BTW: "THE ONE" April 1991:
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COMMANDING CONVERSION TABLE
S-based Eastridge Technology is currently converting Wing Commander to the Amiga. This experienced developer has worked for Mindscape since 1985, producing a number of products including most of its big Nintendo games, such as Paperboy and Gauntlet II. on the NES and Gameboy.
A four-disk product. Amiga Wing Commander is slated for an October release and all attempts ^re being made to keep it similar to its PC original.
Potential players can choose between having all of the animated sequences, and the consequent disk swapping, or can go for a more refined game in terms of presentation. The use of single screens from the animated sequences with a limited amount of animation will allow this version to function in a far quicker and playable way.
Thefinished product will incorporate 32-colour ray traced graphics and support the Roland sound-box and Miracle sound technology it may even come on a ROM cartridge. "When we're getting nearer to launch, we'll look at the most cost effective method," reveals Phil Harrison, Mindscape's Software Development Manager at Mindscape. "The delivery medium will be the best way to show the game off whether it be floppy disk, Compact Disc or cartridge."
Ultima VI is due to appear on the Amiga in September, with a company called Technology Works is in charge of this conversion.
Prices for the above games will be somewhere between £29.99 and £34.99. And as Savage Empire and Martian Dreams were developed using a subset of Ultima VI technology, there's no reason why these products can't be converted either. But why are there such long delays in converting Origin blockbusters to the Amiga?
"We believe the quality of the product is more important than the delivery date," says Phil Harrison. "A number of our competitors have had excellent PC products and very bad Amiga conversions. The Origin product-line is built on quality and long shelf-life."
The bad news for ST owners though, is that Origin has no immediate plans to convert Wing Commander or Ultima VI onto your machine.
"An ST version of Wing Commander isn't technically possible," says Mindscape. "It's not even worth trying, due to the lack of colours and no hardware support to move sprites and graphics around. However, although we're not doing Ultima VI on ST, it's not a closed book."
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