From: laird@think.com (Laird Popkin)
Newsgroups: rec.games.video
Subject: Re: Sega CD
Date: 16 Oct 1992 15:47:06 GMT
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: django.think.com

In article <SS.92Oct16075608@wpi.WPI.EDU> ss@wpi.WPI.EDU (Scott Streeter) writes:
>>>>>> On 16 Oct 92 01:55:06 GMT, tehyang@aludra.usc.edu (Teh Kao Yang) said:
>
>tehyang> In article <1992Oct15.184340.22930@eff.org> peterco@eff.org (Peter Cohen) writes:
>>There's talk about Nintendo's unit being Philips CD-I compatible.  If
>>this is the case, Nintendo might have some hot stuff on it's hands.
>>But right now, that toy is still vaporware.  The Sega CD is slated
>>for a November
>>release.
>
>tehyang> Didn't the Philips CD unit totally bomb? Has anyone acutally
>tehyang> bought one of those things? I'm wondering why Nintendo is
>tehyang> even bothering to make their system compatible with it.
>
>tehyang> If Sega had any brains, they'll market the Sega-CD as a
>tehyang> multi-media system.  If the Sega-CD catches on, it'll
>tehyang> probably become THE multi-media CD standard in the industry.
>tehyang> Sony is probably betting on this happening, that's why
>tehyang> they've joined forces with Sega.  Then Nintendo will have to
>tehyang> make theirs Sega-CD compatible :)
>
>The Turbo-Duo unit is made along these lines. I got a brochure in the
>mail yesterday, and the CD-ROM will connect to either IBM PC, or MAC's
>with the proper adapter (sold seperately of course).

Yes, but when you use a Turbo-Duo with a Mac or PC, all you're doing is
turning it into a normal SCSI CD-ROM drive, effectively indistinguishable
from any other CD-ROM drive on a Mac or PC.  But you won't be able to use
TG-16 CD-ROMs with PC's or Mac's.

I believe that the only CD-ROM format which can become "standard" is one
that is hardware independent.  All of the current formats (CD-I, PC CD-ROM,
Mac CD-ROM, TG-16 CD-ROM, Sega CD-ROM, CDTV CD-ROM) all are tied to one
particular piece of hardware.  The format that I think shows the most
promise is Kaleida (the Apple/IBM-founded company) since Kaleida is planned
to run on a variety of PC's as well as dedicated handheld and "console"
machines.  That means that you could take the *same* CD-ROM and put it into
your Mac or PC, home console system, or haldheld unit, and run the
software.

I would suspect that Kaleida is best suited for "information" disks,
playing digitized movies, and things like that, since the intermediate
layer of the OS, and the need for the software to be platform independent,
would probably limit arcade-style games.  On the other hand, it would be
entirely possible for Kaleida to license the Kaleida OS (or sell it itself)
for the Turbo-Duo, Sega CD, SNES-CD, etc., as a cartridge to plug in to
allow owners of those systems to use Kaleida titles.

Imagine a review of, say, the Heritage Disctionary in EGM...

The other format that I think could do well, is CD-I.  It's not selling
well right now, but Phillips is gearing up to promote CD-I as the
replacement for videotape (I believe) once the JPEG decompression chips are
available in large enough quantities.  Supposedly they've already got deals
going with Blockbuster video to stock movies on CD-ROM.  Given the
advantages of the media (CD-ROMs cost much less to produce than videotape,
allow interactivity, special effects, and intelligence, are more compact to
ship and stock, and are more durable.  The big drawback to CD-I (like the
consoles and CDTV) is that it requires customers to buy a specific,
dedicated unit.  But if Phillips can get CD-I units with JPEG chips selling
for $500 or so, with hundreds of movies released on CD-I CD-ROM for a low
price (I would guess at $10 each), with wide distribution, it could do
quite well as a digital movie player that happens to run some games and
educational titles.
-- 
- Laird Popkin, Thinking Machines

Connection Machine: Massively parallel supercomputer.  Also a cool black
cube with more blinking lights than you can shake a stick at.