Regarding Bandersnatch itself, I always thought it would have bombed. Dunno way, I guess partly because most over hyped games generally turn out to be complete ass.
NickH is evil. One should hack his website, rename it "The Your Sinclair Rick'n'Rolling Years" and put that stuff up there too.
On the topic of that commercial breaks/Imagine downfall/Bandersnatch issue, there was also a lenghty article in Crash issue 12, pages 60-64 (Link to WOS' Crash Viewer: Click).
Bandersnatch would've been a monumental flop IMHO for a number of reasons, but mainly because the amount of costs involved in the development (e.g. developing the add-on hardware whether or not it was reused) along with the poor financial management at Imagine at the time would mean that they'd probably have to have sold bazillions more than expected just to break even.
But hey, I'm sure that'd never have happened on David Ward's watch.
Imagine were deluded at best, especially when thinking that computer games had gone as far as they could in 1984. Rainbow Islands would have melted their brains.
It's been a while since I watched the video in question, but it did strike me the MAJOR problem Imagine were going to have with the mega-games was persuading the distributors to stock them.
After the crash of '83, expensive games were out. Very few shops still stocked the Atari VCS carts, which were £30+. In walked Mr Imagine Sales Rep, plonks a big box down on the counter and says, "This here Spectrum game retails for 40 quid, how many can I put you down for?" and Mr Shopkeeper would laugh in his face. The added complication of the hardware would have made very few stockists keen to put it on the shelves.
From Your Computer December 1984 when they should have been released....
You can order 128K memory expansion for an IBM compatible "PC" for ?125.
So that would make it around ?500 retail at the numbers they would be producing.
However looking through the adverts you cant find any machine (PC or home machine) being offered with more than 256k. There is a "Delvex" build your own PC motherboard which can take "Up to 1 MEGABYTE of Ram" - There emphasis not mine.
As an aside a 40Meg HD would have cost you ?7000 and a box of 10 3 1/2" discs ?35.
In a 2001 interview this very question was put to John Gibson with his reply being:
"Well, it wasn't quite all hype. There certainly was a game being developed and it certainly would have been something revolutionary for the time: a 176K Spectrum game courtesy of a 128K ROM add-on. At the time Imagine went bust the game was around half finished and we'd already used up all the ROM so a major design rethink would have been necessary to get it finished. Still that would probably have been academic as the projected cost of the game was £60. Would you have paid that much for a Spectrum game"
I don't think it would have changed the world of Spectrum-ness though. Most add-on devices required to run games didn't & don't go down too well because of the extra cost. I doubt the extra memory would have made much of an impact anyway - think of how many great 128K-only games there were? If they had managed to do something to change the direction of the 128/+2/+3 then it might have been different... Imagine a Spectrum with 512K of memory, but also with a colour-per-pixel frame-buffer... the +3e really?!
Comments
Aye - try this, I've only just read about it.
And if gift from the gods is anything to go by...
RESPECT!
You c*nt! I cant switch this f*cker off! I'm going to have to power down now! Rick Rolling me!
I'll get you back! You see if I don't!
Two words.
"War!" And I'll shove the other one were the sun don't shine!
Wales?
KILLERFILLER
Close enough! Let's fight!
I went out with a welch woman once! She ripped me off good style!
Hats off to her! Well good!
Your pickle of choice being?
I have no pickle. If I had a pickle it would sting me. It's getting light now in the North West UK. And my head's are beginning to twist too far!
I'll just have to enter people's bottoms. It's the law!
That's a strange thing to say. I understood every word.
I will now kill myself.
Stand well back - there may maybe some blood!
It's just taken me half an hour to stop laughing...
YOU NASTY LITTLE MAN !!!!
PS: I've just sent that link to absolutely everyone I can think of, heheheh :D
On the topic of that commercial breaks/Imagine downfall/Bandersnatch issue, there was also a lenghty article in Crash issue 12, pages 60-64 (Link to WOS' Crash Viewer: Click).
But hey, I'm sure that'd never have happened on David Ward's watch.
/me ducks...
As for the link :)
I'm only saying. :)
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/hardware-pics/FullerBox.jpg
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/hardware-adverts/FullerGiftPack.jpg
What do you think?
After the crash of '83, expensive games were out. Very few shops still stocked the Atari VCS carts, which were £30+. In walked Mr Imagine Sales Rep, plonks a big box down on the counter and says, "This here Spectrum game retails for 40 quid, how many can I put you down for?" and Mr Shopkeeper would laugh in his face. The added complication of the hardware would have made very few stockists keen to put it on the shelves.
From Your Computer December 1984 when they should have been released....
You can order 128K memory expansion for an IBM compatible "PC" for ?125.
So that would make it around ?500 retail at the numbers they would be producing.
However looking through the adverts you cant find any machine (PC or home machine) being offered with more than 256k. There is a "Delvex" build your own PC motherboard which can take "Up to 1 MEGABYTE of Ram" - There emphasis not mine.
As an aside a 40Meg HD would have cost you ?7000 and a box of 10 3 1/2" discs ?35.
At 1p a byte ... you be the judge.
Of course! You could put a whole tune in that space, you know for inbetween loading levels ... or something.
"Well, it wasn't quite all hype. There certainly was a game being developed and it certainly would have been something revolutionary for the time: a 176K Spectrum game courtesy of a 128K ROM add-on. At the time Imagine went bust the game was around half finished and we'd already used up all the ROM so a major design rethink would have been necessary to get it finished. Still that would probably have been academic as the projected cost of the game was £60. Would you have paid that much for a Spectrum game"
After all, it'd be bound to suffer from wobble somewhere along the line.
I don't think it would have changed the world of Spectrum-ness though. Most add-on devices required to run games didn't & don't go down too well because of the extra cost. I doubt the extra memory would have made much of an impact anyway - think of how many great 128K-only games there were? If they had managed to do something to change the direction of the 128/+2/+3 then it might have been different... Imagine a Spectrum with 512K of memory, but also with a colour-per-pixel frame-buffer... the +3e really?!
(waits for Andrew...)
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