-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Kennedy <chris_at_mainecoon.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, December 01, 1999 11:23 AM
Subject: OT: Game economics (was Re: The good old days of tape players)
>Glenatacme_at_aol.com wrote:
>
>[snip]
>
>> Their reasoning is: if I never bought a ZX81, but I use a ZX81 emulator
on my
>> PC to run ZX81 programs, then what is to stop me from using a Sony
>> Playstation emulator on my PC to avoid buying a Playstation?
>>
>> My opinion is: the major game producers are afraid that if the public
finds
>> out that for well under US$100 anyone with a PC and a modem can pick up
an
>> "obsolete" computer and get 10,000 games, free, the new hot-rod game
machines
>> might lose a few sales.
>
>
>Wellll, it turns out I have some insight into this. Until about 18 months
ago
>I was director of special projects for TAEC, a division of Toshiba. One of
>the things which fell into my lap was developing the methodology for and
>directing the actual verification effort for what was then called the
TX5900;
>the 5900 is the superscalar 128-bit core for CPU2, which in turn is the
>processor for the Playstation II. As a consequence of this position I have
some
>insight into the thinking at SCE...
>
>One of the first things I learned was that "normal" assumptions regarding
>economics associated with game consoles don't work. SCE more or less gave
>the PS1 away and will do the same with the PS2; at some points in the
lifetime
>of the product the wholesale price is less than the manufacturing cost.
The
>money is made on the titles, not on the individual consoles, and hence SCE
>has a motivation to see that as many copies of titles are shipped without
>copies being bootlegged. In a somewhat misguided attempt to control that
>SCE indulged in a bit of idiocy with the PS1 in the hopes of preventing
>people from making copies of the code.
>
>The economics changed somewhat as the PS1 reached end-of-life and the
>production cost of the PS1 had fallen somewhat (such that some
>miniscule amount of money was being netted out on console sales), but
>SCE's objections to PS1 emulators were rooted not in the potential loss
>of such revenue, but rather in the need to duplicate SCE code contained
>in the PS1 console ROM.
>
>As for PC's eating into PS2 sales, don't hold your breath. When you can
>buy a PC with a 128-bit reconfigurable integer CPU with 10 floating point
>units organized into two vector processors, synchronous rambus, a dedicated
>rendering engine, ethernet, 56K modem, DVD drive and sound for $300
>(they also throw a PS1 chipset into the box, since the PS2 chipset
>cannot run PS1 code) then SCE will find themselves in the same position
>they were in 12 months ago. But then I'd expect the PS3 to be in the
>works by then ;-)
>--
Very well put!
john
PDP-8 and other rare mini computers
http://www.pdp8.com
>Chris Kennedy
>chris_at_mainecoon.com
>http://www.mainecoon.com
>PGP fingerprint: 4E99 10B6 7253 B048 6685 6CBC 55E1 20A3 108D AB97
>
Received on Wed Dec 01 1999 - 09:52:06 GMT