:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: Jaguar Special Edition ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE 21 August 1993 :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: :: :: ATARI .............. News, reviews, & solutions ............ ATARI :: :: EXPLORER ............ for the online Atari .......... EXPLORER :: :: ONLINE ................. Community .............. ONLINE :: :: :: :: Published and Copyright (c) 1993 by Subspace Publishing :: :: """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" :: :: Publisher ........................... Michael Lindsay EXPLORER :: :: Editor .................................. Travis Guy AEO.MAG :: :: News and Features Editor ............... Ron Kovacs Z-NET :: :: Assistant Editor GEnie............... Ron Robinson EXPLORER.1 :: :: Assistant Editor CompuServe......... Albert Dayes AEO.1 :: :: Assistant Editor Delphi........ Andreas Barbiero AEO.2 :: :: Assistant Editor Internet....... Timothy Wilson AEO.8 :: :: Atari Asylum .................. Gregg Anderson AEO.7 :: :: Unabashed Atariophile .... Michael R. Burkley AEO.4 :: :: Atari Artist .................. Peter Donoso EXPLORER.2 :: :: :: :: :: :: Telecommunicated to you via: :: :: """""""""""""""""""""""""""" :: :: GEnie: AEO.MAG :: :: CompuServe: 70007,3615 :: :: Delphi: AEO_MAG :: :: Fnet: AEO Conference, Node 706 :: :: AtariNet: AEO Conference, Node 51:1/10 :: :: :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Table of Contents * From the Editors ....................................... The _real_ news. * Atari Jaguar Press Release ................... Announcing Atari's newest. * Jaguar Technology ............................... The Tom and Jerry show. * Jaguar Special Effects ........................ What do these terms mean? * Jaguar Games .......................................... The first titles. * System Comparison ......................... How does the Jaguar stack up against its competition? * Shutdown ................................................ Till next time. --==--==--==--==-- ||| From the Editors ....... Atari Explorer Online: The Next Generation ||| Travis Guy / | \ GEnie: AEO.MAG Delphi: AEO_MAG Internet: AEO.MAG@GENIE.GEIS.COM ------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a very special issue of Atari Explorer Online. Earlier this week, Atari Corp. hosted a press conference to show off the new Atari Jaguar videogame/multimedia system. Many mainstream press people attended, and nearly all were awed at what Atari had to show them. Late last night (Friday) on an AEO conference call, the editorial staff decided that the information released was of such interest to the Atari faithful, AEO should focus this week on the Atari Jaguar. Atari is planning a 4th Quarter 1993 launch in the New York and San Francisco markets using spot TV, local cable, gaming publications and a local PR effort (all backed by a $3,000,000 budget) to push the machine. $45,000,000 is earmarked for the national campaign which should start in January 1994. The Jaguar itself will debut at the $200 price point, with software priced between $50 and $80. Atari wants to establish the Jaguar as an industry standard. Phrases like "Cable TV network connectivity," "full motion video," "full length motion pictures on CD," and this summer's hottest buzz term, "virtual reality" are being spoken of at Atari. For the latest news from Atari (that is, until the next AEO), tune into the World of Games RTC with Bob Brodie and Atari President Sam Tramiel this Wednesday on Delphi. Bob will also be the Guest of Honor at a upcoming GEnie BBS RT RTC, and at the First Anniversary Dateline: Atari RTC on Friday, September 3rd at 10 p.m. EDT, at the GEnie ST RoundTable. (With Atari Works, MultiTOS and SpeedoGDOS as prizes!) Yet _another_ RTC with both Bob and Sam Tramiel is planned for GEnie to specifically discuss the Jaguar. No date has yet been set - watch AEO for future details. //// Return of the "Snapshot Special" Back when AEO was Atari's Official Online Magazine, it was brought up with Bob Brodie that Targa files of some Jaguar game screens would make interesting viewing, "when the time is right." Well, that time is now. True to his word, Bob had about twenty screen shots made, and has released them to the media. We have included what we feel is the best of the crop with this issue. Rather than making this download run, oh, well over 500K, our files have been converted into the smaller, and more widely used GIF format. (Conversion to 320x256 256-color GIF files done expertly by N&F Editor Ron Kovacs.) For those who want the True Color Targa files, we will be uploading the Atari files to the GEnie ST RoundTable over the weekend. These files are: SNAP1.GIF from Raiden DD2.GIF from Evolution Dino-Dudes AT_L1.GIF and ATBEAM.GIF from Tiny Toon Adventures A note about viewing these files: Please remember that these screens originally used hundreds of colors. If you view these files on a system that can display less than 256 colors on-screen, you will lose much of their detail and brilliance. As a extra-special bonus for the curious, we've included two IMG picture files; one of the Jaguar logo, and one of a Jaguar System Block Diagram. These files are courtesy (and copyright) of Atari Corp. All of these files have been tested with GEMView 2.32, and we hope you will enjoy them. So here we have it, our (first?) Jaguar Special Edition. None of our regular features are present, but they will all return in two weeks. Just think of this as our "End of Summer" gift to you. (And a rest for the crew.) The Jaguar. The spotlight this week in the World Atari. --==--==--==--==-- ||| The Atari Jaguar Press Release ||| Courtesy: Atari Corp. / | \ ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- "In creating our 3DO technology, we aimed for a really big jump in colors and animation performance. "You can't establish a standard if another manufacturer has a consumer device that's going to be better than yours next year. You have to provide a performance level that puts the stake way out there.... Then people don't bother to challenge it." Trip Hawkins President & CEO 3DO THE ATARI JAGUAR Sunnyvale, CA - August 18, 1993 - Atari Corporation is aggressively taking command of the consumer electronics market with the introduction of the Atari Jaguar this Fall. "We believe that we have taken a more substantial jump than 3DO has in bringing a better and more affordable entertainment experience to the consumer market," said Sam Tramiel, president of Atari. While the spotlight has been shining brightly on the latest multimedia craze, Atari Corporation has emerged with the ultimate interactive home entertainment system: The 64-bit Atari Jaguar. At around $200, the 64-bit Jaguar outperforms the $700 32-bit 3DO system by a factor of 2. Consumers will see the difference in the Jaguar's vivid screen imagery, most notably featuring over 16 million colors (16,777,216 to be exact) in 32-bit true color graphics. The Jaguar produces 3D polygons for manipulation in a 3D world in real time. Animation capabilities are in excess of 850 million pixels per second, creating superior special effects and real time texture mapping. Using 55 MIPS, speed and motion are unequaled with no constraints as to how fast or restricted screen objects can move. "The imagery is something that needs to be seen to be believed," said Sam Tramiel, president of Atari. "Imagery is one thing, but wait until you see how you can interact with these images." The Jaguar has full three-dimensional capabilities, with three- dimensional models that can rotate, be wildly distorted and even be texture mapped. Lighting sources can be defined so that objects are illuminated appropriately and at differing intensities, depending on the light intensity and its distance. With the full 16 megabits of system RAM available for game usage i.e., no needless operating system overhead, speed will be superior to other consumer entertainment experiences. The Jaguar's sound system is based on Atari's proprietary, high speed Digital Signal Processor, with 16-bit stereo CD quality sound output. This allows for extremely realistic sounds, including human voices, cars racing, jets soaring, worlds colliding, and more. The Jaguar's synthesizer is used to create limitless boundaries in special effect sounds and the dramatic use of music. Fidelity is far beyond coin operated quality sound. As a true multimedia platform, future applications for the Jaguar's 32-bit expansion port include connections into cable and telephone networks; a digital signal processor port for modem use and connection to digital audio peripherals such as DAT players. The Jaguar CD peripheral is a most anticipated feature, with a fast dual speed drive that can output data continuously at a rate of 350K bytes per second, or run at normal audio rates of 175K per second. As well as being the repository for almost 700 megabytes of video game storage, the Jaguar CD Module is also being designed to interface with audio CD, Karaoke CD, CD+Graphics and optional Kodak Photo CD. Atari also plans to release an MPEG 2 cartridge which will allow users to play full length motion pictures from CD. With the Jaguar CD-ROM drive comes the ability to deliver full-screen, full-color, full-motion video. Jaguar uses a video decompression system licensed from SuperMac Technologies called CinePakż. The system permits over sixty minutes of video to be stored on a single compact disk (sic) and allows a game to use these video sequences at 30 frames a second. The result of this combination of technologies is to provide movie quality pictures that may be overlaid on the screen with computer generated graphics if the game demands it. Also included with the game is a high performance, ergonomically designed, Controller with Joypad, three fire buttons, Pause, Option, and a 12 key keypad with game specific overlays. IBM Corporation's Charlotte, North Carolina, facility will manufacture the Jaguar. They will be responsible for component sourcing, assembling, quality testing, packaging, and distribution of the Jaguar, which will be made in the United States. This fall, the Jaguar will be introduced into the New York and San Francisco markets followed by a national roll-out next year. "As an American company we are in support of utilizing domestic manufacturing," said Tramiel. "We are proud that the Jaguar is made in the U.S.A." --==--==--==--==-- ||| Jaguar Focus: Technology Overview ||| Courtesy: Atari Corp. / | \ ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- The main features of the Jaguar are: [] 64-bit RISC-based multiprocessing architecture. [] A very high speed 106.4 Mbyte/sec 64-bit Data path. [] 27 MIPs Graphic Processor with 4K bytes of zero wait-state internal SRAM that is closely coupled with the Blitter that can perform a full range of graphics effects (including shading and rotations) at high speed yet is programmable for maximum flexibility. [] A programmable Object Processor that can act as a variety of different video architectures, such as an advanced sprite engine, pixel-mapped based systems, character mapped based systems and many others. [] 27 MIPs Digital Signal Processor with 8K bytes of zero wait-state internal SRAM for CD quality sound and full stereo capabilities. [] A Blitter that can perform a full range of logical operations at high speed with hardware support for Z-buffering and Gouraud shading. [] MC68000 CPU clocked at 13.3 MHz as a general purpose control processor. [] Lifelike quality 32-bit color on NTSC or PAL television screens, yielding greater than 16 million colors. [] ROM Cartridge capacity to 48 Megabits of compressed or uncompressed code. When compressed, equivalent to almost 400 Megabits. [] 16 Megabits of fast page-mode DRAM. [] An optional double speed CD-ROM drive. [] ComLynx I/O for networked multiconsole games. [] Two (expandable to literally dozens) enhanced Controller Ports, supporting digital and analog interfaces, as well as keyboards, lightguns and mice. [] High performance, ergonomically designed, Controller with Joypad, 3 firebuttons, Pause, Option, and 12-key keypad with game-specific overlays. [] High speed synchronous serial port for connection to modems, cable TV networks and other high performance networks. From a user's perspective, the Atari Jaguar has been designed to be a consumer-oriented, affordable, state-of-the-art entertainment system. It is capable of exquisite graphic interaction and displays, together with CD quality sound. From a developer's point of view, Jaguar is a special purpose multi-processor computer that lends itself perfectly to the design and implementation of complex entertainment and educational programs in a development environment that is easy to learn. The Jaguar's features include the ability to draw over 16 Million colors and generate stereo sound of CD quality. In addition, multiple manipulatable Objects can be defined to be almost any size, from sprite-like elements, to screen sized playfields. Jaguar's graphics processors are capable of scaling, rotating and shading bit-mapped and polygon images. Jaguar is a true multimedia machine that supports cartridges, CD ROM, CD Audio, CD+G, full motion video, virtual reality and networking. The architecture of the Jaguar allows for high speed interactivity between four specialized processors embedded in two custom chips, code named Tom and Jerry. As a result, the Jaguar is a high performance system that distributes the processing workload among various specialized system components, creating the overall spectacular performance Jaguar achieves. On cartridges, Jaguar supports an enhanced JPEG image decompression mechanism (JagPEG). The CD-ROM software uses CinePakż full motion video decompression, licensed from SuperMac Technologies. For the technologically minded, it is important to note that the heart of a video game system does not lie in the individual components. The meshing of those components in the system itself is of significance due to the crucial nature of bus bandwidth. The 68000 processor requires a bandwidth of about seven megabytes per second while a true color display (NTSC or PAL) requires a further nine megabytes per second. The Digital Signal Processor uses less than half a megabyte per second to play back sampled sound. This means that almost 85% of the bandwidth is available for the burst activities that the system needs to perform. This incredible bandwidth is key to Jaguar's performance. "We believe that this truly 'places the stake' over twice as far as 3DO has, at a price that consumers can actually afford," said Bill Rehbock, director of application software, in charge of third party licensing for the Jaguar. --==--==--==--==-- ||| Jaguar Focus: Special Effects ||| Courtesy: Atari Corp. / | \ ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Users and developers alike will reap the rewards provided by the Jaguar system's programmable special effects capabilities. Users will delight in the ultra realism seen in computer generated images, from shadowing and depth distortion to three dimensional movement. And game designers will be both challenged and excited by the unlimited possibilities. Some of the effects that can be created are: Texture Mapping: A simple or complex image can be "wrapped" onto any two or three dimensional structure. This allows for an unlimited number of textures and images that can be made part of the surface of complex objects. Morphing: Animate and inanimate objects can be modified smoothly so that they appear to be transformed from one image to another. A frog can become a prince, a lamp may transform into a genie and a battleship can turn into a submarine; all in real-time. This effect was made popular by the blockbuster motion picture, "Terminator 2" and Michael Jackson's music video, "Black and White." Warping: Any image can be stretched, pulled, rotated or skewed in any way the programmer requires. This allows very real simulations of the interaction between physical objects such as a football bouncing off the ground. It also permits the easy creation of cartoon-like imagery. Lighting: Single or multiple sources of lighting can be defined. The system will automatically illuminate objects based on their location relative to the light source(s). This creates realistic shading unsurpassed by any current video game manufacturer. Transparency: Use of the transparency feature makes it simple to create effects that are normally complex to generate. For example, smoke and shadows can be made part of any game scenario, adding realism to the game experience. --==--==--==--==-- ||| Jaguar Focus: Jaguar Games ||| Courtesy: Atari Corp. / | \ ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- With this Fall's introduction of the Atari Jaguar, the ultimate video game system and the nation's first 64-bit interactive multimedia entertainment system, comes a plethora of both new and familiar game titles. While third party developers and publishers are actively designing software for the system, Atari programmers overseas and domestically have been developing and fine-tuning several titles for the Jaguar for release this year. The dramatic use of 3D rendering and 24-bit graphics is most prevalent in games seen on the Jaguar system. Scanned and digitized character images, as well as detailed texture mapping, lighting and shadowing effects and unrestricted motion and speed all contribute to the next level of technology apparent in these games. And the 16-bit stereo capabilities and high fidelity CD quality sound combined with the imagery produce extraordinary results. Some of the titles include: Crescent Galaxy - Lifelike three dimensionally rendered and shadowed planetary objects and lifeforms prevail in this multi-leveled side shooter. You are the young Corporal Trevor McFur of the Circle Reserve Core. Returning from a deep space reconnaissance mission, you and your shipmate intercept a long-range transmission telling you that you are the only hope in saving the galaxy against a ruthless creature. The game is visually stunning with full textured 3D renderings of creatures and planets with nine levels reflecting five different worlds. Enemies and allies include: Pop-up Poppies which explode when they sense an enemy nearby; Geysers which can spurt forth abrupt blasts of nuclear steam erupting from the Planets core; and bothersome creatures such as Skeletal Vultures, Scorpions and Flying Dinos and dozens more. Cybermorph - Surreal landscapes colored in both muted and bright tones are the background for this One-Man Rescue Probe sent into an interplanetary battlefield to rescue stranded survivors of a dying war. The Cybermorph is an adaptable, flexible machine with an outer skin programmed to react to its environment. If accelerating, it grows streamlined to reduce resistance; when banking, its wings extend to give maximum turn; when slowing up, the rear of the craft morphs into a cowl to bring the speed down quickly and smoothly. The probe flies in a full three dimensional world environment. The object is to fly over the surface of each world in a low-altitude, high speed craft saving helpless survivors and avoiding surface and air attack and alien infestation. You defend yourself by shooting anything that moves and avoid being hit yourself or colliding into tall landscape features. A holographic face speaks to you giving you information. Following lifeline sensors, you race toward the cries for help, saving survivors from all 50 moons to complete the mission. Raiden - As the ultimate arcade game conversion, the Jaguar version is considered the ideal soundalike and lookalike Raiden game. As a vertical scroller, you control aircraft flying over enemy territory, shooting militaristic tanks and aircraft, avoiding enemy gun fire and hidden missiles. This full-featured game makes use of the graphic capabilities with complex parallax scrolling and realistic and engaging audio quality. This was essentially developed as a yardstick for performance, color and sprite comparisons to showcase the Jaguar's capabilities. Speed and motion are exceptional with no slow down when mass objects are present on the screen. No other system comes close to accurately converting this arcade game to a home console. Evolution-Dino Dudes - Familiar to consumers as Dinolympics on the Lynx or as Humans on the PC, this title is an Atari-owned property which, seen on the Jaguar, utilizes all the graphics and colors Jaguar can represent. Vivid colors and creative use of animation facilities enhance the overall look of the game, but the 80 levels of play make this challenging as well. As a platform puzzle game, cavemen characters are taught to survive, by avoiding man-eating dinosaurs, discovering the spear, making fire and physically running, jumping and climbing their way up the evolutionary ladder. Club Drive - The most exciting vacation park in the 21st century is the theme for this pulse quickening excursion. At this fantasy driving resort, all vehicles are indestructible, and visitors can challenge their skills and courage by driving some of the most treacherous terrain and returning completely unscathed. Different levels are represented by a futuristic city, an old western town, a present day world and even a toy car world where you can drive in and around your furniture at breakneck speeds as if you were inside a toy racing car. This true 3D polygon environment is completely new to the gaming world. Checkered Flag II - Jaguar Formula One Racing hits its peak with this version using real-time 3D generated action, akin to arcade quality racing games. Cars, buildings and roads are rendered in true 3D, with options to customize your car. The game features 100% true sound effects; crashes are realistic in both sound and imagery, with parts flying and tires screeching. Racing speed is markedly intensified. Tiny Toon Adventures - Based on the popular Warner Bros. characters, this platform game utilizes the vibrant colors and graphics to the utmost. The storyline follows Buster Bunny, Babs Bunny and Plucky Duck as they embark on a rescue mission to save the planet Aurica. Bad boy Montana Max has a new toy: an Acme TiToonium-Gold Converter. The only place to get TiToonium is on the planet Aurica. The removal of TiToonium is causing grave ecological damage to Aurica. Armed with Acme Crazy Net, our heroes try to shut down the Acme TiToonium-Gold Converter. The object is to navigate through each level, locate the TiToonium Extractor within each level and pull the plug on it. With a transport beam pad, one of our heroes can be selected to climb, jump and run through each level so in the end, the planet can be saved. Alien vs. Predator - Based on two 20th Century Fox feature film blockbusters, what would happen if the Alien, the Predator and a colonial Marine Corporal were put together? Who would win? You select who you will portray and the qualities each possesses is incorporated into your strategy. For instance, if you were the Alien, you could climb walls; as the Predator, your night vision is superior and as the Marine Corporal, you may be able to outwit the other two with your computer skills. Placed in realistic texture mapped corridors, your movement is put in real-time action. Camera speeds race as you're being chased down hallways with a high frame rate. Exceptional colors and shadow effects put you right into the action. Kasumi Ninja - The game is set on the small island of Kasumi in the West Pacific rim. The Kasumi Ninja are the world's finest Ninja warriors and a mist of invisibility from the Ninja Gods hides Kasumi from the world. Kasumi is undetectable, even by radar. The Gods have decided to intervene when Gyaku, a strong warrior, kills his family and the Gods must find a new strong warrior to battle him. But first, this new young Ninja must learn new skills and fight with nine other persona, each with unique martial arts abilities and special moves. The game incorporates superior graphics and animation with realistic landscapes and backgrounds. Ninja warriors utilize 91 different martial arts movements, with all the sound effects and audio consistent with this type of fighting. Tempest 2000 - This title is familiar to gamers as the favorite arcade classic using vector graphics, polygons and rapid fire. Here, the Jaguar version incorporates a starfield in the background instead of just a black background. CD quality stereo enhances this game tenfold as this fast-paced energetic game unfolds. Manipulative abilities have been modernized and updated with new features that include spins and twists not seen in the 80's, as well as an updated version to the year 2000 which takes full advantage of the Jaguar's 3D graphic polygon capabilities. --==--==--==--==-- ||| Jaguar Focus: System Comparison ||| Courtesy: Atari Corp. / | \ ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Jaguar 3DO SNES GENESIS --------------+------------------------------------------------------------ Bus Width | 64 bits 32 bits 16 bits 16 bits | Rendering/ | Animation | 850+ Million 64 Million 1 Million 1 Million Speed | pixels/second pixels/second pixels/second pixels/second | Bus | 106.4 60 ? ? Bandwidth | Megabytes/sec Megabytes/sec | Colors | 16.7 Million 16.7 Million 256 64 | True Color | Yes Yes Yes No Graphics | (32-bit) (24-bit) (16-bit) | Processors | 5: GPU + DSP 4: ARM60+DSP 2: 65C816 2: 68000 | Object Proc. 2 Graphic DSP Z80 | Blitter+68000 Processors | Stereo 16-bit | CD Quality | Yes Yes No No Sound? | | MIPS | 55 ? ? ? | Custom HW | for 3D | Yes No No No Objects | | Multi- | Processing | Yes ? ? ? Architecture | | Object | Processor | Yes No No No | S-Video Out | Yes Yes Yes No | RF Out | Yes Yes Yes Yes | Composite Out | Yes Yes Yes ? | RGB Out | Yes ? ? Yes | Resolution | 720x576 640x480 512x448 320x224 --------------+------------------------------------------------------------ --==--==--==--==-- ||| ||| Shutdown ............................ Power off, EXIT, BYE, Logoff / | \ ------------------------------------------------------------------ Why Jaguar? [] 100 times more powerful than SNES and Genesis [] More than twice the performance of 3DO at less than 1/3 of the price [] Software that brings the consumer closer to reality [] Shaded 3D polygons in a 3D world in real time [] Graphics - 16 million colors [] Sound - 16-bit CD quality [] Animation - 850+ million pixels/second [] Speed - 55 MIPS [] Motion - Unrestricted movement ... and not least of all, it's from Atari. We welcome feedback from all of our readers; feedback both positive and negative. Whatever you think of our efforts, we sincerely would like to know. Our EMail addresses are sprinkled throughout each issue - with the new Internet gateway into GEnie, you can reach us through the Internet also. Append "@genie.geis.com" to any of our GEnie addresses. Until the next issue of AEO, I remain, Your Editor Travis Guy Internet: aeo.mag@genie.geis.com --==--==--==--==-- (This issue printed on recycled photons) --==--==--==--==-- DNFTEC --==--==--==--==-- Atari Explorer Online Magazine is a bi-weekly publication covering the Atari computer community. Material published in this issue may be reprinted under the following terms only: articles must remain unedited and include the issue number and author at the top of each article reprinted. Reprint permission is granted, unless otherwise noted at the beginning of the article, to registered Atari user groups and not for profit publications. Opinions presented herein are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the staff, or of the publishers. --==--==--==--==-- Atari, ST, Mega ST, STE, Mega STE, TT030, Atari Falcon030, TOS, MultiTOS, NewDesk, BLiTTER, Atari Lynx, ComLynx, Atari Jaguar, Atari Portfolio, and the Atari Fuji Symbol are all trademarks or registered trademarks of Atari Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned in this issue belong to their respective owners. --==--==--==--==-- Atari Explorer Online Magazine "Your Only Independent Atari Online" Copyright (c) 1993, Subspace Publishing * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: A E O ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: Jaguar Special Edition ATARI EXPLORER ONLINE 21 August 1993 :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::