Psygnonis to produce Newman/Haas Racing

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

>Talk about journalistic license! Who exactly is it that's getting >e***d, and on what basis?! Well, being that it's a press release, I'm guessing that the Psygnonis people are the ones getting e***d... and they're hoping it's contagious, I'm sure! The basis is $$ (or pounds, or yen, or whatever...) 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 !!

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> > 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. > 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!

encourage you to do the same)... 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

Quoted text (7 lines)

> 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 !!

I agree - here is someone who you can give your feedback to ... ======================================================== 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

>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)... That was a really good reply. Straight forward and honest. It would be nice to have him reading RAS. --