#CDTV, CD-I etc.
7 messages in this thread
Well, for a BIG publisher, i guess you mean someone like Msoft?
As for a popular publisher, like Xiphias, that big capital investment, plus
paying programmers and artists to climb another learning curve, is VERY
prohibitive. Most CD-ROM publishers (and wantabees) are small houses.
Corporations are watching these technologies as a way to do in-house
training and Eductational SW. (the whole ed. sw market is very expense
sensitive)
Buying into CD-I also requires dealing with a MAJOR buracracy – PIM.
No such problem with CDTV, just lack of marketing.
JI
Do you expect the need to work with PIM changing? What chance is there of
CD-I development costs going down if the format becomes widespread?
PIM will probably change their methods in the future for several reasons:
1) The Market needs titles NOW, and the previous methods were too slow
2) Major management changes at PIM (dump the lawyers!)
CD-I dev costs will probably decrease in the future too. Right now there
arent many dev envrionments available and the demand is enough to keep
prices up. Also the stuff that is out there is not simple to build with.
You need to be very flexible with your title concept (fit their molds) and
have some guru's on tap.
IF the product can compete and generate interest, then these things will
happen.
If CD-I can't sell against nintendo, etc and the upcomming poor xmas
season, you will probably be able to get CD-i dev systems real cheap. <g>
Jerry
I suppose what I meant by 'big' publishers were regular publishing
houses… print houses and such. (Random, Macmillan, etc) They have a lot
of material with a lot of data, and it would seem to be a natural for them
to look to publishing it in CD-I format, if/when it takes off? Maybe I'm
way off base (shoot, I'm just an avg user), but given the ability of CD-I
to handle data 'deep' applications, I just thought that print publishers
would move in quickly. They set up a new division, hire guys like you, and
off they go!
For instance, I notice in the CD-I brochure that PIM is working with Rand
McNally, Time-Life and Children's Television Workshop. I'd imagine that
others are standing in line?
You're in the industry, so I bow to your greater experience. I'm sure it
would be a big expense for many companies. If/when CD-I becomes a big
smash hit, I wonder if the publishing market for it will be primarily
smaller houses (like yours), or large conglomerates?
A question: I noticed that ALL the CD-I titles that were on display at the
kiosk were published by Phillips themselves (via their Phillips Interactive
Media company). Do you know WHY that would be so? Why wouldn't Time-Life,
etc just publish under their own label? Will this last long? (I can't
imagine Sony liking all it's CD-I titles being published under a PIM label
🙂
–jp–seattle–
Most print media folks havent a clue as to electronic stuff (other than
their word processors/DTP, if that). The big publishers would rather
license their materials for FAT up front charges and let us little folks do
the implementation (e.g. Am.Her. Dictionary) Then we take most of the risk
and they collect more royalties!
>> I'd imagine that others are standing in line?
Many stood in line for 4+ years with title plans going thru revision after
revision. AIM had a terrible time getting titles really produced. They also
had a reputation for collecting peoples ideas, stringing them along for a
while, then giving the title to somebody else (or in-house) to do –
stiffing the originators!
PIM was really the only way to get a CD-I development system and to stay
abreast of the changes, etc. Some people will let PIM set them up for the
first titles and then used the experience/equipement for their own titles.
PIM also has some real bad licensing structures (from the POV of the
developers). They give you a real small percentage, even if the material is
all yours!
And No, sony doesnt like all the CDI titles comming out under Phillips
name. They had a big spat back at the summer CES and are still stinging.
Sony will probably do an end run on Phillips and come out with their own
NON-CD-I home machine in the next couple years. Sort of like the early game
machines. The first couple generations did well as novelties for a while
then died out. Later Nintendo gave the market a comeback. (rumors are that
sony is a shadow partner in the IBM/Apple/Motorola projects).
Jerry.
From what I gather talking to developers, AIM (PIM) did keep a strong hand
on things for a long while… they were very concerned about the first
titles having lots of content. Apparently this has eased quite a bit now.
Sony's tiff with Philips at the CES was only momentary… they've made up
since then. It seems that one division of Sony had gone off on its own
(and on a limb) and didn't realize that Nintendo was going to go with the
CD-I compatible CDROM-XA standard. Once burned, twice wary 🙂
The other thing to know about Sony is that they're still aware of their
Beta screwup. They plan to sit back and see what happens all around before
jumping into the US market. In the meantime, some of their divisions are
(correctly, in my opinion) still doing research into writeable
technology… with an eye towards consumer use. But even this is tied in
with standards. The Frankfurt Consortium on CD-R (write-once CD) was just
formed so that Sony, Philips, Meridian, et al can stay compatible with
current CDROM and CD-I specs.
I've no idea if Sony will team up with Apple. Apple sure wants it 🙂
Motorola is committed to making CD-I chips, of course. best – kevin
PS: Some interesting news. John Scull, the former Apple director who
guided Apple's success in DTP and who formed Apple's multimedia strategy,
and who was head of Macromind, has just joined a CD-I oriented company
working with PIM. Also, it looks like Nolan Bushnell has left Commodore.
Actually, the CD-RTOS guys themselves just started their own CD-I authoring
group… to help companies create discs and either market them alone or via
Microware. And do in-house business titles, etc. According to a posting
on internet, the guy there to call is Jeff Ames, 515-224-1929. A nearby
spin-off company will be helping with POS and retail training app discs.
AIM (American) became PIMA (Philips Interactive Media – America) this past
August, just shortly after PIME (-Europe) was formed. They've worked with
(some you mentioned) McNally, Time-Life, Smithsonian, Britannica, ABC
Sports, The Children's Workshop, Hanna-Barbara, Polygram, etc.
Then there's Maxwell Multimedia. It was formed in Britain by Maxwell
Communications… they've spent close to half a billion dollars investing
in future publishing media, and say that they intend to become the largest
CD-I producer in the world. Maybe, maybe not, but they do bring in the
Berlitz language, OAG and some child-oriented European company names. They
also have plans to expand into the USSR.
It looks like larger companies will continue dominating the
big-studio-style TV-ish mass consumer titles for a while, with smaller
companies concentrating on training/sales/games applications. The same
will go for CDTV, I think. The latter apps are easier o pull off in a
hurry, for either. – kevin