Europress - Press News - Coming Soon Magazine

EUROPRESS ANNOUNCES FINAL DETAILS OF PLANE CRAZY FOR PC AND ARCADE

London, UK, November 1997 -- Join the Crazy Aces stunt flying team at the Sky Ranch and choose from among eight aeroplanes in the hanger, each with their own personality and performance to race through five distinct courses in this air racing game.

Plane Crazy will be available for Windows 95 PC and for Intel's Open Architecture arcade system being launched in the USA (see below).

In the PC version of the game, the Crazy Aces can consist of the player and seven computer opponents or, via local and wide area networks and the Internet, seven real challengers. On Playstation there will be a head-to-head option.

The eight aircraft vary in acceleration, manoeuvrability, aerodynamics and straight-line top speed. Each can be upgraded (and downgraded) with bonuses and power-downs scattered throughout each of the courses. Variable attributes include performance, shields and weapons.

The five courses are:

Mountain Rush: steep ravines and wide canyons interspersed with Pueblo villages, rivers, waterfalls and rock formations,

Boulder Dash: open desert dotted with small towns, thickets of trees and oil derricks,

City Run: a maze of skyscrapers, road tunnels and freeways,

Docklands: wharves with cargo ships, loading cranes and belching oil refineries,

Rain Forest: dense forest with cloud-piercing forest giants, fiery volcanoes and twisting river trails.

Each course gives you full vertical freedom to soar above abstacles and to dive into narrow defiles to collect bonuses or to discover sneaky but dangerous short-cuts to shave time and distance off the course.

Plane Crazy has been developed by Inner Workings whose fearsome 3D engine has been used to develop realistic and fluid environmentts. The game has been designed with an easy to learn and use control interface and maximum attention on playability and fun.

INTEL AND GAME DEVELOPERS ANNOUNCE FIRST PC-BASED ARCADE GAMES

Intel Corporation and four game developers today debuted some of the first arcade games based on Intel's Open Arcade Architecture and high-performance Pentium II processors. Players may score soccer goals, drive race cars, pilot high-performance aircraft and engage in multiplayer action games on the new systems, the first of which are now shipping to arcade operators. Intel's Claude Leglise, vice president of the Content Group, showcased the games today in his keynote speech at the Amusement and Music Operators Association Expo.

"Pentium II processor-based arcade systems offer operators a tremendous selection of games, the opportunity to install multiple games on one system, and the ability to easily upgrade existing systems," Leglise said. "Players benefit from new games, new features such as Internet-connected play in arcades, and the chance to enjoy their favorite arcade games on their home PCs."

More than 80 companies have joined the Open Arcade Architecture Forum, which Intel and other industry leaders formed this summer to help bring PC-based arcade systems to market. Recent members of the Open Arcade Architecture Forum include Acclaim, Gremlin, Microsoft, and Sega Gameworks. Hanaho/Kalisto, the UK's Inner Workings, Interactive Light/Immersia, and Location Based Entertainment (LBE) Systems are among the first companies to demonstrate and offer arcade games based on the Pentium II processor.

Hanaho APC and Kalisto Entertainment will unveil Ultim@te Race Arcade, a 3-D driving game. Inner Workings will unveil Plane Crazy, which features stylised World War II aircraft flying through a range of photorealistic environments. Interactive Light will premier Kick-It, a soccer simulator that allows players to kick a real soccer ball toward a goal, tended by a virtual 3-D goalie, on a large-screen display. LBE Systems will demonstrate the power of its SparkyNet OS arcade network software running id software's Quake, which will be available for arcades in the near future.

Games based on open arcade architecture PCs deliver the quality of traditional arcade entertainment and may be enhanced with new features, such as multiplayer interaction and Internet access. The open architecture should provide arcade operators a reduced cost of ownership, since individual platforms will no longer be dedicated to a single game. The same system can offer a variety of games, without major hardware revisions.

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