CompuServe Messages

Mark, I'll stick with "Game Platforms" for now, because every "Serious" article and review treats them as such and ignores the obvious potential for these machines to do more. In fact, after trying to recall any mention of these CD boxes as more than "Game Machines" all I can recall is SCALA and INFOCHANNEL and similar software, and the kiosk or "interactive information dispenser" that has no ties to the Information SuperHighway that you and I see ahead. So, "Game Platforms" they are, until I see evidence that they will be tied into the "Net" I see that we both agree that the Set-Top market will be very important in the future. Currently, you seem to know more about this than I do, but I intend to try to get info that I can post here to detail what is planned in the future of interactive TV etc. As far as the platform-vs-platform perplexity that we all currently have with respect to which is the better box, I hope we can all reserve judgment for the time being. From my own experience with 3 of the 4 major players, I can say that they are all "good" as game platforms. I want to explore each in depth and report on their strengths and weaknesses. I admit I am partial to the idea of the CD32 coming out on top, BUT even if it is the "best" platform, it might not dominate the market, and that is another factor that must be taken into account. (Remember Beta vs VHS) At this point, I'm not going to go into any detailed head to head comparison of titles. I still have to get agreement from my local dealer to do this comparison of hardware and software. The future of CD based machines – The CD movies are here. They're much less cumbersome than VHS, and will not wear out. The quality is also higher than VHS. I think that in the forseeable future that they will have the same relationship to VHS that current CD audio disks have with the audio cassette – each serving a different but complementary function. CD magazines – I dunno Mark… If we stick to text for publishing even on CD, it won't be cost effective to fill a CD with text. Case in point: US News and World Report online here on CI$ averages about 200K per week. A CD-Rom holds about 3000 times this much information.First off – Who can read all this in one week? Second – In order to fill this, we will have to accept drivel of the worst sort, just to take up space. However, if we move to video, the amount of information becomes quite reasonable, and the production values can become quite high. This presupposes that everything is distributed on CD. If Joe Sixpack is tied into the Information SuperHighway, why would he need a CD anyway? He's getting all he could possibly want on 700+ interactive channels. The best of the disk based magazines today (not the ones with 200 pages of text and two coverdisk games) have minimal circulation. The best method of delivery that I can see is with the interactive TV show/Infomercial (perhaps home produced) A disk just adds unnecessary complication. Yes, we will have them for a while, but I think that they will go the way of the Dodo. Assuming I can get support to do a head to head comparison of the major game machine platforms, I will post my ideas on how to conduct this, and solicit suggestions. Thanks for the reply Mark, Stuart