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Technology Stocks : Microprose, MPRS -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Coy Lynn Gullett who wrote (272)	2/27/1998 4:25:00 PM
From: Sleeperz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 633

But it Seems SEGA's new Katana will use Windows CE. So it will probably be more than just a console, more like a cheap PC. Sub $500 PC will take more time to come to market. Intel will not be taking price cuts to the PII and i 740 to support that price that quickly. By then the N64 and PSX will be U$99. Sony will have a PSX2 out and the Katana will be out. All less than U$300 or lower. I don't see the Sub $500 PC market taking over console game play at time with consoles selling for U$99 to U$199. Especialy if you can surf the web and do some small computer apps with the SEGA Katana and future SONY PSX2. So it would seem the PCs are dropping down in price and the Consoles are moving up in capabilities. cl >>>But my own opinion is that the PC will largly overtake the console market in game play...the sub $500($499) computers are ready to roll out,compaq has one running at 180mhz At this rate in a year or two it could be like buying a TV, and you can use the computer for much more then playing games as with a console.<<<

To: Coy Lynn Gullett who wrote (272)	3/1/1998 2:12:00 PM
From: Charles Hughes	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 633

>>But my own opinion is that the PC will largly overtake the console market in game play...the sub $500($499) computers are ready to roll out,compaq has one running at 180mhz At this rate in a year or two it could be like buying a TV, and you can use the computer for much more then playing games as with a console...But one thing you I very well agree with you is that right now you can make alot of money in the current console market and microprose is not participating in that.<<< Agree, with notes: 3 years ago 2/3 of MPRS sales were in consoles, and they had elaborate game development underway in consoles. Many of these projects may have turned out to be technically too difficult. For instance, compared with the multitude of great and near-free tools available for PC programming the process of getting permission to use the fairly crappy tools for doing console programming is very onerous. Thus most game companies are now moving to PC games because of that as well as the market numbers. Few new console game programmers are being trained, either. The new 'consoles' (98-99) will resemble PCs: more memory, some permanent storage, better processors. Ports for connecting to the internet and so forth. Some development will come back because of that (not that they haven't had pretty good '97 figures, per Barrons.) (Nintendo and others are said to be looking at handhelds.) However, the console outfits may eventually have to pay for people to develop for their platforms, rather than the other way around, as it is now. Tools will remain a problem. The command line compiler and emulation board environment is at least twice as hard to develop for, and ten times the tool cost at least. They have to solve this. (Think about it - you can develop a PC game at home or at the beach weekends, on a laptop. With console gear you are married to the bulky emulation environments.)(And the client can play the game on the airplane, in the hotel, at practically any friend's home.) Programmers will remain a problem. There are several million competent PC programmers worldwide, only a few thousand for each console specialty, and those are moving on. They (console mfrs) can't solve this, they can only pay more for dwindling resources, unless they solve the tools problem with more standard languages, libraries, and IDEs. Cheers, Chaz