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Tempest 4000 announced (Jeff Minter, 2017, PC and consoles)
- Thread starter HueyFreeman
- Start date
HueyFreeman
Banned
I am officially referring to this as T4K now.
Poimandres
Member
This is wonderful news. TxK is fantastic, especially the soundtrack.
I wonder how much will be changed for this release? Doesn't matter, day 1 for me.
I wonder how much will be changed for this release? Doesn't matter, day 1 for me.
TheVampire
Banned
Ruud_Luiten
Member
Excellent!
OfTheOverflow
Member
Excellent news. Always down for whatever Minter is dealing.
twinturbo2
butthurt Heat fan
Maybe there was a change of management at Atari?
Either way, here's hoping for an Xbox One version, otherwise I'll get the PC version.
Baron_Calamity
Member
hmm well that's confusing.
Beer Monkey
Member
Why would they hold a grudge? They are a business. Just because TxK was unlicensed and they forced a soft cease and desist on it (only as far as releasing for additional platforms...TxK can still be bought for Vita to this day) isn't any reason to not work with Jeff on a licensed release. Jeff wrote the book on modern Tempest when he created Tempest 2000. There's money to be made. There's no place in business for making decisions based on spite.
Agent X
Member
I still want to see a proper release of T2K to come out for PC. Right now the Jaguar emulator is still very basic and the only other way to play it is via unlocking it on Tempest X3 for PS1 via a PS1 emulator... which happens to be the way I play it on my Vita
There was an official release of Tempest 2000 for PC. More correctly, there were two separate official releases of Tempest 2000 for PC.
The first version of the game was published by Atari itself in early 1996, and ran under MS-DOS. I personally own this version.
The second version of the game was published by Interplay about 1½ to 2 years later, around the same time that they released Tempest 2000 for Saturn and Tempest X3 for PlayStation. Interplay's release ran under Windows 95, but I think they might've included Atari's MS-DOS version on the disc as well.
I had a thought earlier today that it would be awesome if Atari and Llamasoft could produce "Tempest 2000 Remastered" for modern hardware. I'd basically take the existing Jaguar game, and make the following changes:
- Graphics rendered at high resolution that you'd typically expect from today's computers and game consoles.
- 60 fps (or higher on PCs), with crisp anti-aliased vectors similar to what you see from the TxK engine.
- Player can choose to use the original MOD music from the original Jaguar cartridge version of the game, or the CD soundtrack.
No other changes are necessary. Carry over the bitmaps ("Excellent", "1UP", score figures, etc.), Gouraud shading on the polygons, and pixelshatter and Melt-O-Vision effects exactly like they appeared on the Jaguar game.
Maybe this could be a bonus game mode for Tempest 4000.
Beer Monkey
Member
T2K and TxK music in T4K.
Also he tweeted that the ports of TxK were always going to be enhanced. It was never going to be the exact same game. Now it also is official Tempest. TxK+ has become T4K.
Agent X
Member
I was talking with a friend yesterday about this game, and we wondered if it would contain music from T2K or other games in the series. It's nice to see that will be the case here. This game just keeps getting better!
Tempest X3 and Tempest 3000 each had a few songs not found in any other game in the series. It would be a treat to have some of those songs in this game, as many people might not have heard them (particularly with T3K, as very few people were exposed to that game or the NUON platform).
Tempest X3 and Tempest 3000 each had a few songs not found in any other game in the series. It would be a treat to have some of those songs in this game, as many people might not have heard them (particularly with T3K, as very few people were exposed to that game or the NUON platform).
Ugh, I'm such an idiot... I actually own the Interplay release of T2K for PC! Hell, I used to listen to the CD audio in my car, such is the huge nerd that I am.There was an official release of Tempest 2000 for PC. More correctly, there were two separate official releases of Tempest 2000 for PC.
The first version of the game was published by Atari itself in early 1996, and ran under MS-DOS. I personally own this version.
The second version of the game was published by Interplay about 1½ to 2 years later, around the same time that they released Tempest 2000 for Saturn and Tempest X3 for PlayStation. Interplay's release ran under Windows 95, but I think they might've included Atari's MS-DOS version on the disc as well.
I had a thought earlier today that it would be awesome if Atari and Llamasoft could produce "Tempest 2000 Remastered" for modern hardware. I'd basically take the existing Jaguar game, and make the following changes:
- Graphics rendered at high resolution that you'd typically expect from today's computers and game consoles.
- 60 fps (or higher on PCs), with crisp anti-aliased vectors similar to what you see from the TxK engine.
- Player can choose to use the original MOD music from the original Jaguar cartridge version of the game, or the CD soundtrack.
No other changes are necessary. Carry over the bitmaps ("Excellent", "1UP", score figures, etc.), Gouraud shading on the polygons, and pixelshatter and Melt-O-Vision effects exactly like they appeared on the Jaguar game.
Maybe this could be a bonus game mode for Tempest 4000.
Zoidberg Jesus
Member
Insanely awesome news. Jeff Minter continues to deliver. Day one.
cartman414
Member
HueyFreeman
Banned
Oh man - this is fucking tremendous news, the TxK soundtrack is absolutely one of the best electronic soundtracks I've ever heard in a game.
Also, this basically continues to be BeerMonkey's thread :b
Beer Monkey
Member
I'm a bit of a Tempest nut. When T2K came out I already owned a full-sized Tempest upright (and an Asteroids upright to boot). I wasn't willing to pay $250 for a Jag but when it dropped to $180 with an extra controller with T2K I jumped in. I bought a Nuon for T3K (terrible controllers on that 'system'!) and a PSTV to play TxK (which I had bought at launch for Vita) on my TV.
So, yeah, I'm really happy with all this news.
Beer Monkey
Member
katsubento
Member
The news gets better and better.
Agent X
Member
YES! YES! YES!
I noticed the Tempest 2000 music in the video. It appears to be the MOD music from the Jaguar version, which is highly appreciated since it would offer gapless looping for those long play sessions.
It appears that he's also implemented tilt controls for the transitions between levels. That's nice also, since this was a feature of TxK on PS Vita which does not work properly when that game is played on PSTV (actually makes it significantly easier to score bonus points on the PSTV).
Finally, take a look at the Atari-inspired level names. They might simply be placeholder names, but you never know.
Beer Monkey
Member
I had those old MODs for years, a link to an FTP site hosting them was posted on rec.games.video.atari on USENET back in the day when they were ripped. I prefer the MOD mixes to the official CD soundtrack mixes, which I also have. Reminder to all, you can legally buy the TxK soundtrack on Bandcamp, I did that day one to support Llamasoft and the composers.
The tilt control makes it a lot harder to stay in the rings!
I noticed that.
Hopefully now that this video is out people get the point that TxK on consoles and PC has essentially been saved. T4K is not a new game. It's an evolved version of TxK, and the console and PC versions were always going to be evolved. Everybody wins. The loss of TxK on non-Vita platforms has been reversed. And now Jeff can load it up with old Tempest music and old Atari game references.
Perhaps Minter went and had a chat with them, something he probably should have done from the beginning.
autoduelist
Member
TxK remains one of my favorite Vita games, and I'm excited for this.
Mmmm can't wait for this goodness in VR. 120fps like Polybius, I hope.
Beer Monkey
Member
It only has to render like 1/4 the pixels of 4K mode so it shouldn't be a problem to hit 120fps.
Beer Monkey
Member
I'm guessing somebody here is going to Gamescom next week. Give us a full report!
HueyFreeman
Banned
Oh man, that's awesome - I wonder why if it's playable they didn't show a trailer at announcement. I guess probably because Atari, but still, you'd think Jeff would want that out there.
chronic_archaic
Member
Hoping this is for Xbox One but I also hope I have a PS4 by then so...
2017? Shit yeah this better be on Xbox
2017? Shit yeah this better be on Xbox
Beer Monkey
Member
I think the whole Tempest 4000 deal came together so fast it was kind of last minute!
Hoping this is for Xbox One but I also hope I have a PS4 by then so...
2017? Shit yeah this better be on Xbox
Published by Atari? Yeah, it'll be on Xbox.
Awesome.
Jeff, please release Attack of the Mutant Camels '89 (the never-released Konix Multi-System game).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LmMBbTg0Cg
Jeff, please release Attack of the Mutant Camels '89 (the never-released Konix Multi-System game).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LmMBbTg0Cg
Beer Monkey
Member
I actually had a TT030 for a while and had Llamazap for it (plays with a Jaguar controller). Reminds me of this.
Actually, I probably still have Llamazap somewhere but I sold the TT030 a long time ago.
Beer Monkey
Member
Minter tweeted this and confirmed Xbox One (and no AtariBox, lol).
Head.spawn
Junior Member
I'm in.
Beer Monkey
Member
I mean, all he really did was take the in-progress, already-enhanced code base for TxK console/PC and slap Atari assets in it and continue the project.
I guess it'd be cool if there were an Easter egg that let you change the title screen to read 'TxK' but I don't really need it. I know what it is.
xDUMPWEEDx
Banned
This is looking fantastic. Day 1.
AlteredForms
Banned
Jeff Minter is still around? He was making titles for the ZX Spectrum in the 1980s, so Im interested to see what this is.