JEO 29/46
   ||  Llatest from Llamaland
   ||  By: Jeff "Yak" Minter
\__//  net.yak@yak.net
[All of the following postings are taken from Jeff Minter's web page,
Yak's Zoo .  Check it out, and
see what else Jeff has yakked up lately.]
//// 7 Nov 1997
Project X has reached supercritical stage and I need to go back there
to come up to speed on the latest developments.
Things are looking very cool X-wize, and if you have been reading Next
Gen or Edge you may well know a bit more about it than before.  The
feline entity is slowly but surely emerging from the bag.  I am very
glad it has finally reached this stage, and you can expect to be
hearing a lot more about us in the very near future.  Secrecy mode is
finally ending, and soon I'll actually be able to show off some of the
fruits of our labours over the last year and a half.  I don't think
you will be disappointed :-)
Speaking of my emulators, if you haven't taken a download of MAME
recently, you should definitely do so.  MAME is rapidly shaping up to
be just about the only coin-op emulator you will ever need.  It
currently runs over 200 of the old games, including such classics as
Star Wars, all the old Williams classics, you name it!  the mouse
driver on Star Wars needs a bit of a seeing-to - at the moment there
is acceleration coded in, which makes control a bit dodgy, I reckon (I
know that it is possible to play Star Wars well with a mouse, since I
became very proficient at the the excellent Atari ST version many
moons ago).  I have also been renewing my Robotron addiction, as I am
wont to do every few months or so, and attaining considerable
proficiency at the little-known sequel to Robotron, Blaster.
There has also been an update to the PC-Engine emulator which allows
it to run CD-ROMS (I haven't tried this out yet, but once I have a bit
more time I certainly shall, since I anticipate spending a few hours
reacquainting myself with the joys of Super Wonder Boy in Monster Land
:-).  The emulation is so good now that if you turn on Scan Lines mode
then for all intents and purposes you are playing a PC-Engine.  The
lads came round the other weekend and we spent the time getting mildly
intoxicated and playing lots of Devil Crash and Alien Crush, just like
old times.  Cool.
I also bought a UK N64 - since I am going to be living here now it
helps if I can buy local games rather than having to import from the
US, and besides, my US system was in my shipment, and judging by the
amount of time they took, was probably being enjoyed by all the guys
at whatever Customs place my stuff came in at.  I've been playing
Extreme-G, the Wipeout- wannabe from Acclaim for N64.  I am not sure
it is quite as classy as Wipeout, and the choons certainly aren't
anywhere near as good, but the game is good fun and the tracks are
interesting, featuring all kinds of weird loops and gravity
inversions.  It also supports simultaneous play by up to 4 players,
which I look forward to checking out when the lads come around again.
A great game, but I am still waiting to see what the big N come up
with when F-Zero 64 is released...
Well, that's about it for this time - I will do more extensive
updating when I get back from the US and I can really settle in.  You
can expect many good things to emerge from the Cow Barn in the future
:-)
... The working hour is over. We can do anything that we want.
--- JetMail 0.99beta22
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