What do you think is biggest failure in gaming?

[AmandaRose]

Konix were a crazy company they tried to make a console that the games came on floppy disc lol. Yet for some reason they had managed to convince some of the world's biggest companies to make games for the system including Capcom. Technically the Multisystem failed twice as it then was further developed by Atari after Konix died and it became the Atari Jaguar.

So I have been doing a lot of reading up the last day or so on the whole Konix debacle it's it's even worse than I first thought lol.

So first we need to go back to 1985. Over at Sinclair Computing 4 men were tasked with making a new ZX Spectrum that was to be as good as Amiga and Atari ST but at a fraction of the price for the public to buy.

Those four men were Martin Brennan, John Matheson, Alan Miles and Bruce Gordon.

The new system was codenamed Project Loki due to the main CPU being named Loki. Who would of thought lol.

Brennan and Matheson were the two men behind the Loki chip and Miles and Gordon behind everything else that was in the computer.

Now we move to 1986 and Project Loki is coming along nicely but the company behind it Sinclair are on thier arse after the huge failure of the Sinclair C5 electric car/scooter thingy they had brought out failed miserably.

Sinclair short of money had no option but to sell their computing devision to revivals Amstrad who then promptly cancelled Project Loki.

At this point Alan Miles and Bruce Gordon left and set up Miles Gordon technology and they started work on what would become the Sam Coupe computer. The Sam was everything that was inside the Loki minus the Loki Chip. They replaced the Loki with a Z80b chip which by the time the Sam Coupe came out was already massively out of date. The Sam came out in 1999 but just a few months later Miles Gordon Technology went bankrupt. MGT were then bought over by SCL who then also went bankrupt a year or so later. SCL were then bought by West Coast Computers who also yep you guessed it went bankrupt.

Now back to the two other men behind project Loki. Martin Brennan and John Matheson. At the time Sinclair were bought by Amstrad these two men also left and set up their own company called Flare Technology. Using the Loki chip (at this time it was renamed to the Flare 1) they set about making a new console which would be built with the Flare chip as its main component. After a year or so the two men short of money began looking for a company to invest money into the project and that is when Konix got involved.

Konix were at the time a hugely successful computer peripheral maker here in the UK. Most famous for their Speedking joystick. They ploughed massive amounts of money into Flares new console now renamed the Konix Multisystem. But delay after delay and more money after more money lead to Konix going bankrupt. Anyone seeing a theme here lol.

Now with no financial backer Flare near bankrupt themselves had to get another financial backer ASAP.

And that financial backer was Atari. A company themselves already with a history of failures and money problems.

Flair Technology were tasked by Atari with making them two new consoles. The Panther and the Jaguar. The Panther was basically the Konix Multisystem which was still using the Flare 1 chip (Loki) and the Jaguar which was being made with the new Flare 2 chip. Again after numerous delays the Panther was cancelled mostly because there was by that time already way more advanced systems out there. And all focus was put on the Jaguar. Now I already have waffled on way too long so I won't talk about the Jaguar as we all know how that went for Atari.

So to conclude Martin Brennan, John Matheson, Alan Miles and Bruce Gordon were responsible for.

1. In a small way the sale of Sinclair to Amstrad.

2. The failure of the Sam Coupe Computer

3. The Bankruptcy of Miles Gordon Technology

4. The bankruptcy of SCL

5. The bankruptcy of West Coast Computing

6. The bankruptcy of Konix

7. The failure of the Panther

8. the failure of the Jaguar

9. The final nail in the coffin of the original Atari company.

All in all not bad going for four men lol.

 

[Sphaa]

Please explain exactly how Nintendo fucked up the deal?? It's well known Sony tricked Nintendo into signing a contract that meant Nintendo would make Zero money from any CD game sold for the system. When Nintendo found out they had no option other than to break the deal and work with Phillips.

I don't know all details of the contract, but the first F**kup were to sign the deal in the first place. The second were to go behind Sonys back and just break it without a dialog. No matter how you turn it, because of that deal Sony ended up giving birth to the Nintendo's biggest competitor and best selling console Playstation.

 

[AmandaRose]

I don't know all details of the contract, but the first F**kup were to sign the deal in the first place. The second were to go behind Sonys back and just break it without a dialog. No matter how you turn it, because of that deal Sony ended up giving birth to the Nintendo's biggest competitor and best selling console Playstation.

The thing is business in Japan is done VERY differently than to how it is done in the west. Especially back then. It's all done on trust and your word is your bond ect. Japanese companies back then didn't screw each other over. Contracts were done by being talked out and agreed then contracts wrote up and signed without reading over them. Again because it was all about trust.

So Nintendo had no reason to not to trust Sony when they agreed to a 50/50 split of the profits for the Super Nintendo CD and for every disc sold. Nintendo took Sony at their word and signed the contract because another Japanese company wouldn't screw them over it was just not the done thing. Sony were the bastards here and changed to contract (Illegally might I add) so as they would get 100% of the profit.

As for your other point Nintendo tried to renegotiate with Sony for 7 to 8 months for a fair contact for both companies but Sony refused to budge

Again Nintendo had no option but to break the contract and work with Phillips instead. I really don't get why you are painting Nintendo as the bad guy for breaking the contract when it was Sony trying to scam Nintendo all along??

 

[Lostbhoy]

Love a good history lesson @AmandaRose... I do remember the name Konix and that joystick but knew nothing of that story!

 

[AmandaRose]

Love a good history lesson @AmandaRose... I do remember the name Konix and that joystick but knew nothing of that story!

Thank you I didn't even talk about a whole load of other shit that Flare got into like them letting a shady Asian arcade bootleg company use the Flare 1 chip in their bootleg arcade boards that resulted in the Yakuza sending some goons to pay Flare a little visit at their building in Cambridge.

The whole computer business certainly was a crazy time back in the 80s and early 90s. So many small companies bringing stuff out only to fail miserably.

Anyone remember the Dragon 32? the whole story behind that is just as crazy as project loki.

 

[Ryab]

Wow, the C64GS... I'd forgotten all about that! I wanted one so bad at the time to get rid of loading of my tapes... I was surprised it didn't take off at the time but with hindsight I didn't understand the competition it was against until a mate got a Mega drive!

Does the KFC thing count?? Was that even real in the end lol

Ah the C64GS. The system that they packed with the game adaptation of Terminator 2. Upon loading up the pack-in title it would ask you to hit a key on the keyboard to continue. This system had no keyboard. The C64GS was just a C64 without a keyboard.

 

[AmandaRose]

Ah the C64GS. The system that they packed with the game adaptation of Terminator 2. Upon loading up the pack-in title it would ask you to hit a key on the keyboard to continue. This system had no keyboard. The C64GS was just a C64 without a keyboard.

Did you read any of the replies here lol I have already talked about Terminator 2 and the GS.

 

[Ryab]

Did you read any of the replies here lol I have already talked about Terminator 2 and the GS.

I read up to your initial post and replied to it.

 

[AmandaRose]

I read up to your initial post and replied to it.

Look at page two of this very thread I said.

Terminator 2 on the Commodore 64 GS is another huge failure for one rather huge and bizarre reason. You could not actually play the game lol. You would load the game then on the title screen it would say press space bar to start the game. What's the problem you ask well the GS had no keyboard so no space bar.

Yes Ocean Software actually brought out a game cart for the GS that you couldn't play on the GS and then to make matters worse Commodore advertised the game as the killer app for the system

Now as fuck ups go that one is hard to beat.

Then on page 3 of this very thread you said pretty much the exact same thing lol.

 

[Flame]

Look at page two of this very thread I said.

Terminator 2 on the Commodore 64 GS is another huge failure for one rather huge and bizarre reason. You could not actually play the game lol. You would load the game then on the title screen it would say press space bar to start the game. What's the problem you ask well the GS had no keyboard so no space bar.

Yes Ocean Software actually brought out a game cart for the GS that you couldn't play on the GS and then to make matters worse Commodore advertised the game as the killer app for the system

Now as fuck ups go that one is hard to beat.

Then on page 3 of this very thread you said pretty much the exact same thing lol.

I bet he didn't read this too.

 

[AmandaRose]

I bet he didn't read this too.

I swear to god it happens so many times to me on the temp. I post something then a few posts later someone else posts the exact same thing. I'm convinced they see my name and go I'm not reading what that bitch has posted

 

[Flame]

I think loads of people see the name @AmandaRose they just don't read your post. A few posts later, post something similar.

 

[Kioku]

The biggest fail is VR. Too expensive for developers and players

Uhhh, what? How in the hell is VR too expensive? At first, sure. It was new technology. Now it’s more affordable than ever, even coming in cheaper than console gaming for a standalone experience..

 

[AmandaRose]

I think loads of people see the name @AmandaRose they just don't read your post. A few posts later, post something similar.

 

[Flame]

Uhhh, what? How in the hell is VR too expensive? At first, sure. It was new technology. Now it’s more affordable than ever, even coming in cheaper than console gaming for a standalone experience..

I think about the means is if you want something like the PSVR2 you need to buy a PS5 also which could burn a hole in the wallet of a person.

 

[Kioku]

I think about the means is if you want something like the PSVR2 you need to buy a PS5 also which could burn a hole in the wallet of a person.

Could dance around that subject for days. The gist of it is that you’re not buying a PC or console just for VR, usually. Most people already have the hardware to play the games, buying the headset is just another accessory. It’s not an easily justifiable cost for most I’m sure, but I wouldn’t claim it’s “too expensive” for most people. Even less so when you consider the standalone options that work just fine.

 

[Flame]

Could dance around that subject for days. The gist of it is that you’re not buying a PC or console just for VR, usually. Most people already have the hardware to play the games, buying the headset is just another accessory. It’s not an easily justifiable cost for most I’m sure, but I wouldn’t claim it’s “too expensive” for most people.

For sure. But I think (don't quote me on this) for somebody like @shaunj66 who want brought a PSVR2. The PS5 is just a pest.

But I get what you mean, a Lamborghini is too expensive. A PSVR in the big schemes of things is not.

 

[Lostbhoy]

I still consider VR a novelty at best. I had a real blast with the Vader dojo and Pavlovs Shack on my Quest 2 but it's tiresome and haven't touched it in months.

Even got my neighbours to get one and they're the same now!

 

[SylverReZ]

When you think of VR you think of straining your eyes through a Virtual Boy.

 

[The Catboy]

GameFreak, they've been lacking in the quality department since launching their games on the Switch and it's only been getting worse