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Indrema No More
Captain_Frisk writes: "According to videobusiness.com - Indrema is officially dead It's a shame, but was there really room for it anyway? The article basically says that they ran out of money, and had to jump ship. The founder has found employment with a Japanese electronics company, and plans to create a similar device, without game support. They said they would release their code if they went under... wonder if this changes any of those plans." And it won't be the last time that a company with seemingly cool products expires people even get to sample those products. We've had a few stories about Indrema before, including an interview with CEO John Gildred. What I'm curious about now is what happens to the games in development, and whether the SDK is useful for producing non-Indrema Linux games.
Aparently you haven't visited www.lokigames.com recently? Seems to be a few games available between Loki and some of the other lesser know Linux gaming companies.
It's questionable that Indrema had superior technology. SWF, for example, is a great little animation player but I wouldn't want it to run Apache. Linux OS is coded for the benifit of Network administration and includes tons of hooks and calls that would go unused in a gaming platform. Do you remember Apple's attempt to sell a MacOS - based game system with the Pippin? It could hardly keep up with the cheaper systems of the time. Game systems and computer systems are fundamentally different... Why would we want a console that was originally designed to do something else? Would you want to be running your network off of a TurboDuo?
And for that matter, do we really need a "Free" gaming platform? If developers want to create software without paying royalties to hardware developers they can (and do) develop for Wintel / Linuxtel. But the benefits of hardware and marketing support that only a royalty-based system can provide are insurmountable in an industry where $50 million dollars is too little to successfully launch a system. I would love to see a system akin to the Yarooze, whereby hobbyists could code games and burn them for limited distribution. But is anyone going to cry a tear if Blizzard has to pay 2 dollars into the development of the hardware on their next 100 million seller?
Gee whiz, were the people who were behind this
thing legally blind?
Indrema never had a chance, even if the hardware
and software were outstanding (they most definitely werent).
If Atari had sponteanously lept back to life and proposed building a new console to take on the world.... _THAT_ would have been more likely to happen than a successful Indrema launch.
Look...this is how it's going to go down:
- PS2 will continue it's apparent popularity for the next few months
- Nintendo Game cube will be released this fall (I assume...wouldnt be suprised if it's delayed till next year)
- Microsoft will release the XBox - thus dropping a H-Bomb on their competitors. IOW, it's all over. Bye bye PS2, bye bye Nintendo. See ya, wouldnt wanna be ya!
PC and console game development thus merges into one. This is bound to happen, because the Xbox will be so much cheaper to develop for than any console, AND be much more powerful. Look, the MIPS, PPC, and SuperH, Emotion Engine, etc chips the consoles of today are based on are technological dead-ends. None can begin to compete with good ol' X86 for power and bang-for-the-buck. That goes triple for the video chips -- Nvidia just rules the 3D world with an iron fist now (along w/ MS, which owns Direct3D which has out=evolved OpenGL)
Indrema was just a bug that was waiting to be stepped on.
Well, um, _SQUISH_
...because it's cheaper! Sony and Nintendo still insist on developers kissing their collective pinky-rings, XBox's DirectX is well documented, the tools to develop for it are dirt cheap, plus they can consolidate their PC porting efforts with Xbox development, saving even more money.
...and it's better! The Xbox has more MHz than either of their competitors, a way better video chip, and it will have most of the attachment options of a regular PC. PS2 and NGC are still part of the 1980's-welded-shut-box w/ all sorts of proprietary custom chips and crap. MIPS chips are wimpy, and the "gecko" is a castrated G4. Neither one has the equivalent of MMX or SSE.
Further, DirectX is rich, robust, and standardized -- develoipers will eat it up, rather than waste a lot of time learning assembly language for some oddball custom chip.
"Because they're Microsoft" is a valid argument as well. Microsoft hasnt been marketing PocketPC's, but they will carpet-bomb the media with Xbox ads, bank on it. Microsoft -WANTS- to dominate this market, and it'll be like taking candy from a baby.
If the PocketPC has failed, it's failed on price. Anyone who's used one will tell you it kicks the living poo out of any PalmOS handheld. Color, better LCD, way faster processor, better apps, much better integration with apps everyone uses, plays MP3's and video w/o stupid addon cards.
What? Slackware has never asked me for my monitor's refresh rate to install...
I believe it was better that this console died now, instead of facing the grim market reality it would have brought itself to: the fact that no one would buy it, because they've never heard of it.
Forget that the company was just started. Forget that they are using a "controversial" operating system. Forget that they were going to use an entirely new model for their business. Forget that letting any developer in the world develop for a console.
But don't forget that they would be competing against Microsoft and Sony. And, don't forget that they would be competing with both companies on two fronts: developers and consumers.
Note that I didn't count Nintendo due to the intended audience. I doubt many games targeted toward a young audience would have been developed for Indrema, since they are typically large-name labels (i.e., Pokemon and other cartoons).
Developers want a system that's easy to code for, sure. I mean, what's easier than a system where you have access to the operating system? However, developers also want a box that's basically proven to have a large user base (Sony) or proven to have the muscle to have a large user base (Microsoft + $500 Million marketing campaign == Xbox shoved down everyone's throat).
That brings up consumers. If you went up to the average person on the street and asked what a Playstation is, I'm sure you'd get a good response. Ask them what Xbox is, and maybe you'll get a good response (not as much as Playstation though). Ask them what Indrema is, and they might think it's some vehicle for space flight or something like that.
Make no mistake: Indrema would have died on the shelves of average retailers, who have tons of promotional material for other game consoles. If Indrema didn't show them some love as well, they may not even have gotten shelf space.
It was a great idea, it just had no market feasibility to make money.
- A.P.
--
Forget Napster. Why not really break the law?
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
Don't believe me? Look how well Microsoft's done in the handheld arena.
- A.P.
--
Forget Napster. Why not really break the law?
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
To install CLI, no. To get a GUI working, yes.
(or at least that was the case the last time I tried Slackware, which was v3.0 with XFree86 v3.x).
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Umm, the only times I've posted in this forum about Indrema in the past were to mention how it was unlikely to ever be released. And I was right. =]
Linux is not the be-all end-all of operating systems.
[I personally have deleted all vestiges of Linux from my system due to it pissing me off to no end]
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
The problem with Indrema is that their plans did not include the very latest cutting edge graphics technology. That's right - if only they'd designed their console around the Bitboys XBA 3d chipset, I'm sure there would have been plenty of buzz, and they'd have had no trouble getting further funding!
(also, I think AROS would make a more suitable console OS than Linux)
What games? No one is releasing any games for linux anymore. Where is SMAC? Mindrover?
IF I can't buy it then it is not a product for sale...
Sony already owns the console market. Even Sega is dead, and it has quite a few nice games. Did anyone really expect a completely new gaming platform to be successful when it has no existing games and is made by a totally unknown company?
Out of all the dot-coms that went out of business this year, 99% should not have been in business in the first place. You can think os the current death toll as a sort of cleansing of the market.
___
___
If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
Heck, it could even be made into an actual product, if anyone's left to develop it. I'd buy the bloody thing...
I think they should have done a limited release (for hackers) release of the hardware and bundled it with the buggy software, dvd player, os with what patches they had. All that for $300+shipping and I might have bought one to hack on. Perhapse it would gain a following. Of course $300 may not have been enought to cover hardware. Open source your code. Or at least sell your offical DVD playing software. Gunk
Seriously. Having linux doesn't magically make your product for you. Especially if your product is hardware!
Oh, and sorry about the -1, Flamebait. What can I say? The moderators are retarded. But that's why I browse at -1.
The enemies of Democracy are
And before you flame me about how wonderful the Linux OS woulda been, think of this: If linux was such a great gaming platform, then I'd expect to find quite a few games for it already.
Why would you expect that? It's a developing market. The number of Linux users is currently small as a market for games, and thus developers are reluctant to target it. Really, the size of the Linux game market has nothing to do with its suitability as a game platform at this point.
The enemies of Democracy are
Um... There were a four games listed as "release titles". Three were Loki ports, and the 4th was Tux Racer.
That's right. Tux Racer.
Now granted Tux Racer is a lot of fun, but when that is one of your biggest-name games you're going to have a hard time generating excitement.
The enemies of Democracy are
Judging by the screenshots in the full article Next Generation did on this system, the games didn't look like much. Some looked like they wouldn't even belong on the Playstation. The concept of MAME + emulators in a tiny box appealed to me though ..
They'll be back, again and again, and again.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Surely they must have built a couple of prototypes...
;)
They must have at least put some hardware together? It would be interesting to see what their controller looked like, for instance.
The other thing I'd like to know is whether nVidia were really going to supply them with a custom graphics chip, like Gildred claimed, or whether they were just going to use a standard GeForce 3 piece.
It's funny actually, although I'd always ranted about how it was never going to work and how Gildred obviously didn't really understand the games industry... I am quite sad to see it go. I, for one, was looking forward to trying to install Windows on it...
The source code to this box is already freely available. All that the SDK had was OpenAL, GCC, OpenGL(Mesa), X, and a few other nickknacks. Nothing REALLY earth shattering.
.9 by March 2001, and it's only up to version .3
I would wager there is no other code, since their IESDK is supposed to be up to version
Magnwa
Uhh.. nope. It didnt' come with a digital vcr. It didn't come with a DVD-ROM. It came with nothing. They never even made a prototype. At least not a working one.. because they had NO CERTIFICATION STANDARDS for games, nor an SDK! None of this stuff ever came out at all. Why are we all acting as though this stuff actually existed?
I'd expect you to be educated enough to know how to spell "their", but you don't.
And you don't think the mere fact issue of the XBOX specs won't have at least something to do with the XBOX's success? Or perhaps the fact that Sega is now porting games to the XBox? Jet Set Radio Future is reason enough. Here is a site that contains previews for some upcoming XBOX titles. However, I'll save you some time and suggest just looking at a 9meg MPEG of Double Steal. With graphics like this, Microsoft should just save their money on marketing and just worry about getting enough XBOXes out to the stores in time.
It's too bad about the Indrema. My impression is that that they never really intended to make another video game console, but a sort of hybrid TIVO/WebTV/DVD with gaming as secondary. Unfortunately, the gaming aspects are what drove the hype. Maybe if they dropped the specs to the point where they could sell these at profit for 300-400$, they'd be doing okay right now... i know many people including myself who would easily pay $300 just to have a networkable, python-programmable TiVO...
If Indrema was really intent on competing with the likes of Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, I'm sure that they would have picked a more catchy name and appealing box design, maybe even hire the same guy who designed the Xtrem. d:^)
Pablo
They said that they would release all of their SDK stuff as open source if they went under. Cool, maybe there's some useful stuff there.
What I would like to see are open hardware designs. Some of us may want to build an Indrema or something like it. Chances are, few people will build one (opting for NLX designs instead, but I'm not all that impressed with NLX), but the learning potential is great.
Remember when Compaq open the hardware design of the Itsy? I didn't build one, but I went over the schematics to see how they designed it.
That's what I really would like to see now that there's no hope for me ever buying one from them. I would have been first in line, sigh...
I was looking forward to playing some Indrema games while listening to my Kerbango.
So what you are saying is, that basically what they should have done is marketed it as a computer?
Heh. Here's a concept...
Install a user friendly VCR-Like interface on top of Linux... simple funcitons... load game... play CD/DVD, etc... the stuff we see in most consoles with a few extras.
Then, mount a DVD-CD-R drive in it. Give it four controller ports. Include a Keyboard, Joypad, and Mouse. Then include a disc with a very basic self booting mini-linux distro that comes with a web-browser and some other basic applications. Add an option for an internal IDE Hard Disc.
It would be the C64/Amiga 500 all over again.
If Microsoft had any brains what-so ever, the X-Box would be doing this, too.
Consoles are getting so advanced that soon it will be reasonable expectation for them to do more than just boot games.
With DVD-CD-R combo drives popping out of the woodwork, there's no reason to go with a static ROM disc when a standard FileSystem for re-writable media could be built into a console or OS.
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
Actually, many UK Dreamcast games ask if your TV supports 60Hz or just 50Hz :)
--
Never mind Spamassassin. When's Spammerassassin coming out?
Well, John Gildred (founder and CEO of indrema) will be on #indrema @ irc.openprojects.net tommorow at 7:30pm EDT (2330 GMT IIRC). That would be wednesday April 11, 2001. He will be explaining exactly what happened, the possibility of an indrema.org (ran by the community, for general linux gaming stuff), and what will happen with the source code. I think it would be nice if everyone came to it, and then started doing all the ranting and flaming. At least the flames will be informed (When I learned of indrema being dead from John earlier today, I cried).
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HAL 7000, fewer features than the HAL 9000, but just as homicidal!
"I'm curious about now is what happens to the games in development"
Nobody was developing any games for Indrema. Why do you think that they could not get funding?
As Evil as Sony is, they at least have a chance of competing on a hype-by-hype basis. I mean, look at that PS9 commercial. By the time the MS X-Box hype machine kicks into overdrive indicating that the X-Box is a mere 2 years out, the PS5 hype will be quite competitive with it.
Let this be a lesson to you: Open source programmers may put out some damn fine quality code, but they can't hype to save their lives.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Well, at least there is only NTSC, PAL, or SECAM, and one standard per country for TVs, nothing like the all the different resolutions, scan rates, etc in the computer world.
There's 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
Since Sega is letting others make Dreamcast compatible systems, it's too bad Indreama couldn't have made a mutiplatform machine. One that plays Indrema/Linux/Dreamcast games.
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
I remember that they wrote an X server designed for TV screens. Not exactly a "complete" X server but a minimalisitic X server. I'm fairly sure that they had other stuff they programmed themselves, but that's the only thing I can remember off the top of my head.
No. That isn't really what I meant. Mostly I was just trying to say that I admired the way they believed they could do it, even though from square one everyone said that if they didn't have a billion dollars to spend in initial production and another billion to spend in advertising then they couldn't suceed.
But they were sort of going to market it as a computer. The thing could play MP3's and movies and you could surf the internet with it.
What I liked about the hardware, that I thought could be applied to other comptuers was the modularity. Unlike, most consoles theirs was upgrade-able. You just unsnap the CPU/motherboard, pull it out, insert a new one and snap it closed. With computer you have to unscrew the cover of the case, unscrew a bunch of other stuff on the inside, muck around, screw everything back in. It's a pain and it's fairly easy to break something or shock it with static electricity.
They had some other fairly cool ideas too.
I read so many comments that act as if Indrema failed because of the competition. But that's not true.
Indrema didn't have any competition because it never reached the market.
The reason Indrema failed is because it couldn't raise any funding to get started.
Sure, if Indrema had produced a finished product, it may well have still failed. But that never happenned and so we'll never know. Just because investors don't like the idea doesn't mean it's not a good one. Remember these are the same morons who bought Internet Grocery stock last year.
Actually... I doubt that if I had money I would invest in Indrema. But I still think they're pretty cool. They dreamed big. Some of their ideas about where computers were going were pretty inciteful. Imagine computers so easy to use your grandmother could upgrade the hard drive or add ram. It will be another 7 years before we start seeing that kind of half decent design in ordinary PC's.
Indrema - the only video game system that requires you to know the refresh rate of your TV to install :)
Hey, I know my refresh rate on my TV. It's up up down down left right left right a b b a.
Its only major advantage was the linux OS (if you even call this an advantage).
Well, to its credit it had one other advantage. The box was intended to have the same recording capability as a TiVO, so they would have been able to aim this at more than one market.
That alone probably wouldn't have saved the system either, but it was another advantage.
From their IESDK description:
I'm willing to bet that they can make good on their bet to release everything the developed as open source...there's probably nothing to release.
Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
;Tell 'em what else they could have gotten Well for starters it did have a DVD player, nice. It also had the capability to be a digital VCR with its 10gb harddrive. The L600 also had its own ethernet connection, network gaming anyone? I think the hardware made it worth the price. Then the open source developing, come on, I mean who could pass up the chance to use that 600mhz processor to make pong! I wouldn't have passed it up.
"It has always been this way and it won't change, god bless the fucked up USA" The Briefs
Hell yeah, more power to nintendo. And this time around development for the gamecube will be much easier. They have so much pull behind them. I have played games like Crazy Taxi and Tony hawk, and they are fun, but games like Zelda and Metroid are beyond that, I can get emotionally attached to them and can still get tense when I face big boss. Its stuff like that that sony doen't have, sega didn't have, and microsoft probably won't have. Also, Microsoft's targeted audience is the older audience. I can't believe no one has noticed it yet, but no one really associated Microsoft with fun. Think about all the people in accounts payable(tm) who use Microsoft all day long. Do you think they want to buy their kids a freaking x-box? Eh, I don't think so.
This Wiki Feeds You TV and Anime - vidwiki.org
Your points are completly valid, I agree with all of them, however sony fucked up big with the playstation 2 and the shit will hit the fan financially. A choice between a gamecube or xbox and indrema might be in order.
This Wiki Feeds You TV and Anime - vidwiki.org
I was thinking more along the lines of the 30 man code in Contra on the original NES, up down left right b a start. It was the first game code published in Nintendo Power, and one of the first game codes I remember being published anywhere...
The XBox, featuring Windows 2000, seems to have developed a lot of momentum, despite being a network operating system. Anyway, how do you play online games without network capability?
Tell me what makes you so afraid
Of all those people you say you hate
It didn't have any big game developers or publishers set to write games for it.
The system was going to try to break into a market where veteran Sega just failed.
Its only major advantage was the linux OS (if you even call this an advantage).
It really isn't surprising that it failed. The market is rough, and you need to have something special to make your mark. Indrema didn't have anything out of the ordinary. And before you flame me about how wonderful the Linux OS woulda been, think of this: If linux was such a great gaming platform, then I'd expect to find quite a few games for it already.
The SDL is still a work in progress. Once this comes to par, we might have something to compete with DirectX, but nothing is ready at this time. Don't give up on the idea of a Linux gaming platform, just keep it on the backburner right now...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Hell, I've been toying with the idea for years. Anyone interested let me know. We could have a standard setup where someone could pop in a CD-ROM and have whole new system.
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
Ever try to develope for a PS2?
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
Amigori
"The quality of life is determined by its activites."--Aristotle
What high-titled games did they have coming out for it anyway? I don't see any.
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
I'm not surprised, however I'm disapointed that there are not many companies left to compete against the Xbollocks.
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
What's funny is that's only a problem in Nth America (and a few other places). I'm quite happy with having to select my TV frame rate as there is only one choice, 25fps(50hz), no screwing around with 29.97, drop or non drop frame? I'd imagine (expect!!) that most linux, moreso /. readers, would know there tv's frame rate :p
And your sentence makes perfect grammatical sense. Well done :p
With pal cinetele (or IVTC) they usually speed the film up 4% to match the framerate so there's no frame duplication that causes the noticable jumps in long slow panning shots when you duplicate in "real time", not that complex but it does screw the sound production up a fair bit though. The point I was trying to make though, is that you will ususally find several options for NTSC on equipement/software and only one with PAL, no big deal but still easier for the general population. Not much of a point really, sorry ;-)
Let's see - XBox is basically PC hardware with flash graphics (GeForce3 - which will also be available for Mac and standard PC platforms) but no (or very limited) expansion capabilities and runs a Win32 compatible OS (EmbeddedNT I think).
Indremea is basically PC hardware with flash graphics (GeForce2 - already available for PC platforms) but no (or very limited) expansion capabilities and runs a POSIX compatible OS (Linux).
Difference? Size of marketing budget, number of available developers, and ease of use of API. Yes, I know a lot of people will tell me how much the Win32 API sucks but compare the DirectX (includes Direct3D, DirectPlay, DirectSound et-al) API's compared to the number of multimedia API's available for Linux. Freedom of choice is great but when you are releasing an app for the general population you don't want to include a 2K file telling them what other modules/libraries they need to have installed to make the damn thing run.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big Linux/FreeBSD fan but there is something to be said for API standardisation above and beyond the OS. At the moment MS is the only company large enough to enforce that as a defacto standard.
Indrema - the only video game system that requires you to know the refresh rate of your TV to install :)
You may not have meant to post at +2, but it's worth it. GameCube WILL succeed, just like the N64 has. Yes, I said the N64 was a success. It sold loads of consoles, megaloads of games, and made Nintendo gigadollars. Success lies in selling units, not being cool with geeks like us. ;)
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jX [ Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. - Einstein ]
An OS on for a game console is like a bike for a fish. Te point of consoles is a standard, low cost set of hardware for mass distribution. The mass distribution makes it attractive to sell to, and the standard hardware makes it attractive to PROGRAM on. Indrema, a console based on Linux just didn't make sense. I'm sorry.
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jX [ Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. - Einstein ]
But this is *good* news! What I was really expecting from Indrema was not games, but an open set-top box. We need DVB, program recording functionality, broadcast code cracking, real-time info screens (stock prizes, slashdot), and whatever all the krazy d00ds around the world come up with.
*drool*
Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
I was very active on the Indrema mailing lists for a significant amount of time and was part of the "core" team of community developers, until I realized it didn't stand a chance and jumped ship. No, this is not a troll.
The first mistake for me was not even having a prototype so many months into "publicity". I wonder what the venture capitalists were thinking when they invested in this company; the least I would expect as a VC is a hacked-up job that demonstrates rudimentary capability to do a base set of the things promised - a wooden box with wires all over the place like the original Apple. Furthermore, instead of immediately concentrating all energies on that (because concerete results improve your credibility and help to keep both you and your supporters motivated) Indrema set up a website making bold proclamations, a community development site (GameXchange) and mailing lists which, due to the lack of definite info, were filled with speculation, OT posts and flame wars.
Next came the buzzwords, terms that were used to hype the development community but were lacking in real meaning. Add indefinite goals and grandiose plans (which could never be fully revealed - I thought this was supposed to be Open Source?) with a liberal dose of "confidentiality", such as not being able to list interested commercial developers and publishers (perhaps because there were none?)
Indrema was a good idea - not a great one - that was poorly thought through and badly executed. It had little to offer in terms of true industry innovation and new territory other than the premise of independent/hobbyist/freeware games on a console.
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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Bwahahahaha. Why do you think they went under?
---
"Watch these suckers jump when I get Administrator."
Releasing code of any proprierity software is not quite that easy. I don't know how the US legislation handles these kind of matters, but atleast the EU laws usually don't allow this.
The simple reason being that it would violate the rights of any creditors etc instances to whom the bankrupt company owns money/anything.
Think about it your self, how happy would you be if you invest in a company that develops proprierity software. Then the company goes belly-up.. At this point the investors and owners are thinking "well atleast we can get a penny or two of our money back by selling that proprierity technology that we have".. but then the company releases the whole thing open source..
The end result being lots of angry owners/investors and a nice legal battle..
Few companies have made similar promises, I think they should really consider what they are actually planning to do..
Naturally it is always better to do the whole thing as open source or GPL from the beginning! ;-)
Once again, the difference between geeks and normal people is that normal people just want to use the applications. Nobody cares if something uses Linux. They care if there are compelling games to play. Or compelling apps to use. There's a lesson for Indrema, Red Hat, Apple...
Sega was a victim of being late to market. They couldn't drum up enough 3rd party quality product. On top of this, the games are pitifully easy to pirate and burn to CD's. There are some excellent games, but a lot of really crappy ones too, thus the brand suffers. Playstation 2 has the Playstation momentum going with the blockbuster titles of Final Fantasy, GT3, and Metal Gear, plus other promising newcomers.
The X-Box I feel will lose out in the end because at this point I don't see the games. PS2 will have Final Fantasy, GT3, the top sports and fighter games, and most of X-Box's lineup. X-Box's only real unique draws are the higher quality DVD output and a couple PC-oriented Bungie games that will also be out for PC. The saving grace would be if Sega commits exclusively to X-Box.
Sony loses money on every Playstation sold; Sega was almost dragged under by the Dreamcast. TiVo and WebTV have mandatory service fees. Remember the fuss over the i-Opener hack? You can't sell consumer equipment without guaranteed way to make back the losses.
Indrema had no guaranteed revenue stream. Their income was from game royalties; however, they didn't have any big-name titles lined up. And to attract serious developers would require a sizable user-base, meaning that the consoles would have to be sold underprice (just so they can be competetive) for a long time before the money started coming back in. I can't imagine that anybody would risk investing in a company which guaranteed short-term losses and had only a marginal shot at ever making money back.
Yeah, yeah, you can tell me that you and your friends would have all bought Indremas, but do you really think that these boxes stood a chance at attracting a large number of users? If you were given the choice between a PS2 and an Indrema at the same price, which one would you honestly pick? And if you factor in the brand-name recognition of Sony or Nintendo (in the eyes of Joe Average at least), there's just no hope for the Indrema. (BTW, the only reason the Xbox might succeed is that Microsoft can afford to hemorrage cash for years -- not to mention their serious marketing power.)
So it was a nice idea, sure, but there was just no way it was going to work out in the end. Nobody wants to invest in something that might not ever make money.
Now all Linux needs is a decent commercial application installer and we are set.
If it's linuxen it runs on, I know where I can find a few million of those...
--Blair
You wouldn't spot sarcasm if it bit you in the ass would you?
Your pizza just the way you ought to have it.
Indrema had a superb tech and using Linux gave them the edge to surpass all competition on the technical front. They just did not have the financial backing all the industry titans enjoy. It was a brilliant idea and they guys gave their best. I'm sure it will one day raise like a Phoenix from its ashes and the world will enjoy a Free gaming platform. So please stop trolling about one mishap this little bump along the way to the ultimate glory of the superior OS.
What? Of course I need karma points. Go sue me asshole!
Your pizza just the way you ought to have it.
exactly. another great example is the recent shortcomings of the agenda vr3. while microsoft(key darth vader music) said they would have some program where anybody could make xbox games, indrema prog hopefuls could actually making games whereas xbox garage developers would probably have to pay 97.5% of their games earnings to bill(key music again). hopefully they will release the code, it would be really helpful to people who want to learn how to make games.
. the world is my toilet - chris mooney
they wouldn't have lasted long enough to develop a strong user base against sony or microsoft, this is a market were you don't start at you launch from something bigger.
And as he looked upon the being he realized it was to late.
Now i won't be able to play Final Trigger Fantasy Mana MDCCXVIII or whatever their first game was...
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