MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu (03/29/91)
It's funny how back when the Amiga market was one-tenth of the size it was now and Commodore was about to go under, companies such as Spectrum Holobyte and Accolade were falling all over themselves to port to it. Now that there are >2.1 million Amigas out (and the number growing by leaps and bounds) and Commodore is at its highest peak in years, all we hear is that there are "no plans" to port this or that or the other thing. The way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if in another five years there are 10 million machines sold, Commodore is bigger than Apple, and there is absolutely no software being released for the machine whatsoever. Is there a sane explanation for all this? / Mark "Remixed for Common Household Appliances" Sachs - MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu \ | DISCLAIMER? You can't POSSIBLY be serious, can you? || // || | "Doctor, may I speak with you in private?" "All right..." || \X/ AMIGA || \== "Have you got a DEATH WISH?!" -- Romana & the Doctor, _Warrior's Gate_ ===/
valentin@public.BTR.COM (Valentin Pepelea) (04/01/91)
In article <91087.122709MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu> MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu writes: > >Now that there are >2.1 million Amigas out (and the number growing by >leaps and bounds) and Commodore is at its highest peak in years, all >we hear is that there are "no plans" to port this or that or the other >thing. The way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if in another >five years there are 10 million machines sold, Commodore is bigger than >Apple, and there is absolutely no software being released for the >machine whatsoever. This is an essentially incorrect assumption. The software that is not being ported to the Amiga is being overlooked not because of the Amiga marketplace, but because this software is written specifically with one computer in mind. Porting it to a computer of a totally different architecture is not that easy. But indeed there are some unfortunate factors related to market forces. First of all is talent. To port a game you need talented programmers, and if you are lucky enough to get your hands on them, then you might still prefer assigning them to the larger IBM market than the Amiga market. An average IBM-PC title still outsells the average Amiga title by a factor of seven. Yet another problem specific to the Amiga is the abundance of competing European titles. While indeed the numbers of Amigas sold is beyond two million, the majority of sales are in Europe, a sad reality compounded by the sheer number of European games. Valentin -- "An operating system without virtual memory Name: Valentin Pepelea is an operating system without virtue." Phone: (408) 985-1700 Usenet: mips!btr!valentin - Ancient Inca Proverb Internet: valentin@btr.com
vsolanoy@ozonebbs.UUCP (Victor Solanoy) (04/02/91)
MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu writes: > was now and Commodore was about to go under, companies such as Spectrum > Holobyte and Accolade were falling all over themselves to port to it. > Now that there are >2.1 million Amigas out (and the number growing by > leaps and bounds) and Commodore is at its highest peak in years, all > we hear is that there are "no plans" to port this or that or the other > thing. The way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised if in another > five years there are 10 million machines sold, Commodore is bigger than > Apple, and there is absolutely no software being released for the > machine whatsoever. > I don't know if there is an ounce of truth to this, but someone told me that when Amiga first came out in about 1985 (is this right?), Borland supposedly was one of the first companies to support the Amiga.... again, I don't know if this is true at all. Victor