The attorney general for the state of Minnesota has approved Incredible Technologies' modem-based tournaments on Peter Jacobsen's Golden Tee 3D Golf. The factory (and its marketing firm Bulldog Amusements) thanked Lieberman Music's Linda Winstead and Hal Lieberman who spearheaded the lobbying effort with long hours of research and follow-through. Operators in the state will be able to get the game soon. I.T. hopes the AG's stamp of approval will pave the way for certain other states to endorse the game's legality. Due to the cash prizes, some trade members have been concerned that I.T.'s tourney promotions "might" be questioned on legal grounds in some states; however RePlay and I.T. have found no actual cases of operators running into any legal difficulties ...by the way, I.T. will issue a mandatory, free E-Prom update for the tournament edition of this game in October, through distribution. New program chips will be available around Oct. 1 at no cost to operators; they must be installed before the next tourney which begins Oct. 18. Games without updates will not receive tournament data. New code features include up to 40 national winners, a "bail-out button" for players who want to start over; support for special events and prizes; modified tournament courses; better communications software; and more.

SKEE-BALL EXPANDS ARIZONA SITE

Along with its expanding product line, Skee-Ball has also expanded its

Phoenix, Ariz. production facility via acquisition of an adjacent site. The grand

total now stands at 35,000 sq. ft. The factory will use its 15,000 sq. ft. new

building for an expanded final assembly line, woodworking, parts & shipping, plus partial game storage. Administrative offices will be housed in the 20,000 sq. ft. original building, along with larger departments for metal fabrication, welding, and the new powder coat paint system (installed last April). Technical support and engineering areas have also been expanded. Skee-Ball said the beefed-up facility demonstrates their long-term commitment to the industry will help them keep customer satisfaction high.

CAPCOM: `STREET FIGHTER 3 TO JAPAN BY DECEMBER

Japan's Game Machine magazine says Capcom will launch the

long-awaited Street Fighter 3 in December, at least to Japanese markets. Look for a first-quarter 1997 release to the USA. The unit will be the second game on their new Capcom System III (CPS-III) hardware, which will reportedly consist of a main board containing a 32

bit CPU and flush memory, plus a software case

with CD-ROM player,

CD-ROM and sub-CPU. The Japanese publication said SF3 and other early games on System III will not offer advanced CG

(computer graphics) images along the lines of the best Sony PlayStation games ... such as Capcom's own Star Gladiator. Reportedly, they tried to incorporate CG but just weren't satisfied with the quality. So, although CPS-III can process four times as much data per second as the current CPS-II, with 16 times as many colors on screen at once, Capcom told Japanese reporters they will stick with more conventional-type graphics "until CG quality improves." A game called Wizards will be the initial release for the new system.

Page 26

October 1996

RePlay Magazine