From: bel@whipassgaming.com   
      
   > Popular rhetoric is that Burning Rangers is using software coding to   
   > "emulate" true 3D transparency.   
      
   Wha...?   
      
   > If you asked me nobody knows how either   
   > the PS1 or the Saturn really did anything except for the coders and   
   > emulator guys.  The point I'd like to make is that if the Saturn could   
   > handle 2D and 3D transparency *in software* in an adventure style game   
   > like Burning Rangers it had no deficiency in 3D capabilities.   
      
   It was also a final gen game though. If only they had that kind of   
   ability when the system launched. Seemed like the PSX sold well because   
   of "transparency". Christ, I heard it *so* many times back in the day.   
   You'd walk in to EB and hear it, Best Buy and hear it, etc. Ugh.   
      
   > It is well documented that Sony's entry in the market temporarily   
   > dropped the average development cycle to six months time.  This is   
   > simply not enough time to make a great game, as later PS1 releases and   
   > PS2 releases proved.  Six months was also not enough time to code custom   
   > special effects into a system with seven processors *and* make a   
   > functional game.  Most developers seemed to do the later and forgot   
   > about all the clamoring they had done for the "right" to the former.   
      
   This is something I've wanted to mention for a while, and I think I'll   
   do an actual tread for it, but: Was the Saturn, with it's   
   multi-processor layout ahead of it's time, and that's why quality   
   results were so difficult to achieve? More in the thread...   
      
   > Well, for the price I'd try it and see what you think.  The American or   
   > European releases are obviously preferable if you are willing to pay the   
   > price.  I keep hoping for a disk only US version to land in my lap.   
      
   Perhaps at some point down the line. Like I said, I just can't stand   
   playing a game through a FAQ. The only reason I even own Grandia Prelude   
   is because it's just a demo, you don't have to be able to read anything   
   to get around in it....and my, my, is it pretty!   
      
   Bel   
   --   
   Whip Ass Gaming: http://www.whipassgaming.com/   
      
   "Police fired a talcum powder ball at the ground outside a Target store   
   in Henrico, Va., to get the attention of an unruly crowd of about 350   
   people who were waiting to buy one of the shop's eight PS3 consoles,   
   police said."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)