Video game systems that were DOOMED from the start?

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

By DOOMED I mean these consoles never saw any chance of any commercial success. Yes, I know the Dreamcast may come to mind for some, but that console did have a short period where it was very successful.

RDI Halcyon comes to mind for me. A $2,500 video game system? This thing had the makings of a failure from the get-go. Then it was planned to launch right in the ass crack of the video game crash. What the FUCK were they thinking? Even the LaserActive, which was cheaper, offered a much better value, and launched 8 years later, was the same idea and still failed. But it was 10 times less the fuck-up the Halcyon was. The Halcyon was such a massive bomb that it sunk RDI.

Memorex VIS was another one. This one was literally on sale for a couple months, and I have the misfortune to be born during that time. Think of a bad CD-i clone. As if CD-i wasn't bad enough.

Here's a video I made showcasing 8 of the worst values in video game history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzYUVk7Q0o8

[Steve W]

Let's see... the Tapwave Zodiac was doomed, a former Palm engineer left to create the Zodiac based on the Palm OS, which was a problem because PDAs were quickly dying out as phones became more sophisticated.

The idea behind the Nuon was that DVD players at that time needed up to five chips to decode MPEG-2 video, and if DVD player manufacturers licensed their single chip, they'd save money and those players would be able to play games. Unfortunately, other companies were also creating single chip MPEG-2 decoders, and VM Labs chips were more expensive that those and therefore weren't able to compete. The games that were playable on their Aries chip were not that much better than the N64 in graphic quality, so there wasn't much reason for companies to license Nuon tech. And when the PS2 came out as a game console that could play DVDs fairly close to the price of a Nuon, VM Labs didn't stand a chance.

[Flojomojo]

There are so many "doomed" video game systems, I'd go so far as to say most of them are, except for the ones you have heard of or remember fondly. Everything sucks, but the good ones are the exception to the rule.

The worst modern example I can think of is the Retro VGS. http://www.retrovgs.com
It's getting everything wrong, just because Mike Kennedy and friends have a misplaced nostalgic feeling. It will use the Atari Jaguar molds to make identical cases, and rely on solid-state cartridges for "durability."

[Tanooki]

Hope you're wrong about that VGS, but odds are they're screwed either before it hits market or it'll flop and flounder around before committing suicide shortly after. I don't think using the Jaguar molds is bad, but what they aren't doing right are numerous other ideas. It's no issue using carts, look at the sizes on 3DS cards and how small they are, you can fit a lot, cheap. I think they'll be harming themselves trying to peddle on a scale that'll profit for them and game makers enough to be worth any of their time and efforts.

[celerystalker]

Pretty much anything that was made to be an "all in one entertainment set top box" made by an electronics comany that didn't already have an active games division. Phillips CD-i. Panasonic and Goldstar 3DO systems. Pioneer Laseractive. Anything like that. Sony/Imagesoft had put in the work creating and publishing games actively for years before going out on their own, so they already had at least learned a bit about how to create, market, and sell game software. Other companies were under the impression that the technology was what would sell people, not realizing that only a small sub-section of consumers buy tech for tech's sake.

[Gamevet]

Trip Hawkins was one of the founders of EA; he certainly had a knowledge of marketing video games before founding 3DO.

[bb_hood]

The worst modern example I can think of is the Retro VGS. http://www.retrovgs.com
It's getting everything wrong, just because Mike Kennedy and friends have a misplaced nostalgic feeling. It will use the Atari Jaguar molds to make identical cases, and rely on solid-state cartridges for "durability."

Yeah I would agree with this.
The system and the carts look ugly.

[celerystalker]

Trip Hawkins was one of the founders of EA; he certainly had a knowledge of marketing video games before founding 3DO.

3DO also didn't manufacture their own hardware. Panasonic and Goldstar were the primary manufacturers under license.

[A.C. Sativa]

Jaguar CD has to be up there. Hey let's make a system that requires you to own a system that hardly anyone has, then build it so poorly that it may as well been made of paper mache.

[Nebagram]

Jaguar CD has to be up there. Hey let's make a system that requires you to own a system that hardly anyone has, then build it so poorly that it may as well been made of paper mache.

Agreed- the Jaguar was the commercial equivalent of shooting your own dick off, the CD attachment was like subsequently setting it on fire. The only thing worth getting a Jag CD for is the Tempest 2000 soundtrack.

The Virtual Boy immediately sprang to mind when I saw this thread, the fact that it was effectively competing against its own stablemate in the Game Boy (an unwinnable battle even WITH good hardware) and Nintendo had effectively given up on it before it was even launched.

[SpaceHarrier]

I actually love the Genesis 32X but...

32X

A budgety stop gap add-on to compete with their much more powerful/impressive next gen system (that then debuted earlier than anticipated). Not to mention, Genesis already had one add-on that had only been moderately successful in the Sega CD, so they were really asking for it!

I mean, by mid 1995 we had Genesis, Sega CD, Game Gear, Nomad, 32X and Saturn all on shelves, competing for our wallets!






edit: 32X also had DOOM as a launch title, so it was literally "DOOMED from the start"

[Gamevet]

3DO also didn't manufacture their own hardware. Panasonic and Goldstar were the primary manufacturers under license.

No, they licensed it. 3DO worked with Panasonic to design the hardware. Obviously, Trip had to have some idea about the costs of the system before giving it the green light.

It's like saying that Nvidia didn't manufacture the GTX 980, but they did create the reference design for manufacturers to work with.

[celerystalker]

No, they licensed it. 3DO worked with Panasonic to design the hardware. Obviously, Trip had to have some idea about the costs of the system before giving it the green light.

It's like saying that Nvidia didn't manufacture the GTX 980, but they did create the reference design for manufacturers to work with.

That sideways partnership with third party manufacturers meant that 3DO did not have control of their own system's destiny.

[Guntz]

Would it be bad timing to say, "Sega Saturn"? :P

I guess the 32X and Virtual Boy fit the bill, even though I enjoy them. I think the VB could have lasted at least another year before getting canned. It had some nice looking games for 1996, like Bound High, Dragon Hopper and Zero Racers. What the 32X needed was an earlier release, or better yet, give the Sega CD the same video passthrough cable, increase the color palette and cancel the 32X. That would have seriously bolstered Sega CD sales and put even more pressure on Nintendo. Or better yet, drop the SMS support in the Genesis and give it a color upgrade. That would have kept the Genesis really competitive with the SNES.

[adolescent]

Atari 7800. Arguably less power than the 5200, old VCS sound chip, terrible controllers, and released way too late and at a time when Atari had lost most of it's brand recognition. Doomed!

That said if it was released a few years earlier it would have done well.

[goldenband]

Here's a video I made showcasing 8 of the worst values in video game history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzYUVk7Q0o8

I only count 7 --

1. Gizmondo
2. RCA Studio II
3. Apple Pippin
4. VIS
5. Philips CD-i
6. Laseractive
7. RDI Halcyon

-- unless you're counting the Laseractive twice.

Did Philips make a profit from the CD-i? If so, that puts it in a fundamentally different category from the others, since any profitable system is sort of a success by definition.

Philips certainly supported it for a long time, and I think it did quite a bit better in the Netherlands than elsewhere -- which makes sense since it's their home turf.

[Tanooki]

I had a CDi, my understanding was that they were profitable in the end since it held on for years after the US crumble into the PAL market it came from. For what it was, it was a nice research project and all around box that was fairly decent, just never fairly awesome at much of anything since VCD went down to DVD, and it wasn't great at buffering/streaming games.

[Gentlegamer]

My understanding is CD-i actually sold decently as a multimedia device used by businesses for presentations and things like that.

[A.C. Sativa]

My understanding is CD-i actually sold decently as a multimedia device used by businesses for presentations and things like that.

Think it sold a million units all together, not sure I'd call that decent.

2 more: the Game.com and the N-Gage, the first because of the Tiger logo, the second because anyone with a quarter of a brain could tell just by looking at a picture of it that it would suck balls as both a phone and something to play games on, plus you could get a GBA and a phone that didn't make you look like a jackass for the same amount of money.

[o.pwuaioc]

Would it be bad timing to say, "Sega Saturn"? :P

I think Sega Saturn fits the question perfectly. Not that it itself was a bad console, but it was doomed before it even got out the door thanks to the 32X and the surprise release. SpaceHarrier above mentions the 32X, but the 32X wouldn't have survived anyway, and it then ensured the Saturn too wouldn't have survived.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

The video does have only 7 systems. I think I originally intended to have 8. Thanks for pointing that out, goldenband.

[Gentlegamer]

Think it sold a million units all together, not sure I'd call that decent.

That's better than TurboGrafx-16.

[goldenband]

I had a CDi, my understanding was that they were profitable in the end since it held on for years after the US crumble into the PAL market it came from. For what it was, it was a nice research project and all around box that was fairly decent, just never fairly awesome at much of anything since VCD went down to DVD, and it wasn't great at buffering/streaming games.

I've got a CD-i now, and I have to say that in many ways it's a lot better than I expected. Of course, the games are largely mediocre or worse, but I'm surprised at the high quality of the presentation -- the AV itself looks and sounds great, and the graphic design of the splash screens & menus is light-years better than the cheap-looking ones you get on 3DO and Jaguar. It actually looks like they hired a real graphic designer, vs. the quick Photoshop hack jobs you often see on 3DO. And the FMV image quality is the best of its generation.

It's basically like an early '90s Performa Mac, complete with typical pack-in games. The library is comparable in quality and "tone", heavy on brain games, and (very) weak in action games. For someone who likes puzzle games and can enjoy a FMV game now and then, it's not a complete bust as a system -- but action-oriented gamers should definitely beware.

Sad as it is to say, I wonder if the Vectrex belongs on the list. Terrific system, but it had no real chance in the marketplace, especially with the crash. Or if you're restricting it to systems that are intrinsically bad -- there are plenty of alternatives. I'd say the Emerson Arcadia 2001, but clones of that actually did OK in Japan, didn't they?

[Tanooki]

I went in on one during Christmas the year it came out and I used it for years off and on. I was too cheap and lazy to ever buy a CD system, never had a dedicated one until this decade if I remember right and only because I read it was amazing and it was at a goodwill cheap. :P Because of that I used the CDI as an audio player for a very long time, even around having a PSOne mini system and a Saturn I still used that for it because the menu was stupid easy, fast to pop up, intuitive, and the audio was awesome on that CDi. There are a good deal of bad games on it, but equally so mediocre to your average internet based game fan but to a normal person or someone a little less uptight that were actually pretty fun, and of course there were gems on it as well. I had the gravis knockoff pad for it and the DV card as well. The FMV was nuts even in the games like the sultry somewhat changing mystery of Voyeur and also the 7th Guest was amazing on there too. I never bought into the VCD movies, limited kid budget and all, it went to the games, but it did come with that Manhole game which was cool too. I've listed the games I've had before from what I recall and they were solid, even the laughed upon Hotel Mario and Link Faces of Evil were fun (even if the Link FMV sequences are atrocious.) I think you nailed it fairly well with the Mac comparison, because even the Mac had a few solid action games but few and very far between, like the CDI with Mutant Rampage Bodyslam which was an awesome FInal Fight wannabe.

I think your nomination for the Vectrex is pretty fair. They had to have known it was a long shot at best and not likely to last with the very limited support their releases. It was a cool system, but fairly screwed like many of them in the early 80s.

[RP2A03]

Think it sold a million units all together, not sure I'd call that decent.

2 more: the Game.com and the N-Gage, the first because of the Tiger logo, the second because anyone with a quarter of a brain could tell just by looking at a picture of it that it would suck balls as both a phone and something to play games on, plus you could get a GBA and a phone that didn't make you look like a jackass for the same amount of money.

But sidetalking was just so awesome!


http://www.sidetalkin.com/

[Gentlegamer]

But sidetalking was just so awesome!


http://www.sidetalkin.com/

That is the website that time forgot.

[Tanooki]

That is the website that time forgot.

Which makes it perfect as the N-Gage is the useless gaming phone that time forgot too (for most people.)

[Steve W]

I'd have to agree to a point, the N-Gage was doomed by its design rather than its ideology. Having a game playing phone was an idea ahead of its time, but the design worked against it. Maybe they thought the "sidetalking" aspect made it stand out and highly visible to passers-by that they were using a cool new gaming phone, but then people mocked it instead. Having to remove the battery to put in a new game was an incredibly stupid idea. Using MMC cards rather than something custom meant that anybody could pop an N-Gage game into a USB card reader on their computer and break their security measures, making it painfully easy to pirate games. And launching the system with a bunch of almost decade-old PlayStation ports wasn't a great idea either. It put a bad taste in everybody's mouth and the gaming public wouldn't take it seriously. Once the remodeled N-Gage QD had come out, their software line-up was solid and diverse and the new phone fixed all the problems with the old design, but nobody was paying attention anymore.

I was always a fan of the N-Gage and I still have my N-Gage QD (no longer working after loaning it to my brother) and forty-something games for it, but I can understand how people would shit on it without trying it out for themselves. It was a nice little device for its time that nobody would take seriously after they got off on the wrong foot. They tarnished their image and they could never get the public back onboard.

Does Microsoft own the part of Nokia that holds the rights to the N-Gage? I could see a really powerful handheld phone from them being made in the same vein, but with all of Microsoft's resources from their Xbox division going into it. After all, the handheld console market is a pale shadow of the mobile phone market, and the biggest drawback to smartphone gaming (in my opinion) is the lack of physical controls. They could come up with a good design, pair it with their Windows Phone OS, they could finally take back a chunk of the mobile phone market. Who knows, it might even become the next big thing in smartphones, outpacing Android and the iPhone.

[JeremiahJT]

Atari 7800. Arguably less power than the 5200, old VCS sound chip, terrible controllers, and released way too late and at a time when Atari had lost most of it's brand recognition. Doomed!

That said if it was released a few years earlier it would have done well.

Atari sold like 4 or 5 millions 7800 consoles and the system kept them in the black for half a decade. I don't think you can call that a failure, much less doomed.

[ColecoFan1981]

Would these three do it here?

Coleco Adam
Atari 5200
Atari 7800

~Ben

[Gamevet]

Emerson Arcadia 2001. I believe my cousin had the console, after his parents picked it up in the bargain bin for dirt cheap. It was discontinued 18 months after its release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNoGYCMtmMU

[adolescent]

Atari sold like 4 or 5 millions 7800 consoles and the system kept them in the black for half a decade. I don't think you can call that a failure, much less doomed.

It was doomed because it was released after the NES already had a foothold on the US market. Had they released in 1984 it would probably have been different.

3.77m units in the US according to Curt Vendel's documents. Hardly a success compared to the 2600 which sold more than 30m and not even in the same ballgame as the NES which sold more than 34m in the same territory. All told the 7800 + software accounted for ~$100m of revenue over the 5 years. I doubt it was the 7800 that was keeping them afloat.

[adolescent]

Coleco Adam

Yep, the Adam was a disaster. Delayed, broken, and buggy. Of course I wanted one so bad anyways. The giant box was awe inspiring to my then 12 year old eyes. (My parents got me a Commodore 64 instead -- I think they made the right choice.)

[celerystalker]

Emerson Arcadia 2001. I believe my cousin had the console, after his parents picked it up in the bargain bin for dirt cheap. It was discontinued 18 months after its release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNoGYCMtmMU

Heheh, I have an Arcadia. It has the most flagrant ripoffs:

8163
Totally not Space Invaders

8164
Definitely not a snow speeder from Empire Strikes Back

8165
What's a Milennium Falcon?

[Tanooki]

That bottom one without your comment I would have said Star Trek, looks like the Enterprise, even has a C up there it would have NCC-1701, appears to have the 2 nacelle pods in back, green dudes look much like klingons.

[wizardofwor1975]

It was doomed because it was released after the NES already had a foothold on the US market. Had they released in 1984 it would probably have been different.

3.77m units in the US according to Curt Vendel's documents. Hardly a success compared to the 2600 which sold more than 30m and not even in the same ballgame as the NES which sold more than 34m in the same territory. All told the 7800 + software accounted for ~$100m of revenue over the 5 years. I doubt it was the 7800 that was keeping them afloat.

I must preface my comment by 1st saying I absolutely love my Atari 7800. I completely understand Atari's decision to use the old VCS sound chip in an effort to be backwards compatible with its enormous 2600 game library. However, I do think they would have been more successful had they used the POKEY sound chip in more of its 7800 game cartridges. I think a reasonable argument could be made that the 7800's version of Commando which had the POKEY sound chip was arguably a better arcade port than the NES version. In any event given the 7800's release date I don't see a scenario where it could have competed on even ground with the NES. POKEY sound chip or not the NES was destined to come out on top in this matchup but I still love my 7800. Also, I'm glad your parents got you a C64 it is by far my favorite 8 bit computer. My Vic-20, C64, SX64, and Amiga 500 are hands down my favorite computers in my collection. Picked up PHM Pegasus today for the good old C64, very stoked.

8168

[7th lutz]

It was doomed because it was released after the NES already had a foothold on the US market. Had they released in 1984 it would probably have been different.

3.77m units in the US according to Curt Vendel's documents. Hardly a success compared to the 2600 which sold more than 30m and not even in the same ballgame as the NES which sold more than 34m in the same territory. All told the 7800 + software accounted for ~$100m of revenue over the 5 years. I doubt it was the 7800 that was keeping them afloat.
1984 would have made somewhat a difference, but Nintendo still would have prevented the 3rd Japanese developers and Publishers Nintendo had from doing Atari 7800 games. That also would affect getting the license rights for arcade ports once the NES hit North America. The 7800 would be to get American and European developers and Publishers or get license rights from those those companies.

Atari Corp was able to keep afloat and the 7800 exactly did play a role in that since it was a combination of things. The 7800 in the US market sold over a million game systems each year in 1987 and 1988 based on Curt's documents.

Curt's US figures from 1986 to 1990 had the XEGS not much of a rule for Atari Corp. at all and it was a flop. The document had shown the 2600 played a role in Atari keeping afloat.

The ST was Atari Corp's Money Maker in Europe for a time based on what I read in the past although I don't know how much of a money maker the 8 bit computer line in Europe was in the late 80's.

[BlastProcessing402]

Actually, I'd say the Dreamcast is the perfect example, and the original post's reasoning for why it's not is actually in fact the reason why it's such a perfect example. No matter how well it sold, it wasn't enough. It couldn't ever have been enough. Sega had already screwed themselves over so badly in the previous years that the thing could have printed money and given blowjobs and still would have wound up off the market when the generation was just getting off the ground.

Has anyone mentioned N-Gage yet? That thing was an abomination, no too little too late redesign could save that hot mess.

[Tanooki]

Yes a few posts have brought up the N-Gage, and one low key line brought up the even more deserving Game.com which really had it coming the moment it hit the market.

I have an idea, this I didn't see come up and I owned this one too and it's super deserving of this thread -- Neo Geo Pocket Color.

Much like the Dreamcast, it came out as a very nice thing, had some very nice games, and didn't last a very long time at all. In both cases corporate ignorant and mismanagement of resources doomed it to the death pile even before it hit the market. The NGPC came out to some good initial press including print and TV ads, but then it was this huge mismanaged fizzle. The games ground to a trickle, and third parties basically threw it under the bus. SNK's ignorance never gave it more TV spots to see and didn't run the existing, and magazine/online ads faded away too. It's like they didn't care or stupidly like Sony with the PSP just figured, they know our name it'll sell on that alone, and it sure as hell didn't. I really did love that handheld as it had some really choice stuff, but the total lack of enough games even with Japan thrown in the picture (or translated in UK stuff like Faselei and Last Blade), set it up to end up being boring pretty quick and not being used. I feel weak once in awhile and want to mess with it again, but I know I'd be throwing my money away.

[celerystalker]

The NGPC is what finally made me open to both handhelds and Ogre Battle. Bio Motor Unitron got me hooked, but Ogre Battle and Card Fighters Clash really got me... then Dark Arms: Beast Busters, Faselei, the Metal Slugs, Delta Warp, Crush Roller, Capcom vs SNK, Rockman Power Battles... I hold onto mine, mainly for that bad ass Ogre Battle, but some of those unique puzzlers and Metal Slugs are still very worthwhile.

[Steve W]

You also have to take into account that SNK was spiraling down the financial drain during the NGPC's run. They went bankrupt fairly soon after putting it out. Then everything got pulled off the shelves and sent back to the manufacturer, no clearance prices at the stores that carried it (at least at the Fry's Electronics where I bought mine). It was great that a couple years later you could pick up multipacks of games as the purchaser of SNK wanted to cheaply clear out its backstock. I regret that I didn't pick up enough titles for it at the time.

[celerystalker]

Funny story from that time-
A local store owner who's since closed up shop got a tip from a distributor about SNKUSA having leftover stock as they were getting ready to close up. He called their office to talk about purchasing what he could. He talked to the guy for awhile and arranged a nice purchase of a bunch of NGPC carts and a few AES carts, and toward the end as he's arranging contact info, he finds out that he was talking to the president of SNKUSA. He was just about the last employee there as they were shutting down apparently, and was answering the phones himself.

Just thought it was interesting, and I remember having a good laugh at the time when he told me about it. I also got a bunch of great-priced brand new NGPC and AES games from him once they came in. Just a funny snapshot of SNK's last days.

[Tanooki]

That's so sad but also cool he could buddy up with the head of that dying company and work a deal too. I regret not buying those blister packs of the games about 10 years back or even 5 years back when they were stupid cheap on ebay as no one wanted the junk. When it comes to handheld games with reusable boxes (like Genesis did from Sega) I tend to be a box snob and want it complete so I blew the stuff off because the boxed games weren't much more worth than the bundles given the games I'd want and would end up stuck with getting a package deal. Sucks eh? :P When I did have it, I never had Ogre Battle as it wasn't in english, but I did have Biomotor Unitron and it was amazing, couldn't put that game down at all and now the scalper nuts have got that one jacked up for some time now which is sad. I just remember Faselei and Last Blade were cheap in Japanese and expensive enough as a full CIB US game for those UK carts just loose so I ignored the first and got a Japanese LB cart instead. It was more or less all in kata/hiragana so I could muddle through it with my Japanese enough back then to read it or get the intent so I did not care.

I won't buy it, but I'm quite tempted to fire up ebay and see what this stuff rolls for nowadays.

I remember owning Samurai Shodown, Neo Turf Masters, SNK vs Capcom, Magical Drop, Puzzle Link, both Metal Slugs, Biomotor Unitron, Sonic, Pac-Man, and a few others. I tried to keep variety so it wasn't just a pile of fighting games.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

I agree with the Game.com. This thing was a Game Boy competitor, but had terrible quality games and graphics.

[SparTonberry]

The advertising didn't help. "It plays more games than you MORONS have brain cells!"

[Gamevet]

You also have to take into account that SNK was spiraling down the financial drain during the NGPC's run. They went bankrupt fairly soon after putting it out. Then everything got pulled off the shelves and sent back to the manufacturer, no clearance prices at the stores that carried it (at least at the Fry's Electronics where I bought mine). It was great that a couple years later you could pick up multipacks of games as the purchaser of SNK wanted to cheaply clear out its backstock. I regret that I didn't pick up enough titles for it at the time.

I seem to recall it being fairly inexpensive at Fry's. I thought it was kind of odd seeing a game system with a plastic bubble wrapped around it.

[tom]

NES (in Europe), 2. 5 million sold by mid 90s (source Game Over), big fail.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

I must reiterate Memorex VIS. This thing tried to compete with the CD-i. Look at this promotional video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cayU_2iM07c. When even the promotional video makes the system look like a pile of shit, the thing's going to crash and burn. The CD-i was a roaring success compared to this. The CD-I!

The Atari Jaguar. Over 200 bucks for a new system, from a company that's been out of the video game console market for a few years, with few games at the outset. Cybermorph and Trevor McFur were the launch titles in November 1993. Tempest 2000 came in April 1994. That was it for the first 8 months of the system's life. 3 games. That's not what sunk it.

The final nail in the coffin was that the system was no more capable than the SNES. Seriously, 64 bits my ass. Where'd the other 48 bits go? 90% of the games looked no better than SNES. Atari Karts looked no better than Super Mario Kart. Zool 2 looked no better than Super Mario World. Tempest 2000 could have easily been done on SNES. And these were some of the better looking games. Launch Atari 2600 games, Snake on old Nokia phones, TV snow, Shehu Shagari's left big toenail, and getting hit in the face by an airbag all looked better than Club Drive. The best games on the Jag - for instance, Doom and Alien vs. Predator - could have been recreated on the SNES. There is a such thing as Super FX chips, after all.

The Jaguar CD was doomed. By September 1995, Atari was sinking like the Titanic. You had a system that about 100,000 people owned (which would have been considered a commercial failure for a second-tier third party game on Genesis on SNES) and they launch a CD add-on with very few games and a lifespan of about 19 days before it breaks down.

[AdamAnt316]

My favorite example of a console that was doomed from the start is the Bentley Compu-Vision (http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1026). A cheap Pong clone based on the GI AY-3-8500 (http://www.pong-story.com/gi8500.htm) chip? Great idea in 1976. Except that Bentley (whoever they were) chose to release it..........in 1983!!!!! :? Not only was it several years out-of-date, it was released just in time for the video game crash! X_x

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

I'm sure they caught a few sales from people thinking it was the luxury car company. Seriously, not only was it a PONG machine in 1983, there were PONG games for the Atari 2600 (which everyone and their mother had by then) and it was in black and white. Any PONG console would have had difficulty selling after 1979, let alone in black and white and with only 4 modes.

This was like one of the basic PONG machines from 1975-1976, not even one of the more advanced (i.e. color, 10+ game modes) ones from 1977-1978. So it was ~7 years out of date.

[gbpxl]

The N-Gage. A vertical screen was a bad idea, a taco-shaped phone was a bad idea, a keypad for the buttons was a bad idea. and not having any "killer app" or system mascot didn't help either.

[AdamAnt316]

I'm sure they caught a few sales from people thinking it was the luxury car company. Seriously, not only was it a PONG machine in 1983, there were PONG games for the Atari 2600 (which everyone and their mother had by then) and it was in black and white. Any PONG console would have had difficulty selling after 1979, let alone in black and white and with only 4 modes.

This was like one of the basic PONG machines from 1975-1976, not even one of the more advanced (i.e. color, 10+ game modes) ones from 1977-1978. So it was ~7 years out of date.

I have no idea what Bentley was thinking, or who they actually were (I don't think they were trying to pass themselves off as being related to the car company, but who knows). Around the same time they were offering the Compu-Vision, they also sold a black & white portable TV (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLVqoSoOitA) (not a bad idea at the time), Super8mm movie cameras (http://www.filmshooting.com/scripts/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11520) and, in the same sort of case as their portable TV, a Super8mm film viewer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkCE_-OoB_s). I once owned an example of the latter. Not only did it not work well, it actually stripped some of the sprocket holes on the films I tried to run through it! :bad-words: My one copy of Jar-Jar In Space (http://www.electronixandmore.com/adam/jarjar1.html) may never be the same.......... :bawling:
-Adam

[Natty Bumppo]

Mentioned earlier, the laseractive was an interesting concept - just way too pricey than if you had just bought a straight ld player and the corresponding consoles. You would have missed the ld based games - no biggie since there were so few - the only two I have any interest in were the J.B. Harold games (Blue Chicago Blues and Manhattan Requiem) - but other people might have liked some of the few other games.

If it had been released later it likely would have been possible to drive down the cost - but at the time I suspect it was just beyond the technological capability to produce them at a reasonable cost.
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I have one with the four basic pacs - but I picked them up used at a fraction of the cost . Neat toys but that is about it. (I did spare the world a lot of pain and suffering though - I have not picked up a karaoke pac.