From: davem@uvmark.uucp (Dave Meeks)
Subject: Re: SNES CD Drive: Fact or fiction?!?
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 19:49:17 GMT
Organization: VMARK Software, Inc.

In article <1992Dec18.145541.3224@exu.ericsson.se> exuhag@exu.ericsson.se writes:
>Robert keng writes:
>>		Ugh, kind of puts a damper on things. Looks like SEGA won't
>>have to worry about Nintendo in the CD market. Personally, I think Nintendo
>>just made a serious blunder.
>
>I'm probably all alone on this, but I think it was a smart move on
>Nintendo's part to avoid the CD market.  So far, CDs have been a lot
>of hot air as far as games are concerned.  Most CD games have been
>decidedly mediocre, there has yet to be a title which makes the
>technology a worthwhile addition to gaming.  Only a minority of
>game system owners are going to buy a CD upgrade, especially at
>three times the price of the base system.  So expensive CD games (more

Funny, from most reports, the Sega CD is doing extraordinarily well so far.
Sales have gone through the roof with it.  And, I would venture to guess that
sales will get even better when the number of games increases.  I think many
of the upcoming titles will really do well on the Sega CD: WonderDog, SonicII,
Batman Returns, Joe Montana, etc... as well as many others that should keep
it going.  And these are just to start.  Many people have been complaining 
about the early games, but... I seem to remember a certain Nintendo system
having some really awful early games... (the SNES early games basically 
sucked real bad...).  With time and as developers start using the capabilities
of the system, the quality of the games will greatly improve..

>artwork, more music, more programming) will be developed for a relatively
>small market.  It makes more sense IMO to just stick to the hardware
>that everyone already owns and concentrate on coming up with some
>good games (Sega already has a problem with this and I don't think
>the Sega-CD is going to help matters).  There might also be more exciting 
>hardware to worry about, such as the rumored polygon chip from Nintendo.

It is funny that you talk about the CD only appealing to a minority of
game owners, yet in the same breathe talk about the rumoured polygon chip???
Talk about appealing to a minority of game owners!!!   Most of the CD games
are coming out at the same price or cheaper than most cart games.  This, as
well as the hardware scaling/rotation and extra storage space, and other
reasons will make the Sega CD work well for people...  And, at it's current
price of $299 (with all the pack-ins), it isn't all that much more than the
introductory price of the SNES ($199), and you get more games for it...

I think what you will see after XMas is the price going down some (but not
much), and a different pack-in game.  I think Sega will realize that the
main games offerred (keep the Classics, but Sol-Feace and SH) need to be made
more mainstream, like Sonic II-CD or something.  With that, I think sales will
increase even higher than what they currently are...
-- 
David T. Meeks            || "New shadows tugging at the corner of his eye
VMark Software, Inc.      ||  Jostling for attention as the sunlight flares
uvmark!davem@merk.com     ||  Through a curtains tear, shuffling its beams
davem%uvmark@merk.com     ||  As if in nervous anticipation of another day"