Hasbro is now the #1 company in racing simulations

[link lost in import] This links demonstrate that they really care about *** simracers compared to <cough> another big one who wants to only milk money with old game engines that are boring and so... "Hasbro, Inc. announced today that one of its subsidiaries, Hasbro Interactive, Inc., has acquired Europress, a veteran European publisher of educational and lifestyle software. The acquisition will bolster Hasbro Interactive's international business, especially in the U.K., and effectively launch Hasbro Interactive into new categories of software development and distribution. " So the list of Hasbro titles that they will produce in the racing market is now this : Rally Championship (pushes the envelope of physics in Rally Racing) GP500 (pushed the envelope in Motorcycle racing) Grand Prix 3 (what can we say more ? Geoff is back!) Grand Prix World (manager-type sim I think) HASBRO also has a NASCAR license, so they are clearly the #1 now, not SierraSports/Papyrus anymore. It's a big day in our community. Sierra/Papyrus has been the #1 since the start of the 90's. I hope this competition will wake them up. -- -- Fran?ois Mnard <ymenard> -- 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."

On Sat, 14 Aug 1999 16:53:03 -0500, "John Bodin" >As I posted elsewhere, the success of Driver for the Playstation has shown >GT Interactive just how important driving/racing sims/games are, and they've >re-stated their commitment to their now-dormant Trans Am Racing sim, as well >as their upcoming Indy 500/Indy Racing League title(s). If Hasbro ends up >acquiring GT Interactive, as some suspect, the two companies could well >become THE company for racing sims. Man, Hasbro Interactive sure it getting pretty big.... if they buy GT Interactive, I think we're looking at an EA-sized company. -- Gamer / Programmer But not a Game Programmer

YIPEE! This means we North Americans might actually not have to go through the usual stupid jumps and hoops just to get European releases like Rally Championship, as we see it come out in Europe but with no publisher in North America. This happens with most other European sim racing releases like Europress' previous titles, F1RS, TOCA1+2, CMR etc. ad nauseum were here only the Warez Pirates get to play it as the rest of us wait for the titles to show up here on this side of the pond (usually a 6 month wait) or look for a place that will import it. Now I'm actually e***d that Rally Championship will be out soon, sounds like now I'll be able to get my hands on it before 2001. Seeyas on the track. --John (Joao) Silva >[link lost in import] SNIP!

Quoted text (14 lines)

>"Hasbro, Inc. announced today that one of its subsidiaries, Hasbro >Interactive, Inc., has acquired Europress, a veteran European publisher of >educational and lifestyle software. The acquisition will bolster Hasbro >Interactive's international business, especially in the U.K., and >effectively launch Hasbro Interactive into new categories of software >development and distribution. " >So the list of Hasbro titles that they will produce in the racing market is >now this : >Rally Championship (pushes the envelope of physics in Rally Racing) >GP500 (pushed the envelope in Motorcycle racing) >Grand Prix 3 (what can we say more ? Geoff is back!) >Grand Prix World (manager-type sim I think)

Ok, a lot of titles, let's hope they deliver. GP500 looks good (and is the best of the bike bunch yet, for sure), but ultimately: how are you going to immerse the player in a motorcycle game which he has to control with a stick? Jan. ------ >http://www.simracingnews.com/news_article.cfm?ID=94 ><snip>

> GP500 looks good (and is the best of the bike bunch yet, for sure), but > ultimately: how are you going to immerse the player in a motorcycle game > which he has to control with a stick? Tough job, for sure. The best setup I've tried yet is my crusty old TM GP1 with analog paddles for throttle and brake. Calibrated to 160-180 degrees of rotation, zero game and Windows deadzones and +50% on the sensitivity, it works surprisingly well. If you hang off the side of your chair a bit in the corners, you can just about believe! :-) While the GP1 is gone, I think there are a few cheap wheels out now with similar paddles (TM Sprint, Comp USA, etc.). Cheers, Steve B.

I hope everyone will have PIII/600's to play these new games...... -Nanakofi...

LOL!!! ;-)) Jan. ------ ><snip> If you hang off the side of your chair a bit in >the corners, you can just about believe! :-) <snip>

I won't....AMD 600 for me!! :)

Sure there's potential here, but only potential, not results. I'll believe when I see a GPL, or even NASCAR3 quality car sim from Hasbro. bob

Francois, didn't your mom tell you that if you stuck your tongue in your cheek too hard it might stay that way?... :) "But in a way, fear is a big part of racing, because if there was nothing to be frightened of, and no limit, any fool could get into a motor car and racing would not exist as a sport." -- Jim Clark

Hmmm....in my book, it's not quantity, but **quality** that makes a company "Number One".

Quoted text (11 lines)

> Ok, a lot of titles, let's hope they deliver. > GP500 looks good (and is the best of the bike bunch yet, for sure), but > ultimately: how are you going to immerse the player in a motorcycle game > which he has to control with a stick? > Jan. > ------ > >http://www.simracingnews.com/news_article.cfm?ID=94 > ><snip>

> http://www.simracingnews.com/news_article.cfm?ID=94 [] > HASBRO also has a NASCAR license, so they are clearly the #1 now, not > SierraSports/Papyrus anymore. It's a big day in our community. > Sierra/Papyrus has been the #1 since the start of the 90's. I hope this > competition will wake them up. I hope so. You're right about Papyrus. They've been milking that engine for too many years now. From the previews I've read about N3 it doesn't even sound that different from N1999 which of course wasn't much different from N2 which, itself, wasn't much different from N1. It's high time someone came out with a revolutionary NASCAR engine. Of course if Papy would just implement the GPL engine in N3 I'd be happy. -- -----------------------------------+---------------------------------- ICQ #: 18197225 | http://members.xoom.com/morganv/ alt.games.quake2 FAQ: -------------+---------------------------------- http://members.xoom.com/morganv/files/ALT.GAMES.QUAKE2_FAQ.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------

How 'bout a large quantity of quality games? Sounds good to me. > Hmmm....in my book, it's not quantity, but **quality** that makes a company > "Number One". -- -----------------------------------+---------------------------------- ICQ #: 18197225 | http://members.xoom.com/morganv/ alt.games.quake2 FAQ: -------------+---------------------------------- http://members.xoom.com/morganv/files/ALT.GAMES.QUAKE2_FAQ.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Quoted text (12 lines)

>>HASBRO also has a NASCAR license, so they are clearly the #1 now, not >>SierraSports/Papyrus anymore. It's a big day in our community. >>Sierra/Papyrus has been the #1 since the start of the 90's. I hope >>this competition will wake them up. >I hope so. You're right about Papyrus. They've been milking >that engine for too many years now. From the previews I've >read about N3 it doesn't even sound that different from N1999 >which of course wasn't much different from N2 which, itself, >wasn't much different from N1. It's high time someone came >out with a revolutionary NASCAR engine. Of course if Papy >would just implement the GPL engine in N3 I'd be happy.

NR1999 was NO different than N2 in terms of graphics or physics. The only thing that was different was that it included CTS, some different tracks (including a couple being deleted), and the true chassis names were eliminated from the driver info screens. N3 will be different in the three primary areas of concern for us: 1) The physics engine, while not up to GPL standards are at least being upgraded. 2) The graphics (eye-candy) will be upgraded, including the ability to paint the cars with more colors and in previously unpaintable areas. 3) Free online play with (hopefully) close to 43 cars. Included in the online play item is the ability for a driver to use the same car which means that at least minimal league support is built in. Lastly, I'd like to remind everyone who claims they won't buy N3 to wait and see what it's like before trashing it in public forums. You just never know if they're going to include something that will make it worth buying for you. Personally, I plan on buying it if for no other reason than pure curiosity. If I like it, I'll keep it. If not, I'll give it away. -- ========================================================= Redneck Techno-Biker (Zerex12) http://www.members.home.net/jms1/index.html Barbarian Diecast Collector (370+ cars and counting) http://members.home.net/jsimm/diecast_index.html Internet Grand Prix Series Season 2 http://www.paddedwall.org/igps2/igps2.html North American Stockcar Racing Online Competition http://www.paddedwall.org/nasroc1/nasroc1.html Super X Philes http://members.home.net/kap/superx/superx.html If you want to send me email, go to the first URL shown above & click "Send Me Mail" in the contents frame. =========================================================

-Let's see now...GPL=19-20 cars -NASCAR=42? So I see YOU have purchased a P3/600 to run this with a decent frame rate then right...?

I use "body english" in car sims already. Weird though, I still hit the wall no matter how hard I lean the other direction :-) -- Ken's Sig 3.0 "Who is the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?" - Obi-Wan Kenobi Go #43 and #44! volksy (at) geocities (dot) com volksy (at) yahoo (dot) com >LOL!!! ;-)) >Jan. >------ >><snip> If you hang off the side of your chair a bit in >>the corners, you can just about believe! :-) <snip>

>[link lost in import] >This links demonstrate that they really care about *** simracers >compared to <cough> another big one who wants to only milk money with old >game engines that are boring and so... But I read a Crammond interview many months ago where he stated that GP3 would use the GP2 engine (which was based on the GP1 engine?) as, in his words, he'd be mad to throw away all those years of work. Can we wait until we play it first? Europress' track record in rally 'sims' leaves a lot to be desired, IMO. Certainly the graphics quality seems to be pushing envelopes. Can't get away with bike sims. Arcade games, yes, sims, no. As far as I'm concerned there's a serious control problem with them. See above. I want to drive! Don't get me wrong, I want someone to produce sims of higher quality than Papy (that can only be a good thing). I want RC and GP3 to be top of the line sims, but lets wait until the finished products are in the public domain before we go crowning kings... Cheers, Mark Reading, UK

Dunno about that one. Would be totally cool if they can pull it off, but I think it might require dedicated racing servers and not just matchmaking servers.... :) Now, that is the best news yet. Lot of other games have had this feature for years, glad to see they are finally implementing it. Yup, its gotta cross the finish line first (i.e. its got to reach retail shelves). :)

Interesting. Even a demo at the very least....:) A wheel just doesnt feel right, need the lean. However, I still prefer SBK. Yeah, product has to see the light of day on the retail shelves before we can perform our rampant judgements upon it. :) True enough. Would certainly be nice if there were more developers producing top-flight racing sims. I just hope Hasbro/Microprose with GP3/GP500 doesn't run the Falcon 4.0 gambit and ship and incomplete game that needs 7 patches to add/fix features it was supposed to ship with. That I think is my biggest worry about GP3.

> So I see YOU have purchased a P3/600 to run this with a decent frame rate > then right...? Maybe not so dependent on new mega-cpu's as new software, mb's and video cards. AGP4X, DX7, and video cards doing hardware transform and lighting will reduce the cpu load enormously from current configurations. Supposedly, racing and flight sims, which are so dependent on complex physics models, will be best suited to benefit from these new capabilities. I guess we'll see..... Cheers, Steve B.

I'll probably buy it just so that I can use the N3 to GPL converter ;-) =============== -- ========================================= Mike Barlow of Barlow Racing? ========================================= Racing online with the help of...... Race Communications Association http://members.xoom.com/RCA/toc.html Holodyne Engineering Mystic Music (have Your !!Name/Address!! placed here)

Well ive already seen the gp500 demo on some relatively modest systems. Certanly not the insult that GPL was to my prosessor when it came out. -ilmore >I hope everyone will have PIII/600's to play these new games...... >-Nanakofi...

: As I posted elsewhere, the success of Driver for the Playstation has shown : GT Interactive just how important driving/racing sims/games are, and they've No, I think it has shown them how important a game with a good concept and above-average execution is. I don't think Driver is selling because of its physics model or other qualities that we value in this group. It's selling because everyone's a sucker for a good car chase. As many have already noted here, as a "sim" it is a bit lacking, and even the environment is rather flawed (lots of walls). But somehow it has the atmoshpere that Midtown Madness lacks. How can you get e***d about evading the police in a New Beetle? There's no reason in MM for the carnage you are causing. Not necessarily a bad thing, but weaving together the small threads of a storyline and adding some funk-a-delic music pushes Driver ahead. By the way, anyone know where I can find a .mov or .avi of the Bullitt chase scene? Stephen

: Ok, a lot of titles, let's hope they deliver. : GP500 looks good (and is the best of the bike bunch yet, for sure), but : ultimately: how are you going to immerse the player in a motorcycle game : which he has to control with a stick? I still use a tiny CH Mach 1 stick for all my sims. I had a T2, but hated dragging it out and setting it up. I also hated the waste of desktop space if I left it set up. Using a stick has never hurt the immersion factor for me. Stephen

Hey, good idea!