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Dear Ultimate Gamer:

Although I enjoyed reading your first issue, I have to say I was disappointed with the coverage you have the Atari Jaguar. I bought one last year and have been eagerly looking forward to playing the hot new CD titles. The Jaguar is a 64-bit system and therefore more powerful than the 32-bit Saturn and Playstation. This also makes Jaguar at least as powerful as the upcoming M2 and Ultra 64 platforms. It seems like you've ignored awesome Atari games like Tempest2000 and concentrated instead on stuff Americans will never be able to buy, like Ridge Racer and Daytona USA. How about Checkered Flag, or even Club Drive? I think the Jaguar deserves more than the passing attention you give it, and it certainly doesn't deserve to be dismissed as if it's old technology already.

---Brian Bering,
Concord, MA.

Dear Brian,

I think you already know what our response is going to be, and I think you already answered most of your own questions. The Jaguar is a decent system, but frankly nowhere near as powerful as the Playstation or Saturn. The "64-bit" mentioned in Jaguar legend does not refer to a single processor, but to the way a subset of chips operates. Atari uses the expression "64-bit Bus Bandwidth" a lot. Both the Sony and Sega machines use true 32-bit RISC processors and are a great deal faster than the Jaguar. Awesome games? You mentioned--correctly--Tempest2000, but please, which other Jaguar titles are "awesome"? And comparing Checkered Flag and Club Drive to Ridge Racer? Even Atari haven't bothered to do that. Another thing: We like the Jaguar. We think it has potential. We don't think it's living up to that potential and we know for a fact that very few companies ever plan to publish for it.

 

Dear Ultimate Gamer: I don't want to sound like another Jaguar owner who's crying about what people are saying about the Jag. I really don't care. I love the Jaguar and plan to purchase carts and CD games to come. I'm writing in response to your comments in issue #2. I believe that the Saturn and Playstation are more powerful than the Jag, but I also believe that the Jaguar CD, although not as powerful, should be able to do games roughly just as good as any new 32-bit system. Games like Myst and Mortal Kombat 3 will probably be just as good as Saturn's and Playstation's. You ask which other games are awesome for the Jag? Irons Soldier, Cannon Fodder, Doom, Alien VS. Predator, Val d'Isere Skiing and Snow- boarding are all decent games. Enough to be compared to other games on any system. Games like Syndicate and Theme Park are not bad either. I simply cannot wait for games like Ultra Vortek, Rayman, BattleSphere and Power Drive Rally. What I want to say to all the whiney Jaguar owners is that if you have that big a problem with the Jag, keep it on the side and buy another system. You'll see----the Jag will be around for a while. Another question that I have is, does the term "more powerful," as in game systems, refer to speed or to memory capacity? Because according to the President of Atari, the Jaguar is as powerful, if not slightly more than, the Saturn. (although by looking at the games I sure can't tell, but then again, you don't compare cartridge games to CD games.) It is the Playstation that is the most powerful of them all. Still, I'm glad that the Jaguar is believed to have potential. And what's the advantage of the Jaguar having a 64-bit architecture? Finally, to end my letter, the baby picture is cute but not funny. I seriously doubt that even a 13-yr old kid can beat games like AVP or Syndicate without serious concentration. I'm sorry if my letter has no direct point but I do believe that according to Ultimate Gamer, a person's opinion counts and should be heard. Atari started the race and will battle to the end. I hope that end isn't soon! --Sergio Martin Dinuba, CA 93618 

Dear Ultimate Gamer: First off, I'd like to say that I'm an Atari Jaguar fan. When I picked up UG #2, I was at first very pleased by your editorial concerning Atari and their CD and VRuntis. However, I was horrified at your response to Brian Bering. What are you guys smoking, anyway? How can you sarcastically ask, "Please, which other games are awesome?" Do games like Iron Soldier and AVP ring a bell? How about Syndicate or Doom, or Super Burnout? I'll bet if any of these titles featured "Sonic" or "Mario" you guys would eat it up. My friend has a Saturn and I'm still glad I went Atari. Phanzer Dragon looks nice, but if you can't fly where you want to, then everything else is just flash! Daytona USA is loaded with flickering graphics and only three tracks; surely the "mighty Saturn" could squeeze more tracks than that! (Even Checkered Flag gave you around ten tracks!) Clockwork Knight? It's crap! Again, a lot of flash and, in the end, a bore. The picture of the baby holding the Jag controller is way out of line. Atari makes a lot of use of the 18-button pad. How much depth is involved in a lot of Sega's overrated games? Unfortunately, I've had to get used to all of the publications ripping up Atari. In your FFL review, you even had to pick apart the backgrounds! Come on, just exactly how good are Virtua Fighter's backgrounds? They look a lot worse to me. I can't wait for all the magazines to jump on the band- wagon when the Jag CD and VR systems are released. Believe it or not, I do like your magazine and will continue reading, but plesae...give Atari some slack. Sega, Nintendo and 3Do have certainly all had their share of totally crappy games, just as Atari has! --Rich Thomquist Holliston, MA 


G
entlemen,
your comments regarding the state of the Jaguar, although not all of them are entirely valid, have been noted. To answer your questions: 1)the term "more powerful" has been used and abused by several hardware manufactureers in an effort to swat your vote as to which system is technologically superior. For example, Sega claimed that its 32x was "six times more powerful than 3DO",and that's just not entirely correct. Truth is, it's rather difficult to define clearly the term "morepowerfu." One could assume that it involves a combination of both speed and memory capacity. 2)We quit smoking years ago. 3)Yes, AVP rings a bell, but Super Burnout? (we're sorry, please don't hurt us!) 4)We're not backing down on this one. There is more depth in a game like Boxxle for the Genesis than most Jag games, and that is just not the way things should be for a 64-bit system. Lastly, we should point out that while all platforms have had their fair share of garbage titles, the percentage of lame-o games released for the Jag is, indisputably, much higher than that of any other. Deal with it. 



Dear Ultimate Gamer:
No, I don't think Atari and Jaguar stand a chance in the next-generation platform wars. Even if the Jaguar's hardware could compete with the newer, more powerful systems, Atari has yet to deliver even a handful of excellent games. Third-parties have been reluctant to support the platform because of it lethargic sales. The same goes for retailers. And consumers? With the arrival of Saturn, Playstation and Ultra 64, gamers (not to mention those same third-parties and retailers we talked about earlier) now have more--and better--choices than ever before. Too many, in fact. The marketplace can only support so many platforms; some of them will have to die. And Jaguar, I'm afraid, is on the endangered species list. --Sincerely, Robert Rhode Janesville, WI

53546 And hats about it for now! Be sure to come back and read Letters2next week! All content on this page belongs to their respective owners.