Regular CD-i web updates (part 1)

When you set yourself a deadline it's amazing how things are quickly adapted to the project except for the sources I'm depending on. I realize with a story a month I must be careful not to run through all of the subjects because they're highly limited. Moreover, I wish time was a little slower because due to a lot of circumstances i'm going to ease the stress for next month story in order to complete the whole with the goals I want to achieve As a result you'll have to wait for any promises and continue to enjoy the updates the cd-i websites are offering. This is to say we've actually had some interesting news this month with the rising of another cd-i website. It's a website between brackets however as is the case with Arno's Eigenstart page you can find on www.cdi.eigenstart.nl. If you're familiar with the concept, it's nothing else rather than a collection of bookmarks from around the Web. If you remember your good old days at CD-Online you also had your own start page where you could save your favourite URL's in. So now David stood up and created cd-i.eigenstart.nl. The rise of some rivalty certainly lead to some update-time for both sites.

Media additions were found on Le Monde, obviously trying to recap some space after a six month absence. Dubbed into The World of CD-i they have not exactly been sleeping during January, and they're offering new movies and pics about cd-i titles created by Blurb. Great job! It's still a lowdown you have to follow the log-in procedure which I find very annoying.

The four player adapter was just using the same pins from the original connector. So that's the same 8 pins, which leaves two pins for every player. The cable was just divided in 4 strings. Actually the set-up is very easy.... We could do the same thing! Other than this I hope you want to participate with your interest about the involvement of Nintendo with the Philips CD-i system. I highly believe this to be one of the biggest interests especially for foreign visitors who just want to find out what all the fuss is about. Ofcourse this has been discussed in different ways the past years but when you have a close look at all the 'sources' available on the web it's sometimes laughable what kind of 'facts' and contradictions they publish about this. Just type 'SNES CD-ROM' in google and feel lucky. Or browse through this thread where I have collected them for any archive. With some new articles in the near future I hope this will clear up the situation for at least a bit, because it is 100% certain neither Philips nor Nintendo play with open cards about all their licensing matters.
So with all the excitement going on at least if you're following the forum I still hope to leave you shaken, but not stirred... :D

Last but not least a follow-up to the december issue about Creative Media crawled a little to the back. I was asked what happened to the company and what happened with this four player adapter, and a lot of other questions that indicated me this subject is of high interest to you all! Creative Media was sold to its stock-owner "Creative Action" which still exist nowadays. They just did not continue the Multi Media branch with it. After low sales of the Testuo Gaiden game, they decided to stop the whole business. They were just busy finishing Whack a Bubble, and they finished the game after Creative Media was officially sold. According to the developer it came to a surprise the game was published in the end. It's a bit of a mystery who stood up and published the title as New Frontier was already shut down.

Being a spin-off of the classic Arkanoid gameplay, Whack a Bubble was the last project Creative Media finished. In fact, Creative Media was sold to Creative Action right before the end of Whack a Bubble. The game was finished in the end and 1000 copies were pressed. It remains a mystery who picked it up and distributed it. With PMPRO stocking this title from the beginning, Philips would be a right guess who took this one up.

About the four player adapter: the missing thing is only the software. The four player adapter was just using the same pins from the original connector. So that's the same 8 pins, which leaves two pins for every player. The cable was just divided in 4 strings. Actually the set-up is very easy.... We could do the same thing! They built a prototype in a box they bought from a normal electronic store, so it's impossible to show some impressive pics, the prototype doesn't look actually good or something. Maybe when we get the chance to dig up the software of Taco's Toyroom Troopers we can experiment with this again. Thumbs crossed!

Alright, a few games are up to be covered in the column, spread the word in the forums and let me know if you want some details about a specific title or developer. I'll be back!

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