Interesting tidbits

[galam]

I was listening to a podcast with Vic Ireland today and found it pretty interesting.
Some of you may be familiar with it, but it was new to me!  Anyway, I'm only half way through, so I'll add more if its worth it, but I liked these nuggets (I'm paraphrasing, since I don't remember word for word, but you'll get it)...

Q:  Did NEC ever tell you how many turbo CD units were sold?
A:  They did not, but we did find out that CF2 essentially sold 1:1 per cd unit. So that means just under 20,000 were out there.

Q:  How was the switch from cartridge to CD development handled at such an early time
A:  Cartridges really taught us a lesson. We did very well with Cadash, but lost our shirts on Parasol Stars. Between the two, we broke even. CD was much cheaper to develop for and I really wanted to localize RPG's

Q:  Did you ever consider localizing the other CF games?
A:  I would still like to.  I wanted to do CF stories that was on MegaCD, but the port sucked so we abandoned it.

Q:  Are there any games you completed or started that never got released?
A:  Can't talk a lot about that, but we did secure Shubibinman 3 then TTI took it from us.
We were just about done with the deal and they snuck in and got it. Then they never did it.

[Black Tiger]

Did he mention all the unsold CF2 and Exile stock that wound up on eBay years later? I think that any 1:1 ratio comments really meant that while WD was still paying attention, they believed that CD2 was bottle-necked by the number of Turbo CDs sold. Factoring in all the Turbo CDs sold in Canada, where WD Turbo games were unavailable, this is just another random off the cuff Vic Ireland comment that shouldn't be taken seriously. There are likely more copies of CF2 manufactured than Turbo CD + TurboDuos manufactured.

The Mega CD port of Cosmic Fantasy 1 & 2 has improved graphics and some new cinematics. As a port, it is an improvement overall. The main drawback compared to the originals is how the gameplay had been changed in many ways... which is the stuff that Vic likes to tinker with anyways.

I believe that Shockman 2 was going to be done the same as Dungeon Explorer II, with WD doing the voice work and helping with the translation, since they were so broke and terrible at completing projects/running a business. Vic has claimed that Cosmic Fantasy 3 was completely localized but never released.

[galam]

Didnt shubs 2 actually become shockman?

And believe me, nobody is taking his comments as law. Just thought it was interesting.
He did specifically say they sold just under 20,000 copies of CF2.  And said he "heard" it was almost 1:1.

[djolof]

I think i heard this podacast a long while back... no?

[Tatsujin]

Vic Baby

[DarkKobold]

I was listening to a podcast with Vic Ireland today and found it pretty interesting.
Some of you may be familiar with it, but it was new to me!  Anyway, I'm only half way through, so I'll add more if its worth it, but I liked these nuggets (I'm paraphrasing, since I don't remember word for word, but you'll get it)...

Pretty sure this is the podcast: http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9098844

It is the one that hooked me on retronauts. Bob Mackey is an awesome host.

The original Retronauts got eaten up when ziff davis bought out 1up. Luckily, the former crew started a kickstarter, and blew away their goal, so it survives for now.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2005831476/revive-retronauts-your-favorite-classic-gaming-pod

If you are not just a TG16 fan, but a retro fan in general, this podcast is amazing. Go through, and listen to the entire history, it is still available on 1up.

[galam]

Thanks for finding it. I had it on my iPod for quite a while when I downloaded a bunch of them for a flight.  Just got around to listening it.  I'm a big fan of Jeremy Parrish.

[Gillian Seed]

Doesn't Retronauts have a video series as well? If so that's the only thing I caught from them, and it actually annoyed me because they had so many facts wrong about the game they were playing (Mega Man Legends).

[TR0N]

Doesn't Retronauts have a video series as well? If so that's the only thing I caught from them, and it actually annoyed me because they had so many facts wrong about the game they were playing (Mega Man Legends).

They did on youtube with the 1upnetwork channel.Though now the guys from retronauts have there own site.Now that 1up.com is more,they have started over again.
http://www.retronauts.com

[Deletion]

Uh oh. The Retronauts podcast goes back to 2007? Time to pull out the iDevice and say goodbye to productivity for a while.

[ApolloBoy]

Didnt shubs 2 actually become shockman?

It did, but it sounds like WD wanted to release Shubs 3 as Shockman 2.

[Arkhan]

Did he mention all the unsold CF2 and Exile stock that wound up on eBay years later?

That's not really relevant to the 1:1 sales figures.

I think that any 1:1 ratio comments really meant that while WD was still paying attention, they believed that CD2 was bottle-necked by the number of Turbo CDs sold.

It's probably the case.  Why would people buy a game they can't play.

Factoring in all the Turbo CDs sold in Canada, where WD Turbo games were unavailable, this is just another random off the cuff Vic Ireland comment that shouldn't be taken seriously.

What's not to be taken seriously about it?  I mean if you're going to factor in Canada, why not factor in Japan too, since WD games weren't available there either, for obvious reasons.

There are likely more copies of CF2 manufactured than Turbo CD + TurboDuos manufactured.

I don't think anyone has ever doubted that.  Including Vic.

[galam]

Uh oh. The Retronauts podcast goes back to 2007? Time to pull out the iDevice and say goodbye to productivity for a while.

HAHA!  Been there.
It is pretty well done.

[Black Tiger]

What's not to be taken seriously about it?  I mean if you're going to factor in Canada, why not factor in Japan too, since WD games weren't available there either, for obvious reasons.

By "CD unit"; I assumed that he meant the Turbo CD and maybe even the TurboDuo, which were sold in Canada, but not Japan. Many Americans over the years have talked about how they had a Turbo CD or TurboDuo, but never owned CF2. Nec/TTi were so disorganized, I doubt that they kept proper sales numbers through to the end. It also seems weird that Nec/TTi would withhold hardware sales figures from one of their only third/1.5 parties, yet tell them that their game was selling 1:1. Whatever was said to Vic, it was probably early on during the Nec days, back when the CD library was small and CF2 was a much more significant release and he's just throwing two variables together in the middle of a conversation. It all plays into his cospiracy of "the only thing that ever held me back was outside forces!", which continued to haunt him as he jumped from console to console.

[DragonmasterDan]

By "CD unit"; I assumed that he meant the Turbo CD and maybe even the TurboDuo, which were sold in Canada, but not Japan. Many Americans over the years have talked about how they had a Turbo CD or TurboDuo, but never owned CF2. Nec/TTi were so disorganized, I doubt that they kept proper sales numbers through to the end. It also seems weird that Nec/TTi would withhold hardware sales figures from one of their only third/1.5 parties, yet tell them that their game was selling 1:1. Whatever was said to Vic, it was probably early on during the Nec days, back when the CD library was small and CF2 was a much more significant release and he's just throwing two variables together in the middle of a conversation. It all plays into his cospiracy of "the only thing that ever held me back was outside forces!", which continued to haunt him as he jumped from console to console.

Sales figures in general weren't quite as spot on as they are today. Toy Retail Sales tracking managed most of it for the United States and were not the most accurate as their numbers came from a small number of high volume retailers and they averaged those figures based on market share estimates to fill in the blanks.

NEC/TTI definitely knew how many units were manufactured and shipped to retail. But sell-through to consumers was a lot harder to track. I recall hearing stories from TZD about the sheer mass of inventory they got back from Toys R us while TTI was shutting down.

I suspect there were probably 3 times as many TurboGrafx CD systems and Duos sold in the US as there were copies of Cosmic Fantasy 2 sold (meaning my guess is around 60,000). We could throw LaserActive TurboGrafx PAC numbers on there, but it wouldn't increase the number by much if at all. I think the Duo sold quite a bit better than the CD attachment, though still not well enough to be considered more than a niche in North America.