Was America nonchalant about Amiga arcade gaming?

[TheBilgeRat]

Exactly.  DVD size thumbdrives are under 10 bucks.  Add content and make them read only and sell them for 25-50 (whatever your margin price is).  Boom!  Insta-cart with off the shelf components.

[Arkhan]

That would be interesting if consoles started being run off USB sticks. one for each game.

though, CD's if properly taken care of, last forever, store rather nicely, and, I think they are still cheaper to produce than even USB sticks and stuff right now.

[TheBilgeRat]

That would be interesting if consoles started being run off USB sticks. one for each game.

though, CD's if properly taken care of, last forever, store rather nicely, and, I think they are still cheaper to produce than even USB sticks and stuff right now.

absurdly cheap, like in the pennies (US).

[recidivist]

I think Nintendo and other consoles beat out Amigas because you didn't need to  know anything about computers,and thus it was less confusing to Mom and POP when buying  holiday presents.

 The best idea in the world still must be marketed.

[Amiga_Nut]

THIS IS A THREAD ABOUT THE LACK OF AMIGA ARCADE GAME CONVERSIONS BY US DEVELOPERS AND THE REASON WHY SUB STANDARD UK COIN-OP CONVERSIONS WERE IMPORTED FROM THE UK TO THE USA.

Please keep this in mind everyone


For the final time for Arkhan.....

1. Lotus II and Outrun on Genesis are using pretty much an identical game engine. Lotus II on Amiga looks pretty much the same as on Genesis. Outrun on Amiga (and PC) looks pathetic full stop. Simple enough point about lack of effort for arcade conversions, hence the thread title.

2. What home computer or console became the dominant market leader by hoping to be sold as a second purchase to your competing products? None. A1000 was not a 2nd computer, the price put it fairly and squarely as the main computer purchase for the house not an idle second purchase. Remember I am talking about the A1000 vs PC and any impact this had on the games market by failing to get a foothold in the those first 30 months of sale for the A1000.

3. PC-Engine/Turbografix CD SotB has a CD soundtrack, so that is nothing to do with internal sound hardware. And amazingly it still sounds worse than David Whittaker's finest.

4. The TG/PC-E has 6 channel 5 bit wavetable unit with an effective lock of around 7khz for those 5 bit samples to playback during your average game being executed. I've heard the XM player on PC-E and it sounds worse compared to Octamed 8 software channel MOD playback mode. I've also got SF2 for PC-E and the samples are scratchy.

5. And by comparison Sega Genesis has two sound chips, one is a 70s Texas Instruments TI99/4A computer's soundchip from SMS. Second one a 6 channel FM YM2162 chip from Yamaha, which can be configured for 5 channel FM + 1 rough 8-bit sample channel.

TurboGrafx 5 bit 6 channel sound is about as rough as a C64. And if you want to make a song that sounds like it's on a YM2162 then Genesis is the one. If you want to have those pan pipes from Amiga SotB as an instrument then I guess you are screwed. So like I said, sample playback instead of being limited to artificial waveforms generated by oscillators is good, Amiga being stuck at 4 channels from 85 to 95 very bad. As my original comment was the only limitation was 4 sound channels for the life of Amiga.....pick up your glasses before replying to my posts again

6. Doom was released in the middle of December 1993 so 1994 onwards, show me 10 arcade games from 1985-1990ish that were superior to either the Genesis or an Amiga. I remember going through arcade conversions on Home of the Underdogs by year and 1991 was about the time these types of games were ALL in VGA not EGA.

There were plenty of classic DOS games like adventures/strategy and RPGs etc, can't really think of a single arcade conversion worth a crap on DOS before around mid 90s at best.

7. Clearly you can do Doom on a 68000, the Atari Jaguar console proves this with just a DSP,blitter and a 13mhz 68000. There were rumours that Commodore would stick a DSP in the A1200, it was supposed to be a massive upgrade to Agnus and it had an 020 @ 14mhz. So clearly if AGA wasn't too little too late Doom was quite possible regardless of CPU speed. Which again was my original point, plus the fact it came out when Amiga was more or less screwed anyway after 9 years of minimal development.

7. Spending $3000 on a PC to play arcade games is a bit dumb. A Roland MT32 was about 350 bucks here, so basically you are spending more on a general midi sound module than an A1200? Yeah kind of stupid and not the actions of people making up a mass market.

As to the fascination with unrelated issue to the thread topic of the Amiga rental market others seem to have a problem dropping...

Breaking off the metal slider doesn't kill a disk, and if you aren't ham fisted you can put it back on...say from another blank that cost 10p.

All I said was in normal conditions...if you are going to drop them out of your bedroom window/run them over with a monster truck/leave them in a glass jar facing the sun for a week yada yada then you are a moron. The point is I never had a problem with floppy disks in general, if you treat stuff with a modicum of respect and don't act like an idiot then disks are sturdy enough for their purpose.

And if you can rent tape games out to 8bit computer users successfully for years then magnetic stability of data stored on 3.5" disks is a no-brainer, unless you do something stupid like wave it in front of a set of massive speakers at Live Aid concerts that is

Drop it now and get back on bloody topic. Rental market had nothing to do with USA not doing any home grown coin-op conversions, the issue at hand.

I am genuinely interested to know why Amiga got the same rubbish games developed here in the UK and Afterburner USA was the exception to the rule. OK if the UK arcade conversions were any good, but to buy the rights to import such badly programmed drivel like Outrun is worrying.

[Amiga_Nut]

absurdly cheap, like in the pennies (US).

CDs cost more to produce than DVDs tpday I think, 1p difference between them though probably

[Amiga_Nut]

I think Nintendo and other consoles beat out Amigas because you didn't need to  know anything about computers,and thus it was less confusing to Mom and POP when buying  holiday presents.

 The best idea in the world still must be marketed.

This is quite an interesting point, I think that's probably due to people's experience of PCs at work or older 8 bit micros. As far as running a game went it wasn't really any more difficult than inserting a cart in an NES and flicking the power switch. However as it was a computer with a keyboard I guess it is daunting. Probably more to do with an Amiga being 250% the price of a NES though really, and NES having a smaller lighter box to carry home.

What's interesting is if you constantly need to be within reach of the machine to swap disks (remembering most games software locks out any extra disk drives so everyone had to swap disks) then you can't really use it in the living in front of the TV. It becomes more of a PC like experience on a desk rather than simply plugging into the lounge TV and sitting on the couch to play your games.

[Arkhan]

3. PC-Engine/Turbografix CD SotB has a CD soundtrack, so that is nothing to do with internal sound hardware. And amazingly it still sounds worse than David Whittaker's finest.

You are high and being a biased amigatard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH1hTSwHirc

I think Whitaker would have killed for the possibilities of the percussion in that version.  The rest of the soundtrack doesn't disappoint either.

4. The TG/PC-E has 6 channel 5 bit wavetable unit with an effective lock of around 7khz for those 5 bit samples to playback during your average game being executed. I've heard the XM player on PC-E and it sounds worse compared to Octamed 8 software channel MOD playback mode. I've also got SF2 for PC-E and the samples are scratchy.

Yeah uh you don't need to lecture me on PCE hardware.  Kinda published a game for it and wrote two different sound engines, lol.  Quoting hardware specs doesn't mean you actually know what you are saying you know.

When did you hear the XM player?  It is fairly recent, and changing constantly.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PILAjbkItJw

Sounds pretty good to me

5. And by comparison Sega Genesis has two sound chips, one is a 70s Texas Instruments TI99/4A computer's soundchip from SMS. Second one a 6 channel FM YM2162 chip from Yamaha, which can be configured for 5 channel FM + 1 rough 8-bit sample channel.

Thats nice, glad you can quote wikipedia specs, what is your point.

TurboGrafx 5 bit 6 channel sound is about as rough as a C64. And if you want to make a song that sounds like it's on a YM2162 then Genesis is the one. If you want to have those pan pipes from Amiga SotB as an instrument then I guess you are screwed. So like I said, sample playback instead of being limited to artificial waveforms generated by oscillators is good, Amiga being stuck at 4 channels from 85 to 95 very bad. As my original comment was the only limitation was 4 sound channels for the life of Amiga.....

You want those pan pipes on the TG? Sample them. derurhrhrh.   Splatterhouse samples in a friggin pipe organ.

Saying the PCE is as rough as the SID is mental.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvc0HYg0CZE

Much smoother and arcade like.  No blaring disastrous SFX overtaking the music.  No omission of SFX.  

Sampling is not always better.  Alot of the time it makes the games sound corny.  R-Type on the Amiga sounds stupid.  The music is done better on the MSX w/ a 3 channel PSG.  and the SFX don't blare out over the poorly attempted music.

pick up your glasses before replying to my posts again

Sorry. I lose interest about halfway through reading your master theses every time, especially since they are worded goony half the time.

6. Doom was released in the middle of December 1993 so 1994 onwards, show me 10 arcade games from 1985-1990ish that were superior to either the Genesis or an Amiga. I remember going through arcade conversions on Home of the Underdogs by year and 1991 was about the time these types of games were ALL in VGA not EGA.

Nah.  I asked you to do the same for C64/NES and you didn't (read: couldn't).   Go look at HotU again.  There are plenty of good action/arcade games for DOS that are comparable to the Genesis, etc.

There were plenty of classic DOS games like adventures/strategy and RPGs etc, can't really think of a single arcade conversion worth a crap on DOS before around mid 90s at best.

That's because you are a biased flid.

7. Clearly you can do Doom on a 68000, the Atari Jaguar console proves this with just a DSP,blitter and a 13mhz 68000. There were rumours that Commodore would stick a DSP in the A1200, it was supposed to be a massive upgrade to Agnus and it had an 020 @ 14mhz. So clearly if AGA wasn't too little too late Doom was quite possible regardless of CPU speed. Which again was my original point, plus the fact it came out when Amiga was more or less screwed anyway after 9 years of minimal development.

Doesn't matter if it CAN do DOOM, it matters if it DID do DOOM.   Ever read up on the DOOM phenomenon that took place in workplaces etc?  Really good stuff.

Also the Amiga Doom when it finally came out, didnt even have the right music.  What is it with Amiga games and changing the entire soundtrack?  

7. Spending $3000 on a PC to play arcade games is a bit dumb. A Roland MT32 was about 350 bucks here, so basically you are spending more on a general midi sound module than an A1200? Yeah kind of stupid and not the actions of people making up a mass market.

If all you do with a PC is play games, it is dumb.  But if that is all you bought a computer for, you probably are dumb.  Smart people by the computer to do alot of things besides fiddle with games all day.  PCs were work machines too.  

Who said you had to have an MT-32?  Sound Blaster did just fine.  The MT-32 was nice for people who already had it for music making.  It's always nice to have the option to hook your games up to your instruments.

Breaking off the metal slider doesn't kill a disk, and if you aren't ham fisted you can put it back on...say from another blank that cost 10p.

Little kids are typically hamfisted.  

All I said was in normal conditions...if you are going to drop them out of your bedroom window/run them over with a monster truck/leave them in a glass jar facing the sun for a week yada yada then you are a moron. The point is I never had a problem with floppy disks in general, if you treat stuff with a modicum of respect and don't act like an idiot then disks are sturdy enough for their purpose.

Little kids often don't know any better, and they were/are the backbone of the rental market.

Drop it now and get back on bloody topic. Rental market had nothing to do with USA not doing any home grown coin-op conversions, the issue at hand.

How do you know? Maybe it did.

Also, why do you get to decide when to get back on topic?  You're the one typing 38 page off topic replies.

[TheBilgeRat]

You are high and being a biased amigatard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH1hTSwHirc

I think Whitaker would have killed for the possibilities of the percussion in that version.  The rest of the soundtrack doesn't disappoint either.

yeah, that's damn good.  Wish the Amiga version could have rocked out like that.

[recidivist]

Video stores could rent Nintendo cartidges but could not by law rent computer disks in the U.S. so there is that availability thing again.

[recidivist]

And "on topic";software houses run  by investors and accountants care NOTHING for improved graphics,neat programming tricks or anything else but maximizing profit;therefore they would likely hire the cheapest programmers to port anything that would sell.And if sales are disappointing,the accountant types will be slow to recognize it is because of poor quality;they will just advise dropping unprofitable lines such as Amiga.