I doubt it. I remember seeing the 3DO version. What a load of shite it was. Probablythe reason why Elite vanished. Yakumo
The first pic you showed was a symbol. If this symbol goes to the Virtuoso game, then it's not the same Virtuoso that's on 3DO. That symbol belongs to "Hybrid" which was released in both Japan and Europe. http://img197.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snap0009541dy.jpg&tc=img197/5261/psxcollection8il.jpg http://img197.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snap0009551ju.jpg&tc=img197/5261/psxcollection8il.jpg http://img197.imageshack.us/my.php?image=snap0009564ue.jpg&tc=img197/5261/psxcollection8il.jpg Released in Europe by Midas Interactive. It's a doom-like shooter that kinda sucks. http://img197.echo.cx/my.php?image=sles03531f5st.jpg&tc=img197/5261/psxcollection8il.jpg http://img197.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sles03531b6yj.jpg&tc=img197/5261/psxcollection8il.jpg http://img197.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sles03531t6ua.jpg&tc=img197/5261/psxcollection8il.jpg http://img197.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sles03531g0id.jpg&tc=img197/5261/psxcollection8il.jpg (Screenshots courtesy of PlayStationMuseum.Org)
Ok, now I'm 100% sure the game BuyAtari has is Hybrid. SLES-03531 in Europe I don't have the product code written down for the Japanese version. Now I'm wondering if the beta I have is Japanese or US. It didn't have a product code and I assumed it was Japanese for some reason. I wondered why a Japanese game had no sign of Japanese language in it. Cripe. I might have to go through my collection to find it now. Anyhow, on the European disc, there's a TIM file called COPYRITE. See below. This confirms it was developed by Elite Systems. http://img197.imageshack.us/my.php?image=copyrite2xh.jpg&tc=img197/5261/psxcollection8il.jpg I converted the TIM to jpg for you to see. Incidently, while going through the retail version, there is a TON of artwork included on the CD including concept art. Some are in BMP files for anyone to see. There's also this screen below: http://img197.imageshack.us/my.php?image=demologo0do.jpg&tc=img197/5261/psxcollection8il.jpg Called DEMOLOGO.tim which says this is version 2.6 from October 1996.
I dunno if this is Hybrid. Doesn't say Hybrid anywhere. Maybee they canned this one and it became Hybrid?
Looks like it became Hybrid. Those are the characters in the game that you can choose from. I pulled out my proto too to see it over the weekend.
If memory serves me correctly, the port of Virtuoso from 3DO to PS1 became more of an epic rewrite. I can't remember if this was planned or not. But yes, it eventually became "Hybrid". Data East were buying the rights to a few Elite games for release in the Japanese market. I know that at least some of these projects didn't see the light of day. The original plan for the game was to have a genuine rock star for the main character. I don't think Meatloaf was all that interested, or the fees were too steep, but either way, Elite ended up using pictures of one of their artists in a leather jacket.
