NRO Prototype Newsletter - December, 1996
New month, new name, new provider!
Let's start with the name. The entity formerly known as the NASCAR
Racing
League has a new name - the NASCAR Racing Online Series (NRO). Why the
change? Well, to be honest with you, the NRL name was never really
planned
to be the final name. NRO is a SERIES, not a LEAGUE, just like the other
NASCAR series (NASCAR Winston Cup Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series,
etc.). Further, NRL wasn't a very descriptive name of what this thing
is.
It just took a while to finalize the new name and run it through all the
legalities before we could announce it.
OK, now the big news - we've announced our provider. We've been talking
for
months about local access for NRO, and there has been a ton of
speculation.
We have been working on this deal in one form or another for - believe
it or
not - almost 2 years. Over the past 6 months, or so, we have spent an
enormous amount of time researching all of the alternatives. We are
very
e***d to announce that Total Entertainment Network (TEN) will be the
provider for the NASCAR Racing Online Series when it debuts next year.
Speculation about this deal has run rampant in the online chatter
circles -
in regard to who the provider was going to be and a lot of talk about
the
merits of the different providers. I hope to address a lot of the
chatter
here, but I will tell you that there is still a lot more coming in the
way
of announcements, so there is a lot of information that we can't give
out
yet.
Before I get into the Q&A stuff, let me recap some of the technical
requirements of NRO.
NRO requires incredibly low latency - you've been hearing and talking
about
this for a long time. In addition to low latency, NRO also requires
stable
latency. In other words, just because you get 200 millisecond latency
in a
ping test(s), does not mean that NRO will work. For example, if every
5-10
seconds, you get a latency spike of, let's say, 700 milliseconds, that's
almost as bad as having consistent 700 millisecond latency. So, NRO
requires consistently low latency.
On to the Q&A.
** Where does TEN provide local access numbers?
TEN is available through their own dial-up numbers, in addition to being
available over the internet. TEN *currently* has over 200 local access
numbers across the country. They are rolling out an enormous amount of
additional numbers as we speak. I'll speak more about this below, but
in
conjunction with more local access numbers, TEN is in the midst of
rolling
out their next generation technology which, in addition to providing
much
better latency, provides a huge boost in the reach of their local access
numbers.
** Is TEN available through the internet?
Yes. TEN is an internet-based service. Just go to www.ten.net.
However,
the internet as a whole is a very inconsistent entity as is relates to
quality of connections and latency. Some internet service providers
provide
good connections as it pertains to games on TEN, others, not so good.
The TEN dial-ups typically provide the best connections to TEN. The TEN
dial-ups are actually done through an internet service provider. That
ISP,
has customized their network to provide high quality, low latency
connections to TEN.
** I tried TEN in the past and it didn't provide low latency/good
gameplay.
There's just no way that NRO is going to work.
TEN has been building their service for over 2 years. They have been in
open testing mode for almost that long. Trust me, building something
like
TEN, which uses cutting edge technology (i.e. blazing new trails), is a
long
& painful trek. There are a lot of hurdles along the way.
When TEN first went public, the game that most people tried was Duke
Nukem
3D. 2 issues. First, TEN was building & tuning their network. Those
of
you who participated in the closed beta testing of Hawaii, and in the
early
stages of the prototype once it went public can relate to this.
Building,
growing & fine tuning a low latency service takes time, and it's very
tough.
TEN has gone through this, tuned their technology as well as it can be
tuned,
learned a lot, and is now rolling out even better technology. Making a
judgment of TEN based on what you saw in the past is not really fair.
Second, Duke Nukem is a lock-step game. That means that before the game
advances, all machines involved in the game must verify that they have
all
received each other's data. So, if 2 people have great connections and
very
fast machines, but the third person has a really bad connections and/or
a
really slow machine, Duke online will slow everyone down to match the
lowest
common denominator. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing inherently
wrong
with lock-step games. In fact, today, Duke works great on TEN. All I'm
saying is that Duke threw another technical hurdle into the mix for TEN.
Again, making a judgment on TEN based on a past experience is not really
fair.
NASCAR is not a lock-step game. In addition, we have spent an enormous
amount of time investigating, testing and playing a number of games over
TEN's existing technology, as well as their new technology which is
currently being deployed. TEN can run NRO, and in fact, we've found
that
many times, TEN can run NRO better than the prototype currently runs. I
know that only time can prove this to you, so you'll have to take my
word
for now. I'm convinced that you'll be impressed.
** OK, so what is NRO going to cost?
We have not, and are not yet ready to announce the pricing for NRO.
Yes,
TEN has announced their pricing, but that is not necessarily indicative
of
what NRO will cost. All I can tell you for now is that it will cost a
lot
less than the long-distance charges that you are currently paying to
dial
into Hawaii.
We are very e***d to finally announce our relationship with TEN.
After
months of analysis & negotiation, we are thoroughly impressed with TEN
and
convinced that they are the ultimate partner to bring the NRO to
fruition.
If you want a preview of TEN, it is included on the NASCAR Racing 2
CD - just remember that TEN is still in the midst of deploying new
technology. If you want more information, take a look at www.ten.net.
Also, please take a look at the NASCAR 2 and NRO press releases which
can be
downloaded on Hawaii.
Ed Martin
Manager & Series Director
NASCAR Racing Online Series
Quick question Ed. How do I and the rest of the Hawaii closed Beta
Testers receive the $10/hr reimbur***t that was part of the agreement if
a separate company is handling the running of NRL - NRO? I've got a
hundred or so bucks of credit built up and would like to know that is not
going to go bye-bye. Thanks.
BTW, Great job on N2.
Chris Patrick
