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[dark10x]

Give me specs on the board then, if you have them.

 

[Shinobi]

As much as I love the WRX it seems like its getting a little over exposure.

WTS...how can one of the greatest rally and production cars in history be overexposed??? Besides, it's not only the car that won the driver's championshp last year, I imagine the non-Sony publishers use it because the Subaru Team USA WRX is the only car that looks like the WRC version.

Great news! This should be the first time we get 60 fps Sega Rally at home!

Not true...Sega Rally 2 on PC was 60fps. Controls feel a bit tighter as well. If you can find it, I'd recommend it snagging it.

It isn't as if Sega Rally 2 is all that much brighter, really. This new version is a LOT more detailed than any previous SR game as well.

Hell, Sega Rally 1 wasn't exactly awash with bright colours...it always had a more subdued look compared to say Daytona USA.

Considering that part 2 also had part 1's tracks, I can't get too excited about this, but hey, I can live with it.

It only had the desert track from part one, which I was kinda disappointed with...I really wanted to tackle that ridiculously good Lakeside course in the Impreza. But hell, guess I'll have my shot now.

i'm thrilled to have sega rally return... i'm sure it will rock


just wish this sucker was on chihiro/xbox then ported to ps2. still though, the graphics are far from bad

Heh, I wanted Naomi 3 and a port to PS3 or XBox 2. Though looking at the 2005 moniker, maybe that'll happen anyway.

Well, they can try to make it actually popular so that people will buy it.

You mean make it popular again...the first two games were huge hits in Europe and Japan. Not expecting it to do much here, but good luck finding a rally game that has.

I think people were just expecting too much...

Sega wouldn't want to spend the cash on developing a new arcade platform that sits generations above the current machines just for a few arcade titles (which would probably perform poorly). Times have simply changed...

When the most powerful arcade hardware on the market right now is based on a home console (Chihiro/XBOX), you know things are no longer the same. Chihiro/XBOX would have made a much better home for SR2k5, though...but it still would never go beyond the reach of other games we already have at home.

Nah, if they throw out Naomi 3 sometime next year, it isn't gonna look much better then the next gen machines anyway. Certainly the Model days are over, where that hardware was miles ahead of the current generation hardware. But there's nothing wrong with putting out next gen level hardware a year ahead of the consoles, as sort of a tuneup. I still believe that's going to happen.

Rally with out powerslides?

:lol I was thinking the same thing...even the sim Mobil 1 Rally on PC had powerslides, though they were hard as fuck to pull off with the Sidewinder (or I simply sucked, which is probably closer to the truth).



Anyway, while I'd rather wait for a next gen Sega Rally, I'm hardly gonna turn my nose up at a current gen version. The screens look solid...didn't expect a PS2 Sega Rally to be any different. I'm sure it's more then a mere remake, but we'll see...I certainly see some track sections that haven't been used in the previous games.

 

[jarrod]

Give me specs on the board then, if you have them.

Give me Xenon specs and we'll compare.

 

[Xellos]

I just want to know what's so ugly about them.

Lack of trackside detail is the main thing, and the scenery that is there is unimpressive at best. It may not be an N64 game but it's a far cry from the likes of GT4 or RSC2.

 

[dark10x]

Not true...Sega Rally 2 on PC was 60fps. Controls feel a bit tighter as well. If you can find it, I'd recommend it snagging it.

I remember playing a demo of the PC version, but I also remember it looking a lot worse than the Model 3 version. Was it downgraded? Or was it actually a good port and the higher quality display I was using simply revealed too much?

You're right, though, the PC version ran great and you can easily use a wheel with it (I'd assume). I'll have to hunt for it, though. I always want to play SR, but the DC version is too choppy for me to enjoy these days and the Saturn looks really bad on my TV (very very blocky).

I honestly don't care much for Rallisport. Despite the hype, the controls never clicked with me. That's why I'm interested in this...

Lack of trackside detail is the main thing, and the scenery that is there is unimpressive at best. It may not be an N64 game but it's a far cry from the likes of GT4 or RSC2.

...but it's still much more detailed than the Model 3 SR2 which was already running on hardware that was WAYYYYY beyond N64.

 

[Shinobi]

I remember playing a demo of the PC version, but I also remember it looking a lot worse than the Model 3 version. Was it downgraded? Or was it actually a good port and the higher quality display I was using simply revealed too much?

It was pretty much the DC version with a locked down framerate and a crisper look. The dusk colours are different, at least on my PC...I preferred how they looked in the DC version. Neither version beats the arcade version, and the cars really don't come close, but the backgrounds do the job and the added lighting certainly adds some depth that the arcade version was missing.


Anyway, here are Naomi 3's alleged specs...

# Max Texture Height 4096 px
# Max Texture Width 4096 px
# Max Active Hardware Lights 8
# Max Texture Blending Stages 8
# Textures In Single Pass 16
# Fixed Function
# Max Texture Coordinates 8
# Max Vertex Blend Matrices 98
# Pixel Shader Version 3.0
# Vertex Shader Version 3.0
# DirectX Version Hardware Support 9.0C
# Max User Clipping Planes 8
# Memory And Core Clock 375 MHz synchro
# VGA Core Codename PowerVR S5A2
# Total Local Video Memory 256 MB
# Total Local Texture Memory 254 MB
# Max AGP Memory 256 MB

# Rendering Bit Depths 16, 32
# Z-Buffer Bit Depths 16

# Direct3D Device Features
# Additive Texture Blending Supported
# AGP Texturing Supported
# Anisotropic Filtering Supported
# Bilinear Filtering Supported
# Cubic Environment Mapping Supported
# Cubic Filtering Supported
# Decal-Alpha Texture Blending Supported
# Decal Texture Blending Supported
# Directional Lights Supported
# DirectX Texture Compression Supported
# DirectX Volumetric Texture Compression Supported
# Dithering Supported
# Dot3 Texture Blending Supported
# Dynamic Textures Not Supported
# Edge Antialiasing Supported
# Environmental Bump Mapping Supported
# Environmental Bump Mapping + Luminance Supported
# Factor Alpha Blending Supported
# Geometric Hidden-Surface Removal Supported
# Guard Band Supported
# Hardware Scene Rasterization Supported
# Hardware Transform & Lighting Supported
# Legacy Depth Bias Supported
# Mipmap LOD Bias Adjustments Supported
# Mipmapped Cube Textures Supported
# Mipmapped Volume Textures Supported
# Modulate-Alpha Texture Blending Supported
# Modulate Texture Blending Supported
# Non-Square Textures Supported
# N-Patches Supported
# Perspective Texture Correction Supported
# Point Lights Supported
# Point Sampling Supported
# Projective Textures Supported
# Quintic Bezier Curves & B-Splines Not Supported
# Range-Based Fog Supported
# Rectangular & Triangular Patches Not Supported
# Rendering In Windowed Mode Supported
# Scissor Test Supported
# Slope-Scale Based Depth Bias Supported
# Specular Flat Shading Supported
# Specular Gouraud Shading Supported
# Specular Phong Shading Supported
# Spherical Mapping Supported
# Spot Lights Supported
# Stencil Buffers Supported
# Sub-Pixel Accuracy Supported
# Table Fog Supported
# Texture Alpha Blending Supported
# Texture Clamping Supported
# Texture Mirroring Supported
# Texture Transparency Supported
# Texture Wrapping Supported
# Triangle Culling Not Supported
# Trilinear Filtering Supported
# Two-Sided Stencil Test Supported
# Vertex Alpha Blending Supported
# Vertex Tweening Supported
# Volume Textures Supported
# Z-Bias Supported
# Z-Test Supported
# W-Buffering Supported
# Z-Based Fog Supported
# Vertex Fog Supported
# W-Based Fog Supported

Series 4 was cancelled.
Series 3 was called KYRO (I, II)
Series 2 was in Dreamcast, NAOMI, Neon250, NAOMI 2
Series 1 was the first two PC chip, PCX1, PCX2

http://video.usenews.org/group/comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video/message-352007.html


Are they impressive? Or are they underwhelming? The fuck if I know.

And here's a press release from Imagination Technologies from mid-March...

SEGA and Imagination Technologies Announce Licensing Agreement
SEGA Licenses High-End PowerVR Graphics Technology for Advanced Arcade Systems
------------------------------------------

18 March 2004

London, UK: Imagination Technologies [LSE:IMG], a leader in system-on-chip intellectual property (SoC IP), and SEGA CORPORATION [TSE:7964] today announce a licensing agreement between the companies for the development of next generation arcade systems based on new high-end PowerVR graphics technology.

SEGA, the leader in the arcade market, will use a new high-performance PowerVR graphics processor as the basis of its future arcade systems. SEGA may also supply system boards based on this processor to other leading amusement game companies.

Says Hiroshi Yagi, Corporate Officer in AM Product R&D Division, SEGA CORPORATION: “The inherent benefits of PowerVR, which are well known to SEGA, will be utilized to deliver interactive experiences that will amaze gamers worldwide and continue SEGA’s legacy of innovation and excellence. SEGA’s new arcade platform, which will be at the forefront of Sega’s current board strategy across all video game genres, will deliver cutting edge gaming, exceeding any other videogame system in the world.”

Says John Metcalfe, VP Business Development, Imagination Technologies: “We are thrilled to once again be cooperating with SEGA at the forefront of video gaming. Together we have already proven our excellence in arcade games with the Naomi family, and it is safe to say that once again gamers will be looking eagerly to the arcades to see where the future of video gaming lies.”

SEGA previously utilised PowerVR technology as the basis of its Naomi and Naomi2 arcade platforms, which were employed not only by SEGA but also by many of the other leading amusement game companies.

http://www.imgtec.com/News/Release/index.asp?ID=194

Bottom line is, something's cooking. Just a question of when we'll see it, and with what.

 

[doncale]

NAOMI 3 (or whatever the next highend Sega board is) is rumored to launch with
Virtua Fighter 5 and Daytona USA 2005.

but who knows, we'll see.

 

[Xellos]

...but it's still much more detailed than the Model 3 SR2 which was already running on hardware that was WAYYYYY beyond N64.

I agree that it's way better than N64. Whether or not it's better than Model 3 SR2 I don't know as I've never seen the game in the arcade. But compared to the console racers I've seen in the past year or two (including games a few still unreleased, like GT4), it's pretty underwhelming. I expect more from Sega's racers; they have a long track record of being visually striking games when they're released, from VR back in the day up to SCUD Race and (from what I've seen so far) Outrun 2 (the only exeptions I can think of are the Sega GT games, which aren't what I'd call good looking either).

 

[dark10x]

I agree that it's way better than N64. Whether or not it's better than Model 3 SR2 I don't know as I've never seen the game in the arcade. But compared to the console racers I've seen in the past year or two (including games a few still unreleased, like GT4), it's pretty underwhelming. I expect more from Sega's racers; they have a long track record of being visually striking games when they're released, from VR back in the day up to SCUD Race and (from what I've seen so far) Outrun 2 (the only exeptions I can think of are the Sega GT games, which aren't what I'd call good looking either).

I have no high quality arcade shots, but here is a DC shot (which was close).

The arcade version really wasn't much more detailed, though...

 

[Kai Dracon]

GAME OVER, YEAAAAAAAH!

 

[MadOdorMachine]

Here's a pic from Kikizo

 

[Baron Aloha]

*touches self

 

[nitewulf]

its just been announced, graphics may improve a lot by release.

 

[doncale]

Sega Rally 2005 Speeding to PS2

One of Sega's mightiest franchises is definitely set to return exclusively on PS2 next year. Full details inside.

Update - first screens added - better shots to follow.

As we reported over a year ago, Sega Rally is to make a thundering return into living rooms next year as Sega Rally 2005, the third in the series since the groundbreaking original 1995 coin-op, hits PlayStation 2.

An official announcement has yet to be made by Sega but a report in the next issue of Famitsu reportedly breaks the exclusive on the sequel.


(Sega Rally 2) - The popular series is set to return.

A lot happens in a year and indeed it now seems that the game is coming straight to console without an arcade version, an interesting strategy if true, that reaffirms Sega's commitment to the home videogaming business despite Sammy's clear amusements-driven strategy.

We reported that the game was "ready to go" a year ago but our sources suggested that ongoing licensing issues, as well as the obvious matter of total R&D reorganisation in the last year, have held the project back.


First screens of Sega Rally 2005 emerged today.

The incredible Xbox-exclusive OutRun2 conversion is just weeks away from release in Europe, but now rampant PS2 fanboys will have something to shout back about.

Kikizo assumes that the Hitmaker team is behind the project, with the majority of staff from the old Sega Rosso side of the studio central to the project. Our source told us a year ago that Sasaki-san was overseeing the project but there has been a lot of movement within Sega since then and really anything could be happening.


More from the new game.

Sources suggest Sega Rally is the first of many valuable Sega franchises in line for big comebacks. Watch Kikizo for details.

Expect the first screens and solid details in the coming days, with an appearance at next week's TGS not unlikely - if that happens, then of course expect our first-hand impressions.

http://games.kikizo.com/news/200409/017.asp

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH bring those 'other' valuable Sega franchises back....oh yeah baby

 

[KyotoMecca]

It's all true, SEGA FANBOYS REJOICE (await hardcore Kikizo hands-on next week) maybe xxx

 

[XS+]

um.... isn't this generic looking ASS??!?!?!

I love sega and all, but ... christ... welcome to Ordinary ville arizon.... population... lots..

I thought the same thing, but I kept silent to avoid the subsequent obligatory PS2 fanboy damage control..

Compared to Sega's last two racers (F-Zero and Outrun 2) it looks awfully bland.

 

[dark10x]

I thought the same thing, but I kept silent to avoid the subsequent obligatory PS2 fanboy damage control..

Compared to Sega's last two racers (F-Zero and Outrun 2) it looks awfully bland.

It doesn't look bland because of the hardware, though...

The design is simply generic.

 

[KyotoMecca]

The design is simply generic.

HELLO... ALL WE HAVE SEEN YET IS BS SCANS...

Wait for the real deal TRUST ME.

 

[doncale]

as long as it's a rock solid 60fps with NO dips, i'll be satisfied. since the 3 year old GT3 is 60fps, and probably GT4 too, then SR2005 better be also.

 

[Brofist]

Compared to Sega's last two racers (F-Zero and Outrun 2) it looks awfully bland.

No shit the tracks in a rally game are going to look bland compared to F-Zero.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

No shit the tracks in a rally game are going to look bland compared to F-Zero.

not to aliens.

 

[XS+]

It doesn't look bland because of the hardware, though...

The design is simply generic.

I hope that's not the reason.. it sucks that Sega's racers this gen have generally looked spectacular, then all that comes to a screeching halt with a PS2 outing..

No shit the tracks in a rally game are going to look bland compared to F-Zero.

There's a lot more going on in F-Zero than over-the-top futuristic nonsense that makes the game visually appealing. And Outrun 2 is down-to-earth like SR2k5, and that game is gorgeous..

 

[neo2046]

http://www.segarally.com/
http://www.sega.co.jp/ps2/rally05/home.html

 

[doncale]

i like 1998's Sega Rally 2 more, but Sega Rally 2005 looks more than decent. bring it on.

 

[drohne]

doesn't look any different from the dozens of other rally games on the market, but if the track design and handling are on par with the previous games in the series, i'll have no complaints. track design is the one area where the sega rally games still have it all over rallisport.

let's hope daytona is up next.

edit: incidentally, who's developing this? am3 became hitmaker, right? could be them. what happened to am annex? that was miziguchi's department, but i don't think they became uga.

 

[Brandon F]

My brother and I had a blast playing it, the game has a great sense of drifting IMO. It's just pure arcade racing fun.

It also adds some new flair to the genre, by having three different "zones" on each track. On every lap, you compete against time in each of the zones, to recieve either a bronze, silver or gold ranking. It makes the game so much more intense, it's like having three small races against time within the race.

If you manage to get gold on all three sections of a track, a shockwave will appear in front of you, and if you manage to catch up with it you'll travel "with" the wave. Then you're in for one hell of a ride.

All the cars featured in the game are real-life cars, and you buy new ones for the money you earn by winning. There are three different environments: jungle, arid, ice.

The tracks look really good, with lots of small details...and of course...the developers understood that little important thing called framerate. Always 60 fps.

Oh, and you can even play four player split-screen - with two controllers.

That sounds really great! I think I saw this game for $10 in the shop recently, will definately snag it next time I visit. (This is referring to the page 1 discussion of 'Shox' for PS2 BTW)

 

[TheGreenGiant]

I just want to know what's so ugly about them.

come off it, dark10x. The screens are extremely ordinary. If this were any other game; it'd be condemned to hell and back. Its not so much ugly but ordinary. Could be WRCIII or CM4 for that matter.

Meh

 

[DCharlie]

"The tracks look really good, with lots of small details...and of course...the developers understood that little important thing called framerate. Always 60 fps. "

and the fact that the dev team were forced to play Sega Rally 1 + 2 constantly until they "got it"

 

[Koshiro]

http://www.sega.co.jp/ps2/rally05/home.html

MUCH better!

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

Yeah the shots on the official site look much better. Still there's something about them that just doesn't stand out. I think as has been mentioned before it seems to be lacking the jois de vivre of its predecessors. Also the lack of spectators at this point is keenly felt, but I'm sure they wouldn't leave those out. It wouldn't be Sega Rally (or even a rally game) without them.

Having previously said that I wasn't too hot on a this gen release for a new SR, I'm now warming considerably to the idea.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Reading over the website, the career mode sounds like it's going to be pretty deep. I wonder how far they're going to go with the customizing though? They also didn't mention anything about online or even the amount of people who can play it at once. I guess they're still working that out.

I do wish it was more than a SR1 remake, but i'll take it.

 

[Shinobi]

No shit the tracks in a rally game are going to look bland compared to F-Zero.

:lol Guess he's expecting to see party streamers, strobe lights and laser shows or something. Desert courses have never been a visual standout, outside of when the chopper flies down in both games (well, that and the double S turns on Desert SS3...some mighty nice rock textures on the side).

That said, it does need people...lots of 'em. Hopefully 3D as well as animated. The first two games never looked mindblowing in terms of flash though...Super GT had it all over Sega Rally 2 in terms of different details and the whole Sega colour thing. But they did look extremely solid, with some incredible texture work for their time.

That said, I'm not all that thrilled with some random track generator...that screams generic to me far more then the visuals. Not liking the track width in those pics either...that's been a staple of the desert courses, but I don't want to see it with the tarmac roads.

As for who's developing it, I suspect it's Sega Rosso...they made Sega Touring Car, Sega Rally 2 and Initial D.

 

[XS+]

To clarify.. if I was expecting anything from a SR sequel released this gen, it's better lighting than what these early screens are showing..

 

[Solid]

http://www.segarally.com/

I want to see this baby in motion!

 

[Solid]

New pic?

 

[dark10x]

come off it, dark10x. The screens are extremely ordinary. If this were any other game; it'd be condemned to hell and back. Its not so much ugly but ordinary. Could be WRCIII or CM4 for that matter.

Meh

No, I want to know what looks so bad about them. Everyone keeps throwing around "ordinary". There is a difference between looking ordinary and looking bad...

They are bland looking...but that doesn't mean they look like "COMPLETE ASS!!!!111".

 

[op_ivy]

come off it, dark10x. The screens are extremely ordinary. If this were any other game; it'd be condemned to hell and back. Its not so much ugly but ordinary. Could be WRCIII or CM4 for that matter.

Meh

hmm, i'd say it looks better then either of those personally *shrugs

 

[DemonCleaner]

the pc version of SR2 was a disaster

everything else is a lie

 

[Shinobi]

the pc version of SR2 was a disaster

Nah...it wasn't stunning, but it was more then adequate, and fixed a couple of issues that were in the DC version. Has online play too, not that I got much use out of that.

 

[Project Midway]

yeah, PC version was better than the DC version. I remember how I proudly demonstrated my new shiny DC and Sega Rally to my buddy and he just said: "what's that? This game looks better on my PC".

=)

 

[DemonCleaner]

it hadnt looked any better on the pc (iirc some of the textures were lower res) and the controls were poopy.

 

[FightyF]

The only pic I can see is the one from MadOdorMachine and that looks horrible.

God knows I'm a big SEGA Rally fan, but this looks ugly.

Great news! This should be the first time we get 60 fps Sega Rally at home! I just hope it plays like SR...

I have the Japanese DC version, where it had a 60 fps code that worked well. It ran at 60fps 80% of the time though. It sacrificed the horrible looking dust trails that Genki thought would be a good idea to implement...and it wasn't, plus it looked so costly (from a programming/graphics perspective) it helped make the game buttery smooth for the most part.

The PS2 has started to show it's age for the last year...and this game is no exception at all. Why not make this for Xenon/PS3? It only looks marginally better than the DC version...released in NINTEEN-FRIKIN NINTY-EIGHT!

Wow SEGA...a game that I bought 6 years ago remade to look a tiny bit better on the PS2!

 

[freaky zeeky]

from what's gleaned of these screens, the game looks no uglier than any rally racing title available now. before passing definitive judgement, let's wait until clearer media is available.