<font color="#ddbb00" size="+4">NC Games Market <EM>Heating up</EM></font>
<p>There are currently two major <a href="#NC">NC</a> service providers in the UK, PowerNet and NetChannel. NetChannel have already aquired the rights to distribute a number of old Acorn titles to their games club subscribers and launched phase one of their service to game players last month and have just announced that they have aquired the rights to TBA's FTT and Cobalt seed for distribution on the NC platform. However, we have just heard that PowerNet plan to launch a rival gaming package for their subscribers shortly. Full details of the announcement will appear here but we already have sketchy details of the deal which we cannot yet announce.
<p>NetChannel are currently offering their games club subscribers a number of classic Acorn titles including Starfighter 3000 and Flashback with many more on the way. Rumour has it that Doom, Sensible Soccer and Alone in the Dark are under consideration for NC release by NetChannel but this is only speculation.
<p>NetChannel have also just aquired the rights to distribute TBA's FTT racing game and Cobalt Seed flying game to their NC customers in the near future.
<p>Kevin Lingley is the man in charge of NetChannel's gaming plans. He is a former Acorn employee who was involved in trying to bring more games to the Acorn platform until Acorn's recent re-structuring when he was made redundant.
<p>Full details of PowerNet International's gaming plans will appear here on Monday following their public announcement. It has been stated by PowerNet that their game provision will be better than that of NetChannel but we eagerly await the official announcement to confirm details of this.
<p>PowerNet's gaming chief, Richard Barlow has also been involved in the Acorn market for quite some time. He had some involvement with Space Tech, the graphics software company, and was often seen on their stand at shows. However, Richard will be best known as the editor of Archimedes World magazine's gaming coverage over a couple of years. He has also done some freelance web design but is now a director of PowerNet International.
<p><a name="NC"><font color="#ddbb00" size="+2">What is an NC?</font>
<p>The NC (Network Computer) is a new concept in internet technology. It is essentially a cut-down computer with a modem which simply plugs into a standard TV set and phone line. All of the usual internet activities, such as e-mail and WWW are already supported, with support for other facilities such as network gaming in the pipeline.<br>
What does this have to do with Acorn Gaming, I hear you ask! Well, the NC uses an operating system which is functionally very similar to that in our desktop RISC OS machines, so in theory, any game which works on a RiscPC will work on an NC and vice-versa. This means that if any major titles are released on the NC in future, it will only take a little extra work to make them also desktop Acorn compatible... a potential Santa's sack of new releases.
<p>Before NC gaming takes off in any big way, there is one major issue which remains to be addressed: the NC does not by default feature any local storage, so games would have to be downloaded from the internet every time they are played. This would be bearable with small games such as the older releases but when you're talking about downloading the 17MB DOOM II installation in full every time you want to play, it's going to get very costly and time-consuming.<br>
Acorn Arcade believe that the use of 100Mb Iomega Zip drives will be strongly recommended with NCs if gaming is to be given any serious consideration. Support for the Zip drives is already included in the ROM chips of the NCs thanks to <a href="http://www.argonet.co.uk">Argo Interactive</a>, but the user would still have to foot the £120 cost of the actual drive. This would provide unlimited local storage for the NC and allow for off-line gameplay of games such as Doom and possibly, with the new Strong ARM NCs, more recent 3D titles such as <i>Quake</i>.
<p>NetChannel have also hinted towards internet multiplayer support in some games; this seems a practical certainty given the nature of the NC - the machine needs to be connected to the internet to play at all - so NC users could experience relatively hassle-free multiplayer gaming.
