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[midnightguy]

If Sega does show off a new PowerVR-based arcade board with new games and/or demos, lets look back at NAOMI 2's introduction -- tech demos and early game footage from Sept-Nov 2000

JAMMA 2000: Naomi 2 Revealed
See the tech demos and read the specs inside! Did someone say 10 million polygons per second?
By IGN Staff

September 20, 2000 - The next generation of Sega arcade hardware has arrived. At the ongoing JAMMA 2000, Sega of Japan chose to unveil its brand new arcade board, the Noami 2. This successor to the original Naomi shares a lot in common with its predecessor, but seems to feature a few key additions that will make for a damn impressive Virtua Fighter X indeed.

At first glance, the specs listed below suggests that the Naomi 2 is just the Naomi with a couple of extra effects and features. It so happens that these particular features are what could make the Naomi 2 so much more than its predecessor.

Naomi 2 features Hardware T&L, the big-time buzzword in realtime videogame graphics today. T&L stands for "Transform & Lighting," two essential elements for 3D graphics on your computer. The Naomi 2 moves the intense calculations for these two areas away from the CPU, leaving the SH4 free to do a whole lot more. The inclusion of Hardware T&L explains why the Naomi 2, while seeming to have basically the same specs as its predecessor, can push an amazing ten million polygons per second.

Also stressed by Sega regarding the Naomi 2 board is the inclusion of hardware support for environmental mapping. We assume they're talking about giving us reflections akin to those of Sony's Gran Turismo 2000, where the environment seems to map on to the cars, so you'll see trees, poles, and so forth reflected as you drive by them. Note that games such as Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2 and Ridge Racer V fake their reflections by having a pattern cycle through the cars.

Finally, it seems that arcade operators won't have to choose between acquiring Naomi and Naomi 2, as the Naomi 2 will play all Naomi games both in GD-ROM and Masked ROM format. Actual specific Naomi 2 games won't appear in arcades until some time in 2001, although we're not sure when the actual board will be made available to arcade operators.

The tech demos presented by Sega (and available for download below) seem to focus on showing off the board's lighting ability and polygon performance, although we have to admit that they didn't look all that pretty. The three games on display via short video clips did look impressive, though. Sega showed off early footage of Virtua Striker III, a unique-looking motorcylce game by WOW that features comic-book style artwork, and the cart racing game that was introduced on this site earlier in the week.

We're still not sure of what to make of this board, especially after witnessing Hikaru's amazing performance through Planet Harriers. The proof of the board will lay in its games, though, and if Yu Suzuki and AM2 have deemed it worthy of their prized possession, the next Virtua Fighter game, that's more than enough for us to say viva la Naomi 2.

-- Anoop Gantayat, IGNDC

demo footage - 4 videos - must see, especially if you never saw em before
http://media.dreamcast.ign.com/articles/085/085311/vids_1.html

SEGA's Naomi 2 Press Release

SEGA ANNOUNCES NAOMI2 NEXT GENERATION ARCADE SYSTEMS USING IMAGINATION TECHNOLOGIES' POWERVR GRAPHICS ARCHITECTURE

NAOMI2, the arcade system developed by Sega and based on PowerVR graphics technology, debuts today at the 38th Amusement Machine Show in Tokyo.

NAOMI2 sets a new standard for arcade gaming and will reinforce the dominance of the NAOMI arcade platform, which has become an arcade industry standard, providing stunning entertainment experiences worldwide.

NAOMI2 is the next generation graphics architecture for arcade systems incorporating technologies designed by PowerVR Technologies - a division of Imagination Technologies - as part of the continuing partnership between Sega, NEC Corporation, and Imagination Technologies. Sega is already using the system for the development of the next generation of arcade titles, and some of these outstanding game images will be demonstrated at the Amusement Machine Show.

Says Hideki Sato, Senior Managing Director of Sega Enterprises: "NAOMI2 is at the cutting edge of gaming, there is no comparable videogame system in the world. NAOMI2 utilizes PowerVR's inherent scalability and the new hardware geometry and lighting engine, to deliver an unmatched level of gaming experience that will amaze arcade goers worldwide. NAOMI2 not only provides beautiful graphics but also significantly frees up resources in the main CPU for actual game dynamics, allowing developers to write games that will stretch the boundaries."

NAOMI2 is based on the PowerVR architecture and also incorporates an advanced PowerVR co-processing engine for great game dynamics and full hardware geometry transformation and lighting (T&L), which reduces the CPU load to 1/10th, as well as direct and efficient support for use of multiple PowerVR rendering processors for super high performance and outstanding image quality.

Says Hossein Yassaie, CEO, Imagination Technologies: "NAOMI2 will enable Sega and its partners to create the most realistic games ever seen in an arcade by utilizing the advanced PowerVR hardware transformation and lighting engine, together with multiple PowerVR rendering processors."

Says Hidetoshi Kosaka, General Manager, NEC: "The relationship between NEC and Sega has been very successful and we are pleased that this ongoing relationship has now entered its next phase of achievement and innovation."

Inside NAOMI2

NAOMI2 is a highly optimized parallel rendering architecture featuring twin PowerVR rendering engines, using adaptive load balancing across the dual engine and a full hardware Geometry Transformation and Lighting processor. With no-penalty for up to six fully featured lights NAOMI2 can provide 10M triangles/sec sustained throughput in real gaming applications. NAOMI2 also features combined dynamic and static model processing, multiple light type support (ambient, parallel, point and spot), hardware Z clipping, offscreen and backface culling, hardware bump mapping, and hardware environmental mapping support.

JAMMA 2000: Amazing NAOMI 2 Game Footage
Demos no more. See videos of Virtua Striker 3, Wild Riders and Club Kart inside.
By IGN Staff

September 21, 2000 - Were you impressed by the tech demos Sega shared at JAMMA 2000 for the upcoming NAOMI 2 hardware? Then you ain't seen nothing yet!

Were you unimpressed by the tech demos? Then please refrain from passing judgement on NAOMI 2.

The first game footage of NAOMI 2 games proves that Sega's new arcade board may just be quite the beast. At the JAMMA show, Sega showed off actual in-game footage from three games.

Virtua Striker 3: Japanese arcade goers seem to love the Virtua Striker games, and that love will probably explode to lust once they see how this NAOMI 2 sequel looks. Amazing player models, animation and stadium graphics should make this the ultimate in sports presentation. Note that the video below is a bit on the icky side, as yours truly couldn't help but look away from the camera for a brief moment ? the game looks that good.

Wild Riders: From WOW Entertainment comes yet another stylistic Sega game. Whereas Smilebit's Jet Set Radio did the cartoon thing just right, this game seems to do the same for comic book-style sketches. Everything has somewhat of a roughly sketched look to it, bringing back fond memories of that underrated Genesis title, Comix Zone. In this game, you seem to be a biker racing through the streets. It's unclear how the game plays just yet, but the comic book presentation is obvious. If you found yourself looking forward to Jet Set following the TGS trailer from the year before, download the below movie now!

Club Kart: Sega actually opened up a web page for this game just prior to JAMMA, but failed to mention that the game's hardware was the NAOMI 2. This game sports amazing detail ? more than you'd expect from a simple NAOMI driver, but that's not what struck us upon viewing the clip. You need to see it for yourself, but aren't the drivers and carts a bit out of proportion with the rest of the environment? No complaints, as the game looks like a complete riot (just imagine the arcade cabinet Sega will be providing), but just an observation.

So there you have it, the first NAOMI 2 games. Sega's press materials state that NAOMI 2 won't hit arcades until some time next year, so don't expect these any time soon. Still, it's pretty obvious that the next level of arcade graphics is here, and Sega is thankfully maintaining its creative flair (as evidenced by Wild Riders. 2001 can't arrive soon enough.

-- Anoop Gantayat, IGNDC

game footage:
http://media.dreamcast.ign.com/articles/085/085366/vids_1.html

 

[sprsk]

Yeah, im expecting VF5 on the 21st

 

[Lazy8s]

Two arcade boards are next up to be unveiled: a high-end system like the NAOMIs promised to be the most powerful gaming hardware in the world, and a value-end system like the Atomiswave made from the most advanced handheld graphics technology in the world for affordability.

The timing for their unveilings will depend on how long it takes for Sega Sammy to get software ready to show. With NAOMI2, the hardware was ready by May 2000 and then unveiled in September.

The release schedules for the two new machines were pushed back about a half year. The value-end system is already ready, and the high-end machine is now expected to be ready by autumn of this year.

Those NAOMI2 demos are interesting to see again. The one with the hundreds of Lions from Virtua Fighter practicing under about six shining lights in the coliseum looks like the kind of complex battleground scenes several next-generation games are aiming for.