Jetboot Jack

Liveinabin - yeah Jag and DC were consoles that were very much outta time... The Jag was designed to be the next big thing to take the market to the next level after the SNES/Genesis. Only Atari got it wrong - and the PS1 was the next step the market took - proper 3D. Like the Jag the DC was underpowered and under specified in the face of the next generation - the PS2. One could not just say the Jag was the DC of its day, but both platforms demonstrated that the companies producing them were out of step with the indsutry - something that both companies had demonstrated before (the Saturn anyone)... sTeVE

BSG arrived this morning - and its absolutley fabulous. Easily the BEST Jag game I've ever played - congratulations sTeVE

Atariken u wrote: "xbox atari 5200 (computer in a new case) Ps2 intellevision (add ons, add ons and unreleased add ons!) Gamecube coloecvision (most crafted games, ability to paly other games thru it{gba to gc someday!} and of course nintendo supported)" You're WAY off base my son! Sony is very much to current videogames what Atari, Nintendo and Sega have each been in the past - successful! The PS2 is an unqualified sucess, the PS1 was one too, back in the day the 2600 was the ONLY console of its generation to penetrate the mass market to the extent SONY has with the PlayStation now... When you hit also ran systems - Colecovision, 5200 etc, then you could possibly compare the DC to the Colecovision - briefly huge, or maybe the 5200 too little too late to prevent the public from turning their back on the company - just as Atari let the market slip from their fingers... In fact Sega's woes really started when they pulled the plug on the Genesis too soon to try and make the Saturn a splash in the US... As someone who has had to work on the DC, let me tell you that it is a very average platform, too little RAM and poor microcode libraries are the main faults of the system - also the GDROM was a HUGE mistake - DC lost to PS2 on the basis of the fact it could not get a head start in the marketplace (NEC delivered too few grafik chips and throttled production of the system) before the better specified and DVD playing PS2 landed... I would rather develop for a system that is well marketed and constantly supported by its creators like the PS2 than risk SEGA hardware again (the Saturn was a dog to code for)... If ya wanna compare systems then think that INTV suceeded on sports games like the Genesis in the USA... Gamecube, well it WON'T bring back the Famicom/NES days, but it will get great games if not very many of them - and anyway Nintendo's handheld business is so strong.... Although lots of people on this board don't like the XBOX - it does have a chance to become number two sTeVE (And yes I do have a large Saturn and DC games collection, and all the bases in between too)

Sweet....

I'm gonna guess that the problem is the RF output of the 2600 in question - some screen images just look better than others through the little 'ole modulator sTeVE P.S. Some collegues recognized yer band. nice one!

All, Are any of you who are doing 5200 games right now (Castle Blast, Airworld, Cypher, Adventure II, Koffi etc) planning on doing 8bit ports? sTeVE

All I can say about the "Full Story" is - EEK! sTeVE

Whilst I do find the US Xbox controlers BIG, they are pretty OK to use - certainly the games play well with them - especially Jet Set Future. But I did not like the Japanese controllers at all. The only negative thing I find is that Xbox controllers are pretty loose in their analog tolerances and so make coding for them a pain. HOWEVER they are 100% NOT the best controllers ever made Adrian - by a LONG way. If you're after good controllers then you gotta love SNES controllers, Japanese Saturn controllers are awesome (unlike DC controlers), BUT the best controllers are Game Cube controllers they are AMAZINGLY confortable to hold, the button layout is brilliant (well OK the Z is odd - but I forgive them that).... Now I'm not jumping on the GC vs XBOX vs PS2 argument - just telling the controllers merits the way they are... sTeVE (oh alright - GC is cool, PS2 is cool, Xbox is cool - but which is the most powerful, has the most processing and graphic power - that's EASY - sorry guys but the XBox wins by a MILE, GC is very equivalant to PS2 - but with nice anti-aliasing)

Jetboot Jack is a character in my favorite English software game (of the same name)... I had almost forgotten the game, but a couple of years ago I did a lot of voice recording for a game I was producing (the UK version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire) and found myself working with Phil Morris, he was my audio producer. Phil was the "owner" of English Software back in the day and reminded me of that game, and I decided when I switched to a US AOL account to use it as my mail address and wherever else possible I'm also proud to have the AIM handle of Spiderdroid sTeVE

Old - I dunno - I got my 800 (and I still have it) in 1979 - I was 13... sTeVE

Crystal has released Mad Dash Racing for Xbox, Blood Omen II is done and shipping soon for Xbox too.... sTeVE

Ah, a fellow Eidos employee.... 2 tools - that's just greedy, I hope it shows when we see the game So Albert what are you doing on "Deus Ex"... Debro - tut, tut, tut - I'm sure its more than Albert's job is worth to "leak" PS2 doccos Liveinabin - those "Japanese" screens, the default extra temporary cube walls at EIDOS dev locations - we seem to have several here sTeVE [ 03-20-2002: Message edited by: Jet Boot Jack ]

When I lived in the UK Best (and B&C) shipped me stuff, always in perfect condition, always 100% great!!! sTeVE

Pacland - Harlequin did negotiate the licence for this one too, we did all the art prototyping on Pacland for Atari in 1990. The game was given the green light based on the look and feel work we did. But then Atari pulled the XE line and the game never got beyond the scrolling landscape demo :-( sTeVE

Hmmm.. Scrapyard dog had such short levels compared with SMB, in fact all scrolling 7800 games had short levels (DD included) - I wonder if the difficulty of horizontal scolling put developers off, or lack of ROM/RAM??? sTeVE

Ok, I can understand Codewright being a bit pricey (well if ya want the best ya gotta pay)... This program is NOT expensive and is ALMOST as good as codewright - I could find no-one using Textpad in my office, but everyone recommended Ultra Edit as the anlternative to codewright: Ultra Edit sTeVE

Jess, Sorry to say I didn't work on Mad Dash for XBox - I just moved to Crystal from Kodiak this year... I'm glad you liked CD's product! sTeVE

Back in the Early 90's Harlequin, my company at the time in teh UK, obtained the rights to produce Paperboy for the XE. The prototype artwork was completed, and mockups signed off by the UK license holder - Elite. However we did not enter production as Atari cancelled the XE line sTeVE

Lynx titles - the 5 best, and there is NO arguing with these babies: California Games Blue Lightning Electrocop Chip's Challenege Gates of Zendocon ALL are totally beautiful, totally great, endlessly replayable, they were developed by the BEST developer on the LYNX - EPYX... sTeVE

If you are at all serious about coding or text editing (of any kind, in any language) there is ONE editor: Codewright I know it costs, but it is the BEST text editor ever created, period. sTeVE

As to Portables.... The GG sucked - awful 3 section DSTN screen - and just crappy SMS games The Nomad was great - bad DSTN screen again - I still have mine - but it was not really a hand held - it needed like a trillion batteries in that awkward add on box We all know the LYNX was awesome... The wonderswan is kinda lame, small but sub-gameboy.... I liked the Neo Geo Pocket - great little joystick and good screen - great games - shame it died an early death... But the PCEngine GT was the BEST handheld system - I love mine!! (if you want real power though, and it cannot be run from batteries, I would recommend the PCEngine LT - the pride of my handheld collection) sTeVE

Marialover - Doom was made for the SNES - its VERY similar to the GBA version - but is not based on the same code - the guy who did the SNES version used to work at my old company Sculptured Software... Half Life on the SNES - the SNES was long dead by the time that came out The GBA is TOTALLY related to the SNES - just LOTS more powerful with a much lower screen resolution... Its kinda like a SNES with a SFX chip on steroids! sTeVE [ 03-13-2002: Message edited by: Jet Boot Jack ]

DK on the 5200 - ewww, those sticks would sure make it horrid... Why worry anyway the 8bit version rocks!! sTeVE

Yeah I had forgotten Alien Brigade and Crossbow. Crossbow never did much for me I gotta say - I prefer the VCS or XE versions to the 7800 one - its so ugly Alien brigade on the other hand - albeit a poor mans operation wolf - wa not too shabby, and quite a good challenege. Some of the grafix had that "cheap" look so many 7800 games had, but overall it was a good little game!! sTeVE

As a general rule all Atari Light Gun games SUCK! I have 2 guns and have used them on 7800 and XE. Both are massivley inaccurate - taking any fun from the games (this aint no GunCon and TIme Crisis!!!) As to the games - Meltdown is dull, as are Bug Hunt and Barnyard Balster on the XE, in fact if you have a light gun there is only one reasonable game "Crimebusters" on the XE - even with the miserable light gun this game is OK.... sTeVE