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              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC">volume 
                1, issue 27</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC"> 
                </font></b></font></p>
              <p>  <p><font face="Courier New, Courier, mono"><b><font color="#339900" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today 
                in loonygames:</font></b></font></p>

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        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0022A8"><b><a target="" href="../../columns.1"><font size="-1">Pad 
          Happy</font></a><font size="-1">:</font></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+3" color="#0022A8"><br>
          No PAL of Mine</font></p>
        <p align="right"><font color="#804000"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By 
          </font></b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <a href="mailto:nickf@saqnet.co.uk">Nick 
          Ferguson</a></font></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Most, if not all, console 
          manufacturers divide the games-playing world into 3 general geographic 
          regions – Japan &amp; South-East Asia, America, and Europe &amp; Australia. 
          Most hardware manufacturers ensure that games from one region will not 
          work on a system from another – Sony have their regional coding (foiled 
          by the use of a mod chip), Nintendo have their cartridge security chips 
          (foiled by a universal adapter). If you modify your machine to play 
          games from outside a region, then your machine’s warranty becomes invalid. 
          Even then, modifications (or adapters) don’t always lead to perfect 
          NTSC gaming – running US games on a PAL Super Nintendo led to an interesting 
          lack of harmony between the on-screen action and game music (boss music 
          fading in before the boss was actually reached proved a common occurrence). 
          The NTSC PlayStation title <b>Bust-A-Groove</b> (&quot;Dance and Rhythm 
          Action&quot; - punch buttons in time to the beat) runs out-of-sync with 
          the music on a PAL machine.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Gamers with chipped / modified 
          machines or adapters are always catching up with security measures. 
          Every few months the latest Nintendo release refuses to work on the 
          current crop of &quot;universal N64 adapters&quot;, so a new one has 
          to be bought. Sony have devised a way of detecting the presence of a 
          mod chip, halting import sales of <b>Final Fantasy VIII</b> (and who 

          knows what else in the future)? I can understand concerns about piracy, 
          but simultaneously attacking the legitimate import market seems a slap 
          in the face to many of the gamers who play offbeat titles for the love 
          of them and would never <i>want</i> to play a pirate copy. Sony’s indiscriminate 
          attack on the &quot;modified&quot; community has left many non-pirates 
          feeling bitter.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Things are looking even worse 
          for the import-minded PAL gamer. Sega has begun taking steps to prevent 
          the import of NTSC Dreamcast units into Europe, and Konami threatened 
          legal action against European importers stocking NTSC versions of <b>Metal 
          Gear Solid</b> this winter. In the US, reputable importers have been 
          threatened with legal action for selling certain Japanese games – games 
          that aren’t even going to be available in the US!</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I find this kind of corporate 
          bullying completely unfair, particularly in the case of PAL gamers (who 
          are being forced to wait for <i>inferior</i> versions of a game). Why 
          should we suffer because Sony / Nintendo / Sega can’t get their act 
          together and release half-decent PAL optimized software? Another quibble: 
          the import market does a great job of spreading news by word-of-mouth, 
          yet the Japanese companies seem intent on squishing it. Many magazines 
          in Europe review NTSC versions of software on import, building up hype 
          for titles that might not see an official PAL release for many more 
          months. Games companies benefit greatly from this hype (<b>Metal Gear 
          Solid</b> had a <i>huge </i>amount of pre-orders in Europe) – I believe 
          it’s hypocritical (not to mention cruel and torturous!) to allow magazines 
          access to NTSC games, but not the common consumer. For many gamers, 
          it’s one thing to read reviews lusting over <b>Silent Hill</b> (or whatever 
          the hot new game is), quite another to head over to an NTSC-importing 
          friend’s house and see it in action. Of course, in many such cases, 
          the PAL owner soon wants to find out how to get his machine modified 
          so he can play these new games as soon as possible…</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Is there any disadvantage 
          to buying NTSC? I can’t think of one, seeing as – in my experience – 
          importing US and Japanese games from online stores like Tronix works 
          out significantly cheaper than waiting for the official PAL release. 
          Hmmm – why would any sane person wait for a PAL game, when they can 
          get the superior NTSC version a good few months earlier for less money? 
          Beats me…</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I’d like to end this article 
          with a heartfelt - if hopelessly na&iuml;ve - plea to console developers 
          (there must be some of you reading this). Don’t sell the PAL market 
          short! Why spend so much time and effort creating the best game that 
          you can, and then release a noticeably inferior version to a sizeable 
          proportion of the world’s gamers? Imagine watching a movie with the 
          special effects only half-finished, or listening to a favorite piece 
          of music running at the wrong speed... that’s what it’s like to play 
          a bad PAL conversion. If you want to fob me off with the usual excuses 
          about time and money, well it just goes to show that you’re all about 
          money, markets and profit - not the games. Just remember, without the 
          games there wouldn’t <i>be</i> any money. Finally, I realize that importers 
          like myself are but a small fraction of &quot;the market&quot;, but 
          I think we are the small fraction with the most influence; it’s people 
          like me that end up writing for magazines, web sites (hey!), posting 
          on newsgroups and calling friends over to check out the best new games. 
          Don’t try to kill us off – we’re the ones doing <i>you</i> a favor.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Phew!</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">As everyone else on <b>loonygames</b> 
          (well, loonyboi) seems to be going through a &quot;Top Ten phase&quot;, 
          I thought I’d round off this week’s column with a more modest &quot;Top 
          Three&quot;.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>The Best PAL Conversions 
          Ever</b></font></p>
        <ol>
          <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Goldeneye</b> (Nintendo 
            64) – Rare’s PAL releases always run considerably closer to their 
            NTSC originals than most other softcos’. This full-screen (and near 
            full-speed) effort proved that even a game pushing hardware to the 
            max can be tweaked for a quality PAL experience. <b>Lylat Wars</b> 
            (PAL <b>Starfox 64</b>) wasn’t too bad, either.</font></li>
          <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Wipeout 2097</b> (PlayStation) 
            – AKA <b>Wipeout XL</b> in the US, Psygnosis kept a lot of people 
            very happy when the PAL version of the game looked just as fast and 
            full-screen as the subsequent NTSC version! See also: <b>G-Police</b>, 
            <b>Colony Wars</b>.</font></li>
          <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Sega Rally</b> (Saturn) 
            – The Saturn bombed in Europe, but at least owners could comfort themselves 
            with Sega’s fine string of PAL conversions (of which <b>Sega Rally</b> 
            was probably the best). I can only hope this trend continues with 
            the release of the Dreamcast…</font></li>
        </ol>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>The Worst PAL Conversions 
          Ever</b></font></p>
        <ol>
          <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Street Fighter II</b> 
            (SNES) – The SNES was plagued with terrible PAL conversions, but this 
            key release was the crown prince of PAL disappointments. Running in 
            ultra slo-mo, it’s testament to <b>SF2</b>’s gameplay genius that 
            the European release of this game was at all playable. <b>Starwing</b> 
            (the PAL name for <b>Starfox</b>) runs a close second.</font></li>
          <li><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Wave Race 64</b> (N64) 
            – In NTSC, a fun, innovative racer with the occasional moment of slowdown. 
            In PAL, a CinemaScope monstrosity with a framerate that plunged deeper 
            than The Abyss. Truly terrible.</font></li>
          <li> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Tekken 3</b> (PlayStation) 
            – A close call between this and the original PlayStation <b>Ridge 
            Racer</b>. <b>Tekken 3</b> wins by virtue of being four years older 
            and, incredibly, even slower than its PAL prequels. Delaying this 
            game at all was sheer cheek on the part of Sony Europe.</font></li>
        </ol>
        <p>&nbsp;</p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i><font size="-1">- 
          Nick Ferguson is a regular <b>loonygames</b> correspondent. Yes, he 
          realizes he should get out more.</font></i></font></p>
        <p align="RIGHT">&nbsp;</p>
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      <p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"> </font></i><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"><b>Credits:</b> 
        Pad Happy logo illustrated and is &copy; 1999 Dan Zalkus. Pad Happy is 
        &copy; 1999 Nick Ferguson. All other content is &copy; 1999 <a target="_self" href="http://www.loonyboi.com">loonyboi 
        productions</a>. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited, so 
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