- This topic has 5 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 19 years, 3 months ago by
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(re: Why not DVD) I remember pushing for this inside Sierra — especially with our “You don’t know Jack” product. Had I stayed at Sierra, we would have tested the water for a DVD game.
DVD players aren’t very smart, and the kinds of games you could do are limited — but, the market is HUGE, and those games that could be done would look incredible.
-Ken W -
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(re: re: re: Why not DVD)
I think there’s a misunderstanding here :).
Ken is probably referring to a game on a standalone DVD-player (like in your living room), which ofcourse, only has a limited set of options. Think of the ‘interactive menu’ system used nowadays in many DVD blockbuster movies.
I guess you were referring to the fact that developers just started to begin using the dvd-rom system to store their games on (in combination with pc’s)?
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(re: re: re: re: Why not DVD) My apologies for not being clear, and for perhaps misunderstanding your original question…
I have always been interested in developing games for standard consumer DVD players, but strictly because the market is so large (and the competition so non-existent). The interactivity would be limited, but there are games that could be done through using the menu-ing system. Some games have been done though doing this, but I have no idea how well they sold.
If your original question had to do with the DVD players that are in computers, then that is a different issue. To a programmer, it would look like a CD drive with enormous capacity. Generally, games aren’t limited by what fits on a CD (or, at least they weren’t in my day). I haven’t seen the stats on what the household penetration of DVD drives is — but, doubt that they are pervasive enough to make economically feasible shipping a game that required a DVD drive.
-Ken W -
(re: Why not DVD)
It’s a chicken and egg thing though — DVD games aren’t made because there aren’t enough people with DVD drives for them to sell (or, so say the developers). But people don’t bother getting DVD drives because there are almost no DVD games available.
You say games aren’t limited by what fits on a CD… games actually seem to come on fewer CDs now than they used to. 1-3 CDs seems to be the norm, when some games were coming on 5-7 CDs in the 90s. Is it because of the trend away from FMV? Are 3D graphics more “portable”?
The jump from floppies to CDs was inevitable. Just look at how many floppies your games were delivered on in the early 90s. I’m just curious why this trend didn’t continue — with games outgrowing CD capacity. (Maybe it’s just that budgets for adventure games were slashed around the same time, and game makers couldn’t afford to put out such large games?)
-emily
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