rec.autos.simulators

Jim Buck

Sony Interactive Studios America

| >BTW, I'd consider Andretti racing a "sim", but it has some pretty
| >basic interface problems (like not being able to calibrate analog
| >input devies); I was dissapointed with that, it looked pretty good.

|       What about the 12 lap limit? That's what killed it for me. I did like
| the ability to be drafted by a new sponsor after a good season...very
| good feature I'd like to see implemented in  the sims.

Actually, I returned it before I even got a chance to get that far.

Had I bought it a couple months before F1 came out, I would have liked
it more. I think it was a breakthrough product, a real driving sim for
PSX.

Basically, there was an aesthetic until a few months ago to home game
arcade platforms that was by nature "anti-sim." I think the PSX was
the first to break the barrier, but the platform is still overcoming
some sluggishness in that direction. F1 by Psygnosis and Papyrus'
NASCAR (which is actually a sort of hybrid between the old PC NASCAR
and the then-still-not-out NASCAR2) both put the platform securely in
a mode where serious racing sims will continue to be produced. I hope!

Please do get into it. After no link up in DD2, now no link up in a
Sony game. Will I ever be able to buy another racing game, Split
screen was fine on 16 bit as there was no alternative but when such a
excellent option exists and is not being supported, the will to offer
my support diminishes. and it looked like quite a nice game :(

        I had posted this the other day in reply to someone's message. Here it
is just in case your news server didn't pick it up. These aren't necessarily
OUR reasons, but they are reasons why:

Jim Buck

Sony Interactive Studios America

Jim,

        One thing you may be forgetting, and that is very apparrant(sp?) here on
the newsgroup, is that that 3% of link owners will buy nearly >any< linked
game because of the fact that they >can< be linked.  My brother and his
best friend do this all the time. I've also seen many posts here stating
the same thing. A smart suit might regard this as a "sure" sale. Granted
its a small percentage, but its 3%(give or take) more than you would have
before. Even mediocre games are usually fun with more than one player. My 2
cents.

Seth

        I agree with you on this. I didn't say that those were the reasons
that it was decided that Rally didn't have link, just that those are reasons a
developer might not put it in (or other relevant features). I am just a
programmer, and I have no such say in any decisions such as what features go
into a game (at least not yet anyway). But when/if I do have say, I will put
in whatever features that will assure a maximized fun in the game, and if that
means linkup must be in there, then it will be.

Jim Buck

Sony Interactive Studios America

Errrh NO the Feature that sets it apart from all other Console, and
it`s not used. If any game comes out that I feel would have beniftted
from link up and it is not included I simply won`t buy it. Ie Command
and Conquer I was looking forward to that but no link, no buy.
hopefully syndicate wars will include it.

I agree with the previous post who bemoaned the lack of a modem for the
PSX.  One thing to wonder is, what's the speed of data transfer between
Playstations via the link cable?  Is it bus-like in speed, ie a few
megabytes a second?  Or is it more along the lines of 9600-38,400?  If the
latter, it seems that it wouldn't be that hard to build a modem that
simply emulated a linkup between playstations over the phone lines.  Just
have the PSX linked to the modem, dial from the modem to another
PSX-Modem, and have that other modem linked to its owners playstation.
This way, you could have a transparent link emulation that wouldn't
require the unlikely dual Playstation/TV situation required for current
link play.

Another thing, has anyone thought of proposing a multi-link standard?  A
new generation of games that would not only be able to do a standard link,
but also use a multi-headed link cable to play against another 2 or 3
users in the same game.  Think about it, Twisted Metal 3, Descent 2, or
Wipeout Omega against a bunch of other people instead of simply 1 other...

Then of course, the possibillity of using something like TEN or some home
built multi-line server with a flock of Playstations connected using
PSX-Modems...

Tournament play is a possibillity, people.  What's needed is the demand.

    / Ben Hallert /  http://www.efn.org/~hallert | "Be seeing you!" <*>\
   "A stroke of the brush does not guarantee art from the bristles."-Kosh
   "If the King's English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for
    \       me!"  -- "Ma" Ferguson, Governor of Texas (circa 1920)     /

It's probably technically feasible.  In fact, someone claimed that they
had a prototype which simulated the link but that Sony was cool to the
idea.  Problem is, linkable games seem to be an endangered species as
fewer and fewer new games are being designed with link support.  And it
doesn't encourage the game companies when people are constantly harping
on how difficult it is to setup 2 Playstations and 2 TVs and so on.   If
you have any interest in online or network *** on the Playstation,
you should be telling all the game developers that you want link games,
even if you never intend to use it.  Because once there are enough
linkable games, someone is more likely to produce a modem which
simulates the link and maybe Sony itself will do more to promote online
and network *** instead of absolutely nothing.  Linkable games will
be the prototypes for online games.  But Sony is so myopic, all they
care is about slamming as much SW as quickly as possible.  Only when
they're forced to by the competition will they do something about it.

So if you want Playstation modems, or online services which allow more
than 2 people to participate in games, support link games and hope that
things like the Sega Netlink and all the PC online game services take
off.  There's even a rumor that the disk drive for the N64 may have a
modem as well.  Let's hope that's true and it becomes a HUGE hit.  Then
Sony will have to get off its ass and do something.

So if 3% own a cable then 6% are using them, a bit more incentive by
Sony. Like including the link up disk, should easily bring it up to
10% of Playstations owners being pissed off with the Big money men
ditching the Link option because they want their game out ASAP. So if
you really support the Link Boycott there unlinkable games

Most of the people that play Station games with me play one mine because
they have none of their own. So I'm glad there's another racing game with
split screen coming out, linkup is worthless if you're the only one around
that owns a Playstation.

Just wanted to let Sony know that they haven't irritated all
Playstation owners with this decision!

Henry

        I glad to hear your comments. I don't believe you will be
disappointed. Watch for the game very soon.

Jim Buck

Sony Interactive Studios America

|> Watch for the game very soon.
|>
|>
|>Jim Buck

|>Sony Interactive Studios America
|>

Jim,

I've seen the QT movies from Next Gen's site (they look incredible). How's
the 4 player mode running? I understand from a preview that 2 player split
is running smooth, But I've not heard how smooth the 4 player split is.

Kevin Clark