ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ÜÛÛÛÜ ßßß ÜÛÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÛÜ ÜÛÛÛÜ ÛÛÛ ÞÝÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÜ [Pred 94] ÛÛÛ ÜÜÜ ÞÛÛ ÛÛß ßÛÛ ÛÛÛÞ ÛÛÛ ÛÛÛ ÜÜÜ ÞÛÛ ÜÛÛ ÞÛÛ ÛÛ² ÛÛ² Û²ÞÛ² ÛÛ²ÞÛ²ÞÝ ÛÛ² ÛÛ² ÛÛ² ÛÛ² ÛÛ² Û² ÛÛ² ÛÛ² ÜÛ²ÞÛ² ÛÛ²ÞÛ² Û ÛÛ² ÛÛ² ÛÛ² ÛÛ² ÛÛ² ÜÛ² ÛÛ± ÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛß ÛÛ± ÛÛ±ÞÛ± ÞÝÛÛ± ÛÛ± ÛÛ± ÛÛÛÛ±ÞÛÛÛÛÛß ÛÛ± ÞÛ± ÛÛ± ÛÛ± ÛÛ±ÞÛ± ÛÞÛ± ÛÛ± ÛÛ± ÛÛ± ÛÛ± ÛÛ± ÛÛ° ÛÛ° ÛÛ° ÛÛÜ ÜÛ± ÛÛ° ÞÞÛ° ÛÛ° ÛÛ° ÛÛ° ßÛ° ÛÛ° ÛÛ° ÛÛ° ÛÛ° ßÛÛÛß ÛÛ° ÛÛ° ÛÛ° ÛÛ° ÛÛÛÛÛ°Þ° ÛÛ° C O N S O L E M A G A Z i N E FRoNTiER magazine is (c) copyright 1994 April 1994 EDiTOR: Gordon Craick 3Do þ Jaguar þ Genesis þ CD-i þ CD32 þ GenesisCD þ Super Nintendo and all other consoles ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ iNDEX TO iSSUE 2 *******/\******* Welcome Updates Changes Feedback News: * Saturn looks hot * Creative Labs obtains license for 3DO technology * Jaguar on the prowl * CD32 software hits home * SX1 expansion port for CD32 * Sony's Playstation-X Features: * The Asian Connection - Part 2 * The inside specs on the CD32 Editorial/Opinion: * 16 bit - RIP? Reviews: * Cybermorph (Jaguar) * NBA Jam (SNES) * Super Turrican (SNES) * Wolfenstein (SNES) The Cheater's Den Trading Support sites/distribution How *YOU* too can help out Frontier How to contact Frontier Credits/Thanx -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- úÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄú ÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÝÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÝÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛ²±° ÛÛ Û ÛÛÞÛÛÜÜÜÞÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛÝÛÛÞÛÝÛÛÞÛÛÜÜÜ ÛÛ Û ÛÛÞÛÛßßßÞÛÛ ßÛ ÛÛ ÛÛÝÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛßßß °±²ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÝÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÝÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÝ úÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄú Hi again from the editor of Frontier! This should be a lot smaller than the last one, the formalities of introducting the magazine out of the way. Issue one was received very well from what I have received from readers - and that was only the first issue. Things can only get better from here on, the more that here about the magazine the better so if you can, keep spreading the word. I know several people who have been which is good to see. Pass it on to BBS, FTP sites, your friends, relatives, family dog or whoever you think might find it interesting. I can't do that all on my own 8) Sorry to those who were expecting issue two on the first of April, but I, like many others was wrapped in holidays, Easter, etc for the last few days. Such delays can't really be helped. In future I will aim for the first of each month, however if I am busy with other things it may be an extra few days. Don't worry though, each issue will be out at least in the first week of the month. There have been many developments in the last few months, the US CD32 rollout, increase in Jaguar support and sales, plus other developments on hot machines such as the Saturn, and PS-X. Late 1994 looks like being the most exciting period in the industry, with all consoles set to be on the market around Christmas-time 1994. One of the things obvious so far in the console wars is that consumers are not going to pay for machines that are going to cost tremendous amounts of money. $400 looks like being about the maximum limit that people will pay, forcing machines such as the 3DO to lower their prices. The cost/quality of software is a factor also being taken into strong consideration. Issue two as you will probably notice includes quite a bit of news, and less features. This will probably be a trend with Frontier, if one aspect is increased (due to bursts of creativity, news, ideas, boredom, etc :) ), less time can be spent on some others. Hopefully by spreading things evenly Frontier will include enough of each to keep most readers happy. That's all I feel the need to say at the moment, if you want to have a more indepth chat about the console industry, send me some mail and we can start a conversation. Enjoy issue two! Gordon Craick (Editor -> FRONTiER magazine) < April 4th, 1994 > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- UPDATES ***/\** ALTHOUGH Frontier aims to make fewer mistakes than some other magazines, it would be naive to think there wouldn't be any. In issue one several people have pointed out some inaccuracies or clear mistakes. Thanks to those people who did so, if I don't know about it - I can't correct it :) - In the glossary it mentioned that 'Famicon' was the Japanese version of the Super Nintendo. That is close to the mark, however the Famicon is the name given to the Japanese version of the 8 bit NES. The Super Famicon is the Japanese model of the Super Nintendo. I was aware of that - brain must have been turned off when I wrote it :) - Another slight inaccuracy in the glossary of terms was the entry for NTSC. It stated that NTSC was a standard for the US only, but a reader pointed out the fact that it is a standard in Canada and other American continental countries. CHANGES ***/\** Frontier aims to provide what readers want, and as a result of feedback after issue one, a few changes have been made as requested. - A left margin, creating a text which appears to be easier to read for many. It might make the magazine a bit larger K-size, but if it makes it easier to read why not.. - Better paragraph structure and separation. Some have found that Frontier is a bit hard to read because of overly long paragraphs. English structure is not my strong point I must admit, but I have done my best to separate appropriate points into separate paragraphs. úÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄú °±²ÛÛÛÛÛÝÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÝÛÛÛÛÛÜÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÞÛÛÜÜÜÞÛÛÜÜÜÞÛÛ ÛÛÝÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛ ÛÛÛ Ûß ÛÛÛÛ ÞÛÛßßßÞÛÛßßßÞÛÛ ÛÛÝÛÛßßÛÜÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛ ÛÛÛÛÜ ÛÛ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÝÛÛÛÛÛßÞÛÛÜÜÛÛÞÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛ ßÛ²±° úÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄú FEEDBACK from issue one has been quite amazing, though having to reply to 15+ Frontier related messages a week can take a fair amount of time! There weren't any one message that especially stood out, so rather than publishing some of them I have just answered the main points covered. If you feel like a conversation on the console industry (or in fact anything!) send my some email, the best ones will be published in Frontier for others to join in on. Q: Can I be added to the Frontier mailing list? Can you send me Frontier via email? I don't have FTP access, can you please send me issue one? A: The answer to that is unfortunately no. At present there is *no* Frontier mailing list, though I have been posting for people prepared to set one up adamantly. My site does not have the facilities to set up such a mail-server to send issues via email, so that support must come from an external source. I have however been recording all email addresses sent to me so that when somebody can offer to set one up they will be sent each issue. True other electronic magazines have this feature, but then again they have been going for a while longer than Frontier Q: I cannot find Frontier via FTP, where is it available? A: When Frontier was first released, I had spent so much time actually campaigning for the magazine and getting support, that I didn't have much time to consider adequate distribution. The FTP site organised fell through just before release, which made things more frustrating. As a temporary measure I uploaded the magazine to wuarchive.wustl.edu in pub/frontier_magazine - where it still as of issue two release for those still after issue one. Luckily through the resources of Scott Patton, a new official FTP site has been organised. FTP to ftp.digex.net via anonymous FTP and then change directory to /pub/access/spatton/frontier_magazine were more information is given. C (comment): Frontier offers a different perspective to all other magazines I have read, keep improving the magazine! R (reply): That is what Frontier has aimed to give in the beginning, so it is good to see that the magazine is coming across to readers as I intended. Frontier sure will keep up in providing a better electronic magazine, so keep reading! úÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄú ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛ ÛÛÝÛÛÛÛÛÛ²±° ÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛÜÜÜ ÛÛ ÛÛÝÛÛÜÜÜÜ ÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛßßß ÛÛ Û ÛÛÝßßßßÛÛ °±²ÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÝÛÛÛÛÛÛ úÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄú SATURN LOOKS HOT *******/\******* As the months pass realistic specifications on the much hyped Sega Saturn is beginning to filter through, and by all indications is looking more and more impressive each time. Already there are reports of preliminary versions being shipped to major developers though all are under a non-disclosure agreement so second opinions are non-existent at this time :( What Sega representatives *are* keen to point out that the arcade board used for Virtua Racing is *primitive* compared to the Saturn's board. Now if this turns out to be true you can bet that thousands are already hanging on for Virtua Racing (Virtua Racing 2?) and Virtua Fighting on the Saturn. While Sony is still at work on their PlayStation_X machine they have also helped Sega out in developing software for the Saturn. Rather than putting all their coins in the one slot :), Sony has taken the view that both giant companies can help each other out in a time of electronic and economic downturn in Japan. The Saturn is in no way backward compatible with either the GenesisCD or Genesis, Sega is quick to point out. Sega believes that their 32 bit machine will easily be as powerful as the 3DO and CD32, and even the Jaguar (though of course that comment is predictable :) ). Sega looks as though they have just about pushed Nintendo to the side at present, and have their sights firmly set on outselling all other 32 bit consoles by the end of 1995. What Sega is willing to let on is the basic specifications, which are by no means final at this stage: PROCESSOR : 32 bit ARM RISC running at 29.1mhz GRAPHICS : 24 bit, Palette of 16.8mil colours SOUND : 8 channel digital/16 channel synthesised, 16 bit stereo sound STORAGE : Triple spin CD ROM drive, 450-500kb/sec transfer rate EXPANSION : Cable connection to Sega channel (where available) RELEASE : Japan - September 1994, US/Elsewhere - March 1995 PRICE : $400 with software included Look out for a complete overview when the full specifications are known. CREATIVE LABS OBTAINS LICENSE FOR 3DO TECHNOLOGY *********************/\************************* Creative Labs/Technologies, makers of the popular Soundblaster range of sound cards for the IBM PC family of computers has obtained licensing from the 3DO company to include 3DO technology in their future products. Technology likely to be licensed includes the dedicated graphics RISC processors, and possibly 3DO MPEG/video technology and other chips. Creative Labs is planning on incorporated this technology into a special plug-in 'GameBlaster' card for the IBM compatible range of computers. Developers would likely need to write software specifically for the GameBlaster, meaning that GameBlaster games are not likely be compatible with non-GameBlaster equipped PC's. Despite what many might hope, this would only be an additional card for specific compatible software, and would NOT allow you to play 3DO discs on your PC :( However, it could mean a totally new game-playing experience on your PC. In the not to distant future, if Creative Labs proves successful with its hybrid 3DO/PC card, we may see the IBM compatible computer emerge as a very dominant entertainment machine. Building on the existing base of tens of millions of computer systems sold across the world, it seems unlikely PC owners would feel the need to purchase a console if they owned a GameBlaster. Imagine the power of a 486 combined with professional quality sound and graphical processing! Frontier estimates that the price of 3DO technology fitted PC cards may sell for $300. JAGUAR ON THE PROWL *********/\******** March 7th 1994 - Atari has announced that 86 developers have currently signed up to produce hardware or software for the Jaguar. An additional 48 developers have been signed up since the beginning of the year, indicating a definite and continuing confidence in the machine. Jaguar distribution for Europe is currently said to be in June, however many are predicting full release in the last quarter of the year. Apparently some European stores are a little reluctant to stock the machine due to a broken promise of units shipping before 1994. One of that will surely attract attention over 16 bit machines is that PAL versions will include a full-screen picture and be equivalent speed-wise to the NTSC. No more letter-box displays that we have had to put up with in the PAL SNES and Genesis! In other Jaguar news, Atari is adamant that their CD addon unit will be out in September 1994, with a RRP of $200 - bringing the total cost of a Jaguar+CD to $450. They have also announced plans to release the Jaguar with a RRP of $200 in late 1994 to make prices competitive with other new machines. Black Cat Design and ICD has developed the first hardware addon for the Jaguar machine. Named the 'Cat Box', the small unit (around 15cm x 4cm x 2.5cm) plugs into the external DSP and AV port of the Jaguar. The box gives all external connections in an easily accessible fashion such as *two* stereo headphone jacks, SVHS port, composite video out, RGB out, left/right sound out, serial port output, DSP, ComLynx port and supposedly space for a modem/etc. Probably what the Jaguar should have included in the first place, however with a RRP of $50 it makes it affordable to all Jaguar players. The Cat Box will be start shipping in the US in May. CD32 SOFTWARE HiTS HOME ***********/\********** While support for the CD32 looked rather disappointing when it was first released in Australia, Europe and Canada, increased developer confidence and licensing has meant a bright future for the machine. Around 50-60 developers are producing titles for the CD32, and a reported 100+ titles are to be released this year alone. Many top titles are being ported to the CD32, as well as a stack of new CD32 specific titles. All look very promising, though it will be several months until we begin to see the best of these titles appearing. It isn't just platform and arcade games CD32 owners can look forward to either, top RPG's, adventure and strategy games are also on their way to the machine. Initial sales have been indicated to be 200,000-300,000 worldwide and demand especially in the UK is high. During the Christmas period CD32 gained a 38% share of CD-ROM sales drives sold, well outselling the GenesisCD. It is too early to say of the success of the CD32 in the United States, only being a month since release there. SX1 EXPANSiON PORT FOR CD32 *************/\************ Microbotics has announced the release of a new expansion module for the CD32 that turns into a fully functioning computer. Plugging into the 32 bit expansion port of the CD32, it gives the CD32 a standard serial, parallel, and floppy drive port. An IDE interface is also included, allowing the connection of standard hard-disk drives. Maximum RAM expandable on the SX1 is 8 megabytes. For those who still want to maintain MPEG compatibility, a pass-through for the MPEG1 cartridge is included. Included in the price is software, a parnet cable and keyboard adaptor to allow the connection of standard PC compatible keyboards. Once you have the SX1, all that is needed is a floppy disk drive and keyboard to have a fully functioning computer. With new disk drives selling for approximately $45, and PC keyboards for $25 the cost of 'upgrading' your CD32 to a computer (including the price of the SX1) would be about $220. The SX1 module will be compatible with existing Amiga 1200 software which makes it an even greater incentive for existing Amiga owners. SONY'S PLAYSTATION-X *********/\********* Sony, keen to enter the already bulging console market are planning on releasing their PS-X console in late 1994. Many would remember the Playstation, a co-operative venture between Nintendo and Sony. First planned to be released in 1993, the Playstation was due to be a hardware addon to the Super Nintendo. Adding a CD-ROM, powerful 32 bit processor and other enhancements, the future of the SNES looked assured for many years to come. Then, when everything looked exciting, a fall out with Nintendo and reported complications of interfacing the Playstation with the SNES meant its cancellation. Sony continued development on their own, and are hard at work on the PS-X, a dedicated 32 bit console. Boasting a RISC processor running at 33mhz, the PS-X from indications appears to be many times faster than other 32 bit machines. At the heart of the PS-X is a custom graphics architecture named the 3DGE (3D Graphics Engine) which can reportedly move around polygons and sprites a lot quicker than either the 3DO or Saturn. Sound will be CD quality, which will be in full stereo with multiple channels. Software wise, Sony has signed major Japanese developers Namco, Capcom, Konami, and in house developers Epic. All of these companies have PS-X titles in production, which will mean that when released players will have a fair library of games to choose from. While the Playstation looks promising, Sony will be entering a market that is becoming increasingly competitive. Not only will they have to sell the machine at a cheap price, but to muster the support of developers and most importantly the consumers. One thing is sure, the machine looks like being the most powerful of all the 32 bit machines, the 3DO, CD32 and Saturn. Even Sega admits that the Saturn will not be quite as powerful as Sony's machine.... The PS-X will be out in the home market in approximately December this year, with incarnations appearing in numerous arcade machines soon afterwards. PROCESSOR : 32 bit R3000A RISC running at 33mhz GRAPHICS : 24 bit, Palette of 16.8mil colours SOUND : 16 bit/24 channel stereo (44.1khz) STORAGE : Double spin CD ROM drive, 300-350kb/sec transfer rate EXPANSION : MPEG, expansion to digital networks RELEASE : Late 1994/Early 1995 (approx) PRICE : $450 as estimated by Sony OTHER NEWS ****/\**** - Panasonic has dropped the price of its 3DO R.E.A.L player to a RRP $499 (including Crash and Burn). Commodore has also dropped its CD32 price to $399 (including three CD games). Both machines are now widely available in many stores. - Doom will allow the linking of two Jaguar units for multi-player games. 90% of the game is reported to be finished, with a predicted release in May/Early June. 16 bit (64,0000) colour is also planned on being implemented. - For CD32 owners who have internet access, campaigning for a specific CD32 newsgroup has been in progress. I would say without much doubt that one *will* in fact be set up, as there is a big need/demand for one. Keep looking, the CD32 group should be up after tallying votes, etc some time this month. The proposed group name is rec.games.video.cd32 so look out for it at your site soon. - Laying rest to the rumour published in Frontier issue one, Nintendo's Project Reality is in full development with the help of Silicon Graphics. SG has already offered several exciting demos of what it can do, indicating "This is what our $50,000 work stations can offer, just wait until you see the same technology in a home console for $200". The marketing of Project Reality indicates a new direction from Nintendo - and reports indicate that Silicon Graphics is going to design the technology while Nintendo will be licensed to produce and sell it. Silicon graphics will also receive a share of every 'Reality'? console sold, which could be as high as a 30-40% stake. Project Reality is still scheduled for home release in 1996. - Nintendo's new FX racing game, FX Trax has gone through several changes to increase its appeal and capabilities - possibly to ensure that SNES owners do not desert too quickly. Now named FX Stunt Trax, it has enlisted the aid from the designer of the Mario series to add that extra bit of appeal. As a result, many see it as the sequel to Super Mario Kart. Players will now be able to choose several cars: a 4WD, dune buggy and rally car, plus several different driving conditions. Two player/split screen is also implemented, which looks like a standard for the new super FX chip (which Stunt Trax uses) so should make greater playing against a friend. FX definitely looks a marked improvement over the rather plain alpha version shown at the CES earlier this year and is one title to look out for in 1994. The Super Nintendo is definitely not dead yet. - An adaptor that will allow you to play Gameboy games on SNES machines will be released soon by Nintendo. The device will exist in the form of a standard cartridge in which standard Gameboy games are plugged in. According to Nintendo, multiple borders will be selectable to surround the main screen and fill the rest of the screen. Palette and colour selection is also a function of the Gameboy adaptor, allowing the player to adapt sprite colouring to their tastes. Future Gameboy games will include new information on board to automatically select possible colours, while still remaining playable on standard Gameboy units. A novel idea, but playing rather basic Gameboy games on their 16 bit Super Nintendo is not exciting for most. The Gamegear adaptor will be priced at around $40 RUMOURS ***/\** - While this sounds *very* rumoured, Sega is apparently at work on an upgrade to the Genesis unit. When the upgrade board is plugged into the Genesis, it will supposedly allow many more colours, increased speed, sound and other enhancements. Technology is rumoured to be 'left-over' from some older aspects of the Saturn design. This upgrade will be Sega's link between the upcoming Saturn console, and existing Genesis/16 bit markets. The predicted price of this addon is $100. As more news of this is available (I am still quite suspicious of the news myself) Frontier will be covering it. - Despite the initial phenomenal support by developers for the 3DO, some developers have apparently turned cold towards the machine. While nearly 500 developers signed up to license games paying a developers fee which is virtually free. Many see the initial support as a marketing move designed to sell more 3DO units by using the draw card of 500 developers. In real terms, only 80-90 3DO development stations have been purchased, with many stating that they will not develop 3DO games until the machine sells more units. In a way 3DO is an a catch-22 situation - because of the high price-tag of the machine it makes the 3DO out of the reach of the average player and without good software/or promises of good software, the machine won't sell :( - While 3DO's feels it is a little early to announce sales figures, 3DO sales are estimated to be only in the tens of thousands in United States. This figure is a lot less than Trip's original planned sales. The main prohibiting factor appears to be the hefty-price tag. úÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄú °±²ÛÛÛÛÛÝÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÞ ÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÜÞÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÛ²±° ÛÛ ÞÛÛÜÜÜÞÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛÝ ÜÛ ÛÛÞÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛÜÜÜÞÛÛÜÜÜÜ ÛÛÛÛ ÞÛÛßßßÞÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛÝ ÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÜßÞÛÛßßß ßßßßÛÛ ÛÛ ÞÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛÝ ÛÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÛ úÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄú The INSiDE SPECS ON THE AMIGA CD32 ***************/\***************** Last issue we covered the Jaguar, and this month Frontier gives an in depth overview of the CD32 machine. The CD32 made its debut on March 1st in the United States, although it has been available here in Australia and in the UK/Europe for several months. Machines have been selling quite well so far (reports indicate several hundred thousand in the first few months), but it will be a few more months until an accurate assessment of world-wide sales can be published. Material for this overview has been compiled from various press releases, and published specifications from Commodore and others. MANUFACTURER/APPEARANCE: CD32 is manufactured by Commodore (Business Machines Inc), makers of the popular range of Amiga computer systems. For your $399 you get the unit, one game controller, stereo audio cable, RF video cable, and the CD's Pinball Fantasies (pinball), Oscar (platform), and Wing Commander (space simulation/shoot 'em up). In some countries (such as Australia) the bundled software is Oscar, Pinball Fantasies, James Pond, plus a CD32 demo disc. The unit is matt grey in appearance, with a slightly blocky look (though not ugly) with physical dimensions of around 12"x3"x8" (or 311x181x212mm). On the left half of the machine there is the CD drive, and on the right, the operating controls and main processing unit. About the the closest comparison appearance wise that can be drawn from the CD32 is the PC Engine Duo. Unlike the 3DO's tray/drawer arrangement CD's are inserted directly onto the spindle (the part that spins the disk), identical to the design found in most portable CD players. This helps cut down on costs though makes the machine a bit more prone to 'skipping' if the machine is moved during play - otherwise equally as functional as a tray/drawer player. On the top of the machine is the CD open, and volume control settings and at the rear of the machine are the output sockets (see: expansion). In simple terms, the design is quite neat, and also accessible. CONTROLLER: The controller bundled with the CD32 consists of four 'action' buttons, 8 way joypad and pause/select buttons. Some may find it a bit hard to access some of the buttons during play as comfortably as the SNES controller - this may vary between players. Easy to hold in the hand, quite durable and that extra action button (over some other machine's controllers) may come in useful for future games. PROCESSOR: The heart of the CD32 is the 32 bit Motorola 68EC020, running at roughly 14mhz. This is similar to the chipset used in Macintosh computers (somewhere in between the older and latest models), and a remodelled version of that used in the Amiga 1200. The CD32 is probably the last of the consoles to include a CISC processor, which the 68020 is. Presumably it would be a simple matter to emulate existing Amiga software because of this. Secondary to the main processor are the AA (Amiga Architecture) co-processors, which consist of the AGA (see: graphics), video processor, sound processor (see: sound) and internal DMA (for transferring data). Another important part of the CD32 is the new Akido chipset, used as a form of secondary processor to spool/process information off CD. Akido means that the CD32 is not likely to jerkiness or slowdown due to poor CD access (such as the 3DO can suffer from) All of this works in tandem with the 68020 to provide parallel processing, taking the load of the main processor by transferring specialised functions to the AA and Akido co-processors. GRAPHICS: Similar to its Amiga counter-parts, the CD32's graphics chips are highly programmable. Essentially if you can program it the chips can do it. Called the AGA (Amiga Graphics Architecture), it allows resolutions from 320x200 to 1280x400 depending upon output used. With overscan, a method which allows greater resolution than normally possible by including extra scan-lines (a line of pixels), a less squashed 800x600 format is possible. Out of a total of 16.8 million colours a maximum of 256,000 can be displayed on screen. The AGA chipset sets the CD32 apart from older machines, and only the newer Amiga 4000/1200 include this chipset. One of the main disadvantages that lie in the CD32's AGA chips set is that polygons and other display methods are not really a natural function of the hardware. Unlike other machines, the graphical chipset is basically one modified from the higher-end Amiga computers, and has not been designed from scratch. Polygons and shading are of course possible, but is a lot more reliant upon the main processor than with other machines. SOUND: Sound is maybe one of the main features below par with other new consoles. Only 4 channels of sound is possible (2 pairs of stereo channels) using a disappointing 8 bit DAC (digital to analog convertor). This is the technology that has been used in Amiga computers since 1986, and was very advanced back then - it is not so now. The redeeming feature of the CD32 sound is that sound can be pulled direct from CD at a high fidelity 44khz using the 18 bit DAC and Akido chip. Due to the poor standard DAC and high quality CD DAC Commodore is pretty much replying on audio being spooled directly from CD for most games. This wastes a large amount of CD space, and means that any real-time generation of sound can only be 8 bit. Audio wise, CD playing from the CD32 is on par with better CD players, so hook the CD32 up to your stereo and you have high quality CD sound. EXPANSION/PORTS: One big advantage that the CD32 holds over other machines (eg: the Jaguar) is that every type of output socket you would need is built in as standard - not having to feel cheated by being charged $30 just for a few plugs and wires which you can quite easily make yourself. Output includes PAL (or NTSC, depending on where you are), stereo RCA (phono plugs), and SVHS with the bundled cables. A stereo headphone socket is also standard, meaning that you can listen to full stereo all the time, no matter what type of TV you have. The two controller ports are standard digital which may be a disadvantage for more precise control, but according to Commodore able to accept mice, extra joysticks, virtual reality devices, etc. At the rear of the machine is a standard serial port for the attachment of either a keyboard, modem or link to other CD32s. Most importantly a 32 bit expansion bus is provided for the addition of hardware modifications - such as the MPEG module which is now available. Maybe one of the best things about the CD32, is that you are basically getting a computer, as well as just a console. According to Commodore, the keyboard, and (hard?) disk drive that is in production will turn your CD32 into a fully functional 32 bit computer for only a few hundred dollars more. OPERATING SYSTEM: Like Amiga systems, the CD32 runs on a version of AmigaDOS. AmigaDOS gives natural multitasking and a GUI interface to those games which need it. The operating system is stored on a 1 megabyte ROM, which can be overridden by the use of a disk version (for possible updates or emulation versions). STORAGE/MEMORY: Of course the standard storage medium for the CD32 is CD-ROM, with capabilities to accept other storage interfaces (disk drives, etc) so that the CD32 is not just limited to CD. The CD drive, like most these days is rated double speed, and can transfer data at either 150kb or 300kb per second. Included on board the CD32 is a 1kbyte EPROM which can permanently store high scores, save games, etc - though being limited to 1k means that you aren't going to fit much from several different games. For temporary saving of program information and the loading of data the CD32 contains 2 megabytes of high-speed RAM. MPEG1 MODULE: Purchased separately is the MPEG module, a device that plugs into the expansion bus and provides industry standard FMV from a single CD. Up to 74 minutes of 25 FPS (Frames Per Second) video can be played from a single disc. With all machines now, or soon including the capability to add MPEG, the future of the standard looks bright. Something that needs to be pointed out is that because MPEG is a standard, all machines must be able to display the standard to be compatible - that is 16.8 million colours. Although the CD32 can only display 256,000 on screen for software, 24 bit colour is used for MPEG display. The MPEG module costs $249 RELEASE: Australia/UK/Europe - September 1993 Canada - December 1993 United States - March 1994 SUMMARY - PROCESSOR(S): - 68E020 (68020) CISC processor - Clock speed of 14.19mhz - 32 bit at a reported 4 MIPS (Millions Instructions Per Second) AA co-processors consisting of: - AGA processor (Amiga Graphic Architecture) - DMA processor (for data transfer) - FMV processor (for MPEG/animation) - Sound processor (for 8 bit sound) - Akido CD processor (for CD manipulation) GRAPHICS: - 16 bit - Resolution 320x200 to 1280x400 (more with software programming) - Palette of 16,777,216 colours - Maximum of 256,000 on screen SOUND: - 8 bit stereo - 4 channel digital sound - Software selectable volume EXPANSION/OUTPUT: - 32 bit expansion bus - RF output - Composite stereo - Two digital control ports - Serial port - SVHS miniDIN output - PAL or NTSC (depending on country) CONTROL: - Digital control pad: - 4 action buttons - Multi-directional control pad - Pause, Select buttons STORAGE: - 2 megabytes of general RAM - 1 kilobyte EPROM - 1 megabyte AmigaDOS ROM CD drive: - 18 bit DAC - 44.4khz - 8x oversampling - 150/350kb transfer - 540 megabytes uncompressed data COMPATIBILITY: - PhotoCD (through software) - Amiga? (through software?) - CDTV (not all titles) - CD&G - Audio CD PRICE: $399 (including the Oscar, Pinball Fantasies, & Wing Commander games) $249 (optional MPEG1 module) The CD32 is possibly the underdog with regard to *expectation*, though its technical abilities are quite on par with other machines. For $400 you are getting a pretty powerful computer simply without the standard attachments such as a disk drive, keyboard, monitor, etc. Most won't feel the need for the slightly expensive MPEG adaptor - at least the ability is there for those who are interested. The expansion port is possibly one of the most comprehensive on any of the new consoles and through it even the processor can be upgraded. If it is implemented successfully many players will never have to worry about their CD32 being obsolete in a few years time like many other consoles. There is a wide range of software already in development from previous Amiga and other PC developers, plus many big names such as LucasArts, Electronic Arts, Microprose, Sierra, Psygnosis, and too many more to mention here. The bundled games while not outstanding are a fair indication of the CD32 and the games you are likely to see in the future. Many of the software since first release is disappointing (with a few clear exceptions), most games consisting of CD ports of Amiga software - not exactly what players are wanting for a full 32 bit CD machine. Good CD games as many have probably noticed take a while to appear after the console first does, due to the extensive amount of extra time that has to be taken. A suspected price drop to $300 later this year means that it will be very attractive to existing Genesis/SNES consumers. What the CD32 offers is a full CD machine for less than both the 3DO and Jaguar/Jaguar-CD combination, which cannot be sniffed at. Software may not have the initial jaw-dropping atmosphere as other new consoles but games may in fact turn out to be more playable in the long run. Continuing the series next month we cover Panasonic's FZ-1 Real 3DO player (now say that with one breath!). Just how does it compare technically to the CD32 and Jaguar? find out soon in issue three! úÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄú ÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÜÞÛÝÛÛÝ ÛÛÞÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÝÛÛÝ ÛÛ²±° ÛÛ ÛÛÞÛ ÞÛÞÛÝÛÛÛÝ ÛÛÞÛÛÞÛÝ ÛÝÛÛÛÝ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛÛÛßÞÛÝÛÛ ÛÝÛÛÞÛÛÞÛÝ ÛÝÛÛ ÛÝÛÛ °±²ÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛ ÛÛÝÛÛ ÞÛÛÛÞÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÝÛÛ ÞÛÛÛ úÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄú IF you wish to express an opinion in an editorial style article, please let me know. Frontier aims to be a focus point for intelligent debate on the console industry so you should be willing to backup your opinions from readers. If you strongly agree or disagree on an editorial, consider writing one of your own with some opposing or contrasting opinions. 16 BIT R.I.P ? ******/\****** IT has been six years since we first saw the world's first 16 bit console, the Sega Genesis. Three years later we saw the arrival of the Super Nintendo, Nintendo's much awaited answer. Several years later these machines (and others) are now beginning to show their technical age. No longer is 16 bit or small cartridge facilities suitable for the type of games that consumers want, and developers are moving towards. The high speed race for interactive multi-media, CD-ROM, multiple-player networks, professional audio and digitised video is well upon us. 1993 saw the announcements for the new generation of consoles that we are now beginning to see take off in 1994. We are talking here of machines such as the 3DO, CD32, Jaguar, and Saturn. To many, the future of older machines begins to look less and less optimistic. As the news and hype is announced more and more frequently pertaining to the new generation of console machines, many existing 16 bit owners might now be feeling a bit left behind. What was hot stuff maybe only a year ago now looks rather passe' and much of the talk is beginning to shift to the new market. Most console owners are not going to simply abandon machines that they have may have invested many hundreds of dollars in. Why sell a collection of still playable games to get a machine that may or may not have a better selection of games? Although many developers are going to be producing games for new machines, that does not necessarily mean they have abandoned the older formats. Most are planning on releasing their new games on multiple platforms, which still includes the 16 bit market. Nintendo is in fact banking its continuing success on the format, having no immediate plans for a new console until 1996. Quite rightly too, the 16 bit era is definitely not dead - in fact the reverse could be said to be true. Possibly we may see some of the best games for these machines in the next year or two. In my opinion, 16 bit owners are the ones that are going to prosper the most from the introduction of these new consoles. As we begin to see games that offer jaw dropping technically impressive features on the new machines, 16 bit developers will need to remain competitive by trying to match this. Games *will* become and *have* to become more graphically impressive, more original, plus being able to provide games which are immensely playable at the same time. The failure to do this will only quicken the exodus to the new systems. If 16 bit games continue to improve significantly, people are going to stay with their machines until the software and quality begins to dry up. Prices will also have to drop immensely - when a full 32 bit game which may contain megabytes and megabytes of video, music, more levels, and other improvements that 32 bit can offer costs $70 and the equivalent Super Nintendo game costs $90, just which system are *you* going to stay with? Unless Nintendo, Sega and other 16 bit developers can release their software at a price of around $50, people are simply going to abandon their existing systems in the tens of thousands. Only the consumer can profit from the battle if they make their purchase decisions wisely. It is not really a question of 16 bit vs 32 bit, but a question of what software we are going to see on these machines. 32 bit is clearly superior, it is just the way in which these formats will be utilised to the maximum extent. True, 16 bit games may not contain the most impressive graphics, jaw dropping soundtracks, or fancy hardware effects, but the gameplay will essentially be equally as playable, if not more so. Many developers have so far taken the easy way out on CD based games, offering impressive visual effects to hide an essentially poor game. CD deserves a lot better than this, and I don't yet believe we have seen the best that CD can offer by a long stretch. Despite the hype from some magazines (I admit it, possibly this one to an extent) - the CD32 ($400), Jaguar ($350), and especially the 3DO ($500) are still largely out of the price range of many consumers. Unless they can offer a competitive price and exciting games people are simply not going to make the upgrade. 16 bit consoles will continue to stay prevalent for at least the next two years, possibly even longer depending on the support developers are willing to give. Super Street Fighter 2, Eye of the Beholder, Rise of the Robots, Star Wing 2, FX Stunt Trax, MegaRace, Rebel Assault, Xwing, Virtua racing, Elite 2, Syndicate, and other hot possibilities are just *some* of the titles sure to make your fingers itch for the controller in the next one-two years. Many still are quite happy with their 8 bit machines, and it has been almost a decade since *their* introduction! Staying with your Super Nintendo or Genesis in the next year at least may be in fact the best bet for the average owner - those who don't have thousands to spend on what is simply an expensive form of entertainment. Wait until the console wars sort themselves out, and observe which machines *are* going to succeed and those that clearly won't. You are likely to get the cheapest prices, and even more likely to get the more playable and lasting games/machine. With 16 bit hardware prices likely to drop even lower (possibly even the $100 mark for the SNES), you may be in fact be better off with one foot in both worlds..... úÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄú ÛÛÛÛÛÜÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛ ÛÛÞÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛ ÛÛÝÛÛÛÛÛÛ²±° ÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛÜÜÜ ÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛÞÛÛÜÜÜ ÛÛ ÛÛÝÛÛÜÜÜÜ ÛÛÛÛÜßÞÛÛßßß ÛÛ ÜÛÛÞÛÛÞÛÛßßß ÛÛ Û ÛÛÝßßßßÛÛ °±²ÛÛ ÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛßÞÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÝÛÛÛÛÛÛ úÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄú THE review section is not an integral part of Frontier, though an important one. What is the use of talk on consoles, without reviews to assess the quality of games that are available? If you wish to write reviews for Frontier for any console, please check out the section: How *YOU* too can help out with Frontier. While reviews of new games is preferred, reviews of games up to around 6 months old will be published. Issue 2 also marks a few additions to the review system. Included after the final ratings is a short series of comments for each of the percentage categories. Thanks to Snoopy (alias Tim Wenas :) ) for using this format and encouraging me to use it as standard. In addition to that, new comments/and percentages are given for: - Conversion. How it compares to to other versions, 100% being equal, 50% being half as good, 200% being twice as good, etc) - Impressions. How if feels to play the game. Was it easy to get enthralled or have an initial jaw-dropping atmosphere? - Difficulty. A short note on how hard you found the game, and how others are likely to. This complements the difficulty given at the start of the review. - Interest factor. Despite a games difficulty, would you be likely to come back to it even after finishing it? Or alternatively is the game too boring to even attempt finishing? - Would you buy the game. (if you had the money!) If you have already bought the game, do you regret it? If you have played a borrowed or friend's game would you consider buying it for yourself at the price listed? This is related largely to price vs value for money. This rating system I believe gives the best and most complete seen in any other magazine. Lets watch the others try and copy it :) As promised in issue 1, Issue 2 includes many more reviews. With some more help from readers, hopefully we can regularly have 4-5 reviews per issue. CYBERMORPH ****/\**** By Tim Wenas TYPE ................ Shoot 'em up FORMAT .............. Jaguar DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER . Attention To Detail/Atari RELEASE ............. Same as Jaguar (approx March 1994) PRICE ............... N/A (Comes with Jaguar) SIZE ................ 16 megabit LEVELS .............. 52 (actually 52 worlds) DIFFICULTY .......... Not specified (average) PLAYERS ............. One EXTRA INFO .......... Uses password system to save position ... This is it. The world's first 64 bit video game! And the good thing is, it is very good. The Atari Jaguar, a very smart piece of console hardware indeed, comes with this cart to demonstrate its abilities. In the mould of Starfox/wing on the SNES, Cybermorph is a Gourard-shaded polygon based 3D shoot 'em up. The plot synopsis: get through 52 planets by collecting enough pods on the planet you're on. Perhaps not the most original idea we've ever seen, but the difference here is the way it is done. Somewhat like the classic Spindizzy, the pods you need are often well hidden, guarded by nasty enemies or surrounded by force fields. To get to those pods involves large amounts of death, destruction, flying, sex... just kidding about the sex actually :^]. Oh yeah, you're in a plane/helicopter type of thing. Your craft is (strangely enough) called the T-Griffon, which changes shape as your speed changes (Cool!). It also looks kind of like the plane from Starfox. However, the choice of view is yours. You can view the action from the pilot's seat, or from behind (like...well, Starfox). You can also see the T-Griffon from the left, right and even in front which is actually pretty useless. Personally, I didn't ever use the right/left/front views. The cockpit view is much like your average PC flight sim except for a noticeable lack of complex controls, knobs and buttons. The main features here are your radar in the top-right, and an altimeter in the bottom right. The external behind view is less "real" than the cockpit view, but a lot more arcade like. No matter what view you choose to have, the radar and altimeter always stay visible. You can even make the T-Griffon stop and go in reverse for a while, shooting ahead all the time. The craft turns fairly quick, but after getting used to it you'll be causing mass mayhem in no time... There's also a message screen at the bottom that ticks off how many pods are left to collect before you can move onto the next planet... The playing field (planet) that you skim over is really worth a mention. Unlike the flat polygons you get in Starfox/PC flight simulators, the ground in Cybermorph are beautiful undulating mounds and dips, with the occasional towering cliffs and valleys. And all this occurs in Gourard shaded 16 bit colour at a speed which puts a 486dx2/66 to shame... The speech here is perfect, spoken by your holographic assistant called Skylar. This bald female lets out such literary gems as "Ouch:, "Let's Go!" and even "Portal Now Open" (soon to be released on CD and cassette). No joke though, the speech is really good. Atmospheric laser blasts, explosions and growls set the mood, and the frantic action hardly ever lets up... Putting aside all the gorgeous graphics, great sound/speech and speed, what are you left with? This is no strategy game, although a fair amount of thinking is required to get to some of the pods. This is action from the start, and thankfully each and every one of the planets are a little different from the last, either in enemies, background, layout, etc so you never feel like you're playing one long level. 52 planets would take a long time to play, so there's a password option after about 8 planets. In addition there are a few secret planets to behold if you're good enough. I've only found one, but it's a beauty, with power-ups aplenty... Final verdict? This is one good game to be packaged with the Jaguar. The machine is well ahead of its time, which is one thing I can say for certain. This game does it justice, although there are a few minor flaws in it. For example, despite the brilliant graphics, a square building is still a square building. Not to mention a purple square building with yellow square windows... The pods are nothing special, just a yellow triangle shaped thingy, and the enemies are nothing scary. But when you're getting it free with the machine, I wouldn't complain. When everything is being shifted fast by a couple of 64bit RISC processors in tandem, with a thumping Pantera track on your CD player it's a 64bit experience that is not to be missed. Now I have just got to decide whether to import a machine for myself or wait for the (probably overpriced and retarded) local Australian machine. I've heard that the Jaguar will have no country protection in the cartridges, which is good news, but we'll have to wait and see... If all Jaguar games can match the standard that Cybermorph has set, the Jaguar will be a hard machine to resist. Battlemorph (essentially Cybermorph ][), a 2 player version of Cybermorph with enhanced everything should be due out later this year. I can't wait. I played Cybermorph on my cousin's Jaguar which he bought in the US. If you haven't seen the joypad, do! It's pretty chunky, but you get used to it. Final analysis -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- GRAPH SCORE Sound effects |******************************** 80% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Music |************************ 60% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Sprites |************************************ 90% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Backgrounds |************************************ 90% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Playability |************************************** 96% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. IQ factor |************************ 60% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Fun factor |**************************************** 100% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Overall graphics |*************************************** 97% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. OVERALL |************************************* 92% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Percentage % 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Extra Comments -=-=-=-=-=-=-= SOUND FX : Good stuff. MUSIC : Not really worth noticing, but functional. SPRITES : Great Gourard shading you'll love! BACKGROUNDS : Brilliant. See for yourself. PLAYABILITY : Frantic arcade action all the way. IQ. FACTOR : Some thought needed. FUN FACTOR : I loved it! Kept me coming back for more. OVERALL GFX : Everything works. OVERALL : Excellent start for Atari's latest baby. IMPRESSIONS: I was knocked out by the excellent graphics. The gameplay was addictive, and on my cousin's large projection system it couldn't be beat. Could this be Atari's "Mario" or "Sonic"? I don't think so, but it's great anyway. CONVERSION: N/A. Produced by ATD, famous for "Last Ninja" trilogy. INTEREST FACTOR: 100% for arcade addicts, 95% for everyone else. DIFFICULTY: How can you grade difficulty? This game's difficulty level is not hard enough to put you off, but hard enough to make you come back for "just one more try, honest!" WOULD I BUY THE GAME: It's free with the Jaguar. It's definitely encouraged me to buy the Jaguar though! OVERALL: (though not specified by the author) I think Tim likes it ;-)... NBA JAM ***/\*** TYPE ................ Sports/Basketball FORMAT .............. Super Nintendo (Genesis version similar) DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER . Acclaim/Midway RELEASE ............. March 1994 PRICE ............... $100 SIZE ................ 16 megabit LEVELS .............. 27 teams to play/27 wins to win the game DIFFICULTY .......... 2-4 weeks (easy/normal/hard) PLAYERS ............. One/up to four simultaneous EXTRA INFO .......... Can use the multi-tap to allow up to 4 players Password save for game position It's a minute to go in the last quarter, the Bulls trail the Suns 64-65. The action is frantic, Pippen hurtles down the court with the ball. He's blocked, he passes to Barkley. Barkley lays up, leaps....camera's flash....JAM'S!! The crowd goes wild, the siren sounds. The Bulls win by a point - what a game at the Arizona Stadium. Such is the atmosphere in NBA Jam, you might actually feel you were actually at a game. NBA Jam first appeared in the arcades more than a year now, and its popularity finally meant that people were talking about something *other* than a beat-em up. The conversion to the SNES (and Genesis) comes nearly a year later, but the game was well worth waiting for. Plug in the cartridge and you are greeted with the theme music and listing of teams. The whole effect is *very* TV like, and similar to what you would see on your favourite sports show. There are two different ways to play the game, tournament or challenge match. Differences in the two are not that great, one being to play in a successive team 'season' and the other a simple team vs team arrangement. In the options screen you can also set options such as 'Computer assistance' (or allow the computer to cheat), difficulty, configure your player buttons, etc. Computer assistance makes the game much harder, by letting the computer get more shots in and you less when things get tougher - basically what the arcade machine does all the time :) Each of the 27 NBA teams is available to choose from, the game being an official NBA endorsed product (no prizes for guessing that one). From each of the 27 teams you can select two players, one for you to control, and one for the computer to assist you. Two of the better players have been selected from each of the teams. One of the disappointing things about the conversion is that some characters in the arcade are not included in the home version (such as Shaq and others). Most of the important characters have been though, so nobody can feel too ripped off. And before you ask, not Jordan - he costs too much and is out of the game anyway (well the NBA at least!). Each of the characters and teams have their own strengths and weaknesses but for my choice I choose the Hornets, having the best all-round team. In play, NBA Jam is excellent. Non-complicated and easy to get the hang of it is instantly playable. There are your basic moves of pass, shoot, block, etc and run but there are also the less legal ones (and effective ones :) ) such as elbow, and shove. You can control your player either defensively or offensively depending on where you are on court. Block the oppositions pass (or vice versa) and the ball is yours to score. Get close enough to the ring and you can do the ultimate in modern basketball, the slam. There are a number of different slams available, depending on which player(s) you have on court. Some are more impressive than others, such as spinning around and then slamming it in, or slamming it in backwards. The overall result of a slam is the same though, two points. Score more than three goals in a row and your player is on fire. Moving down the court without losing any speed, your player is much better overall. If you can get it in without losing the point, the net and ball will literally catch fire! All the frivolities of basketball are there, such as the cameras in the background flashing as a slam is attempted. One of my favourite parts of the game is the board-smash. Slam it in during certain parts of the game and the ring will shatter, splinters of glass raining down on players. At the end of each quarter summaries are also shown, giving all the stats for the game. Half time is really one to watch out for, the SNES giving its all displaying a short (2-3 second) digitised animation from a real NBA Match. The novelty wares off after a while, but it is an exciting taste of such animations that are common in CD-based games. Audio-visuals are possibly some of the best ever seen or likely to be seen in a SNES game. All players are digitised, from their faces to their bodies. Animation is smooth and realistic, unlike some of the frame-chopped versions on other games. The court looks as it should, and the same as you would see it on TV. As your players move up and down the court the screen is scrolled, much like the panning that the cameras do. In addition to graphics, sound is on par with the best the SNES is capable with only 16 megabits (2 megabytes). Speech is given throughout the match from the "Boom, shaka, laka!", "He's heating up", to the "Jams it in!" when you score. The crowd is realistic too, bursting into applause whenever your player scores, or the atmospheric "ooo!" as a player is knocked down. Music is not used widely, however it doesn't detract that much from a game with such good speech. Despite all the impressive sound, graphics and gameplay, what many would find is that NBA Jam doesn't offer enough. Really it is only a simple one-on-one basketball match and with only four players on court with the match kept simple. Although passing to your own computer controlled player does not detract from your overall ability to play well, it does take out a lot of important parts of the game. Another thing to point out is that in little ways NBA actually indicative of a truly realistic game. Catching on fire and being able to jump and slam from up to three meters into the air is not what you are going to find in your average basketball match (not on this planet anyway!). While these features make the game fun to play, for serious sports fans NBA Jam is not recommended. NBA Jam is very good and despite some of the negative features pointed out, is still one of the best sporting games available for any system. It will keep you coming back for more and more, and with a friend the game is as exciting head-to-head as Street Fighter 2. Everything is there that is needed to make a good game, and players of all types will find NBA Jam a worthwhile challenge. Now only if a company could combine the features of NBA Jam with that of an accurate basketball simulation...... As a newer version of NBA Jam - Tournament Edition hits the arcades, look out for it. Most Jaguar owners are crossing their fingers for a Jaguar version of Tournament (Midway/Acclaim being Jag developers). Final analysis -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- GRAPH SCORE Sound effects |************************************** 95% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Music |********************************** 85% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Sprites |************************************ 90% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Backgrounds |************************ 60% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Playability |************************************** 95% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. IQ factor |******************** 50% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Fun factor |************************************ 90% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Overall graphics |********************************** 85% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. OVERALL |********************************** 85% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Percentage % 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Extra Comments -=-=-=-=-=-=-= SOUND FX : The best digitised speech/effects seen on the SNES! MUSIC : Fits the game, but there should be some during play SPRITES : All the players look real BACKGROUNDS : Boring! The main action occurs on-court PLAYABILITY : Action is intense and very playable IQ. FACTOR : Have to plan moves to a degree FUN FACTOR : Good for a while, though the sameness gets boring OVERALL GFX : Backgrounds could be better, otherwise excellent OVERALL : A very good game, which needed more variety IMPRESSIONS : Plug in NBA Jam and you are greeted with a very television looking theme. It works well though, and once you get into the game things get even better. CONVERSION: 90% - Not quite as good as the arcade. Not as many secret characters to play, plus many things are left out (such as the nice women :) ). Could be better, though for a perfect conversion look forward to the probable Jaguar version! INTEREST FACTOR: Only a week or two really. I started getting bored with the game after a few days continuous play. Leave it for a few days though and it looks interesting again, especially with 2 or more players DIFFICULTY: I found the game *hard* even on the easy level. After several hours play I could only defeat 3-4 teams and that was on the normal difficulty level. Arcade machine addicts should find it a lot more familiar. WOULD I BUY THE GAME: Probably, though Nintendo's policy of charging higher prices for games they think will sell is frustrating! FINAL COMMENT: NBA Jam is a game that looks simply excellent and plays equally well, however underneath lies a game that is largely overrated. SUPER TURRICAN ******/\****** TYPE ................ Platform/Shoot 'em up FORMAT .............. Super Nintendo DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER . HudsonSoft RELEASE ............. Approx December 1993 PRICE ............... $80 (ish) SIZE ................ 12 megabit LEVELS .............. 13 DIFFICULTY .......... Hard (selectable Easy/Medium/Very hard) PLAYERS ............. One EXTRA INFO .......... Dolby Surround sound supported If you have ever owned (or still own!) a C64 or Amiga, you would probably be familiar with the Turrican series. It has been quite a few years since the first Turrican was first released, and many have been waiting many years for a full 16 bit conversion. At the time Turrican was a first, offering an excellent arcade quality shoot 'em up with many new and exciting features. Now Super Turrican hits the Super Nintendo in full 16 bit and old fans won't find it a disappointment! Like all shoot 'em ups, Turrican has about as much story-line as your average tv-soap. Aliens take over planet, while the local population pins its last hope on its only surviving warrior. In this case you slip into your special Turrican armour, giving your character super-human abilities and nice and massive firepower. The rather poor introduction narrates this plot, and is one that is even worth watching. Your task is to eliminate all the enemies, plus the evil boss aliens battling in the caverns, skies, cities of your world. Armed with you basic weaponry of laser pistol, stun rifle and power-bomb you must move through each of the nasty packed levels. Super Turrican is pretty much your basic horizontal/vertical shoot 'em up, jump on various platforms and objects while shooting as fast and accurate as you can at the enemy. While you can only shoot in one direction, by jumping or using multiple direction bullets you can hit just about anything. Nothing new in that regard, but there aren't *too* many shoot 'em ups set in a platform environment - especially not as good as Turrican. Turrican offers a number of impressive power-ups and weapon-ups along the way. Gather the right coloured weapon packs and your weapons can be transformed into a high speed laser, flamer or other device. Your laser is good for general purpose firing, however for the more difficult enemies your stun-rifle can allow you to disable the alien while you blast it to pieces. Each offers different uses for different situations, so often it is a good idea to swap weapons for a certain section. In some places this is almost vital to pass the level. Switching between firing several different weapons can be a difficulty at times, and often the ability to do so is important to your success. Each of the levels involves a different part of the world. From being outside to travelling inside factories and underground, each level is different in many ways. Each level includes some new feature, such as conveyor belts, flying platforms, etc. Turrican won't leave you the feeling of "done this, done that" because each new area offers something new to try and get to grips with. It is unusual for a plain shoot 'em up, and probably why Super Turrican is initially very playable and also very lasting. Pump the music in Super Turrican through your stereo and you are in for one of the best orchestrated sound-tracks for ANY game on ANY system that you are likely to find outside of a professional CD. The SNES sound chips are shown in their full capacity, and with audio like that who really needs pre-recorded CD-ROM music? I didn't have a chance to evaluate the Surround Sound while is part of the game (not having the DSS encoder in my stereo which is needed), though most will tell you, sounds coming from many different angles should add that third audio dimension. While some might find the music irritating and a bit melodramatic, it sounds good to me - if every game could include similar quality sound then all players would be happy. Without such thumping sound, Super Turrican just wouldn't be the same. Sound effects are nothing spectacular, though from a shoot 'em up point of view they are above that of most. Digitised speech is a used a small amount - "Power Up" an example. Effects fit in well with the soundtrack, meaning no annoying clashes with the music. The trend in 16 bit games is of increasing graphics and keeping them consistent throughout the game - Super Turrican is no exception. My only complaint is that sprites (and the enemies) could look a bit larger and include more detail. Every level includes something different and a different look and feel, which means that the urge to play on is even greater. Super Turrican is a game that is exciting to play, and fortunately offers a lot more variety than has been seen over the last few years in shoot 'em ups. Obvious comparisons can be made between Turrican and Super Probotector (aka Super Contra Spirits in some countries), though it was long before Probotector that we saw Turrican on a home format. Both games are so good it is hard to judge which is the better. Turrican offers more impressive sound and graphics, however Probotector includes the cool two-player co-operative and split-screen modes which makes the game more fun to play with a friend. The most obvious difference I can think of is that Turrican is much harder than Probotector. Whereas Probotector might take you a few days, Turrican will take you weeks. If you like shoot 'em ups I can recommend Super Turrican without much doubt. Most other players will likely find it just as good as any other SNES game, even if shoot 'em ups aren't quite their thing. At the least, Turrican uses some unique elements which are sadly lacking in most genre of games that have come out in the last year...Definitely take a look. Final analysis -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- GRAPH SCORE Sound effects |************************************* 92% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Music |*************************************** 97% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Sprites |********************************** 85% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Backgrounds |************************************* 92% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Playability |*********************************** 88% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. IQ factor |**** 10% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Fun factor |******************************** 80% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Overall graphics |************************************ 90% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. OVERALL |********************************** 85% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Percentage % 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Extra Comments -=-=-=-=-=-=-= SOUND FX : Rather 'crashing' yet suits the game MUSIC : Some of the best I've heard in ANY game!! SPRITES : Could be bigger and a bit more thought out BACKGROUNDS : Impressive scenery in most levels PLAYABILITY : A bit hard to get to grips with IQ. FACTOR : Mindless shoot 'em up..... FUN FACTOR : but fun! OVERALL GFX : Everything fits in well OVERALL : A basic shoot 'em up, and a good one! IMPRESSIONS: While the introduction is below standard, once you get past the initial rigmarole, the game simply blasts you away with the audio-visuals alone. CONVERSION: N/A (though compared to the first Turrican 200%) INTEREST FACTOR: If you're into shoot 'em ups you'll be playing for at least a few months. Otherwise many players will be after something more variety, and most will only get a few weeks (at most) out of what is simply a *good* shoot 'em up. DIFFICULTY: On easy level you will be able to pass the first few stages with ease - it won't make the game easier in the later levels however. Very hard is indicative - very hard! WOULD I BUY THE GAME: Another of those games that you would prefer not to buy for the price listed, until it came down another $30. Since I find shoot 'em ups quite fun, I myself would but others with different tastes probably wouldn't. WOLFENSTEIN *****/\**** TYPE ................ First person/shoot 'em up FORMAT .............. Super Nintendo DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER . ID Software/Imagineer RELEASE ............. January 1994 PRICE ............... $80 SIZE ................ 12 megabit LEVELS .............. 30 DIFFICULTY .......... Medium (four different difficulty levels) PLAYERS ............. One EXTRA INFO .......... Password save for each level Just about everybody who has a PC would be familiar with the game Wolfenstein that appeared in 1992. At the time the game set many landmarks, offering a truly new type of game that was unlike any others. It won many different awards for its ingenuity and also playability, not surprising either! The most remarkable aspect of Wolfenstein is that it was produced by a relatively small software company called ID software, who offered the game as shareware, meaning that you could freely distribute the first episode (of six) and then purchase the rest at a price much cheaper than other games on the market. Since ID's initial success, the game has been surpassed by the technically superior Doom, though even now during a dull moment I can spend the time blasting away Nazi zombies in Wolfenstein. Wolfenstein on the SNES breaks ID's philosophy of cheap and immensely playable games, but I suppose that is more to due to the pressure of the big players such as Nintendo that ID software's own wishes. For those unfamiliar with the plot, you as BJ are sent by the US President to eliminate the Master State before they can raise their evil army of un dead against the human race. The game takes place across six different episodes, each consisting of an really evil end of level bad guy to contend with. Complete each episode and then you move on to the next one, until you have to battle the leader of the Master State himself in the last level. The action all takes place in a first person perspective, about as close to virtual reality as you can get without buying an expensive helmet. As you move or look around, the world scrolls in a truly 360 degree environment, causing you feel *really* there - rather than sitting just watching. Your currently selected weapon appears at the bottom of your screen, and as you fire it it flashes appropriately. Below the actual viewscreen is your stats such as health, points, usable objects, and even an animate of your face. Each level consists of a dungeon, with lots of different stone walls, plants, tables, lights, skeletons, bodies, scenery and other items to give the world a truly homely feel :) There are also doors and secret passages to navigate through along the way. The world looks *fairly* real, but could be better in many respects. Things look rather cartoon-like (while probably intentionally) detracting from the realism. These are mainly due to the relatively poor Super Nintendo processor than anything else. The dungeon is not there just to look at though! and you've got the Master State to contend with - eliminate them before they can do the same to you. There are a number of different bad guys, from the standard MS Soldier to un dead zombies and machine gunners. Each one is not so tough on its own, but when they gang up on you you are in trouble. One of the best features of Wolfenstein is that the enemies aren't stupid, and actually react to your movements. If they hear you firing your weapon they are likely to come after you, or if you walk around the corner they aren't just going to stand their staring at you! There a number of different weapons to choose from in Wolf (as in the PC version), such as a knife, single shot pistol, machine gun and the ultimate, the (50 rounds per second!) chain gun. Added to the SNES version is also a flame thrower (!!), missile launcher and a backpack to carry extra ammo. The flame thrower is great fun, it would have been good in the original version. Another worthy addition is an auto-map, meaning that you can never really get lost or walk around in circles (well that is the idea anyway). It makes the game a lot less frustrating, however also a lot easier. Other items can be picked up in the game as you go along such as weapons (you only start off with the pistol), ammo, lives, door keys, bonuses, health, etc. Many of these are vital during some parts of the game, and thankfully they have been placed where you most need them. The graphics in Wolfenstein seem to have suffered most in the conversion from PC to SNES. Everything has a very chunky feel to them, even from a distance. Speed and scrolling also seems to be slow and slightly clunky compared to the PC version. Nothing runs quite as well as the smooth 'gliding' of the PC, though it isn't as bad as I first thought when I heard Wolfenstein would appear on the SNES format. Comparatively, Wolf doesn't stack up that well to other games on the SNES graphics-wise. If ID Software had included the FX chip (which they did consider) to speed up the gameplay and graphics the conversion (and overall game) could have been a lot better. The music has been ported almost perfectly from the PC and adds the perfect atmosphere to the game. Even though it could have been better considering the SNES' vastly superior sound processors, it does sound good nonetheless. FX are excellent and many of it digitised. Everything has been re-sampled in English though, and I kind off missed the "mein leiben!" as the bad guys bit the dust. There isn't as much speech as the PC version unfortunately, but there is quite enough to keep you interested. Probably one of the most disappointing features of Wolfenstein is that a lot of the fun of the PC version has been removed. All political references are gone, meaning that the game no longer pits you against the Nazi's and Hitler but rather the Master State. Even the pictures and Nazi symbols on the walls has been altered to a more 'world-friendly' look. Blood and guts is also absent due to Nintendo's censorship policy, shooting the enemy is nowhere near as fun when they just appear to 'flop' to the ground instead of splatter. For those who have never played the game before these things probably won't be noticed, but for those who have Wolfenstein will be a lot more disappointing than the PC version. Wolfenstein has been converted pretty successfully to the SNES in my opinion, considering the many limitations the machine imposes. I was kind of hoping for some large improvements on the original game, however ID has opted to basically convert the game as it appeared on the PC. Of course, that isn't a great problem for players who have never played the game before..... Despite many of the fun things that were taken out to comply with Nintendo's no offense is good defense, SNES Wolfenstein retains most of the charm which made the PC version a hit. Final analysis -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- GRAPH SCORE Sound effects |********************************* 82% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Music |*********************************** 88% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Sprites |****************************** 75% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Backgrounds |********************************** 85% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Playability |********************************** 85% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. IQ factor |****** 15% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Fun factor |****************************** 75% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Overall graphics |********************************** 85% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. OVERALL |********************************** 85% +___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I___I. Percentage % 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Extra Comments -=-=-=-=-=-=-= SOUND FX : Nice digitised FX and speech MUSIC : Moody, though could be more evocative and 'thumping' SPRITES : Not quite detailed enough BACKGROUNDS : Not too much detail, quite repetitive PLAYABILITY : A bit unresponsive to movement, etc IQ. FACTOR : Move and shoot (tiny thought) FUN FACTOR : Still fun to play despite censorship OVERALL GFX : Good but is too chunky for my liking OVERALL : A good game which could have been better IMPRESSIONS: Hard to guage since I am very used to the PC version and know how *it* plays. Exciting and something new for those who have never played this type of game before. CONVERSION: 70% - Too many things taken out for my liking INTEREST FACTOR: Many weeks of exploring and shooting. You'll never really get bored of it as there are many secret passages/levels, etc to discover. DIFFICULTY: On easy you can finish the game with no troubles without really dying. Medium is a good challenge and hard is very challenging unless you are a Wolfenstein addict (like me :) ). WOULD I BUY THE GAME: If you have a PC I strongly recommend you go for the slightly superior, cheaper, non-censored, and more fun to play PC version over the SNES version. If you didn't have the PC version I would probably buy it - being very different in style to many of the boring games on the SNES. úÄÄÄÄ The Cheater's ÄÄÄÄÄú ÛÛÛÛÛÜÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛÛÛÛÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛÝÛÛÜÜÜ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛ ÛÛÝÛÛßßß ÛÛ ÛÛ °±²ÛÛÛÛÛßÞÛÛÛÛÛÛÞÛ ÛÛ²±° úÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄú FRONTIER hopes to include a variety of different cheats, hints, solutions, etc for systems and games of all different types. The aim is to produce new information that has not been published before, though this of course cannot always be guaranteed. If you have discovered a secret level, willing to contribute some accurate playing hints, just finished a game and are willing to produce a solution, or for that matter anything that will help out gamers, Frontier is after them! NBA JAM (SNES and Genesis versions) - Here are some general tactics that should help out first time players: - To score frequent three pointers, the best place to score is from about half-way along the arc of the three point circle. This is the shortest distance to the ring and the easiest to get in. - This might seem obvious, the best way to intercept the ball is to get your player between the two opposition players then block and elbow. Eventually if they don't manage to pass they will be fouled, or in the least you should be able to force an error. - For the best overall team, choose the Hornets! Although nothing really stands out, everything is balanced evenly between the different abilities NBA JAM (SNES) - To play Bill Clinton!, at the password screen enter A, then R and then move your cursor to the letter K but DON'T press a key. Then press buttons L,R,X and then enter K. Another cheat to move to the last match of the season - enter the name DAN and then password Q4DPBGX ZXJBT3H NBA JAM (Genesis) - Similar to the SNES version, to play Bill Clinton enter A, then R, move to K and then press A and START, then enter K. PRINCE OF PERSIA (Genesis) - Here are the level codes for each level: Level 2 - EJKIDC Level 3 - HJKVRE Level 4 - OOPPVE Level 5 - GEFRZH Level 6 - APPYIC Level 7 - WJKHCS Level 8 - GPPEGS FINAL FIGHT (GenesisCD) - For rapid-fire mode, at the options screens move to exit, then hold A, B, RIGHT, and press START. NIGHT TRAP (GenesisCD) - For some strange video, you will need to finish the game. When it says "In memory of...." press UP, and A five times. ALIEN 3 (Genesis) - At the options screen, use controller 2 to press C, UP, RIGHT, DOWN, LEFT, A, RIGHT, DOWN. Then during the game, pause it and press C, A, B. Unpause the game to skip to the next level TRADiNG ***/\*** AT present this area has not been included, due to the fact that nobody has contacted me wanting to place any private ads. If you do have something console related you would like to sell, contact me and I will include the section in issue three for your ad. SUPPORT SITES/DISTRIBUTION ************/\************ THE following places are the first to receive Frontier each month, and also carry previous issues. If you are after the latest issue of Frontier, these places are where you will find it: VIOLENT CRIMES (BBS) Melbourne, Australia +61-3-562-1008 Sysop: Sudden Death Extra: Mention Frontier to receive the magazine. EMPIRE (BBS) Melbourne, Australia +61-3-591-0020 Sysop: Matthew Clemants Extra: This is still being worked on, issues are distributed here Fidonet 3:632/530 CUBENet (BBS) Munich, Germany +49-089-149-8811 Sysop: Peter Koehnkow Extra Info: 44 lines! One of Europe's biggest BBS Fidonet (2:2480/66) X=Link BBS Singapore +065-345-2083 Sysop: Melvin Chia Extra Info: 24hrs (Sat/Sun/Singapore public holidays) 1200-0000 (Mon-Fri : Singapore Time) Fidonet (6:600/638) FTP ftp.digex.net in /pub/access/spatton/frontier_magazine/ Admin: contact Scott Patton (spatton@access.digex.net) Extra Info: Only the latest issue of Frontier will be available here due to limited archive space. FTP (non-official) California, United States wuarchive.wustl.edu in /pub/frontier_magazine/ Admin: archive@wugate.wustl.edu Extra Info: At present only on a temporary basis and is not official (could disappear at any time). * The Cardiff archives had to be cancelled as an FTP support site at the last moment. Sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused. Thankfully Frontier has set up a new FTP site which will hold the current issue in its place. * Frontier is looking for somebody who can set up some sort of internet list-server so that Frontier can be sent via email to people who don't have FTP access. Contact the editor if you are willing to provide this. * You too can become a support site and be added to this list. All that is required is for you to hold the current and back issues of Frontier, and be able to FTP each issue as it is released. Simple... HOW *YOU* TOO CAN HELP OUT FRONTIER ***************/\****************** FOR a magazine such as this to prosper, Frontier needs regular contributions from its readers. From general articles, new releases, to reviews and opinions, Frontier needs them all. Even small pieces of information which you feel may not or may not be important, don't hesitate to send them in. Most likely, if it hasn't been mentioned, we don't know about it! If you wish to become a regular reviewer for Frontier, drop me a line stating the consoles you own, and which game(s) you want to review and I'll email you the 'Frontier reviewer's guide'. This guide should cover everything you need to know about writing a review for this magazine, or for those who have never written a review before and want to. The following things are specifically needed at present: - Gameplay co-ordinator position: To compile a list of cheats, hints and solutions for many games on many different platforms. You should be an avid game player and be able to discover material for yourself - eg: not taken straight from magazines. - More reviewers: Although many have asked for and have been sent the reviewer's guide, I have heard very little back in the way of reviews from those people. Please get those reviews in if you intend on having them published! - More cheats: A lot of the cheats as you may notice are reprints of those that have appeared in other magazines. I am trying to stay away from this, so if you have an original cheat or hint please send it in. * For information on where to send any material or contributions, see the following section. HOW TO CONTACT FRONTiER **********/\*********** IF you need to contact Frontier for any reason, to ask a question, to pose a question, to comment on the magazine or industry in general, or for any other reason, don't hesitate to mail! (as it were). * Gordon Craick (chief editor) * .._@/` Post: Gordon Craick For those who do not have access 16 Gums Avenue to the internet Belgrave, Victoria AUSTRALIA 3160 Email: pred@zikzak.apana.org.au For response within a few minutes to a few days! FidoNet: Netmail to 3:632/530 (Gordon Craick) * Bradley Lascelle (new co-ordinator) Email: bradley.lascelle@canrem.com - Canada .:. If I don't receive your mail, try sending it again. If i *still* don't receive your message, try posting a 'where are you?' post in one of the console newsgroups (which I regularly monitor) and I should be able to get back to you. Otherwise, don't worry, I'm probably just dead :) CREDITS/THANKS ******/\****** KEEP up the great support everybody! Specific thank you's go to: . Tim Wenas - His article/plus Cybermorph review & extras ;) . Peter Koehnkow - For being a Frontier support BBS . Melvin Chia - For being a Frontier support BBS (Singapore - wow!) . Scott Patten - For being a Frontier FTP site (at last an official FTP site) . David Mansell - For his many CD32 contributions. . Bradley Lascelle - For being the news co-ordinator and hopefully some reviews in the future! . DiE productions - Distribution, support and more! . YOU * Unless otherwise indicated, all articles are written by Gordon Craick. That's about it from the second issue of Frontier! Look out for issue three out in early May.... -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- COPYRIGHT INFORMATION - FRONTIER MAGAZINE AND ALL ARTICLES CONTAINED WITHIN REMAIN THE LEGAL PROPERTY OF THE AUTHOR(S) UNDER EXISTING WORLDWIDE COPYRIGHT TREATIES AND IS (c) COPYRIGHT 1994. NO PART OF THIS MAGAZINE MAY BE DISTRIBUTED SEPARATELY OR SOLD FOR PROFIT WITHOUT EXPLICIT PERMISSION FROM THE EDITOR AND RESPECTIVE AUTHOR'S. ALL COMPANIES AND NAMES MENTIONED IN THIS MAGAZINE REMAIN TRADEMARKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE COMPANIES. FRONTIER CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LOSSES INCURRED FROM INFORMATION IN THIS MAGAZINE, EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY. WHILE CARE IS TAKEN TO ENSURE ACCURATE INFORMATION, FRONTIER CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR LOSSES. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-