Actual Reply From Hasbro Regarding GP3!!!!

After hearing absolutly no news from Hasbro or Microprose about GP3 at the E3 expo I fired off this little e-mail to Hasbro. Low and behold a reply!!! By the way this is not BS!!!! Check it out: Subj: RE: Talk%20to%20Us Date: 5/20/99 12:17:58 PM Pacific Daylight Time Thanks for your inquiry! Grand Prix III is tentatively slated for release in late October 99. When released, it will be available directly from Hasbro Interactive in our Online Store at www.hasbrointeractive.com or by calling 1-800-400-1352. It will also be available at major software and games retailers. Thanks for your interest in Hasbro Interactive! -----Original Message----- Sent: Friday, May 14, 1999 5:34 PM Subject: Talk%20to%20Us Hello, Come on guys (& gals), give us Formula 1 Sim guys a break. Will there or will there not be a followup to Microprose's awesome Grand Prix 2? Why all the cloak & dagger stuff? Is there or isn't there? You guys could really stop a lot of speculation whether or not this Sim even exists. Microprose says no, yet their German wing says yes definitely in the fall of '99. So I plead please, please please, please at least acknowledge if there is even a GP3 in the works. After all what could it possibly hurt? Any reply? Thanks for your time, Bob Beeler ----------------------- Headers -------------------------------- Received: from rly-zb03.mx.aol.com (rly-zb03.mail.aol.com [172.31.41.3]) by air-zb05.mail.aol.com (v59.4) with SMTP; Thu, 20 May 1999 15:17:58 -0400 Received: from megatron.hasbro.com (megatron.hasbro.com [207.244.77.5]) by rly-zb03.mx.aol.com (8.8.8/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) Thu, 20 May 1999 15:17:55 -0400 (EDT) Received: by MEGATRON with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2448.0) id <LHV3F7RS>; Thu, 20 May 1999 15:14:39 -0400 Subject: RE: Talk%20to%20Us Date: Thu, 20 May 1999 15:14:38 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2448.0) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

This is the same PR statement I've read elsewhere; it doesn't mean the game couldn't be cancelled.

Cancel GP3! I doubt it, they'll make a fortune on Gp3. >>Thanks for your inquiry! >>Grand Prix III is tentatively slated for release in late October 99. When >>released, it will be available directly from Hasbro Interactive in our >>Online Store at www.hasbrointeractive.com or by calling 1-800-400-1352. It >>will also be available at major software and games retailers. >>Thanks for your interest in Hasbro Interactive! >This is the same PR statement I've read elsewhere; it doesn't mean the >game couldn't be cancelled.

Unfortunately, they won't Keith. The only racing titles that make fortunes for publishers are ones like Need for Speed 3 with the arcade play. Despite what some of us think, there just isn't that big of a market for a great sim. That's why a lot of companies are having problems getting games out on time or even at all. They just don't have the large budgets to work with :-/ This is in no way implying that GP3 is cancelled of course. <cough>My "inside sources" say it is looking great :)</cough> -- Tony Wyss, Editor-in-Chief Gamers Alliance Sports www.ga-sports.com ------------------------------- Network Developer Gamers Alliance, Inc. www.gagames.com ------------------------------- "I'm not an athlete, I'm a baseball player" - John Kruk

The GPx series may be different Tony. These have always had an easy mode. With inovative helps and detuing facilities for the AI. In fact the GPx series in its most docile and driver friendly mode is a lot easier to drive than many arcade sims - while still being more realistic and exciting. Pehaps this is the problem with GPL and some others - they just havent catered for a wide enough skill spectrum of the target market's sim racers. Cheers Phillip McNelley On Sat, 22 May 1999 10:36:01 GMT, "Tony Wyss"

Quoted text (18 lines)

>Unfortunately, they won't Keith. The only racing titles that make fortunes >for publishers are ones like Need for Speed 3 with the arcade play. Despite >what some of us think, there just isn't that big of a market for a great >sim. That's why a lot of companies are having problems getting games out on >time or even at all. They just don't have the large budgets to work with :-/ >This is in no way implying that GP3 is cancelled of course. <cough>My >"inside sources" say it is looking great :)</cough> >-- >Tony Wyss, Editor-in-Chief >Gamers Alliance Sports >www.ga-sports.com >------------------------------- >Network Developer >Gamers Alliance, Inc. >www.gagames.com >------------------------------- >"I'm not an athlete, I'm a baseball player" - John Kruk

On Sat, 22 May 1999 10:36:01 GMT, "Tony Wyss" >Unfortunately, they won't Keith. The only racing titles that make fortunes >for publishers are ones like Need for Speed 3 with the arcade play. Despite >what some of us think, there just isn't that big of a market for a great >sim. Respectfully disagree there - GP2 was a very nice blend of arcade game and sim, and AFAI recall was the biggest selling and fastest selling CD game ever released at the time. If they provide a similar blend with arcade aspects, nifty graphics, an F1 license and the Crammond name I reckon they'll make a packet. They may even be left with enough to buy a bag of chips after giving Bernie his Bernies. It is... :-) Cheers! John

Quoted text (7 lines)

> Unfortunately, they won't Keith. The only racing titles that make fortunes > for publishers are ones like Need for Speed 3 with the arcade play. Despite > what some of us think, there just isn't that big of a market for a great > sim. That's why a lot of companies are having problems getting games out on > time or even at all. They just don't have the large budgets to work with :-/ > This is in no way implying that GP3 is cancelled of course. <cough>My > "inside sources" say it is looking great :)</cough>

Well, GP2 HAD a good arcade mode, and was quite a big success in Europe. So I'm pretty sure, it will be repeated with GP3. l8er ronny -- How to get rid of censorship in German game releases <http://www.gamesmania.com/german/maniac/freedom/freedom.htm> |\ _,,,---,,_ I want to die like my Grandfather, ZZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ in his sleep. |,4- ) )-,_. ,\ ( `'-' Not like the people in his car, '---''(_/--' `-'\_) screaming their heads off!

GP2 had a very good Arcade mode for those types of drivers......not to mention the superb sim mode.

> > Unfortunately, they won't Keith. The only racing titles that make fortunes

Quoted text (9 lines)

> > for publishers are ones like Need for Speed 3 with the arcade play. > Despite > > what some of us think, there just isn't that big of a market for a great > > sim. That's why a lot of companies are having problems getting games out > on > > time or even at all. They just don't have the large budgets to work with > :-/ > > This is in no way implying that GP3 is cancelled of course. <cough>My > > "inside sources" say it is looking great :)</cough>

Tony I have to disagree here also ;-) Grand Prix 2 by Microprose sold millions of copies, and it's probably out of America one of the most popular game ever made. Im looking at the current sales charts up here in Qubec, and Grand Prix 2 is in the month of April 1999 the MOST SOLD game, and is first since half a year now. It's in the top5 since it's release. It's a constant seller. Even F1RS and MGPRS2 don't sell as good as it, and Ubisoft having their HQ here in Montreal (F1RS is in the top5, still) Good points about it is that it can run on any PC, so the mass market has access to it. People who will have 486 or slow Pentiums can run it. You know.. it's those people who make the difference between a hit and a world-wide success. It may have not appealed to US people, but everywhere else where Formula 1 is popular, it is. Do not underestimate the power of the Non-Americans Tony ;-P If GP3 is everything plus more than Gp2, it can but only be an World-wide success, because of the incredible depth of options and arcade settings you have with Geoff Crammond games. -- -- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard/Nas-Frank> -- NROS Nascar sanctioned Guide http://www.nros.com/ -- SimRacing Online http://www.simracing.com/ -- Official mentally retarded guy of r.a.s. -- May the Downforce be with you... "People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realise how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

Quoted text (7 lines)

>Grand Prix 2 by Microprose sold millions of copies, and it's probably out of >America one of the most popular game ever made. Im looking at the current >sales charts up here in Qubec, and Grand Prix 2 is in the month of April >1999 the MOST SOLD game, and is first since half a year now. It's in the >top5 since it's release. It's a constant seller. Even F1RS and MGPRS2 >don't sell as good as it, and Ubisoft having their HQ here in Montreal (F1RS >is in the top5, still)

Without wanting to appear stupid, is this the 'racing sim' category or everything category. I really can't believe that there are people out there who haven't bought gp2. Maybe it is the recent budget release that is being scooped up? Cheers Roy -- http://www.gp3.org The Grand Prix 3 site! Latest news & rumours on gp3 http://www.linksheaven.com Formula 1 at its best

Another thing is don't underestimate the power of Hasbro Interactive. They know the power of a $19 or $29 game. Look at the PC Data charts...I mean how many out there really play Frogger? I guess it's quality vs. quantity, as always... -- Dan Clarke Managing Editor Operation Sports http://www.operationsports.com

Good point. F1 isn't popular in the States, but it sure is almost everywhere else! Now if we just don't need no "s***king" 2000MHz CPU to run it...<g>. Matt -Teehole Quote: "Many games create the ultimate technological experience, but falter when it comes to creating a compelling story to keep gamers interested".<< Author:Tim Royal,Computer Games Strategy Plus.

Quoted text (7 lines)

> Grand Prix 2 by Microprose sold millions of copies, and it's probably out of > America one of the most popular game ever made. Im looking at the current > sales charts up here in Qubec, and Grand Prix 2 is in the month of April > 1999 the MOST SOLD game, and is first since half a year now. It's in the > top5 since it's release. It's a constant seller. Even F1RS and MGPRS2 > don't sell as good as it, and Ubisoft having their HQ here in Montreal (F1RS > is in the top5, still)

I expect something like this in the case of GPL too. Many will be uninterested at first, as even I was, in this era of racing. But word of mouth about the quality of GPL will spread, and sales will continue for quite some time I'd guess. No big initial impact, but a constant, steady flow of sales. Especially if Papy box it with all the drivers for all 3D Graphics cards.

Gp2 sold over a million copies. And yes in game land that is a *LOT*. ilmore

Not entirely true. The truly "genius" part of F1GP and GP2 was that anyone could play it and it offered both sim players and arcade racers the chance to enjoy the product. I haven't seen an F1 sim since that works like this and as such it's easy to see why GPL et al have failed to do the units that the publishers had expected initially. There is a huge market for a sim that is easy to get into that allows the user to progress up to a realistic sim racer level without having to spend dozens of hours simply learning to control the car. Don't get me wrong, GPL and the others are great sims but their lack of learning curve (or very steep curve as you may see it) reduces the level of enjoyment for a lot of people and renders it as one for the propeller heads like us, not for the masses. IMO if MPS-Hasbro extend the family of GP products as they did with GP2 then it will more than likely be the biggest sim-seller since, well, GP2. M

Quoted text (21 lines)

>On Sat, 22 May 1999 10:36:01 GMT, "Tony Wyss" >>Unfortunately, they won't Keith. The only racing titles that make fortunes >>for publishers are ones like Need for Speed 3 with the arcade play. Despite >>what some of us think, there just isn't that big of a market for a great >>sim. >Respectfully disagree there - GP2 was a very nice blend of arcade game >and sim, and AFAI recall was the biggest selling and fastest selling >CD game ever released at the time. >If they provide a similar blend with arcade aspects, nifty graphics, >an F1 license and the Crammond name I reckon they'll make a packet. >They may even be left with enough to buy a bag of chips after giving >Bernie his Bernies. >>This is in no way implying that GP3 is cancelled of course. <cough>My >>"inside sources" say it is looking great :)</cough> >It is... :-)

^^^^^^^^^^^^ I don't suppose you'd care to elaborate on that would you John? Mike

Considering the recent history of sims here in the USA, since GP3 will not be a NASCAR-licensed product we will probably have to order it from the UK, as we have on TOCA2 and CMR. --== Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ ==-- ---Share what you know. Learn what you don't.---

>I don't suppose you'd care to elaborate on that would you John? I could, but then I'd need to kill us both. A high price to pay! Cheers! John