Acclaim Sports - Press News - Coming Soon Magazine

Acclaim's NFL Quarterback Club'98 N64 Turns Beta: Only NFL Licensed Game for the Nintendo 64 This Year

Acclaim Uses Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Experience to Push the Limits of the N64

Glen Cove, NY, July 31, 1997 -- Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKLM), a leading worldwide interactive entertainment company, today announced NFL Quarterback Club '98, the only NFL licensed N64 game, has officially reached beta status and is nearing completion on schedule for its Fall 1997 release.

NFL Quarterback Club '98 is being developed by Acclaim's Iguana studio, creators of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, currently the number one third-party Nintendo 64 title. Iguana used many of the proprietary programming techniques learned while developing Turok to make NFL QBC '98 the new standard by which sports games will be judged.

"The technology created during the two and a half year development period for Turok gave us a giant head start on the NFL project," said Greg Fischbach co-chairman and CEO. "Iguana is by far the most experienced domestic N64 developer and no one else could have developed a product this good. We are very proud of what they have been able to accomplish with Quarterback Club."

This week the game officially turns beta when the code is finished and the play testing accelerates. "At this point we have a complete game and now have the next few months for testing and putting in the finishing touches," said Russell Byrd, director of sports development for Iguana. "The development team started the project last summer, even before the completion of last year's NFL QBC '97. There were tremendous technical challenges with having 22 guys running on the field at the same time and maintaining high frame rate and resolution. We're really pleased with the end result."

Iguana has made incredible advances with the 64-bit Nintendo platform. NFL Quarterback Club `98 will be the first N64 game released in North America to feature hi-res, 640 x 480 graphics -- four times as detailed as any other game for the Nintendo 64. Additionally, the game uses Acclaim's proprietary motion capture system which creates incredibly realistic animated movement including player interaction where you can actually see player's arms wrap around the ball carrier and drag him to the ground.

"Sports fans won't believe their eyes when they see NFL Quarterback Club '98," said Nintendo Power. "It is the first North American N64 game to use the hi-res mode, which doubles the resolution to 640 x 480 pixels, and it's frighteningly good. In our first real test play of NFL QB Club '98, we were amazed to see how polished it was already, and the team at Iguana has another couple months to tweak this game to perfection."

NFL Quarterback Club '98 supports Nintendo's effort to develop a strong sports line-up for the Nintendo 64. "We have been working with Acclaim and Iguana for a long time on NFL Quarterback Club `98 and we are stunned at what they have been able to do with the product," said Howard Lincoln, chairman, Nintendo of America.

For the past four years Acclaim has been the exclusive video game licensee of the NFL Quarterback Club, an association of top quarterbacks in the NFL. This relationship has allowed Acclaim Sports to work with the top quarterbacks including Dan Marino, Steve Young, and this year's spokesman, two-time NFL MVP, Brett Favre.

"In addition to our exclusive NFL Quarterback Club 98 license, our game will also be the only NFL licensed N64 game this season," said Bob Picunko, marketing director for Acclaim Sports. "It will be the only football game with actual NFL teams, logos and uniforms, stadiums, conferences, season schedules, official NFL stats and the actual SuperBowl. Our 'Sweat the Details' positioning means that we are committed to creating the most realistic sports games possible and it couldn't happen without the NFL license."

"Acclaim Sports will be the only publisher to release an officially licensed NFL Nintendo 64 product this season," said Gene Goldberg of NFL Properties. "We know Acclaim Sports and Iguana have been working on this product for a long time and it really shows."

Officially licensed by Players Inc., NFL QBC 98 will feature over 1500 NFL Players. "Players Inc. is pleased to be working with Acclaim on this great new product," said LaShun Lawson of Players Inc.

Additional features of the incredible new NFL Quarterback Club '98 include:

All 30 NFL teams and over 1500 NFL Players including rookies.

Rendered graphics for all 30 NFL stadiums.

Polygonal engine and characters designed exclusively for Nintendo 64 featuring motion-captured moves of New York Jets star running back Adrian Murrell using Acclaim's proprietary motion capture system.

Rumble Pak compatible -- you'll feel every hit.

Incredible detailed graphics -- you can see individual player numbers, names and team logos.

Roster management includes: trading, creating, drafting, signing and releasing players; creating new teams and managing a salary cap.

Comprehensive playbooks include plays designed by Brett Favre.

Track season-long player and team statistics including individual league leaders in nine categories by STATS Inc.

Player Highlights showing in-game statistics and color photos.

Game day information with weather reports and team-specific comments.

Around the League section that provides scores of that week's other games.

50 Historical and Custom Simulations allow gamers to replay classic NFL games and create new pressure packed situations.

"NFL Quarterback Club '98 is the complete football package," said Greg Fischbach in summary. "It is being developed by the best and most experienced N64 developer in the US, the team is composed of programmers, artists and AI specialists who have been working on football games for years. NFL QBC '98 is one of the games that will launch our new sports brand, Acclaim Sports, the beginning of a new dynasty in sports gaming."

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Acclaim Entertainment Inc., a leading worldwide publisher of software for Nintendo, Sega, Sony and personal computer hardware systems, also publishes comic books under a variety of imprints. In addition, Acclaim develops coin-operated arcade and ticket-redemption games; operates motion capture studios; and, through A.D.I., globally sells and distributes products from a variety of entertainment software publishers including Interplay and others.

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