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By
David Jenkins
Gamasutra
October
16, 1998
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 News
Analysis
Eurospeak
Europe
Welcomes Dreamcast Into the Fold
The eyes
of the gaming world have been cast eastwards in the last few days, and
with good reason, Sega
has been proving, if any doubts remained, that their exile from the world
of console manufacturers was premature. The crowds of infatuated Japanese
gamers showed clearly that they at least forgave Sega for foisting the
Saturn upon them, and were really rather looking forward to the Dreamcast.
European retailers and publishers are also surprisingly optimistic, even
if many of their punters have yet to be convinced that Sega is anything
more than yesterdays’ news. Nevertheless it seems that the previously
muted September 1999 Dreamcast release is Sega’s current European
target and the rumour is that they will also be aiming for a price point
in the region of £130 - the same as the Japanese launch price. Clearly
they’ve learned from the mistake of trying to sell that Saturn at
£299. The question of whether a modem will be included in the standard
European machine still goes unanswered though. The expectation is that
it will not - but instead be available as a very reasonably priced peripheral.
Despite Sega’s burgeoning kudos collection though, there has been
something of a backlash building against Dreamcast, albeit a fairly
muted one. Some that have played it at length are suggesting that it’s
not quite the Model 3 beating monster that others would you have believe.
There’s also been further complaints about Sonic Adventures,
this time regarding the surprising amount of off-putting pop-up. Then
there’s Godzilla Generations, whose gameplay and graphics
many Western observers are already writing off as a complete load of old
sushi.
Sony
clearly isn’t prepared to sit back and hope the naysayers are right
though. The new European trade magazine MCV has revealed that Sony
is planing on making an announcement about the PlayStation II a week before
the Dreamcast’s Japanese release. The machine itself is alleged to
be appearing at the next Tokyo Game Show in the Spring. Amidst
rumours of a custom CPU, DVD drive, and a 10 million pps spewing processor,
there has been some consternation that Sony seems adamant that the machine
will not be backwardly compatible with the existing machine. Many European
developers, from Codemasters
to Sensible
Software, are on record as stating that backwards compatibility
is a must for Sony’s continued dominance. With some even suggesting
that such a feature could secure the new machine’s success on its
own.
Although they were largely ignored at the Tokyo
Game Show
Nintendo
have also been making a few announcements of their own. Interestingly
there has been some comment on the European release date of Zelda 64.
Whether or not they’ve been influenced by Sony’s troubles with
the PAL version of Tekken 3 (see last issue’s EuroSpeak)
Nintendo have announced that their big white hope will be clearing the
white cliffs of Dover on November 27th--a mere 4 days after setting foot
in U.S. of A and only a week after the delayed Japanese launch. No mention
of the condition of the PAL conversion though, which one hopes will be
better than the disappointing Super Mario 64 and the appalling
Wave Race 64.
Poor old SCi.
The debacle with Carmeggedon II: Carpocolypse Now and
the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) is getting more
surreal by the minute. Now it seems the BBFC is calling in the psychologists.
The previous Carmeggedon had a rather rocky relationship with the
board and recently they came perilously close to delaying the release
of the sequel because they hadn’t bothered to tell anyone they couldn’t
get it working on their PC. Presumably they’ve bought a 3Dfx
card now though, because they’ve finally got around to moaning about
the content of the game. Apparently they’re worried about the psychological
impact of the game upon young minds (although a good explanation for the
reason an 18 year old is being considered incapable of distinguishing
reality from fantasy is missing. Perhaps the BBFC is admitting that nobody
pays any attention to a game’s age rating?).
According to the BBFC’s director James Ferman the problem is that
the game "awards points for killing people". Far be it for EuroSpeak to
suggest that this is not a new phenomena in video games. Ferman has indicated
that his concern is based on the following "standard psychological theory":
People who are rewarded for certain types of behaviour may be encouraged
to repeat those actions. This is the first time psychological evidence
has been used in the classification and is clearly the stupidest idea
since… well the last time the BBFC made a decision with respect to
games. The hope is that the game will still meet it’s November 6th
launch date, whether in its full blood pedestrian or green blood zombie
incarnations. Watch out for future updates when we’ll be talking
to David Ratcliffle of SCi and just how he resists the temptation not
to run over James Ferman. Repeatedly. In a tank.
Although they never seemed to garner the same response outside of Europe
the Bitmap
Brothers were, for a sizable slice of the 80s, THE big name developers
in the UK. After enormous success with the likes of Xenon, Speedball
and Gods the team hit rocky ground on entering the 32-bit market.
The massively-delayed Z barely registering an impact on the crowded
real-time strategy market. Nevertheless GT
Interactive have been keen to promote their new publishing deal
with the Brothers (who of course nothing of the kind).
Somewhat surprisingly the first new game from the deal will be Z2. Which
is kind of like George Lucas announcing a sequel to Howard the Duck instead
of a new Star Wars movie. At the same time as the Bitmaps deal GT also
signed up Bungie
Software and their hilariously titled Myth II: Soulblighter.
GT’s deal with Bungie could also help to smooth over the legal argument
with System 3 and Eidos
(see previous issues of EuroSpeak). The former of which was
upset that Bungie’s games had the same name as their classic, and
soon to be updated, early 90s release. Unlike Eidos, GT Interactive seem
to have "resolved" the situation to System 3’s satisfaction.
Meanwhile for those who were unconvinced at the sudden end to the speculation
over the fate of Psygnosis,
there’s been some disturbing developments. According to Sony, Psygnosis
had been re-absorbed back into the fold and, despite the loss of a couple
of minor projects, it is now all business as usual. This probably isn’t
how the 75 employees at Psygnosis’ Manchester offices see it though,
as they’ve all just been sacked. According to Psygnosis’ new
boss Gary Johnson the cut backs were a consequence of the companies growth,
in that their "cost base and development spending have grown too large
for the business to sustain." Johnson believes that he has now "taken
the necessary steps to restore the company's fortunes, and can look forward
to a successful future for the company as a whole." Producing some half
decent games for a change, as a means to restore those previously earned
fortunes, doesn’t seem to come in to it. Which is perhaps why Adrian
Parr, Director of Development, has left the company. Although according
to Psygnosis his departure was due to "differences of opinion in the direction
of development strategy". It’s Euphemisms ‘R’ Us at Psygnosis!
David Jenkins (david.jenkins@dial.pipex.com)
works with British Telecom's Wireplay, an online gaming service. He also
contributes to Develop, Europe’s premier newsletter for computer
game developers and publishers, and CTW, the weekly trade magazine.
He has also been involved in the organisation of the Develop! and Online
conferences in London.
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