Acclaim Joins Arcade Initiative

With an announcement it made today, Acclaim is moving closer than ever to bringing the worlds of the arcade and the PC together.

Acclaim's coin-op division is planning to use the Quantum 3D Inc. Quicksilver - a PC-based real-time 3D visual computing program - as the foundation for its arcade PC system, which it plans on calling Acclaim Arcade.

"Based on the Open Arcade Architecture platform specification, the Quicksilver system is targeted for cost-effective visual computing applications such as coin-op, location-based entertainment, visual simulation, and training," Acclaim said. "The system allows consumer-level game developers access to coin-op venues as a means to market their new titles, and coin-op developers can deploy their titles to the PC-based home market with minimal porting issues and loss in game fidelity."

Acclaim plans to issue Wipe Out Arcade as its first game using this system. Leon Deith, sales director for Acclaim Coin-Operated Entertainment Inc., called it "the first in a whole new generation of graphically advanced and varied titles on a changeable CD system. This method is easier and cheaper than PCBs and cartridges, with the longevity and upgradability of a PC."

And that's one of the primary benefits to the coin-op vendor. Instead of changing out an entire machine, all you need to do is put in a new CD and you have yourself a new game.

For PC-based coin-op applications, Acclaim says the Quicksilver QS233G is based on the Intel 440LX chipset and includes a Pentium 2333MHz processor, 32 megabytes of SDRAM, Windows 95, a 3.1 EIDE hard drive, a 24x CD-ROM drive, 1.44MB floppy drive, a Yamaha 3D audio subsystem, an Intel Pro 10/100 PCI Ethernet network interface card, a Quantum3D Obsidian 100SB real-time 3D graphics accelerator, and the Quantum3D GCI, an I/O subsystem designed to interface coin-op control devices to the PC.