From: rjung@aludra.usc.edu (Robert A. Jung)
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
Subject: Re: Atari's Jaguar..is it real?
Date: 10 Apr 1992 15:02:07 -0700
Organization: Southern California Lynx Enthusiasts
NNTP-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu

In article <rauser.702896455@sfu.ca> rauser@fraser.sfu.ca (Richard John Rauser) writes:
>   I'm not interested in flaming here, what I am interested in is public
>opinion on Atari's Jaguar.

  Anything that results is less flamage is always welcome.

>   Do I think the Atari Jaguar COULD survive and perhaps even succeed?
>Possible, but unlikely. Some things that could rocket the Jaguar to at leas
>least a number two spot:

  Given the state of the market today, second place may be as impossible as
first place. A solid third may be more reasonable.

>    1. Street Fighter II packaged with the system! (Heck, I'd buy one!)

  Fat chance. I don't see Capcom willing to spend all their time and energy
doing a port for a freshly-released machine. The closest to this would be
either a spittin' image Jaguar-port of another hot arcade game (yeah, right,
name one), or (more possible) an original game that -- for some unknown reason
-- catches the attention of the game-playing public. What if the Jaguar came
with/could play the 1992 equivalent of STAR RAIDERS, for instance? A new game
so hot and with so much "buzz" that people snap up the machines just to play
that game...

  Either way, this is not a likely scenario.

>    2. Hardware superior to the SNES for a price equal or less
>    4. a low priced CD unit with a good selection of initial games

  This is probably the best chance for the Jaguar to capture the attention of
gamers everywhere -- "Power Without the Price". Matching the Super NES would
not be enough, since people could go "Well, if both the Jaguar and the SNES
are equivalent, I'll stick with the Nintendo name since it's a safer bet".
No, the Jaguar would have to offer a substantial improvement over the SNES and
the Genesis to get any attention at all. A CD-ROM player would not be
mandatory (there are many people who will never be interested in CD-ROMs), but
if one was available (either included or as a low-priced accessory), it
wouldn't hurt. Remember also that having a CD-ROM is not an automatic
guarantee of quality; many CD-ROM games are still dogs (HEAVY NOVA CD is the
latest example).

  Getting the graphics and sound to be better than existing levels is possible
(see the Neo*Geo). The hard part is making this affordable (see the Neo*Geo).

>    3. A large number of high quality arcade ports available from the start
>with a steady stream of third party software. Atari MUST induce third party
>supporters to make strong commitments to the machine, not like the lacklustre
>support the TG-16 has received.

  A large number of games available when the machine is released is a must.
The Super NES could get away with a small initial title pool, since the
Nintendo name has become synonimous with "video games" in the '90s, but
Atari can't (shouldn't) count on that. The games don't have to be arcade ports
or third-party stuff, but a large number of titles initially (say, 10-15)
of good quality that show of the machine's abilities would help.

  Third-party support comes only through time. Nobody can "induce" third-
party support; the best you can do is sell enough units so that the indies
feel that writing games for your machine would not be a losing proposition.
Even if you gave away Jaguar development kits to Konami and Capcom, they will
not bother wasting time to write software on it unless they feel that they
can actually sell the darn things.


  A fourth point that you forgot to mention is ADVERTISING. This is one of
Atari's weak points (slow speed of developing new software is the other),
and will probably hurt them the most. Note that "advertising" is not just
sticking plugs on TVs and in magazines, but also in getting the media to
cover your stuff. If you walked into a store today and saw a Neo-Geo-type
machine selling for $200, from a company that you never heard of and haven't
seen discussed in EGM/Gamepro/VG&CE/rec.games.video, would you buy it?

  "Yeah, it sounds like a great deal, but I never heard of it before. I'll
wait until I get some information before I consider it."

  Atari Corp.'s got this really lame policy of skimping on ad money. Upper
management believes that they can release a hot box, and that "word of mouth"
will sell the machines for them. While this may work to a degree, it should
not be the only thing you count on. Both the Genesis and the TG-16 sold lots
of units initially because they combined hot word-of-mouth with LOTS OF
ADVERTISING, even though neither company had a "starting prestige" that
Nintendo did ("NEC? Don't they make office computers?"  "Sega? Oh, yeah, the
Master System people. Hope they do better this time.").
    
>   Let's get some discussion of this machine going again. Does the Jaguar
>even exist? If so, what form will it take? And most importantly, can it
>survive?

  I'm certain the Jaguar survives, simply because I've gotten lots o' hints
from my friends who own stock in Atari Corp. (being a stockholder allows you
to know all the stuff that the general public doesn't). Atari has some
problems, but they deliver most of the products that are announced. Late,
maybe...

  It will come out, but whether it survives depends largely on price,
performance, software, and advertising.  If Atari's past track record is any
indication, they'll succeed on the first two points, and fumble on the last
two. Upper management keeps promising to do things different this time around,
but I'll believe it when I see it.

>   RJ, I'm looking for you on this one...I've never heard you discuss
>the Jaguar (though I'm sure you have). 

  I personally feel (dread?) that the Jaguar will end up like the Lynx: a
great machine with a low price, but with not enough general-public awareness
to push it past Nintendo and Sega. People who own one will love it to death,
and people who don't own one will wonder if it's worth throwing their
allegiance to a low-profile firm.

  Of course, I buy a system because of what it can do, and not for the hype.
But I am fully aware that won't sell Lynxes/Jaguars to everyone else in the
market.

                                                --R.J.
                                                B-)

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