Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!gatech!taco!hobbes.catt.ncsu.edu!kdarling From: kdarling@hobbes.catt.ncsu.edu (Kevin Darling) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: CDTV & CD-I The Whole Picture Message-ID: <1991Apr20.130900.28082@ncsu.edu> Date: 20 Apr 91 13:09:00 GMT References: Sender: news@ncsu.edu (USENET News System) Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 64 In roger_earl@outbound.wimsey.bc.ca (Roger Earl) writes: [repost, previous cancelled because frankly, I was tired when I wrote it :-] >>CD-I development work has been under way since _1986_ > > This is exactly why CD-I is gonna cost a fortune. These studios are > estimated to cost $800,000 for a full CD-I studio. Sounds like you included the office space, a dozen programmers and artists, and a similar number of workstations. In other words, just what the better CDTV studios will also require. In any case, your info is wrong. CD-I development systems with emulation and disc building capabilities, including sequence and art editors, start under $10K. And that will drop. > And they have been developing for 5 years without any profit whatsoever. And CBM has been developing 2.0 for how many years? Etc. No, these companies had the long view in sight, and most had plenty of other income sources in addition to Sony/Philips funding. Sure, absolutely they'll want to make that money back. No doubt about it. I don't think that'll mean discs will be as high-priced as mentioned, tho. Quantity. Shall we agree to wait and see? > Do you consider Amigavision to be dull? I don't consider it to be the end-all of professional authoring software, no. Do you? If so, I have severe doubts as to your experience. I've also been told that the first CDTV demos were done under CanDo, not AV. > And inexpensive gear IS important. Sorry, but any business is going to look > at cost first, high-tech second. Quality is more important in my book. Ever seen a movie taken on cheap equipment? It looks and sounds bad once you've seen pro stuff, doesn't it? I-TV is a very similar business in that regard. You seem to be arguing that CDTV discs will be overpriced, for the investment developers make, btw. > So far it looks like applications will be made for the CDTV > first, then ported over to CD-I. Backwards, if anything. When CDTV was first shown last year, part of the "push" was that CD-I developers could make some quick money before CD-I came. Haven't checked to see if any did, tho. Anyone know? Groliers is on both. > The Case of the Cautious Condor looked also very intriguing, and > proved once again (as many other games have in the past) that a good game > doesn't need super-hires-animation to be entertaining. Agreed. But funny... that sounded more like an non-Amigan talking :-). > Also, it looks like there are a lot of Murder mystery type games being made > for CDTV, something that could never be done so well before. Same for CD-I. You're probably right that more games will be done on CDTV. Unknown yet if games will mean much, at least until players get very cheap. > When CD-I eventually gets released I will take a look at its applications and > review them fairly. Don't forget, I am a fan of multi-media and I've waited > for CD-I just as long as anyone else, I just hope I can afford it. I'll repost the titles for both systems. You must've missed that before. Then again, a lot of discussion wasn't in .advocacy.