Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uwm.edu!bionet!agate!stanford.edu!neon.Stanford.EDU!flamingo.Stanford.EDU!espie From: espie@flamingo.Stanford.EDU (Marc Espie) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer Subject: Re: Lemmings - a tutorial Part IV Message-ID: <1991Mar30.012529.7807@neon.Stanford.EDU> Date: 30 Mar 91 01:25:29 GMT References: <1991Mar29.230632.7066@grebyn.com> Sender: news@neon.Stanford.EDU (USENET News System) Organization: LIENS, ENS, 45 rue d'Ulm, Paris (France) Lines: 42 In article <1991Mar29.230632.7066@grebyn.com> ckp@grebyn.com (Checkpoint Technologies) writes: >In article mwm@pa.dec.com (Mike (My Watch Has Windows) Meyer) writes: >>In article mykes@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) writes: [discussion: is the amiga a game machine ? mostly deleted] > >The Amiga 500 is a game machine. This has nothing watever to do with >the machine's technical capabilties, or what some minority of users does >with it. It is a game machine because of the mentality of the typical >user (remember that no one reading this message is a typical Amiga >user), because of Commodore's stillborn marketing efforts (at Christmas, >Commodore itself was comparing the A500 to the Nintendo), and only at >the last because of the original design goals. > >I too saw the original Amiga 1000 as a poor man's workstation, only >the market did not pan out. So now, while I'll grant the A2000 is a >video platform, the A500 is just a game console with a disk drive and a >keyboard. And nothing more. >-- Uh, there are average users around who start with a 500 as a game machine, then discover programming, and get more and more involved with the machine. If you give them some multitasking games, they love it. Also, don't forget that *around the world* there are places where an amiga 500 is affordable for a CS student, and not a 2000. I personnally know ``average users'' (some of them REALLY average) who don't have access to usenet (nor to any network for that matter) who gradually learn how to use their amigas for get more power, or get interested in programming games. The day they discover multitasking is a revelation. To these people, a multitasking game is a much better example than a very fast arcade game. The situation being what it is, they first start writing games accessing the hardware because it is EASIER. The hardware manual is less expensive than the RKM, shunting the OS does not require a degree in CS and there are so many more examples available for them. BTW, my current address is in the US, but I'm french in fact. This description matches very closely a group of friends, most of them interested in programming but none has a high level instruction. During the past two years, at least two out of five have acquired a harddisk and a memory extension. Quid for the game machine with keyboard and disk drive ? -- Marc Espie (espie@flamingo.stanford.edu)