Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!scea!greg_labrec@interactive.sony.com
From: pbureau@odyssee.net (Patrick Bureau)
Newsgroups: scea.yaroze.freetalk
Subject: Seems like we lost our fearless leader...
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 1997 04:29:01 GMT
Organization: SCEA News Server
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I just saw on Next-Generation Online that our leader, Bill Rehbock,
left Sony to pursue his career at VM Labs. So, who's in charge of the
Net Yaroze program now?

Here's a transcript of the article:

Exclusive: Nintendo, Sony, Sega and ??? 

November 4, 1997 

Sony's head of R&D, Bill Rehbock, has left the company to work on VM
Labs' new hardware. Next Generation Online spoke with Rehbock where
he reveals that a fourth major player will be joining the hardware
wars. 

Just when you thought the market was stable and that all the
players in the industry have already placed their bids, up pops a
new technology and a "major" backer that promises to making
things just a bit more interesting again. 

While Next Generation Magazine has provided some early insights
into the VM Labs in its last issue, little has been said of the
mysterious `Project X' that the company promises will be `the next
Mario killing hardware'. 

Friday was Bill Rehbock's last day at Sony and Monday will mark
his first day at VM Labs. Said Rehbock "The guys at VM Labs
waited to approach me until they had something to show me so
that I would have an easy decision to make. Needless to say they
knocked my socks off." 

In addition to the hardware (and here's the key) VM Labs already
has a deal signed with a `major' but as yet unknown manufacturer.
"Every company that VM Labs approached was of the magnitude
of a Sony. One of them eventually signed," said Rehbock. "I
wouldn't have left my position at the `country club' in Foster City
[Sony] if this weren't a sure thing." Already speculation as to who
the backer is in the Next Generation office is running rampant.
Time frame for the system release is said to be a cryptic "really
soon". 

In his new role at VM Labs, Rehbock will be the vice-president of
software development (which was a role he originally played at
both Atari and to some degree early on in his position at Sony). In
this role, he will be trying to solicit third party support for the
new hardware in addition to overseeing internal projects. Obviously
one of the major feathers in the new hardware's cap is the support
from coding genius, Jeff Minter. Minter's forte is clearly in the
realm of fast action, psychedelic games such as Tempest 2000,
Llamatron and Defender 2000. 

Other members of the team include former Atari employees, Jon
Mathison (known to some as the `father of the Jaguar') and
Richard Miller (who seems to be the mastermind on the project).
Despite the obvious Atari heritage, Rehbock is key to point out
that "this is not Atari and that it is an entirely different company
with entirely new technology." 

When asked what he felt of potential technology competitors 3Dfx
and PowerVR, Rehbock commented: "3Dfx has good
performance, but it's still a bit pricey and I don't think PowerVR
will ever be a significant factor in the market." Assuming that in his
position at Sony Rehbock also had knowledge of Sony's
forthcoming hardware and Project X still impressed him, it raises
some interesting questions as to the power of this system. 

With regard to differences between VM Labs and Sony, Rehbock
pointed to the difference in developer support and tools for the
systems. "I don't think the team at VM Labs has left a stone
unturned with regard to development tools," said Rehbock. "I'm
used to good tools having worked at Sony. But the guys at VM
Labs hail from all facets of gaming industry and have written tools
from a game programmers perspective. The teams we've put
together at Sony, while they offered the best support around,
simply weren't gamers." 

In terms of who VM Labs will be going to first for development
support, Rehbock indicated that "it will be all the obvious ones"
(clearly not wanting to give away much of his plans). "We already
have a few development systems seeded out there but for now
we're going to be working with a few select developers at first. It
sounds funny, but it's true, we need to focus on quality first. When
developers see this hardware and the tools at their disposal, I think
my job isn't going to be very hard." 

To sum up, VM Labs has working hardware. It has development
systems in a few developers' offices already and probably most
importantly, it supposedly has `major backing from a company the
size of Sony'. The next generation hardware wars are getting
extremely interesting.