That is an interesting era of the CD "set top boxes" or whatever they called them. I never really understood the marketing strategy behind those devices, and obviously few other consumers did as well. I guess they didn't realize that CD-ROMs would become so common on both computers and standard gaming consoles that this specialty market wouldn't last. Maybe if there hadn't been a PlayStation one of these things might have caught on? Seems more like just excitement over the CD-ROM than anything else was pushing things like the CDi, CDTV, etc.
The first time I saw a CD32 in a magazine ad, I thought it was a parody. I know that Commodore had worked so hard for so long to try to get across this image of itself as a "business machine," when really all that anybody ever talked about was the games and video editing stuff. When I first saw this unit I thought it was a gag like - "See, it was a game machine all along!" or some such. When I realized it was serious, I was pretty confused. Where would this fit in the Amiga line? Would someone with a 1200 or perhaps a 4000 want this? Then, as now, I just don't see a place for it with most existing Amiga customers, who probably would have rather just had a good standard Commodore CD-ROM drive and lots of support for their 1200s and 4000s. Even the "Amiga faithful" it seems would have little reason to buy this system other than the few exclusives, except perhaps those who needed to upgrade but couldn't afford a 1200 and only wanted to play games. Just seems like you're carving up a niche there. :P
I was always confused by the 600 as well. I guess the company was hedging its bets with the AGA line, but really...A whole new system that lacked AGA at a time when all efforts should have been focused in that direction? But, anyway. :)
That is an interesting era of the CD "set top boxes" or whatever they called them. I never really understood the marketing strategy behind those devices, and obviously few other consumers did as well. I guess they didn't realize that CD-ROMs would become so common on both computers and standard gaming consoles that this specialty market wouldn't last. Maybe if there hadn't been a PlayStation one of these things might have caught on? Seems more like just excitement over the CD-ROM than anything else was pushing things like the CDi, CDTV, etc.
The first time I saw a CD32 in a magazine ad, I thought it was a parody. I know that Commodore had worked so hard for so long to try to get across this image of itself as a "business machine," when really all that anybody ever talked about was the games and video editing stuff. When I first saw this unit I thought it was a gag like - "See, it was a game machine all along!" or some such. When I realized it was serious, I was pretty confused. Where would this fit in the Amiga line? Would someone with a 1200 or perhaps a 4000 want this? Then, as now, I just don't see a place for it with most existing Amiga customers, who probably would have rather just had a good standard Commodore CD-ROM drive and lots of support for their 1200s and 4000s. Even the "Amiga faithful" it seems would have little reason to buy this system other than the few exclusives, except perhaps those who needed to upgrade but couldn't afford a 1200 and only wanted to play games. Just seems like you're carving up a niche there. :P
I was always confused by the 600 as well. I guess the company was hedging its bets with the AGA line, but really...A whole new system that lacked AGA at a time when all efforts should have been focused in that direction? But, anyway. :)
Matt Barton, Managing Editor
Location: St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA
Email: matt@armchairarcade.com