From: dano@usl.edu (Dan Stephenson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: Game machines and such
Date: 10 Apr 92 19:04:13 GMT
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana

Norman St. John Polevaulter <MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:

>In article <1992Apr9.052121.10584@seas.gwu.edu>, gerald@seas.gwu.edu (Gerald G.
>Washington) says:
>>I wonder about this.  Let us suppose that the A600 is priced at about $250.
>>For those who want a game machine, this is still a bit high compared to
>>SNES and Genesis.

>A given, considering that it's a computer. Still, our games ARE cheaper...

No they are NOT!  Jesus Christ, they want around *$60* each for SNES games
at the local Toys R Us the last time I looked! Mail-order games are MUCH
cheaper for PCs, and assumed so for Amigas.

>> People who want an inexpensive home computer are more
>>likely to look at cheap Intel PCs, since these are what the "average user"
>>is familiar with.  People who are more familiar with computers, and the

>Exactly what "cheap Intel PC" are you going to get for $250? A used
>IBM PC/XT if you're LUCKY! You're certainly not going to get high-res
>color graphics, impressive stereo sound, and a fantastic multitasking
>environment such as WB2.0 in a $250 Intel machine!

True, true.  But the cheap Intel PC has a much larger software base, and
much better name recognition. Many people have no idea what 'Amiga' is,
and _might_ know of the Commodore 64-but that' as close to knowing about
how good a value low-end Amigas are. So raving about the Amiga's plusses
on c.s.a.a. doesn't help.  Commodore needs to advertise (ooh! what an
idea! I've _never_ heard *that* complaint on this nwsgroup before! :-P
).

>The situation's quite familiar. C='s low-end stuff tends to be
>unbeatable wrt bang-for-the-buck; C='s high-end stuff is admittedly
>somewhat overpriced, assuming you're the sort of person who buys
^^^^^^^^^
Well, more that just 'somewhat'.  GOOD 486s can be had for well less
than the 68030 A3000.  depends on what you want to do with your
computer, of course.  Re: Obscurity of Amigas, above.

>personal computers based on statistics instead of whether or not
>you enjoy using them. For enjoyment, the A3000 beats and will always
>beat any Intel/MS-DOS machine hands down. Does anyone dispute this,
>out of curiosity? I'd be interested to hear from someone claiming PClones
>are more fun than Amigas...

Sure, that's you opinion and other's too.

*I* dispute it.  To show this: When I got my computer, I could either
1)Buy a good 386/33 anduse Windows/large software base
2)Not afford an A3000, and _not_ be able to use the 'mega-Euro-demos',
games, and lesser word processors.

Therefore, it is *surely* more fun to paly Falcon 3.0 on a 386 than
nothing on an A300 I cannot afford-get it??

>>Amiga in particular, will not be happy with the A600.

>With all due respect, us high-end weenies aren't the target
>market for the A600. The target is the HOME COMPUTER MARKET.
>There's a lot more of them than there are of us, and in fact they're
>the ones who made Commodore a billion-dollar company, not us.
                               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sure, a billion dollars is a lot of money, but you guys keep saying it
as some kind of trophy- and it isn't one.

>I can't fault Commodore for going where the big money is, especially
>since history has shown that low-end success does not cause them to
>ignore the high-end. We're going to get something, don't worry. I'm
>not impatient, as I own the most fun computer on the market.

Ah, yes, for your purposes.  Hey, buy me an Amiga 3000 and I'll agree!!
:)

>>I may be wrong; we will see.

>I think you will be surprised.

>Assuming the A600 ultimately settles to an excellent price like $250, that
>is. (I wouldn't be surprised to see it start around $500 just to grab anyone
>who's actually willing to pay that price, but ideally it should be at
>$250 by Christmas. Come on, Commodore, you can do it...)

One thing C= NEEDS to do is pump out LOTS of games as SOON as possible
when the A600 come out.  It is to survive as a game machine, it'll need
that to cope with the 100's of cartridges out for the Genesis, SNES,
etc.

-Dan
.

>[Your blood pressure just went up.]       Mark Sachs IS: mbs110@psuvm.psu.edu
> DISCLAIMER: Penn State cares about my money, not my opinions.
--
Daniel Anthony Stephenson dano@nasa15.usl.edu das9674@usl.edu 
"I'm a staunch Independant.  Every time I think I am a Republican, they
 do something greedy, and every time I think I am a Democrat, to go and
do someting stupid." - Jay Leno from _60 Minutes_ interview 3/15/1992