rec.autos.simulators

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Friday 17 November
                                             GRAND PRIX 2 UPDATE

           March is now the revised release date for GP2. Apparently the
problems wern't as huge as previously indicated, but much work is still to
                                       be done to get GP2 up and away. We await
with eager anticipation.
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                                                    Wednesday 15 November
                             MICROPROSE GRAND PRIX 2 HITS THE WALL

                    Tragedy of tragedies... The incredibly long awaited Grand
Prix 2 from Microprose has been delayed indefinately!

           The story is a bit of a saga... project leader Geoff Crammond -
famous for his the first Grand Prix (World Circuit in some countries), has
           apparently produced a game so unbelievably sophisticated that no
existing PC could ever run it. Microprose are understandably upset and
                                           talk of legal action against Mr
Crammond abounds.

           The fate of the game is unknown at this stage, but it's believed that
Microprose are hard at it trying to tune the game to run on an average
                              machine. This probably means losing some of the
features built into the initial game.  

                         We're*** out for this one as badly as you, so stay
tuned and we'll give you the full story as it breaks.
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Hmmm, makes you wonder how much BS is being thrown about with regard to the
enourmous frame rates that F1GP can sustain in SVGA.

heres hoping all is not as bad as this indicates.....

Bazza

In 12 months, we'll all be shouting for MicroProse to increase the resolution
and up the colours to 16 million....

                                                   DR J

--
______________________________________________________________________________

me90drj : "It's an old code sir, but it checks out. I was about to clear him."
is94drj : "....5....4....3...Wait! What's that red light?...."
______________________________________________________________________________
  ------======= <URL:http://http1.brunel.ac.uk:8080/~is94drj/> =======------

Excellent humour. I like it. Still, Papyrus HAVE released *3* games in
the time since F1GP. That must give them some good experience I'd
reckon. Pity they'll slow down (?) now that they're doing multiple
platforms (DOS, Mac, Win95). What's next I wonder. F1, Touring Car, or
Nascar 2? Jeez, ICR2's not even out yet and I'm wanting to know what's
next!

Stuart.
--
From the bedroom of Stuart Booth,  
Somewhere in Guildford, England...  

Well, delaying the release should pretty much solve the problem. They just
have to wait long enough for the hardware to catch up with the needs of the
game ;-)
(Well, support for 3D graphics cards wouldn't hurt either.)

--
Oliver Goetz         | "...all mattresses grown in the swamps of

Lochwiesenstr.1      | and dried before being put to service.
D67122 Altrip        | Very few have ever come to life again."
Germany              |      -- The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy

Nevertheless, because what I have been hearing in this newsgroup I
think that the March release date could be true. I heard that recently
in Paris theyve showed a demo that still is a long way from being
finished (only in VGA and one track) and so I dont believe that the
game will be released before March.

On the other way, a March release could in some way be interesting for
the promotion of GP2.  FORMULA ONE SEASON STARTS IN MARCH with the
Brasil GP, and because the game is lincensed by FIA they could launch
it the day it the championship begins and perhaps the presentation of
the game could be done in the circuit of Interlagos, perhaps with some
F1 drivers. That way at least it would have a tremendous with the
media. In that case I would understand SH/MP silence about the release
of the game.   ..........................  Just a thought.

Anyway, the important thing is not whether they launch it in Jan, Fev
or March. It is that the game will be awesome for us to play.
Meanwhile we can always keep playing F1GP. Its still the best F1
simulator ... at least for me.

Miguel.
**********************************************
Carlos Miguel Santos Cordeiro

**********************************************

As a matter of fact, next years season wont start in Brazil but in Australia, on a cicuit that
is not available in F1GP2, i.e Melbourne. So it wont be that intresting to start your own
computer-championship in Brazil when the real one starts in Australia. : (.

Ronny Holmstr?m
Inst. for Pol. Sci
?bo Akademi Uiversity

Ron Bird

Yes, the same "setback" happened with the Amiga original. But if it is
only a rumor that F1GP2 is being axed, then why isn't Geoff or MPS going
public here to dispel it?

We might just have to face up to no F1GP2 after all...

Geoff.

Geoff, Geoff, Geoff...

What were you thinking of???

But he won't reply tho will he? He, and Microprose, NEVER interact with
these newsgroups. Maybe if they listened to us the people, they might have
more idea of what's going on.

MPS seems to have grown into a cash incentive only monopoly, with NO
regard to the end user in mind at all.

Take id for example... at the other extreme end of the scale.

Microprose aren't at the bottom, but they are getting dangerously close
to GAMETEK...

Anyone got any theories on why they've gone downhill so much?

--
                               ~~_______~~

             _______________[__]=[_(-)_]=[__]_______________
                  V        I        S        O        R

--

I do monitor this newsgroup daily and post on occasions.
Posts regarding the game are also forwarded to the game's
producer for team viewing.

In regard to GRAND PRIX 2 it continues in development by Geoff.
The release will be next year largely in part to the detail
going into the game by Geoff. I know it's hard waiting but it
will be worth it.

I also keep the web page on GP2 updated as best I can which is
worth a visit - http://www.microprose.com/wc2pr.html

Best,
Quentin

Microprose is already running ads in German game magazines. Go figure.

--
Oliver Goetz         | "...all mattresses grown in the swamps of

Lochwiesenstr.1      | and dried before being put to service.
D67122 Altrip        | Very few have ever come to life again."
Germany              |      -- The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy

Have not called the number yet.  

There is only so much slobber I can wipe off a monitor, the public want
the game... just out of interest, how complete is the simulation.  Are
all the circuits in there and suchlike?

Ray Ko
School of Information Science, University of Portsmouth (UK)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

(Valid until August 1996)

URL : http://www.racesimcentral.net/~sis4381/
(Until August 1996.. or it could be on the move)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                      "Desperation is not attractive"
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

A sales rep. from Spectrum Holobyte said that the software is not
ready, and they are taking pre-orders. He also said that they will
start shipping it in January.

I doubt that this information a reliable enough to bet on a january
shipping!

Marc

From what I've seen and heard the gameplay is being tweaked by
Geoff at this time while the artists are upgrading all the VGA
artwork to SVGA.  

Best,
-Quentin

http://www.microprose.com