@database AmiGames.html @remark Converted with HTML2Guide ©1997 Mark Harman @wordwrap @node MAIN "AmiGames.html" @{"b"}Amiga Games@{"ub"} After the demise of Commodore, the Amiga games market held up remarkably well, after all, it wasn't going to give up so easily. Pessimists said that Christmas '94, without C=, would be the Amiga's last. So never mind that over 50% of games were sold on the Amiga. I remember in Summer 1995 a time when the top four best selling games on all platforms were Amiga games. And late 1995 when 14 out of 20 of the top selling games (disk and CD) on all computers were Amiga games (6 for the PC - 0 for the Mac). But sadly, things could not hold up, and this was ironically some time @{"i"}after@{"ui"} Escom had taken over (but maybe it's not so ironic when you consider what arses Escom were). Suddenly, 1996 saw a large drop in Amiga games. We had classics such as AB3DII-TKG and Worms - The Director's Cut, but not a lot else. As for sales, I have no idea - some sources revealed embarrassingly low sales for games. Elsewhere I read how over half of Worms sales (which came out on every platform known, and more) were on the Amiga. But either way, things weren't looking good... ---------------------------------------- Now, things may be changing. There has been a surge of interest from thosee who have remained loyal to the Amiga, in particular @{"b"}clickBOOM@{"ub"} and @{"b"}Vulcan@{"ub"}. But what marks the change is the level of specifications they will be producing games for. Vulcan have go CD ROM only, and in general, the days of 'AGA enhanced' are gone. Welcome to the fast '030, CD, 8MB RAM, AGA required, and '040/'060, loadsa RAM, graphics/sound card rcommended world of gaming. We all know how, for better or worse, a PC game nowadays wouldn't like anything less than Pentium, 16MB RAM, CD, graphics/sound card, etc, where as we've been lucky to see something that takes advantage of an '020 A1200 with fast RAM. So why the change? But before I consider that, why did this situation occur in the first place? The Amiga's hardware as inevitably slipped since all the fiascos in the last, what it is now, three years (and back then, we were looking eager for AAA etc...). But I remember way back to the days of the A500+. Even then, it seemed the done thing to release Amiga games which required no more than a 1MB A500, where as you could write games which required £2000 worth of PC hardware, and no one would mind. Never mind that the Amiga games far outsold the PC. But perhaps that was it - software houses produced for the A500, and made loads of sales, but any gamers on the PC would probably have a lot more hardware. Sure, with the A1200, games slowly became AGA'd, but no more. I have often said how it is the fact that Commodore concentrated too much on the low end of the Amiga that made the machine suffer, and games are no exception. So why the change now? I ask again. Well, the fact is that all those Amiga owners fleeing to PC land are likely to have had low spec Amigas. Those remaining will have higher specifications than you might think. And maybe companies have realised that those who don't spend money on hardware aren't going to be spending loads on games either (especially if there are loads already that take advantage of their machine, but few which demand higher specs). At last, there seems to be a strong user base with '030, extra RAM, and CD ROM - but it seems that the requirements of some games won't stop at that. For example, there will be an '030 version of The Haunted. '030 enhanced? Nope, an '030 cut down version - and that's only a maybe! Many new games will take advantage of graphics and sound cards, some will require them. And best of all, ClickBOOM have announced producing for PowerPC (and later, possiblby PowerPC only). Yes, ClickBOOM. Surely you have all seen their conversion wish-list (and I hope you voted). Needless to say, this is an excellent idea, and I really hope it works. Even though the idea of having just PC ports may seem a bit dire, it's better than nothing, and that's what plenty of Playstation games are. PowerPC games will really be important in persuading people to buy a PPC accelerator, especially if there are PowerPC only games! The argument that Amigas are not fast enough to cope no longer applies, as PPC cards are just as fast, and just as good value as Pentiums. And from approximate MIPS comparisons, it seems even the low end 603 card will be over three times the speed of a Playstation... Of course, we have to be realistic... ClickBOOM port a few games, but there's just not a lot of demand. What then? Well, here are some reasons not to be too pessimistic: People say how damaging piracy has been to Amiga games. If that is true, then there will be far less piracy with CD games (especially those on 7CDs) - even with CD Writers, it's not as convenient as on floppy, so hopefully that will give more sales. Also, given that many Amiga owners have reasonably specced machines, what are they more likely to buy, a simple 'AGA enhanced' game, or something that really takes advantage of their machine? So again, we could expect better sales with these games than previous games. Lastly, how many games are sold on the Mac (remember at the top where I said no Mac games in the top 20?) It's not very many. In fact, the Mac seems to pride itself on being anything but a games machine - so why does it get all th decent games, like Doom, Duke Nukem, Myst, Phantasmogaria...? These are only the ones I know. I would say that even though there are few sales, there are still enough to cover the cost of porting the game, and make a profit (even though there wouldn't be enough to write it for the Mac alone). And secondly, with the PowerMac, it has the power to run the games. And so it should hopefully be with PowerAmiga! I certainly look forward to the coming months and hope that these games do materialise! In fact, at the end of last year, I fancied buying a game. Considering the last game I bought was Settlers (although I got AB3DII free), I thought it was about time for a new game. Except... there weren't really any. I thought about Worms TDC, but I would have really prefered something like a strategy/godgame type game. I even looked at old games, but in the end, didn't get anything. But there seems to be plenty of such games among those due - I'll have plenty to choose from! So, let's take a look at just some of the games expected over the next few months... Title Description Publisher Release Expected Rec. Req. Brain Killer Doom Clone TitanHB TBA '030+, AGA, CD Forgotten Forever Command & Conquer Clone Charm Design TBA AGA, CD Foundations GodGame Paul Burkley Summer AGA, CD Genetic Species Doom Clone Vulcan TBA '030+, AGA/GfxC, CD, 8MB Hell Pigs Adventure Vulcan TBA AGA, CD Myst Adventure clickBOOM Summer '030+, AGA, CD, NEMAC IV Doom Clone clickBOOM TBA '030+, AGA, CD Phantasmagoria Adventure ? TBA '030+, AGA, CD, 8MB Quake Doom Clone ? TBA '040+, AGA/GfxC, CD? Scions of a Forgotten World Warcraft Clone Vulcan TBA AGA/GfxC, CD Testament RPG/Doom Epic TBA '030+, AGA, CD The Final Odyssey Puzzle / Adventure Vulcan TBA AGA, CD The Haunted Adventure Direct TBA '040+, AGA, CD The Strangers Beat 'em up Vulcan Spring AGA, CD Trapped 2 RPG/Doom Oxyron/New Generation September '030+, AGA/GfxC, CD Wasted Dreams Adventure Vulcan TBA AGA, CD Zone 99 Puzzle Aurora Works Summer '040+, GfxC, CD (I have neglected memory requirements on most, as I don't really know, but most will require Fast mem. The processor requirements are really recommendations, as you could run most on an '020, but just really slowly...) And remember, that's just a few of them. Start saving now! @endnode