The war is about to begin!
After successfully invading Japan, we are about to witness the first wave of next generation gaming on these shores. Manufacturers are promising enhancements over the current field of systems (NES, SMS, 7800), with graphics, sounds, and play that is nothing less than incredible. But even before the American game playing public has had a chance to examine the potential of a new machine, there is already a flood of 16-Bit and portable units on the way and headed for store shelves this September!
The lines have been drawn and the heavy artillery is about to be revealed to the game playing public. Three gaming superpowers-NEC, Sega, and Nintendo - are flexing their muscles with a variety of products that have to be seen to be believed!
Both NEC and Sega are poised to enter a heated battle for control of the 16-Bit system sweepstakes! Both companies are well-equipped with machines that have plenty of firepower and great games to match.
Sega is showing the 16-Bit Genesis, an American version of their recently released Japanese system, the Mega Drive. The unit uses cartridges and curie ally has a limited library of games. NEC, on the other hand, is set to introduce a retooled version of the wildly successful Japanese P.C. Engine. While their Turbografx 16, as it's being call in the U.S., is not a true 16-Bit, it does offer the same types of mesmerizing graphics that are the most obvious trademark of any 16-Bit system. Since Turbografx 16 is virtually identical to the P.C. Engine, more than 50 games are potentially available for the machine.



NEC and Sega are also unveiling next generation peripherals simultaneously with the debut of their new systems. NEC has an innovative CD-ROM unit that plays expanded games that are packed with incredible detail! The unit can also play conventional CD's and add video images to your favorite music! Sega, meanwhile, is launching a modem interface, rumored to be called Tele-Genesis", that will enable you to play games, like their Baseball title, with friends over the phone lines!
Nintendo, not to be counted out, is also developing an advanced 16-Bit game system for the Japanese market called the Super Famicom. This upgraded NES has been called, by those who have seen it, the most incredible game system ever developed! Even-hough it probably won't make an appearance in the U.S. for some time since the NES is doing so well.
Instead of 16-Bit game machines, Nintendo is going after an entirely different, but equally exciting technology: portable cartridge-based hand-helds.



Their state-of-the-art unit, GameBoy, uses small cartridges and а 2" dot matrix screen thai can produce some dazzling images despite its size! With plenty of software support guaranteed from a legion of third-party licensees, the future of GameBoy is, without a doubt, very solid.
Epyx will set out to give Nintendo's GameBoy a run for the money, however, with their color portable cartridge system. Reportedly a very impressive self-contained unit, the machine's 3" color monitor and dazzling graphics are tainted by a lack of software support and a heavy price tag ($160). Definitely a good system that's loaded with features, but in a different league from GameBoy.



With the lines drawn and the battle about to begin, still more participants are eagerly awaiting to enter the war. Konix has shown their 16-Bit Slipstream to lukewarm response. The system is shown with a special simulator chair which is just too slow, Namco has a machine comparable to the Super Famicom almost completed, but is unsure about which way to market it with so many other game machines already in the marketplace. Then there's NECs 16-Bit P.C. Engine-2, which is also expected to blast into Japan sometime next year, promising even better graphics and sound than their original P.C. Engine.
No matter which way you look at it, the evolving of video game technology means two things for certain: A lot more fun for you and me and a bigger and better Electronic Gaming covering it all!