Philips CD-i: The Burgeoning (Or why the games were so terrible)

THIS IS THE SECOND IN OUR SERIES OF 6
CD-i THEMED POSTS.

Disclaimer: A real game

Starting from where we left off last, Philips just walked out of that aforementioned board room with a clear idea in their head of what they would deliver with their new multi-media superconsole. They planned to make a range of titles for the system, ranging from Edutainment encyclopaedias such as the evergreen Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia, blockbuster films with blockbuster soundtracks rendered precisely in CD audio (Top Gun), and even Bon Jovi and Sting concerts caught in perfect VGA video and audio. But after a few years it became clear this tactic was failing-badly. By 1993, the CD-i was estimated to have sold only 200,000 units. Whether this was due to the high price ($700!) or the sheer crappiness of the programs, we will never know. All we do know is that Philips urgently rebranded the CD-i that year, trying to make it once again relevant in a world ruled by the Atari Jaguar and 3DO.

This is actually real.

This period, which we call the Hotel Mario phase, was marked by aggressive marketing and development by the computer wizzes over in Amsterdam, who turned out the good (Kether, Burn:Cycle), the bad (Zelda's Adventure) and the plain ugly (Hotel Mario). So the reason why the CD-i's games were so bad was really quite simple: It wasn't even a games console. I mean, look at the controller! NOTE: THE NEXT POST, THE 3RD OF 6, WILL FOCUS ON THE INDIVIDUAL BADNESS OF THE GAMES. WE HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS PIECE OF CRAP ABOUT A PIECE OF CRAP.

Yes, people played "games" on this.