Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!mintaka!geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu!rjc
From: rjc@geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Ray Cromwell)
Subject: Re: What the heck IS "Interactive TV"? (long)
Message-ID: <1991Apr11.143222.13728@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu>
Sender: news@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu
Organization: The Internet
References: <1991Apr11.090415.5276@ncsu.edu>
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 91 14:32:22 GMT
Lines: 32

  I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here and say that I don't think
interactive TV will be the next revolutionary home device. People are
used to being passive watchers/listeners. People usually don't interact
with TV/CD Players. It may be a 'neat' thing, but I think I-TV players
will collect dust in the majority of American homes. Kids may use it
to play games, or education. The family may use it for a library, but
most people will still prefer to watch normal TV. I think I-TV players
will mostly be used for games and information retrieval. This is where
CDTV steals the market. The Amiga has by far the best games on the market.
This library can be ported easily. Game programmers in the past have
written games for 512k 1 drive A500's. They usually crammed all the
graphics they could onto 2 880 disks. Now imagine CDTV games made to run
in 1meg using 600mbs of disk space!

  Sure CD-I has better specs, and is backed up by major Japanese companies.
So what? The C64 stood up to the same kind of opposition, and won!
Another major benefit is CDTV is OUT! It will have atleast a 6 month lead
on CD-I (to be released in September, but I bet it will be delayed a few
months). If Commodore advertises it well (Television, Radio, and large
print media) it will get an installed base that will give it an 
advantage, like Nitendo had over Sega, TurboGraphics, Neo Geo, etc.
Remember, the consumer doesn't base purchases on the spec sheet.
I don't know whether CDTV will succeed or not, all I Know is I want
one.



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|n|   rjc@albert.ai.mit.edu   Amiga, the computer for the creative mind.  |n|
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