rec.autos.simulators

From Business Wire, posted here FYI without permission...
Being that publicity is the point of this press release, I hope
they don't mind...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 11, 1997--Psygnosis
have signed a licensing agreement with the Newman/Haas Racing team to
produce Newman/Haas Racing, a motor-sports racing game for
PlayStation game console and PC CD ROM systems.  The title is
expected to be released for both platforms in March 1998.
          This pairing of the three-time CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams,
Inc.) champions and the publishers of the international best-selling
racing games Formula 1 and Formula 1: Championship Edition
represents one of the most exciting alliances in motor-sports ***.
The title is set to feature the formidable pairing of Newman/Haas
Racing drivers Christian Fittipaldi and Michael Andretti, in addition
to a number of other licensed drivers and tracks from the world of
CART.
          "Psygnosis has enjoyed a great degree of success in the
racing-games genre, and for our first American motor-sports title
we're thrilled to be partnering with the Newman/Haas Racing
organization," said Psygnosis Product manager Munir Haddad.  "With
their tremendous history, legendary drivers and winning attitude,
they're a flagship motor-sports race team."
          The Newman/Haas Racing organization was co-founded in 1983 by former
race-driver and noted team owner Carl Haas, and actor, team owner and
race-driver Paul Newman.  The team has won 52 Indy car events and
three PPG titles, while driver Michael Andretti leads active-drivers
in terms of wins, with 36.
          "We're very e***d to be involved with Psygnosis and their new game
featuring our race team," said Carl A. Haas, team co-owner of
Newman/Haas Racing.  "Today's technology enables us to get more
people involved with CART racing through interactive racing games
such as this one.  On track, we offer close, competitive racing and
now we can offer additional hours of e***ment through the game.  
Only a very small percentage of the world will ever be able to drive
a racecar like we compete with in CART.  Through the Newman/Haas
Racing game we will provide the closest thing to driving a real race
car."
          Drivers also set to appear in the game include 1996 CART Champion
Jimmy Vasser, Arie Luyendyk, winner of the 1997 Indy 500 and Robby Gordon
(who will be racing in CART in 1998).  With negotiations on
going, around 15 licensed drivers are planned for inclusion.  Eleven
licensed tracks are planned with well known locations like the
Milwaukee Mile, Road America, the Rio 400 and Laguna Seca all
confirmed to appear, plus, new to CART in 1998, the Texaco Grand Prix
of Houston.  The game will feature a varied selection of `oval',
`street' and `permanent' race tracks, plus the `Firebird' test track.
ABC/ESPN commentators Danny Sullivan and Bob Varsha will provide
commentary.
          Newman/Haas Racing is the first product from new developers Studio
33, who were founded by former Psygnosis Director of Software
Development, John White.  An avid racing enthusiast himself, White
has assembled a team of like-minded race fans who were introduced to
the world of American motor-sport when then-reigning Formula 1
Champion, Nigel Mansell, raced in the U.S. during the 1993 and `94
seasons (ironically for the Newman/Haas Racing team, for whom Mansell
won the 1993 PPG Cup).  Studio 33 personnel visited with Newman/Haas
Racing earlier this year, where they met with team engineers and
gathered invaluable research data.
          Psygnosis employs over 700 people with publishing and development
offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, and across Europe.
Working with over 30 development teams and eight internal development
sites, the company is now the largest development house in Europe.  
Psygnosis is a subsidiary of Sony.  
-0-
      Note to Editors:  Customers can order Psygnosis products directly
by calling 1-800-GET-PSYG (1-800-438-7794).  For current information
on Psygnosis titles, game tips, contests, customer support and
company information, visit us at www.psygnosis.com .

====================================================
 Mike Holthouse - Indianapolis, IN
 I'm sick of spam!! To e-mail me, remove the "x"...
====================================================

Talk about journalistic license! Who exactly is it that's getting
e***d, and on what basis?! I'm sure a lot of Playstation owners may
be chuffed, but unlikely to generate much enthusiasm on the sim
newsgroup.

Thanks for the info though.

Cheers!
John

They are releasing it both for the PlayStation and PC's, so it
might generate some discussion... who knows? It could turn
out to be the best sim out for all we know at this point.......

Not a problem...

- Mike.

====================================================
 Mike Holthouse - Indianapolis, IN
 I'm sick of spam!! To e-mail me, remove the "x"...
====================================================

Should have read "Psygnosis and Newmann/Hass Racing have entered into an
agreement to rip-off consumers looking for racing simulation titles."

After that piece of you know what software Formula 1 which Psygnosis pawned
as a racing sim and never supported, they 're going to do it again with
Newmann/Haas Racing! Are you listening Psygnosis? Never, and I mean never,
will I spend a single dollar on your company's products. Heads up
people...stay away!

You are quite right.

This was no sim title and their support was nonexistant.

Every support question is answered wit a form letter by Psygnosis
in the USA and the game creators Bizarre (Liverpool U.K) listened
sympathetically but never delivered anything !!

This is their reply ...

========================================================

Subject:        Psygnosis Ltd
  Date:         20 Nov 1997 06:31:52 -0500

    To:         Doug Burg

Hi Doug,

Firstly, please let me introduce myself. My name is Paul Hanley and I am
the customer services supervisor for Psygnosis in the UK. My department
looks after all customer services issues for all territories outside of
the US and Canada.

I have read the e-mail that you sent to Domonic Mallinson and I hope
that I can address some of the issues that you have brought up.

Destruction Derby 2 - This is now quite an old game and at the time of
release it was considered to be
quite good (if a little difficult to start off with). The lack of any
true 3D accelerator support was probably
down to the fact that most people didn't have 3D accelerators when the
game came out so it all had to
be done in software.

Formula 1 - PC - This game is not a simulator like F1 Grand Prix 2 from
Microprose is. The game that we
tried to create was to have some aspects that would be in a sim. but we
also wanted to make it feel like an arcade game so a greater number of
people could enjoy it. I personally love Formula 1 as a sport and found
that with the likes of F1 GP2 was too difficult to get into as I didn't
have the time to learn how to control the car up to the desired level. I
feel that the game we have produced works on many levels and allows
players to jump right in and compete. Whilst it may not have every
feature that some of our customers require, I still feel that it is a
complete product. I can tell you though, we have listened to what our
end users have said and
there will be many more features, such as the*** pit view, in the
Formula 1 '97 which should be out Q1 '1998

Thunder Truck Rally/Monster Trucks - We had a few problems with this
game (even though the end product has
turned out to be quite a decent game) and it was delayed by quite a
bit.  Like Destruction Derby 2, the time the game should have come out
there would have been little or no 3D card support/market out there so
the 3D game engine was written is software.

3Dfx Support - From Formula 1 onwards all Psygnosis PC games (bar a
couple which have been in development
for a while) have now either Direct3D or native compatibility. All
Direct3D games also have specific 'hooks' in for the 3Dfx chipset. Have
a look at wipE'out 2097/XL to see this - the Direct3D version running on
3Dfx blows away the native PowerVR version. We are also one of the first
companies to support Intels AGP graphics port technology with G-Police.

The Internet - I personally keep an eye on as many related news groups
as I possibly can. You and I both know that there are over 25,000 news
groups that cover all sorts of subjects including computer games. As you
have now brought this particular group to my attention I will 'pop' in
when we release F1 '97 - PC. There are only so many hours in a day !!!

All e-mail that is submitted via the web page is answered as soon as
possible. The only major problem that we have is that some customers do
not enter their correct e-mail address and this then gives us no way of
replying to their enquiry.

The Web Page - Over the last few months we have done a major re-design
of our web page and this time has taken away some of the time we would
have normally spent on promoting our products on the Internet. All new
products that are released from us will have an accompanying demo
published on the Internet.

In answer to your question concerning an update to Destruction Derby 2,
there will be no further updates of this title. To offer 3D support
would require a major re-write of the game engine. This is something
that we are not going to be doing as we currently have no plans for a
third game in the series. As far as the playability is concerned, I
don't know what specification system that you have but the game plays
fine on my machine - it is just quite a hard game.

There will be no demo of Thunder Truck Rally/Monster Trucks

I hope that I have answered your questions and please feel free to
e-mail me if you have any further points to raise - I will be happy to
help if I can.

Paul Hanley
Customer Services Supervisor
Psygnosis Ltd
Liverpool - UK

=======================================

At least I *finally* got a reply from them .. and they promise to start
participating here ... so ... we shall see.  But PLEASE do give them
your feedback ... We might have a soul in Mr. Hanley who is willing to
listen.  Remember, it's OK to attack the products, but just don't attack
the person(s)...

Good luck !!
Doug

========================================================

Subject:        Psygnosis Ltd
  Date:         20 Nov 1997 06:31:52 -0500

    To:         Doug Burg

Hi Doug,

Firstly, please let me introduce myself. My name is Paul Hanley and I am
the customer services supervisor for Psygnosis in the UK. My department
looks after all customer services issues for all territories outside of
the US and Canada.

I have read the e-mail that you sent to Domonic Mallinson and I hope
that I can address some of the issues that you have brought up.

Destruction Derby 2 - This is now quite an old game and at the time of
release it was considered to be
quite good (if a little difficult to start off with). The lack of any
true 3D accelerator support was probably
down to the fact that most people didn't have 3D accelerators when the
game came out so it all had to
be done in software.

Formula 1 - PC - This game is not a simulator like F1 Grand Prix 2 from
Microprose is. The game that we
tried to create was to have some aspects that would be in a sim. but we
also wanted to make it feel like an arcade game so a greater number of
people could enjoy it. I personally love Formula 1 as a sport and found
that with the likes of F1 GP2 was too difficult to get into as I didn't
have the time to learn how to control the car up to the desired level. I
feel that the game we have produced works on many levels and allows
players to jump right in and compete. Whilst it may not have every
feature that some of our customers require, I still feel that it is a
complete product. I can tell you though, we have listened to what our
end users have said and
there will be many more features, such as the*** pit view, in the
Formula 1 '97 which should be out Q1 '1998

Thunder Truck Rally/Monster Trucks - We had a few problems with this
game (even though the end product has
turned out to be quite a decent game) and it was delayed by quite a
bit.  Like Destruction Derby 2, the time the game should have come out
there would have been little or no 3D card support/market out there so
the 3D game engine was written is software.

3Dfx Support - From Formula 1 onwards all Psygnosis PC games (bar a
couple which have been in development
for a while) have now either Direct3D or native compatibility. All
Direct3D games also have specific 'hooks' in for the 3Dfx chipset. Have
a look at wipE'out 2097/XL to see this - the Direct3D version running on
3Dfx blows away the native PowerVR version. We are also one of the first
companies to support Intels AGP graphics port technology with G-Police.

The Internet - I personally keep an eye on as many related news groups
as I possibly can. You and I both know that there are over 25,000 news
groups that cover all sorts of subjects including computer games. As you
have now brought this particular group to my attention I will 'pop' in
when we release F1 '97 - PC. There are only so many hours in a day !!!

All e-mail that is submitted via the web page is answered as soon as
possible. The only major problem that we have is that some customers do
not enter their correct e-mail address and this then gives us no way of
replying to their enquiry.

The Web Page - Over the last few months we have done a major re-design
of our web page and this time has taken away some of the time we would
have normally spent on promoting our products on the Internet. All new
products that are released from us will have an accompanying demo
published on the Internet.

In answer to your question concerning an update to Destruction Derby 2,
there will be no further updates of this title. To offer 3D support
would require a major re-write of the game engine. This is something
that we are not going to be doing as we currently have no plans for a
third game in the series. As far as the playability is concerned, I
don't know what specification system that you have but the game plays
fine on my machine - it is just quite a hard game.

There will be no demo of Thunder Truck Rally/Monster Trucks

I hope that I have answered your questions and please feel free to
e-mail me if you have any further points to raise - I will be happy to
help if I can.

Paul Hanley
Customer Services Supervisor
Psygnosis Ltd
Liverpool - UK

=======================================

At least I *finally* got a reply from them .. and they promise to start
participating here ... so ... we shall see.  But PLEASE do give them
your feedback ... We might have a soul in Mr. Hanley who is willing to
listen.  Remember, it's OK to attack the products, but just don't attack
the person(s)...

Good luck !!
Doug

--