Re: Doom Conversion (was Dragons Lair II)

[spector@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article aar7334@exodus.valpo.edu (Auri Man) writes...
>
>I think there will be more support for the Second Sight card, since it is 
> 
[snip]
>2.  upgrades are viable (Sequential doesn't have to stop for funds a lot, etc.)

	Wrong, Jawaid already stated there are no planned upgrades for the 
Second Sight, nor was it designed to handle any kind of future enhancements.
If you purchase one, your stuck with the same colors and resolution forever.
I was rather disappointed to hear this, 256 colors on screen seems impressive,
yet most most video cards today can do 32,768 or 16.7 million colors on screen
at once! As well, while a resolution of 1024x768 is near state-of-the-art
today, what about a couple of years down the road? Then what...? 

>3.  offers higher resolutions

	Which are only available if: A) You invest in a SuperVGA monitor
and B) You spend extra for the full 1mb of VRAM (actually DRAMs in this case).
Using your stock AppleColor RGB monitor, as most will undoubtibly do, the
TurboRez and Second Sight are equal in terms of resolution. I should point
out option 'A' alone for the Second Sight will give you up to 800x600 with
a 512k card (though who's going to buy an SVGA monitor and use a 512k version
of the SS?)

>4.  affordable affordable affordable

	True, but only for people interested in buying a 512k card for
use with their AppleColor RGB monitors. Add to that the cost of a good
14-17" SVGA screen and 1mb DRAMs and it's no longer affordable.

	I'm not trying to put down the SS card, just stating reality here.
Despite what I've said above, I'm very much looking forward to it's release 
so I can buy one! :)

>I don't think it is feasible to spent 300+ dollars on a video card for any
>computer, especially for the GS, since it obviously isn't going to have a
>bazillion games come out for it because of a video card's release.  If these
>cards had been released a while ago, yes there may have been a lot more games
>dedicated to using the card(s).  

	Agreed, although I'm sure some price restructuring _will_ occur
now that the Second Sight is competing for the same market. Don't be surprised
if the TR is available for $199 or less (that is, if it's ever released). 
IMHO, Bill St.Pierre would be terribly foolish to keep the price of the
card at $300 US, if that happens it will no doubt fail...

>$179, on the other hand, is feasible for the GS market, and more people will

	Quality Computers is currently selling it for $149, though expect to
pay over $200 for the 1mb version (if it uses the same 1X4 DRAMs as the RF).

>DOOM... cool... but needs a SS.  If anything, that's the card people will buy
>-- and for those that don't buy it, you'll have Wolf 3D :)

	Technically, DOOM is impossible to program for the Apple IIgs, or
at least exteremly difficult. Most every 65C816 programmer here will tell
you that. Ahhh, but those same programmers claimed Wolf 3-D was absolutely
impossible less than 6 months ago. Kind of funny that while it was debated
a IIgs port was written... :-)

>-Auri
> 
>(My opinions are my own, not PowerGS's.)

Mitchell Spector
m_spect@pavo.concordia.ca / spector@vax2.concordia.ca