Successor to the CD32 in the console market

[fondpondforever]

After the Commodore Amiga 4000T the System evolved in to a new generation with the release of the AmigaOne X1000 in the Computer market. After the Commodore Amiga CD32 the Console evolved in to a new generation with the release of the xxxxxxxx in the Console Market. We need the 'Amiga HD64' or whatever you want to call it purely focused on gaming with a new controller resemblant of the CD32 one. A new console awaits.

[demolition]

For all intents and purposes, I think that the original PlayStation can be seen as a successor to the CD32. Backwards-compatibility is not particularly important for gaming consoles.

[jbenam]

Originally Posted by demolition

For all intents and purposes, I think that the original PlayStation can be seen as a successor to the CD32. Backwards-compatibility is not particularly important for gaming consoles.

I think this is yet another of those "the market needs a new X made by a new, resurrected Commodore! It will [not] sell in the millions! Put your ideas in here" threads

I'm starting to understand my mate Akira's usual reaction to this kind of threads now....

[spudje]

Yes, I don't see the point of this thread either. Main purpose of a console is gaming, the actual underlying platform is fairly irrelevant. So buy a ps4 or xbox one. If you want support for Amiga gaming, I believe you can run uae on a ps3. And maybe you can run uae or an AROS derivative on those new steam machines... 3rd option the indiego device, or what is its name.

[eXeler0]

Had the Hombre chip set been finished before Commodore went bankrupt they would have released the CD64 and maybe it would have been on par with the Playstation but it would probably have lost to it anyway so... yea..
Best hope for some sort of resurrection is probably a Vampire board for the CD32 then you can play MAME games on it 😆

[jezry]

I would love to se something like that. Still who would make new games for it. Maybe some of the Android developers. Been looking at the ingenic creator and it looks like a nice board for such a project. But no niche OS for it only Android or linux.

[s2325]

I think CD32 should have floppy disk drive as default to store save games and highscores instead of this tiny flash RAM. CD games should have option to load custom levels or tracks from floppies.

[Twiggy]

Originally Posted by s2325

I think CD32 should have floppy disk drive as default to store save games and highscores instead of this tiny flash RAM. CD games should have option to load custom levels or tracks from floppies.

I wonder how much cheaper it would have been to have a floppy port instead of NVRAM. It'd probably reduce Shovelware too. The joys of hindsight.

[Amigajay]

The CD32 was already doomed with the AGA chipset even before the A1200/A4000 came out, it was a long line of decisions that doomed it before birth.

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by Amigajay

The CD32 was already doomed with the AGA chipset even before the A1200/A4000 came out, it was a long line of decisions that doomed it before birth.

In retrospect yes.. but if you see it from Commodore's point of view, they saw a small window of opportunity to capitalise on the aging Megadrive and their own available A1200 technology. There wasnt a whole lot of R'nD that went into that project. Especially if you compare it to the likes of 3do, Jag, Saturn & PS1. They felt they could nake some bucks with minimal effort. Considering their financial situation at the time, can you blame them for trying to pull of such a cheap stunt ? ;-)

[Amigajay]

Originally Posted by eXeler0

In retrospect yes.. but if you see it from Commodore's point of view, they saw a small window of opportunity to capitalise on the aging Megadrive and their own available A1200 technology. There wasnt a whole lot of R'nD that went into that project. Especially if you compare it to the likes of 3do, Jag, Saturn & PS1. They felt they could nake some bucks with minimal effort. Considering their financial situation at the time, can you blame them for trying to pull of such a cheap stunt ? ;-)

Of course not, it was a last minute decision, the fact Commodore were still wasting money on CDTV 2 R&D until late 1992, the fact they got anything together in under a year was commendable giving the situation.

But like most of Commodores products they were all little too late, most of them should have been two years earlier, its ironic that its the success of the A500 that would eventually be Commodores downfall in the sales were too good to bring out a successer earlier.

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by Amigajay

But like most of Commodores products they were all little too late, most of them should have been two years earlier, its ironic that its the success of the A500 that would eventually be Commodores downfall in the sales were too good to bring out a successer earlier.

Being late to the party.. yes.. That was kind of their trade-mark yes.. But there was this Jack Tramiel filosophy "building computers for the masses not for the classes" that kind of set the tone...
They got themselves a good lead when they bought the Amiga, but after that, there was never enough R'nD cash to truly stay competitive in the long run. You can't have a new chipset (AAA) in development for 5 years and still not release it.. With the right people at the top, things could have happened differently.. The first thing I'll do when I get a time machine...

[Amigajay]

They should have treated the Amiga team better and had them work on the successor to the OCS chipset instead of laying them off one by one.
Truth be told Commodore got lucky with the C64 and Amiga, anything else they pretty much mucked up inbetween and after, the same could be said with Atari and the 2600 and 800 series too.

[trixster]

At the time it was released the cd32 was far too little and far too late - it an attempt by lazy commodore to jump on the burgeoning fmv cd bandwagon using technology which was already looking very leggy. It was regarded by pretty much everyone I knew as a complete joke, many of whom were Amiga owners who would have actually welcomed a decent forward thinking Amiga-branded console. I don't think it even entered the radar of the snes/mega drive owners I knew who were already being tantalised by the rumours of the next generation of consoles.

So, a spiritual accessor to the cd32? Really? A successor to a poor console? No thanks.

[Amigajay]

Originally Posted by trixster

At the time it was released the cd32 was far too little and far too late - it an attempt by lazy commodore to jump on the burgeoning fmv cd bandwagon using technology which was already looking very leggy. It was regarded by pretty much everyone I knew as a complete joke, many of whom were Amiga owners who would have actually welcomed a decent forward thinking Amiga-branded console. I don't think it even entered the radar of the snes/mega drive owners I knew who were already being tantalised by the rumours of the next generation of consoles.

So, a spiritual accessor to the cd32? Really? A successor to a poor console? No thanks.

You can't really call the CD32 a poor console when its based on a poor tech computer the A1200, the fact Commodore couldn't release the CD32 with fast ram and/or a 030 and not piss off A1200 owners (and halt sales in the process) as i mentioned above the CD32 was born dead, not the consoles fault, Commodore were never going to recover when the AGA chipset was born too late.

Again the good A500 sales stopped Commodore releasing the chipset earlier (say 1990) by the time A500 sales were starting to drop (1992) it was too late to release the AGA (against the consoles it wasn't really, but against the emerging PC 3D market, Doom etall it was) so by the time 1993/4 came around the hombre chipset should/could have helped, but in reality i don't think it would have anyway, the emerging PC market was unstoppable and the rumoured PSX coming out in 1994, Commodore and Atari really had no where to go, it was just fate and the sign of the marketplace, just like alot of companies in the 80's.

[eXeler0]

I dont think Commodore saw long term potential in the CD32 either. As I said before, after the A1200 was done they felt they had the tech to -with minimum effort- be sble to produce a console and quickly generate much needed cash-flow. Lets face it, it was never the best console Commodore could have designed, even with available tech, but it probably was the most convenient one... R&D = existing 1200+ half-assed AKIKO chip and a CD player.. Tadaaa.. new console.. even the controller is cheap and half-assed. And take a look at the PSU.. it has a sticker that says C65.. yes *that* C65 ;-)

[Galder]

Brainstorming... Atari Jaguar CD!

[eXeler0]

All CD32 nostalgia discussions need to have this line added:

The SEGA Saturn was a lot better than the CD32 and had a much larger software library. And while it didnt fail per se, it still took a serious beating from the Playstation and SEGA never quite recovered after that. Commodore simply could not have released anything sufficently good at the time.
;-)

[rare_j]

Has there ever been a computer that was cut down into a 'console' and been a success? I don't imagine how it could be, the console versions of the computer games ('shovelware') would surely always suffer.

[eXeler0]

Probably not.. the Atari XEGS... The Amstrad GX4000, FM Towns Marty, C64GS. ... not exactly a list of successful consoles.