News, rumors and other information (originally posted 05/10/95)
Ultra 64 in April 1996
Nintendo has officially declared a release date for the much-anticipated Ultra 64 in spring of 1996 - considerably later than the fall '95 release many gamers had anticipated.
Game Zero T-Shirts
We are planning to start offering t-shirts featuring the artwork of our staff artist Dr. Otto. Our first planned design will be a shirt showing our mascot (as seen on our index page), with the name Game Zero Magazine displayed with the picture. Future shirts will contain artwork of Dr. Otto's characters as seen in his weekly comic. Each shirt will have the line art screened onto the shirt, and then the color work will be hand-airbrushed. We are currently getting an estimate on cost and will have more information available shortly. In the mean time, we would really like to hear from any of you who would be interested in purchasing something like this, so e-mail us your thoughts. Coming soon!
3DO formely announces M2:
On May 2nd, 1995, 3DO held a press conference in New York where they demonstrated development output of several games for their new platform upgrade. Sources on location were visibly impressed by the graphical capabilies implied in the presentation, and were equally suprised by the device shown to be roughly palm sized. While there was really no new news released as to system specifications, here is what we currently know: some stats on the M2 adapter include - a 64-bit architecture, based around the PowerPC 602 microprocessor, capable of outputing one-million polygons per second, hardware based texture mapping and shading, and built in MPEG-1 video decompression. 3DO has stated that they will have more information available for the press at E3, so the big question is, can everyone wait till next week for the news? In the mean time, for additional reading we offer a copy of the M2 Press Release, and a review of terminology to help you make sense of it all.
Nintendo on the net:
Nintendo finally has their homepage available at the WWW address of "http://www.nintendo.com/" There is limited system and software information available, but expect to see more news here as of May 10th for E3.
More on GameTek's "Robotech" trailer:
Well, we finally spoke with a representative at GameTek about the quicktime animation (.mov format) that has been available, and to paraphrase, the word is, "The animation is not Ultra 64 output, the actual game will run faster and at a higher frame rate. Also, there will be more detail added in the final production." We were also told that this animation was originally released in an electronic magazine that GameTek distributes on CD for home computers. Well, if this information about the animation is true, I can't wait, especially after seeing the additional still-shots that have been showing up (gif1 / gif2 / gif3). By leaking such high quality images, GameTek is really building expectations on this title which they don't even expect to have out till early '96.
Nintendo invests in Rare:
This bares mentioning, even though many of you may have heard about it already. On April 18th, Nintendo officially announced a capital investment in the UK-based development house, Rare. This gives Nintendo 25% interest in Rare and marks the first time the Big "N" has invested in a developer outside of Japan. This not only points to a more active role in Rare's title development by Nintendo, but in my opinion, this opens up Rare to inside programming assistance that other development houses don't normally have access to... As if Rare already needed more of an edge... This partnership looks very promising.
Bubsy '95:
Well, for better or worse, Bubsy is coming home to the PC market. On April 24th, Accolade announced Super Bubsy for the Windows '95 O/S. The significance of this title is that Bubsy will be the first side-scrolling title released for Windows. Running at an estimated 60 full-screen frames per second, 256 colors, a resolution of 640x480, and more than 50 digitized phrases keyed to a variety of character actions. The game will be based on the original console release Bubsy in: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind and is scheduled for release on PC CD-ROM in August to coincide with the projected release of Win '95. Other system requirements expected are: 486 DX2 or better with 8 MB of RAM, 1 MB VLB or PCI SuperVGA card, and 8-bit sound or better.
Ultra 64 in April 1996