***Konami Shows Cutting Edge 3D
by John Latta
At AMOA, Konami was showing off a preview of its Cobra technology based
on 3D developments by IBM Japan. Clearly spurred by the impact of the
Lockheed-Martin Model 3 technology used by Sega, Konami is seeking to
leap to the next generation of 3D for arcade games. Using a scalable
architecture based on Power PC microprocessors and custom ASICs, the
system has the following stats:
- 1-5M polygons/sec
- 50-200M pixels/sec
- 640x480 to 1280x1024 resolution
- 144 bits/pixel
- 8 bit alpha channel
- Bilinear and trilinear filtering
- Real time texture management
- 8 lighting sources
- Particle emulation
A fighting game based on Cobra will be released in the spring of 1997.
Although pricing has not been announced it is expected to be competetive
with Sega's Virtua Fighter 3, based on the Model 3 (50" display in a
deluxe cabinet $16,000 to $17,000; 33" mini-deluxe $10,000).
Wave Issue 9609 9/27/96 Article 8-01