Haha! I wasn't attempting to defend ReBoot PSX, although I guess it looked like that. The game was indeed very weak. Most of us we're extremely green to game development at the time. There's a reason you haven't played past level 5 - the difficulty ramping is so obscene at that level that it's practically impossible. I don't know of one person who's finished ReBoot, actually!
I was a designer and producer on Electronic Arts' ReBoot for the Sony PlayStation. In the name of research, I read and re-read every "script" of that show in what had to be one of the most tortuous periods of my life. I wrote over 700 lines of voice over for the original cast of the show and an entire 22-minute "prequel" episode to the series, in addition to designing the interactive version of each of Mainframe's 7 neighborhoods (each neighborhood had 1-5 levels within it - the game had 19 total, I believe).
EA got the ReBoot license in early 1995 when Don Mattrick (our studio head at the time) heard that Microsoft was after it. The license was then bounced around the studio until my group got it in late '95. The game wasn't completed until February of '98, hitting stores just before the end of March. By then the license was thoroughly dead, no one even remembered the show, and marketing (justifiably) chose not to support the product. Consequently, it went on to sell about 50,000 units, not even breaking even (the game cost US$2.1M to produce!).
It's got to be one of the worst "cartoons" ever made. The minor degree of fame it did achieve (at one time it was broadcast in over 50 countries), was largely due to the fact that it was the only computer-animated show of its kind back then. Once other cartoon shops caught up with Mainframe's technology (Mainframe is the Vancouver company that made ReBoot and now makes Beast Wars, Weird Ohs, Imax stuff), ReBoot's shoddy script and bland modelling sunk it for good. Season 3 was never picked up by a major network in the States, to the best of my knowledge. And now they're putting out a DVD? I can't imagine who would shell out good money for it.
1) 56K Modem? This has GOT to be a made up stat as any game hardware company (besides SEGA) would be retarded not to include broadband (Cable, DSL, etc.) ability in their console, especially when the average console life span is around 4 years or so (easily taking us into mainstream broadband access timeframe). Forget your "MSN subscription for life" arguments - any new console MUST offer broadband capabilities.
2) X-Box WON'T wipe Sony out... what a joke. That's like saying "Yamaha's making a new motorbike that goes 20mph faster than any other bike - all the other bike companies will go out of business!". Microsoft dominates the PC s/w market because it got in early and Apple stumbled big time. The game industry is much more mature and companies like Sony, Nintendo and Sega are FAR more entrenched in terms of market share. MS will eat a big portion of that pie perhaps, but not enough to put Sony out of the game business.
3) MS would again be retarded to attempt to offer multiple models of the X-Box at different price points (i.e. base model for $149, deluxe model for $250, etc.). This is misinformed speculation as releasing multiple models fractures your install base, meaning developers can't count on a common platform spec (the same problem that doomed the SEGA 32X and that currently plaques PC land).
Practically every new downtown hi-rise built in my city (Vancouver, BC) in the last year or two comes with pre-wired fibre optic or cable net access. When I travel anywhere else (even San Fran), I'm amazed that the same level of tech advancement isn't as prevalent.
Because of the proliferation of high speed access in Vancouver, it's tough to keep a realistic view of what every other North American household is using - at last count: 1M Cable users, 300,000 DSL users, and the rest ALL dial-up.
Any figures on how many students use high speed access through their dorm?
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I absolutely agree with your entire message!
EA got the ReBoot license in early 1995 when Don Mattrick (our studio head at the time) heard that Microsoft was after it. The license was then bounced around the studio until my group got it in late '95. The game wasn't completed until February of '98, hitting stores just before the end of March. By then the license was thoroughly dead, no one even remembered the show, and marketing (justifiably) chose not to support the product. Consequently, it went on to sell about 50,000 units, not even breaking even (the game cost US$2.1M to produce!).
It's got to be one of the worst "cartoons" ever made. The minor degree of fame it did achieve (at one time it was broadcast in over 50 countries), was largely due to the fact that it was the only computer-animated show of its kind back then. Once other cartoon shops caught up with Mainframe's technology (Mainframe is the Vancouver company that made ReBoot and now makes Beast Wars, Weird Ohs, Imax stuff), ReBoot's shoddy script and bland modelling sunk it for good. Season 3 was never picked up by a major network in the States, to the best of my knowledge. And now they're putting out a DVD? I can't imagine who would shell out good money for it.
1) 56K Modem? This has GOT to be a made up stat as any game hardware company (besides SEGA) would be retarded not to include broadband (Cable, DSL, etc.) ability in their console, especially when the average console life span is around 4 years or so (easily taking us into mainstream broadband access timeframe). Forget your "MSN subscription for life" arguments - any new console MUST offer broadband capabilities.
2) X-Box WON'T wipe Sony out... what a joke. That's like saying "Yamaha's making a new motorbike that goes 20mph faster than any other bike - all the other bike companies will go out of business!". Microsoft dominates the PC s/w market because it got in early and Apple stumbled big time. The game industry is much more mature and companies like Sony, Nintendo and Sega are FAR more entrenched in terms of market share. MS will eat a big portion of that pie perhaps, but not enough to put Sony out of the game business.
3) MS would again be retarded to attempt to offer multiple models of the X-Box at different price points (i.e. base model for $149, deluxe model for $250, etc.). This is misinformed speculation as releasing multiple models fractures your install base, meaning developers can't count on a common platform spec (the same problem that doomed the SEGA 32X and that currently plaques PC land).
Because of the proliferation of high speed access in Vancouver, it's tough to keep a realistic view of what every other North American household is using - at last count: 1M Cable users, 300,000 DSL users, and the rest ALL dial-up.
Any figures on how many students use high speed access through their dorm?