Project X = Project Toilet(?)

[sincla...@my-dejanews.com]

Interesting reading in the latest edition(Nov) of Next Generation. There is a
interview article with Jim Whimms who helped launched Nintendo to stardom in
1986 and the Sony Playstation in 1995(to bad Atari did not hire him).

Much of the Atari alumni have taken shelter at VM Labs that is developing a
new console called Project X. Will Project X suffer the painful death of the
Jag? Well, Whimms think so. If this happens what happens to those ex Atari
employese again. Working at another company that went down the toilet is not
good for the resume.

This is what he has to say about VM Labs:

"project x....then your dreaming. To get into this marketplace, now
that Sony is so entrenched, and with Nintendo with $5 billion in cash and no
debt...- your looking at tough competition. We've always known that there is
only room for one or two systems to succeed because you cannot compete with
just 10% or 15% market share - the economic model just doesn't work this way.
Ask Sega. All VM Labs has done is buy themselves a two year hall pass(132)."

Looks like those venture capitalists will have a nice tax write off.

Peter S.

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[PUH]

I'm a bit surprised about what this guy says about X.

1. X is NOT a videogame-console in that sense.
It is basically a chip providing many "multimedia" operations,
and from these is most important the MPEG2-decoding.
It's not a standalone device, it's a *chip*.

2. The plan seems to be to give X away to the consumer-
electronics industry (licensed). VM Labs will NOT produce
a games machine or anything else themselves.

3. The industry (e.g. Thompson) will produce units that
have X inside (rather than intel inside ;-) ). And I guess
that this means DVD-players above all, maybe settop-boxes.

4. X can play games, too. But when Joe Sixpack buys his
DVD-Player, he won't know or care. He will then discover
that he can play games on his DVD-unit and *might* buy some.

5. Make your own guess how many people will have X in their
homes when all VHS-Tapes are replaced by DVD, and how large the
installed basis would be blahblahblah
There is not really much competition with Big N or Sony... It's
*also* a console, but won't be sold as one.

6. _MY_ guess: X will be successful moneymaking-wise, but will
fail as games-platform. Jeff Minter is cool and everything, but T3K
just isn't enough. * * *

This is what I've heard, corrections and opinions
are always appreciated. Look at Thompsons Website, their
DVD/whoknowswhat - player is called Blackbird (I think).

---> I'd just *love* to play T3K, though ....!

PUH

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

[Scottith]

I say, "If you build it, they will play..."

[Bojay1997]

I read the article too and found it interesting. Wasn't this guy at Worlds of
Wonder as well?(Like that gives him credibility; a company with all successful
toys that suddenly goes bankrupt)

First of all, there are more Atari alumni at Sony and Sega than at VML. Sure,
the Flare team and many of the Jag folks are at VML, but I have never thought
of them as Atari alumni.

Second, Motorola has become very vague about what their plans for Project X are
lately. Interestingly, most of the major TV networks have signed with General
Instrument for their digital encryption and compression using Digicipher II on
HDTV and even enhanced definition digital TV to begin broadcasting next year.
Project X boxes do not contain this technology.

Third, Motorola is backing off pushing Project X as a games platform and as
such, is leaving it to manufacturers and developers to pursue this option. So
far, there seems to be little interest in this area.

Fourth, the release date of Project X hardware is now second quarter 99, but
apparently this will be cable decoder boxes with digital cable and internet
capability. No word on who will be buying these or if they will have enough
RAM to be good game machines.

Fifth, Motorola lacks the resources to take a good chunk out of Sony, Nintendo,
or even Sega's markets. Developers are slow to sign on with this thing and I
don't blame them. Why invest in a system that has an uncertain market when
Sega and now Sony are pushing their new platforms to market by the turn of the
century? I for one am betting on the current players and in my opinion,
Project X is truly one generation of systems too late.

Bojay

[Steve Jacobs]

BELJAN E wrote:
> Iron Soldier 3. Thats my biggest hope. IS1 was good. IS2 is a
> masterpiece. What could IS3 possibly be?

Potentially a letdown. Of course, considering the source, it could be
the stuff that dreams are made of......

Steve

--
* Steve Jacobs ** Sinc...@ix.netcom.com *
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/3610/

The molecules of your body are the same molecules that burn inside the
stars themselves. We are starstuff, we are the universe, made manifest,
trying to figure itself out. - Carl Sagan

[BELJAN E]

In <362EE6B8...@tu-harburg.de> PUH <unbe...@tu-harburg.de>
writes:

>
>6. _MY_ guess: X will be successful moneymaking-wise, but will
>fail as games-platform. Jeff Minter is cool and everything, but T3K
>just isn't enough. * * *
>

[BELJAN E]

In <19981022133011...@ng89.aol.com> boja...@aol.com

(Bojay1997) writes:
>
> No word on who will be buying these or if they will have enough
>RAM to be good game machines.
>

I hear 16MB is going to be used with the chipset. Given that, it should
be enough.

[Bojay1997]

>I hear 16MB is going to be used with the chipset. Given that, it should
>be enough.

Actually, this is not true. The RAM size is completely at the discretion of
the individual manufacturer.

Bojay

[FVINAS]

I saw a screenshot of IS3 on a site that also had pics of the gamepad
and set top boxes by Motorola and Toshiba. It even had a list of
companies who have agreed to make games. I don't remember the site but
I think I got to it through a Jaguar site. I think this was the one.
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/mwcarter/marsjag.htm.

[Bojay1997]

No, that list is who has received a development system. Some have begun work
on various titles. That is no guarantee any of them will publish a single
game. Heck, most of these people were signed as Jag and 3do developers as
well.

Bojay

[bspe...@rising-edge.com]

In article <70ol5b$n...@sjx-ixn3.ix.netcom.com>,
lvp...@ix.netcom.com(BELJAN E) wrote:

> Iron Soldier 3. Thats my biggest hope. IS1 was good. IS2 is a
> masterpiece. What could IS3 possibly be?

I recieved email some time ago that IS would come to PC. Haven't seen
anything yet.

Bill

[Andrew Seed]

As the PC chipset is mainly for DVD's (etc.. ) I doubt ( ;-} ) if there
would be that amount ,seeing as they would initially want to keep the cost
per chip to a minimum to attract as large a user base as possible.

Andrew Seed

BELJAN E wrote in message <70olak$5...@sjx-ixn4.ix.netcom.com>...

>In <19981022133011...@ng89.aol.com> boja...@aol.com
>(Bojay1997) writes:
>>
>> No word on who will be buying these or if they will have enough
>>RAM to be good game machines.
>>

[Andrew Seed]

Whilst I was at The ECTS (early Sept) I popped over to the VM Labs area and
got chatting with Joe Sousa ( one of the lads testing Dinodudes for me) and
we had a beer or two and the number there was not a minutes silence there.
Devleopers we trying to book meetings with them - unfortunately they were
book solid for every day. Also they HAD to organise meetings after the end
of the ECTS since because there was not enough time. These are big software
companies, even if only a percentage of them produced game then the future
looks bright.
If the venture capitalists are looking for a right off then they're going to
very ******/ annoyed 8-)

Andrew Seed
sincla...@my-dejanews.com wrote in message
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