Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!cbmvax!daveh From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: HELP: programming Nintendo's Message-ID: <13390@cbmvax.commodore.com> Date: 24 Jul 90 00:14:39 GMT References: <4035@celery20.UUCP> <538@telxon.UUCP> <13264@cbmvax.commodore.com> <12577@netcom.UUCP> Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax (Dave Haynie) Distribution: na Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA Lines: 34 In article <12577@netcom.UUCP> ergo@netcom.UUCP (Isaac Rabinovitch) writes: >Royalties? On a CPU? Well, whatever you call "payment in exchange for the licensing of a patent". In that, if they put a 6502 design in one of their machine's custom chips, without changing that 6502 design, they have to pay for the use of the 6502 patents. >but it's difficult to see how using a proprietary CPU could be less >expensive than buying an existing chip, even if you have to buy it from >your competitors. *Especially* the 6502, whose main appeal is its price. >I seem to recall a story that the Apple I was 6502-based because they >couldn't afford 8008s! This is the 90s (ok, so the Nintendo was made in the 80s), and the Apple II was made in the 70s. Back then, you couldn't just go out and build yourself a custom chip, unless you owned your own chip foundry. Nowadays, the 6502 is part of several standard cell libraries, along with various other 8-bit CPU-type things. If you're trying to build a video game to sell at $100, you likely can't afford separate packaging of too many ICs, or you won't have any profit margin left. The inside of the chip, at least in volumes from 100K per year or so, are virtually free, at least for low speed things like 6502s. Most 65xx family parts go for under a buck these days in single quantity. You pay for the plastic and metal that houses the chip. >ergo@netcom.uucp Isaac Rabinovitch >atina!pyramid!apple!netcom!ergo Silicon Valley, CA >uunet!mimsy!ames!claris!netcom!ergo -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy The Dave Haynie branch of the New Zealand Fan Club