Next-gen console war: The verdict by mcvuk.com

[sieanr]

MikeB said:
@ RolStoppable

IMO the Amiga had no games that would justify owning one. IMO the SNES library was vastly superior to anything available for the Amiga.[quote]

Strange statement, you mean you prefer the Snes' library of games right? Or do you want to suggest that any Snes game is better than any Amiga game?

[quote]I believe these are the main reasons why the Amiga got killed by the SNES

Nice theory, but the Amiga 500 gaming heydays were between 1987 and 1990 almost exclusively in Europe (Most games were higher res PAL, which was not well supported by NTSC TVs at the time, thus requiring a monitor), as the Snes was released in Europe in 1992 your theory seems a bit off.

The Amiga was mainly successful in the United States as special effects systems for Holywood movies and Sci-Fi series, cable TV operators (TV overview screens with text and graphics), Kiosk systems and some specialized uses by for example companies like for example NASA (rocket telemetry) and military training (flight simulation). It was not popular in the US as a gaming device.

BTW I never owned an Amiga 500 myself, I owned a better expandable Amiga 2000 as my first Amiga and used it mainly for video editing, internet and word processing next to gaming.

I'd like to hear an explanation as to how your post answers and refutes his claim of game variety? 

As far as I can tell, he said the SNES killed what was left of the amiga as developers flocked to a system that was free of piracy. Sure, its gaming prime was over but the system was still in millions of homes and had plenty of games past 1990. I slightly disagree in the sense that I think the MD hurt the Amiga more, especially early on, but basically its correct - the Amiga wasn't a viable platform later in life due to piracy, aging hardware and better options available to developers.

One use doesn't exclude other uses, Amiga hardware found its way into the arcades as well and likewise will the arcade version of Tekken 6 include PS3 hardware. 1 million sold consoles for Japan alone is IMO a honourable achievement considering the pricepoint and a smaller games industry at the time.

Yes it does.

The Neo-Geo was designed as Arcade hardware from the outset, selling it at home was secondary and it was never seriously considered for that role. If you want to use the Neo-Geo as an example then why not bring up the Capcom CPS changer?

Plenty of other consoles and computers have made its way into arcades, but that doesn't mean shit as far as sales go. The Dreamcast may have failed as a console, but the Naomi arcade board derived from its hardware has been very sucessful, just like the successor derived from Naomi, Atomiswave. 

IMO both those boards are more impressive thanks to the variety and quality of games released and generally being more successful than Amiga arcade boards, but that means about as much to this argument as "1 million sold consoles". 

In your opinion I pirated games? Let me tell you I and a gaming friend bought Turrican 1 and 2 both for the c64 and Amiga, we shared.

No, I just said even the biggest Amiga fans pirated games. I used you as an example of an Amiga fan, so I dont see where you problem is - unless you don't like being called an Amiga fan.

Sure piracy was a huge problem, but are you sure Factor 5 stated that, I know Amiga Joker (German magazine) reported Turrican 2 sold about 30.000 units for the Amiga 500, I don't know if this relates just to Germany or the whole of Europe.

Sure that was just sales for the Amiga? Turrican was ported to the Amiga, then to just about every other system.

I said "mostly", adressing some of the games you don't agree on with me for preferring the Amiga versions over the console versions:[/quote[

Except you explicity noted one version that was ported to the Amiga, but ignored other games that didn't favor the Amiga. Odd...

[quote]I think the best version was for the Amiga 500:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7POlttlLfT4

Ok. If you want the "best" version of every game then why did you get the shitty version of Another World for Amiga? The DOS version offers smoother, bug tested gameplay and a whole new level, while the Mac version is the same but in a higher resolution.

"In August 1989, Chahi was inspired by the flat-color animations used in the Amiga version of Dragon's Lair, and theorized that it would be possible to use vector outlines to create a similar effect using much less computer storage."

"Chahi used an Amiga 500 to create the final game, using Devpac Assembler to program the game engine and polygon outlines and GFA BASIC to create the game's editor. Using a genlock, he imported recordings of his little brother from a video camera to use for rotoscoping animations. He used a tape recorder to record the sound effects for the game. He drew the background art with Deluxe Paint.[2] The game is the first 2D game to use polygons for all of its graphics, as opposed to the more common sprites, which created a distinctive visual style."

Great Amiga 500 game:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=atlAr5kdpQM

So he was inspired by how shitty the Amiga version of Dragons Lair was? Great argument for the Amiga....

And why is it a big deal about how the game was made? Does the fact that it was made on the Amiga somehow make up for the MS-DOS version? Do you really think about which platform a game was developed on when it was made - because if so you must not enjoy games that much.

I owned an Atari ST as well, the Amiga versions were almost always better except for a few very early titles. The Amiga version mostly included stereo sound instead of monosound and often added colors or parallax scrolling.

The point was, there was little to no point for me to get the console version.

Yet this makes your original argument about SNES lacking variety valid? 

Your argument really doesn't follow, except you like the "definitive" version of games unless those versions platforms not named Amiga.

Needless to say the Amiga was an excellent games development platform, for example the hugely successful worms was developed by bedroom coders using Blitz Basic on the Amiga (a very easy to program language):

Worms Directors' cut, later released exclusively for the Amiga, sadly one of Team17's last game for the platform:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IVY7hJgdUmI

I'll just repeat what I've already said; This makes your original argument about SNES lacking variety valid? 

It must be fun to have a conversation with you in real life, what, with the changing of topics all the time.