Tomb Raider 2 to use VF3 upgrade cart?
terrell gibbs
In the clearest confirmation yet that Sega will be introducing a
significant Saturn upgrade with VF3, Adrian Smith, VP of Core, told DHGF
that they've "been talking to Sega about this cartridge which will be
launched for Virtua Fighter 3 at Christmas--there's a possibility of using
that" for Tomb Raider 2.
David Oldridge
That's interesting, if it's true. I remember a certain quote regarding
possible cross platform development made by the Bandai president though,
which Saturnworld mentioned before it got shot down by both Sega and
Bandai. Two weeks later Game Fan Online prints this statement, making it
sound like it's been confirmed by both Sega and Bandai.
In other words, their accuracy is questionable. I'll wait and see.
Mashood Khan
On Sun, 2 Mar 1997, terrell gibbs wrote:
> In the clearest confirmation yet that Sega will be introducing a
> significant Saturn upgrade with VF3, Adrian Smith, VP of Core, told DHGF
> that they've "been talking to Sega about this cartridge which will be
> launched for Virtua Fighter 3 at Christmas--there's a possibility of using
> that" for Tomb Raider 2.
>
>
I just hope that the upgrade is more akin to the kind of upgrade used with
say Snes Starwing or Megadrive Virtua Racing, rather than the 32x.
Mash
terrell gibbs
In article <Pine.OSF.3.91.970303141048.13740A-100000@leofric>, Mashood Khan
<m...@coventry.ac.uk> wrote:
:I just hope that the upgrade is more akin to the kind of upgrade used with
:say Snes Starwing or Megadrive Virtua Racing, rather than the 32x.
You mean an upgrade that drives up the cost of every single game that uses
it, rather than one that you buy only once? Hardly seems a good idea. It
would seriously undermine the major advantage of the CD format, which is
the low cost of game production. And since the upgrade has to be some sort
of a cartridge, why not let other games use it?
The only thing wrong with the 32X was high cost and lack of a pack-in. If
it had been released at $79.95 with VF included, it would probably have
been a huge success. Because the Genesis had only primitive color and sound
capabilities, the 32X had to include its own graphic and sound processors
(essentially using the Genesis only for backgrounds), and to power all this
circuitry, its own power supply and transformer brick. This drove up the
cost to a level that the market wasn't willing to pay. Fortunately, the
Saturn already has excellent color and sound capabilities, so all it really
needs is more processing power and more RAM, which shouldn't be all that
expensive (after all, the entire N64 package is down to $140 in Japan). So
in this respect, at least, the forthcoming VF3 upgrade can be anticipated
to resemble the StarFox and Genesis VR upgrades, which primarily added
additional processing power.
Mashood Khan
On Mon, 3 Mar 1997, terrell gibbs wrote:
And since the upgrade has to be some sortof a cartridge, why not let
other games use it?
>
> The only thing wrong with the 32X was high cost and lack of a pack-in. If
> it had been released at $79.95 with VF included, it would probably have
> been a huge success. Because the Genesis had only primitive color and sound
> capabilities, the 32X had to include its own graphic and sound processors
> (essentially using the Genesis only for backgrounds), and to power all this
> circuitry, its own power supply and transformer brick. This drove up the
> cost to a level that the market wasn't willing to pay. Fortunately, the
> Saturn already has excellent color and sound capabilities, so all it really
> needs is more processing power and more RAM, which shouldn't be all that
> expensive (after all, the entire N64 package is down to $140 in Japan). So
> in this respect, at least, the forthcoming VF3 upgrade can be anticipated
> to resemble the StarFox and Genesis VR upgrades, which primarily added
> additional processing power.
>
>
Yes but I see no reason why a cart+cd should cost a significant amount
more than a CD. Not every game would need the accelerator, It'll
primarily be for all the forthcoming model 3 conversions. Conversions of
later games could have improvements made in the chipset used ( Stunt Race
FX featured a enhanced version of the accelerator chip used in Starwing)
although I concede it'll cost more, It would be a far more flexible
system.
Flexibilty afterall is the Saturn's biggest asset.
Otherwise , you'll be effectively creating a new format. 64X anyone?
Mash
Sinnott
terrell gibbs wrote:
>
> The only thing wrong with the 32X was high cost and lack of a pack-in.
Well, from what I know, the 32X wasn't supported in Japan (Don't jump
all
over me if I'm wrong!!!!) That'd be a huge factor in deciding whether a
system'd survive or not.
terrell gibbs
In article <331DEF...@eagle.ca>, Sinnott <tc...@eagle.ca> wrote:
:Well, from what I know, the 32X wasn't supported in Japan (Don't jump
:all
:over me if I'm wrong!!!!) That'd be a huge factor in deciding whether a
:system'd survive or not.
The US is a huge market, plenty large enough to keep a system going. But
the system has to be a success here. The 32X was not.