On Monday, January 1st, 1996 - Evan Langlois wrote:
 
EL>  My opinion is that the Jag falls right between the Playstation and
EL> the Saturn as for raw performance potential.  However, the Playstation
EL>  is more powerful, runs higher clock rates, and has more memory, and
EL> is much easier to program than the others.  The fact that the 
 
Evan, I would like to thank you for being among those few people who
post an objective and well-reasoned comment about this.
 
EL> playstation has an OS that handles what Jag developers would spend a 
EL> few months on is a BIG factor.
EL> Sure, every system has libraries, but the Jag libs seem to developed 
EL> by each individual game company - and they aren't sharing.  An OS 
EL> means sharing.
EL>  I think the Jag is probably the most difficult machine to program.
EL>  Difficulty = More Time = More Money = Less Profit = Less Support.
 
Yep, I think I agree with you.  It looks like Atari should have put TOS
or something inside the Jaguar!  They spent all their money getting the
best (at the time) hardware to market, and imagined that the freedom
from libraries would "liberate".  I guess they had a good reason for
thinking this, because so many other system's best games are the "take
over the machine" stuff that ignore the OS - examples about from Atari
800, to Amiga, to PC.  Somehow, it just didn't translate too well on
the Jaguar.
 
You know, if they had just designed the Jaguar with a few back doors to
make it a "Jag-puter" in the first place, they would have sold a lot
more.  A lot of the STers would have bought them, I think.  What would
they have needed to put in there, in your opinion?  I assume a 68030, a
port for a keyboard, and a modified TOS on rom (and a slot suitable for
an I/O adapter of some kind).  This is a purely academic excerise, but
what do you think?
 
--- RiBBS v2.10        

[+/182 of 200/107 Mins] = * FIDO: ST_PROG =: Next...