Re: USB input devices-- Second Sight

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net> wrote:

>     Agree; but, then, if Sequential were interested in selling
>software, the first item should have been a patch for GS/OS. And, it
>would have been good marketing to have, say, IIgs ports of some good
>for-PC games ready to go on the Second Sight board. A booth at Kansas
>Fest showing a IIgs running Ultima VI, Wing Commander II, Might & Magic
>III, Eye of the Beholder II, and Wizardry VI could have had the SS (plus
>whatever hard disk and accelerator cards were used) 'selling like
>hotcakes'.
>
>     Sequential's decision was to spring the board on us and expect
>users to come up with games and other applications which would make
>'everyone' want to own one.

I think it had to do with the late date in the life of the IIGS that the
Second Sight was released.  Problem was, back in 1995, the
Second Sight was the last BIG thing released for the IIGS.  At
that point, it still seemed that the IIGS market had some life to it.
There was the head to head competition between the Second
Sight and the TurboRez card (the latter more like an Amiga style
graphics engine than an SVGA card).  There was competition
between The Manager and Switch-It!  There was even competition
between Faxination and PMP Fax.  You had Sequential, who had
a huge BACKORDER (imagine that) of Second Sight pre-orders
which, combined with the threat of the TurboRez getting released
first, resulted in Sequential releasing the card without a QD2 patch
and waiting for new software to support the card.  It seemed to
Sequential to be the best move at the time.  After all, The Manager
was released before Switch-It! and which one won out?  Besides,
Sequential had already delayed the Second Sight once, adding
memory to the card to support 24-bit as well as 8-bit color (it was
initially intended to be an 8-bit card).

Sadly, it was right after the release of the Second Sight that GS+
Magazine, followed by Softdisk GS, died.  Without a major
support forum, development efforts dried up.  It is said that the
readership of Shareware Solutions II and Juiced GS combined
is something like a little over 1/3 the size of the GS+ Magazine
readership.  Had GS+ Magazine survived, Facelift may have
been published by EGO Systems!

The lost of the publications was what really ended the Apple II
market.  I think Sequential has to keep the price of the Second
Sight high simply to recoup the cost of production (again, if
GS+ Magazine survived, they might have paid for Facelift,
which would have provided incentive for Mr. Hackett to
complete it, which would have caused the Second Sight to take
off).  Sequential's Second Sight was simply released a few
years too late...

>     This approach used to work fine back in the pre-GS days.
>Unfortunately for SS, the mass of users had long ago been cut out of
>'serious' programming. Had the new GS BASIC been available, things may

I think it would have turned out fine had GS+ Magazine stayed
viable for a few more years.

>video board which did not seem to do much more than let
>you hook up a VGA monitor.

This I disagree.  The Second Sight's SVGA modes are real as any
Second Sight user who has .bmp, etc., true-color pictures linked
(or registered in WindowSpeak) to ThirdView knows.  Double
clicking on a true-color pic and seeing the image as it was meant
to be seen on an SVGA monitor is pretty amazing and games like
Second Sight aware Cogito vividly demonstrates the card's potential.
Potential that remains largely untapped.  If Facelift succeeds, this
will change instantly.