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- Path: sparky!uunet!usc!rpi!batcomputer!alchemy.tn.cornell.edu!orb
- From: orb@alchemy.tn.cornell.edu (Randolph Turner)
- Subject: Re: Next generation handhelds
- Message-ID: <1993Jan1.075155.27799@tc.cornell.edu>
- Sender: news@tc.cornell.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: alchemy.tn.cornell.edu
- Organization: Alchemy International
- References: <1992Dec30.153622.14414@cbnewsl.cb.att.com> <1992Dec30.160629.3217@prime.mdata.fi> <1hsnq2INNdc1@aludra.usc.edu>
- Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1993 07:51:55 GMT
- Lines: 61
-
-
-
- I've been following this thread and others relating to the Handheld scene
- and there's a few things that need to be said.
-
- First of all, I own a Sega Game Gear and have nothing but good things to
- say about it, so I may be a bit biased (but hopefully that will not detract
- from the points I am about to make).
-
-
- 1. The Gameboy is trash. Let it die.
-
- 2. Unless you want to pay twice as much for your handheld (see Turbo
- Express), you will be saddled with a non-active-matrix LCD Screen which
- will need to be viewed at a proper angle or you get washout.
-
- 3. LCD screens are typically long persistance. This means that any
- "speed" increase you would get by adding faster processors would probably
- just blurrrrrr anyway (hell, Sonic2 does it now!). You would have the
- ability to sling more things around on the screen without slowdowns, but
- given the extremely small screen size and the need for larger players,
- just how many things can fit on there at once anyway? Then there is
- the issue (non-issue?) of the GG's resloution. I may be wrong on this
- one, but I suspect that given the limited resolution of the LCD panels,
- you could probably crank the res all day with little or no noticable
- improvement in quality. Therefore, I conclude that the SMS engine is
- suitable for the tasks at hand.
-
- 4. Unlike Atari, SEGA now has a very succesful console line on the market.
- Prospective buyers will most likely buy a product made buy a company
- whom they feel will be around long enough to support it. I have owned
- every console model made by Atari, and have been dumped after the 10
- or 12 obligatory cartridges. With the Lynx being Atari's *only*
- product in this market (or perhaps any market) coupled with their past
- reputation, I wouldn't care if it did Gigaflops in Zillions of colors,
- I would still not invest my money in it. BTW, Electronics Boutique
- seems to be phasing them out as well as other retailers.
-
- 5. The Game Gear is essentially a shrunken Sega Master System with an
- LCD and Stereo sound added. Some may call this "outdated" technology,
- but when you consider that the SMS was in direct competition with the
- NES (and in my opinion, superior) and that SEGA has succesfully
- integrated this into a machine that will fit in your coat pocket, I
- have to ask what people expect!?! Just like the original NES games
- were crappy, so were some of the early SMS games. But when you see
- Shooters like Halley Wars and platform games like Sonic II, you can
- see that the hardware has come of age and is being used at a level
- closer to it's potential. Outdated? For a console, yes, but for a
- handheld, it has the advantage of it's predecessor's experience plus
- the ability to use the older carts for the price of a cheap adapter.
-
-
- Just as a side note, when I bought my GameGear about 1-1/2 weeks before
- Christmas, they were sold out just about everywhere I went. When I did
- finally find a store that had them (Wal-Mart) all they had was the CORE
- system. So, I got the GG for $89.99 and Sonic II for around $33 and still
- came out good. But I digress....the point of this last paragraph is that I
- saw (and still see) piles of Atari LYNXs, Gameboys and Turbo Expresses that
- didn't seem to be selling as well. Maybe a pattern developing?
-
- Randy
-