After much speculation over the last few months, the CD32 is finally here, but is it really as revolutionary as the press are making it out to be, or is it a CDTV in A1200's clothing?
One of the key reasons for the death of the CDTV was software. Not necessarily the quality as some titles were superb ("Sherlock Holmes", for example), but simply that the majority of titles were educational multimedia discs released at a time when the average consumer didn't know multimedia from a tin of baked beans! It was no use Commodore marketing the CDTV as an interactive multimedia player if no-one knew what one was! Although the CDTV was (and still is) a good machine, the consumer market wasn't (and still isn't) ready for a home multimedia player.
What we will see for the next few months is seeing the majority of titles being nothing more than slight re-writes of normal Amiga releases. Robocod, despite the sound and animated intro sequences, is basically the same as the A1200 version. Pinball Fantasies has more colours and enhanced sound, but are these really the sort of software that is going to make the CD32 stand out from the crowd?
One thing that the CD32 has that WILL make it's software stand out is Akiko. For those of you that don't know, Akiko is the Amiga's new custom graphics chip that, currently can only be found in the CD32. The main function of this chip is to convert graphics real-time between the formats used by the PC and the Amiga. Why is this so important? Well, first, it will allow PC games to be converted to the Amiga far more easily and it could herald a return of companies like Lucasfilm to the Amiga platform. However, that's not Akiko's key strength.
Where Akiko comes into it's own is in the real of 3D graphics. The PC and the Amiga handle graphics in very different ways and Akiko converts between these two styles. On the PC, graphics are represented as single bytes of data per pixel on screen. Therefore, to display an image on screen comprising of, for example, a 640x512 pixel screen, the PC would have to write to it's memory 640x512 times, or 327,680 times.
Where the Amiga is concerned, it's images are comprised of a series of bitmaps, with each pixel being able to represent two colours. By overlaying multiple bitmaps, you can build up images with up to 256,000 colours on the AGA based machines. Noiw,,in terms of displaying images, to display a 256 colour image in that resolution, it would take 8 bitplanes (a grid of 2x2x2x2x2x2x2x2) so it would take 640x512x8 writes to memory or 2,621,440 times! Quite a difference isn't it?
Both graphic formats have their advantages -- the Amiga's is ideal for any games that utilise scrolling and make use of parallax effects, but when it comes to texture-mapped 3D (like Wing Commander), because the PC is quicker at handling it's images, the games are significantly faster.
Where Akiko will benefit Amiga games players is that calculations on 3D graphics can be made on PC-style screens and then converted to bitplanes using Akiko prior to display. What this will result in is fast 3D to match the speed of the top-of-the-range 386 PC. Already, Bullfrog have two games in the pipeline using Akiko and we will see some visually stunning games available.
A somehwat worrying sight in the coming months is the number of console- style platform games. Oscar was bundled with the CD32 and the first disc to be released was Robocod. As well as that, if you take a look at the promised games from most of the top software houses, almost every single one of them is releasing at least one platform game. Whether they are good games or not in their own right is irrelevant. Even the most hardened platform-fanatic can only stomach so many games of the same genre. Do we really want to see the CD32 becoming nothing more that a glorified Megadrive or SNES? If we don't see some originality in the software, and seeing companies taking the initiative writing a variety of game styles, we could see the CD32 software market dying quite rapidly.
Another problem we are likely to see with the first releases is that many of the titles for at least the first year will be conversions of or re-writes of existing Amiga games. Yes, there are a great deal of good Amiga games out there, and yes, many CD32 owners won't have seen these before, I don't think it's wise to flood the market with, what is effectively old software. Sega has come under a lot of flak recently for the first batch od Mega-CD titles, because they were Megadrive conversions.
While on the subject of consoles, there is still the "threat" of the Sega and Nintendo machines to deal with. Both of these consoles have offered visually impressive games for many years now, and looking at some of the arcade conversions on these machines, you can't help but be impressed by the accuracy of the conversion. Whenever you hear the age-old argument between console and Amiga owners over which machine is better, you can almost certainly guarantee that the console owner will mention a near- perfect conversion that failed miserably on the Amiga (Street Fighter II is a perfect example of this -- the Amiga was capable of much better, as Team 17 proved with Body Blows). With saying that, it also works in reverse -- just look at Super R-Type on the SNES - not even the old Spectrum slowed down with that number of objects flying around on-screen!!
One thing to look out for soon will be the rumoured CD32 conversion of Mortal Combat. While the SNES version is lacking the death moves, and the Megadrive version is slightly slower, both are quite faithful conversions of the arcade original. Now, the CD32 IS capable of handling the game without too much trouble (by use of the blitter and Akiko), but if Mortal Combat CD32 fails, then it will only weaken the CD32's position as a serious contender in the growing console market. How will you feel if you purchased Mortal Combat for a 32 bit machine only to find that an 8-bit machine (SNES) could handle the game better?!
However, it the stories are true, Commodore may not be in control of the technology side of the console market for long. Both Atari and Nintendo have recently announced new consoles, both fitted with 64-bit RISC processors (which make the Amiga CD32 look like a C64!), 24-bit graphics and in the case of the new Nintendo, custom 3D graphics hardware and CD quality (i.e. 16-bit) sound. The price? Both are promised for under £200!
In Atari's case, I don't think we need to worry. Atari have a terrible track record for either releasing machines on time or, since the demise of the ST, releasing hardware that either anyone wants to develop for or purchase. I also doubt Atari's ability to come up with the goods for the price they are claiming. Look at the price differences between the Falcon (as an extra point, do you actually KNOW anyone with one?!) and the A1200 and you'll see what I mean.
Also, Atari have decided that IBM are to manufacture the Jaguar for them. Now let's be honest, neither company has had a very good track record in recent years, have they?
Nintendo are also seemingly making a big mistake. When their new console was announced, they stated that they weren't going to be using CD as a storage medium. Well, pardon me for asking, but other than cartidge, what else is there that is commercially viable? What will happen is that the new machine will be available for around £200, but the games will be on cartidges costing in excess of £100. To fit a game with 24-Bit graphics and 16-Bit sound, you are going to need vast amounts of memory, however you store your data and roms aren't exactly cheap to produce. We have already seen Nintendo games priced according to the amount of memory they use, and if this is applied to 24-bit games, we could be looking at prices bordering on that of the ill-fated Neo Geo (a very powerful arcade-like console with games costing anything up to £200 a throw!).
It is this price problem that has already started to force software houses to abandon Nintendo (with Electronic Arts being the most notable) and I expect many others will follow suit.
One of the key strengths the retaillers are going to be pushing with the CD32 is that of software prices. Compared to the average Sega price of £40 a game or £50 for the SNES, CD32 games will look ridiculously cheap. As long as software houses don't try to take advantage of the unpiratable medium, we should be seeing games for £20 or less within a year. Now, can Sega or Nintendo offer that?
Overall, if the software houses continue to offer the support they seem to be at the moment and the machine gets the retail support it deserves, it is not only going to be a big success in it's own right, but will re-shape the future of Amiga gaming as we know it, revitalising a somewhat flagging market and that can only be good news for all of us.
