ATV is on sale today in UK and StAnZo picked up a copy...

Well, i rang up EB today just to see if it was available (seeing that it\'s a friday and most games get released
on the friday) and they had just got it in. So i went and brought a copy and after 2hrs of playing, these are
my initial thoughts on the game....

The conversion totally stinks! Honestly, the game has really bad VSync problems which makes the screen \'tear\'
In 2plr mode this has made it totally umplayable. This is not what we wanted! another reason for us PAL users
to get a modchip, once the final version has been released. I AM DEFINATLEY CHIPPING MINE!

After a couple of hours tho\' this seems to subside as the playabilty is the games saving grace.
There was NO tearing in the NTSC version and ran nice and smooth. us people who have Pal machines
are simply stuck with a ****ty pal conversion once again.

i highly advise for you people to rent 1st as i\'d hate for you to waste your money. now thats out of the way...

Graphics wise, the game looks excelent. they seem to have used FSAA to some degree and yes it looks excelent.
It\'s just once the game gets into motion that you realise that this is a bad conversion.
Don\'t get me wrong, on a single player outdoor stunt location, the game runs flawless at a almost constant 60fps
This said, in the races i found by turning off the screen info (position, map etc...) that the game had improved
very slightly. Why oh why did they opt to disenable the Vsync. i\'d have been happy to have a slight dip in
framerate rather than the screen looking like it\'s knackerd. Looks like sony are going the right way in
loosing customers. It might be fair to say, well this isn\'t sony\'s fault, it\'s the developer. HELL NO. sony should
insist that a 60hz option is in place. Why don\'t the developers have the american NTSC code for the 60hz
option and have totally rewritten code for the Pal version. What time would it take a cracker to put a 60hz
option in place? ABOUT 10 MINUTES!!! everybody has seen a psx game with a cractro frontend with a 50/60Hz
option so why oh why do these developers give us crap.
I\'m seriously doubting sony nowadays. it looks like their trying to ride on the success of the PS1 an it aint gonna
work. There going to loose customer interest if this continues and i\'ll be gone with them. i\'m PISSED BIGTIME. so like i say, rent 1st then decide. phuckin\' crappy pal coversions

Sorry mod\'s, i must get my point accross. if you disagree with what i\'m posting then contact me or delete this thread.
i am here to let people know the situation this side of the water. this is getting to be stupid. Another coversion
given the typical cr@p Pal workover. Just another reason to invest in a modchip i say.

If any of you have picked it up please post comments. i\'m sorry if this seems one sided, i\'d like to hear if
any of you fellow members have had a chance to get something good out of the game.

StAnZo\'s final thought:

Overall the game is impressive, playability is good and graphics look good, no shimmering and clean throughout
but it\'s knowing that the NTSC version was so much better that really hammers it home about how sony
and the developers see Pal regions as an afterthought. I for one feel very cheated and this must stop.
I\'ll be keeping it until the 20th and then take it back to EB and change it for GT3, but it may grow on me yet.

Hi StAnZo,
Do you  happen to know what percentage of sales that the European(PAL) market takes out of all the PS2 sales world wide? I am just curious, and this might answer the question why Sony or the developers don\'t take the time to correct these problems. I feel bad for you gamers over there.
Ace

I\'m not sure, i believe it to be a rather big percentage. but why do developers do this? it has seriously
put doubts in my mind about further games by Rainbow Studios. Think about it. how long has it took for this game
to hit the UK shores? It\'s been available in the states for ages. Simlar things could be said about Onimusha.
They simply left the game untouched and just modified the code to run at 50hz. NOTHING WAS TOUCHED.
So why the long wait of x amount of months? it just takes the piss. anyway you can probably tell that i\'m mad
at sony in general at the moment. This board is littered with Pal users and all see it the same way as i do.
Most are angry at the time difference from NTSC to pal. and yes i mean US English to Pal. This surely doesn\'t
take long. look at GT3. it took 10 days between USA and Pal release so it looks like sony have got some
explaning to do doesn\'t it?

Originally posted by StAnZo
...it looks like sony have got some
explaning to do doesn\'t it?

It would be nice if Sony HAD TO explain, but of course they don\'t and they never will.  The only way you can communicate with them is by not buying their product.

BTW, I found ATV: Offroad Fury kind of boring, so you\'re not missing much.  I\'d say that between this and the PAL conversion problems, european gamers should just skip it.

I hear what your\'e sayin\' man, but i used to like Motorcross Madness on the PC and this is why i wanted ATV
to be a good conversion. After playing for a bit more, i\'m warming to the game. it also seems that it\'s the AI that
makes the game slowdown. Rainbow Studios probably
needed to get their AI engine fully optimized but
as usual deadlines are deadlines.

Anyway, i\'m beginning to enjoy this game now. it\'s very challenging and fustrating at the same time.

Thanks for the information Stanzo.

I agree with every single thing you have said. The thing which bugs me the most (although all these points are extremely anonying) is that this game like Onimusha / ATV has taken months to appear on PAL shores yet the game goes untouched.

It seems none of the developers have any incentive to correct this problem. I mean look at the PAL features list hardly any of the current games have 50/60Hz. Even Sony don\'t seem to be bothered.

I can see games like Dark Cloud being 50 Hz only as well.

Like Coredweller says the only way we can communicate with developers is to not buy there product, by doing this though we end up with a small selection of games to choose from. Hmm any other ideas ? Copying games least we get them for free! Seriously why should we respect developers when they don\'t respect us, they are completely taking the piss.

Anyway ill say this... I haven\'t paid £400 (got my PS2 from a catalogue) to play **** like Onimusha and ATV where the conversion is pathetic. Theres no reason why we should be treated worse, esp after waiting for games and playing more.

So if this keeps up and this time next year we still are waiting for games, recieving crap conversions, and an import original chip hasn\'t been released, well guess who will be copying PS2 games ? Yep its a controversal statement but copied games of imports work on the current chip technology.

Sony you are only a few steps from crossing the line. Greenscreen PS2 (WTF!!!!), Late games, bad conversions etc WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING AT SONY?

- Of course im againest copying. I don\'t pirate PS2. Any Americans out there who feel like lecturing on this issue then please don\'t bother, you don\'t understand what this is seriously like. Imagine buying a PS2 and it being ****, no games being released and when they finally are they are pale in comparasion to how they should be played.

Im one angry UK gamer. Sony are so close to crossing the line.

Good to hear that you got it,but that NTSC to PAL conversion sounds totally ****.
That is why i ordered the US GT3 today,not takeING a chance with it,but i am sure that they will do a good NTSC to PAL conversion.
Also it isnt just SONY who is responsible for the bad conversions,it is the game developers as well, dont just put all the blame onto SONY,not trying to sound like a fan-boy or anything on behalf of sony,but i am sure that capcom could do a much better job with Onimusha,then what they did.

i have my psx2 chipped and i am sitting here now playing my us ATV now heh eh heh

chipping is the way 2 go !

well for me it was imports a bit expensive though!!

Haha imports on a chipped PS2. That\'ill be the day.

Nice one m8. I don\'t blame you for what you did.

For fcuk\'s sake, when will this nonsense ever end??!!!!

I too, was dying to get a hold of ATV, but Stanzo\'s put me right off it, but thanks for being honest about how shi*ty it is.

We pay more, we wait longer, and we receive the worst version of the game.  I\'m really tired of this, and I\'m sure all you non-European players out there are sick of this, but it really is the most irritating thing ever in gaming.

Yeah, expect Dark Cloud to be the same.  And RE:CV, and any of the other games as well.  It\'s beyond a joke.

I quite fortunate to work at HMV, where staff get generous discounts, so I\'m still better buying PAL games, but if this wasn\'t ther case, I\'d get imports instead.

Stanzo, you also made another very valid point.  If the cracker guys can make 50/60Hz switchable copies, how the fcuk can Sony not implement such a feature.

Sony, for not helping out your European gamers, who are paying lots of money for bastardised games, you are a bunch of *unts.

StAnZo, is the USA and UK ATV not the same???

Stanzo please add ATV to the PAL features list post for screen centering and 50/60Hz.

Ok Rich, will do.

Marqius, Please rent this out if you get a chance. i have played it and managed to finish the championship mode.
I am warming to it but after seeing the NTSC version, this is bad. It isn\'t all doom and gloom tho\' if you play
the open levels and just drive about on your own, it\'s mostly 60fps. but the 2 plr mode just looks awful.
I cant beleive what the 4 plr mode will look like.

Ethan, i hear what your\'e saying about passing the blame to sony. I believe that all parties should be
pushed to add a 60hz option. and what about Quality Control?

Thanks guys for listening and yes my points are very strong and i apologise if iv\'e put you off picking it up.
Please go out and rent it 1st, The playability is excelent. The main gripe that i have is the VSync tearing problem
and simply the bad NTSC to PAL conversion. Please bear in mind that opinions differ. this is my personal opinion
and the main reason why it\'s strong is probably that this has been going on for a while now and it could be
the straw to break the camels back if you see what i mean.

Roll on Friday... GT3 looms....

my "imports" are 100 % legit on my chipped psx2 £59-99 from amazon !!! believe it or not !! lol

Hmm I wasn\'t really saying that they wasn\'t. There isn\'t such a chip to play import originals at the moment though, except Origa which is a 25 wire odd chip for JAP Ps2s.