' SONY PLAYSTATION: Two essential new racing games push 32-bit hardware to the max g 2 PC CD-ROM Saturn 3Eil l lit l L lav Sts.ua u Ulti-at4- Jauuat- /aSHl 1 #JmjL Leading edge computer and vide November 1995 mini!)S. But what aliUlLL the games? I^H p I \\ confer me creator s Sega's Yu Suzuki breaks his silence Artificial laHalH on Virtua Fighter 3, Daytona 2, and LLl telligence Sega's future coin-op plans. Page 6 stupid videogame!" (dually, it's probably smarter than you... Power Players We name the 75 most powerful people in the game industry $4.99 CovergnJH BMtyant. Yu Suzuki's Virtua Fighter, Virtua Bac/njBml HBwkt/S^ have conquered the world. Without a would lose its main weapon I M I e has Yu Suzuki got to give? 53876 025S5 opening The Art of Virtua Fighter Without Yu Suzuki, Sega would be dead. As head of R&D for Sega's Amusement Division, Yu Suzuki is to Sega what Shigeru Miyamoto (the creator of Mario and Donkey Kong) is to Nintendo. Put simply, he creates the lifeblood of the company — and he is indispensable. Without the trickle down of Suzuki's coin-op classics from the arcades to Saturn, Sega would lack its killer weapons with which to battle Sony's PlayStation. Yu Suzuki's list of credits as head of Sega's AM2 team reads like a rundown of arcade gaming's greatest hits. From 1985's pioneering trio of Hang On, Space Harrier, and Out Run, through the evolution of 1987's After Burner into 1990's G-LOC and R-360, Suzuki's AM2 team has blazed a trail that others only did their best to follow. Then in 1992, he changed gaming forever with Virtua Racing. Overnight, "polygons" became the buzz-word of an industry, and VFs successor, Daytona USA, still provides the best wheel-spin the gaming world has to offer. But Suzuki and AM2 will be best remembered for the creation of the Virtua Fighter series in 1993. An instant classic, Virtua Fighter is arguably the most significant game of the 1990s. It epitomizes Suzuki's skill of finding the perfect blend of state-of-the-art technology with solid gameplay (a trick perhaps only learned in the development of games for the cut-throat world of arcades). Virtua Fighter is the biggest game in Japan since Super Mario World. It's fast. It's beautiful. And yes, it's probably art. In November of 1995, Yu Suzuki's Saturn conversion of Virtua Fighter 2 will near its completion, Virtua Striker and Virtua Cop 2 await their arcade debuts and, perhaps most importantly, Virtua Fighter 3 looms in the near future. Never before has Suzuki's output been so prolific. And never before has the future of Sega weighed so heavily on his shoulders. But important though Suzuki is, there are others like him. Others that run the games industry from behind the scenes. In an exclusive expose, NEXT Generation names the Top 75 movers and shakers in the business. Some may surprise you. Some may annoy you. All have influenced you. Power Players starts on page 48. November 1995 Contact NEXT Generation 1350 Old Bayshore Highway, Sui Burlingame CA 94010 Subscriptions 415. 696. 1661 (E-mail: [email protected]) Advertising 415. 696. 1683 Editorial 415.696. 1688 (E-mail: ngonline®imagine-inc.com) FAX 415. 696. 1678 Neil West editor-in-chief Douglass Perry managing editor Trent Ward reviews editor & purple hood Chris Charla Eugene Wang . Richard Szeto associate art director Eric Marcoullier web-slinger Nothing compares to Yu Yu Suzuki, director of Sega's AM2 arcade division, is responsible for keeping Sega on the cutting edge. It's no easy cask, but from Editorial Contributors exclusive interview, he gives his vision of the future I985's Hong On to 1 994's Wrtua Fignter2,he has triumphed. In this rare and Patrick Baggatta, Nicolas di Costanza, Chris Hudak, Steven Kent, Francis Kong, Jeff Lundrigan, Mark Ramshaw, Dave Roberts, Mike Salmon, Marcus Webb, Bernard Yee, EDGE Magazine Photography William Faulkner, Mark Koehler, Hiroki Izumi Advertising Doug Faust ad manager Aldo Ghiozzi account executive Simon Whitcombe business develop™ Melody Stephenson ad coordinator Subscriptions Gail Egbert subscripts Julia Lallas ci Richard Lesovoy production director Roger Burchill production coordinator Imagine Publishing Inc. Jonathan Simpson-Bint publisher Mind games: the rise and rise of artificial intelligence marketing coordinator Mary Keeney Did you realize that making computers play stupid is one of the biggest problems facing game developers? If not, then read on. writes Melody Stephenson she the songs Graphics make games look pretty, but it's artificial intelligence that makes them interesting to play. A NEXT Generation report Maryanne Napoli dir. single copy sales Doug Haynie circulation analyst Bruce Eldridge newsstand sales manager Tom Valentino vice president/CFO Chris Anderson president NEXT Generation USSN# 1078-96931 is i by :, e Pubiisf 1350 Old Bayshore Highway, Burlingame, CA 94010, U5A. Applicatioi mail at second-class postage rates pendii at Burlingame, CA, and at additional ma offices. Postmaster send changes of addr to NEXT Generation, po Bo* 53680, Boulder, CO 80322-3680. Newsstand distribution is handled by Curtis Circulat Company. Subscriptions: one year (12 issues) US $34. Canada: $48. Foreign $! Canadian price includes postage and GS (GST# R 128 220688). id States of Amer NEXT Genet ares editorial with 75 Power players Have you ever wondered who really runs the idustry? Meet the top 75 movers and shakers, from game designers to money men, via venture capitalists and politicians. It's iial. it's bound to get NEXT Generation into trouble, and it starts on p. 4f introducing talking Nothing compares to Yu One of the most influential game designers on the planet clues us in to the future, according to Sega 12 breaking News The latest news from the videogaming world: 24 Movers 'n' Shakers {business news) 26 Arcadia (inside the coin-op industry) 28 Joyriding (gaming online) 3 I Generator (game development news) iiWI-rMH Save time and cash Have the world's best game magazine delivered straight to your door, and save money, too News 36 ng special First word on the Saturn 2's defense contractor connection • Report from the European Computer Trade Show (ECTS) 'Windows 95 as a gaming platform SIGGRAPH '95 Mind games You can't play a one-player game without artificial intelligence. A look at the brains in the games 48 ng special 75 Power players The top 75 people in the industry. Some will surprisi you, some will annoy you — all have influenced you 81 ng software Alphas: 20 game previews The leading edge of computer and video games is right here, including: Daggerfall (PC), Sega Rally (Saturn), S.T.O.R.M. (multi), Road Rash (Saturn). Shoakwove (PC), The Strike Series (multi), Psychic Detective (multi), Shredfest (multi), Chronomoster (PC), Wing Arms (Saturn), Descent.. (PC), Indy 500 (Arcade), Wrtuo Cop 2 (Arcade), BattfeSport (3DO), VR Baseball (Saturn), 3D Baseball (Saturn), Final Arch (Saturn), ShiningWisdom (Saturn), Scavenger (multi) Alphas: 20 32-bit game previews 168 rating Bethesda's Daggerfall offers the first RPG virtual world. Wing Arms, Sega Rally, and Wrtuo Fighter Finals: 49 new game reviews 2 prove that Saturn has what it takes to please 32-bit gamers. Plus Scavenger and S.T.O.R.M. For reviews that go beyond "advertorial" hype, we offer the best in the business. All the latest releases reviewed, including: WipeOut (PlayStation), Last Gladiators (Saturn), Panzer Genera/ (3DO), Apache (PC), Wrtuo Fighter (32X), Batman and Robin (Sega CD). Mortal Kombat III (Genesis), Secret of Evermore (Super NES),WWFWrest/emon/o (Arcade) 196 now hiring Make your own "big break" with o section of industry recruitment advertisements 202 correspondin Letters Got something you want to get off your chest? Let NEXT Generation be your soap-box 208 ending Next month... NEXT Generation #12 hits the newsstands on Finals: 49 game reviews November 21.1 995, See for yourself what's coming Sometimes controversial, but always honest, NEXT Generation's reviews s essential guide to finding out which games are worth your time and money SAVE HUNDREDS OF DOLL 1 Powered by 1 ^ Inamcol ^m ^^m ~^^^^^^ BBBBBBB*^BK^^B^v/ i - * The burning sensation you feel is from your broken ribs, not some fireball. r\ MIMMIII^^^^ H Sega's AM2 Arcade division has been responsible for the longest uninterrupted string of arcade hits in history. Yu Suzuki is head of AM2, and without his games, Sega's battle against Sony's PlayStation would already be lost. NEXT Generation tracked down Suzuki-san in Tokyo to talk about his games, his visions on the future, and to find out why... ^^ talking I year ago,Yu Suzuki's comments about the difficulties programmers experienced in taking advantage of the ' Saturn's dual CPUs sounded the first warning sign that Sega's latest 32-bit gaming system might not be the revolutionary breakthrough for which people had hoped. For many American gamers, this was their first introduction to Mr. Suzuki. Although intimately familiar with Mr. Suzuki's games, from Space Harrier to Hang On to Virtua Racing to Virtua Fighter 2, he remains fairly anonymous in the United States, a far cry from Japan, where he holds celebrity status on par with any rock star or other pop hero. While Mr. Suzuki has been the subject of extensive media coverage in Japan, this interview may be the first chance for American gamers to get a look inside the mind of Sega's resident genius. AM2's games NG: Why is it that you have produced so many driving games in your career? Mr.