Any info on the Apple/Bandai Pippin?

[diskoboy]

I just found out about this thing today, for the first time. Yet, I've been gaming almost 30 years now, and have never heard of the Pippin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pippin


Anyone got any info, besides whats on wikipedia? List of games? etc?

Thanks!

[agbulls]

At the height of his success, perenial NBA All Star Scottie Pippen decided to personally design his own game console. I believe this was first conceived of in 1992. Pippen's total lack of knowledge of the gaming industry didn't deter him from making a system that he created in his own image as he personally strove to make it is as ugly and overated as possible.

Just like its namesake, the Apple Pippen faded into memory never to be heard from again.

[digitalpress]

I've owned one for about 10 years. I didn't get in on it until it started to get hard to collect for, but I've got about 15 games for it. There isn't much to rave about as a game system. It compares to early PS1 titles at its best. There's more info in our online guide, always check there first!

http://www.digitpress.com/DP/cmf/listing.cmf?system=47

[TurboGenesis]

here is my Pippin. I've had it since 2002. I received it from a friend of my fathers.



I don't have any games for it, just the pack in application software. I do have a replica of Shockwave Assult though.

I think there were only 16 US software titles released for it. Most of them "edutainment" titles, though one of the games is Bungie's Super Marathon.

What is cool is that it can be hooked up via s-video or composite for both PAL and NTSC and also has a VGA hook up as well.

[Steve W]

I always wanted one, but I have never seen one in person before. I've always loved the controller, with a trackball built in. Too bad the system's underpowered. It uses a 66Mhz PPC 603e, if I recall, which was probably the slowest Power PC chip made. It was a slightly modified Macintosh, and there weren't a whole lot of games for the Mac that would really sell a console anyway. It was doomed from the start. Something like the Amiga CD32 could do decently because the computer it was based on had loads of games for it to port. Thanks to Apple discouraging game developers throughout the Mac's life, there wasn't anything to play on the Pippin, and not too many companies were going to develop for it.

Making game consoles based on old computers has never really worked out. Commodore Max, GS, CDTV, and CD32, Amstrad GX-4000, Atari XEGS, FM Towns Marty, The Phantom, The ApexTreme, and others.... all doomed to failure.

[Japan-Games.com]

I use the Pippin as my example for why the PS3 will struggle. Too expensive as a gaming console, not enough power as a computing console, so in the end the base of potential buyers shrinks.