Re: Poll about Mockingboard h/w clone

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

"Michael J. Mahon" writes ...
> 
> Rubywand wrote:
> 
 ....
> >
> >      Having speech would be kind of nice; but, as far as I know, speech 
> > was not a significant component of any popular game. 
> > It might be of interest to a few users. 
> > Big problem is that Including Speech could nearly double
> > manufacturing costs; and, selling price is very important.
> 
> Is there a current source for the SSI-263 speech synthesizer?  I thought
> it was made of unobtainium.

     Don't know. There's probably something available that would work fine on a
new Mockingboard.

 ....
> 
> >      Right now, just about every newly developed piece of Apple II hardware
> > is priced high with correspondingly low sales numbers. That's too bad.
> > Miniscule volume passes up on cashing in on the positive feedback effects
> > which come with getting a product to mobs of users.
> 
 ....
> 
> Are there even a couple of thousand Apple II enthusiasts on the planet?
> 
> And if there are, are they "in touch"?  Are they willing to spend $50?

     $50 seems too high to expect much in the way of sales.


> 
> >      What would be kind of cool is for A2Central to have one or two good
> > Mockingboard games and utilities ready to sell.
> >
> >      Something many people overlook is that there 
> > really is money to be made selling to 'vintage' computer
> > owners. With so many boring products flooding
> > the PC and game machine markets, that's more true than ever.
> 
> What example are you thinking of?  There are C=64's in joysticks, but
> they are for nostalgic gamers--and apparently they aren't as nostalgic
> as the creators hoped, since they were "bombed" out of toy stores for
> $10, less than half their intended selling price...
 ....

    "C=64's in joysticks"? Did you mean someone tried to sell C-64 joysticks?

     As for examples of making decent money selling a new product to vintage
computer owners, I do not know of any. So far, it doesn't look like anyone has
made a serious attempt.



Rubywand