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Quake WAS converted to Playstation, just never published.


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Even though i've pretty much given up on forums, thought THIS information was worth sharing, as there's been a lot of talk about Jaguar Quake and thus other home console versions.

 

Lobotomy DID convert Quake to the PS1 and it was better than the Saturn version:

 

http://www.gareth-jones.co.uk/2010/08/07/interview-ezra-dreisbach/

 

Ezra: The most striking thing about the PlayStation port was how much faster the graphics hardware was than the Saturn. The initial scene after you just start the game is pretty complex. I think it ran 20 fps on the Saturn version. On the PlayStation it ran 30, but the actual rendering part could have been going 60 if the CPU calculations weren’t holding it up. I don’t know if it would have ever been possible to get it to really run 60, but at least there was the potential.

 

Other than that, it would have looked identical to the Saturn version. Except for some reason the PlayStation video output has better colour than the Saturn’s.

 

 

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Yeah, I only recently realized how much more powerful the Sony PlayStation was compared to the Sega Saturn.

 

Like in this Mech Warrior 2 video... it shows play by play with the PlayStation versus the Saturn. The Saturn just gets killed.

 

I'm really not a huge fan of the PlayStation, honestly... I have an original PlayStation that's maybe had like 20 hours of use on it, but the Saturn gets far more play...

 

 

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The PlayStation is better at 3D than the Saturn; this is a fact. Does it make it more powerful? It's hard to say.

 

The Saturn suffered also from his arcade-like architecure (you have to deal with 2 processors, 2 Graphic chips, one co-processor) and his unusual 3D; from what I understand, the Saturn (and apparently, the 3DO) use 3D graphics based on quadrilaterals. The standard for 3D since the earliest ages is the triangle. This mean that porting a game on the Saturn was barely impossible, since a 3D engine would be based on a one CPU and one GPU couple and on triangles.

And apparently, Sega made the same mistake than Atari with the Jaguar, and first provided only a few developing tools with the Saturn, forcing developers to work on assembly.

 

Also even without taking the quadrilaterals in account, the 3D on the Saturn was much less powerful that on the Playstation.

 

So, you can say that for 3D games, the Saturn can't stand out. But on raw power, it does better, especially in 2D.

Edited by CatPix
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Yeah, I only recently realized how much more powerful the Sony PlayStation was compared to the Sega Saturn.

 

Like in this Mech Warrior 2 video... it shows play by play with the PlayStation versus the Saturn. The Saturn just gets killed.

 

I'm not sure this game can be considered a valid comparison to be honest, since Activision was well known for putting very little effort into its Saturn conversions.

 

Alien Trilogy, another Activision game, famously only used one of the Saturn's two CPUs... and although it was inferior to the PlayStation version I think it's pretty impressive that it was so close given that it could only be using a maximum of 50% of the Saturn's processing power, and that figure assumes 100% code efficiency which the developer is unlikely to have achieved.

 

Given that the PlayStation was so easy to program and the Saturn so difficult, I think the fairest comparisons are those that start with a game that was developed by a team that was actually competent on the Sega platform, since by definition such a team must also be competent on the much easier Sony platform - games like Duke Nukem 3D for example. In these cases the results are much closer with both consoles excelling in specific areas.

Edited by g4r37h
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I'm not sure this game can be considered a valid comparison to be honest, since Activision was well known for putting very little effort into its Saturn conversions.

 

Alien Trilogy, another Activision game, famously only used one of the Saturn's two CPUs... and although it was inferior to the PlayStation version I think it's pretty impressive that it was so close given that it could only be using a maximum of 50% of the Saturn's processing power, and that figure assumes 100% code efficiency which the developer is unlikely to have achieved.

 

Given that the PlayStation was so easy to program and the Saturn so difficult, I think the fairest comparisons are those that start with a game that was developed by a team that was actually competent on the Sega platform, since by definition such a team must also be competent on the much easier Sony platform - games like Duke Nukem 3D for example. In these cases the results are much closer with both consoles excelling in specific areas.

 

 

Well, look.. I was NEVER a Sega fan back in the Master System and Genesis days. I was FAR more into Nintendo, and then largely dropped off during the 16-bit wars since I was in high school, and didn't really have time to play games much. I didn't start getting back into video games until I was in my mid 20s. But... looking at the systems from an unbiased eye, I absolutely prefer the Sega Saturn over the PlayStation.

 

But we've got to be honest here... the cut scenes in the beginning, Activision clearly cut out 20% of the picture to improve the frame rate of the FMV. I doubt Activision did that out of spite for the Saturn... I think we just have to accept the fact that the PlayStation is better at doing those things than the Saturn is.

 

Can't say I understand why since really, the Saturn came out ever so slightly after the PlayStation did, but it's just what it is.

 

There are only a handful of games for the PlayStation that I like... Hi-Octane, and maybe one other, but the Saturn has DOZENS more games that I am FAR more fond of. Also a big fan of the Dreamcast too, but what can I say...?

 

 

 

Oh look a brand new member who's first post was to weigh in on this.............that's always........interesting. :grin:

 

 

Hah, yeah... I've done that before. It was probably referenced in a Saturn forum, and then someone came on to defend it. I used to do that with cars on car forums... hah.

 

But hey, the PlayStation is just better technology from what I can tell... I still much prefer the Saturn games over the PlayStation games (generally speaking)...

 

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But we've got to be honest here... the cut scenes in the beginning, Activision clearly cut out 20% of the picture to improve the frame rate of the FMV. I doubt Activision did that out of spite for the Saturn... I think we just have to accept the fact that the PlayStation is better at doing those things than the Saturn is.

 

Hah, yeah... I've done that before. It was probably referenced in a Saturn forum, and then someone came on to defend it. I used to do that with cars on car forums... hah.

 

 

FMV is just video, as the name implies, so 3D processing power isn't a factor here. What was a factor was the video codec used: Cinepak and Truemotion were the most popular choices but different developers used different approaches. There are plenty of Saturn games with good FMV - even some that are better than the PlayStation versions (check out Policenauts or anything from Treasure) so I'll reiterate my point that Activision was simply a poor developer.

 

As for why I'm here... it's my blog you're all reading in that link up there. I noticed traffic coming from this site and thought I'd take a look.

Edited by g4r37h
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Hi Gareth,

I did send you a message thanking you for putting up that interview on your blog, i'd been looking for 'proof' Lobotomy did Quake on PS1 and thank goodness you preserved the interview.
It's been linked to on here, Grumpy Old Gamers, Atari-Forum already by myself, plus passed onto Unseen 64 and GTW.Fellow poster on here has put it up on a Sega forum and friend of mine had it put up on RG forum.Hopefully it'll bring more traffic to your site, but thanks again for preserving the interview.
Helped clear up one more lost game myth.
:-)
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For me the Saturn was a piece of garbage. I couldn't stand it and the crappy selection of games back then, not to mention that at the time it was the height of my annoyance for Sega and what they were doing that turned me off. It didn't help that I was also more of a Nintendo fan.

 

Want to lose your fans to someone else? Just piss them off, it always works. So yes, I have fond memories of the PS1 and later the Dreamcast (which brought me back) but I had nothing but contempt for the Saturn and the Sega CD and other contraptions before it.

 

These days I appreciate the gems that are on the Saturn and I picked one up about 10 years ago and have a good collection of stuff for it. When all is said and done though, in the 90's all I played were PC games and console games on my PS1.

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Hi Ross

 

I did get your email thanks, and I intended to reply tonight but ended up working much later than anticipated.

 

I'm glad the post has proven useful - I don't know why I saved the page from curmudgeongamer.com but was glad that I did when a few months later I noticed it had been taken down. It's thanks to the efforts of people like Ezra Dreisbach that I got into software development so the least I could do was preserve an interview with the guy.

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I'm bloody glad you did preserve that interview :-).I 'recently' paid a friend to scan a load of articles from Edge, plus scrapbook stuff i'd collected over the years and had another friend on here (High Voltage) upload it to the site.It cost me £60 in terms of postage, guys time to scan it all etc, but i wanted to share and preserve the EDGE interviews with Minter, ATD, I.D etc.Plus news of AVP on PS1 took many by surprise etc.

I've been doing 'interviews' of my own for various past 18 months, proud to have unearthed truth about things like those Tomb Raider screens in the Edge Jaguar supplement etc.Let alone the various lost games people i interview unviel.
The more that can be preserved and then found by others with an interest in what happened to..the better and i believe it should be shared freely, not locked away.
So yet again, i'm most grateful for the time you put in to preserve it.
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DC Quake coded in a week and a half as a demo.of studios abilities.

 

I actually fired the DC up just to play this a few weeks back.Always prefered the original Quake to any of it's sequels.

I played an Aliens Quake mod someone ported to the Dreamcast a few years back and was pretty impressed with it. Right now I'm actually playing through again a port of Quake and the two expansions someone did on the original XBox and surprised how well it holds up. If they would have released it for the original Playstation with dualshock support I would have loved it back then and probably would still be playing it today. Quake 2 was the first game I played in the series, which is a great game, but the original Quake is still my favorite. I really wish they would make a proper sequel.

Edited by xenomorpher
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I'll have to look these two versions up.

 

By any chance, is there a homebrew port of the original Unreal? I never did play that and was disappointed when it never appeared on XBLA and PSN when there was a flurry of classic FPS's being released a few years back (An opportunity that Valve also let slip by with the original Half-Life and its expansions).

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  • 2 weeks later...

There was a recent interview in Retro Gamer magazine (Sega Saturn on the cover) with Jim Bagley, the programmer of Doom on the Saturn.

 

Quoted verbatim from the magazine :

"I got a call from John Carmack, who stipulated under no circumstances could I use the 3D hardware to draw the screen, I had to use the processors like the PC."

 

He said it effectively 'kneecapped' the Saturn version. I suspect the same happened with Quake.

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I was lucky enough to 'chat' with Jim regarding Saturn Doom after seeing his interview in Gamestm (RG just followed up years later) on another forum, where i went by name of Rogue Trooper (i know some are'nt keen seeing said forum linked to on here, but guys, it's the content of the interview that matters here, not who carried out interview/where it was hosted):

 

http://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/index.php?topic=3122.0

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have...ahem...something more to ahhh...'add' to this story...lets just say something that went out has come back in, been forwarded on...should be live on Saturday all being well.

 

 

Will post an update on here as soon as i know she's up...

 

 

:-)

 

Sigh. Why not just wait until there is something is publicly available to announce?

 

I too may have "secret" information from unnanmed sources that may (or may not) relate to video games. I may (or may not) be able to release more details at some unspecified point in the future. I can say nothing futher at present.

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I don't know what it is but it seems to be next to impossible for collectors of PS1 proto's to dump and share them. It's unfortunate. As for power, yes the PS1 was more powerful than the Saturn, that's what caused Sega of Japan to panic and add a 2nd CPU, which few games even used. Power is not everything though, good programming can succeed anyhow. Unfortunately the Saturn was a horrible system to code on.

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Why not wait?

Easy answers...1)It's just a bit of fun.
2)Since the related material has come in and been passed on, i've still no firm idea when it'll be live, it was supposed to be saturday, but it's been delayed and once it's left my hands it's out of my control.
And 3)In some cases other people plan to use the information for articles they are planning and ask if it can be held back until they are ready, and plans do change.
Case in point here, latest issue of Classic Console Mag switched the planned interview i did for another of those i'd forwarded at the 11th hour as they'd miss-placed the photo i'd sent.
Only reason i tend to link to the material on here is to help generate site traffic for the other sites i support, starting to wonder if it's worth doing it in future instances.
The few regulars who do read the interviews know where to find them, the Lobotomy Interview i did will be the 1st for Unseen 64.
Geez it was only a bit of fun teaser in advance of interview going live...
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If we need an official annoucement then this will suffice i'm sure, i'll even give background details:

 

 

Unseen64, who i've been assisting with for months know, had tried 3 Ex-Lobotomy Coders, never had any luck in getting a single reply.I said i'd happily give all 3 a crack, got just the 1 response, within a few days, sent interview questions over, fantastic set of answer back, along with good few concept art etc drawings, forwarded to Unseen 64, plan was interview would go live on Saturday, but due to numerous issues, interview+Art still being written up on the site, hopefully will be up by end of the week.

 

So those looking to find it, know where to look.

 

As a contributor to likes of Unseen64/GTW/Classic Console Mag/Pro-Atari etc, once i've got the replys in, i forward them straight on, after that it's out of my hands as to when it's up or featured.

 

There are a few on here who are aware of just what else i'm working on and why i've not gone public with it yet as well.

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