Writing a thought provoking comment on the Amiga should be an easy task, but I've found it difficult. It's not that there isn't anything more to say, just that it's tricky to know where to begin. To discuss Gateway's purchase of the technology would be a good start, but it's already been done and, anyway, they seem honest, active and thoroughly supportive of the Amiga and its users. No, to add more commentary about the new owners would be a waste of bandwidth.
So what about the future of the Amiga? Again, the topic has been uttered many times before. There is a future for the Amiga - the Amigans who stuck with the machine know that, Gateway know that (they aren't going to chuck money into a bottomless pit, are they?) and so do many developers. How successful the future is is a different matter... but I, for one, believe it is going to be an excellent one.
Despite the Wintel progress to monopolise the industry, not everyone wants to join in their conquest. In fact, even though main rivals such as Apple or the UNIX community seem (arguably) to be weakening, the Wintel crowd seems to be on the verge of a serious fall. It wasn't something I noticed at first, until many PC owning friends started using non-Intel processors and non-Microsoft products. They have actually started to feel threatened by the monopoly. In fact, many companies have started to make quite a fuss over using non-Wintel technology, while retaining compatability. In response, it seems the Wintel field has tried to force users even further into their ideals, with decreasing success.
So how does the Amiga fit into this pattern? Simple, the Amiga provides a low cost, powerful non-Wintel system. With the move to the PowerPC system (which currently lacks an OS suitable for home and educational purposes, by the way) and the renewed interest and support offered by the new owners, it looks like the Amiga would be one of the front runners in the non-Wintel crowd. However, I'm not saying the Amiga is the only choice, nor should it go alone. That would be against the spirit of the non-Wintel ideal. It's time the Amiga community opened up to our allies on other platforms such Apple or Acorn users. Together we can promote an alternative to the monopoly, and in the process introduce more people to our wonderful machine, the Amiga.
clickBOOM software have made the impressive statement of support for the Amiga games market with a major package of games ported from the PC and Mac community, a vast array of superb titles and a big support program for the PowerAmiga initiative. The game Myst is spearheading the attack, and looks set to be the first PowerPC Amiga title. clickBOOM have even said they will eventually go over to PowerAmiga only titles, dropping 680X0 support. This is a Good Thing in my opinion, and I hope it goes well for them - they certainly have a well planned course of action.
But now for the controversial bit... well, it might be, it might not be. MYST, the game which has supposedly taken the PC and Mac games industry by storm for its graphics, gameplay and action. THE top selling game... *blah* *blah* *blah*... Curious about this game I did some talking to PC owning friends, plus many PC and Mac users on IRC, and tried to find out what was so special about Myst. It was just curiosity - I'd never heard them mention it before, in fact I'd never even heard of it before the Amiga port was mentioned... so I wanted to find out all I could. I didn't mention the reason for my sudden interest in PC games, not that they noticed anyway, and was surprised by what I found...
Well... I'm sorry, but the unanimous reaction was that the game is USELESS. It may well be high selling but the graphics, 'gameplay' and 'action' is lousy, apparently. In fact, some weren't even aware it had been a high selling PC game, and most were at a loss to explain why it sold at all (the Mac version was a different matter, however). When I mentioned that it was being ported to the Amiga, the response was along the lines of: "I guess Amiga game players would be glad to get anything these days, even a port of Myst". Not good... not good at all. But it's not all hopeless. The mere fact that Myst is being ported is something. If Myst sells, we could see more games being ported. We could even see such legendary titles as TFX being finally released... and with PowerAmiga support these could be AMAZING in comparison with the PC originals.
Speaking of TFX. Back in 1995 I went to a games industry show, cunningly disguised as a PC Systems Engineer (don't ask), and saw Eurofighter ('TFX II') in action. I got chatting to a programmer on the team and asked about the Amiga version of TFX. He said it had been written, but was too slow for a "bog-standard A1200" and so would not be released. Judging from a recent survey in CU Amiga magazine, the "bog-standard A1200" nowadays has at least a 50 MHz 68030 and 6Mb of RAM, surely this could run TFX quite nicely now? I actually chose an A4000/030 so I could run the game when it came out! If they developed the damn thing, and it undoubtedly cost them something to do, why can't they release it and get some cash back, while giving the Amiga a well-deserved new flight simulator. The last decent flight sim for the Amiga was, arguably, F19... and that was years ago! *phew* FLAME OFF *grin*
Comments? Have I made sense, or have I made a gibbering fool of myself? What issues, news, gossip, rumours, opinions matter to you? Mail me with your thoughts, spread your views across your web page, talk to people... communication is vital in the rebirth of the Amiga!