar to the Neo Geo handled graphics from ROM, we'll only be scratching the surface of what the Jag is capable of doing beyond 2D.

     

    Kool Kitty89

    I brought this up on sega-16 and someone suggested that you could dedicate the SH2's to doing the graphics rendering, use the genesis 68000 to do game logic and AI, and have the Z80 handel the audio. (btw the 32x's PWM can be done using the 68000 or Z80 too, though obviously to a limited degree, straight fixed-frequency PCM playback should be fine though, even using the Z80, along with doing the 6-channel FM synth and 4-channel PSG)

    http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?p=145253

     

    Interestingly Gorf suggested something similar for a corrected utilization of the 68k in the Jag (other than replacing it with a 32-bit, or elliminating it entirely), by putting it on an independent data bus with 64 kB (exactly what the Genesis CPU has) and using it to drive game logic and AI.

     

    That 2612 Yamaha chip is great music chip... Games like SOR 1,2, & 3,

    , TMNT (which almost sounds like the arcade), and pretty much anything Tim Follin made really just pushed the 8-bit chip to the limit. The I know the Jag DSP is well able to handle FM synthesis because it supports a wave table but I would like to see the Jag do FM synthesis similar to the a
    so that more then 8 sound channels can be used.
    for the Jag was really good; I think a mod-player was used for that game.

     

    I wonder if the Genesis Z80 can utilize delta compressed PCM for the 32X PWM? The Motorola really should be used for other things then sound... I don't know. The M68K should be fast/strong enough to handle both AI and sound if it shared some task with the Z80. If the game F-22 was used for 3D purposes using both the M68K and Z80 for coprocessing to produce 3D on the Genesis I don't see why both "processors" can't handle AI and sound as well provided that the RISC on the 32X handles the graphics.

  22. Posted

    It was the right move to go with the Jaguar. Atari simply should just NOT have pushed the whole 64-bit thing... They should have just called it 32-bit and called it a day... Even if, super technically, it IS 64-bit, in some ways...

     

    I agree... I think SNK labeled their Neo Geo as a 16bit even though it was capable doing 24bit task... Or so I read somewhere.

  23. Posted

    On a side note, the 32X is getting a homebrew port of Wolfenstein 3D, and its looking really good. It will be nice to compare it with the Jag and 3DO ports if it ever gets finished. Kudos to the coders doing the port, its looking really great.

    Now if someone would port Marathon to the Jag... :lust:

     

    I've seen it, it's not even in the same league as the Jag or 3DO versions... It will probably be more in line with the SNES version.

     

    Check out the 32X demo youtube... Those two RISC chips on the 32X module, much like the Jag, really didn't see any meaningful potential pushed to the forefront. Plus the Saturn release caused some games to be a little watered down as far as the 32X being pushed to the limits.

     

  24. Posted · Edited by philipj

    I see no reason it can't... I've always felt that 2.5D is the next level for the Jag 3D visuals. It reminds me of "

    " for the 3DO system; it seem to use a very simple character animation system as well as good scaling and rotating effects. Very basic 2D effects optimized for 3D or 2.5D visualization would certaintly work for the Jag. Just look at
    and
    for the Jag.

  25. Posted

    I think it's just a matter of rethinking how 2.5D is being done. The Jag has a great 3D system, but it handles 2.5d really well; it's just a matter of harnesting that 2.5D goldnugget and exploiting the hell out of it to memic 3D functionalities.

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